In the 12th century, Paris developed among other things. through Abelard and the collegiate school of Sankt Viktor to the focus of grammatical, philosophical and theological studies. Hugo von Sankt Viktor prepared basic knowledge in his manual “Didascalicon” and proclaimed an Augustinian-mystical doctrine with the Scot Richard; Adam composed novel sequences. At the school of Notre-Dame he taught inter alia. Petrus Lombardus, who became famous for his theological dogmatics “Sententiae”. Gilbert de la Porrée with his strictly rational theology and Petrus Helie († after 1166) also helped educate schools. with the introduction of language logic into grammar. During this time, Bologna became the center of the study of Roman and ecclesiastical law, after Irnerius founded the Legistics (science of private law) and canonical studies with glosses on the Corpus Iuris and Gratian with the “Decretum Gratiani” around 1140. The focus of the medical studies was v. a. Salerno, the meaning of which was proclaimed by the popular dietary verse rules of the “Regimen sanitatis Salernitanum”. The universities that had emerged from the schools in Bologna and Paris around 1200 were joined by Oxford in the 13th century, significantly through the first chancellor Robert Grosseteste and Roger Bacon which for the first time made observation of nature and experiment the basis of scientific knowledge. They belonged to the new order of the Franciscans, whose literary work, like that of the Dominicans, was both scientifically and pastoral oriented and shaped the thought and literature of the 13th century. So the religious poetry, z. B. the Corpus Christi songs by Thomas von Aquino or the sequence “Dies Irae”, the Francis Vites of Thomas von Celano and the legend collection of Jacobus de Voragine (as “Legenda aurea” folk book of the late Middle Ages) v. a. on internalization. The trend towards scientification continued in the learned literature; this shows z. B. in the systematic theological sums Alexander von Hales, Thomas Aquinas and, with emphasis on the mystical gaze of God, Bonaventura as well as in the most extensive medieval encyclopedia “Speculum maius” byVincent de Beauvais. Interest in science grew significantly. So wrote Bartholomeus Anglicus a natural history encyclopedia, Albertus Magnus works on botany and zoology.
In addition, a diverse didactic literature was created in which different subjects were versed: for example grammars by Alexander de Villa Dei and Johannes de Garlandia; Galfred von Vinsauf wrote a textbook on poetry, Aegidius von Corbeil († around 1224) on medical teaching content, Konrad von Mure wrote an animal science and Hugo von Trimberg wrote a literary history with the “Registrum multorum auctorum”. Moral poems such as the Fortuna elegy (around 1193) by Heinrich von Settimello or the “Palpanista” (“Schmeichler”, around 1246) by Bernhard von der Geist are artistically more demanding; especially valuable are the satirical epics of Nivardus (“Ysengrimus”, around 1150) about the story of fox and wolf, of Nigellus von Longchamps (“Speculum stultorum”, before 1180) about the study of a donkey, Heinrichs von Würzburg satire about the grievances in the papal curia and Nikolaus’ from Bibra “Carmen satiricum” on the clergy of Erfurt. For more articles about Italy and Europe, please follow Areacodesexplorer.
The prerequisite and basis for the flowering of science in the 13th century was the reception of Greco-Arabic philosophy and the theory of nature, especially Aristotle, for whose introduction Albertus Magnus did most of the work. Foreign literature has been translated into Latin since the beginning of the 12th century. B. by Gerhard von Cremona and Wilhelm von Moerbeke, v. a. where there was an intercultural exchange such as in Spain (translation school of Toledo), southern Italy-Sicily (school of Salerno, Normannen- and Stauferhof), Palestine and Byzantium. In this way, oriental-Arabic narrative material (including “Barlaam and Josaphat”, “Kalila and Dimna”, the seven wise masters) reached the West. B. in the novellas of Petrus Alfonsi (after 1106).
In the High Middle Ages, numerous clerics worked in administrative and educational tasks at the rulers’ courts, which, with their audience interested more in information and entertainment than in learning, became the starting point for vernacular literature, but also the origin of a significant part of Latin historiographical prose and verse literature. Her central topics were, among others. the conflict between emperor and pope, the development of power by the Normans in southern Italy, France and England (especially the fate of Thomas Becket), the rise of French kingship and the crusades.
In Germany, after Heinrich IV., Whose fate Erlung von Würzburg shaped literary, it was only Friedrich I who gathered around him again. Otto von Freising dedicated his world chronicle to him; the politics of Frederick I in Italy were celebrated by Archipoeta in the imperial hymn and Gunther von Pairis in the epic “Ligurinus”. Gottfried von Viterbo wrote a world history for the heir to the throne Heinrich. The Tegernsee dramatic play of the German Emperor and the Antichrist (Ludus de Antichristo) and the salvation story “Hortus deliciarum” were created around the court. Herrads von Hohenburg. Peter of Eboli praised Henry VI. as heirs of the Norman empire in the south, whose founder Robert Guiscard was sung aboutbyWilliam of Apulia around 1100, while Joachim von Fiore announced the end of the world in his theology of history. Under Frederick II, who wrote a handbook for falconry himself, and his son Manfred, science and literature flourished at the court in Palermo and in southern Italy: the philosopher Michael Scotus, the mathematician L. Fibonacci, the stylist Petrus de Vinea worked there; created here Thomas von Capua (* before 1185, † 1239) sacred songs, Quilichinus von Spoleto a popular Alexander epic based on the Latin translation of the Greek Alexander novel by Leo Archipresbyter (Naples around 960) and, under Charles I of Anjou, Guido della Colonne (* around 1210, † after 1287) 1272–87 the (often translated) book about Troy (»Historia destructionis Troie«), told as a historical novel based on the old French epic of Benoît de Sainte-Maure written for Eleanor of Aquitaine.
