The Legacy of the High Middle Ages

The High Middle Ages ended centuries ago, but its legacy remains deeply embedded in the institutions, ideas, languages, and cultural forms of the modern Western world. The universities of Europe — Paris, Oxford, Bologna, Salamanca, and many others — still operate on foundations laid in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The legal systems of most European countries still draw on the Roman and canon law of the medieval period. The literary traditions of romance, epic, and courtly love remain central to the Western canon. The architectural achievements of the Romanesque and Gothic periods are still admired and emulated. And the institutional models of papal government, royal administration, parliamentary representation, and corporate self-government were all developed in this period.

This cluster explores the legacy of the High Middle Ages — the institutions, ideas, and cultural achievements that have shaped the development of Europe and the Western world in the centuries since. The articles in the related long-tail pages provide deeper examinations of specific aspects of the legacy.

It is customary to end a book on the High Middle Ages by listing the institutions of the modern West that have their first recognisable form in the period — the university, the parliament, the common-law court, the chartered town, the bank, the mendicant order. Thomas Bisson, in the “Epilogue” of “The Crisis of the Twelfth Century” (2009), has argued that this kind of list is exactly backwards: what the twelfth century produced was a system that broke in the fourteenth, and what we have inherited is the wreckage, not the building. The page that follows keeps both views in view.

The Institutional Legacy

The institutional legacy of the High Middle Ages is one of the most important and most enduring aspects of the period. The universities, the parliaments, the common law, the guilds, the cathedrals, the monasteries, and the papal monarchy were all developed in the High Middle Ages, and they all had an enormous influence on the development of Europe in the centuries that followed.

The university is perhaps the most striking example. The University of Bologna, the University of Paris, the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Salamanca all emerged in the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and they established the institutional model — the corporation of teachers and students, the curriculum of the seven liberal arts, the degree system, the disputative method, the academic gown — that has shaped higher education ever since. The medieval university gave Europe a unique institution for the cultivation and transmission of knowledge, and it laid the foundations for the modern research university.

The parliament was another important institutional legacy. The parliament emerged in the thirteenth century in England, France, Spain, and the German Empire as a meeting of the king with his great lords, prelates, and (in some cases) representatives of the towns. The English Parliament, the French Estates General, the Spanish Cortes, and the Imperial Diet were all medieval institutions that evolved into the modern parliaments of the European states. The principle of representation — that the consent of the governed is necessary for the legitimacy of taxation and law — was a medieval innovation that has shaped the development of democratic government ever since.

The common law was another important legacy. The English common law, developed by the royal courts in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, became the basis of the legal systems of England, the United States, Canada, Australia, and many other countries. The principles of the common law — the supremacy of the law over arbitrary power, the protection of property and contract, the right to a fair trial — were medieval innovations that have shaped the development of the rule of law ever since.

The guild was another important medieval institution. The merchant guild and the craft guild organized the commercial and industrial life of the medieval town, and they provided a model of corporate self-government that influenced the development of the chartered companies, the professional associations, and the labor unions of later centuries. The apprenticeship system, with its long period of training under a master craftsman, was a medieval innovation that has shaped the development of vocational education ever since.

The papal monarchy was another important legacy. The medieval papacy, with its centralization, its bureaucracy, its legal system, and its claim to universal authority, was a major innovation in the history of governance. The papal model of government influenced the development of the great European monarchies, and the papal institutions survived the Reformation and the Enlightenment to become the central government of the modern Catholic Church.

The Intellectual Legacy

The intellectual legacy of the High Middle Ages is one of the richest and most enduring in the Western tradition. The scholastic philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, the theology of the scholastic masters, the scientific method of the Oxford calculators, the legal scholarship of the Glossators and Commentators, and the literary traditions of the troubadours, the trouvères, the Minnesänger, and the Italian poets all became central to the Western canon.

The scholastic method — the systematic disputation of questions, the use of authorities, the careful distinction between faith and reason — became the standard method of intellectual inquiry in the medieval university, and it remained influential in European thought until the seventeenth century. The Summa Theologica of Aquinas is still a major work of Catholic theology, and the scholastic distinction between the natural and the supernatural, the essence and the existence, the act and the potency are still used in Catholic philosophical and theological discourse.

The legal scholarship of the medieval period — the study of the Roman law of the Corpus Juris Civilis and the canon law of the Decretum of Gratian — laid the foundations for the modern legal systems of continental Europe. The Glossators of Bologna and the Commentators of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries developed the methods of legal interpretation that have been used in European law ever since. The ius commune — the common body of Roman and canon law that was used throughout continental Europe — was a medieval creation that shaped the development of European law for centuries.

The scientific thought of the High Middle Ages is often overlooked, but it was a major intellectual achievement. The Oxford Calculators of the fourteenth century — Thomas Bradwardine, William Heytesbury, Richard Kilvington, and John Dumbleton — developed sophisticated methods for the analysis of motion, acceleration, and the mean speed theorem, and they laid the foundations for the later work of Galileo and Newton. The optics of Roger Bacon and John Pecham, the astronomy of Johannes de Sacrobosco, and the geography of the Beatus maps were all medieval achievements that have shaped the development of modern science.

The literary traditions of the High Middle Ages are among the most enduring in the Western canon. The Arthurian legends, the chansons de geste, the romances of Chrétien de Troyes, the Nibelungenlied, the Divine Comedy of Dante, the Decameron of Boccaccio, and the Canterbury Tales of Chaucer are still read and studied around the world, and they continue to shape the literary imagination of the West. The themes of courtly love, heroic adventure, and spiritual quest that were developed in this period are still central to Western literature, and the forms of the romance, the epic, and the sonnet have been used by writers ever since.

The Cultural Legacy

The cultural legacy of the High Middle Ages is one of the most visible and most enduring. The Romanesque and Gothic architecture of the period is still among the most admired in the world, and the cathedrals of Chartres, Notre-Dame de Paris, Canterbury, Cologne, and Milan are still major tourist attractions and objects of devotion. The sculpture of the period — the tympana of the Romanesque, the jamb statues of the Gothic — are still considered among the supreme achievements of European art. The illuminated manuscripts of the period are still considered among the most beautiful objects in the history of art.

The music of the High Middle Ages — Gregorian chant, the polyphony of the Notre-Dame school, the songs of the troubadours and trouvères — is still performed and admired. The musical forms developed in the period — the organum, the motet, the conductus — laid the foundations for the development of Western music, and the repertoire of medieval chant is still sung in churches and monasteries around the world.

The language of the High Middle Ages is another important legacy. The French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese languages all took recognizable form during this period, and the great works of medieval literature — the Chanson de Roland, the Nibelungenlied, the Divine Comedy, the Cantar de Mio Cid — are still part of the cultural heritage of their respective nations. The Latin of the medieval period — the scholastic Latin, the ecclesiastical Latin, the legal Latin — remained the language of the Church, of the universities, and of international scholarship well into the modern period.

The religious traditions of the High Middle Ages are still central to the life of the Catholic Church. The liturgy of the Mass, the sacraments, the liturgical calendar, the monastic and mendicant orders, the devotions to the Virgin Mary and the saints — all were developed in the High Middle Ages and all remain central to Catholic religious life. The cathedrals of the period are still the sites of Catholic worship, and the monasteries founded in this period are still home to religious communities that follow the Rule of St. Benedict and the other medieval rules.

The Political Legacy

The political legacy of the High Middle Ages is also significant. The kingdoms of the period — France, England, Germany, Spain, Poland, Hungary, Portugal, and Scandinavia — all took recognizable form during this period, and they have shaped the political map of Europe ever since. The institutions of the parliament, the royal court, the common law, and the national church all developed in this period, and they have been the foundation of European political life ever since.

The papal monarchy and the canon law were major medieval innovations that have shaped the development of international law and the relations between church and state. The Crusades established a precedent for international military cooperation and for the development of international law in the conduct of war. The peace movements of the late medieval period — the Pax Dei (Peace of God) and the Treuga Dei (Truce of God) — were medieval innovations that laid the foundations for the modern international law of armed conflict.

The decline of feudalism in the late medieval and early modern periods was a long and complex process, but its roots are in the period. The rise of royal power, the growth of towns, the development of the common law, and the emergence of the nation-state all began in this period, and they all contributed to the gradual replacement of the feudal order by the modern state.

The Modern Reception of the Middle Ages

The modern reception of the High Middle Ages has been complex and sometimes contradictory. The Renaissance and the Enlightenment saw the medieval period as a “dark age” of superstition, ignorance, and intolerance, a view that has been thoroughly challenged by modern scholarship. The Romantic and Gothic movements of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries saw the medieval period as a time of faith, heroism, and beauty, a view that has also been qualified by modern scholarship.

The modern scholarship of the High Middle Ages is rich and varied. The Annales school of French historians, with its emphasis on long-term structures and material civilization, has produced some of the most important work on the medieval economy and society. The Cambridge school of medieval history, with its emphasis on political institutions and legal thought, has produced important work on the medieval state and the medieval church. The new cultural history of the medieval period has focused on the construction of identity, the experience of the body, and the politics of representation.

The popular imagination of the High Middle Ages has been shaped by the novels of Walter Scott, the opera of Richard Wagner, the fantasy literature of J.R.R. Tolkien, and the historical films of recent decades. These popular representations have often had a powerful influence on how the period is understood, and they have sometimes been at odds with the scholarly understanding. The Knights Templar, the Holy Grail, the Crusader kings, and the Gothic cathedral are all elements of the popular imagination that have their roots in the Middle Ages, but they are often embellished with later mythology.

Sources

Principal sources used in this article:

Barbara H. Rosenwein, A Short History of the Middle Ages (Toronto, 2014), ch. 10.

Further reading:

Thomas N. Bisson, The Crisis of the Twelfth Century (Princeton, 2009), “Epilogue.”

For a recent single-volume synthesis with full scholarly apparatus, see the relevant chapter of Barbara H. Rosenwein, A Short History of the Middle Ages (University of Toronto Press, 2014).