Chapter 8: The Early Middle Ages

The main conflict during this time was the acceptance of Christianity in society. While Rome was being taken over by the Germanic tribes, there was a severe culture clash that had many literary genres meet for the first time. Christian philosophy was highly disapproving of the "feudalist" writing of these Germanic tribes. Where Christian teachings would consist of characters that demonstrated meek and mild attitudes, the Germanic stories were full of themes like pride, loyalty and courageous acts.

Christianity spent a lot of time in the early Middle Ages trying to establish itself as a legitimate reliigon. During this time, major councils convened to cover matters such as connecting the Old Testament to the New Testament, condemning early beliefs of Plato and Aristotle and establishing practices of sermons and a heirarchy of power. These councils allowed the church to pick up after Rome collapsed. The Church was able to take this opportunity to establish itself as "the single institution." (Habib) Another advantage the Church had was their "assimilation and adaption to a wider population." (PF 135-136) The church's Latinization of its teachings allowed it to reach a broader scope and connect with much of the population.

Christianity had a two-fold plan for establishing itself during the Middle Ages with the standardization of the language as well as creating the concept of monasticism. This aspect of Christianity was established by St. Basil and St. Benedict. This entailed a "strict vow of poverty, obedience, humility, labor and devotion." (Habib) It was the monks of these monasties whose duties included writing books, translating the Bible, maintaining schools, libraries and hospitals. This order "united intellectual and manual labor... in the service of God." (PF, 135) Their goal was to advance society through research and teaching rather than by the slave labor of old societies. This promoted the "indispensable bridge between two epochs, between the ancient slave mode of production and the feudal mode of production." (PF, 137)

During the very early stages of the Middle Ages, Rome was in the midst of an economic and industrial decline. Economic activity was largely controled by the local establishments and trade was very rarely done outside of these territories. This feudal, heirarchal way of life was sanctioned by the church until the rise of Carolus Magnus or Charlemagne. (Habib, 153) Charlemagne was largely responsible for taking the reach of the Roman Empire and extending it beyond central Europe and Italy. He was then crowned by pope Leo in 800, "an event which signified the formation of the Holy Empire" (Habib 153) Charlemagne was an important figure not only for his diplomatic prowess, but also for his vision for the Roman Empire. He brought about a "real administrative and cultural revival" which included sponsoring "a renovation of literature, philosophy, art and education." and most importantly, "it was in this era that the groundwork of feudalism was laid." (PF, 137, 139) Christianity found itself becoming the state religion of the Roman Empire in 381. (Habib, 154) Thus the idea of transference was concieved. Transference is "the idea of a world empire; thus it had a universal, not a national character." (Curtius, 28-29)