Week 2 Notes: Origins of the Middle Ages and Romanticism

Historiography as a concept: the first tool in the historian’s toolbox.
The history of writing history: examining what influences the creation of any given historical work.
Key questions:
- How do we know what we know?
- How can we correct mistakes made by historians in the past?
Universally, history essays, books, etc. must include a historiographical section (the state of the field).
The discipline of history is constantly updating and revaluating what previous generations determined; revisionism is fundamental to historical study.

Petrarch’s journey to Rome after touring Germany; he criticizes the city as a “broken city” with ruins (Letter to Giovanni, ca. $1341-1351$ ).
He contrasts Classical Italian culture/achievements with Medieval Gothic (German) culture and achievements.
Petrarch and others begin referring to the German past as “Medium Aevum” (the Middle time) — the interval between Classical and Modern.
Italian art develops/interprets as explicitly anti-German; later German/Dutch art also develops in reaction to Roman themes/styles.

Causes for a new aristocracy: Capitalism, wars, and colonialism spur the emergence of a new aristocracy.
Landed families seek to establish legitimacy in the eyes of peers and subjects.
Scarcity of official records from the Middle Ages makes forged documents claiming noble lineage relatively easy.
This trend is common across Europe, especially in the UK and France.
By the late 18th century, the nobility’s legitimacy starts to decline as social turmoil grows; it becomes more acceptable for middle-class backgrounds to enter academia and nationalist projects.

German nationalism begins as a reaction to Italian nationalism, evidenced by the writing of the first of the German History books in $1531$ .
German academics begin collecting stories to demonstrate a unified German culture; the Middle Ages and Gothic elements become a perceived national trait of Germanness.
Even the font used in some contexts is meant to mimic medieval handwriting.
Germany becomes an academic and cultural center in the 18th century (the 1700s).

In $1760$ , Scottish poet James Macpherson claims to have discovered a national epic for Gaelic peoples: The Poems of Ossian.
Ossian is said to be based on Finn McCool (Gaelic: Fionn Mac Cumhaill) and attributed to the unknown bard Ossian.
Published to widespread international acclaim; Ossian is dubbed the Gaelic Homer.
By $1775$ , questions arise about Ossian’s veracity, and the hoax is publicly exposed.
Despite the hoax, Ossian’s popularity continues to influence 18th-century literature and inspires a generation to seek medieval epics as national symbols.
Visual reference: Ossian Singing, by Nicolai Abildgaard, $1787$ .

1731: Cotton Vitellius A.XV Manuscript of Beowulf discovered (the only surviving Beowulf manuscript) and soon celebrated as the national epic of England.
Throughout the 19th century, “archaeological evidence” is used to support the epic’s authenticity.
$1800$ : Swedish historian Eric Geijer publishes The Viking, sparking renewed fascination with late Iron Age Scandinavians.
Both Scandinavian and British writers produce Viking-focused stories.
Walter Scott’s The Pirate (1828) advances the idea of Vikings as a British white legacy.
Public sculpture: Statue of Leif Eriksson (Anne Whitney) in Commonwealth Avenue Mall, Boston, $1887$ .

$4$ August $1789$ : The National Assembly in Paris abolishes feudal privileges by ending seigneurial rights of the Second Estate (nobility) and the tithes of the First Estate (clergy).
Edmund Burke publishes Reflections on the Revolution in France (1791), arguing a conservative defense of traditional structures and invoking the Middle Ages in opposition to democratic reforms.
The Middle Ages are championed as part of British national heritage in opposition to radical French republicanism.

Origins in Germany with Strum und Drang (storm and stress) movement, associated with Goethe and others, in the late 18th century.
Popular in the UK through Wordsworth and Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads (1798).
Other major Romantics: Lord Byron, John Keats, William Blake, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Walter Scott, etc.
Core tenet: rejection of Enlightenment rationalism; embrace of the emotional and irrational medieval past as a prelapsarian, pure time.
Broad anti-stance against science, war, industry, exploitation, pollution, and capitalism.

Opera as a relatively new art form increasingly adopting Romantic medieval settings and themes.
German operas by Weber, Schubert, Marschner, Wagner, and Schumann gain popularity, blending historical fantasy with nationalist messages.
The Arts and Crafts movement (William Morris and Morris & Co., founded in $1861$ ) champions traditional craft aesthetics and forms, influencing home decor and fashion; also serves as a precursor to Art Nouveau.
Arthur Rackham’s illustration of Brünnhilde the Valkyrie from Wagner’s Ring Cycle (early 20th century reference in the slide, noted as 1910) reflects visual culture surrounding Romantic-medieval themes.