The 12th-century Renaissance was one of the multiple renaissances during the Middle Ages. It followed the Carolingian Renaissance which developed theological writings, historical manuscripts, and the cathedral schools; but it preceded the 15th-century Renaissance.
Compared to its 15th-century counterpart which focused on literature, the 12th-century Renaissance focused on philosophy and science. After Rome was sacked by Alaric, the West gradually forgot about classical literature, poetry, philosophy, and science. However, the Crusades gave the West access to the Arabs and their writings. During the 12th century, Hellenistic and Islamic writings were soon translated into Latin. Even though they ended horribly for the West militarily speaking, from a philosophical and literate perspective, the literate access the West obtained with the Arabs following the Crusades was an unprecedented blessing. Aristotle and Euclid were among the most prominent teachers whose writings were translated. Euclid’s writings were monumental in shaping the West’s understanding of mathematics, and Aristotle’s philosophy and science went on to guide the West for centuries. The Latin poetry of Ovid and Virgil became revered during the 12th-century Renaissance. Even Cicero was highly esteemed for his eloquent prose. Because of the Arabic translations, the West rekindled their connection to ancient and classical philosophy and science.
It did not take long for Aristotle to become the centerpiece of intellectual thought during the 12th century. Latin writers like Cicero, Ovid, and Virgil were venerated during the Renaissance, but Aristotle’s philosophical teachings captivated Western Europe like no other. For a while, the Church developed suspicion around Aristotle, but that was largely because of a misconstrued understanding of his teachings. The Muslims tended to oppose philosophy; Aristotle in particular. They regarded his philosophy as heretical for various reasons, and that was expressed in their Arabic commentaries. Following the Crusades, those commentaries were also translated into Latin. Unfortunately, the commentaries focused on disputing minor religious points that Aristotle was not dogmatic on. Rather than accepting the truth and discarding the lies in Aristotle’s teachings, the Arabs preferred to discard everything. A similar sentiment echoed in the Church when they read the Arabic commentaries, temporarily stunting the philosophical and scientific growth during the 12th-century Renaissance. However, after examining Aristotle’s writings directly, the Church deemed it as appropriate to read. In time, the numerous scholastics took the reasoning and logic that Aristotle taught and used it to advance Christianity. Saint Thomas Aquinas who is regarded as the greatest theologian and philosopher during the Middle Ages revered Aristotle. It was commonly believed that philosophical reasoning and Christianity were at odds. The scholastics attempted to disprove that and synthesize the two. It was their belief that since God created logical reasoning, it was a valuable tool. To them, if there was a contradiction between reasoning and the Bible, the reasoning was faulty or there was a faulty interpretation of the text, but reasoning in its purest form can coexist with the Bible. To help synthesize Aristotelian reasoning and the Bible, Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote the colossal book, Summa Cuma Gentiles, which laid the logical case for the existence of God. Today, the Catholic Church and many protestant denominations accept the arguments of Thomas Aquinas and venerate him as a saint. The case against studying Aristotle was quickly refuted and disappeared by the 13th century. To reiterate, Aristotle’s reasoning became a tool for the Church similar to Cicero’s rhetoric, and that was because of Arabic translations during the 12th-Century Renaissance.
The university system was another one of the developments during the 12th-century Renaissance. The precise history of how they developed is unclear. Some universities organically emerged when student bodies hired tutors, while others emerged from the cathedral schools Charlemagne started during the Carolingian Renaissance. A shadow of the medieval universities still lives on today. The modern world still distinguishes between undergraduate and graduate degrees, a system developed during the Middle Ages. Moreover, most people pursued degrees in law because of the career opportunities, and that is still a popular choice today. Other study topics were theology and medicine. However, though there are similarities between modern and medieval universities, there are also distinctions. Philosophy, rhetoric, and theology were at the forefront of universities’ curriculums, while literature was almost entirely ignored. In time, Aristotle became the centerpiece of university curriculums. As one can see, the focus on philosophy and the near dismissal of literature that was true in determining what was translated, echoed itself in the university curriculums. Oxford, Cambridge, and the University of Paris were three of the most prestigious universities that were founded during or around the 12th-century Renaissance.
The reemergence of Roman law was another product of the 12th-century Renaissance. Monarchs longed for power centralization in an attempt to reverse the effects of feudalism. Kings during the early Middle Ages varied in power, but it is a common misconception that they acted as supreme emperors. The scope of power exercised by modern prime ministers and presidents dwarfs that of medieval kings. Their power was highly limited under the feudal system with lords and vassals. It was not uncommon for lords to have more military power and political influence than their kings. That was a result of feudalism. To unravel the power decentralization undergirding the West, monarchs embraced Emperor Justinian’s Roman law. Thus, the monarchs in Western Europe gradually sequestered personal power in their families, seeking to live more like Roman emperors than feudal kings.
In conclusion, the 12th-Century Renaissance made philosophical and scientific advances, but largely ignored literature. Greek writing reemerged because the Crusades reconnected Europe with the Islamic Middle East, allowing them to translate Greek writings. In addition to a philosophical revival, the 12th-century Renaissance created medieval universities, and Western monarchs revived Roman law.
Asher Sisneros 