“During the Crusades, European contact with Muslims and Byzantines greatly expanded. This contact brought a new interest in learning, especially in the works of Greek philosophers. The Muslim and Byzantine libraries housed copies of these writings. Most had disappeared during the centuries following the fall of Rome and the invasions of western Europe. In the 1100s, Christian scholars from Europe began visiting Muslim libraries in Spain. Few Western scholars knew Greek but most did know Latin. So Jewish scholars living in Spain translated the Arabic versions of works by Aristotle and other Greek writers into Latin. Ibn Rushd (or Averroes), the Spanish Muslim scholar of Aristotle, was known among Europeans as “The Great Commentator” for his analyses of Aristotelian philosophy. All at once, Europeans acquired a huge new body of knowledge. This included science, philosophy, law, mathematics, and other fields. In addition, the Crusaders brought back to Europe superior Muslim technology in ships, navigation, and weapons.”

Source: Roger B. Beck, Linda Black et al., World History: Patterns of Interaction, McDougal Littell (adapted)

During the High Middle Ages, economic development sharply increased the wealth of Europe and made more resources available for education. Meanwhile, an increasingly complex society created a demand for educated individuals who could deal with complicated political, legal, and theological issues.  Beginning in the early eleventh century, bishops and archbishops in France and Northern Italy organized schools in their cathedrals and invited well-known scholars to serve as master teachers [that] attracted students from all parts of Europe.

By the 12th century the cathedral schools had established formal curricula based on writings in Latin, the official language of the Roman Catholic Church. Instruction concentrated on the liberal arts, especially new literature and philosophy. Students read the Bible and writings of the church fathers, such as St. St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and St. Ambrose, as well as classical Latin literature in a few works of Plato and Aristotle that were available in Latin translation. Some cathedral schools also offered advanced instruction in law, medicine, and theology.

About the mid twelfth century, students and teachers organized academic guilds… (A guild is an association of people created for mutual aid or the pursuit of a common goal.) Student guilds… called on teachers to provide rigorous, high-quality instruction. Faculty guilds sought two vest (empower) teachers with the right to bestow (grant) academic degrees, which served as licenses to teach in other cities, and to control the curriculum in their institutions. These guilds had the effect of transforming cathedral schools into universities.

Source: Jerry H. Bentley, Traditions and Encounters, McGraw Hill (adapted)

In the Middle Ages, some of the greatest examples of the religious feelings were found in churches like Notre Dame. These churches were built in the new Gothic style. Gothic churches were both taller and brighter than earlier churches had been. The design of Gothic churches was made possible by advances in engineering. The most important of these advances was a new type of support called the flying buttress. Earlier churches had used interior columns and braces to support the roof, which meant that ceilings were low. Flying buttresses supported a church’s walls from the outside, allowing much higher ceilings and largely eliminating the need for columns. This gave churches a much more [wide-open] feeling.… Church builders were [also] able to include much larger windows than ever before. In order to take advantage of this light, church officials hired artists to create panels of stained glass for the windows.

“The teachers in medieval universities included some of the greatest scholars of the age. Perhaps the most influential of all these scholars was Thomas Aquinas (uh-KWY-nuhs), a teacher at the University of Paris. Aquinas was keenly interested in the works of ancient philosophers, especially Aristotle. The revival of interest in the Greek philosophers sparked a major controversy in the church over how humans could learn about the world. Aristotle believed that truth could be discovered only through human reason. Christians, on the other hand, believed that truth was revealed by God and depended on faith. Aquinas tried to reconcile (bring together) the two approaches. He argued that both reason and faith were necessary for an understanding of truth. His approach, known as Scholasticism, tried to show that Christian teachings were also knowable and provable through the use of logic and reason. Thus Aquinas ensured that in western Europe human reason would remain a primary element in determining truth.”

Source 1: Susan Ramirez et al., World History: Human Legacy, Holt (adapted)

“It was necessary for man's salvation (acceptance into heaven) that there should be a knowledge revealed by God besides philosophical science built up by human reason (thinking, contemplating). Firstly, indeed, because... God... surpasses (is beyond) the grasp of [human] reason… [So] it was necessary for the salvation of man that certain truths which exceed (go beyond) human reason should be made known to him by divine revelation (teachings revealed by God through prophets)... It was therefore necessary that besides philosophical science built up by reason, there should be a sacred (religious) science learned through revelation...”

Source 2: Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica

While Latin remained the written language of scholars and churchmen, new writings began to appear in the vernacular, or everyday languages of ordinary people, such as French, German, and Italian. These writings captured the spirit of the High and Late Middle Ages. Medieval literature included epics, or long narrative poems, about knights and chivalry as well as tales of the common people.

Source: Elizabeth Gaynor Ellis and Anthony Esler, World History, Prentice Hall

In the early 1300s, Italian poet Dante Alighieri wrote the Divine Comedy, in which Dante himself goes on an imaginary journey to Hell (Inferno), through Purgatory (Purgatorio), and into Heaven (Paradiso). The selections below come from Inferno, through which he is guided by the Roman poet Virgil. Read the quote below and answer the questions.

I saw Electra with many companions, among whom I knew both Hector and Aeneas, Caesar in armor… and alone, apart, I saw the Saladin. When I raised my brow a little more, I saw the Master of those who know (Aristotle), seated amongst the philosophic family… Here I saw both Socrates and Plato… Democritus… Diogenes, Anaxagoras, and Thales, Empedocles, Heraclitus, and Zeno; and I saw Avicenna (Ibn Sina)… and Averroës (Ibn Rushd), who made the great commentary (on the works of Aristotle).