Ottoman Empire

The ottoman empire rose and became the strongest empire during this time. They conquered many different civilizations and countries. they were a very successful civilization during this time. I find their economic view to be very interesting. the state functioned as an extension of the sultan household. their economic system aimed to maximize prosperity and wealth by military conquest. I think this is very interesting because it seems that these military conquest made this civilization financially prosperous as well and military sufficient too. I think it is also interesting that the states servants were exempt from taxation. seems like this tough civilization had some sympathy for its servants. small scale urban industry and trade was a major way to acquire wealth during this time. this is a theme that has come up in topics before. such as last week when the guest speaker came and spoke about italy and trade. seems to be a reoccurring theme throughout this class. This system was ruled by one sultan. sultan Suleyman was the main reason of his prosperous civilization. he lead his empire to success and domination. the highest governing body during this time was the imperial council. the state handled petitions and complaints from peasants. this was very unusual during this time. this text also says that the Ottoman central government displayed an attitude of flexibility and willingness to negotiate. I found this very interesting because I saw this empire as a very tough and ruthless society. I never knew that they had this organized of a court system and were actually an understand civilization.

dante

one thing i found interesting about this essay is how she talks about the history of how christians felt about islam during this time. their attitudes towards islam reflected fear of the new and of the political and cultural expansion of islamic civilization. This reflects why dante has place Muhammad in hell with him because it reflects his own feelings. she also states that after these christian authors wrote negatives things about islam it was then followed by an apologetic statement. possible to make christianity look better and more holy. she also talks a lot about the different tones in these christian literatures. another thing she brings up in her essay is  that during this time to the christian writers it seemed as though the arabic people were invading peoples and barbarians. this explains a lot about why they wrote about them they way they did during this time. although there are all of these authors writing negatively about islam there were christian authors who wrote about islam and christianity being harmonious and speaks of the commonalities of the two religions.

decameron

One theme that i think runs through the Decameron is religion. in the story of abraham Gianotto is trying to convince abraham to convert from judaism to christianity. All the while abraham says no he was born a jew and wants to die a jew. I think this part about converting everyone else who is christian into christianity relates to what we talked about in class on monday. This is similar to pilgrimage. So Abraham insists that he got to rome to witness the pope and cardinals and then he will make his decision. His friend doesn't want him to go because he is afraid that when he sees how corrupt, gluttonous and greedy they are he will choose not to convert. Abraham sees how horrible the pope and cardinals act and how they do not follow the expectations of the religion. He thinks this is so horrible, he then thinks to himself, even though these people are so corrupt this is the most popular and fast spreading religion. he then decides that this could only be the work of god. He then converts to Christianity to his friends surprise. I find this very surprising, its almost as if because of all the sin he saw attracted him more to the religion. i think this story also perpetuates the authority of the church. which during this time was emphasized in art and many different texts. religion is a main theme that runs throughout these stories, and they are all about converting people into the right religion (christianity). i find it interesting how easy it was for abraham to just abandon his religion for another one. I don't know if it would have been so easy for me to change my religion upon a visit to rome.  

middle ages travel stories

Travel around the Mediterranean world in the Middle Ages and Renaissance was driven by several factors, trade, warfare, and religious pilgrimage. the main character Kempe finds the holy sites so powerful because she feels that she has a connection to them. she can see different events very vividly as is she is reliving them, possibly because of this connection, she also feels the same suffering and pain that Christ experienced. I find this to be very interesting, She feels so close to christ that she feels the same pain he felt. She becomes so emotionally involved that she weeps and even thrashes  around. There is also extreme detailing of her reactions to the different holy sites she visits, the text describes how Kempe’s “countrymen” constantly reject her during the pilgrimage. When this happens, strangers of different cultural areas help are nice to her and help her. For example, when she visits Mount Quarentyne where Jesus fasted for 40 days, she asks for help climbing up the mountain, and those from her area refuse. Kempe is able to spend time and share in religious experiences with people of different cultures because of the help and kindness she received from others.  because of this rejection that Kempe experiences it is almost like she is suffering and feeling what Christ went through when he was rejected by his people. i think that this helps her gain something spiritually, she learns from the rejection and the experiences in this text.

book of good love part two

In the text about the Mountain girls, the priest goes on a journey and asks these mountain girls for shelter. in order to get this shelter he must bring them gifts in exchange for shelter. in addition to this he has sex with the mountain girls. I think the mountain girls represent a personal journey and a journey through love. he starts out having sex with them and then he leaves to go onto his next destination. In addition to this the women also point him into the right direction for his next journey. I think that this symbolizes that the women provide as guides for him on his personal journey. after having sex with the first two mountain girls he then decides to marry the third one even though he said he did not want to get married. Then when he meets the 4th mountain girl he says that he can not offer her gifts or sex because he is already married. that seems to not be the only reason, he describes in grave detail how hideous this girl is. maybe if she was more attractive he would be more interested in her. The main in this story seems to only be interested in looks and also seems very promiscuous. I also think that the way this story is written it seems like in the first part we get an inner dialogue and what he thinks about the women and the situation from his perspective. then we get a song that he has written about each girls which seems to be a more glorified perspective of the encounter. the songs also make it seem that he had such an easy time getting them to have sex with him, which was not the case. I found this story to be very funny.

book of good love day one

This text begins with the fable of the Greeks and Romans. Although this seems to be a comedy there is a serious message here. I interpret this fable as a kind of rivalry between the Greeks and Roman.Throughout the text it seemed that the Romans were trying to adopt some of the cultural aspects that the Greeks follow such as laws and the same sort of power that they had during this time. the text portrayed tension between the two cultures. this is especially seen when they are signing to each other. The main theme of the code of love was presented in Love to the Archpriest, specifically upon the woman he paints here. When Archpriest states that such a woman does not exist and yet he will continue to compose poetry I feel he's choosing to believe something that might not exist in the real world.He is painting the picture of what a perfect woman should be like because he wants fall in love with a a perfect woman. This only perpetuates the idea that the perfect woman exists, which is absolutely not true. no one is perfect or ever will be perfect.  in addition if the woman is not interested in him she wont give him the time of day like when he sends the message to her, If she does not want to be part of the love that he is showing  she just wont reply to the message that he sent her. 

Songs of Holy Mary

Song #16
The knight chose to love Mary above all other women. One important theme is that love is crazy. In this song desire is compared to the "devils work". Once the knight falls in love, he pursues this love like a madman. Also, when the knight visits the abbot, the abbot wants to “rid him of his passion” because he is sure that it will lead to evil. this song emphasizes how powerful love is and its potential to influence the way people act. The idea of choosing to love something that does not exist in the natural world over the an actual person is also an important concept in this story. The knight chooses Mary because he thinks she embodies perfection. I think that Mary is supposed to represent the perfect kind of love that mortals can never attain. The religious implication in this text is that love can only be satisfied through God or religion because it is the truest kind of love. this is important because during this time the people of spain were going through religious transformation and were told that Christianity is the right religion as opposed to Judaism,


Song #5
The plot of this song is how the empress over came many struggles with the help of the Holy Mary. The main theme is the vindictive way people acted during this time when they thought someone did something decitful. They acted by only what they heard from each other and didn't act after getting proof. the empress was upset because her loved emperor had to leave to Jerusalem show his loyalty to god. now to make matters even worse the emperor's brother admitted to the empress that he loved her. He has betrayed his brother, this shows the theme of vengefully  driven people. The Holy Mary aids the empress in her time of need, in the ocean, during her beatings. The Holy Mary saved the empress from hunger and gave her the strength. The people join together to excommunicate and kill the people they belive to have betrayed someone or stolen. The empress was continulosuly hurt by people who had loved her.