University of Santa Clara - Redwood Yearbook (Santa Clara, CA)

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THE REDWOOD 15 able whether he could master all the details, and fathom all the experiments which led to the glor ious result before him. ' ' Eealizing the great expenditure of labor and material neeessaiy for the construction of a cathedral it seems surprising that almost every town of twenty thousand had a magnificent church. In the thirteenth century, twenty superb edifices were erected in England, whose population was less than three million. The cities engaged in the construction of cathedrals did not bring architects or skilled mechan- ics from other places. Each one took pride in exhibiting their own work- manship, and each one sought to outdo other towns. The workmen them- selves, invented and made any mechan- ical appliance necessary or helpful to their work. That a Mediaeval city of about twenty thousand, for there were few larger, should produce of itself, such a marvelous piece of architecture, speaks well of the general abilities of the people of the time. The Gothic churches are another substantial proof that the Middle Ages are not Dark Ages. Painting did not attain the perfec- tion reached by architecture, its devel- opments was delayed to a later period ; but it was not neglected. Two very famous names, Cimabue and Giotto, come in the thirteenth century. The latter especially deserves notice. Be- fore his time the figures on the canvas were stiff and awkward. The design of a piece was limited by custom to a certain number of figures in a certain position, etc. He broke the chains of conventionalism and made his fig- ures natural. Though Giotto did not equal in technique some of the later painters, he equaled, if he did not sur- pass, even Raphael, in originality. For forty years he painted throughout Italy, spreading appreciation and a de- sire for real art. Cimabue ' s work for art Avas similar to that of Giotto ' s, he helped in the work of making painting natural and thus helped the revival of painting during the Renaissance. In other lines there was substantial progress. The stained glass of the ca- thedrals is unsurpassed to this day. The hinges, door-knockers, chalices made without Modern machines, are quite as good as work of our own time, at least in design. The industrial arts were not given the attention that the fine arts received, but some noteworthy inventions were made during the Middle Ages. Mention of hand-printing by type or carved plates has been found in manu- scripts dating from the tenth century. A way of making paper from cotton rags was discovered in 1100 when the capture of Egypt by the Turks put an end to the importation of papyrus. Spectacles were invented in 1285. Roger Bacon, at an earlier date, de- scribed the principle of lenses and told how they could be made. The first clock was made by Gerbert, a monk, 1100, who afterwards became Pope Sylvester II.

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14 THE REDWOOD cial conditions, this age is superior to Mediaeval times in this respect. But neither in arts nor literature, are we able to equal the Middle Ages. It seems surprising that this enlightened period should be unable to equal the arts and the literature of a Dark age. Yet it is most true. For what author, in the last century, has approached Dante, or what philosopher, (I do not mean theorist) has equaled St. Thomas? Do any of our structures merit a place besides the Gothic cathedrals? What Modern painter compares with Giotto? T shall first treat of the greatest ar- tistic glory of the Middle Ages, its won- derful churches, their only equals are the temples built in the golden age of Athens, five centuries before Christ, which are now left to us only as ruins. The architecture of Imperial Rome is in no way to be compared with them. Cer- tainly Modern buildings are even less worthy of a place beside them. Reinach, an authority on architec- ture says, If the aim of architecture considered as an art, should be to free itself as much as possible from subjec- tion to its materials, it may be said that no buildings have realized this idea, more than the Gothic churches. Like every great work of art they are the embodiment of noble emotions, of sublime thoughts. The building of churches was the chief outlet for the artistic spirit of the age. Everyone took interest in their erection, those en- gaged in the work spared no pains to make the object of their efforts, no matter how insignificant, ideally beau- tiful. The charm which they possess is not the result of mere size. The Mod- ern sky-scrapers elicit no such admira- tion as is given the cathedrals. It is the soul breathed from their spires, from their jeweled windows that im- presses us so powerfully. The churches were not built with the prevalent Mod- ern spirit of satisfying the specifica- tions of a contract at the least expense. It is almost needless to say that the finest material was used in their con- struction, but what counted infinitely more than the stone and mortar of which they were made, was the thor- ough-going, painstaking manner in which they were made. Nothing was rushed to completion. Sometimes a cen- tury was taken to build a church. Num- berless experiments were perfomned to determine how to produce certain ef- fects. A characteristic of the Gothic churches was the numerous and won- derful windows, the stained glass of which is yet to be equalled. These win- dows, together with the statues and pictures, depicted episodes in the Old and New Testaments and incidents in the lives of the Saints, which, taken as a whole, constituted a kind of a lay- man ' s Bible that appealed to the eye and could be understood by all. The secret of the success of the Gothic churches seems to have been a complete control over details, beautiful in themselves, for the purpose of heightening the effect of the whole. Ferguson in his History of Archi- tecture says, If any man were to devote a life-time to the study of one of the great cathedrals it is question-

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16 THE REDWOOD Silk was first cultivated in France during the twelfth century. The postoffice may be said to haA e originated in the Middle Ages. To fa- cilitate communication between the students and their parents, the large universities established regular carrier routes on which mails were carried at a fixed rate. This system extended and amplified resulted in Modern postal service. But the industries were not so ard- ently cultivated as at present and there is not reason to look down upon the age on this score. In the fine arts, which are of as much importance as industrial arts, the thirteenth century surpassed us. Most people exulting in the glory of the Renaissance forget that many art- ists were infusing culture, developing the people ' s taste and in every way preparing for the Eevival. It is a max- im of history that no great age owes its greatness to what itself alone has made, but rather to giving a fitting climax to what has been done before. In one re- spect Mediaeval art is superior to that of the Renaissance. In the Middle Ages, art had a purpose, which was the same as that of the whole human race, to glorify God. Art for art ' s sake alone was unknown. The archi- tecture, painting, sculpture of the pe- riod reflected the love and v orship of the Lord. With the Renaissance, a utilitarian spirit set in which has waxed stronger ever since resulting in the blight of true art. As Ruskin said, This pesky Renaissance has over- whelmed everything artistic. But the Middle Ages did not despise what was useful. The maxim of he who com- bines beauty with utility gains every- thing, well expresses the sentiment of the best part of the Mediaeval pe- riod. A consideration of the cathedrals, of the development of painting and of the minor arts, of the fact that when all this was done Europe did not have one-twentieth as many people as it now has, so that the proportional number of geniuses developed must have been far greater than at present, should do much to vindicate the Middle Ages. Before taking up Mediaeval litera- ture a few words should be said of Mediaeval science which made its greatest progress during the thirteenth century. Foremost among the scien- tists was Roger Bacon. He is the fath- er of inductive reasoning and in his writings he strenuously advocated a greater devotion to experiment and ob- servation in gaining knowledge, and not too much trust in what is accepted as true. Though he did not discover explosives he must have been ac- quainted with them, for in his Opus Magnum we find a statement that one may call to burst forth from bronze thunderbolts more formidable than those produced by nature. He also an- ticipated the use of explosives as a source of power and declared that it was possible to construct a boat and a carriage which would move without oarsmen or horses. Though Bacon was not the discoverer of lenses, he prob-