MUAR 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Neume, Religious Ecstasy, Hildegard Of Bingen
3 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
This reliance on scripture gave the christian church a special reason to preserve literacy during the political turmoil of the early medieval period, and to promote it among priests, monks, nuns, and other members of the clergy. After the fourth century, centers of power in the christian church from prosperous italian courts to the widely scattered monastic communities throughout europe created libraries, book binderies, and scriptoriums, and served as centers of learning and book making. The strongest political, cultural and musical center was the eastern portion of christendom, centered in the new capital of the roman empire at constantinople, or byzantium, to use its traditional name (modern istanbul). Church, the liturgy and music of which is only loosely connected to the church of rome. St. ambrose, the fourth-century bishop of milan (now in italy), promoted the singing of hymns and composed texts of several great hymns, though he probably did not invent the music.
