What was man's view of life in the Middle Ages?

Answer 1

During the Medieval period of European history, the universe was generally viewed as a multi-leveled reality. Diversely and mysteriously layered, if also inspiring, a celestial (and perfect) heaven stood above the ordinary (and imperfect) Earth. Still further below, yet beyond physical reach, was a nether-world (Hell) made up of distinct levels of its own.

Answer 2

AnswerThey beleived in thr christain religion, or god. AnswerIn the middle ages, most people were religious. The predominant religion in Europe was Christian, it the Christian Church was predominantly Roman at first, then, after 1054, Roman Catholic in the West and Eastern Orthodox in the East. There were other orthodox church groups, some of which remain today, and there were heretical groups. Other religions in Europe were Islam, especially in Spain, Judaism, and paganism, especially in the North and East, though it declined during this time.

To some extent, people accepted life on Earth as a reflection of life in the spirit. Many believed early death, women dying in childbirth, the Black Death, famine, and even War, were troubles that resulted from their own sins. So when these things happened, they sometimes sought spiritual solutions to physical problems.

They believed in science and mathematics to the extent that they could see them. They were inventive people and the list of their scientific achievements is long and impressive. One technology they developed in about the twelfth century, for example, was the chimney; not high tech, but it did mean you no longer had to have a fire in the middle of the living room floor.

They were not especially impressed by witchcraft or other things we would call superstitions, or at least not the way many people of today think they were. The laws of the Franks and Lombards, for example, explicitly forbade burning witches unless it could be actually proven that the witch had killed someone with a curse. The Reformation and counter Reformation saw a huge increase in superstitious behaviour.

They believed that the way a person cared for his body was a reflection of how that person cared for his soul. The result was that they were very clean. Even larger villages had public baths in much of Europe, and people who had no access to a public bath would bathe in the rivers and streams, even in winter. There were a few people in the church who were concerned about nudity in the baths, but the idea of changing things did not get much traction until the Renaissance, when people got perfume and stopped bathing.

They believed that diseases were distributed by bad air, which also smelled bad, and they did not have a clue about germs. So they kept clean, but they also shared drinking vessels and spoons at the dinner table.

Sometimes they believed something outlandish. A lot of people were millennialists, who believed the world would come to an end in the year 1000. It didn't happen. Of course there were millennialists who believed the world would come to an end in 2000, and that didn't happen either.

Answer 3

There was no "world view" in the Middle Ages. They saw the world as what they lived in and the rest of it was "out there". Most people never went further than 5 or 10 miles from where they were born. To get some place was very hard and took a long time. A person either had to walk, ride a horse, or use a boat to go anyplace. If a person wanted to go 30 miles from home and they walked it the trip would take several days just getting there and several more getting back. By horse it would take 3 days (10 miles a day) one way and another 3 coming back. So, that is over a week of travel and this doesn't include the dangers, bandits, weather, and other factors. The church taught them that the earth was the center of the universe and man was in charge of all so since they knew this to be true there was no reason to seek others. People couldn't read nor write and no new ideas were given to people concerning the "rest of the world."

Answer 4

unfairness, cruelty and very "god centred" but in the renaissance that way of thinking faded away because they were "human centred" and wanted to find out more about human and their mentality and humans were taken to be of primary importance so religion was less important for them and they lost interest in it which is the opposite of the medieval way of thinking. :D GOOD LUCK!

Answer 5

This is a difficult question to answer because they had so many beliefs that it's impossible to name them all. For your sake and for mine I'll name a few.

Do you mean religious beliefs?

Because they believed many things. For example, they believed that God would love them more if they went into monkhood. They thought that church was the most important thing in their society, and they believed that you had to do certain things to get to heaven and to get God to love you.

Do you mean interesting little beliefs?

Because they believed music helped digestion. And that the lute was the instrument of angels. They also thought that for God to love you when you were a monk you could only have one possession, your begging bowl.

I hope I helped, even though I only gave a small amount of info. Good luck with whatever you're doing, (I'm sure it's a project.)

-MeepClaus

Answer 6

they wanted to show others their wealth and confidence

Answer 7

There was no "worldview". This is a modern concept. If a person knew about the world beyond the 5 miles where they lived they knew a lot.

Answer 8

they though it was round