11 Rhetoric in Christian Europe

Summary

Christianity was legalized in the early 4th century, only about a century later the Roman Empire lost control of most of Europe and was a minor power in comparison to prior. This was a significant change as the society of the time switched from paganism to monotheism. As the empire had fallen rhetoric seem to have fallen with it. Much of Greek rhetoric had been lost with some Roman lost as well. There were very few who taught it, and those who did teach in private. In some cities in Italy such as Bologna and Venice, there were still teachers of rhetoric but it was not until the Christian church began to utilize rhetoric that rhetoric made a comeback.

Greek and Roman vs. Christianity

As the church came into power, it controlled just about all aspects of life, public and private. During Medieval Europe, legislation and judicial courts lessened in society as well as their contribution to rhetoric. Much of the rhetoric that had been lost was due to conquests by other European groups who destroyed educational places such as libraries, which got rid of most writings since many were only done once, or very few times.

Some viewed rhetoric with high suspicion, due to its basis being pagan at the origin of society. The small amounts of rhetoric from these times were heavily analyzed, as they were considered a basis for the persecution of Christians as rhetoric is used as means of persuasion. Rhetoric progressed slowly in Europe due to its connection with paganism which was considered immoral to Christianity. It took centuries for rhetoric to come back into view as it once was, so during this period it was more regarded with writing than speaking. As so much was lost, it was looked at in a smaller regard than where it really stands.

Popular Rhetoricians’ Rhetoric

A famous Roman rhetorician named Cicero, was a basis for Medieval society. Many more rhetoricians came to fruition at a chance to adapt the meaning of what once was classical rhetoric to a Christian society.

St. Augustine

Saint Augustine is considered one of the most prolific rhetoricians and authors writing well over 100 books and speeches in thirty years. He was born as the Roman Empire collapsed and Christianity took hold. He ended up converting to Christianity ultimately, but prior to then wrote and taught rhetoric based on the teachings of Cicero. Augustine focused more on the power of speech than of the substance that it contained, this style is referred to as the Second Sophistic. This style “dominated the fourth-century Roman schools. . .” according to Calvin Troup, an Augustine scholar.^[1]

Augustine eventually went against this version of rhetoric as he believed it was a misuse of the practice and attempted to teach how it could be useful to Christian teachings. One of his popular books was Confessions, which discussed the teachings as well as his conversion to Christianity. One of his other most popular books is called De Doctrina Christiana, which covers the ideal of how preaching should be done for God in the best way as well as seeking truth in Christianity. The book also explained away for the Bible to be taught and supported in society. This is considered one of the most influential works of the Middle Ages.

Martianus Capella

Martianus Capella is most often associated with the belief that rhetoric opposed the idea of Christianity. He was one of the late Roman rhetoricians after Rome lost control of some of Europe. His most famous work was The Marriage of Philology and Mercury which gave way to reason of the medieval core of education being the several liberal arts: grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and harmonics. He is also known for comparing rhetoric to a heavily armed woman, especially as women typically are able to create human life, and provide sustenance for it like rhetoric does to speech, and being armed it can bring some together and disband others.

Boethius

Boethius is often associated with his writing, The Consolation of Philosophy which was penned in prison to challenge a King’s oppressive tendencies. He attempted to advance what was left of Greek works, translating them into Latin. His version of rhetoric is more closely associated with what is viewed as dialectic.

Rhetoric and Medieval Education

A large part of the Middle Ages and its education was a practice called scholasticism. It was a system of religion and philosophy based on Aristotelian thought and Christian writings, with a basis in attempting to apply Christianity to prior philosophy. It’s basis of teaching used sententiae, quaestiones, and disputatio.

Women in Medieval Education

During the Middle Ages, many women were educated and literate. By roughly the twelfth century more women than men were educated, likely due to men being sent for military service on crusades. They were taught medicine as well due to the military service and influx. In the following century or so, wealthier women had more opportunities in education such as university as well as landing important jobs in local communities.

Speech and Writing in the High Middle Ages

Speech during this time was typically broken into two systems, preaching and letter speaking. Preaching is what you would expect of attempting to tell a religious story in an impactful way to the public, and getting people riled up with it. It is considered a means of moral persuasion. On the other hand, you have the art of letter speaking. This may sound strange, but letters were not typically read by the intended recipient but by someone else to the intended recipient, which also affected how letters were written so they sounded appealing to the ear.

Writing was also primarily separated into two distinct practices, letter writing, and poetry. Letter writing was quite complex as there were many stages for it to be broken into and the proper pieces of a letter there were essentially required to be which could be called the “standard five-part epistolary structure”.

Writings, especially those in letters, tended to lean towards masculine style, as that are the people who would actually write much of the letters, as many would tell someone what to write and the actual writer would make it appealing to hear. Poetry during this time seemed to be of a similar level as it was not really meant for deeper meaning but to sound good.

Conclusion

Although the Church believed that rhetoric could be a major danger to their rise in society based on its pagan origin, they realized it was a necessity for them to keep power. The Church changed the course of rhetoric, from being a matter of substance and discussion to a more artistic approach focused on good-sounding words. Women were more involved during this time in rhetoric- and at some point, surpassed the number of men that practiced it due to war. Rhetoric became more recognized for the potential power and persuasion that it has with changing society.