Document 1 (Geography)

Source: St. Thomas Aquinas, an Italian Dominican friar and Catholic priest,
Summa Theologica, c. 1269-71.
To take usury for money lent is unjust in itself, because this is to sell what does not exist,
and this evidently leads to inequality which is contrary to justice....
Now money, according to the Philosopher (Ethics v, Polit. i) was invented chiefly for the
purpose of exchange: and consequently the proper and principal use of money is its
consumption or alienation
Whereby it is sunk in exchange. Hence it is by its very nature unlawful to take payment
for the use of money lent, which payment is known as usury: and just as man is bound to
restore ill-gotten goods, so is he bound to restore the money which he has taken in
usury....
A lender may without sin enter an agreement with the borrower for compensation for the
loss he incurs of something he ought to have, for this is not to sell the use of money but to
avoid a loss. It may also happen that the borrower avoids a greater loss than the lender
incurs, wherefore the borrower may repay the lender with what he has gained. But the
lender cannot enter an agreement for compensation, through the fact that he makes no
profit out of his money: because he must not sell that which he has not yet and may be
prevented in many ways from having....

Summary: St. Thomas describes how to lend and borrow money in the thirteenth century
without leading to inequality between the lender and borrower. This document could be
used to argue the Catholic churches sense of economy and what they believed to be fair.
Document Reference: In St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica, he explains how to
lend and borrow money in the thirteenth century without leading to inequality between
the lender and borrower (Doc.1).
Point of view: As a priest, St. Thomas would have wanted his followers to understand
important parts of economy, such as the distribution of money, because of how influential
religion was in the middle ages.
http://legacy.fordham.edu/Halsall/source/aquinas-usury.asp

Document 2 (Geography)
Source: Unknown, Description of Manor House at Chingford, Essex, 1265
An account of the manor house made for the chapter of St. Paul's Cathedral in London at
a time when it was granted to Robert Le Moyne in 1265.
He received also a sufficient and handsome hall well ceiled with oak. On the western side
is a worthy bed, on the ground, a stone chimney, a wardrobe and a certain other small
chamber; at the eastern end is a pantry and a buttery. Between the hall and the chapel is
a side-room. There is a decent chapel covered with tiles, a portable altar and a small
cross. In the hall are four tables on trestles. There are likewise a good kitchen wel
covered with tiles, with a furnace and ovens, one large, the other small, for cakes, two
tables, and alongside the kitchen a small house for baking. Also a new granary covered
with oak shingles, and a building in which the dairy is contained, though it is divided.
Likewise a chamber suitable for clergyman and an inner chamber. Also a henhouse.
These are within the inner gate.
Likewise outside of that gate are an old house for the servants, a good stable, long and
divided, and to the east of the principal building, beyond the smaller stable, a solar for
the use of the servants. Also a building in which is contained a bed; also two barns, one
for wheat and one for oats. These buildings are enclosed with a moat, a wall, and a
hedge. Also beyond the middle gate is a good barn, and a stable of cows and another for
oxen, these old and ruinous. Also beyond the outer gate is a pigsty.

Summary: Middle Ages Feudalism was based on the exchange of land, called a fief, for
military service creating estates that were known as Manors. This document could be
used to demonstrate the life under the Medieval Feudal System, demanding that everyone
owed allegiance to the King and their immediate superior.
Document Reference: In the Description of Manor House at Chingford, the author
explains the extent of the land belonging to defeated kingdoms, which were taken and
given to supporting knights and nobles (Doc. 2).
Point of view: Kings used the concept of feudalism to reward their supporters for their
help in the conquest of other enemies.
http://legacy.fordham.edu/Halsall/source/chingford.asp

Document 3 (Geography)
Source: Robert, Bishop of Lige, Protection of fishing rights c. 1246
The days of primitive agrarian economy were long past when owners of property
protected even their fishing rights by the serious penalty of excommunication. As early as
Carolingian times seigneurs and abbots sold the fish taken from streams on their property,
thus obtaining no small revenue. Fishing in feudal times was an important manorial right.
Robert, by the grace of God, Bishop of Lige, to all his beloved sons, the priests of SaintTrond, greeting in the Lord.
We admonish each of you and command you to prohibit in general, publicly and
solemnly, all people from fishing in the waters of Willebempt and in the other streams of
our beloved and faithful son, the Abbot of Saint-Trond, situated in the town of SaintTrond, without permission or without the command of the said abbot. Those who do
otherwise you shall excommunicate, and with lighted candles and bells ringing you shall
announce the excommunication publicly on each Sunday and Holyday---a general
excommunication for those not known to you, and particular excommunication for those
known to you. This you shall do as often as you may be asked to do it by the said abbot,
or ordered to do so at his command.
Given in the year of the Lord 1246, on the Thursday after the feast of Saint Lambert.
Summary: In order to protect his manorial rights, Robert ordered anyone who fishes in
his waters to be excommunicated. This document could be used to explain how important
manorial rights were in the middle ages and how far higher-ups were willing to go to
protect even their fishing rights.
Document Reference: In the Protection of fishing rights, The Bishop of Lige explains
that if anyone is to fish in these certain areas they will certainly be excommunicated
(Doc. 3).
Point of view: Robert shows that as a bishop he has the power to banish anyone who
fishes on his property, enforcing the supreme rule of the church and ensuring all of his
manorial rights.
http://legacy.fordham.edu/Halsall/source/1246Fishrts.asp

Document 4 (Geography)
Source: Cartulary of Saint-Trond, Cartulaire de l'Abbaye de Saint-Trond, c.1243
Grants of allodial land, like grants in free alms, carried no condition of service, though
they were often subject to a quit-rent. Such land was common before A.D. 400 and again
in Charlemagne's time, but the late invasions compelled the holders of allodial land to
commend themselves to an overlord. Their usual holding was not more than 120 acres.
Thomas, by the grace of God, Abbot, and the whole community of the monastery of
Saint-Trond, to all people, present and future, eternal greeting in the Lord. Since those
things which are done in our time are swiftly forgotten by men, it is necessary that they
be made more lasting by being put in writing. Let all know, therefore, that our two
holdings of allodial land at Donck, i.e., the one around our demesne and houses at Donck,
the other between Corpt and Donck---we have divided so that what we have chosen there
will be for our special use. As for what is left, both the marsh around our demesne of
Donck, and the pasture between Corpt and Donck, we have bestowed it on our tenants
there, and on the tenants residing at Haelen, to be held in common by them and us
forever. The conditions of this tenure are that all those tenants shall pay annually to us,
within the octave of Easter, one gold denarius of five Louvain solidi, or, at their option,
five Louvain solidi, in recognition that we have conferred that allodial land upon them.
Let them appoint, by common consent, a bailiff who will be responsible to us for that
money, or, if he be negligent in collecting it, for the amount imposed on each tenant.
Moreover, it was agreed in our presence, Thomas the abbot, Henry of Villeke our
advocate, Robert of Tane our bailiff of Donck, Henry, knight of Velpen, Christian the
advocate of Saint-Trond, William, knight of Montenake, Henry, knight of Duras, George,
knight of Zelck, the reeves of our court, and all the tenants in general court, that if any of
the said tenants should take to the pastures any herd which had not been bought by him,
or which had not been in his care during the winter, he should be considered as being in
debt to the court of Donck to the extent of five solidi as often as he was known to have
done this thing. Moreover, if any one, which God forbid, should chance to molest us or
the said tenants in this matter of the allodial land, we and the same tenants bind ourselves
to take care of our rights at mutual expense.
Summary: The community of the monastery of Saint-Trond and its higher-ups created
this document to create almost a taxation, people living on this land would pay a certain
amount of money in order to keep their rights to the land. This document could be used to
explain how religious and political officials are able to manipulate things such as taxes to
their advantage.
Document Reference: The late invasions compelled the holders of allodial land to
commend themselves to an overlord (Doc. 4).
Point of view: The rulers of this land show their absolute power by dividing up the land
and making taxes and laws everyone must abide by.
http://legacy.fordham.edu/Halsall/source/1243Meadows.asp

Document 5 (English)
J. Bottum, The Wilson Quarterly, JSTOR. Woodrow Wilson International Center for
Scholars, 1999. Web. 24 May 2015

Document Reference: J. Bottums review of Dantes works, The Wilson Quarterly

Summary: Bottum describes the influence Dantes books had in the middle ages, but also
the influence it still has today. He also emphasizes its complexity and the inability to
fully understand all of its concepts.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/40259979.pdf

Document 6 (English)
Julian Weiss, The Modern Language Review Vol. 86, JSTOR. Modern Humanities
Research Association, 1991. Web. 24 May 2015
To move on to a more substantial issue, the first point the commentator chooses to
emphasize is the connexion between poetry and rhetoric. This is hardly an original
view: the notion that there was a bond linking poets to orators constituted one of the
central literary-theoretical traditions of the Middle Ages, one which stretched back
to classical antiquity. But this tradition had, of course, many branches, and the way
the notion is formulated in this particular text gives us clues as to which branch this
commentator belonged. Poetry, he tells us, results from the ability to 'representar
propriamente las concebidas cosas' (p. I35). Compare this with the precept put
forward by Enrique de Villena in his poetic treatise El arte de trovar: castigating those
who believe that poetry is merely a matter of elaborate versifying, he declares that its
true essence lies in conceptual clarity. The authentic poet is the one who is able to
communicate his thoughts, or 'invenciones', 'con aquella propiedat [con] que
fueron concebidas'.10 The similarity in wording is not enough to confirm the
attribution of the Petrarchan commentary to Villena, but it is a valuable piece of
contributory evidence, especially when considered together with
Document Reference: Weiss review on Petrarch, The Modern Language Review
Summary: Weiss describes the bond linking poets to orators constituted one of the
central literary-theoretical traditions of the Middle Ages.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3732087.pdf

Document 7 (English)
Filippo, Brunelleschi. The sacrifice of Isaac c.1401-1402. Digital Image. Web. 24 May
2015

Document Reference: Brunelleschis religious artwork titled The sacrifice of Isaac

Summary: The sacrifice of Isaac depicts the bible scripture Genesis 22. God asked
Abraham to offer his only son as a burnt offering to God on a mountain in the region of
Moriah. Abraham did as God asked and headed off with his son, a donkey, and two of his
servants. Once Abraham saw the place God had told him about, he had his servants to
wait with the donkey. When they reached that place, Abraham built an altar there, bound
his son and placed him on top of the wood on the altar. With a knife Abraham reached
out to slay his son, but an angel of the Lord called out from heaven and told him to not
lay a hand on the boy. A ram then appeared and Abraham sacrificed it as a burnt offering
instead of his son. This whole scripture depicted in this part of a door displays how
religion was incorporated into art in the middle ages.

Document 8 (English)
Anthony L. Pellegrini. Dante Studies, with the Annual Report of the Dante Society,
JSTOR. Dante Society of America, 1984. Web. 25 May 2015

Document Reference: Pellegrinis document on Dante, Dante Studies, with the Annual
Report of the Dante Society
Summary: Anthony takes other studies of Dante to display his influence on the world and
the different concepts he has helped create.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/40166351.pdf?acceptTC=true