Augustine’s Influence on Medieval Historical Interpretation
Augustine and Historical Interpretation
The theory developed by Augustine of Hippo is presented in the seven books of Historiarum adversus paganos. His history is the story of a series of blame and punishment, merit and prizes, where seemingly random events find their explanation. Perhaps one of the most comprehensive ways to express the concept of providential history is found in the so-called Prophetic Chronicle, in which he explains, by the prophecies of Ezekiel, the entry of Muslims into the Peninsula and announced their expulsion or prophecies once met the target assigned by God.
Starting from the ideas of St. Augustine, the historian gives God control of the historical process, justifies the successes and failures by divine intervention, and gives credibility to legendary tales, such as the series of miraculous wonders announced to three children regarding the proximity of the death of Charlemagne, according to his biographer Eginhard.
The ideas of Augustine of Hippo retain some of their force to modern times, but are affected by the increasing value that philosophers give to reason, i.e., the loss of exclusivity of theology, as Averroes in the Muslim field, Maimonides in the Jewish, and behind them, philosophers like Aquinas among Christians accept the Aristotelian theories. Truth can be accessed through faith and, through reason, history without abandoning entirely the field of theology, thus passing to become part of the philosophy that aims to understand the universal meaning of human events.
The Reformation was not opposed in principle to the ideas of Augustine of Hippo, but by advocating a return to primitive Christianity, that reformers considered altered by the pontiffs, accentuates the vision of the Middle Ages as a dark period or, at best, as a break between the time of Christ and the current, just like that from other approaches have in fact refuses Reform humanistas.La clearly takes sides with the civil power against the Roman church, and in doing so ends up breaking medieaval unit.
The Chronological Division of the Middle Ages
Historians’ attention has been directed to dividing history into eras or time periods, by giving each one of them common characteristics that define the period, apart from the others and concretos.La problematic vision of Daniel is located in the Middle Ages in a much broader context that includes history of the Jewish people before and after the prophetic visions, and history of other peoples, Rome and Greece on todo.Se echoed this view among many the Etymologies or Chronicle of Isidore of Seville, who cites among his sources to Julius Africanus Jerome or King Alfonso X in them XIII.Para century history is divided into six periods or ages.
- From the creation of man to the Great Flood.
- Goes to Abraham.
- Between Abraham and David.
- Begins with the reign of David and ended with the occupation of Judea by Nebuchadnezzar, when founded Carthage and Rome.
- To the birth of Christ.
- Is given with the birth of Christ, who condunde with survival Roma.
The History of the Roman Empire allowed to continue framing in the last ages of the world what was happening and had happened since the advent of Christ, until the end of the period we call Middle Ages. In 1688, Christopher Keller first established the boundaries of antiquity, the medieval and Moderna.Keller centered around history of the Roman Empire and subsequently set the limit of the Middle Ages in the division of the empire by Constantine , and the end point in the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks: the boundaries of the Middle Ages coincided with the existence of the empire’s political history after Bizantino.La Keller accepted the top end of the Middle Ages, but not the initial ranked in the Germanic invasions in the creaciion of the Germanic kingdoms of which will most European nations actuales.Pirenne introduces the beginning of the Middle Ages to the late seventh century and draws expasión fundmentalla Arab cause by Mediterraneo.En fact, this theory is nothing but a consequence of the rise achieved by history económica.El problem of the origins of the Middle Ages thus depends on the answer we give to the question of whether sitaución Pirenne is described by extending an existing one in antiquity or, conversely, we are dealing with a breakup, to a total cut in the ancient world.