Narrator Kenneth Clark opens by quoting that cultures leave behind words, deeds, and art. Each of the three depends on the others, but the most trustworthy one is the art, left behind as a testament to the people who created it. In this video “Skin of Our Teeth,” Clark tells the fascinating story of how western culture barely survived centuries of assaults from the sack of the Roman Empire, attacks of the Vikings, the threat of Islam, and pagan assault until Charlemagne emerged as the French ruler who re-established European heritage.
What is civilization?
Two images are symbolic of the differences between the Vikings and the Greco-Romans – the huge demon-like prow of a wooden Viking ship and the Greek statue of Apollo of Belvedere, at one time the most admired sculpture in the world. Surely the Viking wooden prow seems crude and frightening compared to the Greek work that emphasizes harmonized proportion and human reason.
Western Europe was all but wiped out with the fall of the Roman Empire. After dealing with the horrors of the sacking of Rome and the predations of the Vikings, perhaps European survivors developed the uneasy feeling that this could happen again. They might ask if civilization is worth preserving.
However complex and solid it seems, according to Clark, civilization can be destroyed by fear or woodenness. Fears about war, about pestilence, of barbarians, of the supernatural mean that people don’t plan for the future because they feel hopeless. Even if they have material prosperity, if the people suffer from boredom they will not sustain a vibrant culture. To thrive, a civilization needs its people to hold confidence in the society, belief in its laws and a conviction that the civilization is worth keeping and that it should last. A civilization needs energy and vitality.
Many mistakenly define civilization as polite conversation and cultured activities. But these are merely the results of civilization. They are only possible if a vibrant culture first exists. For example, the cultures of Greece and Rome collapsed because each was exhausted.
Western Civilization Saved by its Craftsmen
According to Clark, after the sacking of Rome, to be born, a new civilization would have to face the Atlantic. So Christians survived by hanging on in remote areas like the Hebrides off the coast of Ireland. Here the Celtic Christians survived while the barbarians ruled on the mainland and the pagans, who didn’t believe in permanence, wandered in search of gold and gemstones. Once the people discovered gold, they could make splendid objects and jewelry that could be easily transported yet gave a sense of belonging to their existence.
Celtic Christianity took a stronghold on the island of Iona. Irish monks created illuminated manuscripts oddly devoid of Christian symbols, yet filled with stunning artwork. The pages of ornamentation are the most striking of any abstract art ever made. The finely detailed decorations are hypnotic; certainly people of the time who could not read would have been drawn into and instructed by the pictures.
The Vikings
The Norsemen were the last group of people to resist Christianity in Europe. The Vikings were not merely destructive but also artistic: the Viking ship is as iconic a symbol as the Greek temple. Where the Greek temple is solid and substantial, the Viking ship is graceful and light. According to Clark, the Norse shipbuilding and seafaring skills were heroic and certainly paved the way for the expeditions of Christopher Columbus.
Civilization involves more than energy of the people and accomplishment in art. It involves a sense of permanence or belonging. It didn’t occur to the Vikings to build stone houses or write books.
Charlemagne
Under Charlemagne Europe experienced years of war campaigns conducted with no sense of sentiment or chivalry. But he also brought about the Carolingian Renaissance, a revival of art, religion, and culture through the medium of the Catholic Church. Though he himself could never write, he had antique books re-produced so that the intellectual life of the ancients could be re-discovered.
In the end, it was these books that mattered. Through their messages and their artwork, the Atlantic world re-established contact with the ancient world. Western civilization thus emerged from the Dark Ages.
Source:
- Civilisation video series Part One.
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