Rhetorical Arts in Medieval Europe

The three dominant rhetorical arts in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (Europe) were preaching, letter writing, and poetry. Due to the rise of Christianity in Europe and its subsequent importance in medieval society, it makes sense that rhetoric was used to make impact in religious speaking. Many people attending church could not easily read scriptures, as not everyone could read at all. Thematic preaching, or using just a selection of readings and ideas from the Bible, was a way to reach the illiterate Christian audience. There was no regulation of this type of preaching, but it was expected that preachers would have adequate knowledge of the “Bible basics”, including the Ten Commandments and the difference between sin and nonsin (Herrick, p133.) Depending on the type of audience- agreeable or stubborn types- a preacher would need to tailor their speech to either talk of promises of heaven or the judgment of Christ. Either way, the audience could be persuaded to join or to accept the church. It can be questioned if the ultimate goal of the preacher was persuasion, then were his tactics moral? Preaching did provide the society with comfort, belief, some knowledge of the Bible, and unity with each other. It still does today. Many people who attend church expect a sermon or someone to pull sections of their holy writings out and talk about what they mean in the modern world.
Letter writing was born out of necessity. Officials in the church or government needed to be able to communicate and wanted a formal way to do so. Letters provided ways to track correspondence. Dictamen, or teachers of letter writing, became popular as the need grew. It was not just letters they taught either. They also taught people how to draw up legal agreements, contracts and such. Rhetoric became less of the art of the use of words, and more of the technical teaching of written style and arrangement, which no one had formally studied before. Manuals about letter writing were constructed, and the often showed how people of different social standings would address each other or make requests from higher officials. During this time, letter writing was also developed into five distinct parts: the greeting, goodwill (exordium), body, specific request or announcement, and conclusion. Initially, lawyers, secretaries, and notaries were the heavy users of the Dictamen manuals, but manuals became complex enough to include situations for any member of society. Think of how today we consult with admissions advisors on our resumes, our write letters of complaint to organizations. We don’t write them letters using the same speech we use during daily life. There is a code- a specific method and hierarchy of formality we use.
Poetry developed as an extension of letter writing- style and arrangement again were important. Poetry writers wanted to achieve a “pleasing effect” with their readers (Herrick,p139.) Poems included the use of words in a deeper manner, such as the expert use of metaphor, simile, beautiful descriptions, and so on. Poetry also taught that words could be manipulated around so to make the verses more pleasing and more beautiful to read. Our text describes poetry as the “paint by numbers” quality of using words. That is, the template is clearly drawn out- if one follows it, the end result will be beautiful and form the image that is desired. Poetry can truly be described as rhetoric in artistic, even creative form, more so than the preaching or letter writing which preceded it. Society wanted to preserve words and create something that sounded pleasing but also made sense and “spoke” to their audiences. Poetry accomplished that, and its structures changed drastically over time to accommodate poets’ desires for their work and for those who would be reading it.
Reference
Herrick, J.A. (2004). The History and Theory of Rhetoric. Allyn & Bacon: NY.