The word duty conjures up serene images of great Roman legions marching under red banners and citizen-politicians debating philosophical disparities as the late-afternoon twilight settles over the Roman Forum. In the study of the Western world duty is frequently associated with the Romans and their mentality for militarism, order, and legality, but this ideology of obligation is a sentiment that predates Rome and can be traced back to the earliest days of Western culture.
If Homer, oft considered the forefather of Western literature, is analyzed for examples of the theme of duty, then Odysseus's decision to forgo immortality as consequence of his duty to his family is instantaneously brought to mind. Likewise, duty can be seen as a motif or theme of almost all of the classical authors, including: Sophocles, Thucydides, Herodotus, Aristophanes, Aristotle, Plato, and Marcus Aurelius. Furthermore, as these ancient authors contemplated this issue, writers of subsequent ages have also adopted and modified this Western sense of duty.
Hence the claim can be made that duty as an ideology has been passed from cultural generation to cultural generation, and in some instances the subsequent generation has altered the definition or conception of duty it inherited. The focus of this paper is to analyze such an alteration; more specifically, the purpose of this essay is to delve deeper into the changing perception of duty as Western civilization transitioned from the medieval Christian world into the age of the Renaissance and the Reformation.
In order to compare the medieval Christian perception of duty to the Renaissance conception of the same, a definition of duty as it existed in each of these worlds is necessary. Therefore, the most logical commencement point is the medieval Christian world. By the 3rd century AD the glorious and unified Roman dominion was beginning to collapse, and by 300 AD the Migration Period or Volkerwanderung (“wandering of the people”) had begun. The Volkerwanderung plunged Europe into the Dark Ages and destroyed virtually all of the remaining remnants of the Roman world. In the Dark Ages, the threat of a particularly destructive “barbarian” tribe known as the Norseman or Vikings would eventually give rise to the political and economic system of feudalism. Along side feudalism the Christian Church, which had survived the sack of Rome, began to centralize and develop, for all intensive purposes, into the exclusive religious institution of Europe. Under the guidance of these two systems Europe would gradually escape the Volkerwanderung and advance into the Middle Ages.
In this symbiotic world of the church and feudalism a novel sense of duty materialized. Feudalism renewed the old Roman conception of civil duty and legality, but the prominence of the Christian Church gave rise to a strain of duty altogether new. No longer was the individual answerable solely to the secular authorities, but they were also accountable to God in the form of the Roman Catholic Church and its head, the Pope. At no other time in the history of the Western world (except perhaps in the early Hebrew culture) had such an ardent religious authority been imposed upon society. For instance, in the Roman world there had been a certain degree of religious accountability, for at times the secular rulers had required the worship of the Imperial cult.
However where the Romans fundamentally permitted religious freedom so long as the Imperial cult was recognized, in the medieval Christian world there existed no room for deviation from the norm. Even in the early Greek world where the polis was intricately connected to religion, Greek religious fervor diluted by scientific thought, reason, and philosophy was no match for the religious passion of the medieval world. All of this religious zeal unified under the singular authority of the Pope resulted in a medieval Christian sense of duty that was intertwined with faith. No longer was the individual merely required to act according to the law, but they were also expected to believe in that law. In a word, behavior became idealized, and it became ones duty to synchronize action and Christian belief into a single virtuous model of Christian behavior.
This obligation to eternally act in a Christian manner is exemplified in Chrétien de Troyes's work Lancelot. In this medieval work the main character acts selflessly sacrificing his honor, body, and pride for his love. Through these activities this piece illustrates the medieval Christian duty of acting morally and in accordance with the Christian sentiments portrayed by the Church, in the case of Lancelot self-sacrifice and absolute love.
By the fifteen and sixteenth century a new cultural movement was spreading in Europe. The Renaissance was renewing scientific thought, reason, and philosophy, and as had happened in ancient Greece these new ideals diluted the religious passion of Europe. Furthermore, the Reformation was directly challenging the old religious system, for Protestantism was introducing new religious conceptions contrary to those of the Catholic Church. All of these factors contributed to a decline in the Roman Catholic Church and also a general decrease in religious fervor.
This decrease in religious concern is evident by the demands that were placed upon the Renaissance man, who was something that was much more than a religious figure: he was a humanist and a scholar that was well educated. As the individual in the Renaissance became more preoccupied with secular issues, his duties also became more secularized. Duty in the Renaissance world became similar to duty in the Roman world, for the Renaissance individual had a responsibility to act legally but not perfectly. This point is illustrated in the words of Machiavelli, “But there is such a difference between how we live and how we ought to live that he who turns away from what actually does occur for the sake of what ought to occur, does something that will ruin him rather than save him.”
Hence, Machiavelli's comment demonstrates that as Western civilization transitioned into the Renaissance duty became more physical and less ideal. For the Renaissance individual duty was a concern with “what occurs”, while for the Romance knight duty was a concern with “what ought to occur.” Hence to the Renaissance man duty is closely connected to innovation, progress, and exploration, while duty in the medieval world is connected almost exclusively to Christendom.
