Pope Julius Reciprocal Analysis

Popular culture today is defined as the culture of the average person in society, which today can share greatly what our society as a whole was about. This is quite easy to figure out because the wide knowledge and interconnectedness of today’s time. Unfortunately throughout most of history this was not the case. The elite’s culture ruled what we now call the popular culture of the past because of their ability to write down and vocalize what was happening in their world, from their own perspective. The lower class, the largest group during this era, had no say what was written down (because their literacy rate was abysmal), so we have little to no information from the eyes of a common person how life was before the modern era. This is why

A specific instance of the reciprocal approach is in the anonymous, Julius Excluded from Heaven, who we now know was written by Erasmus. In this story Pope Julius who was known more for his hunger for power than his hunger for knowledge, is stopped by Peter at the gates of heaven because he was not allowed in because he had the wrong “key”, he held the key of power instead of the key of knowledge. So Julius decided to attack the gates and barge his way in, which was an indictment of Julius’s life on earth in being a power hungry tyrant. This is seen as a reciprocal approach to studying history because, the elite writer of Erasmus took up a very popular sentiment that the people held of anti-clericalism. This was an Elite person giving light to a common people’s idea, which would have never come to light otherwise because of the lack of literacy and capitol. This is why this approach is inherently better because if two completely different people from greatly different social classes see something in the same light it must a real popular belief and is indicative of popular culture. Another source of this reciprocal culture is the Topographica Hibernica, by Giraldus Cambrensis (1187). This story is a folktale about werewolves in Ireland, which tell us the beliefs and fears of the common people of this time. Additionally it is written by an elite scholar who shows the religious beliefs and stories of the time period. Cambrenis states, “It cannot be disputed, but must be believed with the most assured faith, that the divine nature assumed human nature for the salvation of the world; while in the present case, by no less a miracle, we find that at God's bidding, to exhibit his power and righteous judgment, human nature assumed that of a wolf.” This quote shows the deep seeding of religious values of the common person in this time period. Although