Hello! This next video deals with a period known as the early medieval
period, which is very vast and varied
period that comes before the Romanesque and Gothic periods,
so we'll be covering areas of England,
into Ireland, moving into Spain. We'll be looking at
works in modern day Germany, so this
actually covers a very vast period of time and space, but covers important
themes to think about before we reach into the Romanesque and Gothic periods
in this vast area that we know as medieval.
So starting off it's important to recognize that not only was there
polytheistic system in ancient Rome
that needed to be overturned for Christianity to become dominant,
but there also was a system of Celtic polytheism
in northern France or in areas of
France and in areas of England and things like that.
So here I'm just showing an example of a sculpture that represents
one of the figures that art historians and historians and archaeologists have presumed
to be
a deity or a god figure, so this is known as the "Soissons Cernunnos".
This individual -- Cernunnos -- who's thought to be this figure with the horns here
at center,
a figure that's symbolic of fertility and plenty -- he's holding on to a cornucopia --
and then he has figures that looks much more like
your Roman gods, so it seems like a very hybrid type of representation,
but we have very little to go on in terms of art that shows us about this
system
in more northern Europe, so
this is just one example that shows that there was a polytheistic system
established, practiced, with rituals
before Christianity arrives, and there's this conversion process that happens.
So another example of a work of art
that also shows that it was not quite
a Christian civilization yet at
625 CE -- and this is an approximate date -- this example is a "Purse Cover" that comes from the "Sutton
Hoo ship
burial" in Suffolk, England or around that area. And this was a burial
that was a ship that had been buried in land, and there were a number of
other burials that were found around it. This was the big burial, however, and
this is believed to be one of the rulers of that area: a ruler Raedwald,
who had been in power for a number of
years -- maybe 25 years or so -- before he
passed away. So they presume this is his burial because there was so much time
and effort
in all the materials that went with him, so things like this purse cover, which clearly
shows
high, high abilities in terms of metalworking, so you can see all of these
metal partitions --
what we call out this cloissoné technique -- of having these partitions and then these
inset stone -- things like garnets and
glass and things like that. You can see this is what we call the
Interlaced Animal Style, so you have these animals
that look almost snake-like or
lizard like, and then these were supposed to be birds down below,
and you see that they're all intertwined. So here we have more of a geometric form and
then here we have a
human figure -- a very abstract human figure -- with animals on either side
seemingly attacking him, but this is actually a kind of iconography that
we see way back in the ancient Near East and in ancient Egypt, so
really interesting to see some of the possibilities for trade that were going
on there,
or for sharing of artistic techniques and iconography.
Also, you see more of this predator bird attacking
-- maybe an eagle up here -- attacking a duck down below or some type of smaller bird.
So you can see that curving beak attaching here.
And so the purse itself is
no longer there, but this cover shows us the possibilities of the
amazing metalwork
at that time, and definitely shows us that whoever was buried here
was clearly a person at high status and military prowess there are things like
shields, helmets,
scepter, showing that they were people the power and
military strength. This individual ruler seems to have been
right at the cusp of when Christianity was being introduced, so some of the pieces in the
ship burial are suspected to have a kind of Christian connection,
but that is not 100 percent -- it's things that are guessed -- things like inscriptions
referring to
Paul, so possibly referring to
an individual that spread Christianity. But once Christianity does become
firmly established, you see a lot of the same style coming into these types of
works -- that kind of animal interlaced
pattern -- that interesting visual richness -- similar to the kind of visual richness we
saw
in the Islamic world. And this is a page called the Chi-Rho-Iota page, so
this
these are the first three letters of Christ's name in Greek, and this is a very
significant symbol,
it was used by a number rulers. It was important for Constantine this symbol. He
was said to have
used it in battle, and that it came to him in a vision
and this is a way having a symbol of Christ's name.
You're not quite writing the entire thing,
But, of course, if you're gonna represent Christ name, it better be beautiful. If you're a
Christian it better be really, really gorgeous. People
were always hesitant to write down the name.
You wanted to demonstrate the glory in the way that this
at was being represented. So here you can see this
"X" -- the "Chi" form -- and then the "Rho" here, and then the "Iota".
And it's a mixture of imagery -- of angels. You see little
angels popping out here. You see a little head coming right here.
Are these the monks? Is this supposed to be monk from the "scriptorium"?
Is this supposed to be a special saint? Because it may refer to some
specific saints that were very important
in these areas of Scotland, and then moving over to Ireland.
So this is possibly from a monastery in Scotland
and then it was attacked, so possibly this very important manuscript was then
moved
over to Ireland. So today it is still in Ireland.
So this is just one page out of many pages in this
illuminated manuscript, and this is known as the "Books of Kells"
because it was brought to the Kells monastery,
so there you can see more clearly what that symbol would like --
just something I found off the Internet -- and then
this is the beginning of the gospel Matthew, and so what we see here
is an inscription saying "this is how Christ came to be born"
in Latin. And of course, Christ's name
is the largest and most glorious. Thinking a little bit about how these
manuscripts were produced
we have to think about the scriptorium -- these are places where people would
work away writing the script, illustrating or illuminating the
manuscripts,
and also prepping the pages. So prepping the pages meant that you needed to prep
these bits of skin -- usually animal skin
vellum -- different types of cow skins or
thick leather pages. These pages were valuable -- they were expensive.
And this page here gives us a cutaway view of what a scriptorium may have been
like with people working away, and we actually have a lot of inscriptions, or
people talking about how cold they were, how it was really tedious and difficult work.
I mean we can imagine if you need to write these
entire books, these entire gospels, or, in the case of
Islam, which we just looked at, writing the entire Koran. This is a lot of work
and so although it's very important and sacred work, it would have taken a lot of time,
you would have been in a cold environment in the winter, so it would have been
pretty tough work, so something to think about. This as an example of a page from
Spain
and it gives us a sense of the colorful tile work that we tend to see in Spain,
and some of those horseshoe arches, which we tend to see in both Islamic and
Christian structures.
Moving back up to northern Europe we see this Celtic Cross or this "High
Cross
of Muiredoch" who was an abbot of a specific monastery.
A very large cross but it shows us that we're moving towards
more large scale sculpture, especially in later periods of the medieval
period, so as we move towards the Romanesque
period. And what we have here are a number stories -- stories like
Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and David and Goliath,
possibly Moses striking water from the rock, and the story of the adoration of the
Magi. So it seems to start with more Old Testament scenes, which we tend to see
a lot
unusually as the basis for Christian scenes, so this idea of
building up one on top the other with the Old Testament as the foundation, and the
New Testament up at the top.
Also, it gives us a sense of this idea of Christ as Judge,
especially as we move closer to the year 1000, which was believed to be the
time when Christ was going to come back,
and have this moment of judgment,
and so that was a scary to people, of course -- this idea of the end of the world and
this moment of judgment,
so we see that also represented here. There's also some scenes of the
resurrection of Christ at the top on the other side.
So now we move into this period of some important rulers. We'll talk about
Charlemagne, Charles the Bald, and then the Ottonians. So we have the
Carolingians
which is Charlemagen, Charles the Bald and then the Ottonians, which we'll look at an example of
Otto III.
So Charlemagne, which just means "Charles the Great", he was born in 742,
so we're moving back in time slightly. He was crowned the Holy Roman Emperor
because he's now Christian emperor. He's trying to resurrect the Roman Empire
but, of course, as a Christian. He spread Christianity quite aggressively.
He united Western Europe briefly, and he revived
learning and artistic commissions. Sometimes this is a period called the
"Carolingian Renaissance" -- this idea of cultural rebirth,
artistic rebirth, around this time. So
one of thee things that Charlemagne did is he built a beautiful palace for himself
Aachen, which is
in modern-day Germany, and the palace itself really doesn't survive, but we do have
the "Palatine Chapel", which is part of a more
ornate structure that also includes gothic elements today.
But this Palatine Chapel has very much a central plan, strong vertical pull --
so it directs your eyes upwards --
you see that those alternating voussoirs -- similar to what we saw at the "Great
Mosque at Cordoba" --
It's multi-level, so Charlemagne actually would have been in the upper
level, would have had
throne there, so let me just show you a throne.
You can see it there -- very simple, very austere, and he wouldn't have the best view
gazing down towards the altar up -- seeing the liturgy or seeing the ritual --
with this premier view up at the top -- this premier "box seat" --
A lot of what we see today are later restorations, reconstructions.
Some of the mosaic have been updated and changed,
but it gives us a sense of the kind structures that were popular around this
time,
and also the fact that Charlemagne was building a central
palace for himself, where he could receive audiences, where he could have
his chapel,
but also, he really spent most of his time
traveling and trying to spread his empire and as evidence of this we can
see a sculpture like this -- the Equestrian portrait,
that some people believe is Charlemagne, a lot of people think is Charles the Bald.
Coming from France, this is a piece that's very small only nine inches high --
around nine inches high -- so very portable, so this reinforces the idea
that
Charlemagne and then also his grandson Charles the Bald spent a lot of time
trying to spread the Empire,
so you see the individual here -- either Charlemagne or Charles the Bald -- with a
crown,
you see him holding an orb (a sign of power), but also he has
armor on, he has a sword peeking out here,
but then ceremonial robes, so a really interesting combination of
power imagery here, ritual imagery, and also military
imagery, and the idea that things like this would have to be brought with him
wherever he went.
And you do have Germanic kings that had a Equestrian sculptures -- earlier Germanic
kings --
that these rulers may have been emulating, and also,
of course, the Roman emperors tended to have equestrian monuments,
so they're also emulating that as well. But, of course, you can't bring a huge equestrian
bronze monument.
You have to have things that are small and portable, which is much more
logical. So moving onward to a little bit more about illuminated manuscripts.
This is one of the most famous and beautiful covers for a manuscript. You can
see it's encrusted with gems, it's a
crucifixion scene. This is a gospel
book. This is the is now covering probably a different
book than it did originally. Possibly created under
Charles the Bald in one of his workshops
and in one of the royal abbeys, where he was the secular abbot.
So that's one suggestion.
It's created around the 9th century.
What we see here is this scene of crucifixion, where Christ looks quite triumphant.
You have this idea of the eclipse happening in this
moment of Christ's crucifixion. You have the figures that
are swooning down below in mourning at the death of Christ
and then angelic figures up above, so this idea
of the book really allowing you to think of this book
as opening up heaven in a way,
giving you this view into a heavenly Jerusalem,
and then also allowing you to contemplate the crucifixion of Christ -- this
idea of Christ as salvation --
Christ as a road to salvation, and Christ is right on the cover of this
important book, so
the book serves important spiritual functions,
and also visually is very rich and beautiful.
Lots of that visual richness that we tend to see around this time.
Just another image to show you the importance of manuscripts, you can see
these men of the church that are tonsured -- your see those little bald spots up at the
the top. Charles the Bald here -- very easy to spot in his throne --
on a manuscript page, actually being presented
with a manuscript. So you see this here,
this is the presentation of the bible to Charles the Bald
from the Vivian Bible, so showing this moment when this important manuscript
that would be presented to Charles the Bald, where he clearly has
both military men and men of the church on either side.
Next we have the fall of the Carolingians, and the
rise of the Ottonians. And this was a complex
empire that included a lot of trade, and also interaction with the Byzantines,
so Otto II actually married the niece of a Byzantine emperor,
who was considered a Byzantine princess, and I think we see some of this
in the artwork, so looking at this artwork we see Otto III. He's
kind of flattened, and he has a lot of the signs up rulership that we've seen before, and
he's between church and state.
And then finally we have these bronze, doors which emphasize the fact that
the body is really not emphasized the medieval period, so if we look at these
bronze doors that were commissioned by the tutor
Otto III, we see that if we zoom in on things like this --
Adam and Eve -- it's really difficult to see who is the man and who is the woman.
Bodies are very much de-emphasized.