Key Concepts of Early Medieval Art and Architecture

Alternate Support System

piers alternate with paired columns as wall supports

Animal Style

the use of energetic animal motifs in real of fantastic designs, often the natural forms were stylized

Barbarians

Huns, Vandals, Franks, Goths and others who threatened the stability of Europe

Book of Hours

contained prayers to be read at certain times of the day

Carolingian Revival

a series of cultural reforms instituted by Charlemagne to restore classical traditions and to impart this culture to barbarians

Carpet Pages

medieval manuscripts with pages which resembled textiles

Charlemagne

800 AD crowned by the Pope as the head of the Holy Roman Empire, which extended from northern Spain to western Germany and northern Italy. His palace was at Aachen in central Europe

Choir

a square or rectangular area in a church between the apse and the nave

Cloisonné

a process of enameling by putting the ground glass into little cells made of wires and fused in a kiln

Cloister

a colonnaded walkway in a monastery

Crypt

a vaulted space beneath the choir where bodies were buried

Equestrian Portrait

sculpture with an important figure on horseback

Golden Age of Ireland

600-800AD the Irish assumed the spiritual and cultural leadership of Europe because of the monasteries which became centers of learning

Hiberno-Saxon

an art style that flourished in the monasteries of the British Isles in the early Middle Ages

Lectionary

book holding the Gospels

Module

a standard unit

Reliquary

a shrine for sacred relics

Repoussé

hammered or pressed relief

Scriptoria

a place where monks copied manuscripts

Stylized

conforming to a conventional mode rather than studying nature

Transept

the cross arms of a basilica placed at right angles to the nave, separating it from the nave

Turret

a small tower

Westwork

a monumental stone entrance at the western end of the church. It was treated like a tower and contained an entrance and a vestibule