11/6: Early Medieval Period

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Medieval Period:

• Medieval = Middle Ages

  • 1,000 years between antiquity and Italian Renaissance

    • c. 400-1400 CE

• Dark Ages: outdated term, used by Renaissance-era scholars who believed the Middle Ages were devoid of intellect and culture

• Ex: Castles, cathedrals, stained glass, sculptures, paintings

• Early Medieval Europe: power of the Roman empire left Italy to Constantinople, a lot of activity in Northern Europe

  • Most of the surviving art of this period is small.

    • Vikings, missionaries

    • Less large scale permanent structures

    • Most were found in burials.

  • Conflicting powers

  • Excavation of ship burial in Sutton Hoo, England

    • Wealthy and powerful people were buried in ships.

      • Kings

      • Sacrificed servants

      • They were buried with precious objects for use in the afterlife.

        • Ex: Purse cover

          • Purse covers/lids seal purses closed.

          • Cloisonne: flat metal surface with metal strips soldered to a background and filled in with stones, glass, or glass paste

          • Animal figures

          • Abstract interlace

          • Mythical heroes battling creatures and birds attacking each other

        • Ex: Sutton Hoo helmet

          • Brown plaster used to reconstruct the helmet

            • What the helmet could have looked like

• The Alps: a mountain range that goes across Italy and serves as a natural border

• Fibulae: pins used to keep clothes gathered, broaches

  • Made during the Merovingian period, named after a ruling family in France

  • Probably owned by a woman

  • Covered in jewels and decorative patterns

    • Fish

    • Clover

    • Stylized bird head on top: large beak and eye

  • Status symbol

  • Buried with whoever owned them

• Vikings: 8th century to 11th century CE, accomplished sailors

  • “Viks” meant coves or harbors.

  • 500 years before Columbus

  • Viking ship burial

    • Ex: Carved posts with animal heads

      • Unknown use

• Christian missionaries came to Northern Europe, where they proselytized and established monasteries.

  • Ex: St. Patrick was a missionary in Ireland in the 5th century.

  • Christians in the UK and Ireland were very isolated.

  • Monastery: a building complex that is usually single sex and home to people who have taken a religious vow

    • Monks: male members

    • Nuns: female members

    • Abbot/abbess: leader of a monastic community

    • Monasteries were major centers of medieval intellectual life, particularly of manuscript production.

      • Manuscript: “hand written”

        • Illuminated manuscript: heavily illustrated

      • Codex: a book that is bound between two covers

      • Parchment: treated animal skin used instead of paper

        • Paper was not widely adopted and known in Europe until much later.

        • Vellum comes from calf skin and is higher quality.

        • Scribes wrote around hair follicles.

        • Texts were generally copied in scriptoriums, rooms in a monastery specifically for manuscript production.

      • Types of Manuscripts

        • Bible

          • The Pentateuch: first 5 books of the Old Testament

          • The Gospels: first 4 books of the New Testament

            • Evangelists: one who announces good news

              • Matthew: man or angel, signifies Christ’s humanity

                • Ex: St Matthew page from the Book of Durrow

                  • Shown as a man

              • Mark: lion, signifies the triumph of Christ over Resurrection

              • Luke: ox, signifies the sacrifice of Christ

              • John: eagle, signifies the second-coming of Christ

          • Book of Hours: small books of prayers to be said throughout the day

        • Bestiary: encyclopedia of real and imaginary animals

      • Lindisfarne Gospels: from the Lindisfarne Monastery (which was founded in 635 and raided by Vikings in 793), manuscript created by Bishop Eadfrith in honor of God and St. Cuthbert, style known as insular (island) or Hiberno-Saxon, carpet page