medieval art

• The Middle Ages spanned a thousand years

  500 to 1500
• The first half of the Middle Ages was a time of relative poverty and economic stagnation
• Around the year 1000, Europe rebounded
• The story of the Middle Ages' turmoil and triumphs is reflected in the magnificent art and architecture of the age
• After the fall of Rome


  • The flickering flame of civilization was kept alive in monasteries and fortress-like churches
  • Europe was invigorated by neighbors on the fringes - from Christian Byzantium to Islamic Spain to the pagan Vikings of the north
• The Roman Empire that had united Europe for centuries was crumbling, leaving a political vacuum
• After Rome fell, Europe was plunged into what used to be called the "Dark Ages"
• The once-united empire shattered into small warring kingdoms
• Frightened people sought refuge inside crude fortresses, in towns surrounded by thick walls and moats, or atop remote hills
• For centuries, there was little travel, little trade, no building for the future, almost no progress
• People were superstitious, living in fear of dark forces
• Feudalism


  A societal structure where peasants were on the bottom, nobles and bishops in the middle, and the king or queen on top, with the lord promising land and protection in exchange for loyalty and a tax on anything produced
• The Christian Church provided both stability and continuity during the difficult times of the Middle Ages
• Roman senators became Christian bishops, and the Roman emperor became the Christian pope
• Rome's language, Latin, lived on as the language of Europe's educated elite
• Towering ancient monuments were now capped not by Roman emperors, but by Christian saints
• Rather than Caesar, it was Christ ruling from the all-powerful throne
• As Christianity spread across Europe, monasteries and convents flourished
• In the darkest days of the early Middle Ages, when almost no one could read or write, it was monks who were the scribes and scholars of Europe
• Ireland was nicknamed the Isle of Saints and Scholars, and the earliest monastic communities were small, fortified hamlets of humble huts built like stone igloos
• Monks lived simple lives of work and prayer, and were more educated than most
• Monks kept alive or developed early technology like metal-working
• Monks' most important task was meticulously copying sacred texts, preserving the knowledge of ancient times with beautifully illustrated books called "illuminated manuscripts"
• Copying books by hand was painstaking work, and ornamenting the pages was an opportunity for the monks to exercise their artistic creativity
• The monastic movement eventually spread across Europe, growing big, rich, and powerful, and helping set the stage for a new era
• As the year 1000 approached, roaming tribes were settling down, starting to define the nations we've come to know
• People felt secure enough to plan and build for the future
• Europeans were uniting around the Christian faith, traveling and trading more, and building roads and bridges
• Industrious businessmen invested in mills, harnessing wind and waterpower
• Hamlets with thatched huts became formidable towns fortified behind protective walls with fine buildings of stone
• Romanesque


  The first art style to feel proudly European, trying to capture the grandeur of ancient Rome
• Romanesque churches featured round, Roman-style arches, Roman-style columns, and often even ancient columns scavenged from Roman ruins and recycled
• Church architects adopted the pre-Christian basilica floor plan, adding transepts to create the shape of a cross
• Romanesque churches


  • Sturdy, with thick walls, squat towers, and small windows, standing strong, and many even came with crenellations, as if fortresses of God
• Romanesque churches had the same basic features all over Europe
• The Romanesque style in England was called "Norman", featuring round arches, zig-zag decorations, and soaring bell towers
• Pisa's cathedral in Italy, dating from the year 1100, had evolved beyond the traditional heavy Romanesque feel, with a lighter and more elegant Pisan Romanesque style
• Pisa's cathedral complex, famous for its leaning bell tower, is a reminder that in cities across medieval Europe you found the same ensemble of important structures: the church, the bell tower, and the baptistery
• Romanesque churches were filled with beautiful art that served the church, using pictures and symbols to teach and celebrate the Christian message
• The physical church was a sermon in stone, with carved scenes at the entrance that were flat or in "low relief" and cluttered, telling a story