The Middle Ages continue to provide an important touchstone for the way the modern West presents itself and its relationship with the rest of the globe. This volume brings together leading scholars of literature and history, together with musicians, novelists, librarians, and museum curators in order to present exciting, up-to-date perspectives on how and why the Middle Ages continue to matter in the 20th and 21st centuries. Presented here, their essays represent a unique dialogue between scholars and practitioners of 'medievalism'. Framed by an introductory essay on the broad history of the continuing evolution of the idea of 'The Middle Ages' from the 14th century to the present day, chapters deal with subjects as diverse as: the use of Old Norse sagas by Republican deniers of climate change; the way figures like the Irish hero Cu Chulainn and St Patrick were used to give legitimacy to political affiliations during the Ulster 'Troubles'; the use of the Middle Ages in films by Pasolini and Tarantino; the adoption of the 'Green Man' motif in popular culture; Lady Gaga's manipulation of medieval iconography in her music videos; the translation of medieval poetry from manuscript to digital media; and the problem of writing national history free from the 'toxic medievalism' of the 19th and 20th centuries. This book will appeal to anyone interested in the Middle Ages and its impact on recent political and cultural history. It is dedicated to the memory of Seamus Heaney, who gave his last overseas lecture in St Andrews in 2013, the year this book was conceived, and whose late poetry this book also discusses.

The so-called chasuble of Thomas Becket (1118-1170) is one of the most magnificent medieval textiles in the Mediterranean region. Richly decorated with ornaments, fabulous animals and figures in lavish gold embroidery with Arabic inscriptions, this precious liturgical garment provides impressive proof of the reutilisation of the Islamic arts in the Christian world. Venerated as a relic of St Thomas of Canterbury, the chasuble was produced in Spanish-Muslim workshops and probably reached Italy as a donation to the Cathedral of Fermo in about 1200. Despite its outstanding artistic quality and fascinating history, this magnificent garment has never hitherto been the subject of a detailed study. Richly illustrated with numerous details, this volume investigates the meaning of the inscriptions and motifs, examines manufacturing techniques and the function of the chasuble, traces its "biography" and places it within the historical context of the political, economic and cultural situation in the Mediterranean region.

Chretien de Troyes was France's great medieval poet--inventor of the genre of courtly romance and popularizer of the Arthurian legend. The forty-four surviving manuscripts of his work (ten of them illuminated) pose a number of questions about who used these books and in what way. In "Sealed in Parchment," Sandra Hindman scrutinizes both text and images to reveal what the manuscripts can tell us about medieval society and politics.

Transforming Type examines kinetic or moving type in a range of fields including film credits, television idents, interactive poetry and motion graphics. As the screen increasingly imitates the properties of real-life environments, typographic sequences are able to present letters that are active and reactive. These environments invite new discussions about the difference between motion and change, global and local transformation, and the relationship between word and image. In this illuminating study, Barbara Brownie explores the ways in which letterforms transform on screen, and the consequences of such transformations. Drawing on examples including Kyle Cooper's title sequence design, kinetic poetry and MPC's idents for the UK's Channel 4, she differentiates motion from other kinds of kineticism, with particular emphasis on the transformation of letterforms into other forms and objects, through construction, parallax and metamorphosis. She proposes that each of these kinetic behaviours requires us to revisit existing assumptions about the nature of alphabetic forms and the spaces in which they are found.

The Byzantine era was a time of the formation of the Abrahamic religions and a battleground for people's hearts and minds. This book shows that, during the time of the Byzantine Empire, the synagogues in Palaestina developed a visual language adhering to traditional literary sources. Until now, scholars believed that Judaism was oblivious to all art forms, regarding them as mere "decoration." This book shows that, contrary to those beliefs, Jewish art was, in fact, flourishing in this period. The visual language that emerged is a trope that utilizes literal and figurative readings to arrive at an inquisitive mixture-a probing language that facilitates learning. It is a visual language of "becoming," of inward introspection and outward scrutiny. This new analysis goes beyond the limits of compositional rules, and requires an analytical, as well as emotive, thought process, to form a cultural interpretation that reveals the hidden language. This means that some parts of Judaism and some parts of Christianity were in agreement despite the commandment of "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image," and operated under the assumption that paintings were not necessarily the creation of idols. Thus, we see that the modern movements of art and architecture were not the first to deal with images through themes such as abstraction and denotation. The language developed during the Byzantine period could rival the best of such visual languages.

The early Christian and medieval mosaics in Italy are among the most artistic creations of their time. Richly endowed with magnificent color plates, this opulent volume draws on 19 outstanding mosaic decorations to present a comprehensive panorama of this spectacular form of art. Early Christian apse mosaics and mosaic cycles provided for monumental beginnings to Christian pictorial art. Although supplemented by new images since the 12th Century, the early Christian themes were held in high regard up through the Middle Ages. During the Middle Ages, the mosaic's stylistic devices already showed a transcendental-Christian compliant world view. The author's knowledge becomes apparent in his descriptions of the development of mosaic art in Italy, whose centers during the early years were found in Rome and Ravenna. Since the 6th century, the presentations see an increasingly byzantine influence. After a prolonged interruption there came a brief revival in Rome around the year 800, but mosaic art only reached full fruition during the 12th and 13th centuries when, in addition to Rome, mosaic cycles became evident in Venice, Sicily, and Florence. These drew heavily from byzantine inspiration. German text.

Baptismal fonts were necessary to the liturgical life of the medieval Christian. Baptism marked the entrance of the faithful into the right relation, with the Catholic Church representing the main cultural institution of medieval society. In the period between ca. 1050 and ca. 1220, the decoration of the font often had an important function: to underscore the theology of baptism in the context of the sacraments of the Catholic Church. This period witnessed a surge of concern about sacraments. Just as religious thinkers attempted to delineate the sacraments and define their function in sermons and Sentence collections, sculptural programs visualized the teaching of orthodox ideas for the lay audience. This book looks at three areas of primary concern around baptism as a sacrament - incarnation, initiation, and the practice of baptism within the institution of the Church - and the images that embody that religious discussion. Baptismal fonts have been recognized as part of the stylistic production of the Romanesque period, and their iconography has been generally explored as moral and didactic. Here, the message of these fonts is set within a very specific history of medieval Catholic sacramental theology, connecting erudite thinkers and lay users through their decoration and use.

English description: The gospel of Emperor Heinrich III. is the smallest work (in size) from the scriptorium in Echternach. Its most precious decoration with 38 full pictures (some with two scenes), 13 smaller pictures, 3 decorated text pages and 5 full pages with initials makes it equal to the important codices from there which are now in Nurnberg and Madrid. German description: Das Evangelistar Heinrichs III. ist eine der bekanntesten Handschriften aus dem Skriptorium des Kloster Echternach. Als einzige der dort entstandenen Handschriften verweist das Evangelistar nicht nur aufgrund von Stilkriterien, sondern durch einen schriftlichen Vermerk auf das Kloster: Die weltberuhmte Miniatur Schreiber und Maler im Skriptorium des Klosters Echternach ist mit einer Bitte an den Konig uberschrieben: "O Konig, dieser Dein Ort, Echternach genannt, erwartet bei Tag und Nacht Deine Gnade." Mit einem Umfang von 127 Blatt (= 254 Seiten) und einem Format von 19,3 mal 14,6 cm is es das kleinste unter den Prachtwerken des Echternacher Skriptoriums - sie war moglicherweise als Reisehandschrift fur den Kaiser gedacht. Es ist wegen seiner aufwendigen Ausstattung mit 38 Vollbildern, die zum Teil 2 Szenen enthalten, 13 kleineren Bildern, meist halbseitig, 3 Zierseiten mit Text und Gold- oder Farbleisten und 5 Vollinitialseiten, zahlreichen Goldinitialen und ornamentalen Zierseiten sowie die Einzigartigkeit einzelner Bildmotive machen das Evangelistar zu einer herausragenden Handschrift.

Of the four major surviving manuscripts of Anglo-Saxon poetry, MS. Junius 11 is the only one which is illustrated. This tenth-century manuscript contains four poems based on the Old and New Testaments: Genesis A and B, Exodus, Daniel, and Christ and Satan. It was given by Francis Junius in 1677 to the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. For the first time, the entire manuscript is available here in an innovative, highly accessible format. The CD contains images of each opening and each page of the manuscript, visible at high magnification, and a 'live' transcription and translation of the poems with hyperlinks, allowing powerful global searches across the entire text. A full translation of the entire text is also linked to the transcription and the relevant manuscript page. The CD also includes high resolution images of all the drawings and initials in the manuscript, and exterior photographs of its medieval binding. The powerful and realistic magnifier makes it possible to zoom in on the manuscript pages with varying degrees of magnification. The meaning and importance of the drawings are discussed in a detailed introduction and commentary, supplemented by a full bibliography. This exciting, ground-breaking CD will appeal to all scholars and students of Anglo-Saxon literature, art, history, and culture, as well as to bibliophiles and collectors.

Der Band enthalt die Edition der mittelalterlichen und fruhneuzeitlichen Inschriften des Bearbeitungsgebiets in insgesamt 520 Katalognummern. Berucksichtigt sind sowohl die noch im Original erhaltenen als auch die nur mehr kopial uberlieferten Texte. Der Anteil der hier erstmals veroffentlichten Inschriften betragt uber 50%. Die bedeutendsten Inschriftenstandorte sind Mergentheim, ab dem 16. Jahrhundert Residenz der Hochmeister des Deutschen Ordens, sodann das an der Wende vom 16. zum 17. Jahrhundert zur hohenlohischen Residenz ausgebaute Weikersheim und Creglingen mit seinen reichen Grabmalerbestanden in der Herrgottskapelle und in der Stadtkirche. Daneben weisen vor allem die Ritterschaftsorte Niederstetten, Wachbach, Laudenbach und Waldmannshofen mit ihren Adelsgrablegen sowie das ehemalige Zisterzienserinnenkloster Frauental und das deutschordische Dorf Markelsheim umfangreichere Inschriftenbestande auf. Auch die Inschriften des heute in Wien aufbewahrten Deutschordensschatzes finden in dem Band Berucksichtigung. Neben den Grab-, Glocken- und Bauinschriften, die den grossten Teil des Bestandes ausmachen, fehlt auch Kurioses nicht, wie etwa die Ermahnung zur Hygiene an die Benutzer eines Aborts in Creglingen aus dem spaten 16. Jahrhundert. Der chronologisch aufgebaute Katalogteil wird durch zahlreiche Abbildungen und eine Einleitung erganzt, die neben einer historischen Einfuhrung eine erste Auswertung des Materials bietet. Der Erschliessung der Inschriften dienen 17 ausfuhrliche Einzelregister.

The first fifty pages of this large volume are taken up with an introduction to the development of Romanesque-style sculpture in Italy, and its uses, themes and stylistic features. Thereafter, the book is devoted to innumerable photographs of examples of the sculpture, demonstrating the imaginative qualities, subject-matter and architectural context of a style of art which is too often overlooked in the cultural glare of the Renaissance. With a detailed catalogue of featured pieces and locations. German text.

This volume explores the ways in which drawings were employed and appreciated in various European cities from late medieval times, through to the Renaissance and Reformation periods and into the early 17th century. The essays examine the relationship between preparatory sketches and finished artworks in more durable and expensive materials, and consider roles played by various drawing types such as studies from different kinds of model and student copies from a master's examplar. They also investigate how drawings and their mechanically reproduced equivalents - engravings, etchings, etc - came to be collected for both practical and connoisseurial purposes, and how iconographic and stylistic inventiveness were linked to imaginative artistic interpretations of traditional subjects and to technical innovations in drawings and printmaking.

This volume features many carved wooden sculptures of saints from 14th- to 20th-century Russia, which until now have been largely unknown to the western public. Officially banned by a proclamation of Peter I, they have nevertheless always been an important part of Russian religious devotion. The sculptures are grouped stylistically into two major groups: early ones are characterized by iconically transcendent austerity, while later ones refl ect western infl uences in anatomical features and gestures. German text.

Liturgien fuhren Himmel und Erde zusammen. Sie sind umfassende Kommunikationsgeschehen, die sich auf vielfaltige Weise der Bilder bedienen. Diese sind in der Bildhaftigkeit des zeichenhaften Handelns wie auch in der konkreten Bildlichkeit der Schauplatze und Ausstattungen gegenwartig. Die Spatantike bildet den Ausgangspunkt fur die in diesem Band versammelten Aufsatze, da dort die gemeinsamen Wurzeln kaiserlicher wie kirchlicher Liturgien anzutreffen sind, die vielfaltig als Stations- und Festliturgien ins Mittelalter wirken. Seit den Anfangen Konstantinopels waren es die bewegten Bilder kaiserlicher Prozessionen, die das sakrale Fundament des byzantinischen Staatswesens sichtbar machten. Der spatantike Herrscher reiste nicht mehr mit seinen Truppen, sondern residierte dauerhaft im Palatium. Die kaiserliche Reichsliturgie wandelte sich in eine Stadtliturgie, das Staatsvolk in das privilegierte Stadtvolk Konstantinopels. In Beobachtungen zur Topographie Konstantinopels und in der Auswertung von Gesandtschaftsberichten bestimmt Albrecht Berger (Berlin) Schauplatze und Erscheinungsbild dieser Kaiserprozessionen naher. Dass diese Kaiserliturgien zugleich ein Kommunikationsrahmen sind, in dem sich Veranderungen in der Interaktion zwischen Volk und Kaiser abzeichnen, arbeitet Steffen Diefenbach (Munster) heraus. Kaiserliche Liturgien wirken in den kirchlichen Raum hinein und verandern das Gedachtnismahl zu einem prunkvollen Ritus in monumentalen Kirchenraumen. Einwirkungen der Reliquienverehrung fuhren zur Parzellisierung des liturgischen Raumes durch Krypten und Kapellen. Franz Alto Bauer (Rom) analysiert ihre Funktion und Wirkung im fruhmittelalterlichen Rom. Zwischen Liturgie und Bildausstattung stellen sich Wechselwirkungen ein, die das Entstehen neuer, kommentierender Bilder hervorrufen konnen. Am Beispiel liturgischer Bilderrollen Suditaliens untersucht Nino Zchomelidse (Tubingen/ Rom) die Bildfassungen und Konnotationen, die Ritus und Heilsereignis verknupfen. Am Beispiel byzantinischer Kirchenausstattungen erortert Michael Altripp (Greifswald) die Ubereinstimmungen und Divergenzen von Raumprogramm und Ritus. Dabei beobachtet er, dass die Bilder starker ideell als wortlich mit der forcierten Metaphorik der liturgischen Formulare und Liturgiekommentare korrespondieren. Liturgien sprechen als ganzheitliches Erleben alle Sinne an. Wie mittelalterliche Bildwerke vom Kirchenraum als Schau- und Erlebnisraum Gebrauch machen, stellt Johannes Tripps (Heidelberg) vor Augen. In einer Spurenlese an unterschiedlichen Bildorten rekonstruiert er technische Vorkehrungen, die eine Bespielbarkeit der Gewolbe und ihrer "Himmelslocher" fur Auffahrten von Christus- und Marienfiguren erlaubten oder die Fassaden unter dem Schall von Engelsstimmen zu einem sinnfalligen Erleben der Himmelsstadt machten. Im Skulpturenschmuck hochgotischer Chore versammeln sich die musizierenden Engelscharen um den Altar. Bjorn R. Tammen (Koln) nutzt die Baldachinfiguren an den Pfeilern des Kolner Domchores zu einem musikhistorischen Diskurs uber den Psalm 150 und differenzierte Konzepte der steinernen Engelmusik. Nicht zuletzt an seinem Beitrag wird offensichtlich, wie notwendig der Dialog zu Kunst und Liturgie interdisziplinar gefuhrt werden muss.

Der Band enthalt die kommentierte Edition von 180 Inschriften der Stadt Goslar in ihren heutigen Grenzen bis zum Jahr 1650 sowie weitere 67 Jahreszahlen, Initialen und Christusmonogramme. Erfasst werden nicht nur die im Original erhaltenen Inschriften, sondern auch diejenigen, die nur noch in alteren Abschriften oder Photographien vorliegen. Den Schwerpunkt des Bandes bilden die im Zusammenhang von Wand- und Deckenmalereien angebrachten Texte, unter denen der fruhneuzeitliche Sibyllenzyklus in der Goslarer Ratsstube (Huldigungssaal) als das hervorragendste Beispiel anzusehen ist. Den grossten Anteil an dem hier vorgelegten Bestand haben in der Fachwerkstadt Goslar die das Stadtbild pragenden Hausinschriften. Sie uberliefern eine grosse Anzahl von Namen und Daten und stellen somit zusammen mit den Grab- und Stifterinschriften eine reichhaltige Quelle fur die Personengeschichte der Stadt dar. Die Inschriftentexte werden unter Auflosung der Abkurzungen ediert und kommentiert. Lateinische Inschriften und Texte alterer deutscher Sprachstufen werden ubersetzt. Ein ausfuhrlicher Tafelteil erganzt die Edition und den Kommentar.

A detailed study of incised effigal slabs and brasses from London workshops from AD 1250 to 1400 and their relationship with the production of monumental brasses. It focuses on the Cumoys, Septvans, Seymour, Basyng, and Ashford styles from before the Black Death. 170 slabs from England and Wales are studied in terms of their style, inscriptions, date and distribution recreating a picture of the operations of the London marblers and their workshops. The authors conclude that it is possible that the incised slabs and brasses were made in the same workshops, and possible even by the same people. Fresh light is thrown upon the dating of early brasses. Illustrated throughout with photos and rubbings.

The National Museum of Medieval and Modern Art of Arezzo is located in the Palazzo Bruni-Ciocchi, a Renaissance building also know as Palazzo della Dogana (Customs Building). Its holding include works by the major Arezzo artists (Margarito, Spinello Aretino, Luca Signorelli, and Giorgio Vasari), a coin collection, many terracotta works by Andrea della Robbia and his disciples, a significant collection of Italian majolica ware, and collections of glassware, gems, and corals. The Renaissance ceramic collection, one of Europe s largest, comprises many pharmaceutical jars from the Camaldoli Monastery. In addition to the history and description of the Museum and its collections, the guide provides an itinerary for discovering the art, culture, traditions, and folklore of Arezzo.