Justinian's triumphal column was the tallest free-standing column of the pre-modern world and was crowned with arguably the largest metal equestrian sculpture created anywhere in the world before 1699. The Byzantine empire's bronze horseman towered over the heart of Constantinople, assumed new identities, spawned conflicting narratives, and acquired widespread international acclaim. Because all traces of Justinian's column were erased from the urban fabric of Istanbul in the sixteenth century, scholars have undervalued its astonishing agency and remarkable longevity. Its impact in visual and verbal culture was arguably among the most extensive of any Mediterranean monument. This book analyzes Byzantine, Islamic, Slavic, Crusader, and Renaissance historical accounts, medieval pilgrimages, geographic, apocalyptic and apocryphal narratives, vernacular poetry, Byzantine, Bulgarian, Italian, French, Latin, and Ottoman illustrated manuscripts, Florentine wedding chests, Venetian paintings, and Russian icons to provide an engrossing and pioneering biography of a contested medieval monument during the millennium of its life.

Charles Locke Eastlake (1833-1906), an interior, furniture and industrial designer, showed talent as an architect and was awarded a Silver Medal in 1854 by the Royal Academy. He is known for influencing the style of later nineteenth-century 'Modern' Gothic furniture with his Hints on Household Taste (1868), but his passion for medieval architecture developed much earlier while he was in Europe during the 1850s. In 1866 he became Secretary to the Royal Institute of British Architects, and it was in 1872 that this work was published. The book is notable for being released at the height of the Gothic Revival movement in the later nineteenth century. It includes detailed comments on the architects, societies, literature and buildings that formed the cornerstones of the Gothic Revival, primarily in Britain, from around 1650 to 1870. A valuable mine of information, it remains a key source on the topic.

Originally published during the early part of the twentieth century, the Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literature were designed to provide concise introductions to a broad range of topics. They were written by experts for the general reader and combined a comprehensive approach to knowledge with an emphasis on accessibility. Brasses by J. S. M. Ward was first published in 1912. The book contains an engaging guide to monumental brasses, with information on historical classification and numerous illustrative figures.

In the first full-length study of Judith of Flanders (c. 1032-1094), Mary Dockray-Miller provides a narrative of Judith's life through analysis of the books and art objects she commissioned and collected. Organizing her book chronologically by Judith's marriages and commissions, Dockray-Miller argues that Judith consciously and successfully deployed patronage to support her political and marital maneuverings in the eleventh-century European political theater. During her marriage to Tostig Godwinson, Earl of Northumbria, she commissioned at least four Gospel books for herself in addition to the numerous art objects that she gave to English churches as part of her devotional practices. The multiple treasures Judith donated to Weingarten Abbey while she was married to Welf of Bavaria culminated in the posthumous gift of the relic of the Holy Blood, still celebrated as the Abbey's most important holding. Lavishly illustrated with never before published full-color reproductions from Monte Cassino MS 437 and Fulda Landesbibliothek MS Aa.21, The Books and the Life of Judith of Flanders features English translations of relevant excerpts from the Vita Oswinii and De Translatione Sanguinis Christi. Dockray-Miller's book is a fascinating account of this intriguing woman who successfully negotiated the pitfalls of being on the losing side of both the Norman Conquest and the Investiture Controversy.

Many beautiful illuminated manuscripts survive from the Middle Ages and can be seen in libraries and museums throughout Europe. But who were the skilled craftsmen who made these exquisite books? What precisely is parchment? How were medieval manuscripts designed and executed? What were the inks and pigments, and how were they applied? This book looks at the work of scribes, illuminators and book binders. Based principally on examples in the Bodleian Library, this lavishly illustrated account tells the story of manuscript production from the early Middle Ages through to the high Renaissance. Each stage of production is described in detail, from the preparation of the parchment, pens, paints and inks to the writing of the scripts and the final decoration and illumination of the manuscript. This book also explains the role of the stationer or bookshop, often to be found near cathedral and market squares, in the commissioning of manuscripts, and it cites examples of specific scribes and illuminators who can be identified through their work as professional lay artisans. Christopher de Hamel's engaging text is accompanied by a glossary of key technical terms relating to manuscripts and illumination, providing an invaluable introduction for anyone interested in studying medieval manuscripts today.

In this new edition of A Short History of the Middle Ages, Barbara H. Rosenwein offers a panoramic view of the medieval world. Volume II ranges from England to China and from West Africa to the Baltic, while never losing sight of the main contours of the period c.900 to c.1500. The lively and informative narrative covers the major developments, political and religious movements, people, saints and sinners, economic and cultural changes, ideals, fears, and fantasies of the period in Europe, Byzantium, and the Islamic world. A comprehensive new map program, updated for the global reach of this edition, offers a way to visualize the era's enormous political, economic, and religious changes. Line drawings make clear archaeological finds and architectural structures. All of the maps, genealogies, and figures in the book, as well as practice questions and suggested answers, are available at utphistorymatters.com.

The encyclopedic compilation Liber Floridus, created by the Flemish canon Lambert of Saint-Omer in the early twelfth century, survives not only in the form of his famous autograph, but also in a considerable number of later manuscripts which transformed the knowledge assembled by him and which became starting points for new appraisals of their texts and images. Shaping Knowledge examines the processes which determined this transfer over the centuries and evaluates the specific achievements of the different generations of scribes and illuminators. Taking account of the full range of manuscripts which transmit material from the Liber Floridus and focusing in more detail on three of them - now in the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbuttel, in the Universiteitsbibliotheek Leiden and in the Abdijarchief of Tongerlo - it shows that the makers of these manuscripts did not merely select and copy material from the Liber Floridus, but also organized images and texts in new ways, sought out different exemplars for them and embarked on compilatory activities of their own. These relationships at the textual, visual and conceptual levels are lenses through which we can observe the networks subsisting among the manuscripts linked to the Liber Floridus and the much broader group of encyclopedic compilations to which they belong. Sixteen colour plates and one hundred black-and-white figures document the role of the visual and material dimensions of the manuscripts in the processes of transmission.

Divided into four sections, the first of which deals with cruck construction, box-frame and post-and-truss assembling and the problems of roof construction and concludes with flooring, partitions and the decorative work applied to timber, this work is a vivid history of timber architecture. Part Two comprises an illustrated glossary covering terms used in all types of timber construction work, with the descriptions backed up with excellent drawings and photographs. Part Three, the chronological survey of timber buildings from Saxon times to the 19th century, contains notes on the 47 photographs of building types represented. Finally, Part Four deals with regional variations in timber building and is supplemented by six distribution maps.

Chartres Cathedral, south of Paris, is revered as one of the most beautiful and profound works of art in the Western canon. But what did it mean to those who constructed it in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries--and why was it built at such immense height and with such glorious play of light, in the soaring manner we now call Gothic?

In this eminently fascinating work, author Philip Ball makes sense of the visual and emotional power of Chartres and brilliantly explores how its construction--and the creation of other Gothic cathedrals--represented a profound and dramatic shift in the way medieval thinkers perceived their relationship with their world. Beautifully illustrated and written, filled with astonishing insight, "Universe of Stone" embeds the magnificent cathedral in the culture of the twelfth century--its schools of philosophy and science, its trades and technologies, its politics and religious debates--enabling us to view this ancient architectural marvel with fresh eyes.

Examinations of the use of diagrams, symbols etc. found as commentary in medieval texts. In our electronic age, we are accustomed to the use of icons, symbols, graphs, charts, diagrams and visualisations as part of the vocabulary of communication. But this rich ecosystem is far from a modern phenomenon. Early medievalmanuscripts demonstrate that their makers and readers achieved very sophisticated levels of "graphicacy". When considered from this perspective, many elements familiar to students of manuscript decoration - embellished charactersin scripts, decorated initials, monograms, graphic symbols, assembly marks, diagrammatic structures, frames, symbolic ornaments, musical notation - are revealed to be not minor, incidental marks but crucial elements within the larger sign systems of manuscripts. This interdisciplinary volume is the first to discuss the conflation of text and image with a specific focus on the appearance of various graphic devices in manuscript culture. By looking attheir many forms as they appear from the fourth century to their full maturity in the long ninth century, its contributors demonstrate the importance of these symbols to understanding medieval culture. Michelle P. Brown FSA is Professor Emerita of Medieval Book History at the School of Advanced Study, University of London and was formerly the Curator of Illuminated Manuscripts at the British Library; Ildar Garipzanov is Professor of Early Medieval History at the Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History at the University of Oslo; Benjamin C. Tilghman is Assistant Professor of Art History at Washington College. Contributors: Tina Bawden, Michelle P.Brown, Leslie Brubaker, David Ganz, Ildar H. Garipzanov, Cynthia Hahn, Catherine E. Karkov, Herbert L. Kessler, Beatrice Kitzinger, Kallirroe Linardou, Lawrence Nees, Eric Palazzo, Benjamin C. Tilghman.

This book provides a major study of the drawings, paintings and carvings of the crucifixion from tenth- and eleventh-century England, placing these works of art within the context of the tenth-century monastic revival. The drawings and paintings of the crucifixion are discussed in relation to the literature, theology, liturgy and devotional practices of the late Anglo-Saxon period in order to reveal the richness and subtlety of religious belief at this time. Late Anglo-Saxon religious art is shown to have played a central role in the monastic life; it called to mind the gospel events and set out their theological significance; it demonstrated the truth of the gospel message; it moved men's hearts, allowing them to experience the presence of Christ and to respond as though they had actually been present at His death.

Late Byzantium Reconsidered offers a unique collection of essays analysing the artistic achievements of Mediterranean centres linked to the Byzantine Empire between 1261, when the Palaiologan dynasty re-conquered Constantinople, and the decades after 1453, when the Ottomans took the city, marking the end of the Empire. These centuries were characterised by the rising of socio-political elites, in regions such as Crete, Italy, Laconia, Serbia, and Trebizond, that, while sharing cultural and artistic values influenced by the Byzantine Empire, were also developing innovative and original visual and cultural standards. The comparative and interdisciplinary framework offered by this volume aims to challenge established ideas concerning the late Byzantine period such as decline, renewal, and innovation. By examining specific case studies of cultural production from within and outside Byzantium, the chapters in this volume highlight the intrinsic innovative nature of the socio-cultural identities active in the late medieval and early modern Mediterranean vis-a-vis the rhetorical assumption of the cultural contraction of the Byzantine Empire.

Mr Strachan was asked if he could identify or explain the illustrations in an edition of the English Great Bible of 1541. Some were simple, others quite baffling. He set out to discover their meaning and history, and succeeded in tracing their derivation. At each stage a possible influence or explanation pointed a stage farther back; in the end he found that he had to cover virtually the whole history of illustration in printed bibles during their first century. He has set down his findings in this study. There is a considerable detective interest; one sees how successive renderings of a subject produced strange garblings, until certain pictures became apparently meaningless. It is all quite easy to understand, now that Mr Strachan has explained it; but he was working backwards in time, and it was a feat of ingenuity and perseverance to have reached his conclusions. All the more so in that he had to survey the entire range of bible-printing in every important European country.

Latin paleography of the classical period and beyond the Carolingian era has been well studied and described. But from about 1100 onwards we find a period of increasing national divergence in the character of book-hands used for writing, formal MSS. In this book Professor Thomson provides 132 characteristic specimens of the period 1100 1500, reproduced by lithography (in all cases in the original size). He excludes curial or chancery hands. Opposite each plate is a transcription of several lines. Above this, Professor Thomson provides comments on the distinguishing characteristics of the script. Cumulatively, the effect of these analyses is to provide a method of dating late medieval MSS and ascribing them to their country of origin.

This 1999 book is concerned with the pictorial language of gesture revealed in Anglo-Saxon art, and its debt to classical Rome. Reginald Dodwell was an eminent art historian and former Director of the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester. In this, his last book, he notes a striking similarity of both form and meaning between Anglo-Saxon gestures and those in illustrated manuscripts of the plays of Terence. He presents evidence for dating the archetype of the Terence manuscripts to the mid-third century, and argues persuasively that their gestures reflect actual stage conventions. He identifies a repertory of eighteen Terentian gestures whose meaning can be ascertained from the dramatic contexts in which they occur, and conducts a detailed examination of the use of the gestures in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. The book, which is extensively illustrated, illuminates our understanding of the vigour of late Anglo-Saxon art and its ability to absorb and transpose continental influence.

The stone sculpture of Anglo-Saxon England forms an important source for archaeologists and historians - offering fascinating insights into the thought-world of early medieval people. This volume surveys the western Midland counties of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire, and provides an analytical catalogue of the Anglo-Saxon stone sculptures of that region. Introductory chapters set the material within an historical, topographical and art-historical context, and there are specialist contributions concerning the geology of the monuments and the analysis of surviving ninth-century paint. There is a full photographic record of each monument which includes many new illustrations. The monuments include important collections of material from Gloucester, Deerhurst and Shrewsbury, as well as individual sculptures of the highest quality such as the Cropthorne cross-head, cross-shafts from Acton Beauchamp and Wroxeter, and the small but exquisite Lechmere Stone from Hanley Castle in Worcestershire. Some of the early monuments from the western borders of the study area are linked to the traditions of the Celtic churches of the west, but much of the material was carved at a time when Mercian art was at its zenith in the late eighth to early tenth centuries. There is also a significant body of carvings from the later tenth and eleventh centuries, but Scandinavian influence - so apparent in Northumbria and much of the rest of Mercia - is notably absent from these western counties until the early eleventh century. This volume shows that Western Mercia offered a vibrant milieu in which influential artistic ideas could develop and spread, not just in carved stone but also in manuscripts, metalwork and other materials, and that, even in the unified Anglo-Saxon kingdom, Mercian craftsmen continued to produce works of the highest quality.

The Spitz book of hours is one of the finest French books of hours in the collections of the Getty Museum. It is also one of the most original and inventive manuscripts painted in the International style. The Spitz Master, its primary illuminator, allows the narrative of the miniatures to fill the borders, bringing its pages alive in a fresh and engaging manner.
In new art-historical research, Gregory Clark places this manuscript's vivid, even witty, imagery in the turbulent context of Parisian culture around 1420. Clark also examines the book of hours in the context of medieval culture, the book trade in Paris, and the role of Paris as an international center of illumination. The Spitz Master: A Parisian Book of Hours is the first study devoted entirely to the manuscript and reproduces all the book's glowing miniatures in full color. It will serve as a lively introduction to the Spitz Hours for scholars and the general public alike.

What do they all mean - the lascivious ape, autophagic dragons, pot-bellied heads, harp-playing asses, arse-kissing priests and somersaulting jongleurs to be found protruding from the edges of medieval buildings and in the margins of illuminated manuscripts? Now available in a new hardback edition, Michael Camille's Image on the Edge explores that riotous realm of marginal art, so often explained away as mere decoration or zany doodles, where resistance to social constraints flourished. Medieval image-makers focused attention on the underside of society, the excluded and the ejected. Peasants, servants, prostitutes and beggars all found their place, along with knights and clerics, engaged in impudent antics in the margins of prayer-books or, as gargoyles, on the outsides of churches. Camille brings us to an understanding of how marginality functioned in medieval culture and shows us just how scandalous, subversive and amazing the art of the time could be.

Art and Writing in the Maya Cities, AD 600-800 examines an important aspect of the visual cultures of the ancient Maya in southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras. During a critical period of cultural evolution, artistic production changed significantly, as calligraphy became an increasingly important formal element in Maya aesthetics and was used extensively in monumental building, sculptural programs and small-scale utilitarian objects. Adam Herring's study analyzes art works, visual programs, and cultural sites of memory, providing an anthropologically-informed description of ancient Maya culture, vision, and artistic practice. An inquiry into the contexts and perceptions of the ancient Maya city, his book melds epigraphic and iconographic methodologies with the critical tradition of art-historical interpretation.

In this fascinating new book, Malcolm Vale sets out to recapture the splendour of the court culture of western Europe in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Exploring the century or so between the death of St Louis and the rise of Burgundian power in the Low Countries, he illuminates a period in the history of princes and court life previously overshadowed by that of the courts of the dukes of Burgundy. Taking in subjects as diverse as art patronage and gambling, hunting and devotional religion, Malcolm Vale rediscovers a richness and abundance of artistic, literary, and musical life. He shows how, despite the pressures of political fragmentation, unrest, and a nascent awareness of national identity, a common culture emerged in English, French, and Dutch court societies at this time. The result is a ground-breaking re-evaluation of the nature and role of the court in European history and a celebration of a forgotten age.

For her commissioning and performance of a French vernacular version of the Arabic Tale of the Thousand and One Nights - recorded in one of the most vivid and sumptuous late thirteenth-century manuscripts extant - as well as for her numerous other commissions, Queen Marie de Brabant (1260-1321) was heralded as a literary and intellectual patron comparable to Alexander the Great and Charlemagne. Nevertheless, classic studies of the late medieval period understate Marie's connection to the contemporary rise of secular interests at the French court. My book, Pleasure and Politics at the Court of France: the Artistic Patronage of Marie de Brabant (1260-1321), by reshaping the inquiry into court patronage, posits that the historical record reveals exciting and important contributions Marie de Brabant made to this burgeoning secular court. This emerging importance of the secular and redefinition of the sacred during these last decades of Capetian rule becomes all the more striking when juxtaposed to the pious tone of the lengthy reign of Louis IX (1214-1270), which had ended just four years before Marie's marriage to his son. That Marie often chose innovative materials and iconographies - that would later in the fourteenth century become the norm - to create these images signals her importance in late medieval patronage. These themes of court, culture, politics, and gender reflect and connect the chronological and methodological organization of my fully drafted manuscript. A substantial revision and expansion of my dissertation, the book examines Marie's commissions from her arrival in Paris in 1274 until her death in 1321 and analyzes the dynamics of her patronage and its impact on other women and men of the royal house.

Andrea Alciatis' Liber Emblemata (published in 1534) was an illustrated book of emblems, used by the well-educated of post-medieval Europe. Each emblem consisted of a motto or proverb, an illustration, and a short explanation; many had heraldic significance. In its time, the Liber Emblemata was an essential part of the library of every writer and artist. Scholars depended on it to interpret contemporary art and literature, while artists and writers turned to it to invest their work with an understood moral significance. This is the English translation of that important work, complete with the Latin texts and illustrations belonging to each of the 212 emblems, following the canonical order established by Johann Thuilius in 1612. The study of emblems reveals the reason statues of lions are traditionally placed before banks, the underlying political message beneath innumerable royal equestrian portraits of the Baroque era, and the connection between the unstable political situation referenced in Holbein's The Ambassadors and Alciati's tenth emblem, a lute with a broken string. The original Latin text is accompanied by literal but highly readable English translations; bracketed words and phrases represent once-understood references that may be missed by the modern reader. Each emblem is illustrated by an original woodcut. The work also includes the ""suppressed"" emblem, once removed due to its offensive subject matter, accompanied by a translation of the seventeenth-century commentary on the emblem by Johann Thuilius. An introduction establishes the importance of the work and its cultural contexts and artistic applications.