Download File - Fortismere A level Art history

Historical background to Medieval Europe:
For the first ten minutes of this lesson, go through
the images on your handout nd try to learn as much
about medieval Europe and medieval art (style,
composition, medium etc) as you can. The more you
look, the more you will be able to guess at, so take
your time and do not give up when you have got a
simple answer.
Feedback:
Now you have looked for yourselves, try to
match up the portions of historical
background to the relevant image. Think
carefully about this, and don’t stick anything
down until we have gone over the answers…
The final collapse of Rome’s Roman power – the last
western emperor abdicated in 476 – occurred shortly after
a Bishop of Rome, Leo I, was stressing his role as direct
heir to Peter. But for a century Rome declined, passing
between warring parties including Lombards and
Byzantines (Eastern Romans). The population shrank to
perhaps 30,000 and the senate, a relic from the republic,
vanished in 580.
Giotto, Confirmation of the Rule, 1299, fresco
Then arose the medieval
papacy, a reshaping of
western Christianity around
the Pope in Rome, initiated
by Gregory the Great in the
sixth century. As Christian
rulers emerged from across
Europe, so the power of the
Pope and the importance of
Rome grew, especially for
pilgrimages. As the wealth of
the Popes grew, Rome
became centre of a grouping
of estates, cities and lands
known as the Papal States.
Rebuilding was funded by the
Popes, Cardinals and other
wealthy church officials.
The Magyars' arrival in the Carpathian Basin
depicted in the Illuminated Chronicle c. 1360
Charlemagne’s death in 814 brought about the beginning of a very turbulent
period in European history. His empire had begun to crumble a decade
earlier and then began to disintegrate into anarchy within the three nominal
areas ruled by his descendants – roughly corresponding with present-day
Germany, France and a central strip running from the Netherlands to
Switzerland. It also came under constant attack from outside. Muslims from
Spain marauded southern and central France in search of loot and slaves.
Vikings harried the northern and western coastlands, and siled up the rivers
to the interior – Cologne, Rouen, Nantes, Orleans, and Bordeaux had all
fallen to them before 888 ad. Then a new menace appeared: Magyars from
central Asia swept into Europe, penetrating as far as Pavia in Italy in 899 and
southern France by 917. Not until 924 were they forced to withdraw to
Hungary and lead a more settled life.
In 911 the king of the western Franks granted territorial rights to a Viking band who
had settled in what was later called Normandy, their leader being titled a duke and
baptised a Christian the next year. The Normans were to play a very important part in
medieval Europe, especially in the long struggle between popes and Holy Roman
Emperors. By 1053 a group of Norman adventurers had moved into southern Italy,
where they took possession of the last Byzantine colony in the West and and went on
to oust the Muslims from Sicily, while Duke William effected the conquest of England
in 1066.
A segment of the Bayeux Tapestry depicting Odo, Bishop of Bayeux
rallying Duke William's troops during the Battle of Hastings in 1066
Ground plan of Croxden Abbey, 1176.
New social structures were
built up from the complex
relationships binding vassal
to lord, in chains which
extended from peasant to
king – what is now called ‘the
feudal system’, though there
were several kinds of
feudalism and none was
systematic. Similarly,
monasticism developed
organically, gradually
acquiring the importance of
a supra-national force. But
not until the 12th century did
the arts start to revive.
The Medieval society was complex, and
was not so far away from what we
would call a modern one. It was
governed by laws, it had rules, the
people had rights and obligations. There
was a legal framework of land tenure,
taxation and fiscal immunities. There
was an urban organization and a rural
one. The Feudal system had laws
regarding the relationship between lords
and peasants, and between the lords
and the monarch.
Any society requires some sort of armed
force and the Middle Ages one is no
different. Military organization was
remarkable, based on the corps of
hereditary aristocracy and their
households, but also including bodies of
professional soldiers, and the national
levies.
Henry VIII and the Order of the Garter, 1534,
illuminated manuscript.
Master of the Registrum
Gregorii, Registrum Gregorii,
985-1000 A.D. Manuscript,
Stadtbibliothek, Trier
The Church played a huge role in the Middle Ages. By
fulfilling social and religious needs and allying with
those in power, it secured influence and wealth. It had
extensive possessions; received as pious gifts, reclaimed
by monks from the wilderness, or simply bought. People
living on the Church lands were subject to its authority.
Thus, besides teaching people religion, the Church was
also a governing body, exercising its jurisdiction by
controlling and punishing the unruly. It was the main
educational agency in the society of the early Middle
Ages, but also was capable of ruling with the same
power and duties as a monarch.
All these territories had to be organized. In order to
enforce justice and protect the lands from invaders
armies were needed. The abbots and bishops who were
the rulers of these estates were therefore the source of
all local authority. They maintained order, held the
courts, and raised the army. They were judges and
officials of the king and had power to condemn
criminals to death. They directed the schools, collected
the feudal dues, and made war and peace.
The elements which shaped European feudalism were the practice of commendation,
the holding of fiefs, and the grants of immunity. Commendation was the act by which a
free man accepted to be a vassal, commending himself to a more powerful member of
the society, like a noble, a bishop, or an abbot. The vassal promised to serve his lord
faithfully, in war or with advice and did not lose his position as a free man, or sink on
the social scale. The lord was bound by his own obligations to support and protect his
vassals and did his best to have as many as possible, as a large number of followers
added importance and strength. In the later Middle Ages the old feudal order of the
society was changed by the emancipation of serfs. As the serfs frequently left their
land, the landlords reduced the burdens imposed upon their tenants, and tried to
attract new ones. The lords who needed large sums of money for a crusade or a local
war sold to their serfs the exemption from certain obligations. This custom spread,
because to a certain extent landowners had to compete for labourers. Emancipation
was also looked upon as a pious act, and many lords decided to free high numbers of
serfs. In most of France, the worst burdens of serfdom disappeared by the beginning of
the thirteenth century, and in many parts there were no serfs at all. The life of the
peasants was still hard, but eventually they all became freemen. Serfs who became
members of the clergy were freed at the same time, and many rose to high positions,
even to the Papal throne.
Medieval illustration of serfs harvesting wheat with reaping-hooks, on a calendar
page for August. Queen Mary's Psalter c, 1310
Cosimo Tura, Fresco from the Palazzo
Schifanoia, c. 1476
With the towns and merchant class gaining importance in
the medieval society, the old order of feudalism began to
change. The merchants and generally the burghers became
so wealthy that the kings decided to have them as allies in
their power struggle against the nobles.
Throughout the Middle Ages the upper classes were
themselves engaged in trade. The manorial lord sold the
produce of his estates and at fairs and markets purchased
everything he needed for himself and his family. In the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, noblemen and bishops,
abbots and kings themselves had ships which were doing
trade with foreign countries for their profit.
A considerable number of the traders of the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries were cadets of good families, as in a
knight’s family, only the eldest succeeded to the family
estate and honours, the rest had to provide for themselves.
What strengthened the position of traders in the medieval
society was their organization into powerful and wealthy
guilds, which also consolidated even more the political
position of the towns.
Locksmith, 1451
The towns became emancipated through their growth,
which was wholly due to commerce and
manufacturing. From the twelfth to the fourteenth
century conditions in towns improved. It was sort of
win-win situation, as the lords greatly contributed to
the development of commerce. They found it to their
advantage to make better roads, to build bridges, and
to police the routes, since for these services they
demanded heavy taxes from the merchants. Later the
charges consisted of a fixed amount, and were no
longer dictated by the lord’s pleasure.
By the wealth and influence of their Guilds, the
townsmen position within the Middle Ages society
considerably improved. They became influent and
powerful, and were able to obtain exemptions from
many burdens. By different means, from buying or
taking advantage of political instability, they secured
more privileges, until the towns became in many cases
self-governing communities.
Teaching at Paris, Grandes Chroniques de
France, late 14th-century , Illuminated
manuscript.
Many Universities took the Guilds as models, the University of Paris being such an
example. The right to teach belonged to the masters, corresponding to the masterworkmen, while the students corresponded to the apprentices. In a guild, an
apprentice had to work a number of years and to prove their skills before they became
full members. In a similar manner, the students had to study for six years and pass
examinations before becoming masters in art.