EARLY
MEDIEVAL
EUROPE
GARDNER CHAPTER 16-1
PP. 407-415
EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE BACKGROUND

500-1000 CE was a great formative
period of western medieval art

Early medieval art is a fusion of:
1. Greco-Roman heritage of N. Western
provinces of the Roman Empire
2. The cultures of the non-Roman
peoples north of the Alps
3. Christianity
ART OF THE WARRIOR LORDS

Rome’s power wanes in Late
Antiquity -> armed conflict and
competition for political authority
among non-Roman peoples of
Europe

As one group establishes control
another presses in behind and
compels them to move on

Visigoths -> forced south by the
Franks

Franks -> established themselves in
France and other parts of W. Europe

Anglo-Saxons -> controlled Roman
Britain

Celts -> France and Ireland

Vikings -> Scandinavia

Huns

Vandals

Merovingians

Franks

Ostrogoths
MEROVINGIAN FIBULAE

Pair of Merovingian looped fibulae,
mid 6th century, silver gilt worked in
filigree, with inlays of garnets and
stones

Jeweled fibulae were status symbols
among warlords -> pair belonged to
a Merovingian woman -> features
eagle heads and fish integrated into
highly decorative design

Early Medieval art -> mostly small,
portable “status symbols”
1. Small scale
2. Utilitarian in nature
3. Abstract ornament
4. Rejection of classical notion of the
representation of nature
SUTTON HOO SHIP BURIAL

Purse cover, from Sutton Hoo ship burial in
Suffolk, England, ca. 625, gold, glass, and
cloisonné garnets, 7 ½ “

This purse cover is one of the many
treasures found in a ship beneath a royal
burial mound discovered in 1939

CLOISONNE = metalworkers produced
this by soldering small metal strips,
cloisons, edge up, to a metal
background, and then filling the
compartments w/semiprecious stones,
colored glass and glass paste -> a cross
between mosaic and stained glass
 4 groups on lower row -> man standing between beasts, in
center is eagles attacking ducks/above are 3 geometric designs
-> 2 linear and 1 an interlace pattern
 Interlace pattern combined w/animal figures -> key EMA
VIKINGS

Vikings = pre-Christian traders and
pirates of Scandinavia

In 793 the Vikings land in British Isles
and until the mid 11th century they
were the terror of W. Europe

Ranged from Ireland, to Russia, to
Iceland and Greenland
OSEBERG SHIP BURIAL

Animal-head post, from Viking ship
burial, Oseberg, Norway, 825

The Vikings were master wood
carvers -> this post from a Viking ship
combines the head of a roaring
beast w/surface ornamentation in
the form of tightly interwoven
writhing animals

Perfect example of the union of 2
fundamental motifs of warrior-lord
art
1. The animal form
2. The interlace pattern
CHRISTIAN ART: SCANDINAVIA,
BRITISH ISLES, SPAIN

Powerful warlords amassing artworks
dominated by abstract and animal
motifs

Elsewhere in N. Europe Christian
missionaries were est. monasteries
and sponsoring art of Christian
content

Early medieval art of N. Europe very
different from in Italy and the
Byzantine Empire

Fusion of native and imported artistic
traditions

The Stave Church at Urnes (12th century)
has been placed on UNESCO’s World
Heritage list.

In the early Middle Ages many
communities throughout northern Europe
erected wooden churches on posts
buried in the ground -> staves

In Norway, these constructions were
ultimately refined into the exceptional
stave churches known today.

These religious structures comprise
Norway’s most important contribution to
world architectural history.
STAVE CHURCH,
URNES

Wooden portal of the stave
church at Urnes, Norway, ca. 10501070

By the 11th century Scandinavia
had become mostly Christian ->
Viking artistic traditions persist

Intertwining of animal and plant
decoration of the portal of this
Norwegian church
HIBERNO-SAXON ART

Ireland -> Christianization of the Celts
began in the 5th century

Irish monasteries were relatively
independent, isolated, inhospitable and
inaccessible locations -> far from worldly
temptations and distractions

Irish monks est. monasteries in Britain and
Scotland

HIBERNO-SAXON = the art of the IrishEnglish islands -> greatest creations were
illuminated manuscripts -> books were
scarce and guarded treasures
BOOK OF
DURROW

Man (symbol of Saint Matthew), folio
21verso of the Book of Durrow, possibly
from Iona, Scotland, ca. 660-680, ink and
tempera on parchment

Hiberno-Saxon book illumination include
some pages w/neither text nor illustration
but only pure embellishment -> carpet
pages

Book of Durrow -> the four gospel books,
each w/ a carpet page facing a page
w/the symbol of the evangelist who
wrote the gospel

The cloak of Saint Matthew’s man
resembles a cloisonné brooch w/abstract
ornament
THE FOUR
EVANGELISTS

EVANGELIST = one who
announces good news

THE FOUR EVANGELISTS = authors
of the gospels/the first four books
of the New Testament

MATTHEW -> winged man/angel

MARK -> the lion

LUKE -> the ox

JOHN -> the eagle
LINDISFARNE GOSPELS
 Note the peculiar, linear
style of barbarian art. No
modeling, no light and
shade, no illusionism.

Saint Matthew, folio 25 verso of the
Lindisfarne Gospels, from Northumbria,
England, ca. 698-721, tempera on vellum

Hiberno-Saxon illuminators were
concerned w/abstract design not the
depiction of the natural world -> this
author portrait of Saint Matthew is an
exception -> the inspiration for this may
have been a Mediterranean book

Matthew sits in his his study composing his
account of the life of Christ -> curtain,
seat at an angle, lettering is a combo of
Greek and Latin, the winged man
symbol, man looking on
 Cross and carpet page,
folio 26 verso of the
Lindisfarne Gospels, from
Northumbria, England, ca.
698–721. Tempera on
vellum, 1’ 1 1/2” X 9 1/4”
BOOK OF KELLS

Chi-rho-iota (XPI) page, folio 34 of
the Book of Kells, probably from
Iona, Scotland, late 8th or early 9th
century

The greatest achievement of
Hiberno-Saxon art is the Book of Kells

Written and decorated in an Irish
monastery

The painter transformed the biblical
text into abstract pattern, literally
making God’s words beautiful ->
intricate design recalls early
medieval metalwork
HIGH CROSS OF
MUIREDACH

High Cross of Muiredach (east
face), Monasterboice, Ireland,
923. Sandstone, approx. 18’ high

Early medieval Irish high crosses
are exceptional in size

Muirdach’s cross marked his grave
and bears reliefs depicting the
Crucifixion and Last Judgement

THE CELTIC CROSS = circle
intersecting the cross
VISIGOTHIC SPAIN/MOZARABIC
SPAIN

San Juan Bautista, Banos de
Cerrato, Spain, 661

Basilican church dedicated to
Saint John the Baptist is typical of
Visigothic architecture in Spain ->
entrance portral crowned by a
horseshoe arch