An 11th Century Masterpiece Of The Middle Ages

Silence: a Thirteenth Century French Romance, was translated from the original Le Roman de Silence written in thirteenth century medieval Europe by a man known as Heldris de Cornwall. The actual name of the author remains unknown. The original manuscript for the poem was discovered in 1911 in Nottingham, translated, edited in 1960, and finally published in 1972 to be read by the public. This version of Silence is a facing page translation containing both the French and the English by Sarah Roche-Mahdi. The intended audience for this poem in unknown because the author is unknown, and it is unknown whether it was published when it was written. The poem is about a young girl, Silence, who is forced by her parents to live as a boy. She leaves her parents and sets out on adventures that eventually reveal her secret.

It was during the Middle Ages (300-1000 AD), that various distinctive forms of art began to emerge in western Europe. A variety of significant mosaics, buildings and other forms of art came from this time that continue to be analyzed in the present. In the book Early Medieval Art, Lawrence Nees successfully provides an intricate interpretation of these various art forms that developed in this time in history while allowing the reader to conceptualize the emerging cultures of the first millennium in Europe. Nees is able to do this by outlining key aspects of the studied works of art that symbolize how life was at this point in history. At the beginning of his book, it is apparent that Nees seeks to provide a less traditional view on art at this time when he states, “I offer a different story of early medieval art in place of the more traditional tale of the decline of Rome and triumph of Christianity”. Nees’ thesis is subsequently inexplicitly stated to analyze the role of tradition in early medieval western art and its transformation as time progressed. By following a non-conventional thesis when writing this book, Nees is able to contribute a new perspective into the overall topic of medieval art.

The difference between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance is most visible through art and architecture, demonstrated specifically through an emphasis on religion or classical antiquity, and humanity. During the Middle Ages, art was more religious because it had a very religious influence from the church having such great power in the community. When the Renaissance started, art became more focused on ancient Greece. The Greek influence was because scholars were broadly studying the revival of classical antiquity. The architecture was affected in the same way because in the Middle Ages the style of the buildings was being influenced by religion. The style in the Renaissance was being more influenced by ancient Greece.

The Middle Ages, also known as the Medieval era, though scarred with a history of violence and war, has given the world some of the most marvelous and beautiful pieces of art, particularly in architecture. The Middle Ages is the name given to the time period from the late 5th century to the 15th century, particular to European history. The construction of these types of buildings was a constant for various cultures for a thousand years. They can be categorized into three phases; Pre-Romanesque, Romanesque and Gothic. The most important buildings during medieval times were religious, defensive and governmental or power related.

Just think, if some terrible natural disaster or terrible event happened, what would you do? Would you give up or do you have something to believe in, in order to have the motivation to keep moving forward and giving it your best? In A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, the author Barbara W. Tuchman used large disastrous events in the 14th century to let people know that even through the toughest of times; as long as people work together, and have faith in humanity and the right things, anybody can endure through tragic events. In A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, Tuchman focuses on the life of a French nobleman by the name of Enguerrand de Coucy who lived in the 14th Century from the years of 1340, to 1397.

The Medieval Synthesis in the Arts ca. (1000-1300) thirteen century Gothic Church. The Chartres Cathedral Church is one of the most important in France. After a fire in 1134 destroy the town of Chartres the west front of the cathedral. The rebuilding of the west facade between 1145-50. It was once known as Notre Dame de Chartres but today is known as Chartres Cathedral. This church has the essential parts of a Christian basilica. The cathedral is locates in the town of Chartres, Northwester France. It is one of three Gothic French architecture and the others are Amiens Cathedral and Reims Cathedral. The cathedral has two pointed arches, buttresses, vaults, and beautiful stained glass windows. The large pointed arches soaring towards the

Neoclassical Art was an art form that followed the Baroque and Rococo art periods. Neoclassicism was a way for artists to display their wish to return to meaningful art, to escape the frivolity of landscapes and still life paintings, and paint something that had a moral, educational or inspirational value to the viewer. Neoclassical art was an attempt to return knowledge and purity back to art. Neoclassicism was mainly focused on Greek and Roman arts and stories of the classical era with some new advancement. It was a revival of antiquity.

A virulent plague consumed millions of corpses; war raged on for multiple generations, and famine struck an overpopulated Europe. Even as many tragedies befell the European people, the crisis of fourteenth century eventually proved itself to be a blessing in disguise, albeit a very lethal one. The first hardship, the Little Ice Age, afflicted northern Europe in 1315 and reached the south by 1347, creating a dearth of food. The Black Death then wiped out a third of European inhabitants in the middle of the century. Many wars erupted, but the Hundred Years War between England and France resulted in the most deaths and caused heavy taxation for these countries from 1337 to 1452. The Ottoman Turks began to attack European settlements in the east,

My heart is heavy, King Harold is dead. No doubt the news has already reached you. It was an awful sight to see: the arrow pierced his eye directly; he fell to the ground as did the English hopes for an English king. The Norman usurper William has conquered.

As European civilization continued to advance in economy and technology, people began to diversify. The introduction of government, newly innovated economic change, government, religious houses of worship,and arts and craft, also flourished. As the growth of population and prosperity began, internal struggles amongst farmers, businessmen, and the law, began to take shape. It was during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries that the religious wars known as, The Crusades, began. The crusades began when Turkish Moslems took control of cities known for their devout Christian worshipers. When Christian pilgrims were denied entry to important cities such as Jerusalem and bethlehem,

1. The primary historical feature of the High Middle Ages was the population that was growing fast. With that came other social and political changes of immense significance. Europe was developing as the commercial entity with such phenomena as the Hanseatic League that improved trade between free cities. This was the period when Marco Polo travelled the Silk Road to China and started the process of opening Asian markets to Europe. The period can be characterized with the upsurge in the science sphere. Europe started contacting with the Muslim world through Crusades. Throughout this time, the world saw translation of major works from Latin. This is not to mention countless technological advances such as inventions (gunpowder, printing, scissors,

The question I will be answering is “What anti-semitic laws and ideas in the 11th-13th centuries paved the way for the conflation of Judaism and witchcraft that shaped the conceptualization and imagery of witches?” This question interested me because the High Middle Ages is one of my favorite periods of history to learn about and I had recently read something about how the witch’s uniform that we see in popular culture today developed from garments that Jews were either forced to wear or chose to wear in that time to identify themselves. I had to narrow the question down to a specific time frame because the practice of Jews wearing identifying markers spans a much larger chunk of history.

The Bayeux Tapestry is a 230-foot-long enigma. Although the historical events that inspired its creation are well known, there are still many aspects of the tapestry that remain a mystery and a range of theories to explain certain contested phenomena. There is still discrepancy over the basic facts of the tapestry such as where it was made, and who even commissioned it. However, one aspect that has many interpretations are the borders surrounding the main narrative. The borders stretch, uninterrupted, above and below the main scene for almost the whole length of the tapestry. Composed of plants, mammals, birds, and occasional humans, separated with bars and plant images, some see no meaning in the borders, while others argue they are

The Renaissance time period was home to many new ideas in art. This includes new artists bringing forth ideas that had yet to be discovered and made popular. New themes and types of art were also being brought forward during this period.

In order to study the troubadours, it is of high importance to understand the context in which they flourished and developed, which was the Medieval Era. The Middle Ages is the period of European history that goes from the collapse of the Roman civilization to the beginning of the Renaissance, and it extends from about 500 to 1500 ca. (“Middle Ages”). This period is called the “Dark Ages” since it is regarded by the Renaissance scholars as a long interval of superstition, ignorance, barbarism, and social oppression due to the fact that the Medieval era was a fight to establish a new society independent from the Roman standards and philosophy. However, it is now acknowledged that it was a dynamic period, in which Europe built a new