Mid-twelfth Century Research Articles

Light in the Dark Ages: The Rise and Fall of San Vincenzo al Volturno (review)

Light in the Dark Ages: The Rise and Fall of San Vincenzo al Volturno. By Richard Hodges. (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. 1997. Pp. xix, 231. $49.95.) San Vincenzo al Volturno was 'one of the great monastic complexes patronized by Charlemagne. Initially founded in the eighth century by Beneventan monks from Farfa, San Vincenzo was reconceptualized and rebuilt on a grand scale by Abbot Joshua, a Frank, in the early ninth, and reached its apex shortly thereafter. Ransacked and substantially destroyed in an Arab attack in 881, the abbey was partially rebuilt in the eleventh century, and then demolished and rebuilt anew, fortified, on the opposite side of the Volturno River in the first years of the twelfth. It was also in the mid-twelfth century that Abbot John wrote the Chronicon Volturnense, recounting the history of the abbey from its beginnings to his own day. Our understanding of this important monastery and its meaning for the broader history of the early Middle Ages is greatly increased by Richard Hodges' stimulating study, the result of several decades of intensive excavation of the site. The starting point for his work has been to reassess Pirenne's famous thesis on the origins of the Middle Ages through the archaeological data. Hodges' archaeological experience is extensive, and thus he is able to place the findings from San Vincenzo within a much broader framework of cultural, social, and economic meaning that sheds light on a number of significant issues, including the question of the continuity and discontinuity of the late Roman world. The book is divided into ten chapters. In the first, Hodges discusses the previous treatments of San Vincenzo and the history of its excavation. His own work has two aims: to uncover the extent of the ninth-century monastery, and to identify vestiges of the early medieval villages in the area. Interest in the site goes back to the late nineteenth century, and earlier excavations by the Benedictine Pantoni for the purpose of rebuilding the monastery had uncovered the twelfth-century church with ninth-century fragments. The ninth-century crypt of Abbot Epyphanius was located some distance away, but Pantoni made no attempt to explain why it was set apart from the rest of the abbey, assuming that this was the original arrangement. It was only later that Hodges realized that the crypt in fact stood on the original site of the ninth-century monastery itself, and that the excavation would tell a much more complex story. After a discussion of the chronicle evidence in Chapter 2, Hodges goes on in Chapters 3 through 9 to analyze the archaeology of the site, from the Samnite and Republican Roman remains of the pre-Christian Rochetta plain through the Lombard foundation and Frankish augmentation of San Vincenzo, the Arab devastation, and the later reconstruction of the abbey. The remains of San Vincenzo are very rich, providing a wealth of material for art and architectural historians alike. Among the most valuable evidence is the uncovering of the workshops that produced this art as well as copious piles of raw and waste materials. In conjunction with the substantial remains of the crypt, abbatial palace and guest quarters, refectory, church and chapel, the site reveals a large and lively monastic community. San Vincenzo reached its height in the first half of the ninth century, when it became a focus of Carolingian policy in Benevento. It became what Hodges calls one of the ideological nodes of the Carolingian regime. In recent years the variety and complexity of monastic contributions to the definition of Carolingian culture has become increasingly apparent, and in this context San Vincenzo played a particular role in establishing the royal presence and the clear hierarchy of authority resulting from Charlemagne's conquest of Benevento. The original monastery of the eighth century, built into a late Roman villa, was modest. With the election of Abbot Joshua the abbey was reconceived, incorporating and reworking the older buildings into a monumental space with definite distinctions of monastic and secular spaces, a distinguished guests' palace reflecting the high status of San Vincenzo's patrons, and an emphasis on the aristocratic, indeed regal grandeur of the abbot. …

The Cistercian Evolution: The Invention of a Religious Order in Twelfth-Century Europe

According to the received history, the Cistercian order was founded in Citeaux, France, in 1098 by a group of Benedictine monks who wished for a stricter community. They sought a monastic life that called for extreme asceticism, rejection of feudal revenues, and manual labor for monks. Their third leader, Stephen Harding, issued a constitution, the Carta Caritatis, that called for the uniformity of custom in all Cistercian monasteries and the establishment of an annual general chapter meeting at Citeaux. The Cistercian order grew phenomenally in the mid-twelfth century, reaching beyond France to Portugal in the west, Sweden in the north, and the eastern Mediterranean, ostensibly through a process of apostolic gestation, whereby members of a motherhouse would go forth to establish a new house. The abbey at Clairvaux, founded by Bernard in 1115, was alone responsible for founding 68 of the 338 Cistercian abbeys in existence by 1153. But this well-established view of a centrally organized order whose founders envisioned the shape and form of a religious order at its prime is not borne out in the historical record. Through an investigation of early Cistercian documents, Constance Hoffman Berman proves that no reliable reference to Stephen's Carta Caritatis appears before the mid-twelfth century, and that the document is more likely to date from 1165 than from 1119. The implications of this fact are profound. Instead of being a charter by which more than 300 Cistercian houses were set up by a central authority, the document becomes a means of bringing under centralized administrative control a large number of loosely affiliated and already existing monastic houses of monks as well as nuns who shared Cistercian customs. The likely reason for this administrative structuring was to check the influence of the overdominant house of Clairvaux, which threatened the authority of Citeaux through Bernard's highly successful creation of new monastic communities. For centuries the growth of the Cistercian order has been presented as a spontaneous spirituality that swept western Europe through the power of the first house at Citeaux. Berman suggests instead that the creation of the religious order was a collaborative activity, less driven by centralized institutions; its formation was intended to solve practical problems about monastic administration. With the publication of The Cistercian Evolution, for the first time the mechanisms are revealed by which the monks of Citeaux reshaped fact to build and administer one of the most powerful and influential religious orders of the Middle Ages.

Décors d'incrustation et tendances antiquisantes dans l'architecture romane de la moyenne vallée du Rhône

Inlaid decorations--inlays of mortar or putty in an incised stone support--resurrect an aesthetic and techniques belonging to the architecture of late antiquity. In the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries such decorations saw a notable revival in church architecture and liturgical furniture. The revival occurred in the east as well as in the west, beginning earlier in Greece and later in the western kingdoms. The geographic distribution of these decorations is spotty and fragmentary, however, just a few buildings in Greece, in the middle Rhône valley, in the north of France, and in England. At Vienne and Lyon, in the heart of Burgundy and part of the empire, the development of these inlaid decorations in Romanesque architecture of the second half of the twelfth and the beginning of the thirteenth centuries participated in a larger protorenaissance, as the Rhône valley surrounding these cities saw several clear examples of the renaissance of ancient forms both in architecture and in decoration. While the early Christian or Byzantine origin of these inlays may be elusive, the aesthetic of costliness which defines them permits a better understanding of the rôle played by this revival in the artistic politics of the archbishops. Before studying what the influences upon them might have been, it is advisable to clearly define the aesthetic represented by the three buildings involved: in Vienne the old collegiate church of Saint-André-le-Bas and the old cathedral of Saint-Maurice, and at Lyon the cathedral of Saint-Jean-Baptiste; in this way one can avoid historical contradictions in interpreting the comparisons. Furthermore, the chronological revisions suggested by recent research are the basis of a new understanding of the position of these two cities in late Romanesque art and of their relation to Burgundy, as a major monument of Romanesque art of the mid-twelfth century, the tomb of St.-Lazare, evidently played a significant role in the constitution of this revivalist aesthetic. The inlays of Autun belong to this movement. The inlays further demonstrate the large part played by Vienne, a part well established for sculpture.

Charity and Welfare: Hospitals and the Poor in Medieval Catalonia (review)

Reviewed by: Charity and Welfare: Hospitals and the Poor in Medieval Catalonia Michael R. McVaugh James William Brodman. Charity and Welfare: Hospitals and the Poor in Medieval Catalonia. The Middle Ages Series. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998. xxv + 229 pp. $39.95; £37.95. Potential readers should know that this book’s title is a more accurate guide to its contents than is its subtitle: hospitals are only one form that the caritative impulse took in medieval society, along with the distribution of food, clothing, and money to the needy, all of which are considered here. And the book does more, too, than simply consider medieval Catalonia, although certainly that is its focus: Professor Brodman regularly relates his account to other medieval societies—sometimes so that he can fill in gaps in his own material, sometimes in order to depict the Catalan world as either normal or distinctive. The picture Brodman draws is one of changes over the period from the late eleventh to the fifteenth century. These include an increasing insistence on distinguishing between the deserving and undeserving poor, and the emergence of social policies favoring assistance to the former, so that, to a certain degree, charity began to turn into welfare; the transition from private to ecclesiastical or municipal control; the move from clerical to lay administration of services to the needy, and the replacement of voluntary by municipal funding; and the evolution of “hospitals” from shelters for pilgrims and the poor into institutions sometimes offering care to specific groups (e.g., orphans) and providing medical attention to the sick—by the end of the period, some of them were very large in size, and were typically operated by salaried staff. As Brodman presents these changes, they are all simply tendencies, not sharply demarcated transitions, and he is unwilling to agree with historians like Agustín Rubio Vela and Miri Rubin who he thinks interpret them as indicators of a new “secularization” of assistance; for him, charitable and pragmatic motives continued to intermingle in late medieval practices. Readers of the Bulletin are likely to be most interested in Charity and Welfare’s discussion of medieval hospitals in Catalonia and elsewhere. The term is bound to be a misleading one in application to the Middle Ages, because for us today it is automatically associated with medical services, and Professor Brodman is careful to insist that before 1300 or so it should instead be understood to mean a public shelter open to those needing lodging—travelers, and the poor or homeless. In Catalonia such foundations can be traced back to at least the tenth century, and by the thirteenth century they existed in every Catalan community of any importance, from Barcelona and Girona to Vic and Manresa. The sick might of course be housed in such a shelter, but only because they needed housing, not because they were sick, and no medical care was provided to them. To be sure, separate shelters had been operated outside towns for the growing [End Page 693] number of lepers since the mid-twelfth century, beginning in Barcelona and Girona, but here too only maintenance was provided, not medical treatment. It was not before the middle of the fourteenth century that Catalan hospitals—apparently first of all in Tortosa—suddenly started to contract with physicians and other medical personnel to attend the sick poor residing there. The medicalization of the hospital had begun here as elsewhere in Europe (but only begun: the fifteenth-century institution might still make provision for the merely poor as well as for the ill). Brodman explains this transformation by saying that it depended on the professionalization of the health occupations that immediately preceded it (pp. 86, 98), but his argument is little more than post hoc, propter hoc, and I find it somewhat unsatisfying; might not both these phenomena be consequences of medieval Europe’s emerging conviction that medical care was of real benefit to those treated? If so, the introduction of medical personnel into the hospitals would only reinforce his larger argument, that late medieval charity was not merely a matter of enlightened selfishness, but one of genuine concern for the poor. Michael R. McVaugh University of...

The Jews in Medieval Normandy: A Social and Intellectual History

Introduction 1. The earliest sources 2. Extent and antiquity of Jewish settlement in Normandy 3. From Robert of Normandy until the First Crusade 4. The Jewish quarter of Rouen in the twelfth century 5. School and community in the reign of Henry I and Angevin times 6. Masters of the law in the mid-twelfth century 7. Abraham Ibn Ezra and his literary activities in Normandy 8. Disciples of the masters: Rouennaise scholars during the reign of Henry II Plantagenet 9. The civil status of the Jews from Henry II to John Lackland 10. The Tosafists 11. From the last years of Philip Augustus to the reign of Louis IX 12. The final decades Appendices Bibliography.

Glossa Ordinaria, Pars 22, In Canticum Canticorum (review)

198 Reviews Dove, Mary, ed., Glossa Ordinaria, Pars 22, In Canticum Canticoru (Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaevalis 170), Turnholt, Brepols, 1997; cloth; pp. 454; R.R.P. BEF6,750. In the early twelfth century, Anselm of Laon and his associate began the compilation of a major commentary on the Bible, which eventually developed into the standard exegetical source of the later Middle Ages, the Glossa Ordinaria. The importance of this work can hardly be underestimated; it provides an authoritative and definitive guide to the Biblical interpretations and meanings which resonate in the thought and literature of the period. A m o d e r n edition of the Glossa Ordinaria has long been a desideratum. Migne's nineteenth-century version in the Patrologia Latina is of little use, because it omits the entire interlinear part of the commentary. But a critical edition is made difficult by the very popularity of the Glossa. M a n y manuscripts survive, often of a commentary on individual books of the Bible rather than of the whole work, and there is considerable variation in their contents and arrangement. Scholars have had to be content with a facsimile reprint (Turnhout: Brepols, 1992) of the first printed edition, published by Adolph Rusch in Strassburg in 1480/81. Unlike Migne, Rusch included both the interlinear and marginal glosses and produced a reliable text, but he seems to have used a manuscript from the late twelfth or early thirteenth century, and gives no evidence of the variations in the Gloss, nor of its development over time. The appearance of Mary Dove's edition of the Gloss on the Song of Songs is, therefore, a major landmark in the history of this work. As she emphasises, this is not intended to be a full critical edition but is an attempt to reproduce the early text as it was in the firstfiftyyears of its existence, up to ca. 1170. Dove relies on eight Reviews 199 carefully chosen witnesses: thefiveearliest manuscripts, dated before 1150; two Paris manuscripts of the mid-twelfth century; and another Paris manuscript of the third quarter of the century, chosen for its closeness to the text of Rusch's edition. Included among them is a manuscript written in Laon before 1135, but probably after Anselm's death in 1117. Each manuscript is thoroughly and carefully described and analysed, and the reasons for the selection of these eight—from the more than seventy which survive for this section of the Gloss— are fully and convincingly argued. As the base text for this edition, D o v e uses an English manuscript (now Hereford Cathedral Library M S P18) which has been dated ca. 1135-45 and is the fullest and most reliable of the earlier manuscripts. To this text have been added 46 glosses which appear in at least two of the other seven witnesses (but not in the Hereford manuscript), as well as various glosses which are printed by Rusch but do not occur in any of the eight selected manuscripts. Other glosses unique to one of the manuscripts have been recorded in the apparatus. This is justified as a middle-ground between two extremes: giving only the Hereford text and relegating all other readings to the apparatus, on the one hand, and trying to capture all the variants of the early tradition in a single text, on the other. The result is a reasonable conspectus of the earliest versions of this part of the Gloss, though the resulting text, inevitably, is one which never appeared in a medieval manuscript. This is yet another example of the difficulty of confining the variance of a medieval text within the Procrustean bed of the modern printed edition. A n electronic version would have been able to provide full parallel transcriptions of each of the nine witnesses used here. The apparatus is detailed and thorough. The sources of each section of the text—vital information in a compilation like this— are exhaustively documented, as well as being summarised in an 200 Reviews author index. The text is set out in a single, linear sequence of prose and does not attempt to reproduce the multi-layered mise-en-page of the original...

King Ptolemy and Alchandreus the Philosopher: The earliest texts on the astrolabe and Arabic astrology at Fleury, Micy and Chartres

Summary This paper reassesses the importance of the Benedictine monasteries of St Benoît of Fleury and St Mesmin of Micy (both on the outskirts of Orléans), and the Cathedral of Chartres for the early diffusion of Arabic learning concerning the astrolabe, and it relates this diffusion to that of the judicial astrology of ‘Alchandreus philosophus’ and the astronomical tables of the Preceptum canonis Ptolomei. Evidence is given for the fact that already, by the turn of the millennium, the elements were in place for a corpus of a new, mathematically based, practical science of the stars, consisting of works partly of Arabic and partly of Greek inspiration. This corpus was progressively revised and inspired, in turn, further translations from Arabic, until it reached its most mature form in the mid-twelfth century. Until recently, scholarship has tended to concentrate on the cathedral schools of North-east France and Lotharingia, and the monastic schools of South Germany, and to see Gerbert d'Aurillac, the Archbishop of Reims, as the pivotal figure. While these schools were undoubtedly important in the diffusion of the new science of the stars in the eleventh century, it is argued that a key role in the initial stages of the diffusion was played by the interrelated centres of Fleury, Micy and Chartres at the beginning of the century, and Gerbert may not have contributed as much as has been believed. Additional sections are devoted to the authorities in this corpus, ‘King Ptolemy’ and ‘Alchandreus’. A reworking of the Arabic material on the construction of the astrolabe by Ascelin of Augsburg was copied into this corpus. The text has previously been known from only one manuscript; a new edition, from five manuscripts, is provided here, together with a translation and commentary.

The So-Called Gundulf's Tower at Rochester Cathedral. A Reconsideration of its History, Date and Function

Since the early eighteenth century, on the basis of no particular evidence, the tower standing uncomfortably close to the north choir aisle at Rochester has been attributed to Bishop Gundulf, the builder of the first Romanesque cathedral church begunc.1080. Recently, it has been suggested that the tower dates to the mid-twelfth century and was erected as a bell tower. This paper assembles the documented history of the tower, speculates about its original form, and presents comparative material. Early post-Conquest towers of a possible defensive function and the few known examples of free-standing bell towers in twelfth-century England are considered in an attempt to establish a date and function for the tower. On the basis of this evidence, it may be suggested that an early post-Conquest – and pre-Gundulf – date is more likely than one in the mid-twelfth century, and that it was more probably erected for defensive purposes rather than as a bell tower.

Reading myth: classical mythology and its interpretations in medieval French literature

This book explores the appropriation and transformation of classical mythology by French culture from the mid-twelfth century to about 1430. Each of the five chapters focuses on a specific moment in this process and asks: What were the purposes of transforming classical myth? Which techniques did poets use to integrate classical subject matter into their own texts? Was a special interpretive tradition created for vernacular texts? In Chapter 1, the author shows how Latin epic texts were reoriented for political purposes in the twelfth-century Anglo-Norman realm, gaining depth by the addition of Ovidian elements that evoked threats of a disorder different from the struggles of classical epic. Chapter 2 analyzes the complex use of myth in the thirteenth-century Roman de la Rose, which offers conjunctions and interpretations of myths related to language, artistic expression, and sexuality. Chapter 3 focuses on the interpretive techniques and vocabulary of the fourteenth-century Ovide moralise, such as allegory, fable, and istoire, arguing that the Christianization of the Metamorphoses created a new Ovid in the form of a fourteenth-century friar. Chapter 4 reveals that, although Guillaume de Machaut questioned the usefulness of mythic fables, he turned to them to invoke artistic consolation and ward off threats to his poetic voice. It also describes how Jean Froissart produced myths by combining existing fables with newly invented elements in an attempt to dramatize the poetic creativity of his age. Finally, Chapter 5 demonstrates how Christine de Pizan offered the full range of medieval possibilities for myth: playing with the mythographic tradition, inscribing herself into Ovidian myths, offering historical explanations, rewriting myths from a pro-woman stance, and finally creating mythic universes of her own.

Taking measures across the medieval landscape: aspects of urban design before the Renaissance

This paper considers the significance of geometrical knowledge and the role of surveying as influences on medieval town plans in Europe. Analyses of selected plans show signs that improvements in methods of measurement made it possible to lay out towns with greater accuracy from the mid-twelfth century onwards, and that surveying techniques based on practical and theoretical geometry were used to produce towns with orthogonal plans. It is suggested that orthogonal town plans had symbolic importance in the Middle Ages.

The So-Called Gundulf's Tower at Rochester Cathedral. A Reconsideration of its History, Date and Function

Since the early eighteenth century, on the basis of no particular evidence, the tower standing uncomfortably close to the north choir aisle at Rochester has been attributed to Bishop Gundulf, the builder of the first Romanesque cathedral church begunc.1080. Recently, it has been suggested that the tower dates to the mid-twelfth century and was erected as a bell tower. This paper assembles the documented history of the tower, speculates about its original form, and presents comparative material. Early post-Conquest towers of a possible defensive function and the few known examples of free-standing bell towers in twelfth-century England are considered in an attempt to establish a date and function for the tower. On the basis of this evidence, it may be suggested that an early post-Conquest – and pre-Gundulf – date is more likely than one in the mid-twelfth century, and that it was more probably erected for defensive purposes rather than as a bell tower.

A landscape of medieval reclamation: Walland Marsh, Kent

ABSTRACT Walland Marsh, Kent, is the south-western half of the large coastal lowland known generally as Romney Marsh, in the south-eastern corner of England. Reclamation, which involved building embankments to enclose large blocks of land and organising the land drainage there, had begun by mid twelfth century and was complete by 1500. This provided a landscape of walls and a variety of ditch patterns. The sequence of reclamation is reconstructed on the basis of these landscape features, supported by evidence of the soils, parish boundaries and historic documents including surveys, rentals, and farmers' and demesne accounts. Three areas, including both tenant and demesne land belonging to Christ Church, Canterbury, were studied and mapped as detailed examples. Because of the complex interaction of environmental, demographic and economic factors the progress of reclamation was by no means continuous or uninterrupted. Nor did the chronology coincide with general expectations of advance and contraction based on other areas. It is concluded that expansion was halted in the mid-thirteenth century, earlier than expected, by sea floods. However, reclamation to provide additional pasture began again c. 1400, surprisingly soon after the Black Death: this may have been related to the cloth industry in the nearby Weald.

The New Knighthood: A History of the Order of the Temple by Malcolm Barber

BOOK REVIEWS779 The New Knighthood:A History of the Order of the Temple. By Malcolm Barber . (NewYork: Cambridge University Press. 1994. Pp. xxii, 441; 14 figures, 17 plates. $69.95.) There has long been a need for an up-to-date and reUable history ofthe Order of the Temple in English. Malcolm Barber has now suppUed that desideratum with The New Knighthood, a lucid account of the Order from its modest beginnings in the Holy Land around 1119 to its dramatic dissolution by papal decree in 1312. Although the loss of the main archive (probably during the Ottoman conquest of Cyprus in 1571) hampers discussion of the growth of the Order in the East, Barber argues for a more vigorous expansion ofthe nascentTemple than is suggested by WiUiam of Tyre's oft-quoted account of its foundation. Greater early success renders expUcable not only the recognition accorded to theTemplars at the CouncU of Troyes in 1129, but also the evidence from about the same time for the first of the grants of European lands that would rapidly transform theTemple into a great international order.Yet, some churchmen harbored reservations about the warrior monks. Bernard of Clairvaux hailed them as "the new knighthood," but it was not until the Templars received a succession of papal privUeges between 1 139 and 1 145 that doubts about the validity of their profession were effectively sUenced. By the mid-twelfth century, theTemplars had assumed a vital role in the miUtary affairs of the Latin East.They were known amongst Christians and Muslims alike for their bravery and devotion to the defense of the crusader principalities , and akeady held strategicaUy important fortresses and territories. As the military situation deteriorated in the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries, rulers granted even more extensive possessions to the Order. Barber treats these matters in detaU, and shows that as theTemple acquired greater lands and independence in the East it became more frequently embroUed in disputes with the rival Order of the Hospital and with secular rulers.TheTemplars may have believed that they were simply protecting their legitimate interests, but outside observers often interpreted these disputes as unedifying displays of pride and avarice. Barber does not attempt a thoroughgoing treatment ofthe Order in theWest, but surveys its possessions and outlines their organization and management in order to explain their crucial importance to Templar enterprises in Syria and Palestine.The majority ofTemplars spent their entire lives in the West, but the whole machinery of the Order was geared to the support of its presence in the East. Only by drawing upon the rich resources furnished by the European estates , could the Order sustain its ongoing warfare against the Muslims.The need to transfer revenues from the western lands stimulated the development of the Temple's financial institutions, and crusaders, secular rulers, and the papacy soon avaUed themselves of the Order's services and expertise. 780BOOK REVIEWS With the loss of the last Christian strongholds on the Levantine coast in 1291, theTemplars were, in the eyes of many, deprived oftheir raison d'être.Although they strove to continue their miUtary operations from Cyprus, they could no longer invoke their defense of the Holy Land to deflect criticism. In such circumstances, they were ill-equipped to defend themselves against the charges of heresy and moral corruption brought against them by Philip IV of France in 1307. Barber—whose The Trial of the Templars (Cambridge, 1978) remains the definitive study on the suppression of the Order—provides a concise analysis of the proceedings against the Order and its abolition, and concludes the book with a chapter on the literary and "pseudo-historical" legacy of the Temple. The New Knighthood is a welcome contribution to the scholarly Uterature on the Temple, and wiU long remain an essential work for anyone interested in the Order. William G Zajac University ofWales Swansea Templars, Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights: Images of the Military Orders, 1128-1291. By Helen Nicholson. (New York: Leicester University Press. Distributed in the United States and Canada by St. Martin's Press, NewYork. 1995. Pp. xvi, 207. $59.00 clothbound; $24.95 paperback.) The author begins by clearly stating her objectives and then sets out...

Marginal sculpture in medieval France: towards the deciphering of an enigmatic pictorial language

Introduction: deciphering a neglected realm of images. Part 1 Romanesque marginal sculpture - subjects and images. Part 2 Reading the language and texts of marginal Romanesque sculpture: reading the codes marginal and official sculpture - a comparative study the multilayered system - patrons versus artists. Part 3 Gothic marginal sculpture: the new Gothic subjects and images the patrons of Gothic marginal sculpture a Gothic mirror of society - the 150 corbels of Guillaume de Beaumont, Bishop of Angers (1202-1240) the corbels of Semur en Auxois and Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy image and style of the Gothic language. Part 4 The late Gothic marginal pictorial tradition - a medieval subculture: marginal images in stone marginal wood carvings types of figure in the pictorial tradition. Epilogue: the place of marginal sculpture and imagery in European art. Appendices A catalogue of some Romanesque and Gothic series: Romanesque corbel series (mid-twelfth century) - St Pierre in Aulnay, St Troyan in Retaud, St Hilaire in Foussais, St Etienne in Cahors transitional marginal series - St Etienne Cathedral in Sens Gothic marginal series - St Maurice in Angers, Notre Dame, Semur-en-Auxois, Ste Radegonde, Poitiers, St Etienne Cathedral, Metz, St Pierre, Poitiers, Ste Croix, inner church, Lavoute-Chilhac, St Pierre and St Paul, Villenauxe-la-Grande, Notre Dame de l'Epine.

Comments on the Impacts of Climatic Variability and Population Growth on Virgin Anasazi Cultural Development

Larson and Michaelsen (1990) suggest that Virgin Anasazi cultural development can be explained as a response to population growth and climatic variation. They present demographic and climatic data to argue that abandonment of the Virgin Anasazi region was a response to a severe mid-twelfth century drought. Reconsideration of their data shows that Virgin Anasazi populations probably did not grow or decline as rapidly as they suggest. Further, radiocarbon dates suggest that the Virgin Anasazi occupied the area until the late thirteenth century. The Virgin Anasazi abandonment did not coincide with the twelfth-century drought, and cannot be explained solely by reference to population size and climatic change.

‘His Special Friend’ ? The Settlement of Disputes and Political Power in the Kingdom of the French (Tenth to Mid-Twelfth Century)

‘Failing help from God and Saint Martin, the canons found it necessary to renew their complaint before the lord Hugh, their abbot and count’.‘For almost six years’, the canons of Saint-Martin de Tours had been trying to regain possession of land in the neighbouring diocese of Poitiers. They complained that through ‘the cupidity of Frankish men’ they had been deprived of two estates; and, because ‘they could never get justice for their claim’, they were asking their lay-abbot, Hugh, for his advice. Hugh counselled them ‘to go again and put their claim to the lord Count Ebles, his special friend’ and to Ebles' own faithful men (iterum ad domnum Ebolum comitem, suum specialem amicum, et praescriptos suos fideles). Where God and his saint had not come to the canons' aid, cooperation between the two most powerful laymen of these regions broke this judicial deadlock: after intervention by Counts Hugh and Ebles, the viscounts of Thouars recognised that they had unjustly deprived Saint Martin of his property, and the two estates could be returned to the community of Saint-Martin once diey had renounced their possession of thevillaeof Curçay and Antogné.

The formation of a medieval church: ecclesiastical change in Verona, 950-1150 (review)

Reviews 209 Seven of the ten contributors are from Cambridge and many of the pieces have the feeling of the solid grounding in manuscripts which characterizes a good deal of work in tbefieldcoming out of that Univeristy. While Gregory the Great is mistakenly credited with having been concerned about lips singing the praises of love instead of Jove (p. 3), slips in the editing of what must have been a difficulttextare very few. The layout of the pages is as pleasing as that of a good Carolingian manuscript, and the illustrations are reproduced with exemplary clarity. The editor and the press are to be congratulated on the production of a book which is a delight to handle and use. John Moorhead Department of History University of Queensland Miller, Maureen C, The formation of a medieval church: ecclesiastical change in Verona, 950-1150, Ithaca and London, Cornell University Press, 1993; cloth; pp. xvui, 216; 6 illustrations; R.R.P. US$38.50. The period between the mid tenth century and the mid twelfth century was the most important era of change in the medieval European Church. It was during this time, and especially from the mid-eleventh century, that the Church developed into what w e think of as its typically 'medieval' form, with a hierarchical organization reaching its apex in the Pope, a well trained and organized clergy dedicated to poverty, chastity, and the care of souls, and a growing number of spiritually dynamic religious orders. Above all, the Church was characterized by an aggressive assertion of its independence from the control of secular society and its rulers. The process by which this 'medieval' Church developed is largely attributed to the 'Gregorian Reform' of the eleventh century, epitomized by Pope Gregory VII. From Miller's study of Verona, however, a rather different picture emerges. By looking in detaU at the fortunes of the diocese of Verona during this critical period in the history of the Church, she is able to show that the reality is more complex and capable of a different interpretation. Verona was chosen for her study, originally for a doctorate at Harvard university, because there remains a quite rich collection of ecclesiastical documents in the Archivio di Stato and Archivio Capitolare at Verona, and in the Archivio Segreto Vaticano. Verona is also broadly typical of medieval European cities in its size and history. 210 Reviews Tbe sources have been thoroughly analysed for tbe light they shed on thereligioushistory of medieval Verona. MUler describes three computer databases she constructed, containing details of charters, information on ecclesiastical institutions, and place names. But the study is far from being a dry statistical analysis. With a deft and sure touch, she pieces together a most interesting account of the Veronese church, looking in turn at the secular clergy, religious life, diocesan organizational structures, and the bishops. Tbe writing is clear and graceful throughout, and the use of sources is careful and judicious. This is more than a study of Verona, however. In the course of the book, Miller tackles fundamental questions about tbe nature of the Church in this period, and persuades us torethinksome of our assumptions about it. She treats spiritual, political and institutional matters as a unified whole, most notably in an excellent discussion of the role and work of the bishops of Verona. Her underlying thesis is that it is not fruitful to speak of a 'Gregorian reform' imposed on the dioceses by the Pope. Rather, this was a time of great innovation and creativity, a 'quickening' brought about by rapid demographic growth, economic development, and social change. The creative ferment which resulted in a new, different Church began before the time of Gregory VII and was just as evident in dioceses under imperial rather than papal control. Verona was one of these, and it offers, in Miller's careful but wide-ranging analysis, a persuasive example of the mixture of spiritual, institutional, and political change which characterized the Church in this period. As well as the skill and sophistication of its argument, this book is well-produced, with a large typeface, plenty of space in the layout, and nice decorative embellishments. All in all, it is an...

Carolingian culture: emulation and innovation (review)

208 Reviews Christ. It should stimulate areconsiderationof stereotyped readings of other images and in other periods. Ann Moffatt Department of Art History Australian National University McKitterick, Rosamond, ed., Carolingian culture: emulation and innovation, Cambridge, Cambridge University press, 1994; paper; pp. xvii, 334; 21 plates; R.R.P. AUS$49.95. The volume of work on Carolingian topics emanating from Cambridge continues to sweU and this book of studies by different bands wUl strengthen its reputation. Some of the chapters constitute bulletins on work in progress or summaries of questions from major scholars. Janet Nelson provides an intriguing discussion of kingship and emphe. John Marenbon offers an upbeat assessment of Carolingian thought, suggesting that it was creative in ways which were to prove influential. Rosamond McKitterick illuminatingly examines script and book production, while George Henderson writes on art. Other chapters tackle subjects which may be thought to be more marginal but which turn out to have wide interest. Grammar is dealt with by Vivien Law, German vernacular literature is assessed by Cyril Edwards, and music is discussed by Susan Rankin in an outstanding and penetrating essay. Elsewhere, Giles Brown contributes a somewhat dense introduction to the Carolingian Renaissance, Mary Garrison looks at the emergence of Latin literature, in particular poetry, at the court of Charlemagne, Matthew Innes and the editor consider the writing of history, and the editor contributes a short chapter on the legacy of the Carolingians. None of these essays is less than instructive and helpful, and some are brilliant Occasionally one would like to know more. To what extent are the arguments provided for Einhard's Life of Charlemagne having been written within a few years of the death of its subject (p. 204 ff.) weakened by that author's comment that Italy did not suffer grave damage from the Moors, nor Gaul and Germany from the Northmen, in Charlemagne's days ('... diebus suis ... ' [cap. 17])? The phrase suggests the perspective of someone looking back from a time when these threats to security had become much more pronounced. Reviews 209 Seven of the ten contributors are from Cambridge and many of the pieces have the feeling of the solid grounding in manuscripts which characterizes a good deal of work in tbefieldcoming out of that Univeristy. While Gregory the Great is mistakenly credited with having been concerned about lips singing the praises of love instead of Jove (p. 3), slips in the editing of what must have been a difficulttextare very few. The layout of the pages is as pleasing as that of a good Carolingian manuscript, and the illustrations are reproduced with exemplary clarity. The editor and the press are to be congratulated on the production of a book which is a delight to handle and use. John Moorhead Department of History University of Queensland Miller, Maureen C, The formation of a medieval church: ecclesiastical change in Verona, 950-1150, Ithaca and London, Cornell University Press, 1993; cloth; pp. xvui, 216; 6 illustrations; R.R.P. US$38.50. The period between the mid tenth century and the mid twelfth century was the most important era of change in the medieval European Church. It was during this time, and especially from the mid-eleventh century, that the Church developed into what w e think of as its typically 'medieval' form, with a hierarchical organization reaching its apex in the Pope, a well trained and organized clergy dedicated to poverty, chastity, and the care of souls, and a growing number of spiritually dynamic religious orders. Above all, the Church was characterized by an aggressive assertion of its independence from the control of secular society and its rulers. The process by which this 'medieval' Church developed is largely attributed to the 'Gregorian Reform' of the eleventh century, epitomized by Pope Gregory VII. From Miller's study of Verona, however, a rather different picture emerges. By looking in detaU at the fortunes of the diocese of Verona during this critical period in the history of the Church, she is able to show that the reality is more complex and capable of a different interpretation. Verona was chosen for her study, originally for a doctorate at Harvard university, because there remains a...

Le «Grand Légendier Autrichien» dans les manuscrits de Zwettl

The new catalogue of the manuscripts at Zwettl which is being published by Charlotte Ziegler (3 volumes so far, Vienna-Munich, 1989-1992), as well as several recent studies, shed new light on the sources of the «Magnum Legendarium Austriacum» (GLA): this legendary, rooted in the Cistercian tradition, from the beginning of the mid-twelfth century on began to include many saints of the Austro-Bavarian region and several Irish saints. Since the earliest known MSS of the GLA were copied at Heiligenkreuz and since they were the models for those of Zwettl and Lilienfeld, the question arises whether the monastery of Heiligenkreuz was not the cradle of the GLA. The article also provides a detailed analysis of the content, month by month, of the legendary, as well as an index of the saints.

The Cult of the Virgin and Gothic Sculpture: Evaluating Opposition in the Chartres West Facade Capital Frieze

In the major literature on Gothic sculpture the new prominence of images of the Virgin Mary on mid-twelfth and thirteenth-century French church facades is associated with the newly increasing devotion to the cult of the Virgin in the twelfth century. The west facade of Chartres cathedral has played a central role in this interpretation. In particular, the narrative capital cycle that winds around all three portals would seem to offer invaluable evidence of the importance of the cult of the Virgin in the mid-twelfth century because it presents the first cycle of the life of the Virgin in the west. Through examination of thematic emphases of the cycle, the narrative structure of the capital frieze, and its position within the larger Royal Portal, I will argue that these images present a Mary very unlike that assumed to lie at the root of Gothic, a queenly intercessor whose appeal is universal rather than locally varied. In addition, I explore resonances between the images of the life of the Virgin on the capital frieze and aspects of the folkloric cult at Chartres that have so often been neglected in the modern literature. The cathedral is thus envisaged as a site of exchange between high and folkloric cultures. I conclude with questions concerning the relationship of images to cult at Chartres that have implications for understanding the narratives we construct about Chartres and the development of Gothic.