CULTURES OF EUROPE
THE AGE OF CHIVALRYThe Middle Ages
c. 5th-15th century
The Fall of the Roman Empire
"Dark Ages„(Early Middle Ages)
a characterization highlighting the relative scarcity
of literary and cultural output from this time,
especially in Western Europe.
Christian Crusades
The Black Death
The Crucifix/Cross
Jesus Christ: Son of God and Son of Mary (The Annunciation,
The Holy Family)
The Last Judgement• Christus, Petrus,
1452, Berlin – hierarchy
• Next slide: Hans Memling – a triptych (altarpiece) – The Last Judgement (Gdansk)
Thomas Celano, 13th c. Latin Hymn:
Dies Irae• Day of wrath! O day of mourning!
See fulfilled the prophets' warning,Heaven and earth in ashes burning!
• Oh, what fear man's bosom rendeth,when from heaven the Judge descendeth,on whose sentence all dependeth
• Death is struck, and nature quaking,all creation is awaking,to its Judge an answer making.
Ják, Hungary: Romanesque church
Semicircular arches
Piers
Openings/Doors and Windows
Gothic cathedrals - heavenward
Pointed arches
Windows
Ribbed Vaults
Flying Buttresses
Monks and monasteries
Pagan Heroes: Beowulf (England, 6-10th c.)
Courtly love knights and women
Jousts, tournaments
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round
Table – The Holy Grail
Arthur (top centre) in an illustration to the Middle English poem Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight, late 14th century • King Arthur
• Queen Guinevre• Sir Launcelot• Merlin, the wizard• Sir Gawain• Sir Galahad• Mordred• Morgan Le Fay• Welsh, French, English
and Latin works
Medieval pragmatism – the grotesque and humour
Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, Ellesmere
Manuscript (early 15th c.)
Francois Villon: QUATRAIN THAT VILLON MADE WHEN HE WAS
DOOMED TO DIEI'M Francis ill avails it
me Born near Pontoise,
in Paris see : Whose neck, at the
end of a rope of three,
Must feel how heavy my buttocks be.