Representations of monsters and the monstrous are common in medieval art and architecture, from the grotesques in the borders of illuminated manuscripts to the symbol of the -green man-, widespread in churches and cathedrals. These mysterious depictions are frequently interpreted as embodying or mitigating the fears symptomatic of a -dark age-. This book, however, considers an alternative scenario: in what ways did monsters in twelfth-century sculpture help audiences envision, perhaps even achieve, various ambitions? Using examples of Romanesque sculpture from across Europe, with a focus on...
Representations of monsters and the monstrous are common in medieval art and architecture, from the grotesques in the borders of illuminated manuscrip...
Often fragmented and without context, early medieval inscribed and sculpted stone monuments of the fifth to eleventh centuries AD have been mainly studied via their shape, their decoration and the texts a fraction of them bear. This book, investigating stone monuments from Ireland, Britain and Scandinavia (including the important memorials at Iniscealtra, County Clare), advocates three relatively new, distinctive and interconnected approaches to the lithic heritage of the early Middle Ages. Building on recent theoretical trends in archaeology and material culture studies in particular, it...
Often fragmented and without context, early medieval inscribed and sculpted stone monuments of the fifth to eleventh centuries AD have been mainly stu...
The cult of saints is one of the most fascinating manifestations of medieval piety. It was intensely physical; saints were believed to be present in the bodily remains that they had left on earth. Medieval shrines were created in order to protect these relics and yet to show off their spiritual worth, at the same time allowing pilgrims limited access to them. English Medieval Shrines traces the development of such structures, from the earliest cult activities at saintly tombs in the late Roman empire, through Merovingian Gaul and the Carolingian Empire, via Anglo-Saxon England, to the great...
The cult of saints is one of the most fascinating manifestations of medieval piety. It was intensely physical; saints were believed to be present in t...
Two particular perspectives inform this wide-ranging and richly illustrated survey of the art produced in England, or by English artists, between c. 600 and c.1100, in a variety of media, manuscripts, stone and wooden sculpture, ivory carving, textiles, and architecture. Firstly, from a post-colonial angle, it examines the way art can both create and narrate national and cultural identity over the centuries during which England was coming into being, moving from Romano-Britain to Anglo-Saxon England to Anglo-Scandinavian England to Anglo-Norman England. Secondly, it treats Anglo-Saxon art as...
Two particular perspectives inform this wide-ranging and richly illustrated survey of the art produced in England, or by English artists, between c. 6...
Reading Abbey was built by King Henry I to be a great architectural statement and his own mausoleum, as well as a place of resort and a staging point for royal itineraries for progresses in the west and south-west of England. From the start it was envisaged as a monastic site with a high degree of independence from the church hierarchy; it was granted enormous holdings of land and major religious relics to attract visitors and pilgrims, and no expense was spared in providing a church comparable in size and splendour with anything else in England. However, in architectural terms, the abbey...
Reading Abbey was built by King Henry I to be a great architectural statement and his own mausoleum, as well as a place of resort and a staging point ...
