Late Middle ages. The Hundred Years War: England and France at War c.1300-c.1450. Europe in the High Middle Ages. List of Rulers of Europe. Medieval art. Byzantine monumental Church mosaics are one of the great achievements of medieval art. These are from Monreale in Sicily from the late 12th century. The medieval art of the Western world covers a vast scope of time and place, over 1000 years of art in Europe, and at times the Middle East and North Africa. It includes major art movements and periods, national and regional art, genres, revivals, the artists crafts, and the artists themselves.
Art historians attempt to classify medieval art into major periods and styles, often with some difficulty. A generally accepted scheme includes Early Christian art, Migration Period art, Byzantine art, Insular art, Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque art, and Gothic art, as well as many other periods within these central styles. In addition each region, mostly during the period in the process of becoming nations or cultures, had its own distinct artistic style, such as Anglo-Saxon art or Norse art. Romanesque carving Overview[edit] Ivory reliefs.
Hieronymus Bosch. Hieronymus Bosch (/ˌhaɪ.əˈrɒnɪməs ˈbɒʃ/;[1] Dutch: [ɦijeːˈroːnimɵz ˈbɔs];[2] born Jheronimus van Aken[3] [jeːˈroːnimɵs fɑn ˈaːkə(n)];[4] c. 1450 – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/Netherlandish draughtsman and painter from Brabant. He is widely considered one of the most notable representatives of Early Netherlandish painting school. His work is known for its fantastic imagery, detailed landscapes, and illustrations of religious concepts and narratives.[5] Within his lifetime his work was collected in the Netherlands, Austria, and Spain, and widely copied, especially his macabre and nightmarish depictions of hell. Little is known of Bosch's life, though there are some records. He spent most of it in the town of 's-Hertogenbosch, where he was born in his grandfather's house. The roots of his forefathers are in Nijmegen and Aachen (which is visible in his surname: Van Aken). Life[edit] Little is known of Bosch's life or training.
Works[edit] Painting materials[edit] Interpretation[edit] [edit] Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel (also Brueghel or Breughel) the Elder ( BROY-gəl,[2][3][4] BROO-gəl;[5][6] Dutch: [ˈpitər ˈbrøːɣəl] ; c. 1525–1530 – 9 September 1569) was among the most significant artists of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaker, known for his landscapes and peasant scenes (so-called genre painting); he was a pioneer in presenting both types of subject as large paintings. He was a formative influence on Dutch Golden Age painting and later painting in general in his innovative choices of subject matter, as one of the first generation of artists to grow up when religious subjects had ceased to be the natural subject matter of painting.
He also painted no portraits, the other mainstay of Netherlandish art. After his training and travels to Italy, he returned in 1555 to settle in Antwerp, where he worked mainly as a prolific designer of prints for the leading publisher of the day. Antwerp and Brussels [edit] Prints and drawings. History of France. Stone tools indicate that early humans were present in France at least 1.8 million years ago.[1] The first modern humans appeared in the area 40,000 years ago. The first written records for the history of France appear in the Iron Age. What is now France made up the bulk of the region known to the Romans as Gaul. Roman writers noted the presence of three main ethno-linguistic groups in the area: the Gauls, the Aquitani, and the Belgae. The Gauls, the largest and best attested group, were a Celtic people speaking what is known as the Gaulish language.
Over the course of the 1st millennium BC the Greeks, Romans, and Carthaginians established colonies on the Mediterranean coast and the offshore islands. The Roman Republic annexed southern Gaul as the province of Gallia Narbonensis in the late 2nd century BC, and Roman forces under Julius Caesar conquered the rest of Gaul in the Gallic Wars of 58–51 BC. Prehistory[edit] Ancient history[edit] Greek colonies[edit] Gaul[edit] Roman Gaul[edit] List of Rulers of Europe. Absolute monarchy. Absolute monarchy is a monarchial form of government in which the monarch exercises ultimate governing authority as head of state and head of government ; his or her powers are not limited by a constitution or by the law.
An absolute monarch wields unrestricted political power over the sovereign state and its people. Absolute monarchies are often hereditary but other means of transmission of power are attested. Absolute monarchy differs from limited monarchy , in which the monarch’s authority is legally bound or restricted by a constitution ; consequently, an absolute monarch is an autocrat . In theory, the absolute monarch exercises total power over the land and its subject people, yet in practice the monarchy is counterbalanced by political groups from among the social classes and castes of the realm, such as the aristocracy , clergy (see caesaropapism ), bourgeoisie , and proletarians . In an absolute monarchy, the parliament (if one exists) merely stamp the monarch's decrees.
The King's Two Bodies. King’s evil and the royal touch. In the Middle Ages it was believed in England and France that a touch from royalty could heal skin disease known as scrofula or the ‘king's evil’. Scrofula was usually a swelling of the lymph nodes in the neck caused by tuberculosis. The practice began with King Edward the Confessor in England (1003/4-1066) and Philip I (1052-1108) in France. Subsequent English and French kings were thought to have inherited this ‘royal touch’, which was supposed to show that their right to rule was God-given. In grand ceremonies, kings touched hundreds of people afflicted by scrofula. They received special gold coins called 'touchpieces' which they often treated as amulets. By the late 1400s it was believed that you could also be cured by touching a type of coin called an angel, which had been touched by the monarch. After angels ceased to be minted in the 1620s the same effect was said to be achieved by touching a gold medallion embossed much like the old coin.
Some monarchs touched many people. Avignon Papacy. The Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1378, during which seven successive popes resided in Avignon , in modern-day France, rather than in Rome . [ 1 ] This situation arose from the conflict between the Papacy and the French crown . Following the strife between Boniface VIII and Philip IV of France , and the death of his successor Benedict XI after only eight months in office, a deadlocked conclave finally elected Clement V , a Frenchman, as Pope in 1305. Clement declined to move to Rome, remaining in France, and in 1309 moved his court to the papal enclave at Avignon , where it remained for the next 67 years.
This absence from Rome is sometimes referred to as the "Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy". [ 2 ] [ 3 ] A total of seven popes reigned at Avignon; all were French, [ 4 ] [ 5 ] and they increasingly fell under the influence of the French Crown. Avignon Popes [ edit ] Among the popes who resided in Avignon, subsequent Catholic historiography grants legitimacy to these: Avignon Palace of Popes. Anselm of Canterbury.
Saint Anselm of Canterbury (/ˈænsɛlm/; c. 1033 – 21 April 1109), also called Anselm of Aosta for his birthplace, and Anselm of Bec for his home monastery, was a Benedictine monk, philosopher, and prelate of the Church, who held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109. Called the founder of scholasticism, he has been a major influence in Western theology and is famous as the originator of the ontological argument for the existence of God and the satisfaction theory of atonement. Born into the House of Candia, he entered the Benedictine order at the Abbey of Bec at the age of 27, where he became abbot in 1079. He became Archbishop of Canterbury under William II of England.
He was exiled from England from 1097 to 1100, and again from 1105 to 1107 (under Henry I of England), as a result of the investiture controversy, the most significant conflict between Church and state in Medieval Europe. Biography[edit] Early life[edit] Abbot of Bec[edit] Archbishop of Canterbury[edit] Credo ut intelligam. Crisis of the Late Middle Ages. The Crisis of the Late Middle Ages refers to a series of events in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries that brought centuries of European prosperity and growth to a halt.[1] Three major crises led to radical changes in all areas of society - they were demographic collapse, political instabilities and religious upheavals. A series of famines and plagues, beginning with the Great Famine of 1315-1317 and especially the Black Death of 1348, reduced the population perhaps by half or more as the Medieval Warm Period came to a close and the first century of the Little Ice Age began.
Along with depopulation came social unrest and endemic warfare. Soil exhaustion, overpopulation, wars, and epidemic diseases helped cause hundreds of famines in Europe during the Middle Ages, including 95 in Britain and 75 in France.[2][3] In France, the Hundred Years' War, crop failures and epidemics reduced the population by two-thirds.[4] Demography[edit] Popular revolt[edit] Political and religious[edit]
Hundred Years' War. The Hundred Years' War, a series of conflicts waged from 1337 to 1453, pitted the Kingdom of England against the Valois Capetians for control of the French throne. Each side drew many allies into the fighting. Edward responded by declaring himself to be the rightful King of France rather than Philip, a claim dating to 1328 when Edward's uncle, Charles IV of France, died without a direct male heir. Edward was the closest male relative of the dead king, as son of Isabella of France who was a daughter of Philip IV of France and a sister of Charles IV.
But instead, the dead king's cousin, Philip VI, the son of Philip IV's younger brother, Charles, Count of Valois, had become King of France in accordance with Salic law, which disqualified the succession of males descended through female lines. Historians commonly divide the war into three phases separated by truces: The war owes its historical significance to multiple factors. Background[edit] Dynastic turmoil in France: 1314–28[edit] Edward III of England. Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377) was King of England from 25 January 1327 until his death; he is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II.
Edward III transformed the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe. His reign also saw vital developments in legislation and government—in particular the evolution of the English parliament—as well as the ravages of the Black Death. He is one of only six British monarchs to have ruled England or its successor kingdoms for more than fifty years. Edward III was a temperamental man but capable of unusual clemency. He was in many ways a conventional king whose main interest was warfare. Early life[edit] It was not long before the new reign also met with other problems caused by the central position at court of Roger Mortimer, who was now the de facto ruler of England.
Early reign[edit] Fortunes of war[edit] Later reign[edit] Black Death. Spread of the Black Death in Europe (1346–53) The Black Death is thought to have originated in the arid plains of central Asia, where it then travelled along the Silk Road, reaching the Crimea by 1343.[6] From there, it was most likely carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the black rats that were regular passengers on merchant ships. Spreading throughout the Mediterranean and Europe, the Black Death is estimated to have killed 30–60% of Europe's total population.[7] In total, the plague reduced the world population from an estimated 450 million down to 350–375 million in the 14th century.
The aftermath of the plague created a series of religious, social, and economic upheavals, which had profound effects on the course of European history. It took 150 years for Europe's population to recover. [citation needed] The plague recurred occasionally in Europe until the 19th century. Chronology Origins of the disease European outbreak There appear to have been several introductions into Europe. Great Famine of 1315–1317. From the Apocalypse in a Biblia Pauperum illuminated at Erfurt around the time of the Great Famine. Death ("Mors") sits astride a lion whose long tail ends in a ball of flame (Hell). Famine ("Fames") points to her hungry mouth. The Great Famine of 1315–1317 (occasionally dated 1315–1322) was the first of a series of large scale crises that struck Europe early in the fourteenth century. Places affected include continental Europe (extending east to Russia and south to Italy) as well as Great Britain.[1] It caused millions of deaths over an extended number of years and marks a clear end to an earlier period of growth and prosperity between the eleventh to thirteenth centuries.
The Great Famine started with bad weather in spring 1315, universal crop failures lasted through 1316 until summer harvest in 1317; Europe did not fully recover until 1322. Background[edit] European famines of the Middle Ages[edit] Famines were a familiar occurrence in Medieval Europe. Climate and population[edit] The Triumph of Death. The Triumph of Death is an oil panel painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder painted c. 1562. [ 1 ] It has been in the Museo del Prado in Madrid since 1827. [ 2 ] Description [ edit ] The painting shows a panorama of an army of skeletons wreaking havoc across a blackened, desolate landscape.
Fires burn in the distance, and the sea is littered with shipwrecks. A few leafless trees stud hills otherwise bare of vegetation; fish lie rotting on the shores of a corpse-choked pond. Art historian James Snyder emphasizes the "scorched, barren earth, devoid of any life as far as the eye can see. " [ 1 ] In this setting, legions of skeletons advance on the living, who either flee in terror or try in vain to fight back. A skeleton parodies human happiness by playing a hurdy-gurdy while the wheels of his cart crush a man. The painting shows aspects of everyday life in the mid-sixteenth century. Bruegel combines two distinct visual traditions within the panel. References [ edit ] Bibliography [ edit ] Danse Macabre. A popular saying in the Middle Ages was Momento mori – “remember that you must die.” This was a constant reminder that every living human, rich or poor, young or old, must eventually die.
When the time comes, a grim saraband of skeletons will arrive to take you away, dancing all the while. This is the danse macabre , or the Dance of Death, a medieval allegorical theme in art, literature, and music. REPRESENTATION – Danse macabre was based on the popular belief that the dead, as skeletons, rose from their graves and tempted the living, of all ages and ranks, to join them in a dance that brought them finally to death.
Danse macabre literally represents a procession or dance of both living and dead figures, the living arranged in order of their rank, from pope and emperor to child, clerk, and hermit, and the dead leading them all to the grave. This symbolizes the all-conquering and equalizing power of death. One kind of dance peculiar to the Middle Ages was the dance of St. The St. The Great Famine. Holy Feast and Holy Fast. Medieval Warm Period. Little Ice Age. POLITICAL THEORY IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE.