Artistic culture of the Middle Ages. Artistic culture of the Middle Ages Education and science in the Middle Ages
In the IV century. the invasion of tribes from Northern Europe and Asia into the territory of the Roman Empire began, which received the name "Great Migration". For a long time, the Romans managed to hold back the onslaught of barbarian tribes (“barbarians” the Romans called all foreigners who spoke an incomprehensible language). The barbarians entered into alliances with Rome, settled in the territories bordering the empire, and even served as mercenaries in the Roman army. In 395, the Roman Empire was divided into Eastern (Byzantium) and Western. The latter, weakened by internal contradictions, could not resist the barbarians. In the conditions of incessant wars, Roman laws were violated, trade was reduced, cities fell into decay. In 410, Rome was captured and plundered by the German tribes of the Visigoths, in 455 by the Vandals. In 476 The leader of the German mercenaries, Odoacer, deposed the last Roman emperor Romulus Augustulus and began to rule Italy himself. Western Roman Empire fell.
The stage of the Middle Ages began - a historical era that lasted almost ten centuries.
Before the art of the Middle Ages took on a distinctive and vibrant form, it had to go through the stage of the formation of new ideals and principles. Christianity played a major role in this process.
From antiquity, medieval art borrowed some artistic forms and craft skills. So, the techniques of building temples, creating mosaics, frescoes and book miniatures originate in ancient world. However, the use of this experience in the art of the early Middle Ages was possible only in those areas that were formerly Roman provinces; the rest of the territories were dominated by barbarian traditions for a long time.
The tribes of the barbarians constantly moved from place to place, because of this, their art of that time is not represented by architectural monuments, but mainly by weapons, jewelry and various household utensils found in ancient burials and treasures. Barbarian craftsmen preferred bright colors and expensive materials - silver, gold, precious stones.
In the V-VIII centuries. on the territory of the former Western Roman Empire, the states of the Germanic tribes arose: the Ostrogoths (later the Lombards) in Italy, the Visigoths in Spain, the Franks in Gaul (modern Germany and France), the Anglo-Saxons in Britain. At the same time, the barbarian peoples converted to Christianity, which was most directly reflected in art: Christian churches began to be built, in which images of saints and Christian symbols appeared. Temples were built on the model of Roman basilicas, stacking them from massive stones; wood was used for floors; columns in most cases were borrowed directly from ancient structures.
The barbarian states were constantly at enmity with each other. In conditions of constant danger, the main advantage of residential buildings was their security - as a result, reliable and well-fortified structures appeared - castles. Castles were erected on elevated places and surrounded by high embankments and deep ditches.
"Carolingian Revival"
When in 800 Pope Leo III laid on the Frankish king Charlemagne (768-814) the "crown of Roman emperors", an empire was revived in Western Europe. From the time of this emperor, European sovereigns began to call themselves kings. Under the Carolingians - that was the name of the dynasty founded by Charlemagne's grandfather Charles Martell - antiquity was proclaimed the ideal in art. Ancient traditions were imitated by architects and builders, often simply borrowing details from ancient buildings; Roman painting served as a model for miniaturists. The art of that era was called the "Carolingian Renaissance".
Few of the architectural monuments of the Carolingian Renaissance have survived to this day. Among them are the chapel of the imperial residence in Aachen (788-805, Germany) (show), the “gate” with the gate hall in Lorsch (c. 800, Germany) (show) and others. literary sources it is known about the intensive construction of vast monastic complexes, fortifications, basilica churches and residences - "Palatinates".
Temples and palaces were decorated with multicolored mosaics (the oratory at Germiny des Pres, after 806), as well as frescoes, the content of which became more and more diverse over time. The Church of St. John the Baptist (c. 800) in Munster (Switzerland), where the oldest known Carolingian frescoes are located, was painted on subjects from the Old and New Testaments. It was in this church that the image of the Last Judgment first appeared, which later became one of the characteristic features of medieval art.
In the era of the Carolingians, the art of book miniatures reached an extraordinary flowering. In 781-89. By order of Charlemagne, the Godescalc Gospel, named after the artist, was created in the palace book-writing workshop in Aachen. Among other illustrations in the book, there are images that tell about the visit of Charles to Rome on Easter in 781, as well as about the baptism of his son Pepin by Pope Adrian I.
One of the most remarkable works of the "Carolingian Renaissance" is the Utrecht Psalter (9th century) (show), in which illustrations on biblical themes are made with pen and ink in a clear graphic manner, now stored at the University of Utrecht (Netherlands). In the book one hundred and sixty five drawings, each of which corresponds to a specific psalm. For example, the scene with the two craftsmen at the forge illustrates the following psalm verse: "The words of God are pure words, like silver refined in the furnace of the earth, refined seven times." The style of the Utrecht Psalter had a huge impact on other forms of medieval art.
From the middle of the ninth century famous illustrated manuscripts created in the monastery of St. Martin in Tours. The so-called Bible of Charles II the Bald (846-51) depicts a solemn scene of presenting a book to this sovereign: a procession of monks, surrounded by richly dressed courtiers, clergy and guards, appears before the emperor. This miniature is one of the earliest representations of a real event in Western European medieval art.
In 843 the Carolingian empire collapsed. Throughout the second half of the 9th century, internecine wars did not stop on the territory of the former empire, which led to an almost complete decline in culture.
Roman style
In the X-XII centuries. (and in a number of places - in the XIII century) in the art of Western Europe, the so-called Romanesque style dominated, which was one of milestones development of medieval art. The formation of the Romanesque style was due to the development of feudal relations and the ideology of the Catholic Church. In the field of religious architecture, the main distributors of the Romanesque style were monastic orders, and the builders, painters, sculptors and decorators of manuscripts were monks. Only at the end of the XI century. wandering artels of lay stonemasons began to appear.
Separate Romanesque buildings and complexes (monasteries, churches, castles) were usually erected in the rural landscape and dominated the area, as an earthly likeness of the "city of God" or a visual expression of the power of the feudal lord. Romanesque buildings were in harmony with the natural environment, their compact forms and clear silhouettes seemed to repeat and generalize the natural relief, and the local stone, which most often served as a material, organically combined with the soil and greenery. The appearance of the buildings is full of calm and solemn power. Characteristic features of Romanesque buildings were massive walls, the heaviness of which was emphasized by narrow window openings and stepped portals (entrances), as well as high towers, which became one of the main elements of the architectural composition. The Romanesque building was a system of simple volumes (cubes, parallelepipeds, prisms, cylinders), the surface of which was dissected by blades, arched friezes and galleries, rhythmizing the wall mass, but not violating its monolithic integrity. Temples developed the types of basilica and centric churches inherited from early Christian architecture; at the intersection of the transept with the longitudinal naves, a light lantern or tower was erected. Each of the main parts of the temple was a separate spatial cell, both inside and outside, clearly separated from the rest. In the interior, the measured rhythms of the arcades separating the naves and girder arches evoked a feeling of structural stability, this impression was reinforced by vaults (mainly cylindrical, cross, cross-rib, less often domes), which came to the Romanesque style to replace wooden ceilings and originally appeared in the side naves.
If in the early Romanesque style, wall paintings played a major role in the decor, then at the end of the 11th - beginning of the 12th centuries, when the vaults and walls acquired a more complex configuration, the leading type of temple decor was the monumental reliefs that adorned the portals, and often the entire facade wall, while in the interior they were concentrated on the capitals of the columns. In the mature Romanesque style, the flat relief is replaced by a higher one, saturated with chiaroscuro effects, but invariably retaining an organic connection with the wall.
Book miniature flourished in the Romanesque era, as well as arts and crafts: casting, chasing, bone carving, enamelling, artistic weaving, jewelry art.
In Romanesque painting and sculpture, the central place was occupied by themes related to the idea of the unlimited and formidable power of God (Christ in glory, the Last Judgment, etc.). In all types of Romanesque art, an important role was played by ornament, geometric or composed of motifs of flora and fauna.
France
Romanesque art developed most consistently in France, where three-aisled basilicas were most widespread.
In Burgundy, the largest and most majestic Romanesque churches were built, distinguished by magnificent picturesque and sculptural decoration. The most famous among the Burgundian temples were the church of Saint-Madeleine in Vezelay (1120-50) and the cathedral of Saint-Lazare in Autun (first half of the 12th century) (show).
Auvergne architecture is characterized by power, simplicity and monumentality. In massive churches with thick walls, sculptural decorations were used sparingly (Church of Notre-Dame-du-Port in Clermont, XII century. (show)).
The temples of Provence are richly decorated with sculpture, but it does not cover the entire surface of the walls, as in the churches of Burgundy, but is located only on the capitals of the columns and on the sides of the portals (Saint Trophime Church in Arles, X-XI centuries (show)).
In the French secular architecture of the Romanesque style, a type of castle-fortress with a stone tower in the center - a donjon (Castle of Loches, turn of the 11th-12th centuries) developed. On the first floor of the tower there were pantries, on the second - the master's rooms, above them - rooms for servants and guards, in the basement - a prison. A watch was posted at the top of the tower. As a rule, the castle was surrounded by a deep moat. The bridge, thrown over the moat to the main tower, in case of danger was raised and closed with it the main gate of the tower. At the end of the XII century. towers with loopholes and galleries with hatches in the floor appeared on the fortress walls - to throw stones or pour boiling tar on the attackers.
Romanesque painting in France is widely represented by book miniatures. In 1028-72. in the monastery of Saint-Sever in the province of Gascony, an illustrated manuscript of commentaries on the Apocalypse was created. The miniatures, made in the spirit of folk traditions, are distinguished by bright saturated colors and are unusually picturesque. Their author is Stefan Garcia - one of the few artists whose name has survived to this day.
Sculpture in Western European medieval churches first appeared in the 11th century. These were reliefs and small details of wall decoration. In the XII century. sculpture spread throughout almost all of Europe. The outstanding monuments of art of the Romanesque period include the sculptural decoration of the Burgundian churches of Saint-Lazare in Autun and Saint-Madeleine in Vézelay, which preserved numerous reliefs that adorn the facades of walls, portals and capitals of columns (show).
Germany
In Germany, the Romanesque style was most fully and vividly embodied in architecture.
In the German lands, there is a striking contrast between the modest, in a sense ascetic churches erected in reformed monasteries, and the famous "imperial" cathedrals in Mainz (1081-19th century), Worms (1170-1240) and Speyer (1030-19th century). .) - powerful, majestic basilicas with thick walls, narrow windows and massive towers (show).
Sculpture in the Romanesque period in Germany was placed, as a rule, inside temples; it began to appear on the facades only at the end of the 12th century. At first these were relief inserts, later - expanded compositions. Relief decorations of crucifixes (Brunswick crucifixion, c. 1160), lamps, fonts, tombstones, reliquaries, stands for reading books, etc. are widely represented.
In the so-called "Ottonian" period (the second half of the 10th - the first half of the 11th centuries), German painting flourished.
The most striking features of Ottonian art manifested themselves in book miniatures. Most of the surviving manuscripts were created in the Oberzell monastery. The miniatures of the Gospel of Otto III and the Book of the Gospel Readings of Henry II are considered to be outstanding works of art by the masters of this school. Trier was another center of miniature art. ABOUT high skill artists of the Trier school testify to the miniatures of the manuscript, called the "Register of St. Gregory" (983). This is a collection of letters from Pope Gregory the Great. The book itself has not survived, but two miniatures have survived to this day.
England
In England, by the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066, an excellent school of book miniatures had been created.
In contrast, island architecture - although the experience of continental masters was taken into account in the construction of Westminster Abbey (1049-65) - was in comparison with Normandy at a more archaic stage of development. Under William the Conqueror, the Tower of London was erected (1077 and later) (show).
Italy
In Italy, the early development of cities left its mark on the nature of architecture in the 11th-12th centuries. Along with castles, fortresses, and monastic complexes common throughout Europe, urban architecture proper also developed here. A type of multi-storey rich residential building arose, buildings of workshops and trade guilds were built.
In cult architecture, Italian builders steadfastly adhered to the basilica type for churches and the centric type for baptismal buildings; campaniles (bell towers) were round or square in plan.
A masterpiece of medieval Italian architecture - the cathedral ensemble in Pisa (XI-XIV centuries), in Tuscany (show).
A masterpiece of medieval Italian architecture - the cathedral ensemble in Pisa, in Tuscany. Its construction began with the laying of the cathedral in 1063 on the outskirts of the city on a green meadow. The enterprise was headed by a master with the Greek name Busketo. The transept arms of the five-nave cathedral are, in fact, two small three-nave basilicas with apses - a composition dating back to the ideas of Eastern Christian architecture of the 5th century. After 1118, the construction of the Pisa Cathedral was continued by the master Rainaldo. He lengthened the main nave and erected facades. The main sanctuary of Pisa is indebted to him for its light arcades and colored lining of white and black (with a gray-blue tint) stone with marble inlays. In the bright southern sun, the cathedral contrasts with the greenery of the meadow and seems to absorb all the colors of the sky. In 1153, the Pisa Baptistery was founded. The architect Diotisalvi started it similar to the neighboring cathedral. The construction of the campanile (bell tower) in Pisa was begun in 1174, as suggested by Wilhelm (Guglielmo) of Innsbruck and the master of Bonanno. Like the cathedral and the baptistery, the campanile has a monolithic base surrounded by blind arcades. Above them rises six tiers of arched galleries. Thus, a single leitmotif of the ensemble arose, uniting all three buildings. Due to the uneven settlement of the soil, the Pisa Campanile leaned even during the construction period. In order to prevent the fall of the belfry, the last tier, built in 1301, was shifted in the direction opposite to the inclination of the tower in order to restore balance. The Leaning Tower, the cathedral and the baptistery in Pisa, combined with the Gothic camposanto (cemetery), constitute a medieval ensemble of exceptional integrity and monumental grandeur.
Romanesque painting in Italy was formed under the influence of early Christian art and Byzantine culture.
The development of Romanesque painting in Europe was greatly influenced by the Sicilian mosaics (Christ Pantocrator. Mosaic of the conch of the apse of the cathedral in Montreal (show)), especially the mosaic decoration of the Palatine Chapel (show), created by Byzantine and local craftsmen.
The skill of Italian painters also manifested itself in the art of illustrating the book. The leading place among the book-writing workshops was occupied by the school of the monastery of Montecassino. Miniatures also adorned secular books.
Sculpture in Italy of the Romanesque period was formed mainly under the influence of ancient traditions. The most famous works of Romanesque sculpture were created in Northern Italy. These are monumental reliefs of temples in Milan, Verona, Pavia. The largest personality among the Italian sculptors of the XII - early XIII centuries. - Benedetto Antelami (worked between 1175 and 1235). The first work of the sculptor signed and dated 1178 is the relief "Descent from the Cross" (show) in the transept of the Cathedral in Parma.
Spain
In Spain, partly in connection with the Reconquista, in the Romanesque era, the construction of castles-fortresses (Castle Alcazar, Segovia, 9th century (show)) and city fortifications was widely developed.
The most important building of medieval Spain is the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela (1077/78-1088, 1100-28) in Galicia (show). Perestroika of the XVII-XVIII centuries. significantly changed appearance temple, but the interior retained its Romanesque character.
Spanish painting occupies a special place in the Romanesque art of Europe. These are well-preserved monumental ensembles and works of easel forms - altarpieces "frontales", painted canopies (Christ in glory. Canopy from the Church of San Marti in Tost (show). About 1200 - The canopy is an inclined panel mounted on the altar) and a miniature . The basis for the formation of the style of Romanesque Spanish painting was the Mozarab element with its penchant for linear contours and intense, sometimes dissonant color combinations. The works of monumental painting in Spain are marked by a rough and severe expressiveness, they have a clear contour drawing; preference is given to dense, opaque colors, brown tones are especially characteristic.
Gothic
The name "Gothic art" (from Italian gotico - "Gothic", after the name of the Germanic tribe of the Goths) arose in the Renaissance, as a derogatory name for all medieval art, which was considered "barbarian". Subsequently, the term "Gothic art" was assigned to the European art of the late Middle Ages (between the middle of the XII and XV-XVI centuries).
From the beginning of the 19th century, when for the art of the 10th-12th centuries. the term “Romanesque style” was adopted, the chronological framework of Gothic was limited, it singled out early, mature (high) and late (“flaming”) Gothic.
Gothic developed in countries dominated by the Catholic Church. gothic art remained predominantly cult in purpose and religious in theme: it was correlated with eternity, with "higher" irrational forces. From the Romanesque style, Gothic inherited the primacy of architecture in the system of arts and traditional types of religious buildings. A special place in the art of Gothic occupied Cathedral- the highest example of the synthesis of architecture, sculpture and painting (mainly stained glass windows).
The development of Gothic art was also influenced by cardinal changes in the structure of medieval society: the beginning of the formation of centralized states, the growth and strengthening of cities, the advancement of secular forces - urban, trade and crafts, as well as court and knightly circles. As the public consciousness, crafts and techniques expanded the possibilities of cognition and aesthetic understanding of the real world, new architectural types and tectonic systems were formed. Urban planning and civil architecture developed intensively. Urban architectural ensembles included cult and secular buildings, fortifications, bridges, and wells. The main city square was often lined with houses with arcades, retail and storage rooms in the lower floors. The main streets diverged from the square; narrow facades of two-, rarely three-storey houses with high gables lined up along the streets and embankments. The cities were surrounded by powerful walls with richly decorated travel towers. The castles of kings and feudal lords gradually turned into complex complexes of fortifications, palaces and places of worship. Usually in the center of the city, dominating its buildings, there was a castle or a cathedral, which became the center of city life. In it, along with divine services, theological disputes were arranged, mysteries were played out, meetings of the townspeople were held.
Gothic cathedrals differed significantly from the monastery churches of the Romanesque period: the Romanesque church is heavy and squat, the Gothic cathedral is light and directed upwards. This is due to the fact that in the Gothic cathedral they began to use a new design of vaults. If in a Romanesque church massive vaults rest on thick walls, then in a Gothic cathedral the vault rests on arches, the so-called ribs. The basis of the Gothic construction was the cross rib vault. Generally speaking, the use of arches to support vaults was known long before the Gothic era. In Gothic, the system of laying the ribbed vault changed. The ribs no longer completed the construction of the vault, but preceded it. Four pillars were originally connected by cheek arches, then two diagonal arches were thrown over - alive. This design formed the skeleton of the future vault. The arches forming the vault are called ribs. They were called upon to carry and fasten the formwork, which was laid out from lightweight stone slabs. Now, with the use of the rib vault, the points of application of the forces of gravity and thrust became extremely clear to the builders. An important innovation of Gothic architecture was the consistent use of lancet arches as first end and then diagonal ribs. They had a smaller thrust, the main pressure was directed down to the support. The abutments, not the wall, became the working part of Gothic architecture. In order to remove the resulting loads, the lateral thrust of the vaults was extinguished by an independent structural element, taken out of the outer walls - a retaining ledge pillar, a buttress. In buildings of the basilica type, where the middle nave was higher than the side ones, special connecting arches were used - flying buttresses - which were thrown from the vault of the main nave to the buttress of the outer wall. This design made it possible to reduce the thickness of the walls and increase the interior space of the temple. The walls ceased to serve as a support for the vault, which made it possible to make many windows, arches, and galleries in them. In the Gothic cathedral, the flat surface of the wall disappeared, so the wall painting gave way to a stained-glass window - an image made up of colored glasses fastened together, which was placed in a window opening. In the Romanesque temple, its individual parts were clearly demarcated, in the Gothic - the boundaries between them were erased. The space of the cathedral - with numerous architectural and sculptural decorations, light pouring through stained-glass windows - created an image of the heavenly world, embodying the dream of a miracle.
Sculpture was the main type of fine art - inside and outside the cathedral was decorated with a large number of statues and reliefs. The stiffness and isolation of the Romanesque statues was replaced by the mobility of the figures, their appeal to each other and to the viewer. There was an interest in real natural forms, in the physical beauty and feelings of a person, the topics of motherhood, moral suffering, martyrdom and sacrificial fortitude of a person received a new interpretation. The image of Christ has changed - the theme of martyrdom has come to the fore. In Gothic, the cult of the Mother of God developed - almost simultaneously with the worship of a beautiful lady, characteristic of the Middle Ages. Often both cults were intertwined, and the Mother of God appeared in the guise of a beautiful woman. At the same time, belief in miracles, fantastic animals, fabulous monsters was preserved - their images are found in Gothic art as often as in Romanesque (in the form of chimeras or gargoyles - drainpipe statues). In Gothic, lyricism and tragic affects, sublime spirituality and social satire, fantastic grotesque and folklore, sharp life observations are organically intertwined. In the Gothic era, book miniatures flourished, along with church books richly illustrated with images of saints and scenes from sacred history, books of hours (collections of prayers and texts distributed according to the calendar), novels, and historical chronicles became widespread. Altar painting also appeared, and decorative art, associated with a high level of development of guild craft, reached a high rise.
France
Gothic originated in Northern France (Ile-de-France) in the middle of the XII century. and flourished in the first half of the thirteenth century. Stone Gothic cathedrals received their classical form in France. As a rule, these are 3 - 5-aisle basilicas with a transverse nave-transept and a semicircular bypass of the choir, to which radial chapels ("crown of chapels") adjoin. Their high and spacious interior is illuminated by the colored flickering of stained-glass windows. The impression of an unstoppable movement up and towards the altar is created by rows of slender pillars, the powerful rise of pointed pointed arches, and the accelerated rhythm of the arcades of the upper gallery. Thanks to the contrast of the high main and semi-dark side naves, a picturesque richness of aspects arises, a feeling of the infinity of space. The double-towered western façades of French cathedrals with three “perspective” portals and a patterned round window (“rose”) in the center combine aspiration upwards with a clear balance of articulations. The façades feature lancet arches and rich architectural, plastic and decorative details - patterned wimpers, phials, crabbs, etc. Statues on consoles in front of the columns of the portals and in their upper arched galley, reliefs on the plinths and tympanums of the portals, as well as on the capitals of the columns form an integral symbolic plot system, which includes characters and episodes of the Holy Scripture, allegorical images. The best works of Gothic sculpture - decorative statues of the facades of the cathedrals in Chartres, Reims, Amiens - are imbued with spiritualized beauty, sincerity and nobility of feelings. Other parts of the temples were also decorated with reliefs, statues, floral ornaments, images of fantastic animals; the abundance of secular motifs in the decor is characteristic: scenes of the work of artisans and peasants, grotesque and satirical images. The theme of the stained-glass windows is also varied, the range of which was dominated by red, blue and yellow tones. Early Gothic includes Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris (1163-mid-XIV century) (show). The transition to the mature phase of the development of Gothic at the turn of the XII-XIII centuries. was marked by the construction of cathedrals in Bourges and Chartres (show) (1194-1225). The grandiose cathedrals of mature Gothic in Reims (1211-1481) and Amiens (XIII-XV centuries) (show) are distinguished by the richness of rhythm, the perfection of architectural composition and sculptural decoration. The mature Gothic style in France is sometimes referred to as "radiant" after the specific and widespread design of the rose window with radially divergent petals during this period. Art acquired in the "radiant" style the features of regal majesty, mobile spirituality and exquisite grace. Volumetric-plastic compositions recede into the background, the walls turn into a disembodied openwork ornament. The transition is especially noticeable, for example, in the south arm of the transept of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris (after 1257). The pinnacle of the development of "radiant" Gothic was the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris (1243-48) (show). From the 14th century city and monastery hall churches, castle and palace chapels acquired great importance. The late (“flaming”) Gothic is characterized by a whimsical, flame-like pattern of window openings (Saint-Maclou Church in Rouen). In secular urban architecture, the compositional and decorative techniques of the Gothic were used. On the main square of the cities, town halls were built with rich decoration, often with a tower (town hall in Saint-Quentin, 1351-1509). Castles turned into majestic palaces with rich interior decoration (the complex of the papal palace in Avignon), mansions (“hotels”) of wealthy citizens were built.
In late Gothic, sculptural altars in interiors became widespread, combining painted and gilded wooden sculpture and tempera painting on wooden boards. There was a new emotional structure of images, distinguished by dramatic (often exalted) expression, especially in the scenes of the suffering of Christ and the saints, conveyed with merciless truthfulness. Murals on secular subjects appeared (in the papal palace in Avignon, XIV-XV centuries). In miniatures (mainly in books of hours) there has been a desire for the spiritualized humanity of images, for the transfer of space and volume. Fine ivory sculpture, silver reliquaries, Limoges enamel, espaliers and carved furniture are among the finest examples of French Gothic decorative art.
Germany
In Germany, as in other countries, the basis of Gothic art was architecture. Her transition to a new art system was not easy. The intrusion of Gothic elements was sporadic and uneven. German builders perceived, first of all, the decorative, and not the constructive, side of French Gothic: round rose windows, ledges, lancet arches, etc. The cathedrals of Magdeburg, Bonn (XI-XIII centuries) and a number of reconstructed Cologne buildings, for example, the Gereonskirche church in Cologne (1219-27) can be classified as transitional buildings. The heyday of German Gothic dates back to the middle of the 13th century. (Cathedral in Naumburg, etc. (show)). Hall churches appeared early in Germany (Elisabethkirche in Marburg, 1235-83), in the southwest a single-towered cathedral type developed (in Freiburg im Bresgau, in Ulm); in the north, brick churches were built (Marienkirche in Lübeck), in which the simplicity of plans, volumes and structures was combined with patterned masonry, the use of glazed and patterned bricks. The closest French prototypes were the eastern choir of the Cologne Cathedral (show) (begun in 1248) and the cathedral in Strasbourg (show). Stone, brick and half-timbered secular buildings (city gates, town halls, shop and warehouse buildings, etc.) are diverse in type, composition and decor.
The sculpture of cathedrals (in Bamberg, Magdeburg, Naumburg) is distinguished by life-like concreteness and monumentality, deep expressiveness of images, however, compared to French, the works of German Gothic sculpture are executed less elegantly and subtly. The sculptural decoration of the cathedral in Bamberg belongs to the early Gothic, there are numerous reliefs here, as well as the figure of the Horseman (show) (about 1237). An outstanding work of German sculpture are the statues of the founders of the cathedral in Naumburg (Margrave Eckerhard and Margraves Utta (show), second half of the 13th century).
Late German Gothic (end of the 14th - early 16th centuries) gave brilliant examples of hall churches (Annenkirche in Annaberg-Buchholz, 1499-1525) and palace halls (Albrechtsburg in Meissen) with complex vault patterns. Altar sculpture and painting flourished.
Netherlands
The towers of cathedrals in Antwerp and Mechelen brought glory to the Dutch Gothic, but especially richly decorated civil buildings: cloth rows (in Bruges, 1248-1364) town halls (in Bruges, 1376-1421, in Brussels, 1401-55; in Ghent, 1518- 35) (show).
England
Gothic penetrated into England in the last quarter of the 12th century. and across the English Channel acquired a pronounced national identity. Large abbeys remained the main focus of cathedral construction. The characteristic features of English Gothic were identified early. Already Canterbury Cathedral, rebuilt after the fire of 1174, showed a number of significant differences from the French prototypes. They showed up in the plan: the building has two transepts, one of which is shorter than the other. The double transept later became a distinctive feature of the cathedrals in Lincoln, Wales, Salisbury. Romanesque traditions proved to be persistent in England. The old cathedrals were spacious and did not require a radical restructuring; only new Gothic “clothes” were put on the old core (the eastern part of the Cathedral in Gloucester, the Cathedral in Winchester). The efforts of English architects focused not so much on the constructive as on the decorative side of the new art. The space of English cathedrals remained dissected for a long time: the choir, naves, transept were isolated, horizontal divisions prevailed over vertical ones. Cathedrals have retained considerable length. English Gothic is characterized by stretched facades, far-reaching transepts, and various kinds of vestibules. The apses had mostly rectangular endings; a choir with a bypass and chapels is rare. The western towers are small, but the tower above the crossroads stands out more strongly. In the interior, the middle nave did not rise, as a rule, above the side ones to a considerable height, the role of flying buttresses was limited, they were hidden under the roof of the side aisles. The strict geometric simplicity of the volumes is offset by the richness and complexity of the patterns on the façade and vaults. Cathedrals in English architecture were associated with buildings of the monastic type - chapter halls, chapels, cloisters. Gothic retained its importance in England until the middle of the 16th century. It is customary to single out early, or “lanceolate” (according to the shape of the window) Gothic (XIII century), mature, or “decorated” (late XIII - XIV centuries) and late, or “perpendicular” Gothic (XV century). The originality of the Gothic architecture of England most clearly appeared in the cathedrals of Salisbury, Lincoln, Wales, York (show).
The stages of construction of the cathedral in Wales, rebuilt from a Romanesque building, with its richly sculptured western facade (1220-39), chapter hall (1290-1319), Our Lady's Chapel and eastern choir (14th century) successively marked the change of English Gothic styles, taking shape into an integral and impressive architectural ensemble. The unity of the plan was already outlined in the initial outline of the plan of this three-aisled basilica with a transept and a choir; 14th century additions only developed and complicated it. The stretched façade is perceived as a moving, undulating mass. The low side towers break abruptly and slow down the vertical rhythms, the portals are included in the decorative articulations. Remarkable in Wells Cathedral is the bold design of the arches of the middle cross, which are connected to each other by the tops (“overturned arches”). Built in the 14th century, they connect the old part of the nave with the choir, made in the "decorated" style.
The restructuring of the Romanesque building in Lincoln (1192-1380) (show), one of the longest in England (157 m), brought a number of new architectural techniques to the English Gothic.
INSTITUTE OF ECONOMY AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
(INEP)
Extramural
ABSTRACT
Test work on the subject "Culturology" on the topic
"Features of the artistic culture of the Middle Ages"
Student group F-41kz Mironova Oksana Valerievna
Scientific adviser ___________________________________
Moscow 2007
INTRODUCTION
1. Art culture medieval Europe
1.1. Aarchitecture
1.2. Sculpture
1.3. Painting
1.5. Metal processing
2. GOTHIC ART AND ARCHITECTURE
3. Medieval music and theater
3.1. Music
3.2. Theater
3.2.1 Religious drama or wonder plays
3.2.3. Medieval secular drama
3.2.4. Plays - morality
CONCLUSION
1. Artistic culture of medieval Europe
Roman style.
The first independent, specifically European artistic style of medieval Europe was Romanesque, which characterized the art and architecture of Western Europe from about 1000 to the rise of Gothic, in most regions until about the second half and the end of the 12th century, and in some regions even later. It arose as a result of the synthesis of the remains of the artistic culture of Rome and the barbarian tribes. At first it was the proto-Romanesque style.
At the end of the Proto-Roman period, elements of the Romanesque style were mixed with Byzantine, with Middle Eastern, especially Syrian, which also came to Syria from Byzantium; with Germanic, with Celtic, with features of the styles of other northern tribes. Various combinations of these influences created many local styles in Western Europe, which received the common name Romanesque, meaning "in the manner of the Romans." Since the main number of surviving fundamentally important monuments of the Proto-Romanesque and Romanesque style are architectural structures: the various styles of this period often differ in architectural schools.
1.1. Architecture
The architecture of the 5th-8th centuries is usually simple, with the exception of buildings in Ravenna, (Italy), erected according to Byzantine rules. Buildings were often created from elements removed from old Roman buildings, or decorated with them. In many regions, this style was a continuation of early Christian art. Round or polygonal cathedral churches, borrowed from Byzantine architecture, were built during the Proto-Roman period; later they were built in Aquitaine in the south-west of France and in Scandinavia.
The most famous and best-designed examples of this type are the Cathedral of San Vitalo of the Byzantine emperor Justinian in Ravenna (526-548) and the octagonal palace chapel built between 792 and 805 by Charlemagne in Ai-la-Capella (now Aachen, Germany), directly inspired by the Cathedral of San Vitalo. One of the creations of Carolingian architects was the westwork, a multi-storey entrance facade flanked by bell towers, which began to be attached to Christian basilicas. Westworks were the prototypes for the facades of giant Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals.
Important buildings were also constructed in the monastic style. Monasteries, a characteristic religious and social phenomenon of that era, required huge buildings that combined both the dwellings of monks and chapels, rooms for prayers and services, libraries, and workshops. Elaborate proto-Romanesque monastic complexes were erected at St. Gall (Switzerland), on the island of Reichenau (German side of Lake Constance) and at Monte Cassino (Italy) by Benedictine monks.
An outstanding achievement of the architects of the Romanesque period was the development of buildings with stone volts (arched, supporting structures). The main reason for the development of stone arches was the need to replace the flammable wooden ceilings of Proto-Romanesque buildings. The introduction of voltaic structures led to the general use of heavy walls and pillars.
1.2. Sculpture
Most Romanesque sculpture was integrated into church architecture and served both structural, constructive and aesthetic purposes. Therefore, it is difficult to talk about Romanesque sculpture without touching on church architecture. Small-sized sculpture of the Proto-Roman era made of bone, bronze, gold was made under the influence of Byzantine models. Other elements of numerous local styles were borrowed from the crafts of the Middle East, known for imported illustrated manuscripts, bone carvings, gold objects, ceramics, fabrics. Motifs derived from the arts of the migrating peoples were also important, such as grotesque figures, images of monsters, intertwining geometric patterns, especially in areas north of the Alps. Large-scale stone sculptural decorations only became common in Europe in the 12th century. In the French Romanesque cathedrals of Provence, Burgundy, Aquitaine, many figures were placed on the facades, and the statues on the columns emphasized the vertical supporting elements.
1.3. Painting
Existing examples of Romanesque painting include decorations on architectural monuments, such as columns with abstract ornaments, as well as wall decorations with images of hanging fabrics. Picturesque compositions, in particular narrative scenes by biblical stories and from the life of saints, were also depicted on the wide surfaces of the walls. In these compositions, which predominantly follow Byzantine painting and mosaics, the figures are stylized and flat, so that they are perceived more as symbols than as realistic representations. Mosaic, just like painting, was mainly a Byzantine technique and was widely used in the architectural design of Italian Romanesque churches, especially in the Cathedral of St. Mark (Venice) and in the Sicilian churches in Cefalu and Montreal.
Proto-Romanesque artists reached the highest level in illustrating manuscripts. In England, an important school of manuscript illustration arose already in the 7th century in Holy Island (Lindisfarne).
The works of this school, exhibited in the British Museum (London), are distinguished by the geometric interlacing of patterns in capital letters, frames, and whole pages, which are called carpet, are densely covered with them. Drawings of capital letters are often animated by grotesque figures of people, birds, monsters.
Regional schools of manuscript illustration in southern and eastern Europe developed different specific styles, as can be seen, for example, in a copy of the Apocalypse of Beata (Paris, National Library) made in the middle of the 11th century in the monastery of Saint-Sever in Northern France. At the beginning of the 12th century, the illustration of manuscripts in the northern countries acquired common features, just as the same happened at that time with sculpture. In Italy, the Byzantine influence continued to dominate both in miniature painting and in wall paintings and mosaics.
1.5. Metal processing
Pro-Romance and Romanesque metal processing- a widespread art form - were used mainly to create church utensils for religious rituals. Many of these works are kept to this day in the treasuries of great cathedrals outside of France; French cathedrals were robbed during the French Revolution. Other metalwork from this period is early Celtic filigree jewelry and silverware; late products of German goldsmiths and silver things inspired by imported Byzantine metal products, as well as wonderful enamels, especially cloisonné and champlevé, made in the areas of the Moselle and Rhine rivers. Two famous metalworkers were Roger of Helmarshausen, a German known for his bronzes, and the French enameller Godefroy de Claire.
The best-known example of a Romanesque textile work is an 11th-century embroidery called the Baia Tapestry. Other patterns have survived, such as church vestments and draperies, but the most valuable fabrics in Romanesque Europe were imported from the Byzantine Empire, Spain, and the Middle East and are not the product of local craftsmen.
2. Gothic art and architecture
In place of the Romanesque style, as cities flourished and social relations improved, a new style came - Gothic. Religious and secular buildings, sculpture, colored glass, illustrated manuscripts and other works of fine art began to be executed in this style in Europe during the second half of the Middle Ages.
Gothic art originated in France around 1140 and spread throughout Europe over the next century and continued to exist in Western Europe for most of the 15th century, and in some regions of Europe well into the 16th century. Originally, the word gothic was used by Italian Renaissance authors as a derogatory label for all forms of architecture and art of the Middle Ages, which were considered comparable only to the works of the Goth barbarians. Later use of the term "Gothic" was limited to the period of the late, high or classical Middle Ages, immediately following the Romanesque. Currently, the Gothic period is considered one of the most prominent in the history of European artistic culture.
The main representative and spokesman of the Gothic period was architecture.
Although a huge number of Gothic monuments were secular, the Gothic style served primarily the church, the most powerful builder in the Middle Ages, which ensured the development of this new architecture for that time and achieved its fullest realization.
The aesthetic quality of Gothic architecture depends on its structural development: ribbed vaults became a characteristic feature of the Gothic style.
Medieval churches had powerful stone vaults, which were very heavy. They sought to open, to push out the walls. This could lead to the collapse of the building. Therefore, the walls must be thick and heavy enough to support such vaults. At the beginning of the 12th century, masons developed ribbed vaults, which included slender stone arches arranged diagonally, transversely and longitudinally. The new vault, which was thinner, lighter and more versatile (because it could have many sides), solved many architectural problems. Although early Gothic churches allowed for a wide variety of forms, the construction of a series of large cathedrals in Northern France, beginning in the second half of the 12th century, took full advantage of the new Gothic vault. Cathedral architects have found that now the external bursting forces from the vaults are concentrated in narrow areas at the junctions of the ribs (ribs), and therefore they can be easily neutralized with the help of buttresses and external arches-flying buttresses.
Consequently, the thick walls of Romanesque architecture could be replaced by thinner ones, which included extensive window openings, and the interiors received hitherto unparalleled lighting. In the construction business, therefore, there was a real revolution.
With the advent of the Gothic vault, both the design, the form, and the layout and interiors of the cathedrals changed. Gothic cathedrals acquired a general character of lightness, aspiration to the sky, became much more dynamic and expressive. The first of the great cathedrals was Notre Dame Cathedral (begun in 1163). In 1194, the foundation stone for the cathedral at Chartres is considered the beginning of the High Gothic period. The culmination of this era was the cathedral at Reims (begun in 1210). Rather cold and all-conquering in its finely balanced proportions, Reims Cathedral represents a moment of classical calm and serenity in the evolution of Gothic cathedrals. Openwork partitions, a characteristic feature of late Gothic architecture, were the invention of the first architect of Reims Cathedral. Fundamentally new interior solutions were found by the author of the cathedral in Bourges (begun in 1195). The influence of French Gothic quickly spread throughout Europe: Spain, Germany, England. In Italy it was not so strong.
Sculpture. Following Romanesque traditions, in numerous niches on the facades of French Gothic cathedrals, a huge number of figures carved from stone, personifying the dogmas and beliefs of the Catholic Church, were placed as decorations. Gothic sculpture in the 12th and early 13th centuries was predominantly architectural in character. The largest and most important figures were placed in openings on both sides of the entrance. Because they were attached to columns, they were known as pillar statues. Along with column statues, free-standing monumental statues were widespread, an art form unknown in Western Europe since Roman times. The earliest surviving statues are columns in the western portal of Chartres Cathedral. They were still in the old pre-Gothic cathedral and date from about 1155. The slender, cylindrical figures follow the shape of the columns to which they were attached. They are executed in a cold, strict, linear Romanesque style, which nevertheless gives the figures an impressive character of purposeful spirituality.
From 1180, the Romanesque stylization begins to move into a new one, when the statues acquire a sense of grace, sinuosity and freedom of movement. This so-called classical style culminates in the first decades of the thirteenth century in a large series of sculptures on the portals of the north and south transepts of Chartres Cathedral.
The emergence of naturalism. Starting around 1210 on the Coronation Portal of Notre Dame and after 1225 on the west portal of Amiens Cathedral, the rippling, classical features of the surfaces begin to give way to more austere volumes. At the statues of the Reims Cathedral and in the interior of the Saint-Chapelle Cathedral, exaggerated smiles, emphasized almond-shaped eyes, curls arranged in bunches on small heads and mannered poses produce a paradoxical impression of a synthesis of naturalistic forms, delicate affectation and subtle spirituality.
3. Medieval music and theater
3.1. medieval music
Medieval music is predominantly spiritual in nature and is a necessary component of the Catholic Mass. At the same time, secular music begins to take shape already in the early Middle Ages.
The first important form of secular music was the songs of the troubadours in Provençal. Since the 11th century, troubadour songs have been influential in many other countries for more than 200 years, especially in northern France. The pinnacle of troubadour art was reached around 1200 by Bernard de Ventadorne, Giraud de Bornel Folke de Marseille. Bernard is famous for his three lyrics about unrequited love. Some of the verse forms anticipate the 14th century ballad with its three stanzas of 7 or 8 lines. Others talk about the crusaders or discuss any love trifles. Pastorals in numerous stanzas convey banal stories about knights and shepherdesses.
Dance songs such as rondo and virelai are also in their repertoire. All of this monophonic music could sometimes have string or wind instrument accompaniment. This was the case until the 14th century, when secular music became polyphonic.
3.2. medieval theater
Ironically, theater in the form of liturgical drama was revived in Europe by the Roman Catholic Church. As the church sought ways to expand its influence, it often adapted pagan and folk festivals, many of which contained theatrical elements. In the 10th century, many church holidays provided the opportunity for dramatization: generally speaking, the Mass itself is nothing more than a drama.
Certain holidays were famous for their theatricality, such as the procession to the church on Palm Sunday. Antiphonal or question-and-answer, chants, masses and canonical chorales are dialogues. In the 9th century, antiphonal chimes, known as tropes, were incorporated into the complex musical elements of the mass. The three-part tropes (dialogue between the three Marys and the angels at the tomb of Christ) by an unknown author have been considered since about 925 as the source of liturgical drama. In 970, a record of an instruction or manual for this little drama appeared, including elements of costume and gestures.
3.2.1. Religious drama or miraculous plays.
Over the next two hundred years, the liturgical drama slowly developed, incorporating various biblical stories enacted by priests or choir boys. At first, church vestments and existing architectural details of churches were used as costumes and decorations, but more ceremonial decorations were soon invented. As the liturgical drama developed, many biblical themes were presented in succession, usually depicting scenes from the creation of the world to the crucifixion of Christ. These plays were called differently - passions (Passion), Miracles (Miracles), holy plays. Appropriate decorations were raised around the church nave, usually with heaven in the altar and with the Hell's Mouth - an elaborate monster's head with gaping mouth, representing the entrance to hell - at the opposite end of the nave. Therefore, all the scenes of the play could be presented simultaneously, and the participants in the action moved around the church from one place to another, depending on the scenes.
The plays, obviously, consisted of episodes, covered literally millennium periods, transferred the action to the most diverse places and represented the atmosphere and spirit of different times, as well as allegories. Unlike ancient Greek tragedy, which clearly focused on creating the prerequisites and conditions for catharsis, medieval drama did not always show conflicts and tension. Its purpose was to dramatize the salvation of the human race.
Although the church supported the early liturgical drama in its didactic capacity, entertainment and spectacle increased and began to predominate, and the church began to express suspicion of the drama. Not wanting to lose the useful effects of the theater, the church compromised by bringing dramatic performances from the walls of the church churches themselves. The same material design began to be recreated in the market squares of cities. While retaining its religious content and focus, the drama has become much more secular in its staged character.
3.2.3 Medieval secular drama
In the 14th century, theatrical productions were associated with the feast of Corpus Christi and developed into cycles that included up to 40 plays. Some scholars believe that these cycles developed independently, albeit simultaneously with the liturgical drama. They were presented to the community for a whole four to five year period. Each production could last one or two days and was staged once a month. The staging of each play was financed by some workshop or trade guild, and usually they tried to somehow connect the specialization of the workshop with the subject of the play - for example, the shipbuilders' workshop could stage a play about Noah. Because the performers were often illiterate amateurs, the anonymous playwrights tended to write in easy-to-remember primitive verse. In accordance with the medieval worldview, historical accuracy was often ignored, and the logic of cause and effect was not always respected.
Realism was used selectively in productions. The plays are full of anachronisms, references to purely local circumstances known only to contemporaries; the realities of time and place received only minimal attention. Costumes, furnishings and utensils were entirely modern (medieval European). Something could be depicted with extreme accuracy - there are reports of how actors almost died due to a too realistic performance of a crucifixion or hanging, and of actors who, playing the devil, literally burned to death. On the other hand, the episode with the retreat of the waters of the Red Sea could be indicated by a simple throwing of a red cloth over the Egyptian pursuers, as a sign that the sea had swallowed them up.
The free mixture of the real and the symbolic did not interfere with medieval perception. Spectacles and folk plays were staged wherever possible, and the infernal mouth was usually a favorite object of exertion for mechanical marvels and pyrotechnics. Despite the religious content of the cycles, they increasingly became entertainment. Three main formats were used. In England, carnival carts were the most common. The old church decorations were replaced by elaborate moving scenes, such as small modern ships that moved from place to place in the city. Spectators gathered in each such place: the performers worked on the platforms of the wagons, or on the stages built on the streets. They did the same in Spain. In France, synchronized productions were used - various scenery rose one after another along the sides of a long, raised platform in front of the assembled spectators.
Finally, again in England, plays were sometimes staged "round" - on a circular platform, with scenery placed around the circumference of the arena and spectators sitting or standing between the scenery.
3.2.3. morality plays
In the same period, folk plays, secular farces, and pastorals appeared, mostly by anonymous authors, who stubbornly retained the character of worldly entertainment. All this influenced the evolution of morality plays in the 15th century. Though written on themes of Christian theology with related characters, the moralites were not like cycles in that they did not represent episodes from the Bible. They were allegorical, self-contained dramas and performed by professionals such as minstrels or jugglers. Plays such as "Everyman" usually dealt with the individual's life path. Among the allegorical characters were such figures as Death, Gluttony, Good Deeds and other vices and virtues.
These plays are sometimes difficult and boring for modern perception: the rhymes of the verses are repeated, they are in the nature of improvisation, the plays are two or three times longer than Shakespeare's dramas, and the morality is announced straightforwardly and instructively. However, the performers, by inserting music and action into performances and using the comic possibilities of numerous characters of vices and demons, created a form of folk drama.
Conclusion
The Middle Ages is a time of intense spiritual life, complex and difficult searches for worldview structures that could synthesize the historical experience and knowledge of previous millennia.
In this era, people were able to enter a new path of cultural development, different from what they knew in previous times. Trying to try on faith and reason, building pictures of the world on the basis of the knowledge available to them and with the help of Christian dogmatism, the culture of the Middle Ages created new artistic styles, a new urban lifestyle. Contrary to the opinion of the thinkers of the Italian Renaissance, the Middle Ages left us the most important achievements of spiritual culture, including the institutions of scientific knowledge and education. The image proposed by the philosopher, science expert and culturologist M.K. Petrov: he compared medieval culture with scaffolding. It is impossible to build a building without them. But when the building is completed, the scaffolding is removed, and one can only guess what it looked like and how it was arranged. Medieval culture, in relation to our modern one, played precisely the role of such forests: without it, Western culture would not have arisen, although medieval culture itself was basically nothing like it.
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Feature of the Roman artistic culture, - focus on identifying a portrait ... formation and the beginning medieval period. history artistic culture medieval Europe is subdivided...
The artistic culture of the Middle Ages chronologically follows the ancient one and occupies an exceptional place in the global development of culture.
When the thought of the Middle Ages arises, we imagine knightly castles and Gothic cathedrals, crusades and feudal strife, fires of the Inquisition and knightly tournaments ... "Middle Ages" often becomes synonymous with everything gloomy and reactionary, it is, as it were, swallowed up by a thick shadow cast by on the one hand, antiquity, on the other, the Renaissance. But it was in the Middle Ages that European nations were born and formed modern states formed the foundations of modern languages. And it is to the era of the Middle Ages that many of the cultural values that formed the basis of world civilization date back.
The beginning of the development of the medieval stage of artistic culture dates back to the end of the 5th century AD, marked by the fall of the last ancient slave-owning state of the Western Roman Empire in Europe (476). The end of the era of the Middle Ages is associated with the fall of Constantinople, the center of the Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantium (1453), which meant the onset of the Renaissance.
The artistic culture of the Middle Ages in its development passed two periods:
1 - culture of the 11th - 12th centuries, characterized by the influence of a religious worldview, hence the existence of clerical literature and other types of art;
2 - culture of the XII - XV centuries, associated with the flourishing of medieval cities and the formation of urban art.
First of all, it is necessary to characterize those value orientations and criteria, ethical and aesthetic principles that formed the basis of the life and attitude of a person of the Middle Ages, determined the direction of the development of art of that time, and were reflected in the content and form of works of art.
Unlike antiquity with its cult of pagan gods, when the gods were humanized, and people considered themselves so strong and wise that they could argue with the inhabitants of Olympus, the thinkers of the Middle Ages were focused on comprehending God, the creator of the visible world, which exists not by itself, but only as a means of comprehending the divine mind. And the course of history was comprehended only as the realization of God's plan. In this regard, medieval masters, artists and writers, turned their eyes not so much to the visible world around them, but to the other world, and the content of such ethical categories as justice, goodness, etc., was considered in terms of their correspondence to the ultimate goal - salvation of the soul.
The most common genre of literary works of this period is the lives of the saints, a typical example of architecture is the cathedral, in painting - an icon, in sculpture - characters Holy Scripture. In these works of medieval art, man existed as the crown of creation, created in the image and likeness of God, all other creations were for his sake. But in the theory of medieval Christianity, man did not acquire independent significance: by his existence he glorified God. This is how the concept of a person who was in a contradictory situation developed. On the one hand, man was proclaimed to be like God, his creator. On the other hand, man is a servant of God; serving God, which elevates a person, at the same time requires humility, the suppression of personal inclinations that are contrary to the ideals of Christianity. Since redemption is possible only in the other world, the free development of personality is excluded. And although theologians emphasized that the person of a person is a unity of soul and body, the main attention should have been paid to the soul, for the soul belongs to eternity.
The aesthetic world of the Middle Ages was organized around the figure of Christ. The use of Christian mythology was regulated by the authority of Scripture. Bible.
Bible(Greek biblia, lit. - books) - a collection of ancient texts, approved by religious tradition as the Holy Scriptures ("divinely inspired" book) of Jews and Christians. There are two parts in the Bible: older in time of creation and larger in volume, recognized by both, was called the Old Testament. The other part, created already in the times of Christianity and recognized only by Christians, is called New Testament. "Covenant" in Christian terminology - a mystical agreement or alliance concluded by God in ancient times with one people (Jews) on the basis of the fulfillment of the law - is Old Testament. Thanks to the appearance of Christ, it was replaced by the New Testament, already concluded with all nations on the terms of service "in spirit and in truth."
New Testament consists of monuments of early Christian literature of the II half of the I century - early. 2nd century The New Testament contains 4 gospels(i.e. "evangelism" about the life and teachings of Christ), adjoining "Acts of the Apostles" (about the life of the Jerusalem community and the travels of the Apostle Paul), 21 epistles (teachings in epistolary form), "The Revelation of John the Theologian", or the Apocalypse - predictions about the last struggle between good and evil at the end of the world.
The Bible is not only a source of religious dogma used for religious purposes. Biblical images and stories had an impact on the development of world culture and the Christian world, and the countries of the Muslim East. This influence was especially great in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
The Bible still conveys to us ethical and moral principles based on a deep understanding of spirituality: it proclaims kindness, mercy, meekness, peacefulness, moral purity; condemns evil, perjury, betrayal in friendship and love, betrayal, hypocrisy, etc.
In the Middle Ages, Christian themes were embodied in clerical (church) literature that existed in various genres: the lives of saints, legends, "visions" of the afterlife, etc.
"Lives"- stories about life, pious deeds or sufferings of people canonized christian church. This is one of the main literary genres Middle Ages. The lives were formed on the basis of legends about Christian martyrs in the Roman Empire (martyrology), the acts of the apostles (Bible) and other monuments of early Christian literature ("The Life of Anthony the Great", "The Life of St. Alexis", etc.). Some narrated about military exploits ("The Life of George the Victorious"). The most complete collection of lives in Latin - " golden legend", collected by the Italian monk of the 13th century, Jacob de Boragine. By the 13th - 15th centuries, numerous consolidated collections of Christian legends had developed in Europe, which served as a source of plots for the medieval epic (including the chivalric romance), drama, lyrics and iconography.
One of the leading genres of medieval art is heroic epics.
epic(from the Greek. epos - word, narration, story) - a heroic narrative containing a complete picture of folk life, a description of the life and exploits of heroes-heroes. The folk heroic epic arose on the basis of the traditions of the mythological epic and the heroic fairy tale, and later - historical legends. In the archaic forms of the epic, heroism still appears in a fairy-tale-mythological shell, the main themes are the fight against monsters, courtship for a betrothed, tribal revenge. In the classical forms of the epic, heroes-leaders and warriors oppose invaders, foreign and infidel oppressors. In the northern and northwestern regions of Europe, occupied by the Scandinavians and Celts, where the features of the tribal system were preserved for a particularly long time, there was ground for the emergence of folk heroic epics.
Irish heroic epic(III - VIII centuries) originally had a prose form, therefore his works were called sagas (Old Norse segia - to say); subsequent poetic passages appeared. These sagas united around the name of King Conchobar and his nephew Cuchulain, a hero of fantastic strength who performed heroic deeds.
The heroic epic received special development in Iceland. Mythology here reflected the life of the Scandinavians of the "Viking Age" (IX-XI centuries). The most ancient monument collection " Edda"Compiled in the 13th century from folk epic songs created in the 9th - 12th centuries. The heroic songs of the Edtsy contain elements that go back to the traditions of the ancient Germans, but they are reworked in accordance with Scandinavian life and legends. Such is the legend of the exploits Siegfried(in the "Edda" - Sigurd), extracting the treasure of the Nibelungs.
Old Norse literature includes the later poetry of skalds (retinue singers), representing the initial stage in the development of authorship in poetry. But this is pre-literate poetry: the oldest of the skaldic poems that have come down to us were composed in the first half of the 9th century, i.e. four centuries before they could be written down. Egil Skallagrimson(son of Grim the Bald, Icelandic pioneer) - the most prominent of the skalds. Here is an example of his poetry:
I will sing glory
Bold in battle
I will sing a song
Your England.
Along with the poetry of the skalds, there were many prose sagas - generic, historical, fantastic and heroic, for example, the Volsunga Saga (mid-13th century), which develops the plots of the heroic songs of the Edda about Sigurd.
The heyday of the heroic epic in Western Europe dates back to the 11th-12th centuries. It was created in the era of feudal fragmentation. The pathos of the heroic epic was the desire for national unity, the feat was glorified in the name of the motherland and the king, symbolizing the motherland; a protest against feudal selfishness, anarchy and national betrayal was proclaimed.
French heroic epic one of the most important in Europe. Up to a hundred poems of the 11th-14th centuries have survived, called "songs about deeds". These poems are usually divided into three cycles:
Cycle of the King of France,
Loyal vassal cycle,
baronial cycle.
The first cycle includes a remarkable monument of the medieval epic - " Song of Roland". The plot core of the song is the actual events of the 8th century: the battle in the Ronceval Gorge between the Franks and the Basques. In the "Biography of Charlemagne" the name of the noble Frank Hrowland, who became the prototype of Roland in the heroic poem, is mentioned among the dead.
A private episode of the battle between the Franks and their co-religionists, the Basques, underwent a significant rethinking in the poem: instead of the Basques, formidable Muslim Arabs appeared;
Roland became the main character of the work. He dies in a brutal battle. Final Thoughts Roland - "About the Motherland, about France-beauty", "About Charles the Ruler ...".
The image of Emperor Charles has a unifying meaning. It is distinguished by moral and physical superiority, love for the motherland, for neighbors. He avenges the dead Roland, and his victories are won not without the help of God.
"The Song of Roland" expresses the idea of the unity of the motherland, indignation at the moral fall of the traitor. The poem also had significance as the embodiment of a symbolic idea - the struggle of Christians with the Muslim world, which was associated with preparations for the Crusades.
Spanish heroic epic reflected historical setting in Spain of the 7th century, conquered by the Arabs. Up to the XV century. The Spanish people waged a struggle for their liberation, called the Reconquista (reconquest). Starting from the 10th century, the Spanish epic is formed on the basis of legends and songs created earlier.
The central hero of the Spanish epic is Rodrigo Diaz ( Roy Diaz de Bivar), nicknamed Sid for valor (arab. sidi - lord). The largest of the epic poems is named after him - "The Song of My Sid". Sid is the embodiment of the national moral and heroic ideal. This is a knight who owes everything to his valor and courage. He is simple and generous, caring towards the squad, enjoys the love of ordinary people. Sid is opposed to the arrogant and treacherous feudal nobility.
At the end of the XIV - beginning. 15th century in Spain, the romance genre is emerging, developing individual episodes of ancient epic poems. Such is the cycle of romances about Bernardo del Carpio. Historical romances are called the Spanish Iliad, while novelistic and lyrical romances are called the Spanish Odyssey.
German heroic epic formed in the 12th-13th centuries, at a time when the idea of national unity was of particular importance. The largest poem - " Song of the Nibelungs"(Nibelungs - mythical dwarfs, treasure keepers). The poem has two parts:
the first tells about the exploits and death of the hero Siegfried, the second about the revenge of his wife Kriemhild and the tragic ending of the bloody feud (a reflection of historical legends about the destruction of the Burgundian state by the Huns).
The Nibelungenlied became a source of dramatic and musical works of German artistic culture. Composer Wagner in the 40s - 50s. 19th century created an opera tetralogy: "Gold of the Rhine", "Valkyrie", "Siegfried", "Death of the Gods".
South Slavic epic formed in the XIV century: this is the folk epic poetry of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. Among the works of this plan stands out Kosovo Cycle, which unites songs about the Kosovo battle of the Serbs with the Turks in 1389. The heroes of the epic are historical figures: Prince Lazar, his governor Milos Obilich, the semi-legendary hero Yug-Bogdan with nine sons.
In the same period, a cycle of songs about Prince Marko, the common hero of the Serbian and Bulgarian epics, was created. This is a people's avenger, a fighter against the invaders; his exploits and heroic death are described (the song "Death of Mark Yunak").
Later examples of medieval folk poetry are songs and ballads. England And Scotland. The most popular for many centuries were ballads about Robin Hood, a generous, generous, courageous noble robber.
Knightly (courtly) literature of the 12th – 13th centuries. reflected the formation of the institution of chivalry - "Christ's army", its value orientations such as the protection of the "Holy Sepulcher", religion, the poor, the oppressed, serving the overlord, the knightly order, the cult of the beautiful lady and others. Knightly literature developed in two directions: lyrical and epic. It reached its classical development in France.
Knightly lyrics originate in Provence (XI - XII centuries), where poetry appears troubadours, poets and composers, performers of their own works. Famous poets - troubadours: Bertrand de Born, chanting warrior heroes; Juafre Rudel, referring to the theme of "love from afar"; Bertrand D'Alamano, who sang in the Alba genre the feeling of individual love, which rebelled against the feudal laws and customs that suppressed it. In Germany knightly lyrics was represented by poetry minnesingers(Austrian knight Reinmar from the Haguenau family, Walther von der Vogelweide and others).
The chivalric romance is the central phenomenon of medieval secular literature, where the most important problems of the human personality and its relations with the world were raised and resolved. Being an epic work, the chivalric romance at the same time differs from the medieval epic. Here, in the foreground, not national events, but the personal fate of the hero, his love, in the name of which feats are performed. The medieval novel is presented in Byzantium (XII century), in the Romano-Germanic West (XII - early XIII centuries - poetic forms, then prose prevails), in the Near and Middle East (XI - XII centuries), in Far East(Japan, X-XI centuries).
The classic example was courtly(knightly) romance on French. It is characterized by the presence of fabulous, fantastic elements, an abundance of adventures, exceptional situations. The hero goes through difficult trials, strengthening and proving his valor and courage. By style and character, the French chivalric romance is divided into cycles: antique ("The Romance of Alexander", "The Romance of Troy", "The Romance of Aeneas", etc.), Breton (goes back to the Latin chronicle "History of the Kings of Britain", develops legends about king Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table). The greatest master of the medieval novel - Chretien de Troy, creator of the novels "Lancelot, or the Knight of the Cart", "Perceval, or the Tale of the Grail", etc. The novels about the Holy Grail are devoted to the theme of religious service: chivalrous deeds are performed in the name of a sacred relic - a vessel called the "Holy Grail", in which, According to legend, the blood of Jesus Christ was collected. The idea of Chrétien's novel is service to people, the rejection of personal happiness in the name of the good of people. Based on this novel, the German composer R. Wagner (1813 - 1883) wrote the operas "Parzival" and "Lohengrin".
The culture of chivalry was progressive for its time. Elements of humanism were embodied in the knightly ideal: the principles of protecting justice, respect for women, the cult of great human feeling. Artworks chivalric literature distinguishes deep psychological analysis, richness of fantasy, perfection of poetic form.
ART,
ARCHITECTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES
The culture of the Middle Ages is rich and varied; its centers were located in various parts world, but they were in close interaction. It was in the Middle Ages that the art of many states of Europe and Asia (Ancient Rus', China, India) reached a high level of development. For example, in China, such genres of fine arts as landscape, still life, portrait, and household genre reach their peak. In the art of India, a sensual perception of the world, a feeling of the powerful, elemental beginning of nature, is manifested. A poetic colorful oriental miniature develops.
Classical heights were reached by the development of architecture, which was distinguished by its monumentality, the expression of the will and power of man. These are Byzantine temples, Romanesque and Gothic architecture Europe, Arab mosques, palaces and temples of India, China.
BYZANTIUM
One of the centers for the development of medieval art was Byzantium, a state that was formed on the basis of the Eastern Roman Empire in 395 and existed until 1453. The peculiarity of the development of Byzantium, which was less affected by barbarian invasions than Western Europe, led to the fact that features of ancient life, social structure; the transition to medieval culture was carried out on the basis of ancient traditions. Such Byzantine cities as Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Ephesus retained their Hellenistic appearance; many monuments of ancient Greek culture were concentrated in them (antique statues, in the lists - the works of Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles and others); until the 7th century there was an ancient theatre. In the center of the works of art was the ideal person, embodied in the image of the Christian God and the saints.
The art of Byzantium was influenced by the artistic tradition of the eastern provinces - Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Antioch; The barbarians also had an impact, especially from the 4th - 5th centuries.
The content of Byzantine art was the religious and philosophical views of the emerging medieval society. The art of antiquity, which naively idolized man, was replaced by art that was aimed at elevating his feelings, moral and aesthetic powers. Spirituality was embodied not only in the incorporeal essence of the creator, but also in the image of Christ, who preserved the appearance of man, with his ethical and aesthetic principles.
The best works of Byzantine art were created by the Constantinople school, which combined the ancient tradition with creative experience based on the assimilation of the philosophical and theological ideas of the Middle Ages. Byzantine art flourished under Emperor Justinian I (527-565). The main artistic center was Constantinople, which contemporaries called the "second Rome". The leading role was played by the architecture of monastic ensembles and temples, which were distinguished by a variety of types. Temples were especially characteristic, the architecture of which developed the ancient traditions of longitudinal basilicas and central-domed churches. For example, the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, early. 6th century, Church of San Vitale in Ravenna (532-548).
The most striking embodiment of the new type of structures received in the temple St. Sophia in Constantinople, the creators of which were the Asia Minor architects Anfimy from Thrall and Isidore from Miletus. Church of St. Sophia was conceived as part imperial palace, which expressed the idea of the dependence of the church on the imperial power and at the same time the idea of the power of Christianity.
In the interior of the Byzantine temple, new principles of the synthesis of arts were embodied, wall and plafond paintings acquired special significance. The content of these murals were plots, compositions, images - iconography Holy Scripture. Later they turned into canons approved by the official church. Mosaic has become a favorite technique of wall painting. Along with colored stones, smalt was used, distinguished by the depth and sonority of tones, the golden backgrounds of which give the impression of a shimmering environment. The most striking example of mosaics on scenes from the life of Christ is the monuments of Ravenna, 5th century BC. ("Christ the Good Shepherd" and others), Church of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, beginning and middle of the 6th century. (a cycle from the life of Christ). An example of secular Byzantine painting of the mosaic of the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna, 6th century, depicting Emperor Justinian with his retinue and Empress Theodora with her attendants. The predominant importance of the spiritual principle in the portraits is emphasized by the large size of wide-open eyes with dilated pupils, a sparkling gaze, as if turned into the soul, into self-contemplation. The image of the emperor and his entourage struck with oriental splendor.
In the 7th century and later, there is freedom of creative searches in the fine arts, architecture. Artists show a desire for a sublime harmonic ideal (painting in the Church of the Assumption in Nicaea, 6th century, in the monuments of Italy, 7th - 8th centuries).
Art of Byzantium IX - XII centuries. reflected the ideals of the mature Middle Ages, obeying strict dogmatic rules. in architecture since the 12th century. An independent place was taken by monasteries - picturesque ensembles, usually located on the slopes of mountains or rocks, fitting into the terrain. In their center was a cross-domed church, for example, the Church of St. Theodore in Athens, the Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God in the monastery of Daphne (XI century) and others.
In wall paintings, mosaics, the classical solemn style is affirmed. Icon painting becomes the main form of easel painting. A masterpiece of Byzantine painting of the 11th-12th centuries. - an icon, so-called. The Vladimir icon of the Mother of God, which belongs to the iconographic type "Tenderness".
Byzantine art experienced its last flowering during the reign of the Palaiologos dynasty (XII-XIV centuries). The conquest of Byzantium by Turkey in 1453 changed the fate of its culture. The achievements of the artistic culture of Byzantium influenced the medieval art of Europe, the southern Slavs, Ancient Rus', Transcaucasia.
Similar information.
Artistic culture of the Middle Ages.
Knight culture.
Education and science in the Middle Ages.
Carnival, laughter nature of folk culture.
Paganism in medieval culture.
Christianity in the culture of the Middle Ages.
Antiquity and the Middle Ages.
The origins of medieval culture.
Culture of the European Middle Ages
The term ʼʼMiddle Agesʼʼ was coined by Italian humanists in the 15th and 16th centuries. The figures of the Renaissance wanted in this way to delimit their culture from the previous ʼʼ dark agesʼʼ and at the same time emphasize its connection with antiquity. About chronological framework Middle Ages there are different points of view. The 5th century is unanimously considered the lower limit. (the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the transfer of signs of imperial power to Constantinople). The upper limit ranges from the 15th c. before the 18th century If we single out the Renaissance as an independent cultural stage, then the end of the Middle Ages must be dated to the beginning of the 15th century.
Origins of medieval culture
The European Middle Ages actually began with a cultural catastrophe of the previous, ancient civilization. Along with the destruction of Roman statehood, the value foundations of antiquity are rapidly disappearing. It should be noted that the Germanic tribes also suffered greatly from their campaigns of conquest, rolling back into cultural development. A period of cultural stagnation began, which lasted until the end of the 8th century. Outwardly, this was expressed in terrifying devastation: a huge reduction in the total population (by 5-6 times), uncultivated fields, deserted cities. Rome, whose population formerly exceeded a million inhabitants, by the 6th century. existed within just a few blocks. Many cities disappeared from the face of the earth altogether, and those that remained, in the majority, turned into rural-type settlements. The polis organization of life also disappeared. The city is no longer cultural center, this function was taken over by the monasteries. Stone construction and glass production ceased, primitive tools began to be used again, a huge number of works of literature, sculpture, and painting were destroyed. Although, on the site of the former Roman Empire, new state formations arose, consisting of scattered, ethnically diverse territories that did not feel cultural unity. The Germans settled on the conquered lands randomly, alternating with the settlements of local residents. This led to the loss of one's own identity, space and time were no longer divided into ʼʼourʼʼʼ' and ʼʼalienʼʼ' (which is typical for archaic societies), the world lost its stability, the cosmos was replaced by chaos. The usual picture of the world was destroyed in its foundations.
Antiquity and the Middle Ages
And yet, medieval culture retained some cultural forms created by Antiquity (primarily by Rome). True, very often in a truncated, superficial form. And always in connection with new values and goals. For example, medieval education continued to be built like the late antique system of the ʼʼseven free artsʼʼ: first they studied grammar, rhetoric and dialectics, then geometry, arithmetic, music, astronomy. But in Antiquity, education had an independent value, and an ignorant person never became completely free, remaining a slave to his passions and external circumstances. In the Middle Ages, education was primarily a means for liturgical practice and government. Some disciplines, in particular rhetoric, have completely changed their meaning. In the early Middle Ages, rhetoric became the art of the written rather than the spoken word, the practice of skilfully drafting business documents rather than the art of speaking well. Arithmetic formed the skills of counting and solving problems, but was in no way connected with the knowledge of the essence of the world as in Antiquity.
The basis of medieval theology was ancient. For several centuries, Christian philosophy developed within the framework of Antiquity. Christianity was forced to defend its ideals, being in a culture with a deeply developed system of ontology, epistemology, logic, with a refined art of polemic. It was possible to fight pagan philosophy, which began to penetrate into Christianity in the form of heresies, only by its own means. The emerging theology relied primarily on ancient Neoplatonism. But unlike Antiquity, philosophy in the Middle Ages ceases to be the last way to comprehend the truth. Above it is faith.
The church organization of the early Middle Ages for quite a long time continued to be built on the principle of ancient policies: relatively independent metropolises, and then patriarchies, created a single union. Although the Roman bishops long before the actual division of the churches in 1054 ᴦ. sought to create a centralized church and actually had special rights (since it was the Roman Church founded by the apostles Peter and Paul, which means that it is Rome that preserves the purity of the dogma). But even here Christianity borrowed only the form. After all, the main asset of the polis organization was free citizenship, and Christians, even bishops, were slaves, albeit God's.
Undoubtedly, the influence of Antiquity on medieval art. The domed temple, the basilica as architectural forms were borrowed from Roman culture. The sculpture used the traditions of ancient masters. The connection between iconography and Greek painting was manifested in technique, form, and, at first, in the use of an ancient plot as a symbol for a Christian plot. But art in the Middle Ages was called, first of all, to bring a person closer to God, eternity, to free himself from the natural principle, and not to emphasize the harmony of the bodily and spiritual, matter and form.
The linguistic continuity of ancient Roman and medieval culture is also preserved. Latin remains the language of learning and church preaching. At the same time, there are fewer and fewer people who considered this language as their mother tongue. By the 8th c. in many barbarian kingdoms the population ceased to understand Latin.
It is noteworthy that a very small part of the ancient book heritage was known to the Middle Ages. Moreover, the texts of those ancient authors who were practically unknown to Antiquity itself were used as samples, and very little was known about those who determined the development of the scientific thought of Greece and Rome in the Middle Ages. For example, from the works of Plato until the 12th-13th centuries. only part of the dialogue ʼʼTimaeuʼʼ was studied. Euclid, Archimedes, Ptolemy were necessary for a long time forgotten. At the same time, Julian Solin (3rd century) became an authoritative geographer, whose works contain fantastic descriptions of countries and clearly gravitate towards myth.
To a greater extent, the ancient cultural heritage was preserved in Byzantium, and it was she who carried out the synthesis of the ancient and Christian traditions and became one of the intermediaries in the transfer of the ancient heritage to Europe.
main phenomenon cultural life late Antiquity, ĸᴏᴛᴏᴩᴏᴇ passed into the Middle Ages, becoming its foundation, was Christianity. By the end of the 4th c. the majority of the population of the Roman Empire was, at least formally, Christian. Against the background of the collapse of ancient civilization, only the church organization was able to maintain its viability and become the cultural and unifying force of Europe.
Christianity in the culture of the Middle Ages
Christianity acts as the ideological foundation of the Middle Ages, leaving an imprint on all spheres of spiritual and material life. The system of values in the Middle Ages has God as its absolute center. Man is given as a gift and given as a task to become familiar with the Divine Essence. With every thought and deed, a person serves God. Drawing closer to God is salvation, eternal life. For this reason, all actions are related to the idea of absolute salvation or absolute destruction. The main modus of relationship to God is hope and faith. This is the expectation of what is not and what cannot be verified. Christian Divine Providence, unlike the ancient Rock, does not deny dialogue and the possibility of changing one's destiny. You can call on God and hope.
Christianity brings a new image of man into medieval culture. On the one hand, man is the image and likeness of God and therefore can approach the divine, deify himself. On the other hand, a vile beginning lives in him, he is subjected to demonic suggestions that split his will. Medieval man cannot explain his inner life without the concepts of grace and demonic possession. He experiences a painful split within the personality. Now his life is located between the dazzling abyss of grace and the black abyss of death, and everyone must decide in which direction to rush.
Christian dogma determined some aspects of medieval ideology. So, society, like the Trinity, was understood from the 9th century. as an inseparable unity of three social strata: churchmen, soldiers, workers. For this reason, the idea of mutual service of all estates for the benefit of the whole was put at the forefront.
But not only the general value foundations of the Middle Ages were associated with Christianity. Quite specific spheres of public life correlated with church ideology. For example, the Roman Church directly took part in political life. Not without the influence of the Pope and the bishops, appointments to public positions were made, peace negotiations were conducted. The church quite deliberately provoked political conflicts. All principalities and states were understood as parts of the Christian kingdom. The church had its own courts, which also dealt with completely secular cases. She was also a large owner and received a share of state taxes. The abbots of large monasteries and bishops, especially in Germany during the early Middle Ages, were rather large feudal lords, whose vassals were barons and knights. Those. they combined spiritual and secular power.
Even extremely private norms of behavior were regulated by Christian ideas. So, a believer should drink any drink in five sips, “according to the number of wounds on the body of our Lord, at the end he takes a double sip, because both blood and water” came out of the wound in the side of Jesus (J. Huizinga. Autumn of the Middle Ages, p. 154 ).
Christianity also gave rise to such a peculiar form of social organization as monasteries. Monasteries in the early Middle Ages become practically the only centers of spiritual culture and education. The monasteries also performed the function of book depositories; scriptoria appeared in them - centers for the correspondence of books. The monks accepted into their ranks people regardless of origin, in practice realizing the early Christian idea of the equality of all before God. Prayer and asceticism were at the center of monastic life. But European monasteries also provided for themselves. Because of this, work began to be perceived as a preparatory stage on the path to salvation. And although in the Middle Ages, work, as well as in Antiquity, did not occupy a place of honor (ʼʼIn the sweat of your brow you will get your breadʼʼ), but later the attitude towards work laid down by the monasteries will be demanded by the burgher class and will result in Protestant labor worldly asceticism.
At the same time, despite such a diverse influence of Christianity on the Middle Ages, it must be borne in mind that often Christian values only superficially penetrated the consciousness of people, changed beyond recognition, and pagan, archaic in nature cultural foundations remained behind external Christian rituals.
Paganism in medieval culture
After the capture of the Empire by the Germanic tribes, the Roman Church was faced with the extreme importance of converting to Christianity the barbarian peoples, whose consciousness was much more archaic than the ancient one. Moreover, the paganism of these peoples has far from exhausted its creative possibilities. As a result of their Christianization in the Middle Ages, a situation of "dual faith" actually developed. The peasants, who made up the majority of the population of Europe, were especially attracted to paganism with its magical, mythological basis (any noticeable growth of cities begins only in the 12th century). The main reasons that contributed to this were the following: the preservation of the former rhythm of life associated with the agricultural cycle and nature; identification of Christianity with the state religion, tax oppression, deprivation of independence; the language barrier.
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The peasants spoke folk dialects, were uneducated, and therefore abstract Christian ideas were simply inaccessible to them. In addition, the vernacular languages themselves gravitated towards concrete-figurative thinking. Be that as it may, but the customs of cremation, ritual feasts with songs and dances, worship of the forces of nature, agricultural rituals, conspiracies, folk games for a long time formed the basis of rural life. The Church resolutely fought against all manifestations of paganism among the people. Christianization in some places was forced.
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For example, in the capitulary of Charlemagne - XIII-IX centuries. says: ʼʼLet all people be forced to study the ʼʼCredoʼʼ and Lord's Prayer or ʼʼThe creedʼʼ. And if anyone does not know them, let him be beaten, or let him abstain from all drinking, except water, until he can repeat them completely ... ʼʼ.
However, the church had to reckon with folk traditions and often compromised. For example, Christian altars were built on the site of old temples, the relics of saints were placed so that new converts could more easily convert to Christianity. The old gods turned into saints or evil spirits. The ritual side of Christianity penetrated most easily into consciousness and everyday life. The established Christian ritualism, in principle hostile to paganism, actually partially satisfied the religious and practical needs of yesterday's pagans, who did not delve into the highest transcendent meaning of the Christian liturgy, but saw in it a replacement for the old pagan rites. The Christianization of the peasants led to the development of views that were very far from what the clergy were striving for. In fact, throughout the entire Middle Ages, under the cover of religious consciousness, there was a powerful layer of archaic stereotypes, a magical attitude to the world was preserved, and possibly dominated.
Another ideal that came into the Middle Ages from barbarism was the value of heroic behavior. The Germanic tribes lived largely through war and robbery, and military affairs have always been considered here in the highest degree worthy occupation. The knightly estate, which finally took shape already in the late Middle Ages, was in many ways a military brotherhood. With the only amendment that the knights were Christ's warriors, defending the faith and carrying it to other lands.
Vassal relations in medieval culture also have origins in the life of the Germanic tribes. Service in the Germanic world was not service to the community-state as in antiquity, it was service to the leader-individual. And not to the divine king, as in ancient Eastern cultures, but to the hero. The leader here is first among equals. And service is associated with such valor as fidelity. If for the Romans fidelity in the first place is fidelity to duty, oath, city, then for the Germans it is personal fidelity. Moreover, this fidelity is voluntary, freely accepted, chosen. Through the idea of fidelity in the Middle Ages, relationships with God will also be considered.
Symbolism and hierarchism as the dominants of the medieval worldview. Symbolism is not an invention of the Middle Ages; archaic culture also knew it. But in primitive times a symbol is identical to what it signifies. Christianity in the symbol does not confuse the subject and meaning, and does not separate them. This is due to overcoming the ancient attitude to the contemplation of form. Medieval man strove for what was beyond form, for pure divine being. Then any thing extremely important becomes only its sign, image, symbol. The outward appearance of things is only the image of invisible things. The icon depicting Christ is not Christ himself, but only a reflection of the prototype, but there is a reflection of divine light in it.
The nature of the symbol is ambivalent and requires a strict distinction. A kiss is a sign of devotion and betrayal (Jude). There are signs of Christ and Antichrist, there are false miracles. For this reason, the interpretation of symbols is at the same time the message to people of the true path in faith. For this reason, everyone had to know the meanings of the symbols.
Symbolic thinking in the Middle Ages became a way to bridge the gap between the material and spiritual worlds, between the natural and the supernatural. Through many transitions, the material world was connected with the spiritual, and this created a psychological basis for a monistic worldview.
It is important to note that for a medieval person, the whole surrounding reality was symbolic. The sun is a symbol of God himself, the stars are symbols of angels and the righteous, stone is a symbol of Christ and firm faith, sand is weakness and inconstancy, gold means truth, wood means soul. Symbolism was one of the basic characteristics of medieval art. The religious cult was associated with elaborate symbolism. The main purpose of philosophy was to reveal the symbolic meaning of Scripture (in the 6th century Origen singled out three meanings of the text: literal - carnal, moral - mental, mystical - spiritual). Various political and legal events were accompanied by symbolic actions: coronation, oath of allegiance. Everyday life is also imbued with the language of symbols. The color and cut of clothing is a sign of social belonging. In chivalrous culture, the type and color of a flower given to a beloved; the duration of the kiss of the hand and the height to which the lady raised her hand at the same time - ϶ᴛᴏ the secret language of signs. Even household items often bore the stamp of a symbol. So, the signs of eternity and God were depicted on the coins: a three-petal lily, a cross, a ball.
In reality, people often transferred to the symbol the properties of what it symbolized. For example, holy water had its own power to cast out demons; the relics of the saints themselves are capable of healing. For this reason, symbols often become objects of worship. Τᴀᴋᴎᴍ ᴏϬᴩᴀᴈᴏᴍ, medieval symbolism ʼʼrolledʼʼ to pagan.
So, things-symbols have the ability to reflect the divine reality. But not to the same extent. Another important feature of the Middle Ages follows from this idea - hierarchism. The natural world and social reality are deeply hierarchical here. The place of a phenomenon or object in the universal hierarchy is associated with proximity to God. The criterion of perfection and nobility, therefore, is applicable to all subjects. Water is nobler than earth, air is nobler than water. Latin is nobler than dialects. Physicians (dealing with a person) are more honorable than jewelers. The soul is nobler than the body. In the body, the noblest part is the head, and in it are the eyes. The whole world is a hierarchy that obeys God. Society was also divided into estates, each of which included many layers, ranks, professions, and ranks. All of them constituted an eternal and unchanging hierarchy.
Carnival, laughter nature of folk culture
The carnival, laughter nature of folk culture is an important feature of the culture of the Middle Ages, most clearly manifested in cities. The carnival was a special way of existence and thinking, different from the serious official church and secular culture. The carnival brought with it the idea of special freedom, the opportunity to get out at some point from the usual rigidly hierarchized order of things into a special space where any transformations are possible, where the last one can become the first (the bean king or the king of fools), where you can live social roles inaccessible in ordinary life. Another feature of the carnival culture is unrestrained fun, laughter, the victory of life. Carnivals made it possible to throw out in a culturally acceptable way the energy of the natural human principle, restrained by the ideals of Christian piety. The roots of the carnival go back to agricultural cults with their rites of death and resurrection, to werewolf mythology. The life-giving forces of nature were reproduced in the form of revelry, gluttony, general fun. Laughter, squabbling, foul language were magical means to ensure the victory of life. In the Middle Ages, in addition to the actual carnivals, there were special ʼʼholidays of foolsʼʼ, the feast of the donkey, ʼʼEasterʼʼ and ʼʼChristmasʼʼ laughter became part of the church rite. Even church temple holidays were accompanied by fairs and public entertainments (performances by freaks, giants, learned animals). Jesters and fools were an indispensable part of social life, they constantly parodied the serious actions of official culture.
Education and Science in the Middle Ages
Literacy was not a reality, but an ideal symbol of culture. There were not so many literate people, a book is a rarity. Everyday reality is a singing people. But the figure of the scribe becomes taller, nobler than the figure of the singer (in Antiquity, on the contrary). Holy Scripture, as God's word, made all the attributes of bookishness honorable, and the scribe of books became involved in the divine. At the same time, in Christianity the cult of the book is not as absolute as in Judaism and Islam. ʼʼThe letter kills, but the spirit gives lifeʼʼ (P Cor.
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3, 6). And yet, God the Word receives an attribute in Christianity - a scroll, a book, a code. The book is a symbol of revelation, it easily becomes a symbol of the hidden, mystery. Previously, a reader was called a slave who occupied the masters with reading. Now the reader is one of the lowest levels of the clergy.
medieval schools. The last pagan schools in Western Europe were closed in the 6th century. Justinian. Instead, a church form of education appears. The schools were: monastic, episcopal (at cathedrals, mainly for primary education in reading, writing, general ideas about the Bible and liturgy) and court. The latter had the same religious orientation. But it is in these schools that the idea of the revival of Antiquity begins to be cultivated. Here is what the director of one of the court schools, Alcuin of York (730-804), writes about this: ʼʼThus, new Athens will grow on the land of the Franks, even more brilliant than in antiquity, for our Athens is fertilized by Christ’s teaching, and therefore will surpass the Academy in wisdomʼʼ.
The emergence of universities (11-12 centuries). Unlike schools, universities were a product of the Middle Ages. This kind of free corporations of students and teachers with their privileges, established programs, diplomas, titles was neither in Antiquity nor in the East. And although the universities still served the needs of the state and the church, they were characterized by a large degree of autonomy from local (including city) authorities and a special spirit of free brotherhood. The activities of the universities had three very important cultural implications. First of all, the birth of a professional class of scientists (priests and laity), to whom the church gave the right to teach the truths of Revelation. Along with ecclesiastical and secular power, the power of intellectuals appears, whose influence on spiritual culture and social life will become ever greater. Secondly, the university fraternity from the very beginning did not know class distinctions. The children of peasants and artisans became students. A new meaning of the concept of ʼʼnobilityʼʼ appears as an aristocracy of mind and behavior. Thirdly, it is within the framework of universities that the orientation towards the rational comprehension of Revelation, an attempt to reconcile reason and faith, takes shape in the Middle Ages. The medieval university was divided into the faculty of liberal arts and the faculty of theology (the highest level of education). Grammar, logic, mathematics, physics, and ethics were studied at the Faculty of Arts. These sciences relied only on reason. It was here that the development of the newly discovered works of ancient (Aristotle, Plato, Euclid, Archimedes, Ptolemy, Hippocrates, etc.) and Byzantine (Church Fathers) scientists and philosophers, as well as Arab Muslim authors (Avicenna, Averroes, Al-Khorezmi, Al -Farabi and others). New ideas were born here. At the faculty of theology, the main thing was the exact study of the Bible through the interpretation of the text. But it is noteworthy that students of the theological faculty first had to graduate from the faculty of arts, ᴛ.ᴇ. they were familiar with all the critically discussed ideas and issues. For this reason, rationality was introduced into the interpretation of Scripture. Universities also gave rise to new forms of teaching: lectures and seminars, where there were constant discussions, any topic was proposed in the form of a question. Although these effective methods did not exclude speculation, citations, reliance on authorities.
Over time, universities developed their own specialization. So, in Bologna lawyers were trained, in Salamanca, Montpellier, Solerno - doctors. The process of formation and systematic study of the humanities and natural sciences began. At the same time, all sciences were subordinate to theology for a long time.
Technique in the Middle Ages was also for a long time considered only an auxiliary means for simulating other phenomena. For example, in the first of the famous medieval technical treatises of the monk Theophilus, the technique is perceived as a set of secrets for decorating the temple and demonstrating miracles. As far as labor activity is concerned, technology was not separated from the worker. But with the development of burgher cities in the 12-13 centuries. Gradually, there is a turn towards the realization of the intrinsic value of technology. In terms of cultural consequences, the most important device, the significance of which was realized by the Middle Ages, was the wheel and, in general, the principle of mechanical rotational movement. In the late Middle Ages, water and windmills began to be widely used. The appearance of mechanical clocks in the 13th century. contributed to the penetration into everyday life of the idea of linear time, which is increasingly replacing cyclic time. In the depths of feudal society, the process of the emergence of industrial production was going on.
Knight culture
The military estate was an extremely important component of both ancient and German culture. But there the warrior was only a mercenary, he served his master or leader. Throughout the early Middle Ages, the warrior became either a defender during the raids of barbarian tribes, or a conductor of feudal disunity, or he sank to the role of a robber. Against this background, the church in the 9th century. begins to develop the idea of a righteous Christian war and a Christian warrior called to save the faith. By the 10th c. we can talk about the emergence of a professional layer of warriors, which consisted, as a rule, of free and fairly wealthy people who could afford to purchase heavy expensive equipment and a horse. For a long time, chivalry remained a matter of purely personal choice. Chivalry was not an economic class, did not coincide with the feudal aristocracy. It also did not have a legal status, was not identified with vassalage (lone wandering knights). There were also non-free knights - ministerials. Thus, quite early in the environment of chivalry, differentiation also occurred. But a single ʼʼway of lifeʼʼ distinguished them from all other strata of medieval society, which makes it possible to talk about the formation in the 10th-11th centuries. knightly subculture, which is based on the spirit of soldier brotherhood and comradeship, when the seigneur is not a master and judge, but a senior among equals. Gradually, an ethical code of chivalry is being formed, based on the ideal of a disinterested, devoted, courageous and beautiful warrior. He must protect the weak, keep his word, be fearless, not let himself be offended, keep his dignity. The knight confirmed this ideal with vows of poverty and obedience, marital chastity, personal perfection, and accomplishment of a feat. Since the system of chivalry was based on a ʼʼculture of givingʼʼ, generosity became a necessary quality of a knight. A system of knightly symbols begins to take shape: a special ritual of initiation, a special cut of clothes, a solemn custom of handing over weapons. The knighthood was divided into royal soldiers, private troops of feudal lords and knightly Christian orders. It is among the royal knights that the court chivalrous culture arises with knightly tournaments, a special court etiquette. He assumed the ability to skillfully talk with the ladies; the ability to dress and dance, ride, fencing, swim, hunt, wield a spear, play checkers, compose and sing songs in honor of Donna. It is here that the worship of the beautiful lady develops later, ĸᴏᴛᴏᴩᴏᴇ contributed, albeit very idealized, but still to the rise of the role of women in culture, and also gave rise to a new attitude to love as a synthesis of spiritual and natural. Chivalry created its own poetry in the form of troubadours, trouvers, minnesingers, chivalric novels - great poetic works (about King Arthur, the knights of the Round Table), new poetic genres - serenade (evening song to his beloved), pastorella (rural idyll and shepherd love), alba (morning song about the parting of lovers), sirventa (about war and personal enemies).
Artistic culture of the Middle Ages
The medieval worldview determined the specific features of the art of this era:
Turning to God. Art was supposed to bring a person to God, put him in front of his image, and not for aesthetic pleasure in itself, but for communication.
Symbolism. The work of art as a whole and any of its elements were signs, images of supernatural reality. ʼʼThe one who looks does not look at the face of a lion or a lynx, but at the prototypeʼʼ. (Toward the Light, No. 17, p. 14). The cathedral, for example, depicted by means of all the arts the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Kingdom of Christ, the Universe. The basilic type of temples was a symbol of the ship, Noah's Ark, which transformed the Church. Here is what Peter of Karnath from Chartres (12th century) says about temple symbols: ʼʼA stone with the image of the temple and 12 other stones is placed at the foundation of the temple as a sign that the Church rests on Christ and the 12 Apostles. Walls mean nations; there are four of them, because they accept those who converge from four countriesʼʼ (Ibid. p.25). The altar symbolizes heaven and paradise, the very space of the temple and the porch - the earth. The eastern part of the temple is an area of light and heavenly bliss; according to the bible, paradise was in the east. For this reason, the altar was arranged on the east side. The western part is a symbol of hell. For this reason, it was here that images of the Last Judgment were placed on the walls. The icon is also deeply symbolic. The most important thing in the icon is the face, especially the eyes with a deep, penetrating look - a symbolic window into the divine world.
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For this reason, the eyes are disproportionately large. The gesture in the icon is also symbolic, it conveys a special spiritual impulse: the blessing gesture of Christ the Savior, the prayerful gesture of Our Lady Oranta, the gesture of the Archangel Gabriel conveying the Good News. The object in the hands of the person depicted is also a sign. For example, the Apostle Paul is depicted in the Western tradition with a sword - a symbol of the Word of God, the Apostle Peter holds the keys in his hands as a symbol of the Kingdom of God, etc. The clothes on the icon are a sign of dignity. The naked body is a symbol of complete devotion to God, martyrdom, the insecurity of sinners before God. Color is also symbolic in the icon. The most noble color is gold - a sign of the radiance of Divine glory, a symbol of Heavenly Jerusalem. White symbolizes purity; black - hell, the maximum distance from God. In the clothes of Christ, there is usually a blue himation (divinity) and a red tunic (human, natural principle). The Mother of God has the same colors, but on the contrary, as a symbol of her human-divineness in contrast to the God-humanity of Christ. Such a literary genre, widespread in the Middle Ages, as a parable, also had a symbolic character. In music, strict monophony is a symbol of the unity of feelings.
Speculation. Painting, sculpture, architecture, literature had the character of teaching and reminding in the Middle Ages. A work of art is a text that teaches. Pope Gregory the Great condemned the destruction of icons, saying that it deprives people of their education, because by looking at the walls they ʼʼcould read what they cannot read in the manuscriptsʼʼ. Medieval literature also had an instructive character: lives, parables, teachings. In the theatrical art, the genre of morality is instructive - a didactic play with allegorical characters. The speculative nature of art was also associated with the extreme importance of abstracting from the mundane, sensual beginning. The incorporeality of bodies, the lack of interest in secondary details in the icon are associated with the desire to focus on the spiritual comprehension of God. In music, a continuous, fluid, devoid of individuality melodic line was supposed to liberate from the power of everyday life.
The great importance of the image of a suffering and offended person. Especially often there are plots of martyrdom in Gothic art.
It was during the Middle Ages that the first artistic styles took shape in Europe. This happens only in the 10th century. Until that time, there was a clear regression in the artistic culture in comparison with Antiquity. The architectural skills of stone construction were practically lost. Ornament prevailed in painting, characterized by a special dynamism, not driven by ancient art. Later, the image of animals was added to it. Artistic traditions The Middle Ages proper date back to the end of the 8th-9th centuries, when, under Charlemagne, art began to consciously follow Roman models, introducing into them the inner dynamism and religious spirit of the Middle Ages. Architecture becomes the dominant art form. Almost all artistic activity was centered around the Christian cult.
In 10-12 centuries. Romanesque style is taking shape in Western European art. Its features are earthiness, heaviness, simplicity, clarity of volumes in architecture. ʼʼanimal styleʼʼ elements and naturalization are preserved. The towers form the silhouette of a building typical of Romanesque architecture. External forms are ascetic, but great importance is attached to the interior, although it was dominated by simple strict rhythms. The fine arts are characterized by expressiveness of gesture, a systematic sequence of narration and the pathos of spirituality. As in Byzantium and Ancient Rus', reverse perspective is used. The man in Romanesque sculpture is weak and insignificant. But the sculptors paid special attention to monsters and demonic creatures, which were placed in abundance in the interiors of churches. The Romanesque era gave birth and developed new types of secular architecture: the feudal castle and the city house.
From the middle of the 12th century gothic art style develops. Architecture and sculpture are no longer associated with monasteries, but with cities. The Gothic cathedral with the town hall becomes the center of all social life, the parliament often met in the cathedral, university lectures were given, and theatrical mysteries were performed. Secular construction increased significantly at this time. The main constructive innovation of Gothic architecture is the lancet vault, which made it possible to block spaces of any plan. Fastening the vault with powerful rib structures (ribs, flying buttresses, buttresses) makes the walls of the cathedral completely free from the function of support, which means they are thin, even through (hence the huge colored windows). Τᴀᴋᴎᴍ ᴏϬᴩᴀᴈᴏᴍ, Gothic denies any idea of gravity. Gothic interprets the details subtly and finely, sacrificing them for the monumentality of the overall impression. In front of the Gothic cathedral, the viewer loses the sense of orientation in space (the perception of distances is lost) and, as it were, is transferred to the world of irrational relations and images.
Gothic approved a new understanding of man, giving him more dignity. Gothic sculpture embodies the emotional energy of a person, expresses feelings, emotions, experiences. The gothic statue is full of continuous movement without movement in space, but with an irresistible aspiration upwards. In painting, a central perspective appears.
Artistic culture of the Middle Ages. - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Artistic culture of the Middle Ages." 2017, 2018.
The artistic culture of the Middle Ages chronologically follows the ancient one and occupies an exceptional place in the global development of culture.
When the thought of the Middle Ages arises, we imagine knightly castles and Gothic cathedrals, crusades and feudal strife, fires of the Inquisition and knightly tournaments ... "Middle Ages" often becomes synonymous with everything gloomy and reactionary, it is, as it were, swallowed up by a thick shadow cast by on the one hand, antiquity, on the other, the Renaissance. But it was in the Middle Ages that European nations were born and modern states were formed, the foundations of modern languages were formed. And it is to the era of the Middle Ages that many of the cultural values that formed the basis of world civilization date back.
The beginning of the development of the medieval stage of artistic culture dates back to the end of the 5th century. e., marked by the fall of the last ancient slave state in Europe - the Western Roman Empire (476). The end of the era of the Middle Ages is associated with the fall of Constantinople - the center of the Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantium (1453), which meant the onset of the Renaissance.
First of all, it is necessary to characterize those value orientations and criteria, ethical and aesthetic principles that formed the basis of the life and attitude of a person of the Middle Ages, determined the direction of the development of art of that time, and were reflected in the content and form of works of art.
Unlike antiquity with its cult of pagan gods, when the gods were humanized, and people considered themselves so strong and wise that they could argue with the inhabitants of Olympus, the thinkers of the Middle Ages were focused on comprehending God, the creator of the visible world, which exists not by itself, but only as a means of comprehending the divine mind. And the course of history was comprehended only as the realization of God's plan. In this regard, medieval masters, artists and writers, turned their eyes not so much to the visible world around them, but to the other world, and the content of such ethical categories as justice, goodness, etc., was considered in terms of their correspondence to the ultimate goal - salvation of the soul.
The most common genre of literary works of this period is the lives of the saints, a typical example of architecture is the cathedral, in painting - the icon, in sculpture - the characters of the Holy Scriptures. In these works of medieval art, man existed as the crown of creation, created in the image and likeness of God, all other creations were for his sake. But in the theory of medieval Christianity, man did not acquire independent significance: by his existence he glorified God. This is how the concept of a person who was in a contradictory situation developed. On the one hand, man was proclaimed to be like God, his creator. On the other hand, man is a servant of God; serving God, which elevates a person, at the same time requires humility, the suppression of personal inclinations that are contrary to the ideals of Christianity. Since redemption is possible only in the other world, the free development of personality is excluded. And although theologians emphasized that the person of a person is a unity of soul and body, the main attention should have been paid to the soul, for the soul belongs to eternity.
The aesthetic world of the Middle Ages was organized around the figure of Christ. The use of Christian mythology was governed by the authority of Scripture. Bible.
The Bible (Greek biblia - books) is a collection of ancient texts, approved by religious tradition as the Holy Scriptures ("divinely inspired" book) of Jews and Christians. There are two parts in the Bible: older in time of creation and larger in volume, recognized by both of them, was called the Old Testament. The other part, created already in the times of Christianity and recognized only by Christians, is called the New Testament. "Covenant" in Christian terminology - a mystical agreement or union concluded by God in ancient times with one people (Jews) on the basis of the fulfillment of the law - this is the Old Testament. Thanks to the appearance of Christ, it was replaced by the New Testament, already concluded with all nations on the terms of service "in spirit and in truth."
The New Testament consists of monuments of early Christian literature of the second half of the 1st century - the beginning of the 2nd century. The New Testament includes 4 Gospels (that is, "evangelism" about the life and teachings of Christ), adjoining "Acts of the Apostles" (about the life of the Jerusalem community and the travels of the Apostle Paul), 21 epistles (teachings in epistolary form), " The Revelation of John the Evangelist", or the Apocalypse, are predictions about the last struggle between good and evil at the end of the world.
The Bible is not only a source of religious dogma used for religious purposes. Biblical images and stories had an impact on the development of world culture and the Christian world and the countries of the Muslim East. This influence was especially great in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance.
The Bible still conveys to us ethical and moral principles based on a deep understanding of spirituality: it proclaims kindness, mercy, meekness, peacefulness, moral purity; condemns evil, apostasy, betrayal in friendship and love, betrayal, hypocrisy, etc.
In the Middle Ages, Christian themes were embodied in clerical (church) literature that existed in various genres: the lives of saints, legends, "visions" of the afterlife, etc.
"Lives" - stories about life, pious deeds or sufferings of people canonized by the Christian Church. This is one of the main literary genres of the Middle Ages. The lives were formed on the basis of legends about Christian martyrs in the Roman Empire (martyrology), the acts of the apostles (Bible) and other monuments of early Christian literature ("The Life of Anthony the Great", "The Life of St. Alexis" and others). Some narrated about military exploits ("The Life of George the Victorious"). The most complete collection of lives in Latin - "The Golden Legend" - was collected by the Italian monk of the 13th century, Jacob de Boragine. By the 13th-15th centuries, numerous consolidated collections of Christian legends had developed in Europe, which served as a source of plots for the medieval epic (including the chivalric romance), drama, lyrics and iconography.
One of the leading genres of medieval art is heroic epics.
Epos (Greek epos - word, narration, story) is a heroic narrative containing a complete picture of folk life, a description of the life and exploits of heroes-heroes. The folk heroic epic arose on the basis of the traditions of the mythological epic
and heroic tales, later - historical legends. In the archaic forms of the epic, heroism still appears in a fabulously mythological shell, the main themes are the fight against monsters, courtship for a betrothed, tribal revenge. In the classical forms of the epic, heroes-leaders and warriors oppose invaders, foreign and infidel oppressors. In the northern and northwestern regions of Europe, occupied by the Scandinavians and Celts, where the features of the tribal system were preserved for a particularly long time, there was ground for the emergence of folk heroic epics.
The Irish heroic epic (III-VIII centuries) originally had a prose form, therefore his works were called sagas (saga - from the Old Norse segia - to say); subsequent poetic fragments appeared. These sagas united around the name of King Conchobar and his nephew Cuchulainn, a hero of fantastic strength.
The heroic epic was especially developed in Iceland. Mythology here reflected the life of the Scandinavians of the "Viking Age" (IX-XI centuries). The most ancient monument is the Edda collection, compiled in the 13th century from folk epic songs created in the 9th-12th centuries. The heroic songs of the "Edda" contain elements that go back to the traditions of the ancient Germans, but they are reworked in accordance with Scandinavian life and legends. Such, for example, is the legend about the exploits of Siegfried (in the Edda - Sigurd), who extracts the treasure of the Nibelungs.
Old Norse literature includes the later poetry of skalds (retinue singers), representing the initial stage in the development of authorship in poetry. But this is preliterate poetry: the oldest of the skaldic poems that have come down to us were composed in the first half of the 9th century, i.e. four centuries before they could be written down. Egil Skallagrimson (son of Grim the Bald, Icelandic pioneer) is an outstanding skald. Here is an example of his poetry:
I will sing glory
Bold in battle
Song dad
Your England.
Along with the poetry of the skalds, there were many prose sagas - generic, historical, fantastic and heroic, for example, the Volsunga Saga (mid-13th century), which develops the plots of the heroic songs of the Edda about Sigurd.
The heyday of the heroic epic in Western Europe dates back to the 11th-12th centuries. It was created in the era of feudal fragmentation. The pathos of the heroic epic was the desire for national unity, the feat was glorified in the name of the motherland and the king, symbolizing the motherland; a protest was expressed against feudal selfishness, anarchy and national betrayal.
The French heroic epic is one of the most significant in Europe. Up to a hundred poems of the 11th-14th centuries have survived, called "songs about deeds." These poems are usually divided into three cycles:
- king of France cycle,
- loyal vassal cycle,
- baron cycle.
The first cycle includes a remarkable monument of the medieval epic - "The Song of Roland". The plot core of the song is the actual events of the 8th century: the battle in the Ronceval Gorge between the Franks and the Basques. The "Biography of Charlemagne" mentions among the dead the name of the noble Frank Hrowland, who became the prototype of Roland in the heroic poem.
A private episode of the battle between the Franks and their co-religionists, the Basques, underwent a significant rethinking in the poem: instead of the Basques, formidable Muslim Arabs appeared; Roland became the main character of the work. He dies in a brutal battle. Roland's last thoughts are "about the motherland, about France-beauty", "about Karl the ruler ...".
The image of Emperor Charles has a unifying meaning. It is distinguished by moral and physical superiority, love for the motherland, for neighbors. He avenges the dead Roland, and his victories are won not without the help of God.
"The Song of Roland" expresses the idea of the unity of the motherland, indignation at the moral fall of the traitor. The poem also had significance as the embodiment of a symbolic idea - the struggle of Christians with the Muslim world, which was associated with preparations for the Crusades.
The Spanish heroic epic reflected the historical situation in Spain in the 7th century, conquered by the Arabs. Until the 15th century, the Spanish people waged a struggle for their liberation, called the Reconquista (reconquest). Since the 10th century, the Spanish epic has been formed on the basis of legends and songs created earlier.
The central hero of the Spanish epic is Rodrigo Diaz (Roy Diaz de Bivar), nicknamed Cid (Arab, sidi - master) for his valor. The largest of the epic poems is named after him - "The Song of My Sid". He is the embodiment of the people's moral and heroic ideal. This is a knight who owes everything to his valor and courage. He is simple and generous, caring towards the squad, enjoys the love of ordinary people. Sid is opposed to the arrogant and treacherous feudal nobility.
At the end of the 14th - beginning of the 15th centuries, the romance genre was born in Spain, developing individual episodes of ancient epic poems. Such is the cycle of romances about Bernardo del Carpio. Historical romances are called the Spanish Iliad, while novelistic and lyrical romances are called the Spanish Odyssey.
The German heroic epic is formed in the XII-XIII centuries, at a time when the idea of national unity is of particular importance. The largest poem is the "Song of the Nibelungs" (Nibelungs are mythical dwarfs, keepers of treasures). The poem has two parts: the first tells about the exploits and death of the hero Siegfried, the second about the revenge of his wife Kriemhild and the tragic ending of the bloody feud (a reflection of historical legends about the destruction of the Burgundian state by the Huns).
The Nibelungenlied became a source of dramatic and musical works of German artistic culture. Composer Wagner in the 40s - 50s of the XIX century created an opera tetralogy: "Gold of the Rhine", "Valkyrie", "Siegfried", "Death of the Gods".
The South Slavic epic is formed in the XIV century: it is the folk epic poetry of Yugoslavia and Bulgarians. Among the works of this plan, the Kosovo cycle stands out, combining songs about the Kosovo battle of the Serbs with the Turks in 1389. The heroes of the epic are historical figures: Prince Lazar, his governor Milos Obilich, the semi-legendary hero Yug-Bogdan with nine sons.
In the same period, a cycle of songs about Prince Marko, the common hero of the Serbian and Bulgarian epics, was created. This is a people's avenger, a fighter against the invaders; his exploits and heroic death are described (the song "Death of Mark Yunak").
A later example of medieval folk poetry are the songs and ballads of England and Scotland. The most popular for many centuries were ballads about Robin Hood, a generous, generous, courageous noble robber.
Knightly (courtly) *219 literature of the 12th-13th centuries reflected the formation of the institution of chivalry - "Christ's army", its value orientations such as the protection of the "sepulcher of the Lord", religion, the poor, the oppressed, serving the overlord, the knightly order, the cult of the beautiful lady and others . Knightly literature developed in two directions: lyrical and epic. It reached its classical development in France.
*219: (Courtoise (fr. courtois) - courteous, polite.)
Knightly lyrics appeared in Provence (XI-XII centuries), where the poetry of troubadours *220, poets and composers, performers of their own works appeared. Famous poets - troubadours: Bertrand de Bory, glorifying warrior heroes; Juafre Rudel, who addressed the theme of "love from afar"; Bertrand D "Alamano, singing in the Alba genre the feeling of individual love, which rebelled against the feudal laws and customs that suppressed it. In Germany, knightly lyrics were represented by the poetry of the Minnesingers * 221 (Austrian knight Reinmar from the Haguenau family, Walter von der Vogelweide and others) .
*220: (Troubadour (Provence trobor) - to invent, find.)
*221: (Minnesinger (German minnesinger) - a singer of love.)
The chivalrous romance is the central phenomenon of medieval secular literature, where the most important problems of the human personality and its relations with the world were raised and resolved. Being an epic work, the chivalric romance at the same time differs from the medieval epic. Here, in the foreground, not national events, but the personal fate of the hero, his love, in the name of which feats are performed. The medieval novel is presented in Byzantium (XII century), in the Romano-Germanic West (XII - the beginning of the XIII centuries, poetic forms, then prose prevails), in the Near and Middle East (XI-XII centuries), in the Far East (Japan, X-XI centuries).
A classic example was a courtly (knightly) novel in French. It is characterized by the presence of fabulous, fantastic elements, an abundance of adventures, exceptional situations. The hero goes through difficult trials, strengthening and proving his valor and courage. By style and character, the French chivalric romance is divided into cycles: antique ("The Romance of Alexander", "The Romance of Troy", "The Romance of Aeneas" and others), Breton (goes back to the Latin chronicle "History of the Kings of Britain", develops legends about the king Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table). The greatest master of the medieval novel is Chretien de Troy, creator of the novels Lancelot, or the Knight of the Cart, Perceval, or the Tale of the Grail, and others. Novels about the Holy Grail are devoted to the theme of religious service: chivalrous deeds are performed in the name of a sacred relic - a vessel called the "Holy Grail", in which, according to legend, the blood of Jesus Christ was collected. The idea of Chrétien's novel is service to people, rejection of personal happiness in the name of the good of people. Based on this novel, the German composer Wagner wrote the operas Parzival and Lohengrin.
The culture of chivalry was progressive for its time. Elements of humanism were embodied in the knightly ideal: the principles of protecting justice, respect for women, the cult of great human feeling. The works of chivalric literature are distinguished by deep psychological analysis, richness of fantasy, and perfection of poetic form.
Visual arts, architecture of the Middle Ages
The culture of the Middle Ages is rich and varied; its centers were located in different parts of the world, but they were in close interaction. It was in the Middle Ages that the art of many states of Europe and Asia (Ancient Rus', China, India) reached a high level of development. For example, in China, such genres of fine arts as landscape, still life, portrait, and household genres flourish: In the art of India, a sensual perception of the world, a sense of the powerful, elemental beginning of nature, is manifested. A poetic colorful oriental miniature develops.
Classical heights were reached by the development of architecture, which was distinguished by its monumentality, the expression of the will and power of man. These are Byzantine temples, Romanesque and Gothic architecture of Europe, Arab mosques, palaces and temples of India and China.
