scholarly journals TO THE QUESTION OF SPACE ORGANIZATION OF BOOK ILLUMINATION OF LATE ANTIQUITY AND EARLY MIDDLE AGES (IV – VII CENTURY)

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 29-48
Author(s):  
Mikhail S. Bankov
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Continuous Process ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Medieval Manuscripts ◽  
Space Organization ◽  
Miniature Painting

The article focuses on peculiarities of spatial organization of book miniature paintings of late antique and early medieval manuscripts (IV – VII centuries). The author analyses the problem of conveying illusion of depth in illustration in context of gradual transmission from roll to codex, which took place in antique book culture between the II and the V centuries. By analyzing survived fragments of illuminated rolls author displays characteristic features of their spatial organization and observes influence which had tradition of roll illustration on the development of codex. Nevertheless, precisely the miniatures of the codices that have come down to our time are in focus of the author’s attention. The stages of development of the text page, the peculiarities of interaction of text and images in codices are compared with the principles of space organization in miniatures. The article makes an attempt, relying on the monuments that have survived to our time, to consider the development of spatial constructions in the period of late Antiquity and early Middle Ages as a continuous process of evolution of the language of book painting. The author assumes that the development of spatial constructions in miniature painting does not imply sharp breaks or regression. Each new stage of the evolution arises from the previous one and makes it possible to expand the arsenal of artistic means which are necessary for solving artistic problems of the time. In accordance with this approach, the article concentrates not only on compositions in which a spatial illusion is created, but also miniatures that are in character more plane. As a result, the author reveals the main types of spatial constructions, considering all surviving monuments of miniature painting of that time. For each type of space organization, the author identifies the basic principles and artistic techniques that allow the artist to convey a sense of depth on the plane of page. The author pays special attention to the comparison of illusionistic tendencies in the late antique book miniature and “reverse perspective”, features of which are present in the monuments of the era. The author casts doubt on the need for a sharp contrast between these two approaches to space organization in the monuments of book miniatures of the era. He analyzes the reasons for the appearance of such features of space organization in miniature paintings of late antique and early medieval manuscripts, which are so important for the formation of artistic language of medieval book illumination.

SOME ASPECTS OF THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE ROMAN DOMUS BETWEEN LATE ANTIQUITY AND THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES

2003 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Polci
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Upper Class ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Medieval Italy ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Type ◽  
Late Roman

This essay concerns some aspects of the transformation of the Late Roman domus into the Early Medieval house and focuses on the spaces designed for reception and entertainment. First, I will consider the use and the development of the reception areas of wealthy houses, and their relationship with the growth in private patronage in Late Antiquity. Second, I will examine the transformation of this late antique model of elite housing into the new type of upper-class dwellings that emerged in Early Medieval Italy. In particular, I will focus on the transferral of reception halls and banqueting chambers to the upper story, and on the social and architectonic implications of this feature.

scholarly journals Pope Leo of Bourges, clerical immunity and the early medieval secular

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles West
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Gregorian Reform

This article investigates the notion of the secular in the European early Middle Ages, focusing on the transmission of a text that limited the liability of clerics to secular courts, from Late Antique Gaul through to the 'Gregorian Reform'.

scholarly journals The Oldest Manuscript Tradition of the Etymologiae (eighty years after A. E. Anspach)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evina Steinova
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Regional Differences ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Northern Italy ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Medieval Manuscripts ◽  
Northern France ◽  
Manuscript Tradition ◽  
Isidore Of Seville

The Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville was one of the most widely read works of the early Middle Ages, as is evidenced by the number of surviving manuscripts. August Eduard Anspach’s handlist from the 1940s puts their number at almost 1,200, of which approximately 300 were estimated to have been copied before the year 1000. This article, based on a new manuscript survey of the early medieval manuscripts transmitting the Etymologiae, brings the number of known surviving pre-1000 manuscripts transmitting the Etymologiae to almost 450. Of these, 84 well-preserved codices and 24 fragments contain the canonical Etymologiae, i.e., they reflect the integral transmission of Isidore’s work as an encyclopedia, while 300 well-preserved codices and 21 fragments reflect the selective or non-canonical transmission of the Etymologiae, principally not as an encyclopedia. Due to the uneven survival rates of manuscripts of canonical and non-canonical Etymologiae, it seems likely that the latter accounted for perhaps as much as 80-90% of manuscripts transmitting Isidore’s work before the year 1000. Four non-canonical formats emerge as having been particularly influential in the early Middle Ages: the separate transmission of the first book of the Etymologiae as an ars grammatica; the compilation of various catechetical collections, sometimes in question-and-answer form, from books VI, VII, and VIII of the Etymologiae; the incorporation of material from books V and IX into law collections; and the incorporation of segments from books III, V, VI, and XIII into computistic manuals. The surviving manuscripts suggest that the latter format emerged in the insular world, while the others are more distinctly Carolingian. Northern France and northern Italy emerge as the two most important regional hubs of the copying of the Etymologiae in the ninth and tenth centuries. While in the former region, non-canonical formats seem to have been the most important vehicle of the transmission of material from Isidore’s work, in the latter, the canonical format may have been more influential, indicating that there existed regional differences in the reception of the Etymologiae.

The Transformation into the Early Middle Ages (Fourth to Eighth Centuries)

2015 ◽  
pp. 490-519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hubert Fehr
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
River Rhine ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Rural Settlements ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Roman Provinces ◽  
Roman Germany ◽  
Medieval Archaeology

This chapter focuses on the transformation of Roman Germany into the early Middle Ages (fourth to eighth centuries). The final collapse of Roman rule in northern Gaul in the middle of the fifth century signalled the de facto end of the three Late Roman provinces: Germania Prima, Germania Secunda, and Maxima Sequanorum. The territories along the western bank of the River Rhine experienced quite different political destinies between the middle of the fifth and the middle of the sixth century. The chapter first looks at how migrations of peoples from Barbaricum into the Roman Empire caused the end of a Roman-style society and economy in former Roman Germany. It then discusses early medieval archaeology in Germany, with particular emphasis on cemeteries and churches. Finally, it analyses methodological developments in late antique and early medieval archaeology, along with the transformation of towns and landscape/rural settlements.

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