Art of London and South-East England, Post-Conquest to Monastery Dissolution

The area covered by this bibliography comprises London and the counties of Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Essex, Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Hampshire, corresponding essentially to the medieval dioceses of London, Rochester, Canterbury, Chichester, and Winchester. Part of Hertfordshire was in the enormous diocese of Lincoln. Chronologically this bibliography covers the period from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the Dissolution of the Monasteries, with the suppression of Waltham Abbey on 23 March 1540 providing a terminus ad quem. London was the chief commercial center throughout this period and with the establishment of permanent governmental institutions at Westminster in the 13th century also became the political center of England. London’s preeminence reinforced its cultural importance as a center of artistic production and patronage. Other important loci of sustained artistic activity in South-East England were Canterbury, Winchester, and St. Albans.

Iacopone da Todi

Iacopone da Todi (b. 1230/36–d. 1304/06) is the most important writer of laude between the 13th and 14th centuries and is considered an unavoidable model for laude collections of subsequent centuries. The genre of laude, which are religious poetic texts in the vernacular, came to life in the 13th century under the impulse of penitential movements, within the mendicant groups and the newly constituted religious confraternities. It prospered in the context of paraliturgical celebrations in the vernacular, thanks to which the faithful lay people reinterpreted the official Latin liturgy in forms that were more suited to them. After a worldly youth—according to ancient biographical accounts—Iacopone joined the Franciscan Order and participated in the bitter disputes between Spiritual and Moderate Franciscans, siding with the Spirituals and defending a more rigorous interpretation of Francis’s Rule. His inflexible stand also originated his conflict against Pope Boniface VIII, which caused his incarceration between 1298 and 1303, after the fall of the fortress of Palestrina where Iacopone was involved in a resistance together with other papal opponents. He wrote a collection of approximately one hundred spiritual laude and two Latin texts, the Tractatus utilissimus and Verba. The attribution to him of the Latin sequence “Stabat Mater” is debated. Some of Iacopone’s laude are catechetical texts, moral exhortations, political and ideological diatribes (for example, against incoherent Franciscan friars and clerics), ascetic meditations, and mystical confessions. At the heart of Iacopone’s mysticism is the concept of esmesuranza (extra-measure), or the infinite love human beings are called to give back for God’s infinite love on the cross. That is how human beings can transcend themselves, transforming into the image of God. Iacopone’s language includes the most disparate expressive registers, oscillating between a jongleur’s vigorous realism and passionate lyrical outbursts. His relationship to his contemporary Dante Alighieri is still much debated by literary criticism, although no philologically credible proof exists that the two ever knew of each other’s work or existence. Dante’s passion for Franciscan themes, such as poverty as an essential component of church purification and the mystical union with divinity, creates interesting parallels in the works of the two poets. Over the years, criticism has acknowledged the importance of the Iacoponian poetic model for the construction, over the course of the 13th and 14th centuries, of a lyrical grammar of divine love, which was shared by the European tradition of ecstatic confessions.

Tomb Sculpture

Among the many genres of medieval sculpture that are still extant, tombs have long received particularly close attention because of their direct association with the bodies of specific historical individuals, which are very often (though not exclusively) those of the most prestigious members of medieval society. The most ubiquitous format in much of Europe was the effigy, which usually appeared as a recumbent figure set on a slab that also sometimes functioned as the lid of a tomb chest. The first known examples of the effigy date to the years around 1100 and seem to emerge in Germany; the format was quickly adopted in France, England, and elsewhere before becoming a dominant fixture of Gothic churches across Europe in the 13th through 15th centuries. Elaborate tombs with decorative programs were comparatively scarce in the earlier Middle Ages, with the important exception of the richly carved sarcophagi found in the Roman Empire during the 4th and 5th centuries, which appropriated a popular late antique format and replaced its Bacchic image cycles with new Christian iconographies. This tradition seems to have faded with the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West and the rise of new kingdoms across Europe, many of which produced little monumental sculpture (or at least, little that survives) before the 12th century. Thus, the emphasis placed in this article on the effigy and the period 1100–1500 reflects not only scholarly interest but also the patterns of production that can be observed elsewhere in the chronology of medieval European architecture and sculpture. While much of the formative scholarship on medieval tomb sculpture had been primarily driven either by biographical interests in the individuals they commemorated or by a teleological interest in tracing the stylistic evolution of forms from late medieval reliefs to free-standing Renaissance statues, more recent studies have turned to the political, theological, and social meanings of these powerful monuments. This discourse has largely centered on two entwined themes: first, the use of tomb sculpture to promote and ensure salvation for the dead, and, second, its role in shaping the ideals and ambitions of the living. Though these broad trends are shared across the field, the idiosyncratic nature of the material and the apparently bespoke nature of most monuments has led to a field defined by case studies, with relatively few attempts to synthesize pictures of the greater whole that move beyond highly localized geographic limits.

Medieval Chant for the Mass Ordinary

The Ordinary of the Mass (Lat.: ordinarium missae) is part of the Roman mass and comprises six chants whose texts remain the same through the year, namely Kyrie eleison, Gloria in excelsis Deo, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, and Ite, missa est. An initial repertory of these chants were established by the end of the first millenium, but compositions of new monophonic chants or full cycles along with polyphonic elaborations of older chant repertories continued up to the Early Modern period. While the texts of these chants did not change (although there are some exceptions), interpolations in the form of tropes (newly composed texts with music inserted before and between the phrases of established chants) or prosulas (newly composed texts underlaid to preexistent melodies) were cultivated from the 9th century on. The full scope of the repertory is still unknown; present catalogues count around two thousand melodies, but some of them were used for more than one chant in the group (most typically Sanctus and Agnus Dei or Kyrie eleison and Ite, missa est) or, in particular in the late Middle Ages, adapted from other genres. There was never a unified repertory of chants of the mass ordinary for the whole Western church, but individual regions (Spain, Central Europe, etc.), religious orders (Cistercians), or dioceses developed their own traditions. Melodies of the mass ordinary chants often had their own character, employing, among other elements, repetitions of short melodic formulas or, typically in the late period, moving in the modus mixtus (authentic and plagal range of one mode) and introducing rhythmized sections (cantus fractus).

John Hardyng

The English chronicler John Hardyng (b. 1378–d. c. 1465) had a colorful career before settling down to write his two versions of British history in the 1450s and 1460s. Born in Northumberland, he served in the household of Sir Henry Percy (b. 1364–d. 1403) from the age of twelve, where he learnt the art of warfare and fought in numerous battles, including the Battle of Shrewsbury (1403). Later, he served Sir Robert Umfraville, fighting alongside him in Scotland and in the first years of Henry V’s French campaign (1415–1416). In 1418 Henry V sent Hardyng to Scotland to survey the topography of the realm and seek out evidence of English overlordship. Promised a substantial gift for his espionage, Hardyng returned after three and a half years, but Henry V’s untimely death deprived him of his prize. He remained unrewarded until the 1440s, when Henry VI honored the late king’s promise and granted Hardyng an annuity. By this time Hardyng’s patron, Sir Robert, was dead and Hardyng had taken up residence in the Augustinian Priory at Kyme, Lincolnshire. It was here that he began writing his first account of British history in Middle English verse. Surviving in a single manuscript, which was presented to Henry VI and his family in 1457 along with a map of Scotland and several of the Scottish documents recovered for Henry V, Hardyng’s Chronicle draws primarily on Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae, Robert Mannyng’s Chronicle, and a Latin Prose Brut to give an account of British and English affairs from the mythical founding of Britain by Brutus to 1437. Using the historical issue of English hegemony over Scotland as an ideological touchstone to unite divided Englishmen, the Chronicle sought to promote unity amidst the social, economic, and political instability that precipitated the Wars of the Roses. Within a few years of presenting the work and receiving another reward for his service, Hardyng began revising the text for Henry VI’s political rival, Richard, duke of York. The second Chronicle rewrote history to explain York’s superior claim to the throne, but it retained Hardyng’s call for unity among Englishmen and continued to use the issue of Scottish independence as a means of rallying his peers against a common foreign enemy. When the duke of York died in December 1460, Hardyng continued revising his text for York’s son, Edward IV, who took the throne from Henry VI in March 1461. Though Hardyng died before completing his revised narrative, numerous copies of the near-complete chronicle circulated in and around London in the 1460s and 1470s, helping to explain the Yorkist pedigree. It was the second version of the Chronicle that influenced Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur and which was later taken up by the Tudor printer Richard Grafton, who issued two prints in 1543 because of its relevance to the Anglo-Scottish wars in his own time. Grafton’s prints ensured the popularity of the Chronicle among Tudor historiographers and its influence on later writers, such as Shakespeare, Spenser, and Milton.

Medieval Latin Commentaries on Classical Myth

As the abundance of extant medieval commentaries attests, classical mythology presented several conundrums for medieval audiences. The historical distance between the writers of classical myths and their medieval readers prompted numerous scholars to reframe and even rewrite their sources to ameliorate challenges ranging from complicated classical Latin syntax to theological conflicts between pagan polytheism and Christian monotheism. Despite its polytheism, classical mythology became a source for manifold medieval erudition, beginning with the grammatical studies that introduced students to Latin literacy. Scholars and writers since the beginning of the Christian Middle Ages turned to these myths to gain mastery over Latin, history, natural science, and even ethics. To study these subjects, medieval scholars produced collections of scholastic notes, or commentaries, primarily in Latin. The medieval commentary tradition began in classical antiquity itself. Soon after Virgil wrote his Aeneid, scholars started developing commentaries that prompted audiences both to study and to imitate his works. The Middle Ages inherited some of these commentaries, such as the influential commentaries by Servius on Virgil, which then influenced commentaries on other classical writers of myths, such as Ovid and Statius. The modern study of these diverse medieval materials has recently benefited from the increased availability of digital manuscripts, critical editions, and a few translations, all of which have facilitated more cross-commentary analyses than used to be possible. However, the wide range of interpretive approaches and formats as well as the irregularities of medieval scholastic transmission mean that much more work remains to be done on how medieval audiences accessed classical mythology. This article combines older foundational studies with more recent contributions to represent how modern criticism, like the commentaries it studies, takes many forms.

Pier delle Vigne

The most powerful official in the court of Emperor Frederick II (1194–1250), Petrus de Vinea or Pier delle Vigne (b. c. 1190–d. 1240) served as judge, diplomat, chancellor, and polemicist, as well as familiaris, or personal advisor to the emperor. A master of the high style of prose, Pier and his colleagues created a political language charged with the majesty and mystery of sovereignty that would remain influential until the early 15th century. The life of Pier delle Vigne before he joined the Magna Curia is largely unknown. His presence in the imperial chancery is first documented in 1224 when he is listed as an imperial court judge (magne imperialis curie iudex), although he entered the service of the emperor in 1221 as “notarius,” an official whose duties were more similar to those of a modern lawyer. Scholars continue to debate Pier’s participation in the composition of important documents from his early years in the chancery, including the proclamation on the origins of princely power in the Proemium to the Liber Augustalis (1231), Frederick’s code of laws for the kingdom. In the 1230s, Pier served as ambassador, representing imperial interests in missions to Pope Gregory IX in 1232 and to England in 1234, where he negotiated the marriage of Frederick and Isabella, sister of King Henry III, and was made an English citizen. Between 1236 and 1248, he was the principal author of important imperial letters and propaganda manifestos, documents that served as powerful political instruments intended to sway public opinion in favor of the imperial cause. In 1243 Pier identifies himself as imperial protonotary, or head of the imperial chancery, and logothete, or spokesman of the kingdom of Sicily, and, as such, Pier’s power was second only to that of the emperor. All concessions by the emperor, negotiations, political statements, and financial matters passed through his hands. His precipitous downfall remains a mystery but is generally explained as punishment for embezzlement and corruption of justice for personal gain. Branded a traitor by the emperor, Pier was arrested in Cremona in 1249 and transported to San Miniato, where Frederick ordered that he be blinded and where he died. In a letter to Count Richard of Caserta, Frederick condemns Pier’s avarice. Today Pier is remembered as Dante’s tortured thornbush in the wood of the suicides, where his soul speaks of an illustrious and loyal career cut short by the envy of other courtiers.

Early Italian Humanists

Early Italian humanists already were pursuing many of the innovations and themes characteristic of their better-known counterparts of the 15th and 16th centuries. Decades before the traditional “father of humanism” Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch), writers such as Lovato dei Lovati and Albertino Mussato were fascinated by the study, emulation, and critical assessment of the classical world. Sparked by the needs of the urban societies of the 13th-century Italian Peninsula, Lovato dei Lovati turned toward Antiquity for stylistic models to follow. From his more localized influence, the numbers of early humanists expanded, especially in Padua and Verona. By the early trecento at the latest their writings were generating acclaim across the Veneto, as evidenced by the coronation with the poet’s laurel of Albertino Mussato in Padua in 1315. Works of poetry, history, drama, and others flowed from their pens, even as many of their writings are no longer extant. These late duecento and early trecento figures differed from later writers in several important ways, even as they established a foundation and context for later, better known humanists like Petrarch, Coluccio Salutati, and Leonardo Bruni. Early Italian humanists, for example, made some important manuscript discoveries. They read and critically assessed new and familiar classical works. They tried to emulate the style of classical works in their original writings. However, key differences remained between these early humanists and their later counterparts. Unlike 15th-century humanists, early Italian humanists lacked knowledge of Greek and, thus, were limited to classical writings available in Latin. Philological developments by early Italian humanists were rudimentary, and most manuscript discoveries were to come only later. Humanists in the 15th century mostly rejected these earlier writers as part of their movement’s history. Much of the 20th-century scholarship argues for the inclusion of these writers within the humanist canon and assesses the innovations of early Italian humanists in relation to the work of Petrarch or later writers. More recent work has turned to analyzing their lives and writings on their own terms and publishing new editions of texts.

Medieval London

There is no beginning or end date for medieval London. Long-term changes transformed the post-Roman city into a 16th-century metropolis. Crown and church worked with city institutions to manage the outcome, but economic, social, geographic, and demographic factors beyond their control were the determinants of London’s evolution. Medieval London owed much to a well-chosen Roman site with double-facing connectivity, providing access to mainland Europe by sea and to the interior by river. London was the lynchpin. The Roman settlement had a defensive fort and walls, an amphitheater—recently rediscovered underneath the medieval Guildhall–and an impressive road network converging on the city. This defensible hub, combining economic prosperity with popular entertainment, was the basis for London’s perennial appeal to English and alien migrants. It quite literally provided the foundation for medieval London. The early extramural Anglo-Saxon settlement relocated behind the walls as an Alfredian burh, expanding trade with nearby parts of the Continent. The Norman construction of the Tower, overshadowing the eastern aspect, demonstrated that control of London was essential to government of the realm. An economic driving force, the city was not the administrative capital until the 12th century. London generated trade revenues and ensured urban stability, in return for which the Crown granted self-government and privileges for its merchants and markets. The city’s own records survive from the later 13th century, although its institutions have earlier origins. Regarding itself as the New Troy, it engaged in public works and staged triumphant royal entries. London’s bread-basket extended to the Norfolk coast and the upper Thames valley. Apart from frank discussions at the wardmote, there were further opportunities for ordinary Londoners to express their views and participate. The craft guilds regulated the city’s trades and their members, developing separate livery and yeomanry organization. Parish fraternities were a neighborhood outlet for literate lay spirituality and accounting skills. The population, significantly reduced by the Black Death, recovered and prospered. London was above all a cosmopolitan city with thriving markets and accessible credit. Although there were recurrent demands for protection against alien competition, aliens joined the livery companies, became citizens of London and some became Englishmen. The royal Court, Parliament, and law courts a short ride away at Westminster guaranteed good business for city merchants. Most importantly, the lucrative 14th-century wool trade and 15th-century cloth trade were increasingly concentrated in the hands of Londoners who dominated English exports.

John Trevisa

The English translator John Trevisa (b. c. 1342–d. 1402) was an exact contemporary of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer. As is the case with Chaucer, very little of Trevisa’s life can be reconstructed from extant documents. Like Chaucer, Trevisa observed social and political events but referred only obliquely to them, and like Chaucer he staked his legacy to a body of work in English only. If Chaucer’s achievement was to elevate English poetry to a status rivaling that of poetry in Latin, Italian, and French, Trevisa’s was to prove English prose capable of conveying nuanced theological, political, and historical arguments. Trevisa’s known translations are of the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus; the Dialogus inter militem et clericum (“Dialogue between a knight and a cleric”), a defense of temporal power; Archbishop Richard FitzRalph’s antifraternal sermon, Defensio curatorum (“Defense of secular priests”); Aegidius Romanus’s De regimine principum (“On the rule of princes”); Ranulph Higden’s universal history, Polychronicon; and Bartholomaeus Anglicus’s encyclopedia, De proprietatibus rerum (“On the properties of things”). Early modern antiquarians believed that Trevisa translated the Bible into English, but hard evidence is lacking (see under Trevisa, the Bible, and the Wycliffite Movement). Under his own name, Trevisa wrote a Dialogue between a Lord and a Clerk on Translation and an Epistle to Lord Berkeley upon Translation as prefaces to his translation of the Polychronicon. He also composed one original poem, with which he prefaced his translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus. No longer attributed to Trevisa are the Middle English version of the Revelationes of Pseudo-Methodius, a translation of Vegetius’s De re militari that accompanies De regimine principum in its sole manuscript witness, and Apocalypse texts in Anglo-Norman French painted on the ceiling and walls of Berkeley Chapel, Gloucestershire, England.