EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE

1. EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE GARDINER CHAPTER 16-3 PP. 422-428

2. OTTONIANS • Charlemagne’s empire falls apart w/in 30 years of his death in 814-> Frankish lands are partitioned -> Viking incursions -> Magyars attack the Byzantine East -> Saracens in the Mediterranean = confusion and chaos • In mid 10th century the eastern part of the former empire consolidate under the rule of a new line of Saxon emperors called the OTTONIAN -> the three Ottos • Preserved and enriched the culture and tradition of the Carolingian period • Ottonians encourage and sanctioned great monastic reform • By early 11th century -> pagan marauders became Christianized and settled

3. GERNRODE • Nave of the church of Saint Cyriakus, Gernrode, Germany, 961-873 • Ottonianarchitectects followed Carolingian style w/basilican churches with towering spires and imposing westworks -> but also introduced new features • The Ottonian church at Gernrode shows how the Early Christian basilica plan was modified -> added a gallery above the nave arcade and adopted an ALTERNATE-SUPPORT SYSTEM of piers and columns -> eye leads upward

4. HILDESHEIM • Saint Michael’s, Hildesheim, Germany, 1001-1031 • Built by Bishop Bernwald, a great art patron -> Saint Michael’s is a masterpiece of Ottonian basilica design • Two apses, two transepts, and multiple towers -> distinctive profile

5. Longitudinal section (top) and plan (bottom) of the abbey church of Saint Michael’s, Hildesheim, Germany, 1001–1031Saint Michael’s entrances are on the sidealternating piers and columns divide the space in the nave into vertical units -> these features transformed the tunnel-like horizontality of Early Christian basilica

6. Saint Michael’s, Hildesheim, Germany, 1001–1031. One of the great patrons of Ottonian art and architecture was Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim, Germany.

7. HILDESHEIM DOORS • Doors with relief panels (Genesis, left door; life of Christ, right door), commissioned by Bishop Bernward for Saint Michael’s, Hildesheim, Germany, 1015. Bronze, 16’ 6” high • Massive piece of art for its time -> a technological marvel • Imperial overtones -> Pantheon had bronze doors, Aachen had bronze doors but with no decoration • Subject -> on left the Fall of Man (Old Testament – Adam/Eve, Cain/Abel) and on right the Redemption of Man (New Testament – Annunciation, Resurrection)

8. Bernward’s doors vividly tell the story of Original Sin and ultimate redemption, and draw parallels between the Old and New Testaments, as in the expulsion from Paradise and the infancy and suffering of Christ. Doors with relief panels (Genesis, left door; life of Christ, right door), commissioned by Bishop Bernward for Saint Michael’s, Hildesheim, Germany, 1015. Bronze, 16’ 6” high. Saint Michael’s, Hildesheim.

9. “Adam and Eve Reproached by the Lord,” bronze panel from the doors of Bishop Bernward at the cathedral, Hildesheim, West Germany, 1015 • Rectangular panels with few figures, bare landscapes, emphasis on lively gestures • Bony figures, vitality and liveliness • Emphasis on extremities -> hands, feet, heads

10. HILDESHEIM COLUMN • Column with reliefs illustrating the life of Christ, commissioned by Bishop Bernward for Saint Michael’s, Hildesheim, Germany, ca. 1015–1022. Bronze, 12’ 6” tall

11. Column with reliefs illustrating the life of Christ, commissioned by Bishop Bernward for Saint Michael’s, Hildesheim, Germany, ca. 1015–1022. Bronze, 12’ 6” tall. Saint Michael’s, Hildesheim. • Ottonian sculpture includes examples of large-scale bronze reliefs and monumental figural sculpture in wood. • Modeled on the Column of Trajan in Rome, the seven spiral bands of the Hildesheim column relate the life of Jesus in 24 scenes from his baptism to his entry into Jerusalem.

12. GERO CRUICIFIX • Crucifix commissioned by Archbishop Gero for Cologne Cathedral, Germany, ca. 970. Painted wood, height of figure 6’ 2” • Return of large monumental sculpture • Life-size wooden work • Emotional suffering • Rounded forms • Jesus Christ hanging from a cross for the first time, seen as a human suffering crucifixion • Commissioned by Archbishop Gero for the cathedral in Cologne, Germany

13. UTA CODEX • Abbess Uta dedicating her codex to the Virgin, folio 2 recto of the Uta Codex, from Regensberg, Germany, ca. 1025, tempera on parchment • Ottonian artists carried on the Carolingian tradition of producing sumptuous books for clergy and royalty • Illustrates the important role that women could play both in religious life and as patrons of the arts • Dedicatory page shows Uta presenting her codex to the Virgin Mary

14. LECTIONARY OF HENRY II • Annunciation to the Shepherds, folio in the Lectionary of Henry II, from Reichenau, Germany, 1002–1014. Tempera on vellum, approx. 1’ 5” X 1’ 1” • Highly successful fusion of Carolingian-Ottonian anecdotal narrative tradition, elements from Late Antique paintiong (rocky landscape w/grazing animals), and the golden background of Byzantine art

15. GOSPEL BOOK OF OTTO III • Otto III enthroned, folio 24 recto of the Gospel Book of Otto III, from Reichenau, Germany, 997–1000. Tempera on vellum, 1’ 1” x 9 3/8” • Otto III -> descended from German and Byzantine imperial lines -> enthroned and holding scepter and cross inscribed orb of universal authority • Clergy & barons on either side -> church and state