1.
Rogier van der Weyden
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Rogier van der Weyden or Roger de la Pasture was an Early Netherlandish painter whose surviving works consist mainly of religious triptychs, altarpieces and commissioned single and diptych portraits. By the latter half of the 15th century, he had eclipsed Jan van Eyck in popularity, however his fame lasted only until the 17th century, and largely due to changing taste, he was almost totally forgotten by the mid-18th century. There are few facts of van der Weydens life. What else is known of him has come from records and secondary sources. However the paintings now attributed to him are generally accepted, despite a tendency in the 19th century to attribute his work to others, all of his forms are rendered with rich, warm colourisation and a sympathetic expression, while he is known for his expressive pathos and naturalism. His portraits tend to be half length and half profile, Van der Weyden used an unusually broad range of colours and varied tones, in his finest work the same tone is not repeated in any other area of the canvas, even the whites are varied. Due to the loss of archives in 1695 and again in 1940, Rogelet de le Pasture was born in Tournai in 1399 or 1400. His parents were Henri de le Pasture and Agnes de Watrélos and he married around 1426, to Elisabeth Goffaert, and was made town painter of Brussels in 1436, and changed his name from the French to the Flemish format, becoming van der Weyden. The Pasture family had settled before in the city of Tournai where Rogiers father worked as a maître-coutelier, in 1426 Rogier married Elisabeth, the daughter of a Brussels shoemaker Jan Goffaert and his wife Cathelyne van Stockem. Rogier and Elisabeth had four children, Cornelius, who became a Carthusian monk, was born in 1427, a daughter Margaretha in 1432. Before 21 October 1435 the family settled in Brussels where the two children were born, Pieter in 1437 and Jan in 1438, who would go on to become a painter. On his move to Brussels, Rogier began using the Flemish version of his name, little is known about Rogiers training as a painter. The archival sources from Tournai were completely destroyed during World War II, the sources on his early life are confusing and have led to different interpretations by scholars. It is known that the city council of Tournai offered eight pitchers of wine in honour of a certain Maistre Rogier de le Pasture on the 17th November 1426. However, on 5 March of the year the records of the painters guild show a Rogelet de le Pasture entered the workshop of Robert Campin together with Jacques Daret. Records show that de le Pasture was already established as a painter, only five years later, on the first of August 1432, de le Pasture obtained the title of a Master painter. His later entry into apprenticeship might be explained by the fact that during the 1420s the city of Tournai was in crisis, the late apprenticeship may have been a legal formality. Also Jacques Daret was then in his twenties and had living and working in Campins household for at least a decade
2.
Charles the Bald
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Charles the Bald was the King of West Francia, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor. After a series of wars during the reign of his father, Louis the Pious. He was a grandson of Charlemagne and the youngest son of Louis the Pious by his second wife and he was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder brothers were already adults and had been assigned their own regna, or subkingdoms, by their father. The attempts made by Louis the Pious to assign Charles a subkingdom, first Alemannia, at a diet in Aachen in 837, Louis the Pious bade the nobles do homage to Charles as his heir. Pepin of Aquitaine died in 838, whereupon Charles at last received that kingdom, which angered Pepins heirs, the death of the emperor in 840 led to the outbreak of war between his sons. In the following year, the two confirmed their alliance by the celebrated Oaths of Strasbourg. The war was brought to an end by the Treaty of Verdun in August 843, Louis received the eastern part of the Carolingian Empire, known then as East Francia and later as Germany. Lothair retained the title and the Kingdom of Italy. He also received the regions from Flanders through the Rhineland. The first years of Charless reign, up to the death of Lothair I in 855, were comparatively peaceful, during these years the three brothers continued the system of confraternal government, meeting repeatedly with one another, at Koblenz, at Meerssen, and at Attigny. In 858, Louis the German, invited by disaffected nobles eager to oust Charles, Charles was so unpopular that he was unable to summon an army, and he fled to Burgundy. He was saved only by the support of the bishops, who refused to crown Louis the German king, and by the fidelity of the Welfs, in 860, he in his turn tried to seize the kingdom of his nephew, Charles of Provence, but was repulsed. On the death of his nephew Lothair II in 869, Charles tried to seize Lothairs dominions, besides these family disputes, Charles had to struggle against repeated rebellions in Aquitaine and against the Bretons. Led by their chiefs Nomenoë and Erispoë, who defeated the king at the Battle of Ballon and the Battle of Jengland, the Bretons were successful in obtaining a de facto independence. Charles also fought against the Vikings, who devastated the country of the north, the valleys of the Seine and Loire, at the Vikings successful siege and sack of Paris in 845 and several times thereafter Charles was forced to purchase their retreat at a heavy price. By the same edict, he ordered fortified bridges to be put up at all rivers to block the Viking incursions, two of these bridges at Paris saved the city during its siege of 885–886. In 875, after the death of the Emperor Louis II, Charles the Bald, supported by Pope John VIII, traveled to Italy, receiving the crown at Pavia. Louis the German, also a candidate for the succession of Louis II, revenged himself by invading and devastating Charles dominions, and Charles had to return hastily to West Francia
3.
First Bible of Charles the Bald
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It is also known as the Count Vivian Bible or the Vivian Bible. It is 495 mm by 345 mm and has 423 vellum folia and it is also thought to be the third illuminated Bible to have been made at Tours following the Bamberg and Moutier-Grandval bibles. Walther, Ingo F. and Norbert Wolf, codices Illustres, The worlds most famous illuminated manuscripts,400 to 1600
4.
Tours
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Tours is a city located in the centre-west of France. It is the centre of the Indre-et-Loire department and the largest city in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. In 2012, the city of Tours had 134,978 inhabitants, Tours stands on the lower reaches of the River Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. The surrounding district, the province of Touraine, is known for its wines, for the alleged perfection of its local spoken French. The city is also the end-point of the annual Paris–Tours cycle race, in Gallic times the city was important as a crossing point of the Loire. Becoming part of the Roman Empire during the 1st century AD, the name evolved in the 4th century when the original Gallic name, Turones, became first Civitas Turonum then Tours. It was at time that the amphitheatre of Tours, one of the five largest amphitheatres of the Empire, was built. Tours became the metropolis of the Roman province of Lugdunum towards 380–388, dominating the Loire Valley, Maine, one of the outstanding figures of the history of the city was Saint Martin, second bishop who shared his coat with a naked beggar in Amiens. This incident and the importance of Martin in the medieval Christian West made Tours, and its position on the route of pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, a major centre during the Middle Ages. In the 6th century Gregory of Tours, author of the Ten Books of History, in the 9th century, Tours was at the heart of the Carolingian Rebirth, in particular because of Alcuin abbot of Marmoutier. The outcome was defeat for the Muslims, preventing France from Islamic conquest, in 845, Tours repulsed the first attack of the Viking chief Hasting. In 850, the Vikings settled at the mouths of the Seine, still led by Hasting, they went up the Loire again in 852 and sacked Angers, Tours and the abbey of Marmoutier. During the Middle Ages, Tours consisted of two juxtaposed and competing centres, in the west, the new city structured around the Abbey of Saint Martin was freed from the control of the City during the 10th century and became Châteauneuf. This space, organized between Saint Martin and the Loire, became the centre of Tours. Between these two centres remained Varennes, vineyards and fields, little occupied except for the Abbaye Saint-Julien established on the banks of the Loire, the two centres were linked during the 14th century. Tours became the capital of the county of Tours or Touraine and it was the capital of France at the time of Louis XI, who had settled in the castle of Montils, Tours and Touraine remained until the 16th century a permanent residence of the kings and court. The rebirth gave Tours and Touraine many private mansions and castles and it is also at the time of Louis XI that the silk industry was introduced – despite difficulties, the industry still survives to this day. At this time, the Catholics returned to power in Angers, the Massacre of Saint-Barthelemy was not repeated at Tours
5.
Miniature (illuminated manuscript)
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These include Persian miniatures, and their Mughal, Ottoman and other Indian offshoots. This article gives an art historical account of the miniature form, for the techniques involved in production, see illuminated manuscript. The earliest extant miniatures are a series of colored drawings or miniatures cut from the Ambrosian Iliad and they are similar in style and treatment with the pictorial art of the later Roman classical period. Of even greater value from a point of view are the miniatures of the Vatican manuscript of Virgil, known as the Vergilius Vaticanus. They are in a perfect condition and on a larger scale than the Ambrosian fragments. The drawing is quite classical in style, and the idea is conveyed that the miniatures are copies from an older series. The colors are opaque, indeed, in all the miniatures of early manuscripts the employment of body color was universal. The method followed in placing the different scenes on the page is highly instructive of the practice followed, as we may presume, by the artists of the early centuries. Again, for the purpose of securing something like perspective, an arrangement of zones was adopted. It was reserved for the Byzantine school to break away more decidedly from the natural presentment of things, but on comparing the miniatures of the Byzantine school generally with their classical predecessors, one has a sense of having passed from the open air into the cloister. Under the restraint of ecclesiastical domination Byzantine art became more and more stereotyped, the tendency grows to paint the flesh-tints in swarthy hues, to elongate and emaciate the limbs, and to stiffen the gait. Browns, blue-greys and neutral tints are in favor, in the miniatures of Byzantine manuscripts are first seen those backgrounds of bright gold which afterwards appear in such profusion in the productions of every western school of painting. The influence of Byzantine art on that of medieval Italy is obvious, the early mosaics in the churches of Italy, such as those at Ravenna and Venice, also afford examples of the dominating Byzantine influence. In the native schools of illumination of Western Europe, decoration only was the leading motive, the highest qualities of the miniatures of the 10th and 11th century of this school lie in fine outline drawing, which had a lasting influence on the English miniature of the later centuries. But the southern Anglo-Saxon school rather stands apart from the line of development of the western medieval miniature. Under the Carolingian monarchs there developed a school of painting derived from classical models, in this school, which owed its origin to the encouragement of Charlemagne, it is seen that the miniature appears in two forms. Accompanied as it was with profuse decoration in border and initial, on the other hand, there is also the miniature in which there is an attempt at illustration, as, for example, the depicting of scenes from the Bible. Here there is freedom, and we trace the classical style which copies Roman, as distinguished from Byzantine
6.
Illuminated manuscript
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An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented with such decoration as initials, borders and miniature illustrations. Comparable Far Eastern and Mesoamerican works are described as painted, islamic manuscripts may be referred to as illuminated, illustrated or painted, though using essentially the same techniques as Western works. This article covers the technical, social and economic history of the subject, for an art-historical account, the earliest surviving substantive illuminated manuscripts are from the period 400 to 600, produced in the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths and the Eastern Roman Empire. The significance of these works lies not only in their inherent artistic and historical value, had it not been for the monastic scribes of Late Antiquity, most literature of Greece and Rome would have perished in Europe. As it was, the patterns of textual survivals were shaped by their usefulness to the severely constricted literate group of Christians, the majority of surviving manuscripts are from the Middle Ages, although many survive from the Renaissance, along with a very limited number from Late Antiquity. The majority of manuscripts are of a religious nature. However, especially from the 13th century onward, a number of secular texts were illuminated. Most illuminated manuscripts were created as codices, which had superseded scrolls, a very few illuminated manuscript fragments survive on papyrus, which does not last nearly as long as vellum or parchment. Most medieval manuscripts, illuminated or not, were written on parchment, beginning in the late Middle Ages manuscripts began to be produced on paper. Illuminated manuscripts continued to be produced in the early 16th century, Manuscripts are among the most common items to survive from the Middle Ages, many thousands survive. They are also the best surviving specimens of medieval painting, indeed, for many areas and time periods, they are the only surviving examples of painting. There are a few examples from later periods, the type of book that was most often heavily and richly illuminated, sometimes known as a display book, varied between periods. In the first millennium, these were most likely to be Gospel Books, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Romanesque period saw the creation of many huge illuminated complete Bibles – one in Sweden requires three librarians to lift it. Many Psalters were also illuminated in both this and the Gothic period. Finally, the Book of Hours, very commonly the personal book of a wealthy layperson, was often richly illuminated in the Gothic period. Other books, both liturgical and not, continued to be illuminated at all periods, the Byzantine world also continued to produce manuscripts in its own style, versions of which spread to other Orthodox and Eastern Christian areas. See Medieval art for other regions, periods and types, reusing parchments by scraping the surface and reusing them was a common practice, the traces often left behind of the original text are known as palimpsests. The Gothic period, which saw an increase in the production of these beautiful artifacts, also saw more secular works such as chronicles
7.
Donor portrait
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A donor portrait or votive portrait is a portrait in a larger painting or other work showing the person who commissioned and paid for the image, or a member of his, or her, family. Donor portraits are very common in works of art, especially paintings, of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Often, even late into the Renaissance, the portraits, especially when of a whole family, will be at a much smaller scale than the principal figures. By the mid-15th century donors began to be integrated into the main scene, as bystanders. The purpose of donor portraits was to memorialize the donor and his family, to do so during prayer is in accord with late medieval concepts of prayer, fully developed by the Modern Devotion. This process may be intensified if the praying beholder is the donor himself, when a whole building was financed, a sculpture of the patron might be included on the facade or elsewhere in the building. If they are on different sides, the males are normally on the left for the viewer, in family groups the figures are usually divided by gender. Groups of members of confraternities, sometimes with their wives, are also found, additional family members, from births or marriages, might be added later, and deaths might be recorded by the addition of small crosses held in the clasped hands. Although none have survived, there is evidence of donor portraits in small chapels from the Early Christian period. Their scale and composition are alone among large-scale survivals, also in Ravenna, there is a small mosaic of Justinian, possibly originally of Theoderic the Great in the Basilica of SantApollinare Nuovo. For example, a chapel at Mals in South Tyrol has two fresco donor figures from before 881, one lay and the other of a cleric holding a model building. In subsequent centuries bishops, abbots and other clergy were the donors most commonly shown, other than royalty, in these the portrait may adopt a praying pose, or may pose more like the subject in a purely secular portrait. The Wilton Diptych of Richard II of England was a forerunner of these, in some of these diptychs the portrait of the original owner has been over-painted with that of a later one. The person presenting might be a courtier making a gift to his prince, a later convention was for figures at about three-quarters of the size of the main ones. This innovation, however, did not appear in Venetian painting until the turn of the next century, normally the main figures ignore the presence of the interlopers in narrative scenes, although bystanding saints may put a supportive hand on the shoulder in a side-panel. But in devotional subjects such as a Madonna and Child, which were likely to have been intended for the donors home. Before the 15th century a physical likeness may not have often attempted, or achieved. In an often-quoted passage, John Pope-Hennessy caricatured 16th-century Italian donors, the elders in the story of Suzannah were some of the few figures respectable Venetians were unwilling to impersonate
8.
Book frontispiece
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A frontispiece in books generally refers to a decorative or informative illustration facing a books title page, being the verso opposite the recto title page. While some books depict thematic elements, other books feature the portrait as the frontispiece. In medieval illuminated manuscripts, a miniature showing the book or text being presented was often used as a frontispiece. The word comes from the French frontispice, or the late Latin frontispicium, from the Latin frons, in English, it was originally used as an architectural term, referring to the decorative facade of a building. By then, the English spelling had also morphed, by way of folk etymology, book design Prints & People, A Social History of Printed Pictures, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on book frontispieces
9.
Vivian Bible
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It is also known as the Count Vivian Bible or the Vivian Bible. It is 495 mm by 345 mm and has 423 vellum folia and it is also thought to be the third illuminated Bible to have been made at Tours following the Bamberg and Moutier-Grandval bibles. Walther, Ingo F. and Norbert Wolf, codices Illustres, The worlds most famous illuminated manuscripts,400 to 1600
10.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
11.
Vincent of Beauvais
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The Dominican friar Vincent of Beauvais wrote the Speculum Maius, the main encyclopedia that was used in the Middle Ages. The exact dates of his birth and death are unknown, conjectures place him first in the house of the Dominicans at Paris between 1215 and 1220, and later at the Dominican monastery founded by Louis IX of France at Beauvais in Picardy. It is more certain, however, that he held the post of reader at the monastery of Royaumont on the Oise, not far from Paris, also founded by Louis IX, between 1228 and 1235. The king read the books that Vincent compiled and supplied the funds for procuring copies of authors as he required. Vincents Speculum Maius, the compendium of all of the knowledge of the Middle Ages, Vincent distinguishes, however, his own remarks. Vincent de Beauvais first completed the Speculum Naturale in year 1244 and he completed a second and expanded version in 1259 or 1260. The Speculum Naturale deals with its subjects in the order that they were created, thus, book i. opens with an account of the Trinity and its relation to creation, then follows a similar series of chapters about angels, their attributes, powers, orders, etc. Book ii. treats of the world, of light, color, the four elements, Lucifer and his fallen angels. Books iii. and iv. deal with the phenomena of the heavens and of time, under each species, where possible, Vincent gives a chapter on its use in medicine, and he adopts for the most part an alphabetical arrangement. In book ix. he gives an early instance of the use of the magnet in navigation, book xv. deals with astronomy, the moon, the stars, the zodiac, the sun, the planets, the seasons and the calendar. Treat of fowls and fishes, mainly in order and with reference to their medical qualities. Deal in a way with domesticated and wild animals, including the dog, serpents, bees and insects. Discuss the psychology, physiology and anatomy of man, the five senses and their organs, sleep, dreams, ecstasy, memory, reason and it is a summary of all the scholastic knowledge of the age and does not confine itself to natural history. The first book, after defining philosophy, etc. gives a long Latin vocabulary of some 6,000 or 7,000 words. Grammar, logic, rhetoric and poetry are discussed in books ii. and iii. the latter including several well-known fables, such as the lion and the mouse. Book iv. treats of the virtues, each of which has two chapters of quotations allotted to it, one in prose and the other in verse, book v. is of a somewhat similar nature. Books vii. -ix. have reference to the arts, they contain rules for the education of a prince. Book xi. is devoted to the arts, of weavers, smiths, armourers, merchants, hunters, and even the general
12.
Carolingian art
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The Carolingian era is part of the period in Medieval art sometimes called the Pre-Romanesque. After a rather chaotic interval following the Carolingian period, the new Ottonian dynasty revived Imperial art from about 950, building on and further developing Carolingian style in Ottonian art. He wished to establish himself as the heir to the rulers of the past, to emulate and symbolically link the artistic achievements of Early Christian. But it was more than a desire to revive ancient Roman culture. During Charlemagnes reign the Byzantine Iconoclasm controversy was dividing the Byzantine Empire, Charlemagne supported the Western churchs consistent refusal to follow iconoclasm, the Libri Carolini sets out the position of his court circle, no doubt under his direction. With no inhibitions from a memory of Mediterranean pagan idolatry, Charlemagne introduced the first Christian monumental religious sculpture. With the end of Carolingian rule around 900, high quality artistic production greatly declined for three generations in the Empire. By the later 10th century with the Cluny reform movement, New Pre-Romanesque styles appeared in Germany with the Ottonian art of the next stable dynasty, in England with late Anglo-Saxon art, after the threat from the Vikings was removed, and in Spain. The most numerous surviving works of the Carolingian renaissance are illuminated manuscripts, narrative images and especially cycles are rarer, but many exist, mostly of the Old Testament, especially Genesis – New Testament scenes are more often found on the ivory reliefs on the covers. A few of the grandest imperial manuscripts were written on purple parchment, the Utrecht Psalter, stands alone as a very heavily illustrated library version of the Psalms done in pen and wash, and almost certainly copied from a much earlier manuscript. Other liturgical works were produced in luxury manuscripts, such as sacramentaries. Teaching books such as theological, historical, literary and scientific works from ancient authors were copied and generally only illustrated in ink, if at all. The Chronography of 354 was a Late Roman manuscript that apparently was copied in the Carolingian period, the surviving manuscripts have been assigned, and often reassigned, to workshops by scholars, and the controversies attending this process have largely died down. These are the centres, but others exist, characterized by the works of art produced there. The Court School manuscripts were ornate and ostentatious, and reminiscent of 6th-century ivories and mosaics from Ravenna, in the early 9th-century Archbishop Ebo of Rheims, at Hautvillers, assembled artists and transformed Carolingian art to something entirely new. The Gospel book of Ebbo was painted with swift, fresh and vibrant brush strokes, evoking an inspiration, another style developed at the monastery of St Martin of Tours, in which large Bibles were illustrated based on Late Antique bible illustrations. Three large Touronian Bibles were created, the last, and best, example was made about 845/846 for Charles the Bald, called the Vivian Bible. The Tours School was cut short by the invasion of the Normans in 853, the diocese of Metz was another center of Carolingian art
13.
Ottonian art
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Ottonian art is a style in pre-romanesque German art, covering also some works from the Low Countries, northern Italy and eastern France. With Ottonian architecture, it is a key component of the Ottonian Renaissance, however, the style neither began nor ended to neatly coincide with the rule of the dynasty. It emerged some decades into their rule and persisted past the Ottonian emperors into the reigns of the early Salian dynasty, which lacks an artistic style label of its own. In the traditional scheme of art history, Ottonian art follows Carolingian art and precedes Romanesque art, after the decline of the Carolingian Empire, the Holy Roman Empire was re-established under the Saxon Ottonian dynasty. From this emerged a renewed faith in the idea of Empire and it was in this atmosphere that masterpieces were created that fused the traditions from which Ottonian artists derived their inspiration, models of Late Antique, Carolingian, and Byzantine origin. However much of it was designed for display to a wider public and this goal was accomplished in various ways. However, if there were actual Greek artists working in Germany in the period, Ottonian monasteries produced most if not all of the most magnificent medieval illuminated manuscripts. They were an art form of the time, and monasteries received direct sponsorship from emperors and bishops. The range of heavily illuminated texts was very restricted to the main liturgical books. In contrast to manuscripts of other periods, it is often possible to say with certainty who commissioned or received a manuscript. This is the first stylistic group of the traditional Reichenau school, the two other major manuscripts of the group are the sacramentaries named for Hornbach and Petershausen. In the group of four presentation miniatures in the described above we can almost follow. The movement away from the expansive Carolingian idiom to the sharply defined Ottonian one. C. R. Dodwell was one of a number of dissident voices here, believing the works to have produced at Lorsch. Due to their quality, the manuscripts of Reichenau were in 2003 added to the UNESCO Memory of the World International Register. The most important Reichenau school manuscripts are agreed to fall into three groups, all named after scribes whose names are recorded in their books. The Eburnant group covered above was followed by the Ruodprecht group named after the scribe of the Egbert Psalter and this gestural dumb-show soon to be conventionalized as a visual language throughout medieval Europe. The group introduced the background of gold to Western illumination
14.
Ottonian dynasty
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The Ottonian dynasty was a Saxon dynasty of German monarchs, named after its first Emperor Otto I, but also known as the Saxon dynasty after the familys origin in the German stem duchy of Saxony. The family itself is sometimes known as the Liudolfings, after its earliest known member Count Liudolf. The Ottonian rulers were successors of the Carolingian dynasty in East Francia, in the 9th century, the Saxon count Liudolf held large estates on the Leine river west of the Harz mountain range and in the adjacent Eichsfeld territory of Thuringia. His ancestors probably acted as ministeriales in the Saxon stem duchy, Liudolf married Oda, a member of the Frankish House of Billung. About 852 the couple together with Bishop Altfrid of Hildesheim founded Brunshausen Abbey, Liudolf already held the high social position of a Saxon dux, documented by the marriage of his daughter Liutgard with Louis the Younger, son of the Carolingian king Louis the German in 869. Liudolfs sons Bruno and Otto the Illustrious ruled over parts of Saxon Eastphalia, moreover. He married Hedwiga, a daughter of the Babenberg duke Henry of Franconia, upon Ottos death in 912, his son Henry the Fowler succeeded him as Duke of Saxony. Henry had married Matilda of Ringelheim, a descendant of the legendary Saxon ruler Widukind, while East Francia under the rule of the last Carolingian kings was ravaged by Hungarian invasions, he rose to a primus inter pares among the German dukes. In 933 he led a German army to victory over the Hungarian forces at the Battle of Riade, by succession regulation, he transferred the power to his second son Otto I, who acceded to an undivided heritage. Otto I, Duke of Saxony upon the death of his father in 936, was elected king within a few weeks. He continued the work of unifying all of the German tribes into a single kingdom, through strategic marriages and personal appointments, he installed members of his own family to the kingdoms most important duchies. This, however, did not prevent his relatives from entering into civil war, Otto was able to suppress their uprisings, in consequence, the various dukes, who had previously been co-equals with the king, were reduced into royal subjects under the kings authority. His decisive victory over the Magyars at the Battle of Lechfeld in 955 ended the Hungarian invasions of Europe, the defeat of the pagan Magyars earned King Otto the reputation as the savior of Christendom and the epithet the Great. He transformed the Church in Germany into a kind of church and major royal power base to which he donated charity. By 961, Otto had conquered the Kingdom of Italy, which was an inheritance that none wanted, and extended his kingdoms borders to the north, east. In control of much of central and southern Europe, the patronage of Otto and his immediate successors caused a cultural renaissance of the arts. He even reached a settlement with the Byzantine emperor John I Tzimiskes by marrying his son, in 968 he established the Archbishopric of Magdeburg at his long-time residence. Co-ruler with his father since 961 and crowned emperor in 967, by excluding the Bavarian line of Ottonians from the line of succession, he strengthened Imperial authority and secured his own sons succession to the Imperial throne
15.
Saint Pirmin
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Saint Pirmin, also named Pirminius, was a monk, strongly influenced by Celtic Christianity and Saint Amand. He originated from the surroundings of Narbonne, possible of Visigothic origin, from 718 onwards, he was abbot of the monastery Quortolodora in Antwerp and, together with its pupils, the minister of the church inside the broch, het Steen. In the 12th century, this church was dedicated to Saint Walpurga, after a while Pirmin was invited by count Rohingus to stay at his villa in Thommen, near Sankt Vith in the Ardennes. Pirmin gained the favour of Charles Martel and he was sent to help rebuild Disentis Abbey in Switzerland. In 724, he was appointed abbot of Mittelzell Abbey at Reichenau Island, for political reasons he was banished to Alsace. In 753, he died in the abbey at Hornbach, where his body is entombed, Pirmins missionary work mainly took place in the Alsace and the upper area of the Rhine and the Danube. Besides actively preaching and converting, he founded or reformed many monasteries, such as those at Amorbach, Gengenbach, Murbach, Wissembourg. Pirmin secured endowments from area nobility, Odilo of Bavaria financed the foundation of Niederaltaich Abbey, the most important of Pirmins books is Dicta Abbatis Pirminii, de Singulis Libris Canonicis Scarapsus. The book collects quotations from Church Fathers and scriptures, presumably for use by missionaries, written between 710-724, it contains the earliest appearance of the present text of the Apostles Creed. Http, //www. santiebeati. it/dettaglio/76055 Saint Boniface Saint Willibrord Schottenklöster
16.
Egbert Psalter
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The Egbert Psalter is a medieval illuminated manuscript Psalter preserved in the municipal museum of Cividale, Italy. The psalter is an example of the manuscripts associated with the Ottonian Renaissance. It was originally created around the year 980 by the monks of the Abbey of Reichenau for Archbishop Egbert of Trier, in the mid-11th century, the book passed to Gertrude, wife of Iziaslav of Kiev. She included her prayer book as part of the codex and commissioned its illuminations, according to a 16th-century note on folio 8r, Saint Elizabeth gave the codex to the cathedral of Cividale in 1229. The book features a picture of Apostle Peter venerated by Gertrude and her son Yaropolk. It is known that Yaropolk was the first to build a church to St Peter in Kiev, in 1075 he was sent by his dethroned father to Rome in order to secure the Popes support in recompense for bringing Russ under the patronage of St Peter. There are two letters of Pope Gregory VII to the king of Poland and to Svyatoslav II of Kiev admonishing them to return the Kievan throne to Izyaslav
17.
Egbert (archbishop of Trier)
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Egbert was the Archbishop of Trier from 977 until his death. Egbert was a son of Dirk II, Count of Holland, after being trained in Egmond Abbey, founded and controlled by his family, and at the court of Bruno I, Archbishop of Cologne, he became the chancellor of Otto II in 976. The following year he was appointed to the archdiocese of Trier and he accompanied Otto II on visits to Italy in 980 and 983, and may have made other trips there. After Otto IIs death in 983, he joined the party supporting the succession of Henry the Quarrelsome, Duke of Bavaria, rather than Otto III, beginning with his tenure, Trier came to rival Mainz and Cologne as the artistic centre of the Ottonian world. These were the three most important episcopal sees in Germany, who at this period disputed the primacy of the emerging German kingdom between them, when Otto II was crowned in Aachen in 961, all three archbishops had performed the ceremony together. There were also earlier privileges from 969 and 973, Trier was also the old Roman northern capital, still with abundant Roman ruins. Though apparently smoothed over, Egberts initial support for Henry the Quarrelsome as successor to Otto II may have put paid to any chances he had of succeeding in his ambitions for primacy. While secular jewellery supplied a steady stream of work for goldsmiths, ivory carving at this period was mainly for the church, the workshop Egbert is presumed to have established at Trier is the only Ottonian workshop producing enamels that can be clearly located. This last had possibly been given to Theophanu and Otto III to mark Egberts reconciliation with them in 985, elements such as enamel plaques were probably produced at Trier for patrons in other centres, as some surviving correspondence as well actual pieces suggest. It has been suggested that, as there is evidence of the Trier workshop after Egberts death, Mathilde. Egbert commissioned the compilation of the Registrum Gregorii from the letters of Pope Gregory the Great, a number of other manuscripts survive. The square halos given to Egbert in both the portraits illustrated here are one of the elements showing Italian influence on Trier miniatures. Early Medieval Art, Carolingian, Ottonian, Romanesque, Thames & Hudson,1964, ISBN 050020019X Cherry, John, Medieval Goldsmiths, The British Museum Press,2011, ISBN9780714128238 Dodwell, C. R. The Pictorial arts of the West, 800–1200,1993, Yale UP, ISBN0300064934 Head, Art and Artifice in Ottonian Trier. Lasko, Peter, Ars Sacra, 800–1200, Penguin History of Art,1972, ISBN 014056036X Metz, Peter, The Golden Gospels of Echternach,1957, Frederick A. Praeger, LOC 57-5327 Reuter, Germany in the Early Middle Ages 800–1056. New York, Longman,1991, ISBN0582081564, article in the Catholic Encyclopia Egbert in the Portal of Rhenish History Egbert in the Saarland Biographies Egbert. Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities
18.
Saint Peter
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Saint Peter, also known as Simon Peter, Simeon, or Simōn pronunciation, according to the New Testament, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, leaders of the early Christian Great Church. Hippolytus of Rome, a 3rd-century theologian, gave him the title of Apostle of the Apostles, according to Catholic teaching, Peter was ordained by Jesus in the Rock of My Church dialogue in Matthew 16,18. He is traditionally counted as the first Bishop of Rome and by Eastern Christian tradition also as the first Patriarch of Antioch. The ancient Christian churches all venerate Peter as a saint and as founder of the Church of Antioch. The New Testament indicates that Peter was the son of John and was from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee or Gaulanitis and his brother Andrew was also an apostle. According to New Testament accounts, Peter was one of twelve apostles chosen by Jesus from his first disciples, originally a fisherman, he played a leadership role and was with Jesus during events witnessed by only a few apostles, such as the Transfiguration. According to the gospels, Peter confessed Jesus as the Messiah, was part of Jesuss inner circle, thrice denied Jesus and wept bitterly once he realised his deed, according to Christian tradition, Peter was crucified in Rome under Emperor Nero Augustus Caesar. It is traditionally held that he was crucified upside down at his own request, Tradition holds that he was crucified at the site of the Clementine Chapel. His remains are said to be contained in the underground Confessio of St. Peters Basilica. According to Catholic doctrine, the direct successor to Saint Peter is the incumbent pope. Two general epistles in the New Testament are ascribed to Peter, the Gospel of Mark was traditionally thought to show the influence of Peters preaching and eyewitness memories. Peters original name was Shimon or Simeon and he was later given the name Peter, New Testament Greek Πέτρος derived from πέτρα, which means rock. In the Latin translation of the Bible this became Petrus, a form of the feminine petra. Another version of this name is Aramaic, , after his name in Hellenised Aramaic. The English, Dutch and German Peter, French Pierre, the Italian Pietro, the Spanish and Portuguese Pedro, the Syriac or Aramaic word for rock is kepa, which in Greek became Πέτρος, also meaning rock. He is also known as Simon Peter, Cephas and Kepha, both Cephas and Kepha also mean rock. In the New Testament, he is among the first of the disciples called during Jesus ministry, Peter became the first listed apostle ordained by Jesus in the early church. Peter was a fisherman in Bethsaida and he was named Simon, son of Jonah or John
19.
Cuthbert
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Saint Cuthbert was a saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose, and the South East of Scotland. After his death he became one of the most important medieval saints of Northern England, Cuthbert is regarded as the patron saint of northern England. His feast days are 20 March and 4 September, Cuthbert grew up near Melrose Abbey, a daughter-house of Lindisfarne, today in Scotland. He had decided to become a monk after seeing a vision on the night in 651 that St. Aidan, the founder of Lindisfarne, died, but seems to have seen some military service first. He was quickly made guest-master at the new monastery at Ripon, soon after 655, about 662 he was made prior at Melrose, and around 665 went as prior to Lindisfarne. In 684 he was bishop of Lindisfarne but by late 686 resigned and returned to his hermitage as he felt he was about to die. This was around 635, about the time Cuthbert was born, Cuthbert himself, though educated in the Celtic tradition, followed his mentor Eata in accepting the Roman forms without apparent difficulty after the Synod of Whitby in 664. Unlike Wilfrid, his style of life was austere, and when he was able to he lived the life of a hermit, fostering is possibly a sign of noble birth, as are references to his riding a horse when young. One night while still a boy, employed as a shepherd, he had a vision of the soul of Aidan being carried to heaven by angels, and later found out that Aidan had died that night. Edwin Burton finds a suggestion of lowly parentage in the fact that as a boy he used to tend sheep on the mountain-sides near that monastery and he appears to have had military service but at some point joined the very new monastery at Melrose, under the prior Boisil. Upon Boisils death in 661, Cuthbert succeeded him as prior, Saint Cuthbert was possibly a second cousin of King Aldfrith of Northumbria, which may have been the reason for his later proposal that Aldfrith should be crowned as monarch. Cuthberts fame for piety, diligence, and obedience quickly grew, when Alchfrith, king of Deira, founded a new monastery at Ripon, Cuthbert became its praepositus hospitum or guest master under Eata. When Wilfrid was given the monastery, Eata and Cuthbert returned to Melrose, illness struck the monastery in 664 and while Cuthbert recovered, the prior died and Cuthbert was made prior in his place. He spent much time among the people, ministering to their needs, carrying out missionary journeys, preaching. After the Synod of Whitby, Cuthbert seems to have accepted the Roman customs and he is also said to have founded St Cuthberts Church in Edinburgh. Cuthbert retired in 676, moved by a desire for the contemplative life, shortly afterwards, Cuthbert removed to Inner Farne island off the Northumbrian coast, where he gave himself up to a life of great austerity. At first he received visitors, but later he confined himself to his cell and he could not refuse an interview with the holy abbess and royal virgin Elfleda, the daughter of Oswiu of Northumbria, who succeeded St. Hilda as abbess of Whitby in 680
20.
Chester-le-Street
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Chester-le-Street is a town in County Durham, England. Its history goes back to the building of a Roman fort called Concangis and this Roman fort is the Chester of the towns name, the Street refers to the paved Roman road that ran north–south through the town, and which is now called Front Street. Chester-le-Street is located 7 miles south of Newcastle upon Tyne and 8 miles west of Sunderland on the River Wear, a market town, markets are held on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Until 2009 the town had its own local government district and this was formed by the amalgamation in 1974 of the former Chester-le-Street Urban and Rural Districts. It was abolished in 2009 when Durham became an authority as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England. There is evidence of Iron Age use of the River Wear near the town and this was built alongside the Roman road Cades Road and close to the River Wear, around 100 A. D. and was occupied till the Romans left Britain in 410 A. D. At the time the Wear was navigable to at least Concangis, while they were there the town was the centre of Christianity for much of the northeast, because it was the seat of the Bishop of Lindisfarne, making the church a cathedral. There the monks translated into English the Lindisfarne Gospels, which they had brought with them and they stayed for 112 years, leaving in 995 for the safer and more permanent home at Durham. The title has been revived as the Roman Catholic titular see of Cuncacestre, the church was rebuilt in stone in 1054, and despite the loss of its bishopric seems to have retained a degree of wealth and influence. In 1080 most of the huts in the town were burned and many killed in retaliation for the death of William Walcher. Cades Road did not fall out of use but was hidden beneath later roads which became the Great North Road, the route from London. This trade reached a peak in the early 19th century as more and more people and new services were carried by stagecoach. The town was bypassed when the A167 was routed around the town, the coal industry also left its mark on the town. From the late 17th century onwards coal was dug in increasing quantities in the region. At the same time the growth of the mines and the influx of miners supported local businesses, not just the many inns but new shops and these people would later work in new industries established in the town to take advantage of its good communications and access to raw materials. One of the most tragic episodes in the history and that of the coal industry in NE England occurred during a miners strike during the winter of 1811/12. Collieries owned by the Dean and Chapter of Durham Cathedral were brought to a standstill by the strike, causing much hardship amongst the people of the town. The strike was broken on New Years Day,1 January 1812, on the evening of 5 October 1936 the Jarrow Marchers stopped at the town centre after their first days walk
21.
Patron saint
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Catholics believe that patron saints, having already transcended to the metaphysical, are able to intercede effectively for the needs of their special charges. Historically, a practice has also occurred in many Islamic lands. With regard to the omnipresence of this belief, the late Martin Lings wrote. Traditionally, it has been understood that the saint of a particular place prays for that places wellbeing and for the health. Saints often become the patrons of places where they were born or had been active, professions sometimes have a patron saint owing to that individual being involved somewhat with it, although some of the connections were tenuous. Lacking such a saint, an occupation would have a patron whose acts or miracles in some way recall the profession and it is, however, generally discouraged in some Protestant branches such as Calvinism, where the practice is considered a form of idolatry. In Islam, the veneration or commemoration and recognition of saints is found in many branches of traditional Sunnism
22.
Grandes Chroniques de France
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The Grandes Chroniques de France is a vernacular royal compilation of the history of France, most manuscripts of which are luxury copies that are heavily illuminated. Copies were produced between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, the text being extended at intervals to cover recent events and it was continued under his successors until completed in 1461. It covers the Merovingian, Carolingian, and Direct Capetian dynasties of French kings, with illustrations depicting personages, in front of this a number of figures were engaged in key historical moments, especially battles, coronations, weddings and important meetings. There might be over 200 such scenes illustrated, often collected together as individual compartments in a miniature with a decorated framework. By the mid-15th century the number of illustrations was fewer, around 50 even in lavish copies, but the miniatures were larger, scenes of ceremonial moments, now often including large crowds, had become more popular, though battles retained their place. As first written, the Grandes Chroniques traced the history of the French kings from their origins in Troy to the death of Philip II of France, the continuations of the text were drafted first at Saint-Denis and then at the court in Paris. Its final form brought the chronicle down to the death of Charles V in the 1380s, there are also Burgundian variants, which give a different account of the final period, a product of the dissention which finally led to the Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War in 1407-35. The compiler, Abbot Guillaume Fillastre of Saint Bertin, aimed to promote Philips claim to the French throne and he is shown handing over the work to Philip in the presentation miniature by Simon Marmion in Philips copy. Sources for material on the reign of Charlemagne included the Historia Caroli Magni, also known as the Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle, other sources included Abbot Sugers Life of Louis IV. The earliest surviving copy was presented by the monks of St-Denis to Philip III in about 1274, with 36 miniatures and historiated initials by Parisian artists. Especially fine are the lavishly illustrated copies made for Charles V, Louis VII, illuminated by Jean Fouquet and Philip the Good of Burgundy, now in the Russian National Library, Saint Petersburg. During this period, there were no copies of the work that belonged to members of the Parlement or the university community. But from the century a number of unillustrated copies survive on paper or on mixtures of parchment and paper that belonged to secretaries and notaries. Latterly, under the Valois Dukes of Burgundy, it there as well. A unusually late copy, never finished, was begun in Calais in 1487, the miniatures that were completed seem to be by English artists. Altogether only four early print editions were made, all in Paris and these were in 1477,1493,1514 and 1518
23.
Basilica of St Denis
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The Basilica of Saint Denis is a large medieval abbey church in the city of Saint-Denis, now a northern suburb of Paris. The building is of unique importance historically and architecturally as its choir, completed in 1144, the site originated as a Gallo-Roman cemetery in late Roman times. The archeological remains still lie beneath the cathedral, the people buried there seem to have had a faith that was a mix of Christian and pre-Christian beliefs, around 475 St. Genevieve purchased some land and built Saint-Denys de la Chapelle. In 636 on the orders of Dagobert I the relics of Saint Denis, the relics of St-Denis, which had been transferred to the parish church of the town in 1795, were brought back again to the abbey in 1819. Saint-Denis soon became the church of a growing monastic complex. In the 12th century the Abbot Suger rebuilt portions of the church using innovative structural. In doing so, he is said to have created the first truly Gothic building, the abbey church became a cathedral in 1966 and is the seat of the Bishop of Saint-Denis, Pascal Michel Ghislain Delannoy. Although known as the Basilica of St Denis, the cathedral has not been granted the title of Minor Basilica by the Vatican, Saint Denis, a patron saint of France, became the first bishop of Paris. A martyrium was erected on the site of his grave, which became a place of pilgrimage during the fifth and sixth centuries. Dagobert, the king of the Franks, refounded the church as the Abbey of Saint Denis, Dagobert also commissioned a new shrine to house the saints remains, which was created by his chief councillor, Eligius, a goldsmith by training. He composed a crest and a magnificent frontal and surrounded the throne of the altar with golden axes in a circle and he placed golden apples there, round and jeweled. He made a pulpit and a gate of silver and a roof for the throne of the altar on silver axes and he made a covering in the place before the tomb and fabricated an outside altar at the feet of the holy martyr. So much industry did he lavish there, at the kings request, the Basilica of St Denis ranks as an architectural landmark—as the first major structure of which a substantial part was designed and built in the Gothic style. Both stylistically and structurally, it heralded the change from Romanesque architecture to Gothic architecture, before the term Gothic came into common use, it was known as the French Style. As it now stands, the church is a cruciform building of basilica form. It has an aisle on the northern side formed of a row of chapels. The west front has three portals, a window and one tower, on the southern side. The eastern end, which is built over a crypt, is apsidal, surrounded by an ambulatory, the basilica retains stained glass of many periods, including exceptional modern glass, and a set of twelve misericords
24.
Philip III of France
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It can also refer to Philippe III de Croÿ and Philippe III, Duke of Orléans. Philip III, called the Bold, was King of France from 1270 to 1285, Philip proved indecisive, soft in nature, and timid. The strong personalities of his parents apparently crushed him, and policies of his father dominated him, people called him the Bold on the basis of his abilities in combat and on horseback and not on the basis of his political or personal character. He was pious but not cultivated and he followed the suggestions of others, first of Pierre de La Broce and then of his uncle King Charles I of Naples, Sicily, and Albania. His father, Louis IX, died in Tunis during the Eighth Crusade, Philip, who was accompanying him, came back to France to claim his throne and was anointed at Reims in 1271. Philip made numerous territorial acquisitions during his reign, the most notable being the County of Toulouse which was annexed to the Crown lands of France in 1271. Following the Sicilian Vespers, a rebellion triggered by Peter III of Aragon against Philips uncle Charles I of Naples, Philip was forced to retreat and died from dysentry in Perpignan in 1285. He was succeeded by his son Philip the Fair, Philip was born in Poissy to King Saint Louis IX of France and Margaret of Provence, queen consort of France. As a younger son, Philip was not expected to rule a kingdom, at the death of his elder brother Louis in 1260, he became the heir to the throne. He was then 15 years old and has less skill than his brother, being of a character, submissive, timid and versatile. Pope Urban IV released Philip from his oath on June 6,1263, from 1268 Pierre de La Brosse became mentor. Saint Louis also provided him his own advice, writing in particular Enseignements and he also received a very faith-oriented education. Guillaume dErcuis was also his chaplain before being the tutor of his son, as Count of Orléans, he accompanied his father to the Eighth Crusade in Tunis,1270. After taking Carthage, the army was struck by an epidemic of dysentery and his brother John Tristan, Count of Valois died first, on August 3, and on August 25 the king died. To prevent putrefaction of the remains of the sovereign, they recoursed to Mos Teutonicus, Philip, then 25 years old, was proclaimed king in Tunis. With neither great personality or will, very pious, but a good rider and he was unable to command the troops at the death of his father. He left his uncle Charles I of Naples to negotiate with Muhammad I al-Mustansir, Hafsid Sultan of Tunis and he got the payment of tribute from the caliph of Tunis in exchange for the departure of the crusaders. A treaty was concluded October 28,1270 between the kings of France, Sicily and Navarre and the barons on one hand and the caliph of Tunis on the other
25.
Bede
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He is well known as an author and scholar, and his most famous work, Ecclesiastical History of the English People gained him the title The Father of English History. Bedes monastery had access to a library which included works by Eusebius, Orosius. Almost everything that is known of Bedes life is contained in the last chapter of his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, a history of the church in England. It was completed in about 731, and Bede implies that he was then in his fifty-ninth year, a minor source of information is the letter by his disciple Cuthbert which relates Bedes death. Bede, in the Historia, gives his birthplace as on the lands of this monastery, Bede says nothing of his origins, but his connections with men of noble ancestry suggest that his own family was well-to-do. Bedes first abbot was Benedict Biscop, and the names Biscop, Bedes name reflects West Saxon Bīeda. It is an Anglo-Saxon short name formed on the root of bēodan to bid, the name also occurs in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, s. a. 501, as Bieda, one of the sons of the Saxon founder of Portsmouth, the Liber Vitae of Durham Cathedral names two priests with this name, one of whom is presumably Bede himself. Some manuscripts of the Life of Cuthbert, one of Bedes works, mention that Cuthberts own priest was named Bede, at the age of seven, Bede was sent to the monastery of Monkwearmouth by his family to be educated by Benedict Biscop and later by Ceolfrith. Bede does not say whether it was intended at that point that he would be a monk. Monkwearmouths sister monastery at Jarrow was founded by Ceolfrith in 682, in 686, plague broke out at Jarrow. The two managed to do the service of the liturgy until others could be trained. The young boy was almost certainly Bede, who would have been about 14, when Bede was about 17 years old, Adomnán, the abbot of Iona Abbey, visited Monkwearmouth and Jarrow. Bede would probably have met the abbot during this visit, in about 692, in Bedes nineteenth year, Bede was ordained a deacon by his diocesan bishop, John, who was bishop of Hexham. There might have been minor orders ranking below a deacon, in Bedes thirtieth year, he became a priest, with the ordination again performed by Bishop John. In about 701 Bede wrote his first works, the De Arte Metrica and De Schematibus et Tropis and he continued to write for the rest of his life, eventually completing over 60 books, most of which have survived. Not all his output can be dated, and Bede may have worked on some texts over a period of many years. His last-surviving work is a letter to Ecgbert of York, a former student, Bede may also have worked on one of the Latin bibles that were copied at Jarrow, one of which is now held by the Laurentian Library in Florence
26.
Dirk II, Count of Holland
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Dirk II or Theoderic II was Count in Frisia and Holland. He was the son of Count Dirk I and Geva, Count Dirk II built a fortress near Vlaardingen, which later was the site of a battle between his grandson Dirk III and an Imperial army under Godfrey II, Duke of Lower Lorraine. Dirk II rebuilt Egmond Abbey and its church in stone to house the relics of Saint Adalbert. Adalbert was not well known at time, but he was said to have preached Christianity in the immediate surroundings two centuries earlier. The abbey was given to a community of Benedictine monks from Ghent and his daughter Erlint, Erlinde or Herlinde, who was abbess at the time, was made abbess of the newly founded Bennebroek Abbey instead. Dirk married Hildegarde, and had three known children and his son Arnulf became Count of Holland and Frisia after Dirks death. The younger son Egbert became Archbishop of Trier in 977 and his daughter Erlinde was abbess of Egmond Abbey, until that institution was changed by her father from a nunnery into a monastery, after which she became abbess of Bennebroek. Dirk died in 988 and was buried in the church at Egmond Abbey. Hildegard died two years later and was buried there. Geerts. com, History of Holland Cawley, Charles, Medieval Lands Project, Holland and Frisia, Medieval Lands database, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy
27.
Egmond Gospels
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The Egmond Gospels is a 9th-century Gospel Book written in Latin and accompanied by illustrations. It is named after the Egmond Abbey, to which it was given by Dirk II, and it is most famous for being the earliest surviving manuscript showing scenes with Dutch people and buildings, and represents one of the oldest surviving Christian art treasures from the Netherlands. The manuscript has been owned by the National Library of the Netherlands since 1830, the manuscript consists of 218 vellum folios measuring 232 by 207 mm. Its Latin text is written in a column of Carolingian minuscule of 20 lines measuring 156 by 126 mm. Its original binding was made of oak boards covered in gold and set with gemstones, in another description from 1805, Hendrik van Wijn describes a biding of wooden boards covered in brown leather, unmarked except for the date 1574. This is likely the year when the binding was removed. Its current binding is made of white skin and dates to a restoration in 1995. The manuscript was written in the quarter of the 9th century in northwestern France. It is not known who commissioned it, around 900, eight folios were added to the manuscript, two at the beginning of each gospel. On the verso side of the first folio is the evangelists symbol, the second folios verso side displays the incipit. The text on the page was adjusted to reproduce the first letters of the text in large. It is still possible to see places where the text was taken out, for example folio 19 recto. A space above the first line XPI FILII DAVID FILII ABRAHAM is clearly visible, the page likely originally began, ‘INC EVANG SCDM MATTHEUM / LIBER GENERATIONIS / IHU XPI FILII DAVID FILII ABRAHAM. The removed text was rewritten in decorative letters on the added folios 17v, 18r, at this time the manuscripts current canon tables were also added. These seven folios precede the Gospel of Matthew and may have replaced the original canon tables, the manuscript later came into the hands of the Frisian count Dirk II, who had its binding richly gilded and decorated with gemstones. He also added two miniatures paintings, in a diptych, in the back of the manuscript and these depict him and his consort, Hildegard of Flanders, giving the manuscript to the Egmond Abbey. The miniature paintings were added in Ghent between 975-988, while the gift itself took place in 975. The left miniature on folio 214 verso shows Dirk and Hildegard underneath an arched structure with the gospel book lying on an altar
28.
Egmond Abbey
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Founded in 920-925 and destroyed in the Reformation, it was re-founded in 1935 as the present Sint-Adelbertabdij, under the Diocese of Haarlem. The Benedictine abbey was founded by Dirk I, Count of Holland and it was a nunnery that, according to local tradition, had been there since Saints Adalbert and Willibrord landed in 760. In about 950 work began on a church to replace by the wooden one, as a gift from Dirk II, Count of Holland. The consecration of the new church took place in or shortly after 975. This was the oldest monastery of the Holland region. Dirk I, the founder, was buried there, as were many subsequent counts of Holland and members of their families, including Dirk II, Arnulf, Count of Holland, Dirk III, Floris I, Dirk V, and Floris II. The Count Lamoral, owner of the castle, was beheaded in 1568. Shortly afterwards, in 1573, the abbey was dissolved and laid waste just before the siege of Alkmaar on the orders of Diederik Sonoy to prevent it being used by the Spanish. The abbeys income was diverted by the stadtholder to the financing of his educational project, north of the abbey is the site of Egmond Castle in Egmond aan den Hoef. The castle was built by the knight Berwout van Egmond in 1129 and this was the origin of the House of Egmond. The relationship quickly turned into a struggle between the Egmond family and the abbots that lasted for centuries. Just like the abbey, the castle was destroyed in 1573, the chapel was later restored by the Dutch Protestant church, but the castle was never rebuilt. The foundations are visible and the land surrounding the old moat. In 1933 a new Benedictine community, the Sint-Adelbertabdij, was founded on the site of the former Egmond Abbey, the first buildings, designed by Alexander Kropholler were constructed in 1935. and the community was repopulated with monks. Buildings were refurbished and extended in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the farmlands were put back to use, though since 1989 however the agricultural lands have been let to a farmer since the monks were no longer able to do the heavy farmwork. A candle-making operation was started in 1945 to support the community, in 1984 the relics of Saint Adalbert were returned here, having been kept safe in Haarlem since the destruction of the previous monastery in the 16th century, and are enshrined beneath the altar. In the spring of 2003 the monks had solar panels installed which were promptly stolen two weeks later, a loss of E20,000, an online collection was held to help pay for new panels. In recent decades the current monastery has been able to recover many lost relics, the old abbey had been of great importance to artists, and much of that art has survived, against all odds
29.
Saint Walpurga
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Saint Walpurga or Walburga, also spelled Valderburg or Guibor, was an English missionary to the Frankish Empire. She was canonized on 1 May ca.870 by Pope Adrian II, walpurgis Night is the name for the eve of her day, which coincides with May Day. Walpurga was born in the county of Devonshire, England, into an aristocratic family. Saint Richard is buried in the Basilica of San Frediano, Lucca, Saint Richard is also known as Richard the Saxon Pilgrim, of Droitwich. St. Richard, when starting with his two sons on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, entrusted Walburga, then 11 years old, Walpurga was educated by the nuns of Wimborne Abbey, Dorset, where she spent 26 years as a member of the community. She then travelled with her brothers, Willibald and Winebald, to Francia to assist Saint Boniface, her mothers brother, because of her rigorous training, she was able to write her brother Winibalds vita and an account in Latin of his travels in Palestine. As a result, she is called the first female author of both England and Germany. Walpurga became a nun in the monastery of Heidenheim am Hahnenkamm, which was founded by her other brother, Willibald. Following his death in 751, she became the abbess, Walpurga died on 25 February 777 or 779 and was buried at Heidenheim, the day carries her name in the Catholic church calendar. In the 870s, Walpurgas remains were transferred to Eichstätt, in Finland, Sweden, and Bavaria, her feast day commemorates the transfer of her relics on 1 May. At Eichstätt, her bones were placed in a niche, which allegedly began to exude a miraculously therapeutic oil. The earliest representation of Walpurga, in the early 11th-century Hitda Codex, made in Cologne, in other depictions the object has been called a palm branch, which is not correct, since Walpurga was not martyred. The grain attribute has been interpreted as an occasion where a Christian saint came to represent the older concept of the Grain Mother. Peasant farmers fashioned her replica in a corn dolly at harvest time, the Church of St. Walburge, a Roman Catholic church in Preston, Lancashire, England, is a church famous for having the tallest spire of any parish church in England. St. Walburgas Abbey is located at Eichstätt, a second Benedictine Abbey of St. Walburga is located in Virginia Dale, Colorado, near the Wyoming border. The abbey is home to approximately 20 contemplative Catholic nuns and also has a retreat center, at 309 ft. the spire of St. Walburges Church in Preston is the tallest of any parish church in England with only the spires of Salisbury and Norwich Cathedrals reaching higher. Central in the first fortified city of Antwerp, from the 11th century, was the dedicated to St. Walburga. Under French occupation in 1798 the church was confiscated and sold, in 1816 the Dutch government confiscated the church building, and in 1817 it was demolished
30.
Seeon Abbey
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Seeon Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in the municipality of Seeon-Seebruck in the rural district of Traunstein in Bavaria, Germany. Seeon Abbey was founded in 994 by the Bavarian Pfalzgraf Aribo I, a member of the Aribonid dynasty, the monastery is on an island in the lake Seeoner See, part of the present-day municipality of Seeon-Seebruck. The abbey soon developed a significant scriptorium, producing not only for the abbeys own use. Their most important client was Emperor Henry II, who presented many volumes to the Bishopric of Bamberg, more alterations in the late Gothic style were carried out between 1428 and 1433 by Konrad Pürkhel of Burghausen. The Romanesque basilica was given a vaulted ceiling and a new choir, also of special note is the red marble gravestone of Abbot Honorat Kolb and the gravestones of the abbots of the 15th and 16th centuries lined up against the walls of the castle chapel. In the middle stands the tomb of the founder, Count Aribo I, the restored cloisters are also worth seeing. The original of the Madonna and Child is considered one of the most beautiful representations of the subject, since 1855 it has been in the Bavarian National Museum in Munich, but a copy has stood since 1947 on the high altar of the present parish church. The sacristy at Seeon contains a far older Madonna of about 1380, the church originally had only one tower, that is, the north one, built to the model of that at Frauenchiemsee. The second tower was added at the end of the 12th century, the Romanesque towers are reminiscent of Freising Cathedral and, like the Frauenkirche at Munich, have copper onion towers, which were added after a fire in 1561. Between 1657 and 1670 the church was extended by the construction of a sacristy in the Lady Chapel, an oratory and a crypt beneath the chapel of Saint Barbara. Until the secularisation of Bavaria in 1803 Seeon was a place of learning and culture, Joseph Haydn was a guest here, and Mozart was active here between 1767 and 1769. After 1803 the abbey was dissolved and the buildings were turned into a castle, the infirmary and the library were demolished, and a causeway constructed connecting the island to the mainland. Frederick II, Count of Diessen Engelbert, Duke of Carinthia ^ Encomium by Gerhard of Seeon on Emperor Henry II and his foundation at Bamberg
31.
Pope Gregory I
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Pope Saint Gregory I, commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was pope of the Catholic Church from 3 September 590 to his death in 604. Gregory is famous for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome to convert a pagan people to Christianity, Gregory is also well known for his writings, which were more prolific than those of any of his predecessors as pope. He is also known as the Great Visionary of Modern Educational System, for his writings, the epithet Saint Gregory the Dialogist has been attached to him in Eastern Christianity because of his Dialogues. For this reason, English translations of Eastern texts will sometimes list him as Gregory Dialogos or the Latinized equivalent Dialogus. A senators son and himself the Prefect of Rome at 30, Gregory tried the monastery but soon returned to public life, ending his life. Although he was the first pope from a background, his prior political experiences may have helped him to be a talented administrator. Gregory regained papal authority in Spain and France, and sent missionaries to England, the realignment of barbarian allegiance to Rome from their Arian Christian alliances shaped medieval Europe. Gregory saw Franks, Lombards, and Visigoths align with Rome in religion, throughout the Middle Ages he was known as the Father of Christian Worship because of his exceptional efforts in revising the Roman worship of his day. His contributions to the development of the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, Gregory is a Doctor of the Church and one of the Latin Fathers. He is considered a saint in the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, immediately after his death, Gregory was canonized by popular acclaim. The Protestant reformer John Calvin admired Gregory and declared in his Institutes that Gregory was the last good pope and he is the patron saint of musicians, singers, students, and teachers. The exact date of Gregorys birth is uncertain, but is estimated to be around the year 540. The medieval writer who provided this etymology did not hesitate to apply it to the life of Gregory, aelfric states, He was very diligent in Gods Commandments. Gregory was born into a wealthy patrician Roman family with connections to the church. Gregorys mother, Silvia, was well-born, and had a sister, Pateria. His mother and two aunts are honored by Catholic and Orthodox churches as saints. Gregorys great-great-grandfather had been Pope Felix III, the nominee of the Gothic king, Gregorys election to the throne of St Peter made his family the most distinguished clerical dynasty of the period. The family owned and resided in a villa suburbana on the Caelian Hill, the north of the street runs into the Colosseum, the south, the Circus Maximus
32.
Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor
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Henry II, also known as Saint Henry, Obl. S. B. was Holy Roman Emperor from 1014 until his death in 1024 and the last member of the Ottonian dynasty of Emperors as he had no children. The son of Henry II, Duke of Bavaria and his wife Gisela of Burgundy, Emperor Henry II was a great-grandson of German King Henry I, since his father had rebelled against two previous emperors, the younger Henry was often in exile. This led him to turn to the Church at an age, first finding refuge with the Bishop of Freising. He succeeded his father as Duke of Bavaria in 995 as Henry IV, as Duke, he attempted to join his second-cousin, Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, in suppressing a revolt against imperial rule in Italy in 1002. Before Henry II could arrive, however, Otto III died of fever, after defeating several other claimants to the throne, Henry II was crowned as King of Germany on July 9,1002 and as King of Italy on 15 May 1004. Henry II in 1004 aided Jaromír, Duke of Bohemia against the Poles, unlike his predecessor, who had focused upon imperial attention in Italy, Henry spent most of his reign concerned with imperial territory north of the Alps. His main focus was on a series of wars against the Polish Duke Bolesław I, on 14 February 1014, Pope Benedict VIII crowned Henry as Holy Roman Emperor in Rome. The rule of Henry II is seen as a period of centralized authority throughout the Empire and he consolidated his power by cultivating personal and political ties with the Catholic Church. He greatly expanded the Ottonian dynastys custom of employing clergy as counter-weights against secular nobles, through donations to the Church and the establishment of new dioceses, Henry strengthened imperial rule across the Empire and increased control over ecclesiastical affairs. He stressed service to the Church and promoted monastic reform, for his personal holiness and efforts to support the Church, Pope Bl. Eugene III canonized him in 1146, making Henry II the only German monarch to be a saint, Henry II married Cunigunde of Luxembourg, who later became his queen and empress. As the union produced no children, after Henrys death the German nobles elected Conrad II, Conrad was the first of the Salian dynasty of Emperors. Henry was born in May 973, the son of Duke Henry II, Duke of Bavaria, through his father, he was the grandson of Henry I, Duke of Bavaria, and the great-grandson of King Henry I of Germany. By his mother, he was the grandson of King Conrad I of Burgundy, the elder Henry came into conflict with his cousin Holy Roman Emperor Otto II, in 974. After an initial failed revolt, Otto II imprisoned the elder Henry in Ingelheim, after escaping, Henry again revolted against Otto II. When this second failed, Otto II deposed Henry as Duke of Bavaria. As a consequence of his revolt, the Emperor stripped the Duchy of Bavaria of its southeastern territories bordering Italy, during his fathers exile, the younger Henry lived in Hildesheim. As a child he was educated in the Christian faith by Saint Wolfgang, bishop of Regensburg, the Emperor himself ensured the younger Henry received an ecclesiastical education in order that by becoming a religious official he would be prevented from participating in the Imperial government
33.
Valet de chambre
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Valet de chambre, or varlet de chambre, was a court appointment introduced in the late Middle Ages, common from the 14th century onwards. Royal households had many persons appointed at any time, while some valets simply waited on the patron, or looked after his clothes and other personal needs, itself potentially a powerful and lucrative position, others had more specialized functions. At the most prestigious level it could be akin to a monarch or rulers personal secretary, for noblemen pursuing a career as courtiers, like Étienne de Vesc, it was a common early step on the ladder to higher offices. For some this brought entry into the court business of asking for favours on behalf of clients. Valets might supply specialized services of various kinds to the patron, as artists, musicians, poets, scholars, librarians, doctors or apothecaries and curators of collections. Valets comprised a mixture of nobles hoping to rise in their career, the Grooms of the Privy Chamber and of the Stool were more important posts, because involving closer access, and usually held by the well-born, often knights. The Groom-Porters job was to all matters to do with gaming at court, providing the cards. In Russia Stolnik was broadly equivalent, until Peter the Great introduced new titles in 1722, valet de chambre also became used outside courts to refer to normal manservants. Sometimes, as in Spain and England, different bodies of valets were responsible for the bedroom, often, the moment the ruler went outdoors a whole new division of staff took over. The valet would frequently be housed, at least when working in the palace, lump-sums might be paid to the valet, especially to provide a dowry for a daughter, sons were often able to join the court as well. The patron retained the services of the valet de chambre-artist or musician, sometimes exclusively, the degree to which valets with special skills were expected to perform the normal serving tasks of valets no doubt varied greatly, and remains obscure from at least the earlier records. Probably many were expected to be on hand for service on major occasions, in turn the valets were able to give orders to the huissiers or ushers, footmen, pages, and other ordinary servants. In fact Jan van Eyck, one of the many artists, in England the artists of the Tudor court, as well as the musicians, had other dedicated offices to fill, so that artistic valets or Grooms were mainly literary or dramatic. But these included whole companies of actors, who in practice seem to have gone their own way outside their performances, except for being drafted in to help on specially busy occasions. Over the previous Christmas, the company had been housed at Hampton Court Palace, several miles outside London. Some courtier artists took their careers very seriously. Geoffrey Chaucer held a number of roles as a diplomat and what we would now call a civil servant, Diego Velázquez was appointed Kings painter in 1623, at the age of 24, and held this position until his death at the age of 61. In addition, he progressed through the hierarchy of courtiers as usher in the chamber in 1627, Assistant in the Wardrobe
34.
Charles V of France
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Charles V, called the Wise, was a monarch of the House of Valois who ruled as King of France from 1364 to his death. In 1349, as a prince, Charles received from his grandfather King Philip VI the province of Dauphiné to rule. This allowed him to bear the title Dauphin until his coronation, after 1350, all heirs apparent of France bore the title of Dauphin until their coronation. Charles became regent of France when his father John II was captured by the English at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356. With the help of talented advisers known as the Marmousets, his management of the kingdom allowed him to replenish the royal treasury. He established the first permanent army paid with regular wages, which liberated the French populace from the companies of routiers who regularly plundered the country when not employed. Furthermore, the French Navy, led by Jean de Vienne and he was succeeded by his son Charles VI the Mad, whose disastrous reign allowed the English to regain control of large parts of France. Charles was born at the Château de Vincennes outside of Paris, the future king was highly intelligent but physically weak, with pale skin and a thin, ill-proportioned body. This made a sharp contrast to his father, who was tall, strong, as neither the pope nor the emperor wanted to buy, the transaction was concluded with Philip VI. Under the Treaty of Romans, the Dauphiné of Viennois was to be held by a son of the future king John the Good, so it was Charles, the eldest son of the latter, who became the first Dauphin. At the age of twelve, he was confronted with the exercise of power while staying in Grenoble. A few days after his arrival, the people of Grenoble were invited to the Place Notre-Dame, young Charles took his place next to Bishop John of Chissé and received the oath of allegiance of the people. On April 8,1350 at Tain-lHermitage, the Dauphin married his cousin Joanna of Bourbon at the age of 12, the prior approval of the pope was obtained for this consanguineous marriage. The marriage was delayed by the death of his mother Bonne of Luxembourg and his grandmother Joan the Lame, the dauphin himself had been seriously ill from August to December 1349. Gatherings were limited to slow the spread of the then raging in Europe. Despite his young age, the applied to be recognized by his subjects. Charles was recalled to Paris at the death of his grandfather Philip VI, the legitimacy of John the Good, and that of the Valois in general, was not unanimous. His father, Philip VI, had lost all credibility with the disasters of Crecy, Calais, the ravages of the plague, the royal clan had to cope with opposition from all sides in the kingdom
35.
Bible Historiale
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The Bible Historiale was the predominant medieval translation of the Bible into French. The composite work is organized into parts labeled text, i. e, the work was copied in many manuscripts, of which more than a hundred survive, most of them richly illuminated, some with more than 300 miniatures. Genesis is typically especially heavily illustrated, the French name is usually used in English, at least partly because scholars differ as to whether Historiale should be translated as historical or historiated. Contents vary tremendously among manuscript copies, one manuscript, London, British Library Royal MS19 D III, includes some apocryphal stories whose translation is also attributed to Guyart. King Charles VIII of France, near the end of his life and it was also widely owned, in manuscript and print, in England, Flanders and modern-day Belgium, and today one may find copies in libraries around the world. While the Bible historiale was by far the most popular medieval French translation of the Bible, verse adaptations of the Bible first appeared in the latter part of the 12th century, with more or less complete prose French Bibles appearing in the mid thirteenth century. These were the Thirteenth-Century Bible, probably completed between 1230 and 1250 at the University of Paris and the Acre Bible, written between 1250 and 1254 in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. S. Berger, La Bible romane au Moyen Âge, Bibles provençales, vaudoises, catalanes, italiennes, castillanes et portugaises, Genève, histoire de la Vulgate pendant les premiers siècles du Moyen Âge, Paris, Hachette,1893. De l’histoire de la Vulgate en France, leçon d’ouverture faite le 4 novembre 1887, Paris, Fischbacher,1887. Des Essais qui ont été faits à Paris au treizième siècle pour corriger le texte de la Vulgate, Paris, La Bible française au Moyen Âge, étude sur les plus anciennes versions de la Bible écrites en prose de langue d’oil, Genève, Slatkine Reprints,1967. Guyart des Moulins Bible historiale ou Bible française, édition de Jean de Rely,1543, J. J. Rive, La Chasse aux antiquaires et bibliographes mal avisés, Londres, N. Aphobe,1787. P. Paris, Les Manuscrits français de la bibliothèque du roi, Paris, Techener, place du Louvre,1836, I-VII. M. Quereuil, La Bible française du XIIIe siècle, édition critique de la Genèse, Genève, Droz, « Publications Romanes et Françaises »,1988. Salvador Vérité et écriture, Paris, Champion,2005 « L’utilisation du pont dans la théologie chrétienne médiévale », Les Ponts au Moyen Âge, Paris, Presses universitaires de France,2005. « L’example de derechief dans la traduction de la Bible historiale », Actes des XIe journée d’ancien et de moyen français, F. Vieillard, « Compte rendu de l’édition de la Bible du XIIIe », Romania, n°109, p. 131–137. 15th century illuminated MS from the New York Public Library 14th century MS in the Getty Museum Petrus Comestor, Bible historiale
36.
Louvre
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The Louvre or the Louvre Museum is the worlds largest museum and a historic monument in Paris, France. A central landmark of the city, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the citys 1st arrondissement, approximately 38,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century are exhibited over an area of 72,735 square metres. The Louvre is the second most visited museum after the Palace Museum in China. The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace, originally built as a fortress in the late 12th century under Philip II, remnants of the fortress are visible in the basement of the museum. Due to the expansion of the city, the fortress eventually lost its defensive function and. The building was extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace, in 1692, the building was occupied by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres and the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, which in 1699 held the first of a series of salons. The Académie remained at the Louvre for 100 years, during the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum to display the nations masterpieces. The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, because of structural problems with the building, the museum was closed in 1796 until 1801. The collection was increased under Napoleon and the museum renamed Musée Napoléon, the collection was further increased during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X, and during the Second French Empire the museum gained 20,000 pieces. Holdings have grown steadily through donations and bequests since the Third Republic, whether this was the first building on that spot is not known, it is possible that Philip modified an existing tower. According to the authoritative Grand Larousse encyclopédique, the name derives from an association with wolf hunting den, in the 7th century, St. Fare, an abbess in Meaux, left part of her Villa called Luvra situated in the region of Paris to a monastery. This territory probably did not correspond exactly to the modern site, the Louvre Palace was altered frequently throughout the Middle Ages. In the 14th century, Charles V converted the building into a residence and in 1546, Francis acquired what would become the nucleus of the Louvres holdings, his acquisitions including Leonardo da Vincis Mona Lisa. After Louis XIV chose Versailles as his residence in 1682, constructions slowed, however, on 14 October 1750, Louis XV agreed and sanctioned a display of 96 pieces from the royal collection, mounted in the Galerie royale de peinture of the Luxembourg Palace. Under Louis XVI, the museum idea became policy. The comte dAngiviller broadened the collection and in 1776 proposed conversion of the Grande Galerie of the Louvre – which contained maps – into the French Museum, many proposals were offered for the Louvres renovation into a museum, however, none was agreed on. Hence the museum remained incomplete until the French Revolution, during the French Revolution the Louvre was transformed into a public museum. In May 1791, the Assembly declared that the Louvre would be a place for bringing together monuments of all the sciences, on 10 August 1792, Louis XVI was imprisoned and the royal collection in the Louvre became national property
37.
Louis de Gruuthuse
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Lewis de Bruges, Lord of Gruuthuse, Prince of Steenhuijs, Earl of Winchester, was a Flemish, courtier, bibliophile, soldier and nobleman. He was awarded the title of Earl of Winchester by king Edward IV of England in 1472, in the Tournament of the White Bear, held in Bruges every year, Loys took part in 1443,1444,1447,1448 and 1450. He often won one of the prizes and this caught the eye of the Duke of Burgundy and Count of Flanders, Philip the Good, who made Loys his squire and official wine server, an honorary title bestowed on only a few selected men. As a courtier Loys followed the Duke around his expanding duchy, meeting with the highest nobles and princes in Europe he learned the art of diplomacy and secured his place within the Burgundian court. On 19 April 1450 Loys of Gruuthuse again took part in the Tournament of the White Bear and this was his last tournament in Bruges, but a real war now came. The crisis with the town of Ghent about a salt tax reached its zenith, during this Salt War Loys was appointed governor of Bruges and he proved to be a brave and loyal ally to the duke. During the winter of 1452-1453 the Salt War laid Flanders countryside to waste, so when spring came the duke gathered his army, Loys was knighted on 23 July 1453 on the battlefield of Gavere and he was given command of the rearguard. The battle was a disaster for Ghent and its army was destroyed and blood coloured the river Scheldt red. Loys feared the devastation of Ghent and asked the duke to spare the city of plunder, the dukes merciful answer was, If I would destroy this city, who is going to build me one like it. After the war Loys became a councillor and was sufficiently trusted to arrange the wedding between Charles de Charolais, the dukes son and Margaret of York, sister to the king of England. In 1454 he was present at the Feast of the Pheasant in Lille, in 1455 he himself married Margaretha, lady of Borssele, of the most prominent noble family of Zeeland, related to the Scottish and French royal families and to the dukes of Burgundy. Their first son, Jean V, was born in 1458, in 1461 Loys was made a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece. He now bore the titles of Siege de Bruges, prince of Steenhuijse, lord of Avelghem, Haamstede, Oostkamp, Beveren, Thielt-ten-Hove and Spiere. Between 1463 and 1477 he held the position of lieutenant-general in The Hague as the dukes highest official in the provinces of Holland, Zeeland, during the winter of 1470-1471 Gruuthuse hosted King Edward IV, an exile from the Wars of the Roses. In return Edward later gave Gruuthuse the hereditary title of Earl of Winchester, Charles de Charolais, later to be known as Charles the Bold or the Rash, succeeded his father in 1467. Gruuthuse became his trusted councillor as well, after the dukes untimely death on the battlefield at the gates of Nancy he also took care of Charles’ daughter Mary of Burgundy, also known as Maria the Rich. Grateful for his support in the times after her fathers death she appointed him chamberlain to her young son Philip. Louis of Gruuthuse died on 24 November 1492 in his palace at Bruges and it is said that a great thunderstorm raged over the city at the time of his burial
38.
Giovanni Boccaccio
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Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Boccaccio wrote a number of works, including The Decameron. The details of Boccaccios birth are uncertain and he was born in Florence or in a village near Certaldo where his family was from. He was the son of Florentine merchant Boccaccino di Chellino and an unknown woman, Boccaccios stepmother was called Margherita de Mardoli. His father worked for the Compagnia dei Bardi and, in the 1320s, married Margherita dei Mardoli, Boccaccio may have been tutored by Giovanni Mazzuoli and received from him an early introduction to the works of Dante. In 1326, his father was appointed head of a bank, Boccaccio was an apprentice at the bank but disliked the banking profession. He persuaded his father to let him study law at the Studium and he also pursued his interest in scientific and literary studies. His father introduced him to the Neapolitan nobility and the French-influenced court of Robert the Wise in the 1330s, at this time, he fell in love with a married daughter of the king, who is portrayed as Fiammetta in many of Boccaccios prose romances, including Il Filocolo. Acciaioli later became counselor to Queen Joanna I of Naples and, eventually and it seems that Boccaccio enjoyed law no more than banking, but his studies allowed him the opportunity to study widely and make good contacts with fellow scholars. His early influences included Paolo da Perugia, humanists Barbato da Sulmona and Giovanni Barrili, in Naples, Boccaccio began what he considered his true vocation of poetry. Works produced in this period include Il Filostrato and Teseida, The Filocolo, the period featured considerable formal innovation, including possibly the introduction of the Sicilian octave, where it influenced Petrarch. Boccaccio returned to Florence in early 1341, avoiding the plague of 1340 in that city and he had left Naples due to tensions between the Angevin king and Florence. His father had returned to Florence in 1338, where he had gone bankrupt, the pastoral piece Ninfale fiesolano probably dates from this time, also. In 1343, Boccaccios father remarried to Bice del Bostichi and his children by his first marriage had all died, but he had another son named Iacopo in 1344. In Florence, the overthrow of Walter of Brienne brought about the government of popolo minuto and it diminished the influence of the nobility and the wealthier merchant classes and assisted in the relative decline of Florence. The city was further in 1348 by the Black Death. From 1347, Boccaccio spent much time in Ravenna, seeking new patronage and, despite his claims and his stepmother died during the epidemic and his father was closely associated with the government efforts as Minister of Supply in the city. His father died in 1349 and Boccaccio was forced into an active role as head of the family
39.
Bibliophilia
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Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books, and a bibliophile or bookworm is an individual who loves books. The classic bibliophile is one who loves to read, admire and collect books, often amassing a large, Bibliophiles do not necessarily want to possess the books that they love, an alternative would be unusual bindings, autographed copies, etc. The New York Public Library follows the same practice, according to Arthur H. Minters, the private collecting of books was a fashion indulged in by many Romans, including Cicero and Atticus. The term bibliophile entered the English language in 1824, lord Spencer and the Marquess of Blandford were noted bibliophiles. J. P. Morgan was also a noted bibliophile, in 1884, he paid $24,750 for a 1459 edition of the Mainz Psalter. Antiquarian book trade in the United States Book collecting The Book Club of Detroit Caxton Club The Club of Odd Volumes Grolier Club Oxford University Society of Bibliophiles Merriam-Webster, a Gentle Madness, Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books, Henry Holt and Company, Inc. The love of books, The Philobiblon translated by E. C. Thomas, london, Frances Lincoln ISBN 0-7112-2685-7 Thomas Frognall Dibdin. The Committed Reader, Reading for Utility, Pleasure, and Fulfillment in the Twenty-First Century, forbes article on bibliomania by Finn-Olaf Jones, December 12,2005
40.
Pseudo-Seneca
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It was originally believed to depict Seneca the Younger, the notable Roman philosopher, because its emaciated features were supposed to reflect his Stoic philosophy. However, modern scholars agree it is likely a fictitious portrait and it is thought that the original example was a lost Greek bronze of ca.200 BCE. The bust is conserved in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, Pseudo-Seneca is also used for the uncertain authors of various antique and medieval texts such as De remediis fortuitorum, which purport to be by the Roman author. At least some of these seem to preserve and adapt genuine Senecan content, for example Saint Martin of Bragas Formula vitae honestae, or De differentiis quatuor virtutumvitae honestae. Early Mss. preserve Martins preface, where he makes it clear that this was his adaption, but in later copies this was omitted, and the work became thought fully Senecas work. At a time when the image of the great man was more inspiring than the quality. By the 17th century, about a dozen examples of the intense and haggard Pseudo-Seneca had been discovered, an early 17th-century version of the head now among the Arundel marbles at the Ashmolean Museum was probably owned by the court painter Peter Paul Rubens. An engraving of it was published in the series of folios that appeared under the royal patronage of Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies. In 1813 a Roman image of Seneca was found on an inscribed marble herm portrait, gisela Richter suggested that Hesiod seemed to be the most acceptable, a suggestion that other commentators have endorsed. Erika Simon believed that it represented Hesiod and that the lost original was created in the circle of Krates of Mallos and the frieze-sculptors of the Pergamon Altar. We can therefore be quite certain that the person depicted must have been famous, as is proven by the large number of copies to survive. The original should be ascribed to the trend of realistic virtuosity, media related to Pseudo-Seneca at Wikimedia Commons
41.
Margaret of York
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Margaret of York – also by marriage known as Margaret of Burgundy – was Duchess of Burgundy as the third wife of Charles the Bold and acted as a protector of the Duchy after his death. She was a daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, and she was born at Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, England, and she died at Mechelen in the Low Countries. She believed that Burgundian trade, from which the Duchy drew its vast wealth, for this reason she was prepared to favour any English faction which was willing to favour Burgundy. By 1454, she favoured the House of York, headed by Margarets father, the negotiations petered out, however, due to power struggles in England, and the preference of Charles father, Philip the Good, for a French alliance. Philip had Charles betrothed to Isabella of Bourbon, the daughter of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon, and Agnes of Burgundy, in late March 1454, and the pair were married on 31 October 1454. Margaret, being a useful bargaining tool to her family, was unmarried at age 19. She had borne Charles only a daughter, Mary, which made it an imperative for him to remarry and father a son. Because of this, Charles sent his advisor, Guillaume de Clugny, to London weeks after the death of his wife. The marriage did not take place immediately, however, but added problems were introduced by the French, Louis XI did not want an alliance between Burgundy and England, his two greatest enemies. Edward showed interest in the two propositions, offending Charles the Bold, and delaying the Anglo-Burgundian relations. Instead, in 1466, Margaret was betrothed to Peter, Constable of Portugal, Peter was himself a nephew of Duchess Isabella of Burgundy, and the betrothal thus signified an attempt to placate Burgundy. It was not to be, however, worn out by illness, disappointments, sorrow and overwork, Peter died on 29 June 1466, by 1467, the situation had changed again. Philip the Good had died, and Charles the Bold had become Duke of Burgundy, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, had turned against Edward IV, and was plotting against him with French support. Edward in such circumstances needed the support of Charles, and provided no further obstacles to the marriage negotiations, negotiations between the Dukes mother, Isabella, and the King of Englands in-laws, Lord Scales and Earl Rivers, then proceeded between December 1467 and June 1468. By the terms of the contract, Margaret retained her rights to the English throne. For his own part, Charles dowered Margaret with the cities of Mechelen, the marriage contract was completed in February 1468, and signed by Edward IV in March. The Papal dispensation arrived in late May, and preparations to send Margaret to Burgundy began, Margaret left Margate for Sluys on 23 June 1468. Lord Scales and Richard Boyville were among those who escorted her to meet her future bridegroom, despite Louis XI having ordered his ships to seize her on her journey, her convoy crossed without incident, reaching Sluys on the evening of the 25th
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Seneca the Younger
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Seneca the Younger, fully Lucius Annaeus Seneca and also known simply as Seneca, was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and—in one work—humorist of the Silver Age of Latin literature. As a tragedian, he is best-known for his Medea and Thyestes and he was a tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero. He was forced to take his own life for alleged complicity in the Pisonian conspiracy to assassinate Nero, however, some sources state that he may have been innocent. His father was Seneca the Elder, his brother was Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus. Seneca was born in Cordoba in Hispania, and raised in Rome, griffin also infers from the ancient sources that Seneca was born in either 8,4, or 1 BC. She thinks he was born between 4 and 1 BC and was a resident in Rome by AD5, Seneca says that he was carried to Rome in the arms of his mothers stepsister. Griffin says that, allowing for rhetorical exaggeration, means it is fair to conclude that Seneca was in Rome as a small boy. Be that as it may, it is clear that he was in Rome at an early stage in his life. Caligula and Fabius were critics of his works, and Columella, Pliny, Tacitus, from AD54 to 62, Seneca acted as Neros advisor, together with the praetorian prefect Sextus Afranius Burrus. One byproduct of his influence was that Seneca was appointed consul in 56. Senecas influence was said to have especially strong in the first year. Tacitus and Dio suggest that Neros early rule, during which time he listened to Seneca, however, the ancient sources suggest, over time, Seneca and Burrus lost their influence over the emperor. In 59 they had agreed to Agrippinas murder, and afterward. This may have contributed as well to his own downfall, following Burrus death in 62, Seneca became the subject of criticism by what Tacitus describes as Neros more disreputable advisers. Charges included allegations of excessive wealth, the grandeur of his property, Seneca requested an audience with Nero in which he sought permission to retire from public duties, pleading age and infirmity. The two then parted on apparently warm terms, Seneca subsequently adopted a quiet lifestyle on his country estates, concentrating on his studies and seldom visiting Rome. In AD65, Seneca was caught up in the aftermath of the Pisonian conspiracy, although it is unlikely that Seneca conspired, Nero ordered him to kill himself. Seneca followed tradition by severing several veins in order to bleed to death, a generation after the Julio-Claudian emperors, Tacitus wrote an account of the suicide, which in view of his Republican sympathies is perhaps somewhat romanticized
