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Votive crown with hanging pendants spelling the latinized name of
Recceswinth
(ruled AD653-72),
gold with sapphires, pearls, and garnets, Guarrazar.
Museo Arqueologico Nacional, Madrid |
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Nave mosaic depicting the palatium of Theodoric,
before ad526.
Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy |
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The Goths
Historical sources combined with archaeological evidence suggest
that the Goths originally lived around the Baltic Sea on the islands
off the coast of Sweden and in modern Poland. Sometime in the third
century ad. these Germanic-speaking tribes began to move southwards
into the Ukraine, where they amalgamated with the local agrarian
people and formed an integral part of the Chernyakov culture. Their
characteristic artifacts included humpbacked bone combs and bow
fibulae with flat semicircular heads and long footplates. The Goths
established themselves along the northern shores of the Black Sea
and gradually expanded south and west into the province of Dacia,
abandoned by the Romans. In the fourth century, they were converted
to the Arian form of Christianity by Ulfilas, a missionary who
translated the Bible into Gothic. Two primary groups of Goths were
known to the Romans in the fourth and fifth centuries -the Visigoths
(eastern Goths) and Ostrogoths (western Goths). When Hunnic tribes
from Inner Asia moved into the Crimean penninsula in the 370s, the
Goths fled, along with other tribes, crossing the Danube in 376.
Allied with Huns and Alani (a Sarmatian tribe), they defeated the
Roman Empire in a decisive battle at Adrianople in 378, killing the
Roman emperor Valens. Visigoths were settled in Thrace and the
Ostrogoths, Huns, and Alans in Pannonia, in roughly the area of
western Hungary. Discontented Visigoths under Alaric invaded Italy
in 401. sacking Rome in 410. The Visigoths were allowed to settle in
southern Gaul and eventually took control of the Iberian peninsula.
The Ostrogoths, under their leader Theodoric, marched to Italy,
where he was proclaimed King and allowed to govern the Western
Empire. The later fourth and fifth centuries, before these kingdoms
were established, are known as the Migration Period, and the
distinctive art produced by the Goths at this time consists largely
of portable personal possessions such as weapons, jewellery, and
horse trappings. The wealthiest examples of these were fashioned of
gold decorated with garnet cloisonne; like the Franks, their leaders
probably had access to such gold and gemstones as a result of their
close relationship with the Eastern Roman government in
Constantinople. The everyday material culture of the Ostrogoths in
Italy, revealed largely by female grave goods, is closely similar to
that produced while they occupied Pannonia - the women secured their
garments with large bow fibulae and wore rings and earrings in the
classical manner. Unfortunately, their stable government and
patronage of the arts was cut short by the reconquest of Italy by
Justinian, finalized by 555. Visigothic culture, on the other hand,
developed steadily in southern France and the Iberian peninsula and
is well-represented by grave goods from large inhumation cemeteries
dating from the sixth to the eighth century. Large bow fibulae
continued to be worn by women, along with earrings and distinctive
square buckles. The latter were decorated initially with
semiprecious stones and then increasingly with glass. Eventually,
they were made solely of copper alloy, engraved with scenes derived
from early Christian iconography borrowed from the Byzantine empire.
The Visigoths officially converted to Catholicism under Reccared in
ad589. A group of splendid votive hanging crowns, regal offerings,
to the Church of Toledo in the first half of the seventh century,
was found at Guarrazar, near Toledo. Fashioned of gold embellished
with semi-precious stones, their form derives from a fusion of
imperial and sacred traditions. The excellent preservation of a few
seventh-century churches in northern Spain testifies to a tradition
of high-quality building and sculptural ornamentation which
prefigures the Romanesque. The invasions of the Arabs in 711
overwhelmed all of southern Spain, but a reduced Visigothic kingdom
survived in Asturias and southern France into the ninth and tenth
centuries.
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Objects from the burial of Childeric, including gold and garnet
cloisonne sword fittings, buckles, coins, and a copy of his signet ring.
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris |
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The Franks
The Franks were a political amalgamation of many smaller Germanic
tribes who lived between the Weser and Rhine rivers. From the second
to the fourth century ad, in exchange for the defence of the
northern frontier, they were allowed by the Roman Empire to
cultivate fallow lands in the heartland of Gaul. Their gradual
infiltration ensured that provincial Roman industries, such as
glassmaking, pottery, and metalworking, continued without
interruption. These crafts are well-preserved in burials in large
Frankish cemeteries known as row-grave cemeteries. Weaponry and belt
sets in male graves reflect late Roman army styles, while female
ornaments are closer to native Germanic traditions. One of the most
important finds of the early medieval period is a burial mound
discovered in 1685 outside Tournai in Belgium. A signet ring in the
grave was inscribed with the name of the Frankish ruler Childeric,
who was succeeded by his son, Clovis, in about 481. Many of the
finds were later stolen, but a gold crossbow brooch and garnet
cloisonne ornaments suggest that Childeric served in the Roman
militia, the civil and military bureaucracy in the provinces. The
Merovingian dynasty he founded takes its name from his
semi-legendary father, Merovech. From the sixth to the eighth
century, the Merovingians ruled the Low Countries, northern Germany,
and most of France, with their dominions divided into two kingdoms,
Austrasia and Neustria. In the sixth and seventh centuries, their
buckles, brooches, and weaponry were decorated with garnet cloisonné
and Christian imagery. This mixture of Germanic and classical
traditions continued in the decoration of manuscripts and
reliquaries from the seventh to the ninth century. The Merovingians
maintained a monetary economy, investing their wealth in the
construction of churches, monasteries, and abbeys, thereby
preserving the heritage of stone carving and architecture. Key
monuments that survive from this period are the Baptistry of St Jean
at Poitiers, and the crypt at the Abbey of Jourre, founded by the
daughter of a barbarian noble, which still holds the elaborate stone
and plaster sarcophaghi of its abbesses. In 751, Pepin. mayor of
Austrasia. deposed Childeric III to found the Carolingian dynasty.
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King Edgar, Christ, the Virgin Mary,
and St Peter in the Statute of Winchester,
ad966.
British Library, London |
ANGLO-SAXON AND HIBERNO-SAXON ART
Accounts of the settlement of England by different Germanic tribes
given by the Venerable Bede, an early eighth-century monk, have been
largely borne out by modern archaeology. Comparison of metalwork and
pottery found in England with Continental types suggests that the
Saxons came from between the Elbe and Weser rivers in Lower Saxony,
the Angles from Angeln (modern Schleswig-Holstein), and the Jutes
from the Jutland peninsula and perhaps southern Scandinavia. The
causes and nature of the arrival of these tribes in the fourth and
fifth centuries is complex — some served as mercenaries for the
Roman army but the majority probably came as invaders to a land that
was ill-defended by the later Roman Empire. Saxon sea-pirates had
been raiding the southern coasts of England since the third
century"; eventually, in the fifth century, considerable numbers of
immigrants colonized large areas of England. By the sixth and
seventh centuries, the Saxons, the Angles, and the Jutes had evolved
distinctive regional variations of dress and art. As with other
Germanic tribes, we understand their art primarily from their grave
goods. The women wore either large bow brooches with square-heads or
circular brooches of various forms. These were decorated with
abstract human and animal figures in a style known as "chip-caning".
In areas such as Kent, which had close trading links with the
Franks, the brooches were often decorated with garnet inlays. One of
the most outstanding finds of the entire early medieval period is
the grave of an Anglian chieftain buried in a large sailing ship
beneath a mound at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, East Anglia. He was
interred with a full set of regalia and weaponry, much of it
decorated with gold and garnet cloisonné; silver tableware imported
from Byzantium; and symbols of his authority such as a standard and
sceptre. Gold coins in his waist-purse, each representing a
dillerent Frankish mint, suggest that he was buried sometime in the
late 620s. Although his style of burial was purely pagan, by that
time, the process of Christianization was well-advanced in England.
By the middle of the seventh century, the practice of inhumation
with grave goods ceased and our knowledge of Anglo-Saxon art is
based upon splendid illuminated manuscripts from monasteries in
Northumbria. Some early examples of these, such as the carpet pages
from the Lindisfarne Gospels, still bore animal interlace and
geometric patterns derived directly from metal prototypes, mixed
with classical motifs from the Mediterranean world. These styles
were further developed in monastic scriptoria in Ireland,
where native Celtic impulses produced intricate linear patterns
underpinned by complex geometric compass work. Some of these
interlaced patterns were translated into stone carving, where they
appear on large stone crosses dating from the seventh to the ninth
century.
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Chi-Rho monogram from The Gospels of Matthew, The Book
of Kells, c.ad800. Trinity College Library, Dublin
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Carpet page introducing St Johns Gospel, The
Lindisfarne Gospels, c.ad698 (Cotton MS Nero D.iv). British
Library, London
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The prophet Ezra as a scribe, from the
Codex Arniatinus, an Anglo-Saxon
manuscript illuminated in Italo-Byzantine
style, before ad716 (Amiatinus I, fol. Vr).
Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana, Florence |
MONASTERIES
It was politically advantageous for the aristocracy of the Germanic
tribes to convert to Christianity and the Christian church grew
immensely wealthy from donations in the sixth and seventh centuries.
Two hundred monasteries existed south of the Loire when St
Columbanus. an Irish missionary, arrived in Europe in 585. and by
the end of the seventh century, over four hundred flourished in the
Merovingian kingdom alone. Monastic foundations served as the
springboard for the conversion of the pagan Germanic peoples, with
missionaries travelling widely across Europe. Monastic scriptoria
played a key role in the transmission of the Latin language and
classical culture, copying and illuminating not only religious
texts, but also medical and scientific treatises from the ancient
world. The Codex Amiatinus was copied from a Vulgate version
of St Jerome brought from Rome to England in 678; the large
Anglo-Saxon copy was being taken back to Rome by Ceolfrid, abbot of
the twin monasteries of Jarrow and Monkwearmouth in Northumbria,
when he died at Langres in 716.
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Marble panels from a presbyterial enclosure, eighth century. Abbey of
San Pietro in Valle, Ferentillo |
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The Lombards
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Gilt-bronze plaque, possibly from a helmet, identified by an
inscription as belonging to King Agilulf (AD591-615) enthroned
between attendants and acolytes. Val de Nievole, near Lucca, Italy.
Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence
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The Langobards (literally long-beards), or Lombards, as they
became known, lived around the Elbe river in the first and second
centuries ad. Contemporary Roman accounts describe them as warlike
and they were responsible for many raids into the Roman province of
Pannonia. They eventually moved into lower Austria and settled south
of the great bend of the Danube in the Carpathian Basin, alongside
the native population and another Germanic tribe called the Gepids.
With Byzantine aid, the Lombards defeated the Gepids in the
mid-sixth
century and in 568 occupied northern Italy, where they founded the
last "barbarian" kingdom in the region that still bears their name.
They established their capital at Pavia, and although they never
took Ravenna or Rome, autonomous Lombardic kingdoms were founded at
Spoleto near Rome and at Benevento near Naples. Prior to their
migration into Italy, we know their culture primarily from excavated
inhumation graves in Austria and Hungary. These reveal that they
shared many key aspects of material culture with neighbouring
Germanic tribes like the Franks, Alamanni, and even with the
Anglo-Saxons, who had been their neighbours in the north. Men were
buried with belt sets and weaponry, often decorated in animal-style,
while women wore radiate bow fibulae
decorated with animal heads and geometric motifs in cast
"chip-carving" and sometimes with garnet inlay. In the first phase
of their occupation of Italy, these cultural traditions remained
unchanged. By the early seventh century, however, female jewellery
shifted almost entirely to Byzantine-style ornaments while the
decoration of male belt sets remained closely related to
contemporary Germanic styles to the north. Unlike the Ostrogoths,
the Lombards were converts from Arianism to Catholicism and their
graves often contained distinctive stamped gold crosses. They became
patrons of Christianity, erecting both grand basilicas and small
cross-plan churches and monasteries. Rich ornamentations in marble,
stucco, and fresco have been preserved in the interiors of some of
these buildings. Some, such as the famous relief panel depicting the
Adoration of the Magi at Cividale are uniquely Lom-bardic in their
very stylized and linear treatment of figures surrounded by
interlace. The marble panels at San Pietro in Valle, dedicated by
Ilderico II, Duke of Spoleto from ad739 to 740. depict a figure
holding a chisel labelled "URSUS MAG-ESTER FECIT", a rare and early
instance where a medieval artisan has signed his work. Other
carvings reflect Byzantine styles or, as in the case of the seventh
and eighth century frescos at Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome and
Castelseprio, classical painting styles. All of these form a
critical link between the ancient world and the styles that evolved
in the Romanesque and Gothic periods. The Lombards in the north were
defeated by the Franks under Charlemagne, while the lesser southern
principalities survived until the conquests of the Normans in the
11th century.
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Adoration of the Magi from the altar of the Duke of Ratchis, San
Martino, Cividale, c. 740.
Christian Museum and Cathedral Treasury, Cividale del Friuli |
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Rock carving depicting warriors and ships, Vitlycke, Bohuslan, Sweden
Bronze Age
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THE VIKINGS
"Viking" is a generic name applied to the seafaring raiders from
Scandinavia whose invasions terrorized Britain and Europe from the
ninth to the eleventh century ad. They were the last true pagans,
perceived as such by the Christianized Germanic kingdoms, and their
extensive oral sagas, written down in the high Middle Ages, were
sources of pagan myths and social traditions for the early medieval
period. Although the Norse were settled agricultural peoples, their
primary means of communication was by sea. Improvements in
shipbuilding in the early medieval period meant that long-distance
travel and trade became increasingly practical. The raicis by
Norsemen from across Scandinavia, which began in the late eighth
century, were not co-ordinated in any overall fashion but had as
their initial goal the acquisition of precious metals to be used as
bullion in a non-monetary economy. Many hoards of gold and silver
ornaments, often cut up for melting down, survive from the early
Viking period. Lightning raids, particularly of the treasuries of
wealthy monasteries, were often followed by settlement. A network of
trading stations was established in the Baltic, along the rivers of
Russia, in Iceland. Greenland, Ireland, northeast England, and
northern France. Superb Viking metalwork, executed with complex
animal interlace in various styles, was mirrored in wooden carvings
such as those found in a burial at Oseberg, Norway, which include
elaborately decorated carts, sledges, and a ship. They also erected
large standing stones decorated with carved, narrative figurai
scenes and/or runes, the native alphabet.
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Box brooch made of partially gilt bronze, covered with silver and gold
decorated with niello,
filigree, and granulation.
Martens Grotlingbo, Gotland, Sweden, eleventh century.
Statens Historiska Museum, Stockholm |
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