Speaking about the medieval art of Western Europe, we will have to return to the end of the ancient world, to those times when, on the one hand, the Byzantine state was formed on the ruins of the united Roman Empire, and on the other, the young states of the barbarians: the Ostrogothic on the Apennine Peninsula, the kingdom of the Visigoths on the Iberian Peninsula, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Britain, the state of the Franks on the Rhine and others.

The Frankish leader Clovis, who converted to Christianity, and his successors expanded the borders of the state, pushed back the Visigoths and soon became hegemons in Western Europe. But the Franks still remained real "barbarians", a society of farmers and warriors who knew neither luxury, nor servility, nor court ceremonies, who had no idea about philosophy and sciences, who could not read, who did not appreciate the monuments of ancient culture.

While the Byzantine sovereigns (basileus) sat on a golden horse surrounded by gilded statues of lions and golden singing birds, the kings of the Franks rode in wooden carts drawn by a pair of oxen, driven by a shepherd.

These "barbarians" did a great historical deed: they rejuvenated and revived the world. Sweeping away the decrepit Roman civilization, putting an end to slavery, they established a system where the basis was the labor of a free peasant. We take the word "barbarians" in quotation marks, since the later tradition made it synonymous with the ruthless destruction of culture, and real, historical barbarians were not only destroyers, but also the founders of a new culture.

Polychrome style. At an early stage, until the middle of the 6th century, the so-called polychrome style prevailed: gold objects were decorated with cloisonne enamel or inlaid with precious stones, mainly almandines, and sometimes with red glass. These objects made of precious materials served at that time as a people who did not conduct monetary exchange, instead of money.

"Abstract animal ornament". From the middle of the 6th century, the "polychrome style" was replaced by an "abstract animal ornament", planar, linear, made up of braid, which included images of individual parts of the bodies of animals - the head or mouth, paws or leg joint. Most likely, the braid had a magical meaning, as well as the “animal” components of the ornament.

Image of a person. Images of man appear in the art of the barbarians from the 7th century, and at first they were images not of Christian, but of Germanic mythology.

Thus, the famous relief from Hornhausen depicts a warrior with a spear riding a horse. A braided ornament stretches along the lower edge of the relief, signifying a serpentine monster trampled down by a warrior. Such figures of warriors are also often found on broaches of the 7th century. They testify to how slowly and at first superficially the barbarian peoples were Christianized, but also to the fact that in the 7th century their art had already approached the stage of representation, and the time was approaching when, like once ancient art, it could be used by biblical characters and events.

But this happened only after a hundred years. Back in the 8th century, even in the most thoroughly Christianized part of Europe, in Ireland and England, ornamentation prevailed over anthropomorphic Christian patterns.

Art of Ireland and England. In the 7th-8th centuries in Ireland and England, church culture reached a high level. There were monasteries where they knew Greek and Latin, where liturgical books were copied and decorated with miniatures. Sometimes in the miniatures of the Anglo-Irish gospels, the entire page is filled with rows of flat ribbon spirals. Sometimes almost the entire page is occupied by a huge capital letter, an initial very clearly outlined by ornament. The same reason for ornamental stylization is provided in these miniatures by the human figure, images of Christ or the evangelists. These were the first approaches to medieval art. The artistic tradition of the Middle Ages dates back to the end of the 8th-9th centuries.

Art of the Carolingian era.

In 800, Charlemagne, king of the Franks, was crowned emperor in Rome by Pope Leo III. Already in the 40s of the IX century, the empire of Charlemagne was divided between his descendants. For the first time, Europe, united by the power of one ruler, was presented as something integral and unified. Charlemagne relied in his reign on two social forces - the military class and the church, and in this way he laid the foundations for future social development. By endowing his commanders with the formation of a class of feudal lords, and by founding and strengthening monasteries, turning them into administrative and military centers, he introduced the church into the state system and concluded its alliance with secular power for many centuries.

The authority that would support the undertakings of Charlemagne was ancient Christian Rome. Therefore, he deliberately cultivated ancient forms of education among the nobility close to him: chronicles and biographies were created at his court, Latin was cleansed of barbaric impurities, becoming closer to the language of the Romans. Art followed Roman patterns. The centric palace chapel in Aehan, the favorite residence of Charlemagne, in many ways imitates the Byzantine church of San Vitale in Ravenna. Charlemagne built residences, decorating with frescoes depicting the deeds of ancient commanders and Frankish kings. In the monastic scriptoria, Roman miniatures with images of ancient philosophers were copied. In the gospels and bibles of the ninth century, the evangelists inherited the traits.

The images of the Evangelists in Carolingian miniatures were an important and promising innovation for European art. They meant the transition from barbarian ornamentation to fine and anthropomorphic art. Carolingian art, like early Christian art, needed antique clothing, but in essence it already served new goals and reflected the needs of a new, medieval reality. In the era of Charlemagne, stone construction became the norm. True, in part it was an imitation of the architecture of Rome.

Church buildings of the era have features that do not go back to antiquity, but are generated by new social and religious needs and point to the future. In the Carolingian era, crypts were widely used, intended for the storage of relics and the burial of noble clergy and secular persons. It was in the crypts that an element first appeared in this era, which later gained great importance in the ground parts of Romanesque churches - a ring bypass around the apse, which allowed pilgrims to view the relics.

The most important innovation of Carolingian architecture was the tower, which was almost never found in Mediterranean architecture, merged with the body of the building, growing both on the sides of the facade and above the intersection of the transept and nave.

Their upper parts, usually wooden, did not always harmonize with the masonry of the building, but thanks to the towers, the silhouette of the building was already outlined, which became typical for a Western European church in the Romanesque era.

Due to the variety of volumes combined in one building, the external appearance of the Carolingian temple is plastically enriched, one can even say that from that time it begins to play an important role in the aesthetic impression made by architecture.

Although the Carolingian era laid the foundations for the future social and cultural development of Europe, after its collapse, this development stopped for a whole century. In the 10th century, a new wave of invasions - the Normans from the north, the Arabs from the south and the Hungarians from the east - devastated most of the European countries. Cultural centers were ruined, construction activity almost stopped.

Art of the Ottonian era.

At that time, the eastern part of Germany - Saxony, was in the most favorable position, far from the big rivers along which the Normans embarked on their predatory raids. Here, from the beginning of the 10th century, the Saxon dynasty of kings reigned, and already in 962 one of them, Otto I, received the imperial crown in Rome.

Relying on the authority of Rome, Otto I and his followers did not have a consistent program for the revival of ancient traditions. The Saxon lands were very remote from Rome, and no traces of ancient civilization existed there. On the other hand, the Carolingian era left a sufficient number of valuable artistic ideas as a legacy to the art of the 10th century. Further strengthening of the position of the church led to the expansion of church construction.

The best Saxon churches are: the monastery church of St. Cyriacus in Gernrod and the Church of St. Michael in Gildesheim. These churches with smooth thick walls and massive towers have a severe menacing appearance. Preserving the main features of the early Christian basilica, the structure and wooden coverings, at the same time they inherited and developed something new that was contained in Carolingian architecture - the clarity of the outer, rectangular and cylindrical volumes of the transepts, apses, towers and, most importantly, the towers themselves at the facades.

The visual arts of the "Ottonian", as it is called, era was even more innovative than architecture. It is more difficult to notice traces of the influence of ancient forms in it, but one can see many specific features of medieval art quite clearly defined. They are especially noticeable in bronze reliefs.

The figurative system of these reliefs is also subordinated to the desire to make the cycle easily readable. The figures, large-headed, clumsy, with barely outlined features and baggy bodies, would have seemed primitive if not for the amazing eloquence of their gestures. Gesture, as well as posture, become the main means of expression in these reliefs.

In German miniatures of the 10th century, scenes appear illustrating episodes of Holy Scripture, and the figures in these scenes have the same expressiveness of gesture and in reliefs. The hands and fingers of the characters are even overly surprised, so that the meaning of the gesture is easier to perceive by the viewer.

The miniatures of the “Ottonian” era, made in monastic scriptoriums with a two- or three-century tradition of rewriting and decorating books, moreover, intended for the eyes of the emperor and the higher clergy, are distinguished by a much greater complexity of artistic language. Their images vividly testify to the spiritual power of the church. All these miniatures are full of gloomy pathos. The figures in them completely lose the volume inherited by the Carolingian era from antiquity.

They are drawn on the impenetrable plane of the golden background. In these post miniatures there are no buildings or plants that would characterize the scene.

In this art there is no hint of humanity, sincerity. It categorically and adamantly affirms the dogmas of faith.

Roman style. All the features of "Ottonian" art - the heaviness of the masses and the clarity of volumes in architecture, the expressiveness of gesture, the systematic sequence of narration and the pathos of spirituality in the visual arts - are already features of the Romanesque style, especially developed from the end of the 10th century.

The term “Romanesque” itself was introduced into scientific circulation at the beginning of the 19th century by French archaeologists, who saw the similarity of the discovered buildings with ancient Roman architecture, with its semicircular arches, etc.

The secular buildings of the Romanesque style are distinguished by massive forms, narrow window openings, and a significant height of the towers. The same features of massiveness are characteristic of temple structures, which were covered with wall paintings - frescoes from the inside, and brightly painted reliefs from the outside.

The knight's castle, the monastic ensemble, the church are the main types of Romanesque buildings that have come down to our time. Typical examples of Romanesque architecture are the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Poitiers, the cathedrals in Toulouse, Orstval, Oxford, Winchester, etc.

The painting and sculpture of the Romanesque type is characterized by a flat two-dimensional image, generalization of forms, violation of proportions in the image of figures, lack of portrait resemblance to the original, intense spiritual expressiveness. The images are rigorous, often extremely naive.

By the end of the XII century. Romanesque style is replaced by Gothic.

Sculpture. Most Romanesque sculpture was integrated into church architecture and served both structural, constructive and aesthetic purposes.

Therefore, it is difficult to talk about Romanesque sculpture without touching on church architecture.

Small-sized sculpture of the Romanesque era made of bone, bronze, gold was made under the influence of Byzantine models. Other elements of numerous local styles were borrowed from the crafts of the Middle East, known for imported illustrated manuscripts, bone carvings, gold objects, ceramics, fabrics. Motifs derived from the arts of the migrating peoples were also important, such as grotesque figures, images of monsters, intertwining geometric patterns, especially in areas north of the Alps. Large-scale stone sculptural decorations only became common in Europe in the 12th century. In the French Romanesque cathedrals of Provence, Burgundy, Aquitaine, many figures were placed on the facades, and the statues on the columns emphasized the vertical supporting elements.

Painting. Existing examples of Romanesque painting include decorations on architectural monuments, such as columns with abstract ornaments, as well as wall decorations with images of hanging fabrics. Picturesque compositions, in particular narrative scenes based on biblical stories and from the life of saints, were also depicted on the wide surfaces of the walls. In these compositions, which predominantly follow Byzantine painting and mosaics, the figures are stylized and flat, so that they are perceived more as symbols than as realistic representations. Mosaic, just like painting, was mainly a Byzantine technique and was widely used in the architectural design of Italian Romanesque churches, especially in the Cathedral of St. Mark (Venice).

Decorative art. Romanesque artists reached the highest level in illustrating manuscripts. In England, an important school of manuscript illustration arose already in the 7th century in Holy Island (Lindisfarne). The works of this school, exhibited in the British Museum (London), are distinguished by the geometric interlacing of patterns in capital letters, frames, and whole pages, which are called carpet, are densely covered with them. Drawings of capital letters are often animated by grotesque figures of people, birds, monsters.

Regional schools of manuscript illustration in southern and eastern Europe developed different specific styles, as can be seen, for example, in a copy of the Apocalypse of Beata (Paris, National Library) made in the middle of the 11th century in the monastery of Saint-Sever in Northern France. At the beginning of the 12th century, the illustration of manuscripts in the northern countries acquired common features, just as the same happened at that time with sculpture. In Italy, the Byzantine influence continued to dominate both in miniature painting and in wall paintings and mosaics.

Romanesque metalworking, a widespread art form, was used mainly to create church utensils for religious rituals. Many of these works are kept to this day in the treasuries of great cathedrals outside of France; French cathedrals were robbed during the French Revolution. Other metalwork from this period is early Celtic filigree jewelry and silverware; late products of German goldsmiths and silver things inspired by imported Byzantine metal products, as well as wonderful enamels, especially cloisonné and champlevé, made in the areas of the Moselle and Rhine rivers. Two famous metalworkers were Roger, a German known for his bronzes, and a French enameller, Godefroy de Claire.

The best-known example of a Romanesque textile work is an 11th-century embroidery called the Baia Tapestry. Other patterns have survived, such as church vestments and draperies, but the most valuable fabrics in Romanesque Europe were imported from the Byzantine Empire, Spain, and the Middle East and are not the product of local craftsmen.

In the architecture of Western Europe in the Middle Ages, two main styles dominated: Romanesque (during the early Middle Ages) and Gothic - from the 12th century.

The basis of the Romanesque synthesis was cult architecture, which combined artistic, ideological, functional and constructive principles into a single whole. The dominant type of cult building was the monastery church, in which the spirit of the era was most fully expressed. This was reflected in the totality of the spiritual and material life of Western Europe of the Romanesque period, where the church was the main ideological force, and the monastery was a cultural center with a skillfully established economy, which had the necessary forces and means for construction. The temple, elongated in plan, of the basilica type, became dominant in the West. It was based on the idea of ​​the path as an allusion to the "Way of the Cross", the path of suffering and redemption, as an expression of the basic idea of ​​Catholicism.[p.246, 8]

A new word in the art of the Western Middle Ages was said in France in the middle of the XII century. Contemporaries called the innovation "French manner", the descendants began to call it Gothic. The rise and flourishing of Gothic - the second half of the 12th and 13th centuries - coincided with the period when feudal society reached its apogee in its development.

Gothic as a style was the product of a set of social changes of the era, its political and ideological aspirations, which acted in dynamic interaction, arose as a result of their resultant. Not a single phenomenon of that time, no matter how significant it may be, whether it be "communal revolutions" or the struggle for the consolidation of central power, papal theory, scholasticism or chivalric culture, mass movements, changes in spatial representations or the growth of building skills, can individually explain origin and development of Gothic. Gothic originated in the possessions of the French kings. And the sovereigns of other countries - England, Spain, the Czech Republic - introduced Gothic as a symbol of the Christian monarchy.

The cathedral was the most important public place in the city and remained the personification of the "divine universe". In the relationship of its parts, they find similarities with the construction of scholastic "sums", and in the images - a connection with knightly culture. The essence of Gothic is in the juxtaposition of opposites, in the ability to unite in spiritual burning the abstract idea and the living thrill of life, the cosmic infinity of the universe and the expressive concreteness of the detail, in the ability to penetrate the earthly flesh with the movement of spiritual energy. This balancing on the verge of two contrasting spheres gave Gothic art a special poignancy, a captivating poignancy. In the unity of opposites, in the ambiguity of the Gothic phenomenon, one should look for the reason for the inconsistency of assessments that the Gothic has been awarded for centuries.

21. The heroic epic of the Middle Ages.

oic epic is a type of folk poetry. genre - a large poem, composed by singers from the midst of combatants, clerical environment, performed by huglars. Consist of a series of stanzas of unequal length, connected by assonance (like French), written in folk - "wrong" size - verses with an indefinite number of syllables (8-16 )

Themes: defense against external enemies (Moors = Saracens, Normans, Saxons) loyal service to the lord, king feudal strife called “chanson de gesture” (song about deeds).

"Song of Side" 1140. and Spanish heroic epic.

1. Political events were strongly reflected in the Spanish epic: the struggle against the Moors for the purpose of reconquista (capture by the Moors - 711) strife between feudal lords - portrayed as a great evil, like treason against the homeland the struggle for the freedom of Castile (from the kingdom of Leon, the only one that did not was captured)

Sid is a historical person (Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar), the hero of two poems: "PoS" (early, close to history - was written "with witnesses", Sid died in 1099) and "Rodrigo" + many romances. Lived XI. Nickname sid = "master". Alphonse VI - King of Castile, favored Leon and hated Sid, expelled him. In the poem, his vassals leave with him, in fact, the majority of vassals remain, and everyone who is dissatisfied with Alphonse's policy in general joins him.

He was a mercenary for a long time, then he recaptured Valencia. Then Sid made peace with Alphonse, and they fought against the Moors. The great leader of the reconquista is a folk hero, "my Sid". The poem contains 3735 verses and is divided into two parts: about exile, about the wedding and about insulting daughters. Peculiarities: formulary, repetitions more dry and businesslike way of presentation than in Roland

• an abundance of household features, family themes. Sid is 50 years old, wife, 2 daughters. there is no hyperbolism and an element of the supernatural (neither fabulous nor Christian) there is no exclusivity of chivalrous feelings - earthiness, Sid is primarily a prudent owner of Sid's "understatement" - it is said that he is "infanson" (owner of vassals), (was a grandee)

"The Song of Roland" (1100). associated with the image of Charlemagne. In the poem it appears in an idealized form.

• He actively participates in some poems, personally performs feats. In his youth, fleeing from traitors, he flees to Spain, fights valiantly, wins the love of the daughter of the Saracen king, returns to France and is crowned.
• In others, he fades into the background, he unites all the action, but gives way to the paladins, in particular 12 peers (equal), the main thing is Roland. Unknown author: retained the deep meaning and expressiveness of the ancient legend connected it with living modernity found a brilliant art form Source - historical facts, but distorted:
• VIII - Charles intervened in the internecine strife of Muslims? besieged Zaragoza? the rearguard was defeated by the Basques (not Muslim Moors, but Basque Christians)
• was Hruotland - Roland - died in this battle. Features: hyperbolization (scale of events), (R.'s whiskey bursts) idealization of the main characters (R., Karl, Archbishop Turpin, Olivier)
• the idea of ​​a religious struggle and the special role of France in this struggle (heavenly signs, religious calls, denigration of “pagans”, patronage of “ours” by God, R. - a vassal of Charles and God, the image of Turpin - at the same time blesses the French for battle and fights himself) death R symbolic (there are no wounds, but due to inner necessity - repentance), the tragedy of R.'s death is softened - he goes to heaven and hands God a glove, as a heavenly lord. Influence: "PoR" was written shortly before the first crusade - strongly influenced by his propaganda, socio-political contradictions - an episode of Ganelon's betrayal. Opposition: Karl - Ganelon: as a homeland (common cause) - traitor R. - Ganelon - personal
• R. - Olivier - 2 variants of one positive beginning, R. - immensely brave, O. - prudent.

"Song of the Nibelungs" heroic epic, but in properties it is close to chivalric novels.

there is definitely someone who compiled the contamination, not just a copyist - from southern Germany (modern Austria)

• is this a gentleman? speaks about the intricacies of etiquette with knowledge of the matter, firsthand. composition:
• 2 parts (border - quarrel of two queens): about matchmaking, about revenge 39 parts - avenues (by event)
• reached in 33 lists, 1 - original, published in XIX 3. The plot goes back to three layers:
• the first layer - the most ancient - mythological - is set out in the Eddas; the second - V, the defeat of the Burgundians from the Huns; the third layer - the present of the proposed author

4. features of the heroic epic:

• apsychological quarrel of queens - hierarchy, vassalage is important
• fiction, colorfulness, an unprecedented, and not a historical event is important. chronology and geography do not matter what matters is the vertical of hell? us? paradise, what matters is the result, where you end up
• human life is mortal, truth is in eternity images of heroes chronology and geography do not matter

5. features of a chivalric romance

• the hero is a knight, a prince of a noble family, the beginning (“a girl ... the most beautiful and noble of all ...), the hero immediately falls in love with her, simply because she has motives for serving a lady, marital love and revenge, feudal honor and fidelity holidays, tournaments, hunting, battles, military prowess, strength of knights
• detailed narrative, details, descriptions, episodes, experiences of characters

6. peculiarities

• "Nibelung line", stanzas of 4 verses with paired rhymes constant repetitions, fractional, rhythmic repetition of the rhythm - tonic (according to the number of stresses) ? 10,000 lines, but is easily perceived
• Middle Upper German (?many languages ​​survived until the 16th century)

7. common places: the hero slays the dragon brothers dispute motif of the giantess sorceress and courtship to her

Sculpture.

Most Romanesque sculpture was integrated into church architecture and served both structural, constructive and aesthetic purposes. Therefore, it is difficult to talk about Romanesque sculpture without touching on church architecture. Small-sized sculpture of the Proto-Roman era made of bone, bronze, gold was made under the influence of Byzantine models. Other elements of numerous local styles were borrowed from the crafts of the Middle East, known for imported illustrated manuscripts, bone carvings, gold objects, ceramics, fabrics. Motifs derived from the arts of the migrating peoples were also important, such as grotesque figures, images of monsters, intertwining geometric patterns, especially in areas north of the Alps. Large-scale stone sculptural decorations only became common in Europe in the 12th century. In the French Romanesque cathedrals of Provence, Burgundy, Aquitaine, many figures were placed on the facades, and the statues on the columns emphasized the vertical supporting elements.

Painting.

Existing examples of Romanesque painting include decorations on architectural monuments, such as columns with abstract ornaments, as well as wall decorations with images of hanging fabrics. Picturesque compositions, in particular narrative scenes based on biblical stories and from the life of saints, were also depicted on the wide surfaces of the walls. In these compositions, which predominantly follow Byzantine painting and mosaics, the figures are stylized and flat, so that they are perceived more as symbols than as realistic representations. Mosaic, just like painting, was mainly a Byzantine technique and was widely used in the architectural design of Italian Romanesque churches, especially in the Cathedral of St. Mark (Venice) and in the Sicilian churches in Cefalu and Montreal. Decorative art. Proto-Romanesque artists reached the highest level in illustrating manuscripts. In England, an important school of manuscript illustration arose already in the 7th century in Holy Island (Lindisfarne). The works of this school, exhibited in the British Museum (London), are distinguished by the geometric interlacing of patterns in capital letters, frames, and whole pages, which are called carpet, are densely covered with them. Drawings of capital letters are often animated by grotesque figures of people, birds, monsters. Regional schools of manuscript illustration in southern and eastern Europe developed different specific styles, as can be seen, for example, in a copy of the Apocalypse of Beata (Paris, National Library) made in the middle of the 11th century in the monastery of Saint-Sever in northern France. At the beginning of the 12th century, the illustration of manuscripts in the northern countries acquired common features, just as the same happened at that time with sculpture. In Italy, the Byzantine influence continued to dominate both in miniature painting and in wall paintings and mosaics. Proto-Romanesque and Romanesque metalworking, a widespread art form, was used mainly to create church utensils for religious rituals. Many of these works are kept to this day in the treasuries of great cathedrals outside of France; French cathedrals were robbed during the French Revolution. Other metalwork from this period is early Celtic filigree jewelry and silverware; late products of German goldsmiths and silver things inspired by imported Byzantine metal products, as well as wonderful enamels, especially cloisonné and champlevé, made in the areas of the Moselle and Rhine rivers. Two famous metalworkers were Roger of Helmarshausen, a German known for his bronzes, and the French enameller Godefroy de Claire. The best-known example of a Romanesque textile work is an 11th-century embroidery called the Baia Tapestry. Other patterns have survived, such as church vestments and draperies, but the most valuable fabrics in Romanesque Europe were imported from the Byzantine Empire, Spain, and the Middle East and are not the product of local craftsmen. Gothic art and architecture To replace the Romanesque style, as cities flourished and social relations improved, a new style came - Gothic. Religious and secular buildings, sculpture, colored glass, illustrated manuscripts and other works of fine art began to be executed in this style in Europe during the second half of the Middle Ages. Gothic art originated in France around 1140 and spread throughout Europe over the next century and continued to exist in Western Europe for most of the 15th century, and in some regions of Europe well into the 16th century. Originally, the word gothic was used by Italian Renaissance authors as a derogatory label for all forms of architecture and art of the Middle Ages, which were considered comparable only to the works of the Goth barbarians. Later use of the term "Gothic" was limited to the period of the late, high or classical Middle Ages, immediately following the Romanesque. Currently, the Gothic period is considered one of the most prominent in the history of European artistic culture. The main representative and spokesman of the Gothic period was architecture. Although a huge number of Gothic monuments were secular, the Gothic style served primarily the church, the most powerful builder in the Middle Ages, which ensured the development of this new architecture for that time and achieved its fullest realization. The aesthetic quality of Gothic architecture depends on its structural development: ribbed vaults became a characteristic feature of the Gothic style. Medieval churches had powerful stone vaults, which were very heavy. They sought to open, to push out the walls. This could lead to the collapse of the building. Therefore, the walls must be thick and heavy enough to support such vaults. At the beginning of the 12th century, masons developed ribbed vaults, which included slender stone arches arranged diagonally, transversely and longitudinally. The new vault, which was thinner, lighter and more versatile (because it could have many sides), solved many architectural problems. Although early Gothic churches allowed for a wide variety of forms, the construction of a series of large cathedrals in Northern France, beginning in the second half of the 12th century, took full advantage of the new Gothic vault. Cathedral architects have found that now the external bursting forces from the vaults are concentrated in narrow areas at the junctions of the ribs (ribs), and therefore they can be easily neutralized with the help of buttresses and external arches-flying buttresses. Consequently, the thick walls of Romanesque architecture could be replaced by thinner ones, which included extensive window openings, and the interiors received hitherto unparalleled lighting. In the construction business, therefore, there was a real revolution. With the advent of the Gothic vault, both the design, the form, and the layout and interiors of the cathedrals changed. Gothic cathedrals acquired a general character of lightness, aspiration to the sky, became much more dynamic and expressive. The first of the great cathedrals was Notre Dame Cathedral (begun in 1163). In 1194, the foundation stone for the cathedral at Chartres is considered the beginning of the High Gothic period. The culmination of this era was the cathedral at Reims (begun in 1210). Rather cold and all-conquering in its finely balanced proportions, Reims Cathedral represents a moment of classical calm and serenity in the evolution of Gothic cathedrals. Openwork partitions, a characteristic feature of late Gothic architecture, were the invention of the first architect of Reims Cathedral. Fundamentally new interior solutions were found by the author of the cathedral in Bourges (begun in 1195). The influence of French Gothic quickly spread throughout Europe: Spain, Germany, England. In Italy it was not so strong. Sculpture. Following Romanesque traditions, in numerous niches on the facades of French Gothic cathedrals, a huge number of figures carved from stone, personifying the dogmas and beliefs of the Catholic Church, were placed as decorations. Gothic sculpture in the 12th and early 13th centuries was predominantly architectural in character. The largest and most important figures were placed in openings on both sides of the entrance. Because they were attached to columns, they were known as pillar statues. Along with column statues, free-standing monumental statues were widespread, an art form unknown in Western Europe since Roman times. The earliest surviving statues are columns in the western portal of Chartres Cathedral. They were still in the old pre-Gothic cathedral and date from about 1155. The slender, cylindrical figures follow the shape of the columns to which they were attached. They are executed in a cold, strict, linear Romanesque style, which nevertheless gives the figures an impressive character of purposeful spirituality.

From 1180, the Romanesque stylization begins to move into a new one, when the statues acquire a sense of grace, sinuosity and freedom of movement. This so-called classical style culminates in the first decades of the thirteenth century in a large series of sculptures on the portals of the north and south transepts of Chartres Cathedral. The emergence of naturalism. Starting around 1210 on the Coronation Portal of Notre Dame and after 1225 on the west portal of Amiens Cathedral, the rippling, classical features of the surfaces begin to give way to more austere volumes. At the statues of the Reims Cathedral and in the interior of the Saint-Chapelle Cathedral, exaggerated smiles, emphasized almond-shaped eyes, curls arranged in bunches on small heads and mannered poses produce a paradoxical impression of a synthesis of naturalistic forms, delicate affectation and subtle spirituality.

The art of the Western European Middle Ages is unequal in its artistic value and has its own specifics inherent in a certain historical period. According to traditional periodization, it distinguishes three periods:
pre-Romanesque art (V-X centuries),
Romanesque art (XI-XII centuries),
Gothic art (XIM-XV centuries).
However, with all the variety of artistic means and style features, the art of the Middle Ages has common characteristics:
religious character (the Christian church is the only thing that united the disparate kingdoms of Western Europe throughout medieval history);
synthesis of various types of art, where the leading place was given to architecture;
the focus of the artistic language on conventionality, symbolism and low realism, associated with the worldview of the era in which faith, spirituality, and heavenly beauty were stable priorities;
emotional beginning, psychologism, designed to convey the intensity of religious feelings, the drama of individual plots;
nationality, because in the Middle Ages the people were the creator and spectator: the hands of craftsmen created works of art, erected temples in which numerous parishioners prayed. Used by the church for ideological purposes, cult art had to be accessible and understandable to all believers;
and personality (according to the teachings of the church, the hand of the master is directed by the will of God, whose instrument was the architect, stone cutter, painter, jeweler, stained glass artist, etc., we practically do not know the names of the masters who left the world masterpieces of medieval art).
As noted above, the face of medieval art was determined by architecture. But in the era of the German conquests, ancient architectural art fell into decay. Therefore, in the field of architecture, the Middle Ages had to start all over again.

The most important feature of European medieval culture is the special role of Christian doctrine and the Christian church. In the context of the general decline of culture immediately after the destruction of the Roman Empire, only the church remained for many centuries the only social institution common to all European countries, tribes and states. The Church had a great influence on the formation of the religious worldview, spreading the ideas of Christianity, preaching love, forgiveness, faith in universal happiness, equality, and goodness. This picture of the world completely determined the mentality of the believing villagers and townspeople and was based on the images and interpretations of the Bible. The history of the culture of the Middle Ages is the history of the struggle between church and state. The position and role of art were complex and contradictory. But, despite this, the Middle Ages left behind many grandiose monuments of architectural art. The helplessness of building technique, which characterized the first centuries of the Middle Ages (approximately until Charlemagne), was replaced by a great upsurge in building art in the following centuries.

In the field of architecture, the Western European Middle Ages developed two significant styles - Romanesque and Gothic.

The Romanesque style, which began to develop under the Carolingians, got its name from the fact that it was an imitation of ancient Roman buildings. This style is characterized by thick walls, a relatively low dome, thick and squat columns. Gothic architecture was more perfect. Its characteristic feature is the desire of the architect to build the building as high as possible. The place of the semicircular vaulted arch was taken by the lancet arch. Gothic cathedrals had many tall and graceful columns inside. Abundant convex decorations - statues, bas-reliefs, hanging arches, intricate stone carvings - richly decorated Gothic buildings inside and out.

In addition to the Romanesque and Gothic styles, medieval architecture widely used two more styles: Byzantine in Italy (in Venice - St. Mark's Cathedral, partly the Doge's Palace, etc.) and Arabic (Moorish) in Spain (the most famous monument is the cathedral in Seville, remade from an Arab mosque).

In the era of the early Middle Ages in Europe, wooden architecture sharply prevailed, the monuments of which could not reach our days. However, fundamental stone buildings were also erected, some of which became illustrative examples of the architecture of that time. Almost all of them have a religious, church purpose.

In Romanesque painting and sculpture, the central place was occupied by themes associated with the idea of ​​the limitless and formidable power of God (Christ in glory, the Last Judgment, etc.). In strictly symmetrical compositions, the figure of Christ dominated, significantly exceeding the rest of the figures in size. A more free and dynamic nature was assumed by narrative cycles of images (on biblical and gospel, hagiographic, and occasionally historical plots). The Romanov style is characterized by numerous deviations from real proportions (heads are disproportionately large, clothes are treated ornamentally, bodies are subject to abstract schemes), due to which the human image becomes the bearer of an exaggeratedly expressive gesture or part of an ornament, often without losing intense spiritual expressiveness. In all types of Romanesque art, patterns often played a significant role, geometric or composed of motifs of flora and fauna (typologically ascending to the works of the animal style and directly reflecting the spirit of the pagan past of European peoples). The general system of images of the Romanov style, at a mature stage, gravitated towards the artistic universal embodiment of the medieval picture of the world, prepared the notion of the cathedral, characteristic of Gothic, as a kind of "spiritual encyclopedia".

The Gothic style is an artistic style that was the final stage in the development of the Middle Ages of art in Western, Central and partly Eastern Europe (between the middle of the 12th and 16th centuries). The term "Gothic" was introduced during the Renaissance as a pejorative designation for all medieval art, which was considered "barbaric". From the beginning of the 19th century, when the term Romanesque style was adopted for art, the chronological framework of the Gothic was limited, it identified the early, mature (high) and late phases.

Gothic developed in countries where the Catholic Church dominated, and under its auspices the feudal-church foundations were preserved in the ideology and culture of the Gothic era. Gothic art remained predominantly cult in purpose and religious in theme: it was correlated with eternity, with "higher" irrational forces.

Gothic is characterized by a symbolic - allegorical type of thinking and the conventions of artistic language. From the Romanesque style, Gothic inherited the primacy of architecture in the system of arts and traditional types of cultures and buildings. A special place in the art of Gothic was occupied by the cathedral - the highest example of the synthesis of architecture, sculpture and painting (mainly stained-glass windows). The space of the cathedral, incommensurable with a person, the verticalism of its towers and vaults, the subordination of sculpture to the rhythms of the dynamism of architecture, the multi-colored radiance of stained-glass windows had a strong emotional impact on believers.

Literature of medieval Europe

Medieval European literature is the literature of the era of feudalism, which arose in Europe during the withering away of the slave-owning way of life, the collapse of ancient forms of statehood and the elevation of Christianity to the rank of state religion (III-IV centuries). This period ends in the XIV-XV centuries, with the emergence of capitalist elements in the urban economy, the formation of absolutist nation-states and the establishment of a secular humanistic ideology that broke the authority of the church.

In its development, it goes through two large stages: the early Middle Ages (III-X centuries) and the mature Middle Ages (XII-XIII centuries). It is also possible to single out the late Middle Ages (XIV-XV centuries), when qualitatively new (early renaissance) phenomena appear in literature, and traditionally medieval genres (knightly romance) are in decline.

The Early Middle Ages is a period of transition. The feudal formation took shape in any distinct form only by the 8th-9th centuries. For several centuries throughout Europe, where waves of the great migration of peoples rolled one after another, confusion and instability reigned. Until the fall in the 5th century. The Western Roman Empire retained the ground for the continuation of the ancient cultural and literary tradition, but then the monopoly in culture passes to the church, literary life freezes. Only in Byzantium do the traditions of Hellenic culture continue to live, and on the western outskirts of Europe, in Ireland and Britain, Latin education is preserved. However, by the eighth century political and economic ruin was overcome, the power, taken by the strong hand of Emperor Charlemagne, provided a material opportunity for the dissemination of knowledge (the establishment of schools), and for the development of literature. The empire of Karl after his death disintegrated, the academy he created dispersed, but the first steps towards the creation of new literature were made.

In the XI century. was born and established literature in the national - Romance and Germanic languages. The Latin tradition is still very strong and continues to put forward artists and phenomena of a pan-European scale: the confessional prose of Pierre Abelard (the autobiographical "History of my disasters", 1132-1136), the ecstatic religious lyrics of Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), the secular epic heroics of Walter of Châtillon (poem "Alexandreida", ca. 1178-1182), the ludicrous freethinking of the vagantes, itinerant clerics who sang of the joys of the flesh. But with each new century, Latin moves further and further away from literature and closer and closer to science. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that the boundaries of literature in the Middle Ages were understood more widely than in our time, and were open even to philosophical treatises, not to mention historical writings. The sign of a literary work was considered not its subject, but its form, the polished style.

Medieval literature exists as class literature, and it could not be otherwise in a society with a rigid social hierarchy. Religious literature occupies a vast space in medieval culture with blurred boundaries. This is not only the literature of the church itself, but above all, a complex of liturgical literature developed over the centuries, which included both the lyrics of hymns, and the prose of sermons, epistles, lives of saints, and the dramaturgy of ritual actions. This is also the religious pathos of many works that are by no means clerical in their general orientation (for example, French epic poems, in particular the Song of Roland, where the ideas of defending the homeland and Christianity are inseparable). Finally, it is a fundamental possibility to subject any work that is secular in content and form to a religious interpretation, since for the medieval consciousness any phenomenon of reality acts as the embodiment of a “higher”, religious meaning. Sometimes religiosity was introduced into the originally secular genre over time - such is the fate of the French chivalric romance. But it also happened the other way around: the Italian Dante in The Divine Comedy was able to endow the traditional religious genre of “vision” (“vision” is a story about a supernatural revelation, about a journey into the afterlife) with a general humanistic pathos, and the Englishman W. Langland in “The Vision of Pyotr Pakhar ”- with democratic and rebellious pathos. Throughout the mature Middle Ages, the secular trend in literature gradually grows and enters into not always peaceful relations with the religious trend.

Knightly literature, directly connected with the ruling class of feudal society, is the most significant part of medieval literature. It had three main sections: the heroic epic, courtly (court) lyrics and the novel. The epic of the mature Middle Ages is the first major genre manifestation of literature in new languages ​​and a new stage in the history of the genre in comparison with the ancient epic of the Celts and Scandinavians. Its historical soil is the era of state and ethnic consolidation, the formation of feudal social relations. Its plot is based on legends about the time of the great migration of peoples (the German “Nibelungenlied”), about the Norman raids (German “Kudruna”), about the wars of Charlemagne, his immediate ancestors and successors (“The Song of Roland” and the entire French epic “ corpus”, which includes about a hundred monuments), about the struggle against the Arab conquest (Spanish “Song of my Side”). The carriers of the epic were wandering folk singers (French "jugglers", German "spielmans", Spanish "huglars"). Their epic departs from folklore, although it does not break ties with it, forgets about fairy-tale themes for the sake of history, it clearly unfolds the ideal of vassal, patriotic and religious duty. The epic finally takes shape in the X-XIII centuries, from the XI century. begins to be recorded and, despite the significant role of the feudal-knightly element, does not lose its original folk-heroic basis.

The lyrics created by the poet-knights, who were called troubadours in the south of France (Provence) and trouvers in the north of France, minnesingers in Germany, pave a direct path to Dante, Petrarch and through them to all new European lyric poetry. It originated in Provence in the 11th century. and then spread throughout Western Europe. Within the framework of this poetic tradition, the ideology of courtesy (from "courtly" - "court") was developed as an elevated norm of social behavior and spiritual order - the first relatively secular ideology of medieval Europe. For the most part, this is love poetry, although it is also familiar with didactics, satire, and political expression. Its innovations are the cult of the Beautiful Lady (modeled after the cult of Our Lady) and the ethic of selfless loving service (modelled after the ethic of vassal fidelity). Courtly poetry discovered love as a self-valuable psychological state, having taken the most important step in comprehending the inner world of a person.

Within the boundaries of the same courtly ideology, a chivalric romance arose. Its homeland is France of the 12th century, and one of the creators and at the same time the highest master is Chretien de Troyes. The novel quickly conquered Europe and already at the beginning of the 13th century. found a second home in Germany (Wolfram von Eschenbach, Gottfried of Strasbourg, etc.). This novel combined plot fascination (the action, as a rule, takes place in the fairyland of King Arthur, where there is no end to miracles and adventures) with the formulation of serious ethical problems (the relationship between the individual and the social, love and knightly duty). The chivalric romance discovered a new side in the epic hero - dramatic spirituality.

The third array of medieval literature is the literature of the city. It, as a rule, lacks the idealizing pathos of chivalric literature; it is closer to everyday life and, to some extent, more realistic. But it has a very strong element of moralizing and teaching, which leads to the creation of wide-ranging didactic allegories (The Romance of the Rose by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, circa 1230-1280). The range of satirical genres of urban literature extends from the monumental "animal" epic, where the characters are the emperor - the Lion, the feudal lord - the Wolf, the archbishop - the Donkey ("The Romance of the Fox", XIII century), to a short poetic story (French fablio, German schwank). Medieval drama and medieval theater, in no way connected with the ancient ones, were born in the church as the realization of the hidden dramatic possibilities of worship, but very soon the temple transferred them to the city, the townspeople, and a typical medieval system of theatrical genres arose: a huge multi-day mystery (dramatization of the entire sacred history, from creation of the world before the Last Judgment), a quick farce (everyday comic play), a sedate morality (an allegorical play about the clash of vices and virtues in the human soul). Medieval drama was the closest source of the dramaturgy of Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, Calderon.

Medieval literature and the Middle Ages as a whole are generally regarded as a time of lack of culture and religious fanaticism. This characteristic, born in the Renaissance and inseparable from the process of self-affirmation of the secular cultures of the Renaissance, classicism, Enlightenment, has become a kind of stamp. But the culture of the Middle Ages is an integral stage of world-historical progress. A man of the Middle Ages knew not only prayer ecstasy, he knew how to enjoy life and rejoice in it, he knew how to convey this joy in his creations. The Middle Ages left us enduring artistic values. In particular, having lost the plasticity and corporeality inherent in the ancient vision of the world, the Middle Ages went far ahead in comprehending the spiritual world of man. “Do not wander outside, but go inside yourself,” wrote Augustine, the greatest Christian thinker, at the dawn of this era. Medieval literature, with all its historical specifics and with all its inevitable contradictions, is a step forward in the artistic development of mankind.

represented the unity of architecture, sculpture and painting. Already from a distance, going to worship, believers saw the external sculptural decoration of the facade of the temple. Inside, they passed through the main portal - a richly decorated stone carved entrance, located on the western side of the building. Its massive bronze gates were often decorated with reliefs depicting biblical scenes.

Cutter and stone

Inside the temple, the believer walked to the altar past arches, columns, capitals, walls, also decorated with stone carvings and frescoes. The images were based on plots from the Holy Scriptures, but the main figure has always been the figure of God Almighty, merciless to unrepentant sinners and triumphant over enemies. This is how the people of the Middle Ages represented the Creator. It is no coincidence that churches built in the Romanesque style were called the “Bible in stone”.

In the sculpture of that period, as well as in painting, the role of the human figure in the decorative and ornamental composition is being strengthened. However, monumental sculpture, inherited from Antiquity, was completely subordinated to architectural forms. Therefore, a huge role in the decoration of basilicas was assigned to stone sculpture, usually created against the background of reliefs. As a rule, they decorated not only the interior, but also the outer walls of basilicas. In friezes - decorative compositions, figures of squat proportions prevailed, and on pillars and columns - elongated ones.

Sculpting features

In addition, sculptural reliefs were located above the main portal. Most often it was an image of the Last Judgment. Probably the most famous is the scene that adorns the entrance of the Saint-Lazare Cathedral in Autun (Burgundy). This is a rare case when the name of the master who created the relief, Gislebert, has come down to us. In the center of the image is the figure of Christ administering judgment. On the right hand of him stand the jubilant righteous, on the left - trembling sinners. The most remarkable thing in this relief is the variety of human feelings. The movements, postures and faces reflect fear or hope. The main thing for the master was to create not believable figures, but to depict the whole gamut of experienced feelings.

In each country, sculpture had its own national characteristics. For example, in Germany, unlike France, the facades and outer walls of temples were almost not decorated. German sculpture of the Romanesque style is strict and ascetic, severe and rather abstract. An example of this is the church of Laah Abbey of St. Mary.

Abbey of Saint Mary (Germany)

In the sculptural decoration of Romanesque churches, not only love for the spiritual, but also for the extraordinary, the fantastic, was manifested. Here you can see stone ornaments of rare beauty and complexity: centaurs, winged dragons, monkeys playing chess, etc. Figurines of fabulous creatures borrowed from the legends of the Germanic tribes often decorated the facades and capitals of the columns of Romanesque basilicas.

"French way"

The Romanesque style and the Gothic style, which replaced it in the 13th century, left a huge imprint on the development of European culture in the Middle Ages. If Romanesque was a combination of rigor and monumentality (no fantasies, only clear geometry and a prayerful mood), then Gothic was distinguished by lightness and sublimity.

It originated in the 12th century. in the north of France, and then spread almost all over the continent: from Portugal to Lithuania. At that time it was called the "French style", and subsequently the new direction was called "Gothic". In many ways, the architecture of the Gothic cathedral retained the traditions of the Romanesque style. Almost all of its elements remained, but in a changed form: instead of thick pillars, thin bunches of graceful columns appeared, semicircular arches stretched upwards, small windows became huge, filling the temple with light.