The Dark Ages Marshall High School Mr. Cline Western Civilization I: Ancient Foundations Marshall High School Unit Five AD * How the Irish Saved Civilization • Christianity's Impact on Insular Art • Ireland's Golden Age is closely tied with the spread of Christianity. • As Angles and Saxons began colonizing the old Roman province of Brittania, Christians living in Britain fled to the relative safety of Ireland. • These Christians found themselves isolated from their neighbors on the mainland and essentially cut off from the influence of the Roman Catholic Church. • This isolation, combined with the mostly agrarian society of Ireland, resulted in a very different form of Christianity. • Instead of establishing a centralized hierarchy, like the Roman Catholic Church, Irish Christians established monasteries. • Monasticism got an early start in Ireland, and monasteries began springing up across the countryside. • The Irish did not just build monasteries in Ireland. * How the Irish Saved Civilization • Christianity's Impact on Insular Art • They sent missionaries to England to begin reconverting their heathen neighbors. • From there they crossed the channels, accelerating the conversion of France, Germany and the Netherlands and establishing monasteries from Poitiers to Vienna. • These monasteries became centers of art and learning, producing art of unprecedented complexity, like the Book of Kells, and great scholars, like the Venerable Bede (Yes, the guy who wrote the Anglo Saxon History of Britain was indeed Irish!) * How the Irish Saved Civilization • Christianity's Impact on Insular Art * How the Irish Saved Civilization • Christianity's Impact on Insular Art • Over time, Ireland became the cultural and religious leader of Northwestern Europe. • So let us look at some of the art of this Irish Golden Age. * How the Irish Saved Civilization • Roots of Insular Art • Insular art has its roots in Anglo-Saxon metalwork. • This art is easily identified by its characteristic interlacing bands. • We can see examples of this style in the grave goods of Dark Age graveyards, like this helmet, this buckle and this lovely purse lid. • During the Irish Golden Age, these interlacing bands found their way into new art forms, using mediums other than metal. * How the Irish Saved Civilization • Roots of Insular Art • Stone Crosses • Perhaps the most famous of these new arts are the stone crosses that dot the British Isles. • Standing stones were nothing new for these lands. • People had been standing stones on end for thousands of years and carving them for at least a few centuries. • The Picts of Scotland were big fans of carving stone, and it seems likely that Irish Christians drew inspiration from these Pictish stones. • With the spread of Irish Christianity, people began carving crosses into stone. • The loose whorls and swirls of the Pictish stones were replaced with the tight interlacing bands of Anglo-Saxon metalwork. Pict Stone Carving Irish Stone Cross * How the Irish Saved Civilization • Roots of Insular Art • Stone Crosses • As techniques and tools improved, people started getting more ambitious. • Instead of just carving a relief of a cross into stone, they would sculpt a cross out of stone. • They called these stone crosses 'high crosses.' • The most famous examples of these high crosses are the Bewcastle High Cross, sculpted sometime in the seventh century (which unfortunately has lost its crosspiece), and the Ruthwell High Cross, sculpted as much as a century later. • This distinctive style of stone carving would spread across the channel, and its echoes can be seen in the rich architecture of the Gothic Age. Illuminated Manuscripts As Irish sculptors were busy setting up stone crosses across the islands, Irish scribes were pioneering new advances in the art of illumination. Illumination, or the illustration of manuscripts, had been around for a while. Early Christian scribes used illumination to illustrate Bibles, like this scene from the Vienna Genesis. Manuscript illumination reached new levels of refinement in Ireland. The interlacing bands of Anglo-Saxon metalwork found breathtaking expression in the illuminations of the Irish Golden Age. We can see the development of this art form in three famous illuminated Bibles: the Book of Durrow, the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells. The Book of Durrow was composed in the seventh century. In it, we see the establishment of the iconic Insular interlacing band style. We also begin to see standards of composition that would recur in later illuminations. Pretty much every illuminated Bible of this period has: carpet pages, with intricate designs in between books; incipit pages at the beginning of each book; a distinct Chi Rho, for the first initials of Christ; and icons representing the four evangelists. Each of the four gospels had its own unique page dedicated to the apostle who wrote it. You can identify the apostles by their Christian icon: Matthew is represented by an angel, Mark by a lion, Luke by an ox and John by an eagle. These trends are refined in the later eighth-century Lindisfarne Gospels. Take a look at the incredible intricacy of this Carpet Page. See how complicated the initials on this Incipit Page have gotten. And the Chi Rho of Christ now takes up the better part of half a page. When we look at the gospels, we're in for a big surprise: We now have people instead of just animals! When you look at these people, you might notice that the figures are really, really primitive. It seems odd that the scribe would put such painstaking detail into these intricate overlapping patterns and then show such utter disregard for the human form. So how do we explain this disconnect? It's certainly not due to a lack of skill. Some art historians have posited that drawings of human figures were simply less important to the illuminators of the Irish Golden Age. This contrasts greatly with classical art, in which the figure takes the fore at all times. By the time we get to the Book of Kells, created around 800 CE, manuscript illumination had reached its apex. The detail in this Carpet Page has gotten so fine, you need a magnifying glass to see it all. The Incipit Page has gotten so busy that there's barely room for any text. And the Chi Rho of Christ now has a page all to itself. The icons of the apostles of the four gospels have returned to highly stylized images of animals and angels, instead of figures of men. This strengthens the theory that the Irish weren't as concerned with figures of people as they were with their delicate interlacing patterns. The Book of Kells marks the apex of manuscript illumination. Nothing before or afterward compares with the incredible depth, intricacy and beauty of these illuminations. * How the Irish Saved Civilization • Roots of Insular Art • Illuminated Manuscripts • As Irish sculptors were busy setting up stone crosses across the islands, Irish scribes were pioneering new advances in the art of illumination. • Illumination, or the illustration of manuscripts, had been around for a while. • Early Christian scribes used illumination to illustrate Bibles, like the one we saw from the Vienna Genesis. • Manuscript illumination reached new levels of refinement in Ireland though. • The interlacing bands of Anglo-Saxon metalwork found breathtaking expression in the illuminations of the Irish Golden Age. • One can see the development of this art form in three famous illuminated Bibles: the Book of Durrow, the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells. * How the Irish Saved Civilization • Roots of Insular Art • Illuminated Manuscripts • The Book of Durrow was composed in the seventh century. • In it, we see the establishment of the iconic Insular interlacing band style. • We also begin to see standards of composition that would recur in later illuminations. • Pretty much every illuminated Bible of this period has: carpet pages, with intricate designs in between books; • incipit pages at the beginning of each book; • a distinct Chi Rho, for the first initials of Christ; and icons representing the four evangelists. • Each of the four gospels had its own unique page dedicated to the apostle who wrote it. * How the Irish Saved Civilization • Roots of Insular Art • Illuminated Manuscripts • You can identify the apostles by their Christian icon: • Matthew is represented by an angel, • Mark by a lion, • Luke by an ox and • John by an eagle. * How the Irish Saved Civilization • Roots of Insular Art • Illuminated Manuscripts • These trends are refined in the later eighth-century Lindisfarne Gospels. • Take a look at the incredible intricacy of this Carpet Page. * How the Irish Saved Civilization • Roots of Insular Art • Illuminated Manuscripts • See how complicated the initials on this Incipit Page have gotten. * How the Irish Saved Civilization • Roots of Insular Art • Illuminated Manuscripts • And the Chi Rho of Christ now takes up the better part of half a page. * How the Irish Saved Civilization • Roots of Insular Art • Illuminated Manuscripts • When we look at the gospels, we're in for a big surprise: We now have people instead of just animals! * How the Irish Saved Civilization • Roots of Insular Art • Illuminated Manuscripts • When you look at these people, you might notice that the figures are really, really primitive. • It seems odd that the scribe would put such painstaking detail into these intricate overlapping patterns and then show such utter disregard for the human form. • So how do we explain this disconnect? • It's certainly not due to a lack of skill. • Some art historians have posited that drawings of human figures were simply less important to the illuminators of the Irish Golden Age. • This contrasts greatly with classical art, in which the figure takes the fore at all times. * How the Irish Saved Civilization • Roots of Insular Art • Illuminated Manuscripts • By the time we get to the Book of Kells, created around 800 AD, manuscript illumination had reached its apex.