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Publisherâs Note
THE ILLUSTRATIONS IN THIS EXTENSIVE COMPILATION are drawn from four late-nineteenth-century works by Paul Lacroix: The Arts in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (1870); Manners, Customs, and Dress During the Middle Ages and During the Renaissance Period (1874); Military and Religious Life in the Middle Ages and at the Period of the Renaissance (1874); and Science and Literature in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (1878). Carol Belanger Grafton has selected more than 750 images from these highly regarded sources and arranged them thematically to reflect the essential topics of medieval life, from trades, occupations, and commerce to architecture and costume. The scope of this treasury includes the lands of France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Russia, England, and Spain, as well as other evolving nations.
Medieval times in Western Europeâthe period of roughly the fifth to the fifteenth centuries (some sixteenth-century images are included here as well)âcontinue to fascinate the modern sensibility. The dissolution of Rome in the fifth century gave way to the rise of the Christian church. This church, persecuted at its start, continued to develop until it arrived at a state of influence and wealth that made it supremely powerful among European nations. The societal organization and material progressââcivilizationâ in the true sense of the wordâcreated by the Roman Empire was undermined by repeated invasions by nomadic tribes from eastern and central Asia, as well as invaders such as the Angles, Jutes, Saxons, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, and Vandals. The unifying effect of the Roman administration was increasingly threatened by the tribal nature of these disruptive people, traditionally referred to as âbarbariansâ; it is helpful to keep in mind that âbarbarianâ originally was a word used by the Greeks to refer to non-Greeksâforeigners or outsiders. The network of roads built by the Romansâa symbol of their strides in unifying the European landsâfell into ruins, further damaging their empire. Nevertheless, by the seventh century, the Roman model began to reappear, and an increasingly orderly society re-formed in the wasted lands of Western Europe. The growth of cities and towns and cultivation of the land led to a new framework for stability and prosperity.
The cornerstones of the medieval worldâmonasticism and chivalryâare included in great detail in this book. Images of popes, clerics, and other religious figures proliferated as Christianity came to predominate over paganism in Western Europe. But at the heart of the medieval world are its people, and among the numerous depictions are those of workers such as a shoemaker [Plate 1], a carpenterâs apprentice [Plate 55], a poultry dealer [Plate 146], and a swineherd [Plate 168], as well as the upper classes: noble ladies and children [Plate 346], a knight and his lady [Plate 356]; and women of the court [Plate 371]. The gulf between the peasant and the aristocrat was wide indeed; the occupants of a Venetian gondola [Plate 5] represent a class that, although few in number, had incalculable influence over laborers such as the scantily clad baker shown in Plate 169. The medieval period was marked by the lurking presence of death, due to pestilence and unsanitary conditions. During the mid-1300s, a catastrophic plagueâthe Black Deathâwiped out one-quarter to a third of the European population. Plates 506, 510, 511, and 515 through 518 provide striking imagery of the Grim Reaper, wa...
