Cover Slide

The Earth and Its Peoples

3rd edition

Chapter 15
The Latin West, 1200-1500

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Battle of Crecy, 1346

Battle of Crecy, 1346 Pitched battles were unusual in the Hundred Years' War. At the Battle of Crecy, the English (on the right with lions on their royal standard) scored a spectacular victory. The longbow proved a more effective weapon over the French crossbow, but characteristically the artist concentrated on the aristocratic knights. (Bibliotheque nationale de France)
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Brunelleschi's Dome

Brunelleschi's Dome Filipo Brunelleschi, the foremost architect of the Early Renaissance, lost the competition for the commission for the north door of the Baptistery to Ghiberti. In 1417 he bested Ghiberti for the commission to build a dome for the Florentine Cathedral. Between 1420 and 1436 he built a drum--a vertical supporting wall--on the existing 138-footdiameter octagonal cross of the cathedral. He then assembled the dome on the drum, essentially creating an eight-sided Gothic vault. (Scala/Art Resource, NY)

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da Vinci, Mona Lisa

da Vinci, Mona Lisa In 1503 Leonardo da Vinci began his most famous work-- the Mona Lisa. The subject of the painting is Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo, the wife of a prominent Florentine businessman. She is posed half-length in the seated position, her posture is relaxed, and her gaze is direct. The softening of the edges of the background, effecting a fine haze called sfumato, creates a sense of intimacy and psychological drama. (Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY)

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El Greco, Burial of Count of Orgaz

El Greco, Burial of Count of Orgaz Born in Crete, Domenikos Theotokopoulos (1541-1614), known as El Greco ("The Greek"), moved to Venice in the 1560s and learned the techniques of the Venetian masters. El Greco brought to his art a deeply religious intensity and often imbued religious themes with an ecstatic, emotional, and mystical quality. His painting The Burial of Count Orgaz conveys the traditional message that good works will merit the intercession of the saints in the matter of salvation and attaining heaven. The action operates on three levels: death, the funeral, and the arrival of the Count's soul in heaven. (Museo del Prado/Institut Amatller d'Art Hispanic)

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Expulsion of Albigensians from Carcassone

Expulsion of Albigensians from Carcassone This illustration from a fourteenth-century manuscript depicts the grim realities of the Albigensian Crusade launched in 1208. Here the Albigensians are being expelled from Carcassonne in 1209. But the Cathars of Carcassonne fared less badly than those of Beziers, who were massacred. (British Library)
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Flemish weavers, 14th c

Flemish weavers, 14th c The spread of textile weaving gave employment to many people in the Netherlands. The city of Ypres in Flanders (now northern Belgium) was an important textile center in the thirteenth century. This drawing, from a fourteenth-century manuscript, shows a man and a woman weaving cloth on a horizontal loom, while a child makes thread on a spinning wheel. (Stedelijke Openbare Bibliotheek, Ypres)
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Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise

Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455) was given a commission to cast a pair of doors, with scenes drawn from the Old Testament, for the east side of the Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence-thereafter known as The Gates of Paradise, so named by Michelangelo. In creating the ten 31-inch-square panels, Ghiberti's use of perspective is one of the hallmarks of his accomplishment. (Scala/Art Resource, NY)

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Gothic cathedral: Notre Dame Paris

Gothic cathedral: Notre Dame Paris This view from the south of Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, offers a fine example of the twin towers (left), the spire, the great rose window over the south portal, and the flying buttresses that support the walls and the vaults. Like hundreds of other churches in medieval Europe, it was dedicated to the Virgin. With a nave rising 226 feet, this Gothic cathedral was the tallest building in Europe. (David R. Frazier/Photo Researchers)
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Gothic interior, Notre-Dame de Chartres

Gothic interior, Notre-Dame de Chartres The advent of the High Gothic architectural style is marked by the rebuilding of the Romanesque styled Notre-Dame de Chartres. The 446-foot-long interior consists of a nave culminating in an apse that houses the crypt bearing the relic of Mary, "The Veil of the Virgin," a piece of the garment supposedly worn by Mary when she gave birth to Jesus. The wide side aisles of the nave, which also run around the transept, were designed to hold many pilgrims without disturbing the worshipers. At the center of the nave is the prayer labyrinth--a meandering stone path designed to symbolize Jesus carrying his cross to the crucifixion--which penitents circled on their knees as they recited their prayers. (Editions Gaud)

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Hanseatic league merchants

Hanseatic league merchants In the thirteenth century the merchants of Hamburg and other cities in northern Germany formed an association for the suppression of piracy and the acquisition of commercial privileges in foreign countries. Members of the Hansa traded in furs, fish, wax, and oriental luxury goods. This miniature depicts members of the Hansa at the port of Hamburg. (Staatsarchiv Hamburg)

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Jews demonized

Jews demonized The fourth Lateran Council of 1215 required that Jews wear distinctive clothing--special caps and the Star of David--so that they could be distinguished from Christians. In this caricature from an English treasury record for 1233, Isaac of Norwich (top center), reputedly the richest Jew in England, wears a crown implying his enormous influence and power. The figure at left (holding scales) suggests the Jewish occupation of moneylender. At right Satan leads Jews to hell. (The National Archives, Public Record Office)
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Journey of the Magi

Journey of the Magi Few Renaissance paintings better illustrate art in the service of the princely court than this painting by Benozzo Gozzoli (1420-1497), The Magi on Their Way to Bethlehem with Lorenzo the Magnificent, which was commissioned by Piero de' Medici to adorn his palace chapel. Everything in this fresco--the large crowd, the feathers and diamonds adorning many of the personages, the black servant in front--serves to flaunt the power and wealth of the House of Medici. The artist has discreetly placed himself in the crowd; the name Benozzo is embroidered on his cap. (Scala/Art Resource, NY)
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Michelangelo, David

Michelangelo, David The concept of genius as divine inspiration is nowhere exemplified more fully than in the life and work of Michelangelo Buonarrotti (1475-1564). And Michelangelo was a sculptor--more specifically, a carver of marble statues--to the core. His David is the earliest monumental statue of the High Renaissance, and the city fathers eventually chose to put it in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, as the civic-patriotic symbol of the Florentine republic. Michelangelo fashioned the marble in a new, more natural manner. David's bare skin contrasts with the rough leather strap of the slingshot, and his right leg leans against a realistic tree trunk. He blends the classical model of a victorious athlete crowned with a laurel wreath with the biblical hero as a defender of the faith. David is a mature young man of consummate beauty. (Scala/Art Resource, NY)

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Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel ceiling

Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel ceiling Michelangelo Buonarroti's commission to adorn the vaults of the 130-foot-long ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was the most challenging enterprise of the Renaissance. Although Michelangelo had to adapt his monumental figures to fit the contours of the ceiling, they are highly expressive and communicate his belief that physical beauty manifests the spiritual beauty of the soul. The nine central panels portray the world described in Genesis from Creation to the Drunkenness of Noah. In the sections above the windows and in the lunettes around the windows, Michelangelo portrayed the generations of ancestors prior to Christ, and in the large corners of the chapel he depicts important scenes drawn from the Old Testament. (Vatican Museum)
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Notre-Dame de la Belle Verriere

Notre-Dame de la Belle Verriere The most numerous, and best preserved, stained-glass windows during this period are those that were created for the cathedral at Chartres. The four central panels for the famous Notre-Dame de la Belle Verriere (Our Lady of the Beautiful Window) were fashioned for the south ambulatory in the twelfth century. Because of the beauty of its blue glass, this window is often referred to as "The Blue Virgin Window." It depicts the Virgin Mary with a crown on her head, seated on a throne supported by angels, holding Jesus in her lap. ((c) Clive Hicks)

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Print shop

Print shop This colored engraving, after a miniature of the sixteenth century, depicts a French printshop of the time. A workman operates the "press," quite literally a screw device that presses the paper to the inked type. Other employees examine the printed sheets, each of which holds four pages. When folded, the sheets make a book. (Giraudon/Art Resource, NY)

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Siege of Constantinople

Siege of Constantinople The siege of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453--which lasted only fifty-three days--required the attackers to isolate the city both by sea and by land. This miniature from the fifteenth century shows the Turkish camps, as well as the movements of Turkish boats, completing the isolation of the city. (Bibliotheque nationale de France)

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Spanish apothecary

Spanish apothecary This miniature from the Cantigas of Alfonso X, a parchment codex with illuminated miniatures, depicts a Spanish pharmacist seated outside his shop within the town walls, describing the merits of his goods to a crowd of Christians and Muslims. (El Escorial)
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St. Sebastian and the plague-stricken

St. Sebastian and the plague-stricken In his painting of St. Sebastian Interceding for the Plague-Stricken, the Flemish artist Josse Lieferinxe portrays an outbreak of the plague. One dying man seems to be falling terrified to the ground while a female bystander in the background screams in alarm. In the foreground the body of a dead person, carefully shrouded, is attended by a priest and other clerics bearing a cross. In the background is a cart transporting the dead to common graves. At the top of the painting, Christ listens to the prayers of Saint Sebastian (pierced by arrows). (The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore)

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Statue of Ferdinand

Statue of Ferdinand All governments try to cultivate a popular image. For Ferdinand and Isabella, it was the appearance of piety. Contemporaries, such as the Burgundian sculptor Felipe Bigarny, portrayed them as paragons of Christian piety, as shown in this carved and painted wooden effigy of Ferdinand kneeling in the royal chapter of Granada Cathedral, where he was buried in 1516. (Laurie Platt Winfrey, Inc.)

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Statue of Isabella

Statue of Isabella Backed by a relief of Santiago, scourge of the Muslims, this polychrome statue of Isabella overlooked the royal tomb in the royal chapel of Granada Cathedral. (Laurie Platt Winfrey, Inc.)

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Students at lecture

Students at lecture This beautifully carved marble sculpture, with the fluid drapery characteristic of the late Gothic style, conveys the students' curiosity and intellectual intensity. However, the profusion of books and (especially) the presence of the woman (bottom, center) makes us wonder if the artist actually witnessed such a scene. Universities generally did not admit women until the late nineteenth century. (Museo Civico, Bologna/Scala/Art Resource, NY)
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Tres Riches Heures: February

Tres Riches Heures: February The late Gothic style of manuscript illumination was defined by the Limbourg brothers--Jean, Paul, and Herman--who flourished as artists during the late fourteenth century and the early fifteenth century. They were commissioned by the Duke of Berry to complete two books of hours. The last commission they undertook for the duke was Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, begun in 1413. It is, perhaps, the finest example of manuscript illumination. The brothers were able to complete illustrations for eleven of the months; another artist completed November. At the top of each calendar page is a two-tiered arch. The outer arch consists of the zodiac sign, the inner arch shows the blue dome of heaven and Apollo, and below the arch is the labor associated with each, as is evident in this snowy February scene. (Victoria & Albert Museum/The Bridgeman Art Library International)

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van Eyck, Arnolfini Wedding

van Eyck, Arnolfini Wedding

The founders of the northern school of Flemish painting were the two van Eyck brothers, Hubert and Jan (ca. 1390-1441), whose work marks a definitive break from the Middle Ages. They paid attention to minute details, and their technical artistry is particularly evident in their depiction of textures. Jan van Eyck's most famous painting, Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife, is also filled with symbolism. The room of the bride's house in which the marriage takes place is filled with objects alluding to Netherlandish marriage customs; the little dog, symbolizing fidelity, completes the allegorical scene. Perhaps the most fascinating portion of the painting is the convex mirror--which not only reflects the bridal couple but the artist himself--and the inscription on the back wall, which reads "Johannes de Eyck fuit hic 1434" (Jan van Eyck was here). (Reproduced by Courtesy of the Trustees, The National Gallery, London)

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Map: The Course of the Black Death in 14th-Century Europe

The Course of the Black Death in 14th-Century Europe Note the routes that the bubonic plague took across Europe. How do you account for the fact that several regions were spared the "dreadful death"? (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.)

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Map: English Holdings in France During the Hundred Years' War

English Holdings in France During the Hundred Years' War The year 1429 marked the greatest extent of English holdings in France. Why is it unlikely that England could have held these territories permanently? (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.)

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Map: Europe in 1453

Europe in 1453 This year marked the end of the Hundred Years War between France and England and the fall of the Byzantine capital city of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks. Muslim advances into southeastern Europe were offset by the Latin Christian reconquests of Islamic holdings in southern Italy and the Iberian Peninsula and by the conversion of Lithuania. (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.)
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Map: The Reconquista

The Reconquista The Christian conquest of Muslim Spain was followed by ecclesiastical reorganization, with the establishment of dioceses, monasteries, and the Latin liturgy, which gradually tied the peninsula to the heartland of Christian Europe and to the Roman papacy. (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.)

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Map: Trade and Manufacturing in Medieval Europe

Trade and Manufacturing in Medieval Europe Note the number of cities and the sources of silver, iron, copper, lead, paper, wool, carpets and rugs, and slaves. (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.)

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