The Carolingian pot found in Dumfriess in October 2014 is probably the largest ever. recently it was CT-scanned to discover, what it holds.
Category: Medieval News
Colosseum as Modern Sports Arena
A recent proposal is to cover the floor of the Colosseum in Rome in order to use it for football matches, reenactments and other events
Walmgate Bar in York
City of York Council invests to protect York’s medieval Bar Walls
Medieval Handwriting App
If you want to study medieval scripts, handwriting, and manuscripts or simply want to get acquainted with some of the finest medieval codices here is an app
Medieval Truck-Stop excavated
Archaeologists have found the remains of a long-haul truck-stop near Peissen in Sachsen –Anhalt on the road between Hannover and Dresden.
Luther and the Princes
2015 a major exhibition on Luther and the Princes will be mounted. The idea behind the exhibition is to tell the story of the political side of the reformation.
The Reformation may have started when Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the church-door in Wittenberg in 1517. However, without the backing of the German princes the Reformation would never have taken place. Center of this movement was the small renaissance town, Torgau, where the castle of Hartenfels was home t
o the Duke of Saxony. Here the first protestant church was built (in the chapel of the castle) and here the wife of Luther was buried.
The exhibition is mounted in the castle, which has undergone a series of restorations in the last decade.
The Reformation permanently altered not only the religious landscape of Europe but also its political map. The publication in 1517 of the 95 Theses affected every aspect of life and every section of society. Its impact was due in no small part to the Protestant princes who championed Luther’s teachings. The picturesque Renaissance town of Torgau on the Elbe, with its castle, Schloss Hartenfels, was the political centre of the Reformation. Martin Luther preached here and consecrated the castle chapel as one of the very first new Protestant church buildings. Once the residence of the electors of Saxony, Torgau is the authentic setting for the first national special exhibition to commemorate the Reformation.
On the occasion of the Luther Decade the exhibition connects this historical location with unique objects that illustrate the Reformation period. In an exhibition space measuring more than 1,500 m², it explores various aspects of the political history of the princes and their self-image during the Reformation, extending from 1515, when the plenary indulgence was proclaimed, up to 1591, when the Union of Torgau was formed. Paintings, treasury objects and ornate suits of armour, along with numerous other historical exhibits, provide a vivid impression of the interplay between politics and the Reformation and open a window on the age of confessional division.
The exhibition is organised by the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden in cooperation with the “City of Torgau. Federal President of Germany, Joachim Gauck is protector of the exhibition.
VISIT:
Luther and the Princes. The Public Portrayal and Self-Image of Rulers in the Age of Reformation
Torgau 15.05.2015 – 31.05.2015
Christoph of Württenberg – a Renaissance Prince in the Age of the Reformation
Stuttgart, 24.10.2015 – 04.03.2016
Christoph of Württemberg 1515 – 1568
2015 Stuttgart celebrates the birth of the renaissance duke, Christoph of Württemberg, who invoked the reformation there.
Ways to Cranach
Cranach the Younger was in his own right a remarkable painter of the reformation. This year a series of exhibitions throws a spotlight on his work.
Cranach the Elder is known as the artist, who through his friendship with Luther turned into the “visualizer” of the reformation. His son, Cranach the Younger, was also a painter. Born in 1515 in Wittenberg he continued the work of his father.
In memory of his birth in 1515 one of the major exhibitions in Germany (one of the so-called “Landes-ausstellungen”) will be mounted by Sachsen-Anhalt and Thüringen next summer.
It is the first worldwide exhibition, which dedicates itself to the life and work of this painter. The exhibition will open at 7 different original locations: Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Dessau, Wörlitz, Eisenach, Gotha, Weimar and Erfurt. Other places may also be included in the itinerary.
Wittenberg
In Wittenberg the exhibition tells the story of the life and work of Lucas Cranach the Younger. It presents him as a facet-rich personality: as prudent head of the family, as city treasurer, intelligent mayor and an energetic entrepreneur. Above all, however, it presents the artist Lucas Cranach as a royal contractor, as painter of reformatory altars and epitaphs, as an excellent portraitist and a highly talented draughtsman. In the years of the confessional conflicts after Luther’s death he made an important contribution for the propagation of the new faith. His societal portraits show how calculated he knew to utilize his pictorial possibilities. Up to his death in 1586 Lucas Cranach the Younger led one of the largest and most productive work of art studios of Europe in Wittenberg. He was a skillful artist who understood his craft and acted in the midst of a large personal and vocational network. Great works of art from German and international collections as well as exciting medial representations convey these connections. They enable the long time overdue discovery of Cranach the Younger as a widely unknown master from Wittenberg. The exhibition is to be seen at the Augusteum, the front building of the Lutherhaus.
Cranach’s Church and the Reformation Altar
Another venue in Wittenberg is the church of St. Mary, which holds numerous original paintings of Lucas Cranach the younger. For the exhibition in “Cranach’s Church”, Cranach’s works of the Town Church St. Marien are extravagantly restored, first of all the well-known Reformation Altar, on which Lucas Cranach the Younger together with his father worked. Further important works are the epitaphs for Johannes Bugenhagen and Paul Eber, the latter better known by his title “Der Weinberg des Herrn” (“The vineyard of the Lord”). The works are considered as particularly important testimony of Reformation history. Additional elucidations and texts complete the exhibition. The Cranach Altar in the church of St. Mary in Wittenberg has recently been restored. The result will be unveiled in Wittenberg on the 31st of October.
Cranach in Anhalt
The city of Dessau was closely connected with the reformation and the Cranach family often visited the town, which lies 35 km. from Wittenberg
With the impressive epitaphs in the Church of St. John, with the famous Dessauer “Fürstenaltar“ (“Princes’ Altar”) and other major works of Cranach the Elder as well as other masterpieces of old German painting and graphics from the Anhalt Art Gallery in Dessau, the exhibition draws a multifaceted image of the background for the art of the younger Cranach.
Cranach in the Gothic House in Wörlitz
Prince Franz of Anhalt-Dessau (1751 – 1817) was an avid collector of the work of both Cranach the Elder and Younger. All in all he acquired 20 works, which will be displayed in accordance with the original hanging scheme.
The Luther Portraits of the Cranach Workshop at Wartburg
Between 1520 and 1546 seven different graphic and painted portrait models of Martin Luther developed in the workshop of Cranach the Elder and Younger.
All these portraits served as both propaganda and documentary and were deliberately used for didactic purposes. The portrait of Luther thereby assumed a substantial function as ambassador for the reformatory program and a complete illustration of his biographical background.
The exhibition presents this typology but is also concerned with the organization of the Wittenberg workshop. Painted and graphic portraits of the monk and reformer were focal points, which were supplemented by portraits of other contemporaries. The exhibition aims to show that the Luther portrait has remained current in contemporary art up to today.
Cranach in Weimar
The focus of the Cranach exhibition in Weimar are the particular rich collection of paintings, designs, prints, graphics, book art and much as well as the unique winged altar in in the church St. Peter and Paul (Herderkirche). Completed in 1555 it represents one of major works of reformatory art. The exhibition especially explores this altar donated to the memory of Johann Friedrich the Magnanimous and Sibylle von Cleve and other works from the Cranach workshop created for the Ernestinian court.
Cranach in the service of the Court and the Reformation in Gotha
Within the decade of Luther the 500th Birthday of Lucas Cranach the Younger provides the opportunity to delve into the early modern period and the beginning of the Reformation. Emphasis of the prodigious special exhibition in the Herzoglichen Museum (Ducal Museum Gotha) will be the official character of the Cranach workshop in the service of the Elector of Saxony and the Reformation. The exhibition explores how political messages of the Ernestinian dynasty and the teachings of Luther were illustrated. The extremely productive Cranach workshop developed new image concepts. By means of top-notch works from international collections the productivity and innovative strength of Cranach family will be demonstrated. An exciting look at an early form of “picture propaganda” that allows a new view of old German painting.
Controversy and Compromise in Erfurt
The museum in Erfurt highlights the pictures in the Erfurter Cathedral, which originated in 1506. In Erfurt a unique dual-confessional culture developed between town councillors and the prince bishop. This lead to a dispute carried out not only through to word and scripture, but also through “images”. The exhibition explores the theological, liturgical and culturally historical background and places them in the context of the emerging reformation.
VISIT:
Lucas Cranach the Younger – Discovery of a Master
Wittenberg 26.06.2015 – 01.11.2015
Lucas Cranach and the Old German Painters
Johannbau in Dessau-Rosslau, 26.06.2015 – 01.11.2015
Cranach in the Gothic House in Wörlitz
Wörlitz, 16.05.2015 – 04.10.2014
The Luther Portraits of the Cranach Workshop
Wartburg 02.04.2015 – 19.07.2015
Controversy and Compromise
Angermuseum Erfurt 16.05.2015 – 23.08.2015
Cranach in the service of the Court and the Reformation
Gotha 20.03.2015 – 19.07.2015
Cranach in Weimar
Schiller Museum 03.04.2015 – 14.06.2015
SEE MORE:
In connection with the focus on Cranach twelve German cities have come together to develop a Cranach-Route: Kronach, Coburg, Nuremberg, Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Dessau-Rosslau, Meissen, Neustadt and der Orla, Gotha, Erfurt, Schneeberg, Eisenach, Weimar.
In connection with the route a booklet has been made available:
In the Footsteps of Cranach. A Journey of Discovery.
READ MORE:
Serpent and the Lamb. Cranach, Luther and the Making of the reformation
By Stephen Ozment
Yale University press 2011
The Cranach Digital Archive (cda) is an interdisciplinary collaborative research resource, providing access to art historical, technical and conservation information on paintings by Lucas Cranach (c.1472 – 1553), his sons and his workshop. The repository presently provides information on more than 1,100 paintings including c. 10,400 images and 790 pdf documents from 146 contributing institutions as well as 150 digitized and transcribed archival documents and 2,750 literature references.
Started in 2009 the project is in its second phase (2012 – 2014). In this period the CDA aims to expand the existing network, to develop the shared infrastructure and to increase its content in order to build the foundations for an innovative, comprehensive and collaboratively produced repository of knowledge about Lucas Cranach and his workshop that will be significantly different from the traditional model of the single-author catalogue raisonné.
The Cranach Digital Archive is a joint initiative of the Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf and Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences / Cologne University of Applied Sciences in collaboration with nine founding partner institutions, 19 associate partners and many project contributors. The project is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Cranach.net is the interdisciplinary research-wiki, which functions as a virtual Cranach Institute. The aim is to further research into the work of Lucas Crananch the Elder, his sons and their workshops. Another project is directed towards developing a comprehensive catalogue of their works (Corpus Cranachs).
Catalogues and Books published in connection with the Crananch-Jahr
Bild und Botschaft: Cranach im Dienst von Hof und Reformation
By Stiftung Schloss Friedenstein Gotha
Morio 2015
ISBN-10: 3945424097
ISBN-13: 978-3945424094
Lucas Cranach the Elderer belongs among the most important German artists of the Renaissance. Hundreds of works bear witness to the many topics, which were touched upon by Cranach and his workshop For more than five decades the painter was in the service of the powerful Electors of Saxony, for which he decisively visualized the Protestant ideas. This richly illustrated catalogue explores the question of how Cranach came to characterize the triumph of the Reformation in such a decisive manner. The catalogue presents more than 100 major works from international collections. It also presents numerous essays from internationally renowned Cranach-experts.The catalogue is published on the occasion of the exhibitions mounted by the Foundation Schloss Friedenstein Gotha and the Museums in Hessen Kassel in the Cranach-year 2015.
Lucas Cranach der Jüngere: Und die Reformation der Bilder
By Anne Eusterschulte, Gunnar Heydenreich and Elke A. Werner (Eds.)
Hirmer 2015
ISBN-10: 3777423688
ISBN-13: 978-3777423685
To celebrate the 500th birthday of Lucas cranach the Youngerer , international experts gathered at a symposium in order to trace a comprehensive as nuanced picture of the life and work of the artist . This book documents the results and opens up for new perspectives on the innovative artist, businessman and politician, who with great insight responded through his portraits, profane histories and religious themes to the profound changes of his time.
Lucas Cranach: Im Gotischen Haus in Wörlitz
By Kulturstiftung Dessau Wörlitz and ed. Dr. Wolfgang Savelsberg
Hirmer 2015
ISBN-10: 377742398X
ISBN-13: 978-3777423982
Leopold III, prince of Anhalt – Dessau (1740 – 1817) collected almost 600 old master paintings, called the Gothic house collection. This collection was hung in the Gothic House in the Wörlitzer Park.The core was one of the first Cranch collections in the world. This collection has been carefully reconstructed and hung in its original surroundings. This volume contains articles by art historians, who provides an insight into the reception of the paintings and their dynastic and religious significance, which is stressed by the original context.
Cranach, Luther und die Bildnisse: Thüringer Themenjahr “Bild und Botschaft”
By Günter Schuchardt and Grit Jacobs
Schnell & Steiner 2015
ISBN-10: 3795429773
ISBN-13: 978-3795429775
In 1520 the Wittenberg Cranach workshop created 46 portraits of Martin Luther. The volume presents the different portraits and how the workshop organized itself in order to take on this job. The book focuses on portraits of the reformer and how they came to visualize the reformer for centuries to come. In the 1520s radical movements led to widespread iconoclasm directed against idolatry and the practice of the veneration of saints. Martin Luther, however, did not rejected images but found them useful, when they contributed to the understanding of the texts and his teachings. His own portrait served to enforce the Reformation as an instrument of propaganda and documentary image and didactic purposes. The portraits of Luther took over as ambassador of the reformatory program and illustration of his biographical career an essential function. The book appears as a contribution to the Cranach-year 2015
Popes 2017
New exhibition - Popes 2017 - is being planned in Mannheim. The point is to make room for Catholic presence at the reformation festivities 2017.
Aggersborg
New book tells the full story of the Viking-Age Settlement and Fortress at Aggersborg in Northern Jutland from the reign of Harold Bluetooth
Royal Viking Fortresses
The Ring Fortresses of Harold Bluetooth represent a remarkable engineering feat of 10th century Scandinavia. New book presents the latest research
Trelleborg, Aggersborg, Fyrkat, Nonnebakken and now Vallø are five of the most intriguing witnesses to the grandeur of the Royal project of Harold Blutooth.
Although they differ slightly in terms of size and the type of fortifications (some were fitted with moats, others not), it is obvious the circular fortresses were all built to the same specifications around AD 970 to 80. It is immediately obvious that the individual fortresses functioned as parts of a larger military system. However, the exact character of this military complex and its function (s) has been heavily debated for a long time. Were they defensive structures? Meant as ports for ships going on state-sanctioned Viking raids? Or were they perhaps regarded as ready camps for fugitives?
One of the challenges in answering these questions, is that there is in fact a lot to be learned from further excavations in and around the fortresses. Some of these are being withheld as part of the general opinion among archaeologists that it pays of to let future and more clever archaeologists do the work. Other explorations have simply not been carried out as yet.
Between 2007 – 10 a specific set of questions were raised and a number of archaeological explorations were undertaken in order to answer these. The overall question was whether it had been possible to sail up to the fortresses and to what extent this had played a part in their location.
Recently the finds from this campaign were published in a report. The overall conclusion was that yes, the fortresses had been built in close connection with central transport routes running through the landscape and that they especially had access to the central water ways of that time. Whether located on the open coast as Aggersborg or on rivers like Fyrkat and Trelleborg, it was definitely possible to sail up through the waterlogged foreland and marshy wetland. However, only at one of the fortresses (Trelleborg) has it been possible to find remains of actual handling of Viking ships. The investigation concludes by pointing to the fact that actual shipyards might have been located even further inland, where sourcing of tree was simply easier.
The results of the excavations and explorations from 2017 – 2010 were recently published. Although in Danish, there is a very extensive English summary and anyone especially interested in the warfare of the Vikings should try and lay their hands on it.
Kongens Borge [The Fortresses of the King]
Rapport over undersøgelserne 2007-2010
By Andres Siegfried Dobat (ed)
Århus University Press 2013
ISBN 978 87 888415 76 6
READ MORE:
New Viking Ring Fortress Discovered
Viking Age Base-Camps along the Dutch Coast
The Age of the Vikings
Fascinating new book by Anders Winroth introduces the reader to an updated version of The Age of the Vikings
The Medieval Court of a Welsh Prince
The Medieval Court of Llys Rhosyr to be rebuilt at St. Fagans
Reconstruction of the medieval court of the princes of Gwynedd, excavated a decade ago, has begun at St. Fagans, the National Museum in Wales.
In 1992 the archaeologist Neil Johnstone discovered the remains of Llys Rhosyr, one of the royal courts of llywelin Fawr, prince of Gwynedd in the 13th century. It was located in the South West of isle of Anglesey near Newborough on the way to Llanddwyn island.
The Llys Rhosur was one of the royal courts, through which the princes ruled when in residence. These ‘Llys’ were placed at regular interval in the Welsh Kingdom, each covering an administrative region, called a ‘commotes’. Llys Rhosyr was at the heart of the ‘Menai Commote’.
After king Edward I’s conquest in 1282, Rhosyr was largely abandoned. Perhaps stones and timber was removed from the dismantled court and used in his large castles. Later in 1332 the area became covered by sand-dunes, where it lay undisturbed until it was discovered in 1992.
The site has since then been partially excavated, revealing the remains of the main hall and a building believed to have housed the private apartment of the prince. The site has also yielded a number of finds like coins, pottery and other small artefacts. Much of this is exhibited at the local museum in the Prichard-Jones Institue in the nearby village.
The royal court occupied 1.3 acres, while the royal demesne is believed to have extended over the 600 acres, on which the new town of Newborough was established after the conquest. The prince’s tenants worked the land, while other peasants were responsible for the repair and maintenance of the royal buildings: the fence, the hall, the chapel and the lord’s privy and stable. These and other buildings (kilns, barns etc.) were outlined in the Welsh laws as the responsibility of the local peasants to keep and repair. Fair and markets were of course part of the regular on-goings at the Llysoedd
Although more than ¾ of the site is still waiting to be excavated it has recently been decided to spend funding on a reconstruction in the National Museum of Wales.
Reconstruction at St. Fagans
The complete court cannot be replicated without damage to the adjoining woodland so it is proposed that the main hall and adjacent chamber with only part of the surrounding wall should be constructed. These comprise replicas in rubble walling bonded with clay beneath thatched roofs. The hall will have a footprint 11m x 17m and the chamber 7.5m x 13m. With 9 meters high stone walls and a thatched timber roof, the building of the court will provide apprenticeships and trainee placements within the Historic Buildings Unit.
After the reconstruction the plan is to use the buildings for overnight stays so children may improve their understanding of medieval life.
The project feeds into the overall plan of Cadw (the Welsh Government’s historic environment service to focus on the Princes of Gwynedd and the places associated with that medieval dynasty as part of a development of the “ Wales Heritage project”.
SOURCES:
Application Plan for development of St. Fagans
Interpretation Plan for the Princes of Gwynedd for Cadw May 2010
READ MORE:
Cae llys, Rhosyr: A Court of the Princes of Gwynedd
By Neil Johnstone
In: Studia Celtica 2000, Vol. 33, pp. 251 – 295
A Brief Report on Pen y Bryn and Aber Llys and castles of Gwynedd
By Paul Martin Remfry
Castle Studies Research and Publishing 2012
Political Power in Medieval Gwynedd. Governance and the Welsh Princes
By David Stephenson
Series: Studies in Welsh History
2014, 2. edition (1984)
ISBN-10: 1783160047
ISBN-13: 978-1783160044
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd: Prince of Wales
By Beverley Smith
University of Wales Press; 2014 New edition (2001)
ISBN-10: 1783160063
ISBN-13: 978-1783160068
Painted ceiling in Pont-Saint-Esprit
The medieval 'Maison des Chevaliers de Pont-Saint-Esprit' boast of a remarkable painted ceiling
Medieval Painted Ceilings in Lagrasse
The small French village, Lagrasse, can boast of a remarkable treasure of medieval painted ceilings
Painted Ceilings in Capestang
Capestang is a sleepy village not far from Narbonne in Southern France. In the Middle Ages it belonged to the Archbishops in Narbonne.