Download Free English Medieval Misericords Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online English Medieval Misericords and write the review.

Misericord carvings present a fascinating corpus of medieval art which, in turn, complements our knowledge of life and belief in the late middle ages. Subjects range from the sacred to the profane and from the fantastic to the everyday, seemingly giving equal weight to the scatological and the spiritual alike. Focusing specifically on England - though with cognisance of broader European contexts - this volume offers an analysis of misericords in relation to other cultural artefacts of the period. Through a series of themed "case studies", the book places misericords firmly within the doctrinal and devotional milieu in which they were created and sited, arguing that even the apparently coarse images to be found beneath choir stalls are intimately linked to the devotional life of the medieval English Church. The analysis is complemented by a gazetteer of the most notable instances. Dr Paul Hardwick is Professor in English, Leeds Trinity University College.
English Gothic Misericord Carvings: History from the Bottom Up by Betsy Chunko-Dominguez is the first book to move beyond textual dependence and traditional iconographic analysis when examining misericords. It likewise builds the most thorough discussion to date of the relationship between the misericord’s several potential audiences – including patron, craftsman, occupant of the seat, and modern viewer. Beyond the bounds of misericord studies, there are implications here for study of the relationship between center and margin in late medieval art; and, indeed, what constitutes ‘center’ and ‘margin’ as conceptual realms. Ultimately, this book attempts both to re-integrate the study of misericords into the study of Gothic art in general, and to re-center them in relation to our understanding of late medieval culture.
This book describes and illustrates one of the most entertaining 'popular' art-forms of the Middle Ages, the misericord - the carved, hinged seat of the choir-stall - found in monastic and parish churches and in cathedrals. These ledges were introduced as a concession to elderly and frail monks who found it difficult to stand through the eight daily Offices. In the course of time they were decorated and eventually extensively carved with narrative scenes. English misericords have their own distinctive style and express a particular sense of humour. Intended as antidotes to the rigorous celibate life of the monks, they depict unrestrained and often bawdy subject-matter and present an explicit and frank expression of the 'unmentionable'. Most of the surviving misericords are from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, though a few earlier ones are to be found; some, in London and Cambridge, are from the sixteenth century and have distinctly Renaissance qualities. Exceptionally fine series are to be found in Exeter, Lincoln, Manchester, Worcester, Ripon and Wells Cathedral, but many excellent examples can be seen in parish churches all over the country. The book is richly illustrated from new, specially taken photographs, with full descriptive captions and a map of the locations of misericords mentioned. It will act as companion to students of medieval art and society, and to all those interested in the 'popular' arts, that can still be seen in our own time.
IntroductionPrefaceMalcolm JonesEditorialElaine C. BlockTechnical Aspects of the MisericordHugh HarrisonProfane Imagery on Misericords and Lead Badges1 Misericords as an Interpretative Tool in the study of Choir StallsCharles Tracy2 Misericords and the World of BruegelElaine C. Block3 TutivillusChrista Grössinger4 Where the Abbot Carries Dice : Gaming-Board Misericords in Context M.A. Hall5 Flying Low Down Under: Representations of Winged MammalsFowl and Birds on English MisericordsS.J. F.S. Philips6 The Mermaid in the ChurchTerry Pearson7 Romance among the Choir Stalls: Middle English Romance Motifs on English MisericordsJennifer Fellows8 Misinterpretation in the MarginsPaul Hardwick9 Passionate Pilgrims: Secular Lead Badges as Precursors of Emblemata AmatoriaStefanie StockhorstProfane Images in other marginal media10 Obscenity as the Woodworker's Last LaughNaomi Reed Kline11 Looking for Fun in All the Wrong Places: Humour and Comedy in Moralizing PrintsDiane G. Scillia12 A Sacred Tekst Profaned : Seven Women Fight for the BreechesWalter S. Gibson13 Iconographie des charniers des ossuaires et des aîtres à Travers la France médievale Sylvie Bethmont-Gallerand14 An Iconography of Shame: German Defamatory Pictures of the Early Modern EraSilke Meyer15 The Lost Print Collection of Ferdinand Columbus (1488-1539)Mark P. Mc DonaldThe Marginal Arts in the Mainstream16 Screening the Middle Ages: Costumes and Objects as Medieval Signifiers in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)Brian J. Levy17 Diabolus in musica dans les stalles médiévales: significations du désordre musical Frédéric Billiet18 Review of Averting Demons by Ruth MellinkoffMalcolm Jones19 Resumes in French and EnglishSylvie Bethmond-GallerandElaine C. BlockAppendix/ List of photographs by siteThe Authors.
Block (emerita, City University of New York), following 30 years of patient research, presents an impressive catalogue of 3287 examples of historiated misericords in France. The catalogue documents the carvings under these small mobile choir seats, which are hinged so they can be raised to provide standing space, revealing the carving beneath. Block's introduction describes the history of the misericord and its study. The entries provide details about the church's choir and other choir stalls then discusses the misericord's appearance, provenance, and condition. For churches that still have a substantial number, Block discusses the sculptural program of the misericords. Each misericord is reproduced in a b&w plate of excellent quality. Distributed by the David Brown Book Company. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).
What do they all mean – the lascivious ape, autophagic dragons, pot-bellied heads, harp-playing asses, arse-kissing priests and somersaulting jongleurs to be found protruding from the edges of medieval buildings and in the margins of illuminated manuscripts? Michael Camille explores that riotous realm of marginal art, so often explained away as mere decoration or zany doodles, where resistance to social constraints flourished. Medieval image-makers focused attention on the underside of society, the excluded and the ejected. Peasants, servants, prostitutes and beggars all found their place, along with knights and clerics, engaged in impudent antics in the margins of prayer-books or, as gargoyles, on the outsides of churches. Camille brings us to an understanding of how marginality functioned in medieval culture and shows us just how scandalous, subversive, and amazing the art of the time could be.
The cult of saints is one of the most fascinating manifestations of medieval piety. It was intensely physical; saints were believed to be present in the bodily remains that they had left on earth. Medieval shrines were created in order to protect these relics and yet to show off their spiritual worth, at the same time allowing pilgrims limited access to them. English Medieval Shrines traces the development of such structures, from the earliest cult activities at saintly tombs in the late Roman empire, through Merovingian Gaul and the Carolingian Empire, via Anglo-Saxon England, to the great shrines of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The greater part of the book is a definitive exploration, on a basis that is at once thematic and chronological, of the major saints cults of medieval England, from the Norman Conquest to the Reformation. These include the famous cults of St Cuthbert, St Swithun, and St Thomas Becket - and lesser known figures such as St Eanswyth of Folkestone or St Ecgwine of Evesham. John Crook, an independent architectural historian, archaeological consultant, and photographer, is the foremost authority on English shrines. He has published numerous books and papers on the cult of saints.
Major interdisciplnary study of medieval church porches, bringing out their importance and significance.
Medical Texts and Cultures of Northern Europe is a series which opens up a dedicated forum for comparative work on northern European medieval literature, history, and society and their significance in the modern world. It promotes dialogue between anglophone and continental medievalists and addresses the need for transcultural perspectives on Europe's medical origins in a way that is distinctive both in scope and in academic orientation. The focus is on the medical texts and cultures of the British Isles, northern and central mainland Europe, and Scandinavia. The chronological range of the series is from c. 800 AD to c. 1600 Each volume makes available to an international readership excellent new work, offering ways of readings texts, cultures, and institutions that speak to the contemporary world.
Compton Reeves examines how people from all classes of medieval English society enjoyed themselves when not engaged in daily chores. Reeves' other works include Lancastrian Englishmen and The Marcher Lords