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160-686: After the decline of the Carolingian Empire , the Holy Roman Empire was re-established under the Saxon Ottonian dynasty. From this emerged a renewed faith in the idea of Empire and a reformed Church, creating a period of heightened cultural and artistic fervour. It was in this atmosphere that masterpieces were created that fused the traditions from which Ottonian artists derived their inspiration: models of Late Antique, Carolingian, and Byzantine origin. Surviving Ottonian art

320-485: A German one in England". The church of St George at Oberzell on Reichenau Island has the best-known surviving scheme, though much of the original work has been lost and the remaining paintings to the sides of the nave have suffered from time and restoration. The largest scenes show the miracles of Christ in a style that both shows specific Byzantine input in some elements, and a closeness to Reichenau manuscripts such as

480-647: A Muslim army at the Battle of Tours in 732. The Iberian Saracens had incorporated Berber light horse cavalry with the heavy Arab cavalry to create a formidable army that had almost never been defeated. Christian European forces, meanwhile, lacked the powerful tool of the stirrup . In this victory, Charles earned the surname Martel ("the Hammer"). Edward Gibbon , the historian of Rome and its aftermath, called Charles Martel "the paramount prince of his age". Pepin III accepted

640-495: A basis for the work of art. In his treatise, at book III, chapter LIX, entitled De confectione quæ dicitur tenax, Theophylus speaks about a preparation called confectio tenax. The material cited by Theophylus has a double role: it should act as an adhesive and as a filling. Current analytical evidence has shown that it has also a double composite chemical nature: the inorganic part forms the inert mass on which to work metals and can be made of sand, clay, powdered bricks and tiles, or

800-585: A cloak) or in pairs (for many types of women's dress) on the chest were made in a number of forms based on Roman styles, as the barbarian peoples including the Visigoths , Ostrogoths , Franks , Anglo-Saxons and Lombards took over the territories of the Western Roman Empire . These and other jewels very often used gold and garnet cloisonné , where patterns were made by thin chips of garnet (and other stones) laid into small gold cells. Enamel

960-427: A design, whereas enamel refers specifically to pieces of a colored glass mixture put in place while melted. The decorative pieces would be inserted into a gold setting that had been shaped out of gold strips or molten glass could be poured into contours and recesses in the gold – known respectively as cloisonné and champlevé . Filigree and granulation are two processes that are also closely related. They involve

1120-596: A divorce from his wife, which caused repeated conflicts with the pope and his uncles. Charles of Burgundy died in 863, and his kingdom was inherited by Louis II. Lothar II died in 869 with no legitimate heirs, and his kingdom was divided between Charles the Bald and Louis the German in 870 by the Treaty of Meerssen . Meanwhile, Louis the German was involved in disputes with his three sons. Louis II died in 875, and named Carloman ,

1280-455: A fifteenth century law from Germany that prohibited women from displaying more than one gold chain at a time. By the end of the period, the types of personal jewelry worn by wealthy women were not very different from those found today, with rings, necklaces, brooches, lockets and (less often) earrings all popular. But accessories such as belts and purses, as well as other personal possessions such as combs and book-covers might also be jeweled in

1440-806: A foot in Trier , and gold altar frontals for the Palace Chapel, Aachen and Basel Cathedral (now in Paris). The Palace Chapel also has the pulpit or Ambon of Henry II . The late Carolingian upper cover of the Lindau Gospels ( Morgan Library , New York) and the Arnulf Ciborium in Munich were important forerunners of the style, from a few decades before and probably from the same workshop. Large objects in non-precious metals were also made, with

1600-671: A fourth cross, the Theophanu Cross came some fifty years later. The Cross of Lothair ( Aachen ) and Imperial Cross ( Vienna ) were imperial possessions; Vienna also has the Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire . The book cover of the Codex Aureus of Echternach ( Germanisches Nationalmuseum , Nuremberg ) is in a very comparable style. Other major objects include a reliquary of St Andrew surmounted by

1760-569: A handle. An aspergillum was dipped in the situla to collect water with which to sprinkle the congregation or other objects. However the four Ottonian examples from the 10th century are made from a whole section of elephant tusk, and are slightly larger in girth at their tops. All are richly carved with scenes and figures on different levels: the Basilewsky Situla of 920 in the Victoria & Albert Museum , decorated with scenes from

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1920-486: A military effort that would typically take place through the summer as this would ensure there were enough supplies for the fighting force. Charlemagne passed regulations requiring all mustered fighting men to own and bring their own weapons; the wealthy cavalrymen had to bring their own armour, poor men had to bring spears and shields, and those driving the carts had to have bows and arrows in their possession. In regards to provisions, men were instructed not to eat food until

2080-415: A pendant cross that contained a souvenir from their journey. Pilgrims also took such souvenirs from these sites, usually oils or pieces of earth, in hopes that they would protect them on their journey back home and improve the quality of their prayers. Typically, these pendants were hinged at the top and were worn around the neck as amulets. One example of this type of necklace being a reliquary cross from

2240-639: A process called refining, and due to the Hittite derivation of the Greek word, it is believed that the ancient peoples of Asia Minor were the first to refine gold. Ignoring its beauty and the possible association with the sun's perceived mystical powers, the main advantage of using gold to create jewelry was its malleability. The Romans were voracious producers and consumers of gold, and all but exhausted European deposits. Some gold mined in West Africa, more at

2400-480: A shimmering void". The group introduced the background of solid gold to Western illumination. Two dedication miniatures added to the Egmond Gospels around 975 show a less accomplished Netherlandish version of Ottonian style. In Regensburg St. Emmeram's Abbey held the major Carolingian Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram , which probably influenced a style with "an incisive line and highly formal organization of

2560-739: A short land border with Brittany , which was later reduced to a tributary; and to the east it had a long border with the Slavs and the Avars , who were eventually defeated and their land incorporated into the empire. In southern Italy, the Carolingians' claims to authority were disputed by the Byzantines and the vestiges of the Lombard kingdom in the Principality of Benevento . In its day, it

2720-540: A single hollow piece. This unusual form is decorated with twenty-four scenes from the ministry of Jesus in a continuous strip winding round the column in the manner of Trajan's Column and other Roman examples. Around 980, Archbishop Egbert of Trier seems to have established the major Ottonian workshop producing cloisonné enamel in Germany, which is thought to have fulfilled orders for other centres, and after his death in 993 possibly moved to Essen . During this period

2880-404: A single larger piece. The way this was achieved was by using a more impure form of gold – that is one with a higher percent of non-gold metals – as a joining tool. The higher the impurity of gold, the more quickly it will melt, and as such the impure gold would melt before the pure and could then be used to attach two or more pieces of purer gold. This would create a larger surface while retaining

3040-400: A specific location was reached, and carts should carry three months worth of food and six months worth of weapons and clothing along with tools. Preference was shown towards mobility warfare in place of defence-in-depth infrastructure; captured fortifications were often destroyed so they could not be used to resist Carolingian authority in the future. After 800 and during the reign of Louis

3200-419: A steady stream of work for goldsmiths, ivory carving at this period was mainly for the church, and may have been centred in monasteries, although (see below) wall-paintings seems to have been usually done by laymen. Ottonian monasteries produced many magnificent medieval illuminated manuscripts. They were a major art form of the time, and monasteries received direct sponsorship from emperors and bishops, having

3360-452: A symbolic permanence as well as exclaiming royal authority. Einhard suggested the construction of so-called 'public buildings' was a testament to Charlemagne's greatness and likeness to the emperors of antiquity and this connection was certainly capitalised upon by the imagery of palace decorations. Ingelheim is a particular example of such symbolism and thus the importance of the palace system in more than mere governance. The palace chapel

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3520-403: A symbolic rather than naturalistic rationale, the size of figures reflects their importance, and in them "emphasis is not so much on movement as in gesture and glance", with narrative scenes "presented as a quasi-liturgical act, dialogues of divinity". This gestural "dumb-show [was] soon to be conventionalized as a visual language throughout medieval Europe". The group were produced perhaps from

3680-768: A tenth out of so many thousands are said to have survived." Shortage of horses played a role in preventing Carolingian forces from continuing a campaign against the Avars in Pannonia. The Frankish royal bodyguards, the continuation of the Merovingian institution of the antrustion , were consciously modelled on Late Roman precedents. These guards were organized into schola and entitled scholares , and used armour based on Late Roman and early Byzantine models. Frankish artistic depictions of these bodyguards also mirrored Late Roman traditions. No permanent capital city existed in

3840-426: A variety of pendants , from crosses (the most common) to lockets and elaborate pieces with gems. Thin "fillets" or strips of flexible gold sheet, often decorated, were probably mostly sewn into hair or head-dresses. Arm-rings (" armillae ") and sometimes ankle-rings were also sometimes worn, and sometimes (for the very rich) many small of pieces of jewelry were sewn into the cloth of garments forming patterns. Jewelry

4000-578: A way rarely found today. Poorer women wore smaller quantities of similar styles of personal jewelry in cheaper materials, as today. Wealthy men wore far more jewelry than today, often including large chain collars, and a cap badge, which might be very extravagant. Gold has held the fascination of humans for thousands of years. By the end of the fourth millennium BCE it was already being worked and refined with great technical skill. Many ancient goldsmiths used alloyed gold found in nature, as it does not often occur naturally. Alloyed gold can be purified through

4160-693: Is a notably difficult task. In his comprehensive Framing the Early Middle Ages, Chris Wickham suggests that there are currently no reliable calculations for the period regarding the populations of early medieval towns. What is likely, however, is that most cities of the empire did not exceed the 20–25,000 speculated for Rome during this period. On an empire-wide level, populations expanded steadily from 750 to 850 AD. Figures ranging from 10 to 20 million have been offered, with estimates being devised based on calculations of empire size and theoretical densities. Recently, however, Timothy Newfield challenges

4320-473: Is a record of bishop Gebhard of Constance hiring lay artists for a now vanished cycle at his newly foundation (983) of Petershausen Abbey , and laymen may have dominated the art of wall-painting, though perhaps sometimes working to designs by monastic illuminators. The artists seem to have been rather mobile: "at about the time of the Oberzell pictures there was an Italian wall-painter working in Germany, and

4480-570: Is clear from documentary records that many churches were decorated with extensive cycles of wall-painting, survivals are extremely rare, and more often than not fragmentary and in poor condition. Generally they lack evidence to help with dating such as donor portraits, and their date is often uncertain; many have been restored in the past, further complicating the matter. Most survivals are clustered in south Germany and around Fulda in Hesse ; though there are also important examples from north Italy. There

4640-745: Is now called a cabouchon cut, with rounded contours. Diamonds are relatively unexciting, and very difficult to create, in cabouchon style, and other stones such as ruby and emerald were the most highly prized, but a wide range of stones were used, with modern distinctions between precious and semi-precious stones largely ignored, and clear rock crystal , sometimes engraved, popular. Large stones were greatly valued, and many rulers and great nobles amassed collections, which were often frequently reset. Ancient engraved gems were often reused among stones, which in early medieval jeweled objects were often set profusely, spaced out across surfaces, mixed with ornaments in gold. Medieval gem engraving only recaptured

4800-505: Is similar to Byzantine in that the modern world has lost almost all of it, except that which was created for religious purposes. The Carolingians were similar to the barbarians in their love of color, but the techniques they used – especially enameling – are much more reminiscent of the Byzantines. The most outstanding piece of jewelry that still remains from this period is the crown of Charlemagne, with precious stones, filigree, enamel and gold. The Ottonian style is, again, very similar to

4960-594: Is the pair of church doors, the Bernward Doors , with biblical figure scenes in bronze relief, each cast in a single piece, where the powerfully simple compositions convey their meanings by emphatic gestures, in a way comparable to the Reichenau miniatures of the same period. There is also a bronze column, the Bernward Column , 3.79 metres (12.4 ft) high, originally the base for a crucifix, cast in

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5120-561: Is the set for the adornment of (probably) an Anglo-Saxon king of about 620 recovered at the Sutton Hoo burial site in England in the mid-20th century. The jewelry of the Byzantine Empire often features religious images or motifs such as the cross, even in pieces that were for secular use. Elaborate Roman styles were continued, but with growing use of cloisonné enamel. The main commissions for gold work and jewelry came from

5280-484: Is very largely religious, in the form of illuminated manuscripts and metalwork, and was produced in a small number of centres for a narrow range of patrons in the circle of the Imperial court, as well as important figures in the church. However much of it was designed for display to a wider public, especially of pilgrims. The style is generally grand and heavy, sometimes to excess, and initially less sophisticated than

5440-537: Is written to have been 'lined with images from the Bible' and the hall of the palace 'decorated with a picture cycle celebrating the deeds of great kings' including rulers of antiquity as well as Carolingian rulers such as Charles Martel and Pippin III. Louis the Pious used the palace system much to the same effect as Charlemagne during his reign as king of Aquitaine, rotating his court between four winter palaces throughout

5600-510: The Crucifixion of Jesus as the most common subject. These and other subjects very largely continue Carolingian iconography, but in a very different style. A group of four Ottonian ivory situlae appear to represent a new departure for ivory carving in their form, and the type is hardly found after this period. Situlae were liturgical vessels used to hold holy water , and previously were usually of wood or bronze, straight-sided and with

5760-950: The Life of Christ on two levels, the "Situla of Gotofredo" of c.  980 in Milan Cathedral , one in the Aachen Cathedral Treasury, and one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. All came from the milieu of the Ottonian court: an inscription says that Archbishop Gotfredus presented the Milan example in anticipation of a visit by the Emperor, also referred to in the London example which

5920-519: The Lombard Kingdom in 774 and annexed it into his own domain by declaring himself 'King of the Lombards'. He later led a failed campaign into Spain in 778, ending with the Battle of Roncevaux Pass , which is considered Charlemagne's greatest defeat. He then extended his domain into Bavaria after forcing Tassilo III, Duke of Bavaria , to renounce any claim to his title in 794. His son, Pepin,

6080-578: The Palace of Theoderic in Ravenna and reused them in his new cathedral at Magdeburg . The one thing the ruler portraits rarely attempt is a close likeness of the individual features of a ruler; when Otto III died, some manuscript images of him were re-purposed as portraits of Henry II without the need being felt to change the features. In a continuation and intensification of late Carolingian trends, many miniatures contain presentation miniatures depicting

6240-471: The Vikings , a group of peoples that were constantly exposed to conflict and social tensions, women used clothing and jewelry to express a sense of belonging to a particular social, political, tribal, or other form of group. Because of this, the investigation of the distribution of decorative items used by Norse woman such as brooches and clasps can be used to interpret tensions between regions. For example,

6400-476: The 13th century, jewelry became the province of aristocratic and noble houses, as merchants gained the wealth to purchase luxury goods, resulting in sumptuary laws prohibiting commoners from wearing jewelry with precious stones, pearls and excess amounts of gold or silver. This was in an effort to keep a distinction between the socially elite and those who displayed jewelry that suggested a deceivingly higher rank than they occupied. An example of this regulation being

6560-486: The 790s when construction picked up at Aachen Charlemagne's court became more centred compared with the 770s where court so often found itself located in tents during campaigning. Though Aachen was certainly not intended to be a sedentary capital it was built in the political heartland of Charlemagne's realm to act as a meeting place for aristocrats and churchmen so that patronage might be distributed, assemblies held, laws written, and even where scholarly churchmen gathered for

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6720-563: The 960s, when books known as the " Eburnant group " were made, perhaps at Lorsch , as several miniatures in the Gero Codex (now Darmstadt ), the earliest and grandest of the group, copy those in the Carolingian Lorsch Gospels . This is the first stylistic group of the traditional " Reichenau school ". The two other major manuscripts of the group are the sacramentaries named for Hornbach and Petershausen . In

6880-588: The 990s to 1015 or later, and major manuscripts include the Munich Gospels of Otto III , the Bamberg Apocalypse and a volume of biblical commentary there, and the Pericopes of Henry II , the best known and most extreme of the group, where "the figure-style has become more monumental, more rarified and sublime, at the same time thin in density, insubstantial, mere silhouettes of colour against

7040-505: The Bald into the will was marked by the resistance of his eldest sons. Whilst this was part of the reason for strife amongst Louis' sons, some suggest that it was the appointment of Bernard of Septimania as chamberlain which caused discontent with Lothar, as he was stripped of his co-Emperorship in 829 and was banished to Italy (although it is not known why; The Astronomer simply states that Louis 'dismissed his son Lothar to go back to Italy' ) and Bernard assumed his place as second in command to

7200-499: The Byzantines and the Carolingians. Religion plays a main part in the jewelry that remains. The Ottonian style characterizes a cross between German and Byzantine, superior in both technicality and delicacy. Viking jewelry began rather plainly – with unadorned bands and rings – but quickly developed into intricate and masterful artistry, with a strong preference for silver, unusual in the Middle Ages. The two methods most used by

7360-542: The Carolingian court throughout reigns of many Carolingian rulers. Stuart Airlie has suggested that there were over 150 palaces throughout the Carolingian World which would provide the setting for court activity. Palaces were not merely locations of administrative government but also stood as important symbols. Under Charlemagne their excellence was a translation of the treasure built up from conquest into

7520-491: The Carolingian equivalents, with less direct influence from Byzantine art and less understanding of its classical models, but around 1000 a striking intensity and expressiveness emerge in many works, as "a solemn monumentality is combined with a vibrant inwardness, an unworldly, visionary quality with sharp attention to actuality, surface patterns of flowing lines and rich bright colours with passionate emotionalism". Following late Carolingian styles, " presentation portraits " of

7680-604: The Court or the Church. As such, much of the jewelry was very religious, involving ornate crosses and depictions of the afterlife or of saints' lives. The Byzantines excelled in inlaying and their work was enormously opulent, involving precious stones, glass and gold. Not much of Byzantine jewelry remains, as this period marked the end of burying a person's jewelry with them, so much of the truly extravagant jewelry – depicted in mosaics and paintings – has disappeared. Carolingian jewelry

7840-512: The Fat's Kingdom, and Francia and Neustria were granted to Carloman of Aquitaine who also conquered Lower Burgundy. Carloman died in a hunting accident in 884 after a tumultuous and ineffective reign, and his lands were inherited by Charles the Fat, effectively recreating the empire of Charlemagne. Charles, suffering what is believed to be epilepsy, could not secure the kingdom against Viking raiders, and after buying their withdrawal from Paris in 886

8000-514: The Frankish host to go on a campaign, to discuss political and ecclesiastical matters affecting the kingdom and to legislate for them, and to make judgments. All important men had to go to the meeting and so it was an important way for Charles to make his will known. Originally the meeting worked effectively however later it merely became a forum for discussion and for nobles to express their dissatisfaction. Medieval jewelry The Middle Ages

8160-564: The Franks since 751 and as kings of the Lombards in Italy from 774. In 800, the Frankish king Charlemagne was crowned emperor in Rome by Pope Leo III in an effort to transfer the status of Roman Empire from the Byzantine Empire to Western Europe. The Carolingian Empire is sometimes considered the first phase in the history of the Holy Roman Empire . After a civil war (840–843) following

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8320-458: The German against his brother Lothar and his uncle Charles the Bald in 858. Lothar reconciled with his brother and uncle shortly after. Charles was so unpopular that he could not raise an army to fight the invasion and instead fled to Burgundy. He was only saved when the bishops refused to crown Louis the German king. In 860, Charles the Bald invaded Charles of Burgundy's kingdom but was repulsed. Lothar II ceded lands to Louis II in 862 for support of

8480-472: The Kingdom of Italy to Charles. Another partition in 832 completely excluded Pepin and Louis the German, making Lothar and Charles the sole benefactors of the kingdom, which precipitated Pepin and Louis the German revolting in the same year, followed by Lothar in 833, and together they imprisoned Louis the Pious and Charles. Lothar brought Pope Gregory IV from Rome under the guise of mediation, but his true role

8640-731: The Liuthar Gospels, give their name to the third " Liuthar group " of manuscripts, most from the 11th century, in a strongly contrasting style, though still attributed by most scholars to Reichenau, but by Dodwell also to Trier. The outstanding miniaturist of the "Ruodprecht group" was the so-called Master of the Registrum Gregorii , or Gregory Master , whose work looked back in some respects to Late Antique manuscript painting, and whose miniatures are notable for "their delicate sensibility to tonal grades and harmonies, their fine sense of compositional rhythms, their feelings for

8800-585: The Medieval Byzantine period from around 1100- 1200 AD. Similarly, some precious stones in the Middle Ages were thought to have medicinal benefits. For example, certain jewels were worn by pregnant women to ensure a safe pregnancy and delivery as death through childbirth was common. Sapphires were attributed with certain magical properties that were used to detect fraud, cure snakebites, and expel witchcraft. Other materials such as coral, fossils, and teeth were worn to fight disease. In Italy, there

8960-600: The Middle Ages was gold. Many different techniques were used to create working surfaces and add decoration to those surfaces to produce the jewelry, including soldering , plating and gilding, repoussé , chasing , inlay, enameling, filigree and granulation, stamping, striking and casting. Major stylistic phases include barbarian, Byzantine, Carolingian and Ottonian, Viking, and the Late Middle Ages, when Western European styles became relatively similar. Most styles and techniques used in jewelry for personal adornment,

9120-585: The Middle Ages, with very large deposits discovered at Kutná Hora in Bohemia in 1298 that lasted until the end of the period. Nearly all gemstones had to be imported from outside Europe, though Insular jewelry used native stones. Amber , jet , freshwater pearls and coral could be found within Europe. The modern facet -cut style of gemcutting was only developed at the end of the period, and before that stones were all cut and polished in variations of what

9280-399: The Middle Ages. Goldsmiths used the techniques of soldering, plating and gilding to create a larger workable surface or to cover a secondary metal with a thin layer of gold for jewelry design. First, the goldsmith would start with a gold ingot, which would then be hammered into a sheet, a foil or a leaf of gold. Soldering is the process of joining together multiple sheets of metal to create

9440-466: The Munich Gospels of Otto III ; they are therefore usually dated around 980–1000. Indeed, the paintings are one of the foundations of the case for Reichenau Abbey as a major centre of manuscript painting. Very little wood carving has survived from the period, but the monumental painted figure of Christ on the Gero Cross (around 965–970, Cologne Cathedral ) is one of the outstanding masterpieces of

9600-608: The Ottonian age include those at Salzburg , Hildesheim , Corvey , Fulda , and Cologne , where the Hitda Codex was made. This scene was often included in Ottonian cycles of the Life of Christ. Many show Jesus (with crossed halo) twice, once asleep and once calming the storm . Objects for decorating churches such as crosses, reliquaries , altar frontals and treasure bindings for books were all made of or covered by gold, embellished with gems, enamels, crystals, and cameos. This

9760-462: The Pious finally died in 840, Lothar claimed the entire empire irrespective of the partitions. As a result, Charles and Louis the German went to war against Lothar. After losing the Battle of Fontenay , Lothar fled to his capital at Aachen and raised a new army, which was inferior to that of the younger brothers. In the Oaths of Strasbourg , in 842, Charles and Louis agreed to declare Lothar unfit for

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9920-641: The Pious' reign lacked security; he often had to struggle to maintain control of the Empire. As soon as he heard of the death of Charlemagne, he hurried to Aachen, where he exiled many of Charlemagne's trusted advisors, such as Wala. Wala and his siblings were children of the youngest son of Charles Martel, and so were a threat as a potential alternative ruling family. Monastic exile was a tactic Louis used heavily in his early reign to strengthen his position and remove potential rivals. In 817 his nephew, King Bernard of Italy, rebelled against him due to discontent with being

10080-427: The Pious, efforts of expansion dwindled. Tim Reuter has shown that many military efforts during Louis' reign were largely defensive and in response to external threats. It had long been held that Carolingian military success was based on the use of a cavalry force created by Charles Martel in the 730s. However, it is clear that no such "cavalry revolution" took place in the Carolingian period leading up to and during

10240-772: The Romans, whose imperial ventures between the Rhine and the Elbe lasted fewer than twenty years before being cut short by the disaster at Teutoburg Forest (9 AD), Charlemagne defeated the Germanic resistance and extended his realm to the Elbe more lastingly, influencing events almost to the Russian Steppes. Charlemagne's reign was one of near-constant warfare, participating in annual campaigns, many led personally. He defeated

10400-588: The Vikings were filigree and repoussé. The main themes in Viking jewelry are patterns of nature and animals, increasing in abstraction as the time period progressed. Later Viking jewelry also starts to exhibit simplistic geometric patterns. The most intricate Viking work recovered is a set of two bands from the 6th century in Alleberg, Sweden. Barbarian jewelry was very similar to that of the Vikings, having many of

10560-443: The appearance and associated prestige of gold, without using solid gold which was rare and expensive. Jewelers used delicate methods to achieve delicate metalwork. These methods involved more precise work intended to create ornamentation on jewelry. Repoussé was the process of laying a gold sheet on pitch and using concentrated pressure to form the pattern. Other materials, such as soft wood, lead and wax could also be used underneath

10720-461: The army (e.g. Seneschal Andorf against the Bretons in 786). Possibly associated with the chaplain and the royal chapel was the office of the chancellor, head of the chancery, a non-permanent writing office. The charters produced were rudimentary and mostly to do with land deeds. There are 262 surviving from Charles’ reign as opposed to 40 from Pepin ’s and 350 from Louis the Pious . There are 3 main offices which enforced Carolingian authority in

10880-564: The back with a new relief. Many objects mentioned in written sources have completely disappeared, and we probably now only have a tiny fraction of the original production of reliquaries and the like. A number of pieces have major additions or changes made later in the Middle Ages or in later periods. Manuscripts that avoided major library fires have had the best chance of survival; the dangers facing wall-paintings are mentioned above. Most major objects remain in German collections, often still church libraries and treasuries. The term "Ottonian art"

11040-477: The best in equipment and talent available. The range of heavily illuminated texts was very largely restricted (unlike in the Carolingian Renaissance ) to the main liturgical books, with very few secular works being so treated. In contrast to manuscripts of other periods, it is very often possible to say with certainty who commissioned or received a manuscript, but not where it was made. Some manuscripts also include relatively extensive cycles of narrative art, such as

11200-496: The care of the church which were kept and valued for their connections with either royal or church figures of the period. Very often the jewels in metalwork were pilfered or sold over the centuries, and many pieces now completely lack them, or have modern glass paste replacements. As from other periods, there are many more surviving ivory panels (whose material is usually hard to re-use) for book-covers than complete metalwork covers, and some thicker ivory panels were later re-carved from

11360-416: The church has proved much better at preserving its treasures than secular or civic elites, and at the time there may well have been as many secular objects made in the same styles. For example, the Royal Gold Cup , a secular cup though decorated with religious imagery, is one of a handful of survivals of the huge collections of metalwork joyaux ("jewels") owned by the Valois dynasty who ruled France in

11520-647: The crown worn by Otto III as a child, which he presented to the Golden Madonna of Essen after he outgrew it. Examples of crux gemmata or processional crosses include an outstanding group in the Essen Cathedral Treasury ; several abbesses of Essen Abbey were Ottonian princesses. The Cross of Otto and Mathilde , Cross of Mathilde and the Essen cross with large enamels were probably all given by Mathilde, Abbess of Essen (died 1011), and

11680-542: The death of Charlemagne, the Empire was divided among various members of the Carolingian dynasty . These included King Charles the Younger , son of Charlemagne, who received Neustria ; King Louis the Pious , who received Aquitaine ; and King Pepin , who received Italy. Pepin died with an illegitimate son, Bernard , in 810, and Charles died without heirs in 811. Although Bernard succeeded Pepin as king of Italy, Louis

11840-840: The death of Charles the Bald, was under attack in the north and west by the Vikings and was facing internal struggles from Italy to the Baltic, from Hungary in the east to Aquitaine in the west. Charles the Bald died in 877 crossing the Pass of Mont Cenis , and was succeeded by his son, Louis the Stammerer as king of the Western Franks, but the title of emperor lapsed. Louis the Stammerer was physically weak and died two years later, his realm being divided between his eldest two sons: Louis III gaining Neustria and Francia , and Carloman gaining Aquitaine and Burgundy . The Kingdom of Italy

12000-435: The death of Emperor Louis the Pious , the empire was divided into autonomous kingdoms, with one king still recognised as emperor, but with little authority outside his own kingdom. The unity of the empire and the hereditary right of the Carolingians continued to be acknowledged. In 884, Charles the Fat reunited all the Carolingian kingdoms for the last time, but he was deposed by the Frankish nobility in 887 and died in 888 and

12160-477: The disappearance of a pattern of jewelry distribution that suggests a united identity across a territory can suggest uneasy social or political conditions in that area. A way to distinguish rank through the use of jewelry was by observing the difference in materials that people wore. For example, jewelry obtained by the lower class typically was made of base metals such as copper, while higher class individuals such as royalty often wore gold and precious gems. In

12320-505: The donors of the manuscripts to a church, including bishops, abbots and abbesses, and also the emperor. In some cases successive miniatures show a kind of relay: in the Hornbach Sacramentary the scribe presents the book to his abbot, who presents it to St Pirmin , founder of Hornbach Abbey, who presents it to St Peter, who presents it to Christ, altogether taking up eight pages (with the facing illuminated tablets) to stress

12480-596: The dynastic struggle and resultant civil war, as his epithet states, he was highly interested in matters of religion. One of the first things he did was 'ruling the people by law and with the wealth of his piety', namely by restoring churches. "The Astronomer" stated that, during his kingship of Aquitaine, he 'built up the study of reading and singing, and also the understanding of divine and worldly letters, more quickly than one would believe.' He also made significant effort to restore many monasteries that had disappeared prior to his reign, as well as sponsoring new ones. Louis

12640-484: The earliest surviving wheel chandeliers from the end of the period, a huge candelabra in Essen, and in particular a spectacular collection of ambitious large bronze works, and smaller silver ones, at Hildesheim Cathedral from the period of Bishop Bernward (died 1022), who was himself an artist, although his biographer was unusually honest in saying that he did not reach "the peaks of perfection". The most famous of these

12800-399: The eldest son of Louis the German, his heir. Charles the Bald, supported by the pope, was crowned both king of Italy and emperor. The following year, Louis the German died. Charles tried to annex his realm too, but was defeated decisively at Andernach , and the Kingdom of the eastern Franks was divided between Louis the Younger , Carloman of Bavaria and Charles the Fat . The empire, after

12960-428: The emperor. With Bernard's influence over not only the emperor, but the empress as well, further discord was sowed amongst prominent nobility. Pepin, Louis' second son, too, was disgruntled; he had been implicated in a failed military campaign in 827, and he was tired of his father's overbearing involvement in the ruling of Aquitaine. As such, the angry nobility supported Pepin, civil war broke out during Lent in 830, and

13120-455: The empire immediately split up. With the only remaining legitimate male of the dynasty a child, the nobility elected regional kings from outside the dynasty or, in the case of the eastern kingdom , an illegitimate Carolingian. The illegitimate line continued to rule in the east until 911, while in the western kingdom the legitimate Carolingian dynasty was restored in 898 and ruled until 987 with an interruption from 922 to 936. The population of

13280-674: The empire was roughly between 10 and 20 million people. Its heartland was Francia , the land between the Loire and the Rhine , where Aachen , which Charlemagne chose as his primary residence, was located. In the south it crossed the Pyrenees and bordered the Emirate of Córdoba and, after 824, the Kingdom of Pamplona ; to the north it bordered the kingdom of the Danes ; to the west it had

13440-503: The empire, the itinerant court being a typical characteristic of all Western European kingdoms at this time. Some palaces can, however, be distinguished as locations of central administration. In the first year of his reign, Charlemagne went to Aachen ( French : Aix-la-Chapelle ; Italian : Aquisgrana ). He began to build a palace there in the 780s with original plans being thought up perhaps as soon as 768. The palace chapel, constructed in 796, later became Aachen Cathedral . During

13600-523: The end of the period, probably reached Europe through the Islamic world, but the main source was undoubtedly ancient Roman gold that remained above ground in coin or object form, or was recovered from buried hoards. Gold ran short at several periods, and European gold coinage was unusual throughout the period, in contrast to the Byzantine and Islamic worlds. In contrast silver was mined in Europe throughout

13760-501: The events of Christ's life in a western European manuscript, were made by two monks from Reichenau, who are named and depicted in one of the miniatures. The style of the "Liuthar group" is very different, and departs further from rather than returning to classical traditions; it "carried transcendentalism to an extreme", with "marked schematization of the forms and colours", "flattened form, conceptualized draperies and expansive gesture". Backgrounds are often composed of bands of colour with

13920-476: The expectations of his new title. The political reforms wrought in Aachen were to have an immense impact on the political definition of Western Europe for the rest of the Middle Ages. The Carolingian improvements on the old Merovingian mechanisms of governance have been lauded by historians for the increased central control , efficient bureaucracy, accountability, and cultural renaissance . The Carolingian Empire

14080-504: The extent of the impact of these findings on the empire's populations is difficult to discern. Studies of ethnicity in the Carolingian Empire have been largely limited. However, it is accepted that the empire was inhabited by major ethnic groups such as Franks, Alemanni, Bavarians, Thuringians, Frisians, Lombards, Goths, Romans, Celts, Basques and Slavs. Ethnicity was just one of many systems of identification in this period and

14240-468: The full skills of classical gem engravers at the end of the period, but simpler inscriptions and motifs were sometimes added earlier. Pearls gathered in the wild from the Holarctic freshwater pearl mussel were much used, with Scotland a major source; this species is now endangered in most areas. Various adhesives were used to stick precious metal foils to wood or any other support that functioned as

14400-455: The gems do not merely create an impression of richness, but served both to offer a foretaste of the bejewelled nature of the Celestial city , and particular types of gem were believed to have actual powerful properties in various "scientific", medical and magical respects, as set out in the popular lapidary books . The few surviving pieces of secular jewellery are in similar styles, including

14560-419: The gold. Because these materials are malleable, they supported and held the gold in place while it was patterned and pushed into grooves in the base material to form the relief that created the jewelry. Two techniques that jewelers used to incorporate gems, glass and other metals into jewelry were inlay and enameling. The main difference between these methods is that inlay can refer to any material inserted into

14720-519: The group of four presentation miniatures in the former described above "we can almost follow ... the movement away from the expansive Carolingian idiom to the more sharply defined Ottonian one". A number of important manuscripts produced from this period onwards in a distinctive group of styles are usually attributed to the scriptorium of the island monastery of Reichenau in Lake Constance , despite an admitted lack of evidence connecting them to

14880-629: The human form ... [and] facility in handling the material". A very important group of plaques , now dispersed in several collections, were probably commissioned (perhaps by Otto I) for Magdeburg Cathedral and are called the Magdeburg Ivories , "Magdeburg plaques", the "plaques from the Magdeburg Antependium" or similar names. They were probably made in Milan in about 970, to decorate a large flat surface, though whether this

15040-639: The idea of demographic expansion, criticising scholars for relying on the impact of recurring pandemics in the preceding period of 541-750 AD and ignoring the frequency of famines in Carolingian Europe. A study using climate proxies such as the Greenland Ice core sample 'GISP2' has indicated that there may have been relatively favourable conditions for the empire's early years, although several harsh winters appear afterwards. Whilst demographic implications are observable in contemporary sources,

15200-580: The imperial throne. This marked the east–west division of the Empire between Louis and Charles until the Verdun Treaty. Considered a milestone in European history, the Oaths of Strasbourg symbolize the birth of both France and Germany. The partition of Carolingian Empire was finally settled in 843 by and between Louis the Pious' three sons in the Treaty of Verdun . Lothar received the imperial title,

15360-426: The king but many offices became hereditary. They were also sometimes corrupt although many were exemplary e.g. Count Eric of Friuli. Provincial governors eventually evolved who supervised several counts. The Missi Dominici ( Latin : dominical emissaries ). Originally appointed ad hoc, a reform in 802 led to the office of missus dominicus becoming a permanent one. The Missi Dominici were sent out in pairs. One

15520-895: The kingship of Italy, and the territory between the Rhine and Rhone Rivers, collectively called the Central Frankish Realm . Louis was guaranteed the kingship of all lands to the east of the Rhine and to the north and east of Italy, which was called the Eastern Frankish Realm which was the precursor to modern Germany. Charles received all lands west of the Rhone, which was called the Western Frankish Realm . Lothar retired Italy to his eldest son Louis II in 844, making him co-emperor in 850. Lothar died in 855, dividing his kingdom into three parts:

15680-420: The last years of his reign were plagued by civil war. Shortly after Easter, his sons attacked Louis' empire and dethroned him in favour of Lothar. The Astronomer stated Louis spent the summer in the custody of his son, 'an emperor in name only'. The following year Louis attacked his sons' kingdoms by drafting new plans for succession. Louis gave Neustria to Pepin, stripped Lothar of his Imperial title and granted

15840-554: The late Middle Ages. In addition to basic forms of personal jewelry such as rings, necklaces, bracelets, and brooches that remain in use today, medieval jewelry often includes a range of other forms less often found in modern jewelry, such as fittings and fasteners for clothes including, buckles, "points" for the end of laces, and buttons by the end of the period, as well as hat badges, decorations for belts, weapons, purses and other accessories, and decorated pins, mostly for holding hairstyles and head-dresses in place. Neck chains carried

16000-542: The localities: The Comes ( Latin : count ). Appointed by Charles to administer a county . The Carolingian Empire (except Bavaria) was divided up into between 110 and 600 counties, each divided into centenae which were under the control of a vicar. At first, they were royal agents sent out by Charles but after c. 802 they were important local magnates. They were responsible for justice, enforcing capitularies, levying soldiers, receiving tolls and dues and maintaining roads and bridges. They could technically be dismissed by

16160-477: The main subject of this article, were also used in pieces of decorated metalwork, which was the most prestigious form of art through most of this period; these were often much larger. Most surviving examples are religious objects such as reliquaries , church plate such as chalices and other pieces, crosses like the Cross of Lothair and treasure bindings for books. However this is largely an accident of survival, as

16320-689: The manuscripts of Reichenau were in 2003 added to the UNESCO Memory of the World International Register. The most important "Reichenau school" manuscripts are agreed to fall into three distinct groups, all named after scribes whose names are recorded in their books. The "Eburnant group" covered above was followed by the "Ruodprecht group" named after the scribe of the Egbert Psalter ; Dodwell assigns this group to Trier. The Aachen Gospels of Otto III , also known as

16480-504: The military and the Church flanking the emperor, with a lengthy imperial iconographical history. As well as the reuse of motifs from older imperial art, the removal of spolia from Late Antique structures in Rome and Ravenna and their incorporation into Ottonian buildings was a device intended to suggest imperial continuity. This was clearly the intention of Otto I when he removed columns, some of porphyry , and other building materials from

16640-510: The missatica system and the itinerant household. Outside this was the regna where Frankish administration rested upon the counts, and outside this was the marcher areas where ruled powerful governors. These marcher lordships were present in Brittany , Spain, and Bavaria . Charles also created two sub-kingdoms in Aquitaine and Italy, ruled by his sons Louis and Pepin respectively. Bavaria

16800-502: The monastery there. C. R. Dodwell was one of a number of dissident voices here, believing the works to have been produced at Lorsch and Trier instead. Wherever it was located, the "Reichenau school" specialized in gospel books and other liturgical books , many of them, such as the Munich Gospels of Otto III ( c.  1000 ) and the Pericopes of Henry II (Munich, Bayerische Nationalbibl. clm. 4452, c.  1001 –1024), imperial commissions. Due to their exceptional quality,

16960-626: The most significant art forms. In 2003 a reviewer noted that Ottonian manuscript illustration was a field "that is still significantly under-represented in English-language art-historical research". Carolingian Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–887) was a Frankish -dominated empire in Western and Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages . It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty , which had ruled as kings of

17120-399: The nobility – some suggest it opened him up to 'clerical domination'. Nonetheless, in 817 Louis had established three new Carolingian kingships for his sons from his first marriage: Lothar was made King of Italy and co-Emperor, Pepin was made King of Aquitaine, and Louis the German was made King of Bavaria . His attempts in 823 to bring his fourth son (from his second marriage), Charles

17280-489: The nomination as king by Pope Zachary in about 741. Charlemagne's rule began in 768 at Pepin's death. He proceeded to take control of the kingdom following his brother Carloman's death, as the two brothers co-inherited their father's kingdom. Charlemagne was crowned Roman Emperor in the year 800. The Carolingian Empire during the reign of Charlemagne covered most of Western Europe, as the Roman Empire once had. Unlike

17440-646: The north, though there are more examples in Italy, such as the stucco reliefs on the ciborium of Sant' Ambrogio, Milan , and also on that in the Abbey of San Pietro al Monte , Civate , which relate to ivory carving of the same period, the large silver cross of the Abbess Raingarda in the Basilica of San Michele Maggiore in Pavia and some stone sculpture. Surviving Ottonian works are very largely those in

17600-476: The original set. The plaques include background areas fully cut through the ivory, which would presumably originally have been backed with gold. Apart from the spaces left beside buildings, these openwork elements include some that leave chequerboard or foliage patterns. The style of the figures is described by Peter Lasko as "very heavy, stiff, and massive ... with extremely clear and flat treatment of drapery ... in simple but powerful compositions". Although it

17760-414: The outline of the figure had been recessed. The Essen cross with large enamels illustrated above shows both these techniques. Much very fine small-scale sculpture in ivory was made during the Ottonian period, with Milan probably a site if not the main centre, along with Trier and other German and French sites. There are many oblong panels with reliefs which once decorated book-covers, or still do, with

17920-499: The page", giving in the Uta Codex of c.  1020 complex schemes where "bands of gold outline the bold, squares circles, ellipses, and rhombs that enclose the figures", and inscriptions are incorporated in the design explicating its complex theological symbolism. This style was to be very influential on Romanesque art in several media. Echternach Abbey became important under Abbot Humbert, in office from 1028 to 1051, and

18080-533: The pages (as opposed to the cover) of the Codex Aureus of Echternach were produced there, followed by the Golden Gospels of Henry III in 1045–46, which Henry presented to Speyer Cathedral (now Escorial ), the major work of the school. Henry also commissioned the Uppsala Gospels for the cathedral there (now in the university library). Other important monastic scriptoria that flourished during

18240-549: The patrons of manuscripts are very prominent in Ottonian art, and much Ottonian art reflected the dynasty's desire to establish visually a link to the Christian rulers of Late Antiquity , such as Constantine , Theoderic , and Justinian as well as to their Carolingian predecessors, particularly Charlemagne . This goal was accomplished in various ways. For example, the many Ottonian ruler portraits typically include elements, such as province personifications, or representatives of

18400-572: The period, they have left less trace than their predecessors in Carolingian times. The manuscripts were both scribed and illuminated by monks with specialized skills, some of whose names are preserved, but there is no evidence as to the artists who worked in metal, enamel and ivory, who are usually assumed to have been laymen, though there were some monastic goldsmiths in the Early Medieval period, and some lay brothers and lay assistants employed by monasteries. While secular jewellery supplied

18560-530: The period. Its traditional dating by the church, long thought to be implausibly early, was finally confirmed by dendrochronology . The Golden Madonna of Essen (about 1000, Essen Cathedral , which was formerly the abbey) is a virtually unique survival of a type of object once found in many major churches. It is a smaller sculpture of the Virgin and Child , which is in wood which was covered with gesso and then thin gold sheet. Monumental sculpture remained rare in

18720-428: The purposes of learning. Aachen was also a centre for information and gossip being pulled in from across the Empire by courtiers and churchmen alike. Of course, despite being the centre of Charlemagne's government, until his later years, his court moved often and made use of other palaces at Frankfurt, Ingelheim and Nijmegen. The use of such structures would signal the beginnings of the palace system of government used by

18880-399: The region. During his reign as Emperor he used Aachen, Ingelheim, Frankfurt, and Mainz which were almost always the locations for general assemblies held 'two or three [times] a year in the period 896–28...' and while he was not an immobile ruler, his reign has certainly been described as more static. In this way the palace system can also been seen as a tool of continuity in governance. After

19040-416: The reign of Charlemagne. This is because the stirrup was not known to the Franks until the late eighth century and soldiers on horseback would therefore have used swords and lances for striking and not charging. Carolingian military success rested primarily on siege technologies and excellent logistics. However, large numbers of horses were used by the Frankish military during the age of Charlemagne. This

19200-425: The relationship of figures in space, and above all their special touch of reticence and poise". He worked chiefly in Trier in the 970s and 980s, and was responsible for several miniatures in the influential Codex Egberti , a gospel lectionary made for Archbishop Egbert of Trier , probably in the 980s. However, the majority of the 51 images in this book, which represent the first extensive cycle of images depicting

19360-418: The same themes. Geometric and abstract patterns were present in much of barbarian art. Like other barbarian women Viking women needed jewelry to keep their clothes on, and were probably rarely seen without it. Due to the established tradition from ancient times in combination with the knowledge of how to process gold in order to produce jewelry, the practice of gold being the base for all jewelry continued into

19520-503: The silver coinage of the realm, controlling its composition and value. The name of the emperor, not of the minter, appeared on the coins. Charlemagne worked to suppress mints in northern Germany on the Baltic Sea . The Frankish kingdom was subdivided by Charlemagne into three separate areas to make administration easier. These were the inner "core" of the kingdom ( Austrasia , Neustria , and Burgundy ) which were supervised directly by

19680-474: The sixteen pages of the Codex Aureus of Echternach devoted to "strips" in three tiers with scenes from the life of Christ and his parables . Heavily illuminated manuscripts were given rich treasure bindings and their pages were probably seen by very few; when they were carried in the grand processions of Ottonian churches it seems to have been with the book closed to display the cover. The Ottonian style did not produce surviving manuscripts from before about

19840-509: The so-called cocciopesto (powdered bricks mixed with mortar), while the organic part works as an adhesive between metal and wood and is made of wax and/or pitch. Barbarian jewelry of the Migration Period is one of the most common forms of surviving art from their cultures, and the personal adornment of the elite was clearly considered of great importance, for men as well of women. Large jeweled fibula brooches , worn singly (with

20000-654: The social scale; gold was relatively cheap at the period. Though mostly based on Roman models, styles varied with the different tribes or people, and the jewelry buried in graves can be used to trace the movement of ethnic groups, having presumably served with other aspects of costume as a cultural identifier for the living. The Anglo-Saxons who founded the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England preferred round disk brooches to either fibulae or penannular forms, also using gold and garnet cloisonné along with other styles. The finest and most famous collection of barbarian jewelry

20160-529: The sons of powerful men, holding ‘benefices’ and forming a contingent in the royal army. They also went on ad hoc missions. Around 780 Charlemagne reformed the local system of administering justice and created the scabini , professional experts on the law. Every count had the help of seven of these scabini, who were supposed to know every national law so that all men could be judged according to it. Judges were also banned from taking bribes and were supposed to use sworn inquests to establish facts. In 802, all law

20320-537: The splintering of the Empire the palace system continued to be used by succeeding Carolingian rulers with Charles the Bald centring his power at Compiègne where the palace chapel was dedicated to the Virgin Mary in 877, something remarked on as a sign of continuity with Aachen's Mother of God chapel. For Louis the German, Frankfurt has been deemed his own 'neo-Aachen' and Charles the Fat's palace at Sélestat in Alsace

20480-423: The territory already held by Louis remained his, the territory of the former Kingdom of Burgundy was granted to his third son Charles of Burgundy , and the remaining territory for which there was no traditional name was granted to his second son Lothar II , whose realm was named Lotharingia . Louis II, dissatisfied with having received no additional territory upon his father's death, allied with his uncle Louis

20640-468: The thickness of the gold sheets. Gold sheets could be hammered to a higher level of fineness; gold foil was approximately the thickness of a piece of paper and gold leaf could be as thin as 0.005 millimeters. The process of plating involved gold foil being hammered or smoothed over a core of glass or another metal. Gilding used gold leaf adhered or pressed onto a base of terracotta or a metal such as copper. Both of these techniques allowed for jewelry to have

20800-591: The title of king (as his son Pepin III would) or emperor (as his grandson Charlemagne ), he was the absolute ruler of virtually all of today's continental Western Europe north of the Pyrenees . Only the remaining Saxon realms, which he partly conquered, Lombardy , and the Marca Hispanica south of the Pyrenees were significant additions to the Frankish realms after his death. Martel cemented his place in history with his defense of Christian Europe against

20960-650: The understanding of art media other than manuscript illustrations. The 1950 Munich exhibition Ars Sacra ("sacred art" in Latin) devised this term for religious metalwork and the associated ivories and enamels, which was re-used by Peter Lasko in his book for the Pelican History of Art , the first survey of the subject written in English, as the usual art-historical term, the "minor arts", seemed unsuitable for this period, where they were, with manuscript miniatures,

21120-422: The unity and importance of the "command structure" binding church and state, on earth and in heaven. Byzantine art also remained an influence, especially with the marriage of the Greek princess Theophanu to Otto II, and imported Byzantine elements, especially enamels and ivories, are often incorporated into Ottonian metalwork such as book covers. However, if there were actual Greek artists working in Germany in

21280-407: The vassal of Lothar, Louis' eldest son. The rebellion was quickly put down by Louis, and by 818 Bernard of Italy was captured and punished - the punishment of death was commuted to blinding. However, the trauma of the procedure ending up killing him two days later. Italy was brought back into Imperial control. In 822 Louis' show of penance for Bernard's death greatly reduced his prestige as Emperor to

21440-421: The works of Carolingian historians such as Matthew Innes, Rosamond McKitterick, and Stuart Airlie suggest that the use of palaces were important in the evolution of Carolingian governance and Janet Nelson has argued that "palaces are places from which power emanates and is exercised..." and the importance of palaces to Carolingian administration, learning, and legitimacy has been widely argued. The royal household

21600-402: The workshop followed Byzantine developments (of many decades earlier) by using the senkschmelz or "sunk enamel" technique in addition to the vollschmelz one already used. Small plaques with decorative motifs derived from plant forms continued to use vollschmelz , with enamel all over the plaque, while figures were now usually in senkschmelz , surrounded by a plain gold surface into which

21760-525: Was a door, an antependium or altar frontal, the cover of an exceptionally large book, a pulpit, or something else, has been much discussed. Each nearly square plaque measures about 13x12 cm, with a relief scene from the Life of Christ inside a plain flat frame; one plaque in the Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York has a "dedication" scene, where a crowned monarch presents Christ with a model church, usually taken to be Otto I with Magdeburg Cathedral. Altogether seventeen survive, probably fewer than half of

21920-495: Was a much older style, but the Ottonian version has distinctive features, with very busy decoration of surfaces, often gems raised up from the main surface on little gold towers, accompanied by "beehive" projections in gold wire, and figurative reliefs in repoussé gold decorating areas between the bars of enamel and gem decoration. Relics were assuming increasing importance, sometimes political, in this period, and so increasingly rich reliquaries were made to hold them. In such works

22080-506: Was a period that spanned approximately 1000 years and is normally restricted to Europe and the Byzantine Empire . The material remains we have from that time, including jewelry, can vary greatly depending on the place and time of their creation, especially as Christianity discouraged the burial of jewelry as grave goods , except for royalty and important clerics, who were often buried in their best clothes and wearing jewels. The main material used for jewelry design in antiquity and leading into

22240-501: Was a practice of coral worn around the neck of infants to imitate pictures of Christ wearing coral as a child. Gems were chosen by wearers based on the healing powers they were thought to have had as well as the associated meanings behind their color and size. Lapidaries were an extremely popular type of work in the Middle Ages, and listed the many medical and quasi-magical powers attributed to gems, as well as their religious symbolism and sometimes their astrological significance. For

22400-464: Was a way to show social status and political agency. Many regional and ethnic identities were maintained and would later become significant in a political role. Regarding laws, ethnic identity helped decide which codes applied to which populations, however these systems were not definitive representations of ethnicity as these systems were somewhat fluid. Evidence from Carolingian estate surveys and polyptychs appears to suggest that female life expectancy

22560-470: Was also under the command of an autonomous governor, Gerold , until his death in 796. While Charles still had overall authority in these areas they were fairly autonomous with their own chancery and minting facilities. The annual meeting, the Placitum Generalis or Marchfield, was held every year (between March and May) at a place appointed by the king. It was called for three reasons: to gather

22720-503: Was an attempt to organize the kingdom, church, and nobility around him, however, its efficacy was directly dependent upon the efficiency, loyalty and support of his subjects. Almost every year between the accession of Charles Martel and the conclusion of the wars with the Saxons Frankish forces went on campaign or expedition, often into enemy territory. Charlemagne would, for many years, gather an assembly around Easter and launch

22880-408: Was an ecclesiastic and one secular. Their status as high officials was thought to safeguard them from the temptation of taking bribes. They made four journeys a year in their local missaticum , each lasting a month, and were responsible for making the royal will and capitularies known, judging cases and occasionally raising armies. The Vassi Dominici . These were the king’s vassals and were usually

23040-440: Was an itinerant body (until c. 802) which moved around the kingdom making sure good government was upheld in the localities. The most important positions were the chaplain (who was responsible for all ecclesiastical affairs in the kingdom), and the count of the palace ( Count palatine ) who had supreme control over the household. It also included more minor officials e.g. chamberlain, seneschal, and marshal. The household sometimes led

23200-539: Was because horses provided a quick, long-distance method of transporting troops , which was critical to building and maintaining such a large empire. The importance of horses to the Carolingian military is revealed through the Revised version of the Royal Frankish Annals. The annals mention that whilst Charlemagne was on campaign in 791 "there broke out such a pestilence among the horses [...] that barely

23360-407: Was designed specifically to imitate Aachen. The palace system as an idea for Carolingian central administration and governance has been challenged by historian F. L. Ganshof, who argued that the palaces of the Carolingians "contained nothing resembling the specialised services and departments available at the same period to the Byzantine emperor or the caliph of Baghdad." However, further reading in

23520-461: Was elected King of Western Francia (France), Ranulf II became King of Aquitaine , Italy went to Count Berengar of Friuli , Upper Burgundy to Rudolph I , and Lower Burgundy to Louis the Blind , the son of Boso of Arles, King of Lower Burgundy and maternal grandson of Emperor Louis II . The other part of Lotharingia became the duchy of Burgundy. The study of demographics in the early Middle Ages

23680-463: Was finally granted to King Carloman of Bavaria, but a stroke forced him to abdicate Italy to his brother Charles the Fat and Bavaria to Louis of Saxony. Also in 879, Boso of Vienne founded the Kingdom of Lower Burgundy in Provence . In 881, Charles the Fat was crowned emperor while Louis III of Saxony and Louis III of Francia died the following year. Saxony and Bavaria were united with Charles

23840-556: Was known by various Latin names; the term "Carolingian Empire" arose later. The term "Carolingian Empire" is a modern convention and was not used by its contemporaries. The language of official acts in the empire was Latin . The empire was referred to variously as universum regnum ("the whole kingdom", as opposed to the regional kingdoms), Romanorum sive Francorum imperium ("empire of the Romans and Franks"), Romanum imperium ("Roman empire"), or even imperium christianum ("Christian empire"). Though Charles Martel chose not to take

24000-416: Was lower than that of men in this period, with analyses recording high ratios of males to females. However, it is possible this is due to a recording bias. The government, administration, and organization of the Carolingian Empire were forged in the court of Charlemagne in the decades around the year 800. In this year, Charlemagne was crowned emperor and adapted his existing royal administration to live up to

24160-417: Was made co-emperor in 813, and the entire Empire passed to him with Charlemagne's death in the winter of 814. Louis the Pious' reign as Emperor was unexpected; as the third son of Charlemagne, he was originally crowned King of Aquitaine at three years old. With the deaths of his older siblings, he went from 'a boy who became a king to a man who would be emperor'. Although his reign was mostly overshadowed by

24320-424: Was not coined until 1890, and the following decade saw the first serious studies of the period; for the next several decades the subject was dominated by German art historians mainly dealing with manuscripts, apart from Adolph Goldschmidt 's studies of ivories and sculpture in general. A number of exhibitions held in Germany in the years following World War II helped introduce the subject to a wider public and promote

24480-566: Was ordered to campaign against the Avars in 795 since Charlemagne was occupied with Saxon revolts. Eventually, the Avar confederation ended in 803 after Charlemagne sent a Bavarian army into Pannonia. He also conquered Saxon territories in wars and rebellions fought from 772 to 804, with such events as the Massacre of Verden in 782 and the codification of the Lex Saxonum in 802. Prior to

24640-490: Was perceived by the court as being cowardly and incompetent. The following year his nephew Arnulf of Carinthia , the illegitimate son of King Carloman of Bavaria, raised the standard of rebellion. Instead of fighting the insurrection, Charles fled to Neidingen and died the following year in 888, leaving a divided entity and a disorderly succession. The Empire of the Carolingians was divided: Arnulf maintained Carinthia , Bavaria, Lorraine and modern Germany; Count Odo of Paris

24800-679: Was possibly from the same workshop. The latest and most lavish is the Aachen example, which is studded with jewels and shows an enthroned Emperor, surrounded by a pope and archbishops. This was probably made in Trier about 1000. Among various stylistic groups and putative workshops that can be detected, that responsible for pieces including the panel from the cover of the Codex Aureus of Echternach and two diptych wings now in Berlin (all illustrated below) produced particularly fine and distinctive work, perhaps in Trier, with "an astonishing perception of

24960-690: Was sometimes used in the same style, often as a cheaper substitute for the stones. In the Insular art of the British Isles the preferred shape was the penannular brooch , and exceptionally large and elaborate examples like the Tara Brooch and Hunterston Brooch were worn by both secular elites and the clergy (at least on liturgical vestments ). Relatively few other types of jewelry have survived from this place and period. The wearing of cheaper forms of jewelry appears to have reached quite far down

25120-468: Was the largest western territory since the fall of Rome , but historians have come to suspect the depth of the emperor's influence and control. Legally, the Carolingian emperor exercised the bannum , the right to rule and command, over all of his territories. Also, he had supreme jurisdiction in judicial matters, made legislation, led the army, and protected both the Church and the poor. His administration

25280-504: Was to legitimise Lothar and his brothers' rule by deposing and excommunicating Louis. By 835, peace was made within the family, and Louis was restored to the Imperial throne at the church of St. Stephen in Metz. When Pepin died in 838, Louis crowned Charles king of Aquitaine, whilst the nobility elected Pepin's son Pepin II , a conflict which was not resolved until 860 with Pepin's death. When Louis

25440-463: Was used in different ways as a very important marker of identity such as social status. Additionally, it served as an indicator of wealth, literacy, and faith. For example, aristocratic families used jewelry to re-enforce their rank by wearing an emblem of the lineage that they belonged to. Additionally, wearing jewelry sold near pilgrimage sites or containing relics was a way to for those who have voyaged to display piety. Many times this looked like

25600-740: Was written down and amended (the Salic law was also amended in both 798 and 802, although even Einhard admits in section 29 that this was imperfect). Judges were supposed to have a copy of both the Salic law code and the Ripuarian law code. Most people in the Carolingian Empire lived under a legal code that directly copied from Roman law . Coinage had a strong association with the Roman Empire, and Charlemagne took up its regulation with his other imperial duties. The Carolingians exercised controls over

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