Hortus Artium Medievalium

The theme of death accompanied the monastic reflection through the centuries and it has been the subject of punctual reflections also including by the most recent historiography. For each life the death is a moment of crucial and terrible step, joyful and desired in the christian and cenobitic perspective. Inside the monasteries it was the focus of a rituality rich of symbols and of gestures full of hope in eternal life, actions which do not have mitigated the human fears and the uncertainties in front of the end of life, feelings that in different ways and forms are documented attestations in the sources.

This article compares the deaths of two abbots as told by contemporary observers, and shows how the relationship between these saints and their ascetic communities on the one hand and secular imperial authorities on the other hand would be consolidated in the way people were shown to react to their demise. First, the life and death Saint Martin of Tours (c. 316-397) are analysed through the Vita Martini and the letters by Sulpicius Severus. Against the backdrop of a strenuous relation between Roman imperial interests and a burgeoning Christendom, the author uses Martin’s post-mortem reputation to appropriate the authority of his erstwhile rival, the emperor Maximus. In doing so, an attempt is made to resolve the conundrum of how to be Christian under Roman authority. Then, two different descriptions of the death of Benedict of Aniane (c. 750-821) are presented, one by his hagiographer Ardo, the other a supposed eye-witness account by the monks of Inda. By contrasting these two accounts, it will be shown how different observers dealt with the tensions between personal salvation, imperial reform efforts and monastic idealism that emerged when secular and religious authority converged in the Carolingian era. The juxtaposition of the fifth-century situation with the ninth-century accounts, finally, will highlight how understanding of authority has evolved in the wake of the spread of Christianity - both in the eyes of those in power, and according to those dealing with them in word and deed.

This paper focuses on the theme of the Dormition of monks - hermits and/or coenobites - as represented in the earliest figurative sources of Byzantine art, and especially in illustrated manuscripts. The study of the material led to the identification of some recurrent features, such as the sobriety of the composition and details, the inevitable monastic habit, the enhancement of humility and asceticism. An attempt has been made to create a dialogue between images and written sources, thanks to which a complex and vivid picture has emerged, reflecting multiple meanings that have to be analyzed through the eyes of the past. This paper also deals with the issue of the origin of this iconographic subject and its relationship with other models.

This paper aims to establish the artistic and symbolical context associated with the evolution of the architectonically structured burial spaces in the newly founded kingdom of Portugal, between the end of the 11^th and the early years of the 13^th centuries, with an emphasis on monastic institutes and the transport of its models from beyond the Pyrenees, crossing through the peninsular kingdoms and finally arriving to Portugal. The examples of the first galilee named as such - that of Cluny II - was followed by those of Romainmôtier, Tournus, León or Sahagún.

We successively approached the first type of pantheons identified in Portugal - that of the galilees which precede the temple, used by their founders - concentrating initially on the first royal pantheon of Santa Cruz in Coimbra, and subsequently trying to understand how this model was used in a vast group of burial spaces sponsored by the noble landlords and patrons of the Church, following the territorial expansion of the kingdom but mainly concentrated on its northern territories, around major cities such as Braga or Guimarães, relevant towns like Amarante and Oporto, or closer to the borders as in Valença, over the river Minho. Two case studies will best show the use of this model on Portuguese rural Romanesque architecture, either associated to the Augustinians, as in São Pedro of Ferreira, or to the Benedictins, like in Sanfins of Friestas.

Starting from italian, swiss and french documentation in lombard and carolingian age, the study examines the relationships between inscriptions and the space in which they themselves are inserted. This paper, concerning specifically the monastic context, proposes various hypotheses on burial signaling mode, taking into account the physical appearance of epigraphs, as well as their degree of visibility in relation to its surroundings. Through a comparative analysis, which also involves the main historical sources of the time, it is reflected on the location of the tombs of monks, abbots and laity within the monastic space, thus arriving at a number of proposals on the original location of the epigraphic artifacts.

Spatial Turn sets different marks in investigation which lead especially to broader interdisciplinarity. When we have a look to monastic networks in the early middle ages (liber Vitae from Salzburg) we find a high level of communication tension. Therefore it is not surprising to see that monastic space defined by fraternitas and confoederatio confirms of course connections to monasteries of the same order on the one to monasteries of other religious groups and at last to monasteries in „Athos“ on the other hand.

Analizing calendars and Necrologies from the high and late middle ages we find out the same intention in those, who wrote down the names in Necrologies. Monastic Space is defined by influence and political power from those who stand in fraternity to the monastery. Monastic space finally is defined by faith in resurrection.

Sancti Cirici de Colera/Sant Quirze de Colera is a Benedictine monastic foundation on the southern face of the eastern Pyrenees. The various structures that have survived as well as the documentary sources provide a wide chronological range of the 8th to 16th centuries, when the monastic community moved to another location. In the 19th century the site became private property and in the 1990s the first efforts at restoration and archaeological excavation began. Our programme of new research into this very special complex began two years ago with a multi-disciplinary approach focusing on the entire complex and all its aspects: the analysis of written sources and preserved remains in order to understand and outline its principal phases of development, not only structural but also functional and liturgical, using all the most modern instruments and technologies of the various disciplines concerned. In order to achieve the maximum results, our analyses have followed a number of different techniques which include a topographic map, photogrammetry, plans and 3D modelling-reconstruction, as well as chrono-stratigraphical, architectural and liturgical analyses, that have allowed us to define the various historical phases in which this monastic site was founded, developed and finally abandoned. We present here some of the first results which, although preliminary, serve to illustrate the work being undertaken and the consequent reinterpretation of the abbatial church now possible.

In Ravenna, the monastic phenomenon came early. The investigations conducted during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and some materials that are preserved in local museums make it possible to summarize some important considerations regarding the privileged burials in high medieval monasteries. Special attention should be paid to the monasteries of San Vitale and of Santa Maria della Rotonda. The first of the two had been founded at the ancient basilica of S Vitale; the second was founded at the ancient tomb of King Theodoric, transformed into the church of S. Maria della Rotonda or in Faro. Investigations carried out on several occasions in the first half of the twentieth century have identified in the monastery of San Vitale traces of some sepulchral contexts, from which come some important epigrafic claims. The same goes for S. Maria della Rotonda.

The complex of San Severo in Classe, in south of Ravenna, is an emblematic place of memory to understand the funerary practice in this area. The monastery was built in the late ninth century, close to the basilica and to the mausoleum dedicated to one of the most important bishops of Ravenna, who lived in the fourth century. The political and religious importance of the monastic center is attested by written sources since the tenth century. The monastery was a Benedectine foundation, which passed to the Cistercensian between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

The current excavation is being conducted by the University of Bologna, which is investigating extensively the entire complex, bringing to light the different areas of the monastery around the large rectangular cloister. The funerary practice changed and developed according to the life of the basilica and the monastic complex. Different funerary areas found outside the church and in the monastery have different characteristics and may be linked to different chronological phases as well as to different functions or perceptions of the areas themselves. The organization of the monastery cemetery indicating funerary spaces for members of the monastic community and clergy, separate from those of the laity.

Preliminary results of the first excavation campaigns at the site of Saint Lawrence in Banjol on the island of Rab are presented. These excavations revealed the remains of two consecutive churches, a large Late Antique and a smaller medieval one. An in situ grave and a secondary skeletal mass burial were also discovered. Finds of stone sculptural decoration belonging to the first church and contemporary metal finds from the mass burial are also discussed.

The sixth century witnessed the installation of the Visigoths in the Peninsula following their defeat by the Franks in 507; Ostrogothic domination, first by Theodoric (509-527) and later by Theudis (531-548); and the presence of imperial troops in the South-East. The end of the century saw the conversion of arian goths to catholicism in the Third Council of Toledo (589). As written sources were extremely biased and influenced by the eventual outcome, the archaeology of churches is an essential tool for reconstructing this period of history in the iberian peninsula and particularly the religious and political competition between Arians and followers of the nicene creed.

The iconography of the Ascension of Christ, is a recurring theme in numerous supports, monumental or not in the late antiquity. This image of the triumph of the God-Man over death was forged during the fourth and fifth centuries, clearly in imitation of the parallel concept of imperial apotheosis. However, it is during the sixth century that, in Eastern territories, it assumes the formal characteristics that will define the iconographic model of the following centuries. On the one hand, our target is to highlight the precedents that give rise to this iconographic type in the sixth century and to justify the reasons why the theme of the Ascension reaches its maturity in that century in the East while in the West the theme seems to fall. On the other hand, we would like to emphasize the context and the ideological sources that explain both the late appearance of the subject at the end of the fourth century, as well as its importance in the struggles for the definition of an orthodoxy boosted but not always controlled by the imperial court.

The mosaics of the church of San Mauro in ancient Parentium are published in an invaluable study by Terry and Maguire (Dynamic Splendor). They accept that bishop Eufrasius, a “Three Chapters” schismatic, was the intellectual author of the mosaics which contain schismatic elements. I contend the church was consecrated before the 559 schism, which was a break with Rome over ecclesial authority, rather than opposition to Justinian’s Fifth Ecumenical Council Constantinople II. I see San Mauro as a rare survival, a Justinianic church of the Theotokos, and an example of imperial/urban renewal in an Istria definitively reconquered in the first months of the Gothic War. The central apse mosaic can be read as a visual statement of three canons from Constantinople II: 1) the doctrine of Theotokos, Mary as mother of the incarnate Word; 2) the oneness of Christ after the hypostatic union; 3) the Theopaschite Formula, “One of the Trinity suffered in the flesh”. The side apses reflect Justinian’s personal devotion to Saints Cosmas and Damian and his elevation of the see of Ravenna to arch-episcopal status under his close associate, Maximian.

During the transition time from Late Antiquity to Middle Ages, urban structures in Campania region, in Southern Italy, were involved in a deep transformation process. Many towns were scaled down or even disappeared, due to many factors, namely earthquakes, wars, drop in population and so on. In this context, the Lombard conquest represented the peak of the decay and the consequent dismantling of towns and urban network in the whole Campania. The paper analyzes that process in the light of documents coming from the rich literature, epigraphic sources and, mainly, from archeological campaigns.

The aim of this paper is to present a general overview of the formation and diffusion of the ecclesiastical network, both urban and rural, in the territory corresponding to the actual boundaries of Northern Tuscany, from the 4th century A.D. to the 10th. The research is based on the CARE project (directed by M. Jurković and G.P. Brogiolo), in which the author is studying and recording all the churches for such area. The diffusion of a topography of the christian buildings starts from the late 4th-early 5th century in the major towns, such as Lucca and Firenze where, by the end of the 6th, is fully spread, comprehending also important funerary buildings in the suburbia; in the rural areas, instead, the diffusion of the churches in the Late Antique centuries seems to be weaker, even though significant buildings are well known, like San Piero a Grado and others, signs of a progressive christianization of the countrysides, which will reach its heyday from the Lombard era onwards and, even more, in the Carolingian period.

The text discusses an iron ornamented stirrup from Bribirska Glavica. This finding does add a great deal to the picture of the Bribir past, from the 9^th to the 12^th century, and yet in their fundamental cultural indicators do not depart from the framework that we know of for this site, from earlier work, and from other finds of the early medieval period. Analysis in terms of typology and chronology was used to try to show the different influences on the making of these objects or their direct import from the then bigger workshop centres in Central Europe or the Byzantine Empire. His quality and excellence of workmanship tellingly documents the high level of life in Bribir in the centuries in which the nobiles Breberienses started their economic, military and political rise.

In 2012, the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for archaeological prospection and virtual archaeology (LBI ArchPro) launched a strategic project with the focus on Mediterranean environments. It seemed to be necessary to test the applicability of various prospection techniques to achieve an integrative approach for documentation and investigation of archaeological sites in this environmental context. Therefore, adequate geographical areas have been selected to be systematically investigated within the project. This paper presents an overview of this research in the area of Osor. First, the case study area is presented, along with its specific archaeological questions. Next, the methodologies used to investigate these questions are detailed. Finally, the results are presented and discussed.

The present paper contains the interim report on the second season of fieldwork carried out at Bribirska Glavica by the Varvaria/Breberium/Bribir Archaeological Project. The text gives an overview of the field operations undertaken, their results and the archaeological finds excavated and studied during this season. This material relates both to the rotunda church and to built structures postdating it.

Before the presentation of the 2016 campaign, the results of the campaign of 2015 are briefly cited. The completion of the excavation of the reduced church, the further analysis of its structures as well as the stratigraphical analysis allowed us to reformulate our hypothesis and advance our knowledge of the first church on the site which seems to have had a cruciform ground plan and have been built in the proto-Byzantine period. This year’s campaign was mostly carried out in the area of the Romanesque church vestibule (sector V) and of its north-east exterior (sector VI). Among most important contributions is the discovery of the large vessel found in the northern part of the vestibule whose space was clearly partitioned both in elevation (partition in bays) and at ground level (privileged burials in the central bay, infant burials in the southern bay). Numerous medieval tombs were found and excavated in the sector VI, as well as two graves from the iron age that were discovered under the medieval built tombs in front of the vestibule.

The cathedral at Le Puy is an emblematic monument of the western Middle Ages. The aim of this paper is a reinterpretation of its wall-paintings as spatial markers of a topography surrounded by an ecclesiological and liturgical discourse, translated by images and inscriptions, and deeply linked to the cathedral’s various statuses, as a cathedral and as a pilgrimage place.

From the 12th century, large crosses in « X » are painted or carved on the vault of churches’ choir, or integrated into mosaics of pavement, as in Saint-Bertin of Saint-Omer, Saint-André of Rosans and Ganagobie. As projection of the vault on the ground, they take part in the organization of the liturgical space. In our opinion, they also serve to legitimize the laic authority, principal sponsor of these settings.

The paper examines an important and, at the same time, little known parietal icon of the late 13^th century, kept in the crypt of the church of Santissima Trinità - Santa Lucia in Brindisi, representing St. Nicholas of Myra. Of the fresco, considerable in size, is offered a thorough reading which, starting with iconographic elements until now escaped to criticism, clarifies the meaning and functions of the image inside the cultual environment of Brindisi, linked by close cultural and artistic relationships with the Christian East. In virtue of the high executive quality, of the extreme care in the rendering of details and, above all, of the fidelity to the archetypal icons of the bishop of Myra, particularly to those kept in the monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai, the fresco qualifies as one of the best examples of monumental mural icon of the high Middle Ages, but also as one of the finest surviving images of Sinaite or crusader matrix representing St. Nicholas.

The chapel of Yeghvard was built in the first third of the 14^th century. The small local principality was one of the rare areas in Armenia where an artistic activity was able to continue during the tough period of Mongol domination. The three-storeyed building comprises a chapel-mausoleum, an oratory, and a bell-tower in the shape of a small rotunda, a structure of Antique origin, popular at that period in Armenia. The Yeghvard chapel distinguishes itself by its elegance, the abundance and quality of its sculpted decoration, widely open to contacts with the Muslim world, and by the presence, under its cupola, of a row of Persian tiles dating from the end of the 13^th - beginning of the 14^th cent. Its architect Shahik was also the author, in 1314, of the mausoleum of Khachen-Dorbatly, built some 200 km to the East, for a Muslim lord.

The Early Christian basilicas of Chersonesos in the Crimea have been studied for over a century and a half. There are about 20 monuments known today; almost all of them were discovered in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Despite this, they remain poorly studied. Anatolij L. Yakobson’s book “Early Medieval Chersonesos” (1959) remains the only generalizing work in which the architecture, the mosaic and marble décor of the churches are examined together and in the context of the history of the city. This outcome is due largely to the way in which Chersonesos has been studied. During the last decades of the 19^th century and the first decades of the 20^th century, the main role was played by the St Petersburg Archaeological Commission. Unfortunately, it never succeeded in assigning professional archaeologists and architects to the works in Chersonesos. Because of this, we don’t have exact information regarding the current location of many of the finds; also absent is a precise documentation (plans, sections, elevations, details) for the greater part of the architectural monuments of Chersonesos. It reveals that in the post-Soviet era, the “item-centric” approach has prevailed: the fragments of ceramics and the coins were analyzed rather than the architecture. The meaning of the large collection of marble works from Proconnesos’ workshops is completely denied for the dating of the monuments.