Description
Book SynopsisContemporary descriptions of objects no longer extant examined to reconstruct these lost treasures. Surviving accounts of the material culture of medieval Europe - including buildings, boats, reliquaries, wall paintings, textiles, ivory mirror cases, book bindings and much more - present a tantalising glimpse of medieval life, hinting at the material richness of that era. However, students and scholars of the period will be all too familiar with the frustration of trying to piece together a picture of the past from a handful of fragments. The "material turn" has put art, architecture, and other artefacts at the forefront of historical and cultural studies, and the resulting spotlight on the material culture of the past has been illuminating for researchers in many fields. Nevertheless, the loss of so much of the physical remnants of the Middle Ages continues to thwart our understanding of the period, and much of the knowledge we often take for granted is based on a series of arbitrary survivals. The twelve essays in this book draw on a wide array of sources and disciplines to explore how textual records, from the chronicles of John of Worcester and Matthew Paris and inventories of monastic treasuries and noble women to Beowulf and early English riddles, when combined with archaeological and art-historical evidence, can expand our awareness of artistic and cultural environments. Touching on a broad range of issues around how we imaginatively reconstruct the medieval past and a variety of objects, both precious and ephemeral, this volume will be of fundamental interest to medieval scholars, whatever their disciplinary field. Contributors: Katherine Baker, Marian Bleeke, Deirdre Carter, Laura Cleaver, Judith Collard, Joshua Davies, Kathryn Gerry, Karl Kinsella, Katherine A. Rush, Katherine Weikert, Beth Whalley, Victoria Yuskaitis
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations List of Abbreviations Introduction Kathryn Gerry and Laura Cleaver 1 Hoard Fever: Objects Lost and Found, Beowulf and Questions of Belonging Joshua Davies 2 Lost Craft: Tracing Ships in the Early Medieval Riddling Tradition Beth Whalley 3 Typological Exegesis and Medieval Architecture in Honorius Augustodunensis's Gemma animae Karl Kinsella 4 Lost Objects and Historical Consciousness: The Post-Conquest Inventories at Ely Katherine Weikert 5 Fire! Accounts of Destruction and Survival at Canterbury and Bury St Edmunds in the Late Twelfth Century Laura Cleaver 6 Reweaving the Material Past: Textual Restoration of Two Lost Textiles from St Albans Kathryn Gerry 7 Matthew Paris, Metalwork and the Jewels of St Albans Judith Collard 8 Illustrating the Material Past: A Pictorial Treasury in the Late-Medieval Manuscripts from St Albans Abbey Deirdre Carter 9 Lost and Found: Gothic Ivories in Late Medieval French Household Records Katherine A. Rush 10 Ivories in French Royal Inventories, 1325-1422: Precious Objects of the Gothic Age? Marian Bleeke 11 Parisian Painters and their Missing Oeuvres: Evidence from the Archives Katherine Baker 12 The Mythical Outcast Medieval Leper: Perceptions of Leper and Anchorite Squints Victoria Yuskaitis Bibliography Index of Manuscripts General Index
