This document provides an overview of the rise of Christianity in Europe from the late Roman Empire through the Middle Ages. It discusses how Christianity became the dominant religion in the late Roman Empire and the philosophical influences on early Christian thought. It also describes the development of Byzantine art and architecture centered in Constantinople, the rise of monasticism, and the major architectural styles of the Romanesque and Gothic periods. Key events and figures mentioned include Constantine's legalization of Christianity and establishment of Constantinople as the new capital in the 4th century.

1. Art 1100
Joan Jonas
“They Come to Us without a Word”
U.S. Pavilion,Venice Biennale, 2015

2. Chapter 15:
Rise of Christianity
•Byzantine
Middle Ages
•Romanesque
•Gothic

3. The Late Roman Empire (284 - 476 C.E)
Just as the Roman empire is weakening new
philosophical and religious influences emerge.
Christianity and Monotheism
For the first two centuries of its existence in the
Roman Empire, Christianity was just another religion
amongst many. But by 400 CE it became the official
religion of the late Roman empire.

4. Neo-Platonism
One perfect source, the Good.
A person was a soul and a body (still from
Plato)The goal of life was to find a way for the
soul to return to the source by using your
intellect and suppressing bodily desire.
The Christian philosophers would put together
the Platonic mind / body split with the Stoicist’s
belief in restraint and acceptance of divine will.
Early Christian Thought

5. 293 CE Emperor Diocletian divides the empire into 4 regions.
The Late Roman Empire (284 - 476 C.E)

6. 313 CE.
The emperor Constantine I signs the
Edict of Milan, permitting freedom of
worship and facilitating the spread of
Christianity.
330 CE
Emperor of the North Western
portion of the empire, Constantine I,
reconquers the other 3 parts of the
“Tetrachy” and turns the Greek city
of Byzantium into Constantinople his
"New Rome."
The Late Roman Empire (284 - 476 C.E)
Head of Constantine I
Rome, ca. 325

8. Arch of Constantine, Rome 315 CE
The Late Roman Empire (284 - 476 C.E)

9. Constantine the Great,
325-326 C.E.
The Late Roman Empire (284 - 476 C.E)
Constantine commissioned
a 30 foot statue of himself
to be placed in the apse of
a Roman basilica.
His features are
exaggerated, especially the
geometrical eyes, and his
hair is abstracted.
This is a precursor to
Byzantine art.

11. Increasing pressure from peoples outside the Empire, the
so-called barbarians, had compelled the Romans in later
antiquity to let more and more foreigners inside their
state.
Since most of these spoke a language based on Common
Germanic the Romans referred to them collectively as
Germans, even though they actually represented a wide
array of nations and cultures.These newly adopted
resident aliens were assigned to work farms or
conscripted into the Roman army in numbers so large
that the late Latin word for "soldier" came to be barbarus
("barbarian").
The Late Roman Empire (284 - 476 C.E)

12. 410 CE.TheVisigoth Alaric sacks Rome.The Christian
scholar Jerome (ca. 347–420 C.E.) writes, "If Rome can
perish, what can be safe."

13. Byzantium

14. The Rise of Christianity
Christ as the Sun, detail, Rome, Mid-3rd
century.
Christian religious
iconography
(symbolic images)
began as adaptations
of Roman styles.
i.e. Christ is depicted
as Apollo with divine
light and in a chariot.
The grape leaves, a
symbol of life, come
from the god
Bacchus.

15. Sarcophagus with Scenes from the Life of Achilles,
Roman, made in Attica Greece, 180-220 CE

16. Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, 359 CE St.Peter’s Rome.
The Rise of Christianity
Top row (left to right)
Abraham and Isaac - - - -Jesus before Pilate
Bottom row (left to right)
Job on the dunghill- Adam and Eve.- Jesus entering Jerusalem -Daniel and the Lions Den -

17. The vindemia, a Roman festival celebrating the harvesting of
grapes for making wine, is evoked on this sarcophagus.A
group of Cupids gathers grapes into baskets and pour them
into a trough. As three cupids stomp in the trough grape
juice flows from lion’s head spouts into large storage jars
used for wine.Vintage scenes, which embodied ideas of
fertility and rebirth, were especially common themes for
Roman coffins at this time.
Wine proves to be a symbolic material for the Christians
also.
The Rise of Christianity

18. Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, 359 CE St.Peter’s Rome.
The Rise of Christianity

19. Sarcophagus with aVintage Scene
Roman, 290-300 CE, Marble

20. Reconstruction diagram of Old St. Peter's, begun c. 320. Rome.
In 320–27 CE., the emperor Constantine built a five-aisled
basilica atop the early Christian necropolis with a shrine in the
apse of the church to mark the location of St. Peter’s tomb.
The Rise of Christianity

21. The Rise of Christianity
Christian converts needed a
place to worship. Naturally they
adapted the buildings of the
Roman forum, the basilica.
The Roman basilica was basically a building for commercial, legal
and social functions.A marketplace. Since Christianity
emphasized congregational worship the form made sense.

22. Plan of a Roman basilica Plan of Old St. Peter’s
The Rise of Christianity

23. The Rise of Christianity
At the end of the nave, in a recessed shape called an apse or
niche, was where the judge would sit in a Roman forum.
Niches were also used
for statues of gods in
Rome, i.e. Pantheon.
In Christian churches
they are again the focal
point, but for the
activities of the clergy.

24. Portico
Stepped Buttress
Oculus
“Coffered” ceiling
“Niches” containing statues of gods.

25. Byzantium
Icon with the Presentation of Christ in the
Temple, 1400–1500
Byzantine,Wood, painted, with gold ground
Icon: a picture as an
object of religious
contemplation.
By looking at the image,
viewers were connected
with the saints to which
they prayed.
Icons weren’t meant to
be looked at, but
through.They granted
access to the divine.

26. Icon of St John the Baptist
Byzantine, around AD 1300
Byzantium

27. Madonna and Child
Berlinghiero (Italian, Lucchese; act. by
1228; d. by 1236),ca. 1230
Tempera on wood, with gold ground
Virgin Hodegetria ("the
guide”) Here theVirgin
Mary cradles the Christ
Child and points toward
him.
One of the most famous
Byzantine icons of all time,
the image was copied
widely in Byzantium in all
media.

28. "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any
likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the
earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the
LORD your God am a jealous God.”
-from Exodus 20
Iconoclasm:
the prohibition or destruction of images to avoid idolatry.
Monotheism and Iconoclasm

29. Revetments from an Icon of theVirgin, ca. 1100
Fear that the viewer misdirected his/her veneration toward
the image rather than to the holy person represented in the
image lay at the heart of this controversy.
This misdirection was
considered idolatry.
To prevent this only
certain approved
styles or subjects
were allowed.
Monotheism and Iconoclasm

30. Byzantium
Hagia Sophia,
from the southwest,
Constantinople, 532-537 CE.
The church of Hagia Sophia (literally "Holy Wisdom") in
Constantinople, now Istanbul, was first dedicated in 360 CE by
Emperor Constantius, son of the city's founder, Emperor
Constantine. Hagia Sophia served as the cathedra, or bishop's
seat, of the city.

31. Interior of the Hagia Sophia
Byzantium
The vast, airy central basilica, with its
technically complex system of vaults
and semi-domes, culminates in a high
central dome with a diameter of over
101 feet (31 meters) and a height of
160 feet (48.5 meters).

32. The temple itself was so richly and artistically decorated
that the emperor Justinian proclaimed "Solomon, I have
surpassed you!"

33. Byzantium
Constantinople (first half of the 6th century)
Diptych panel in five parts: the Emperor
Triumphant (Justinian?)
Ivory, traces of inlay
H. 34.20 cm;W. 26.80 cm; D. 2.80 cm
Emperor Justinian I
tried to rebuild the
fading Byzantine
Empire.

34. Byzantine, as well as
much early Christian
art, was based on the
less naturalistic Eastern
style.
• elongated figures
• flattened space
• linear drawing
• expensive
materials
Byzantium
Fragment of a Floor Mosaic with a
Personification of Ktisis, 500–550
Byzantine

35. Christ as Pantokrator,
before 1183.
Byzantium

36. Christ as the Good Shepard, Mausoleum of Galla Placida, Ravenna Italy. 5th century CE
Byzantium

37. Emperor Justinian and His Court, c. 547. SanVitale,
Ravenna Italy.
Byzantium

38. EmpressTheodora and Retinue, c. 547. SanVitale,
Ravenna Italy.
Byzantium

39. SanVitale, Ravenna Italy.

40. The Middle Ages

41. Middle Ages
Feudal Society
Monasticism
Book Illumination
Music preservation
Relics, the cult of the Saints.
Pilgrimages
Cathedral Architecture
Romanesque
Gothic

42. Organization of the Feudal Society.
The feudal system (from the medieval Latin feodum or
feudum, fee or fief) enabled a cash-poor but land-rich lord to
support a military force.
A lord would grant knights land in return for loyalty and
military service. Or landless knights could be sheltered in
noble households, and loyalties could be maintained through
kinship, friendship, or wages.
Mounted armored warriors, or knights (from the Old
English cniht, boy or servant), were the dominant forces of
medieval armies.This leads to a definite aristocracy that
grew to include the once peasant, knight.

43. “Feudalism”
Most individuals
could not own land.
But instead farmed
it for the Knights or
Barons.
They were granted
some measure of
protection from
other raiding
armies, but there
was no “upward
mobility.”

44. “The Canterbury Tales” by Geoffrey Chaucer
The Knight.
“Piety guided his sword. He considered himself no more than
an instrument of God.”
Written in the late 14th century. An arguably unfinished
work.The prologue makes reference to characters who
never tell their tales. Chaucer also describes the ‘estates’ of
the realm.
1).Those who fight
2).Those who pray
3).Those who labor

45. Monasticism
The term monasticism (mon meaning one) describes a
way of life chosen by religious men or women who
retreat from society for the pursuit of spiritual salvation.
Monasticism spread quickly through western Europe.
The Rule of Saint Benedict, (6th century) stressed
moderation, obedience to the monastery's leader (the
abbot), and a prescribed program of prayer, work, and
study.

46. The Cuxa Cloister, mid-12th
French or Spanish;
Abbey of Saint-Michel-de-
Cuxa (modern France)
Cloister: a
square garden
court surrounded
by a covered
walkway.
Monasticism

47. The Cuxa Cloister, mid-12th
French or Spanish;
Abbey of Saint-Michel-de-
Cuxa (modern France)
The cloister
formed the
meditative heart
of the abbey, an
inward looking
architecture.

48. Around the cloister
could generally be
found the...
library
chapter house
dormitory
refectory
kitchen
cellar
infirmary,
and other spaces
essential to the daily
monastic life.

49. One of the major contributions of the monastic system was
their achievement in scholarship, providing instrumental
books about music, science, philosophy and theology.
Monastic centers encouraged a fiercely intellectual
environment, requiring literacy of brothers and sisters and
creating major libraries.
Monks were throughly trained in the musical arts as well as
the hand-copying and adornment of sacred texts, called
“illuminated” manuscripts.This copying would take place in
the scriptorium. Because of the difficulty in reproducing
them books were exceedingly rare in Medieval life.
Monasticism

50. Gospel Book of Durrow, c. 675.
The Early Middle Ages
Illuminated Manuscripts

51. Book of Kells: Opening page, St. Luke's Gospel, 8th-9th century.
Illuminated Manuscripts
This is an example of an Illumination,
an illustration page for Christian
scripture. One of the most important
art forms of the time were copies of
the Christian Scripture. Before the
printing press, scriptures were
painstakingly written by hand and
illustrated by Monks.
Exempt from the usual iconoclasm,
illustrated books could take wilder
forms, because of their “storytelling
function”.
They also brought together different
illustration styles.

52. Book of Kells Folio 32v, Christ Enthroned
Illuminated Manuscripts
Book of Kells Folio 34r, Chi Rho 8th-9th century.

53. Initial “T" from the sacramentary of Saint-Saveur de Figeac, 11th century.
The Ascension, from the Sacramentary of Archbishop Drogo of Metz, ca. 842 CE.

54. A View of Sainte-Foy, Conques France
The High Middle Ages: Romanesque

55. The Romanesque
The spread of monasticism was the main force behind the
renewed artistic and cultural activity of the 11th and 12th
centuries. It was described as a "white mantle of churches"
rising over "all the earth."
Stimulated by economic prosperity, relative political
stability, and an increase in population, this building boom
continued over the next two centuries.
Stone churches of ever larger proportions were built to
accommodate the growing numbers of priests and crowds
of pilgrims who came to worship the relics of the saints.

56. The Romanesque Period (1050 to 1200 C.E.) utilized
a southern style, drawn from ancient Roman styles.
Romanesque architecture is defined by:
- Overall massiveness
- Thick stone walls
- Round Arches
- Barrel-vaulted stone ceilings
- Relief carving instead of wall painting or mosaic.
The High Middle Ages: Romanesque

57. Sainte-Foy, Conques, France, c. 1050-1120.
The High Middle Ages: Romanesque

58. Tribune and nave vaults, Sainte-Foy,
Conques, France, c. 1050-1120.
Barrel Vault:An arch is
extended in depth by
layering many arches
behind one another.
The High Middle Ages: Romanesque

61. The High Middle Ages: Romanesque

62. Plan of Sainte-Foy
The Romanesque
This cross-form plan
adds an ambulatory,
or walkway aisle.
The apse and choir
form a “church
within a church” so
that services could
be held during tours
and pilgrimages.
There are also small
chapels added for the
same reason.

63. The Ambulatory
of St. Foy
showing a chapel.
The Romanesque

64. The Cloister of St. Foy
The High Middle Ages: Romanesque

65. Romanesque Churches used relief carving rather than painting,
imitating the Roman style, for example Trajan’s column.
The High Middle Ages: Romanesque
Tympanum:
a semicircular relief above
the cathedral entrance.
Scenes like the Last
Judgment were depicted,
as a stern preparation for
the mystical experience of
entering the church.

66. Christ enthroned, tympanum of St. Foy.
The High Middle Ages: Romanesque

67. Two doors; Heaven and Hell, tympanum of St. Foy.
The High Middle Ages: Romanesque

68. The “Knights” capital atop column, St. Foy
The High Middle Ages: Romanesque

69. Reliquary statue of Sainte Foy,
Conques, late 10th-11th century.
Gold and gemstones over a wooden core, 33 1/2" high.
Relics
Portions of historically
important objects,
preserved and adorned.
Believed to have spiritual
or healing powers.
Pilgrims traveled great
lengths to see them.

70. The reliquary at Conques held
the remains of Saint Foy, a
young Christian convert living
in Roman-occupied France
during the second century.At
the age of twelve, she was
condemned to die for her
refusal to sacrifice to pagan
gods, she is therefore revered
as a martyr, as someone who
dies for their faith.
Reliquary statue of Sainte Foy,
Conques, late 10th-11th century.
Gold and gemstones over a wooden core, 33 1/2" high.
Relics

71. Reliquary Shrine, second quarter of 14th century
Attributed to Jean de Touyl (French, died 1349)

72. Reliquary Shrine, second quarter of 14th century
Attributed to Jean de Touyl (French, died 1349)

73. Germany, Braunschweig
Reliquary withTooth of Saint John
the Baptist, Metalwork:
1375/1400
Rock crystal vessel: c. 1000
Egypt, Fatimid Dynasty
(909-1171)
Relics

74. Relics
Reliquary Casket with
Scenes from the
Martyrdom of Saint
Thomas Becket, ca.
1173–1180
English or German
Reliquaries are the containers that store and display relics.
Since the relics themselves were considered "more valuable
than precious stones and more to be esteemed than gold," they
were enshrined in vessels, or reliquaries, crafted of or covered
by gold, silver, ivory, gems, and enamel.

75. Pilgrim's Badge Depicting the
Shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at
Canterbury Cathedral, ca. 1400
English
Pewter
Pilgrims received tokens
or “badges” as souvenirs
of their journey.This
badge depicts the shrine
of St.Thomas Becket in
Canterbury the
destination of the
pilgrims in Chaucer’s
poem.

76. Pilgrimage roads to
Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
St. Foy
Relics

77. Santiago de Compostela
C.E 1128
Santiago de Compostela holds
the remains of the apostle St.
James, martyred at Jerusalem
about 44CE. His bones had
reportedly been taken to
Spain, where, according to
legend, he had formerly
evangelized.
Relics

78. Bernat Martorell
Spanish, c. 1400–1452
Saint George Killing the Dragon, 1434/35
Chivalry
(from cheval, the French
word for horse)
Arose out of the need to
ensure loyalty to feudal
leaders.
Required devotion to the
lords, service to God and
courtesy to ladies.
Knights

79. Sword, ca. 1400
Western European
Stee
Anton Peffenhauser, probably
German,Augsburg
Fingered Gauntlet for the Right Hand, c. 1520

80. Northern German
"Black-and-White" Field Armor, c.
1560
Knights

81. Shaffron in the "Oriental" fashion,
ca. 1560–70
Italian (probably Brescia)
Steel, brass, leather
Shaffron of Henry II of France when
Dauphin, ca. 1490–1500,Attributed to
Romain des Ursins (Milan, rec. Lyon 1493–
95)Franco-Italian

82. The Crusades
Aquamanile in the Form of a Knight on
Horseback, mid-13th century
German (Lower Saxony, probably
Hildesheim)
Copper alloy
The First Crusade began in
1095 after a sermon by Pope
Urban II that sought help for the
Christians in the east and the
return of Christian control the
Holy Sepulcher, the church in
Jerusalem said to contain the
tomb of Christ.
Absolution from sin and eternal
glory were promised to the
Crusaders, who also hoped to
gain land and wealth in the East.

84. French Knights Under Louis IX Besieging
Damietta, Egypt, 7th Crusade, 1249
The Crusades
The Crusaders then took over
many of the cities on the
Mediterranean coast and built a
large number of fortified
castles all over the Holy Land
to protect their new
territories.

85. Kark des Chevaliers, Syria 1031 and from 1150–1250
The Crusades

86. The effect of the Crusades on Europe
The Crusades unintentionally created increased cultural
contact with the Arabic speaking world, creating an influx
of knowledge, both from original Arabic sources and from
Classical sources like Aristotle, which Muslim scholars had
preserved.
This combined with the influx of wealth plundered from
the conquered kingdoms enriched kings and the European
economy.With this wealth the feudal system grew more
irrelevant as kings could manage their own territory.
The kings new power created conflict with the papacy and
led to a lessened role for church authority.

87. The Gothic Awakening...
(1150-1400 CE)

88. The High Middle Ages: Gothic
Chartres Cathedral, France, 1134-1260.

89. The Gothic architectural style is an exaggerated form
of Romanesque with ornate, linear, vertical elements.
The Gothic also increased it’s emphasis on representing
Light as evidence of God.
Gothic Architecture:
- Intricate decorative detail
- Pointed arches and Ribbed vaulting
- Flying buttresses
- Larger Stained glass windows
Gothic

90. West façade, Chartres Cathedral, c. 1140-1150.
Gothic
"Then arose new architects who after
the manner of their barbarous nations
erected buildings in that style which we
call Gothic (dei Gotthi)."
Florentine art historian Giorgio
Vasari (1511–1574) was the first to
label the architecture of preceding
centuries "Gothic," in reference to
the Germanic tribes that overran
the Roman empire.

91. Earlier tower
from 1140.
Later addition in the
“Flamboyant” style
from the 1500’s.

93. Pointed Arch
The addition of the pointed arch and the flying buttress eliminated
the thickness of Romanesque walls, allowing even more windows.
This made the Gothic emphasis on presenting “divine light” possible.

95. Nave, Chartres Cathedral, looking east.
Gothic

96. Gothic

97. Flying Buttress:
Freestanding brick or stone
supports attached to the
exterior walls by an arch or
a half-arch for additional
support.
Prevents the outward
collapse of the arches in the
interior.
Gothic

98. Flying Buttresses on Chartres Cathedral
Gothic

99. Clerestory
Triforum
Nave Arcade
Gothic

100. Rose Window and lancets,
Chartres Cathedral, France, 13th century.
This set of windows, called
the Rose of France, is a
tribute to theVirgin Mary,
St.Anne and the patron
Blanche of Castille.
Gothic

102. Gothic cathedrals used Proportion, Light
and Allegory to communicate the
‘spiritual’ world to parishoners.
Gothic

103. The St.Apollinare and Choirs of Angels Window
In Gothic cathedrals, the stained glass windows took over the
“teaching” function, that in Romanesque churches, relief
sculpture had done, and in Byzantine, mosaic.

105. The Infancy of
Christ Window
The Passion of
Christ Window

106. Pilgrims, Chartres Cathedral
Chartres, France 13th century;
High Gothic
Gothic
Note traditional pilgrim
costumes including broad-
brimmed hats, scrips, and
walking sticks.There is a
monk on the right.The
pilgrims meet each other
on the road and clasp
hands.

107. Chartres Cathedral,
Reliquary for theVirgin
Mary's Cloak or “sancta
camisia”.
Gothic

108. Chartres Cathedral, Royal Portal, central portal, Tympanum, Christ in Majesty with Four
Evangelist Symbols, mid 12th-century, Early Gothic sculpture, France.

109. The High Middle Ages: Romanesque and Gothic
Door Jamb Statues, west façade,
Chartres Cathedral, France, c. 1145-70.
Saints Theodore, Stephen, Clement, and
Lawrence,
Door Jamb Statues, south transept,
Chartres Cathedral, France, 13th century.

110. Chartres Cathedral, socle figures from the south portal, left
porch, 12th century, Early Gothic sculpture, France

111. http://paris.arounder.com/en/abbey/st-denis-abbey/abbey-
of-saint-denis-altar.html
Abbey of St. Denis

112. http://paris.arounder.com/en/churches/sainte-chapelle/
sainte-chapelle-01.html
Sainte Chapelle

113. Toward the Renaissance
Monasteries also served as translation centers for Islamic
texts. It is from these that Aristotle’s philosophy is
reintroduced to Europe after having been lost.
Thomas Aquinas, synthesized Aristotelian philosophy with
Christian belief in works like SummaTheologica.Aristotle
thought that objects in nature, didn’t refer to an ideal form
elsewhere as Plato did, but rather had their purpose IN their
form that was given by the Prime Mover.
“Christianizing” Aristotle, simply meant switching Prime
Movers. For Aquinas then the study of actual objects in the
world, would reveal more about God as well as nature.
“Reason does not destroy faith, but perfects it.”

114. Toward the Renaissance
Renaissance Humanism: A synthesis of Classical
Humanism and Christianity.
Previously the sinful nature of humanity was emphasized.
Human thought and perception of the world thought to be
insufficient and in need of God’s revelation in the church.
But humanists in this time period, Sir Thomas More among
them, viewed humanity as God’s highest creation and the
intellect capable of revealing the truth from observation and
reason.
One can see the echoes of Greek thought in this brand of
humanism, but with the moral check of Christianity.

115. By the early 1400’s we begin to see a break with the
Middle Ages art styles in favor of:
- Renewed interest in Classicism
- Naturalistic spatial techniques
- “Realistic” proportion
- Depiction of movement
Two artists very influential in making this transition,
which is considered a precursor to the Renaissance
style, are Duccio and Giotto.
Toward the Renaissance

116. The Birth of theVirgin, 1467
Fra Carnevale (Bartolomeo di Giovanni
Corradini) (Italian, Marchigian, active by
1445, died 1484)
Tempera and oil on wood
Toward the
Renaissance