Unit name | Spectacle and Ceremony |
---|---|
Unit code | HARTM0316 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | M/7 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Professor. Williamson |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of History of Art (Historical Studies) |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Religious cultural production of all kinds (including architecture, art and music) was created with a function in mind: it was shaped by the twin demands of liturgy and devotion, the public ceremonial and spectacle of the church community, and the private prayer and contemplation of the religious individual. Much of the appearance of the medieval church exterior and interior was dictated not just by visual imperatives but by the demands of movement and sound, by liturgical procession and the music of the daily Offices and Mass. Through an examination of some key buildings, objects and music, this unit will consider contextual themes such as attitudes to life and death, power and patronage, ritual and commemoration, against the background of the visual and aural culture of medieval religious observance.
Aims:
This unit aims to consider the sensory experience of participants in the liturgical, dramatic and ceremonial rituals of the medieval church, as a way of exploring the material culture of medieval religion in terms of function, not just appearance. It will consider the appearance and function of medieval religious buildings and artefacts, as well as the ritual activities that took place within and around them. The unit follows and extends recent attempts to adopt an ‘integrated approach’ to medieval church buildings and other artefacts, seeking to consider the appearance and the use of medieval buildings and religious art against the background of an awareness of the effects of post-medieval alteration and/or iconoclasm, and incorporating consideration of liturgical use, political, civic, ecclesiastical and lay patronage, display, competition and emulation. There will be some consideration of the basic chronology of the stylistic development of medieval art and architecture, but this will form a background for thematic and object-based study of all the monumental arts, including painting, sculpture and glass, in their original contexts. A general overview of the medieval liturgy will be given as a basis for a more detailed study of the ways in which art objects and viewers interacted during ritual activity.
1 x 2-hour seminar weekly over 1 teaching block.
5000-word essay