Conclusion

The blog was started with the intention of answering the question, "how do the depictions of death in illustrated manuscripts during the Black Plague reflect the attitudes of the medieval society both socially and religiously?

A few of the problems I ran into while researching this topic had to deal with finding reputable sources. From my research, I had to rely on the use of non-scholarly sources, as there just isn't much to be found that really goes in depth with this topic. The scholarly sources that I found and used, primarily dealt with more of the political and social aspects of society rather than the true feelings of society. I figure this has a lot to do with the fact that most of this history isn't written from the eyes of the average citizen but rather from the clergy and other powerful figures which tend to leave sort of a jaded version of it.

However, the sources that I did use did a damn good job at explaining the symbolism and meanings of what was depicted in the art. These symbols and their meanings helped draw connections to societal attitudes from politics to religion. I find these sources to more valuable in answering my original question.

For my conclusion, I have to be honest and say that I truly do not feel like I have a definite answer for my research question. I feel as if I have answered a portion of it, but to assess how it changed society is in my opinion nearly impossible. The lack of first-hand accounts from the people I want to hear from, the average citizen, makes this research one sided. I have read into many accounts from people representing the Church, but these two are biased and one sided.

Honestly, if I could go back to the beginning of the semester I would either change my research question altogether or at least modify it to be more researchable.  As for my readers, like I said in my previous week’s post, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me at any time and I will try to answer them to the best of my ability. 

Last Update

Okay, I jumped the gun a bit last week and I thought I concluded the blog for this semester. Well, I was wrong; so, one week left of the blog and because it is almost impossible to pick up from last week, I am going to go back this week and discuss a book review over the Sienese Painting after the Black Death: Artistic Pluralism, Politics, and the New Art Market. The primary reason I am choosing to go over this review as it offers more insight on the effects of the Black Plague through a scholarly outlook.

One of the main differences in my research of the effect of the Black Death on illustrated manuscripts compared to what Steinhoff wrote in Sienese Painting after the Black Death: Artistic Pluralism, Politics, and the New Art Market is the focus on religion. Susan Stuard asserts in her review of the book that "Steinhoff acknowledges that the "golden age" of Sienese painting arrived early in the century and continues through the last decades of the century. In this later era she finds an extremely sophisticated and self-conscious sponsorship of art intended to promote both religious and civic agendas."[1]

I have argued about the change in civic agendas as well as the change in how society viewed death and deathways  in the 13^th-14^th centuries. Religion was never an aspect that I focused on primarily due to the fact that the manuscripts rarely reflected anything to do with the Church.

Steinhoff and I do agree though on the change in depiction. Stuard concludes, “Steinhoff regards Bulgarini and other painters who survived into this era as striving for a synthesis of the diverse visual and thematic traditions that they inherited. Moreover, the author sees both pluralism and the attempts at synthesis as positive and artistically creative.”[2]

The evidence that I have presented throughout the semester focuses on the very same ideas. Illustrated manuscripts before the plague focused less on pluralistic ideology and more on simplicity. What I left out and what I find important though is the emphasis on religion; I have mentioned in some of my previous posts about how everyone including clergy was affected by the plague and it changed the way people felt about the social hierarchy. Steinhoff refutes my beliefs and argues that people still used religion as their guiding principal and it is reflected through illustrated manuscripts, in particular, the Sienese.

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[1] Stuard, Susan Mosher. 2007. "Sienese Painting after the Black Death: Artistic Pluralism, Politics, and the New Art Market."American Historical Review 112, no. 4: 1250-1251. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed December 8, 2013).

[2] Ibid

Wrapping Up

So were finally coming down on the last few weeks of the semester and this course; I know it feels like I am repeating myself when I say that I have thrown a lot of information at you, but the truth is that I have. So this final week I am going to take this week's blog and just rehash all the evidence I have presented and answer any questions if you have any.

The first week of this blog I gave a historical background of the Black Death and discussed how it spread, why it spread, and the societal changes that the spread caused. One of the most important things to remember from the first week was that the plague caused much social unrest. The Feudal System depended upon class constructs; death affected not only the poor but the rich as well thus hastening the decline of the system.

The second week of the blog I focused on art before the Black Death. I felt that it's important and necessary to look at illustrated manuscripts before the Black Death to be able to compare it to manuscripts after that Black Death in order to see if a change in society was represented in these manuscripts. For this week, the idea that I wanted my readers to focus on and take away from my blog was that virtually of art before the peak of the Black Death was painted in this style. According to Medrano-Cabral the "Medieval artist strove for realism; churches and monasteries were covered in inscriptions, paintings and sculptures that portrayed biblical scenes or saints." Death in this time was not to be feared but rather revered as the natural passage between ones time on earth and their future in the afterlife. When the plague began to spread across Europe, that attitude quickly changed.

From this point on in the blog I start to look at the changes in the manuscripts and try to relate these changes with the changes in society. A few of the most important ideas to remember from these weeks include the change in the manuscript itself. Before the Black Death really took hold in Europe, illustrated manuscripts lacked the harsher reality. One of the examples I left for these week's was Duccio's Crucifixion.

"Marked by crowded, paranoid compositions, ugly, menacing faces, bright colors and increased violence, Black Death art is unbalanced and uneasy. In Duccio’s Crucifixion, we can see the fierce conspiratorial expressions in the crowd as they point up to Christ, whose side is spurting blood. Mary falls against a group of women, including Mary Magdalene, ready to faint." 

I took one week and went away from the manuscripts themselves and offered statistical evidence of the Black Death to see if it compares with the changes in the manuscript. "Analyses were done using a sample of 337 individuals excavated from the East Smithfield cemetery in London, which contains only individuals who died during the Black Death in London in 1349–1350. The age patterns from East Smithfield were compared to a sample of 207 individuals who died from non-epidemic causes of mortality. Ages were estimated using the method of transition analysis, and age-specific mortality was evaluated using a hazards model. The results indicate that the risk of mortality during the Black Death increased with adult age, and therefore that age had an effect on risk of death during the epidemic. The age patterns in the Black Death cemetery were similar to those from the non-epidemic mortality sample. The results from this study are consistent with previous findings suggesting that despite the devastating nature of the Black Death, the 14th-century disease had general patterns of selectivity that were similar to those associated with normal medieval mortality."

I concluded that these findings had no affect on what had previously been discussed about the changes in society and their affect on the illustrated manuscripts. Although I was a bit disappointed that this information didn't lend to my study; however, I did find it necessary to look into other aspects of the Black Death and try to draw a few more conclusions.

After a few more weeks of discussing illustrated manuscripts and their importance and impact on society, I displayed a video that basically concluded what I had been saying for the last few weeks. If you have any questions over any of the information I have presented over the course of this semester, don't hesitate to ask. This week's entry was kind of shallow and didn't present any new information but I felt that it was necessary to tie up any loose ends.  

The Macabre Ditty

This week I am going to try to refrain from throwing gobs of information and manuscripts at you guys and gals and instead show a quick eight minute video titled Black Death Plague and Art History. Normally I am not a fan of showing long videos on my blog as I think it takes away from the importance of why this blog was started; however, this video encompasses much of what I have already talked about while also introducing some new ideas and beliefs about the Black Plague.

Black Death and Art History encompasses most of everything that I have blogged about over the course of this semester. Yet, Black Death Plague and Art History places a much higher emphasis on the use of symbols in Medieval works after the plague; specifically the symbolism of "tortured souls, death, dying, fire and brimstone." Delving further into the effects of the plague; the death's of famous artists such as Ambrogio led to new artists to began moving away from traditional styles and introducing a somber darkness to not only visual art but literature and music as well. [1]

As I have mentioned in some of my earlier blogs, this somber darkness would last decades if not hundreds of years. Symbols like hell, Satan, and the Grim Reaper appeared more frequently, mirroring the attitude of society which understood fear of death and the afterlife to be real.

One of the most interesting and entertaining aspects of this video which really personifies the Black Death  is the poem/song that is shared in the end and is where I will leave off for this week.

A Little Macabre Ditty

“A sickly season,” the merchant said,

“The town I left was filled with dead,

And everywhere these queer red flies,

crawled upon the corpse eyes,

Eating them away.”

“Fair make you sick,” the merchant said,

“They crawled upon the wine and bread.

Pale priest with oil and books,

Bulging eyes and crazy looks,

Dropping like the flies.”

“I had to laugh,” the merchant said,

“The doctors purged and dosed and bled;

And proved through solemn disputation.

The case lay in some constellation.

Then, they began to die.”

“First they sneezed,” the merchant said,

“Then they turned the brightest red,

Begged for water, and then fell back.

With bulging eyes, and face turned black,

Then, they waited for the flies.”

“I came away,” the merchant said,

“You can’t do business with the dead.

So I came here to ply my trade,

You’ll find this to be fine brocade.”

...And then, he sneezed!

After watching this video and comparing to some of my earlier blog entries, I want to ask you, my readers, what do you think were the effects of the Black Death on society?

Also if you are looking for some more information on the Black Death I found this link which gave some information about it including a slide or two on the illustrated manuscripts. I wouldn't recommend this page for any use other than just some basic information as it has no sources to deem it as fact. However, it does have some information that could be further researched if you were interested.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10Teh4gB3KCQPkmu8H0asFnSleHc2cBbP5P-VkwPoHLo/embed?hl=en&size=s#slide=id.p4

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[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw771FW6ljo

The Dead Lovers

Throughout the course of this blog, I have introduced various illustrated manuscripts. Some from before the Black Death, which depicted death, differently than those I have examined during and after the Black Death. For this week’s blog entry, I will continue along this path of examining illustrated manuscripts that relate to the Black Death to try to continue to understand the attitudes of society before, during, and after the Black Death.

Last week’s blog introduced the work, Benard Tolomei and the Plague in Siena; this illustrated manuscript was 300-400 years after the Black Plague had made its mark on Europe. The “personality” of death that had been apparent in these manuscripts after the Black Death extended hundreds of years. This week’s work, The Dead Lovers is a much earlier example of the personality of death in the sense of the harsh reality of it.

http://www.historyofpainters.com/grunwald_painting.jpg

The Dead Lovers shows two individuals, presumably husband and wife. The condition that this couple is in is troubling to say the least. Both the man and woman show various signs of being close to death or being already dead. Besides the physical condition, the painting shows a variety of oddly placed animals; all which have different meanings. For example, the insect on the right arm of the man represents the theme of death. The presence of a serpent on both the man and woman represents the fall of man. The last important detail is the white robe that is being stripped away from the figures; the color white represents a sign of innocence, and that innocence is being taken. [1] 

The symbolism in this illustrated manuscript is important as the creator is relating the horrific nature of the plague with the idea that death is real and it is harsh. 

If you remember some of my previous blog entries, I mentioned that art after the Black Death became, well, dark. The Dead Lovers is a prime example of just that; the Black Death brought death to society in a way that never had been seen before. Sure, society was used to death as death was common and a part of life; however, mass death wasn't. The Dead Lovers isn't the only illustrated manuscript that uses symbolism to explain it's meaning. In the up and coming weeks I will try to find more manuscripts like these and relate it to the attitudes of society.

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[1] http://www.historyofpainters.com/grunwald_painting.htm

Much Later Example

It has been a bit of a struggle finding information to keep this blog going over the course of this semester; this week I tried a different route and sourced mined some of my previously used sources to see where some of their information came from. I hope that this strategy will be useful in keeping my information for my blog/research project from getting stale.

Last week I discussed the manuscript: Dance Macabre, in graveyard of the church of St. Magnus at Magdeburg. This manuscript gave the impression of death having a “personality.” For this week, I want to look at another work of art that depicts the Black Death. 

"During the Black Death of 1348, the Blessed Bernard Tolomei left the safety of his Benedictine monastery in Monte Oliveto and returned to his native Siena to attend to the sick and dying. He succumbed to the plague that same year and soon became the object of religious devotion. An abbot from Bernard's monastic order commissioned this painting in 1736, when Bernard was being considered for sainthood. Giuseppe Maria Crespi interpreted the story's pathos with great depth, expression, and immediacy." [1]

Although much of what I have been researching has been from manuscripts specifically from the same century as the Black Death, I think it’s important to understand how much of an impact the Black Death had on society even three hundred to four hundred years later.

"Wearing a white robe and holding a crucifix, Bernard and a fellow monk attend to plague victims in an open-air encampment outside the walls of Siena. On the left, a priest walks under an umbrella, accompanied by an acolyte. Several plague-stricken figures languish on the ground in various stages of death. Below Bernard, a woman slumps over while her small child desperately tries to pull her upright. At her feet, the foreshortened body of a dead infant falls in the area between the acolyte and bowing monk. A woman has perished in the right corner, her gray-skinned body lifeless, thus a man above her holds a cloth over his mouth to avoid smelling the stench. Contorted, highlighted figures emerge from the shadowy darkness to confront the viewer, accordingly heightening the emotion of the drama. " [1]

 Like Dance Macabre, Bernard Tolomei and the Plague in Siena gives death a “personality”, yet one that is three hundred – four hundred years later. The “personality” in this painting is different from that of the Dance Macabre; mentioned in some of my previous blog entries, Benard Tolomei and the Plague in Siena exhibits traits that represent the overall feelings of society during the Black Death. Death and dying is depicted as a very real feeling; in Bernard Tolomei and the Plague in Siena, images of the dead and dying strewn out into the street, and death is stalking its victims. 

What I find most important about this work is the fact that even as late as 1736; society still feared the death and particularly the plague. There is absolutely no comparison with this work of art with manuscripts from before the plague. The dark themes and the presence of death can be felt, this leads me to believe that the Black Plague’s reign of fear did not end with eradication rather it plagued humanity for many years after. 

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[1] The J. Paul Getty Trust . "Bernard Tolomei and the Plague in Siena (Getty Museum)." Bernard Tolomei and the Plague in Siena (Getty Museum). http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=904 (accessed October 28, 2013).

Back to the Manuscripts

Last week I took a step away from the researching the manuscripts directly and focused on more scholarly articles with a central focus on the statistics of death in relation to age and or prior condition. This week I would like to return to the main focus on my blog which is the manuscripts and what they tell us about how Medieval society felt about death during and after the Black Death.

This week I want to take a look at just one example of an illustrated manuscript and explain the depiction and what it means in relation to societies feelings about death and dying.

Dance Macabre, in graveyard of the church of St. Magnus at Magdeburg.

The Dance Macabre, in the graveyard of the church of St. Magnus at Magdeburg demonstrates the feeling that death is real and traumatic. 

"The trauma of the Black Death gave rise to the most popular artistic channel for the representation of death, the Dance of Death. There are indications that first the dance macabre was performed, then poetized, and finally painted. Before the15th century, the Dance Macabre was traced on walls of churches and charnel houses across Europe, gathering in its train rich and poor and young and old, exemplified by the fresco of Eure-et-Loir. In Europe every victim was danced off to hell no matter what: sudden death was escalated to sudden damnation (Binion, 2004). The dance macabre, based on folk superstition represented by the skeletons themselves, or accompanied with the living had a second social and spiritual lesson, that death is always coupled with the living. In the dance of the death, the corpses often tug or draw the living to death (Cohen, 1982)"  

[http://entomology.montana.edu/historybug/YersiniaEssays/Medrano.htm]

What does this say about how people felt after the Black Death? I believe that it gave death a "personality." No longer was death being looked at in a religious overtone but rather as more natural, traumatic, and gruesome event. The Black Death had a profound impact on this feeling; in a sense it was almost as if people were literally taken and guided down the path away from life as the image depicts. This is just scratching the surface and their are more images that demonstrate the reactions from society. In my future blogs I will began to look at more of these types of images and try to break them down and understand the theme the artist is trying to come across.