ART 320 - Seminar in Medieval Art

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

Topic for 2015/16b: Cathedral, City, and Cloister: Canterbury in the Middle Ages. Canterbury Cathedral serves as lens through which we examine the intertwined forces of art, architecture, urbanism, liturgy, music and religion in medieval England. A wide array of primary and secondary sources in English, in concert with a laser survey undertaken last year (the most extensive imaging project of the cathedral to date), supply the necessary raw materials to write a new chapter in the long life of this venerable site. We devote particular attention to the events of the twelfth century: the discord of state and church, of King Henry II and the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, that led to Becket’s murder and rapid canonization; the spectacular (and perhaps premeditated) blaze that consumed the Romanesque cathedral soon thereafter; the dramatic transformation of the site by master builders William of Sens and William the Englishman, as recounted in one of the most unusual construction accounts to survive from the High Middle Ages, into an elaborate stage set for the veneration of the relics of Becket; and the explosion of piety that would keep Canterbury on the world map for centuries to come. Mr. Tallon.

Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.

One 2-hour period.