Photography Through The Ages: Middles Ages

After the fall of Rome, we are brought to the Middle Ages, or Dark Ages before political correctness, which spanned from the 5th century to the 15th century. The fall of Rome also brought the rise in Christianity which became a huge aspect of life in Middle Ages, for the wealthy and the poor. Along with the rise of Christianity, there were many other events in the Middle Ages that are remembered in modern day, such as Canute, the war of 1066, the Crusades, the Hundred Years War, the Black Death, Joan of Arc and the War of the Roses. During the Middle Ages was the famous Battle of Hastings, this where most historians start history as this was when records were taken down. William the Conquer was classed as the first King of England, even though he was from Normandy.

Bayeux Tapestry (That is actually a embroidery)

Feudal System

Along with the Normans can the feudal system, the king at the top and the peasants at the bottom. The peasants worked the King's land for free, but also had their own small patch of land to work on in their free time, however if they made any money from this land, they had to pay taxes to the King. In the feudal system everyone was a vassal, or servant. The basic feudal system was as follows, however the wife of the man was always lower than he was, so the Knight's wife would be as valued as a Free Peasant, or possibly lower!

Villein - Works for a lord in return to live on his land
Free Peasant - Owns land but must pay rent to the lord
Knight - Owns land but must fight for the King when demanded
Lords - Took care of land for the King, also had to provide the King with Knights from their land
Counts - Similar to Lords, also had to provide the King with Knights from their land
Officials - Were given titles for the King, such as scribe or dresser etc.
Nobles - King's family and close friends
King - Believes his lands came from God, so build churches, prays and pays for crusades

However, this feudal system was changed after the Black Death in the 14th Century. As there were less peasants to work the lands, they became valuable to the lords.

Black Death

The Black Death or Bubonic Plague is one of the first things that people think of when talking about the Middle Ages. The Black Death killed nearly a third of the population in Europe and more in Africa and Asia. In total 25 million people died from this disease, and the medical knowledge and hygiene was limited. The Church convinced the people that the disease was God punishing the wicked for sinning, so many people started to confess and attend Church like never before. The dogs and cats were also blamed for the plague, so it was ordered that they were killed in infected towns, which worsened the plague! It was discovered recently, 1900s, that it was fleas on rats that carried the Black Death, so there were less animals to kill the rats during this era. Doctors were now working over time to try and cure the then incurable disease. These doctor also believed that the plague was carried by bad air, hence the strange costume they wore with the beck filled with sweet smelling herbs. Some of the weird advice they gave was:

throw herbs om a fire to clean the air
Sit in a sewer so the bad air of the plague is driven away
Drink ten year old treacle
Swallow powered emeralds (for the rich)
Eat arsenic powder
Letting blood when the patients horoscope was right
Shave a live chicken's bottom and strap it to the buboes
Travel from town to town whilst flogging yourself

Guilds

The Middle Ages the merchants, artists, bankers and other professional grouped themselves together to create Guilds. The purpose of the Guild was so that the member had a little more protection for each other and disasters. For example the Guild set up a system so a artists could only work with a set distance from each other and if their studio burnt down, the guild would help look after them and their family till they were back on their feet. Guilds also arranged social occasions such as festivals for members to sell goods in different location, trade ideas and techniques etc. so that the trade of that guild was developed better and easier. However, these guilds also had rules to follow such as worker being paid the same wages by member and advertising was not allowed as the member were suppose to meet a set of standards in quality. Each different profession brought different rules obviously, but these were properly the most common in all guilds. The guilds also made sure that shop owners and member paid taxes to the King, this meant that the King was on their side and also meant that the Guilds-men were a new middle class in the hierarchy. A hierarchy was also made in Guilds, which determined how well educated or talented you were at that trade. There were thee stages. A apprentice was at the bottom of the ladder, he was fed, housed and trained but not paid for his efforts. Next came the Journeymen who were paid a little money for their efforts, whilst still housed and fed, however to become a master they had to submit a 'masterpiece' and have it approved by other masters to start their own shop. Masters was the top rung of this ladder as they owned their own shop and kept the profits, apart from taxes, to keep living.

Middle Ages Art

The art that was produced in the Middle Ages can be split into three different stages and was heavily dominated by religion. Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic. The Byzantine art originated from the west of the Roman Empire around 500 to 1000 AD. It was easy to identify Byzantine art as it was no very realistic and focused more on symbolism. The subject of the art was normally religious with scenes from the bible such as Virgin Mary with baby Christ. The Romanesque period lasted from 1000 to 1300 AD. The Romanesque art was also focused on religion and Christianity, but used different mediums, such as stained glass art, murals on walls and ceiling, carvings on buildings and columns, sculpture and manuscript art. Gothic art was born from Romanesque art, however it used brighter colours, started using light and shadows and more realism into the final pieces. the Gothic artists were also the first to try and use mythical animals in their work, as well as the reoccurring theme of religion. Some artists that are famous for their Middle Aged art were born in the latter years of the Middle Ages so were also Renaissance artists. These were: