Unit information: Spectacle and Ceremony in 2014/15

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

Description including Unit Aims

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.

Intended Learning Outcomes

• Display a secure grasp of the roles of the visual arts, liturgy, music and procession in medieval religious observance and experience
• Demonstrate an understanding of the relationships – similarities and differences – between religious ceremonial and royal and/or civic ceremonial in the middle ages
• Display a secure grasp of chronology and also of key stylistic developments in the visual arts, liturgy and music and of medieval religious observance and experience
• Demonstrate a broad understanding of the cultural production associated with the church during the late middle ages
• Explain some of the historical religious and cultural factors that determined the development of that cultural production
• Be aware of appropriate research methodologies and their application, including the ability to digest and apply interpretive and reception methodologies from art history and related disciplines

Teaching Information

1 x 2-hour seminar weekly over 1 teaching block.

Assessment Information

5000-word essay

Reading and References

• Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England (1951—)

• Jon Cannon, Cathedral: The Great English Cathedrals and the World that Made Them (London, 2007)

• C. Wilson, The Gothic Cathedral (1990)

• E. Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars: traditional religion in England, 1400-1580 (1992)

• T. J. Heffernan and E. A. Matter, The Liturgy of the Medieval Church (2001)

• For an overview of medieval liturgy: ‘The Medieval Mass and its Music’ by Joseph Dyer can be found at: http://www.the-orb.net/encyclop/culture/music/orbdyer.html

• R. Hoppin, Medieval Music (1978)

• You should also explore the excellent online resource of medieval architecture, hosted by Columbia University, at: http://www.learn.columbia.edu/ha/html/medieval.html#featuredproject, and particularly the interactive glossary at: http://www.learn.columbia.edu/ha/related_sites/amiens_flash/index.html