FKW // Zeitschrift für Geschlechterforschung und visuelle Kultur
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Visual Othering. 1100-1200. Einleitung
Get PDFIn this issue, eight scholars from five different countries provide multifaceted and multilingual insights into the production of Otherness in the art and literature of the High Middle Ages. The themes discussed include the principles of visual Othering in the 12th century (Silke Büttner), the representation of Muslims on the facades of Romanesque churches in France and Spain (Inés Monteira Arias), the visualization of Jews at the abbey church of Vézelay (Vivien Huys) and on the Ebstorf map (Asa Mittman), the changing representations of armed women (Madeline Caviness), and the permeability of the boundaries of the “human” in Marie de France’s Eliduc (Anna Klosowska). The review section complements and extends these insights with a discussion of an anthology on the representation of gender and sexuality in medieval Europe (Anja Rathmann-Lutz) and of a handbook on the meanings of the monstrous from antiquity to the present (Gunnar Mikosch). The artistic contribution to this issue is a lighting object entitled desire (Sigrid Sandmann). Acht Wissenschaftler_innen aus fünf Ländern geben in diesem Themenheft facettenreich und vielsprachig Einblicke in die Produktion des/der Anderen in der europäischen Kunst und Literatur des Hochmittelalters. Thematisiert werden die Prinzipien des visuellen Othering im 12. Jahrhundert (Silke Büttner), die Repräsentation von Muslim_innen an romanischen Kirchen in Spanien und Frankreich (Inés Monteira Arias), die Visualisierung von Juden in der Abteikirche von Vézelay (Vivien Huys) und auf der Ebstorfer Weltkarte (Asa Mittman), die Entwicklung der Darstellung Waffen führender Frauen (Madeline Caviness) sowie die Durchlässigkeit der Grenzen des ‚Menschlichen‘ in Marie de France's Eliduc (Anna Klosowska). Der Rezensionsteil ergänzt und erweitert diese Einblicke mit Besprechungen eines Sammelbandes zur Repräsentation von Geschlecht und Sexualität im mittelalterlichen Europa (Anja Rathmann-Lutz) und eines Handbuches zur Bedeutung des Monströsen von der Antike bis heute (Gunnar Mikosch). Künstlerischer Beitrag zu dieser Ausgabe ist das Leuchtobjekt desire (Sigrid Sandmann)
'La Otra', en el imaginario cristiano plenomedieval: la mujer musulmana asociada a la lujuria en el arte románico
Get PDF‘La Otra’ (The Other) in Medieval Christian Imagery: the Muslim woman as an emblem of lust in Romanic artUnder the moral order of the medieval ecclesiasts, lust proliferated as a theme in Romanic sculpture. It was generally represented by feminine figures. Women were viewed as embodying this sin in accordance with the misogyny of monastic thinking. This article examines both the representation of the woman who presents her sexual organ and the twin-tailed fish-siren, both sometimes used to represent the Muslim woman. The veil is characteristic of these figures and identifies them as representations of the ‘Saracens’. Analysis of contemporaneous texts demonstrates the systematic association of ‘sins of the flesh’ with religious rivals. This emphasis on the alterity of Christian and Muslim, and the creation of false and discriminatory representations, fueled the Christian ideology that framed war as Holy War. The ‘infidel’ woman was represent ‘sins of the flesh’ in Christian Europe in an especially emblematic way, coupling their religious otherness with their female gender. When these ‘Saracens’ appear in epic poems and in Romanic sculpture they symbolize religious otherness with great visual impact. They transmit an opportunistic, moralizing message in the war context (‘Reconquest’ and crusades), and became a powerful ideological instrument for the sacralization of the war against Islam. La moral eclesiástica plenomedievalllevó a la proliferación de representaciones de la lujuria en la escultura románica, siendo generalmente figuras femeninas las que encarnaron este pecado de acuerdo con la fuerte misoginia del pensamiento monástico. En este artículo se estudia la representación de la mujer que ofrece su órgano sexual en consonancia con la imagen de la sirena pez de doble cola, ambas destinadas ocasionalmente a representar a la musulmana. El velo característico de algunas de estas figuras permite identificarlas como representación de „sarracenas“, a partir de un análisis de los textos de la época que demuestran la sistemática asociación del pecado de la carne con los rivales religiosos. La insistencia en los aspectos diferenciadores de ambos colectivos y la creación de falsas nociones discriminatorias e insultantes fueron los puntos principales del aparato ideológico cristiano que hizo posible la sacralización de la guerra. Las mujeres „infieles“ encarnaron en el mundo cristiano de esta época el pecado de la carne de una manera especialmente emblemática, al sumar a la alteridad religiosa su género femenino. Estas „sarracenas“ aparecen enlos cantares de gesta y en la escultura románica debido a que fueron capaces de simbolizar con gran impacto visual la alteridad religiosa y transmitieron un mensaje moralizante muy oportuno en el contexto guerrero („Reconquista“ y cruzadas), convirtiéndose en un poderoso instrumento ideológico para la sacralización de la guerra contra el Islam
Of Arms and the Woman in Medieval Europe: fact. fiction. fantasy.
Get PDFThe complex relationship between women and arms in Europe, from Roman times to about 1200, is reexamined in light of literary traditions, historical records, and the modern preoccupation with women warriors that inevitably inflects historical judgments. Overall, the issue has suffered from a scarcity of hard evidence and an abundant politics of interpretation. Some historical examples indicate an acceptance of female hereditary governance in Europe during the early middle ages, including the command of troops. Yet many historians have greeted the idea of a woman wielding a sword in battle with skepticism. Figures such as Boudicca who led a revolt against the Romans in Britain, the Anglo-Saxon queen Aethelflaed, and the later women who fought in the crusades, or defended their own property, have been politicized. Narratives like that of the Old Testament Judith and the Nibelungenlied became ideological tools to raise the alarm about phallic women. By the thirteenth century, Saxon law declared that a widow must immediately surrender her husband’s sword to the male heir. Female fighters were increasingly vilified, culminating in the accusation of heresy against Joan of Arc, and her execution
The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous. Ed. by Asa Simon Mittman / Peter J. Dendle 2012. Farnham, Ashgate. (598 pages)
Get PDFImages des Juifs à Vézelay : entre condamnation et conversion
Get PDFThe status granted to the Jews is one of the most important issues in the iconographic program of the ancient abbey church Sainte-Marie-Madeleine to Vézelay. This paper shows that, in a singular way, the sculptured images at this abbey stage a redeeming conception of the people of Israel in the same way as they do of all those considered to be unfaithful in early twelfth-century Western Christianity. Indeed, it is the Western conception of Otherness that turns non-Christians into non-believers. Thus, how could the Jews envisage their redemption while at the same time being held to account for their “faults” by Christians? At Vézelay, under the likely influence of Pierre de Montboissier, also known as “The Venerable,” the sheer ambivalence of the Romanesque images is reflected in the stonework. If the communal dimension characterizes the Middle Ages, when oratores, laboratores, and bellatores constituted three groups that assured the cohesion of medieval society, individuality is not absent from social interaction. This explains why the future abbot of Cluny, on inviting the Jews along with the other peoples of the Earth, asserts that the Universal Church will guarantee their redemption if they undertake their conversion like all other pagans. As this paper reveals, there are many clues at Vézelay that bear witness to this oscillation between condemnation and conversion. Le statut accordé aux Juifs constitue l’un des plus importants enjeux du programme iconographique de l’ancienne abbatiale Sainte-Marie-Madeleine à Vézelay. Nous montrerons que, de façon singulière, les images sculptées mettent en scène une conception rédemptrice du peuple d’Israël au même titre que tous ceux que le monde chrétien occidental du début du XIIe siècle jugeait comme des infidèles. En effet, en Occident, c’est alors une conception de l’altérité qui place l’étrangeté dans tout ce qui n’est pas chrétien. Ainsi, comment les Juifs peuvent-ils à la fois envisager leur Salut et dans le même temps être comptables des « fautes » que selon le christianisme, ils ont commises ? C’est toute l’ambivalence des images romanes qui est mise au service d’un propos qui, à Vézelay, sous l’influence probable de Pierre de Montboissier, dit « Le Vénérable », prend forme dans la pierre. Si la dimension communautaire fait la force du Moyen Âge, lorsque oratores, laboratores et bellatores constituaient les trois groupes assurant la cohésion de la société médiévale, l’individualité n’est pour autant pas absente du jeu social. C’est la raison pour laquelle, le futur abbé de Cluny, invitant les Juifs aux côtés des autres peuples de la Terre, explique que l’Eglise Universelle assurera leur rédemption s’ils entreprennent leur conversion comme tous les païens. Les indices sont nombreux à Vézelay montrant cette oscillation entre condamnation et conversion
Gates, Hats, and Naked Jews: Sorting out the Nubian Guards on the Ebstorf Map
Get PDFMedieval Christian mapmakers represented a range of peoples, animals and monsters against which they defined their place what they believed to be God’s divine plan. Rooted in earlier anti-Semitic tropes, the detailed world maps of the thirteenth/early fourteenth centuries contain multiple problematic representations of Jews, perceived at once as distant in time and space, and also eminently current and local. While some of these images are expected – Biblical characters appear frequently – others are harder to explain. This essay attempts to grapple with the Ebstorf Map’s peculiar image of the guards of the Nubian Gate, presented as giant, armed, naked Jewish men. Rather than offer a clear-cut explanation for these curious figures, the essay places them in a context where such representations become at least possible. It then considers some differences in anti-Semitic tropes between then and now, to further clarify how these figures might have been viewed by their original audience
FKW 54 (2013): VISUAL OTHERING. 1100-1200
No full textIn this issue, eight scholars from five different countries provide multifaceted and multilingual insights into the production of Otherness in the art and literature of the High Middle Ages. The themes discussed include the principles of visual Othering in the 12th century (Silke Büttner), the representation of Muslims on the facades of Romanesque churches in France and Spain (Inés Monteira Arias), the visualization of Jews at the abbey church of Vézelay (Vivien Huys) and on the Ebstorf map (Asa Mittman), the changing representations of armed women (Madeline Caviness), and the permeability of the boundaries of the “human” in Marie de France’s Eliduc (Anna Klosowska). The review section complements and extends these insights with a discussion of an anthology on the representation of gender and sexuality in medieval Europe (Anja Rathmann-Lutz) and of a handbook on the meanings of the monstrous from antiquity to the present (Gunnar Mikosch). The artistic contribution to this issue is a lighting object entitled desire (Sigrid Sandmann)
