The Fall Of The Renaissance: The Carolingian Renaissance

The Carolingian Renaissance

Roman Civilization had slowly begun to decay during the third and fourth century. The economic structure the empire built from the ground up over the last three hundred years was beginning to falter. The Germanic tribes were winning battles and claiming land in the north. As the Western Roman Empire collapsed, education in Western Europe slowly began to deteriorate with the withering society. Roman schools that previously taught rhetoric and literature began to disappear in western society, as urban life faded away. Although schools were no longer operational there were still textbooks and literature that had survived the fall of Rome. These books would later emerge as spark that would ignite the revival of

During the Carolingian Renaissance there was a drastic change in visual arts. Illuminated manuscripts, illustrations, ivory carvings, metal work, sculpture, and architecture flourished during the Carolingian era. Illuminations, ivory, and metalwork work from this time showed an interest of copying motifs and models. The sculpture of the time worked with stucco. At the church of St. John Abbey in Mustair, Germany a sculpture of Charlemagne still remains as a visual example of the skill of Carolingian sculptures and the beauty of their craft. In the monastery of Santa Maria in Vale there is a stucco decoration depicting an outstanding arc made of pierced divine scrolls and six life sized female figures, this work most likely predates Charlemagne’s victory in Lombardy in 774. There is Strong evidence that the decoration has Mediterranean influence, or was possibly made by a Mediterranean craftsman. A mansion built in the 730’s at Khirbat-al-Mafjar in the Jordan Valley, has a similar artistic profile. The mansion’s art is more technically proficient, and is most likely to be built after the stucco decoration in the Santa Maria monastery. Illuminated manuscripts were signature during the Carolingian Empire. The Book of Kells, also known as the Book of Columba or the Gospel of Colum Cille, was one most famous illuminated manuscripts from the

The age of Carolingian Renaissance died with the division of the Carolingian Empire. The Carolingian Renaissance was a cultural and intellectual revival. However, the revival did not spread out and touch the masses of the Frankish kingdom in the same way that the Italian Renaissance did. The Carolingian Renaissance it only affected a small group of high nobility and clergy. It ended up creating an elite group of clergy, while most of Charlemagne’s subjects remained illiterate. The movement had a Christian foundation, but not all of the aspects were solely Christian. For example, teachings the seven liberal arts, artwork, and architecture were not entirely motivated by religion. Without the Carolingian Renaissance we would not have much of the architecture or Christian paintings from northern Europe that we have today. The Carolingian Renaissance was a rebirth of Greco-Roman Culture, and to an extent reversed the cultural decay of the Dark Ages. It was during the Carolingian Renaissance that the foundation was set for the rise of Western