The Norse artwork of the Viking Age is incredibly captivating, with its intricate interlacing patterns and fierce animal figures woven together into some of the most exceptional expressions of art created by mankind. But as fascinating as it may be to look at, it may be as difficult to understand exactly how these patterns are constructed, and even more difficult to understand how to recreate them.

This guide breaks down the styles of Viking Age art in an easy to understand manner, to help you to quickly acquire a good grasp of its anatomy. Clear illustrations and graphics straightforwardly present the characteristics of each style, so you'll be able to easily distinguish each from the others, and understand how one style developed into the next. The accompanying timelines, maps and concise historical descriptions further help you to root your understanding of the styles in their historical context.

The Ringerike style (c. 1000-1075 CE) is one of the quintessential styles of the Viking Age. But how do you recreate the style in accordance with its original principles? Ringerike Style Essentials unlocks the secrets of the enigmatic craft of knotwork creation and makes it approachable for you to create your own unique designs.

All the essential principles and concepts you need are broken down through clear illustrations and graphics in an easy-to-understand manner to help you quickly acquire a good grasp of the individual building blocks composing the style. Furthermore, you'll learn how to create variety by reconfiguring and combining the ornamental elements to customise your designs.

Step-by-step, this book walks you through the process of constructing an intricate knotwork-based composition. From analysing the references to laying out the composition's main lines and shaping the ornament's details. You'll acquire a manageable approach to the otherwise complex and daunting task of composing intricate knotwork patterns.

Most surveys of the history of art come neatly packaged. They are divided up into historic periods, artistic schools and movements, and the careers of individual painters. They may make the subject appear more manageable, but they are oversimplifications. In reality, movements and careers overlapped and intertwined, reacting to events in the world around them.

A Chronology of Art places developments in the art world into sharp focus. By prioritizing a purely chronological approach and side-stepping the clichés of conventional, academic pigeonholes, it presents an entirely fresh perspective on the subject. The book is structured around a central timeline, which features lavish illustrations of artworks, together with commentaries and additional information about the social, political, and cultural events of the period. The text is divided into four historical sections, becoming more detailed as it nears the present. From 1800 onward, each spread covers a five-year span, which is far more comprehensive than other surveys of this kind. The chronological spreads are interwoven with lively In Focus features, highlighting social, stylistic, and technical developments.

In the beginning was the word, and in the Middle Ages were kings, princes, and high-ranking religious members whose wealth and influence produced illustrated bibles of extraordinary craftsmanship.

This edition brings together 50 of the finest medieval bible manuscripts from the Austrian National Library. With examples from every epoch of the Middle Ages, the collection explores visualizations of the bible in various theological and historical contexts. In impeccable reproduction quality, these stunning images may be appreciated as much as art historical treasures as they are important religious artifacts.

Texts by Andreas Fingernagel, Stephan Füssel, Christian Gastgeber, and a team of 15 scientific authors describe each manuscript in detail, exploring both the evolution of the Bible and the medieval understanding of history. A glossary of important terms is also included so that those not versed in bible history can enjoy the texts as well.

From the acclaimed author of Blue, a beautifully illustrated history of the color white in visual culture, from antiquity to today

As a pigment, white is often thought to represent an absence of color, but it is without doubt an important color in its own right, just like red, blue, green, or yellow--and, like them, white has its own intriguing history. In this richly illustrated book, Michel Pastoureau, a celebrated authority on the history of colors, presents a fascinating visual, social, and cultural history of the color white in European societies, from antiquity to today.

Illustrated throughout with a wealth of captivating images ranging from the ancient world to the twenty-first century, White examines the evolving place, perception, and meaning of this deceptively simple but complex hue in art, fashion, literature, religion, science, and everyday life across the millennia. Before the seventeenth century, white's status as a true color was never contested. On the contrary, from antiquity until the height of the Middle Ages, white formed with red and black a chromatic triad that played a central role in life and art. Nor has white always been thought of as the opposite of black. Through the Middle Ages, the true opposite of white was red. White also has an especially rich symbolic history, and the color has often been associated with purity, virginity, innocence, wisdom, peace, beauty, and cleanliness.

With its striking design and compelling text, White is a colorful history of a surprisingly vivid and various color.

A full reproduction of the medieval composer and visionary's final theological tract, illuminated shortly after her death

Between 1142 and 1174, the German mystic, composer and writer Hildegard von Bingen created three visionary books: Scivias (Know the Ways); Liber Vitae Meritorum (Book of the Rewards of Life); and Liber Divinorum Operum(Book of Divine Works). This latter work--reproduced in this sumptuous new volume--consists of a sequence of ten scenes that invites human beings to climb the road of virginitas toward the recomposition of their own selves in union with the divine caritas.
The refined miniatures in the Lucca manuscript--reproduced here with a simple key explaining their symbolic significance--were produced about 20 years after Hildegard's death and provide a masterful illustration of the architecture of her vision. The dialogue with the images from her first work, Scivias (published in Skira's Hildegard von Bingen: A Journey into the Images) casts light on the unifying design that connects them.
Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) was a German Benedictine nun and polymath. She is renowned as a composer of sacred monophonic music, as well as for her three volumes of visionary theology: Scivias, the Liber Vitae Meritorum and the Liber Divinorum Operum. In recent decades, her music has proved immensely popular with performers of medieval music. In 2012, she was named a Doctor of the Church, one of only four women with that distinction in the Catholic church.

On the cusp of becoming a teenager, Charlie Gargiulo lived through the planned destruction of the Little Canada neighborhood of Lowell, Mass., in the 1960s. This is his story. He went on to become a legendary community organizer who led efforts to ensure people would have decent housing and a fair chance to earn a living and make a happy life for themselves.

A beautifully illustrated visual and cultural history of the color red throughout the ages

The color red has represented many things, from the life force and the divine to love, lust, and anger. Up through the Middle Ages, red held a place of privilege in the Western world. For many cultures, red was not just one color of many but rather the only color worthy enough to be used for social purposes. In some languages, the word for red was the same as the word for color. The first color developed for painting and dying, red became associated in antiquity with war, wealth, and power. In the medieval period, red held both religious significance, as the color of the blood of Christ and the fires of Hell, and secular meaning, as a symbol of love, glory, and beauty. Yet during the Protestant Reformation, red began to decline in status. Viewed as indecent and immoral and linked to luxury and the excesses of the Catholic Church, red fell out of favor. After the French Revolution, red gained new respect as the color of progressive movements and radical left-wing politics.

In this beautifully illustrated book, Michel Pastoureau, the acclaimed author of Blue, Black, and Green, now masterfully navigates centuries of symbolism and complex meanings to present the fascinating and sometimes controversial history of the color red. Pastoureau illuminates red's evolution through a diverse selection of captivating images, including the cave paintings of Lascaux, the works of Renaissance masters, and the modern paintings and stained glass of Mark Rothko and Josef Albers.

From the beginning, the word for 'book'--sefer in Hebrew, biblia in Greek, and liber in Latin--was identified with sacred writings--the Holy Scriptures of Jews and Christians, who were known as 'people of the book'. The centrality of the book to medieval thought is reflected materially in the countless images of books that appear in the manuscripts of the era, be they in the most treasured, highly decorated, sacred texts or in devotional and secular works as well.

In Penned & Painted, Lucy Freeman Sandler, one of one of the world's most respected authorities on medieval art, takes us on a personal but highly insightful exploration of some of the British Library's most precious manuscript holdings and describes the many uses and meanings of these 'books in books'.

Through the fascinating face-to-face discovery of 60 manuscripts, she investigates the various types and forms of books as depicted in the era. Penned & Painted is presented in full-color throughout and includes a high number of images specially photographed for this volume.

There In recent years, mass culture has started to focus of the Slavs. The growing importance of re-enactment for the history and archeology also played a role in this. Increased contact between East and West of Europe in various academic fields, including historical sciences, has given us a better understanding of this era.

This volume is based on three pillars - photos, new publications and the Internet. The author has constructed Volume III of the Viking and Slavic Ornamental Design with a new set of 266 or so ancient designs. The first group in the collection includes beautifully decorated wooden Viking objects. Many of these come from the Irish capital and the local ornamental style. The second group includes items from the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History in Oslo. Thematically, and you will find a large amount of ornamentation in the Borre style. This time, there is new material from the tombs in Mammen, the embroidered and woven patterns from Oseberg and the embroidery of Russia. Piquant, two very well-known weather vanes provided a certain amount of ornaments.

As always, this is present in two-dimensional graphics in black and white, allowing the broadest possibilities. The logic of the system has not changed, focusing on the concept of the style, dating or borne symbolism.

The Ringerike style (c. 1000-1075 CE) is one of the quintessential styles of the Viking Age. But how do you recreate the style in accordance with its original principles? Ringerike Style Essentials unlocks the secrets of the enigmatic craft of knotwork creation and makes it approachable for you to create your own unique designs.

All the essential principles and concepts you need are broken down through clear illustrations and graphics in an easy-to-understand manner to help you quickly acquire a good grasp of the individual building blocks composing the style. Furthermore, you'll learn how to create variety by reconfiguring and combining the ornamental elements to customise your designs.

Step-by-step, this book walks you through the process of constructing an intricate knotwork-based composition. From analysing the references to laying out the composition's main lines and shaping the ornament's details. You'll acquire a manageable approach to the otherwise complex and daunting task of composing intricate knotwork patterns.

With full-color pages accessible to readers of any age, this how and why quick-start guide explains knighthood and nobility and royalty, what coats of arms mean, how to create your own, and how to assemble those of your ancestors. Heraldry is the art and profession of creating designs within shield-shaped outlines meant to identify important individuals and their descendants, as well as organizations (towns, schools, corporations) and nations. These designs often come surrounded by additional symbols such as helms, crowns or crests. Although few of us bear actual shields in the modern world, many today print their ancestors' armorial symbols onto paper, engrave them into jewelry or tableware, and carve them into wood and stone. Readers will learn about:

• Symbols of Identity - where Heraldry came from, and how it can still empower people today
• Within the Shield - the symbols which identify a person or family or organization
• Beyond the Shield - the symbols which identify social rank (gentry, knight, noble, royal)
• Ancestry - where last names came from, and where you come into the story

Coats of Arms is a thorough and comprehensive guide for anyone fascinated by heraldry. You'll learn how to differentiate a duke from a marquis, a firstborn son from a second, and the meaning behind every symbol on a shield. A treasure to refer to time and time again. I know I'll be referring back to it when I get back to genealogy and looking at my own medieval ancestors' coats of arms. --Tyler R. Tichelaar, PhD and award-winning author of King Arthur's Children: A Study in Fiction and Tradition

Coats of Arms was a fun, fascinating read full of information, yet broken down into easy-to-read sections so that the flow did not feel bogged down at all or like I was being bombarded with too much new information at once. Interactive history is one of the best ways to interest audiences of all ages and demographics into learning more about our collective past. It would be a fantastic addition to social studies curriculums in middle schools and high schools. Having a resource like Fountain's text to assist me would have made the project even more fun (and, I am sure my final design would have turned out a lot better than it actually did)! It can also be enjoyed as a recreational read by adults, as well. -- Megan Weiss, Reader Views

History can be boring beyond belief if it is a mere list of names and dates. Or it can be immensely fascinating. Coats Of Arms: An Introduction to the Science and Art of Heraldry will bring past times and even present customs to life through the study of symbols of many kinds, many though not all relating to badges of nobility. Any student of history, and of cultural differences, will benefit from looking at the many beautiful illustrations, all of which are keys for entry into ways of thinking and living. It is a good day when I learn something new, so I really enjoyed editing this book for the publisher. --Bob Rich, PhD and author of Sleeper, Awake!

One of the most difficult requirements for teachers of history and English is to find ways to assess students with special needs. Coats of Arms offers a uniquely creative means to enhance the study of Medieval Times; most students, with or without disability, will enjoy learning patterns, colors and shapes that relate to their personal history. Creating one's own coat of arms using methods centuries old will help students relate to the past while tying together strands of history still used in the present. A secondary bonus is the intriguing vocabulary presented in this book, with new meanings for 'hatching' and 'field' as examples. --Carolyn Bouldin, reading comprehension specialist and teacher of secondary English

Learn more at https: //coatsofarms.actionablehope.com

From Modern History Press

• A comprehensive illustrated survey on the famously historic Bayeux Tapestry
• This beautiful book unfolds the whole work with accompanying detailed commentaries
• Including updates on current research

The Bayeux Tapestry is impressive in its initial richness and, almost a thousand years after it was made, miraculously preserved. Entirely needle-embroidered in colored woolen threads, it recounts the conquest of the Kingdom of England by Duke William of Normandy. The universal significance of this secular masterpiece from the eleventh century has earned it a place on UNESCO's Memory of the World register. This beautiful book unfolds the whole work with accompanying detailed commentaries. It provides an update on current research, bringing together two erudite points of view from both sides of the Channel.

As evidenced by the famed Book of Kells and monumental high crosses, Scotland and Ireland have long shared a distinctive artistic tradition. The story of how this tradition developed and flourished for another millennium through survival, adaptation and revival is less well known. Some works were preserved and repaired as relics, objects of devotion believed to hold magical powers.
Respect for the past saw the creation of new artefacts through the assemblage of older parts, or the creation of fakes and facsimiles. Meanings and values attached to these objects, and to places with strong early Christian associations, changed over time but their 'Celtic' and/or 'Gaelic' character has remained to the forefront of Scottish and Irish national expression.
Exploring themes of authenticity, imitation, heritage, conservation and nationalism, these interdisciplinary essays draw attention to a variety of understudied artworks and illustrate the enduring link that exists between Scottish and Irish cultures.

From the battles over Jerusalem to the emergence of the Holy Land, from legally mandated ghettos to the Edict of Expulsion, geography has long been a component of Christian-Jewish relations. Attending to world maps drawn by medieval Christian mapmakers, Cartographies of Exclusion brings us to the literal drawing board of Christendom and shows the creation, in real time, of a mythic state intended to dehumanize the non-Christian people it ultimately sought to displace.

In his close analyses of English maps from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Asa Mittman makes a valuable contribution to conversations about medieval Christian perceptions of Jews and Judaism. Grounding his arguments in the history of anti-Jewish sentiment and actions rampant in twelfth- and thirteenth-century England, Mittman shows how English world maps of the period successfully Othered Jewish people by means of four primary strategies: conflating Jews with other groups; spreading libels about Jewish bodies, beliefs, and practices; associating Jews with Satan; and, most importantly, cartographically mislocating Jews in time and space. On maps, Jews were banished to locations and historical moments with no actual connection to Jewish populations or histories.

Medieval Christian anti-Semitism is the foundation upon which modern anti-Semitism rests, and the medieval mapping of Jews was crucial to that foundation. Mittman's thinking offers essential insights for any scholar interested in the interface of cartography, politics, and religion in premodern Europe.