Plate 1 After the Fall. In an atmosphere of broken-down Romanity (represented by the clergy) a Frankish queen teaches her sons how to use the throwing-axe – a useful skill in a world of the blood feud. Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912): The Education of the Children of Clotilde and Clovis, oil on panel, 1868. Private Collection / Photo © Christie’s Images / The Bridgeman Art Library
Plate 2 Constantine. This cameo projects the first Christian emperor very much as a Roman ruler, in the tradition of Augustus and Trajan. Gem with head of Emperor Constantine the Great, amethyst, 3.71 × 2.77 cm, ca.320–330 A.D. Berlin, Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, inv. 30931. Ingrid Geske-Heiden © 2012. Photo Scala, Florence/BPK, Bildagentur für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, Berlin
Plate 3 The world of the basilica. This view of the interior of Santa Sabina in Rome (built around 420) shows a vast enclosed space filled with light. What it does not show are the opulent silken curtains that would have hung between the columns, and the wide courtyard in which crowds would have congregated at the entrance of the basilica. During the night-time vigils associated with great festivals, the lamplight inside the church would have shone through the windows as from a giant lantern. Rome, Church of Santa Sabina, interior facing the altar. © 2012. Photo Scala, Florence/Fondo Edifici di Culto – Min. dell’Interno
Plate 4 Bishops as builders. The apse mosaic of the sixth-century basilica at Poreč shows the bishop, Euphrasius, offering his church to Christ. His brother is archdeacon and brings the Gospels. His little nephew carries the candles that stood for the blaze of lamps and candles that represented the perpetual light of Paradise. A martyr (carrying his crown) leads them to Christ. Altogether, what we see is a family of local leaders protected by the intercession of a local saint. Porec-Ital.Parenzo, Istria, Croatia, Euphrasius Basilica (built under Bishop Euphrasius), Saint Maurus with Bishop Euphrasius (with church model) and the Archdeacons Claudius and Euphrasius. Detail from the apse mosaic, mid-6th century. akg-images / Cameraphoto
Plate 5 Portions of Paradise. The church of Sant’Agnese was rebuilt in the early 7th century. It was smaller than the great basilicas of the 4th and 5th centuries. But gold mosaic was used to trap light in it, as if it were a little bit of Paradise. Rome, Church of Sant’Agnese fuori le Mura, apsidal vault, Saint Agnes between Two Popes. © 2012. Photo Scala, Florence
Plate 6 Paradise as abundance: Christian. The view up into the sixth-century dome above the altar in San Vitale, Ravenna shows holy figures set against lush vegetation that reaches its peak in the top of the dome. Ravenna, Church of San Vitale, dome © 2012. Photo Scala, Florence
Plate 7 Paradise as abundance: Muslim. In the mosaic decoration in the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (built in 692), living figures are omitted. But the curling fronds, the flowers, and the full grapes continue to show Paradise as a place of exuberant vegetable life. Dome of the Rock interior, columns around central area, Temple Mount, Jerusalem, otherwise known as Qubbat as Sakhrah or the Mosque of Omar, sacred site for Muslims and Jews, built 687–691 under caliph Abd al Malik. The Art Archive / Gianni Dagli Orti
Plate 8 Emmanuel: God is with us. This eighth-century icon shows the Crucifixion of Christ as the poignant suffering of a figure who is both God and man. He has the still-open eyes of a divine being, while his human life drains from him in the streams of red, human blood. The Crucifixion, icon by an anonymous Byzantine, St. Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai, Egypt, 8th century. akg-images / De Agostini Picture Library
Plate 9 Gold transformed. This seventh-century ornament from Kent shows how thin slivers of gold were twisted into intricate patterns, set with garnets and other semi-precious stones. Jewelled disc brooch, gold, garnet, glass, and shell, Kent, England, 7th century A.D. The Art Archive / Ashmolean Museum
Plate 10 The page transformed. A “carpet page” of the Lindisfarne Gospels (ca.700) turns a manuscript into the equivalent of intricately woven gold-work. Cotton Nero D. IV, fol. 94v, 710–721 © The British Library Board
Plate 11 The presence of the saints: Byzantium. This seventh-century icon shows Christ, the Virgin, and two saints as they were believed to be standing in Paradise, looking out into the world (as if from behind the icon) to make eye contact with the worshipper. Madonna and Child and Saints Theodor and George and two Angels, Byzantine icon painting, Constantinople (?), encaustic on wood, 68.5 × 48 cm, 6th/7th century, Sinai, St. Catherine’s Monastery. akg-images / Erich Lessing
Plate 12 The presence of the saints: the West. In this Merovingian relic-shrine, a physical portion of the saint is hidden in a golden, gem-studded container that radiates the glory, wealth, and majesty of the totally invisible saint. Theuderic Reliquary, casket commissioned by Theuderic in honor of Saint Maurice. Silver, gilded, pearls, precious stones, Merovingian cameo made of glass paste. Merovingian, 7th century. Abbey of Saint-Maurice, Switzerland, Church Treasury. akg-images / Erich Lessing
Plate 13 Pillars of society: the warrior and the priest. In this ninthcenturyfresco, a lay and a clerical donor face each other. Each is distinctive.The layman is bearded and carries a sword; the priest is beardless andtonsured. In the early Middle Ages, the division of society into two castes –warriors and priests, men of the sword and men of prayer – was regardedas essential for the good order of society. Carolingian aristocrat inFrankish costume holding sword of justice; the lay founder of thechurch (13). Priest holding model of church; the ecclesiastical founder ofthe church (14). Fresco, 8th–9th century, San Benedetto Malles Italy.Gianni Dagli Orti © The Art Archive / Alamy
Plate 15 An early medieval society in action: the Christian people agree to their laws. This drawing at the end of a collection of barbarian law codes shows the clergy with tonsures (on the left) leading the local elite, whose cloaks, pinned at the shoulder by great brooches, still echo late Roman military dress. Leges Salicae, Codici O.I.2, fol. 110v–111r, Archivio Capitolare di Modena. Photo: Il Bulino Edizioni d’arte, Modena
Plate 16 The death of Boniface. In this later Mass-book of Boniface’s monastery at Fulda, his violent death in 754 is shown as the living-out of the primordial pattern of the life of a missionary and heir of the Apostles. He baptizes. He is martyred. He dies holding out books of Christian teaching. Saint Bonifacius, 1000. Above: Baptism, Below: Martyrdom. Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek, inv. Msc Lit 1, fol. 126v. © 2012. Photo Scala, Florence/BPK, Bildagentur für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, Berlin
Plate 17 A Christian council decides. This ninth-century Carolingian illustration of the Psalms shows an assembly of the Church. Two great copies of the Scriptures lie open on pulpits at the center of the gathering. The image communicates that a correctly ruled Church and Christian empire based its decisions on the Law of God. In the opinion of the experts around Charlemagne, the Byzantine empire had failed to do this when they had discussed the problem of icon worship. Utrecht Psalter, Utrecht, University Library, MS. 32, fol. 90v.
