Welcome to the Autumn 2021 issue which features five articles on Mapping and three articles that explore how complex interaction between meaning and use can change with the smallest details.
Feature Articles
Featuring papers from the 2020 international conference, Spatial Humanities and Urban Experiences during the Long 15th Century, mapping scholars explore how “deep mapping” changes our perceptions and understanding of History. Dan Terkla, who edited these essays, introduces the general theme. This is followed by a forward written by David J. Bodenhamer, who discusses what Deep Mapping is and how it helps us recover lost worlds. Magriet Hoogvliet’s introduction discusses spatial humanities and how each of the essays explores and expands that concept. Boris Bove’s essay, using these methodologies puts to rest the notion of exclusive aristocratic quarters in 15th-century Paris. The mapping tells a very different tale. Felicitas Schmieder investigates how Frankfurt in c. 1350 was viewed through the intriguing account of Baldemar of Petterweil, who recorded the urban space within ecclesiastical sources. Margriet Hoogvliet and David Rivaud bring to life the complex neighborhoods of scribes, booksellers, and printers in c. 1500 Tours. The placement of their homes and shops allow a glimpse into a lively trade practice.
Three other feature articles examine a variety of iconographic motifs and how these details created complex meaning. Lars Marius Garshol explores the multi-faceted origin of a woven motif used for protection on everything from sculpture, to architecture, to common tools. Kathryn Blair Moore shines a light on a hitherto often-overlooked detail in 13th-15th-century Italian altarpieces: Kufic writing adorning the Virgin and Child, which add an intellectual and historical layer of meaning. Loretta Vandi’s article discusses how a detailed portrayal of a votive gift to the Virgin Mary described by Savonarola acquired a real life of its own through animated devotion.
Mappings Issue: Editorial Note Dan Terkla
Dan Terkla
Foreword: Deep Mapping of Lost Worlds
David J. Bodenhamer
Introduction: Thoughts about Spatial Humanities and Urban Experiences During the Long Fifteenth Century
Margriet Hoogvliet
Putting an End to the Concept of Aristocratic Quarters in Paris
Boris Bove
Mapping Frankfurt c. 1350: Baldemar of Petterweil’s Recording of Space in Medieval Urban-Ecclesiastical Sources
Felicitas Schmieder
Tours around 1500: Deep Mapping Scribes, Booksellers, and Printers
Margriet Hoogvliet & David Rivaud
Olav’s Rose, Perun’s Mark, Taranis’s Wheel
Lars Marius Garshol
Kufesque between Pilgrimage & Polemic: Representations of Arabic in Italian Altarpieces, 13th-15th centuries
Kathryn Blair Moore
A Crown of Flesh, Sound, and Light. Savonarola’s Animated Gift for the Virgin Mary
Loretta Vandi
Book Reviews
This issue also includes five thoughtful reviews of books on medieval art and material culture by Sally Badham, Ron Baxter, Stavroula Constantinou, Shirin Fozi, and Michela Young. They introduce volumes on topics ranging from Byzantine intersectionality to reliquary tabernacles to geneaological representation and politics, Romanesque tomb effigies, the Dance of Death, and color woodcut prints. This is followed by brief book and new website announcement focused on medieval badges by Ann Marie Rasmussen.
Byzantine Intersectionality. Sexuality, Gender & Race in the Middle Ages by Roland Betancourt
Stavroula Constantinou
Romanesque Tomb Effigies: Death and Redemption in Medieval Europe, 1000-1200 by Shirin Fozi
Ron Baxter
Genealogy and the Politics of Representation in the High and Late Middle Ages by Joan Holladay
Shirin Fozi
Reliquary Tabernacles in Fourteenth-Century Italy: Image, Relic and Material Culture by Beth Williamson
Michela Young
John Lydgate, The Dance of Death, and its model, the French Danse Macabre by Clifford Davidson and Sophie Oosterwijk
Sally Badham
Early Colour Printing: German Renaissance Woodcuts at the British Museum by Elizabeth Savage
Suzanne Karr Schmidt
New Book & Website: Medieval Badges
Ann Marie Rasmussen
This issue features a fascinating Photo Essay by Dominique Robert, a professional photographer, who explores the history of the photographs published by Zodiaque and then takes the reader step-by-step in how to recreate the moving aesthetic of the Zodiaque books.
Dominique Robert, Emulating Zodiaque: The Aesthetics of Black-and-White Photography applied to Romanesque Art & Architecture
The Photobank database continues to serve as a resource for scholars and teachers. Please note that our Photobank has undergone considerable renovation and is now part of Digital Kenyon at Kenyon College. You can search by typing in a key word or name in the search box (e.g. Canterbury). The Photobank continues to grow with copyright-free images all downloadable for use in research and teaching.
The Future
For future issues we are actively seeking articles on any aspect of medieval art and architecture, including: long and short scholarly articles, scholarly book reviews, review articles on issues facing the field of medieval art history, interesting notes and announcements, useful website recommendations, new archeological discoveries, and recent museum acquisitions. We are interested in publishing articles that will undergo double-blind review as well as those which are subject only to regular editing processes, including articles that are the result of preliminary research. We are also looking for images to add to our photobank, to be shared and used by anyone in the classroom and in their research. To round out the scholarly portion of the journal, we are also seeking short, amusing excerpts from medieval sources, comments on the Middle Ages in movies and popular culture, etc.
Our grateful appreciation and thanks for partial funding provided by Kenyon College. Programming and copy-editing: John Pepple and Artistic Advising: Karen Gerhart.
Again, welcome to Peregrinations. Any suggestions or comments you have concerning the journal would be most welcome.
Sarah Blick, Editor
Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art & Architecture 