Summary of The Great Thaw
A Personal View by Kenneth Clark From the Civilisation Video Series
Oct 31, 2009
In the video production “The Great Thaw,” part of the 1969 BBCTV Civilisation series, narrator Kenneth Clark describes how the culture of western Europe re-emerged around 1100 A.D. during a seeming time of warmth or perhaps spiritual growth which had an intense and energizing effect on the population. All aspects of life were intensified. This renewal of life was necessary to save Western Civilization.
The Influence of the Church
Western culture was able to thrive because of its connection to the Church. According to Clark, it wasn’t necessarily the Christian teachings of the Church – like compassion, charity, and hope – that had such a beneficial effect on the culture. It was the Church’s power.
The Church of the eleventh and twelfth centuries was both international and democratic in nature. Through its democratic ideals, men through their personal abilities could rise to positions of power. Through internationalism, the art and architecture of the time were greatly affected. Men were spurred on to create great edifices and paintings that wouldn’t seem otherwise humanly possible because their creations were inspired by God, the ultimate Architect. These acts were only possible because of the wealth and confidence engendered in the people.
Cluny
By way of example, the Abbey of Cluny was constructed in France, south of Paris, in the 10th century. It was the size of a cathedral and was the greatest church of its time. Here was the scene of the first translation of the Koran as people tried understanding the Islam religion rather than merely fighting it.
In the countryside, in Benedictine monasteries like the Abbey of Cluny, the art and architecture express the exuberance of the times. Columns writhe with carved monkey-like and fierce half-human figures. Fish and bird forms stare out from the walls, doors, and lintels. The decorations in stone seem almost as beautiful as the artwork in the illuminated manuscripts. Even today the religious spirit is still felt. Today monks inhabit the monasteries, garden, pray, attend mass and work just as in the 12th century.
Pilgrimages
Though they seem difficult to comprehend today, medieval pilgrimages were a great motivation. Christians made pilgrimages to pray at holy shrines hoping to be forgiven of their sins or cured of their maladies. These shrines contained important holy relics. The pilgrimages were long and dangerous journeys, sometimes lasting for years, from which some never returned.
Chartres
The Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres, located in Chartres, France, was a place of pilgrimage. The artwork, statues, and “pillar people” represented something entirely new in art. Clark believes they display a Greek influence in their textures and drapery and that the Chartres artist must have been exposed to fragments of early Greek statue. Clark believes that while the statues of Chartres have a Greek influence, the refinement and emotion displayed in the Chartres heads are quite different from the Greek. The Greek statue heads and faces are cold, arrogant, even in his words brutal. But Clark states that the French heads are “the most sincere and aristocratic that western Europe has ever produced.”
Ultimately, and though it may seem hackneyed to the elite of today, the art and architecture created at Chartres represented a new epoch – the renewed and rising western culture.
Source:
- Civilisation video series Part Two.
 |
