From Pagan to Christian: The Arts of Medieval Europe 300-800

Delve into the early 4th-century when the Edict of Milan granted Christianity toleration in 313 and catalysed the Church to commission glorious purpose-built churches and furnishings. Explore the Byzantine Empire’s visual arts, where theology combined with influence from Antiquity and neighbouring states, to forge a distinctive aesthetic. Discover how Islam’s dramatic early 7th-century rise provoked Iconoclasm (726-843), which saw the destruction of figurative holy images in the Byzantine world, and forced artists to migrate west, effecting cultural exchange. The Western Roman Empire’s late 5th-century demise resulted in a transfer of power to initially peripatetic, illiterate, and pagan, and subsequently, settled, literate, and Christian peoples, including the Franks, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Lombards, and Anglo-Saxons. Become expert at analysing their buildings and artefacts which demonstrate recognisable regional styles, complex intellectual agendas, and considerable technical skill. By 800 change was in the air as Charlemagne, king of the Franks, sought to recreate the glories of the Roman Empire in the West.