Medieval Religious Art as Education

The Symbols of Bible and Church History Reinforced Faith

Jun 16, 2009

The art of the Middle Ages was subordinated to the Christian experience on an everyday level and helped to educate illiterate peasants about their faith and cosmology.

Since earliest times, art played a significant role in supporting the educational goals surrounding popular religion. Religious motifs, whether in Egyptian tombs, the vibrant frescoes of Minoan palaces, or the exquisite statuary in Greece, reminded people of the gods, the after-life, and provided a multitude of symbols associated with everyday religious expectations. This continued into the medieval period, a time when 98% of Europe’s population was illiterate.

Religious Symbolism in Everyday Life

Notre Dame de Paris, the iconic Gothic Cathedral on the banks of the Seine River, was completed in 1345. Like many medieval cathedrals, Notre Dame was more than a house of worship. It was the seat of the bishop, the initial host of the university, and a gathering place for merchants, carnivals, and other civic events. But it was also a religious classroom for many illiterate city dwellers and rustic peasants drawn to Paris during important church feast days.

Finely detailed stained-glass windows elaborated stories of the saints and from the Bible. Many churches and cathedrals were dedicated to “Our Lady” or Mary and are filled with her image, whether on portals as at Notre Dame or as statues inside the structure. For the adoring peasants, she was the sublime “Queen of Heaven,” frequently depicted sitting on a throne surrounded by angels, saints, and even prominent Frenchmen such as King Louis VII (portal of Saint Anne).

Fearsome gargoyles, “banished monsters” illustrating “inhuman birds with half-human faces,” (Temko) remind everyone that evil lurks around every corner. Their presence high on the exterior walls is symbolic of their flight before the Mother of God. Throughout the Middle Ages, it was Mary who defeated the devil, as seen in the classic story of Theophilus, who had sold his soul to the devil early in life but was rescued from hell by Mary.

Statues, Altars, and Paintings

At Notre Dame, several statues adorn the façade but the most interesting example is of St. Denis. The headless statute holds the severed head of the saint and martyr in its hands, reminding the faithful that St. Denis gave his life for the faith, one of many killed on the Mount of Martyrs or Montmartre, where the late 19th century Sacred Heart Basilica now dominates. Even this later church was constructed as a Catholic symbol in opposition to the growing socialism in France and the memories of the Paris Commune.

Church high altars were elaborate symbols pointing to the Eucharist, the focal point of the Catholic Mass. Frequently, altars of important churches featured prominent relics, another source of church education as well as grace. In Germany, particularly where wood carving was a highly specialized craft, highly detailed wood carvings depicting Bible stories dominated the altars such as the Twelve Apostles Altar at St. Jakob’s church in Rothenburg ob der Tauber or the 1521 Bruggemann altar at St. Peter’s in Schleswig.

Paintings and frescoes also played a role in religious education, although not always to teach the illiterate, but to inspire the literate as with Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling. A classic example of frescoes designed to inspire and teach is the series of works completed by Giotto on the life and death of St. Francis of Assisi that adorn the walls of the basilica in Assisi.

What is Art?

In 1896 Leo Tolstoy wrote an essay that asked, “What is Art?” During the medieval period and the early Renaissance, art was the expression of religious experience as well as a chronicle of church history and Bible truths. Not until the invention of movable type did literacy rates begin to rise in Europe, and then very slowly. The peasantry as well the city poor, relied upon this art to reinforce the beliefs central to their existence and helped to explain good and evil in everyday life experiences.

The copyright of the article Medieval Religious Art as Education in Medieval History is owned by Michael Streich. Permission to republish Medieval Religious Art as Education in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.