Life was different 1200 years ago in Romanesque times. Some of you might have been knights but most of us would have lived as serfs, toiling the land, giving a portion of harvested crops to the Lord of the Estate. Unlike peasants, we would not own the land, but together with peasants, we would form the lowest level of the feudal system, as those who came before us.
Most of us would have lived in one-story wood and mud dwellings with thatched roofs near the Lord of the Estate’s stone manor house, the largest structure most of us would see. Many would make a pilgrimage and see the establishment of towns. Imagine taking a pilgrimage and coming upon a church as large as Saint-Sernin in Toulouse. Imagine seeing the sculpture on the outside of the church or the opulent reliquaries in the radiating chapels.
Imagine yourself as a 12-year-old child, listening to grandparent’s (or elder person’s) tales of making a pilgrimage, at the same age, during Romanesque times. Imagine the powerful reaction the grandparent had to one specific item covered in the list of works of this time. What did the grandparent (or elder person), as a 12-year-old child, find so astonishing that years later can be described in perfect detail?
Now, imagine yourself as a grandparent (or great aunt or uncle) of a 12-year-old child, living in Gothic times. What piece of art or architecture, covered in the list of works of this chapter, would you think your grandparent (or elder person from your childhood) would be amazed to see? Even though your grandparent may have passed, how would you imagine describing the art or architecture?
In your initial post, pick one specific piece from the Romanesque period AND one from the Gothic period, covered this week. Imagine hearing the stories of an elder’s pilgrimage and relating the modern wonder of Gothic times to the same elder when you are the elder’s age.