Please join us for the 20th Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies Host Institution Keynote Lecture. Elizabeth Lapina, Associate Professor of History at UW–Madison, will be presenting her paper “Depicting the Holy War on Wall Paintings in England and France in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries,” on Friday March 19th, 2021 at 5:00pm CDT.
Abstract: In my talk, I will discuss changes in attitude towards violence that took place in Western Europe as a consequence of the crusades in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. After the First Crusade, which culminated with the capture of Jerusalem in 1099, it became possible to justify and even to sacralize violence in an ever-increasing variety of circumstances. This new acceptance of violence was proper to both the clergy and the laity and became one of the cornerstones of chivalric culture. I will trace the development of this change using a type of source that tends to be under-appreciated by historians: mural paintings. Specifically, I will analyze programs of mural paintings found in three very different structures: a parish church of Hardham in England; a Templar chapel of Cressac and a residential tower of Pernes-les-Fontaines. Albeit very different in many respects, all three of these programs of mural paintings depict exercise of violence as worthy of admiration and imitation.
The Zoom link is forthcoming.