From Newsgroup: soc.history.medieval

from https://www.eastidahonews.com/2023/11/why-is-medieval-art-so-weird-a-new-book-offers-a-guide-to-the-era/

Why is medieval art so weird? A new book offers a guide to the era
Published at 11:00 am, November 25, 2023
CNN logo
Jacqui Palumbo, CNN
Dying in 999
rCLIf you canrCOt get excited to die, aim for ambivalence at the very least,rCY advises Olivia M. Swarthout in her book, rCLWeird Medieval Guys:
How to Live, Love, Laugh (and Die) in Dark Times.rCY | Heidelberg
University Library/Courtesy Penguin Random House

Listen to this article with
(CNN) rCo So you want to live like yourCOre from the Middle Ages? Well,
maybe thatrCOs not a common aspiration, but nevertheless, itrCOs a subject thatrCOs become Olivia M. SwarthoutrCOs expertise.

Swarthout is the researcher behind the popular art history-inspired
social media account Weird Medieval Guys, which has attracted nearly
700,000 followers on X, formerly Twitter, since she began posting with
the handle @WeirdMedieval in April 2022. Now, sherCOs the author of a book with a tongue-in-cheek guide to living like itrCOs 999 AD rCo or thereabouts rCo called rCLWeird Medieval Guys: How to Live, Love, Laugh (and Die) in
Dark Times.rCY

You might well have seen SwarthoutrCOs handiwork in your feeds even if you donrCOt follow the account: Paired with her zeitgeisty captioning, many of
the strange, cute and often absurd illustrations from 6th- to
15th-century manuscripts rCo showing jovial skeletons and wan angels, strangely drawn animals and the daily affairs of commonfolk rCo have
become popular memes. ThererCOs weird floating babies, a knight stabbing himself with the caption rCLIrCOm out,rCY a sneaky cat with a severed penis in its mouth, and a pair of men demonstrating not-so-vaguely sexual sword-fighting tactics.

History repeats itself
In her new illustrated book, Swarthout guides readers through life in
the Middle Ages with the same timely wit, making sense of broader
Medieval culture through a contemporary lens. What would your name be? Ratbald? Wulfwynn? How about just Guy?

You can choose a patron saint rCo just as important as your astrological
sign rCo and find hot Medieval singles in your area; learn how to settle disputes with trial-by-combat tips (if between a man and a woman, the
man must be chest-deep in a hole to level the playing field) or how to identify the poisonous, man-lion-scorpion-hybrid manticore in the wild
(he likes silly hats).

rCLA lot of the art being made (in the Medieval era) was people drawing on things from their life and experiencesrCa that were part of popular culture,rCY Swarthout said in a phone call with CNN. rCLFocusing the book on life in general and the entire medieval worldrCa felt like a really good
way to synthesize all of those different sorts of topics together.rCY

The swift popularity of her Twitter account surprised her, she said.
Swarthout is not a historian, but a recently graduated statistician who
took art history during undergrad. rCLIt felt very surreal rCo especially in the beginning rCo and it still does,rCY she said.

And though thererCOs no shortage of art history humor accounts across
Twitter and Instagram, SwarthoutrCOs offerings are today much more robust, with both a Substack and a podcast of the same name for followers who
want a deep dive into the artworks she mines for her social posts.

rCLI didnrCOt really intend for it to be a meme account, although I think there is a lot of intrinsic humor,rCY she said. rCLA lot of the content is just funny on its own.rCY

ThererCOs a reason why Medieval art is particularly, well, weird. While paintings and sculptures that remain from most other periods in history
were generally produced by trained artists, the illuminated manuscripts
made in Medieval times were often authored by monks and tradespeople,
who werenrCOt necessarily following artistic conventions of the era.

rCLItrCOs almost like a look at everyday peoplerCOs inner lives, Swarthout explained, rCLwhich isnrCOt something that you get in a lot of art history.rCY

Our era may be wildly different from the Middle Ages rCo after all, could
you explain a viral art history meme on Twitter to a 9th-century peasant farmer? But time flattens a bit through the humor of each image.
Swarthout imagines people from centuries ago taking delight in some of
the illustrations in the same way, like one small depiction of a cat
churning butter.

rCLYou can look at it and imagine that it was just as funny and just as
cute back then,rCY she said. rCLA lot of images like that are a fun way to connect with people who lived hundreds of years ago.rCY

Add to Queue: Party like itrCOs 999
Listen: rCLWeird Medieval GuysrCY podcast (2022rCo)
Swarthout launched a podcast series expanding on her social media
presence last summer, with ever-prescient topics including a deep dive
into three prominent rCLwife guysrCY of the era and whether or not a single Dorito would kill a medieval peasant.

Play: rCLPentimentrCY (2022)
This quirky RPG is formatted like the pages of an illuminated
manuscript, with the artist protagonist, Andreas, finding himself in the middle of a murder mystery in a fictional 16th-century Bavarian town as
he serves out an apprenticeship. Available to play on Xbox and Steam, rCLPentimentrCY has received praise from critics and several award
nominations for its inventiveness.

Read: rCLThe Grand Medieval BestiaryrCY (2018)
If the often strange and absurd depictions of animals during this era
are your thing, this 587-image compendium of the Medieval animal kingdom
(both real and fabled) is a must. The beastiary includes entries on 100 different creatures and includes plenty of lore in the form of essays.

Watch: rCL
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
The classic satire of Arthurian legend mined the Middle Ages for comedic
gold decades before Medieval memes were a thing. Follow the Monty Python troupe on an epic, farcical journey from Camelot (rCyTis a silly place) in search of the Holy Grail.

Read: rCLMedieval Bodies: Life, Death and Art in the Middle AgesrCY (2019)
This illustrated history book from art historian Jack Hartnell
challenges notions of the Middle Ages as being an ignorant or
unsophisticated era, focusing instead on insightful, advanced and
fantastical beliefs about the body and medicine through details and
stories drawn from artworks, historical accounts and textbooks.

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