By LiHe Han and Derek DeRoche – The following article is written by two Stanford undergraduates who, thanks to the generosity of the Institute of Alpine Archaeology, were given the chance to travel to the Great St. Bernard monastery in Valais, Switzerland to study and catalogue medieval seals and documents […]
Tag: Medieval
Medieval Guild Signs and Emblem Traditions: Zunftzeichen
By Patrick Hunt – Hanging over narrow cobblestone streets, guild signs or emblems (zunftzeichen) left over from medieval tradition are eye-catching rewards appreciated in many old walking streets of mostly German-speaking regions of Europe, including Germany itself as well as Austria and eastern Switzerland and even Tyrolean Italy. This is especially […]
Medieval Heraldry as Visual Literacy
By Patrick Hunt – In Chretien de Troyes’ 12th century chivalric tale Erec and Enide, the young knight Erec engages in a battle of honor defending Queen Guinevere but is not known by his arrogant adversary Yeder, partly because he is unadorned and wearing borrowed armor without his heraldry […]
Plague and the Medieval Triumph of Death, Palazzo Abatellis, Palermo
By Patrick Hunt – Plague in the Middle Ages was a constant specter of death for much of the population for centuries, especially in the Mediterranean where ports were the point of entry for plagues in many kingdoms. Sicily was no exception, one of the first places where the […]