532 views
From the series A Work of Art as a Source of Knowledge of Life in the Middle Ages. In recent years, the comic in the Middle Ages has received increased attention. However, its boundary is very fragile. What we find funny and ridiculous usually had a completely different, often even serious, meaning in the Middle Ages. And that is why historians of the Middle Ages have different attitudes towards comic scenes, especially those in manuscripts. For some, it is an attempt to express the meaning of the text in a different way. Others perceive the playful decoration of the borders of manuscripts as a distraction from the main text, whose authors were inspired by worldly joys, medieval folklore or even ancient paganism. Interpreting medieval creations is not possible without working with preserved written sources, which at least partially help us understand the artistically depicted scenes that bring a smile to our faces. But do we understand them correctly? This lecture will try to answer that.