property for their urban mission led to tension with the original ideal of total poverty and
solitude. The 16th century saw a major renewal and reform of the order in both its male
and female branches.
Grover A.Zinn
[See also: CRUSADES; DOMINICAN ORDER; FRANCISCAN ORDER;
MONASTICISM]
Smet, Joachim. The Carmelites: A History of the Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, ca. 1200
A.D. Until the Council of Trent. Chicago: “privately printed,” 1975.
CAROLINGIAN ART
. Although members of the Carolingian dynasty ruled in France from 751 to 987, artistic
production was concentrated between the last quarter of the 8th century and the end of
the 9th. This period witnessed an explosive increase in artistic production in many areas,
notably architecture, monumental painting, book production, ivory carving, and many
forms of metalwork, and it can fairly be said that Carolingian art laid the foundation for
later medieval developments. Little remains today of the monumental arts, although
many literary sources describe buildings and their decoration, and considerable evidence
has been recovered from archaeological investigation, so that the numerous and often
perfectly preserved examples of the “minor arts” give the fullest and clearest picture of
Carolingian art as a whole.
The very term “Carolingian art,” derived from the ruling dynasty, reflects a tradition
of seeing the art of the period as primarily stimulated by centralized royal patronage, and
indeed monarchs and ecclesiastical figures in the immediate royal circles were prominent
and influential sponsors of artistic projects. On the other hand, much artistic production
was spread widely throughout the kingdom, especially in the northern regions, and shows
relatively little influence from courtly subjects or styles. Although the Carolingian
monarchs clearly revived the ancient tradition of the ruler as patron and often subject of
important artistic projects, the early-medieval tradition of artistic production being
carried on in monasteries was also continued. Courtly and monastic patronage and
production are often inseparable, with monasteries often producing works of art for or at
the behest of the monarch.
For a variety of reasons, it seems that artistic production played an especially
important role during the Carolingian period, often expressing contemporary political and
theological circumstances, a phenomenon encouraged by the debate about the proper role
of images in the Christian church, which from 726 to 843 dominated the Byzantine
world. There, the conflict between those who favored the veneration of holy images, or
icons, as central elements of Christian cult and those, known as Iconoclasts, who opposed
such practices and sought to destroy such images or circumscribe their use called for a
western and especially Carolingian reaction. In 792, Archbishop Theodulf of Orléans
drafted the first of a series of lengthy Carolingian treatises devoted to religious art. His
work, now known as the Libri Carolini and in fact the most extensive early-medieval text
concerning art, was originally designed to express an official Frankish viewpoint that
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