painting in Britain in the late 11th century

[toastedcheese]

I'm writing about the daughter of the king of a semi-imaginary kingdom in northern England (Rheged, which did exist once but historically fizzled out by the seventh century.) She was born in 1066, right after the Norman invasion, and is 20 at the time of the story, her land having miraculouly avoided conquest. The culture she grew up in is

Comments

[surexit]

I have nothing useful to say, but am curious as to how you're fitting the Harrying of the North into this. *is fascinated*

[sollersuk]

*also fascinated in how a major exercise in genocide passed them by - this is the time when the British enclave of Elmet was destroyed*

Painting was mostly wall paintings (in churches) or illustrated manuscripts. There may have been decorative paintings on chests etc but nothing has survived of them. Wall decorations in housing (basically open halls) were mostly tapestries, then and later.

And that's a point: whether Welsh, Saxon or early Norman, a lord would live in a hall, possibly with a chamber for his personal (including business) use and everybody else would live, eat and sleep in the hall itself, where the cooking would also take place. By the 11th century, the Normans were splitting things up a bit more, with separate kitchens and more separate quarters for the lord. I'm not sure where she would sleep; the archaeological indications for the 11th century don't usually give a lot of room in the private quarters, and she would be wedged in pretty tight with her father and mother.

[toastedcheese]

::*also fascinated in how a major exercise in genocide passed them by - this is the time when the British enclave of Elmet was destroyed*::
See reply to kenovay. Divine intervention solves many problems! :) I didn't know about Elmet, though; I might have to read up on it.

That's just the sort of stuff I wanted to know, thanks!

[toastedcheese]

Well, the historical Harrying of the North conveniently avoided the area I'm talking about (modern-day Cumbria), so they never faced anything quite that serious. Basically, they withdrew into a fairly small area and put up a really good fight, so the Normans have temporarily given up trying to seize their land. This improbable feat is helped along by some Celtic deities who are sick of ancient Britain being parcelled up by strangers, and therefore have taken their side.

[wolffepsyche]

Most of the art in the early medieval period was found in illuminated books, which would be held only be monks or extremely rich church patrons. There were also a few wall sculptures and altar murals, again associated with the church.

http://www.wga.hu/index1.html
some examples, most are from slightly after your time period, but it's indicitive of what she might have seen.

[zellieh]

Painting would be considered a craft at this time, with painters more like painters and decorators than modern artists. They'd work in a workshop. There's no distinction between painting the walls of a house or church, and painting a religious icon, or a portrait.

The walls of the King's hall might well be painted in patterns or murals.

[toastedcheese]

Thank you!

[atropos_lee]

What we do know about Celtic and Saxon cultural objects of this time is that they were highly decorative, with complex patterns and knots covering many surfaces with all the figarative elements - plants, faces, animals - so well incorporated into the design that they are sometimes almost impossible to identify.

So your character might be familiar with large painted decoration but not necessarilt with painted human figures, portraits and scenes as we would understand them.

Exmaple: http://celtdigital.org/Lind.htm

[toastedcheese]

Thanks!