Medieval Visualization and the Art of Memory
Francis T. Marchese Computer Science Department Pace University New York, NY 10038
[email protected]
Cambridge University Library, MS Gg 1.1, f. 490v, c. 1307
Origins Where visualizations are to be found: • Carolingian manuscripts associated with the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy) • Most charts and diagrams either astronomical or cosmological in nature Three seminal authors: • Macrobius (c. 395 – 423) • Boëthius (c. 480 – 524) • Isidore of Seville (c. 560 – 636)
Dissemination Carolingian Renaissance 8th to 9th Century Charlemagne (742 – 814) Increased Scholarship Standardized: Language Writing Education Charlmagne quizzing his wise men about the Milky Way Bay 07, The Legends of Charlemagne, Chartres Cathedral The Corpus of Medieval Narrative Art : http://www.medievalart.org.uk/index.html
De natura rerum, Isidore of Seville, c. 760-780 (Cod. Sang. 238, St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek)
Concordance of seasons & months of the year, Isidore of Seville, c. 800 (MS. 422, f. 6v, Laon, Bibliotheque municipale)
Concordance of circuits of the moon, through the 12 months & zodiac & planets. Isidore of Seville, c. 801 – 850 (MS. 422, f. 54, Laon, Bibliotheque municipale)
Annus diagram, Isidore of Seville, c. 800 (MS. Clm 14300, f. 14, Munich Bayerische Staatsbibliothek)
Rota
Table concerning the zodiac signs and movements of the moon, 2nd half 13th C. (Harley 3735 f. 15v, British Library)
Eclipses of the Moon, 1386 - c. 1400 (Arundel 347, f. 34, British Library)
Consanguinity Table, Isidore of Seville, c. 560 – 636, Etymologiae, c. 880 (Cod. Sang. 231, f. 340, St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek)
Tables
Boethius (c. 480 – 524), De Institutione Musica, c. 11C (Arundel MS. 77, British Library)
Elements Diagram, 1st half of the 12th century (MS. Digby 23 (Pt 1), Bodleian Library, Oxford)
Arcs
On Christian Doctrine (1202) (Royal 5 B XII, Part 2, fol. 4. British Library). Porphyry’s Tree, 2nd half 12th C or 1st half 13th C, (Royal MS.15 B IV, British Library)
Trees
Blood Letting Man, Physician's folding almanac, 1406 (Harley MS 5311, British Library)
Urine Flasks, Physician's folding almanac, 1406 (Harley MS 5311, British Library)
Infographics
Sphere of Life and Death , 14th C (Harley 3719, f. 175v, British Library).
Computus Table, (MS. 17, f. 30r, St. John's College, Oxford) Byrhtferth's Diagram, c. 1102–10, Thorney Computus (MS 17, f. 7v, Saint John’s College, Oxford)
Visual Analytics
Metaphor & Allegory • Metaphor - “something regarded as representative or suggestive of something else, especially as a material emblem of an abstract quality, condition, notion, etc.; a symbol, a token.” • Allegory - an extended form of metaphor; a representational scheme in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, poem, or image are equated with meanings outside the narrative itself.
Visualizing Virtues and Vices • Complex material made visualizations desirable • Visualization transcended limits of textual learning – viewer could absorb material more quickly
• Images took on significant role – visual summaries of the text – focal point of a lesson - text introduced the imagery
• Two kinds of representation – Dynamic view -visualizations embody dynamics of virtuevice struggle. – Static view - trees used to display theological insight
Speculum Virginum (Mirror for virgins) • Guide for nuns (12th C) • Humility thrusts her sword through Pride’s breast • Flanked by two triumphant biblical women o Jeal (left) & Judith (right) o Jael on corpse of Sisera, has pierced his head with a tent stake (Judges 4:21) o Judith stands on slain body of Holofernes (Judith 13:1–10) Humility Slaying Pride
Tree of Vices, (MS. Arundel 83 II, fol. 128v, British Library)
Tree of Virtues (MS. Arundel 83 II, fol. 129r, British Library)
Medieval Visualization
Abstraction vs. Appearance
Reliquary bust of St. Mabille, Siena, 1370 – 1380, painted and gilded poplar wood. (Cl 2624, Musée de Cluny, Paris, France).
Middle part of Brain Anterior part of Brain Common or Imaging Sense Imagination or power of shaping
Posterior part of Brain
Estimation Power of cogitating or imagining Memory
Process of Thought Formation
Cambridge University Library, MS Gg 1.1, f. 490v, c. 1307
Art of Memory • Art of memory -- a collection of mnemonic principles and techniques used to organize memory impressions, improve recall, and assist in the combination and invention of ideas. • Roots in antiquity -- documented in writings of : – Aristotle (384–322 BCE) – Cicero (106–43 BCE) – Quintilian (c. 35 – c. 100 CE)
• Simonides of Ceos (c. 556 – 468 BC)
Medieval Art of Memory Medieval art of memory (memoria) -- used for meditation and composing lectures, sermons, stories, or poems. – Acts of invention, created by drawing upon an inventory of knowledge that was consumed, broken down into manageable chunks, and correlated Part of Trivium (grammar, logic and rhetoric) – Grammar -- the art of inventing symbols and combining them to express thought – Logic -- the art of thinking – Rhetoric -- the art of communicating thought from one mind to another, the adaptation of language to circumstance.
Method of Loci (Memory Palace) • Architecture and maps become the natural organizational construct for spatially arranging information. • Individual memorizes the layout of a building, or any geographical entity composed of a number of discrete loci (locations). • To remember a collection of concepts the individual walks through these loci, and assigns a concept to each locus by forming a mental image between the concept and some distinctive feature of that location. • Concept retrieval is achieved by walking through the loci to stimulate recall of the desired concepts.
Table of finger calculation Royal 13 A XI f. 33v, British Library, c. 12th C.
Calculating 19 year lunar cycle. Including fingertips and joints gives 19 locations for epacts St John’s College, Oxford, MS 17, f. 98v, ca. 1102–10
Guidonian hand U Penn Ms. Codex 1248, f. 122r, c. 1450 - 1499
Zones of the Earth
De natura rerum. Sententiae BSB Clm 14300, Salzburg, end of 9th C / beginning 10th .
God creating the earth, Tours Cathedral, 13th C The Corpus of Medieval Narrative Art : http://www.medievalart.org.uk
Memoria • Visualization and spatial orientation -- memoria’s most important organizing principles • Every concept is attached to an image • Image positioned within the mind’s virtual space to make it easily retrievable and meaningful.
Mass of St Gregory (15th C), Musée de Cluny, Paris
Architecture
Plan of Saint Gall, c. 819 or about 827/830. St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 1092:
Architecture
http://www.stgallplan.org/en/index_plan .html
World Map of Saint Sever Beatus, c. 1060. BnF, Manuscripts, Latin 8878, f. v 45a - 45b
Tower of Wisdom (Beinecke MS 416, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University)
Tower of Wisdom Translation, Yale University
Today? • Knowledge doubling every 18 months • Human agents cannot process and retain boundless quantities of information • Rely on External scaffolding -- external forms of memory devised as adjuncts to human biological working memory – mnemonics, codes, diagrams, photographs, books, rituals, computer systems, etc. • Art of memory still taught
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