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Medieval Visualization and The Art of Memory

The medieval art of memory was a collection of mnemonic principles and techniques used to organize impressions, improve recall, and assist in the combination and invention of ideas. An essential element of a monk’s education, it was taught for its rhetorical strength. Religious who mastered this art could freely compose lectures, sermons, stories, or poems. Such acts of invention required drawing upon an inventory of knowledge that had been thoroughly consumed, decomposed into manageable chunks, and correlated utilizing the memory principles they had mastered. Medieval memory methods relied heavily on the image creation – both mental and physical. This presentation will explore many of these physical visualizations, drawing upon imagery found in medieval manuscripts. The talk will review the history of memory practice, explore medieval information and knowledge visualization, and demonstrate the relation of these visualizations to this art

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632 views29 pages

Medieval Visualization and The Art of Memory

The medieval art of memory was a collection of mnemonic principles and techniques used to organize impressions, improve recall, and assist in the combination and invention of ideas. An essential element of a monk’s education, it was taught for its rhetorical strength. Religious who mastered this art could freely compose lectures, sermons, stories, or poems. Such acts of invention required drawing upon an inventory of knowledge that had been thoroughly consumed, decomposed into manageable chunks, and correlated utilizing the memory principles they had mastered. Medieval memory methods relied heavily on the image creation – both mental and physical. This presentation will explore many of these physical visualizations, drawing upon imagery found in medieval manuscripts. The talk will review the history of memory practice, explore medieval information and knowledge visualization, and demonstrate the relation of these visualizations to this art

Uploaded by

cheez123
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Medieval Visualization and the Art of

Memory

Francis T. Marchese
Computer Science Department
Pace University
New York, NY 10038
fmarchese@pace.edu

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)
Bothius (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).
Porphyrys 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. 110210, Thorney Computus
(MS 17, f. 7v, Saint Johns 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 Prides 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 13:110)
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, Muse 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 (384322 BCE)
Cicero (10643 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 Johns College, Oxford, MS 17, f. 98v, ca. 110210

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 -- memorias
most important
organizing principles
Every concept is attached
to an image
Image positioned within
the minds virtual space
to make it easily
retrievable and
meaningful.

Mass of St Gregory (15th C), Muse 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

Thank you for Listening!

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