Byzantine civil war of 1341–47

http://www.all-laptopfan.com/,http://www.all-keyboard.com/,http://www.laptopbattery-shop.co.uk/ The Byzantine civil war of 1341–47, sometimes referred to as the Second Palaiologan Civil War,^[1] was a conflict that broke out after the death of Andronikos III Palaiologos over the guardianship of his nine-year-old son and heir,John V Palaiologos. French Macaron Pillow ,Creative Cushion - Matty's It pitted on the one hand Andronikos III's chief minister, John VI Kantakouzenos, and on the other the Empress-Dowager Anna of Savoy, the Patriarch of Constantinople John XIV Kalekas, and the megas doux Alexios Apokaukos. The war polarized Byzantine society along class lines, with the aristocracy backing Kantakouzenos and the lower and middle classes supporting the regency. SONY PCG-7122M battery To a lesser extent, the conflict acquired religious overtones. Byzantium was embroiled in the Hesychast controversy, and adherence to the mystical doctrine of Hesychasm was often equated with support for Kantakouzenos. As the chief aide and closest friend of Emperor Andronikos III, Kantakouzenos became regent for the under-age John V upon the Emperor's death in June 1341. SONY PCG-7121M battery While Kantakouzenos was absent from Constantinople in September the same year, a coup d'état led by Alexios Apokaukos and the Patriarch John XIV secured the support of Empress Anna and established a new regency. In response, Kantakouzenos' army and supporters proclaimed him co-emperor in October, cementing the rift between himself and the new regency. The split immediately escalated into armed conflict. SONY VAIO PCG-7192M battery During the first years of the war, forces of the new regency prevailed. In the wake of several anti-aristocratic uprisings, most notably that of the Zealots in Thessalonica, a majority of the cities in Thrace and Macedonia came under regency control. With assistance from Stephen Dushan of Serbia and Umur Beg of Aydin, Kantakouzenos successfully reversed these gains. SONY VAIO PCG-7194M battery By 1345, despite Dushan's defection to the opposition and the withdrawal of Umur, Kantakouzenos retained the upper hand through the assistance of Orhan, ruler of the Ottoman emirate. The June 1345 murder of megas doux Apokaukos, the regency's chief administrator, dealt the regency a severe blow. Formally crowned as emperor in Adrianople in 1346, Kantakouzenos entered Constantinople on 3 February 1347. SONY VAIO PCG-7195M battery By agreement, he was to rule for ten years as the senior emperor and regent for John V, until the boy came of age and ruled alongside him. Despite this apparent victory, subsequentresumption of the civil war forced John VI Kantakouzenos to abdicate and retire to become a monk in 1354. The consequences of the prolonged conflict proved disastrous for the Empire, which had regained a measure of stability under Andronikos III. SONY VAIO PCG-7196M battery Seven years of warfare, the presence of marauding armies, social turmoil, and the advent of theBlack Death devastated Byzantium and reduced it to a rump state. The conflict also allowed Dushan to conquer Albania,Epirus and most of Macedonia, where he established the Serbian Empire. The Bulgarian Empire also acquired territory north of the Evros river. SONY VAIO PCG-7191V battery In 1341, the once-mighty Byzantine Empire was in a state of flux. Despite the restoration of the Empire's capital to Constantinople and the recovery of a measure of its former power by Michael VIII Palaiologos (r. 1259–1282), the policies implemented during his reign had exhausted the state's resources, and the Empire's strength waned under his successor, Andronikos II Palaiologos (r. 1282–1328).^[2] SONY VAIO PCG-7192V battery During Andronikos II's long reign, the remaining Byzantine possessions in Asia Minor slowly fell to the advancing Turks, most notably the newly established Ottoman emirate. This caused a flood of refugees into Byzantium's European provinces, while at the same time the Catalan Company wrought havoc in the imperial domains. Taxes also rose dramatically to finance tributes to the Empire's enemies. SONY VAIO PCG-71111M battery A combination of these failures and personal ambition moved the Emperor's grandson and heir, the young Andronikos III Palaiologos, to revolt. Supported by a group of young aristocrats led by John Kantakouzenos and Syrgiannes Palaiologos, Andronikos III deposed his grandfather after a series of conflicts during the 1320s.^[3] Sony VAIO VGN-FW31Z battery Although successful in removing the old Emperor from power, the war did not augur well for the future, as the Empire's neighbours—the Serbs, Bulgarians, Turks,Genoese and Venetians—took advantage of Byzantine infighting to gain territory or expand their influence within the Empire. The only son of a former governor of the Byzantine holdings in the Morea, John Kantakouzenos was related to the Palaiologoi through his mother. Sony VGN-NR11Z Battery He inherited vast estates in Macedonia, Thrace and Thessaly, and became a childhood friend and the closest and most trusted advisor of Andronikos III.^[5] During Andronikos III's reign (1328–1341), John Kantakouzenos acted as his chief minister, holding the office of megas domestikos, commander-in-chief of the Byzantine army.^[6] The relationship between the two remained close, and in 1330, SONY VAIO PCG-21211M battery when the heirless Andronikos III (John V was born in 1332) fell ill he insisted that Kantakouzenos be proclaimed Emperor or regent after his death.^[7] Their ties were further strengthened in the spring of 1341, when the latter's eldest son, Matthew Kantakouzenos, wed Irene Palaiologina, a cousin of the Emperor.^[8] Unlike Andronikos II, who had disbanded the Byzantine army and navy, and who favoured monks and intellectuals, SONY VAIO PCG-21212M battery Andronikos III was an energetic ruler who personally led his forces in military campaigns.^[4] In 1329, his first campaign against the Ottomans resulted in a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Pelekanos, after which the Byzantine position in Bithynia rapidly collapsed.^[9] Subsequent sorties into the Balkans were nevertheless successful in shoring up Andronikos' tottering realm. SONY VAIO PCG-21212V battery Thessaly and the Despotate of Epirus, two territories separated from the Empire after the Fourth Crusade, were restored to imperial rule, almost without bloodshed in 1328 and 1337 respectively.^[10] Andronikos III also rebuilt a modest fleet, which allowed him to recover the rich and strategically placed island of Chios from the Genoese Zaccaria family in 1329 as well as to claim the allegiance of Andreolo Cattaneo, Sony VGN-NR11S Battery the Genoese governor of Phocaea on the Anatolian mainland.^[11] In 1335, however, Cattaneo with Genoese assistance captured the island of Lesbos. The Emperor led a fleet to recover it and Phocaea, and requested the aid of the Turkish emirs of Saruhan and Aydin. Saruhan sent troops and supplies, but Aydin's ruler Umur Beg came to meet the Emperor in person. SONY VAIO PCG-21213V battery It was during this encounter that Kantakouzenos and Umur established a long-lasting close friendship and alliance.^[12] A war with Serbia in 1331–1334 proved less successful for the Emperor when several towns in Macedonia were captured by the Serbs, led by the renegade Syrgiannes Palaiologos. These gains were only curtailed when the assassination of Syrgiannes and the threat of a Hungarian invasion forced the Serbian ruler, SONY VAIO PCG-21214V battery Stephen Dushan, to seek a negotiated settlement.^[13] The subsequent peace treaty concluded between Andronikos III and Dushan was important for the future of Byzantine-Serbian relations. For the first time, the Byzantines recognized the extensive gains the Serbs had made at the Empire's expense in the central Balkans during Andronikos II's reign. In the aftermath of the pact, Dushan also moved his seat, and with it his realm's centre of gravity, south to Prilep.^[14] Sony VAIO PCG-31111M battery Although the loss of Asia Minor proved irreversible, successes in Epirus and Thessaly led to a consolidation of the Empire in the Greek-speaking lands of the southern Balkans. Andronikos III and Kantakouzenos planned further campaigns to recover the Latin principalities of southern Greece, a project of major long-term importance, for, as the historian Donald Nicol writes, Sony VAIO PCG-31311M battery "if the whole peninsula of Greece could be united under Byzantine government then the Empire would once again be a homogeneous structure, able to stand up to the Serbians, the Italians and its other enemies. It would be small, but it would be a compact and manageable economic and administrative unit running from Cape Matapan to Thessalonica and Constantinople".Sony VAIO PCG-8152M battery Following a short illness, on the night of 14–15 June 1341 the emperor Andronikos III died at the relatively early age of 45. His nine-year-old son John (John V) was the obvious successor, but he had not been officially proclaimed or crowned as co-emperor.^[15] This left a legal vacuum, and raised the question of who would lead the Empire's government. Sony VAIO PCG-8131M battery According to Byzantine custom, the empress-dowager automatically headed any regency. Nevertheless, despite the lack of any formal appointment, Kantakouzenos placed Andronikos III's sons and the Empress-dowager Anna of Savoy under armed guard in the palace, and in a meeting of the Byzantine Senate claimed for himself the regency and governance of the state by virtue of his close association with the deceased Emperor. Sony VAIO PCG-5P1M battery He also demanded that John V marry forthwith his own daughter Helena Kantakouzene. This claim was disputed by Patriarch John XIV Kalekas, who presented a document from Andronikos dating from 1334, assigning to him the care of the imperial family in the case of his death. Only after a demonstration of the capital's troops on 20 June did Kantakouzenos secure recognition as regent and control of the reins of government, as well as maintaining control over the army as its megas domestikos.^[17] SONY VAIO PCG-81212M battery Nevertheless, opposition to Kantakouzenos began to coalesce around three figures: the Patriarch, a forceful man determined to have a voice in the governance of the Empire, the Empress-regent, who feared that Kantakouzenos would dispossess her son, and last but not least Alexios Apokaukos, the ambitious megas doux (commander-in-chief of the navy) and head of the bureaucracy.^[18] Sony Vaio VGN-CR13/R Battery A "new man" promoted to high office as the protégé of Andronikos III and possibly the richest man in the Empire by 1341, Apokaukos was distrusted by the hereditary aristocracy. The only surviving narrative accounts of the period, Kantakouzenos's memoirs and the history of Nikephoros Gregoras, with their pro-aristocracy bias, paint a very negative picture of the man.^[19] SONY PCG-8113M battery According to Kantakouzenos, Apokaukos' adherence to the Patriarch's camp resulted from his ambition: Apokaukos sought further advancement by trying to convince Kantakouzenos to declare himself Emperor. When the latter refused, Apokaukos secretly switched his allegiance.^[20] In Donald Nicol's opinion, had Kantakouzenos remained at Constantinople, his authority might have remained secure. SONY PCG-8112M battery As the megas domestikos and regent however, he had the duty of dealing with the Empire's various enemies, who sought to take advantage of Andronikos' death. Dushan had invaded Macedonia, the Emir of Saruhanraided the coasts of Thrace, and Tsar Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria threatened war.^[21] In July Kantakouzenos left the capital at the head of the army, leaving control of the government to Apokaukos, whom he still believed loyal to him. Sony VAIO PCG-7148L battery Kantakouzenos' campaign proved successful. He persuaded Dushan to withdraw and repulsed the Turkish raiders, while Ivan Alexander, threatened by a fleet from the Emirate of Aydin, renewed his peace treaty with Byzantium.^[16][22] To crown this success, Kantakouzenos received an embassy of the Latin barons of the Principality of Achaea in the Morea. Sony VAIO PCG-7151L battery They expressed readiness to surrender the country in exchange for a guarantee of their property and rights. It was a unique opportunity, as Kantakouzenos himself recognized in his memoirs, since if successful, the Catalan-controlled Duchy of Athens was bound to follow, consolidating Byzantine control over Greece.^[23] At this point Kantakouzenos received grave news from Constantinople. Sony VAIO PCG-7152L battery In late August Apokaukos attempted a coup and tried to kidnap John V. Having failed, he fled to his fortified house at Epibatai, where he was blockaded by troops. Kantakouzenos returned to Constantinople in early September, where he stayed for a few weeks consulting with the Empress. On his way back to Thrace to prepare for a campaign into the Morea, he went to Epibatai, where he pardoned Apokaukos and restored him to his former offices. Sony VAIO PCG-7153L battery Kantakouzenos' second departure proved a great error. Back in the capital, his enemies moved in his absence. Apokaukos gathered a group of high-ranking aristocrats around him, including men such as the megas droungarios John Gabalas or George Choumnos, whom he tied to himself by marriage alliances. The Patriarch, backed by Apokaukos' group and the authority of the Empress, Sony VAIO PCG-7154L battery dismissed Kantakouzenos from his offices and declared him a public enemy. Kalekas himself was proclaimed regent and Apokaukos named Eparch of Constantinople. Kantakouzenos' relatives and supporters were imprisoned or forced to flee the city, and their properties confiscated.^[25] Although Kantakouzenos' wife and children were safe in his headquarters at Demotika (Didymoteicho), the regency placed his mother, Theodora, under house arrest. Sony VAIO PCG-7161L battery The privations she suffered during her imprisonment were to cause her eventual death. As the first groups of his partisans fleeing the capital arrived at Demotika, Kantakouzenos, by his own account, tried to negotiate with the new regency, but his approach was rebuffed.^[27] Finally forced to take decisive action, on 26 October 1341, the army (2,000 cavalry and 4,000 infantry, according to Gregoras) and his supporters, Sony VAIO PCG-7162L battery largely drawn from the land-holding aristocracy, proclaimed Kantakouzenos Emperor. Although he still presented himself officially as a junior colleague to John V, and claimed to be only acting in the boy's name, having staked his claim on the throne, he had effectively started a civil war.^[28][29] Kantakouzenos still hoped that negotiation might resolve the situation, but all his envoys were imprisoned and he and his supporters excommunicated by Patriarch John XIV. Sony VAIO PCG-7171L battery On 19 November 1341, the regency responded to Kantakouzenos' proclamation as Emperor with the formal coronation of John V.^[30] Reaction to Kantakouzenos' proclamation caused a rift in Byzantine society, with the rich and powerful land-holding magnates (traditionally called the dynatoi, the "powerful ones")^[31] who dominated the countryside quickly rallying to support him, while the ordinary population, Sony VAIO PCG-7172L battery often living in abject conditions and suffering under oppressive taxation, supported the Empress-dowager and the Patriarch.^[32] Apokaukos was especially quick to capitalize upon this division and foment popular dislike for the aristocracy, by widely publicizing the immense wealth confiscated from Kantakouzenos' and his supporters' houses and estates.^[33] Sony VAIO PCG-7173L battery In the words of Donald Nicol, "it was against him [Kantakouzenos] and everything that he stood for as a millionaire and landowning aristocrat that the people rose up. 'Kantakouzenism' became their war cry, the slogan of their discontent".^[34] Thus the battle lines of the civil war were drawn up between urban and rural factions. Sony VAIO PCG-7174L battery The cities, dominated by the middle-class civil bureaucracy and merchant class (the "people of the market"), favoured a more mercantile economy and close relations with the Italian maritime republics, while the countryside remained under the control of the conservative landed aristocracy, which derived its wealth from its estates and traditionally shunned commercial and entrepreneurial activities as unworthy of its status. Sony VAIO PCG-7181L battery The lower social strata tended to support the respective dominant faction, the middle classes in the cities and the landholding magnates in the countryside.^[35]Polarization of this nature was not new in the Byzantine Empire. Evidence of competition between the landed aristocracy and the city-based middle classes in the political, economic and social spheres has been attested since the 11th century, but the scale of the conflict that erupted in 1341 was unprecedented. Sony VAIO PCG-7182L battery This class conflict was mirrored in the breakaway Byzantine Empire of Trebizond, as well, where a pro-imperial and pro-Constantinopolitan urban faction confronted the provincial landholding aristocracy between 1340 and 1349.^[36] The more conservative and anti-Western tendencies of the aristocrats, and their links to the staunchlyOrthodox and anti-Catholic monasteries, also explain their increased attachment to the mystical Hesychasm movement advocated by GSony VAIO PCG-7183L battery regory Palamas, whose views were mostly opposed in the cities.^[37] Although several significant exceptions leave the issue open to question, in the contemporary popular mind (and in traditional historiography), the supporters of "Palamism" and of "Kantakouzenism" were usually equated.^[38] Kantakouzenos' eventual victory also meant the victory of Hesychasm,confirmed in a synod in Constantinople in 1351. Sony VAIO PCG-7184L battery Hesychasm became a hallmark of the Orthodox church tradition, although it was rejected by the Catholics as a heresy.^[29][39] The first manifestation of this social division appeared in Adrianople where, on 27 October, the populace expelled the city's aristocrats, securing it for the regency. Sony VAIO PCG-7185L battery This event was repeated over the next weeks in town after town throughout Thrace and Macedonia, as the people declared their support for the regency and against the despised forces of "Kantakouzenism".^[40] In this hostile atmosphere, many of Kantakouzenos' soldiers abandoned him and returned to Constantinople.^[41] In Demotika alone the popular uprising was quelled, and the town remained Kantakouzenos' main stronghold in Thrace throughout the war. Sony VAIO PCG-381L battery When heavy snowfall rendered campaigning impossible during the following winter, Kantakouzenos instead sent envoys, including an embassy of monks from Mount Athosto Constantinople. However, they too were dismissed by the Patriarch.^[43] By then, almost all of the Byzantine provinces and their governors had declared themselves for the regency. Sony VAIO PCG-382L battery Only Theodore Synadenos, an old associate of Kantakouzenos who was the governor of the Empire's second city, Thessalonica, indicated his support. Synadenos had kept his allegiance to Kantakouzenos secret from the city's populace, and intended to surrender Thessalonica in collusion with the local aristocracy. Furthermore, Hrelja, the Serbian magnate and virtually independent ruler of Strumica and the Strymon River valley, Sony VAIO PCG-383L battery seemed to lean towards Kantakouzenos. Consequently, as soon as the weather improved, on 2 March 1342, Kantakouzenos left his wife Irene Asanina, his brother-in-law Manuel Asen and his daughters to hold Demotika and marched west with his army toward Thessalonica.^[44] On the way, he first attacked Peritheorion but was repelled and continued westward. Sony VAIO PCG-384L battery Kantakouzenos was however able to take fortress Melnik, where he met with Hrelja to forge an alliance. Their two armies marched toward Thessalonica, but arrived too late to take control. As they approached the city, they were met by Synadenos and other aristocrats, who had fled after an uprising led by a radical popular party, theZealots.^[45] Soon afterwards a fleet of 70 ships led by Apokaukos reinforced the city. Sony VAIO PCG-391L battery Synadenos, whose family had remained behind in Thessalonica, defected to the regency. Apokaukos' son John was appointed governor of Thessalonica, although effective power rested with the Zealots, who for the next seven years led an autonomous regime unparalleled in Byzantine history. At the same time, the regency's army campaigned in Thrace, formally taking possession of towns secured by popular revolt. Sony VAIO PCG-393L battery With Thessalonica barred against him, his supply lines to Thrace cut, and desertions having reduced his army to 2,000 men, of whom half belonged to Hrelja, Kantakouzenos was forced to withdraw north to Serbia, where he hoped to secure the aid of Stephen Dushan. Soon after, Hrelja also deserted Kantakouzenos and joined the regency, hoping to gain control of Melnik for himself.^[47] Sony VAIO PCG-394L battery In July 1342, Kantakouzenos met Dushan near Pristina. The Serbian ruler appeared initially reluctant to form an alliance. Nevertheless, under pressure from his nobles, especially the powerful Jovan Oliver, he could not afford to miss this unique opportunity to expand south. Desperately in need of Serbian aid, Kantakouzenos apparently agreed that the Serbs could keep any town they took, despite his own later account to the contrary. Sony VAIO PCG-3A1L battery According to Nikephoros Gregoras, the Serbs claimed all of Macedonia west of Christopolis (Kavala), except for Thessalonica and its environs. The only concession Kantakouzenos secured was that an exception be made for those towns that surrendered to him in person. To seal the pact, Kantakouzenos' younger son, Manuel, was to be wed to the daughter of Jovan Oliver, although after Dushan later broke the alliance, the marriage did not take place.^[48] Sony VAIO PCG-3A2L battery Hrelja too acceded to the pact, in exchange for the surrender of Melnik by Kantakouzenos' garrison. After Hrelja's death later that year, Melnik was seized by Dushan.^[49] In late summer 1342, Kantakouzenos, accompanied by several Serbian magnates, marched into Macedonia at the head of a Greek and Serbian force, intending to break through to his wife, who still held out at Demotika.^[50] Sony VAIO PCG-3A3L battery His advance was stopped almost immediately beforeSerres when the city refused to surrender, and the subsequent siege had to be abandoned after an epidemic killed most of his men, forcing him to retreat into Serbia with a rump force of barely 500 soldiers. Dushan led a more successful parallel campaign, capturing Vodena (Edessa).^[51] Serbian forces captured Florina and Kastoria shortly afterwards, thereby extending their hold over western Macedonia. Sony VAIO PCG-3A4L battery The Serbs also expanded their control over Albania, so that by the summer of 1343, with the exception of Angevin-controlledDyrrhachium, all of the region appears to have fallen under Serbian rule.^[52] Morale among Kantakouzenos' followers fell dramatically. Rumours circulated in Constantinople that a dejected Kantakouzenos planned to retire to Mount Athos as a monk, and riots broke out in the city in which several rich men were killed and their houses looted by the populace.^[53] Sony VAIO PCG-41112L battery In late fall, Empress Anna twice sent embassies to Dushan trying to convince him to surrender Kantakouzenos, but the Serbian ruler, seeking to extract more profit from their alliance, refused.^[54] Kantakouzenos' fortunes began to improve when a delegation of the nobles of Thessaly reached him and offered to accept his authority. Kantakouzenos appointed his relative John Angelos as the province's governor. Sony VAIO PCG-51211L battery Although in effect a semi-independent ruler, Angelos was both loyal and effective. He soon brought Epirus—which he had governed in Andronikos II's name in 1340—into the Kantakouzenist camp, and even made gains in Thessaly at the expense of the Catalans of Athens.^[55] Another effort by Kantakouzenos to break from Serbia into Macedonia failed before Serres.^[56] Sony VAIO PCG-51311L battery In the meantime, Kantakouzenos' wife Irene called upon the aid of the Bulgarians to help relieve the blockade of Demotika by the regency's army. Ivan Alexander dispatched troops, but although they clashed with the regency's forces, they made no effort in assisting the city, instead pillaging the countryside. At this point, Kantakouzenos' position was greatly strengthened by the intervention of his old friend, Sony VAIO PCG-51312L battery Umur Bey, who in late 1342 or early 1343 sailed up the Evros river with a fleet of 300 ships and 29,000 (according to Kantakouzenos) or 15,000 (according to Turkish sources) men-in-arms and relieved Demotika both from the siege by the regency's forces and from the depredations of the Bulgarians. After pillaging Thrace for a few months, Umur was forced to retreat to Asia at the onset of winter, to which the Turks were unaccustomed.^[58] Sony VAIO PCG-51411L battery This turn of events displeased Dushan, for Kantakouzenos now had an independent power base and was less reliant on the Serbian ruler's goodwill. The final rift between Kantakouzenos and Dushan occurred in April 1343, when Kantakouzenos persuaded the town of Berroia, besieged by the Serbs, to surrender to him instead of Dushan. This was followed by the surrender of several other forts in the area to Kantakouzenos, including Servia and Platamon. Sony VAIO PCG-51412L battery These moves strengthened Kantakouzenos' position and independence from Dushan, thereby thwarting the latter's plans for expansion. Realizing that he had little to gain by continuing to support Kantakouzenos, Dushan opened negotiations with the regency and concluded a formal alliance with them in the summer of 1343.^[59] Sony VAIO PCG-51511L battery Meanwhile, Kantakouzenos and his army camped outside Thessalonica, hoping to take the city through the aid of his supporters within the walls. Apokaukos arrived at the head of the Byzantine fleet to aid the Zealots, pinning Kantakouzenos down in Macedonia between Thessalonica and Dushan's possessions. Once again Umur of Aydin came to Kantakouzenos' assistance with a fleet carrying some 6,000 men, Sony VAIO PCG-51513L battery whereupon Apokaukos and his ships fled from the superior Turkish navy. Nevertheless, a reinforced Thessalonica was able to hold out against a siege by Kantakouzenos and Umur.^[60] Although he had failed to take Thessalonica, the presence of his Turkish allies allowed Kantakouzenos to turn his attention towards Thrace. In late 1343 he left his son Manuel as governor of Berroia and western Macedonia and marched towards Demotika, Sony VAIO PCG-5N2L battery relieving the city and seeing his wife for the first time in almost two years. On his way to Demotika, Kantakouzenos had seized a number of fortresses in Thrace, although another siege of Peritheorion failed. He followed up with a successful campaign that took Komotini and other fortresses in the Rhodope area.^[61] Sony VAIO PCG-5N4L battery Over the next couple of years, the towns and forts of Thrace came over to Kantakouzenos' camp one by one, but at great cost, as his mainly Turkish troops repeatedly plundered the countryside.^[62] The shifting tide of the war did not go unnoticed in the opposing camp. In late 1344, several prominent personalities defected to Kantakouzenos, including John Vatatzes, a general and relative by marriage to both the Patriarch and Apokaukos, Sony VAIO PCG-5P2L battery the Patriarch of Jerusalem Lazaros, and, most importantly, Manuel Apokaukos, son of the megas doux and governor of Adrianople. At the same time, the regency's alliance with Dushan was paying dividends for the Serbian ruler alone, as he had free rein to plunder and occupy all of Macedonia and Epirus. By the end of 1345, only Thessalonica, held by the Zealots, Sony VAIO PCG-5P4L battery Serres and the surrounding region, which remained loyal to the regency, along with Berroia, which still held out under Manuel Kantakouzenos, remained outside Serbian control.^[65] These developments placed the regency in considerable difficulties. In spite of Apokaukos' adroit management of the state's finances, the devastation caused by the prolonged wars had emptied the treasury. Sony VAIO PCG-5R1L battery In August 1343, Empress Anna was forced to pawn the crown jewels to Venice for 30,000 ducats. In addition, Turkish ravages in Thrace led to a scarcity of food in Constantinople.^[66] Hoping for Western aid, Anna appealed to the Pope, promising the submission of herself, John V, Apokaukos and even the Patriarch to his authority, and began persecuting the pro-Kantakouzenists and anti-Western Palamists. Sony VAIO PCG-5R2L battery In 1344, the regency concluded a further alliance with Bulgaria, which required the surrender of Philippopolis (Plovdiv) and nine other towns in northern Thrace along the river Evros. Nevertheless, after their occupation, Ivan Alexander refrained from direct action against Kantakouzenos' forces operating in southern and eastern Thrace.^[68] Sony VAIO PCG-5S1L battery At the same time, Momchil, a formerbrigand whom Kantakouzenos had entrusted with control over the region of Merope in the Rhodope mountains, switched over to the regency.^[69] In early 1344, Kantakouzenos was deprived of Umur and the bulk of his army, who had sailed home to repel a Latin attack on his main harbour, Smyrna. On their way, the Turkish force was attacked by the Serbs under Gregory Preljub, Sony VAIO PCG-5S2L battery but prevailed at the Battle of Stephaniana.^[70] Nevertheless, Kantakouzenos was able to ward off joint attacks by Dushan and Apokaukos until Umur returned to his aid the next spring at the head of an army of 20,000 men.^[71] Kantakouzenos and Umur raided Bulgaria, and then turned against Momchil. The latter had exploited the power vacuum in the Rhodope, an effective no man's land between the Serbs, Sony VAIO PCG-5S3L battery Bulgarians and Byzantines, to set himself up as a quasi-independent prince, supported by a substantial force of around 5,000 men. On 7 July 1345, the two armies clashed at Peritheorion. Momchil's army was crushed, and he himself fell in the field.^[69] Soon afterwards, Dushan arrived before Serres and laid siege to the city. Rejecting demands by Kantakouzenos to withdraw, Sony VAIO PCG-5T2L battery

The latter occur in four instances

^2] The latter occur in four instances; two pairs of text float on either side of Christ, two around Michael. Beneath the lily, in white paint^[36] are the words of Christ: VENITE BENEDICTI PATRIS MEI POSSIDETE PARATUM VOBIS REGNUM A CONSTITUTIONE MUNDI ("Come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of the world"). DELL Precision M4500 Laptop Keyboard The text beneath the sword reads: DISCEDITE A ME MALEDICTI IN IGNEM ÆTERNUM QUI PARATUS EST DIABOLO ET ANGELIS EJUS ("Depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels").^[C] The inscriptions follow the 14th-century convention of showing figures, imagery and motifs associated with the saved to Christ's right, and those of the damned to his left. HP Mini 110-3004tu Laptop Keyboard TOSHIBA Mini NB 505-SP0160 Laptop Keyboard The words beneath the lily (the benedicti) read upwards towards Heaven, their curves leaning in towards Christ. The text to the left (the maledicti) flows in the opposite direction; from the highest point downwards. The inscriptions to Christ's right are decorated in light colours, to the extent that they are usually difficult to discern in reproductions. The lettering opposite faces downwards, and is applied with black paint. Lenovo 45N2106 Laptop Keyboard A number of panels are in poor condition, owing variously to darkening of the colours, accumulated dirt, and poor decisions during early restorations.^[54] The altarpiece stayed in the chapel from the time of its installation until the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, when it was hidden in the attic for decades. When it was brought out, the nude souls – thought to be offensive – were painted over with clothing and flames; DELL INSPIRON 1464 Laptop Keyboard it was moved to a different room, hung 3 metres (10 ft) from the ground, and portions were whitewashed. In 1836, the Commission of Antiquities retrieved it and began plans to have it restored.^[55] Four decades later it underwent major restoration – between 1875 and 1878 – when many of these additions were removed, but not without significant damage to the original paintwork,^[54] HP Mini 110-3118cl Laptop Keyboard such as the loss of pigment to the wall-hangings in the donor panels, which were originally red and gold.^[56] In general, the central inside panels are better preserved than the interior and exterior wings.^[54] De Salins' panel is damaged; its colours have darkened with age; originally the niche was a light blue (today it is light green) and the shield held by the angel was painted in blue.^[54] APPLE A1278 Laptop Keyboard The panels were laterally divided so that both sides could be displayed simultaneously,^[1] and a number of the panels were transferred to canvas.Since before 1000 the Last Judgement had been developing as a complex subject in art, and from the 11th century became a very common subject as a wall-painting in churches, typically placed over the main door in the west wall, where it would be seen by worshippers as they left the building.^[57] HP G62-b04SL CPU Fan Elements of the image had gradually been added, with Saint Michael weighing the souls a late arrival, first seen in 12th-century Italy. Since it has no biblical basis it is often thought to draw from pre-Christian parallels, such as depictions of Anubis performing a similar role in Ancient Egyptian art.^[58]In medieval English a wall-painting of the Last Judgement was called a doom.^[59]  Dell Vostro 3500 CPU Fan Van der Weyden may have drawn influence from Stefan Lochner's c. 1435 Last Judgement, and a similar c. 1420 painting now in the Hotel de Ville, Diest, Belgium. Points of reference include Christ raised over a Great Deësis of saints, apostles and clergy above depictions of the entrance to Heaven and the gates of Hell. In both earlier works Christ perches on a rainbow; in the Deësis panel he also is above a globe. DELL Inspiron N3010 Series CPU Fan While these two earlier works are filled with dread and chaos, van der Weyden's panels display the same sorrowful, but self-controlled dignity of his best works. This is most evident in the manner in which the oversized and dispassionate Christ orchestrates the scene from Heaven.^[60] The work's moralising tone is apparent from some of its more overtly dark iconography, HP 550 CPU Fan HP 646578-001 CPU Fan its choice of saints, and how the scales tilt far lower beneath the weight of the damned than the saved. The damned to Christ's left are more numerous and less detailed than the saved to his right. In these ways it can be compared to Matthias Grünewald's Isenheim Altarpiece, which served much the same purpose, having been commissioned for the Monastery of St. Anthony in Isenheim, which cared for the dying. DELL Vostro A860 CPU Fan The similarities between the altarpiece and the c. late 1460s Last Judgement by van der Weyden's apprentice Hans Memling has led art historians to suggest a common tie, Florentine banker Angelo Tani, gave commissions to van der Weyden before his death in 1464. Because Memling's apprenticeship post-dated the completion and installation of the altarpiece, HP Pavilion dv6-3125ej CPU Fan art historians speculate that Tani or Memling would have seen it in situ, or that Memling came into possession of a workshop design.^[61]Two additional works with similar depictions of Christ – a Martin Schongauer at the Louvre dated c. 1469 and another in Germany from about 1493 – suggest the existence of the input of members of his workshop.^[62] Compaq Presario A916NR CPU Fan In Memling's work the Deësis and Christ's placement, above St Michael with his scales, are almost identical to the Beaune Altarpiece.^[35] Despite the marked similarities, the crowded scenes in Memling's Last Judgement contrast sharply with "the hushed serenity of Rogier's composition," according to Lane,^[35] and in a mirror image of van der Weyden's altarpiece, Memling shows the saved outweighing the damned in St Michael's scales. HP 532614-001 CPU Fan The Justice of Trajan and Herkinbald was a set of four large panels painted by the Flemish painter Rogier van der Weyden that decorated one wall of a court-room in the Town Hall of Brussels. They represented the Justice of Trajan, a Roman emperor, and The Justice of Herkinbald, a legendary Duke of Brabant. HP KSB06105HA CPU Fan The panels were intended as a reminder to judges to dispense impartial justice and were admired by generations of visitors, including Albrecht Dürer.^[1] They were destroyed when the city was bombarded by the French in 1695 and are now known only from descriptions and from a tapestry copy in the Historical Museum of Bern.^[2][3] SONY VAIO PCG-6L2L CPU Fan The work is thought to have preoccupied van der Weyden for several years, and is believed to have been, in conception and excution, on a scale and breath and skill to equal Jan van Eyck'sGhent Altarpiece. The panels were recorded and described in a number of sourced until the 17th century; espicially detailed are the inscriptions on the frames, which are likely the same as those contained on the edges of the tapestry.  HP 489126-001 CPU Fan Each panel was about eleven feet in height and together they spanned a distance of about thirty five feet. The theme of the panels was justice safeguarded by divine intervention.^[5] The legends of Trajan and Herkinbald appear to occur together for the first time in 1308 in the Alphabetum Narrationum (Alphabet of Tales), a collection of over 800 tales attributed to Arnold of Liége(previously to Etienne de Besançon)  HP Envy 17-2290nr CPU Fan arranged by themes and intended to be used as a basis forhomilies. The theme Iustitia (Justice) included just these two legends, although the legend of Trajan is given in a slightly different version from that depicted in the paintings and tapestry.^[6] The first panel showed a widow begging justice from Trajan for the murder of her son and Trajan ordering the execution of the soldier accused by the woman (in the tale in the Alphabetum Narrationum, ASUS BFB0705HA CPU Fan Trajan offered the widow his son as a replacement for her murdered son). The second panel depicted the story in the Golden Legend of Pope Gregory I's miraculous resurrection and conversion of Trajan, thus releasing him from Purgatory. Gregory is shown holding Trajan's exhumed skull, in which the tongue has been miraculously preserved and thus able to utter the death sentence, demonstrating the justness of that sentence. FUJITSU Lifebook T5010 Series CPU Fan Van der Weyden is known to have portrayed himself as a bystander in this scene. The third panel depicted Herkinbald on his death bed slitting the throat of his nephew, who had committed a rape. The fourth panel showed Herkinbald miraculously receiving the Host, despite refusing to confess the slaying of his nephew as a sinful act.^[2][7] Dell Vostro 3450 CPU Fan Both Nicholas of Cusa (in 1453) and Dubuisson-Aubenay (in the 1620s) mentioned that the work contained a self-portrait, generally though to be faithfully reproduced in the 'Herkinbald slaying his nephew' passage. The tapestry dates from about 1450. It measures 461 cm by 1053 cm (about 15 feet by 35 feet) and was probably woven in eitherTournai or Brussels,  Dell Vostro 3500 CPU Fan two important centres of tapestry manufacture and both associated with van der Weyden. It is a wall tapestry, woven in wool, silk, and gold and silver thread. It was commissioned by George of Saluzzo on his appointment as Bishop of Laussanne in 1440. Saluzzo wanted a tapestry depicting justice scenes for the courtroom above his chapter house. HP Probook 4325s laptop keyboard He apparently knew that van der Weyden had painted these scenes and ordered them copied. It was not an exact copy but the earliest surviving work which depicts the same scenes.^[7] In the passages depicting Pope Gregory I, one of the bystanders is more finely and carefully worked than the others, and this is almost certainly a copy of the self-portrait that van der Weyden had originally incorporated in his painting. HP Pavilion dv6-3004tu laptop keyboard It is one of only two self-portraits that survive, both as copies (of which the other has two versions), of van der Weyden. Campbell remarks it gives a better impression of van der Weyden's disdainful appearance than the other. Matthias Grünewald (c. 1470 – August 31, 1528) was a German Renaissance painter of religious works who ignored Renaissance classicism to continue the expressive and intense style of late medieval Central European art into the 16th century. Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard His first name is also given as Mathis and his surname as Gothart or Neithardt. Only ten paintings—several consisting of many panels—and thirty-five drawings survive, all religious, although many others were lost at sea in the Baltic on their way to Sweden as war booty. His reputation was obscured until the late nineteenth century, and many of his paintings were attributed to Albrecht Dürer, who is now seen as his stylistic antithesis. HP Mini 110-3004tu laptop keyboard His largest and most famous work is the Isenheim Altarpiece created 1506 to 1515 or perhaps 1512 to 1516. The details of his life are unusually unclear for a painter of his significance at this date, despite the fact that his commissions show that he had reasonable recognition in his own lifetime. The first source for his biography is the German art historian Joachim von Sandrart, who describes him around 1505 working on the exterior decoration of an altarpiece by Albrecht Dürer in Frankfurt. HP Pavilion dv5-1114ez laptop keyboard This is the sort of work typically performed by apprentices and therefore an estimate of his age can be reached, suggesting he was born in 1480-83.^[1] Sandrart records that Grünewald had as an apprentice the painter Hans Grimmer, who would become famous in his time, but most of whose works were lost in the Thirty Years' War.^[2] Sandrart describes Grünewald as leading a withdrawn and melancholy life, and marrying unhappily.^[3] TOSHIBA Satellite L40-17U laptop keyboard More recent investigations have provided further information on Grünewald's life. In 1511 he became court artist of Uriel von Gemmingen, Archbishop of Mainz, and he also worked for the next archbishop, Albert of Brandenburg. In 1512 he settled in nearbyFrankfurt where records indicate he bought a house and married Anna, a converted Jew, then probably aged 18.  Lenovo 25-011670 laptop keyboard The marriage was not happy and in 1523 she would be institutionalised with what is variously described as mental illness and demonic possession.^[4] From 1512 to 1514 or 1515 he worked on the Isenheim altarpiece, apparently in partnership with another Mathis, variously surnamed Nithart, Neithart, von Würzburg (after his place of birth), or Gothardt. Compaq Presario CQ71-402SA laptop keyboard Grünewald seems to have left Isenheim in a hurry, returning to Frankfurt, and his subsequent poverty suggests he was not fully paid for the altarpiece. In 1527 he entered the services of the wealthy and noble von Erbach family, apparently with a child (whether his own or adopted, is unclear). He most probably died in 1532, although sources vary.^[5] HP Mini 110-3504tu laptop keyboard There has been considerable uncertainty about the details of his life. In 1938 Walter Karl Zülch published the theory that Grünewald and his partner Nithart/Gothardt were the same person; this Nithart/Gothardt was a painter, engineer, and "water artist" born in Würzburg in the 1460s or maybe 1470s and probably dying in 1528.  HP COMPAQ NC6120 laptop keyboard This theory is now generally discredited, although more recent historians believe Nithart/Gothardt may have pretended to be Grünewald for business reasons.^[6] Grünewald's first dated painting is probably in Munich, dated 1503 on a much later note which apparently records an older inscription. Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard There is much speculation about Grünewald's politics, with some people associating him with the Reformation or support for the lower classes. He may have left the Archbishop of Mainz because of sympathies either with the German Peasants' War, or Lutheranism (he had some Lutheran pamphlets and papers at his death). GATEWAY MX8741 Laptop Keyboard Only religious works are included in his small surviving corpus, the most famous being the Isenheim Altarpiece, completed 1515, now in the Musée d'Unterlinden, Colmar. Its nine images on twelve panels are arranged on double wings to present three views (rather than just the open and closed states of triptych altarpieces), according to the season or occasion. HP Pavilion G6-1B59WM Laptop Keyboard The first view with the outer wings closed shows a Crucifixion flanked by Saint Sebastien and Saint Anthony, with a predella showing the entombment. When the first set of wings is opened, the Annunciation, Angelic Concert (sometimes interpreted as the Birth of Ecclesia) Mary bathing Christ, and Resurrection are displayed. SONY Vaio VGN-SZ73B/B CPU Fan The third view discloses a carved and gilded wood altarpiece by Nikolaus Hagenauer, flanked by the Temptation of St. Anthony and Anthony's visit to Saint Paul. As well as being by far his greatest surviving work, the altarpiece contains most of his surviving painting by surface area, being 2.65 metres high and over 5 metres wide at its fullest extent. Dell Latitude E6510 CPU Fan His other works are in Germany, except for a small Crucifixion in Washington and another in Basel, Switzerland. Around 1510 he was asked to paint four saints in grisaille for the outside of the wings of Albrecht Dürer's Heller Altarpiece (de) in Frankfurt. Dürer's work was destroyed by fire and survives only in copies, but fortunately the wings have survived, SONY UDQFRZH13CF0 CPU Fan one pair of saints being displayed in Frankfurt's Municipal Art Gallery and the other in Karlsruhe's, Staatliche Kunsthalle. There are also the lateTauberbischofsheim altarpiece in the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, and the Establishment of the Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome(1517–1519), Augustiner Museum, Freiburg. A large panel of Saint Erasmus and Saint Maurice in Munich probably dates from 1521–24, and was apparently part of a larger altarpiece project, the rest of which has not survived. HP Pavilion dv6-3370ca CPU Fan Other works are in Munich, Karlsruhe,Aschaffenberg and Stuppach (:de). Altogether four somber and awe-filled Crucifixions survive. The visionary character of his work, with its expressive colour and line, is in stark contrast to Dürer's works. His paintings are known for their dramatic forms, vivid colors, and depiction of light. HP G62-341NR CPU Fan The Protestant theologian Philipp Melanchthon is one of the few contemporary writers to refer to Grünewald, who is rather puzzlingly described as "moderate" in style, when compared with Dürer and Cranach; what paintings this judgement is based on is uncertain. By the end of the century, when the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph II, embarked on his quest to secure as many Dürer paintings as possible, HP 535438-001 CPU Fan the Isenheim Altarpiece was already generally believed to be a Dürer. In the late 19th century he was rediscovered, and became something of a cult figure, with the angst-laden expressionism—and absence of any direct classicism—of the Isenheim Altarpiece appealing to both German Nationalists and Modernists. Joris-Karl Huysmans promoted his art enthusiastically in both novels and journalism, rather as Proust did that of Vermeer. Dell Vostro 3450 CPU Fan His apparent sympathies with the peasants in the Peasants' War also brought him admiration from the political left. The composer Paul Hindemith based his 1938 opera Mathis der Maler on the life of Grünewald during the German Peasants' War; scene Six includes a partial re-enactment of some scenes from the Isenheim Altarpiece. DELL XPS M170 CPU Fan Elias Canetti wrote his novel Auto-da-Fé surrounded by reproductions of the Isenheim altarpiece stuck to the wall. German author W.G. Sebald traces the life story of Grünewald in his first literary work, After Nature. This book-length prose-poem uses the preoccupations of Grünewald and especially his creation of the Isenheim Altarpiece to communicate an intensely apocalyptic vision of a world that has abandoned nature.^[7SONY Vaio VGN-SZ2XP/C CPU Fan ^] The Isenheim Altarpiece also features in the last chapter of Sebald's novel The Emigrants, in which the painter Max Ferber describes his intuition of the extreme power of pain after seeing Grünewald's work The Isenheim Altarpiece is an altarpiece sculpted and painted by, respectively, the Germans Niclaus of Haguenau andMatthias Grünewald in 1512–1516.^[1] It is on display at the Unterlinden Museum at Colmar, Alsace, in France. HP Pavilion dv6z-3100 CTO CPU Fan The museum celebrated the 500th anniversary of this masterpiece in 2012.^[2] By far Grünewald's greatest and largest work, it was painted for the Monastery of St. Anthony in Isenheim near Colmar, which specialized in hospital work. The Antonine monks of the monastery were noted for their care of plague sufferers as well as their treatment of skin diseases, such asergotism. HP KSB06105HA CPU Fan The image of the crucified Christ is pitted with plague-type sores, showing patients that Jesus understood and shared their afflictions. With the exception of certain holy days, the wings of the altarpiece were kept closed, displaying The Crucifixion framed on the left by the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian pierced by arrows, and on the right by Saint Anthony the Great, remaining placid although he is being taunted by a frightening monster. SONY Vaio VPC-EB2S1E/WI CPU Fan The two saints protect and heal the sick, Saint Anthony as the patron saint of the victims of Saint Anthony's fire and Saint Sebastian, whose aid was invoked to ward off the plague. Grünewald's Crucifixion stands as one of the most poignant representations of this scene in Western art due to the artist's masterful depiction of horrific agony, with Christ's emaciated body writhing under the pain of the nails driven through his hands and feet.  Dell Vostro 3500 CPU Fan This body covered with sores and riddled with thorns must have terrified the sick, but also left no doubt about Christ's suffering, thus comforting them in their communion with the Saviour, whose pain they shared. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is shown at Christ's right, collapsing in anguish in the arms of John, the beloved disciple of Christ, and shrouded in a large piece of white cloth. ASUS BFB0705HA CPU Fan At Christ's left, John the Baptist is accompanied by a lamb, symbolising the sacrifice of Jesus. The presence of John the Baptist is anachronistic. Beheaded by order of Herod in 29 AD, he could not possibly have witnessed the death of Christ. This last figure announces the New Testament by crying out in Latin, illum oportet crescere me autem minui (Vulgate, John3:30), "He must increase, but I must decrease."^{[John 3:30]} HP Pavilion dv6720er CPU Fan The inclusion of John the Baptist in this scene is symbolic, since he is considered as the last of the prophets to announce the coming of the Messiah. The outer wings of the Isenheim Altarpiece were opened for important festivals of the liturgical year, particular those in honour of the Virgin Mary. HP KSB06105HA CPU Fan Thus are revealed four scenes: the left wing represents the Annunciation during which thearchangel Gabriel comes to announce to Mary that she will give birth to Jesus, the son of God. The Virgin Mary is depicted in a chapel to indicate the sacred character of the event. In the central corpus, the Concert of Angels and the Nativity are not independent scenes but instead fit within a unified concept: DELL V119525BS1 Laptop Keyboard the viewer witnesses Christ's coming to earth as a newborn baby, who will be led to combat the forces of evil personified by certain of the angels, disturbing in their physical appearance. A number of symbols provide keys to aid in interpretation: the enclosed garden represents Mary's womb and is a sign of her perpetual virginity, the rose bush without thorns refers to her as free of original sin, the fig tree symbolises mother's milk. TOSHIBA Satellite P500 Laptop Keyboard The bed, the bucket and the chamber pot underscore the human nature of Christ. Lastly, the right wing shows the Resurrection, in which Christ emerges from the tomb and ascends into Heaven bathed in light transfiguring the countenance of the Crucified into the face of God. The Resurrection and the Ascension are therefore encapsulated in a single image.  Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 Laptop Keyboard Saint Augustine and Guy Guers, Saint Anthony, Two Bearers of Offerings, Saint Jerome, Christ and the Twelve Apostles by Niclaus of Haguenau With its inner wings open, the Altarpiece allowed pilgrims and the afflicted to venerate Saint Anthony, protector and healer of Saint Anthony's fire. Saint Anthony occupies the place of honour at the centre of the corpus and at his side a pig is depicted, the emblem of the Antonite order. TOSHIBA Satellite L300 Laptop Keyboard On his left and right, two bearers of offerings illustrate these contributions in kind, an important source of income for the Antonites. This central section is framed by Saint Augustine and Saint Jerome, two of the four great fathers of the Latin Church. Guy Guyers, who had commissioned the Altarpiece, is depicted kneeling at the feet of Saint Augustine. DELL AEFM8U00310 Laptop Keyboard - Visit of Saint Anthony to Saint Paul the Hermit The two hermits meet in a stunning landscape, intended to represent the Theban Desert. Grünewald created a fantastic universe, surrounding the date palm with a strange mixture of vegetation, in marked contrast with the calmness and tranquillity of the encounter, in which the animals in attendance take part, with the crow bringing two morsels of bread to the two recluses.  DELL 0P445M Laptop Keyboard In this dreamlike scene, medicinal plants, painted in naturalistic fashion, sprout at the feet of the two main figures. - Saint Anthony Tormented by Demons This panel depicts Saint Anthony being tormented by monstrous creatures sent by Satan. Trampled to the ground, beaten with sticks, torn by claws and bitten, Saint Anthony appeals to God for help who sends angels to combat these evil demons. Sony VAIO PCG-31112V battery In the lower left corner, the being with webbed feet and a distended belly seems to personify the disease caused by ergot poisoning, resulting in swelling and ulcerous growths. The altarpiece’s location in Alsace has meant that, in recent times, control of the work has alternated between France and Germany according to the fortunes of war.^[3] Sony VAIO PCG-31111M battery Following the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71 and the passing of control to Germany, German writers developed the concept that the altarpiece somehow represented the essential character of the German nation. The work subsequently became an object of extraordinary scenes of veneration in Munich during its temporary relocation there during the First World War, and again when Alsace passed back into French hands at the end of the War ^[4] Sony VAIO PCG-31112M battery In the immediate postwar period the altarpiece, with its strong overtones of violent sensation and emotion, became a natural source of inspiration for many painters in the influential Expressionist school, such as George Grosz and Otto Dix;.^[5][6] It also provided the basis for Hindemith's modernist opera Mathis der Maler. In the later 1930s, Sony VAIO PCG-31113M battery it appears to have suffered a temporary decline in official esteem in Germany as a result of the National Socialists’ branding of both Expressionism and of Hindemith’s work as "degenerate".^[7] Due to renovation work in the former convent and until April 2015, the Isenheim Altarpiece is on view in the local Dominican Church, located about 200 metres from the Unterlinden Museum. Sony VAIO PCG-31114M battery This temporary transfer offers an exceptional and unprecedented opportunity to present, alongside Grünewald and Haguenau’s monumental masterwork, all three painted works by the Colmar native Martin Schongauer held in Colmar: the Orlier Altarpiece (1470–1475), the Altarpiece of the Dominicans (c. 1480) and the Virgin of the Rose Bush (1473). Sony VAIO PCG-31111V battery The altarpiece depicting Saint Catherine and Saint Lawrence (c. 1510) and sculptures from the Late Middle Ages round out the presentation. 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Beaune Altarpiece

http://www.all-laptopfan.com/,http://www.all-keyboard.com/,http://www.laptopbattery-shop.co.uk/ The Beaune Altarpiece (c. 1445–50), often called The Last Judgement, is a large polyptych altarpiece by theFlemish artist Rogier van der Weyden. It was painted in oil on oak panels, with parts later transferred to canvas. It consists of fifteen paintings on nine panels; six of these are painted on both sides. It retains some of its original frames.^[1] French Macaron Pillow ,Creative Cushion - Matty's Six outer panels (or shutters) are hinged, when folded they show an exterior view of saints and the donors. The inner panels contain scenes from the Last Judgement and are arranged across two registers. The large central panel that spans both registers shows Christ seated on a rainbow in judgement, with his feet resting on a golden globe. Below him the Archangel Michael holds scales as he weighs souls. French Macaron Pillow ,Creative Cushion - Matty's The panel on Christ's far right shows the gates of Heaven, that to his far left the entrance to Hell. The panels of the lower register form a continuous landscape, with figures depicted moving from the central panel to their final destinations after receiving judgement. The altarpiece was commissioned in 1443 for the Hospices de Beaune by Nicolas Rolin, SONY VAIO PCG-21211M battery Chancellor of the Duchy of Burgundy, and his wife Guigone de Salins, who is buried in front of the altarpiece's original location in the hospice.^[2] It is one of van der Weyden's most ambitious works, equal to his Prado Deposition and lost Justice of Trajan and Herkinbald.^[3] It remains in the hospice today, although not in its original position. SONY VAIO PCG-21212M battery It is in poor condition and was moved in the 20th century to shield it from sunlight and better protect it from the almost 300,000 visitors it receives annually.^[2] It has suffered from extensive paint loss, the wearing and darkening of its colours, and an accumulation of dirt. In addition, a heavy layer of over-paint was applied during restoration. The two painted sides of the outer panels have been separated so both can be shown simultaneously; SONY VAIO PCG-21212V battery traditionally, the shutters would have been opened only on selected Sundays or church holidays. Nicolas Rolin was appointed Chancellor of Burgundy by Philip the Good in 1422, a position he held for the next 33 years.^[4] His tenure with the duke made him a wealthy man, and he donated a large portion of his fortune for the foundation of the Hôtel-Dieu in Beaune.^[5] SONY VAIO PCG-21213V battery It is not known why he decided to build in Beaune rather than in his birthplace of Autun. He may have chosen Beaune because it lacked a hospital and an outbreak of the plague decimated the population between 1438 and 1440.^[6] Furthermore, when in 1435 the Treaty of Arras failed to bring a cessation to the longstanding hostility and animosity between Burgundy and France, SONY VAIO PCG-21214V battery the town suffered brutal ravages and famine from écorcheurs (marauding bands) who roamed the countryside during the late 1430s and early 1440s.^[7] The hospice was built after Rolin gained permission from Pope Eugene IV in 1441,^[8] and it was eventually consecrated on 31 December 1452. In conjunction, Rolin established the religious order of "Les sœurs hospitalières de Beaune".^[6] . Sony VAIO PCG-31111M battery Rolin dedicated the hospice to St Anthony Abbot, who was commonly associated with sickness and healing during the Middle Ages. In the hospice's founding charter, signed in August 1443, Rolin wrote that "disregarding all human concerns and in the interest of my salvation, Sony VAIO PCG-31311M battery desiring by a favourable trade to exchange for celestial goods temporal ones, that I might from divine goodness render those goods which are perishable for ones which are eternal ... in gratitude for the goods which the Lord, source of all wealth, has heaped upon me, from now on and for always, I found a hospital."^[10][11] Sony VAIO PCG-8152M battery In the late 1450s, only a few years before he died, he added a provision to the hospital charter stipulating that the Mass for the Dead be offered twice daily.^[12] Rolin's wife, Guigone de Salins,^[A] played a major role in the foundation, as probably did his nephew Jan Rolin. De Salins lived and served at the hospice until her own death in 1470.^[4] Sony VAIO PCG-8131M battery Documents regarding the artwork's commissioning survive and, unusually for a Netherlandish altarpiece, the artist, patron, place of installation and date of completion are all known.^[8] It was intended as the centrepiece for the chapel,^[1] and Rolin approached van der Weyden around 1443, when the hospital was founded. The altarpiece was ready by 1451, the year the chapel was consecrated.^[8] Sony VAIO PCG-5P1M battery Painted in van der Weyden's Brussels workshop – most likely with the aid of apprentices – the completed panels were then transported to the hospice.^[13] The altarpiece is first mentioned in a 1501 inventory, when it was positioned on the high altar. The polyptych was commissioned to provide both comfort and warning to the dying.^[15] SONY VAIO PCG-81212M battery It was intended to remind them of their faith, and direct their last thoughts towards the divine. This is evident in its positioning in the chapel, within view of the patients' beds.^[14] Rolin specified that 30 beds be placed within sight of the altarpiece for those too ill to walk,^[16] where it was visible to them through a pierced screen.^[17] There were usually only two patients per bed, luxurious at a time when six to fifteen in a large bed was more common.^[14HP Mini 210-1109TU Laptop Keyboard ^] Medical care was expensive and primitive in the 15th century; the spiritual care of patients was as important as the treatment of physical ailments.^[15] Saints Sebastian and Anthony represent healing. Both were associated with bubonic plague, and intended to reassure the dying as intercessors with the divine.^[14]  HP Mini 110-1109TU Laptop Keyboard St Michael developed a cult following in 15th-century France, most likely because he was thought to have appeared to Joan of Arc. He was seen as a guardian of the dead, a crucial role given the disasters wrought by plague in the region. There was a severe outbreak in 1441–42, just before Rolin founded the hospital. Pilgrimage to Mont Saint-Michel, Normandy reached a peak around this time. HP G71t-300 CTO Laptop Keyboard According toBarbara Lane, patients were unlikely to survive their stay, yet St Michael offered consolation as they could "gaze on his figure immediately above the altar of the chapel every time the altarpiece was opened. Like Saints Anthony and Sebastian on the exterior of the polyptych, the archangel offered ... hope that they would overcome their physical ills." ASUS F6A Laptop Keyboard The altarpiece is composed of fifteen separate paintings on nine panels, six of which are painted on both sides.^[1] The closed view comprises two upper and four lower panels on the outside of the shutters. The upper panels are separately hinged and able to close independently of the others. When all the shutters are opened, the viewer is exposed to the expansive "Last Judgement" interior panels.^[19] Lenovo Thinkpad T520 Laptop Keyboard These document the possible spiritual fates of the viewers: that they might reach Heaven or Hell, salvation or damnation; stark alternatives appropriate for a hospice. The exterior panels serve as a funerary monument for the donors. Art historian Lynn Jacobs believes that the "dual function of the work accounts for the choice of the theme of the Last Judgement on its interior".^[20] HP Pavilion DV6-1040ev Laptop Keyboard The work clearly distinguishes between figures of the divine, earthly and hellish realms.^[21] Perhaps following Jan van Eyck's c. 1432 Ghent Altarpiece, the polyptych wings form an inverted T-shape. When the shutters are closed the panels resemble an upside-down cross, a form common in 15th-century carved retables:^[22]an elevated central panel allowed additional space for a narrative scene, HP COMPAQ NX6310 Laptop Keyboard to depict a heavenly vista, a single large figure, or a crucifixion with space for the cross to extend above the other panels, an innovation seen in van der Weyden's Descent from the Cross. This shape echoes typical configuration of Gothic churches, where the naves often extended past the aisles into the apse or choir. The imagery of the outer panels is set in the earthly realm with the donors, and saints painted in grisaille to imitate sculpture. ASUS F82Q Laptop Keyboard According to Jacobs, the treatment of the panels as a whole with van der Weyden's "elimination of thresholds is quite remarkable and indeed astonishing in the history of the triptych."^[24] As with his Braque Triptych, the background landscape extends across each panel of the lower register.^[25] The celestial sphere, towards which the saved move, is dramatically presented with a "radiant gold background, spanning almost the entire width of the altarpiece".^[26] COMPAQ Presario CQ61 Laptop Keyboard Motifs and arrangements of figures extend along the lower panels from one to the next,^[21] to the extent that the separations between panels are ignored with the intersections cutting figures in two.^[25] This is particularly evident on the lower register where each panel division intersects figures, so that parts of figures are painted on two adjoining panels;^[24] HP AEUT3U00140 Laptop Keyboard whereas Christ and St Michael are enclosed within the single central panel, giving emphasis to the iconography.^[27] The lower register presents Earth, with its exits to Heaven and Hell. The imposing figure of Christ above indicates the "reign of heaven is about to begin."^[28] The distinction between the earthly and heavenly realms creates a sense of order. HP Envy 15 Laptop Keyboard Christ, raised high above the altarpiece, "exudes calm and control", and creates a sense of balance and movement throughout the other panels. The manner with which van der Weyden presents the resurrection of the dead across the five lower panels is reminiscent of a Gothic tympanum, specifically that at Autun Cathedral. SONY VAIO VGN-NW240F Laptop Keyboard Rolin would have been familiar with the Autun Cathedral entrances, which may have motivated his decision to commission a Last Judgement for the hospice from van der Weyden.^[29] Rolin was aware of the liturgy associated with the Mass for the Dead, and would have known Last Judgement scenes associated with the Mass from 15th-century illuminated manuscripts, ASUS X53S Laptop Keyboard such as the full-page Last Judgement in the Hours of Catherine of Cleves which shows Christ placed in a similar position, sitting above as the dead rise from the ground. Jesus sits in judgement in the upper centre panel. He holds a lily in his right hand and a sword in his left, and sits on a rainbow extending across two panels, while his feet rest on a sphere. COMPAQ Presario CQ60-201EP Laptop Keyboard His right hand is raised in the act of blessing, his left hand lowered. These positions indicate the act of judgement; he is deciding if souls are to be sent to Heaven or Hell,^[31] his gestures echoing the direction and positioning of the scales held by the Archangel Michael beneath him. His palms are open, revealing the wounds sustained when they were nailed to the cross, HP G72-b80SB Laptop Keyboard while his cope gapes in places making visible the injury caused by the lance, which pours deep-red blood.^[32] Christ's face is identical to the representation in van der Weyden's Braque Triptych, completed just a few years later in 1452.^[33] Christ, placed so high in the pictorial space and spanning both registers, orchestrates the entirety of the inner panels. Whereas earlier Last Judgements might have seemed chaotic, here Christ brings a sense of order.^[29] HP Pavilion dv7-4070us CPUFan The two upper register wings on either side of Jesus show a pair of angels holding the instruments of the Passion.^[2] These include a lance, crown of thorns and a stick with a sponge soaked in vinegar. The angels are dressed in white liturgical vestments. The Archangel Michael, the embodiment and conduit of divine justice, is positioned directly below Christ, the only figure to reach both Heaven and Earth. HP Pavilion dv6-2170us CPUFan He wears a dispassionate expression as he holds a set of scales to weigh souls. Unusually for Christian art, the damned outweigh the blessed; Michael's scales have only one soul in each pan, yet the left pan tips below the right. Michael is given unusual prominence in a "Last Judgement" for the period, and his powerful presence emphasises the work's function in a hospice and its preoccupation with the liturgy of death. ACER Aspire 4820T Series CPUFan His feet are positioned as if he is stepping forward, almost about to move out of the canvas and he looks directly at the viewer, giving the illusion of judging not only the souls in the painting but also the viewers.^[34] Michael, like Sebastian and Anthony, was a plague saint and would have been visible to inmates through the openings of the pierced screen as they lay in their beds.^[26] HP Pavilion dv7-3007tx CPUFan Michael is painted with iconographic elements associated with paintings of the Last Judgement,^[20] and is by far the most beautifully and colourfully painted figure; he is dressed in a red cope with woven golden fabrics over a shining white alb, which dominates the lower panels, "hypnotically attracting the viewer's glance" according to Lane. He is surrounded by four cherubs, playing trumpets to call the dead to their final destination.^[35] Dell Latitude E6510 CPUFan Michael's role in the Last Judgement is emphasised through van der Weyden's use of colour: Michael's gleaming white alb contrasts with the cherub's red vestments, set against a blue sky directly below heaven's golden clouds.^[36] Beneath Michael, souls scurry left and right. The saved walk in single file towards the gates of Heaven where they are greeted by a saint; the damned arrive at the mouth of Hell and fall en masse headlong into damnation.^[29] HP Envy 17 Series CPUFan The souls balanced in the scales are naked. The blessed look towards Christ, the banished look downwards. Both groups are tilted in the direction of Christ's hands.^[B] Reinforcing this, inscriptions around the groupings read VIRTUTES (Virtues) and PECCATA(sins). The Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, the twelve Apostles and an assortment of dignitaries are positioned at either side of Michael in aDeësis. Toshiba Satellite A135-S4499 CPUFan The apostles are seated in a semicircle; Peter, dressed in red, is on the far left, and Paul, dressed in green, is on the far right. The seven haloed dignitaries, dressed in contemporary clothing, are unidentified but include a king, a pope, a bishop, a monk, and three women. Rather than general representative types, they are portraits of specific unidentified individuals, according to Shirley Blum.^[38] HP 441137-001 CPUFan The dead rise from their graves around Michael's feet; some emerge to walk towards Heaven, others towards Hell. They are tiny compared to Christ and the saints. Lorne Campbell notes that these panels display a deeply pessimistic view of humanity, with the damned far outnumbering the saved,^[37] especially compared to Stefan Lochner's Cologne panel, where the saved crowd the entrance to Heaven.^[35] HP Pavilion dv6-2150us CPUFan The dead undergo a gradual transformation as they move from panel to panel. The souls rising at Michael's feet show little expression, becoming more animated as they move to either side; horror and desperation become especially visible on the faces of the damned as they move towards Hell.^[39] On the left, the saved all have, according to Jacobs, "the same beatific expressions", ACER eMachines G620 Series CPUFan but their postures gradually change from facing Christ and Michael to looking towards Heaven's gate, notably with the couple below Mary – the man turns the woman's gaze away from Michael, towards Heaven.^[39] This contrasts with another couple on the opposite panel who face Hell; the woman is hunched over as the man raises his hand in vain to beseech God for mercy.^[40]  TOSHIBA UDQFRZH05C1N CPUFan Heaven is represented by an entrance to the Heavenly City, which is in a contemporary Gothic style illuminated by long, thin rays of light. The saved approach clasping their hands in prayer, and are greeted at the entrance by an angel.^[37] Only a few souls pass through the heavenly gates at a time.^[35] The imagery of a church as an earthly representation of Heaven was popularised in the 13th century by theologians such as Durandus;^[4 Compaq Presario C714NR CPUFan ^1] the gate to Heaven in this work resembles the entrance to the Beaune hospice.^[42] The way to Heaven is shown clearly as a gilded church – the saved ascend a set of steps, turn right, and disappear from sight.^[43] It is fully enclosed in a single panel, whereas Hell extends onto the adjoining panel, perhaps hinting that sin contaminates all around it.  DELL DFS531205PC0T(F6K2-CCW) CPUFan Van der Weyden depicts Hell as a gloomy, crowded place of both close and distant fires, and steep rock faces. The damned tumble helplessly into it, screaming and crying. The sinners descend into Hell with heads mostly bowed, dragging each other along as they go.^[36] Traditionally, a Last Judgement painting would depict the damned tormented by malevolent spirits; yet here the souls are left alone, HP Pavilion dv6-2170us CPUFan the only evidence that they are tormented is in their expressions.^[37] The hellscape is painted so as to instil terror, but without devils.^[45] Erwin Panofsky was the first to pick up on this absence, and proposed that van der Weyden had opted to convey torment in an inward manner, rather than through elaborate descriptions of devils and fiends. He wrote, "HP G42-221BR CPUFan The fate of each human being ... inevitably follows from his own past, and the absence of any outside instigator of evil makes us realize that the chief torture of the Damned is not so much physical pain as a perpetual and intolerably sharpened consciousness of their state".^[46] According to Bernhard Ridderbos, van der Weyden accentuated the theme by "restricting the number of the dead and treating them almost as individuals. HP KSB06105HA CPUFan As the damned approach the abyss of hell they become more and more compressed." The exterior is comprised of the two donor wings, a pair of saints, and two panels with Gabriel presenting himself to Mary. The donors are on the outer wings, kneeling in front of prayer books. Four imitation statues in grisaille make up the inner panels. HP Pavilion dv5-1233se laptop keyboard The lower two depict Saint Sebastian and Saint Anthony.^[47] Sebastian was the saint of plagues and an intercessory against epidemics, Anthony the patron saint of skin diseases and ergotism, known in medieval times as St Anthony's Fire.^[48] The two saints had strong associations with the Burgundian court as well: Philip the Good was born on St Anthony's day, he had anillegitimate son named Anthony, and two of Rolin's sons were named Anthony.  IBM Thinkpad R40 laptop keyboard St Sebastian was the patron saint of Philip the Good's chivalric Order of the Golden Fleece, of which Rolin was a member.^[49] The two small upper register panels show a rather traditional Annunciation scene, with the usual dove representing the Holy Spirit near Mary.^[1DELL Inspiron N4050 laptop keyboard The two sets of panels, unlike those on the interior, are compositionally very different. The figures occupy distinctly separate niches and the colour schemes of the grisaille saints and donors contrast sharply.^[20] Like many mid-1400s polyptychs, the exterior panels borrow heavily from the Ghent Altarpiece, which was completed in 1432. The combination of naturalistic donor portraits with grisaille imitation statues of saints is borrowed from that work, as is the treatment of the Annunciation.^[47] HP 633183-001 laptop keyboard Van der Weyden used iconography in the Beaune exterior panels not found in his other works, which suggests Rolin may have commissioned the altarpiece to follow van Eyck's example.^[19] Van der Weyden was not inclined merely to imitate though, and arranged the panels and figures in a concentrated and compact format.^[47] Jacobs writes that "the exterior presents the most consistent pictorial rendering of trompe l'oeil sculpture to date". HP Pavilion dv6-3001so laptop keyboard Gabriel's scroll and Mary's lily appear to be made of stone; the figures cast shadows against the back of their niches, creating a sense of depth which adds to the illusion. The exterior panels are drab, according to Blum, who writes that on Rolin's panel the most colourful figure is the red angel, which, with its gold helmet and keys, "emerges like an apparition".^[19] DELL Inspiron 1564 laptop keyboard Rolin and de Salins can be identified by the coats-of-arms held by the angels;^[1] husband and wife kneel at cloth-covered prie-dieux (portable altars) displaying their emblems. Although De Salins was reputedly pious and charitable, and even perhaps the impetus for the building of the hospice, she is placed on the exterior right,^[DELL Inspiron 1564 laptop keyboard traditionally thought of as an inferior position corresponding to Hell, linking her to Eve, original sin and the Fall of man.Van Eyck had earlier portrayed Rolin in the c. 1435 Madonna of Chancellor Rolin, and the patron is recognizable from that work; both portraits show similar lips, a large chin and somewhat pointed ears. In van Eyck's portrait, Rolin is presented as perhaps pompous and arrogant; HP COMPAQ NX6310 Laptop Keyboard here – ten years later – he appears more thoughtful and concerned with humility.^[50][51] Campbell notes wryly that van der Weyden may have been able to disguise the sitter's ugliness and age, and that the unusual shape of his mouth may have been downplayed. He writes that while "van Eyck impassively recorded, van der Weyden imposed a stylised and highly personal vision of the subject". HP AELX6U00210 Laptop Keyboard Van Eyck's depiction was most likely the more accurate; van der Weyden embellished, mainly by lengthening the nose, enlarging the eyes and raising the eyebrows.The panels contain quotations in Latin from several biblical texts. They appear either as lettering seemingly sewn into the edges of the figures' clothes (mostly hidden in the folds), or directly on the surface of the central inner panel.^[5HP Probook 4520S Laptop Keyboard