Dusty Art

My prior Art posts can be found HERE.

How do we move away from being a civilization that produces art that causes comments like, “my five year old could make this,” back to being one that creates beauty and inspires deep questions? We must reject modernity and embrace tradition. To embrace tradition, we must first learn about it.

Let’s study art history together.

Bremen Roland (Bremen, Germany)

Location	Bremen, Germany
Part of	Town Hall and Roland on the Marketplace of Bremen
Criteria	Cultural: (iii)(iv)(vi)
Inscription	2004 (28th Session)
Coordinates	53°04′33″N 8°48′26″E

This statue is one of the most famous in Germany, rich in both history and symbolic meaning. The man depicted is a historical knight, a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne named Roland, holding both an unsheathed sword and a shield.

In the Middle Ages, especially in Germany, statues of Roland, with a drawn sword, were placed in front of churches and in market places to signify the rights of the town itself. (more via wiki)

A Roland statue is a statue of a knight with a drawn sword, signifying the town privileges of a medieval city. Such statues exist in a number of cities notably in northern and eastern Germany, where they are often placed on the market square or in front of the city hall. Examples are also known from Central Europe, Croatia and Latvia, and there are copies in Brazil and the United States. Statues of the mythological Roland, who enjoyed the status as a popular hero, were erected in cities during the Middle Ages as an emblem of the freedom and city rights of a town. In Germany, such a town is sometimes known as a Roland town (German: Rolandstadt). Philippe Dollinger notes that although there are several Roland statues in the Baltic Sea area, there is nothing specifically Hanseatic about them. Rather, Roland statues are known mainly from cities that used Saxon Law.

History

The first Roland statues began to appear in the 12th century, placed outside churches. During the 14th and 15th centuries, Roland statues became more common. Especially during the reign of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, such statues became more common, a fact that may be explained by the Emperor’s ambition to portray himself as the heir to Charlemagne‘s reign. The earliest Roland statues were made of wood, while later examples were more often made of stone.

Depictions of the historical Roland remain standing throughout a lot of Europe, but the man himself is not as well remembered in modern times. But we’ll give you a quick summary below, before talking more about Bremen’s Roland:

Roland (French pronunciation: [ʁɔ.lɑ̃]; Old Frankish: *Hrōþiland; Medieval Latin: Hruodlandus or Rotholandus; Italian: Orlando or Rolando; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became an epic hero and one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. The historical Roland was military governor of the Breton March, responsible for defending Francia‘s frontier against the Bretons. His only historical attestation is in Einhard‘s Vita Karoli Magni, which notes he was part of the Frankish rearguard killed in retribution by the Basques in Iberia at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass.

The story of Roland’s death at Roncevaux Pass was embellished in later medieval and Renaissance literature. The first and most famous of these epic treatments was the Old French Chanson de Roland of the 11th century.

Two masterpieces of Italian Renaissance poetry, the Orlando Innamorato and Orlando Furioso (by Matteo Maria Boiardo and Ludovico Ariosto, respectively), are even further detached from history than the earlier Chansons, similarly to the later Morgante by Luigi Pulci. Roland is poetically associated with his sword Durendal, his horse Veillantif, and his oliphant horn.

In the late 17th century, French Baroque composer Jean-Baptiste Lully wrote an opera titled Roland, based on the story of the title character.

History

The only historical mention of the actual Roland is in the Vita Karoli Magni by Charlemagne‘s courtier and biographer Einhard. Einhard refers to him as Hruodlandus Brittannici limitis praefectus (“Roland, prefect of the borders of Brittany”), indicating that he presided over the Breton March, Francia‘s border territory against the Bretons. The passage, which appears in Chapter 9, mentions that Hroudlandus (a Latinization of the Frankish *Hrōþiland, from *hrōþi, “praise”/”fame” and *land, “country”) was among those killed in the Battle of Roncevaux Pass:

While he was vigorously pursuing the Saxon war, almost without a break, and after he had placed garrisons at selected points along the border, [Charles] marched into Spain [in 778] with as large a force as he could mount. His army passed through the Pyrenees and [Charles] received the surrender of all the towns and fortified places he encountered. He was returning [to Francia] with his army safe and intact, but high in the Pyrenees on that return trip he briefly experienced the Basques. That place is so thoroughly covered with thick forest that it is the perfect spot for an ambush. [Charles’s] army was forced by the narrow terrain to proceed in a long line and [it was at that spot], high on the mountain, that the Basques set their ambush. […] The Basques had the advantage in this skirmish because of the lightness of their weapons and the nature of the terrain, whereas the Franks were disadvantaged by the heaviness of their arms and the unevenness of the land. Eggihard, the overseer of the king’s table, Anselm, the count of the palace, and Roland, the lord of the Breton March, along with many others died in that skirmish. But this deed could not be avenged at that time, because the enemy had so dispersed after the attack that there was no indication as to where they could be found.

Roland was evidently the first official appointed to direct Frankish policy in Breton affairs, as local Franks under the Merovingian dynasty had not previously pursued any specific relationship with the Bretons. Their frontier castle districts such as Vitré, Ille-et-Vilaine, south of Mont Saint-Michel, are now divided between Normandy and Brittany. The distinctive culture of this region preserves the present-day Gallo language and legends of local heroes such as Roland. Roland’s successor in Brittania Nova was Guy of Nantes, who like Roland, was unable to exert Frankish expansion over Brittany and merely sustained a Breton presence in the Carolingian Empire.

According to legend, Roland was laid to rest in the basilica at Blaye, near Bordeaux, on the site of the citadel.

So now you know the what and why of Roland Statues generally. What is unique about the six centuries old statue of Roland in Bremen? Among other things, it is the oldest surviving example. (more via wiki)

The Bremen Roland is a statue of Roland, erected in 1404. It stands in the market square (Rathausplatz) of Bremen, Germany, facing the cathedral, and shows Roland, paladin of the first Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne and hero of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass.

Statues of Roland appear in numerous cities of the former Holy Roman Empire, as emblems of city liberties, Stadtrechte. The Roland statue at Bremen is the oldest surviving example. From Bremen the symbol of civic liberty and freedom spread to other cities and has become a symbol of the new Europe. It has been protected by the Monument Protection Act since 1973. In July 2004, along with the town hall, the statue was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in recognition of its outstanding architecture and symbolism of an important historical figure.

Description

Roland is shown as protector of the city: his legendary sword (known in chivalric legend as Durendal) is unsheathed, and his shield is emblazoned with the two-headed Imperial eagle. The standing figure is 5.47 m tall, and stands on a 60 cm rostrum. A supporting column, crowned by a baldachin, brings the combined height to 10.21 m. The statue was carved in limestone from the Elm, and was commissioned by the city fathers to replace a wooden one burnt in 1366 by Prince-Archbishop Albert II. It confronts the church as a representation of city rights opposed to the territorial claims of the prince-archbishop.

The inscription on the shield reads: “vryheit do ik yu openbar / de karl und mēnnich vorst vorwar / desser stede ghegheven hat / des dankt gode is mīn radt”

This translates in English to: “Freedom I do manifest to you / which Karl and many noblemen indeed / have given to this place. / For this thank God, that is my advice.”

Legend

According to legend, Bremen will remain free and independent for as long as Roland stands watch over the city. For this reason, it is alleged that a second Roland statue is kept hidden in the town hall’s underground vaults, which can be quickly installed as a substitute, should the original fall.

Kleiner Roland

Kleiner Roland in Neustadt was erected in 1737, by the 1st Neustädter Bürgerkompanie. As a result of Neustädter citizens having very limited citizenship rights since 1642. It is based on the larger Roland of 1404.

It’s inscription reads: “You have the big one standing there, we stand before the little one. We are not the big city, we are the little one and the appendage, but we are as much city as you are.”

This statue is a really fun window into the history of Europe – particularly Medieval history. And now that you know the legend, you might feel as compelled as I do to get your own Roland Statue.

I strongly encourage that you watch the quick tour of the Bremen Marketplatz below. It should well up within you an immense desire to visit Deutschland. And it might also well up within you a desire to see a return to this type of architecture. It’s an incredibly beautiful place.