Geographical classification

Europe > Germany

Socio-cultural movements

Middle Ages > European medieval culture > Romanesque

Middle Ages > European medieval culture

Middle Ages > Medieval monastic culture

Groups by dedication

Plastic, visual and performing artists > Illuminators (books)

Character

Claricia

(Claricia of Bavaria)

Bavaria, Germany 13th century ‖ Bavaria, Germany 13th century

Period of activity: From 1200 until 1300

Geographical classification: Europe > Germany

Socio-cultural movements

Middle Ages > European medieval culture > Romanesque

Middle Ages > European medieval culture

Middle Ages > Medieval monastic culture

Groups by dedication

Plastic, visual and performing artists > Illuminators (books)

Context of feminine creation

Throughout the Middle Ages women (both nuns and laymen) were acquiring a prominent role as copyists and illuminators in the scriptoria of many monasteries. Claricia, possibly a laywoman studying in a Benedictine monastery in Augsburg (Bavaria, Holy Roman Empire), left us her testimony in the so-called Claricia Psalter around 1200. The oldest references to these illuminators are between 600 and 700 with women like Herlinda or Reinula of Maasryck. In 975 we have the testimony of Ende in Leonese lands who illustrated the so-called Beato de San Salvador de Tábara or Beato de Gerona. Diemud was another illuminator of the year 1000 and Guda of Weissfauen is present around 1100. Between 1100 and 1500 have been identified, only in the Germanic area, more than 4,000 books attributed to about 400 women copyists, active in at least 48 scriptoria of female monasteries. Among these we have outstanding figures such as Herrada of Landsberg or Hildegard of Bingen. But they were also known in Paris, where in 1292 the list of trades of that city names 8 illuminators where, a century later, Anastasia, who decorated the pages of the work of Christine de Pizán, The City of Ladies, will stand out.

Review

Claricia was one of the many women who devoted themselves to illumination, like Ende or Herrad of Landsberg. Although we do not know much about her figure, the image of a woman swinging from the tail of a letter Q in the so-called Claricia Psalter helps to highlight the importance of women in illumination tasks and, hence, in medieval culture.

Activities

Spanish

Ilustres ilustradoras
- Spain > Geography and history > 1st ESO > Societies and territories. Geography. History. History of art
- Spain > Geography and history > 2nd ESO > Societies and territories. Geography. History. History of art

Justifications

Miniaturist and illuminator of a psalter in the 13th century. She was probably a layperson.
She drew her self-portrait in the capital letter Q and inscribed her name.
She is part of Romanesque art.

Biography

Between 1100 and 1500, more than 4,000 books attributed to some 400 women copyists, active in at least 48 scriptoria of women's monasteries, have been identified in the Germanic area alone. One of these women was Claricia, of whom we know very little about her life, but we can shed some light on her life thanks to the legacy she left behind in The Psalter of Claricia.
Claricia, or Clarica, lived between 1200 and 1300 in Bavaria and was a young book illuminator present in the scriptoria of the Benedictine abbey of St. Ulrich and St. Aphra in Augsburg. Of her we only have testimony in a psalter, conserved in the Walters Art Museum of Baltimore, in the United States, in which she represented herself forming part of the virgula of a large initial letter Q and in which she also left her name written.
If we put the focus on the illumination of the psalter, Claricia represents herself in a casual way, swinging hanging from the letter Q, with a tunic with wide sleeves and long, flowing hair. In addition, she writes her name, Claricia, above her head.
This has led different researchers to think that she was possibly a young laywoman who was in the monastery learning to illustrate books and possibly training for her future as a nun.
Claricia's testimony helps us to highlight the importance of the illuminators, copyists and calligraphers present throughout the Middle Ages, especially between 1100 and 1500, and the mark and testimony they left on Romanesque art and medieval monastic culture.

Works

Claricia Psalter (c.1175) [Unidentified place of publication: unidentified publisher.]
Pdf from Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667943/

(21/10/2022)

Bibliography

Ferrer Valero, Sandra (2016). Mujeres silenciadas en la Edad Media. Madrid: Punto de vista editores.

Ross, Leslie (2003). Artists of the Middle Ages. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group.

Hourihane, Colum (2012). The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Chadwick, Whitney (2012). Woman, Art, and Society. London: Thames&Hudson World of Art.

Lever du soleil, 15/03/2022, <https://www.leverdusoleil.es/mujeres_artistas/arte-edad-media-claricia-baviera/>

Iconos medievales, 15/03/2022, <https://iconosmedievales.blogspot.com/2017/10/ilustres-ilustradoras.html>

Wikipedia, 15/03/2022, <https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claricia>

Didactic approach

The character and the work of Claricia can be studied in geography and history in 2nd of ESO by relating it with medieval art and culture, the role of monasteries and the elaboration of manuscripts in the preservation and transmission of culture. With the figure of Claricia we learn about female characters in history, the role of religion in social organization and for the formation of identities and the importance of diversity and artistic cultural richness, as well as the transmission of this.

She can be also studied in visual and plastic arts; students learn about the different techniques used in the illumination of medieval codices and books. In addition, learning about the contribution of female figures in the history of art is addressed.

And in the subject of H.ª of Art in the 2nd year of Bachillerato, the study of art as individual identity, the genre of portraiture, the representation of women in art from a critical perspective or women as artists.