This volume is the first to consider the golden century of Gothic ivory sculpture (1230-1330) in its material, theological, and artistic contexts. Providing a range of new sources and interpretations, Sarah Guérin charts the progressive development and deepening of material resonances expressed in these small-scale carvings. Guérin traces the journey of ivory tusks, from the intercontinental trade routes that delivered ivory tusks to northern Europe, to the workbenches of specialist artisans in medieval Paris, and, ultimately, the altars and private chapels in which these objects were venerated. She also studies the rich social lives and uses of a diverse range of art works fashioned from ivory, including standalone statuettes, diptychs, tabernacles, and altarpieces. Offering new insights into the resonances that ivory sculpture held for their makers and viewers, Guérin's study contributes to our understanding of the history of materials, craft, and later medieval devotional practices.

While monasticism is often seen as the definitive expression of early medieval Christendom, it was in fact the episcopacy that served as the cultic and political backbone of European society in the first millennium. Despite their central role, however, bishops as a group have received far less attention from modern scholars than other contemporary social and religious institutions, such as monarchy, lay lordship, or reformed monasticism. This book, therefore, is intended as an open invitation to a more comparative, synthetic history of early medieval bishops and the early medieval episcopacy. Written by scholars from a variety of regional, theoretical, and disciplinary perspectives, it provides a rich portrait of the political, religious, intellectual, and artistic dimensions of the episcopacy around the year 1000, revealing the many ways in which all roads led through the bishops, their churches, and their institutions.