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Why is medieval art so weird? A new book offers a guide to the era
Published at 11:00 am, November 25, 2023
CNN logo
Jacqui Palumbo, CNN
Dying in 999
“If you can’t get excited to die, aim for ambivalence at the very
least,” advises Olivia M. Swarthout in her book, “Weird Medieval Guys:
How to Live, Love, Laugh (and Die) in Dark Times.” | Heidelberg
University Library/Courtesy Penguin Random House

Listen to this article with
(CNN) — So you want to live like you’re from the Middle Ages? Well,
maybe that’s not a common aspiration, but nevertheless, it’s a subject
that’s become Olivia M. Swarthout’s expertise.

Swarthout is the researcher behind the popular art history-inspired
social media account Weird Medieval Guys, which has attracted nearly
700,000 followers on X, formerly Twitter, since she began posting with
the handle @WeirdMedieval in April 2022. Now, she’s the author of a book
with a tongue-in-cheek guide to living like it’s 999 AD — or thereabouts
— called “Weird Medieval Guys: How to Live, Love, Laugh (and Die) in
Dark Times.”

You might well have seen Swarthout’s handiwork in your feeds even if you
don’t follow the account: Paired with her zeitgeisty captioning, many of
the strange, cute and often absurd illustrations from 6th- to
15th-century manuscripts — showing jovial skeletons and wan angels,
strangely drawn animals and the daily affairs of commonfolk — have
become popular memes. There’s weird floating babies, a knight stabbing
himself with the caption “I’m out,” a sneaky cat with a severed penis in
its mouth, and a pair of men demonstrating not-so-vaguely sexual
sword-fighting tactics.

History repeats itself
In her new illustrated book, Swarthout guides readers through life in
the Middle Ages with the same timely wit, making sense of broader
Medieval culture through a contemporary lens. What would your name be?
Ratbald? Wulfwynn? How about just Guy?

You can choose a patron saint — just as important as your astrological
sign — and find hot Medieval singles in your area; learn how to settle
disputes with trial-by-combat tips (if between a man and a woman, the
man must be chest-deep in a hole to level the playing field) or how to
identify the poisonous, man-lion-scorpion-hybrid manticore in the wild
(he likes silly hats).

“A lot of the art being made (in the Medieval era) was people drawing on
things from their life and experiences… that were part of popular
culture,” Swarthout said in a phone call with CNN. “Focusing the book on
life in general and the entire medieval world… felt like a really good
way to synthesize all of those different sorts of topics together.”

The swift popularity of her Twitter account surprised her, she said.
Swarthout is not a historian, but a recently graduated statistician who
took art history during undergrad. “It felt very surreal — especially in
the beginning — and it still does,” she said.

And though there’s no shortage of art history humor accounts across
Twitter and Instagram, Swarthout’s offerings are today much more robust,
with both a Substack and a podcast of the same name for followers who
want a deep dive into the artworks she mines for her social posts.

“I didn’t really intend for it to be a meme account, although I think
there is a lot of intrinsic humor,” she said. “A lot of the content is
just funny on its own.”

There’s a reason why Medieval art is particularly, well, weird. While
paintings and sculptures that remain from most other periods in history
were generally produced by trained artists, the illuminated manuscripts
made in Medieval times were often authored by monks and tradespeople,
who weren’t necessarily following artistic conventions of the era.

“It’s almost like a look at everyday people’s inner lives, Swarthout
explained, “which isn’t something that you get in a lot of art history.”

Our era may be wildly different from the Middle Ages — after all, could
you explain a viral art history meme on Twitter to a 9th-century peasant
farmer? But time flattens a bit through the humor of each image.
Swarthout imagines people from centuries ago taking delight in some of
the illustrations in the same way, like one small depiction of a cat
churning butter.

“You can look at it and imagine that it was just as funny and just as
cute back then,” she said. “A lot of images like that are a fun way to
connect with people who lived hundreds of years ago.”

Add to Queue: Party like it’s 999
Listen: “Weird Medieval Guys” podcast (2022–)
Swarthout launched a podcast series expanding on her social media
presence last summer, with ever-prescient topics including a deep dive
into three prominent “wife guys” of the era and whether or not a single
Dorito would kill a medieval peasant.

Play: “Pentiment” (2022)
This quirky RPG is formatted like the pages of an illuminated
manuscript, with the artist protagonist, Andreas, finding himself in the
middle of a murder mystery in a fictional 16th-century Bavarian town as
he serves out an apprenticeship. Available to play on Xbox and Steam,
“Pentiment” has received praise from critics and several award
nominations for its inventiveness.

Read: “The Grand Medieval Bestiary” (2018)
If the often strange and absurd depictions of animals during this era
are your thing, this 587-image compendium of the Medieval animal kingdom
(both real and fabled) is a must. The beastiary includes entries on 100
different creatures and includes plenty of lore in the form of essays.

Watch: “
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
The classic satire of Arthurian legend mined the Middle Ages for comedic
gold decades before Medieval memes were a thing. Follow the Monty Python
troupe on an epic, farcical journey from Camelot (‘Tis a silly place) in
search of the Holy Grail.

Read: “Medieval Bodies: Life, Death and Art in the Middle Ages” (2019)
This illustrated history book from art historian Jack Hartnell
challenges notions of the Middle Ages as being an ignorant or
unsophisticated era, focusing instead on insightful, advanced and
fantastical beliefs about the body and medicine through details and
stories drawn from artworks, historical accounts and textbooks.

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