When you think of the medieval era, you might think of dragons, knights, chivalrous warfare, and other cool fantasy-esque stuff, right? Not for Olivia Swarthout, because to her, they're all just "Weird Medieval Guys."
Swarthout is the woman behind the massive X, formerly Twitter, @WeirdMedieval account with almost 700,000 followers, keeping tabs on weirdly endearing art from the Middle Ages underscored by her quippy captioning. Reportedly, Swarthout has been gathering images of odd artwork she found in old manuscripts since 2019.
In her account, you'll see a knight offing himself with the caption "I'm out," a bunch of silly-looking humanoids "doing whatever this is," and a couple of rabbits "turning the tables" on a human hunter. All these posts have become "popular memes," to say the least, with two of the former averaging almost a million views each.
In Swarthout's new book "Weird Medieval Guys: How to Live, Love, Laugh (and Die) in Dark Times," she guides her readers on what makes these medieval dudes weird, through cultural exploration using a familiar modern perspective.
Assassination of Reinmar III. von Brennenberg, Codex Manesse, page 188r, around 1275.
Living in the Medieval Period is More Familiar Than You Think
Swarthout told CNN that the bulk of the artwork being produced during the Middle Ages was people pulling from their own "life and experiences" which coincidentally made its way back to the "popular culture" of the time.
"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," she added.
According to Swarthout, she didn't really intend for her X account to be considered a "meme account." For her, the artworks she shares just have their own "intrinsic humor" attached to them, be it that all of it looks rather zany. There's a reason for that aesthetic rich with zaniness, though.
normal dog, france, 16th century pic.twitter.com/oARiBkfaRo
— weird medieval guys BOOK OUT NOW !! (@WeirdMedieval) November 6, 2023
Unlike art from other major periods in history like the Renaissance era, with its classically trained painters, most of the people creating Medieval art were commonly monks and run-of-the-mill tradespeople who were not that well-versed in the artistic conventions of the period.
Whatever the reason may be, a thousand years later all of these outlandish pieces of art are connecting with a lot of people on the internet, in the modern era.
"It's almost like a look at everyday people's inner lives. A lot of images like that are a fun way to connect with people who lived hundreds of years ago," Swarthout said.
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