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Bodies, clothing and social structure: the Germanic art of miniature illustrations in the Codex Manesse (13th century) 

Keywords: Body, Clothing, Codex Manesse, Medieval Art, Miniature Illustrations.

This research investigated the clothing of the ministerial knights in the Große Heidelberger Liederhandschrift with the aim of capturing the reflections of the medieval social order of the thirteenth century based on the miniature ilustrai-ons present in this manuscript. The miniatures of the Manessische Handschrift are an excellent reference to the idea we have of life and the world in the Middle Ages. They depict the panorama of medieval clothing very well. For this reason the present investigation analyzed the dress of the troubadours. Clothes are an extension of the body, such an important element for the Christian medieval conception. The study sought to inventory the pieces of garment that compose the vestments of the ministerial knights; we categorized such pieces based on the medieval social hierarchy and related characteristics such as colors and cuts to the medieval social orders. As a theoretical research, primary and secondary sources were used, such as: Codex Manesse: Die Miniaturen der Großen Heidelberger Liederhandschrift (Ingo Walther and Gisela Siebert), De Amore (Andreas Capellanus), Ars Amatoria (Ovid) and The Lais of Marie de France. The analysis finds its basis in the method proposed by Erwin Panofsky (1892-1968) in the work Meaning in the Visual Arts. This study also uses the notion of image suggested by Jean-Claude Schmitt (1946-) in two works: The Body of Images and The Thematic Dictionary of the Medieval Occident. From the universe of 137 miniature ilustrations, six were selected based on the fol-lowing criteria: 1) the vestments of ministerial knights; 2) images containing a male and a female figure. Based on the analysis, we were able to catch the re-flexes of the medieval social order of the thirteenth century, as we observed the dress of the troubadours represented in Codex Manesse. The civilian dress prevailed: it was mainly used by the nobility and, therefore, by the ministeriales.