Reflection of Crusade Ideas in Medieval Art of 12* and 13* Centuries with Special Emphasis on Crusade Motives in Polish Art

Literary inheritance of the Middle Ages has always been an invaluable source for researchers o f this epoch. It is the most valuable word for us. It needs to be mentioned, however, that a medieval recipient of literature was doubtlessly a member of a small elite. Few could claim to possess the ability to read and write. What appealed to the masses was an image – the most influential carrier of ideas. Wall paintings, sculptures, portals at the entrance to churches, coins with iconography best appealed to imagination. Symbolic representations affected the senses. “Pictorial system of communication played a role much more important for societies of the past than contemporary Polish historical literature acknowledges.” Touching upon a subject as vast as the crusade movement and the idea of fighting for every piece o f the Holy Land, one cannot let any information that was engraved or painted go unnoticed. Art, along site historical information, shows us a huge amount of propaganda material. Tiny details, the quality of outcome, the nicety of presentation are of no importance;what counts are the contents of depictions and the message. Art was therefore an educational factor used to show a certain model, in our considerations an ideal model, o f a Christ’s knight. The idea of crusades, both the Jerusalem crusade and the one broadly understood as a war against paganism, was also propagated through art