Global Networks in the Middle Ages: Looking Beyond Europe

Medieval art, whether produced in Europe or in neighboring regions, relied on extensive social and economic networks penetrating and connecting Africa, Asia, and Europe. A series of trading posts, sometimes referred to as “The Silk Road,” connected Asia and Europe through overland and maritime pathways. This network had coalesced in the ancient period, linking the Chinese and Roman empires, and the same routes were used throughout the Middle Ages. For economic, political, spiritual, and many other reasons, people traveled widely, if rather more slowly than today, and ideas, along with artistic materials, styles, and techniques, traveled with them. The long-distance trade and social exchange witnessed by the works of art in this section make it clear that our present-day boundaries, national and cultural, are neither permanent nor universal.