Word and Image on Medieval Livonian Grave Slabs: Women, Children and Modes of Communication
Word and Image on Medieval Livonian Grave Slabs: Women, Children and Modes of Communication

Summary/Abstract: This article examines medieval grave slabs from present-day Estonia and Latvia by bringing together visual and verbal evidence that has traditionally been studied separately. Focusing on the interaction between image, inscription, speech scrolls and bodily gesture, the study analyses how grave slabs communicated with viewers and articulated relationships between the depicted figures. Attention is paid to groups long marginalised in art-historical historiography: women and children. Through close readings of surviving monuments, historical drawings and fragmentary inscriptions, the article explores how women’s social status, marital ties and family affiliations were represented, and how children were commemorated. The analysis also addresses the role of language choice and non-verbal communication in shaping meaning. Finally, the article critiques nineteenth- and twentieth-century naming and descriptive conventions that have contributed to the under-representation of women and children, arguing for a revised interpretative framework that acknowledges their presence and significance within medieval commemorative culture.

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