Dr. Jennifer Freeman

About Dr. Jennifer Freeman

Dr. Jennifer Freeman is a visiting assistant professor at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. She has presented and published on images of divinity in Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. Her area of expertise is in Carolingian art and theology; she is currently preparing a translation of In honorem sanctae crucis by Hrabanus Maurus.

Santa Sabina, Rome — Liturgy provided the script, architecture the set—and the altar sat center stage.

Architecture and liturgy

The octagonal plan references earlier churches and symbolizes regeneration. Was Charlemagne’s throne at its center?

Palatine Chapel, Aachen

Two different portraits—it’s St. Matthew in both, but watch the style change from smooth modeling to frenzied brushwork.

Matthew in the Coronation Gospels and Ebbo ...

The trial of Christ. Detail of Bernward's Door (Bernwardstüren) in Hildesheim Cathedral. The door was commissioned by Abbot Bernward in 1015 for St. Michael's Church in Hildesheim. It depicts eight scenes from the Old Testament on the left (from top to bottom) and eight scenes from the New Testament on the right (from bottom to top). — These monumental medieval doors look back to ancient models. Read the biblical narrative down and up, or left to right.

Bronze doors, Saint Michael’s, Hildesheim (Germany)

Saint Matthew from the Ebbo Gospels (detail) — This expressive illumination depicts St. Matthew at work. He juggles a stylus in one hand and an ink horn in the other.

Saint Matthew from the Ebbo Gospels

Liturgy provided the script, architecture the set—and the altar sat center stage.

Architecture and liturgy