Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

Get access

Iconoclasm
(1,022 words)

1. Definition and medieval development

The term iconoclasm denotes the repudiation and destruction of cultic images. The great iconoclastic controversy of the 8th and 9th centuries [2] was the background and reference framework for early modern iconoclasm. In it the potential for theological and political conflict that had always been inherent in the early Christian cult of images exploded with a vengeance.

The initial spark igniting the iconoclastic controversy of the early Mi…

Cite this page
Wiggermann, Uta, “Iconoclasm”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 21 September 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_021253>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20180915



▲   Back to top   ▲