medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear Nancy,
We may take this as a good case of how we should be jumping to bookshelves
first rather than to conclusions when we are dealing with things biblical
in a medieval context...
As Phil and others already pointed out, there are two biblical accounts of
the death of Judas, not only Mt 27,5 (abiit et laqueo se suspendit), but
also Act 1,18 (suspensus crepuit medius et diffusa sunt omnia viscera
eius). In the latter passage, "suspensus" if taken in the sense of 'hanged'
is probably a mistranslation of the Greek, but both passages were taken as
adding up to a whole picture, the first giving the fact that Judas hanged
himself, and the latter adding the detail that during or after his death
his belly burst open.
The death of Judas was interpreted as a punishment and as one of the most
outstanding demonstrations of divine retribution, where elements of the
punishment reflect, by analogy, elements of the crime(s). To give you an
idea, here is a part of Bede's gloss on Act 1,18 (PL 92,944s.):
"Et suspensus crepuit medius" (Act 1,18). Dignam sibi poenam traditor
amens invenit, ut
videlicet guttur quo vox proditionis exierat laquei nodus necaret.
Dignum etiam locum
interitus quaesivit, ut qui hominum angelorumque Dominum morti
tradiderat coelo
terraeque perosus, quasi aeris tantummodo spiritibus sociandus (cf.
Eph 2,2), juxta
exemplum Achitophel et Absalon qui regem David persecuti sunt, aeris
medio periret (cf.
II Rg 17,23, 18,9). Cui utique satis digno exitu mors ipsa successit,
ut viscera quae dolum
proditionis conceperant rupta caderent, et vacuas evolverentur in
auras. Cujus simillima
poenae mors Arium haeresiarcham damnasse refertur, ut quia ille
humanitatem Christi, iste
divinitatem exstinguere moliebatur, ambo sicut sensu inanes vixerant,
sic quoque ventre
vacui perirent.
"And hanging he burst open in the middle": the demented traitor found
himself a fitting
punishment, because the knot of the noose brought death to the throat
from which the
treacherous voice had come. He also found a fitting place for his
death, for he who had
delivered the master of men and angels to death and therefore was
hateful both to the
heavens and the earth, died in in the middle of the air, to be
associated with the spirits of
the air, following the example of Achitophel and Absalom who had
persecuted David.
Fitting was also the way in which his death arrived, because the
viscera which had
conceived the crime of treachery burst and fell down to fly in the
empty air. It was a
punishment very similar to the death to which also Arius is said to
have been condemned:
Judas had conspired against the human nature of Christ, whereas Arius
had tried to
extinguish His divine nature, and so both who had lived void of sense
also died with an
empty belly.
What in figurative arts you often see emerging from his split belly is not
the demon, but rather his soul leaving the body and received by demons. A
post-Bedan explanation, which took his phrasing "digno exitu" to refer
precisely to this "exitus animae", argued that the body had to burst open
because the sinful soul was not allowed to leave the body on its usual way,
through the mouth, given that the traitor's mouth had been kissed and
sanctified by Jesus.
There are quite many patristic and medieval traditions on the death of
Judas and how it can apply as a punishment also to other sinners (such as
Arius mentioned by Bede). If you are interested, I can send you the
password to access the online version of a paper of mine on this subject.
Best,
Otfried
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