medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear List,
During a discussion on another list of pilgrims' badges from Chartres a
question has come up which has me, typically, stumped.
perhaps someone here less Latiniacally challenged than i can blow away some of
the fog.
there is, on a surviving badge from Amiens, this inscription: HIC EST SIGNUM
FACIEI BEATI IOHANNIS BAPTISTE AMI.
i have not seen this badge, but i presume that it has on it some kind of image
of the face of JB --or, perhaps, the image of an image of the face (there
seems to be some confusion in the few secondary sources i've
looked at as to whether the relic venerated at Amiens was the "head,"
part of the head, or, somehow, the "face" of John).
the question i have is, to what does "HIC" refer, here:
1) the badge itself, as one list member suggested, i.e., the inscription
intends something like: "This [badge] is the token/ensigne/_signum_ of [the
relic of?] the face of J.B."
or,
b) the image of the face depicted on the badge, i.e., some kind of
painted or sculpted (whatever) "image" which was, itself, an object of
veneration, perhaps as part of a reliquary housing the actual remains of the
saint, in which case the inscription means approximately: "This image you see
here depicted [on this badge] is [of] the image [_signum_] of
J.B. [which can be seen at Amiens]."
or,
iii) could _signum_ refer to something like a "seal," which incorporates the
face of the saint, i.e., "This [picture you see here] is the [official] signet
of J.B. of [the church of] Amiens."
i bring up the latter posssibility because there are badges from Chartres
which bear a similar inscription, a simple S[IGN]VM BEATE MAR[I?][A??] above
an image of (an image of) an enthroned Virgin and Child being carried in,
apparently, a liturgical procession (a bad repro of one of these is to be
found here: http://ariadne.org/centrechartraine/badges/badges.html ).
and, as it happens, we know that there was a seal in use by the church
(chapter?) of Chartres around the same time (early 13th c.) which displayed a
similar device (_signum_?), apparently an image of the major cult statue of
the Virgin in the church (sorry, i don't have a picture of the seal to
share).
hoping others are not as confused by this as am i, and looking forward
gratefully to any help or suggestions anyone might have to offer,
best from here,
christopher
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