medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
St. Alban is another example of a cephalaphore (I didn´t even know
the term existed before this discussion started!). St. Winifred of Holywell was beheaded
but then returned to life. In these instances attention would probably drawn
to pre-christian celtic head- and well-cults as possible antecedents.
Meg
________________________________
From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture on behalf of Diana Wright
Sent: mán. 13.6.2005 10:25
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [M-R] cephalophores
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
There is a lovely song about Anne Boleyn ''
"With her head [emphasis]
tucked
underneath her arm
she walks
the Bloody Tower,
with her head
tucked
underneath her arm
at the mid
night
hour.
She's come to tell King Henry off
she's giving him what for.
He says, Are you Jane Seymour
Anne Boleyn
or Cath'rine Parr.
Oh, have a sweet,
says Mary Anne,
Do I know who you are?
She's got her
head
tucked
underneath her arm.
Etc.
DW
----- Original Message -----
From: "Otfried Lieberknecht" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, June 13, 2005 1:19 AM
Subject: [M-R] cephalophores
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear Marjorie,
George and I once posted a bibliography on cephalophores to this list, which
can still be found in the list archives:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A2=ind9606&L=MEDIEVAL-RELIGION&P=
R4765&I=-3
As to some of your your questions:
>1) I looked up "cephalophore" in my on-line dictionary and came up
>empty. The French word "cephalophorie" was my "point de départ."
>What is the English word (if such exists) to describe a person
>who carries his own head?
Simply "cephalophore" or "cephalophore saint" seems sufficiently English to
me :-)
>2) Is this topos unique to Christianity? I can think of no parallel
>myth in any other culture, although my knowledge of such is far
>from encyclopedic. Come to think of it, are they all French? (Denis,
>Nicaise, now Mitre...)
The message in our archives quotes examples from classical literature or
myht, but these do not really qualify as cephalophores in the strict sense:
the head (e.e. of Orpheus) which has been cut or torn off the body is still
speaking or singing but is not carried by the beheaded trunk. The typical
setting for a cephalophore in Christian tradition is a public beheading, and
that was no common topos in classical literature. The message quoted above
also refers to Dante scholars speculating that Dante in his presentation of
Bertran de Born (Inf. 28) was inspired by islamic sources describing
cephalophores in front of God's heavenly throne. Yet to my knowledge the
Dante scholars making or reporting this claim have never quoted a precise
Islamic source (as I remember it the motif is not in the Liber Scalae or in
the versions thereof that I have seen).
And no, they are not all French, San Miniato is one of them.
>3) Anyone care to speculate on how this notion came into being?
>Saint Denis is the earliest example I know of such, but why did
>this particular story have to be invented to explain the location
>of his body? Saint Catherine, after all, was transported by angels
>and all sorts of other explanations were available for Denis.
Well, it's a good story, isn't it? Fits the general paradigm of martyrs
apparently unaware of the bodily harm inflicted to them and thus morally
defeating their tormentors. I have heard one explanation, not particularly
convincing, that statues of saints that had been damaged by knocking off
their heads might haven given rise to such legends. However, you don't
necessarily need a particular reason or visual starting point for inventing
a good miracle story impressing your audience.
Kind regards, O.
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