medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

Apologies for my delayed reply to your 'why not [two of them]?' question,
Christopher. Am travelling for work this week and catching up on email as
time permits.

I don't think ombrellini travel in pairs. When the Blessed Sacrament is
carried in procession, it typically has a singular place of honour in the
procession. It would not be carried twice, hence there would not be two
ombrellini. Among other problems, two priests carrying the blessed sacrament
on either side of the BVM would give her a singular place of honour above
the Blessed Sacrament. I don't think that would have been done.

I'm intrigued by your puzzle. I hope you'll let us know should you solve it.

Stan Metheny

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Christopher Crockett" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2005 2:09 PM
Subject: Re: [M-R] Offertorium - 31


medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

From: Bill East <[log in to unmask]>

> --- Christopher Crockett <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>> Among the surviving pilgrims' badges is at least one which depicts a
procession in which a cult statue of the V & C is being carried on a bier,
with two accompanying figures carrying what for all the world look like long
handled spades but which are likely something else

http://www.christophersbookroom.com/cc/badges/forgeais/forgeais4_115.jpg

> > umbrellas or parasols is what first occured to me (i've seen pictures
of Thibetan processions with guys carrying parasols)...

> You don't need to go to Tibet to find a brolly in a procession. The
liturgical term is ombrellino, and this liturgical parasol is (or was -
you don't often see them nowadays) regularly used to shelter the
blessed Sacrament on outdoor processions.

o.k., OO, on your say-so i've cancelled my flight to Thibet.

presumably there was no blessed Sacrament to be shaded in this procession,
however.

it's not clear (to me or, presumably, anyone else) exactly *what* is being
depicted (procession-wise) on this badge --or on the other ones from
Chartres
which have survived

http://www.christophersbookroom.com/cc/badges/newbadges.html

a pilgrim's souviner of something actually witnessed by the pilgrim during
her
visit to Chartres seems most likely to me --a procession on a special feast
day of the Virgin in which her cult statue was removed from its
architectural
setting (partially depicted on some of the badges) and carried on a bier,
perhaps through the city?

the procession in which we find these spades/parasols/whatever

http://www.christophersbookroom.com/cc/badges/forgeais/forgeais4_115.jpg

is clearly related to other processional scenes in which we see the V & C
being carried on a bier

http://www.christophersbookroom.com/cc/badges/forgeais/forgeais2_28.jpg

http://www.christophersbookroom.com/cc/badges/spencer/spencer_chartres/spencer239b.jpg

http://www.christophersbookroom.com/cc/badges/mitchiner/mit_ch_recto.jpg

what is being carried, presumably, is not really the V & C in the flesh (or
human stand-ins for them??) but rather an Image of same, perhaps the ancient
(early 11th c. at the latest) cult statue known as "Notre-Dame-sous-Terre"
which was kept, appropriately enough, in the cathedral crypt built by
Bishop/Saint Fulbert for just that purpose ; or perhaps the more recent
chryselephantine one which was on the main altar of the newly-built
cathedral
(though the architectural setting which we see in an "abbreviated" fashion
on
some of the badges would suggest a shrine chapel rather than a more or less
stand-alone image on an altar).

the relationship (lineage) of the various badges to each other is also not
clear, but we can see from those that have survived that there were very
probably a number of other "types" which have not survived in even a
singular
exemplar.

indeed, there is no reason not to believe that there were very sophisticated
badges, conceived by ymagiers of the first rank, which were cast in precious
metals (or enameled?) and that these few modest, "folk art" pewter
replications which we have are but pale reflections of those superior "Prime
Objects". [i use the terms "Prime Objects" and "Replications" here in the
sense elaborated by George Kubler in his _The Shape of Time_ (Yale U. Press,
1962).]

what we see in the pitifully few exemplars which we do have appears to be
the
same sort of "degradation" of the image through sucessive copying which is
common in numismatics where --in a not too dissimilar creative process-- an
image of, say, a human head in profile becomes first distorted in the next
die
which is cut, then, die following die, becomes totally unrecognizable and,
perhaps, even morphs into something entirely different as sucessive artisans
try to "make sense" out of whatever traditional image they have been called
upon to replicate.

the badges, as opposed to coins, were cast (presumably in stone molds)
rather
than "struck", but the principle is essentially the same.

From: merum <[log in to unmask]>

> Although these two mystery objects may well be ombrellini, I discounted
that
possibility yesterday for two reasons. (a) even allowing the low quality
'crude' engraving as Christopher remarked in his note, these are too small
and
wrong proportions in relationship to the bearer
and (b) there wouldn't likely be two of them.
>
> Stan Metheny


"scale" can't be used as a criterion for anything here i'm afraid, Stan.

for instance, there is no reason to believe that the cult statue was
actually
*larger than life* as it is depicted on all the badges --clearly it has been
enlarged to conform to its relative importance in the scene.

likewise, the hanging lamps hanging in niches on either side of the statue

http://www.christophersbookroom.com/cc/badges/spencer/spencer_chartres/spencer239b.jpg

are nearly as large as the heads of the figures carrying the bier.

and the "verso" of that particular badge (on the right) has elements which
are
*way* out of whack, scale-wise.

the large, bejewelled "sainte chaisse" reliquary which held the Major Relic
of
the Cathedral is at the top ; the relic itself (the _camisia_ of the Virgin)
is below it --much larger than the reliquary itself-- and, at the bottom
what
appears for all the world to be a coin of a particular, nearly unique
chartrain type, *huge* in size compared to the other objects.

"realism" is simply not an operational principle in the context of this sort
of artifact.

>and (b) there wouldn't likely be two of them.

why not?

one on either side of the bier would make more sense than some asymetrical
arrangement, it seems to me.

c

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