medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear Cate,
I don't think that they were wearing much plate armour in the thirteenth century. In ancient Latin a _lorica_ is a cuirass, not always made of metal. In the central Middle Ages the term ordinarily denotes a garment of mail and is usually translated (except when Biblical reminiscence supervenes) as "mail shirt". The latter, like a nightshirt, could descend well below the waist. When it does it is now often called a "mail suit".
I don't know whether Fonte Avellana keeps a garment designated as the _lorica_ of the eleventh-century San Domenico Loricato but a mail suit said to be the _lorica_ of Bl. Lorenzo Loricato (d. 1243) used to be on display at the Sacro Speco at Subiaco and perhaps still is. There's a photograph of it in the _Bibliotheca Sanctorum_, vol. 8, cols. 139-40.
Best,
John Dillon
PS: If you ever get up to Newcastle and vicinity, there's a very well preserved ancient Roman mail suit in the museum at Arbeia Roman Fort at South Shields.
On Thursday, November 1, 2007, at 5:01 am, Cate Gunn wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> The mother of Edmund of Abingdon (saint and Archbishop of Canterbury
> in the
> early thirteenth century) left him a breastplate ‘which he was to use
> as
> long as he lived. In her advice to him, she had insistently implored
> him to
> follow her example and use this breatplate as a shirt for the love of
> Christ
> and in his warfare in God’s service’. This is from C. H. Lawrence’s
> translation of Matthew Paris’ Life of Edmund – I haven’t got the Latin
> to
> hand, but the translation as ‘breastplate’ makes it sound like a piece
> of
> armour. It seems that Edmund’s mother wore it and passed it to him on
> her
> death. I wonder what it looked like?
>
> Cate
>
>
>
> _____
>
> From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious
> culture [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paul Chandler
> Sent: 31 October 2007 16:46
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [M-R] ferrea zona
>
>
>
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
> culture
> The zona (belt, girdle) was given symbolic significance related to chastity
> in monasticism from the earliest times; (cf. Cassian, Inst.mon. 1.1.1-2;
> SChr 109:36). It was usually leather but sometimes metal was used as a
> penitential practice, as Tom Izbicki has already suggested. The article
> "Ceintures et chaines de pénitence" in Dictionnaire de spiritualité 2:375-77
> will probably be useful.
>
> A related theme is the symbolic-penitential use of the mail or metal lorica
> or breastplate, on which there is the article "Cuirasse" in DSp 2:2630-32.
>
> I wonder if "ad mamillas" in this text should be understood as "at/around
> the breasts" ( i.e., a kind of breastplate or lorica), or "coming up
> to the
> breasts" (i.e., a very high belt)? In the absence of other evidence, I
> suspect the second is closer to the meaning of zona, and would link the
> practice symbolically with chastity or virginity. If it were the
> second, one
> might perhaps expect some allusion to Ephesians 6:14 (lorica
> iustitiae) and
> 1 Thessalonians 5:8 (lorica fidei et caritatis), a different symbolic
> cluster. -- Paul Chandler
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