medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: "Cormack, Margaret Jean" <[log in to unmask]>
> Could it symbolize the fact that this particular dough is intended for the
host?
hey, with the middlevils, anything is possible.
but are you implying that the head was deliberately (and non-miraculously)
"put" (drawn, stamped, whatever) on the raw dough in order to set it apart,
somehow, from "ordinary" dough intended for ordinary bread?
in several of the windows there is definitely an attempt to "coordinate" (for
lack of a better word) the mundane crafts of the donors with the sacred use to
which their products were sometimes put.
the masons, of course, are shown at work on a clearly ecclesiastical building
http://snapageno.free.fr/Churches/Chartres/TradesCrafts/TradesCrafts030_std.jpg
the sculptors among them are working on ecclesiastical statue columns
http://snapageno.free.fr/Churches/Chartres/TradesCrafts/TradesCrafts009_std.jpg
the carpenters/scaffolding builders as well
http://snapageno.free.fr/Churches/Chartres/TradesCrafts/TradesCrafts040_std.jpg
in one of the most beautiful images in the whole group, the vintners who gave
the St. Lubin window appear not only at the bottom of it --where well-behaved
donors should-- but also, very prominently, in the first full roundel of the
narrative portion of the window, as well:
http://vrcoll.fa.pitt.edu/medart/image/France/Chartres/Chartres-Cathedral/Windows/Nave-windows/45-Lubin/chartres-45ALubin-main.html
http://images.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/i/image/image-idx?view=entry;cc=chartres;entryid=%20x-FCW045AP2201
clearly, they were more than somewhat Puffed Up by the fact that *their*
particular product was used for a very, very Special Purpose.
so, there's no reason to think that the bakers would not want to make a public
statement about the very, very, very Special Purpose to which their own
particular product was put.
the humble shoemakers, perhaps unable to think of any sort of anagogical
connection in their craft, contented themselves with a depiction of their
presenting the window itself
http://snapageno.free.fr/Churches/Chartres/TradesCrafts/TradesCrafts054_std.jpg
i don't think that there are any goldsmiths among the donors, but if there
were, they would no doubt be working on chalices and reliquaries.
>Or would such bread be baked under specially controlled circumstances?
although (presumably) the bakers would have been the guys who baked the Hosts,
my (mis?)understanding is that the Host is/was(?) made from unlevened bread
--at least it was such in the High Episcopal church of my mis-spent youth.
if my theory about the purpose of the cloths on the rack above the baker is
correct,
http://snapageno.free.fr/Churches/Chartres/TradesCrafts/TradesCrafts032_std.jpg
then the bread being kneaded in that particular scene would have been
leveneded.
was bread for the Host levened, in the 13th c.?
c
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