medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: "Mittman, Asa" <[log in to unmask]>
> I am new to the list,
welcome, Asa.
>>knowing virtually nothing about it, i can confidently state that Beastial
Studies (or whatever the subject might be termed) isn't often --but should be
always-- subject to a careful and disciplined reading of a wide variety of
sources, combined with the *consistent* application of a carefully worked out
methodology.
> Jeffrey Cohen has termed it, with I think a bit of tongue in cheek, "Monster
Theory,"
good enough.
>>a case in point might be St. Bernard's railing against the presence of
"monsters" [what are his words?] in monastic contexts --as i recall, there is
no hint of there being any excuse being allowed for any iconographic "program"
there, just a blanket condemnation of suchlike subject matter in **monastic**
contexts. for Professional reasons, one might perhaps say.
> Here is Bernard's text, his Apologia to William, Abbot of St. Thierry
> http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/bernard1.html
> Right, his attack on these images is, again, situated. It is not about the
particulars of the imagery, but about its location in the monastic cloister.
He argues that this sort of imagery is fine, maybe necessary, in secular
churches, but not in monasteries:
> "We know that the bishops, debtors to both the wise and unwise,
a curious use of "debtors" --wonder what the Latin is?
>use material beauty to arouse the devotion of a carnal people because they
cannot do so by spiritual means. But we who have now come out of that people,
we who have left the precious and lovely things of the world for Christ, we
who, in order to win Christ, have reckoned all beautiful, sweet-smelling,
fine-sounding, smooth-feeling, good-tasting things-- in short, all bodily
delights--as so much dung, what do we expect to get out of them? Admiration
from the foolish?"
the actual text i had in mind was a bit further down, where he describes in
some detail what he's railing against:
"Finally, what good are such things to poor men, to monks, to spiritual men?
....Let us allow this to be done in churches because, even if it is harmful to
the vain and greedy, it is not such to the simple and devout. But in
cloisters, where the brothers are reading, what is the point of this
***ridiculous monstrosity,*** this shapely misshapenness, this misshapen
shapeliness? What is the point of those unclean apes, fierce lions, monstrous
centaurs, half-men, striped tigers, fighting soldiers and hunters blowing
their horns? In one place you see many bodies under a single head, in another
several heads on a single body. Here on a quadruped we see the tail of a
serpent. Over there on a fish we see the head of a quadruped. There we find a
beast that is horse up front and goat behind, here another that is horned
animal in front and horse behind.
"**In short, so many and so marvelous are the various shapes surrounding us
that it is more pleasant to read the marble than the books, and to spend the
whole day marveling over these things rather than meditating on the law of
God. Good Lord! If we aren't embarrassed by the silliness of it all, shouldn't
we at least be disgusted by the expense?"
suchlike imagry of "ridiculous monstrosity" is, for the Spiritual Professional
(i.e., monk) a "silly" distraction.
clearly, Bernie sees no hi-falutin "meanings" in any of these representations
--which, comming from such a Saintly Authority, is a sobering thought.
Let the [would-be] Iconographer Beware, i say.
sometimes a Centaur is just a Centaur.
c
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