medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
OK but can we go back to the cross - the 'speckles' which the British Museum thought were drops of blood but which in the absence of any evidence of red enamel I'd be more inclined to read as the grain of the wood. This looks to me as though it's the actual physical cross - there's a lot of literature about the cross as the Tree of Life, the lignum vitae, the rough-hewn cross and the holy oil said to exude from the grain. I can't help thinking that's steering us back in the direction of Helena.
Maddy
Dr Madeleine Gray
Reader in History
School of Education/Ysgol Addysg
University of Wales, Newport/Prifysgol Cymru, Casnewydd
Caerleon Campus/Campws Caerllion,
Newport/Casnewydd NP18 3QT Tel: +44 (0)1633.432675
'Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness' (Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms)
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From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Genevra Kornbluth [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 22 November 2010 19:35
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [M-R] FW: Essex reliquary: Long hair and spikenard?
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On 11/22/2010 12:42 PM, Dr Jim Bugslag wrote:
> The problem with such iconographic questions is that Emile Male was
> dead wrong when he wrote about medieval artists being constrained by
> iron-clad laws of representation.
Absolutely! There are no firm rules-- especially for early images,
before there was any 'normal' for a given person or event. But there are
some generalizations that often hold true. A nearly nude man nailed to a
cross is usually Jesus, if there is no evidence to the contrary. (When
you hear hoof beats, don't look for galloping zebras.)
The image here is a nimbed woman, with long uncovered hair, clasping a
large cross. It could be almost any female saint. If the image were
totally isolated, I would think first of a female virgin martyr (i.e.
neither Mary Magdalene nor the Virgin Mary). Since it is on the Essex
object opposite the indulgenced image of the Five Wounds of Jesus, I
wonder whether there was a similarly indulgenced image of a female
saint. (I am not an expert on these!) And since both images of the
Wounds and the names of the Magi were apotropaic, I would like to know
about protective images of female saints.
Do we have lurking fifteenth/sixteenth-century experts on the list?
I'm afraid that I can't identify either plant, which might indeed offer
further clues.
Genevra
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