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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture The "babe" is a pagan idol. That is a standard way of representing them in the Middle Ages, as a naked figure (sometimes armed with spear and shield) on a column. There are lots of examples in Michael Camille's book, The Gothic Idol. Cheers, Jim On 18/01/2011 3:31 PM, George Brown wrote: > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and > culture Thanks, John, for including the fine page from the Huntington > Library MS. In the illustration who/what is the babe standing on the > pillar? > > GHB > > > On Jan 18, 2011, at 1:21 PM, John Dillon wrote: > >> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture >> >> On Saturday, January 15, 2011, at 5:22 pm, I wrote: >> >>> In the thirteenth century, the confusion of Vitae/Passiones for the >>> priest/bishop//confessor/martyr Felix of 14. January had caused the >>> Dominican hagiographers Bartolomeo da Trento and Jacopo da Varazze to >>> maintain that there were two Felixes. In Jacopo's view at least (I >>> won't be able to look at Bartolomeo until Tuesday), the Roman martyr >>> and Felix of Nola were brothers and they were both called _in Pincis_, >>> the one because he is said to have been put to death with _pincae_ and >>> the other because he was buried outside the city at a place called >>> Pincis... >> >> I've now had a chance to look at Bartolomeo da Trento's _Liber >> epilogorum in gesta sanctorum_, where the treatment of Felix of 14. >> January is at cap. 31, _De sancto Felice_. Here, just as in the >> later Jacopo da Varazze, there are said to be two sainted brothers >> named Felix, both called _in pincis_, the one because he is said to >> have been put to death with _pincae_ (Bartolomeo gives the supposed >> explanation _pinca_ = _subula_, 'awl') and the other (who acc. to B. >> had been sentenced to hard labor but after a healing miracle had been >> freed and brought to Nola, where he died) because he reposes at a >> place called _in pincis_. >> >> Bartolomeo devotes most of his brief chapter to the Felix who died at >> Nola. At the outset he calls both Felixes priests; in his telling >> both brothers resided at Rome. The F. killed at Rome had caused an >> idol to shatter; the who died at Nola had threatened to do the same >> thing. There is no suggestion in Bartolomeo that the F. killed at >> Rome was a schoolmaster whose students put him to death with their >> _pincae_ and their styluses. That version thus seems increasingly >> likely to have been Jacopo da Varazze's own creation, inspired (as >> noted previously) by Prudentius' well known account of St. Cassian of >> Imola. >> >> Herewith an expandable view of the Felix of 14. January being stabbed >> to death by students as depicted in a late thirteenth-century copy of >> French origin of Jacopo da Varazze's _Legenda aurea_ (San Marino, CA, >> Huntington Library, ms. HM 3027, fol. 22v): >> http://tinyurl.com/4jywbp4 >> >> Best again, >> John Dillon >> >> ********************************************************************** >> To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME >> to: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> >> To send a message to the list, address it to: >> [log in to unmask] >> <mailto:[log in to unmask]> >> To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion >> to: [log in to unmask] >> In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: >> [log in to unmask] >> For further information, visit our web site: >> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html > > Prof. Em. George Hardin Brown, FMAA, FSA > Department of English, 450 Serra Mall > Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-2087 > Home: 451 Adobe Place, Palo Alto, CA 94306-4501 > Phones: Mobile: 650-269-9898; Fax: 650-725-0755; Home: 650-852-1231 > > ********************************************************************** > To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME > to: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> To send a > message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] > <mailto:[log in to unmask]> To leave the list, send the > message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] > <mailto:[log in to unmask]> In order to report problems or to > contact the list's owners, write to: > [log in to unmask] > <mailto:[log in to unmask]> For further > information, visit our web site: > http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html