"A tangential question that came up in out postgrad seminar
yesterday: Lydgate's Troy Book claims that the idea of
the female serpent is derived from Bede. The students
wanted to know if he was right, and I had no idea, but I'm
sure that some listmembers will know better"
I can't remember where in the Heaven I read it, but Bede did wrote that the
serpent had a Virgin face.
I don't know whether this following (late) examples have been already
mentioned:
Norwich Cathedral: roof boos with A & E holding a fruit. In the middle, the
Devil (a serpent untill the heap; a friend of mine making a research on the
relationship between medieval drama and imagery says that ), on the tree,
holding two adtional fruits (after the repainting they look like golden
apples)
Church of St. Nicholas, Klerant: wall painting with Eve and the fruit and,
to her right, the she-devil.
These examples lead me to some addtional questions:
Bede and others said that the Paradise tree was a figtree, and there are
some medieval examples of
this. Why, then, the Norwich apples or the exotic fruit in Jan van Eyck's
Ghen Altarpiece?
Any of you knows of bibliography concerning medieval (or early modern)
Klerant? I am trying to find out whether any pilgrimage road crossed this
region.
Best from here
Carlos
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