medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
OK, I've been reading:
Deformed discourse : the function of the monster in mediaeval
thought and literature ; David Williams /
PUBLISHER Exeter ; University of Exeter Press, 1999
Monster theory : reading culture ; Jeffrey Jerome Cohen,
editor /
PUBLISHER Minneapolis, Minn. London ; University of Minnesota Press,
c1996
TITLE Of giants : sex, monsters, and the Middle Ages ; Jeffrey
Jerome Cohen /
PUBLISHER Minneapolis, MN ; University of Minnesota Press, 1999
Consuming narratives : gender and monstrous appetites in the
Middle Ages and the Renaissance ; edited by Elizabeth Herbert
McAvoy and Teresa Walters /
PUBLISHER Cardiff ; University of Wales Press, 2002
and a newish collection which I can't give a full ref for
because it's at home, called something like *Monsters,
Miracles and Marvels*
A Christopher panel is a nice idea - I'm not sure that I
personally have any more to say about dog-heads than I just
have, but there's bound to be someone else out there.
Sarah
On Fri, 26 Jul 2002 18:03:59 +0100 "Jones, Dr G.R."
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Do share the details of work on monstrosity, Sarah!
>
> Maybe we should think about a Christopher panel at Leeds or the 'Zoo. Ellie Pridgeon's work-in-progress paper at this year's IMC disclosed interesting hints of regional variance in wall painting depictions of the Big Man, and there was a paper on the OE Life by Jill Frederick. The aspect closest to my own work is the Continental distribution of dedications, sculpture, etc., which _seems_, as published, to indicate a corridor of interest up from northern Italy (surprisingly not the south) through the Alpine lands into Germany. I need a reason to check it out...
>
> All the best
>
> Graham
>
> ****************************************
> Dr Graham Jones
> Lecturer in English Topography
> University of Leicester
> Centre for English Local History
> Marc Fitch Historical Institute
> 5 Salisbury Road
> Leicester LE1 7QR
> United Kingdom
>
> Tel: +44 (0)116 252 2764
> Fax: +44 (0)116 252 5769
>
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>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sarah Salih [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 26 July 2002 13:29
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [M-R] saints [monsters]
>
>
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Dear Graham,
>
> Going off on a tangent, I'm working on monsters as good
> guys at the moment, sparked off by the dog-heads
> (Christopher's kind) in Mandeville's Travels. OK, they eat
> people from time to time, but are otherwise pious and
> disciplined and models of elite warrior masculinity -
> whereas Christopher on conversion becomes less monstrous,
> able to speak and so on, Mandeville's dog-heads seem to be
> doing OK on their own. And then there's Melusine, a
> prestige ancestor, though I'd have thought claiming descent
> from a giant snake might have its downside. There's quite a
> lot of recent work on monstrosity - I can provide some
> details if anyone's interested. Love the picture.
>
> Sarah
>
> On Thu, 25 Jul 2002 22:33:46 +0100 "Jones, Dr G.R."
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> >
> > Dear All
> >
> > John Block Friedman makes the point, supported by
> illustrations, in his book The Monstrous Races in Medieval
> Art and Thought (Harvard University Press, 1981), that the
> righteous were depicted with animal heads in medieval
> Jewish art. Christopher reminds us of similar depictions of
> righteousness in ancient Egypt. What I can't remember is
> whether Friedman, or anyone else, attempts to explain how
> one gets from righteousness to deformity/enormity, or
> whether indeed if there was any such progression.
> >
> >Maybe Christopher's post-conversion righteousness has
> nothing to do with his animal-head, and this refers only to
> his membership of a monstrous race, but I wouldn't bet on
> it, seeing these later medieval representations from places
> in or adjacent to the Byzantine world.
> >
> > Of particular ambiguity (to my mind, but maybe I'm
> wrong) is the presence of animal-headed hearers in the
> thirteenth-century depiction of Pentecost I have on my
> website at http://www.le.ac.uk/elh/grj1/links6.html. Are
> they merely the monstrous races among all the other gentile
> peoples mentioned in Acts, or is righteousness inferred?
> (By the way, anyone know where the source of my image, the
> Bar Ebroyo electronic library, has gone?)
> >
> > Best wishes
> >
> > Graham
> >
> > ****************************************
> > Dr Graham Jones
> > Lecturer in English Topography
> > University of Leicester
> > Centre for English Local History
> > Marc Fitch Historical Institute
> > 5 Salisbury Road
> > Leicester LE1 7QR
> > United Kingdom
> >
> > Tel: +44 (0)116 252 2764
> > Fax: +44 (0)116 252 5769
> >
> > e-Mail: [log in to unmask]
> > Web pages: http://www.le.ac.uk/elh/grj1
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Christopher Crockett [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> > Sent: 25 July 2002 17:34
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: [M-R] saints of the day 25. July
> >
> >
> > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> >
> > "Stephen A. Allen" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> > >>Incidentally, does any learned list-member know why St.
> > Christopher's Vita describes him as "dogheaded"?
> >
> >
> > >If I recall correctly, according to some legends Christopher was physically
> > deformed. He was supposed to be very large, almost a giant, with a head that
> > looked like a dog's. An icon showing Christopher with a dog's head can be
> > found at:
> >
> > http://www.ucc.ie/milmart/Christopher.html
> >
> >
> > seems like some sort of Egyptian connection is involved here, somewhere,
> > somehow.
> >
> > though i can find no mention of Egypt in the early vitae on this site (lots of
> > talk about "idols" however).
> >
> > there's an earlier example of the iconography here :
> >
> > http://www.ucc.ie/milmart/chrsmisc.html
> >
> > with the caption here :
> >
> > http://www.ucc.ie/milmart/chrsmisc.html
> >
> > "A (museum quality copy of a) 6th/7th century terracotta plaque from Vinica in
> > modern Macedonia. A dog-headed St. Christopher and St. George stand side by
> > side, each stabbing a human-headed serpent with a spear. They each clasp a
> > central military standard consisting of a large cross surmounting a pole."
> >
> > this one, particularly, reminds me of a coptic relief now in the Louvre
> > depicting a mounted, Falcon-headed [Horus] St. George(?) in Roman armor
> > spearing a Crocodile-shaped "dragon" [Seth] in what is a quite wonderful
> > mélange of iconographies.
> >
> > much as the "Christopher" here is spearing the serpent below.
> >
> > the lower inscription looks like "AUDINO" ?
> >
> > can anyone make out the rest ?
> >
> > christopher
> >
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