medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Bill East <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>But it ["The Dream of the Rood"] does envisage the crucifixion in very
different terms from what became common in the later middle ages. These terms
have their own distinctive iconography. Representations of the crucifixion
from the period
and much, much later --well into the 12th century
>show the triumph of God over the Devil. It is the Divinity of Christ, rather
than his humanity, which is depicted. The figure is shown clothed, not naked.
He wears royal robes, or often those of a priest, indicating his rôle as the
Great High Priest as set forth in the Letter to the Hebrews (a way of looking
at what Christ effected which we have not yet explored). He wears a royal
crown, not a crown of thorns.
there are variants of this, but that's the general idea.
>He is shown alive, his eyes wide open, staring somewhat fiercely, indicating
his triumph over death. His body is not bowed, but is upright and rigid. His
arms are straight and horizontal, not dragged down by the weight of the body;
he is not subject to the law of gravity.
and some of the variants look like this :
http://centrechartraine.freeservers.com/mss/bm577/ms577f6-crucifix.jpg
(open in a full-sized window and hit the expansion icon in the lower right
corner to get all the detail.)
this is from from an early 11th c. sacramentary from St. Peter's of Chartres,
which i believe *may* reflect a stylistic (and, perhaps, iconographic)
tradition which goes back to Anglo-Saxon England, via Fleury (which reformed
St. Peter's in the 10th century).
(some details about it from Leroquais' description on this unfinished page :
http://www.ariadne.org/cc/mss/chartresmss/bm577/leroquais-577.htm )
it is a deceptively "naive" bit of work, i believe --there is a considerable
amount of important "theological" detail to be found in the simple (or
"minimal"), expressive lines of all the faces, and even in the drapery
patterns.
while not your "King of Glory on the Tree of Life") type, i see His open eyes
and more-than-somewhat detached expression to be indicative of the basic
attitude which you find in the "Dream".
even the passive --and essentially submissive-- expressions and attitudes of
the Virgin and John are a very, very far cry from the scenes of Lamentation
and Suffering which we start to see from the end of the 12th century and which
become dominant from that point onwards.
>He is alone: there are no mourners beneath the cross.
yes, but this *could* be an artifact of the functional rôle of the image
(eg., as part of a "TE IGITUR"), or of the chance survival of the Crucifixion
alone, in whatever medium.
>This is a straight fight between God and the Devil, and mankind is out of the
picture.
usually no Devil present --though sometimes the skull of Adam(?) on Golgotha,
site of Adam's tomb.
but, that's certainly the general idea.
christopher
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What about the older ones [Indians] ?"
"Well, we can't seem to cure them of the idea that our Everyday Life is only
an Illusion, behind which is the Reality of Dreams"
--Werner Herzog's "Fitzcarraldo"
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0083946
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