medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: John Wickstrom <[log in to unmask]>
>The MS is actually from Troyes, Bib. mun. 2273.
well, John that's very Quaint, "Bib. mun."
what you mean to say is "Médiathèque de l'Agglomération Troyenne".
which *sounds* much morebetter, just rolling off the tongue.
"Bibl. mun." is *SO* Vigntième siècle.
>It is, however, a Parisian MS, done at St. Maur-des-Fossés about 1100. Its
important contents is an illustrated Life of St. Maurus, the disciple of St.
Benedict. (There are only two that I know of; the other being the famous Vat
lat 1202 from Monte Cassino c 1070.)
>2273 was very nicely released on a CD by the Bnf. about a year ago.
a description of the CD is here, half way down the page:
http://www.bm-troyes.fr/bmtroyes/_/publications/d%C3%A9couvrir_bibli.asp
the price is certainly right; i've yet to find the ordering information,
however.
it seems that a great many leaves are available on-line via the Ministre de
Kulture's "Enluminures" site:
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/documentation/enlumine/fr/BM/troyes_481-01.htm
and subsequent pages.
(which site, btw, is a great resource, for mss. from regional French
libraries.)
>"http://www.kzoo.edu/history/Wickstrom/bene2.jpg"http://www.kzoo.edu/history/Wickstrom/bene2.jpg
the "horseshoe" arches which trouble Carlos *might* be reflections of an
Italian model, i suppose.
i don't see any oriental "cupolas", however --looks like pretty
straightforward western romanesque, with the clergy in one part of a building
with a crossing(?) tower and two apsidial chapels;
and the seculares (Maur's clarisssimo senatorum generic kinsmen/women?) in
another part of the building (perhaps the narthex of the church --i'm
presuming that the high cross of the roof would be placed on the pinnacle of
the west facade).
as for the figure with the crozier, i assume that you have identified him as
Benedict because of the text --though bishops have croziers too.
but this guy is tonsured and surrounded by tonsured fellows, some in brown,
some in green livery, and he is investing (?) the kneeling figure (Maur?) with
a green habit (novice's ???).
the modest brown habit of the fellow holding the green garment would seem to
eliminate the possibility that he is Benedict (as in MG's construction), seems
to me.
the distinguished looking, kneeling secular fellow to the right of Maur(?) i
take to be his father or close kinsman; the other secular figures, male and
female, i take to be the extened family, come to witness the event of Maur
being monked.
judging from this illumination and the other ones i've seen on the Enluminures
site, i'd say that your artist is a fairly Capable story teller, Competent in
his handling of compositional, architectural, facial and other details,
Consistent in the Realisations of his visionary images;
however, his ability to Clearly envision the Complexities of drapery patterns
is certainly not particularly good --these are hopelessly "muddy", more often
than not.
cf. the Conceptual Confusion evident in the fold structure of the figure in
purple in the left hand group of monks on fol. 69v here:
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/savimage/enlumine/irht7/IRHT_109816-p.jpg
or here:
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/savimage/enlumine/irht7/IRHT_109837-p.jpg
or here:
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/savimage/enlumine/irht7/IRHT_109830-p.jpg
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/savimage/enlumine/irht7/IRHT_109835-p.jpg
http://expositions.bnf.fr/bestiaire/images/3/04_01_tro.jpg (woman saint in the
lower left)
etc.
as an aside, note the later defacement to the DIABOLVS figure here:
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/savimage/enlumine/irht7/IRHT_109822-p.jpg
very Heavy Ju-Ju, in those Demoniac images.
one wonders when the defacement was done.
interesting ms., John.
thanks for the HeadsUp on the CD.
hit us with some more problems.
best,
c
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