medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Tom,
The geography of the macabre is rather fascinating. "Verminous Cadaver"
tombs may be "rare" in England, and in France as well, but they are
quite common in the Germanic countries, the oldest being that of Franz
von Sarraz from the late 14th century (later ones get much more
gruesome). On the other hand, any sort of cadaver or transi tombs are
almost completely absent in Italy. Panofsky relates this, I believe, to
another distinction between Italian tombs and those elsewhere in Europe:
effigies in Italy are usually represented with their eyes closed, as
opposed to open elsewhere.
Cheers,
Jim
Thomas Izbicki wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Are the transi tombs more connected with the Memento mori / Ars
> moriendi? I am reminded of the Wakeman centotaph at Tewksbury Abbey,
> described thus on a web page I just found:
> "This figure represents the usual 15th century effigy of a corpse in
> an advanced state of decay. The difference with this one against
> others is that this is a rare "Verminous Cadaver" with a mouse gnawing
> at his bowels, a snake in his shroud near his feet, a worm on his left
> knee, a beetle on his left arm and a frog near his head. There is also
> what is thought to be a lizard on his left thigh. Wakeman was
> consecrated as the first Bishop of Gloucester in 1541 and is buried
> elsewhere."
> This is the URL, but I could not get the pictures to display:
> http://www.churchmousewebsite.co.uk/cadavertombs/tewkesbury_cadaver.htm
> Tom Izbicki
>
> Dr Jim Bugslag wrote:
>> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
>> culture
>>
>> Jon Cannon wrote:
>>> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
>>> culture ...I like the term 'social body' for the late medieval
>>> effigies one finds on transi tombs. I've recently studied one of
>>> these in detail - John Carpenter, bp. of Worcester, to be published
>>> by the Bristol Record Society later this year. In this case there is
>>> (and probably never was) a 'social body', just a cadaver with mitre
>>> and staff to indicate status in life. But the (lost but
>>> reconstructable) architectural and iconographic setting for this
>>> tomb strongly suggests a 'Resurrection' layer of meaning, too, at
>>> least in this case.
>>>
>>> ...If these are the 'social bodies' of the people concerned, I
>>> wonder if we need another for the more standardised and idealised
>>> effigies of the C13/C14...
>>
>> In images of the Last Judgement, the Resurrected are generally shown
>> naked, although one occasionally sees a naked bishop wearing his
>> mitre or a naked king with his crown. One further factor that might
>> argue against the "Resurrection" state is that the Resurrected have,
>> I believe, not simply a perfectly resurrected body but also have
>> their souls reconjoined with those bodies, whereas from about the
>> late 13th century, one begins to get small images of a naked soul in
>> the bosom of Abraham in the canopywork sheltering the effigy. And in
>> the case of tomb brasses and other "floor tombs" the effigy is, if
>> not intended to be walked on, at least expected to be walked on --
>> which might suggest that it was meant just to represent the mortal
>> body rather than the Resurrected one. Another factor, certainly, is
>> the lack of any naturalistic portrait for an effigy before about the
>> late 14th century.
>>>
>>> ...In England there is a particularly inventive (and thus
>>> instructive) phase in the earlier C14, when we get figures with
>>> their eyes open (Bristol) or twisting on a bed of rocks, apparently
>>> about to rise up and draw a sword (Burrough Green, Reepham, Ingham);
>>> these presumably related to the much-studied and extraordinary C13
>>> sword-reaching effigies (eg Dorchester abbey and elsewhere). If
>>> *these* chaps are depicted in the moment of resurrection, their
>>> defensive reaction may not sit well when Judgement begins!
>> When it comes right down to it, there are a lot of anomalies in
>> funerary effigies, and this probably, to some extent, registers
>> broader anomalies concerning what happens to souls between death and
>> the Last Judgement. Even at the "official" level of theology, there
>> does not appear to have been a clear single position on many aspects
>> of eschatology.
>>>
>>> ... I am interested to learn that Panofsky talks of family tombs
>>> with kids in the C14. I can't think of them in England. Tomb with
>>> 'weepers', yes, but not specifically kids. In any case, I presume
>>> even our medieval people didn't think dead children would be
>>> resurrected at age 33! ... (though nothing would suprise me...)
>>
>> There are lots of English family brasses.
>> Cheers,
>> Jim
>>>
>>
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