medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear All
Normally Helen holds the Cross at her side. Here the Cross is being clasped. An early seventeenth-century representation of Mary Magdalen in the Hunt Museum, Limerick, comes to mind.
http://test.huntmuseum.com/prov_materials2.asp?mSearch=Wood
That piece also includes the Agony in the Garden (cf the drops 'like blood' on the amulet?) and the Magi, though a triptych intended as a 'painted epitaph' rather than an amulet, and apparently made in a clerical context.
Best wishes
Graham
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Dr Graham Jones, St John's College, Oxford OX1 3JP
Senior Research Associate, Oxford University School of Geography
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From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Madeleine Gray [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 20 November 2010 20:30
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [M-R] Essex amulet
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I'd thought Helen because the cross is so substantial and realistic. I'm more used to seeing saints like Margaret depicted with lighter crosses like processional crosses. I can't off hand find Helen with the cross and without a crown, but she doesn't seem to be crowned in the alabaster of her seeking the Cross in Cheetham, Alabaster Images.
The person from the BM who replied to my colleague suggested that the blood drops (if that's what they are), and probably the 'pecks' on the cross on the front, were originally enamelled in red. We'd like to see some evidence of enamel in at least one slot. I was reading the pecks on the cross as indicating the grain of the wood, the lignum vitae, and the tradition that when found the Cross exuded healing oil from the grain of its wood.
The Oxford Dictionary of Saints notes that Geoffrey of Monmouth claimed that Helena was daughter of King Coel of Colchester, and this was widely credited in the Middle Ages. As the find spot was in Essex, there might be a link. On the other hand, the style of the amulet looks late, and the cult of Helen became political in the early Tudor period as Henry VII claimed descent from her in her Welsh persona as the Helen of the 'Dream of Macsen Wledig'.
Maddy
Dr Madeleine Gray
Reader in History
School of Education/Ysgol Addysg
University of Wales, Newport/Prifysgol Cymru, Casnewydd
Caerleon Campus/Campws Caerllion,
Newport/Casnewydd NP18 3QT Tel: +44 (0)1633.432675
'Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness' (Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms)
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From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Dr Jim Bugslag [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 20 November 2010 19:09
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [M-R] Essex amulet
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Hello Maddy,
It would seem more appropriate to me to refer to this item as an amulet
rather than a reliquary. Note the names of the three Magi around the
rim; these, I believe, were often associated with "white magic". As for
the female saint with the cross, it doesn't seem to me to have anything
to do with the Virgin Mary (a pity, really, as the shrine of Our Lady of
Ipswich might then have been involved). Even without a crown, it might,
I suppose, be St Helen, but many female martyrs were represented holding
quite large crosses simply to indicate their martyrdom. I'm working
with a small panel of stained glass with an image of St Margaret,who is
holding up a similar cross; mind you, in that case there is also a
rather obvious dragon at her feet as well. Here, we don't have any
other attributes, and it strikes me that it could be primarily the cross
which is of importance here. What is really striking about the work,
though, is the other side, with a wounded heart surrounded by what look
like four images of Christ's side wound with drops of (presumably) blood
dripping from them and more drops of blood surrounding them. It is
tempting to associate these with the relic of the Holy Blood at
Broomholm on the Norfolk coast, although there were Holy Blood relics
elsewhere in England, as well, as at Hailes and, I believe, Westminster
Abbey. Alternately, I suppose, the "side wounds" might be eyes, and the
drops thus tears: similar iconography is associated with the shrine of
the Sainte Larme at Vendome, which was also a prominent pilgrimage
site. Fascinating object, in any case.
Cheers,
Jim
PS Here's another try at providing a link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-11776113
On 20/11/2010 11:14 AM, Madeleine Gray wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> I've been trying several times to send to the list a link to our BBC reporting of a reliquary found in a field in Essex. Apparently the British Museum has described it as depicting the Virgin Mary with a cross symbolising the Pieta. A colleague emailed suggesting it was more likely St Helen and was told very firmly that it couldn't be Helen because the figure is not crowned. I'd like to consult the collective wisdom of the list - so I'll try to send this again but without the link in case that's the problem. Without the link you can find it by going to the BBC site and keying in Reliquary as a search term.
>
> Maddy
>
>
> Dr Madeleine Gray
> Reader in History
> School of Education/Ysgol Addysg
> University of Wales, Newport/Prifysgol Cymru, Casnewydd
> Caerleon Campus/Campws Caerllion,
> Newport/Casnewydd NP18 3QT Tel: +44 (0)1633.432675
>
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