medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

Today (29. December) is the feast day of:

1) The prophet David (d. ca. 970, conventionally).

Views of David as psalmist on the late eighth-century ivories from the Dagulf Psalter, now in the Louvre, are here (photographs by Genevra Kornbluth):
http://www.kornbluthphoto.com/CarolingianIvories1.html

David (on the arch at left) as depicted in a later eleventh-century fresco in the Elmalı kilise (Apple Church) at Göreme in Turkey's Nevşehir province:
http://tinyurl.com/6mc2npu
Detail view:
http://www.pbase.com/dosseman/image/41536853

David (center, between the prophets Samuel and Amos) in a panel of the earlier twelfth-century Tree of Jesse window in the cathédrale Notre-Dame in Chartres (the first view courtesy of Gordon Plumb):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/4139616328/lightbox/
http://tinyurl.com/c33tceq

David (upper register at left) as depicted in the mid-twelfth-century mosaics (betw. 1145 and 1160) of the basilica cattedrale della Trasfigurazione in Cefalù:
http://tinyurl.com/cnb3wv8

David tuning his harp as portrayed in a later twelfth-century relief (betw. ca. 1165 and ca. 1175) on the entrance to the chapter house of the former prieuré Notre-Dame de la Dourade in Toulouse:
http://tinyurl.com/cpzemsc

David as depicted in two of the later thirteenth-century frescoes (either between 1263 and 1270 or slightly later) in the church of the monastery church of the Holy Trinity at Sopoćani (Raška dist.) in Serbia:
a) in the nave:
http://tinyurl.com/cyfa8ax
Detail view:
http://tinyurl.com/choq3f2
b) at right, in the chapel of St. George:
http://tinyurl.com/cnjur8c

David as depicted in a miniature, ascribed to the painter of the Sopoćani frescoes, in a thirteenth-century psalter in the Stavronikita monastery on Mt. Athos (Stavronikita ms. 46):
http://www.monumentaserbica.com/mushushu/images/174.jpg 

David (center; at left a bit of the prophet Solomon) as depicted in the late thirteenth-century frescoes (ca. 1295) by Michael Astrapas and Eutychios in the church of the Peribleptos (now Sv. Climent Novi) in Ohrid:
http://tinyurl.com/c2drqkv

David (second from left) as depicted in a detail of an Anastasis scene in the late thirteenth- or very early fourteenth-century frescoes ascribed to Manuel Panselinos in the Protaton church on Mt. Athos:
http://tinyurl.com/bvoa9zs

David as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. ca. 1312 and 1321/22) of the monastery church of the Theotokos at Gračanica in, depending upon one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija:
http://tinyurl.com/c9s4bpa
Detail view:
http://tinyurl.com/cwtw5ot

David as depicted in an earlier fourteenth-century tondo (ca. 1321) by Simone Martini for his now dismembered Orvieto altarpiece (the tondo is now in the Museé du Petit Palais in Avignon):
http://tinyurl.com/cmxcazp 

David (at left; at right, the prophet Moses) as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (1330s) in the dome of the church of the Hodegetria in the Patriarchate of Peć at Peć in, depending upon one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija:
http://tinyurl.com/7z7xlu5 

David as depicted in two earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1335 and 1350) under the dome of the church of the Holy Ascension at the Visoki Dečani monastery near Peć in, depending upon one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija:
a) under the dome:
http://tinyurl.com/brroyy8
b) on the arch before the altar area:
http://tinyurl.com/c2yw5wf

David (at left) as portrayed on the late fourteenth- / early fifteenth-century (1395-1403) Well of Moses by Claus Sluter and workshop in the former Chartreuse de Champmol near Dijon:
http://tinyurl.com/d9p3lee
Another view:
http://tinyurl.com/bo2q2cm


2) Libosus of Vaga (d. 258). This prelate of Africa Proconsularis is remembered for having declared, at the synod of Carthage in 256 and in support of the re-baptism of heretical _lapsi_ who wished to rejoin the Roman church, that Christ had said in the Gospels not "I am Custom" but instead "I am the Truth" and that, when custom (in this case, not baptizing heretics; the traditional position, endorsed by pope St. Stephen I) conflicts with evident truth, custom must yield to truth. Two years earlier, when he was already bishop of Vaga (now Beja in northern Tunisia) he had signed, along with St. Cyprian of Carthage and other African bishops, a letter condemning the bishops of Astorga and Mérida as libellatics in the time of the Decian persecution. After Cyprian's execution Libosus was martyred at Carthage together with other bishops. In the (pseudo-)Hieronymian Martyrology his name occurs under 29. December (when, identified as a bishop, he appears along with other African martyrs whom the RM in its revision of 2001 dropped from what previously had been a group commemoration) and again under 1. February (when, not so identified, a Libosus appears among a smaller but seemingly related group of martyrs of Africa).


3) Trophimus of Arles (d. 3d cent.). Trophimus (in French, Trophime) is the protobishop of Arles. According to the recently celebrated pope St. Zosimus (27. December), he had been sent to Gaul as a missionary and was the first to spread the faith at Arles. St. Gregory of Tours calls him Arles' first bishop and says that he was one of the missionary companions of St. Dionysius of Paris in middle of the third century. That date, at least, is likely to be reasonably correct.

In 1152 remains believed to those of Trophimus were translated from Arles' originally late antique church of St. Stephen, the cathedral of what since the fifth century had been the archdiocese of Arles, into the newly finished cathedral (begun in the late eleventh century) that we now know as the basilique primatiale Saint-Trophime (with the suppression of the archdiocese in 1822 this church ceased to be a bishop's seat). Herewith some views, starting with a look at its later twelfth-century west facade (restored between 1988 and 1995), and going on to illustrated accounts in French and in English, and then to pages of multiple views:
http://tinyurl.com/9gnu6c
http://tinyurl.com/czfwx2k
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_St._Trophime,_Arles
http://www.galenfrysinger.com/saint_trophime_arles.htm
http://tinyurl.com/8tnsqe
http://romanes.com/Arles/StTrophime/Eglise/
http://www.romanes.com//Arles/StTrophime/Facade//index.html
http://www.archart.it/archart/europa/France/Arles-cattedrale/
This page has some very good views of the interior (one may find the comments less satisfying):
http://tinyurl.com/btsg8sb

Trophimus as he appears in the reliefs on the facade:
http://tinyurl.com/cs5jxx3
http://tinyurl.com/8nox9x

Views of the cloister (twelfth- and fourteenth-century; now closed for restoration until late 2013):
http://tinyurl.com/c76qnwp
http://www.romanes.com//Arles/StTrophime/Cloitre//index.html

Trophimus as he appears in the twelfth-century reliefs of the cloister (the first two views were taken after this pillar had been restored; the third shows an earlier state indicative of the pre-restoration appearance of all of this church's exterior sculpture):
http://tinyurl.com/c4wx8kn
http://tinyurl.com/cn359on
http://tinyurl.com/cncppnb


4) Martinianus of Milan (d. 435?). Martinianus is traditionally the fifteenth bishop of Milan. He was already bishop in 431 when (with his signature transmitted in our witnesses as Martinus) he signed a doctrinal letter directed against John of Antioch and other prelates of Nestorian persuasion. In Milan, where relics said to be his repose beneath the high altar of Santo Stefano Maggiore, competition from feasts of greater moment has caused his celebration to occur on 2. January. The latter was also his day of commemoration in the RM prior to its revision of 2001 when it was moved to today (Martinianus' _dies natalis_ according to a tradition of long standing).


5) Marcellus the Acoemete (d. ca. 482). A native of Apamea who had studied at Antioch, Marcellus was a monk of St. Mennas in Constantinople when he became a follower of Alexander the founder in the early fifth century of the Acoemetes (Akoimetoi; 'Sleepless Ones"), a community of monks who celebrated offices throughout the twenty-four-hour day. In their early years the Acoemetes were accused of heresy and were forced to leave the capital. During this exile Marcellus became their hegumen. In his roughly forty years of leadership he transformed the community into one of great respectability and perceived orthodoxy operating in numerous monasteries. In 448 he was one of twenty-two archimandrites who joined thirty-one bishops in subscribing St. Flavian of Constantinople's condemnation of Eutyches; according to Theodoret of Cyr(rh)us he was vigorous in attacking heresy at the so-called Robber Council of Ephesus. In 451 Marcellus was present at the fourth session of the Council of Chalcedon. Byzantine synaxaries record his death on this day. He seems to have received an immediately posthumous cult; his Bios, which exists in several versions (BHG 1027 etc.) is now thought to date from the late fifth or very early sixth century.


6) Ebrulf of Ouche (d. later 6th cent., supposedly). According to his Vitae (BHL 2374, etc.), which begin in the earlier twelfth century, Ebrulf (in French, Evroul, Evroult, Evrols) was a pious courtier under Childebert I who separated from his wife and became a monk of Bayeux. He is said later to have retreated as a hermit to the woods of Normandy's Pays d'Ouche and to have created at today's Saint-Evroult-de-Montfort (Orne) an hermitage that the originally eleventh-century abbey of Saint-Evroul-sur-Ouche at today's Saint-Evroult Notre-Dame-du-Bois (Orne) claimed was its royally founded predecessor (with Ebrulf as its first abbot). The foundation of many other houses was ascribed to Ebrulf was well. The Norman Conquest brought his cult to England.

An illustrated, French-language page on what's left of the abbey of Saint-Evroul-sur-Ouche (the monastic home of Orderic Vitalis, who in the earlier twelfth century wrote a history of this house):
http://photos.piganl.net/2009/evroult/evroult.html
Other views:
http://www.st-evroult-nd-du-bois.fr/images/accueil1.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/36vb32v
http://www.flickr.com/photos/biron-philippe/4542323495/
http://tinyurl.com/7ttolz
http://www.flickr.com/photos/biron-philippe/4542955980/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/biron-philippe/4542956476/
http://tinyurl.com/8nsmfw
http://tinyurl.com/924n6k
http://www.flickr.com/photos/biron-philippe/4542456345/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/biron-philippe/4542955598/

Two views of the much rebuilt, originally eleventh-century église Saint-Evroult in Saint-Evroult-de-Montfort (Orne):
http://tinyurl.com/394sc2t
http://jeanalain.monfort.free.fr/61/Montfort%28egliseOuest%29.jpg
This church preserves a twelfth-century baptismal font made of lead. An English-language description:
http://tinyurl.com/3yyl5pv
A detail view:
http://tinyurl.com/3yyl5pv
The very similar font in the Church of St Augustine, Brookland (Kent):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lizfantastic/3248037348/

An illustrated, French-language page on the mostly originally thirteenth-century (betw. ca. 1215-1220 and ca. 1260) collégiale Saint-Evroult in Mortain (Manche), replacing an originally late eleventh-century predecessor of the same dedication:
http://photos.piganl.net/2009/mortain/collegiale.html
Other exterior views:
http://tinyurl.com/2g34dxh
http://tinyurl.com/298x2hh
http://tinyurl.com/2gyhyoq
http://tinyurl.com/2vzhy99
The south portal (ca. 1140), a survivor from the earlier church:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/declanod/4387511843/
http://tinyurl.com/38eubba
http://tinyurl.com/342hbms
Other interior views:
http://tinyurl.com/3xa65o7
http://tinyurl.com/3xho39v
The church houses houses a small beechwood box, the so-called Mortain casket, covered in gilded leather and bearing an Anglo-Saxon runic inscription as well as, on another surface, brief inscriptions in Latin identifying its portraits of St. Michael and St. Gabriel. Thought to be of the late seventh century, it has been conjectured to have originally served as a carrying case for hosts and later, once a rectangular hole had been cut into it, as a reliquary. How and when it reached Mortain are unknown. Some views:
http://tinyurl.com/34abd59
http://www.jemolo.com/alta/VE%20177.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/2e4mw94
http://www.jemolo.com/alta/VE%20178.jpg

Some views of the originally earlier sixteenth-century église Saint-Evroult in Damville (Eure):
http://tinyurl.com/2uzxw32
http://tinyurl.com/36hzjss
http://tinyurl.com/35y8uau
http://tinyurl.com/2uvfk9c
http://tinyurl.com/2ujr7v3
http://tinyurl.com/2ub6osz


7) Thomas of Canterbury (Thomas Becket; d. 1170). A Londoner, Thomas was successively archdeacon of Canterbury, chancellor of England under Henry II, and (from 1162) archbishop of Canterbury. In the latter post, his defence of ecclesiastical rights soon led to a falling out with Henry and to Thomas' withdrawal to France, where he remained until 1170. His return to Canterbury in that year had papal backing but only grudging acceptance from the king. The two were still quite unreconciled when Thomas was assassinated in his cathedral on 29. December 1170 by knights who thought that they were doing Henry a favor. Thomas' life of penitence and self-mortification while archbishop contributed to his image as a saintly martyr. He was canonized in 1173 and Vitae (with miracle accounts) soon followed.

Kay Brainerd Slocum's _Liturgies in Honour of Thomas Becket_ (University of Toronto Press, 2004) has a useful chapter (pp. 98-126) on the spread of Thomas' cult.

The chiesa di San Giorgio in Como has a reliquary case housing what is said to be part of Thomas' chin and some bones said to be those of St. Eutichius of Como. Three views follow:
http://tinyurl.com/623ecv
http://tinyurl.com/64acjh
http://tinyurl.com/5vf2gv
The certificate from 1777 of a recognition of these relics:
http://www.iubilantes.it/archivio/index.php?sel=7&idfoto=256

Further visuals to follow in Part 2.

Best,
John Dillon

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