medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
According to Acts 4:34-36 Barnabas was a Levite from Cyprus who had been named Joseph until the apostles gave him his present appellation, said to signify "son of encouragement" (there are other interpretations), after he had sold a field and given them the proceeds. In a departure from the earliest texts both in Greek and in Latin, in some Bible traditions his name is rendered as Barnabus. Barnabas was especially close to St. Paul and accompanied him on many of his travels, some recorded in Acts and others occurring only in New Testament apocrypha. The epistle that goes under his name was considered authentic by Clement of Alexandria and by Origen but not by Jerome or by Eusebius and is not so considered by modern scholars.
Barnabas' apocryphal Acta (BHG 225) have him martyred by Jews on Cyprus. (You can't go home again!). He is said to have been buried there at Salamis. In 478 the Cyprian archbishop Anthemios, prompted by a dream vision, found what he said were Barnabas' grave and relics, with a manuscript of the Gospel of Matthew resting on Barnabas' chest. A monastery dedicated to Barnabas grew up on the spot; like nearby Famagusta (the successor to ancient Salamis) it lies within Turkish-dominated northern Cyprus and is now a museum, the monks having left two years after the partition of 1974. The buildings are for the most part early modern and modern. Herre's a view of the subterranean rock-cut tomb revered as Barnabas' resting place:
http://ringofchrist.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/st-barnabas-tomb.jpg
Traditionally revered as the founder of the church in Cyprus, in medieval Cypriot painting Barnabas is customarily depicted as a bishop.
Barnabas is the legendary evangelist of Milan. Visitors to that city's cathedral of Santa Maria Nascente will see an assertion, untrammeled by any qualification, that Barnabas was the founder of the Milanese church:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Milano_Vescovi.jpg
More recently, though, the archdiocese has been willing to refer to Barnabas as its founder _according to tradition_.
In medieval and modern Byzantine-rite churches, Barnabas was and is celebrated jointly with St. Bartholomew on 11 June. This is also his feast (not shared with Bartholomew) in churches using the Roman Rite and in other churches whose sanctoral calendars have been influenced by it. The Maronite Church celebrates him on 10. June (Bartholomew has 11. June). In the Armenian Apostolic Church he is celebrated on 16. October along with five other apostles and disciples. The Coptic Orthodox Church celebrates him on 21. Kiyahk (30. December).
Supplementing Gordon Plumb's post of yesterday (SUBJ: St Barnabas 11th June) herewith further period-pertinent images of St. Barnabas:
a) as depicted in an originally earlier or mid-eleventh-century fresco (restored betw. 1953 and 1962) in the katholikon of the monastery of Hosios Loukas near Distomo in Phokis:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110067756467697073060/albums/5244989180498443473/5245019466996242802?banner=pwa&pid=5245019466996242802&oid=110067756467697073060
b) as depicted (at left; at right, St. Epiphanius of Cyprus) in a poorly preserved later twelfth-century fresco (ca. 1160-1180) in the altar area of the church of the Holy Apostles at Pera Chorio (Nicosia prefecture)in the Republic of Cyprus:
http://tinyurl.com/oxhqlnf
c) as depicted (martyrdom) in one of four panels of a full-page illumination in the late twelfth-century so-called Bible of Saint Bertin (ca. 1190-1200; Den Haag, KB, ms. 76 F 5, fol. 27v, sc. 2B):
http://manuscripts.kb.nl/zoom/BYVANCKB%3Amimi_76f5%3A027v_min_b2
d) as depicted in the originally earlier thirteenth-century East Rose Window (Bay 100; ca. 1201-1225; extensively restored, 1989) in the cathédrale Notre-Dame in Laon:
http://therosewindow.com/pilot/Laon/Erose-17.htm
e) as depicted in a partly restored earlier thirteenth-century glass window (Bay 107, panel a; ca. 1225-1235) in the cathédrale Notre-Dame in Reims:
http://therosewindow.com/pilot/Reims%20cathedral/w107a-whole.htm
f) as depicted (at right; at left, St. Thomas the Apostle) in the originally earlier thirteenth-century glass window (Bay 119, panel b; ca. 1230-1235; extensively restored) in the basilique cathédrale Notre-Dame in Chartres:
http://tinyurl.com/3x8s3j7
g) as depicted (at left; at right, St. John the Evangelist) in the mid-thirteenth-century Carrow Psalter (Baltimore, Walters Art Museum, ms. W.34, fol. 3v):
http://thedigitalwalters.org/Data/WaltersManuscripts/W34/data/W.34/sap/W34_000014_sap.jpg
h) as portrayed (lower register at far right) in a statuette on the mid-thirteenth-century copper gilt châsse of St. Eleutherius of Tournai (completed in 1247) in the treasury of the cathédrale Notre-Dame / Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal in Tournai / Doornik:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Tournai_Kathedrale6.JPG
Detail views (Barnabas):
http://balat.kikirpa.be/image/thumbnail/B098568.jpg
http://balat.kikirpa.be/image/thumbnail/B098569.jpg
http://balat.kikirpa.be/image/thumbnail/B098570.jpg
http://balat.kikirpa.be/image/thumbnail/A094211.jpg
http://balat.kikirpa.be/image/thumbnail/A094212.jpg
i) as portrayed (third from left) in a statuette on the later thirteenth-century copper gilt châsse de Notre-Dame (ca. 1260) in the treasury of the collégiale Notre-Dame in Huy:
http://tinyurl.com/jucfhas
Detail views:
http://balat.kikirpa.be/image/thumbnail/B210889.jpg
http://balat.kikirpa.be/image/thumbnail/B213407.jpg
http://balat.kikirpa.be/image/thumbnail/B213410.jpg
http://balat.kikirpa.be/image/thumbnail/B213411.jpg
j) as depicted (martyrdom) in a late thirteenth-century copy of French origin of the _Legenda aurea_ (San Marino, CA, Huntington Library, ms. HM 3027, fol. 66v):
http://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/ds/huntington/images//000951A.jpg
k) as depicted (martyrdom) in the late thirteenth-century Livre d'images de Madame Marie (ca. 1285-1290; Paris, BnF, ms. Nouvelle acquisition française 16251, fol. 73v):
http://tinyurl.com/2a4wsox
l) as depicted (bas-de-page; martyrdom) in the early fourteenth-century Queen Mary Psalter (ca. 1310-1320; London, BL, Royal MS 2 B VII, fol. 251r):
http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=53258
http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMINBig.ASP?size=big&IllID=53258
m) as depicted in the _Sanctorale_ of the earlier fourteenth-century Stowe Breviary (ca. 1322-1325; London, BL, MS Stowe 12, fol. 252r):
http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMINBig.ASP?size=big&IllID=11404
n) as depicted (at lower right in the panel at lower left; martyrdom) in an earlier fourteenth-century pictorial menologion from Thessaloniki (betw. 1322 and 1340; Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Gr. th. f. 1, fol. 43r):
http://image.ox.ac.uk/images/bodleian/msgrthf1/43r.jpg
o) as twice depicted (right-hand column: bound and dragged; bas-de-page: martyrdom) in volume 1 of the earlier fourteenth-century Belleville Breviary (ca. 1323-1326; Paris, BnF, ms. Latin 10483, fol. 188v):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8451634m/f378.item.r=.langFR.zoom
p) as depicted in an earlier fourteenth-century copy of the _Legenda aurea_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (ca. 1326-1350; Paris, BnF, ms. Français 185, fol. 69v):
http://tinyurl.com/29xghk4
q) as depicted (martyrdom) in an earlier fourteenth-century French-language legendary of Parisian origin with illuminations attributed to the Fauvel Master (ca. 1327; Paris, BnF, ms. Français 183, fol. 77v):
http://tinyurl.com/29ynoct
r) as twice depicted (both times at left; selling his field, presenting the proceeds to the disciples) in an earlier fourteenth-century copy of Books 1-8 of Vincent of Beauvais' _Speculum historiale_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (1333; Paris, BnF, ms. Français 316 , fol. 367v):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10507212h/f740.item.zoom
s) as twice depicted by Mahiet and workshop in an earlier fourteenth-century copy of Vincent of Beauvais' _Speculum historiale_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (ca. 1335; Paris, BnF, ms. Arsenal 5080, fols. 66v and 91r):
1) preaching (fol. 66v):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b7100627v/f138.item.zoom
2) at left, with St. Paul fol. 91r):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b7100627v/f187.item.zoom
t) as depicted (at right; preaching) in a mid-fourteenth-century copy of Ulrich of Lilienfeld's _Concordantiae caritatis_ (ca. 1355; Lilienfeld, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. 151, fol. 183v):
http://tarvos.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/server/images/7004960.JPG
u) as depicted in a mid-fourteenth-century menologion from Sis in Armenian Cilicia (1348; New York, The Morgan Library and Museum, Morgan MS. M.0622, fol. 145r):
http://ica.themorgan.org/manuscript/page/73/122661
v) as depicted (at left; at right, St. Mark the Evangelist) in the Litanies section of a later fourteenth-century miscellany of mostly French-language devotional texts (betw. 1351 and 1400; Paris, BnF, Français 400 [Colbert 1432], fol. 27v):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b105258207/f56.item.r=.zoom
w) as depicted in the later fourteenth-century Breviary of Charles V (ca. 1364-1370; Paris, BnF, ms. Latin 1052, fol. 387r):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84525491/f783.item.zoom
x) as depicted in a later fourteenth-century Roman missal of north Italian origin (ca. 1370; Avignon, Bibliothèque-Mediathèque Municipale Ceccano, ms. 136, fol. 242r):
http://www.enluminures.culture.fr/Wave/savimage/enlumine/irht2/IRHT_055315-p.jpg
y) as depicted (left-hand column; selling his field) in a later fourteenth-century copy of part of Vincent of Beauvais' _Speculum historiale_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (ca. 1370-1380; Paris, BnF, ms. Nouvelle acquisition française 15940, fol. 64r):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8449693p/f135.item.zoom
z) as depicted (with an halberd) by the Troyes Master in the late fourteenth-century Hours of Prigent de Coëtivy (ca. 1380-1400; Rennes, Bibliothèque de Rennes Métropole, ms. 1511, fol. 205v):
http://tinyurl.com/zrsr4l6
http://tinyurl.com/j9pp4rm
aa) as depicted in a late fourteenth- or early fifteenth-century copy of the _Legenda aurea_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (Rennes, Bibliothèque de Rennes Métropole, ms. 266, fol. 146v):
http://tinyurl.com/z6g9pqv
http://tinyurl.com/hjfl74g
bb) as depicted (preaching) in an early fifteenth-century copy of the _Elsässische Legenda aurea_ (1419; Heidelberg, Universitätsbibliothek, Cod. Pal. germ. 144, fol. 391v):
http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/cpg144/0806
cc) as depicted (holding a book and facing the flames of his martyrdom) in an earlier fifteenth-century book of hours from Rouen (ca. 1420-1425; New York, The Morgan Library and Museum, Morgan Ms. M.105, fol. 36r)
http://ica.themorgan.org/manuscript/page/34/76848
dd) as depicted (second from left, after St. Thomas Aquinas) by Beato Angelico in a detail of his earlier fifteenth-century San Domenico Altarpiece ("Pala di Fiesole"; 1424-1425) in Fiesole's chiesa di San Domenico:
http://www.wga.hu/art/a/angelico/00/10fieso2.jpg
ee) as depicted (at far left in a scene of Paul healing the cripple at Lystra) in an earlier fifteenth-century Hussite codex (ca. 1425-1435; Vienna, ÖNB, Cod. 485, fol. 82v):
http://tarvos.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/server/images/7007081.JPG
ff) as twice depicted in an earlier fifteenth-century _Bible historiale_ (ca. 1430; Den Haag, KB, ms. KB, 78 D 38 II, fols. 214r, 215r):
1) at far left in a scene of St. Paul striking Elymas blind (fol. 214r):
http://manuscripts.kb.nl/zoom/BYVANCKB%3Amimi_78d38%3Adl2_214r_min
2) at far right; he and Paul received as gods at Lystra:
http://manuscripts.kb.nl/zoom/BYVANCKB%3Amimi_78d38%3Adl2_215r_min
gg) as depicted in the earlier fifteenth-century Breviary of Marie de Savoie (ca. 1430; Chambéry, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 4, fol. 494v):
http://www.enluminures.culture.fr/Wave/savimage/enlumine/irht1/IRHT_035623-p.jpg
hh) as depicted in grisaille by Jean le Tavernier or an assistant in the mid-fifteenth-century Hours of Philip of Burgundy (ca. 1451-1460; Den Haag, KB, ms. 76 F 2, fol. 254v):
http://manuscripts.kb.nl/zoom/BYVANCKB%3Amimi_76f2%3A254v_min
ii) as depicted (scenes) in a later fifteenth-century copy of Vincent of Beauvais' _Speculum historiale_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (1463; Paris, BnF, ms. Français 50, fol. 339v):
http://tinyurl.com/2ao4ru3
jj) as depicted (at center, betw. Sts. Matthew and Bartholomew) by the Master of the Eggelsberger Altarpiece on a panel of a later fifteenth-century winged altarpiece (ca. 1465-1475) in the Veste Oberhaus museum in Passau:
http://tarvos.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/server/images/7006269.JPG
kk) as depicted (third from left in a scene of St. Paul healing the cripple at Lystra) by Maître François in the first volume of a later fifteenth-century copy of St. Augustine's _City of God_ in its French-language version by Raoul de Presles (ca. 1475; Den Haag, Museum Meermanno, cod. 10 A 11, fol. 449r):
http://manuscripts.kb.nl/zoom/BYVANCKB%3Amimi_mmw_10a11%3A449r_min
ll) as depicted (lower register, third from left after Sts. Catherine of Alexandria and Augustine of Hippo) by Sandro Botticelli in the center panel of his late fifteenth-century Barnabas Altarpiece (ca. 1487) in Florence's Galleria degli Uffizi:
http://www.wga.hu/art/b/botticel/3barnaba/10barnab.jpg
mm) as depicted by Philippos Goul in the later fifteenth-century frescoes (early 1490s) in the church of the Timios Stavros tou Agiasmati at Platanistasa (Nicosia prefecture) in the Republic of Cyprus:
http://c7.alamy.com/comp/BB7F5J/saint-barnabas-mural-painted-by-philip-goul-in-1466-in-the-church-BB7F5J.jpg
nn) as depicted (holding an halberd) in the early sixteenth-century Hours of Frederick of Aragon (i.e. Federigo d'Aragona, king of [mostly mainland] Sicily, etc.; betw. 1501 and 1504; Paris, BnF, ms. Latin 10532, fol. 356r):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8427228j/f360.item.zoom
Best,
John Dillon
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