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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Thongs?  Burning Coals? Interesting ideas. I'm not entirely sure how such a guess would fit the context of Second Coming and the last judgment to follow. From Revelation, one senses the time for the removal of guilt and forgiveness of sins is long past.

I'm not an expert on Angelology, but the two angels in question are depicted with halos. This gives them the rank of sainthood. The only two angels recognized in medieval times as saints of which I am aware are Gabriel and Michael, who were then generally classed as archangels, not seraphim. So I don't think Isaiah hits the mark here.  

There is a strong musical theme in the surrounding sculptural context - the 24 Elders of Revelation. They are all depicted with their Crowns and Thrones and musical instruments. At one point I thought maybe this angel could be holding some sort of drumstick, a large one as for a base drum, to keep the beat, as it were. Alas, while  there is plenty of thunder, lightening, rumblings and earthquakes in Revelation, as far as I know, there are no drums. So what can this object possibly be?

 Rick

On Wed, May 6, 2015 at 10:06 PM, Heintzelman, Matthew <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

Perhaps a pair of tongs for burning coals?

 

“Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”” (Isaiah 6)

 

Just a guess.

 

Peace,

 

Matt H.

 

From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of richard legault
Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2015 5:34 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [M-R] Angelic Attribute

 

medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

 

The context is the archivolt of the Second Coming tympanum of the Royal Portal at Chartres Cathedral. Accordingly, the rectangular object held by the upper angel is very likely a book, an allusion to the book of life described in Revelation. The object held by the lower angel is not so easily identified. It looks to me to be some sort of small mace or a mallet of a type possibly used by sculptors. Considering the scene is the Second Coming, at first I thought this mallet might be some sort of gavel, a symbol of the final judgment activities about to follow Christ's triumphal moment of arrival at the Second Coming. However, the information I have indicates a gavel used in judicial proceedings is common only to Anglo-Saxon tradition and may be out of place in medieval France. But I really don't know.

 

Any ideas out there?

 

Richard J Legault

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