AN INCOMPLETE HISTORY OF MEDIAEVAL ART XLV
THE CARMINA FIGURATA OF HRABANUS MAURUS
After his teacher, Alcuin of York, Hrabanus Maurus was probably the most learned man in the Carolingian empire, and its most prolific author. His written works, including exegetical commentaries, theological studies, a natural science encyclopedia, treatises on grammar, sermons, a martyrology and a penatential, fill five volumes of the Patrologia Latina. He composed these texts while serving as the abbot of Fulda and, later, as the Archbishop of Mainz.
The Liber de Laudibus Sanctae Crucis, Hrabanus’ only poetic work, is a series of carmina figurata, or shaped poems, in praise of the cross. The block of text of each poem is overlaid with an image of the cross; the words contained within the cross form a second poem on the same theme. The correct placement of words that participate in two poems at the same time requires considerable ingenuity. Hrabanus complicates his task further by varying the form of the cross. The hybrid nature of the poems presumes a reader skilled in shifting back and forth between the reading of a text and then scanning of an image.
The carmina figurata are conspicuous displays of advanced Latin literacy. Hrabanus is not, however, showing off his linguistic skills, As an essential component of monastic life required for the performance of the Divine Office and for the reading of scripture, Latin literacy was a quasi-spiritual pursuit and the reform of the monasteries ordered by Charlemagne and instituted by Alcuin, placed Latin literacy–a subject never mentioned in the Rule of St Benedict–at the center of monastic life. The composition of carmina figurata therefore, is a conspicuous display not of individual accomplishment, but of monastic piety. This is neatly emblematized in the image of Hrabanus himself, shown as a suppliant at the foot of the cross, incorporated into the image of the cross. The monastic body is coextensive with Latinity, both of which praise the cross in equal measure.
The manuscript shown above is a luxury copy of the Liber de Laudibus Sanctae Crucis featuring purple and blue stained vellum and the extensive use of gold and silver lettering. The great expense of producing such a book suggests an imperial patron.