The Medieval Project

The Medieval Project (TMP) explores how the Middle Ages visualized the sacred, the strange, and the terrifying. From cathedral portals to illuminated manuscripts, it examines the interplay between visual theology and the imagination of Hell, demons, and the monstrous. Posts blend rigorous research with digital-native, witty storytelling—complete with GIFs—making medieval art accessible, engaging, and alive. TMP reveals a visual culture shaped by both wonder and fear, whose influence still fuels the way we imagine horror, fantasy, and the sacred today.

[themedievalproject]

🕯Matter & Presence

Not Made by Human Hands: Why the Shroud of Turin Still Makes Headlines

A few weeks ago, Vatican News reported on a new challenge to the “medieval bas-relief” hypothesis regarding the Shroud of Turin. Every few years, another study appears: carbon dating, textile analysis, or AI modeling. And every time, the headlines follow.

Why? Because the Shroud is not just a question of medieval fraud versus an authentic relic. It sits at the center of a much deeper theological issue: the ontology of the image.

Ontology btw is just a fancy word for metaphysical/philosophical line of thinking that asks what something is in its deepest reality—not just what it looks like, but its nature of being. If there is even a possibility that this linen touched the body of Christ, it is a "first-order" icon.

The Shroud of Turin (public domain)

The Acheiropoietos: A Universal Longing

The Shroud’s power lies in its status as an Acheiropoietos—a Greek term meaning "not made by human hands." These are usual images of Jesus, Mary or sometime together as the Virgin and Child. This concept of Acheiropoietos is a bridge between East and West.

In the Byzantine East, the primary example was the Mandylion (the Napkin of Edessa). Tradition held that Christ pressed a cloth to His face, miraculously imprinting His image upon it. In the Latin West, a similar desire for contact birthed the legend of the Veil of Veronica, where Christ’s suffering face was imprinted on a cloth offered to Him on the road to Calvary.

Below are two depictions of Mandylions followed by two Veils of Veronica

The Mandylions

Example 1

Christ Acheiropoietos (Made without hands). A 12th-century Novgorod icon from the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin.

Example 2

Silver frame Icon of Jesus Christ from St. Petersburg, dated 1780-1800.

The Veils of Veronica

Example 1

The Way to Calvary and Saint Veronica with the Sudarium by Master of James IV of Scotland, ca. 1510–1520. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Ms. Ludwig IX 18, fol. 8v,  83.ML.114.8v

Example 2

From the Met website: "Veronica's veil is enclosed within an architectural setting. With the archangel Gabriel on the left and the Virgin Annunciate on the right, it forms a triptych. On the reverse of the two wings are Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist." Jewelry, Milan, Italy, late 15th century.

The Shroud as the "Ultimate Witness"

While the Mandylion and the Veil of Veronica are lost to history or hidden in private chapels, the Shroud of Turin remains uniquely accessible to the modern eye. It is the ultimate material witness precisely because it is not an artistic copy, but a direct physical trace. It claims to be the actual "receipt" of the Resurrection—a witness that was present in the tomb and absorbed the reality of the event into its very fibers.

Full length negatives of the shroud of Turin

The Hierarchy of the Image

To understand why this tangible link matters, we look to the 8th-century sophisticated ontology of St. John of Damascus. In On the Divine Images, John outlines five levels of images "not made by human craft" that transcend ordinary art:

The Eternal Image (Jesus Christ): The Son is the "perfect mirror" of God the Father, equal in nature and "begotten, not made."

The Divine Ideas: The "blueprints" or paradigms of creation existing in God’s mind before time began.

The Image of Creation: The physical world, which provides a "dim understanding" of the infinite and uncircumscribable (limitless) God.

The Foreshadowing Image: Old Testament "types" that prefigure the future, such as the Ark of the Covenant acting as an image of the Virgin Mary.

The Memorial Image: Physical objects that remind us of God’s past actions, like the jar of manna kept in the Ark.

The Power of Contact

John’s hierarchy makes the Shroud explosive. In the theology of icons, a painted image connects to Christ through likeness, but a relic connects through contact. The icon remains linen and fiber, but it is linked to the person depicted. The more immediate the contact, the more intense the claim.

These things are not merely reminders; they are first-class relics. They are participants that absorbed matter from Christ’s body. This is why scientific debate does not diminish interest—it heightens it. The stakes are ontological. If the Shroud is authentic, it is not just a "picture" of the Resurrection—it is a physical witness to it.

Shroud of Turin 3D Statue at US Air Force Academy Catholic Chapel, photo by Chris Waits

Why the Shroud Stays in the Headlines

In medieval theology, such icons are the Word made visible, acting as thresholds to the divine. For the believer, the Shroud isn't just a representation; it is a physical participation in the grace of the Resurrection.

Modern debates often focus on technique—could a medieval artist have produced it? But the deeper reason it generates headlines is that it touches the question of whether matter can bear divine presence. The Incarnation affirms that God became visible and tangible. If Christ truly assumed flesh, then that flesh could leave traces. Whether through the Mandylion, the Veronica, or the Shroud, the yearning remains: the longing for matter that has touched God.

Turin shroud positive and negative displaying original color information by Dianelos Georgoudis, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Where Are They Now?

The Mandylion: Historically kept in Constantinople, it was likely stolen during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. While King Louis IX of France kept a relic claimed to be the Mandylion in the Sainte-Chapelle, it disappeared during the French Revolution. Today, the most famous "candidate" is kept in the Pope’s private chapel in the Vatican, but it is rarely seen by the public.

The Veil of Veronica: Long considered the most important relic in Rome, it was reportedly lost during the Sack of Rome in 1527. While the Vatican still displays a "Veronica" once a year, its features are nearly invisible and its authenticity is debated, with some pointing to the mysterious Volto Santo (Holy Face) of Manoppello as the "true" cloth.

The Shroud: Unlike its counterparts, the Shroud has a documented home in the Turin Cathedral in Italy. It doesn't sit on a shelf; it is preserved in a state-of-the-art, bulletproof, and fire-resistant case filled with 99.5% argon gas to prevent decay. It is only physically shown to the public during rare "Ostensions" (exhibitions) decreed by the Pope—the last one was in 2015, though a new 3D digital "AI reading" of the cloth was just presented to Pope Leo XIV in early 2026.

Christ's face from the Shroud of Turin. Shrine of the Holy Face Sisters Convent Hidalgo Quiapo Manila. Picture by Judgefloro, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Want more? Check these references. If you wish to explore the Shroud yourself, checkout Othonia.org for a really interesting online experience.

Hart, Aidan. The Theology of the Icon. St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology.

John of Damascus. Three Treatises on the Divine Images.

Vatican News. (2026). "Shroud of Turin: Medieval bas-relief hypothesis challenged."

De Caro, Liberato, Teresa Sibillano, Rocco Lassandro, Cinzia Giannini, and Giulio Fanti. 2022. "X-ray Dating of a Turin Shroud’s Linen Sample" Heritage 5, no. 2: 860-870. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage5020047 (This study utilized Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering to suggest a 1st-century origin, challenging the 1988 carbon dating).

[themedievalproject]

⚖️ Under Judgment: Light as Theology

In the last post, I looked at why early Christians were uneasy about images and how visual mediation made them usable anyway. This post looks at how those ideas were built directly into material surfaces—specifically using media that could express divine light.

This visual behavior reflects a way of thinking already familiar to early Christian writers, especially those influenced by Neoplatonism. The divine was understood as overflowing and reflective metallic properties offered a way to materialise light radiating outward.

Gold mosaic illustrate this logic, but it does more than that, it enacts it purposely to illuminate a viewer's experience leading to state of transcendence.

Materializing the Immaterial

1. The Transition: Basilica of Santa Pudenziana (c. 410–417)

Apse Mosaic: Christ Enthroned, Basilica of Santa Pudenziana, Rome. Photo by author.

Gold marks the holiest symbols and figures. Christ himself is adorned in a golden tunic. His halo is solid gold and the heavenly throne is fully decked out in gold and gems. Above him, the big jewelled cross, known as the crux gemmata is bedazzled in much the same way. Even in this photo I took, you can see how the gems and the gold enhance very symbols that the patron and artist want to emphasize. Let's also not forget the two women holding wreaths (some say these women are personifications of Ecclesia and Synogoga, others claim they are or they could be Saint Pudenziana and her sister Saint Praxedes— legends say they were both martyred. There is also the golden roof of the collonaded arcade that separates the cityscape from the divine meeting taking place with Christ and his apostles.

2. The Infinite Threshold: Basilica of SS. Cosma and Damiano (c. 526–530)

The Second Coming, Apse Mosaic, Basilica of Saints Cosmas and Damian, Rome. Photo by author.

The sky deepens into saturated blue. Space becomes ambiguous. Christ, clad from halo to calf, floats amongst apocalyptic clouds rather than sitting on a throne. Beneath him the apostles take the form of sheep and directly below Christ stands the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God is a representation of Christ. It stands on a hill with four rivers of Paradise flowing out of it. Here again the golden background, proclaims to the viewer what the emphasis of the program is. The rivers of Paradise have many allegorical meanings. Here, I think it, refers to the Second Coming, and the heavenly realm.

3. The Radiant One: Basilica of San Vitale (c. 546–556)

Christ Between Angels and Saints, Apse Mosaic, Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna. c. 547 CE. Photo via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

The sky disappears. Gold replaces depth entirely. There is no horizon. No landscape.

The wall does not depict light. The wall is light.

4. The Symbolic Veil: Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe (c. 549)

The Transfiguration and Saint Apollinaris, Sant’Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna. Photo by Vanni Lazzari, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

In this program, the literal figure of Christ is replaced by a massive, jewel-encrusted crux gemmata centered in a starry medallion. It is a masterpiece of abstraction. While the lush greenery of paradise remains at the bottom, the center of the apse is a theological puzzle. The bishop, Saint Apollinaris, stands between twelve lambs (the apostles), physically mediating between the viewer and the divine cross above. The gold ground is no longer just a backdrop; it is the atmospheric medium through which the Transfiguration is experienced.

5. The Imperial Bridge: Basilica of St Lawrence Outside the Walls (579–590)

Christ with Saints and Pope Pelagius II, Basilica of St Lawrence Outside the Walls, Rome. Photo by bradhostetler, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Commissioned by Pope Pelagius II (Gregory the Great’s predecessor), this mosaic bridges the gap between Ravenna’s imperial gold and Rome’s traditional martyrs. We see Christ sitting on the same blue globe found at San Vitale, but now he's flanked by five saints and the Pope himself. The lush green grass of heaven ground their feet while the gold expanse pushes the figures forward into the viewer's space. It is a visual statement of Roman authority, utilizing the "gold language" of the Byzantine east to decorate a Roman martyr's tomb.

6. The Saintly Shift: Basilica of St. Agnes Outside the Walls (c. 625–638)

Saint Agnes with Popes Honorius and Symmachus, St. Agnes Outside the Walls, Rome. Photo, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

By the time of Pope Honorius I, the transition is complete. The central figure is no longer Christ, but Saint Agnes, standing isolated against a stark, infinite field of gold (I will admit this photo presents an amber tinged field of god). Below her feet, not even a swath of paradise's grass remains. They are all enveloped by gold. Flanking her are the patrons: Pope Honorius (holding a model of the church) and Pope Symmachus. The "visual mediation" is now complete—the gold light is the medium through which we access the saint, who in turn acts as our bridge to the divine.

What This Does to the Viewer

Gold mosaics never settle because light never settles. As the sun moves, the image shifts. Meaning unfolds through time, position, and movement.

This is visual mediation. Light trains the Christian eye long before theology is articulated in words. It prepares the ground for later debates about images, instruction, and authority.

By the late sixth century, figures like Gregory the Great would argue that images mattered not because they revealed divine essence, but because they taught, reminded, and guided ordinary worshippers. This shift does not abandon hierarchy or light. It redirects visual mediation toward saints, narrative, and the authoritive teachings of the bishop.

Want more?

Robin Jensen, Understanding Early Christian Art (and the time of publishing this book was fully accessible in its digital format at the link above)

Bissera Pentcheva, Hagia Sophia and Multisensory Aesthetics (sign up for an academia account for free access to this paper)

[themedievalproject]

⚖️ Under Judgment: Visual Mediation

Why Early Christians Didn’t Trust Images (But Used Them Anyway)

In the last post, I mentioned that before Christianity had churches, they had a design problem. Well, this post discusses another serious problem for early Christianity: the image problem.

Here’s the basic framework early Christian thinkers inherited when it came to God and images:

God is invisible. Matter is suspicious. Images can mislead you.

And yet churches filled themselves with shimmering mosaics, glowing gold, and carefully choreographed views of Christ. None of this was accidental or decorative. By the time Christian leaders began debating whether images were safe, images were already everywhere. They did not originate as top-down programs, but as local, devotional, and practical responses to teaching, memory, and worship.

This tension sits at the heart of early Christian visual culture. Images were dangerous but they were also useful. And that usefulness depended on how you looked.

Images Are Not Portraits

They are signs. They work through light, material, and hierarchy. They guide viewers upward, intellectually, spiritually, spatially.

If you try to look at early Christian images the way you look at a painting in a museum, you miss the point. These images were never meant to be stared at or admired from a single neutral spot. They were meant to do something to you.

The Ancient Fear: Images Can Trap You

Early Christians inherited a deep anxiety about images. Some of this comes from Jewish tradition and some from Greek philosophy. Matter—meaning the physical stuff of the world: stone, wood, paint, gold, bodies, and sensory experience—was considered lower than spiritual reality. 

The senses were believed to be unreliable. Images risked pulling attention in the wrong direction: toward the object itself rather than toward God. This is where Neoplatonism enters the picture. 

Neoplatonism imagined reality as layered. At the top was the divine source. Below it were descending levels of being, knowledge, and material existence. The goal of life was not to linger at the bottom, but to ascend.

Images sat in an awkward place in this system. They were made of matter, which made them suspicious. But they could also act as signs that pointed beyond themselves. Used correctly, they did not trap the viewer. They lifted them.

Crucially, not everyone was meant to access everything in the same way. Early Christian thought assumed hierarchy: some knowledge was mediated, some access restricted, some people guided while others followed. This was not accidental. It was a feature of how belief, space, and experience were organized.

In this worldview, the highest level of reality was not static. It overflowed. The divine source did not sit still at the top of the hierarchy—it radiated outward. Ancient thinkers described this process using the language of light. Just as the sun gives off rays without diminishing itself, the divine was understood to pour into the world through light.

Light could touch matter without becoming trapped by it. It made things visible without becoming the thing itself. This is why light was treated differently from other forms of matter.

Light as Theology: Why Mosaics Matter

This logic becomes visible most clearly in the gold-ground mosaics of the sixth century — a development we’ll look at closely in the next post.

Early Christians inherited mosaic from the Roman world, where it had long been used to decorate civic and domestic spaces. What changed was not the medium, but its purpose. Gold was chosen not for decoration, but for behavior. Unlike paint or stone, gold does not absorb light. It reflects it, scatters it, and refuses to remain visually stable.

Apse Mosaic detail, Santa Pudenziana (Rome), c. 410–417. Photo by bradhostetler, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

As light moves across a mosaic surface, the image never fully settles into a single, fixed view. This instability is the point. Light becomes a visual manifestation of divine overflow — able to animate matter without becoming trapped by it.

In this logic, material is not the enemy. It is a vehicle. The viewer is not meant to stare at an image as an object, but to be pulled forward by it, drawn upward toward something beyond the surface.

This is why mosaic becomes such a powerful medium in early Christianity. It does not illustrate theology. It performs it through light.

Hierarchy Everywhere (that’s on purpose)

Here are the key insights from this post.

Heaven has hierarchies.

Churches have hierarchies.

Worship has hierarchies.

Knowledge has hierarchies.

Not everyone gets the same access, and this is intentional.

Early Christian churches do not offer a single, universal viewing experience. Where you stand matters. How you move matters. What you can see depends on who you are and where you are allowed to go. Looking is not neutral. It is trained.

Seeing Is a Ritual

Seeing in early Christianity is not a skill you naturally possess. It is something you learn through participation.

Images work in tandem with architecture, liturgy, and bodily motion. They are not isolated artworks. They are part of a system that teaches you how to look by teaching you where to stand and when to move.

This is embodied theology. You do not understand it by reading about it. You experience it by passing through it.

Why This Still Works on Us

Early Christian images were never designed to communicate theology by explanation alone. They worked by mediation. Light, material, distance, and controlled visibility shaped how viewers encountered the sacred before belief was articulated in words.

This is why these images remain effective. They do not ask the viewer to understand doctrine. They train perception. They orient the body and the senses toward something beyond immediate grasp.

Early Christian image theory explains this logic clearly. Images were not meant to reveal God directly. They were meant to move the viewer closer to God through ordered experience.

This post is a foundation. We will return to these ideas as we look more closely at apse mosaics, portals, processions, and Last Judgment imagery.

By the late sixth century, figures like Gregory the Great would redirect this visual logic toward pedagogy. Images mattered not because they revealed divine essence, but because they guided ordinary worshippers through narrative, memory, and example. That shift does not abandon hierarchy or light. It retools visual mediation in response to growing concerns around saints, cult practice, and episcopal authority.

Want more?

🕯️ On Divine Light & Hierarchy - read this free translation of The Celestial Hierarchy from Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, a late antique writer who shaped medieval theology and art.

✨ On Learning How to See - check out this readable overview on how to approach the divine and this way of thinking.

[themedievalproject]

⚖️ Under Judgment: Spatial Training

Churches Choreograph You (Just Like Museums and Theme Parks)

I didn’t realize until I was half way through the first semester of my MLitt in Christianity and the Visual Arts (a program I recently started this Fall) that churches choreograph you in exactly the same way museums and theme parks do. They guide where you walk, where you stop, what you’re allowed to see, and when you’re supposed to feel awe.

You don’t need a map. You don’t need instructions. You just know.

You lower your voice without being asked. You move forward instinctively. You hesitate before crossing certain thresholds. Some spaces feel open and welcoming. Others quietly let you know you don’t belong there.

That feeling isn’t accidental. And it definitely isn’t modern.

If we think about early Christian churches — not the soaring Gothic ones we usually picture — but the earliest spaces where Christianity was still figuring out how to exist visually, we start to see the problem. Christianity emerged inside a Roman world that already knew exactly how power was supposed to look.

Before Christianity had churches, it had a design problem.

Early Christians didn’t invent sacred architecture from scratch. They didn’t suddenly decide what a church should look like. Instead, they borrowed something familiar: the Roman basilica. These were civic buildings used for law courts, administration, and public gatherings. Spaces designed to organize people, movement, and authority.

Christianity looked at that structure and realized it already did most of the work.

Same building. Different purpose.

What changed wasn’t the architecture itself, but the meaning layered onto it. The law court became a liturgical space. The judge’s seat became the altar. Moving forward through the building became a spiritual journey instead of a civic one.

Architecture stopped being neutral. It started doing theology.

Christian architecture doesn’t just house worship. It teaches it. Not through words, but through your body.

As you move forward in a church, the space becomes more restricted, more elevated, and more symbolically charged. Portal. Nave. Crossing. Apse. Altar. Each step narrows access and increases significance through a hierarchy of holiness.

A spatial system that communicates proximity to the sacred without anyone needing to explain it. You know where you can stand. You know where you shouldn’t. You know when you’re getting closer to something that matters.

This is where churches start to feel a bit similar to museums and theme parks.

All three rely on movement through space. On pacing. On controlled sightlines. On emotional buildup and carefully staged focal points. You don’t wander randomly. You’re guided.

In a theme park, that guidance leads to a ride. In a museum, it leads to a masterpiece. In a church, it leads to an altar, an image, a relic, or a moment of encounter.

And the important part is this: you experience the meaning before anyone explains it to you.

Christian belief isn’t only preached. It’s embodied.

The most fascinating part for me is that this all still works even if you don’t believe.

You still lower your voice.

You still hesitate before invisible boundaries.

You still sense when you’re approaching something important.

That's not faith. That's design.

Architecture doesn’t ask whether you believe. It assumes you will behave.

Once you start noticing this, medieval Christian art makes a lot more sense. Portals. Judgment scenes. monsters. hellmouths. processions. pilgrimage routes. None of them are random decorations slapped onto buildings.

They’re part of a carefully choreographed experience that begins the moment you cross a threshold.

Once you realize churches choreograph you, the Middle Ages start to click.

[themedievalproject]

☄️ Apocalypse Now! Rapture: The Rosh HaShana Rapture that came and went

Blondie - Rapture (1981) music video

Of course Blondie wasn't singing about the same rapture South African pastor Joshua Mhlakela had in mind.

Mhlakela announced the date of the Rapture:

The unexpected time when Christ would descend from Heaven where the dead in Christ are raised, the living faithful are transformed, and believers are "caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air" 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

In the video above Mhlakela says he saw God's throne room and the Lord himself told him rapture was coming soon, on Rosh HaShana - September 23 and 24, which I was really excited about.

Firstly the timing would make Rosh HaShanah way more exciting for those that celebrate! Instead of the most thrilling part of the holiday being the bite of the starfruit I had not eaten since the last Rosh HaShanah (it’s traditional to eat a fruit you haven’t eaten since last at Rosh HaShana), it would be all Christian believers in the event disappearing to meet God in the air.

What would the world be like with all these people missing?

Secondly, Mhlakela experienced a VISION of God's throne room(!) this is incredible. That expectation of glory and terror had me thinking differently as it connects back to Ezekiel's visions too--which I explored recently in a paper I had written.

So where does the idea of rapture even come from? And, do you know how long people have been waiting for the Rapture?! 

The short answer is: Rapture is modern doctrine that originated in the 1820s-30s and is accredited to the dispensationalist theologian John Nelson Darby. So, not long at all actually, barely 200 years, that is nothing in Christian theology time.

Darby's ideas spread fast and widely amongst Fundamentalists especially in American Protestant denominations (non-demoniational evangelicals, Fundamental Baptists). Most Christians denominations - Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Lutherans do not believe in the separate secret rapture where people meet up with the Lord in the clouds.

The most often quoted Biblical passage(s) in relation to rapture is from 1 Thessalonians 4:17-18 but for more context, here is 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18 New Oxford Annotated Bible New Revised Standard Version

14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.

15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died.

16 For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 

17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. 

18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Historical Context

The First Letter of Paul to The Thessalonians is dated around 49-51 CE. Paul, considered the primary writer of this letter, addresses the concerns of mostly Gentile converts, who would have suffered socially and politically for turning away from the imperial cult ("turned to God from idols" (1 Thess 1:9)) that permeated through all civic Roman life. The issues raised concerned sexual morals, mutual love and caring of the community and the fate of those who died before the return of Jesus - as well as the timing. Paul's strategy is to give this young church hope through moral guidance, justice for the oppression, a sense of communal solidarity, and assurance of the afterlife.

Regarding what happens to the dead, it was a bit unsettled in the first century. There was an expectation that the Second Coming was imminent and Paul had preached this but he had not addressed what happened to believers who had died beforehand. Paul clarifies all this in 1 Thess 4:13-18 where he makes clear the dead and the living equally share in the Lord's return.

With Joshua Mhlakela's prediction coming and going, we'll just have to wait for the next one - in the meantime it has been added to a long list of previous claims that you can read about here.

[themedievalproject]

❓What’s Up With That? Mandrakes - Medieval Pareidolia

I see people. Mandrake people.

Side by side comparison: A real mandrake root and a personified mandrake illustration. 📸 Left, a "live mandragora," Il Crogiuolo. Right, an illustrated mandragore from De materia medica, MS M.652 f. 104v, ca. 950.

You know when you can't help but see a face in an inanimate object like that empty electrical plug outlet looking right at you or empty coat hooks waiting for a jacket or the human figures found in landscapes or clouds? You are not crazy. This is experience is called human pareidolia. It is a term to describe when our brains over-attribute the pattern of the human body and/or mind in unrelated things. It is closely related to anthropomorphism, which is just a big word for humans giving non-human things human traits, emotions and abilities. Think the personification of all the seven deadly sins (see last post), Sonic the Hedgehog, and the Energizer bunny (I'm dating myself here). Think the mandrake.

The mandrake, mandragora in Latin is a root of plant whose shape resembles the form of a human. I opened this post with side by side comparison. It is clear to see how a person would "see" a human body in its roots. You can see in the illustration of the mandrake in the Mappa Mundi above but also in the side by side comparison image I opened this post with - on the right how a person may "see" in its root the form of a human.

Medieval mandrake (amongst other things) 📸 My own. From my souvenir poster of the Hereford Mappa Mundi (the real map is dated ca. AD 1300)

The Mandrake

It has long history and only a portion of it is covered here. Much of the time the mandrake has be associated with magic due of its roots' properties.

The following pharmacological, anthropomorphic/pareidolia properties and mythological attributes surely secured its magical destiny and it's notoriety today:

root shape resembles a human figure

root and leaves are poisonous

root is a hallucinogenic and a narcotic

root is poisonous

when harvested it screams and kills anyone who hears it (medieval folklore addition)

used in magical potions and witches’ flying ointments.

History and Lore of Antiquity

The mandrake was mentioned in two pioneering works on botany or what was called herbal medicine (the study of crude drugs derived from medicinal plants) back in antiquity. In the 4th century BCE, Theophrastus, a Greek philosopher and naturalist, often considered the father of botany, wrote a ritual about how to harvest the mandragora in Enquiry into Plants or Historia Plantarum. It included using a sword to draw three circles around the root and cut it out facing West. To get additional pieces of the root, he added one must continuously speak lewdly about sex while dancing around it.

In the 1st century, Dioscorides, a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of De materia medica (the go to pharmacological manual across Europe and the Middle East for over 1,500 years), lists the uses of the mandrake as a narcotic, an anesthetic for surgery and a substance to induce abortion. He also claims it is an ingredient in love potions.

Check out the 6th century and 15th century illuminations found in De materia medica where a woman is presenting a mandrake to Dioscorides. Note the mandrake's human form and the dog tethered to the mandrake. I'll explain more about that shortly.

It seems that either the mandrake was so crucial to medicine at time or the De materia medica illustrators thought it was an interesting subject to depict.

Left, Pedanius Dioscorides, The Viennese Dioscorides: Codex medicus Graecus 1, Austrian National Library, Graz, 6th century, fol. 4v. Right, Vatican City, BAV Chig. F. VII. 159, folio 234v

Also in the first century AD, Flavius Josephus, the Roman-Jewish military leader and historian, writes about the mandrake. He gave tips on the difficult task of uprooting the dangerous mandrake (used in exorcism!). How hard could it have been?

Well, according to Josephus, the mandrake would move away from the harvester and grab their hand. And, while he says the mandrake can be stopped if you had women’s urine or menstrual blood to pour on it… You can’t make this stuff up!, he proposed the following method below, in case you were running low on women’s urine or menstrual blood:

“A furrow must be dug around the root until its lower part is exposed, then a dog is tied to it, after which the person tying the dog must get away. The dog then endeavours to follow him, and so easily pulls up the root, but dies suddenly instead of his master. After this, the root can be handled without fear.”

Medieval Lore

Properties of the mandrake are unique for several reasons but I think #5 - it is screams when harvested and kills anyone who hears it - is the best piece of lore. We have medieval people to thank for that.

Death by mandrake without the use of a dog

Having taken Josephus' words to heart, medieval folklore took the use of a dog as a key component to harvesting the root without one dying and they added the screaming bit when the mandrake is pulled from the ground. It was said that mandrake grew from places where criminals had "spilled their fluids."

Medieval Mandrake Illuminations

How to Harvest a Mandrake

In the following manuscripts, you can see these dogs in action. If you refer back now to the illuminations of the De materia medica with Dioscorides and the mandrake, notice the dead dog tethered to the mandrake.

12th century

Left, Mandrake. BL Sloane MS 1975, fol. 49r., ca. 1175–1200. Right, Mandrake. Cotton MS Vitellius C III (BL), ca. 12th century, f. 57v.

13th century

Left, Mandrake., Ms. Français 14969 (BnF), ca. 13th century, f. 61v., Right, Mandrake., Antonius Musa, Herbal, MS.573 (Wellcome), ca. 1225–1275, f. 35v.

Medizinische Sammelhandschrift, HAN Cod. 93 (Österreich Nationalbibliothek), ca. 1200, f. 117v.

14th and 15th century

Top left, Mandrake (Mandragora officinarum) from Tacuinum Sanitatis manuscript Cod. Vindob. ser. nov. 2644 (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek), ca. 1390.

Top right, Gr. 3632 (Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna), ca. 15th century, f. 379r.

Bottom left, Johannes Hartlieb, Kräuterbuch, in Cod. Pal. germ. 311 (Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg), ca. 1455–1460, f. 289v

Bottom right, Tractatus de Herbis, Sloane MS 4016 (BL), ca. 1440, f. 56v. This is the only one I found from this period without a dog😳

21st century

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

The biggest thanks for bringing the mandrake into pop culture goes to JK Rowling. We learned in Hebrology class that the Mandrake Draught was a powerful antidote for Basilisk petrification and the movie sure did emphasize the loudness of the mandrake scream.

Neither book or the movie spoke at all about the mandrake being a key ingredient in magical potions and witches’ flying ointments. But we'll let it slide.

Delicious in Dungeon

Originally a Japanese manga series and last year turned into a animated series, one episode features the mandrake. For those that don't know the story, basically a group of adventurers lost one of their own after a dragon ate her, they now go through a dungeon to rescue her but need to eat the monsters they find along the way.

Mandrake and basilisk omelette is served. Apparently mandrake heads are the best part. Episode 2 of the animated series.

Little Witch Academia

Another Japan anime series but this one involves a witch training school for young girls. Here the mandrake scream can hurt or kill non-magical humans and animals. The older the mandrake the more fatal the scream. Younger ones can cause unconsciousness.

Akko attacked by a mandrake 📸 by Black Soulstone posted in the Little Witch Academia Fandom Wiki

Want more mandrake?

I found these shops selling mandrake-y things , I do not make any commissions from these, just thought they were cool. 

Lego

Mandrake 76433 | Harry Potter™ | Buy online at the Official LEGO® Shop US

Unique LEGO® Harry Potter™ toy figure for playful display

Interactive Plush

Harry Potter Interactive Plush - Screaming Mandrake

Buy Harry Potter Interactive Plush - Screaming Mandrake at The Shop That Must Not Be Named today, a magical independent shop specialising in

Planter tutorial

Mandrake Planter

Mandrake Planter: Welcome to my little Mandrake Planter tutorial! Perhaps its more of a "hack" but you end up with a planter, so that's all

Actual seeds and plants

English Mandrake seeds, Mandragora officinalis, USDA Organic, Ore

White Buffalo Trading Co., Heirloom Seeds and Organic Botanicals

References and for more info

Mandrake, mandrake

The Biology and Evolution of the Three Psychological Tendencies to Anthropomorphize Biology and Evolution

Mandrakes are real 👇

This post is dedicated to my eldest son. We were introduced to mandrakes while reading Harry Potter together. Shai, there are few things in this world that are as special to me as time spent with you❤️

[themedievalproject]

🔥 Hell on Earth! Movie edition: The Substance has it all - Body Horror, Sin and Medieval Hell

Spoilers!

Left, Worms and fire bursting out of the damned. Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Douce 134, fol. 91v. Right, Elizabeth Sparkles with a sewn-up back. The Substance, 2024. Mubi.

Body horror

According to Wikipedia: "Body horror, biological horror, organic horror or visceral horror is horror fiction in which the horror is principally derived from the unnatural graphic transformation, degeneration or destruction of the physical body. Such works may deal with decay, disease, deformity, parasitism, mutation or mutilation. Other types of body horror include unnatural movements or the anatomically incorrect placement of limbs to create "monsters" from human body parts."

Body horror comes down to our visceral reaction of disgust when seeing the human body grossly altered from its natural state. The response depends on our own individual thresholds for how grotesque or horrifying we may consider the resulting transformation. And we have a word for this post-transformation: Monster. 

The Substance delivers an extraordinary level of repulsion and we have no choice but to be sickened by the sights of it. 

And, it makes sense. The Substance, as in the actual substance that is used in the film of the same name, and the body horror that is created from misusing it, goes against nature and the natural order of things.

The Substance at Mubi.com

Hell

Medieval Christian Hell is the epitome of an unnatural, perverse hierarchy. In Hell, the damned are reduced to the bottom of the pecking order and are horrifically tortured by Satan and lesser demons. 

These Hellish creatures are depicted using a specific conventional format that effectively uses human bodies as the control, the natural form (you know, made in God's image, and all that) and conceives demon bodies as the antithesis of them.

Before we get to the scenes that highlight The Substance's body horror, I want to explore the roots of today's body horror in Medieval Hell's demonic creatures through the Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur (The Vineyard of Our Saviour). It is a 15th-century French/Latin sermon that focuses on the end of the world and features a ton of illustrations of Satan and demons. If this is not considered medieval body horror, I'm not sure what is. 

Note: I will use the words for Hell's head honcho - Satan/Lucifer/The Devil interchangeably as well Satan's minions - lesser demons/devils torturing the damned.

Demonic Bodies 

Lucifer front and center with lesser demons surrounding him being judged by Christ in Majesty above (not shown)  Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Douce 134, fol. 67v. 

The Devil, for all his hair, horns, fangs, claws, talons, another eye for a bellybutton, smaller devil head joints and huge devil head crotch with its tongue aptly placed, is essentially a white-labeled, infernal version of us. 

The foundational form of a human is clear: a head with two ears, two eyes, a nose with two nostrils, a mouth with teeth, a torso, two arms, two hands, two legs, which they stand on, and two feet.

We recognize this form enough to relate to it but it's been skinned with enough repulsive evil elements to shock and horrify us (body horror). Lucifer in particular is frankensteined together. Small devil heads connect his torso to his upper arms, two more devil heads connect the upper arms to his lower arms and then two more heads connect his thighs to his calves that end in talons.

Lesser devils are also hybrid human/animal forms and follow the same blueprint of personifying evil. Starting with a human's upright posture, various animalistic traits are then swapped for human body parts to keep things interesting, like ear shape, eye color, skin type and color. There are also additional evil animalistic characteristics like hairiness factor, horns, tails, teeth and claws. Lesser demons often get only one head and maybe another in the midsection.

In the next illumination, Satan is shown with a crown of six heads on his own head, referencing the text of Revelation 12:3 where the great dragon is described as having seven heads and ten horns, and Revelation 12:9, where the great dragon, aka that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan was cast out of Heaven. The amount of heads is a Satanic status symbol.

Here Satan spews fire from his ears and his minions breath fire out of their mouths. They all grasp torturing hooks. Their animalistic features are contained variations within the upright bipedal stance. Artists plug in an animal face for a human face, animal feet for human feet, scales or fur for human skin.

Lucifer with a crown of six devil heads and an entourage of devils revering him. Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Douce 134, fol. 98r.

Demonic bodies torturing Damned "bodies"

Devils holding down their prey. Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Douce 134, fol. 100r.

Within illustrations of demons torturing the damned, the plug and play "build a demon" is even more apparent.

Above in folio 100r, devils are biting and scratching at the damned. In the upper right corner, one winged devil bites a damned man's back. They both bend over in the same position. The man's naked, white, hairless (but for his head) body is contrasted against the devil's body covered in fur, with its horned boar-head, wings, tail and claws.

The man standing in the center of the scene with his arms crossed in front of his groin is being bit on the shoulder by a devil behind him who has a devil's face in its groin. They both stand in a similar fashion but the contrast between the man covering himself while the demon face groin emphasizes the demons vulgarity. Both bodies feature the same ribcage detailing on the torso but the man's body is virtually hairless and naked and the devil is covered in hair. In addition to his ape like face his adorns horns

Below in folio 100r, four demons wield weapons in one hand and grab each of the damned with other. In every demons' depiction, their form has the same human musculature, same skeletal structure and the resemblance in their forms to humans ever more evident.

Devil forms must keep the human structure so they can physically carry out torture AND be scary enough, yet recognizable, to enact a medieval equivalent of body horror.

Weapon of Choice. Devils attack the damned. Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Douce 134, 101r.

The Seven Deadly Sins and Medieval Hell

Medieval Christians believed in God's divine judgment. The damned in Hell would have committed sin(s) in life and God cast them there. The standard list of sins are pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth. In Hell, every sin had an appropriate punishment and demons would torture the damned based on which sins they committed.

The Substance, the Seven Deadly Sins and Body Horror Spoilers, for real

Pride

Elizabeth, a celebrity, who at 50, after many years in the spotlight and successful because of her body, finds out her long career is over. She a TV fitness personality that can't go far without seeing a billboard-sized picture of herself. She is surrounded by enormous, full body images of her younger self at work (take that long hallway) and the only image in her scarce hi-rise is another enormous, younger, full-body billboard. It seems that Elizabeth was quite satisfied by how she looked before she overhears her boss tell someone on the phone she will be replaced for being old.

Medieval Christianity, often considered pride the worst of all the seven deadly sins and from which all others take root. In many collective depictions of the sins, artists personify Pride as a woman looking at herself in a mirror. See her all the way at the bottom, at the root of the Tree of Vices. All other vices stem from Pride.

Tree of Vices, Stiftsbibliothek Kremsmünster Codex Cremifanensis 243, fol. 3r. Der Buchkünstler ist unbekannt, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Lust

Elizabeth's desperate desire to be young and beautiful again, makes her decide to use a blackmarket substance that creates another, better, younger version of herself. It is from this premise that we know only something horrific can and will happen.. cause then, no movie.

It's also an interesting spin on lust. Elizabeth is shown as a loner, she isn't yearning to be with someone. She covets her own youth. 

If we think of this "magic" substance promising Elizabeth the creation of a better version of herself, in terms of Christianity, this concept goes against nature and God (they are one and the same). This can only mean it's the work of Satan, Antichrist or false prophets who claim to be Christ through miracles but are not. For someone like Elizabeth, this proposition is the ultimate test of humility. It is an ingenious setup for diabolical forces to counter society's veneration of women's youth and beauty with monstrous body horror.

Body Horror: The Birthing of Sue

We cannot make another version of ourselves. We can change ourselves, augment ourselves, maybe one day even clone ourselves but we cannot physically bore another fully-formed human version of ourselves. The only other human that can be physically born through a body of another human, is a different person and not you.

When Elizabeth does bore Sue, she does so through a most unnatural, hellish way. She, like the damned in hell, begins this process naked, as she shoots the activator serum into her body. After writhing on the floor, we see a mass appear that throbs along her back. We see her green eye create another pupil. The mass grows and the second pupil disappears as Elizabeth's back splits open to reveal a whiter, fresh skin underneath. A new blue eye appears next to the green eye in her eye socket, that gets pushes out by the green one.

Then there's a transition scene that involves the transition itself, moving lights and sounds, giving the audience a feeling of moving through time. It ends with a fire that begins to take shape into a heart. Then Sue is "born." 

Is this horrifying experience one of the prices you pay for making a deal with the Devil?

Spine stuff. Behind the scenes @trythesubstance on Instagram

Seeing Elizabeth go through the transformation was uncomfortable to say the least. The most gruesome part, at least for me, when her back split open, was when Sue sewed up Elizabeth's gash. The sewing kit itself was so primitive and raw, it made me think of pre-modern suturing methods and also that ungodly scar Elizabeth must wear as a mark of her sins, like that of a witch's mark. Sue is born as far as we can tell with just a trio of birthmarks on her ribs.

Sue sewing Elizabeth's back up suture by suture with a scissor and a shoelace was the first thing she did to take care of her "other self." Elizabeth was told from the beginning that in using the Substance, she and her better version should remember that, "You are one." 

We see the first week go by where Sue auditions for Elizabeth's old job and gets it. She is told how perfect she is. Then another transitory element with what looks like a fire spreading that turns into a dragon. Sue switches with Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth wakes up and feels her back for the first time. She touches Sue. She showers, she makes eggs. She goes to her old job to collect her things. She showers. She's back home. She turns on the TV and flips through the channel the rest of the day and night and then gets notice of a refill kit. Elizabeth has to go back to this dingy lair to access the box. She's home again and is again watching TV all night. 

Sloth

The next scene is Sue doing yoga in her underwear (TV still on) doing a Coke commercial. She sees Elizabeth's butt print in the chair. What we see of Elizabeth is what is shown in Sue's scenes when it's her "turn." At first we don't know how bad it is for Elizabeth but we get a hint that she is becoming a recluse, eating and watching TV all the time. 

This sin should be thought of in terms of not just being lazy but neglecting oneself, one's responsibilities. Elizabeth becomes a recluse, eating and watching TV only to do it again the next day.

Greed

Sadly, before we know it (but did know it would happen) the required balance of keeping Elizabeth and Sue alternating time between themselves is destroyed. While Elizabeth is clearly jealous of Sue's body, staring at her on the TV, and the opportunities available to her because of it, she appreciated it enough to keep the balance. Sue wholeheartedly relishing in her youth and beauty and the life it gave her, decides to take time from Elizabeth. 

The consequence of this is that Elizabeth begins to transform. The first sign of the imbalance is Elizabeth's green, witchy, corroded finger, which is irreversible. The only option is for both of them to respect the balance or quit and die. 

The witch finger struck me as a perfect place to start the journey of Body Horror. Witches are typically known to be old, haggard and green women who ride on brooms, practice magic and have sex with the Devil. Medieval Christianity had a lot do with do with making women who did not conform to society into evil witches. This one witchy finger is a nod to Elizabeth's evil status. It is a mark of her connection to the demonic. Just like her sewn up spine, her body continues to reflect this kind of Devil's Pact she has made to be beautiful.

Envy

There is a scene with Elizabeth vacuuming the living room with her witch finger, Sue's billboard is in her face and Sue's Pump it Up video comes on the TV. Elizabeth stops and sits to ogle every bit of Sue's perfect body, but when Sue blows a kiss at the audience like Elizabeth once did, she is full of rage. Elizabeth showers again and goes to get another refill kit. She gets increasingly paranoid. She gets home and calls that former classmate who thinks she's the most beautiful girl in the world. She starts getting ready for their date and quickly looks in on Sue's body, taking in her luscious lips and perky breasts, and she puts on more makeup. Then, as she is finally leaving the house, she forgets she didn't take her keys and walks back to the living room and sees Sue's billboard in her face. She focuses on Sue's supple cleavage and she puts on a scarf to mask her aged skin. Elizabeth's inner demons cause her to spiral into a vortex of self-loathing. She never leaves the house to go on the date and starts to eat instead. 

We jump to Sue and, as she films another video, a mass appears on her butt. Finally the imbalance is affecting Sue's body. The crew, who only thought they caught a glimpse of something, stop taping and start a massive investigation to pick her perfect body apart. Sue is called into her boss's office, scared her world is about to fall apart and, in the end, the boss doesn't talk to her about any lump, but offers her the job of hosting the network's New Year's Eve show. Sue gets home and takes more time from Elizabeth.

Wrath

One night while watching TV, Elizabeth wants to get up but her left leg won't move. She painfully cracks it into place and manages to get over to the unopened gift her old boss gave her. It's full of all kinds of rich French recipes. At that moment, Sue appears on the TV and Elizabeth starts furiously cooking while watching Sue being interviewed. She angrily cooks a feast and, as Sue condescendingly talks about Elizabeth being old, Elizabeth takes her anger out on the food. When Sue is asked what her beauty secret is, Elizabeth screams at the TV wanting her to divulge that she, Elizabeth is the secret and flashes her naked body from under her robe. Elizabeth starts talking to herself in the mirror and then takes a shower. This shower has the most dramatic effect - Elizabeth was laying at the bottom of a well or at the bottom of a deep hole. I think all the shower symbolism relates to Elizabeth attempting to cleanse herself and wash away her sins.

Sue wakes up to a house littered with wall to wall food and guts and newspapers plastered on the walls. In the horror of what she has seen, Sue is furious and she takes and takes and takes and robs Elizabeth's body of almost all it has.

Three months pass and the New Year's show is tomorrow. 

Sue starts to feel ill because she ran out of Stabilizer fluid - the fluid she has been stealing from Elizabeth. The only way to get more is to switch with Elizabeth. Sue is writhing in pain, she crawls to the bathroom and switches. Then we see Elizabeth's hundred year old-looking gnarled feet, her hundred years old-looking legs, her bruised back and hairless head, her hundred years old-sagging butt. In three months she has a hunched-back corpse of a body.

Elizabeth calls the Substance hotline and says she wants to stop but she must pick up the Termination serum. Her corpse body drags her old living room billboard back to its spot. She has new-found herculean strength, almost like that burst of energy many dying people get a couple of days before they actually die. She runs like a bat out of hell to get the serum that will end it all. Once back, she drags Sue into the living room, in front of her billboard, she is ready to stab Sue and end it all.

At the last second, she stops and thinks about people loving her (as Sue) and she starts smiling. She tells unconscious/dead Sue "I hate myself," then tells her she has to get ready and its their big night and she loves her so much. Elizabeth gives Sue life again with an infusion of her blood. Sue revived sees the Termination syringe and becomes full of rage. She beats Elizabeth into a bloody mess, killing her and then realizes it's time for the New Year's show.

The sin of wrath is defined by hateful rage possibly in seeking vengeance with desire to inflict extreme harm or punishment or the desire to kill.  

Body Horror: The Creation of Monstro Elisasue

Gluttony 

Sue's over-indulgence in taking from Elizabeth finally comes back to haunt her. On the big night, she starts to physically fall apart. While coughing, she loses teeth and her fingernail falls off.

In her desperation to try and eek out any remaining chance of making it to and through the New Year's Eve show, she bolts off the set and runs home. She reaches for the Activator serum, which can only be used once! But in her hysteria, Sue uses it anyway and hopes for the best!

Before our eyes, she falls to the floor. Her eye socket instantaneously multiples with several eyes, her back splits open. She transforms into a grotesque monster. Kudos to the design and effects team. You can peep part of Elisasue here on Wikipedia. Again, that transitory lights and sound and fire that forms a heart.

What you don't see in this Wikipedia is the entirety of Eliasue's deformed form, an amalgamation of additional skin and body parts all of the place, like mouths with teeth on her chest and eyes and ears in random places. Elisabeth's head stretches out of their back, amongst other horrifying things. 

The sin of gluttony is demonstrated throughout the movie, but Sue's excessive desire to increasingly "eat" more than her share at all costs, leads to the creation of the biggest body horror yet.

Sue's punishment is Elisasue's body. Sue once inhabited a youthful, beautiful body that everyone wanted to have or to touch, everyone loved her and wanted to watch her as much as possible. Now she is the horrifying monster, something that bares resemblance to a human but has been transformed enough to make us all fear and abhor her.

Like the damned in Medieval Hell, she will be robbed of the thing she coveted most and for that she is made hideous. Elisasue will be hated and she will be destroyed. In this living hell, the Substance exploited her inner demons. She doesn't need the Devil and demons to torture her, she tortured herself.

And then something entirely unexpected happens: Elisasue dresses herself up, puts earrings on, flatirons the last remaining strands of her hair. She stops to smash the billboard of Elizabeth in the living room, cuts the face out and glues it to her face with the addition of red lipstick. Eliasue is confident in this demonic form with her Elizabeth mask to return for her big night and big finale.

With her glued on Elizabeth mask no one notices anything wrong with her body. Through the eyes she cut into the mask, we see how she sees people telling her, "So beautiful," "We love you." Does the Satanic substance also trick people to see what they want to see?

The body horror climax of the film plays itself out after Eliasue stands on stage. The audience watches her desensitized for some time but eventually her Elizabeth mask off and the audience just stares. Elisasue growls and grunts and out of her head a breast with an embilicord falls to the fall. Suddenly screams "The Monster!" "and "Shoot the Monster" and "It's a Freak!"  Elisasue says into the microphone, "No, don't be scared. It's still me." Elizabeth's face through ripped tulle says "It's me." 

Then Elisasue gets pushed around. They scream "You freak," "You Monster." She falls to the ground, a spotlight on her. She gets up and someone hacked her head off. It regenerates into several heads and bites herself, spraying the audience. Just like Lucifer and the lesser demons from Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, fol. 98r!

Elisasue flees the studio. She falls and splatters all over the sidewalk.

Body Horror: The No Body Elizabeth

Elizabeth's face grunts and strains with all its might to rip itself free from what is left from the mutilated Elisasue. Like an octopus using its tentacles to walk across land, she slithers along in agony. Her face contorting in pain, yet she continues until she reaches, of all places, the Elizabeth Sparkles star, her star, on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

When Elizabeth reaches the star's center, she can finally rest. She sighs and stares up at three palm trees. Then sparkles fall from the sky. A spotlight turns on and a reverberating sound of triumph and applauds. She is smiling, she is ecstatic.

She replays the time before the show when she wore the Elizabeth mask and people were telling her, "So beautiful," "We love you." The very opposite of what happened when she was part of Elisasue. She envisions her cherished view of herself, limited to her face, before this whole thing started. The spotlight vanishes and she melts away into a pool of blood.

Redemption

Elizabeth Sparkle was never free until she was without a body and the societal demands a body places on a woman.

In the last scene, without her body, she reached a state of true happiness. Almost like she reached Heaven and had a beatific vision but there was something sinister about it. She was free from the demands a body gives a woman.

It was as if her whole life she was in Hell. Or maybe Purgatory. She had to go through a number of tests and horrors to ultimately understand that the root of all evil was never The Substance but the glorification of a woman's youthful body. 

Or maybe the Substance was just the Devil (society), tempting her, poisoning her, and all us women who reach 40 and look at ourselves in the mirror and are not satisfied with what time inevitably does. We decide to use fillers, obsessively dye our gray hair, think about what we can lift or tuck. Maybe it was an exercise to see how far she, (I mean us), would go to look young. 

Sin is believed to be an act against God. It is an evil act that violates God and his laws. The retribution for sin is torture for the damned by demons. In Elizabeth's case, the demons were her making: her new perfect, younger, version of herself versus her and her actual self with her own lack of self worth and self esteem. When she did not keep the seven day balance (either as Elizabeth or Sue) and stole from herself, she effectively tortured herself with body horror that got progressively worse. 

In Medieval Hell, the tortures inflicted on the damned were based on the sins the person committed in life. This is due to the medieval belief in divine judgment where every sin had an appropriate punishment. So while Elizabeth committed all seven sins, her first was pride and, as I mentioned earlier, pride was looked at as sort of the gateway drug-sin to other sins. Her pride purposely shown so early on and so overtly in her excessive use of "mirrors," aka gigantic billboards of herself from young to present day hung at work and in her home, showed us where she found self worth, which was indeed her downfall and also her punishment. Every punishment for stealing time showed itself as varying degrees of body horror. For Elizabeth, The Substance unleashed her perfect Hell.

Is it ironic how Elizabeth finally finds salvation without a body? She couldn't be happy with her 50 year old body. She couldn't be happy with a younger version of herself half the time and her 50 year old self the other half. She had to completely lose her body to be happy.

Salvation is thought to occur by God's grace or by atonement of one's sins. 

Did Elizabeth redeem herself in the end? Did she atone for her sins by finding beauty in Elisasue, in herself, when she confidently left the house to do the New Year's Eve show? Did she atone for her sins when she proclaimed on stage in front of an audience and millions of viewers that it was her all along? Was it by God's grace that she got to experience a few minutes in a state of happiness without a body that caged her? Or was it that she didn't know what she had until it was gone.

A final thought: Vague Transitions

I posit that these animated transition devices which come at critical points of transformation (Elisabeth to Sue, Sue to Elisabeth, and then Elisasue) was intended to represent the role of evil and the power of the Devil. Fire, itself being a reference to Hell, is shown taking the form of a heart twice and a dragon once.

The heart formations occurred when Sue was created and again when Elisasue was created. Both times Elizabeth and Sue are tied to one another by unnatural, demonic acts of creation. The dragon formation that appears on the back Sue's robe, is a clear reference to Revelation and Satan. When wearing this robe, Sue is filled with a menacing air. The intoxication of power she feels is exhilarating. Standing over Elizabeth's stitched body on the bathroom floor, it is as if, at that moment, she decides the balance will never work. While Elizabeth is told she is the "matrix," Sue knows that it is really her who is in control. She will disrupt the hierarchy just like the Devil's spawn she is.

References

The Substance

Body Horror

Bodleian Library MS. Douce 134

End of Time in the Middle Ages, The Vineyard of Our Saviour Bodleian MS. Douce 134

Revelation 12:3-9

The Seven Deadly Sins: Pride, Lust, Sloth, Greed, Envy, Wrath, Gluttony

Coursework from Death and Devotion: The Art of Death across the Middle Ages, Oxford Continuing Education

[themedievalproject]

⛪ Take Me to Church: Jubilee 2025 and pilgrim cards ✝️

Be a real pilgrim

I wasn’t planning on going to Rome next year, but now there's a good chance I will! How could I pass up a holy year!

Here's the details:

From December 23 of this year through next 2025 you can go to Rome and be a pilgrim.

Beginning on the night of the previous Christmas Eve with the opening of the holy doors of Rome's four main basilica's starting from St. Peter's in the Vatican (obvs). The Pope arrives and says this in Latin: "This is the door of the Lord, open to me the door of righteousness," then pushes open the doors, steps into the threshold, prays and then voila!, the holy year has begun.

Over the next following days Pope Francis will then show up and do the same shpiel at San Giovanni in Laterano, Santa Maria Maggiore and St Paul Outside the Walls. Holy Doors are open all the way until Jan 6.

Get your free digital pass - with your name on it(!) in order to book Jubilee events and book your pilgrimage dates to the Holy Door!

Pilgrimage routes

There's more - there’s 8 pilgrimage routes to conquer, if you wish to experience the whole shebang.

Do you want to make a pilgrimage to Rome or Lazio but don't know which route to choose and how to organise yourself? Here are some tips!

[themedievalproject]

🧵 Textile Time: House of Dragons Season Two Opening Credits

It took nearly 2 years for House of Dragons to come back to us and yes, this post is a bit late with only one episode left of the season 😬 but I’m trying to embrace the "it's better late than never," and I'm working on being an im-perfectionist these days, so here we go.

A rush of excitement ran through me like an electric jolt as I heard the first notes of epic opening credits theme.

I settled in on the couch and to my utter delight, I saw not the expected template of blood spreading rapidly while fueling the mechanical architectural map of last season and GoT but a fabric becoming blood stained as it is digitally embroidered, threading a chronicle of Targaryen history (updated throughout the season) and expanding before our eyes.

What makes the new opening credits so stunning beyond the Targaryen content is the method in which the captivating digital embroidered effect, coined “threadification,” is executed by design studio yU+co’s 3D division. Kudos for taking a medieval art and a modern art form to create a striking Medieval-esque masterpiece.

The success of which can only be credited to the commitment in understanding the threading process and how it could be transformed into a digital media.

I embroider myself and am self-taught. It was something I picked up more than a year ago, so this truly hit the spot for me.

Research pays off

yU+co’s design team studied the embroidery process from the Game of Thrones Tapestry and examined the Apocalypse Tapestry. It comes as no surprise that the GoT show runner would pitch The Bayeux Tapestry as inspiration for yU+co. 

The Bayeux Tapestry is not a tapestry!, it is a 1,000 year old embroidery narrative depicting the series of events leading up to the Norman conquest of England in 1066, fought between William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England.

Using this real world pictorial testimony of medieval war as a guide for the House of Dragons opening scenes only adds to the credibility and stellar execution.

Now a confession -

I was only this many years old when I found out about the existence of the Game of Thrones Tapestry😳. I thought I was a fan.. but apparently I was living under a rock because how did I miss this amazing piece of GoT content and art???!?

Game of Thrones Tapestry, Season 7, Episode 4 📸 Kal242382, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I believed the new opening credit sequence was completely original, as in no embroidery existed in the GoT world until HoD’s season two opening. Nevertheless, the opening credits are still amazing, still impressive, still educating people about the middle ages and how not dark they were.

Embroidery vs Tapestry

Magaret Wade Labarge in her article, "Stitches in Time: Medieval embroidery in its Social Setting," defines embroidery as:

"..the art of applying decoration by needle and thread to the surface of a piece of woven cloth, usually called the "ground." It is an optional decoration worked after the while weaving process, including the dyeing and finishing, has been completed."

When we look at the Bayeux Tapestry we clearly see the richly colored stitches embroidered on top of a cloth. The “design” is independent of the weave.

See what the Bayeux Museum has to say for itself-

The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidery - Analysis of the making of the Bayeux Tapestry

The Bayeux Tapestry is a narrative embroidery of about 70 meters long and 50 centimeters wide. It consists of nine linen panels on which are

So why does this misnomer matter? Because knowledge is power or maybe not, but you never know when this topic will come up at a dinner party or when you might bump into Chris Hemsworth.

But really why should you care? First of all, it's important not to take things at face value, like The Bayeux Tapestry. And also this visual record is an extraordinary piece of history. Do you know how difficult it is to find textiles that survive, let alone in this condition?

The Norman Conquest was a big deal in European History. French speaking Normans ended up conquering England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and even got to Southern Italy and Sicily! And, in doing so, they brought a wealth of new words, thousands of which are still used by us English speakers today.

Want more?

How the Medieval Tapestry in the New ‘House of the Dragon’ Opening Sequence Got Its Weave

Game of Thrones Tapestry

Frenchified English - thank you, Normans

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🧵 Textile Time: The Coronation Mantle of Hungarian Monarchs

The Coronation Mantle. Copyright Hungarian National Museum, Budapest

Going through some old pictures, I found my picture of the incredible bronze relief of the Hungarian coronation mantle. Sculptor Rieger Tibor honored the 1000th anniversary of the coronation of King Stephen I with a recreation of the elaborately embroidered coronation mantle.

The Coronation Mantle, cast in bronze. On the exact spot where Francis I was coronated in 1792. Budapest, May 2022.

The original mantle wasn't designed for coronations. It was initially a vestment worn by a priest and made at the request of King Stephen I and his wife Gisela of Bavaria who donated it to the Church of the Virgin Mary in Székesfehérvár in 1031.

It wasn’t until the late 12th century, when due to its ornateness and connection to King Stephen I (later becoming St. Stephen in 1083) that the vestment transformed into a coronation mantle. Thereafter, it was worn by all future monarchs. The last time it was used was in 1916, by Charles IV.

A closer look at a copy of the mantle reveals iconography common at the time. We see more clearly that Christ is shown twice.

Unknown author, scanned by Szilas from A magyar Szent Korona by Tóth Endre, Szelényi Károly, Kossuth 2000, Budapest, Wikicommons, Public Domain

In the upper center, Christ treading on the beasts (a variant of Christ in Triumph), victorious over death, holding his feet on the necks of beasts- a dragon and a lion. This refers to Psalm 91:13, "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet." aka the Devil. On either side of him sit a crew of Old Testament prophets.

By Unknown author - The Coronation Mantle, close up of Christ. Wikicommons, Public Domain

Below the upper Christ, in the center is Christ in Mandorla Majesty on the throne flanked by Apostles.

Last but not least, patrons of the mantle, Gisela of Bavaria and King Stephen I get themselves featured below the Christs.

It is possible to make out the crowns as well as the objects in hand. Gisela holds a type of tower or building. King Stephen with an orb and spear of sorts.

By Unknown author - Wikicommons, Public Domain

According to the Textile Research Centre, embroiderers used several stitch types- stem stitch, chain stitch and feather stitch. The couching technique was used to create additional details. 

Want to read more?

Textile Research Centre - Hungarian Coronation Mantle Rieger Tibor - The Coronation Mantle

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✝️ Iconography JC Part 1

Christ in Majesty, fresco. Circa 1123. Master of Taüll. Apse of Sant Climent de Taüll Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona

Christ Pantocrator, mosaic. 1130. Cefalù Cathedral. Cefalù, Italy. 📷 Wikimedia Commons, Andreas Wahra, CC BY-SA 3.0

Christ in Judgment, tympanum, 1150. Abbey Ste Foy📷 Daniel Villafruela, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The Deesis mosaic, 1280. Hagia Sophia, IstanbuI, Turkey. Wikimedia Commons © JoJan, CC BY-SA 3.0

You've seen Him in frescos, mosaics, tympanum, paintings, illuminated manuscripts and more but do you know your Christ in Majesty from your Christ Pantocrator? The difference between Christ in Majesty and Christ in Judgment? What about the Christ Pantocrator and the Deesis?

Although sharing some similarities, the iconography of Christ differs between the Western Church and Eastern Orthodox Church.

The distinction comes from how both Churches interpreted the Heavenly throne described in The Book of Revelation and how those interpretations were then depicted in church architecture that developed in the East and West.

Early Christian art

Generally divided into two periods by scholars, early Christian art is bucketed into one of two camps: before and after either the Edict of Milan of 313 (whereby Christians were legally protected from persecution) or the First Council of Nicea in 325 (where Constantine I called for a meeting of all the Christian bishops to try to define Christian doctrine for all their followers around the Empire).

One of the major reasons for convening the council was major questions was around Christology. Specifically, what was the relationship between God the Son and God the Father. This concept is confusing and needed some consensus for sure (spoiler- was not figured in 325).

Regardless of the marker, once Christians were able to freely express themselves and their ideas about God in overt ways, a process began where the underground (literally in the catacombs), indirect symbols and ambiguous iconography of a persecuted people would evolve into mainstream icons for the all the world to see.

How would older symbols continue to be used? What new ones would develop? And, of course, where would Christians put them all?

Brief Christian History timeline

313 - Edict of Milan

325 - First Council of Nicea

324 - Constantine makes Byzantium the new capital of Roman Empire

330 - Byzantium becomes Constantinople

380 - Christianity becomes the state church of the Roman Empire

Late 5th century - collapse of the Western Roman Empire

Roman Empire 379-1453

Christian architecture

Christians would model their places of worship on the basilica, originally a large multi-functional public building in ancient Rome. The design of the original basilica was a rectangle shape with a longitudinal nave with an apse on one end (there could be more) and a roof with two levels, the higher roof in the middle to allow for a clerestory above.

19th century reconstruction of the 2nd century AD Basilica Ulpia, part of the Trajan's Forum, Rome. Julien Guadet, prix de Rome, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The basilica quickly became the template for a standardized architecture of Christian worship, the church. Specific features would Christianize for the church's needs, like the apse. In a civil basilica for example, the apse was the place where officials would congregate and where the Emperor would sit, in the Christian basilica it would become the place above the altar, where Jesus would be depicted. As time went on, the two Churches would use the space in ways that would effect the Christian art made inside.

Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe near Ravenna, Italy, 6th century. Angela Rosaria, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Christian art

The various versions of Christ would gradually take form inside these churches, birthing the predecessors of the standardized iconography that would become the Christ in Majesty and the later Christ in Judgement and the Deesis and Christ the Pantocrator.

By the 4th, 5th and 6th centuries, the change was underway. It is as if artisans were thinking out loud on how to interpret the Old and New testaments, their images of a personified Jesus could be depicted in various ways - as a young, short haired, beardless, law giver, shepherd or even a warrior as well as bearded, long-haired and older, like the version standardized today.

Young, beardless Christ

[Left] Christ the Lawgiver. Basilica of San Lorenzo, Milan, Italy. 4th century. Wikimedia Commons © Giovanni Dall'Orto

[Right] Christ treading the beasts. Chapel of Saint Andrew, Ravenna, Italy. 6th century. Wikicommons © José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro

The mosaics above reflect important symbols and ideas of the time. In Christ the Lawgiver, Jesus is surrounded by his disciples. He is beardless, donning a golden halo. He is dressed in a white and gold toga and seated on a throne dais with his feet on a stool. His left hand holds the New Testament and raising his right hand (this right hand would have a number of meanings- from a gesture made to signal the right to speak, a gesture made by Emperors handing over a decree, to teaching gesture and finally becoming a gesture of blessing).

In Christ treading the beasts, Christ is alone, beardless, his head is surrounded by a golden four-armed cross halo. He is dressed in royal purple for battle, standing and stepping on the heads of the lion and the serpent. He is holding the Gospel with his left hand and grasping a large cross that rests on the shoulder, ready to take on any evil that may come his way.

In both cases, a young, beardless and haloed JC is taking on the appearance of a particular message the patron wants the artist to deliver to its audience.

Early Christian art was heavily influenced by Roman art and therefore the art that had influenced Rome, the art of Ancient Greece and thereby Greece's own influences - Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Persia art.

All cultures and religions take from and build upon the cultures and religions that came before them, adapting stories and visual language to suit their needs and the stories they want to tell.

If young strong Greco-Roman gods were portrayed as young and beardless, it would make sense for artists to show Christ in this way too. If deities in Ancient Egypt and Greco-Roman gods were depicted with halos/auras, Christ most certainty should too.

In the Lawgiver Christ, we see an emperor at the Forum with all other senators surrounding him. In Christ treading on beasts in Ravenna, we see a Christ in battle, triumphant against the hoards of pagan Germanic tribes to Ravenna's North or the defeat of Arianism within the Church itself.

Older, bearded Christ

The following image is said to be one of the earliest bearded Christ depictions which is now the prevailing, mainstream image we have come to know. Here Christ is fully bearded Jesus with long hair and a halo. This image emerged around 300, but it did not become established until the 6th century in the East and much later in the West.

Bust of a Bearded Christ, Catacombs of Commodilla, Rome, Italy. Late 4th Century. Wikimedia Commons, © Public Domain

Art historians point out several possible reasons why the now conventional images of Christ are bearded. Some like Paul Zanker surmise that this version is a reflection of Zeus, the King of Roman Gods and the look of the classical Roman philosophers. It would seem to me that most adult men had beards at the time. Certainly maybe, a 33 year old, Jesus probably would not have been clean shaven.

But how do we go from the above Jesus to Christ in Majesty, Christ in Judgment, Christ Pantocrator and the Deesis?

To be continued in a future post...

Sources

Depiction of Jesus

Early Christian art and architecture

Christ in Majesty

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⛪ Take Me to Church: Grossmünster

Grossmünster, May 2023

Location: Zurich Country: Switzerland Denomination: Protestant Website: grossmuenster.ch

Grossmünster is a Romanesque styled church constructed from around 1100 to 1220 and built on the site of a Carolingian church that was said to be commissioned by Charlemagne.

The bronze doors of the main portal while not Medieval (done in 1935), caught my eye. People were streaming in and out so I lucky to get this shot! The majority of this door tells the story of the life of Hulrych Zwingli, the man who started the Swiss-German Reformation in Switzerland. But there are two that are not part of this story.

Let's explore. Bottom row, far left. Three figures holding their heads 😮 and bottom, far right - Charlemagne.

Turns out these three people are the three patron saints of Zurich, Felix, Regula and Exuperantius. They were beheaded in the 3rd century for converting to Christianity.

This is the seal stamp of the city seal of 1347 - Wikicommons

Other features of the cathedral include medieval pillars framing the entrance with modern grotesque decorated capitals.

Inside, the church was as Reformed as you could get with its scarce ornamentation- the legacy of Zwingli and his successor. I barely took any pictures.

But there were two things that caught my eye.

This modern carving of the tetramorph on either side of the main aisle before the altar. I spliced the pictures up to remove the aisle to get a seamless banner effect.

2. This medieval wall painting of the Virgin and Christ. Their faces likely removed during the Reformation (1520s)

Last shot before walking away to explore more were the two towers that are apparently one of Zurich's most famous landmarks. They were first erected between 1487 and 1492.

A fire in 1763 destroyed the original wooden steeples and these Gothic Revival ones replaced them in 1787.

[themedievalproject]

Jesus Embroidery found in Russia🪡🧵

Found in a Medieval Russian burial ground, this embroidery fragment depicts the Deesis, a traditional iconic Byzantine and later Eastern Orthodox representation of Christ in Majesty or Christ Pantocrator.

The Deesis layout has Christ in the center of St John the Baptist to Christ's left and the Virgin Mary to his right. Christ is usually enthroned, holding a book in his left hand and raising the right hand in gesture of blessing. You can sort of make it out here. A praying St John can also be deduces but the other figure likely Mary, on the other side, has been lost. Archeologists believe this fabric was part of a headdress from sometime between the 13th and 15th century.

As someone who dabbles in various mediums of art - painting, illustration, leather work and even embroidery, I find it particularly fascinating to hear about and see even the smallest pieces of surviving textiles from the medieval period let alone even older eras.

[themedievalproject]

⛪ Take Me to Church: Basilica of Our Lady in Trastevere

Apse Mosaic by Pietro Cavallini, 1291 Basilica of Our Lady in Trastevere, January 2023

Location: Rome Country: Italy Denomination: Catholic Website: santamariaintrastevere.it

Mosaic fans, the 12th century artistry here was pretty unreal to see. Long on my list was to visit this church and with my limited time in Rome, it was the only one I got to see.

I knew of this Church in that it had gorgeous mosaics with gold but it's nothing like being in the space and experiencing it with all of your senses. I got as close as I could to the apse, past the classical columns that seemed so jarring to me.

As I stood and took it all in, there were a few things that stood out to me that were unusual, since most of the churches I've frequented are in the UK.

The apse here was obviously a mosaic and it's not just Christ enthroned at the center, it's the Virgin Mary too. And Christ has his arm around her. They both holds scrolls which is a nod to the Song of Songs

It's a representation of Christ and his bride, the Church/the Virgin Mary, check out my post: What’s up with that? Ecclesia and Synagoga for more background.

Above Christ is the Hand of God (Manus Dei) and a dark shadow radiating towards a cross. The alignment signifies the Trinity. The couple is surrounded by 7 figures to the left of Christ is Peter.

Below all this is a belt of Apostle lambs with #AgnusDei in the center. And below that are mosaics of Mary's life, The Nativity and The Adoration of the Magi scenes.

The Basilica of Our Lady in Trastevere is said to be one of the oldest churches in Rome, dating back to the 4th century and one of two churches (the other being the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore) that claim to be the first church dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

View with altar

Exterior Basilica of Our Lady in Trastevere, January 2023

Links for more:

Commentary on The Apse Mosaic at Santa Maris in Trastevere

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❓What’s Up With That? Ecclesia and Synagoga

Close up of Ecclesia and Synagoga flanking the Fürstenportal or Princely Portal of Bamberg Cathedral, July 2022

My first trip to Germany, my first encounter with Ecclesia and Synagoga. I had never seen these statues before and once I learned their names it was clear which one was which. But why are these female figures personifying the Church and the Jewish Synagogue on a Church? That led me to this post.

Ecclesia and Synagoga, the ones that survive today anyway, are most often represented by young and attractive females. Ecclesia, the Church, stands strong and confident wearing a crown and carries a chalice and staff with a cross. Synagoga is blindfolded and/or looking down and carrying a broken spear and torah scrolls.

The original Ecclesia and Synagoga from the portal of Strasbourg Cathedral now in Musée de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame

My Ecclesia at Bamberg did not have the telltale signs of the staff with a cross or the chalice. But even with that, not knowing this symbolism, I wouldn't have put together the opposing woman as the Synagogue. It seemed to me to just depict someone blind to the faith of Christianity, not everything must be about Jews..right?

According to her book on the subject The Jew, the Cathedral and the Medieval City: Synagoga and Ecclesia in the Thirteenth Century, Nina Rowe explains that Ecclesia and Synagoga are generally found on the cathedrals of larger cities in northern Europe that had significant Jewish communities, especially in Germany(!) It was meant to remind Jews of their place (as if they needed the reminder) in a Christian dominated society. She notes most portal figures are from the 13th century.

So when did the Ecclesia and Synagoga depictions start?

Wikipedia says around 830, in a Crucifixion from the Drogo Sacramentary. Pic is in the public domain.

How and Why?

Ecclesia's characteristics on Christ's right hand side are already defined, the chalice collecting his blood but the Synagoga is an old gray haired man looking up. Synagoga stayed in this form, while rare, until 12th century when she became blindfolded with a broken lance. At this later time, the emphasis of Synagoga being defeated by the Church is the main objective of its symbolism and becomes a woman.

Rowe notes this timing coincides with the increasing Jewish populations in Germany and other place in Europe. There were increasing interactions between Christian and Jewish scholars and notably their different interpretations of the Hebrew Bible. The figures became a tool to reinforce the power dynamic of the Church.

Before Ecclesia met Synagoga

For centuries before her "coupling with Synagoga," Ecclesia had her own things going on. She had long been represented as the Bride of Christ taking the form of a queen. The Book of Revelation mentions "the Bride" many times and the Gospel of John talks of Christ as a "bridegroom."

Judith Glatzer Weshler expounds in A Change in the Iconography of the Song of Songs in 12th and 13th century Latin Bible, that Ecclesia imagery was sometimes conflated with the Virgin Mary, where Mary herself was depicted as the Church.

This timing is in line with the shift Nina Rowe talks about, when the portal figures appear on cathedrals. In general the 13th century was a particularly shitty time for Jews. But that's a whole other post.

Ecclesia enthroned, Prüfening Abbey, Bavaria, 12th century

There is a precedence in the Old Testament for the symbolism between God and people, via the Song of Songs, a poem that celebrates sexual love between a man and a woman.

Jewish tradition reads it as an allegory of the relationship between God and Israel, the Jewish people. 

Christianity interprets it as an allegory of Christ and his bride, the Church.

In her incredible book, "Mother of God, A History of the Virgin Mary," Miri Rubin writes about the Christian theologian, Origen (c 185- c 254) who advised early Christian followers to market and substantiate their new religion to potential Jewish converts. He thought by focusing on the Jewish Bible, the one Jews already knew, Christians could position "Christian truth" as the revealing of new, necessary, and inescapable reinterpretation of the text they thought they knew.

Origen particularly engrossed himself in the Jewish commentary of the Songs of Songs where he found messaging to fit the Christian paradigm, and replaced the Church as the bride of Christ.

Want more of this edition of ❓What’s Up With That? :

Ecclesia and Synagoga

Wikipedia - Song of Songs

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🏛️ Tympana Tyme: Bamberg Cathedral

My first trip to Germany, my first German Cathedral. It was under renovation and it was closed for visitors the day I was there, so I could only shoot the exterior. Luckily, there were two tympanum waiting for me. 

Last Judgment of the Fürstenportal or Princely Portal. Bamberg Cathedral, July 2022

This is the most tame Last Judgment scene that I’ve seen either with my own eyes or in research. Most are MUCH more gruesome, detailed and interesting. The damned on the viewer’s right all have strange expressions and there’s a single demon, the last figure on the right, who is pulling them away.

Gnadenpforte or The Marian or Grace Gate, Bamberg Cathedral, July 2022

The veneration of Mary by St. Peter and St. George on either side. 

In this wider shot below, we see two statues of women on either side of the portal. They are Ecclesia and Synagoga. More on Ecclesia and Synagoga in a forthcoming post.

Location: Bamberg Country: Germany Denomination: Roman Catholic Website: https://bamberger-dom.de

[themedievalproject]

🏛️ Tympana Tyme: St Mary de Crypt Church

St Mary de Crypt Church, November 2021

Location: Gloucester Country: England Denomination: Church of England Website: https://discoverdecrypt.org.uk

What total luck I had to be walking back to the train and look up to see this Agnus Dei, inside a tympanum, no less 😍. According to Wikipedia, this 12th century church has many romanesque features and this sculpture carved over the west door is one of the most well-preserved.

Check out this previous post on the Lamb of God depicted in rather horrific way.