Some of the most remarkable, wonderful and unsettling images of hell and damnation from the middle ages are found in a 15th century manual describing the apocalypse (the end of the world) produced by Carthusian monks in France known as Le Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur (The Book of the Vineyard of our Lord). Now held by the Bodleian LIbrary in Oxford its illustrations and are available to view here. This seems to have been the second volume of a larger, two part work, completed some time before 1463 in France. Its author and illustrators are unknown. It's thought to be Carthusian because one illustration depicts two Carthusian monks. These images depict the Antichrist and his war on the Church, the signs of the coming of the end of the world, the Last Judgement and then, in full gory detail, the sufferings of the damned. (I should point out the book also pictures the saints in paradise but these are really boring by comparison!) The whole point of this blog is to argue that our ideas of heaven and hell owe far more to the imaginations of writers and artists in the middle ages and Renaissance than to the bible and here we get a really good feel for the kinds of ideas that were shaping the thinking of Christians bout the afterlife at this time. They are fun, shocking, amusing and very, very interesting. Will the real Antichrist please stand up?The book begins with a description of the nature and activities of the Antichrist, who is shown here with his two faces, one revealing his true, devilish nature and a more acceptable 'human' face which proves attractive to the human population (why am I suddenly thinking of the current U.S presidential elections?). The book then portrays this creature in the different stages of his career as he seduces the world and turns the populations of earth against the Christian church. Interestingly, written a hundred years before the Reformation by Catholic monks, the Antichrist is depicted here, arriving in Jerusalem as a false pope! With the Antichrist now in charge it's not long before the persecution of the true followers of Christ (those who won't bow down to the Antichrist) begins. Thankfully, God has everything in hand and soon brings an end to the activities of the Antichrist. Fifteen SignsFollowing the destruction of the Antichrist comes the end of the world itself. First however, the population of earth have to endure 15 'signs' of The End, each of them terrible enough in themselves. These are beautiful, striking images, full of imagination and, worryingly seem all too relevant to features of our own global crisis! And so it goes on, with one world crisis after another. My favourite ís the depiction of the cities and towns of mankind, their pride and joy, broken down and ruined And then of course comes 'The End' and the great final judgement. After the world is flattened, earthquakes, the raising of the dead and the death of the living (!), the angels blow their trumpets and all the dead are raised together to face judgement. This is depicted rather wonderfully as both the opening of the tombs (this is a bodily resurrection of course) and the emptying of Death, pictured as the mouth of the Leviathon (the great biblical sea monster) . Standing under judgementChrist appears in the sky/heavens attended by angels to judge the blessed and the damned. You can easily spot the damned - they are dark-skinned. I am not sure how relevant it is to judge a previous era in terms of concepts like racism that we use now. The damned were often associated with 'the heathen' (who were usually foreign) but here it could simply be a way of 'spotting the difference', with the darker shade a symbol of their wickedness. White is usually seen as a colour of purity. These associations of course raise their own issues about skin colour and its perception. Jesus of course is very 'european' and whiter than white! Christ (or at least his head) appears in the sky ready to separate the blessed and the damned. Angels bearing the symbols of his passion attend him while church big wigs watch with approval. Some of those waiting below have clearly been cramped up in death and are taking the opportunity to do some exercise. Folio 57v As the women and the apostles pray for the souls of the dead, Christ judges them. The right arm is raised in blessing, the left stretched out in condemnation. But of course the judging must be fair and according to an 'official' standard, so scales are employed and Michael, the chief angel, is given the job of weighing the souls. This idea of the weighing of souls is not found in the New Testament but was an idea taken over by the church from Egyptian mythology. It became a stock feature of medieval and Renaissance depictions of the Last Judgement. But Christ does not judge alone. After all he promised the 12 apostles that they would rule with him, so at the Last Judgement they will sit in judgement with him like a celestial 12 man jury. And so, at last, the souls have been weighed, the jury has deliberated and the sentence is passed. With the words "depart from me, accursed ones, into everlasting fire" (Matthew 25.41 Vulgate) Christ banishes the damned from his presence. And so the Antichrist has been defeated, the end of the world has come and the dead have been raised (bodily please note!), some to everlasting life and some to everlasting damnation. For the monks reading this amazing book, the text and these marvellous illustrations would have both terrified them (after all, everyone involved seems to suffer) and reassured them. The various wars and rumours of wars, plagues, famines, earthquakes they experienced and knew of and the failures of popes, priests, kings and emperors could all be read, not as random, chaotic events without meaning, but as signs of The End, which the book told them was in the hands of Jesus, their Lord. They could find comfort and hope in that. But that isn't the end of the book. It goes on to describe in graphic detail the horrors awaiting those who are sentenced to perdition. The torments of the damned are portrayed in their full horror. Join me in part 2 to see what they have in store! You might also be interested in . . .
2 Comments
12/13/2017 01:53:18 am
Cela me ferait grand plaisir de pouvoir suivre vos publications fort bien documentées et pertinentes.
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Charles
10/23/2022 09:46:45 pm
Yahusha aka Jesus.
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Archives
April 2016
GalleryThis blog is as much about images as it is about text. Below is a slideshow of the pictures and images used in this blog. Click on any of the pictures to go to the post where that image is featured.
PostsLocating Paradise #1 In a Garden, Far, Far Away
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #5 'Stuck in the Middle With You'
The Resurrection According to Rahner
Today You Will Be With Me in Paradise
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #4 'And Who by Fire'
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #3: Held in the Balance
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #2: Once, Twice, Three Times a Sinner
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #1: The Broad and Narrow Gates
Daily Dante 7: Many Rivers to Cross
Daily Dante 6: 'You Gotta Serve Somebody'
In Hell Everyone Can Hear You Scream. The Vision of Tundale #3
Teeth, Spikes and Cleavers: At the Sharp end of Hell. The Vision of Tundale #2
'No Pain No Gain': The Vision of Tundale #1
'Hellzapoppin':
Illustrations from Le Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, #2 'It's The End of the World as We Know It (and we feel fine)'. Illustrations from Le Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, #1
Visions of Heaven. Botticini's Assumption of the Virgin #2 Blinded by the Light
Visions of Heaven. Botticini's Assumption of the Virgin #1: Glorious and Immortal
Daily Dante 5: What the gates said.
Daily Dante 4: When I find myself in times of trouble
Daily Dante 3: I'll take you there
Daily Dante 2: Fierce creatures
Daily Dante 1: If you go down to the woods today
In Seventh Heaven or 'What Enoch Did Next'
A World of Fire and Ice: Heaven according to Enoch
The Power and the Glory: Visions of God as king in the Hebrew bible
The Beautiful Bestiary of Catherine Cleves: Monsters and Demons in detail.
Heaven is for Real: Heaven as a physical space up above the sky
Resurrecting the Dead or Reviving the Flowers? The loss of resurrection faith in Judaism.
The Defeat of Death #1: The promise of resurrection in the Isaiah Apocalypse.
The Defeat of Death #2: Death as a hostile power and promise of God's victory in Isaiah
Scary Monsters and Super Creeps: The 'Last Judgement' according to Stefan Lochner
Hell in the Hospital: The 'Last Judgement' of Rogier van der Weyden in the Beaune altarpiece.
'Hell' in the New Testament #2: The gates of Hades shall not prevail
The Hours of Catherine Cleves: Imagining hell and purgatory in Catherine's prayer book
'On Earth as in Heaven': The kingdom of God as a revelation of heaven
'Hell' in the New Testament #1: Gehenna
Lost in Translation #1: How the King James version got it so wrong about hell
Heaven is not our home
Domes, Depths and Demons: The cosmology of the Hebrew world
A Bigger God
"See you in Sheol" - Sheol, the common destination of all
Heaven, Hell and Christian Hope
BooksBelow are some of the books which have helped me the most in the research and writing for this blog. Click on any image to find out more about that book at its page on Amazon uk.
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