Inscriptions on Light and Splendor from Saint-Denis to Rome and Back

The verse inscription celebrating the new choir at Saint-Denis engages the issue of light in ways that have previously been associated with the writings of Dionysius the Areopagite and that have even served as proof of Abbot Suger’s close knowledge and direct use of those texts. Yet comparisons with not only ancient and early medieval poetry on buildings, but also especially with the inscriptions of early medieval apse mosaics in Rome, suggest that Suger’s emphasis on light is rooted in a tradition much older than the light metaphysics of Pseudo-Dionysius. Considering that Suger had also acquired a direct knowledge of the city of Rome and that both the arts and the ideology of that city played a major role in shaping Suger’s ambitions concerning Saint-Denis, the choir inscription should most likely be directly associated with the early medieval apse inscriptions. What spurred Suger’s interest in these shimmering texts in the first place, however, may have been some knowledge of Pseudo-Dionysian light metaphysics as transmitted by his contemporary, Hugh of Saint Victor

Veil and shroud: Eastern references and allegoric functions in the textile imagery of a twelfth-century gospel book from Braunschweig

This article discusses two medieval textile-inspired images that evoke the repeat of Eastern silk, and argues that so-called textile-pages in illuminated German manuscripts are not merely a sophisticated form of decoration, but that textile imagery generates iconological meaning in certain contexts and serves specific functions. The article proposes an iconological reading of two textile-pages in the Aegidien Gospels, a twelfth-century manuscript. It identifies one textile image as a visual commentary on the allegory of scripture as a veil of revelation, and the other as a representation of the shroud, which is shown to have mnemonic and contemplative functions in relation to the historic narrative and sacred truth of Christ’s death and resurrection. A kufesque inscription in the image of the shroud marks the depicted textile as an object of Eastern origin, and can be interpreted as a reference to the Holy Land in particular. By visually evoking the holy site of Christ’s tomb, the shroud image participates in a transfer of loca sancta from Jerusalem to twelfth-century Braunschweig, and in turn, connects with other holy sites that mark a larger sacred landscape of medieval Saxony. Interpreting the two textile-pages in the Aegidien Gospels from the viewpoint of recent approaches towards medieval court culture, textile imagery in this manuscript is shown to not be the result of the passive copying of textile patterns; rather, it is a distinct artistic contribution and form of appropriation that reflects the spiritual needs of the twelfth-century Saxon audience