Arma Christi Rolls or Textual Amulets?

32 Pages·2014·1.26 MB·English

Arma Christi Rolls or Textual Amulets?
The Narrow Roll Format Manuscripts of ‘‘O Vernicle’’
MARY AGNES EDSALL
Brunswick,Maine
Theso-calledarmaChristirollsoflatemedievalEnglandhavereceivedafair
amountofscholarlyattentionsinceRossellHopeRobbinspublishedonthem
in1939.1Eachofthesetenrollformatmanuscriptsproducedoverthecourse
of the fifteenth century contains a poem-prayer devoted to the arma Christi,
‘‘O Vernicle,’’ as well as illustrations for the stanzas. In three of the rolls, an
indulgencefollowsthepoem,andoneofthethreeincludesavarietyofother
prayers, devotions, and charms: Philadelphia, Redemptorist Archives of the
Baltimore Province, olim Esopus (E); from now on the Esopus Roll.2 These
artifactsof latemedieval culturehaveproved to be asmall butrichmine for
scholarship on topics such as religious iconography, devotional practices,
VersionsofthispaperwerepresentedatTheEighteenthBiennialCongressofthe
NewChaucerSociety,Portland,Oregon,2012,andattheInternationalCongresson
MedievalStudies,Kalamazoo,Michigan,2013,inasessionsponsoredbytheSocietas
Magica. My thanks to the organizers of both sessions for these opportunities to
develop my ideas. This article would not have been written without the space
and resources of The Institute for Research in the Humanities at University of
Wisconsin–Madison. Its director, Susan Friedman, has my deepest gratitude for my
time there as a Fellow, both official and honorary. Gratitude is also owed to the
editorsofMagic,Ritual,andWitchcraftandtotheanonymousreviewerfortheircareful
andhelpfulsuggestions,butspecialthanksareowedtoMaryMorseforherencour-
agement,forhercomments,andforsharingherresearchwithmeoverthecourseof
thisproject.
1. RossellHope Robbins,‘‘TheArmaChristiRolls,’’ModernLanguageReview34
(1939):415–21.
2. Fromhereon,Iwillincludethesiglaparenthetically.Forthestemmaandsigla,
seefigure1,replicatedwithadditionsfromAnnEljenholmNichols,‘‘‘OVernicle’:
ACriticalEdition,’’inTheArmaChristiinMedievalandEarlyModernMaterialCulture,
withaCriticalEditionof‘‘OVernicle,’’ed.LisaH.CooperandAndreaDenny-Brown
(Farnham,Surrey,UK:Ashgate,2014):312–13.
Magic,Ritual,andWitchcraft(Winter2014)
Copyright(cid:2)2014UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress.Allrightsreserved.
.................18647$ $CH3 11-10-1410:51:38 PS PAGE178
Edsall (cid:2) ArmaChristiRollsorTextualAmulets? 179
blooddevotions,visualculture,materialculture,privatereading,andvernac-
ulartheologies.Onequestion thatscholarshaveoftenreturnedto,however,
concernstherollformat.Oftwentysurvivingwitnessesof‘‘OVernicle,’’ten
are parchment rolls.3 And many are very narrow rolls at that, with seven
ranging from around four to five inches wide (ca. 13 cm), one being about
sixincheswide(15.2cm),andtheremainingtwomeasuringsevenandone-
quarterandeightinchesinwidth(18.2cmand20.2cm).
Robbins judged that these rolls could not have been used for ‘‘private
meditation,’’foritwouldhavebeen tootroublesomeforareader‘‘tounroll
a long sheet every time he wished to pray or meditate.’’4 Instead, he con-
cluded,
The original function of the ‘‘Arma Christi’’ was congregational. A friar or a priest
would display such rolls, either holding them up himself, or hanging them from a
convenient ledge or niche in the wall, or suspending them from the pulpit. The
worshippers wouldgain the indulgenceby gazing at the roll, and whilelistening to
thepriestreadthedescriptionsoftheinstruments,repeatingthePaternoster.5
WhileRobbins’sopinionstillfindsitswayintoprint,itisnowconsideredto
be incorrect. Flora Lewis’s oft-cited dissertation argues that the small size of
the images make it unlikely that these narrow format rolls would have been
usefulforpublicdisplay.6Likewise,PamelaRobinsonpositsthat‘‘theextant
rollsarenot nearly largeenoughfortheirpicturesto beseen atadistance.’’7
And Ann Eljenholm Nichols, who has recently examined all the extant ‘‘O
Vernicle’’ rolls and manuscripts, concludes that there is little to no evidence
thattheserollswereeverdisplayedinthisway.8
The current trend is to see arma Christi images and imagetexts in general,
3. Nichols,‘‘‘OVernicle’:ACriticalEdition,’’319.
4. Robbins,‘‘TheArmaChristiRolls,’’417.
5. Ibid.,419–20.
6. Flora Lewis, ‘‘Devotional Images and Their Dissemination in English Manu-
scripts,c.1350–1470’’(diss.UniversityofLondon,1989).
7. PamelaRobinson,‘‘TheFormatofBooks-Books,Booklets,andRolls,’’inThe
Cambridge History of the Book in Britain, Vol. II: 1100–1400, ed. Nigel Morgan and
RodneyM.Thomson(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress:2008),44.
8. AnnEljenholmNichols,‘‘‘OVernicle’:IllustrationsofanArmaChristiPoem,’’
in Tributes to Kathleen Scott: English Manuscripts: Readers, Makers and Illuminators, ed.
MarleneVillalobos Hennessy(London:HarveyMiller, 2009), 141.For anotherdis-
agreementwithRobbins’sthesisseeDonSkemer,BindingWords:Textual Amuletsin
theMiddleAges(UniversityPark:PennStateUniversityPress),261–62.
.................18647$ $CH3 11-10-1410:51:39 PS PAGE179
118800 MMaaggiicc,,RRiittuuaall,,aannddWWiittcchhccrraafftt (cid:31)(cid:31) WWiinntteerr22001144
180 Magic,Ritual,andWCHitcRhOcraNftOL(cid:31)OGIWCAinLt eSrT2E0M14MA Roll Format
Small Codex
FAMILY I FAMILY II
ca. 1400 E P B F
R
Ii
Ω
A2
L S b
H1
ca. 1450 M L C2 S H2
O D
A3 A1
Q
Hd C1
ca. 1500 T
A Roman letter designates each manuscript, and a Greek letter represents the hypothetical genetic
ancestor of a family of manuscripts. Since Greek sigla represent hypothetical exemplars, they can-
not be dated. (See Manuscripts for more precise dating of the surviving individual manuscripts.)
Lines indicate the assumed ancestral relationship: for example, F is the hypothetical exemplar for
Ω and b; and b is the hypothetical exemplar for D and T. The broken line indicates that O is a
copy of H2.
MMaannuussccMrriiappnttuSSsiiggcllraaipt Sigla
AA11 ALLoo1nn ddoonn,,BBrrLiittoiissnhhdLLoiibbnrr, aa rrByy,,rAAitddisddhiitt iiLooinnbaarllaMMrySS, 11A11d77d44i88tional MS 11748
AA22 ALLoo2nn ddoonn,,BBrrLiittoiissnhhdLLoiibbnrr, aa rrByy,,rAAitddisddhiitt iiLooinnbaarllaMMrySS, 22A22d00d22i99tional MS 22029
AAM33anuscALLroo3innp ddtooSnni,,gBBlarrLiittoiissnhhdLLoiibbnrr, aa rrByy,,rAAitddisddhiitt iiLooinnbaarllaMMrySS, 33A22d00d00i66tional MS 32006
BBA1 BEELodd niinndbbouunrr,ggBhh,,rEiSStdiccsooihnttttLbiissiuhhbrrgCCarhaay,tt, hh ASoodclliidoccittAAtioirrsccnhhha liiCvvMeeasstS,,hGG1o1BBli7c400 8A2244r00chCCivBBe//s55, 77 //G99B,,oo 0llii2mm4NN0 aaCttiiBoonn/aa5ll7LL/iibb9rr, aa rroyylioomff SSNccooatttlliaaonnndda,,lDDeepp..221111//
A2 Lon99d;;ooonll,iimmBrBB i tll iaa sii hrr ss L MM i bLuurassibeeryuur,ammAryd99 doitfi oSncaoltMlanSd2, 2 0D2e9p. 211/9; olim Blairs Museum 9
CCA311 COOLo1xxn ffoodorrddn,,,OOBxxrOifftooixsrrhddfoLUUridbnn,r iia vvOreeyrr,xssiiAfttoyyd,,rdBBdit ooiUoddnllneeaiiilaavMnnerLLSsiiibb3tyrr2,aa 0rr 0yyB,,6oMMdSSleBBiaoondd llLeeyyibRRraoorllyll,ss 11M66S Bodley Rolls 16
CCB22 COOEd2xxi ffnoobrruddr,,gOOh,xxOSffoocxrroddftotUUirsdhnn, iiC vvOeearrtxsshiifottoyyl,,ircBBdA ooUddrcllneehiiiiaavvnneersLL,siiiGbbtyrrB,aa rr 0yyB,,2oMM4d0SSleCAAiBaddn/dd 5iiL7ttiii/oob9nnr,aaaollrlEEyi,m.. 44 MN((RRSa))t iAondadliLtiiobnraarly Eo.f4S c(Rotl)and,Dep.211/
DD DOO xxff9oo;rrddol,,imOOxxBOfflooaxrrirddfsoUUMrdnnu, iis vveOeeurrmxssiifttoyy9,,rBBd ooUddllneeiiiaavnnerLLsiiibbtyrr,aa rr yyB,,oMMdSSleDDiaoonuu Lcceeib11rary, MS Douce 1
EEC1 EPPOhh xiifllaaoddrdeell,ppOhhiixaaPf,,ohRRridleeaddUdeeenmmlipvpphettoorisarriii,tss ytt ,RAABrreoccddhheliievvmieeassnpootLoffirttbhhirseeatr BByA,aarMllttciihmmSioovBrreoeesd PPloerrfyoo tvvRhiinnoecc lleeBs,,a1ool6lltiimmimEEossoorepp uuPss,,roNNvYYince, olim
HHC211 SSOaaxnnfoMMrdaa,rriiOnnoox ,, fo HH r duu nnU tt ii nnnEiggvstteooorpnnsiutLLysii,,bb BNrraaorrYdyy,,leMMianSSLHHibMMra11ry44,22MSAdditionalE.4(R)
HHD22 HSSOaax1nnf oMMrdaa,rriiOnnooxS,,faoHHnrduu MnnUttiiannnriggvittneooornns,i tLL yHii,bbBurraaonrrdyyti,,lenMMigantSSoLHHni bMMLraib22ry66r,a00Mr55y44,S DMoSu cHeM1 142
HHEdd CCPhaaimmlabbdrreiilddpggheei,,a,HHRaaerrvvdaaerrmddpUUtonnriiivvseetrrAssiirttcyyh,,iHHveoosuuoggfhhtttoohnneBLLiiabbltrriaamrryyo,,rMMePSSrTTovyyippn..c11e99,33olimEsopus,NY
H2 San Marino, Huntington Library, MS HM 26054
IIHii1 CCSaaanmmMbbrraiirddiggneeo,,,UUHnnuiinvvteeirrnssgiitttyyonLLiiLbbrribaarrryya,,ryMM,MSSIISii..H66..M4433142
Hd Cambridge, Harvard University, Houghton Library, MS Typ. 193
LLH2 WWSanaarrmmMiiannrssittneeorr,,,MMHuaarrnqqtuuineegsssstooonffBBLiaabtthhra,,rMMy,SSMLLSooHnnggMlleeaa2tt63300054
Ii Cambridge, University Library, MS Ii.6.43
MMHd NNCaeemwwbYYrioodrrgkke,,,PPHiieearrrppvooannrdttMMUnooirrvggeaarnnsiLLtyii,bbHrraaorryyu,,gMMhtSSonMMLooirrbggraaannryBB,M..5544STyp.193
L Warminster, Marquess of Bath, MS Longleat 30
OOIi NNCaeemwwbHHridaavvgeeenn,,,UYYnaaillveeeUUrsinntyiivvLeerrissbiirttayyr,,yBB,eeMiinnSeeccIkki.ee6.LL4ii3bbrraarryy,,MMSSOOssbboorrnneeffaa2244,,lloottss2288&&2299
PPL MCCWaaa mmrmbbrriniiddsggteeer,,N,MMMewaaaggr qddYuaaolleeersnnksee,o CCfPBooiealllltreehpgg,oeeM,,nMMtS MSSLoPPoneergppglyyeassant22 11L3220ib55rary, MS Morgan B.54
QQM OOONexx wffoorrYddo,,rQQk,uuNPeeeeieennwr’’pss oHCCnootallvMlleeeggoneer, ,,g YaMMnaSSlLe22i bU00r77anriyv,eMrsSitMy, o BrgeainneBc.k54e Library, MS Osborne fa 24,
RRO LLNooennwddooHnna,,vBBerrn ii ,tt iiY ss hha lLLe ii Ubblrronaatrrisyyv ,,e2rMM8si tSS&y,RR B2oo9eyyiaanlle11ck77..eAAL..22ib77rary,MSOsbornefa24,lots28&29
SSP PCCC llaiimtthhbeerrrioodeeg,,eSS,CttMooannmayyghhbduurailrredssttngeCCe,Coo lloMlleelggleaeegg,,edMM,aMlSSeSn6644eP eCpoysll2e1g2e5, MS Pepys 2125
TTQ QPPOrrx iinnfocceerdttoo,nnQ,,uPPOerreiixnnnfcc’oseerttCdoo,nno llUUQegnnueiie,vveeeMrrnssS’iistt yy2C0LL7oiibbllrreaagrryye,,, MM MaannSuu ss2cc0rrii7ppttssDDiivviissiioonn,,DDeeppaarrttmmeennttooffRRaarree
R RBBLooo noodkkossnaa,nnBddrSSLitppoieesnhccdiiLaaollibnCCr, aoo rllByllee,rccMitttiiiooSsnnhRss ,,LoMMiybaSSrlaTT1r7aayyy., All ooM.rr2711S77 Royal 17.A.27
S SC litheroe,SCtolintyhheurorset, C Sotlloengey,hMurSst6 C4ollege, MS 64
RReepprriinntteeddbbyyppeerrmmiissssiioonnoofftthheePPuubblliisshheerrssffrroomm‘‘‘‘OOVVeerrnniiccllee::AACCrriittiiccaallEEddiittiioonn,,’’’’iinnTThheeAArrmmaaCChhrriissttiiiinnMMeeddiieevvaallaannddEEaarrllyyMMooddeerrnn
TMMaatteerriiaaCCTPuur llittuunrrcee,,eteeoddnss..,LLPPiissraariinHHnc..ceCCetotooonoonppUee, rrn PaainnvrddeirnAAscinnteyddtrroeeLaainbDD rUeeannrnynn,yyivM--BBerarroosniwwutynnsc ((rLFFipiaabrrtnnsrhhaDaarmmiyv,:: i sAAMiosshhnagg,naattDuee,,se22cp00ra11irp44tm))t,,sppe D..n33ti11vo33if..sRCCioooanppr,eyy rr iiDgghhettp(cid:31)(cid:31)ar22t00-1144..AAddddiittiioonn
ooffmmyyiinn ddBiiccoaaottiikoosnnssanffoodrrS rroo p ll lle ffc ooi rra mml CaamttoMMellnSSetSSc toaaionnfdd nRsww,ahhMraaettS IIBTccaaoallyllosslkommrsaa ll1all7nccooddd iiScceepsseiisscbbiayyl ppCeerrommliilssessiicootnnioooffnAAs,nn nnMEEllSjjee TnnhhaooyllmmlorNN 1iicc7hhoollss,,tthheeaauutthhoorroofftthhee
sstteemmmmaaaannddtthheeMMSSSSssiiggllaa..
ReprinteRdebpyripnetremd ibssyi opneromftihsseioPnu obfl itshhee rPsufrbolmish‘e‘rOs fVroemrn ‘i‘cOle :VAernCicriltei:c Aal CEdriittiicoanl ,’E’dinitiTonhe,’’ Ainrm TahCe Ahrrimstia iCnhMriesdtii eivna lMaenddieEvaalr lyModern
MateriaCanudlt uErea,relyd sM.LoidsearnH M.CatoeFForipaii eggCruuaunrrltdueerAe11, ne..ddrSSse. attLeeDimmsean mmHny. aa-CBooroooffwp‘‘en‘‘OOr (FanaVVrdn eehArranmnndii:rcceAall seehD’’g’’eantMMen,y2aa-0Bnn1ruu4o)wss,ccnprr .ii(pp3F1tta3ssrn...hCaomp:y rAigshhgta(cid:31)te,2 2001144.)A, ddition
ofmyinpd.i c3a1ti3o. nCsofopryrrioglhltf o©rm 2a0t1M4. S SAdandditiwonh aotfI mcayl lisnmdiacllatcioodnisc feosri sroblyl fpoerrmmaists iMonSSo faAndn nwEhlajte nI hcoallml smNaicllh coolsd,icthees iasu bthyo rofthe
stemmaapnedrmthisesiMonS Sofs Aignlan. Eljenholm Nichols, the author of the stemma and the MSS sigla.
Figure1.Stemmaof‘‘OVernicle’’Manuscripts.
..................................1188664477$$ $$CCHH33 1111--1100--11441100::5522::4411 PPSS PPAAGGEE118800
.................18647$ $CH3 11-10-1410:52:41 PS PAGE180
Edsall (cid:2) ArmaChristiRollsorTextualAmulets? 181
including the arma Christi rolls, as tools for prayer and meditation in the
affective mode. Carolyn Walker Bynum states that by the late Middle Ages
armaChristiimageshad‘‘becomeinducementstoempathy,signalsofenacted
caritas to which caritas responds.’’9 While still maintaining that prayer rolls
‘‘were likely displayed in Churches,’’ Kathleen Kamerick adds that they
‘‘were privately owned as well.’’ She also speculates on how arma Christi
image sequences were used for private devotion, pointing out how each
instrument‘‘receiveditsownspaceonapageorrollanditsowntimewithin
the devotion, extending visually or verbally the reader/viewer’s contempla-
tionofthem.’’Wheretheimageswereaccompaniedbyverses,rubrics,and/
or indulgences, the sequence of imagetexts provoked in users a pattern of
alternating reading, viewing, and pausing to reflect. Kamerick also describes
howthetextsoften promiserewards forthosewhogazeonthepicturesand
how they draw readers’ attention to the links between their sins and the
wounds inflicted by the instruments, ‘‘insist[ing] upon their surprisingly
directrelevancetothebeholder’sspirituallife.’’10AnthonyBale,meanwhile,
explicitlydisagreeswiththethesisthattherollsweremeantforpublicdisplay,
writing that the ‘‘Arma Christi rolls were designed to foster an immediate
devotionalresponse,acontemplativeimmersioninChrist’sPassion.’’11Sarah
Noonanalsobelievesthattherollsweredesignedforprivatedevotionalread-
ing,arguingthatwhileuserscouldhavereadtherollsinsequence,‘‘boththe
textandthematerialformappeartoencouragereaderstomovethroughthe
Symbols by jumping from stanza to stanza, ‘perus[ing] effectively and affect-
ively’ those sections most pertinent to their specific devotional needs and
goals.’’12
InthemostsatisfyingexpositiontodateofhowanarmaChristiroll might
have functioned in private devotional practice, Richard Newhauser and
Arthur J. Russell focus on Edinburgh Scottish Catholic Archives MS GB
0240 CB/57/9, olim Blairs College 9 (B). They describe how it could have
been usedinahighlyintertextual,multimedia,sensory-affectiveactofpeni-
tential prayer and reflection, and they lay out how the roll’s ‘‘nexus of text
andimage’’relatestoimageryfromsermonsonthePassionandthetradition
9. Carolyn Walker Bynum, ‘‘Violent Imagery in Late Medieval Piety: Fifteenth
AnnualLectureoftheGHI,November8,2001,’’GHIBulletin30(Spring2002):18.
10. KathleenKamerick,PopularPietyandArtintheLateMiddleAges:ImageWorship
andIdolatryinEngland,1350–1500(NewYork:Palgrave,2002),173.
11. AnthonyBale,TheJewintheMedievalBook:EnglishAntisemitisms,1350–1500
(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2006),157–62.
12. SarahNoonan,‘‘PrivateReadingandtheRollsoftheSymbolsofthePassion,’’
JournaloftheEarlyBookSociety15(2012):296.
.................18647$ $CH3 11-10-1410:52:42 PS PAGE181
182 Magic,Ritual,andWitchcraft (cid:2) Winter2014
oftheSevenDeadlySins.Furthermore,theyarguethattherollformatforces
theusertoscrollthroughthepoem’slistofinstrumentsinasetsequenceand
to focus on each individual moment in the Passion sequence.13 The text,
meanwhile, helps users ‘‘to understand the pictorial presentation in terms of
their own moral life, and the sensory perceptions evoked bythe memory of
thePassionaremadeintovaliddevotionallessons.’’14Inparticular,theimages
and the text work to transport users to an imaginative Jerusalem, through
whichtheytravelinavirtualpilgrimage.15
Butatleasttworecentstudieshavequestionedwhetherthe‘‘OVernicle’’
imagetextwasactuallyintendedforaffectivedevotion.AnnEljenholmNich-
olsseesitas partof‘‘thetradition ofpenitentialliterature. The poetusesthe
arma as focal points for serial consideration of personal sin to facilitate an
examinationofconscienceforspecificsins.’’16ShannonGaykmakesasimilar
argumentabouttheversionof‘‘OVernicle’’inCambridge,HarvardUniver-
sity, Houghton Library, MS Typ. 193 (Hd), writing that it ‘‘is essentially
penitential in its approach to the instruments; it uses them first to evoke the
memory of a moment of the Passion narrative, but then emphasizes their
metaphoricalassociations withdifferent vices.. .. The instrumentsthus pri-
marily function as tools for penitential introspection and prayer.’’17 At least
oneoftheextantarmaChristirolls,however,suggeststherewereotherpossi-
bleusesfortheseartifactsthanaffectivedevotionorpenitentialprayer.
I. THE ESOPUS ROLL: ITS APOTROPAIC CHARMS AND IMAGETEXTS
The Esopus Roll opens with the pseudo-Bedan Prayer on the Seven Last
Words. The rubric to this apotropaic prayer promises that whoever says it
daily on bended knee can neither be harmed by the devil nor by wicked
men, norwilltheydieunconfessed.Theprayeris followedbyashortpoem
listing the seven times that Jesus bled and the seven sins that these bleedings
heal (NIMEV 1701). Located after these are ‘‘O Vernicle’’ (NIMEV 2577),
itssummaryarmaChristipoem,‘‘IthanktheeLord’’(NIMEV1370),andthe
13. RichardNewhauserandArthurJ.Russell,‘‘MappingVirtualPilgrimageinan
EarlyFifteenth-CenturyArmaChristiRoll,’’inTheArmaChristiinMedievalandEarly
ModernMaterialCulture,84and88.
14. Ibid.,91.
15. Ibid.,99–108.
16. AnnEljenholmNichols,‘‘TheFootprintsofChristasArmaChristi:TheEvi-
dence of Morgan B.54,’’ in The Arma Christi in Medieval and Early Modern Material
Culture,115.
17. Shannon Gayk, ‘‘Early Modern Afterlives of the Arma Christi,’’ in The Arma
ChristiinMedievalandEarlyModernMaterialCulture,278–79.
.................18647$ $CH3 11-10-1410:52:42 PS PAGE182
Edsall (cid:2) ArmaChristiRollsorTextualAmulets? 183
indulgence that travels with ‘‘O Vernicle’’ in seven manuscripts, ‘‘These
armes of Crist’’ (NIMEV 3305). This indulgence not only promises that
‘‘lookingover’’thearmaChristiwillbringremissionofanytemporalpunish-
ment still owed to God for sin repented of and confessed, but also promises
protection from a ‘‘wicked death,’’ from being tempted by the devil, and
fromproblemsinchildbirth.18Theindulgenceisfollowedbyanotherapotro-
paicimagetext,onegivingtheMeasureofChrist:aTaucross inthemargins
is to be multiplied fifteen times (the standard multiplier in fifteenth-century
Measures of Christ) to arrive at Christ’s height.19 As in a number of other
manuscripts, this imagetext includes a version of a Middle English prayer to
SaintsQuiricus andJulitta, ‘‘whowere invokedconsistently againstpersonal
dangerssuchasfevers,fiends,battlesandweather,and,mostconsistently,for
the protection of ‘women in travail.’’’20 The last items on the roll are a
Tetragrammaton-Agla charm with seven crosses followed by the apotropaic
intercessoryprayer‘‘Deusquiliberastisusannam,’’whichpetitionsGod,who
savedSusannah,Jonah,Daniel,andPeter,forprotectionfromproblemssuch
astribulation,distress,andslanderousandtreacherousenemies.21
MaryMorsesuspectsthatfurtherstudyoftheEsopusRollmayproveitto
beoneoftheearliestEnglishbirthgirdles—thosetextualamuletsforsafeand
successful childbirth that were meant to be applied to or even wrapped
around a woman’s body.22 It contains images and imagetexts that overlap
with those on rolls that could have been used as birth girdles—something I
will discuss later in this article. But even if the verdict on the Esopus Roll
were to come down on the side of its not being a birth girdle, its contents
clearly align it with the ancient, widespread, and often Church-sanctioned
18. Foraconcise descriptionofindulgencesand pardons, seeEamon Duffy, The
StrippingoftheAltars:TraditionalReligioninEngland,c.1400–c.1580(NewHaven:Yale
University Press, 1992), 287–92. For an extended study see Robert N. Swanson,
Indulgences in Late Medieval England: Passports to Paradise? (Cambridge: Cambridge
UniversityPress,2007).
19. ForthenumberfifteeninMeasuresofChrist,seeSkemer,BindingWords,143
20. MaryMorse,‘‘AlongsideSt.Margaret:TheChildbirthCultsofSaintsQuiri-
cusandJulittainLateMedievalEnglishManuscripts,’’inManuscriptsandPrintedBooks
in England, 1350–1550: Packaging, Presentation and Consumption, ed. Emma Cayley
andSusanPowell(Liverpool:LiverpoolUniversityPress,2013),187.
21. ForanotherdescriptionofthissectionoftheEsopusRollseeMorse,‘‘Along-
side St. Margaret,’’ 206. For a variety of apotropaic prayers that invoke this quartet
of Biblical figures and their source in the official deathbed prayer Proficiscere anima
Christiana,seeDuffy,TheStrippingoftheAltars,266–68.
22. Morse, ‘‘Alongside St. Margaret,’’ 193–94 and 205–6. On birth girdles in
general,seeSkemer,BindingWords,235–50.
.................18647$ $CH3 11-10-1410:52:43 PS PAGE183
184 Magic,Ritual,andWitchcraft (cid:2) Winter2014
traditionofamuletscontainingChristiancharmsforhealingandforallkinds
of protection, such as from sudden death, death in childbirth, the malevo-
lence of enemies and of the devil, and the dangers of travel and extreme
weather.
Toillustrate,KathrynR.Rudy’sworkontheTryggHours(London,Brit-
ishLibrary,HarleyMS2966)showsthatitsusersweredevotedtoitsimages,
kissing and rubbing some to near erasure. They also had extra talismanic
imagesand badgesstitchedontoitspages,and theyvaluedtheinclusionofa
variety of apotropaic prayers.23 For another example, a manuscript survives
of Nicholas Love’s Mirrour of the Blessed Lyf of Jesu Christ that begins with a
Latin rubric and prayer to Saints Quiricus and Julitta that instructs devout
beholding of the Measure of Christ. Other Latin prayers for spiritual and
bodily protection follow, including one with an explicitly amuletic rubric
that promises that anyone who says the next prayer or beholds it devoutly
eachdaywillneitherdieunconfessednordieinwar.Therubricalsoinstructs
that the same prayer-charm said over a cup of water will make the water
efficacious for stopping storms at sea and helping women in labor. It wraps
up by saying that ‘‘whoever carries it on him/herself will be loved by all
people and will have popularity in the eyes of all people and no one can
enumerate the goodness of this prayer but God alone.’’24 The prayer that
followstherubricpetitionsforawidevarietyofprotections,includescrosses
interspersed with invocations of holy names that direct users to bless them-
selves,others,orobjects,andendswithaversionoftheprayercharm,‘‘Deus
qui liberasti susannam.’’ The presence of this assemblage of prayers and
charms in a manuscript of the unmistakably orthodox Mirrour is concrete
evidenceofhowthelinebetweensacrament,sacramentals,andChristianand
othermagicalcharmswasneverallthatclear.
SacramentalblessingswerepartoftheMassandothersacramentsandritu-
als, but even sacramentaries and other official books were also stocked with
avarietyofblessingsforpeace,blessingstoprotectfromdisease,andblessings
23. Kathryn M. Rudy, ‘‘Kissing Images, Unfurling Rolls, Measuring Wounds,
Sewing Badges and Carrying Talismans: Considering Some Harley Manuscripts
throughthePhysicalRitualstheyReveal,’’eBLJ2011,Article5,TheBritishLibrary,
http://www.bl.uk/eblj/2011articles/article5.html.
24. Princeton,PrincetonUniversityLibrary,KaneMS21,fols.1v–2v.Mytransla-
tion. The two rubrics are transcribed in Skemer, Binding Words, 152, Note 70, but
the second rubric as transcribed needs to be emended according the MS, for the
transcriptionleavesoutthefinalwordsandmistakesgratiamforgrantum.
.................18647$ $CH3 11-10-1410:52:44 PS PAGE184
Edsall (cid:2) ArmaChristiRollsorTextualAmulets? 185
to protect from dangerous weather, to give some examples.25 Sacramentals
were particularly popular throughout the medieval period and beyond.
Derek A. Rivard identifies three main types of sacramentals: (1) ‘‘blessed
objects that were widely distributed for use by recipients, some for use on
specific days of the liturgical calendar (for example, the candles blessed for
Candlemas and the palms for Palm Sunday)’’; (2) ‘‘rites and benedictions
performed by priests to ensure a beneficent natural order’’; and (3) ‘‘prayers
and incantations used to gain protection of various sorts.’’26 All of these
objects,prayers,andritesbroughtdivinepowerintoplayinthehumanworld
forhealing,protection,andavarietyofpracticalresults.But,asmanyscholars
havepointedout,thereisnoabsoluteorintrinsicwaytodistinguishmagical
from religious language, especially when it comes to prayers, blessings,
charms, conjurations, and indulgences and other pardons.27 Although Peter
Lombard’sSentenceshadfacilitatedagrowingtheologicalacceptanceofwhat
the Council of Trent would later codify as the Seven Sacraments and there
were efforts to make distinctions among sacraments, sacramentals, blessings,
benedictions, and consecrations, categories remained fuzzy when they were
recognizedatall.28
Nevertheless, across the medieval period there was generally a fairly clear
understanding that magic involved the aid of demons and that sacraments,
sacramentals, and Christian apotropaic prayers, incantations, and rituals
appealed to God and figures who mediated divine power, like the Virgin
Mary and the saints.29 These words and actions that are so easy to interpret
25. Derek A.Rivard, Blessing theWorld: Ritual and Lay Piety inMedieval Religion
(Washington,D.C.:CatholicUniversityofAmericaPress,2009),30–37.
26. Ibid.,41.
27. RichardKieckhefer,MagicintheMiddleAges(Cambridge:CambridgeUniver-
sityPress,1989),69–72.SeealsoDavidEltonGay,‘‘OntheChristianityofIncanta-
tions,’’inCharmsandCharminginEurope,ed.JonathanRoper(NewYork:Palgrave
Macmillan, 2005), 32–46; Karen Louise Jolly, ‘‘On the Margins of Orthodoxy:
Devotional Formulas and Protective Prayers in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College
MS41,’’inSignsontheEdge:Space,TextandMargininMedievalManuscripts,ed.Sarah
LarrattKeeferandRolfH.Bremmer,Jr.(Leuven:Peeters,2007),148;La`szlo` Sa`ndor
ChardonnensandRosanneHebing,‘‘TwoCharmsinaLateMedievalEnglishManu-
script at Nijmegen University Library,’’ Reviewof English Studies n.s. 62.245 (2010):
183;andSwanson,IndulgencesinMedievalEngland,247–48.
28. Rivard,BlessingtheWorld,40.
29. Richard Kieckhefer, ‘‘The Specific Rationality of Medieval Magic,’’ The
American Historical Review 99, no. 3 (1994): 813–36. See also Richard Kieckhefer,
ForbiddenRites:ANecromancer’sManualoftheFifteenthCentury(UniversityPark:Penn
StateUniversityPress,1997),15–16.
.................18647$ $CH3 11-10-1410:52:45 PS PAGE185
186 Magic,Ritual,andWitchcraft (cid:2) Winter2014
as ‘‘Christian magic’’ were most of the time just the ‘‘application of sacra-
mentals to this-worldly concerns.’’30 And many of these worldly concerns
were apotropaic or exorcistic, with the holy objects and/or prayers and
incantationsemployedtoprotectfromorwardoffdisease,todeflectavariety
ofsocialandphysicalthreats,tokeepdemonsandtheirevilsandtemptations
at bay, or to drive demons out of people and places. Eamon Duffy has gone
so far as to argue that this use of sacramentals is not ‘‘the devotional under-
ground, it is the devotional mainstream,’’ part of ‘‘a popular religion which
extended from the court downwards, encompassing both clerical and lay
devotion.’’31
Kathleen Kamerick has also described how widespread were soothsaying,
charms, amulets, and other Christianquasi-magical words and objects. Cax-
ton’s 1489 translation of Le Doctrinal de Sapience, a book he calls ‘‘ryght vtile
andprouffytabletoallecrystenmen’’(veryusefulandprofitabletoallChris-
tian men), discusses sorcery, divination, and textual amulets, pointing out
that,
Alletheythatmakesuchethyngesordoomakeit,orbereitordoittobebornand
haue trust and affyaunce therin, and they that selle it, gyue or lene it, synnen right
greuouslybutyftheybesymplepeopleandsoignorauntofsymplessethatbyignora-
uncetheybeexcused.Thewhychethyngexcusenotthemyftheybesuffycyentely
warnedandtaught.32
[Allthosethatmakesuchthingsorhaveonemade,orwearoneoradviseonetobe
worn and have trust and faith in it, and those that sell, give, or loan one, sin very
grievously unless they are uneducated people and so ignorant due to their lack of
learning that they may be excused by this ignorance. Do not pardon them of this
thingiftheyhavebeensufficientlywarnedandtaught.]
Likewise,theearly-fifteenth-centurytreatiseDivesandPauperfollowsitsenu-
meration of divinations, charms, and textual amulets with the stern warning
that
30. Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars, 282. See also Kieckhefer, ‘‘The Specific
RationalityofMedievalMagic,’’833.
31. Duffy,TheStrippingoftheAltars,278–79.
32. The Doctrinal of Sapience, edited from Caxton’s printed edition, 1489, ed. Joseph
Gallagher,MiddleEnglishTexts26(Heidelberg:CarlWinter,1993),55.Unlessoth-
erwisenoted,alltranslationsaremyown.
.................18647$ $CH3 11-10-1410:52:46 PS PAGE186
Edsall (cid:2) ArmaChristiRollsorTextualAmulets? 187
alleswycheforsaken3efeythofholychyrcheandhercristendamandbecomynGod-
dis enmyys and agreuyn God wol greuously and fallyn in dampnacoun withouten
ende,but3eyamendenhem3esonere.And3erfor3elawecomandyth3atbyshopis
schulden ben besy to destryyn al maner wychecraftis, and 9if 3ei foundyn ony man
orwoman3at9euehemtowychecraftis,but[3ey]woldenamenynhem.heschuldyn
cachynhemoutofherebyschoprychewithopyndespyt...
[all such people forsake Holy Church’s faith and her religion and become God’s
enemiesanddistressGodverygrievouslyandfallintodamnationwithoutend,unless
theyamendthemselveswithoutdelay.Andthereforethelawcommandsthatbishops
shouldbebusyindestroyingallkindsofwitchcraft,andiftheydiscoveranymanor
woman who is dedicated to witchcraft, they should drive them out their bishopric
withpublichumiliation...]
Textssuchastheseandothersshowthattherewasarecognitionofdifference
between licit prayer and illicit charms and between sacramentals and objects
usedasapotropaicorhealingamuletsandtalismans—eveniftherewassome-
times disagreement about what actually constituted superstition.33 This
recognitionofdifferencewentalongwithattemptstorootoutpracticesper-
ceived as illicit. Clergy might preach against superstition and magic, and
Churchcourts mightcorrectand, more rarely, punishusersof thesecharms,
rites,andobjects.34
In the following pages, I am first going to argue that at least one version
of the ‘‘O Vernicle’’ text is essentially apotropaic. Its language is consistent
with that of apotropaic prayers and charms, and the arma depicted in the
seriesofimagetextsarepresentedashavingpowerinandofthemselves,func-
tioning almost like pictorial relics; for the quasi-incantatory stanzas continu-
ally invoke the arma for protection from sin, demons, and the consequences
of sin.35 I am then going to turn to the question of the material support for
33. KathleenKamerick,‘‘ShapingSuperstitioninLateMedievalEngland,’’Magic,
Ritual,andWitchcraft3.1(2008):30.
34. Ibid.,29–36.
35. Bynumobservesthatuntil1300,thearmaChristiwere‘‘signsnotofsuffering
butoftriumph,ofChristi’sauthoritytojudge.Theywere,asthenameimplies,coats
of arms, signs of nobility and power; and as arma, they were also defensive (shields
against the devil and his works) or offensive (weapons ofattack against the enemies
ofChrist).Onlyin the laterMiddleAgesdidtheybecome signsofpainandinjury,
visualtriggerstoremindChristiansofwhatGodhadsufferedforthem,andevensuch
torture was sometimes understood as love’’ (‘‘Violent Imagery,’’ 18). Future work
might consider the possibility of a connection between this earlier theology of the
armaandthecontinuingamuleticinvocationofthearmaforbodilyandworldlypro-
tection,whileatthesametimeastheyarebeingadaptedtonewdevotionalends.
.................18647$ $CH3 11-10-1410:52:47 PS PAGE187