Религиозные идеи и средневековое судопроизводство. Несколько замечаний об иконографическом повороте в истории права

O. I. Togoeva

O. I. Togoeva Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7854-3222

Keywords: Middle Ages, iconic turn, history of law, French legal codes, miniatures, medieval religious ideas, canon law, theology, hagiography

Abstract

The article explores legal medieval iconography in its inextricable connection with the religious ideas of the time and ecclesiastical settings reflected in the canon law, theology, and hagiography. The first steps in this direction were taken only in the beginning of the 21^st century, even though the iconic turn in historical research has been discussed for decades. Nevertheless, recent publications on legal medieval iconography still come from the pen of art historians, philologists, or literary critics, but not legal historians. As a result, the analysis of the content of these images is often replaced by mere descriptions. The author offers quite a different approach. Instead of studying miniatures and marginalia only as illustrations to the text to which they are formally attached, she attempts to relate the content of these images with medieval religious ideas. Such a turn of study necessitates references to ecclesiastical texts, and in each individual case, as the author accentuates, it requires a distinctly specific source. Thus, the analysis of the miniature from the “Coutumes de Toulouse” (end of the 13^th c.) requires the reference to the Decretum of Gratian and the Liber sextus of Boniface VIII, according to which the artist interpreted the degradation of clerics. The marginalia from the “Coutumes de Bordeaux” (1438), which illustrates the death sentence imposed on thieves, recalls the doctrine of atonement developed by Anselm of Canterbury. The image of the Virgin Mary in the scene of fox Renard’s hanging from the Smithfield decretals (second half of the 14^th c.) refers to the ideas of the parasudic procedure liberatus a suspendio, repeatedly described in Marian hagiography. The treatise of French theologian Jean Gerson “Requête pour les condamnés à mort” (end of the 14^th c.) should be considered as a starting point for changing the iconography of the death penalty in the next century. In general, as the author concludes, the comparison of medieval legal images with the works of canonists, theologians and hagiographic writings allows not only to understand the deeper meaning inherent in miniatures, but also to clarify the dating of manuscripts, the principles of the artists’ work and their relations with clients.

Author Biography

O. I. Togoeva , Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences

DOI: https://doi.org/10.34680/vistheo-2024-6-1-37-57

Olga I. Togoeva
Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
Moscow, Russia
togoeva@yandex.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7854-3222

Abstract
The article explores legal medieval iconography in its inextricable connection with the religious ideas of the time and ecclesiastical settings reflected in the canon law, theology, and hagiography.
The first steps in this direction were taken only in the beginning of the 21^st century, even though the iconic turn in historical research has been discussed for decades. Nevertheless, recent publications on legal medieval iconography still come from the pen of art historians, philologists, or literary critics, but not legal historians.
As a result, the analysis of the content of these images is often replaced by mere descriptions. The author offers quite a different approach. Instead of studying miniatures and marginalia only as illustrations to the text to which they are formally attached, she attempts to relate the content of these images with medieval religious ideas. Such a turn of study necessitates references to ecclesiastical texts, and in each individual case, as the author accentuates, it requires a distinctly specific source. Thus,
the analysis of the miniature from the “Coutumes de Toulouse” (end of the 13^th c.) requires the reference to the Decretum of Gratian and
the Liber sextus of Boniface VIII, according to which the artist interpreted the degradation of clerics. The marginalia from the “Coutumes de Bordeaux” (1438), which illustrates the death sentence imposed on thieves, recalls the doctrine of atonement developed by Anselm of Canterbury. The image of the Virgin Mary in the scene of fox Renard’s hanging from the Smithfield decretals (second half of the 14^th c.) refers to the ideas of the parasudic procedure liberatus
a suspendio, repeatedly described in Marian hagiography. The treatise of French theologian Jean Gerson “Requête pour les condamnés à mort” (end of the 14^th c.) should be considered as a starting point for changing the iconography of the death penalty in the next century. In general, as the author concludes, the comparison of medieval legal images with the works of canonists, theologians and hagiographic writings allows not only to understand the deeper meaning inherent in miniatures, but also to clarify the dating of manuscripts, the principles of the artists’ work and their relations with clients.

Keywords: Middle Ages, iconic turn, history of law, French legal codes, miniatures, medieval religious ideas, canon law, theology, hagiography

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About author

Olga I. Togoeva
Dr. Sci. (History), Chief Research Fellow
Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences
32a, Leninsky prospect, Moscow, 119334, Russian Federation
E-mail: togoeva@yandex.ru

For citation:
Togoeva O. I. Religious ideas and medieval legal proceedings. A few remarks on the iconographic turn in the history of law. Journal of Visual Theology. 2024. Vol. 6. 1. Pp. 37–57. https://doi.org/10.34680/vistheo-2024-6-1-37-57

Religious Ideas and Medieval Legal Proceedings. A Few Remarks on the Iconographic Turn in the History of Law

Abstract

Author Biography