Reviewing the landscape of Synagoga’s historiography
one can see that all these studies have interpreted the figure in relation to
medieval theology. However theological interpretations of the subject would
only be accessible to educated audiences who had enough of an understanding of
contemporary theology to be able to apply them to the beautiful downtrodden
figure of Synagoga.
Taking in to consideration the allegorical nature of
the figure and the notion that not all medieval spectators would look upon
Synagoga as an abstraction of complex theological ideas, since the middle of
the twentieth century, scholars have began to consider how specific contexts
could have influenced Synagoga's reception. Most of these studies have centred
on the depiction of Synagoga on the south facade of Strasbourg Cathedral which
was described in detail in my previous entry.
The earliest of these studies
were carried out by Adolf Weiss, Adalbert Erler and Otto von Simson.[i] All three of their studies
identified the square in front of the facade as the seat of local justice and
the site of the local municipal courts. Taking into account this legal context,
all three come to the conclusion that the eschatological theme and heavenly
judgement depicted on the south facade, would be seen by medieval audiences as
a reflection of the earthly judgement of medieval legal practices.[ii]
Within this interpretation
the victorious Ecclesia and defeated Synagoga, represent the innocent and the
guilty parties of the medieval courts. While their presence in the
eschatological iconography of the facade can be interpreted as a depiction of
the saved and the damned; the innocent and the guilty parties in God’s final
judgement.[iii] This conclusion was
confirmed by Bernard Nicolai in his 2002 article, Orders in Stone: Social Reality and Artistic Approach: The Case of the
Strasbourg South Portal.[iv] Considering the context in which the Strasbourg facade
would have been seen, these studies concluded that within the right context
Synagoga and Ecclesia could surpass their traditional roles as the
personifications of Judaism and Christianity and depict the two spectrums of
Christian morality; the sinful and the righteous; the damned and the saved; the
guilty and the innocent.
Although these studies were the first to consider
Synagoga as more than a representation of the Christian theological conception
of Judaism, they still limited Synagoga to the realm of Christian theology by
interpreting her representation within the context of Christian salvation
history and the Christian understanding of morality. However two recent studies
have gone beyond this theological reading. The first of these was carried out
by Sara Lipton.[v] In her article, The Temple is My Body: Gender, Carnality,
And Synagoga in the Bible Moralisée, Sara Lipton presented a new reading of
the figure of Synagoga.
As the personification of the worldly and flesh
oriented Old (Jewish) Law, Lipton presents Synagoga as a representation of the
material world and examines the connotations communicated by her figure in the
thirteenth century, Bible Moralisée which were illustrated Bibles, accompanied by an illustrated commentary.[vi] These Bibles took the form
of a novel in order to present sacred texts and were aimed at a courtly audience.[vii]Instead of examining
Synagoga in terms of her opposition with Ecclesia, Lipton examines the figure
in relation to the medieval rhetoric of gender and through Synagoga’s
relationship with male figures in the manuscript. In the commentary to several
biblical passages Synagoga takes on various female stereotypes such as the
Disobedient Wife; the Seductress ; the mourning Mother and the naive Daughter and the
resentful sister. Depending on which of these roles Synagoga embodied, the
figure altered from virtuous to sinful; from feminine to masculine to
androgynous; from threatening to submissive and was transformed back again.
From this analysis the article comes to the conclusion
that Synagoga as a representation of the material does not condemn the body or
earthly world but rather reinforces its importance and value. This study
re-evaluates the previously held belief that the Middle Ages viewed the
material and spiritual world as binary opposites with the former being seen as
bad and the later as good. A conclusion Lipton illustrates by considering
Synagoga's fate throughout the numerous commentaries.
Nowhere in the commentary or accompanying text is
Synagoga condemned or permanently ostracised. She is punished, buried, purged but
ultimately redeemed. Synagoga and her corporeal nature are presented not as an
antithesis to Christianity but as an integral part of the Christian identity;
like women are an essential component of society. Sara Lipton believes that
this conclusion is partially dictated by the nature of the Bible Moralisée and
its intended audience. As luxurious material goods which were intended to be
enjoyed for their material qualities, the Bible Moralisée in which Synagoga
appears, praises the physical wealth which formed an integral and growing part
of courtly life. Focusing on Synagoga’s femininity Lipton presents the argument
that Synagoga’s female body can, in specific circumstances, be a representation
of the complex relationship between Christianity and material wealth.
Synagoga’s female body was also the focus of Nina
Rowe’s recent studies. Began in a 2008 paper, Idealization and Subjection at the south Façade of Strasbourg
Cathedral, and expanded upon in her book The Jew, the Cathedral and the
Medieval City: Synagoga and Ecclesia in the Thirteenth Century, Rowe
focuses on the appearance on Synagoga on cathedral facades, across central
Europe, in the thirteenth century.[viii] Examining the opposition
of the weak and beautiful Synagoga against the victorious and mighty Ecclesia,
Rowe related the figure to contemporary politics and the social status of
medieval Jews. She believes that the figures appearance communicated the
imperial position towards the Jews. Under royal decree Jews were protected as
their economic activity was vital to the wealth of the kingdom. However, Jews
were also considered to be royal property. Attacking a Jew was viewed as a
similar offence to attacking the King’s horse. Taking this into consideration,
Rowe interprets the Strasbourg, Bamberg and Reims Cathedral facades in relation
to the position held by the Jewish community within these cities and concludes
that Synagoga communicated the ideal identity and social position of the Jew in
thirteenth century Christian Europe;
“she is a servile yet integral
member of the Christian milieu. Her beauty marks her as an insider within the
ideal Christian system. Her decrepitude ensures her submission...she conveys
the virtue of a Judaism that maintains a docile presence within the Christian
domain.’[ix]
This study does not present Synagoga as a
representation of the theological Jew but rather the medieval Jew; the Jew who
would cross the town square, under Ecclesia’s watchful gaze and nod a greeting
to his Christian neighbour. Like Lipton related Synagoga to medieval attitudes
towards the material world, Rowe interprets the figure in relation to the
social position of the Jews in the thirteenth century.
[i] see: Otto Von Simson,
‘Le Programme Sculptural du Transept Meridonal de la Cathedrale de Strasbourg,’
Bulletin de la Societe des Amis de la Cathedrale de Strasbourg, Vol. 10 (1972),
pp.33-50; Adolf Weis, ‘Die 'Synagoge' am Südquerhaus zu Straßburg,’ Das
Münster, Nr. 1 (1947), pp. 65-80; Erler, Adalbert, Das Strassburger Münster im
Rechtsleben des Mittelalters (Frankfurt: V. Klostermann, 1954)
[ii] Bernd Nicolai, ‘Orders
in Stone: Social Reality and Artistic Approach. The Case of the Strasbourg
South Portal,’ Gesta, Vol. 41, No. 2 (2002), pp. 111-128, footnote:70.
[iii] Simson 1972 p.37
[iv] Nicolai 2002 p.111-128
[v] Sara Lipton, 'The
Temple is my Body: Gender, Carnality, and Synagoga in the Bible Moralisee' in
Frojmovic, Eva, ed., Imagining the Self,
Imagining the Other Visual Representation and Jewish-Christian Dynamics in the
Middle Ages and Early Modern Period (Leiden: Brill, 2002).
[vi] Sara Lipton, Images of intolerance: the Representation of Jews and Judaism in the Bible
Moralisée (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), p.1; see also John
Lowden, The Making of the Bibles Moralisées: The Manuscripts, Vol.1
(Pennsylvania: Penn State Press, 2000).
[vii] Gerald B. Guest,
‘Picturing Women in the First Bible Moralisée,’ in Insights and
Interpretations: Studies in Celebration
of the Eighty-Fifth Anniversary of the Index of Christian Art, ed. by Colum
Hourihane, (Princeton: Princton University Press, 2002), p.106.
[viii] Rowe 2008; 2011
[ix] Rowe 2008 p.197
[x] ibid p.197
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