Skip to main content

IMC 2008: Sessions

Session 212: The Tree as Symbol, Allegory, and Structural Device in Medieval Art and Thought, II: Trees of Sacred History

Monday 7 July 2008, 14.15-15.45

Organiser:Andrea Worm, Cambridge University Library, University of Cambridge
Moderator/Chair:Sara Ritchey, Department of History & Geography, University of Louisiana Lafayette
Paper 212-aTrees of Genealogy and Biblical History in the Bible Manuscripts of Floreffe, Stavelot, and Parc
(Language: English)
Andrea Worm, Cambridge University Library, University of Cambridge
Index terms: Art History - General, Biblical Studies, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 212-bBetween Genealogy and Morals: A Miniature of Lambert of Saint-Omer in its Manuscript Setting
(Language: English)
Hanna Josephine Vorholt, International Max Planck Research School, Göttingen
Index terms: Art History - General, Biblical Studies, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 212-cTrees as Formal Narrative and Allegorical Index in Noli me tangere
(Language: English)
Liesbet Kusters, Onderzoekseenheid Bijbelwetenschap, KU Leuven
Index terms: Language and Literature - Latin, Theology
Abstract

The second session deals with the problem of trees as a model for representing universal history. From the tenth century onwards, diagramatic images can be found which use the genealogy of Christ as a visual model to represent an overview of sacred time. In some cases these stemmata are combined with Trees of Consanguinity, and these are then visually interpreted as Trees of Knowledge (II.1). The close connection between the history of salvation, again using the genealogy of Christ as a structure, and a more universal mental framework can be found in the complex imagery of the “Liber Floridus”, Lambert of Saint Omer’s fascinating encyclopedia (II.2).