Animal Symbolism in Ecclesiastical Architecture

ANIMAL SYMBOLISM IN ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE BY E. P. EVANS WITH A BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SEVENTY-EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS London: W. Heinemann 1896 Introduction to the Digital Edition This text was prepared for digital publication by David Badke in November, 2003. It was scanned from the original text on an Epson Perfection 3200 Photo scanner and converted with OmniPage Pro 12. Author: E. P. (Edward Payson) Evans was “a member of that extinct Victorian species whose scholarly interests were seemingly encyclopedic and which, in his case, encompassed intellectual history, the study of languages, German literature, oriental studies, animal psychology and, surprisingly, animal rights, a subject which will require attention later.” He was a professor at the University of Michigan and later at the University of Munich. He is also the author of The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals. Copyright: The original printed text by E. P. Evans (1831-1917) as published by W. Heinemann (London) in 1896 is believed to be in the public domain under Canadian copyright law. It is also believed to be in the public domain under the copyright law of the United Kingdom and the United States of America. If you believe that you have a legal claim on the original text, contact the editor of the digital edition at [email protected] with details of your claim. This digital edition is copyright 2003 by David Badke. Permission is hereby granted for any non-commercial use, provided that this copyright notice is included on all copies; for commercial use, please contact the editor at the above email address. Disclaimer: While every effort has been made to produce a digital edition that is accurate and equivalent in content to the original printed edition, the editor is not legally responsible for any errors or omissions. As with any information, use this edition with appropriate scholarly caution. If you discover errors in the text, please contact the editor at [email protected] with details, so corrections can be made. Edition: This digital edition includes the entire text of the printed book, with the exception of the index. All illustrations are also included. Formatting: The digital edition differs from the original printed text in layout, typeface and pagination, though all text of the original has been included as printed; no editing has been done and all original spelling and punctuation has been retained. The illustrations appear in this digital edition in approximately the same position and size as in the printed edition; where this is not so, the change is noted. Some images have been digitally enhanced for clarity, but their content has not been changed. The page numbers shown in this edition (at the bottom of each page) do not match the page numbering of the original printed edition. The original page numbers have been added to allow references to the print edition to be located; the number indicates the start of the print edition page. These page numbers appear imbedded in the text, formatted like this: [27]. The page numbers shown in the Table of Contents and List of Illustrations are those of the digital edition. The footnote numbering in the printed text started at 1 on each page; since the pagination in this edition does not match that of the printed edition, the footnote numbers do not match. The numbers in this edition are continuous. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The current version of this digital text edition can be found at: http://bestiary.ca/etexts/evans1896/evans1896.htm •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• CONTENTS INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................p. 1 CHAPTER I: ALLEGORICAL AND ANAGOGICAL INTERPRETATIONS OF NATURE Impulse given to the study of natural history by Alexander the Great-Scientific spirit fostered by Aristotle—Lack of this spirit among the Romans-Alexandria as a centre of learning under the Ptolemies—The Christian theory of the relation of the Book of Revelation to the Book of Nature—The patristic conception of the visible creation as an image of the invisible world and a mirror of spiritual truth-Animals as religious emblems in Oriental, and especially in Buddhistic, literature—Mineralogical symbolism—Magical and medical properties and religious significance of precious stones-Legends of Solomon’s wisdom, and his method of building the Temple—Ceremony of blessing jewels— Speculations of Justinus Kerner and Schubert concerning the occult affinities of the mineral kingdom to man—The typology of precious stones according to the Physiologus—Spiritual meaning of the diamond, the pearl, and the Indian stone—Terrobuli in Christian symbolism and architecture ..........p. 18 CHAPTER II: ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE ‘PHYSIOLOGUS’ Plastic and pictorial representations of animals in Christian art-Literary sources of these representations—Clavis of [vi] St. Melito—Epistle of Barnabas—The Physiologus compiled by an Alexandrian Greek—The Hexahemera of the Fathers—Adam as the author of a natural history— Popular character of the Physiologus—Origen as an exegetist—Roger Bacon’s views of the place of animals in Scripture—Expositions and amplifications of the Physiologus by Epiphanius, St. Isidore, Petrus Damiani, and others—Anastasius Sinaita’s Anagogical Contemplations—Latin poem on beasts and their mystical meaning by Theobald of Plaisance, and the English paraphrase—The Physiologus translated into Latin, Ethiopic, Arabic, Armenian, Syriac, Anglo-Saxon, Icelandic, and all the principal modem languages of Europe—Brief descriptions of these versions—Prudentius’ poems Hamartigenia and Psychomachia—The phoenix a symbol of solar worship used to illustrate the Christian doctrine of the Resurrection—French bestiaries: Philippe de Thaun’s Le Livre des Creatures, Peter of Picardy’s prose version of the Physiologus, and Le Bestiaire Divin of William, a priest of Normandy— Encyclopædias of natural history based on the Physiologus: Thomas de Cantimpré’s Liber de Naturis Rerum, the Speculum Naturale of Vincent de Beauvais, Liber de Proprietatibus Rerum of Bartholomæus Anglicus, Hortus Deliciarum of Herrade de Landsberg, and other compilations—The church edifice an emblem of the human soul—Symbolism of the raven and the dove—Albertus Magnus’ criticism of the Physiologus .................................................................................................p. 32 CHAPTER III: THE ‘PHYSIOLOGUS’ IN ART AND LITERATURE The three characteristics of the lion—Representations of the lion as a symbol of the Resurrection in architecture Beasts often have a twofold signification—The lion and bear as types of Satan— Diabolification of the dog [vii]—Strange misconception of the canine character—Lions as pedestals— Metaphorical use of the lion in poetry—The lizard in architecture—Artistic delineations of the unicorn as a type of Christ’s Incarnation—Auricular conception of Christ as the Logos—Supposed anti-toxical virtue of the unicorn’s horn and that of the African viper—The unicorn in legend and poetry— Characteristics of the elephant—Symbol of the fall of man—Julius Cæsar’s queer account of the elk— Elephants embroidered on chasubles—Four characteristics of the serpent—Artistic and poetic uses of its fabled attributes—The eagle as a symbol of spiritual aspiration and baptismal regeneration— Allusions to it by Dante and other poets—The fish in sacred iconology—Significance of the whale in ecclesiastical architecture—Symbolism of the remora and serra—Importance of the phœnix and the pelican as emblems of Christian doctrine—Their prominent place in Church architecture—Import of the fabulous exploits of the otter and the ichneumon—Panther and dragon typical of Christ and Belial— 4 Healing power of the “heavenly panther”—Lesson of self-renunciation taught by the beaver— Characteristic of the hyena—Symbolism of the salamander—The partridge a type of the devil— Examples of the charadrius in art—Mystical meaning of the crow, turtle-dove, ousel, merl, fulica, and hoopoe—Curious statement of Luther concerning swallows—Why God feeds the young ravens— Peculiarities of the wolf—The Physiologus condemned as heretical—Freely used by Gregory the Great in his scriptural exposition—Virtues and vices portrayed as women mounted on various animals— Disputatious scholastics satirized—Tetramorph—Gospel mills—The ark of the covenant as the triumphal chariot of the Cross—Cock and clergy—Origin of the basilisk and its significance—Its prominence in religious symbology and sacred architecture—Cautious scepticism of Albertus Magnus—The Physiologus from a psychological point of view, as illustrating the credulity of the [viii] Fathers of the Church—Why “the hart panteth after the water-brooks”—Story of the antelope— Barnacle geese—”Credo quia absurdum”—Modern counterparts of early Christian apologists and exegetists.............................................................................................................................................p. 45 CHAPTER IV: SYMBOLISM SUPERSEDED BY SATIRE Excess of animal symbolism in sacred edifices of the eleventh and twelfth centuries—Earnest but fruitless protest of St. Bernard—Image-worship authorized and enjoined by the Council held at Nice in 787—Images not to be inventions of artists, but to be fashioned according to ecclesiastical traditions and ecclesiological prescriptions—Views of St. Nilus—Paintings and sculptures for the instruction of the ignorant—Gautier de Coinsi renews the

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