The Image of St Francis: Responses to Sainthood in the Thirteenth Century Rosalind B

Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-78291-3 - The Image of St Francis: Responses to Sainthood in the Thirteenth Century Rosalind B. Brooke Frontmatter More information

THE IMAGE OF ST FRANCIS

An important new study of the way in which St Francis’ image was recorded in literature, documents, architecture and art. St Francis was a man whose personality was deliberately stamped on his Order and Rosalind Brooke explores how the stories told by Francis’ companions were at once brilliantly vivid portrayals of the man as well as guides to how the Franciscan way of life ought to be led. She also examines how after St Francis’ death a great monument was erected to him in the Basilica at Assisi and how this came to reﬂect in stone and stained glass and fresco the manner in which some popes and leading friars believed his memory should be fostered. Highly illustrated throughout, including colour and black and white plates, this book will be essential reading for medievalists and art historians as well as anyone interested in St Francis and the Franciscan movement.

rosalind b. brooke is a Senior Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge. Throughout her academic career she has lectured and taught at various universities including University College London and Cambridge University. Her publications include The Coming of the Friars (1975) and Popular Religion in the Middle Ages (with C. N. L. Brooke, 1984).

© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-78291-3 - The Image of St Francis: Responses to Sainthood in the Thirteenth Century Rosalind B. Brooke Frontmatter More information

Frontispiece: Cimabue, St Francis, Basilica of St Francis, Lower Church, detail of fresco of Madonna and child with St Francis – see p. 304 (C www.Assisi.de. Photo Stefan Diller).

THE IMAGE OF ST FRANCIS

RESPONSES TO SAINTHOOD IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY

ROSALIND B. BROOKE

cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, S˜ao Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb22ru,UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521782913

C Rosalind B. Brooke 2006

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First published 2006

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CONTENTS

List of plates page viii List of figures xii Preface xiii List of abbreviations xv

1 introduction 1 The soft wax 1 The image 3 Dawn? 6

2 the image in life 13 The image Francis sought to present 13 The impression Francis made on contemporaries 19

3 the image after death 31 The early ofﬁcial image in writing 31 Elias’ letter 33 The papal bull of canonisation 36 Thomas of Celano’s First Life of St Francis 39 4 the official image in stone: the basilica of st francis at assisi 51 The creation of the Basilica 51 The achievement of brother Elias 51 Progress of the building and its date 56 Furnishing the Basilica 62 The inspiration of the Basilica 64 Gregory IX 65 Innocent IV 66

contents

Sources of inspiration 68 The functions of the double church 70 Conclusion – the image 73

5 the authority of st francis: expositions of the rule 77 The Exposition of the Four Masters 78 Hugh of Digne 81 The bull Ordinem vestrum 86 The sources and characteristics of Hugh’s Exposition of the Rule 91 The bull Exiit qui seminat 96 6 reminiscences: the convergence of unofficial and official images in writing 102 The writings of Leo, Ruﬁno and Angelo 104 The image of St Francis as presented by Leo, Ruﬁno and Angelo 117 The Anonymous of Perugia 127 Thomas of Celano’s Second Life of St Francis 138 The Legend of the Three Companions 147 The sources of the Legend of the Three Companions and its date 147 The image of St Francis presented by the Legend of the Three Companions 149 The Sacrum Commercium 157

7 visual images 160 The Pescia altar panel 168 The Pisa altar panel 172 The Assisi altar panel 173 The Bardi altar panel 176 Matthew Paris 192 Kalenderhane Camii 202

8 the official image in speech and writing 218 Sermons 218 St Bonaventure 231 The Legenda Maior of St Bonaventure 242 The Miracles of St Francis 269 9 the official visual image: the decoration of the basilica 280 Introduction 280 The decoration of the Lower Church 281 Cimabue: Virgin and child enthroned with angels and St Francis 302 The decoration of the Upper Church 304 The stained glass windows in the Upper Church 307 The decoration of apse and transepts 332 The north transept 332

contents

Cimabue 342 The four Evangelists 344 The decoration of the sanctuary walls 353 The decoration of the nave of the Upper Church 365 The St Francis Cycle 378 Dating the decoration of the nave 415 Nicholas IV 439

10 the rediscovery of st francis’ body 454 Excavations 454 Reconstruction of St Francis’ interment 464

11 angela of foligno’s image of st francis 472

Bibliography 489 Index 507

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PLATES

colour plates

The colour plate section is between pages 304 and 305. frontispiece Cimabue, St Francis, Basilica of St Francis, Lower Church, detail of fresco of Madonna and child with St Francis 1 Monstrance reliquary of St Francis, Paris, Louvre, reverse 2 Christ, Adam, St Francis and a dragon in the initial I of Genesis, Assisi, Biblioteca Conventuale-Comunale, MS 17 fo. 5v 3 Assisi altar panel, Basilica, Museo-Tesoro 4 Assisi altar panel, detail showing the Lower Church altar 5 The Basilica of St Francis, Assisi, view of the interior of the Upper Church from the apse 6 Deposition from the cross, by the Master of St Francis, from the double-sided altarpiece, S. Francesco in Prato, Perugia, now in the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria, Perugia 7 Innocent III’s dream of St Francis supporting the Lateran Basilica, Cycle no. 6 8 Guccio di Mannaia, Chalice, given to the Basilica by Nicholas IV: Basilica, Museo-Tesoro

black and white plates

1 Assisi, Cathedral of San Ruﬁno, one of the lions outside the west door page 5 2 The Carceri above Assisi: the cell traditionally ascribed to brother Leo 6 3 The cruciﬁx from San Damiano, now in Santa Chiara, Assisi 7 4 Assisi from the south-east 21 5 Assisi, the Piazza del Comune with the Temple of Minerva 23 6 The Basilica of St Francis at Assisi: the Lower and Upper Churches from the south-east 52

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list of plates

7 The Basilica of St Francis: the Upper Church from the east 52 8 Bull of Pope Gregory IX dated 29 April 1228 granting an indulgence to those subscribing to the Basilica: Assisi, Archivio del Sacro Convento 54 9 A view of the Basilica from above 56 10 The apse of the Basilica, seen from the fifteenth-century cloister 58 11 Assisi, Cathedral of San Rufino, west front 75 12 The blessing of brother Leo by St Francis: Assisi, Basilica, Capella delle reliquie 110 13 Mont Saint-Michel, the cloister, early thirteenth century: Christ crucified and Christ enthroned 162 14 St Francis, Subiaco, fresco of 1228–9 163 15 The Pescia altar panel 170 16 The high altar in the Lower Church 175 17 The Bardi altar panel, Florence, Santa Croce 177 18 St Catherine icon, from the Monastery of St Catherine, Mount Sinai 178 19 Four scenes from the Bardi altar panel illustrating St Francis’ concern for lambs, the stigmata and St Francis doing public penance 180 20 Matthew Paris: St Francis preaching to the birds, Chronica Maiora, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 16, fo. 70v (formerly 66v) 195 21 The Call to the Birds in Alexander of Bremen’s Apocalypse Commentary, Cambridge University Library MS Mm. v. 31, fo. 140r 197 22 Matthew Paris: St Francis’ vision of the seraph, showing the stigmata, Chronica Maiora, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 16, fo. 70v (formerly 66v) 199 23 Istanbul, Kalenderhane Camii, St Francis preaching to the birds, detail 210 24 Assisi, Basilica of St Francis, Lower Church nave, the Seraph of the Stigmata 282 25 Lower Church nave, Pope Innocent III’s dream 284 26 Pisa: duomo and campanile 286 27 Lower Church nave, Christ stripping himself before the crucifixion 290 28 Lower Church nave, Deposition from the cross 294 29 Lower Church nave, St Francis preaching to the birds 295 30 Lower Church nave, St Francis’ death, showing side wound: angels carry his soul to heaven 297 31 The St Francis panel at the Portiuncula 298 32 Cimabue, Virgin and child enthroned with angels and St Francis, Lower Church, east wall of the north transept 303 33 Upper Church, apse window vi, detail, a8 and b8: Elijah taken up into heaven, and the Ascension 312 34 Upper Church, left transept window ix 314 35 Upper Church, right transept window v 316 36 Upper Church, right transept window v, detail 318 37 Upper Church, nave window i, St Francis and St Anthony 324

list of plates

38 Stigmatisation of St Francis, detail of Upper Church nave window i, a9–10 327 39 Upper Church, nave window xiii, Christ and St Francis, Virgin and child 328 40 Upper Church: general view of the north transept 334 41 A head on an eastern corner of the vault in the north transept 336 42 North transept, east triforium passage: the fifth apostle from the left, next to St Peter 338 43 North transept, east triforium: second angel roundel from the left. 339 44 North transept, west triforium passage: first apostle from the left, St Paul 340 45 North transept, west triforium 341 46 North transept, east triforium 341 47 Cimabue: Upper Church, crossing vault: the Evangelists 345 48 Cimabue: Ytalia detail: the Senate with the SPQR and Orsini arms 347 49 Cimabue: crossing vault detail, Ytalia 349 50 Upper Church, south transept, west triforium 354 51 Upper Church, the papal throne in the centre of the apse 360 52 Cimabue, Assumption of the Virgin, Upper Church apse 361 53 Upper Church nave, first bay, north wall, with Cycle nos. 1–3 368 54 The Nativity, second bay, south wall 373 55 St Clare grieving over St Francis’ dead body at San Damiano on its way to Assisi, Cycle no. 23 376 56 Apotheosis of St Francis, Upper Church nave, second bay, vault 379 57 Upper Church nave, second bay, north wall, with Cycle nos. 4–6 380 58 Upper Church nave, third bay, north wall, with Cycle nos. 7–9 384 59 Upper Church nave, first bay, south wall, with Cycle nos. 26–28 386 60 The Christmas crib, Cycle no. 13 390 61 Brother Sylvester at Arezzo and St Francis before the Sultan, Cycle nos. 10 and 11 394 62 St Francis in ecstasy, Cycle no. 12 396 63 St Francis preaching before Honorius III and the Chapter at Arles, Cycle nos. 17 and 18 398 64 St Francis receives the stigmata on La Verna, Cycle no. 19 402 65 The link between stigmatisation, crucifixion and St Francis’ death, south wall, with Cycle nos. 19 and 20 405 66 Cycle nos. 20–22, third bay, south wall 406 67 The verification of the stigmata, Cycle no. 22 409 68 The counter-façade, with Cycle nos. 14–15: the miracle of the spring and St Francis preaching to the birds 411 69 Torriti, preparatory design for the Creator 420 70 Isaac and Esau: third bay, north wall 423 71 Lower Church, St Nicholas chapel, entrance wall 429 72 Detail from the Coronation of the Virgin, Rome, Santa Maria Maggiore, apse mosaic: St Francis, St Paul, St Peter with Nicholas IV, signed ‘Jacopo Torriti painter’ 451

list of plates

73 The tomb of St Francis: the two gratings of the iron cage, photographed during the restoration of 1978 460 74 Perugia, Church of San Francesco, ancient sarcophagus reused for the tomb of brother Giles 465 75 The Visitation of the body of Santa Margherita of Cortona by Cardinal Napoleone Orsini 468 76 Cruciﬁx by an anonymous Umbrian master in San Francesco, Arezzo 477

FIGURES

1 Bologna, Plan of the Dominican Church page 71 2 Florence, Plan of Santa Maria Novella 72 3 Istanbul, Kalenderhane Camii, St Francis Chapel, reconstruction 206 4 St Francis frescoes: reconstruction of fragments 208 5 St Francis frescoes: diagram of programme 208 6 St Francis frescoes, scene 5: Preaching to the birds 209 7 St Francis frescoes, scene 3: a healing miracle 211 8 St Francis frescoes: scene 6 213 9 St Francis frescoes, scene 9, death of St Francis 214 10 Assisi, Basilica of St Francis, Upper Church: Plan of windows 307 11 Giovanni Acquaroni, engraving of the tomb of St Francis under the high altar of the Lower Church in the Basilica of St Francis at Assisi, based on the design of the architect B. Lorenzini, made during the excavations of 1818–19 459 12 Giovanni Acquaroni, engraving of the iron cage and the sarcophagus, 1819 463

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PREFACE

This book has been long in the making, and I owe many debts. Professor Paul Binski has given constant help and encouragement, and read all the chapters on art and architecture, which have greatly benefited from his advice and criticism. The Reverend Dr Michael Robson, OFM Conv., also has given constant help and encouragement and been most generous in loan of books, in bibliographical advice and in keeping me in touch with his confrères in Assisi. I have had much valued help from Professor Eamon Duffy, Professor Nigel Morgan, Professor André Vauchez, Professor David d’Avray – and many others. I owe a special debt to the Cambridge University Press, and especially to William Davies, Simon Whitmore and Michael Watson, my editors, to Alison Powell, Sinead Moloney and Sarah Parker, to my copy-editor Frances Brown, to the designer, Jackie Taylor – and to the anonymous readers of the first draft of this book. Over the years I have had much help in processing from Mrs Edna Pilmer and my husband,ChristopherBrooke–whohashimselfbeenaidedbytheresourcesofGonville and Caius College. For permission to quote extensively from my translation of The Writings of Leo, Rufino and Angelo, Companions of St Francis (Oxford Medieval Texts, corr. repr. 1990) I am grateful to Anne Gelling, the Rights Manager and the Delegates of Oxford University Press. In pursuit of illustrations Dr Michael Robson introduced me to P. Pasquale Magro and P.Gerhard Ruf of the Sacro Convento, Assisi, and Father Ruf introduced me to Herr Stefan Diller of Wurzburg.¨ To Stefan Diller I am indebted, as photographer and agent, for the greater part of my illustrations, which include many by Father Ruf. Both of them have generously taken photographs specially for me. Full details of photographers and copyrights are given in the captions, and it is a pleasure to record here the kind and ready help I have had from Stefan Diller, Gerhard Ruf and Pasquale Magro. Professor Lee Striker provided Plate 23 and Figures 3–9. I have treasured memo- ries of our discussions in the hospitable environment of his home in Philadelphia. Dr Joanna Cannon lent me a print of Plate 75 – and both also generously gave me permission to publish them. Professor Paul Binski lent me the prints for Plates 40–46, and

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preface

Dr Grazia Visintainer and the Istituto Germanico di Storia dell’Arte, Florence, gave me generous permission to use them. For other plates I am grateful to the Master and Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and to the Librarian, Dr Christopher de Hammel, and the Sub-Librarian, Mrs Gill Cannell; to the Syndics of the Cambridge University Library, and especially to Mr David Hall and Dr Patrick Zutshi; to the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, and Ms Barbara Furbush; to Mme Anne Lesage and her colleagues and the Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris; to Mrs G. M. Reynolds, the University of Michigan and the Michigan-Princeton-Alexandria Expedition to Mount Sinai; and to Signore Abbrescia Santinelli and Face2Face Studio, Rome. To all, my very warm thanks. I acknowledge innumerable debts to my research assistant, secretary, picture researcher, indexer and husband of fifty-four summers and winters, Christopher – whose unstinting help and exemplary impatience have shaped this book. I dedicate it to him.

cambridge 5 November 2005

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ABBREVIATIONS

Acta Sanctorum: Acta Sanctorum Bollandiana, Brussels, etc., 1643– AF: Analecta Franciscana, Quaracchi, 1885– AFH: Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, Quaracchi and Grottaferrata, 1908– AFP: Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum, 1931– ALKG: Archiv für Litteratur- und Kirchengeschichte, ed. H. Denifle and F. Ehrle, 7 vols., Berlin and Freiburg-im-Breisgau, 1885–1900 AP: L’Anonyme de Pérouse, ed. P.-B. Beguin, Paris, 1979 Assisi 1974: La “Questione Francescana” dal Sabatier ad oggi: Atti del I Convegno Internazionale, Assisi, 18–20 ottobre 1973, Società Internazionale di Studi Francescani, Assisi, 1974 Assisi 1978: Assisi al Tempo di San Francesco: Atti del V Convegno Internazionale, Assisi, 13–16 ottobre 1977, Società Internazionale di Studi Francescani, Assisi, 1978 Assisi 1980: Il Tesoro della Basilica di San Francesco ad Assisi, ed. R. B. Fanelli et al., Assisi, 1980 Assisi 1999: The Treasury of St Francis of Assisi, ed. G. Morello and L. B. Kanter, Milan, 1999 Bonav.: Bonaventure, Legenda Maior S. Francisci,inAF x, 555–652 Bonav., Miracula:inAF, x, 627–52 Bonaventure, Opera Omnia, 10 vols., Quaracchi, 1882–1902; and see Bougerol 1994, Delorme 1934 Cat. Générale IV: Catalogue Générale des Manuscrits des Bibliothèques Publiques de Départements, iv, Paris, 1872 1, 2, 3 Cel.: Thomas of Celano, Vita Prima, Vita Secunda and Tractatus de Miraculis S. Francisci Assisiensis, referred to by paragraphs in the Quaracchi editions, AF x (1926–41), 1–331 Chron. 24 Gen.:‘Chronicle of the Twenty-Four Generals’ in AF iii (1897) Clare 1985: Claire d’Assise, Ecrits´ , ed. M.-F. Becker, J.-F. Godet and T. Matura, Sources Chrétiennes 325, Paris, 1985 DBI: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Rome, 1960– Eccleston: Fratris Thomae vulgo dicti de Eccleston Tractatus de adventu fratrum minorum in Angliam, ed. A. G. Little, 2nd edn, Manchester, 1951

list of abbreviations

Firmamenta:FirmamentatriumordinumbeatissimiPatrisnostriFrancisci,Paris,1511–12:Hugh of Digne’s Expositio Regulae and Disputatio are in this edition in quarta pars, 1511 Jordan: Chronica fratris Jordani, ed. H. Boehmer, Paris, 1908 Julian, Julian of Speyer: Fr. Julianus de Spira, Vita S. Francisci,inAF x, 335–71 Liber Extra, X: ‘Decretalium Gregorii pp. IX compilatio’, in Corpus Iuris Canonici, ed. E. Friedberg, ii, Leipzig, 1881 MGH: Monumenta Germaniae Historica Misc. Fr.: Miscellanea Francescana MOPH: Monumenta Ordinis Praedicatorum Historica Narb.: Constitutions of Narbonne, in M. Bihl, ‘Statuta Generalia Ordinis, edita in capitulis generalibus celebratis Narbonae an. 1260, Assisii an. 1279, atque Parisiis an. 1292’, AFH 34 (1941), 13–94, 284–358 ODCC: The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd edn, ed. F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone, Oxford, 1997 OMT: Oxford Medieval Texts Ov, Ordinem vestrum: the bull is cited from Eubel 1908, pp. 238–9 PL: Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina, ed. J. P. Migne, 221 vols., Paris, 1844–64 Potthast: Potthast, A., ed., Regesta pontificum Romanorum A.D. 1198–1304, 2 vols., Berlin, 1874–5 Qe, Quo elongati: see H. Grundmann, ‘Die Bulle “Quo elongati” Papst Gregors IX’, AFH 54 (1961), 3–25 RS: Rolls Series Salimbene, H and S Salimbene de Adam, Cronica, ed. O. Holder-Egger, MGH Scriptores xxxii, 1905–13 (H); ed. G. Scalia, 2 vols., Scrittori d’Italia 232–3, Bari, 1966 (S) Sbaralea: Sbaralea, J. H., ed., Bullarium Franciscanum, 4 vols., Rome, 1759–68: referred to by p. and no. – g9 = Gregory IX, i4 = Innocent IV, n3 = Nicholas III, n4 = Nicholas IV, b8 = Boniface VIII; and by no. in Eubel 1908 SL: Scripta Leonis, Rufini et Angeli sociorum S. Francisci: The Writings of Leo, Rufino and Angelo, Companions of St Francis, ed. and trans. R. B. Brooke, OMT, Oxford, 1970, corr. repr. 1990 3 Soc.: Legenda Trium Sociorum, ed. T. Desbonnets, AFH 67 (1974), 38–144 Sp S: Speculum Perfectionis, ed. P. Sabatier, 2nd edn, British Society of Franciscan Studies, 13, 17, Manchester, 1928–31 Treasury: see Assisi 1999 X: see Liber Extra

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