FOOTNOTES:

Fig. 405.—The Christian professor on his death-bed—the priest is exhorting him; his disciples are praying for him; his wife is holding a flaming torch over his head in token of the resurrection. The dying man contemplates the image of Christ on the Cross, who died for the sins of mankind; the Holy Virgin, holding the Infant Jesus in her arms, implores pardon for the sinner, while evil spirits are searching in the professor’s works for some heresy which may ensure his damnation. Death is there.—Fac-simile of a Wood Engraving in the “Cogitatione della Morte,” by J. Savonarola; the Florence edition, in 4to (date unknown).

In former times, the kings of the third dynasty were present at the funerals even of their relations or friends. Joinville states that the bodies of several nobles who had been massacred in prison by the Saracens were given up to King Louis IX., who had them buried in the Church of St. John of Acre. Amongst the slain was Gautier de Brienne, whose cousin, Madame de Secte, discharged all the funeral expenses, while every knight who was present at the ceremony gave as an offering a taper and a silver denier. “The king,” says Du Tillet, “was present, and contributed a taper and a besant, which he took from the lady’s purse, out of his exceedinggraciousness, for kings on funeral occasions always contributed money of their own, and not that of those who invited them.” Charles V. was present at the funeral of Jean de la Rivière, his chamberlain, in the Church of the Val des Ecoliers, Paris. Edward III. of England honoured with his presence the funeral of G. Mauny, a knight of Hainault, buried in the Carthusian monastery of London. After the sixteenth century, the sovereign merely went to sprinkle the body with holy water, but did not assist at the obsequies of great officers of his household, or of members of his family.

Funeral rites gave rise to a host of interesting and peculiar customs, which a want of space prevents us from enumerating and describing. Thus, in the southern provinces of France, it was the usage in former days to carry the dead to the place of burial upon their state-beds, which became the property of the officiating priest as a remuneration for his services.

In Paris, down to the reign of Louis XIV., it was the custom, when any personage of note died, for the “crier of the dead,” dressed in black, to go through the streets, ringing a bell and crying out, “Pray God for the dead!” This usage still exists in certain districts. Another custom, altogether of ecclesiastical origin, was that of inscribing the names of the dead upon placards, and so commending them to the prayers of the worshippers in the monasteries and churches. Upon some of these “rolls of the dead” (Fig. 407), composed of several sheets of parchment sewn together, new names were added to the old, and the good works of the deceased recorded thereon. These were the perpetual rolls. Orderic Vital, in his “Ecclesiastical History,” speaks of a long roll in the Monastery of St. Evroul, upon which were inscribed the names of monks, and of their fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters. This roll was laid upon the altar for the whole year, and only unfolded on the Jour des Morts (All Souls’ Day).

These annual rolls were sent each year from one religious house to another, to announce the names of those monks belonging to the same order who had died during the year. A separate roll was forwarded on the death of each monk, in order to obtain on his behalf the prayers of his brethren in Christ. A copy of the document was taken for each community, or perhaps the same was made to serve for all the abbeys in the diocese. The style was simple or pompous, according to the rank and position of the deceased.

Fig. 406.—Jesus Christ descending into Hell, carrying with him the victorious Standard of the Cross and trampling under foot the spirit of Evil; the wall of separation reared by sin falls to the ground, and the saints of the Old Testament are set free.—Fresco by Simone di Martino, in the Church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence (Fourteenth Century). (For description, see text, p.501.)

Fig. 407.—Mortuary Roll of the blessed Vital, founder of the Abbey of Savigny (in the diocese of Avranches), who died on the 16th of September, 1122; it measures twenty-nine feet nine inches in length by eight and a half inches in breadth. One of the words in this roll commences with a capital T, representing Death in the act of devouring men and animals, while he treads under foot the Cerberus of the pagans.—National Archives of France.

With respect to the corporations and brotherhoods, the usages varied in every district and in every town. Thus, for instance, when a member ofthe community of criers died, in Paris, all the others were present at his funeral in the dress of their order, the body being borne by four of his colleagues. Two others followed the coffin, one having a handsome goblet (hanap), the other a jar filled with wine. The remainder of the company walked in front, with little bells in their hands which they kept ringing as they went along. When they came to a cross-road the procession halted, and the coffin was placed upon trestles. The crier who carried the goblet held it out to be filled by the one who had the wine, and each of the four bearerstook a draught. Any looker-on, or any one who happened to be passing, was asked to share in the libation. The obsequies of the ecclesiastical body have alone preserved down to our own day a remnant of the religious pomp with which they were conducted in the Middle Ages.

To form a correct idea of the pomp of these funeral rites, and of the strange fascination which caused to be maintained, in the heart of a city, cemeteries in which whole generations of the dead lay buried together, we must divest ourselves of the positivism of the present day, and revert to the poetic spiritualism of the Middle Ages, to the consoling mysticism which then prevailed. Faith at that time reigned supreme over men’s minds, and three articles of the Apostles’ Creed, “Christ died and was buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead,” diffused over the mystery of death an ineffable splendour.

Dante, theologian as well as poet, divides hell into successive zones, with the degree of punishment increasing in intensity as the circles become narrower. In the first he places “Limbo,” a happy resting-place for the good who have not been baptized. Virgil, his guide, tells him: “I had not long been here when I saw a mighty Being, crowned with all the tokens of victory, come down amongst us. He took back with him to the realms of bliss our first parent; Abel, his son; Noah; Moses, the faithful lawgiver; the patriarch Abraham; King David; Israel, his father and his children; Rachel, for whom Israel made so many sacrifices, and many others. And you must know that before them no man had been saved.”[14]

This imaginative idea was very much in accordance with the popular doctrine of the Middle Ages, based upon the teaching of the Church. Hell, or the infernal regions, was divided into four parts; the deepest, the abode of the damned; above that, Limbo, in which unbaptized children found a peaceful resting-place; the third region was Purgatory, or the place of expiation for the souls which, after having been purified by temporary punishment, are destined for Heaven; lastly, and nearest to the surface, came the Limbo of the elect, the temporary abode of the pious dead, from Abel to Christ. In this latter there was supposed to be no other punishment than that of expectant captivity. It was thither that the Redeemer descended, while his body was at rest beneath the stone of the sepulchre, awaiting the moment of His resurrection. The gracious Saviour hastened to gladden these belovedspirits with the news that his blood had washed out upon the cross the decree that had so long hung upon the children of Abraham, and that they would soon be permitted to follow Him to the skies, and at last enter into the heavenly Jerusalem.

The reader has before him the graceful composition in which the painter has transferred to canvas (Fig. 406) the poem attributed to Venancius Fortunatus, the Christian poet of the seventh century. The wall of separation reared by sin falls to the ground at the approach of the Saviour; the very doors which had held the elect captive serve as a bridge for them to cross the abyss, and the spirit of evil, trodden under foot by Jesus Christ, is convulsed with frenzy as he clutches in his grasp the once fatal but now useless key. The father of the human race rushes forward with respectful eagerness towards the new Adam, who bears the victorious standard of the cross; joy, love, and gratitude animate the majestic group of elect, amongst whom are to be distinguished Eve and St. Joseph upon their knees; while Abel, Noah, Moses, Aaron, David, Judas Maccabæus, St. John the Baptist, and others, are to be recognised either by their emblems or by their garb.

In the gloomy region hard by, whence flames are shooting up, the infernal spirits are trembling with wonder and awe. A figure in the shadow of an embrasure opening into purgatory, depicts the consolation and the relief which Christ’s visit imparts to those souls whose purification is accomplished.

That which the painter here typifies to the eye, the anniversary of Christ’s burial, in the last days of the Holy Week, was brought vividly to the Christian mind in each recurring year. When the long procession of the people and the clergy wended its way to the sepulchre as the resurrection morning drew nigh, a pious dialogue was exchanged between the chanters and the crowd. It was Fortunatus’ poem which furnished the faithful with the beautiful form in which they gave utterance to their sentiments of faith. Voices repeated:—

“O Christ! Thou art the salvation, the Creator, full of goodness, and the Redeemer of the world. Only-begotten Son of the Father, Author of the life of the world, Thou didst allow thyself to be buried; Thou hast trodden the pathway of death to give us the blessings of salvation.

“The gates of hell have fallen before their Master, and chaos has been seized with terror at the inrush of light.

“Deliver the imprisoned souls from the captivity of hell, and make to ascend on high all those who have gone down into the abyss.

“Thou snatchest from the dungeon of death a teeming host which, when set free, follows in the footsteps of its deliverer.

“O holy King! the radiant splendour of Thy triumph shines forth when the purified souls emerge from the sacred bath of purgatory. They, resplendent in their newly-acquired liberty, array themselves in robes of innocence, and the Shepherd contemplates with joy His flock, made white as snow.”

This divine triumph, which the artist has so vividly depicted, and of which the poet sings with such enthusiasm, was brought home to every Christian by the aid of the imagination under the guidance of faith. Nurtured in the doctrine of the Holy Scriptures, the people had got to be familiar with the wholesome teaching of St. Paul, when he so eloquently drew a comparison between the seed sown in the ground and the corruptible body of the Christian changed into the incorruptible. All men at that time steadfastly believed in the truth of those sublime words: “The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.”

These thoughts, which softened the sense of sorrow at death in the days of deep religious faith, have been beautifully expressed by the great painter of the Middle Ages, so fitly named Angelico. In his splendid picture, “The Last Judgment,” the grouping of the elect is achef-d’œuvreof Christian art. The green grass, the flowers springing up on all sides, bring before the mind the resurrection, and the elevated spiritualism of the faces which are depicted in this exquisite scene carries the imagination into an ideal world. Man, with the belief in a life to come, looked on death but as a sleep stealing over the traveller, wearied with his pilgrimage towards the heavenly country. The place of burial became theplace of sleep(which is the meaning of the wordcemetery). The corruption of the tomb was rendered poetical by comparing it to the corruption of the seed, which decomposed only to be quickened and to develop into a verdant stem, branching out into sweet-scented and graceful flowers. The fear of yielding to the lusts of the flesh drove the faithful into the extreme rigour of penance, but, when death had dispelled all danger, the body became an object of pious worship: it was encompassed with floods of light and clouds of incense before being committed to the earth, which had been blessed and consecrated to make it a fitting receptacle for so precious a deposit—for faith saw in imagination the splendour with which it would one day be clothed; and, to help the imagination, art placed before the gaze the ineffable visions of the Apocalypse.

Fragment of Angelico's picture,the Day of Judgement, XVthcentury. Florence, Academy of Fine-Arts.

Van Eyck has allegorically treated this great subject of the Resurrection (Fig. 408), with as much approach to what the Church believes to be the truth, and perhaps as artistically, as the painter of Fiesole. Amidst a landscape flooded with light, bright with verdure and flowers, the Mystic Lamb, standing upon an altar and shedding his exhaustless blood into the chalice, is being greeted with homage and hymns of praise by the celestial host. Upon the front of the altar is the inscription, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (Ecce Agnus Dei, qui tollet peccata mundi). Around the altar, angels form a circle; two of them are scattering incense over the Lamb, while twelve others, six on each side, are bearing the instruments of the passion, and singing the praises of the Divine Victim. In front of the altar, in the foreground, bubbles up a fountain, which, in the language of the Apocalypse, is thus described, “The Lamb shall be their shepherd, He shall lead them to fountains of living water, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” M. Alfred Michiels, in his “Histoire de la Peinture Flamande,” declares that “no allegory has ever been painted with greater skill.”

Four groups of worshippers are artistically represented amidst verdure and flowers. Above, on the left side, the holy martyrs are plainly recognised by the palms in their hands; and foremost amongst these stand the popes, nearly all of whom, in the early ages, sealed with their blood their testimony to the divinity of the Lamb. Opposite to them are the countless virgins who have claimed to be admitted to the mystic marriage; and below them stand a host of nuns, popes, and bishops adoring the Celestial Victim, and celebrating His praises. Upon the other side of the fountain is the not less numerous phalanx of Old Testament prophets, kings, and illustrious men, whose presence completes the harmonious whole of this admirable composition. The two figures standing out in the midst of this group are supposed by many critics to represent Virgil and Dante. The white robe, the laurel crown, and the bough with the golden apples seem, in fact, to point pretty clearly to Dante’s guide in purgatory; but it is difficult to believe that a painter, who is in other respects the model of pious orthodoxy, should be guilty of so gross a breach of propriety.

In the distant horizon, churches with their graceful towers and spires form a connecting link between heaven and earth. They seem to remind us that it is amidst the notes of sacred music and the splendours of religious worship, and, above all, by partaking of the mystic banquet of the Lambinvisible but yet present, that the soul, as it receives the earnest of the life to come, is enraptured with a prelusive glimpse of the celestial glories.

Fig. 409.—Christ, risen from the dead, bearing in one hand the Palm of Martyrdom, and in the other the victorious Standard of the Cross.—From a Fresco painted by Fra Angelico, in the Monastery of St. Mark, Florence (Fifteenth Century).

The dominant idea in this Flemish masterpiece is but the expression of those mysterious words which connect the thought of the grave with the vision of eternal bliss: “Christ is the first-born from the dead.” He is our elder brother in that new life where the bitterness of mourning and the sorrow of separation are unknown. At the archangel’s voice, at the blast of the trumpet, the dead bodies of those whom we have loved shall rise radiant from the earth, within whose bosom they laid in calm repose, awaiting the morning of the resurrection. They shall appear, having put on glory and immortality, conformed to the divine image of Christ their divine brother, their Risen Lord.

PRINTED BY VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED, CITY ROAD, LONDON.

FOOTNOTES:[1]“Neither the bishop nor the emperor can impose upon me any tax or tribute, nor have they the power to call out the militia, except for the protection and defence of the town, and then only from cockcrow to nightfall.”[2]“Arrivez, ou je vous brûlerai!”[3]“Dressed like ragamuffins, with puffed trunk hose; some going barelegged with their stockings hanging to their girdle; singing as they trudge along to lighten the toil of the road.”[4]Large-sided.[5]Poop Guard.[6]The principal galley of the squadron.[7]“God wills it.”[8]Much glory.[9]“It happened that the king was seized with a serious illness, and was brought so low that one of the ladies who was tending him, thinking that he was dead, wished to cover his face with a cloth; while at the other side of his bed was another lady who would not permit it. But it fell out that the Lord worked within him and restored him his speech, so that the good king asked for the cross to be brought to him, which was done. And when the good lady, his mother, learned that he had recovered his speech, she was overcome with joy, but when she saw that he had assumed the cross, she was as much grieved as if she had seen him a corpse.”[10]The investiture of knighthood.[11]This was the night-watch kept over his armour by the candidate for admission to the order of knighthood.[12]“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to thy name ascribe the glory.”[13]Bossuet’s “Histoire Universelle,” p. 101, Firmin-Didot edition.[14]From Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” p. 15 in the French translation by Artaud de Montor.

[1]“Neither the bishop nor the emperor can impose upon me any tax or tribute, nor have they the power to call out the militia, except for the protection and defence of the town, and then only from cockcrow to nightfall.”

[2]“Arrivez, ou je vous brûlerai!”

[3]“Dressed like ragamuffins, with puffed trunk hose; some going barelegged with their stockings hanging to their girdle; singing as they trudge along to lighten the toil of the road.”

[4]Large-sided.

[5]Poop Guard.

[6]The principal galley of the squadron.

[7]“God wills it.”

[8]Much glory.

[9]“It happened that the king was seized with a serious illness, and was brought so low that one of the ladies who was tending him, thinking that he was dead, wished to cover his face with a cloth; while at the other side of his bed was another lady who would not permit it. But it fell out that the Lord worked within him and restored him his speech, so that the good king asked for the cross to be brought to him, which was done. And when the good lady, his mother, learned that he had recovered his speech, she was overcome with joy, but when she saw that he had assumed the cross, she was as much grieved as if she had seen him a corpse.”

[10]The investiture of knighthood.

[11]This was the night-watch kept over his armour by the candidate for admission to the order of knighthood.

[12]“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to thy name ascribe the glory.”

[13]Bossuet’s “Histoire Universelle,” p. 101, Firmin-Didot edition.

[14]From Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” p. 15 in the French translation by Artaud de Montor.

Transcriber’s Notes:1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been corrected silently.2. Where hyphenation is in doubt, it has been retained as in the original.3. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have been retained as in the original.

4. In the Table of Illustrations, the page number for "Adoration of the Lamb" has been changed to "Frontispiece" and the image for "The Judgment Day" has been added under "J".

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