THE ICONOGRAPHY OF THE FELIX CULPA

Victor Y. Haines

It is still some hours before dawn.

In the dark church the con The

gregation assembles for the crowning moment of the Christian year. Easter liturgy of the mediaeval Church is beginning.

In the churchyard

outside a small group looks on as fire is struck from a flint to light a flame. At the church door the priests take up their place to receive

the new flame, which is blessed in remembrance of the pillar of fire that led Moses out of Egypt, of the light of the world, and of the eter nal glory of heaven. The flame is used to ignite the paschal candle, The light from

which moves to the front of the church in procession.

this candle breaks the darkness like the new light from the risen Christ. The deacon begins to chant the Exultet: . ." "Exultet iam angelica turba. .

In the hymn he proclaims this night as the night our fathers were This is the night the pillar of fire dispelled the This is the night in which Christians, separated from This holy night dispels all

led out of Egypt. darkness of sin.

the murk of sin, are restored to grace. evil.

Let this Easter candle mingle with the lights of heaven to dis At the climax of the hymn, in the midst

pel the darkness of this night.

of such exalted paradoxes he exclaims: 0 certe necessarium Adae peccatum, quod Christi morte deletum est! 0 felix culpa, quae talem ac tantum meruit habere

Redemptorem.''*' T h i s is the l i t u r g i c a l s o u r c e f o r the d o c t r i n e o f the felix oulpa as it is s t i l l c e l e b r a t e d i n the C a t h o l i c C h u r c h , a l t h o u g h the L a t i n h a s b e e n replaced by the vernacular. T h i s teac h i n g , liturgy, i l l u s t r a t e d i n the i m a g e s a n d t e x t o f t h e E a s t e r

grows out of a c o m p l e x tradition w h i c h was w i dely r e presented Its r e p r e s e n t a t i o n in

in the l i t e r a t u r e a n d a r t o f t h e M i d d l e A ges.

l i t e r a t u r e h a s b e e n e x a m i n e d b y A r t h u r 0. L o v e j o y i n h i s s e m i n a l e s s a y " M i l t o n a n d the P a r a d o x o f t h e F o r t u n a t e F a l l , " b u t its r e p r e s e n t a t i o n i n t h e v i s u a l a r t s s e e m s to h a v e b e e n o v e r l o o k e d . That such a w i d e

s p r e a d d o c t r i n e s h o u l d h a v e b e e n l a r g e l y i g n o r e d a f t e r the R e n a i s s a n c e a n d r e c a l l e d a l m o s t as a s u r p r i s e b y L o v e j o y

i n the t w e n t i e t h c e n t u r y

is a n i n d i c a t i o n to t h e a r t h i s t o r i a n , as w e l l as the l i t e r a r y c r i tic, that the t r a d i t i o n m a y b e a n u n r e c o g n i z e d b a c k g r o u n d a n d s i g n i f i c a n c e o f c e r t a i n m e d i a e v a l w o r k s d e a l i n g w i t h t h e F a l l o f Man. Since an un

d e r s t a n d i n g o f the i c o n o g r a p h y o f t h e felix oulpa in the v i s u a l arts c a n n o t b e d i v o r c e d f r o m a s t u d y o f i m a g e s u s e d to p o r t r a y i t i n l i t e r a ture, i n this e s s a y I s h a l l r e v i e w the c o n c e p t as it is r e p r e s e n t e d in both. A n u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h e felix oulpa, a s d i s t i n c t f r o m the m e r e F a l l o f Man, m a y b e s e e n to g r o w o u t o f a b a s i c c o n c e p t of the w h o l e J u d a e o C h r i s t i a n t r a d i t i o n f r o m i t s o r i g i n s in the E x o dus. f r o m e x i l e w i t h o u t h a v i n g b e e n i n e x ile; o u r s l a v e r y i n Egypt. One cannot return

there could be no Exodus with-

I do not k n o w of any case in which a rabbi has On the

g o n e to t h e l o g i c a l e x t r e m e a n d e x c l a i m e d "0 f o r t u n a t e b o n d a g e ! " t h e f e a s t o f P a s s o v e r , h o w e v e r , w h e n the matzahs a r e u n c o v e r e d ,

Sedev p l a t e is l i f t e d , a n d all p r e s e n t say:

T h i s is the b r e a d o f a f f l i c t i o n w h i c h o u r a n c e s t o r s a t e in the l a n d of E g ypt. L e t a l l w h o a r e h u n g r y come a n d eat. Let

w e are here:

a l l w h o a r e in n e e d c o m e a n d c e l e b r a t e P a s s o v e r . 3 n e x t year, i n t h e l a n d o f Israel!

This y e a r

The b r e a d of afflic t i o n has b e come the centre of a joyous feast and c e l e b r a t i o n , w h i c h e v e n n e x t y e a r i n the l a n d o f I s r a e l w i l l p r e s u m a b l y

be celebrated. our salvation.

The very centre of our affliction becomes the means of The maror or bitter herb, eaten in memory of bitter

slavery also becomes necessary for the joyous feast and may be assoc iated with the water the Israelites had to drink when they left Egypt the bitter spring at Marah which Moses sweetened by immersing a tree Legend identifies that tree as the bitter laurel, providing for

in it.

a tradition of commentary that God employs the same means in curing pain as in inflicting it.

Legends identifying the forbidden fruit in

Eden as the grape permit, moreover, an association for the wine with the joyous wine of paradise and certain rabbinic commentary that the fruit which brought sin into the world will become a healing in the world to come.* Without the bread of affliction, the maror, and even

the wine, there could be no feast which looks to Israel in remembrance of salvation from bondage a bondage which may be associated with Joseph's bones are finally

guilt even beyond legends of the grape.

brought out of Egypt as a reminder, perhaps, that he too had been sent there in slavery by his own brothers, who subsequently found it neces sary to go to Egypt where they had to beg his forgiveness. The Hebrew

tradition that exile is associated with God's judgement means that the Christian development of the doctrine of the felix culpa is fairly co herent with Hebrew tradition. In the joy of returning from exile one
/

cannot logically wish that one had never gone into exile for then it would be impossible to have that very joy of returning. In the Genesis account of mankind's exile from Eden, reference is made to a similar idea in the curse on the serpent. spring will bruise the serpent's head. The woman's off

The account, written in exilic

or post-exilic times, alludes at this point to the Messiah, who would defeat the forces of evil and return God's people to peace in their homeland. toration. Out of defeat and exile comes the hope of victory and res The Fall of Adam makes possible the coming of the Messiah Thus, in the Genesis account itself is the seed of

and his salvation.

Man's Fortunate Fall. Jesus himself is not recorded as having said anything about Adam or the felix eulpa. As a man who never had any sin to confess, he em

phasized the demons of temptation rather than the Fall as the way to

u n d e r s t a n d evil. Man,

H e w a s n o t p r e p a r e d to s a y t h a t man, o r t h e S o n o f

is i n e v i t a b l y a s i n n e r , a n d o n e m a y a s s e r t t h a t it w a s i n d e e d

p o s s i b l e f o r J e s u s to a c h i e v e f r e e d o m f r o m a l l sin, a t l e a s t i n s o f a r as a m a n m a y a c t w i t h o u t s h a r i n g i n th e si n s o f h i s so c i e t y . As a

p e r f e c t m a n f i n d i n g h i s w a y o u t o f the h i s t o r y o f h u m a n sin, h i s a w a r e n e s s o f t h e felix culpa w o u l d b e t h r o u g h hi s s h a r i n g G o d ' s w o r k i n it r a t h e r t h a n a s o n e of the R e d e e m e d , so that b y h i s o w n e x a m p l e a n d r e s u r r e c t i o n h e e v e n m a d e h i s o w n c r u c i f i x i o n fortunate. It w a s l e f t to P a u l o f T a r s u s i n the f i r s t c e n t u r y o f th e C h r i s t i a n E r a to d e v e l o p s p e c i a l ideas o f s i n a n d l a w in a w a y t h a t w o u l d f a v o u r a n e x p l i c i t u n d e r s t a n d i n g of t h e felix oulpa. If s i n is m a s t e r t h e n that

e v e r y w h e r e , P a u l s a i d w i t h c h a r a c t e r i s t i c l o y a l t y to J esus,

is f o r t u n a t e b e c a u s e " i n this w a y the p r o m i s e ca n o n l y b e g i v e n t h r o u g h f a i t h i n J e s u s C h r i s t a n d c a n o n l y b e g i v e n to t h o s e w h o h a v e this

faith"

(Gal.

3:22).

O b v i o u s l y , i n o r d e r to h a v e this p r o m i s e it w a s " W h e n l a w came, it w a s to m u l t i p l y the

necessary that sin be master.

o p p o r t u n i t i e s o f f a l l i n g , b u t h o w e v e r g r e a t the n u m b e r o f s i n s c o m m i t t e d , grace was even greater" (Rom. 5:20). Paul, of course, d o e s n o t m e a n that H e is c o n s i d e r i n g

w e a r e s a v e d b y t h i s g r a c e w h e t h e r w e l i k e it o r not.

s i n a f t e r t h e fact, s o t h a t o n l y r e t r o s p e c t i v e l y i n the l i g h t of a h o p e d f o r R e d e m p t i o n c a n it b e c o n s i d e r e d fortun a t e . to come, b u t t h e g i f t (Rom. 5:15). " A d a m p r e f i g u r e d the O n e

[Jesus] i t s e l f c o n s i d e r a b l y o u t w e i g h t e d the fall" We may

T h e p r e f i g u r e d O n e i m p l i e s a r e t r o s p e c t i v e view.

n o t c o n t e m p l a t e d o i n g e v i l b e f o r e h a n d i n o r d e r th a t it b e c o m e fortunate. " D o e s it f o l l o w t h a t w e s h o u l d r e m a i n i n s i n so as to let g r a c e h a v e g r e a t e r scopej Of course not" (Rom. 6:11). Fr o m a v i e w in eternity

G o d ' s i n t e n t i o n w i l l h a v e i n c l u d e d a l l e vents, b u t f r o m a v i e w w i t h i n t i m e G o d ' s m e r c y c a n o n l y m a k e s e n s e a f t e r h e h a s s o m e t h i n g to forgive. " G o d h a s i m p r i s o n e d a l l m e n i n t h e i r o w n d i s o b e d i e n c e o n l y to s h o w m e r cy to a l l m a n k i n d " w a n t e d m a n to sin; (Rom. 1 1:31). P a u l does n o t m e a n t h a t G o d i n i t i a l l y

the d i s o b e d i e n c e c a m e first a n d it is i m p o r t a n t to As w e

s e e t h a t r e d e m p t i o n is r e t r o s p e c t i v e a n d c a n n o t b e p l a n n e d on.

m a y s e e i n t h e s e f a m o u s c h a p t e r s o f R omans, P a u l ' s m e t h o d o f f o c u s i n g t h e i d e a s i n h e r e n t i n t h e d i a l e c t i c o f F a l l a n d R e d e m p t i o n is to co n t r a s t the f i r s t a n d s e c o n d Adam, a c o n t r a s t w h i c h h e r e p e a t s i n I Cor.

15:45-49.

Such contrasts were to become characteristic of Christian

hermeneutics. From the second century on, elements from the Fall were frequently contrasted with elements from the Redemption. In the second century

Justin Martyr developed the comparison of the virgin Eve and the Virgin Mary. He was made man of the Virgin, that by the same way in which the disobedience which proceeded from the serpent took its rise, it might also receive its destruction. For Eve when a

virgin and undefiled conceived the word of the serpent and brought forth disobedience and death. But Mary the Virgin,

receiving Faith and joy, when the angel Gabriel told her the good news that the spirit of the Lord should come upon her . . . answered, Be it unto me according to thy word.^ Slightly later in the same century Xrenaeus elaborated on the same contrast between the first and second Adam, the virgin Eve and the Virgin Mary, and in doing so added to it the contrast between the deathbringing Tree of Knowledge and the life-giving Tree of Life in the Cross. In his treatises Adversus Baereses and Demonstratio he repeated

ly refers in the context of such comparison to the same wood in each g Tree. We sinned by wood, and by wood we are saved, and his words are
9

echoed in a number of Christian writers. There is a gradual development of the irony through all these com parisons and/or contrasts that adjuncts of the Fall become part of the Redemption. In the fourth century, for example, Saint Ambrose contrasts

the Tree of Knowledge with the Tree of Life, which was to be the Cross, emphasizing the fact that they were both wood. In his commentary on

Psalm 35, he refers to Jeremiah's being led like a trustful lamb to slaughter by enemies who said, "Let us destroy the tree in its strength" (Jer. 11:19), or in a Greek version, referred to in the Jerusalem Bible, "Let us put wood on his bread" (Jer. 11:19, notes). Ambrose identifies

this wood as the Cross from the Tree of Life on which Jesus is put as Bread to appease the interminable appetites whetted by the Tree of Know ledge: "per lignum coepimus esurire, quoad caro suum accepit alimentum.

Ideo dominus in Christo camei iunxit et lignum, ut fames antiqua cessaret, vitae gratia redder etu r.E lse whe re Ambrose tries to separate the two trees in the garden so they have nothing in common, except that the point of his wit is they are both still trees. "Lignum vitae in medio paradisi Christus est in medio Ecclesiae suae. Lignum

autem scientiae boni et mali quod et ipsum in medio paradisi fuisse dicitur, diabolum s i g n i f i c a t . T h e presence of the Redeemer and the Cross in the Garden as the Tree of Life before Adam took the forbidden fruit makes it easy, however, to confuse the eternal with a temporal point of view. Ambrose perhaps does not sufficiently avoid this danger

when he dashes off a pithy pun on the forbidden fruit: "fructuosior 12 culpa quam innocentia," or when he comments that God knew Adam would fall "ut redimeretur a Christo. Felix ruina, quae reparatur in mel13 ius."' At the centre of this paradox Ambrose does, however, hit on the phrase "felix ruina!" It was about this time and in this tradition that the Exultet was composed with its explicit reference to the felix aulpa. Some experts

on the liturgy suggest that its style indicates Ambrose was the author. Tradition generally has it that the author was Ambrose's contemporary, 14 Saint Augustine. Augustine's thought certainly has affinities with the concept of the felix aulpa, and it may well have been a phrase from his pen, although no conclusion is possible from the extant manuscripts. In Rebuke and Grace Augustine's celebrated distinction between unfallen man's ability not to sin "posse non peccare" and redeemed man's inabil ity to sin "non posse peccare" subtly slants our vision toward the pre sent advantages of redeemed man over unfallen man.'*' Such affinity of

thought, associating the influential writings of Augustine and Ambrose with the conception of the Exultet, indicates that a perspective on Adam's fall as the felix culpa was inherent in Christian doctrine, mani festing itself with the great theologians of the fourth century so as to become a permanent and influential paradox. One would expect this perspective on the felix culpa to become apparent exactly where it does in the liturgy when the juxtaposition between Fall and Redemption is sharpest. Before dawn on Easter Christ

is remembered in Hell enveloped in the murk of sin that has spread

inexorably over human community.

It is night.

In this night the single

flame of the paschal candle anticipates the imminent glory of the resur rection remembered at dawn. has risen. The night is juxtaposed to the day. Christ

Out of darkness comes light, and even the night itself be In the general exultation the ethical perspective be the horrible Fall has turned out to have been lucky be

comes blessed. comes clear:

cause we have been redeemed from it by such a glorious Redeemer. The juxtaposition of the Fall and Redemption in such a way as to give a perspective on the felix culpa re-occurs from time to time in the writings of other Church Fathers. Pope Leo I, in the century after

Ambrose, argued, "ampliora adepte per ineffabilem Christi gratiam quam per diaboli amiseramus invidiam."'*'7 Later, Gregory the Great compares the Fall and Redemption this way: "Magna quippe sunt mala, quae per

primae culpae meritum patimur, sed quis electus nollet peiora mala per18 peti, quam tantum Redemptorem non habere?" From the sixth century on, such theology was reinforced by the widespread use of Fortunatus' hymns "Pange Lingua" and "Vexilla Regis," in which the Cross is chosen as a way of atoning for the sin of the first Tree: de parentis protoplast! fraude factor condolens, quando pomi noxialis morte morsu conruit, ipse lignum tunc notavit, damna ligni ut solveret.

hoc opus nostrae salutis ordo depoposcerat, multiformis perditoris arte ut artem falleret et medellam ferret inde, hostis unde laeserat. 19

("Pange Lingua," 11.4-9) The "Vexilla Regis" refers to a version of Psalm 95:10, "regnavit a ligno Deus:" arbor decora et fulgida, omata regis purpura, electa digno stipite tam sancta membra tangere.
20

("Vexilla Regis," 11.17-20)

In both hymns the apparatus of our Fall wittily becomes the structure of our Redemption, so that a perspective on the felix culpa is encour aged. The hymns are found in most mediaeval Breviaries and Missals

and were frequently appointed for use during the week before Easter. Their popularity at this point in the liturgical year indicates how a perspective on the felix culpa was anticipated in the days before the Easter vigil, when it is explicitly indicated in the words of the Exultet. Elements from the Fall and Redemption become juxtaposed on a popu lar level after the tenth century with the proliferation of legends which traced the wood of the Cross back to the Tree of Knowledge and/ or the Tree of Life in Paradise. Jewish apocrypha had for centuries

referred to a journey of Seth to Paradise to get a supernatural cure for his father the Oil of Mercy flowing from the Tree in the Garden.

The archangel Michael refuses Seth but promises that it will be given to the holy people at the end of time. The Tree was usually believed

to be the Tree of Life, not the Tree of Knowledge, so there is not a very focused juxtaposition of Fall and Redemption; yet the pattern is implicit, for the promise of salvation is given as a remedy for Adam's sin in eating from the Tree of Knowledge. With the increasing Chris

tian attention to the crucifixion after the tenth century legends of the rood wood became popular and soon incorporated this quest of Seth into a more focused juxtaposition of Fall and Redemption, as it is found developed in the highly influential combined "Legende" of Seth and the Holy Cross of the thirteenth century.
21

In this legend Seth

goes back to Paradise looking for the Oil of Mercy and sees three vis ions there: a leafless tree in a beautiful garden; a serpent about a

leafless tree; a tree elevated to heaven with a baby in the top branches. An angel gives him seeds of the apple Adam ate which he is to plant under his dead father's tongue. tually used for the Cross.
22

They sprout and wood from them is even

The legend is an ingenious juxtaposition of Mary was frequently identified

elements from the Fall and Redemption. as the Tree of Life,

so the fruit of her womb in the branches of her

arms may be seen as a repair for the damage caused by the fruit on the original Tree. As sin, moreover, went in Adam's mouth from the for

bidden Tree, so the source of salvation comes out of it from seeds of

the same Tree.

In a study of the legend and its analogues, E.C. Quinn

notes that the inclusion of Adam in stories about the rood tree was in evitable because of the Christian association of the rood tree and the 23 forbidden Tree. Her book is reviewed with the complaint, however, that "nowhere does the reader find a suggestion as to why this story was of such great importance in the late Middle Ages or, more signifi24 cantly, why this story declined so markedly in popularity." An answer to both these questions would become apparent through a greater stress on the Christian association of elements from the Fall and Redemption as a way of emphasizing a providential perspective on the Fortunate Fall which was so popular in the late Middle Ages and then gradually Why this perspective itself

declined in the Renaissance and after.

faded is, of course, a more general question which I shall attempt to answer later. Similar to the juxtaposition of the two trees in the Seth legends is a literal grafting in Le plerinage de l'me by Guillaume de Deguille25 ville, a fourteenth-century Cistercian monk. In a dream the poet sees some pilgrims playing with apples underneath a leafy green tree which stands beside a withered one (1. 5591). The withered tree cries out to The poet is aware that these A gardener, who

the Creator for him to restore its fruit.

are the two trees which stood in the Garden of Eden.

is the Creator, takes a branch from the Tree of Life; this is the rod of Jesse; he then grafts it onto the Tree of Knowledge. At another

point in the long poem, Justice takes her sword to the top of the Tree of Life and cuts off the apple, which is Christ, and puts it on the Tree of Knowledge. In both incidents, as Frederick Hartt says, "the Tree of

Knowledge comes fruitful again, and through the sacrifice of Christ on 26 the Cross the knowledge of good and evil becomes the source of life." Dante could regard these legends of the Cross and the Tree of Knowledge as being so widespread and current that reference could be made to the tradition quite allusively. In the climactic procession at

the end of Purgatorio , the griffin (Christ) draws out a pole (the Cross) from the chariot he is pulling (the Church) and binds it to the withered 27 tree which then sprouts and flourishes. In the context of such trium phal progression forward and Dante's own progress, the backward perspective

on the felix aulpa is, however, easily overlooked, and one needs, per haps, to be reminded of its dialectical presence. clear: But the lesson is

from the very withered tree, whence came our sin in its forbid

den prime, now Redemption comes, proceeding in a way that would have been impossible without that self-same tree. Another widespread development in the juxtaposition of Fall and Redemption is the late mediaeval contrast of the First Eve with the Second Eve in what might be called a Marian felix aulpa: glorious gift of Grace with her reign in heaven. Mary is the

This focus on Mary

rather than Jesus in such a Marian felix aulpa may be associated with an important influence on the mediaeval appreciation of the paradox in the Scotus controversy and the writings of Thomas Aquinas. In his dis

cussion of the "Fitness of the Incarnation," Aquinas posed the question "Whether if Man had not sinned, God would have become incarnate" ( Summa
theologiae 3, 1, 3).

He argues:

Nihil autem prohibet ad aliquid majus humanam naturam productam esse post peccatum; Deus enim permittit mala fieri ut inde aliquid melius eliciat. Unde dicitur Rom., Ubi abundavit Unde et in bene-

iniquitas, superabundavit et gratia (5:20).

aa tantum meruit habere Redemptorem!

dictione Cerei Paschalis dicitur, 0 felix aulpa, quae talem 28

Here Aquinas has established that the Incarnation did not have to take place for unfallen man simply to even the balance and bring him up to the state of redeemed man; he uses the concept of the felix aulpa to show that sin does not prevent a higher state afterward. What Aquinas

has not established is that the Incarnation could not have taken place for unfallen man. This is rather easy to miss in the total context of

the article, where, in the responsio , he has just expressed the opinion: "Unde, cum in sacra Scriptura ubique incamationis ratio ex peccato primi hominis assignetur, convenientius dicitur incamationis opus ordinatum esse a Deo in remedium peccati, ita quod, peccato non existente, incamatio non fuisset." It is perhaps easy to take from this declaration

an impression that Aquinas is arguing for his preference as a demon strable conclusion so that his following remarks about the felix culpa are meant to show that the Incarnation could only have taken place if man had sinned. Aquinas' next sentence shows, of course, that he is

making no such claim: "Quamvis potentia Dei ad hoc non limitetur, potuisset enim, etiam peccato non existente, Deus incamari." There is

no telling if a mistaken train of thought filtered down into popular tradition from these ideas which Aquinas discusses; however, the idea that without sin there could have been no Incarnation is readily sugges ted by the ballad "Adam lay I-bowndyn," which would assume a folk-audience for whom the paradox was popular: Adam lay I-bowndyn, bowndyn in a bond, fowre Jjowsand wynter owt he not to long; And al was for an appil, an appil pat he tok, As clerkis fyndyn wretyn in here book. Ne hadde J j e appil take ben, pe appil taken ben, ne hadde never our lady a ben heuene qwen; Blyssed be J j e tyme Jjat appil take was,
p e r-fore we mown syngyn, "deo gracias"!

29

The logic of the ballad perhaps goes beyond the bounds of strict ortho doxy in its implicit assumption that Mary could not be queen simply as the mother of Jesus but that she has to be Mother of the Redeemer as well. Aquinas' point that "even had sin not existed, God could have be

come incarnate" means that Mary could have been the mother of Jesus if the apple had not been taken. If such motherhood in an unfallen race

is enough to guarantee Mary Queenship, then, of course, this contradicts the song. The poet may simply have never thought of the point Aquinas

makes and mistakenly assumed that without sin there could be no Incarna tion, or, more likely, have actually been prompted by the current devo tion to Mary and theories of her immaculate conception to feel that our Lady's unique part in the Saviour's work of Redemption was necessary for her Queenship. Such a feeling may be partly responsible for the popular

ity of a Marian felix culpa in secular poetry at this time.

The blurring of the distinction between Redemption and Incarnation in such a Marian felix oulpa may also have been the result of its effec tiveness in refuting the doctrine of Duns Scotus, that the Incarnation was predestined whether or not man fell. The paradox of the felix oulpa

from the Exultet alone is enough to deny Duns Scotus' position that the Incarnation had to happen since, as Aquinas argued, using the felix cul
pa

as illustration, a higher state can result after sin.

Therefore,

a sinless state would not have to be raised higher by an incarnation, and an incarnation need not have occurred in an unfallen race. Certain

ly the extension of the paradox to Mary's reign, moreover, would also confute Scotus, and perhaps in the general confutation the victory was extended to the (invalid) conclusion that without sin there would have been no Incarnation. One could then argue without question that if the It

apple had not been taken Mary would not have been "heuene qwen."

would seem, in view of the closeness of these strands of thought, that the importance of the Scotus controversy may also lie behind the assoc iation of the Fall of Man with Mary in a Marian felix culpa which be came increasingly well known in the later Middle Ages. The association of sinful and fallen man with Mary in a Marian
felix culpa may also be developed from an ambiguous expression of the

paradox of the felix culpa in the "Dies irae" of the Missa pro Defunctis:

Recordare Jesu pie, Quod sum causa tuae viae: 30 Ne me perdas ilia die. In his terror the sinner hopes "causa" may be understood as an effic ient cause, a causa quod by which some change is wrought; he overextends his case by suggesting that the Redemption was caused by his sin error since God could have left Adam fallen. an

Yet Jesus could not have

been a Redeemer without sinners, and if an incarnation could not have taken place in an unfallen race (contrary to Aquinas), Jesus could not even have lived. At least Jesus has sinners to thank for the glory of He owes the sinner a favour and should save him.

his redeeming life!

Less paradoxically, the sinner also means that he is the cause as a

final cause:

the life of Jesus was for the cause of the sinner's bene Therefore, the sinner pleads, Jesus do not forget save m e . '

fit and redemption.

what you are supposed to do

John Lydgate transposes this form of the paradox to a Marian con text, but gets at least part of it wrong in the transition when the sin ner as the final cause becomes the sin. In "Regina Celi Letare" he asks

the Virgin to remember how our sin got her her high station: Remember Lady, how synne was cause Of youre preferryng to hygh worthynes, Howe ye exclude by text outher clause They that causyd you all thys worthyness. 31

Lydgate is so sure of the paradox that, somewhat like Ambrose, he even obscures the non-causal relation between sin and redemption. clear that sin did not cause Mary's preferment; God did. It is

She would

have no reason to be grateful for any act of sin that has not been re deemed. In another poem, "On the image of Pity," Lydgate is more ortho

dox, suggesting merely a Marian felix eulpa: 0 wretched synner . . . Pray to that quene . . . With this conceyt, pat yf syn had not bene, Causyng our fadar Adam his grevous fall, Of heven had she not be crounyd quene. The repetition of the paradox indicates that it was of interest to Lyd gate and his audience, and that it was an accepted part of meditations on the Virgin in conjunction with the Fall of Man. teenth-century salutation to the Virgin: Mary, ihu darlynge dere. us I thynke in my thoghte, Wele I wate if synne ne were Goddes moder ware J jou noght. 32 It recurs in a fif

Again in a verse meditation on Mary written on the last page of a fif teenth-century book of hours the same point is developed:

Si pro peccato vtus Adam non cecidisset Mater pro nato non exaltata fuisset. Sed quia peccatum proprium sanare nequibat Virgo parit natum per quem medicina redibat. Ergo pro miseris interpellare teneris Mater que Christi propter peccata fuisti. 0 mater Christi tua dos est Anglia vere Regnum cum rege prece virgo pura tuere. 33

Here, again, if there were no sin Mary could not be exalted, implying that since Mary is exalted there must have been sin: Mary could not be

exalted as the Mother of the incarnate Christ in an unfallen race. There als.o seems to be an echo of the promise God makes to our first Mother Eve in reference to the role her seed will play in the Redemp tion of mankind. The frequent Marian twist in the felix aulpa is also associated with Sir Gawain, our Lady's Knight, who carries Mary's image on the in ner half of his shield in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Elsewhere

I have shown how, in the prologue and epilogue of this important romance, the Gawain-poet uses the technique of juxtaposition of Fall and Redemp34 tion to allude to the felix aulpa. It would seem in the Middle Ages that the tradition of juxtaposing elements from the Fall and the Redemption in order to facilitate a back ward perspective on the felix aulpa (as well as the obvious forward one on the Redemption) was well established in the medium of language where theology, legend, and the liturgy could make it clear. mediaeval iconography? medium as well? But what about

Can the felix aulpa be portrayed in the visual

It is perhaps not immediately obvious how one could What scene could

display the aulpa as felix by visual means alone.

limn the horror of that sin showing, at the same time, its glorious comedy? Illuminators could not very well portray Adam and Eve joyfully

biting into the fruit or with some contemporary creature in the garden looking on in recognition of the fortunate occasion. Indeed, there are

many pictures which present only the Fall with no aid to its signifi cance. Of course, in order to know the Christian significance of a

naked couple eating fruit from a tree with a serpent in it a person had to know Christian doctrine. Portrayals of the Fall were meant

with reference to all other aspects of the Christian context, including the Redemption, just as portrayals of the Redemption alone are meant with reference to all other aspects of the Christian context, including the Fall, the Exodus, the Covenant with Abraham, the Nativity, and so on. But an isolated portrayal of an event in salvation history with

out any explicit juxtaposition to another event can hardly refer to anything more specific than this total history. One could not say that

because the Redemption implies the Fall a picture of the Crucifixion is therefore a "literal" picture of the Fall. Nor could one say that a And since the

picture of the Fall is a portrait of the Crucifixion.

felix culpa involves more than just the Fall, a picture of the Fall can

never be a complete picture of the felix culpa. Since history moves forward, naturally, the perspective in such portrayals may be often only forward looking. This proleptic perspec

tive frequently seems to be the only perspective that is intended and/ or perceived in the Renaissance and Modern period. A modem point of

view sees only that pictures of the Fall "introduce the scheme of Re35 demption by explaining the need for it," not, conversely, that pic tures of the Redemption show how the Fall was needed for the Redemption and, thus, was fortunate. In an exclusively forward-looking perspective

one tends, thus, to regard the Fall and think it's too bad it had to happen. Then its necessity may be seen as only an inevitable stage in

human progress, as Vetter seems to see it in his study of Mediaeval and 36 Renaissance depictions of the Fall, "Necessarium Adae Peccatum." There is, nevertheless, in the visual arts a way of implying a truly happy perspective on Adam's Fall. As one would expect from the juxta

position of Fall and Redemption in literature and legend, a similar tech nique of juxtaposition is employed when a perspective on the felix culpa is indicated in the iconography. Images from the Fall are worked into

a scene from the Redemption and, conversely, images from the Redemption are worked into a scene from the Fall, or pictures of the two are placed side by side. For example, on the outside of the Malvagna triptych by

Mabuse, Adam and Eve entwined together reach up to grasp hold of the fruit

w i t h t h e i r e x p u l s i o n i n the b a c k g r o u n d , w h i l e o n t h e i n s i d e M a r y h o l d s 37 the fruit of he r womb w i t h the saints in Paradise. In his comment on t h i s j u x t a p o s i t i o n J.B. T r a p p c o n c l u d e s , " R e f e r e n c e to the R e d e m p t i o n 38 then, m a y b e t a k e n to b e a l w a y s p r e s e n t . "

i n p i c t u r i n g s o f t h e Fall,

T h i s is f a i r l y e v i d e n t s o l o n g as the c o n t e x t is C h r i s t i a n , w h e t h e r o r n o t t h e p i c t u r e i n v o l v e s a n a c t u a l p o r t r a y a l o f s o m e e l e m e n t of t h e R e demption juxtaposed. T h e C h r i s t i a n d i a l e c t i c t h a t the F a l l i m p l i e s a

n e e d f o r R e d e m p t i o n is s o b a s i c t h a t a f o r w a r d - l o o k i n g j u x t a p o s i t i o n o f the t w o i n this w a y is a l w a y s f a i n t l y o r s t r o n g l y i m p l i e d i n a l l i c o n o g r a p h y o f the Fall. th e i c o n o g r a p h y , A n d w h e n the two a r e i n fact c l o s e l y j u x t a p o s e d in T r a p p n o t e s th a t t h e

t h e p e r s p e c t i v e is e v e n s h arper.

s o t e r i o l o g i c a l i m p l i c a t i o n s of the F a l l ar e m o r e f o r c e f u l l y p r e s e n t in mos a i c cycles than in scenes r e p resented on successive pages of an illus39 t r a t e d Bible. S i n c e C h r i s t i a n a r t w h i c h p o r t r a y s t h e F a l l forms p a r t of a cycle of Redemption, "there mu s t always be a mo r e or less explicit 40 W h a t I w a n t to

p r o l e p t i c r e f e r e n c e to R e d e m p t i o n a n d / o r J u d g e m e n t . "

p o i n t o u t h e r e is t h a t i n s u c h j u x t a p o s i t i o n s t h e r e is a l s o a " p o s t l e p ti c " r e f e r e n c e to the F a l l i t s e l f a v i e w of it i n r e t r o s p e c t a s s o m e

t h i n g i n th e p a s t w h i c h m i g h t n o t h a v e h a p p e n e d , w i t h a l l the c h a n g e s th i s w o u l d m a k e i n the p r e sent. tion w i t h the Redemption, W h e n the F a l l is d e p i c t e d i n j u x t a p o s i

the v i e w e r is e n c o u r a g e d to d r a w h i s o w n c o n The per

c l u s i o n s as to th e p e r s p e c t i v e in w h i c h this p u t s the Fall.

s p e c t i v e is p e r h a p s n o t o b v i o u s u n t i l o n e h a s h a d it e x p l a i n e d v e r b a l l y as i n th e Exultet, b u t o n c e s u c h a s u g g e s t i o n h a s b e e n m a d e it c o u l d b e r e a d i l y p i c k e d up i n the i c o n o g r a p h y . F r o m the e l e v e n t h t o the t h i r t e e n t h c e n t u r y a n u m b e r of Exultet rolls w e r e pre p a r e d in S outhern Italy w i t h large illustrations (about

4 5 x 2 0 c m . ) u p - s i d e - d o w n to t h e text so th a t as the d e a c o n r e a d the te x t f r o m t h e ambo the r o l l c o u l d h a n g o v e r the o t h e r w a y f o r the c o n g r e g a t i o n to see. T h e r e a r e 28 k n o w n Exultet r o l l s (or f r a g m e n t s ) , a n d in

a l l t h e r e a r e s i x p o r t r a y a l s o f the T e m p t a t i o n ;

five of them illustrate 41 t h e w o r d s "0 f e l i x c u l p a " a n d o n e the w o r d s " A d e d e b i t u m . " Trapp says t h a t t h e s e a r e " t h e f i r s t k n o w n p i c t u r e s of t h e F a l l w h i c h s p e c i f i c a l l y 42 i l l u s t r a t e the t h e m e o f Felix culpa" a n d p r o c e e d s to d i s c u s s th e de t a i l s o f the p i c t u r e s . B u t h o w d o t h e y i l l u s t r a t e it? S i m p l y by b e i n g

a picture of the Fall?

They cannot specifically illustrate the theme

or idea of the felix oulpa in that way or else all pictures of the Fall itself would equally illustrate it, and there would be no way in which these pictures specifically illustrate it. how they illustrate the felix oulpa. Trapp does not, in fact, say

His immediately previous remark,

however, is about the portrayal of the whole nature of the cycle of Fall and Redemption in mosaic cycles and bronze doors and how juxtaposi tions found in such portrayals accent the "soteriological implications of the Fall." The forward perspective of soteriology is close to the

backward one of fortune, and Trapp was perhaps implying that juxtaposi tion and not just portrayals of the Fall itself are involved in illus trating the idea of the felix culpa. This is, in fact, how the pictures

do illustrate the felix culpa, and the device is important enough to study and make explicit as the central technique in iconography of the
felix culpa.

The technique of juxtaposition of the Fall and Redemption is used in all the Exultet roll illustrations of the text "0 felix culpa." the third Exultet roll in the Cathedral Archives, Trola (Troia 3), large Cross is portrayed directly above the Tree of Knowledge. 43 In a

As the

stream of blood from Christs side is collected in a drinking vessel above, Eve below accepts the fruit from the streaming red tongue of the serpent (fig. 1). Here is direct evidence that such juxtapositions illustrate the felix culpa with a "postleptic" view from the Redemption to the Fall as well as the proleptic one from the Fall to the Redemp44 tion. In the Fondi Roll the sequence of pictures uses the same jux taposition. A picture of the Descent into Hell with Christ bringing Then

Adam and Eve out is followed by the betrayal of Jesus by Judas. a picture of the Fall:

Adam and Eve on either side of the Tree cover

their pudenda with one hand and reach out to the serpent with the other. Then follows, as the roll is unrolled, a picture of Christ ruling in glory. The juxtaposition, and not simply the picture of the Fall alone, Similarly, in the Pisa 2 Roll^"*

illustrates the words "0 felix culpa."

a sequence of scenes from Christ's life culminates in a picture of the victorious Christ in the initial "V" surrounded by the Symbols of the Evangelists, then a picture of the Fall without which none of this would

have happened, and then a picture of the candle being censed. In two rolls, Troia 3 and Pisa 3, a picture of Adam and Eve comes 46 earlier in the text to illustrate the words "Ade debitum." Here the
felix aulpa is not being directly illustrated and there is a less focused

juxtaposition of the Fall and Redemption.

Both are preceded by a pic

ture of God's power, God the Father in Troia 3 and Christ in a mandorla in Pisa 3; both are followed by a picture of the Passover Lamb being slain and other scenes from the Passover. The Lamb, however, is a type

for Christ and anticipates the more focused juxtaposition of the felix
aulpa to be found as the song develops in the next few verses.

In the two earliest rolls, of the eleventh century from Montecas47 48 sino, the British Museum Roll and the Barberini Roll, the sequence to illustrate the text "0 felix culpa" is a clearly focused juxtaposi tion of Fall and Redemption. Christ, having broken the chains of death, Next Adam holds

brings Adam and Eve and all the saved out of Hell.

Eve's arm as she offers him the fruit, while the snake winds round her ankles and up the Tree. Then Christ appears resurrected in the garden

requesting Mary of Magdala not to touch him for he has not yet ascended to the Father. pears fortunate. Ernst Guldan, in his comprehensive study Eva und Maria: 49
Eine An-

In the hope of resurrection and redemption the Fall ap

tithese als Bildmotif, briefly mentions these two pictures in relation

to a pair of medallions from the Bible moralise.

In the upper medal

lion Satan appears before God to request permission to tempt an unpro tected Job. In the lower medallion Eve takes the fruit from Satan jux

taposed to Gabriel and Mary, who holds up her hands to receive from God's hands in heaven the Christ child holding in his hand a wafer or sphere. The text reads: "Hoc significat quod deus permisit diabolo

hominem incitari ad peccandum ut hac de causa filium suum mitteret in mundum ut sua passione hominem a morte liberaret." Guldan notes the

relation of this train of thought to the Exultet and comments that "die mittelalterlichen Exultetrollen illustrieren diesen Abschnitt der Auferstehungsproklamation durch den Sundenfall, eingeschoben zwischen die Bilder der Hollenfahrt und des Noli me tangere."^ ("The Exultet rolls of the Middle Ages illustrate this aspect of the Resurrection proclamation

by the Fall placed in between pictures of the Descent into Hell and the
Noli me tangere.")

Guldan agrees that in these two pictures, at least,

a juxtaposition of Fall and Redemption illustrates the felix oulpa. The same thing, moreover, is done in another way by the maker of the
Bible moralise :

Der Konzeptor der Bible moralise beschritt einen anderen Weg, um die Schuldverstrickung des Menschen als "notwendige" Ursache der Erlosung darzustellen. Die zitierte Hiob-Exegese

wird im Bildmedaillon durch des Nebeneinander von Versuchung und Verkundigung erlautert. Die altchristliche Rezirkula-

tionsidee von der spiegelbildlichen Wiederkehr alls Geschehenen unter gleichsam umgekehrtem Vorzeichen, dieser heilsgeschichtliche Kreislaufgedanke ist hier erstmals im Rahmen eines Bildes an Eva und Maria demonstriert worden. traria contrarils curarentur (The maker of the Bible moralise takes another way in order to show the sin entanglement of Man as "necessary" cause of the Salvation. The cited Job-exegesis is illustrated in the "Sic con

medallion by showing a juxtaposition of the Temptation and Annunciation. The old Christian recirculation idea, of the

recurrence of all that happens like mirror images, under the opposite sign as it were this salvation-history idea of

circulation was demonstrated here for the first time within the frame of a single picture of Eve and Mary. are thus run together with contraries.") If this medallion illustrates the train of thought associated with the felix oulpa by a juxtaposition ( Nebeneinander ) of Mary and Eve, then other juxtapositions of Mary and Eve would be capable of suggesting it also. But not a word does Guldan say of this. He does not make explicit Per "Contraries

a major point in hundreds of other juxtapositions of Mary and Eve. haps he felt it was obvious and too elementary to mention. think for modem eyes it is so obvious.

But I do not

It is quite possible to look at a juxtaposition of Mary and Eve with

only a forward perspective on the glory of the Redemption with no back ward perspective on the fortune of the Fall. This fortunate perspec

tive may not even occur to the artist, who may only see the forward perspective in a juxtaposition of the Fall and Redemption. This seems

to be the case with portraits of the Fall such as those by Hugo van der Goes or Lucas Cranach which are placed beside Mary tragically grieving for her crucified son (Guldan, Plates 75-78). only: The message seems to be A

this sin was committed and this is the horrible outcome.

single-minded portrayal of the forward perspective may be seen even in quite complex juxtapositions of the Fall and Redemption. In a diptych

painted in Westphalia in the early fifteenth century by a follower of 52 Conrad von Soest, the Madonna and Child on one panel face Christ on the Cross, on the other. On the Cross's left, emblems of the old order

are lined up and paired off with symbols of the Redemption on the right: a small figure of Eve giving Adam a skull to eat beside Mary giving the Christ child to a pope; a skull with a serpent in it beside a church; an animal for sacrifice beside a sacrificial lamb; the Synagogue, por trayed quite large, as a blind man with a broken banner beside Ecclesia. Because such emphasis is given to the passing away of the "old" order and its replacement little attention is given to the fact of the Fall. The point almost seems to be in the new order to forget about it; it has been replaced. There is little view of the Fall as an historical fact If the Fall is to be given little em It is quite possible, then,

that will always remain as such.

phasis it can hardly be seen as fortunate.

for an artist to have only a forward-looking view and not have the felix
aulpa in mind, just as it is possible viewing a picture to have no ink

ling of the backward perspective on the Fortunate Fall intended by an artist. Since pictures juxtaposing the Fall and Redemption are found beside the text of the Exultet in which the felix aulpa is explicitly mentioned, however, such juxtapositions must be examined for at least the possible backward perspective on the felix aulpa they imply. These juxtapositions usually involve the contrast-comparison be tween the first and second tree and/or the first and second Eve. Since the point of comparison in the first and second trees is that

they were both wood, and wood was used in both the Fall and Redemption, there can be no complete dissociation of the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life, just as there can be no complete dissociation of the Fall and Redemption. In some rood-tree juxtapositions the Tree of Life is The Great Cross of the Lateran Baptistery

the only tree referred to.

in Rome, an early Christian mosaic, shows the Cross over the Tree of Life in the Heavenly City. Perched in the branches of the Tree is the 53 Phoenix, symbol of Christ. The Throne of Saint Mark in Venice por trays the empty Cross above the Tree of Life upon a hill from which flow the four rivers of Paradise; over the trunk of the Tree is carved 54 a Lamb. The association of the two trees in the Garden as both trees, nevertheless, frequently brings them together in a dialectic with the Tree of the Cross. In the Fulda sacramentary of the late tenth century,

for example, the serpent twines round, not the Tree of Knowledge in Eden, but about the upright of the Cross of Golgotha, while Adam and Eve come out of their tombs underneath. In the tenth century Evangelary in

Kassel the Cross again shows the serpent at the base while Mother Earth 56 lifts Adam up toward the crucified Christ. The crucifix of Adalbero shows Adam and Eve seated in sorrow on either side of the Tree beneath the Cross.^ In the Munich manuscript of De laudihus sanatae Crucis,

Adam and Eve wearing skirts of leaves look away from the Tree of Know ledge to the Cross which is sprouting leafy branches behind which stands 58 Ecclesia. Once established, this association between the two trees in the garden may grow so they intertwine dr are even grafted together ^ 59 as in Le pelerinage de l'me, discussed above. In the fourteenthcentury Paupers' Bibles of Benediktbeuern and Tegernsee, God judges the snake while standing in a tree himself.^ The illustration of a fif

teenth-century French book of hours shows Adam and Eve eating from the Tree on which Jesus is being crucified.^ In his painting "The Mystery
62

of the Fall and Redemption of Man," Giovanni da Modena shows Christ on the Tree of Knowledge while Adam and Eve eat the fruit below. Christ

is portrayed crucified on the Tree of Life in paintings by Pacino de Bonaguido*^ and Simone dei Crocifissi.^ Gustav Ludwig has shown that Giovanni Bellini's picture the "Earthly Paradise" in the Uffizi at Florence is associated with Le

plerinage de l'me and the allegory in which the Tree of Jesse, taken

as a branch from the Tree of Life, is grafted onto the Tree of Know ledge, although whether it is a direct illustration of the Plerinage is in dispute.' The scene in which the pilgrims are playing with apples under the two trees was represented in numerous manuscripts of the Plerinage , as was the scene in which Justice on top of the Tree of Life cuts off an apple to replace on the Tree of Knowledge. picture Justice is replaced by the Virgin on top of the Tree. In Bellini's The fruit

of her womb from the Tree of Life restores the Tree of Knowledge, and from this fruit Mankind will eat for his salvation as he once ate for his damnation. This sort of juxtaposition of the two trees is frequently combined with a juxtaposition of the two Eves, another traditional sort of con trast which implies the felix aulpa. In a miniature from the Burgundian

Missal (c. 1513), the Tree of Knowledge stands by the Tree of Life (Guldan, Plate 159). In the Tree of Knowledge are cone-like fruits and

skulls with Satan plucking a fruit while Eve brings down one of the skulls to feed to a kneeling prince. In the Tree of Life are clusters Mary in one hand holds the

of grapes and white circles of the Host.

Child as he picks grapes and in the other holds the Host ready to feed it to a kneeling King, while under her foot she has Satan's head pinned to the ground. In the portrayal by Hans Schaiifeleing (1516), the trunks In the earlier portrayal

of the two trees are intertwined (Plate 158).

by Johannes von Sittau (c. 1420), there is only one trunk while Mary holds a crucifix in the tree (Plate 156). Similarly, in a miniature from the Book of Hours of Catherine of Clves, the two trees are one (Plate 157). This union of the two trees prepares for the famous "Tree

of Death and Life," a miniature by Berthold Furtmeyer from the missal of the Archbishop of Salzburg (1481), the frontispiece for both Guldan's and Cook's texts (fig. 2). white circles of the Host. On the same tree grow both green apples and Beside a skull in the tree, Eve takes apples

from the mouth of the Serpent and feeds them to people on their knees behind whom stands Death. cross hung in the Tree. Manichaean Mary feeds the Host to the devout beside a As simply a picture in space such an image is but put in the context of mediaeval

good balanced by evil

chronology, the temporal separation of the two actions is assured.

The

whole image becomes a forceful juxtaposition of the Fall and Redemption, with a perspective going both ways from a ruinous Fall to a merciful Redemption and backwards from a glorious Redemption to a fortunate Fall. As the second Eve, Mary's association with both trees in the gar den is reinforced, moreover, by her association with two other trees: the Tree of Jesse, in which she is the major genealogical link, and the Burning Bush, which is a type for Mary and the Annunciation. Typolo-

gically, God descends into the bush without consuming it to announce to Moses that he shall bring forth the children of Israel from captivity ; an angel announces to Mary that God will descend into her womb and she will give birth to a child who will deliver mankind from captivity in sin. Yet her virginity is not consumed by lust. Harris shows that this

typological connection was traditional and explains Nicholas Froment's picture in which elements from the two scenes are transposed:
66

Mary ap

pears on top of the burning bush holding the fruit of her womb, and the angel announces the event to Moses. The angel wears a medallion por

traying Adam and Eve with the Tree of Knowledge while the infant Christ holds a mirror reflecting the Virgin and himself. Here the Tree of

Knowledge, as Harris says, "finds its counterpart in the Tree of Salva tion in the centre of the picture." Around the picture in the Tree

of Jesse are twelve ancestors of Christ who in number look forward to the apostles and the Redemption on the Tree of the Cross. In such com

plex juxtapositions Mary is at the centre of a number of associations with trees in which a backward perspective on a fortunate Fall is im plicit as part of the whole story of captivity in sin and deliverance. The perspective is more restricted to the felix culpa, however, when the first and second Eve are directly juxtaposed. In her intro

duction to The Visconti Hours, Edith Kirsch states that "Pictorial al lusions to original sin as the occurrence which resulted in the need for redemption are not uncommon in Hours of the Virgin, and this association is made explicit in the Visconti Hours by the facing miniatures which portray on one side the Coronation of the Virgin and on the other the Fall of Adam and Eve."
68

The borders around the miniatures which por

tray the Fall in this book of hours are, moreover, always embellished

gloriously with emperors, kings, and the Visconti patrons, suggestive of the fruits of redemption in the descendants of Adam. The variety of juxtapositions of Mary and Eve may be most compre hensively studied in Gulden's study, noted above:
Eva vend Maria: Eine

Antithese als B i l d m o t i v Satan seducing Eve is frequently portrayed

in close juxtaposition to Gabriel speaking to Mary (for example, plates 39, 40 with 41, 50, 52, 58 with 59, 60, 62, 63, 64, 66, 67, 69, 74). Such a juxtaposition implies a perspective on the felix oulpa and speci fically illustrates Justin Martyr's comparison between the virgin Eve, who conceived the word of the serpent and brought forth disobedience and death, and the Virgin Mary, who conceived the word of God announced to her by the angel Gabriel and brought forth our Redeemer. thus confounded: Satan is

the very means by which he sought our eternal damna In a similar sort of juxtapo

tion becomes the means of our salvation.

sition a scene of the Expulsion from Eden is framed with a picture of the Annunciation (for example, plates 51, 52, 53, 56, 57, 65, 68, 70, 71, 92 with 93 and 94, 95 with 96). The Annunciation may also be framed

with Mary as the woman of messianic future in the Tree of Knowledge, a second Eve with her foot sticking out to bruise the serpent's head (plates 32, 34). God originally announced to Eve that her seed would This was interpreted in Gene

bruise the serpent's head with its heel. sis as a reference to the Messiah.

Now an angel announces to Mary that One

her very own child will be holy and his reign will have no end.

annunciation is associated with painful judgement; the other is the joy ful fulfillment of that judgement in the coming relief of the Messiah. The closeness of the two annunciations and the seed of Eve in Mary was also underlined by frequent use of the palindrome found in the ninthcentury hymn "Ave maris Stella," in which Eva becomes the "Ave" of the Annunciation: "Sumens illud Ave/ Gabrielis ore,/ funda nos in pace,/ The point of the palindrome is not only the anti

mutans nomen Evae."^

thesis between Eve and Mary but also the witty one-way reversal, so that from the source of our perdition comes salvation. In the glorious pair

ing of the two, Eve is no longer hatefully rejected but becomes a neces sary and paradoxically joyful part. Mary and Eve may also be juxtaposed without any direct portrayal of

Eve by having Mary or her child delight in holding an apple (fig. 3). In this frequent motif the fruit of knowledge is paired with the fruit from the Tree of Life with which Mary and her Son are frequently identi73 fied and in which she is often depicted enclosed by its branches. Christ as the fruit of her womb is to become food on the Tree of Life nailed to the limbs of the Cross. Seen after it has all happened, when

one can look back on it all, the image is a joyous, even fruitful, source of such reflection. The widespread use of this apple-child motif with

the Second Eve would influence the even more frequent and prior globechild motif in which a sphere signifying the world is held by the child. In addition to the simple message that Christ will rule the world, a perspective on the fallen world and worldliness is also suggested. It

is not just a world that Christ will have to rule but a fallen world, brought into sin through the apple and then redeemed by Him. A striking

early example of such significance may be found in the portrait of the 74 Fall with Christ in glory on facing pages of the Codex Vigilanus (976) . On one page Eve takes a small round fruit from the serpent's mouth and Adam holds another one between thumb and ring finger while on the oppos ite page Christ in glory holds a small round world, like the Host, in his hand poised like Adam's. The inscription declares that the Lord

holds the weight of the earth, "molem arbae,"in three fingers and con trols every thing above, on, and under the earth. affirmed despite the presence of evil. good. The Lord's power is

Out of evil God brings forth

The forward perspective to glory is powerfully present, but so The very same

is the backward perspective on the fortune of the Fall.

round circle Eve takes in the wrong way is a central part in the glory of Christ's dominion as he balances the redeemed world in his fingers. In addition to juxtapositions of the Fall and Redemption, the felix
culpa may be suggested by another sort of juxtaposition.

Once the felix,

or fortunate, perspective is given, it may be seen in the iconography of the Fall through the portrayal of the original nobility and sanctity of Adam and Eve, the crowning work of God's creation. the greater the Redemption. The greater the Fall,

This aspect of the iconography of the

felix aulpa is mentioned explicitly by Trapp as the theme of the "felix aulpa wrought to its highest pitch."

It may be communicated by an

explicit portray a l of A d a m and Eve's noble innocence b e s i d e their griev ing guilt, fully or p a r t i a l l y clothed. Usually, however, the picture

of M a n k i n d fallen in present sin has to b e s u p plied by the imagination as a contrast to the n o b l e innocence of Adam. Such contrasts in the

mind's eye are, perhaps, n o t as v i v i d as an actual juxtap o s i t i o n of some element fro m the Redemption with the Fall. In all the n u m erous w a ys elements from the Fall m a y b e juxtaposed with elements from the Redemption there is always a perspe c t i v e o n the Redemption as seen f r o m the Fall. The converse perspe c t i v e o n the Fall

as seen from the R e d e m p t i o n may not always come to mind, a l t hough it is always dialectically p r esent and, once pointed out v e r bally by m e n t i o n of the felix culpa, it w o u l d b ecome obvious. The presence of this dia

lectic is, moreover, reinforced b y the frequent irony in all the juxta p ositions that props for the Fall scenario be c o m e props in the R edemp tion. Without the Fall o n e w o u l d not have these props w h i c h occur again the two fruits, one from the Tree of Knowledge, the

in the Redemption:

o t h e r from the Tree of the Cross; the two Eves; the two trees; the first a nd second Adam. I n all this iconography the i mplication is that, at

least on a picture level, the Redemption could not b e p o r t rayed w i thout images intrinsic to the Fall. Redemption as w e k n o w it. W i t h o u t the Fall one c o u l d not h a v e the Such

In other words, the Fall was necessary.

logic in the iconography draws the attention to Adam's " p e c c a t u m necessarium" and the more p r o found logic of good and evil in that "necessary sin." The strength of this w hole tradition of juxtap o s i n g elements from the Fall and R ed em p t io n suggests that the felix culpa is an important significance to be considered in media e v a l art as distinct from p o rtray als of the mere Fall. F r o m the vantage point of the twentieth century,

moreover, special a t t e n t i o n is r e q uired to detect the tradition b e c a u s e by and large w e ha v e forgotten about it. frequent enough in the R e n a i s s a n c e , ^ References to the p a radox are

but they soon p e t e r out.

The wi d e s p r e a d awareness of the felix culpa in the M i d d l e A g e s was not enc ou rag ed by the changing w o r l d v i e w of the Renaissance. One ob

vious factor in the decline of the concept of the felix culpa is the R e f o rmation and the desuetude of the Exultet in Protes t a n t churches.

Another factor is the change f r o m the m e d i aeval tendency to see history in a pr ovidential perspective as it w i l l look from the end of history. One might speculate that in a providential p erspective w h e r e history is spread out synchronically like a tapestry the Fall and Redemp t i o n would seem closer to each o t he r than in a v i e w of day-to-day morality. As

religious allegory became m o r a l allegory the concept of the felix aulpa w o u l d get lost in the moral emphasis on the Fall as a w a rning against the present sins of cupidity and disobedience. Another factor in the decline of the p a radox m a y have b e e n confus ion about the paradox itself and unsolvable, theological difficulties it seemed to lead to. In the late fourteenth century b o t h L a n g l a n d and

Wyclif, for example, referred to the paradox in the difficult context of theodicy. of sin: In Piers Plowman Repentance v indicates God's p ermission

"al for the best, as I beleue . what euere the b o k e telleth, / John W yclif cherished this same concept as it ap In an outburst of

0 felix aulpa'." ^

pears in a Christmas sermon preached in the 1 3 80 ' s.

sweeping optimism he seems to leave logic b e h i n d until only at the last breath it catches up. A nd so, as many m e n seien, all thingis comen for the beste; for all comen for Goddis ordenance, and so thei comen for God himself; and so all thingis that comen fallen for the best thing that mai be. M o r e o v e r to another witt m e n seien, that

this world is bette r e d b i every t h i n g that fallith thereinne, w here that it be good or y v e l . . . a nd h e rfore seith Gregori, that it was a b l e s f u l synne that A d a m synnede and his kynde, for bi this the w o r l d is beterid; but the ground of this good78 nesse stondith in grace of Jesus Christ. Both Langland and Wyclif use the paradox to deduce God's justice in a w ay that may not have suited the later age of enlightenment and reason. E ven Milton's God in Paradise Lost seems o fficially to deny the p a r adox M a n w o u l d have b e e n "Happier h a d it sufficed 79 h i m to h ave known / Good b y itself, and evil not at all." These words, however, are spoken right after the Fall a n d are, indeed, true up until the Redemption; they are not a contradiction of the felix aulpa, affirmed before the heavenly synod:

178
elsewhere in Paradise Lost. But God's statement does show the diffiWhen

culty of looking at the Fall from within the "historical" context when it happened and seeing the Fall in any way as Fortunate or Happy. it happened it was not Fortunate! Or was it? Such questions as they The

could be comprehended in the changing world view after the Renaissance were difficult, perhaps impossible, and people stopped asking them. nored. Whatever the complete set of factors to account for this history of the concept, we must realize that, in fact, our own background in the twentieth century does not train us to recognize the concept of the doctrine of the felix culpa did not mean much and was more or less ig-

felix culpa.

If we are to read the record of mediaeval art correctly

we must be on the lookout for techniques of iconographic juxtaposition which allude to what was a widespread and popular doctrine of the felix
culpa~

distinct from portrayals of the mere Fall.

Dawson College

NOTES

I would like to acknowledge the help I have received in this study

from an obliging community of mediaeval scholars in Montreal, especially Professor Rosemarie Bergmann, Department of Art History, McGill University; Father Yvon Gelinas, Institut d'Etudes Medievales, Universite de Montreal; Ms Richarda Riess, Graduate Studies, Religion, Concordia University; Professor Hans Kaal, Arts Sector, Dawson College; Professor George Hildebrand, Arts Sector, Dawson College. 1 "O assuredly necessary sin of Adam which has been blotted out by the death of Christ! 0 fortunate fault which has merited such and so See also "Exsultet," with bibliography, great a Redeemer!" (PL 72.269).

New Catholic Encyclopedia, a n d the E a s t e r V i g i l i n the R o m a n M i s s a l ,

w h i c h s t i l l f o l l o w s the m e d i a e v a l o r d i n a r y .
2

" M i l t o n a n d the P a r a d o x of t h e F o r t u n a t e F a l l , " i n A r t h u r 0. L o v e ( B a l t i m o r e 1948) 277-95. The m o d e m

joy, Essays in the History o f Ideas

l a c k o f a w a r e n e s s o f the felix culpa m a y b e j u d g e d b y the n e e d L o v e j o y f e l t to e x p l a i n M i l t o n ' s u s e o f it: " T o m a n y r e a d e r s of Paradise Lost

in all periods the most surprising lines in the p o e m must have b e e n t h o s e i n the T w e l f t h B o o k in w h i c h A d a m . . . ." (p. 277); cf. n. below. 3 79

Haggadah, trans. C h a i m R a p h a e l in A Feast of History (New Y o r k

1972) 233. 4 L o u i s G i n z b e r g , The Legends o f the Jews ( P h i l a d e l p h i a 1 9 1 1 - 3 8 ) VI, 14, n. 82. ^ G i n z b e r g , V, 98, n. 70. T r a n s l a t i o n s o f s c r i p t u r e are t a k e n f r o m The Jerusalem Bible Y o r k 1966). ^ J u s t i n M a r t y r , Dialogue, ch. 100 (PG 6 . 7 0 9 - 1 2 ) , trans. from Greek

(New

b y N.P. W i l l i a m s , The Ideas of the Fall and of Original Sin ( L o ndon 1927) 174. F o r a c o m p r e h e n s i v e t r e a t m e n t o f the M a r y - E v e c o m p a r i s o n in

the F a t h e r s s e e L. C i g n e l l i , Maria nuova Eva nella Patristica greoa ( A s s i s i 1966).

g

I ren a e u s , Adversus Haereses V. xvi.

2; V. xvii.

4, 17, 19, in

Contre les hrsies 11, ed. A d e l i n R o u s s e a u (Paris 1969), a n d Demonstra te

33, 34, i n Dmonstration de la Prdication Apostolique, trans. L.M. F r o i d e v a u z (Paris 1 9 7 1 ) . 9 T e r t u l l i a n , An Answer to the Jews, i n The Ante-Nicene Fathers ( G r a n d R a p i d s , Mich. 1951) III, 170. J u l i u s F i r m i c u s M a t e r n u s , De errore A u g u s t i n e , Sermo 1, ch. 4; Ser-

profanarum religionum (PL 1 2 . 1 0 3 7 - 3 8 ) . mo 84, ch. 3 (PL 39).

F o r t h e t r a d i t i o n w h i c h i d e n t i f i e d t h e T r e e of

L i f e a n d t h e C ross see R o m u a l d B a u e r r e i s s , Arbor Vitae, der "Lebensbaum"

und seine Verwendung in der Liturgie ( M n c h e n 1938).

" B y w o o d w e b e g a n to h u n g e r u n t i l w o o d took h i s o w n f l e s h for food. T h e s a m e L o r d j o i n e d f l e s h a n d w o o d i n C h r i s t that the o l d h u n g e r Saint Ambrose,

m i g h t p a s s a w a y a n d the g r a c e o f l i f e m i g h t b e r e s t o r e d . "

" E x p l a n a t i o P s a l m i 3 5 , " ch. 3, Opera, ed. M. P e t s c h e n i g , CSEL, L X I V

(Leipzig 1919) 51. ^ "The Tree of Life in the m iddle of Paradise is Christ in the But the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil,

middle of his Church.

which itself too is said to be in the m iddle of Paradise, signifies the Devil." Saint Ambrose, Expositio super septem visiones libri Apocalypsis

(PL 17.778).

12

"Sin is more fruitful than innocence."

De Jacob , Bk. 1, ch. vi,

Fortunate ruin

21 (PL 14.607). 13 "In order that he might be redeemed b y Christ. w h i c h is repaire d to advantage'."

In Psalmum XXXIX, 20 (PL 14.1116). De inin

Other texts in w h i c h Ambrose expresses a similar idea include:

stitutione virginis, 104, "Amplius nobis p r ofuit culpa q u a m nocuit:

quo redemptio qu i d e m n ostra d i v i n u m m unus invenit" (PL 16.331); Ep. 73, 9, "Crevit qui d e m culpa per L e g e m sed et culpae auctor superbia soluta est, idque mihi profuit; superbia e n i m culpa invenit, culpa a u t e m gratiam fecit" (PL 16.1253). ^ B. Capelle, " L 'Exultet Pascal oeuvre de Saint Ambroise,"AiiseeZ-

lanea Mercati I, 219-246; Nouveau Petit Larousse (1969) s.v. "felix

culpa," w h i c h gives Augustine as the author. For a review of recent discussion on the authorship of the Exultet, see G.M. Lukken, Original

Sin in the Roman Liturgy (Leiden 1973) 218 f.

^ A. Franz, Die kirahliahen Benediktionen im Mittelalter (Freiburg i m B rei s g a u 1909) 534. ^ ^

Rebuke and Grace; Saint Augustine (Paris 1836-9) X, 1307.

"We have come to m o r e good through the ineffable grace of Christ

than we came to mi s e r y through the envy of the Devil."

First Sermon on

the Lord's Ascension (PL 54.396).

18 "Great, indeed, are the evils w e deservedly s uffer in consequence of the first sin; b u t w h o of the elect w o u l d n o t w i l l i n g l y endure still worse evils, rat h e r than n o t have so great a Redeemer?"

In Primum Regum

Expositiones, 4, 7 (PL 79.222).

19 "Grieving b e cause of the infidelity of the first created man, w h e n by eating of the fatal fruit h e rushed headlo n g to death, the Creator himself even then chose the tree that w o u l d undo the h a r m of the (former) tree. This w o r k the plan of our salva t i o n demanded, that divine craft

might foil the cunning of the many shaped deceiver, a n d br i n g forth a remedy from the same source w h e n c e the enemy has i n f l icted the wound." A.S. Walpole, Early Latin Hymns (Cambridge 1922) 168.
20

"Tree, brilliant and decorated, ornamented w i t h king's purple,

I consider you worthy, s e l ected to touch such sacred limbs" (Walpole, p. 176).

21

F o r a review of all the rood-tree legends, see E.C. Quinn, The

Quest o f Seth for the Oil o f Life (Chicago 1962) w i t h e x t e nsive b i b l i o

graphy; for the Jewish background, see R.H. Charles, e d . , The Apocrypha

and Pseudepigrapha o f the Old Testament (Oxford 1913) 123-54.

22

Ferdinand Piper, "Der B a u m des Lebens," Evangelisaher Kalender Trans., "The Tree of Life," Journal o f Saored Literature, M a r y is h a i l e d as

(1963) 1-94.

N.S. 4 (1864) 393; 6 (1865) 27-28; 8 (1866) 59-60. the Tree of Life in me d i aeval hymns:

"Ave, virgo, l i g n u m m i te,/ Quae ("Hail virgin, luscious tree, Guido

didisti fructum vitae/ Salute fidelium."

which gives the fruit of life for the health of the faithful."

M aria Dreves, e d . , Analecta hymnica medii aevi, X X XV (Leipzig 1900) 137. "Ave, Virgo, vitae lignum," ibid. 172. 23 Quinn, p. 74. 24 C. Witke, review of The Quest o f Seth, Speculum, 47 (1966) 361. 25 Guillaume de Deguileville: Le pelerinage de l'me, ed. J. J. Sturzinger (London 1895). 26 Frederick Hartt, " Lignum Vitae in Media Paradisi, the Stanza d'Eliodoro and the Sistine Ceiling," Art Bulletin, 32 (1950) 138; Mi r e lla Levi D'Ancona, The Iconography of the Immaculate Conception in the

Middle Ages and Early Renaissance , A r c h a eological I n s t itute of A m erica

and the College Art A s s o c i a t i o n of America, Monographs o n A r c h a e o l o g y and Fine Arts, No. 7 (New Y o r k 1957) 49-50. 27 Purgatorio XXXII. 49-51; see Charles S. Singleton, trans., The

Divine Comedy; Purgatorio, 2, Commentary (Princeton 1973) 788-89.

28 "Nothing, however, stands in the w a y of human nature's b e i n g lifted to something greater, even a fter sin; God permits evil that he might draw forth some greater good. Thus the text in R omans reads,

'Where wickedness abounded, grace abounded yet more'; and in the b l e s s ing of the Paschal Candle, '0 happy fault that has m e r i t e d such a n d so

great a redeemer!'" (3, 1, 3 ad 3 ) .

"Everywhere in sacred Scripture,

however, the sin of the first m a n is given as the reason for the Incar nat ion ; thus it is prefe r a b l e to h o l d that the w o r k of the I ncarnation is o rdered by G od as a remedy for sin, in such a w a y that if there had b e e n no sin, there w o u l d h a v e b e e n no Incarnation. course, is not D ivine power, of

li m ited to this, for God could h a v e become incarnate R.J. Hennessey, St.

even if there h a d b e e n no sin" (3, 1, 3 Resp.).

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Latin text and English translation

(New Y o r k 1976) XLVIII , 18-21. 29

Religious Lyrics o f the Fifteenth Century, ed. C a r leton Brown

D o not

(1939; rpt. Oxford 1952) 120. 30 "Remember k i n d Jesus/ h o w I am the cause of y o u r life./ destroy me this day." (Tournai 1956) 1811. 31

The Liber Usualis, ed. Benedictines of Solesmes

The Minor Poems o f John Lydgate, ed. H. N. MacCracken, EETS, E.

S. 107 (London 1911) 293, and "On the image of Pity," p. 298.
32 Brown, No. 15, p. 30.

33

"If on a c count of s i n the O l d A d a m h ad n o t fallen/ The Mother

could not have bee n exalted o n account of the Child;/ But b e c a u s e she could not remedy h e r o w n sin/ The V i r g i n engend e r e d a child b y w h o m the remedy could be applied./ Therefore, for the unfort u n a t e y o u must inter 0

cede/ [Thou who] w a s t M o t h e r of the Christ on account of our sins./

Mo t h e r of Christ, A n g l i a is truly y o u r dowry;/ P r o t e c t the K i n g d o m and its King, 0 Virgin, through a pure prayer." College, Cambridge. M S 129, Library, St. John's

I a m grateful to Father Raymond-M. G i g ure of the

Institut d'Etudes Mdivales, Montral, for h e l p w i t h t ransliteration and translation of these previously unpub l i s h e d verses. 34 Vi c t o r Y elv e r t o n Haines, "Allusions to the felix culpa in the Prologue of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," Revue de l'Universit d'

Ottawa, 44 (1974) 158-78.

35 . . . M.R. James, introd., Speculum humanae salvatioms, being a repro Ewald M. Vetter, " N ecessarium Adae Peccatum," Ruperto-Carola, 39

duction o f an Italian MS o f the fourteenth century (Oxford 1926) 8 .

36 (1966) 144-81. 37 Palermo, Ga l leria Nazionale della Sicilia, Inv. no. 75; R. Delogu,

La galleria nazionale della Siailia (Itinerari dei musei, gallerie e monumenti d'ltalia) (1962), plates 71-72; Jan Gossaert genaamd Mabuse,
Catalogue of the Exhibition at R o t t e r d a m and Bruges (1965), plates la-c. 38 J.B. Trapp, "The Iconography of the Fall of Man" in Approaches

to Paradise Lost, ed. C.A. Patrides (London 1968) 226.

39 40 41 Ibid. p. 238. Ibid. p. 224. Myrtilla Avery, The Exultet Bolls of Southern Italy II (Vol. I

not published)(Princeton 1936); Guglielmo Cavallo, Rotoli de Exultet

dell Italia Mridionale (Bari 1973).

42 43 44 Trapp, p. 238. Troia, Cathedral Archives, Exultet Roll (3); Avery, plate clxxix. * . Paris, Bibliothque n a t i o n a l e (Nouv. acq. lat. 710). Exultet

Roll; Avery, plate lxxvii. 45 Pisa, Museo Civica. Exultet Roll (2); Avery, plate xcii. 46 Pisa, Museo Civica, Exultet Roll (3); Avery, plate ci. 47 B.M. Add. MS. 30337. Exultet Roll; Avery, plate xlix. 48 Rome, Biblioteca V a t icana (Vat. Barb. Lat. 592). Exultet Roll; Avery, plate cl. 49 Ernst Guldan, Eva und Maria: Koln 1966), plate 30.
50 Ibid. p. 60. 5 1 Ibid. p. 60.

Eine Antithese als Bildmotiv (Graz-

52

Reproduced in A l f r e d Stange, Deutsche Malerei der Gotik (1938; For interpretation of the a l l egory see Rose

rpt. Liechtenstein 1969) .

m arie Bergmann, "A German Nativity Miniature and its Iconographie Sig n ificance," RACAR, 4 (1977) 11-12. 53 Reproduced in R oger Cook, The Tree o f Life: (London 1974), plate 46. 54 Ibid. p. 103. Gottingen, Universitatsbibliothek, cod. theol. 231, fol. 60; A. Goldschmidt, Die deutsahe Buchmalerei (1928) II, plate 106. Kassel, Landesbibliothek, cod. theol. 2, 60, fol. 1; A. Gold schmidt, Die deutsahe Buchmalerei (1928) I, plate 82; Kunst und Kultur

Symbol o f the Centre

im Weserraum, 800-1600, Catalogue, Exhibition, Corvey, 1966; Catalogue,

M u n s t e r / W e s t f ., 1966 (ii), no. 173.

^ 7 About 1000, Metz, B i b liothque de la ville.

See A. Goldschmidt,

Die Elfenbeinskulpturen der karolingischen und saahsischen Kaiser, viiixi Jhdt, I (Berlin 1914), no. 78.
58

Reallexikon sur deutschen Kunstgesehiahte , I (1938), s.v. Adam,

Abb. 19; Guldan, p late 38. 59 See note 25 above. For typical illustration of the two trees in the Plerinage, see B o d leian MS. D ouce 305, fol. 45, 55v. ^ ^ Guldan, plates 48, 49. B.M. Sloane MS. 2471, fol. 102v; M i r e l l a Levi D'Ancona, The Icono (c. 1420).

graphy o f the Immaculate Conception in the Middle Ages and Early Renai ssance, Archaeo l o g i c a l Institute of A m e r i c a and the College Art A s s o c i a
tion of America, Monogr a p h s on A r c h a e o l o g y and Fine Arts, No. 7 (New Y o r k 1957), fig. 39.

^
64 ^

Cook, p. 121. Ibid. plate 49. Ibid. p. 106. Gustav Ludwig, "Giovanni Bellinis sogenannte M a d o n n a a m See,"

Jahrbuch der preussischen Kunstsammlungen, 33 (1902) 163 f; a n d G. R o b e r t

son, Giovanni Bellini (Oxford 1968) 99. Enriqueta Harris, "Mary in the Burning Bush," Jour. Warburg Inst. 1 (1937-38) 281-86; C. Minott, " A N o t e o n N i colas Froment's 'Burning Bush Triptych'," Jour. Warburg Inst. 25 (1962) 323-25.
6 7 Ibid. 284.

68

Mil l a r d Meiss and Edith W. Kirsch, eds., The Visconti Hours (New

Y o r k 1972), LF50v, 51.

Note 49 above. Note 7 above.

7^ "Receiving this A v e from the m o u t h of Gabriel, found us in peace rev ersing the name of Eve." F.J.E. Raby, ed., The Oxford Book o f Medie

val Latin Verse (Oxford 1959) 410; Guldan, p. 45.

72

See the several plates in L e o n h a r d Kuppers et al, eds., Marien-

bild (Essen 1968); Ernst G u nther Grimme, Deutsche Madonnen (Koln 1966);
M a u r i c e Vloberg, La Vierge et I'Enfant dans l'art franais, 2nd ed. (Grenoble 1934) II, 23 f.

N o t e 22 above; D ' A n c o n a ,

fig.

31, 36, 38, 39, 40.

Codex Vigilanus; R e p r o d u c e d in G r a r d d e C h a m p e a u x , Introduction au monde des symboles ( Saint L g e r Va u b a n , Y o n n e 1966), p l a t e s 109 a n d

110 . ^ Tr a p p , p. 257; S i g r i d Esche, Adam und Eva:

Sundenfall und Er-

losung ( D s s e l d o r f 1957) 34.

^ For e x a mple: J o h n Do n n e , LXXX Sermons preached by that learned

and reverend divine, John Donne (London, R i c h a r d R o y s o n a n d R. M a r r i o t ,

1640) 171; D u B a r t a s , La seconde semaine, " L ' i m p o s t u r e , " 1. 497 f., in

The Works of Guillaume De Salluste Sieur Du Bartas, ed. U.T. H o l m e s , L.

C. L yons, a n d R.W. L i n k e r (Chapel Hill, N.C. 1940) III, 42; G i l e s F l e t in G i l e s a n d P h i n e a s F l e t c h e r , Poeti cher, Christ's Triumph over Death,

cal Works, ed. F.S. B o a s ( C a m b r i d g e 1908) I, 61; St. F r a n o i s d e Sales, Trait de l amour de Dieu Bk. 2, ch. 5 (Paris 1 9 2 5 - 2 6 ) 58. Piers the Plowman, B - t e x t , p a s s u s V, 11. 49 0 - 9 2 , ed. W a l t e r W.
Skeat (1886; 78 rpt. L o n d o n 1954) I, 176.

Select English Works o f John Wycliff, S e r m o n XC, I, ed. T h o m a s

A r n o l d ( O xford 1869) 320-21. 79 J o h n M i l t o n , Paradise Lost, XI. 88-89, d o n 1971).

ed. A l a s t a i r F o w l e r

(Lon

L o v e j o y d i s c u s s e s the felix culpa i n XII. 4 6 9-78; 385-86, a n d VII.

it a l s o

o c c u r s in I. 1 6 2 - 6 5 and 2 11-15, II. 14-16,

613-17.

Figure I

Exu/tet Roll, c. 1200 Troia, Cathedral Archives, Exu/tet Roll (3)

Symbol of the centre

Roger Cook

Figure 2

"Tree of Life and Death," Berthold Furtmeyer (1481)

Figure 3 " Bea utiful Mad o nna" fro m Seeon a m Chiemsee (c. 1430) Bayer isches Nationalmuseum, Munich