Eszter Losonczi THE VISUAL PATTERNS OF THE WANDERING JEW IN THE LATE MIDDLE AGES MA Thesis in Medieval Studies n o cti e oll C D T e U E C Central European University Budapest May 2012 The Visual Patterns of the Wandering Jew in the Late Middle Ages by Eszter Losonczi (Hungary) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Medieval Studies. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ Chair, Examination Committee ____________________________________________ Thesis Supervisor ____________________________________________ Examiner n o cti e oll ____________________________________________ C D T Examiner e U E C Budapest May 2012 ii The Visual Patterns of the Wandering Jew in the Late Middle Ages by Eszter Losonczi (Hungary) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Medieval Studies. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ External Reader n o cti e oll C D T e U E C Budapest May 2012 iii The Visual Patterns of the Wandering Jew in the Late Middle Ages by Eszter Losonczi (Hungary) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Medieval Studies. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ________________________ Supervisor ____________________________________________ n o cti e External Supervisor oll C D T e U E C Budapest May 2012 iv I, the undersigned, Eszter Losonczi, candidate for the MA degree in Medieval Studies, declare herewith that the present thesis is exclusively my own work, based on my research and only such external information as properly credited in notes and bibliography. I declare that no unidentified and illegitimate use was made of the work of others, and no part of the thesis infringes on any person’s or institution’s copyright. I also declare that no part of the thesis has been submitted in this form to any other institution of higher education for an academic degree. Budapest, 16 May 2012 __________________________ Signature n o cti e oll C D T e U E C v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I give my appreciation to the CEU Medieval Department for providing a unique and rigorous program for me. First, I would like thank Professor Carsten Wilke for his inspiring comments and his dedication in editing my thesis. I also would like to thank Professor Gerhard Jaritz for his practical suggestion which did not let me wander too far. I am also indebted to Professor Bela Zsolt Szakacs who was opened to my suggestions and supported them. I am grateful to Professor Judith Rasson for her patience in correcting my endless mistakes and improving my style. I acknowledge Cristian-Nicolae Gaspar for helping me translate my Latin sources. Finally I give my sincerest appreciation to Manka, Döme, Kati and Dani, I was not able to complete the program without their love and support. n o cti e oll C D T e U E C vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... vi Table of Contents ....................................................................................................... vii List of Figures ............................................................................................................. ix Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 Reviewing Sources from the Secondary Literature ................................................... 1 Chapter 1 Antecedents of the legend of the Wandering Jew ......................................... 5 The biblical concept of exile .................................................................................... 6 The concept of exile in the Second Temple and Talmudic Periods ........................... 9 Post-biblical personifications of exile ..................................................................... 11 Cain the fratricide and wanderer ............................................................................ 11 Enoch the possessor of immortality ........................................................................ 12 Elijah the Wanderer ............................................................................................... 13 The roots of the legend in the Christian sources ..................................................... 14 n o cti e oll A version of the Malchian aspect ........................................................................... 16 C D T e The legend of immortals in non-biblical texts......................................................... 17 U E C The story of a Jewish Wanderer ............................................................................. 18 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 19 Chapter 2 The textual tradition of the Wandering Jew ................................................ 20 vii The first written sources and the Cartaphilus tradition ............................................ 20 The Buttadeus tradition .......................................................................................... 24 Buttadeus, an example of longevity ................................................................... 25 Buttadeus, the miracle of the holy places ........................................................... 27 Buttadeus in Passion plays and the Wandering Jew in the Pardoner’s Tale ........ 30 The Wandering Jew – the foreteller ................................................................... 31 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 33 Chapter 3 The Pictorial Definition of the Wandering Jew – Patterns and Types .......... 35 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 35 The earliest examples of visual representations ...................................................... 36 The visual representations of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth century ......... 43 The image from the fourteenth century .................................................................. 43 Images of the fifteenth and the sixteenth century .................................................... 45 The first group: The man as a Jew ..................................................................... 46 Instances of the second group ............................................................................ 48 The Wandering Jew as a mediator figure in Renaissance Art ............................. 61 n o cti e oll Third group – The Wandering Jew is individualized .......................................... 67 C D T e Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 70 U E C Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 73 Bibliography .............................................................................................................. 77 viii LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 1: Vitae Sanctorum, www.bildindex.de/dokumente/html/obj20390729 – ewiger Jude, last accessed 15.05.2012 Fig. 2: Gilbertus Universalis, Lamentationes Hieremiae; Augustine, Tractatus in epistolam Iohannis. From: G. Leidinger, . Miniaturen aus Handschriften der Bäyerischen Staatbibliothek in München 7 (Munich, 1924), 66. Fig. 3:. Gilbertus Universalis, Lamentationes Hieremiae; Augustine, Tractatus in epistolam Iohannis. From: G. Leidinger, Miniaturen aus Handschriften der Bäyerischen Staatbibliothek in München 7 (Munich, 1924), 109. Fig. 4: Matthew Paris, Chronica Majora. From: Suzanne. Lewis, The Art of Matthew Paris in the Chronica Majora (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987), 301. Fig. 5: William de Brailes, Book of Hours. From: http://ica.princeton.edu/images/mss/london/britlib/066319.jpg, last accessed 15.05.2012 Fig. 6: Andrea di Bonaiuto, The Road to Calvary. From: http://www.casasantapia.com/images/art/andreabuonaiuti/christbearing700.jpg, last accessed 15.05.2012 Fig. 7: Master of Tegernsee, Tabula Magna Altar From: Ruth Mellinkoff, Outcasts: n Signs of Otherness in Northern European Art of the Late Middle Ages, vol 2 (Berkeley: o cti e oll University of California Press, 1993), 6.38. C D T e Fig. 8: Quentin Massys, Lamentation, From: U E C http://www.cgfaonlineartmuseum.com/massys/p-massys9.htm, last accessed 15.05. 2012 ix Fig. 9: Martin Schongauer, The Large Road to Calvary. From: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/?period=08&region=euwc, last accessed 15.05.2012 Fig. 10: Israhel van Meckenem, The Large Road to Calvary. From: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_ image.asp, last accessed 15.05.2012 Fig. 11: Monogramist WAH, The Large Road to Calvary, http://www.bildindex.de/dokumente/html/obj30109077, last accessed 15.05.2012 Fig. 12: Christ bearing the Cross, Allgau. From Ruth Mellinkoff, Outcasts: Signs of Otherness in Northern European Art of the Late Middle Ages vol 2 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), 4.49. Fig. 13: Christ bearing the Cross, Book of Hours, French. From: http://utu.morganlibrary.org/medren/single_image2.cfm?page=ICA000139268&imagen ame=m26.112v.jpg, last accessed 15.05.2012 Fig. 14: Crucifixion, Baumberg. From: Alfred Stange, Deutsche Malerei der Gotik 10 (Berlin: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1960), 113. Fig. 15: Detail of Altarpiece of St. Anne, Frankfurt. From: Sarah Blick, Rita Tekippe, ed., Art and Architecture of Late Medieval Pilgrimage in Northern Europe and the n British Isles (Leiden: Brill, 2005), plates, fig. 11. o cti e oll Fig. 16: Hieronymus Bosch, Last Judgment altar. From: C D T e http://www.friendsofart.net/en/art/hieronymus-bosch/st-james-the-greater, last accessed U E C 15.05.2012 Fig. 17: Master LCZ, Strache Altar. From: Ruth Mellinkoff, Outcasts: Signs of Otherness in Northern European Art of the Late Middle Ages vol 2 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), 3.47. x