Saints

St. Barbara was a popular virgin martyr; this means that she is almost certainly legendary. In this miniature, she is reading a Christian book, while her father builds a tower in the background in order to imprison her. Eventually he discovered that she was a Christian, and had her tortured and beheaded.

This miniature comes from a Book of Hours which once belonged to Mary of Burgundy (The Master of Mary Burgundy, ed. J.J.G. Alexander (New York: George Braziller, 1970) 36) and thus invites us to speculate about what such images of women might have meant to real women.

Saint Michael, 15th century Bungundian, from Autun. If you look closely, you can see that he has wings (they are somewhat damaged) and that he was originally holding a spear which would have transfixed the dragon at his feet. His hair is typically angelic.

Mary Magdalen, 15th century Burgundian polychrome stone. In real life this statue is impressively large-- perhaps 3/4 life size. The Magdalen is usually shown with her hair down, richly dressed, and carrying an ointment jar. She was usually assumed to be the sister of Lazarus and Martha.

This is also Mary Magdalen, a much earlier vision of her, probably by the same Giselbertus who carved the tympanum at Autun. Originally, she formed part of a sculpture group showing Lazarus rising from the grave; Lazarus is gone, but Mary and Martha survive in the Musee Rollin. Mary is holding her nose; her brother, after all, had been in the ground for several days and was starting to decay.

According to a rather persistent tradition, Mary was one of the apostles; she is supposed to have traveled to France and converted it during the decades after Christ's death. Her relics are still revered at Vezelay. But was she the author of the fragmentary Gospel of Mary? And was she a Gnostic Christian?

Joan of Arc was not canonized until 1920. She is a popular figure in stained glass windows memorializing both World Wars. This one dates from the twenties; the motto (probably not legible on your screen) reads "Jeanne d'Arc +++ delivre Orleans+++ Je suis cy envoyee par Dieu le roy du ciel pour vous bouter hors de toute France" (Joan of Arc delivers Orleans: I am sent here by God the king of Heaven to kick you out of all of France). The threat could obviously be read as being directed at the 20th century German invaders, rather than the English who invaded France during the Hundred Years War.

For more on Joan, try this link. There is also an even more contemporary image of her online.

	St. Barbara was a popular virgin martyr; this means that she is almost certainly legendary. In this miniature, she is reading a Christian book, while her father builds a tower in the background in order to imprison her. Eventually he discovered that she was a Christian, and had her tortured and beheaded. This miniature comes from a Book of Hours which once belonged to Mary of Burgundy (The Master of Mary Burgundy, ed. J.J.G. Alexander (New York: George Braziller, 1970) 36) and thus invites us to speculate about what such images of women might have meant to real women.
	Saint Michael, 15th century Bungundian, from Autun. If you look closely, you can see that he has wings (they are somewhat damaged) and that he was originally holding a spear which would have transfixed the dragon at his feet. His hair is typically angelic.
	Mary Magdalen, 15th century Burgundian polychrome stone. In real life this statue is impressively large-- perhaps 3/4 life size. The Magdalen is usually shown with her hair down, richly dressed, and carrying an ointment jar. She was usually assumed to be the sister of Lazarus and Martha.
	This is also Mary Magdalen, a much earlier vision of her, probably by the same Giselbertus who carved the tympanum at Autun. Originally, she formed part of a sculpture group showing Lazarus rising from the grave; Lazarus is gone, but Mary and Martha survive in the Musee Rollin. Mary is holding her nose; her brother, after all, had been in the ground for several days and was starting to decay. According to a rather persistent tradition, Mary was one of the apostles; she is supposed to have traveled to France and converted it during the decades after Christ's death. Her relics are still revered at Vezelay. But was she the author of the fragmentary Gospel of Mary? And was she a Gnostic Christian?
	Joan of Arc was not canonized until 1920. She is a popular figure in stained glass windows memorializing both World Wars. This one dates from the twenties; the motto (probably not legible on your screen) reads "Jeanne d'Arc +++ delivre Orleans+++ Je suis cy envoyee par Dieu le roy du ciel pour vous bouter hors de toute France" (Joan of Arc delivers Orleans: I am sent here by God the king of Heaven to kick you out of all of France). The threat could obviously be read as being directed at the 20th century German invaders, rather than the English who invaded France during the Hundred Years War. For more on Joan, try this link. There is also an even more contemporary image of her online.