When angels fall: when? why? and where?

When I was a lot younger and more of a metal head, I really liked a song that had a phrase ‘when angels fall.’ Now, almost a decade later, this turned in to a pestering question ‘when DO angels fall?’  As it turned out trying to find out ‘when do the angels fall’ is just as impossible as telling the exact date for ‘once upon a time’. One of my favorite summaries of the most popular possibilities is given by  B.Murdoch in The Medieval Popular Bible: Expansions of Genesis in the Middle Ages (Suffolk, 2003) p 23

The Bible gives us very little help on precisely when the angels, including those destined to fall, were created. Most frequently in vernacular writings  in the west, the angels, including Lucifer, are viewed as having been created as part of heaven, either outside time, or specifically on the first day of the Creation. A text as early as Jubilees has them created on the first day. Though a separate tradition – with a reference in the longer version of the Slavonic II Enoch  - has them created on the second, a choice supported in rabbinic and also in Christian writings on the grounds that God is uniquely not reported in Genesis to have seen that things were good on the second day. Usually the fall of the angels comes on that day too, but rabbinic texts also have them falling on the third day , and the Greek and Slav Palaea Historica has the rebellion on the fourth day, linked with the creation of the stars. The Vita Adae tradition, which is the apocryphal work with the greatest resonance in vernacular texts, has Lucifer’s fall on the sixth day, after the creation of Adam, but this is linked with thematic differences in that work and with variant reason for this fall. 

 Thus they fell either before or after creation, and if after then on one of the 6 first days. Lucky for me artists usually went with day one or before creation, like in this illumination where you can just make out the angels falling through the blue void behind God creator

God Creator, Guyart des Moulins, Historia Scholastica, British Library, Royal 19 D.III, fol 3r, France, c.1411.

 Searching for the answer to 'When?' lead to the question of 'Why?' 

It turned out that the Miltonesque rebel was not how Lucifer was first imagined. Some 2 000 years before that the devil was a leader of the Watcher angels who fell in love (or lusted) after human women, and decided to have families and children with them. Unfortunately the two races were not meant to mix as the kids they bore were the monstrous Nephelim. Interestingly despite that the Book of Enoch still shows Satan and his fallen angels as good fathers and part of their punishment is to see their kids destroyed. 

In the Book of Enoch the angels first descent to Earth and then they are thrown in to the pit, so it was not a direct fall to hell it happened in stages. Thus the question of 'Why?' lead to 'Where?' and staying true to my Devil Poster habit  I made a mini poster:

  

So what can I conclude from all this? (besides that asking questions leads to more questions and more answers) That the fall of the angels has always been a changing narrative, considering it is not to be found in the Bible I am amazed it even came in to existence! And as brilliant as Paradise Lost is, part of me is sad that it overshadowed everything with its popularity as it would have been interesting to see how the narrative could have developed without the Miltonesque influence. 

Holkham Bible: Satan enthroned.

fig 1. Holkham Bible, MS 47682, fol 2, British Library, England, 1327-1340, (detail).

The crowning of Satan, from one of my favorite manuscripts the Holkham picture Bible (1327-1340) a book created by an amateur (Figure 1, 2). The proposed, by Michelle Brown, amateurism of the creator certainly explains the very unorthodox image of the creation of the world. Usually God would be shown creating the world while the angels are worshiping him, or if they are the rebel angels then they would be falling in to the fiery pit of hell (Figure 3), but here we have Satan enthroned.

fig 2. Holkham Bible, MS 47682, fol 2, British Library, England, 1327-1340.

Fig 3. Queen Mary Psalter, Royal MS 2 B. vii, fol. 1v, British Library, England, 1310-1320.

I must admit that this is the first crowning of Satan that I have seen, thought there are quite a few depictions of crowning or worshiping of Antichrist but that is usually shown in the context of Revelation, moreover Satan and Antichrist are different characters. This image is truly unique in its depiction of the crowning of the Devil before the fall, and positioning the scene above God’s head.



Even more interesting is where the idea came from. Medieval theologians usually explained the motivation behind Satan’s fall being envy, that is Satan wanting to be like God. But this definitely does not show envy, this shows Satan trying to replace God as ruler. The only famous and widely disseminated narrative where Satan wanted God’s throne was the Anglo Saxon poem Genesis A&B, which can be found in the Caedmon manuscript (Figure 4). In it the devil is described as being second to God (very different from Augustine who suggested that the devil was one of the lesser category angels) and boasting that he will establish a throne in the Northern part of heaven (interestingly the Northern part of the church is sometimes called the devils side, and the door on the Northern wall is known as the ‘Devil’s door’). In the meantime, God finds out about the boasting but instead of expelling the angel he first creates hell as the rebels' personal prison and then he throws them there. The twist of this story is that it is happening before the creation of the world and reality. This small detail might be relevant to this depiction as the crowning of Satan and hell mouth are located outside the circle of creation in which we see God creating earth while the moon and the sun rotate around him.

 

Fig 4. Caedmon Manuscript, MS Junius 11, fol 3, Bodleian Library, England, c. 1000.

An alternative explanation for crowning Satan is political - 1327-1340 was a very chaotic time for Britain. In 1327 Isabella of France Queen consort of England and her lover Mortimer overthrew Edward II and his ‘ favorite’ and claimed the thrown for Edward III. Because Edward III was underage at the time it was his mother and her lover who reigned. Edward II was imprisoned, his ‘ favorite’ was executed (he was very unpopular with most of the English Barons), 6 months later Edward II, himself, was assassinated. Popular legend has it that he was killed by having a red-hot poker thrust into his anus, although there is no contemporary evidence to this. The myth probably arose as a comment on the king’s homosexual tendencies. Isabella and Mortimer then ruled until 1330 when Edward III took over the thrown and executed Mortimer, as for his mother he gave her a generous pension and sent her away from the public eye. In this way the crowned Satan can be a reference to a wrongful ruler, and the pit underneath him is the foreshadowing of his fall.

The Devil Poster and Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year

At the beginning of the month my Brief History of the Devil poster came in third at Glasgow University's Images of Research competition. And here it is:

and the link to the picture is here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gfibjrkbzqt0wb2/devil%20poster.png 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

The one in Oxford (and a very belated Happy Halloween)

MS Douce 134, fol. 098r

I don't know how it happened and I am still fairly certain that I got a wrong e-mail but Oxford Boleian library granted me access to one of their greatest treasures (this is very subjective considering almost every manuscript they own is a treasure), that I was dying to see for quite a while –  Le Livre de La vigne nostre seigneur (MS Douce 134). Thought ridiculously famous in some circles there were no extended studies done on the images or the text. The most coherent description of the manuscript and its history was sent to me from Oxford and fits in to one paragraph:

 

The Livre de la vigne nostre Seigneur (the title comes from the parable of the labourers in the vineyard) in MS. Douce 134 is an illustrated treatise on the Antichrist, Last Judgement, Hell, and Heaven. Bought by Douce at a Paris auction, 1823. Apparently the only surviving copy of its anonymous text. The text is in French prose, enriched with Latin biblical and patristic quotations: there are many corrections and insertions by the original scribe. The miniatures are by several hands. The table of contents specifies that this is book 2; Grenoble, Bibliotheque municipale, MS. 337, calls itself book 1 of the same text, and has a colophon stating that it was completed on 5 March 1463 and that book 2 was made before book 1. Book 1 is a treatise on the Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection of Christ. The Grenoble manuscript is not by the same scribe or artist, and its illustrations are confined to the margins; the pair (if they are really the two halves of the same set) had been separated by the 16th century. The Grenoble manuscript reached its present home from the Grande Chartreuse only a few miles away, and the double-page miniature of the heavenly court in the Douce manuscript  (fols. 144v-145r) features Carthusian saints very prominently: perhaps produced by professional artists for a lay patron with Carthusian connections?    

MS Douce. 134fol. 095v

 

My interest in Livre de la Vigne or how I like to call it Monster Book is simple– demons. They are almost on every single page and their variety and diversity is stunning. The most interesting aspect of these demonic depictions is that according to F. Carey (The Apocalypse and the Shape of Things to Come, p.93) ‘many of the details of the pictorial depictions follow the account in the text, which incorporates the description (in Latin ) from the book of Job 41:5-12: 

(41-5) Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about. (41-6) His body is like molten shields, shut close up with scales pressing upon one another. (41-7) One is joined to another, and not so much as any air can come between them: (41-8) They stick one to another and they hold one another fast, and shall not be separated. (41-9) His sneezing is like the shining of fire, and his eyes like the eyelids of the morning. (41-10) Out of his mouth go forth lamps, like torches of lighted fire. (41-11) Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, like that of a pot heated and boiling. (41-12) His breath kindleth coals, and a flame cometh forth out of his mouth (Doug Rheims Bible)’

I should also notice that elements such as seven heads (like the image on the very top) and ten horns are taken from Apocalypse 12 and 13.

Douce 134, fol. 067v

This is important because it shows that the depiction of the devil at least in this manuscript is to some extent based on scripture and not social expectations of what the devil should like and artistic imagination. Moreover, knowing that some elements were consciously taken from biblical text it is easier to see what the artist added (and then succumb to wild speculation as to why).

Most importantly now I can play the game ‘spot a biblical description’ when I get my hands on the manuscript and in the mean time everyone can enjoy the digital facsimile here.