Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-cnmwb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-16T12:16:07.788Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Arbores of Joachim of Fiore

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2013

Marjorie Reeves
Get access

Extract

The image of the tree has been powerful in the human imagination and therefore fruitful as a source of metaphor. In ancient mythologies it appears as a cosmic symbol and it is entwined, root and branch, in Christian thought. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil overshadows Man's fall; the ‘Tree’ of the Cross dominates his salvation; the Tree of Life, which sheltered him in the Garden of Eden, heals him in the New Jerusalem. In the great prophetic image of Isaiah, the turning-point of history becomes the young shoot of an ancient tree:

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

In course of time, too, the great crisis of wickedness also appears in Jewish thought under the same figure:

And there came forth out of them a sinful root, Antiochus Epiphanes. Again, in Jewish thought good men are trees that flourish:

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season, his leaf also shall not wither.

Type
Research Article
Information
Papers of the British School at Rome , Volume 24: Studies in Italian Medieval History , November 1956 , pp. 124 - 136
Copyright
Copyright © British School at Rome 1956

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Genesis ii. 9; iii. 6; Revelation xii. 2.

2 Isaiah xi. 1.

3 I Maccabees i. 10.

4 Psalms i. 3; see also Jeremiah xvii. 8.

5 Matthew vii. 17–20.

6 Isaiah lxv. 22.

7 Romans xi. 16–18.

8 Matthew xiii. 31–32.

9 Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 12–17; also i. 20.

10 The material in this paragraph is drawn from the following studies: Watson, A., Early Iconography of the Tree of Jesse (London, 1934)Google Scholar; Bauerreiss, R., Arbor Vitae (Abhandl. der Bayerischen Benediktiner Akademie, Bd. III, Munich, 1938Google Scholar); Katzenellenbogen, A., Allegories of the Virtues and Vices in Mediaeval Art (London, 1939Google Scholar); Spitzer, L., Essays in Historical Semantics (New York, 1948), pp. 67–104Google Scholar. See also Saxl, F., ‘A Spiritual Encyclopaedia of the Later Middle Ages,’ Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, v (1942), pp. 107–115Google Scholar, describing a fifteenth century MS. with 26 allegorical trees.

11 Bauerreiss, op. cit., pp. 4–5, 24.

12 Watson, op. cit., passim; Bauerreiss, op. cit., p. 132; Spitzer, op. cit., p. 73 et seq.

13 Katzenellenbogen, op. cit., pp. 64–68; Spitzer, op. cit., pp. 80–81.

14 Spitzer, op. cit., p. 80; see De fructibus carnis et spiritus, in Migne, , Patrologia Latina, clxxvi, 997 seqGoogle Scholar.

15 Watson, op. cit., pp. 77–81.

16 Katzenellenbogen, op. cit., p. 65.

17 Migne, , Patrologia Latina, ccxi, 699–711Google Scholar. Adam develops the theme of the two trees: ‘In antidotum, ergo, prius arboris, cuius fructus mortem intulit, de virgulto Davidicae stirpis, hanc vitam fructificans, Virga processit … O arborem fructuosam, in medio paradisi plantatam, ramis expansam, radice firmatam! … Inter bonas arbores incomparabiliter optima est virga de radice Jesse, ex qua vitae fructus processit.’

18 For the full description of this MS., see Tondelli, L., Reeves, M. and Hirsch-Reich, B., Il Libro delle Figure dell'Abate Gioachino da Fiore, ii (Turin, 1953Google Scholar). All subsequent references to the Liber Figurarum are to this edition.

19 Lib. Fig., p. 18.

20 As, for example, the trees of Ramon Lull in the Arbor Scientiae, although the tree is to Lull more than a diagrammatic device, symbolising ‘the working of the elements in nature.’ See Yates, F. A., ‘The Art of Ramon Lull,’ Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, xvii, 1954, pp. 141, 144 seqGoogle Scholar.

21 See especially Liber Concordie (Venice, 1519), fols. 8r–10r, 18r–20r, 22v–23r, 43r, 56v, 62v; Expositio in Apocalypsim (Venice, 1527), fols. 19r–19v, 83r–83v, 93v. All subsequent references to these works are to the edition cited here.

22 Revelations xxii. 2; see also Ezechiel xlvii. 12.

23 Lib. Conc., fol. l.

24 Ibid., fols. 2r–5r.

25 Ibid., fols. 5r–5v.

26 Reeves, M., ‘The Liber Figurarum of Joachim of Fiore,’ Mediaeval and Renaissance Studies, ii, 1950, pp. 74–77Google Scholar.

27 Lib. Conc., fol. 10v.

28 Ibid., fols. 11r–11v, 16r, 17r, 24v.

29 Lib. Conc., fol. 13v.

30 Psalterium decem cordarum (Venice, 1527), fols. 227r–227v.

31 Lib Conc., fol. 19r.

32 Ibid., fols. 13v–14v, 19r–23r.

33 Lib. Conc., fol. 23r.

34 Ibid., fol. 23r.

35 Ibid., fol. 22r.

36 Ibid., fol. 13v.

37 Ibid., fol. 14v.

38 It gives the chief sequence of names: Adam, Jacob, Ozias, Christ, Benedict, Bernard; it also marks the three status and names the three persons of the Trinity, but these are not logically placed, and there are four branches each side, for no intelligible reason.

39 Vatican, Cod. Lat. 3821, fol. 18r.

40 Vatican, Cod. Lat. 4860, fol. 289r. This occurs in extracts from the Lib. Conc. (fols. 1–14 in the Ven. edition) which occupy fols. 281–289.

41 A. Thirteenth-century manuscripts:

(1) Vatican, Cod. Lat. 4861, fol. 25r: rubric after the passage quoted above ending interior acies illustretur: Require arborem hanc in fine huius libri; fol. 211v (last page): figure of single tree.

(2) Vatican, Cod. Lat. 4860, fol. 289r: tree from which printed one derived.

(3) Rome, Bibl. Corsini, Cod. 41, F.2, fol. 14r: blank column left for tree.

(4) Padua, Bibl. Anton., Cod. 328, fols. 17v–18r: two half-pages blank for tree; fol. 26r: after the passage quoted above ending nullatenus dari potest, another sentence is added, ending in subiecta figura diligenter ostenditur; there follows an arrangement of lists of generations so as to form the three trees with their overlaps.

(5) Paris, Bibl. Nat., Cod. Lat. 15254, fol. 243v: no space for tree; fols. 249v–250r: additional sentence and tree-lists as in MS. Padua.

(6) Paris, Bibl. Nat., Cod. Lat. 16280, fol. 31v: no space for tree; fols. 46v–47v: additional sentence and tree-lists as in MS. Padua.

(7) Paris, Bibl. Nat., Cod. Lat., 10453, fol. 10r: no space for tree: fols. 15r–15v: blank space for tree-lists as in MS. Padua.

B. Fourteenth-century manuscripts:

(1) Vatican, Cod. Lat. 3821, fol. 17v: after acies illustretur, a unique geometrical diagram expressing some of the ideas in the preceding chapters; fol. 18r: single, three-stemmed tree exactly as in Ven. ed.

(2) Florence, Bibl. Laur., Cod. Plut. VIII dextr. X, fol. 20r: after acies illustretur, short blank space; fol. 20v: attempt to represent first tree as a list of generations; fol. 21r: blank; fols. 21v–22r: unique diagram of generation-lists as three trees; fol. 33v: after 0passage ending nullatenus dari potest, additional sentence and diagram of three tree-lists as in MS. Padua.

(3) Paris, Bibl. Nat., Cod. Lat. 3320, fol. 13v: no space for tree.

C. Fifteenth-century manuscripts:

(1) Vatican, Cod. Lat. 5732 (fragment of Lib. Conc.), fol. 48r: no space for tree.

(2) Vatican, Cod. Borghese 190, fol. 26r: space but no tree-figure; fols. 37r–37v: additional sentence and diagram of three tree-lists as in MS. Padua.

(3) Vatican, Cod. Urb. Lat. 8, fol. 20v: after acies illustretur, rubric: sequitur arbor spiritualis in alia columpna, then blank column; fols. 30v–31r: additional sentence and diagram as in MS. Padua.

(4) Rome, Bibl. Casantense, Cod. 1412, fol. 12r no space for tree; fol. 17v: after nullatenus dari potest, space for figure, but instead of tree-lists, figure of circles (Ven. ed., fol. 21v) is misplaced here.

42 Prof.Grundmann, H. was the first to notice he definite connection of this MS. with Fiore. See his Neue Forschungen über Joachim von Fiore Marburg, 1950), p. 31, no. 2Google Scholar.

43 See Plate XV. I am greatly indebted to Miss Jamison who examined this MS. at my request and sent me a full description of the figures before was able to see it myself.

44 According to Dr. Pächt and Dr. Buchthal, both of whom kindly examined a photostat of his figure at my request.

45 Lib. Conc., fol. 22r, quoted above, p. 129.

46 See, for example, Lib. Conc., fols. 42v, 54v, 66v; Expos., fols. 30v, 36v, 127v, 131r, 138r, 208v.

47 Lib. Fig., Pls. i and ii.

48 Expos., fol. 36v.

49 In each case these are arranged as five and five, with two more (representing the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and the churches of Rome and Ephesus respectively) springing from a higher point on the trunk. Cf. Lib. Conc., fol. 13v, quoted on p. 128.

50 Supra, p. 127.

51 There is a gap at the top between the last generation and the words Spiritus Sanctus, whereas no gap appears in the tree of the Second Advent. It is significant that in the latter the ‘end’ of the Old and New Testaments is indicated at the First and Second Advents respectively, but no attempt is made in the former to adapt the Testaments to a pattern of threes.

52 The order assumed here is not that of the edition cited, but one worked out by the author with Dr. Hirsch-Reich; see the Introduction, pp. 19, 32–33.

53 See Plates XVI and XVII; Lib. Fig., Pls. v, vi.

54 The actual branches are four and six, but to each must be added one name written on the side of the trunk, corresponding to the separate branches in the first pair of trees.

55 Lib. Conc., fols. 31v, 57v–58r; Expos., fols. 16v–23v, 48r–50v.

56 The churches of St. Peter are Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople, Rome; those of St. John are the seven churches of the Apocalypse.

57 Peter went into the Sepulchre first and John afterwards (John xx. 3–8); Christ's words recorded in John xxi. 18–22, were interpreted as emphasising the death of Peter before John. See Lib. Conc., fol. 58r; Expos., fols. 17r–18v, 22r–23v, 49v–50v.

58 Dr. Hirsch-Reich has drawn my attention to an interesting parallel symbolism in ancient mythology expounded by Bachofen, J. J., Urreligion u. antike Symbole: Auswahl. herausg. v. C. A. Bernouilli (Leipzig, 1926), i, 263 seqGoogle Scholar. The five and seven represent the two-fold nature of Athene: as quinta she is the material mother, as celebrated in the feast of the birth of Quinquatria and symbolised in the moon; as septima, the immaterial virgin bearing the nature of light and symbolised in the sun. Saxl, loc. cit., p. 108, cites a late medieval example of a tree showing the relation between the seven moments of the Passion, the seven canonical hours and the five senses.

59 The eagle heads appear more plainly in the Reggio MS. which is reproduced in the edition of the Lib. Fig. than in the Oxford MS. from which the plates given here are taken.

60 Psalt. decem cord. (Venice, 1527), fol. 268r. the earliest MSS. the captions are actually written on the feathers, not, as in the printed edition, grouped round the figure. The following are examples of the sequences: ‘Abraam Deus Pater, Isaac Filius, Jacob Spiritus Sanctus … A. exterior homo, I. interior, J. liberi voluntatis arbitrium, 5 & 7 filii, 5 sensus exteriores, 7 motiones animi; A. conjugatus, I. episcopi, J. abbates, 5 & 7 filii, 5 monasteria deputata ad exteriora, 7 ad interiora; A. abbates cassinenses, I. alii qui venerunt post eos, J. alii qui sunt vel futuri sunt, 5 & 7 filii, 5 monasteria et 7 future; … A. prelati primi status, I. prelati secundi, J. prelati tertii, 5 filii, 5 tribus, 5 ecclesie, 5 monasteria, 7 filii, 7 tribus, 7 ecclesie, 7 monasteria.

61 Supra, p. 128.

62 Ezechiel, xvii. 3.

63 Plate XVIII; Lib. Fig., Pls. xx, xxi. The ladder is indicated by crossbars; the tree by roots and foliage.

64 Lib. Conc., fols. 8r, 18r–18v, 42r, 61r, 81v, 99v–100v; Expos., fols. 11v–12v, 18v–20r, 25r, 49r, 82v–83v.

65 The one reproduced here ends in three judgments—of terrena ilia Jerusalem, latina Ecclesia and Israel—whereas the other expresses the consummation of the three Ecclesiae in Finis legis, Finis passionum et vite laboriose, Finis mundi.

66 Plate XIX; Lib. Fig., pl. xxii.

67 Lib. Fig., Pl. xi.

68 Plate XX; Lib. Fig., Pl. xxiii.

69 On the Cistercian order see Lib. Conc., fols. 11r, 23r, 57v–59v, 84r, 94v.

70 Lib. Fig., Pls. xvi. xvii.

71 MS., Dresden A. 121, fol. 94v.

72 Reeves, M. and Hirsch-Reich, B., ‘The Seven Seals in the Writings of Joachim of Fiore,’ Rechcrches de Théologie ancienne et medievale, xxi, 1954, pp. 222–223Google Scholar and the references given therein.

73 Reeves, M. and Hirsch-Reich, B., ‘The Figurae of Joachim of Fiore: Genuine and Spurious Collections’, Mediaeval and Renaissance Studies, iii, 1954, pp. 188–189Google Scholar.

74 See Expositio, fol. 111r, where, in commenting on Rev. v. 4, Joachim deals directly with the theme of the Jesse tree.

75 See Lib. Conc., fol. 4v, for a reference to Antiochus, radix peccati.

76 On Joachim and Dante, see Tondelli, L., Il Libro delle Figure dell'Abate Gioachino da Fiore (2nd ed., Turin, 1953), i, 217–399Google Scholar. I hope in a subsequent article to deal with the influence of Joachim's trees on later writers.