Images and Words: Devils and Demons in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts

88 Pages·2009·35.09 MB·English

Images and Words: Devils and Demons in
Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts

by
Tamara Bergsma (1254782)

Dr. C. Dekker and dr. K.E.E. Olsen
12 December 2008
Masterscriptie opleiding Engelse Taal- en Cultuur,
Faculteit der Letteren, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
List of Illustrations

Figures

1. Satan-Mors. Leofric Missal, Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 579, folio 50r.
2. Reconstruction of Satan-Mors. Leofric Missal, Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 579,
folio 50r.
3. Satan bound. Cædmon Manuscript, Oxford, Bodleian Library, Junius 11, page 3.
4. White devil. Cædmon Manuscript, Oxford, Bodleian Library, Junius 11, page 16.
5. Black devil (detail of the illustration). Book of Kells, Dublin, Trinity College Library,
A. I. 6, fol. 202v.
6. Black devil (detail of the illustration). Book of Kells, Dublin, Trinity College Library,
A. I. 6, fol. 202v.
7. White devil bound. Cædmon Manuscript, Oxford, Bodleian Library, Junius 11, page
20.
8. Fall of Adam and Eve. Cædmon Manuscript, Oxford, Bodleian Library, Junius 11,
page 31.
9. Fall of Adam and Eve. Cædmon Manuscript, Oxford, Bodleian Library, Junius 11,
page 36.
10. Saint Lawrence. Hereford Troper, London, British Library, Cotton Caligula A. xiv,
folio 25r.
11. Saint Martin. Hereford Troper, London, British Library, Cotton Caligula A. xiv, folio
29r.
12. The devil. Liber Vitae, London, British Library, Stowe 944, folio 7r.
13. Temptations of Christ. Tiberius Psalter, London, British Library, Cotton Tiberius C.
vi, folio 10v.
14. Harrowing of Hell. Tiberius Psalter, London, British Library, Cotton Tiberius C. vi,
folio 14.
15. Fall of the devil. Illustrated Hexateuch, London, British Library, Cotton Claudius B.
iv, folio 2r.
16. Fall of Adam and Eve. Illustrated Hexateuch, London, British Library, Cotton
Claudius B. iv, folio 7r.
17. Half-visible demon. Illustrated Hexateuch, London, British Library, Cotton Claudius
B. iv, folio 23v.
18. Demon with general looks. Harley Psalter, London, British Library, Harley 603, folio
4v.
19. Four demons. Harley Psalter, London, British Library, Harley 603, folio 3v.
20. Bearded demons. Harley Psalter, London, British Library, Harley 603, folio 59r.
21. Four demons. Eadwine Psalter, London, British Library, Cotton Galba E. iv, folio 11b.
22. Black demon. Eadwine Psalter, London, British Library, Cotton Galba E. iv, folio 5b.
23. Female demon. Eadwine Psalter, London, British Library, Cotton Galba E. iv, folio
12b.
24. Demons. Eadwine Psalter, London, British Library, Cotton Galba E. iv, folio 152.
25. Demons. Eadwine Psalter, London, British Library, Cotton Galba E. iv, folio 154b.
26. Demon. Eadwine Psalter, London, British Library, Cotton Galba E. iv, folio 163.
27. Naked demon with trident. Eadwine Psalter, London, British Library, Cotton Galba E.
iv, folio 201b.
28. Devil in a pit. Eadwine Psalter, London, British Library, Cotton Galba E. iv, folio
210b.
29. Eight demons. Eadwine Psalter, London, British Library, Cotton Galba E. iv, folio
251b.
30. Demons. Eadwine Psalter, London, British Library MS Cotton Galba E. iv, folio 263.
31. Demon pushing sinners. Eadwine Psalter, London, British Library, Cotton Galba E. iv,
folio 264b.
32. Demon. Eadwine Psalter, London, British Library, Cotton Galba E. iv, folio 268.
33. Temptations of Christ. Winchester Psalter, London, British Library, Cotton Nero C.
iv, folio 18.
34. Flagellation of Christ. Winchester Psalter, London, British Library, Cotton Nero C. iv,
folio 21.
35. Harrowing of Hell. Winchester Psalter, London, British Library, Cotton Nero C. iv,
folio 24.
36. Torment of the Damned. Winchester Psalter, London, British Library, Cotton Nero C.
iv, folio 38.
37. Locking the gates of hell. Winchester Psalter, London, British Library, Cotton Nero C.
iv, folio 39.
38. The Last Judgment. Holkham Bible Picture Book, London, British Library, Add.
47682, folio 42v.
39. Punishment of the Wrathful. The Kalender of Sheepardes. Oxford, Bodleian Library,
Malone 17, sig. E7v.
40. Demons with general looks. Utrecht Psalter, Utrecht, Universiteitsbibliotheek, MS
Bibl. Rhenotraiectinae I Nr 32, folio 4v.
41. Four demons. Utrecht Psalter, Utrecht, Universiteitsbibliotheek, MS Bibl.
Rhenotraiectinae I Nr 32, folio 3v.
42. Several demons. Utrecht Psalter, Utrecht, Universiteitsbibliotheek, MS Bibl.
Rhenotraiectinae I Nr 32, folio 79v.
43. Demons. Utrecht Psalter, Utrecht, Universiteitsbibliotheek, MS Bibl. Rhenotraiectinae
I Nr 32, folio 84r.
44. Two demons. Utrecht Psalter, Utrecht, Universiteitsbibliotheek, MS Bibl.
Rhenotraiectinae I Nr 32, folio 1v.
45. Demons. Utrecht Psalter, Utrecht, Universiteitsbibliotheek, MS Bibl. Rhenotraiectinae
I Nr 32, folio 50r.
46. Demon. Utrecht Psalter, Utrecht, Universiteitsbibliotheek, MS Bibl.
Rhenotraiectinae I Nr 32, folio 53v.
47. Demon pushing sinners. Utrecht Psalter, Utrecht, Universiteitsbibliotheek, MS
Bibl.Rhenotraiectinae I Nr 32, folio 84v.
Introduction

In the illustrations in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, devils and demons are frequent characters.
They appear in different shapes and colours; however, it is not clear where their looks come
from. Did they originate in the Christian tradition, or were they formed long ago in people’s
minds, stories, mythologies, inspired by pagan religions? Devils and demons are also
mentioned often in Anglo-Saxon texts. When one searches for ‘deofol’ in the Dictionary of
Old English Corpus (DOEC) 998 matches are given. This raises the question as to whether
there was any influence from Anglo-Saxon texts on the way in which devils and demons were
depicted in the manuscript illustrations. The idea of finding connections between art and
literature is a relatively new area of research.1
So far, only a limited amount of research has been conducted on Anglo-Saxon
demonology. An important article in this field is that of Louis Jordan, Demonic Elements in
Anglo-Saxon Iconography, in which he underlines the typical Anglo-Saxon elements in
demonological iconography. However, Jordan focuses solely on art and does not make a
connection between literature and art, as I propose to do in this dissertation. Peter Dendle’s
book about Anglo-Saxon demonology, Satan Unbound: The Devil in Old English Narrative
Literature, explores the importance of the character of the devil in narrative literature.
However, his research is confined to Anglo-Saxon literature about the period between the
Harrowing of Hell and the Second Coming. Moreover, he only discusses literature and does
not cross the border to art. Lastly, in the article The Devil in Old English Poetry R.E. Woolf
states that the Anglo-Saxon devil bears close resemblances to gods from northern mythology,
especially to Loki (Woolf 1), but here too only literature is discussed and a link between art
and literature is not made. When looking at these publications on Anglo-Saxon devils and
demons, an investigation of Anglo-Saxon devils and demons in both manuscript illustrations
and literature has not caught the attention of scholars working in this field of research.
In this dissertation I try to see if the image of devils and demons presented in the
Anglo-Saxon manuscript illustrations corresponds to the pictures drawn by the manuscript
artist. If they differ fundamentally, other possible influences on the images of devils and
demons in the Anglo-Saxon illustrations will be considered and discussed. For example, the

1 For further reading material on this subject, see Robillard, Valerie, and Els Jongeneel, ed. Pictures into Words:
Theoretical and Descriptive Approaches to Ekphrasis. Amsterdam: VU University Press, 1998. Also: Olson,
Mary C. Fair and Varied Forms: Visual Textuality in Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts. London: Routledge,
2003.
illustrations may have been influenced by ideas from the Continent, which may have entered
Britain through the exchange of illustrated manuscripts. However, this dissertation does not
try to find the ultimate source or sources of Anglo-Saxon demonology, since this is an almost
impossible undertaking.
In order to compare the devils and demons in the Anglo-Saxon manuscripts with those
in the Anglo-Saxon texts, I will use illustrations from the following manuscripts, which are
listed in chronological order: the Leofric Missal (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 579), the
Cædmon Manuscript (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Junius 11), the Hereford Troper (London,
British Library, Cotton Caligula A. xiv), the Liber Vitae (London, British Library, Stowe
944), the Tiberius Psalter (London, British Library, Cotton Tiberius C. vi), the Old English
Illustrated Hexateuch (London, British Library, Cotton Claudius B. iv), the Harley Psalter
(London, British Library, Harley 603), the Eadwine Psalter (or Canterbury Psalter) (London,
British Library, Cotton Galba E. iv), and the Winchester Psalter (London, British Library,
Cotton Nero C. iv).
Chapter 1 offers an analysis of the devils and demons as they appear in the above
mentioned manuscripts. Some devils and demons share a lot of characteristics, so these will
be described according to their typology. The devils and demons that deviate from these main
types will be described individually. Chapter 2 will focus on the texts in which the devil is
described in such a way that it will help the reader with a visual image of this character. The
texts to be discussed are: The Bible, Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People,
Christ and Satan, the Old English Martyrology, Genesis, Ælfric’s Old English Hexameron,
Ælfric’s Lives of Saints, Guthlac A&B, Felix’s Life of Saint Guthlac, The Old English
Guthlac, and The Life of Saint Margaret. In the third chapter, an analysis will be given of the
comparison between devils and demons in Anglo-Saxon illustrations and texts. In this
chapter, the devils and demons from the illustrations are divided into four different types. In
chapter 4, I will try to account for the characteristics from the Anglo-Saxon illustrations that
cannot be found in the Anglo-Saxon texts. Which sources inspired the Anglo-Saxon artists in
their illustrations?
Chapter 1: Illustrations in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts

The first illustrations of devils and demons in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts appeared at the
beginning of the 10th century. Before this period the production of manuscripts had decreased
(Millar 2). King Alfred (c. 849-899) was the instigator of a new era of manuscript production.
King Athelstan (c. 895-939) was probably responsible for two illustrated manuscripts (Millar
2). In the tenth century, the revival of monasticism had a major influence on the increasing
production of manuscripts (Wormald 23), and in this period of reform, the Winchester school
of illustration developed (Wormald 24). Moreover, in the middle of the 10th century a
Continental manuscript came to England, which had a major influence on Anglo-Saxon
illustration: the Utrecht Psalter (Utrecht, Universiteitsbibliotheek, MS Bibl. Rhenotraiectinae I
Nr 32). Three manuscripts in England are copies of the Utrecht Psalter, namely: the Harley
Psalter (British Library, Harley 603), the Eadwine Psalter (British Library, Cotton Galba, E.
iv) and the Paris Psalter (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Lat. 8846). In this dissertation only
the Harley and Eadwine Psalters will be discussed, since the Paris Psalter dates from the early
13th century and therefore does not belong within the scope of this research (James 4).
Through Continental influence and the rise of new schools of manuscript illustration, Anglo-
Saxon manuscript art was able to bloom like never before from the tenth century onward. The
earliest Anglo-Saxon illustrations of devils and demons originate from this period of revival.
This chapter will give a survey of the devils and demons in Anglo-Saxon illustrations.
The manuscripts will be discussed in chronological order. In order to acquire an overview of
the most common characteristics and those that are less frequent, the following features will
be looked at: horns and ears, type of hair, claws, body hair, clothes, face, size, wings, spurs,
colour, tail, exposed genitalia, and other attributes, such as weapons.

1.1 Leofric Missal
The earliest surviving Anglo-Saxon manuscript containing an illustration of the devil is the
Leofric Missal (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 579). This manuscript was made at
Glastonbury between 900 and 1072 AD (Jordan 290), and contains Latin texts, including a
sacramentary, calendar and benedictional (Ohlgren 79). The manuscript contains one
illustration of Satan-Mors in a calendar which dates from the second half of the 10th century
(Jordan 290). In this illustration (folio 50r; fig.12) the devil is represented as death (Satan-
Mors). He holds a piece of paper or cloth that gives certain dates and functions as a type of
prognostication. If through calculation your number turned out to be on the piece held by the
devil, you would die; if it turned out to be on the piece held by Jesus in another illustration
you would live. The head of the devil in the illustration is its most striking aspect: it looks like
that of a goat, with goat’s ears, two horns, and a goat-like nozzle. His hair, however, is not
like that of a goat, but it looks more like the manes of a lion; it is short and flame-like. His
hands and feet are claws, his skin colour is white, he has spurs on his knees and heels, and he
wears a ragged skirt. The devil in this illustration does have wings, even though they are not
clearly visible in the illustration. The wings are reminiscent of the previous angelic state of
devils (Jordan 295). Behind the devil are six figures. Since they are not clearly visible in the
manuscript illustration I have added a reconstruction (fig. 2) of this illustration in which the
figures are discernable. According to Ohlgren “these figures have been variously interpreted
as vices, the sons of Death, or simply as demons” (79).

1.2 Cædmon Manuscript
The Cædmon Manuscript (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Junius 11) dates from ca 1000 and is
entirely written in Old English. It contains the poems Genesis, Exodus, Daniel (incomplete),
and Christ and Satan (Krapp xi) and was probably made at Christ Church, Canterbury
(Gneuss 101). In this manuscript there are six illustrations with devils and demons in them.
The first illustration (page 3; fig. 33) depicts the fall of the devil and his demons. The
devil appears only in the third register of this illustration, where he lies bound in the hell-
mouth. He is large, skinny and has hair all over his body, with black flaming hair on his head,
and his body is also darker than that of his companions. He has a pointy nose and a protruding
lower lip; his eyes are dark, and his hands and feet are clawed. All around him demons are
falling. These demons have wings, and they look more like humans than the devil, in that they
are white and do not seem to have any body hair. Most of these demons have dark, flaming
hair on their heads. It looks as if they are naked, but when one takes a closer look they do
wear a little skirt-like cloth around their middle.
In the second illustration (page 16; fig. 4) the devil is also bound; however, he is not
inside the hell-mouth, as he is in the previous illustration, but next to or underneath the hell-

2 The first number (folio) refers to the folio-number of the illustration in the manuscript; the second number (fig.)
refers to the number of the illustration in this dissertation.
3 In the Cædmon Manuscript the pages are not referred to as folios, but simply as pages. I will maintain this
manner of referring to the illustrations with this manuscript.
mouth and surrounded by walls. Here, he is white and has no wings. His face looks like that
of a human, but there is a small tail visible in this illustration, which together with the clawed
feet remind the viewer of a lion. The other demons visible in this illustration differ from the
devil. They are small, black creatures, with tails, and they look more like the devil as
portrayed in the Book of Kells (folio 202v; fig. 5). The large demons falling into the hell-
mouth are like those of figs. 7 and 9. They do not have tails. One demon on the right side has
exposed genitalia and is visibly male.
The third illustration (page 17; fig. 6) also contains a devil that is bound. Here, he
seems to be inside hell. This devil has a remarkably human face, with a beard, which gives
him a royal look. He does not seem to have wings, and although he has flaming hair, his
hands and feet look normal and do not have claws. He is larger than the demons surrounding
him, who bear a striking resemblance to the large devil. Some of them also seem to have
beards and they have wings.
In the fourth illustration (page 20; fig. 7) the devil is also bound. He is white, has
white flaming hair, and is displaying large white wings on his back. This devil is very large
compared to the other demons in the illustration, which are flying around him and look like
small versions of this devil. On the whole, this devil does not look very frightening.
The fifth illustration (page 31; fig. 8) contains one devil, which has black, flaming
hair. His body is white and looks like that of a human, but he has wings on his back and has a
tail. This devil wears a kind of loincloth; otherwise he is naked.
In the sixth and last illustration (page 36; fig. 9) of the devil in this manuscript he is
also bound. He is white, without wing, but with a beard. He is larger than the other demons,
but his body does not have any animalistic qualities.

1.3 Hereford Troper
The third Anglo-Saxon manuscript is the Hereford Troper (London, British Library, Cotton
Caligula A. xiv), which dates from ca. 1030-50 AD. The text is in Latin and Old English.
Folios 1-36 of this manuscript contain songs (tropes) which would be sung during mass
(Gneuss 61; Teviotdale 219). The other part of the manuscript consists of saint’s lives by
Ælfric, such as The Lives of Saint Martin, Saint Thomas, and The Life of Saint Mildred
(Gneuss 61). Nowadays there are eleven miniatures to be found in the manuscript, although
there may have been more (Backhouse 86). Two of the illustrations in this manuscript contain
a devil or demon.
The first illustration (folio 25r; fig. 10) shows the story of Saint Lawrence. The
illustration is divided into two registers. Only in the episode shown in the upper register can a
devil or demon be discerned. It is sitting on the shoulder of a man situated on the left of this
register. This man is called Decius or Valerian (Ohlgren 264), and he is trying to persuade
Saint Lawrence to worship pagan gods. The devil or demon sitting on the shoulder of Decius
or Valerian is whispering bad thoughts and ideas into his ear. This devil or demon looks very
malevolent: he has a hunched back, pointed ears, and, on the whole, has a wicked look on his
face. He has flaming hair and evil-looking eyes. On his back there are small wings and his
body has a darker colour, which may point to body hair.
In the second illustration (folio 29r; fig. 11) a scene is depicted which can be found in
the Dialogues by Sulpicius Severus, which inspired Ælfric for his Lives of Saints (Ælfric
219). The story is that of Saint Martin. Here, a devil or demon is sitting on the shoulder of the
sinner Avitianus. Saint Martin sees him and blows him away. The fact that nobody but Saint
Martin can see the demon is stressed by the fact that the demon is not very clearly visible.
Dendle notes that “the distinction between sinner and demon is compromised by the
camouflage effect of the hunched demon, which blends in with the folds of the robes. At a
quick glance or viewed from a short distance, one could imagine the sinner standing alone,
with a hunched back and his own pair of demonic wings. The artist has thus skilfully
sustained both the external and internal nature of demonic instigation” (Dendle, note to fig.1,
facing page 90). This devil or demon looks a lot like the one in the illustration of Saint
Lawrence; however, his wings are larger and he has a visible tail. Also, he is white and does
not have body hair.

1.4 Liber Vitae
The Liber Vitae (London, British Library, Stowe 944) dates from ca. 1031 AD. The text is in
Latin and Old English, and the manuscript originates from New Minster, Winchester (Gneuss
85). The manuscript gives an overview of the history of New Minster and Hyde Abbey.
Moreover, it contains a long list of names of the people who were active in the Abbey,
because “by the temporal record of this writing they may be written in the page of the Book of
Life” (Birch xv), since the Bible says: “And whosoever was not found written in the book of
life was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:15).
The one illustration (folio 7r; fig. 12) in this Anglo-Saxon manuscript containing a
depiction of the devil consists of three registers. The devil appears in the second and third
registers. In the second register St. Peter is hitting the devil with his key. The devil holds a