Allies of the Order: Guilt-Projecting Witticism and Moral Discredit through Fantastic Non-Human Appearances Referring to Religious Others

The essay reconsiders mixed anthropomorphic, mythological and animal figures that were depicted on the margins of French and English illuminated manuscripts or sculpted in Spanish Romanesque churches. Taking in consideration the state of research that shows that physical troubles and moral disorders were considered together, the author reconsiders with an interdisciplinary methodology, the questions of the upside-down world and the monsters. It is an anthropological and visual analysis showing that such images were not only used as apotropaic items, but also associated with non-Christian cultures, in order to criticize the potential social and religious disorder caused by the Jews and Muslims at that time. The essay compares illustrations with medieval texts, either religious or profane, in order to underline the context of the creation of such figures and their use within the propaganda for the Crusades at that time. It also reconsiders the question of the visual construction of a Christian ‘self’ vs. the diversity of the representations of ‘otherness’. The study has been extended to include an analysis of physical deformity and anatomical diseases, using as example animals and moral pollution of the ‘other’. Such a context had a great impact on the ‘disguised’ or ‘erased’ image of the Jews, the Muslims and the Black people in medieval and early modern art, on the margins of manuscripts and in religious architecture at that time, because of their animal-like depiction, which enhanced a negative interpretation of their religious ‘otherness’. The chapter explores how the process of stigmatization involves effects of surprise and wonder, as well as contempt and discredit, dwelling on how the artistic invention of non-human and post-human figures has been charged with solving political and social problems and disorders, providing support not only for religious propaganda, but also for attempts at moral normalization. This publication has been peer reviewed (double blind).

Il saggio presenta una ricerca effettuata sulle comparse di figure dissonanti, fantastiche, mostruose, nelle pagine dei libri miniati fiamminghi e inglesi, comparandone l'ideazione con quella delle sculture aggettanti, in chiese e edifici pubblici, specie del mondo iberico, ugualmente contraddistinte da un aspetto ibrido e perturbante, lungo le vie dei pellegrinaggi e della predicazione. Lo studio incrocia l'analisi stilistica e compositiva con la letteratura mistica, moraleggiante e apocalittica, con i trattati spirituali e gli scritti, relativi alle apologie delle crociate, per identificare la connessione tra attributi e elementi grotteschi e che rimandano al mondo animale e difetti fisici e morali, riferiti in maniera combinatoria a ebrei e musulmani (ma anche ad abitanti immaginari di paesi remoti e altri mondi) tra Medioevo e prima età moderna. Lo studio infine riflette sulla politica delle immagini, legata alla raffigurazione della marginalità (religiosa e sociale) tra meraviglia, satira e discredito, in relazione con le vicende storiche che hanno interessato la raffigurazione dell'altro in Europa, in immagini di propaganda e in consonanti proiezioni appartenenti alla devozione privata. Sottoposto a doppio referaggio cieco.