L’iconographie du Purgatoire dans les manuscrits liturgiques du XIIIe au XVe siècle

Abstract

The iconography of purgatory in liturgical manuscripts between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. Purgatory was invented by Parisian theologians. The researches of J. Le Goff allow us to date this invention from the turn of the twelfth century. It is interesting to follow the emergence of the imagery of purgatory through about twenty examples of liturgical manuscripts, dating from the end of the thirteenth century up to the early fifteenth century (the list of the illuminated manuscripts comprising the study corpus is appended to this article). The invention of purgatory during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries suggests the increasing importance of the individual dimension of salvation, and opens up a third possible alternative in the after-life. It is an invention which sets forth a place and a space which refute an earlier liturgical dualism, which had only allowed for judgment, followed by heaven or hell. The appearance of the image of the purifying fire in these liturgical manuscripts was encouraged by the development, since the fifth century, of the cult of the dead in the canon of the Mass. However, most of the images identified in the early iconography of purgatory are associated with texts that make no reference to a purifying fire after death. The image functions in an active manner, in order to guide the reading of the text. It pedagogical role is clear when the fire of purgatory is associated with the vision of God (known as the « beatific vision »). The image-makers of the Middle Ages had to invent the space and the place of purgatory, these details being left uncertain by the theologians. In these representations, the author of the present article has identified four main strands. He also underlines the image of the souls themselves : their attitude of prayer, for examples, suggests an identification between the living (the owner of the manuscript) and the dead. The belief in the beatific vision and in the opening of purgatory towards heaven both reinforce the belief in an individual salvation.