Abstract
In a small but significant group of fifteenth-century manuscripts of the Biblia Pauperum, the Disrobing of Christ prior to his crucifixion is presented within an intricate typological nexus found nowhere else in medieval art or literature. Key to that typology is a rarely depicted episode from the Old Testament, the Stripping and Scourging of the Sponsa as related in Song of Songs 5:7. This unique cross-gendered prefiguration has built into it multiple layers of allegorical references which include the asscription of a female aspect to the body of Christ, based on the identification of his body with Ecclesia, which the Sponsa signifies. Moreover, insofar as the Sponsa also signifies the individual soul, the typology in question makes a direct appeal to the viewer to love and to identify with Christ's stripped, suffering body in order to merit the reward of being joined to him as his bride.
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