SUMMA DÆMONICA BIBLIOGRAFIA

GRUIA: 2008/ pdf.

Gruia, Ana Maria

Demonii și macabru pe chale mediaevale,

în „Studia Patzinaka”, nr. 7, 2008

pp. 7-23

Abstract: Decorated medieval stove tiles can be analyzed as reflecting popular culture, or the „small tradition”, since they were used in large numbers, in a large part of Central and Eastern Europe, in various types of interiors, from the fourteenth through the sixteenth century. The present article explores the macabre reflections on the iconography of these material culture objects, dwelling on representations of (man-killing) monsters, scenes of violence, and especially on the image of the Devil. The author notes that the depicted monsters are rarely seen as terrifying creatures, but rather as weak and defeated embodiments of the Devil.

The most popular on stove tiles is the dragon slain by St. George. Numerous images on stove tiles can be labeled as violent, from Biblical murders, to scenes from the lives of the saints and mundane conflicts between people, such as players fighting over the game board or women striking men. But in their majority, they depict the moment before the climax of the conflict, before the actual striking, killing, and death, therefore not conveying a sense of macabre. A smaller group of tiles depicts actual devils, never as main motifs but always in the composition of other scenes such as Archangel Michael weighing souls or St. George slaying the dragon. The anatomy of the Devil in these cases does not fit the general late medieval pattern; he has a familiar human shape, with some animal elements (horns, goat-like beard, long tail, split hoofs or maybe fish tails, etc.), but he is not the powerful and terrifying lord of the Underworld. The author also mentions the absence of “classical” macabre scenes on stove tiles, such as the Dance of Death, the Triumph of Death, the Meeting of the Three Knights with the Three Dead Men, etc. Also, there are no skeletons or corpses that would indicate a preoccupation with and a fear of death. It seems therefore that stove tiles, as key elements of interior decoration in private, public and even religious buildings, were delegate ‘lighter’ subject matter. Their iconography did not place great accent on the fear of death, the power of demons or the omnipresence of violence.