Blood in Medieval Cultures

Abstract

Blood was central to medieval medicine, literature, theology and devotion. This article traces some of the characteristic features of blood in medieval texts in these areas, primarily in German from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries: the invocation of blood as proof; the prohibitions against bloodshed; the misogynist and anti‐Semitic concepts of blood; and the importance of blood in social bodies.

The Lacerated Body of the Book: Bloody Animation of the Passion in a 15th Century Devotional Book

“…The Egerton volume represents a dramatic and appealing combination of sweet meditations on the body of the holy mother and fervent, hypnotizing, and repetitive devotion to the bleeding body of her tormented son. With its excessive bloodiness, it is a highly evocative and emblematic case of the late medieval frenzy for blood (Bynum 2007;Bildhauer 2006aBildhauer , 2006b. The present article will focus on the depiction of blood in the Egerton volume, focusing in particular on how the sanguine embodiment of the book serves to animate the book in the hands of the owner by using material, fluid, hyperreal, and mechanical strategies.…”

“…Milk is for children and those unprepared, whereas blood is the real deal. When turning the pages of Egerton 1821, the reader is transferred from the gentle milk of the Virgin to the stark confrontation with the blood spilt by the redeemer, the sanguis Christi, which is ultimately the liquid of truth, life, and of salvation (Bildhauer 2006a;Bynum 2007). In general, blood was attributed to a revelatory effect.…”

“…The wounds are painted in a slightly darker and more wet paint as if to illustrate two different stages of bleeding: the surface paint is almost coagulated and dry whereas the wounds are fresh and agape-a rupture of the temporality of the passion if read against the anamnesis of the Mass: the death of Christ happened in the past, but is performed every day in the Mass. The fresh blood trickles from the lacerated pages, like a miraculous show of blood that reveals the true presence of Christ here and now (Bildhauer 2006a(Bildhauer , p. 1049.…”