TY - CHAP

T1 - Ritual. Medieval Liturgy and the Senses

T2 - The Case of the Mandatum

AU - Petersen, Nils Holger

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - This chapter discusses the combined uses of several media in medieval church rituals. Assessing the application of a (modern) notion of ritual to medieval liturgical ceremonies, it points out how these 'rituals' worked through a sensory combination of words, music, architectural setting, and movement within that setting. Also visual artefacts and in some cases, the 'sacramental' use of material objects were involved. In a particular ceremony, carried out since Antiquity on the basis of John 13:1-17, the narrative of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples, the singing of chants was combined with the actual washing of the feet of either monks or poor people. The combination of words and melodies with elaborate melismas, and the further sensorial staging and setting of the ceremony produced a 'polyphony' of media, which can be analysed by way of early medieval notions of sacrament. The chapter also demonstrates how this sacramental 'polyphony' of media remained important for medieval ceremonies, even when the notion of sacrament was theologically narrowed during the twelfth and the following centuries.

AB - This chapter discusses the combined uses of several media in medieval church rituals. Assessing the application of a (modern) notion of ritual to medieval liturgical ceremonies, it points out how these 'rituals' worked through a sensory combination of words, music, architectural setting, and movement within that setting. Also visual artefacts and in some cases, the 'sacramental' use of material objects were involved. In a particular ceremony, carried out since Antiquity on the basis of John 13:1-17, the narrative of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples, the singing of chants was combined with the actual washing of the feet of either monks or poor people. The combination of words and melodies with elaborate melismas, and the further sensorial staging and setting of the ceremony produced a 'polyphony' of media, which can be analysed by way of early medieval notions of sacrament. The chapter also demonstrates how this sacramental 'polyphony' of media remained important for medieval ceremonies, even when the notion of sacrament was theologically narrowed during the twelfth and the following centuries.

M3 - Book chapter

SN - 978 87 7124 313 0

SP - 180

EP - 205

BT - The Saturated Sensorium

A2 - Jørgensen, Hans Henrik Lohfert

A2 - Laugerud, Henning

A2 - Skinnebach, Laura Katrine

PB - Aarhus Universitetsforlag

CY - Aarhus

ER -