To the attribution of the figure a woman with a scarf from the IX century manuscript with the plot «The Battle of Vices and Virtues»

Authors

  • Yuliya V. Kolpakova Pskov State University, 2 Lenin Square, Pskov 180000, Russia

Keywords:

history of costume, Carolingian Age, manuscript, Aurelius Prudentius Clement, the battle of vices and virtues
Supporting Agencies
Heartfelt thanks to Grigory Borisov (department of Medieval history Lomonosov, Moscow State University) for the decryption of the Carolingian minuscule and his help with text interpretation and for pointing out to Scripture as the main direction of the search for the sources of the quotes.

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the attribution of the figure of a woman with a scarf from Carolingian manuscript with the plot «The battle of Vices and Virtues». The manuscript is compared with the text of Prudentius’ «Psychomachia», and the image – with the illustrative tradition, represented in manuscripts from Cambridge, National French, British, Belgian and Leyden libraries. Distant and closest analogues of the image are given and classified. Comparative analysis enables to justify our hypothesis that this is an allegorical depiction of the Vice of Luxury, defeated in the battle against Virtue. «Luxury» is shown as a woman in a torn tunic, and the scarf on her neck, most likely, depicts the removed belt. The image of the belt has analogies in architectural monuments reliefs and is also detected among objects of material culture. The attribution results are important for the Carolingian era female costume history.

Author Biography

  • Yuliya V. Kolpakova, Pskov State University, 2 Lenin Square, Pskov 180000, Russia

    PhD (history); associate professor at the department of Russian history, faculty of history

References

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Published

2017-06-30

Issue

No. 2 (2017): Journal of the Belarusian State University. History

Section

Source Studies

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How to Cite

[1]
Kolpakova, Y.V. 2017. To the attribution of the figure a woman with a scarf from the IX century manuscript with the plot «The Battle of Vices and Virtues». Journal of the Belarusian State University. History. 2 (Jun. 2017), 92–98.