Ekphrasis from the Inside: Notes on the Inscription of the Crown of Light in Bayeux

Vincent Debiais (1)

1 CESCM [Poitiers] - Centre d'études supérieures de civilisation médiévale [UMR 7302]

This paper focuses on the inscription engraved in the crown of light given by Odo, bishop of Bayeux, to his cathedral around 1080. This long poem describes the shape of the object and the images it presents above the main altar of the cathedral. It constitutes a monumental example of Latin ekphrasis using rhetorical tools that can be read in many Antique and Late Antique texts. The inscription of the Bayeux crown also presents original features by building a description based on the visual experience of the object in a liturgical context. It establishes a complex discourse on the crown as an image of Heavenly Jerusalem and invites a fictional reader to look beyond the material to see the effect of the liturgical engagement that happens under the crown of light during the Eucharistic ceremony. Between materiality and transcendence, the gathering of the text and its subject produces a physical experience of the object and a meditation on its meaning.

Mots clés: art history; medieval latin literature; medieval epigraphy; medieval liturgy

Domaines: Art et histoire de l'art; Histoire; Littératures; Religions

Vincent Debiais. Ekphrasis from the Inside: Notes on the Inscription of the Crown of Light in Bayeux. English Language Notes, 2015, 53 (2), pp.45-59. ⟨10.1215/00138282-53.2.45⟩. ⟨halshs-01355437⟩