Waiting on the will of the Lord : The imagery of the plague

The infamous Black Death of 1348 signalled the reappearance of bubonic plague in Europe after centuries of absence, and initiated a cycle of recurrent epidemics lasting until the late-seventeenth century. Recent scholarship has intensively debated the long-term effects of the plague upon economic, social and political structures. The more intangible psychological responses, however, are still relatively unexplored. The dissertation proposes that analysis of a new kind of resource--the images generated by experience or expectation of the plague--can provide direct access to the ways in which those who lived during the pandemic attempted to articulate and manipulate their situation. Mindful of the complex etiology of the plague, unguessed at by contemporaries, modern scholars assume that the Black Death left survivors prey to paralysing anxiety and despair. Yet the images which this thesis examines reveal other perspectives. The primary focus has been on prophylactic plague images created in Italy from the mid-fourteenth to the early-sixteenth centuries. An understanding of the expectations attached to such images is crucial in evaluating the plague\u27s effects. In setting up hierarchical relationships of mutual obligation between worshipper and image, those who lived during this period were not neurotic and helpless, but were taking positive--and in their eyes effective--steps to regain control of their environment. Renaissance plague images testify to the flexibility and creativity of contemporary responses in the multiplicity of their identifications of the origins of the plague, and of the potential sources of celestial defence. Chief amongst those appealed to was the fifth-century Roman martyr Sebastian. Despite his immense popularity, as one who accepts the plague arrows destined for others in his own body, Sebastian was not the sole recourse of worshippers. Both Nicholas of Tolentino and Roch were also widely recognized as plague protectors. The imagery of these more recent saints presents illuminating contrasts with that of Sebastian. A last chapter investigates the role of the Virgin, who may be invoked as a petitioner before the divine throne or as an autonomous power in her own right