Emotional games

23/7/2016

The Anglo-Saxon Monk invites you to read some eleventh-century body language.

Blessed ones,

You must have worked out by now that at times monastic life here in the eleventh-century gets just a little too regular for me. I need diversion. I need a gamen, as we say in Anglo-Saxon England.

So let us do something a little frivolous yet at the same time edifying and spiritually uplifting. Do not smirk!

Below you will find five images from the marvellous Old English Illustrated Hexateuch, which was produced in Canterbury around the second quarter of the eleventh century.

Each of them shows an emotion or a mood. You, blessed readers, have to work out which emotion or mood is represented.

The key lies in the gestures each character is deploying. The gestures are drawn from the Roman stage. The scenes are all from the book of Genesis.

Gamenaþ!

1
Starting with the easiest.
What emotion is Hagar feeling on seeing this angel suddenly appear?

2
No longer in Eden, what emotion is Eve feeling?

3
Oh Lord! What is Abraham's mood after his wife's servant girl Hagar gives birth to his child?

4
Ignore the sheep! What feelings do these two brothers of Joseph have? (A third brother on the right feels the same.)

5
What is Abraham's mood before King Abimelech?
Is it just me, or do the others have a balance problem?

Now, you did enjoy that, didn't you? I know I did. Whoever gives the best answers will receive... well, I'll have to think about that.

16 Comments

Kay link

23/7/2016 02:49:51 pm

1. I know this one!!! She’s saying, “Woohoo! Let’s dance!” See how she’s already standing on her tippy-toes. But the next frame, if we had it, would show her wondering seriously about that limp horn-thing that the angel is carrying. Looks a bit suspicious, and does not bode well.

2. Eve is saying to herself, “Oh, man. I knew I shouldn’t have said anything to Adam—shoulda just kept it to myself.” She’s noticed that the horn-thing is now erect. She’s also noticed that what she took to be a flower broke off in her hand has morphed into a mop. None of this bodes well.

3. “Hmmmm…..” Was it all worth it?

4. These brothers are the not-so-smart ones we know from sit-coms. “Duh, yeah! We got all dis figured out! See, we jus’ throw ‘im in da pit and den we get ALL da treasure from Dad.” And from sit-coms, we know that they’ll be found out in the end in a very humorous way and then we’ll get to laugh at them.

5. Abraham’s about to go for the king’s throat, aided by all the people behind him who, trying to crane their necks to see the action, have overbalanced and are falling on top of our hero. The animals know that this is not going to end well, and they’re trying their best to get the hell out of Dodge. They also understand that this may be their only opportunity to avoid becoming a sacrifice. Exit stage left. “Meh-eh-eh!!!”

Christopher Monk/The Anglo-Saxon Monk

23/7/2016 02:53:55 pm

Thank you, Kay, you've made my day. I really should hand over this art history commentary to you. Brilliant! Simply brilliant! I need to wipe the tears from my eyes...

tom hillman link

23/7/2016 03:50:55 pm

1) "Help, I've got jazz hands!"
2)Then the two with Adam and Eve: "We're doomed" "Doomed" as in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmZRDUO1wGQ
3) "Call him Ishmael? Why on earth would I want to do that?"
4) "We're not sure if this is the right finger, but you do get the point, don't you, little brother?"
5) "What? What'd I do? You sleep with ONE servant girl, and all anybody can talk about is the "seed of Abraham."

Christopher Monk/Anglo-Saxon Monk

23/7/2016 07:15:18 pm

Doomed... putting the drama back into life! Thank you, Tom. None of them absolutely right, but a few half marks. 1 1/2 out of 5. Pretty good really.

Joe link

23/7/2016 05:45:25 pm

1) Confidence that Bob Fosse moves are the way to deal with this. http://youtu.be/w-qUMzMVzdw
2) Dismay that she will get zero credit for the invention of cubism.
3) Concern about the durability of the gum he used to attach his false beard.
4) A mixture of anger and amusement that someone thought it would be funny to put blue food coloring in the shampoo bottle, which it kind of was.
5) Pride that he can support all these people.

Christopher Monk/Anglo-Saxon Monk

23/7/2016 07:27:24 pm

Very impressive! "Fosse Fosse Fosse... Madonna Madonna". 2 and 3 not a million miles away. It's a good job I'm a transhistorical monk, so I can get all your cultural references. But blue food die? Don't you know the Anglo-Saxons really had blue hair... at least one art historian thought so.

Joe link

23/7/2016 11:07:58 pm

Is that art historian the Clerk of Kent? His work was debunked after it was proven to be a veiled attempt to fabricate a terrestrial ancestry for himself. The fragments of Kryptonian archives we've been able to recover were damning.

Kay link

23/7/2016 11:46:32 pm

You guys are too much!

Huscarl

26/7/2016 05:07:24 pm

1. Hagar is elated, she has just been notified that she's first choice goalkeeper, for the Heaven XI football team. 2. Eve is feeling embarrassed, yet slightly excited, after being caught having a bit of nookie amongst the flowers. 3. Abraham is in a cunning mood and considers blaming the Holy Spirit....again. 4. The brothers are in a vengeful mood, after discovering it was Joseph, who super-glued their fingers to their heads when they were asleep. 5. Abraham is chuffed and is saying "come on King Abimelech, I won Sarah fair and square on a pair of aces and eights". The King replies, "beallucas, you cheated".

Christopher Monk on behalfof the Anglo-Saxon Monk

27/7/2016 09:54:19 am

Huscarl, you have me in stitches! Though the Anglo-Saxon Monk is mortified by your use of an Anglo-Saxon derived expletive. I'm definitely for the idea of Abraham having a cunning plan, which is not a million miles from what his gesture actually represents. Not sure there's any archaeolgical evidence for eleventh-century superglue. Perhaps I should research that further... then again, I can't stop laughing, so said research will probably not happen

Huscarl

27/7/2016 07:40:01 pm

Thank you sir. When it comes to making people laugh, you're a great teacher. 😏

LadyMotte

27/7/2016 04:55:41 pm

1) oh s**t where did you spring from
2) woops!
3) Hmmm that wasn't supposed to happen!
4) over ere son on me 'ead
5) I told em not to drink boss before match day!

Christopher Monk/Anglo-Saxon Monk

27/7/2016 05:32:21 pm

Excellent. Well thought through and to the point. Your first three are pretty close. Is that a Yorkshire or Lancashire accent for Joseph's brothers?

Lady Motte

27/7/2016 05:47:04 pm

It's Essex mate! 😝

Thomas McCabe link

29/7/2016 01:38:05 am

1. elation that help was here
2. woe for eve-rything
3. deceit to deny it's his baby
4. awe at the rescuer's cleverness
5. pleading for favors on behalf of the masses
What did the historians decipher from these? Amusing choices.

Christopher Monk/The Anglo-Saxon Monk

30/7/2016 07:05:46 am

Thank you, Thomas. Two of those are pretty much spot on. All will be revealed shortly.

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