Psychomachia by Jennifer Mongold

The Imagery of Psychomachia
Mongold 1
Psychomachia which is often translated as “Battle of the Souls” or “The Fight for Mansoul” discusses the ordeal and conflict of one’s inner soul between virtues and vices (Prudentius1, Wikipedia). There are many theories about this piece, such as the derivation of the seven deadly sins, morality plays and the more modern “Good Angel” vs. “Bad Angel” or “Devil” from this poem. Although the first is a misconception, the other two are very likely (Wikipedia, Muppet Wiki). What makes this piece of literature interesting, though, is not the modern takes and derivatives, but the actual piece itself with its vivid descriptions and the artwork which accompanied the manuscripts.
The poem first begins with a preface involving Abram and Lot, but then quickly turns to the battle between the Virtues and the Vices. First, Faith takes on Worship-of-the-Old-Gods also known as pagan idolatry and smites her head down. Second, is the battle between Chastity and Lust the Sodomite which ends with a sword-thrust to Lust’s throat. Our third battle involves Long-Suffering, who aids all of the virtues, and Wrath who eventually kills herself because her efforts are useless against Long-Suffering. The next fight is between Lowliness who has help from Hope, an angel type of figure, and Pride in which Pride falls into the pit set by Deceit. It goes on to list other Virtues involved and then we see Soberness and Indulgence whose battle is quite lengthy. It appears at one point that Indulgence could win the combat, but Soberness makes a speech and frightens the horses driving Indulgence’s chariot with a wooden cross which leads to the trampling of the Vice. After the death of their leader, Indulgence, many of the Vices retreat or run away, but then Greed makes her appearance. She targets the priests who are saved by Reason. Greed then turns into a Virtue known as Thrifty which turns out to be a trick that Good Works sees through. She then battles Avarice, who we know as Greed or Thrifty. Avarice gets her come-uppance, however, as she is rent limb from limb. At this severe blow the rest of the Vices leave and Peace declares the end to violence. Discord is slippery, though, and infiltrates the Virtues injuring Concord who then deals with the Vice to restore order so that the Virtues can construct, under Wisdom’s supervision and instruction, their temple which in itself is beautiful in its description. And thus, the poem ends peacefully and methodically this way with the lesson learnt and everything that is right and good established (Prudentius 275-343).
One interesting thing about the story and the characters is that all of the Vices and Virtues were female. Females don’t normally play the part of these heroic warriors fighting in huge battles, especially not important battles. This situation, however, is easily “accounted for by the gender of abstract nouns in Latin”, the original language of the poem. Although this explains the earliest translations, this is not an explanation as to why “the Virtues remain female for the rest of their career in literature and art” while the Vices change and vary in sex or, in some cases become non-human depending on the tradition or whim of the artist (Norman 13). H.J. Thomson, for example, chose to make the Virtues and Vices all female, except for one. Out of all of the Virtues and Vices who were focused on enough to be given pronouns in order to specify gender, Desire was the only male. He is barely in the story, but is briefly mentioned in the first retreat with the line, “Desire turns his back in flight” (Prudentius 309). It is a surprising reversal of roles for a medieval text to make the “Fight for the Mansoul” between women.
Not only is the story complicated, action packed and captivating, both within the plot as well as outside of it, it would be just like many other works from this time period without the imagery it provides both in and out of the text. The poem itself is less than a thousand lines long, but is filled with vivid descriptions and each manuscript contained several illustrations to go along with the story (Prudentius). Many of the manuscripts of Prudentius written before the thirteenth century contain anywhere from two to ninety illustrations (Norman 13). These illustrations supposedly “derive from a cycle of eighty-nine drawings which originated in the fifth century” (Greenberg). It is these illustrations from Psychomachia that “derived from the very intentions of the text” which “provided a pictorial base for subsequent illustrations of the theme”, that is the theme involving a battle between Virtues and Vices, and “became the primary source for . . . the iconography of the psychomachia allegory in the Middle Ages” (Norman 11-12). So it is not only the poem, Psychomachia, which was groundbreaking and inspirational for future ideas and generations, but the artwork that is linked with it through the manuscripts.
Looking strictly at the text, however, is very important for this work. For this poem that he wrote in the fifth century, Prudentius had a simple allegorical framework which he elaborated on with a number of physical details with or without allegorical importance. Due to this piece, Prudentius is the primary source for this psychomachia allegory. The poem is important for another reason because without the poem there would not be such importance or revere connected with the illustrations. With the text, the illustrations are literal representations of it as most medieval artists tried to do on principle. The text and picture are literal reflections of one another as we see when comparing the two. The only difference one might discover is a slight variation in weapons among the characters. But, since these are literal representations, the artists were only concerned with what represented those actions from the text and relied upon the text for explanation (Norman11-12).

Although, as stated previously, Prudentius is the primary source for the psychomachia allegory, he was not the first to have thought of this theory. St. Paul and Tertullian both spoke of “a battle between good and evil, virtue and vice,” but Prudentius was able to take this concept and develop it into an elaborate allegory which involved specific Virtues and Vices entering into “a variety of single combats as part of one great battle.” Prudentius took this Christian concept and merged it with a more pagan literary form with the classic epic tradition to write a Christian epic. This proved a popular idea of his which was picked up by the illustrators who “followed his lead by freely borrowing motifs and details from classical pagan art.” By doing this, Prudentius “created a new literary mode in his adaptation of pagan epic to Christian allegory” and the illustrators “established a new allegorical iconography” (Norman 12-13).

While this new allegorical iconography was created and all the illustrations stemmed from a common original, they can be roughly split into two distinctive iconographic groups. There is a northern group which includes the French and Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, which used a technique called “outline drawing,” and a southern group including manuscripts from the Rhine and Meuse valleys (Greenberg, Norman 13). “The illustrators were following a tradition that was clearly defined and essentially conservative,” but the northern group’s Virtues wore “long garments with a mantle often drawn over the head,” unless specifically stated in the text otherwise. The Vices are drawn in “long or short tunics, sometimes with a mantle fastened on the shoulder, and occasionally in a short, belted garment fastened on one shoulder, leaving one arm bare.” The southern group, however, has the Virtues appearing “as warriors in mail with helmets” while the Vices are drawn in “a short costume with the skirt divided into three parts resembling flames. Their hair is disheveled and flies out in flame-like strands.” The individual characters are able to be identified through an action rather than an attribute. These two genres of illustrations based on region, rather than hindering any establishment of iconography, actually help with it because it is these variations which “play an important role in developing the iconography of the Virtues and Vices” (Norman 13-14).

The poem Psychomachia by Prudentius has always had influence, whether it is now or in the fifth century when it was first written. From combining pagan and Christian elements in harmony for a story which had Christian and pagan characters battling to having women warriors battling it out for man’s soul, Prudentius was a contemporary in an age considered to be “dark.” He took a small concept, expanded it and created something so huge it reached farther than just his audience to whom he wrote for at the time. Little children now know the basic concept of the psychomachia allegory without even reading the poem, just because they’ve most likely seen a cartoon or show which had a character undergoing an internal conflict with the “mini-me” versions of the character dressed as an angel and a devil to help the character come to a decision. It was an inspiring and influential piece for illustrators as well as being wildly popular with the present day audience of the fifth century and it not only reached the audience whom it was created for, but it continues to reach a modern day audience whether they realize it or not.


Works Cited
1) Greenberg, Hope, comp. 10th and 11th Century Clothing in England: a Portfolio of Images. 3 Sept. 2003. University of Vermont. 30 May 2008 .
2) Norman, Joanna S. Metamorphoses of an Allegory: The Iconography of the Psychomachia in Medieval Art. American University Studies. Series IX, History; Vol. 29. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 1988.
3) Prudentius. Prudentius. Vol. I. Trans. H.J. Thomson. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1969.
4) "Psychomachia." Muppet Wiki. 30 May 2008 .
5) "Psychomachia." Wikipedia. 23 Nov. 2007. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 30 May 2008 .
6) A Detail from the Psychomachia; the Allegorical Struggle for Possession of the Soul. Cambridge. The Parker Library. Corpus Christi College. 30 May 2008 .
7) 32 B517 LStd 4,38A 075133 Stettiner, R., Die illustrierten Prudentiushandschriften (1895-1905), II, pl. 141. .
8) 32 B517 LStd 4,40A 075137 Stettiner, R., Die illustrierten Prudentiushandschriften (1895-1905), II, pl. 145Stettiner, R., Die illustrierten Prudentiushandschriften (1895-1905). .