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In the Middle Ages, the consistent use of typological or figurative interpretationFiguraldeutung gives to the hymnic eulogies a very specific aspect; the history of salvation through Christ’s incarnation becomes the leitmotif of the providential harmony of world history. In the flowering period of mediaeval Latin hymnology, the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the metaphors furnished by the figurative interpretation are fused, in a high developed technique, with another kind of figures: plays on rhymes and sounds which, in numerous particular cases and seen as a whole, also have a symbolic meaning. This confers upon the hymns a very characteristic form of witticism, unique at its level of style, although it may be possible to find some parallels in certain later periods of poetry.30 We shall try to analyse several specimens, beginning with one of the sequences of Notker BalbulusNotker Balbulus († 912), the inventor of the sequence form. He uses the tu anaphoraAnaphertu-Anapher in several of his works; I have chosen the sequence ‘In Purificatione Beatae Mariae’:31

1	Concentu parili hic te, Maria, veneratur populus teque piis colit cordibus.
2	Generosi Abrahae tu filia veneranda, regia de Davidis stirpe genita.	3	Sanctissima corpore, castissima moribus, omnium pulcherrima virgo virginum.
4	Laetare, mater et virgo nobilis Gabrielis archangelico quae credula oraculo genuisti clausa filium.	5	In cuius sacratissimo sanguine emundatur universitas perditissimi generis ut promisit Deus Abrahae.
6	Te virga arida Aaron flore speciosa praefigurat, Maria, sine viri semine nato floridam.	7	Tu porta iugiter serrata quam Ezechielis vox testatur, Maria, soli Deo pervia esse crederis.
8	Sed tu tamen matris virtutum dum nobis exemplum cupisti commendare, subisti remedium pollutis statutum matribus.	9	Ad templum detulisti tecum mundandum, qui tibi integritatis decus Deus homo genitus adauxit intacta genetrix.
10	Laetare, quam scrutator cordis et renum probat proprio habitatu singulariter dignam, sancta Maria.	11	Exsulta, cui parvus arrisit tunc, Maria, qui laetari omnibus et consistere suo nutu tribuit.
12	Ergo quique colimus …

The eulogy which runs from the second stanzaStanze to the eleventh is introduced partly by tu anaphorasAnaphertu-Anapher, partly by imperatives followed by relative clauses (Laetare … quae; Laetare, quam; Exsulta, cui); not all its parts are purely figurative, but there is in almost every stanza some figurative allusion fused with the historical and dogmatic content. We shall begin by explaining several of these allusions.

Second stanzaStanze: the designation of the Virgin as filia generosi Abrahae contains an allusion to Christ as high priest secundum ordinem Melchisedek, Hebr. 7 and Gen. 14, 18ff.32 Fifth stanza: the words ut promisit Deus Abrahae refer to Gen. 22, 18 (et benedicentur in semine tuo omnes gentes terrae), i. e., to the sacrifice of Isaac; the blood of the ram offered instead of Isaac is figura sanguinis Christi.

Sixth stanza: the virga arida Aaron (Num. 17, 8) is explained by the following lines. This is one of the most recurrent of the figurative combinations symbolizing the conception of Christ; it was supported by another even more famous passage: et egredietur virga de radice Jesse, et flos de radice eius ascendet (Is. 11, 1). Later on, there are many puns on the words virgo and virga. Mary is called virgo virga salutaris in a hymn of the twelfth century,33 and St. Bernard designates Christ as virga virgo virgine generatus.34

Seventh stanzaStanze: The porta iugiter serrata belongs to the same group of figures of the conception; it refers to Ezek. 44, 2: porta haec clausa erit, et non aperietur, et vir non transibit per eam; quoniam Dominus Deus Israel ingressus est per eam. We shall discuss this figure later.

Eighth stanza: The mother of the virtues is humilitashumilitas, opposed to superbiasuperbia; Mary’s humility is an important motif in her eulogy (DanteDante: umile … più che creatura), based, in the tradition, on Luke 1, 38ff.; it is opposed to Eve’s superbia (DanteDante, Purgatorio, xxix, 25–27). The words subisti remedium etc. and the following stanza refer to Luke 2, 22–24, cf. Lev. 12, 6–8.35

Eleventh stanzaStanze: the theme of laughter (cui parvus arrisit tunc) is very widespread, but there is some variation concerning the person who is laughing; in a sequence of the twelfth century, to be analysed later (‘Candor surgens ut aurora’), it is Mary’s mother Anne: matris risus te signavit (fourth stanza); in another of the same period, ‘De sancta Maria Aegyptiaca,’36 Christ is called noster risus; Adam de Saint-VictorAdam v. St. Victor, ‘In Resurrtiecone Domini Sequentia’37 designates Christ as

puer nostri forma risus,

pro quo vervex est occisus.

This last quotation explains the meaning: it is again Isaac as figura Christi with an allusion to Isaac’s name and Sarah’s words referring to it: risum fecit mihi Dominus (Gen. 21, 6); it is the joy caused by the birth of the long awaited miraculous child, who may laugh too, and be called noster risus, the gaudium magnum of Luke 2, 10. I am inclined to assume that VergilVergil’s Fourth Eclogue38 has also contributed to this figure; the mediaeval interpretation of VergilVergil’s text as a prophecy of Christ is well known.

Notker’s sequence has no rhymes, its figures of speech are infrequent,39 and they are simple in comparison with what is offered by subsequent texts. The figures of interpretation are not dense enough to veil the facts which they interpret; Mary in her actual story is present in every stanzaStanze, except in stanzas 6 and 7; these are almost entirely figurative, but they still contain the link with Mary’s real life by the formulas Te … praefigurat, Maria and Tu … Maria … esse crederis.

In the sequences of the eleventh century, the progress of the figurative style is evident; there are stanzas and even series of stanzas where the figures completely conceal the story. The following stanza, taken from the sequence ‘In Assumptione Beatae Mariae’40 attributed to Herimannus ContractusHerimannus Contractus:

str. 2

Euge Dei porta quae non aperta veritatis lumen ipsum solem iustitiae indutum carne ducis in orbem,

with its allusions to Ezek. 44, 2, Mal. 4,2, and JohnJohannes (Evangelist) 1, 1–16, is only one in a series of similar paraphrases of Christ’s birth, in which the event disappears, concealed by its symbols; here are two more stanzaStanzes which contain very intricate figurative images:

str. 6

Tu agnum regem terrae dominatorem Moabitici de petra deserti ad monteur filiae Sion transduxisti.

str. 7

Tuque furentem Leviathan serpentem tortuosumque et vectem collidens damnoso crimine mundum exemisti.

Strophe 6 is based on Is. 16, 1; strophe 7 on Is. 27, 1; there is probably, too, in the figure of Leviathan an allusion to Job 40, 20 and to the current interpretations of these passages;41 these consider Christ’s incarnation as the bait and his divine nature as the hook by which Leviathan, the devil, is captured.42

In the twelfth century, with the full development of rhyme and the growing smoothness of versification, this figurative style reached its perfection; figures of interpretation were fused with figures of speech and sound; both covered sacred history with some sort of rhetorical and mystical embroidery.43 We begin with a eulogy from Adam de Saint-Victor’sAdam v. St. Victor sequence ‘In assumptione Beatae Mariae Virginis’ (‘Gratulemur in hac die’):

(5) 25	Virgo sancta, virgo munda, Tibi nostra sit iucunda Vocis modulatio; Nobis opero fer desursum, Et post huius vitae cursum Tuo lunge filio.	(6) 31	Tu a saeclis praeelecta Litterali diu tecta Fuisti sub cortice. De te Christum genitura Praedixerunt in scriptura Prophetae, sed typice.
(7) 37	Sacramentum patefactum Est dum Verbum caro factum Ex te nasci voluit Quod sua nos pietate A maligni potestate Potenter eripuit.	(10) 55	De te virga progressuram Florem mundo profuturam Isaïas cecinit, Flore Christum praefigurans Cuius virtus semper durans Nec coepit nec desinit.
(8) 43	Te per thronum Salomonis, Te per vellus Gedeonis Praesignatam credimus, Et per rubum incombustum, Testamentum si vetustum Mystice perpendimus.	(11) 61	Fontis vitae tu cisterna, Ardens lucens es lucerna; Per te nobis lux superna Suum fudit radium; Ardens igne caritatis, Luce lucens castitatis Lucem summae claritatis Mundo gignens filium.
(9) 49	Super vellus ros descendens Et in rubo flamma spendens (Neutrum tamen laeditur) Fuit Christus carnem sumens, In te tamen non consumens Pudorem, dum gignitur.	(12) 69	O salutis nostrae porta, nos exaudi, nos conforta…44

This is still a comparatively unsophisticated example, for Adam describes the method he follows (vv. 35–36), and several lines (45, 47–48, 57) recall it; there is not a complete fusion between figuring and figured object. Besides the play of the rhyme, the figures of speech and sound are not too striking. Yet the typological allusions need some commentary.

Sixth stanzaStanze: in this general description of the figurative method, the words tu a saeclis praeelecta, which correspond to DanteDante’s termine fisso d’eterno consiglio, allude to passages such as Prov. 8, 23 (ab aeterno ordinata sum), or Cant. 6, 9; the usual formula is: elegit eam Deus, et praeelegit eam; Mary is sometimes considered as finis figurarum, although this designation is usually applied to Christ himself.45

Eighth stanzaStanze: the three images thronus Salomonis, vellus Gedeonis and rubus incombustus are among the most widespread Marian figures; the poet himself explains the meaning of the latter two (vv. 49–54); the pertinent Biblical texts are Judges 6, 36ff. for the vellus Gedeonis and Exod. 3, 2 for the rubus. Mary as thronus Salomonis refers to Solomon as figura Christi; he is the sponsus of the Song of Songs, and his name is interpreted as ‘pacific’; therefore, the ‘true Solomon’ is Christ who is pax nostra (Ephes. 2, 54), and the Virgin is often called thronus, or templum, or domus, or lectus Salomonis. We have, encountered before, in St. Ambrose’sAmbrosius, hl. hymn ‘De Adventu Domini’, the verse: versatur in templo Deus.46

Tenth stanza: the background of v. 55ff. is, of course, Is. 11, 1ff., one of the basic passages of Biblical figuralism.47 Cf. above, p. 131/132.

Eleventh stanzaStanze: Christ as fons vitae refers to Ps. 35, 10; Mary’s part as mediatress has been expressed innumerable times by images such as fontis vitae cisterna;48 caritascaritas and castitascastitas are among her principal virtues (cf. note 45); Christ as lumen summae claritatis refers to several Biblical passages, the most important of which is the vision of St. Paul, Acta Apost. 22, 11.

Twelfth stanzaStanze: salutis nostrae porta refers again to the gate of Ezek. 44, 2 (cf. p. 132); this gate was interpreted as a figure of the Virgin: et ante partum incorrupta, et post partum mansit illaesa.49 It occurs in a hymn as early as Venantius FortunatusVenantius Fortunatus:

Tu regis alti ianua

et porta lucis fulgida.50

Adam is the great master of the eulogies composed of series of figures; there are many which, like our text, use the tu anaphoraAnaphertu-Anapher, such as ‘Salve mater salvatoris’51 or the sequence addressed to the Holy Spirit ‘Qui procedit ab utroque …’52 But some of the most characteristic eulogies are composed in other forms, e. g. the sequence ‘In Resurrectione Domini’ (‘Zyma vetus expurgetur …’)53 where, as in our text, the method is explained:

Lex est umbra futurorum,

Christus finis promissorum.

As a last specimen of the figurative style, I present a hymn originating from Styria, an anonymous sequence ‘In nativitate Domini’:54 although the eulogy is not composed with the tu anaphoraAnaphertu-Anapher, it has been selected as one of the most striking examples of the combination of typological figures with figures of sound:

1	Candor surgens ut aurora Solvit chaos pulsa mora Noctis de caligine.
2	Geniturae novo iure Non de viro feta miro Deum parfit ordine.	3	Lex naturae matris purae Causam nescit, nec marcescit Feta flos in virgine.
4	Matris risus te signavit Matrem ducis qui salvavit Luto fessum et oppressum In Aegypto populum.	5	Arca dudum quod servavit Manna profers in quo David Gaudet ludens, ludus prudens In te laudat parvulum.
6	Illa mitis Moabitis Ruth quaerebat quod latebat Tunc Noemi gaudium.	7	Bethlemitis botrus vitis Iam non latet quod non patet Spes Ulla per alium.
8	Veri lectus Salomonis Contra regem Aquilonis Parvum fovit qui removit Grave iugum oneris.	9	Quid sit, vide, rationis, Quod conflictus Gedeonis Non salvaret, si non daret Virtutem ros velleris.
10	Quam amoenus ager plenus Madet rore quem ab ore Gabrielis suscipit,	11	Cuius fructus fit conductus Per quem fretus exsul vetus Stolam primam recipit.
12	Audi filia pulchra facie,	13	Fer praesidia plena gratiae.
14	Te placata vivit reus, Quod vis praestat homo Deus Qui mamillas captans illas Tuo flebat gremio.	15	Quem lactasti tuum pridem Non est alter, regnat idem Honor matris, splendor patris In coelorum solio.

The typological eulogy of the Virgin starts with the fourth stanzaStanze;55 we begin again by explaining what has become unfamiliar to modern readers.

Fourth stanzaStanze: we are already familiar with the risus; here, it is Mary’s mother Anne who is laughing;56 she is sometimes prefigured and replaced, on account of the identity of names, by Anne (Hannah), mother of Samuel,57 who first wept and later exulted; both belong to the series of long barren and lately blessed mothers, a series beginning with Sarah, the laughing mother. Anne’s laughter marks Mary as the mater ducis, and for Christ the dux, Moses is introduced. The departure of the Jews from Egypt (Exodus and Ps. 113) is one of the fundamental figures of the salvation through Christ; lutum, mud, is one of the symbols of oppression and servitude (Exodus I, 14 and 5, 7: lutum, later, palea)58 with figurative meaning; as Moses liberated his people from servitude in Egypt, Christ liberated mankind from the servitude of sin and perdition.

Fifth stanzaStanze: this passage, with its elegant poetical use of sounds (gaudet ludens, ludus prudens in te laudat), refers to David’s dance, when he brought the Ark of God into his city (II Sam. 6, 12ff.). The Ark figures Mary, and the manna kept in it (Exod. 16, 32–34, and Hebr. 9, 4) figures Christ; thus, David’s dance prefigures the glorification of Christ’s birth.

Sixth stanza: Ruth is often considered, like most of the women of the Old TestamentAltes Testament, as a figure of the Church or of the Virgin;59 here she appears as one of the ancestors of David, and consequently of Christ. It was this still hidden future which she was seeking (quaerebat: Ruth 4, 17–18), when, on the advice of her mother-in-law Naomi, she ‘laid herself down’ at the feet of Boaz; and her son was a joy for Naomi (Ruth 4, 14–17), the Jewess who had lost her own sons; Ruth, too, is a figure of the pagan peoples converted to Christianity.

Seventh stanzaStanze: Bethlemitis botrus vitis is Christ; this is a typological reference to the botrus qui in vecte portatur (Numeri 13, 24), and also to botrus Cypri dilectus meus mihi (Cant. 1, 13). For this later passage, see the Sermones in Cantica of Saint Bernard;60 for the passage of the book of Numbers, let me quote again Rabanus MaurusRabanus Maurus:61

Ille autem botrus uvae quem in ligno de terrae repromissionis duo advexere vectores, botrus pendens ex ligno, utique Christus ex ligno crucis promissus gentibus de terra genitricis Mariae; terrenae stipis secundum camera visceribus effusus.

The comparison between Mary and the earth (‘virgin soil’) is traditional;62 the words non patet spes per alium refer to passages such as MatthMatthäus (Evangelist). 11, 3 or Luke 7, 19.

Eighth stanza: Mary has been identified above (p. 16) as lectus Salomonis; the rex Aquilonis is probably the king of Babylon (Is. 14, 13) as a figure of the devil or of King Herod.

Ninth stanza: for vellus Gedeonis, see p. 133.

Tenth stanzaStanze: Ager plenus refers to Gen. 27, 27: ecce odor filii mei sicut odor agri pleni, cui benedixit dominus; det tibi Deus de rore caeli … For the explanation of Jacob in this passage as figure of Christ, cf. Rabanus MaurusRabanus Maurus,63 or any other mediaeval commentator on Genesis. In our passage, the ager plenus is, of course, the Virgin.

Eleventh stanza: the exsul vetus is Adam, or fallen mankind; his stola prima refers to the parable of the Prodigal Son (LukeLukas (Evangelist) 15, 11ff.), where the father says: Cito proferte stolam primam, et induite ilium. There is also an allusion to Apoc. 7, 14.

The boldness and elasticity in the use of the figurative images and the continuous play of rhyme and alliteration confers upon this text a remarkable unity of style: joyful, playful, and still expressing the highest mystery. The realismRealismus of the last strophes – qui mamillas captans illas, corresponding to non est alter, regnat idem – is entirely in harmony with this sweet spirituality. It is, however, not yet the emotional and passionate realism of the later Franciscan poets, which we are going to discuss in the following pages.