This miniature shows Christ with a cruciform nimbus seated upon a throne holding a small gold disk with a dark spot in the middle – identified by the legend above as “mundus” – between the thumb and middle finger of his right hand. His left hand holds a closed, gold book, the codex vitae, lying on his knee. The Lord is surrounded by a mandorla consisting of two large segments of a circle – the upper one decorated with heart-shaped forms, and the lower one with wavy shapes – that comprise a figure-eight shape containing a first-quarter moon. The mandorla is surrounded by a large rhombus crossed in turn by a quadrangular shape with wavy sides containing the symbolic representations of the four evangelists, each holding a golden book and looking inwards, i.e. towards the Son of God. They are, furthermore, identified by legends overhead reading, from top to bottom and left to right: St Matthew, MATHEVS, depicted as an angel or haloed man pointing at Christ; St John, IOANNES, as an eagle which, as we will see later, poses certain problems as regards its attributes; St Mark, MARCVS, as a winged lion with a nimbus; and finally St Luke, LVCAS, as an ox with wings but no nimbus. The upper lobes of this quadrangular shape contain two garbed and symmetrical angels pointing towards the centre, whilst the lower lobes are held up by two naked, winged figures like classic atlases, one making a certain effort. In the bottom vertex of the rhombus is a coarsely painted figure which was undoubtedly added subsequently and bears no relation to the composition or iconography of this illustration. The only tenth-century Beatus in which this image typical of stemma IIb is however to be found is that of Gerona.



The Maiestas Domini illustration is not found only in Beatus manuscripts. In tenth-century, Hispanic kingdoms, it appears as a full-page image in manuscripts of different types: patristic ones such as Florentius’ Moralia in Iob dated 945 (Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, Cod. 80, f. 2r.); Bibles such as the Bible of 960, by said painter and Sancho (León, Colegiata de San Isidoro, f. 2r) and conciliar manuscripts such as the Vigilanus or Albelda codex dated 976 (El Escorial, Library of San Lorenzo el Real Monastery, d.I.2., f. 16v) and the San Millán Codex, a copy of the previous one begun in 976 and completed in 992 (El Escorial, Library of San Lorenzo el Real Monastery, d.I.1., f. 13v).



The figure of Christ is depicted with the traits usual in eastern-Syrian iconography, i.e. with a long beard and hair, large, open eyes and a cruciform nimbus. The disk held in his right hand has been interpreted in a variety of ways since the 10th century itself. Some historians interpret it – possibly because of the legend mundus – as being a representation of the globe symbolising Christ’s earthly domain, an aspect emphasised by the dark spot in the centre of the disk, similar to the one in the Albelda Codex and interpreted as the earth. M. Schapiro however is of the opinion that in the Gerona Beatus, it also represents the world but as the result of a mistaken, or at least, personal interpretation by the illuminator of the figure held by Christ in the Maiestas Domini images from the school of Tours and associated centres, which gave rise to the Gerona Cathedral manuscript. It could indeed have originated in the representation of the eucharistic host if one bears in mind that the globe – an object depicted so often in regal representations since the 6th century as a voluminous sphere usually held in the left hand – was unlikely to have been portrayed in such a small, lightweight manner. Likewise, the Ottoman artists depicting Christ as the supreme power at whose feet the emperor and his wife prostrated themselves, situated this sizeable sphere in the palm of his left hand, as can be seen in a front altar panel from Basle (Paris, Musée des Thermes de Cluny). Unlike these spheres that represent the world, the blessing Christ in Carolingian paintings holds the small disk between the thumb and middle finger of his right hand in a way similar to how the presbyter in medieval representations holds the consecrated host between his thumb and index finger to display it. This image would be an attempt to show the actual presence of Christ in the sacrifice of mass. The eucharistic controversy of Carolingian theologians, which lasted until the mid-tenth century, would explain the presence of this detail in Maiestas Domini images. The painter of the Gerona Beatus was not the only author to have interpreted this source originating in Tours in a different manner: as early as in the Carolingian period itself, the host was already interpreted as the disk of the world, as can be seen in a miniature in one manuscript (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, ms. lat. 269) and subsequently in an ivory housed in Berlin, whose artisan sought to give the circle the shape of a sphere; whilst an inscription in the Codex Vigilanus of 976, describes it as “dominus in tribus digitis dextere molem orbe libravit” seemingly in an attempt to explain this foreign symbol. As the American researcher pointed out, such confusion or assimilation is not surprising: symbols having the same shape and applied to the same object or belonging to fields with related meanings do tend to become interchangeable. Since in this instance, neither the shapes nor the meanings are very different, analogy is a weighty argument indeed. The eucharistic host itself had acquired an imperial connotation. In the Carolingian period, it was no larger than a coin and had a cross or the abbreviation of Christ’s name (IHS) stamped upon it, resulting in Honorius Augustodunensis comparing it in Gemma Animae (l. I, c. 35; P.L. 172, col. 555) with the emperor’s coin. One might also wonder whether the intention was to create an ambiguous form to evoke the dual aspect of Christ as a monarch and as the sacramental body.



Another aspect linking the Maiestas Domini in the Gerona Beatus to the school of Tours is the rhombus-shape surrounding that encircles the mandorla, the first antecedents of which date from the second quarter of the 9th century, as can be seen in the St Gauzelin Gospels and the Bamberg Bible. This element, which encompasses the figure-eight mandorla-globe that surrounds Christ with the eucharistic host, is found in later manuscripts from the same school – including what is known as the First Bible of Charles the Bald (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, ms. lat. 1, f. 330v) – and influenced the school of Saint-Denis, as shown by the St Paul-without-the-walls Bible of 869 and the St Emmeran of Ratisbon Gospels produced by the school of Corbie and illustrated in Saint-Denis towards 970 (Codex Aureus, Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Clm 14.000, f. 6v). In the Gerona Beatus, Christ sits upon a Hispanic, cushioned throne. The globe-aureole that characterises it is a ninth-century, Carolingian creation based on pre-Carolingian elements such as the Latin celestial globe and the eastern mandorla. The Carolingian artists at the schools of Tours and Reims combined both to create this new formula for the Maiestas Domini. The final stage in the evolution of the globe-aureole took place in the Saint-Denis school towards 870, as shown by the cover of the St Emmeran Codex Aureus, which depicts Christ enthroned at the intersection of the celestial globe and the mandorla. Its influence was felt during the 10th and 11th centuries in the north and south of France, Belgium, Germany, England and the north of the Iberian Peninsula . Whilst the mandorla is the expression of the exaltation of divine glory, the rhomboidal surrounding is – in Carolingian manuscripts at least – the symbol of the world since it represents, according to Rhabanus Maurus and other authors , the world . The moon situated to the left of Christ is intended to show him, along with the world in his hand, as the absolute lord and ruler of the universe, as he is also depicted in certain Carolingian representations such as those known as the Prüm Gospels (Berlin, lat. Theol. 733) which also feature the sun and stars.



In the Gerona manuscript, the four symbolic animals turn to look at Christ. This device is not used in early Christian and Byzantine versions of the four evangelists in a group, but is a commonplace, autochthonous trait of Carolingian art that possibly originated in the fusion of the two contrasting Early Christian types: the oriental symbols moving away from Christ like animals yoked to a cart, and the western symbols turning towards him as in courtly tribute. This ninth-century Carolingian influence can also be seen in the animals, conceived of not as anthropozoomorphic symbols whose bodies end in a circle crossed by wavy lines in a manner typical of tenth-century miniatures of Castile and León, but as winged animals shown in full and based on Italian iconography which appear in some contemporary manuscripts of the Gerona Beatus such as the Bible of 960 and the part of the San Millán Beatus painted in the last quarter of the 10th century (Madrid, Real Academia de la Historia, Cod. 33, ff. 1v and 92r). The four representations of the evangelists hold golden books in either one of their hands or feet or on their head, as in the case of St John’s eagle – yet another example of an image misunderstood or used for other purposes. Although the symbolic figure of St John has a golden book on its head and the object the eagle holds in its claws could be a large cushion because it is resting upon a seat, its original model did not feature a codex upon its head – despite having the same golden, rectangular form with a red line around the edge and a sunken square inside as the other volumes – but a rectangular nimbus. The book, set upon a blue seat, has acquired the format of a red phylactery held in the eagle’s claws, although it would rather seem that the eagle is standing on it. This characteristic, typical of the school of Tours and the centres within its sphere of influence, is in keeping with the traditional view of the one believed to have written the Apocalypse as a prophet, and whose name was deemed by St Jerome in the Interpretation of Hebrew names, to mean “vaticinatio vel domini gratia”. Likewise, the scroll complies with the assignation of phylacteries to prophets and codices to the apostles: whereas all the evangelists hold a book, the symbolic eagle clutches a scroll in certain writings. Hence the phylactery sets St John apart from the other evangelists and endows his Gospel with a certain theological and mystical character which, according to the Greek Fathers who were echoed by St Augustine and the Venerable Bede , ascends into heaven and reveals the divine nature of Christ, whereas the others are earthly and convey the human nature of the Lord – an idea transmitted to the Carolingian world by Alcuin of York who also encouraged the use of the scroll to differentiate St John’s symbol in Carolingian art. This characteristic of the sublime nature of the beloved disciple as an evangelist became a topic of Carolingian thought, as pointed out by John Scotus Eriugena. The prestige he enjoyed in the Carolingian period was possibly due to the theological renovation and dogmatic controversies of that time. Indeed, Alcuin himself took part in the struggle over Adoptionism waged in the metropolitan see of Toledo by its archbishop Elipandus and refuted by Beatus, bringing this local controversy into the European arena. The testimony of St John’s gospel was deemed to be decisive in all this question. By attributing this work and the Apocalypse to him, Christian tradition situated him above the other evangelists. The attribution of the scroll to the eagle may have been influenced by ancient values attached to this symbolic object. According to ancient tradition, both the eagle and the scroll belonged to the celestial sphere, whilst the phylactery was specifically an attribute of Christ, already the emperor. Quite a similar image appears, as we shall see, on folio 7r of the Gerona Beatus, in the miniature depicting the angels of St John’s Gospel. Only three Hispanic manuscripts were to retain the image of the eagle with the phylactery in the 10th century however, but it appears in no contemporary Beatus. Finally, depicted in the upper part are two symmetrical angels looking backwards and pointing towards the centre of the composition, with two naked and winged atlases underneath. In tenth-century, Hispanic manuscripts linked with the Maiestas Domini, the Lord is sometimes shown flanked by cherubims, as in the Moralia in Iob dated 945 painted by Florentius (Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, Cod. 80, f. 2r). In the Vigilanus and Albelda codices from the Rioja, the angels in the upper part are defined as “cerufin” and “serafin”. In all three cases, they have six wings covered in eyes, unlike in the Gerona Beatus however which shows (on folio 131v about the opening of the sixth seal) two wingless angels called cherubim and seraphim, respectively, therefore the angels in this Maiestas Domini refer in all likelihood to a cherubim and a seraphim, whilst not actually stating it. A subject possibly not featured in Carolingian art, judging by the lack of representations, which usually shows the Maiestas Domini accompanied by the tetramorph. We know of the most ancient example in Hispanic art of cherubims and seraphims being associated with the Maiestas Domini thanks to literary references, hence: “In 908, Alfonso III offered the church of Oviedo several “historiated” frontals, i.e. with figures; the representation above the high altar showed the celestial throne with cherubims and seraphims, the four evangelists, the twelve apostles and other images around”. The association of these angel hierarchies with the Maiestas is based on the descriptions by Ezekiel and Isaiah (6: 2-3). With their nakedness providing a sharp contrast with the angels in the upper part, as if intending to differentiate them , the naked, winged spirits acting as atlases are rather the first of the many classical references in the Gerona Beatus and are noteworthy for having been taken from the repertory of the celestial iconography of Antiquity and its meticulous anatomical representation, undoubtedly motivated by the following image of heaven in which these naked, winged angels abound.



Finally, this image shows that Hispanic scriptoria were not only aware of and influenced primitive Carolingian styles but also had access to compositions of Carolingian figures and particularly works from the school of Tours.