Baptismal Fonts

(English Summary: Baptism and Baptismal Vessels in Post-Reformation Saaremaa pp. 126-136).

This article examines the changes that occured in the use and location of baptismal vessels and fonts in Saaremaa during the Early Modern Period. It also discusses the alteration of the sacrament and rites of baptism on island during the 16th and 17th centuries. The questions and alterations pertaining to the place of baptism and baptismal fonts are connected with the rest of the ecclesiastical space and church furnishings. The conversion of Catholic churches into Lutheran ecclesiastical space was a complex process and the changes were carried out gradually. Saaremaa is one of the few, if not the only area, in Estonia today were the changes that took place in the process of conversion from Catholicism to Lutheranism can be viewed in rural churches. Information about the church furnishings in Saaremaa during the 16th-17th centuries (Danish and Swedish Period) is available from practically every local church.

Ristimiskivi oli keskaegses kihelkonnakirikus üks tähtsamaid liturgilisi esemeid, mida kasutati esimese ehk ristimise sakramendi läbi viimisel. Sageli on keskaegsed ristimisnõud ka vanimateks säilinud kirikukunsti teosteks meie pühakodades. Kuigi keskajal oli ristimiskivi olemas peaaegu kõigis kihelkonnakirikutes, on neid tänaseni alles väga vähe. Käesolevasse raamatusse on koondatud andmestik rohkem kui 20 keskaegse ristimiskivi või nende fragmentide kohta. Uurimus annab ülevaate nii tänaseni säilinud kui ka fotode põhjal teadaolevatest, kuid hävinud või kaduma läinud ristimisnõudest. Raamatus käsitletakse ristimiskivi ajaloolist arengut, selle asukoha muutusi kirikuruumis, ristimise juures tarvitatud esemeid ja keskaegsete ristimiskivide kasutamist reformatsioonijärgsetel sajanditel. Lisaks tutvustatakse ristimise ajaloolist arengut ja ristimise läbiviimist keskaegsel Liivimaal.

Af de danske middelalderlige døbefonte med figurativ udsmykning udgør de østjyske løvefonte en altdominerende gruppe. 1 Der er tale om ca 180 fonte, som hovedsagelig falder i to ulige store grupper: en meget stor, hvor løverne par-vist er stillet symmetrisk over for hinanden, og en lille, hvor man ser flere efter hinanden gående dyr. Inden for den store gruppe kan man igen skelne mellem fonte, hvor de parvist modstillede løver som bicorporates har faelles hoved-det vaere sig et 'løvehoved' (fig. 2) eller et menneskehoved (fig. 1)-og fonte, hvor dyrene har hver deres hoved (fig. 3). Denne artikel søger at indkredse disse løvers betydninger ved at tage det signifikante og for døbefonte ret enestående dobbeltløvemotiv som udgangspunkt. 2 Og den sammenholder en generel for-ståelsesramme af disse bicorporates-baseret på overordnede kontekster-med konkrete laesninger af en raekke løvefonte i forhold til deres liturgiske funktion og sakramentale kontekst. På den måde prøver den at indkredse og forstå den funktion, disse fonte havde i samtidens kulturelle rum, både ud fra deres pri-maere rolle som døbefonte og ud fra deres performance i forhold til det socio-religiøse univers, de virkede i: Hvilke betydninger har disse fonte mødt deres brugere med? Hvilke bevidsthedsrum talte de ind i? På hvilke måder udfor-drede og formede de menighedernes forestillingsverdener? 3 Fig. 1. Døbefonten i Todbjerg kirke, dobbeltløve med menneskeansigt. Refleksioner over de jyske dobbeltløvefonte

A scripture guide with links, to bring an individual to the point of deciding to be baptized in order to become a Christian. All photos were personally taken by the author. Permission is granted to freely print and distribute this publication.

Almost every aspect of the marble lavabo (lavamano), in the Florentine church of San Lorenzo, has been a subject of controversy in art-historical literature. Besides the questions of attribution and dating, opinions have diverged regarding the homogeneity of its parts, its original form, function and location, and the extent of later interventions and their causes. Considering the uniqueness of the lavabo's ornate and complex sculptural decoration, it is curious that little has been said about its iconography. The combined representations of animal heads and composite or hybrid creatures, which are the salient motifs, appear to have no parallel on any Renaissance lavabo. It will be argued, nevertheless, that they symbolically convey the concepts embodied in the liturgical rite, in general, and attitudes towards sin and penance, in particular. We shall see that the fundamental question of visual meanings and their implications, which has not been adequately addressed in the literature, bears significance for a more integral approach to the controversial problems mentioned above and calls for a retrospective study of contexts and prototypes that will elucidate the significance of this sculptural monument. These issues will be the focus of the present chapter.

To the sacred dead. Florentius made this monument to his worthy son Appronianus, who lived one year, nine months, and five days. Since he was dearly loved by his grandmother, and she saw that he was going to die, she asked from the church that he might depart from the world a believer (Inscriptiones latinae christianae veteres [hereafter: ILCV], I:1343, from the third century; edited by E. Diehl (second edition; Berlin, 1961).

San Salvatore at Barzanò, from Private Church to Baptismal Collegiate Church. A Historical, Architectural and Art-historical Enquiry

During the Middle Ages Barzanò was a small village forty km northeast of Milan. The site was first mentioned in 1015: due to a privilege of Emperor Henry II, the bishop of Como was granted quandam curtem que dicitur Villa Barzanorum, as a personal possession. The privilege was confirmed in 1055 by Emperor Henry III. In the late twelfth century this territory would appear under the control of "da Porta orientale" family, originating from the east side of Milan. At end of the thirteenth century, the church of San Salvatore is documented as part of the diocese of Milan and controlled by "da Pirovano" family, also originating from Milan. The church was probably founded in the late tenth century as a private chapel, on the southeast side of a high ground, perhaps already fortified.

The church of Phase 1, consisting of a square shaped hall (6x6,5 meters) with a barrel-vaulted apse, is still partly recognisable in today's building.

At the very beginning of the eleventh century the bell-tower was built first (Phase 2a), then the western bay, transforming the first facade in arcade (Phase 2b). The entire nave floor was raised by 0,8 meters, both to level the hill slope and to make room for a crypt under the apse. Two flight of stairs were probably positioned along the walls, three meters east from those still existing. The pre-Romanesque crypts of San Pietro al Monte at Civate, San Daniele alla Pedeserva, and San Salvatore at Almenno are comparable in several aspects. Finally, an early christian sarcophagus was placed in the middle of the nave. It was likely the burial of the dominus, i.e. the head of the household owning the church.

Most likely in the late eleventh century, the chapel of San Salvatore evolved in baptismal collegiate church. It was the occasion for a further architectural renovation (Phase 3). A masonry dome on squinches, arcades and piers was built inside the central bay, squeezed up against the walls. The first (disappeared) baptismal font was set up under the dome.

The last medieval renovation dates back to the beginning of the thirteenth century (Phase 4). The apse and the crypt were extended towards the nave by the excavation of a corridor/trench covered by timber ceiling. The additional space was connected to the vaulted bay by two arcades, which were obtained demolishing the wall, while the stairs were 'moved' three meters west. The reorganisation of the liturgical space implied the dismantling of the first baptismal font. The monumental western portal, dated 1231, was realised quite possibly in the same phase.

In the need to provide a new baptismal font, a workshop experienced in fine stone-cutting was hired, able to engineer and realise an octagonal structure consisting of no less than 49 pieces (considering those allegedly lost) assembled with meticulous precision.
In San Salvatore there is neither material nor written evidence of an altar of Saint John the Baptist, even though it was used during the baptism, in particular in ambrosian context. Why shouldn't there have been such an altar in San Salvatore? Was it perhaps a movable wooden one? The question still stands.

A mural decoration completed the renovation of Phase 3, that means presumably in the late eleventh century. A peculiar cycle of Christ folds out in the domed bay, modestly preserved despite the 2009-2010 fine restoration.
The radial composition of the dome could be interpreted as the last episode of the christological cycle: the Pentecost, also considering the mural icon of the Virgin with Child at the base, or rather the Mission of the apostles to the four corners of the World.  The meander band at the base of the dome seems to point out the line between earthly and heavenly dimension. Given the above, the painted dome could also be seen as a teophanic apparition of the Lord/Christ with his heavenly court, or even a synthetic representation of the heavenly Jerusalem.
The experienced workshop rooted its language in the ottonian culture; nevertheless, it doesn't automatically imply a chronology by the beginning of the eleventh century, as suggested by some scholars trusting only the "stylistic" analysis. Referring to the Middle Ages, the role of traditions, the strength of models of reference, the persistence of pictorial patterns, and the really slow transformations inside a workshop, should be stressed. In such a situation, architectural features are much more reliable as a chronological indicator; in this case they suggest the late eleventh century, which is not in contrast to what is depicted.

Written for the course 'The Church and the Arts' at Boston University, this paper uses an analysis of the design and location of six recent baptismal font installations at American Lutheran churches to explore the theological, liturgical, and practical issues faced by these congregations in affirming their sacramental heritage and fulfilling their mission of welcoming people of all ages into the life of the Church.

Cuando intentamos calificar el mundo inferior que asoma entre la rica iconografía de época románica, solemos aludir a su función condenatoria y admonitoria. El "sermo rusticus" ("humilis" o "vulgaris") descuella en la relativa abundancia de temas marginales calificados como frívolos y obscenos la mar de persuasivos. Un mundo bajo y rural hermanado con lo que Mijaíl Bajtín calificó como “realismo grotesco”, al servicio de los clérigos para criticar las pasiones de los "rustici" iletrados, generalmente lujuria y gula, que no merecían franquear las puertas del templo. Un mundo al revés cuajado de rústicos músicos (la antimúsica de los ministros de Satanás), juglares, contorsionistas, animales y monstruos, propio de la mascarada, que tanta popularidad alcanzó en los templos alzados al rebufo de la ruta jacobea, muchas veces entrelazado con alusiones al Génesis, donde el sexo indujo el Pecado Original (en San Quirce de los Ausines, San Pedro de Tejada o la desmantelada "Porta Francigena" compostelana). Lo mismo parece ocurrir con los exhibicionistas, los bebedores aferrados a sus tonelillos, las mujeres mordidas por sapos y serpientes, las sirenas o las parturientas. Otros motivos menos explícitos y de mayor calado moral (pugilistas o campeones combatientes, caballeros entre féminas mediadoras, herreros, hiladoras, espinarios, asnos arpistas y posibles adúlteros) se irán colando en edificios rurales bastante alejados del camino francés.

The paper presents examples of baptismal building located in the northern part of the Provincia Apulia et Calabria: the first group is that of the urban baptisteries, which includes the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Canosa (BT), the two baptismal fonts of Venosa (PZ , Basilicata) and the baptistery of the basilica of Aeclanum (near Mirabella Eclano, AV, Campania). The second group instead the rural baptisteries of San Giusto (near Lucera, FG) and Belmonte (near Altamura, BA). The text takes into account the plant, the archaeological and historical context, the classification in the surrounding area and the type of building and the baptismal font.

CONTENT OF THESIS
Abbreviations 3
List of Illustrations 4
Chart 1: Pictorial Programs
Introduction 8
Previous Scholarship 11
CHAPTER ONE : HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Dates and Provenance 14
The Changing Parameters of Iberian Society 19
Castilian Monasteries and the Episcopal Seat of Burgos 21
CHAPTER  TWO :  PEDAGOGICAL COERCION
The Season of Lent 24
The Month of March and Thorns of Sexual Vices 29
The Pictorial Programs 33
CHAPTER THREE :  THE THEOLOGICAL CONTEXT
The Female Body of Christ 37
The Vulva Matris 46
CHAPTER FOUR : FEMALE IDENTITIES
Female Deception, Luxuria and Original Sin 52
The Alcahueta and Medieval Go-Betweens 58
Female Genitalia, Prostitutes and Troubadours 68
The Female “Fovea” and Baptism 77
Sirens, Female Seducers and Male Sexuality 82
Conclusion 88
Illustrations 91
Bibliography 130

"The purpose of this article is to examine the extrabiblical evidence from the ancient church to answer which mode of baptism was most common and whether that mode was of any consequence to the early church....The initial section of this article will define four ecclesiological terms relating to baptism: partial immersion, affusion, aspersion, and submersion (total immersion). The second section will address the writings of the subapostolic era (AD 70-150), while the third segment will treat writings from the ante-Nicene period (AD 150-300). The final section will then present a practical application of the research for contemporary churches. In the end, the evidence demonstrates that the early church favored immersion practices prior to the fourth century. However, the investigation cannot definitively prove whether that mode of baptism was partial or total immersion. Ultimately, the early church considered the method of water baptism inconsequential and focused, instead, on the genuineness of the candidate’s faith in Christ" (from the introduction).

Since 1823 the consecration date of 1129 for the Church of St. Boniface inscribed on the Freckenhorst baptismal font from the imperial convent of St. Boniface (Westphalia, Germany) has continued to be considered, by some, the date for when the font was carved. For over two hundred years this precocious date has divided academic communities, despite the numerous and comprehensive counter arguments asserting that the font is a later twelfth century if not early thirteenth century vessel. This raises the question, “Why has there been such resistance to recognize this vessel as a later product of the prolific Westphalian stone industry?” This article reviews the historiography to uncover the roots of the ‘sanctified status’ that the Freckenhorst font acquired over the centuries from the post-Imperial period of Germany through the two World Wars. The literature reveals not only why the Freckenhorst font came to symbolize ‘Germanic ingenuity’ for German art historians but also the challenges and changes within the evolving discipline of art history and the scholarly networks that connected art historians in the first half of the twentieth century.

41st Canadian Conference of Medieval Art Historians at Art Gallery of Ontario March 25-26. Hosted by the Art Gallery of Ontario, University of Toronto and University of Toronto Mississauga. Presenting a paper "THE BALTIC CRUSADES: CRUSADER KINGS, PEREGRINI AND PALMERS" March 26, 2022.This paper will introduce three inter-connected themes that escalated in popularity in the Infancy cycles carved on the northern Romanesque baptismal fonts during the apostolically endorsed Baltic Crusades (c. 1147-1350): crusader kingship, peregrini, and palmers. The fonts with the most extensive Infancy narratives were carved by the Danish and Gotland workshops in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, during the first one-hundred years of the Baltic Crusades, known as the Valdemarian Era (1157-1241). Both Valdemar I and Valdemar II declared
themselves ‘Crusader Kings’.

Riassunto. Questo articolo indaga la presenza della sirena sull'acquasantiera nel Medioevo. L'esame è stato condotto sui casi conservati e oggi noti, tutti concentrati cronologicamente (XII secolo) e territorialmente (Italia del Nord). Si tratta del pezzo nella pieve romanica di San Giorgio a Ganaceto (non lontano da Modena), dell'acquasantiera nella pieve romanica di Santa Maria Assunta a Rubbiano, nel comune di Montefiorino (nell'Appenino modenese), e della pila lustrale nel battistero del duomo di Cremona. Lo studio, che si avvale dei precedenti e non discute la cronologia e l'attribuzione già oggetto di ampio dibattito da parte di altri studiosi, ha riesaminato invece l'iconografia, giungendo a ipotizzare che non sempre è possibile identificare i soggetti scolpiti con le sirene, come è stato fatto in passato. Appare invece opportuno riconoscervi esseri più mostruosi, come la lamia o l'arpia, forse per valorizzare maggiormente le qualità salvifiche dell'acqua benedetta. Anche sui fonti battesimali la sirena appare personaggio poco sfruttato, ma l'indagine in questo contesto è ancora da svolgere in maniera sistematica.
[en] The Mermaid and the Holy-Water Font in the Middle Ages: a difficult combination Abstract. This paper investigates the presence of the siren on the holy-water font in the Middle Ages. The study was carried out on the preserved and known cases, all grouped chronologically (12th century) and territorially (Northern Italy). This is the piece located in the Romanesque church of San Giorgio in Ganaceto (near Modena), the stoup in the Romanesque church of Santa Maria Assunta in Rubbiano, in the municipality of Montefiorino (in the Modenese Apennines), and the lustral pile in the baptistery of cathedral of Cremona. The study, which makes use of the precedents and does not discuss the chronology and the attribution already subject of wide debate by other scholars, has instead reexamined the iconography, coming to hypothesize that it is not always possible to identify the subjects sculpted with the sirens, as has been done in the past. On the other hand, it seems appropriate to recognize more monstrous beings, such as the lamia or the harpy, perhaps to enhance the salvific qualities of holy water. Moreover on the baptismal fonts the siren appears as a little exploited character, but the investigation in this context is still to be carried out in a systematic way.

In connection with an exhibition in British Museum marking the 850th anniversary of the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket of Canterbury, one of the exhibits depicting the murder was the famous baptismal font from Lyngsjö church in the eastern part of Scania, close to the royally founded Premonstransian monastery in Vä. This coincided with the publication of an article in the journal Ale (2020 no 2-3), entitled ‘Mord, blod och mirakel. Dopfunten i Lyngsjö’ (Murder, Blood and Miracle. The Baptismal Font in Lyngsjö) by Elisabeth Reuterswärd. Being a specialist in modern rather than medieval history, the author is, however, unacquainted with numerous relevant sources and her knowledge of the historiography on the topic is not up to date.
Reuterswärd’s aim was to establish, who the donor of the font could have been, naming Eskil, archbishop of Lund until 1177, as her favourite candidate. In her attempt to substantiate this she used information in only one source, coupled with what she considers ‘general knowledge’ and a ‘calculus of probabilities’.
The source in question is a miracle inserted as no 166 of 168 recorded miracles in the sixth and last book in William of Canterbury’s almost contemporary collection of miracles. This dates it to the latter part of the 1170s. It is immediately followed by a miracle concerning a canon at the archbishopric of Lund, suggesting that both miracles originate in Lund.
In the miracle text we first learn that a Danish envoy, Clemence, ‘returning from the Queen Sophia’s Russian father had been captured and kept prisoner by two brothers in Wenden. Consulting his archbishop, King Valdemar I ordered him to head a fleet, which defeated the two brothers and freed Clemence. Now follows the actual miracle: night before his release, Clemence had invoked Thomas to be set free and in a subsequent dream Clemence had seen his Lundensian archbishop step off a ship, accompanied by a white-dressed, mutilated monk wearing a Danish royal crown. The archbishop told Clemence that he now stood under Thomas’ protection, ‘who accompanied him’ (a beato Thoma, quem ducebat, protegeretur). Once awake, Clemence realised the dream had come true.
Surprisingly Reuterswärd does not attempt to identify the archbishop of the miracle with Eskil. Relying on ‘general knowledge’, she claims the relationship between the king and Archbishop Eskil to have been so bad, that the king would never have consulted Eskil. When it comes to the archbishop in Clemence’s dream, Reuterswärd explicitly claims him to have been, not Eskil, but the ‘future archbishop, Absalon’. Contradicting the text, she also claims the accompanying, mutilated monk to have been King Valdemar’s father, Knud Lavard, recently canonised.
Now, one might well ask, what if anything can link Archbishop Eskil to this miracle? Well, it seems to come down to the dating of the event. Here Reuterswärd is so vague both regarding the dating of the miracle and the dating of Archbishop Eskil’s resignation, that it leaves her with a narrow interval in late 1177 or early 1178 when Eskil could, as archbishop, have been involved in recording and dispatching the miracle to Canterbury. But not so in reality.

Among sources overlooked by Reuterswärd is Saxo Grammaticus’ chronicle. Here we find a large, detailed account of the capture and subsequent release of the envoy, which is clearly dated after Eskil had long resigned his office and left Denmark in early 1177 and even after Absalon had taken over the archbishopric in early 1178: the archbishop of the miracle was Absalon and not Eskil!
Overlooked were also, two important letters from c. 1168. After King Valdemar finally accepted Alexander III as legitimate pope, Archbishop Eskil could safely return home from exile. Among the still exiled English clerics king Valdemar now became seen almost as a role model for the English king to follow. This is clearly expressed in a letter by John of Salisbury, who, somewhat optimistically, claimed that King Valdemar now followed Eskil’s every advice and treated him as a father. Important is also a letter to King Valdemar, written in Thomas Becket’s name by Herbert of Bosham. Here Thomas not only asked the king’s advice regarding King Henry, but he also entreated the king to listen to a message only conveyed orally by the messenger. This suggests a close and even personal relationship between the Danish king and Thomas Becket before the murder.
Another ignored source, showing early Danish royal support for the cult of the newly martyred Thomas Becket, is found earlier in William of Canterbury’s collection of miracles. Thus, as no 6 in book four, which dates the miracle to 1174 at the latest, we hear of a society in Schleswig, which happened to build a ship too large to be launched until ‘the new martyr Thomas’ was promised 100 pound wax for each completed journey. The fact that the Danish king is the only explicitly mentioned member of the society strongly suggests that this miracle, just like the Clemence-miracle – Thomas being adorned with the royal Danish insignia – was transmitted to Canterbury by the royal house.

With nothing to link the Lyngsjö font to Archbishop Eskil, where does this leave the attempted identification of a donor? Reuterswärd excluded a royal donation on the assumption that royalty could not have supported the veneration of somebody killed on the order of a royal colleague. Since it is well-documented that the Danish royal house early on supported the veneration of Thomas Becket, this assumption does not apply. Scholars have earlier suggested that the Danish Queen Gertrud, buried in 1197 at close-by monastery in Vä, could have donated the font as atonement for her grandfather’s crime. This particular reasoning Reuterswärd rightly dismissed by pointing out that Gertrud was not born in her father, Henry the Lion’s marriage with King Henry II’s daughter Matilda. However, Gertrud could still have donated the font, both because the Danish royal house actively supported Thomas Becket’s cult, and because Thomas was equally important to Henry the Lion, who included him as one of only eight saints in the depiction of his and Matilda’s coronation in his famous Gospels (1175/1188).
In the catalogue to the British Museum’s exhibition, a local stonemason, Tove, is referred to as carver of the Lyngsjö font. Reuterswärd does not enter this discussion. However, in an article from 1970, Frans Carlsson does find North German stylistic influence in the way the martyrdom is depicted, thus linking up with territories dominated by Henry the Lion.

The timing of baptism soon after believing the message about Jesus of Nazareth, may have been because in early Christian thought, baptism is how: 1) one enters into Christ and his death and 2) receives the forgiveness of sins, new life, and the Holy Spirit as a gift according to Acts 2:38 and Romans 6:3-4. Baptism was commanded by Jesus to his apostles in the ending of the account of his life as recorded by Matthew and another by Mark. This baptism was then preached in the first Christian sermon found in Acts, chapter 2 and was part of the Christian message thereafter. The idea of saying a prayer for salvation appears to be absent from the New Testament after the beginning of the church in Acts chapter 2.

La vasca battesimale della chiesa parrocchiale di San Paolo Apostolo di Modena, in via del Luzzo n. 130, si presenta come opera d'epoca tardo medievale d’interesse notevolissimo. Fu rinvenuta nel corso dei lavori di ristrutturazione, realizzati a partire dal 1974, nel Palazzo Abbati Marescotti sito a Modena tra la via Farini e vicolo Squallore, non lontano dalla chiesa di San Giorgio, da cui probabilmente proviene: un manufatto ritenuto al momento un "antipozzo o un fontanile, in stato di totale degrado, in completo abbandono". Sottoposto a restauro fra il 2002 e il 2003 a cura della restauratrice Giuliana Graziosi di Vignola, si presenta come vasca monolitica cilindrica in arenaria; per inciso, le arenarie furono tra le pietre impiegate dai Maestri Campionesi nei cantieri del Duomo di Modena e della sua torre Ghirlandina. Sulla superficie esterna, presso l'orlo, in corrispondenza con i quattro punti da cui si originano due diametri perpendicolari, si collocano le sporgenze di quattro altorilievi figurati, scolpiti nel medesimo blocco e non applicati. Gli altorilievi mostrano l’usura alla quale sono stati sottoposti durante i secoli. Là dove migliore è la conservazione, paiono eseguiti con un tratto rustico e rozzo, che qualifica il lapicida più come scalpellino che come vero e proprio scultore. Si riconoscono, in senso orario: una protome umana, una protome taurina di cui si individuano le corna; una protome animale, la meno riconoscibile, che si ritiene leonina; infine un'aquila, ben identificabile per le zampe e le ali, aderenti al corpo. Sulla base di questa iconografia, si individuano nei quattro rilievi i simboli degli Evangelisti: l'Angelo - ma sovente anche l'uomo - di san Matteo, il Toro di san Luca, il Leone di san Marco e l'Aquila di san Giovanni. L'iconografia legata agli Evangelisti ha indirizzato al riconoscimento della funzione battesimale della vasca, facendo sì che questa non finisse fra i manufatti anonimi perché decontestualizzati dalla sede originaria e adibiti a usi del tutto impropri. La datazione dell'opera appare problematica, sia per la semplicità formale sia per la notevole usura di quelle parti, appunto i rilievi, che se meglio conservati avrebbero potuto offrire riferimenti di stile utili per una più precisa collocazione cronologica. Le protomi potrebbero appartenere a maestranze che si ispirano alle mensole a forte rilievo presenti nel repertorio romanico-lombardo, e in particolare a quelle eseguite dai Campionesi nella Ghirlandina tra il XII e il XIII secolo. D'altro canto, va tenuto presente che in simili manufatti l'artigiano scalpellino poteva mantenere per lungo tempo modalità esecutive e un repertorio d'immagini più attardato in quanto legato a una consolidata tradizione. E' tuttavia possibile istituire confronti con altre analoghe opere di diverse zone d’Italia che presentano qualche affinità.

The article gathers the hitherto known visual and written sources regarding the baptistery of the Romanesque cathedral in Dubrovnik, along with some new evidence drawn primarily from the documentation of its demolition in the early 1830s. Comparative analysis of the relevant sources contributes to the knowledge of its appearance (notably the articulation of the baptistery interior with a shallow segmented ribbed dome). The author suggests a link not only between the Dubrovnik baptistery and the formal models from theepiscopal centres of the Po Plain (Parma), but also with a more general concept of the rite of Easter baptism developed in the communes of medieval Italy. Source comparison helps establish the chronology of the different functions of this building, from the initial belfry, documented baptismal function at the end of the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth century, to that of a church with the regular liturgy once the baptismal ceremony was transferred to the cathedral itself.

This article examines the representation of the Miracle of the Harvest, a rare pictorial motif on thirteenth century works, which was carved on four baptismal fonts by the Hegwald workshop operating on Gotland. The unique pictorial representations of this legend on the Hegwald fonts indicates that the workshop was most likely operating around the year 1200 or in the early decades of the thirteenth century and not, as Johnny Roosval suggested in 1918-1925, in the late eleventh or early twelfth centuries. Central to the development of the Romanesque font industry on Gotland was the arrival of the monks from the Cistercian monasteries of Clairvaux and Cîteaux in France, to Alvastra, Nydala (both on the Swedish mainland) and to the Baltic island of Gotland in 1152/53-1164, where the Cistercians founded the monastery of Beata Maria de Gut-nalia (Roma). With these developments, a massive stone industry evolved across the North and introduced a major influx of French influences that impacted the numerous workshops producing baptismal fonts, including Hegwald's. A review of the tetradic scholarship concerning the Hegwald workshop, the subject of the Miracle of the Harvest , the known written and visual evidence, and the construction history of the parish churches, is integrated and analysed within the historical context of the twelfth-and-thirteenth-century Danish-French alliances that contributed to these Baltic developments during the Valdemarian dynasty (1157-1241).

This paper seeks to determine how the ceremony of the baptism of Mieszko I of Poland (ca. 960-992) could have been performed. It presents the development of the baptismal liturgy in the Carolingian times and the then emerging baptismal theology that was also predominant in the Ottonian period. The probable course of the baptism of the Polish ruler is described on the basis of the rite of baptism for a catechumen made from a pagan (ordo ad catecuminum ex pagano faciendum) contained in the Pontificale Romano-Germanicum. The paper emphasises the far-reaching ritualistaion of the sacrament of baptism and stresses the importance of three-time immersion of a catechumen in water, a practice followed also in the Roman Church, the model of proper liturgical practices. Based on the described rite of baptism, the article also assesses whether it was possible to perform the rite in structures now interpreted - on the basis of archaeological findings - as early Piast baptisteries, in which Mieszko I could have been baptised.

Annak ellenére, hogy fontos liturgikus esemény eszközei voltak a keresztény egyházban, a középkori kő k
eresztel
őmedencék kutatása periferikus terület a magyarországi építészettörténet és művészettörténet számára. Tanulmányom nem egy lezárt kutatásról számol be, a Kárpát-medencébő
l összegyűjtött 534
darab k
ő keresztel
őmedencébő
l csupán az erdélyi anyagra, 175-re fókuszál. Közép-Európában a keresztel
őkút fölötti leöntés rendszeressé válásával a 13. századtól számolhatunk. Ezt támasztja alá az összegyűjtött Kárpát-medencei emlékanyag is. Az erdélyi keresztelő
kutak méretébő
l is egyértelműen következik, hogy gyermekkereszteléshez használták
őket. A számbavétel munkája során a legproblematikusabb a keltezés volt, hiszen sok esetben csupán a középkori jelleg állapítható meg. Provinciális, néha szinte primitíven kifaragott keresztel
őmedencék keverednek az igényesen, művészi érzékkel megmunkált darabokkal. Az  áttekinthető
ség és a jellegzetességek bemutatása érdekében – mivel a
korszak szerinti elemzésnek gátat szab a keltezés bizonytalansága – a jelenleg ismert erdélyi emlékanyagra vonatkozóan vázlatos tipológiai beosztást készítettem. Négy fő
típust különítettem el, melyeket részletesen példákkal illusztrálok.
Kulcsszavak: Erdély, középkor, kő
keresztel
medence, keresztelés liturgiája, kő
faragvány, provinciális, tipológia