Helical structure of rosettes page

[MarcoP]

This is an interesting manuscript indeed, it also defaults to green for water and has several scenes of people being baptized or otherwise submerged. Searcher's image is about Wetti of Reichenau, who had several visions of hell, purgatory and heaven. I assume the buildings on a hill may represent heaven in this case.

(It's an interesting genre, an evolution of biblical visions like Daniel, Ezekiel and especially Revelation. And clearly preparing the way for Dante).

Hi Koen,
it seems that the castles are part of Purgatory. I found the Latin text in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..

The passage appears to be: "qoddam opus, in modum castelli ligno et lapide valde inordinate conjectum..." - some kind of building, similar to a "castellum", disorderly made of wood and stone.
The words above in the manuscript posted by Yulia:

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You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. describes this part of the visions. First, damned in fire:

The first scene is a river of fire in and around which “an innumerable multitude of the damned” were punished, including many of Wetti’s unnamed acquaintances. Only one group is described and explained:
He saw among these many clerics, both in major and minor orders, who were standing in clinging fire, tied in back with straps. The women defiled by them were tied in a similar way in front of them. They were immersed in the same fire up to their genitals. The angel said that every other day without fail they were beaten on their genitals with rods. Wetti said that he knew many of them.
Although their sin is not named, it may best be termed clerical concubinage.

Next our passage (possibly):

Wetti eventually is shown another example of eternal damnation, it appears that in his afterworld, purgatory is a specialized region of hell rather than an independent realm.
Wetti is first shown the place where monks from all over are gathered together “in one congregation for their purgation.” This place is a roughly constructed stockade (castellum) from which sooty clouds emerge, suggestive perhaps of fumigation, though tradition suggests a more ardent affliction. All forms of monastic laxity are apparently expiated here, but only one is specified, namely the use of community funds for personal purposes, which is appropriately punished by being shut up in a lead strongbox until the Last Judgment.

The following scene (a high mountain) is illustrated in the next page.

So I guess that the illustrator was mislead by the contemporary meaning of "castellum" and represented the "stockade" as castles. Anyway, the following pages still illustrate devils: the discussion of heaven appears to start at 122r.

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., a fortified city is part of hell.