Chapter XIII: Introduction (1)

1. The belief in the immortality of the soul and the natural desire of man to lift the veil shrouding the mysteries of the after-life appear to have been the psychological motives that inspired the authors of the many legends, popular throughout mediæval Christian Europe, the main theme of which is the picturesque description of a fantastic journey to the realms beyond the grave. These are the legends that, in the opinion of the scholars, provided Dante with the raw material for his poem.[422] Accordingly, they have been collected and analysed with scrupulous care by the leading critics, who, needless to add, consider them to be of purely Christian origin, either the spontaneous outcome of popular imagination or the result of centuries of monastic learning embellished by the artistic fancy of the troubadour.[423] The main centre from which these legends radiated over Europe appears indeed to have been the monasteries of Ireland. But it is interesting to note the marked difference between the legends that appeared before and those that appeared after the eleventh century. The monastic tales prior to that century are so poor in material and inartistic in treatment, the scenes representing the future life of the soul so trivial and at times coarse that, even had Dante known of their existence, they could scarcely have served as models for his work. This is admitted by D’Ancona himself. Later on, however, fresh tales appear, revealing a more fertile imagination and greater refinement on the part of the authors. These D’Ancona calls “veri abbozzi e prenunziamenti del poema dantesco.”[424]

2. How is this sudden change in the development of the eschatological theme in Western Christian literature to be accounted for? The hypothesis of the influence of elements, foreign to Western culture but adaptable thereto—inasmuch as their origin may in the end be traced back to the same early Christian stock—would not appear to be extravagant. Graf has observed that many particulars of the universal myth of paradise, although omitted from the Biblical narrative, reappear in these Christian legends; and he adds significantly that _it is not known whence they came nor by what means they were transmitted_.[425] Yet Graf made most methodical use of all the sources available to modern European erudition. The eschatological literature of Islam alone seems to have escaped the attention of this keen critic, for the Arabic texts, when not translated into some European tongue, were as a sealed book to him. In the following pages an attempt will be made to fill this gap by examining the Moslem legends for evidence of poetic features that may have influenced the Christian legends and thus explain their remarkable efflorescence in the eleventh century.

3. General evidence of such influence may be found in a feature observed by Graf himself. He notes that in many of the more popular legends of that date the souls of the deserving, before being admitted to eternal bliss, are led to a place other than the theological heaven, there to await the day of resurrection and judgment. But, as Graf states, from the fifth century onwards it was a dogma of the Church that the righteous were straightway admitted to the Beatific Vision, and any doctrine to the contrary was accursed.[426] Can stronger evidence exist of the non-Catholic origin of those legends? Islam, on the other hand, holds that from the time of death until the day of resurrection the souls of the just await judgment either in their graves, miraculously transformed into dwellings of temporary bliss, or in a garden of happiness lying apart from heaven.[427] The souls of martyrs alone appear to be immediately admitted to heaven, or rather to a Divine bower at the gate leading to the theological heaven. As will be shown hereunder, the scenes of this life of bliss prior to judgment bear a strong resemblance to several episodes of the Christian legends; and this similarity in descriptive detail, added to the coincidence of dogmatic belief, would seem to confirm the hypothesis of the Moslem origin of those legends. Nor is this belief, which, while still alive in Islam, had long been abandoned as heterodox by Western Christianity, the only proof of Moslem inspiration. Ozanam and D’Ancona state that many of the more poetic and edifying of these legends never received the official approval of the Church,[428] as if the latter had divined the existence, beneath the veil of poetic adornment, of a doctrine not altogether compatible with the orthodox creed. Indeed the palpable evidence of Islamic influence that will be found in many of these mediæval legends fully justifies that attitude.

4. In the following chapters the comparison of these legends with the Moslem tales is based—be it frankly admitted—not upon their entire texts, but upon the summaries furnished by the critics. Less minute, therefore, than the comparison aimed at in the two former parts of this work, it will serve to give a brief survey rather than a definite solution of this interesting literary problem.

Nor is any attempt made to group the Christian legends according to any new system. Where not already collected in cycles, they will be considered separately, even at the risk of repetition. Such repetition will not extend, however, to particulars the Islamic origin of which has already been proved. To these brief allusion only will be made and special attention paid to new features for which no Moslem precedent has so far been found.

II

LEGENDS OF VISIONS OF HELL

1. _Legend of the Three Monks of the East or of St. Macarius._[429]—Labitte and D’Ancona ascribe this legend to the sixth, seventh or eighth century; but Ozanam maintains that it must be later than Islam, seeing that in the epilogue the saint inquires of his guests what news they have of the Saracens. Graf considers it to be of Græco-Christian origin, but the mystery surrounding the person of the saint himself contributes to render the origin of the story still more obscure.

2. We will briefly examine the descriptive features that may point to a Moslem origin.

In the course of their long and adventurous pilgrimage the
three monks cross Syria, Persia and Ethiopia. Passing through
a country inhabited by dog-headed men, they traverse a land of
pygmies and reach a territory swarming with dragons, basilisks,
asps and other venomous creatures. Pursuing their way, they
cross a desert region strewn with stones and rocks and, passing
through the country of elephants, finally come to a land
of deep shadow, behind which rises the monument erected by
Alexander the Great as a boundary marking the end of the world.

The early Moslem tales referred to in a former chapter as being the remote prototypes of Dante’s hell, and notably a _hadith_ of the time of Mahomet, give a similar division of the earth into seven regions, some of which are identical with those of the legend. Thus, the dog-headed men appear in the third earth of the _hadith_; the fifth is full of serpents and scorpions; and the fourth is formed of sulphurous stones.[430] Finally, the region of darkness recurs in all the versions of the tale of Dulcarnain, who in Arabic legend is identified with Alexander the Great; and the monument appears as a wall built, according to the Koran, by Dulcarnain as a protection against the peoples of Gog and Magog, who, according to a version of the Islamic legend—like the pygmies of the Christian legend, whose stature was only an ell—measured but a hand and a half in height.[431]

The three monks then penetrate into the infernal regions and there witness tortures, some of which are noteworthy for their resemblance to Moslem punishments already mentioned. Thus, as in all the versions of the _Miraj_, sinners are seen tormented by serpents in a lake of burning sulphur; further on, the monks behold a giant chained in the midst of flames—a figure that also appeared in the _hadiths_ depicting hell[432]; again, a woman is shown tormented by an enormous serpent in a manner as horrible as that of the Moslem tortures[433]; and so on.

3. The Moslem character of the tale, however, is most apparent from the following episode:

The pilgrims have left hell behind them and now enter a wood
of lofty trees, upon the branches of which sit a multitude of
souls reincarnate in the form of birds. These cry out to God
with the voices of human beings begging Him to forgive them
their sins and explain to them the wonders they have witnessed.

Graf, in seeking to account for the frequent occurrence of this myth in mediæval legend, finds no precedent but that of early Christian symbolism, in which the soul is represented in the form of a bird. But in Christian symbolism the dove alone represented the Holy Ghost and only very occasionally, on the monuments of the Catacombs, the souls of the faithful. Moreover, the legend does not speak of symbols, but of the reincarnation of souls in birds, which live in a wood close, it is precisely stated, to paradise—features that will be seen to have a more satisfactory explanation in Moslem _hadiths_.

From early times it was a general belief in Islam that the spirits of men who fell in Holy Warfare and, occasionally, the souls of the faithful lived, incarnate in birds such as starlings, in a garden or wood at the gates of paradise, awaiting the day of resurrection. These birds, some of which are white and others green, fly freely through the garden and rest on the branches of the trees, the fruits of which they eat. They drink of the waters of the rivers flowing through the garden and spend their time in converse with God. The souls of Moslem children are likewise transferred to little birds, which fly about among the others. All these birds know and speak to one another. According to other _hadiths_, they are as white as doves or of a brilliant white like foam.

Some _hadiths_ quote the colloquies God is supposed to hold with these birds, and the text remotely resembles the words attributed to the human birds in the Christian legend. Thus[434]:

God asks them, “Know ye perchance of a better fate than that
reserved unto you?” and they answer, “No. Our sole desire
were that our spirits might return to our bodies once more to
fight and be sacrificed in Thy service.” In other _hadiths_,
the birds in which live the souls of the faithful other than
martyrs, are made to utter the prayer, “Gather us, O Lord, to
our brethren and grant us that which Thou hast promised unto
us.”

This belief was so deeply rooted in Islam that it gave rise to other holy legends as well as to theological polemics.[435] In the legends, a bird incarnating the spirit of an ascetic or mystic is supposed to appear on earth. In their polemics, the theologians in all earnestness discuss the nature of this being, which in the body of a bird harbours the mind of a man.

4. _Vision of St. Paul._[436]—The passage in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians (XII, 2-4), in which the Apostle refers to his being wafted to the third heaven, was the nucleus round which this legend grew. It first appeared in the form of an Apocalypse written in Greek about the fourth century, and does not seem to have spread to Western Christianity before the ninth century. Indeed, as a vision it only dates from the twelfth, and in its more literary forms from the thirteenth century. In transmission from East to West it underwent considerable changes, which have not yet been explained.[437] A comparison of the later texts with similar Moslem legends may therefore be of interest as pointing to the hidden channel by which the tale reached Western Europe.

5. As in the _Miraj_, Mahomet was accompanied by Gabriel, so St. Paul in his nocturnal ascension is led by the Archangel Michael.

The first torture of hell witnessed by St. Paul—that of the avaricious, hanging by their feet, their tongues, or ears from the branches of trees—is evidently an adaptation from the Isra; and it must be confessed that in the Moslem story there exists a relation between the sin committed and the member tortured that is altogether lacking in the Christian legend.

Over a turbid river, in the Pauline vision, stretches a bridge _as fine as a hair_, connecting this world with paradise; this bridge the righteous souls cross with ease, but the wicked fall into the river. Here the plagiarism is flagrant; for this is clearly a copy of the “sirat” or Moslem bridge crossed on the Day of Judgment, according to a Koranic myth, the Persian origin of which has been explained above.[438] Indeed, one of the early traditionists, Abu Said al-Khadari, in describing the “sirat” as being _finer than a hair_, uses the very same simile as the author of the Pauline vision.[439] It need hardly be pointed out that the position of this bridge, stretching from the earth to heaven across hell, is the same in both Christian and Moslem legends.

A wheel of fire that in ceaseless rotation torments the sinners is another instance of a torture copied from Islam. It will be remembered that in several _hadiths_ a precedent was found for the torture appointed by Dante to Sodomites[440]; among them is one dating from the eighth century that says, “In hell there are people bound to flaming wheels, the wheels of wells that turn in ceaseless rotation.”[441]

6. Although other picturesque features may be passed over as of minor importance,[442] the end of this apocryphal vision is remarkable for two scenes of singular poetic beauty. In the first of these, St. Paul from hell sees angels leading a righteous soul to paradise, while demons drag off a wicked soul to torture. All the religious books of Islam devote a chapter to this subject. Thus, the author of the _Tadhkira_ comments at length on a _hadith_, in which the death of the righteous man is contrasted with that of the sinner; and the fate of their souls, as they are led by angels or demons to heaven or hell, is depicted in awe-inspiring scenes.[443] But, as this scene of the Pauline vision recurs in many other Christian legends, all bearing upon the same struggle between angels and devils for the possession of the soul, its study may be held over until later, when these particular legends will be dealt with in detail.

The final vision of St. Paul is summarised by D’Ancona as follows:

The sinners humbly beg the Apostle to intercede on their
behalf. The _Miserere_, uttered by millions of souls, fills the
four heavens and reaches to the throne of Christ, Who thereupon
descends and sternly rebukes the reprobates. For the sake of
His disciple, however, He grants them a weekly respite from
torture, from the ninth hour of Saturday to the first hour of
Monday.

In the summary of the Greek Apocalypse, given by Graf, the analogous scene is as follows:

The Archangel Gabriel descends with the heavenly hosts, and the
damned implore his assistance. St. Paul, who has wept over
the indescribable tortures he has just witnessed, joins the
angels in their intercession on behalf of the sufferers. Christ
appears and, moved to pity by their prayers, grants the sinners
an annual respite on Easter Sunday, the anniversary of His
resurrection.[444]

Graf has pointed out that the main difference between the Greek Apocalypse and the Western _Visio Pauli_ lies in the fact that, whereas in the former the respite from torture is annual, in the latter it is weekly.[445] When and by whom was this change introduced? Islamic legends prior to the _Visio latina_ show the same belief in a weekly day of rest for the damned, extending from the eve of Friday to the morn of Saturday. The point will be more fully dealt with when the cycle of Christian legends on this subject of a respite comes under discussion. Meanwhile, the conclusion to be drawn is, that the _Visio Pauli_ reached Western Europe through Moslem adaptations of the Greek Apocalypse. A brief survey of these Islamic legends will complete the comparison.

One, current in the ninth century, forms but a new episode in the legend of Mahomet’s ascension.[446]

Mahomet from heaven hears the cries of pain uttered by the
undutiful children in hell and, moved to pity, intercedes with
God on their behalf; but God refuses to grant his request,
unless the parents join him in his prayers. After witnessing
the torture of the children, Mahomet returns weeping to the
Throne of God and thrice repeats his entreaties, only to meet
with the same answer. The Prophet then appeals in pleading
tones to the parents, who are in heaven; but they, remembering
the ingratitude of their children, are loth to act. However,
in the end he succeeds in softening their hearts and obtains
permission to lead them to hell, where at the sight of their
tortured children they burst into bitter tears. The sinners
reply with cries for mercy, and the entreaties of the parents,
added to those of the Prophet, finally obtain the pardon of the
sinners.

A similar legend, telling of the delivery from hell of the Moslem sufferers through the intercession of the Prophet, is given in the _Tadhkira_.[447]

From the bottommost pit of hell the damned, with cries of
anguish, call on Mahomet to intercede on behalf of his flock.
At the same time they beg the Lord to forgive them their sins,
addressing Him in terms similar to those of the _Miserere_ of
the Pauline vision, “Have mercy upon us, O Lord!” God grants
their pardon and sends Gabriel to deliver the believers from
hell.

III

LEGENDS OF VISIONS OF HELL—_continued_

1. _Legend of Tundal._[448]—As the protagonist lived in 1149, there is no doubt that this legend dates from the second half of the twelfth century. The author of the Latin version, an Irish monk, states that he composed it from a text written in a barbarous tongue.[449] Was this an Arabic text? The great number of Moslem features, several of them very striking, would seem to suggest it.

The legend tells of a journey, undertaken by the soul of Tundal upon his apparent death, to the realms beyond the grave, and describes many scenes the Moslem origin of which has already been sufficiently proved—the tortures by fire, by intense cold, and by the fiends wielding red hot prongs; the river of sulphur, the narrow bridge that only the righteous succeed in crossing, and many others.

2. But there are other more interesting visions. Thus, at the further side of the bridge of hell is a monster, named Acheronte, which, with its mighty jaws opening wide, is seen devouring two sinners. The literary device whereby hell is represented as a monstrous fiend rather than as a place of torture is to be found in Islam many centuries earlier. The Moslem _hadiths_ on the final judgment describe a monster, called Gehenna, which, according to some versions, with its many mouths devours three sinners.[450]

Tundal further tells of a place of expiation for souls that, being neither good nor wicked, are spared the torments of hell, but are not worthy of association with the saints. The prototype of this region has been shown to be the Moslem Aaraf.[451]

In another part of hell Tundal sees demons, who with heavy hammers deal furious blows at sinners stretched upon anvils. This vision is evidently an adaptation of the Moslem scene of the _punishment in the grave_.[452]

Two demons, black and of sinister and repulsive mien, appear
before the sinner as soon as he is buried. So misshapen are
they that they cannot be likened to angels, men, or animals. In
his hands each bears, for the purpose of Divine vengeance, an
iron hammer, so heavy that not all the men in the world could
lift it. In thunderous tones they begin to question the soul on
the sincerity of his belief in God and the Prophet. Paralysed
with terror at the sight of the monsters, whose eyes flash
like lightning in the darkness of the grave, the sinner is too
conscious of his guilt to give a ready reply to the fiends, who
at each faltering answer bring down their hammers with terrific
force seven times alternately upon the wretch’s head.

The picture is so vivid that the story must undoubtedly have created a profound impression; and, indeed, it is to be found in an adapted form in many a mediæval legend. Thus, the tale of Hugh, Margrave of Brandenburg, tells how, when hunting in a wood, he came across some men of a black colour and deformed shape torturing souls by beating them with hammers as they lay stretched on anvils.[453] This picture agrees even more literally with the Islamic model than does the scene in the legend of Tundal.

3. There remain three episodes that unquestionably are copies of Islamic descriptions. These are the very three scenes that prompted D’Ancona to remark,[454] “Never perhaps has man shown such wealth of imagination in the invention of infernal tortures as did the anonymous monk that composed this legend”—a remark that the eminent critic would surely not have hazarded, had he known of the existence of the Moslem originals. The first of these scenes depicts Lucifer.

Surrounded by demons and chained to a red hot grill, he roars
in agony; and, as if seeking vengeance for his own suffering,
with his hundred hands he clutches at innumerable souls and
crushes them between his fingers even as a man would crush
a bunch of grapes. The mangled bodies are then to be seen
floating in the fiery vapour of his breath, alternately
attracted and repelled by the respiration of the monster.

The posture of Lucifer, chained down amidst his fiendish host, is a Moslem feature that has already been referred to.[455]

The idea of the alternate attraction and repulsion of the bodies by his breathing appears to be taken from the scene of the _Isra_ in which the bodies of the adulterers are shown floating up and down in the heat of the furnace. The most striking feature—that of Lucifer crushing the bodies of the sinners in his numerous hands—is modelled upon a _hadith_ of the eighth century, which reads as follows:

“God has created an angel with as many fingers as there are
sinners condemned to fire, and each sinner is tortured by a
finger. I swear by Allah that the firmament would melt with
heat, were that angel to place but one of his fingers upon
it!”[456]

4. The second episode is prefaced by D’Ancona with the following remark:

“The sole aim of the legend of Tundal is to provoke terror. With a refinement of torture truly mediæval, the souls of the damned are first taken to see the delights of the life led by the elect, in order that their suffering be all the greater: _ut magis doleant_.”[457]

This pathetic scene is frequently to be found in the religious works of Islam. According to the Moslem creed, identical on this point with the Christian, the moral suffering of sinners is intended to be far greater than their physical suffering. Algazel develops this theme in his _Ihia_. The grief of the sinners over their exclusion from heaven, he avers, would not be so intense were it not that God, to add to their punishment, has ordered them to be shown paradise from outside.[458] In proof, he quotes the following _hadith_:

On the day of judgment God will ordain that some of the damned
be led to heaven; but, when they are near enough to inhale the
delicious perfumes with which the air is laden, and behold the
castles of paradise and the delights awaiting the blessed, a
Voice will of a sudden be heard saying: “Withdraw them, for
they are unworthy of a place in heaven”; and as they are turned
away, they will be filled with a sorrow such as no one yet has
felt or ever will feel. Then will they cry out, “Oh, Lord!
Hadst Thou but cast us into hell without showing us the rewards
prepared for Thy chosen, it had been easier for us to bear our
torment”; and God will answer, “To-day shall ye taste the pain
of torture, ye to whom I have denied the prize.”[459]

This scene, in which cruelty is blended with sarcasm, shows no trace of the sweet message of pity preached by the Gospel, but rather breathes the spirit of vengeance that is characteristic of the Old Testament and is transparent in more than one passage of the Koran. Some of these passages are glossed in the _Tadhkira_ with other _hadiths_, attributed to the converted Jew, Kaab al-Akhbar, describing various practical jokes played upon the sinners. Thus, the gates of hell are opened, as if to let the sufferers escape, to be quickly closed again whenever an attempt is made to pass through them; or, a pretence is made of allowing the sinners to enter paradise, the gate of which is then slammed in their faces. Under the heading of “Tricks played upon the Damned,” these cruel hoaxes prove that the comic and grotesque element found in many of the pre-Dante Christian legends was not wanting in the tales of Islam.

5. The last episode in the legend of Tundal that may be said to be of Moslem origin forms a striking picture:

The protagonist confesses to having stolen a cow from a
fellow-priest and, as a punishment, his angel-guide obliges him
to cross the narrow bridge leading to paradise at the same time
warding off the attacks of that very cow.

D’Ancona points out a similar scene in the vision of the usurer Gottschalk, in which the Burgrave of Reiningen is condemned to be tossed and trampled upon by a mad cow, of which he had once robbed a poor widow.[460]

The episode appears to be a copy of an early Moslem _hadith_:

“I swear by Him in whose hands lies my soul that every owner of
a sheep, a cow, or a camel, who has omitted to pay the ritual
tax, will be confronted on the day of judgment by the animal
in the fiercest form it ever assumed on earth; it will gore
him with horns of fire and trample upon him until his ribs are
broken and his belly split in twain; in vain will he cry out
for help, for in the form of a wolf or a lion the beast will
continue to torment him in hell.”[461]

6. _Legend of Purgatory of St. Patrick._[462]—This legend appeared in Ireland in the second half of the twelfth century and rapidly became popular throughout Christendom. Calderon immortalised it in his drama of the same title, and there is hardly a nation in Western Europe that has not drawn upon the legend for some literary purpose or other. The theme is a journey to the realms of the after-world by one Owen, an Irish knight, who is bold enough to penetrate into the cave by which, according to tradition, St. Patrick communicated with the other world. As D’Ancona observes, the legend is not remarkable for originality. “The visionaries,” he says, “begin to copy one another, and this is but natural, seeing that their imaginative powers have become exhausted.” The remark is very true and applies exactly to the present thesis; for most, if not all, of the picturesque features of this legend existed in Moslem eschatology.

7. Thus, Moslem models exist for the following scenes, common to so many of the legends: the torture by serpents; the submersion of sinners in a river of molten metal, on the banks of which stand demons ready to harpoon them; the passage of the narrow and slippery bridge; the monster whose breath alternately attracts and repels the bodies of the sinners; the wheel of fire; the pit of sulphur; the sinners hanging by their eyelids or nostrils, or head downwards, over flames of sulphur.

Other features of greater interest also appear to be of Islamic origin. Thus, the sinners lying crucified to the ground existed, as was shown in connection with Dante’s picture of Caiaphas, in the Moslem hell.[463]

The blast of bitterly cold wind to which other sinners are exposed, is but the _zamharir_ of Islam in one of its accepted meanings.[464]

Finally, the burning sepulchres in which some of the sinners lie buried, and the garments of fire covering others, have been shown to be of Islamic origin.[465]

IV

LEGENDS OF VISIONS OF HELL (CONCLUSION)

1. _Vision of Alberic._[466]—This legend is here included, not because the scenes depicted in it are in any way original, but because ever since the first publication of the Latin text in 1824 by the Abbé Cancellieri the Dantists have considered it to be one of the most important precursors of the Divine Comedy. Like the vision of St. Patrick, it dates from the thirteenth century, but was written in Italy, at the monastery of Montecasino. The monk, Alberic, is the protagonist and narrator of this journey to the realms of the after-life, which he is represented as having made in his childhood while unconscious during an illness.

The main episodes of the vision are those that have repeatedly been shown to be of Moslem origin. Thus, the lascivious are punished by being submerged in ice; apostates are shown devoured by serpents; murderers lie in the traditional lake of boiling blood; wicked mothers hang by their breasts from hooks, while adulteresses hang over fires. Then there is the scene of the monster whose breathing attracts and repels bodies, and that of Lucifer bound with heavy chains in a deep pit in the centre of hell. Finally, we have the most common scene of all, the narrow bridge that leads to heaven.

2. _The Song of the Sun in the Edda._—Among the forerunners of the Divine Comedy, Ozanam includes the famous Solar Liod contained in the Edda Saemundar.[467] Remote as the origin of these tales may be, the Solar Liod itself does not seem to be much older than the eleventh century. Ozanam himself observes that the poet depicts the realms of the after-life in a manner differing from the pagan traditions of his country. Moreover, the picture contains three distinctly Moslem features. In the first place, the lower world is divided into seven regions, as in the Islamic tales. Secondly, the souls in hell are represented as birds whose plumage is blackened by smoke. Now, just as in the discussion of the legend of St. Macarius it was shown to be a common feature of Moslem tales to depict the souls of the righteous as incarnate in birds of white or green plumage, so in a later chapter it will be shown that the incarnation of the souls of the wicked in birds of black plumage is an idea also prevalent in Islam. Lastly, the author of the Solar Liod depicts thieves as moving in groups in hell, laden with burdens of lead. Surely this scene also is derived from a Moslem _hadith_, which says: “On the day of judgment the rich man who failed to serve God shall be obliged to carry his riches on his back and at the passage of the bridge he shall stagger under his burden.”[468]

3. _Vision of Turcill._—This thirteenth-century vision contains, in addition to many Moslem features common to other legends, the scene in which a lawyer is forced to swallow his illicit gains.[469] The ninth century legend of Wettin showed the powerful of this world similarly expiating their crimes of rapine.[470] But this striking punishment was found in the _Isra_, where at one stage the faithless guardians and usurers are tortured by having stones of fire and darts of iron, symbolic of their ill-gotten gains, thrust down their throats, and in another scene lie helpless on the ground, their bellies swollen with the proceeds of their usury. The great age of the _hadiths_ relating this torture is confirmed by Tabari in his ninth century commentary.[471]

4. _Vision of the Abbot Joachim._—This twelfth-century vision contains the scene, so common in Moslem _hadiths_, of the narrow and slippery bridge leading across a river of burning sulphur that runs through hell. The souls of the righteous cross this bridge _with the swiftness of an eagle_.[472] The same simile occurs in a _hadith_ which reads: “Some will cross the bridge with the speed of lightning, others like the wind, _others again like birds_.”[473]

At the farther side of the bridge rises a wall, upon which the garden of paradise is built. This picture appears to be a copy of the Aaraf, which is represented in the Koran as a garden and a wall rising between hell and paradise.[474]

5. _Vision of the Bard of Regio Emilia._—This is an apocalyptic treatise composed in the thirteenth century in verse and in the vulgar dialect. Vossler states that it is difficult to understand how a nameless travelling minstrel could by his own unaided efforts have conceived so clear and comparatively logical a system of the after-world; and this very symmetry leads the critic to attach prime importance to this vision as being a prototype of Dante’s conception.[475] The troubadour imagines hell as divided into eight regions, each of which has a name and distinctive features of its own.

The first, called Ago, is full of fire; the second, Tartaro,
is the region of discord; the third, Averno, of cruelty; the
fourth, Asiro, of evil memories; the fifth, Gena, is a region
of sulphur; the sixth, Grabasso, is a place of trial; the
seventh, Baratro, is characterised by depth; and the eighth,
Abisso, is full of fiery furnaces and boiling pitch. The total
circumference exceeds a thousand miles. Access is afforded by
means of ten gates lying a hundred miles apart; each gate has
its special features and is reserved for one particular class
of sinners. Mountains, rivers and lakes of fire are seen at
the entrance. The first gate is called the Gate of Tears, and
the others are the Gates of Pain, Terror, Chains, Sulphur,
Serpents, Thirst, and so forth.

6. The comparison made in a former chapter of the symmetric plan of Dante’s hell with its Moslem prototypes shows how little originality exists in the conception of the Italian troubadour.[476] The two meanings of _storey_ and _gate_, given in Moslem exegesis to the Koranic word _bab_, he placidly accepts and simply adapts his facts to the double interpretation by representing hell as having ten gates besides eight regions or storeys. The same solution finally predominated among the Sufis, for the Murcian Ibn Arabi imagined hell as having seven strata and seven gates. The dimensions of hell are stated with similar precision, though with greater hyperbole, in the _hadiths_, which fix the distance between the gates as equal to what a man might cover on foot in seventy years.[477] Again, according to some _hadiths_, there are mountains and rivers of fire at the entrance to hell.[478] Lastly, it has repeatedly been shown that each stage of the Moslem hell had a name and special features of its own and was reserved for one category of sinners. Indeed, to judge by the names, the bard of Regio Emilia may well be suspected of having availed himself of the _hadith_ of Ibn Jurayj.[479] For, having exhausted his stock of classical and Biblical names with Tartaro, Averno, Baratro and Abisso, he seems to have resorted to transcribing roughly the Arabic terms. Thus, while Ago appears to be derived from Haguia, Asiro is clearly copied from Asair, and Gena from Gehenam.[480]

V

LEGENDS ON THE WEIGHING OF SOULS

1. Throughout a whole cycle of legends, which D’Ancona groups with the political legends, there recurs a scene the immediate, though not remote, origin of which is Islamic. The protagonists of these legends are the Emperors Charlemagne and Henry III., and King Rudolph of Burgundy.

These princes are brought up before the Divine tribunal, and
their sins are cast on to the balance by demons; but, just as
the scale is about to sink under the heavy weight, a saint,
such as St. James, St. Denis or St. Lawrence, throws on the
other scale all the good deeds of the prince, the sanctuaries
he erected, the ornaments he presented to churches and abbeys,
and so on. These outweigh the sins, and the soul is saved from
hell.[481]

2. That the religious myth of the weighing of the souls on scales at Divine judgment had its early origin in Egypt is well known.[482] The myth reappeared in the Persian eschatology of the Avesta,[483] and it had penetrated into Arabia by Mahomet’s time, as is shown, among other passages, by Ch. XXI, 48, of the Koran: “We shall set up true scales on the Day of Judgment. No soul shall be unjustly dealt with, though the works to be judged should weigh no more than a grain of mustard seed.” The traditionists, needless to say, soon seized upon the theme and adorned it with realistic scenes, some of which are identical with those of the Christian legends.[484]

A Moslem is brought up before the Divine tribunal on the Day
of Judgment. His sins, recorded in ninety-nine books, are read
out to him and, after he has confessed, the books are placed
on one of the scales, which naturally falls; whereupon God
Himself places on the other scale a scrap of paper containing
the profession of faith made by the sinner in his lifetime. The
scales are turned, and the Moslem is saved. According to other
legends Mahomet intervenes by placing on the right hand scale
a scrap of paper representing the prayers addressed to him
by the sinner. Often the realistic effect is enhanced by the
substitution of objects for the pieces of paper. Thus, a small
bag containing a handful of earth, which the sinner once threw
on the grave of a fellow-man that his soul might have peace,
alone suffices to outweigh a heap of sins. In many legends the
sinners are shown co-operating towards their mutual salvation:
Those rich in virtue assist their needy brethren by lending
them their surplus merits; and often the anxious sinner is to
be seen threading his way through the groups of souls in search
of a friend who can oblige him with the one virtue he may lack,
by the weight of which he hopes to turn the balance in his
favour.

As it is inconceivable that in that obscure age Western Christianity should have had direct knowledge of the Egypto-Persian myth, the immediate origin of the Christian legends must be sought for in the Islamic tales. This hypothesis is confirmed by the fact that in both the _hadiths_ and the Christian legends the same _Deus ex machina_ effect is introduced.

3. The same explanation may throw light upon a point in mediæval art that has hitherto remained obscure. Mâle, in his work “L’art religieux du XIIIme siècle en France,” calls attention to the fact that in the porches of the Gothic cathedrals of France St. Michael is represented with scales in his hand weighing the good and evil deeds of men.[485] Apart from a few vague phrases of St. Augustine and St. John Chrysostom to the effect that the deeds of men will be weighed “as in a balance,” Mâle finds no authority for this scene and concludes, that the image must have been formed in the popular mind by spontaneous evolution from those allusions of the Saints, and may thus have reached the artists.

A more specific explanation is provided by the effect of Moslem influence in producing legends in Christianity similar to those existing in Islam. In the Bible and in Christian doctrine generally, St. Michael is the _princeps militiae coelestis_, and as such he is represented, clad in armour, in early mediæval monuments, notably in an eighth-century window of the Cathedral of Châlons-sur-Marne. In paintings and bas-reliefs of a later date, however, as in Van der Weyden’s Day of Judgment in the Hospital of Beaune, and in that of Memling at Dantzig, he is always shown with the scales in his hand. The inference to be drawn is that the myth of the scales was introduced in the ninth or tenth century and, in the course of adaptation, the Archangel Gabriel (who in Islam was entrusted with the weighing) was replaced by the Archangel St. Michael, one of whose functions indeed, according to the doctrine of the Church is to lead the souls of the deceased to the Divine throne and introduce them into heaven.[486] This adaptation was not only unauthorised by the Catholic Church, but condemned by learned religious critics. Thus, the seventeenth century Spanish friar, Interián de Ayala, in his work “El pintor cristiano y erudito,” says: “It will appear even stranger to see the Archangel Michael himself depicted with scales in his hand; the origin of this, I must frankly confess, is unknown to me.”[487]

4. Nor is this instance of the influence of Islam upon mediæval art by any means exceptional. Both Mâle and Friar Interián point out other scenes of the day of judgment as equally unauthorised by Catholic tradition,[488] and notably the scene of intercession. In the sculpture of several French cathedrals of the thirteenth century; in the fourteenth century Day of Judgment at the Campo Santo of Pisa; in that of Fra Angelico at the Academy of Florence belonging to the fifteenth century—in all the Virgin Mary is shown, either alone or accompanied by St. John the Baptist, kneeling at the throne of Christ, the Judge, and interceding for the sinners. The scene is, of course, quite contrary to the spirit of that day of wrath, when there shall be neither intercession nor pardon. With the Moslem creed, however, it is in perfect agreement. Algazel—to quote the highest authority only—states that, after the Moslem sinners have been sentenced, God in His mercy will hearken to the pleading of the prophets and saints that stand highest in His favour.[489] As evidence he adduces many passages in the Koran and _hadiths_ of the Prophet, in which the scene is described in picturesque detail.

Mahomet, the leader of the prophets, draws nigh to the seat of
the Divine Judge casting, as he passes, a look of compassion
on the unhappy throng of Moslem sinners. In vain have the
other prophets interceded for them; their sole hope now lies
with him. Moved to pity by their entreaties and at the special
request of Jesus, he prostrates himself before the throne of
God and obtains the desired pardon.[490]

Lastly, the scenes in mediæval and renaissance pictures of the day of judgment in which the sinners are shown coming to life again naked, are denounced by Friar Interián as shameless and unchristian.[491] Those scenes, though indeed lacking all authority of the Church, are strictly in accordance with Moslem doctrine, which categorically states that on the day of judgment all men will meet before the throne of God naked and uncircumcised.[492] In fact, their very nakedness is a cause of physical suffering; for, as the sun will on that day draw nearer to the earth, they will sweat exceedingly and suffer greatly from thirst. This detail was even objected to by the early Moslems, and Aysha, the Prophet’s wife, pointed out how unseemly was such promiscuous nakedness. But Mahomet replied:

“Oh, Aysha! On that dread day none will bethink himself of
casting eyes upon his neighbour, for each one will be intent
upon his own thoughts.”[493]

Nevertheless, _hadiths_ of a later date sought to lessen the crudeness of the scene by reserving such nakedness to infidels.[494]

VI

LEGENDS OF PARADISE

1. D’Ancona paid due heed to the materialism shown in the conceptions of paradise in almost all the Christian legends precursory of the Divine Comedy, and concluded that Dante, in tracing his spiritual and ethereal picture of paradise, was uninfluenced by those legends. The contrast between Dante and his Christian predecessors was referred to in the discussion of the Paradiso,[495] when it was suggested that the materialistic pictures of heaven appearing in the mediæval Christian legends were themselves based on Moslem models. Now is the occasion to prove that assertion.

To begin with, these Christian legends bear a general resemblance to the Moslem tales in that they often make no distinction between the earthly and the heavenly paradise.[496] This confusion, it will be remembered, is characteristic of Islamic stories, and particularly of some versions of the ascension of Mahomet. In these, a garden of bliss, watered by clear streams, is the scene of the theological paradise, which, although not specifically laid on earth, is not supposed to be in the firmament of the heavens.[497]

This Moslem conception of paradise as a garden reappears in some poetical legends of thirteenth-century Christian Europe. For instance, in the poem “Le vergier du paradis,” published by Jubinal,[498] paradise is represented as a garden watered by limpid streams and shaded by trees; the air is scented with rare perfumes and the sweet music of instruments and the song of birds enchant the ear; within the bowers of this garden are castles of marvellous beauty, built of gold and precious stones. Were it not for some exclusively Islamic features, the picture might indeed have been evolved from the Celestial Jerusalem of Revelations.[499] Some of these features are of interest.

2. The protagonist of the legend of Turcill, in passing through
the garden of paradise, sees Adam seated at the foot of a
miraculous tree, close to the source of the four Biblical
rivers.[500] He observes that “Adam appeared to be smiling with
one eye, and weeping with the other; smiling at the thought
of those of his descendants who would find eternal life, and
weeping at the thought of those destined to eternal damnation.”

This episode, for which Graf quotes no precedent, is undeniably based upon a scene in the ascension of Mahomet[501]; and the fact that the version in question is included in the collection of Bukhari and Muslim is proof that it was current in Islam before the ninth century.

3. But, apart from mere episode, in many Christian legends of paradise the general outline of the conception is of Moslem origin. This conception is mostly modelled upon one type; paradise is conceived as the court of a feudal lord who receives his retainers at a brilliant gathering enlivened by music and dancing. The _Cour du paradis_, the work of an anonymous Provençal troubadour of the thirteenth century, describes the reception as follows[502]:

On All Saints Day the Lord holds a festive meeting at His
court. St. Simon and St. Jude are sent to each dwelling in
paradise to invite the blessed to the party; they call in turn
at the mansions of the angels, the patriarchs, the apostles,
the martyrs, the confessors, the innocent children, the virgins
and the widows. In these groups the blessed flock to the
reception, where they sing songs of heavenly love and tread the
same measures as are danced on earth; Mary and Mary Magdalene
lead the singing and dancing.

The _Visione dei gaudii de’ santi_,[503] a legend of Dante’s time, depicts the blessed as barons and paradise as a feudal castle with battlements and towers of crystal and precious stones. This picture is reproduced in the poem of the minstrel Giacomino of Verona, in which the saints are represented as knights militant under the banner of the Virgin, who in reward crowns them with wreaths of flowers of a perfume sweeter than musk or amber, and bestows upon them precious gifts of harness set with gold and emeralds and of chargers swifter than the hart or the wind chasing over the sea.[504]

In other legends, the festival in paradise is conceived on less worldly lines, more as a religious ceremony; in place of the cavalcade of knights is a holy procession led by the Lord, and then follows a meeting, at which St. Stephen recites the Epistle, and St. John the Gospel.[505]

It is significant that long before the tenth century there existed in Islam a whole cycle of _hadiths_ the very title of which—“The Court of Holiness”—suggests a resemblance to the Christian legends. As a matter of fact, the same general ideas underlie both. Paradise is conceived either as a courtly gathering where there is music and dancing, or, again, as a religious festival. The likeness extends down to actual detail, which would seem to be undeniable evidence of imitation.

This cycle of _hadiths_ comprises, not only those legends upon which the Beatific Vision of the mystics was founded, but others created by the traditionists to satisfy the ruder tastes of the early Moslems, whose only interests ever lay in the direction of the miraculous.[506]

The _hadiths_ of the “Court of Holiness” begin, like the Christian legends, with the invitation of the blessed to the reception at the heavenly court. The invitation is for Friday, the festive day of Islam, on which the elect, in addition to their continual bliss, are granted the special favour of gazing upon the face of the Almighty. Thus the enjoyment of the Beatific Vision is not constant, but weekly; and in the “Cour du Paradis” the blessed only behold the Almighty once a year. The point is important in that it is quite unauthorised by Christian doctrine.

Early on Friday morn angel messengers call upon the blessed in
their mansions and deliver a sealed invitation to each together
with rich gifts of jewelry for his adornment. The reception is
held in two castles, built of pearls, that stand in the gardens
of paradise—the one destined for the men, under Mahomet, and
the other for the women, under Fatima. Reclining on soft
cushions, the guests listen to houris chanting hymns of praise
to the Lord to the accompaniment of countless flutes that hang
from the trees and are sounded by the softest of breezes.
Enraptured by the music, the blessed feel an impulse to dance;
so, in order that they may be spared the physical exertion,
they are provided with instruments fitted with wings, on which
they sway hither and thither to the rhythm of the music. After
the dancing follows the reception by God, Who speaks to each
guest in turn, whereupon they retire each to his dwelling.

The analogy of this version to the “Cour du Paradis” is obvious. In other versions, the reception is followed by a religious ceremony.

The blessed beg to be allowed the pleasure of holy prayer,
which was their delight on earth. God bids David ascend the
pulpit, and in an inspired voice he chants one of his Psalms.
Thereupon Mahomet in even more impressive tones recites a
chapter from the Koran. Finally God shows Himself to each of
the guests, who then retire to their mansions.

A third version of the _hadith_ appears to be the prototype of the Christian legends that represent the heavenly festivity as a brilliant cavalcade. After the prologue of the invitation common to all the readings, the story proceeds as follows:

After all the guests have mounted, the men on horses of the
purest breed and the women on she-camels, they are led by
Mahomet and Fatima to the court. Mahomet, mounted on Boraq,
hoists the Green Standard of the Glory of God, which is borne
by angels on a staff of light above his head. The prophets
Adam, Moses, and Jesus join the procession, as it passes their
castles. In other versions, Mahomet is surrounded by Abu Bakr,
Adam, and Omar and preceded by the first muezzin Bilal, who
rides at the head of the heavenly muezzins. The cavalcade
follows the flowery banks of the river Kauthar till it reaches
the golden walls of the castle of the King of Heaven. Gabriel
climbs to the battlements and summons all the blessed to join
in the festivity. They arrive in groups led by their respective
prophets and take up their place behind Mahomet and his flock.
Inside the castle walls the sward is perfumed and shaded by
trees, whose branches are laden with fruit and peopled with
countless birds of song. Here the reception is held in a manner
similar to that already described.

The resemblance between this version and the Christian legends of the cavalcade of knights extends even to descriptive detail. Mary presents her knights with coursers such as never were seen on earth, red in colour, and swifter than the hart or the wind sweeping over the sea; their trappings are of gold resplendent with emeralds. The terms of the Moslem legend are almost identical:

God saith to His angels, “Give My elect steeds of the purest
breed, yet such as they have never ridden.” And the angels
proffered them coursers of a ruby red, the trappings of which
are set with emeralds; with their wings of gold and hoofs of
silver, they can outrun the swiftest race-horse and fly faster
than lightning....[507]

VII

LEGENDS OF SEA VOYAGES