Mysterious MM monogram
One of my favourite historical characters – also in reference to survived artworks – is Polish Queen Hedwig of Anjou (Jadwiga of Poland). According to the legend, a figure of crucified Christ from Wawel Cathedral spoke to her once (I wrote about it in THIS post) – she was a very pious woman, and she is a saint now. But she also appreciated secular art – most likely she was an owner of an ivory casket decorated with romance scenes, that is now in the Cathedral Museum in Cracow (see my video on this art-piece HERE). Unfortunately, most of artworks and books that she owned had not survived.
Jadwiga was an extraordinary woman – it seems that her character was strong. In her early teenage years she came to Cracow and was crowned the king of Poland – yes, we call her “queen” but she was in fact a female king. After she married Jogaila (Jagiełło) from Lithuania, they shared royal power. However in the 16th century another woman (Anna Jagiellon) was also elected the king, she never actually acted as one, leaving all the power to her husband, king Stefan Batory. Meanwhile, Jadwiga was the only woman on Polish throne who actually ruled – she even led the army to battles! Alas, nowadays she is mostly known as a pious queen who became a saint.
Today on my blog I decided to share some thoughts on a mysterious MM monogram used by Jadwiga. It is an ornamental initial made of two interlaced letters. Similarly created initials were used all around Europe, for example as signatures in legal documents. However, for some reason Jadwiga chose this MM monogram to use as her personal sign. For example, it was painted on a wall in a gothic chamber of Wawel Castle that used to be a bedchamber of king Casimir the Great, and later became Jadwiga’s room.
Moreover, the same monogram can be found on a rather specific artwork: a representative cup, which belonged to Polish royal family, and through the Wettins ended up in Dresden (Grünes Gewölbe). Most likely Jogaila’s granddaughter, Barbara Jagiellon, took it with her in 1496, when she married George, future Duke of Saxony. It is a mysterious item, which was created gradually. Its crystal bowl probably comes from Paris and dates back to mid-14th century. By the end of that century Cracow goldsmiths were most likely commissioned to make a cup out of it, as a votive gift from Queen Jadwiga to St Wenceslaus, the first patron saint of the Cracow Cathedral. There is an inscription informing us that Jadwiga was grateful to St Wenceslaus. Decorations of the cup contain coats of arms and MM monogram.
As Jerzy Żmudziński wrote, most likely the Queen’s gratitude was related to the fact that in September 1398, over 13 years after her wedding, she found herself pregnant with her first and very much anticipated child. Perhaps she prayed to St Wenceslaus before, or perhaps she was grateful because of the timing of the conception (St Wenceslaus’ feast is in September). Anyway, it did not end well. In mid-1399 Jadwiga gave birth to a daughter, and they both died.
Her widowed husband, king Ladislaus Jogaila, had the cup finished a few years later. He kept it for secular use though – apparently he decided that St Wenceslaus did not deserve this gift, after all.
Another unfinished artwork, also related to Jadwiga, is so called St Florian Psalter. It is kept in the National Library of Poland, and is digitalized in service Polona (See also: https://culture.pl/en/article/star-wars-hero-spotted-in-ancient-polish-manuscript). The Psalter is named after an Austrian monastery Sankt Florian, where it had been kept from the 17th century until interwar period, when it was purchased by the Polish government and brought back to Poland. The first part of this manuscript, created in the late 14th century, was most likely made for Queen Jadwiga. Interestingly, the Psalter is trilingual: all the Psalms are in Latin, in German, and… in Polish!
There are some other multilingual Psalters – interesting examples date back to the 12th century. In Palermo (Sicily), at the court of Roger II, the Harley Trilingual Psalter was produced between 1130 and 1153 (Harley MS 5786, British Library). It contains Greek Psalms (according to Septuagint), Latin (from Vulgate) and Arabic translation from the 11th century. Leiden University keeps another trilingual manuscript form the 12th century, containing four versions of Psalms (so called Quadruple psalter, BPG 49 A): Hebrew, Greek, and two Latin. There is also a fascinating Eadwine Psalter of Canterbury (Cambridge, Trinity College Library, MS R.17.1, 3rd quarter of the 12th c.) that contains three Latin versions for each Psalm (so called Roman Psalter, Gallican Psalter and Versio juxta Hebraicum), plus translations into Old English and Anglo-Norman. About the Eadwine Psalter I have once written on my blog (HERE).But back to the St Florian Psalter – there are Anjou (Angevins) coats of arms in it, and there is a MM monogram (repeated on three pages).
What could it mean? To be honest, we have no clues to figure that out. The scholars proposed various, equally uncertain ideas. Perhaps it was some astrological sign… Perhaps it meant “Mons Mariae”, which would indicate that the manuscript was created at the monastery of Canons Regular of St. Augustine in Kłodzko (that hypothesis is nowadays rejected). Perhaps it was a reference to Virgin Mary (“Mater Maria”), or to the battle cry of the House of Anjou („Montjoie Sainte-Marie”). Perhaps it was just a short for „Memento Mori”.
However, most of the scholars tentatively suggest that the monogram could have been a reference to Biblical sisters Martha and Mary, reflecting personal goal of Queen Jadwiga to combine active and contemplative lifestyles. Gospels tell us that when Christ visited Mary and Martha (sisters of Lazarus), he preached, and Mary sat by his feet and listened, while Martha was busy preparing the meal. Jesus did not tell Martha to stop that, but when she got irritated (“Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”), he remarked, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10: 38-42, NIV). It is commonly assumed that Martha and Mary represent active (lay) and contemplative (monastery) life: the latter is the easier path to salvation, but the former is also needed for the world to function. Because of that, St Martha became a patron saint of housekeepers and housewives… however, in the medieval art she was usually depicted with a bucket and aspergill. The bucket is not for cleaning the house, but for holy water – as according to the legend St Martha once tamed a dragon, sprinkling it with the holy water.
Of course the idea of combining active and contemplative lifestyles could have been important to Jadwiga, who was a queen and a wife, but also became a saint. On the other hand, there is no reason to assume that she actually longed for a life of a nun.
Surely, Jadwiga was pious, but it seems she was not really into extreme ascesis – she preferred to support the poor rather than to mortify her flesh. She was more keen to fund schools than monasteries – she bequeathed her entire private wealth to restore the Cracow Academy, which is now called the Jagiellonian University. We know that she loved art, especially music and literature; the fact that she most likely owned an ivory casket decorated with romance scenes proves that she also appreciated secular love stories. As a girl she used to be engaged with William Habsburg – a handsome and gallant young lad, whom she allegedly loved, and she is said to have tried to escape Wawel castle in attempt to consummate this marriage. Later, when she resigned herself to marry Lithuanian duke instead (and to secure christianisation of Lithuania), she sent her trusted knight, Zawisza of Oleśnica, to check on physical attributes of her future husband. Jogaila realised what it was about and invited Zawisza to join him in a bathhouse – the knight reported to young queen that her fiancé looks fine, and apparently that eased Jadwiga’s concerns. All together it seems that carnal aspects of marriage have always been important for Jadwiga.
Some scholars say that Jadwiga and Jogaila were not happy together, and one of the proofs of that would be the fact that they ate their meals separately, and had separate cooks. But, as other scholars point out, this may have been just rooted in royal customs, and also simply may have reflected different tastes of the spouses, when it came to food. Jogaila preferred heavier, Polish-Lithuanian cuisine, while Jadwiga was used to more delicate and fancy food, rooted in French and Italian culinary traditions. This, by the way, also proves that she was not prone to ascetic way of life, although of course as a pious person she observed all the fasts.
Jadwiga undoubtedly venerated St Bridget of Sweden (she had her life translated into Polish, and funded an altarpiece of St Bridget and St Erasmus in Cracow Cathedral), who was a 14th-century mystic, and established the order of Bridgettines after her husband died. Jadwiga also cared for St Hedwig (Jadwiga) of Silesia, who was a wife of Silesian prince; after delivering seven children she convinced her husband to take chastity vows; she was famous for extreme ascetic practices, and died in 1243 in a monastery in Trzebnica. Another important person for Jadwiga of Poland was Cracow 13th-century duchess Kinga, who convinced her husband to remain chaste, and after he died became a nun of Poor Claires. Those women seem to have longed for monastic lives, even though they had to endure political marriages before they could find final peace in convents. This sounds like combining active life with contemplative one. But was it the case of Jadwiga of Poland? Did she feel like “active” Martha, while dreaming about being “contemplative” Mary? I don’t think we have any proof for that hypothesis.
When I think about Jadwiga and her piety, especially considering her veneration for Crucified Christ (not even dismissing entirely the idea that she wanted to combine contemplative and active lifestyles), I have another idea to decipher her MM monogram.
What if it just meant „Mary Magdalene“, with no reference to Martha?
The cult of St Mary Magdalene was quite well-established in late medieval Cracow (and the whole region of Lesser Poland), and surely more developed than the cult of St Martha (who was considered Mary Magdalene’s sister). Magdalene was a crucial character of medieval Easter plays: she was the one who stood by the cross to the very end, and the one who was the first one to meet Resurrected Lord. In late medieval art one of the most popular scenes was „Noli me tangere“, that is the meeting of Risen Christ with Magdalene in the Garden (i wrote about it HERE). It was Magdalene who was chosen to be the Apostle for the Apostles: Christ told her to go and tell his disciples that he had risen.
It seems that love was a very important aspect of relationship between Christ and Mary Magdalene – in medieval Biblia Pauperum (books juxtaposing events from New and Old Testament) scene of „Noli me tangere“ was placed against the depiction of Bride and Groom from the Song of Songs (the Song of Solomon). I am quite sure that back then it was Mary Magdalene who could have been understood as a personification of the Church: the Mystical Bride of Christ.
That, by the way, may had been a reason for occurrence in late medieval art quite specific depictions of pregnant Mary Magdalene (I wrote about those HERE). Moreover, in Jadwiga’s times – that is in the late 14th century – a new type of depiction of Mary Magdalene developed in Central Europe, that is: hirsute Saint lifted by the angels, experiencing ecstasy (I wrote about it HERE and HERE). According to the legend, Mary Magdalene spent last decades of her life in the wilderness, where the angels daily lifted her towards Heaven. Quite an early depiction of this scene is initial D in Antiphonarium from the St Mary Magdalene Church in Wrocław (1387, BUWr OR, M 1244, fol. 83 v – see https://dokumenty.osu.cz/ff/journals/historica/2021-1/Lanuszka_1_2021.pdf)
Medieval Mary Magdalene was no penitent (that was her later image, popularised in the times of Counter-Reformation), but rather a beloved spiritual Bride of Christ. Yes, she was a sinner-saint, but as such she symbolised whole humanity. In medieval art she is usually depicted as a well-dressed elegant beauty, with a jar of ointment in her hand, or as an eremite missing her beloved, who is comforted by the mystical visions. Analysing late-medieval depictions of Mary Magdalene I have a feeling that this special saint could have been a model for Jadwiga of Poland.
To sum up: my totally personal and subjective idea is that monogram MM used by Queen Jadwiga should be read as „Maria Magdalena“.
By the way, if I ever decide to get a tattoo, it will be most likely this particular late gothic monogram.