Developing an iconography of the episcopacy: Liturgical portraiture and episcopal politics in tenth- and eleventh-century manuscripts

In the Early Medieval era, bishops served their congregations and their kings in an exclusive capacity. As successors to the apostolic tradition, these men were responsible for continuing Christ's mission on Earth as well as tending to the secular concerns of their Sovereigns and their See. Images of the episcopacy, particularly episcopal portraits such as the bishop enthroned or the donor portrait, reference this position by adapting iconographies of power that highlight the complexities of the episcopal office. Around the turn of the millennium, an enigmatic episcopal portrait type develops alongside these more traditional iconographies that depicts the bishop in a liturgical posture.;These 'liturgical' portraits appear in manuscripts that may also be defined as liturgical, such as the sacramentary, the benedictional or the ordo missae. As the text of these liturgical manuscripts defined the evolving role of the bishop as a celebrant, likewise, the liturgical portrait highlights the social and spiritual legitimacy of the episcopacy by picturing those actions that make the bishop unique among and indispensable to the communities he served, both royal and common.;This project will develop an iconography of the episcopacy using specific examples of liturgical portraiture from three Ottonian bishops; Warmund of Ivrea (c. 966--1005), Sigebert of Minden (c. 1022--1036) and Engilmar of Parenzo (c. 1028--1045). I will suggest that these miniatures derive from a tradition of liturgical imagery that begins with Old Testament typologies in the apse decoration of Early Christian churches and evolves through the politically and spiritually charged pictorial programs from Carolingian and Ottonian sacramentaries and hagiographies. In recognizing the liturgy and its representation as a powerful social and political tool, these miniatures construct an iconography of sacerdotal privilege that secures a place for their bishop-patron within spiritual and political hierarchies.