The Tree of Death and the Tree of Lif e:

The Hanging of Haman in Medieval Jewish

Manuscript Painting

KATRIN KOGMAN-APPEL

In 1272 a Jewish illuminator, probably a man known as Shemaya Hatsarfati (Shemaya the French)

designed a peculiar image of the hanging of Haman and his sons [Fig. 2621. The book of Esther (7: 10)

fi.rst reports the hanging of Haman on the gallows that had been prepared for Mordechai, and some

verses later the execution of his ten sons jEsther 9:13-14). The image appears in the Worms Mah­

zor (Jerusalem, Jewish National and University Library, Ms. 4°781/1), produced, scholars believe,

in Franconia, probably in Würzburg. 1 Rather than showing Haman hanged on a gallows, as he is

commonly represented in Christian art of the period,2 the designer of the Worms Mahzor image

chose to rely on another pictorial source. The stylized tree with its branches forming medallions

in which the hanging men are depicted evokes an immediate association with the imagery of the

Tree of Jesse, a theme that had become increasingly popular in Christian art since the early twelfth

century. An example of particularly similar design to that of the Worms Mahzor is found in an An­

tiphonary, probably from Silesia, from the late thirteenth century (Fig. 263).3

The Hebrew text in Esther 5:14 reads ets, meaning "wood," or "tree," but also "gallows. 11 The

fact that the ets had to be set up suggests a gallows rather than a growing tree; however, the text

per se does not entirely exclude the hanging of Haman on a tree. In fact, medieval Jewish visual

renderings of the story prefer to show Haman hanged an a tree. A similar tree motif was used at

some time before 1293 in another southern German Mahzor (Fig. 264), now split between Dresden

(Sächsische Landesbibliothek, Ms. A 46 a) and Wroclav [University Library, Or. 1, 11. The Haman

illustration appears in the Dresden volume. Here the tree motif recalls the Tree of Jesse more re­

motely; the design of medallions was replaced by stylized branches before a colored background.

It is the overall composition with the mandorla-like frame for Haman that still creates a strong as­

sociation with the Tree of Jesse. The image is, however, also reminiscent of Christian depictions

of the Tree of Life. A particular resemblance can be observed to an image in the Gradual of Gisela

of Kerssenbruck [Osnabrück, Bistum, Diözesanarchiv, Ms. 101; Fig. 265), produced in 1300, prob­

ably in Westphalia. Although slightly later, this image makes it quite clear what kind of models

influenced the Jewish Haman pictures in compositional type and the design of the branches.4 The

262

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272. Crucifixion with synagoga and ccclesia. Schernberg Psalter, Karlsruhe, Landesbibliothek, St. Peter, pcrg. 139, f. 8G,Strasbourg, early thirteenth century

273. Larnbert Liber Floridus. Ghent, Bibliotheque de l'Universite, Codex 1125, fols. 231 v 232r,Saint Orner, before 1120

Aus rechtlichen Gründen steht diese Abbildung nicht im Open Access zur Verfügung

Aus rechtlichen Gründen steht diese Abbildung nicht im Open Access zur Verfügung