Gripla - 01.01.2000, Page 84

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The Book of Judith has had a strong appeal throughout the ages, judging
from the numerous versions that exist of the story and the many works of art it
has inspired — from renaissance sculptures to playing cards.4 Although it was
excluded from the Hebrew canon it remained popular among Jews — several
Hebrew texts exist as well as numerous medieval midrashim (or expositions) of
the story (Moore 1985:103). It had a mixed reception among Christian Church
fathers, some accepted it as canonical, others did not. The Eastem fathers seem
to have been more sceptical in this respect, and they generally denied the book
canonical status. In the West, on the other hand, it was recognised as part of the
canon by the majority of Church leaders, for instance Hilary of Poitiers, St
Augustine and Pope Innocent I, and praised by those, in particular, who like
Judith chose and/or advocated celibacy (Moore 1985:64, 90).
The inclusion of the book of Judith in the Vulgate ensured its reception in
the West. Judith became a symbol of the fighting Church, Christ’s bride, in
the fight against Satan and she also came to represent the Virgin crushing the
head of the serpent. The biblical text spawned Judith literature of other genres
— Judith poems or fragments of poems have survived in Middle High Ger-
man and in Old English (Purdie 1927:1-22). The Old English Judith, which
dates from before 1000, has often been interpreted as a patriotic exhortation
to the English facing the invasion of Danish Vikings. This reading is support-
ed by Ælfric’s comment on the Book of Judith in a Letter to Sigeweard
(Crawford 1922:48). Ælfric also wrote a homily on Judith where the empha-
sis is not so much on the heroine as a model patriot but rather as an example
of chastity. Ian Pringle has argued that Judith, in both Ælfric’s homily and in
the poem, is “an example of monastic virtue” (1975:95), the qualities attrib-
uted to her in both works are chastity, hope and faith. Pringle also points out
(1975:92) that
the possibility that the extant manuscript of the poem was intended for
a monastic library suggests that it was considered relevant to a monas-
tic audience, just as Ælfric’s homily on Judith was certainly addressed
to a nun.
The story of Judith does indeed seem a fitting read for nuns. The heroine
is a widow who after the death of her husband devotes herself to chastity and
piety. She is rich and beautiful but also a model of modesty and well liked by
everyone. She commands such respect in her village that the priests of the
4
Judith has been the Queen of Hearts in the French deck since the fourteenth century, cf.
Craven 1983:1 n.2. On the depiction of Judith in art cf. Stone 1992.