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n the wake of dan brown’s phenomenally popular book The DaVinci Code, several humorous representations of davinci’s Last Supper have made the rounds of the Internet with Mary Magdalene inserted into the scene.While these were intended primarily as jests, the chants accompanying the Mandatum pauperum as practices by the nuns at barking Abbey in the fifteenth century do more than insert Mary Magdalene as one figure in this picture—they make her sonic presence the defining characteristic of the rite. In this essay I argue that the popularity of the legend of Mary Magdalene in the later Middle Ages influences the ritual of the mandatum throughout english monastic circles and that it finds special resonance at barking Abbey, a large and influential benedictine nunnery just outside of london.1 The Ritual of the Mandatum The mandatum, or footwashing, is a central monastic ritual, celebrated weekly according to the benedictine rule and with special solemnity on Maundy Thursday as a reenactment of Christ’s final meal with his disciples (John 13).2 In many medieval monasteries both male and female, this ritual evolved into two distinct ceremonies: one the Maundy of the Poor and the other the Conventual Maundy. In the english monastic tradition, the dual celebration of the mandatum on Holy Thursday dates back at least to the tenth-century Regularis concordia, where explicit instructions are given for the Maundy of the Poor before the office of none and the Conventual Maundy after vespers and a meal.The Regularis concordia instructs the monks and nuns to sing the antiphons proper to this ceremony, although the actual antiphon incipits are not listed.3 Similarly, in the description of the Maundy of the Poor in lanfranc’s eleventhThe Sonic Presence of Mary Magdalene at the Last Supper: The Maundy of the Poor at Barking Abbey Anne Bagnall Yardley I 169 century constitutions, only one chant is explicitly mentioned: “Abbas uel cantor incipiat antiphonam Dominus Ihesus, et alias que conueniunt” (The abbot or cantor shall then intone the antiphon Dominus Ihesus and others suitable).4 The use of the Dominus Ihesus chant as first in the series offers an indication of a possible source of its popularity in later english sources, many of which start the mandatum with that chant instead of the more widely used Mandatum novum.5 neither source, however, provides any more extensive knowledge about which particular chants were part of the ritual. A later english medieval source,the ordinal and customary from the Abbey of Saint Mary in York, offers a very clear theological understanding of the reasons for the Conventual Maundy. “Hoc ergo mandatum quod fit a prelatis representat factum Christi. unde notandum quod tres sunt cause quare dominus lavare voluit discipulorum pedes: primum in signum dilectionis; secundo in exemplum humilitatis; tercio ratione misterii, quia lotio pedum signat lotionem affectum” (This mandate therefore that is instituted by the prelates, manifests the deed of Christ. Whence it is noted that there are three motives wherefore the lord wanted to wash the feet of the disciples. The first as a sign of love. The second as an example of humility.The third reason for this service is that by the washing of feet, it signals washing with affection).6 Clearly at York the Mandatum fratrum is completely focused on Christ’s actions.Yet in this description we can see the seeds of the connection to Mary Magdalene. love, humility, and affection are all major elements of the medieval conception of Mary Magdalene.7 despite this Christological emphasis, by the twelfth century english processionals and customaries already indicate some inclusion of images of Mary Magdalene in the Maundy.8 bukofzer comments that “Strictly speaking,the Mary Magdalene episode does not belong to the mandatum; the point of the latter is precisely that Jesus washes the feet of others, but the similarity of the subject accounts for the association.”9 In this essay I argue that it is the rise of the legend of Mary Magdalene in the later Middle Ages that creates this strong connection between the mandatum and Mary Magdalene made audible in the chants sung during the ritual washing of feet. Mary Magdalene in the Middle Ages The medieval understanding of Mary Magdalene was shaped in large part by Pope Gregory the Great.In the late sixth century,he issued an influential sermon on Mary Magdalene that artfully conflates luke’s sinful woman, John’s Mary, and Mark’s Mary while avoiding other references.10 This...

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