Before the Barbarian invasions, there were no recorded visions of Hell
such as those described by Pope Gregory the Great, Gregory of Tours, and Bede.
These three writers were widely read at the time and worked to establish and
develop the content and legitimacy of visions of Hell, demons, and Satan. All
of the recorded visions were believed to be truthful and authentic, and most
came from cultures that were once considered to be far away or inaccessible. To
a degree, many of the creatures from other religious traditions such as ogres,
trolls, goblins, fairies, pixies, giants, and so forth, were integrated into
Christianity. In these visions, myths, and other narratives, they became
Christian demons.
Another aspect of Medieval culture which helped shape perceptions of
Hell and Satan was the construct of government. When one thinks of the Roman
Empire, cities, trade routes, shipping, coinage, a centralized army, and
international economy might come to mind. One also probably thinks of
feudalism. Feudalism, while difficult to describe and even harder to define,
was a sort of decentralized government that was administered by local lords of
large areas of farmland and forest. Taxes, legal problems, religious
appointments, and all the minutiae of daily life were governed by lords under
an “artificial kingship structure.” At its center was the lord, the leader to
which all under swore faithfulness, and where great noble families lived in
huge castles fortified with knights or vassals. There were then larger numbers
of serfs who performed agricultural and other manual labor duties in return for
the right to earn a living on the land. Monasteries were also structured in a
hierarchical fashion. The abbot played the part of the lord, friars were like
vassals, and lay brothers like serfs. Just as the abbot of the monastery owed
greater fealty to the pope, the lord might owe formal homage to a king.
Hell also operates in this feudalistic and hierarchical manner. In many
artistic representations of the underworld, Satan is shown either above or
below his army of demons. In some instances, he is the towering figure above
all the lesser devils who are collecting souls for him. He waits, perched above
all others, for the demons to bring him sinners. At other times, Satan is
pictured as the “Hell Mouth” at the bottom of the flames or river. The demons
capture the souls that then flow downstream into the mouth of the Devil who
waits to devour the sinners. In Faustian bargain stories, which began long
before Marlow and can be dated as early as the fifth century, it is a fealty
that the Devil demands. Satan requires a pledge from Faust in return for honor,
power, fortune, wealth, and all things that the Christian asks for from God or
the saints.
The great sin of feudalism was betrayal -- just like the great sin of
Satan was the betrayal of faith or fealty to God. Keeping faith not only to the
lord, but to the tenets of religion, was imperative to an extremely
conservative system rigorously preserved by the collusion of the Church and the
local state. The lowest circle in Dante’s Inferno
is reserved for the faithless, and, apart from Satan himself, the lowest of the
faithless low is Judas, who betrayed his honor and his own Lord.
Stay Tuned for The Medieval Origins of Satan
in Literature & Art: Part 4