The Visual Definition of Justice:
The Upper Register

The focus of the design is the splendid miniature, divided into two registers. The order corresponds to the textual sequence of the two main aspects of Justice defined by Aristotle. First, in the upper zone a visual definition of Justice in its universal or legal sense employs a complex personification allegory (Fig. 24a). The lower register (Fig. 24b) depicts Particular Justice, concerned with fairness in individual cases, divided into two subtypes: Justice distributive (Distributive Justice) on the left; Justice commutative (Remedial Justice) on the right. The struc-

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Figure 24
Above, from left:  Justice légale with Fortitude, Justice particulière ,  Mansuétude,
Entrepesie; below : Justice distributive, Justice commutative.  Les éthiques
d'Aristote, MS  A.

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Figure 24A
Upper register of Fig. 24

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Figure 24B
Lower register of Fig. 24

ture of the miniature's upper and lower registers corresponds to the generic and specific definitions of Justice respectively.

As noted above, the undivided space of the upper register offers an important clue to its privileged status. The inscription above the central figure, Justice légale, identifies the subject. Since the adjective légale is a neologism introduced by Oresme, the contemporary reader might have been puzzled by the meaning of the inscription. To overcome the problem, Oresme gives a definition of this term in the glossary of difficult words. Justice légale, Oresme states, is Universal Justice

that contains every virtue. He then directs the reader to Chapter 2 for further information.^[23] On folio 89 itself, the title for Chapter 2 directly below the miniature affords another access point to the definition of Justice légale. The inscription thus has lexical and indexical functions that link text and image.

The choice of the term Justice légale , instead of the synonymous Justice universele , stresses that in Oresme's text Justice is identified with obedience to positive or man-made law.^[24] Yet a certain tension exists between the secular and political emphasis in Oresme's definition and several formal and iconographic aspects of its visual analogue. The system for ordering the image of the upper register employs devices that communicate simultaneously worldly and transcendent associations. For example, the central position of the main figure has a twofold significance. In one sense, her placement alludes to her embodiment of the mean, as in the scheme fashioned by Oresme for the depiction of Virtue in Book II (Fig. 11). In the context of Book V, Justice légale fixes the mean in regard to personal and social relationships and in reaching fair and just judgment. Her verticality conveys notions of uprightness and standing fast. But her preponderant size abandons the association established in Figure 11 of the ethical mean with physical scale. Instead, a reversion to a non-naturalistic canon signals that large scale stands for spiritual or political supremacy. In this case, the reference symbolizes the primacy of Justice légale in the hierarchy of moral virtues, as well as a supernatural status.

The sheltering mantle of Justice légale also has multiple associations. This important motif expresses the virtue's characteristics of benevolence, protectiveness, and inclusiveness. The six smaller forms she harbors are subordinate to her and contained within her. In a visual and conceptual sense, they are "daughter" virtues. Of the six depicted, four are named: Fortitude, Justice particulière (Particular Justice), Mansuétude (Gentleness) and Entrepesie (Conciliation). Of these, Fortitude and Mansuétude are the first and third of the virtues in Oresme's text that form part of Justice légale.^[25] Justice particulière is a daughter too, as she is a special type of Justice, different from, but also part of, Justice légale. The meaning of the neologism Entrepesie is more problematic. The late Professor Menut suggested in a letter that the word, probably derived from entre and peser (to weigh between) means mediation or conciliation.

Although the metaphor of Justice and her daughters exists in medieval legal and ethical sources, the four named in the miniature of folio 89 do not match up with any fixed group.^[26] Also ambiguous are the associations of the attributes held by the daughters. The palm held by Fortitude, the sword proferred by Justice particulière, the ring extended by Mansuétude, and the dog cuddled by Entrepesie can apply to them or to their mother. For example, as a cardinal virtue, Fortitude can appropriately carry a palm, which can also signify the victory of a secular or heavenly ruler.^[27] Of course, the sword is traditionally associated with Justice, while the ring can allude to the eternal nature and sovereignty of this trustworthy virtue.^[28] This grouping may reflect Oresme's personal selection of significant concepts.

The maternal aspect of Justice légale creates a powerful visual metaphor of nurturant qualities, whose clear order and structure relate many aspects of the

virtue's moral qualities to each other. From the relationship between mother and daughter another range of allusions emerges that further illuminates the character of Justice légale. The protection she offers her daughters refers to her mercy, compassion, and responsibility. The mantle she extends is emblematic of these qualities. To both contemporaries and the modern viewer, the outspread cloak calls to mind the iconographic type known as the Madonna of Misericordia, or Mercy. A recent study by Christa Belting-Ihm clarifies the subtly interwoven roots of this archetypal image. Old Testament, Roman imperial, legal, Christian, and other sources account for the shifting content in which the protective mantle theme appears.^[29] As testimony of the expansion of the Madonna of Misericordia theme in the thirteenth century, an image in a manuscript of Averroes's commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics shows the fluid boundaries between the secular and religious realms. A historiated initial of an English manuscript^[30] depicts Philosophy sheltering her daughters, the seven liberal arts.^[31]

A legal source connected with the conceptual roots of the protective-mantle motif relates to the adoption ceremony followed in medieval courts. An important part of the ritual was the adoptive father's spreading a cloak over the child.^[32] A similar gesture made by high-ranking people—particularly queens—shielded defenseless persons (especially women) from criminal acts.^[33] Within a purely secular context, the mid-fourteenth-century Morgan Avis au roys manuscript shows both feminine and masculine exemplars of protectiveness. Perfect Virtue shelters the smaller cardinal virtues beneath her cloak (Fig. 13).^[34] On a more earthly level, two miniatures from the same manuscript represent French kings as shields of their people (Figs. 25 and 26). Thus, by the fourteenth century the mantle motif appears in both secular and religious contexts and is not limited to female exemplars.

Figures 25 and 26 clearly raise the connection between political sovereignty and Justice. In Figure 24 Justice légale is represented as a queen as well as a mother. What general and specific significance does queenship have in this miniature? According to Aristotle, Universal or Legal Justice is virtue in its fullest sense and holds a sovereign position among civic virtues. Oresme describes Justice légale as "la plus tres noble de toutes les vertus" (the most noble of all the virtues).^[35] In regard to the Madonna of Misericordia type, a spiritual affinity exists between Justice légale and Mary the Queen of Heaven, who embodies mercy and serves as advocate and mediator for humanity. The gold crown of Justice légale is similar to that worn by French queens, who similarly enjoy the highest social status. Moreover, French queens vow in their coronation oaths to be "merciful and generous to the poor and to widows and orphans." This phrase appears in the order of 1364 followed in the coronation of Jeanne de Bourbon.^[36] Indeed, the rod that the queen receives is associated in the liturgy with virtue and justice. As noted above, medieval queens traditionally exercise a legal prerogative of harboring defenseless people, particularly women, from attack or wrongdoing. It is, therefore, not unexpected to find in a drawing of Charles V and his family visual confirmation of the links between a French queen and legal tutelage. Illustrating a charter dated 1374, the right part of the drawing depicts Queen Jeanne de Bourbon sheltering her daughters (Fig. 27). The date of the document coincides with the year

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Figure 25
A French King Protects His Subjects. Avis au roys.

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Figure 26
A French King Shields His Subjects from an Enemy. Avis au roys.

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Figure 27
Charter with Charles V, Jeanne de Bourbon, Their Children, and the Monks of
Royaumont Abbey.

in which Charles V made the queen legal guardian of the royal children, if he died while they were still minors.^[37] Within MS A allusions to Jeanne de Bourbon occur in the image on the upper right of the frontispiece (Fig. 7) and in the crowned, fashionably clad figure of Vertu introducing Book II (Fig. 11).

The star on the figure's bodice could also have reminded Oresme's primary audience of another secular context for this emblem connected with French royalty. The chivalric Order of the Star was founded by King John the Good in 1351. The representation of an important meeting of the order later became a full-page illustration in Charles V's copy of the Grandes chroniques de France (Fig. 28). Anne Hedeman relates this prominent miniature to two main themes in this manuscript: French superiority over the English and the continuity of the Valois succession. Another element of particular interest in the context of Figure 24a is the order's ties to the cult of the Virgin.^[38]

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Figure 28
Order of the Star. Grandes chroniques de France.

The crown is not the only attribute of Justice légale with a dual frame of reference. For example, the flowing locks and youthful appearance of the virtue link her again with the Virgin Mary. The contemporary queen, Jeanne de Bourbon, also appears with unbound tresses during her coronation.^[39] The gold star adorning the breast of Justice légale recalls the attribute of Mary as Star of the Sea. Yet a perfectly secular context for Justice's star is the explicit passage in the Ethiques that "neither evening or morning star" is as wonderful as she.^[40] Moreover, the vivid "royal" blue mantle of Justice légale is appropriate not only for Mary but also for the queen of France. In short, like motherhood, queenship has secular and religious dimensions.

Despite the multivalent character of Justice légale, the setting and background of the representation emphasize her secular roots. Repeating the motif of the rinceaux above, her form is a human analogue of the architectural feature that dominates the upper register. A large central opening in the shape of a flattened arch surmounted by crenellations is flanked by two smaller turreted, round arches. This construction can be interpreted as an expansion of the crenellated-wall motif noted in earlier and subsequent miniatures of the A cycle. It is consistent with the previous interpretation of this motif as a stronghold or citadel of the virtues in the miniatures of Books III and IV (Figs. 15 and 20) to consider its extension in Figure 24a as connoting a city gateway. Such a reading accords with the key concept in Book V that Legal Justice operates in and orders the social relationships of a political community, Aristotle's city-state. In other words, the reader could associate Legal Justice with its place of operation: the city represented in medieval form. Figure 24a thus provides another example of Frances Yates's and Mary Carruthers's observations on scholastic memory systems. Here, an ideally beautiful personification of a moral concept, identified by an inscription, is associated with an architectural setting. Furthermore, the placement of Justice légale at the middle and largest opening of a triple archway reinforces her centrality. In a similar vein, the setting becomes a memory gateway in which the central place corresponds both to sequence in the text and to the importance of the concept. Here the triadic scheme sets off smaller, lateral, dark openings with brightly lit sills as ordering devices with which the reader can locate and separate mentally the particular definitions and lesser forms of Justice distributive and Justice commutative depicted in the lower register from the generic formulations of the upper zone.^[41]

The memory gateway setting suggests another set of associations. The extended central portion resembles a shrine inhabited by Justice.^[42] Justice légale acts, then, as a tutelary guardian, both securing and ruling the political community. Of course, the concept of Justice as a virgin goddess has a long tradition that encompasses the classical Astraea, the mysterious figure of Virgil's Fourth Eclogue, and the Virgin Mary.^[43]

If the figure of Justice légale suggests a supramundane ideal, the prominent setting anchors her in a worldly foundation represented by the city wall. The large rose fleur-de-lis pattern of the background invites the informed reader, aware of the claims that France was the chosen seat of Justice on earth, to link visually the

city gate with the fleur-de-lis. This process connects Justice légale with a person and a place: the ruler and kingdom of France.

The upper register of Figure 24 confirms the centrality and complexity of the ideas traditionally associated with Legal Justice. Although the extent of religious meaning retained by this image of Justice légale is impossible to determine, the virtue reigns as a heavenly queen over an ideal and static realm. The text states that Universal Justice functions through man-made law to assure the happiness of the public welfare realized in a political community.