Moissac - East Side - E03MS21

N E W S

  Moissac
East Side
E03MS21

N E W S
E03MS21S S

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E03MS21W W

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E03MS21N N

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E03MS21E E

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Foliate ornament and alphabet

Over the scrolled tendril frieze of the bevelled impost block a Latin alphabet runs right round the capital from the east side to the northside. The incipit of Psalm 54 follows over the letter A: D[EV]S IN NOMINE TVO SALVVM ME FAC (“Save me, O God, by thy name”). The same quotation is also found on the Lazarus capital (E09MS27). On the south side – which is half destroyed – runs an alphabet in which the first letter is followed by the last, the second by the penultimate, and so on (A X, B V, C, T etc.). For medieval authors the alphabet symbolized the understanding of Holy Scripture; these alphabets, as well as the way their separate letters are played with, undoubtedly refer to the wording and content of the biblical texts.
Below the volutes the calathos of the capital is covered over with a dense pattern of palmettes which are scrolled inwards like a crosier. No Corinthianizing foliations are recognizable below them.

ME SALVUM TUO NOMINE IN D(EU)S inscription FAC scipture psalm Alphabet bible