Re: VMs: Meaning of multiple limbs

["Philip Neal" <philipneal_vms@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: "legal1@xxxxxxxxx" <legal1@xxxxxxxxx>
>
> Having wondered for a while about the meaning of the three-armed nymph, now
> I guess it does not appear to be such an uncommon trait in medieval 
> drawing:
>
> http://lamop.univ-paris1.fr/W3/2S.jpg
> Sachsenspiegel, Heidelberger Bibliothek. COD PAL GERM 164 (Fø9 vø)
> but what could it mean? is it merely meant to imply movement?

This whole manuscript is online at the Universitatsbibliothek Heidelberg 
site. The page
in question

http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/sammlung2/cpg/cpg164.xml?docname=cpg164&pageid=PAGE0004

refers to rights of inheritance and reversion after a death. The person on 
the left finds himself
in possession of goods which he does not own: they therefore revert to his 
feudal lord, the
figure on the right. The left hand person is simultaneously pointing to the 
goods with one left
arm and offering two hands to his lord as a sign of the feudal relationship.

Philip Neal

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