The Jesse Window

and computer org charts

Recently, on my mammoth church-crawling trip to East Yorkshire, I posted a picture of the Jesse window in Selby Abbey. A number of people asked about this so I thought I would do a post on it to explain and hopefully show a few examples. This is my photo of the window at Selby which set this off.

If you recall, in the Gospels of Matthew 1:1-16 and Luke 3:23-38, the genealogy of Jesus is set out in some detail and it is this genealogy which gave rise to the Jesse window. There are some differences between the two genealogies which I’m not going to discuss, but both of them mention Jesse, father of King David.

The earliest surviving examples of this concept are in manuscripts, which then led on to the creation of stained glass windows. How this happened is linked to the development of Gothic architecture, which made large windows possible for the first time.

It always shows Jesse at the bottom (usually asleep), with a shoot or vine growing out of him, usually his side but sometime stomach. This shoot then grows through the illustration, giving rise to Jesse’s descendants. There are a lot of them, and many windows have a smaller selection for purposes of economy. But it always ends with Mary at the top, with Jesus directly above her (usually but not always). Joseph doesn’t feature usually, as this is about a physical line and since Mary gave birth to Jesus, she is the one that matters most.

Here is a 19^th century version which is quite simple and shows the basic premise.

At the bottom right you can see Jesse, asleep with the shoot growing out of his side (perhaps a reference to Adam?); it then goes upwards to David, who is named. That is a convention of these windows – all the descendant kings are named. If you look carefully, you will see the shoot branches off at David; upwards it goes to King Josaphat. Over to the left it goes to King Solomon; above him are Joachim and Anna (parents of Mary according to Tradition) and above them is Mary. This is a highly abbreviated version of the image but as a result it’s easy to see the concept.

At the bottom left you will see the prophet Isaiah. Is he a descendant of Jesse? Not according to the Bible. He is here because the Jesse window is a visual representation of his prophecy. Here are the two quotations in English, followed by the Vulgate. As modern translations change some of the words a bit, I have used a very literal translation of the Vulgate as that explains the Jesse windows better.

A shoot will come out from the root of Jesse and a flower shall grow up from his roots.

Et egredietur virga de radice Iesse et flos de radice eius ascendet.

(Isaiah 11:1)

On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a sign to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his tomb shall be glorious.

In die illa radix Iesse, qui stat in signum populorum, ipsum gentes deprecabuntur, et erit sepulcrum eius gloriosum.

(Isaiah 11:10)

The imagery is of an old tree which looks dead but suddenly puts out a shoot from its roots. These verses are often interpreted in Christian tradition as prophetic announcements of the coming of the Messiah, who would be a descendant of Jesse through his son, King David.

Why did this imagery become popular? There are a number of theories and these are the ones that seem to hold weight for me:

• Renewed interest in the Bible in the 12^th century

• Scholasticism and theological commentary on the Bible which grew strongly from the 12^th century

• Devotion to Mary – the growth of the devotion to Mary led to a desire to portray her more fully in churches. The creation of dedicated Lady Chapels also gave rise to a lot of Marian art; it should be noted that the Jesse window at Selby is in the Lady Chapel, directly behind the high altar.

If you do general research on this on the internet, what you won’t find is that the phrase “radix Iesse” (root of Jesse) is a key one in the Advent liturgy before Christmas. In the traditional Benedictine liturgy, the Benedictus antiphon for Monday before Christmas is:

Egredietur virga de radice Iesse, et replebitur omnis terra gloris Domini: et videbit omnis caro salutare Dei.

There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

Add to that the great O Antiphons which are sung from the 17^th December up to Christmas, which are very ancient, dating back to at least the 8^th century and are possibly even older. On December 19^th, the antiphon for the Magnificat is:

O radix Iesse, qui stas in signum populorum, super quem continebunt reges os suum, quem gentes deprecabuntur: veni ad liberandum nos, iam noli tardare.

O root of Jesse, who does stand as a sign to the peoples, before whom kings shall remain silent, and unto whom the Gentiles shall make supplication: come to deliver us and do not delay.

So this window represents, in visual form, the mystery of the Incarnation.

Each window is different. At Cartmel Priory (Cumbria, northwest England), most of the window has been destroyed but a few fragments remain. Here the shoot is in a vivid green, see the leaves coming off it.

This window is 14^th century, here’s another closeup.

Let’s go back to Selby, here is the middle section of the window – the branches are in white. It was a very difficult window to photograph unfortunately due to the light on the day I was there and the size of it gave me focus difficulties with my tiny phone camera! This is the full width of the Jesse parts (there are prophets around the edge).

Here’s a closeup of the bottom of this enormous window. Jesse is there, on the ground, asleep, and above you can clearly see David and Solomon. Some of the other names are not very legible.

At the top here you can see Mary (just) in the top centre panel with child Jesus and Christ crucified above her. Jesus wasn’t always portrayed and sometimes he is Christ in Majesty, sometimes Christ crucified, as here. As you can see from the angle of the photo, it’s a very tall window!

Some say that these windows were used to teach Christianity but I am slightly dubious about how possible this was – the window here is huge and even with the benefit of a camera, Mary is tiny. It’s impossible to see the names of all of these people so they would have to be memorised.

I think, like a lot of medieval church art, the purpose was not to show people but to honour God, and Mary in this case.

So how does this lead to computer org charts?

Well, this image of the root branching out and leading to more people was adopted by medieval royalty and aristocracy to depict their own genealogical lines. It was an easy, visual way of tracing their lineage. It was then adopted more widely in later centuries and in the modern era, it became the way organisations defined their internal structure.

It’s quite a thought that the way modern business describes its structures actually has its origins in medieval devotional art.

You can see where Selby is on my Maps page.

And finally:

There are a number of Jesse windows extant in various places, I have picked some from Wikipedia:

UK

York Minster has a tiny fragment from a Jesse window, dating from around 1150.

Canterbury Cathedral has a couple of panels from one, now in the Corona Chapel.

Wells Cathedral has an intact 14^th century Jesse Window.

St Mary’s Shrewsbury (Midlands) has another intact 14^th Century window.

Cartmel Priory, Cumbria has a few fragments, picture above.

Pocklington Church (Yorkshire) has the Victorian one pictured.

There are others of later periods – check Wikipedia.

Buckfast Abbey (Devon) has a modern mosaic floor version of the Tree of Jesse.

France

Chartres Cathedral has a 12^th century Jesse window.

USA

St Louis Abbey, St Louis, has a modern Jesse window.

Other

There are manuscript, painted and sculpture versions of the tree of Jesse as well, just search online.