Abul Abbas, Théodulf et Fardulfe : l’éléphant et le paradis sur terre à l’époque carolingienne
Résumé
The article examines the specific iconography of the initial B on f. 9v of the manuscript Latin 2195 of the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. Bernhard Bischoff once suggested that the depiction of an elephant’s head attached to this initial could be a portrait of Abul Abbas, the elephant given to Charlemagne by the Caliph of Baghdad, Harun Al-Rashid. The article aims firstly to confirm this hypothesis, while at the same time broadening the discussion based on an unpublished exploration of a poem composed by Theodulf of Orléans and offered to the abbot of Saint-Denis, Fardulfus. Here a battle scene between animals is depicted, with the elephant playing a decisive role in understanding the poem’s meaning. Since Latin 2195 was produced in Saint-Denis, the hypothesis is that there is a link between the animal iconography of the initial B and Theodulf ’s poem and the relationship with the contents of the manuscript: Cassiodorus’s com-mentary on the psalms. In the final section, an insight is offered into Charlemagne’s establishment at Aachen of a form of paradise on earth populated by animals, including the elephant Abul Abbas.
