A Short History of the Middle Ages Fourth Edition

Plate 5.4: Sant Tomàs de Fluvià, The Last Supper, Painted Vault (early 12th cent.). Sant Tomàs was one of
many monastic and parish churches in the county of Barcelona richly decorated with paintings in the twelfth
century. Here Christ is at the Last Supper with his apostles. The depiction closely follows John 13:23 when
Jesus announces that one of his disciples will betray him: “Now there was leaning on Jesus’s bosom one of
his disciples [John].... [John asked], ‘Lord, who is it?’ Jesus answered, ‘He it is to whom I shall reach
bread dipped.’ And when he had dipped the bread, he gave it to Judas.” To the right of the table a new scene
begins: Jesus’ disciple Peter cuts off the ear of the servant of the high priest who has come with Judas to
betray him. Christ then utters the famous words from Matt. 26:52, “Put your sword back into its place; for
all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” Then, according to Luke 22:51, Jesus touched the
servant’s ear and healed him.