Chain of Being: Tillyard in a Nutshell
The scholars E. M. W.
Tillyard and A. O. Lovejoy argued that the medieval
and Renaissance world inherited a special worldview, the
idea of a hierarchical universe ordained by God. "The
Chain of Being"
describes this medieval and Renaissance structure as an interconnected
web of greater and lesser links. Each link in the Chain was
an individual species of being, creature, or object. Those
on the Chain possessed greater intellect, mobility, and
than those lower on the Chain. Accordingly, the higher links
had more authority over the lower. For instance, plants
had authority and ability to rule over minerals. Being superior
in quality to inert rock and soil, the plants had divine
to draw sustenance from them, and grow upon them, while the
minerals and soil supported them. Animals--higher on the
of Being--were thought to have natural authority over both
inanimate plants and minerals. For instance, horses could
trample the rocks and earth; they could also eat plants.
Humans in turn were thought to possess greater attributes
animals, and could rule over the rest of the natural world,
uprooting weeds and planting gardens, digging up metals
shaping them into tools, and so on. Likewise, spiritual beings
like angels and God had greater ability than man, and could
rule over and control humanity as well as the rest of the
animals and the inanimate world.
The unifying principle holding the
Chain together was either (1) rational order, as suggested
in earlier classical literature like passages
in Ovid's Metamorphoses, and (2) divine love,
as evidenced in later Enlightenment writings like Alexander
Pope's An Essay on Man.
Every being in creation was thought to have its place within
this Chain, which entailed a certain degree of authority and
a certain degree of responsibility to the rest of the Chain.
As long as each being knew its place and did its destined
duty for the rest of the Chain, all would be well.
Basic Chart of Ranks At
The Chain as a whole:
- Yellow Bile (or
Choler): causes anger and irritability
- Black Bile (or
Tears): causes melancholy, sadness
- Blood: causes
excitement, energy, happiness, sexual arousal
- Phlegm: causes
Note: The Elizabethans
referred to all celestial objects, including the sun,
comets, as "stars." Thus, "the watery
to the moon, the star that controls the tides. The Earth
is (in Ptolemaic models) the center of the universe,
but it is not ranked on the Chain of Being as a star.
Instead, the Sun is the primate of the celestial objects
because it is the brightest object in the sky.
- Fire (attributes
of hot and dry). Its alchemical spirit is the Salamander.
- Air (attributes
of warm and moist). Its alchemical spirit is the Sylph.
- Water (attributes
of cold and moist). Its alchemical spirit is the Naiad
- Earth (attributes
of cold and dry) Its alchemical spirit is the Gnome.
Subgroups of the Chain
At once at the top of the Chain of Being,
but also external to creation, God was believed to stand
outside the physical
limitations of time. He possessed the spiritual attributes
of reason, love, and imagination, like all spiritual beings,
but he alone possessed the divine attributes of omnipotence,
omniscience, and omnipresence. God serves as the model
authority for the strongest, most virtuous, most excellent
type of being within a specific category (the "primate," see
Angelic Beings: Beings
of pure spirit, angels had no physical bodies of their
own. In order to affect the physical world, angels were
to build temporary bodies for themselves out of particles
of air. Medieval and Renaissance theologians believed
to possess reason, love, imagination, and--like God--to stand
outside the physical limitations of time. They possessed
awareness unbound by physical organs, and they possessed
language. They lacked, however, the divine attributes
omniscience, and omnipresence of God, and they simultaneously
lacked the physical passions experienced by humans and
Depending upon the author, the class of angels was further
subdivided into three, seven, nine, or ten ranks, variously
known as triads, orders or choirs. Each rank had greater
and responsibility than the entities below them. The Pseudo-Dionysius
divides the angels into three "choirs" or "triads" with
three orders in the Caelestis Hierarchia. St.
Gregory the Great and Saint Thomas Aquinas favored the nine-tiered
system. Aquinas writes in the Summa Theologica: "There
are nine orders of angels, to wit, angels, archangels, virtues,
powers, principalities, dominations, ophanim [alias thrones],
cherubim, and seraphim." The primate, or superior
type of angel, was the seraph, or in the plural form, seraphim (note).
For medieval and Renaissance thinkers, humans occupied a unique
position on the Chain of Being, straddling the world of spiritual
beings and the world of physical creation. Humans were thought
to possess divine powers such as reason, love, and imagination.
Like angels, humans were spiritual beings, but unlike angels,
human souls were "knotted" to a physical body. As such, they
were subject to passions and physical sensations--pain, hunger,
thirst, sexual desire--just like other animals lower on the
Chain of the Being. They also possessed the powers of reproduction
unlike the minerals and rocks lowest on the Chain of Being.
Humans had a particularly difficult position, balancing the
divine and the animalistic parts of their nature. For instance,
an angel is only capable of intellectual sin such as pride
(as evidenced by Lucifer's fall from heaven in Christian belief).
Humans, however, were capable of both intellectual sin and
physical sins such as lust and gluttony if they let their
animal appetites overrule their divine reason. Humans also
possessed sensory attributes: sight, touch, taste, hearing,
and smell. Unlike angels, however, their sensory attributes
were limited by physical organs. (They could only know things
they could discern through the five senses.) The human primate
was the King.
Animals, like humans higher on the Chain, were animated
of independent motion). They possessed physical appetites
and sensory attributes, the number depending upon their
within the Chain of Being. They had limited intelligence
and awareness of their surroundings. Unlike humans, they
thought to lack spiritual and mental attributes such as immortal
souls and the ability to use logic and language. The primate
of all animals (the "King of Beasts") was variously thought
to be either the lion or the elephant. However, each subgroup
of animals also had its own primate, an avatar superior in
qualities of its type.
Lion or Elephant
- Domesticated Predators
- Predatory Mammals
- Domesticated Herbivores
(horses, cattle, donkeys)
- Wild Herbivores
(deer, rabbits, etc.)
- Birds of Prey
(hawks, owls, etc.)
- Carrion Birds
- "Worm-eating" Birds
- "Seed-eating" Birds
Note that avian creatures, linked
to the element of air, were considered superior to aquatic
creatures linked to the element of water. Air naturally
tended to rise and soar above the surface of water, and
analogously, aerial creatures were placed higher in the
Whale or Dolphin (We know a whale is not a fish; back then
people did not)
- Fish of various sizes and attributes
The chart would continue to descend
through various reptiles, amphibians, and insects. The
higher up the chart one went, the more noble, mobile,
strong, and intelligent the creature in Renaissance belief.
At the very bottom of the animal section, we find sessile
creatures like the oysters, clams, and barnacles. Like
the plants below them, these creatures lacked mobility,
and were thought to lack various sensory organs such as
sight and hearing. However, they were still considered
superior to plants because they had tactile and gustatory
senses (touch and taste).
like other living creatures, possessed the ability to
grow in size and reproduce. However, they lacked mental
attributes and possessed no sensory organs. Instead,
gifts included the ability to eat soil, air, and "heat." (Photosynthesis
was a poorly understood phenomenon in medieval and Renaissance
times.) Plants did have greater tolerances for heat and cold,
and immunity to the pain that afflicts most animals. The
of plants was the oak tree. In general, trees ranked higher
than shrubs, shrubs ranked higher than bushes, bushes ranked
higher than cereal crops, and cereal crops ranked higher
herbs, ferns, and weeds. At the very bottom of the botanical
hierarchy, the fungus and moss, lacking leaf and blossom,
were so limited in form that Renaissance thinkers thought
them scarcely above the level of minerals. However, each
was also thought to be gifted with various edible or medicinal
virtues unique to its own type.
Minerals: Creations of the earth, the lowest of elements, all minerals
lacked the plant's basic ability to grow and reproduce. They
also lacked mental attributes and sensory organs found in
beings higher on the Chain. Their unique gifts, however, were
typically their unusual solidity and strength. Many minerals,
in fact, were thought to possess magical powers, particularly
Diamond, then various gems, rubies, sapphires, topaz, chrysolite,
Gold, then various metals, silver, iron, bronze, copper,
Marble, then various stones, granite, sandstone, limestone,
etc. At the very bottom of the mineral section, we find
soil, dust, and sand, and other minute particles.
Artists in the period have ready at their fingertips a catalog
of instant symbols and connotations, all conveniently ranked
in status. If Shakespeare compares a woman to a vine and her
husband to an oak, he doesn't do so merely to talk about her
beauty or his strength. Instead, he emphasizes her subordination
to him in the Chain of Being. Likewise, if two characters
fight for the throne, one compared to a lion, the other compared
to a boar, the comparison implies something about which one
has a legitimate claim. Likewise, imagery from the sun, the
moon, or other parts of nature often involve an implied set
of connotations concerning that object or animal's place in
Moral Ramifications: It becomes a moral imperative for each creature to know its
place in the Chain of Being and fulfill its own function without
striving to rise above its station or debasing itself by behavior
proper to the lower links in the chain. A human who is as
gluttonous as a pig, or as lecherous as goat, has allowed
the lower, bestial instincts in his nature to supersede his
divine capability of reason. He is guilty of fleshly or carnal
sin, and denies the rational, spiritual aspect of his nature.
Likewise, a human who attempts to
rise above his social rank does so through arrogance, pride,
or envy of his betters. Here, the error is an intellectual
or spiritual sin.
Political Ramifications: The
belief in the Chain of Being meant that monarchy was
ordained by God and inherent in the very structure of
Rebellion was a sin not only against the state, but against
heaven itself, for the king was God's appointed deputy
earth, with semi-divine powers. King James I himself wrote, "The state of monarchy is the supremest thing upon earth:
for kings are not only God's Lieutenants upon earth, and sit
upon God's throne, but even by God himself they are called
Gods." Such an ideology necessitates a social conservatism
so extreme that it is difficult to imagine today.
Conversely, the King has a moral responsibility
to God and his people. In return for his absolute power, he
is expected to rule his subjects with love, wisdom, and justice.
To do otherwise is to abandon those natural qualities that
make a noble fit to rule in the first place. Misusing regal
authority is a perversion of divine order.
Special thanks to Dr. Elizabeth M. Willingham for pointing
out my earlier misattribution concerning the Summa Theologica
and in providing additional references concerning medieval
angelology. For more information, students should consult
E. M. W.
The Elizabethan World Picture and A. O. Lovejoy's
The Great Chain of Being.