page_title: Tree of Jesse
section_title: Poetry and music
hierarchical_section_title: Tree of Jesse / Poetry and music
caption_attribution_description: English: France, Chartres Cathedral, the oldest known Jesse Tree window, c.1145 Français&#160;: Ce vitrail de la cathédrale de Chartres est la plus ancienne représentation connue de l'arbre de Jessé. Elle date d'envion 1145.
context_page_description: The Tree of Jesse is a depiction in art of the ancestors of Christ, shown in a tree which rises from Jesse of Bethlehem, the father of King David and is the original use of the family tree as a schematic representation of a genealogy. It originates in a passage in the biblical Book of Isaiah which describes metaphorically the descent of the Messiah, and is accepted by Christians as referring to Jesus. The various figures depicted in the lineage of Jesus are drawn from those names listed in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke.
  The subject is often seen in Christian art, particularly in that of the Medieval period. The earliest example dates from the 11th century and in an illuminated manuscript. There are many examples in Medieval psalters, because of the relation to King David, son of Jesse, and writer of the Psalms. Other examples are in stained glass windows, stone carvings around the portals of medieval cathedrals and painting on walls and ceilings. The Tree of Jesse also appears in smaller art forms such as embroideries and ivories.
context_section_description: The symbolic device of the Tree of Jesse has featured in Christian hymns since at least the 8th century, when Cosmas the Melodist wrote a hymn about the Virgin Mary flowering from the Root of Jesse, Ραβδος εκ της ριζης (translated in 1862 by John Mason Neale as "Rod of the Root of Jesse").
  Virga Jesse floruit, an expression referring to the Virgin Mary and the birth of Christ, put to music, e.g.,
  As a Gradual:
  (Alleluja, alleluja.)
  Virga Jesse floruit:
  Virgo Deum et hominem genuit:
  pacem Deus reddidit,
  in se reconcilians ima summis.
  Alleluja.
  William Byrd, included in his first book of Gradualia.
  Virga Jesse by Anton Bruckner
  As part of a longer Christmas hymn, the text of which is given by Vopelius and Spitta:
  Virga Jesse floruit
  Emanuel noster apparuit
  Induit carnem hominis
  Fit puer delectabilis.
  Alleluja
  used in a Christmas cantata by Johann Kuhnau
  included in Magnificat in E-flat major, BWV 243a by Johann Sebastian Bach
  In addition, the Tree of Jesse is also referenced in the medieval series of lyrical poems known as the Cantigas de Santa Maria, written during the reign of Alfonso X in the thirteenth century. Cantiga 20, "Virga de Jesse" makes use of the Tree of Jesse in the refrain of the song, further demonstrating its influence on medieval culture and thought:
  Virga de Jésse
  quen te soubésse
  loar como mereces
  e sen ouvésse per
  que dissésse quanto
  por nós padeces.
  The symbol of the Virgin Mary as a rose flowering from the Tree of Jesse forms the central image of the 15th-century German hymn, Es ist ein Ros entsprungen, commonly sung to a melody by Michael Praetorius. Various translations exist of this popular hymn, including Theodore Baker's "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming"(1894) and "A Spotless Rose" by Catherine Winkworth. Popular musical settings include works by Johannes Brahms and Herbert Howells.
caption: The oldest complete Jesse Tree window is in Chartres Cathedral, 1145.
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