medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Jim Bugslag wrote:
>
>> It is curious that St George's is still called a 'chapel', as it
>> (like St Stephen at Westminster) had been a collegiate church since
>> the time of Edward III. If it was previously a chapel, that was
>> probably because Henry was rivalling (if not emulating) the Sainte
>> Chapelle.
>
> There is not necessarily a conflict here. All three structures are
> called chapels because they serviced the religious needs of a palace,
> just as a chaplain services the religious needs of an individual.
> The usage dates back to the origin of the word chapel, which denoted
> the structure in the imperial palace at Aachen in which the cape of
> St Martin was kept. Since all three palaces and all three chapels
> were of considerable royal importance, it was perhaps natural that
> all three had had colleges of canons founded at them, which were
> occasionally, I believe, augmented by
> further canonries.
I'm not convinced - to my mind, a collegiate church has canons, and a chapel
has chaplains :-)
But if they were confused if the Middle Ages, I don't suppose we shall sort
it out now...
The French distinguished between the "Chapelle du Roi" (the clergy/choir)
and the "Chapelle Royale" (the building). A bit like the "Cappella Giulia"
and the "Cappella Sistina", I suppose. How big does a 'chapel' have to be
before you call it a basilica? What were the choir of St Mark's, Venice
called?
John Briggs
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