medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
With regard to the Normans, the Norwich dedication referred to earlier
was clearly an outpost of this: bishop Herbert de Losinga was a former
monk of Fecamp.
With regard to the brass and the original church dedication about which
Anne Willis was enquiring, some members of the list may be familiar with
this image, a jpg of which I circulated a few months ago.
A more unusual curiousity in the same church is an unusual late medieval
reredos-like piece of carved stone about 5 foot high (from memory) by
the presumed location of an altar in the north aisle. It is dominated by
a large, empty cross-shaped moulding that could easily have held an
image of the crucifixion - or, it now occurs to me, a trinity. It is one
of many early sixteenth century enrichments of the church: these also
included a rood screen whose surviving base includes some good quality
paintings of church fathers.
The 'reredos' of course is nowhere near the high altar. But I wonder if
Anne has considered the possibility that the church was rededicated at
about this time (would that have necessarily meant a re-consecration
ceremony, and would that ceremony be recorded in the diocesian archives
(Bath & Wells)?)
At the other extreme, the church in question, the parish church of
Bradford-upon-Avon, is just yards to the south of the famous Anglo-Saxon
church of St Laurence, often said to have been built or enriched as a
suitable home for a shrine to St Edward the Martyr. Is there a
possibility that both the site and the dedication are early medieval?
So we now have three fields of possibility: an Anglo-Saxon dedication, a
Norman one, or a late medieval one. Doesn't leave much!
Jon
-----Original Message-----
From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious
culture [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Anne
Willis
Sent: 19 January 2007 13:52
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [M-R] Holy Trinity
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
culture
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
culture
I'm theorising ahead of my data here ... and I haven't read all the
discussion in this strand so these points may already have been covered.
My impression is that Holy Trinity dedications/chantries/guilds tend to
be late medieval (though as Rosemary has just pointed out there are
clearly lots of exceptions to this) and belong to the period of intense
devotion to the body of the suffering Christ. Depictions of the Trinity
tend to be like this one in north Wales -
http://cistercian-way.newport.ac.uk/image.asp?imageName=llanrhychwyn_tri
nityL - with a clear focus on the affective relationship between Father
and Son.
Presumably what you had was not a relic but a carving similar to this -
there was actually a carving of the Trinity rather than a conventional
Crucifix on the rood screen at Llanbeblig, near Caernarfon.
Maddy
Dr Madeleine Gray, in the foothills of God's golden county of Gwent
What we have at Holy Trinity, Bradford on Avon, is a brass dating from
around 1530 and similar to a section of the Dauntsey brass which can be
seen
on http://www.mbs-brasses.co.uk/pic_lib/May_2006_brass_of_the_month.htm
However our brass differs in that God the Father is shown as an old man
with
a beard and does not have a crown, and the Holy Spirit is on Christ's
left
arm. It is presumably meant to be a dove, and is a cheerful looking
bird.
The brass was not actually in the chantry of Holy Trinity, but in one to
Our
Lady, and was on the tombstone of an extremely wealthy clothier, who
could
have belonged to a Corpus Christi guild.
Anne Willis
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