medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Hi Tom,
Winchelsey's decree (at least it's attributed to him) draws on earlier material and is dated between 1295-1313. It was never officially pronounced but it circulated widely and apparently was treated as authoritative. The original is in Powicke and Cheney's Councils and Synods, v. II, pt, ii, pp. 1385-86, 1387. I also have an English trans. if you'd like it.
Best,
John
------------------------------------------
John Shinners
Professor of Humanistic Studies
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
Phone: 574-284-4494 or 574-284-4534
Fax: 284-4855
www.saintmarys.edu/~hust
"Learn everything. Afterwards you will see that nothing is superfluous." -- Hugh of St. Victor (d. 1141)
----- Original Message -----
From: Tom Izbicki <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:41:01 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: [M-R] Medieval lighting
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
John,
Where could I find the Winchelsey? I am preparing a paper on the canon
law concerning Viaticum processions & would find it useful.
Tom Izbicki
John Shinners wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> On the other hand, English parish churches could often be dark. Parishioners across Hereford regularly complained in a visitation register from 1397 that their churches were so dark that priests had trouble reading in them because of "lack of light" (defectum luminis). For instance, at the parish of Dixton, they said their chancel was so dark that the priest had to use candles to say mass even in the middle of the day: "cancellus est obscurus et tenebrosus, ita quod in meridie seruicium diuinum non potest fieri ibidem sine candela..."
>
> As for the phrase "a shilling for candles," the 14th-century wills I've read usually say something vague like XX d. "pro luminibus" or "ad sustenacionen cereorum coram" some named altar. Money is sometimes spent by wealthier testators for X pounds of wax for funeral candles/torches. I'd have to look more carefully, but 12 p. = a shilling does seem to be a standard bequest for altar candles.
>
> In terms of lights, Bp. Robt. Winchelsey's unofficial 13th-century list of what parishioners are obliged to provide to their parish church only mentions a candle-holder for the Paschal candle and a lamp to precede the priest carrying the viaticum to the sick.
>
> Best,
> John
>
> ------------------------------------------
> John Shinners
> Professor of Humanistic Studies
> Saint Mary's College
> Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
> Phone: 574-284-4494 or 574-284-4534
> Fax: 284-4855
> www.saintmarys.edu/~hust
>
> "Learn everything. Afterwards you will see that nothing is superfluous." -- Hugh of St. Victor (d. 1141)
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: John Dillon <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:50:08 -0400 (EDT)
> Subject: Re: [M-R] Medieval lighting
>
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> For what little this is worth, the cross-dressing episode in the probably monastic, perhaps late twelfth- or early thirteenth-century legendary Vita of the early medieval St. Vitalian of Capua (BHL 1254) envisions a situation in which V.'s wearing women's clothing while he celebrates Matins in his cathedral (an adaptation of a similar incident in legendary Vitae of St. Jerome) only becomes apparent to others as it grows light. Which in turn means that the Vita's audience is expected -- if it thinks about this -- to imagine a chancel insufficiently lit at the outset of the service to permit observation of the nature of the celebrant's clothing.
>
> This seems more likely to reflect dimness on the part of the Vita's author than actual darkness in the chancel at Montevergine (or wherever the Vita was written) when Matins began. Still,...
>
> Best,
> John Dillon
>
>
> On Tuesday, October 20, 2009, at 6:39 am, Brenda Cook wrote:
>
>
>> An entertaining gloss on the whole business of moving around it the
>> dark is, of course, Chaucer's The Reeve's Tale. That is the one where
>> two students (from Cambridge, too, tut tut) spend the night with a
>> dishonest miller and his family and get their revenge by [swiving]
>> (please substitute your preferred polite word) the miller's daughter
>> and wife respectively. The mainspring of the nocturnal errors is the
>> fact that student Allan shifts the baby's cradle from the foot of one
>> bed to the other thus totally confusing the navigational aids in the
>> darkened room. There is also a reference to a gleam of moonlight
>> coming in through the shutters at a crucial moment.
>>
>
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