medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Sir Thomas More, in his Utopia (1516), has a delightful commentary on
the illumination of medieval churches, or lack thereof: "Their churches
be verye gorgious, and not onelye of fine and curious workemanship, but
also ... very wide and large, and hable to receave a great company of
people. But they be al sumwhat darke. Howbeit that was not donne
through ignoraunce in buildinge, but as they say, by the counsel of the
priestes. Bicause they thought that over much light doth disperse mens
cogitations, whereas in dimme and doubtful lighte they be gathered
together, and more earnestly fixed upon religion and devotion."
Cheers,
Jim
John Dillon wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Well yes, but such darkness was hardly unique to English churches. Smaller Mediterranean churches too were often _very_ dark within. And at Dixton the priest _did_ use candles. The scene in the Vita of St. Vitalian of Capua has one imagining either that no candles were in use at the start of Matins or else that the illumination from whatever candles were used was so poor that no one else present could tell before it grew lighter outside that the celebrant (a bishop in his cathedral) was wearing women's clothing.
>
> What do we know about the extent of illumination that would be used for readings at Matins? We can infer that it probably varied according to the wealth of the monastery or non-monastic church in question. But what would be a minimum amount of light? And where would it be positioned in relation to the celebrant?
>
> Best again,
> John Dillon
>
>
> On Tuesday, October 20, 2009, at 1:38 pm, John Shinners wrote:
>
>
>> 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..."
>>
> <SNIP>
>
>
>> ----- 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.
>>>
>> **********************************************************************
>> To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
>> to: [log in to unmask]
>> To send a message to the list, address it to:
>> [log in to unmask]
>> To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
>> to: [log in to unmask]
>> In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
>> [log in to unmask]
>> For further information, visit our web site:
>> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
>>
>> **********************************************************************
>> To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
>> to: [log in to unmask]
>> To send a message to the list, address it to:
>> [log in to unmask]
>> To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
>> to: [log in to unmask]
>> In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
>> [log in to unmask]
>> For further information, visit our web site:
>> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
>>
>
> **********************************************************************
> To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
> to: [log in to unmask]
> To send a message to the list, address it to:
> [log in to unmask]
> To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
> to: [log in to unmask]
> In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
> [log in to unmask]
> For further information, visit our web site:
> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
>
>
>
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|