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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Dear Benjamin, I don't know if this is useful, but the Angers Apocalypse tapestries offer an idea of how tapestries were used and perceived throughout the centuries. After the death of "King" René of Anjou the famous Apocalypse series was bequeathed to St. Maurice Cathedral of Angers in which they were hung. The tapestry series was displayed on special occasions (such as royal entries) and major religious holy days (the feast of St. Maurice, Christmas, Easter and Pentecost); contrary to their original purpose, the tapestries thus became a religious object. One of the most prized possessions of the church treasury, the tapestries were first proudly displayed in the cathedral and later carefully put away, preserved in large chests in the sacristy. At the end of the 17th century when the church choir was renovated, the tapestries were hung in the nave and choir to hide the church interior. By the end of the 18th century, however, the tapestries' offended the classical aesthetic sensibilities of the church canons who decided in 1767 that "les tapisseries causant aux voix un très grand préjudice ne seront plus tendues". They were put up for sale (unsuccessfully) in 1782. K. Sowley Benjamin Smedberg wrote: > > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > > Dear List, > > I am doing research on the history of church acoustics. I cannot find any > good books or articles on this topic, although there are many tangential > references in books on Medieval architecture, tapestry, and music. If you > know of any sources, please let me know. > > In addition, I am looking for references to the use of tapestries and > banners in churches. I have a hypothesis that they were a common method of > controlling reverberence. It seems to be common knowledge that tapestries > were a standard part of church furnishing; but I can't find reference to the > specific locations that tapestries might have been hung. I am especially > interested in their use in the Gothic cathedral-style buildings which have > large acoustic ambiance. > > ** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** > ** Benjamin Smedberg, Director of Music ** > ** St. Patrick's Church, Washington D.C. ** > ** VOX 202-347-2713 x102 - FAX 202-347-1401 ** > ** [log in to unmask] ** > ** "Soli Deo Gloria" ** > ** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp > > ********************************************************************** > 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