medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
leaving aside whether this makes it evidence for other anything else, chivalry certainly can bleed over into medieval church *art*. To me this is most visible in the century after about 1250: when masons moved onto the western parts of Westminster Abbey, they carved fictive shields into the nave arcade, hung from fake brackets as if decorating a hall. The arms on them, of course, where real enough. We don't know what kind of iconographic scheme this was part of - but a few decades later, in the nave at York, simiallr shields fill the nave arcade spandrels and are alsoprevalent in the glazing. Figures of noblemen carrying hawks stood in the openings of the triforium. It is as if the decoration of the nave as evoking a great gathering of secular lords, and providing a parallel between them and the gathering of religious lords that would take place in the choir. Of course many came from the same families, and there is at least one window at York donated by a canon but much more about displays of heradry than any explicitly religious content. Chivalry can partly be analysed as a secular response to the model of the religious community, giving lay people a code and a sense of fellowship akin to that which defined churchmen.
And then there are the tombs era: knight with lions at their feet, women with toy dogs ad other more feminine attributes; massive canopies, weepers along the base. These are (among other things) enormous exercises in chivalric display; and one building in particular can be analysed as a high point of the process in which'chivalric architecture' infused church art: St Augustine's, Bristol (now the cathedral), with its built-in sequence of tombs and its apparent allusions to a castle Great Hall and the proud lineage of the Berkeley. People have even seen Arthurian overtones there: after all, the Grail Hall is a kind of elision of a church-like function and a castle-like one. Refs on this are Richard K Morris 'European Prodigy or Regional Eccentric? The rebuilding of St AUgustine's Abbey church, Bristol' in ALmost the Richest City: Bristol in the Middle Ages, BAA 1997; and myself (though much revised since in an article yet to be published) in the Journal of the Ancient Monuments Society, 2004.
In haste as ever - and very probably gabbling
Jon
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:13:00 -0500
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [M-R] Nothing 'chivalric' about medieval priests
To: [log in to unmask]
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Like the earlier thread on the function of medieval churches, there is no one answer to this. There is a significant difference in education, outlook, practice and perception of clergy depending on if they are parochial, "secular", chapter, monastic, or other clerics. Also, bear in mind that during the period in question one could be considered clergy - a clerk or cleric - if one had only received one of the various minor orders. Thus, a man who had been invested as an acolyte was considered clergy even if he no longer was engaged in pursuing priesthood. Thus, there is a wide range from the less noble sorts of behaviour of individuals "oblated" to monasteries to the more chivalic outlook of someone like Bernard of Clairvaux.
The most famous source from the period, of course, is the Canterbury Tales. A more modern source based on medieval documents is the book "Montaillou" which discusses in some detail the character of the local priest who was involved with the Cathars as well as incidentally the perception of other clerics not Cathars. Some discussion is also had about how the average layperson perceived the clergy, both from the view of Cathars/Albigensians and Catholics.
There are other sources as well, which escape me at the moment.
All that having been said, I do not recall that priests were actually included in the chivalric code (insofar as such existed) although I do seem to recall that the principles of chivalry were written/composed/encouraged by as many priests as it was others. . . in particularly, Marian devotion, etc. was heavily oriented toward chivalry, if I recall correctly.
This should be an interesting thread.
George the Less
--Original Message Text---
From: Steve Higham
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:06:08 +0000
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Hello
I am unsure if this message ought to be posted to a medieval Catholic forum (if such a thing exists), but I am undertaking some research into the role or behaviour of medieval Catholic priests. Tolkien, of Lord of the Rings fame, lumps together knights, castles, and damsels alongside priests as those principle figures comprising romance and chivalry and I have hoping to suggest that there is nothing 'romantic' or 'chivalric' about the role they played.
Any suggestions as to references I may consult would be welcome, please.
Best regards
Steve
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