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Um... I'm sure you know there was no medieval change-ringing, for.a.start. I do know that one church (??Ludgate) had to ring the bells whenever Elizabeth I passed by in the royal barge, which the churchwardens got rather disgruntled over, given the fees to the ringers. Will ask campanologist other half about medieval ringing, but somehow I can't envisage more than 1 or 2 bells at a time.
Jane
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I'm working on some English post-Reformation churchwarden's accounts, for St Mary Redcliffe, in Bristol. I note that in the mid-C16 bells are rung at full peal for major events such as a royal coronation.
Does anyone here know whether such practises, ie the ringing of the bells to mark 'secular' events, has medieval roots, and any good literature on which kinds of events where rung for before the Edwardian reformation?For information, at St Mary Redfciffe by the C18 the bells are rung for a range of annual events, as well as commemoratively for major historic turning points: -- examples of the latter include the Gunpowder Plot, the restoration of Charles II, or the Coronation day of the reigning monarch; of the former, the annual arrival of the judge to the city on his circuit, etc. They are also rung for one-off events such as a major military victory or the birth of a royal child. Some trouble is taken to calibrate the scale of the peal to the significance of the event.
Jon
http://joncannon.wordpress.com/