medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

For the sake of brevity, I'll add any further comments to John Briggs's
helpful points in a single email:

Winchester
> The present W front has a central door, and also doors into the two
aisles > - these would presumably be the lay entrances.

Most English west fronts have side doors (I think my list specifies
them, by and large) -- but I'm not sure it's certain what/who they were
for. Lay entry seems reasonable, and indeed is very possible, but it
does not explain the apparent existence of 'dedicated' lay doors very
nearby at many churches. I think I only identified Lincoln as a building
where there appeared to be no other obvious point of entry. It may thus
just be that W front side doors had a partly or completely ceremonial
use, eg for 'split' processions...

> This is seriously wrong - the monastic cloister is on the S.  The only

> door on the N seems to be at the S end of W wall of N transept - it 
> doesn't look particularly significant.

I appear to have 'flipped' N and S here. I tried to guard against this
tic, but this one got through. 

The N transept door indeed is not much to look at - and neither is that
at Ely, or that at Bristol. Yet at Ely it was certainly the pilgrim's
main way in, and the John Crook book cited mentions (if in passing) that
this is a very possible use for the Winchester door, too. If I recall
right, as at Ely it aligns with a Close gate. The lowly scale of such
doors might be considered very illustrative of the relative importance
accorded 'ordinary' lay pilgrims as compared to use by religious, VIPs
or for performance of the liturgy. 

York
> I had a vague notion that St Sepulchre's had some parochial function.

It's certainly an odd foundation - I believe focused on memorial masses
fo a c12 bishop, but of exceptional scale for the date (12 priests, from
memory?). The Archbishop of York's patronal powers were enormous - on
paper at least he could, it seems, appoint to the chapters of York,
Beverley, Southwell and to the 'community' of St Sepulchre's. His room
for manouvere in reality - he was not even accorded a seat at his own
cathedral chapter, not possessing a prebend - might of course have been
more limited. 

Salisbury
> It seems to be generally accepted that the N porch was the 'main
entrance'.

The grand north porches of Salisbury, Hereford, Exeter, Wells and to a
lesser extent Chichester and Worcester and Durham all look like 'main
entrances', but the evidence for how they were used seems to me to
suggest a variety of different priorities. At Wells the emphasis is
firmly clerical, at Hereford clearly lay pilgrims and parishioners were
of real importance. Precisely where the others sit on this scale may
have varied, too (or not). So I'm trying to avoid assuming that lay
people were welcome to use them - or otherwise - without evidence either
way. It is true that of the above, only Wells faces away from the town
-- but all the others bar Chichester face the main concentrations of
clerical settlement just as emphatically as they do the lay community
beyond the close gate.

Jon Cannon

-----Original Message-----
From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious
culture [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John
Briggs
Sent: 28 February 2006 00:42
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [M-R] door symbolism - 'Jim's list'

medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
culture

Jon Cannon wrote:
>
> John, would I be right in saying though that you are
> accepting/agreeing with most of my suggestions for use at Chichester,
> tentative as they are - even if memory and simple writing-too-fast
> has unfortunately blurred the precise location of doors? Do you think
> 'lay access' remains a reasonable ascription for that north porch?

Yes, it seems reasonable to call the N porch the lay entrance.  But as I

said, I wouldn't read too much into there being two 'clergy' entrances
on 
the S side.  I think they were chosen for 'ceremonial' significance -
from 
the standpoint of practicality, a single entrance into the S transept
would 
have served for all the clergy.

John Briggs 

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