medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
St Buryan's status as a Royal college is not unique. Knowles lists a few
other similar, such as Bosham in Hants. Many seem to have been run
simply as ways of funding Royal clerks. The arrangement of a dean,
absentee prebendaries and group of houses around the church is typical
for colleges of all sizes.
In spite of that it would be interesting to know more about the
individuals involved. At Glasney - which must surely be the nearest
other collegiate church, this one 'in the pocket' of the Bishop of
Exeter - many appear to me to have been members of his staff, or Cornish
priests the Bishop wanted to give favours to for one reason or another.
Glasney was an important centre of Cornish language writing and culture,
in spite of the normal absenteeism. Where the St Buryan canons west
country men? Did they work away, but in the west country, or in London,
or elsewhere? The patterns are likely to be complex ones, varying over
time and from individual to individual.
Excellent work has been done on Glasney - there are good biogs of many
canons (I can dig out the ref if you are interested) and the important
excavations there are I understand to be published in the county
archaeological journal for this year, ie presumably already exist in a
draft. I can give you contacts if you don't have them.... do you know Jo
Mattingly? It sounds as if you should.
The combination of ancient origin, Royal status and large group of
associated chapelries/parishes suggest that St Buryan was a 'minster'
church before the Conquest (whatever its ultimate origin), if the
'minster system' can be considered to have existed that far west; it
would be normal for such churches to have a community of priests
ministering to a community over about 10-20- miles radius: the right
size for Penwith, then.
The slightly unorthodox parish arrangement is not as unusual as one
might think: just one example are the joint parishes of Bedminster,
Redcliffe and I-forget-the-third in Bristol. The enormous size of
Redcliffe church reflects the wealth of it's immediate parish rather
than anything mysterious or unique about this set-up, and I would guess
that the carvings in churches associated with St Buryan, whatever their
precise parochial status, likewise reflect immediate local patronage,
especially in the c14 and c15. Many 'relict' minsters - such as Ripon -
had 'unusual' relationships with churches in their former 'patch'. The
locally specific is a powerful undercurrent to any generalizations when
it comes to things medieval... as I constant try and remind myself,
beign an instinctive and too-rapid generaliser.
Writing in haste, should be putting kids to bed. Not even sure if any of
this is relevant. Any help?
PS
I couldn't agree more about them not being seahorses. They're actually
far less 'Renaissance' and far more 'typical (late) medieval' than I'd
imagined. More c15 than c16, too, I'd say. But still not of the
breathtaking quality of the St Buryan screen. And I'm sure everyone's
right about the Augustinian connection being a false trail.
-----Original Message-----
From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious
culture [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Susan
Hoyle
Sent: 22 May 2006 20:58
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [M-R] seahorses online thanks
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
culture
Many thanks to the Collective Wisdom. The main reason I thought they
were
seahorses is that every description I have read of them said that that
was
what they were. But now I know they aren't. They aren't dragons, cos
of the
legs, which I didn't see before. They are wyverns or basilisks.
I would agree that it is a pelican at the bottom (but what do I know?):
but
I can't make the right-hand border to be pelicans. I have taken it to
be an
abstract pattern, but I could well be wrong. I will look again at it.
Thank you again.
Susan
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