medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

Jon Cannon wrote:
>>
>> So, we have the paradox that for two monastic cathedrals the
>> procession spanned the whole city, whereas for two secular
>> cathedrals (Salisbury and Lincoln) it may have been confined to the
>> cathedral precincts!
>
> What a fascinating point. I wonder if this pattern is replicated
> elsewhere. Because it reflects something I've noticed: that the
> 'screen facade' west fronts, richly equipped for church-focused Palm
> Sunday celebrations, are on the secular cathedrals (eg Exeter, Wells,
> Salisbury, Lichfield; with non-screen or quasi-screen but v elaborate
> w fronts at York, Hereford, Lincoln) and that by comparison even the
> grandest monastic cathedrals (eg Winchester, Canterbury, Worcester,
> Durham) - have extraordinarily unremarkable west facades. Coventry
> was the only monastic cathedral with a screen facade, it and
> Rochester and Ely the only ones were the west front was 'made a meal
> of'. I wonder if there could be a liturgical distinction to explain
> this...

I would suggest that the monastic cathedrals are following the prescriptions 
in the Decreta Lanfranci, where the Palm Sunday procession may be following 
contemporary French or more generally continental practice (the Chartres 
procession disappears off for several miles!), whereas the secular 
cathedrals may be following (whether coincidentally or not) the Anglo-Saxon 
monastic practice detailed in the Regularis Concordia.  Which is why it 
could be important to find out exactly what goes on at Lincoln, because if 
they are *not* following Lanfranc, it rather undercuts the argument of 
Stocker and Everson!

I was surprised to find that the Salisbury procession is confined to the 
cathedral precinct, as the Rogation Day procession happily wanders off  into 
the city.

John Briggs

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