1 Image and Devotion in Durham Cathedral Priory
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1 IMAGE AND DEVOTION IN DURHAM CATHEDRAL PRIORY AND YORK MINSTER, c.1300-c.1540: NEW CONTEXTS, NEW PERSPECTIVES Volume 1 of 2 PHILIPPA MARGARET TURNER MA (Hons.) MA (Dist.) PhD UNIVERSITY OF YORK HISTORY OF ART SEPTEMBER 2014 2 ABSTRACT Religious images in various media, especially three-dimensional sculpture, were usually an important component of the physical topographies and devotional practices within ecclesiastical institutions during the period c.1300-c.1540. So far, discussion of these images has largely focused on continental contexts and on the English parochial context. This thesis addresses the English cathedral context in detail, providing a close reading of the images at two contrasting institutions in the north of England: Durham cathedral priory and York Minster. Unlike the continent, where there are rich survivals of medieval images, investigation of the English context is rendered more difficult by the lack of extant objects. Part One therefore uses primarily documentary sources to build up the image-topographies of both institutions. Part Two analyses aspects of these images comparatively, incorporating further comparison with those in other English cathedrals, great abbeys, and the parochial context, as well as continental cathedrals. It explores the connections between images and those who worshipped in these cathedral churches, the relationships that could be constructed between images, and between images and other sacred objects, especially saints’ shrines. This thesis therefore presents a new art-historical reading of these interiors and their users, and demonstrates the importance of the religious image in the physical and imaginative spaces within the late medieval English cathedral. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract………………………………………………………….....2 List of Illustrations…………………………………………………6 A Note on Transcriptions………………………………………….23 Acknowledgements……………………………………………….24 Author’s Declaration……………………………………………...25 Introduction…………………………………………………….…26 i. The (‘Devotional’) Image: Scope, Terms, and Definitions…………………………………….……...30 ii. Previous Scholarship: Themes, Issues, and Methodologies……………………………………………36 iii. A Framework of Difference: Durham Cathedral Priory and York Minster………………………………….40 iv. Structure and Content of This Study……………….....44 Part One: Discussion 1. Durham Cathedral Priory: Sources and Methodology………...47 1.i Outline…………………………………………….…..47 1.ii The Sacrists’ Account Rolls……………………….…47 1.iii Inventories from the Sacrists’ Account Rolls, and the Feretrar’s Liber de Reliquiis……………….…………51 1.iv The Rites of Durham ………………………………..54 2. The Topography of Images in Durham Cathedral Priory……..58 4 2.i The High Altar……………………………………...…58 2.ii St Cuthbert’s Feretory………………...………….…...59 2.iii The Choir Ambulatory………………...………….….62 2.iv The Choir Screen………………………...……….…..65 2.v The Transepts……………………………………….…68 2.vi The Nave………………………………………….…..72 2.vii The Galilee Chapel…………………………………..80 2.viii Images in Unknown or Uncertain Locations…..……85 3. York Minster: Sources and Methodology…………..…………..89 3.i Outline…………………………………………..….…..89 3.ii Wills……………………………………………..……..90 3.iii Fabric Rolls……………………………………...…….93 3.iv. Inventories………………………………………..…...95 3.v James Torre’s Manuscript………………………….…..97 4. The Topography of Images in York Minster……………..……..98 4.i The High Altar…………………………………..……...98 4.ii The Lady Chapel and St Stephen’s Chapel………..…..104 4.iii The Crossing and Transepts…………………………...108 4.iv The Nave……………………………………………....121 4.v Images in Unknown or Uncertain Locations……..…....122 4.vi Conclusion to Part One………………………………..124 Part Two: Analysis 5. Images of Christ………………………………………………...126 5.i Introduction……………………………………….……126 5.ii The York Minster High Altar Rood…………………...127 5.iii The Triumphkreuz or ‘Magna Crux’………………….137 5.iv The Black Rood of Scotland………………………….157 5.v Nave Images…………………………………………...165 5.vi The Crucifix Within Our Lady of Boulton……………172 5 5.vii Conclusion…………………………………….....177 6. Images of Mary…………………….……………………….179 6.i Introduction……………………………….………..179 6.ii High Altar Images of the Virgin……………….…..180 6.iii Lady Chapels and their Images…………………...190 6.iv Threshold Virgins…………………………...….....203 6.v Conclusion…………………………………………214 7. Images of the Saints………………………………………...217 7.i Introduction………………………………………...217 7.ii Patronal Images……………………………………218 7.iii Head Relics and Head Reliquaries………………..232 7.iv Conclusion………………………………………...255 Conclusion…………………………………………………….257 Appendix 1……………………………………………………265 Tables of Collection Box Receipts from Durham Cathedral Priory Appendix 2…………………………………………………....266 Inscriptions under images of kings and bishops on the Choir Screen at Durham Cathedral Priory List of Abbreviations……………………………………..……268 Bibliography……………………………………………….…..271 i. Primary Sources: Unpublished………………………..271 ii. Primary Sources: Published………………………...…272 iii. Secondary Sources (Unpublished and Published) …....279 6 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Images are reproduced from the sources given in brackets at the end of each caption. Where no source is given, credit for the image lies with the author. Internet collection source details have been given a shortened form in Volume II; the full URL is given in the list below. CVMA Numbering System has been used for stained glass windows throughout the thesis, unless stated otherwise. 1. University Museum, Bergen. 2. Cloisters, Metropolitan Museum, New York. 3. West Front of Neville Screen, c.1380, Caen Stone, Durham Cathedral (J. Hillson). 4. Central Niches of the Neville Screen, c.1380, Durham Cathedral (J. Hillson). 5. East Front of Neville Screen, c.1380, Caen Stone, Durham Cathedral (J. Hillson). 6. Niche with filled-in dowl hole for securing statue, East Front of Neville Screen, Durham Cathedral (J. Hillson). 7. Wear in floor, possibly from reliquary cupboard door, and square sockets, possibly for metal grilles, south end of St Cuthbert’s shrine platform, Durham Cathedral (J. Hillson). 8. Reliquary Cupboard, Selby Abbey (St John Hope, 1907: pl. X). 9. High Altar Reliquary Cupboard, c.1520-1540, with painted panels from the interior, Cathedral of Sts. Stephen and Sixtus, Halberstadt, Germany. Oak, sheet metal, iron. 249x293x54cm (Photo Curtesy of the State Office for Heritage and Archaeology, Saxony-Arnhalt, Juraj Lipták). 7 10. Second pier from the east on the north side of the south choir ambulatory, and corresponding pier on the south side of the ambulatory, each showing three holes, possibly for beam holding Black Rood of Scotland. South choir ambulatory, Durham Cathedral (J. Hillson). 11. Hybrid furnishing incorporating painted panels of bishops, c. end of the fifteenth century, north suide of the choir, Hexham Abbey (Luxford 2011b: 429, Fig 18). 12. Diagram of possible arrangement of figures of kings and bishops on the Choir Screen before that erected by Prior Wessington in the fifteenth century (J. Jago). 13. Corbels on south-west side of south-east crossing pier, and west side of third pier from the south, south transept, Durham Cathedral (J. Hillson). 14. Corbels on west sides of second and first pier from the south, and south wall, south transept, Durham Cathedral (J. Hillson). 15. Vierge ouvrante, a) closed and b) open. c.1300. German, Rhine Valley, now Metropolitan Museum, New York, Inv. No. 17.190.185. Oak, linen covering, paint, gesso. H: 36.8cm W: 12.7cm (closed), 34.6cm (open). (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/17.190.185 (Accessed 29th July 2014). 16. Site of Our Lady of Boulton’s Altar, second bay from the south, south transept, Durham Cathedral (J. Hillson). 17. Corbel on west side of second pier from the south, with damage to pier above, south transept, Durham Cathedral (J. Hillson). 18. Vierge ouvrante, c.1390, West Prussia (probably Chapel of Roggenhausen at Graudenz), now Germaisches Nationalmuseum, Berlin, Inv. No. Pl.O.2397. 8 Limewood, paint, gilding. H: 126cm, W: 82cm (closed), 103cm (open); D: 34cm. (http://objektkatalog.gnm.de/objekt/Pl.O.2397). 19. Corbels incorporated into west side of first and second piers from the north, north transept, Durham Cathedral (J. Hillson). 20. Statues of (left to right) a) St Peter, b) a bishop (unidentified) and c) the Virgin and Child, c.1380, formerly St Mary’s Church, Flawford, now Castle Museum, Nottingham. Alabaster with traces of polychromy. H: 83cm (St Peter); 96cm (bishop); 81cm (the Virgin and Child). (Jon F Hall: https://www.flickr.com/photos/75827322@N00/4056195602/in/photostream/). 21. Statues of saints Peter and Paul, c.1380. Church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Rome. Alabaster. H: 128cm (Cheetham, 1984: 41, Fig.22). 22. God the Father with the Crucified Christ holding the souls of the Righteous, c.1375-85. Burrell Collection, Glasgow. Alabaster. H: 88.9cm (Cheetham, 1984: 42, Fig.23). 23. North-west and south-west crossing piers, with holes on south and north faces respectively (circled), Durham Cathedral (Russo, 1994: 262, Pl. 69). 24. Relief Panels of a) (left) Christ Appearing to the Two Marys (upper register) and Noli Me Tangere (lower register), and b) (right) The Transfiguration, c.1155- 60. Sandstone, formerly rood screen, now Durham Cathedral Treasury (Russo, 1994: 252-53, Pls. 64 and 65). 25. West choir screen, with relief panels showing the Passion of Christ, c. 1250- 55, Naumburg Cathedral, Germany (Jung, 2013: Pl. IV). 26. Crucifixion relief, mid-thirteenth century, formerly choir screen, Bourges Cathedral, France, now Musée du Berry, Bourges, Inv. No. D894.2.1 (Jung, 2013: Pl. XXIII). 9 27. Reliefs of Mary Magdalen Encountering the