DOCSLIB.ORG

Some Notes on Chapter-Houses 189 Mackenzie Walcott 1 Says That The

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Some Notes on Chapter-Houses 189 Mackenzie Walcott 1 Says That The Some Notes on Chapter-Houses 189 Mackenzie Walcott 1 says that "the ribs, with arches like the bright curves of a fountain, branching from a central pillar, and converging upon its capital, represented the relations of the cathedral to the diocese, with a body of clergy connected with it through their prebends, and sitting as a circle of assessors about the bishop, the capitulum with their caput." The central pillar is absent at Southwell, York (wooden vault), Howden, Manchester. VIII. CHAPTER-HOUSES ON THE CONTINENT. Our subject would be incompletely handled were we to omit all mention of chapter-houses abroad. We have, however, space for only a short mention of them. Fergusson 2 says that " chapter-houses are as rare in Germany as in France, and those that are found are not generally circular in either country." 3 The English editor of Liibke's Ecclesiastical Art in Germany (p. 277) quotes from Fergusson's Hand­ book (p. 885): " On the Continent it is true there are chapter-houses to be found, generally square rooms with wooden roofs, and not remarkable for their architecture." In his History of Architecture (vol. ii. p. 172), Fergusson speaks again of the chapter-house as "almost exclusively national (i.e. English). There are, it is true, some ' Salles Capitulaires' attached to Continental cathe- 1 English Minsters, vol. i. p. 38. 1 Hist, of Arch., vol. ii. p. 81. Cf. Notes C and D, p. 247. 3 This is in the second edition, dated 1874. Mackenzie Walcott in his Church and Convent. Arrangement, p. 39, makes the statement in almost the same words. Fergusson's first edition was published 1865-76, and the work appeared first as a " Handbook :: in 1855. Mr. Walcott's book is undated. But on p. 64, note 3, he quotes from " G. G. Scott, Proc. R.I.B.A., 1860." He also refers on several occa­ sions to Fergusson. So that we shall probably be safer if we take the dictum about foreign chapter-houses to be Fergusson's, quoted without acknowledgment, but endorsed by Mr. Walcott. i go Some Notes on Chapter-Houses drals or conventual establishments, but they are little more than large vestry-rooms, with none of that dignity or special ordinance that belongs to the English examples." He goes on to try to find a reason for this. But we should fall into error were we to conclude that there are no fine chapter-houses abroad. Pos­ sibly the apse of the churches (cf. Torcello) was first used for the meetings of the bishop and clergy. " In the ninth century the alley (of the cloister) next the church was used as a chapter-house [e.g. St. Gall, c. 820]. In 966, Herleve, wife of Duke Robert of Normandy, built a separate chamber for the purpose at Fontenelle." l Mr. Walcott mentions a good number of foreign chapter-houses, and so does Mr. Fergusson. It is difficult to understand how the more highly organised conventual life could be carried on without them. But, instead of pursuing this further, we will glance at the plan 2 of the Cistercian monastery at Maul- brunn in Germany, and there we find on the north side of the church in the east alley of the cloister (c. 18 feet wide) a chapter-house measuring 50 feet x 25 feet (i.e. 1250 square feet as against 1300 square feet at Chester). In the west wall are four openings, and in the east wall two windows. A circular staircase is in the north-east angle, and in the south-east corner an altar apse, £.15 feet in diameter. In the width, from north to south, are three pillars, which support an elaborate vaulted roof and divide the room into two alleys. This is evidently a building of importance, and not a mere vestry-room. There is another notable chapter-house at Ve"zelay in France, which demands a fuller description. Of the famous Romanesque church of Ve'zelay we have no time to speak that " splendid church of the 1 M. Walcott, Ch. and Conv. Arr., p. 121. 4 Liibke, Eccles. Art in Germany, p. 106. Some Notes on Chapter-Houses 191 Benedictines at the height of their power," dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, " typically monastic, typi­ cally Romanesque," and especially interesting to us Englishmen from the fact that on Whitsunday, 1 166, before a great concourse of people, our archbishop, Thomas k Becket, driven from his see and (lately) from the Cistercian House of Pontigny, " pronounced his sentence of excommunication against the chief offenders, read the Pope's condemnation of the Constitu­ tions of Clarendon, and warned in a voice choked by sobs his sovereign and his old friend of the sentence which awaited him." Jutting out from the south transept is the chapter­ house of Ve"zelay, which was probably standing, newly built, at the time of Becket's visit, and in which he probably joined in the devotions and deliberations of his Benedictine hosts. It is ap­ proached from the church by a cloister some 15 feet in width, and it measures 46 x 36 feet 1656 square feet against the 1300 square feet of the Chester chapter-house, and the 1024 square feet of that at Exeter. It is, however, less in size than those at Canterbury, Durham, and Gloucester, and than those formerly existing at Peterborough, Win­ chester, Norwich, Bury St. Edmunds, &c. It dates from the twelfth century, a little earlier than the reconstructed choir. Its plan is rectangular, and, like that at Maulbrunn, it is divided into two alleys by a couple of pillars, which, together with two smaller pillars in each angle and six strong corbels built into the walls in the intervening spaces, sup­ port the quadripartite vaults, the ribs being richly moulded. The pillars are incrusted with " mosaics, intended without doubt to hide the defects of the stone." The room is lighted by three large round- headed windows in its eastern wall. On the western side, adjoining the cloister, is a range of five hand­ some arches of equal width (about 7 feet).1 The 1 There were five similar but quite plain arches at Winchester. 192 Some Notes on Chapter-Houses middle arch, which is somewhat higher than the others, is the doorway to the chapter-house. The arches are richly and heavily moulded, with a carved hood-mould over each, and are of two orders. They are supported by strong piers with engaged columns ; the abaci are large and the carved capitals deep, and the bases rest upon the low wall (3 feet thick) which alone separates the chapter-house from the cloister. An opening, glazed or otherwise, on either side of the chapter-house door is common enough in England. We have a good instance at Chester (before both the vestibule and the chapter-house). But the wide openings at V^zelay make the chapter­ house there much less private than any of our English chapter-houses- At the present time the room is filled with benches which face the altar standing beneath the central east window, and it is apparently used only as a chapel. How long the altar has stood there we have no means of knowing. The alley of the cloister, which remains, was rebuilt in the thirteenth century, and has been restored by Viollet-le-Duc. The roof is vaulted, or, at least, thick and richly moulded quarter-circular ribs stretch from the wall (at intervals of about 9 feet) to some fluted piers, which stand free, but are supported by heavy and lofty outside buttresses, each with a corresponding pier in its face. Between each but­ tress are three small Romanesque arches supported by double columns, which rest upon a low, thick basement wall. The cloister is covered by a roof of heavy curved tiles, and above the chapter-house is an upper hall, lighted on its east side by several round-headed windows. We must mention one more foreign chapter-house, the most noted of them all, though of the thousands of annual visitors to the " Spanish Chapel" of Santa Maria Novella at Florence probably but few realise that it was a chapter-house. Yet for over 200 years Some Notes on Chapter-Houses 193 it served that purpose, for which it was built in 1355. In 1567 Cosimo I, who worked such irre­ parable havoc at Santa Maria Novella, gave it to the fellow-countrymen of his Spanish wife, Eleanor of Toledo, and it was thenceforward known as the " Spanish Chapel." The story of the most interest­ ing church of Santa Maria Novella has been well told by the Rev. J. Wood Brown in a handsome monograph published in 1902. The Dominicans came into the possession of the church in 1221. In 1244, probably, a new chapter-house was built, but, through site exigencies, it was detached from the rest of the monastery. Shortly before 1 308 Baldas- sare Ubriachi built the convent another new chapter­ house, which gave upon the Great Cloister, and was known as " Capitolo del Nocentino," from its dedi­ cation to the worship of the Infant Jesus by the three kings. This building is still marked by a sculptured scene on its lintel representing the visit of the three kings to Bethlehem. Within half a century this chapter-house proved to be too small, and soon after 1348 (the awful plague year at Florence) a wealthy childless Florentine merchant, Mico Guidalotti by name, found the money for a third chapter-house, which Fra Jacopo Talenti built upon a somewhat awkward site, given by the convent, on the south side of what is now known as the Green Cloister.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Old Deanery Garden and King's Orchard and Cloister Garth
    The Kent Compendium of Historic Parks and Gardens for Medway The Old Deanery Garden and King’s Orchard and Cloister Garth, Rochester January 2015 The Old Deanery Garden and King’s Orchard and Cloister Garth Rochester, Kent TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE SITE DESCRIPTION LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1: Boundary map - Cloister Garth FIGURE 2: Boundary map – The Old Deanery Garden and King’s Orchard FIGURE 3: Key views map FIGURE 4: Aerial photograph FIGURE 5: OS Map 1st Edition 25” (1862-1875) FIGURE 6: OS Map 2nd Edition 25” (1897 - 1900) FIGURE 7: OS Map 3rd Edition 25” (1907 - 1923) FIGURE 8: OS Map 4th Edition 25” (1929 - 1952) FIGURE 9: The Deanery Garden Rochester, a watercolour by George Elgood in Gertrude Jekyll, Some English Gardens, Longmans, Green and Co. 1904. FIGURE 10: Precinct Garden and Old Deanery 2014. FIGURE 11: Entrance to Old Deanery through the teahouse at the east end 2014. FIGURE 12: Old Deanery garden looking towards the City wall at the SE end of the garden 2014. FIGURE 13: King's Orchard and City ditch 2014 FIGURE 14: Very old Medlar tree in King's Orchard with City wall beyond 2014 FIGURE 15: Cloister Garth facing Frater doorway 2014. FIGURE 16: Cloister Garth from the NW. Spring 2014. FIGURE 17: Looking through the Chapterhouse site to the Cloister Garth 2014. Planted with roses in Dean Hole's time. FIGURE 18: Lower level of the Cloister Garth at the East end 2104. FIGURE 19: Copper Beech tree adjacent to the Cloister Garth facing the Refectory doorway 2014.
    [Show full text]
  • A Short History of Oxton 1800-1900 by Ray Johnson A
    A SHORT HISTORY OF OXTON 1800-1900 BY RAY JOHNSON A Short Diversion The modern town of Birkenhead stands upon what was once the wooded headland jutting out into the River Mersey. The name Birkenhead is probably descriptive of the ancient place in that it is most likely meaning is the "headland of birch trees". Great areas of the Wirral were once heavily forested and almost its entire Mersey shoreline must then have looked something like the scene we can still see today in the area of Eastham Ferry. Here great trees sweep down to the River Mersey and balance themselves at the very edge of rocky banks. The wooded headland that is now Birkenhead would once have been just like that. The headland must have seemed like a finger of land pointing out into the River Mersey towards the Liverpool bank, for there was, on the other side of it, a large natural pool. On the south side, the Tranmere Pool ran inland for almost a mile and it is believed that this place was the Somreford (ie Some Ford) referred to in the Domesday Book, since it is known that it was possible to cross the Pool at time of lower summer tides, by stepping on stepping stones. It is also known that the stepping stones were still in use in 1790 when an embankment was built to replace them and to carry the new Chester Road across the pool. To the north of the headland lay the Wallasey Pool - 1 mile wide at its mouth and stretching so far inland that it almost cut across the Wirral completely.
    [Show full text]
  • Remains, Historical & Literary
    GENEALOGY COLLECTION Cj^ftljnm ^Ofiftg, ESTABLISHED MDCCCXLIII. FOR THE PUBLICATION OF HISTORICAL AND LITERARY REMAINS CONNECTED WITH THE PALATINE COUNTIES OF LANCASTER AND CHESTEE. patrons. The Right Hon. and Most Rev. The ARCHBISHOP of CANTERURY. His Grace The DUKE of DEVONSHIRE, K.G.' The Rt. Rev. The Lord BISHOP of CHESTER. The Most Noble The MARQUIS of WESTMINSTER, The Rf. Hon. LORD DELAMERE. K.G. The Rt. Hon. LORD DE TABLEY. The Rt. Hon. The EARL of DERBY, K.G. The Rt. Hon. LORD SKELMERSDALE. The Rt. Hon. The EARL of CRAWFORD AND The Rt. Hon. LORD STANLEY of Alderlev. BALCARRES. SIR PHILIP DE M ALPAS GREY EGERTON, The Rt. Hon. LORD STANLEY, M.P. Bart, M.P. The Rt. Rev. The Lord BISHOP of CHICHESTER. GEORGE CORNWALL LEGH, Esq , M,P. The Rt. Rev. The Lord BISHOP of MANCHESTER JOHN WILSON PATTEN, Esq., MP. MISS ATHERTON, Kersall Cell. OTounctl. James Crossley, Esq., F.S.A., President. Rev. F. R. Raines, M.A., F.S.A., Hon. Canon of ^Manchester, Vice-President. William Beamont. Thomas Heywood, F.S.A. The Very Rev. George Hull Bowers, D.D., Dean of W. A. Hulton. Manchester. Rev. John Howard Marsden, B.D., Canon of Man- Rev. John Booker, M.A., F.S.A. Chester, Disney Professor of Classical Antiquities, Rev. Thomas Corser, M.A., F.S.A. Cambridge. John Hakland, F.S.A. Rev. James Raine, M.A. Edward Hawkins, F.R.S., F.S.A., F.L.S. Arthur H. Heywood, Treasurer. William Langton, Hon. Secretary. EULES OF THE CHETHAM SOCIETY. 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Information for Teachers and Group Leaders
    Information for Teachers and Group Leaders Planning your visit to Birkenhead Priory Birkenhead The small place with a big history Priory www.thebirkenheadpriory.org Planning your visit Information for Teachers and Group Leaders Location of Birkenhead Priory Priory Street, Birkenhead, Wirral, CH41 5JH Open Wednesday to Sunday LIVERPOOL M62 Woodside James St. Bus Station Hamilton Sq. Hamilton Sq. BIRKENHEAD 3 Birkenhead Priory MARKET ST . A561 A41 .CHUR A41 IVY ST M53 PRIORY ST CH ST . 5 Birkenhead Priory Background to Birkenhead Priory The Birkenhead Priory, founded Far from being an isolated place of c1150, by the Benedictine monks is retreat, the priory monks looked after the oldest standing building on travellers for nearly 400 years and Merseyside and is a scheduled supervised the rst regulated "ferry ancient monument. Today it is across the Mersey", up to the Dissolution surrounded by modern Birkenhead, in 1536. First restored over a century factory units and is direct neighbour to ago, the site continues to develop and The camel Laird Shipyards. The whole share its rich history with recent history of the town is wrapped up in restoration and conservation. this one site – "the small place with a big history". There are a number of areas of interest on site, including The Chapter House, Undercroft, Refectory, Western Range, Scriptorium and St Mary's Tower, all of which create a great opportunity for exploring local history/geography units of work and enhancing cross curricular teaching and learning. Further detailed information on the site can be found on the website www.thebirkenheadpriory.org Birkenhead The small place with a big history 1 Priory www.thebirkenheadpriory.org Planning your visit Information for Teachers and Group Leaders What to see at Birkenhead Priory Chapter House (c1150) St Mary's Tower is the oldest building on site, is Designed by Thomas Rickman and consecrated as an Anglican church and completed in 1821, St Mary's Church is now home to the parish of St Mary's was built alongside the Priory ruins and Church and Christ the King.
    [Show full text]
  • St Hugh & Eynsham Abbey
    Front cover The two drawings are reproduced by courtesy of the Curator s of the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The figure of St.Hugh is from a 14th. century calendar in MS.Rawl.D.939. The west towers of Eynsham abbey are from Wood's 1657 drawing of the ruins in MS.Wood.E.1. Frontispiece Bishop Hugh and his famous swan: bronze by Arthur Fleischmann, F.R.B.S. At Buckden Towers, near Huntingdon, formerly a manor of the bishops of Lincoln: Hugh's body rested there, on the way from London to Lincoln. By courtesy of the sculptor, and of the Father Superior of the Claretian brothers, now at Buckden. by Eric Gordon sometime Bishop of Sodor and Man FOREWORD by Sir Walter Oakeshott sometime Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford Published by the Eynsham History Group: Occasional Paper No.3. 1986 © Eric Gordon and the Eynsham History Group Price: 50p. FOREWORD The selection at Eynsham (with Henry II himself presiding) of Hugh to be Bishop of Lincoln, eight hundred years ago, was nationally important. Conflict between King and Church had led, sixteen years before, to the murder of Becket by Henry's knights, in Canterbury Cathedral. As part of his penance, Henry had founded monasteries, over one of which (Witham in Somerset) he appointed Hugh, a Carthusian monk from France, to preside. It was a brilliant choice. Hugh was admired, trusted, and loved. Everyone, including Henry himself, knew that his integrity was beyond question. Hugh took steps to see that the actual election was made by the canons of Lincoln, technically their right, and an example of that sensitivity that was one of his characteristics as an administrator.
    [Show full text]
  • Events Programme
    WIRRAL EVENTS BOROUGH OF PROGRAMME CULTURE 2019 MARCH-JULY ‘19 imaginewirral.com | #Wirral2019 MAJOR PARTNERS OFFICIAL SUPPORTERS All information is correct at the time of going to print. Dates and timings are subject to change – please check before you travel. Wirral Council reserves the right to postpone or alter any events as advertised. | 1 Welcome to Wirral BOROUGH OF CULTURE 2019 We are delighted that Wirral is Borough of Culture for Liverpool City Region this year. It’s going to be a spectacular year for culture, heritage and sport in Wirral and we’re excited to share the first few months of our extraordinary programme with you. Following on from the success of our events and exhibitions in 2018, this year promises to be even bigger – delivering memorable and surprising events across the borough for even more residents and new and returning visitors, and providing a growing platform for our talented creative community. Discovery, exploration and the great outdoors are central to what you can look forward to in the borough throughout 2019. We’ll be using our events to tell the story of Wirral and celebrate everything which makes it an amazing place to live, work and visit. Our events this year are designed to showcase Wirral’s magnificent open spaces, big skies and beautiful coastline to the world. We look forward to seeing you there. Cllr Phil Davies Leader, Wirral Council | 2 Wirral History & Heritage Fair Date Saturday 9 March Time 10am - 4pm Location Birkenhead Town Hall, Hamilton Square Free A day of discovery for everyone awaits at the annual Wirral History & Heritage Fair.
    [Show full text]
  • Inhouse SPRING 2020
    Issue 48 Spring edition 2020 InHousethe Journal of the Lincoln Cathedral Community Association John Patrick Beyond Reason Page 11 Page 6 800 years of sainthood Judi Jones Eight hundred years ago, on 27 April, Burgundian family, Hugh first entered a the cathedral has a series of events this Pope Honorius III replied to an impor- house of Austin Canons and then a more year to celebrate this significant anniver- tant letter sent to him by the two arch- austere order, eventually becoming the sary. I spoke to Mark Steadman, the Acting bishops and all the bishops of England prior of the Grande Chartreuse. At the be- Dean, to find out more, and he explained which petitioned him for the canon- hest of King Henry II, he moved to With- that the aim was to celebrate different isation of the late Bishop of Lincoln, am, Somerset, to help establish the priory aspects of Hugh’s life and ministry. For Hugh, who had died in 1200. there before being promoted to Lincoln example, David Carpenter will speak at Matters proceeded quickly and in 1186. As bishop he ‘proved a pastor the Magna Carta lecture on both St Hugh smoothly. There seems to have been a worthy of the name, choosing with care and Thomas a Beckett. A concert is being widespread desire for the canonisation, those whom he appointed to office and planned to be given by one of the coun- and this was helped by written evidence delivering his church from servitude to try’s leading Early Music Ensembles and detailing the cures accomplished at the civil power’.
    [Show full text]
  • Arbroath Abbey & Arbroath Abbey Abbot's House
    Property in Care (PIC) ID: PIC006 & PIC007 Designations: Scheduled Monument (SM90018); Listed Building (LB21130 Category A, LB21131 Category A, LB21132 Category A, LB21133 Category A, LB21134 Category A, LB21135 Category B) Taken into State care: 1905 (Ownership) & 1929 (Guardianship) Last reviewed: 2015 HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT SCOTLAND STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE ARBROATH ABBEY & ARBROATH ABBEY ABBOT’S HOUSE We continually revise our Statements of Significance, so they may vary in length, format and level of detail. While every effort is made to keep them up to date, they should not be considered a definitive or final assessment of our properties. Historic Environment Scotland – Scottish Charity No. SC045925 Principal Office: Longmore House, Salisbury Place, Edinburgh EH9 1SH Historic Environment Scotland – Scottish Charity No. SC045925 Principal Office: Longmore House, Salisbury Place, Edinburgh EH9 1SH HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT SCOTLAND STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE ARBROATH ABBEY & ARBROATH ABBEY ABBOT’S HOUSE CONTENTS 1 Summary 2 1.1 Introduction 2 1.2 Statement of significance 2 2 Assessment of values 2 2.1 Background 2 2.2 Evidential values 3 2.3 Historical values 4 2.4 Architectural and artistic values 6 2.5 Landscape and aesthetic values 8 2.6 Natural heritage values 9 2.7 Contemporary/use values 9 3 Major gaps in understanding 10 4 Associated properties 10 5 Keywords 10 Bibliography 10 APPENDICES Appendix 1: Timeline 12 Historic Environment Scotland – Scottish Charity No. SC045925 Principal Office: Longmore House, Salisbury Place, Edinburgh EH9 1SH 1 1 Summary 1.1 Introduction The monument consists of the remains (now mainly fragmentary) of an outstandingly ambitious royal monastic foundation, which was planned by William I ‘the Lion’ (1165-1214), one of Scotland’s most revered medieval monarchs, as his own burial place.
    [Show full text]
  • THE Chapter House at St. Albans Was Probably
    The Chapter House at St Albans. BY SIR EDGAR WIGRAM, BART. HE Chapter House at St. Albans was probably T planned and commenced by Paul de Caen, the first Norman Abbot and builder of the great Nor- man church, since he (and his three successors) are all stated to have been buried within its walls. But the merit of its completion, or perhaps of its reconstruction, must be assigned to his fourth successor, Robert de Gorham, the 18th Abbot, who ruled the Monastery from 1151 to 1166, and who (amongst other works) is recorded to have built up the Chapter House " from its foundations." Abbot Robert appears to have been a relative—pos- sibly a son or nephew—of the 16th Abbot, Geoffrey de Gorham, who had died in 1146. Their family has per- petuated its name in the estate of Gorhambury, where this Abbot erected a residence; but they derived it orig- inally from Gorram in Maine, which was the home whence they sprang. Geoffrey de Gorham was a scholar, and (as evinced in later life by the superstitious defer- ence which he paid to the visions of his hermits) a man of a rather mystical and impressionable turn of mind. But he was not a monk of first choice. He had come over from Normandy at the invitation of his predecessor, Abbot Richard de Albini, in order to become the Master of the Abbey School. But his journey was delayed, and the vacancy had been filled before his arrival, so Geoffrey started another school in the rising town of Dunstable, and there he wrote and produced a Miracle Play, setting forth the legend of St.
    [Show full text]
  • York Minster's Chapter House and Its Painted Glass Narratives
    York Minster’s Chapter House and its Painted Glass Narratives Volume 1 of 3 Ann Hilary Moxon PhD University of York History of Art December 2017 Abstract This thesis focuses on the late thirteenth-century narrative glazing scheme of the chapter house in York Minster and the political and religious context of its design. Created as an intrinsic and integrated part of one of the most elaborate and important buildings in the period, the glass has suffered interventions affecting both its appearance and the positions of its narrative panels. By examining the glass in the context of contemporary visual and textual material, it has been possible to reconstruct the original order of the panels and to identify the selection of episodes the lives of the saints, some for the first time. The study has demonstrated the extent to which the iconography was rooted in liturgy and theology relevant to the period which, in turn, reflected the priorities of a dominant group among the active members of Chapter for whose use the building was constructed and, by extension, the contemporary Church. Further, the glass shows strong Mariological themes which reflected features in the rest of the decorative scheme and the architecture of the chapter house, indicating that the glazing scheme may have been conceived as part of the architectural whole. The conclusions are supported by parallel research into the prosopography of the contemporary Chapter which additionally suggests that the conception of the programme may have had its roots in the baronial wars of the
    [Show full text]
  • Old English Libraries; the Making, Collection and Use of Books During
    Presented to the UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY by the ONTARIO LEGISLATIVE LIBRARY 1980 THE ANTIQUARY'S BOOKS GENERAL EDITOR: J. CHARLES COX, LL.D., F.S.A. OLD ENGLISH LIBRARIES tame antcotflttnrt mcrrto Arm to ABBOT WHETHAMSTEDE OLD ENGLIS1 LIBRARIES a!U. THE MAKING, COLLECTION, AND USE OF BOOKS DURING THE MIDDLE AGES BY ERNEST A. SAVAGE WITH FIFTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS METHUEN & CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON First Published in ipn PREFACE the arrangement and equipment of WITHlibraries this essay has little to do : the ground being already covered adequately by Dr. Clark in his admirable monograph on The Care of Books. Herein is described the making, use, and circulation of books considered as a means of literary culture. It seemed possible to throw a useful sidelight on literary history, and to introduce some human interest into the study of bibliography, if the place held by books in the life of the Middle Ages could be indicated. Such, at all events, was my aim, but I am far from sure of my success in it out and I offer this book as carrying ; merely a discursive and popular treatment of a subject which seems to me of great interest. The book has suffered from one unhappy circum- stance. It was planned in collaboration with my friend Mr. James Hutt, M.A., but unfortunately, owing to a breakdown of health, Mr. Hutt was only able to help me in the composition of the chapter on the Libraries of Oxford, which is chiefly his work. Had it been possible for Mr.
    [Show full text]
  • Experiencing the Chapterhouse in the Benedictine Abbey at Pomposa
    Experiencing the Chapterhouse in the Benedictine Abbey at Pomposa The Benedictine Abbey at Pomposa is located in the Po valley east of Ferrara, on the isolated and marshy coastline of the Adriatic Sea.1 Established in the eighth century, it was an active and vibrant complex for almost a thousand years, until repeated outbreaks of malaria forced the monks to abandon it in the seventeenth century (Salmi 14). Notable monks associated with the abbey in its eleventh-century heyday include the music theorist Guido d’Arezzo (c. 991-after 1033), the pious abbot St. Guido degli Strambiati (c. 970-1046), and the writer and reformer St. Peter Damian (1007-72) (Caselli 10-15). The poet Dante called on the abbey, as an emissary for the da Polenta court in Ravenna, shortly before his death in 1321 (Caselli 16). His visit coincided with a great period of renewal under the administration of the abbot Enrico (1302-20), during which fresco cycles in the Chapterhouse and Refectory were executed by artists of the Riminese school. This investigation of the Chapterhouse (Fig. 1-3) reveals that the Benedictines at the Pomposa Abbey, just prior to 1320, created an environment in which illusionistic painting techniques are coupled with references to rhetorical dialogue and theatrical conventions, to allow for the performative and interactive engagement of those who use the space and those depicted on the surrounding walls.2 FLEMING Fig. 1 Pomposa Chapterhous, interior view facing crucifixion (photo: author) Fig. 2 Pomposa Chapterhouse, interior view towards left wall (photo: author) 140 EXPERIENCING THE CHAPTERHOUSE AT POMPOSA Fig.
    [Show full text]