St. Peter's Church, Barton-upon-Humber: Excavation and Structural Study, 1978–81

1982 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Warwick Rodwell ◽  
Kirsty Rodwell
Keyword(s):  
Structural Study ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Good Evidence ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Free Standing ◽  
Medieval Church ◽  
Four Seasons ◽  
Complex Development ◽  
Considerable Detail ◽  
The Church

SummaryFour seasons of excavation and structural study in St. Peter's Church have revealed a complex sequence, beginning with domestic occupation of the Pagan Saxon period, followed by a Middle Saxon settlement enclosure with adjacent cemetery of Christian character. In the later tenth century a three-celled turriform church was built in the cemetery, after the exhumation of graves covering its intended site. Related features in the cemetery include the foundation of a large free-standing cross, a group of wells and an oven, probably for baking bread, all grouped to the east of the chancel. Some of the pre-Conquest graves yielded evidence of probable barkwood coffins built with clenches and roves, while some twenty further graves contained rectangular timber coffins in varying states of preservation. Several were in near-perfect condition and have yielded exceptionally good evidence for techniques and tools employed by Anglo-Saxon carpenters.The extant Saxon and medieval fabric of the church has been recorded in considerable detail, providing an insight into building and scaffolding methods, particularly of the tenth century. Excavation has revealed the complex development of the medieval church and its internal layout; and 1,326 graves, spanning a millennium, have been investigated.

The Lichfield Angel: A Spectacular Anglo-Saxon Painted Sculpture

2008 ◽  
Vol 88 ◽  
pp. 48-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Warwick Rodwell ◽  
Jane Hawkes ◽  
Emily Howe ◽  
Rosemary Cramp
Keyword(s):  
Tenth Century ◽  
Central Axis ◽  
Masonry Building ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Left Hand ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
The Church ◽  
Three Phases

Excavation within the Gothic nave of Lichfield Cathedral in 2003 revealed three phases of masonry building ante-dating the Norman period. These are likely to relate to the church of St Peter, which Bede described in 731 as housing the timber shrine to St Chad, fifth bishop of Mercia (d 672). A rectangular, timber-lined pit found on the central axis of the building might represent a crypt or burial chamber beneath the shrine. Buried in a small pit alongside this were three fragments of a bas-relief panel of Ancaster limestone, carved with the figure of an angel. They comprise half of the left-hand end of a hollow, box-like structure that had a low-coped lid. This is interpreted as a shrine chest associated with the cult of St Chad. The sculpture, which was broken and buried in, or before, the tenth century, is in remarkably fresh condition, allowing for an in-depth analysis of its original painted embellishment and for an assessment of the monument in terms of its iconography and stylistic affinities, and thus the possible conditions of its production. It is argued that the surviving portion of the panel represents the archangel Gabriel, and that it is one half of an Annunciation scene.

scholarly journals Developing Definitions of Reform in the Church in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Barrow
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Medieval Church ◽  
Church Councils ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Middle Ages

There is a noticeable gap between the use of ‘reform’ terminology (reformo, reformatio) in the pre-1100 period and modern usage: in the earlier Middle Ages the terminology was essentially used to refer to the restoration of peace, buildings, and property or in a spiritual sense, as a change of heart (as established by Gerd Ladner on the basis of patristic writings); it is also noticeable that reform terminology was used much less by medieval authors, especially pre-1215, than by modern historians writing about the Middle Ages and above all on the medieval church. Nonetheless, ‘reform’ terminology did begin, very slowly, to be used about change in medieval ecclesiastical institutions in the tenth and early eleventh centuries, first in the diocese of Rheims and Lotharingia and later in Burgundy, and this chapter attempts to show how this process began, tracing the earliest moves towards this in records of Carolingian church councils and tenth-century historical narratives.

X. Reculver: its Saxon Church and Cross

Archaeologia ◽  
1928 ◽  
Vol 77 ◽  
pp. 241-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.R. Peers
Keyword(s):  
Tenth Century ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Parish Church ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ancient Monuments ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Trinity

The history of the monastery of Reculver is short and scanty. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that in 669 Egbert, king of Kent, gave ‘Raculf’ to Bassa, the mass priest, mynster to tymbrianne. Ten years later there occurs a grant by King Lothair of Kent to Brihtwald, abbot of the monastery of ‘Raculf’, showing that the monastery was then in being. In 692 abbot Brihtwald was made Archbishop of Canterbury, a promotion unlikely to have come to the head of a small and obscure house. In 747 King Eadberht of Kent granted to Abbot Denebach the toll of one ship in Fordwich, and in 761 was himself buried in the abbey church. After that no record survives, except that in 949 King Edred granted Reculver and its possessions to the archbishopric of Canterbury. The abbey may have been laid waste by the Danes; at any rate it had evidently ceased to exist as a monastic house by the tenth century. It continued thenceforward as a parish church, and remained in use till 1805, when on account of its distance from the houses of parishioners it was abandoned and partly pulled down. Its western towers, with their wooden spires, were left standing as a seamark, and came under the control of the Trinity House. Finally in 1925 the church and its site were placed in the charge of the Commissioners of Works under the terms of the Ancient Monuments Act of 1913.

Anglo-Saxon Towers of Lordship

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael G. Shapland
Keyword(s):  
Tenth Century ◽  
Dual Function ◽  
High Status ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Free Standing ◽  
Norman Conquest ◽  
Monastic Reform ◽  
European Tradition ◽  
The Social ◽  
Secular Power

It has long been assumed that England lay outside the Western European tradition of castle-building until after the Norman Conquest of 1066. It is now becoming apparent that Anglo-Saxon lords were constructing free-standing towers at their residences all across England during the tenth and eleventh centuries. Initially these towers were exclusively of timber, and quite modest in scale. There followed the ‘tower-nave’ churches, towers with only a tiny chapel located inside, which appear to have had a dual function as buildings of elite worship and symbols of secular power and authority. This book gathers together the evidence for these remarkable buildings, many of which still stand incorporated into the fabric of Norman and later parish churches and castles. It traces their origin in monasteries, where kings and bishops drew upon Continental European practice to construct centrally planned, tower-like chapels for private worship and burial, and to mark gates and important entrances, particularly within the context of the tenth-century Monastic Reform. Adopted by the secular aristocracy to adorn their own manorial sites, many of the known examples would have provided strategic advantage as watchtowers over roads, rivers, and beacon systems, and acted as focal points for the mustering of troops. The tower-nave form persisted into early Norman England, where it may have influenced a variety of high-status building types. The aim of this book is to establish the tower-nave as an important Anglo-Saxon building type, and to explore the social, architectural, and landscape contexts in which they operated.

The Discovery of an Anglo-Saxon Painted Figure at St Mary's Church, Deerhurst, Gloucestershire

2006 ◽  
Vol 86 ◽  
pp. 66-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Bagshaw ◽  
Richard Bryant ◽  
Michael Hare
Keyword(s):  
Ninth Century ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Wall Paintings ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Structural Context ◽  
The Subject ◽  
East End ◽  
Significant Addition ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Church

The church of St Mary at Deerhurst in Gloucestershire is well known for its Anglo-Saxon fabric and sculpture. In 1993 a painting of an Anglo-Saxon figure was discovered, and in 2002 it became possible for the authors to study the painting in detail.The painting is on one of a pair of triangular-headed stone panels set high in the internal east wall of the church. The discovery provides a significant addition to the tiny corpus of known Anglo-Saxon wall paintings. The identity of the standing, nimbed figure remains elusive, but the figure can be tentatively dated on art historical grounds to the middle to late tenth century.The authors also explore the structural context of the painting. It is suggested that in the first half of the ninth century the church had an upper floor over the central space (the present east end), and that this floor possibly extended over the whole church. At the east end, there were internal openings from this upper floor into a high-level space in the polygonal apse. At a later date two of these openings were blocked and covered by stone panels, one of which is the subject of this paper. It is possible that the panels flanked a high-level altar or an opening through which a shrine, set on a high-level floor in the apse, could be viewed.

Fiduciary Principles in the Canon Law

2019 ◽  
pp. 489-504
Author(s):  
Richard H. Helmholz
Keyword(s):  
Canon Law ◽  
Fiduciary Duty ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
English Court ◽  
Medieval Church ◽  
Canonical Texts ◽  
Trust Law ◽  
The Church ◽  
Court Practice

This chapter discusses the scope of principles of fiduciary duty as they appear in the canon law. It first provides a historical background on canon law and its relation to fiduciary law, noting that the medieval church and principles of fiduciary duty were interconnected in direct and positive ways. In fact, the church was governed by many of the same principles of fiduciary law that are found in modern trust law, and these principles were fully and authoritatively stated in the Corpus iuris canonici during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The chapter proceeds by analyzing the Corpus iuris canonici and its two books: Gratian’s Concordia discordantium canonum, also known as the Decretum, and the books of Decretals. It also traces the development of fiduciary law inherent in some of the canonical texts and explains how fiduciary principles came to be enforced in the canon law, citing examples of the width of the scope of fiduciary principles found in English court practice, including a duty applied only to the clergy. Finally, it considers whether the modern law of trusts was shaped in any way by canonical influence.

scholarly journals “‘But the Fountain Sprang Up and the Bird Sang Down’: Heidegger’s Gathering of the Fourfold and the Seven-Sacraments Font at Salle, Norfolk.”

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 464
Author(s):  
Marie Clausén
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Art History ◽  
Architectural Elements ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Medieval Church ◽  
The Church ◽  
As If

My paper analyses the 15th-century seven-sacraments font at the medieval church of St Peter and St Paul at Salle in Norfolk (England). The church guides and gazetteers that describe the font, and the church in which it is situated, owe both their style and content to Art History, focusing as they do on their material and aesthetic dimensions. The guides also tend towards isolating the various elements of the font, and these in turn from the rest of the architectural elements, fittings and furniture of the church, as if they could be meaningfully experienced or interpreted as discrete entities, in isolation from one another. While none of the font descriptions can be faulted for being inaccurate, they can, as a result of these tendencies, be held insufficient, and not quite to the purpose. My analysis of the font, by means of Heidegger’s concept of Dwelling, does not separate the font either from the rest of the church, nor from other fonts, but acknowledges that it comes to be, and be seen as, what it is only when considered as standing in ‘myriad referential relations’ to other things, as well as to ourselves. This perspective has enabled me to draw out what it is about the font at Salle that can be experienced as not merely beautiful or interesting, but also as meaningful to those—believers and non-believers alike—who encounter it. By reconsidering the proper mode of perceiving and engaging with the font, we may spare it from being commodified, from becoming a unit in the standing reserve of cultural heritage, and in so doing, we, too, may be momentarily freed from our false identities as units of production and agents of consumption. The medieval fonts and churches of Norfolk are, I argue, not valuable as a result of their putative antiquarian qualities, but invaluable in their extending to us a possibility of dwelling—as mortals—on the earth—under the sky—before the divinities.

scholarly journals The northern world of the Anglo-Saxon mappa mundi

2018 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 275-305
Author(s):  
Helen Appleton
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
British Library ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
The Mediterranean

AbstractThe Anglo-Saxon mappa mundi, sometimes known as the Cotton map or Cottoniana, is found on folio 56v of London, British Library, Cotton Tiberius B. v, which dates from the first half of the eleventh century. This unique survivor from the period presents a detailed image of the inhabited world, centred on the Mediterranean. The map’s distinctive cartography, with its emphasis on islands, seas and urban spaces, reflects an Insular, West Saxon geographic imagination. As Evelyn Edson has observed, the mappa mundi appears to be copy of an earlier, larger map. This article argues that the mappa mundi’s focus on urban space, translatio imperii and Scandinavia is reminiscent of the Old English Orosius, and that it originates from a similar milieu. The mappa mundi’s northern perspective, together with its obvious dependence on and emulation of Carolingian cartography, suggest that its lost exemplar originated in the assertive England of the earlier tenth century.

The medieval church of Montrose: a place ‘of much antiquity and abundantly populous’

2014 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catriona Anna Gray
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Early Date ◽  
Plausible Candidate ◽  
External Evidence ◽  
Medieval Church ◽  
Local Tradition ◽  
The Church

Montrose was one of Scotland's earliest royal burghs, but historians have largely overlooked its parish kirk. A number of fourteenth and fifteenth-century sources indicate that the church of Montrose was an important ecclesiastical centre from an early date. Dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, by the later middle ages it was a place of pilgrimage linked in local tradition with the cult of Saint Boniface of Rosemarkie. This connection with Boniface appears to have been of long standing, and it is argued that the church of Montrose is a plausible candidate for the lost Egglespether, the ‘church of Peter’, associated with the priory of Restenneth. External evidence from England and Iceland appears to identify Montrose as the seat of a bishop, raising the possibility that it may also have been an ultimately unsuccessful rival for Brechin as the episcopal centre for Angus and the Mearns.

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