A thirteenth century ring from Fishlake in Yorkshire

Quite by chance I came upon an online article from 2023 on the BBC News website about the purchase for Doncaster Museum of a medieval ring found by a metal detector in 2020 at Fishlake, a village which lies a few miles north east of the city-

The striking gold ring dates, as his thought from the thirteenth century but its bezel is a first century Roman intaglio. The reuse of such stones was by no means uncommon in the medieval era. Around the stone is an inscription indicating that the ring was commissioned as a love token or friendship item. Photographs of the ring would suggest that it had been worn for a considerable time as the hope of the rain has become distorted. It is still a very impressive piece and when originally made would doubtless have resembled the type we are used to seeing in modern costume dramas set in the mediaeval centuries.

The BBC article can be seen at Treasure: Medieval ring found by detectorist bought 'for the people of Doncaster'

The ring is also featured on Detecting Finds at 

"Exciting find" goes on display

An article from the Yorkshire Post has additional images and can be viewed at Medieval ring fit for a king found by metal detectorist in Yorkshire village

Fishlake, as its name suggests, is in the formerly marshland area around the outfall of the rivers Don and Trent into the head of the Humber. Until it was drained in the early seventeenth century it had a distinctive and prosperous fenland-type economy, to which a series of impressive mediaeval parish churches, including that at Fishlake itself, still bear witness. Partly used as a hunting area known as Hatfield Chase it was used on occasion by royalty in the period. King Edward iII’s second son William was born at nearby Hatfield in 1336 when his parents were staying there for Christmas. He died very shortly afterwards and was buried in York Mister in February 1337. By the fifteenth century the Chase had become the property of the Dukes of York. With such royal and aristocratic connections, the discovery of such an impressive piece of jewelry should not perhaps be so surprising. Inevitably, its history is lost to us, and we can only speculate as to who commissioned and owned it or how it came to be lost.

Cimabue at the Louvre

A few days ago I posted about the restoration of Cimabue’s Maesta in advance of a major exhibition, which opens today, about the thirteenth century artist and his importance in the development of Italian and European art.

France 24 has two articles about the exhibition which concentrate on the recent discovery and identification of another work by Cimabue. It was found in 2019 when it was hanging, unregarded on the kitchen wall of a house in Compiegne, and potentially about to be thrown out as rubbish. Spotted as being of possible interest, it was identified and sold to a foreign buyer for €24 million and then, to prevent its export, acquired by the Louvre, I don’t think you would risk that as a plot in a novel these days. Now restored, the painting, The Mocking of Christ, is one of three panels known to survive from an eight part diptych, and is one of the highlights of the new exhibition.

The articles discuss its history, such as it can be recovered, its significance in the history of art, and shows it before and after cleaning, at From kitchen wall to the Louvre: Cimabue show sheds new light on ‘father of Western painting’ and at Long-lost masterpiece ‘the Holy Grail’ for curators and collectors alike

Solemn Requiem Mass for King Louis XVI

YouTube has a video of the Solemn Requiem for King Louis XVI offered today at the church of Saint Eugène et Sainte Cécile in Paris on the 232nd anniversary of his judicial murder in 1793.  

The video can be seen at Messe solennelle de Requiem pour Louis XVI - REQUIEM ÆTERNAM

St Sebastian - the emergence of an iconography

Today is the joint feast of the martyrs St Fabian and St Sebastian. 

Wikipedia has an account of his legend and his cult and patronage, as well as his iconography and its varied interpretations down to the present in Saint Sebastian

I have posted in past years in particular about the iconography of St Sebastian, which is one that in its established form in later medieval and Renaissance art is very distinctine and recognisable indeed.

My post from 2016, using examples posted by John Dillon on the Medieval Religion discussion group site, illustrates this process very well and it can be seen at St Sebastian

Last year I added to this fine collection a link to  an article on the New Liturgical Movement about a Florentine tryptophan from the late fourteenth century. That, with the link, can be seen at St Sebastian

This year I can add another St Sebastian triptych, or at least what remains of it, scattered across two continents and a number of galleries, which is always a thing to be deeply regretted, and which date from 1497-99. It is the work of Josse Lieferinxe

He was an artist from Hainault who then worked in Provence. The commission was for a confraternity based in a now destroyed church in Marseille. Formerly known only as the Master of St Sebastian he has now recovered something of his identity due to academic research.

The triptych is discussed in considerable detail in an informative article that can be accessed at Preventative Medicine: Josse Lieferinxe’s Retable Altar of St. Sebastian as a Defense Against Plague in 15th Century Provence - Persée

One of the panels, depicting St Sebastian interceding for the victims of plague, can be seen at Josse Lieferinxe - Saint Sebastian Interceding for the Plague Stricken - Walters

St Sebastian pray for us

St Fabian pray for us

Medieval shoes

The January sales offer the chance of obtaining all kinds of bargains, and those of you who are perhaps looking for new shoes may care to spare a thought at for the fashion conscious of the mediaeval era and the difficulties they could face in the quest for style.

The BBC News website reported the other day about surviving examples of later mediaeval footwear, notably the fashion for long point of shoes and the difficulties they caused, as well as the reaction of the most censorious members of society. It can be seen at How pointy shoes created a moral panic in medieval London

This appears to be derived from a recent and similar online piece from the Museum of London which can be seen at Why Were Medieval Europeans So Obsessed With Long, Pointy Shoes?

Wikipedia has quite detailed and informative articles about the fashion culprits at Poulaine and it’s all important accomplice at Patten (shoe) 

On the same subject other articles have recorded archaeological evidence, which I think I have linked to previously, from skeletons of the period that show an increased incidence of bunions. These can be seen at 

Medieval pointy-toed shoes led to Cambridge bunion surge and at Fashion for pointy shoes unleashed a wave of bunions in medieval England

Wearing fashionable footwear is something that is not infrequently cited as a cause of orthopaedic difficulties in later life, and clearly our ancestors were as prone to this as we may be today. 

Restoring Monreale

  

Just before Christmas the BBC News website reported on thealerestoration work that has been undertaken on the late twelfth century mosaics that decorate the interior of the cathedral at Monreale in Sicily. This has involved auto cleaning but also conserving and restoring the spectacular series which cover the whole interior of the building.

The article can be seen at It's pure beauty' - Italy's largest medieval mosaics restored

The restoration project is also covered in slightly more detail on the Medievalists.net site at Medieval Cathedral Transformed with Stunning New Lighting

Wikipedia has a history and description of the cathedral at Monreale Cathedral and a separate article about the mosaics, which are the especial glory of the building, can be seen at Monreale Cathedral mosaics

The cathedral started as an abbey founded by King William II following a dream or vision in which the Virgin Mary appeared to him and suggested he should found the church. It was rapidly promoted to being a cathedral with an Archbishop, and was to be the burial place of the King and of his father.

Cathedrals with monastic chapters were rare on the continent, but quite frequently to be found in medieval England. The fact that the King’s consort, Joanna, was a daughter of King Henry II and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine may have influenced the decision, as may the known presence in Sicily of English clergy and administrators.

A further link to England is the prominent figure amongst them mosaic saints of St Thomas of Canterbury, who had been martyred only a very few years before the establishment of the monastery at Monreale.

Festum Asinorum

Today, being Januar 14, as I was reminded by a note on The Pillar website, was for several centuries in the medieval era the Feast of the Ass, the Festum Asinorum. This was intended as a commemoration of the Flight into Egypt.

It appears to be particularly associated with northern France, although that may be a reflection of what records survive.

Wikipedia gives an account of the events associated with it at Feast of the Ass

Linked to it is the concept and history of the Feast of Fools which marked the days after Christmas Day itself, with role reversal celebrations in cathedrals. This apparently originated in southern France. The article can be seen at Feast of Fools

Although banned by the Ecumenical Coucil of. Basel in 1431, and by the University of Paris in 1444, the customer was along time a dying, surviving at Amiens until at least 1721. It occurs to me that this was perhaps a consequence of the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges in 1438.

In England the best recorded evidence for such events is the tradition, now quite frequently revived, or the Boy Bishop.

From the Feast of the Ass there survives in seasonal usage  the familiar music for the hymn Orientis Partibus. The text and recordings of the hymn, arguably an inspiration for Carl Orff in composing Carmina Burana, can be found online at both Festum Asinorum and Orientis Partibus

More on medieval Greenland

Greenland is in the news, whether it, its people or its autonomous government want it to be or not. The background to the present furore can be read in an article from the Politico news website at Trump joins history’s long line of suitors coveting Greenland

I have posted in the past about research into the cause of the medieval eastern and western settlements in the south of the island. I came came upon a video about the medieval settlements in the territory which can be seen at  What Happened to Norse Greenland?

The Medieval Religion discussion group was sent an interesting link last week to an article about monastic foundations in Greenland and also later stories about monasteries in Greenland, which, according to the reports,  had thermal underfloor heating….. The far north seems to have been a fruitful breeding ground for rather fanciful stories of the unusual in that period. The link can be seen at Monastic orders in medieval Greenland