Investigating Archbishop Hubert Walter’s vestments

Research into medieval silk items from English sources has includes an examination of the remaining material from the dalmatic which formed a part of the vestments in which the body of Archbishop Hubert Walter was apparelled for his burial at Canterbury Cathedral in 1205. The items were discovered when his tomb was opened in 1890.

The investigation is reported upon in a recent account on the medievalists.net website. It can be accessed at Gold Found in Medieval Archbishop’s Silk Garment at Canterbury Cathedral

In 2019 the fabric used in the dalmatic was copied to make the fabric for twelve new copes for use in the cathedral.

There is more about the other vestments from the grave from the Textile Research Centre at Leiden at Vestments of Hubert Walter (1205)

The mitre and episcopal slippers found in the tomb of Archbishop Hubert Walter. The silk uppers of the slippers are decorated with garnets and have amber silk soles.

Image: text-leiden.nl

 

One of the Archbishop’s buskins

Image: Church Times

The mitre from the tomb

Image:praytellblog.com

In addition his crosier and chalice and paten were also in the tomb, and an be seen on display in the cathedral.

The paten from the Archbishop’s tomb

Image: Wikipedia 

Wikipedia has a biography which appears to be cognisant of the latest scholarly opinion of this highly accomplished and influential administrator at Hubert Walter

I was surprised when reading it to discover that Hubert Walter, whom I had always envisioned as an elder statesman, was apparently only about forty five when he died.

 

The tomb of Archbishop Hubert Walter in Canterbury Cathedral

Image:x.com

Medieval external paintings on a German church

Medievalists.net has an interesting report on a conservation project at the Friedenskirke, formerly St Nicholas, in Frankfurt on Oder, which is now on the border with Poland.

The work looked at a series of external paintings on what was the eastern gable of the nave and dating to the early fourteenth century, but which were covered up by the taller choir constructed about 1370. Protected by the newer roof they have survived when other similar works elsewhere have been lost. Where there are similar survivals it is hoped that the information gleaned at Frankfurt on Oder can inform similar conservation efforts.

The Friedenkirke-St Nicholas

The higher roof of the choir is clearly visible

Image:HörMat Frankfurt!

  

The illustrated article can be accessed at Lost Medieval Paintings Recreated After 650 Years - Medievalists.net

The church has had a very eventful history and today is externally very much a reconstruction from the Wilhelmine era.

 

There are short, illustrated, accounts at Stadtmarketing Frankfurt (Oder), at Friedenskirche Frankfurt (Frankfurt (Oder)), at Friedenskirche Frankfurt (Frankfurt (Oder))  and at Friedenskirche, Frankfurt (Oder) - Europäische Route der Backsteingotik

Wikipedia has an account, in German, at Friedenskirche (Church of Peace), formerly St. Nicolas Church/Reformed Church Friedenskirche (Frankfurt (Oder))

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Today is the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. In the Catholic tradition this absorbed the other feast, that of the Invention of the Holy Cross - Invention meaning discovery - which was celebrated on May 3rd infer Pope John XXIII. In the East these two observances are supplemented by a number of other feasts and customs, as is well set out in the Wikipedia article Feast of the Cross

There is a shorter introduction at What Is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross?

 

I wrote in 2015 about the feast and linked to some late medieval English depictions in stained glass of the story of the True Cross. Photographed by the late Gordon Plumb these windows at Tattershall and Ashton-under-Lyne are wonderful survivals from the last years of the fifteenth and early years of the sixteenth centuries. That article can be seen at The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

In 2019 the New Liturgical Movement had a good account of the late fourteenth century frescoes dated to 1385-7 by Agnolo Gaddi on the legend of the True Cross on the side walls of the sanctuary of the great Franciscan church of Santa Croce in Florence. This can be accessed at The Legend of the True Cross, by Agnolo Gaddi

 

The sanctuary of Santa Croce 

The Gaddi frescoes are on the flanking north and south walls*

Image: Wikipedia 

*pity about the forward altar

As the author points out these were in part a source and inspiration for the more famous, if sadly damaged, series from 1447-66 by Piero della Francesca for the Franciscan church in Arezzo. These are technically superior to those by Gaddi. I posted about the Arezzo frescoes in The Legend of the True Cross

Santa Croce is one of the great churches of late medieval and Renaissance Florence and Wikipedia has a good account at Santa Croce, Florence

On a more parochial and domestic level Fr William Rock recently had an article on the FSSP website about the traditional forms of blessings for crucifixes in the home and those set up in churchyards or precincts. This can be read at Blessings of Crosses and Crucifixes 

Hail Holy Cross, our help and our hope!

Binnenhof renovation reveals sixteenth century roof pre-fabrication

An insight into construction techniques from the later medieval era has been gained from restoration work at the Binnenhof in The Hague.

The ongoing restoration of the historic complex which houses the Dutch parliament and government offices included the spire over the Torentje - or Little Tower - which was rebuilt by the Emperor Charles V in 1547 with the addition of the spire. The tower now houses the office of the Prime Minister.

When the timbers of the roof were examined Roman numerals were found cut into the timber, indicating the structure had been built elsewhere, the parts numbered, then dismantled and taken to the new tower and reassembled.

The Torentje

Image:tripadvisor.co.uk

The website of Dutch News has an account of the discovery with further details at Roof of PM’s office is original 16th-century flat-plack

The fact that this timber roof was created in this ways leads one to wonder how frequently this method was employed for timber framed church spires or for church and hall roofs in the medieval period.

Re-creating Norman design at Norwich Castle

I have posted previously about the imaginative scheme to re-create early twelfth century interiors in the keep of Norwich Castle. 

 

The Keep of Norwich Castle

Image:tripadvisor.co.uk

This has been accomplished as a part of a major renovation of the twelfth century structure as restored from being the county gaol as a museum which opened in 1894. The collection of artefacts from Norwich and Norfolk is one of the best for medieval items in the country, as well as having material from more recent centuries.

The royal bedchamber at Norwich Castle

Image: norwichcastle.norfolk.gov.uk

In the quest to recreate interiors fit for King Henry I and his court the team conducting the renovation had to rediscover skills and craftsmen that are now uncommon or well-nigh lost.

The making and colouring of the doors is covered in a video here

Making the door furniture in iron and tinning it can be seen here

 

The painting of the walls and architectural features is shown here

Creating reconstructions of the furniture is shown here

With the current exhibition of the Bayeux Tapestry in London the work done at Norwich gives an added insight into the cultural context of such a textile - and, as can be seen in the photograph above, an embroidery of similar scale and design has been re-created for the royal bedchamber at Norwich.

Investigating and restoring the tomb of the Emperor Otto the Great

The Medieval Histories website has had two recent articles about the archaeological investigation and conservation of the tomb of the Emperor Otto I - the Great - in Magdeburg Cathedral. 

The seal of the Emperor Otto I

Image: Wikipedia 

The work has meant that the bones of the Emperor, who died in 973, could be studied and preserved for the future and his tomb chest, which is apparently from the time immediately after his death, has been stabilised and rebuilt.

The Emperor, whose first wife was a member of the House of Wessex as the daughter of King Edward the Elder, revived in 962 the dormant position of Holy Roman Emperor after its time of abeyance under the later Carolingians. Not only did he link the Imperial title to the kingship of Germany, which survived until 1806, but he is in many ways the creator of the medieval Empire, based on the precedent of Charlemagne. His descendants, referred to as the Ottonians, held the Imperial title until 1024.

Wikipedia has a biography of him at Otto the Great

The articles about the tomb and the skeleton can be seen at The Restoration of the Tomb and Reburial of Otto the Great and at Did Otto the Great Die from a Stroke?

The present thirteenth to early sixteenth century cathedral is described in considerable detail by Wikipedia at Magdeburg Cathedral

  

There is more about the history and building of the cathedral, and also information about the examination in recent years of the bones of Otto’s beloved first Queen, Eadgyth of England, which are also buried in the cathedral, at Magdeburg Cathedral

The Emperor’s death at Whitsuntide coincided, quite coincidentally, with the coronation that same Whit Sunday at Bath of King Edgar, who was Eadgyth’s nephew, and was followed fourteen years later by the elevation of the Capetians to the French throne - momentous years in the development of medieval national monarchies.

The Funeral of King Harald V

 

Yesterday witnessed the funeral in Oslo of King Harald V of Norway. I was able to watch the NRK coverage of the day through the BBC.

The full video from The Royal Family Channel can be seen at 🔎 king harald funeral or from the BBC at Funeral held for Norway's King Harald V in Oslo 

The cortège passes in front of the King and Royal Family

Image: The Royal Watcher

It was an extremely dignified and impressive occasion, with thousands lining the streets along which the procession passed from the Royal Palace to the Cathedral and then to the Akershus fortress for the commital ceremony.

The number of members of other royal houses who attended as well as other elected heads of state and leaders of governments was a tribute to the respect and affection in which the late King was held by many nations, as well as by the inter-related royal houses of Europe, and others from further afield.

Two things struck me from a British standpoint. The first is the strange convention at British monarchs do not attend the funerals of their fellow sovereigns. Before the mid nineteenth century this would have been rarely feasible for any ruler, but the advent of steam power made travel quicker and easier. I am given to understand that the ‘convention’ that British monarchs do not attend was invented by Lord Palmerston, who also disliked Queen Victoria travelling to France on a state visit in case the ‘Citizen King’ gained access to her diplomatic correspondence. Queen Victoria was less likely to attend funerals, but her funeral and that of her son and successor brought four and eight reigning kings to London and Windsor to join the new British monarch in burying their predecessor. The interwar and post war period offered less occasion for change, but when the late Queen did attend the funeral of King Baudouin of The Belgians in 1993 I thought this, in my view, rather outmoded tradition had gone by the way. However yesterday the King was represented by the Prince of Wales, and the ‘convention’ was one more invoked.

The second thought was that the calm and precise Norwegian ceremonial, which does perhaps in part derive from British precedent given the fact that the first ruler of an independent Norway in 1905, King Haakon VII, was married to the youngest daughter of King Edward VII, was reminiscent of the funeral of the late Queen in 2022. This gives the lie to the oft-repeated complacent comment by so-called ‘royal experts’ and ‘royal commentators’ that “no-one does ceremonial for such occasions as we do in Britain”.

Norway yesterday showed their tradition at its best. Other monarchies also have state ceremonies to rival those of the UK. Swedish, Spanish, and Dutch ceremonial is just as impressive when deployed on the appropriate occasions. Those who describe the Dutch monarch as “bicycling” should look at film of the opening of the States General or, even more remarkable, the funerals of their former Queens.

Looking at film of the Norwegian royal funerals of 1954, 1957, and 1991 it was clear that the form and ceremony was identical. There is clearly a well established culture of maintaining the correct ceremonial tradition in the Norwegian royal household and in the military.

The website Scandinavian Royalty has a video of the

Norwegian royal family greeting their guests from other royal houses at the Royal Palace following the funeral. This is rather unusual to see members of these families behind the scenes, as well as being entertaining and illuminating in its ‘body language’ and can be viewed at Scandinavian Royalty

At the time of the King’s death I linked to a very interesting post from The Antiquary about the burials of Kings of Norway in the medieval era and also about the creation after 1938 of the funeral chapel at Akershus. It can be accessed at The Antiquary

The Nativity of the Virgin Mary

Today is the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady.

The Nativity of Our Lady

Giotto

Image:Wikipedia 

OnePeter5 has an article about the history of the feast and various customs traditionally associated with it. Most of these relate to the agricultural calendar of farming communities, and the fact that this day in early September was a convenient marker within the annual round.

The article can be read at Forgotten Customs of Our Lady’s Nativity

The Nativity of the Virgin

Andrea di Bartolo 

A Sienese artist active from 1389 until his death in 1428. This work, part of a larger composition, is dated to 1400-1405

National Gallery of Art, Washington 

Image: nga.gov

Both of these paintings, like others of the same subject, include vignettes of late medieval domestic life from the society which commissioned and created them - in this case central Italy.

 May Our Lady,

together with St Anne and St Joachim,

pray for us