Fifteenth century stand up comedy

The BBC News website has an article about the realisation by a Cambridge academic that a manuscript now in the National Library of Scotland contains a booklet from about 1480 that outlines a series of comedy pieces given at a feast or entertainment in a village on the borders of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. It was created by a scribe who recorded that it was made “By me, Richard Heege, because I was at that feast and did not have a drink.”

What emerges from Heege’s account is very human, an enjoyment of humour, something we sense must have happened, yet something which leaves precious little in the literary record. What this manuscript gives us is, if you like, the spoken entertainment at the sort of village revelry depicted half a century later by Peter Bruegel the Elder. It also apparently gives the first recorded use of the phrase a “red herring” as opposed to the thirteenth and fourteenth century “heryng red” for a kipper.

The BBC article can be seen at Rare manuscripts reveal medieval 'stand-up comedy'

It is worth following the link which is given in it to the full article in the Review of English Studies and reading that. It can also be seen at Entertainments from a Medieval Minstrel’s Repertoire Book

The article places the manuscript very clearly in a specific area to which Richard Heege belonged as tutor to the Sherbrooke family, member of the Derbyshire gentry.

The discovery of the text is also reported on by the ITV news website at 'Mad and offensive' medieval comedy scripts compared to Monty Python sketches

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Walsingham

The Marian Pilgrimage after its curious meanderings around the country finally reaches what was by the later middle ages the pre-eminent shrine of Our Lady in England and which has become so again in so remarkable a way during the twentieth century, that of Walsingham.

Walsingham is a remote village, charming in its appearance, striking in its religious character, challenging perhaps for some, but a place that is undoubtedly graced. To come to know and love Walsingham is a grace in itself, and one that leads one on in our own individual lives’ pilgrimage. 

My post last year links to previous ones and includes material about the possibility that the so-called Langham Madonna now in the Victoria and Albert Museum might be the original statue from the medieval shrine. These pieces can br accessed at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Walsingham 

Walsingham had many medieval royal pilgrims and gifts, and in recent years has welcomed members of the Royal Family visiting from Sandringham.

Our Lay of Walsingham pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage addendum - Our Lady of Guisborough and Our Lady of Mount Grace

As we draw to the end of this May Marian Pilgrimage my memory was suddenly jogged to recall two Yorkshire shrines I had not included, nor had Canon Stevenson on his original list. Yet I am sure I have written about them both - but looking online there they are not! Maybe I am losing it, but maybe not. So, pausing briefly on the last bit of our way to Walsingham, we will return briefly to the North Roding of Yorkshire - courtesy perhaps of a passing crow - to the medieval priories of Guisborough and Mount Grace.

The devotion to Our Lady of Guisborough was located in the Augustinian priory of which little save the east wall of the choir survives, but which does indicate what a splendid building it once was. This monastery was under the patronage of the Brus family, the ancestors of King Robert I of Scots and of all subsequent Scottish monarchs. Not much seems to be recorded about the medieval devotion but it was well established by the early twelfth century. Since 1949 it has been revived in the Catholic parish church in the town with a new icon being installed in 2008. There are some details about the earlier history as well as the revival at The Icon of Our Lady of Guisborough

Further south, and just off the A19, are the fascinating ruins of the Carthusian priory of Mount Grace, founded by King Richard II’s nephew Thomas Holland Duke of Surrey. Today it is not merely far and away the best remains of a medieval English Carthusian site but, to anyone receptive to the spirituality of fifteenth and early sixteenth century England,  a potent and numinous place to visit. Above the plain on which the priory stands on top of the hillside is the Chapel of Our Lady. This may have been built as the object of the regular walk prescribed for the monks. Its remoteness, in a recusant area, led to its use as a hidden Mass centre and later restoration as a place of pilgrimage.

There is a brief introduction to the chapel at Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Grace

and a very useful history of it as medieval chapel, recusant refuge, and modern place of pilgrimage at History

The remains of the priory and the chapel on the hillside above are very special places, eminently worth not just a visit, but indeed a pilgrimage.

Our Lady of Guisborough and Our Lady of Mount Grace pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady on the Red Mount in King’s Lynn

The last-but-one shrine on the Pilgrimage is that of Our Lady on the Red Mount in King’s Lynn. 

My account of this striking chapel can be accessed at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady on the Red Mount in King’s Lynn

Opening timrs for the chapel this summer if you are in or near Kings Lynn can be found at Two important heritage monuments open to the public again this summer

The Duchy of Cornwall has ties to King’s Lynn going back to the fourteenth century. They were no doubt one factor in the acquisition of Sandringham as a royal residence for the future King Edward VII in the nineteenth century.

Our Lady on the Red Mount in King’s Lynn pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady ‘of Ardenbergh’ at Great Yarmouth

The Pilgrimage route now turns east to the coast and the historic town of Great Yarmouth.

Great Yarmouth was an important trading town and port long before it became a popular holiday resort. Although much of the historic town centre was lost in the Second World War due to bombing, and the Priory Church of St Nicholas burnt out there are still some historic parts surving and the restored Priory worth visiting.

The shrine of Our Lady ‘of Ardenbergh’ was in a separate, and long destroyed, chapel in the churchyard. My account of it and its link to the battle of Sluys in 1340 can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady ‘of Ardenbergh’ at Great Yarmouth

Our Lady ‘of Ardenbergh’ at Grrat Uarmouth pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of the Oak at St Martin’s Norwich

The Pilgrimage now goes into the diocesan cathedral city and county town of Norfolk to a parish shrine on its northern edge.

My account of the devotional image of Our Lady of the Oak at St Martin’s parish church can be found at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of the Oak at St Martin’s in Norwich

Our Lady of the Oak at St Martin’s pray for Thr King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Winfarthing

As the Pilgrimage moves towards its completion it returns to East Anglia and the rather obscure shrine of Our Lady at Winfarthing. As I have written before about it the story of Winfarthing reads rather like something M.R.James would have delighted in, either as an historical scholar or as the author of ghostly tales rooted in the ever-present past.

My posts about Winfarthing and associated links can be accessed at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Winfarthing

Our Lady of Winfarthing pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

An introduction to St Philip Neri

Following on from my post yesterday about the celebration of St Philip’s feast day I see that the New Liturgical Movement marked the day by reproducing a 2016 article from the magazine The Latin Mass by Michael P. Foley which is a good introduction for those who do not know it well to the life and ministry of St Philip. The article can be read at St. Philip Neri: A Patron Saint of Traditionalism

May St Philip pray for the Oratories, for all Oratorians and for all those formed in the Oratorian tradition. 

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Caversham

Opposite Reading, on the north bank of the Thames, lay the shrine of Our Lady of Caversham. 

This is one of the best documented of the Marian shrines of medieval England, being in existence by 1106, and perhaps with an Anglo-Saxon origin. Its restoration over the last century and more has resulted in an exquisite stone chapel from the 1950s in the style of the twelfth century attached to the otherwise architecturally rather undistinguished Edwardian brick Catholic parish church and contains a beautiful statue that is displayed with skill and charm. 

My post about the history of this shrine, with various links, is accessible through last year’s link at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Caversham

Our Lady of Caversham pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Reading

Travelling westwards through the Royal County of Berkshire brings us to another addition to Canon Stevenson’s itinerary, the statue of Our Lady in Reading Abbey. 

A digital reconstruction of Reading Abbey

Image: Reading Museum 

The abbey of Our Lady and St John the Evangelist was founded for Cluniac monks by King Henry I in 1121 both to pray for him in life and to be his sepulchre in death. It came to house his great collection of relics, as well as its most famous one, the Holy Hand of St James the Great. That was given from the Imperial chapel of her late husband the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V by his daughter the Empress Matilda - and still survives to this day as I have written about in previous posts. The monastery, close as it was to Windsor and the Thames, continued to provide a burial place for some members of the royal house down to the early fifteenth century and to be the setting for royal weddings, councils and Parliaments.

Within the abbey church was a statue of Our Lady which the Bohemian diplomatic embassy saw on their visit in the way from Windsor to Salisbury in 1466. Much impressed as they were by English churches and pilgrimage shrines such as those of St Thomas at Canterbury and St Edward at Westminster the Reading statue was for them a highlight. One of their attendant rapporteurs wrote that it was  “so admirable that, in my opinion, neither have I seen nor shall I ever see such an one, even should I progress to the extreme ends of the earth. For there could be no image more lovely or more beautiful.” Alas the statue, like the last Abbot and the abbey church itself did not survive the events of the 1530s. What little does survive - stark stretches of rubble core walling stripped of its ashlar facing and reduced to primeval forms - is profoundly sad yet tantalising in what it invites the visitor to recreate in the mind. 

Reading Abbey from the south east

Image: Reading Museum

Our Lady of Reading pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

St Philip’s Day

Today is the Feast of St Philip Neri, founder of the Congregation of the Oratory.

The Oxford Oratory celebrated with First Vespers, Brnediction and Blessing with the Relic of St Philip yesterday evening, Sung Lauds this morning and a Solemn Mass this evening.

The preacher was Fr Robert Ombres OP from Oxford Blackfriars who spoke of the influence on St Philip of the Dominicans in Florence who educated him, and, in the background of Savanarola, who St Philip always held in reverence. Savonarola had been executed seventeen years before St Philip was born, but he was a significant influence on him. As Fr Ombres argued whereas Savanarola had his bonfires of the vanities in 1490s Florence St  Philip in Rome baptised the products of the Renaissance in the service of Christ and His Church - music, art, architecture, literature. Both were men of fervour, zealous for souls, but who applied it in very different ways and with very different results.

The Vision of St Philip Neri

Giuseppe Passeri 1654-1714

Fitzwilliam Museum

Image: Wikimedia 

May St Philip continue to pray for the Oratories, for all Oratorians and for all formed in the Oratorian tradition.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Windsor

The Pilgrimage now goes to Windsor to the statue of Our Lady which once stood in St George’s Chapel in the Castle. Last year I made the case for extending the Pilgrimage at this point by crossing the Thames to visit Our Lady of Eton as a further example of the medieval Royal quest for Marian intercession.

My previous posts and thoughts about these shrines can be accessed at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Windsor

The connection of the Crown to Windsor and to Eton is obvious and well known. Suffice it to say that apart from Westminster Abbey itself  nowhere expresses the English understanding of Throne and Altar, Church and State so completely as Windsor. 

Our Lady of Windsor, Our Lady of Eton pray for  The King and The Queen and for us all.

The Mass of Ages

Gregory DiPippo has a good article on the New Liturgical Movement which discusses fallacies about the history of the Traditional Latin Mass that are repeatedly publicised by not a few contemporary commentators, including those often seen as conservative such as George Weigel. 

I think the article is worth sharing both as a means of informing my readership and also as a way of equipping them to rebut such arguments when they encounter them.

The article can be read at Historical Falsehoods about the Liturgy from George Weigel

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Winchester

The Pilgrimage now reaches the tenth and eleventh century capital city of Winchester and the places in the cathedral there which are associated with devotion to Our Lady.

My posts about the cathedral and its surviving Marian art can be accessed at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Winchester

Winchester, and especially the cathedral, has so many links with the history of the monarchy with baptisms, marriages and coronations as well as royal burials that to walk round the cathedral is a royal pilgrimage in itself as well as providing a sequence of insights into English history that is, I suspect, unrivalled outside London and Windsor. In addition it offers remarkable architecture and the spectacular array of tombs of Bishops of Winchester.

Our Lady of Winchester pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Andover

This is an addition to the previous itinerary of the Pilgrimage, and one about which very little appears to be recorded. Early in 1466 the sizeable Bohemian delegation on embassy to England - whom we shall meet up with again at Reading Abbey - stopped at Andover on their way to Salisbury - and were shown, and admired, the statue of Our Lady which was, as they noted, carved “in the stone of alabaster”. That alas appears to be all that is recorded about the figure or its place in local devotion. We can perhaps assume that it had some resemblance to the surviving statue from Flawford.

The parish church in which I assume it stood was rebuilt in the 1840s, and only some fragments survive of it survive. The impressive Victorian building came close to being demolished in the not too distant past in the early 1970s, but was saved through the initiative of the townspeople. That attitudes towards conservation have changed is indeed good news but it is disturbing to see who was the prime mover in trying to demolish the church. The story about this episode can be read in David Borrett feature: When the town fought off the demolition of St Mary's

There is a description of the church, including the remains of its medieval predecessor at Church of St Mary, Andover, Hampshire

Our Lady of Andover pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our of Lady of Howden, of Stamford and of Flawford

Two years ago I added the three surviving medieval statues of Our Lady at Howden Minster, St Mary’s Stamford and from the demolished church at Flawford near Nottingham to the Pilgrimage itinerary in a combined post. This can be accessed from Marian Pilgrimage - Three Medieval Statues of Our Lady

Our Lady of Howden, of Stamford and of Flawford pray for The King and The Queen and  for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady in the Wall at Boston

Following the river Witham south-eastwards the Pilgrimage now arrives at Boston and the now lost statue of Our Lady in the Wall. My posts about this can be accessed at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady in the Wall at Boston

Our Lady in the Wall at Boston pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Lincoln

The Pilgrimage now makes its way to Lincoln Cathedral, dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, and to the statue which was in the medieval period a focus of devotion and to its recent replacement. 

My post from last year about it has links to a fairly lengthy account I wrote in 2020 about the statue. This can all be accessed at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Lincoln

Lincoln Cathedral holds part of the remains of Queen Eleanor of Castile, the first wife of King Edward I and the body of Katherine Swynford, the third wife of John of Gaunt, the parents of the Beauforts.

May Our Lady of Lincoln pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady in the Wood near Epworth

The Pilgrimage now moves north to the site of the Carthusian priory in the Isle of Axholme in the north-west of Lincolnshire and the shrine of Our Lady in the Wood near Epworth. Long before Methodists went there to venerate the birthplace of John Wesley medieval pilgrims were making their way to this shrine.

My previous posts about it can be accessed at 

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady in the Wood near Epworth

In the earliest of those I wrote about the founder of the priory, Thomas Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham, who was to be created Earl Marshal and later Duke of Norfolk by King Richard II. Duke Thomas’ descendants have held the Dukedom and the Marshalship for most of the succeeding centuries and the present Duke as Earl Marshal was responsible for organising the recent Coronation.

May Our Lady in the Wood pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

More on the new design of the heraldic Crown of Canada

A couple of weeks ago in New designs for the heraldic Crown and Royal Standard of Canada I wrote about the changes that had been announced and made to the artwork of the Crown to be used in the Royal Arms of Canada. I wondered in that post if such a change would be well received by those with a strong attachment to the Canadian Monarchy.

One such response is to be found in a blog post by Christopher McCreery, which clearly indicates his dislike of the new design, and what he sees as its constitutional impropriety. His article can be read at Paper Crown | Christopher McCreery

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of the Park in Liskeard

The one Marian shrine included in the Pilgrimage which is in the very far west of the country now appears, that of Our Lady of the Park in Liskeard in Cornwall.

My posts about the shrine can be found at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of the Park in Liskeard

Although I suspect there must have been other medieval Marian shrines in Cornwall this one at Liskeard will have to suffice to represent the Duchy with its long and significant royal associations.

Our Lady of the Park pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of All Hallows Barking by the Tower

The Pilgrimage now returns to London to visit one of the additions I have made to Canon Stevenson’s original list. The shrine is one which formed part of the complex at the church of All Hallows Barking by the Tower, which overlooks the Tower of London and Tower Hill.

My previous posts about it and the detailed links about its history can be accessed at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of All Hallows Barking by the Tower

The royal connections of the devotional statue from the time of King Edward I onwards, and the fifteenth century royal chantry make this a particularly suitable shrine in this Coronation year.

Our Lady of All Hallows Barking by the Tower pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

The Virtual return of a Spanish Manuscript

The online English language edition of El País  has an interesting article about the identification of an important early eleventh century charter, the Will of Count Gundesindo, from the Castilian monastery of San Salvador de Oña, in the province of Burgos. The charter incorporated earlier texts from thr ninth century about the family and monastic endowments. With the dispersal of the monastic library and archive after the confiscation of Church property in 1835, the original Will, which was only recorded in imperfect copies, was identified in an archive in Russia in the 1980s. Now a virtual copy of the document has been given to Spanish archives in Cantabria. 

The story is very much an historical detective story and illustrates the folly of what happened in the nineteenth century and the failure then to preserve the country’s heritage. It also shows the value, tempered by tragedy, of modern scholarly persistence.

The article can be seen at Russia gives Spain digital copy of a valuable medieval manuscript stolen in 1835

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Aylesford

Moving west across Kent the Pilgrimage now comes to the Carmelite shrine at Aylesford. This medieval foundation was re-established in the twentieth century and has a well known place in the modern world of pilgrimage.

My posts about Aylesford and the veneration of Our Lady there can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Aylesford

Our Lady of Aylesford pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Poulton

Turning inland the Pilgrimage now comes to the site of the shrine of Our Lady of Poulton, close to St Radegund’s Abbey. This, like Our Lady of Pity in the Rock, appears to have been a place of resort for those crossing the Channel.

My previous posts about it can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Poulton

Our Lady of Poulton pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Pity in the Rock at Dover

Returning to Kent the Pilgrimage now goes to the historic town of Dover and the chapel of Our Lady of Pity in the Rock there. This appears to have been visited in particular by those crossing the Channel to and from Calais. My notes about it can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Pity in the Rock at Dover

Our Lady of Pity in the Rock pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of the Four Tapers at St Albans

The Pilgrimage now returns to the area around London and to a shrine in another great Benedictine abbey, that of St Albans.

My linked articles about this shrine can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of the Four Tapers at St Albans Abbey

St Albans due to its proximity to London and the importance of the abbey and its chroniclers over many centuries has many royal connections and houses the tomb of Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, the youngest brother of King Henry V.

Our Lady of the Four Tapers pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Kingswood

The Cistercian monastery at Kingswood in Gloucestershire was home to devotion to Our Lady under that local appellation.

My articles about what little appears to be known of the statue at the abbey gate chapel can be found through Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Kingswood

Our Lady of Kingswood pray for The King and Thr Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Allingtree

The next stage of the Marian Pilgrimage takes us to Allingtree on the western edge of the city of Hereford. The modern church lies close to the nineteenth century Benedictine foundation of Belmont Abbey.

My post about the shrine can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Allingtree

Our Lady of Allingtree pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Recycling a medieval Spanish Cistercian monastery

The website of El País has an account of how that indefatigable purchaser and dismantler of historic buildings in pursuit of his megalomaniac building schemes, William Randolph Hearst, acquired and removed to California a substantial part of a medieval monastery from the area south of Madrid - and then abandoned the material in storage in San Francisco. Two and more generations later the remains were transferred to a modern Californian Cistercian house and finally re-erected as part of that monastery. So I suppose the story has a sort of happy ending, but I do think it would have been better if Hearst and his ilk had not bought up and relocated such buildings.

The illustrated article can be seen at The medieval Spanish monastery snapped up by  William Randolph Hearst

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Tewkesbury

The wonderful abbey church at Tewkesbury is the next shrine on the Pilgrimage route. My linked posts about the devotion to Our Lady there can be accessed at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Tewkesbury

Like Worcester Cathedral Tewkesbury Abbey has the tomb of a Prince of Wales. This is Edward, the son of King Henry VI and Queen Margaret of Anjou, who was killed at the battle of Tewkesbury in 1471 at the age of seventeen

Our Lady of Tewkesbury pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Worcester

The second of the Benedictine houses with a pilgrimage to Our Lady in the Severn-Avon area was in the Cathedral Priory at Worcester. Its destruction in the late 1530s is well documented and gives interesting insights into these shrines and their popular appeal. My account of it can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Worcester

Near the site of the shrine and those of the two late Anglo-Saxon great Worcester episcopal saints, Oswald and Wulfstan, is the tomb of King John with its striking effigy and the chantry and tomb of Prince Arthur, the eldest son of King Henry VII and the first husband of Catherine of Aragon.

Our Lady of Worcester pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Evesham

The Pilgrimage now reaches the valleys of the Avon and the Severn. The first of these Marian Shrines lay, as did its two neighbours, in a great Benedictine monastic foundation, the abbey at Evesham. 

My notes about this fascinating story can be found through Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Evesham

Our Lady of Evesham pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady at the Pillar St Edmundsbury

In my previous posts about this shrine I commented on the eccentric route the Pilgrimage takes around the country as it now dashes back to Suffolk and to Bury St Edmunds/St Edmundsbury. As I explain in my original post this was a late medieval shrine in the parish church of St Mary rather than in the Abbey, which appears to have had three Lady Chapels of its own.

My posts about this shrine from previous years can be found at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady at the Pillar St Edmundsbury

The Abbey was s frequent place for royal visits in the medieval period and the original burial place in 1533 of King Henry VIII’s sister Mary, sometime ( and very briefly ) Queen of France and then Duchess of Suffolk. Following the dissolution of the monastery and the abandonment of the idea of creating a cathedral foundation in the abbey church her body was moved to St Mary’s Church where it still lies.

Our Lady at the Pillar pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Ascension Day

A happy and glorious Ascension Day to all my readers!

The Ascension

Giotto do Bordone 1267-1337

The Scrovegni ( Arena ) Chapel Padua 1304-06

Image: Web Gallery of Art

This is one of the few images of the Ascension that is later than the icon- inspired tradition and before emergence of the swirling clouds and drapery so beloved of Baroque artists.

The fourth, fifth and sixth lections at Mattins for today:

From the Sermons of Pope St. Leo the Great 440-461

1st on the Lords Ascension 

After the blessed and glorious Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, wherein the Divine Power raised up in three days the true Temple of God Which the iniquity of the Jews had destroyed (John ii. 19,) God was pleased to ordain, by His Most Sacred Will, and in His Providence for our instruction and the profit of our souls, a season of forty days which season, dearly beloved brethren, doth end on this day. During that season the bodily Presence of the Lord still lingered on earth, that the reality of the fact of His having risen again from the dead might be armed with all needful proofs. The death of Christ had troubled the hearts of many of His disciples their thoughts were sad when they remembered His agony upon the Cross, His giving up of the Ghost, and the laying in the grave of His lifeless Body, and a sort of hesitation had begun to weigh on them.

Hence the most blessed Apostles and all the disciples, who had been fearful at the finishing on the Cross, and doubtful of the trustworthiness of the rising again, were so strengthened by the clear demonstration of the fact, that, when they saw the Lord going up into the height of heaven, they sorrowed not, nay they were even filled with great joy And, in all verity, it was a great an unspeakable cause for joy to see the Manhood, in the presence of that the multitude of believers, exalted above all creatures even heavenly, rising above the ranks of the angelic armies and speeding Its glorious way where the most noble of the Archangels lie far behind, to rest no lower than that place where high above all principality and power, It taketh Its seat at the right hand of the Eternal Father, Sharer of His throne, and Partaker of His glory, and still of the very man's nature which the Son hath taken upon Him.

Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us also rejoice with worthy joy, for the Ascension of Christ is exaltation for us, and whither the glory of the Head of the Church is passed in, thither is the hope of the body of the Church called on to follow. Let us rejoice with exceeding great joy, and give God glad thanks. This day is not only the possession of Paradise made sure unto us, but in the Person of our Head we are actually begun to enter into the heavenly mansions above. Through the unspeakable goodness of Christ we have gained more than ever we lost by the envy of the devil. We, whom our venomous enemy thrust from our first happy home, we, being made of one body with the Son of God, have by Him been given a place at the right hand of the Father with Whom He liveth and reigneth, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

From the Divinum Officium website

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Doncaster

The next shrine on the Pilgrimage itinerary is that Our Lady of Doncaster. This was very popular in the late middle ages and located in the Carmelite friary in the town centre. It is also one of those which has been revived in modern times.

My posts and associated links from two and three years ago about it can be accessed at Our Lady of Doncaster

Our Lady of Doncaster pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady on the Bridge at Wakefield

The Pilgrimage now moves back to Yorkshire and to one of its medieval architectural treasures the Chantry Chapel of Our Lady on the old bridge over the river Calder in Wakefield.

As I explain in my original note on this it has been a part of my life since my earliest days as well as being a notable and precious survival of fourteenth century craftsmanship. 

My illustrated account of it from 2020 can be read at Our Lady on the Bridge at Wakefield

Our Lady on the Bridge at Wakefield pray for The King and The Queen and for us all

The Coronation: Reflections and Ruminations II

I will begin this second part of sharing my reactions to the Coronation by recommending very highly a video from Allan Barton - The Antiquary which follows on from his excellent series over recent months about the details of the ceremony with a digest of his reactions to what we actually witnessed. Watching it I found myself agreeing with virtually everything he says and felt my ideas were thus confirmed - as indeed they have been by talking with friends in the last week. Allan’s video, and the often insightful comments of other viewers, can be seen at The Coronation of Charles III - Some Thoughts and Reflections

Like him I agree the Coronation was splendid, but I too have the feeling it could have been better - and that is not a matter of spending more, nor making it unnecessarily longer, but of making slightly different choices, as I will attempt to set out below.

Viewing the still photographs he uses to accompany his piece I again felt that, unlike in 1953, television failed to adequately convey the spectacle and drama of the occasion, whereas the single photographs do - an odd paradox in the current age.

The setting

Westminster Abbey was built by King Henry III not just as a great monastic church but as a setting for future coronations and royal burials. Like Reims for the French monarchy its central space before the High Altar is designed for their respective coronation liturgies. 

It was therefore wonderful to see the thirteenth century Cosmati pavement on display for the first coronation in a very long time. Allan Barton raises a point about the precise placing of St Edward’s Chair which may well repay further study. The Liber Regalis indicates however that carpets were to be laid down on it in the middle ages, probably for the long-abandoned prostration of the monarch at the beginning of the liturgy, like that of an ordination candidate. Incidentally I believe I am right to say that in 1916 at his coronation Bl. King Charles IV of Hungary, did spontaneously prostrate himself before the altar.

The use of golden yellow carpeting for the Theatre has become usual as was the blue carpeting of the choir. But why was the nave and covered entrance not also carpeted in blue. The tradition up to 1821 was for the new monarch to process on a blue carpeted way all the way from Westminster Hall into the Abbey.  Not carpeting the nave looked miserly, and surely the Dean and Canons do possess such a floor covering? We have seen it often enough at royal occasions there.

I can see that the ‘health and safety’ reasons for not filling much of the church with viewing galleries and reasons of cost did allow the beauty of the interior to be seen in a way that was less obvious at past coronations. However  to have used the silk fronted barriers as in the past to define the processional way to the choir screen would have given visual definition. These are still in existence and used in the Royal Gallery at the State Opening of Parliament each year.

Again I can see the argument of saving money by not building an annexe at the west end of the abbey - and that did necessitate and enable a modest revival of a procession of some participants from Westminster Hall. However the glass roofed canopy at the west door, whilst minimalist, also, frankly, looked a bit cheap and rather lacking in the solemnity due to both the occasion and the setting.

Whilst I fully appreciate that adaptations were made for the ease of movement for a King and Queen in their mid-seventies with a ramped floor rather than steps up to the Theatre it is a pity that their thrones were not raised the traditional five or three steps. It also looked awkward to have the procession of those bearing the regalia walking between them rather than around.

Visually I think hanging the 1911 frontal and dorse of the altar and reredos would have been more appropriate that leaving the not very distinguished reredos mosaic of the Last Supper visible. 

Finally in this section although the traditional display of plate from the Abbey and Chapel Royal was set out on the altar and tomb of Anne of Cleves respectively, in contrast to 1937 and 1953, there appeared to be less on show, which seems a pity. Was this a case of second guessing what might be seen by some as the wrong message?

To be continued

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Furness

The Pilgrimage now crosses the Pennines and the Lake District to the site of the shrine of Our Lady of Furness at the major Cistercian house in that detached portion of the historic county of Lancashire.

My account of the devotion can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage  - Our Lady of Furness

Our Lady of Furness pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Jesmond

Moving further north the next stop on the Pilgrimage is the now ruined twelfth century chapel at Jesmond in the western suburbs of Newcastle upon Tyne. This was the focus of devotion to Our Lady of Jesmond, a tradition which still retains some vitality.

My original post about the chapel and its appeal to pilgrims can be seen at St Mary’s Chapel Jesmond

Our Lady of Jesmond pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

 

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Bolton in Durham Cathedral

Staying in the cathedral at Durham the Pilgrimage now moves to the lost statue of Our Lady of Bolton in one of the side chapels of the  main building.

My posts about it can be viewed at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Bolton in Durham Cathedral

Our Lady of Bolton pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Pity in the Galilee at Durham

The Pilgrimage now moves to the north-east and to the cathedral at Durham.

My linked posts about the statue of the Pieta which once stood in the western Galilee Chapel of the cathedral can be accessed at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Pity in the Galilee at Durham Cathedral

Our Lady of Pity in the Galilee pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Cotswold wool and cloth - an historical introduction

Country Life has an article which is a useful introduction to, or summary of, the history of wool and cloth production in the Cotswolds since Roman times. Not only does it point to continuity in landscape use and management but also to the importance over many centuries of wool and weaving as part of the national economy both it terms of farming and manufacturing. 

The article can be read at How the sheep of the Cotswolds outlasted the Roman Empire and the Black Death to help build one of Britain's most beautiful areas

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Abingdon

The Pilgrimage now makes a return visit to the Thames Valley and the Benedictine abbey at Abingdon. My posts from 2020 and 2021 about the cult of Our Lady there, and its twentieth century renewal in the town’s Catholic parish church, can be accessed at Our Lady of Abingdon

Our Lady of Abingdon pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Bad weather at the coronation of King Henry V

The rain last Saturday on Coronation Day led immediately to comparisons with that in 1953 and in 1937. Indeed it was pointed out that rain seems to have fallen at some time on every Coronation Day for 120 years. 

This is no new phenomenon and the weather on April 9th 1413 when King Henry V was anointed and crowned was noticeably bad. Indeed medieval chroniclers had the knack when covering such events which they share with modern tabloid journalists and many on the Internet of concentrating on the trivial, rather than the substance of the event. As a result the most memorable things about the coronation of King Henry V are that it snowed ( or rained ) heavily, that at the offertory the King dropped his coin on the floor - doubtless the Cosmati pavement - resulting in people scrabbling around to find it, and that, because it was in Lent, all the dishes at the feast afterwards were fish.

 

The Coronation of King Henry V as depicted on his chantry chapel in Westminster Abbey

Image: Project Gutenburg text of E.H. Pearce William de Colchester Abbot of Westminster SPCK 1915

Hannes Kleineke had written a piece on the History of Parliament blog about the weather on that day. In particular he looks at whether Thomas Walsingham’s account of unseasonably late snow is accurate or if, in fact, it actually rained heavily - or indeed, possibly, both. 

His post can be read at Beast from the East or Song of Solomon? The Coronation of King Henry V, 9 April 1413

The daily routine of King Charles V of France

Medievalists.net has an interesting article based upon the writings of Christine de Pisan about what she records about the daily routine of the life of King Charles V of France. Born in 1338 he reigned from 1364 until his death in 1380 and in that period gained the balance of advantage in the conflicts that made up the Hundred Years War.  Wikipedia has a biography of the King at Charles V of France

There is a useful introduction to his literary interests and patronage and to how he applied this to the art of government at Charles V of France: kingship based on clever governance and education

The regimen set out was probably similar to other monarchs of the era, and suggests a careful balance between private devotion and public business, accessibility to his subjects and private relaxation. It is perhaps indicative of why he was remembered as ‘the Wise’. His daily pattern was probably very similar, mutatis mutandis, to that of monarchs not only before but since.

King Charles V

Tomb effigy of the King at St Denis carved when he was 27 by Andre Beauneveu

Image: Universalis.fr

As the article suggests Christine may well have idealised the pattern she describes and clearly on some days other matters must have intervened.

The article, which includes links to other relevant pieces, can be viewed at The Daily Life of a Medieval King

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Clare

The Pilgrimage remains in the borderlands of Suffolk when it leads the pilgrim to another historic town, that of Clare. My note from last year is linked to that from the previous year and they give some links to material about the shrine of Our Lady and its twentieth century restoration. They can be accessed at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Clare

In this Coronation year it is worth noting not just that Clare gives its name not only to the great family of the medieval Earls of Gloucester but to the Dukedom of Clarence, first granted in 1362 by King Edward III to his second surviving son Lionel. Duke Lionel is buried at the friary in Clare. As progenitor of the claim of the House of York he is thus an ancestor of the Yorkist kings and of all monarchs since 1509. Although there has not been a Duke of Clarence since 1892 descendants of two other Dukes were to be seen on television a week ago at the Coronation - the Earl of Loudon, who was exercising his hereditary right to carry one of the spurs, is descended from George Duke of Clarence who died in 1478, and the former Prime Minister David Cameron who is descended from King William IV.

Our Lady of Clare pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Sudbury

The Pilgrimage now moves south to the southern boundary of Suffolk and visits another parochial shrine, that of Our Lady of Sudbury. The history of the devotion and its twentieth century revival with appropriate links can be found at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Sudbury

Our Lady of Sudbury pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

 

Marian Pilgrimage- Our Lady of Woolpit

The Pilgrimage now temporarily bypasses Bury St Edmunds to visit the shrine of Our Lady of Woolpit which lies a few miles to its east. My notes about the history of this shrine with various relevant links can be accessed at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Woolpit

In my notes I also refer to the curious twelfth century story of the Green Children, who have become something of a symbol of the village. There I include a link to the lengthy discussion on Wikipedia about their story and its possible origins.

Our Lady of Woolpit pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Ely

The Pilgrimage route now turns west and into what was once the depths of the Fens to visit Ely, with its great and majestic cathedral rising up on its isle from the now drained surrounding landscape. 

The devotion to Our Lady of Ely pre-dates the establishment of the diocese in 1109 in what had hitherto been a Benedictine abbey. It remained a monastic foundation until the dissolution in 1539. In addition to the shrine of St Etheldreda, the seventh century royal foundress of the monastery, the cathedral had a tradition of devotion to Our Lady, expressed in the marvellous fourteenth century Lady Chapel.

The links to my previous posts about this devotion can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Ely

Our Lady of Ely pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

The Coronation procession of King Charles II through London

On April 22nd 1661 King Charles II processed in state from the Tower of London to Whitehall Palace on the eve of his Coronation. Although that ceremony on St George’s Day was the first occasion on which many of the pieces of regalia we saw in use a week ago at the similar occasion for King Charles III were to be used  the procession itself through the City of London to Westminster was to be the last of its kind. 

The tradition went back to the coronation in 1377 of King Richard II and was an occasion for the City to demonstrate its loyalty to the new monarch and for both sovereign and citizens to be seen in harmony - which was not always the day to day political reality. It was also an occasion for pageantry and display, for tableaux and addresses, for general celebration and merriment. As a result such occasions were recorded in considerable detail by chroniclers and diarists.

The Historic Royal Palaces blog has an account of what happened on that day in 1661 in an illustrated article which can be seen at Charles II's Coronation Procession from the Tower of London

It is a pity that the tradition lapsed in 1685 and that no one has sought subsequently to revive it either from the Crown of the City. I would have thought that it would appeal to the City Corporation and Guilds who are fond of pageantry and ceremonial. Maybe next time.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Thetford

The Pilgrimage now moves to the other side of East Anglia before moving back via Cambridgeshire to southern Suffolk. Today’s shrine is that of Our Lady of Thetford which was in the Cluniac monastery in the town.

My article about it from last year, with links to previous posts, can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Thetford

Our Lady of Thetford pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Grace at Ipswich

The Pilgrimage now moves to the first of a series of Marian shrines in East Anglia, with that of Our Lady of Grace at Ipswich. This was one of the most celebrated amongst the English shrines of Our Lady and one that has not only been revived in modern times but where there is also a strong likelihood that the original votive statue still survives. 

The shrine has been linked to a royal wedding in the town in 1297, and was the object of pilgrimages by Queen Katherine of Aragon in 1517 and by King Henry VIII in 1522.

The posts from previous years can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Grace of Ipswich

Our Lady of Grace at Ipswich pray for The King and The Queen and for us all.

The Sword Bearer of the City of Worcester

The report on the Worcester News website about civic celebrations with Evensong last Sunday in the cathedral at Worcester to mark the Coronation rather concentrates on the new Sword Bearer and his striking, and historic, uniform. 

Worcester is one of those historic cities which have the privilege of bearing a sword of state and cap of maintenance. Whereas the swords may be similar the caps of maintenance vary quite considerably. 

I am familiar with that of York which is a traditional ermine trimmed cap of maintenance, although the Wikipedia article about such ceremonial headgear suggests that it has now evolved into a byecocket and is a back-to-front version of what was originally intended, as can be seen at Cap of maintenance

That article also argues that both the sword and cap should be carried as at the State Opening of Parliament and that the custom which had grown up of the sword bearer wearing the cap would have originally been seen as improper.

The cap as worn in Hull is of fur, and probably reflects trading links to the Baltic, and is similar to the Muscovy Hat worn in London. At Norwich there is something like a Cardinal’s hat in red with embroidered lacing added. Worcester however seems to out do all those with its triple ostrich plumed creation, which can be seen in the photographs at 'I carried the sword for the King' - sword-bearer's Coronation honour

 Very splendid indeed in ‘The Loyal City’.