Category: Medieval

The design, essentially a stylized flower, dates back as far as Mesopotamia. It is was a decorative element and became associated with royalty, especially in the High Middle Ages.

As a heraldic charge, it dates from the 12th c, being first adopted by the French king Philippe II (1180-1214) – although his father Louis VII (1137-80) may also have used it. The arms “azure, a semis of fleur-de-lis or” are associated with French kings from 1200.
As an emblem, the fleur-de-lys, appears on coins and seals from the 10th c. at least. It can be found forming the end of a sceptre, or decorating the rim of a crown, or may be held by the king with a scepter. Thus, by the 11th-12th c. there is a strong association with royal sovereignty. (Coins of the Emperor Frederic I show him holding such a sceptre).
There is disagreement as to whether the design derives from the lily, iris, broom, lotus or the furze. Alternatively the shape may also represent a trident, arrowhead, double axe, or even a dove.

Michel Pastoureau: Traité d’Héraldique, Paris, 1979 wrote that the fleur de lis is ‘common to all eras and all civilisations…an essentially graphic theme found on Mesopotamian cylinders, Egyptian bas-reliefs, Mycenean potteries, Sassanid textiles, Gaulish coins, Mameluk coins, Indonesian clothes, Japanese emblems and Dogon totems.’

The oldest known examples of fleur-de-lis similar to those used in the Medieval Western world and in modern times, exist on Assyrian bas-reliefs from the 3d millennium BC. Later ones, from Crete, India and Egypt probably share the royal symbolism. The fleur-de-lis appears on a few Greek coins and several Roman coins – from the Republic or the Empire, and on Gaulish coins (1st c. AD), a Mameluk coin (1390) and a coin of Louis VI of France (1110-30). On the Greek and Roman coins the fleuron varies in shape, but the Celtic fleur-de-lis reappears in the 13th century.

While retaining its association with royalty, in the high Middle Ages the fleur-de-lis acquired a strong Christian meaning, stemming from (among others) the famous verse of the Song of Solomon (2:1): “ego flos campi et lilium convallium” (quoted by Saint Jerome to Saint Bernard). Up until the end of the 12th c. Christ may have been represented amidst more or less stylised lilies or ‘fleurons’. With the development of the Cult of Mary, (relating to the Song of Solomon (2:2): “sicut lilium inter spinas, sic amica mea inter filias”) the lily became the symbol of purity, virginity and chastity. The lily becomes a favourite icon attributed to the Virgin Mary and remained so until the 16th c.

The fleur-de-lis adopted as heraldic emblem by the Kings of France was explained from the middle of the 14th c in several works (apparently to legitimize claims on the throne). The king of France bore “arms of three fleur-de-lis as sign of the blessed Trinity, sent by God through His angel to Clovis, first Christian king…” God told Clovis to erase the three crescents he bore on his arms and replace them with the fleur-de-lis. (When this legend reappears at the end of the 15th c, the pagan symbols needing to be replaced were toads!) Clovis I, was king of the Franks and ruled Gaul from 481 to 511.

Scevole de Sainte-Marthe asserts that the fleur-de-lys appeared on the shield only under Philippe Auguste (1180-1223) or Louis VIII (1223-26). This appears true, as there are no coats of arms before 1130-1140, and the king of France was not the first to adopt a coat.
The Fleur-de-lys is associated with Louis VIII of France on a stained glass window in Chartres of 1230; (Louis VIII did bear the coat before becoming king, on a seal of 1211). Several chroniclers contemporary of Philippe Auguste report that he used a banner with these arms, and his seal shows that as early as 1180 he used a fleur-de-lys as emblem. Before that, from 1050 at least, the seals of French kings show them sitting, holding a sceptre in their left hand and what looks like a fleur-de-lis in their right hand. The head of the sceptre is a lozenge, but often the fleurons on the crown (3 of them) look like fleur-de-lys.

Thus the kings of France adopted the fleur-de-lys as an emblem when all other European sovereigns chose animals, but they recognized that it symbolized sovereignty: already appearing for the royal Carolingian and Ottonian attributes, on the sceptre of Capetian kings since Robert (996-1031), on the reverse of Louis VI coins (early 12th c) and even on coins of Lothaire (954-986). Louis VII adopted this emblem to symbolize his royal dignity and lineage, and hisChristian piety.

A most probable explanation for the Kings of France use of the fleur de lys was merely that the names were similar. The kings named Louis signed themselves, Loi”s. Even after the name settled into its present form, the signature, ‘Loys’ was continued, up to Louis XIII (1610-43). Loys, or Louis VII received from his father the surname ‘Florus’. The coins of Louis VI and Louis VII are the earliest on which the fleur-de-lys appears. The research by M. Rey about the fleur-de-lys is worth checking for its Gaulish connection.

Medieval floor tiles were used extensively in churches, cathedrals and grand houses. Such tiling was a display of wealth, as they were expensive to make. Thus the earliest commissions were for paving royal palaces, the houses of rich laymen, and ecclesiastical and conventional buildings. Most decorated tiles date from the thirteenth century, when craft skills increased and production costs fell, before this, British-made floor tiles were fairly plain.
The tile makers were often journeymen who travelled around the country making tiles close to where they were required. It is likely that most parishes had a brick or tile kiln at some stage and some monastic buildings even had their own kilns.
How they were made

Initially the raw clay was cleaned of stones and organic matter. It was then soaked and ‘pugged’ before being weighed, then wedged into a square shape and placed into the mould to form the tile. The tile was then stamped to reproduce the pattern in relief, leaving an impression in the surface of the soft clay. Keyholes were also cut into the back at this stage to aid drying and help the tile to ‘key’ to the mortar, when finally installed.
The impressed pattern was filled with a white ‘slip’, a fluid clay mix, and left to dry. When ‘leather hard’, the excess slip was cut back, revealing the clear definitions of the pattern. The tiles were then left to completely dry out for three to four weeks. This was mainly suited for dry, warm, summer work. After drying, glaze was brushed onto the surface of the tiles which were then fired, using a wood fired kiln.

Decorated tiles were made this way until the sixteenth century when much patronage of the trade was lost with the dissolution of the monasteries. By this time also, the wealthier classes were starting to favour brighter coloured tin-glazed ceramics and tiles from Europe.

Winchester Cathedral has the largest area of 13th century inlaid tiles still in their original position in England. Fine examples of tiles can be found in the British Museum and the Ashmoleam Museum and other places around Britain.

References and links:

https:​/​/​www.​winchester-​cathedral.​org.​uk

A legendary creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion; the head and wings of an eagle; and an eagle’s talons as its front feet. In heraldry, the griffin’s amalgamation of lion and eagle means courage and boldness. It is used to denote strength and military courage and leadership.

The eagle was considered the ‘king of the birds’, and the lion the ‘king of the beasts’, thus the griffin is perceived as a powerful and majestic creature. During the times of the Persian Empire, the griffin was seen as a protector from evil, witchcraft, and slander. The griffin is often seen in medieval heraldry, but its origins stretch much further back, for instance, the ancient Greek historian Herodotus wrote:
“…in the north of Europe there is by far the most gold…..it is said that one-eyed men called Arimaspians steal it from griffins” (Herodotus, The Histories , 3.116)

Thus griffins featured in the art and mythology of Ancient Greece, but there is evidence that they were represented in ancient Persia and ancient Egypt – dating to as early as the 4th millennium BC. On the island of Crete, frescoes of griffins were discovered in the ‘Throne Room’ of the Bronze Age Palace of Knossos which dates back to the 15th century BC.

There is a theory that the concept of the griffin was brought to Europe by traders travelling along the Silk Road. Hailing from the Gobi Desert in Mongolia the traders may have interpreted fossils of a dinosaur called the ‘Protoceratops’ as griffin remains, as the mythical animal was already known to them before the Silk Road was developed.

Because Herodotus and Pliny describe the griffin as a real, earthly animal, the medieval Christians did not regard the Greek “gryphes” as having pagan significance. The 7th-century encyclopedist, St. Isidore of Seville, lists the “gryphon,” along with a scientific description of the beast, in his compendium of known animals, and later Sir John Mandeville claims he saw griffins on his travels.

Medieval Christians, then, embraced the griffin as a creature made by God, and the Griffin became a rich symbol of the two natures of Christ – the eagle, lord of the sky, symbolizes the divine nature, while the lion, lord of the earth symbolizes human nature. Combined they represented to the medieval mind the concept that the ‘Lord is the true King of the heavens and the earth.’ Also, St. Isidore notes, “Christ is Lion because He reigns and has strength; Eagle, because after the Resurrection He rises into Heaven.”

Medieval floor tiles were used extensively in churches, cathedrals and grand houses. Such tiling was a display of wealth, as they were expensive to make. Thus the earliest commissions were for paving royal palaces, the houses of rich laymen, and ecclesiastical and conventional buildings. Most decorated tiles date from the thirteenth century, when craft skills increased and production costs fell, before this, British-made floor tiles were fairly plain.
The tile makers were often journeymen who travelled around the country making tiles close to where they were required. It is likely that most parishes had a brick or tile kiln at some stage and some monastic buildings even had their own kilns.
How they were made

Initially the raw clay was cleaned of stones and organic matter. It was then soaked and ‘pugged’ before being weighed, then wedged into a square shape and placed into the mould to form the tile. The tile was then stamped to reproduce the pattern in relief, leaving an impression in the surface of the soft clay. Keyholes were also cut into the back at this stage to aid drying and help the tile to ‘key’ to the mortar, when finally installed.
The impressed pattern was filled with a white ‘slip’, a fluid clay mix, and left to dry. When ‘leather hard’, the excess slip was cut back, revealing the clear definitions of the pattern. The tiles were then left to completely dry out for three to four weeks. This was mainly suited for dry, warm, summer work. After drying, glaze was brushed onto the surface of the tiles which were then fired, using a wood fired kiln.

Decorated tiles were made this way until the sixteenth century when much patronage of the trade was lost with the dissolution of the monasteries. By this time also, the wealthier classes were starting to favour brighter coloured tin-glazed ceramics and tiles from Europe.

Winchester Cathedral has the largest area of 13th century inlaid tiles still in their original position in England. Fine examples of tiles can be found in the British Museum and the Ashmoleam Museum and other places around Britain.

References and links:

https:​/​/​www.​winchester-​cathedral.​org.​uk

The Oak Tree is traditionally the King of the Forest and has always symbolized the idea that as a mighty tree can grow from just a small acorn, great things have the potential to grow from something small. The lesson of the oak is to never give up, endurance pays off, as does tenacity and patience. The Oak also symbolizes long life and wisdom – oak trees witness chunks of time much longer than we experience in our human lifetimes.

Sometimes associated with The Green Man – a masculine principle of vegetative energy, the oak is the Druids holiest tree. The Druids say that the Oak links us to the spirit of the land and they traditionally followed their nature religion in the open air, within an oak grove. Thus wood of the oak is regarded as strongly magical, the Scandinavians associated it with Thor, God of Thunder.

The Welsh once believed that if a person rubbed the oak with the palm of their left hand on Midsummer’s Day, they would be promised good health for the coming year. In England many oaks were planted to depict parish boundaries.

Cutting down an oak is still believed to be very bad luck, even today.

A design based on a medieval floor tile

Medieval floor tiles were used extensively in churches, cathedrals and grand houses. Such tiling was a display of wealth, as they were expensive to make. Thus the earliest commissions were for paving royal palaces, the houses of rich laymen, and ecclesiastical and conventional buildings. Most decorated tiles date from the thirteenth century, when craft skills increased and production costs fell, before this, British-made floor tiles were fairly plain.
The tile makers were often journeymen who travelled around the country making tiles close to where they were required. It is likely that most parishes had a brick or tile kiln at some stage and some monastic buildings even had their own kilns.

How they were made

Initially the raw clay was cleaned of stones and organic matter. It was then soaked and ‘pugged’ before being weighed, then wedged into a square shape and placed into the mould to form the tile. The tile was then stamped to reproduce the pattern in relief, leaving an impression in the surface of the soft clay. Keyholes were also cut into the back at this stage to aid drying and help the tile to ‘key’ to the mortar, when finally installed.
The impressed pattern was filled with a white ‘slip’, a fluid clay mix, and left to dry. When ‘leather hard’, the excess slip was cut back, revealing the clear definitions of the pattern. The tiles were then left to completely dry out for three to four weeks. This was mainly suited for dry, warm, summer work. After drying, glaze was brushed onto the surface of the tiles which were then fired, using a wood fired kiln.

Decorated tiles were made this way until the sixteenth century when much patronage of the trade was lost with the dissolution of the monasteries. By this time also, the wealthier classes were starting to favour brighter coloured tin-glazed ceramics and tiles from Europe.

Winchester Cathedral has the largest area of 13th century inlaid tiles still in their original position in England. Fine examples of tiles can be found in the British Museum and the Ashmoleam Museum and other places around Britain.

References and links:

https:​/​/​www.​winchester-​cathedral.​org.​uk

Medieval floor tiles from the 13th century abound in Winchester Cathedral. They form the largest surviving spread of medieval decorated floor tiles inside any building in England. Find them in the Retrochoir at the far end of the Cathedral.

Winchester Cathedral

It is one of the largest cathedrals in Europe, having been dedicated in the deep past to Saint Swithun.

An ancient place indeed, Winchester was the capital of Anglo Saxon Wessex, now in Hampshire, and Winchester Cathedral is a grade 1 listed building.

In 635 Cynegils, the king of the West Saxons, was baptised as part of Christianity coming to Saxon England. The original cathedral was founded in 642 and built just north, outside the current west door of the present day site, this first church became known as the Old Minster.

Saint Swithun, the first bishop of Winchester, was first buried near the Old Minster, as were the West Saxon kings, as in 899 Alfred the Great was buried there and King Eadwig and his wife Ælfgifu. The bones of Saint Swithun were famous and pilgrims flocked to his shrine.

By 971, the Old Minster formed part of a Benedictine monastic settlement.

In 1070 Stigand, the Saxon bishop, was replaced by Walkelin, the first Norman Bishop of Winchester and work began on the new, Norman Cathedral in 1079. Limestone was brought from the Isle of Wight, hauled along a Roman trackway to the sea, then taken by barge across the Solent and on to Winchester.

On 8 April 1093 the monks from the Old Minster moved into the new building we know as Winchester Cathedral.

The Annals of Winchester say, “in the presence of almost all the bishops and abbots of England, the monks came with the highest exultation and glory from the old minster to the new one”

The monk’s procession took place on the Feast of Saint Swithun and they carried the saint’s ornate reliquary with great ceremony to a new place of honour, behind the high altar in the cathedral. The following day work began to pull down the old minster.

The legend, that if it rains on St. Swithun’s day, it will continue for forty days, could be based on the day that the saint’s reliquary was moved from the Old Minster to the new High Alter. A violent storm is believed to have occurred, but for how long, is not known.

Pilgrims flocked to Winchester Cathedral in droves, enticed by the belief in the healing power of St Swithin’s bones. A tunnel beneath his shrine was named the ‘Holy Hole’, and pilgrims crawled in to be even closer to the holy relics. This continued until 1456, when an even more elaborate shrine of gold, silver and gems, was built at the opposite end of the church.

Walkelin’s site for his new cathedral was quite unsuitable. The marshy land meant that thousands of wooden piles had to be driven into the ground to sure up the new building. Even today, the cathedral’s crypt can easily flood. But much remains of Walkelin’s building : the crypt, transepts and nave. The original crossing tower, however, collapsed in 1107 and many thought it may be a sign of God’s disapproval for the burial of William Rufus (William II) which was right beneath it, for he was an unpopular king, murdered in the new forest in 1100.

Godfrey de Luci was bishop in 1189 and added a retrochoir in the Early English style. No other re-building occurred until the mid-14th century bishops Edington and Wykeham. Edingdon (1346–1366),William of Wykeham (1367–1404). Much was transformed, and the wooden ceilings were replaced with stone vaults.

It is believed that the Black Death halted the reconstruction of the west end of the cathedral in 1349. The level just above the three door arches was resumed about twenty five years later with less skill than previously. In the Middle Ages the cathedral was often used for royal court functions.

Henry of Beaufort (1405–1447), William of Waynflete (1447–1486), Peter Courtenay (Bishop 1486–1492) and Thomas Langton (1493–1500), all added to cathedral, with Richard Foxe (bishop between 1500–1528) being the last bishop to extend and add features in 1525.

Henry Beaufort was a half-brother of Henry IV and the richest man in England. On his death he left a fortune to the cathedral, which helped pay for the Great Screen, an ornately carved stone screen behind the high altar. Originally decorated with beautifully carved and painted statues, these were removed during the Reformation.

Henry VIII destroyed the cult of St Swithun in the Reformation. His commissioners entered the cathedral during the night on 21 September 1538. They destroyed the shrine, breaking it up and stealing the valuable pieces. The saint’s bones were lost and the Holy Hole was stopped up.

Despite the reformation, the cathedral maintains it’s medieval carvings, especially in the 14^th century choir stalls. Some of these seats are called misericords, meaning ‘mercy seats’ for the monks to use during long services. It is said that the Winchester collection of misericords is one of the largest in England.

In modern times Historic England works to preserve the cathedral.

FIND ALL OF THESE DESIGNS AT THE RECKLESS RELIC SHOP

References and links:

https:​/​/​www.​winchester-​cathedral.​org.​uk

The Long Man of Wilmington is a chalk picture that was made upon the Sussex Downs. Sometimes called the “Guardian of the Downs”, mystery surrounds his origin. Once believed to be drawn by William Burrell (from a record of 1766), this was disproved when an earlier drawing was discovered, made in 1710 by surveyor John Rowley.
The Long Man of Wilmington, guardian of the Sussex Downs

Thus debate continues, some are sure that he is prehistoric, others think he was made by a monk at the nearby priory some time between the 11th and 15th centuries. Yet others believe the Long Man is depicted in Roman coins from the fourth century.
He is certainly difficult to ignore, being 235 feet high on the steep slopes of Windover Hill.
Just like anything else from antiquity, he has been the subject of many theories. The latest idea from the experts is that he was originally just a shadow or indentaion in the grass rather than a solid line.

It is believed that he once had facial features, and that his head was once the shape of distinctive helmet. So the original figure may have represented a warrior, or a war god.

Over time steps were taken to preserve him, as by the 19th century he was only visible in certain conditions, such as when there was a light fall of snow. In 1874 his outline was marked by yellow bricks and it is said his feet were re- positioned!

Luckily he has survived and reminds us that in ancient times a chalk hill figure could indicate much to the traveller. Perhaps it denoted a territory, givign the message that there was a community or tribe in that area, and that there were fighting men, capable of defending their homeland! There may have been more to his story, but we must be content to admire his elegant pose and recognize that there was a purpose for his his presence on the Sussex Downs.

Is this a man holding two spears?

Or is this a man standing in a doorway?

Perhaps, beyond the threshold!

Like this image on a T Shirt?