To whet your appetite here's a shot I took of the north door of Westminster Abbey in London last year. The abbey was built by King Henry III who wanted to create an impressive home for the relics (holy bones or other remains) of St Edward the Confessor, who was his patron saint and a former king of England.
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| North door tympannum, Westminster Abbey (Click on the photo for higher resolution) |
In medieval times, like now, if you visited Westminster you entered the abbey through the north door, where the carvings in the archway shown here (called a tympannum) told a story to everyone who came to the church. (These are actually replicas from the Victorian era, but you get the idea.) They follow a pattern called 'Christ in majesty' as ruler of the world, surrounded by the apostles and people asking for favour and forgiveness. Perhaps the king was trying to make a connection between his rule and Christ himself! What do you think?
A beautifully-illustrated hand-written story about St Edward's life (called a vita) was
made for Henry's queen, and still survives in the library of Cambridge
University. You can browse through the pages of this document
here.
You can find out lots more about Westminster abbey and its significance for English history from this Time Team special.
You can find out lots more about Westminster abbey and its significance for English history from this Time Team special.
2 comments:
cool picture!
Hi guys,
I'm now able to respond to Matthew's question about online participation. The mark will be an average calculated from your participation 'score' each week, so it won't be possible to make up the full mark by participating deeply one week and not others. [If you're ill it's a different matter - please always let me know if this is the case; or contact Special consideration if it's a serious matter and you want to keep it confidential.)
Anyway, I hope everyone is looking forward to taking part without the marking being a big issue! See you on Monday!
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