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Twelfth-Century Sculptural Finds at Canterbury Cathedral and the Cult of Thomas Becket by Carolyn Marino Malone at Abbey's Bookshop,
Twelfth-Century Sculptural Finds at Canterbury Cathedral and the Cult of Thomas Becket
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Carolyn Marino Malone

Twelfth-Century Sculptural Finds at Canterbury Cathedral and the Cult of Thomas Becket

Carolyn Marino Malone

$165

Hardback

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English
Oxbow Books
01 August 2019
Medieval history; Medieval European archaeology
This study reconstructs twelfth-century sculptural and architectural finds, found during the restoration of the Perpendicular Great Cloister of Christ Church, Canterbury, as architectural screens constructed around 1173. It proposes that the screens provided monastic privacy and controlled pilgrimage to the Altar of the Sword's Point in the Matrydom, the site of Archbishop Thomas Becket's murder in 1170. Excavations in the 1990s discovered evidence of a twelfth-century tunnel leading to the Matyrdom under the crossing of the western transept. Constuction would have required rebuilding the crossing stairs and the screens flanking the crossing. The roundels, portraying lions, devils, a 'pagan', Jews, and a personification of the synagogue, are reconstucted on the south side of the crossing as a screening wall framing the entrance to this tunnel. The quatrefoils with images of Old Testament prophets are reconstructed as a rood screen on the west side of the crossing. In the Matyrdom, a screen, is proposed with, perhaps, the earliest known sculptural representation of Thomas Becket. The rood screen, located behind the Altar of the Holy Cross, would have provided a visual focus during Mass, monastic processions, and sermons, especially during Christmas and Holy Week. The row of prophets, pointing upwards at the Rood, would have functioned as the visual equivalent of the dialogue of the 'Ordo prophetarum' that predicted the Messiah as proof to Jews and other unbelievers of Christian redemption. The roundels, just around the corner on the south screening wall, can be interpreted as representing the unbelieving Other and forces of evil warning pilgrims to seek penance at the altar of the newly canonised St Thomas. In addition to this new interpretation, a catalogue raisonne and an account of the discovery of the finds offers material for future research that has been unavailable to previous studies. All the finds were photographed by the author as the restoration progressed and 16 pieces have since been lost, making some of the unpublished photographs essential evidence of the archaeological record.
By:  
Imprint:   Oxbow Books
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 280mm,  Width: 216mm, 
ISBN:   9781789252309
ISBN 10:   178925230X
Pages:   280
Publication Date:  
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Unspecified

Carolyn Marino Malone is Professor of the History of Art at the University of Southern California (PhD, University of California, Berkeley). Her research interests are English and French Romanesque and Gothic architecture and sculpture. She has published books on the abbey of St Bénigne in Dijon c. 1000 and the façade of Wells Cathedral c. 1220.

Reviews for Twelfth-Century Sculptural Finds at Canterbury Cathedral and the Cult of Thomas Becket

This book will be essential for any student of late 12th-century sculpture. * Medieval Archaeology * The sculptural finds dramatically illustrate the seamless nature of European art and society in Romanesque times; a society joined, not separated, by the Channel. * Current Archaeology * This book should stimulate new discussions on the topography of this extraordinary cult, by far the most famous in western Europe. * British Archaeology *


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