Traces of Early Times in the Churches (_Cont._)
The fourteenth century is covered by the reigns of King Edward
II, King Edward III, and King Richard II. The architecture
became much more ornamental, and there is a good deal of fine
stone-carving.[15] Many beautiful window-heads and doorways belong
to this period. A good many aisles were added to the old naves;
many of the old Norman towers were rebuilt and crowned with
graceful spires; but the work is not all equally good.
[15] See "Fourteenth-century Doorway", on p. 94, for a specimen
of this style.
It will be noticed that the most beautiful spires are very
frequently met with in districts that are flat and destitute of the
natural beauty which mountains and hills, valleys and woodlands,
give to a landscape; and it looks as if the people in different
parishes had tried to outdo their neighbours in erecting graceful
spires on their church towers.
There are a great many tombs in the churches in various parts of
the country, and much money was spent upon them in this and in
the next century. They are raised some two or three feet from the
ground; the sides are divided into panels and ornamented with rich
carvings and shields of arms, brilliantly coloured and gilded. On
the top of the tombs are to be seen effigies carved in stone of the
man and his wife, lying on their backs, with hands clasped. The men
are usually in armour, and their wives in the dress of the time,
with strange-looking head-dresses. Many of the effigies are much
defaced and battered, but there are others of them well preserved
still. It was in the latter part of the fourteenth century that
great attention began to be paid to shields of arms, and heraldry
became an important science.
But in the middle of the fourteenth century, during the reign of
King Edward III, there came a time of great distress. There were
the long years of war with France, years of famine and the Black
Death. That meant a period of great distress for the country; all
classes suffered, and there was much discontent and disorder. These
bad times left their marks upon the buildings, especially upon the
churches. In some churches work can be pointed out to you which
was begun before the time of the Black Death on a grand scale, but
finished off in a much plainer manner--apparently years after it
was begun. The work had been started, but bad times stopped it, and
it had to wait. Those who had begun it never saw it finished, for
the pestilence carried them away; and, long afterwards, those who
did finish it were not well enough off to carry out the design as
it was at first intended.
Still, all through these centuries much was spent on the churches,
not only by the great nobles, not only in monastery buildings
and the cathedral churches, but on the ordinary town and village
churches as well.
[Illustration: _Spire of Norwich Cathedral Fourteenth Century_]
The wealthy wool-merchants, especially in the fourteenth century,
spent much on the building and decoration of churches. Some of the
finest churches in the eastern and western counties of England
owe much to them. Then, too, it was quite a common thing for the
various trade guilds in a town to have a little chapel, or an
aisle, or an altar in the parish church, which the guild undertook
to keep up. One guild tried to outdo the others in this matter. All
the craftsmen of those days belonged to a trade guild of some sort,
and much good artistic work was done, which found a place in the
churches.
People took a keen interest in their churches, and we find them
leaving money towards their upkeep, towards making a statue, or
doing some carving, or even keeping a light burning. Whatever may
have been their reasons for so doing, the fact that they did so is
very clear.
They used their churches in ways that may seem strange to us; but
they looked upon them as their own, and were evidently in many
cases proud of them. Each parish annually chose its churchwardens,
who had charge of the buildings and the furniture, and these were
responsible to the bishop, as well as to the people of the parish.
Every now and then the bishop visited the parish, or sent someone
to do so in his name. Enquiry was made as to how the priest and the
people carried out their duties towards each other. Complaints were
heard, and attempts made to set matters right. Some of the reports
which were made on such occasions have come down to us, and show
often much disorder, and at times much that was evil. But we must
not forget that good was also being done then, which was not talked
much about.
"The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones."