THE HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PROCESSIONAL VESTMENTS; THE
ORNAMENTATION OF VESTMENTS.
In addition to the garments already described, which are more properly
appropriated to the Eucharistic service, there are a few which are
assumed on other occasions by the clergy of the Western Church. The
occasions upon which these particular vestments are worn belong properly
to the province of Chapter VII. We accordingly postpone the discussion
of them until that chapter is reached, concerning ourselves here with
the development, shape, and ornamentation of the vestments themselves.
The vestments which we have to describe in this chapter are the cassock,
surplice (with its modifications, the rochet and cotta), almuce, and
cope. These constitute the so-called processional vestments; a misnomer,
because they are not exclusively appropriated to processions. There are,
besides, certain others of a more general character, not strictly
falling under the head of either Eucharistic or Processional vesture,
and they will be more conveniently described in this chapter also. These
are the canon's cope, the mozetta, the Roman collar, and the various
types of sacerdotal head-dress.
I. _The Cassock._—The cassock was the long outer gown which was worn by
everyone, clerical and lay, male and female, during the eleventh,
twelfth, and succeeding centuries. When it was abandoned for the very
much more convenient short coat, that conservatism in ecclesiastical
matters, to which the very existence of ecclesiastical vestments is due,
prevented the clergy from following the example of the laity, and left
the cassock as the distinctive outer garment of the clergy on ordinary
occasions, as it still remains. The dignity attaching to a long garment
was also probably a factor in causing its ecclesiastical retention.
The Eucharistic vestments were placed over the cassock, as the cassock
was placed over the under-garments of the wearer. But it was so entirely
concealed by the long alb that it could scarcely be regarded as an
essential part of the vestments for the Eucharistic office. The case was
different, however, when the priest was vested in processional attire,
for the lower end of the cassock appeared very prominently under the
surplice, and its presence was consequently essential to complete the
processional outfit. We therefore discuss this vestment under the head
'Processional' rather than under the head 'Eucharistic.'
Cassocks were originally invented for purposes of warmth, and hence were
lined with furs. This custom was retained when the cassock became
exclusively a clerical dress, and we often find in monuments of
ecclesiastics indications at the wrist that the cassock was so lined.
The colour of the vestment was invariably black for ordinary
ecclesiastics, scarlet for doctors of divinity and cardinals, purple for
bishops and prelates, and on high occasions for acolytes; for the Pope,
white. The fur with which the cassock was lined was ermine or some other
precious kind for dignitaries; but ordinary priests were strictly
forbidden to wear anything more costly than sheepskin. The cassock as we
find it represented on mediaeval monuments was probably open to the
breast; I do not recollect having observed any counterpart to the modern
cassock, with a row of buttons from neck to hem (humorously compared by
Lord Grimthorpe to a boiler with a close row of rivets!). In some parts
of France and in Rome the cassock is kept in place by a sash; this also
is a modern innovation probably suggested by the custom of members of
the monastic orders.
II. _The Surplice._—From its fur lining, the cassock was called in
mediaeval Latin the _pellicea_; the name _superpellicea_ was accordingly
given to the vestment which was worn immediately over it—a name which
has passed by natural phonetic modifications into 'surplice.'
It will be remembered that the _alba_ of the second or transitional
epoch was a very much more ample vestment than its successor in
mediaeval times. The chasuble, tunicle, or dalmatic (sometimes all
three) had to be put on over it—an impossibility if it had maintained
its original size. It accordingly was contracted in size in order to
adapt itself to the new requirements; but in so doing the needleworkers
went to the other extreme, and produced a vestment which threatened to
become intractable every time the attempt was made to put it on over the
cassock when the latter article of dress was thick and lined with fur.
These difficulties resulted in the invention of a new garment, which
retained the amplitude of the old _alba_, and was worn only when no
vestment of importance (except the cope, which was adaptable) was put on
over it. This was the surplice. The alb was retained for the Eucharistic
service, as the upper vestments would lie over it more conveniently.
The surplice was a sleeved vestment of white linen, plain, except at the
neck, where there was occasionally a little embroidery in coloured
threads. The sleeves were very full, and hung down to a considerable
length when the hands were conjoined, as they generally are in
monuments. The surplice was put on by being passed over the head,
exactly like the alb; the modern surplice, open in front, and secured at
the neck with a button, was invented within the last two hundred years,
and was designed to make the assumption of the vestment possible without
disarranging the enormous wigs which were worn during the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries.
III. _The Rochet_ is a still further modification of the alb. The
sleeves are reduced to a minimum or totally absent. It appears to have
been worn, though not always, by choristers, and there is also evidence
that it was the form of surplice favoured by bishops. Thus we read:
'Item 8 surplices for the quere.
'Item 3 rochets _for children_.'—Inventory of St Mary Hill, London.
'Bis adiit [Richardus de Bury] summum pontificem Johannem et recepit ab
eo rochetam in loco bullae pro proximo episcopatu vacante ex post in
Anglia.'—Will. de Chambre, 'Continuatio Hist. Dunelmensis,' Surtees
Society, 1839, p. 127.
IV. _The Cotta._—This is a surplice, considerably modified, which has
the advantage of being cheap, and is accordingly worn as a substitute
for the longer surplice in poor parishes. It is a sleeveless vestment,
of crochet work or crimped linen, which reaches to the middle of the
back. It has not an effective appearance.
V. _The Almuce_,[76] which is also variously styled the Amys, or
Amess,[77] was a hood lined with fur, and, like the cassock, designed to
protect the priest from cold. In winter-time the churches—never very
warm—would have been uninhabitable before the invention of heating
stoves, had it not been for comforting articles of apparel such as these.
It was shaped so that it could lie over the shoulders as a tippet, or be
drawn over the head as a hood, and it must have been very necessary
during the protracted services of the middle ages. The vestment was
almost always of black cloth, as was the cassock; and the fur with which
it was lined varied in quality and colour with the degree of the wearer.
Doctors of divinity and canons wore an almuce lined with gray fur, the
former being further distinguished from the latter by the scarlet colour
of the outside cloth; all others wore ordinary dark brown fur. A
singular embellishment of this vestment consisted in the addition of the
tails of the animals from which the fur lining was taken sewn round the
border of the vestment.
At about the year 1300 the almuce, as a hood, was superseded by a cap,
which will be described in its proper place. It was therefore thrown
back, and suffered to fall behind, somewhat after the fashion of the
hood worn in our modern universities. In order to prevent it from
slipping off when in this position, it was sewn in front, so that an
aperture was made through which the head of the wearer had to be passed.
During the fourteenth century it gradually almost entirely lost its hood
shape, and became more and more like a tippet, the only relic of its
original form being the two long tails which hung in front somewhat like
the ends of a stole, and which were doubtless the remains of the strings
with which the original hood was fastened. The row of 'cattes tayles'
(as the Elizabethan reformers called them) was also retained.
When the almuce was in position on the head, the fur was inside, the
cloth outside. Obviously, when the vestment was thrown back over the
shoulder, the fur would be outside, the cloth inside. This is a
perfectly natural and intelligible transformation. Mrs Dolby, in
noticing it, speaks of it in a most misleading manner. After describing
the various changes which it underwent from hood to tippet, she says,
'By this time, too, what was originally the outside of the garment had
become the lining, and the fur the only material rendered visible,' as
though some ecclesiastical ordinance or the freak of some clerical
tailor had brought about this transformation. And Dr Rock says: 'Not the
least remarkable thing in these changes of the "furred amys" [as he
calls it] is, that it became, as it were, turned inside out.' The
remarkable thing would have been if anything else had happened.
At Wells Cathedral is the monument of Dean Huse (_ob._ 1305, but the
tomb is a century and half later), on which are sculptured, besides the
principal effigy, a series of small figures of canons holding books. The
almuces of these figures show a unique peculiarity: the tails are
fastened together on the breast by a cord which passes through them and
hangs down with tasselled ends.
Mr St John Hope, in a paper in 'Archaeologia,' vol. liv, p. 81, has
traced the history of the appearance of the almuce during the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries by reference to sculptured effigies and brasses
in England. From this paper I extract the following illustrative
examples:
1. An effigy in Hereford Cathedral, _circa_ 1311, shows the almuce 'like
a short cape down to the elbows, with long and broad pendants in front,
and turned back round the neck like a loose, high-standing collar. The
chief point to notice, however, is that the vestment is quite open in
front and not joined on the breast, showing that it was put on like a
woman's shawl.'
2. Another effigy in the same cathedral, _circa_ 1320, shows a similar
arrangement with the addition of a large morse to fasten the almuce.
3. In the fifteenth century, when the pendent tails became common, we
find two brasses at Cobham, Kent, one showing the almuce clasped on the
breast by a brooch, the other showing it open all down the front under
the cope.
4. In a drawing at New College, Oxford, executed about 1446, the Warden
of Winchester College is represented in a furred almuce not open in
front, but the Fellows who stand near him wear almuces laced up the
front. This drawing is reproduced in 'Archaeologia,' vol. liii, plate 14.
5. An effigy dating from the very end of the fifteenth century in St
Martin's, Birmingham, illustrates the almuce as it appeared when the
cape was joined completely across the breast.
To these facts we may add that as a general rule the two front tails in
the earlier representations of almuces have plain ends; in those of
later representations (from _circa_ 1450) the tails have a small
ornamental tassel, or tuft, attached to their ends.
[Illustration]
VI. _The Cope._—The cope may date back, as a vestment, to the ninth
century, but in that form it is certainly not older. Before that time it
was nothing more or less than an overcoat, which the clergy kept on in
their cold and draughty churches or in open-air processions. It is
represented in an Anglo-Saxon pontifical of _circa_ 900 as a plain cloth
vestment, fastened at the neck by a brooch or morse; the shape is
similar to that which we find in later times. The shape of the cope was
very much that of half the chasuble. It was secured at the neck by a
brooch, and suffered to drape on the person. The material, at least in
mediaeval times, was silk, cloth of gold, velvet, or other precious
stuffs. It was magnificently embroidered, jewelled, and enriched with
precious metals, the embroideries consisting either of strips along the
straight edges, which hung down in front, or else of these strips
combined with patterns running over the entire surface of the vestment,
or confined to the lower border. It is hard to say whether the cope or
the chasuble was the richer vestment in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries.
The cope, being originally a costume for outdoor processions, was
furnished with a hood at the back; but when the almuce took its place,
it degenerated, like so many other vestments, or parts of vestments,
into a mere ornamental appendage; it lost its hood form (which would
somewhat have interfered with the appearance of the almuce) and became a
triangular flap, usually embroidered with some scene in sacred or
legendary history. In many copes these hoods were absent, while to
others there were several hoods, so that subjects appropriate to the day
could be hooked on. This triangular flap gradually assumed curvilinear
sides, till ultimately the angle disappeared altogether and the flap
became semicircular.
[Illustration: FIG. 19.—BRASS OF ARCHDEACON MAGNUS, SESSAY, YORKSHIRE,
1550 (showing Processional vestments, including hooded cope).]
The 'morse,' or brooch, with which the cope was fastened, was the
counterpart of the rational. It was made of gold or of silver, or else
of wood overlaid with one of these metals. It was often enamelled and
jewelled, and was of a great variety of shapes.
VII. _The Canon's Cope._—This vestment must be carefully distinguished
from the _cappa serica_, or ordinary cope. It was a simple choir robe,
worn at ordinary services, of black cloth, permanently sewn at the neck,
though open from the breast downwards, so that it had to be passed over
the head. It was not ornamented in any way, and probably for this reason
was not popular as an object for treatment among manuscript illuminators
or monument sculptors and engravers. A hood was appended, which usually
hung on the back.
VIII. _The Mozetta._—This is a cape worn over the cope by the Pope,
cardinals, and bishops in the Roman Church. It is of white fur or
coloured silk, according to the season; the Pope wears a red mozetta
bordered with ermine when holding receptions; canons in choir wear a
black, bishops and (on penitential seasons) cardinals a violet mozetta;
on ordinary occasions cardinals wear a mozetta of red. The vestment is
probably a descendant of the almuce, and kin to the _chimere_.
IX. _The Roman Collar._—This being an entirely modern vestment, is
properly outside our range. It is an embroidered imitation of the
turndown shirt-collar of ordinary dress.
In mediaeval monuments the throat of the priest is exposed, as are also
those of present-day members of the older religious orders.
Considerations of comfort and appearance have led to the adoption of
this collar for the ordinary clergy. It should be 'made,' says Mrs.
Dolby, 'of a perfectly straight piece of fine linen or lawn,' and
'bordered on the turnover side and along its short ends by a
neatly-stitched hem of half an inch. Opened out, when made, it is two
and three-quarter inches wide; the turndown should be not more than one
and a half inch deep.... The Roman collar worn by a bishop is violet,
that of a cardinal is scarlet.'
X. _Ecclesiastical Head-dress._—Pseudo-Alcuin expressly contrasts the
Churches of the East and West in this—that the Western clergy officiated
at the mass bareheaded, which was not the practice of those of the
Eastern Church. This gives us information as to the usage of the Western
Church at about the tenth or twelfth century. In the following century a
cap is noticed 'as one of the marks by which a Churchman might be
known';[78] and it appears in inventories, classed along with mitres.
The use of a cap at Divine service was a matter of special papal
permission: thus, Innocent IV issued an indult in 1245 to the Prior and
Convent of St Andrew's, Rochester, permitting them to wear caps (_pileis
uti_) in the choir, provided that due reverence be observed at the
gospel and the elevation. Two forms of cap are to be seen in mediaeval
monuments: one a simple dome-shaped skull-cap, called _birettum_; the
other a circular cap, with a point in the centre, of this shape ⏞̲,
which was peculiar to university dignitaries. The latter is probably the
ancestor of the modern _biretta_; and, indeed, in a brass of Robert
Brassie in King's College Chapel, Cambridge (1558), appears a head-dress
which is a connecting link between the two.
The head-dress was always black, except for cardinals and a few bishops
and others to whom the privileges of cardinals had been especially
granted. These wore scarlet.
[Illustration: FIG. 20.—BRASS OF ROBERT BRASSIE, KING'S COLLEGE,
CAMBRIDGE (showing almuce and biretta-like cap).]
We have reserved for the conclusion of this chapter a more detailed
account of the subjects with which, and the manner in which these
various articles of sacred apparel were decorated.
Vestments, as represented in mediaeval sculptures or illuminations, the
testimony of which is confirmed by the examples which actually exist,
are not as a general rule ornamented in a haphazard manner over the
whole surface. The ornamentation is usually concentrated into patches of
embroidery or jewel-work, which are sewn on to certain definite places
in the vestment.
In describing the vestments singly we have already noticed the positions
in which these patches of embroidery were placed. It will be convenient,
however, to bring all these particulars together and briefly remind the
reader of them.
The _alb_ was decorated with a rectangular patch on the breast; another
on the back; two more above the lower hem, one in front, one behind; a
small patch on each cuff (entirely encircling the wrist in older
examples); and a narrow binding round the neck. The patches on the hem
were sometimes suspended loose from the belt, and the patches on the
breast and back fastened together and suspended loose over the shoulders.
The _amice_ was decorated with a band of embroidery along one side,
which was practically the only part of the vestment visible when it was
in position.
The _stole_ and _maniple_ were embroidered along their whole length;
they usually ended in a rectangular or trapezium-shaped piece of cloth,
embroidered with a different pattern from that which ornamented the rest
of the vestment (usually some form of cross), and fringed along its
lower border.
The _dalmatic_, besides the peculiar arrangement of fringes already
described, was ornamented with a series of horizontal bands of
embroidered work, running right across the body of the vestment. The
_bishop's dalmatic_ was usually embroidered all over.
The _chasuble_ was almost invariably adorned with an edging of
embroidered work, and when the body of the vestment was adorned it was
usually with some of the many modifications of the Ψ or Y cross.
The _sandals_ were sometimes ornamented all over, sometimes decorated
with a Ψ cross, the upper part of the cross being turned towards the toe.
The _pall_ properly had no ornamentation except its crosses.
The _stockings_ were either not embroidered at all or richly embroidered
over the whole surface.
The _rational_ was decorated with enamel, goldsmith's or jewelled work.
The _mitra simplex_ was decorated with little or no adornment; the
_mitra aurifrigiata_ with embroidered work all over it; the mitra
pretiosa with embroidery combined with jewels and goldsmith's work.
The _gloves_ do not appear to have been conspicuously ornamented. They
often bore a large jewel set against the back of the hand.
The _tunicle_ was generally quite simple; the _bishop's tunicle_,
however, in no wise differed from the dalmatic.
Of the _orale_ a full description has already been given; we need not
again refer to it.
Passing to the Processional and other vestments, it will be unnecessary
to mention any but the _cope_; for, with the exception of a little
trifling embroidered work in coloured threads round the neck of the
surplice, none of the other vestments showed any ornamentation. The cope
was ornamented with embroidered work down the straight edges in front,
and often round the bottom edge and the neck as well; often also the
whole vestment was elaborately embroidered all over. The hood, too, must
not be forgotten.
For some inscrutable reason a distinction is drawn in name between the
embroidered ornaments of the alb and amice and those of the remainder of
the ecclesiastical dress. The former are called apparels, the latter
orphreys.
The subjects with which these vestments are embroidered must next engage
our attention for a short time. These fall naturally into three broad
groups:
1. Conventional and meaningless devices.
2. Symbols or figures of Divine or beatified persons, or passages of
Scripture and other religious inscriptions.
3. Personal devices.
The number of conventional patterns which meet us embroidered on
ecclesiastical vestments is endless, and to attempt to catalogue even
the most striking would be an undertaking the magnitude of which would
only be equalled by its uselessness. A small collection of rubbings of
monumental brasses will convince the reader of this. Floral devices are
the most common, either in continuous scrolls or in repetitions and
variations of the same pattern; and these are found combined with
patterns of the other two groups to fill up the gaps and spandrels
between different figures or letters. But grotesque and real animals,
wild men, and various other objects of natural history, all have their
place; though, if the evidence of the monuments be reliable, these were
not so common in England as in the other countries which yielded
allegiance to the Western Church. It is, of course, possible that some
of these figures may have been intended as emblems of saints,[79] and
others may have been heraldic; but it is probable that the majority of
them were simply ornaments with no other intention beyond filling up
space effectively.
The symbols of Divine or beatified persons are of more interest. These
are usually found on the centre orphreys of the chasuble, on the edges
and hood of the cope, on mitres, and on rationals or morses, the
orphreys of the other vestments being usually conventional, floral, or
animal devices. The hood of the cope almost invariably bore some
emblematic or sacred device, or else some scene in sacred or traditional
history; the edge of the cope and the centre of the chasuble often bore
figures of saints in niches, one above another, or else connected scenes
from the life of a saint; while the rationals and morses, which were
under the province of the enamellers (and were consequently more easily
decorated than the embroidered vestments), usually displayed some more
elaborate design in miniature.
Of the greatest importance, however, are devices of the third
order—those which display the name, initials, rebus, or coat-of-arms of
the wearer or the donor of the vestment. In monuments these designs
invariably are connected with the name and family of the wearer, while
the personal devices recorded in inventories are usually connected with
the donor. The reason is, probably, that the vestments catalogued in
inventories originally were made for, and worn by, the donors thereof;
during their lifetime the devices showed forth the wearers' names; after
their death, the names of the testators: while the monuments, which were
supposed as nearly as possible to represent the persons commemorated as
they appeared while they lived, would naturally pourtray the vestments
which they wore, or might have worn, when celebrating mass or conducting
the other offices of church service.
Mediaeval priests and embroiderers seem to have shrunk from placing
these personal devices on the chasuble, though such ornamentation is not
altogether unknown even in that most reverenced of vestments. Thus, at
Arundel, Sussex, is a brass representing a priest in ecclesiastic
vestments, in which the initials of the wearer occur on the chasuble.
The cope, however, often shows initials or other designs[80] which serve
to identify the wearer. The same chariness does not seem to have been
felt with regard to the other Eucharistic vestments, possibly because
they were not so exclusively appropriated to the Eucharistic service.
Thus, at Beverley Minster there is a sculptured effigy of a priest whose
entire stole is covered with a series of coats-of-arms.
As I have already said, this group of orphrey patterns is of
considerably greater importance than the other two, which cannot be
regarded as other than mere artistic curiosities. It is generally
possible to identify the personality of the priest commemorated by a
monument, even if the inscription be lost or defaced, when these
convenient symbols enter into the composition of the orphreys on his
vesture. This helps us in assigning the date of the monument; and every
monument of which we know the date exactly adds something to our stock
of knowledge respecting the chronology of mediaeval art.
As giving an idea of the number and variety of the designs employed by
the embroiderers and enamellers to decorate the vestments of the church,
it has been thought that the following table will not be found
uninteresting. It is a classified catalogue of the designs enumerated in
a single inventory of a single collection of vestments, the inventory of
the commissioners of Henry VIII, drawn up in 1536, of the property of
Lincoln Cathedral.
It has not been considered necessary to preserve the uncouth spelling of
the original, especially as some words are scarcely spelt the same way
twice in the course of the document. Nor has it been thought worth while
to swell the bulk of the list by giving details as to the parts of the
vestments on which the various objects are represented, or the frequency
with which those occurring more than once are found, the purpose of the
list being simply to show faintly the variety of designs at the disposal
of the embroiderer or enameller. It should be premised that this is by
no means a complete list; in many cases the inventory gives little or no
information concerning the decoration of the vestment catalogued. Most
probably, however, all ornaments of interest or importance are here
included:
GROUP I
_Flowers_:
Fleurs-de-lys (possibly heraldic).
Roses, } possibly emblematic of St Mary the Virgin.
Lilies, }
_Birds and beasts, or parts thereof_:
Leopards.
Harts.
Falcons.
Falcons bearing crowns of gold in their mouths (probably heraldic).
Swans.
Ostriches.
Ostrich feathers.
Popinjays.
Lions.
Owls.
Black eagles.
Peacocks.
Gryphons.
Dragons.
Phœnix.
_Miscellaneous_:
Knots.
Clouds.
Crowns.
(Also a few others, properly included under Group II.)
GROUP II
_Divine Persons_:
The Holy Trinity.
Our Lord.
The Majesty.
The Holy Ghost, Crucifix, and St Mary the Virgin.
_Incidents in the life of Our Lord, and His emblems_:
Our Lord with the Cross.
The Passion, in scenes.
The Crucifixion.
Ditto, with SS Mary and John on either side.
Ditto, ditto, the Father above.
The Ascension.
Our Lord sitting on the rainbow.
The root of Jesse.
The vernacle.
The Holy Lamb.
Crosses.
_Members of the Holy Host of Heaven_:
[Archangels, angels, and images, passim.]
Two angels singing.
Two angels incensing.
An angel bearing a crown.
Two angels bearing St John Baptist's head (properly heraldic).
An angel with a harp.
_Scenes in the life of St Mary the Virgin and her emblems_:
Salutation.
St Mary; on the left side three kings, on the right two shepherds,
and an angel with 'Gloria in excelsis.'
St Mary with the Holy Child.
Ditto, and St Mary Magdalene.
Burial.
Assumption.
Coronation.
'Our lady of pity.'
Wm. Marshall (donor of vestment) kneeling to the Virgin.
Suns, Moons, Stars.
Roses, lilies. (See Group I.)
_Other Saints and their emblems_:
'History of Apostles and Martyrs.'
St Peter.
St Catherine.
St Catherine (the tomb springing oil).
St John Baptist.
St Bartholomew.
History of St John Baptist, } Probably in different
History of St Thomas, } scenes.
Wheels (St Catherine).
Keys (St Peter).
The Majesty, SS Mary the Virgin, Peter, Paul, the four evangelists,
and a man kneeling to them.
_Various Scenes in Sacred History_:
Eve eating of the tree.
The massacre of the innocents.
The last judgment.
_Uncertain and Miscellaneous Subjects_:
A bishop (probably some saint).
A king (perhaps King David).
Kings and prophets.
Two kings crowned.
_Inscriptions_:
The hye wey ys best.
'Divers verses.'
Da gloriam deo.
Gracia dei sum, etc.
Vox domini super aquas.
Cena dñi.
Also the following, which form a connecting-link between the second and
third groups, being requests for prayers for the donors of vestments:
Orate pro anima Magistri Willelmi Skelton.
" " Willelmi Spenser capellani.
" " Magistri Ricardi Smyth vycar de Worseworth.
" " Roberti Dercy.
Memoriale Willelmi Marshall olim virgarii hujus ecclesiae.
GROUP III
_Heraldic_:
Leopards powdered with black trefoils (? leopards ermine).
'White harts crowned with chains on their necks full of
these letters S.S.'
Orphreys with diverse arms.
Mullets.
'All may God amend' (Rudyng motto), together with Rudyng
arms and badges.
'A shield paled.'
Arms of Lord Chadworth.
_Names, Initials, and Dedicatory Inscriptions_:
Ricūs de Gravesend.
T.S., I.C., O.L., P.D. (on different vestments).
Ex dono Johannis Reed Capellani Cantar' quondam cantarie
Ricardi Whitwell.
Southam ex dono Johannis Southam.
Ex dono Mʳⁱ Willelmi Smyth archidiaconi Lincoln.
In many vestments, especially among those of early date, the embroidery
is of a distinctly Oriental character, which, if not actually Byzantine,
is founded on Byzantine models. These were popularized throughout Europe
by the Mohammedan weavers and their successors of the royal
establishment in Sicily. Often vestments are found bearing Arabic or
other Oriental inscriptions; these are sometimes meaningless, like the
patterns formed with Arabic letters on many Eastern shawls and cloths of
modern times, but occasionally they give important information as to the
date and origin of the vestment which they decorate. The coronation
vestments of the German Emperors, now at Vienna, are of entirely Eastern
character, and the cope bears inscriptions in Cufic characters, telling
us that it was made at Palermo in 1133. Occasionally the Eastern
ornaments and inscriptions are _forged_ (alas, for mediaeval morality!),
in order to counterfeit the workmanship of the highly popular Eastern
looms. Sometimes we find clumsy imitations of Arabic words treated
ignorantly by the forger as ornaments, the word being written correctly,
though in an obviously amateurish manner, from right to left, and a
replica _reversed_ set opposite to it, in order to balance it
symmetrically!
No country excelled England in embroidered work in the middle ages.
Matthew Paris's story of Pope Innocent IV's admiration of some English
vestments is well known. His holiness, 'seeing some desirable orphreys
in the copes and _infulae_ of certain English ecclesiastics, asked where
they had been made. "In England," was the answer. "Truly is England our
garden of delights," said he; "truly is it a well inexhaustible; and
where much is, thence can much be extorted." Whereupon the Pope, allured
by the lust of the eyes, sent his sealed letters to nearly all the
abbots of the Cistercian order in England (to whose prayers he had just
been committing himself in the chapter-house of the Cistercian order)
that they should not delay to send those orphreys to himself—getting
them for nothing, if possible—to decorate his chasubles and choral
copes.' Matthew Paris concludes his narrative by telling us that the
London merchants were gratified enough, but that many were highly
offended at the open avarice of the Head of the Church.[81]
This leads us to another point to be noticed with regard to mediaeval
vestments—their value as articles of merchandise. In the 'Issues of the
Exchequer,' 24, 25 Henry III (A.D. 1241-1242), there are several entries
of expenses involved in purchasing vestments. Thus we find 4l. 19s. paid
to Adam de Basinges 'for a gold cope purchased by our command and placed
in our chapel at the feast of the Nativity of our Lord in the 25th year
of our reign: also to the same 24l. 1s. 6d. for a cope of red silk given
to the Bishop of Hereford by our command in the same year and day: also
to the same 17l. 18s. 10d. for two diapered and one precious cloth of
gold, for a tunic and dalmatican entirely ornamented with gold fringe
purchased by our command and placed in our chapel the same year and day:
also to the same 47s. 10d. for a chesable of silk cloth without gold
purchased by our command and placed in our chapel: also to the same 7s.
2d. for an albe embroidered with gold fringe purchased by our command
and placed in our chapel: also to the same 17l. 1 mark for two
embroidered chesables purchased by our command and placed in our
chapel.'[82] The same year the enormous sum of £82 was given by the King
for a mitre.
It has been calculated that the present value of money is fifteen times
greater than it was in the thirteenth century. Applying this principle,
we obtain the following results, which give a clearer idea of the value
of the vestments purchased by the King:
A cope costing 4l. 19s. would be worth, at present rates, £74 5s.
A cope costing 24l. 1s. 6d. would be worth, at present rates, £361 2s.
6d.
Tunic and dalmatic costing 17l. 18s. 10d. would be worth, at present
rates, £269 2s. 6d.
A chasuble costing 2l. 7s. 10d. would be worth, at present rates, £35
17s. 6d.
An alb costing 7s. 2d. would be worth, at present rates, £5 7s. 6d.
Two chasubles costing 17l. 13s. 4d. would be worth, at present rates,
£265.
A mitre costing 82l. would be worth, at present rates, £1,230.
Even if we allow that these vestments, being royal gifts, or royal
furniture, were of larger price than usual, it still remains evident
that a set of vestments was an expensive luxury. And when we consider
the enormous number of vestments which were existing in the different
cathedral establishments, we can hardly wonder at the cupidity of Henry
VIII being aroused. Mr St John Hope has calculated that in Lincoln (of
which we possess perhaps the fullest set of inventories) the
commissioners of 1536 found 125 red copes, 7 purple, 20 green, 36 blue,
9 black, 60 white, 2 yellow, 2 various, and perhaps 4 for choristers—265
in all; 16 red chasubles, 3 purple, 6 green, 11 blue, 5 black, 9 white,
1 yellow and 1 various—52 in all; 2 dalmatics, 94 tunicles, and 131
albs, not to mention other property in embroidered work, such as altar
frontals, or in precious metal, such as chalices. It is, of course,
impossible to assign an estimate of the value of this vestry, but even
if we reckoned the copes at £50 of our money—a low estimate in the
majority of cases—these vestments alone would be worth £13,250 together.
But this is pure guesswork and of no practical value; of more importance
is such an entry as the following, from the old Durham 'Book of Rites'
(printed by the Surtees Society):
_'Prossession of Hallowe Thursdaie, Whitsondaie & Trinitie Sonday, by
the Prior and the Monnckes._—The next morninge, being Hallow Thursdaie,
they had also a generall Prossession, with two crosses borne before
theme, the one of the crosses, the staff and all, of gould, the other
of sylver and parcell gilt ... with all the riche Copes that was in the
Church, every Monnke had one, and the Prior had a marvellous riche cope
on, of clothe of ffyne pure gould, the which he was not able to goe
upright with it, for the weightines thereof, but as men did staye it
and holde it up of every side when he had it on. He went with his
crutch in his hand, which was of sylver and duble gilt, with a rich
myter on his head.'
In the private account-book of the last prior but one of Worcester[83]
is given the following interesting bill for a mitre:
'Item to John Cranckes gold smyth of london for al maner of stuff
belongyng of the new mytur, with the makyng of the same as hit apereth
by parcelles foloyng:
In primis for v grete stones xvis viijd.
Item for xx/iiij & vj stones prece viijd apeece to
the frontes lvijs iiijd.
Item for xxj stones sett in golde, weyng di.
vnces xiijs iiijd.
Item for xl medyll stones, prece vjd a stone xxs.
Item for xx/iij & xv smale stones prece iiijd a
stone, to garnesshe xxvs.
Item for iij vnces & a quarter of fyne peerll,
at iij li. the vnce iij[84] li xvs.
Item for xij vnces of medull peerll, at xs the
vnce vj li.
Item the selver warke weys, in all xx/iiij xiij
vnces, which is with the fassheon & all xiiij li xvjs.
Item to the broderar vj wokes (? _wekes_) xijd
a day, besydes mete & dryncke xxxvjs.
Item payd for lynnen cloth to cowech ytt on
with perll vijd.
Item for sylke to thred the seid perll & steche
the peerll j vnce & di xvd.
Item for yalow thred jd.
Item for Rybande of iiijd brede ij yeards viijd.
Item for Reband of ijd brede A yearde ijd.
Item for Rownde selk about the bordure jd. ob.
Item for red selke to sow hytt with all,
di. quarter the vnce ijd ob.
Item for past iiijd.
(Item) for a quarter of sarcenett to lyne hytt xiiijd.
Item for a case to the mytur of lethur iiijs.
Summa xlixli. xvs. the coste of the mytur.'
Before parting with the ancient vestments of the Western Church, let us
spend a few moments on another, and to the antiquary a melancholy,
subject, namely, the fate which has befallen them.
The number of actual vestments which survive to our own day is
comparatively small. Notwithstanding the scrupulous care with which they
were kept, the action of time and probably of moths could not but
destroy the perishable material of which they were made; and as so
sacred were they regarded that when a vestment was worn out it was
burnt, and the ashes thrown into and washed down the drain of the
piscina, or font; so, at least, it was ordered by the ninth canon of the
Synod of Dublin, 1186.[85] In France and in England, however, far the
greatest havoc was wrought in the religious and political troubles of
the eighteenth century in the former case, of the two centuries
preceding in the latter.
The destruction of churches and church property in France at the hands
of the atheistical mobs of the Revolution was incalculable. Monuments,
glass and fabrics were broken and ruined, if not utterly destroyed, and
the vestments and Processional crosses were torn from the treasuries and
heaped up in the streets to be burnt in bonfires. In England the damage
was perhaps even more considerable, though it was executed in a quieter
and more deliberate manner. In the reaction after the revival of the
Roman faith under Queen Mary, orders were sent to the churchwardens of
the different parishes requesting returns from them as to the relics of
popery, if any, which remained in the churches under their care, and the
manner in which such superstitious objects had been disposed of,
whenever they had been removed. A very perfect series of these returns
exists for Lincolnshire, and they have been edited by Mr Edward Peacock,
F.S.A., in a highly-interesting volume entitled 'English Church
Furniture and Decorations,' published in 1866. In each return is a note
describing what was done with the vestments and other pre-Reformation
furniture of the church to which the return relates. From them we
extract the following entries, which may serve as specimens of the
varied fate of vestments, not only in the county of Lincoln, but
throughout the country:
_Alford._ Itm̃ one cope whearof is made a clothe for the coīon table [a
frequent entry].
Itm̃ one vestment [chasuble] sold and defacid [a frequent entry].
_Ashbie iuxa Sleford._ Itm̃ vestmẽtes copes crosses aulbes phanelles
crosse clothes banner clothes and all such lyke ymplements—stollē out
of or churche in quene maries tyme.
_Ashbie iuxa Spillisbie._ Itm̃ one vestm̃t with crose clothes—geven to
the poore Aõ iijᵒ Regine Elizabt̃h [a frequent entry].
Itm̃ an alb—whearof wee have made a surples [a frequent entry].
_Aswardbie._ Itm̃ two vestmentes were cut in peces yesterdaie and sold
to Thomas waite and george holmes and theʸ haue put them to prophane
vse.
_Bomnbie._ Itm̃ a vestmᵗ and yē rest as fanells, stooles and such
like—brent iiij yeare ago p̃te of the same and the rest hath made
quishwines of John Michill and James Totter then churchwarden.
So we find at Braceby an alb made a covering for the font. At
Castlebytham we find 'one cope one vestment and one albe' were 'sold to
Thomas Inma for the some of Vs. Vpon sondaie was a sevenighte wc̃h he
haith defaced and cutt in peces.' Elsewhere, a vestment was made into a
'dublett,' others into 'clowtes for children,' or 'hangings for a bedd.'
Some churches had lost their vestments in the Edwardian Reformation, and
consequently, when they were required again in Queen Mary's reign,
substitutes had to be borrowed from private owners. These were
'restored' to their possessors; in a few cases the churchwardens
thoughtfully cut them in pieces before doing so.
There is one other series of vestments which deserves a passing
notice—the vestments in which the newly-baptized were clothed. In the
sixth or seventh century these consisted of the _alba_, the _sabanum_,
the _chrismale_, and the _garland_. The alba was probably similar to the
clerical alba; the form of the sabanum (=sabanon=) is uncertain, but it
was possibly not more than its name implies—simply a towel. The
chrismale was a piece of white linen tied on the head, intended to keep
the chrism in its place during the week in which these vestments were
worn. The garland was a chaplet of flowers with which the baptized were
crowned after baptism.
There is a rite in the Armenian Church in which the priest twists two
threads, one white and one red, lifts them up under the cross, and then
lays them on the person to be baptized. The white and red is obviously
symbolical of the mingled blood and water which flowed from our Lord's
side, but there are obscure traces in early writers which seem to
indicate that this observance was of more general acceptance, and that
the present rite is a corruption of something quite different. Durandus,
in the 'Rationale Div. Off.,' vi, c. 82, speaks of the alba of baptism
having upon it a red band like a 'corona,' and elsewhere we find a
combination of red and white mentioned in connection with the robes of
the neophytes.
These vestments were worn throughout the week after baptism, and put off
on the Sunday following, hence called _Dominica in albis depositis_.
They were either retained after baptism as a memorial of the
sacrament—and often used as shrouds after death—or else presented to the
church by the baptized.
[Illustration: FIG. 21.]
In the mediaeval church this comparatively elaborate suit was reduced to
one cloth, the chrysome, or chrism cloth, in which the body of a
newly-baptized infant was swathed. This cloth was kept upon the child
for a month, and if it died within the month the child was buried in it
as a shroud. Several monumental brasses are extant in which children are
represented in their baptismal robes; we reproduce an example in Chesham
Bois Church, Buckinghamshire. In the modern Roman Church the white cloth
is merely placed on the head; it is now too small to cover the body.
[Illustration: FIG. 22.—A COPE CHEST, YORK MINSTER.]
The chrism cloth was taken off if the child survived till the end of the
month, and returned to the church, in whose custody it was kept. These
cloths were used for the reparation of vestments and altar hangings, and
other sacred textile fabrics connected with the church. Thus in the
Treasurer's Rolls for Ripon we read (1470-71) the following entries:
'Est de ccᵐᵃlxvj vestibus crismalibus de reman. ultimi compoti
praedicti. Et de cᵐᵃiij vestibus crismalibus rec. de tot pueris
baptizatis hoc anno. Summa ccciiijˣˣix.[86] De quibus.
'In sepultura puerorum viij. Et in reparacione vestimentorum, xiiij. Et
liberantur pro manutergiis inde fiendis, ordinatis pro expensis
ecclesiae, ix. Et liberantur pro calicibus involvendis et aliis
necessariis ejusdem ecclesiae, vj. Summa xxxvij. Et reman. cccᵐᵃlij
vestes crismales.'[87]
[76] This word is a curious hybrid. The _muce_ is the Teutonic for a
cap or hood (_cf._ Scottish _mutch_, German _Mütze_). The word
_mozetta_ is connected with this. The _al_ is the Arabic article,
probably attached to it at some time in Spain.
[77] Both objectionable terms, as they lead to confusion with the
_amice_, the sound of all these words being practically
indistinguishable.
[78] Rock.
[79] For example, the lamb (besides its more sacred significance) may
possibly be taken as symbolical of St Agnes, the dragon of St George or
St Margaret, the lion of St Jerome, the lily, sun, moon, stars, or rose
of St Mary the Virgin, and so on indefinitely.
[80] Examples of an entire name occurring on copes are extremely rare.
I only know of one—the brass of Thomas Patesley (1418), at Great
Shelford, Cambridgeshire. Initials are common in almost every county;
_rebuses_ not quite so common, though we have the famous _maple_-leaves
(alternating with _M_'s) in the cope of a priest called Mapleton, as
shown on his brass at Broadwater, Sussex; while heraldic devices are
fairly frequent, either as complete shields or selections from the
charges borne by the priest's family. The brasses of Wm. de Fulbourne,
at Fulbourne, Cambridgeshire, and of Thos. Aileward, at Havant,
Hampshire, give us examples of both these methods of ornamentation.
[81] Eisdemque diebus dominus papa videns in aliquorum Anglicorum
ornamentis ecclesiasticis, utpote in capis choralibus et infulis
aurifrisia concupiscibilia, interrogavit ubinam facta puissent. Cui
responsum est In Anglia. At ipse, Vere hortus noster deliciarum est
Anglia; vere puteus inexhaustus est; et ubi multa abundant de multis
multa possunt extorqueri. Unde idem dominus papa concupiscentia
illectus oculorum literas suas bullatas sacras misit ad omnes fere
Cisterciensis ordinis abbates in Anglia commorantes quorum orationibus
se nuper in capitulo Cisterciensi commendaverat ut ipsi aurifrisia ac
si pro nihilo ipsa possent adquirere mittere non different pracelecta
ad planetas et capas suas chorales adomandas. Quod mercennariis
Londoniae qui ea venalia habebant non displicuit, ad placitum
vendentibus: unde multi manifestum avaritiam Romanae ecclesiae
detestabantur.—M. Paris, 'Chronica Majora' (Rolls Series), vol. iv, p.
546.
[82] 'Issues of the Exchequer' (ed. Dover), p. 16.
[83] Quoted in the _Builder_, 7 July 1894.
[84] _Sic._, should be viiij or ix.
[85] Worn-out vestments were also found useful for the interment of
ecclesiastics, as we have seen, supra p. 101.
[86] There is an error of twenty somewhere in this calculation.
[87] 'Memorials of Ripon,' vol. iii, p. 219 (Surtees Society).
[Illustration]
[Illustration]