Out of the wilderness : a fourteenth-century English drawing of John the Baptist

London, British Library, MS Royal 10 B XIV contains a large drawing of St. John the Baptist that is both exceptional for its quality and iconographically unique. Not previously noticed by art historians, it constitutes an important addition to English art of the early to mid-fourteenth century. This paper explores the physical nature of the drawing, its bibliographical context (in a book of natural philosophy), the nature and meaning of its imagery, and its artistic context and associations, within the broader framework of its ownership and use by Benedictine monks of Saint Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury. The drawing is considered a symptom of a wider interest in the acquisition of manuscript illumination at the abbey during the first half of the fourteenth century. It can be dated to about 1335-40 and is thought to have been executed in southeast England or East Anglia, where the works of art to which it is closest in stylistic and iconographic terms were produced. The iconography includes a number of motifs rare or unparalleled in images of John the Baptist, including a figure of Salome beneath the saint's feet and, most remarkably, a monumental Gothic arch composed of living oak trees, which frames the saint. The detail and semantic richness of this imagery make it practically certain that the drawing was made as a focus of devotion, probably for the manuscript's first recorded owner, the Oxford scholar-monk John of Lingfield.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The relics of Thomas Becket in England

While Becket’s relics are likely to have been owned by institutions and individuals throughout much of later medieval England, the reliable surviving evidence for them is limited. Without pretending to anything like completeness, the present essay assesses a range of sources in order to determine (or at least suggest) their usefulness for constructing a historically rooted understanding of the definition, distribution, appearance, and housing of Becket-relics. The approach taken arises partially from an ambition to cover as much ground as possible in the available space, and partially from misgivings about the value of documents whose original contexts cannot be satisfactorily reconstructed. The analysis is intended to contribute to scholarship on the cult of Becket generally in later medieval England: to this end, evidence has been sought widely and Canterbury receives less attention than the reader might expect, although the essay turns to the cathedral priory at the end.PostprintPeer reviewe

A projected pilgrimage from Suffolk to St Ninian, c. 1500

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Intelligent by design : the manuscripts of Walter of Whittlesey, monk of Peterborough

This article examines two important fourteenth-century manuscripts containing historical and other texts from Peterborough Abbey, both made for a monk named Walter of Whittlesey (Add. MS. 37958 and Add. MS. 47170). It reviews the biographical evidence for Whittlesey, the muddied issue of his role in the manuscripts' production, and also the textual and iconographic constitution of these manuscripts. As such, it is essentially a study of the exercise and effects of personal monastic book-patronage. As its objects show, this patronage was heavily inflected by institutional culture, oriented in practical ways towards specific goals, and intelligently implemented. Particular emphasis is placed here on subtleties of design, and how these contributed to the utility of the manuscripts. Although the evidence for Walter's patronage is unusually clear (at least where illuminated manuscripts are concerned), opportunities for similar analysis exist elsewhere, and this study offers a model for how such work might proceed.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The Ridware cartulary and the Great Seal of England

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Emily M. Rose, The Murder of Guillaume of Norwich: The Origins of Blood Libel in Medieval Europe

À ce jour, le livre d’Emily Rose est l’étude la plus détaillée sur Guillaume de Norwich (mort en 1144) et les implications de son meurtre. Le meurtre de Guillaume n’est pas le sujet principal de l’a. Son plus large objectif est de contribuer aux connaissances sur le mythe de la diffamation de sang qu’elle admet être un phénomène contesté et déplaisant, mais qui mérite quelque attention en raison de sa puissance historique. Sa contribution fondamentale explique comment et pourquoi ce mythe est..

Scottish medieval Parish churches: The evidence from the Dioceses of Dunblane and Dunkeld

The great majority of Scottish parish churches owe their present appearance to reconstructions carried out from the later eighteenth or nineteenth centuries. It was the view of the authors of this paper, however, that in many cases those reconstructions had been relatively superficial, and that medieval work might have survived under what could, in some cases, be little more than a modern veneer. To test this view, a survey was carried out of all medieval parish sites within the dioceses of Dunblane and Dunkeld. The findings from that survey are summarized in this paper

Culture, communication and child health

Cultural beliefs and values implicitly and explicitly shape every aspect of the way we parent our children and how we communicate about parenting. To support parents appropriately in this new and challenging role, child health services for parents in Australia need to do more than acknowledge a diverse range of cultural practices. While many health professionals believe they act in culturally sensitive ways, we need to closely examine this belief, question the cultural assumptions implicit in the information we give, and assess the extent to which our interactions are culturally appropriate. In this paper, we present a critical review of the literature on health care provision for migrant women and families. We then suggest a need to re-examine the values, beliefs and attitudes within cultural frameworks that inform how child health professionals communicate. Specifically, communication between child health professionals and migrant parents requires further analysis. We suggest that professionals need to reflect on the cultural self rather than solely on the culture of others

The English Parish Church as an Object and Category of Study

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