Chapter 11 The north transept windows: the church history sequence (2)
The series is continued with … Britain, England and Cornwall, carrying us through Primitive times, the days of Celtic Christianity, the conversion of the English …( Master Scheme)288
After the long sequence in the confined north quire aisle, the recommended route now enters into the large open space of the north transept, dominated by the second of the Holy Trinity rose windows and its accompanying six lancets (N13, Chapter 4 and n15–20, Chapter 5). The transept also contains the next three lancets of the Church History sequence. As one turns right from the quire aisle into the transept there is an immediate abrupt change in the focus of their subject matter, from the development of the continental and eastern church in the quire aisle to the emergence of the church in Britain. This has already been anticipated by the inclusion of St Alban, Britain’s proto-martyr in the north quire sequence (n8), and indeed by the St Augustine panel (s12) in the south transept opposite.
n13. North Transept east 1: Saints Piran, Germanus and Petroc
Donor, dedicatee and insertion.
This window was inserted in née Buller.289
in memory of William Henry Pole Carew of Antony House, former Member of Parliament for East Cornwall, by his widow Frances Anne Pole Carew,This is the only window in the whole Church History sequence whose predella does not illustrate an event connected with the life of the dominant figure in the ‘speaking group’.
The main figure is St Piran. In the Middle Ages his shrine at Perranzabuloe290 became one of the greatest three places of pilgrimage in Cornwall (along with St Day and St Michael’s Mount). The bell hanging from his right thumb was both a practical and sacramental symbol: besides summoning the people the bell was also a sign of the spiritual presence. He was one of the earliest Welsh missionaries to Cornwall, and died c.
The figure seated to the left represents St Germanus, who was Bishop of Auxerre and visited Britain in about and possibly on a second, later, visit, to combat the Pelagian heresy.
The figure seated to the right represents St Petroc, who has claims to be Cornwall’s most famous saint. His remains were deposited at Padstow, which became an early centre of the Cornish see. About his shrine and relics were removed to the parish church of St Petroc, Bodmin.
The predella scene represents the ‘Alleluia Battle’ in about when St Germanus directed his British forces in a famous victory over a combination of Picts and Saxons. The battle, fought probably in what is now North Wales, was traditionally held to have been won without bloodshed.
The connecting theme for the group of three figures is obviously one of mission to Britain, and particularly Cornwall, from both mainland Europe and the Celtic West. The group contains the two most famous Cornish saints, yet the predella focuses on St Germanus. He was born in Auxerre in Roman Gaul, and so technically was also a Celt. He visited the site of St Alban’s martyrdom in , so providing a link with window n8, and traditionally is supposed to have taught St Patrick. The main reason why he was chosen for the predella scene above St Piran and St Petroc is probably that the church dedicated to him at St Germans was the original cathedral for Cornwall, and its Bishops of St Germans are recorded from to c.291 There is therefore a strong case to be made for the symbolic link between the dedicatee of Cornwall’s old cathedral and this Victorian cathedral of the new Diocese of Truro.
n14. North Transept east 2: Saints Gregory, Martin of Tours and Patrick
Donor, dedicatee and insertion.
This window was inserted in memory of Canon Paul Bush in
by his children. He was holder of the stall of St Paul, –.In many respects n14 must be considered as a pair with n13, in that their basic text is the theme of mission to Britain. It is significant that the theme of the emergence of the Church in Cornwall and the two most important Cornish saints in the earlier window in the north transept sequence precedes the positioning of St Gregory, the last of the Latin Doctors in this sequence of Church History.
St Gregory, c–,
is portrayed standing in the upper part of n14 2,
clothed in Papal vestments including the crown. Mason obviously regarded this as the end of the first part of the Church History
sequence when he commented that the See is, I think, well represented by St Clement
at one end of the first series and St Gregory at the
other
.292
The figure on left of the lower part of n14 2 represents St Martin, c–. The liturgical significance of this scene is shown in a sculpted panel over the entry to the baptistry from the baptistry vestibule (Chapter 8). The portrayal in this window emphasises Martin’s dual function as soldier and bishop.
The figure seated to the right represents St Patrick c–.
The linking theme between the three is revealed in the predella scene which represents
St Gregory (not yet Pope) meeting English children on sale in the Roman market.
Later, as Pope Gregory, he was to send St Augustine of Canterbury
n21 to Britain as missionary to covert the Anglo-Saxons.
When Mason was considering dropping St Leo from the Master Scheme he weighed
the alternatives in the following: The only other thing I could think of was to drop
St Patrick. But I would be sorry to omit Patrick, and Gregory’s connexion with us,
as well as his personality (far greater to my mind than Leo’s), makes it proper
that he should be the principal figure in a
group.
294
Patrick was also a key figure in stimulating missionary activity to Britain, but
from the opposite geographical direction. However, there is also a sub-text that can be read
into this ‘speaking group’, and this is hinted at by the inclusion of
St Martin of Tours. All three defined mission as taking pity on the poor as an
essential element in Christian belief, providing liberation in both spiritual and literal terms.
In so identifying pagan Cornwall as poor, these two windows define Christian mission around
the concept of the plight of the marginalized, reflecting Benson and Mason’s vision of
mission in the new diocese of Truro.
n21. North Transept St George Chapel: Saints George, Joseph of Arimathaea and Augustine
Donor, dedicatee and insertion.
The St George window was given by Mrs Emily Grylls, sister of the dedicatees, and inserted in 295
in memory of Joseph Roberts of Southleigh, Lemon Street, Truro, and his sister Mary Penelope Roberts of Helston.The reading of this window presents more difficulties, both theological and practical, than the other two windows in the transept. This area of the north transept was designated and laid out as St George’s chapel until the early 1980s. It was an open chapel, dedicated to among others the Boy Scouts’ movement, and there would have been originally an uninterrupted view of n21. Since then the area has been reordered and is now an office and store room/shop, so visual access to the window is now severely restricted. In the inter-war period the view of the other two windows in the north transept (n13/n14) had been blocked when the Bolitho organ was installed there. This organ was removed in ,296 so ironically as access to one window in the transept became restricted, the other two were revealed.
St George is the dominant figure in the group. His portrayal is conventional, clad in armour and helmet.
For once there are few clues to the interpretation of this disparate combination as a ‘speaking group’. The predella is a very conventional depiction of St George slaying the dragon. On the face of it, there would appear to be little in common between a mythical saint that was adopted as England’s patron saint, a biblical personage and an historical missionary separated by over five hundred years. The predella image of the slaying of the dragon suggests a theme of Christian chivalry, and this iconic triumph of right over evil has been used as a subject for countless war memorials in stained glass and statuary.298 St George has become an essential part of the mythic English church, as indeed has St Joseph of Arimathaea. In addition to the pivotal part played by St Joseph of Arimathaea in the immediate events after the Crucifixion299, he is also according to ancient legend accredited with bringing the Holy Grail to Glastonbury and establishing the first British Christian church there. If one now places these two figures alongside the Cornish saints in the previous two windows, we now have a legendary narrative of the coming of Christianity to the Southwest.
As often happens with the Church History sequence, the final lancet of a group acts as a transition to what is about to come. St Augustine of Canterbury has already featured in s12 directly opposite in the south transept. This is yet another instance of Mason using the architectural space of opposite walls to interweave and develop historical and theological schemes, as he did in the quire transepts and retroquire (Chapters 7 and 10). In the lower scene of the south transept window s12, King Ethelbert and his wife (who was a Christian) greet Augustine who displays to the royal couple a panel showing the Crucifixion. This is the same panel that St Augustine is holding in the ‘speaking group’ in n21. In the south transept window, the function of this Augustine scene was to shift the focus from the crises of the Church in general to the evangelizing of the Anglo-Saxons and the establishment of the Roman rite in England. In this north transept window the inclusion of St Augustine in such a disparate grouping fulfils the same function. It can be read as the culmination of the themes of all three lancets in the north transept. St Gregory’s dominant position in his group in n14 as the Pope who dispatched St Augustine to Britain is now clear, as are the legendary and mythic persons in all three groupings. Out of this narrative emerges the establishment of the Roman rite as the basis for British Christianity over its Celtic Christian predecessors.
So, as the recommended route turns right out of the north transept and into the north nave aisle, the stage is now set for the final, and longest, part of the Church History sequence.
References
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A stained Window in memory of the late Mr. Pole-Carew, of Antony, presented to the Cathedral by his widow.
,
,
CintW 5th August, 1893.
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- The oratory is now in ruins, but parts of it remain hidden by sand dunes near Perranporth.
- . After the Cornish see was combined with that of Crediton under the authority of Exeter.
- n14, . Comments on continuing involvement of Canon Mason. Letter from Canon Mason (7 Trinity Square, London) to Chancellor Worlledge, . Insertion of
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- Letter from Canon Mason (7 Trinity Square, London) to Chancellor Worlledge, .
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DD/716/69/5
Diaries of Canon Mason.
visited Clayton and Bell’s to see
the first of the Church History windows for Truro
. Donated by Mrs Grylls, . -
The Bolitho organ was installed in St Breaca
parish church, Breage in (Breage church guide). Archdeacon F Boreham
The story of the windows of Truro Cathedral, undated, Truro, p 7.
Two beautiful windows, showing some saints of the early days in Cornwall, are in the North Transept, but, unfortunately, rather hidden by the Bolitho organ
. - .
- St George occurs in fourteen war memorial windows in Cornish parish churches (author’s TRUROSEE listing of all windows in the Truro Diocese).
- .