Please excuse the murky image - there wasn’t much light in the church. The tremendous hammerbeam roof (fifteenth century) carries a host of medieval angels - each one is life-size. You will need to click on the photo to get the full impact.
Looking up at the roof I thought of Paul Simon’s “angels in the architecture” and all the rest of the day You Can Call Me Al was going through my mind.
On the walls were guides to the angels of the roof, which were analysed by a Fellow of the Society of Antiquities in the 1940s. The Golden Legend, which circulated throughout the medieval period, gave a definitive classification of the Celestial Hierarchy. Basically there were (are?) nine orders of angels in the medieval vision of heaven, and these were organised into three sets of three.
The highest rank is made up of Cherubim, Seraphim and Thrones. They surround the throne of God and so are carved with their hands held high (in ecstatic adoration). Seraphim are shown with six wings, Cherubim with four wings, and Thrones hold crowns.
Next come Dominations, Virtues and Powers. Their job is to govern mankind as a whole. Dominations hold books (symbolising the knowledge of God), Virtues hold bottles (symbolising the vial of God’s Wrath which will be poured out on the world at the End of Days), and Powers hold harps.
Finally there are Principalities, Archangels and Angels who are directly concerned with particular places, communities and even individuals. These angels wear plate armour (ie St Michael) and Principalities are shown crowned and holding sceptres (except for Gabriel who holds a herald’s wand). Ordinary Angels wear scarves (a medieval sign of dignity), and as their duties include performing the everlasting song of praise they are shown carrying scrolls with the words of the Te Deum, as well as harps, pipes and handbells.
Also in the church was this 18th century gravestone to Arthur King (note the stars and stripes in the coat of arms). Dan Brown would probably make up a story about this being the real resting place of King Arthur. What Dan Brown doesn’t realise is that the truth is often far stranger than he can imagine.
More about Paul Simon’s You Can Call Me Al: http://www.lyricinterpretations.com/lookat.php/bands/paulsimon/3375c763c2a52ff
2 comments:
What a beautiful roof! Before I next return to Britian I'm going to have to contact you for the location of some of these places.
Will be happy to help James - but actually angel roofs are all over the place. This one is fairly remote but there are others that are very easy to get to.
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