ECCLESIASTICAL
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ECCLESIASTICAL
effect, groups of saints, sacred scenes, and religious
symbols. On the cliasubles, copes, albs, stoles, mani-
ples, burses, veils, mitres, frontals, super-frontals, and
altar-covers, palls, bags, and panels of that period, are
to be seen triumphs of artistic excellence, worked with
exceeding beauty, and with a glorious richness of col-
our, by the hands of the faithful women of the day
and designed liy the men of supreme genius whom the
Church had attracted to her side. Some of the verj'
finest of this embroidery work was English, and refer-
ences are found to the dignity of English embroidery
before the end of the seventh century, as, St. Aldhelra,
Bishop of Sherborne, celebrated in verse the skilful
work of the Anglo-Saxon embroideresses. Indeed, at
one time, rather too much attention in the convents for
women seems to have lieen given to this fascinating
needlework, for a council held in 747 recommended
that the reading of books and psalm-singing by the
nuns should receive greater attention, and that not
quite so many hours should be spent in needlework.
As early as 8.5.5, the .\nglo-Saxon King Ethelwulf
when journeying to Rome took with hiin as presents
silken vestments richly embroidered in gold, executed
in his own country, and there are fragments of a stole
and maniple, found in the tomb of St. Cuthbert {<1.
687), which were produced under the auspices of the
wife of Edward the Elder in 916 and placed in the
saint's coffin. From that time down to the middle of
the sixteenth century there was a constant demand
for the work of the skilled embroideresses, and this
section of art, so particularly suitable to ecclesiastical
purposes, was one of perennial richness. It is well
that some stress should be laid upon the question of
embroidery, inasmuch as in the Middle Ages it was
almost exclusively a branch of ecclesiastical art, and
nearly everything'that can be termed of importance in
fine embroidery, especially in fine English embroidery
previous to the fifteenth century, was executed for the
Church. Enormous labour was given to the produc-
tion of these beautiful vestments, and as an example
it may be mentioned that a frontal presented to the
Abbey of Westminster in 1271 took the whole labour
of four women for three years and three-quarters.
Lincoln Cathedral in the fourteenth century possessed
over six hundred vestments in its sacristy, while the
Abbey of Westminster had very nearly double as
many, and even the English churches were far behind
those of Spain in the sumptuous manner in which they
were supplied with vestments. There was therefore
every possible necessity for the work, and no branch of
art has a greater importance between the twelfth and
the fifteenth centuries than has this one of embroidery.
Fortunately, a sufficient number of the old vestments
have come down to the present day to give a satisfac-
tory idea of their importance and beauty, and the
recortls and inventories of church goods prior to the
sixteenth century afford still further information con-
cerning this branch of art. The spirit of devotion
which has ever given the instinct to decorate the
house of God with the very finest works of which man
is capable led to tliis lavish display of artistic genius in
the service of the Catholic Church, but it must also be
borne in mind that there were other, subordinate
causes to account for the work. The Church, follow-
ing its Divine Master, has always inculcated the im-
portance of good works, and it has ever encouraged the
faithful to give to its .service of their best. If their
skill was in metal-work, in embroidery, in carving
wooden figures or wonderful choir-stalls, in stained
glass, in jewellery, in fresco or in mosaic, such skill
was to be devoted to (iod's .service, as the choicest gift
the artist had to lay upon the altar, symbolic of his
devotion to his faith. Even beyond that, there came
the occa,sions in which the penance for sin took the
form of the devotion of artistic gifts to the work of the
Church, and the other and very numerous cases in
which this artistic labour was the constant employ-
ment of those persons who had devoted their entire
life to the religious career, in the various monastic
houses belonging to the different orders. One further
cause must not be overlooked, the fact that it was the
Crown, the clergj', and the nobility who alone could
command, by reason of their means, the splendid pro-
ductions of the men of genius of the time, and that
while the commissions given by the clergy would most
certainly be for church purposes almost exclusively,
those given by the Crown and the higher nobility were
in almost all instances for exactly the same purposes,
and this for a double reason. First, the desire to ren-
der the home beautiful had not yet arisen to any con-
siderable extent, and secondly, there was every wish
to make the private chapel or oratory, the public
church or royal sanctuary, as beautiful as possible,
both to carry out the instincts of the religious feeling
and please those who held control of spiritual things,
as well as to heap up a reward for good deeds which
woukl have a corresponding equivalent in the future
life and might serve as retribution for the deeds of vio-
lence that formed so integral a part of the life of these
centuries.
The period imder consideration was not so much one of portable pictures as of applied art, devoted to the interior decoration of the sacred buildings, and to every object having connexion with the service of the altar. One section of ecclesiastical art deserving spe- cial mention concerns almost exclusively the monastic orders, namely, that of illumination antl transcription. All over Europe the monks of the pre-Renaissance time were engaged in preparing the books of the day, and these books were almost exclusively religious ones. The number of those concerning domestic matters, agriculture, or the classics, transcribed by these dili- gent students, is relatively small, but the series of religious works from their diligent pens is an exceed- ingly long one. Their time was fully occupied in pre- paring manuscripts for use within the cloisters and for the service of the altar, as well as for the great patrons of the monasteries who desired to have books of devo- tion for their own use, or for gifts to other sovereigns or noblemen. These manuscripts are of incomparable beauty, being transcribed with extraordinary skill upon the finest of vellum, and adorned with initial let- ters, calendars, and illustrations, that are triumphs of artistic skill, and marvels of ingenuity. The Books of Hours, Missals, Breviaries, and Psalters having their origin in the monastic houses of England, France, Ger- many, and Italy during the Middle .Ages are now among the greatest artistic treasures of the world, and with regard to them there is one very striking fact which must never be overlooked. This docs not re- late exclusively to books of devotion, it l)elongs nearly as much to every work of art produced dm-ing this period, and it is the fact that these triumphs of skill are for the most part anonymous. In the period hardly any great names are recorded in connexion with such work. There is a wonderful series of artistic treasures, but signatures scarcely ever exist. Here and there the name of an enamellcr is known, or perchance the name of the place where he worked, occasionally the name of a wood-carver or a worker in stained glass has been preserved and there are just a few cases in which the name of the zealous monk who toiled over the manuscript is known, but the instances are exceed- ingly few, and they occur, one might say. by accident rather than by intention. With respect to illumin.a- tions in books of devotion, one monk took up the task where the other had left it. Death caused no ce.s.sa- tion of the self-imposed labour. The orders could never die, and as in the present day great literary works are undertaken by the leading orders, in the full knowledge that to carry them out will extend far be- yond the life of the writer who begins the un<lertaking, but that his sucee.-;sor will l)e equally able to continue the task, so in the earlier days the monks laboured in
