The Use and Abuse of Sacred Places in Late Medieval Towns PDF
Preview The Use and Abuse of Sacred Places in Late Medieval Towns
THE USE AND ABUSE OF SACRED PLACES IN LATE MEDIEVAL TOWNS This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Tue, 20 Sep 2016 10:41:22 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms MEDIAEVALIA LOVANIENSIA Editorial Board Geert H.M. Claassens – Jean Goossens Carlos Steel – Werner Verbeke SERIES I/ STUDIA XXXVIII KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN INSTITUUT VOOR MIDDELEEUWSE STUDIES LEUVEN (BELGIUM) This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Tue, 20 Sep 2016 10:41:22 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms THE USE AND ABUSE OF SACRED PLACES IN LATE MEDIEVAL TOWNS EDITED BY Paul TRIO and Marjan DE SMET LEUVEN UNIVERSITY PRESS 2006 This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Tue, 20 Sep 2016 10:41:22 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms ©2006 Leuven University Press / Presses Universitaires de Louvain / Universitaire Pers Leuven, Blijde-Inkomststraat 5, B-3000 Leuven/Louvain (Belgium). All rights reserved. Except in those cases expressly determined by law, no part of this publication may be multiplied, saved in an automated data file or made public in any way whatsoever without the express prior written consent of the publishers. ISBN 90-5867-519-X ISBN 978-90-5867-519-4 D/2006/1869/1 NUR: 684-684 This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Tue, 20 Sep 2016 10:41:22 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms CONTENTS Introduction Paul TRIO Introduction vii Low Countries Marjan DE SMET Heavenly Quiet and the Din of War: Use and Abuse of Reli- gious Buildings for Purposes of Safety, Defence and Strategy 1 Jan KUYS Weltliche Funktionen spätmittelalterlicher Pfarrkirchen in den nördlichen Niederlanden 27 Jacoba VAN LEEUWEN Praise the Lord for this Peace! The Contribution of Religious Institutions to the Ceremonial Peace-Proclamations in Late Medieval Flanders (1450-1550) 47 Brigitte DEKEYZER For Eternal Glory and Remembrance: On the Representation of Patrons in Late Medieval Panel Paintings in the Southern Low Countries 71 German Regions Jenny Rahel OESTERLE The Liturgical Dimension of Royal Representation 103 This content downloaded from 104.239.165.217 on Tue, 20 Sep 2016 10:42:10 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms vi CONTENTS Gabriela SIGNORI Sakral oder Profan? Der Kommunikationsraum Kirche 117 British Isles Jens RÖHRKASTEN Secular Uses of the Mendicant Priories of Medieval London 135 Emilia JAMROZIAK St Mary Graces: A Cistercian House in Late Medieval London 153 Sheila SWEETINBURGH Mayor-Making and Other Ceremonies: Shared Uses of Sacred Space among the Kentish Cinque Ports 165 Karen STÖBER The Role of Late Medieval English Monasteries as Expres- sions of Patronal Authority: Some Case Studies 189 Conclusion Koen GOUDRIAAN Conclusion 209 List of contributors 227 Index librorum manu scriptorum 231 Index locorum 232 Index nominum 241 Index operum 246 This content downloaded from 104.239.165.217 on Tue, 20 Sep 2016 10:42:10 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms INTRODUCTION by Paul TRIO Secular authorities used ecclesiastical buildings and lands for non-reli- gious or only partly religious purposes from the beginning of the Middle Ages. One of the many reasons for treating ecclesiastical property in this way was that in the Middle Ages, religious spaces – and particularly those outside the closed world of the monasteries – were not always considered a completely different world, but were often seen as part of the space where more secular activities and events were commonplace. We need not look far for an initial explanation of this phenomenon. Ecclesiastical and secular societies often intertwined and were less strictly separated than is the case today; secular society in the Middle Ages was permeated by ecclesiastical and religious acts and customs, as surely as the secular world had invaded the ecclesiastical and religious world. During the course of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, there was already a long tradition of ecclesiastical buildings and lands being used by urban society as a whole, by specific parts in particular, and by the central authorities. Indeed, did not church towers, with their donjon-like structure, often function as the ultimate place of refuge from attacking enemies? An example of this is the church of St Donatian in Bruges. Galbert provides us with a realistic description, in which he tells us how some of the persons involved in the murder of Charles the Good in 1127 had fled there. However, as urbanization took hold, this development gained momentum, and important changes – in comparison to earlier, more agrarian society – followed in its wake. Indeed, it would be very interesting if the present research could help to discover these trends in medieval towns. The situation in the Low Countries was quite special, since some of its regions, such as Flanders, Brabant, Zeeland and Holland, were among the most urbanized in Europe, equalled only by those in North- ern Italy. It is likely that the high level of urbanization in some parts of the Low Countries entailed a very specific interpretation of the role and use of ecclesiastical spaces and lands in those regions. With the urban- ization of the Low Countries, came an early and strongly growing econ- omy that first manifested itself in the textile industry, and later mainly This content downloaded from 165.190.89.176 on Sun, 07 Feb 2016 11:16:16 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions viii INTRODUCTION in the so-called art industries. The use of certain monastic complexes, by the guilds for instance, as a meeting place is a result of this devel- opment. Moreover, the Low Countries were the scene of a typical urban socio-religious civil culture that developed parallel to their economic expansion. Initially this development was strongest in the South, and later shifted to the North. The typical ‘burgher culture’ manifested itself in many ways: plays, pageants, processions, chambers of rhetoric, etcetera. Ecclesiastical buildings and lands also offered accommoda- tion to some of these expressions of urban culture. Finally, it should be clear that the typical political-institutional organization of the late medieval Low Countries, with its strongly democratic nature and its vigorous – though rapidly declining – urban autonomy, led to some very particular developments with regard to the use of religious build- ings by secular organizations. The fact that some of the following papers concern towns situated outside the territory of the Low Countries should enable us to understand better what we believe to be the very specific nature of the Low Countries. Those who choose late medieval ecclesiastical buildings as their sub- ject of research must clearly define what precisely is to be understood as such. To avoid a too narrow delimitation of the subject, the editors of this book have opted for a practical definition: all buildings and lands within the immediate jurisdiction of an ecclesiastical institution. This institution might be a monastery or abbey, a church fabric, a chapter or a cathedral. De facto, hospices and hospitals were semi-ecclesiastical institutions and, theoretically, only their place of worship (church or chapel), with or without its own graveyard, fell within the competence of an ecclesiastical institution, while the rest of the buildings or lands of the urban charitable institutions – with some exceptions – in general ulti- mately came under the control of the urban government. Indeed, one should ask oneself whether, because of this special status, these semi- ecclesiastical institutions were attributed different functions and roles with regard to the urban and central authorities. The contributors to this volume try to explain why these ecclesiastical buildings and lands were used for secular or semi-secular activities. For the initial stages of urban development and for quite some time after- wards, the explanation seems to be a very practical one. Indeed, initially, there were few large public and sturdy – i.e.stone – buildings of a purely secular nature to be found in the developing towns. As a result, the tower of the urban parish church often functioned as a watchtower to warn the This content downloaded from 165.190.89.176 on Sun, 07 Feb 2016 11:16:16 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions INTRODUCTION ix population in the event of fire or the attacks of enemies. Later, the typi- cal belfries assumed this function. Sturdy and large buildings built from stone could accommodate archives, fire fighting equipment and weapons, and the population might find protection there from hostile intruders. When the urban authorities did not have such ‘ideal space’ of a secular nature at their disposal, they might select an ecclesiastical building, usu- ally part of one of the many monastic complexes that populated the town. However, this practical explanation sometimes seems insufficient in the later Middle Ages, when the town government and all its diverse hierarchical administrative structures had sufficient accommodations of its own. Nevertheless, even then, towns continued to make use of eccle- siastical buildings. This raises the question whether there were any par- ticular advantages attached to using ecclesiastical space, or whether there was an additional symbolic meaning present. Was it possible, for instance, that such an ecclesiastical space stood a better chance of remaining intact in the event of revolt or invasion, hence offering bet- ter protection for the town’s archives? It is also quite striking that the textile trades preferred to have their meetings at the Begards, the male counterpart of the Beguines, who usually engaged in the textile indus- try to earn a living. Whenever the ruler visited, and when he had no res- idence of his own in town, the authorities usually selected the most important ecclesiastical institution for his accommodation. Undoubt- edly, this choice was made because of the available space, certainly when the ruler was travelling with his retinue, and this retinue – or part of it – also required accommodation. However, there were probably other reasons of a more political-ecclesiastical nature that influenced this choice. From this perspective, it would be very interesting to exam- ine whether the urban authorities had different preferences than the cen- tral authorities. Apart from the use of ecclesiastical property for specific meetings of, for example, the Golden Fleece or a visit to the patron saint’s church on the occasion of a Joyous Entry, most church buildings – and partic- ularly places of prayer – regularly played a role in secular society, even though these places also usually had a religious meaning/function. Gravestones or tombs, church furniture such as paintings, sculptures, stained glass windows etcetera could also represent the social position and status of the donor and his family, for instance by the presence of coats of arms. Apart from a religious image, commemorative tableaux usually also contained a representation of the founders or donors and their immediate family, recognizable by a legend and their armorial This content downloaded from 165.190.89.176 on Sun, 07 Feb 2016 11:16:16 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions x INTRODUCTION bearings. In addition, certain groups within a town, such as guilds (of merchants, crafts, archers and rhetoricians) and confraternities clearly manifested their presence within the church building in which they had their altar or chapel. Beautiful and very clear examples of this are the group portraits of the members of confraternities of the Holy Sacrament and of Jerusalem confraternities, several of which were painted in the sixteenth century by Peter Pourbus and John Scorel. The urban author- ities might also wish to make their presence visible. The church of St Martin of Ypres, for example, possessed a tapestry with the names and coats of arms of the aldermen who had been murdered in 1303. This valuable piece was displayed every year on St Andrew’s Night (29 November), when a Requiem Mass commemorated the murder. Throughout the Middle Ages, this was the way in which the town’s magistrate chose to emphasize the predominance of the urban elite in the town’s government, the same elite to which the murdered aldermen had belonged. This manifestation of political representation was clearly directed against any possible claims by the lower social classes, includ- ing the urban proletariat. Especially during the reigns of the Burgundian dukes and their Habsburg successors, the donation of royal stained glass windows to numerous urban places of worship became a very popular method of emphasizing the importance of the dynasty and its political supremacy. The coats of arms of the knights who had been present at agathering of the Order of the Golden Fleece usually remained in place in the church where the meeting had been held for a long time after- ward. The coats of arms of the knights of the Golden Fleece who were assembled in 1559 can still be admired even now in the cathedral of St Bavo in Ghent, where the meeting was held. Numerous series of royal portraits that have decorated many monas- teries or abbeys indicate that not only the urban authorities, but the rulers too enjoyed displaying their authority and prestige inside the actual church buildings. Some remain today: for example, the series of the Counts of Flanders in the Major Seminary in Bruges dating from 1480 and the fol- lowing years. This series of portraits was originally part of the important Cistercian abbey of Ten Duinen (Dunes Abbey, Koksijde). Apart from the specific temporary or long-lasting adaptations of church buildings and ecclesiastical lands to more secular activities, the partici- pation of the clergy – secular as well as regular – in these adaptations will also be discussed. Were they involved in the adaptation of the building and in the profane ceremonies that took place there, or did they stay on the sidelines, merely as passive onlookers? This content downloaded from 165.190.89.176 on Sun, 07 Feb 2016 11:16:16 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
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