Search results for ""Author Simon Roffey""
The History Press Ltd Chantry Chapels and Medieval Strategies for the Afterlife
Beliefs in the afterlife dominated the images, literature and liturgy of medieval church and society. In particular, the concept of purgatory – a penitential state where the soul was purged of sin and therefore able to attain eventual salvation – was a central element. Barring a life of extraordinary saintliness, most medieval people anticipated a long stay in purgatory. However, this time could be lessened through various strategies, including the organization of a range of memorial and commemorative practices and, particularly, the foundation of chantry chapels. Chantry chapels were often outstanding additions to parish and monastic church spaces and, despite the ravages of the Reformation, many still survive. These structures, much altered with time, are still a noticeable feature of many churches and cathedrals.This book offers a thematic approach to such monuments, combining archaeological approaches with relevant documentary sources and discussing aspects of chantry chapel foundation, design and spatial arrangements, as well as their origins and the effects the Reformation had on these constructions. It will also consider the various different types of chantry chapel including those in colleges, churches, cathedrals, bridges and hospitals.This is a fascinating study of monuments that were devised as a strategy to improve the afterlife and were one of the most important and influential institutions of the medieval period.
£17.99
Boydell & Brewer Ltd The Medieval Chantry Chapel: An Archaeology
An archaeological investigation into the structure of the medieval chantry chapel, with many implications for religious practice at the time. The chantry -- a special, often private, chapel within a church dedicated to a particular benefactor or benefactor's family, where prayers for the benefactor's soul were said -- was probably the most common, and also one of the most distinctive, of all late medieval religious foundations. These structures, although much altered with time, are still a very noticeable feature of many late medieval parish churches. However, no systematic, thorough or comparative examination has been undertaken to discover what they may reveal about contemporary devotion, aspiration and planning. This is a void which this book seeks to fill. It shows how the use of archaeological approaches can illuminate aspects of medieval religious practice only hinted at in many historical documents; it also demonstrates how the structural and spatial analysis of former chantry chapels can shed light on the level of private and communal piety and reveal a wider, more universal, context to chantry foundation in the medieval parish church. In addition, it discusses how various personal strategies for intercession shaped both chapel space and fabric, and the ultimate effects of the Reformation on such structures. Includes a selected gazetteer of chantry chapels. Dr SIMON ROFFEY teaches in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Winchester.
£70.00
Oxbow Books Early Medieval Winchester: Communities, Authority and Power in an Urban Space, c.800-c.1200
Winchester’s identity as a royal centre became well established between the ninth and twelfth centuries, closely tied to the significance of the religious communities who lived within and without the city walls. The reach of power of Winchester was felt throughout England and into the Continent through the relationships of the bishops, the power fluctuations of the Norman period, the pursuit of arts and history writing, the reach of the city’s saints, and more. The essays contained in this volume present early medieval Winchester not as a city alone, but a city emmeshed in wider political, social, and cultural movements and, in many cases, providing examples of authority and power that are representative of early medieval England as a whole.
£49.95
