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An Indulgence Inscription in Clapton Church, Gloucestershire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2012

G. McN. Rushforth
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Extract

The inscription reproduced in the accompanying plate is cut on the abacus of the northern pier of the chancel arch in the little church of St. James at Clapton, set on the hill-side above Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire. Attention wasfirstcalled to it by the late Mr. Ulric Daubeny, who assigned the building to the last quarter of the twelfth century. The lettering is of the Early Gothic (popularly called ‘Lombardic’) type, which prevailed from about 1200 to 1350, and therefore the inscription is probably not older than the thirteenth century. But the forms of the letters are sometimes peculiar, if not unique; and they seem to have been produced partly by the use of compasses. Some letters (e.g. E and 1) are not always formed in exactly the same way; while others, as we shall see, appear to be minuscule forms, such as are found in manuscripts of the period. The whole gives the impression of being the work of an amateur rather than of a professional carver.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 3 , Issue 4 , October 1923 , pp. 338 - 342
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1923

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References

page 337 note 1 Ancient Cotswold Churches (Cheltenham, 1921), p. 114.Google Scholar I must disclaim any responsibility for the conjectural version of the second line which appears on p. 115.

page 337 note 2 Gough, , Sepulchral Monuments, ii, part i, pp. ccxlv, ccxlviGoogle Scholar.

page 339 note 1 Typical is that on the tomb (probably early fourteenth century) of Robert de Vere, third earl of Oxford (d. 1221 ), at Hatfield Broad Oak, Essex (Weever, , Fun. Mon., p. 631Google Scholar , and more correctly in Trans. Essex Arch. Soc., iv, n. s. (1893), p. 235):Google ScholarCe qi pur larme priera xl jors de pardoun avera. Pater Nost(er). Other instances in Rock, , Church of Our Fathers (ed. Hart, and Frere, ), iii, p. 57Google Scholar , note 70. As bearing on the form of our inscription we may note the epitaph of William de Usflete (d. 1370), formerly in Normanton Church, Yorks (Yorkshire Arch. Journ., VIII (1884), p. 2):Google ScholarHie iacet dns. Wills, de Usflete nup(er) rector hui(us) ecc(less)ep(ro) cui(us) a(n)i(m)a dice(n)tib(us) p(ate)r et ave xl dies indulge(n)cie co{ti)cedu(n)t(ur); and the fragment in Semington Church, Wilts (Wilts. Arch. Magazine, XXXII (1901-1902), p. 217):Google ScholarKy pater noster e ave maria pur le alme pur Feleppur de Sale est £ Chrestiens dirra quarante jurs de pardun avera. Amen. See also The Worcester Liber Albus (ed. Wilson, J. M.), p. 34, no. 138Google Scholar.

page 339 note 2 Genib(us), as we shall see, represents a probable genibus flexis in the original document. The rather complicated form of the abbreviation symbol may perhaps be explained thus: The carver intended to write the word in full, but after cutting the upright stroke of the U realized that the space to the end of the line was insufficient, and replaced it by the usual curling stroke to mark the terminal abbreviation.

page 340 note 1 The reference is from Lea's, History of Auricular Confession and Indulgences, vol. iii, p. 188.Google Scholar I give the text from Mansi, , Concilia (Venice, 1784), vol. xxvi, col. 541, 541, c. 127Google Scholar.

page 340 note 2 Baylis, T. H., The Temple Church, p. 10Google Scholar.

page 340 note 3 Mansi, , Conc., vol. xxii, col. 1050, c. LXIIGoogle Scholar.

page 341 note 1 Rock, , Church of Our Fathers (ed. Hart, and Frere, ), iii, p. 59 noteGoogle Scholar.

page 341 note 2 Yorks. Arch. Journal, xvi (1902), pp. 382 ff.Google Scholar, Chr. Wordsworth has collected instances from Cathedral Registers of such collective indulgences for the purpose of promoting church-, bridge-, or road-building. E.g. (p. 387) in 1374–5 fifteen bishops gave forty days each to encourage contributions to the Hospital of the Trinity and St. Thomas of Canterbury in Rome. It does not appear how the indulgence of 1028 days granted by the Pope, the Archbishop, and the Bishop, to those who contributed to the rebuilding of the church of Worcester, was made up. The attention of the diocese was called to it in 1302. Wilson, Canon J. M., The Worcester Liber Albus, pp. 28, 29Google Scholar.

page 341 note 3 Rock, ibid.

page 341 note 4 Rock, p. 61 note.

page 341 note 5 It may be noted that about 1185 Lucius III ordered the prosecution of a gang of forgers of Papal letters in England. Lea, , op. cit., iii, p. 551, note 3Google Scholar.

page 341 note 6 Cal Inq. p. m., i, p. 36; cp. p. 254.

page 341 note 7 Rudder, , Hist, of Glouc., p. 368Google Scholar ; Chronicon Albatiae de Evesham (Rolls Series), p. 72.

page 341 note 8 Chronicon de Evesham, p. 279.

page 342 note 1 The Feast of the Visitation was instituted by Urban VI in 1389.

page 342 note 2 St. Egwin and his Abbey of Evesham (Stanbrook Abbey, Worcester, 1904), P. 53Google Scholar.

page 342 note 3 The earliest existing Episcopal Register of the diocese of Worcester (Bp. Giffard, 1268–1303) throws no light on the subject.

page 342 note 4 I beg to acknowledge help of various kinds given by our Fellows, the Director, Mr. W. Paley Baildon, Miss Rose Graham, Mr. Mill Stephenson, and Mr. A. Hamilton Thompson.