Notre Dame de Rouen. The façade of the Gothic Church in France. Photographer: Hippo1947. Licence: SHUTTERSTOCK.

Saturday 7 September 2024

Lincoln Cathedral. The Cathedral Church Of The Blessed Virgin Mary Of Lincoln. (Part Three).



Rose Window, the Chapter House, 
Photo: 16 April 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: Mattana
(Wikimedia Commons)


Text from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.

In 1290, Eleanor of Castile died and King Edward I of England decided to honour her, his Queen Consort, with an elegant funeral procession. 

After her body had been embalmed, which, in the 13th-Century, involved evisceration, Eleanor’s viscera were buried in Lincoln Cathedral and Edward placed a duplicate of the Westminster Abbey tomb there. 

The Lincoln tomb’s original Stone Chest survives; its effigy was destroyed in the 17th-Century and replaced with a 19th-Century copy. 


Lincoln Cathedral.
Available on YouTube


On the outside of Lincoln Cathedral are two prominent statues often identified as Edward and Eleanor, but these images were heavily restored in the 19th-Century and they were probably not originally intended to depict the couple.[18]

Between 1307 and 1311, the Central Tower was raised to its present height of 271 feet (eighty-three metres). The Western Towers and the front of the Cathedral were also improved and heightened. 

At this time, a tall, Lead-encased, Wooden Spire topped the Central Tower, but was blown down in a storm in 1548. 


Lincoln Cathedral (Lincoln Minster).
A Lithograph dated 1853.
Published by: Day & Co.
Print made by: Frederick Mackenzie.
Published by: W. & B. Brooke.
Collection: British Museum
Permission: 
© The Trustees of the British Museum, 
released as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
(Wikimedia Commons)


Around 1380, the Western Towers were raised to their current height.[19] They were capped with Wooden Spires covered with Lead in 1420, but, by 1807, they were dismantled.[20] 

With its Spire, the Tower reputedly reached a height of 525 feet (160 metres), which would have made it the World’s tallest structure, surpassing the Great Pyramid of Giza, which held the record for almost 4,000 years. Although still doubted,[2] this is the height agreed upon by the majority of historians.[21][22][23]

Other additions to the Cathedral at this time included its elaborate Carved Screen and the 14th-Century Misericords, as was the Angel Choir. 



For a large part of the length of the Cathedral, the walls have Arches, in relief, with a second layer in front, to give the illusion of a passageway along the wall. However the illusion does not work, as the Stonemason, copying techniques from France, did not make the Arches the correct length needed for the illusion to be effective.

In 1398, John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford Founded a Chantry in the Cathedral to Pray for the welfare of their Souls. 

In the 15th-Century, the building of the Cathedral turned to Chantry or Memorial Chapels. The Chapels next to the Angel Choir were built in the Perpendicular Style, with an emphasis on strong vertical lines, which survive today in the Window Tracery and Wall Panelling.


Lincoln Cathedral. The South-East entrance, known as 
“The Judgement Porch”. Engraving by E. Challis, 
after a picture by T. Allom, published 1837.
This File: 7 February 2006.
(Wikimedia Commons)


Hugh of Wells, Bishop of Lincoln, was one of the signatories to Magna Carta, and, for hundreds of years, the Cathedral held one of the four remaining copies of the original, now securely displayed in Lincoln Castle.[24]

The Lincoln Magna Carta was on display at the British Pavilion during the 1939 New York World's Fair.[25] In March 1941, the Foreign Office proposed that the Lincoln Magna Carta be gifted to the United States, citing the “many thousands of Americans who waited in long queues to view it” and the United States’ passage of the Lend-Lease Act, among other reasons.[25] 

In 2009, the Lincoln Magna Carta was lent to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.[24]


The Nave, Lincoln Cathedral.
Artist: Wenceslaus Hollar (1607–1677).
Date: Unknown.
Collection: 
Source:
Artwork:
Scanned by University of Toronto.
High-Resolution version extracted using custom tool by User:Dcoetzee.
This File: 15 March 2009.
User: Dcoetzee
(Wikimedia Commons)


There are three other surviving copies of the Magna Carta: two are at the British Library and one at Salisbury Cathedral.[26]

In August 1255, the body of an eight-year-old boy was found in a Well in Lincoln. He had been missing for nearly a month. This incident became the source of a “blood libel” in the City, with Jews accused of his abduction, torture, and murder. 

Many Jews were arrested and eighteen were hanged. The boy became known as Little Saint Hugh, to distinguish him from Saint Hugh of Lincoln, but he was never Canonised.


Lincoln Cathedral Organ.
Available on YouTube


The Cathedral benefited from these events because Little Saint Hugh was seen as a Martyr, and many devotees came to the City and Cathedral to Venerate him. Geoffrey Chaucer mentions the case in “The Prioress's Tale” and a ballad was written about it in 1783. 

In 1955, a plaque was placed near “ the remains of the Shrine of “Little Saint Hugh” ” in the Cathedral, that decries the “trumped up stories of “ritual murders” of Christian boys by Jewish communities.”

PART FOUR FOLLOWS.

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