Gloucester Cathedral (Part One)

Text and Photos from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia,

unless otherwise accredited.

Gloucester Cathedral Tower, at Sunset

Picture taken from Gloucester Cathedral Web-Site at

http://www.gloucestercathedral.org.uk/

(Photos of Gloucester Cathedral are taken by 

Angelo Hornak, Richard Cann, Chris Smith, 

Esther Platten, Gloucester Cathedral and Gilmere Ltd)

Gloucester Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity, in Gloucester, England, stands in the North of the city near the river. It originated in 678 A.D. or 679 A.D. with the foundation of an Abbey dedicated to Saint Peter (dissolved by King Henry VIII).

The foundations of the present Church were laid by Abbot Serlo (1072–1104). Walter Gloucester (died 1412), the Abbey's historian, became its first mitred Abbot in 1381. Until 1541, Gloucester lay in the See of Worcester, but a separate See was then constituted, with John Wakeman, last Abbot of Tewkesbury, as its first Bishop. The diocese covers the greater part of Gloucestershire, with small parts of Herefordshire and Wiltshire. The Cathedral has a stained glass window containing the earliest images of golf. This dates from 1350, over 300 years earlier than the earliest image of golf from Scotland. There is also a carved image of people playing a ball game, believed by some to be one of the earliest images of mediaeval football.

Construction and architecture

The Cathedral, built as the Abbey Church, consists of a Norman nucleus (Walter de Lacy is buried there), with additions in every style of Gothic architecture. It is 420 feet (130 m) long, and 144 feet (44 m) wide, with a fine central tower (15th-Century) rising to a height of 225 ft (69 m) and topped by four delicate pinnacles, a famous landmark. The nave is Norman, with an Early English roof; the crypt, under the choir, aisles and chapels, is Norman, as is the chapter house. The crypt is one of the four apsidal cathedral crypts in England, the others being at Worcester, Winchester and Canterbury.

Front view of Gloucester Cathedral

(Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity)

Foundation work began on the Church in 1089. 

Picture from Wikimedia Commons

Author: Saffron Blaze

The South Porch is in the Perpendicular Style, with a fan-vaulted roof, as also is the North Transept, the South Transept being Transitional Decorated Gothic. The Choir has Perpendicular tracery over Norman work, with an apsidal chapel on each side: the Choir Vaulting is particularly rich. The Late-Decorated East window is partly filled with surviving mediaeval stained glass. Between the apsidal chapels, is a cross Lady Chapel, and North of the nave are the cloisters, the carrels, or stalls, for the monks' study and writing, lying to the South. The cloisters at Gloucester are the earliest surviving fan vaults, having been designed between 1351 and 1377 by Thomas de Cambridge.

The most notable monument is the canopied shrine of King Edward II of England, who was murdered at nearby Berkeley Castle. The building and sanctuary were enriched by the visits of pilgrims to this shrine. In a side-chapel is a monument in coloured bog oak of Robert Curthose, eldest son of William the Conqueror and a great benefactor of the Abbey, who is interred there. Monuments of Bishop Warburton and Dr Edward Jenner are also worthy of note.

Between 1873 and 1890, and in 1897, the Cathedral was extensively restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott.

Misericords

The Cathedral has forty-six 14th-Century misericords and twelve 19th-Century replacements by George Gilbert Scott. Both types have a wide range of subject matter: mythology, everyday occurrences, religious symbolism and folklore.

Gloucester Cathedral (South Cloister)

These cloisters, with fan vaulted roof, were used extensively 

in the Harry Potter film series 

Author of this Photo is William Avery

Picture taken May 2007

The Three Choirs Festival

An annual music festival, the Three Choirs Festival, is hosted, in rotation,  in this Cathedral and those of Worcester and Hereford. The Three Choirs Festival is the oldest annual music festival in the world. More information on the Festival can be found at Three Choirs Festival.

PART TWO FOLLOWS

Mary Loves The Little Ones

The humble and the Little Ones are the object of Her most divine solicitude.

(Taken from the Gentle Mother Blog)

The text for the following Article is taken from http://www.ohiolink.edu

History of Bouasse-Lebel and Bouasse-Jeune

Bouasse-Lebel was started by Eulalie Bouasse in 1845 in Paris, France. Her eldest son, Henri, took over the company in 1852, and her younger son, Emile, founded a competitor company, Bouasse-Jeune in 1867. 

Both companies were known for their detailed artwork and use of innovative printing technologies, particularly chromolithography. 

Bouasse-Jeune went out of business in the early 20th-Century, and Bouasse-Lebel discontinued production in the 1960s.

Eulalie Lebel was born in Paris in 1809, the only daughter of the printer Jacques-Auguste Lebel. In 1827 she married Francois-Marie Bouasse, a foreman at a printing house. Facing destitution when her husband abandoned her and her two children, she founded a printing house in 1845 under the name "Madame Bouasse, nee Lebel." 

In 1847, Maison Bouasse-Lebel moved to the Saint-Sulpice neighbourhood of Paris, the centre of the religious printing industry in post-revolutionary France. 

My Mother, let me share in the glory of your divine affections for my Jesus.

(Illustration and Caption taken from http://holycardheaven.blogspot.co.uk/)

Eulalie Bouasse sold the now-successful company to her eldest son, Henri, in 1852. Her other surviving son, Emile, continued to work at the company. During these early years, the company produced books, maps, and other items in addition to religious images. The company received significant praise for their religious products, including a Papal Commendation in 1871.

In 1867, Emile left the company, and began his own printing house under the name Bouasse-Jeune. This company was also located in the Saint-Sulpice neighbourhood of Paris, and a hostile relationship existed between the two brothers and their companies. 

The introduction of chromolithography in the 1870s was embraced by both Bouasse-Lebel and Bouasse-Jeune, and continued their competition. The two companies became known for their intricate designs, highly symbolic and detailed artwork, and innovative use of printing technologies.

Emile Bouasse passed away in 1881 at the age of 49, and his wife and children took over the company. Eulalie Bouasse-Lebel passed away in 1898. Henri Bouasse-Lebel passed away in 1912, and his company was taken over by his son, Albert. 

Bouasse-Jeune discontinued production sometime in the beginning of the 20th-Century.

Following World War II, interest in religious images began to decline, and the innovative artwork and technology pursued by the Bouasse firms slowed as well. Holy Cards from this era depict less intricate artwork, or use photographic images. 

Albert Bouasse-Lebel passed away in 1955, and the Maison Bouasse-Lebel stopped production in the 1960s.

Beverley Minster

Text and Photos from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia

unless otherwise accredited.

Beverley Minster

(Picture taken from the official web-site 

http://beverleyminster.org.uk/) 

The following three paragraphs (in italics) are taken from the official Beverley Minster web-site http://beverleyminster.org.uk/

Beverley Minster is the Parish Church of St. John and St. Martin and it includes the Minster and three associated churches: St Paul’s Tickton, St Leonard’s Molescroft and St Peter’s Woodmansey.

John, Bishop of York, founded a monastery on the site where Beverley Minster now stands. He died in 721 A.D. and his body was buried in a chapel of the Saxon church. He was canonised in 1037 and the present Church was built around his tomb. Building work began in 1220 and was completed in 1425.

Throughout the Middle Ages, miracles which took place at his tomb attracted pilgrims from far and wide. Today, the Church is still a place of pilgrimage for visitors. It also continues to be a place of prayer and worship at the heart of the community.

Beverley Minster (Great West Window)

The word "minster" (Old English "mynster") was simply a rendering of the Latin monasterium (monastery). An early appearance was in the Ecclesiastical History of the Venerable Bede (731 A.D.).

On occasion, minster is used to translate the German münster (e.g. Basel, Bonn, Constance, Essen, Freiburg, Ulm), which is a parallel translation of monasterium, but reflects a history of monasticism different from that of England.

Minster is a honorific title given to particular churches in England, most famously York Minster. The term "minster" is first found in royal foundation charters of the 7th-Century; and, although it corresponds to the Latin monasterium or monastery, it then designated any settlement of clergy living a communal life and endowed by charter with the obligation of maintaining the daily office of prayer. 

[Editor: I am reliably informed that Saint John Fisher was a resident of Beverley, Yorkshire, as a child.]

Beverley Minster in Winter, 

February 2012. 

(Picture taken from the official web-site 

http://beverleyminster.org.uk/) 

Widespread in 10th-Century Anglo-Saxon England, minsters declined in importance with the systematic introduction of parishes and parish churches from the 11th-Century onwards; but it remained a title of diginity in Late-Mediaeval England, for instance where a cathedral, monastery, collegiate church or parish church had originated with an Anglo-Saxon foundation. Eventually, a minster came to refer more generally to "any large or important church, especially a collegiate or cathedral church". In the 21st-Century, further minsters have been added by simply bestowing the status of a minster on existing parish churches.

Beverley Minster, in Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, is a parish church in the Church of England. It is said to be the largest parish church in the UK.

Originally a collegiate church, it was not selected as a Bishop's Seat during the Dissolution of the Monasteries; nevertheless it survived as a parish church, and the chapter house was the only major part of the building to be lost. It is part of the Greater Churches Group and a Grade 1 Listed building.

Beverley Minster (The Nave)

Taken from Wikimedia Commons

Author: Elliott Simpson
Photo taken July 2002.

The Minster owes its origin and much of its subsequent importance to Saint John of Beverley, who founded a monastery, locally, around 700 A.D. and whose bones still lie beneath a plaque in the nave. The institution grew after his death and underwent several rebuildings. 

After a serious fire in 1188, the subsequent reconstruction was over-ambitious; the newly heightened central tower collapsed circa 1213, bringing down much of the surrounding Church. Work on the present structure began around 1220.

It took 200 years to complete building work, but, despite the time scale involved, the whole building has coherent form and detail and is regarded as one of the finest examples of Perpendicular design, the twin towers of the West Front being a superlative example. These formed the inspiration for the design of the present Westminster Abbey.

Beverley Minster (The West Towers)

As with many English Churches during the wars of religion in the 16th-Century, Beverley Minster was not immune to dissension. Church authorities cracked down hard on those they felt were part of the Popish conspiracy, contrary to Royal decrees. "Among those holding traditional beliefs were three of the clergy at the minster, who were charged with Popish practices in 1567; John Levet was a former member of the college and Richard Levet was presumably his brother. Both Levets were suspended from the priesthood, for keeping prohibited equipment and books, and, when restored, were ordered not to minister in Beverley or its neighbourhood."

Beverley Minster (The Ceiling)

Taken from Wikimedia Commons

In the 18th-Century, the present central tower replaced an original lantern tower that was in danger of collapse. This central tower now houses the largest surviving treadwheel crane in England, which is used when raising building materials to a workshop located in the roof. A distinctive feature of both the North and South Transepts is the presence of rose windows, and a White Rose of York, with ten equal parts. Daily tours to the crane and rose windows are available to the general public, subject to other church commitments.

Features of the interior include columns of Purbeck Marble, stiff-leaf carving, and the tomb of Lady Eleanor Percy, dating from around 1340 and covered with a richly-decorated canopy, regarded as one of the best surviving examples of Gothic art. A total of sixty-eight 16th-Century misericords are located in the quire of the Minster and nearby is a sanctuary or frith stool dating back to Anglo-Saxon times.

Beverley_Minster (Rose Window)

It is worth noting that the misericords were probably carved by the Ripon School of carvers, and bear a strong family resemblance to those at Manchester Cathedral and Ripon Cathedral.

The organ is mounted above a richly carved wooden screen dating from the late 19th-Century. There is a staircase in the North Aisle which would have been used in collegiate times to gain access to and from the chapter house.

Beverley Minster (Great West Door)

Taken from Wikimedia Commons.

Author of this photo: Graham Hermon

Photo taken June 2002.

Beverley Minster (from the South)

Taken from Wikimedia Commons.

Beverley Minster (South Transept) 

(Early English style dating from 1220 - 1260)

Taken from Wikimedia Commons

Author of this photo: David Wright

Photo taken May 2008.

Improvements to the choir were made during the 16th- and 18th-Century, and mediaeval glass, which was shattered by a storm of 1608, was meticulously collected and installed in the East Window in 1725. The Thornton family, great craftsmen of the early 18th-Century, were responsible for the font cover and the West Door. Another notable feature is the series of carvings of musicians which adorn the nave.

There is a large organ with pipes by John Snetzler from 1769. There have been subsequent rebuilds and restoration by William Hill & Sons in 1884, and Hill, Norman and Beard in 1962/63. The specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.

Sublime Marian Singing

Madonna and Christ Child, 

by Raphael (1483 - 1520)
(Taken from Wikimedia Commons)

Sublime Marian Singing by Corpus Christi Watershed can be found on the Our Lady Of The Rosary Church Choir Blog at http://olrchurchchoir.blogspot.co.uk/

The superb Our Lady Of The Rosary Choir contribute greatly to the Liturgy at Blackfen, Kent, England.

Our Lady's Month of May

O My Son !

O My God !

What Mystery.

(Picture taken from Holy Card Heaven)

On this day, O beautiful Mother

Ars Orandi: The Art and Beauty of Traditional Catholicism has a lovely Post up for Our Lady and Her Month of May. It can be found on the Post for Friday, 11 May 2012.

Or watch on YouTube.

Our Lady of Ushaw,

Durham, England

Pope Benedict XVI is given a gift by Italian President, Giorgio Napolitano

Pope Benedict XVI

ROME REPORTS that Pope Benedict XVI has been given a gift by Italy's president, Giorgio Napolitano,  to celebrate his 7th anniversary as Pope.

Acclaimed music director, Riccardo Muti, will lead the Orchestra and Chorus of Rome's Opera as it performs for the Pope at the Vatican's Paul VI Hall. 

Daniela Barcellona, who is known for having one of the greatest voices in international opera, is among the listed singers.

The program includes Vivaldi's Magnificat, Stabat Mater and Verdi's Te Deum.

Watch on YouTube

The Eucharist

The Eucharist in a Fruit Wreath 

by Jan Davidsz de Heem, 1648

(can be found on the Blog 

"Ars Orandi: The Art and Beauty 

of Traditional Catholicism")

http://arsorandi.blogspot.co.uk/

Lincoln Cathedral (Part Five)

Text and Pictures from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia,
unless otherwise accredited.

Lincoln Cathedral (West Front) 

seen from the Castle wall

Picture from Wikimedia Commons.

Photo taken March 2006 by Brian

Fan-Vaulting in Lincoln Cathedral's Chapter-House

Picture from Wikimedia Commons 

Photo taken April 2011 by Mattana

Recently, concerns have been growing once more about the state of the West Front, as there has been some stonework falling, which has raised questions as to the effectiveness of the repairs carried out in 2000.

Lincoln Cathedral is at present a very popular destination and is visited by over 250,000 tourists a year. The semi-mandatory entrance fee for weekday visiting is £6.00, which is charged on admission throughout the tourist season. The Cathedral offers tours of the Cathedral, the tower and the roof. The peak of its season is the Lincoln Christmas Market, accompanied by a massive annual production of Handel's Messiah. The Episcopacy of Lincoln Cathedral is currently in inter-regnum, following the retirement of Dr John Saxbee on 31 January 2011. The current Dean of the Cathedral is the Very Reverend Philip Buckler.

Lincoln Cathedral (by Wenzel Hollar, 1607 - 1677)

Choir

The Choir is currently formed of ten Gentlemen (who are either Lay Vicars or Choral Scholars), a team of circa twenty boys and a team of circa 20 girls.

The Cathedral accepted female choristers in 1995. Lincoln was only the second Cathedral in the country to adopt a separate girls' choir, after Salisbury Cathedral, and remains one of the few who provide exactly the same musical opportunities and equal weekly singing duties to both girls and boys. All the choristers are educated at Lincoln Minster School.

Interior of Lincoln Cathedral.

Picture from Wikimedia Commons.

Photo taken April 2012 by Merlin-UK

The Director of Music is Aric Prentice, who conducts the Choir of girls and men, and the Assistant Director of Music & Sub-Organist is Charles Harrison, who conducts the Choir of boys and men. The Organist Laureate is Colin Walsh, previously Organist and Master of the Choristers, and the Assistant Organist is Claire Innes-Hopkins. 

Like any great Cathedral, Lincoln has had its share of organists who have achieved international renown: perhaps the most famous is William Byrd, the Renaissance composer. Although it is uncertain whether Byrd was born in Lincoln, as has been claimed, he was organist at the Cathedral from 1563 until 1572 and continued to compose works specifically for the Cathedral Choir after his departure.

RAF Waddington Station Badge,

depicting Lincoln Cathedral

Organ

The organ is one of the finest examples of the work of 'Father' Henry Willis, dating from 1898 (it was his last Cathedral Organ before his death in 1901). There have been two restorations of it by Harrison & Harrison in 1960 and 1998. The specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.

Literature

An important scene in D. H. Lawrence's novel, "The Rainbow", takes place at Lincoln Cathedral.

The Cathedral features in Ken Follett's novel "The Pillars of the Earth".

Film

The Cathedral was used for the filming of The Da Vinci Code (based on the book of the same name). 

Filming took place mainly within the Cloisters and Chapter-House of the Cathedral, and remained a closed set. 

Lincoln Cathedral Triforium

Picture from Wikimedia Commons.

... Le chevet de la cathédrale de Lincoln (Angleterre) nous fournit un

exemple des plus remarquables de la persistance de cette tradition (fig. 21). Là le triforium est encore couvert par une charpente apparente comme celui de l'église normande romane, et le chemin de ronde supérieur se combine avec le fenestrage ouvert sous les formerets. Ce chemin de ronde n'a plus alors une utilité réelle, puisque les vitraux pourraient, s'il n'existait pas, être réparés du dehors en passant sur la tablette de recouvrement du comble du triforium. La claire-voie intérieure du chemin de ronde se relie à la fenêtre vitrée au moyen de linteauxformant l'assise du tailloir des chapiteaux ...

This image comes from

Dictionary of French Architecture from 11th- to 16th-Century 

(1856) by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1879).

The Cathedral took on the role of Westminster Abbey, as the Abbey had refused to permit filming. Although there was protest at the filming, the filming was completed by the end of August 2005. In order to make the Lincoln Chapter-House appear similar to the Westminster Chapter-House, murals were painted on a special layer over the existing wall, and, elsewhere, polystyrene replicas of Isaac Newton's tomb and other Abbey monuments were set up. For a time these murals and replicas remained in the Chapter-House, as part of a "Da Vinci Code" exhibit for visitors, but in January 2008 they were all sold off in an auction to raise money for the Cathedral.

The Cathedral also doubled as Westminster Abbey for the film Young Victoria, filmed in September 2007.

Wartime history

Lincolnshire was home to many Bomber Command airfields during the Second World War, giving rise to the nickname of 'Bomber County'. Lincoln Cathedral was an easily recognisable landmark for crews returning from raids over Occupied Europe, and, as such, took on much importance to the men. 

The Station Badge, for the nearby RAF Waddington Airbase, depicts Lincoln Cathedral rising through the clouds, a sight which returning bomber crews used to help find their way back to Waddington's airfield.

Appropriately, the Cathedral, as of 2006, has the only Memorial in the United Kingdom dedicated to Bomber Command in the Second World War.


The official Lincoln Cathedral Web-Site can be found at 
http://lincolncathedral.com/


This concludes the Article on Lincoln Cathedral.

Lincoln Cathedral (Part Four)

Text and Pictures from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia,

unless otherwise accredited.

Lincoln Cathedral

Picture from Wikimedia Commons.

Photo taken by Ian Carrington

on Christmas Day, 2005.

Vaults

One major architectural feature of Lincoln Cathedral is the spectacular vaults. The varying vaults within the Cathedral are said to be both original and experimental. Simply comparing the different vaults seen in Lincoln  Cathedral clearly shows that a great deal of creativity was involved when designing. 

The vaults, especially, clearly define the experimental aspect seen at Lincoln. There are several different kinds of vaults that differ between the nave, aisles, choir, and chapels of the cathedral. 

Along the North Aisle, there is a continuous ridge rib with a regular arcade that ignores the bays. Meanwhile, on the South Aisle, there is a discontinuous ridge rib that puts an emphasis on each separate bay.

Lincoln Cathedral Chapter-House

(Picture from Wikimedia Commons)

The North-West Chapel has quadripartite vaults and the South Chapel has vaults that stem from one central support column. 

The use of sexpartite vaults allowed for more natural light to enter the Cathedral through the clerestory windows, which were placed inside of each separate bay. 

Saint Hugh’s Choir exhibits extremely unusual vaults. It is a series of asymmetrical vaults that appear to almost be a diagonal line created by two ribs on one side translating into only a single rib on the other side of the vault. This pattern divides up the space of the vaults and bays, perfectly placing the emphasis on the bays. 

The Chapter House vaults are also interesting. It is a circular building with one column where twenty ribs extend from. Each separate area of Lincoln Cathedral can be identified solely by the different vaults of the space.

Lincoln Cathedral (East End) 

Picture from Wikimedia Commons

Author: Mark Hope

Photo taken April 2004

Each vault, or each variation of the vault, is fresh and original. They illustrate innovative thinking and great creativity. There is no doubt that these vaults, and all of the other experimental aspects of Lincoln came with a slight risk; however, the results are truly wonderful.

According to the Cathedral website, over £1 million a year is spent on keeping the Cathedral in shape; the most recent project completed has been the restoration of the West Front in 2000. About ten years ago, it was discovered that the flying buttresses on the East End were no longer connected to the adjoining stonework, and repairs were made to prevent collapse. The most recent problem was the discovery that the stonework of the Dean's Eye window in the transept was crumbling, meaning that a complete reconstruction of the window has had to be carried out according to the conservation criteria set out by the International Council on Monuments and Sites.

Lincoln Cathedral's Cloisters

Picture from Wikimedia Commons

Author: Mattana

Photo taken April 2011

There was a period of great anxiety when it emerged that the stonework only needed to shift 5mm for the entire window to collapse. Specialist engineers removed the window's tracery before installing a strengthened, more stable replacement. In addition to this, the original stained glass was cleaned and set behind a new, clear, isothermal glass, which offers better protection from the elements. By April 2006, the renovation project was completed at a cost of £2 million.

PART FIVE FOLLOWS

Lincoln Cathedral (Part Three)

Text and Pictures from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 

unless otherwise accredited

Lincoln Cathedral
(Photo taken from Wikimedia Commons. 

Picture taken December 2010.

Author: Paul Stainthorp)

The Lincoln Imp

One of the stone carvings within the Cathedral is the Lincoln Imp. There are several variations of the legend surrounding the figure. 

According to 14th-Century legend, two mischievous imps were sent by Satan to do evil work on Earth. After causing mayhem, elsewhere in Northern England, the two imps headed to Lincoln Cathedral, where they smashed tables and chairs and tripped up the Bishop. An angel appeared in the Angel Choir and ordered them to stop. One of the imps sat atop a stone pillar and started throwing rocks at the angel whilst the other cowered under the broken tables and chairs. The angel turned the first imp to stone, allowing the second imp to escape. The imp that turned to stone can still be found sitting atop his stone column in the Angel Choir.

Wren library 

The Wren Library houses a rare collection of over 277 manuscripts, including the text of the Venerable Bede.

The Lincoln Imp

Rose windows

Lincoln Cathedral features two major rose windows, which are a highly uncommon feature among mediaeval architecture in England. On the North side of the Cathedral, there is the “Dean’s Eye”, which survives from the original structure of the building, and on the South side there is the “Bishop’s Eye”, which was most likely rebuilt circa 1325-1350. 

This South window is one of the largest examples of curvilinear tracery seen in mediaeval architecture. Curvilinear tracery is a form of tracery where the patterns are continuous curves. This form was often done within pointed arches and squared windows because those are the easiest shapes, so the circular space of the window was a unique challenge to the designers. 

A solution was created that called for the circle to be divided down into smaller shapes that would make it simpler to design and create. Curves were drawn within the window which created four distinct areas of the circle. This made the spaces within the circle where the tracery would go much smaller, and easier to work with.

Lincoln Cathedral (view from the Central Tower)

(Picture taken from Wikimedia Commons. 

Author: LysNanna)

This window is also interesting and unique in that the focus of the tracery was shifted away from the centre of the circle and instead placed in other sections. The glazing of the window was equally as difficult as the tracery, for many of the same reasons; therefore, the designers made a decision to cut back on the amount of iconography within the window. Most Cathedral windows during this time displayed many colourful images of the bible; however, at Lincoln, there are very few images. Some of those images that can be seen within the window include Saints Paul, Andrew, and James.

Wooden trusses

Wooden trusses offer a solid and reliable source of support for building, because, through their joints, they are able to resist damage and remain strong. 

Triangles are the strongest shape, because, no matter where the force is being placed on them, they are able to use their three joints to their fullest extent in order to withstand it. Making trusses with triangles inside larger triangles adds even more strength, as seen in Lincoln’s choir. 

Lincoln Cathedral (South-East Door), known as The Judgement Porch. 

Engraving by E. Challis, after a picture by T Allom. Published 1837.

(Not the main door of Lincoln Cathedral, which is at the North Front)

(Picture taken from Wikimedia Commons.)

The design of all wooden trusses is a tedious task as there are many different things that need to be considered while building these supports. 

There are many different ways that the trusses can fail if they are not designed or built properly; it is therefore crucial to design trusses that suit a specific building with specific needs in mind. The simplest form of a truss is an A frame; however, the great amount of outward thrust generated here often causes the truss to fail. The addition of a tie beam creates a triangular shape, although this beam can sometimes sag if the overall truss is too large. 

Neither one of these examples would have been suitable for Lincoln, owing to the sheer size of the roof. They would have failed to support the building, so collar beams and queen posts were added to the design in order to help prevent sagging. 

To protect against wind damage, braces were added. Secondary rafters were also added to the design to ensure that the weight was equally distributed. Saint Hugh’s Choir has a total of thirty six trusses keeping the roof in place, and it is held up entirely by means of its own weight and forces.

PART FOUR FOLLOWS

Prince Alois of Liechtenstein

Liechtenstein Prince Alois has taken an extremely principled stand against Abortion.

Read more on The hermeneutic of continuity Blog by Fr Finigan at http://the-hermeneutic-of-continuity.blogspot.co.uk/

Lincoln Cathedral (Part Two)

Text and Pictures taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia,
unless otherwise accredited.

Lincoln Cathedral in Winter

After the additions of the Dean’s Eye and other major Gothic additions, it is believed some mistakes in the support of the tower occurred, for in 1237, the main tower collapsed. A new tower was soon started and in 1255 the Cathedral petitioned Henry III to allow them to take down part of the town wall to enlarge and expand the Cathedral, including the rebuilding of the central tower and spire. They replaced the small rounded chapels (built at the time of St Hugh) with a larger East End to the Cathedral. This was to handle the increasing number of pilgrims to the Cathedral, who came to worship at the shrine of Hugh of Lincoln.

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 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. 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.

Lincoln Cathedral (interior)

Between 1307 and 1311, the central tower was raised to its present height of 83 m (271 feet). The West Towers and 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. With its spire, the tower reputedly reached a height of 525 feet (160 m) (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). 

This height is agreed by most sources but has been doubted by others. 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, and 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 (Central Tower).

(Photo taken from Wikimedia Commons. 

Picture taken February 2008.

Author: Allan Chapman)

Magna Carta

The Bishop of Lincoln, Hugh of Wells, was one of the signatories to the 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. There are three other surviving copies; two at the British Library and one at Salisbury Cathedral.

In 2009, the Lincoln Magna Carta was loaned to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

Little Saint Hugh

In August 1255, the body of an 8-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 Jewish residents being accused of his abduction, torture, and murder. Many Jews were arrested and eighteen were hanged. The boy became named as Little Saint Hugh to distinguish him from Saint Hugh of Lincoln, but he was never officially canonised (made a saint).

The Cathedral benefited from these events because Hugh was seen as a martyr, and many devotees came to the City and Cathedral to venerate him. Chaucer mentions the case in "The Prioress's Tale" and a ballad was written about it in 1783. 

In 1955, a plaque was put up near “the remains of the shrine of ‘Little St Hugh’” in the Cathedral, that decries the “Trumped up stories of ‘ritual murders’ of Christian boys by Jewish communities.”

PART THREE FOLLOWS

Lincoln Cathedral (Part One)

Text and Pictures taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 

unless otherwise accredited.

Lincoln Cathedral at night

Lincoln Cathedral (in full, The Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, or sometimes St. Mary's Cathedral) is a historic cathedral located in Lincoln in England and seat of the Bishop of Lincoln in the Church of England. 

It was reputedly the tallest building in the world for 249 years (1300–1549). The central spire collapsed in 1549 and was not rebuilt. It is highly regarded by architectural scholars; the eminent Victorian writer John Ruskin declared: "I have always held... that the Cathedral of Lincoln is out and out the most precious piece of architecture in the British Isles and roughly speaking worth any two other cathedrals we have."

Remigius de Fécamp, the first Bishop of Lincoln, moved the Episcopal seat there "some time between 1072 and 1092". About this, "Remigius ... laid the foundations of his Cathedral in 1088", and "it is probable that he, being a Norman, employed Norman masons to superintend the building ... though he could not complete the whole before his death."

Lincoln Cathedral (photo taken from Castle Hill)

Before that, writes B. Winkles, "It is well known that Remigius appropriated the parish church of St Mary Magdalene in Lincoln, although it is not known what use he made of it." Up until then, St. Mary's Church in Stow was considered to be the "mother church" of Lincolnshire (although it was not a cathedral, because the seat of the diocese was at Dorchester Abbey in Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire). However, Lincoln was more central to a diocese that stretched from the Thames to the Humber.

Bishop Remigius built the first Lincoln Cathedral on the present site, finishing it in 1092 and then dying on May 9 of that year, two days before it was consecrated. In 1141, the timber roofing was destroyed in a fire. Bishop Alexander rebuilt and expanded the Cathedral, but it was mostly destroyed by an earthquake about forty years later, in 1185.

After the earthquake, a new Bishop was appointed. He was Hugh de Burgundy of Avalon, France, who became known as St Hugh of Lincoln. He began a massive rebuilding and expansion programme. Rebuilding began with the choir (St. Hugh's Choir) and the eastern transepts between 1192 and 1210. The central nave was then built in the Early English Gothic style. 

The Norman West Front of Lincoln Cathedral

Lincoln Cathedral soon followed other architectural advances of the time — pointed arches, flying buttresses and ribbed vaulting were added to the Cathedral. This allowed the creation and support of larger windows.

The Cathedral is the third largest Cathedral in Britain (in floor space) after St Paul's, London, and York Minster, being 484 feet (148 m) by 271 feet (83 m). It is Lincolnshire's largest building, and, until 1549, the spire was reputedly the tallest mediaeval tower in Europe, though the exact height has been a matter of debate. Accompanying the Cathedral's large bell, "Great Tom of Lincoln", is a quarter-hour striking clock. The clock was installed in the early 19th century.

There are thirteen bells in the South-West Tower, two bells in the North-West Tower, and five bells in the Central Tower (including "Great Tom of Lincoln"). The two large stained-glass rose windows, (the matching Dean's Eye and Bishop’s Eye), were added to the Cathedral during the Late Middle Ages. The former, the Dean's Eye, in the North Transept, dates from the 1192 rebuild begun by St Hugh; it was finally completed in 1235. The latter, the Bishop’s Eye, in the South Transept, was reconstructed 100 years later in 1330. A contemporary record, “The Metrical Life of St Hugh”, refers to the meaning of these two windows (one on the dark, North, side and the other on the light, South, side of the building): "For North represents the devil, and South the Holy Spirit, and it is in these directions that the two eyes look. The Bishop faces the South, in order to invite in, and the Dean faces the North, in order to shun; the one takes care to be saved, the other takes care not to perish. With these Eyes, the Cathedral’s face is on watch for the candelabra of Heaven and the darkness of Lethe (oblivion)."

PART TWO FOLLOWS