Decorated in Glory: Church Building in Herefordshire in the Fourteenth Century
The Middle Ages • 1h 20m
The first half of the fourteenth century witnessed an extraordinary flowering of architecture, art and sculpture in Herefordshire and the central Welsh Marches. Much of Hereford Cathedral was rebuilt in these years, three exceptional parish churches were almost completely rebuilt, and gloriously adorned aisles and side chapels were constructed at the big town churches of Ledbury, Ross-on-Wye and Ludlow. At the same time, the period saw the painting of some brilliant stained glass windows and the commissioning of a number of magnificent tomb monuments. The lecture will explore the social and religious context of this rich cultural achievement, asking who were the patrons of building and what spurred them, how the work was paid for, and why and when it eventually petered out.
Nigel Saul is Emeritus Professor of Medieval History, Royal Holloway, University of London, and author of For Honour and Fame, Chivalry in England, 1066-1500 (Bodley Head, 2011) and The English Gentry and the Parish Church in the Middle Ages (Oxford, 2017). More recently, he has been drawn into the study of Herefordshire's medieval churches.
You can purchase Dr Saul's book through our online store.
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