Roland and Crusade Imagery in an English Royal Chapel: early thirteenth-century wall paintings in Claverley church, Shropshire

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Roland and Crusade Imagery in an English Royal Chapel: early thirteenthcentury wall paintings in Claverley church, Shropshire

Christopher Barrett

The Antiquaries Journal / Volume 92 / September 2012, pp 129 168DOI: 10.1017/S0003581512000091, Published online: 03 July 2012

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0003581512000091

How to cite this article:Christopher Barrett (2012). Roland and Crusade Imagery in an English Royal Chapel: early thirteenthcentury wall paintings in Claverley church, Shropshire. The Antiquaries Journal, 92, pp 129168 doi:10.1017/S0003581512000091

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The Antiquaries Journal, 92, 2012, pp 129–68 r The Society of Antiquaries of London, 2012

doi:10.1017⁄s0003581512000091. First published online 3 July 2012

ROLAND AND CRUSADE IMAGERY IN AN ENGLISH

ROYAL CHAPEL: EARLY THIRTEENTH-CENTURY

WALL PAINTINGS IN CLAVERLEY CHURCH,

SHROPSHIRE

Christopher Barrett

Christopher Barrett, Old Police House, Lower Brailes, Banbury OX15 5HW, UK. Email: christopher_

[email protected]

A frieze of mounted knights, over 15m long, dominates the nave of the church of All Saints,Claverley, Shropshire. It is part of an extensive mural scheme from the first quarter of thethirteenth century. For the first time the status of Claverley as a Royal Chapel is recognizedand the royal and crusading character of the imagery is discussed. The emperors Constantine andHeraclius are identified as part of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross subject on the north wall, andthe Holy Cross is suggested as the unifying theme, pre-dating the Florentine mural cycle byAgnolo Gaddi by some 170 years. Claverley is also shown to have the only medieval mural ofRoland, hero of the Chanson de Roland, to survive in situ. The historical background of theearly years of Henry III is examined and the possible role of Ranulf de Blondeville, earl of Chester,in commissioning the frieze is considered.

The wall painting of a row of at least fifteen mounted knights, which takes up the full

length of the north wall of the nave of Claverley church, Shropshire (fig 1), was uncovered

in 1902 under the supervision of Philip M Johnston.1 The frieze, some 15.25m long and

1.5m high, is unique in England. In other parts of Europe there are murals, mostly from

the period c 1175–1225, that share the imagery of a row of mounted knights. Those in

Denmark (Al, Skibet, Højen, Hornslet), Italy (Il Broletto di Novara), France (the

Templar church at Cressac-sur-Charente and the scheme formerly in the church of

St Jacques-des-Guerets, Loire-et-Cher) and in Catalonia (Castell d’Urgellet) are not,

however, as extensive as the Claverley frieze.2

Discussion of the frieze has centred on whether the subject is secular or religious.

Johnston looks for historical events, at first thinking it was a crusading scene involving

St George at the siege of Antioch during the First Crusade. The idea he develops is that

the frieze is of the battle of Hastings in 1066 and shows Roger, later earl of Montgomery,

1. His account remains the most complete: Johnston 1903 and 1904.2. Grabar 1958, 130. The paintings in the pilgrimage church of St Jacques-des-Guerets were

noted by Johnston (1903, 65 n). A line of 5 mounted knights separated by trees and withidentifying inscriptions above each knight are led by St George. Most of this painting is nowdestroyed. The mural from Castell d’Urgellet is now in Barcelona, Museu d’Art de Catalunya(68712): Sureda 1981, 378–83. For Cressac, see Deschamp 1947; Davy 1999; Curzi 2002. ForNovara, see Curzi 2002, 97, 116.

defeating a giant Englishman (fig 2) as described in Wace’s Roman de Rou.3 The identity of

the gigantic falling knight, who appears towards the east end, is the focus of attention.

J Charles Wall claims he is William II at the siege of Mont St Michel in 1089; Richard Mann

that he is Edwin, last of the Mercian earls, resisting Norman incursions into Shropshire in

1069.4 W G Constable thinks the main interest of the painting is the secular subject matter,

but offers nothing specific.5 Borenius and Tristram reject these secular interpretations.6

W H St John Hope claims the support of C E Keyser in looking for a religious theme

and identifies the giant falling figure as St Paul on the Road to Damascus.7 The painting is

not a battle scene at all; the horses are ‘gently trotting along in the mid-day heat’, not

taking part in a confused battle, as Johnston claims. N H J Westlake agrees that the

Conversion of St Paul is the subject.8 The first mention of the theory that superseded all

others, that the frieze represents a Psychomachia or Contest of the Virtues and Vices,

Fig 1. Claverley church, Shropshire. The frieze of knights on the north wall of the

nave is more than 15m long. The ceiling originally began at the top of the frieze.

Photograph: author

3. Johnston 1903, 68–71.4. Mann 1902, 103; Wall 1913, 52–3.5. Constable 1923, xvii.6. Borenius and Tristram 1927, 4.7. Hope 1903, 289–93.8. Westlake 1905, II, 166 n.

130 THE ANTIQUARIES JOURNAL

appears in 1927. E W Tristram elaborates the idea in 1933, and with less confidence in

1944.9 In this reading the falling knight is Pride being overcome by Humility and the

knight on the ground is Avarice overcome by Beneficence. The Psychomachia theme,

which originates with the poem by Prudentius, has been accepted for more than eighty

years. A Caiger-Smith, E Clive Rouse and Anne Marshall all accept the theme of a battle

between Virtues and Vices.10 M D Anderson is unconvinced because of a lack of dif-

ferentiation between the champions of good and evil, a point also raised by Roger

Rosewell, who further rejects the Psychomachia theory also on the grounds that the

number of combatants does not match the number described in the poem.11

CLAVERLEY: A ROYAL CHAPEL

The status of Claverley church as a royal chapel has been overlooked. Claverley belongs to

the most important prebend of the longest lasting of all royal colleges, the Royal College

of St Mary Magdalene, Bridgnorth. The focus of the college was the royal castle at

Bridgnorth, about 7km to the west of Claverley. The castle was an important royal

stronghold, especially in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, serving as a base from

which to mount military excursions into Wales, and as a defence against Welsh incursions.

Between 1207 and 1216 the castle was the home of the sheriff of Shropshire, Thomas of

Erdington, and it was also the county prison.12

Fig 2. The falling knight is the focus of early interpretations, variously identified as

Roger of Montgomery, William II, Edwin of Mercia, St Paul and Pride. The

symbolic tree cross also occurs on the south wall opposite. Photograph: author

9. Borenius and Tristram 1927, 4; Tristram and Benton 1933, 23; Tristram 1944, 48–9, 111–12.10. Caiger-Smith 1963, 9, 11, 20; Rouse 1991, 40; Marshall 2000.11. Anderson 1971, 62; Rosewell 2008, 94–5.12. VCH Salop 1973, 123–8; VCH Salop 1979, 31; Eyton 1854–60, I, 328–38; Hamilton Thompson

1927; Watkins-Pitchford 1950; OS 1954, South Sheet SO 79. L Z Salzman drew Johnston’s

ROLAND AND CRUSADE IMAGERY IN CLAVERLEY CHURCH, SHROPSHIRE 131

Following the rebellion of Robert of Belesme in 1102 the college (founded in 1086)

became a royal college. For the next 446 years it retained the status of a royal castle-chapel

with exempt parishes. Claverley formed part of the main portion held by the dean.13 Later

royal chapels, such as St George’s, Windsor, and St Stephen’s, Westminster, never possessed

exempt deaneries or such extensive rights.14 The college is very well documented as a royal

chapel in Assize Rolls, Hundred Rolls, Patent Rolls, Plea Rolls, Calendar of Inquisitions,

Papal Bulls and elsewhere (see Appendix 1). The Assize Roll of 1221, for example, states

that ‘The church of St Mary of Bridgnorth is in the gift of the lord king and there are in

it 6 prebends which six clerks hold of the gift of the lord king and his ancestors’, while the

Plea Roll of 1241 makes clear that the church of Claverley ‘is the King’s free chapel’.

Claverley church was the most impressive of the churches belonging to the college. The

chapel of St Mary Magdalene within the castle, later described as ‘rather a rough thing’,

lacked ornaments and essentials in 1246.15 Claverley, held by the dean, is unique even as a

royal chapel in possessing its own dependent parishes.

Whilst the main value of royal chapels to the monarch was as a source of income for

his officials independent of the control of the Church or local secular powers, ideas of

royal sacrosanctity, and the current aspirations of the ruler could also be projected

through them. Secular clerks appointed to St Mary’s, Bridgnorth, personally by the king

from his own court became quasi-bishops within their own prebends.16 St Mary’s was

dominated by members of the king’s wardrobe, which was the administrative arm of the

court closest to the king. In the early decades of the thirteenth century, the wardrobe was

at the centre of financial, military and ceremonial organization, as well as the day-to-day

administration of the court.17

Once Claverley church is recognized as a royal chapel, the regal character of much of

the imagery becomes apparent. A mounted knight with his sword raised – a repeated

image at Claverley (knights 5, 6, 7 and 8; see figs 4 and 5 for a key to the numbering) – is

an established sign of royal authority, found on royal seals, for example (fig 3a). The

image of a seated king with a sword in one hand and an orb in the other, in a pose not

dissimilar to that of the figure in spandrel C, is also found on royal seals. On the seal of

Richard I (1189–90), a tall sprouting stem grows out of the orb, surmounted by a cross.

This becomes more prominent on the seal of King John (1199–1216) (fig 3b) and grows

even taller in Henry III’s first seal of 1218.18 The divine authority of the king is being

stressed, with the imagery of the Tree of Jesse blended with that of the tree cross.

attention to entries in the Plea Rolls (Johnston 1903, 60–1), but neither he nor Tristram (1944,48) thought them relevant. For the castle, see Colvin 1963–82, II, 576–7; Eyton 1854–60, I,253–9. Among those held in Bridgnorth Castle between 1216 and 1223 were the sons of thePrince of Powys.

13. Hamilton Thompson 1927, 13.14. Denton 1970, 116–19, 139–40. English royal chapels resemble the Carolingian Pfalzkapellen

with their subordinate Fiskalkapellen.15. Chandler 1993, 392, quoting John Leland; Hardy 1835, III, 495 [Patent Rolls, Henry III, 1246].

The dean’s churches included the original foundation church at Quatford, the castle chapel,St Leonard’s, Bridgnorth, Claverley and Ludstone manor. The other prebends are Alveley,Eardington, Morville, Walton and Underton, which together form a significant area of royalinfluence around Bridgnorth.

16. Denton 1970, ix, 6–7, 149–51. The powers of secular holders of prebends extended to the cureof souls, unlike the custom in French royal chapels.

17. Tout 1920–33, I, 190, 195.18. Alexander and Binski 1987, 397, cat no. 453 for the seal of Henry III.


At Claverley the scroll-form trees facing each other on the north and south walls are very

similar to these sprouting branches (see figs 2, 7 and 18) and suggest a possible unifying

theme of the story of the Holy Cross for the whole painting scheme.19 The cross in the form

of a sprouting tree highlights the transformative and historical significance of Christ’s

Crucifixion. Christ is the second Adam restoring mankind to a state of grace, the Tree of the

Fall becomes the Tree of Salvation. Examples of flourishing crosses from this period include

the Crucifixion painted on the nave pier at St Albans (c 1225) and in the Psalter of Robert

de Lindesey (c 1220). In the psalter the Crucifixion on a foliate cross is surrounded by

roundels that refer to the transformation of the Old Law into the New, and of the Synagogue

into the Church.20 Close in design to the Claverley tree is one painted as the only image on

the east wall of the nave at Radnage (Bucks). Although repainted, its origins may go back to

1227 when the ownership of the church by the Knights Templar was confirmed.21

The scheme’s extent and architectural context (figs 4 and 5)

The frieze of knights is only part of an extensive painting programme.22 The north

and south walls of the nave, the nave columns and the spandrels above them were painted

Fig 3. (a) Seal of King John (1199–1216), counterseal; (b) Seal of King John.

Photograph: author, from replica

19. Baert 2004, 289–333.20. Psalter of Robert de Lindesey, SAL, MS 59, fol 35v: Binski 1992; Roberts 1993, 12–13, 249–78.

For a discussion of the foliate tree cross, see Binski 2004, 212–18, figs 169, 171–3. In a later13th-century illustration of the Lignum Vitae of St Bonaventura (BL, Royal 11.B.III, fol 289)the cross has the same number of branches as at Claverley.

21. Hardy 1837, 5 [Charter Rolls, 16 John, m. 5, no. 3]; Rouse 1935 and 1948, pl 11 (drawings byRouse of the paintings are held by the Society of Antiquaries, London); Tristram 1950, 592. Rousethinks the Radnage tree represents the Tree of Life and its stems the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit.A tree was also painted in the Templar church at Guiting Power (Glos). The mural on the navespandrel at Lakenheath (Suffolk) may represent a foliate cross on an altar.

22. Following the extensive building work of the 1170s the stone walls of the church appear to havebeen left without even whitewash for several decades. Only on the north nave columns, wheresome masonry pattern of c 1130 remains, is there any earlier painting. For the masonry patternsee Mann 1902, 46–7 (who says they were incorrectly uncovered); Park 1986, 185, n 28, and1987, 165.


Seraph

Knightswith Cross

CHANCEL

TOWER

NAVE

A B C D

1, 2 3, 4, 5, 6 7, 8 9, 10 11, 12 13, 14, 15

10m approx.

Frieze of Knights & Spandrel paintingssuggested narrative divisions

Tree, Angels, Figures

N

13th Century painting

Extent of church c.1225 (based on R.Mann)

SEAT

SEAT

Fig 4. Plan of Claverley church as it might have been c 1225, showing the extent of the surviving painting from a scheme that

dramatically transformed the interior. The nave and tower room formed a single space. Drawing: author

Fig 5. Sketch of the north wall of the nave, showing the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. There is no agreement on the narrative order

and division of the frieze, or whether the spandrel scenes and knights are linked. Drawing: author

with figures. On the west wall six unusually large consecration crosses are painted,

although their date is uncertain.23 The nave ceiling began only just above the painted

frieze, there was no south aisle and the chancel entrance was narrow, perhaps only 1.8m

wide.24 With limited natural light, this all gave an enclosed hall-like feeling to the nave.

Tristram, even without considering the original architectural context and unaware of

Claverley’s links to Bridgnorth Castle, thought a spectator might imagine himself to be in

the interior of a medieval castle.25 Warm yellows, reds, pinks and creams were the

dominant colours, with contrasting smaller areas of blue and bright green.26 Entry to the

church was most likely through the narrow door in the tower, which today links the east

end of the south aisle to the tower room, now the vestry. This square room, dating from

the 1170s when Henry II was building the massive keep of Bridgnorth Castle, was painted

with angels and knights, including a knight with a cross.27 The opening between this

tower room and the nave is now totally blocked by the organ but was originally large

enough to form a single space with the nave (fig 6). Without obstructions the eastern half

of the frieze of knights was visible from a seat (now hidden by cupboards) built into the

south wall of the tower room.28

Subject matter

A comprehensive reading of the mural scheme is impossible due to extensive losses. The

south wall, already highly fragmentary, is further obscured by patches of lime-wash and

darkened varnish.29 The frieze of knights provides few clues to specific identification and

so here too speculation is inevitable. However, a reading which sees the Story of Wood of

the Cross on the south wall and the Exaltation of the Cross on the north wall is consistent

with all surviving details and other examples of these themes. The south wall traces the

journey of the tree from Paradise to serving as the Cross of Jesus. The role of the Cross as

an inspiration and help to defenders of the Church is celebrated on the north wall.30 Two

church festivals are devoted to the Holy Cross theme: The Finding of the True Cross, on

3 May (also known as the Invention of the Holy Cross), and the Exaltation of the Holy

Cross, on 14 September.

23. Johnston 1903, 57; Cranage 1901–12, I, 181.24. Cranage 1901–12, I, 179–83.25. Tristram 1944, 48, and 1950, 60–1.26. Johnston 1903. Johnston’s article, lithograph, tracings and replica provide a detailed account of

the colours as they were found in 1902 (see Appendix 2). See also Cranage 1901–12, II, 982;Wall 1913, 52.

27. Johnston 1903, 63 n. Not discussed here are the paintings between the clerestorey windows orthe remains of a Last Judgement above the nave chancel arch; for these, see Mann 1902, 104–5;Johnston 1903, 61; Tristram 1936; Paine and Stewart 2000, 13, 15.

28. Mann 1902, 106–7; Harvey 1903; Johnston 1903, 58. Mann describes the seat in the towerroom as having an arm rest for the right arm. The niche head was cut when the south windowwas later enlarged. Evidence for another seat was discovered in 1902 on the west wall of thenave: Mann 1902, 10. A third seat, opposite knights 12 and 13 in the nave (fig 6), is the only onefully visible today. Cranage 1901–12, II, 980, doubts this seat is medieval. There is no agree-ment as to the function of these seats.

29. A programme to conserve painting on the east and south walls of the nave, and in the towerroom, might clarify and reveal more painting. Tristram 1936; Baker 1972; Paine and Stewart2000.

30. For the Holy Cross theme, see Baert 2004.


SOUTH WALL: THE STORY OF THE WOOD OF THE CROSS

Narrative painting cycles that take up both sides of a church often begin at the east end of

the south wall. At Claverley, the lion and wyvern holding a shield and the red and yellow

Vitruvian scroll-type pattern are later, perhaps painted after Elizabeth I sold the last

remaining part of the royal college in 1579.

The Angel Michael and the Tree in Paradise (?) (south nave, east end, top leftof blocked arch)

A serpent is wrapped around a stylized tree, very similar to the tree painted exactly

opposite on the north wall. To the left is a standing angel, the wings painted with red lines

and the head outlined in red, like the angel painted on the north nave column (see

fig 21a). The Fall can be excluded as the subject since angels do not appear until the

Expulsion, and at Claverley there is no room for Adam and Eve in their usual positions.

The link between the Tree in Paradise and the Tree of the Cross is central to the

Holy Cross theme. One source of the Holy Cross story is the Gospel of Nicodemus, or

Acts of Pilate, the most influential of the Apocryphal Gospels. An Old English version, in

Fig 6. South wall of the nave. There are three tiers of painting around the arch,

which was later reduced in size and is now totally filled by the organ. The seat,

facing the frieze, is of unknown purpose. A masonry pattern of c 1130 is painted on

column B. Photograph: author


an eleventh-century manuscript, makes the link between the two trees, as does Lambert

of Saint-Omer in Liber floribus (1120) and John Beleth in his homily for the Exaltation

festival in Rationale divinorum officiorum (c 1170). The full Holy Cross story is in the

Golden Legend (1261–6).31 The story is told by Adam’s son, Seth. He recalls being sent to

the gates of Paradise by his dying father to ask God for oil from the Tree of Mercy. Seth

prays, the Archangel Michael appears and refuses the request (fig 7). This is the opening

scene in the Story of the Holy Cross. In the murals by Agnolo Gaddi, in Santa Croce,

Florence (1388–92), Cenni di Francesco di Ser Cenni, in the Chapel of the Cross,

San Francesco, Volterra (1410), and Piero della Francesca, at Arezzo (1452–66), the

Holy Cross cycle opens with a scene showing an angel speaking with Seth and occupies

exactly the same position on the top left of the south wall as at Claverley. In the earliest of

these versions, by Gaddi, Seth receives a scroll, which may also be the case at Claverley.32

Adam’s Death (?) (east end, top right of blocked arch)

Near the top left, a wing can be made out, similar to the angel’s wing in the previous scene.

To the right of this, a figure in a red cloak faces an angel, whose wings can be made out at the

top left. Near the centre of the composition is an upright line, to the left a scroll shape and

below a red shape on an area of yellow ochre. On the right a shape comes down from the

border; this may belong to another scene cut off by the later buttressing. Although Seth’s

request is refused, the angel gives him a branch from the tree with the instruction to plant it

Fig 7. Several Holy Cross mural cycles begin here at the east end of the south wall.

In the Holy Cross legend the Tree of the Fall becomes the Tree of the Cross.

Photograph: author

31. Swanton 1993, 207–26, translating CUL, MS Li.2.11, fols 173v–193; James 1924, 94–146; Ryan1993, I, 277–84; Baert 2004, 10, 293–4, 316–21.

32. Baert 2004, 354.


over the body of Adam and a promise that after 5,500 years Christ will come and lead Adam

into Paradise to the Tree of Mercy.33 The scene is known as the Story of Adam’s Death and

the key visual elements are Seth receiving from an angel a branch, which then sprouts up

from the body of Adam. At Claverley (fig 8) an angel and figure are certainly present, and the

red upright line could be the branch planted over Adam, as in Gaddi’s version of the scene.

Figure, scroll branch and building (middle tier, right side of arch) (fig 9)

A latticework pattern of lines similar to those on the knight in the spandrel scene on the north

wall may be the ‘traces of mail’ noted by Tristram.34 To the left of this is a scroll-shaped

branch, similar to the ones in the spandrel opposite on the north wall (see fig 19). An area

painted with lines at an angle suggests stonework. A few other marks are to be seen towards

the bottom and around the top right of the picture. The Holy Cross story continues by

describing the fate of the tree which grew over Adam. One episode concerns Solomon, seen

as a forerunner of the Christian emperor, who orders a beautiful tree to be cut down to build

his palace in Jerusalem. But each time the workmen cut the wood it changes shape.

In frustration Solomon orders the wood to be used as the Bridge over the Siloah Pond.35

Unidentified subject (bottom tier, right side of arch) (fig 10)

An extraordinary fan-like shape, possibly held by an arm, dominates what remains

of this scene. To the right are yellow lines forming a diamond-shaped grid with a vertical

Fig 8. South wall of the nave, right-hand side of the archway, top tier. An angel and

figure form part of the subject. Adam’s son, Seth, speaks to an angel in the Holy

Cross story. Photograph: author

33. James 1924, 126–8; Ryan 1993, I, 277; Swanton 1993, 219.34. Tristram 1944, 112.35. The subject is thought to have been painted in St Mary-le-Crypt, Gloucester: Keyser 1883,

113–14; Tristram 1955, 175.


division. Above this is a yellow shape overlaid with curved red marks. At the bottom of the

picture is a double line with thistle-like forms on either side; these are similar to marks on

the west wall of the tower room. A few marks near the top right may have been cut off by

Fig 9. South wall of the nave, middle tier. Photograph: author

Fig 10. South wall of the nave, bottom tier. Photograph: author


later buttressing. A border of inverted hearts is identical to those on the north wall

opposite (see fig 20). One episode in the Story of the Holy Cross is the Visit of the

Queen of Sheba to Solomon. She recognizes the special quality of the bridge and refuses

to use it, instead crossing the water with bare feet. The painting of the subject in the

Chapel of the Holy Cross, Stratford-upon-Avon (1500), as recorded by Fisher in 1807,

has fan-shape and plant-like forms similar to those at Claverley.36 A fan shape is used

by Piero della Francesca for Sheba’s headgear. Other scenes found in paintings of the

Story of the Holy Cross are the Burial of the Wood, the Dredging of the Pool and the

Fabrication of the Cross.

NORTH WALL: THE EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS

There is no agreement on the narrative order of the Claverley frieze. St John Hope and

J Charles Wall think the narrative unfolds from east to west (that is, from right to left when

facing the painting).37 Tristram thinks knights facing east are conquering Virtues.38 My

reading is the reverse of these: the narrative sequence reads from west to east (left to right)

and the ‘virtuous’ knight is the one on the right of each pair. Neither has there been any

attempt to clarify where incidents begin or end. Here the frieze will be divided into

distinct episodes separated by those trees whose trunks spring from the bottom border.

The Claverley painter divided scenes in this way in his mural at Upton Cressett

(Shropshire). The knights are mostly arranged in pairs facing each other; in medieval

convention this can represent an incident in a battle or the whole of a battle.39 The

St Albans Psalter (1120–30) contains an image on the Beatus/Psychomachia page of two

mounted knights riding at each other, while below is an image of King David. The text

explains that they represent leaders engaged in ‘the holy war on earth in the church’. It is a

divine battle foretold in scripture between the Holy Church and the Antichrist, a fight for

original justice and for the angelic crown of life.40

Destruction of Jerusalem (?) (knights 1 and 2, west end of north nave)41 (fig 11)

The first two knights at the west end were not fully uncovered until Tristram’s

restoration of 1937. A pale horse dappled with spots on its neck, the rider in red surcoat

and mail, faces a yellow mount whose rider falls headlong to the ground. Some areas of

blue and green survive. Pride is shown as a knight falling off a horse on the twelfth-

century tympanum at St-Foy, Conques, France. If, as suggested here, the spandrel

scene immediately below is the Betrayal of Christ, the whole of this first part of the

north wall scheme highlights the consequences of man’s pride. According to the most

popular medieval history book, the Historiarum libri septem, by Orosius, the Betrayal of

36. Fisher 1807, ix.37. Hope 1903, 291–2; Wall 1913, 52.38. Tristram 1944, 49.39. Alexander 1993, 23.40. Geddes 2003, 72; cf 71.41. I number the knights 1 to 15. The westernmost knight was not visible to Johnston so his

numbers differ by being one less.


Christ had immediate consequences – the Destruction of Jerusalem by the Emperor

Titus (AD 79–81). An account of the Destruction of Jerusalem was often added to

the Gospel of Nicodemus, and the subject was popular around the time of the Claverley

painting.42

Victory of the Emperor Constantine (knights 3–6, above second spandrel fromeast) (fig 12)

Four knights, representing two moments in a single battle, form the next episode. A key

element in the Exaltation of the Cross festival is a celebration of the events in AD 313

that led the Emperor Constantine to make Christianity the official religion of the

Fig 11. The opening episode of the north nave frieze is a scene of defeat. The

Betrayal is the suggested subject for the spandrel below. Photograph: author

42. James 1924, 158–60.


Roman Empire. According to Eusebius, whose Life of Constantine and EcclesiasticalHistory form the basis of all later versions, the Roman emperor, Constantine, is the new

Moses, leading his people to Christianity. At Claverley, Constantine (knight 6) is placed

in a dominant position above the spandrel which shows the hand of God holding a Cross.

Marks around his helmet may be a crown.43 His shield has an emblem of the head of

Fig 12. (a) Emperor Constantine faces defeat but (b) goes on to victory the

following day after a vision of the Cross. The hand of God holding a cross is part of

the spandrel scene below. Photograph: author

43. Nicolle 1988, II, 901F, 901J.


a bird. Agnolo Gaddi paints an eagle’s head on the shield near Constantine in his fresco in

Santa Croce, Florence. A homily written for this festival tells the story:

a great foreign nation was assembled at the river which is called Danube and were

ready to fight against the emperor and against the Roman race. Then it was

immediately made known to the noble Emperor Constantine, and he immediately

gathered a great army, and anxious in spirit, advanced against his enemy, and

frequently looked heavenward, earnestly praying for divine support. Then when

they came to the river, he saw there the mighty and innumerable armies of his

enemies. Then he was very sorrowful and saddened unto death, because he

thought that they must all perish.44

At Claverley the first two knights (3 and 4) represent this initial moment of danger.

The knight on the right (4) is about to be knocked off his horse, he reels back from the

blows of his opponent’s lance. Constantine is facing defeat.

Then on that same night that Constantine slept and rested himself, there

came a certain very beautiful angel in white shining raiment, and roused him

and said: ‘Constantine, don’t you be sad, but look up into the heavens’;

and there he saw the sacred sign of Christ’s cross set opposite him and outlined

in the brightness of a great light; and above the cross were written these

words: ‘Constantine, in this sign you shall overcome and overwhelm all your

enemy’.45

Constantine’s victory on the following day is represented by the next two knights (5

and 6). Constantine (6), in white, and riding an impressively elongated red mount, which

contrasts with the shrunken horse of his opponent, Maxentius (5), goes confidently into

battle, the sword of leadership raised.

Emperor Heraclius defeats Chosroes (knights 7 and 8) (fig 13)

The next grouping is of another pair of knights. The knight on the right (8) carries a

shield with a spread-eagle device. At Cressac-sur-Charente and St Jacques-des-Guerets

shields are painted with very similar eagles, but in conjunction with a cross. The emblem

of the Roman Empire is combined with that of Christianity: imperial authority and divine

justice are linked. In several Holy Cross murals the spread-eagle alone is used to identify

the Holy Roman Emperor Heraclius (c 575–641), the central figure in the Exaltation of the

Holy Cross festival. It does so in the wall painting (1240–50) in Brunswick Cathedral, and a

huge eagle banner flies above Heraclius in Piero della Francesca’s mural at Arezzo.46

44. Swanton 1993, 114–15, translating Bodleian, MS Auct, F.4.32, fols 10–18v. This version datesfrom the 11th century. Later versions place the battle on the Milvian bridge, rather than theDanube, but Jacobus de Voragine’s Golden Legend (Ryan 1993, I, 280) says the Danube is theusual setting in versions heard in churches.

45. Swanton 1993, 115.46. Baert 2004, 187, 189, 192 n 165, fig 41b. In the medieval period Heraclius is not consistently

identified by any visual sign. The spread-eagle device appears in the illustrated Eneasroman(c 1220–30) of Heinrich von Veldeke (SPK, MS germ 282, fol 50) and was adopted by Richardof Cornwall after his election as King of the Romans in 1257. The eagle device was widely usedand can be found in the earliest heraldic rolls, for example in the list drawn up by MatthewParis in the 1240s (BL, Cotton Nero D i, fol 171v).


Heraclius recovers the Cross from the Persian king Chosroes, and returns it to Jerusalem.

The Roman Empire becomes the Holy Roman Empire. At Claverley the idea of unfolding

history may be suggested by the developing emblem on the shields (6 and 8) and also by

the way the bushy tree begins here to unfurl into the fully formed scroll-tree further on.47

Roland at the battle of Roncevaux (knights 9 and 10, above central nave pillarand spandrel) (fig 14)

The next two horses (9 and 10) illustrate the battle of Roncevaux in AD 778. Roland’s

actions, told in the Chanson de Roland and elsewhere, make him the example above all

others of the warrior for Christ. The clue to the identification is the huge horn held up by

the knight on the red horse (10). When uncovered in 1902 there was little to suggest a

horn. Tristram is the first to note ‘what may be a horn’.48 Only after the conservation

programme of 1971 did the horn become completely visible. Roland would have sprung

to mind to a medieval audience, and especially in this period. In this part of the mural

at Claverley much more of the imagery associated with Roland appears than in

many recognized Roland representations: a knight sounding a horn, a setting that

includes a tree, a fallen knight, a prominent sword and angels raising a figure to heaven.

The Brindisi cathedral floor mosaic of 1178 included a mounted Roland in a very similar

pose and identical horn, with a descending angel and prostrate figures nearby.49 The

images at Claverley tell the Roland story as described in the Historia Karoli Magniet Rotholandi, known as the Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle.50 The book was especially popular

in English royal circles at this time. Richard I’s crusading companion, Count Hugh de

Saint-Pol, commissioned a French version and both Latin and French copies were

brought to the English court in 1213. King John’s chamberlain, Warin FitzGerald,

had an Anglo-Norman version made around 1215, written to entertain and serve as an

edifying exemplar.51 The Emperor Charlemagne is returning from a victorious crusade in

Spain where he has discovered the burial place of St James the Apostle at Compostela.

Thousands of Saracen troops ambush Charlemagne’s rearguard in a mountain pass near

Roncevaux. Many Christians are killed but the survivors resist: ‘a fresh corps of 30,000

Saracens now poured furiously down upon the Christians, already faint and exhausted

with fighting so long, and smote them from high to low so scarcely one escaped’.52

The survivors climb to a wood. At Claverley, the white horse of the Christians,

whose bridle forms a cross (9), stands firm against the onslaught, but the Christian

47. Baert 2004, 192 n. Dante (Paradiso, cantos 18–19) describes how the Just, among themConstantine and Roland, form themselves into an eagle; at first only the head appears, then thewhole bird. The knight (7) facing Heraclius (8) now has a white surcoat which Johnstonrecords as blue, and his horse had green spots: Johnston 1903, 66.

48. Tristram 1944, 112, pl 72.49. For comparative images see Lejeune and Stiennon 1971, I, pl XIV; II, figs 68, 200, 209, 367, 293.

These include the Roland scenes in the Charlemagne window at Chartres (c 1215–25), themanuscript of the work of the 13th-century poet Karl der Grosse at St Gallen (SSG,MS 302, fol 6v) and Berlin (SPK, MS germ 623, fol 22v); the Chronique de l’Anonyme de Bethune inParis (BNF, nouv. acq. fr. 6295, fol 29) and Les Grandes Chroniques de France (BNF, F. Fr. 2813,fol 118).

50. Rodd 1812, I.51. Short 1973, 1–3, 10.52. Rodd 1812, I, 39.


soldiers fall. The horse, originally painted with bright green spots, holds its ground. The

reigns hang magically in the air as if waiting for a new rider. The quilted saddle is the most

splendid of all those in the frieze, the decoration emphasizing that it is empty. From the

Fig 14. Roland at the battle of Roncevaux. The Christians fall, Roland reaches

higher ground at the edge of a wood, where he turns to sound his horn, as described

in the Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle. Photograph: author

Fig 13. Emperor Heraclius is the central figure in the Feast of the Exaltation of the

Holy Cross and is identified in some mural schemes by the spread-eagle device.

Photograph: author


wooded hill, Roland (10) ‘surveyed the Moorish army, and seeing also many Christians

retreating by the Roncevalles road, he blew his horn, and was joined by about a hundred

others’. At Claverley Roland pulls up his red horse and turns in his saddle. He sounds his

horn and calls back those who are brave enough to return. A significant difference

between this version and the Song of Roland is the sounding of the horn at this point in the

narrative rather than later. Roland’s very last act is to surrender his glove to God in token

of the life he holds as a fief from him. The dark rectangular shape on the hanging reins is

seen by Johnston, St John Hope and Tristram as a severed hand.53

The falling knight (knights 11 and 12) (see fig 2)

The next two knights (11 and 12) are separated from the Roland group by a tree springing

from the border, suggesting a new event, even though the broken sword might bring to

mind Roland’s breaking of his sword after his battle with Marsile. The falling knight (12),

whose pose is that of a tau-cross, and the sprouting tree are the focus of the whole frieze.

The emphasis shifts away from Roland to stress the heavenly destiny awaiting all Christ’s

martyrs. The falling knight is the ideal knight, sacrificing all for Church and King. The

knight and his horse both have distinctive features: the knight has prominent spurs; the

horse is the only one in the frieze to have a plaited tail (see fig 18). Johnston notes that the

horse was pink, and the sword and helmet bright green, the only place these colours

appear at this lower level anywhere along the frieze (fig 15).54

The cycle of history, which began on the south wall at the time of Adam, reaches the

present day at this point. St Augustine’s version of history, in City of God, is that it follows

a divine plan to be completed at Judgement Day. Jacobus de Voragine (c 1229–98) sets out

four historical periods. The time of deviation begins with the Fall of Adam, the time of

renewal with Moses, the time of reconciliation with Christ and ‘The time of pilgrimage’,

the final phase, ‘is that of our present life, for we are on pilgrimage and constantly

engaged in warfare’.55 At Claverley the south wall paintings represent the time of

deviation and of renewal. The north wall shows the time of reconciliation initiated by

Christ to the present time of pilgrimage: the Tree of the Fall is about to become the Tree

of Victory.

Charlemagne leading the final crusade (?) (knights 13–15, east end of frieze) (fig 16)

In the final, and most damaged, part of the frieze, three knights ride from the east, with

raised lances, towards the scroll-form tree. They ride out of a building painted with red

cross-hatched lines on yellow, very like the painting fragment by the same artist at

Heightington (Worcs). The saddle back of the red mount (15) is painted with yellow and

53. Hope 1903, 292; Johnston 1903, 65; Tristram 1944, 112. The colour of Roland’s surcoat (10)has changed in a curious way: Johnston (1903, 66) described it as yellow, although his questionmark expresses uncertainty; 40 years later, Tristram (1944, 112) described it as black; today itlooks dark grey.

54. Johnston 1902 (see Appendix 2, ‘Tracings’, below): the bright green pigment used by Johnstonto colour his tracing has largely changed into a dull olive green.

55. Ryan 1993, I, 3. Otto, Bishop of Freising (c 1115–58), in The Two Cities (Mierow 2002, 123) alsotalks of mankind as being on pilgrimage. Crusaders took the scrip and staff of a pilgrim as wellas the cross.


white stripes. The leading knight (13) has an annulet on his shield (fig 17a) as on

Charlemagne’s shield in the Chartres window. The idea that Charlemagne would rise

from the dead in order to lead the final crusade before the Last Judgement was current at

this time. The Codex Calixtinus has a similar scene of Charlemagne riding out of a castle as

he sets out on crusade. A pennon, symbol of victory, is flying from his lance.56 A pennon

is a prominent feature also at Claverley. The shield of the following rider (14) has a

curious device painted on it, described by Johnston as a ‘flesh hook’ and by Tristram as

‘resembling a three-pronged fork’ (fig 17b).57

The sprouting lance (fig 18)

Charlemagne’s possession of the Lance used by the Roman soldier Longinus to pierce the

side of Christ on the Cross is mentioned in the Song of Roland.58 Ideas associated with the

lance relate to the Holy Cross theme. The eyesight of Longinus is immediately restored

when a drop of Christ’s blood touches him; Christ’s blood is the oil from the Tree of

Fig 15. Detail from P M Johnston’s replica made in 1902 (cf Fig 17). Bright green

and blue were among the original colours of the mural, though only the green is

visible in this figure. Source: SRRC 2101/1

56. Codex Calixtinus, fol 162v.57. Johnston 1903, 66; Tristram 1944, 112.58. Loomis 1950, 451; verse clxxxiii, line 2503. The lance came to King Athelstan and the con-

nection between Charlemagne and the Lance of the Passion may have become an establishedidea in England.


Mercy promised to Seth at the Gates of Paradise. The theme is taken up in Queste delSaint Graal, written around the same time as the Claverley mural was painted. At

Claverley the scroll-form tree has evolved in a subtle way from the tree on the south

Fig 16. North wall of the nave, east end. Knights ride out of a town to join the other

knights at the tree cross. The Flagellation of Christ in spandrel D places the frieze in

the context of the Passion. Photograph: author

Fig 17. Heraldic devices on the shields of (a) knight 13 and (b) knight 14 provide

examples of early forms of heraldry. Source: SRRC, 2101/1


wall opposite. It has become a sprouting lance. The top of the tree is pointed and has a

horizontal bar across it. The tip is painted with red marks. Twice in Pseudo-Turpin the

story is told of how the lances of those soldiers destined for martyrdom burst into leaf

overnight. It was clearly a popular story at this time since it is illustrated on the Char-

lemagne casket (c 1200–15) and the Charlemagne window at Chartres (c 1225). The

imagery points to the idea of redemption through martyrdom for the sake of the Cross.

SPANDREL SCENES

Four fragmentary subjects occur in the spandrels formed by the north nave arches. The

paintings highlight the meaning of the part of the frieze above each spandrel, and do not

form their own narrative sequence. The fighting knights are framed by the Passion

(spandrels A and D), while the power of the Cross to inspire victory (B) and bring

Fig 18. The pointed red tip of the Holy Cross tree transforms it also into a sprouting

Lance of the Passion. Photograph: author


glory (C) are the themes of the central spandrels. The same technique, proportions and

patterns are found in the frieze and south nave paintings, and details such as angels’ wings

and almond-shaped eyes are also the same. T W Harvey saw angels and religious emblems,

and P M Johnston figures of angels and saints, judges and executioners.59 David Park is sure

the Martyrdom of St Margaret is the subject of all four scenes.60

Betrayal of Christ (spandrel A, north nave, west end) (see fig 11)

Park interprets the scene as St Margaret being scourged for her refusal to marry Olibrius

or worship his gods.61 Comparisons with images of the Betrayal show similarities with the

fragments at Claverley. For example, the figure on the right with grimacing expression has

his counterpart in the Winchester Psalter.62 Christ, with inclined head and long robes, is

placed slightly off-centre, leaving room for the embrace of Judas. This would explain the

marks at Claverley close to the face, and the position of the hands faintly visible in the

centre. The Betrayal of Christ is the cause of the defeat shown in the frieze above.

Defenders of the Church empowered by the Cross (spandrel B, north nave,above second pillar from west) (fig 19)

Although it is one of the better-preserved spandrel scenes, key parts are destroyed. From

the sky the Hand of God reaches down with a cross. Hands reach towards it, the double

lines suggesting a gesture of prayer. The haloed figure is fragmentary. Placed at an angle

the figure seems to disappear into the body of a winged animal. The animal’s head is now

missing but must have dominated the composition. An impressive wing rises up from the

proud chest. The position of a clawed foot immediately below this adds to the impression

of stability. The other foot is raised up, one claw is still visible. To the left stands a knight

with an axe.63 He is the only soldier in the whole scheme to be wearing old-fashioned

chain mail. Tristram identifies him as a female Virtue contending with a dragon on behalf

of a figure under divine protection.64 Park believes he is the guard outside the prison in

which St Margaret is held.65 In the story St Margaret prays and the cross she is holding

expands and ruptures the dragon that has swallowed her and she is able to escape. This

reading for the Claverley image explains the unusual angle of the haloed figure and the

cut-off body, and complements the rest of the scheme as another dramatic example of the

power of the Cross to help those in need, as it does for Constantine in the frieze above.

However, the animal has all the characteristics of a griffin, composed of an eagle and a

lion. A proud posture, upright wings, traces of ears and beak and markings around the

broad neck are all visible at Claverley. The griffin’s role as guardian of the Tree of Life and

59. Harvey 1903; Johnston 1903, 64; Park 1977, 10. Johnston records green, blue and a purple pinkamong the colours and interprets one area as a pastoral staff possibly belonging to a bishop orother saint: Johnston 1902 as an inscription on the reverse of the tracing. The halo was of across-type, but this detail was removed in the 1970 restoration: Park 1977, 12 n 12.

60. Park 1977, 1–5.61. Ibid, 6.62. BL, Cotton Nero C iv.63. The axe was a weapon used by foot soldiers.64. Tristram 1944, 112.65. Park 1977, 6–7. The hand of God, rather than the saint holding the cross, and the lack of a

prison building would make this a unique St Margaret image.


of the Holy Places links the animal directly to the Holy Cross theme.66 No doubt the

animal’s role as a guardian lies behind its use on the cover of a book (c 1185) recording

property grants to the Knights Templar. The griffin’s royal and military associations led

Edward III to adopt it as his badge.67 The power of the Cross to help defenders of the

Church is the theme of this spandrel.

Apotheosis (spandrel C, north nave, above third pillar from west) (fig 20)

The spandrel space below Roland blowing his horn (10) is painted with two angels

swinging censers on either side of a nimbed figure.68 The whole group seems to float.

Unlike the artist’s practice elsewhere, the subject makes no contact with the base line.

Tristram’s reading is that the Virgin is giving succour to the wounded figure, while Park

sees the battered figure as the devil being vanquished by St Margaret.69 An image

sometimes juxtaposed with scenes of Roland’s death is of angels raising him to heaven.

Fig 19. Spandrel B. Defenders of the Church are empowered by the Cross.

Photograph: author

66. In Dante’s Purgatorio (cantos 31–3), a griffin pulls the Chariot of the Church to the Tree of theFall as a prelude to Dante being raised to Paradise.

67. Knights Templar, Inquisitio de terrarium dondtoribus y per Angliam (c 1185): TNA, E.164/16.Griffin tiles occur at Claverley. Tiles of a chalice, now missing, are also recorded: Johnston1903, 59; Harvey 1903.

68. Johnston 1902 (see Appendix 2, ‘Tracings’, below) shows that the inside rim of the halo had anarrow green band and a purple band near the inner edge, and that the censors had not beenuncovered. The censors may be of silver foil: Paine and Stewart 2000, 30.

69. Tristram 1944, 49, 112; Park 1977, 10. Censing angels would be a unique feature in aSt Margaret mural.


Roland is ‘borne by angels to Paradise, where he reigns in transcendent glory, united by

his meritorious deeds to the blessed choir of martyrs’.70 The Grandes Chroniques de Franceprovides a scene with Roland, shown with a halo, being carried to heaven by two angels

and the same subject is illustrated in the Chronique de l’Anonyme de Bethune.71 In subjects

such as the Coronation of the Virgin and the Risen Christ a heavenly context is implied by

angels, especially censing angels, flanking a central figure.72 At Claverley the heavenly

destination of the haloed figure is the subject: ‘As the king’s soldiers died for their faith, so

should we die to sin and live in holiness in this world, so that we may receive the palm of

glory in the next, which shall be the reward of those who fight manfully against their three

grand adversaries, the World, the Flesh, and the Devil’.73 The image also resembles the

way the Aerial Flight of Alexander is usually shown. Alexander the Great’s desire to reach

to the heights of heaven led him to tie griffins to a golden chair, and by holding bait on

stakes enticed the animals to fly. The frontal pose, outstretched arms holding a club or

stick, the animal markings, wings, ropes and floating effect are typical of the Aerial Flight.

However, the central figure is flanked by angels not griffins, and he has a halo, both

significant elements which do not belong to Alexander iconography. Even so the image

Fig 20. Spandrel C. The hero tramples on the devil, and is raised to heaven to join

the blessed choir of martyrs. Photograph: author

70. Rodd 1812, I, 46.71. BNF, F. Fr. 2813, fol 122v, col 2; BNF, nouv. acq. fr. 6295, fol 29v.72. An enamelled plaque commissioned by Henry of Blois (BM, M&ME 1852, 3-27, 1) of two

censing angels has an inscription imploring the angel to take the giver to heaven. The juxta-position of two angels between a central figure occurs on another enamel (c 1218–25), showingSt William of Bourges being taken to heaven (MM, 17.190.694).

73. Rodd 1812, I, 12.


may still intend to suggest meanings associated with Alexander, especially the idea of

reaching heaven through courageous action.74

The Flagellation of Christ (spandrel D, north nave, east end) (see fig 16)

All that can be made out in this spandrel is a leaf-scroll in the left corner, the remains of a

figure wearing a hat who is pointing, and part of a whip.75 A conventional treatment of the

Flagellation of Christ is a possible reading. The seated figure with pointing finger is Pilate,

the whip is being used on Christ who occupied the destroyed central area. The scene is a

counterpart to the Betrayal at the west end. Here the final victory of the Cross is linked to

an image of Christ’s humility and suffering. Underlying both this scene and the narrative

of the frieze above are ideas about Justice.76

NORTH NAVE PILLARS AND TOWER ROOM

Johnston saw angels on the nave column supporting spandrel B.77 Mann also saw more than

one angel and a figure ‘looking upward & so cleverly is it drawn as to convey the very evident

impression intended, that although a saint dwelling on earth, its upward look is longing for

the better life above’.78 A standing angel on the left remains identifiable (fig 21a). Less clear

is a praying figure, to the right and facing right, in a dark red cloak and wearing a belt

(fig 21b). The Annunciation with an angel holding a scroll is sometimes included in Holy

Cross mural schemes.79 At Claverley it may not be a scroll at all and the way the drapery falls

is puzzling, as is mention of more than one angel. The next column (C) may also have been

painted with a subject, since traces of red and yellow paint of the same character survive.

Paintings also covered the walls of the south transept under the tower, now the vestry

(see fig 4). The subjects in the nave – knights, angels, the cross and scroll ornamentation –

are also recorded here, suggesting a thematic as well as architectural unity with the

nave. Traces of paint on the south wall, stylistically identical to painting in the nave,

indicate two tiers of images separated by a border, with a double border at the base.

74. As Victor Schmidt shows in his study of the Alexander image, the composition belongs to along tradition of ruler images and the context in which the Alexander image is found suggeststhat a desire for heaven and the glory of the afterlife is the implied meaning. At Basle Minster,the Flight is carved on the same capital as the Fall and Expulsion: Schmidt 1995, 52–5, 241. Insome written versions, Alexander arrives at the edge of Paradise where a tree speaks to him ofhis approaching death: Lascelles 1936; Baert 2004, 330. The history of Alexander was paintedin Henry III’s castles at Clarendon and Nottingham (Borenius 1943, 44, 48–9).

75. Park 1977, 9–10, thinks this is the final scene in a St Margaret cycle. The saint’s final beheadingis replaced by a second scouring unrecorded in any other written or pictorial account.

76. The theme of justice is an important part of the Song of Roland, the Pseudo-Turpin and theGospel of Nicodemus, or the Acts of Pilate. Anselm defined Original Sin as the deprivation oforiginal justice. The Holy Cross narrative is about the return of original justice. Mercy andJustice, represented by two angels, flank the cross in a reliquary of the True Cross made inMosan (V&A, 7947-1862).

77. Johnston 1903, 55–6, fig 4.78. Mann 1902, 45.79. The Annunciation occurs in a Franciscan context – at Arezzo, for example. I am grateful to

Martin Kauffmann at the Bodleian Library for suggesting that the word ecce (‘behold’) maypossibly be written on the scroll.


Johnston records angels and six-winged seraphim together with scroll-work, ‘stoning’ and

general ornamentation.80 In 1944, Tristram notes a Seraph on the east wall and traces of a

subject on the south wall. On the west wall he saw two subjects, ‘in one of which a knight

in mail with a cross are to be seen, and in the other a similar knight’.81 A seraph on the

east wall can still be made out (fig 22).82 In the upstairs room of the tower, in the apex of

the east wall window arch, Johnston records angels and scroll-work.83

CRUSADE IMAGERY

Exaltation of the Holy Cross masses often marked the start of crusade preaching cam-

paigns and Holy Cross imagery is frequently used on objects associated with crusaders.

Sometimes the Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle is found incorporated into sermon collections

intended for Holy Cross festivals. A crusade connection has been sought for other murals

in Europe that include a frieze of mounted knights. The paintings at Cressac, for example,

are said to represent Hugh le Brun de Lusignan and Geoffrey Martel defeating the

Saracens at Bocquee in 1163.84 According to Pseudo-Turpin, Charlemagne commissioned

Fig 21. (a) and (b) angels on the column supporting spandrel B on the north side of

the nave. In (b) at least one angel stands behind a praying figure in a red cloak and a

belt. Photograph: author

80. Johnston 1903, 63. Much whitewash remains and significant painting may still be hidden.81. Tristram 1944, 122. The area where Tristram had identified a knight with a cross was pho-

tographed in 1983, although not much can be made out (NMR BB96/4582). A small pale areain the photo may be the part cleaned by Eve Baker (Baker 1977). Exaltation of the Crossimagery includes a scene of Heraclius holding a large cross at the gates of Jerusalem (Baert2004, 165, 179). The painting was largely covered by an electricity box in 1990, and recent firealarm equipment has obliterated this part of the scheme.

82. Angels appear throughout the Claverley scheme and the royal chapel context gives them specialsignificance. Angels are organized in the same way as a royal court, according to Jacobus deVoragine’s Golden Legend (Ryan 1993, II, 203). Closest to the throne of God are the Seraphim(Isaiah 6: 1–2), whose role is to inspire and transform.

83. Johnston 1903, 63 n 2.84. Ibid, 65 n 1; Deschamp 1947; Grabar 1958, 130.


paintings of his Spanish crusade in his palace, as well as ancient and modern histories in

the royal chapel at Aix-la-Chapelle.85 Pope Calixtus II followed this example when, during

the build-up to his intended crusade to Spain, he had murals based on Pseudo-Turpinpainted in Santa Maria in Cosmedin, in Rome. In England commitment to the crusade

also prompted wall paintings. After he had taken the Cross for a second time in 1250,

Henry III ordered murals of the Siege of Antioch, Saladin and Richard I, and the History of

Alexander.86 Edward I’s crusading intent was proclaimed through wall paintings (begun in

1292) in the Painted Chamber, Westminster, illustrating the warfare of the Maccabees.87

Fig 22. Tower room, east wall. A seraph survives from other images of angels and

knights, including a knight with a cross. The seraph’s role is to inspire and

transform. Photograph: author

85. Rodd 1812, I, ch XXXI, 54.86. Grabar 1958, 32; Lloyd 1988, 98–9; Borenius 1943, 45.87. Reeve 2006. Holders of prebends of the royal chapels were often prominent in the adminis-

tration of royal crusades. Among those holding positions within St Mary’s, Bridgnorth, areHenry of Cornhill, serving Richard I, Stephen of London (dean 1265–68) for the future


Claverley may provide a further example of this type of mural, in which warriors from

history are presented in order to inspire action.

A crusade preaching manual, Ordinacio de Predicatione Sancti Crucis in Anglia, written

for an Anglo-Norman audience for use in England around the time of the Claverley

mural, has similarities in its structure with the painting scheme.88 As at Claverley there is

a repetitive character to the way examples are presented. The consequences of sin and the

need for contrition and redemption in the light of Christ’s sacrifice are the opening

themes; at Claverley the falling knight and Christ’s betrayal are the main images presented

at the west end. The salvatory nature of the Cross is the next theme in the preaching

manual, in the painting, the Hand of God holding a cross and Constantine’s victory are

the subjects. The universal significance of the Cross is then pointed out in the Ordinacio;

at Claverley, Heraclius fights to recover the Cross. The focus in the manual then shifts to

the sacrifice demanded of the individual, followed by the promise of rewards and glory

to those who assume the Cross; at Claverley the focus also shifts away from great rulers to

the sacrifice of individual knights as Roland’s self-sacrifice is juxtaposed with angels

taking a hero to heaven. Finally ‘The calling of men to the Cross’ provides examples from

recent history; the knights at the east end at Claverley are the knights of today joining the

fighters of the past at the Tree of the Cross.

THE MURAL’S DATE

There is no direct evidence to date the paintings. Wall is sure they were painted before

1189; Johnston gives a date of c 1170 in his 1903 article, ‘late twelfth century’ in 1904

and he inscribes the tracings ‘c 1190’; Tristram and Caiger-Smith give a date of c 1200;

E W Anthony places the pictures into the early thirteenth century because of many traces

of Gothic influence; more recently Park (in a passing reference), dates the paintings to

c 1210, as does Rosewell.89

Tristram’s dating is based on a belief, not shared by others, that there was rebuilding

at this time. According to Cranage, the first two stages of the tower were built, and

alterations made to the north nave, during the first half of the 1170s.90 The fabric of the

church indicates a time for the paintings between the 1170s and the 1270s, when there

were further changes in the nave. The painted border patterns of the mural are similar in

character to those in St Mary’s, Guildford (Surrey), of c 1200–20, and at Patcham

(Sussex) of c 1220.91 The scroll border is of a type with clove-shaped terminals still in use

in the late 1230s or 1240s at Chester Castle.92 The design of the bush-type trees in the

frieze also had a long period of use; they are similar to those painted in a bestiary possibly

produced in this region between 1240 and 1260.93 The cursive quality of the Claverley

paintings, the plain creamy white backgrounds used throughout the scheme and the

Edward I, and Walter Langton (dean 1290–98) who commissioned battle-scene paintings in thebishop’s palace, Lichfield.

88. Kaeppeli 1970–93, II, 288–95; Maier 1994, 114; Tyerman 1988, 163–5; Lloyd 1988, 65–6.89. Johnston 1902; 1903, 68; 1904, 109; Wall 1913, 53; Tristram 1944, 48; Anthony 1951, 195;

Caiger-Smith 1963, 11; Park 1987, 165, Rosewell 2008, 94.90. Cranage 1901–12, I, 179–83.91. Westlake (1905, II, 165) thinks Patcham and Claverley are painted by the same artist.92. Cather et al 2000, 183.93. Bodleian, MS Bodley 764; Baxter 1987, 199.


simplified treatment of the drapery are all characteristics of the thirteenth century. The

horses with their rounded forms are much closer to the horse on the first seal of Henry III

(1218) than the horse on the seal of King John (fig 3a).

Mural painting in this area in the early thirteenth century consisted almost entirely of

decorative pattern work, so it is unlikely to have been at the forefront of stylistic develop-

ments.94 Nor was the painter an innovator. Fragments of painting at Upton Cressett

(Salop) and Heightington (Worcs) are almost certainly by the Claverley painter. Identical

visual elements can be seen in all three murals, suggesting a stylistically conservative artist

able to adapt a familiar repertoire for each new commission.95 Claverley provides one of

the most important visual documents of the armour of the period anywhere in Europe.96

Any date between about 1170 and 1230 is a possibility for the armour, but around 1200 is

favoured by experts, although the flat-topped kite-shaped shields are thirteenth-century

in character. The Claverley armour can be compared to that on the Charlemagne casket

(1200–15) and the Charlemagne window at Chartres (c 1225). A type of military tenant

found exclusively in Shropshire and Staffordshire was the muntator, the major contingent

of castle garrisons such as Bridgnorth.97 Compared to a full knight, the equipment of the

muntatores was simpler and more old fashioned; it consisted of a horse, a hauberk, an iron

helmet or cap described as a cappa ferra and a lance – very much the equipment seen in

the Claverley frieze. The Claverley mural probably belongs to the first quarter of the

thirteenth century, but if the conservatism of the painter, Claverley’s geographical posi-

tion away from artistic centres and the historical background are taken into account, the

earlier part of this period becomes less likely.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Royal concerns most directly match the paintings in Claverley during the ten years

between 1215 and 1225. It was a period in England of civil war and foreign occupation. As

Christopher Tyerman has shown, the survival of the Angevin dynasty depended to an

unprecedented degree on crusade intentions.98 King John’s taking of the Cross in 1215

gave him papal protection from his enemies. His nine-year-old son, Henry, also took

crusader vows shortly after he was crowned in the following year. Henry III gained the full

support of the Church, which at this time was driven by the need to unify forces across

Europe for the Fifth Crusade. All those who opposed the king were threatened with papal

94. Tristram 1950, 103.95. Heightington is 21km downstream from Bridgnorth, near Stourport-on-Severn. A few frag-

ments of painting are visible through the whitewash covering the walls of this early 13th-centurychapel of ease within Ribbersford Wood, a favoured royal hunting area. The chapel is dedicatedto St Giles and the hidden paintings are thought to show the life of St Giles. The painting in thechurch at Upton Cressett, 3 km west of Bridgnorth, may have been commissioned by Sir Hughde Upton, a royal official recorded as serving on local juries and supervising timber supplies forrepairs to Bridgnorth Castle. It may be that the Claverley painter had a similar role inBridgnorth to that of Richard the Painter, recorded at the royal castle at Hereford in 1177, andanother painter, Adam, also working in Hereford Castle in 1203: Pipe Roll 23 Henry II (1177),52; Pipe Roll 5 John (1203), 55; Wall 1913, 52; Barrow 1999.

96. Johnston 1903, 66–8; Nicolle 1988, I, 352–3; II, 820–1; Pierce 1993, 266.97. Suppe 1994, 63–87, esp 73, 76, 77.98. For the crusading background see, in particular, Tyerman 1988, 133–44, also Lloyd 1988;

Carpenter 1990.


excommunication, even those who had taken the Cross. Among these was Warin Fitz-

Gerald, the exchequer official who commissioned the Anglo-Norman Pseudo-Turpin. He

had taken the Cross by 1214 in response to papal calls, but, having subsequently defected

to the rebels, found himself branded by Innocent III as worse than the Saracens and a

renegade working to fulfil the pagans’ hopes by hindering the crusade. Now crusade vows

were linked to an oath of loyalty to the king. Henry III’s status as a crusader under the

pope’s protection was the mechanism by which rebel forces, in control of more than half

the kingdom, were weakened and loyalists supported, and the occupation of the country

by Louis of France (later Louis VIII) confronted. Royal forces became an army of cru-

saders. They signed themselves on the breast with the Cross. Royal officials promised the

besieged garrison at Rye the support of ‘a great many crusaders’. Prince Louis was

defeated at the battle of Lincoln in 1217 by an army that raised the standard of the Cross

as it gathered around Henry III. The crusade theme at Claverley seems highly appropriate,

given this background, as does the emphasis of the imagery, in which the great leaders of

Christian history proclaim the king’s God-given legitimacy, authority and destiny in the

royal chapel. At a time of civil war and foreign occupation resilience and loyalty were of

the highest value. In the painting Constantine returns to battle, despite facing defeat, and

Roland is shown returning to the fight even when victory is impossible.

Ranulf de Blondeville, earl of Chester

A forceful re-assertion of royal authority took place in the Bridgnorth area during the

early years of Henry III. The castle and royal chapel formed one of the few remaining royal

centres where such a show of authority could take place.99 Claverley’s status as a royal

chapel allows for some speculation as to who could have commissioned the painting.

Although the dean of St Mary’s College, Bridgnorth, and the canons under him, were

held responsible for any ‘defects of ornaments and necessaries’ in the chapels they held,

there are no records that any of them added anything to their churches; on the contrary,

on many occasions the dean is called to account for the neglect of churches and par-

ishioners.100 Many deans had very limited or no local contact. Hugh de Taunay (dean

1214, mentioned in a record of 1221), for example, was appointed by King John only in

order to bolster support in Charente and he probably never came to England. If the

Claverley paintings do date from the early years of Henry III’s reign the influence of the

young king’s Council is likely, in particular that of Ranulf de Blondeville, the sixth earl of

Chester. An obsession with crusading ideas united Council members: Earl Ranulf of

Chester, who had the closest links to Claverley, the earl of Derby, and the bishop of

Worcester all had their own crusade forces and Philip d’Aubigny was to die in Jerusalem

fulfilling a second crusade vow. Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester, organized cru-

sade preaching in England. The Master of the Temple was also part of the king’s Council.

In 1216 Ranulf became Sheriff of Shropshire and Keeper of Bridgnorth Castle, where he

99. Shrewsbury Castle was briefly lost to Llwelyn ap Iorwerth in 1215. A tax for the enlargement ofBridgnorth town walls was imposed. 1,700 oaks were felled by Earl Ranulf from the royalforest. In Claverley locals complained about the aggressive actions of Robert de Pictavia andthe king’s men, who were asserting rights to wood and pasture and seizing property. Threemurders were reported in 1221: Eyton 1854–60, III, 74; VCH Salop 1908, 485; Croom 1992, 28.

100. Hardy 1835, III, 495 [Patent Rolls, Henry III, 1246]; Cal Inq Misc 1916–2003, VII, 1399–1422,no. 413; Jenkinson and Fermoy 1932 [Plea Rolls, 25 Henry III, m. 28 dorso]; VCH Salop 1973, 126.


made extensive repairs, including the building of a new barbican. Orders for the dec-

oration of royal buildings are usually addressed to the sheriff of the area, and Ranulf

certainly had the authority to commission the Claverley murals. He was well placed to do

so from 1216 to 1218, when, having delayed his departure in order to support the king, he

finally took his force on crusade to Damietta. His personal chaplain, Josceus, held a

prebend of the Royal College of St Mary’s, Bridgnorth, as did a papal official, John

Sarracenus. The Claverley paintings functioned at a local level and were painted by a

locally based artist, whilst giving powerful expression to far-reaching royal aspirations.

They also vividly reflect Ranulf’s own preoccupations.101

Ceremony and visual display, 1218–25

Every opportunity was taken to build up royal authority in the following years. Henry III’s

household had seven knights in 1218; by 1225 there were 123, with a similar marked

increase in the number of sergeants, the main component of castle garrisons, such as

Bridgnorth.102 Henry III’s authority was also bolstered by a noticeable increase in the use

of ceremony and visual effect. A new suit of armour was made for the king. New banners,

pennons and fine robes were produced. Clerks of the king’s chapels were ordered to sing

hymns in praise of kingship increasingly often.103 These Laudes Regiae, including LetareJerusalem, Christus vincit and Vexilla Regis, focus on the same themes as the Claverley

mural. It is certainly not impossible – although there is no evidence for this – that at some

time the Claverley murals served as a backdrop to knighting ceremonies.104 The king’s

wardrobe was involved in the administration of these initiatives. The senior wardrobe

clerk from 1218 was Peter de Rivallis, nephew of bishop Peter des Roches, Henry III’s

tutor and guardian. He was also dean of the college and held Claverley from 1223.105

Repairs to the king’s buildings in Claverley may have been completed by the time of

Henry’s visits to Bridgnorth later that year, and again in September 1224.106 The murals

in the royal chapel at Claverley would certainly have appealed to Henry III, proclaiming as

they do the elevated image of kingship which he developed under bishop Peter des

Roches’s influence.107

101. Charles Wall (1913, 51) makes the unlikely claim that the Claverley mural commissioner wasprobably familiar with the Bayeux Tapestry. If Earl Ranulf was involved it is not impossible.Bayeux Cathedral was the family church of the viscounts of Bayeux, a title Ranulf held until1204. He certainly had dealings with the bishop, and one of his favourite hunting grounds wasnear Bayeux, at Treveres.

102. Tout 1920–33, II, 191–2; Critchley 1971; Carpenter 1990, 382; Church 1992, 157–9, and 1999,123–4.

103. Kantorowicz 1946, 174–7.104. I am grateful to David Carpenter and Maurice Keen for discussing the possibility of knighting

ceremonies taking place in Claverley church.105. Hardy 1835, I, 372–3 [Patent Rolls, Henry III, 1216–25]; Vincent 1996, 294.106. Hardy 1833–44, I, 561 [Close Rolls, Henry III, Aug 1223]; Hardy 1835, I, 372–3 [Patent Rolls,

Henry III, 12–13 Oct 1223]; Henry III Fine Rolls, C 60/21, m. 2, 372–5 [22 Sept 1224]. Henryalso came to Bridgnorth in July 1221 (Eyton 1854–60, I, 274).

107. Vincent 1996. Peter des Roches and Peter de Rivallis lost control of running the court at thebeginning of 1224. Eight years later their extraordinary return to favour began during anotherof the king’s visits to Bridgnorth, following which Peter de Rivallis gained more offices of statethan any individual has held in English history (Maxwell Lyte 1905, 66; Tout 1920–33, I, 218;Vincent 1996, 294).


CONCLUSION

Uncertainty remains about the wall paintings in Claverley church. Nothing is known about

the date or circumstances leading to this extensive painting commission, which transformed

the appearance of the church, possibly in a matter of weeks. Any comprehensive reading of

the subject matter is open to some doubt, if only by reason of extensive losses. Even the

better-preserved parts remain intriguing and open to interpretation. Some of this openness

may be quite deliberate, with a single image alluding to several meanings. So little have the

Claverley murals been studied that even fundamental questions such as how the frieze

should be divided, and which direction the narrative should be read, are not settled. One

can only guess at what the mural’s original purpose was and how it functioned as part of the

life of the royal chapel during the 250 years or so before it was painted over with stencil

patterns in the fifteenth century. A crusading impetus is suggested by the imagery of knights

in combat and knights with a cross, and angels flanking a haloed victor. A Holy Cross

narrative, which includes both the Story of the Wood and the Exaltation of the Cross, is

consistent with what can be seen at Claverley, pre-dating Agnolo Gaddi’s Holy Cross

murals in Florence by some 170 years. The Holy Cross theme celebrates great leaders of

history – King Solomon, the Queen of Sheba, the emperors Constantine and Heraclius –

making it an appropriate subject for Claverley, which was a royal chapel attached to the

royal castle at Bridgnorth. The paintings are the earliest and most extensive of any surviving

medieval English royal painting scheme.108 The paintings can be dated to the first quarter

of the thirteenth century on stylistic grounds, a period when royal authority and legitimacy

were of desperate importance to both King John and Henry III. Although the paintings are a

local production, fulfilling local royal needs, they seem vividly to reflect ideas that were

everywhere in Europe.109 Claverley also provides the only medieval wall painting in situ of

Roland to be found anywhere.110 Roland is exactly where Lejeune and Stiennon predicted

he might one day be discovered, and from a period when Roland’s popularity in England

was at its height. Despite failing to find a Roland mural in Romanesque or Gothic art

anywhere in Europe or in the Kingdom of Jerusalem they are sure such murals were

frequently painted and Roland may survive unrecognized among Christian knights waging

war against the Saracens in a representation of the Psychomachia: ‘perhaps one day we shall

find one or two cases in which Roland, as a new St George, has been painted in a church, or

even, in the Gothic period, in a castle hall’.111

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I have received invaluable help from many individuals and institutions. In particular I

wish to thank David Park, FSA, of the Courtauld Institute. I am grateful to David

108. Cather et al 2000, 185.109. For example, the same inspirational sources lie behind the ideas of St Francis. He was with the

crusaders at Damietta in 1219 at the same time as Earl Ranulf (Maier 1994, 9–17). Francisreceived his stigmata from a seraph on the Feast of the Holy Cross in 1224.

110. Lejeune and Stiennon 1971, 365. The only other medieval mural that possibly includes Rolandis a detached painting of c 1400 from the palace of the counts of Treviso (now in the MuseoCivico, Treviso), showing the Legend of Otinel.

111. Lejeune and Stiennon 1971, 366.


Carpenter, Simon Cawdell, Wendy Childs, D C Cox, Jane Croom, Richard Falkiner, Alison

Healey, Martin Kauffmann, Maurice Keen, Richard Lithgow, Beverley Nenk, Richard

Paine, Thom Richardson, Kathryn Ann Smith, Liz Smith, Sophie Stewart, Alan Tennant,

David Vaisey and Malcolm Vale, and to the staff at Shropshire Records, the V&A Print

Room and the National Monuments Record. All have gone out of their way to be helpful.

APPENDIX 1A SELECTION OF DOCUMENTARY REFERENCES TO CLAVERLEY

AS A ROYAL CHAPEL

Assize Rolls

Stenton, D M 1940. Rolls of Justices in Eyre Pleas of the Crown, for Gloucestershire,Warwickshire and Shropshire, 1221, 1222, Selden Society 59, 555–7

6 Henry III, m. 9 dorso, no. 1324

6 Henry III, m. 10, no. 1319

6 Henry III, m. 0 dorso, no. 1320

These give details of the royal status of the college and of Claverley.

The Book of Fees (Testa de Nevill)

Maxwell Lyte, H C 1920. Liber Feodorum: the book of fees commonly called Testa de Nevillreformed from the earliest MSS, 1198–1293 PRO E 164/5–6, I (1198–1242), Rolls Series,

London: HMSO

1342: Salop Assize Roll 733A, m. 10d

Record of the court at Shrewsbury in 1227: ‘The church of Claverley is in the king’s gift’.

Calendar of Inquisitions

Cal Inq Misc 1916–2003. Calendar of Inquisitions Miscellaneous (Chancery), preserved in thePublic Record Office, 8 vols, London: HMSO

Vol 5 (1962), no. 353. States the claim that the college was founded by Henry I

Vol 7 (1968), no. 413. Reference to the chancel of the king’s free chapel of Bridgnorth

Chronicle of John Brompton, Abbot of Jervaulx

Twysden, R 1652. Historiae Anglicanae Scriptores Decem, 989

The abbot comments on the unusual freedom of each prebend of the college in ‘things

spiritual as in things temporal’.

Councils and Synods

Powicke, F M and Cheney, C R 1964. Councils and Synods with Other Documents Relatingto the English Church: AD 1205–1313, I (1), 1146, Oxford: Clarendon Press

The independence of the college from the bishop is confirmed.


Feudal Aids

Maskelyne, A S 1906. Inquisitions and assessments relating to feudal aids, with other analogousdocuments preserved in the Public Record Office. AD 1284–1431, IV, 234, London: HMSO

Confirms that Claverley is held by the king in 1316.

The Great Register of Lichfield Cathedral (Magnum Registrum Album)

Denton, J H 1970. English Royal Free Chapels, 1100–1300: a constitutional study, Manchester:

Manchester University Press

Appendix XVII, 108–10 (fols 223v–224)

Hundred Rolls

Illingworth, W 1812–18. Rotuli Hundredorum temp Hen III.et Edw.I, 2 vols, London: Record

Commission of Great Britain, 61, 62, 88, 90–1

The royal free status of Claverley church is confirmed.

Papal Bulls

TNA, SC7 (Papal Bulls) 22/33

Clarke, A 1816. Rymer’s Foedera, London: Record Commission of Great Britain, I (i), 261

Luard, H R 1864. Annales Monastici, I, 275–6 (Potthast no. 11797), Rolls Series, London:

Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green

These state royal claims that St Mary’s College is a royal free chapel.

Patent Rolls

Hardy, T D 1835. Rotuli litterarum patentium in Turri Londinensi asservati, London: Record

Commission of Great Britain

Vol I, Henry III (1216–25), 372–3

Vol III, Henry III (1232–47), 495

Presentation of Peter de Rivallis to the king’s chapel of Bridgnorth [8 May 1223].

The canons of the king’s chapel are ordered to supply defects of ornaments and

necessaries [26 Dec 1246].

Plea Rolls

Jenkinson, H and Fermoy, B 1932. Select Cases in the Exchequer of Pleas, Selden Society 48

Easter Term 25 Henry III, m. 28 dorsoEnquiry into the suspension of ‘the church of Claverley, which is the king’s free chapel’.


APPENDIX 2SOURCE MATERIALS

Lithograph

Johnston 1903 includes a chromo-lithograph fold-out of the frieze based on the tracings

and produced by W Griggs.

Photographs

National Monuments Record, Swindon

NMR AA46/9748, 9750, 9774 [1913]

NMR AA62/4022–4032 [1961]

NMR BB96/4575–4601 [1983]

Shrewsbury Museum Service

Lantern Slide SHYMS: P/2005/1950 [1937]

Replica

SRRC, 2101/1: ‘Tracing of wall painting in Claverley church before restoration by

Tristram. Transferred by the Council for the Care of Churches (to whom the tracing had

been lent by the National Monuments Record) collected from London 3 December 1968.’

Full-size replica made in 1902 of most of the frieze and referred to by Johnston (1903,

64, n 1). It is on thin paper mounted on a canvas roll. It is now in a very fragile condition

with the paper torn and separating from the canvas and signs of insect infestation on the

wooden roller. A photograph of 1913 (NMR AA46/9748) shows it on display in the

church. It was also exhibited in London from 14 May to 7 June 1968 in an Exhibition ofMedieval Wall-Painting, held at All Hallows Church, London Wall, London. It could not

be located in 1970 when conservation work was begun (Baker 1972) and when blues and

greens were removed because they were considered to be over-painting. It was only in

1999 that the replica came to light again, thanks to Alison Healey (see figs 15 and 17).

Tracings

Johnston 1902. London, Victoria and Albert Museum, MM6 E4764-4781-1920:

‘Tracings made in 1902 of the paintings in the church of All Saints, Claverley, Shropshire:

battle scenes, possibly incidents in the battle of Hastings connected with Roger Mont-

gomery, founder of this church, with a scourging scene, borders, spandrel decoration, &c.

c 1190. 18 sheets watercolour various sizes. Presented by Charles E. Keyser. Esq. and the

Artist.’

The tracings, made by November 1902, were coloured in ‘exact imitation of the

originals’ by Johnston (1903, 63–4). Johnston’s pencil notes about the colours remain

under the watercolour washes and reveal that the colours in the copy have altered. An

area labelled purple is now brown, and a very bright green on the sword and helmet of the

falling knight has turned almost entirely dull olive green. The tracings also show much

more pink in many areas than is visible in the mural today.


ABBREVIATIONS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abbreviations

BL British Library, London

BM British Museum, London

BNF Bibliotheque nationale de France, Paris

Bodleian Bodleian Library, Oxford

CUL Cambridge University Library, Cambridge

MM Metropolitan Museum, New York

NMR National Monuments Record, Swindon

SAL Society of Antiquaries, London

SPK Staatsbibliothek Preussicher Kulturbesitz, Berlin

SRRC Shropshire Records and Research Centre, Shrewsbury

SSG Stadtbibliothek, St Gallen

TNA The National Archives, Kew

V&A Victoria and Albert Museum, London

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BL, Cotton Nero C ivBL, Cotton Nero D iBL, Royal 11.B.IIIBNF, Chronique de l’Anonyme de Bethune, nouv.

acq. fr. 6295BNF, Les Grandes Chroniques de France, F. Fr. 2813Bodleian, MS Auct, F.4.32Bodleian, MS Bodley 764

Codex Calixtinus, fol 162v (Archivo de la Catedral,Santiago)

CUL, MS Li.2.11SAL, MS 59SPK, MS germ 282SPK, MS germ 623SSG, MS 302TNA, E.164/16

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RESUME

Cette frise de chevaliers sur leur monture, longue de plusde 15 m, domine la nef de l’eglise All Saints, a Claverley,dans le Shropshire. Elle fait partie d’un ensemble muraletendu du premier quart du XIIIe siecle. Pour la premierefois, le statut de chapelle royale de Claverley est reconnuet le caractere royal et de croisade de l’imagerie estaborde. Les empereurs Constantin et Heraclius sontidentifies dans le sujet de l’Exaltation de la Sainte Croix,sur le mur nord. La Sainte Croix est suggeree commetheme unificateur, precedant le cycle mural florentind’Agnolo Gaddi de quelque 170 annees. Claverley estegalement connu comme possedant la seule fresquemurale medievale de Roland, heros de la Chanson deRoland, a survivre in situ. Le contexte historique despremieres annees du regne d’Henry III est examine, ainsique le role eventuel de Ranulf de Blondeville, comte deChester, dans la commande de la frise.

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG

Das Hauptschiff der All Saints Kirche in Claverley,Shropshire, wird beherrscht von einem mehr als 15m lan-gen Fries mit Rittern zu Pferde. Er ist Teil eines umfang-reichen Wandgemaldes aus dem ersten Viertel des 13.Jahrhunderts. Es wird hier erstmals der Status der Claver-ley Kirche als Royal Chapel (Konigliche Kapelle) aner-kannt und die Bildersprache der Kreuzritter-Thematikbesprochen. In der Darstellung der Kreuzerhohung an derNordwand werden die Kaiser Konstantin und Herakleiosidentifiziert und es wird auf das Heilige Kreuz als verbind-endes Thema hingewiesen, womit diese Darstellung demflorentinischen Wandgemaldezyklus von Agnolo Gaddi umrund 170 Jahre zeitlich vorangeht. Zudem wird gezeigt,dass Claverley uber das einzige mittelalterliche Wand-gemalde mit einer Darstellung des Helden Roland aus demChanson de Roland verfugt, das bis heute in situ erhalten ist.Die historischen Hintergrunde aus den fruhen JahrenHeinrichs III. werden untersucht, sowie die Rolle, die derEarl of Chester, Ranulf de Blondeville, bei der Beauf-tragung des Frieses gehabt haben mag.
