Patrick Comerford
When we were staying in Norwich last month, I visited Norwich Cathedral once again, and still managed to miss one of the great mediaeval treasures of the cathedral – the Despenser Reredos above the altar in Saint Luke’s Chapel.
When I visited Norwich Cathedral last year, the Despenser Reredos was covered in Lenten array, so that perhaps explains why I missed seeing it once again last month, not just once, but twice.
However, I managed to see a number of other mediaeval treasures this time round, including: the reredos in the Chapel of Saint Saviour, made with panels recovered from old mediaeval rood screens; the Adoration of the Magi by Martin Schwarz in the Jesus Chapel; and the old baptismal font and the statue of Saint Felix in Saint Luke’s Chapel; as well as another modern treasure in Saint Luke’s Chapel – the Hanging Chrismatory.
Norwich Cathedral is best known for its two-storey cloisters. But the Despenser Reredos, dating from ca 1380, is one of the cathedral’s greatest treasures, its most important work of art and the only surviving mediaeval English altarpiece with scenes of Christ’s Passion.
The Despenser Reredos, also known as the Despenser Retable, was saved from destruction over the centuries because it was hidden as the underside of a table until 1847. It depicts five scenes from the life of Christ: his scourging at the pillar, Christ carrying his cross, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection and the Ascension. The scenes are painted in vivid colours on wood, and are surrounded by a rectangular frame.
The original reredos may have been located at the High Altar originally. It was probably commissioned in 1382 by Henry le Despenser, the Bishop of Norwich, after the defeat of the Peasants’ Revolt at the Battle of North Walsham in 1381. Heraldic shields around the frame may represent the families involved in suppressing the Peasants’ Revolt in East Anglia, or who contributed to the cost of producing the piece.
An alternative theory suggests it was commissioned to mark the visit to Norwich by King Richard II and his queen Anne of Bohemia in 1383.
Albert Way, a local historian, and the art historian Matthew Digby Wyatt believed the altarpiece came from Italy. However, its origins remain uncertain. At first, experts thought it was of Italian or German origin, but later specialists believed it was influenced by French or Bohemian craftsmen. The English antiquarian William Henry St John Hope in 1898 described it as an example of ‘genuine English art’, and suggested it had been made in Norwich, was commissioned by Bishop Despenser at the time of the Peasants’ Revolt.
The panels are similar to those in another church in Norwich, Saint Michael-at-Plea, but experts have not been able to conclude from this that it was made locally. The historian David King concludes that the origin of the reredos cannot be ascertained by the style of the panels. On the other hand, the mediaeval art historian Pamela Tudor-Craig wrote that there is evidence that the reredos was ‘executed by local craftsmen’.
The mediaevalist Sarah Beckwith has argued that the commission was directly related to the insurrection in the manner of an object lesson, suggesting that ‘the peasants who had dared, albeit abortively, to contest their ordained position in the social hierarchy and whose revolutionary gestures were based on an identification with Christ, are once again shown a story, a story they already know very well.’
During the English Civil war, many religious works of art were kept secret to save them from the Puritan armies and the reredos was removed, turned upside down and used as a tabletop, with the paintings concealed underneath. The upper part, including part of the central figure of Jesus, was sawn off by carpenters who made the table top, and the four corners were cut out to allow table legs to be inserted.
The converted table was kept for years in an upper room, with the altarpiece paintings hidden underneath. The reredos remained lost until 1847, when it was accidentally rediscovered, supposedly when someone dropped something that rolled underneath the table. After its discovery, the reredos was displayed in a glass case in the south ambulatory.
The panels and frame and the vibrant colours were restored by Pauline Plummer in 1958, and since then the reredos has been used once again as an altarpiece in Saint Luke’s Chapel.
Another reredos in Norwich Cathedral is to be seen in Saint Saviour’s Chapel, the chapel of the Royal Norfolk Regiment and Royal Anglian Regiment. This memorial space at the east end of the cathedral is on the site of the 13th century Lady Chapel that was demolished in the late 16th century.
The architect Sir Charles Nicholson (1867-1949) designed Saint Saviour’s Chapel in 1930-1932. The reredos in the chapel is made with panels recovered from old mediaeval rood screens.
Nicholson’s other work on Anglican cathedrals includes the west front of Saint Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, where he was the cathedral architect in 1924-1948), additions to Chelmsford Cathedral, and the reconstruction of Portsmouth Cathedral. His internal restorations were carried out at Brecon, Carlisle, Exeter, Leicester, Lichfield, Lincoln, Llandaff, Manchester, Salisbury, Wakefield, Wells and Winchester.
Martin Schwarz’s ‘Adoration of the Magi’ is a late mediaeval painting in the Jesus Chapel. The painting may have been created in the late 15th or early 16th century as part of a triptych and shows the three Magi brining their gifts to the Christ Child. The figures may have been modelled on contemporary merchants and noblemen who commissioned the work, while the gifts of the Magi are depicted as intricate gold and silver pieces.
Modern wooden panels on either side of the painting quote Latin texts from the Epiphany service: Omnes de saba venient (‘They will all come from the East’, Isaiah 60: 6) … the passage continues: ‘They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord; and Omnis Terra Adoret Te (‘All the earth worships you’, Psalm 66: 4).
Saint Luke’s Chapel, where the Despenser Reredos now stands behind the altar, was formerly dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, and has served as the parish church of Saint-Mary-in-the-Marsh since the 16th century.
The 15th century baptismal font in Saint Luke’s Chapel is a Seven Sacrament font, although the details and figures are difficult to make out due to the destructive and damage actions of iconoclasts and neglect over the centuries.
The Hanging Chrismatory in Saint Luke’s Chapel hangs directly above the baptismal font. It is a silver-gilt and glass vessel that holds the three holy oils and designed by Henry Freeland, the cathedral architect, and Rupert Harris, a conservator and restorer. Norwich Cathedral is believed to be unique in having the oils suspended in the manner of a ‘hanging pyx’ for the Blessed Sacrament.
Each vessel has its own distinctive marking that indicates the oil’s particular use:
IO, Oleum Infirmorum: the oil for anointing the sick and the dying. This oil is used to invoke God’s healing of body, mind and spirit.
OC, Oleum Catechumenorum: the oil for signing with the cross at Baptism. This oil is used immediately after Baptism to invoke God’s protection and to affirm our belonging to Christ.
SC, Sacrum Chrisma: the oil of chrism. This oil is used immediately after Baptism, at Confirmation, at the ordination of priests and at the consecration of bishops, to invoke God’s blessing on our life and work as faithful disciples in God’s kingdom.
A stone effigy on the wall just outside Saint Luke’s Chapel was originally thought to depict Bishop Herbert de Lonsinga, the founder of the cathedral. But experts now suggest although it was commissioned by Bishop Herbert de Lonsinga it represents Saint Felix, who is said to have brought Christianity to East Anglia.
Saint Felix was the first bishop of the Kingdom of the East Angles when England was divided into several kingdoms. He is credited with introducing Christianity to the East Angles and so freeing ‘the whole kingdom from long-standing evil and unhappiness’, according to the Venerable Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
Initially, the statue stood in a niche outside the bishop’s door in the north transept, and was brought to its present location in 1969.
Lent begins next week on Ash Wednesday, and the Despenser Reredos will be covered in Lenten array again until Easter. It may be some time before I have another opportunity to see the most important work of art in Norwich Cathedral and the only surviving mediaeval English altarpiece.
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