The lost medieval chapel of Westminster Abbey has been reconstructed | Science | News

Experts have reconstructed the appearance of St. Erasmus Chapel – a lost, medieval feature of Westminster abbey that was used as one Royal cemetery. Believed to have been built around 1477, the chapel was commissioned and became a favorite place of worship of Elizabeth Woodville (1437-1462) – also known as the “White Queen” – who was the common wife of King Edward IV and the grandmother of Henry the eighth. However, the chapel was demolished in 1502 and today only an intricately carved alabaster frame remains, which can be seen today over the entrance to the chapel of Our Lady of the Pew in the north ambulatory. Accordingly, his role was somewhat lost history.

To investigate further, Westminster Abbey’s archivist, Dr Matthew Payne, and Fabric Advisory Commission member John Goodall conducted a comprehensive analysis of all available evidence relating to St. Erasmus Chapel and its functions.

Among the documents they studied was a recently unearthed centuries-old royal endowment that offered insight into the chapel’s activities — and how the White Queen chose to be buried there.

In addition, the couple discovered that the White Queen’s daughter-in-law, child bride Anne de Mowbray – who married Elizabeth’s son Richard, the Duke of York, when she was five and he was four – had been buried in St. age.

Their findings have been used by the illustrator Stephen Conlin to create a reconstruction of what the east side of the abbey church once looked like.

Of the chapel’s prominence, Dr Payne said: “The White Queen wanted to worship there and, it seems, be buried there too.

“The scholarship declares that prayers should be sung around the grave of our consort (Elizabeth Woodville). The construction, purpose and fate of the Sint-Erasmus Chapel therefore deserve more recognition.”

Mr Goodall agreed, adding: “Very little attention has been paid to this ephemeral chapel. It is only mentioned in passing in the history of abbeys, despite the fact that elements of the reredos survive.”

A reredos is a large altarpiece, screen or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. The alabaster frame that survives today would have surrounded a central image – likely, the researchers believe, a depiction of Saint Erasmus’s death from dismantling.

Differences in the design of the chapel’s reredos from that of the high altar have led the researchers to believe that the former was made by an outsider to the abbey’s design tradition – a specialist alabaster sculptor, rather than the master mason Robert Stowell of the abbey. However, it is probably at Mr. Stowell’s encouragement that Abbot John Islip preserved the ornate reredos in 1502 when the chapel was demolished.

Mr Goodall continued: “The quality of workmanship of this relic suggests that research into the original chapel is long overdue.”

READ MORE: Archaeologists are making more discoveries at Rutland’s Roman villa

Saint Erasmus, also known as Saint Elmo, was the bishop of Formia, Italy, in the third century BC. He died around 303 BC in the Roman province of Illyricum, in what is now the western Balkans, after being martyred for his role in converting pagans to Christianity.

He is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, a group of saints venerated together by the Roman Catholic Church because their intercession is considered particularly effective against various diseases. Saint Erasmus, in particular, is considered the patron saint of intestinal pain, a connection with somewhat complicated origins that began with his dealings with sailors.

According to legend, Erasmus/Elmo became the patron saint of sailors after he once continued to preach, even after a bolt of lightning fell to the ground next to him. Accordingly, sailors – who were in danger from storm and lightning – prayed to him. It is for this reason that the electrical discharges sometimes seen on the masts of ships – seen as a sign of his patronage – are known as “St Elmo’s Fire”.

Because of his connection to sailors, he was sometimes depicted with a windlass—a rotating device often used on ships to lift heavy weights—leading to accounts of his death in which he was tied to a table with his abdomen split open and its entrails wrapped around a windlass instead of the usual rope.

NOT MISSING:
Archaeologists find evidence of 2,000-year Iron Age feast [REPORT]
Energy bill: Experts reveal ‘largest area for heat loss’ in homes [INSIGHT]
Tory civil war sparks anger as Sunak pushed for end of wind farm ban [ANALYSIS]

St. Erasmus is also associated with child welfare, and Dr. payne and mr. Goodall believe it was for this reason that the chapel at Westminster Abbey – built just a year after Anne Mowbray’s marriage to Richard – was dedicated to him. .

According to the pair, this act reflected “a new and rapidly growing devotion to his sect”, with the chapel possibly containing relics of the Italian bishop – probably including one of his teeth, which Westminster Abbey is known to have once owned.

However, only some 25 years after its construction, St. Erasmus Chapel was demolished by order of Henry VII to make way for the latter and his wife’s chantry and burial place. However, the Lady Chapel that replaced it was adorned with a statue of Erasmus – perhaps a nod to the now-lost worship service that preceded it.

Meanwhile, the White Queen’s remains were moved alongside her husband’s in St George’s Chapel in Windsor, where many future monarchs, including Elizabeth II, have since been buried.

The full findings of the study have been published in the Journal of the British Archaeological Association.