PLATE I.
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FIG. 1. FAVERSHAM. BAGPIPER. G.O.D.
FIG. 2. FAVERSHAM. APE WITH FLASK. O.C.D.
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FIG. 3. FAVERSHAM. TRIPLE FACE. G.C.D.
( 11 )
THE STALL CARVINGS IN THE CHURCH OF
ST. MARY OE CHARITY, FAVERSHAM
BY G. O. DRTJOE, F.S.A.
.AMONG the references in the volumes oi Archceologia Cantiana
relating to Faversham Church there does not appear to be
any mention of the stalls in the chancel and their carvings ;
yet upon both misericords and elbows there are to be seen
subjects of considerable interest. Enquiry into the past
history of these stalls has been unproductive, but there
seems a possibility that the greater part of them came
from Faversham Abbey. On the suppression of the religious
houses the removal of their church furniture to one or more
neighbouring parish churches was usual, and it resulted in
the preservation of many pieces to our time. For instance,
parts of stalls and misericords from the collegiate church of
Fotheringhay found homes in the neighbouring churches
of Tansor, Benefield and Hemington; and the fine set in
Godmanchester church may similarly have come from
Ramsey Abbey. On the other hand, the stalls with their
misericords of the fourteenth century at Wingham in our
own county seem to have remained in the cohegiate church
all through.
The stalls at present in Faversham church are sixteen
in number, eight on each side, and in construction do not
present any special features. They have the usual arms
with carved elbows and misericord seats. In 1874, when
restoration work was carried out under Mr. Euan Christian's
direction, the stalls were overhauled and new ones inserted.
There was much patching, and it is difficult to distinguish
some of the old work from the new, especially in the elbows.
The older parts, which appear to date from the end of the
fifteenth century, have been retooled or at least cleaned up,
and careful examination points to the conclusion that five
of the stalls are modern, i.e. two on the north side and three
12 THE STALL CARVINGS IN THE OHUROH OF
on the south. The misericord carvings are large and in
unusually high relief, the side or wing subjects being small.
The ledges are simply moulded and are sexfoil in plan as
would be expected at the date suggested. The subjects
represented are of the usual mixed character and from various
sources, and are arranged haphazard ; from the preponderating
number of animals it is likely that the craftsman had
access to illuminated MSS., i.e. bestiaries or romances in
which animal episodes occur, and borrowed details from the
miniatures and adapted them tohispurpose. The composition
of the various scenes under the ledges is as a rule governed
by exigencies of space and is subject to much manipulation.
Commencing on the north side and passing from east
to west the subjects on the misericords are :
1. A savage or wild man of the woods, naked and on his
knees, holding a knotted branch. Right and left: Foliage.
The posture of the savage man here is due to the need ,
of fitting him into the space available. He is rather a scarce
subject in Kent, but may be seen in Canterbury cloisters.
He is found freely in other parts of the country on misericords,
especially in fifteenth century carving in the eastern
counties, generally as a hairy man or clothed in sheepskins.
As an opportunity of giving his story will occur when dealing
with the misericords on the south side, further consideration
is deferred for the present.
2. A man's head with cap from under which his curly
hah projects. Right and left: Foliage.
3. A jovial-looking individual in close-fitting cap with
scalloped edge playing a bagpipe. His attitude is very
awkward and cramped owing to the confined space. The
bag is under his left arm with the chanter on which he plays
connected to it, but no mouthpiece for inflation can be seen.
Behind him on his right are his foot and the end of a drone.
Right and left: conventional flower. (PI. I, fig. 1.)
The bagpipe is well represented in ecclesiastical carving,
especially in woodwork. Many examples are satirical in
character, the player being a pig or ape.
4. A half-length figure of a man holding a small loaf or
cake and filled cup. This is probably Elijah holding the little
PLATE II.
MS. 22. WESTMINSTER CHAP. LIBY. GIANT AND OTHER
FIGURES. G.C.D.
ST. MARY OF CHARITY, FAVERSHAM. 13
cake and the water given him by the widow woman.1 Right
and left: Foliage. This misericord appears to be modern.
5. A half-length figure of an angel holding out a flaming
sword. Right and left: Conventional bunch of grapes.
This misericord also we take to be modern. It is a bibhcal
subject like the last, representing the angel with the flaming
sword at the gate of the Garden of Eden. A good miniature
may be seen in MS. 20729 (BM.), a Dutch manual of prayers
of the fifteenth century. The expulsion scene is carved on
the twelfth century font at East Meon (Hants), at Lincoln
Cathedral of similar date, and on misericords at Worcester
and Ely Cathedrals.
6. An ape chained to a block holding out a flask
reversed. Right and left: Conventional flower. (PI. I, fig. 2.)
This is a fairly common subject. Apes were popular
as pets, mainly for their powers of imitation. The ape here
poses as a doctor and holds out a medical flask. There are
examples on misericords at Boston, Sneinton, Beverley
Minster, Stratford-on-Avon, and Henry VII's Chapel ; and
in stone sculpture at Tring.
7. A man's head under a cap, composed of three faces
conjoined in such a way that while there are three mouths,
three noses, and three beards, there are only four eyes,
and yet each face has all features. Right and left: Conventional
flowers. (PI. I, fig. 3.)
This is a scarce device in carving, but light is thrown
upon it by reference to ihuminated MSS. In one, a bestiary
of the thirteenth century in the Westminster Chapter Library,
it represents the head of a giant. (PI. II.) He there appears
associated with the pigmy in a group of thirteen so-called
human prodigies or monstrosities, of which four are illustrated
in this miniature and nine in another. Similar and
other strange creatures occur in MS. Harl. 2799 (BM) of
the twelfth century, and in MS. Bodl. 602 at Oxford. They
consist of what we should call " freaks," and we learn about
them from the texts, which were inspired by the chapter
" De Portentis " in the seventh book of the great work
1 The subject appears in greater detail on a misericord in Wells
Cathedral.
s
14 THE STALL CARVINGS IN THE CHURCH OF
entitled " De Universo" of Rabanus Maurus who was
Archbishop of Maintz (? 786-856). They were strictly called
" portenta," because such freaks were held to foretell future
events. Rabanus, a great theologian and commentator,
copied largely from Isidore's Etymology and added his own
interpretations. Isidore's information came from classical
authors. The texts tell us that the giants are the Macrobii or
long-hved people, inhabitants of India and twelve feet
high. This is a mistake, for Isidore says the Macrobii are
eight feet, following Pliny who gives their height as five
cubits and two palms. The pigmies are stated to be one
cubit high. In the Westminster bestiary the giant has only
one arm and points to the pigmy, who is perched on foliage.
There is no reference in the text to the giant having only
one arm and a triple face, but Rabanus describes next after
the pigmy Geryon the man with three bodies who was slain
by Hercules, so the artist may have got the idea of the triple
face from him.
Giants are mentioned and illustrated in Alexander's
Romance. In MS. Harl. 4979 (BM) Alexander on horseback
at the head of his knights fights a party of " gens qui estoient
grans comme jaians " in a forest. The Cyclopes are also
treated as giants. They appear as " Clyopes que sont de
grant corsage comme jaiant et ont grosse vois et j oeil ou
front," and are variously drawn, but with one large eye in
the middle of the forehead.
The other two monstrosities in the same miniature are the
Sciapod, and the Brachmani (Brahmins) who lived in caves.1
1 The sciapod or " shadowfoot " is a very remarkable prodigy- and
rare in carving. The only recorded example in this country is on a fifteenth
century bench-end in Dennington Church (Suffolk), but he occurs on
stone work at Souvigny, Sens Cathedral, and Parize-le-Chatel, in France,
and on the Mappa Mundi in Hereford Cathedral. The Sciapod is strictly
a member of the Monocoli or one-legged race and can be traced back to
Ctesias. He was supposed to be an inhabitant of Ethiopia, the traditional
land of marvels, and though possessed of only one leg to be able to move
with marvellous swiftness. His name of " shadowfoot " came from his
having such an enormous foot that when he lay down he could use it as
an umbrella to keep off the sun. The carver at Dennington has made a
mistake in giving him two feet, probably through not understanding the
subject.
The Brahmins appear with the sciapod at Dennington, being tucked
under his arm as it were in their cave ; there is no doubt that the carver
was worldng from a miniature. They were supposed to be naked like wild
ST. MARY OF CHARITY, FAVERSHAM. 15
Rabanus teaches fully the general signification of such
prodigies, although there is not always a specific interpretation
for each one; but the MSS. do say that giants being
larger than the usual size of men are a type of proud men
such as Saul, who was taller by a shoulder and more than all
his people. Humility on the other hand is shown by David
the pigmy, as he was the least of all the brethren. He
quotes Varro that " portenta " are those creatures which
appear to have been born contrary to nature, but as theologian
he lays down the law that they are not unnatural
" because they came into existence by the divine will, since
the will of the Creator is the very essence of everything that
is created." We can, therefore, readily understand how such
strange figures came to be eligible for carving in churches.
So far we have tried to trace one source whence the
device of the triple face may have sprung and its meaning.
There is, however, evidence that it came to be used later in
a different sense. In the fifteenth century there was a great
vogue for representations of the Trinity and they are very
numerous. It seems that almost any device which displayed
threefold features was deemed suitable and was seized upon
to symbolize that doctrine. The common triangular form
as seen on a bench-end at Badlesmere in this county is a
case in point. The triple face, much more rare, is another.
M. Didron in his Christian Iconography1 discusses the device
and points out that it was not only used to represent the
Divine Trinity, but also Satan as a kind of Trinity of evil.
He gives examples from French illuminated MSS.
beasts and Pliny calls them Troglodytae. In the Westminster MS. they
are clothed and look quite respectable, but in the Romance of Alexander
they are usually naked. When Alexander approached with his army
they sent him a nice little letter saying that they possessed nothing worth
his attacking them for, and he was so much touched that he let them
alone.
The monstrosities shown on the other miniature of the Westminster
MS. are : Man with thumb and six fingers ; man with monstrous distorted
face ; man with four legs and feet; man with three arms and hands ; man
with one large and one small hand ; man who moves on all fours ; man
with one eye in his forehead; man with head on his breast; and a
hermaphrodite, with the right breast of a man and the left of a woman.
The male half holds a sword and the female half shears.
1 Bohn's Library, Vol. II, p. 22.
16 THE STALL CARVINGS IN THE CHURCH OF
M. Didron also suggests another source for the device,
namely the classical Janus Bifrons, who appears in medieval
calendars, representing the month of January, which was
named after him. He is seated at a table feasting, as may be
seen on the lead font at Brookland. Didron says that in
addition to his two faces which symbolized the old year
passing and the new year at hand " certain Christian artists "
inserted another in between to indicate the present time,
and he illustrates this from a French MS. of the fourteenth
century.
Search for the device in ihuminated MSS. here has not
produced much. In the fifteenth century Dutch Manual of
Prayers before mentioned the triple face occurs twice, the first
picture being definitely a Trinity. (PI. III,fig. 1.) It is a halflength
man's figure in tunic and mantle in rays, his hands
resting on the two upper circles which form part of the common
triangular Trinity device. The figure shows the three
mouths, three noses, and three beards, but only four eyes,
as at Faversham. In three other MSS. in the British Museum,
viz. a French fifteenth century Book of Hours (MS. 29433), a
fifteenth century Latin Hymnal (MS. 30014), and in an
initial letter in MS. 29902 are three complete faces conjoined.
None of these figures is crowned.
The triple face is rare in carving. There is one other
instance upon a misericord in Cartmel Priory church. (PI. I l l ,
fig. 2.) It is well executed; the head is bearded in conventional
curls and has three mouths and three noses as at Faversham,
but only two eyes, the two others at the sides being omitted
apparently to make room for two sprays of foliage which
issue from the side mouths. This head has an elaborate
crown. There is a double face of this class in the cloisters
at Canterbury, and another of fifteenth century date, with
three eyes, on the vaulting of the north aisle of the Cathedral.
These are illustrated among Mr. C. J. P. Cave's photographs
of the bosses.1
I t seems then that the triple face device appears at a
fairly early date, but was sparingly used, first for the giant
1 Friends of Canterbury Cathedral, Papers, No. 4, and Annual
Report, January 1938.
PLATE III.
\ ;' ^ ••. •• """J/L. •
Flu. 1. MS. 2072!) (B.M.). TRIPLE FACE.
FIG. 2. CARTMEL. TRIPLE FACE. F. H. Crosaley.
PLATE IV.
FIG. I. FAVERSHAM. CAMEL. G.C.D.
FIG. 2. FAVERSHAM. FOX AND GOOSE. G.C.D.
FIG. 3. FAVERSHAM. SAVAGE MAX AND GRIFFIX. G.C.D.
PLATE V.
.••' —i
FIG. 1. MS. 12 F. xiii (B.M.). CAMELS.
nMOtcoucttigio i
ucapTteccrtttttotirftcoloie.
^partruinoj)ftttfto.I>tmcpattdrutttAffir -
' ftmuummifctt.^cunicldttte
carftmadfttnili
tttdmemcmeumcp
ftttafc^al&ato
ffrnfrtrcEctetttmi
ftueqmalmmttio
dumptfctmrr^
FIG. 2. MS. 61. ST. JOHN'S COLL., OXFORD. FOX.
PLATE VI.
FIG 1. MS. 3516. ARSENAL LIBY., PARIS.
SAVAGE MAN AND CICNTAUR,
«
1
FIG. 2. WEST ROCNTOX. SAVAGE MAN AND CENTAUR.
ST. MARY OF CHARITY, FAVERSHAM. 17
and then for the Trinity. Whether the carvers of misericords
paid much regard to the origin or meaning of such subjects
is very doubtful. They were attracted to them as supplying
decorative material.
8. A half-length figure of an angel bearing a shield
charged with a pah of leopards and a pah of horned sheep.
Right and left: Double rosette. We are unable to find
any connexion between this device and Faversham Abbey.
South Side—East to West.
The misericords show:
1. A camel crouching. Its head and face are badly
formed, but the principal feature is its enormous hump
covered with hah arranged in conventional curls. Its feet
do not appear to be uniform. Right and left: Conventional
bunches of grapes. (PL IV, fig. 1.)
Camels occur fairly frequently in churches, often as
poppy heads. In most cases the head is broken off. A good
example with two humps may be seen on a misericord at
Boston carved on the flat of the board, others at Stratfordon-
Avon (two humps), Manchester Cathedral (with rider
fighting a man on a horse), and Beverley Minster (one hump);
and on poppy heads or bench-ends at Eynesbury and Stowlangtoft
(two humps), Isleham (one hump), Swaffham
Bulbeck (two humps), Ufford (one hump), and on a boss at
Queen Camel with two humps.
There is every reason why the camel should appear
in church, as it is illustrated and treated of very fully in the
Latin bestiaries, and a notable lesson is attached to it. The
information given came from classical sources and describes
in great detail the appearance and habits of camels, particularly
the structure of their feet which never become sore,
as we are told they are provided " with elastic pads of flesh
which rise and fall like lungs."
The camel was a type of Christ. As it knelt down to
receive its load, so did Christ humble himself to take upon
him the sins of the world ; and many passages from Scripture
are brought into play.
18 THE STALL CARVINGS IN THE CHURCH OF
There are good pictures of camels in the bestiaries,
some with one hump, others with two. They are shown
fouling the water with theh feet, as they are said to prefer
dirty water to clean for drinking.1 (PL V, fig. 1.)
2. A fox running away with a goose ; two other geese
below. Right and left: Conventional fohage. (PL IV, fig. 2.)
This is one of the numerous episodes in which the
fox appears as the arch-deceiver and plunderer of birds.
It is a common subject in architecture. Its story is given
in picturesque form in the bestiary, and tells us that when
the fox is hungry it goes to a place where there are bhds and
there rolls itself in red earth so as to appear nice and tasty
and bloody. It then lies down as if dead with its tongue
hanging out. The bhds are tempted and come down;
they peck its body and tongue and find it soft and juicy,
whereupon the fox suddenly springs up and catches them.
This story is well illustrated in the bestiaries notably in MS. 61
St. John's College, Oxford, and MS. 12Fxiii (B.M.). Itteaches
the lesson of that other arch-deceiver the Devil, who is always
plotting to destroy mankind. In the texts passages relating
to the fox in the Bible are quoted. (PL V, fig. 2.)
Examples of this scene appear on the twelfth century
doorway at Alne (Yorks) and on misericords at Chester
Cathedral and Nantwich. The fox dressed as a cleric
preaching from a pulpit to a group of bhds or to people is
another form and may be seen in the stalls at Christchurch
Priory and S. Sernin Toulouse.
3. A winged and horned demon carrying off a fully -
clothed man who is suspended in looped drapery held in the
demon's teeth. The subject appears to show a man who has
committed some deadly sin such as avarice, and who is being
carried off by a demon to hell. His hands are raised, clasping
his head, and his mouth is open as if in great distress. Right
and left: Double rosette.
This misericord appears to be modern.
4. A horse dropped on its knees. Right and left:
Foliage. This may also be modern.
1 MS. 12 F. xiii (B.M.).
ST. MARY OF CHARITY, FAVERSHAM. 19
Horses occur in varied circumstances in MSS. and
carving. There is one with reins as a poppy-head at
Eynesbury, which looks as if it may be fording a stream,
and another at Stowlangtoft.
5. A fox standing on a vine branch, gazing at two
bunches of grapes. Right and left: Conventional flowers.
This also appears to be modern and presumably relates
to the fable of the fox and grapes.
6. A naked bearded man thrusting a spear into the
body of a griffin. He grasps his spear with both hands and
has a very large shield interposed between him and the griffin.
This shield consists of a framework covered with hides and
has a large boss. Right and left: Conventional flowers.
(PL IV, fig. 3.)
The scene represents the savage man or wild man of the
woods fighting with a griffin, one of the numerous wild beasts
which are named in his legend as his enemies. Apart from
his identity and early history he has his own story which
we get in a French prose bestiary of about 1300 in date in
the Arsenal Library, Paris.1 In the miniature which accompanies
it he has a horn upon his forehead and is clothed in
a lion's skin. He is fighting with a centaur, whom he pierces
with a spear, and who shoots an arrow at him, and is consequently
called " Sagittarius." Over the miniature is the
title: " Del sagittahe et del salvage home." (PL VI, fig. 1.)
From this MS. we learn that in a desert part of India
there is a race of savage men who have a horn upon theh
forehead. They and the centaurs are continually at war.
These savage men Hve in the trees on account of the wild
animals of which there is " a great plenty about them :
serpents and dragons and griffins and bears and Hons, and
other kinds of vermin." The savage man is quite naked
unless he has fought with a lion and killed it, and has clothed
himself with the skin of the Hon.
The episode of the savage man fighting with Sagittarius
symboHzes the Christian man, that is to say his body is
denoted by the centaur and his soul by the savage man.
1 MS. 3516.
20 THE STALL CARVINGS IN THE CHURCH OF
They are always at war one with the other. The lesson is
worked out at great length and although the centaur appears
in it, the Hon is an important factor. The man who fives
in sin is appealed to to repent and mend his ways, when by
divine grace he, like the savage man, will be strong enough to
overcome his enemies.
The savage man fighting with the centaur occurs on the
twelfth century font at West Rounton and the Norman
doorwayat Bishops Wilton,both in Yorkshhe. (PL VI, fig. 2.)
This story is given in no other bestiary that we are
acquainted with, but must have been adapted in some measure
from an earfier version as " Physiologus " is quoted. The
details suggest that the savage man was derived from
accounts of wild men in classical authors such as Pliny.
He speaks of " silvestres homines " in a country situate in
a certain great valley of the Himalayas with feet turned
backwards and of wonderful swiftness. They wander
about with the wild beasts. .Also in the same chapter of a
nation called the Choromandae which dweU in the woods
and have no proper voice, but screech horribly. Theh
bodies are hahy and theh teeth those of a dog. As this
follows immediately after an account of the Satyr which
he calls an animal it must refer to the Cynocephafi or baboons.
This ape is described and illustrated in the Latin bestiaries
and is carved on the stalls at Ufford (Suffolk).
The ape Satyrus is fully described by Pliny, Solinus and
Aefian and is drawn in the bestiary as a classical Satyr.
The name " Simia Satyrus " has been appfied by naturalists
to the Orang-utan. This creature is only found in Borneo
and Sumatra, a long way off, but it is possible that reports
or tales about it may have reached Pliny ; on the other hand
the great apes of Western Africa such as the gorilla and
chimpanzee would be better known and hearsay descriptions
of them current even if vague. Pliny says the Satyrus
moves sometimes on four feet and sometimes walks upright,
and that it has the features of a human being. The question
of identification cannot well be carried farther. Later we
have Jerome's opinion that " silvestres homines " were held
to be a kind of faun. The description in Mandeville is clearly
PLATE VII.
W •"
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WM *
M
••••*. •
••• V J
J^ra kj. -W
/
FIG. 1. CANTERBURY. SAVAGE MAN AND LION.
liv-. 4JM/
Fio. 2. HEREFORD ALL SAINTS. WILD MAN. G.C.D.
PLATE VIII.
MBWMPMiw.*'.11..**?
.Jf^^Ser^
r2gfcl
• ™"%»k. X
atdb
FIG. 1. LINCOLN. GREAT APE.
Fio. 2. WINCHESTER. GREAT APE G.c.n.
ST. MARY OF CHARITY, FAVERSHAM. 21
taken from classical sources and is based on the satyr or faun.
" In that desert (of India) there be many wild men that be
hideous to look upon, for they be horned and speak nought,
but they grunt as pigs.'' There are two remarkable examples
of the Satyrus in church carving, one in a panel in the stalls in
Lincoln Cathedral, where it has fine curled horns (PL VIII,
fig. 1); the other on a misericord at Chichester Cathedral with
bearded human face and hands, but goat's feet and tail. This
is clearly modelled on the satyr. Other great apes are carved
on misericords at Winchester Cathedral (PL VIII, fig. 2)
and the church of St. Marcel near Argenton-sur-Creuze ; and
there is a charming example on the hood moulding of a
window at Romagny in Normandy where it is on all fours.
Despite this association in form with the satyr it is
certain that the " homo silvestris" did not follow the
satyr, when the latter became a demon in ecclesiastical art.1
In both MSS. and carving he bears no resemblance to a
demon, but remains a man. In the story he is used to
champion the spiritual nature of man and is enthely the
opposite of a dissolute creature like the satyr. He fights too
with many different animals and when he has killed a Hon
he wears its skin. We are here certainly brought into
contact with the exploits of Hercules.
The author of the story must have had Hercules in mind,
and endowed the savage man with his virtues, for Hercules
was regarded by the Greeks as a hero and type of manly
endurance. It happens that in the crypt at Canterbury
there is a twelfth century capital which is clearly modeUed
on the exploit of Hercules and the Nemean Hon in classical
art. A naked man is fighting with a Hon, but instead of
Hercules' club the carver has given the savage man a tail,
which incidentally has the advantage of balancing the tail
of the Hon.2 (PL VII, fig. 1.)
1 A demon modelled on the satyr may be seen on a bench-end at
Charlton Mackrel, Somerset.
8 The same subject appears in one of the quatrefoils on the exterior
of the Portail des Libraires at Rouen Cathedral. A man clothed in a
lion's skin is piercing a lion with a spear. This carving must be based on
a classical original and is I believe described as Hercules, but it conceivably
illustrates the story of the savage man. It is the same date as the miniature
in the Paris MS., early fourteenth century.
6A
2 2 THE STALL CARVINGS IN THE CHURCH OF
Savage or wild men appear in illuminated MSS., a
notable one being in MS. Roy. 2Bvii (B.M.) of early fourteenth
century date. He is drawn as a naked hairy man and is
worried by three dogs. A good carving of this type occurs
on an elbow in All Saints Church, Hereford. (PL VII, fig. 2.)
In miniatures in Alexander's Romance he appears as a big
hairy man, and is burnt for being a person of no understanding
and behaving Hke a beast.
In the fourteenth century a change took place in the
appearance and estimation of the savage man. He becomes
more or less standardized and blossoms out into great prominence
under his English name of " wodewose." Instead
of being naked he is clothed in sheepskins, and generaUy
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