A bishop's handbell?

A bishop’s handbell?

Summary.  Three pieces found in the Staffordshire (Lichfield) Hoard connected together and labelled mysterious. They form a handle to a handbell. Such a liturgical object was essential for the early church to call for prayers or signal a death. It supports the conjecture the hoard was an archive from the second cathedral.

     Three items in the Staffordshire (Lichfield) Hoard^[1] connected together and gave a single object initially described as a mystery that elicited fanciful suggestions as to its purpose.^[2] A top button, 27 mm wide, has a black and white squared millefiori glass pattern in the shape of a Greek cross.^[3] A Greek cross is one of the most common Christian symbols in common use by the fourth century. It should have invalidated all secular and Jewish suggestions for the object’s function. The button had holes which matched the top of a cylinder, 18 mm long. The bottom of the cylinder connected to a base plate 60 mm long, that was circular, domed and compressed. When all were combined it was less than 200 mm long. The base plate has holes all around the edge suggesting rivets connected the entire handle to the cup of a bronze or iron bell.^[4]

 

Reconstructed handbell with a large incised plate identical to a panel on the gold cross. Several plates show a cloisonné arrangement resembling an early Celtic handbell. A copy of St Patrick’s bell, c. seventh century, known as the Cloc ind Édachta, is shown below for comparison. It was said the bell was part of the relics removed from Patrick’s tomb sixty years after his death.

 

 

 

There are few references to early handbells[5], but a bell was used to call to prayer, during a baptism, and for assembly at a shrine or at the time of dying. Foot thought a bell summoned the devout to prayer^[6] and quoted a poem in which men hastened from outside to the summons of ringing.^[7] Columba ran to the church when called by a bell, but died soon afterwards.^[8] Chapter 43 of the Rule of Benedict, c. AD 530, starts with, ‘On hearing the signal for an hour of the divine office’ with the signal possibly being a bell. Chapter 47 mentioned a signal announcing the hours and this would also apply to the time of someone dying. Bede described Nuns called to prayer with a bell at Whitby, AD 680, and again at the death of Abbess Hild.^[9] Wilfrid of Ripon introduced Benedictine rule to many minsters^[10] and Stephen’s biography of Wilfred has an occasion when a bell was rung at Ripon to call all the community together to hear Bishop Wilfrid.^[11] Wilfrid could have repeated this at Lichfield when helping Wulfhere to set up the first cathedral. This evidence for the existence and use of small bells is sparse, but enough references show they were being used at different locations for diverse purposes.

 Cardonagh stone, Northern Ireland, c, 700 showing a figure holding a bell.

The squashed dome has two incised plates with zoomorphisms. One plate is larger and a little more elaborate. It is identical to the small panel above the central garnet on the gold cross, apart from the rings being reversed. This indicates the bell was sacred. The zoomorph consists of sinuous arms with two rings, whereas the small panel has only one ring; both end with three-digit hands. A separate panel (included in Catalogue number 541) only 17 mm long, has two zoomorphs ending in three-digit hands and biting each other. Having three similar panels in which two are almost identical to the gold cross panel is signicant. The panels could mean the same as on the cross, namely, an Anglo-Saxon enigmata for the name of Christ entombed and therefore suggests a passing bell. Tatwine’s riddle 7, early eighth century, concerns a bell with the line, ‘I am forced as the stricken widely to release mournful things’.^[12]

Most of the known early bells (95) belonged to Celtic Insular churches.^[13]  Handbells are frequently mentioned in Irish written sources from the 7th to the 9th centuries. There are several garnet arrangements on the squashed plate in the shape of a Celtic bell and this must be significant. The early bishops with connection to Ireland must have favoured having a handbell. If ‘Patrick’s bell’^[14] was his own, then it would be plausible for Northumbrian bishops with Irish influence like Aiden, Cedd, Chad and Wilfrid to possess one. It would be their emblem of office; the priest being figuratively a bell calling to prayer ^[15] especially for a passing life. A small bell with a straight handle would be fitting for ringing on a life passing; a gentle tinkling sound and not a loud gong. After the death of the owner the handbell would become a relic.

 

It is plausible the handbell pieces in the hoard belonged to a Mercian bishop with deep Irish, Celtic affiliations and this must include Chad. Its rich, elaborate structure suggests Wilfrid.

 

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[1] Catalogue No. 541 (K130, K545 and K1055). Other isolated pieces were also added to this collection.

[2] Suggestions included saddle fitting, shield boss, drinking horn stopper, parchment roll stopper, lid to a ciborium, helmet decoration, mirror handle, part of a sceptre and a tefillin. Part of a Jewish priest’s headdress is a frequently given purpose.

[3] The north side of the Bewcastle cross has a panel with a millefiori pattern. Is this an interchange of design from the metalworker to the stoneworker? Similarly, it is in the cross page of the Book of Durrow, fol.1v, so has it been adopted by a scribe of manuscripts?

[4] R. Sharp, The hoard and its history, (Studley: 2016),73.

[5] The earliest mention of a handbell used for worship was in a letter written from Carthage in 535.

[6] S. Foot, Monastic life in Anglo-Saxon England c.600–900 (Cambridge, 2006), 192.

[7] ibid. 200 From De Abbatibus by Æthelwulf, c. AD 800–825, 20, 613–614.

[8] I. Bradley, Columb. Pilgrim and Penitent (Glasgow, 1996), 62.

[9] J. McClure and R. Collins, Bede. The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, (Oxford: 2008), 213.

[10] J. Blair, The Church in Anglo-Saxon Society, (Oxford: 2005), 97.

[11] B. Colgrave, The Life of Bishop Wilfrid by Eddius Stephanus, (Cambridge: 1927), 138.

[12] M. J. B. Allen and D. G. Calder, Sources and Analogues of Old English Poetry. The Major Latin texts in translation (Cambridge, 1976), 56.

[13] 127 bells are known from c. 500 to 1100. Ireland has 95, Scotland 19, Wales 6 and England 2. Only a few bells still exist in western Europe. Most have four sides, see C. Bourke, ‘Early ecclesiastical handbells in Ireland and Britain’. J. of the Antique Metalwork Soc. 16 (2008), 22. Most handbells have clappers, but some were intended to be struck with a hammer.

[14] In the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin.

[15] J. H. Arnold and C. Goodson, ‘Resounding Community: The history and meaning of medieval church bells Viator, (2012), 20.