The notion that Christians at the sacred site of Lichfield’s three historic cathedrals have observed and worshipped God in the same way over its 1355 years is false. Religious practice has changed over time together with changes in the cathedral building. From early times priests had to facilitate worship and organise a welcoming church and over time customs of worship changed. This gave different ages of Christian practice and an evolution in church building. The problem is to know what were the prominent factors deciding a particular age and custom of worship. The following is an attempt to describe these ages and 7 are suggested.
1.
The age of saints.
The 7th-century in Britain and
Ireland was marked by faith leaders building local churches and then travelling
distances to build new churches, forming new faith communities and eventually being
revered as saints. Often these saints were of noble birth, sometimes the
youngest sons and daughters of kings.[1]
Sainthood, holiness and perfection were decided by the local community and
their work memorialised with folklore. Consequently, their place of burial,
often in a dedicated shrine building, became sacred. Bishop-saints often
visited Rome and made detours to continental monasteries. Those following the
Roman tradition of worship often followed Martin, the Hungarian bishop of
Tours, 316 or 336‑397, and those of a Celtic persuasion knew all about Patrick
in Ireland, c. 432 and Columba (Colm Cille), 521‑597, at Iona. In time,
many more saints became role models and their place of burial became revered.
Chad was most
likely from a noble family in Yorkshire, became mentored by royalty, travelled
to Ireland, was admired for his piety and humility, became a bishop in
Northumbria and eventually the fifth bishop of Mercia.[2] He
was a Celtic missionary, who became a Roman bishop, and seen as an important
saint known through Bede’s history book written in 731.[3]
His grave within a shrine tower was discovered in 2003.[4]
His churches, St Peters and St Marys, would have been simple and with little
decoration. The cathedral-church of his bishop elder brother, Cedd, is still
standing at Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex, and must be a good likeness of his church
at Lichfield. Chad’s shrine appears to be a simple 7m x 7m building with thick
walls suggesting a tower appearance. The roof could have been shingles from a
Roman site. In the age of saints, a simplicity seems to be the architectural style.
Exterior and
interior of Cedd’s chapel of St Peter on the Wall, Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex. It
was built on the edge of a Roman shore site south of the river Blackwater. Chad’s
church might have had materials purloined from the Roman site of Letocetum,
Wall.
At
some time in the late 7th or early 8th-century the simple buildings at
Lichfield were placed in a linear layout resembling the layout at the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Such a sacred landscape has been identified at
Iona, northwest Scotland, possibly at Lindisfarne, northeast Northumbria and
several centres on the continent. Both a saint and their church-shrine were now
venerated. Early pilgrims were visiting a numinous site resembling their idea
of the site where Christ’s tomb lay. The sacred layout is thought to have
existed for several decades.[5]
2. The age of procession and status
in Anglo-Saxon times.
In the late 7th and early 8th-centuries churches began
to have a long nave and at the east end was added an extension in the form of
an apse. This allowed priests and nobility to process the length of the church
and occupy areas assigned to them. Priests sat in the apse, choirs and nobility
sat in the east end of the church often separated by three arches and others
were kept to the west end of the nave. Patrons used the church to show off
their status and to join priests and make a small journey from the outside to
the cross. There is some evidence the second cathedral, now only a foundation
under the choir and presbytery, was Anglo-Saxon and showed this arrangement.[6]
Brixworth Church, Northamptonshire and the choir-apse foundation revealed under the cathedral in 1854. Both were associated with King Offa of Mercia.
Kings
were buried outside the church walls and bishops began to be buried in a
porticus chamber on the side of the nave. Over time all the high-status
individuals wanted burial near the high altar.
By the late-8th and 9th-century towers were added
usually at the west end and then increasingly over the high altar. There can be
only one purpose for towers and that was to store something valuable and give
protection from thieves. By the late Saxon period turriform or tower churches
appeared and these gave protection to priests from marauding plunderers.
Evolution of the shape of a church in the first millennia. ‘A’ is a roundhouse, oratory or beehive and could be made from earth, timber and wattle or stone. ‘B’ is the simple longhouse made from timber and brush. Altar was against the wall. ‘C’ and ‘D’ are stone rectangular buildings with an apse or a square chancel. An apse the same width as the nave could be as early as 8th century. Many see the square chancel as being later in time. Square chancels are seen more in early northern churches and apses are commoner in early southern churches. It has been suggested the altar table had a space behind for the clergy when it Romanised. ‘E’ has the feature of a separate anteroom or narthex for those who were not confirmed, or it was possibly dividing women from the men. The altar table is on the diameter of the apse circle. At the early churches of Reculver and Winchester the altar could have been at the end of the nave. ‘F’ is cruciform in shape with side chapels or porches (porticus). Also, it had a tower either at the west end or over the chancel. ‘G’ is a tower church with perhaps a baptistery. ‘H’ is the very late Saxon church with aisles, side Chapter house, buttresses and sometimes a crypt. There could be three towers, presumably showing the trinity. Side chapels might contain the remains of high-status individuals so they were buried close to the altar, but not part of the nave.
3. The age of pilgrimage with monumental (power) building in Norman times.
There is no evidence this new architecture occurred in Lichfield; the
church was not a power-base.[7]
Victorian writers romanticised the idea of construction of a formidable Norman
church, but this conflicts with historical and archaeological evidence. Two
bishops left Lichfield for another see and Lichfield was marginalised for 3
centuries. Despite this the cult of Chad with attendant pilgrimage kept the
downgraded cathedral important in Staffordshire. Saving the souls of pilgrims,
redeeming penitents and offering prayers in diverse chantry chapels became the
mainstay of worship.[8]
It is plausible this form of worship saved the cathedral-church from demise.
4. The age of points, pinnacles and spires. Gothic architecture, 1210‑1330.
For the origin, characteristics and features of Gothic building at
Lichfield see the post, ‘Gothic cathedral’. The underlying questions is why
build this way? A number of reasons have been conjectured and probably all
contain some truth. The first reason was many tall lancet windows let in extra
light and worship could now be seen in a way not possible before. Some have
linked this with the fourth Lateran Council, 1215, in which many theological
changes were made to church organisation including infallibly defining
transubstantiation as the centre of the Eucharist. This rite was now paramount
and easier to watch. It enhanced the chancel which was extended, squared off,
had an ambulatory and given sedilia for more priests to sit close to the altar.
A piscina (for washing the sacred vessels) and a cupboard or aumbry (for
storing the vessels) appeared. A second reason was it encouraged worshippers to
look upwards to heaven. Height was not the greatest feature of early Gothic,
but it became the defining feature of improved Gothic. All the points and
pinnacles encouraged this raising of the eyes. Three spires reminded all of the
Trinity. Bosses on the ceiling showed significant biblical events. Stained
glass, placed high up, gave full account of favourite biblical stories. Polished
stone subliminally stated a vision of heaven. The elevated external gargoyles
scared away evil and made the cathedral a safe space. Internal grotesques
reminded all of the diversity of nature. Statues looking down on the
parishioners had natural poses and gestures, full of tender feeling and strong
emotion. Column capitals showed beautiful arrangements of leaves, reminiscent
of the tree of life (Genesis 2 v9). A third explanation was it expressed the
hierarchy of the church. The Angevin kings and bishops (often related) were
frequently in tandem and all wanted to own a magnificent house of God,
especially for their own glory or for an ancestor’s memory. Statues and
sculptured heads showed who mattered. The cathedral had a Consistory Court and
a Chapter House to enforce their rules and law. Under-crofts could hold felons
for a short time. All behaviours were being determined by biblical explication
and the church became an autonomous, self-regulated community. Everyone was
reminded to live a good, Christian life or sin would be punishable. For the
ordinary town citizen this meant frequent prayer, attendance at church and
taking Communion at Easter.[9]
Now the church was built to accommodate various classes and had worship with
occasional sung accompaniment.
Sedilia
within the current sanctuary. Originally it was part of the reredos at the east
end of the cathedral in the Lady Chapel in the 17th-century. It was much
repaired by Scott and placed on the side of the high altar. It is neo-Gothic
and shows a multitude of pinnacles and points.
5.
The age
of reformation
Reformation at Lichfield meant the cathedral became Protestant with the
monarch its supreme head. Break with Rome gave the king power to administer the
English Church, tax it, appoint its officials and control its laws. Other
consequences included the abolition of the Catholic Mass,[10]
the use of English language in services,[11]
and for both English and Latin Bibles[12]
to be available. Away went Church processions, the use of holy water,
lighting votive candles before images of saints, displaying images on the rood
loft and reciting the rosary. Altars were replaced with communion tables,
chantry chapels were closed by 1547, shrines and relics were destroyed,
pilgrimage was discouraged and there was a removal of the showy elements of
Catholicism, especially images by 1548. For
a full account of how the well run, settled cathedral changed in the thirty
years of Reformation, 1534 to 1560s, see the post, ‘Reformation.’ Savage
expressed it as, ‘through all these distresses the old normal life of the
cathedral was, as far as possible, maintained.’[13]
However, all would have had to learn and accept new ways of worship. The new
understanding must have been profound especially changing in a short time.
6.
The age
of simplicity and gloom.
Destruction of the cathedral in the three sieges of the Civil War, 1643‑6, meant a new reordering of worship in the years of repair and restoration followed.[14] By 1670, the frame of the cathedral, spires and windows were restored, but the interior was still in a poor state. The choir, presbytery, separated from the lady chapel by a stone screen, and chapter house were used like a separate church, but the nave and aisles were poorly maintained. The cathedral was cold (between 1645 and 1715 the weather was frequently bitterly cold), showed signs of age and there was still much requiring restoration. Only an inner church functioned.
In March 1787, work began under James Wyatt to increase the size of the
choir area and make it more comfortable for clergy, choristers, and
congregation. Whenever, there was a sermon on the second Sunday in the month
all the listeners in the choir stalls had to move to the nave where the pulpit
was positioned. They joined parishioners from the town, many having attended
worship in their own churches.[15]
The nave now became an empty area with only the font present. The seating in
the choir area was then extended into the Lady Chapel, which meant the removal
of a stone screen. Wyatt plastered in the arches of the choir and presbytery,
removed statues and now formed a long inner church from the crossing-choir
screen of stone and glass to the lady chapel altar. The inner church was unfurnished,
long, dark and gloomy and this was said to give a better sense of God. Wyatt
treated the cathedral as an artistic whole by unifying the separate areas into
one space and uncluttering to give emphasis on the monumental space and not the
monuments. His critics mourned the loss of historical artefacts, such as
medieval chapels, tombs, statues and rood screens. It was a return to
architectural purification[16]
and a simpler form of worship.
Choir
looking westwards to crossing-choir screen, 1820, from Britton.
7.
Age of
Neo-Gothic Revival
Between 1854 and 1898, the cathedral was comprehensively repaired,
altered and returned to what was thought to be like its original medieval
Gothic form.[17]
This is more-or-less its layout seen today. In recent times, tombs, the font
and statues have been moved, a chapel to remember the fallen has been added and
painted icons placed around the cathedral. The nave altar sits on a platform
that can be raised. A shrine for Chad with one of his supposed bones kept in
the centre of a cross has been added to the retrochoir. The organ has been much
enlarged. The cathedral once again welcomes pilgrims, since 1860, and is now open
to all faiths. Its structure is adaptable to be the venue for concerts and
exhibitions. Worship is now frequently recorded and transmitted on the internet
and, perhaps this is the beginning of a new 8th Age of spirituality in which
worship is observed on a screen.
Christian worship
has been disrupted on at least 3 occasions.
1.
The Vikings
came and almost certainly plundered the cathedral early in 875.[18]
Bishop Eadberht from this date is not mentioned and the next bishop, Wulfred,
is named 8 years later.
2. Bishops do not appear to be attending the cathedral in the 12th-century, though canons are mentioned. There are indications the cathedral was poor in state and lacking funds. Early in the 13th-century the current, third cathedral was built and worship within a small area, thought to be the three western bays of the choir, must have been challenging.[19] Then there were plague and famine. Reformation and the destruction of a shrine changed the ways of worship.
3.
Attendance
during the Civil War, 1643‑6, must have been minimal and absent during the
three sieges.[20]
After destruction of the cathedral there is mention of worship in the Chapter
House since it was the only area with an intact roof. Worship fully began after
the rebuilding of the cathedral; Bishop Hacket led the re-consecration on
December 24 1669.[21]
This record of
continuity is remarkable when considering what happened to other cathedrals. It
is testimony of the site being seen always as sacred and this must largely
depend on the cult of Chad, his relics when present (lost to the cathedral from
c. 1541) and the appeal of pilgrimage (absent from 1538‑1860).
[1]
R. Sharp, Drawn to the Light. A history of a dark time. (Studley: 2018),
86.
[2]
See the post, ‘St Chad. Biography fact and fiction.’
[3]
. McClure and R. Collins, Bede. The Ecclesiastical history of the English
People, (Oxford, 2008). Book IV, Ch.
3, 174. The edition of McClure and Collins is based on the translation by
Bertram Colgrave for the Oxford Medieval Texts first published in 1969.
[4]
See the posts, ‘Chad’s relics’ and ‘Two churches in 672 and a shrine’.
[5]
See the post, ‘Early Lichfield set out like Jerusalem’.
[6]
See the posts, ‘The incomparable apse of the second cathedral’, and ‘Why the second cathedral must be Anglo-Saxon(Englisc).’
[8]
See the post, ‘Chantries.’
[9]
In many rural areas pagan belief systems persisted. It is now thought in parts
of the country with few churches indifference to following religious practices was
more or less as common as today.
[10]
The Mass founded on a priest consecrating bread and wine to become the body and
blood of Christ through transubstantiation. The priest offered to God the same
sacrifice of Christ on the cross that provided atonement for the sins of
humanity. It also offered a prayer by which the living could help souls in
purgatory.
[11]
The changeover from Latin to English in services must have caused some turmoil.
A writer in 1554 remarked ‘who could twenty years ago say the Lord’s Prayer
(Pater Noster) in English.
[12]
The Matthew’s Bible was available by 1537 and Henry’s Great Bible in 1539. The
King ordered copies of the Great Bible to be placed in all churches; failure to
comply would result in a £2 fine.
[13]
H. E. Savage, The Cathedral and the Chapter 1530–1553. Unpub. articled in the
cathedral library, (1927), 11.
[14]
See the post, ‘Civil War damage and restoration. ‘
[15]
See the post, ‘James Wyatt's restoration, 1787-92.’
[16]
M. J. Lewis, The Gothic Revival, (London: 2002), 41.
[17] See the post, ‘Victorian recovery,’
[19] See the post, ‘Dating the cathedral.’
[20] See the posts, ‘First Civil War siege of the Close, March 1643,’ ‘Second siege 7-21 April 1643,’ and ‘Third siege March 8 - July 16 1646.’
[21] See the post, ‘Civil War damage and restoration.’
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