Washing feet

Washing feet

Summary.  Washing feet on Maundy Thursday and after pilgrimage has been a rite from early times; it was a statute in the 12th-century. Did Richard II wash his courtier’s feet, 1398?

           Washing feet, [1]  or pedilavium, is based on the account when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples[2] at the beginning of the Last Supper.[3] It is the instruction from Jesus to wash one another’s feet. That has caused various interpretations,[4] including a baptism solely for the twelve disciples, to an order to baptise others, and to be a symbolic way of welcoming pilgrims. There is a pragmatic interpretation in which walking in sandals on dusty roads of the first century made it necessary for feet to be washed before a meal, especially where people sat at a low table and feet were in evidence. When Jesus began to wash the feet of the disciples, he was doing the work of the lowliest of servants; it was an act of humility.

     Foot washing in some form is thought to have continued in the early centuries of post-apostolic Christianity but the evidence is sparse. In the Book of Acts Paul and other men performed ablution before entering the temple in Jerusalem. It has been argued foot-washing was the prime way for sanctification and Christian initiation in the first century.[5] Tertullian mentioned Jesus ‘proffered the basin for the feet of His disciples’ in his De Corona, written around 201. Foot washing and drying often followed baptism.[6] It was mentioned in the controversial Synod of Elvira, c. 305–6, in southern Spain with the instruction ‘the feet of the newly baptized are not to be washed by the priests or clerics’ and receive payment.  It was practiced in the Church of Milan c. 380 and mentioned in The Rule of Saint Augustine, c. 400. According to St Benedict’s Rule written in 516, Chapter 53 stated hospitality feet-washing is encouraged in addition to a communal feet-washing for humility. Bede in the Life of St. Cuthbert, 699–705, wrote Cuthbert would keep his shoes on from one Easter to another, only taking them off on account of the washing of feet, which took place at the Lord ‘s Supper.  Bede in Historia Ecclesiastica[7] tells how Æthelthryth was a queen of the East Angles who became an abbess in the district of Ely. She would seldom take a hot bath, except before the great feasts of Easter, Pentecost and Epiphany, and then after all the nuns had washed themselves, assisted by her and her attendants. In The life of Bishop Wilfrid by Eddius Stephanus,[8] 712–4, Wilfrid made it his custom to wash during the night hours, winter and summer alike, with blessed and holy water. Bede clearly stated the washing of feet implied the spiritual purification of body and soul.[9]

 

AI Chad washing feet of his 7 or 8 brothers helping in his mynster 669-672.

 

It is the same for baptism and links to the ritual introduced by John the Baptist at Al-Maghtas on the east bank of the river Jordan[10]  and in a pool at Ænon, near Salim[11]. Bede described how Peada, son of Penda King of Mercia, was baptised by Bishop Finan, together with all his companions and thegns.[12]  Cuthbert was travelling along the Teviot River teaching the country people and baptizing them. Bede stated Chad travelled on foot across the country devoted to the task of keeping the church in truth and purity.[13] He was following the tradition of his teacher Aidan and his elder brother Cedd, both keen on baptizing. The traditional view has been missionaries believed their prime mission was to encourage people to be baptised and that is how Bede perceived the sacrament even though he was somewhat apathetic to using a river. The lack of any surviving liturgy for baptism and foot-washing in the pre-Viking Conquest period in England is a hindrance to knowing how it was undertaken. There is an aspect that could improve our understanding. Around 23 tanks have been found, many having Christian symbols, which are believed to be portable and could well have been used for baptism or foot washing. The Walesby tank from Lincolnshire shows a scene that has been interpreted as a baptism, but not everyone agrees.

 

AI rendition of a drawing of the Ashton Tank, Northamptonshire. It has been estimated to have held 220 litres (6 gallons) of water. Made of three layers of lead sheet, it would not have been easy to move around.

 

 Foot-washing on Maundy Thursday[14]  was first recorded in Rome by the pope washing the feet of his attendants and mentioned in the third canon of the 17th Council of Toledo, Spain, in 694.[15]  In 992, Bishop Oswald of Worcester died during its ritual. It was mentioned in the late 12th-century when the pope washed the feet of twelve sub-deacons after his Mass and of thirteen poor men after his dinner.[16] In the Middle Ages, English monarchs washed the feet of beggars in imitation of Jesus, and presented gifts and money to the poor. Over time, additional money was substituted for the clothing and other items that had once been distributed. Maundy Thursday became two observances of pedilavium and alms-giving. Beginning in 1699 the monarch did not attend the service, sending an official instead. The royal connection was continued for a time in England after the Reformation but ended in the Church of England in 1754.

 

          Pedilavium at Lichfield Cathedral presumably started with the local stream. The first cathedral, 669 onwards, was close to an unnamed stream, now the Curborough Brook. Around 50m distance separated the original water-course[17] and the nave shrine chapel revealed in 2003. Bede, recorded the mass baptisms of Paulinus in the Rivers Glen and Swale and apparently river baptism to be an improvised arrangement, which he excused by claiming the church had not been able to build any oratoria uel baptisteria (oratory or baptistery).[18]^,[19] Chad had his own oratory, a private chapel, but there is no mention of a baptistry. If the early cathedral used the river for the sacrament, there is no evidence for the rite continuing into the 8th-century. The power of devotion in an external water was repeated by Leland, mid-16th century, who claimed ‘some say Chad was wont to stand naked in the water (at Stowe?) and pray’.[20]

AI enhanced drawing of the vestibule in J. Britton, 1820¹⁶. 

 

View of vestibule today.

 

          Lichfield had the earliest set of statutes and ordinances (constitutions of the chapter) known for any English cathedral. It was originally drawn up for the new foundation at Coventry, but also applied to Lichfield. The original, now lost, was always thought to have been the work of Bishop Hugh Nonant in 1191, but this has been disproved.[21] The statutes, probably drawn up by the Dean and Chapter for the Bishop, listed two observances on Maundy Thursday. The first was a distribution of bread-cakes and wine or ale to the poor and the second was the washing of feet in the choir area, a vestibule was not yet built.

The vestibule is today set out for this Maundy liturgy, though large attendance causes it to be held in the nave. The vestibule to the Chapter House was added with a door cut through the north quire wall,[22] third bay, by raising the sill of a window above, 1230–40. It has 13 arcades, with another at the end which is blocked, each with a seat for the foot washed and a space behind for a standing witness. Whether or not the vestibule was built precisely to be for pedilavium is uncertain; 13 arcades indicates not and it is someway from an altar or font, or entrance door for pilgrims,[23] but it is one of the outstanding features of the cathedral.[24] Clifton wrote, “here the ceremony of washing the feet of the poor took place on Maundy Thursday; as there were thirteen niches, this is highly probable.”[25] This might be wrong.

On the outside of the west wall of the south transept are 12 blind arcades with a seat. Did pilgrims arriving at the south door - see the post, 'Pilgrimage defines the cathedral,'- have their feet washed before entering the south door? Usually, the last mile of pilgrimage was done with bare feet and it would be considered essentially that the past dirt is cast off before entering the cathedral on a new spiritual journey. If this was the location for pedilavium, it strongly suggests the vestibule was used by a selective group of perhaps all priests and not as Clifton suggested for the poor. 

A winding staircase at the vestibule's south-east corner gives access to an upper storey, later an annexe to a library over the chapter house. The room, known in 1896 as St Peter’s Chapel, has an unknown origin, but a private Bishop’s chapel has been conjectured. Jacob Epstein’s bronze bust of Bishop Edward Woods, 1958, was first placed in the north choir aisle and later moved to the end of the vestibule in 1989. A Royal Maundy was held in 1985.

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[1] Frequently the word is used to label the location where the rite of foot washing occurs and that is misunderstanding.

[2] 1 Timothy 5, v 10 mentions the washing of the feet of saints.

[3] John 13 v14–17

[4] J. Hunwick, Pedilavium or foot washing: such a wealth of different meanings. Online at http://liturgicalnotes.blogspot.com/2017/04/pedilavium-or-foot-washing-such-wealth.html

[5] M. F. Connell,  'Nisi Pedes, Except for the Feet: Footwashing in the Community of John's Gospel,' Worship, (1996),  70, 524.

[6] The Bobbio Missal and the Stowe Missal, both Celtic, include foot washing after immersion in the font. There are texts used in Gaul which have this. Ambrose in Milan did likewise.

[7] Book 4, Chapter 19. See J. McClure and R. Collins, Bede. The Ecclesiastical History of the English People. (Oxford: 2008), 203.

[8] B. Colgrave, The life of Bishop Wilfrid by Eddius Stephanus. (Cambridge: 1927), Chapter 21, 44–5.

[9] Bede: Homily II.5, CCSL 122, p 216-7. See Bede and D. Hurst, Homilies on the Gospels: Lent to the dedication of the Church. (Trappist, Kentucky: 1991), 46–7.

[10] John 1, v28

[11] John 3, v23

[12] HE book 3, Chapter 21. J. McClure and R. Collins, (2008), 144.

[13] HE book 3, Chapter 28. J. McClure and R. Collins, (2008), 164.

[14] John 13, v 1–17

[15] J. Monti, The Week of Salvation: History and Traditions of Holy Week (Huntington, Indiana.: 1993), 110.

[16] C. Herbermann, ‘Washing of Feet and Hands’, Catholic Encyclopaedia. (New York: 1913).

[17] Determined by the archaeological dig led by Martin Carver. See M. O. H. Carver, 'Excavations south of Lichfield Cathedral, 1976--1977'. South Staffordshire Archaeological and Historical Society Transactions, 1980--1981, (1982), 22, 35--69.

[18] N. Mayhew-Smith, ‘Nature rituals of the early medieval church in Britain’. Unpub. thesis, Dept. of Humanities, Univ. of Roehampton. (2017), 21.

[19] This is the only reference in Anglo-Saxon England to a baptismal church. See J. Blair (2005), 70.

[20] J. Leland and L. Toulmin Smith, Leland's Itinerary in England and Wales. In or about the years 1535-1543 parts 4 and 5 · Volume 2 (Southern Illinois: 964), 99.

[21] This date was worked out by H. E. Savage and became an address to the cathedral in 1920, entitled, The earliest Statutes of the Cathedral. Unpub. article in cathedral library. The statutes were revised in 1526 and printed by W. Dugdale in 1673, Monasticum Anglicanum vol. 3, 1255–7 and again by D. Wilkins in 1737, Concilia, i, 501. For disproof of Nonant’s part in the statutes see M. J. Franklin, ‘Nonant, Hugh de (d. 1198)’. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford: 2004). 

[22] it is possible that it was originally planned to have the entrance to the Chapter House in the north transept but that this scheme was abandoned to avoid interfering with St. Stephen's altar and the grave of Bishop Pattishall.

[23] J. Britton, The history and antiquities of the See and cathedral church of Lichfield. (London: 1820), 43, suggests the vestibule with its thirteen arches might have received the thirteen minor canons or priest- vicars belonging to the cathedral. The opposite side of the vestibule has eight niches, or spaces between the columns, and suited to receive the eight choristers.

[24] M. W. Greenslade and R. B. Pugh (eds.) 'House of secular canons - Lichfield cathedral: To the Reformation', in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3, (London, 1970), 140–166.

[25] [25] A. B. Clifton, The Cathedral church of Lichfield. Bell Series. (London: 1900).

Death and burial pre-Reformation

Summary.  Dying, death and burial rites in pre-Reformation were intended to give salvation and ultimately eternal life; hell, and damnation had to be avoided. Receiving the last sacraments was essential.  

     In 1276, the average length of life was 31–5 years. Those born with wealth could expect an extra 10 years. Infant mortality was high with one third not reaching their 5th birthday. As much as 20% of women died from childbirth and complications that followed. Between 1348 and 1351 and periodically afterwards, plague added to the toll. Images in church of hell and judgement, such as on rood screens, reminded all of the need to approach death without sin.

 Cadaver tomb or Transi Tomb. said to be Dean Thomas Haywode (Haywood) who died in 1492. The dried skeleton sculpture would be a reminder of death. If it had an upper part this would show the individual in life.

For Christians dying, death and burial involved a series of rituals.[1] Priests were obliged to visit the sick and give a blessing. This could be a challenge to large, rural parishes. The priest would vest himself, ring a passing-bell and be accompanied by a clerk when travelling by horse or foot to the dying. Seriously ill parishioners would receive an anointing and a mass. A crucifix would be placed in the house for the gravely ill to see. After aspersing water and saying prayers, the priest asked, presumably in the vernacular, for the individual to profess their faith by responding ‘I believe.’ Then followed questions to assess the depth of sins committed. If the individual died without completing their penance, then the family and friends had to undertake the penance, which often meant giving alms. The priest offered the crucifix to be kissed and then prayers to remit the sins confessed.[2] Those dying were anointed with holy oil on each eye, ears, lips, nostrils, hands, feet and back (or navel for a woman).

Anointing. 1445–50. Painting by Roger van der Weyden. Wikipedia Commons

 

After washing his hands with saltwater, the priest gave a blessing and prayers for healing. Finally, he questioned whether the individual believed in the transubstantiation of the bread and wine and, if so, gave a shortened mass with a wafer given to the mouth.[3]

 

AI rendition of giving the Last Rite. 

          If the priest could not reach the dying, then psalms were read and prayers given, especially invoking the Trinity and saints (Chad and Mary for Lichfield), in the cathedral. A passing bell might have been rung.[4]

          After death, prayers and psalms were said around the body. The body was washed and given a white shroud (white only if in faith). The coffin was surrounded by a black cloth to show death. Sometimes, the body was then placed in the church with mourners ‘watching’ overnight. There was an ancient custom for close ones to drink, sing and dance, but this was discouraged by the church. If available, a priest might sing the psalms. If the deceased had been kept at home, it was taken for burial in a borrowed community-coffin accompanied by loved ones carrying candles. This could be a long journey and out of the parish. The cortege would normally have to arrive early morning, but occasionally a service would be held after the mid-morning mass.

AI rendition of a. funeral in a medieval cathedral

          At the cathedral the coffin was taken to the chancel, whilst mourners stayed in the nave. A service of matins for the dead was given. High status deceased might have a sermon with the clergy robed in black or blue vestments.[5] Clergy and wealthy could be buried within the cathedral. Burial around Chad’s gravesite was generally favoured by deans[6] whereas bishops were usually interred close to the high altar. Sometimes canons were buried in the aisles. They were usually buried in a stone coffin or in a stone-lined grave topped with a ledger stone becoming part of the floor. The stone recorded the death date as the most important time for the life remembered. Ordinary folk were buried in the cemetery in shallow (0.4–0.7 m deep) earth graves[7] wrapped in a shroud. The grave might be aspersed with water, censed and blessed. The priest scattered earth to the grave in a configuration of a cross before it was closed.[8] Sprigs of rosemary were often carried by people in the funeral procession and cast onto the grave, much as wreaths are today.

          Christians were buried with their head to the west and feet to the east. At Lichfield the east-west alignment of the cathedral is poor and graves in the Close have shown variable alignments which might be due to lack of space at the time of burial.[9] Often a cross was added to the grave. A priest’s coffin found in the nave excavations, 2003, was covered with a white cloth on which was painted a Greek cross (+) and alongside were two broken sticks arranged in the same way. In some graves a broken measuring rod has been found.[10] Sometimes a wax cross was placed on their chest. The priest’s coffin had a pewter chalice on the lid with a veil covering it and a wafer stuck to the veil; perhaps, a reminder to have Mass when reaching paradise. Bishops were buried with religious and secular artefacts and sometimes bullae from the pope.[11] Parliamentarian soldiers, 1643, removed from the tomb of Bishop Scrope a silver chalice and a crozier of considerable value. The idea that Christians, unlike pagans, were buried simply without grave goods is not true.

AI rendition of a crude drawing of a pewter chalice found in a grave in the middle aisle in 1785. A chalice was found in a grave under the west arch of the crossing in 1668, another in the south choir aisle in 1787 and a third near the entrance to the choir. There appears to be a tradition at Lichfield of priests being buried with a eucharist vessel.

 The burial service used for children is unclear, but some were buried close to adults. Money was left by the wealthy for candles and prayers to be said in the following days, or every month (month’s mind) for a year, or on anniversaries (year’s mind). Often alms were given for the poor and sometimes money bequeathed to pay for their burial or for them to say prayers for the deceased. The wealthy would request mourning for 30 days. 

 

14th-century oak coffin covered with a cloth showing a red cross. On top is a pewter chalice and paten covered with a linen corporal concealing a wafer. Note also two broken sticks.   

  

Chalice and paten from 2003 excavation

           There has been a modern interpretation of medieval burial as being superstition and ritual intended to keep the dead from reappearing in some form to harass the living. This is an exaggeration from a few cases recorded in isolated churches. From very early times there is much evidence to show the dead were invariably respected and given a sympathetic burial. There is also the charge that the church used burial to make money. Payment was necessary,[12] but there were reduced charges for the poor and disadvantaged.

          Orme concluded ‘a medieval church was almost as much a place of the dead as it was of the living.’[13] The 1552 Cranmer’s Prayer Book signalled the end of the church assuming prayer would affect life after death.[14] The church from now on prayed for Christ’s work in life and for his grace in death. 

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[1] Information is mostly from N. Orme, Going to church in Medieval England, (New Haven and London: 2022), 337–47. See also M. Gray, ‘Deathbed and Burial Rituals in Late Medieval Catholic Europe.’ In  A Companion to Death, Burial, and Remembrance in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe, c. 1300–1700, Chapter 3. (Leiden, Netherlands: 2020), 106–131.

[2] For many, the soul lay in purgatory waiting for all sins to be pardoned by God. Purgatory became accepted in the Catholic church at the Council of Lyon, 1274. The concept predates Christianity because it was a belief of Orthodox Jews. It is not mentioned in the Bible.

[3] Mass was not offered to children, the insane and anyone likely to vomit the elements. It could be offered again to adults if ever they recovered.

[4] Two rings for a woman and three for a man.

[5] Lichfield Cathedral was stated to have a large wardrobe of vestments in the time of Walter Langton.

[6] The location of Chad’s grave must have been known, but its discovery in 2003 was a revelation.

[7] Archaeology found Chad’s grave to be recessed 0.8 m into the sandstone bedrock of the cathedral.

[8] Cremation in this time was strongly forbidden. Criminals, suicides, and the unbaptised could not be buried in consecrated ground. This was relaxed in 1547; clergy had to bury whoever was brought to the church.

[9] See the post, ‘East-west alignment.’

[10] A reminder we have no defence after death. Monarchs have been buried with a broken staff of office.

[11] At Lichfield these valuables were removed by Parliamentarian soldiers in the Civil War, 1643.

[12] A London church charged 8 pence for an adult burial and 4 pence for a child. The sexton digging the grave and ringing the bell might charge 6 pence. A member of a Guild could expect to receive help with their payment. There are many records of poor people paying 1 penny, and the paupers being buried on the north side of a churchyard without ceremony. Those buried in the cathedral would have had to pay much.

[13] Note 1. Orme, (2022), 348.

[14] Diarmaid Maculloch expressed it as ‘the church surrendered its power over death.’