Old England: A Pictorial Museum (page 38/52)

1056.—Jedburgh

“The Black Canons were introduced into Scotland about the same time as in England. One of their houses was at Jedburgh, the inmates [sic] of which came from Beauvais in France, early in the twelfth century. It suffered greatly in the visitations of the English, was pillaged and burned by Surrey, in 1253, at the storming of Jedburgh, and injured by Hertford in 1545. We have now only the ruins of the church (Fig. 1056), two hundred and thirty feet in length. The central tower is one hundred [...] [more...]

1057.—South east View of Melrose Abbey

“Some of the general features of the great abbeys of the Cistercian order, that we have noticed in England, we find repeated in the Scottish houses Melrose and New Abbey. The former, the mother Cistercian church of Scotland, was founded in 1136, by that “sore saint for the Crown,” as James VI. styled his ancestor, the royal David I., when he found how his revenues were impoverished by that saint’s pious doings. The monks came from Rivaulx Abbey in Yorkshire; they were wealthy and numerous (nearly a hundred), and [...] [more...]

1058.—Melrose Abbey

“Francis Drake, writing in 1742, also observes “Mailross, I shall take it upon me to say, has been the most exquisite structure of the kind in either kingdom.” Lastly comes the poet, also pointing out, as the great architectural attractions of [...] [more...]

1060.—Cathedral of Kildare.

“At Kildare, in ireland, still remain the relics of a small building in which, previous to the thirteenth century, the holy fire of St. Brigid used to be kept burning. It was suppressed at that period, by Henry de Loundres, Archbishop of Dublin, a man who seemed to rise above many of the superstitions of his age. After his death it was revived, and only ceased at the Reformation. One of the popular Saint’s disciples, Conlæth, under St. Brigid’s directions, founded, in the beginning of the sixth century, [more...] [$]

1140.—Library Chair, Reading Table, and Reading Desk (Royal MS. 15D iii.)

“The square-backed chair (Fig. 1146) was frequent in the mansions of the thirteenth century. In the fourteenth, they, and other articles combining household utility and elegance, were modified by the pointed architecture, and partook of the beautiful variety of its forms: this, in the engraving of Library furniture (Fig. 1140) we see in the reading-table [...] [more...]

Book stand (Detail from Fig. 1140)

The book stand taken from Fig. 1140. Mediæval clip art. Or, for Americans, medieval clip art.

1141.—Bed.

“Of the domestic furniture of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the beds of the nobility (Figs. 1141, 1142) were most lavishly adorned. The simple form was that of a railed box, or crib; the “brases,” or rails, of costly material: the draperies at the head magnificent in substance and in armorial blazonry. In the wills of our old nobility, one bed is mentioned “powdered with blue eagles,” one of red velvet, with ostrich feathers of silver, and heads of leopards of gold; ohers of black velvet, black satin, blue, red, and white [...]fur of ermines, are also specified; and sheets of fair white silk, and pillows from the East.” (p. 329) [more...]

1142.—Bed.

“Of the domestic furniture of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the beds of the nobility (Figs. 1141, 1142) were most lavishly adorned. The simple form was that of a railed box, or crib; the “brases,” or rails, of costly material: the draperies at the head magnificent in substance and in armorial blazonry. In the wills of our old nobility, one bed is mentioned “powdered with blue eagles,” one of red velvet, with ostrich feathers of silver, and heads of leopards of gold; ohers of black velvet, black satin, blue, red, and white [...]fur of ermines, are also specified; and sheets of fair white silk, and pillows from the East.” (p. 329) [more...]