Roodscreens and chancel screens in the nineteenth century: with special reference to the Diocese of Oxford and the Diocese of Gloucester and Bristol
<p>At the beginning of the 19th century, many hundreds of roodscreens survived from the late Middle Ages in parish churches, but none was preserved in its medieval form. All had lost their sacred statuary and only a handful had retained their lofts through the Reformation. The requirement of...
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| Formato: | Thesis |
| Idioma: | English |
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2024
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| _version_ | 1826313053666279424 |
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| author | Roberts, J |
| author2 | Doig, A |
| author_facet | Doig, A Roberts, J |
| author_sort | Roberts, J |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>At the beginning of the 19th century, many hundreds of roodscreens survived from the late Middle Ages in parish churches, but none was preserved in its medieval form. All had lost their sacred statuary and only a handful had retained their lofts through the Reformation. The requirement of the Elizabethan religious settlement that the screens themselves be retained came to be ignored. Moreover, in the 18th and early 19th centuries the style of worship gave primacy to preaching from the pulpit and roodscreens were at best an irrelevance. They were expensive to maintain and a surge of church 'restoration' put the old screens at more risk than at any time since the iconoclasm of the 16th century. As interest in Gothic architecture took hold, however, antiquaries began to argue for their preservation. From the 1840s the renewal stimulated by the Oxford Movement led to a new emphasis on the chancel and eucharistic, sacerdotal worship. A. W. N. Pugin and the Cambridge Camden Society demanded the restoration of the old screens and their introduction in new churches as a matter of doctrine. For a short time in the 1840s these ideas took hold and a number of new screens were created. Objections from the Evangelical wing of the church that such screens were a relic of superstition that prevented the seeing or hearing of the service, supported by anti-Romanist agitation, largely brought this to a halt, with the result that the Camdenians, now the Ecclesiologists, promoted the low chancel screen as a more acceptable alternative. But the desire for new roodscreens of full height did not disappear, and from the 1860s widespread enthusiasm for them reemerged. Old screens were elaborately restored and new ones, favoured by architects such as G. E. Street, William Butterfield and Henry Woodyer, appeared more often. Late in the century the aesthetic potential of roodscreens was exploited ever more frequently, and the sacred 'rood group', so recently condemned as idolatrous, was added to both old and new screens with increasing frequency. The theory and practice of the screening of the chancel thus acts as a vital barometer of change in the Church of England through the period.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:06:48Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:4488e510-ddf2-4032-a882-947628595962 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:06:48Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:4488e510-ddf2-4032-a882-9476285959622024-06-03T15:33:30ZRoodscreens and chancel screens in the nineteenth century: with special reference to the Diocese of Oxford and the Diocese of Gloucester and BristolThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:4488e510-ddf2-4032-a882-947628595962History of architecture, church history, 19th century religious controversy, the Gothic RevivalEnglishHyrax Deposit2024Roberts, JDoig, ABarnwell, PMacCulloch, DSaint, ARoberts, J<p>At the beginning of the 19th century, many hundreds of roodscreens survived from the late Middle Ages in parish churches, but none was preserved in its medieval form. All had lost their sacred statuary and only a handful had retained their lofts through the Reformation. The requirement of the Elizabethan religious settlement that the screens themselves be retained came to be ignored. Moreover, in the 18th and early 19th centuries the style of worship gave primacy to preaching from the pulpit and roodscreens were at best an irrelevance. They were expensive to maintain and a surge of church 'restoration' put the old screens at more risk than at any time since the iconoclasm of the 16th century. As interest in Gothic architecture took hold, however, antiquaries began to argue for their preservation. From the 1840s the renewal stimulated by the Oxford Movement led to a new emphasis on the chancel and eucharistic, sacerdotal worship. A. W. N. Pugin and the Cambridge Camden Society demanded the restoration of the old screens and their introduction in new churches as a matter of doctrine. For a short time in the 1840s these ideas took hold and a number of new screens were created. Objections from the Evangelical wing of the church that such screens were a relic of superstition that prevented the seeing or hearing of the service, supported by anti-Romanist agitation, largely brought this to a halt, with the result that the Camdenians, now the Ecclesiologists, promoted the low chancel screen as a more acceptable alternative. But the desire for new roodscreens of full height did not disappear, and from the 1860s widespread enthusiasm for them reemerged. Old screens were elaborately restored and new ones, favoured by architects such as G. E. Street, William Butterfield and Henry Woodyer, appeared more often. Late in the century the aesthetic potential of roodscreens was exploited ever more frequently, and the sacred 'rood group', so recently condemned as idolatrous, was added to both old and new screens with increasing frequency. The theory and practice of the screening of the chancel thus acts as a vital barometer of change in the Church of England through the period.</p> |
| spellingShingle | History of architecture, church history, 19th century religious controversy, the Gothic Revival Roberts, J Roodscreens and chancel screens in the nineteenth century: with special reference to the Diocese of Oxford and the Diocese of Gloucester and Bristol |
| title | Roodscreens and chancel screens in the nineteenth century: with special reference to the Diocese of Oxford and the Diocese of Gloucester and Bristol |
| title_full | Roodscreens and chancel screens in the nineteenth century: with special reference to the Diocese of Oxford and the Diocese of Gloucester and Bristol |
| title_fullStr | Roodscreens and chancel screens in the nineteenth century: with special reference to the Diocese of Oxford and the Diocese of Gloucester and Bristol |
| title_full_unstemmed | Roodscreens and chancel screens in the nineteenth century: with special reference to the Diocese of Oxford and the Diocese of Gloucester and Bristol |
| title_short | Roodscreens and chancel screens in the nineteenth century: with special reference to the Diocese of Oxford and the Diocese of Gloucester and Bristol |
| title_sort | roodscreens and chancel screens in the nineteenth century with special reference to the diocese of oxford and the diocese of gloucester and bristol |
| topic | History of architecture, church history, 19th century religious controversy, the Gothic Revival |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT robertsj roodscreensandchancelscreensinthenineteenthcenturywithspecialreferencetothedioceseofoxfordandthedioceseofgloucesterandbristol |