Stained Glass: Essays

Page 4

Continuing our journey across the east window we come to light 5 (rightmost).

Light 5:

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Panel 17:

As with panel 1 here we see intricate canopies with niches and crocketed spirelets. Mostly white glass with silver stain, the outermost columns are extended down to the lower panel which serves to frame the lower panels.

Panel 18:

A kneeling ecclesiastic with the inscription above, "Maria ora pro nobis". Beneath another inscription (see below).

Panel 19:

Christ in majesty with orb and sceptre. To his right sits St Peter and to his left St Andrew. The label reads. "Her | takes | Cryst saynt Andrew | prst bol | to ye."

Panel 20:

This panel is possibly made up from a number. A king sits on a canopied throne, a man stands in the gateway and Christ stands on the battlements with a shaft of light beaming towards the king. A naked figure stands in what appears to be a tub.

Panel 18 shows a priest kneeling in prayer with the inscription, "Maria, Ora Pro Nobis" - Maria Pray for Us - above. Below there is a further inscription Orate (p)ro aia dni Thom Beaucha istis ecclebie. Richardus Thomas Hoton Whitlaw. Bishop Nicholson in his "Visitations" suggests that this inscription was formerly over the priest's door. This is a call to pray for Richard Hoton and Thomas Whitelaw. A certain Sir Richard de Hoton Roof was rector of Greystoke between 1357 and 1365, though whether this is the Richard Referred to is moot. I have found no reference to Thomas Whitelaw or Thomas Beauchamp who were associated with Greystoke.

Panel 19 illustrates a medieval distinction between St Peter and St Andrew. St Peter, though not holding his customary keys is fully bearded, while St Andrew sports a forked beard. Above the figures we can make out amidst the other fragments the feet of a golden bird, possibly an eagle and at the bottom of the panel another saint in a canopy niche.

Panel 20: This panel appears to be made up of a number of subjects all jumbled together and is possibly made up of fragments from windows other than the original panels illustrating the apocryphal story. A king seated on a canopied throne, sceptre in hand, appears to be receiving something from a white dove. A beam of light shines down on the king from an image of Christ standing on the castle battlements. There is a figure at the barred entrance to the castle and another head looking out through the bars of a prison cell. There is a naked figure who seems to be standing in some sort of tub or barrel. The label reads, "At bydding of Andrew here s | rabe | unt s peple c | lebenyng | at wer | all Christ". There is a whiff of German in this phrase! Rabe is German for Raven, "unt" (und) might mean "and", "lebenyng" (from "leben" - to live) means "living". Of the latter, Lees⁴ believes the word is "levenyng" which is an old word meaning "lightning" or a sudden beam of light. Lees opines that the king and the bird refers to the legend of the Northumbrian King Oswald (Saint Oswald), which tells that during Oswald's coronation the vessel containing the holy ointment was broken, and a raven (rabe) appeared with the chrismatory (a small receptacle containing the three kinds of consecrated oil used in the sacraments) in its beak and a letter containing the words, "St. Peter himself was consecrated in it." The Rev Lees goes on to suggest the figure at the gate is St Andrew. However, that figure does not sport a halo and appears to be dressed in chain mail.

If you can drag yourself away from the magnificent but quite perplexing east window, there another window in Greystoke church with ancient glass, the bestiary window) which is well worth a detailed look.

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