Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Thursday 19 January 2012

St Wulfstan in stained glass


Today is the feast of St Wulfstan (or Wulstan), Bishop of Worcester, who died in 1095 and was the last surviving Anglo-Saxon bishop from the pre-Conquest hierarchy. My post about him from last year can be read at St Wulfstan of Worcester.

This year I am posting this photograph of a window in the north clerestory of Great Malvern priory, which is a late medieval depiction of one of the patrons of the diocese. Although it is not in any way contemporary to St Wulfstan's lifetime, it does indicate both late medieval devotion to him and is a handsome example of the glazier's art - the face and head definitely suggest a monastic:

photo


Image: Gordon Plumb on Flickr


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