CHAPTER XI.

STAINED GLASS.

The use of coloured glass in the windows of buildings devoted to religious purposes appears to have been employed as early as the ninth century, but no examples remain of anything like so old a date, and we have only illuminated missals and primitive drawings by members of the conventual bodies to guide us in determining the earliest styles of coloured glazing. It appears to have consisted of more or less primitive representations of the human form, with strong black lines to indicate the features and folds of the drapery. The backgrounds were generally masses of deep blue or red, and in the rare instances where landscapes were introduced positive colours only appear to have been used. Our oldest specimens in England are those in the choir aisles of Canterbury Cathedral, which appear to be of the 12th century, and it is thought that they are the remains of the original glazing that was put in when this part of the building was rebuilt after a fire in 1174. The general design is composed of panels of various forms, in which are depicted subjects from Holy Scripture, with backgrounds of deep blue or red; the spaces between the panels are filled with mosaic patterns in which blue and red colours predominate, and the whole design is framed in an elaborate border of leaves and scroll-work in brilliant colours.

A Parish Church with a Shingle Broach Spire. (See page [99])
Edenbridge, Kent.
Homeland Copyright.
Click to [ENLARGE]

Of thirteenth century windows we have some magnificent examples—unfortunately few unmutilated—as at York, where is the five-light lancet window situated in the north end of the transept, known as the Five Sisters of York. Of this date, also, are the large circular window of Lincoln Cathedral, and the windows at Chetwode, Bucks; Westwell, Kent; West Horsley, Surrey; and Beckett's Crown, Canterbury.

A little later, in the Decorated period, we get the great east window of York Cathedral, 75 ft. high and 32 ft. broad; the east window of Gloucester Cathedral, 72 ft. high and 38 ft. broad; and other fine windows at Tewkesbury Abbey; Merton College, Oxford; Wroxhall Abbey, Warwickshire; and the churches of Chartham, Kent; Stanford, Leicestershire; Ashchurch, Glous.; Cranley, Surrey; Norbury, Derbyshire, and others. Salisbury Cathedral has retained portions, but very lovely portions, of the glazing of its west windows, and enough is left to show that it was little inferior to the great windows of York and Gloucester. Carlisle Cathedral, too, has preserved fragments of the original glass in the tracery of the great east window, but the lower part of the glazing is modern. Windows in the Decorated style continued to be arranged in panels, with the spaces between them filled with flowing patterns of foliage, in which the vine and ivy leaves predominate. Single figures are more common than in the previous style, and when used are generally shown beneath a simple pediment or canopy. In the early examples they only occupy a portion of the window light, but later they are found occupying nearly the whole of the surface and are surmounted by large and elaborate canopies. Quarries are much used in this style, sometimes quite plain, but more often with leaves or rosettes painted on them in black lines, or painted with the vine and ivy leaves so arranged that they form a repeating pattern over the whole window. At this period, too, heraldry began to be employed in the decoration of the windows to which it is always an appropriate and artistic adjunct, and many authentic and valuable examples of our national heraldry have thus been preserved for posterity.

With the advent of the Perpendicular style the glazing became more uniform in character, the glass was thinner and lighter, the tints paler, and the whole effect more brilliant and transparent. The paintings for the most part consist of large figures under elaborate canopies, frequently occupying an entire light, and in the patterns and smaller decorations there is a greater freedom of design, and the whole treatment is more harmonious and artistic than in any other period. The use of heraldry became very common, and inscriptions on long narrow scrolls were frequently employed. Among the best examples of this period are the windows at S. Margaret's Church, Westminster; King's College Chapel, Cambridge; Fairford Church, Gloucestershire; and Morley Church, Derbyshire.

The Reformation, with its vast social and political upheaval, was not conducive to the encouragement of the fine arts, and from this period the art of glazing in England declined beyond measure, and was not the only art that received its death-blow in the triumph of Puritanism. The art has, however, revived greatly during recent years, thanks, among other artists, to William Morris and Burne-Jones. A few words must be said about the "Jesse" window found in some of our cathedrals and churches. Strictly speaking, it is a representation of the genealogy of Christ, in which the different persons forming the descent are placed on scrolls of foliage branching out of each other, intended to represent a tree. It was also wrought into a branched candlestick, thence called a Jesse, a common piece of furniture in ancient churches. The subject is found on a window at Llanrhaiadr y Kinmerch, Denbighshire, on the stone work of one of the chancel windows at Dorchester Church, Oxfordshire, and in carved stone on the reredos of Christchurch Priory, Hants.

It is not perhaps generally known that the actual colours used in early stained glass possessed each of them their own specific symbolism. Underlying the obvious story conveyed by the human figures or decorated devices, there was an inner story to be read with profit by those who understood the mystic symbolism concerning colours. Without entering at length into this interesting subject, it may yet be stated that green was the symbol of Regeneration, red of Divine Love, white of Divine Wisdom, yellow of Faith, and grey, or a mixture of black and white, the emblem of Terrestrial Death and Spiritual Immortality. These colours at different times or in different countries had other meanings as well, and ecclesiologists tell us that the colours chosen for depicting the robes of our Lord differ according to the period of His life which it was intended to represent.