BristolConference - Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi

that were replaced by three larger windows
(sVII-IX),c.1840. These were given by members
of the community and contained angels and
saints, including a St Sebastian now in the east
window. Further east, in a small blocked
Romanesque opening in the cloister door, the
monks were reminded of their mortality.
Rushforth interpreted the scene, known only
from antiquarian sources, as an angel battling
with demons for the soul of a dying monk, an
image popular in 15 th -century Books of Hours.
Architectural changes to the west window (W)
have produced an eccentric design. Little
original glass has survived because of the
exposed position. Originally the main lights
contained the Virgin, flanked by six female
martyr saints. Appropriately, given the western
location, the tracery contained an extensive
Doom. A few scattered fragments remain,
mainly in the east window. Two tracery lights
(B1, B2) once contained the arms of Richard,
Duke of Gloucester (the future Richard III) and
his wife, Anne Neville (married 1474),who may
have given the window shortly before
Richard's coronation in 1483. His shield and
other heraldic fragments are now in the choir
(SIVand nV). Many of the ecclesiastics,female
saints, martyrs and angels now occupying the
window were moved from the north nave
clerestory.
North Transept (nVI and nVII)
The glazing of Malvern Priory was completed
at the beginning of the 16 th century by one of
the most spectacular windows in the church.
Despite storm damage in the early 18 th century
the Magnificat Window (nVI) in the north
gable wall is the finest expression of the cult of
the Virgin at Malvern. Its main subject, Eleven
Joys of the Virgin, are represented by scenes
illustrating verses from the Magnificat, which
were accompanied by quotations from the
canticle and Gaude inscriptions summarizing
each scene. These commence with the
Annunciation and end with a large Coronation,
off-centre and, unusually for an English design,
spread across three lights. The Coronation is
largely reconstructed, but the flanking
patriarchs are well preserved. The Gaude verses
beneath the Virgin are taken from a work
attributed to St Herman [oseph of Steinfeld,
another example of continental inspiration.
Both of the Priory's patron saints were
included, as St Michael and his fellow
archangels, now much battered, frame the
scenes. Female saints and angels fill the tracery.
Across the base of the window are the remains
of six donor figures, Sir Thomas Lovell, SirJohn
Savage (largely lost), Sir Reginald Bray,Arthur
Prince of Wales (d.1502), Queen Elizabeth of
York (lost) and Henry VII. The inscription
below, which mentions Katherine of Aragon
who married Arthur in 1501,and the inclusion
of Elizabeth, who died in 1502, suggests the
glass can be dated very precisely to 1501-1502.
The presence of the three local knights, rather
than further royal children, may indicate
that this was not a straightforward royal
commission.
Richard Marks has attributed the window to
the workshop of Richard Twygge and Thomas
Wodshawe on the basis of their documented
work at Tattershall, Lincolnshire, 1482.He has
also identified these glaziers in Gloucestershire
(including the Lady Chapel of Gloucester
Cathedral), Nottinghamshire, Warwickshire
and, above all, Worcestershire itself. Documents
show Twygge working at Westminster Abbey
in 1505-10when a glazier from Malvern is also
mentioned. It seems likely that the workshop
had a Worcestershire base, possibly in Malvern
itself, where it also executed the east window
of Little Malvern Priory (1480-82).
At Malvern it is possible to trace the
development of native glass-painting over a
virtually continuous period of some seventy to
eighty years, beginning with the International
Gothic style in the east window and ending
with the more pictorial style of the transept.
Malvern was not a particularly wealthy or
prestigious house, but its glazing was well
served by a combination of monastic and local
lay donors, reinforced by a few very prestigious
national figures. The wholesale movement of
panels disturbs any neat historical overview,
but for a conference on lay piety it provides a
wealth of images to admire and discuss.
Bibliography
G. McN.Rushforth,Medieval Christian Imagery,
Oxford,1936
D.O'Connor
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