DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6913#0053
BARFRKSTON CHURCH, KENT.
27
But Mr. King, overlooking a passage in Bede, finds here Theodore himself, with
some holy bishop or preacher, beneath ; but it has always been much easier to heap
up a mass of conjectures than to pursue the path of history.* Within twenty-six
compartments, each separated by a handsome border of foliage, are placed, above the
architrave in a double circuit, figures in various actions pertaining either to war, to
the chase, or to the affairs of domestic life. I do not propose to discover among
them, or in such as occupy the interstices above the transome, the portraitures of
the patrons of the church at the time of forming these sculptures, or of its architect
°r principal artificers : although it is known such likenesses were far from uncommon.
Agnus ut innncua injusto datus postca leto.
Alite quem placida Sanctus perfundit hiantem
Spiritu3, et rutila Genitor de nube coronat. &c.
Episto. xxxii. ad Severum, No. 11 et 17-
But it is uncertain whether the first person was denoted by a hand proceeding from abright cloud, as seen in so
niany ancient Mosaics in he Italian churches ; yet in the second, something farther seems to have been expressed.
A hand presenting a book or scroll, is also another indication. But in the Liberian Basilica, or Church of St.
Mary Major, at Rome, is painted in Mosaic, on the walls, the history of the Old Testament, so long since as about
433,—(it may be recollected that the history of the Old Testament, and of the New, was in request so late in this
country as the reigns of the Tudors). In this series, no less than in three other instances, a venerable old man
appears in the heavens, by which an immediate interposition of, or reference is made to, the Deity; as 'that of the
meeting of Abraham and Melchisedec, who is, by these means, signified to be the priest of the Most High. It is
the further opinion of, I think Ciampini, that the complete representation of the Trinity was not found previous to
the llth or 12th centuries—this is in time for our portal; but it may be supposed they became more commonly in
use in those ages, when perhaps the patriarchal insignia were added. If the token of the third person was at
Barfreston, it has been removed, but its absence is not unfavourable to the antiquity of the sculptures.
Under the images set up about our old churches, it was common to place certain verses in explanation ; of these
Weever has preserved several. One of them is also given by the famous Durand, Bishop of Mende, in 1286;
which being not so very far distant from the presumed date of the figures at Barfreston, that it might be in con-
temporary use, may deserve a place in this note.
Effigiem Christi qui transis, pronus honora
Non tamen effigiem : sed quod designat adora.
Esse Deum, ratione cave; cui contulit esse
Materiale lapis, enrgiala? manus.
Nec Deus est, nec homo : prsesens quam cernis imago.
Sed Deus est, et homo, quem sacra figurat imago.
* Benedict Biscop lived at the same time as Archbishop Theodore, and the passage alluded to relates to the
'mages brought from Rome by the former in his fifth journey, made in the year 678, and set about his Church of
St. Peter, at Wearmouth. These were images of the Virgin and of the twelve Apostles, which he placed within
the middle vault, upon a beam resting upon the opposite walls. Images of the evangelical history there formed
the ornaments of the south, and the visions of the apocalypse those on the north. So that whoever entered the
church, even if ignorant of letters, on what part it might be that the eye was directed, contemplated the amiable
form of Christ and his saints, that they might call more fervently to mind the benefits of our Lord's incarnation ;
°r havrng the last judgment set before them, would enter with themselves more strictly into judgment. Vita
Abbatum Werm. et Gyr. p. 295, edit. Smith.
27
But Mr. King, overlooking a passage in Bede, finds here Theodore himself, with
some holy bishop or preacher, beneath ; but it has always been much easier to heap
up a mass of conjectures than to pursue the path of history.* Within twenty-six
compartments, each separated by a handsome border of foliage, are placed, above the
architrave in a double circuit, figures in various actions pertaining either to war, to
the chase, or to the affairs of domestic life. I do not propose to discover among
them, or in such as occupy the interstices above the transome, the portraitures of
the patrons of the church at the time of forming these sculptures, or of its architect
°r principal artificers : although it is known such likenesses were far from uncommon.
Agnus ut innncua injusto datus postca leto.
Alite quem placida Sanctus perfundit hiantem
Spiritu3, et rutila Genitor de nube coronat. &c.
Episto. xxxii. ad Severum, No. 11 et 17-
But it is uncertain whether the first person was denoted by a hand proceeding from abright cloud, as seen in so
niany ancient Mosaics in he Italian churches ; yet in the second, something farther seems to have been expressed.
A hand presenting a book or scroll, is also another indication. But in the Liberian Basilica, or Church of St.
Mary Major, at Rome, is painted in Mosaic, on the walls, the history of the Old Testament, so long since as about
433,—(it may be recollected that the history of the Old Testament, and of the New, was in request so late in this
country as the reigns of the Tudors). In this series, no less than in three other instances, a venerable old man
appears in the heavens, by which an immediate interposition of, or reference is made to, the Deity; as 'that of the
meeting of Abraham and Melchisedec, who is, by these means, signified to be the priest of the Most High. It is
the further opinion of, I think Ciampini, that the complete representation of the Trinity was not found previous to
the llth or 12th centuries—this is in time for our portal; but it may be supposed they became more commonly in
use in those ages, when perhaps the patriarchal insignia were added. If the token of the third person was at
Barfreston, it has been removed, but its absence is not unfavourable to the antiquity of the sculptures.
Under the images set up about our old churches, it was common to place certain verses in explanation ; of these
Weever has preserved several. One of them is also given by the famous Durand, Bishop of Mende, in 1286;
which being not so very far distant from the presumed date of the figures at Barfreston, that it might be in con-
temporary use, may deserve a place in this note.
Effigiem Christi qui transis, pronus honora
Non tamen effigiem : sed quod designat adora.
Esse Deum, ratione cave; cui contulit esse
Materiale lapis, enrgiala? manus.
Nec Deus est, nec homo : prsesens quam cernis imago.
Sed Deus est, et homo, quem sacra figurat imago.
* Benedict Biscop lived at the same time as Archbishop Theodore, and the passage alluded to relates to the
'mages brought from Rome by the former in his fifth journey, made in the year 678, and set about his Church of
St. Peter, at Wearmouth. These were images of the Virgin and of the twelve Apostles, which he placed within
the middle vault, upon a beam resting upon the opposite walls. Images of the evangelical history there formed
the ornaments of the south, and the visions of the apocalypse those on the north. So that whoever entered the
church, even if ignorant of letters, on what part it might be that the eye was directed, contemplated the amiable
form of Christ and his saints, that they might call more fervently to mind the benefits of our Lord's incarnation ;
°r havrng the last judgment set before them, would enter with themselves more strictly into judgment. Vita
Abbatum Werm. et Gyr. p. 295, edit. Smith.