Therood screen (alsochoir screen,chancel screen, orjubé) is a common feature in latemedievalchurch architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between thechancel andnave, of more or less opentracery constructed of wood, stone, orwrought iron. The rood screen was originally surmounted by arood loft carrying the GreatRood, a sculptural representation of theCrucifixion.[1] In English, Scottish, and Welsh cathedrals, monastic, and collegiate churches, there were commonly two transverse screens, with a rood screen orrood beam located one bay west of thepulpitum screen,[2] but this double arrangement nowhere survives complete, and accordingly the preserved pulpitum in such churches is sometimes referred to as a rood screen. AtWells Cathedral the medieval arrangement was restored in the 20th century, with the medievalstrainer arch supporting a rood, placed in front of the pulpitum and organ.
Rood screens can be found in churches in many parts of Europe; however, inCatholic countries they were generally removed during theCounter-Reformation, when the retention of any visual barrier between the laity and the high altar was widely seen as inconsistent with the decrees of theCouncil of Trent. Accordingly, rood screens now survive in much greater numbers in Anglican and Lutheran churches; with the greatest number of survivals complete with screen and rood figures inScandinavia.[3] Theiconostasis inEastern Christian churches is a visually similar barrier, but is now generally considered to have a different origin, deriving from the ancientaltar screen ortemplon.[citation needed]
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The wordrood is derived from theSaxon wordrood orrode, meaning "cross". The rood screen is so called because it was surmounted by the Rood itself, a large figure of thecrucifiedChrist. Commonly, to either side of the Rood, there stood supporting statues ofsaints, normallyMary andSt John,[4] in an arrangement comparable to theDeesis always found in the centre of an Orthodoxiconostasis (which usesJohn the Baptist instead of the Apostle, and aPantokrator instead of a Crucifixion). Latterly in England and Wales the Rood tended to rise above a narrow loft (called the "rood loft"), which could occasionally be substantial enough to be used as a singing gallery (and might even contain an altar); but whose main purpose was to hold candles to light the rood itself.[5] The panels and uprights of the screen did not support the loft, which instead rested on a substantial transverse beam called the "rood beam" or "candle beam".[6] Access was via a narrow rood stair set into the piers supporting the chancel arch. In parish churches, the space between the rood beam and the chancel arch was commonly filled by a boarded or lath and plastertympanum, set immediately behind the rood figures and painted with arepresentation of the Last Judgement.[7] The roof panels of the first bay of the nave were commonly richly decorated to form acelure or canopy of honour; or otherwise there might be a separate celure canopy attached to the front of the chancel arch.
The carving or construction of the rood screen often includedlatticework, which makes it possible to see through the screen partially from the nave into thechancel. The term "chancel" itself derives from theLatin wordcancelli meaning "lattice"; a term which had long been applied to the low metalwork or stone screens that delineate the choir enclosure in early medieval Italian cathedrals and major churches. The passage through the rood screen was fitted with doors, which were kept locked except during services.
The termspulpitum,Lettner,jubé[10] anddoksaal all suggest a screen platform used for readings from scripture, and there is plentiful documentary evidence for this practice in major churches in Europe in the 16th century. From this it was concluded by Victorian liturgists that the specificationad pulpitum for the location forGospel lections in the rubrics of theUse of Sarum referred both to the cathedral pulpitum screen and the parish rood loft. However, rood stairs in English parish churches are rarely, if ever, found to have been built wide enough to accommodate the Gospel procession required in the Sarum Use. The specific functions of the late medieval parish rood loft, over and above supporting the rood and its lights, remain an issue of conjecture and debate. In this respect it may be significant that, although there are terms for a rood screen in the vernacular languages of Europe, there is no counterpart specific term in liturgical Latin. Nor does the 13th century liturgical commentatorDurandus refer directly to rood screens or rood lofts. This is consistent with the ritual uses of rood lofts being substantially a late medieval development.
Until the 6th century the altar of Christian churches would have been in full view of the congregation, separated only by a lowaltar rail around it. Large churches had aciborium, or canopy on four columns, over the altar, from which hungaltar curtains which were closed at certain points in the liturgy. Then, however, following the example of the church ofHagia Sophia inConstantinople, churches began to surround their altars with a colonnade ortemplon which supported a decorated architrave beam along which a curtain could be drawn to veil the altar at specific points in the consecration of theEucharist; and this altar screen, with widely spaced columns, subsequently became standard in the major churches ofRome. In Rome the ritual choir tended to be located west of the altar screen, and this choir area was also surrounded bycancelli, or low chancel screens. These arrangements still survive in the Roman basilicas ofSan Clemente andSanta Maria in Cosmedin, as well asSt Mark's Basilica inVenice.[11] In the Eastern Church, the templon and its associated curtains and decorations evolved into the moderniconostasis. In the Western Church, the cancelli screens of the ritual choir developed into thechoir stalls andpulpitum screen of major cathedral and monastic churches; but the colonnaded altar screen was superseded from the 10th century onwards, when the practice developed of raising a canopy orbaldacchino, carrying veiling curtains, over the altar itself.
Many churches in Ireland and Scotland in the early Middle Ages were very small which may have served the same function as a rood screen. Contemporary sources suggest that the faithful may have remained outside the church for most of the mass; the priest would go outside for the first part of the mass including the reading of the gospel, and return inside the church, out of sight of the faithful, to consecrate the Eucharist.[12]
Churches built in England in the 7th and 8th centuries consciously copied Roman practices; remains indicating early cancelli screens have been found in themonastic churches of Jarrow and Monkwearmouth, while the churches of the monasteries ofBrixworth,Reculver and St Pancras Canterbury[13] have been found to have had arcaded colonnades corresponding to the Roman altar screen, and it may be presumed that these too were equipped with curtains. Equivalent arcaded colonnades also survive in 10th-century monastic churches in Spain, such asSan Miguel de Escalada. Some 19th-century liturgists supposed that these early altar screens might have represented the origins of the medieval rood screens; but this view is rejected by most current scholars, who emphasize that these screens were intended to separate the altar from the ritual choir, whereas the medieval rood screen separated the ritual choir from the lay congregation.
The Great Rood orRood cross itself long preceded the development of screen lofts, originally being either just hung from the chancel arch or also supported by a plain beam across the arch, and high up, typically at the level of the capitals of the columns (if there are any), or near the point where the arch begins to lean inwards. Numerous near life-size crucifixes survive from theRomanesque period or earlier, with theGero Cross inCologne Cathedral (965–970) and theVolto Santo of Lucca the best known. Such crosses are commonly referred to in German asTriumphkreuz ortriumphal cross. The prototype may have been one known to have been set up inCharlemagne'sPalatine Chapel atAachen, apparently in gold foil worked over a wooden core in the manner of theGolden Madonna of Essen. The original location and support for the surviving figures is often not clear; many are now hung on walls - but a number of northern European churches, especially in Germany and Scandinavia, preserve the original setting in full – they are known as a "Triumphkreutz" in German, from the "triumphal arch" (chancel arch in later terms) of Early Christian architecture. As in later examples a Virgin and Saint John often flanked the cross, andcherubim and other figures are sometimes seen.[14]
For most of the medieval period, there would have been no fixed screen or barrier separating the congregational space from the altar space in parish churches in the Latin West; although as noted above, a curtain might be drawn across the altar at specific points in theMass. Following the exposition of the doctrine oftransubstantiation at the fourthLateran Council of 1215, clergy were required to ensure that thereserved sacrament was to be kept protected from irreverent access or abuse; and accordingly some form of permanent screen came to be seen as essential, as the parishnave was commonly kept open and used for a wide range of secular purposes. Hence the origin of the chancel screen was independent of the Great Rood; indeed most surviving early screens lack lofts, and do not appear ever to have had a rood cross mounted on them. Nevertheless, over time, the rood beam and its sculptures tended to become incorporated into the chancel screen in new or reworked churches. Over the succeeding three centuries, and especially in the latter period when it became standard for the screen to be topped by a rood loft facing the congregation, a range of local ritual practices developed which incorporated the rood and loft into the performance of theliturgy; especially in theUse of Sarum, the form of themissal that was most common in England. For example, during the 40 days of "Lent" the rood in England was obscured by theLenten Veil, a large hanging suspended by stays from hooks set into the chancel arch; in such a way that it could be dropped abruptly to the ground onPalm Sunday, at the reading of Matthew 27:51 when the Veil of the Temple is torn asunder.
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The provisions of the Lateran Council had less effect on monastic churches and cathedrals in England; as these would have already been fitted with two transverse screens; apulpitum screen separating off the ritual choir; and an additional rood screen one bay further west, delineating the area of thenave provided for lay worship (or in monastic churches of theCistercian order, delineating the distinct church area reserved for the worship of lay brothers). The monastic rood screen invariably had a nave altar set against its western face, which, from at least the late 11th century onwards, was commonly dedicated to theHoly Cross; as for example inNorwich Cathedral, and inCastle Acre Priory. In the later medieval period many monastic churches erected an additional transverseparclose screen, or fence screen, to the west of the nave altar; an example of which survives as thechancel screen inDunstable Priory inBedfordshire. Hence theRites of Durham, a detailed account of the liturgical arrangements ofDurham Cathedral Priory before the Reformation, describes three transverse screens; fence screen, rood screen and pulpitum.[15] and the triple same arrangement is also documented in thecollegiate church of Ottery St Mary. In the rest of Europe, this multiple screen arrangement was only found in Cistercian churches, as atMaulbronn Monastery in southern Germany,[16] but many other major churches, such asAlbi Cathedral in France, inserted transverse screens in the later medieval period, or reconstructed existing choir screens on a greatly increased scale. In Italy, massive rood screens incorporating anambo or pulpit facing the nave appear to have been universal in the churches offriars; but not in parish churches, there being no equivalent in the Roman Missal for the ritual elaborations of the Use of Sarum.
The decrees of theCouncil of Trent (1545–1563) enjoined that the celebration of the Mass should be made much more accessible to lay worshippers; and this was widely interpreted as requiring the removal of rood screens as physical and visual barriers, even though the council had made no explicit condemnation of screens. Already in 1565, Duke Cosimo de' Medici ordered the removal of thetramezzi from the Florentine friary churches ofSanta Croce andSanta Maria Novella in accordance with the principles of the council. In 1577Carlo Borromeo publishedInstructionum Fabricae et Sellectilis Ecclesiasticae libri duo, making no mention of the screen and emphasizing the importance of making the high altar visible to all worshippers; and in 1584 theChurch of the Gesù was built in Rome as a demonstration of the new principles of Tridentine worship, having an altar rail but conspicuously lacking either a central rood or screen. Almost all medieval churches in Italy were subsequently re-ordered following this model; and most screens that impeded the view of the altar were removed, or their screening effect reduced, in other Catholic countries, with exceptions likeToledo Cathedral, Albi Cathedral, the church of Brou inBourg-en-Bresse; and also in monasteries and convents, where the screen was preserved to maintain theenclosure. In Catholic Europe, parochial rood screens survive in substantial numbers only inBrittany, such as those atPlouvorn,Morbihan andPloubezre .
The rood screen was a physical and symbolic barrier, separating thechancel, the domain of the clergy, from the nave wherelay people gathered to worship. It was also a means of seeing; often it was solid only to waist height and richly decorated with pictures of saints andangels. Concealment and revelation were part of the mediaevalMass. When kneeling, the congregation could not see the priest, but might do so through the upper part of the screen, when he elevated theHost on Sundays. In some churches, 'squints' (holes in the screen) would ensure that everyone could see the elevation,[17] as seeingthe bread made flesh was significant for the congregation.
Moreover, while Sunday Masses were very important, there were also weekday services which were celebrated at secondary altars in front of the screen (such as the "Jesus altar", erected for the worship of theHoly Name, a popular devotion in mediaeval times) which thus became the backdrop to the celebration of the Mass.[18] TheRood itself provided a focus for worship according to the medievalUse of Sarum, most especially inHoly Week, when worship was highly elaborate. DuringLent the Rood was veiled; onPalm Sunday it was revealed before the procession of palms and the congregation knelt before it. The wholePassion story would then be read from the Rood loft, at the foot of thecrucifix by three priests. In the 1400s the rood screen inDovercourt, UK, became a shrine when it gained a reputation for speaking.
At theReformation, the Reformers sought to destroyabused images, i.e. those statues and paintings which they alleged to have been the focus of superstitious adoration.[19] Thus not a single mediaeval Rood survives in Britain.[20] They were removed as a result of the 1547 Injunctions ofEdward VI[21] (some to be restored whenMary came to the throne and removed again underElizabeth). Of original rood lofts, also considered suspect due to their association with superstitious veneration, very few are left; surviving examples in Wales being at the ancient churches inLlanelieu,Llanengan andLlanegryn.[5] The rood screens themselves were sometimes demolished or cut down in height, but more commonly remained with their painted figures whitewashed and painted over with religious texts. Tympanums too were whitewashed. English cathedral churches maintained their choirs, and consequently their choir stalls and pulpitum screens; but generally demolished their rood screens entirely, although those ofPeterborough andCanterbury survived into the 18th century.
In the century following theEnglish Reformation newly builtAnglican churches were invariably fitted with chancel screens, which served the purpose of differentiating a separate space in the chancel for communicants atHoly Communion, as was required in the newly adoptedBook of Common Prayer.[22] In effect, these chancel screens were rood screens without a surmounting loft or crucifix, and examples survive at St JohnLeeds and atForemark. New screens were also erected in many medieval churches where they had been destroyed at the Reformation, as atCartmel Priory andAbbey Dore. From the early 17th century it became normal for screens or tympanums to carry theroyal arms of England, good examples of which survive in two of the London churches of SirChristopher Wren, and also atDerby Cathedral. However, Wren's design for the church ofSt James, Piccadilly, of 1684 dispensed with a chancel screen, retaining only rails around the altar itself, and thisauditory church plan was widely adopted as a model for new churches from then on.[23] In the 18th and 19th centuries hundreds of surviving medieval screens were removed altogether; today, in many British churches, the rood stair (which gave access to the rood loft) is often the only remaining trace of the former rood loft and screen.
In the 19th century, the architectAugustus Pugin campaigned for the re-introduction of rood screens intoCatholic church architecture. His screens survive inMacclesfield andCheadle, Staffordshire, although others have been removed. In Anglican churches, under the influence of theCambridge Camden Society, many medieval screens were restored; though until the 20th century, generally without roods or with only a plain cross rather than a crucifix. A nearly complete restoration can be seen at Eye, Suffolk, where the rood screen dates from 1480.[24] Its missing rood loft was reconstructed by SirNinian Comper in 1925, complete with a rood and figures of saints and angels, and gives a good impression of how a full rood group might have appeared in a mediaeval English church - except that the former tympanum has not been replaced. Indeed, because tympanums, repainted with the royal arms, were erroneously considered post-medieval, they were almost all removed in the course of19th-century restorations. For parish churches, the 19th-centuryTractarians tended, however, to prefer an arrangement whereby the chancel was distinguished from the nave only by steps and a low-gated screen wall orseptum (as atAll Saints, Margaret Street), so as not to obscure the congregation's view of the altar. This arrangement was adopted for almost all new Anglican parish churches of the period.
Painted rood screens occur rarely, but some of the best surviving examples are inEast Anglia.[25][26]
The earliest known example of a parochial rood screen in Britain, dating to the mid-13th century, is to be found atStanton Harcourt,Oxfordshire; and a notable early stone screen (14th century) is found atIlkeston,Derbyshire. Both these screens lack lofts, as do all surviving English screens earlier than the 15th century. However, some early screens, now lost, may be presumed to have had a loft surmounted by the Great Rood, as the churches ofColsterworth andThurlby inLincolnshire preserve rood stairs which can be dated stylistically to the beginning of the 13th century, and these represent the earliest surviving evidence of parochial screens; effectively contemporary with the Lateran Council. The majority of surviving screens are no earlier than the 15th century, such as those atTrull inSomerset andAttleborough inNorfolk. In manyEast Anglian andDevonian parish churches, original painted decoration survives on wooden screen panels, having been whitewashed over at theReformation; although almost all have lost their rood beams and lofts, and many have been sawn off at the top of the panelled lower section. The quality of the painting andgilding is, some of it, of a very high order, notably those from the East AnglianRanworth school of painters, of which examples can be found inSouthwold andBlythburgh, as well as at Ranworth itself. The magnificent painted screen atSt Michael and All Angels Church, Barton Turf in Norfolk is unique in giving an unusually complete view of the heavenly hierarchy, including nine orders of angels.Nikolaus Pevsner also identified the early-16th-century painted screen atBridford, Devon, as being notable. The 16th-century screen atCharlton-on-Otmoor, said by Pevsner to be "the finest in Oxfordshire", has an unusual custom associated with it, wherethe rood cross is garlanded with flowers and foliage twice a year, and until the 1850s the cross (which at that time resembled a largecorn dolly) was carried in aMay Day procession. A particularly large example can be found at theChurch of St Mary the Virgin, Uffculme, Devon, which is nearly 70 feet in length.
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