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Susan Reishus wrote:
> I can see why a chalice cover would have some weight at the corners
> so walking across the floor of a cathedral/church, your textile
> wouldn't flyaway or shift.
I've been studying some inventories made at the parish church in High
Wycombe, (Buckinghamshire, U.K.), in the pre-Reformation period, and
there is one entry that seems to match your idea.
Here's the original:
"Item a Canape of launde wt iiij botons of nedyllwerke ffrengyd rounde a
bowte wt rede sylke & golde ex dono Margerie Bontyng"
and here is my idea of what it would have looked like:-
[A cover of linen with four tassels, decorated with embroidery of red
sylke and gold, with a fringe. Given by Margerie Bunting.]
This is from the inventory of 1475, and it (or something very like it)
appears again in the next two inventories, 1507 and 1519, where we have
the additional information that it was the size of a kerchief. That is
a piece of cloth rather larger than a modern handkerchief; something
that might cover one's hair, but not as large as a veil, and so probably
square. Context suggests that it was used to cover something on the
altar, probably a pyx or a chalice.
As surviving examples of church textiles from this period are extremely
rare, I haven't seen anything like it. Also, I've been studying other
parts of the inventories so far, and haven't yet got round to searching
for similar items elsewhere, so I regret I can't offer any further
comments. (One of these days . . . !) However, the counter-Reformation
changed the practices of Roman Catholicism, just as the Reformation
changed those Anglicanism, so later covers were different. I believe
modern ones tend to be made of heavy and stiffened materials, which
would probably stay in place by their own weight.
Personally, I belong to neither of these religions, so my views don't
signify, but I do love the joyful richness of the early things.
By the way, although Wycombe was later a centre for lace making, none
appears in these inventories, at least none that I've identified so far.
Linda Walton,
(in gloomy High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, U.K.).
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