The Flowers of Exeter
"The Flowers of Exeter - The ideas concealed within the Decoration",
M. W. Tisdall, 2004, 67 pges, 93 color illustrations - Charlesfort
Press, 23 Furzehatt Road, Plymouth. PL9 8QX. UK., January 2005 -
Hardcove £15.00, Paperback £10.00 plus £5.00, for packing and airmail
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"The Flowers of Exeter" by our U.K. correspondent, M. W. Tisdall is
an in depth analysis of the flower and foliage carvings of Exeter
Cathedral.
These sculptured carvings remarkably mirror the symbolism of the
Flowers of Our Lady of medieval rural popular religious tradition -
evidencing the detailed familiarity of the 13th century craftsman
stone carvers with both the forms of the flowers and foliage in
nature, and also their symbolism and other associations which would
quicken the reflections of the faithful entering the cathedrals of
the period in England and on the European continent.
Of these engraved flower symbols the author states in the
Introduction, "the foliage bosses are usually ignored and dismissed
as purely decorative. It is possible however to find that they
provide a wealth of associations,,,that were well known at the
time. They do not teach, rather they act as triggers to the memory
to give colour to the spiritual life"; and, "the sudden and
widespread appearance of recognizable species must be based on a
coherent code of theological thought".
The preservation of the Flowers of Our Lady in the stone carvings of
the cathedrals is solid corroboration of the inference as to their
incorporation in medieval culture made from the hundreds of symbolic
religious names of these flowers - preserved from medieval oral
tradition in the research of botanists, folklorists and
lexicographers,
Of this the author states,
"Flowers provide a backdrop of potential associations that can be
accessed at leisure. The themes will be new to many but they are
widely dispersed in literature and have been collected here to show
the age of thinking demonstrated by our medieval ancestors. Some
people say, and none more charmingly than E. Male, 'that artists,
though under supervision when charged to express the religious
thoughts of their day, happily for us were left to decorate the
churches with innocent flowers at will.'"
However, recourse to the religious symbolism and associations of the
medieval Flowers of Our Lady - as viewed in nature, and as mirrored
in the flower and foliage carvings of the medieval cathedrals - was
lost for a time in religious and gardening culture through the
Marian minimalizing Anglican and Protestant reformations, and the
concurrent introduction of printing, whereby it was the secular
flower common names and associations that were written down in the
early, definitive gardening books.
With the ending of medieval culture, the engravings of the flowers
came thus to be regarded as just decoration - of which the author
cites the observation of the authority, M. Camille that "Nothing is
ever just decoration, especially in Gothic art, although such
objects continue to be classified as such" (today).
Happily, the contemporary primary re-appreciation of the symbolic
richness of the Flowers of Our Lady in nature and gardening will be
furthered through the "Flowers of Exeter", whose examination of the
sculptured images of some fifty of these, and whose excellent
bibliography, will be invaluable for those seeking further
familiarity with and devotion through the religious symbolism of all
Flowers, Shrubs and Trees of Our Lady.
Exemplary of the Exeter carvings is the golden rose without thorns
illustrating the book cover, shown here, which in the book
frontispiece is shown on its ground of stars and a crescent moon,
all symbols of the Virgin Mary.
Also the author hopes others will discover with respect to the
symbolism of the stone carvings of flowers what we, in our
experience as Mary Gardeners, have discovered with respect to the
flowers themselves, "that when one understands their underlying
significance appreciation of their beauty will be greatly enhanced".
This is because in reflecting on their symbolism one looks on the
carvings more carefully and more frequently such that one comes to
see them illuminatively. "We tend to know about things where
they (the medieval faithful) might know them intimately. When they
'read' a carving they savoured, explored and delighted in the
rich associations that would be available."
In this, "The Flowers of Exeter", quotes from the saints with
respect to the richness of religious symbols:
St. Thomas Aquinas:
"To transmit the Things of God and the Spirit by
means of corporeal similitudes is advantageous."
"The most hidden things are the sweetest."
Attributed to St. Gregory:
"Images serve for three things:
(1) to stir people's minds to think on Christ's
incarnation and on his passion etc.
(2) to stir people's affection and heart to
devotion; for often people are more stirred
by sight than by hearing or reading.
(3) Their ordainment as a token and a book to
the common people, that they may be able to
read in imagery that which clerics read
in books."
to which we add:
St. Ignatius of Loyola (in "Spiritual Exercises"):
"In a visible contemplation or meditation...the
composition will be to see the corporeal...thing
with the sight of the imagination. . . .
"If the person who is making the contemplation,
takes the true groundwork of the (scriptural)
narrative, and...finds something which makes the
events a little clearer or brings them a little
more home to him...he will get more spiritual
relish and fruit, than if (others) had much
explained and amplified the meaning of the events,
For it is not knowing much, but realizing and
relishing things interiorly, that contents and
satisfies the soul. . ."
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