Funeral chapel
A dead measuring Chapel ( English : Chantry chapel) was one in English churches from the 14th to the 16th century spread memorial mostly in the form of a divided chancel, which was intended for measuring foundations for the soul of a deceased person. Priests, who were provided for from the proceeds of the foundations, were regularly used for this purpose.
history
The English name Chantry chapel is derived from the Latin cantaria. Facilities of this type have existed since the 12th century. So donated Edward I of England funeral services for his wife Eleanor of Castile . The funeral chapels reached their peak after the plague epidemic in 1348. Probably the latest funeral chapels are the chapel for Bishop West in Ely Cathedral (1534) and the chapel for Bishop Gardiner in Winchester (around 1540). Under Henry VIII and his successor Edward VII , the Chantry Foundations were abolished in 1545 and 1547 and withdrawn in favor of the Crown.
investment
The funeral chapels developed their characteristic shape in miniature structures that were set up in cathedrals or large parish churches. They are reminiscent of stone cages and were usually erected under the arches of the arcades, preferably in the choir near the high altar. The first altar chapels were built in the nave of Winchester Cathedral . Numerous funeral chapels are also found in Ely Cathedral and Tewkesbury Church . The chapels for Cardinal Henry Beaufort († 1447) and Bishop William Waynflete († 1486) in the retro choir of Winchester Cathedral are particularly lavish with two-story pinnacles . In Canterbury Cathedral the dead measuring chapel was 1438-1440 Henry IV. Built with a fan vaulting. Westminster Abbey owns u. a. the funeral chapel for Henry V by John Thirsk, which forms a bridge over the ambulatory. In the parish churches, especially the wool churches in East England , wood-carved designs were predominant.
literature
- Günter Kowa: Architecture of the English Gothic . DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1990, pp. 257f., P. 262f., ISBN 3-7701-1969-X .
