Dating Nathan: The Oldest Stained Glass Window in England?

27 July 2021

A new study involving 最准的六合彩论坛 Institute of Archaeology researchers indicates that some stained glass windows from Canterbury Cathedral may be among the oldest in the world.

Ian Freestone analysing stained glass at Canterbury Cathedral (Image courtesy The Chapter, Canterbury Cathedral/BBC)

Relatively little is known about stained glass windows in England predating c. 1170. An聽art-historical evaluation by Prof Madeline Caviness (1987) argued that four figures from the 'Ancestors of Christ series,'聽depicted over one of the entrances of Canterbury Cathedral, and usually dated to the late 12th and early 13th century, were in fact of earlier date (c. 1130鈥�1160). The windows would therefore have been in place when the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, was killed at the cathedral in 1170 and聽would be amongst the earliest stained glass in England, and the world.

Building on聽previous work, Laura Ware聽Adlington and Ian Freestone聽at the Institute of Archaeology, together with L茅onie Seliger, the Head of Stained Glass Conservation at Canterbury Cathedral, set out to聽address this聽hypothesis using a non-destructive technique involving in-situ analysis of the window glass with specially modified聽pXRF technology.

The results,聽published recently in Heritage,聽confirm two major periods of 鈥渞ecycling鈥� or re-using of medieval glass.聽The first is consistent with Caviness鈥檚 argument that figures predating the 1174 fire in the cathedral聽were re-used in the early 13th century. The results of this new study suggest聽that in addition to figures, ornamental borders were re-used, indicating the presence of more early glass than previously thought.

According to Ian:

鈥�We've been working on it for some time, putting all the pieces in place. And then we finally get an answer something new, that brings together science and art into one story."

In a聽second period of recycling in the 1790s, surviving figures from the Ancestors聽series were removed and adapted into rectangular panels for insertion into large perpendicular-style windows elsewhere in the cathedral. The results indicate that the glasses used to adapt the panels to a rectangular shape were broadly contemporary with the glasses used to glaze the original Ancestors windows, again representing a more extensive presence of medieval glass in the windows.

Adlington, L.W.; Freestone, I.C.; Seliger, L. Dating Nathan: The Oldest Stained Glass Window in England?聽Heritage听2021,听4, 937-960.

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Ian Freestone analysing stained glass at Canterbury Cathedral (Image courtesy of The Chapter, Canterbury Cathedral/BBC)

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