{"id":1132,"date":"2015-04-03T05:58:15","date_gmt":"2015-04-03T05:58:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/?p=1132"},"modified":"2018-03-29T10:19:27","modified_gmt":"2018-03-29T10:19:27","slug":"celebrating-maundy-thursday-at-durham-priory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/?p=1132","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Maundy Thursday at Durham Priory (2018)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Today is a beautiful sunny Maundy Thursday in Durham. In light of the day, we’re reposting this Flower from a few years back:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How did the medieval monks of Durham celebrate Maundy Thursday?<\/em><\/p>\n

A work known as the Rites of Durham<\/span> – a mid 16th-century account of the earlier, pre-Reformation rites and practices of Durham Priory (now Durham Cathedral)* – records an intriguing but appropriate ceremony carried out by the monks for Maundy Thursday.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Durham Cathedral MS A.II.10, fol. 224v. \u00a9 . Chapter of Durham Cathedral. Decorated initial from Peter Lombard\u2019s commentary on the Psalms.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The ceremony involved three parts:\u00a0 the washing of the feet, the setting up of the Paschal Candle, and the Judas Cup. The first of these started at 9 in the morning, when 12 poor men were brought into the cloister and were seated on a ‘broad thicke fourme’ or bench supported by three wooden pieces which was brought in from its usual place between two pillars standing over and against the south quire door. <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Professor John McKinnell summarizes the description in the Rites<\/span>:
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

‘[each man] had their feet washed, dried and kissed by the prior, while each of the monks did the same for one of a group of boys seated on the south side of the cloister. The old men and boys then received a meal, at which they were served by the prior and monks personally; they were each given three loaves, seven red herrings, “certain wafer-cakes” and thirty pence. […]<\/p>\n

The prior is imitating Christ washing the disciples’ feet at the Last Supper (John <\/em>13:4-10); but he is not presuming to impersonate Christ, for he washes the feet of thirteen men (representing the disciples plus Christ), not twelve. The monks, in each washing a boy’s feet, are recognising the presence of Christ in the least of human beings (Matthew<\/em> 25:40)’.**<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The text of the Rites of Durham<\/span> records this part of the ceremony as follows:<\/em><\/p>\n

There was a goodlie ceremonye whi<\/em>ch ye pri<\/em>or & the Mounkes dyd use euer<\/em>y Thursdaie before easter<\/em> called maundy thursdaie, the custoume was this:<\/p>\n

\"Durham

Durham Cathedral Cloister, interior<\/p><\/div>\n

ther were xiijo<\/sup> poore agen men<\/em> appoynted to come to ye cloyster as that daie, havinge there feete clene washed there to remayne till such tyme as ye pri<\/em>or & the whole covent dyd come thether at ix a clock, or ther aboutes<\/em>, ye agen men <\/em>sytting betwyxt ye par<\/em>ler dour & ye Church dour, upon a fair longe broad thicke fourme, whi<\/em>ch fourme laie on iijo <\/sup>peces of wood, euer<\/em>y pece pictured like unto a man<\/em> antick wourke verie fynely wrought, being placed for ye feite of ye fourme, in vnder either end one, & one in ye myddes<\/em>, whi<\/em>ch fourme dyd stand alwaies in ye church beyond ye Revester dour betwixt two pillers ouer<\/em> & against ye quere doure on ye southsyd of ye quere,<\/p>\n

whi<\/em>ch fourme was taiken & caried euer<\/em>y maundie thursdaie before easter to ye cloister, where ye pri<\/em>or after certaine praiers said, one of his ser<\/em>vantes<\/em> did bring a fair baison, wi<\/em>th clene water, & ye pri<\/em>or dyd washe ye poore mens feete, all of theme, one after an other wi<\/em>th his his owne handes<\/em>, & dryed them wi<\/em>th a towell, and kissed ther feite hime selfe, whi<\/em>ch being done, he did verie liberally bestowe xxx d. in money of euer<\/em>y one of theme, wi<\/em>th vijo<\/sup> reade herringes<\/em> a pece, and did ser<\/em>ve them himselfe, wi<\/em>th drinke & vijo<\/sup> loves of bread, wi<\/em>th certaine wafers,<\/p>\n

and when all was done ye forme whi<\/em>ch was ordayned onely for that purpose, was caried againe into ye church, & sett in ye same place where yt was taken fro that men<\/em> might also sit on yt ther, when they came to here devine ser<\/em>vice . \/ [whi<\/em>ch fourme is yet remaymynge under ye te deum wyndowe & the clock]***<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This dramatic re-enactment of the washing of the feet was accompanied by the lighting of the great Paschal Candle – an enormous candelabra of seven candlesticks (the central one almost reaching to the cathedral vault!) – as well as the ceremony of the Judas Cup – a mazer of double gilt silver, from which the prior would distribute wine to the monks in imitation of the Last Supper.****<\/em><\/p>\n

For more information on the architecture of the Cathedral mentioned in the extract, including the cathedral cloister, the Te Deum Window and Prior Castle’s 16th-century clock, go to https:\/\/www.durhamworldheritagesite.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*More information on the manuscript of the Rites of Durham<\/span> may be found here:\u00a0 https:\/\/www.durhamworldheritagesite.com\/history\/rites-of-durham<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

**John McKinnell, The Sequence of the Sacrament at Durham<\/em> (The University of Teeside, 1999), p. 11.<\/p>\n

***The text comes from the Rites of Durham, being a description or brief declaration of all the ancient monuments, rites, & customs belonging or being within the monastical church of Durham before the suppression: Written 1593<\/span>, ed. J. T. Fowler, Surtees Soc. 107 (Durham: Andrews & Co., 1903), pp. 77-78 (‘XXXVII. THE CLOISTER. MAUNDY THURSDAY.’).<\/em><\/p>\n

****McKinnell 12-13.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is a beautiful sunny Maundy Thursday in Durham. In light of the day, we’re reposting this Flower from a few years back:   How did the medieval monks of Durham celebrate Maundy Thursday? A work known as the Rites of Durham – a mid 16th-century account of the earlier, pre-Reformation rites and practices of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[11,27,69,134,130,133,8,131,132],"class_list":["post-1132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-durham-cathedral","tag-durham-priory","tag-john-mckinnell","tag-judas-cup","tag-maundy-thursday","tag-paschal-candle","tag-records-of-early-english-drama","tag-rites-of-durham","tag-sequence-of-the-sacrament-at-durham"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Durham-Cathedral-looking-up.jpg?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p67HiV-ig","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}