The parish church of St. Mary’s, Chalgrove is located approximately ten miles south-east of Oxford (Fig. 1). Its chancel contains a complex and richly pigmented series of wall paintings, illustrating both the Infancy and Passion of Christ as well as the Final Days and Death of the Virgin Mary (Figs. 2–5). Although scholars have long agreed that the chancel was rebuilt and painted with these images in the fourteenth century, a variety of theories regarding the exact dating and patronage of the project have circulated within literature devoted to the site. This paper represents a return to the original documents relating to the chancel's reconstruction in order to gain a more accurate understanding of the mural scheme's dating and origination. This paper additionally works to identify the source of inspiration for the design of the painting sequence through comparison with contemporary manuscripts.

MEDIEVAL HISTORY OF ST MARY’S

Chalgrove church, in the medieval diocese of Lincoln, was established by the late eleventh century when it was given to the collegiate chapel of St Nicholas in Wallingford castle for endowment of a prebend. In practice it operated as an independent parish church with its own rector, and the right to present the rector (and prebendary) passed usually with the honour of Wallingford until the fourteenth century, when the chancel paintings were created. After the death of Piers Gaveston, earl of Cornwall in 1312, the advowson (the right to nominate the rector) was transferred to the Crown.