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Limoges Enamel Altar-cruets of the Thirteenth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2012

Extract

Altar-cruets in early times were known by a variety of names, ama, amula, ampulla, fiala, phiala, potum, urceus, urceolus, vas, and vasculum. These sacred vessels were made in pairs, in order to contain the wine and the water for use in the chalice and for the subsequent ceremonial ablutions, and, since the laity did not receive the chalice, these altar-cruets were in consequence of relatively small size.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1938

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References

page 49 note 1 ‘Donavit Amas argenteas duas, pensantes singulæ libras denas.’ Anastasii Bibliothecarii Vitœ Romanorum Pontificum, in S. Silvestro P.P.

page 49 note 2 ‘Amulas superauratas paria duo.’ Anastasii Bibliothecarii Vitœ Romanorum Pontificum, in Gregorio III P.P.

page 49 note 3 ‘Una ampulla argenti vetus deaurata quam Rex deferre solebat ut credebatur.’ Liber quotidianus contrarotuiatoris Garderobœ, anno regni Regis Edwardi primi vicesimo octavo (1299–1300), ed. Nicholls, J., 1787, p. 348.Google Scholar

page 49 note 4 To the abbey of Alban, St., Domina Petronilla de Benstede ‘obtulit etiam duas fialas quarum corpora cristallina sunt, orificia vero et pedes argentea, quæ gemmis et margaritis ornantur.’ Dugdale, Mon. Angl. ii, 221 (ed. 1819).Google Scholar

page 49 note 5 ‘In ecclesiis debent esse … phiala una cum vino et alia cum aqua.’ de Garlandia, Johannes, Dictionarius, c. 1280.Google Scholar

page 49 note 6 A.D. 1323. ‘Nicolaus de Nigella, aurifaber Parisiensis, pro uno cipho argenteo esmaillato ad tripidem et duobus potis, uno ad vinum et altero ad aquam, liberatis Regi.’ Laborde, , Notice des émaux du Louvre, part ii, p. 6Google Scholar.

page 49 note 7 A.D. 787. ‘Hic etiam ditionibus ecclesias dimisit … calicem argenteum deauratum unum, urceos Alexandrinos cum aquamanilibus duos.’ Gesta abbatum Fontanellensium, ed. Pertz, G. H., Monum. Germ, ii, 290.Google Scholar

page 49 note 8 ‘Accipiunt etc.: Urceolum, in quo datur eis potestas infundendi aquam in calicem dominicum.’ Eduensis, Stephanus, Lib. de Sacram. altaris, cap. 4, ‘De Acolytorum ordinatione’.Google Scholar

page 49 note 9 A.D. 1294. Inventory of Anagni: ‘Unum vas argenteum deauratum ad effundendum aquam in calicem.’

page 49 note 10 See p. 51: ‘Dat vasculum denuo ministranti’, etc.

page 49 note 11 Gilbert, bishop of Limerick c. 1090, states that all priests should possess: ‘Ampulla cum vino, et altera cum aqua.’ (P.L. clix, 1001.) John of Avranches, archbishop of Rouen, wrote: ‘Cantor aquam linteo coopertam in festis diacono deferat, quam diaconus vino misceat; aliis diebus ministrat earn acolythus.’ De Off. Eccl., p. 19 (Rouen, 1679).

page 49 note 12 Merum.

page 49 note 13 Mark xiv, 24, ‘This is my blood’. John de Burgh, c. 1385, wrote in his Pupilla Oculi, concerning the use of red wine for the Eucharist, as follows: ‘proprer expressionem et similitudinem sanguinis’.

page 50 note 1 II Maccabees xv, 39, ‘wine mingled with water is pleasant’. The water used in the Passover feast was probably hot. Encyclopœdia Biblica, col. 5320. This rite is still practised by the Orthodox Greek Church, the vessel employed being called the thermerion.

page 50 note 2 The Arabic Gospel of the Infancy, ed. Harris Cowper: ‘Judas… struck the right side of Jesus … that side … the Jews pierced with a spear.’

page 50 note 3 Geoffrey de Gorham, abbot of St. Albans, c. 1125, ‘Dedit quoque huic ecclesiae ampullas tres argenteas, et unam chrystallinam.’ Dugdale, , Mon. Angl. ii, 185, note (ed. 1819).Google Scholar

page 50 note 4 Wharton, , Anglia Sacra, i, 648Google Scholar. John de Hotham, bishop of Ely, gave to the cathedral, c. 1336: ‘calicem aureum cum duobus urceolis aureis, et in urceolo pro vino impositus erat lapis preciosus vocatus Rubye, et in urceolo pro aqua, optima margarita.’ The use of the pearl was peculiarly suitable for indicating the water-cruet, since it was a jewel of aqueous origin. It was believed to be generated by the dew received from above and was thus properly included in a thirteenth-century Apocalyptic Lapidary, Revelations xxi, 21. Studer, and Evans, , Anglo-Norman Lapidaries, p. 275Google Scholar. The majority of the pearls mounted in the middle ages in western Europe were probably derived from the fresh-water mussel, Anodon cygnea, frequently found in Scottish and English rivers.

page 51 note 1 Rupin, E., L'Œuvre de Limoges, p. 528.Google Scholar

page 51 note 2 Wilkins, , Concilia, i, 623Google Scholar. ‘Constitut. Willielmi de Bleys’, c. A.D. 1229.

page 51 note 3 Examples of this subject may be seen at Caen, Lausanne, Lyons, Rouen, and elsewhere.

page 52 note 1 My thanks are due to Mr. C. C. Oman for this reference.

page 53 note 1 For this reference my thanks are due to Mr. D. A. J. Buxton, F.S.A.

page 53 note 2 My thanks are due to M. Marquet de Vasselot for this reference.

page 54 note 1 In the illustration in Art Treasures the lid of the cruet is omitted.