Medieval Imagination in Chester Cathedrals

Myth, Misericords, Mystery Plays, Midsummer Watch and the Green Man

Gordon Emery

Dragons, griffins, a unicorn, wild men, green men, an imp, an elephant with hooves and stone carved heads. These are just some of the wonders of the medieval world that can be found in Chester Cathedral and the Church of St John, formerly Chester Cathedral. During the late 14th century an intricate wooden quire was carved in the former St Werburgh's Abbey church. Monks had to pray for long hours standing up, so a system of 'misericords' or mercy seats was made with armrests and small ledges to rest against. These were carved with illustrated scenes. When the church was restored in the last quarter of the 19 th century the seats were taken out and photographed outside in natural light. However, by the time of the photographs, five of the interesting medieval carved seats had been destroyed because the themes were too indecent for Dean Howson, who replaced them with blanks. These were later carved with Christian scenes and Aesop's fables, and, although interesting, are not included in this book. For the first time the set of unique photographs of the medieval carvings under the monks' seats in the old abbey church quire are available to the public along with a plan of the 112 carved corbels, marvels of the 14th century carvers' art. One of these represents the green man, a figure found in churches countrywide with leaves growing out of his face. Gordon Emery's new book is a must for anyone interested in the history of Chester, the cathedral, or myths, legends and fantasies of medieval England. Local artist Jay Hurst has depicted the author as the green man on the cover.