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COSTUME

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 509 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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COSTUME .) - - Akin to the crosses of knightly orders are those which figure as charges on coats of arms. The See also:

science of See also:heraldry evolved a wonderful variety of See also:cross-forms during the See also:period it held sway in the See also:middle ages. The different forms of cross used in heraldry are, in fact, so numerous that it is only the larger See also:works on that subject which See also:attempt to See also:record them all. For such crosses see HERALDRY. In the middle ages the cross See also:form, in one way or another, was predominant everywhere, and was introduced whenever opportunity offered itself for doing so. The larger churches were planned on its outline, so that the See also:ridge See also:line of their See also:roofs See also:pro-claimed it far and wide. This was more particularly followed in the See also:north of See also:Europe, but when it was first introduced is not quite certain. All the See also:ancient See also:cathedral churches of See also:England and See also:Wales are cruciform in See also:plan, except See also:Llandaff. The See also:artistic skill and ingenuity of the See also:medieval designer has produced cross designs of endless variety, and of singular FIG.Dq.—Cannebrossrog. of the elegance and beauty. Some of the most beautiful of these designs are the gable crosses of the old churches. Fig.

8 shows the See also:

west gable cross of See also:Washburn See also:church, See also:Worcestershire; fig. 9 that of the See also:nave of See also:Castle See also:Acre church, See also:Norfolk; and fig. ro the See also:east gable cross of Hethersett church in that See also:county. They may be taken as See also:good examples of a type of cross which is often of See also:great beauty, but it is oveflooked, owing to its See also:bad position for observation. Other architectural crosses, of great beauty of See also:design, are those which occur on the See also:grave slabs of the middle ages. Instances of a plainer type occur in Saxon times, but it was not till after the 11th See also:century that they were fashioned after the intricate and beautiful designs with which our ancient churches are, as a See also:rule, so plentifully supplied. Sometimes these crosses are incised in the slab, and almost as often they are executed in See also:low See also:relief. The See also:long See also:shaft of the cross is most commonly See also:plain, but there are a very large number of instances in which this is not so, and in which branches, with See also:leaf designs, are thrown out at intervals the entire length of the shaft. In some cases the shaft rises from a See also:series of steps at its See also:base, and in such a See also:case the name of a See also:Calvary cross is applied to it. Fig. 11, from Strad-sett church, Norfolk, and fig. 12 from Bosbury church, See also:Hereford-See also:shire, are good examples of the designs at the See also:head of sepulchral crosses. Often, by the See also:side of the cross, an See also:emblem or See also:symbol is placed, denoting the calling in See also:life of the See also:person commemorated.

Thus a See also:

sword is placed to indicate a See also:knight or soldier, a See also:chalice for a See also:priest, and so forth; but it would be travelling beyond the See also:scope of this See also:article to enter into a discussion as to such symbols. Of upright See also:standing crosses, the Irish and See also:Iona types are well known, and their great artistic beauty and elaboration and excellence of See also:sculpture are universally recognized. These crosses are sometimes spoken of as " Runic Crosses " ; and the inter-lacing knotwork design with which many of them are ornamented is also at times spoken of as " Runic." This is an erroneous application of the word, and has arisen from the fact that some of these crosses See also:bear See also:inscriptions in Runic characters. Standing crosses, of different kinds, were commonly set up in every suitable See also:place during the middle ages, as the mutilated bases and shafts still remaining readily testify. Such crosses were erected in the centre of the See also:market place, in the See also:churchyard, on the See also:village See also:green, or as boundary stones, or marks to See also:guide the traveller. Some, like the See also:Black Friars cross at Hereford, were See also:preaching stations, others, like the beautiful Eleanor crosses at See also:Northampton, Geddington and See also:Waltham, were commemorative in See also:character. Of these latter crosses, which marked the places where the funeral procession of See also:Queen Eleanor halted, there were originally ten or more, erected between 1241 and 1294• They were placed at See also:Lincoln, Northampton, Stony See also:Stratford, See also:Woburn, See also:Dunstable, St Albans, Waltham and See also:London (Cheapside and Charing Cross). The cross at Geddington differs in outline from those at Northampton and Waltham, and it is not recorded on the See also:roll of accounts for the nine others, all of which are mentioned, but there is no real doubt that it commemorates the resting of the See also:coffin of the queen in Geddington church on its way from Harby. These crosses, like the Black Friars cross at Hereford, are elaborate architectural erections, and very similar to them in this respect are the beautiful market crosses at See also:Winchester, See also:Chichester, See also:Salisbury, See also:Devizes, Shepton See also:Mallet, See also:Leighton See also:Buzzard, &c. Of churchyard crosses, as distinguished from memorial crosses in churchyards, one only is believed to have escaped in a perfect See also:condition the ravages of See also:time, and the fanaticism of the past. It stands in the churchyard of Somerby, in See also:Lincolnshire (See also:Tennyson's birthplace), and is a tall shaft surmounted by a pedimented See also:tabernacle, on one side of which is the crucifixion, and on the other the figure of the Virgin and See also:Child. Churchyard crosses may have been used as occasional preaching stations, for See also:reading the See also:Gospel in the See also:Palm See also:Sunday procession, and generally for public proclamations, made usually at the conclusion of the See also:chief Sunday See also:morning service, much in the same way that market crosses were used on market days as places for proclamations in the towns.

Of the ecclesiastical use of the sign of the cross mention has already been made, and it is desirable to mention briefly one or two instances of the ecclesiastical use of the cross itself. From a fairly See also:

early period it has been the See also:prerogative of an See also:archbishop or See also:metropolitan, to have a cross See also:borne before him within the limits of his See also:province. The question urged between the See also:arch-bishops of See also:Canterbury and See also:York about the carrying of their crosses before them, in each other's province, was a fruitful source of controversy in the middle ages. The archiepiscopal cross must not be confused with the See also:crozier or See also:pastoral See also:staff The latter, which is formed with a crook at the end, is quite distinct, and is used by archbishops and bishops alike, who bear it with the See also:left See also:hand in processions, and when blessing the See also:people. The archiepiscopal cross, on the contrary, is always borne before the archbishop, or during the vacancy of the archiepiscopal see before the See also:guardian of the spiritualities sede vacante. The See also:bishop of See also:Dol in See also:Brittany, of See also:ordinary diocesan bishops, alone possessed the See also:privilege of having a cross borne before him in his See also:diocese. Good illustrations of the archiepiscopal cross occur on the monumental See also:brasses of Archbishop Waldeby, of York (1397), at See also:Westminster See also:Abbey, and of Archbishop Cranley, of See also:Dublin (1417) in New See also:College See also:chapel, See also:Oxford. The See also:custom of carrying a cross at the head of an ecclesiastical procession can be traced back to the end of the 4th century. The cross was originally taken from the See also:altar, and raised on a See also:pole, and so borne before the procession. Afterwards a See also:separate cross was provided for processions, but in poor churches, where this was not the case, the altar cross continued to be used till quite a See also:late period. A direction to this effect occurs as late as 1829, in the Rituel published for the diocese of La Rochelle in that See also:year. In England altar crosses were not very usual in the middle ages.

As a See also:

personal See also:ornament the cross came into See also:common use, and was usually worn suspended by a See also:chain See also:flour the See also:neck. A cross of this See also:kind, of very great See also:interest and beauty, was found about 1690, on the See also:breast of Queen Dagmar, the wife of Waldemar II., See also:king of See also:Denmark (d. 1213). It is of See also:Byzantine design and workmanship, and is of enamelled See also:gold (fig. 13 shows both sides of it) ; on one side is the Crucifixion, and on the other side the See also:half figure of our See also:Lord in the centre, with the Virgin and St See also:John the Evangelist on either side, and St See also:Chrysostom and St See also:Basil above and below. From the way in which such crosses were worn, See also:hanging over the See also:chest, they are called See also:pectoral crosses. At the See also:present See also:day a pecto dal cross forms See also:part of the recognized insignia of a See also:Roman See also:Catholic bishop, and is worn by him over his See also:robes, but this See also:official use of the pectoral cross is not ancient, and no instance is known of it in England before the See also:Reformation. The custom appears to have taken rise in the 16th century on the See also:continent. It was not unusual to See also:wear cruciform reliquaries, as See also:objects of personal adornment, and such a reliquary was found on the See also:body of St See also:Cuthbert, when his See also:tomb was opened in 1827, but it was placed under, and not over his episcopal See also:vestments, and formed no part of his bishop's attire. The custom or wearing a pectoral cross over ecclesiastical robes has, curiously enough, been copied from the comparatively See also:modern Roman Catholic usage by the Lutheran bishops and superintendents in Scandinavia and See also:Prussia; and in See also:Sweden the cross is now delivered to the new bishop, on his See also:installation in See also:office, by the archbishop of See also:Upsala, together with the See also:mitre and crozier. Within the last See also:generation the use of a pectoral cross, worn over their robes as part of the insignia of the episcopal office, has been adopted by some bishops of the Church of England, but it has no ancient See also:sanction or authority.

End of Article: COSTUME

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