Storytelling in pictures

Our churches and cathedrals are full of visual messages. Before education was made possible for everyone and before most people could read, pictures were the main way that our forebears were educated in religious beliefs and values. The stained glass, carvings and banners were important for conveying stories. 

York Minster is a rich repository of medieval stained glass. The panels above and below are from the St. Cuthbert window, which - in numerous panels - tells the story of the life and miracles of one of our most revered and significant saints. St Cuthbert lived between c634 and 687, and was an Anglo-Saxon monk and Bishop of Lindisfarne. The window is thought to date from c1440 and is currently undergoing conservation to its glass and stonework (see HERE), so that I'm not sure if the panels displayed here are the actual glass or a copy. 

The panel above tells the story of when Cuthbert was travelling and had no food. An eagle caught a fish for them and Cuthbert instructed his young companion to tear it in half and return half to the eagle, keeping the rest. The panel is part of a narrative and tells several aspects of the story in one picture.  

The panel below shows St Cuthbert in full episcopal robes, holding the head of St Oswald. (After Cuthbert's death, a Viking raid on Lindisfarne in the 9th century caused the monks to flee with Cuthbert's coffin, into which the holy relic of the head of St Oswald was also placed for safekeeping.) 

The incredible Great East Window is the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in Britain, made between 1405 and 1408. Its subject is 'the beginning and end of all things', with God the Father and the company of heaven at the top. It tells the Genesis creation story and the Book of Revelation: the Apocalypse and the Second Coming of Christ.     

 

Elsewhere in the Minster there are much newer narrative pieces, like the beautifully embroidered banners. Adam and Eve are shown in the Garden of Eden, with the serpent coiled around their feet: 

I'm not entirely sure what this one depicts... it may be some of Christ's miracles as it has abundant grapes (water into wine?) and some stormy water (the calming of the storm?). Then again, I may have missed the point entirely. (That's the only trouble with visual narratives, people can see what they want to see!) 

I'm on firmer ground with the last one, which clearly depicts Christ's death on the cross: