The Antiquary - Issue 8, March 2023 - printed copy. 28-page A5 magazine
Welcome to the March 2023 issue of The Antiquary. This issue begins with an exploration of a bit of a mystery - a rare thing in England - the shrine of a medieval saint with the relics still within it, it is a mystery how it survived but it is even more of a mystery trying to work out who the saint within was. The second article is about an unusual office associated with the English coronation, that of the King’s Champion, we look at what the role is and how it originated, and again there is an air of mystery about how it came into being. Then we move on to look at an aspect of medieval iconography, in an article that examines the eastern origin of two of the most popular images in late medieval western art - the Mass of St Gregory and the Man of Sorrows. There’s little mystery here as to how they came to be: they came into the western artistic lexicon through tall stories told to pilgrims! Then lastly a fourth article about a church building in a remote part of the Black Mountains in Wales, a building full of medieval treasures. There are two mysteries here: the first is the identity and story of the early medieval saint that the church is dedicated to; the second, how on earth this building has managed to retain some of the unique medieval fixtures and fittings within it. I hope you enjoy reading it.