In 1175, the Council of Rheims directed they should ld or silver, and that no bishop should bless a chalice nd the Constitutions of the Province of Canterbury, he same year under Archbishop Richard, adopted it;2 e seems a doubt how far this order was enforced. gatine Constitutions of York direct that it should Iver, where means would permit. This direction was, , of an exceptional nature, and its very wording hat there existed a necessity for permitting what e was undesirable. And we find that by the laws of abrian priests in 950 they were forbidden, under a ne, to consecrate the housel in a wooden chalice.1 anons enacted in the time of King Edgar, c. 960, it ered that every chalice should be molten, and not of By the Legatine Canons of Cealchythe, in 795, it ressly forbidden that the chalice or paten should be of

he York Canons, in 1195, under Bishop Hubert it was ordered that the Eucharist be consecrated in a alice, where there was a sufficiency (of funds) for it.3 Constitutions of Archbishop Langton, in 1222, it ained that every church have a silver chalice, with cent vessels, and the archdeacon was directed to take t the ornaments of the altar should be decent.4 tically, the richest and most valuable materials and nship, within the means of the donor, were devoted to pose; and among these we find onyx, sardonyx, agate, ·y, mentioned by early French writers, and marble by the priest;5 of which a few instances will suffice. Duke of Exeter, in 1447, bequeathed to the Church of cherine, beside the Tower (of London), a chalice of th the furniture of his chapel. Bishop William of am bequeathed to the altar at his place of sepulture a

son; Canons.

; and Lyndwood.

son; Canons.

; and see Lyndwood, p. 249.

ott.

monta Votusta n 955

gold chalice, with uno pari urceolorum (presumably cruets), one pair of candlesticks, a bell, and a pax of gold, besides silver articles.1 At Westminster Abbey, at the time of the dissolution, there were amongst other things a golden chalice weighing 14 oz., and seven chalices of silver and gilt weighing 167 oz.2

The abundance of plate expressly for use in divine worship which secular persons possessed seems singular at the present date, and can only be partially accounted for by the multitude of private chapels attached to churches, supplemented by the private chapels of mansions; a reminiscence of the latter is preserved in the right of every nobleman to have a domestic chaplain. And, beyond the gift of chalices which testators possessed, they frequently directed that others should be supplied to favourite churches or chapels; thus Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex, in 1361 in his will says:

Nous volons auxint et devisoms & nos executours facent faire xiij. chalys en noun de Dieux et de ses douce apostres (nom de Dieu et de ses douze apôtres), et v. chaliz d'argent en noun de v. joyes de Nôtre Dame, et qu'ils les facent ailler as diverses esglises poevres, à chescune esglise un chaliz, si nous soions en les proiers de genz conversanz as dite esglese à touz jours.3

It would appear, therefore, from what has been said, that from the end of the tenth century metal was invariably used, up to the time of King Edward VI when various churches were, by his commissioners, or by independent sacrilege, denuded of all that had a money value so completely, that when his second set of commissioners went round in his sixth and seventh year to sweep up the crumbs which their predecessors had missed or thought beneath their notice, we learn that in default of silver, glass and even wooden chalices were in use where a chalice had been left it was the second best. A few examples from the inventories made by the commissioners will suffice for illustrations. At Lawling, Essex, the churchwardens reported that they had laid out 4 4d for a

1 Nichols; Royal Wills, p. 324.

2 London and Middlesex Archeological Transactions IV n 371

ion table, and 2d for a glass; and the commissioners 1 to the churchwardens "for the admynistracōn same, the said glasse, the cope, the surples, and the while at the same time they reserved to the king's nly object of even the smallest pecuniary value, viz., chalice weighing 4 oz. At Tillingham, in the same was a glass which served for the Communion cup. y, Hertfordshire, the churchwardens reported to the oners that "their chalise was stollen, and now they ta glas." At Denge, they appointed to the church rste of the ij. challyces," and the same was done in at ren cases in Hertfordshire. In the king's first year d been sold of the church goods at Stambridge a silver parcel gilt, weighing 16 ounces: when the commiscame again there remained for God's service " A cuppe for ye mynistracōn," and this was redelivered to the -ardens for the use of the church. It is not necessary to similar cases in other countries. There is a curious of very little later date preserved at Tong, Shropshire, 1 of which is glass or crystal, and the rest metal; it 24 inches high, and has a cover. From its appearance t doubt that its original destination was for secular

5.4

e consecration of a church it has always been, and is custom to place the chalice and paten upon the altar How them: but when necessary, they were separately ted: one example, four centuries ago, will suffice, viz.: ichael's, Cornhill, in 1469, there was paid "to Maister eresly, for hallowyng of a chaleys, ija," and for another me year iiijd. A form of benediction is given, with the Pontifical.6

5

ns; Herts Inventories, p. 62.

p 34.

Archæological Society's Transactions; Inventories of Church ited by H. W. King, Esq. At Denge, they left several copes, , and rochets, presumably unsaleable.

atic Drawing Society, 1857, pl. 31.

With the ritual usages connected with the chalice, and its filling and rinsing, I must not pause to deal, nor with the piscina and its use.

At an early date the form of the chalice was simply that of an ordinary goblet, the richest and most precious of which were devoted to God's service. All or nearly all the earliest chalices depicted are two-handed vases. Such is that shown in our illustration (p. 28, ante), from a mosaic at San Vitale, Ravenna. One dating from the sixth century was found at Gourdon.1 One at Kremsmünster, which was the gift of the founder in 777, is of copper with niello and gold ornaments, and a band of pearls. Another is represented in the illumination to a manuscript of the ninth century engraved by

3

4

Lacroix; of the tenth century is that of St. Goslin, preserved at Nancy; of the twelfth century there is one, very elaborately ornamented, in the Benedictine Abbey of Wilten, 1 Caumont; Abécédaire, woodcut, p. 66.

2 Ibid., p. 140. Two other fine examples are engraved on pp. 139 and 140 of the same work.

nsbrück;1 and an engraving of one at Tarascon, is y Caumont,2

description of the form comprises three parts, viz.: l; the stem, with a knob (or knop) half-way down, to n the grasp as well as for ornament; and the foot or ■ which a representation of the crucifix in enamel or ng has been customary.

paten was equally rich with the chalice. It is made. fit upon the chalice and make a cover for it. as been thought that the date of a chalice, from the century downwards, might be told from its form, but a very general indication I do not think much can be he details, when of a distinctive character, furnish a ndication. But so far as this we may go: the bowl in ier mediæval period was generally flat and shallow-a

CHALICE REPRESENTED ON A BRASS AT SHORNE, KENT, A.D. 1519.

ed hemisphere—and the base also circular; that subsethe bowl became deeper in proportion, and then the part of the section only was curved, the sides being t-lined or nearly so, sloping outwards; and by the fourcentury the foot had been changed to a hexagon for the