What can historians learn from Charles VII's letter to bishops in France after the fall of Cherbourg?

Charles VII makes many references to the battle for control being divine and God’s wishes many times throughout the letter and is a statement in itself in the power of faith during the fifteenth century, his claims that he “can see no cruelty or inhumanity nor terrible evils…more credible that this is a divine miraculous work” (Anthology, 2007, page 22) is another thank you to the divine powers of God.  Charles also states that it took a short time to carry out the recovery of Normandy when in fact it took almost thirty years from the Treaty of Troyes to the eventual expulsion of the English.  

In summary historians can learn a great deal about how Charles VII and his supporters saw the recovery of Normandy as divine, in the way that he gives all thanks to God and is requesting that the church hold “solemn masses”.  One gets the impression that faith in and thanks to God was more important than the battle itself.  

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PART 2

Watch DVD 1, Part 3, ‘Parish Churches’.  

What can historians learn from the fixtures and fittings of medieval parish churches about Christian beliefs in the fifteenth century?

This essay aims to answer the above question by detailing the similarities between Partrishaw and St Helens and including some of the differences between these and the church at Hailes.  During the fifteenth century most Christians would have the same beliefs, their lives would have been dictated by their faith and there would be little available to anyone who lived outside the church’s teachings.  Most churches had the same basic layout, principles along with fixtures and fittings giving the church its uniformity throughout the land.  The elaboration of these fixtures and fittings would have depended greatly on the wealth of the parish as can be seen between the churches depicted in the DVD.

Partrishaw in the Brecon Becons, St Helens in the Norfolk Broads and Hailes in Gloucestershire shared many similarities.  There were each of the same two section layout of nave and chancel divided by a rood screen which hid the priest from view for much of the service.  They each had rood lofts that would have held statues of the crucified Christ, Virgin Mary and John the Baptist.  In Partrishaw the rood screen has carvings of vines, grapes and dragons; St Helens rood screen on the other hand was elaborately decorated with paintings of saints and martyrs and along with fixed seating it gives historians the picture of a more affluent parish.  Hailes church in the other hand has had most of its depictions whitewashed during the reformation; the rood loft was dismantled along with the statues.  

One of the main features in each of the churches is the font which historians gather was of great importance in baptism, one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church.  The font remains intact in each church including the St Hailes which appears to have been stripped of much of its previous imagery.  Another striking similarity between each of the churches is the location of the alter below the East window.  This window would normally have been stain glassed depicting a biblical scene.  

In conclusion historians could be led to believe that Christian beliefs during the fifteenth century were based on imagery.  AS many of the congregations would have been illiterate it would be easy to assume that the depictions of biblical scenes, saints and martyrs would make those attending mass feel a part of the unfolding ceremony.  These services would have been mysterious, spoken or sung as they were in Latin.  The separation of the congregation from the clergy via the rood screens and later the pulpits would have emphasised the solemnity of the service.  It would not be until the reformation that the congregation would become a part of the service rather than spectators.    

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Bibliography

Daly, K; O’Day, R. and Gibbons R.C., 2011.  Block 1 France, England and Burgundy in the fifteenth century.  2nd ed, UK: The Open University.  

Gibbons, R.C. (ed.) (2007) Exploring History 1400–1900: An Anthology of Primary Sources, Manchester, Manchester University Press/Milton Keynes, The Open University.

The Open University (2006) ‘Parish Churches' [DVD 1], A200 Exploring History: Medieval to Modern 1400-1900, Milton Keynes, The Open University