The descriptions below are from the Information sheet that was to be found in the Church
Tap the descriptions for more information.
Upper Tier:
"
Upper Tier - looking from left to right: 1. Christ entering the Gate of Jerusalem on a donkey which is in yellow ochre.
2. The Gate of Jerusalem. A small head is looking down from the battlements.
Slight traces of a figure can be seen in the archway.
3. Christ kneeling and washing the feet of Peter.
4. The Last Supper. Judas is seen stealing the bag of money and a fish from the table.
5. The Betrayal, Judas, Christ and two Soldiers.
6. Christ before Pontius Pilate. Christ’s hands are bound and He is blindfolded.
"
Lower Tier:
"
1. The martyrdom of Saint Edmund. He is bound to a tree and being shot by the Danes with bows
and arrows.
2. This is indecipherable.
3. A large “Pelican in Piety” painted in red, pecking at her breasts and so drawing blood to feed her five chicks.
4. This subject is in some doubt, but appears to be a King, Queen and a Courtier
bearing a Hawk. Which have been identified as the first part of
“The Three Living and the Three Dead”. The legend goes back to a time long before the church was built.
The form in which the legend was known to the medieval
artists was inspired by four short 13th century poems. The best known of these,’Li troi vif et li troi mors’,
was written by Baudouin de Conde, minstrel to the court of
Margaret II, countess of Flanders, 1244-80. As the salient features, reproduced again and again in village
churches, are contained in Baudouin’s poem of 160 lines.
The poem describes an encounter of three gay young men, when walking, with three Deaths, whom they see
coming towards them’lait et disfigure de cors’.
The first youth is so horrified that he flees in terror; the second, who is of sterner stuff, hails the
apparition as sent by God; while the third dwells on the
horror of decaying humanity.
The youths speak to the grim visitors and the first Death replies in words which are the keynote of the
whole morality.
‘Tel seres vous et tel comme ore
Estes, fumes, ja fu li ore’.
(What you are, we were, and what we are, you will be.)
The second recalls that Death treats rich and poor alike, while the third emphasises that there is no
escape from his dread summons.
"
Note on 4 (above)
Since the writing of the information sheet in the Church much more information has come to light
regarding this
wall painting. The painting is almost a direct copy of the miniature that is found in the Arendal Psalter,
much larger
or course, and is the Three Living from "The Three Living and
Three Dead".
The Three Living
4 The Three Living and the Three Dead
This painting is the left hand portion of the (possibly) original "Three Living and Three Dead".
The Three Dead would have been painted on the wall behind what is now the inner face of the
Victorian buttress.
Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune
The Wheel of Fortune wall painting is on the South wall of Nave and is not in good condition.
My page detailing this is found here.
Top
Notes
The storyboard will have a postcard with the appropriate QR code. Candidate for card is Three Living and
Three Dead.
The idea for this storyboard was taken from a suggestion from the Quinqenial report for a Smartphone
app explaining the wall paintings.
Like so many pages found on the Internet they will be viewed on a phone so there needs to be a means of
advancing and returning to previous slide visible on the phone screen.
