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POST-MEDIEVAL CROSS SLABS IN SOUTH-EAST WALES: CLOSET CATHOLICS OR STUBBORN TRADITIONALISTS?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2016

Madeleine Gray
Madeleine Gray*
Affiliation:
Madeleine Gray, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of South Wales, Caerleon Campus, Newport NP18 3QT, UK. Email: madeleine.gray@southwales.ac.uk
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Abstract

In England, crosses on commemorative carvings are unusual in the two centuries after the Reformation. In south-east Wales, however, there are numerous examples, in a range of styles, suggesting the work of several groups of stonemasons. A number have the IHS trigram, in the square capitals format popularised by Ignatius Loyola as the emblem of the Jesuits. Some of these memorials commemorate known recusants, but most seem to exemplify the characteristic Welsh combination of traditionalism and loyalism. There is plenty of other evidence for Welsh communities in the early modern period continuing with traditional ‘Catholic’ practices (pilgrimage, veneration of relics and wells) while still regarding themselves as members of the Established Church. Some similar stones are found over the border into Herefordshire, but there are very few in north and west Wales, suggesting that this was a purely local fashion.

Type
Papers
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 96 , September 2016 , pp. 207 - 240
Copyright
© The Society of Antiquaries of London 2016 

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References

Abbreviations And Bibliography

Abbreviations.Google Scholar
AASDN Architectural and Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland.Google Scholar
NADFAS National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies.Google Scholar
RCAHMW Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire.Google Scholar
TNA National Archives, Kew.Google Scholar

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