This study reconstructs twelfth-century sculptural and architectural finds, found during the restoration of the Perpendicular Great Cloister of Christ Church, Canterbury, as architectural screens constructed around 1173. It proposes that the screens provided monastic privacy and controlled pilgrimage to the Altar of the Sword's Point in the Matrydom, the site of Archbishop Thomas Becket's murder in 1170. Excavations in the 1990s discovered evidence of a twelfth-century tunnel leading to the Matyrdom under the crossing of the western transept. Constuction would have required rebuilding the crossing stairs and the screens flanking the crossing. The roundels, portraying lions, devils, a 'pagan', Jews, and a personification of the synagogue, are reconstucted on the south side of the crossing as a screening wall framing the entrance to this tunnel. The quatrefoils with images of Old Testament prophets are reconstructed as a rood screen on the west side of the crossing. In the Matyrdom, a screen, is proposed with, perhaps, the earliest known sculptural representation of Thomas Becket. The rood screen, located behind the Altar of the Holy Cross, would have provided a visual focus during Mass, monastic processions, and sermons, especially during Christmas and Holy Week. The row of prophets, pointing upwards at the Rood, would have functioned as the visual equivalent of the dialogue of the ‘Ordo prophetarum’ that predicted the Messiah as proof to Jews and other unbelievers of Christian redemption. The roundels, just around the corner on the south screening wall, can be interpreted as representing the unbelieving Other and forces of evil warning pilgrims to seek penance at the altar of the newly canonized St Thomas. In addition to this new interpretation, a catalog raisonné and an account of the discovery of the finds offers material for future research that has been unavailable to previous studies. All the finds were photographed by the author as the restoration progressed and 16 pieces have since been lost, making some of the unpublished photographs essential evidence of the archaeological record

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• List of illustrations
• Part I Screens and the Cult of St Thomas
  • Introduction
  • 1. Previous studies and the location of the finds
    • The king reliefs
    • Earlier scholarship
    • Prior Chillenden’s constructions
    • Conclusion
  • 2. Dating of the sculpture and architectural fragments
    • Carving techniques
    • Figurative sculpture
    • Foliage decoration
    • Architectural motifs
    • Regional impact
    • Conclusion
  • 3. Christ Church, Canterbury (1170-1175)
    • Becket’s murder in the north arm of the transept
    • Analysis of Gervase’s description
      • Crossing of the western transept
      • South arm of the transept
      • North arm of the transept (the Martyrdom)
      • Late twelfth-century alterations in the crossing
    • Prior Odo (1168-1175)
    • Pilgrimage (1171-1175)
    • Conclusion
  • 4. Reconstruction of the screens in the western transept
    • The Martyrdom
      • North–south partitioning screen and north screen
      • East side of partitioning screen and north screen
      • West side of partitioning screen
    • Southern entrance to the tunnel
    • Excavations
    • South screen
    • East side of the crossing
    • Rood screen
    • Conclusion
  • 5. The quatrefoils: prophecy and the theology of redemption
    • The gestures of the prophets
    • The rood screen as a liturgical focus
    • Prophetic testimony in images and texts
      • Liturgical drama
      • Ysagoge in Theologiam
    • Inscribed images of prophets and liturgical texts
      • The Incarnation: Advent and Christmas
      • Mass at the Altar of the Holy Cross
      • The Passion: Holy Week
    • Conclusion
  • 6. The roundels: the Church’s Other
    • Lions, demons, Jews and a pagan
    • Synagoga
    • The unbeliever
    • Canterbury’s Jewish community
    • Conclusion
  • Conclusion
  • Plates, Reconstructions
• Part II Twelfth-Century Finds from the Perpendicular Great Cloister
  • Introduction to the catalogue
  • Catalogue
    • A. Statue segments
    • B. Quatrefoils
    • C. Roundels
    • D. Shaft-rings
    • E. Arch elements
      • Hood-moulds and head-stops
      • Beaded hood-moulds
      • Voussoirs
    • F. String-course and related elements
    • G. Capitals and base
    • H. Purbeck elements
  • Comparative charts with dimensions of the limestone finds
• Bibliography