A dictionary of the architecture and archaeology of the middle ages: including words used by ancient and modern authors in treating of architectural and other antiquities ... also, biographical notices of ancient architects / By John Britton ... Illustrated by numerous engravings by J. Le Keux.

John Britton

Date:: 1838

Credit: A dictionary of the architecture and archaeology of the middle ages: including words used by ancient and modern authors in treating of architectural and other antiquities ... also, biographical notices of ancient architects / By John Britton ... Illustrated by numerous engravings by J. Le Keux. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$vol. II. p. 52.] In the cathedral church of York there were two altars covered with plates of gold and silver; one of which, ornamented with a profusion of gems, supported a lofty and splendid crucifix. Above it were three ranges of lamps in a pharos of very large dimensions. — [Lingard’s Antiq. Ang. Sax. Chur, p, 143.] Bequests were often made to provide candlesticks, sconces, lamps, and oil, for the difierent altars.—[*Sce Nicolas’s Test. Vet. Index; Dug- dale’s Baronage; and Webb’s Essay on Gloucester Abbey^ p. 10, in Cath. Antiq. Gloucester.'] In some parts of the country a tax, called leot-shot, was levied to furnish wax for the same purpose. — \_hingard, ut sup. p. 90.] On the accession of Queen Elizabeth, injunctions were issued for taking down the altars in parish churches, and substituting in their stead the plain communion-tables.—\_Bur7iet’s Hist, of the Reform.j vol. iii. book hi.] Numerous entries on this subject appear in the church-wardens’ books, which prove a strict compliance with the queen’s order. In the Ac- compts of the Parish of St. Helen’s, Abingdon, Berks,” [Archdc. vol. I. p. 11—231 these items: An. 1559. For takyng down the altere, 20d.”—An. 1560. Payde for tymber and making the communion-table, 65. For a carpet for the communion-table, 2s. Sd. For paving the place where the aultere stood, 2s. Sd.” (See Antimensium.) Altare-authenticum, Altare-capitanium, Altare- CARDINALE. Low Lat.; the high, or principal altar in a Christian church.—Du Cange. AltarE-CHORi. Low Lat. A reading-desk.—Du Cange. AltarE-FARUM, Low Lat. A lustre, chandelier, or cresset, sus- pended over an altar.—Archcz. vol. iv. p. 59. (See Pharos.) Altaria-Animarum. Lat. An altar where masses were said for the dead.—-Du Canute. Altar-piece, is the sculpture, or painting, ornamenting the wall behind an altar in a Christian church; and this may be said to occupy the place of the statue of the god in a pagan temple of the ancients. A curious altar-piece, enriched with niches, and images in high relief, remains in the church at Christ Church, Hampshire. It represents the genealogy of our Saviour, by a tree springing from the loins of Jesse. In$