Writing on the Church Wall
Graffiti from the Middle Ages provides insight into personal expressions of faith in medieval England
By KATE RAVILIOUS
Monday, August 10, 2015
Cley-Next-the-Sea’s 14th-century prosperity is reflected in St. Margaret’s church and its cathedral-esque proportions. The interior contains examples of medieval religious graffiti.
Imagine walking into your local church, pulling a penknife from your pocket, and scratching a little drawing into the wall: a geometric design, a drawing of a boat, even a few meaningful words. Today that would be sacrilege, but a new survey of the walls of medieval churches in England is revealing that many of them are covered in riots of graffiti, scratched into what were once boldly colored walls. Furthermore, the practice appears to have been condoned, and sometimes even encouraged, by Church authorities. The finds are changing the perception of how medieval worshippers viewed religion and interacted with their churches.
https://www.archaeology.org/issues/190-1509/letter-from/3554-letter-from-england-medieval-church-graffiti
