Dr. Barton talks about Rosslyn
Rosslyn Chapel (Built 1446) is one of the most splendid buildings in the world for anyone interested in religious symbolism. My own personal field of study is Victorian Gothic Revival Churches (particularly in relation to the Catholic Apostolic Church), but to understand the Gothinc Revival we have to study buildings such as Rosslyn. Lucky symbologists, you reply! Well, maybe, but it would take a lifetime to analyse all the symbolism of Rosslyn. There is still no real agreement as to what many of the symbols mean - there are just too many of them. What I emphasise to my students is that Rosslyn must be understood as a building, not as a pointer to something else.
Rosslyn is a riot of symbolism. My personal favourite is the Green Man. There are over 100 Green Men at Rosslyn, but what does he mean? Symbologists are not agreed, but I favour the opinion that the Green Man is actually a representation of Christ. In Christian typology the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden is seen as a type of Christ. In the Green man we have an image of Christ as the Tree of life. Woven in with this is the idea that the Green Man represents the Creator being manifested through the creation, for according to the Bible creation was performed through Christ.
Is it Templar symbolism? There is the question, because we do not yet have a definitive list of Templar symbolism. The Green Man, however, is far too widespread to be called Templar symbolism, being found in hundreds of Churches in the United Kingdom, including the great cathedrals of Norwich, Ely and Exeter. The image is so dominant in medieval Christian art that is can really only be called a Western Catholic symbol.
What is more, the Templars were suppressed in the early fourteenth Century. The Templars were never very strong in Scotland, and in 1298 the Scottish Grand Master and his Lieutenant were killed fighting alongside William Wallace at Falkirk. Only two Knights Templar were present in Scotland in 1309, when the accusations that led to the dissolution of the order were brought. Both were let go (see this account of the trial of the Scottish Templars).
Rosslyn was built in 1466, by which time both surviving Scottish Templars would have been long dead. It is actually impossible for Rosslyn to have been a Templar Church. We know who built it, Sir William St Clair, third Prince of Orkney. It was built as a collegiate Church, a secular* foundation intended to spread intellectual and spiritual knowledge. There are some thirty-seven such churches in Scotland, ranging from small and plain to the riotous extravagnce of Rosslyn. The extravagance of the construction of these churches depended on the wealth of their founder. In some ways it was a method of showing off your wealth. The real purposes of these Churches were however on or more of the following three: as centres of learning; as places for theological study; and as places where masses could be said for the souls of the benefactor and his family.
Despite its ornate carvings, Rosslyn was never finished. There were probably no more than four Canons at Rosslyn at any one time, making it one of the smaller Collegiate Churches.
Anyone interested in Rosslyn Chapel really ought to visit the Rosslyn Templars website. It's one of my favourites. The section on the Knights Templar is brilliant, drawing on the most reputable authorities.
*Note: 'Secular' in this context is a technical term. It distinguishes those priests who worked in the community from those who lived in monastic foundations.
Rosslyn is a riot of symbolism. My personal favourite is the Green Man. There are over 100 Green Men at Rosslyn, but what does he mean? Symbologists are not agreed, but I favour the opinion that the Green Man is actually a representation of Christ. In Christian typology the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden is seen as a type of Christ. In the Green man we have an image of Christ as the Tree of life. Woven in with this is the idea that the Green Man represents the Creator being manifested through the creation, for according to the Bible creation was performed through Christ.
Is it Templar symbolism? There is the question, because we do not yet have a definitive list of Templar symbolism. The Green Man, however, is far too widespread to be called Templar symbolism, being found in hundreds of Churches in the United Kingdom, including the great cathedrals of Norwich, Ely and Exeter. The image is so dominant in medieval Christian art that is can really only be called a Western Catholic symbol.
What is more, the Templars were suppressed in the early fourteenth Century. The Templars were never very strong in Scotland, and in 1298 the Scottish Grand Master and his Lieutenant were killed fighting alongside William Wallace at Falkirk. Only two Knights Templar were present in Scotland in 1309, when the accusations that led to the dissolution of the order were brought. Both were let go (see this account of the trial of the Scottish Templars).
Rosslyn was built in 1466, by which time both surviving Scottish Templars would have been long dead. It is actually impossible for Rosslyn to have been a Templar Church. We know who built it, Sir William St Clair, third Prince of Orkney. It was built as a collegiate Church, a secular* foundation intended to spread intellectual and spiritual knowledge. There are some thirty-seven such churches in Scotland, ranging from small and plain to the riotous extravagnce of Rosslyn. The extravagance of the construction of these churches depended on the wealth of their founder. In some ways it was a method of showing off your wealth. The real purposes of these Churches were however on or more of the following three: as centres of learning; as places for theological study; and as places where masses could be said for the souls of the benefactor and his family.
Despite its ornate carvings, Rosslyn was never finished. There were probably no more than four Canons at Rosslyn at any one time, making it one of the smaller Collegiate Churches.
Anyone interested in Rosslyn Chapel really ought to visit the Rosslyn Templars website. It's one of my favourites. The section on the Knights Templar is brilliant, drawing on the most reputable authorities.
*Note: 'Secular' in this context is a technical term. It distinguishes those priests who worked in the community from those who lived in monastic foundations.
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