Porticus

Last updated

In this plan of St Mary's Church, Reculver, in north-east Kent, the porticus of the 7th-century church are represented by the extensions to north and south from the main structure, which is in yellow. Other colours represent later additions. Plan of St Mary's Church, Reculver.jpg
In this plan of St Mary's Church, Reculver, in north-east Kent, the porticus of the 7th-century church are represented by the extensions to north and south from the main structure, which is in yellow. Other colours represent later additions.

In church architecture, a porticus (Latin for "portico") [lower-alpha 1] is usually a small room in a church. [2] Commonly, porticuses form extensions to the north and south sides of a church, giving the building a cruciform plan. They may function as chapels, rudimentary transepts or burial-places. For example, Anglo-Saxon kings of Kent were buried in the south porticus at St Augustine's Abbey, with the exception of Eadberht II, who was buried in a similar location in St Mary's Church, Reculver. [3]

Contents

This feature of church design originated in the late Roman period and continued to appear in those built on the European continent and, in Anglo-Saxon England, until the 8th century. [4]

Notes

  1. Most Latin terms ending in -us are masculine and form their nominative plural with -i but porticus is a feminine fourth-declension noun whose plural is also porticus, sometimes differentiated with a macron as porticūs. [1] The English plural form is porticuses, when the term is not simply translated as portico.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmund I</span> King of the English from 939 to 946

Edmund I or Eadmund I was King of the English from 27 October 939 until his death. He was the elder son of King Edward the Elder and his third wife, Queen Eadgifu, and a grandson of King Alfred the Great. After Edward died in 924, he was succeeded by his eldest son, Edmund's half-brother Æthelstan. Edmund was crowned after Æthelstan died childless in 939. He had two sons, Eadwig and Edgar, by his first wife Ælfgifu, and none by his second wife Æthelflæd. His sons were young children when he was killed in a brawl with an outlaw at Pucklechurch in Gloucestershire, and he was succeeded by his younger brother Eadred, who died in 955 and was followed by Edmund's sons in succession.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eadwig</span> King of England from 955 to 959

Eadwig was King of England from 23 November 955 until his death. He was the elder son of Edmund I and his first wife Ælfgifu, who died in 944. Eadwig and his brother Edgar were young children when their father was killed trying to rescue his seneschal from attack by an outlawed thief on 26 May 946. As Edmund's sons were too young to rule he was succeeded by his brother Eadred, who suffered from ill health and died unmarried in his early 30s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Æthelflæd</span> Ruler of Mercia in England from 911 to 918

Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians ruled Mercia in the English Midlands from 911 until her death. She was the eldest daughter of Alfred the Great, king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, and his wife Ealhswith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of Sussex</span> Kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England

The Kingdom of the South Saxons, today referred to as the Kingdom of Sussex, was one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the Heptarchy of Anglo-Saxon England. On the south coast of the island of Great Britain, it was originally a sixth-century Saxon colony and later an independent kingdom. The kingdom remains one of the least known of the Anglo-Saxon polities, with no surviving king-list, several local rulers and less centralisation than other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The South Saxons were ruled by the kings of Sussex until the country was annexed by Wessex, probably in 827, in the aftermath of the Battle of Ellendun.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglo-Saxon architecture</span> Period of architecture in England from the mid-5th century until 1066

Anglo-Saxon architecture was a period in the history of architecture in England from the mid-5th century until the Norman Conquest of 1066. Anglo-Saxon secular buildings in Britain were generally simple, constructed mainly using timber with thatch for roofing. No universally accepted example survives above ground. Generally preferring not to settle within the old Roman cities, the Anglo-Saxons built small towns near their centres of agriculture, at fords in rivers or sited to serve as ports. In each town, a main hall was in the centre, provided with a central hearth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reculver</span> Seaside village in Kent, England

Reculver is a village and coastal resort about 3 miles (5 km) east of Herne Bay on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. It is in the ward of the same name, in the City of Canterbury district of Kent.

Berhtwald was the ninth Archbishop of Canterbury in England. Documentary evidence names Berhtwald as abbot at Reculver before his election as archbishop. Berhtwald begins the first continuous series of native-born Archbishops of Canterbury, although there had been previous Anglo-Saxon archbishops, they had not succeeded each other until Berhtwald's reign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Æthelwealh of Sussex</span> King in Sussex

Æthelwealh was ruler of the ancient South Saxon kingdom from before 674 till his death between 680 and 685. He was baptised in Mercia, becoming the first Christian king of Sussex. He was killed by a West Saxon prince, Cædwalla, who eventually became king of Wessex.

Grimketel was an English clergyman who went to Norway as a missionary and was partly responsible for the conversion of Norway to Christianity. He initiated the beatification of Saint Olaf. On his return to England he became Bishop of Selsey and also for a time Bishop of Elmham. He was accused, by some, of being guilty of simony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wulfred</span> 9th-century Archbishop of Canterbury

Wulfred was an Anglo-Saxon Archbishop of Canterbury in medieval England. Nothing is known of his life prior to 803, when he attended a church council, but he was probably a nobleman from Middlesex. He was elected archbishop in 805 and spent his time in office reforming the clergy of his cathedral. He also quarrelled with two consecutive Mercian kings – Coenwulf and Ceolwulf – over whether laymen or clergy should control monasteries. At one point, Wulfred travelled to Rome to consult with the papacy and was deposed from office for a number of years over the issue. After Coenwulf's death, relations were somewhat better with the new king Ceolwulf, but improved much more after Ceolwulf's subsequent deposition. The dispute about control of the monasteries was not fully settled until 838, after Wulfred's death. Wulfred was the first archbishop to place his portrait on the coinage he struck.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Laurence's Church, Bradford-on-Avon</span> Anglo-Saxon church in Bradford-on-Avon, UK

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medeshamstede</span> Anglo-Saxon name of Peterborough, England

Medeshamstede was the name of Peterborough in the Anglo-Saxon period. It was the site of a monastery founded around the middle of the 7th century, which was an important feature in the kingdom of Mercia from the outset. Little is known of its founder and first abbot, Sexwulf, though he was himself an important figure, and later became bishop of Mercia. Medeshamstede soon acquired a string of daughter churches, and was a centre for an Anglo-Saxon sculptural style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hoath</span> Human settlement in England

Hoath is a semi-rural village and civil parish in the City of Canterbury local government district. The hamlets of Knaves Ash, Maypole, Ford, Old Tree, Shelvingford and Stoney Acre are included in the parish.

Tobias was a medieval Bishop of Rochester. He was consecrated between 699 and 716. He died in 726. According to Bede (5.23), he was as skilled in Latin and Greek as in his native language, and highly learned in sacred and secular literature. His teachers were archbishop Theodoric and abbot Hadrian. Bede reports that he was buried in the 'portico' of St Paul the Apostle, a space he had created for his own burial within the church of St Andrew.

Ealhstan was a medieval Bishop of Sherborne.

Sarah Rosamund Irvine Foot is an English Anglican priest and early medieval historian, previously serving as Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Oxford. On 8 July 2023, she became the first woman to serve as Dean of Christ Church, Oxford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">All Saints' Church, Shuart</span> Church on the Isle of Thanet, Kent

All Saints' Church, Shuart, in the north-west of the Isle of Thanet, Kent, in the south-east of England, was established in the Anglo-Saxon period as a chapel of ease for the parish of St Mary's Church, Reculver, which was centred on the north-eastern corner of mainland Kent, adjacent to the island. The Isle of Thanet was then separated from the mainland by the sea, which formed a strait known as the Wantsum Channel. The last church on the site was demolished by the early 17th century, and there is nothing remaining above ground to show that a church once stood there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Mary's Church, Reculver</span> Church in Reculver, England

St Mary's Church, Reculver, was founded in the 7th century as either a minster or a monastery on the site of a Roman fort at Reculver, which was then at the north-eastern extremity of Kent in south-eastern England. In 669, the site of the fort was given for this purpose by King Ecgberht of Kent to a priest named Bassa, beginning a connection with Kentish kings that led to King Eadberht II of Kent being buried there in the 760s, and the church becoming very wealthy by the beginning of the 9th century. From the early 9th century to the 11th the church was treated as essentially a piece of property, with control passing between kings of Mercia, Wessex and England and the archbishops of Canterbury. Viking attacks may have extinguished the church's religious community in the 9th century, although an early 11th-century record indicates that the church was then in the hands of a dean accompanied by monks. By the time of Domesday Book, completed in 1086, St Mary's was serving as a parish church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of St Mary the Virgin, Reculver</span> Church in Kent, England

The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Reculver, is an Anglican church on Reculver Lane in the village of Hillborough, in the parish of Reculver, in north-eastern Kent, England. Built between 1876 and 1878, it is the second such church on its site. The first, consecrated in 1813, was a replacement for a church of St Mary that was founded in 669 within the remains of the Roman fort at Reculver, about 1.25 miles (2 km) to the north-east, but was mostly demolished in 1809.

Susan Elisabeth Kelly is a British medievalist.

References

Citations

  1. Lewis, C.T.; Short, C., eds. (n.d.). "porticus". A Latin Dictionary. www.perseus.tufts.edu. Archived from the original on 31 January 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  2. "Glossary of ecclesiastical terms". Archi UK. n.d. Archived from the original on 29 June 2016. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  3. Kelly 2008, pp. 78–9.
  4. Cherry 1981, p. 168.

Bibliography