Shrines and Relics

Basilica of the Holy Blood, Brugge

Since living in Brugge, on the occasions on which I have visited the Basilica of the Holy Blood in the Burg, I have never failed to marvel at the numerous tourists, usually from Roman Catholic countries of course, who truly and visibly venerate the holy relic. I do not understand it at all though there is no doubting the sincerity and awe exhibited. I always notice how immune the British are to this worship and assume, correctly, that it is a manifestation of the Protestant state religion in Britain and its

The phial of a drop of Jesus's blood

brought back to Brugge by Crusader

Derrick of Alsace in 1150.

The Basilica was built to house this

holy relic.

current post-Protestant atheistic/agnostic culture. What I didn’t know was that this immunity dates directly from the often murderous actions and relentless propaganda of Thomas Cromwell in the 1530s as he sought to suppress monasteries and other religious houses for Henry V111.

Though I knew that it was the extended convolutions of politics and religion in the reign of Henry V111, interacting with his unstable, narcissistic and mercurial temperament which caused the messy split with the all-powerful Pope and the Roman Church, ushering in the creation and growth of what eventually became the Church of England with the King as its virtual Pope, I hadn't known the details nor really understood the life and death aspects of this period. It was a fearful time.

Diarmaid MacCulloch

Professor of the History of the Church at Oxford.

However, as I am at home most of the time at present, I have settled down to reading a large tome: Thomas Cromwell: A Life by Diarmaid MacCulloch. Professor of the History of the Church at the University of Oxford.  As a biography, it is magisterial; unimaginably detailed, the result of sustained and scholarly research and written in crystal clear prose with often unexpected flashes of humour and wry comment. I have enjoyed it enormously in spite of sometimes anxiously trying to recall the place of some of the characters in the chorus who, en passant, inject drama or deception into the discourse. My memory hasn’t been quite up to carrying in my head, this cavalcade of characters involved in the almost decade-long drama of Thomas Cromwell’s service [1532-1540] as Chief Minister to Henry V111.

However, this isn’t a detailed review of this marvellous book; it is to note the realisation of what happened during the years when monasteries and friaries were being suppressed by Cromwell and Henry. Particularly in the case of friaries [always synonymous, wrongly, in my mind with

Greyfriars, Canterbury, founded in 1224, one of 60 Franciscan 

friaries closed between 1534 and 1538 during what became

known as the British Reformation..

monasteries] Cromwell sustained an uninterrupted campaign of vilification to discredit the friars and their friaries, and to destroy the hugely popular Pilgrimages to shrines and relics. Underpinning that was a publicity campaign to inform ordinary people of their now-legal right to read and own an English Bible. 1539 saw the printing of The Great Bible, a fully official Bible in English, overseen by Miles Coverdale but produced, through sheer determination and flexible diplomacy, by Cromwell. It became his Bible, his magnificent achievement, his triumph. This important product was then distributed to all the Churches in Britain, available for all to view.

Canterbury Cathedral today.

The lit candle signifies the spot where Becket's shrine stood.

Monks withdrew from the outside community to pursue the contemplative life within their self-contained, self-supporting landed estates which they owned. Friars were more closely bound to Rome, were not allowed to own land or property and in their true poverty, were reliant on begging from the laity. In return, friars earned high esteem by preaching, hearing confessions and reciting masses for the dead. They tended to be well-educated and intellectually alert, admired by the outside communities, on whom they were reliant and supported by the aristocracy, a weakness exploited by Cromwell in his determination to rid the country of the old religious practices, an important one of which was the veneration extended to holy relics and shrines. Cromwell managed, by often brutal methods, to accomplish, in a relatively short time, the disappearance of friars and the mediaeval relic/shrine-worship. Even the hugely-revered shrine of St Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral was sacked and removed as was the shrine to St Swithin in Winchester Cathedral.

Thomas Cromwell

whose evangelical zeal seemed to grow with his

increasing power.

And thus began five hundred years of disinterest in, or perhaps disapproval of, the power of holy relics and shrines an attitude common today among the British: an interesting example of the irresistible effect of historical events on present day attitudes.  

Henry V111

particularly interested in transferring the considerable wealth of monasteries and the fewer riches of friaries to the Royal coffers.
Destroying the supposed magic of Processions to worship
shrines and relics encouraged focus on the
new religion.

Gerasa

My last day spent travelling to and from Jerash plus a five hour exploration of the site felt almost the best day of the week. We were just a relaxed two wandering under a peerless blue sky and very warm sun. The route was virtually on a level and I was able to resist the diversionary temptation of inviting steps promising ever more delectable views. We entered through the Triumphal Gate of Hadrian at the South end of the ancient site of Gerasa and began to discover the amazingly-preserved Roman city garlanded annually in Spring, by swathes of wild flowers..

The town was developed by the Romans in the first century B.C. though it had been colonised previously by Alexander the Great and archaeological remains from the period 2500-2,700 B.C. testify to the existence of settlements there in the Bronze and Iron ages. But, in spite of a mixture of stylistic periods for individual remains, the city conforms overall to a typical Roman urban plan, chiefly designed in the first century A.D. following its capture by Pompey’s army in about 63 B.C. That said, the Nabataeans,[major trading partners] and especially their capital, Petra, exerted a huge influence on both civil and religious architecture in Jerash. 

In the first century A.D. Gerasa enjoyed peace and prosperity. There was great building activity as trade with Syria and the Nabataeans flourished bur peak popularity for Jerash occurred in the third century A.D.  when it was granted the status of a colony by Emperor Caracalla in 217 A.D. Citizens were free, enjoying equal rights with Romans including a tax-free privileged civic life. But a series of wars, economic, religious and political disputes served to damage the city while, following the adoption of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire in 324 A.D, some problems were resolved, the ancient pagan temples became neglected and many fine Roman buildings were pillaged for stone to build at least fourteen Byzantine churches. Nonetheless, fine mosaic pavements, marble architecture and classic decoration show the continuing wealth of Jerash until 636 A.D. when the rapid diffusion of Islam brought Mohammedanism to the city. At least one mosque was built in Gerasa and there are the remains of 8th century Islamic buildings with beautiful

Part of the Cardo, the 800 metre long Colonnaded

 Street, a main thoroughfare along which the most

important buildings were arranged.
The drains beneath the Cardo formed the central
canal of an elaborate sewage system and many
stone manhole covers are still in place.
Ruts caused by the metal wheels of chariots
are still visible on the Cardo.

geometric mosaic floors.

Ancient and profitable trade routes were broken amid increasingly widespread pillaging by Roman armies and gradually, inexorably, the city's prosperity was stifled and it shrank to a quarter of its size. A major earthquake in 747 A.D. reduced much of Gerasa to ruins and by the twelfth century the city was uninhabited. The Governor of Damascus took the opportunity to convert the abandoned Temple of Artemis into a Crusader castle though this was eventually lost to Baldwin 1, the Crusader King of Jerusalem. The site remained chiefly abandoned until 1806 when Ulrich Seezen re-discovered it. Later in the nineteenth century Jordanian families began to colonise Gerasa which could still boast the essentials for successful settlement: fertile land, a strategic position and the presence of water. Circa 1878 Circassians also took refuge there during a period of Ottoman suppression, planting gardens amidst the ruins and building new dwellings. The modern city of Jerash has flourished in the last one hundred and forty years and is now one of the marvels of Jordanian inheritance. Acknowledging this importance is the recent elevation of Jerash to the status of capital of the Jerash Department.

:

An intricately-sculpted Corinthian capital resting on other remains of

former glory

The exquisite Oval Forum set between the Temple of Zeus and the Cardo. It boasts an impressive array of

Ionic columns, measures about 90 metres in length and 80 in width. It is paved with heavy stones laid

to follow the elliptical curves of the colonnades and beneath the heavy paving stones still lie ceramic water pipes.

The Nymphaeum, the most richly decorated building in

Gerasa and a public fountain, arranged on two storeys,

with an elaborate decorative scheme.

It is, in effect, a semi-circular recess with 7 semi-circular

niches to contain statues of water nymphs and other divinities.

My visit to Jerash has elevated my existing admiration of Rome and its art and architecture to the level of hero worship! To behold the remains of Gerasa is to witness a stunning combination of art, architecture and landscape.

The South Theatre, an important centre for entertainments 

and festivals. Also used to receive visiting artists,

celebrities and popular heroes.

Petra Plus

View of the Monastery after a further 20 minute

scramble up a steep climb.

En route to the Monastery, Petra

View from the top of the 800+ steps

up to the Monastery plateau.

“The hues of youth upon a brow of woe,

which Man deemed old two thousand years ago,

Match me such marvel save in Eastern time,

a rose-red city half as old as time.”

Petra by John William Burgon

This poem won Oxford University’s prestigious Newdigate Prize for Poetry in 1845. The last couplet has become among the most famous in poetry. Interestingly, Burgon had never seen Petra.

 [Many thanks to Bernard Fuller for this reference]

Above is a simple map of the long walk through the Petra site showing various points of interest. Allegedly it takes about two hours to walk from the Visitors' Centre to the foot of the Monastery climb though this probably applies to the younger, fitter traveller. Then there is the estimated one hour climb to the top, or realistically, two hours for the elderly intrepid.

Water storage tank, one of many in

Petra and Little Petra.

Water channel carved in the rock face above,
and parallel with, the Siq walkway.

I haven't mentioned one incredibly impressive aspect of Petra; its highly sophisticated irrigation system which involved a widespread catchment, channelling and storage of any rainwater which fell. Overall this region has always been short of water; in addition to the near-drought conditions in much of the year, Petra is subject to flash floods during sudden, occasional high intensity rainfall. And the Nabataeans devised a wondrous system to harvest this occasional bounty. Innumerable water tanks/cisterns were cut out of the mountain sides with channels carved alongside pathways to carry the precious liquid to its designated storage areas. There is also an 88 metre tunnel cut through the rock leading to a dam as part of this sophisticated irrigation system.

The tomb facades draw upon a rich array of Hellenistic and Near Eastern architecture reflecting the diverse and different cultures with which the Nabataeans traded and interacted. Many of the tombs contain niches or small chambers for burials cut into the stone walls. No human remains have ever been found in any of the tombs and the exact funerary practices of the Nabataeans remain unknown. It is quite possible that not all of these structures were tombs; some may have been temples or banqueting palaces for celebration.

Obelisk Tomb with the Triclinium below.

A Triclinium was a banqueting hall.

Part of the Street of Facades

a row of monumental Nabatean tombs carved in the Southern

cliff face beyond the Treasury.

And finally, a tribute to the lovely, handsome Bedouin who have lived and worked in Petra since time immemorial. They are such an honourable people with a highly organised social structure centred on very strong family ties which demonstrate a huge respect for the elderly and a treasuring of children. Beyond the family comes the all-important tribe which commands total loyalty. Their constant open and generous welcome to all visitors accompanied by endless offers of glasses of sugary tea and seats in the shade for the weary, embellish the whole Petran experience enormously for the traveller.

Another distinctive aspect of Nabatean life was
the ceremonial way in which the dead were treated. Tombs were cut into the rock, often high above ground level and niches were cut presumably for statuary. There is a large number of these tombs but no artefacts or human remains have ever been found within them. The tombs' facades draw upon a rich heritage of Greek and Near Eastern architecture perhaps echoing the various diverse and distinctive cultures with which the Nabateans came into contact in their widespread trading activities.

Street of Facades:

a series of monumental Nabatean tombs