LATEST UPDATE ON THE 15TH CENTURY GOTHIC TEXT AT SALISBURY CATHEDRAL

We’d like to thank everyone who has contacted us about the 15th century English gothic text discovered unexpectedly on the cathedral’s South Aisle wall. It’s been a really busy time as so many people have emailed in, but we want to give everyone who’s shown such an interest an update on where we are so far.

Tim Tatton-Brown, the cathedral’s Consultant Archaeologist, sums up the last fortnight: “As a result of the publicity we received in local, national and international media as well as radio and television, we have been inundated with offers of help by academics from across the world, specialist palaeographers, many experts and enthusiasts in medieval history as well as from members of the public. My colleague Dr John Crook and I have been looking at some particularly interesting ideas which have come in but we still have some way yet to go before we can decipher exactly what the text says and why it was written on the wall.”

Tim is looking in more detail at the historical context of the text in Salisbury Cathedral. “At that time, the East end of the nave contained the altar of the Holy Cross at its centre against a screen on the West side of the spire crossing. Before the Reformation, in the 15th century, there were other less important altars, particularly for chantries, the most important of which was the iron chantry of the Hungerford family on the North side of the nave which was later moved. It contained a small altar and there may have been an altar in a similar position on the south side of the nave close to where the painted inscription was found - I think this may be the context for the inscription.”

John Crook is concentrating on deciphering the text. “I made a comprehensive detailed photographic record of the script and subsequently computer- enhanced the letter forms. These images have been made available upon request via the cathedral website to numerous specialists and enthusiasts. Suggestions as to the meaning of the inscription have been wide-ranging in the extreme, and it has variously been confidently identified as a prayer, a funerary memorial, a birth announcement, and a price-list for indulgences, amongst other highly creative ideas. The poor state of preservation, and the fact that so much of the inscription was covered with post-medieval limewash means that so far only three words have been identified with absolute certainty (‘and we are’), the next word after that with high probability ‘….corrupt’) and a fifth as a possibility (‘cetherline’), a variant form of Catherine / Kathleen). It is therefore very important to keep an open mind. Involving such a large number of people in the interpretation of an inscription is highly unusual, but brain-storming is undoubtedly useful in this case, even if just to exclude some options. I would however comment that all the conjectures have to pass the test of rigorous comparison with the individual letter forms, which are carefully written. Some correspondents have generously agreed to use their photographic enhancing skills on the digital images, which we hope will help with the identification of further elements of what evidently remains a considerable challenge to even the most experienced palaeographer.”

The Conservators’ work on The Hyde Monument has now been completed, the monument put back on the wall and the text once again hidden from view, but we are confident its purpose and meaning will eventually be ‘uncovered’!