The "Sabbath Breakers"

"Remember the Sabbath Day - keep it Holy." The 15th century Morality Painting of the "Sabbath Breakers" is a vivid caricature directed at the people as a warning against Sunday work. A simple and memorable catechism for them to keep the fourth Commandment: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it Holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all the work; but the seventh day is a sabbath unto the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor they son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath Day and hallowed it." Exodus 20:8

In this 15th century mural the central figure of a crowned and nimbed Christ, clad only in a loin cloth and showing the five wounds, is surrounded by implements of different trades, some of which touch Our Lord's body. The teaching is that, if one profanes the Sabbath Day by using the tools of one's trade on that day, one inflicts injury on the body of Christ. In this presentation of the "warning", the implements of the Passion have been replaced by contemporary tools to represent the continual re-enactment of the Passion. Christ suffered once in his body, yet He is made to suffer every Sabbath Day in his mystical body by those who break the fourth Commandment. The reconstruction is the result of a study by Mrs Dorothy Beresford.

Between Our Lord's feet is a plough, which divides the stubble from the furrows; by his left foot millwrights' tools and a mill-rind; between Our Lord's legs, cobblers' tools, an awl and a knife; above these, a slater's zax and a horseshoe; by His left hand a trader's scales and quern; at His left shoulder a saw and a bobbin of yarn and above His right shoulder, what are thought to be the tools of a forester, an axe, a catapult and a net. The best position to view this mural is to stand at the east end of the north aisle, beneath the white marble wall tablet to Francis Gosling. A miller's mill-rind is the central part of the upper mill wheel made of wrought iron, which secures the stone wheel to the vertical driving shaft. As a rebus, the mill-rind was used by the Miller family in their coat of arms. They may be seen on two ledger stones in the chancel

Saint George and the Dragon

The triumph of the Christian hero over evil "And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him. And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Now is come the Salvation, and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ." Revelation 12:9-10

The story of Saint George and the Dragon was included in Jacobus de Voragine's collection of Saints' lives written about 1275, to become part of the Golden Legends, translated into English and published by Caxton in 1483. A modern version says: "At the town of Silene, in Libya, there was a dragon, who was appeased by being fed two sheep a day; when these failed, the townsfolk offered by lot one of their young people. One day the lot fell on the King's daughter, who was led out to the sacrifice, dressed in her wedding gown. George appeared and transfixed the dragon with his spear and then using the Princess's girdle led the bemused dragon into the town, where it was beheaded." Catholic Encyclopaedia

The Nether Wallop Saint George

The legend, as depicted at St Andrew's in Nether Wallop, shows the embattlemented gate of the town on which the King and Queen, wearing their crowns, are looking out on to the conflict below, between St George and the Dragon. St George, a shining Knight in armour, is mounted on a finely caparisoned steed and is transfixing the Dragon through the head, while the horse tramples the Dragon's belly underfoot. The King and Queen should be studied for the marvellously expressive painting of their faces; the King's in admiration at the prowess of St George, impaling the Dragon; while the Queen's is distraught for the life of her daughter. The coils of the Dragon's tail are barely discernible and unfortunately the painting of the Princess Cleodolinda has been lost. The Princess, representing suffering humanity, is saved by the power of Christianity, represented by our hero and victor of the combat: George, "Saint George".

To Christians, Saint George was a professional soldier, who publicly declared himself by tearing down Diocletian's edict against the Christians, for which he was beheaded near Lydda in 303, to become one of the early Christian Martyrs. The fame of Saint George as a defender of Christianity was imposed on the Greek legendary story of the Virgin Andromeda and Perseus and retold as Saint George and the Dragon. The story quickly spread westwards and was thought to have been brought to Iona by Bishop Arculf in the 7th century. St George was certainly included in the Church's calendar by the 11th century. By mischance, the New Minster in Winchester was burnt down on St George's Day - 23 April 1065 - in spite of a relic of St George being among the Minster's possessions. At the Council of Oxford in 1222, St George's Day was declared a public holiday and growing in popularity Edward III instituted the Order of St George in 1349 and the Battle Cry "St George for England". St George soon became the Patron Saint of England, superseding St Edward. It was at Agincourt that Henry V is said to have called: "God for Harry, England and Saint George". By the 15th century, St George overtook St Christopher in popularity as a subject used for decorating the walls of our parish churches. The remaining fragment at Wellow near Romsey is just large enough to recognise the subject, showing only the King and Queen looking out over the battlements. At St Thomas' Church in Salisbury the emblem of St George, a red cross on a white background, was repetitively used to decorate the Swayne Chapel, where there is an altar dedicated to St George. St George's Day was always an occasion to celebrate, with great feasting taking place in the monasteries.

The "Christ in Majesty"

The plain cruciform plan of the church suggests a late Anglo-Saxon origin. It is almost Romanesque in style. The quality of the wall paintings evident even today, suggests an important patron as long ago as 1025.

Earl Godwin

About the time the church was built, the Anglo Saxon overlord of Wallop was Earl Godwin. He died in 1053 of apoplexy, while supping in Winchester with King Edward the Confessor.

Countess Gytha

The Domesday survey records the Earl's wife, the Countess Gytha (Gueda), holding 22 hides in Wallop, for which she paid geld to King Edward. Earl Godwin had married Gytha, sister of the Danish Earl Ulf. Their daughter Eadgith (Edith) married, in 1044, King Edward the Confessor. Their son Harold II became King in 1066 and was defeated and slain at the Battle of Hastings. There is a possibility that the Countess Gytha might have been the patron of St Andrew's church and therefore of its decoration. The suggestion would make the dating of the "Majesty" after her marriage in 1020. Gytha's brother-in-law Canute, when he became King in 1016, presented the New Minster in Winchester with a jewelled golden altar cross. This presentation to the Monastery was the subject of an illumination at the beginning of their Liber Vitae, or Register. It shows the King's crown and the Queen's veil supported by angels, similar to the Nether Wallop angels. Surely this new illumination and the more sumptuous Royal Charter of King Edgar would have been shown to the King and his family, for the theme of "Christ in Majesty" became the theme for the painting in Nether Wallop. The artist wall painter had to adapt his "Majesty" supported by angels, from the narrow format of a book, to the wide expanse of walling he had to cover over the chancel arch. A painting planned with deliberation and care as the plaster backing had been specially prepared. A "Majesty" at the entrance to the chancel in this position became traditional and continued into the 12th century, as may be seen over the entrance to St Gilbert's chapel at Canterbury Cathedral.

Angels

In Nether Wallop all that is visible today is the very tip of the mandorla. However, an altar frontal (given in 1998) seeks to reproduce through contemporary embroidery techniques the probable design of the original Saxon Christ in Majesty wall painting. Of the original painting, the upper pair of angels is complete, but the lower pair sadly mutilated. The angels are nimbed, have goodly round faces and are dressed in long flowing robes with very distinctive fluttering hems and their wings have upturned tips to the feather ends. If, as has been suggested, the Danish Princess Gytha was the patron of the Nether Wallop "Majesty", it would appear to have been painted about the year 1025.