Welcome to the CORPUS OF BRITISH MISERICORDS
The aim of this project is to make available for research purposes a database of all British misericords. These misericords all date from the later Middle Ages and early modern period and can be found in former monastic and canonical churches. Although some are no longer in situ most choir stalls in which they appear are still found in churches, though not always the ones for which they were originally intended.
Choir stalls with their misericords and other carvings are an important cultural asset which is sadly often neglected. Because they are the product of (often local) carvers and woodworkers and because the choice of subjects was normally left up to the carvers themselves rather than being determined by those who commissioned the stalls (as happened occasionally on the Continent), the British misercords shed light on the popular imagination of people living in the later Middle Ages and the Renaissance. What makes them even more important is the fact that so few examples of the popular imagination survive from these periods.
NB. The project has been dormant for a few years but this is about to change. The first priority is a thorough check and if need be revision of the academic contents as well as the addition of new material. If you spot any mistakes, please let us know at luuk.houwen@rub.de [July 2021]
