Illuminating Inscriptions: the Medieval Stained Glass Inscriptions of Canterbury Cathedral

Research project will investigate the significance of the Latin verse inscriptions in the Gothic windows of Canterbury Cathedral, which vary in form and complexity. The making and meaning of these texts and their relationship to the working methods of the artists have received little attention from scholars despite a recent surge in research on the legacy of Saint Thomas Becket, whose miracles are depicted in the Trinity Chapel glass, and ground-breaking work on the early date of the production of stained glass in medieval England. My project sits in dialogue with new, interdisciplinary research on the relationship between text and image in medieval visual culture, and addresses outstanding questions about the collaborative production of complex pictorial cycles, as well as the literacy of their viewers.