%0 Journal Article
%T The Role of Ecclesiastical Stairs, Galleries and Upper Spaces in Medieval ¡®Bad Behaviour¡¯
%A Toby J. Huitson
%J Skepsi
%D 2010
%I University of Kent
%X In the course of my research documenting the known uses of medieval ecclesiastical stairs, galleries and upper chambers, normal activities are typically encountered. However, there were occasions when ¡®bad behaviour¡¯ took place in these contexts. This paper will explore some of these instances.These include unwelcome military activity in a gallery at Glastonbury Abbey shortly after the Conquest; the use of galleries for refuge by a thief at Durham Cathedral in the twelfth century, and an instance of a mortal crime in front of a gallery altar at Bruges in the thirteenth century. There are also some instances of novice monks cracking a bell at Ramsey in the tenth century, and another who it was claimed slept off bouts of drunkenness in a gallery space. Some boys investigating a staircase at Beverley Minster in the thirteenth century provided the context for a miracle ¨C though not because their behaviour was bad in itself, but rather precipitated by heavy-handed response from the minster authorities. To add to these cases, there are instances where ¡®good behaviour¡¯ was retrospectively seen as bad, such as in the case of a trapeze artist at Durham Cathedral who, in contrast to another act at Notre-Dame, Paris in the 1380s, tragically fell from the rope ¨C much like the accident which befell Eilmer, the monk at Glastonbury who was left unable to walk properly after his investigations into experimental flight.How typical was bad behaviour in these spaces in overall terms, and were such instances perhaps disproportionately well-recorded? This paper will consider these and other ideas.
%K Gallery
%K spiral stair
%K novices
%K monks
%K robbers
%U http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8274824/v03i01/pdfs/Skepsi-0301-2010-The%20Role%20of%20Ecclesiastical%20Stairs%2C%20Galleries%20and%20Upper%20Spaces%20in%20Medieval%20%E2%80%98Bad%20Behaviour%E2%80%99-Toby%20Huitson.pdf