The Old English Sources of the Theological Windows at Canterbury, c. 1174-1200

This interdisciplinary paper focuses on the monumental programme of stained glass windows installed at Canterbury cathedral after a fire devastated the building in c.1174. The discussion identifies vernacular homiletic sources for the ‘typological’ windows in the transepts, and links the ‘ancestor’ sequence in the clerestory to the Old English Hexateuch (London, BL, Cotton Claudius B.iv). In so doing, the paper draws attention to the vitality of Old English in the twelfth century and raises new questions about the intellectual milieu of the master glazer and his team of craftsmen.