Stalls
stalls
Seats in the choir, wholly or partly enclosed on the back and sides, mentioned from the 11th century . In the earlier period the subsellia of the clergy were placed in the apse on each side of the bishop. Formae, seats with backs, and stalli, connected seats, were introduced. They became fixed and were ornamented with carving. In the Gothic period the architectural effect was sometimes exaggerated. There was beauty in the rich carving of the front and rear faces and on the misericordia under the seat which was often carved with grotesque designs. Few changes have been made in the form in modern times.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Stalls
Stalls — seats in a choir, wholly or partly enclosed on the back and sides — are mentioned from the eleventh century. In the earliest times the subsellia, usually of stone, of the clergy were placed to the right and left of the cathedra of the bishop in the apse of the basilica. After the numbers of the clergy had greatly increased they appear to have stood during choir service, as is evident from the Rule of St. Chrodegang and from the statutes of Aachen of the year 816. Even as late as the eleventh century St. Peter Damien wrote “Contra sedentes in choro”. Those who were weak supported themselves on a T-shaped crutch called reclinatorium, which was sometimes censured, sometimes permitted, as in the second “Ordo Romanus”. Soon, however, the formae or formulae, seats with backs, appeared (plan of St. Gall of the ninth century), as well as the actual stalli, connected seats in which only arms separated the individual seats, and an architectural effect was sought. The seats, which earlier were frequently movable, now became fixed; the sides and backs were made higher; the ornamentation, originally pictorial, soon became architectural and was carved. A few examples of these have been preserved in Germany from the Romanesque period. At Ratzeburg there are side-pieces, each supported by two small columns with base and capital, that are rounded above like a beam and beautifully broken in e middle by curved fluting. There are also small columns on the oldest choir-stall at Kanten; the face of the back is even more boldly curved, and fantastic heads completely in the round project from it. During the Gothic period the architectonic element was at times exaggerated; the mathematical forms of the labyrinths of lines and the scribing are too jejune, and the structure is often too high and uncomfortable. On the other hand the baldachinum over the highest row of seats was often very magnificent. Germany and France possess a large number of stalls that are masterpieces. These stalls are found on both sides of the choir in the churches of monasteries and collegiate foundations. The seats on the Epistle side are called chorus abbatis or praepositi, those on the Gospel side chorus prioris or decani. The last of the ascending rows has generally a back wall crowned with artistic decorations. The back of each preceding row serves the succeeding one as a prayer-desk; the first row has a projection built in front of it for the same purpose. On feast days, for the sake of comfort and ornament, tapestries were hung on the backs of the stalls, cushions laid on the seats, and rugs put under the feet. Ornamental designs or figures carved in the wood decorated both the front and rear faces of the high backs of all the stalls as well as the double arms that were used both when standing and sitting. On the arms as well as in subordinate parts, especially on the misericordia or console — against which, after the seat had been turned up, the cleric could support himself while standing — it was not unusual to carve fantastic figures of animals or grotesque devils. Choir-stalls of stone, which are always colder, occur but rarely (for example, at Kaurim in Bohemia). Among the oldest still existing examples of Gothic choir-stalls in France are those in the Church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Roche; especially rich in their ornamentation are those in the cathedrals at Amiens, Paris, Auch, and others. Among examples in Belgium the Church of St. Gertrude at Louvain shows late Gothic choir-stalls with statuettes and twenty-eight reliefs portraying the life of Christ, of St. Augustine, and of St. Gertrude. The most celebrated choir-stalls in Germany are those in the Cathedral at Ulm. There are eighty-nine seats with gable hood-mouldings and pinnacles, on each seat there are two rows of decorations, on the back and on the side, representing Christ as the anticipation of the heathen and the prediction of the prophets, and in addition there is delineated the founding of the New Covenant. The choir-stalls at Dordrecht, Holland, belong to the style of the Renaissance; they represent on the back the triumph of the Church and of the Holy Sacraments; on the opposite side, the triumphs of Charles V. There are superb creations of the same style in Italy, especially with inlaid work called tarsia, as at Assisi, Siena, Florence, and Venice. Modern times have made but few changes in the practical and artistic form that was fixed in an earlier era.
———————————–
From left to right: (1) Church of the Frari, Venice. (2) Gothic choir stalls, the Cathedral, Siena. (3) Archiepiscopal stall in Notre Dame, Paris. (4) Church of S. Maria della Salute, Venice.
GERHARD GIETMANN Transcribed by Michael C. Tinkler
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIVCopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Stalls
were ranges of seats placed in the choirs of churches or chapter houses for the use of the clergy, for the religious in a monastery, or for canons. In the most ancient churches of the West, in the cathedrals and great minsters, the abbot or bishop sat at the head of the choir, behind the altar. Around him, on semicircular benches of wood or stone, were ranged the capitulars. After the. 13th century the seats of the clergy were placed in front of the sanctuary; on either side of what is now called the choir. In cathedrals and other large buildings they were enclosed at the back with paneling, and were surmounted by overhanging canopies of open tabernacle work, which were often carried up to a great height, and enriched with numerous pinnacles, crockets, pierced tracery, and other ornaments. Examples of stalls of this kind remain in most of the English cathedrals and in many other churches. In some cases two rows were used, the outer one only being surmounted by canopies. It was also raised a step or two higher than the other, as in Henry VII’s Chapel, Westminster. In ordinary parish churches the stalls were without canopies, and frequently had no paneling at the back above the level of the elbows; but in many instances the walls over them were lined with wooden panels having a cornice above, corresponding with the screen under the rood loft. of which a very good specimen remains at Etchingham, Sussex. When the chancel had aisles behind the stalls, the backs were formed by the side screens, which were sometimes close and sometimes of open work. The chief seat on the dais in a domestic hall was sometimes a stall, as in (the ruins of) the palace of the archbishop of Canterbury at Mayfield, Sussex, where it is of stone.
The stall consists of (1) misericord, patience, or subsellium, a folding seat turning on hinges or pivots; (2) book desk, prie-dieu, podium; (3) parclose, sponda, the lateral pillar or partition, the upper carved part forming the museau; (4) croche, or accoudoir (accotoir), the elbow rest; (5) dorsal, the wainscot back; (6) dais, baldaquin, the canopy or tabernacle work. In the east of France and Germany there is usually only one range of stalls. Gangways with stairs (entrees) are openings permitting access to the upper stalls, which are raised on a platform. The lower stalls stand on the ground, or upon an elevation of one step. The upper or hindmost range of stalls (hautes stalles) were restricted to the capitulars or senior monks from the time of Urban II, sitting in order of installation or profession. In cathedrals the four dignitaries occupy the four corners to overlook the choir the dean on the southwest, the precentor on the northwest, the chancellor on the southeast, and the treasurer on the northeast. Next to them sat archdeacons, and in some places the subdean and subchantor of canons occupied the nearest stalls to them westward, as the priest vicars did on the eastern side. In the middle ranges (basses stalles) were canons, deacons, or subdeacons, and their vicars, annuellars, and chaplains. In the lowermost range were clerks and choristers, occupying forms or benches without arms or backs. At Pisa the canons’ stalls were distinguished by coverings of green cloth, and in Italy generally by cushions. The hebdomadary, principal cantor, and master of the choir sat at the head of the second row. The cantors had their folding chairs in England and France, and the celebrant was provided in many places with an elbow or arm chair. The name of his prebend and the antiphon of the psalm which each canon was bound to recite daily for his benefactors and departed canons were written up over his stall, as at St. Paul’s, Lincoln, Chichester, Wells, to which was added afterwards a notice of his preaching turn at Hereford. Citations to residence were affixed by the prebendary’s vicar upon his stall. At Lichfield every canon was provided with his own light and book in the choir.
The word stall is also used to signify any benefice which gives the person holding it a seat or stall with the chapter, in a cathedral or collegiate church.