‘Liturgy’ refers to the organized worship of God, particularly in spaces that emphasize a particular order of rites, such as churches. Various stakeholders within the ecclesiastical space—the clergy, local church authorities, religious guilds and private benefactors— all had agency to host religious celebrations. For this reason, there was no liturgical uniformity in the Middle Ages, with innumerable variations co-existing across multiple orders.

Almost uncannily, the medieval liturgy featured elements similar to and alien from modern practices. Like their modern counterparts, the medieval congregation would have gathered in the nave, though individuals would have brought cushions or folding chairs, as pews were not common until the Reformation of the sixteenth century. The service, though largely similar in overall structure, would have been in Latin. While individuals such as the clergy, musicians and servers were present, they may have been separated by a choir screen, which was a liturgical fixture now rarely seen in ecclesiastical spaces.

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Liturgical instruments served to connect congregations with the clergy, bridging the sacred with the public. Placed within a wider context, these objects also held implications of transnational connections across Europe during the Gothic age. The present exhibition is privileged to feature two late medieval textiles from the McCarthy Collection, both formerly part of vestments used by the clergy during services. The Italian-made chasuble would have been worn for the celebration of mass—inv. BM #1470 was a back panel of a chasuble featuring a fragmented cross orphrey. Conforming to typical fashion, the cross orphrey fragment depicted the Crucifixion, which would have been visible to the audience (perhaps through the choir screen) as the priest faced the altar. The orphrey inv. BM #1820 would have been worn on the front, showcasing in conventional fashion the iconography of individual saints. The present orphrey was of English manufacture. The term opus anglicanum denoted embroidery and textiles produced in England such as inv. BM #1820. The term was used in papal and European archives, though unknown in English documents at the time. As the production of opus anglicanum reached its peak in the late thirteenth century, England produced a significant number of vestments for ecclesiastical use, including copes and chasubles, which were designed as sets. Opus anglicanum bore English stylistic characteristics, such as grounds of golden thread with pearls and jewels as embellishments, embroidered firstly on silk, then later linen as the ground fabric. From the mid-14th century onwards, architectural designs were further introduced to frame the figures, showing an iconographic evolution that ran in tandem with other art forms. Exchanged as diplomatic gifts or displays of power, opus anglicanum were highly coveted within Christendom, valued for their provenance and distinctively English features. The fourteenth-century inventory of Toledo Cathedral lists orofreses des londres in reference to the orphreys of London. This demonstrates that opus anglicanum were valuable ‘transnational commodities’ rather than international commodities, as these textiles were highly prized by an international community for their distinctively national (English) features. As these items traversed and were treasured across Western Europe, it is clear that liturgical instruments played core roles in the formation of connections during medieval rites, while being a microcosm of the wider transnational connections across the increasingly connected Europe of the Gothic period.