The Englishness of English Sedilia

Abstract

Sedilia are the ceremonial seats of the priest, deacon, and subdeacon placed to the south of the altar. In Gothic church architecture, they typically take the form of three deep niches, recessed into the thickness of the wall, surmounted by arches and separated by shafts. These types of sedilia are most well-known from English churches of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. This essay looks to explain why sedilia became so popular in England, through a consideration of trends in English architecture. With the help of Nikolaus Pevsner's characterization of the country's art from The Englishness of English Art, it will argue that the basic decorative language of sedilia is entrenched in trends first developed in the Anglo-Norman Romanesque. It will also suggest, however, that regional variations in the distribution of sedilia complicate the idea of a single "national style".