Thursday, May 11, 2023

Some "Heraldry-Adjacent" Symbols in Grantchester Church


Continuing in the Church of St. Andrew and St. Mary in Grantchester, England, we come to this stained glass window (which appears fairly frequently in the television series Grantchester):


In the upper half of the window we see these:


At the very peak we see one of the namesakes of the church, St. Andrew bearing his saltire cross in front of him.


In a row across the window a little way below St. Andrew we find the symbols of the Four Evangelists.


The authors of the four Gospels -- Matthew, Mark, Luke and John -- are known as the Evangelists. They are often represented (as they are here; please click on the image above to see a larger version of this photograph to see the details) with their attributes: the Angel or "divine man" for Saint Matthew, the Lion for Saint Mark, the Ox for Saint Luke (we have seen his symbol before in Antwerp, Belgium in a display of the arms of the Guild of St. Luke), and the Eagle for Saint John.

So, not heraldry, exactly, but certainly "heraldry-adjacent" (and here on shield shapes, no less!) as the symbols are standing in for the authors themselves, just as a coat of arms might.

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