Cracking the Code: the Warden Abbey Morses, Luxury Metalwork and Patronage at a Cistercian Abbey in the Late Middle Ages

摘要

The three copper-gilt and enamel plaques from Warden Abbey are the most important examples ofnlate medieval metalwork from an English Cistercian abbey. They are currently exhibited at thenBritish Museum and dated to the mid-fifteenth century. A reinterpretation of the monogramsndecorating the plaques allows their patron to be identified as Abbot Walter Clifton (c 1377–97).nAn analysis of the plaques’ style and iconography also suggests a late fourteenth-century date.nClifton’s personal devotions and an unusual aspect of the plaques’ iconography can be explainednby reference to the spirituality of the Cistercian Order. The plaques’ closest parallel is a roundelndecorated with the badge of Richard II. Evidence from inventories and comparison withnContinental material suggests that the Warden plaques were, in all probability, morses, used tonfasten a cope.