This summer, the generosity of the British Archaeological Association allowed me to carry out a research trip vital to my PhD thesis. The present study which comprises my PhD research centres on the phenomenon of child sainthood in Medieval Britain. While other scholars have mentioned child sanctity and some works of art depicting child saints, there is no centralised resource to aid scholars who seek to understand child sainthood. Furthermore, there is no core resource available to assist art historians in identifying children in medieval art. As medieval art often favours abstraction, it is not always clear which figures are meant to depict children, and which are simply diminutive adults. This has led to the mislabelling of many youthful figures in artistic schemes, if they are labelled at all. Despite the lack of scholarly attention on this subject, medieval artists did employ signifiers of youth to successfully depict children in art. My research project seeks to provide future art historians with a clear rubric to assist in identifying children in medieval art while also exploring the visual treatment of child saints in six key case studies.
With the British Archaeological Association Travel Grant, I was able to travel to London and analyse the 14th century Chaworth Roll. This remarkable manuscript is of great interest to me due to the overarching presence of childhood evident throughout the entirety of the artwork. There are images of princes, princesses, child kings, and even some of the child saints that comprise my main case studies. Because these figures were interspersed with those of adult rulers, the visual language used by medieval artists to denote children is clearly visible and able to be documented. Another significant feature of the artwork was the wheel of fortune image near the top of the roll. The wheel shows all the stages of man’s life, from infancy to death. Each stage holds an object that relates to the stage of life the figure is meant to represent. The Chaworth Roll’s wheel was especially valuable to me for this reason, as some of the attributes featured are uncommon elsewhere in medieval English art, but their parallels can be found described in contemporary literature or in the archaeological record. For example, the figure meant to represent early adolescence can be seen combing his hair with a double toothed comb, an act of vanity described in tracts on the ages of man and found in the grave goods of young males. Learning from the Chaworth Roll thus became a turning point in my research and has provided me with invaluable information.
I am extremely thankful to the British Archaeological Association for funding my research. Not only was I able to view the roll in person, a highlight of my PhD, but I was granted enough time with the manuscript to photograph it extensively and discuss the imagery with the experts who understood it best. It was truly an amazing experience I will always remember with gratitude.
Lucy Beall Lott
