Auro et Argento Pulcherrime Fabricatum: New Visual Evidence for the Feretory of St Dunstan at Glastonbury and its Relation to the Controversy over the Relics

Abstract

Five illustrations of the feretory of St Dunstan at Glastonbury appear in the margins of Cambridge, Trinity College MS R 5 16, a copy of John of Glastonbury's chronicle of the abbey. They provide a unique visual record of a major monument of English Gothic metalwork previously known only through documentation. The feretory of St Dunstan stood at the centre of one of Glastonbury's most important cults. Its form was more wholeheartedly architectural than other known English examples, and may be compared with contemporary Continental feretories. The illustrations also inform current understanding of the controversy surrounding the true location of St Dunstan's relics. Palaeographical analysis of accompanying inscriptions places them in the context of Archbishop William Warham's well-known attempt to claim the relics definitively for Canterbury (1508). The illustrations may be understood as part of Glastonbury's reaction to this attempt.