The East Window of St Mary’s Church, Selling, Kent: A Royal Window in the Shadow of Canterbury

Abstract

This is the first detailed published study of the stained-glass ‘band’ window which survives in the east end of St Mary’s church, at Selling in Kent. It is argued that the Selling window was installed in the second decade of the 14th century; not, as is usually thought, the first. The window is a hierarchical statement, embodying a number of interrelated levels of meaning. Its primary function is to celebrate Christ’s incarnation, and the role of the Virgin and other saints as intercessors for mankind at the Last Judgement. The window clearly also commemorates the glory days of Edward I, who died in 1307. The historical evidence and the iconography suggest that, in addition, it is a memorial to the Clare family, installed after the English defeat at Bannockburn in 1314, commemorating the death of Gilbert III of Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hertford. The window was probably commissioned by the local lord Bartholomew Badlesmere and his wife, who was Gilbert’s cousin, between 1314 and 1317, when Bartholomew was executor of Gilbert’s estate.