Share your favorites on Show & Tell

YORK MINSTER, FIVE SISTERS' WINDOW. c. 1885.

In Postcards > Show & Tell.
pops52's loves5741 of 10258CompactDowning Browning
14
Love it
0
Like it

BudekBudek loves this.
antiques-in-njantiques-in-nj loves this.
Ted_StraubTed_Straub loves this.
tom61375tom61375 loves this.
AimathenaAimathena loves this.
austrohungaroaustrohungaro loves this.
AnneLandersAnneLanders loves this.
ElisabethanElisabethan loves this.
BelltownBelltown loves this.
geo26egeo26e loves this.
SEAN68SEAN68 loves this.
pops52pops52 loves this.
blunderbuss2blunderbuss2 loves this.
aghcollectaghcollect loves this.
See 12 more
Add to collection

    Please create an account, or Log in here

    If you don't have an account, create one here.


    Create a Show & TellReport as inappropriate


    Posted 10 years ago

    vetraio50
    (751 items)

    Another of the Frith Series PC's collected by Septimus and Clara Miller in 1906 was this card of the Five Sisters' Window. It is No. 18421 and would have been taken around 1885.

    The window was completed by 1260, and is the oldest complete window in the Minster. It is also said to be the largest single composition in Grisaille glass anywhere in the world. It consists of five lights, each of c.53 feet by c.5 feet (16.3 x 1.55 m), and (originally) thirteen compartments. The repeating pattern in each light is different.

    At the bottom of the central light, there is a small, coloured vignette of Daniel being fed by Habukkuk in the Lions’ den. This is an earlier piece of glass; it does not belong to the original window, but was placed there at a later date, perhaps in the seventeenth century.

    The name Five Sisters is interesting in itself although it probably only goes back to the eighteenth century when it first appeared in Drake’s "Eboracum". The tradition of the window’s name recorded here is that it was based on the tapestry designs of five sisters, though the origin of this story is unclear. Of note here also is the appearance of this story in Nicholas Nickleby. Dickens uses this story, or an elaborated and moralized version of it, to talk about transience and death, though note that he places the composition of the window in the sixteenth century.

    "'A great many years ago--for the fifteenth century was scarce two years old at the time, and King Henry the Fourth sat upon the throne of England--there dwelt, in the ancient city of York, five maiden sisters, the subjects of my tale.

    'These five sisters were all of surpassing beauty. The eldest was in her twenty-third year, the second a year younger, the third a year younger than the second, and the fourth a year younger than the third. They were tall stately figures, with dark flashing eyes and hair of jet; dignity and grace were in their every movement; and the fame of their great beauty had spread through all the country round." (Nicholas Nickleby, by Charles Dickens (1838-1839) - Chapter 6)

    Another suggestion is that the name is in fact a corruption of ‘five Cistercians’.

    It also is known as the "Jew’s Window". It seems it is possible that a large sum of money, paid by the Jews of York for a grant of land to John Romanus, the man most closely associated with the north transept, was channelled into the building fund.

    At any rate it is a beautiful example of Grisaille glass work: it is made with grey monochrome glass. Grisaille was a style of glass that emerged around the same time as stained glass, though had a different evolution.

    Luckily the five vast lancets of the north transept end still keep their beautiful original glass. There are fragments of Norman & Early English glass in the five sisters.

    The “Five Sisters” are five very narrow and long windows separated only by slender shafts. They are, no doubt, the largest lancet windows in England: a bold idea to fill almost the whole of the mother transept with them, but the boldness was entirely justified by the result.

    Below them is a blind arcade almost entirely without ornament, and above them another group of five lancet windows of different sizes, gradually diminishing from the central window to follow the outline of the gable.

    logo
    Postcards
    See all
    Used & Unused: Lot of 50+ USA Vintage Postcards,1900- 1950s.We Our Customers!
    Used & Unused: Lot of 50+ USA Vinta...
    $15
    Used & Unused. Lot of 50+ USA Vintage Chrome Postcards.We Our Customers!
    Used & Unused. Lot of 50+ USA Vinta...
    $7
    OLD VINTAGE POSTCARDS RUSSIAN EMPIRE AND POST EMPIRE COUNTRYS LOT MIXED ERAS
    OLD VINTAGE POSTCARDS RUSSIAN EMPIR...
    $35
    Lot of 32 Old Memories Forever Old Movie & Ads Poster Vintage Postcards
    Lot of 32 Old Memories Forever Old ...
    $6
    logo
    Used & Unused: Lot of 50+ USA Vintage Postcards,1900- 1950s.We Our Customers!
    Used & Unused: Lot of 50+ USA Vinta...
    $15
    See all

    Comments

    1. vetraio50 vetraio50, 10 years ago
      Many thanks PHIL & AGHCOLLECT too!
    2. vetraio50 vetraio50, 10 years ago
      Many thanks POPS 'n BLUNDERBUSS!
    3. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 10 years ago
      You are a wealth of historical information & I have learned a lot by following your series of posts. Certainly much better than 1980's non-collectable stamps(posted one at a time),Tupperware etc. that appear to be designed to rack-up numbers of posts as an immature attempt at a status. Thanks, & keep them coming as I'm not too old to learn (yet).
    4. vetraio50 vetraio50, 10 years ago
      Thanks BLUNDERBUSS! The cards have been a great way for me to learn a bit more about the life of these two Australians on a Grand Tour!
    5. SEAN68 SEAN68, 10 years ago
      Beautiful windows!!!! And thank you for history lessons and the grand Australian tours:) !!!!
    6. vetraio50 vetraio50, 10 years ago
      Many thanks SEAN.
      These windows are just amazing!
      750 years old!
      1260!
    7. racer4four racer4four, 10 years ago
      It's extraordinary really when thinking about this building - have we come far in the last 800 years?
    8. vetraio50 vetraio50, 10 years ago
      Many thanks KAREN. The builders stretched themselves!
    9. SEAN68 SEAN68, 10 years ago
      Your very welcome Kevin And 750 years old wow they amazing for being that old!!!!
    10. Belltown Belltown, 10 years ago
      Lovin' all these postcards... tx!
    11. AnneLanders AnneLanders, 10 years ago
      fantastic information...at first when I saw your sideways photo I thought it was Bath cathedral. The window is very similar and without googling it well may have been designed by the same architect/artist.But the rafters are very different, Bath from memory has them criss crossing quite low down.

      When you consider how old these cathedrals are and the shear weight of getting the glass up there you just have to wonder how on earth they produced these. The lead alone would be very hard to lift.

      Notre Dame is probably the best example of 900 year old windows and for a church sitting on a river how on earth is that one still standing?

      Have you visited this one Sean?
    12. vetraio50 vetraio50, 10 years ago
      Many thanks GEO, TOM, LEAH, PHIL, ANNELANDERS, AUSTRO, BELLTOWN 'n ELISABETHAN TOO!
    13. vetraio50 vetraio50, 10 years ago
      This is an interesting site that can sen you off on tangents relating to this theme:
      https://lovewall.visitbritain.com/en/925/landmarks/cathedrals-and-churches/bath-abbey
    14. vetraio50 vetraio50, 10 years ago
      Many thanks GARY!
    15. vetraio50 vetraio50, 10 years ago
      Many thanks BRATJDD 'n AIMATHENA too!
    16. vetraio50 vetraio50, 10 years ago
      Many thanks TOM!
    17. vetraio50 vetraio50, 10 years ago
      Many thanks TED STRAUB 'n ANTIQUES IN NJ too!
    18. vetraio50 vetraio50, 10 years ago
      Many thanks TONINO!
    19. vetraio50 vetraio50, 6 years ago
      Many thanks NH10 !!!! !!!!

    Want to post a comment?

    Create an account or login in order to post a comment.