Download or read book Church Misericords and Bench Ends written by Richard Hayman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2011-11-20 with total page 117 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the increasing disappearance of stained glass in medieval churches, the surviving wood carvings on church misericords and bench ends are extremely important in providing an insight into the medieval mind. The carved images were often used to convey the messages of the Christian faith in the Middle Ages but they were not just concerned with religion and religious symbols – they also told stories of mythology, humour and satire, showing illustrations of everyday life and people. This book outlines the history of church seating and discusses the craftsmen and the influences behind their work. Using illustrations, the author then explains the subject matter of these wood carvings, revealing how one can discover so much about medieval life – the spiritualism, moralism and the wit – within the carvings still found in churches today.