Medieval Church Grafitti
It seems that drawing in church- and on its’ the walls too, was quite acceptable in the medieval period. A recent survey of British churches has uncovered (from Norfolk alone) 28,000 examples of doodled pictures, charms- and magical symbols on church walls. They survive because surprisingly, they were never painted over- indicating the church either turned a blind eye or actually endorsed these additions to the décor.
In the case of most of the graffiti, this is understandable because the doodles seem to be a form of prayer, scratched into the walls of the church by people who probably thought this would lend a greater potency to their hopes and desires. Ships are a common motif, either as a petition for a safe sea voyage- or as thanks to god for a successful journey. Other common prayer motifs include windmills, which links to grain and bread- essential staples in medieval life.
However, some of the church graffiti could be motifs surviving from pagan traditions that were recontextualized as Christian. One is the image of the straw man, an example of which can be seen near the entrance of Cranwell Parish church in Lincolnshire. Straw men were believed to be fertility figures. Each harvest time, remnants of the year’s crops were used to form straw images. These images were burnt and their ashes scattered across the fields to promote a good yield in the new years’ harvest.Their appearance in church indicates the power of God was being called upon to give the sacrifice a greater potency.
Other graffiti served no other purpose than to relieve boredom. However, they provide modern historians with useful details about medieval life. From figure drawings of saints, kings, queens and ordinary people, we can learn a great deal about styles of garments. The fashions depicted can also help historians date the graffiti as people did not begin to inscribe dates until the 1700s. This is because literacy began to increase around this time- a fact that perhaps explains why the graffiti images started to die out.
Another common form of graffiti motif in churches was the “compass drawn designs.” Some people believe they were the result of trainee masons learning to use their compasses. However Matt Champion, a medieval graffiti expert believes they were demon traps. Demons for some reason were compelled to follow lines to their very end. Once an unwary demon was lured into the circular design, it would be trapped, doomed to follow the line of the circle forever. These circles and other magical graffiti could also be found in other English buildings.