Misericord

1969, M. D. Anderson, The Iconography of British Misericords, G. L. Remnant, A Catalogue of Misericords in Great Britain, page xxiii, Misericords are a very humble form of medieval art and it is unlikely that the most distinguished carvers of any period were employed in making them, except, perhaps, during their apprentice years.

A misericord - a hinged projection on the underside of a choir seat - dates from about 1200 and is possibly the oldest in England.

In this essay I will focus primarily on the subject of the owl in order to illustrate how bestiary imagery was modified and developed in late medieval public church decoration, primarily in the form of the sculpted choir-seats known as misericords. The owl provides a good case study of this process as it was an especially popular misericord motif and its artistic and literary characterizations are largely informed by—but not limited to—the bestiaries.

The construction of a misericord stall is very peculiar. The shaped standards or elbows are cut out of wide planks. They are notched over a deep and massive bottom rail (to which the misericords are hinged in many cases), and are housed into the massive capping, which is very wide and hollowed out with semicircular recesses to form curved backs for the stalls.

The word misericordia implies an act of mercy but despite its amiable name, it refers to coercing or forcing a spirit to pass through the Gates of Death. In the age of medieval chivalry, knights carried a dagger called the misericorde that was used to strike the coup de grâce upon mortally wounded foes so that they did not have to suffer. The term “misericordia” carries a similar import in necromancy.