Trinity College Church (stonework Details)

Category

Library Item

Item no

43379

Title

Trinity College Church (stonework details on capitals)

Description

Drawings from James Grant's sketchbook, print numbered 56, show the stonework depicting Arms of Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany and two capitals from Trinity College Church.

Artist / maker

Grant, James

Date

1848

Size

23.5 x 22.0 cm

Type

Ink; Pen work

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Grant wanted to make a record of the carvings inside and outside the church as well as the exterior architecture of the building. This included the carved capitals of the arcades, gargoyles and armorial panels.

Here you can see the arms of Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, the son of Mary of Guelders and James II and father of John Stewart, regent during James V's minority. Alexander was indicted for treason in 1479 for jeopardising an alliance with King Edward IV of England. Alexander fled to France and then made an alliance of his own with the English, invading Scotland with Edward's brother Richard, the future Richard III, and seizing political control. He fled and invaded once or twice more, before dying in a joust in Paris in 1485.

His arms include (clockwise from top left corner): the royal Scottish lion rampant; a lion rampant with eight roses, of the earldom of Dunbar/March; a saltire cross, of the lordship of Annandale; and three triskele legs, of the lordship of the Isle of Man. Grant records in Old and New Edinburgh that this coat-of-arms was on a buttress in the south transept.

Grant wrote that many of the gargoyles of Trinity College Church were monkeys and 'crouching monsters', which 'seemed in agony under the load they bore.' Monkeys were thought to have associations with the Devil, presumably because their faces appeared to be distorted versions of human faces. The left capital drawn here includes two monkeys, seemingly wearing shirts with slashed sleeves, which were popular in the 16th century and can be seen in portraits of James V. The monkeys are putting their hands into the mouth of a large grotesque face. The other capital is decorated with flamboyant foliage.

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Related subjects

Architecture > Architectural features > Coats of arms

Architecture > Architectural features > Pillars

Architecture > Architectural features > Stone carvings

Places > Edinburgh areas > Old Town

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Religion > Religious facilities > Churches

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Trinity College Church (stonework details)