Religious processions 1300–1500

Painted wooden palmesel figure, Ulm, Germany, about 1480. Museum no. A.1030-1910

Processions played an important role in the religious cycle, particularly on saints' festivals and during the Holy Week leading up to Easter. They were also held on special occasions - at funerals, during prayers for rain or a good harvest, or when relics were formally moved (or 'translated') from one site to another.

Clerics and laity walked separately, as did men and women, often singing and carrying candles and banners. Clerics wore vestments, such as the cope and chasuble, their colour relating to the occasion. Bishops bore a staff or crosier. On saints' days or at the consecration of churches, the focus of a procession was often the shrine containing the saint's relics. Many similar processions still take place today, like the Palm Sunday Procession in Thaur, Austria.

This short film focuses on a Palm Sunday procession that still takes place each year in Thaur, a small town in Austria near Innsbruck. A wooden sculpture of Christ riding an Ass (known as a Palmesel) is processed from the main church in Thaur, to the Chapel of St Romedius and then to the neighbouring village of Rum before returning to Thaur. The Thaur Palmesel figure is similar to an example in the V&A's collections but it was made much later.

This film has been supported by the Bonita Trust

Processional objects from the V&A's collections

The objects displayed below relate to various types of procession that took place in medieval and Renaissance Europe. Many similar processions still take place today, like the Palm Sunday Procession in Thaur.

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  Christ Riding on the Ass, about 1480

  Christ Riding on the Ass
  Limewood and pine, painted and gilded
  Southern Germany
  About 1480
  Museum no. A.1030-1910
  Bequeathed by Captain H B Murray

  This popular type of sculpture known as 'Palmesel' or 'Palm Donkey', represented Christ during religious services around Easter. On Palm Sunday, a week before Easter, it was drawn through the streets to commemorate his triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

• 

  Pastoral Staff, about 1300

  Ivory and bone pastoral staff
  Northern Italy
  About 1300
  Museum no. 604-1902

  Together with the mitre and the pectoral cross, the pastoral staff or crosier is part of the insignia of a bishop and some abbots. Carried as a symbol of authority during Mass and religious processions, it looks like a shepherd's crook as a reminder of the bishop's role in looking after his 'flock'.

• 

  Cope, about 1330-1350

  Cope
  Silk velvet
  Italy or Spain
  About 1330–50
  Museum no. T.36-1955

  The scenes on the back of this cope show the life of the Virgin Mary, surrounded by apostales and saints. The lavish embroidery made it fit for a high-ranking clergyman. The pearl, glass and metal details would have sparkled in the candlelight of the church or in a sunlit procession.

• 

  Lantern, about 1550

  Iron lantern
  France
  About 1550
  Museum no. 469-1895

  Lanterns were used for processions during the night of Maundy Thursday. In the Easter week this was the evening when Jesus held the Last Supper and was later arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. Lanterns were also used in Passion plays to illuminate the moment of his arrest.

• 

  Cross, about 1500

  Partially guilded silver cross with enamel
  Spain, probably Burgos
  About 1500
  Museum no. M.294-1956
  Bequeathed by Dr W L Hildburgh FSA

  Crosses like this were often carried on poles at the head of a procession, followed by choirboys with censers. The figure of Christ usually faced forwards, unless a pope or bishop was walking behind, in which case it was reversed.

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  Chasuble, about 1400–30

  Silk chasuble embroidered with the coat of arms of Sir Thomas Erpingham on the back
  Silk patterned with metal and coloured silk threads: Italy
  Linen embroidery with silver and gilded silver threads: England
  About 1400–30
  Museum no. T.256-1967

  An East Anglian landowner and leading knight called Sir Thomas Erpingham commissioned this chasuble. It was probably worn by his personal chaplain or by a priest from a church with which he was associated.

• 

  Chasuble, about 1600

  Silk velvet chasuble
  Silk velvet: Italy or Spain, about 1600
  Silk, metal thread and sequin embroidery: England, probably 1533
  Museum no. 697-1902

  This chasuble was recycled from a pall, a rectangular cloth that covered a coffin in funeral processions. The sombre colours related to death. The pall was made for Robert Thornton, 22nd Abbot of Jervaulx in 1510–33, and on the back are his initials.

• 

  Processional banner, about 1370

  Processional banner
  Painted by Barnaba da Modena (active about 1367–89)
  Tempera and gilding on canvas
  Genoa, Italy
  About 1370
  Museum no. 781-1894

  This banner belonged to a flagellant confraternity, a lay organisation that tended the sick and buried the dead. Members of these confraternities whipped themselves in public to express remorse for their sins. the flagellants, shown kneeling on the reverse of the banner, have holes in their robes to allow this.