Bringing the Holy Land Home: The Crusades, Chertsey Abbey, and the Reconstruction of a Medieval Masterpiece

Why was this made, and how was it used?

A miter was a liturgical headpiece worn by a bishop or an abbot during church ceremonies. It would have been worn for momentous occasions in the abbey church of the Benedictine Monastery of Saint Peter, Salzburg, Austria. This monastery was founded in 696 and is one of the oldest German-speaking monasteries. The religious site is known for its education, emphasizing the importance of religion and spiritual life throughout Austria. Chertsey Abbey, where the Chertsey tiles were laid, was also Benedictine and could also have owned miters and other vestments made of Islamic or Byzantine silk, like this one.

The Benedictine monastery of St. Peter does not have a list of abbots that were alive during this time. However, one archbishop that could have seen this miter in use was Rodolfo de Hoheneck, a thirteenth-century archbishop of Salzburg. This miter then would be worn, along with the chasuble and crozier, and put on in one of the vestment rooms of the church. The abbot wearing the miter would walk along the church's nave for a celebratory mass. Because this miter was made in the thirteenth century, a period when many crusades were fought, it is likely that the person wearing this miter would have spoken about the crusades at some point. The miter itself could have been worn during a monastic event to call support for the crusades. 


 

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