English: Despenser Retable, c.1380-90, Norwich Cathedral. Heavily restored and reconstructed in 1958 by Pauline Plummer. Top third (missing plank) (including symbols of The Passion on the frame) entirely reconstructed based on evidence found on similar surviving items. Heraldry on frame at side and bottom reconstructed from imprint evidence in putty. (Source: Pauline Plummer, ‘Restoration of a retable in Norwich Cathedral’, Studies in conservation, vol.4, no 3, August 1959, p. 108; Quoted in The Despenser Retable: the iconography of a 14th century frame, by The Frame Blog, theframeblog.com [1]

Heraldry

Text from: Pauline Plummer / The Frame Blog

Similar gilded gesso ornament covers the frieze of the frame in between the panels with coats of arms. The panels themselves are most clearly described by Pauline Plummer, the conservator who restored the altarpiece in 1958:

‘…panels 8.4 x 6cm., formerly of glass painted on the underside to imitate enamel, which were fitted into slots cut in the inner beading [astragal]. Three of these pieces of glass survive, two in a broken condition and all three having been removed and re-set at some time. They are painted in the form of armorial banners in red, black, and silver leaf, and are mounted on pats of adhesive putty, in some cases red, in others black, which lie over the gesso ground of the frame. Traces of this material remain even where the glass has disappeared, and three more arms can be identified by the imprint left on the putty while still soft. They are all arms of Norfolk families of the 14th century, the three original being the arms of Hales, Morieux, and Howard, while those identified by traces on putty are the coats of Despenser, Kerdeston, and Gernon.’ ..... Thirteen panels, traces of panels, or sites for lost panels remained on the altarpiece in its unreconstructed state; if the panels had continued around the frame in the same symmetrical pattern, there would be a total of twenty-eight. The question then arises as to what filled those sites where the panels have been lost. Were they all armorial bearings? Is this an altarpiece which acknowledges donors from twenty-eight noble or gentle families in Norfolk? The idea that it was commissioned as a gift to the city of Norwich in gratitude for the help given to Henry le Despenser in quashing the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381 began, according to Sarah Stanbury, with an article by the Victorian historian and archaeologist, W. H. St John Hope [11].....As she points out, ‘Of the identifiable six banners, three can be traced to families that played prominent rôles in the suppression of the 1381 rebellion – namely, Sir Stephen Hales, Sir Thomas Morieux, and most significantly, Henry Despenser, Bishop of Norwich from 1307 to 1406… Three banners hardly constitute evidence that the altarpiece was given as a thank-you gift for suppression of the revolt; in her entry on the altarpiece in the Age of Chivalry catalogue, Pamela Tudor-Craig does not even mention this supposition, stating instead that “no doubt the heraldry commemorates not only those who contributed to the altarpiece itself, but those who had helped fund the reconstruction of the eastern arms of the church.” ’

Symbols of the Passion and Heraldry

• Frame, top, 11 images, left to right:
  • 1: Lantern and four torches (Watching in the Garden)
  • 2: Peter’s cockerel (Betrayal by Peter)
  • 3: Pitcher of Vinegar
  • 4: Pillar and Scourges
  • 5: Crown of Thorns
  • 6: Pelican in her Piety
  • 7: Tunic of Christ
  • 8: Dice
  • 9: Three Nails
  • 10: Lance, sword and Sponge
  • 11: Ladder, pliers and hammer
• Frame, bottom, 2 symbols, 9 heraldic shields, left to right:
  • 1: Paschal Lamb
  • 2: Sir Stephen Hales (original faux enamel panel) A chevron between three lions rampant
  • 3: Sir Thomas Morieux (original faux enamel panel) Gules, a bend compony/chequy argent and sable.

Sir Thomas Morieux (c.1355-1387), of Thorpe Morieux, Suffolk, Constable of the Tower of London, who married Blanche of Lancaster, an illegitimate daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, by his mistress Marie de Saint-Hilaire. Son of Sir John Morieux, of Thorpe Morieux. (?) Nephew of Thomas Morieux, Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk 1367–1368

• • 4: King Richard II (Edward the Confessor impaling royal arms)
  • 5: See of Canterbury
  • 6: Norwich Priory Argent, a cross sable
  • 7: See of Norwich
  • 8: Arms of de Kerdeston/Cardeston of Kerdiston and Claxton Castle, Norfolk, Baron Kerdeston (1332): Gules, a saltire engrailed argent
  • 9: Gernon: Paly wavy of six argent and gules / Argent, three piles wavy gules (Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory, London, 1884, p.395)
  • 10: Howard family of Norfolk (original faux enamel panel)
  • 11: "IHS" , initials of Jesus affixed to The Cross
• Frame, right side, top to bottom:
  • Rebus/Coat of arms of the Holy Trinity;
  • A chevron between three (bells ?)
  • Five Wounds of Christ
• Frame, left side, top to bottom:
  • Argent, on a cross sable issuant from a chalice a wafer of the Holy Eucharist of the field;
  • Henry Despenser, Bishop of Norwich from 1307 to 1406;
  • Vera Icon (Face of Christ)