Great Malvern Priory has the largest and most complete collection of 15th century stained glass of any parish church in England. This period was the apex of English stained glass craftsmanship, and the Malvern medieval windows are some of very few of these masterpieces to survive the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the Puritan iconoclasm of the Commonwealth period.

What religious conflict could not destroy centuries of water almost has. In 2015, experts at York Glaziers surveyed the medieval windows and determined they were in dire need of urgent intervention. The glass suffered extensive damage from moisture, both from the elements outside the priory and from condensation within which nourished algae growth as well. Because medieval glass had a high proportion of water-soluble potash, it is heavily susceptible to pitting that corrodes the painted surface. The corrosion products then stream down the glass and mix with dirt to form an ugly grey crust that then further erodes the painted glass.

The three windows in St. Anne’s Chapel have suffered the heaviest damage because it is the dampest part of the church. Installed between 1470 and 1490, they were originally part of the six high clerestory windows on the south side of the priory’s nave. The windows narrate events from Genesis and Exodus, starting with the Creation. The central window depicts the stories of Noah and Abraham. The third window features scenes from the stories of Isaac, Joseph and Moses.

During a restoration program of the 1860s, 33 surviving panels of the original 72 were moved from the nave to St. Anne’s Chapel. They were re-leaded but not cleaned in 1910. Today circular pits dot the back side of the windows and show as a mottled grey texture on the painted figures of the interior surface. Thick corrosion crusts obscure the brilliant colors and painted features. Their relocation to the chapel put the windows much closer to eye level, which makes the fine details and vivid colors far more accessible to the viewer, but it also makes the damage unmistakable to the naked eye.

In 2021, the Friends of Malvern Priory, a charitable organization dedicated to the support of the great church, were able to raise the funds to embark on a restoration of the first St. Anne’s Chapel window, the Creation Window. This window depicts key scenes from the first three chapters of Genesis, from the Creation narrative through the expulsion from Eden.

The first panel shows God as the great architect, holding a compass as he creates the universe. The next scene is the creation of the moon and stars, followed by the creation of birds and fish. Then comes the creation of animals. The creation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden follows. In the next panel, God finds Adam and Eve covering their nakedness while the serpent uncoils from a tree trunk. The last scene shows an angel with a sword guarding the Eden as Adam and Eve are banished.

In order to fix the damage and prevent further deterioration in the long-term, the original windows were painstakingly removed from the stonework casing and transported to York for cleaning and repair. While conservators at York Glaziers worked on the fragile panes, cleaning, stabilizing and correcting damaged areas, new clear glass windows leaded with the same outlines of the medieval ones were installed on the exterior of the church.

This environmental protective glazing system is the solution to the degradation of the potash in the medieval glass. Once conserved, the medieval windows were reinstalled on a bronze frame 30-40 mm inside the window casing from the exterior protective glass. This small gap allows air to circulate between the two windows and protects the medieval glass from condensation inside the church and the rain, wind and sun outside of it.

Work began in November of 2022, and now the Creation Window is back in place, its color and detail restored as close to its original glory as possible.

A large medieval “tableman,” aka gaming piece, has been unearthed from the site of a medieval timber-framed building in Bedfordshire. Its size and decorative style suggest it dates to between the 11th and 13th centuries.

Crafted from a cattle mandible, the Bedfordshire piece is 6 cm (2.36 inches) in diameter. It was cut in a circular shape (a central dimple suggests a lathe was used to form it) and then decorated with concentric circles and the ring-and-dot design commonly found on Roman dice and game pieces as well as medieval ones.

Tablemen are so called because they were likely used to play various tables games (with ‘tables’ derived from the Latin tabula, meaning board or plank). In these games, two players would typically roll dice and move their pieces across rows of markings; an example still played today would be backgammon.

Tables games have developed over time and in the Roman period duodecim scripta was likely one of the first to be introduced in Britain. This game uses three rows of twelve markings, although little information has survived regarding gameplay. It is likely that the game ‘tabula’ was refined from duodecim scripta and continued to be played into the medieval period. Tabula is much more similar to backgammon and uses two rows of twenty-four points.

The Museum of Gloucester has a spectacular tabula set from the 11th or early 12th century that is the earliest surviving board and complete set of game pieces known to survive. It was discovered in Gloucester at the site of a Norman castle in 1983, and consists of 24 obelisk-shaped points (the strips pieces moved around on like in backgammon) and 30 pieces carved out of red deer antler and bone. The points were originally inlaid into a wood board, the eponymous tabula, that did not survive.

The Gloucester pieces are intricately carved with different depictions on each one, among them a horseback rider, a hanging man, an archer, an elephant, a manticore, a fiddler and a centaur with a bow and arrow. They are smaller than the Bedfordshire piece, averaging a diameter of 1.75 inches. None of them have ring-and-dot decoration, not even in the borders, but several of the points from the board do.

Archaeologists excavating the medieval ghost city of Dongola in Sudan have discovered a previously unknown complex of rooms covered with Christian wall paintings that are unique on the archaeological record. They include depictions of a Nubian king bowing to Christ while under the protective embrace of the Archangel Michael. This scene has no parallels in Nubian art.

Located on the east bank of the Nile, Dongola was built in the 5th century as a heavily fortified citadel. It became the capital of the Coptic kingdom of Makuria in the mid-6th century and prospered mightily thanks to trade agreements with Muslim Egypt. The city grew, expanding well beyond the original defensive walls of the citadel, reaching its economic, artistic and religious zenith between the 9th and 11th centuries. Makuria became one of the most important states in medieval Africa until its conquest by the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt in the 14th century. After that, the process of urbanization ground to a halt and Dongola contracted. It was finally abandoned in the 18th century.

There are more than a dozen churches in Dongola and two monasteries within the expanded urban periphery. The Monastery of the Holy Trinity is notable for its unique wall paintings dating to the city’s heyday in the 11th-13th century. More than 100 paintings adorn its walls, depicting Jesus, Mary, the Apostles, angels, saints and scenes from the Old and New Testaments.

The newly-discovered wall paintings are not in any of the churches or monasteries. They were found under private homes from the Funj period (16th-19th c.)

The paintings within it showed the Mother of God, Christ, as well as a scene depicting a Nubian king, Christ, and Archangel Michael. However, this was not a typical representation of a Nubian ruler under the protection of saints or archangels. The king bows to Christ, who is seated in the clouds, and kisses his hand. The ruler is supported by Archangel Michael, whose spread wings shield both the king and Christ himself. Such a scene finds no parallels in Nubian painting. The dynamism and intimacy of the representation contrasts with the hieratic nature of the figures shown on the side walls. Neither does the figure of the Virgin Mary on the north wall of the chamber belong to the typical repertoire of depictions of Mary in Nubian art. The Mother of God, shown in a dignified pose, is dressed in dark robes. In her hands she holds a cross and a book. Christ is depicted on the opposite wall. His right hand is shown in a gesture of blessing, and in His left he holds a book, which is fragmentarily preserved.

The paintings are accompanied by inscriptions currently studied by Dr. Agata Deptuła from PCMA UW. A preliminary reading of the Greek inscriptions has led to their identification as texts of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. An inscription in Old Nubian that accompanies the main scene is extremely difficult to decipher. Thanks to a preliminary reading by Dr. Vincent van Gerven Oei, the researchers learned that it contains several mentions of a king named David and a plea to God for protection of the city. The city mentioned in the inscription is probably Dongola, and King David is likely the royal figure depicted in the scene. David was one of the last rulers of Christian Makuria, and his reign marked the beginning of the end of the kingdom. For reasons unknown, King David attacked Egypt, which retaliated by invading Nubia and, as a result, Dongola was sacked for the first time in its history. Maybe the painting was created as the Mamluk army was approaching the city or already laying siege to it?

The biggest puzzle, however, is the complex of rooms in which the paintings were found. The spaces themselves, covered with vaults and domes and made of dried brick, are quite small. The room with the painted scene showing king David resembles a crypt, but it is 7 meters above the medieval ground level. The building is adjacent to a sacral building identified as the Great Church of Jesus, which was probably the cathedral of Dongola and the most important church of the kingdom of Makuria. Arab sources recounting King David’s attack on Egypt and the capture of the port of Aidhab and Aswan, maintain that this act was instigated by the Great Church of Jesus. Did the Archbishop of Dongola, much like Pope Urban II, incite King David to launch a crusade?

When the excavation came to end last month, the immediate priority was the conservation of the fragile wall paintings. Sections of plaster had detached from the walls and needed to be re-adhered, a challenging job in the confined spaces of the room complex in the hot temperatures of March in Sudan. Conservators from the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, and the Department of Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw worked together to stabilize the wall paintings, injecting putties in the gaps behind the plaster and preserving the paint on the plaster itself. The complex of rooms will be excavated further when the dig season resumed in the fall.