SANCTUARY
431
SANCTUARY
conditions, he had to "abjure the realm", that is
leave the kingdom within a specified time and take
an oath not to return without the king's leave.
Violation of the protection of sanctuary was punish-
able by excommunication. In some cases there was a
stone seat within the church, called the "frith-
stool", on which it is said the seeker of sanctuary had
to sit in order to establish his claim to protection.
In others, and more commonly, there was a large ring
or knocker on the church door, the holding of which
gave the right of asylum. Examples of these may
be .seen at Durham cathedral, St. Gregory's, Norwich,
and elsewhere. The ecclesiastical right of sanctuary
ceased in England at the Reformation, but was after
that date allowed to certain non-ecclesiastical pre-
cincts, which afforded shelter chiefly to debtors.
The houses of ambassadors were also sometimes quasi-
sanctuaries. Whitefriars, London (also called
Alsatia),was the last place of sanctuary used in Eng-
land, but it was abolished by Act of Parliament in
1697. In other European countries the right of
sanctuary ceased towards the end of the eighteenth
century.
Pegge in Arch(€ologia, VIII (London, 1787); Mazzinghi, SandufirieH (Stafford, 1887); Blumerixco, Das Axylrecht (Dorpat, 185.3). G. CyPRIAX AlSTON.
Sanctuary, the space in the church for the high altar and the clergy. It is variously designated apsis or concha (from the shell-like, hemispherical dome), and since the Middle Ages especially it has been called "choir", from the choir of singers who are here stationed. Other names are presbyterium, concessus chori, tribuna or tribunal, fiYtoj/, fijuroj', sanctum, sanctuarium. From the architectural standpoint the sanctuary has undergone manifold alterations. In Christian antiquity it was confined to the apse, into the wall of which the .stone benches for the clergy were let after the fashion of an amphitheatre, while in the middle rose up the bishop's chair (cathedra). It would however be wrong to believe that this ancient Chris- tian sanctuary had always a semicircular formation, since recent investigations (especially in the East) have revealed very various shapes. Over a dozen different shapes have already been discovered. In Syria the semicircular development advances very little or not at all from the outer wall, while beside it are situated two rooms which serve respectively for the offering (prothcsis) and for the clergy {diaconi- cum). The sanctuary was often formed by three in- terconnected apses (Dreiconchensystem) ; the quite straight termination also occurs. An important dif- ference between the Roman and Oriental churches consisted in the fact that in the case of the latter the wall of the sanctuary was interrupted by a window through which the sunlight freely entered, while the windowless Roman apse was shrouded in a mysteri- ous darkness.
As the semicircular niche could no longer in all ca-ses hold the numbers of the higher and lower clergy, a portion of the middle nave was often enclosed with rails and added to the sanctuary, as may be seen to- day in the San Clemente at Rome. Outside Rome this necessity of enlarging the sanctuary was met in another way, by introducing between the longitu- dinal (or cross) aisle and the apse a compartment or square, the basilica thus receiving (instead of the Ro- man T-shape) the form of a cross. This innovation was of far-reaching importance, since the sanctuary could not develop freely. This development pro- ceeded from the beginning to the close of the Middle Ages in what may be declared as an almost wanton fashion. The time at which this innovation was in- troduced has been for a long time the subject of a violent literary feud, since it is most intimately con- nected with the development of the cruciform ar- rangement of churches. Some investigators hold that this form is first found in the Monastery of Fulda un-
der Abbot Bangulf about the year 800; according to
others it occurred before the time of Charlemagne in
the French monasteries of Jumieges and Rebais. In
recent times Strzygowski has maintained that both
views are incorrect, and that the extended sanctuary,
or in other words the cruciform church, was already
common in the early Christian period in Asia Minor,
and was thence transplanted to the West by Basihan
monks as early as the fourth or fifth century.
A second very important alteration, which occurred during the Carlo vingian Renaissance, consisted in the introduction or rather transplantation from the East to the West of the "double sanctuary". By this is meant the construction of a second sanctuary or west choir opposite the east; this arrangement was found even in ancient times in isolated instances, but its in- troduction in the case of larger churches gradually became universal in the West. Concerning the rea- sons for this innovation various theories have been put forward. It must, however, be recognized that the reasons were not everywhere the same. They were three in particular: the duplication of the titular saints, the construction of a place for the remains of a saint, and the need of a nuns' or winter choir. In ad- dition, Strzygowski has also maintained the influence exercised by the change of "orientation", that is the erection of the altar, which in the East originally stood in the west of the church, at the eastern end. The second reason seems to have given incentive most frequently to the construction of the second choir. Thus in 819 Abbot Ansger built a west choir w^th a crypt to receive the remains of St. Boniface; in Mit- telzell (Richenau) this choir was constructed for the relics of St. Mark, in Eichstiitt (1060) for the remains of St. Willibald. Especially suitable for nuns' con- vents was the west choir with a gallery, since from it the nuns could follow Divine Service unobserved; for this reason the church built at Essen (Prussia) in 874 received a west choir in 947.
The increa.se of the clergy, in conjunction with the striving (in the Romanesque period) after as large crypts as possible, led to the repeated in- crease of the sanctuary, which, however, exercised a very prejudicial influence on the architectural ar- rangement of space. The sanctuary was e.xtended especially westwards — thus into the longitudinal aisle, but at times also into the cross aisle. Examples of this excessively great extension are suppUed by the cathedrals of Paderborn and Speyer. The walls of this sanctuary, which had thus become a formal en- closure, were often decorated with Bibhcal reliefs; here, in fact, are preserved some very important Ro- manesque reliefs, as on the Georgentor at Bamberg and in the Church of St. Michael at Hildcsheim. But even in the Romanesque period began the war against this elevated sanctuary, waged mainly by the monks of Hirsan (Germany), then highly influential, and the Ci.stercians. The former as opponents of the crypts, restored the sanctuary to the same level as the nave or made it only a few steps higher; they also ended the sanctuary in a straight line, and gave it only a small round apse. More important was the change made by the Cistercians, who, to enable so many priests to read Mass simultaneously, resolved the eastern por- tion into a number of chapels standing in a straight Une at either side of the sanctuary. This alteration be- gan in the mother-house of Cisteaux, and extended with the monks evervwhere even to the East.
These alterations paved the way for the third great transformation of the sanctuary: this was accom- plished by Gothic architecture, which, in consequence of the improved vaulting, found it easier to conduct the side aisles around the choir, as the Romanesque architects had already done in individual cases. The sanctuary indeed was not thereby essentially altered, but it was now acces.sible on all sides, and the faith- ful could attain to the immediate vicinity of the high
