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Canterbury Cathedral Stained Glass

Thorny Ones: Julian and Maurice
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Canterbury Cathedral's Stained Glass

Medieval stained glass depicting the Emperors Julian and Maurice, seated with a bowl of gold coins and attendants. Left panel in the seventh/bottom register of the Second Typological Window (n. XV, 7) in the north choir aisle, dated to about 1180.

The inscription ties this scene with the the Sower on Thorny Ground, saying: "these thorny ones are the rich and extravagant; they bear no fruit since they seek earthly things." Emperor Julian "the Apostate" (361-63) was raised a Christian but attempted a revival of paganism during his short reign. Maurice Tiberius (582-602) was an eastern emperor who is regarded as a saint in the Orthodox Church. But he made an enemy of Pope Gregory the Great by approving the title "Ecumenical Patriarch" for the Patriarch of Constantinople.

Gregory paired Maurice with Julian in a letter, and by the 12th century the two emperors were regarded in the west as "avaricious and rapacious princes."

This was originally part of Typological Window 6.

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11/18/07 3:33 PM
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