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The parish church of St Mary's Sompting |
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The Knights Templar. An order which sought to protect the pilgrims and the Holy Places of Jerusalem |
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| the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem "taking the solemn vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. To symbolize their abandonment of worldly possessions, they chose as their uniform a simple robe and a white cross" | |
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This brilliant photograph of St Mary's Parish Church at Sompting was taken by John Drewett in the 1960's . It can be seen at the Lancing Postcards website |
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This photo was taken in an attempt to reproduce John's from the 1960's. I could not achieve the correct angle or quality shown by John but it does show the changes to the area |
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Can there be a more spectacular church tower than the one at
St Mary's parish church in Sompting? I cannot think of one but
there is much more to the story of this marvelous building than
the tower. an Anglo Saxon architectural masterpiece St Mary's shows examples of late Anglo Saxon architecture. King William the Conqueror's Domesday Book mentions the church. The experts cannot give an exact date for the building of the church but it is generally regarded as being completed before the actual Norman invasion of 1066. Some say 1000 ad, others 1040 ad. The roof on the tower is described as being "Rhenish Helm" ("Rhineland Helmet"). The name comes from similar architecture of the period on the Rhineland in modern day Germany. The shape of the tower ensures that snow does not collect and potentially damage the structure. It is possible that these towers originally had wooden and not stone slates. An interesting thought is that other towers of the Rhenish Helm construction were built in the Anglo Saxon Britain. enter the Knights Following completion, St Mary's next appears on the record for the year 1154 when William de Braose granted Sompting church to the Knights Templar. Who were these Knights? Towards the end of the 11th century, stories began to arrive in Western Europe about atrocities being carried out against pilgrims visiting Jerusalem. Further, that desecration of Holy Places of the Christian religion (specifically the Temple in Jerusalem) was being carried out by followers of Islam, for whom the area also had religious importance. This caused the Pope, Urban, to call for a Crusade to capture and protect the Holy Places and protect pilgrims. Amongst those to take part was King Richard the First ("The Lion Heart") of England. Against the odds, the Crusade was a success and Jerusalem and the Holy Places were retaken in 1100. During this crusade, certain knights banded together to form a military order which, following victory, vowed to protect henceforth the Holy Places and pilgrims. They became known as the Knights Templar (in honour of the Temple at Jerusalem). So how did this have an impact on St Mary's? 1154 and a possible "tax break" In 1154 William de Braose, a Norman, whose father had received the gift of the area from King William the Conqueror following the invasion of 1066, "granted Sompting church to the Knights Templar, reserving the life interests of two priests there". William de Braose may well have been a devout man but it is also possible that he had a head for figures. One of the great advantages of placing a church into the hands of the Knights Templar was the ruling by the Pope (starting with Urban 11) who "heaped on them favours of every kind, spiritual and temporal" and "exempted from all taxation, even from the ecclesiastical tithes (taxes)" So this might aptly be described as being a 12th century "tax break"! destiny of the Knights Templar The Knights Templar grew in power, numbers, land, weapons and influence. So long as they protected the Holy Places and pilgrims, they had the support of the Pope. There is a link to more information about the Knights Templar at the end of this article. Events turned against the Knights Templar when, in 1291, Jerusalem again fell to the forces of Islam. Defeat prompted European Kings and the Pope to re-assess the wealth and power that protecting Jerusalem had provided the Knights Templars with. Envy and suspicion ensued. King Philip IV ("Philip the Fair") of France ordered that all Knights Templars should be arrested on 13th October 1307 and placed under "intense examination" (i.e. torture). Not surprisingly, many of those arrested and subjected to the torture chambers admitted their "guilt". In 1312 Pope Clement V issued a decree ("Papal Bull") dissolving the order of the Knights Templar. Their wealth and property was to be passed to another Order of Crusaders called the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem. So in 1324, when King Edward II of England accepted the Papal Bull, St Mary's at Sompting had new owners. enter King Henry VIII The Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem owned St Mary's from 1324 until 1540. There is a link to more information about the Order of the Hospital at the end of this article. King Henry VIII of England was crowned in 1509. He was a Roman Catholic under the command, on religious matters, of the Pope. Henry had married Catherine of Aragon just before becoming King. No male heir to the throne resulted from the marriage and, by 1527, Henry sought to annul the marriage by divorcing Catherine and marrying Ann Boleyn. The Roman Catholic church believed in marriage for life and did not support divorce. Henry had a problem in that, if he did decide to divorce Catherine and marry Ann, the Pope might well excommunicate him (throw him out of the Church). Excommunication was to be feared as it meant that your soul could not enter heaven. No doubt expecting to get agreement, Henry asked for a special ruling from Pope Clement IV allowing him to divorce and re-marry, simply because he was the King. Henry further promised that he would ensure that all others in his kingdom would abide by the strict ruling of no divorce for Roman Catholics! Pope Clement, not unnaturally, declined Henry's request. Henry then turned to Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury and ordered him to annul the marriage. This he did in 1532. Henry married Anne Boleyn and in quick succession, ensured Parliament passed a law that placed himself as "Supreme Head of the Church" instead of the Pope. That done, Henry systematically took control of the wealth of the church by the dissolution of all monasteries and their churches. In 1540 the Parliamentary Acts became law and The Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem was dissolved ... and hard times visited St Mary's. hard times at St Mary's From 1540 to the 1900's the story of St Mary's now becomes one of relatively hard times. I will be quoting from references on the record at the University of London & History of Parliament Trust, to whom I acknowledge the copyright and detail each specific reference. It seems to have been quite a struggle for those involved with St Mary's during this period!
modern times and back to the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem It is often said that life is a circle or that "it all comes back round again". This is true of St Mary's. Despite the best efforts of King Henry VIII, the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem was re-founded and received a Royal Charter from Queen Victoria in 1888. Fittingly, Major G N Tristram presented the patronage of St Mary's to the Order in 1963 St Mary's awaits the visitor, be they willing to enter and partake of Christian worship or just wishing to look at a splendid and important building. links that you might find useful |
