St Margaret of Antioch July 20th

St Margaret about to be beheaded.  Castle Howard (if I remember rightly from the label, this is by William Morris)

St Margaret’s story is a horrifying chronical of torture and multiple attempts to kill her. I walked past the rerodos shown below at least weekly when I worked in the V&A, and always stared at this and wondered why medieval martyrdoms were so very bloody and, frankly, sadomasochistic.

The reredos below is on display at the V&A, Kensington London. If you click it you will link to an interesting essay on Martyrdom for St Margaret’s Day. For more of my thoughts on this subject have a look at my post of St Catherine.


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