Introduction
The wodewose
Seven Deadly Sins
The day of Doom
A medieval zoo
A hungry dragon
The pelican
Iconoclasm
A wealthy benefactor
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When the Reformation hit England in the mid-16th century, it meant a swift and sometimes brutal end to Catholic forms of worship and thought.
In the preceding century or so, churches had been highly decorated with images of saints, who might be prayed to in the hope of intercession, that they might "intercede", or act as go-between with God. With the imposition of Protestantism, this sort of thing was considered superstition (another word for other people's religion, especially an earlier one) and many of the images covered over or defaced.
In many cases, such as the image here of St Edward the Confessor on the rood screen at North Burlingham in Norfolk, this meant literally scratching away the face.
Particularly loathed, though, were images - which had been extremely popular - of St Thomas Becket, the archbishop who had been murdered in his cathedral at Canterbury in 1170, apparently at the behest of King Henry II. The canonisation of a powerful bishop who had fallen foul of his king was not popular with Henry VIII, which explains why Becket's image was more rigorously expunged - as on the right here.