Misereres
Misereres
Elbowed stalls, often found in cathedral, collegiate, and minster churches, with seats that may be turned up, so as to give an opportunity of kneeling in those parts of the service in which the language of supplication ("miserere") occurs. They were allowed in the Roman Catholic Church as a relief to the infirm during the long services that were required to be performed by the ecclesiastics in a standing posture. They are always more or less ornamented with carvings of leaves, small figures, animals, etc., which are generally very boldly cut. Examples are to be found in almost all English churches which retain any of the ancient stalls; the oldest is in Henry the Seventh's Chapel at Westminster, where there is one in the style of the 13th century.
