St Michael de Rupe, Brentor
Mick Sharp experiences gods and devils circling a windy outcrop
St Michael de Rupe (of the Rock), Brentor, sits atop the eroded cone of an extinct volcano. It’s a dramatic site, and my photograph was used on the cover of the 2009 os Landranger Map 191. Founded around 1130 by Robert Giffard, traditionally in fulfilment of a vow made during a storm at sea, the church watches over Dartmoor, Devon and Cornwall. Hats fly at 335m above sea level; christening parties are soaked to the skin, vicars compelled to approach on all fours, and mourners advised to “crook’y down” behind headstones; and gowned brides slip to the sodden ground.
During the 1889–90 restorations, 40 skeletons were found three feet (1m) below the church floor, one aligned east–west, the others north– south. The church sits within an Iron Age hillfort on what is said to be a site of ancient sanctity. From the 12th century to around 1550 an annual, and often rowdy, Michaelmas fair was held here on September 29, the “vigil, feast and morrow of the Archangel”.
Archangels are the “Seven Spirits” who stand in the presence of God: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Chamuel, Jophiel and Zadkiel. Their names end in “El”, meaning God. Uriel is “the Light of God”. Michael, “who is like unto God”, is captaingeneral of the heavenly hosts, protector of the Hebrew nation
( Daniel 10.13, 21; 12.1), patron saint and prince of the Church Militant, elector of souls and, like Hermes/Mercury, a messenger and psychopomp. The 12thcentury Doom painting inside Chaldon church, Surrey, shows him weighing souls while the Devil tips the balance. Michael is named in The Revelation of St John the Divine (12.7–9) triumphing over the rebel angels of the dragon (Satan) during the “war in heaven”. On the south parclose screen of Ranworth church, Norfolk, a winged and sword-wielding Michael stands victorious upon the red, seven-headed dragon of Revelation 12.3.
Ideas of dualism and the ultimate triumph of the spiritual over zoic vice may be traced back to ancient Egypt and the Middle East, as may images of winged messengers and genii, and of warrior-heroes overcoming serpents with sword or lance. Egyptian-style Phoenician ivories found at the Assyrian capital of Nimrud, Iraq, show a winged male figure grasping the comb of a griffin while thrusting a spear into its mouth; hieroglyphs on one plaque read: “enduring/abiding one; lord of radiance”.
Emperor Constantine ( ad306– 37) dedicated a church to St Michaëlion in Constantinople. In 495 Michael appeared to fishermen at St Michael’s Mount, Cornwall. The fifth-century legend and founding of his church on Monte Galgano, Puglia, was copied in the eighth century at Mont Tombe (Mont-St-Michel), Normandy.
Dedications to St Michael mushroomed in England and Wales, along with his association with high places and the Christianisation of ancient sacred sites. In A Crown of Lights, part of his marvellous series of Merrily Watkins mysteries, Phil Rickman draws on the legend that the St Michael ch churches of Llanfihangel
Rhydithon, Cascob, Llanfihangel-NantMelan and Cefnllys, were built to magically encircle Radnor Forest where the last Welsh dragon lies sleeping.