Pricke of Conscience Window

The Pricke of Conscience Window

 This famous window is in the Lady Chapel of All Saints North Street, York. It dates from around 1410 and is unique for being the only medieval stained glass window in Europe known to include the text of a poem - The Prik of Conscience. As its name implies, the poem is is a devotional work intended to provoke repentance and sorrow for sin. Snippets of text from the poem appear under each of the fifteen window panels.

The window depicts the last fifteen days of the world, in characteristic apocalyptic medieval style. However, to a modern eye the terrible 'roaring' fish look more as if they have toothache and the rocks and trees like overgrown mushrooms!

The fish, roaring with toothache (top); overgrown mushrooms! (bottom)

More overgrown mushrooms (top and bottom). The top panel is supposed to be rocks and stones on fire, while the bottom one is the sea on fire (the things that look like red chilies are presumably the flames!)