A misericord (sometimes named mercy seat, like the biblical object) is a small wooden structure formed on the underside of a folding seat in a church which, when the seat is folded up, is intended to act as a shelf to support a person in a partially standing position during long periods of prayer.St. Boloph's Church in Boston, Lincolnshire, England is a 14th century with sixty-two surviving misericords from the time of its construction. Charming and whimsical.
Dog on a leash.
A schoolteacher beating a boy on the buttocks with a bundle of birch twigs, while the boy tries to protect himself with a book and three other boys look on.
Two jesters, each holding a cat and biting its tail.
An ape wearing a hood pouring something into a bucket held by a fox, while another fox lurks behind him.
A Green Man with his tongue out.
A kitchen scene.
I am picturing members of the medieval congregation, minds wandering during a service in Latin, playing a whimsical medieval version of "Where's Waldo?"
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