The earliest chalice, used in the church of Berwick St. James, Wilts, until a few years ago, and now in the British Museum, dates from the beginning of the thirteenth century. Its bowl is broad and shallow, the stem and knot (by which the vessel was held) and foot being plain and circular. Then the makers (from 1250 to 1275) fashioned the stem and knot separately from the bowl and foot, and shaped them polygonally. During the remaining years of the century the foot was worked into ornate lobes. Then the bowl is deepened and made more conical. About 1350 the custom arose of laying the chalice on its side on the paten to drain at the ablutions at Mass; and as the round-footed chalices would have a tendency to roll, the foot was made hexagonal for stability. Henceforth all the mediaeval chalices were fashioned with a six-sided foot. By degrees the bowl became broader and shallower, and instead of the base having six points, its form is a sexfoil without any points. Several old chalices are engraved with the inscription--
Calicem salutaris accipiam et nomen Domini inbocabo.
[Illustration: CHALICE AND PATEN, SANDFORD, OXFORDSHIRE _Circa_ A.D. 1301]
In one of the compartments of the base there was a representation of a crucifix, or the Virgin, or ihc, or xpc.
The usual devices on ancient patens were the _Manus Dei_, or hand of God, in the act of blessing; on later ones the vernicle, or face of our Lord; the Holy Trinity; the Holy Lamb; the sacred monogram. The oldest paten in existence is that found at Chichester Cathedral in a coffin, and its date is about the year 1180. In the centre is a rude engraving of the _Agnus Dei_, and it bears the inscription--
Agnus Dei qui tollis pecata mundi miserere nobis.
[Illustration: PRE-REFORMATION PLATE (1) 13th Century (2) Early 16th Century (3) Elizabethan (4) Manus Dei (5) Vernicle]
The grave of Bishop Grostete at Lincoln yielded up an ancient paten (1230-53), which has the figure of a bishop vested, the right hand raised in the act of blessing, the left holding a crozier. The oldest piece of church plate still in use is a remarkable paten at Wyke Church, near Winchester, the date of which is about 1280. It bears an engraving of the _Agnus Dei_ holding a banner, and around the rim is the legend--