ABSTRACT
The two centuries from the accession of Edward III to the death of Henry VIII saw immense changes in the visual arts. In the Middle Ages no distinction was made between art and craft. Any discussion of medieval art is based on incomplete material, for immense quantities have simply disappeared. Canterbury is one of many different centres of pilgrimage; its popularity and international fame had enabled the monks to refine the business of managing pilgrims to a profitable and dramatic art. One aspect lay in the nature of what the artist was required to do: medieval artists differed from modern ones in that they worked to the wishes of the patron and were not free to act as inspiration led them. Artists were mostly professional laymen, based in the big cities, but liable to be summoned anywhere for a specific project.
