Was the "Botafumeiro" unique in the Middle Ages?

[TerryB]

In my recent reading I came across a quote mentioning a "great censer" in Old St. Paul's Cathedral, London before the English Reformation. I dug around on the web and found the following in "Plays of Our Forefathers and Some of the Traditions Upon Which They Were Founded" By Charles Mills Gayley 1907

. . . . . and ten days later the gospel of Whitsunday would suggest, as it still does in Florence and many another Italian town, the representation of the descent of the Holy Ghost. ...We read that in the middle of the sixteenth century at Whitsuntide in (Old) St. Paul's Cathedral they still symbolised the marvel . . . "by letting a white pigeon fly out of a hole in the midst of the roof of the great aisle. The pigeon, with a long censer which came down from the same place almost to the ground, was swung up and down at such a length that it reached with one sweep almost to the west gate of the church, and with the other to the choir stairs; the censer breathing out over the church and the assembled multitude a most pleasant perfume from the sweet things burnt within it."
(the quote is from from Hone's Ancient Mysteries c. 1570)

It would seem that in mediaeval times, Santiago de Compostela was not the only church / cathedral with a great censer. Has anyone else come across other examples?

Blessings
Tio Tel

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Interesting. My understanding is that these Great Censors were common in the major churches of Europe in the Middle ages. Indeed they say that in Tui even now there is a botafumeiro. This article posits the case that The Botafumeiro is not Exclusive to Santiago http://www.ruasmagazine.es/el-botafumeiro-ya-no-es-exclusivo-de-santiago-de-compostela

 

[Peregrinopaul]

I'm curious about something.
I first became aware of the Camino several years ago after watching Ridley Scott's film 1492, in which there was a scene of Columbus processing down the aisle of a cathedral with Quee n Isabella, while a botafumeiro swung dramatically overhead. It was a stunning scene, and I was fascinated. I assumed from the location credits that this was Santiago, and after a bit of research, realised this was not so, but as a consequence stumbled, as it were, on the camino.
I'm wondering where this scene was filmed, because obviously there is at least one other still operating somewhere. Here's a still.

 

[newfydog]

According to Michener, he was told by Father Precedo, the canon of the cathedral in 1966, that the custom may have started with Archbishop Gelmirez, "who did everything possible to maintain the credentials of Santiago on par with Rome" and that "he invented the huge censer as a gesture of Compostella's uniqueness within the church." It was not to fumigate stinking pilgrims. In 1499 and 1622 they have accidentally dropped it into the crowd, without injuries.

 

[Peregrinopaul]

According to Michener, he was told by Father Precedo, the canon of the cathedral in 1966, that the custom may have started with Archbishop Gelmirez, "who did everything possible to maintain the credentials of Santiago on par with Rome" and that "he invented the huge censer as a gesture of Compostella's uniqueness within the church." It was not to fumigate stinking pilgrims. In 1499 and 1622 they have accidentally dropped it into the crowd, without injuries.

.....Not to fumigate stinking pilgrims....Ah, well, it's a great myth though. I might try to forget I ever read that bit, Newfydog.