An elaborate doorway leading from the South Quire Transept toward the Chapter House (and now the Chapter Library) was commissioned by Bishop Hamo de Hythe circa 1340. Described as one of the finest examples of English Decorated sculpture in existence, its iconography is nonetheless a result of troubled times.

The many elements of the doorway are designed to be read as one entire scene. At the very top, Bishop Hamo himself is depicted as a small naked soul surrounded by clouds and rising to heaven.

The two largest figures in the scene are emerging from the heads of men. These are Ecclesia and Synagoga representing the Christian Church and Jewish synagogue (i.e. Judaism). Ecclesia on the left stands proud with crown and crucifix staff holding a representation of the Church.

Standing opposite and in contrast, Synagoga is blindfold, staff broken and the tablets of the law held upside down. This reflects the belief, universal in the medieval Church, that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah and that Judaism as a religion was superseded by Christianity. This starkly anti-Semitic iconography is common in medieval Church art. It has been noted that here Synagoga has been sympathetically treated, compared to more grotesque charicatures from around the time, some 50 years after the Jews expulsion from England in 1290. However, in placing the beautiful but tragic Synagoga within the wider scene, it could be said to go further in rationalising its anti-Semitism within the divine order.

Further Reading: Rochestercathedral.org