A parvis or parvise is the open space in front of and around a cathedral or church, especially when surrounded by either or , as at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. It is thus a church-specific type of forecourt, front yard or apron.
Etymology
The term derives via
Old French from the
Latin paradisus meaning "
paradise". This in turn came via
Ancient Greek from the Indo-European
Aryan languages of ancient Iran, where it meant a walled enclosure or garden precinct with heavenly flowers planted by the Clercs (Clerics).
Parvis of St Paul's Cathedral
In London in the Middle Ages the
Serjeant-at-law practised at the parvis of St Paul's Cathedral, where clients could seek their counsel. In the 14th century
Geoffrey Chaucer referred to
"A sergeant of the laws ware and wise/ That often hadde yben at the paruis...". Later, ecclesiastical courts developed at Doctors' Commons on the same site.
Late English use
In
England the term was much later used to mean a room over the
porch of a church. The architectural historians John Fleming,
Hugh Honour and
Nikolaus Pevsner, and the theologians Frank Cross and Elizabeth Livingstone all say this usage is wrong. The
Oxford English Dictionary records this use as being "historical", and current in the middle of the 19th century. It may stem from an earlier misuse in F. Blomefield's book
Norfolk, published in 1744.
===Examples of English parvises===
See also
-
Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Sources
Further reading
