Steven Till

Taper
[tey-per]
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English tapor candle, wick, perhaps modification of Latin papyrus papyrus
Origin: before 900 (according to dictionary.com, Merriam-Webster says before 1200)

1)  a slender candle

2)  a long wick coated with wax, tallow, or the like, as for use in lighting candles or fires

*definitions from Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com

From the Golden Legend or Lives of the Saints, compiled by Jacobus de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, 1275:

It was so that on a Candlemas day, as all the people were in the church with tapers in their hands, suddenly all the lights in the church were quenched at once, save only the taper which S. Dunstan’s mother bare, for that burned still fair. Whereof all the people marvelled greatly; howbeit her taper was out, but by the power of our Lord it lighted again by itself, and burned full bright, so that all the others came and lighted their tapers at the taper of S. Dunstan’s mother …

From Roger of Hovedon, The Order of the Coronation of Richard I, 1189:

First came the bishops, abbots, and large numbers of the clergy, wearing silken hoods, preceded by the cross, taper-bearers, censers, and holy water, as far as the door of the king’s inner chamber; where they received the before-named duke, and escorted him to the church of Westminster, as far as the high altar, in solemn procession, with chaunts of praise, while all the way along which they went, from the door of the king’s chamber to the altar, was covered with woollen cloth. The order of the procession was as follows: First came the clergy in their robes, carrying holy water, and the cross, tapers, and censers …

Filed under: Middle Ages History, Medieval Glossary, Medieval History on January 15th, 2010