E

east end: Refers to the end of the church where the main altar is placed and where the main part of the service takes place. Generally, medieval churches were oriented toward the east. However, topography of the land or other factors may have prevented an absolute east- west orientation for a church. The term east end, is generally used to describe the area where the main altar is placed in a medieval church, even in those cases where the church is not oriented exactly toward the east.

Contrast with west end

Ecclesia: Personification of Church. Often appears with Synagoga (Personification of Judaism) Personifications of the Church (Ecclesia) and Judism (Synagoga). Both appear as female figures- Ecclesia was crowned and holding a chalice and Synagoga was blindfolded and held the Tablets of the Law (the Ten Commandments given to Moses).

egg and dart: A repetative decorative motif often used in classical antiquity and copied in the Middle Ages. It consisited of oval (egg-shaped) motifs alternating with dart-like motifs.

See also other repetative motifs.

Evangelist symbols : Symbols for the authors of the four New Testament books which are narratives of the life of Christ. These symbols were very common in manuscripts, sculpture and wall paintings, especially form the Early Medieval through the Romanesque periods. The symbols were:

Matthew: angel (man)
Mark: lion
Luke: ox
John: eagle