A misericord is a small wooden structure formed on the underside of a folding seat in a church which, when the seat is folded up, is intended to act as a shelf to support a person in a partially standing position during long periods of prayer.
Misericord from the church of Saint-Prix in Noizay (Indre-et-Loire, France), depicting an angel
With the seat lifted (as at left), the misericord provides a ledge to support the user
St Botolph's Church, Boston, Lincolnshire: a school-master thrashing a pupil
A simple bracket-like misericord, Bechtolsheim, Germany
A choir, also sometimes called quire, is the area of a church or cathedral that provides seating for the clergy and church choir. It is in the western part of the chancel, between the nave and the sanctuary, which houses the altar and Church tabernacle. In larger medieval churches it contained choir-stalls, seating aligned with the side of the church, so at right-angles to the seating for the congregation in the nave. Smaller medieval churches may not have a choir in the architectural sense at all, and they are often lacking in churches built by all denominations after the Protestant Reformation, though the Gothic Revival revived them as a distinct feature.
The choir of Bristol Cathedral, with the nave seen through the chancel screen, so looking west
The Quire in Palencia Cathedral in northern Spain, an example of a monastic quire
Choir stalls at Boston Stump, Lincolnshire. A seat has been lifted to reveal the misericord.
Elaborately carved choir stalls at Buxheim Charterhouse in Bavaria, by Ignaz Waibl