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Title: Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Norwich - A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Episcopal See
Author: Quennell, C. H. B. (Charles Henry Bourne), 1872-1935
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Norwich - A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Episcopal See" ***
[Illustration: Norwich Cathedral from the South-East.]
THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF
NORWICH
A DESCRIPTION OF ITS FABRIC
AND A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE
EPISCOPAL SEE
BY
C.H.B. QUENNELL
[Illustration: Arms of Norwich]
WITH FORTY ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON GEORGE BELL & SONS 1898
W.H. WHITE AND CO. LIMITED
RIVERSIDE PRESS, EDINBURGH
* * * * *
GENERAL PREFACE
This series of monographs has been planned to supply visitors to the
great English Cathedrals with accurate and well illustrated guide-books
at a popular price. The aim of each writer has been to produce a work
compiled with sufficient knowledge and scholarship to be of value to the
student of Archæology and History, and yet not too technical in
language for the use of an ordinary visitor or tourist.
To specify all the authorities which have been made use of in each case
would be difficult and tedious in this place. But amongst the general
sources of information which have been almost invariably found useful
are:--(1) the great county histories, the value of which, especially in
questions of genealogy and local records, is generally recognised; (2)
the numerous papers by experts which appear from time to time in the
Transactions of the Antiquarian and Archæological Societies; (3) the
important documents made accessible in the series issued by the Master
of the Rolls; (4) the well-known works of Britton and Willis on the
English Cathedrals; and (5) the very excellent series of Handbooks to
the Cathedrals originated by the late Mr John Murray; to which the
reader may in most cases be referred for fuller detail, especially in
reference to the histories of the respective sees.
GLEESON WHITE,
EDWARD F. STRANGE,
_Editors of the Series._
* * * * *
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
The task of writing a monograph, on such an essentially Norman Cathedral
as Norwich, has been most pleasing to one who owns to an especial
fondness for that sturdy architecture which was evolved in England
during one of her stormiest epochs--from the end of the eleventh till
the end of the twelfth century.
I would here acknowledge indebtedness and thanks due to the Very Rev.
the Dean and Mrs Sheepshanks for the personal interest they evinced, and
for his material help; to Mr J.B. Spencer, the sub-sacrist, for that
help which his intimate association with the cathedral enabled him to
offer; and to Mr S.K. Greenslade for the loan of the drawings reproduced
under his name; as well as to the Photochrom Co. Ltd., Messrs S.B. Bolas
& Co., and Mr F.G.M. Beaumont for the use of their photographs. The
views of the cathedral as it appeared in the early part of the
nineteenth century are reproduced from Britton's "Norwich," and from a
volume by Charles Wild.
C.H.B.Q.
* * * * *
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I.--History of the Fabric 3
CHAPTER II.--The Cathedral--Exterior 23
The Cathedral Precincts 23
The Erpingham Gate 23
St. Ethelbert's Gate and the Gate-House 25
Chapel of St. John the Evangelist 27
The West Front of the Cathedral 28
Exterior of Nave 31
The South Transept 32
The Diocesan Registry Offices and Slype 35
The Chapter-House 36
The Tower and Spire 36
The Eastern Arm of Cathedral or Presbytery 39
The Chapels of St. Mary-the-Less and Saint Luke 39, 40
The Jesus Chapel and Reliquary Chapel 40
The North Transept 40
The Bishop's Palace 43
CHAPTER III.--The Interior 45
The Nave 45
The Choir Screen 49
The Nave Vault 50
The West Window and West Door 55
The North and South Aisles of Nave 55, 56
Monuments in Nave and Aisles of Nave 57, 58
The Cloisters 58
The Walks--East, South, and West 62, 63
The Ante-choir and Choir 64
The Pelican Lectern 68
The Presbytery 68
Reliquary Chapel 72
Monuments in the Presbytery 74
The North Transept 76
The Tower and Triforium Walks 79
The Processional Path 79
The Jesus Chapel 83
St. Luke's Chapel 88
Treasury and Muniment Room 88
The Bauchon Chapel 88
The South Transept 88
Monuments 91
CHAPTER IV.--The Sees of the East Anglian Bishops 95
CHAPTER V.--The City 111
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Norwich Cathedral from the South-East _Frontispiece_
Arms of Norwich _Title_
The Cathedral from the South-West 2
The Cathedral in the Seventeenth Century 9
West Front of the Cathedral in 1816 15
The Cathedral from the South-West Angle of Cloisters 22
The Erpingham Gate 24
St. Ethelbert's Gate 25
The Gate-House of the Bishop's Palace 25
West Front of the Cathedral 28
The Clerestory and Triforium of Choir (South Side) 32
The Tower in 1816 37
Exterior of the Chapel of St. Luke from the East 40
A Norman Capital 46
The Nave, looking East 47
The Choir Screen and Organ from the Nave 51
The North Aisle of Nave, looking West 56
The East Walk of the Cloisters 58
The Cloisters from the Garth 59
The Prior's Door 63
The Choir and Presbytery 65
A Stall in the Choir 67
The Choir and Presbytery in 1816 69
The Choir Stalls at the beginning of the Nineteenth Century 70
The Choir, looking West 72
Detail of the Presbytery Clerestory and Vaulting 74
The Choir Apse 77
Detail of the Clerestory, North Transept 80
The South Aisle of Presbytery, looking East 81
Norman Work in the Lantern of Tower 83
The Ante-Reliquary Bridge Chapel 84
Doorway and Screen between South Transept and Aisle of Presbytery 88
View across the Apse from the Chapel of St. Luke 89
The Resurrection: from the Painted Retable formerly in the
Jesus Chapel 93
Norwich Castle 99
The Guildhall 103
Monument of Bishop Goldwell 107
The Pelican Lectern in the Choir 110
Pull's Ferry 112
PLAN OF THE CATHEDRAL 113
* * * * *
[Illustration: The Cathedral from the South-West.]
CHAPTER I
HISTORY OF THE FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY OF
NORWICH
Norwich Cathedral stands on the site of no earlier church: it is to-day,
in its plan and the general bulk of its detail, as characteristically
Norman as when left finished by the hand of Eborard, the second bishop
of Norwich.
The church was founded by Herbert de Losinga, the first bishop, as the
cathedral priory of the Benedictine monastery in Norwich (a sketch of
its constitution at this period will be found in the Notes on the
Diocese); the foundation-stone was laid in 1096 on a piece of land
called Cowholme,--meaning a pasture surrounded by water,--and the church
was dedicated to the Holy Trinity.
It may be of interest to the tourist and student to review briefly what
sort and manner of man Herbert the founder was; what had been his
environment prior to his appointment as the first bishop of Norwich; and
what the causes were which had as their effect the building of the
cathedral.
The characteristics of the cathedral are--its long nave, which is
typical of the Norman church; its glorious apsidal termination,
encircled by a procession path, which recalls the plan of a French
cathedral; and the form of this, with the remains of its old bishops'
chair centrally placed, and with the westward position, of the throne at
Torcello and other Italian churches, of the basilican type of plan.
Herbert, surnamed de Losinga, transferred the see from Thetford to
Norwich in 1094, and it is from this period that the history of the
cathedral may be said to commence.
Herbert was a prelate of a type that in the early days helped to build
up the Church and give her stability. His nature must have been
curiously complex; on the one hand, a man of action and with great
capability of administration, often justifying his means by the end he
had in view, and not being debarred from realising his schemes by any
delicate scruples, he yet, on the other hand, presents in his letters a
chastened spirituality that is not compatible with the methods he
pursued when thinking only of the temporal advantages which might accrue
on any certain line of action. But it may be said that his letters
appear to date from the later period of his life, and after he had
founded the cathedral as an expiation of that sin of simony he appears
to have so deeply repented.
Yet in the earlier period, which we shall note, he was emphatically the
man of action, the typical administrator, who, mixing freely in the
political life of the times, was strengthening the position of the
Church, and gradually leading her up to that position, which she
ultimately gained, of Arbitress of Kings and Empires.
He had also a morbid belief in the power of money--he probably would
have agreed that "every man has his price," and his simoniacal dealings
with William Rufus, which procured his preferment to Norwich, afford
evidence of this weak trait in his character.
Herbert's birthplace is disputed, and, as Dean Goulburn remarked, this
is but natural: a man so justly celebrated would not, or, rather,
historians will not be content with one; so that though he cannot rival
Homer in that seven cities desired to be accredited each as his
birthplace, yet Herbert falls not far short, and this fact alone will
perhaps give some idea of his popularity during his life, and the
interest then aroused which has lasted down to our own times. From a
small pamphlet issued by the dean and chapter in 1896, and containing
extracts from the _Registrum Primum_, we learn that "In primis Ecclesiam
prefatam fundavit piæ memoriæ Herbertus Episcopus, qui Normanniæ in
pago Oximensi natus." First Herbert, the bishop, of pious memory, who
was born in Normandy, in the district of Oximin (or Exmes).
This seems very credible, and the old monkish chronicler who was
responsible for the _Registrum Primum_ and its rugged Latin, may have
had authentic proof of the truth of his assertion. The manuscript dates
from the thirteenth century, and no considerable period, historically
considered, had then passed since Herbert had been one of the prime
movers of the religious and political life of the day.
Blomefield, the antiquary, attributed to him a Suffolk extraction, and
then again spoke of his Norman descent: thus agreeing in some measure
with the _Registrum Primum_. And again, another idea is that he was born
in the hundred of Hoxne, where he possessed property, and his father
before him.
Herbert had, we know, received his education in Normandy, and had taken
his vows at, and ultimately had risen to be prior of, the Abbey of
Fécamp in Normandy; and it was while vigorously administering this
office that he received an invitation from William Rufus to come to
England, being offered as an inducement the appointment of Abbot of
Ramsey.
And no doubt from this period the spiritual side of his duties must of
necessity have been somewhat neglected. From the position of prior of
Fécamp, his circle of power limited to the neighbourhood of his priory,
and his duties rounded by the due observance of the rules of his order,
he was given at once the administration of what was one of the richest
abbeys in England, and attained at once the power of a great feudal
lord. He was Sewer to William Rufus as well, an office endowed with fees
and perquisites, and so to Herbert came the temptation of accumulating
wealth for his own ambitious ends. It was not, however, the sin of a
small man: he introduced no personal element into his greed, but rather
thought of his party and his Church, although, of necessity, an
environment so purely temporal told on the spiritual side of his
character. It might be best to connect the links of the East Anglian
bishoprics here, although in the notes on the diocese the matter is gone
into at more length.
Herbert de Losinga was the first bishop of Norwich, to which town the
see was transferred in compliance with a decree of Lanfranc's Synod,
held in 1075, that all sees should be fixed at the principal towns in
their dioceses.
Felix was the first bishop of East Anglia, and fixed his see at Dunwich
in 630.
The see was divided by Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 669 into
those of Elmham and Dunwich; and these again were united under Wildred
in 870, and the see fixed at Elmham, and where it remained till 1070,
when Herfast, a chaplain of William the Conqueror's, moved his see to
Thetford.
Now, about this time, when Herbert was abbot of Ramsey and Sewer to
William Rufus, the see of Thetford was vacant, and Herbert gave the king
to understand that if he was appointed to the vacant bishopric, and his
father made Abbot of Winchester, he was willing and able to pay for such
preferment a sum of £1900: a part of his accumulated savings, no doubt,
and a very large amount for that time.
William II. made these appointments, and the sum mentioned was paid into
the royal treasury; but the bishop found that he had attained his end at
a cost other than he had reckoned on; public opinion in those days was
quite as powerful a force as it is now, though the channels along which
its force could be felt and its strength find expression were limited.
Indignation was rife, and monkish versifiers and chroniclers protested
in lines more or less uncomplimentary, and more or less forcible, their
loathing of such sin of simony.
Now it is probable that, in expiation of this transgression, Herbert
came to build Norwich Cathedral. It is certain that he almost at once
repented. In after years, in his letters, he says, "I entered on mine
office disgracefully, but by the help of God's grace I shall pass out of
it with credit."
In Dean Goulburn's admirable monograph on the cathedral many of
Herbert's letters are given, and these alone would go to stamp him as a
wonderful man. His conscience was awakened by the popular outcry against
his sin of simony, he plunged into his new duties at Thetford with
ardour in the vain hope of distraction, but failed to find that
consolation he had hoped to; and so about 1093 he determined on a visit
to Rome to tender his resignation and confess his sin to Pope Urban. He
journeyed to Rome and was kindly received, and the absolution he desired
readily granted. The Pope was glad to see an English bishop come to him
for advice, and in granting him absolution he strengthened considerably
his claim to be regarded as head of the English Church.
This lengthy preamble may seem somewhat unjustifiable, but if we are to
study any building aright, and if we are to interpret in any measure its
meaning and symbolism, it cannot wholly be done on any line of abstract
æstheticism or archæological instinct, however intuitive it may be:
we must in some measure think of the builders of old times and of the
influences which with them produced its inception and have left it to
come down the ages to us.
It is interesting to note that Herbert's early French training
influenced him in the planning of the beautiful eastern termination to
his cathedral, and the grand sweep of the procession path. Similar
apsidal terminations, of slightly later date, once existed at Ely, and
still remain in a modified form at Peterborough.
The old tribunal arrangement of presbyters' seats with the central
bishop's throne facing west, which was part of Herbert's first plan, no
doubt may safely be accredited to the influence of his journey to Rome,
and where he may have become familiar with what was the usual basilican
arrangement.
Herbert returned to England, penitent and forgiven for his sin, and it
is probable that the Pope had laid on him, as a penance, an injunction
to build churches and found religious houses, and that with the
remainder of his wealth he determined to transfer the see from Thetford
to Norwich and to build in the latter place his cathedral church. It
would also have been in compliance with the decree of Lanfranc's Synod.
The see was transferred on the 9th of April 1094, and Herbert was
consecrated on the same day by Thomas, Archbishop of York.
Norwich was then an important town; in the Middle Ages it ranked as the
second city in the kingdom. Its prosperity was chiefly due to its large
trade in wool. It is a moot point whether the town was ever a settlement
of the Romans, no traces of such occupation having ever been discovered.
The castle mound, no doubt, formed some part of the earthworks of an
earlier stronghold. The word Norwich is probably of Norse origin,
meaning the north village or the village on the North Creek
("_wic_"--_i.e._ a creek). The city stood on a tidal bay in 1004, in
which year the Danes under Sweyn completely devastated and ruined the
town in revenge for the massacre of their countrymen by Aethelred the
Unready two years before. So that the history of the town of Norwich, as
we now know it, may be said to have started directly after this.
The foundation-stone of the cathedral was laid in 1096; and upon it,
according to the _Registrum Primum_, the following inscription is said
to have been placed:--"In nomine patris et filii et spiritus Sancti Amen
Ego Herbertus Episcopus apposui istum lapidem." (In the Name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen, I, Herbert the
Bishop, have placed this stone.)
It was the custom of the Norman builders to start building from the
easternmost part of the church, as the more sacred part of the
structure, and then build westwards; so that probably this
foundation-stone, for which diligent search has been made in vain, was
in the eastmost wall of the original Norman Lady Chapel--in fact, the
_Registrum Primum_ describes how Herbert began the work "where is now
the chapel of the Blessed Mary." This chapel was demolished to make way
for the beautiful thirteenth-century Lady Chapel which Dean Gardiner
destroyed.
The thirteenth-century builders of the Lady Chapel may have used
Herbert's foundation-stone in their walling; Dean Lefroy quite lately,
while repairing parts of the tower and east end, came across pieces of
stone with beautiful "dog-tooth" ornament upon them, which had been used
to repair the masonry that, it was evident, at one time had formed part
of the thirteenth-century Lady Chapel. This must be so, since in no
other part of the building save the arches now remaining in the extreme
eastern wall of the procession path, which at one time gave access to
the Lady Chapel, does such ornament occur.
It is probable, and the more generally accredited supposition, that
Herbert built the presbytery with its encircling procession path and the
original trefoil of Norman chapel radiating therefrom;--the choir and
transepts with the two chapels projecting eastwards and the first two
bays of the nave. Harrod advances a theory that he completely finished
the whole of the cathedral church, as well as the offices for the
housing of the sixty monks who were placed therein, in 1101.
He also built the episcopal palace on the north side of the cathedral,
of which some parts remain to this day incorporated with work of a later
period; he seems to have founded and built other churches in Norwich and
Yarmouth. He died on the 22nd of July 1119, in the twenty-ninth year of
his episcopate, and was buried before the high altar in his own
cathedral church.
[Illustration: The Cathedral in the Seventeenth Century.]
Bishop Eborard, who succeeded in 1121, is credited with having finished
the nave from the point where Herbert had left it. The evidence which
goes to support this theory is taken from the _Registrum Primum_.
"Moreover, the same Herbert completed the church of Norwich in his own
time, as I have learned from the account of old people, but have not
found in writing, as far as the altar of the Holy Cross, which is now
called the altar of St. William. He also built all the episcopal
dwelling-house, except the great hall." The altar referred to was on the
north side of choir screen.
Herbert also provided the base for the tower only, probably up to the
roof level; the remainder, up to the parapet, was finished about the
time of Henry I., but at that earlier period it was without the stone
spire which now adds dignity to the cathedral from any point of view.
The roofs at this time were generally of a flat wooden construction
throughout (similar to that of Peterborough Cathedral), and probably
decorated with lozenges, flowers, and symbolical devices. When recently,
under Dean Lefroy, the whitewash and paint were cleaned off from the
stonework, many indications have been found of a most beautiful scheme
of colour decoration.
Though we, in this part, are following up the history of the cathedral
structure, yet it may be interesting to note that it was during the
episcopate of Bishop Eborard that the boy saint, St. William of Norwich,
was said to have been martyred. He was the son of country folk who
gained a living by agriculture. During his life he worked many miracles,
and by his death gave Norwich a share of his glory. It is related that
he was tortured by the Jews, and on the spot where they were discovered
secretly burying him, in Thorpe Wood, a chapel was erected called the
Chapel of St. William in the Wood. Very little now remains of this
structure, but the site can still be traced. The altar before referred
to was set up to his memory in Norwich Cathedral, on the north side of
the screen leading into the ante-choir.
Bishop Eborard resigned the see, or was deposed in 1145, and retired to
the abbey of Fontenay, Mont-Bard, Côte d'Or, in the South of France. He
had re-enforced a mandate of Herbert's that the clergy of the diocese
should contribute to the fund in aid of the fabric.
During the episcopate of Eborard's successor, Bishop William de Turbe,
the cathedral appears neither to have gained or suffered until, about
1169 or 1170, a fire broke out in the monastic buildings; the
fire-extinguishing appliances in those days, if indeed there were any at
all, could not prevent it spreading to the cathedral. It is generally
believed that the original Norman Lady Chapel was also well destroyed.
Bishop William de Turbe, although an old man at the time (he died in
1174), is said to have taken a vow that he would not go from within
twelve leucas of the cathedral, unless compelled by the direst
necessity, until the ravages of the flames had been repaired. He is
reported to have seated himself at the door of the cathedral, and to
have begged alms for this purpose from the worshippers. The work of
reparation was carried on by his successor, John of Oxford, who may also
be said to have completely finished Herbert's cathedral. He provided the
furniture of the church, the vestments, books and ornaments, and,
probably, entirely re-modelled the monastic buildings. He is also said
to have built the Infirmary, of which now only three piers remain, to
the south of the cloisters.
In the years following, various works were doubtless carried on, but it
is not until the time of Walter de Suffield, about 1250, that anything
important in the way of structural alteration was effected. The fire of
1169 had in part or whole destroyed the original Norman Lady Chapel, and
Bishop de Turbe had restored the same in some measure. But the _cultus_
of the Blessed Virgin in the interval had gathered strength wonderfully;
chapels dedicated to her naturally became important, and Bishop Suffield
determined to pull down the old Norman work and rebuild a chapel in the
Early English style then prevalent. Dean Goulburn, in his work on the
cathedral, estimated the size of the later chapel at 90 feet long by 30
feet wide, and these dimensions are shown plotted in dotted lines on the
plan in this book. This is longer and narrower than the size given in
previous conjectures, but Dean Goulburn had the opportunity of
inspecting the foundations of the chapel, which, with those of the still
earlier one, lie buried but a few feet below the surface in a garden to
the east of the cathedral. In the same place, and over the entrance
arches remaining, the height and lines of the later roof can be seen
still plainly marked on the stonework. These entrance arches are
beautifully moulded and decorated on the inside with the "dog-tooth"
ornament--a decoration peculiar to the Early English style.
The theological reaction which followed close on this movement led to
the neglect of the chapel, and obviated the necessity of maintaining it
as a place of worship. It had probably greatly decayed; that Dean
Gardiner (1573-89), no longer needing it for services, was tempted to
pull it down, as a cheaper expedient than keeping it in repair.
In 1271 Norwich was visited by a terrific thunderstorm, when the tower
was struck by lightning. The damage, however, was not great, as,
fortunately, the excessive rains which followed quenched the fire that
had been kindled. This incident, however, was the precursor of one of
the stormiest periods in the history of the city and its cathedral
church. Roger de Skerning occupied the episcopal chair, and the prior
was one William de Brunham, a man of fierce and truculent disposition.
An outbreak of hostilities between the citizens on the one hand and the
monks on the other, was brought about by his arbitrary assumption of
power; the bishop throughout, ostensibly preferring the safer game of a
somewhat anomalous position of neutrality, is nevertheless believed to
have covertly sanctioned his proceedings.
A fair was held in Tombland--to the west of the precincts--annually on
Trinity Sunday, and by right of ancient custom the priors reaped large
revenues by the imposition of tolls on the sales. Tombland, derived from
_Tomeland_, a vacant space, had originally formed part of the estate
bequeathed by Herbert, the founder, to the monks; the boundaries in
course of time had become matters of controversy, and it is probable
that the citizens felt the imposition of these tolls and dues to be a
real and serious grievance. A riot broke out and the monks were driven
within their gates. Had the prior at this juncture chosen to act
peacefully, it is probable that history would contain no record of the
sacrilege that followed. He, however, decided to resist force by force,
and carefully generaled his monks, disposing them at the various
strategic points of his domain. At the same time he sent to Yarmouth for
mercenaries--these arrived and the tables were turned; the prior's
forces sallied forth from the gates and robbed and pillaged the town.
The citizens, roused to a pitch of madness, drove them and the soldiers
back again within the walls of the monastery; the bishop, instead of
acting as peacemaker, appears to have preserved his position of
neutrality and quietly stopped in his palace. There was a short interval
of truce, but it only served as a breath to fan the flames; the citizens
besieged the cathedral precincts, and by the means probably of slings
succeeded in hurling combustible materials into the buildings, with a
result that the whole of the monastery and the cathedral itself was soon
in flames. It seems to be an established fact that the prior had placed
men in the tower to shoot at the citizens, and it is conjectured that
they, and not the citizens, were the cause of the outbreak here.
The only part of the cathedral that escaped was the Lady Chapel; the
rest was gutted, vestments and ornaments were carried off, and the monks
for the most part slain.
So ended the first part of this lamentable chapter in the history of
Norwich. A sentence of excommunication was passed on the city, and King
Henry hastened to Norwich to preside at the trial of the prisoners.
The accounts which have come down to us are as varied as might be
expected, the chroniclers of the one party, of course, blaming the other
side; it seems, however, to have been proved "that, after all, the
church was burnt by that accursed prior"; but many of the citizens were
hung, drawn and quartered, and the city had to pay in all 3000 marks
towards repairing the church and monastical buildings, and to provide a
gold pyx, weighing ten pounds, of gold; the monks in their turn had to
make new gates and entrances into the precincts. The St. Ethelbert's
Gate-house was part of the work imposed on the monks; it is of early
Decorated character and was erected probably early in the fourteenth
century.
Bishop Roger de Skerning had died in retirement on the 22nd of January
1277, and in the meantime the work of reparation had proceeded with such
vigour that on Advent Sunday 1278 his successor, Bishop Middleton, was
inaugurated with great state; Edward I. and his Queen with the Bishops
of London, Hereford, and Waterford being present. He does not seem to
have done much in the way of building, though the work of reparation was
carried on; he died in 1287, and it was left to his successor, Bishop
Ralph de Walpole, to begin the work of rebuilding the cloisters. The
original Norman cloisters, which had endured until the time of the great
fire in 1272, were probably of wood. It was determined to rebuild them
in stone in the prevailing style. The cloisters are described in more
detail in the notes on the interior of the cathedral, so that it will be
sufficient to state here that their building spread over a period of one
hundred and thirty-three years, and that they were finished during the
episcopate of Bishop Alnwick.
[Illustration: West Front of the Cathedral in 1816.]
Bishop Walpole built the eastern walk of the cloisters, together with
the chapter-house; he was translated to Ely about 1299, and the work
carried on by his successor, Bishop Salmon, who built the south walk,
also a chapel and hall attached to the bishop's palace. Of this nothing
remains in the garden of the palace except a grand ruin, which is
supposed to have formed the entrance or porch to the hall.
He founded also the chapel dedicated to St. John the Evangelist,
converted by Edward VI. into, and now used as, a grammar school; below
it was a charnel-house.
Continuing the history of the fabric, we can pass on to the episcopate
of Bishop Percy, during which, about 1361, the wooden spire and parts of
central tower of the cathedral were blown down by a violent gale of
wind, and the presbytery was greatly damaged by the falling material.
This bishop rebuilt the present clerestory, designed in the transitional
style between Decorated and Perpendicular; the vault is later. It is
also probable that he repaired the spire.
During Bishop Wakering's time the Erpingham gate of the close was
erected, and as well the cloister that formerly connected the palace on
the north side with the cathedral. He also founded a chantry for one
monk at his tomb.
His successor, Alnwick, completed the cloisters. The gateway to the
palace was built by him about 1430, and probably replaced an earlier
structure. He also began the work of remodelling the central compartment
of the west front. He left directions in his will to his executors to
make a large west window, the cost to be charged to his estate. The
doorway under this window, built over the old Norman one, and
encroaching on the side arcading, was executed during his episcopate,
the window being eventually added during the time of Bishop Lyhart to
throw additional light on to the vault he erected, and its wonderful
sculptures.
In 1446, on February 27th, Walter Lyhart, or le Hart, was consecrated,
and it is to him that Norwich Cathedral owes the superb _lierne_ vault
that now spans the nave. Other important works were carried out by him;
the spire which had been blown down in 1362 (and had probably been
re-constructed by Bishop Percy--though there is no record of such work),
was struck by lightning in 1463, and the burning mass fell through the
presbytery roof, which up till this period was still in wood, completely
destroying it, and making necessary the vault added by Lyhart's
successor.
During this episcopate the rood screen was erected, and a sumptuous
monument placed over the grave of the founder.
The stone spire must have been added about this time, replacing the
former wooden construction.
Bishop Lyhart left to his successor, Bishop Goldwell, in his will 2200
marks for repairing the dilapidations caused by the fire of 1463. During
this bishop's episcopate we find that the cathedral was brought nearly
to that state in which we have it now,--the tower was still further
adorned with Perpendicular battlements, the presbytery was vaulted in
with stone, and the flying-buttresses added around the eastern apse to
take the consequent thrust of the new vault.
Internally, also, the lower stages of the presbytery were
Perpendicularised by the addition of the four centred arches that still
remain, and in the second bay of which, eastward from the tower, on the
south side, was erected Bishop Goldwell's altar tomb.
His successor, Lane, occupied the see but a short while, 1499-1500, and
in turn was succeeded by Bishop Nykke--he is more generally called _Nix_
(snow), sarcastically, as his character appears to have been of the
blackest. During his episcopate, the cathedral was again visited by fire
in 1509. The sacristy, with all the books and ornaments, was consumed,
and the wooden roofs of both transepts totally destroyed.
Bishop Nykke constructed the stone vaulting that, covering both arms of
the church, completed the stone vaulting throughout the cathedral. His
chantry, which is on the south side of the nave, and occupies two bays
of the aisle, was arranged by him before his death, and its richness is
inversely proportionate to the degradation of his character.
The tracery in the Norman arch leading from the south aisle of the
presbytery into the transept, is of late Perpendicular style, and was
added by Robert of Calton, who was destined to be the last prior but one
of Norwich: William Castleton was the last prior and the first dean.
Bishop Nykke died in 1535-6, and was succeeded by William Rupgg or
Repes, who was the last bishop elected by the chapter of the monks of
the Benedictine monastery of Norwich. Monasticism was doomed; Wolsey had
fallen, and his property had been confiscated in 1529. The smaller
monasteries were dissolved in 1536, and in 1538 the greater shared the
same fate, among them Norwich.
Most interesting is the parallel which can be drawn between the history
of the Church and of that architecture which she especially fostered.
Gothic or Christian art was developed from the remains of a Roman
civilisation, and so long as it had the healthy organic growth which was
consequent on the evolution of a series of constructive problems fairly
faced and in turn conquered, and again, stimulated by the growth of the
Church, to which it was handmaiden, developed style after style in
regular sequence, until the builders, finding they had conquered
construction, took to imposing ornament. From that time, instead of
ornamenting construction, they constructed ornament; and as the
Reformation came to the Church in the sixteenth century so to
architecture came degradation. And then the Renaissance of pagan types,
from which the Gothic had derived its being by a rational development,
was by the revivalists of those days hotch-potched into a more or less
homogeneous mass, which even the genius of Wren could leave but coldly
pedantic.
The history of the architecture of the cathedral might safely stop with
the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538, since when it is a mere
recapitulation of the doings and undoings of various sets of more or
less deeply incriminated fanatics and restorers.
So that we do not feel inclined to enter into more detail, in the few
remaining notes on the history of the structure.
Dean Gardiner, 1573-89, was a great reformer, and, as we have already
noted, pulled down the thirteenth-century Lady Chapel, and as well the
chapter-house.
In 1643 the cathedral was taken possession of by Cromwell's soldiers,
and the work of spoliation carried on. The organ was probably destroyed
at this time, for Dean Crofts set up a new organ in 1660, the case of
which was re-modelled in 1833, and still remains. It is also perhaps
needless to state that the cathedral was repeatedly whitewashed during
the eighteenth century.
In June 1801 a fire broke out in the roof of the nave, but was
extinguished before much damage had been done.
The various works effected during this century are mentioned
specifically elsewhere in these notes, under the headings of the parts
of the building where they have occurred.
[Illustration: The Cathedral from the South-West Angle of Cloisters.]
CHAPTER II
THE CATHEDRAL--EXTERIOR
Norwich Cathedral does not tell to great advantage from the outside: its
chief charm is undoubtedly the interior. It stands in a hollow, on what
is probably the lowest ground in the city. The best view of the
cathedral is obtained from the low ground to the eastward near the
river, and close to Pull's Ferry; here the extreme length of the nave,
which Fergusson remarked justified the addition of western towers, is
lost partly by foreshortening, and by the projection forward of the
south transept, over which the old Norman tower, with its later
battlements and spire, rises grandly above the sweep of the apse, with
the still remaining circular chapels below.
#The Cathedral Precincts#, or Close, running from Tombland eastward to
the river, are entered by two gates to the precincts and one to the
bishop's palace.
#The Erpingham Gate#, opposite the west front of the cathedral, was
built by Sir Thomas Erpingham, and as an architectural compilation "is
original and unique." In elevation it consists of one lofty
well-proportioned arch supported on either side by semi-hexagonal
buttresses taken up as high as the apex of arch; above comes a plain
gable, in which, centred over the arch below, is a canopied niche with
the kneeling figure of Sir Thomas Erpingham.
Built probably about 1420, and while yet some of the noble simplicity of
the thirteenth had not passed into the over-wrought richness of the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, it presents a type of the best
Perpendicular work we have in England.
The form of the arch is lofty, and may have been suggested by the wish
to preserve a view through of the cathedral.
The arch moulding is enriched on the outer part with figures of fourteen
female saints, and on the inner with twelve male saints; the
semi-hexagonal panelled buttresses are covered with the shields of the
families of Erpingham, Clopton, and Walton, and each has a seated figure
of an ecclesiastic on the top.
[Illustration: The Erpingham Gate.]
The richness of this lower arch stage tells against the plain gable
over, and is quite admirable in effect and defensible as a method of
design; it is ornament decorating construction pure and simple, and not
what later work generally was and is, constructed ornament, suggesting
over-elaborate construction thereby made necessary. It will be noticed
that labels with the word "Yenk" (think) sculptured thereon are placed
between the shafts on either side of the archway; this has been
construed "pend" by some writers, and from this the view was taken that
Sir Thomas Erpingham was made to build the gate as a penance for
favouring Lollardism, and that the figure of himself in the gable over
the archway represents him as praying pardon for the offence.
This interpretation, however, amusing as it is, is probably erroneous,
and the gate, with its shields of allied families, stands to the memory
of its founder. Sir Thomas Erpingham was at Agincourt in 1415, and
Shakespeare, in Act iv. of Henry V., remarks of him that he was "a
knight grown grey with age and honour." Sir Thomas Browne also (p. 9 of
his "Repertorium") says: "He was a Knight of the Garter in the time of
Henry IV. and some part of Henry V., and I find his name in the list of
the Lord Wardens of the Cinque Ports."
Sir Thomas Erpingham had two wives, Joan Clopton and Joan Walton, whose
arms appear on the gateway.
[Illustration: St. Ethelbert's Gate.]
#St. Ethelbert's Gate#, to the south, is an early "Decorated" structure.
Its elevation is divided into three storeys, in the lowest of which is
the gateway, with flat buttresses on each side carried up the height of
two storeys, and enriched with pedimented niches in both stages. In the
compartment over the arch are seven niches, four of which are pierced
with windows. The upper stage is in flintwork. It was built by the
citizens as part of the fine imposed on them for their share in the
riots and fire of 1272 by the Court of King Henry III., though probably
not until some years had elapsed, and when Edward the First had come to
the throne. The upper part of the front was restored early in this
century. The back elevation is interesting--the window over the arch
being typical of the style.
[Illustration: The Gate-House of the Bishop's Palace.]
#The Gate-House# forming the entrance to the bishop's palace, on the
north side of the cathedral, was built by Bishop Alnwyck about 1430, and
probably replaced an earlier structure; it is an interesting piece of
Perpendicular work, and consists, in the lower stage, of a gate and
doorway under a deep horizontal band ornamented with plain shields and
monograms of the Virgin. The gateway on the left side reaches up to the
horizontal bands, and has spandrels on either side; the doorway is
smaller. Above are two windows with a niche between, and over all is a
parapet of modern work. Flat buttresses flank the entire composition on
either side. The wooden gates were added by Bishop Lyhart (1446-72).
Returning to the Erpingham gate, and entering the Close through it,
immediately on our left we come to the #Chapel of St. John the
Evangelist# (converted by Edward VI., and still used as a school),
founded by Bishop Salmon (1299-1325). This building replaced an older
structure, used as a charnel, and provision was made for this need in
the new edifice; the vaults under the chapel were used for the same
purpose. The porch is a later building added by Lyhart (1446-72).
#The West Front of the Cathedral# has probably received worse treatment
than any other portion of the building, and stands now as the most
unsatisfactory part of the whole. The design consists in its width of
three compartments, with two separating and two flanking turrets. The
centre compartment is of the width of the nave, and those on either side
the width of the aisles. In the centre comes the main doorway, flanked
on either side with niches, and over these, filling the entire breadth,
the great nine-light west window, with the Norman turrets carried up to
the base of the gable. The compartments on either side are finished off
by horizontal mouldings taken across somewhat below the level of the
springing of the archivolt of the main window, and have flanking turrets
covered with plain pinnacles. The large west window is disproportionate,
and even the assurance cheerfully given by most authorities, that it
resembles the window of Westminster Hall, fails to prove that it is of
suitable size here. It may be as well to note in order the various
changes which have affected the west front. Mr B.W. Spaull, in Dean
Goulburn's work on the Cathedral, made reference to the discovery of an
alteration to the main entrance which must have been prior to that now
existing. It consisted of a small _parvise_ or room added above at some
time subsequent to the original foundation. As the details are not now
apparent, it is best to refer readers to the work named for fuller
information.
The addition, however, of later Perpendicular triforium windows to the
nave superimposed over the original Norman lights, which were blocked
up, may have affected the west front. This can best be seen by viewing,
for instance, the south side of the nave. The Norman roofs sloped down
to the original triforium windows, but after the later addition were
made almost flat, and must have necessitated some mask wall in the west
front.
[Illustration: West Front of the Cathedral.]
In Britton's "History of Norwich" is a drawing which is reproduced at p.
15. It will be seen that the turrets at each side of the west window are
shown finished with stone cupolas, the tops of which were level with the
apex of the gable. The two outside flanking turrets are shown finished
by circular drums above the parapet, and covered with leaden cupolas;
these, with the Perpendicular battlements, were probably added as the
mask before referred to, and necessitated by the imposition of an
additional storey at the triforium level. Certainly the west front, as
shown then, was better far than now. However, in 1875, "_restoration_"
set in, and these cupolas were removed, and stone "pepper-box" pinnacles
imposed on the turrets in their stead. The gable was restored, and the
character of the work wholly destroyed, crocketted where before plain,
and the niche added in the place of the small light over the vault shown
in Britton's plate. In the side compartments the Perpendicular
battlementing was removed and the round cannon ball holes gratuitously
inserted.
The two pinnacles at the sides of the west window have since been
removed.
The earlier change in the central compartment of the front from Norman
to Perpendicular was effected by the additions of the door and window
still remaining. Bishop Alnwyck, who was translated to Lincoln in 1436,
added the doorway during his episcopate, and it was probably built right
over and covering the original Norman door and arcading. He also left
provision in his will for the west window, and this was added by Bishop
Lyhart (1446-72), to throw additional light on to the vaulting and
sculptures of the nave; from the inside it will be seen that it
completely fills the width of the nave, and follows the line of the
vault up.
The north side of the cathedral lies within the gardens of the bishop's
palace, which can be entered from the interior of the cathedral, through
a small door in the north aisle of the presbytery; the eastern end of
the cathedral also lies within a private garden, but permission to enter
it can usually be obtained.
#Exterior of Nave.#--Those portions of the precincts near the western
end of the cathedral are known as the Upper Close; and, walking round
the exterior of the cloisters, we come to the Lower Close. The nave on
the south side can be seen well either from the upper or lower Close,
and can be better examined in detail from the interior of the cloisters.
Its elevation consists of fourteen bays divided by flat Norman
buttresses. In height it is composed of what, at first sight, appears a
bewildering confusion of arches, arcades, and windows. Over the aisle
windows, hidden by the north walk of cloisters, comes a Norman wall
arcading; and over this the Norman triforium windows blocked up, and
again, above the later Perpendicular triforium, superimposed on the old,
and finished with a battlemented parapet. Behind this come the triforium
roof, and then beyond the original Norman clerestory, each bay with a
triple arch formation, the centre arch pierced for a window. And then
above all, the lead roof over nave vault.
The radical changes that have taken place since the nave was built by
Bishop Eborard (1121-45) consist of the insertion in the aisles of later
"Decorated" traceried windows in place of the original Norman ones, and
of the superimposition, before referred to, at triforium level of a
whole range of "Perpendicular" windows over the old Norman work, which
were blocked up at this period. The pristine aspect, then, of this
elevation of the nave would have shown a sloping roof over the aisles
where now the later addition occurs. The battlementing, too, over the
clerestory to the nave is later work, to correspond with battlementing
over the triforium windows. It will be noticed that the two bays next
the transept in the triforium are higher than the others, in order to
throw additional light into the choir.
Also on this same south side, in the seventh and eighth bays from the
west end, two very late windows occur, inserted in the Norman arcading
under the original triforium windows; these were inserted by Bishop
Nykke to light the chapel he built in two bays of the south aisle of the
nave.
The curious raking of the lead rolls to the nave roof is noticeable; the
mediæval builders did this with a view of counteracting the "crawl" of
the lead. Lead, under the variations of temperature of the atmosphere,
expands and contracts considerably; and from its own weight, and the
steepness of the roofs, the contraction takes place in a downward
direction, and starts the joints, letting in the weather. This raking of
the vertical rolls was a device whereby the old builders in some measure
got over their difficulty by inducing a fixed expansion and contraction.
[Illustration: The Clerestory and Triforium of Choir (South Side).]
#The South Transept# projects boldly forward from under the tower;
without aisles, its ridge and parapet correspond in height to those of
the nave; this narrowness, with the tower and spire showing over
behind, gives it an appearance of height, as approached from the lower
close. This effect of height is emphasised by the partition of the
design in its width, by flat Norman buttresses, with shafts in the
angles, and by the flat faces of the flanking turrets. The work,
however, is without interest, from the fact that, though the _ensemble_
in some measure has been retained, the whole of the exterior face of the
stonework was re-cased by Salvin, 1830-40, during which period various
restorations were effected. Before these alterations, the Norman
flanking turrets finished with a "Perpendicular" battlementing, enriched
with shields and quatrefoils, and with crocketted pinnacles set at the
four angles; this battlementing was removed, and the present
uninteresting pepper-boxes took their place. No doubt they have it in
their favour that they _may_ be more like the original Norman
terminations than were those they replaced, which were, however, real
"Perpendicular," and these are only sham Norman. Originally, from the
eastward side of the south transept, projected a semi-circular chapel,
shown on plan by dotted lines, and corresponding to that still remaining
on the north side of the cathedral. It was part of the original plan,
and though we believe no record exists of its destruction, it can safely
be premised that its fate came about through the _cultus_ of the saint
to whom it was dedicated declining, and consequent neglect and ruin
following made its destruction cheaper than its reparation. It was
replaced by a sacristy in the fifteenth century, the lines of roof to
which can still be seen over on the stonework. This later sacristy was
destroyed by the fire of 1509, that burned as well the wooden roofs of
the transepts, and necessitated the stone vaults added by Bishop Nykke.
#The Diocesan Registry Offices# now occupy the space on which once stood
the Norman chapel, and later the Sacristy.
The building projecting eastward, south of this space, and marked A on
plan, was once a chapel, said by Blomefield to have been dedicated to
St. Edmund. It is now used as the #Dean's Vestry# in the lower storey,
and as the #Chapter Clerk's Office# in the upper.
At the same time that the later restorations were effected to the south
transept, the groined #Slype# and singing-school above it were
destroyed, and the present door in the south transept from the lower
close was opened. A pre-restoration view is published of the east end
of the cathedral, showing the slype, in Britton's "Norwich." The visitor
should also bear in mind that this space immediately in front of the
south transept was originally occupied by the #Chapter-House#, situated
as shown by dotted lines on plan, and separated from the cathedral by
the slype. The entrance arches to the chapter-house from the east walk
of the cloisters still remain and fix definitely its position; it
projected eastward about eighty feet.
#The Tower and Spire# mark the crossing of the choir and transepts, the
tower only being Norman, and square on plan, with flat Norman
buttresses, covered with vertical shafts on the face of each. These
buttresses start from the level of the parapets to Nave, Transept, and
Presbytery, and rise right up until, well over the parapet of the tower,
they are finished by crocketted pinnacles. Between these buttresses are
horizontal bands of design: the lowest, a Norman arcade of nine arches,
three of which are pierced as windows; then, above this, a smaller wall
arcade with interlaced arches; and then, above again, the principal
feature, an arcading of nine arches, three pierced for windows, and the
others filled with wall tracery of diamonds and circles; then, between
this last and the battlemented parapet, occur five vertical panels, each
comprising two circles, the upper pierced for a window. Above, soaring
upward, rises the later crocketted spire. Herbert, the founder, provided
the foundations of tower, and probably carried up the walls to the level
of the nave roof; the rest of the tower was finished during the reign of
Henry I., and is a beautiful specimen of the work of that time; but here
again our sentiment and sympathy experience a shock when we learn that
the stonework was almost entirely refaced in 1856. The tower was crowned
by a wooden spire from 1297; this was blown down in 1361, and probably
brought away in its fall some part of the Norman turrets of the tower.
It fell eastward, damaging the presbytery so badly that the clerestory
had to be rebuilt. The wooden spire was reconstructed probably at the
same time, though no record exists of such work, and the present Early
Perpendicular turrets were added. The spire, we know, was again
overtaken by misfortune in 1463, when it was struck by lightning, and
again falling eastward, went through the presbytery roof. The present
spire was then constructed in stone by Bishop Lyhart (1446-72), and
was finished by his successor, Bishop Goldwell (1472-99), who added the
battlements.
[Illustration: The Tower in 1816.]
It will hardly be necessary to enlarge on the beauty of this spire of
Norwich, as the dominant feature, seen from the south-east, rising above
the curved sweep of the apse, and strongly buttressed by the south
transept, it stands up, clearly defined against the western sky, and
points upward, significant and symbolical at once of the ends and
aspirations of the church below.
#The Eastern Arm of Cathedral or Presbytery# takes its history from the
tower. Here, as in the nave, there are the original triforium windows
blocked up, and a range of Perpendicular work superimposed on the old.
Above and beyond this, supported between each bay by flying buttresses,
comes the transitional Decorated to Perpendicular clerestory,
considerably higher than the original Norman clerestory remaining to the
nave. At the base of each flying buttress are figures of saints. The
roof and Norman clerestory were damaged by the falling tower in 1361,
but were rebuilt by Bishop Percy, 1355-69. This work is transitional
Decorated to Perpendicular. The presbytery was then re-roofed with a
framed timber construction, which was consumed by the falling of the
burning spire, struck by lightning in 1463. The present stone vault was
added in its place by Bishop Goldwell, 1472-99. This necessitated the
addition as well of flying buttresses to take the thrust of the vault.
The battlementing to the presbytery also was added at the same time as
the flying buttresses.
It will also be noted that here, as in the nave, an addition was made in
the way of a range of later "Perpendicular" windows superimposed over
the original Norman triforium, which was blocked up.
#The Chapel of St. Mary-the-Less#, marked B on plan, projects southward
from the presbytery, and dates from the fourteenth century. Between this
and the circular Norman chapel of St. Luke, was Bishop Wakeryng's
chapel. It has long since disappeared, but the doorway of Perpendicular
design remained until about 1841, when it was removed and the
compartment Normanised--a piece of wanton vandalism and the destruction
of an historical link.
The circular Norman chapels, of which two remain, are very interesting.
In the original plan of the founder there were three; but the
easternmost was superseded by Early English structure, which in its turn
was demolished.
#The Chapel of Saint Luke#, marked C on plan, flanking the south side of
the apse, was much restored in the sixties; in Britton's "Norwich,"
published in 1816, late "Decorated" windows are shown; these were
replaced by _modern_ Norman. Its form is peculiar; on plan, that of two
circles interpenetrating. On elevation, in the lower stage, are the
modern Norman windows, with shafts in jambs, over which occur two tiers
of arcading, in the higher of which window openings are pierced. The
position of the Norman Lady Chapel is shown by dotted lines, as well as
the rectangular shape of the Early English chapel built by Walter de
Suffield (1245-57) about 1250. The line of the roof of the later chapel
can still be seen plainly traced on the stonework over the arches which
once gave entrance to it. This later chapel was destroyed by Dean
Gardiner in Queen Elizabeth's reign. The foundations of both chapels
have been laid open quite recently but a few feet under the level of the
garden.
[Illustration: Exterior of the Chapel of St. Luke from the East.]
#The Jesus Chapel#, marked D on plan, on the north side of the apse,
retains the early "Perpendicular" windows inserted in the Norman work;
its other characteristics are as those described to St. Luke's Chapel in
the south.
On the north side of the presbytery, and to the west of the Jesus
Chapel, were other chapels, shown on the plan by dotted lines; the
positions of their roofs are clearly marked yet on the stonework. One
must have been the #Reliquary Chapel#; the bridge chapel in the north
aisle of presbytery formed its ante-chapel.
#The North Transept#, and generally the north side of the cathedral, are
more conveniently examined from the gardens of the bishop's palace,
whence this portion of the exterior of the cathedral can best be seen.
The details of the fabric on the north side are essentially the same as
those described to the south side of cathedral; though here the work has
been less restored, and consequently is of more interest to the student.
The original Norman chapel, now used as a store-house, projects eastward
from the north transept; a corresponding feature occurred in the south
transept, but has long since vanished.
#The Bishop's Palace# stands to the north of the cathedral, and was
formerly connected with it by a vaulted passage, Herbert, the founder,
built the first palace, of which portions are incorporated in the
present building. Bishop Salmon (1299-1325) in 1318, according to the
patent rolls of the twelfth year of the reign of Edward II., obtained
licence to buy a piece of land 47 perches 4 feet in length, and 23
perches 12 feet in breadth, to enlarge and rebuild thereon the palace of
Herbert. He also built a chapel, and the great hall, measuring 120 feet
from north to south, and 60 feet wide, with kitchen, buttery, and
offices at the west end. The grand ruin somewhat to the east of the
palace now is supposed to have formed part of the entrance to this hall.
It was, however, too large to keep up, and so was leased by Bishop
Nykke, just before his death in 1535 to the mayor, sheriff, and
citizens, so that the Guild of S. George might hold their annual feast
there. Later on it became a meeting-house. The present private chapel of
the bishop was built by Bishop Reynolds in 1662 across part of the south
end.
To the north of the nave of the cathedral, and on the west side of the
palace, was an open area called the _green-yard,_ and in Sir Thomas
Browne's "Works," vol. iv. p. 27 (London, 1835) is an account of the
_combination sermons_ which were preached here in the summer prior to
the Reformation.
"Before the late times the combination sermons were preached, in the
summer time, at the Cross in the Green Yard where there was a good
accommodation for the auditors. The mayor, aldermen, with their wives
and officers, had a well-contrived place built against the wall of the
Bishop's palace, covered with lead, so that they were not offended by
rain. Upon the north side of the church, places were built gallery wise,
one above another, where the dean, prebends and their wives, gentlemen,
and the better sort, very well heard the sermon: the rest either stood
or sat in the green, upon long forms provided for them, paying a penny
or half-penny a-piece, as they did at S. Paul's Cross in London. The
Bishop and chancellor heard the sermons at the windows of the Bishop's
palace: the pulpit had a large covering of lead over it, and a cross
upon it; and there were eight or ten stairs of stone about it, upon
which the hospital boys and others stood. The preacher had his face to
the south, and there was a painted board of a foot and a half broad and
about a yard and a half long hanging over his head, before, upon which
were painted the names of the benefactors towards the Combination Sermon
which he particularly commemorated in his prayer...."
On the north side of the cathedral, in the seventh compartment of the
aisle from the west end, the walled-up entrance to the _green-yard_ is
to be noticed.
There is no doubt that this space was originally the cemetery of the
monks, and Harrod quotes from the _Chronicle_ of John de Whethamsted to
that effect. A stone coffin lid found here in 1848 goes to confirm this.
CHAPTER III
THE INTERIOR
Norwich Cathedral is justly celebrated for the beauty of its interior.
Entering from the upper close by the north aisle door, and then taking a
position immediately under the great west window, facing east, there is
before one the long perspective of the Norman nave, the choir and
presbytery, while overhead comes the later vault, telling richly by
contrast with the severe plainness of the earlier work below. The
extreme length of the cathedral is about 407 feet. The nave, always long
in Norman churches, is here over 200 feet from the west door to the
choir screen. Although some critics object to the position of the organ
on this same screen, there can be no doubt that, not only is it a most
admirable position for the instrument acoustically, but also that its
presence here does not detract from the general effect of the interior.
From the west end of the nave, as a dark silhouette against the eastern
apsidal windows, or as an object in the middle distance, it helps the
spectator to realise the length of the cathedral. A certain sense of
mystery and something undiscerned adds to the charm of an interior, and
the organ here helps, with the screen, to enshrine the eastern arm and
most sacred portion of the building, and interrupts the vista for the
sake of which disastrous sacrifices have been made in many of our
cathedral churches.
#The Nave# consists of seven double bays; in all, fourteen compartments
from the west end to the tower crossing.
It will be noticed that, in the plan (page 113), a square of the nave,
occupying longitudinally the space of two bays of the aisles, is
indicated by the dotted lines; also a main pier is marked as Y and a
subsidiary pier as z.
The main piers, as at Y, are large rectangular masses, having on the
nave side a flat buttress-like piece added, with shafts in the angles,
and bearing on the face the two vaulting shafts. On the aisle side are
two shafts to each transverse arch; and on the two lateral faces are
triple shafts to the arcade arches, with four angle shafts at each
corner of the main pier, taking the outer rings to same. The plan is the
same at the triforium level. The smaller or subsidiary piers (as at X)
have single vaulting shafts on the nave face, double ones to the aisle,
and under the arcade arches convex faces, with four angle shafts, as in
main piers. The plan of these piers determines the elevation. The nave
arcade arches, ornamented with the billet, and triforium with a
_chevron_ or zig-zag, are almost equal in size, and over these lower
stages comes the typical triple Norman clerestory with walk; the whole
covered in by the fine lierne vault.
[Illustration: A Norman Capital.]
The vault has thirteen complete bays and two semi-bays, one at either
end. The junctions between this later vault and the Norman work can be
seen. The main piers had the original double shafts cut off at the level
of the top of the triforium arches, the later single shaft being brought
down and joined by a peculiar branch-like connection. The original
shafts to the subsidiary piers, which it is probable took only a minor
part in carrying the flat Norman wooden roof, were finished by a cap at
the impost level of the triforium, and the later shaft was brought down
and finished by the _rebus_ of Bishop Lyhart, the constructor of the
vault. This _rebus_ should be noticed; it is a pun in stone, with its
hart lying in water. It will also be noticed that the outer arches of
the triforium are not concentric with the sub-arches.
[Illustration: The Nave, looking East.]
The bases of the shafts have been Perpendicularised, probably when the
vault was added, and the Norman character of the lateral shafts spoilt
by scraping.
The building of the nave is usually attributed to Bishop Eborard
(1121-45), but some eminent archæologists believe that the whole
cathedral, nave and all, was built by Herbert, 1091-1119, the first
bishop and founder. We believe there is no documentary evidence against
this theory. The _Registrum Primum_ says: "Moreover, the same Herbert
completed the church of Norwich in his own time, as I have learned from
the account of old people, _but have not found in writing,_ as far as
the altar of the holy cross, which is now called the altar of S.
William."
The billet enrichment on the main arches, and the chevron or zig-zag on
those of the triforium, have been looked upon as indicating that this
part of the building--the five western bays of nave--is later than the
presbytery, the arches there lacking this ornament. But as these are
quite the earliest forms of ornament used by the Norman builders, their
occurrence here at Norwich cannot prove much. It is better perhaps to
reserve judgment, and be content with merely stating the facts and the
more generally accredited theories as to the age of the western part of
the nave.
The subsidiary circular columns in the fifth bay of the nave from the
west end should be noticed. A small enriched shaft in the clerestory of
the north transept is here illustrated. This very beautiful style of
treatment was common to the Norman builder, with the Romanesque, and the
Romans before them.
#The Choir Screen# crosses the nave between the subsidiary piers to the
sixth bay. Of the original work erected by Bishop Lyhart, 1446-72, the
sub-structure of the present screen is the only portion remaining.
Traces of two altars, one on either side of the doorway, can still be
seen; these were originally dedicated to St. William of Norwich and St.
Mary. These altars were enclosed in chapels formed by screens coming
forward to the extent of half the bay, and stopped against the main nave
piers on either side--the double vaulting shafts on the face of which
are stopped by corbels, carved as heads, at about the height that the
chapels would have reached. They were vaulted over, and above came the
rood loft and organ. The rood loft was damaged by the Puritans, and
probably removed after the Restoration. Dean Crofts, in 1660, set up a
new organ.
In Britton's "Norwich," 1816, the upper stage of the choir screen is
shown divided into square panels, occurring vertically over the lower
stage; the screens to the chapels before referred to having been
destroyed. In 1833 Salvin remodelled the choir, and turned his attention
to the choir screen: the organ was placed in its present position, and
cased with the frame of that instrument which Dean Crofts had set up in
1660; and the overhanging vault to the screen was added.
#The Nave Vault# (height 72 feet), which was added by Bishop Lyhart,
1446-72, took the place of the original Norman wooden roof destroyed by
fire in 1463. This earlier Norman roof was most probably like that now
existing at Peterborough, and was no doubt profusely decorated with
colour. The vault is of Perpendicular design, and known as _lierne_;
such vaults may be distinguished by the fact that between the main ribs,
springing from the vaulting shafts, are placed cross ribs forming a
pattern, as it were, and bracing the main ribs, but not in any great
measure structural. This vault at Norwich may be taken as typical of the
last legitimate development of the stone roof; it was the precursor of
the later fan vaulting, such as we find in Henry VII.'s chapel at
Westminster, where legitimate construction was replaced by ostentatious
ingenuity and the accumulation of needless ornament and detail.
The carved bosses here at Norwich, occurring at the intersection of the
ribs, are worth careful study. Those who care to go into the matter in
the fullest detail should consult Dean Goulburn's book published in
1876, which not only gives an admirable history of the fabric and the
See, but enters fully into the detail and symbolic meaning of each of
the 328 bosses.
In this list, compiled from that volume, mention is made only of those
bosses on the main longitudinal rib of the vault; it is hoped that this
method will enable the visitor to readily enter into the meaning of any
group of bosses, by providing a keynote to the whole. The subjects are
taken from Bible history, and each epoch is usually grouped around some
central incident figured on the main longitudinal ribs. In each bay No.
4 is the large central boss.
[Illustration: The Choir Screen and Organ from the Nave.]
#The Easternmost Bay.--No. 1.#
(1.) The Creation of Light.
(2.) A Figure of the Almighty.
(3.) A White Hart.
(4.) The Temptation.
(5.) A White Swan.
(6.) The Death of Cain.
#The Second Bay.--No. 2.#
(1.) Cain driven out as a Fugitive.
(2.) Noah building the Ark.
(3.) Noah's Drunkenness.
(4.) The Ark on the Waters.
(5.) Meaning indefinite.
(6.) Noah planting the Vine.
#The Third Bay.--No. 3.#
(1.) The Building of the Tower of Babel.
(2.) The Tower of Babel shown as Feudal Fortress.
(3.) Abraham entertaining an Angel.
(4.) Abraham sacrificing Isaac.
(5.) Jacob deceiving Isaac.
(6.) Isaac blessing Esau.
#The Fourth Bay.--No. 4.#
(1.) Sarah at the Door of Abraham's House.
(2.) Jacob going to Padan-Aram.
(3.) Jacob wrestling with the Angel.
(4.) Jacob pilling the Green Poplar Rods.
(5.) Jacob's Ladder.
(6.) Jacob making the Covenant with Laban.
#The Fifth Bay.--No. 5.#
(1.) Jacob sending Joseph to his Brethren.
(2.) Joseph journeying to his Brethren.
(3.) Joseph stripped of his Coat of Many Colours.
(4.) Joseph cast into the Pit.
(5.) Joseph sold to the Ishmaelite Merchants.
(6.) Joseph set up over the Egyptians.
#The Sixth Bay.--No. 6.#
(1.) Joseph selling corn.
(2.) Moses in the Ark of Bulrushes.
(3.) The Angel appearing to Moses in the Burning Bush.
(4.) The Overthrow of the Egyptians in the Red Sea.
(5.) The Ark of the Covenant.
(6.) Samson rending the Lion.
#The Seventh Bay.--No. 7.#
(1.) Samson taking the Gates of the City of Gaza.
(2.) David smiting Goliath.
(3.) David cutting off Goliath's Head.
(4.) David crowned.
(5.) David charging Solomon.
(6.) Solomon enthroned.
#The Eighth Bay.--No. 8.#
(1.) Solomon enthroned.
(2.) The Annunciation.
(3.) The Presentation in the Temple.
(4.) The Nativity.
(5.) The Visitation.
(6.) Herod decreeing the Massacre of the Innocents.
#The Ninth Bay.--No. 9.#
(1.) The Flight into Egypt.
(2.) Christ in the midst of the Doctors.
(3.) The Marriage in Cana of Galilee.
(4.) The Baptism of Our Lord.
(5.) The Raising of Lazarus.
(6.) The Supper in Bethany.
#The Tenth Bay.--No. 10.#
(1.) Christ's Entry into Jerusalem.
(2.) Circular Hole for Descent of Thurible.
(3.) Our Lord sending forth the Disciples.
(4.) The Last Supper.
(5.) Disciples preparing for the Foot-washing.
(6.) Our Lord washing Peter's Feet.
#The Eleventh Bay.--No. 11.#
(1.) Our Lord in Gethsemane.
(2.) Christ crowned with Thorns.
(3.) Christ led to Pilate.
(4.) Christ before Pilate.
(5.) Christ Blindfolded.
(6.) Christ Betrayed.
#The Twelfth Bay.--No. 12.#
(1.) Christ taken to the House of the High Priest.
(2.) Christ nailed to the Cross.
(3.) The Soldiers casting Lots.
(4.) The Crucifixion.
(5.) The Entombment.
(6.) Christ in Hades.
#The Thirteenth Bay.--No. 13.#
(1.) Soldiers watching the Holy Sepulchre.
(2.) The Resurrection.
(3.) Three Apostles.
(4.) The Ascension.
(5.) The Virgin praying.
(6.) The Day of Pentecost.
#The Fourteenth Bay.--No. 14.#
(1.) A Miracle of Exorcism.
(2.) The Jaws of Hell.
(3.) The Drunkard's Doom.
(4.) The Last Judgment.
(5.) St. Peter.
(6.) The Holy Trinity.
(7.) Bishop Lyhart, the Builder of the Vault.
To all those who take an interest in early stone cutting, this vault of
Norwich is a store of inexhaustible treasure; the bosses, rudely cut as
they are, tell their own tales with singular truth and directness. Their
sculpture may not display the anatomical knowledge of the work of the
Renaissance; yet it has a distinct decorative value that has been seldom
equalled in the later decadent period. The fourteen large central bosses
on the main longitudinal ribs present in themselves an epitome not only
of Bible history, but of the connecting incidents forming the theme of
Christian teaching. In the tenth bay, on the longitudinal rib, there is,
in place of a boss, a circular hole through the vault. It is supposed to
have been formed to allow a thurible to be suspended therefrom into the
church below. Harrod, quoting from Lambard's "Topographical Dictionary,"
says: "I myself, being a child, once saw in Poule's Church at London, at
a feast of Whitsontide, wheare the comyng down of the Holy Gost was set
forth by a white pigeon that was let to fly _out of a hole that is yet
to be seen in the mydst of the roof of the great ile_, and by a long
censer which, descending out of the same place almost to the very
ground, was swinged up and down at such a length that it reached at one
swepe _almost to the west gate of the church, and with the other to the
queer_ [_quire_] _stairs of the same_, breathing out over the whole
church and companie a most pleasant perfume of such sweet things as
burned therein."
It is probable that the hole in the nave vault at Norwich was used for a
similar purpose; and its position would seem to agree with such use,
situated as it is about midway between the west end and where the front
of the mediæval rood loft occurred.
#The West Window#, added, as we have already noted by Bishop Lyhart, to
light the vault, resembles that of Westminster Hall in the lines of its
tracery; the glass by Hedgeland constitutes a memorial to Bishop Stanley
(d. 1849).
#West Door.#--The original Norman arch remains over the doorway on the
inside.
#The North Aisle of Nave#, the Norman windows of which were entirely
replaced by Decorated ones, is covered by plain quadri-partite vaults.
In the triforium over, as previously noted in description of exterior,
the side walls were raised, the original Norman windows blocked up and
Perpendicular ones placed over, the roof being at the same time raised
on the outside to the necessary height, and made of a shallower pitch;
this is clearly noticeable from the triforium walks.
In the easternmost bays, two windows were raised still more to gain
additional light for the choir.
In the seventh bay from the west end occurs the door once leading to the
_green yard_.
[Illustration: The North Aisle of Nave, looking West.]
#The South Aisle of Nave# corresponds with the north, and is covered
with a plain quadri-partite vault, with the exception of the seventh and
eighth bays from the west; these were converted by Bishop Nykke into a
chapel enclosed by screens, and are marked on the plan as E.E. The
Norman vaults were here removed and the late Perpendicular ones
constructed in their stead; the windows appear to be of still later
date, but are supposed to have been, and most probably were, inserted at
this period.
#Monuments in Nave.#--The nave suffered severely at the hands of the
Puritans, who destroyed many of the early tombs and effigies. Especially
noticeable is the lack of brasses; all these have disappeared, with the
exception only of one in the Jesus Chapel. Another singularity is that
the burial-place of most of the bishops who are known to have been
interred in the cathedral is quite uncertain. The best of them seem to
have been content with a plain slab and inscribed brass; only Nykke, of
infamous memory, left so gorgeous a chapel behind to perpetuate it.
Bishop Hall, in his "Hard Measure," gives a sketch of vivid historical
interest of the sacrilege committed during the Puritan rebellion, and
when, in 1643, the cathedral was in the possession of the fanatics.
"Lord, what work was here, what clattering of glasses, what beating down
of Walls, what tearing up of Monuments, what pulling down of Seates,
what wresting out of Irons and Brass from the Windows and Graves. What
defacing of Armes, what demolishing of curious stone work, that had not
any representation in the World, but only of the cost of the Founder and
skill of the Mason, what toting and piping upon the destroyed Organ
pipes, and what a hideous triumph on the Market day before all the
Countrey, when, in a kind of Sacrilegious and profane procession, all
the Organ pipes, Vestments, both Copes and Surplices, together with the
Leaden Crosse which had been newly sawne down from over the Green-Yard
Pulpit, and the Service books and singing books that could be had, were
carried to the fire in the publick Market place; A leud wretch walking
before the Train, in his Cope trailing in the dirt, with a Service book
in his hand, imitating in an impious scorne the tune, and usurping the
words of the Letany; neer the Publick Crosse, all these monuments of
Idolatry must be sacrificed to the fire, not without much Ostentation of
a zealous joy."
#Monuments in North Aisle of Nave.#--In the fifth bay of the nave arcade
(marked I on plan) is the altar tomb of Sir Thomas Wyndham and his four
wives. This was originally in the Lady Chapel, then, for a time, the
Jesus Chapel, and about 1869 moved to its present position.
Between the sixth and seventh bay is buried Dean Prideaux (d. 1724). The
ninth bay of aisle is lighted by a memorial window to William Smith (d.
1849), Professor of Modern History at Cambridge. In the tenth bay
(marked 2 on plan) is the altar tomb, with panelled sides, to Sir John
Hobart (d. 1507), Attorney-General to Henry VII.
#Monuments in South Aisle of Nave# from the west.--In the sixth bay is a
memorial window by Wailes to members of the Hales family. In the seventh
bay (marked 3 on plan) is the tomb of Chancellor Spencer; the rents of
the dean and chapter were formerly paid here. The ninth bay (marked 4 on
plan) contains the altar tomb of Bishop Parkhurst (1560-74).
[Illustration: The East Walk of the Cloisters.]
#The Cloisters# and destroyed monastic buildings.--The cloisters are
on the south side of the cathedral, the interior garth being about 145
feet square.
[Illustration: The Cloisters from the Garth.]
The original Norman cloisters, which were probably of a wooden
construction, were destroyed by the fire of 1272; and the work of
building the present cloisters was commenced by Bishop Walpole (1289-99)
about 1297, but they were not completely finished until 1430, in the
time of Bishop Alnwyck (1426-36). They present an interesting, and, at
the same time, complex study of the development of the styles during the
one hundred and thirty-three years which passed during their erection; a
paper by the Rev. D.J. Stewart (published in vol. 32 of the
_Archæological Journal_) goes minutely into their construction, and the
several parts the various bishops of Norwich played in their design.
Those who wish to study this part of the cathedral thoroughly cannot do
better than refer to this paper.
It will be noticed that, despite the lengthy period occupied in the
construction of the cloisters, the result is in no way inharmonious; it
is only in the detail, and especially the open tracery to the bays, that
the difference of style is very perceptible.
Counting the angle severies as in each walk, it will be noticed that
there are fourteen severies on the east side; and thirteen on the other
three. Each is nearly square on plan, and vaulted over with horizontal
longitudinal and transverse ribs, between which occur diagonals and
_tiercerons_; with carved bosses at the intersections. The piers
carrying the vaults consist of groups of separate cylindrical shafts of
Purbeck marble.
On the three sides--east, west, and south--there are separate storeys of
apartments over the vaults, which were used for various purposes by the
monks.
In elevation--and of course this can best be seen from the Garth--each
bay is divided by a projecting buttress with diagonal one in the angles;
the arches are filled with open tracery carried by two mullions; it is
this tracery which marks most clearly the various changes of style. The
shape of the arch is similar throughout. This was a concession on the
part of the later builders which ensured harmony in the whole; but on
each side the tracery is varied. On the east side it is geometrical in
character, the work being transitional between Early English and
Decorated; on the south side the tracery is more flowing and has
advanced to Decorated; on the west side again, we get the transitional
style between Decorated and Perpendicular, with some _flamboyant_ or
flame-like detail; while on the north and latest side it is frankly
Perpendicular.
#The East Walk# of cloisters is the earliest; access to which is gained
from the south aisle of nave of cathedral, through the #Prior's Door#;
of this fine specimen of early Decorated work we give an illustration.
In the sixth bay, from, and counting the angle, may be seen the
walled-up entrance to the Slype. In the seventh, eighth, and ninth bays
remain the arches which once gave entrance to the chapter-house; these
were walled up until about 1850.
According to the itinerary of William of Worcester, the chapter-house,
which was built by Bishop Walpole (1289-99), projected eastward about 80
feet, terminating with a polygonal apse, as shown by the dotted lines to
our plan.
The prolongation of this east walk southwards beyond the south walk of
the cloisters, led formerly to the infirmary; of which now only remain
the three piers in the lower close; the greater part having been pulled
down in 1804. During some time in the eighteenth century the infirmary
was used as a workhouse.
The dormitories in all monasteries were connected with one of the
transepts, usually the south, so that the monks could at all hours
easily gain access to the cathedral for the performance of the offices
of their order; it is probable, therefore, that the rooms over this east
walk of the cloisters here at Norwich may have been used as dormitories,
with a staircase on the western side of the south transept leading to
them. The dormitories are supposed by some antiquarians to have been
placed south of the destroyed chapter-house; the door in the twelfth bay
of the east wall of the cloisters (marked 5 on plan) probably giving
rise to the supposition.
The sculptured vault-bosses in this walk are illustrative of incidents
in Gospel story and of the legends of the four evangelists.
#The South Walk#, the south wall of which was also the wall of the
refectory. A door (marked 6 on plan) at the western end of this walk led
to the refectory. To the west were probably the kitchen and offices. The
sculptured bosses of the vault over this walk are illustrations of
scenes from the Book of Revelation.
[Illustration: The Prior's Door.]
#The West Walk.#--In the first two bays (marked 7 on plan) are the
lavatories of the monks; and in the fourth bay, a door (marked 8 on
plan) that formerly led to the guest hall, pulled down by Dean Gardiner,
1573-89. The cellarer whose duty it was to look after the guests
probably had apartments above.
A door in the last bay leads to the #Choir School#; this was formerly
the #Locutory#, where the monks indulged in their daily gossip. The
western wall is in the Early Decorated style; the body of the room
dating from Norman times.
The door into the south aisle of the cathedral from this walk, known as
the #Monks' Door#, is of an elaborate example of the Perpendicular
style.
Returning along the #North Walk#, the latest part of the cloisters, we
come again to the prior's door, by entering which the rest of the
interior may be inspected.
#The Ante-choir# occupies one compartment of the nave, and is
immediately under the organ loft. It was in mediæval times a chapel
dedicated to Our Lady of Pity. The screens between this ante-choir and
the aisles on north and south, were in part formed from the
Perpendicular screen which originally divided off the Jesus Chapel from
the north aisle of the presbytery. Here in the ante-choir they are
certainly preferable, even as "mutilated Perpendicular," to any modern
substitute; though it was lamentable vandalism to remove them from their
original positions, where they are shown in Britton's "History."
#The Choir.#--It may be as well here to give a brief sketch of the
various re-modellings which have been effected in the arrangement of the
choir and presbytery of the cathedral.
Britton shows, in one of his plates published in 1816, the floor of the
choir continued at its level until, immediately before the altar, in the
apse, it rises by five steps to the level of the sanctuary (the
presbytery, after the Reformation, had been cut off from the choir by a
wooden screen, in front of which stood the communion table). Across both
transepts, in the beginning of the century, there stood cumbrous
two-storeyed structures containing pews not unlike boxes at a theatre,
as shown in a drawing here reproduced. In 1837, when Salvin re-modelled
the choir, these were removed, and on the south side replaced by a stone
gallery, and this again has been taken down.
In Dean Goulburn's time the floor of the presbytery was raised by two
steps, which occurred one bay past the tower arch eastward.
[Illustration: The Choir and Presbytery.]
Quite recently, there have been further alterations carried out by
Dean Lefroy. The eastern arm of the building was closed for two and a
half years, and during this time the whole of the whitewash, etc.,
covering the stonework was flaked off, with much benefit to the
appearance of this part of the interior. The level of the presbytery
floor has been brought forward to the tower arch, and at the same time
the floors of both transepts and choir were brought to one level, and
various obstructions in the way of pews and raised floors removed.
The choir was opened after this work by Archbishop Benson, 2nd May 1894.
[Illustration: A Stall in the Choir.]
#The Choir# extends one bay, or the space of two compartments, into the
nave, as was usual in cathedral priories, and was originally occupied
during the offices of the Benedictines by the prior, sub-prior, and the
sixty monks. The bishop--who was the nominal abbot--with his presbyters,
occupied the presbytery.
The stalls, sixty in number, with an additional two for the prior and
sub-prior, facing east, are fine specimens of fifteenth-century work,
the detail varying though the main lines are preserved in each.
Each of these stalls retains the _subsellium_ or _miserere_, which,
hinged at the back, turns up and discloses a small ledge beneath
supported by carving, which ledge is supposed to have been used by the
aged monks to rest on during the first long office of the Benedictines,
which lasted four hours. Did they, however, by any chance allow the
seat to fall, they are said to have had to go through the whole of their
prayers again as a penance. All these _misereres_ are worth studying,
especially as the white and grey paint which had disfigured them has
been cleaned off since 1806.
The choir was re-arranged by Salvin in 1833, and the chancellor's stall,
shown in early prints, against the north-east tower pier, was removed at
this time. The presbytery was filled with stalls, which have been lately
removed, and in part refixed in the nave. During the recent alterations
the row of fifteenth-century stalls, each with its _miserere_, has been
removed from its original position in front of the canopied stalls, and
placed across the transepts, and their place taken by others, made up of
various fragments of old seating.
Also the older bishop's throne, erected by Dean Lloyd late in the
eighteenth century, "in resemblance to ancient Gothic workmanship," was
removed from the south-east pier of the tower and placed in the
consistory court, and its place taken (1894) by the present erection,
designed by Pearson also in the style of ancient Gothic workmanship, and
made by Cornish and Gaymer. The new pulpit, taking the place of that put
up after the demolition of the chancellor's stall, was designed by J.D.
Seddon, and executed by H. Hems of Exeter.
#The Pelican Lectern#, now in the choir (see illustration, p. 110), was
formerly hidden away in the Jesus Chapel; it is late Decorated in
character; the three small figures were added in 1845. There is enough
metal in this piece of mediæval work to make a dozen modern replicas.
#The Presbytery# consists of two double severies, or four compartments,
terminated by a semi-circular apse of five compartments. The four
compartments on either side have, in the lower stages of their design,
rich four-centred arches of Perpendicular period, with niches between on
the piers; the spandrels are filled in to a horizontal line, above
which, at the level of the triforium floor, is an elaborate cusped
cresting. The triforium is Norman, lofty in scale. Over this come four
light transitional (Decorated to Perpendicular) clerestory windows, with
niches canopied forward in the thickness of the wall over the clerestory
path; the windows being on the outer face of wall. From the apex of the
ogee arches of the niches spring the vaulting ribs of the later vault,
without any intermediate shaft. The apse preserves its Norman
characteristics in the lower stage as well as at the triforium level.
Here the interest of the student must surely be concentrated; as this
eastern arm of the cathedral is the earliest part of the building.
Herbert, the founder, laid the foundation-stone at the extreme east,
probably in the original Norman Lady Chapel, and built westwards, and
here, in front of the high altar, was he buried.
[Illustration: The Choir and Presbytery in 1816.]
The remains of the first bishop's throne, with the westward position,
are in the central bay of the apse. Behind it, in the screen wall, can
be discerned an arch which looks like a door head; if there be a vault
beneath the presbytery, it is probable that this is the walled-up
entrance.
On the east side of the tower over the arch can be seen the lines of the
original Norman roof. The Norman clerestory was so badly damaged by part
of the tower falling in 1362 that the present clerestory was built in
its place by Bishop Percy (1355-69), the presbytery, at the same time
being covered over with a framed timber roof. In 1463 this (together
with the spire) was struck by lightning, and fell burning into the
presbytery, where it burned itself away. Here and there in the aisles,
and wherever the Norman stonework is visible, traces of an orange
discoloration give evidence of the heat generated by the mass.
The present lierne vault was added by Bishop Goldwell (1472-99), and his
rebus, a gold well, can be seen cut on the bosses at the intersections
of vaulting ribs. The curious junction of the later vault with the
ogee-shaped arches of the clerestory should be noticed.
While the original triforium yet remains, the character of the main
arcade was altered by the insertion of the four-centred "Perpendicular"
arches, the work of Bishop Goldwell, whose tomb is under one on the
south side. These lower arches were filled with screens, removed in
1875.
The lower apsidal arches, in the beginning of the century, were
completely filled with imitation Norman work; this has been cleared away
to the original height of the screen wall, with much improvement to the
general effect.
[Illustration: The Choir Stalls at the beginning of the Nineteenth
Century.]
The present altar, designed by Sir A.W. Blomfield, occupies probably the
position of the original altar. The question where the high altar stood
has provoked much speculation. Professor Willis placed it more to the
westward, thinking that a quatrefoiled opening or hagioscope in the
screen wall of the last bay on the north side of the Presbytery (marked
9 on plan) was made to afford a view of it from the aisle. Harrod points
out that there is a small hole in the vault above, from which probably
hung down the light of the sacrament. The position of this hole, and the
fact that such a light would necessarily be placed before the altar, and
not over or behind it, is evidence that the altar was about where it is
now. Blomfield, again, averred that the people stood in the aisle and
confessed to the priest standing in the sanctuary, the "voice coming
through a hole made in the wall for that purpose," the hole being the
hagioscope referred to. But, as Harrod observes, to do this the priest
must have assumed a recumbent position, which is neither convenient nor
usual.
The real use, no doubt, of this bay of the arcade, was for the Easter
sepulchre; its usual position is on the north side of the sanctuary. It
will be noticed also that in the aisle immediately behind is a raised
gallery of Decorated character, access to which was gained from the
sanctuary by steps on the left side of the bay of the arcade, in which
occurs the hagioscope. This gallery formed the ante-chapel to the
#Reliquary Chapel#, which projected northwards from the aisle of the
cathedral; the roof line of this chapel can be seen plainly from the
outside. From the reliquary chapel on Good Friday the crucifix and pyx
were taken out and deposited in the Easter sepulchre below; and from the
vault above, through the hole before referred to, was hung the great
sepulchre light. More probably the hagioscope was intended to be used by
the watcher at the sepulchre.
[Illustration: The Choir, looking West.]
The arrangement of the presbytery, as we have already noted when
referring to the plates here reproduced from Britton, has undergone many
changes; in the beginning of the century the level of the floor of the
choir was continued until between the third and fourth bay from the
tower in the presbytery, where it rose by five steps to the level of the
sanctuary floor. Harrod speaks of two steps up at the third pier past
the tower, and three at the fourth or point of the junction of the apse.
In Dean Goulburn's time, the sanctuary space was enlarged by being
brought forward one bay. The present floor, designed by Sir A.W.
Blomfield in glass mosaic and porphyry, was executed by Powell
Brothers. Then also was added the somewhat elaborate communicants' rail,
executed in bronze and spars. In enlarging the sanctuary, Dean Goulburn
moved the three steps from the fourth pier past the tower to the third,
and at the same time the two steps at the third pier were moved forward
to the first past the tower. And now again, during the recent works of
reparation, the presbytery floor has been brought forward at one level
to the tower arch, where it descends to the level of the choir floor by
five steps: screens which filled the first bays on either side were
removed, and similar flights of steps now descend from the presbytery
and the north and south aisles. The cumbrous stalls were also removed,
and in part refixed in the nave.
The stained glass which fills the clerestory windows of the apse dates
from 1846, and was made by Yarrington. The window in the triforium just
above the altar contains modern stained-glass, dedicated to the memory
of Canon Thurlow.
#Monuments in the Presbytery.#--The monument of Herbert, the first
bishop of Norwich, and the founder of the cathedral, was raised in the
centre of presbytery, before the high altar. It was so much injured
during the time of the Rebellion that a new one was erected in 1682;
this again was levelled, and a slab placed in the floor at the same
place now remains.
In the second bay eastward from the tower (south side), marked 10 on
plan--Bishop Goldwell's (1472-99) chantry, and the altar tomb,
remarkable for the effigy in full pontificals (see illustration). Bloxam
remarks that it is "the only instance of the monumental effigy of a
bishop, prior to the Reformation, in which the _cappa pluvialis_, or
processional cope, is represented as the outward vestment instead of the
casula or chesible." The tomb is placed to the south of the recess; in
the space east was an altar.
In the third bay eastward was Bishop Wakering's (1416-25) tomb, the only
part of which now remaining is visible from the south aisle, and
consists of a series of panels with plain shields and figures two by
two, with the several instruments of the Passion. There were formerly
steps down into the south aisle from this bay. In the same place is a
monument to Bishop Overall (d. 1619).
[Illustration: Detail of the Presbytery Clerestory and Vaulting.]
In the fourth bay (marked 11 on plan) the altar tomb of Sir William
Boleyn of Blickling (d. 1505).
Of the fourth bay eastward from tower on the south side (marked 9 on
plan), Sir Thomas Browne says: "On the north of the choir--_the
presbytery is meant_--between the two arches, next to Queen
Elizabeth's seat, were buried Sir Thomas Erpingham and his wives, the
Lady Joan, etc., whose pictures were in the painted glass windows next
to this place, with the arms of the Erpinghams. The insides of both the
pillars were painted in red colours, with divers figures and
inscriptions from the top almost to the bottom, which are now washed out
by the late whiting of the pillars.... There was a long brass
inscription about the tombstone, which was torn away in the late times,
the name of Erpingham only remaining."
During the recent works, under this same spot was found a leaden coffin
enclosing human bones, which were possibly the remains of Sir Thomas
Erpingham.
An amusing tale is told by Harrod of Roger Bigod's burial in the
cathedral. He was the founder of Thetford Priory, and died in 1107,
leaving directions that his body should be buried in his own monastery.
The prior of Thetford was much perplexed to hear that Bishop Herbert had
taken possession of the body, and had determined that it should be
interred with all the due solemnities at Norwich. Herbert was anxious to
secure for his own foundation so valuable a source of income as the
offerings and celebrations at the tomb of a pious man like Bigod; and no
doubt the prior was not actuated alone by love for his departed abbot.
The bishop won, and Roger Bigod was buried in the cathedral, possibly in
the same crypt which is supposed to contain the bones of Herbert
himself.
#The North Transept#, like the south, is without aisles or triforium,
the wall space up to the clerestory level being decorated with wall
arcading, varying considerably in position and detail in each
compartment. The clerestory follows round from the nave, and overhead is
the later lierne vault. It was, together with the eastern arm of the
cathedral, closed for two and a half years, during which period the
whole of the lime-white and paint encrusting the stonework was flaked
off. The work, so far as we can understand, was really a restoration,
inasmuch as the original stonework was restored to view. The level of
the floor was made to correspond with that of the choir, and a raised
wooden floor with the benches thereon removed. The transepts were built
by Herbert, the first bishop and founder. Both originally had an apsidal
chapel on the eastern wall, but only that on the north arm remains,
and access to this now is not possible from the transept. Dedicated at
one time to St. Anne, it is now used as a store-house.
[Illustration: The Choir Apse.]
The vault was added by Bishop Nykke, and was necessitated by a fire in
1509, which consumed the wooden roofs of both transepts. During the
recent works the small arcading immediately under the line of the vault
was discovered walled up, the builders of the later vault in all
probability having done this, as in many cases the line of the vault
cuts over the arcading. This was opened up, and is distinctively
interesting in helping to reconstruct the original finish to the Norman
work under the roof.
#The Tower and Triforium Walks#, to which access is gained by a
staircase in the east wall of north transept, are of much interest. In
the triforium the imposition of the later work on the Norman is clearly
noticeable, and the original Norman triple windows walled up with the
wall shafts which once supported the semi-arches of the triforium roof.
Some of the best views of the interior are to be gained from the
triforium and clerestory paths.
#Interior of Tower.#--A continuation of the same staircase leads to the
clerestory, and from thence access is gained to the tower galleries.
Above the arches of the crossing there is a vaulted passage in the
thickness of the tower walls, with six arches pierced in the inner wall,
so that the parts of the interior can be seen from this walk. Above
occurs a smaller wall arcade, stopped before reaching the angle to admit
of large circular holes being deeply recessed in the walls; and above
this again another vaulted gallery, with three windows on either side,
pierced through the tower. In the lower of these walks openings occur
through the thickness of the walls into the presbytery, the nave, and
transepts, just under the vaults, and interestingly quaint peeps can be
gained through them.
The #Processional Path#, or aisles to the presbytery, consists of four
bays to the north and south, with quadri-partite vaulting, with a
similar five following round the line of the apse. A door in the north
aisle leads out into the gardens of the bishop's palace, and from thence
the exterior of this part of the cathedral is best seen.
Crossing the north aisle to the presbytery, at the fourth bay eastward
past the tower, marked F on plan, there occurs a curious bridge chapel
spanning the aisle, access thereto being gained by a newel staircase on
the north side. In our notes on the Presbytery, we have referred to the
uses assigned to this structure and its connection with the Easter
sepulchre. It formed the ante-chapel to the reliquary chapel projecting
northward from the outer wall of the cathedral; it probably was built as
a bridge so that relics and symbols might be exhibited thereon to
processions passing along underneath. It is decorated in character, and
the vault is constructed of chalk. The chapel above is decorated with
frescoes, the subjects of which are as follow:--In the western quarter
of the four-part vault, The Blessed Virgin between SS. Margaret and
Catherine; in the eastern, SS. Andrew, Peter, and Paul; in the northern,
SS. Martin, Nicholas, Richard; in the southern, SS. Edmund, Lawrence,
and a bishop; a figure of Christ occurs centrally. Copies of these
frescoes have been made in facsimile, and hang in the aisle and
consistory court. Passing through the small door in the north wall of
the north aisle before mentioned to the outside, the lines of the
reliquary chapel can be plainly seen, and also of another to the west;
the position of both these chapels is shown by dotted lines on the plan.
[Illustration: Detail of the Clerestory, North Transept.]
A coped coffin lid of Purbeck marble, now in the aisle of presbytery,
should be noticed; an inscribed brass once occupied the bevelled edge.
[Illustration: The South Aisle of Presbytery, looking East.]
#The Chapels.#--In the Norman cathedral, grouped round the east end of
the presbytery, was a trefoil of chapels; the one on the north, the
Jesus Chapel, yet remains, and as well its fellow on the south. The Lady
Chapel, or easternmost of the three (shown on plan by dotted lines) was
succeeded by an Early English building, which, in its turn, was
destroyed; the entrance arches, of beautiful proportion, alone
remaining.
[Illustration: Norman Work in the Lantern of Tower.]
#The Jesus Chapel# formerly belonged to the bishop. On plan its shape is
that of segments of circles joined, the altar placed in the smaller
part. A simple wall arcade runs round the lower half, the whole being
covered by a plain quadri-partite vault. The windows are insertions of
Perpendicular work, varied in character from the Norman work of the
chapel itself. The mural colouring is a restoration; it may be something
like the original, but the general effect is somewhat garish.
[Illustration: The Ante-Reliquary Bridge Chapel.]
The altar consists of a slab of grey Barnack-stone, with Purbeck
inlaid, the whole being supported on shafts.
The tomb of Sir Thomas Wyndham, now in the north of nave, at one time
stood here, as also the pelican lectern now in the choir.
In Britton, the chapel is shown divided off from the aisle by a stone
screen of Perpendicular character; this was removed, and used to form in
part the present screens dividing the ante-choir from the aisles.
A room over the Jesus Chapel, once the plumbery, is now used as a
museum.
The Entrance which led to the Lady Chapel is immediately behind the
apse, and takes the form of a double arch with clustered columns to the
jambs and central pier; the archivolt is deeply moulded and enriched
with the typical Early English "dog-tooth" ornament. In the spandrel
over the pier, and between the archivolts, is a quatrefoiled opening
fitting just under the line of the semi-circular Norman vault. The
arches, walled-in up to the impost level, are now filled with glass, as
well as the opening. The original circular Norman Lady Chapel was
destroyed in part by the fire of 1169; it was repaired by Bishop De
Turbe (1146-74), but it was not until the time of Walter de Suffield
(1245-57) that it was decided to pull it down and rebuild a chapel in
the style of the period--viz. Early English; it was this later building
that Dean Gardiner (1573-89) destroyed.
Dean Goulburn, in his work on the cathedral, points out that it was the
_cultus_ of the Blessed Virgin, which gathered strength all over Europe
during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, that led to the erection of
such sumptuous chapels as this thirteenth-century Lady Chapel of Norwich
must have been. When the theological reaction followed, they fell into
disuse and neglect, and their final ruin followed when it was found
cheaper to pull them down than keep them in repair.
The beautiful proportion of the entrance arches still remaining, the
archivolt enriched with the "dog-tooth" moulding--the only example of
this particular ornament at Norwich--gives one an idea of what the
chapel may have been like. During the recent works of reparation in the
choir, pieces of stone were found with the "dog-tooth" built inwards:
evidently the stone from the pulled down chapel had been used by the
masons for the repair of the fabric.
#St. Luke's Chapel#, on the south side of the apse corresponding with
the Jesus Chapel on the north, was formerly the chapel of the prior. It
is now used as the parish church of St. Mary in the Marsh. It has been
much restored, and the Decorated windows shown in Britton's view of the
east end of the cathedral were replaced early in the sixties, by what
the restorer would no doubt have called Norman.
The coloured glass was inserted to the east window in 1868, the south
window in 1870, the west window in 1881. That in the east and south is
by Hardman, in the west by Clayton & Bell. The glass in the south window
forms a memorial to Adam Sedgwick, Professor of Geology at Cambridge,
and canon of the cathedral for many years.
The room over the St. Luke's Chapel is used as the #Treasury and
Muniment Room#.
#The Bauchon Chapel#--corrupted to Beauchamp--dedicated to St.
Mary-the-Less, projects to the south of the third bay of the presbytery
aisle past the tower, (marked B on plan). It was founded in the
fourteenth century and the vault added in the fifteenth century. Its
bosses represent the Life, Death, and Assumption of the Virgin. The
chapel is now used as the consistory court. The bishop's throne, erected
by Dean Lloyd late in the eighteenth century in the choir, has found a
resting-place here.
A chapel, founded by Bishop Wakering, and which is said to have been
used as the chapter-house after the demolition of that structure, came
between the Bauchon Chapel and the east wall of the south transept. Its
exact position is, however, doubtful. Harrod, quoting Blomfield, speaks
of another chapel that was dedicated to St. Osyth, and which was paved
in 1398.
[Illustration: Doorway and Screen between South Transept and Aisle of
Presbytery.]
#The South Transept.#--The screen and doorway filling the Norman arch
between the south aisle of presbytery and the south transept should be
noticed; it is an interesting piece of work of late Perpendicular
design. There is a tradition that the Puritans disliked especially any
tracery that took the form of this piece of screen work, calling windows
in which it occurred "wicked windows." The intersection of the lines of
the tracery made the monogram of the Blessed Virgin; and the fanatics
destroyed such work wherever noticed. The tale is interesting, though we
cannot vouch for its truth.
[Illustration: View across the Apse from the Chapel of St. Luke.]
At the time the whitewash and paint covering the south transept was
cleaned off a range of small arcading was discovered immediately under
the line of the vault, as in the north transept, walled-up evidently
when the vault was added.
The south transept had in Norman times a circular chapel projecting
eastward similar to that remaining to the north transept. This was
replaced by a later sacristy during the fifteenth century, and the line
of this roof can be seen from the outside.
Across the south end there was formerly a stone screen built by Bishop
Lyhart (1446-72) communicating with the vestry on the east side, and on
the west with the staircase to rooms above the east walk of cloisters.
These rooms, as we have before noted, were in all probability the
dormitories of the monks, placed that they might so conveniently gain
access to the cathedral for the services.
On the top of Lyhart's screen came a clock; there are records in the
sacrists' rolls of materials used in the construction of an earlier
clock that was made between 1322-25--of two hundred pieces of Caen stone
and ten of "Gobetz" used to make a base, and that for making thirty
images to represent the days of the month, no less than 47s. 4d. was
paid.
The vault was added by Bishop Nykke at the same time as that to the
north transept; the carved bosses representing the early history of
Christ--the Presentation, Baptism, etc. The painted glass window on the
east side, the subject of which is the Ascension (after Raphael), was
erected by the widow of Dean Lloyd about a century since. Speaking of
its original position in the triforium of the presbytery, Britton says
"it disfigures, rather than ornaments, its station"; it can safely be
added that it fulfils the same purpose still.
#Monuments.#--Chantrey's statue of Bishop Bathhurst (d. 1837),
originally in the presbytery, has been placed here in the south
transept. The west wall has a memorial to the men and officers of the
9th (East Norfolk) Regiment of Foot who fell in China and Japan.
The east wall has a similar tablet to those of the same regiment who
fell in Afghanistan, 1842. A monument, originally on the west wall, to
Bishop Scambler (1585-95), has been removed to the south aisle of nave.
The county of Norfolk is peculiarly rich in painted screens of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; and it would have been strange
indeed if no specimen of their work had been preserved in the cathedral.
Fortunately, a superb #retable# in five panels, representing scenes in
the Passion of our Lord was discovered by Professor Willis in 1847, and
is now preserved in the aisle outside the Jesus Chapel.
This was formerly an altar-piece to the Jesus Chapel, and was preserved
by the happy accident of its admirable carpentry having saved it for the
purposes of a table. It appears to have been the work of an Italian
artist of about 1370 A.D., and is executed in a kind of _gesso_ work.
The size is now 7 ft. 5½ ins. × 2 ft. 4 ins.; but it was formerly
surrounded by an ornamented frame, of which portions remain on three
sides. The subjects represented are--from the left--The Scourging,
Bearing the Cross, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and the
Ascension.[1]
[Footnote 1: Royal Arch. Institute: Norwich volume, p. 198.]
Traces of other decorative painting have also been discovered in the
Sacrist's Room, St. Luke's and the Jesus Chapels, the choir aisles, and
other places.
[Illustration: The Resurrection: from the Painted Retable formerly in
the Jesus Chapel.]
CHAPTER IV
THE SEES OF THE EAST ANGLIAN BISHOPS
Herbert, surnamed de Losinga, transferred the see from Thetford to
Norwich in 1094, and it is from this period that the history of the
cathedral may be said to commence; but, to understand rightly the
history of the diocese, we must go back some four centuries and a half
to that earlier period when Redwald, king of the East Angles, was first
converted to Christianity while paying a visit to the court of Ethelbert
in Kent. He, however, proved but a weak disciple, and on being urged by
his wife to be true to the old gods, he tried to effect a compromise and
worship Jehovah and Baal.
He was succeeded by his son Eorpwald, who was converted by missionaries
sent by Edwin king of Northumbria. His reign, however, was short, and at
his death the people again relapsed into heathenism.
Christianity was finally established among the East Angles by Sigeberht,
Eorpwald's brother, and it was due to him and through his influence that
Felix, a missionary from Burgundy, was enabled to fix his see at
Dunwich, A.D. 630.
#Felix# (630-47) must needs have been a man strong in his Faith; he
christianised the whole of that district which now includes Norfolk,
Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire. He died on the 8th of March, and was
canonized after death. Felixstowe, where he is said to have founded
schools, keeps his memory green in the East Country; but Dunwich, where
he fixed his see, has long since been covered by the encroaching waves.
Sigeberht resigned the crown to his kinsman Egric, and had entered a
monastery to finish his days in peace. But the kingdom was invaded by
the Mercians under Penda, and the peaceful old king was compelled to
appear in the field to give heart and courage to the East Angles. He,
however, declined to employ carnal weapons, and went out against his
enemies armed with nothing more formidable than a wand. He was killed
in the ensuing engagement, and his successor, Egric, shared the same
fate.
The administration of the two successors to Felix lasted twenty-two
years, from A.D. 647-69. The East Anglian see was then divided by
Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, into two separate administrations,
#Acci#, the fourth successor to Felix, taking Dunwich, while #Beadwin#
was consecrated to the see of Elham.
From this date there were two lines of East Anglian Bishops; ten
diocesans followed after Acci at Dunwich, and nine after Beadwin at
Elmham.
#St. Humbert# (828-78) was the last of the Bishops of Elmham; he crowned
St. Edmund king of the East Angles, and both were murdered by the Danes
under Hinguar in 870.
After Humbert's death the two sees were again united under #Wildred#,
who at this time was Bishop of Dunwich; he, however, preferred Humbert's
see at Elham, and removed there, and so the bishopric of Dunwich became
extinct.
During the next two hundred years (870-1070), there were thirteen
bishops of Elmham, and then Elmham shared a similar fate to Dunwich, and
the see was moved to Thetford by #Herfast#, a chaplain of William the
Conqueror. William of Malmesbury records that Herfast had decided to go
down to posterity as a man _who had done something_, and fixed on this
removal as an easy solution of the difficulty.
#William Galsagus# (1086-91) or de Beaufeu succeeded Herfast, and he in
turn was succeeded by Herbert de Losinga, who became first Bishop of
Norwich.
The history of #Herbert's# episcopate (1091-1119) is the history of the
causes which effected the building of Norwich Cathedral, and, although
given previously in the history of the fabric, must needs be briefly
recapitulated here. Herbert, if not of Norman birth, had received his
education in Normandy and was Prior of Fécamp--where he had first taken
his vows--when offered by William Rufus the appointment of Abbot of
Ramsey. The see of Thetford fell vacant, and Herbert procured his own
appointment from the Red King in consideration of a sum of £1900 which
he paid into the royal treasury. The remorse which followed on this sin
of simony compelled him to go to Rome and seek the consolation and
forgiveness of Pope Urban. This was in 1094. He returned, and as
expiation for his sin founded the Priory of Norwich, the first stone of
which was laid in 1096, the see being removed from Thetford in
accordance with the decree of Lanfranc's Synod, held in 1075, that all
bishops should fix their sees in the principal town in their dioceses.
In cathedral monasteries the bishop, who was elected by the monks,
appears to have represented the abbot and took precedence of the prior.
Before Herbert's time, the chapter was composed of secular canons and
not monks.
Herbert, in 1101, placed sixty monks at Norwich, and it may be of
interest to quote from Taylor's "_Index Monasticus_" the establishment
of the monastery from Herbert's time up to the dissolution in 1538--
The Bishop representing the Chaplains.
Abbot. Precentor or chanter.
The Lord Prior. Sub-chanter.
The Sub-Prior. Infirmarer.
60 Monks. Choristers.
Sacrist. Keeper of the Shrines.
Sub-sacrist. Lay Officers.
Cellarer or bursar. Butlers.
Camerarius or chamberlain. Granarii.
Almoner. Hostilarii.
Refectorer. Carcerarius or gaoler.
Pittancier.
Archbishop Anselm had refused to acknowledge that the king had the right
to exercise a suzerainty over the Church, and declined to consent to lay
investitures. An embassy was sent to Rome, and Herbert, who went there a
second time about 1116, represented the king. It, however, was in no way
satisfactory; the Pope did not want to offend the king, and he wished to
retain to himself the right of investiture, so, while congratulating the
Archbishop's representatives, he sympathised also with those of the
king. The exertion told on Herbert, and at Placentia, on the return
journey, he fell sick, and stopped there until he became sufficiently
convalescent to journey by short and easy stages to his own cathedral
city. He lived to complete much important business, but his days of
administration were drawing to a close. He had been Prior of Fécamp,
Abbot of Ramsey, Sewer to William Rufus, had governed the East Anglian
bishopric first from the episcopal see at Thetford, had transferred it
to Norwich, and founded the Cathedral Priory, and if this were not
sufficient, he founded and endowed many other churches and monasteries
in the East Country. His repentance had been sincere, and in one of his
letters he refers to "my past life, which, alas! is darkened by many
foul sins." Dean Goulburn credits him with a third journey to Rome, and
says that it was at Placentia, on the outward journey, that he
contracted so grievous a sickness that he "lay ten successive days
without taking food and without uttering a word"; in fact, never
reaching Rome, but waiting for and rejoining his brother ambassadors on
their return. This journey was undertaken with the view of adjusting the
differences that had arisen between the new Primates, Ralph and
Thurston. The embassy was not successful, the Pope declining to commit
himself to any but the most general statements.
One of the last public acts of Herbert's life was to attend the funeral
of Queen Matilda on May-day, 1118. He died on the 22nd of July 1119 in
the twenty-seventh year of his episcopate, and was buried before the
high altar of his cathedral church.
#Eborard# (1121-1145), who succeeded Herbert, a son by second marriage
of Roger de Montgomery, first Earl of Arundel, was consecrated in 1121.
During his episcopate Eborard had parted with the towns of Blickling and
Cressingham, which pertained to his see, to two of the more powerful
barons, in the hope of securing the rest of the episcopal property, and
possibly with the idea of regaining possession of the same when the
troubled times should have passed.
He was deposed in 1145, and it may possibly be that he had favoured the
cause of Maude in the civil wars of the period, and that it was Stephen
who compelled him to relinquish his see and spend the rest of his life
in exile. He had in 1139 laid the foundation of an abbey at Fontenay, in
the south of France, and thither he repaired. He died in 1149.
His successor, #William de Turbe# (1146-1174), was elected to the see,
and in the year 1146 was consecrated at Canterbury by Archbishop
Theobald.
In 1168, Becket had written to De Turbe from Vezelay, a town on the
borders of Burgundy and Nivernois, and ordered him, by the Pope's
authority, to publicly excommunicate Hugh Bigot, Earl of Norfolk. He had
robbed the Priory of Pentnay, in Norfolk, of some of its possessions. De
Turbe obeyed, notwithstanding the fact that the king had sent officers
to prohibit him from so doing. An absolution was obtained from the Pope,
but the king was so far incensed that De Turbe considered it advisable
to rest in sanctuary at Norwich until the following year, 1169, when he
received the royal pardon.
[Illustration: Norwich Castle.]
Bishop William de Turbe died 17th January 1174, and was buried in the
cathedral choir, on the left side of the founder.
#John of Oxford# (1175-1200) was consecrated at Lambeth by Richard,
Archbishop of Canterbury, December 14, 1175; he was clerk or royal
chaplain to the king. He had presided over the council of Clarendon, the
constitutions of which defined the king's prerogatives in regard to the
Church, and chiefly with regard to the question of trying clerks charged
with crimes in the civil courts. He was despatched to Rome on an embassy
to the Pope, Alexander III., and on its failure was sent by Henry to
the Diet at Wurzburg; the king, not having been supported by Alexander,
determined to uphold his opponent, and as well he, in direct opposition
to the Pope, made John of Oxford Dean of Salisbury, with the result that
the future Bishop of Norwich incurred the penalty of excommunication by
Becket from Vezelay, "for having fallen into a damnable heresy in taking
a sacrilegious oath to the emperor, for having communicated with the
schismatic of Cologne, and for having usurped to himself the deanery of
the church of Salisbury."
The dispute was referred to the Pope at Sens, where John of Oxford, with
his fellow-ambassador, Gilbert Foliot, Bishop of London, repaired; John
of Oxford was rebuked by the Pontiff for his misconduct, but
diplomatically managed to effect his end and retain his deanery. Henry
had met Becket at Chaumont, through the mediation of the Archbishop of
Sens, and, the quarrel being patched up, John of Oxford was sent to
escort him to England. He landed, December 1, at Sandwich, in the year
1170, and within the month was murdered at Canterbury.
In 1175, the incursion of William of Scotland was checked, and the king
himself taken prisoner by Ranulph de Glanville. John of Oxford and
others were commissioned to settle terms of peace; and they executed the
treaty of Falaice, afterwards ratified by King Henry at York, by which
the Scottish king and his barons were under the necessity of doing
homage for their possessions. John of Oxford, who had rendered good
service to his sovereign, was rewarded by promotion to the vacant see of
Norwich; and during his episcopate sent by the king on an embassy to
William, King of Sicily, to convey his majesty's consent to the marriage
of his daughter Joan with that monarch.
An important step in the administration of justice was taken during this
reign--the king divided the country into six circuits, to which certain
prelates and nobles were to be sent at certain times to hear suits and
save litigants the trouble of attending the king's court at Westminster.
John of Oxford was one of a company of five to whom was given
jurisdiction over a portion of the country, from Norwich down to Sussex,
and from Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire eastward to the coast.
On the 9th of July 1189, King Henry died, and was succeeded by his third
son, Richard: John of Oxford assisting at the coronation. Richard had
no sooner been crowned than he led the crusade to the Holy Land, which
had been preparing in Henry's time, and John of Oxford was forced to
proceed to the Pope to ask for his absolution of the oath he had taken
to follow the Cross, on account of his old age and infirmity. This
request being granted, for which he had to pay 10,000 marks, he returned
to England.
The last public act of John of Oxford--who was one of the most
remarkable men who have held the see of Norwich--was most probably his
attendance at the coronation of King John. He died June 2, 1200.
#John de Grey# (1200-1214) was elected by the monks, and his election
being confirmed by King John, he was consecrated by Hubert, Archbishop
of Canterbury. It was during his episcopate, and through the quarrel
between King John and the Pope, that the power of the latter was at
length firmly established--a supremacy that was unquestioned until the
sixteenth century.
The metropolitan see of Canterbury fell vacant in 1205; the sub-prior,
who was surreptitiously elected by the monks, and unknown to the king,
travelled to Rome for the Pope's sanction of his appointment. When the
king became aware of this he was enraged, and despatched an embassy
upholding his nominee, John de Grey. The Pope pleased neither party, and
named Stephen Langton as Hubert's successor. The Pope, Innocent, sent
two legates, of whom Pandulph was one, in 1211 to England, and on John
declining to recognise the Papal claims, he was deposed, and his crown
offered to the French king Philip.
The country had been placed under an interdict, and most of the bishops
had left the country. John de Grey remained faithful to the king, and
actually invaded France with a small force to attack the invading
Philip, but soon was forced to retreat. In the end, John submitted,
resigned his crown, which was restored to him, and was compelled to pay
to the Church as damages 40,000 marks. John de Grey, who had been sent
to Rome to arrange this, died on the return journey at S. Jean d'Angelo,
near Poictiers, 18th October 1214.
#Pandulph Masca# (1222-1226) was consecrated Bishop of Norwich by
Honorius, 29th May 1222. He is supposed to have been a member of a noble
Pisan family, and in 1211 had been sent by Pope Innocent to humble King
John, which he successfully did. He was again employed as Papal Legate
during the young King Henry II.'s minority, and died in Italy, 16th
September 1226, having played a prominent part as politician and
mediator.
#Thomas de Blunville# (1226-1236), the nephew of Hubert de Burgh, Lord
Chief-Justice of England, was consecrated in St. Catherine's Chapel at
Westminster by Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury. He died in 1236, and
was succeeded by #Ralph de Norwich#, of whom but little is known; and is
even supposed to have died before his consecration.
#William de Ralegh# was consecrated on the 25th September 1239 at St.
Paul's by Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury. He had been a chaplain
of King Henry, and having received the education of a lawyer, from
1224-35 he visited various parts of the kingdom as a justiciary. On the
death of Peter de Rupibus he was elected to the see at Winchester by the
monks, in direct defiance of the king. The Pope's intervention in the
end secured him his see. He died at Tours in 1250.
#Walter de Suffield# (1245-57) was elected bishop by the monks after
Ralegh's translation. He chiefly busied himself in building and
beautifying the cathedral, and there is no record that he took any
prominent part in politics. He superintended a general inquisition
(known as the Norwich taxation) into the value of the Church revenues
throughout the whole of England. He died May 18, 1257, during a visit to
Colchester.
#Simon de Walton# (1258-66) was consecrated by Boniface, Archbishop of
Canterbury, on March 10, 1258. He held (in 1246) the office of
justice-itinerant. Of his administration little is known. He was past
seventy when he assumed the charge of the diocese. The barons under De
Montfort had beaten the king's army at Lewes, in 1264, and in 1266, from
their encampment in the Isle of Ely, attacked and sacked the city. Simon
de Walton died January 2, 1266.
#Roger de Skerming# (1266-78) was elected by the monks, and was
consecrated by Geoffrey Rages in St. Paul's Cathedral in April 1266. It
was during his episcopate that the disturbance occurred between the
monks and citizens over the annual fair held on Trinity Sunday, in
Tombland. He died January 2, 1278.
[Illustration: The Guildhall.]
#William de Middleton# (1278-88) was consecrated at Lambeth by the
Archbishop of Canterbury on May 29, 1278, and was enthroned, and the
Cathedral re-dedicated after the sacrilege and fire, on Advent Sunday,
1278, when Edward I. and his queen were present. He was appointed a
guardian of the realm, 1279, during the king's absence in France;
Archdeacon of Canterbury in 1276; and also steward of Bordeaux. He died
September 1, 1288, at Terling, in Essex, and his remains were carried in
state to Norwich, and there buried in the Lady Chapel.
#Ralph de Walpole# (1289-99) was of Norfolk extraction, and an
archdeacon of Ely. He was consecrated to the see on Mid-lent Sunday,
1289, at Canterbury, by John Peckham archbishop. His election, however,
was displeasing to the diocese. He was translated to Ely in 1299.
#John Salmon# (1299-1325), prior of Ely, had been elected bishop by the
monks, but was appointed to the see at Norwich at the same time that
Walpole was translated to Ely. He was consecrated by Archbishop
Winchelsey October 3, at Canterbury, and was one of the envoys sent to
the Court of Philip the Fair King of France, to arrange the marriage of
the young king Edward II. (1307). He was appointed chancellor of the
realm in 1320. He also went to France again in 1325; and it was on his
return that he died July 6, 1325.
#William de Ayerminne# (1325-36) was elected to the see by papal bull in
1325, and this overruled the election by the monks of Robert de Baldock.
Ayerminne was consecrated to the see September 15, 1325. He had held a
prebendal stall at St. Paul's in 1313 and in the next year at Lincoln.
In 1324 he was sent as ambassador to Robert Bruce to treat for peace. He
died at Charing, March 27, 1336; and was buried in the cathedral before
the high altar. He appears to have been cunning and crafty, and not
above changing his political views when occasion demanded.
#Anthony de Beck# (1337-43) was nominated by the Pope, the monks having
chosen Thomas de Hemenhale, who however, went to Worcester. Both were
consecrated to their respective dioceses by the Pope at Avignon March
30, 1337. He had been Dean of Lincoln. In 1342 he resisted the
Archbishop Stratford's visitation; this must have been a foretaste to
the monks of his imperious temper. In 1343 he was poisoned by his own
servants.
#William Bateman# (1344-54), of a Norwich family, had been archdeacon of
Norwich, chaplain to the Pope, and dean of Lincoln. He was consecrated
by the Pope at Avignon, 23rd May 1344. During his episcopate in (Edward
III.'s reign) 1349, Norwich was visited by "Black Death"; over 51,000
are supposed to have fallen victims to the dread plague. He founded
Trinity Hall at Cambridge, 1350; was sent to Rome on an embassy there.
He died January 6, 1354. He was buried at the church of St. Mary of
Avignon.
#Thomas Percy# (1355-69), brother of Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland,
against the wishes of the monks, was elected to the see. He was
consecrated January 3, 1355, at Waverly, in Surrey, by the Bishops of
Winchester, Sarum, and Chichester. The nobility at this time were
securing church preferments for their families to keep pace with the
formation of the professions and general advance of learning. He died
August 8, 1369, and was buried in the cathedral, before the rood loft.
#Henry le Dispencer# (1370-1406) was consecrated at Rome, 21st April
1370. He was hated by the monks, who had no share in his election. He
was of martial feeling, and took a prominent part in quelling the local
disturbance incident on Wat Tyler's rebellion, 1381. He was employed by
Urban VI. against his rival, Pope Clement VII.; was arrested for treason
in 1399, and pardoned by Henry IV. He died 1406.
#Alexander de Totington# (1407-13), prior of Norwich, was elected by the
monks in September 1406. This election found no favour at the Court, and
he was imprisoned at Windsor for nearly a year. He was then released,
and consecrated at Gloucester by the Archbishop October 23, 1407. He
died April 28, 1413, and was buried in the Lady Chapel.
#Richard Courtenay# (1412-15) was nominated by Henry V., and consecrated
by the Archbishop at Windsor 17th September 1413. He was Chancellor of
the University of Oxford in 1407-11-13. He died at Harfleur in 1415,
while on attendance to the king during the siege of that town. His body
was brought to England, and buried in Westminster Abbey.
#John Wakering# (1416-25), who was elected by the monks, had become
keeper of the privy seal in 1415. He was consecrated at St. Paul's by
the Archbishop May 31, 1416. He persecuted the Lollards strongly, and
during his episcopate many were burned at the stake. Yet his character
apparently was far from being harsh. He died at Thorpe in 1435, and was
buried in the presbytery.
#Alnwick# (1426-36) was confessor to Henry VI., and in 1420 archdeacon
of Salisbury. He was appointed by a papal bull, and consecrated August
18, 1426. He was translated by papal bull in 1436 to Lincoln.
#Thomas Browne's# (1436-45) appointment was contained in the same bull
that translated Alnwick. He had been previously Dean of Salisbury in
1431, and Bishop of Rochester in 1435. During his episcopate the
citizens again laid the priory under siege over a question of dues due
to them, and the liberties of the city were, as a consequence, seized by
the king. Browne died in 1445, and was buried in the nave, in the front
and to the west side of rood.
#Walter Lyhart# (1446-72) was nominated by the Pope, and consecrated
February 1446, at Lambeth, by the Archbishop Stafford. He had been
confessor to Henry VI.'s wife, Margaret of Anjou. He died May 17, 1472.
#James Goldwell# (1472-99) had been ambassador of Edward IV. at Rome. He
was nominated by the Pope, and consecrated at Rome, October 4, 1472. He
died February 15, 1499.
#Thomas Jane# (1499-1500) had been Canon of Windsor and Dean of Chapel
Royal in 1497; was consecrated on October 20, 1499. He died in September
1500.
#Richard Nykke# was consecrated in 1501. He was of infamous character,
and no doubt stimulated the zeal of the reformers, who may well have
contended that the Church which had such prelates surely needed
reformation. He persecuted those opposed to him, and burned many at the
stake. He was imprisoned in 1535, for appealing to Rome touching the
king's prerogative. He died January 14, 1536.
#William Rugg# (1536-50) was the last Bishop of Norwich before the
dissolution of the monasteries. Wolsey's downfall had occurred in 1529,
and in 1536 the smaller monasteries were dissolved, and in 1538 the
larger ones shared the same fate, Norwich being among the number, the
last prior, #William Castleton#, becoming dean. William Rugg resigned
the see in 1550.
[Illustration: Monument of Bishop Goldwell.]
On the foundation of the cathedral after the Dissolution the
establishment was as follows:--
One dean. Six poor men or bedesmen.
Six prebendaries. One sacrist.
Six minor canons. Two sub-sacrists.
One deacon reader of the Gospel. One beadle of the poor men.
One deacon reader of the Epistle. One high steward.
Eight lay clerks to be expert in singing. And clerks, porters,
One organist, eight choristers. auditors, and a coroner.
One precentor.
And such constitution, with but few changes, has held down to this day,
the prebendaries have become resident canons, and the precentor is also
a minor canon.
#Thomas Thirley# (1550-54) owed his preferment to Norwich from
Westminster to Edward VI. Queen Mary, in September 1554, promoted him to
Ely. He was the first and only bishop Westminster has had.
#John Hopton# (1554-58) was chaplain to Queen Mary, and aided in the
persecution of the Protestants.
#John Parkhurst# (1560-75) is credited with having "beautified and
repaired" the bishop's palace.
#Edmund Freke# (1575-78) was translated from Rochester, and again to
Worcester in 1578.
#Edmund Scambler# (1585-94) was translated to Norwich from Peterborough.
#William Redman# (1594-1602).
#John Jegon# (1602-1617) was master of Benedict College for twelve
years.
#John Overall# (1618-19) was translated from Lichfield and Coventry; he
enjoyed the reputation of being the "best scholastic divine in the
English nation."
#Samuel Harsnet# (1619-28); translated to York in 1628.
#Francis White# (1628-31); translated to Ely in 1631.
#Richard Corbet# (1632) was translated from Oxford. Of him it was said
"he was a distinguished wit in an age of wits, and a liberal man amongst
a race of intolerant partisans."
#Matthew Wren# (1635-38); translated to Ely in 1638.
#Richard Montague# (1638-41); translated from Chichester.
#Joseph Hall# (1641-56); translated from Exeter. We have quoted in the
notes on nave from his "Hard Measure."
#Edward Reynolds# (1661-76).
#Antony Sparrow# (1676-85); translated from Exeter. He was the author of
a "Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer," 1657.
#William Lloyd #(1685-91); translated from Llandaff to Peterborough, and
from thence to Norwich. He was deposed in 1690 for refusing to take the
oath of allegiance to William III.
#John Moore# (1691-1707); translated to Ely in 1707.
#Charles Trimmell# (1708-1721); translated to Winchester in 1721.
#Thomas Green# (1721-23); translated to Ely 1723.
#John Lang# (1723-27).
#William Baker# (1727-32); translated from Bangor.
#Robert Butts# (1733-38); translated to Ely 1738.
#Sir Thomas Gooch, Bart.# (1738-48); translated from Bristol.
#Samuel Lisle# (1748-49); translated from St. Asaph.
#Thomas Hayter# (1749-61); translated to London in 1761.
#Philip Yonge# (1761-83); translated from Bristol.
#Lewis Bagot# (1783-90); translated from Bristol.
#George Horne# (1791-92).
#Charles Manners Sutton# (1792-1805); translated to Canterbury in 1805.
#Henry Bathurst# (1805-37).
#Edward Stanley# (1837-49), father of the late Dean of Westminster.
#Samuel Hinds# (1849-57).
#John Thomas Pelham# (1857-93).
#J. Sheepshanks# (1893).
[Illustration: The Pelican Lectern in the Choir.]
CHAPTER V
THE CITY
The visitor to this ancient city will by no means wish to confine his
attention to the Cathedral and its precincts; but the space at our
disposal will not permit more than a list of other monuments which are
worthy of attention. Among these the #Castle# naturally comes first.
Occupying the site of a very ancient--probably British--stronghold, the
first building was erected in early Norman times. For many years it was
the principal fortress of the Bigods, Earls of Norfolk, and under them
experienced many vicissitudes of fortune at the hands of both Flemings
and French. The last event of importance connected with it was the
hanging of Kett in 1549. The keep is in dimensions 96 x 92 feet, its
height being 72 feet (see p. 99).
The #Guildhall# contains many interesting relics of the civil life of
Norwich during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including those
of the famous Guild of S. George, established in 1385 and dissolved in
1731 (see p. 103).
#St. Andrew's Hall#, a fifteenth-century building, was formerly the nave
of the Church of the Blackfriars. It contains some good pictures of the
English School.
Among the Churches, that of St. Peter, Mancroft (fifteenth century),
is well worth a visit. Its tower, 98 feet in height, contains one of the
most famous peals of bells in England, and has always been the
headquarters of a notable band of change-ringers. Of the others, St.
Gregory, Pottergate, has some interesting antiquities; St. Giles', St.
Helen's, and St. John the Baptist are all of importance: the latter has
some good mural painting and monumental brasses, which should also be
examined. St. Michael's, Coslaney, is a well-known type of the Norfolk
flint construction.
At #Pull's Ferry# the water-gate to the precincts is still standing. It
is an interesting piece of flint work. The ferry itself, of which a view
is given here, is a favourite sketching place.
[Illustration: Pull's Ferry.]
THE END
* * * * *
[Illustration: PLAN OF THE CATHEDRAL.]
REFERENCES TO PLAN.
A. Dean's Vestry.
B. The Chapel of St. Mary-the-Less.
C. The Chapel of St. Luke.
D. The Jesus Chapel.
E. Bishop Nykke's Chapel.
F. The Ante-Reliquary Chapel.
G. The High Altar.
H. Site of destroyed Chapter-House.
J. The Locutory, now used as the Choir School.
Y. A Main Pier in Nave.
Z. A Subsidiary Pier in Nave.
* * * * *
1. Altar Tomb of Sir Thomas Wyndham.
2. " " Sir John Hobart.
3. Tomb of Chancellor Spencer.
4. Altar Tomb of Bishop Parkhurst (1560-74).
5. Door in the East Walk of Cloisters.
6. Door once leading to Refectory.
7. The Monks' Lavatories.
8. Door once leading to the Guest Hall.
9. The Easter Sepulchre and Burial-place of Sir Thomas Erpingham.
10. Bishop Goldwell's Chantry.
11. The Altar Tomb of Sir William Boleyn of Blickling (_d._ 1505).
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
1. Words and phrases which were italicized in the original have been
surrounded by underscores ('_') in this version. Words or phrases
which were bolded have been surrounded by pound signs ('#').
2. Obvious printer's errors have been corrected without note.
3. Inconsistencies in hyphenation and the spelling of proper names,
dialect, and obsolete word spelling have been maintained as in the
original.
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