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Title: Cathedral Cities of England
Author: Gilbert, George, 1874-1943
Language: English
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CATHEDRAL CITIES
OF
ENGLAND
[Illustration: CANTERBURY
THE BAPTISTERY AND CHAPTER HOUSE]
CATHEDRAL CITIES
OF
ENGLAND
BY
GEORGE GILBERT
ILLUSTRATED BY W. W. COLLINS, R.I.
[Illustration]
NEW YORK
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
1908
_Copyright, 1905_
BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
Published October, 1905
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTORY _Page_ 3
CANTERBURY " 17
DURHAM " 37
LICHFIELD " 58
OXFORD " 65
PETERBOROUGH " 80
ST. ALBANS " 91
WELLS " 102
WORCESTER " 118
CHICHESTER " 129
CHESTER " 139
ROCHESTER " 162
RIPON " 174
ELY " 183
GLOUCESTER " 202
HEREFORD " 224
LINCOLN " 235
BATH " 259
SALISBURY " 270
EXETER " 292
NORWICH " 315
LONDON " 337
YORK " 371
WINCHESTER " 397
WESTMINSTER " 414
ILLUSTRATIONS
Canterbury, The Baptistery and Chapter House _Frontispiece_
" from the Meadows _Page_ 19
" Christchurch Gateway " 23
" Cathedral, Interior of the Nave " 27
" The Norman Stairway " 33
Durham, Framwellgate Bridge " 39
" from the Railway " 43
" Interior of Cathedral, looking across the Nave
into South Transept " 47
" Elvet Bridge " 51
" Cathedral, the Western Towers " 55
Lichfield Cathedral. The West Front " 61
Oxford. Christ Church, Interior of Nave " 69
" " Gateway " 75
Peterborough Cathedral. The West Front " 83
" The Market Place " 87
St. Albans. The Cathedral from the Walls of Old Verulam " 95
Wells Cathedral and the Pools " 103
" The Cathedral from the Fields " 107
" The Ruins of the Banqueting Hall " 113
Worcester. The Cathedral " 123
Chichester Cathedral from the North-East " 133
Chester. East Gate Street " 141
" The Rows " 145
" St. Werburgh Street " 151
" Bishop Lloyd's Palace and Watergate Street " 157
Rochester. The Cathedral and Castle " 167
Ripon. The Cathedral " 177
Ely Cathedral. The West Front " 185
" The Market Place " 189
" Cathedral, Interior of Nave " 193
" from the Fens " 197
Gloucester Cathedral. Interior of the Nave " 205
" The Old Parliament House and Cathedral " 211
" Cathedral from the Paddock " 217
Hereford Cathedral. The North Transept " 229
Lincoln Cathedral by Moonlight " 239
" The Steep Hill " 245
" Cathedral. The West Towers " 251
Bath. Pulteney Bridge " 263
Salisbury. High Street Gateway into the Close " 273
" The Market Cross " 277
" The Cloisters " 281
" The Cathedral " 287
Exeter Cathedral from the Palace Gardens " 295
" Mol's Coffee Tavern " 301
" Cathedral. Interior of the Nave " 309
Norwich. The Market Place " 319
" The Æthelbert Gate " 325
" The Cathedral from the North-East " 331
St. Paul's and Ludgate Hill " 353
York. Stonegate " 373
" The Shambles " 377
" Bootham Bar " 383
" Monk Bar " 387
" Micklegate Bar " 391
Winchester Cathedral. The North Aisle " 399
" from St. Catherine's Hill " 403
" The Cathedral from the Deanery Garden " 407
" St. Cross " 411
Westminster Abbey. The North Transept " 419
CATHEDRAL CITIES OF ENGLAND
Introductory
In the following accounts of the Cathedral Cities of England, technical
architectural terms will necessarily appear, and to the end that they
should be comprehensive, I give here a slight sketch of the origin of
the various forms, and the reasons for their naming, together with
dates; and to the end that I may supply a glossary of easy reference, I
place as side headings in this introduction the various expressions
which will be met with throughout the book.
This, I hope, may relieve the reader of the tedium of having to turn to
books of reference at each moment, and being subjected to a constant
reiteration of the terms, which must necessarily be frequently employed.
The Cathedrals of England may be said to comprise illustrations of
Anglo-Saxon, Gothic, and Norman, with their variations and combinations.
_Constantine_, A.D. 306-337.--_Romanesque._--With the establishment of
Christianity, more especially when recognised in Rome during the time
of Constantine, arose the marvellous development of architecture,
founded upon the basis of classical remains. This "Romanesque," as this
period of architecture came to be called, permeated later the whole of
Western Europe.
_Basilica._--Relieved from immediate fear of persecution, the Christian
architects straightway commenced to convert the "basilica" remains to
suit the requirements of the "New Faith." The Basilica, as its
derivation from the Greek Βασιλικἡ ("the royal house") implies, "was
the King's Bench" of the Romans. It was a long rectangular building,
with sometimes rows of columns introduced to divide the space
into a nave and aisles. One end terminated in an "apse," of
semi-circular formation, where the judge and his assessors were
accustomed to sit. This apse the Christians utilised as a chancel. The
approach to the building was the "atrium," or forecourt, somewhat
similar to the English Cathedral cloister, but differently situated.
A chief characteristic of the Roman buildings was the "round arch,"
mainly composed of brick or stone work. This the Romans for many years
had used more in a decorative way than for utility, but which became of
more structural significance in the hands of the Christians.
_Romanesque._--_Sixth to Twelfth Century._--In this wise, from the
remains of the Basilica, with the further development of the "round
arch" to the "semi-circular arch," the Christian Romans gradually
evolved the style of architecture called "Romanesque," _i.e._, in the
Roman Style. This style became prevalent throughout Western Europe from
the beginning of the sixth to the close of the twelfth century. In
process of time transepts were added and the choir prolonged, giving the
outline, as it were, of a cross, the Holy Symbol of Christianity.
_Anglo-Saxon._--500-1066.--Thus Romanesque may be said to be the
fountain-head of Anglo-Saxon, Norman Proper, Anglo-Norman, and Gothic
Architecture.
During the Roman occupation of England, missionaries came to her from
Rome, the metropolis, and made converts, as they did in other countries,
and as missionaries do nowadays in China and elsewhere. They and
travelling merchants insensibly introduced the style of architecture
then prevalent in Italy, namely, the Romanesque. Owing to the untutored
nature of the Anglo-Saxons, their first attempts at imitating what would
appear to them entirely new, together with the difficulty of procuring
skilled labour, were necessarily crude.
These first attempts may justly come under the heading of "Anglo-Saxon."
When the Campanile or tall bell-towers came into existence in Italy,
England imitated.
_Anglo-Norman._--1066.--The Normans, at the Conquest, introduced their
rendering of architecture, which they had borrowed from the Romanesque,
with a suspicion of Lombardic, and even Byzantine styles intermingled.
As they could not entirely at first uproot the local peculiarities of
the Anglo-Saxon treatment of style which they found in the country, they
in a way grafted the Norman architecture on to the existing style. Thus
it came to be called "Anglo-Norman." At first the work was heavier in
character than the Norman proper, but it became lighter towards the
close of the twelfth century.
_Norman Peculiarities._--The Norman peculiarities were the building of
the church on a cruciform plan, with a square tower placed over the
transepts where they cross the nave; the massive cylindrical nave piers.
To relieve the heaviness of these massive nave piers and doorways, the
chevron, or zigzag pattern, spiral and other groovings were cut. The
mouldings were of the same character as in France, but towards the close
of the twelfth century they were by degrees disused.
In the transition period, 1154-1189, the dog-tooth ornament appears, and
occurs in combination with the "billet," a circular roll with spaces cut
away at intervals, as at Canterbury.
The Normans also greatly employed arcades, both blank and open. The
interlacing of arcades was frequently used by them. They were formed by
semi-circular arches, intersecting each other regularly. This
interlacing is supposed by many authorities to have been the origin of
the "pointed lancet arch." The Norman arcades form a prominent feature
in the internal and external decoration of their buildings. The internal
arrangement of the larger churches consisted of three stages or tiers.
The ground stage carried semi-circular arches, above that came the
triforium, or second stage of two smaller arches supported by a column,
and within a larger arch. Above this again, came the third stage or
clerestory, with two or more semi-circular arches, one of which was
pierced to admit the light.
The nave was usually covered by a flat ceiling, and not vaulted. The
crypts and aisles were vaulted.
The doorways appear to have been a special feature with the Normans, for
they were generally very richly ornamented, and were greatly recessed.
The windows were narrow and small in proportion to the rest of the
building. At a late period of the style the small circular windows
became greatly enlarged, and it became necessary to divide up the space
by the introduction of slender columns radiating from the centre.
In England the semi-circular apse, towards the close of the style,
gradually gave place to the square apse, which was more generally
adopted.
_Gothic._--_Fourth to Twelfth Century._--Another great and early factor
in ecclesiastical architecture is the Gothic. In the early stages of
Christianity, the Goths, a Teutonic race, dwelt between the Elbe and the
Vistula. They subverted the Rome Empire. They, like other countries,
received the Christian religion from Rome. Each country after its own
fashion endeavoured to imitate the architecture of Rome. As these
countries were semi-barbarous and unpolished, their work was necessarily
rude. This, in conjunction with the invasions of Italy by the Goths, led
to the term "Gothic." This period commenced in the fourth century, and
was entirely changed in the twelfth, by the introduction of the pointed
arch.
_Gothic._--1145-1550.--This marked a new era, and established a new
style of architecture, the transition from the Norman, or Romanesque,
to the Mediæval Gothic. Several attempts were made to introduce new
names in lieu of Gothic, for to name anything Gothic was looked upon
with askance.
Romanesque
Early Gothic IVth century to XIIth century.
Anglo-Saxon 500-1066 A.D.
ANGLO-NORMAN
William I 1066.
William II 1087.
Henry I. 1100.
Stephen 1135.
Henry II. 1154-1189. Transition.
Mediæval Gothic
EARLY ENGLISH
(FIRST POINTED, OR LANCET)
Richard I. 1189.
John. 1199.
COMPLETE, OR GEOMETRICAL POINTED
Edward I. 1272-1307. Transition.
DECORATED
MIDDLE POINTED, OR CURVILINEAR
Edward II. 1307.
Edward III. 1327-1377.
PERPENDICULAR
THIRD POINTED, OR RECTILINEAR
Richard II 1377. Transition.
Henry IV. 1399.
Henry V. 1413.
Henry VI. 1422.
Edward IV. 1461.
Edward V. 1483.
Richard III. 1483.
Henry VII. 1485 } Tudor Period.
Henry VIII. 1509-1547 }
With the close of the Tudor Period, Mediæval Gothic practically died
out. There crept in then the English Renaissance, followed after by what
is called "The Revival of Gothic Architecture."
ENGLISH RENAISSANCE
about
The Elizabethan, or First Period 1547-1620.
The Anglo-Classic, or Second Period 1620-1702.
The Anglo-Classic, or Third Period 1702-1800.
The Revival of Gothic Architecture in
England. 1800.
Characteristics
ANGLO-SAXON.--Anglo-Saxon may be briefly summed up as an inferior style
of Romanesque, more especially the latter part, when it was considered
necessary to build in imitation of the Roman way. In the early years of
this period the advantages of stone, due to inconvenience of its
carriage or lack of skill, were not widely known in England. For the
most part the buildings were composed of wood with a thatched roof.
Though it is true several buildings were also constructed of stone, and
glass was used, yet it was only with advanced knowledge, introduced by
Continental workmen, who came over in the seventh century, that
architecture approached anything like a definite style.
It reached this stage just a few years before the Norman Conquest. The
arches were usually plain, and always semi-circular. The columns were
cylindrical, hexagonal, or octagonal, and thick in proportion to their
height. The towers, as a rule, were square, and not very lofty. They
were strongly but crudely worked, strip pilasters, _i. e._, slender
columns, being introduced. Circular-headed openings served as upper
windows of these towers. They were divided into two lights by rounded
balusters, sometimes with caps heavily projected.
_Norman_.--The Norman churches were mostly cruciform in plan, with a
central tower. The east end was frequently terminated by an apse. Vast
columns, either circular, octagonal, or simply clustered, separated the
aisles from the naves. The arches were chiefly semi-circular, the round
arch being used everywhere for ornament. The Norman towers are also
generally square, with a somewhat stunted appearance. Many have no
buttresses whatever, whilst others are served with broad, flat, shallow
projections, which assert themselves more for show than for utility. The
reason for this is that the Normans built their buildings with walls
immensely thick with an eye to stability. The heavy appearance of their
towers is cleverly relieved by the introduction of arcades around them,
as at St. Albans, and occasionally richly ornamented, as shown at
Norwich and Winchester.
At one of the angles there is frequently a stone staircase. The upper
windows of these towers differ little from the Anglo-Saxon, except in
that the two lights are separated by a shaft or short column in place
of the rounded baluster.
The Norman doorways are a great feature. They are generally adorned with
a series of columns with enriched arch mouldings spanning from capital
to capital.
Their vaults were heavily constructed at no great height from the
ground, and generally applied to the aisles of churches. They exerted a
greater thrust on the walls than the later Gothic vaults.
_Norman_.--These churches are generally to be found perched on
commanding sites, chosen as natural places of defence. Often a river
wound round the base, and where it led short, a moat was constructed on
the landward side, and borrowed its water from the river.
The activity of the Norman builders is astounding, and forms a great
contrast to the few years before their advent. For a short time
architecture suffered a paralysis. Not till the much-dreaded Millennium
(1000 A.D.), when it was thought the world would certainly come to an
end, had passed did people take heart again, and architects make up for
lost time.
_Early English_.--In this period the massive Norman walls gave way to
walls reduced in thickness. The buttresses became of more structural
significance. Also, flying-buttresses gradually came into use to
strengthen the weakness of the upper works, caused by the reduction of
the walls in thickness. The pillars were elongated, and of slight
construction. The doorways, windows and arcades were built with polished
marble obtained from the Isle of Purbeck.
The science of vaulting became more advanced.
The towers were taller and more elegant, with plain parapets. They were
generally furnished with windows. The lower ones resembled much the
arrow-slit formation of the Norman style. The upper windows were grouped
in twos and threes.
The broach-spire now came into notice. It was added on to the square
tower, and at the early part of this style was low in height, but
gradually became taller.
The circular-headed windows of the Normans gave place to the
narrow-pointed lancets of the Early English. These admitted little
light, and necessitated a greater number of windows, which were grouped
into couplets or triplets.
_Geometrical_.--The window, by the gradual process of piercing the
vacant spaces in the window-head, carrying mouldings around the tracery
(or ornamental filling-in), and adding cusps (the point where
foliations of tracery intersect), gave rise to Geometrical work.
The earliest work of this kind is found in Westminster Abbey.
_Decorated_.--The towers are made to appear lighter by the parapets
being either embattled or pierced with elegant designs, and pinnacles
placed on them.
The broach-spires gave place to spires springing at once from the
octagon. The buttresses are set angularly. In this period the architects
failed to maintain the vigour of the Geometrical period. The Decorated
windows are formed of portions of circles, with their centres falling on
the intersection of certain geometrical figures.
There is a glorious example afforded by the west window at York.
_Perpendicular_.--The towers are generally richly panelled throughout;
the buttresses project boldly--sometimes square, or sometimes set at an
angle, but not close to each other.
The pinnacles are often richly canopied. The battlements panelled, and
frequently pierced. In the middle of the parapet now and then is placed
a pinnacle or a canopied niche.
Canterbury
Cantuaria.
("Doomsday Book.")
Of all Cathedral cities, Canterbury, or, as it is also called, Christ
Church, may possibly be considered the most interesting. Though not the
first to spread Christianity in Britain, it nevertheless firmly
established it in the end. The earliest authentic evidence of Christians
in England is mentioned by Tertullian, in 208. And again, in 304, St.
Alban had been martyred during Diocletian's persecution at Verulam, now
known as St. Alban's. Then, in 314, Christianity had attained such a
position in Britain that it had been considered necessary for the
Bishops of York and London to attend at the Council of Arles, in France.
So that by the end of the third century to the beginning of the fourth,
it is known that there existed bishops, though not till the close of the
fourth century was there a "settled Church" in Britain, with churches,
altars, Scriptures, and discipline.
These expounded the Catholic Faith, and were in touch with Rome and
Palestine. But the arrival of Augustine, in 600, decidedly gave an
impetus to the lasting establishment of Christianity in England, and the
whole island quickly became converted.
Though Christianity had long flourished in Rome, it could hardly, in its
early stages, be expected to make itself greatly felt in Britain, owing
to the continual troublous times caused by the invasions first by the
Roman soldiery, then by the Scots and Picts from Caledonia (now called
Scotland), and the Saxons, who came from the river Elbe, and the Angles,
who dwelt to the north of the Saxons, in the districts now called
Schleswig and Holstein. Then the Danes and Northmen landed in England in
787, and practically overran the whole kingdom. All these tribes, each
in its turn, devastated the country, pillaging and destroying
everything, so that there is little to marvel at the slow growth of
Christianity in the island, seeing that the clergy were the first to
suffer. Augustine may be said to have certainly revived Christianity and
rescued the Church from utter oblivion, but it was left till the Norman
Conquest to erect the wonderful architectural structures, many of which
exist till this day.
[Illustration: CANTERBURY
FROM THE MEADOWS]
The early history of Canterbury is shrouded in mystery. The discovery of
Druidical remains clearly points to the practice of religious rites of
the Britons prior to the Christian era. It appears also that the Romans
found it as a British town of some importance. This theory, laying aside
minor considerations, is strengthened by the fact that the Romans called
it Durovernum, the derivation of which they borrowed from the British
words "dwr" a stream, and "whern" swift, the latter of which was most
appropriate to the Stour, on whose banks the city was founded. The
Saxons on their arrival called the place "Cantwarabyrig." From this, no
doubt, Canterbury owes the origin of its present name. Contrary to the
ordinary laws of foundation, there appears to have been no one (locally)
covetous of the honour of martyrdom, or possibly worthy, if martyred, of
recognition by the Church.
During the Roman occupation of the city, Christianity struggled,
probably kept alive by such of the soldiers who had been previously
converted in Rome.
Two churches were built in the second century. One of these, in 600, was
consecrated by the Bishop of Soissons, and dedicated to St. Martin, for
Bertha, a daughter of Charibert, a Christian king of Paris. On her
marriage with Ethelbert of Kent, the foremost king of the English, it
was stipulated that her religious inclinations should be protected.
Through her influence the king became converted. To encourage
Christianity, and to set a good example to his subjects, Ethelbert
welcomed Augustine and his forty monks, in 597, gave him his palace,
which was speedily converted into a priory, and helped him to found an
abbey without the city walls, and intended as a sepulture for the
Archbishops.
This abbey was dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul. As Canterbury was
already recognised as the metropolis, or head of the State of Kent, in
that their kings had their royal residence there, it was no difficulty
for Augustine, as spiritual head, to make it also a Metropolitan See,
the more so as, by the investiture of the Pope, he became the first
Archbishop.
[Illustration: CANTERBURY
CHRISTCHURCH GATEWAY]
Pope Gregory's (the Great) scheme in sending Augustine was to divide
England into two Provinces, with Metropolitans of equal dignity at
London and York, and twelve Suffragans to each. But all that his
emissary could effect was to consecrate two bishops, one at Rochester
(Kent) and one at Essex. As Christianity took a firmer hold in England,
it was generally to Canterbury that the different portions of England
applied for missionaries. In this foundation Augustine has been followed
by a succession of prelates, who distinguished themselves equally in
spiritual and temporal affairs of the State--men, each of whom made a
great stir during his life, and whose names even now are enshrined, as
it were, in a halo of romance. They represent the intellect of their
times; their lives show us the difficulties they encountered in
overcoming the crass ignorance of the people on whose behalf they
worked, and the risks and dangers and petty tyranny they suffered at the
hands of kings, whose chief amusements were disturbing the peace and
licentious living. Those who have played the most prominent part in
ecclesiastical as well as in lay history are:
Dunstan, who governed with a tight hand the kingdom during the reigns of
Edred and Edwy; Stigand, who, for his opposition to William the
Conqueror, was deposed from the See to make room for Lanfranc; Lanfranc,
whose memory is perpetuated not only through his abilities as scholar,
statesman and administrator, but more especially as one who rebuilt the
Cathedral and as founder of several religious establishments; the
celebrated Thomas à Becket, who, until he became Archbishop, was the
great friend of Henry II., and was Chancellor of England. On the
acceptance of the Archbishopric, Becket constituted himself as a
champion of the rights and claims of the Church, and would brook no
interference from Henry in ecclesiastical matters. This naturally
created a coolness between the two, which ended in Becket's retiring to
France for six years. On Henry's promise to annul the Constitution of
Clarendon, in 1170, Becket returned, only a few days after to be
murdered in the Cathedral.
Stephen Langton, who was raised to the See by Pope Innocent III., in
defiance of King John, during a quarrel he had with the Church; Cranmer,
who, for promoting the Reformation, was burnt at the stake in Mary's
reign; and Laud, who was beheaded during the Commonwealth of Cromwell
for supporting the measures of his sovereign, Charles I.
Augustine did not live to see the completion of his Cathedral. It was
dedicated to Our Saviour, and it is even now usually called Christ
Church.
During the ravages of the Danes the city suffered greatly, and the
Archbishopric became vacant in 1011, through the violent death dealt out
to Archbishop Alphage by the Danes.
[Illustration: CANTERBURY
INTERIOR OF THE NAVE]
Canute, after his usurpation of the throne, rebuilt a great part of the
city and restored the Cathedral; and the monks were not forgotten, in
that the revenue of the port of Sandwich was made over to them for their
support. These benefits greatly helped the city to attain great
importance, and in Doomsday Book it is entered under the title of
"Civitas Cantuariae."
In 1080 the Cathedral was burnt down, only to be restored with greater
splendour, and dedicated to the Holy Trinity, by Archbishop Lanfranc,
who rebuilt the monastic edifice, erected the Archbishop's palace,
founded and endowed a priory dedicated to St. Gregory, and built the
hospitals of St. John and St. Nicholas.
In 1161 the city became almost extinct through fire, and at several
subsequent periods it suffered severely from the same cause.
In 1170 the great event which stirred the kingdom, and which
conveniently marks the starting-point of the disastrous half of Henry
II.'s reign, was the great means of replenishing the treasury of the
Cathedral. In that year Becket was murdered as he was ascending the
steps leading from the nave into the choir. His name was subsequently
canonised. His shrine was visited from far and near by every rank of
pilgrim, who seldom left without depositing first some substantial token
of their reverence for the saint. Four years after the murder popular
feeling was as great as ever, so that it was probably to propitiate the
people, as much as to ask for Divine intercession in his troublous
affairs, that Henry II. performed a pilgrimage to the shrine and
submitted himself to be scourged by the monks.
Another source of great importance to the Cathedral was the institution
of the Jubilee by the Pope. It commemorated every fifty years the death
of Becket, and till the last one, celebrated in 1520, attracted an
immense number of pilgrims, who gave a great impetus to trade in the
city. The number and richness of their offerings were incredible.
The dissolution of the priory of Christ Church was gradually effected;
the festivals in honour of the martyr were one by one abolished; his
shrine was stripped of its gorgeous ornaments, and the bones of the
saint were burnt to ashes and scattered to the winds.
A part of the monastery of St. Augustine was converted into a royal
palace by Henry VIII. In this palace Queen Elizabeth held her court for
a short time. During her reign there was an influx of Walloons, who,
persecuted for their religious tenets, had fled from the Netherlands and
settled in Canterbury.
They introduced the weaving of silk and stuffs. To them Queen Elizabeth
allotted the crypt under the Cathedral as their place of worship, where
the service is still performed in French to their descendants.
In this Cathedral was solemnised the marriage of Charles I. with
Henrietta Maria of France, in 1625. During the war between Charles I.
and Cromwell the Cathedral was wantonly mutilated and defaced by the
followers of Cromwell, who converted the sacred edifice into stables for
his horses. At the Restoration, Charles II., on his return from France,
held his court in the royal palace at Canterbury for three days. This
monarch, in 1676, granted a charter of incorporation to the refugee
silk-weavers settled in the city. These refugees, a few years after,
were considerably increased by French artisans, who came over consequent
on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.
To those admirers of form and beauty the wonderful architecture of the
present Cathedral must satisfy their every craving. To students the
study of this colossal building must be a work of love, encouragement,
and continued interest. Rebuilt soon after the Conquest by Archbishop
Lanfranc, and worthily enlarged and enriched by his several successors,
the Cathedral is a crowning work of grandeur and magnificence,
exhibiting, in its highest perfection, every specimen of architecture,
from the earliest Norman to the latest English. In form it is that of a
double cross. Where the nave and the western transepts intersect, there
springs up a lofty and elegant tower in the Later English style, with a
spired parapet and pinnacles, with octagonal turrets at the angles,
terminating in minarets. In the west end are two massive towers, of
which the north-west is Norman, and the south-west is similar in
character, though embattled, and little inferior to the central tower.
Perhaps the most noteworthy portions of this Cathedral, though it is
hardly possible to make a distinction, are the Chapel of Henry IV., with
its beautiful fan tracery depending from the roof; the small but
beautiful Lady Chapel, which is separated from the eastern side of the
transept by the interposition of a finely carved stone screen; and in
that part of the Cathedral, called Becket's Crown, is the Chapel of the
Holy Trinity, famous as the site of the gorgeous Shrine of St. Thomas à
Becket. In "Becket's Crown" a softened light steals through the painted
window. The interest in this window lies in the fact that most of the
glass shown is ancient, and it is the fifth of the twelve windows in
the Trinity Chapel which suffered severely at the hands of the Puritans
in 1642.
[Illustration: CANTERBURY
THE NORMAN STAIRWAY]
What remained of the ancient glass was replaced, as far as possible in
the original position, by the late Mr. George Austen, subsequently to
1853.
These windows represent the miracles of St. Thomas à Becket between the
years 1220 and 1240.
Between the western towers there is a narrow entrance spanned over by a
sharply pointed arch, enriched with deeply recessed mouldings. Above
this are canopied niches, over which is a lofty window of six lights
with richly stained glass.
The south-west porch constitutes the principal entrance, and is highly
enriched with niches of elegant design. It belongs to a late period of
English architecture. The roof is most elaborately groined, and shields
are attached at the intersections of the ribs. In the same period of
Late English must be included the fine nave and the western transepts. A
gorgeous effect is given by the richly groined roof supported by eight
lofty piers, which divide it off on each side from the aisles. From the
eastern part numerous avenues lead to the many chapels in different
parts of the interior, and give a truly magnificent effect. All these
chapels deserve the closest study, like the rest of the building, to
thoroughly appreciate the subtlety of design, and the marvellous skill
of the architect.
Durham
Dunholme.
("Doomsday Book.")
Hac sunt in fossa Bedae Venerabilis ossa.
Though Durham dates from the tenth century, yet it is necessary, to
understand the growth of its power, to go back to the seventh century.
The exact date of the birth of St. Cuthbert is unknown. As a youth he
was admitted into Melrose Abbey, where in the course of fourteen years
he became monk and prior. From there he passed another fourteen years in
the Convent of Lindisfarne, after which he retired to Farne for nine
years. At the end of this period he was persuaded, most unwillingly, by
Egrid, King of Northumbria, to become Bishop of Lindisfarne, a See in
Bernicia, as Durham County was then called.
But after two years' office he retired to Farne. There died St. Cuthbert
on March 20, A.D. 687, in the thirty-ninth year of his monastic life,
still undecided as to where he should be buried. However, the remains
were reverently preserved in the Church of Lindisfarne, till the monks
were compelled to flee, owing to the invasion of the Danes, towards the
end of the ninth century. Though in dire dread and confusion, the monks
forgot not their sacred trust, but carried the holy remains of St.
Cuthbert with them.
They wandered many a weary day throughout the North of England in search
of "Dunholme," which Eadner, a monk of their order, declared to them had
been divinely revealed to him as the lasting place of rest for the holy
and incorruptible body of St. Cuthbert. They seemed to have had great
difficulty in locating the whereabouts of Dunholme, for according to
tradition they were miraculously delivered from their nomadic life. As
they proceeded they heard a woman inquire of another if she had seen her
cow, which had gone astray. Much to their joy and relief they heard the
reply, "In Dunholme."
Thereupon they climbed to the summit of the "Hill Island," at the base
of which they had arrived, as they wished to deposit their corruptible
burden on a spot so close to Heaven that it should remain incorruptible,
and by its incorruptibility be a fitting foundation on which to build a
shrine worthy of their Saint and the God who honoured him.
[Illustration: DURHAM
FRAMWELL GATE BRIDGE]
About 995 their idea was realised by Bishop Ealdhune. He founded a
church, built in the style usual then in Italy, of brick or stone with
round arches. This style, based directly on Italian models, became
prevalent throughout all Western Europe till the eleventh century, and
in England was known as Anglo-Saxon. This church was erected over the
Saint's resting-place, upon the rock eminence called Dunholme (Hill
Island). Later on the Normans changed this into "Duresne," whence
Durham. And a representation of a dun cow and two female attendants was
placed upon the building. At the same period the See was transferred
from Lindisfarne, and, together with the growing fame of the presence of
the "incorruptible body" of the Saint, attracted pilgrims, who settled
there with their industries. Thus were laid the foundations of the great
city. In this wise St. Cuthbert became the patron Saint of Durham, as
well as of the North of England and of Southern Scotland.
In 1072 William the Conqueror found it necessary to erect, across the
neck of the rock-eminence, the castle, to guard the church and its
monastery.
In 1093 Bishop Carileph built a church of Norman structure in place of
Ealdhune's Anglo-Saxon church, and changed the Anglo-Saxon establishment
of married priests into a Benedictine abbey.
After the Norman Conquest the county became Palatinate, and acquired the
independence peculiar to Counties Palatine.
The bishops of Durham were invested with temporal and spiritual powers,
exercising the royal prerogatives, such as paramount property in lands,
and supreme jurisdiction, both civil and military, waging war, right of
forfeiture, and levying taxes. These privileges were granted, owing to
the remoteness of Durham from the metropolis and its proximity to the
warlike kingdom of Scotland, and allowed of justice being administered
at home, thereby doing away with the obligation of the inhabitants
quitting their county, and leaving it exposed to hostile invasions.
They were also excused from military service across the Tees or Tayne,
on the plea that they were specially charged to keep and defend the
sacred body of St. Cuthbert. Those engaged on this service were called
"Haliwer folc" (Holy War folk). But in the twenty-seventh year of the
reign of Henry VIII. the power of the See was much curtailed; and
eventually, on the death of Bishop Van Milvert in 1836, it was
deprived of all temporal jurisdictions and privileges.
[Illustration: DURHAM
FROM THE RAILWAY]
Around Carileph's fine Norman church numerous additions were made from
time to time, namely:
The Galilee or Western Chapel, of the Transitional Period.
The gradual change from the Norman to the Pointed style, which took
place between 1154 and 1189, during Henry II.'s reign.
The Eastern Transept, or "Nine Altars."
The Western Towers, built in "The Early English Style," which was a
further development of "The Transitional."
It was carried out in the reigns of Richard I. to Henry III., 1189 to
1272. It is also known as "First Pointed" or "Lancet."
The Central Tower (Perpendicular).
The Windows (Decorated and Perpendicular).
From 1154, the commencement of Henry II.'s reign, architecture acquired
new characteristics in each reign, or rather the architects of each
reign attempted to improve on the style of their predecessors. It began
with the "Transition from Norman to Pointed." From that it passed to
"First Pointed or Early English." Then to "Complete or Geometrical
Pointed." This was succeeded, in Edward III.'s time, by a more flowing
style called "Middle Pointed," "Curvilinear," or "Decorated." The
graceful flowing lines of this period culminated in what is known as
"The Third Pointed," "Rectilinear," or "Perpendicular Style." This
period existed from 1399 to 1546, that is to say, from the beginning of
the reign of Henry IV. to the end of the reign of Henry VIII.
The Galilee or Western Chapel was built and dedicated as an offering to
"The Blessed Virgin," by Bishop Pudsey, between 1153 and 1195; and
served as the allotted place of worship for women, who were strictly
forbidden to approach the sacred shrine of St. Cuthbert.
In the south-west corner of this chapel there is an altar-tomb of blue
marble. This is revered as the abiding-place of the earthly remains of
the great monk and historian, the Venerable Bede. Concerning him,
tradition relates how Elfred, "The Sacrist" of Durham, in 1022, stole
these remains from Jarrow and preserved them in St. Cuthbert's coffin
till 1104. They were afterwards placed in a gold and silver shrine by
Bishop Pudsey, which was left in the refectory till 1370, when Richard
of Barnard Castle, a monk afterwards buried under the blue stone on the
west of the present tomb, influenced its removal to the Galilee Chapel.
[Illustration: DURHAM
INTERIOR OF CATHEDRAL LOOKING ACROSS THE NAVE INTO SOUTH TRANSEPT]
There upon the altar-tomb, mentioned before, the casket was placed, and
was covered by a gilt cover of wainscot, which was drawn up by a pulley
when the shrine was visited by pilgrims.
Upon this altar-tomb there is an inscription in Latin, in current use of
the period, which runs thus:
"Hac sunt in fossa Bedae Venerabilis ossa."
("In this tomb are the bones of the Venerable Bede.")
In connection with this inscription there is a legend that the sixth
word, "Venerabilis," was miraculously supplied by divine intervention to
the tired and till then uninspired monk who was penning it. Hence Bede
is known generally as "The Venerable Bede."
Close by there was an altar to the Venerable Bede.
The Reformation swept away the original tomb, leaving only a few traces
behind, and the bones were buried under its site; and an altar-tomb,
which still exists, was erected over them.
Every Sunday and holiday at noon a monk was accustomed to ascend the
iron pulpit beneath the great west window, and from it to preach.
Though this pulpit is gone, there still exists in close proximity a
small chamber of the time of Bishop Langley, which was obviously the
robing-room of the preacher.
From 1775 to 1795 this magnificent pile was given over to the tender
mercies of one James Wyatt, architect, who, but for timely intervention
on the part of John Carter, would have left little of it to our present
view; but, alas! by his chiselling and interference with the superficial
details of the exterior, he has taught us a lesson in vandalism. The
Cathedral still survives with surpassing beauty, and the name of the
would-be destroyer is dead.
The Galilee Chapel was happily rescued in time from utter destruction at
the hands of James Wyatt. This gentleman had already commenced to pull
down a portion of it to make room for a coach-road, which he had planned
to facilitate the connection between the castle and the college.
Unhappily the spirit of utility of a most material age allowed the
Chapter House to be demolished, but, oddly enough, this demolition,
together with the peeling of the exterior, the removal, so to speak, of
details and minor embellishments of the grand edifice, have robbed us of
nothing of its impressiveness, but indeed remind us, as the mutilated
Parthenon marbles do, of the irony of man's vain predilection to
mutilate the beautiful, which must last for ever. Thus again there is
evidence in the interior of man's destructive power in the mutilation
of the Neville tombs.
[Illustration: DURHAM
ELVET BRIDGE]
It seems strange that the House of God the Peacemaker and the shrine of
St. Cuthbert the "incorruptible" should have been used as a prison-house
of corruptible beings and peace-breakers,--legitimised murderers,--for
here were interned the Scotch prisoners to the number of forty-five
hundred, after the battle of Dunbar, and ample scope of amusement was
given for their empty brains, as their ruthless exercise of the
privilege records.
The Chapel of the Nine Altars still contains the remains of St.
Cuthbert. When the tomb was opened in 1827 a number of curious and
interesting books and MSS., the portable altar, vestments, and other
relics were found. These are now placed in the Cathedral Library. The
Cathedral Library was formerly the dormitory and refectories of the
abbey, as it was originally styled.
In this connection one is led to speculate upon the possible early
evolution of religious thought of early Christianity, and to half
suspect that the "Nine Altars" in the Galilee Chapel and the "Woman's
Bar" were the remnants of symbols of pre-Christian era, retained for the
obvious purpose of satisfying converts to the faith still young.
There is a strong flavour of the worship of the Nine Muses of pagan
times, and of the Judaical laws with regard to women either within or
without the places of worship.
Tradition has it that St. Cuthbert was a misogynist, and so strong was
it that the precincts of St. Cuthbert were strictly guarded against the
encroachment of women. To enforce this "The Boundary Cross" or "Woman's
Bar" was constructed to limit their approach, in the south of the nave.
By this attitude towards women St. Cuthbert, as a priest, only
foreshadowed the present régime of the Church of Rome as regards
matrimonial obligations on the part of its servants. For so saintly a
man must not be taken as a hater of women, or his beatification as the
son of a woman would have no sense, and would call his incorruptibility
into question, and his saintliness of character in grave doubt.
The chief entrance to the Cathedral was originally in the west end, but
when Bishop Pudsey built the Galilee Chapel, a doorway was constructed
in the north end, framed in a rich and deeply recessed Norman arch,
doing away with the necessity of the great entrance. Fixed to the door
is the famous Norman knocker, suspended from the mouth of a grotesque
monster, by which offenders seeking sanctuary made their presence known.
[Illustration: DURHAM
THE WESTERN TOWERS]
One of the most marvellous features, perhaps, of the whole Cathedral is
the impressive grandeur of its appearance to the traveller, approaching
from any quarter, who sees this Island Hill capped by the mighty
structure, soaring up, as it were, into the heavens, yet dominating by
its protecting shadows the city round its base--the symbol most
beautifully conceived of the affinity between earth and heaven, and
truly the noblest form of monument of reverential design that the human
brain could have possibly conceived.
Lichfield
Licefelle.
("Doomsday Book.")
Lichfield, the ancient cathedral city of Staffordshire, has the best
existing type of the fourteenth-century English church. It is memorable
also as the birthplace of Dr. Johnson. Through the generosity of
Alderman Gilbert the Corporation has purchased the house in which Dr.
Johnson was born, with his statue opposite it, and has opened it to the
public, much in the same way as that of Shakespeare's at
Stratford-on-Avon. Lichfield is about sixteen miles to the north of
Birmingham, and lies in a fertile valley, on a small tributary of the
Trent.
The Venerable Bede, in his accounts of this city, calls it Licidfeld,
being supposed to mean "Field of the Dead." It appears that a large
number of Christians, in the reign of Diocletian, was massacred just in
the neighbourhood, and thus originated the name Lichfeld, now altered to
Lichfield. The termination "feld" was clearly introduced from over the
water, for it still exists in the Low Countries, and bears the same
meaning. As to what connection exists between "licid" and "dead," we
cannot clearly understand.
In 669 Lichfield became an episcopal see, over which St. Chad was the
first bishop. He left behind him a work, in the form of his Gospels. For
a short time, namely, in the reign of Offa, it was raised to the dignity
of an archbishopric, but the Primacy was restored to Canterbury in 803.
The See of Lichfield was, in 1075, transferred to Chester, and from
there, a few years later, to Coventry. Eventually, in 1148, Lichfield
recovered its see. In 1305 the town received a charter of incorporation,
and has since returned members to Parliament. It was raised to the
dignity of a city by Edward VI., 1549.
The original Norman Cathedral no longer exists. In its stead there is a
beautiful structure of Early English style, dating either from the end
of the twelfth or the beginning of the thirteenth century.
Mr. Collins gives us an excellent idea of the wonderful and elaborate
architecture of the west front. It seems that the architect generally
lavished his best powers on the west front, as if to arrest the
attention of the worshipper prior to entry. The west front was, and is
now, invariably the chief entrance to the church. There is no doubt that
the entrance was here specially situated with a view of continuing the
first great impression. There is nothing grander and more impressive in
cathedral architecture than to view the gradual unfolding of the
interior as the sight becomes more accustomed to the sudden transition
of the outside glare of day to the subdued light inside.
Nothing can be more symbolical of religion in church structure than to
observe the trend of architectural lines in perspective. If the eye
follow the upward course of the central and side aisles, and the
downward sweep of the caps of columns, arches and walls diminishing in
true perspective lines, it will be seen that they converge to the
holiest place of the sacred edifice--the altar, the point of sight for
all.
This Cathedral received, like other mighty buildings, similar
ill-treatment during the Civil Wars. It was converted into stables by
the parliamentary troops, who created havoc amongst its rich sculptures.
In 1651 it was set on fire, and, by order of Parliament, was stripped of
its lead, and left to neglect and decay.
[Illustration: LICHFIELD
THE WEST FRONT]
The damage was repaired by Bishop Hackett in 1671. The Restoration
has not long been completed, various improvements having been made.
Under the superintendence of Mr. Wyatt, the choir was enlarged by the
removal of the screen in front of the Lady Chapel. The transepts are
richly ornamented, and contain certain portions of Norman architecture.
The windows are worked in beautiful tracery. The choir is in the
Decorated style of English architecture.
St. Mary's Chapel is an elegant design by Bishop Langton. For the
central window was painted "The Resurrection," by Eggington, from a
design by Sir Joshua Reynolds, the first president of the Royal Academy.
In this same chapel there was the rich shrine to St. Chad, which was
demolished at the Dissolution.
There is a great central tower of two hundred and eighty-five feet in
height, besides two western spires one hundred and eighty-three feet.
The total length of the building from east to west is about four hundred
feet. By the north aisle is the Chapter-house. It is a ten-sided
building of great beauty, with a vaulted roof supported on a central
clustered column.
The memory of Bishops Hackett, Langton, and Pattishul is kept alive by
their monuments, which escaped the ravages of Cromwell's troops. A
monument to Dr. Samuel Johnson, a bust of Garrick, and a mutilated
statue of Captain Stanley, serve to remind us of their departure from
this world. Chantrey is responsible for a monument to the memory of the
infant children of Mrs. Robinson.
Oxford
Oxenford.
("Doomsday Book.")
The greatness of the city of Oxford, a contraction of Oxenford, as
quaintly depicted on the armorial shield by an ill-drawn ox making
tentative efforts to cross a ford represented by horizontal zigzag
waves, consists in its magnificent colleges, not huddled together, but
dotted in all directions. Some authorities derive the name from
Ouseford, from the river Ouse, now the Isis, and that the wealthy abbey,
erected on an island in this river, was named Ouseney, or Osney, from
the same source.
Didanus, an early Saxon prince, is credited with a monastic
establishment, about the year 730, dedicated to St. Mary and All Saints,
and founded for twelve sisters of noble birth. His daughter Frideswide
was first abbess, and was after death canonised and buried in the abbey
dedicated to St. Frideswide.
The origin of the city is attributed by some historians to the
establishment of schools by Alfred the Great, whilst, on the other
hand, it is demonstrated to have existed many years prior to this
monarch's reign, as far back as 802, by an act of confirmation by Pope
Martin II., which sets it forth as an ancient academy of learning. It
has its market-place and other essentials, like every town; but take
away the colleges, and with them sweep away all the traditions that have
sprung up and constituted that university which brooks no rival
excepting Cambridge, the city would no longer be a city, but, at the
most, an overgrown village.
There is no doubt that the colleges were the gradual development of
monastic institutions. The hall of nowadays and the kitchens and
buttery-hatch are simply the survivals of the refectory of the mediæval
days. The compulsory morning attendance of students, on most days during
term-time, to prayers in chapel, is again a survival of the matutinal
devotions of the monks. In the early days of monasticism the inmates of
the ecclesiastical buildings were the only recipients of learning and
exponents of illuminated manuscripts, in addition to the knowledge of
some trade or other. A few, perhaps, of the laity, who were favourites
and might possibly be admitted as novices, were permitted to partake of
this knowledge, but being brought up in the convent their sympathy and
gratitude would be entirely with their benefactors. Nevertheless, as
time went on and a thirst for knowledge of letters increased, this
introduction of novices became the thin end of the wedge to the downfall
of the monastic power, which was consummated by Henry VIII. in the year
1525.
On the site of the monastery of St. Frideswide Cardinal Wolsey founded a
college, then named Cardinal College, but now known as Christ Church. On
the disgrace of this famous prelate, Henry VIII. completed the
establishment, under the name of Henry the Eighth's College. It is
necessary to make this slight mention of the college, for no doubt its
great accommodation influenced the removal of the episcopal see from
Osney, and constituted the elevation of the Church of St. Frideswide
into a cathedral. This removal necessitated the change of name to Christ
Church, under which is comprised the sacred edifice and college. This
has given rise to a unique position. The Cathedral is not only a
cathedral of the city, but is a noble and immense chapel of the college,
and the Dean occupies the singular position not only as the Dean of the
church but also as the Dean of the college.
Spread out before the chief and only entrance of the church is Tom
Quadrangle, with a paved walk extending all round, and raised a few
steps above the circular carriage drive which encloses a lawn, with the
pond famous for the ducking of students unpopular with their
contemporaries.
There are evidences, at one time, of the existence of pillars supporting
a roof, covering the whole extent of the broad-flagged pavement of this
quadrangle. The principal entrance to this quadrangle is through Tom
Tower, from which daily, about nine in the evening, the huge bell booms
forth one hundred and one strokes, the signal for all colleges to close
their portals, and the dealing out of pecuniary fines to all
late-comers. The lower part of this tower, up to the two smaller towers,
is Wolsey's, whilst the upper and incongruous half is the conception of
Wren. In spite of this, it is a noble-looking structure, as can be seen
by looking at the water-colour of Mr. Collins.
The Cathedral cannot strictly be termed imposing, as so little of it is
visible externally. It is hemmed in on all sides by the college
precincts, and jammed, as it were, into a corner, presents a rather
undignified appearance, and not at all in accordance with the usual
proud position of a cathedral. It shows to best advantage when viewed
from the side of the river Thames, exhibiting, as it does, its beautiful
spire. This spire, of Early English architecture, is one of the earliest
in the kingdom, though forming no part of the original design. It is
planted on the top of the central tower of the Cathedral, which is a
cruciform Norman structure.
[Illustration: OXFORD
CHRISTCHURCH. INTERIOR OF THE NAVE]
The interior presents many interesting portions of singular beauty and
design; the arches of the nave, which have been partly demolished, are
in a double series, the tower springing from corbels on the piers. The
remains of the nave, transepts and choir arches date from the twelfth
century; and the Church of St. Frideswide, or, as it is now known,
Christ Church. The beautifully groined roof of the choir is decorated
with pendants, presenting a rich appearance.
The Latin Chapel has several windows in the Decorated style, whilst the
Dean's Chapel possesses a monument in the same style, with beautiful
canopied niches, and the shrine of St. Frideswide, most elaborately
designed in the Late style of English architecture. During the
Parliamentary war many windows were destroyed.
It is interesting to note the various vicissitudes of the city in
history. It suffered terrible visitations from the Danes, who burnt it
on three separate occasions. For refusing to submit to the Conqueror,
in 1067, Oxford was taken by storm and given to Robert D'Oily. William
Rufus held a council in the town under Lanfranc, Archbishop of
Canterbury, with other bishops assisting, to defeat a conspiracy formed
against him by Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, in favour of Robert, Duke of
Normandy.
Stephen assembled a council of the nobility here, to whom he promised to
abolish the tax called "Dane Gelt," and to restore the laws of Edward
the Confessor. By way of digression it is interesting to note that the
Flemings still use the word "geld" (money), which is a corruption of
"gelt."
When Henry II. and Thomas à Becket fell out the monarch held a
parliament at Oxford to undermine the Pope's authority, who had laid an
interdict on the kingdom.
In 1167 he again summoned here another parliament, to partition Ireland
among faithful subjects who had achieved the conquest of it. The
citizens of Oxford contributed handsomely to the ransom of Richard I.
when detained prisoner in Austria. King John managed here in 1204,
through the aid of a parliament, to raise liberal supplies. Stephen
Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, held here a synod for reforming
ecclesiastical abuses. Parliament was again assembled in this ancient
city by Henry III., in which he assumed the government, and revoked the
grant of Magna Charta and the Charter of Forests, on the plea that he
signed them when a minor. In 1319 Pondras, son of a tanner at Exeter,
caused some commotion at Oxford, declaring that he was the rightful heir
of Edward I., and had been stolen and exchanged for the reigning prince,
Edward II. For the imposture he was executed at Northampton.
Later on a conspiracy was formed to assassinate Henry IV., at a
tournament to be held here, and to restore the deposed monarch, Richard
II., to the throne. It signally failed, and the Earls of Kent and
Salisbury, Sir Thomas Blount, and others were executed near Oxford.
The next event of importance was the influence of Henry VIII., who
raised Oxford to the dignity of a see, separating it from the Diocese of
Lincoln. Wolsey also left his mark, as he invariably did wherever he
went. During Henry VIII.'s reign Erasmus, a native of Holland, came to
Oxford to aid the progress of learning.
He taught Greek, but the violence of the popish party drove him from
thence, as the study of the ancient language was deemed a dangerous
innovation. In 1555 Oxford witnessed the terrible death of Latimer and
Ridley, condemned to be burned at the stake. Their Protestant tendencies
had incurred Queen Mary's resentment, and a brass cross let into the
centre of the road, near Balliol College, marks the site, and is a
pathetic reminder of their martyrdom. Soon after Cranmer followed,
recanting all belief in the Pope's supremacy, and in transubstantiation.
In the time of Henry VIII. Cranmer was instrumental in getting the
Lord's Prayer, the Creed, the Commandments, and the Litany translated
into English, for hitherto it had been customary to conduct the Church
services in Latin.
In 1625 and 1665 king and Parliament hurriedly retreated from the plague
in London to adjourn to Oxford. In the Parliamentary war Oxford played a
prominent part, and in 1681 Charles II. dissolved Parliament at
Westminster, only to assemble a new one in the university city.
[Illustration: OXFORD
CHRISTCHURCH GATEWAY]
But the great events that go to the making of England's history have
been contributed by men whose names are inscribed upon the books of the
various colleges of Oxford. The Cathedral College, Christ Church, claims
the three great English revivalists: Wycliffe; the chief of the
Lollards; John Wesley, founder of Methodism; and Pusey.
Samuel Wesley, the father of Samuel, John, and Charles, entered Exeter
College as a "pauper scholaris," and was an eminent divine. His son
Samuel, the intimate associate of Pope, Swift, and Prior, wrote squibs
against Sir Robert Walpole, the Whigs, and the Low Church divines, and
was a member of Christ Church, as well as Charles. These three brothers
compiled the "Book of Psalms and Hymns," Charles alone composed and
published some four thousand hymns, besides leaving about two thousand
in manuscript.
Pusey, born near Oxford in 1800, entered as a commoner and died as a
canon of Christ Church, at the age of eighty-two.
The great scholar of Corpus Christi, John Keble, became member of that
college at the age of fifteen, and when nineteen was elected Fellow of
Oriel,--a very proud distinction, for Oriel was then the great centre of
the most famous intellects in Oxford.
To this society belonged Copleston, Davison, Whately, and soon after
Keble's election Arnold, Pusey, and Newman became members. Newman, whose
tendencies were in turn Evangelical and Calvinistic, to become finally
cardinal, matriculated at Trinity College. Amongst other famous members
of Wolsey's foundation must be included the statesmen William Gladstone
and the late Marquis of Salisbury.
Other distinguished inmates of this college are Anthony Ashley Cooper,
the seventh earl of Shaftesbury, who interested himself in the practical
welfare of the working classes; and John Ruskin, author of "The Stones
of Venice," whose father had at first conceived the ambition of seeing
him become bishop; Cecil Rhodes, the Imperialist, whose health was so
uncertain that at one time his doctor gave him only six months to live,
acquired wealth in South Africa, and came home to be admitted to Oriel,
Oxford.
The author of "Alice in Wonderland," under the _nom de plume_ of "Lewis
Carroll," was also a student of Christ Church. As Charles Lutridge
Dodgson he wrote many important works on mathematics.
These, with a host of other celebrated men of all the various colleges,
have all shed lustre upon their _alma mater_; and, as long as old
traditions be revered and followed, Oxford need never fear a decline.
The beautiful buildings, collegiate and ecclesiastical, the wonderful
university libraries, "The Bodleian" and "The Ashmolean," the sumptuous
plate and silver of the colleges, are some of the great features of this
cathedral city.
Such, in brief, is the history of this prominent seat of learning.
Peterborough
St. Petrius de Burgh.
("Doomsday Book.")
This ancient cathedral city of Peterborough is most curiously situated.
On first looking at the map it is extremely difficult to determine
off-hand to which of the three counties, Northamptonshire,
Huntingdonshire, or Cambridgeshire, it belongs. It is true part of the
city lies in Huntingdonshire. Happily for Northamptonshire, the near
proximity of the river Nene probably decided the worthy monks to select
that site for the monastery. It was dedicated to St. Peter, whose
saintly name was evidently borrowed to designate the name of the
borough, and to displace the original appellation, which was
Medeswelhamsted, or Medeshampsted, taken out of compliment to a
whirlpool in the river Aufona, now the Nene. Though we are told that
this monastery was founded, about 655, by a royal Christian convert,
Paeda, the fifth king of Mercia, and finished by his brother, Wulfhere,
in atonement for his crime in connection with the premature death of
his sons for their Christian proclivities--though we are told this,
nevertheless we are inclined to think that the worthy brethren were
chiefly responsible for the selection of the site.
If we come to consider closely the locality of each monastic
institution, we generally stumble across a river, however small and
humble it may appear. And why is this? Simply for the fish, which was
carefully preserved and encouraged to multiply. Even to this day all
monks, nuns, and strict followers of the Roman Catholic persuasion
rigidly adhere to the observance of eating fish, instead of flesh, on
every Friday and fast day, though nowadays it is not customary for them
to catch fish in its natural element. In the good old days the holy
friars had to depend principally upon the yield of the river for
Friday's requirements, if perchance the monastery was situated far
inland. Travelling in mediæval times was somewhat precarious and slow.
This monastery would be in all probability a wooden erection of
Anglo-Saxon style. Philologists demonstrate that "getimbrian"--to
construct of wood--was the Anglo-Saxon word for "build." If this
argument holds good, it accounts not only for the scarcity of Old
English lapidary remains, but also for their peculiar character. Till
the arrival of masons in 672 from the continent, the buildings had been
composed mostly of wood covered with thatch. Only towards the close of
the tenth century, with a better knowledge of stone-work, did architects
develop a definite style in England.
With the arrival of the Danes, about the middle of the ninth century,
the town was sacked, the monks were massacred, and the monastic
buildings were burnt. For more than a century it remained in oblivion,
till the combined efforts of Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester, King
Edgar, and his wealthy chancellor Adulph, produced a monastery, over
which, in recognition of his pecuniary assistance, Adulph was made
abbot. As usual, the Norman Conquest left its mark in the shape of a
castle to protect the town, and to instil wholesome awe in the English.
It was early in the reign of Henry I. that a fire caused great injury to
the town and monastery. Though deplorable, as it at first appeared, it
nevertheless gave birth to the present Norman cathedral church, which
Abbot Salisbury commenced to build in 1118, two years after the
accident. At the same time the site of the town was transferred from the
eastern side of the monastery to the present situation north of the
Nene.
[Illustration: PETERBOROUGH
THE WEST FRONT]
Six years before the death of Henry VIII., to wit, in 1541,
Peterborough was separated from the Diocese of Lincoln and was created
into an episcopal see. The last abbot of Peterborough was appointed
first bishop, with the abbot's house as the episcopal palace, and the
monastery church as the cathedral. To this building, the Norman effort
of Abbot Salisbury, was grafted the architecture of the Early English
style. No pen can so adequately describe the magnificence of the west
front of this cathedral as the brush of Mr. Collins. This artist has
done full justice to his subject, which has evidently been a work of
love to him. In his rendering he has both successfully caught the true
spirit of the church's grandeur, and has managed to incorporate his
distinct individuality. Mr. Collins has shown the same qualities with
regard to the "market-place."
The three lofty and beautiful arches of this west front are Early
English. Perhaps a jarring note to its fine composition is the small
porch, over which there is a chapel to St. Thomas à Becket.
A square tower at the north-west angle and another similar one at the
south-west angle of the nave enrich the general effect. The nave itself
is Norman, and is separated from the aisles by finely clustered piers
and arches of the same style, but lighter than usual in character.
The east end is circular, and there are several chapels of the English
style subsequent to the Early English. They are elegantly designed with
fan tracery, and the windows, since their original foundation, appear to
have been enriched with tracery.
On the south side there is the shrine to St. Tibba, and close to it Mary
Queen of Scots was buried. Her remains were afterwards exhumed and
removed to Westminster.
The north side was graced with a tomb to Queen Catherine of Arragon.
Uneasy was her rest, for Cromwell's troops laid sacrilegious hands on
the tomb. Her royal memory is now perpetuated by a commonplace marble
slab.
Not content with this the Roundheads, as the parliamentary forces were
called, defaced the Cathedral, looted its plate and ornaments, and
pulled down part of the cloisters, the chapter house, and the episcopal
palace. What remains of the cloisters exhibit specimens of Early Norman,
down to the later periods of English architecture, and give some idea of
their former grandeur.
Besides its beauties, this cathedral affords an excellent study of
arches, illustrating the subtleties of every transitional period in
architecture, from Norman to perpendicular.
[Illustration: PETERBOROUGH
THE MARKET PLACE]
The choir, by John de Sez, is Early Norman. Martin of Bec took fifteen
years, in the twelfth century, to realise the completion of the aisles
of both transepts. The remaining portions of the transepts and the
central tower were designed by William de Waterville, from 1155 to 1175.
Unfortunately, the insecurity of this tower caused it to be pulled down
in 1883, and attempts were immediately made to substitute another.
The nave belongs to the latter part of the Norman period. To be correct,
its date, 1177 to 1193, clearly indicates it should be included rather
in the Transition period, which was then trending towards the Lancet of
Early English.
This same Transition must also claim the western transepts by Abbot
Andrew, 1193 to 1200.
The painted roof of wood, added by Abbot Benedict, 1177 to 1193, is a
fair example of the fashion prevalent in Europe at that period. Another
object of interest is the "decorated windows," which were placed
throughout this church in the fourteenth century.
A distinctive feature is the existence of the "Close," exhibiting
interesting remains of English architecture. To more thoroughly ensure
the privacy of the cathedral, its precincts were enclosed, very much
like a college at a university, either within a solid wall enclosure or
generally surrounded by dwellings for the ecclesiastics. Though the
cathedral might be in the densest quarter of the town, yet, on closing
its gates, it secured complete severance from the city. The cathedral
close at Salisbury is quite the best specimen extant in England.
_En passant_ we would mention among the many eminent men that
Peterborough is justly proud of, Benedict, who was abbot in 1180, and
founded an hospital, which he dedicated to St. Thomas à Becket, whose
biographer and ardent admirer he was; and an eminent English historian
in the fourteenth century, John, abbot of the monastery of Peterborough;
Archdeacon Paley, a celebrated divine and moralist, who died in 1805;
and Sir John Hill, a popular writer in the eighteenth century.
In conclusion, we cannot help drawing attention to the great general,
statesman, and contemporary of the Duke of Marlborough, who was called
after this city, and known in the reigns of Anne and George I. The title
of Earl of Peterborough was conferred by Charles I. on the family of
Mordaunt, and worthily borne by the celebrated soldier-statesman.
St. Albans
St. Albanus.
("Doomsday Book.")
Under the title of "Oppidum," the stronghold of Cassivelaunus, St.
Albans is frequently mentioned by Cæsar and Tacitus.
At the time of Cæsar's first visit to England, which was in 46 B.C., the
Britons led a wandering life, and it was only in war time that they
gathered together and took refuge in towns. Tacitus and Cæsar describe
the Britons as people who had no cities, towns, or buildings of any
durable materials. The sites of their towns were chosen with a view to
turning to good account all the assistance that Nature could lend, such
as woods, ditches, and bogs.
Though Cæsar names no particular town, yet he describes his attack and
occupation of the "Oppidum" over which Cassivelaunus was the chief. And
from what is known of the progress and distance of Cæsar from the
Thames, there seems no doubt that "Verulamium," as it was then and
afterwards called, is identical with that of the stronghold of the
Britons. It was situated on the low ground on the banks of the river
Ver. Cæsar's occupation was brief. Until the conquest of Britain by
Claudius in 43 A.D. it remained an important city in the hands of the
Britons. Finally, in 420 A.D., the Romans quitted Britain. During their
stay they had greatly opened up the country, constructing the famous
high roads, one of which is the great North Road, called Watling Street,
which stretches from London to York.
In the fifth century Verulamium, as we shall still continue to call St.
Albans for a while, was occupied by the Saxons. They changed the site of
the Roman city from the low ground, on which now stands the Church of
St. Michael, to the higher ground. At the same time they renamed it
Watling-ceaster, after Watling Street, which passed through it.
From the ruins of the ancient city of Verulamium arose in the tenth
century the celebrated monastery in honour of St. Alban. To account for
the erection of this building it is necessary to give a brief sketch of
its patron saint.
During the Diocletian persecution of the Christians, in the year 304 A.
D., a distinguished citizen, Alban of Verulamium, of Roman origin, but
converted to Christianity, suffered martyrdom for giving shelter to
Amphibalus, a Christian. For this crime he was executed on the site of
the present abbey, and in 772 was canonised.
* * * * *
Nearly five hundred years after, in 793, Offa, the King of Mercia, was
very much exercised in mind as to the best means of expiating his murder
of Æthelbert.
Greatly to his relief, he was bidden in a vision to seek the remains of
St. Alban, and over them, when found, to erect a monastery. In
accordance with these instructions he, with Higbert, Archbishop of
Lichfield, the Bishops of Leicester and Lindsey, and a huge assembly of
clergy and laity, visited the hill, where the "Proto-martyr of England,"
as St. Alban came to be known, had suffered. There the holy remains were
discovered. Over them Offa founded the abbey, with a monastery for one
hundred monks of the Order of St. Benedict.
* * * * *
The present abbey really dates from the eleventh century. At the close
of the tenth century the ruins of the old Roman city of Verulamium were
broken up to serve as materials for the new church buildings. But owing
to the unsettled character of the times the erection was delayed, till
William the Conqueror was firmly possessed of the throne, when Paul of
Caen, a relative of Archbishop Lanfranc, was appointed abbot in 1077. He
built the magnificent Norman structure, based upon the plans of St.
Stephen's, Caen--the same church which served as a model for Lanfranc,
when he built Canterbury.
Though finished for some years past, it was only consecrated in 1115.
As was invariably the custom, the church was built in the form of a
cross. In this connection it is interesting to note the evolution of the
cross.
Prior to the Christian era the cross was looked upon with disfavour.
To be crucified was to undergo a most ignominious form of punishment,
and it was only served out to malefactors of the worst description.
Nothing short of this would have been a sufficient check in those times
to the growth of vice. But in the early days of Christianity the cross
came to be regarded as the holiest symbol of "The Sacrifice" made for
the good of mankind.
When converts met they formed on the ground the sign of the cross, in
order to distinguish friends from foes. The mere fact of a severe
punishment meted out consequent on discovery of this secret passport
served only to increase the reverence held for the symbol.
[Illustration: ST. ALBANS
FROM THE WALLS OF OLD VERULAM]
As soon as time and opportunity allowed places of worship were erected,
and the natural form adopted would be that of the cross, for which they
had suffered so much persecution, and which typified the foundation of
their faith and hopes of salvation.
As they assembled in church they would be sensible of the prevailing
influence of the emblem. In every direction, look where they would, they
would always see the holy sign. The roof would reveal to the gaze the
same form as that on the ground.
Even the walls, as they soared upwards, out-lined, tier upon tier, the
Christian sign, capped at the last by a mighty cross, which cast its
protecting shadows around and over the worshippers.
The altar came to be placed at the head of the cross. The transept,
crossing it at right angles, formed the arms, and the nave the upright.
The altar was always situated at the east end, again illustrating a link
with the pagan times, when worshippers turned towards the sun.
As time progressed chapels were erected along the sides, causing the
walls to be pierced and arched. These chapels were in honour, firstly,
of "The Blessed Virgin," and then of the leaders of "The Faith," who had
been canonised as saints on account of martyrdom. But the main building
was always dedicated to the "God Head."
By a special grant in 1154, given by Pope Adrian IV., who was born near
St. Albans, and who was the only Englishman ever appointed to the Papal
See, the abbots of St. Albans were allowed the privilege of wearing a
mitre. Added to this dignity he was given precedence over all in
England, whether they were king, archbishop, bishop, or legate. He also
exercised supreme episcopal jurisdiction over all clergy and laity in
all lands pertaining to the monastery.
The first abbot was Willgod, nominated by King Offa.
The last one was Richard Boreman, otherwise Stevenache.
In all there were forty-one from the foundation to the suppression,
which took place in 1534. In that year the monastery was seized by Henry
VIII., who allowed pensions to the monks, and an annuity to the abbot.
About 1480 the abbey was amongst the first in England to set up a
printing press. On this the first English translation of the Bible was
printed.
* * * * *
In spite of every loving care exercised, the relics of St. Alban enjoyed
little rest. In Wulruth's reign as fourth abbot, the abbey suffered at
the hands of the Danes. They carried away with them the bones of "the
Proto-martyr" to Denmark, and there placed them in a convent at Owenses.
They were found and brought back to the abbey.
Again, seventy years later, the Danes ravaged the country. But this time
Ælfric II., eleventh abbot, resorted to artifice. He hid the bones in
the walls of the church, and sent bogus relics to the monastery at Ely,
giving the monks special charges to guard them well. On the retirement
of the Danes from the country, Ælfric sent post haste to reclaim these
bones. Ely at first demurred, but, giving way in the end, sent back some
substituted bones. This disquieted the saint.
He appeared to Gilbert, a Benedictine monk, and to him disclosed the
fraud, enjoining him to bring to light the true bones from their
hiding-place. This was solemnly done. But Ely unexpectedly disclosed the
artifice they had practised, and claimed that they were in possession of
the true relics.
As neither party would yield, "the relics of St. Alban" for a hundred
years received reverential and impartial homage both at St. Albans and
at Ely. Eventually Ely disclaimed their right, on the appeal of Robert
de Gorham, the eighteenth abbot, to the Pope.
In the history of the "Wars of the Roses," the city of St. Albans played
a prominent part.
In 1455 Henry VI. set up his royal standard on the north side of the
town, whilst the Yorkists, under the Duke of York and the Earl of
Warwick, the "Kingmaker," encamped in the fields east of the town.
On May 3 of the same year in Holywell Street and its adjacent roads
fought the two armies to decide the succession to the English throne.
The Yorkists gained the victory. The king was taken a wounded prisoner.
On February 17, 1461, St. Albans was for the second time the scene of a
terrible battle. The Lancastrians, with Queen Margaret at their head,
defeated the Yorkists under the Earl of Warwick, and restored Henry VI.
to the throne.
The principal portions now in existence of the original Norman church by
Paul of Caen are the tower, the eastern bays of the nave, and the
transepts. Though it exhibits specimens of architecture of different
periods, and has undergone much restoration, the main architectural
outlines, as conceived by Paul, have been adhered to all the time.
Within recent years Sir Gilbert Scott, succeeded by Sir Edmund Beckett,
made extensive renovations. The only reminder of the once vast monastic
buildings is the great gateway, within a few yards of the west entrance
to the abbey.
Wells
Welle.
("Doomsday Book.")
"Wells, a city, having separate jurisdiction, locally in the hundred of
Wells-Forum, County of Somerset." Thus runs a description of this place,
and is a fair sample of most cities. We think a little explanation anent
"the hundred" may possibly make that term more clear of understanding,
and may not be amiss. The description, short as it is, has quite a
condensed history of its own, but only conveys a hazy idea of the status
of the city.
[Illustration: WELLS
CATHEDRAL AND THE POOLS]
In the days of heathenism, it must be remembered that England was
partitioned into several kingdoms, the size of which was regulated by
the might of their respective kings. Each tribe, or kingdom, was ruled
by a tribal chief, or folk-king. He was chosen by the tribe, and the
king-ship became in time practically hereditary. To maintain his power
he had to respect and keep the customs of his people. Without their
consent he could pass no law; he could touch no freeman's life or
heritage without consent of law, which gave the freeman the right of
defending his cause before his fellow-freemen; he presided, at regular
annual intervals, at the folk-moot, or tribal assembly, and at the great
feasts and sacrifices. Counsellors and wise men assisted the king with
advice. His marriages were the result of favourable and pacific
negotiations with other tribes. He was called upon to travel throughout
his kingdom and see that justice was properly administered and evil and
oppression suppressed. He was almost regarded as a demi-god, and his
crimes were supposed to be punished by the gods, who denied good seasons
and brought about other calamities. The king was allowed a little army,
or comitatus as it was called, of paid retainers, to maintain adequate
discipline, and to form his bodyguard. These kings, chosen by the people
at the tribal-moot, in heathen times were throned on the holy stone and
carried about on a shield, and in Christian times were consecrated. In
accordance with the extension of the West Saxon kingdom, which became
the kingdom of the English, the court increased. At the time of the
Conquest, a treasurer, a chancellor, and other officials looking after
the king's plate, clothes, and horses were added to the royal
household. When in addition to these were added the bishops, abbots, and
the aldermen, who had succeeded the tribal kings in the several "folks,"
or "shires," on their absorption into the West Saxon kingdom, the king
was recognised as the head of the Witema-gemot, or Concilium Sapientium,
as the "meeting of wisemen" was called. In the tenth century the king no
longer went about to get the consent of each folk-moot to a certain law,
but convened the heads of each shire-moot at some convenient central
spot. This convening of moots, or Mycel-gemot, became the Magnum
Concilium of the Normans, and in the thirteenth century developed into
the High Courts and Parliament. Beneath the shire-moots came the
"hundred-moots," and later on the "hall-moots." The origin of the
"hundred" appears, by some authorities, to be based on the military
organisation. It is supposed, in the first instance, to be a grouping of
a sufficient number of free homesteads to furnish at least one hundred
and twenty fully-armed freemen for war service, and to supply
full-qualified jurors for the cases of the district. This hundred-moot
was presided over by a lord or an hundred-elder, and discharged the
duties for the district much in the same way as the shire-moot did for
the county. It was a criminal and civil court with its grand jury,
and enforced the attendance of persons from each manor within the
hundred. When the king was absent from the shire-moot, the "ealdorman"
(alderman) of the shire presided, and to watch the royal interests was
nominated the "shire-reeve," or sheriff (scirgerefa), chosen from the
better class of the freeholders. We are told that the laws of England
were far in advance of those in France. In fact, the English had written
laws at the time of the Conquest, and the Normans had none. It hardly
seems credible that the conquered were, in some respects, more civilised
than their conquerors.
[Illustration: WELLS
FROM THE FIELDS]
It was only after the Conquest that the "Doomsday Book" came into
existence. After the Conquest the sheriff became simply a royal officer.
He was the financial representative of the Crown within his district.
Now his financial duties no longer exist, and his judicial are almost
_nil_. Our general knowledge of him is that he is supposed to be in at
the death of a murderer, and that he is somehow or other associated with
the bailiff--sheriff's officer, as he is styled.
Mr. Collins presents us with three interesting graphic descriptions.
This city owes its name to the numerous springs, and more particularly
to that of St. Andrew's Well, whose water, rising in the vicinity of
the episcopal palace, flows through the south-western part of the city.
Ina, King of the West Saxons, named it thus. He, in 704, founded a
collegiate church and dedicated it to St. Andrew the Apostle.
This foundation was handsomely endowed by Cynewulf in 766, and
flourished till 905. Wells was then erected into a see. This change was
consequent on an edict of Edward the Elder for the revival of religion,
which had been brought down to a low ebb by the frequent and terrible
incursions of the Danes. To combat this state of things, Pligrund,
Archbishop of Canterbury, consecrated several new bishops, of whom
Aldhelm, formerly Abbot of Glastonbury, became first bishop of Wells.
Edward the Confessor made his chaplain, Giso, the thirteenth bishop to
the See, and at the same time enriched it by the confiscated property of
Godwin, Earl of Kent, and Harold, Earl of Wessex, his son, whom he had
driven into exile. Harold, in spite of his exile, made an incursion into
Somersetshire, levied mail on his former tenantry, and eased the church
of its treasures.
In the meantime Giso was being consecrated at Rome. On his return he was
fortunate enough to gain some compensation from the queen, who was
sister to Harold. But, unfortunately for Giso, Harold was again received
into favour. He promptly procured the banishment of Giso, and on his
succession later to the throne straightway resumed all his estates,
which Edward the Confessor had granted to the Church, and thus
impoverished the See.
Bishop Giso's opportunity came with the Conquest, when he was
reinstated. William, in his second year of reign, restored to the
Bishopric, with some small deduction, all Harold's estates. Giso
augmented the number of canons, and built a cloister, hall, and
dormitory, and enlarged and beautified the choir of the Cathedral. John
de Villula, his successor, swept away these buildings, and on their site
built a palace.
Villula's name in ecclesiastical history is closely associated with a
memorable event which caused considerable commotion and rivalry between
the inhabitants of Wells and Bath. He removed the See of the diocese to
Bath, and assumed the title of Bishop of Bath. Feeling ran high, and the
Archbishop of Canterbury was appealed to. His ingenuity proposed that
the prelates should be styled "Bishop of Bath and Wells," that an equal
number of delegates from both cities should elect him, and that their
installation should take place in both churches. Yet, later, the
determination of the diocese's headquarters became again a vexed
question, under Bishop Savaricus, who was closely allied to the Emperor
of Austria.
Richard I.'s liberty was granted him by the Emperor of Austria on one
condition besides the ransom, that the then vacant Abbey of Glastonbury
should be annexed to the See of Bath and Wells. Savaricus afterwards
changed the seat of his diocese to Glastonbury, and styled himself
Bishop of Glastonbury. The seat was finally settled in 1205, after his
death, by the monks under his successor, Joscelyne de Wells. Glastonbury
petitioned Rome, favourably, to be reinstated as an abbey, on condition
of relinquishing a handsome portion of its revenue to the See.
Joscelyne assumed the bishopric title of Bath and Wells, which has
remained to this day. The death of this prelate was the signal for
further dispute in another direction. The monks of Bath endeavoured to
exercise, in opposition to the Canon of Wells, the right of electing the
successor to the See. All dispute was settled by the Pope, who managed
to draw closer the union of the churches. At the Reformation the
monastery of Bath was suppressed, and though the name of the See was
retained, all ecclesiastical authority and the right of electing the
Bishop were vested in the Dean and Chapter of Wells, which then became
the sole chapter of the Diocese.
[Illustration: WELLS
THE RUINS OF THE BANQUETING HALL]
The Chapter House is a beautiful octagonal building, each side measuring
fifty feet. Its finely groined roof is held up by a central clustered
column of Purbeck marble. Beneath it there is a crypt displaying a very
good example of plain groining.
The foundation of the present Cathedral was laid by Wiffeline, the
second bishop of the diocese, and completed by Bishop Joscelyne in 1239.
This cruciform structure was dedicated to St. Andrew. On the south the
cloisters form three sides of a quadrangle. The prevailing style of the
architecture of this church is the Early English, with the introduction
of the Decorated and subsequent periods.
The west front is divided into compartments by buttresses, and is richly
embellished with canopied niches, containing statues of kings, popes,
cardinals, bishops, and abbots. Even the mullions of the west window and
the lower stages of the western towers are similarly treated. These
towers, like the central tower, are crowned with parapets elegantly
pierced. The nave and transepts display the grand simplicity and
elegance of the Early English style. The former is separated from the
aisles by a series of clustered columns and finely pointed arches, above
which are placed a triforium of lancet-shaped arches, and a range of
clerestory windows with elegant tracery in the Later English style
inserted.
The choir belongs to the Decorated style.
The Cathedral contains several chapels. In one there is the ancient
clock from Glastonbury. It has an astronomical dial, and figures of
knights in armour are set in motion by machinery. An ancient font in the
south transept is of the same date as this portion of the Cathedral.
Of monuments there is the elaborate effigy of Bishop Beckington; and in
the choir the grave-stone of Bishop Joscelyne is the sole relic of what
was once an imposing marble monument bearing a brass effigy. In the
centre of the nave King Ina was buried.
The hall, by Villula, was demolished in the reign of Edward VI. for the
sake of its materials. Its remains even now clearly indicate its
original splendour. In length it was one hundred and twenty feet.
On the dissolution of the monasteries Henry VIII. remodelled the then
existing establishment and refounded it. This monarch's name reminds us
that Cardinal Wolsey and Archbishop Laud were prelates of this see. The
eminent historian, Polydore Vergil, was archdeacon in the sixteenth
century, and in the year 1634 was born in this city pious Dr. George
Bull, Bishop of St. David's.
The history of the See is the history of the city.
Worcester
Wirecestra.
("Doomsday Book.")
Apart from its beautiful Cathedral, this ancient city has gained
notoriety from its famous manufacture of porcelain. Who is there who has
not heard of "Old Worcester" china? From the experiments of china clay,
china stone from Cornwall, feldspar from Sweden, fire-clay from
Stourbridge and Broseley, marl, flint, and calcined bones, Dr. Wall
evolved those exquisite creations of Worcester china which now claim
universal admiration and obtain fabulous prices.
It has been said that for political reasons the joint efforts of Dr.
Wall, a physician; William Davies, an apothecary; and Edward Cave, the
founder of _The Gentleman's Magazine_, gave birth to the foundation of
the Worcester Porcelain Company. This desirable event took place in
1751, six years after the invasion of the Pretender's armed forces,
which penetrated as far as Derby. Whether the establishment of this
industry helped George II.'s party to gain votes in the county against
the numerous supporters of the Pretender, who made their presence felt
in Worcester, or not, is now of little consequence. The existence of
this branch of art clearly demonstrates the insecure footing of
politics, and asserts the triumph of its founders.
Mr. Collins gives us another proof that "art is long" by his skilful
rendering of the beautiful portion of Worcester Cathedral here shown.
At the period of the Roman invasion of England, two British tribes, the
Cornavii and Dobuni, were in part ownership of Worcestershire. This
British settlement was promptly annexed by the Romans as a military
station, and was included in the division called Flavia Cæsariensis.
They named it Vigorna, but being low and woody it offered little
attraction to them, and received little attention at their hands. With
the establishment of the Saxon Octarchy this territory became included
in the kingdom of Mercia. Like many of the English towns that served as
Roman military posts, the Saxons grafted the Roman appellation "cester"
for a camp, to Wigorna.
Wigorna-cester gradually changed to Worcester. The city's advancement
was temporarily checked by the ravages of the Danes, who burnt it more
than once. In spite of the opposition of the Bishop of Lichfield, the
See of the city was founded by Archbishop Theodore, in 673, though not
finally established till 780. It then severed its connection with the
See of Lichfield.
Save for predatory incursions of the Danes, especially on two occasions,
when the Dane chief Canute was, in 1016, defeated by Edmund Ironsides
near Blockley; and at another time, when the Danes deemed it necessary,
in 1041, to punish the Saxons for refusing to pay them tribute called
"danegelt,"--save for these little misfortunes, little else interfered
with the gradual growth of the city's prosperity.
Naturally, with increased prosperity, the city freed itself from bondage
to Danes. At the date of the Conquest it had even attained sufficient
importance to have a mint. The existence of various English mints at
that period, as shown here, and in Oxford and other towns, according to
their importance and the exigencies of the neighbourhood, must have been
solely due to the geographical partition of England.
Prior to the Conquest we notice the frequent distribution and
redistribution of England into kingdoms, in ratio to the superior power
or stratagem of one king over another.
By this is made evident the lack of unity and support against the common
foe, the foreign invader. Each kingdom of necessity issued its own
currency, besides framing its own laws to suit the character of the
subjects and the nature of the surroundings.
Though each king attempted to restore this chaos to order by the simple
process of grabbing his neighbours' land during the intermission of
hostilities against foreign invaders, it was only Alfred the Great who
really attempted some scheme of unity--and then failed to accomplish
what seemed an impossibility. But this impossibility was entirely
overcome by William the Conqueror, who straightway grasped the
situation. He erected castles everywhere, with the twofold purpose of
curbing the Saxons and keeping out their former foes. Under his rule
internal dissensions were quelled, effete customs were abolished, new
and necessary laws were introduced, architecture was encouraged, trade
was fostered, and a recognised currency was adopted. All this can be
readily gathered at a glance into that marvellous book he caused to be
drawn up, called "Doomsday Book." In it a correct valuation of all
property, from the noble lord's down to the agricultural implements of
the peasant, is entered, with the position of every church and castle
extant conspicuously marked on the chart in Latin. He wished to
thoroughly gauge the resources of his recent conquest. With this
information he gained an index to the complete establishment of his
sovereignty over England. This may be considered a digression, but we
submit that a brief sketch of the wonderful change that took place under
this monarch is essential to the right understanding of the history
alike of cathedral and city. No other reigning prince of England, before
or since William's reign, has left such lasting evidences of his
personality except it be Henry VIII., who is inseparable with the
dissolution of the monasteries.
The drawing of Mr. Collins gives an excellent idea of the character of
Worcester Cathedral. Its site is on the eastern bank of the river
Severn, and is the most important building of the city. Yet it cannot be
compared to the massive grandeur of Ripon. Though its beauty could not
entirely be marred by restoration, yet, having been allowed to get out
of repair, the task was entrusted in 1857 to Mr. Perkins, the cathedral
architect. He has managed to sweep away a great part of the old work,
and in some instances has replaced the original by conjectural work of
Early English style.
[Illustration: WORCESTER
THE CATHEDRAL]
But to revert to the early stages of the Cathedral, Bishop Oswald
appears to have absorbed the secular monks of St. Peter's, the Bishop's
church, into a monastery of St. Mary, thereby changing the secular state
of the canons to that of the monastic. This bishop, in 983, finished the
building of a new monastic cathedral.
By the time that the Normans cast their influence over Worcester, Bishop
Wulfstan had gained so much fame for saintliness that it is recorded he
was the only English prelate left in charge of his see. But subsequent
history somewhat discounts his holy character and demonstrates his
readiness to conform with new customs.
He met the Normans half-way by undertaking to build a great church of
stone, after the Norman style of architecture.
In 1088 he suffered interruption through Welsh raids, but finally
signalised the end of his labours by holding a synod in the crypt in
1094.
Another notable foundation of his is the Commandery, in 1095, believed
to be one of the rarest specimens of early house architecture now
extant. We cannot be too grateful for his contribution to church
architecture, though only the outer walls of the nave, the aisles, a
part of the transept walls, some shafts, and the crypt remain as
evidences of his Norman adaptability.
Here it is well to accentuate the fact that the crypt (1084) is apsidal,
and that only three other examples of this style exist, namely at
Winchester, Gloucester, and Canterbury, all dating within the last
twenty years of the eleventh century.
The nave (1175) was much injured by the collapse of the central tower.
In the meanwhile, though dead some two hundred years, the saintly
character of Wulfstan suffered no diminution, and was turned to
profitable use by the monks soon after 1203, the year of his
canonisation. The magnificent offerings to his shrine became so numerous
and rich that the monks were enabled to finish the Cathedral in
1216--surely the most fitting memorial to the great founder. They
continued their labours by adding a Lady chapel, soon after, in the east
end, and rebuilding the choir in the Early English style. In the
fourteenth century the nave was reconstructed, the Decorated style being
introduced in the north side and the Perpendicular in the south.
The Chapter House is a round building with a stone roof resting on a
central pillar, and dates from the Late Norman period.
The Refectory belongs to the Decorated, and the Perpendicular style
claims the cloisters. The central tower is just over one hundred and
sixty feet in height. As can be seen by the drawing, the plan of the
building is a pure cross. There are two transept aisles, and only
secondary transepts to the choir exist. A noteworthy circumstance is
that St. Helen's, Worcester, is the earliest recipient of a chantry
(1288).
The most interesting memorial in this cathedral is King John's, in the
choir, said to be the earliest sepulchral effigy of an English king in
the country. In the Chantry Chapel there is an altar-tomb to Arthur,
Prince of Wales and son to Henry VII., who died in 1502. John Bauden,
bishop, and author of "Icon Basilike," has a monument. Bishop Hough's
memory is perpetuated by the work of Roubillac, and that of Mrs. Digby
by the sculpture of Chantrey.
To give a detailed account of the history of the city would be long and
unnecessary. Suffice it to say that the city continually changed hands
during the civil wars. In 1265, in Worcestershire, close upon the
frontier of Gloucestershire, was fought the battle of Evesham, in which
Henry III.'s son surprised and defeated Earl Simon de Montford, one time
a royal favourite. This result put an end to the confederacy of the
barons. Cantilupe, the Bishop of Worcester, was implicated in that he
favoured the Earl's cause, who had withdrawn previous to the battle, to
the friendly territory of Worcester's See, and had rested at Evesham
Abbey. Queen Elizabeth and James II. respectively paid the city a short
visit.
It suffered extensively by the dissolution of the monasteries. The
parliamentary troops foully defiled the Cathedral, and did considerable
damage to the city, which was Royalist.
Here it was that Charles II., with his Scottish army, was defeated by
Cromwell, who had taken up a position on Red Hill without the city
gates. Fortune and disguise helped Charles to escape, and from here he
began his adventurous journey to Boscobel. The cathedral city has since
increased steadily in prosperity. Besides the Worcester China Company,
founded in 1751, and still flourishing, a Company of Glovers was
incorporated in 1661, and is an important industry. These, in addition
to hop-growing, help to keep up the trade prosperity of Worcester. The
See has enriched the Church of Rome by four saints, and has yielded to
the English State several Lord Chancellors and Lord Treasurers.
Chichester
("Doomsday Book.")
In a geographical account of this city it is given as being locally in
"the hundred of Box and Stockbridge, _rape_ of Chichester, county of
Sussex." The origin of this term "rape," comes from the Icelandic
"hreppr," meaning a village or district. From the Icelandic verb,
"hreppa," to catch, obtain, arose the Anglo-Saxon rendering--"hrepian,
hreppan," to touch. Rape came thus to be one of six divisions of the
county of Sussex, possibly by reason of their nearness to each other. It
formed the intermediate between the shire and the hundred. A sketch of
the shire and the hundred is treated in the description of Wells. After
this slight digression, we will immediately enter upon the history of
Chichester.
Its foundation dates, with certainty, from the time when England formed
a portion of the Roman Empire. About the year 47 A.D., Flavius
Vespasian conquered this part of England. He established a camp on the
site of the present city, close to the road now known as Stane Street,
throwing up an entrenchment three miles long. This is attributed to be
the "Regnum" of the Belgæ, mentioned in the "Itinerary" of Antonine.
There is no reason to doubt this, if it be borne in mind that, situated
almost on the south seaboard of England as Chichester is, it might quite
conceivably be expected to be classed accidentally as forming a part of
the territory of the Belgæ, though geographically wrong. The advantage
of a site at the foot of a small spur of the South Downs, within easy
distance of the sea, though inland, would offer great attractions to the
Roman invader.
The early history of England shows us that invasions took effect
generally on the south and east coasts of the island. The conquered
tribes travelled westwards, retreating before the fierce invader.
Little seems to have been known about the Roman occupation of Chichester
till the accidental turning up of a Sussex marble slab on the site of
the present council chamber. This discovery took place about the year
1713. From this a little information is gleaned about the Roman
buildings. The slab bears a defaced inscription in Latin, the missing
letters of which having been supplied, give a conjectural reading. It
appears that Chichester was the seat of a British king, Cogidubnus; and
that under the auspices of a certain Pudens, a temple of Neptune and
Minerva was erected out of compliment to Claudius. The evidence of this
stone seems also to have been borne out by Tacitus, who mentions in his
writings the existence of Cogidubnus as a native king possessed of
independent authority. This king, also, is said to be the father of
Claudia, who figures in the Second Epistle to Timothy. The conjectural
reading again leads us to suppose that the city was occupied by a large
number of craftsmen, who, in fact, were responsible for the erection of
the temple mentioned above, besides the walls and other buildings.
During the early Saxon period in the fifth century the city was
destroyed by Œlla. He was succeeded by his son Cissa, who rebuilt it
and called it Cissa's Ceaster--Cissa after his own name, and Ceaster in
recognition of the Romans having occupied it. The city afterwards became
the seat of the South Saxon kings, and remained thus till about the
middle of the seventh century. Wulfhere, the Mercian, then invaded it
and made Athelwald, its king, prisoner. Upon his conversion to
Christianity the king was reinstated. He was afterwards killed in battle
by Ceadwalla of Wessex, who conquered the kingdom of the South Saxons.
In 803 Egbert managed to make a union of the several Saxon kingdoms.
This event caused considerable prosperity to Chichester. From ancient
penny-pieces discovered, we learn that King Edgar, in the year 967, had
established a mint here, thus clearly indicating the importance of the
city.
It suffered a terrible decline through the devastations of the Danes; so
much so, that scarcely two hundred houses and only one church existed at
the time of the Norman Conquest. However, from 1070 the fortunes of the
city began to mend rapidly. This wholesome change was caused primarily
by the removal of the See from Selsea, where it had remained for over
three hundred years, to Chichester. As first bishop of Chichester,
Stigand, the chaplain to William the Conqueror, was appointed. In the
reign of Henry I. a cathedral was built and consecrated by Bishop Ralph.
It was soon destroyed by fire. On its site the same prelate erected a
second structure of far greater magnificence, a considerable portion of
which is still extant.
[Illustration: CHICHESTER
FROM THE NORTHEAST]
In 1189 the city again suffered from a terrible fire, which also caused
great damage to the Cathedral. This building, however, was repaired and
greatly enlarged by Bishop Siffed. His efforts, with those of Ralph,
form the basis of the present cathedral. It was dedicated to St. Peter.
The architecture embraces the Norman and the Early English and Decorated
styles.
A beautiful tower arose from the centre, surmounted by an octagonal
spire three hundred feet high, with two towers on the west, of which the
upper courses of one were destroyed during the parliamentary war. On the
north is seen a fine bell-tower and lantern, connected by flying
buttresses with octagonal turrets springing from the angles.
In the reign of Charles I., after a stubborn defence by the Royalist
citizens, the city was compelled to surrender to Cromwell's troops. In
the course of this reign the north-west tower was battered down, and in
1648 Cromwell ordered the destruction of the cathedral cloisters, the
Bishop's Palace, the Deanery, and the Canons' houses. The Bishop's
Palace was repaired in 1725, and contains a chapel built in the
thirteenth century. A general and great restoration of the Cathedral was
commenced in 1830, but in spite of every precaution the tower and spire
fell down in 1861. Under the guidance of Sir Gilbert Scott the necessary
repairs were undertaken. The cloisters were restored about the year
1890.
Besides his grand contribution to the church's architecture, Storey's
memory is perpetuated by the very fine octagonal cross in the Decorated
English style. It stands fifty feet high, in the centre of the town,
from which the four principal streets run out at right angles towards
the country. These streets, in olden days, led to four gates in the
embattled walls which surrounded the city. The last of these gates was
taken down in 1773. Besides the cross, Storey founded in 1497 the
Grammar School, where Archbishop Juxon, the learned Seldon, the poet
Collins, and Dr. Hurdis, Professor of Poetry at the University of
Oxford, received their elementary education.
Amongst other schools founded was one by Oliver Whitby, in 1702, to
afford free nautical education to twelve boys; namely, four from
Chichester, and four from each of the villages of West Wettering and
Harting. Though Chichester is connected by a short canal with the sea,
and a certain amount of shipping is done, it can hardly be considered as
an important port. It lies fourteen miles north-east of England's
greatest naval port, Portsmouth. Curiously enough, Chichester is only
five miles south of Goodwood, the famous city for horse-races.
The municipal and parliamentary borough of Chichester, incorporated as
city in the year 1213, is almost surrounded by a small stream called the
Lavant, and is pleasantly situated at the end of a small spur of the
South Down Hills. It is considered as one of the principal cattle
markets in the South of England. Accommodation for several thousands of
cattle was arranged in 1871 by the Corporation.
There are also the Guildhall, which was formerly the chapel of a convent
of Grey Friars; the corn-exchange, the market-house, museum, and
infirmary.
Bradwardine and Juxon, both archbishops of Canterbury; Lawrence
Somercote, a great canonist and writer; the poets Collins and Hayley,
whose memory has been perpetuated by a tablet designed by Flaxman in the
Cathedral, were all born in this city. The Diocese of Chichester covers
nearly the whole extent of Sussex.
In conclusion we would draw the attention to the quaint design on the
Bishop's armorial shield. It depicts the curious device of a mitred
prelate holding a sword in his mouth. He is seated, presumably, on a
throne, which much resembles a square block of marble, looked at
perspectively. Perhaps it is meant for the Holy Stone. Both the Bishop's
arms are outstretched. In his left hand an open book is held, whilst
his right is palm upwards. Why the Bishop holds the sword in his mouth,
when his right hand is free, it is hard to say. Possibly the arms were
first drawn up for a warlike bishop, or it may mean that the sword is
the sword of Justice. In all probability the correct meaning is conveyed
by the twelfth verse in Hebrews iv., wherein it sets forth that the
sword in the Bishop's mouth is symbolical of "The Word of the Lord,"
which is "sharper than any two-edged sword," and the Book of the Law is
in his left hand, whilst the right hand is extended in blessing or in
supplicating prayer.
Chester
Cestre.
("Doomsday Book.")
This famous place occupies a singular position. It is a city and county
of itself, a municipal county since 1888, and a parliamentary borough,
besides being an episcopal city, a seaport, and county town of Cheshire.
Chester is also the capital of the county of Cheshire. It is situated on
a rocky elevation, on the north bank of the River Dee, by which the city
is partly encircled. Just seventeen miles north of it lies the great
manufacturing and seaport town of Liverpool. At one time Chester was a
palatine city, enjoying all the privileges peculiar to that dignity.
This practically conferred independent authority on a city far situated
from the Metropolis. The head of the city was a little king, and enjoyed
discretionary power. In a brief sketch of this, in the account of
Durham, is clearly shown the mutual advantages accruing, especially in
cases of emergency, such as incursions of the enemy, to both the city
thus honoured and the Metropolis London.
The geographical position of Chester in the extreme west of England, and
its proximity to the restless Welsh, demanded some such power to cope,
at a moment's notice, with any unexpected event from that quarter. This
nearness to Wales contributed in a great measure to the importance of
this city, as will be presently shown.
The earliest authentic history of Chester ascribes its origin to the
British tribe called the Cornavii. At the time of the Roman invasion
they inhabited that part of England which now is known as the counties
of Chester, Salop, Stafford, Warwick, and Worcester.
[Illustration: CHESTER
EASTGATE STREET]
The city they called Cœr Leon Vawr--City of Leon the Great. This name
is supposed to have been given out of compliment to Leon, son of Brut
Darien, the eighth king of Britain. By some historians this origin is
contested. They say that this Welsh name of Cœr Leon Vawr indicated
the "city or camp of the Great Legion." They also supply "Cœr Leon,"
or "Dwfyr Dwy," and render their meaning into "the city of the Legion on
the Dee," from its connection with that people. The city was also called
Deunana and Deva, after the same river. However, it is conclusively
proved that here the Twentieth Roman Legion established a station
after the defeat of Caractacus, who, after having made a mighty effort
to withstand this second invasion of England by the Romans, was taken
prisoner. He and his wife and family were taken to Rome, and, according
to custom, were paraded through the streets for the benefit of the
public, but afterwards honourably treated. This second occupation of
England lasted from 43 A.D. till the Romans finally departed in 446 A.
D. The first was a short stay by Julius Cæsar in B.C., some
ninety-seven years previous. In 46 A.D., within three years of the
landing of the Romans, Chester was established as a Roman camp, during
the reign of Claudius, the Roman Emperor.
From the disposition of the four principal streets,--Northgate Street,
Eastgate Street, Bridge Street, and Westgate Street, together with the
walls surrounding the city, and the selection of a rocky site on the
bank of a fair-sized river, Chester gives a good illustration of the
principles upon which the Romans went to work. From a determined centre
these roads run out to their respective gates in the boundary walls, in
the direction of the four cardinal points. The walls of this city are
the only ones in England that are perfect in their entire circuit of two
miles, though the gateways have all been rebuilt within the last
hundred years. On the departure of the Roman soldiery, England reverted
to the Britons, who appeared to have been helpless, so long had they
relied upon their late conquerors for protection. From them Chester was
taken by Ethelfrith, King of Northumbria, who defeated them under the
King of Powysland in 607. The Britons, however, regained possession and
maintained it till 828, when Egbert, who was then the sole monarch of
England, annexed it to his possessions. The Saxons, during their
occupation of the city, named it Legancæster and Legecester.
The Danes, in the ninth century, caused severe damages. On their retreat
Ethelfreda, Countess of Mercia, repaired the walls. On her death the
Britons once more became the city's masters, but were driven out again
by Edward the Elder. Athelstan, it is said, revived its mint. About the
year 972 Edgar assembled a naval force on the river Dee. To demonstrate
his supremacy he caused himself to be rowed by eight tributary kings
from his palace on the south bank of the river to the Convent Church of
St. John's. To increase the desired effect, we are told that he took the
helm,--the symbol of government.
[Illustration: CHESTER
THE ROWS]
On the division of England, in 1016, between Canute and Edmund
Ironside, Canute gained possession of Mercia, in which were included
Chester and Northumbria. Chester remained as a city of Mercia, governed
by its earl, till the Norman Conquest. William then bestowed it with the
earldom on his nephew Hugh Lupus. He was, in view of the proximity of
Wales, invested with sovereign or palatine authority over the tract of
country now represented by the county of Cheshire and the coast-line of
Flintshire as far as Rhuddlan. Chester was made the seat of his
government.
At that time it is described in "Doomsday Book" as Cestre, and as
possessing four hundred and thirty-one houses within its walls. For over
two centuries after the Conquest this city formed an important military
station for the defence of the English border against the Welsh. The
Norman Earl Ranulph I. granted the first charter, though its purport
proves that Chester already enjoyed certain municipal rights. On account
of its garrison it was frequently visited by reigning monarchs.
Chester was captured by the Earl of Derby, who held it for the Crown
during the war between Henry III. and the barons. The contest was ended
with the defeat of the barons at the battle of Evesham, close to
Worcester. Here, in 1300, it was that the Welsh chieftains paid homage
to the first English Prince of Wales, the infant son of Edward I.
Richard II., by Act of Parliament, erected the earldom of Chester into a
principality to be held only by the eldest son of the King. This was
rescinded in the next reign. In fact, Richard II. was made captive by
Henry of Lancaster, and was imprisoned in a tower over the gateway of
the Castle. The city suffered greatly during the Wars of the Roses. It
was visited by Queen Margaret of Anjou, the wife of Henry VI. This queen
played a prominent part with regard to the claim to the English throne.
She was daughter to Réné, who was a relation of the King of France. He
was titular king of Sicily, but without territories. Though Margaret
brought to Henry a rich dower, he was persuaded to consent to the
deduction of a large portion of Maine and Anjou to her father Réné.
During the Duke of Gloucester's life, who had strongly opposed the royal
marriage, Margaret and her coadjutor, the Duke of Suffolk, had not dared
to carry into effect the agreement they had extracted from Henry. The
Duke of York, who was regent in France, through his integrity, was also
a serious obstacle. She and Suffolk had him recalled, and the regency
given to Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, nephew to Cardinal Beaufort. York
felt injured, and took revenge by asserting his claim to the Crown.
By his father he was descended from Edward III.'s fourth son. From his
mother, the last of the Mortimers, he inherited that family's claim from
Lionel, the second son of the same king. On the other hand, John of
Gaunt, from whom Henry VI. was descended, was Edward's third son. Thus
York, through his mother, had a prior claim. These rival claims caused
confusion and tumult throughout England. In the meantime the English
possessions in France were lost one after the other, till in 1451 only
Calais remained. The misgovernment of the regency in France under
Somerset contrasted most unfavourably with that of York.
In these troublous times England looked towards York as the only one to
be trusted, who then became Protector during the King's mental weakness.
He imprisoned the Duke of Somerset. The latter as soon as he was free
assembled an army, and was killed at the battle of St. Albans, the first
War of the Roses. His followers, the Lancastrians, were defeated by the
Duke of York, and the King made prisoner. Eventually York declared
himself. By Act of Parliament he and his heirs were constituted
successors to the throne of England after the death of Henry VI.
Margaret, however, defeated the Yorkists in battle, in which York was
slain. He left behind him three sons,--Edward, George, and Richard,--the
first of whom later on deposed Henry VI. and became Edward IV. We have
ventured to give this brief sketch of the origin of these rival claims,
in that most of the cathedral cities were affected by the fortunes or
misfortunes of their favoured party.
Chester, in the years 1507, 1517, and 1550, suffered from a terrible
visitation of the sweating sickness. From 1602 to 1605 the plague made
it necessary to suspend all the city fairs, and to hold the assizes at
Nantwich. This epidemic occurred again with great loss of life to the
inhabitants, between 1647-48. During the Civil War this city of Chester
endured great sacrifices for its loyalty to Charles I.
The King came there in 1642, when the citizens gave him great pecuniary
assistance. Not till after a memorable siege, lasting from 1643 to 1646,
did the citizens agree to surrender. The garrison were allowed to march
out with all the honours of war, the safety of the persons and property
of the citizens with liberty of trade were secured, and the sanctity of
the sacred buildings and their title-deeds preserved.
[Illustration: CHESTER
ST. WERBURGH STREET]
Sir Charles Booth, in 1659, with the aid of the citizens, overcame the
garrison of Charles II., then an exile, but was afterwards defeated by
Lambert, Cromwell's general.
The presence of the Duke of Monmouth, in 1683, stirred the populace to a
tumult. Amongst other excesses the mob spent its fury in forcing the
cathedral doors, breaking the painted glass, destroying the font, and
other regrettable damage to this building. In 1688 the city was taken by
the Roman Catholic lords, Molyneux and Ashton, for James II., who, after
all, rendered further efforts useless by his abdication. Under William
III. Chester was included in the six cities for the residence of an
assay master, and was permitted to issue silver coinage. The last
important military event that took place in this city was in the
Rebellion of 1745, when it was fortified against the Pretender.
In architecture the great characteristic is the quaint way the houses
have been built. The streets have been cut out of the rock below the
general surface of the land. The houses appear to have been built into
the rock, or rather to have been piled up against it. The shops are
level with the streets, and over them runs a balustraded gallery. Steps
at certain intervals lead the way down into the streets. These
galleries are called by the inhabitants "The Rows." These Rows are
houses with shops. Overhanging the shops, like the eaves of a house, are
the upper stories, to which additional flights of steps give access.
Two explanations are given for this unusual construction of houses: one,
that the Rows, or promenades, are the remnants of the ancient vestibules
of the Roman houses; the other that they were probably originated to
afford ready defence against the sudden raids of the Welsh. The latter
appears the more likely. The Rows, from their position to the streets,
would afford the besieged greater facilities of shelter and attack.
In Bridge Street and Eastgate Street the Rows are made pleasant
promenades. Though many of the houses have been rebuilt, they still
retain the old character. In addition to these interesting buildings
there was the castle built by the Conqueror, of which there remains only
a large square tower, called "Julius Agricola's Tower." The front has
been entirely renewed. This tower served probably as a place of
confinement of the Earl of Derby. Here were imprisoned Richard II. and
Margaret, Countess of Richmond. Just shortly before the Revolution James
II. heard Mass in the second chamber.
Though the Cathedral has been left to the last, its history is no less
interesting than the other features of Chester. The Cathedral was
originally the church attached to the convent of St. Werburgh, under
which name its ecclesiastical site is mentioned in "Doomsday Book." It
was first dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, but Ethelfrida afterwards
transferred their patronage to that of the Saxon saint, Walmgha, the
daughter of Wulphen, King of Mercia. Besides this princess the great
benefactors were Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and Hugh Lupus, who
substituted Benedictine monks for secular canons.
On the dissolution of the abbey, in lieu of the abbot and monks, a dean,
prebendaries, and minor canons were appointed, the last abbot being made
dean. Here it is as well to remember that a church was called an abbey,
whatever its former denomination might have been, if an abbot became its
head. In much the same way the name "minster" is derived from a
monastery, and cathedral is due to the fact that the bishop had his
cathedra, or throne, placed in the sacred building for his own use. At
the dissolution the Cathedral of Chester was dedicated to "Christ and
the Blessed Virgin." Though there are some interesting remains of the
abbey, the present building was built in the reigns of Henry VII. and
Henry VIII. The diocese of Chester dates at the period of the kingdom of
Mercia. It was afterwards incorporated with that of Lichfield, but in
1075, Peter, Bishop of Lichfield restored the See to Chester. His
successor, however, removed it for the second time to Lichfield. Henry
VIII., in 1541, created six new sees, in which he included Chester. With
a portion of the possessions of the Abbey of St. Werburgh, which was
dissolved, he endowed the new see. The first bishop after the
dissolution was John Bird. In 1752 the palace of the bishop was rebuilt
by Bishop Keene.
The cathedral site is on the eastern side of Northgate Street. Excepting
the western end, it presents the appearance of a heavy, irregular pile,
when viewed externally. The interior is very impressive, and contains
portions in the Norman, and in the Early and Decorated styles of English
architecture. It possesses a clerestory in the Later style. Some chapels
in the Early English style, are to the east of the north transept. The
south transept, separated from the Cathedral by a wooden screen, forms
the parish church of St. Oswald. The style of the Bishop's throne,
sometimes known as St. Werburgh's Shrine, belongs to the Early period of
the fourteenth century. In the eastern walk of the cloister stands
the Chapter House, of Early English style, built by Earl Randulph the
First. It served as the burial-place of the earls of the original Norman
line, except Richard, who perished by shipwreck.
[Illustration: CHESTER
BISHOP LLOYD'S PALACE AND WATERGATE STREET]
The sacred edifice has from time to time undergone extensive
reparations.
As a port Chester was at one time most important, but through the
silting up of the Channel in the fifteenth century, it lost a
considerable amount of its shipping trade. In spite of the Channel being
deepened in 1824, its shipping prosperity cannot be said to have
advanced hand in hand with the progress of the city, though it possibly
may be greater than it was in the fifteenth century.
The great Chester Canal comes from Nantwich, passes through Chester, and
merges into the Ellesmere Canal, which winds up northwards to the river
Mersey. Thus the city is connected with Liverpool.
As the crow flies, the country traversed from London to Chester is most
interesting. The track passes through the counties of Middlesex,
Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, with its famous towns,
Stratford-on-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare, and Coventry, through
Staffordshire, famous for its beautiful old china and its Cathedral at
Lichfield, and finally into Cheshire, the county containing Chester and
Northwich.
Among the many eminent men born at Chester was Randolph Caldecott, in
1846. He is handed down to posterity as the famous illustrator of the
works of Washington Irving. But the achievement that gained him the
greatest _acclame_ was a series of coloured books for children. They
began in 1878 with "John Gilpin" and "The House that Jack Built," and
ended the year before his death, in 1886, with the "Elegy on Madame
Blaize" and "The Great Panjandrum Himself." In the crypt of St. Paul's,
London, his memory is perpetuated through the great artistic expression
of a brother artist, Alfred Gilbert, R. A.
Thus, in this brief sketch, an attempt has been made to give a
categorical history of one of England's most ancient cities from its
earliest occupation by the British Cornavii, and its subsequent events
down to the royal visit in 1869 by the then Prince of Wales, now our
King Edward VII., on which occasion he opened the new townhall. It would
require far greater space to record every feature of interest in
connection with Chester than can be allotted within the present
limitations. To the antiquarian Chester furnishes a most interesting and
absorbing study, and will in all likelihood continue to do so for many
years to come yet.
To those interested in horse-racing the fine race-course attracts
annually a great concourse to Chester.
Rochester
Roucestre.
("Doomsday Book.")
In the illustration is seen to great advantage the temporal and
spiritual power of Rochester: the State, as represented by the Norman
keep; the Church, as symbolised by the cathedral. Ever since
Christianity came to England, these two mighty levers of power have
marched, if not always hand in hand, more or less in accord. Though the
two have frequently struggled for supremacy, yet their feuds have done
more towards the enlightenment of the people than any harmonious concert
could have effected. In marked contrast to mediæval times the State and
Church of the present day formulate and carry out the will of the
people. They are the channels of purpose as determined by the nation.
Great as the power of the Church still is, it has nevertheless lost that
tremendous authority it once wielded under the popes.
Henry II. set up a strenuous opposition, whilst Henry VIII. dealt it a
crushing blow. The dissolution of the monasteries was a terrible check
to Roman Catholicism in England, as well as Luther's reforms in Germany.
Yet in spite of all this the Church of Rome has more adherents in Europe
than any other religion. The menace to the Church of England lies in the
lack of absolute obedience to the spiritual head, and the many different
sects. The Church of Rome exacts absolute obedience and faith, and by
these means is steadily increasing its influence. The Roman Catholic
Cathedral recently erected in London is a convincing proof of the
untiring energy of the followers of that wonderful religion. It is also
curious to notice that the Latin races are the staunchest supporters of
the Papacy.
As its name implies, Rochester was a Roman camp. This place formed one
of the stipendiary towns of this Latin race, and was called
"Durobrivae." Not much information has been preserved concerning their
occupation of the town. That it was important, and served as a military
basis, is clearly demonstrated by the great Roman Watling Street, which
passes through the city, and which bears evidence to their great
engineering skill.
The great Roman streets were at that time the chief and only means of
quick communication from one camp to another. To read the account of the
wonderful system of roads organised by Darius the Persian is as
interesting to follow as any modern fiction. He realised that quick
communication with the outlying quarters of his possessions meant
increased power and security. Along the roads, at proper distances, were
blockhouses guarded by soldiers. The messenger on horseback drew rein at
each of these wayside places to take refreshment and get a remount, or
to hand over the dispatches to a fresh messenger.
In much the same way the Romans constructed their roads for their
postmen, and, no doubt, to serve as their first line of defence if a
retreat should be necessary. We can almost conjure up the sight of a
mounted bearer of important dispatches racing along. Suddenly the horse,
almost thrown on to his haunches, is pulled up in front of one of these
guardhouses dotted at regular intervals along the great road. A hasty
meal is snatched, a fresh horse mounted, and off again, with a clatter
and a whirlpool of dust, hurries the messenger, as if a kingdom depended
upon his quick dispatch. We cannot attach too much importance to this
method of communication, if we remember that it is only within the last
two centuries or so that the semaphore came into existence. When first
introduced, this medium of conveying rapidly a message by the waving of
a wooden arm up and down on a post, which was generally planted on a
commanding site, was considered a wonderful invention. Even at sea it
was left to Admiral Rodney to construct an efficient code of signals. Of
course the most primitive method was the lighting of beacons in times of
great danger.
Besides Watling Street, the city of Rochester is known to have been
defended by walls built in the direction of the cardinal points,
according to the Roman custom. They extended for half a mile from east
to west, and close upon a quarter of a mile from north to south. After
the Romans had departed, this place came into the possession of the
Saxons. They renamed it "Hrove Ceaster," which in process of time became
contracted to Rochester.
During the early Saxon period Ethelbert, King of Kent, through the
influence of his queen and the preaching of St. Augustine, who had just
arrived, became a convert to Christianity. By this king, as we have
seen, Canterbury Cathedral was richly endowed. To help carry out the
papal instructions given to Augustine, Ethelbert in 600 founded a
church in Rochester. By erecting this into a see, he, at the same time,
laid the foundation of the future prosperity of the city. The building
was dedicated to St. Andrew. A monastery for secular priests was also
established, over whom was appointed for their bishop, Justus, who had
accompanied St. Augustine and his forty monks into Britain.
This cathedral suffered at many times, in common with the city, from
several incursions of the Danes. The city, more especially in 676, was
sacked and almost destroyed by Etheldred, the King of Mercia, whilst in
839 the Danes landed at Romney, defeated the troops sent to oppose them,
and massacred most of the inhabitants. Again, in 885, they sailed up the
Medway under the leadership of Hasting, and laid siege to Rochester.
Fortunately for the city it was rescued by the timely assistance of
Alfred. Three mints established by Athelstan in 930, two for himself and
one for the bishop, and the fact of the city being then recognised as
one of the chief ports of England, show with what rapidity it had
regained prosperity. This peaceful state was rudely awakened, however,
in 999. The Danes reappeared in the Medway, before whom the
terror-stricken inhabitants fled and abandoned the city to their
fury. At the Conquest, Rochester was given by William to his
half-brother, Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, who was also created Earl of Kent.
In the reign of William Rufus he was implicated in a conspiracy to
dethrone Rufus in favour of Robert Duke of Normandy. Thereby his
possessions reverted to the Crown. In this Rochester suffered. In 1130
Henry I. attended at the consecration of the church of St. Andrew by
Lanfranc. During the ceremony a fire broke out. The city was almost
reduced to ashes.
[Illustration: ROCHESTER
CATHEDRAL AND CASTLE]
It was again visited, seven years later, by fire, from which it had
hardly recovered when a third conflagration occurred and left traces of
devastation for ages. In 1141, Robert Earl of Gloucester was placed in
the Castle. He was the chief general and counsellor of Matilda, and had
been captured prisoner at Winchester after having effected the Queen's
escape. He was eventually exchanged for King Stephen. In 1215 the barons
seized and held the Castle against King John, who gained it. Henry III.
repaired the Castle.
The Castle was again, in 1254, successfully defended for the King by
Edward Earl Warren, against Simon de Montford and the barons. In the
reign of Richard II. the insurrectionists under Wat Tyler released one
of their comrades imprisoned in the Castle.
Rochester has been at different times visited by reigning princes. Henry
VIII., with Emperor Charles V., came there in 1521, whilst in 1573 Queen
Elizabeth honoured it with her presence. Charles II., on his
restoration, passed through the city _en route_ from the Continent to
London. In fact Rochester, being also a port, was a convenient place for
James II. to embark secretly on board of a trading-vessel lying in the
Medway, by which he was conveyed to France.
This Norman castle, which has played such an important part in the
history of the city, deserves some notice. Its extensive remains,
situated on a commanding site, overlook the right bank of the river. The
Castle is supposed to have been built by Gundulph, when Bishop of
Rochester, in the latter part of the eleventh century. It preceded by a
few years the building of the Cathedral by the same prelate. The
architecture of this castle is a striking example of the simplicity of
plans generally employed by the Normans. By preference the castle was a
rectangular keep in form. The sides varied from twenty-five to a hundred
feet in length, and equally so in height. At the corners the walls
advanced so as to form square towers, the faces of which were usually
relieved by flat pilaster-like buttresses. The walls at the base measure
sometimes as much as thirty feet in thickness, and diminish to as much
as ten feet at the summit.
The internal arrangements consisted of a store-room, from which a narrow
staircase, made into the thickness of the walls, gave access to the
rooms of the garrison and those of the owners above, wood being employed
for the floor and roof. A well was always dug. The entire building was
surrounded by a deep moat filled, if possible, with water. The entrance
was small, and was defended by a draw-bridge and portcullis. It was on
the thickness of their walls and the moat that the Normans chiefly
relied for their impregnability. They seldom departed from this simple
form of architecture. Their defence was rarely constructed on a series
of fortifications. Local advantages and a lofty site were invariably the
Norman idea of a safe stronghold.
Great interest is attached to the Cathedral of Rochester. Its see is the
smallest in the kingdom and the most ancient after Canterbury. The two
were established, as we have seen, within a few years of each other,
under the auspices of St. Augustine and King Ethelbert of Kent.
The present cathedral dates from the commencement of the twelfth
century, when it was built by Gundulph. If what we are told about this
structure be correct, its importance cannot be too greatly enhanced, for
it is claimed that its architecture, though much altered and repaired
since, is in the main a copy of Canterbury Cathedral at that time. Thus,
in describing the plan of the one in Rochester, a general idea can be
gained about the other at Canterbury.
Gundulph's contribution is a spacious and venerable building in the form
of a cross, with a central tower surmounted by a spire. The Norman style
forms the basis of the architecture, to which the Later English style
was added chiefly in the many windows of the nave and other parts of the
church. The west front was entirely restored between 1888 and 1889, the
Norman style being strictly adhered to. The doorway is a most decorative
bit of Norman workmanship. Let into the clustered columns on either side
there is, on the right, an effigy of Queen Maud, and on the left another
of Henry I. The door is covered with a rich mass of geometrical design
in metal.
The crypt, invariably a great feature in a cathedral, is partly the work
of Gundulph; that is, the western portion is. The eastern part consists
of cylindrical and octagonal shafts with a light vaulting springing
from them, and belongs to the same period as the superstructure of the
thirteenth century.
There are several chapels, a finely groined roof, and ancient tombs,
which all lend interest to this fine cathedral.
The red-veined marble statue of Walter de Merton cannot fail to attract
attention. He was the founder of the great scholastic college at Oxford
called Merton College. Though small in size, the _entrée_ to it demands
high classical attainments.
With regard to commerce, Rochester has a favourable position on the
river Medway, in the creeks and branches of which are the oyster
fisheries. The Corporation, assisted by a jury of free dredgers, hold a
Court of Admiralty, in which they make regulations for the opening,
stocking, and closing of the oyster beds.
In conclusion, we cannot help saying that Kent should be a proud county,
possessing, as it does, the two most ancient sees in the kingdom, the
dioceses of which are separated only by the Medway.
Ripon
("Doomsday Book.")
In the West Riding of the county of York, twenty-two miles north-west of
the city of York and eleven miles north of Harrogate, the ancient city
of Ripon is situated at the juncture of the Ure, Laver, and Skell. The
narrow and irregular streets and well-built houses, some of which still
retain the quaint, picturesque gables so reminiscent of earlier times,
envelop the city with that delightful, indefinable air of mediævalism--a
something which, tempered with old associations and traditions, no
modern city with all its improvements can supply. To saunter through the
ancient, ill-lighted streets of an old town at night, when life is
dormant and commercialism quiescent, is the time to view unexpected
beauties of architecture unfold themselves, and to become oneself imbued
with a spirit of romanticism and a feeling of rest. If a figure in
mediæval costume and rapier were to come round a corner suddenly, or
emerge from some dark nook, it would scarcely startle the senses, so
appropriate would it seem with the surroundings, enshrouded in
mysterious shadows.
A new city can be admired, but can never be revered till it has survived
the many storms of generations, and has emerged with a halo of
traditions respected and treasured.
Ripon, in common with other cathedral cities, possesses this charm, and
after many vicissitudes presents us with a magnificent cathedral. To
revert to the commencement of the city's history, it is supposed to have
derived its name from the Latin "Ripa," owing to its situation upon the
bank of the river Ure. The earliest authentic record gives it under the
name of Inhrypun, in connection with the establishment of a monastery in
660 by Eata, who was then Abbot of Melrose. It was subsequently given by
Alfred, King of Northumbria, to Wilfrid, who had been raised to the
archbishopric of York. He was afterwards canonised as a saint. Under
Wilfrid's administration and influence the town very much increased its
wealth and importance. Through the division of the bishopric in the year
678 Ripon became a see.
A great calamity overtook the city in the ninth century. The Danes burnt
and plundered it, causing such devastation that it was almost wiped
out. From its ruins, however, it recovered so quickly as to be
incorporated as a royal borough by Alfred the Great. This happened by
the year 886. In the suppression of the insurrections of the
Northumbrian Danes it suffered severely through the terrible laying
waste of the land which Edred found necessary to subdue them.
Little time was left for the city to regain its former prosperity, when
the surrounding country was again laid waste, in 1069, by William the
Conqueror after defeating the Northumbrian rebels. This monarch's
vengeance so completely demolished the town that it still remained in
ruins and the land uncultivated at the time of the Norman survey. The
monastery, destroyed by Edred, was rebuilt by Oswald and his successors,
who were archbishops of York. It was endowed and made collegiate by
Archbishop Aldred somewhere about the time of the Conquest. The city was
now enjoying comparative peace, and was regaining lost prestige when it
again became a mere wreck. Under Robert Bruce, in the reign of Edward
II., the Scots compelled the inhabitants to surrender everything of
value they had, and burnt the town. This period of devastation lasted
from 1319 till 1323.
[Illustration: RIPON
THE CATHEDRAL]
By the exertions of the Archbishop of York, ably assisted with
donations from the local gentry, the city rapidly recovered by the time
a terrible plague compelled Henry IV. to leave London and take up his
residence here. The court of necessity followed him.
This royal sojourn did the city immense good, and again it derived
benefit some two centuries after by the presence of the Lord President
of York in 1617. He had been obliged by a similar plague to remove his
court hither.
Ten years later another royal visitor came, namely, James I., who rested
a night here on his route from Scotland to London. On this memorable
occasion he was presented with a pair of Ripon spurs. From early times
till the sixteenth century Ripon was a recognised centre for the
manufacture of woollen caps. On the decline of this industry the city
acquired such a fame for the manufacture of spurs that it became quite a
current phrase to say "as true steel as Ripon rowels." Ben Jonson and
Davenant make references in their verses to Ripon spurs. This industry,
together with those of manufacturing buttons and various kinds of
hardware, flourished till quite recently, when mechanical industries
supplanted them.
In 1633 Charles I. also paid the city a visit. During the Civil War the
parliamentary troops, under Sir Thomas Mauleverer, took possession of
Ripon. After mutilating many of the monuments and ornaments of the
church, they were eventually driven out of the town in 1643 by the
Royalists, under Sir John Mallory of Studley, a township comprised under
Ripon. In recounting the political fortunes of the city little has been
said about its chief attraction, the Cathedral, not because it has
played no important factor in the welfare of the city, but because it
has been considered better to give, apart, the chief characteristics of
its architecture.
We have seen how a monastery was established in 660, by Eata, which
later came under the patronage of St. Wilfrid. From the ruins of St.
Wilfrid's Abbey the present cathedral was founded about 680 A.D., in
the reign of Egfrid. With the exception of St. Wilfrid's crypt, called
St. Wilfrid's Needle, which tradition says was used for the trial of
female chastity, nothing of the original Saxon fabric remains. From the
similarity of this crypt, and of another at Hexham, both erected by St.
Wilfrid, in formation and arrangement to the catacomb chapels at Rome,
it is inferred that this churchman had made himself familiar with their
peculiarities during his residence in that Latin city. This is
interesting to note.
The Cathedral, as it now stands, embraces various styles of
architecture, and is dedicated to St. Peter and St. Wilfrid. It is a
large cruciform church, with a square central tower and two western
towers. They at one time carried spires, each not less than one hundred
and twenty feet in height; but the central spire having been blown down
in 1660, caused considerable damage to the roof, and it was thought
advisable to pull down the others. Their removal accounts for the
stunted appearance of these square towers. The construction of the
present church was commenced by Archbishop Roger, dating from 1154 to
1181. To this period belong the transepts and portions of the choir. The
western front and towers were carried out in the Early English style,
most probably by Archbishop Gray, between 1215 and 1255, and near the
close of the century the eastern portion of the choir was rebuilt in the
Decorated style. The nave and part of the central tower were also
rebuilt in the Perpendicular style at the close of the fifteenth
century. The fabric was entirely renovated under the guidance of Sir
Gilbert Scott, from 1862 to 1876. The episcopal palace is a modern
building in the Tudor style, and is about one mile from the town.
The present bishopric dates only from the year 1836. There are several
charitable institutions: namely, the Hospital of St. John the Baptist,
founded by an archbishop of York in 1109; the Hospital of St. Mary
Magdalene, for women, by another prelate of York in 1341; and the
Hospital of St. Anne, by some unknown benefactor who lived in the reign
of Edward IV. A clock-tower was presented to the town to commemorate
Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. There is now, in place of the ancient
industries, an extensive trade in varnish, in addition to the
manufactories for saddle-trees and leather, but the most interesting
industry is that of the Ripon lace. It is a torchon lace much
resembling, in uniformity of pattern, the design used in peasant laces
in Sweden, Germany, and Russia.
Ely.
Ely.
("Doomsday Book.")
In the early history of the majority, if not of all of these cathedrals,
it is interesting to note the many points of resemblance. It will be
observed that most of them had their inception in the seventh century. A
most convenient way also of remembering, if actual dates be forgotten,
is that the commencement of the same century heralded the arrival of St.
Augustine and his forty monks at Canterbury, and the re-establishment of
Christianity in England. Whatever previous efforts had been attempted to
christianise the natives (prior to this century) pale into
insignificance after the landing of this great missionary from Rome. The
subsequent important events are invariably five; namely, the
devastations of the Danes in the ninth century, the erections of castles
to overawe the inhabitants with the ecclesiastical foundations, still
extant, after the dreaded millennium had passed, from the Conquest; the
dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII.; the desecration and
mutilation of the churches under Cromwell's Protectorate; and the
inevitable restoration, not always happy, of these grand buildings.
The Venerable Bede, in his "Ecclesiastical History," ingeniously
attributes the derivation of the name to an eel, called "Elge," on the
assumption of the great abundance of this fish in the neighbourhood. At
the same time another rendering, by some one else, supposes that the
Saxon "Helyg," a willow, which flourished extensively, owing to the
marshy nature of the soil round about the city, gave rise to the present
contraction. However it may be, Ely dates from the year 673. The
subsequent history of the Church and state of this famous place
originated in that year from the small foundation of a monastery for
monks and nuns by Ethelreda. This princess was the daughter of the King
of the East Angles, and the wife of Egfred, the King of Northumberland.
She had devoted a great deal of her life to monasticism, and eventually
constituted herself as the first abbess of her religious effort. A
contradictory account gives it that this lady more likely became the
first abbess of a religious house which she had filled with virgins.
Their number is not stated. Nothing more is heard or worth relating
of the welfare of this royal benefice until the ninth century, when, in
the natural order of things, it was destroyed by the Danes. In 879, a
matter of nine years after this devastation, it was partially restored
by those brethren who had fortunately escaped the massacre. Under the
government of provosts they were established and existed as secular
priests for nearly a century. At the end of this period of inactivity it
received much attention from Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester. This
prelate in 970 purchased the whole of the Isle of Ely from Edgar. He
then rebuilt the monastery and endowed it munificently. In it regular
monks were placed under the rule of an abbot, to whom Edgar granted the
secular jurisdiction of two hundreds within and five hundreds without
the Fens. Many other important privileges were bestowed by the same
monarch, recognised by Canute, and greatly increased by Edward the
Confessor in recognition of part of his education here received. These
many marks of royal favour caused it to become the richest in England,
and the city participated in its prosperity.
[Illustration: ELY
FROM THE WEST FRONT]
Soon after the Conquest a determined resistance was made by many of the
nobility against what they considered the tyranny of William. Led by
such leaders as Edwin, Earl of Chester, Egelwyn, Bishop of Durham, and
headed by Hereward, an English nobleman, they contrived to do
considerable damage in the surrounding country. They built a castle of
wood in the Fens, and made a vigorous stand against the Normans, who
besieged the island, constructed roads through the marshes, threw
bridges across the streams, and erected, as usual, a strong castle at
Wiseberum. With the exception of Hereward, the rebellious subjects were
reduced to submission. According to one authority, it is supposed that
William's camp was simply an old Roman camp repaired for the occasion.
We learn that the field, which contained the ancient site, was known as
Belasis in some records of the reign of Henry III. It appears that one
of William's generals was called Belasis, and that he was quartered on
the monastery, which he had taken possession of after the conquest of
the isle. He treated the monks with every mark of courtesy, allowing
them to remain under an abbot of his own choosing. At first he laid them
under certain restrictions, but subsequently restored the privileges
they had previously been accustomed to.
[Illustration: ELY
THE MARKET PLACE]
In 1107 the eleventh and last abbot, Richard, employed all his interest
with Henry I. and gained the royal sanction to the establishment of an
episcopal see at Ely. To this the monarch granted, for a diocese, the
county of Cambridge, which had till then been under the jurisdiction of
the Bishop of Lincoln. The isle was also invested with sovereign powers.
Richard, however, did not live to become the first bishop, an honour
which was conferred in 1109 on his successor, Hervey.
By this arrangement the Abbot was superseded by the Bishop, and an
entire distribution of the property belonging to the abbey was effected
between them. As the abbey became the church of the See, the Abbot was
obliged to alter his dignity to that of a prior. A fair, to continue for
seven days, commencing from June 20, to commemorate the anniversary of
the death of Ethelreda, was instituted by the Bishop. The prelate Nigel,
in the reign of Stephen, built a castle here, of which no remains exist,
and whose site is now conjectural. The year 1216 witnessed dreadful
scenes of spoliation of churches and large sums of money exacted from
the inhabitants under the guise of ransom.
The cause of all this devastation being visited upon Ely was John's idea
of revenging himself upon the barons. At their hands he had, the year
previously, been compelled to undergo the mortification of signing the
Magna Charta at Runnymede, a field between Windsor and Staines. Ever
since that time the irresolute and mean king had been devising schemes
of vengeance against his opponents. Three months spent in the Isle of
Wight had enabled him, through agents and the promise of the estates of
the barons as plunder, to raise a considerable army of the Brabanters.
At their head he suddenly emerged from concealment, and surprised the
barons by appearing before Rochester Castle and defeating them.
In the meantime John was well supported at Ely by his general, William
Bunk, or rather an unexpected incident hurried on its doom. The elements
unkindly betrayed the city into the hands of the Brabanters. At a
critical time, the treacherous swamps--the isle's hitherto great natural
fortifications--became the city's undoing; for a sharp frost set in and
rendered a ready glacial access to the city. The enemy lost no time in
reducing the barons to submission and the wretched inhabitants to great
misery. The barons, thus reduced to dire extremities, invited Louis, the
eldest son of the King of France, to aid them, promising him through his
wife the crown of England.
[Illustration: ELY
INTERIOR OF THE NAVE]
The French landed at Sandwich, retook Rochester Castle, and compelled
John to flee. John, crossing over the Wash, in his march from Lynn in
Norfolk into Lincolnshire, suffered great loss through the return of the
tide swamping the rear of his army, all his money, and stores. He
himself escaped to Swineshead Abbey, in the Lincolnshire Fens, where a
monk is said to have administered poison to him. With great difficulty
and exhaustion the monarch arrived at Newark, where he died in the
October of the year 1216.
From this time onward the city enjoyed comparative peace, and exercised
the privileges granted by Edgar, Edward the Confessor, and William the
Conqueror.
Till the twenty-seventh year of the reign of Henry VIII. the royal
franchise of Ely, in several statutes, was recognised as the county
palatine of Ely. Henry, by Act of Parliament, remodelled the privileges,
and ordered the justices of oyer and terminer, and gaol delivery, and
justices of the peace for the Isle of Ely, to be appointed by letters
patent under the Great Seal. The dissolution of the monasteries also was
the means of converting the conventual church into a cathedral--much
more appropriate to the dignity of the Bishop, whose title had been
granted, as we have seen, by Henry I. in 1107. This ecclesiastical
building, first a conventual and then a cathedral church, was commenced
in 1081, and entirely completed in 1534. The dedication to St. Peter
and St. Ethelreda was changed to "The Holy Trinity."
It is a magnificent cruciform structure, displaying the many changes
that took place in ecclesiastical architecture from the early years of
the Norman Conquest down to the latest period of English style.
The main feature is the extraordinary variety of arches built according
to successive styles. Though this peculiar treatment suggests an
unfinished appearance, it cannot rob the church of its wonderful beauty.
There is a departure from the general plan of other cathedrals. The nave
is continued through an extended range of twelve arches. It belongs to
the Late Norman period, and its completion probably dates from about the
middle of the twelfth century. From 1174 to 1189 the western tower and
the transepts were built by Bishop Ridall. Bishop Eustace, between 1198
and 1215, erected the Galilee or western porch, a noble Early English
structure. Much at the same time a curious coincident is noticeable.
Bishop Pudsey was busy at Durham building the Galilee or Western Chapel,
which is such a noble adjunct to that city's cathedral.
[Illustration: ELY
FROM THE FENS]
Ely's choir was originally Early Norman, and terminated in an apse.
Unfortunately this Norman apse was destroyed. In restoration the
church was extended eastward by six more arches under the guidance of
Bishop Northwold, about the middle of the thirteenth century. His
addition is Early English. The carving is very rich and elaborate.
While Bishop Hotham was engaged upon the building of the Lady Chapel,
the Norman tower erected by Abbot Simeon tumbled down in 1321. Hotham
immediately replaced it by an enlarged octagonal substitution. On it he
placed a lofty lantern of wood, a rich ornament and in good keeping with
the rest of the holy edifice. Though this prelate deserves every
recognition, yet we are much more indebted to Alan of Walsingham, who
designed the Lady Chapel and the octagonal tower and lantern so ably
carried out by Hotham. Alan had also made his influence felt in the
choir-bays of this same cathedral, where he has so cleverly preserved
and combined the old Early English elegance of proportion with richness
of detail. Under the superintendence of Sir G. B. Scott the fabric has
been extensively restored.
Attached to the Cathedral is the church of Holy Trinity; it was formerly
the Lady Chapel of the Cathedral. It was commenced in the reign of
Edward II., and is one of the most perfect buildings of that age.
Another handsome church is that dedicated to St. Mary, and is partly
Norman and partly Early English in character.
At the Grammar School, founded by Henry VIII., Jeremiah Bentham, the
celebrated political writer, received the rudiments of his education.
The Sessions House, the new Corn Exchange, and Mechanics' Institute are
other notable features of Ely.
An historic relic, now preserved at Trinity College, Cambridge, is the
"Ely Book." It cannot be passed over without a word. On a page are
portrayed Ethelwold and King Edgar, but its chief importance is the
record of instructions received by the commissioners to supply details
and valuation of property for the "Doomsday Book." The inquiries and
answers indicate that England had already been divided up into manors,
and furnish besides a variety of most interesting information.
Another incident in the history of Ely, if not of great importance to
the city, is nevertheless an interesting insight of the respective
position of the Church and State soon after the dissolution.
In the good days of Queen Bess, the Bishop of Ely received a royal
rebuke.
In the great struggle between the Protestants, or anti-papal world, and
the Catholic reaction, there was little leisure for the clergy to air
their grievances. They were compelled to submit to the will of the
Queen and her counsellor Cecil, from whom Archbishop Parker of
Canterbury received his cue for the government of the Church. Though he
enjoyed the personal confidence of Elizabeth beyond any other
ecclesiastic of the time, his complaints were unavailing. The supremacy
of the lay power over the ecclesiastical was too thoroughly accomplished
to allow of the Church to exist apart in the early years of Elizabeth's
reign. The Bishop of Ely, for expressing unwillingness to hand over the
gardens of Ely house to Sir Christopher Hatton, received a
characteristic warning, couched in elegant language, for his temerity.
"By God, I will unfrock you!" was the Queen's gracious answer to the
daring prelate, if he did not mend his ways.
Through the cultivation of its fertile soil by market-gardeners, Ely
offers its produce to the London market.
A considerable factory for earthenware and tobacco-pipes, and numerous
mills for the preparation of oil from flax, hemp, and cole-seed, help to
furnish the trade resources of this historical town, which is situated
on the river Ouse, in Cambridgeshire, and just sixteen miles from the
celebrated University of Cambridge.
Gloucester
Glowecestre.
"Doomsday Book."
To the long list of "cesters," the Anglicised form of the Latin "Castra"
(camp), must be added Gloucester, famous in more respects than one; the
city where Henry I. died from a surfeit of lampreys, where Henry II.
held a great council in 1175, where the coronation of Henry III. in its
abbey took place; the city which the same monarch "loved better than
London," the city extolled by Bede as one of the noblest in the land.
Prior to the Roman invasion it is held to have been of considerable
importance, and to have originated from the settlement of a tribe of
Britons, called the Dobuni. This tribe, with that of the Cornavii, also
controlled about the same time the destinies of Worcester, now renowned
for its beautiful china. By the Dobuni the city was called Cœr Glou,
either out of compliment to its founder Glowi, a native, with the
meaning, "the city of Glowi," or because the same British words,
according to another interpretation and its reputation, can be rendered
"the fair city." In the year 47 this stronghold passed into the Roman
possession, under Aulus Plautius, and according to Richard of
Cirencester, a colony was established. This he styles Glebon, whilst the
"Itinerary" of Antonine and other ancient records enter it as Glevum
Colonia.
An interesting account upon the Roman classification of towns in England
discloses a very important particular. It adds considerable weight to
the description of the city by the authors just quoted. Their statements
that Gloucester was classified as a colony called Glevum seemed to be
borne out by a tombstone found at Rome. It purports to be in memory of a
citizen of Glevum. This has given rise to the supposition that "Glevum"
was the honourable title bestowed upon an English town of importance
made a "colony" by Nerva. This period would be between 96 and 98 A.D.
This date in no way combats the original one of 47 A.D. It is only
intended to show that Gloucester at the later period had become a colony
with a certain amount of self-government, forming a unit of the Great
Roman Empire.
The district to the north-east of the present city, called King's
Holme, is supposed to have been the actual site of the Roman camp. Close
to it was also the palace belonging to the Anglo-Saxon kings of Mercia,
which was called Regia Domus. Round about this spot quite a valuable
collection of Roman remains has been made, which, besides establishing
the fact of their occupation, have helped archæologists to form a
correct estimation of the habits and customs of the Latin invaders. When
the pressing needs of Rome required the return of all her legions,
Gloucester came to be governed by Eldol, who was a British chief. He
survived the terrible massacre of the Britons by the Saxons at
Stonehenge, and in 489 revenged their memory by killing Hengist, the
Saxon chief, at the battle of Mæshill in Yorkshire.
[Illustration: GLOUCESTER
INTERIOR OF THE NAVE]
From the Britons the city in 577 was captured by the Saxons. They called
it Gleauanceaster, which exists to this day under the contracted form of
Gloucester. At that time it was included in the kingdom of Wessex, and
was afterwards annexed to that of Mercia. In the meanwhile tradition
says that a bishop's see was founded at Gloucester in the second
century. Lucius, the first Christian king of Britain, is held to be the
founder, and is also supposed to have been buried in the Church of St.
Mary de Lode of this city. With all respect to tradition, this can
only be accepted with reservation. If true, the present church of St.
Mary de Lode deserves far greater recognition than it receives. Though
evidently an old foundation much restored, it can hardly lay claim to
such antiquity. In all probability a temple to some Roman deity existed,
which, by conflicting accounts of historians, gave rise to the
supposition of an early established see. Though there is proof that
Christianity existed during the Roman occupation of England, it seems
more likely that, after their general exodus from the island in 418, a
diocese, if any, was soon after established at Gloucester, over which
Eldad presided in 490.
This first bishopric, on the subversion of the country by the
Anglo-Saxons, must have become extinct; for the next we hear of it is
when, as part of the kingdom of Mercia, the entire county of Gloucester
is included in the diocese of Lichfield at the time of the introduction
of Christianity. However, the first authentic evidence of monasticism
appears in the year 679, when the holy brethren founded their
establishment. Under the auspices of Wulfhere, then King of Mercia, this
priory was dedicated to St. Oswald, and in the same year was annexed to
the newly established see of Worcester. It afterwards became the abbey.
The city's importance in the same year was considerably increased by the
royal patron. The King's brother and successor, Ethelred, nevertheless,
completed the ecclesiastical building, which some contend was a nunnery.
This the Danes destroyed. It was then refounded for the reception of
secular priests in 821, by Bernulf, King of Mercia.
As early as 964, in a charter to the monks of Worcester dated at
Gloucester, Edgar styles this a "royal city." Several times it suffered
from the incursions of the Danes in the eighth century, and more
especially so in the tenth, when it was taken and nearly destroyed by
fire in the reign of Ethelred II. This monarch's reign seems to have
been a disastrous one for the kingdom. In the first place, through the
ambitious schemes of his mother Elfrida, who caused his stepbrother
Edward to be murdered, he wrongfully occupied the throne in 979. On
account of his tragic death Edward came to be styled "the Martyr." A
reign thus inauspiciously commenced proved to be a constant struggle
against the Danes. The King acquired the name of Ethelred the Unready;
for when the Danes attacked the kingdom, instead of being prepared to
repel them, he endeavoured to counteract the evil with large sums of
money. As this only served as a further incentive to fresh invasions,
Ethelred eventually compounded with them in 994. On condition that these
plundering expeditions should cease, he offered them tribute. This is
the first mention we get of the "danegelt," as it was called. With the
exception of the reign of Edward the Confessor, it continued to be
levied almost without interruption till the time of Henry II. The only
benefit that Ethelred's reign conferred upon his subjects was the act of
atonement made by Elfrida.
To ease her conscience and remorse for the murder of Edward, she caused
the foundation of several monasteries, and performed penances. Edmund
Ironsides, who succeeded in 1016, was the exact opposite in character to
his father Ethelred.
He continued a serious obstacle to Canute and his Danes. After the last
of five pitched battles Canute and he agreed to divide the kingdom
between them: Canute to have Mercia and Northumberland, and Edmund the
remainder. However, through the murder of Edmund a few days after, at
Oxford, Canute usurped the throne of England in 1017. During his reign
of eighteen years, except for a dispute with Scotland over Cumberland,
the country enjoyed peace at home.
This peaceful term, in conjunction with the passing over of the dreaded
millennium, when the end of the world had been expected, caused the
great building activity which, under the Norman Conquest, attained such
wonderful results.
In the meanwhile the trade resources of Gloucester, even before the
Conquest, had greatly advanced, and had probably outdistanced in ratio
those of more important commercial centres of England. No doubt the
natives had learned many hitherto unknown industrial arts from the
Romans.
[Illustration: GLOUCESTER
THE CATHEDRAL AND OLD PARLIAMENT HOUSE]
A native art and civilisation existed in the Island, we know, before the
Roman Conquest. Great skill in enamelling, claimed by the ancients to be
of Celtic origin, and the primitive abundance of gold and tin, worked,
as history relates, by the Phœnicians, encouraged a certain degree of
native excellence in metal work. Besides this, the gold coinage and
other signs of their ingenuity, by remains discovered in Yorkshire and
elsewhere, illustrate that various branches of art existed a matter of a
century and a half before the Roman Conquest. Yet it is only reasonable
to suspect that the inhabitants of Gloucester and of the other camps
profited greatly from the far better knowledge and technique brought by
the invader from Rome, the acknowledged centre of civilisation at
that time. Certain it is that the Roman influence must have left some
result. The subsequent history of Gloucester has it that a mint existed
at the time of Alfred. It evidently fell into disuse, for a mint was
again established in the reign of King John. He also granted the
burgesses exemption from toll, and showered other marks of royal favour.
As far back as the twelfth century, Long Smith Street derived its name
from the numerous artisans who dwelled there.
They were employed in forges for the smelting of ore. Iron-founding and
cloth-making were also in full swing. Felt-making, sugar-refining, and
glass-manufacture all flourished at one time or another. Pin-making was
introduced by a Mr. John Tilsby in 1625, and until quite recently formed
the staple trade of the place. Bell-founding, once a feature, no longer
is practised. In its career of nearly two centuries close upon 5,000
bells of different sizes had been cast. With the exception of foundries,
many modern industries have supplanted the old, and include match works,
marble and slate works, saw mills and flour mills, chemical works, rope
works, railway wagon and engine factories, agricultural implements, and
ship-building yards; for it must be remembered that Gloucester is
reckoned as a port. It exports such valuable commodities as iron,
coals, malt, salt, bricks, and pottery. The town is also celebrated for
its Severn salmon and lampreys.
In discussing the resources of Gloucester, no regard has been paid to
the proper distribution of dates. A leap from the eleventh to the
nineteenth century has been unavoidably made, and to chronicle the chief
events it is necessary to go back to the year 1022, when a change was
made in Bernulf's foundation.
This year saw the ejection of the secular priests and the introduction
of the Benedictine monks by Canute. In spite of opposition, the new
order managed to keep possession of the monastery till the dissolution.
The abbey founded by Aldred, Bishop of Worcester, a few years before the
Norman Conquest served as the basis of the present cathedral. This
transition took place from 1072 till 1104, under Abbot Serle. In 1381
Walter Frocester, its historian, became its first mitred abbot. Here
again we have an instance of a Norman building forming the backbone to
subsequent periods of Gothic and English architecture. Though each style
is distinct, the _tout ensemble_ is in such perfect harmony that it
calls for the greatest admiration for the wonderful skill of the several
architects. The plan of the Cathedral is the usual symbol of the cross.
In the centre there is the beautiful fifteenth-century tower. Its mass
of detail and pierced work give it an air of elegance and lightness. The
oldest portions are the nave, the chantry chapels, which are apsidal and
are on either side of the choir, and the crypt. These are supposed to
have belonged to Aldred's abbey, which may thus be taken to have become
incorporated in the present building. They are of Norman origin, or
rather date a few years before the Conquest. No doubt these parts came,
more or less, to be touched up and restored by the Normans. In 1248, the
roof of the nave, an Early English addition to the massive Norman nave,
was finished by Abbot Henry Foliot. The Chapter House also is Norman.
Compared with those at Wells and Lincoln, its simplicity is striking. It
differs also in another respect. Belonging, as it did, to a Benedictine
church, it follows the shape usually found in churches of that order;
namely, the square.
The south aisle was commenced by Abbot Thokey in 1310, and the south
transept in 1330. About the same time building operations were commenced
for the north transept and the choir. The latter was finished in 1457.
To the north of the nave lie the cloisters. These form a most wonderful
Early example of fan-tracery, constructed some time between 1351 and
1390. Here in the south end of the cloisters were set apart a series of
stalls, better known as the carrels, in which the monks studied and
wrote. They may have undergone great hardships and austerities, but they
evidently had a great sense of beauty. They have left us the finest
works of architecture possible, which have not been surpassed by any
modern erection.
The west front, and the south porch with fan-traceried roof, were added
in 1421.
The triforium, carried round in a curve under the great east window,
forms a narrow passageway from one side of the choir to the other. This
formation, curiously enough, has constituted quite a feature at
Gloucester. It is called the "whispering gallery." There is no evidence
that the architect intended it. St. Paul's, in London, affords another
similar example.
[Illustration: GLOUCESTER
FROM THE PADDOCK]
The sculptor's art is represented by many tombs of certain merit. There
is the tomb erected by Abbot Parker to the memory of Osric, King of
Northumberland, who was one of the founders of the monastery, and who
died about the eighth century. In the north aisle leading to the Lady
Chapel--which by the way, with its square ending appears like an
after-thought, extended eastwards, as it were, from the apsidal
termination of the choir--is a monument covering the remains of Robert
Duke of Normandy, the eldest son of the Conqueror. He was a benefactor
to the old abbey. His effigy in coloured bog oak is disposed in a
recumbent attitude on an altar-tomb. There are many others, amongst
which that of Dr. Jenner, famous for the introduction of vaccination
into general practice, commands great attention. Robert Raikes is also
represented. He and the Rev. Thomas Stock, a rector of St. John the
Baptist in this city, share the honour of having established the first
Sunday school in England, which was held in Gloucester. Some
authorities, however, contend that the reverend gentleman was the
originator of the Sunday school, though they do not deny that Raikes,
through his unwearied exertions, promoted the increase of these
institutions throughout the kingdom.
But of all the monuments, that erected by the monks of Gloucester to the
memory of Edward of Carnarvon deserves the most attention, not only for
its beauty, but because it served as the type for the Gothic sculptors
to copy during two centuries. The recumbent effigy is hedged in by a
series of elaborately decorated shafts, forming a kind of open-work
grille, with pinnacles and niches. Overhead it is covered in with richly
ornamented Gothic work.
This shrine, constructed to receive the body of the murdered Edward II.,
conveyed thither from Berkeley Castle by Abbot Thokey, throughout the
greater part of Edward III.'s reign continued to attract vast numbers of
pilgrims. Their offerings soon brought in a great revenue, which was
spent not on rebuilding the church, but in restoring the surface, in
putting new windows in the old walls, and, generally, in adapting the
twelfth-century building to the Perpendicular style of the fourteenth
century. In this way the original Norman work forms the skeleton to the
Perpendicular casing.
In 1541 the Cathedral was separated from the diocese of Worcester by
Henry VIII. and made a distinct bishopric.
Besides this magnificent pile, Gloucester possesses four other churches,
which deserve some slight notice. There is the Church of St. Mary de
Lode, said to contain the remains of Lucius, the first British king. It
has an interesting old chancel, and a monument to Bishop Hooper.
St. Mary de Crypt is a cruciform building of the twelfth century, with a
beautiful lofty tower. The curfew bell is still rung from the tower of
St. Michael, which is said to have been connected with the ancient abbey
of St. Peter. St. Nicholas, originally Norman, is now an ancient
structure of the Early style of English architecture.
Of schools, one was refounded by Henry VIII. for the education of the
cathedral choir. Another was established in the same reign by Dame Joan
Cooke, and was called the Crypt School, from the fact of its schoolroom
adjoining the church of the same name. Sir Thomas Rich, a native of
Gloucester, in 1666 founded the Blue-Coat Hospital, much on the same
lines as that of Christ's Hospital, recently removed from London to the
country.
During the many years that were taken in beautifying the Cathedral, we
must not forget that the city was struggling with varying fortune. It
might almost be called a royal city, so often was it visited by princes,
were it not that Winchester claims that distinction. In the war between
Stephen and the Empress Matilda, Gloucester always accorded a welcome to
the Empress. Thither she is said to have escaped after the siege of
Winchester, carried in a coffin. If not true, the story is well founded.
The city was captured from Henry III. by the barons in 1263. In one of
the many Parliaments held at Gloucester, were passed, in 1279, the laws
connected with the Statute of Quo Warranto, better known as the Statutes
of Gloucester.
In 1327 Edward II. was assassinated in Berkeley Castle by his keeper,
Sir Thomas Gournay, and John de Maltravers, Lord Berkeley. From this
time Gloucester seems to have enjoyed comparative peace, though its
county was the theatre of several important historical events enacted in
its cities of Chichester and Tewkesbury. The latter is especially
memorable for the great and decisive battle, in which the Lancastrians
were totally defeated, in 1471. On that occasion Margaret of Anjou, her
son Prince Edward, and her general, the Duke of Somerset, were taken
prisoners by Edward IV. After the battle Prince Edward was murdered and
the Duke of Somerset beheaded. In the great contest between Charles I.
and the Parliament, the city of Gloucester, it is true, became an object
of importance to the success of the royal cause. The city was, however,
successfully defended for the Parliament by Colonel Massie, till
relieved in 1643 by the Earl of Essex. In the meantime Chichester was
taken by Prince Rupert.
The subject-matter of this city has unconsciously led us to introduce
Tewkesbury and Chichester. Having gone so far we cannot close without
first drawing attention to the existence of three other cities that
prominently stand out in this same county of Gloucestershire. They are
Cheltenham, the home of the famous public school; Tewkesbury, where the
decisive battle of the Roses was fought; and Bristol, the great port
situated near the mouth of the Severn, the river on the banks of which
lies this ancient cathedral city of Gloucester.
Hereford
Hereford.
("Doomsday Book.")
On the borders of Wales is Herefordshire, and almost in the centre of
the county is its ancient capital, Hereford. A Roman station is supposed
to have been in the neighbourhood, under the name of Ariconium, which is
considered to be identical with the present Kenchester. The present name
of Hereford is derived from the pure Saxon. Like Oxford, it had no
bridges at first. As the river had to be crossed, the shallowest part
was chosen.
This consideration probably determined the site of Hereford to be upon
the left bank of the river Wye, and the pass over it was called by the
Saxons, Here-ford, or "Military ford." We glean little information of
this place till the seventh century. An episcopal see is stated to have
existed in this place before the invasion of Britain by the Saxons. From
this uncertainty we arrive at something more definite, which took place
in 655. Oswy, then King of Mercia, in that year made Hereford part of
the diocese of Lichfield, which already wielded jurisdiction over the
whole of the kingdom of Mercia.
A few years later it was decided by a synod held here under the
presidency of Theodore, then Archbishop of Canterbury, in 673, to make a
division of the diocese of Lichfield. Very naturally Wilford, then
bishop of that see, refused to recognise the decree, and for this piece
of contumacy was subsequently deprived of part of his diocese. His
successor, Sexulph, however, was more amenable, and with his consent
Hereford was detached from Lichfield and restored to its original
independence as a separate diocese. Putta was straightway translated
from Rochester See to become the first bishop of Hereford in 680. This
instance is one of many such in the history of the Church. The shuffling
of dioceses, the enlargement of one at the expense of another, whether
from motives of malice or a sense of right distribution, occurs usually
in the early years of Christianity in England, and also at the general
winding up of the monasteries in the reign of Henry VIII.
Hereford was by no means the only see that suffered these changes. It
was simply a unit in the great policy of welding together the churches
of the several kingdoms into one whole, which had never been carried
into effect till Theodore of Tarsus came to England. He was a Greek monk
little known till the Pope elected to fill the vacant archbishopric of
Canterbury. Only three bishops were left in the whole of England; of
these two were rivals for the See of York, and the third had bought the
See of London. The first thing that Theodore did after his arrival was
to travel throughout the country. By consecrating new bishops and
creating a thorough organisation, he acquired a complete understanding
with the Church. He also instituted a system of synods, which he
intended should meet annually to discuss the general welfare of the
Church. This, however, seems to have fallen into disuse.
In all, Theodore managed to divide England into a matter of fifteen
dioceses, through the subdivision of the old dioceses. Truly a great
achievement when we remember that the conversion of the English kingdoms
mostly depended upon the good-will of their respective kings. Thus it
came about that one king in each kingdom had one bishop, generally his
chaplain at first, who took his title, not from a see, but from the
people. He was either bishop of Mercia, or Northumbria, or some other
large kingdom. As we have seen in the collision with Wilford,
Theodore's policy did not suit every prelate's views. His influence,
however, effected the installation of three bishops in Northumbria, four
in Mercia, two in East Anglia, and two in Wessex. Kent already had two
since 604.
Thus the result was the complete conversion of England, effected by
Theodore from about 673 to 688 A.D.
Prior to the eighth century Hereford is known to have been the capital
of the kingdom of Mercia, as it is now of Herefordshire, which is much
reduced in size. From the years 765 to 791 Mercia was governed by King
Offa. Apart from his connection with the Cathedral of Hereford, his
reign must possess some interest to the collectors of coins. For though
the die-sinker's art was practised in England as far back as the Roman
occupation, and an indigenous coinage came into existence in the seventh
century, it is not till this monarch's reign that genuine English
coinage was properly in currency. It appears that Offa had to pay an
annual tribute of 365 mancuses in coin to the Pope. As a mancus was
equal to 30 pennies, the sum was a considerable one.
In the year 782 an event occurred which laid the foundation of the
Cathedral. From Marden, the original place of sepulture, the body of
Ethelbert, King of the East Angles (who, by the way, is not to be
confounded with Ethelbert of Kent, who welcomed St. Augustine), was
removed to Hereford. He had been treacherously slain by his intended
mother-in-law, the Queen of Mercia. In expiation of the murder King
Offa, with munificent donations, enabled a nobleman called Milfride, a
viceroy under Egbert, to found the Cathedral about 825. The building was
dedicated to St. Mary and St. Ethelbert. It fell into decay in less than
two centuries and necessitated a rebuilding during the prelacy of Bishop
Athelstan, between 1012 and 1015. It was burnt by the Welsh in 1055, and
remained in ruins till 1079, when the first Norman bishop, Robert of
Lorraine, was appointed to the See.
He commenced a new edifice on the lines of Aken, now Aix-la-Chapelle. It
was carried on, with the exception of the tower left to be erected by
Bishop Giles de Braos in the following century, by Bishop Raynelm, in
1107, and eventually completed in 1148 by Bishop R. de Betum.
[Illustration: HEREFORD
THE NORTH TRANSEPT]
The plan is the usual cross. A lofty tower rises from the intersection,
and was formerly surmounted by a spire, taken down for safety's sake.
The screen and reredos, the pillars, the arches of naves, and the north
and south arches of the choir belong to the Norman period. The Early
English claims the triforium, the Lady Chapel, clerestory, and the stone
vaulting. The north transept is by Bishop Aquablanca, 1245-1268, whilst
the south-east transept dates from the Late Decorated style.
For over 450 years a number of additions and restorations have afforded
every facility for the skill of the architect, not always happily taken
advantage of. The great western tower unfortunately fell down in 1786,
and caused considerable damage to the west front and adjacent work. Mr.
Wyatt, during modern restorations, in 1842 and 1863, rebuilt the tower.
The west front, soon after its misfortune, was restored in a style
different from the original. The whole exterior of this edifice presents
a curious variety of architectural style. This capitulation of bishops
and dates is possibly dry reading, but it is absolutely necessary to
determine the date of the different erections and restorations, and
their successive styles of architecture.
Near the choir was the shrine of St. Ethelbert, which was destroyed
during the Commonwealth of Cromwell. Another attraction to the pilgrims
was the tomb erected to the memory of Bishop Cantelupe, who died in
1282. His heart was brought to Hereford and buried in the north
transept of the Cathedral, and he was canonised in 1310. The pilgrims
resorted to this place, as it was reputed that no less than four hundred
miracles had been performed there. In consequence of this the succeeding
bishops altered the quarterings of their ancient arms, which were those
of St. Ethelbert, and assumed the paternal coat of Cantelupe. This
change constitutes the present arms of the bishopric.
Amongst many other memorials is one to Bishop Aquablanca. A plain marble
tablet was also erected to the memory of John Philips, a well-known
author of poems entitled "The Splendid Shilling," and "Cyder."
Perhaps the most interesting item, as well as the most curious of all
the old maps, is the "Mappa Mundi," preserved in the south choir aisle.
It was compiled somewhere about 1275 to 1300, by a monk of Lincoln. How
it ever came to Hereford appears to be an enigma. The most likely
solution is that the monk may have been transferred from Lincoln to this
see.
The "Hereford Map," as it is called, is a great picture, more to be
classed as a grotesque work of art than a valuable aid to geography. It
is, at least, a gigantic attempt to represent the whole world, with the
introduction of the main features, the people, industries, and products
of each country. It is one mass of legendary figures, and the farther we
get from England, which is hardly recognisable, the more grotesque and
improbable become the monsters. The Minotaurs and Gog-Magog of Tartary,
the dog-faced, the horse-footed, and flap-eared freaks of nature of the
far east, together with the one-legged, one-eyed, four-eyed, headless,
and hermaphrodite tribes who fringe the Torrid Zone, give us an
interesting idea of the imposition by travellers upon the minds of the
people of that period, the thirteenth century. Even the fishes, supposed
to be peculiar to each sea, are carefully depicted. Truly it is a
wonderful work of imagination, not the less to be respected for that,
and quite alone deserves a journey to Hereford.
An epitome of the chief historical events of the city will be a
sufficient guide to its status. Except cider making, it has no
industries of special note.
To the fortifications erected in the time of Athelstan, and nearly
perfected in Leland's time, was added a castle by Edward the Elder. In
1055, two miles from this place, Griffith the Prince of Wales defeated
Ralph Earl of Hereford; and the Welsh, having thus taken the city, spent
their time in reducing it to a heap of ruins. Harold, afterwards king,
attacked and defeated the Welsh, and repaired and enlarged the
fortifications in view of further invasions. In the conflicts between
Stephen and the Empress Maud, Hereford was successfully defended for the
latter by Milo, to be reduced by the King in 1141. At the commencement
of the parliamentary war, Hereford was garrisoned for the King, but
surrendered, without a blow being struck, to the army of Sir William
Waller in 1643. On the retreat of this knight the Royalists occupied it,
and under the governorship of Barnabas Scudamore, Esquire, made a
stubborn resistance against the Scots, under the Earl of Leven, and
obliged them to raise the siege.
The inhabitants, at the Restoration, for their loyalty to the royal
cause, received from Charles II. a new charter with extended privileges,
and new heraldic arms testifying to their fidelity to the House of
Stuart. Previous to this Charles I. had been generous enough to reward
the many sacrifices and sufferings of the loyal citizens by granting the
city its motto of
Invictæ fidelitatis præmium.
Lincoln
Lincolia.
("Doomsday Book.")
The commercial importance of Lincoln, whatever it may be now, was at one
time considerable. At the time of the Norman survey it commanded
sufficient attention to cause the entry of the city in the "Doomsday
Book" as one of the leading centres of commerce. This happy state was
continued, or rather increased, by the famous Ordinance of the Staple in
the reign of Edward III. He was an ambitious monarch, and desired to
become master of France. If we recall the battles of Cressy and
Poitiers, we can readily understand what an enormous expenditure would
be required for the proper conduct of the war. By some means or other
the English revenues had to be found. This was met to a great extent by
the Ordinance of the Wool Staple, enacted by Edward III., who, besides
waging war in France, was keen on the extension of foreign trade. By
charters granted to merchants of Gascony, who imported wine and other
commodities, and by giving special protection to the Flemish weavers in
England, the King enhanced the prospects of trade. But the most
important of all his commercial projects was, as we have said, his
scheme, finally declared in 1353, by which a staple for English exports
was established under the direct control of the Crown. Thus the monopoly
of wool, which accrued so advantageously to Bruges and other cities on
the Continent, and had become unbearable, was in 1353 transferred to
England. For the exclusive sale of wool ten English towns were chosen.
They were situated within easy distance of the coast, or the town was in
connection with a convenient port. Of these ten towns with corresponding
ports, Lincoln with Boston was chosen as a staple town for wool. This
with other sources of trade, such as the staple of lead and leather,
flourished in Lincoln from Edward III.'s time till the commencement of
the eighteenth century, when the trade of the town declined. Through the
several plagues prevalent in the fourteenth century, such as the black
death and other epidemics similar in death-dealing if not in character
at that time, especially about the year 1390, many towns in England were
much decayed. Except London, York, Bristol, Coventry, and Plymouth, the
afflicted towns did not regain the population they enjoyed in the
fourteenth century till the Tudor period, and some, notably Sarum and
Leicester, not until late in the reign of Elizabeth. The decline of
Lincoln, though progressive, in a way appears to have been truly a
gradual decay, and more terrible in its imperceptible undermining than
any knock-down blow, for it never recovered its old trade prosperity;
whilst Norwich, which before the plagues was next to London, bore
relatively and even greater and sharper evidence of the terrible
visitation, yet managed somehow to hark back in a measure to days of its
former glory. The old saying which ran "Lincoln was, London is, York
shall be" indicates, far more than anything else, the change of
Lincoln's fortunes. Whatever its shortcomings may be, Lincoln possesses
a most interesting record of antiquity. Its minster is truly a gem, for
it is not only the earliest example of a pure Gothic building in Europe,
but presents a delightful study of every kind of style, from the early
Norman down to the Late Decorated.
Of the many characteristics of this interesting edifice--the foundation
of Remigius--we will note the chief. The building material consists of
the oolite and calcareous stone of Lincoln Heath and Haydor, the
surface of which, when worked upon with tools, appears to become quite
hardened.
Remigius adopted the plan of the church at Rouen as the model of his
foundation, which he laid in 1086. It was completed by his successor,
Bishop Bloet. The accidental fire that broke out gave his successor,
Bishop Alexander, the opportunity of repairing it. To prevent a like
occurrence, this prelate conceived and carried out his idea of covering
the aisles with a vaulted roof of stone. It had a disastrous effect in
that its pressure weighed too heavily upon the walls. It necessitated a
thorough overhauling by St. Hugh, a subsequent bishop, in the reign of
Henry II. He rebuilt the church upon a plan then newly introduced, and
greatly enlarged it by taking down the east end and re-erecting it upon
a far bigger scale. Since his time the Cathedral has undergone several
alterations and embellishments at the fostering care of several
succeeding prelates. On the magnificent central tower there used to be a
lofty spire, which was blown down in 1547. The two western towers were
also deprived of their spires in 1808 to avert a similar calamity. The
approximate dates of the different portions of the Cathedral are:
[Illustration: LINCOLN
BY MOONLIGHT]
The central west front and the font belong to Remigius' period.
The three west portals and Norman portion of the west tower above the
screen to the third story are 1148.
The nave, its aisles, and north and south chapels of the west end were
finished in 1220.
The Early English work of the west front and the upper portions of the
north and south wings with the pinnacle turrets date from 1225.
The west porch of the main transept is 1220.
The lower courses of the central tower date from 1235, while the upper
ones originated in 1307.
The gables, the upper parts of the main transept, the parapets of the
south side of the nave, the south wing, the west front, and the screen
in the south aisle take us back again to the year 1225. The subsequent
additions are:
The west door of the choir aisles in 1240; the south porch of the
presbytery in 1256; the choir screens in 1280, and ten years later the
Easter Sepulchre. The fine circular window at the end of the north
transept, and especially the ones in the south transept, attract
considerable attention. They are called respectively "The Dean's Eye"
and "The Bishop's Eye," and are supposed to belong to the year 1350.
Perhaps they are better known as the rose windows, which were more
popular in France than in England. They exhibit a network of interlacing
stems in imitation of the freedom of the briar-rose, and show the
advanced skill of the workmen upon the plate-tracery they formerly put
up as a masterpiece in the close vicinity of the rose windows.
For purposes of fortification, if necessary, Remigius chose the summit
of the hill close to the Castle as the site. The Cathedral, dedicated to
the Virgin Mary, thus, from its commanding station, forms a magnificent
object seen from many miles around, and in the days of pilgrimage must
have held out a welcome beacon of hope to the weary pilgrims.
Of the many famous prelates of this see must be mentioned Remigius,
Bloet, St. Hugh, and Fleming, who died in 1431. The latter was the
founder of Lincoln College at Oxford. Just at the back of this college
is situated the well-known college of Brazennose, the foundation of
another Lincoln Bishop, namely Smith, who died in 1521.
Again, Polydore Vergil, W. Paley, Cartwright the inventor of the power
loom, and O. Manning the celebrated topographer are some of the many
capitular members of whom Lincoln may well be proud.
Another attraction that Lincoln possesses in its vicinity is the
race-course just beyond Newland.
For the early history of Lincoln we must go as far back as the Saxon
days. After the departure of the Romans, Lincoln was the chief city of
the district. It was the capital of the kingdom of Mercia, as it now is
of the county of Lincolnshire.
Besides being described like other cities as being locally in the county
of Lincoln, it is said to be in the wapentake. This is a departure from
the "hundred" only in name, not in purpose. In the northern counties of
England the wapentakes denoted the usual divisions answering to the
hundreds of other counties. The origin of the wapentake is woepenge-toc,
woepentac, from the Icelandic vapnatak. It literally means a
weapon-taking or weapon-touching, and became an expression of assent. It
was anciently invariably the custom to touch lances or spears when the
hundreder, or chief, entered in his office. Tacitus, in the "Germania,"
gives a full description of this interesting rite.
In the Low Countries words very similar appear as the names of streets.
At Bruges, in Belgium, there is the "Wapen-makers Straat," which means
nothing more or less than that in that street was originally carried on
an industry of warlike implements made by "weapon-makers."
In this wise Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, and Nottinghamshire were divided
into wapentakes instead of "hundreds."
Another peculiar distinction of this city was its former government by a
portreve. The term is now obsolete, but in the old English law it
denoted the chief magistrate of a port or maritime town. In its old form
it was written "portgerefa," a combined word meaning port, a harbour,
and "gerefa," a reeve or sheriff. In the third year of the reign of
George I. the city, with a district of twenty miles round it, was
erected into a county, under the designation of "The City and County of
the City of Lincoln." It was also entered as a maritime county. The
extreme flatness of the Lincolnshire coast, with the slow sluggishness
of the lower part of the course of the rivers, caused, in remote ages,
the inundation of a great tract of land. The feasibility of reclaiming
some portion of these fens received the attention of the Romans. They
constructed the large drain called the car-dyke, signifying the
fen-dyke, carrying it from the river Witham, near Lincoln, to the river
Welland on the southern side of the county, with the object of draining
the waters from the high grounds and of preventing the inundation of
the low grounds. This policy was adopted in subsequent reigns with great
success, and is even to this day continued. It has been the means of
bringing rich tracts of land into cultivation, and of dispelling the
unhealthy miasma which once caused the great prevalency of the ague
fever. From fragments of vessels found near its channel it is affirmed
that large ships of bygone days could formerly sail up the river Witham
from Boston to Lincoln, but now it is only navigable for barges.
[Illustration: LINCOLN
THE STEEP HILL]
In 1121 Henry I. materially altered the great Foss-Dyke, extending a
matter of eight miles from a great marsh near Lincoln to the river
Trent, to serve the double purpose of draining the adjacent level and of
constructing a high waterway for vessels from the Trent to Lincoln.
For defraying the expenses of draining, it appears that in general a
rate was levied upon all lands in the contiguous wapentakes.
With this preface of the general character of the district, we propose
to give a history of the city from its commencement.
On the summit of a hill close to the river Lindis, which is now called
the Witham, the ancient Britons established a city of considerable
importance from the most remote period of the British history. They
christened the city after the original name of the river. This, on the
invasion of Britain, passed into the hands of the Romans. They made it
one of their chief stations in this part of England and established a
colony. Instead of calling the city something "cester," they appear to
have Latinised the Celtic name, signifying "the hill port by the pool,"
and called it Lindum Colonia. Through process of time and differences of
pronunciation, consequent on the various dialects spoken successively by
the Saxons, Danes, and Normans, the title became abbreviated to
Lin-coln. The date of the Roman occupation is given as being in the year
100 A.D.
Their plan of the city consisted of the form of a parallelogram about
400 yards in length by the same number of yards in breadth, defended by
massive, strong walls and intersected by two streets running at right
angles.
Presumably the extremities of these streets pointed to the four cardinal
points. They terminated in gates, the sole one of which--an excellent
example of Roman architecture in England--is the North Gate, or, as it
is generally called, Newport. It is composed of a central arch, with two
lesser ones, one on either side, and is on a lower level than that of
the street. Through this gate passes the great Roman Road called Ermine
Street, out into the country for a distance of about ten miles or so. To
the south-west of this entrance is supposed to have been a mint. This
seems to be borne out by the discovery of many Roman coins found in the
vicinity. The Exchequer Gate is a very fine specimen of the thirteenth
century. It bears a carved representation of the Crucifixion, which
lends it considerable interest.
At the top of High Street is Pottergate and Stonebow, over which is the
Guildhall. The latter is an ancient embattled structure, rebuilt in the
reign of Richard II.
Besides the Northgate, the Romans appear, according to remains found, to
have contributed the inevitable bath and sudatorium. On their departure
from Britain, Lincoln was made the capital of the kingdom of Mercia by
the Saxons in 518. Vortimer, who endeavoured to oppose them, was slain
and interred here. From 786 Lincoln suffered repeatedly from visitations
of the Danes, control being recovered by Edmund II., according to
agreement with Canute in 1016. Throughout the whole of this period the
only peace the city had enjoyed was when Alfred the Great subdued the
Danes. However, Edmund II., better known as Edmund Ironsides, did not
live many days longer, being murdered at Oxford. Whereupon, in 1017,
Canute took possession of the murdered monarch's territory, in which
Lincoln was included. William I. then came along in 1086, swept away
close upon two hundred houses to make room for the erection of a
castle--on a site which meant the occupation of nearly one-fourth of the
old Roman city.
The Castle still has traces of Norman work, the foundations of which
were formed of enormous beams of wood and a mixture of thin, coarse
mortar, used for pouring into the joints of masonry and brickwork,
usually called "grouting."
In that wonderful survey of his--the "Doomsday Book"--fifty-two parishes
are stated to have composed this city.
The Castle in 1140 figured in the disputes between the Empress Matilda
and Stephen, the latter of whom was crowned here in 1141. Stephen was,
however, made prisoner, but was afterwards exchanged, and lived three
years later to celebrate Christmas here. But prior to this period
Lincoln was for the first time erected into a see in the reign of
William Rufus.
[Illustration: LINCOLN
THE WEST TOWERS]
In pursuance of a decree of a synod held at London at this time, that
all the episcopal sees should be removed to fortified places,
Remigius, the Bishop of Dorchester, determined to establish the seat
of his diocese at Lincoln. He built the church and an episcopal palace,
but died just before its consecration.
His work was completed by his successor, Robert Bloet. In the reign of
Henry II. the Diocese, which once extended from the Thames to the
Humber, was curtailed to add a part to form that of Ely. It again
suffered diminution in Henry VIII.'s time, when the limits of the Sees
of Oxford and Peterborough were defined. In spite of it all, Lincoln's
see is fairly extensive, though it suffered again in 1884. Prior to this
monarch's reign Lincoln had as many as fifty-two churches, but when he
decided upon reformation from Popery their number was greatly
diminished. Their names, still preserved, are the sole reminders of
their former existence, with the exception of fourteen which remain.
These have probably been rebuilt.
Before entering further concerning the See, and the Cathedral founded by
Remigius, which was constantly in the hands of the architect even down
to recent years, we shall add the chief political events subsequent to
Stephen. On the death of this monarch, Henry II., probably not satisfied
with his coronation in London, underwent the ceremony again at Wigford,
a place just a little to the south of Lincoln city.
John here early in his reign received the homage of David the King of
Scotland. During the struggle with the barons in 1216 the citizens
remained loyal to their sovereign; but their city was taken at last in
1217, and invested by the barons under Gilbert de Gaunt, afterwards
created Earl of Lincoln. After the disaster that overtook John's army in
the passage across the Wash, and his death, which took place soon
afterwards, his son Henry III. was loyally assisted by the inhabitants
against the barons, who had summoned to their aid Louis, the Dauphin of
France. The Castle, however, remained for many years in the possession
of the Crown. Eventually it became the summer residence of the
celebrated John of Gaunt. He was Earl of Lincoln, and in 1396 married
here Lady Swinford, who was a sister-in-law to Chaucer.
Several times Parliament was held in Lincoln; namely, twice by Edward
I., and in 1301 and 1305; twice also by Edward II.; and in the first
year of Edward III.'s reign.
Henry VI. paid a visit, as did also Henry VII., who held a public
thanksgiving for his victory over Richard III. at the battle of Bosworth
Field.
Throughout the parliamentary war the inhabitants were staunch
supporters of the Crown. The city was stormed by Earl Manchester, an
indefatigable soldier of Cromwell. The Commonwealth troopers during
their occupation created considerable havoc in the ecclesiastical
buildings. According to their invariable custom they stabled their
horses and housed themselves within the cathedral walls. Not satisfied
with that, they damaged the tombs and deprived the niches of their
statuary.
To go back a matter of four hundred years to this period, the population
of Lincoln rose _en masse_ against the Jews. They were alleged to have
crucified a little Lincoln boy, presumably a Christian, at a place
called Dunestall in the year 1255. The enraged mob wreaked their
vengeance by causing the execution of eighteen Jews, murdering many
more, and later on making a saint of the victim, under the name of
"little Saint Hugh." The punishment seems to be out of proportion to the
crime. In fact little Hugh's crucifixion appears rather to have served
as an excuse for the wrongful persecution of the Semitic race than for
the proper administration of the law irrespective of creed. Even to this
day this regrettable racial feeling is kept alive. In the middle ages
this bitter feeling was fostered and brought about chiefly owing to the
wonderful success of the Jews in England, who grew rich upon the profits
accruing to usury, which they alone might exercise. Among many prominent
instances of popular vengeance, besides little St. Hugh's murder, are
the tombs of boy-martyrs, shrines which became often the most popular in
the Cathedral.
The most characteristic are the records of the burials, attended with
great pomp, of St. William of Norwich in 1144, Harold of Gloucester in
1168, Robert of Edmundsbury in 1184, a nameless boy in London in 1244,
and St. Hugh of Lincoln in 1255; boys canonised by the populace simply
through bitter racial feeling. Remains of the shrine of little St. Hugh
are still extant at Lincoln.
Among the many interesting antiquities of Lincoln is a fine specimen of
the Norman domestic architecture. It is called the Jews' House, and it
is an edifice of curious design. Its mouldings much resemble those of
the west portals of the Cathedral, a date which probably would be 1184.
The house belonged to a Jewess called Belaset de Wallingford. She was
hanged in the reign of Edward I. for clipping the coin.
Besides this are noticeable the ancient conduits of St. Mary le Wigford,
which is Gothic, and the Greyfriars Conduit in High Street.
In the cloister garden are preserved a tesselated pavement and the
sepulchral slab of a Roman soldier. From the same place the splendidly
carved stone coffin lid of Bishop Remigius has recently been removed
into the interior of the Cathedral.
In the years 1884 to 1891 excavations were conducted on the site of the
old "Angel Inn," when it was discovered that it had been a Roman
burial-place. Amongst the débris were found several funeral urns. Under
St. Peter's at Gowts was brought to light a Roman altar, and remains of
a Roman villa were unearthed at Greetwell. In the same year, that is to
say 1884, the Blue Coat School was closed, its endowments were given to
the Middle School, and the buildings were sold to the Church Institute.
Within the last few years two memorable events occurred. In the year
1884 the See of Lincoln was deprived of the county of Nottingham, which
was transferred from that see to the See of Southwell. This was followed
shortly afterwards by the great lawsuit called "The Lincoln Judgment."
Great controversy arose and came to a climax. In the year 1888 Dr. King,
the Bishop of Lincoln, was cited before his metropolitan, Dr. Benson,
the Archbishop of Canterbury, to answer charges of various ritual
offences alleged to have been committed by himself at the administration
of the Holy Communion.
The action was brought by certain gentlemen of Lincoln interested in the
doings of their prelate. Their religious scruples had been outraged, it
appears, on two separate occasions; namely, in the Church of St. Peter's
at Gowts on December 4, 1887, and in the Cathedral on December 10 of the
same year. An appeal had been made to the Archbishop to restrain these
illegal practices. The celebrated ecclesiastical lawsuit was heard in
1888. The judgment was confined to the declarations of the law, which
were summarised. No monition or sentence was pronounced against the
Bishop of Lincoln for having committed breaches of the ecclesiastical
law. The dissension has happily ended. The Bishop of Lincoln has
conformed his practice to the Archbishop's judgment from the date of its
delivery, and still retains his bishopric. Thus has ended the conflict
between the Primate and the Suffragan, which agitated, for a brief space
of time, the opponents of offences of ritualism, and brought about the
famous Lincoln Judgment.
Bath
Baden-ceaster.
("Doomsday Book.")
On the banks of the river Avon, in the County of Somersetshire, is
situated the beautiful and ancient city of Bath. Its ecclesiastical
history is closely bound up with that of Wells, and at one time with
that of Glastonbury, when it figures in the disputes concerning the See.
This unseemly quarrelling amongst prelates is now happily laid at rest.
Though lacking in all authority, Bath is the joint partner of Wells in
the bishopric title.
The origin of the city of Bath takes us far back. Perhaps the strongest
link with the Roman days, besides the Roman roads, lies in the
present-day existence of the Roman baths, built about 55 B.C.
These baths were probably erected to confine the hot springs, and to
enjoy more thoroughly the benefit derived from the medicinal properties
of these waters, which are chalybeate and saline.
Though we are told that in all probability it is a mere myth that the
British king, Bladud, first founded this city of Bath, yet we are
inclined to think that the presence of these springs would influence a
settlement of even the nomadic British, prior to the Roman invasion.
When we remember what primitive ideas the early Britons had, we cannot
wonder at the non-existence of any vestiges of their occupation. In
these days of materialism one loves to respect old traditions, however
uncertain they may be in substance. We would therefore give the benefit
of the doubt to an early British settlement.
With the arrival of the Romans the approximate date and origin of Bath
can be readily ascertained. From excavations on the place since the year
1875, it has been proved that the Romans founded here a city, which they
named Aquae Solis, in the reign of Claudius. In 55 B.C. the baths had
been constructed for certain. In addition to this they erected a temple
to Minerva, with votive offerings, and many other buildings, and carried
a line of fortifications and walls around the city. The remains of their
marvellous architecture still bear testimony, though they have suffered
ill-treatment and undergone restoration, to their former magnificence
and grandeur.
On the retirement of the Romans Aquae Solis passed into the hands of the
Britons, under the name of Cœr Palladen (the city of the waters of
Pallas). During their possession of a century, two attacks made by the
Saxon chieftains, Œlla and Cerdic, were repulsed by King Arthur.
The Saxons, by the year 577, having practically subverted the rest of
the kingdom, turned their attention to the West. They seized and ravaged
Bath. The Roman structures were reduced to ruins. After a while they
rebuilt the walls and fortifications upon the original foundations,
employing the old materials. The baths also were soon restored. By this
time the Saxons had renamed the city, "Hat Bathur" (Hot baths), and
"Ace-mannes-ceaster" (City of invalids). The "ceaster" tacked on to the
Saxon word is the first evidence we get of the Saxon recognition of the
former existence of the Roman occupation of this city.
With the spreading influence of Christianity travelling from the east to
the west of England in the seventh century, a nunnery was erected here,
in 676, by King Osric. This was destroyed during the wars of the
Heptarchy, and on its site a college of secular canons was founded, in
775, by Offa, King of Mercia. This monarch had taken Bath from the King
of Wessex, and had annexed it to his own kingdom. Possibly in
recognition of this victory he built an abbey in 775.
After this the city evidently increased in prosperity, for it was
important enough to witness the coronation of Edgar in 973, as King of
England, by Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury. At the same time Edgar
converted the college of secular canons into a Benedictine monastery.
This, with the church, was again demolished by the Danes.
This city of Bath, like all other cities of that time, came under the
Norman Survey, and was entered in Doomsday Book as Baden-ceaster.
William Rufus had scarce been crowned king when Bath was seized and
burnt, the most part by Geoffry, Bishop of Coutances, and Robert de
Mowbray. They had jointly risen in support of the claim laid to the
throne of England by Robert Duke of Normandy. But under the abbacy of
John de Villula it soon recovered prosperity. This abbot, on promotion
to the See of Wells, about 1090, purchased the city from Henry I. He
built a new church, and removed the See from Wells to this place. Here
it remained till 1193, when Bishop Savaricus handed it over to Richard
I., in exchange for Glastonbury Abbey.
[Illustration: BATH
PULTENEY BRIDGE]
About this time Bath received its first charter as a free borough
from this monarch, and was represented in Parliament in 1297. In 1330
the manufacture of woollen cloth was established by the monks. By reason
of this the shuttle was incorporated in the arms of the monastery. In
1447, and in 1590, Henry VI. and Elizabeth respectively granted
charters, which materially increased the prospects of the city.
This present cruciform Abbey Church dates from 1499. It is dedicated to
St. Peter and St. Paul, and forms one of the best specimens of the later
style of English architecture. It rests upon the site of the conventual
church of the monastery founded by Osric. After a course of eight
hundred years it became dilapidated, and was rebuilt from the old
materials in 1495, by Bishop Oliver King. He is said to have been
admonished in a dream. He did not live to see the completion of the
building.
As the citizens refused to purchase it from the Commissioners of Henry
VIII., the walls were left roofless till Dr. James Montague, Bishop of
the Diocese, with the aid of the local nobility and gentry, procured the
necessary funds, and finished it in 1606.
On the west front is sculptured the founder's dream of angels ascending
and descending on Jacob's ladder. The church is crowned with a
quadrangular tower of 162 feet in height from the point of intersection.
Though the medicinal properties of the springs of Bath attracted from
the earliest times the continuous attention of invalids, it was only
under the guidance of Beau Nash, the gamester, and the enterprise of
John Wood, the architect, that it reached to the highest pinnacle of
fame as a place of fashionable resort in the eighteenth century. The
works of Fielding, Smollett, Jane Austen, Dickens, Thackeray, and
others, give us a clear insight into the meteor-like prosperity of the
city, for, after the death of Nash, it gradually relapsed to its normal
state, and, in fact, according to statistics, the number of inhabitants
has decreased even within the last few years.
A brief sketch of Beau Nash and the means adopted will account in some
measure for the marvellous change in Bath in the eighteenth century.
Nash was educated at Carmarthen Grammar School, and Jesus College,
Oxford. He then obtained a commission in the army. This he soon threw up
to become a law-student at the Middle Temple. Whilst there he gained
much attention by his wit and sociability. These qualities induced his
fellow-students to elect him as the president of a pageant that they
prepared for William III. The king was so pleased with Nash that, it is
said, he offered him a knighthood. This Nash refused unless accompanied
by a pension, which was not granted.
He was much addicted to gambling, which, in addition to a restless
spirit and an empty purse, led him in 1704 to try his luck at Bath, a
place which then offered opportunities to a gamester. There he soon
became master of the ceremonies, in succession to Captain Webster. Under
his authority reforms were introduced which speedily accorded to Bath a
leading position as a fashionable watering-place. He formed a strict
code of rules for the regulation of balls and assemblies; allowed no
swords to be worn in places of public amusement; persuaded gentlemen to
discard boots for shoes and stockings when in assemblies and parades,
and introduced a tariff for lodgings.
As insignia of his office he wore an immense white hat, and a richly
embroidered dress. He drove about in a chariot with six greys, and laced
lackeys blew French horns. When Parliament abolished gambling it caused
a serious check to the visits of fashionable people to the city.
However, the Corporation, in recognition of his valuable services,
granted Nash a pension of 120 guineas a year, and at his death in 1761
he was buried with splendour at the expense of the town. A year after
his demise his biography was anonymously published in London by Oliver
Goldsmith.
John Wood, the architect, though hardly as well known to posterity as
Nash, must not be overlooked. Till he appeared in Bath in 1728, the city
had been confined strictly within the Roman limits. The suburbs
consisted merely of a few scattered houses. Wood improved and enlarged
the city by his architectural efforts, which led to the quarrying of
freestone found existing in the neighbourhood. His successors carried on
his enterprise.
The grand Pump-room, erected in 1797, with a portico of Corinthian
columns; the King's Bath, with a Doric colonnade; the Queen's Bath; the
Cross Bath, so called from a cross erected in the centre of it; the Hot
Bath, on account of its superior degree of heat, were once thronged by
fashionable gatherings in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The architecture in the eighteenth century at Bath was an adaptation of
the Doric and Ionic orders. Nearly all the principal buildings were
constructed after these classic principles. St. Michael's Church belongs
to the Doric, with a handsome dome, and was erected in 1744. Even the
Greek influence is the prevailing feature of Pulteney Bridge.
In conclusion, amongst eminent men of Bath may be mentioned: John Hales,
Greek Professor at Oxford in 1612; and Sir Thomas Bodley, founder of the
Bodleian Library at Oxford, was a native of, and received his early
education in the Grammar School of this city. Benjamin Robins was born
here in 1707; he was a celebrated mathematician, and wrote the account
of the voyage of Commodore Anson round the world.
Amongst the tombs in the Abbey are those to the memory of Quin, Nash,
Broome, Malthus, and Melmothe.
The hot springs of Bath still continue to alleviate the aches and pains
of invalid visitors. The interesting history, the curious mingling of
Roman and Later English architecture with the revival of the Ionic and
Doric orders in the eighteenth-century buildings, can never fail to be
of interest alike to the student and the casual visitor in Bath.
Salisbury
Salisberie.
("Doomsday Book.")
Salisbury affords a remarkable instance of the complete transference of
the cathedral followed by the ultimate desertion of the city in the
change from old Sarum, the original site, to New Sarum, another within a
short distance--one might almost say within a stone's throw. In the old
days of prosperity Old Sarum, now simply a conical mass of ruins, was
peopled with the Belgæ, who came from Gaul and ousted the original
inhabitants. How this site ever came to be chosen as a desirable place
of settlement seems to be rather a mystery, for even in those early days
constant difficulties arose with regard to the insufficiency of water.
They aptly called it "the dry city," which is supposed to be the meaning
of the old name Searobyrig, which later underwent a further
contraction--Scarborough. This arid spot, however, received the
attention of the Romans, who possibly were attracted by the natural
advantages of defence offered by the conical mound rising abruptly, as
it does, from the valley. They carried on the old name and Latinised it,
as they invariably seemed to have done, or rather made a compromise
between the native and their own formation, and arrived at Sorbiordunum.
The scarcity of water seems not to have deterred them in any way, as
witness the many evidences of their fossæ, extensive ramparts, and
fortress--signs which indicate that in their hands Old Sarum was held to
be of considerable importance. Roman roads branched out of it, no doubt
pointing to the four cardinal points, in accordance with regular custom,
though their whereabouts may be difficult to define, seeing that several
centuries have passed since the desertion of Old Sarum.
With their passing away the Roman conquerors have left behind them many
relics, possibly in their day considered worthless, but the unearthing
of which has caused, for many a year, unalloyed joy and given a
priceless treasure to the unwearied antiquaries. Another great source of
speculation to the archæologists has been the temple of the Druids
erected some time at Stonehenge. It lies beyond the city on the great
Salisbury plain. This primitive form of architecture takes us back to
many years before Christ, when the early Britons wore no clothes, save
the skins of animals they slew in the chase, and when they could neither
read, write, weave, nor do anything which would be considered nowadays
as civilising. They were to all intents and purposes mere savages, kept
in control by their priests and lawgivers, the Druids, whom they held in
the greatest respect. The Britons, we are told, had the additional
discomfort of dwelling in holes burrowed in the ground, or in miserably
constructed huts. In view of this poor state of domestic architecture,
how they ever managed to erect roofless temples, as at Stonehenge and at
the island of Anglesea, and to overcome, what must have been to them a
very great engineering feat, the setting up of the heavy blocks of stone
_in situ_, seems marvellous and not easy of explanation.
[Illustration: SALISBURY
HIGH STREET GATEWAY INTO THE CLOSE]
The great veneration in which the Britons held these temples of the
Druids is much accentuated by an incident during the second occupation
of Britain by the Romans. Suetonius Paulinus, one of their greatest
generals, thought that by destroying the temple at the island of
Anglesea he would shake the faith of the Britons in their priests, and
gain thereby a speedier conquest, much in the same way as when Clive in
India knocked down Dupleix's column to undermine the French influence
over the natives. In the latter case history has assured us of the
ultimate fulfilment of hopes, and it was the same with Paulinus in 61,
only on his return to the mainland he all but suffered a reverse from an
unexpected rising of Britons under Boadicea. Nevertheless, the power of
the Druids was irretrievably broken by the slaughter of their order and
the felling of the groves at Anglesea, as Paulinus had foreseen. What
the object and origin of these remains at Stonehenge were, still serve
as an interesting matter for controversy. Competent authorities, like
Geoffrey of Monmouth, Polydore Vergil, and in the eighteenth century Dr.
Stukely, arrived more or less at the same conclusions. The first named
said that Stonehenge was a sepulchral monument erected by Aurelius
Ambrosius, who, according to a tradition, was thus led by the counsel of
Merlin to commemorate the slaughter of 500 Britons by Hengist, the Saxon
chief, about the year 450 A.D. Polydore Vergil confined himself to the
statement that it was the ancient temple of the Britons in which the
Druids officiated, whilst Dr. Stukely asserted that the Britons here
held their annual meetings at which laws were passed and justice
administered. He was also fortunate enough to discover the "cursus," in
1723, in its vicinity. Perhaps it may be thought that Stonehenge is out
of place in this account of Salisbury; but in leaving it out it would be
as much as to doubt the genuineness of any one's visit to this ancient
cathedral city if he had not also seen the Druidical remains.
In the neighbourhood of Old Sarum, Cynric won a victory over the Britons
in the year 552. Though it steadily increased in importance, little
worthy of notice occurred there till the close of the tenth century. At
the small town of Wilton, which is almost three miles distant from
Salisbury, the seat of the Diocese was originally established in the
first years of the tenth century, and remained under the superintendence
of eleven succeeding bishops. The last one of them was Hermannus. On his
accession to the See of Sherborne--an ancient and interesting town of
Dorsetshire--he annexed it to the Bishopric of Wilton. He thereupon
founded, for these united sees, a cathedral church at Old Sarum. This
effort of his was afterwards completed by Osmund, who accompanied
William the Conqueror to England, and was by him appointed bishop. A
matter of sixty years prior to the Norman invasion Old Sarum had fallen
a victim in 1003 to the fury of Sweyn, the King of Denmark. This was in
accordance with a vow of retaliation he had made when he learnt of
the murder of his sister in the general massacre of the Danes, which had
taken place the year before. This unhappy period, when many other
counties besides Wiltshire suffered extensively, was during the reign of
Ethelred the Unready.
[Illustration: SALISBURY
THE MARKET CROSS]
In the great plain of Salisbury the Conqueror, in 1070, passed a review
of his army, just flushed with their victories in the neighbourhood. On
the completion of his great survey, the "Doomsday Book," in 1086, he
here at Salisberie, as he renamed the city, received the homage and oath
of allegiance from the English landlords. Till the year 1217 the See
remained at Old Sarum, and even after the complete depopulation and the
demolition of every house of this ancient Roman site, it still was
represented regularly at Parliament by two members till the year 1832.
The reasons that led to the choice of the new site by Bishop Poore were
the many advantages offered, especially the abundance of water by New
Sarum, as it was called, as set against the exposure to the stormy winds
which it was alleged went even so far as to drown the voice of the
officiating priest, the congestion of houses within its narrow limits,
the difficulty of procuring water, and finally the despotism of the
governor at Old Sarum. To rid himself of these inconveniences, Bishop
Poore procured the papal authority to the removal of the Cathedral from
Old Sarum to its present site in the year 1218, though not till the
Reformation was the service discontinued in the old buildings.
By then New Sarum had reaped the full benefit of the new conditions and
surroundings. Though only two miles away, the old place, in proportion
to the rising of the new township, sank to a few inhabitants, loth
perhaps to part with old associations.
The first building to appear in New Sarum, or Salisbury as we shall
henceforth call it, seems to have been the wooden chapel of St. Mary,
the erection of which was commenced in the Easter of the year 1219. This
was followed in the year 1220 by the foundation of the new cathedral as
planned by Bishop Poore. It was completed and dedicated to the Blessed
Virgin Mary in 1258. The ground-plan is that of a Greek or double cross.
With the slight exceptions of the upper part of the tower and the spire,
which belong to a later date, the entire fabric represents the purest
style of the Early English architecture. The cloisters, built by Bishop
Walter de la Wyle, are the largest and most magnificent of any in the
kingdom. They are of the late Early English style, and took, with the
addition of the Chapter House by the same prelate, from 1263 till 1274
to complete.
[Illustration: SALISBURY
THE CLOISTERS]
Shortly after, the upper part of the tower was built in the Decorated
style by Bishop Wyville, about 1330. Five years later it was capped by
the highest spire in England. A marvellous achievement of lightness of
design, of slenderness and beauty of proportion, it reaches from base to
crown to the remarkable height of four hundred and four feet. Its great
height has caused much anxiety from time to time, through the enormous
pressure exerted upon the tower beneath it.
This unique example of a spire was followed next by a chapel built by
Bishop Beauchamp between 1450 and 1482. Another was carried out by Lord
Hungerford in 1476. These two chapels, together with an elegant
campanile, were entirely swept away in the restorations that took place
under the direction of the architect James Wyatt. No doubt the Cathedral
required extensive repairs, but it seems regrettable that any architect
should have caused such demolition, instead of endeavouring to make good
the ravages of time. As for the old west front, the coloured drawing of
Mr. Collins gives an excellent idea of its rich sculpturesque beauty.
The Cathedral is isolated in the centre of an immense lawn, as it were.
This again can be kept private by the Close, the area of which extends
to half a mile square. Within its limits is a delightful mall shaded
with trees, as there are also the Bishop's Palace,--a building of
various dates, originated by Poore the founder,--the Deanery, and
several other houses. We have said elsewhere that the Cathedral Close of
Salisbury may be considered the best example of its kind in England,
though that at Wells is not far behind. The close was an enclosure,
within the precincts of the cathedral, reserved for the dwellings
originally intended for the exclusive domestic use of the Bishop and
canons. This, however, is not strictly observed now.
Two or three delightful gateways of ancient character and beautiful
design give access to the Cathedral Close of Salisbury. Appended to the
Cathedral is the beautiful Chapter House, lighted by lofty windows. It
is octagonal in form, the roof of which is upheld by a central clustered
column. A frieze in bas-relief, carried round the interior of the
building, is ornamented with biblical subjects. At different times
numerous monuments, chiefly to the bishops of the See, have been
erected, notably those to Bishops Joceline and Roger.
A monument to one of the children of the choir has a sad interest. It
was customary during the festival of St. Nicholas for one of the
choristers to personate the character of a bishop. In this case the
boy-bishop died while performing his rôle.
The other interesting buildings of the town are the parish churches of
St. Martin, St. Thomas, and St. Edmond; the banqueting hall of J. Halle,
who was a wool merchant in 1470; Audley House, which also dates from the
fifteenth century, and which in 1881 underwent a thorough repair. It
serves now as the Church House of the Diocese. Elizabeth's Grammar
School, St. Nicholas Hospital, founded in Richard II.'s reign, and
Trinity House, established by Agnes Bottenham in 1379, are interesting
links of mediævalism.
In this period must also be included the Poultry Cross. It is a high
cross, hexagonal in form. Its space is well distributed by six arches
and a central pillar. Lord Montacute erected it just prior to the year
1335.
The city's prosperity depended upon that of the church. In fact it was
laid out according to Bishop Poore's plan. The citizens deserted Old
Sarum to settle around the new ecclesiastical establishment at New
Sarum. In 1227, by a charter of Henry III., the city enjoyed the same
freedom and liberties as those of Winchester. The government of the city
became vested in a mayor, recorder, deputy-recorder, twenty-four
aldermen, and various other subordinate officers. The charter was
confirmed by successive sovereigns till the accession of Anne.
Salisbury, or New Sarum, was first represented at Parliament in 1295. In
1885, by the Redistribution Act, its two representatives were reduced to
one. The city itself has also witnessed the assembly of Parliament
within its limits on various occasions. For being implicated in a
conspiracy for deposing Richard III. to raise Henry Tudor, Earl of
Richmond, to the throne, the Duke of Buckingham was in 1484 executed at
Salisbury. For a reward of £1000 the Duke was betrayed by a dependent
with whom he was in hiding in Shropshire.
[Illustration: SALISBURY
THE CATHEDRAL]
During the Civil War the city was held alternately by both parties.
Since then the citizens have been left in comparative peace, intent on
their several industries. At one time they were actively engaged in the
preparation of woollen articles and in the manufacture of excellent
cutlery. These are now declined, and such commodities as boots and
shoes take the first rank, whilst the shops depend mainly on the
villages and agriculture around. The many places of antiquity in this
ancient city of the county of Wiltshire have furnished many interesting
palæolithic relics for the reception of which the Blackmore Museum was
established. The library was instituted by Bishop Jewal, in 1560 to
1571.
There have been many men of note from Salisbury. The celebrated poet and
essayist Addison, born near Amesbury in this county of Wiltshire, was
educated at the Grammar School for choristers within the Close. Amongst
the many eminent natives of the city are included William Hermann,
author of several works in prose and verse; George Coryate, who wrote
"The Crudities"; John Greenhill, a celebrated portrait painter; William
and Henry Lawes, both musicians and composers; and James Harris, author
of "Hermes." But the most conspicuous, or rather the best known, is
Henry Fawcett, the politician and economist.
Born in 1833, he was the second son of a draper who, starting as an
assistant, became afterwards his own master. He was enabled to afford
his son Henry a good education at King's College and Peterhouse,
Cambridge, from which he migrated to Trinity Hall. He became Seventh
Wrangler and Fellow of his College. At the Cambridge Union, Fawcett
gained considerable notice for his oratory. His ambition conceived the
idea of attaining the highest honours in the kingdom through the
profession of a barrister. For this purpose he entered Lincoln's Inn,
but at the age of twenty-five a terrible accident happened to him. His
eyesight was lost by two stray pellets from the gun of his father.
Though his plans of advancement were altered, he determined within ten
minutes of the catastrophe to continue his old pursuits of rowing,
fishing, skating, riding, and even playing at cards which were marked.
He became Liberal candidate for Brighton in 1865, and entered Parliament
just when Palmerston's career came to a close. He opposed Gladstone's
scheme for universal education in Ireland. He was an opponent to
Disraeli's Government.
On the return of the Liberal Party to power Fawcett was offered the post
of Postmaster-General, though without a seat in the Cabinet. He
introduced five important postal reforms; namely, the parcels-post,
postal-orders, sixpenny telegrams, the banking of small savings by means
of stamps, and increased facilities for life insurance and annuities.
He also invented the little slot label, "next collection," on the
pillar-boxes.
The employment of women he greatly advocated. The defeat of the scheme
for the deforestation of Epping Forest and the New Forest was entirely
due to the exertions of this great politician.
After a marvellous career of many years Fawcett died in 1884. From
humble origin, and in spite of his blindness, if he did not realise his
full ambition, he reached to an exalted position in the State--an
achievement never accomplished by any one under like disability.
Exeter
In the great peninsula that runs out into the Atlantic is Devonshire,
adjoining Cornwall, that dwindles to the Land's End, the point eagerly
welcomed by visitors to England, the last of the Old Country to which a
farewell is given. Through the northern portion of Devonshire meanders
the river Exe, having established its source in Somersetshire. Quite ten
miles before the river empties its waters at the mouth into the English
Channel, on a broad ridge of land rising steeply from the left bank of
the Exe, is the old city of Exeter. It is the chief of the county, and
has had a varied existence.
For the earliest period of Exeter, Geoffrey of Monmouth supplies much
information, which has been greatly borne out by subsequent researches.
He considered that Exeter was a city of the Britons some time before the
Romans elected to establish their camp. The British named it
indifferently Cær-Wisc (city of the water), or Cær Rydh (the red city),
from the coloured nature of the soil. When captured by the Romans they
made it a stipendiary town. They called it Isca, to which was added
Danmoniorum, to avoid confusion with the other Isca, a Latinised name
given also to a town on the river (now Usk) in Monmouthshire. Many
proofs of Roman occupation have turned up in the shape of numerous coins
and other relics.
The year 1778 was especially notable for the excavations which brought
to light many important objects. Small statuettes of Mercury, Mars,
Ceres, and Apollo, evidently the household gods of the Romans, together
with urns, tiles, and tessellated pavements, were unearthed. Exeter at
one time went by the name of Augusta, which was due to its having been
occupied by the Second Augustan Legion, whose commander, Vespasian,
included the city under his conquest Britannia Prima. The same legion,
during the period 47 to 52, had also a permanent station at Isca
Silurum, as Cærleon-on-the-Usk in Monmouth was called. But as Vespasian
continued the conquest, 69 to 79, it seems fair to surmise that the
Second Legion of Augusta was advanced or a portion sent from Isca
Silurum to garrison Isca Danmoniorum, the present Exeter.
For a considerable time it was the capital of the West Saxon kingdom.
It was probably during the Saxon occupation that the city changed its
name to Excestre, which would easily be contracted into that of Exeter.
In violation of a compact made with Alfred, who was a Saxon monarch, the
Danes seized the city. They were, however, compelled to evacuate it,
together with the surrender of all their prisoners within the West Saxon
territory, by Alfred, in 877. This monarch was again called upon in 894
to relieve the Saxons from their Danish oppressors. The next century
witnessed a marked improvement in the prosperity of the city. It had
from quite an early period been distinguished for its numerous monastic
institutions, so much so that it was said to have been called "Monk
Town" by Britons in Cornwall and the heathen Saxons. They were pleased
to deride it thus, but when Athelstan came he clearly made them
understand that it was no happy state to be without the pale of the
Church. He so thoroughly instilled into them the necessity of imbibing
the principles of religion that those who were unwilling to become
converts were expelled.
[Illustration: EXETER
FROM THE PALACE GARDENS]
With the exception of a few, we may take it that many embraced
Christianity as a matter of compulsion or for expediency's sake, for in
those days of hard knocks it was hardly likely that any mass of
ignorant peasants would comprehend anything but the most stringent
measures. The transition from heathen darkness to the light of
Christianity must have meant a severe initiation to two-thirds of the
population of Exeter at the time of Athelstan's accession. He came
westward about the year 926 and found the Britons and Saxons living
amicably and enjoying equal rights. The city had by them already been
called Exenceaster, that is, the "cester" or fortified town on the
"Exe." Athelstan augmented the number of religious institutions by the
foundation of a Benedictine monastery. The building was dedicated to St.
Peter, the establishment of which there seems no reason to doubt gave
birth eventually to the present cathedral. Besides this he materially
increased the importance of the town by appointing two mints and
erecting regular fortifications with towers and a wall of hewn stone.
Athelstan's monastery was destroyed by the Danes. King Edgar in 968
restored it, and appointed Sydemann to the Abbacy, as it then became.
Ultimately this abbot was raised to the Bishopric of Crediton, which was
the seat of the Devonshire Diocese about 910. In 1003 Exeter, after a
gallant defence of some three months' duration, was betrayed by its
governor into the hands of Sweyn. As has been said elsewhere, this king
came from Denmark especially to punish Ethelred the Unready for having
allowed the massacre of Danes, in which the sister of Sweyn had
perished. The monastery of St. Peter was not spared, nor was the city,
which did not recover from the terrible visitation till the accession of
Canute.
From this time Exeter increased to such importance and wealth that in
the reign of Edward the Confessor it was deemed advisable and for better
security to make it the head of the Diocese.
For this purpose the Sees of Crediton and St. Germans (Cornwall) were
united under one bishop. To uphold worthily the new dignity, the abbey
church of St. Peter was erected into a cathedral by the Confessor, who
appointed his chaplain Leofric as first bishop of the united see.
Leofric had the monks removed to Westminster Abbey, and installed in
their stead were twenty-four secular canons. The date of Leofric's
installation is about 1040, which is, of course, that of the foundation
of the Cathedral. This arrangement was altered on the re-erection of the
Cornish See in 1876.
In William the Conqueror's time Githa, the mother of Harold, gave the
Normans considerable trouble. It was only on the appearance of that
monarch before the city's walls that the citizens surrendered. They
were made to pay a heavy fine, whilst Githa escaped with her treasures
to take refuge in Flanders. William in the end relented and renewed all
their former privileges. Nevertheless he took the precaution to erect a
fortress in Exeter, the charge of which was entrusted to Baldwin de
Brioniis, who, by virtue of his office, became Earl of Devon and sheriff
of the county. The chief remains of the Castle is a gateway tower.
This same castle was held by the partisans of the Empress Matilda for
three months, when it was compelled in 1136 through scarcity of water to
surrender to Stephen. Contrary to expectation, they were treated very
well. Henry II., for their loyalty, was pleased to grant additional
privileges.
In 1200 the city for the first time was governed by a mayor and
corporation. Subsequently their importance was increased by the charters
of Edward III., Edward IV., and Henry VIII., whilst Henry VIII.
constituted Exeter a county of itself. These privileges were extended by
Charles I.; and in 1684 a new charter of incorporation was granted by
Charles II., but not put into effect. In 1770 George III. renewed and
confirmed the charter, since when the government has been invested in a
mayor assisted by subordinate officers. In the meantime a curious
incident occurred in 1824, which greatly interfered with the prosperity
of the city, inasmuch as the navigation of the river Exe was obstructed
by a dam erected by Hugh Courtenay, at that time Earl of Devon.
Exeter, through its happy situation on the river Exe, had for many years
reaped full benefit. At the time of the Conquest it had gained
considerable importance through the river being navigable for ships
right up to its quays. Among many petty matters that annoyed the Earl
the following is alleged to have been the chief. There were three pots
of fish in the market-place. The Earl wanted them all. The Bishop
likewise. Neither would give way, and the Mayor was called in to
adjudicate. He allotted one to the Earl, the second to the Bishop, and
the third to the town. This distribution did not suit the Earl. Out of
pique he caused a dam to be constructed across the Exe at Topsham. There
he built a quay, and had the satisfaction of greatly curtailing the
trade of Exeter.
[Illustration: EXETER
MOL'S COFFEE TAVERN]
In 1286 Edward I. assembled a parliament at Exeter, whilst in 1371 the
Black Prince brought here his royal prisoner of France and stayed
several days. The Duchess of Clarence, accompanied by many royal
adherents, took refuge within the city walls in 1469. It was besieged by
Sir William Courtenay, who eventually raised it on the mediation of the
clergy.
The next event of importance not only affected Exeter, but threw into
agitation the whole of the British Empire. Of two impostors that laid
claim to the Crown which Henry VII. was wearing, the second was a youth
called Perkin Warbeck. He bore such a striking resemblance to the
Plantagenets that he had been secretly instructed to impersonate Richard
Duke of York, the younger brother of Edward V., who it was pretended had
escaped from the Tower and from the fate that overtook his brother. So
ingratiating was his manner that he successfully enlisted the aid of the
Duchess of Burgundy, who was holding her court at Brussels. His first
attempt to land in England was in Kent; his second in Ireland. Both
ventures being unsuccessful, he tried Scotland. There he convinced King
James IV. that he was a true Plantagenet, and through him he raised an
army and invaded England. However, the two kings having come to an
understanding, Warbeck retired to Ireland. He there received an
invitation from the Cornishmen, acting on which he landed at Whitsand
Bay in that county.
At Bodmin he was joined by a considerable force of men, with whom he
marched and laid siege to Exeter in the year 1497. At the approach of
the royal forces his followers were dispersed, whilst he fled to
Beaulieu in Hampshire. Two years afterwards he ended his career at
Tyburn.
In 1536 Exeter was erected a county of itself. The year 1549 saw the
investment of the city by a numerous body of popish adherents, from whom
it was relieved by John Lord Russell in August. On the very day of its
investment, the second of July, the strange spectacle of Welch being
hanged from the tower of his own church, in which he had been accustomed
to officiate as vicar, took place. He suffered on the charge of being a
Cornish rebel. During the parliamentary war it was taken and retaken,
finally to be surrendered to the Roundheads in 1646. Throughout it all
the citizens were warm supporters of the Stuarts, as they had always
been to the Crown. So much so was their loyalty that in a previous
reign, that of Elizabeth, she presented to the Corporation, with many
other marks of her royal favour, the motto "Semper Fidelis." During the
stay of the parliamentary troops under General Fairfax, the Cathedral
was ruthlessly defaced and divided into places of worship for
Presbyterians and Independents. The palace adjoining was also turned
into barracks, and the Chapter House converted into stables. During
these troubles Queen Henrietta Maria, the consort of Charles I., had
returned to Exeter from Oxford, believing herself to be in danger from
the hatred with which she feared she was regarded by the people. Here
she gave birth to her youngest child, the Princess Henrietta. Leaving
the infant at Exeter she escaped to France.
In the Guildhall, which is a picturesque Elizabethan building, are two
full-length portraits: one depicts the features of General Monk, Duke of
Albemarle, painted by Sir Peter Lely; the other was given by Charles II.
to the Corporation as some slight acknowledgment of the city's loyalty.
It represents the portrait of his sister, Princess Henrietta, then
Duchess of Orleans. James II. was the next sovereign to bestow favour,
which he did by establishing a mint in 1688. His influence was
shortlived, for on the arrival of the Prince of Orange in the August of
the same year the inhabitants readily submitted. This prince is credited
with establishing a mint at Exeter, or it may be he simply completed or
confirmed that of his predecessor. The following year saw him on the
throne of the kingdom as William III., which ratified the declaration he
had caused to be read by Burnet in the Cathedral of Exeter. Though
visited by subsequent reigning princes, their presence may be said to
have conferred more honour than to have promoted any material changes to
the prosperity of Exeter.
The mainstay of the city is the glorious Cathedral, and the quaintness
of some of its houses and streets is unique. They afford a great
attraction to visitors, who are willing to go a long railway journey
west simply to see and compare the merits and demerits of the Cathedral
with the many others dotted throughout Great Britain.
The actual date of the Cathedral is in 1049. Its origin, as we have
seen, occasioned no turning of the soil to receive foundations, but
merely the conventual church of the monks, removed by Edward the
Confessor to his new abbey at Westminster, adapted to meet the
requirements of Bishop Leofric and his secular canons appointed to the
united Sees of Devon and Cornwall. The head of the Diocese was at
Exeter. What was the size and character of the converted monastic church
at that time no two authorities seem able to agree. According to an old
record at Oxford its lease soon ran out, for in the year 1112 a new
church was commenced by Bishop Warlewast, continued by his successors,
and finally completed by Bishop Marshall, who died in 1206. They are
supposed to have carried out the plan of Warlewast; but as the whole of
the fabric, with the exception of the towers, was entirely rebuilt in
1280, the original design is chiefly conjectural. The body of the church
probably corresponded in character with the two massive transeptal
towers. These are quite a feature in that, with the exception of those
at the collegiate church of Ottery in Devonshire, they exist nowhere
else in England. This arrangement of the towers did away with the
necessity of either a central tower or lantern. It enabled the architect
to extend a long unbroken roof throughout the nave and choir. The
aisles, with the intervention of richly clustered pillars and pointed
arches springing from their caps, range along on either side of the
nave. With the sets of ribs starting each from a clustered centre, and
spreading out as they soar towards the highest limit of the roof, as
grand an exposition of beauty and noble gradations of perspective lines,
as conceived by architects of the Decorative period, have been realised.
The period of this rebuilding was commenced in 1280 with the Early
English style of architecture by Bishop Quivil, and was completed in
1369 in the best years of the Decorated style, just a few years before
the Perpendicular came into vogue. It is said that this cathedral served
as a model for the church at Ottery. Though this cathedral in miniature
resembles the great edifice in Exeter in certain points, notably the
transeptal towers, yet, if the principal part of it dates from 1260, it
can hardly, with the one exception, have been a copy of the chief church
of the Diocese. The Early English work of Ottery church takes, by
comparison of dates, priority over that at Exeter by some twenty years.
[Illustration: EXETER
INTERIOR OF THE NAVE]
The west front, which is one mass of elegant tracery and canopied niches
adorned with statuary, is the Decorated period merged into that of the
Perpendicular, covering the years from about 1369 to 1394, under the
episcopacy of Brantingham. The windows are excellent examples of elegant
tracing. Under successive bishops after Quivil, the chief alteration was
the lengthening of the nave and the roof vaulted by Grandison. The year
1420 really saw the completion of the building under Bishop Lacey. Time
and weather having caused certain decay, Sir G. G. Scott was directed in
1870 to restore it. The undertaking took seven years. A new stall, a
reredos, the choir repaved, rich marbles and porphyries used, and
stained glass put up mainly by Clayton and Bell, were the chief items of
restoration. When erecting the reredos Scott could never have foreseen
the little storm it gave rise to, just when he was half-way through with
the general renovation. Prebendary Philpotts, the Chancellor, and
several others had their conscientious objections, which they laid
before the Bishop's visitation court in 1873. It was ruled that the
Bishop had the jurisdiction in the matter. He ordered the removal of the
reredos in April 1874. In August of the same year Dean Boyd appealed to
the Court of Arches, and had the previous decision reversed by Sir R.
Phillimore. However, Prebendary Philpotts saw fit to appeal to the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. They decided that the reredos
should remain. Thus in 1875 was ended the controversy; and there rests
Sir G. G. Scott's design, open to the criticism of all who are capable
of framing an impartial one.
In this same year of 1875 much excitement arose over the church-tax. It
was called indifferently "dominicals" and "sacrament money," which were
said to be of the nature of tithes. However, the disputes were ended by
the distraints for payment.
In the Chapter House is preserved an important manuscript, including the
famous book of Saxon poetry presented by Leofric on his accession to the
See of Exeter. It is called the "Exeter Book," and is the life of St.
Guthlac, by Cynewulf, who was an early English writer. Born somewhere
between 720 and 730 at Northumbria, Cynewulf was a wandering bard by
profession. Late in life he suffered a religious crisis, and devoted his
remaining years to religious poetry. An early work of his is a series of
ninety-four Riddles.
It is an example of the effects of Latin influence, which in the end
revolutionised the style of Old English literature as a whole. Cynewulf
appears to have been a prolific writer. Besides the Riddles, the "Crist"
(dealing with the three advents of Christ), the lives of St. Juliana and
St. Elene, and the "Fates of the Apostles" are ascribed to him, as well
as "The Descent into Hell," "Felix," and the lives of St. Andreas and
St. Guthlac. A valuable treasure is that in the possession of Exeter.
Many such precious relics are to be found distributed among the various
ecclesiastical buildings in England, known only to antiquarians and
people with interest akin to theirs. The quaint, picturesque old coffee
tavern, with its bow windows of square-leaded panes, ends curiously at
the top with a moulded outline so reminiscent of many houses in Belgium.
The tombs are mostly to the memory of bishops who each in his own time
maintained the dignity of the See. Of those natives who came to the
front through sheer ability may be enumerated the following: Josephus
Iscanus, or Joseph of Exeter, a distinguished Latin poet of the twelfth
century; his contemporary, Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury; John
Hooker, author of "A History of Exeter in the Sixteenth Century"; Sir
Thomas Bodley, who founded the magnificent Bodleian Library at Oxford;
Matthew Lock, a seventeenth-century musical composer of note; and many
others.
Amongst many notable institutions is the Grammar School, which dates
from the reign of Henry VIII.
The manufactures are few. The woollen trade, at one time only surpassed
by Leeds, has now entirely departed from Exeter. If it were not for its
glorious minster and the river Exe, up which vessels of three hundred
tons' burden can come up right to the city's quay, Exeter would have
long ago sunk to mere insignificance.
The river, which decided the early Britons to settle on its banks, the
Romans to station the Second Legion of Augusta, the monks to establish
their humble monastery, eventually to be absorbed into a see, has from
the early times afforded facilities for exports and imports. The ship
canal from Exeter to Topsham, which is in the estuary of the Exe, begun
in 1564, enlarged in 1675 and again in 1827, materially assisted and
rescued commerce from a serious decline. Those vessels that are too deep
in the water remain at Topsham, whilst those of still greater tonnage
discharge their holds at Exmouth, a port at the mouth of the river.
Norwich
Norwic.
("Doomsday Book.")
When this city first came into being it is puzzling to say. The
difficulty is as to where the site was originally fixed. Three miles to
the south of Norwich is the village of Caistor (St. Edmunds). Owing to
its position on the river Wentsum, or Wensum, it was called Cær Gwent by
the Britons, and for the like reason it was named by the Romans Venta
Icenorum. It formed their principal station, as it before had served as
the residence of the kings of the Iceni. From the ruins of Venta
Icenorum gradually arose Norwich. As to when it was firmly established
on its present eminence under the name of Nordewic, or North Town, there
seems to be no reliable evidence. It first appears by that name in the
Saxon Chronicle of the year 1004. It may possibly mean the town north of
the old settlement. For one thing it is certain, in proportion as
Nordewic rose Caistor sank from an important town to a mere village in
ruins. According to an authority, an earlier date is arrived at than the
entry in the Saxon Chronicle. He conjectures that the keep, the only
remnant of the castle built on the summit of the steep mound by William
Rufus, was the Saxon "burh," erected in 767. This, if correct, would
clearly indicate that Norwich had already attained considerable
importance. According to Spelman, it was the residence of the kings of
East Anglia. They established a mint, where it is supposed coins of
Alfred and several succeeding monarchs were struck. From its
geographical position Norwich was frequently exposed to the attacks of
the Norsemen, who could easily land on the Norfolk coast and cover the
few intervening miles in a short time. The city was alternately in the
possession of the Saxons and the Danes. Against the latter Alfred the
Great repaired and fortified the citadel, to whom, however, he
eventually handed it over after a treaty of peace. The Saxons afterwards
regained it and held it till 1004, when it had to surrender to the Danes
under their leader Sweyn. The terrible weak reign of Ethelred II. had
earned him the epithet of Unready. His indolence caused his territories
to be terrorised, the towns to be racked, and their inhabitants to be
massacred by the Danes under Sweyn, who, under pretext of avenging the
murder of his sister, took the opportunity of ravaging and laying waste
the land. On the accession of Canute, however, though a Dane, the cities
began to prosper again. Thus it came about that Norwich, which had
remained in a state of desolation till 1018, came again into Danish
possession, but under Canute. With this fresh beginning it rapidly rose
to great importance. By the time of the Norman Conquest, Norwich was
classed as second only to York in extent and prosperity, being described
in the "Doomsday Book" as having 1320 burgesses with their families, 25
parish churches, and covering an area of not far short of 1000 acres. It
was bestowed by the Conqueror on Ralph de Guaer, or Guader, in 1075, who
rewarded his master's kindness by joining a conspiracy formed by the
Earls of Hereford and Northumberland against the Crown. After having
unsuccessfully defended the Castle, he retired into Brittany, leaving
his wife to sustain the siege. The city was very much damaged, and the
number of burgesses woefully reduced in numbers, some 560 only being
left on the capitulation to the Conqueror. In view of the gallant
defence by Guader's wife and garrison of Britons, William granted them
all the honours of war and permission to leave the kingdom in perfect
security. This siege was a great check to the advancement of the city.
At the same time the value of the property must have been considerably
lessened. This depreciation after the drawing up of the "Doomsday Book"
in 1086 could hardly have suited the views of the Conqueror. To obviate
the difficulty it would be necessary to introduce some new element, some
attraction that would bring added interest and fresh residents willing
to ply their industries in the town. The commencement of a new period of
prosperity was soon realised after the establishment of a see at
Norwich, though not until the time of William Rufus. One of his
followers from Normandy was Herbert de Lozinga, or Lorraine, who having
been made Bishop of East Anglia, decided to remove the See from Thetford
to Norwich. In addition to the Cathedral, he established an episcopal
palace and a monastery to maintain sixty monks, all in the year 1094. It
had the desired effect; the city rapidly improved, the number of
inhabitants greatly increased, and trade extended. In the reign of
Stephen it was rebuilt. In 1122 Henry I. granted Norwich the same
franchise as that enjoyed in London, incorporated in a charter. The
government of the city was at the same time separated from that of
the Castle, and entrusted to the chief magistrate, or Præpositus
(provost), as he was styled. Another factor in the city's welfare was
the colony of Flemish weavers who settled at Worstead, about thirteen
miles from Norwich. They introduced the manufacture of woollen stuffs. A
second colony, however, came in Edward III.'s time and settled right in
Norwich, when it was made a staple town for the counties of Norfolk and
Suffolk.
[Illustration: NORWICH
THE MARKET PLACE]
The citizens, in the reign of John, suffered considerable loss from the
depredations of the Dauphin, who had been invited from France to assist
the barons. In 1272 a riot between the monks and the citizens caused the
burning of the priory. The terrible plague, called the black death, that
occurred between 1348 and 1349, destroyed two-thirds of the population.
The city no sooner was beginning to recover from this terrible
visitation than one of its residents, John Listher, a dyer by
profession, incited an insurrection called the Norfolk Levellers. They
managed in 1381 to do much damage before the rebellion was quelled by
the Bishop of Norwich, who defeated Listher and had him executed. From
Henry IV. the citizens received permission to be governed by a mayor and
sheriffs in 1403, and Norwich was made a county of itself. But in spite
of it all the city severely suffered: what with the continued dissension
between the monks and the citizens, when the monastic buildings were
burnt down, and the tumults by tradesmen all too ready to lay aside
their tools and follow some hare-brained leader with a grievance, and
later on, after the peaceful period of Elizabeth, the Civil War. The
most notable insurrection was that conducted under the reign of Edward
VI. by a tanner, Robert Kett, and his brother William. Under the
pretence of resisting the "enclosure of waste lands," they contrived to
excite a most formidable rising. They seized upon the palace of the Earl
of Surrey, and, converting it into a prison, confined many of the
aristocracy. They then encamped upon Mouse-hold Heath, where eventually
they were routed by the army under the Earl of Warwick in 1549. The two
brothers were taken prisoners, Robert being hanged on Norwich Castle,
and William suffering a like penalty on the steeple of Wymondham church,
the parish from which they had both come. During the reign of Elizabeth
a large body of Dutch and Walloons settled in Norwich, and introduced
among many other articles the manufacture of bombazine, for which the
city soon became noted. These refugees were Protestants, who had sought
an asylum in England to escape the persecution of the Duke of Alva, and
though many Roman Catholics and even some of the Protestants were
unwilling martyrs to the stake at Norwich during this same reign of
Elizabeth, the city no doubt appeared to these exiles to offer a better
chance of life than that in the Netherlands. By the year 1582 their
numbers had increased to five thousand. The Queen, who had encouraged
and protected these emigrants, thus laid the foundation of the
commercial and manufacturing prosperity of the town, as she had done
elsewhere, and on her visit to Norwich was sumptuously fêted. But the
Civil War in Charles I.'s reign did much to upset trade in Norwich. It
was held by the Parliamentarians, who seem to have got out of control.
The Cathedral was barbarously defaced, all its plate and ornaments
looted, and the Bishop's Palace greatly damaged. The Castle, on the
other hand, was strongly fortified for Cromwell. After the Restoration,
Norwich was one of the first to swear allegiance to Charles II., who
with his consort paid it a visit. He went away richer than he came, the
city having assigned its fee-farm to him, with the presentation of £1000
sterling besides. Since then the citizens have been content to lead a
quiet life, and carry on such manufactures as ironworks, mustard,
starch, and brewing of ale, though the textile manufacture, once
important, has now declined. Printing, which was introduced here in
1570, but discontinued for several years, was revived in 1701, when
newspapers began to be printed and circulated. Though, as we have seen,
the monks and citizens often did not agree, yet we must not forget that
it was mainly owing to the establishment of the See that prosperity came
to Norwich. The presence of the Cathedral immediately rescued the city
from oblivion, and, more, it raised it above the commonplace. All credit
must be awarded to Herbert de Lozinga. For some reason or other he was
dissatisfied with Thetford, which was then the seat of the Diocese, and
determined to transfer it elsewhere. For this purpose in 1094 he
purchased a large plot of ground near the Castle and soon commenced the
building of a magnificent cathedral. It was purely Norman. Though it has
undergone many alterations, additions, and restorations, Lozinga's plan
is still in great evidence, much more so than many other examples of
Norman work in England. With the establishment of a Benedictine
monastery, Lozinga brought his work to a close, and dedicated it to Holy
Trinity in 1101. As presented to us now, it is a spacious cruciform
structure, with a highly finished and ornamental Norman tower rising
from the centre. This again is surmounted by an elegant octagonal spire
of the Later Decorated style, and crocketed at the angles. The spire is
315 feet, and its height is exceeded in England only by that at
Salisbury. The west front is of Norman character, with a central
entrance, over which was placed a large window in the Later English
style. The nave, remarkable for its elaborate 328 bosses, was
stone-vaulted in the fifteenth century. The vaulting of the transepts
and the chantry of Bishop Nix dates from the sixteenth century. The
choir is richly ornamented with excellent design in tracery work of the
Later English style, whilst the east end has several circular chapels.
The Lady Chapel, which was early English, was unfortunately demolished
about 1580. The cloisters are very fine. They are 12 feet wide, and
cover an area of 175 square feet, with 45 windows inserted. They were
commenced in 1297 and completed in 1430. Though mainly composed of the
Decorated period, they range in character from the early years of that
style down to the Later English style. The Cathedral, in common with the
city, suffered severely. At one time it was very much destroyed by fire.
The dome was repaired soon after by John of Oxford, who was the fourth
bishop.
[Illustration: NORWICH
THE ÆTHELBERT GATE]
Besides this it received repeated assaults arising from the numerous
disagreements between the monks and the citizens. It is always
marvellous to think how such great works of art have come down to the
present day exhibiting, in spite of fires, Commonwealth defacements,
repairs and alterations, so much evidence of the skill of those great
masters of mediæval architecture. The Chapter House, usually a great
feature of the cathedral, is missing at Norwich, though it once existed.
There are two monumental effigies, one to Bishop Goldwell about 1499,
and the other to Bishop Bathurst in 1837, the work of Chantrey. Of the
mural monuments there is one to Sir William Boleyn. He was the
great-grandfather of Queen Elizabeth. His remains were interred on the
south side of the Presbytery, in the midst of which once stood the tomb
of Herbert de Lozinga, the founder. "Best viewed from the east," wrote
George Borrow in "The Lavengro" in a description of Norwich Cathedral.
Perhaps the advice of this extraordinary man is the best one to follow.
Born at East Dereham, Norfolk, in 1803, of Cornish descent, educated at
Norwich Grammar School, which he supplemented with the study of some
twenty languages, he passed an adventurous and varied career from
running away from Norwich to be a footpad to travelling partly with
gypsies over Europe and Asia, the latter part being supposed to account
for his disappearance--the veiled period he called it, lasting from 1826
to 1833. In subsequent years he found time between his restless
wanderings to write "The Gypsies in Spain" (1841), "The Bible in Spain"
(1843), the much delayed auto-biography, appearing in 1851, and "The
Romany Rye" in 1857. After another long disappearance, when it was
believed he was dead, he came to life again by publishing his "Romano
Lavo-Lil" (Gypsy Word-Book) in 1874. From this year till his death in
1881 the famous philologist, traveller, and author spent most of his
time in lodgings in Norwich, where he became a familiar figure. The
lives of many men can lay a better claim to be recognised by Norwich
than Borrow, through virtue of their birthright. In the fourteenth
century William Bateman, one time Bishop of Norwich, founded the great
college of Trinity Hall at Cambridge. His great example was followed by
another native of Norwich, Dr. Kaye or Caius, who established the
beautiful college of Gonville and Caius at the same university. Matthew
Parker, second Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury, as chaplain attended
Queen Anne Boleyn to the scaffold; Robert Green became a popular writer
in the reign of Elizabeth. In 1734 Edward King was born here. He gained
much recognition as author of a work on ancient architecture entitled
"Munimenta Antiqua," and for his many antiquarian researches was
admitted Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. The Reverend William
Beloe acquired a reputation by his translation of Herodotus, though
possibly only known to classical scholars. The Linnæan Society owes its
inception to Sir James Edward Smith, M. D., whose first president he
became. This distinguished native of Norwich was also the author of the
"Flora Britannica."
The beautiful gate of Erpingham, which was erected in 1420 and faces the
west end of the Cathedral, recalls the munificence of Sir Thomas
Erpingham, by whom it was built. He greatly distinguished himself at the
battle of Agincourt, and was eventually interred in the Cathedral of
Norwich, the town of his residence, though not of his birth. Another
resident was Sir John Fastof, who lived fighting as a renowned warrior
for Henry IV., V., and VI. in their wars in France.
[Illustration: NORWICH
FROM THE NORTHEAST]
From the old Grammar School came, besides Borrow, Sir Edward Coke, who
was born in Norfolk. When only forty years of age he became
Attorney-General, and lived in the reign of Elizabeth, always at
strife with his dangerous and brilliant legal rival, Francis Bacon.
Coke, by his opposition to the royal prerogative of raising money on the
validity of the Court of High Commission, and in taking a considerable
share in the drawing up of the Petition of Right, and in the debates
upon the conduct of Buckingham, earned the dislike of James I. Though
treading on dangerous ground, Coke nevertheless received active
employment, and appears to have got on quite well in spite of royal
displeasure.
Two other scholars were Brooke and Lord Nelson. Brooke entered the East
India Company's army in 1819 at the age of sixteen. In his remarkable
career he assisted the Sultan of Brunti to reduce the marauding Dyak
tribes of Sarawak, and with such success that the Sultan created him
rajah of the province of Sarawak in 1841.
A famous school of landscape painting was that at Norwich. It flourished
in the first part of the nineteenth century, the principal artists of
which were Crome,--who by the way was a native of Norwich,--Cotman,
Vincent, and Stark.
Of recent years the Cathedral has undergone extensive restoration,
namely, in 1892 and 1900.
Before closing this account we think it would be of interest to outline
the causes that embittered the existence of the Jews and led to their
persecution through the disappearance of a Christian boy in 1144 from
Norwich.
We have had occasion, under Lincoln, to mention the attitude adopted by
the citizens towards the Jews. If anything, the feeling was more intense
at Norwich. It is uncertain when they first resided in England, though
it is supposed they visited before the Conquest for purposes of the
slave trade, of which they held a monopoly. The position of the Jews in
a Christian State entirely depended upon the attitude of the Church,
whose stringent measures effectually precluded any Semitic from the
exercise of any public office unless the reception was confirmed by
oaths of a Christian character. As this clause was foreign to the tenets
of the Hebrew religion, and as the Church regarded the means of loans
lent out on interest as prohibited by the Gospel, and as a disreputable
calling and unworthy of a Christian, usury became the only means of
subsistence to the Jew in England. They were not affected by the views
of the Church, and soon made themselves felt. As, however, capital was
needed for the building of monasteries, abbeys, and cathedrals by the
Church, and the kings of England, especially John and Henry III., found
it convenient to extort tallage, the Jews were tolerated. The rate of
interest demanded for what was in the first place a trifling loan in a
few years increased to a formidable debt. The means adopted by the
Christian Church and kings of the middle ages to free themselves from
this bondage in no way reflect any honour. The custom appears to have
been for the king to seize the whole of the estate, both treasure and
debts, of the Jew on his demise, though there may have been sons to
inherit. Another was to burn the proofs of indebtedness after having
slain the creditors, as the attack against the Jews organised by a set
of nobles, who were deep in their debt, is recorded to have taken place
at York. For the Jew being a usurer, the estate fell into the hands of
the King, who might be influenced to cancel the debt for a much smaller
amount. We cannot then wonder that the lower classes followed in the
steps of their superiors. But above all, in the twelfth century the
Church encouraged the circulation of a suspicion that the Jews
sacrificed Christian children in their Passover. However, the suspicion
or "blood accusation," as it was called, first took root with a case in
which a boy of the name of William disappeared at Norwich. This terrible
accusation against the Jews has since been proved to have been founded
on the shallowest pretexts, but at the time the myth was nevertheless
encouraged by the clergy, since it attracted vast numbers of pilgrims to
any cathedral or church which might contain the martyred remains of
these boy-saints. The example of Norwich was followed in the same
century by one at Gloucester and Edmondsbury, whilst in the following
century the supposed martyrdom of Hugh of Lincoln served only to
increase and confirm the popular belief. Hence the intense ill-feeling
between the Christian and the Jew.
London
St. Paul's.
Si quaeris monumentum, circumspice.
No epitaph more noble and impressive can have possibly been conceived
than the simple Latin inscription placed upon the modest tomb of
Christopher Wren: "If ye seek my monument, look around." When building
this magnificent structure, the great architect was preparing a glorious
sepulchre to receive his remains. Some thirty-five years it took Wren to
realise this great achievement--an achievement the more astounding when
we learn that he was actively engaged throughout the whole time in the
planning and personal superintendence of some thirty churches in London,
no two of which are alike. Daily he walked around jotting down a sketch
of the next detail to be worked upon, deciding, as the work progressed,
and maturing his plans, throwing out one day a course, another day
realising an idea that had just occurred to him. Thus the fabric rose
higher day by day, month by month, year by year. He adhered to no
carefully prepared plans; he entrusted nothing to his subordinates; he
hugged the entire responsibility. They did not know what phase of work
the morrow would bring. On the day each workman would receive a rough
section and plan jotted down on the spot, accompanied with verbal
instructions. If, even when finished according to his directions, Wren
was dissatisfied with this gem of his brain, down it had to come, to be
substituted by some other improved idea. Of course Wren had in the first
place to submit plans for the proposed cathedral. It is not likely that
any committee would engage in anything so important blindfolded. But
these plans only formed the shell on which to peg any new suggestions
that might crop up in the progress of the work, very much after the
fashion of a plastic sketch submitted by the sculptor to a committee,
who look wise and generally make foolish comments. The sketch is merely
an indication of what is to come after, and is intended as some
guarantee. Without this no conscientious committee would commit
themselves to any agreement. They control the expenditure of the public
subscriptions. If the finished work does not come up to the promised
standard of excellence, the committee can fall back upon the sketch and
get exonerated of all culpable blame. The artist gets the abuse for the
failure or departure from the original. When such necessarily rough
sketches are faithfully carried out, they often are failures; for what
look well in a rough sketch often become serious blemishes in the
completed work. The true artist is never satisfied--that is, that
extraordinary being who has a greater love for art than for mere
coin--and will alter and improve upon his original design at every
suggestion (and they crowd thick upon him) that makes itself manifest,
with a total disregard to his own pocket and that punctuality so
essential to the successful city man. He has got his ideal, and he is
determined to reach it if he has to go through a brick wall.
Very much in the same way, we may be sure, Wren was actuated. His pay
was no inducement. He received only £200 a year throughout the whole
time of building, and then at one time a certain portion of this
miserable pittance was withheld by order of Parliament, because his
detractors accused him of delaying the final completion of the work from
corrupt motives. Wren's clerk of the works, by name Nicholas Hawksmoor,
who afterwards became famous as the builder of several London churches,
was paid only twenty pence a day. Tijou, his ironworker, and Grinling
Gibbons, the famous carver in wood, were all actuated by the same ideal
when they helped to give expression to their master's genius. However,
in one or two particulars, which will be mentioned later on, Wren's
superior judgment was overruled by his committee. Much to his intense
and lasting mortification they carried the day and stamped themselves as
incompetent judges. This process of realisation, this seeking after an
ideal, sometimes led Wren into strange architectural difficulties, only
to be overcome in a masterly way. By discovering these little
inconsistencies, the architect's skilfulness in taking advantage of
accidents, in turning what appeared an irremediable blunder into a great
success, shows what a complete understanding he had in that great branch
of art--architecture--and endorses more than ever the great position he
will always be accorded.
An example will serve to illustrate his ingenuity.
How many people, when climbing up the stairs that lead to the whispering
gallery and elsewhere, have ever noticed any peculiarity about them? Yet
there is one. When first they were being built each step was meant to be
of the same height, but as they mounted higher, Wren suddenly discovered
that the top one would be an ugly tall one to ascend. To avoid this
meant one of two things, either to demolish what had already been
completed and start afresh, or to turn this accident to good account.
The latter alternative was chosen. By gradually reducing the height of
the remaining steps, he contrived to overcome the difficulty so
successfully that he has tricked the eye and foot, so slight is the
difference of each tread. They appear to be equidistant as the ones
lower down, and the illusion can only be dispelled by measurement.
If any one is observant on reaching the top of Ludgate Hill, one
peculiarity of the great building will strike him. It is that the great
west façade does not squarely face Ludgate Hill, but bears considerably
to the right. In fact its axis does not run due east and west.
On the advancement of Wren to be principal architect, he was not only
commissioned to erect the Cathedral, but was to rebuild the city. His
scheme was very thorough. It comprised the widening of the streets; the
complete insulation of all important churches; the public buildings were
to have good frontages; and the halls of the City Guilds were to form a
quadrangle around the Guildhall. To carry these improvements into
effect, Government issued orders that none except Wren's rebuilding
would be recognised. Unfortunately much valuable time was wasted in an
attempt at the restoration of the old cathedral, insisted upon by the
committee, against Wren's wishes, and it was only when a portion of the
nave fell down that Dean Sancroft was able to obtain the consent of the
committee to raze the old walls to the ground and to allow Wren to build
from the very foundations. The delay of this decision had in the
meanwhile given opportunity to individuals to erect buildings much as
they pleased upon their own properties in spite of Government
prohibition, with the result that to a great extent streets and
boundaries, which existed before the Great Fire, were reproduced. It
also caused the loss of a far more spacious frontage than now exists,
which we may be sure formed an important item in Wren's design for the
Cathedral. The architect, however, by receding the west front from the
old site now occupied by the statue of Queen Ann, has cleverly spaced
out a noble frontage. Another consideration that determined Wren to
alter the axis of the Cathedral was his great aversion to utilising the
old foundations. His great ambition was to strike out for himself and to
be dependent on no one else's work. In order to realise this he laid the
axis of the new work to a point farther north of that of the old
cathedral, and the plan by this projection has in a marvellous way
covered practically the same ground, whilst at the same time Wren
managed to secure fresh ground for his foundations almost throughout the
whole church. The plan of St. Paul's is a Latin cross, and is based upon
classical lines. The principal front, the west, is composed of a double
portico of Corinthian fluted pillars, with two flights of steps leading
down to the road-level. In fact the entire body of the ground floor is
above the elevation of the street. Overhead is a large pediment, with
its panel sculptured in high relief. On either side the west front is
flanked by a campanile tower, composed at the summit of grouped circular
pillars. Just inside, on the left, is the Morning Chapel, whilst
straight on the opposite side lies the Chapel of the Order of St.
Michael and St. George. Proceeding eastwards, the nave is flanked by
three massive and imposing arches. Then comes the dome or cupola, rising
to a height of 365 feet, or 404 feet to the top of the cross. Viewed
from the interior the inner dome is 225 feet, and rests at the
intersection of the cross. The transepts are carried one arch to the
north and one to the south, each of which are bound by semi-circular
rows of Corinthian pillars.
Continuing again towards the east, a couple of steps mark the
commencement of the choir leading from the dome, and is carried forward
by three arches on either side. Behind the altar the colossal building
terminates in the apsidal Chapel of Jesus. Throughout the entire length
and breadth of the building is the crypt below. There under the choir,
the nearest to the south wall in the crypt chapel, is the modest slab
that covers the remains of the great architect of the grand edifice.
Next to him lies the body of Lord Leighton, the greatest president the
Royal Academy has ever had. Just in the one corner are buried some of
the most eminent of England's painters, sculptors, and musicians. Those
more generally known are Sir Joshua Reynolds, the first president of the
Royal Academy; Benjamin West, who succeeded him in office; Sir Thomas
Lawrence, who next filled it, and Sir John Millais, who held the dignity
only a few months after Leighton's death. The remains of J. M. W.
Turner, James Barry, John Foley, Sir Edwin Landseer, and Sir Arthur
Sullivan, musician, who are also some of the many great builders of art,
have all been accorded a little plot of ground close to their very great
brother-artist and predecessor, Sir Christopher Wren. In the centre of
the crypt, or rather right underneath the dome, is a noble mausoleum
containing the body of England's greatest admiral, Viscount Horatio
Nelson, whilst just close to him between the crypt chapel and the dome
is the massive sarcophagus of granite, encased in which is the body of
the Duke of Wellington. The monument of this hero of Waterloo is the
chief feature of the plastic art that attracts the visitor on looking up
the nave. It is the great artistic expression of Stevens, the sculptor,
and dwarfs all other monuments in its immediate neighbourhood. We would
like to enumerate the names of all the great men that lie in the mighty
shadow of St. Paul's, and pay some tribute to the many artists who have,
through their monuments, endeavoured their best to honour the memories
of those who have so worthily upheld the traditions of the great empire;
but any such attempt we feel we must relinquish, and devote all the
space we can to Wren's work and to that of his predecessors.
The wonderful wood-carving of the choir stall, and especially the
remarkable realistic floral designs of the Bishop's throne, were
executed by Grinling Gibbons, who lived between 1648 and 1720. He was
born at Rotterdam, and as a youth came over to England, and was
discovered by Evelyn, the diarist. So astonished was Evelyn by the
genius of Gibbons, who had just carved in wood a copy of Tintoretto's
"Crucifixion," that he introduced him to Wren, Pepys, and the King. With
such powerful friends and his marvellous talent he soon became the most
famous carver of his age. In viewing the great edifice one cannot help
thinking from whence came the money which enabled Wren to carry on the
work. With the exception of the Tillingham farm there were no
endowments, and people were, after the fire, far from being generous
donors. As funds were absolutely necessary, royal warrants were issued
to authorise the building committee to borrow on the security of the
coal and wine taxes. As the remuneration of Wren, Grinling Gibbons, and
Tijou was nothing to speak of, we may take it that practically the whole
of the proceeds was sunk in the materials and the workmen's wages.
Throughout the whole time of building Wren was harassed by petty
annoyances on the part of the committee, who interfered in small matters
of technical and artistic knowledge which lay quite beyond their
province. Against the architect's will they insisted upon the erection
of the heavy iron railings which fence in the Cathedral and mar the
beautiful gradations of lines from the lowest step of the transept
entrances to the summit of the dome's cross. This only serves as one of
many such instances. Finally, Wren's persecutors went so far as to
suspend his patent in the year 1718, being the forty-ninth of his
office and the eighty-sixth of his age, and William Benson was appointed
to succeed him.
This abrupt dismissal entirely upset any plan of internal decoration
which Wren might have been thinking of, though it is supposed he had
proposed to enrich and beautify St. Paul's with a scheme of colour
composed of marble and mosaic work with gold and paintings. With the
exception of the frescoes in the dome by Sir James Thornhill, nothing of
importance was done for fifty years after Wren's death. A proposal to
contribute a number of paintings from Sir Joshua Reynolds and the
members of the Royal Academy was negatived by Dr. Terrick, who was
Bishop of London at that time. In 1891 W. B. Richmond, A.R.A., was
commissioned to decorate the choir and the dome with mosaic work, it
being considered the most suitable material on account of the brilliancy
of its surface, and the easiest to clean without risk of injury to the
work. Sir William Richmond, K.C.B. (as he has since been created),
decided to depart from modern methods in favour of the ancient way of
embedding in cement cubes, so chosen and disposed to suit the various
shades of his subjects. They represent various incidents taken from the
Bible, treated most skilfully, as one would naturally expect from such
a talented artist.
The difficulties of such an undertaking, restricted within certain
limits as it must be by the nature of the material, together with the
many attendant side-issues of which the outside public have not the
faintest idea, can only be known to the artist himself, and perhaps to
some of his _confrères_.
In course of erection is the gilt iron balustrade upon the cornice that
runs round the church in continuation of that commenced by Wren at the
west end. This is the gift of Mr. Somers Clarke. He has also designed
the fittings for the installation of the electric light, which is the
generous presentation of Mr. Pierpont Morgan.
In conclusion, we cannot help recalling the incident that cheered the
closing years of Wren. Once every year the aged artist came from his
retirement at Hampton Court to London, to spend the day seated beneath
the great dome, happy to view the creation of his great intellect,
though possibly disturbed now and then by a little grain of discontent:
how much better he could do it now, if only he had youth and
opportunity--a worry that only assails the true artist.
In the natural sequence of dates we ought to have opened this account
with the earlier foundations. This we purposely disregarded, and
introduced the reader straightway to the most beautiful and impressive
building of St. Paul's that the site has ever had, leaving the others to
be dealt with until now.
The earliest known house for religious observance on the site of the
present cathedral was a temple. In accordance with the usual practice of
early founders, it is not surprising to find that the site selected for
it was upon the highest spot of ground in the city. If we follow the
accounts of old London, it would have been folly for the Romans to have
erected an important building like a temple upon a lower level, which
might have got swamped by an unusual rising of the tidal Thames. Apart
from such consideration, it was not the Roman custom to debase, but
rather to elevate as high as possible, any object they held in great
reverence. It would form also a convenient centre to rally round in
defence of any attack. In all accounts of the site of St. Paul's the
writers have plenty to say about the three churches, but seldom, if
ever, allude to the temple erected by the Romans.
This is the more curious when etymologists have endeavoured to explain
the affinity of Christian symbols to those of heathenism, showing how it
was clearly impossible, and hardly to be expected, that pagan customs
should be suddenly arrested and completely abolished, and an entire set
of new observances introduced expressly for the new faith--Christianity.
Such a sudden change could not, they contend, be thrust upon a people
brought up to revere the old heathen deities and observe customs
rendered sacred through superstition and countless ages. They required a
gradual weaning, and this, so they say, was done by christianising the
pagan symbols derived from nature-worship and adapting them to meet the
requirements of the new faith,--symbols which, in course of time, became
so clothed that their original significance was lost sight of.
It would greatly astonish all devout Christians to learn that the many
objects they look up to with sacred awe and wonder of mystery, the
inverted triangles which often form an ornament in church windows, the
facing towards the east, even the derivation of the very nave they may
happen to be in, with a variety of other symbols, existed long before
Christianity was ever thought of. It may also be a little disturbing to
learn that, quite unintentionally, they are indirectly paying respect to
many of the most heathen observances cloaked under the garb of Christian
religion. It is far from our intention to advocate a return to pagan
darkness, but if this be really true, surely there is a very close
connection between the temple and the Christian church. For this very
reason, and the more so in that certain lines of their argument are not
to be refuted, we would accord a greater importance than has been
hitherto done to the Roman temple that undoubtedly first stood on the
prominent piece of land in the London of those days. We do not mean to
say that at the time this temple was erected to Diana the sufferings and
crucifixion of Our Lord had not already borne fruit, but the very
existence of the temple clearly indicates that in London, at any rate,
the new faith was very much in its infancy, if it existed at all. But
the demolition of the temple, to make room for the first Christian
church, which was in turn destroyed in 302 during the Diocletian
persecution, clearly gives evidence that there must have been growing
indications of the presence of converts and missionaries which led to
the erection of the latter from the ruins of the former.
A matter of twenty years later, in the reign of Constantine, the church
was rebuilt, and completed by 337. What the shape of the first one was
can only be conjectured. It would most probably be based upon the
temple. The second was undoubtedly Romanesque, if we can rely upon the
dates of its rebuilding. They fall conveniently between 306 and 337, a
period of marvellous development of ecclesiastical architecture based
upon classical remains, which the favourable attitude of Constantine
towards Christianity encouraged. Converts in Rome had increased to such
numbers that it was felt that some covered-in space was essential to
protect the congregation against the sun's hot rays and inclement
weather, the more especially as such a building, far from attracting
hostile attention, would serve to the furtherance of Christianity. The
form it took was the conversion of the basilica. As anything that came
from Rome was looked upon as a correct thing to copy, it is not
surprising to learn that travelling merchants and missionaries were able
to control the taste of the cities they passed through. In this way each
country adopted the basilica, though in many features they differed from
each other, consequent on customs, surroundings, and climatic
conditions. However, about the year 597, the pagan Saxons appear to have
destroyed the church. We come then to the first church of St. Paul's of
which we have authentic record. It was built by Ethelbert, King of Kent,
in 607. He had first to obtain the sanction of Sebert, who claimed
London as being in his dominion of the East Angles. To this see
Mellitus was appointed as the first bishop. He was one of the forty
monks who had accompanied Augustine in 597 to help to carry out Pope
Gregory the Great's scheme, which was to divide England into two
provinces with metropolitans of equal dignity at London and York, with
twelve suffragans to each. Since then London's see has become third,
ranking next to York. In the course of four hundred and eighty years,
607-1087, no doubt Ethelbert's church underwent considerable alteration,
probably commencing with a very humble building, perhaps chiefly of
wood, and as portions got out of repair such characteristics of stone
buildings, as learnt from travellers returning from Italy, were
introduced, thus gradually transforming the Saxon church to architecture
"in the Roman way." For after the departure of the Romans the Britons at
first appear to have returned to primitive methods of architecture. It
is only as time progressed that they gradually became initiated, through
the visits of travellers, into the working of stone, which, after the
arrival of the Normans, came into more general practice.
[Illustration: LONDON
ST. PAUL'S AND LUDGATE HILL]
To provide for the maintenance of St. Paul's, Ethelbert endowed it with
a farm at Tillingham in Essex. The property is still managed, the rents
of which are controlled by the Dean and Chapter.
The chief event which took place within its walls was the first great
Ecclesiastical Council of the English Church under the presidency of
Archbishop Lanfranc. Twelve years afterwards, in 1087, a great
conflagration completely destroyed the church. No time was lost, for
apparently in the same year building operations were put in hand for
what many writers call Old St. Paul's, the second church. By this time
we may take it that architecture in England had advanced considerably,
and if anything it was a rather fortunate accident that overtook
Ethelbert's building. The nation had by now realised that 1000 A.D. was
the dreaded millennium of the past; they recognised they had a stern
master in William the Conqueror, who, though he might be harsh upon
them, would allow no one else to be so. For some years prior to the
millennium few buildings of any importance were erected, so thoroughly
had the mind been terrorised at the prospect of the world coming to an
end, and even after it had proved false, the reaction does not seem to
have taken place till the accession of the Norman. When it did occur, we
see by examples now extant what a great advance architecture had made,
or rather, the knowledge of stone-work had become more general. This
can only be attributed to the monks and stonemasons who followed in the
wake of the Conquest. The plan of the Norman church of St. Paul's was
the Latin cross. The body of it appears to have been narrower and
considerably longer than Wren's cathedral. In fact we are much indebted
to the numerous discoveries of Mr. Penrose, and we learn that the west
front came right to the fore of Queen Anne's statue, which then did not
exist. Another great difference was that the axis of Old St. Paul's, as
one faces the west front, was more to the left of the statue, whereas
that of the present building runs right through the centre of it. At the
outset the Cathedral consisted of a nave of twelve bays, transepts, and
a short apsidal choir built in the round arched style peculiar to Norman
architecture. The whole then stood within spacious precincts enclosed by
a continuous wall. In the wall were six gates. The principal one opened
in the west on to Ludgate Hill, whilst the second, at St. Paul's Alley,
led to "Little North Dore"; the third, at Canon's Alley, showed the way
to the north transept door; the fourth was called Little Gate, and led
from Cheapside to Paul's Cross (where now stands a fountain); the fifth,
St. Augustine's Gate, faced Watling Street; and the sixth was the
entrance from the side of the river to the south transept. A matter of
130 years later, it was decided to extend eastwards from the choir and
introduce the newly developed style, which was the use of the pointed
arch. The new work, consisting of eight bays, was carried out, but it
caused the demolition of the old parish church of St. Faith, which lay
right in the course. As some compensation the parishioners were allowed
to use a portion of the crypt under the new choir as their parish
church. After the Great Fire much controversy arose. The parishioners of
St. Faith's claimed their right to bury their dead in the whole space
beneath the choir of Wren's cathedral. This the Chapter disallowing, a
lawsuit ensued, which resulted in a compromise, the parishioners being
satisfied with rights of burial in the north aisle of the crypt. The
"new work" was solemnly dedicated in 1240. In the meantime a spire, 489
feet in height, was put in hand and was finally completed in 1315. The
spire of Old St. Paul's proved to be a great source of anxiety. It was
struck by lightning three times, and eventually was completely destroyed
by fire, from a fourth lightning in the reign of Elizabeth, in 1561. It
was never put up again. Right in the angle of the south transept and
the nave existed a fair-sized Chapter House, which appears to have had
cloisters, the remains of which can still be seen in the gardens on the
south side of the nave, whilst on the north side of the choir the
position of Paul's Cross is defined by the insertion of stones let into
the ground. Paul's Cross, which by order of Parliament was demolished in
1643, was a pulpit of wood, mounted upon steps of stone, and covered
with lead. At this place, the Court, the Mayor, the Aldermen, and the
chief citizens used to assemble to listen to sermons from the most
eminent divines, who were appointed to preach every Sunday in the
forenoon. It was used as early as 1259, and not only were sermons
delivered from it, but also political and ecclesiastical discourses were
held.
Old St. Paul's, by the time of Charles I., got into such a terrible
state of dilapidation that steps were taken to put it into thorough
repair. A fund was established and the work was intrusted to Inigo
Jones. He got as far as the refacing of the Cathedral inside and out,
and the adding of a classical portico, when his labours were interrupted
by the Commonwealth. The famous architect died before the Restoration.
In the meantime Cromwell's troops did considerable damage, what with
stabling their horses within the sacred edifice and employing their
leisure time in defacing the building. They removed and sold the
scaffolding, which Inigo Jones had set up for the purpose of restoring
the vaulting, and in consequence much of the roof-work fell down. At the
Restoration, Dr. Wren, as he was then called, was appointed
Assistant-Surveyor-General of his Majesty's Works, and instructed to
repair the fabric. However, on September 2, 1666, the Great Fire of
London broke out and completely destroyed Old St. Paul's. Instead of
carrying out his scheme of restoration, Wren was afterwards enabled to
leave to posterity this masterpiece of genius that took him from the
year 1675 till the year 1710 to realise.
How is one to describe London, the capital of the British Empire, and
the largest city in the world? The subject-matter would take volumes, if
an exhaustive treatise be required. Here it necessarily can only be a
slight sketch. If we are to put any reliance on Geoffrey of Monmouth, a
city existed here 1107 years before Christ was born, and 354 even before
Rome came into existence. The founder, he asserts, was Brute, a lineal
descendant of the Trojan Æneas, by whom the city was called New Troy, or
Troy-novant, till the advent of Lud, who changed it to Cœr Lud or
Lud-town, and encompassed it with walls. Though the king's name is made
evident in Ludgate Hill, which runs up to St. Paul's west front, this
author's statements are considered as pleasing fictions by
serious-minded authorities. Again, it is said to have been the capital
of the Trinobantes in 54 B.C. With the arrival of the Romans we get
more definite information, yet we are inclined to think that they must
have found some kind of a British settlement, the more especially if we
bear in mind that, until the Romans came, the mouth of the Thames was
close at hand. The Thames of to-day was not the Thames of that time. It
was very much shallower, possibly quite easy to ford at low tide. This
was caused by the great inundation over large tracts of the counties of
Kent and Essex, which took place every time it became high tide.
Till the Romans set the example of reclaiming the land and confining the
river to its channel, a great volume of water had thus expended itself
and reduced the depth considerably. But to the early Britons, where the
higher level of land checked and brought back the wandering Thames, to
continue its upward course within its proper confinement, must have
appeared the mouth. In their belief that such was the case it is only
natural to suppose that the Britons would take advantage of such an
excellent site. A clearing was gradually made, for London was well
wooded once, on the highest ground, which would be somewhere from the
site of St. Paul's to as far as the Bank of England, and a temple was
erected within some groves. To the Romans in 61 A.D. it was known as
Londinium or Colonia Augusta, the former, no doubt, being a Latinised
form of Lyn-Din, meaning "the town on the lake." Boadicea, Queen of the
Iceni, in the same year is credited with having reduced it to ashes, and
to have put 70,000 Romans and strangers to the sword. This wholesale
slaughter was punished, in the same year, by Suetonius, who retaliated
by a massacre of 80,000 Britons, a defeat that so preyed upon Boadicea
that she promptly poisoned herself. Tacitus, the Roman historian, who
lived about 90 years after Christ, relates how Suetonius felt
constrained to abandon London, "that place of busy traffic and thronged
with traders," to the British, because he did not feel equal to the task
of defending it. This is surely a proof that London was no mushroom
city, though Tacitus makes no mention of a mint, as he does when he
describes Verulamium and Camulodum. There also appears to have been
another British settlement on the south bank, now known as Southwark.
This district, by the way, has just within the last few days been
erected into a see with the cathedral, or throne, installed in its fine
old church of St. Saviour. This is where Gower, the father of English
poets, is interred, and is honoured with a quaint coloured monument
principally of carved wood, and the holy precincts also contain the
remains of Shakespeare's brother. Southwark is the Londinium attributed
to Ptolemy's description as being on the south bank of the Thames,
though it does not discredit the existence of that on the north. As to
the actual size and exact site of early London, it will be many years
before that can be accurately determined. As old buildings are pulled
down and excavations are made for foundations, speculation becomes much
narrowed. The discoveries by Wren, and recently by Mr. Arthur Taylor,
the late Mr. H. Black, Mr. Roach-Smith and Mr. J. E. Price, one of our
greatest authorities, have thrown much light on early London. It has
been found that cemeteries once existed in Cheapside, on the site of St.
Paul's, close to Newgate and elsewhere, which are known to date from the
Later Roman period. On the assumption that it was an illegal Roman
practice to bury the dead within the city walls, it follows they must
have been outside, thus limiting the habitable area.
As to when and where the first bridge spanned the Thames are points
difficult to decide. Sir George Airy supposes that the bridge mentioned
by Dion Cassius (43 A.D.) at the mouth of the Thames was not far from
the site of London Bridge, on the inference that the mouth of the Thames
of early times was close to this site. Dr. Guest, on the other hand,
recognises it as a bridge made by the Britons, but places it as being
constructed over the marshy valley of the Lea, near Stratford, his
theory being that the Britons would have been unable to bridge over a
tidal river like the Thames with the width of three hundred yards, and a
difference of nearly twenty feet in the rise and fall of the water. From
remains found of ancient piles in the river-bed, and the great number of
Roman coins, a well-known practice observed by this Latin race to
commemorate any important undertaking, antiquarians seem to agree that
there was a Roman bridge in the Anno Domini period of their occupation,
and that indications point to its location at London Bridge. In their
time London was a port of considerable importance. As many as eight
hundred vessels are said to have been employed in exporting corn alone
in the year 359, which shows that agriculture was in full swing. With
the departure of the Romans in 409 the city became the capital of the
Saxon kingdom of Essex, and was called Lundenceaster. Subsequent events
of importance are those that occurred under the dynasties of the Norman
(1066-1154), the Plantagenet (1154-1485), the Tudor (1485-1603), the
Stuart (1603-1714), interrupted in the midst by Cromwell's Protectorate,
and finally the Hanoverian succession, which brings us down to this year
of grace, with Edward VII., King of Great Britain and Ireland, Emperor
of India, and monarch of the greatest and most prosperous empire. To
attempt to give a detailed account of all that happened under the
successive heads of the State is clearly impossible. Two events,
however, stand out prominently. One was the Great Plague of London that
commenced in December 1664, and carried off a matter of ninety thousand
victims. The horrors of this pestilence are graphically described in the
Diary of Samuel Pepys, who was an eye-witness. Daniel Defoe, though
writing some years after, has given us a wonderfully realistic account
in his "History of the Plague." Fires were kept up night and day, to
purify the air, for three days. No sooner did the infection come to an
end than the great conflagration of September 2, 1666, broke out. It
began at one o'clock in the morning in a baker's shop in Pudding Lane,
behind Monument Yard. It spread from the Tower to the Temple Church of
the Middle Temple in Fleet Street, and away to Holborn. In the short
space of four days it destroyed eighty-nine churches (including St.
Paul's), the city gates, the Royal Exchange, the Custom House,
Guildhall, Sion College, and many other public buildings, besides some
fourteen thousand houses and the ruin of four hundred streets. The
Monument, built by Wren in 1671-1672, commemorates the origin of the
fire, 202 feet from its base.
It is only within recent years that London--by which is meant London in
its broadest sense; that is, including the city and excluding the
suburbs--has been divided into a number of townships. It is now no
longer correct to call Marylebone, Paddington, and many other such,
"parishes." They are all boroughs, and possess a mayor and corporation
of their own, each with a townhall to support the dignity. They have a
certain amount to say in local affairs, the more important being under
the control of the London County Council, who in turn hold themselves
responsible to Parliament.
The jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor of London proper is confined within
certain limits, as defined by an irregular line of boundary commencing
from the Tower, northward through the Minories, past Aldgate, behind
Liverpool Street Station, working round to Holborn, across Chancery
Lane, to end at Middle Temple. His career is generally marked by an
apprenticeship of seven years' duration to some city guild, such as the
Mercers', the Grocers', Merchant Tailors', Vintners', Armourers and
Braziers', and some seventy others. At the end of this period he
obtains, on the payment of a certain fee and a glance at a series of
Hogarth's "Progress of the Rake" at the Guildhall, the freedom of the
Ancient City of London. As a vacancy occurs in his company he fills it
as a "Liveryman." After these initial stages he is open to become a
Master of the said company, and becomes eligible for alderman, sheriff,
and Lord Mayor. The candidate's ambition, however, is tempered according
to his means; for to worthily fill the office of the first magistrate he
must be prepared to be considerably out of pocket, though the loss is
generally compensated by a knighthood, and on special occasions by a
baronetcy. Though he may be entirely devoid of any legal training, the
Lord Mayor during his tenure of office, or the aldermen, are always
present on the bench at the Central Criminal Court, which sits at the
Old Bailey. This court was created in 1834 to bring under one
jurisdiction the criminal cases that are supplied by the immense
population around the city. Opposite the Mansion House, the official
residence of the Lord Mayor, is the Bank of England. The Royal Mint
faces the Tower of London, and was constituted as now about 1617, whilst
the buildings date about 1810. The first known Warder or Master was in
the reign of Henry I., the wardership becoming extinct with Lord
Maryborough (1814--23), and the last Master was Professor Thomas Graham,
who died in 1869. By the Coinage Act in the following year the Master of
the Mint, who as such had existed up till then, was abolished, and the
post was combined with that of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. On the
other side of the road is the famous Tower of London, the White Tower or
central keep of which was built in 1078 by Gundulph, Bishop of
Rochester, in obedience to the command of William the Conqueror. By the
side of this historic pile is the Tower Bridge, the marvellous
engineering feat of Sir Horace Jones and Sir J. Wolfe Barry. It opens
upwards in the centre to allow the shipping to pass through. Right away
towards the east are the great docks, the principal of which are the
London Docks and the East India Docks.
Passing west of the city are the great Law Courts in the Strand,
designed by Streeter.
Behind them is Lincoln's Inn, and in front across Fleet Street, is the
Temple. Gray's Inn is in Holborn, as well as Staple Inn, with the
picturesque old-fashioned frontage, once the prevailing style of
London's domestic architecture. Smaller Inns are Clifford's Inn,
threatened with demolition, with Old Serjeant's Inn adjoining, while
Serjeant's Inn is on the other side of Fleet Street, nearer to Ludgate
Circus, and not far from the Temple.
In Trafalgar Square a priceless collection of old masters' paintings are
housed in the National Gallery, once the premises of the Royal Academy
of Arts, who moved to Burlington House, Piccadilly.
Regent Street, with its shops, and Bond Street, the great centre for art
dealers and picture galleries, hardly require further description. The
British Museum, the South Kensington Museum, and numerous others; the
great hospitals,--St. Bartholomew's, Guy's, Charing Cross, and many more
equally as well known; the wonderful open spaces as typified by Hyde
Park; the Palaces of Buckingham, St. James, and Kensington; besides the
Cathedral of St. Paul, the Abbey, and Houses of Parliament, Westminster,
with the newly erected Roman Catholic Cathedral, close to Victoria
Station, comprise only a tithe of what can be seen in the capital of the
British Empire.
York
Eboracum.
("Doomsday Book.")
One can hardly think of York without recalling the wonderful ride of
Dick Turpin on his famous mare Black Bess. It came about one day that he
was resting at the Kilburn Wells--a site now taken up by a modern
banking-house--in the company of another notorious highwayman, King, who
seemed very much depressed. "Dick," he said, "I have had a most curious
dream. I seemed to be dying from a pistol-shot by you." "No, no,"
protested Dick, and was doing his best to cheer up his friend when
suddenly unusual commotion arose outside, followed by the immediate
entrance of the bailiffs to apprehend King dead or alive. One of his
numerous mistresses had given him away in a mad fit of jealousy. It took
little time for Turpin and King to reach their horses, which were always
tethered close by. Turpin was soon in the saddle, but turning round he
perceived that his comrade was in difficulties. The horse was restive,
and its master was making vain attempts to mount. To draw his pistol out
of the holster and empty its contents towards the man who had by now
laid his hand on King was a moment's thought. But to Turpin's horror he
saw the dream realised. His friend dead, it was folly to dally longer.
Amidst a volley of shots he quickly wheeled his mare round and galloped
off, hotly pursued by the excisemen, who had soon recognised him. Along
West End Lane into Finchley, away towards Barnet, his mare, gallantly
taking every toll-gate, soon carried her master out of immediate danger.
It was then that Dick Turpin determined to try the fettle of Bess by
carrying out his long-cherished ambition of riding ninety miles to York.
Without a change of mounts, and only an occasional rinse-out of his
faithful animal's mouth with some strong stimulant, he accomplished his
wish, but at the sacrifice of his mare. She died from exhaustion,
having, however, saved her master and cheated justice. This is no
legend, but an absolute fact--a story that has quickened the imagination
of every English schoolboy, accompanied with a regret that such good old
rollicking days no longer exist, that there is no relieving rich
merchants of well-filled purses, no opportunity of calming the fears
of fair ladies, no chance of acting the grand seigneur towards the poor,
no languishing in Newgate with a glorious death at Tyburn. No, that is
all a dream now.
[Illustration: YORK
STONEGATE]
Though customs have greatly changed since those days of unsafe
travelling, the quaint streets, the great gateways of bold architecture,
and the magnificent church all lend the city of York the wonderful
fascination of age, heightened by the situation of the river Ouse at its
junction with the Foss.
In what county of England the famous city and glorious minster of York
are, requires little mental effort. It is the most ancient metropolitan
see in England. At one time great controversy arose between York and
Canterbury as to precedence. It was thought that whichever one of them
could successfully prove that the one first confirmed was meant by Pope
Gregory to be the senior, should be the superior. As, however, no
satisfactory understanding could be arrived at, the question was left to
the Papal Court at Rome. By its decision it was determined in favour of
Canterbury, so the Archbishop of Canterbury styles himself Primate of
All England, whilst the Archbishop of York rests content with Primate
of England; the reduction of one word, but it means a great deal. In
the history of England we see what part these two metropolitans have
taken, how they have occasionally fallen out over what now appears to us
the most trifling matters, but which no doubt were considered of most
vital importance at the time. In this account they need no
recapitulation, for they can be turned up in any history book on
England.
In the very early years of Anno Domini, when Christianity in England was
quite in its infancy,--or to be more exact about the year 180,--it is
said that King Lucius established the Metropolitan See at York. In those
days, however, it could hardly have been called by that name. Prior to
this monarch's time it was the town of the Brigantes, and was known as
Evrauc. They appear to have been a very hardy race. Through them it was
that Caractacus, one of two sons of Cymbeline, after the Silures were
defeated by Ostorius, made the last important stand against the Romans.
That is to say, with the submission of the Brigantes and the capture of
Caractacus, all unity among the British tribes came to an end, so that
it became comparatively an easy task for the Romans to complete the
conquest of England.
[Illustration: YORK
THE SHAMBLES]
This they did in the second campaign of Agricola, about the year 79
A.D., and the Roman power was due to the divided factions and parties
of the Britons, who, though they might have kings and all the outward
show of sovereignty, were merely puppets in the hands of the conquerors.
From this year to 400 the Romans steadily evolved a unity of their own
in Britain. On their departure, history tells us how the British
implored them to come back and protect them, so helpless had they become
in the art of attack and defence.
As Evrauc belonged to the Brigantes, we may take it that it was the
chief town of the British in the north when it passed into the hands of
the Romans after the defeat of Caractacus. By them it was called
Eboracum, and became the metropolitan of the north, the military capital
and centre of the Romans in Britain.
The original Roman city was rectangular in form and of considerable
dimensions. It is supposed to have been laid out in imitation of ancient
Rome, on the east bank of the Ouse. A temple to Bellona was erected as
well as a prætorium, in which the emperors sat, for Eboracum was
honoured by the great heads of Rome. The first to reside here was
Hadrian, in 120, whilst Severus died in the city in 211. This last had
come over with his sons, Caracalla and Geta, and a large army, and the
attendance of his whole court. His time was busily engaged in reducing
the troublesome Britons to proper submission. The two sons nobly helped
their aged father. Caracalla completed the erection of a strong wall of
stone nearly eighty miles long, close to the rampart of earth raised by
Hadrian, in accordance with the wish of Severus, to form a more
effectual barrier against future incursions of the natives. During the
residence of the court, Eboracum reached to the highest state of
splendour. The constant visits of tributary kings and foreign
ambassadors, who came to pay their allegiance to Rome, caused it to be
unsurpassed among the cities of the world, so much so that it came to be
called "Altera Rome." The remains of the Emperor Severus, though he died
here in 212, were enclosed in an urn and sent to Rome.
The Emperor Constantius Chlorus died also in Eboracum in 307. His son,
Constantius the Great, was present at his father's death, and by the
army proclaimed emperor.
After 409 the Greek and Latin writers tell us that Britain was no longer
ruled by the Romans. Their statements are borne out by the Saxon
Chronicle. This did not mean that there was a general exodus of the
Latin race or civilisation, for the connection of Rome with its British
provinces did not cease suddenly, though the tie gradually became
weakened, because from 409 Roman officials probably ceased to be sent
regularly. Britain still considered itself to be Roman, and the
inhabitants, or rather the upper classes, continued to speak Latin. Even
in the sixth century they were pleased to call themselves "Romani," and
held themselves aloof from the surrounding barbarians--a term which we
know was applied by the Romans to tribes, not necessarily because they
were uncivilised, but rather as a convenient mark of distinction from
themselves. Since their departure from Britain, archæologists have found
rich mines of Roman remains in every place of their occupation, and none
more so than at York; but to enumerate the many discoveries would
require more space than can here be allotted. Suffice it to say that the
"multangular tower" is a notable evidence of the Roman occupation,
though it is much dilapidated.
The city was frequently assailed by the Picts and Scots, and after the
arrival of the Saxons it suffered considerably from the many wars that
arose between the Britons and their new allies, as well as in the
struggle for supremacy during the establishment of the several kingdoms
of the Octarchy, and other minor wars. Early in the seventh century
Eboracum underwent a change. By the Saxons the city was called Euro wic,
Euore wic, and Eofor wic, which by Leland is supposed to have been
borrowed from its situation on the river Eure, now known as the Ouse;
but by what process these titles came to be contracted into its present
name of York seems rather difficult to account. However, under the name
of Eoforwic, the city flourished as the capital of the Bretwaldas early
in the seventh century. Consequent on the conversion of Edwin, King of
Northumbria, to Christianity, resulting from his marriage to Ethelburga,
daughter of King Ethelbert of Kent, the city was erected in 624 into an
archiepiscopal see, over which Paulinus, the confessor of the Queen, was
made primate. In addition to this, Edwin had constituted the city as the
metropolitan of his kingdom. Edwin's work upon the church, which he
dedicated to St. Peter, and the missionary work of Paulinus, were
suddenly suspended by an attack of the Britons under Cadwallo in 633.
Edwin was killed, whilst Ethelburga escaped into Kent with Paulinus. The
church in the meantime was allowed to decay until it was restored by
Oswald, successor to Edwin. He managed to regain possession of his
kingdom after a sanguinary conflict with Cadwallo, who, with the
chief officers, was killed during the fight.
[Illustration: YORK
BOOTHAM BAR]
We have it by Bede that on the site of the wooden church, in which the
baptism was conducted by Paulinus, Edwin erected "a large and more noble
basilica of stone," dedicated to St. Peter; but, as we have seen, the
work was interrupted by the untimely death of the founder. Finally it
was repaired by Archbishop Wilfrid, the third prelate to succeed to the
government of the See and provinces. His predecessor had been Cedda, who
had been appointed on the death of Paulinus in Kent. The establishment
was continued on its original lines by Wilfrid and his successors till
the Norman Conquest. In the meantime York, under Archbishop Egbert, from
730 to 766, became a most celebrated centre of learning, and reached to
its height under Alcuin. The former had repaired the ravages caused by
fire in 741 to the Cathedral, which is described by Alcuin as "a most
magnificent basilica." The city fell into the hands of the Danes. They
soon made it an important seat of commerce, and constituted it the
capital of the Danish jarl. In 1050 the Abbey of St. Mary's was founded
by Siward, who is supposed to have died at York five years later and to
have been buried in St. Olave's Church. William the Conqueror then
seized York in 1068 and erected a tower. The new condition of things was
not allowed to remain long. Sweyn, in the following year, sent his two
sons, Harold and Canute, with a numerous following of Danes. They
disembarked on the shores of the Humber, and, joined by Edgar Atheling
and his army, advanced to York, laying waste the land they passed
through. To prevent the enemy from fortifying itself, the garrison fired
the houses in the suburbs; but the flames were fanned by a strong wind
into a devastating conflagration, in the midst of which the Danes
entered and put to the sword the whole Norman garrison. This slaughter
was eventually punished by the Conqueror, who, harbouring a suspicion of
treachery on the part of the citizens, reduced them to his idea of
submission by burning the city about their ears and desolating the
neighbouring country from the Humber to the Tyne. Nevertheless the city
gradually recovered in the two succeeding reigns. Archbishop Thomas
endeavoured to patch up the Cathedral, but eventually pulled it down and
rebuilt it. The city continued to advance in prosperity in spite of many
attacks from the Scots. In 1088 William Rufus laid the first stone for a
large monastery for the Benedictine Order, which was dedicated to St.
Mary.
[Illustration: YORK
MONK BAR]
In 1137, during the reign of Stephen, a terrible fire broke out which
destroyed, it is said, the Cathedral, the monastery, and some forty
parish churches. On the accession of Henry I. the city received its
first charter of incorporation, whilst in 1175 Henry II. held here one
of the first meetings which came to be afterwards called Parliament. It
also served as an occasion for William of Scotland to pay his homage to
the King in the Cathedral. In the reign of Richard I. the fury of the
populace was excited against the Jews for having mingled with the crowd
at the Coronation in London. In spite of a royal proclamation in their
favour, they were terribly persecuted throughout the country, especially
in the big towns. York was by no means behind the times in 1190. Many of
the Jews, having defended the castle in which they had taken refuge, put
their own wives and children to death, and then committed suicide. Those
who did not were cruelly tortured to death by the Christians. In the
meantime it is pleasing to note that certain portions of Yorkshire had
been reclaimed from its wild state wherever the Cistercians and other
orders of monks had settled. They introduced sheep-farming, besides
tilling the reclaimed wilderness. The subsequent history of York is
taken up with the many visits of royalty and benefits conferred, till
we get to the year 1569, when the Council of the North was established,
after the suppression of the rebellion known as the "Pilgrimage of
Grace." This was consequent on the dissolution of the monasteries, the
demolition of ten parish churches, and the wholesale appropriation of
revenues and materials by Henry VIII. The principal leader was Robert
Aske, who, with 40,000 men attended by priests with sacred banners,
seized this city and Hull. They were soon dispersed, Aske being brought
to York and hanged upon Clifford's Tower. Though suppressed for a time,
public feeling broke out into an insurrection during Elizabeth's reign
to restore Roman Catholicism. It ended in their discomfiture, Thomas
Percy, Earl of Northumberland, being beheaded at York as the chief
ringleader, and his head stuck on the Micklegate Bar as a warning to
others. History records a Parliament held here by Charles I. in 1642,
when he promised to govern legally. In fact, he seems to have removed
his entire court here, or rather those willing to follow him. However,
as all attempts at negotiation had failed, he advanced to Nottingham and
there erected his standard. After the battle of Marston Moor, which is
about six miles out, York was taken for the Parliament by Sir Thomas
Fairfax in 1644.
[Illustration: YORK
MICKLEGATE BAR]
After the Restoration, Charles II. was royally welcomed. James II.
aroused public indignation by attempting to introduce Roman Catholicism
at York, which only led to the persecution of the followers of that
religion. Subsequent events have been principally the visits of royalty.
In 1829 terrible consternation arose at the sight of smoke issuing from
the roof of the Cathedral. The act was afterwards proved to have been
that of a madman who had secreted himself for that purpose in the
Cathedral after the evening service was over. The whole of the choir was
gutted by the flames. The Cathedral, after Sweyn's visitation, had been
rebuilt by Archbishop Thomas of Bayeux.
It was commenced in 1070 and finished by 1100. Of this building little
now remains, it having been destroyed by an accidental fire in 1137. It
remained in a desolate state till Archbishop Roger rebuilt the apsidal
choir and crypt (1154-1191). To this was added the south transept by
Archbishop Walter de Grey (1215-1255) in the reign of Henry III., whilst
the north transept and the central tower were erected by John le
Romaine, who was at that time treasurer of the Cathedral. The two
transepts, besides the crypt, are the oldest portions of the present
building. They belong to the best years of the Early English style. The
south transept has a distinctive feature in its magnificent rose window,
whilst the north transept is adorned with a series of beautiful worked
lancet windows, known as the Five Sisters. The son of the treasurer, who
became also Archbishop, laid the foundation of the nave about 1290,
which was completed about forty years later by Archbishop Melton, who
also built the west front and the two western towers. The Chapter House
also belongs to the same period. In 1361 Archbishop Thoresby commenced
to erect the Lady Chapel and presbytery after the Early Perpendicular
style. He also in eight years completed the central tower, which he had
taken down in 1370, whilst previous to this he had started to rebuild
the choir in 1361 to render it more in accordance with the character of
the nave, though it was not finished till about 1400. It is a very fine
example of the Late Perpendicular style. By this time all traces of the
ancient Norman architecture, with the exception of the eastern portion
of the crypt by Archbishop Roger, which still remains, had been
eliminated. To keep in character it was decided to recase the central
tower and alter it into a perpendicular tower with a lantern, which was
completed in 1444. With the erection of the south-west tower in 1432,
and the north-west tower in 1470, the church was completed, and two
years later was reconsecrated. Besides the fire of the madman in 1829,
when the woodwork was entirely destroyed, another one broke out in 1840
in the south-west tower, reducing it to a wreck. Since then it has
undergone the usual restoration. The whole resembles a Latin cross, and
constitutes a glorious minster, the beauty of which can be more readily
appreciated by a glance at Mr. Collins' work than by any amount of
word-painting. The other illustrations give also a faithful description
of the old gateways. They are the four principal gates or "bars" to the
walls of the city--walls which contain Norman and Early English work,
but principally belong to the Decorative style. Micklegate Bar is the
south entrance, upon which were exposed the heads of traitors, and is
Norman. Monk Bar leads on to the Scarborough Road, and probably belongs
to the fourteenth century. It was formerly called Goodramgate, which was
changed after the Restoration to Monk Bar, in honour of General Monk.
Walmgate Bar dates from the reign of Edward I., and still retains the
barbican rebuilt in 1648, whilst Bootham Bar, with a Norman arch, is the
main entrance from the north. Stonegate is situated practically in the
heart of the city, not far from the minster. It is a curious piece of
architecture. York has been most happy with regard to the birth of men
who have distinguished themselves. It has yielded to the Church of Rome
eight saints and three cardinals, and to England no less than twelve
lord chancellors, two lord treasurers and lord presidents of the north.
But the earliest recorded birth of an eminent native takes us out of the
ordinary ranks of men. If any name is well known it is certainly that of
the first Roman emperor who embraced Christianity. He is Constantine the
Great. Flaccus Albanus was also born here. He was a pupil of the great
ecclesiastical historian, the Venerable Bede. Waltheof, Earl of
Northumberland and son of Siward; Thomas Morton, in turn Bishop of
Chester, Lichfield, Coventry, and Durham, first came into the world at
York; whilst of more recent times there was Gent, an eminent painter and
historian; Swinburn, a distinguished lawyer; and Flaxman, one of
England's most celebrated sculptors, who is perhaps as well known by his
beautiful designs for the Wedgwood pottery as by any other work of his.
Not to know who Flaxman was is almost as bad as to admit ignorance of
the existence of Michael Angelo.
Winchester
This ancient city on the river Itchen in Hampshire is inseparably bound
with William of Wykeham. He it was who rebuilt a great part of the
magnificent cathedral now extant, and who founded the great public
school of Winchester, at which so many celebrated men have received
their education. These form the great attraction of the city, and rescue
it from oblivion. It is with sorrow we foresee that the inevitable
restoration will take place in the east end of this venerable structure.
For many years past the foundations were known to be in an unsafe
condition, but recently great alarm was caused by the appearance of
large cracks in the upper masonry and of the bulging in of the groining
of the crypt. There was no doubt that the foundations were slowly
subsiding, and speculation was rife as to the cause. With a view to
ascertaining the state of the foundations, excavations were made. It was
discovered that the original builders had rested them on marshy ground,
strengthened with oak piles, which have gradually decayed during the
lapse of centuries. At the same time the presence of an underground
stream, thought to be part of the river Itchen, was seen to be bubbling
up through the gravel, saturating the upper soil of peat.
In much the same way as the site of St. Paul's Cathedral in London
probably was covered, in the first instance, with buildings for pagan
worship, so we find that the Romans at Winchester erected temples to
Apollo and Concord upon the ground that eventually came to be the
precincts of the Cathedral. The presence of a Christian church appears
to have been in the third century, when the city is said to have become
one of the chief centres of the Christian Britons. This first church,
however, was destroyed during the persecution of Aurelian and was
rebuilt in 293, to be made a wreck in 495 by the Saxons, who fired it.
What with the religious convulsion of England, which, with the exception
of Kent, fluctuated with the rise and fall of circumstances chiefly
controlled by the policy of kings either heathen at one time and
Christian at another, or the deposition and death of a Christian
monarch, caused by one more powerful and deeply imbued with heathenism,
the See of Winchester does not appear to have come into existence till
about the middle of the seventh century. The establishment of its
bishopric in a way marks the commencement of a new epoch in the English
Church.
[Illustration: WINCHESTER
THE NORTH AISLE]
The mission of St. Augustine, backed with the royal countenance of
Ethelbert, had, though not completed, done much towards conversion; but
on their death practically the whole of the Christian territory,
excepting Kent, relapsed into heathenism, and to such an extent that
Augustine's successor, Laurentius, was on the point of giving up the
whole mission and taking refuge in Gaul. Not until 625 did a mission
again venture forth from the Kentish kingdom, and then their tentative
efforts were rendered abortive by the battle of Hatfield in 633, which
for a while seems to have crushed all hope at Rome. But a couple of
years later an independent missionary, Birinus, was consecrated in
Italy, and was sent by the people to make fresh attempts to break down
the barriers of heathenism in England. Through his influence Cynegils
became the first Christian king of the West Saxons. To inaugurate his
conversion the monarch decided to establish a bishopric, and immediately
began to collect materials for building, at his capital of Winchester, a
cathedral, which was eventually constructed by his son Cenwahl in 646.
The Danes in 867 broke up the establishment, and the year following,
secular priests were substituted. They remained till 963, when
Ethelwold, by command of King Edgar, expelled them to make room for the
monks of the Benedictine Order from Abendon. They enjoyed uninterrupted
possession, and were richly endowed with royal donations, as the
dissolution revealed the extent of its revenue. Henry VIII. then
refounded it for a bishop, dean, chancellor, twelve prebendaries, and
other subordinate officers. The Cathedral was first dedicated to St.
Amphibalus, then jointly to St. Peter and St. Paul, and afterwards to
St. Swithin, once bishop here. With Henry VIII.'s régime the title was
altered to the Holy and undivided Trinity. The church of Cynegils having
become entirely ruined, a new cathedral was commenced in 1073-98 by
Bishop Walkelyn. The two Norman transepts and the low central tower, as
also the very early crypt, still exist. The church is a spacious,
massive, and splendid cruciform building of Norman architecture with
subsequent additions in the Gothic style. The whole of the Norman nave
was demolished and re-erected on a far grander scale by William of
Wykeham at the end of the fourteenth century, though not quite completed
till after his death. The choir was much restored in the fourteenth
century, whilst it underwent considerable alteration by Bishop Fox
from 1510 to 1528. Here is the tomb of William II. A great feature is
the magnificent reredos behind the altar. It extends the full width of
the choir, with two processional entrances pierced through its lofty
wall, and covered with tier upon tier of rich canopied niches. They once
contained colossal statues. Behind this reredos there is a second stone
screen, which enclosed the small chapel in which stood the magnificent
gold shrine studded with jewels. It contained the body of St. Swithin,
and was the gift of King Edgar. The Cathedral, in fact, received at one
time and another great treasures of gold and jewels by many of the early
kings of England. Canute is said to have caused his crown of gold and
gems to be suspended over the great crucifix above the high altar.
[Illustration: WINCHESTER
FROM ST. CATHERINE'S HILL]
The magnificent chantry of Cardinal Beaufort is of the Later style of
English architecture. Bishop Waynfleet's chantry is in the same style,
and has been kept in excellent repair by the trustees of his foundation
at Magdalene College. Both chantries contain tombs of their founders.
There are several other chapels, all deserving close study of their
beautiful architecture. The most notable of the many examples of
mediæval recumbent effigies are those of the monuments to Bishops
Edingdon, Wykeham, Langton, and Fox. The famous authoress, Jane Austen,
is buried here.
[Illustration: WINCHESTER
FROM THE DEANERY GARDEN]
The black marble font is an interesting relic of eleventh-century skill.
The sides are composed of scenes taken from the life of St. Nicholas.
The Cathedral, situated in an open space near the centre of the city
towards the south-east, is a marvellous combination of beauty and
dignity, surpassed, if at all, by few. It is the central feature of
Winchester, and will always command the greatest admiration. One of
England's great public schools is that founded by William of Wykeham and
built between 1387 and 1393. The foundation originally consisted of a
warden, ten fellows, three chaplains, seventy scholars, and sixteen
choristers. The prelate had previously established a school here in
1373. Thus the oldest of England's great schools was called "Seinte
Marie College of Wynchester," the charter of which was dated October
1382. The ancient statutes were revived in 1855, and were still further
influenced by the Public Schools Act of 1868. The establishment has a
fine chapel, hall, cloister, and other necessary buildings, all in
excellent preservation. Another interesting structure is that afforded
by the hospital of St. Cross, founded in 1136 by Henry de Blois, Bishop
of Winchester. It lies about a mile out of town. Its general plan can
be readily seen by a glance at Mr. Collins' drawing. Henry de Blois
intended it to provide board and lodging for thirteen poor men, and a
daily dinner for one hundred others. It was mostly rebuilt by Cardinal
Beaufort between 1405 and 1447. The whole has undergone much
restoration, which was not entirely happy, though it has certainly kept
the buildings in a good state of preservation. On the precincts is also
the very stately cruciform chapel, dating roughly from the year 1180.
The city of Winchester was at one time proverbial for its splendour,
which was owing to the many kings that preferred to reside within its
walls than elsewhere.
Mainly owing to its central position on the high roads in the south of
England, Winchester was from early times a town of great importance.
This Hampshire city is first ascribed to the Celtic Britons, who settled
here in 392 B. c., having emigrated from the coasts of Armorica in Gaul.
They remained in undisturbed possession till within a century prior to
the Christian era, when they were expelled by the Belgæ, who advanced
from their settlements on the southern coasts into the interior. Soon
after it had become the capital of the Belgæ, the settlement passed into
Roman occupation. The Cœr Gwent (White City) of the Britons became
the Venta Belgarum of the Romans. The Roman word Venta eventually became
transformed to "Winte," "Winte-ceaster," from which was derived
Winchester. Under Cedric, about 520 A.D., it became the capital of the
West Saxons, and of England in 827 by Egbert. He had obtained the
sovereignty of all the other kingdoms of the Octarchy, and was crowned
sole monarch in the Cathedral of Winchester. On this occasion the
monarch published an edict commanding all his subjects throughout his
dominions to be called English. The union of the kingdoms gave that
importance to Winchester which it had never had previously, and the fact
of being not only the capital of Wessex, but the metropolis of England,
caused it to leap into great prominence. This state, however, suffered a
severe check when London, in the reign of William the Conqueror, began
to rival it, and was brought almost to the verge of ruin through the
dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII. However, at different
periods, Winchester received much unwelcome discomfiture. It was seized
by the Danes in 871; whilst in 1013 it was ravaged by Sweyn on his path
of vengeance. In 1100 the body of William Rufus was solemnly interred in
the Cathedral. During the parliamentary war the city was taken and
retaken by Cromwell, and the castle dismantled. Here it was that Charles
I. commissioned Wren to build a palace in 1683, which was only begun.
Previous to this the plague of 1666 greatly reduced the number of
inhabitants, and it was possibly to help the city recover itself that
Charles thought of building a palace.
[Illustration: WINCHESTER
ST. CROSS]
Though the great regal prosperity has long since departed, the many old
houses and the great extent of the city still bear testimony to the once
great importance of Winchester.
Westminster
Of the three cathedrals in London, Westminster Abbey may be said to
possess the greatest charms. Compared to it St. Paul's is a new church,
whilst St. Saviour's, Southwark, is little known. It is true that the
foundation of St. Paul's is coeval with that of the Abbey, and St.
Saviour's is an old church, but St. Paul's dates from the Great Fire of
London, and the merit of its architecture is the wonderful genius of
Wren. In more ways than one Westminster is bound up with the history of
the great empire. Within her precincts repose the greater number of
reigning heads who inaugurated their reigns in the sacred interior with
the coronation, a ceremony which was last performed when our present
king came to the throne, though the last monarch to be laid to rest in
the venerable pile ceased with the interment of King George II. in 1760.
The Abbey is also the favourite sepulture for eminent statesmen, poets,
authors, and great travellers,--men whose intellects have done far more
for the wonderful rise of Great Britain than the average crowned head,
men whose ability and personality in many cases were little understood
during life, preyed upon, as is often the case, by others who could turn
it to good pecuniary account. But when death claims them, the nation,
sensible of their loss, pay homage by interring the remains in the noble
sepulchre of a cathedral, or perpetuate the memory by an epitaph on the
wall.
To wander around the Poets' Corner along the echoing aisles, and stand
in front of each memorial and read off the few cold lines that seem a
mockery to regard as a record of some mighty intellect, serve only to
awaken the imagination and to recall their sad biographies read at one
time or another. Were Chaucer, Shakespeare, Spenser, Dryden, Milton,
Oliver Goldsmith, Handel, Thackeray, David Garrick, to mention only a
few, ever made peers, much less knights? No; yet many of their
contemporaries of inferior intellect enjoyed such worldly distinction.
To stand in the presence of the great dead, or in lieu to read their
epitaphs, casts a great fascination over the mind, and makes one linger
within the precincts of the historic abbey till a rude awakening comes
from the verger that it is closing-time. With a sigh we emerge from the
great mausoleum into the hard, glaring daylight, for a few seconds
dazed. The fascination still clings to us, and when we get home we are
eager to consult authorities and learn more of the beautiful church at
Westminster.
The Abbey, like nearly all our great cathedrals, is the growth of
centuries. Looking at it under present-day conditions, we can hardly
realise that in the dim past the site was an island of dry sand and
gravel, bound on the one side by the river Thames, and on the other by
marshes watered by the little stream called the Eye. This stream still
runs, though out of sight, under New Bond Street, the Green Park, and
Buckingham Palace, to empty itself into the Thames near Vauxhall Bridge,
and has lent its name to Tyburn (Th' Eye Burn). In the early years of
the seventh century, possibly within a few months of his restoring the
church on the site of St. Paul's, which would take us back to about the
year 610, Sebert, the King of the East Saxons, decided to build a church
to the honour of St. Peter on this Isle of Thorns, or, as it is
sometimes called, Thorney Island. The fact of the vicinity being
westward of the neighbouring hill of St. Paul's eventually gave rise to
the name of Westminster. According to tradition, on the eve of the new
church being consecrated by Bishop Mellitus, the boatman Edric, whilst
attending to his nets by the bank of the island, was attracted by a
gleaming light on the opposite shore. Rowing across, he found a
venerable man, who desired to be ferried over. On landing at the island,
the mysterious stranger proceeded towards the church, accompanied by a
host of angels, who gave him light by candles as he went through the
forms of church consecration. On his return to the boat, the old man
bade Edric tell Mellitus that St. Peter had come in person to consecrate
the church, and promised him that fish would always come plentifully to
his nets, provided he did not work on a Sunday and did not forget to
offer a tithe of that which he caught to the Abbey of Westminster. On
the morrow, Mellitus, hearing the fisherman's story, confirmed by the
marks of consecration in the chrism, the crosses on the doors, and the
droppings from the candles of the angels, acknowledged the work of St.
Peter as sufficient consecration, and changed the name from Thorney
Island to Westminster, to distinguish it as being to the west of the
city of London and to the Church of St. Paul's on the neighbouring hill.
However incredible Edric's story may be it bore fruit, in that till 1382
a tithe of fish was paid by the Thames fisherman to the Abbey, in
exchange for which the bearer had the privilege to sit, on that day, at
the Abbot's table, and to ask for bread and ale from the cellarman. By
degrees the neighbourhood became peopled, partly on account of the
church and partly from the erection of a palace close to it, which led
the nobility to build houses in the vicinity. The Abbey, becoming
ruinous through the Danes, was rebuilt by Edward the Confessor as the
"Collegiate Church of St. Peter at Westminster." In fact this monarch is
usually regarded as the founder of the Church. According to Matthew
Paris, it was the first cruciform church erected in England, the immense
size and beauty of which can be seen in the Bayeux tapestry. The
foundation was laid somewhere about 1052, and the church was consecrated
in 1065, a few days prior to the Confessor's death. The monastery was
filled with monks from Exeter, whilst Pope Nicholas II. constituted the
Abbey for the inauguration of the kings of England. Throughout the
succession of reigning heads, Edward V., who died uncrowned, was the
only exception.
Of the Confessor's church and monastery the only remains appear to be
the Chapel of the Pyx, the lower part of the refectory below the
Westminster schoolroom, a portion of the dormitory, and the walls of
the south cloister.
[Illustration: LONDON
WESTMINSTER ABBEY. THE NORTH TRANSEPT]
The Abbey, with these few exceptions, was demolished and rebuilt on a
magnificent scale by Henry III. between 1220 and 1269. The material
employed was first a green stone and afterwards Cæn stone. The portions
that remain to us from that rebuilding are the Confessor's chapel, the
side aisles and their chapels, and the choir and transepts, all
beautiful examples of the Geometrical Pointed period of architecture.
Henry's work was continued by his son Edward I., who added the eastern
portion of the nave after the same style; it was afterwards carried on
by successive abbots till the erection of the great west window by Abbot
Estney in 1498. The College Hall, the Abbot's House, Jerusalem Chamber,
and part of the cloisters had also in the meantime been added by Abbot
Littlington in 1380. Amongst various improvements Henry VII. built the
west end of the nave, his own chapel, the deanery, and portions of the
cloisters in the Perpendicular style.
The choir, a fine specimen of Early English with decorations added in
the fourteenth century, is where the coronation of English sovereigns
takes place, and contains the tombs of Sebert, King of the East Angles,
Anne of Cleves, and Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Leicester. Henry VII.'s
chapel displays the architect's skill to perfection, with the wonderful
fretted work of the roof and the graceful fan-tracery. It contains the
glorious tomb of Henry VII., the work of the great sculptor Pietro
Torrigiano. It is composed chiefly of black marble with figures and
pilasters of gilt copper. The figures once wore crowns, but some
sacrilegious hands have stolen them. In the chapel of Edward the
Confessor are the shrine of Edward the Confessor in Purbeck marble, the
altar-tomb of Edward I., the coronation chairs of the English
sovereigns, besides the stone of Scone, the old coronation seat of the
Scottish kings. The beautiful chapels of St. Benedict, St. Edmund, St.
Nicholas, St. Paul, St. Erasmus, and St. John the Baptist chiefly
contain the monuments of ecclesiastics and nobility.
The entrance generally used is the North Porch, known as Solomon's
Porch. It was erected in the reign of Richard II., but entirely changed
its character in the hands of Wren, who appears not to have appreciated
the beauties of Gothic architecture. The same architect is said to have
built the two western towers, though they are sometimes ascribed to his
pupil Hawksmoor. Wren's work upon the north porch was again altered by
Sir G. G. Scott, who introduced the present triple portico. On passing
under it we come to the north transept, generally known as the
Statesmen's Aisle. Here in the same grave lie the Earl of Chatham and
his famous son, William Pitt. Close to them are either the graves or
monuments of Fox, Castlereagh, Grattan, Palmerston, Peel, the three
Cannings, and Disraeli. Right in the centre of the aisle is a slab
marking the resting-place of W. E. Gladstone and his wife (1898 and
1900), over whom unconsciously the people tread, gradually wearing out
the simple words of memorial. The south transept is the Poets' Corner,
containing the memorials from Chaucer to Ruskin. In the nave lie David
Livingstone (1873), a great missionary and traveller, whose remains were
reverently brought from Central Africa; Robert Stephenson (1859), the
famous engineer; Sir Charles Barry (1860), architect of the Houses of
Parliament; Sir G. G. Scott (1873); George Edmund Street (1881),
architect of the Law Courts; Colin Campbell; Lord Clyde (1863), who
recaptured Lucknow. We have mentioned these names, not for the sake of
invidiousness, but have chosen them at random.
Leading from the cloisters up a flight of stone steps is the Chapter
House. The original structure was built by King Edward in the eleventh
century, and it is noticeable in that it departed from the usual
Benedictine form. In 1250 it was rebuilt by Henry III., and is an
octagonal structure, second only to that at Lincoln in size. Here the
monks were accustomed once a week to hold their chapters. In ornamental
stalls opposite the entrance the Abbot and his four chief officers were
enthroned, whilst the monks ranged themselves along the stone benches
which go around the walls. Criminals were tried, and if found guilty
were tied up to the central pillar of Purbeck marble (thirty-five feet
high) and were flogged publicly. The monks, however, were not left in
undisturbed possession of the Chapter House, for on the separation of
the Houses of Lords and Commons in the reign of Edward I., the House of
Commons held sittings here and continued to do so till 1547. The last
parliament held here was on the day that Henry VIII. died, when it sat
to discuss the Act of Attainder passed upon the Duke of Norfolk. At the
dissolution of the monastery the Chapter House passed to the Crown, and
seven years afterwards the House of Commons removed to St. Stephen's
Chapel in the Palace of Westminster.
From that time the Chapter House was used as a Record Office till the
removal of the records in 1865 to the Rolls House.
There are now two or three glass cases filled with interesting ancient
deeds and illuminated parchments relating to the history of the Abbey.
Adjoining the Abbey is the great public school of Westminster, or St.
Peter's College as it was called when founded by Queen Elizabeth in 1560
for the education of forty boys, denominated the Queen's scholars, and
prepared for the university. Since then the numbers have greatly
increased, and to have been educated there is something to boast of, for
it is so much sought after that preference is given to the sons of old
Westminster boys. We might go on for ever, so vast is the
subject-matter, but before closing we would draw attention to St.
Margaret's Church, which stands in front of Solomon's Porch. It was
founded by the Confessor, and is the especial church of the House of
Commons. Curiously enough, it gives scale to the whole Abbey. The Houses
of Parliament are across the road to the east of the Abbey and on the
bank of the river Thames. In the Tudor style Sir Charles Barry, R.A.,
built the New Palace of Westminster, containing the two Houses of
Parliament (1840-1859). It is a stupendous work and a marvellous mass of
rich architecture. Some authority states that the clock tower is much
after the style of the belfry at Bruges. This statement, we would point
out, is hardly correct. The two no more resemble each other than do
black and white.
How is it possible to describe in a few cold words the wonderful
beauties that lie hidden in the architecture of the Abbey, the best
artistic expressions of its several architects? Impressions created
depend upon the temperament of the individual who gazes upon them. All
acknowledge the great beauty, but each from his own standpoint,
according to his tastes and inclinations, which are moulded by his
pursuits in life, or more rarely endowed by that inherent sense of all
that is noble and refined he is enabled to sink his own individuality
for a moment, and to enjoy the brain-product of a fellow-being. To the
dull intellect the Abbey appeals as a mystery; to the commercial man it
represents so much outlay of capital, and a proud possession of the
empire's city; to the poet and artist the memorials must recall the
wonderful lines of Longfellow:
"Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime";
to the architect a marvellous insight into the great possibilities
offered by architecture; to the musician the ambition to create a great
composition that will be worthy to echo throughout the lofty and
beautiful aisles, whose music is so unconsciously based upon those laws
of harmony which should exist in architecture, sculpture, painting, and
literature.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Cathedral Cities of England" ***
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