UJJJJJj ftWSwSwy rt\wv y ,( IVll',' ■ GRAPHICAL ILLUSTRATION OF THE METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF Canterbury; ACCOMPANIED BY A HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION, COLLECTED FSOM THE MOST AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS, AND DRAWN UP FROM REPEATED SURVEYS ®f fimt Ocnerable jrabric. WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF ITS MONUMENTAL STRUCTURES, AND AN ACCOUNT OF ITS CHAPELS ALTARS, SHRINES, AND CHANTRIES. ALSO COMPRISING BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF THE LIVES OF THE ARCHBISHOPS, AND DEANS OF CANTERBURY 3 AND HISTORICAL NOTICES OF THE CELEBRATED Consent of CIjrtstdjurcI) ; WITH LISTS, AND INTERESTING PARTICULARS OF ITS DEANS, PRIORS, AND DISTINGUISHED MONKS. By W. WOOLNOTH; CONTAINING TWENTY PLATES, ENGRAVED BY HIMSELF, FROM DRAWINGS BY T. HASTINGS, MEMBER OF THE ROYAL LIVERPOOL ACADEMY. LONDON: Printed by Nichole, Son, and Bentley, Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street. PUBLISHED BYT. CADEI.L AND W. DAVIES, STRAND; AND J. MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET; AND SOLD BY R. AND W. C. WARDER, CHANGE ALLEY, E. GREENLAND, FINSBURY SftUARE : AND CRIBB AND SON, HOLBOKN : AND AT CANTERBURY, BY ROUSE, KIRKBY, AND LAWRENCE, AND WOOD AND GOODWIN, 1816 . TO THE MOST REVEREND CHARLES MANNERS SUTTON, BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE torn arcb&is&op of Canterburgj PRIMATE AND METROPOLITAN OF ALL ENGLAND; AND ONE OF THE LORDS OF HIS MAJESTY'S MOST HONOURABLE PRIVY COUNCIL; THIS WORK IS, WITH HIS GRACE’S PERMISSION, MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, BY HIS GRACE’S MUCH OBLIGED, AND MOST OBEDIENT SERVANT, WILLIAM WOOLNOTH. May 1, 1816. - . . PREFACE. THE contemplation and study of our national antiquities involve so many in¬ teresting associations in the mind and heart of a Briton, from their exhibiting the impressed memorials of the efforts of his ancestors to establish the honour, fame, and dignity of his country ; and from their constituting the records of that progress in taste and refinement, and that encouragement of public institutions, which, however it may have been perverted, has fostered a spirit, contributing to place her in the dignified rank she holds among nations—that the Author and Engraver feels it unnecessary to offer any apology for submitting the following work to a British Public—at the same time soliciting indulgence for its deficiencies. He has spared no pains to render the Graphical portion, the production of which formed the more immediate end of his exertions, as complete as possible. —During the progress of the Plates he has personally corrected the proofs upon the spot, to insure accuracy of detail; and he trusts that the uniformity of style in which they have all been executed by his own hand, will prove a recommendation not common to publications of a similar description.—To his literary department he cannot advert but in a tone of subdued confidence.—It has been the production of the short intervals which the slow labours of the Engraver's art allowed to be sub¬ tracted from almost incessant occupation.—Particular objections existed to con¬ signing the task to the pen of trained authorship.—He wished the peculiar feeling of the Artist to give a predominant cast to his composition, and to connect it inti¬ mately with the transcript which his views exhibit.—Some assistance was cheer¬ fully granted to facilitate this branch of his labours.—Availing himself freely of the ponderous compilations of Somner, Batteley, Dart, and others, and making con¬ stant reference to original authorities, he hopes that united toil has not failed, in, at least, presenting a perspicuous and lucid arrangement of materials.— file learned antiquary will forgive the introduction of some things—to him as familiar as the nomenclature of science to its professor, upon the consideration that its object is the diffusion of a more general taste for his favourite pursuits. To particularize the numerous instances of friendly regard for the interest and success of his work, with which he has been honoured, would be a task of magni¬ tude.—They have uniformly caused him to feel it an act of duty to testify their impression in the most appropriate manner, by sedulous attention to render his production such as might not disgrace its patronage. Islington, May 1 , l8t6. iM ■S'Sfs^Xs'i"^. vs*'. T*. 'T'- S-' «ji*. ^.^T5-.5 Indulgence is requested for the following Errata, which escaped revisal. Page 9, Note, for “ is rescued,” read “ are rescued.” 13, line 1, for “ was found an arch," read “ was formed an arch." 32, Note, for “ per 37 annos,” read “ per 47 annos." 89, line 5, for “ tic,” read t'rr. 96, Epitaph of Bourchier, line 3, for pcnbu, read ptcabgt. 96, line following the epitaph, after “ Lady chapel,” read “ in the undercroft. Some trifling variations in a few of the proper names, are owing to the licentious orthography of the monkish authorities. The Binder is requested to make the following arrangement of the Plates. 1 Door in the Cloisters, in front of the Title. 2 Ground Plan to face Page 3 East Transept 4 East End - 5 View from St. Martin's 6 West Front - 7 West Towers - 8 St. Anselm’s Chapel 9 View from the North West 10 View of Chapter House and Cloisters 49 50 11 South Porch 12 View of the Nave 13 View of the Undercroft 14 Capitals in the Crypt 15 Capitals in the Choir 16 View of Choir from North East Trans 17 Capitals in the Lady (Trinity) C” 1 18 View from Becket’s Crown 19 Edward the Black Prince 20 Tomb of Hubert Waller 57 58 65 66 67 ■: t 68 71 73 89 ged. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. HER MAJESTY. HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCESS AUGUSTA. HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCESS ELIZABETH. HIS GRACE THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. HIS MAJESTY’S LIBRARY. Hon. Mr. Justice Abbot, Queen-square, Blooms¬ bury, L. P. Mr. Absolone. C. Armstrong, Esq. Cross-street, Islington. Cosmo Armstrong, Esq. Highgate. M. Don Artaria, Manheim, 4 copies L. P. Miss Atkinson, Nicholas-lane, L. P. Messrs. Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, Booksellers, Paternoster-row, 4 copies S. P. 2 copies L. P. Mr. Barge, Clifford-street, Bond-street. Wm. Bentham, Esq. F. A. S. Gower-street, L. P. W. Birnie, Esq. 56, Russel-square. Edward Blore, Esq. L. P. Mr. VV. H. Bodkin, Islington. Mr. Boone, East Smith field. -Boyle, Esq. Sion-house, Isleworth. Mr. J. Bowler, Castle-street, Southwark. John Britton, Esq. F. A. S. Tavistock-place. Ed. Broderip, Esq. Baker-street, L. P. Messrs. Brodie and Dowding, Booksellers, Sa¬ lisbury. Mr. H. Brooks, Architect, 110, Strand. Rev. Walter Brown, Prebendary of Canterb. L. P. Jonathan Brundrett, Esq. Temple. Mrs. Brundrett, Temple. Henry Buckton, Esq. Canterbury, L. P. Countess of Carlisle, L. P. Messrs. Cadell and Davies, Strand, 8 copies. Rev. Archdeacon Cambridge, Twickenham, Mid¬ dlesex. Charles Owen Cambridge, Esq. Whitminster- house, Stroud, Gloucestershire, L. P. -Campion, Esq. Islington. Miss Carter, Deal. John Cator, Esq. Beckenham-place, Kent, L. P. Mr. Chapman, Dunning’s-alley, Bishopsgate- street, L. P. W. Chapman, Esq. Coal-market. Mrs. Clark, Canterbury. R. Clarke, Esq. Coal-market. Robert Clutterbuck, Esq. F. S. A. Watford, L. P. Mr. Coney. G. Cooke, Esq. Goswell-street-road, L. P. H. R. Cook, Esq. Goswell-street. Richard Holmes Coote, Esq. 4, Southampton- row, L. P. Robert Bransby Cooper, Esq. Hempstead, co. Gloucester, L. P. Mr. Cox, Chancery-lane, 2 copies, 1 L. P. Messrs. Cribb and Son, Printscllers, Holborn, 10 copies. Capt. T. Critchel, Islington. William Davies, Esq. Strand, L. P. India. John Dent, Esq. Hertford-street, May Fair, L. P. Charles Derrick, Esq. Navy-office. Mr. Dodsworth, Salisbury, L. P. Mrs. Doughty, Bedford-row. General Dowdeswell, L. P. Mrs. Dowdeswell, L. P. John Dowling, Esq. Canonbury, L. P. James Dunnage, Esq. Epping Forest. Sir Henry Charles Englefield, Bart. F. R. S. F. S. A. 2 copies, 1 L. P. India. Capt. John Ebster, Poole, Dorset. Messrs. Gale and Fenner, Booksellers, 2 copies, S. P. 1 copy L. P. Mr. Garner, Bookseller, Margate. Mr. M. L. Gay, Mason, Carver, &c. &c. F. A. S. 63, Norton-street, Port land-road. General M. Gartin, 24, Manchester-square. Isaac Gompatz, Esq. Golden-square. G. Gostling, Esq. Bedford-square, L. P. India. G. W. Le Grand, Esq. London, L. P. Rev. John Gregory, Preston, near Canterbury. H. Hakewell, Esq. Architect, Lower Brook- street, L. P. G. P. Harding, Esq. 3S, Strand, 2 copies, L. P. G. H. Harding, Esq. John Harcourt, Esq. East India House. Mr. Harper, Bookseller, Fleet-street, 2 copies, L. P. T. Hastings, Esq. Mr. Hawks worth, Barnsbury-street, Islington, L. P. India. John Heaton, Esq. 7, Old Burlington-street, L. P. Sir Richard Colt Hoarc, Bart. F.R.S. FAS. L.P. Mr. Hooper, Bookseller, 158, Fenchurch-street, L. P. SUBSCRIBERS. J. Holmes, Esq. Titchfield-street. J. F. Hunt, Esq. Stable Yard, St. James’s. Mr. Jennings, Bookseller, Poultry, 1 copy S. P. 2 copies L. P. G. Jenner, Esq. Doctor's Commons, L. P. Mr. Jones, jun. Ludgate-hill. William Lamb, Esq. Somerset-house. Mr. Lee, Architect, Devonshire-street, Queen- square. Thomas Lowten, Esq. Temple, L. P. Mr. Loyd, 115, Cheapside. Mr. Long, Penton-street, Pentonville. Wilson Lowry, Esq. F. R. S. 2 copies, I L. P. Ind. Mr. W. Manser, Islington, Mr. R. Manser, Islington. James Heywood Markland, Esq. F. S. A. Temple, L. P. Mr. Moss, 17, Charlotte-street, Blackfriars. Mr. Mole, Pentonville. John Murray, Esq. Albemarle-street. Mrs. Murray, Gray’s Inn Road. F. Nash, Esq. Howland-street, Fitzroy-square. Mr. J. P. Neele, Blackfriars-road. Mr. Neele, Chapel-street, Pentonville, L P. J. Nichols, Esq. F. A. S. Highbury-place, L. P. J. B. Nichols, Esq. F.L.S. Red Lion Passage, L.P. John Norman, Esq. Chapel-st. Pentonville, L.P. Janies Norman, Esq. Red Lion Square, L. P. Rev. J. H. Norman, Palace Court, Kent, L.P. John Nutt, Esq. Canterbury. Mr. Ogle, Bookseller, Holborn, 2 copies S. P. 1 copy L. P. Mr. Orchard, Coal Market. S. Owen, FZsq. Hampstead-road, L. P. Mrs. Painter, Penton-street, Pentonville. Rev. Wm. Parker, Rector of St. Ethelburga, Bishopsgate. W. Parrv, Esq. Temple. Georse Hay Dawkins Pennant, of Penrhyn Castle, North Wales, Esq. M. P. L.P. Charles Philips, Esq. Southwark, L. P. India. John James Pierce, Esq. Canterbury, 2 copies. Mr. Pimlott, Seal-office, Temple. Mr. Poland, Strand. J. Potter, Esq. 3, Barnsbury-street, Islington. Dr. Powell, 7, Bedford-place, Russel-square, L. P. Janies Poole, Esq Seal-office, Temple, William Prevost, Esq. King’s-road, L. P. J. Price, Esq. Islington, L.P. Rev. Archdeacon Radcliff, Canterbury, J. Randall, Esq. Castle-street, Holborn. Daniel Rainier, Esq. Islington. S. Richardson, Esq. Coal-market. Mr. Richards, East India House. Messrs. F. (. and J. Rivington, Booksellers, 2 copies S. P. I copy L. P. Mr. Rosier, Threadneedle-street. Messrs. Rouse, Kirkby, and Lawrence,Canterbury. Earl Spencer, L. P. Mr. Saft'ery, Canterbury. W. Salte, Esq. Poultry, L. P. W. Geary Salte, Esq. Poultry, L. P. Mr. Serjeant, Gutter-lane, L. P. Mr. Shirt, Totteuham-court-road. William Simpson, Esq. Camden Town. -Skeggs, Esq. L. P. John Soane, Esq. It. A. Professor of Architecture, F. S. A. L P. Janies Solly, Esq. F. S. A. L. P. T. Spinks, Esq. Temple, L. P. Mr. Stanley, Chancery-lane, L. P. C. J. Stephenson, Esq. 50, Great Ormond-street. Frederick Wilton Litchfield Stockdale, Esq. East India House. Mr. Storer, Chapel-street, Pentonville. Mr. Swift, Pentonville. J. Tabor, Esq. Lothbury, L. P. Alexander Tilloch, Esq. Barnsbury-str. Islington. D. Ilbetson Thompson, Esq. Somerset House. John Urquhart, Esq. East India House. Mr. Walsh, Temple. Mr. Warder, Change Alley, 3 copies. C. Warren, Esq. Gray's Inn Road. Lieut. Col N. Webb, HarbledownJ qear Canter¬ bury. Charles Wetherell, Esq. M. P. Lincoln’s Inn, L. P. Mr. Jesse White, Canterbury, L. P. India. Dr. Wiechsell, St. Pancras. Rev. Cooper Williams, Kingston, near Canterbury. John Willock, Esq. Golden-square, L. P. Charles W illis, Esq. Cranbrook, Kent, L. P. Mr. Wilson, St. John-street, Clerkenwell, L P. -Wilkinson, Esq. Cross-street, Islington. Mr. T. Winkworth, Architect, 35, Upper Nor- ton-street. Mr. T. Woolnoth, Islington, 2 copies. Lewis Wyatt, Esq. Architect, Albany. GROUND PLAN CANTERBUKY CATHEDUAL, Shwing' the Situations: of the Tombs. 2 _ Dunstan, Tower.... --- - ---.- 3 _ Arundel d* .-.* ——. 4 _ Entrance to the Choir.. . -. 5 . Descent to the Martyr, loin .. --- fi . Entrance from the t "leisters -- - 7 _ Tcmh ofJnhb* Pochham .- - - 8 .D" _- — - Workout -- 9 . Descent to the Thikorrort... - 10 . Mon* of Dean Ropers. --- B-Dr - Bon,rare. .-. 12 - Df. - . Turner. . 13. Dr. ... Sogr .. 14.IK - _ Fotherby. --- . 16. Staircase to the top of the Church . jg ip ... Central Tower. IJ- Tomb or Earl of Somrset. Dulee of _ Clarence and their Lady. ..- 18. Mbit' of Colonel Prude. —.— ]o_ Dr _ Sir Thomas Piofnhurst- .- V)_nr . Lady Thomhurst. . .--- H. DT _ Dante Dorothy Thomhurst. . 22. D 4 . Mui Ann Miles ..-- 23. Tomb of Arch r lanytnn .. 24. Motif of Sir & Broke - 2$. Df. _ Sir J. Halos - --- 26-Dr..-- - ECod/hy.Esy. -- 27. Ascents to ados, of Choir. . - -- 28-Ascent to Choristers Tostry, formerly an. _ Armory ■ or Store Doom of Delias. - 29. Tomb of Arch? Reynolds . 30 . J)* . . Hubert Walter . - - - fe||* I Drawn trom actual measurements, and Engraved by WWoolnath 31 - Archbishops Throne. . 32- Stalls.- -- - 33- Tomb of Arch? Chiehely . . 34- Dr.. . Kemp .. . jS./f .. Stratford - -. M DT , Sudbury 37. Dr . Jiourehier. .. 38. Altar . ... —. 39. Tomb of Arch • Mepham . . 40. Minor Canons lenity -- - - — 41 -Ascent to the Thinly chapel 42-Tetselated Parement and Kerman ales ■13.Site of Bechets Shrine .— . 4-1. Tomb of Edward, the Black PnneX . IS. DS _ Henry Bland his Queen - 46. Chantry Chapel of Henry TV . 41 _ Cenotaph of Courtney .. 48- Tomb of Odo Cardinal Chaollton 49- Mon* of Bean Ifotton ... 50- Tomb of Arch* Theobald .. -. 51. D 4 - . Cardinal and Arch r Dole. St. flunanhal Chair. .. 53. Font ------ 54. AnhiepiscnpaL Seat . .. 55. Monks Stalls .-. 56. Entrance to Chapter House 57- Opemny IP the Dark Entry . 58- Formerly Entrance n m the Cellarers Ldytnys 59. Ancient entrance from the Dormitory. gO. Df _ entrance from the ArAbishnpsMoee A B < 1) E F c. II 1 K L > 1 - . heel. . Inn S O P i.i K S _ Open Ground T. BaptL V _ Open Or . und W _ i "hapta !i ' fyjyirraat /w > urn. rthDhnyton.Jan i.idio HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF Canterbury SECTION I. THE HISTORY OF THE STRUCTURE UNTIL ITS PARTIAL DESTRUCTION BY FIRE IN 1174, AND SUBSEQUENT REPARATION. Antiquity of the city of Canterbury.—Its importance to the Homans. _ Uncertainty with regard to its religious structures.—Introduction of Christianity.—Support it received from Constantius Chlorus. _ Its de¬ cline on the abandonment of Britain.—Invasion of the Saxons. _ Mis¬ sion of Augustine.—Ihs success.—Conversion of Ethelbert, king of Kent—Consecration of Christchurch—-Probable form and nature of the building—Foundation of the monastery—Cuthbert procures the papal and royal sanction for the interment of holy persons within the cathedral—Contest between the monasteries of Christchurch and St. Augustine’s—Enlargement of the building—Pall bestowed by Adrian upon the bishop of Litchfield.—Leo reverses the decree. _- Dreadful pestilence.—Repairs under Celenoth.—Ravages of the Danes—Alfred’s heroism and genius—Odo’s reparation of the B 2 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. I. building.—Burned by the Danes. — Canute's encouragement to its restoration.—Description by the monk Edmer.—Cruciform mode of building practised by the Saxons. — Stygand's deposition.—Lanfranc rebuilds the church in the Norman style.—Rebuilding continued by Anselm , and Prior Conrad. — Gervaise's description .—“ The glorious choir of Conrad.”—Fame and consequence of Christchurch. — Ger¬ vaise's interesting account of the fre in 31 / 4 , and rebuilding .— Translation of Baldwin to the see. THE local causes which operate in forming the establishment of cities not indebted to adventitious circumstances for their foundation, are power¬ ful evidence in favour of the antiquity of Canterbury. Its central situation, with regard to the ports of the Kentish coast, its salubrious air, and plentiful supply of water, must have recommended its site to the aboriginal inhabitants of Kent. To the Romans it was a post of the utmost im¬ portance, from its connection with the Rhutupensian harbours, and by them called Durovernum ; probably an altered termination of the name bestowed upon the territory by the Britons ’. However vague the tradition which would fix the date of the first foundation of a religious structure within the limits of the city, an inference may justly be drawn from the mention by Tacitus of a temple erected in honour of Claudius, during the reign of that Emperor, at Camelodunum, now Malden, in Essex, with an establishment of officiating priests, that Durovernum was not without similar endowments. Trifling aid is afforded by tradition to probable conjecture concerning the precise period of the introduction of the worship of Christ into this country 2 . When Rome had planted her eagles and stationed her legions 1 Arehseologia, vol. I. p. 187- Camden, in his Britannia, deduces the name of the Roman station from the British Dwr whern, a rapid river. * It would be an useless trial of the reader’s patience to dwell upon the idle legends concerning the visits of St. Peter, St. Paul, and Joseph of Arimathea, to the British territories; or the traditionary SECT. I. OE CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 3 in the garrisons, which, after a severe struggle, she succeeded in establish- ing, the converted to the true faith began to be numerous in her ranks; their zeal, under divine influence, must have gained them many proselytes; although unquestionably the faithful in this country suffered under similar persecution to what was experienced in other parts of the empire : it is therefore doubtful whether any regular establishment could have been maintained, or edifice constructed, for the performance of Christian rites, until about the time ot Constantius Chlorus, father of the renowned Con¬ stantine; whose paternal encouragement may well be supposed to have induced the converted to take possession of, and repair for their use, the dilapidated temples of pagan worship *. When compelled to evacuate posts it could no longer maintain, and to withdraw its forces for the defence of the vital parts of the empire, the Roman government left a country, which it had reconciled to its despotism by the protection it afforded and the civilization it bestowed, to the ravages of barbarians; the most wretched anarchy appears to have prevailed in its civil and religious institutions, until the infant church sunk beneath the yoke of the unconverted Saxons. With these invaders, whose first royal establishment was formed in the me¬ tropolis of Kent, by them called Cantpapa B.p.g, or Canterbury, were introduced the ceremonial rites of a barbarous theology; a cloud of obscurity, which it would be in vain to attempt to dispel by any illumination from the monkish legends, rests upon the condition of the Christian church during the almost total change of inhabitants, customs, and institutions, in the southern part of the island 5 ; and no information can be acquired upon the subject of our C amden quotes what has been written on the subject Dr. Stillingfleet and Bishop Usher treat the matter history of the conversion and zeal of king Lucius by Bede, Nicephorus, Chrysostom, Jerome, &c at large. ' See Archaiologia, vol.VIII. Ledwich supposes the undercroft of Canterbury Cathedral to have been an Iseum or temple of Isis; an opinion rather fancifully ingenious, although unsupported by any other testimony than some accidental resemblances in the fantastically-sculptured eapilals with similar works of the degeneracy of Roman art. If we know little of this ancient period, let us not fill the vacuity with Gildas." Johnsons Tour to the Hebrides. For an able abstract of this " Monk of Bangor," see Turner's Anglo Saxons, vol. I. - V' . '.V- HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION researches until the union of Ethelbert with the French princess Bertha, a Christian, who stipulated for the free exercise of her religion, served to introduce under the royal protection some of the most esteemed ecclesiastics of the day, whose correspondence with Rome animated Gregory, called the Great, to attempt the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons, hy means of the mission of St. Augustine, A. D. 597- The comprehensive mind of Gregory was fully sensible of the im¬ portance of the undertaking ; and the men whom he selected for the enter¬ prise were doubtless possessed of all the learning and knowledge of the age. The tenderness of conjugal affection had already softened the heart of Ethelbert, and his soul bowed before the superior endowments of the en¬ lightened ecclesiastics ; the king and many of his court received baptism, and submitted to the ordinances of the church 1 . Thus, by an admirable combination, the refinements of art and literature, and the blessings of Christianity, began jointly to shed their benignant influence over this quar¬ ter of the island ; and if the weeds of gross taste and superstition sprung up with the harvest of knowledge and religion, they were evidences of the fertility of a soil which needed hut judicious cultivation. Countenanced by the royal sanction, and venerated for his reported power of working miracles, St. Augustine consecrated afresh the church which had probably witnessed the first prayers of British Christians 2 , and dedicated it to our Saviour. At the same time a monastery was founded in the vicinity by Ethelbert, for the monks who attended St. Augustine on his mission 3 . The structure which Augustine thus restored to the uses of piety, was in all probability modelled upon the plan of the Roman basilicse; in form a simple parallelogram, terminating circularly at the eastern end, and occu- ’ Bede’s Ecelesiast. Hist. Gregory's Epistles. 8 Battelv, in his Cantuaria Sacra, considers this honour as divided with St. Martin's Church, in the vicinity of this city, and the Roman building, which he calls a chapel, in Dover Castle. The ques¬ tion is too trite, and the proofs too obscure, to be dwelt upon. The claims of Canterbury, however, seem to be indubitably fixed, from the researches of later antiquaries. 3 St. Augustine’s, at first dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul. SECT. I. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 5 pying the site of the present crypt, or undercroft; from which simple edifice arose, by constantly repeated additions, the elaborate and magnificent pile as it at present exists. The labours of Augustine seem to have been directed principally to secure his infant establishment, and to induce the Welsh Bishops to ac¬ knowledge his own metropolitical dignity and the papal supremacy. It does not appear from the monkish chronicles that any important addition was made to the foundation of Christchurch until the establishment of the monastery by Laurentius, who succeeded Augustine, A. D. 615. The apostacy of Eadbald, the successor of Ethelbert, endangered the security of the church : he was, however, reclaimed by a pretended miraculous inter¬ position of St. Peter. The possession of the bodies of St. Augustine and his successors, by the monks of the neighbouring foundation, is observed by Dart to have absorbed the endowments which might have enriched Christchurch. The latter gradually dwindled, from its privation of the excitement to veneration which the possession of relics at that time afforded, until the zeal of Arch¬ bishop Cuthbert prompted him to procure the papal and royal permission, for the interment of deceased religious within the cathedral precincts. Gervaise records a violent contention between the monks of the rival esta¬ blishments for the remains of this prelate; and on the part of St. Augus¬ tine’s, in support of the monopoly of so fruitful a source of revenue. The purpose of sepulture requiring an enlargement of the building, Cuthbert, according to Osbern, made an addition of a chapel at the eastern end, and on the southern side, dedicated to John the Baptist, and intended to be used as a place of interment for the deceased Archbishops; also as a baptistery, and court of judicature, for the trial of causes which could not be legally determined in the King’s courts. Improvements were probably carried on during the time of his successor, Bregwine, which received a severe check when the arcliiepiscopal pall, through the influence of Offa, was bestowed by Adrian upon Eadulf, Bishop of Lichfield, together with , , .. , , : ‘ HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION the principal portion of the Bishopricks, leaving to Canterbury only London, Winchester, Rochester, and Salisbury. This decree, fatal to the growing consequence of Christchurch, was reversed by the succeeding Pope Leo. Many rich donations about this time swelled the funds of the church, and were applied by Wilfrid in making considerable additions to the monastery. About the time of Theologild, A. D. 830, a dreadful pestilence in this city swept away a great part of its inhabitants, and nearly the whole of the monks. Celenoth, who succeeded him, supplied the vacancies with secular clergy, and commenced a reparation of the building. This prelate probably first covered the roof with lead ', as an engagement for the supply of that metal appears to have been made A. D. 835. Here, for a while, closes the record of progressive refinement and civilization. In the spring of 852, attracted by the wealth and prosperity of England, the ferocious pirates of the North invaded Kent, and plun¬ dered its metropolis. In the course of their merciless ravages, the eccle¬ siastic establishments were favourite objects of destruction; and the whole country presented one wide scene of devastation from the Thames to the Humber. The patriotism, heroism, and genius of Alfred, restored the fallen fortunes of his native land. It is probable that the influence of the taste acquired by his youthful observations at Rome, aided by the free com¬ munication which now seemed to exist with that city, might operate in the improvement of religious structures, and form a guide for Odo, in his reparation of Christchurch, A. D. 938. Osbern represents the building as having suffered deplorably during the period of the Danish inroads, “ the roof destroyed, the rafters hanging ready to fall, and the walls broken down, and irregular; so that it was by no means fit for divine service: he therefore ordered the broken rafters to be taken away, and raised the walls 1 " In the year 835 there is a gift from Sinuarra, an Abbess, viz. Wircesmuth, to one Duke Hum- bel t, on condition that he should give every year, lead to the value of 300 shillings, for the repairs of the Church of Christ in Canterbury, to be delivered to Archbishop Celenoth and his successors for ever.” Dart’s History and Antiquities of Cant. Cathed. SECT. I. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. to an even and greater height, which occupied three years ; and, what is more wonderful, lest the people should be wet in coming to this roofless church, the heavens were so kind, at Ins prayers, as to keep off from it the rain ; and lest they should be wet in going or coming, from the whole city likewise.” Odo had witnessed the sublimity of effect produced by loftiness in the Italian churches, and aimed to produce a building of parallel grandeur; but it is not possible at this distance of time to discriminate how much of his work, and that pre-existing, survived the repeated ravages of the Danes, whom the pusillanimous Etheldred vainly hoped to bribe to desist from their invasions. In 1011 a numerous fleet anchored in Sandwich harbour, and Canteibury afforded the first plunder to these rapacious marauders. Osbern gives the melancholy details of this period in his Life of St. Elphe- gus. By a relentless decimation, four monks only were spared out of forty. The church was burned with the exception of tile outer walls, the Danes piling combustibles against them to inflame the roof. From this time until the able and adventurous Canute restored order and quiet to the distracted kingdom, the church and monastery were in a ruinous and neglected state. Livingus, who succeeded Elphegus, received the most liberal encourage¬ ment from a monarch, whose sagacity and nobleness of mind gave splen¬ dour to the dark and barbarous age in which he was destined to reign. Egelnoth, his successor, continued to repair and enrich the once again venerated structure. The records of the times mention many valuable pre¬ sents bestowed by the monarch upon the church. Among others, his golden crown, which was preserved until the Reformation, and various relics, constituting the most valuable property of that period. A general description of the restored church is given by the monk Edmer, and accurately translated by Dart. “ At the eastern end of the church stood the high altar, wherein was enclosed the body of Wilfrid 1 ; ■ “ There was a custom," says the learned Mr. Thorndike, "which seems to come from undefliet instiamty, to bury the remains of bodies of eminent saints, especially martyrs, under those stones upo, 8 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. I. this was of rough stone, cemented together. A little before that was another altar, dedicated to Christ, where daily mass was sungin which altar St. Elphegus inclosed the head of St. Swithin, and many other relics which he brought with him from Winchester. Descending hence by seve¬ ral steps, was the choir of singers. At the foot of the steps before-men¬ tioned, was a descent into a vault * which went under all the eastern part of the church, and at the end of it was an altar wherein was inclosed the head of St. Fursius. From hence, by a winding passage at the western end, was the tomb of Dunstan, separated from it by a wall. His body was buried deep in the ground before those stairs, and over him was a tomb erected in form ot a pyramid of great height, at the head of which was the matin altar. From hence, passing through the choir, was the hall, or body of which the eucharist was celebrated." The first and true intent thereof was to preserve a due reverence for the memory of the saints.— Battely’s Somner. This practice, like many others, became subject to abuses, and the increasing number of altars received much reprobation from the early Reformers. 1 Wheresoever this superfluity of altars did abound, yet still there was a regard to unity; there was one altar called the high, or chief altar, to which the rest were subordinate : at this altar the public service was daily celebrated ; at the other altars private masses were occasionally performed. Battely. 2 “ They were commonly called Cripta, or rather Crypta, that is, secret or hidden places under ground : by the Greeks they were called Martyrdoms ; by the Latins Confessionaries. Both these words signify the same thing; namely, the bearing witness to the holy truths of Christianity, though with the loss of goods, liberty, and life itself. The reasons of the name seem to be these •. The primitive be¬ lievers, through the continual dangers of persecution, were wont to assemble in obscure places, where they might not be seen or discovered, particularly in caves, or dens under ground. There they prayed and sang praises to Christ, and there they testified or declared (as a solemn part of their worship) their belief of the Christian faith. Afterwards, when Constantine the Great built stately churches for the Christian worship, there were vaults and underground places under the east parts of those churches. Hence Bullinger conjectures that these crofts were built to put them in mind of what straights the primitive church lay under, who worshipped God in such dark recesses as might in some measure secure them from the storms of persecution. Others are of opinion that they were built as repositaries for the remains of martyrs, confessors, and holy men, whose bones were placed under the altar. And herein I have seen the testimony of St. Jerome quoted, that the bodies of martyrs and others were buried in the croft. This was the custom in many great churches.’’ Battely. “ Crypts, or undercrofts, are certain evidences of the high antiquity of those churches in which they are found. It is observable also, that they are found in the most select and dignified situations in our ancient churches, uniformly bespeaking their uses to have been of the most sacred kind.” Green’s Worcester. SECT. I. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 9 the church, separated from the choir by a partition, to exclude the crowd. About the middle of the length of the hall were two towers, jutting out beyond the walls; of which that on the southern side had an altar in the middle of it dedicated to St. Gregory, and from the tower was a passage, being the principal porch of the church, called by the ancient English, and even now, Suthdore ; a large and spacious portico, a hall where causes were tried, and where a definitive sentence without appeal was given to those which could not be legally determined in the King’s courts. The other tower on the north side was erected to the honour of St. Martin, hav¬ ing a passage from it into the cloister, where the monks conversed ; and as in the former, foreign causes were tried, and secular authority exercised, so in this, the young novices were instructed, day and night successively, by turns, in ecclesiastic affairs and offices. The end of the church was adorned with the oratory of the Blessed Virgin, to which (such was the nature of the building) there was no passage but by an ascent of several steps ; in the eastern part of it was an altar consecrated to the name of the Blessed Virgin, wherein was enclosed the head of Austrobarta the Virgin. When the priest ministered in divine offices at this altar, he turned his face towards the people, who stood below to the eastward; behind him, to the westward, stood the archiepiscopal chair, of curious workmanship, composed of great stones cemented together, and placed at a due distance from the altar to¬ ward the church wall.” From the foregoing description of this great work of Saxon art, it appears, in opposition to Mr. Bentham’s opinion, that the cruciform mode of constructing churches was practised by our Saxon an¬ cestors. We may fairly ascribe so much of the present exterior as extends from the western transept to the Trinity chapel to this period, although some innovations, easily to he distinguished, have taken place >. During the troublesome times in which Stygand held the prelacy, no improvements ' See the 2d chapter of Milner's Treatise on Ecclesiastical Architecture, in which the taste and knowledge of our Saxon ancestors is rescued from some ill-founded aspersions. C 10 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. I. were attempted, and the church appears to have suffered by fire about 106/. Upon his deposition under William the Conqueror, and the consecration of Lanfranc, a Norman, the greater part of the building was pulled down, and begun to be rebuilt 1 with arches of a holder sweep, and columns of more elegant proportions. This work was carried on during the prelacy of An¬ selm, his successor, under the direction of the intelligent Prior Conrad, whose taste and ability excited the wonder of his contemporaries. William of Malmsbury makes a rapturous eulogy of its beauties. “ Nothing similar was to be found in England, either for the brilliancy of the painted windows, the splendour of the marble pavement, or the pictured roof, which attracted the eyes of beholders.” Tbe finished work was dedicated by the prelate Radulfus, A. D. 1114, and is ably described by Gervaise, the monk, as quoted by Dart: “ The tower, supported with mighty columns, is placed in the middle of the church, on the top pinnacle of which stands a gilded cherubim 2 . From hence, toward the west, is the nave, or body ol the church, supported both ways by high pillars. Two lofty towers with gilded pinnacles terminate this nave or body. In the middle of this church hangs a gilded crown, but the pulpitum in some measure separated the nave from the tower, and underneath it, in the middle of the nave, stood an altar of the holy cross. Over the pulpit was a beam, which went athwart the church, and separated the great cross, and two chenibims, as also the 1 Much controversy has taken place with respect to the nature and extent of Lanfranc's reparations. That prelate and architect, doubtless, worked up much of the old foundation and side walls, altering the proportions of the columns and windows to the standard of an altered style. " How probable it is that Lanfranc could execute so great a work as the cathedral, the palace, and the monastery, in so little time (seven years), I shall not presume to determine ; but if it was done so on a sudden, it is no wonder his immediate successor should have a great deal of it to do over again.” Gostling's Walk in and about Canterbury. “ The principal discrimination between the Saxon ami the Norman (style ) appears to be that of much larger dimensions in every pai t; plain, but more lofty vaulting ; circular pillars of greater diameter; round arches and capitals, having ornamental carvings, mu. h more elaborate and various, adapted to them.” Dallaway. Hence the appellation of :t Angel Steeple.” SECT. I. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 11 images of the Blessed Virgin and St. John the Apostle. In the north wing was an oratory, and an altar of the Blessed Virgin. In the above-men- tioned nave we sung the service for the space of five years after the fire. The aforesaid great tower had a cross on each side, namely, toward the north and south, each of which had a strong pillar in the middle, hy which the arch proceeding in three divisions from the wall was supported. Both of these were in a manner the same. In the north cross aile, over the arch, was an organ placed ; above the arch and beneath was a portico, stretching forth toward the east, in the lower part of which stood the altar of All Saints. Before the altar of St. Michael, toward the south, lay interred Theologild, the Archbishop ; and toward the north Siburgis, a holy virgin, whom St. Dunstan, because of her sanctity, ordered to be buried in the church. Between this portico and the choir is a space divided into two parts, namely, into a few steps leading into the crypt, and a greater num¬ ber conducting to the higher parts of the church. The south cross aile has also two porticoes, in the higher of which is the altar of St. Blaise, in the lower that of St. Benedict. Betwixt the porcli and the choir is a space divided into two parts, namely, a descent into the crypt, and an ascent into the eastern parts of the church. This space and the above-mentioned por¬ tico are separated by a solid wall. This chapel of the martyrdom had front¬ ing it the passage from the cloister into the church. That pillar which stood in the middle of the cross aile, and the arch depending thereon, in process of time, and out of reverence to the martyr, were taken down, that the altar erected in that part of the martyrdom might be seen at a greater distance. But iii the circuit up to the height of the aforesaid arch, a pas¬ sage was made by which the pall and cortines might be * * » * * *. From this cross aile into the tower and from the tower into the choir, is an ascent of many steps. From the tower you pass through a new gate into the south cross aile, and likewise into the nave through a pair of folding- doors.” HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. I. In describing the choir, which was more immediately the work of Prior Conrad, Gervaise gives the details of magnificence, which was reported to the Monarch as an example of gross profusion, and a scandalous waste of his liberal donations. His reply is strongly tinctured with the veneration of, and respect for the church, which characterised that rude age : “ If those treasures have contributed to the increase and glory of the house of God, blessed be the Lord that he has inspired me with the will to grant them, and that he has bestowed such grace upon my reign, that I am permitted to behold the increasing prosperity of my holy mother, the church.” “ Proceeding from the great tower,” continues Gervaise, “ which divides the hall of the church from the choir, the eastern pillars of it projected from the solid wall like semi-pillars, or pilasters, which, with the wall, separated it from the view of the church. It was supported by eighteen pillars, nine on each side in a direct line, and at equal distances. Beyond which, six pillars more extended themselves to form a semi-circle '. From the ninth 1 The late Mr. Essex, the architect, in the subjoined letter to the Rev. Mr. Goatling, with which the author was favoured by Mr. Nichols, calls in question the correctness of this statement. Sir, If I may judge by the question you proposed to me concerning the different thickness of the outer walls of the choir at Canterbury, you have some suspicion that those walls have been altered since they were built, which alterations may have been the cause of their extraordinary thickness. If this is your opinion, as it is mine, then I fancy we are both in the same opinion about other particulars relating to this church, though the short opportunity I had of seeing it did not furnish me with all the materials necessary for supporting my opinion. Soon after my return from Canterbury, I took an opportunity of examining my memoranda made in and about that Cathedral ; and upon comparing what I there observed with Gervaise’s account of the burning and rebuilding the choir of Conrad (as it is published, with Edwin’s plan, by the Antiquarian Society) I had some reason to doubt whether that account might be entirely depended upon. In the description which he gives us of Conrad’s choir, and in Mr. Batteley's plan made from that description, there were <24 columns in that choir; 9 of which stood in a direct line on each side, and G more which formed a semicircle. I doubt not but he is very right in his account of those that stood in direct lines ; but if my observations are not wrong, there were no more than 4 in the semicircle, which makes the number of columns in Conrad s choir but 22 in all. I have reason to believe that this was not Gervaise’s mistake, but in copying his MSS. where IV might easily be taken for VI. After describing the church, he says, In the year 1174 the glorious choir of Conrad was consumed by fire; and that this choir was rebuilt from the very foundation, which work was undertaken by William of Sens, a French architect, who was a whole year in taking it down. ■op SECT. I. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 13 pillar on each side was found an arch, and from pillar to pillar, as well those in a direct line as the circular ones, were formed arches. Over these was reared a solid wall, in which were several small and obscure windows; this wall, surrounding the choir, filled up the interspaces of the arches, and united them. Over which wall was an ambulatory, called the triforium, and the upper range of windows. This was the form of the inner wall of it, over which extended the roof, which was a sky finely painted. At the bases of the pillars was a wall, or concatenation of marble slabs, which surrounding the choir and presbytery, divided the nave of the building from the wings, or side ailes thereof. This wall enclosed the monk’s choir, the Now I have some reason to doubt whether this account is altogether true; for, by my observations it seems, that as much of the present choir as is comprised between the great tower and the two little towers of St. Gregory and St. Anselm, is the greatest part of the original choir of Conrad, and that all the columns, if not all the arches above them, with the vaulting of the side ailes, as far as the east cross, belonged to that choir. And it is my opinion, that the fire destroyed no more of the building than the monk's stalls and the roof of the choir, which at that time was only ceiled with wood, and painted j but that the side ailes were not much hurt, being vaulted with stone : nor do I suppose that any more of the choir was taken down than the semicircular end, and chapel adjoining j and it is probable Gervaise meant no more, as the ancients often distinguished that part by the name of chorus. The taking down of this, with a pillar and two arches on each side, for enlarging the openings into the east cross, and securing the remaining arches, might be the work in which William of Sens, the first architect, employed the first year; and if this conjecture is true, then the pieces of wood which have been fixed in those arches, were tyes of his fixing, to secure the work till the whole was finished, as the arches could not well stand without some such contrivance. If the building was not taken down, many alterations must necessarily have been made in it j not only to make it conformable to the new work, but for the convenience of vaulting the middle aile ; and some of these alterations may be the cause of that extraordinary thickness you observe in the walls. I cannot say that I observed the different thickness of them ; but that the inner part was of a different style from the outside, I noted in my pocket book at that time. As I had not an opportunity of examining this building so completely as I could wish, I will not pretend to say that I may not be mistaken in my opinion, though I have other observations that seem to confirm it; but as you have an opportunity of tracing the whole throughout, you may find some plea¬ sure in examining it j and if any observations that I l^ave made upon the building can further your en¬ quiry, I shall be ready to answer, as far as they can assist me, any questions you please to piopose on that subject j and am. Sir, your humble servant, James Essex. Cambridge, Feb. 1, 1760. 14 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. I. presbytery, the high altar dedicated to the name of Jesus Christ, the altar of St. Dunstan, and the altar of St. Elphegus, with their shrines. Beyond this wall, at the eastern bending of it, and behind the high altar, was the patriarchal chair, made of one stone, in which the Archbishops were wont to sit on their high festivals, during the intervals of mass, till the consecra¬ tion of the elements ; and then they descended by eight steps to Christ’s altar. From the choir to the presbytery were three steps. At the two eastern corners of the altar were two pillars of wood, neatly embellished with gold and silver, which supported a huge beam resting upon the top of the capitals, which fronting the choir, presented to the view of the church an image of our Lord, gilt, and an image of St. Dunstan on the one side, and St. Elphegus on the other; and seven shrines adorned with gold and silver, containing a large number of relics. Between the columns stood a golden cross, in the centre of which were sixty chrystals, set in a circle. In the middle of the choir hung a golden branch, fashioned like a crown, to hold twenty-four wax lights. Under the altar of Christ, in the crypt, or undercroft, was the altar of the Virgin Mary, in honour of whom the whole crypt was dedicated. This crypt extended itself in length and breadth pro¬ portionable to the choir above it.” The murder of Becket, in 117D, caused the church to be desecrated for one year, during which time no service was performed; the bells were fast¬ ened, the pavement turned up, the hangings and pictures removed, and dirt and rubbish suffered to accumulate within the walls. Its re-consecration after so memorable an event, led the way to an influx of benefactions and honours, powerfully characteristic of the superstition of the age, and of the influence of the priesthood. The recorded lists of treasures which flowed in upon this venerated scene of the death of a Martyr in the cause of church dominion, are admirable testimony of its far extended fame '. Its rising 1 “ Hereupon," (on the publication of the apostolical letter of Pope Alexander, concerning the ca¬ nonization of Becket) “ blind devotion did lead whole shoals of zealous people to his tomb. In the year 1177. Philip Earl of Inlanders came to visit him, where King Henry met the earl, and held a conference SECT. I. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. IS prosperity was, however, doomed to suffer a check from the renewed ravages of fire, the account of which, by the above quoted intelligent monk of this church, is too interesting to be curtailed. “ On the 5th of September, in the year of Grace 1174, about 9 o’clock at night, the wind blowing from the south with a fury almost beyond concep¬ tion, a fire broke out before the church gate, by which three small houses were almost burnt down. While the citizens were employed in extinguish¬ ing the flames, the sparks and ashes, whirled aloft by the violence of the storm, were lodged upon the church, and by the force of the wind insi¬ nuating themselves between the joints of the lead, settled on the planks, which were almost rotten, and thus by degrees the heat increasing, the decayed joists were set on fire, but the finely-painted cieling underneath, and the lead covering above, concealed the flames. Meantime the three small houses being pulled down, the people returned home. No one being with him at Canterbury. In June 117S, King Henry returns frqm Normandy, and pays a visit at the sepulchre of this saint; and in July following, William Archbishop of Rheims came from France with a large retinue, to perform his vows to St. Thomas of Canterbury, where the king met him, and received him honourably. A. D. 1179, Lewis King of France, came into England, before which time, neither he nor any of his predecessors had set foot on English ground, says Dicetensis. Brompton writes, that St. Thomas had thrice appeared to Lewis in a vision. He landed at Dover, where King Henry ex¬ pected his arrival. On August 23, these two Kings came to Canterbury, with a great train of nobility of both nations, where the Archbishop, with his comprovincial Bishops, the Prior and Convent, received them with due honour, and unspeakable joy. King Lewis came in the manner and habit of a pilgrim, and was conducted to the tomb of St. Thomas by a solemn procession : he there offered his cup of gold, and a royal precious stone, and gave them a yearly rent for ever of a hundred maids of wine, to be paid by himself and his successors. This grant was confirmed by his royal charter under his seal, and delivered the next day to the Convent. Brompton says that he tarried two days at Canterbury. Another says, that his stay here was three days; adding, that the oblations of gold and silver made by the French at that time were incredible : he would not set down how much lest he should seem to write what nobody would believe. In July 1181, King Henry, in his return from Normandy, made another visit to this tomb. These visits were the early fruits of devotion to the new sainted martyr j and these royal examples of kings and great persons, were followed by multitudes, who crowded to present with full hands their oblations at his tomb. All these visits were made during the time that they were building the new choir. Hence the convent was enabled by many rich and liberal supplies to carry on the work. They applied all this vast income to the fabric of the church, as the present case did instantly require; for which also they bad the consent of the Archbishop. Battbley. At) HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. 1. yet apprized of the fire in the church, the sheets of lead began by degrees to melt; and on a sudden the flames just appearing, there was a great cry in the church-yard, “ Alas ! alas! the church is on fire.” Many of the laity ran together with the monks to draw water, to bring axes, to mount ladders, all eager to succour Christchurch, now on the point of destruction. They reached the roof, hut, behold ! all was filled with a horrible smoke and a scorching flame. In despair, therefore, they were obliged to consult their own safety by retiring; and now, the joints of the rafters being con¬ sumed, the half-burnt timbers fell into the choir; the seats of the monks were set on fire, and on all sides the calamity increased. In this conflagra¬ tion that glorious choir made a wonderful and awful appearance. The flames ascended to a great height, and the pillars of the church were da¬ maged or destroyed. Great numbers applied to the ornaments of the church, and tore down the palls and hangings, some to steal, others to pre¬ serve them. The chests of relics, thrown from the lofty beam upon the pavement, were broken, and the relics scattered; but lest they should be consumed, they were collected and laid up by the brethren. Some there were, who, inflamed with a wicked and diabolical avarice, saved the goods of the church from the fire, but did not scruple to carry them away. Thus the house of God, hitherto delightful like a paradise of pleasure, then lay contemptible in the ashes of the fire. The people, astonished, and in a manner frantic for grief, tore their hair, and uttered some enormous re¬ proaches against the Lord and his saints, namely, the patrons of the church. There were laymen as well as monks who would have died rather than have seen the church of God so miserably perish; for not only the choir, but also the infirmary, with St. Mary’s chapel, and some other offices of the court, were reduced to ashes. <£ The calamities of Canterbury were no less lamentable than those of Jerusalem of old, under the tears and lamentations of Jeremiah. The grief and distress of the sons of the church were so great, that no one can con¬ ceive, relate, or write them ; but to relieve their miseries, they fixed the SECT - r - or CANTERBURY CATHEDRAE. ] J’ altar, such as it was, in the nave of the church, where they howled, rather than sung, mattins and vespers. The patrons of the church, St. Dunstan and St. Elphegus, were, with incredible grief and anguish, taken from their tombs, and placed as decently as possible in the nave of the church, at the altar of the Holy Cross. Meanwhile the brethren consulted how, and by what method, the ruined church might be repaired. Architects, therefore, both French and English, were assembled; hut they disagreed in their opinions : some undertook to repair, while others, on the contrary, affirmed that the whole church must be taken down, if the monks wished to dwell in safety. This, though true, overwhelmed them with grief. Among the architects was one William of Sens, a man of great abilities, and a most curious workman in wood and stone. Neglecting the rest, him they chose for the undertaking. Patiently, though not willingly, they agreed to take down the ruined choir. Attention was given to procuring stones from abroad. He made most ingenious machines for loading and unloading ships, for drawing the mortar and stones. Fie delivered also to the masons who were assembled, models for cutting the stones; and in like manner he made many other preparations. The choir, therefore, devoted to destruction, was taken down, and nothing more done for the first year. In the year ensuing, Master William erected four pillars, two on eacli side. Winter being over he placed two more, that on either side there might be three in a row upon which, and the outer wall of the ailes, he neatly turned arches and a vault; that is, three keys on each side. By the key I mean the whole roof, as the key placed in the middle seems to close and strengthen the parts on each side. This was the employment of the second year. In the third year he placed two pillars on each side, the two last of which he decorated with marble columns ; and because the choir and the crosses were there to meet, he made them the principal. On them key stones being placed, and an arch turned from the great tower as far as the before-mentioned pillars, that is, as far as the cross, he introduced in the lower cloyster several marble columns ; above which he made another cloyster of different materials, and D 18 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. r. upper windows; after that, three keys of a great arch, namely, from the lower to the crosses; all of which seemed to us, and to every one, inimitable, and in the highest degree praiseworthy. Thus the third year ended, and the fourth began ; in the summer of which, beginning at the cross, he erected ten pillars, that is, five on each side. Adorning the two first with marble columns, he made them the prin¬ cipal. On these ten he placed arches and vaults. Both the cloysters and the upper windows being finished, while he was preparing his machine for turning the great arch, at the beginning of the fifth year, the scaffold of a sudden gave way, and he came to the ground from the height of the crown of the upper arch, which is fifty feet. Being grievously bruised, he was utterly unable to attend to the work. No one but himself received the least hurt. Either the vengeance of God, or the envy of the devil, wreaked itself on him alone. Master William being thus hurt, entrusted the com¬ pletion of the work to a certain ingenious monk, who was overseer of the rough masons, which occasioned him much envy and ill-will. The archi¬ tect, nevertheless, lying in bed, gave orders what was first and what last to be done. A roof therefore was made between the four principal pillars, at the key of which roof the choir and the crosses seem, in a manner, to meet. Two roofs also, one on each side, were made before winter ; but the weather being extremely rainy, would not suffer more to be done. In the fourth year there was an eclipse of the sun on the 6th of Sept, at six o’clock, a few months before the architect’s accident. At length, finding no benefit from the skill and attention of his surgeons, he gave up the work, and crossing the sea, went home to France. In the summer of the fifth year, another William, an Englishman, succeeded the first William in the care of the work ; a man of a diminutive stature, but in various ways ex¬ tremely ingenious, and honest. He finished both the north and the south cross, and turned the roof which is over the high altar, which, when every thing was prepared, could not be done the year before on account of the rains. At the east end also he laid the foundation of the Chapel of the Holy SECT. I. OP CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 19 Irinity, where St. Thomas first solemnized mass, and used to indulge him¬ self in tears and prayers, in the undercroft of which he had been so many years buried; where God, through his merits, wrought many miracles, where rich and poor, kings and princes, worshipped him ', from whence the sound of his praise went into all the world. In digging this foundation Master William was obliged to take out the bones of several holy monks, which, being carefully collected, were re-interred in a large trench, in the angle between the infirmary and the chapel, towards the south. This done, and the foundation of the outer wall being made extremely strong of stone and mortar, he built the wall of the undercroft as high as the bases of the windows. This was the business of the fifth year, and the beginning of the sixth ; but the spring of this now approaching, and the season of working being at hand, the monks were inflamed with a most eager desire to prepare the choir, so that they might enter it at the next Easter. The architect used his utmost efforts to fulfil the wishes of the convent; he also built the three altars of the chancel. He carefully prepared a place of rest for St. Dunstan and St. Elphegus. A wooden wall too, for keeping out the weather, was placed across the east end, between the last pillars but one, containing three windows. They were desirous to enter the choir (though with great labour and too much haste, it was scarcely ready) on Easter-eve. But, because every thing that was to be done on that sabbath-day, could not, on account of that solemnity, be fully done in a proper, decent manner, it was necessary that the holy fathers, our patrons, St. Dunstan and St. Elphegus, the fellow-exiles of the monks, should be removed before that day into the new choir. Prior Alan, therefore, taking with him nine brethren of the church on whom he could rely, lest there should be any disturbance or inconvenience, went one night to the tombs of the saints, and locking the doors of the church, gave directions to take down the shrine which surrounded them. The monks and the servants of the church, 1 See the preceding note. HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION in obedience to the commands of the Prior, took down that structure, opened the stone coffins of those saints, and took out their relics and carried them into the vestry. Taking out also the vestments in which they were wrapped, by length of time in a great measure decayed, they covered them with more decent palls, and bound them with linen girdles. The saints thus prepared, were carried to their altars, and placed in wooden coffins enclosed in lead. The coffins also, strongly bound with iron hoops, were secured with stone tombs, soldered in molten lead. Queen Ediva, also, who after the fire was placed under the altar of the Holy Cross, was in like manner carried into the vestry. These things were transacted on the Thursday before Easter, namely, on the 17th day of April. Next day, when this translation of the saints came to the knowledge of the whole con¬ sent, they were greatly surprised and offended, as this was presumptuously done without the concurrence of the convent; for they had proposed (as was proper) to translate these fathers with great and devout solemnity. They therefore summoned the Prior, and those who were with him, before the venerable Richard Archbishop of Canterbury, on account of the injury presumptuously offered to them, and to the holy patrons of the church. Matters were carried to such a length, that both the Prior and those who were with him were very near being obliged to resign their offices : but, by the mediation of the Archbishop, and other persons of consequence, a pro¬ per satisfaction and submission being previously made, the convent was prevailed upon to forgive them. Harmonv, therefore, being restored between the Prior and the Convent, on the holy sabbath the Archbishop in his cope and mitre, went at the head of the convent in their surplices, according to the custom of the church, to the new altar, and having blessed it, he with a hymn entered the new choir. Coming to that part of the church which is opposite to the martyrdom of St. Thomas, he took from one of the monks the pyx with the eucharist, which used to hang over the high altar, which the Archbishop, with great reve¬ rence, carried to the high altar of the new choir. The other offices of that SECT. I. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 21 festival were, as is usual on that day, solemnly and devoutly performed. This being over, the mitred prelate standing at the altar, the great bells ringing, began Te Deum. The convent with great joy joining in the hymn, praised God for the benefits conferred, with shouting hearts and voices, together with grateful tears. The convent wag by the flames ex¬ pelled from the choir as Adam out of Paradise, in the year of God’s word, 1174, in the month of Sept, on the fifth day of the month, about nine o’clock. The convent remained in the nave of the church five years seven months and thirteen days. It returned into the new choir in the year of grace 1180, in the month of April, on the nineteenth day of the month, about nine o’clock on Easter-eve. Our architect had built without the choir four altars, where the bodies of the holy Archbishops were replaced as they were of old, as has been mentioned before, at the altar of St. Martin, Living and Wilfred; at the altar of St. Stephen, Athelard and Cuthbert; in the south cross, at the altar of St. John, Elfric and Ethelgar; at the altar of St. Gregory, Breg- wine and Phlegmund. Queen Ediva, also, who before the fire had lain almost in the middle of the south cross, in a gilt coffin, was re-interred at the altar of St. Martin, under the coffin of Living. Besides this, in the same summer, that is, of the sixth year, the outer wall round the Chapel of St. Thomas, begun before the preceding winter, was built as high as the spring of the arch. The architect had begun a tower on the east side, as it were without the circuit of the wall, whose lower arch was finished before winter. The Chapel too of the Holy Trinity, which was mentioned above, was pulled down to the ground, having hi¬ therto remained entire, out of reverence to St. Thomas, who lay in its under¬ croft. The bodies also of the saints, which had lain in the upper part of it, were translated to other places ; hut lest the remembrance of what was done at their translation should be lost, a brief account shall be given of it. On the 25th of July the altar of the Holy Trinity was broken, and of it was formed an altar of St. John the Apostle. This I mention, lest the 22 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. I. memory of this sacred stone should perish, because upon it St. Thomas sung his first mass, and afterwards frequently performed divine service there. The shrines too, which were built up behind the altar, were taken down, in which, it is said, St. Odo and St. Wilfrid had a long time lain. These saints therefore, taken up in their leaden coffins, were carried into the choir; St. Odo was placed in his coffin under that of St. Dunstan; and St. Wilfrid under that of St. Elphege. Archbishop Lanfranc, in a very weighty sheet of lead, in which he had lain from the first day of interment, his limbs untouched, mitred and pinned to that hour, namely, sixty-nine years and some months. He was carried into the vestry and replaced in his lead till it was generally agreed what was to be done with so considerable a father. When the tomb of Archbishop Theobald, which was constructed of marble, was opened, and the stone coffin discovered, the monks who were present, thinking he was reduced to dust, ordered wine and water to be brought to wash his bones ; but the upper stone of the coffin being re¬ moved, he appeared perfect and stiff, adhering together by the bones and nerves, and a small degree of skin and flesh. The spectators were surprised, and placing him on a bier, thus carried him into the vestry as Lanfranc, that the convent might determine what was proper to be done with them both. Meanwhile the story was divulged abroad, and many on account of his unusual preservation, styled him St. Theobald. He was shewn to several who were desirous to see him, by whom the account was transmitted to others. He was taken out of the tomb, his corpse uncorrupted, his linen garments entire, in the nineteenth year after his death. By the order of the convent he was buried before the altar of St. Mary, in the nave of the church, in a leaden chest, the place which he desired in his life-time. A marble tomb, as there was before, was also placed over him. Lanfranc, as I said above, was taken out of his coffin in the sheet of lead in which he had lain untouched from the day he was first buried to that hour, namely, sixty-nine years; on which account, even his bones much decayed, were almost all reduced to dust; for the length of time, the moisture of the SECT. I. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 23 cloths, the natural coldness of the lead, and, above all, the transitory state of mortality, had occasioned this decay. However, the larger bones, col¬ lected with the other dust, were re-interred, in a leaden coffin, at the altar of St. Martin. The two Archbishops also, who lay in the undercroft on the right and left of St. Thomas, were taken up, and were placed for a time in leaden coffins under the altar of St. Mary, in the undercroft. The translation of these fathers being thus performed, that chapel, with its undercroft, was pulled down to the ground. St. Thomas alone reserved his translation till his chapel was finished. In the mean time, a wooden cha¬ pel, proper enough for the time and place, was prepared over and round his tomb; without whose walls, the foundation being laid of stone and mortar, eight pillars of the new undercroft, with their capitals, were finished. The architect prudently opened an entrance from the old under¬ croft to the new one. With these works the sixth year ended, and the seventh began ; hut, before I pursue the business of the seventh year, I think it not improper to enlarge upon some things that have been men¬ tioned, and to add others, which through negligence were forgotten, or for the sake of brevity, omitted. It was said above, that after the fire almost all the old choir was taken down, and that it was changed into a new and more magnificent form. I will now relate what is the difference. The form of the pillars, both old and new, is the same, and the thickness the same, but the height different; for the new pillars are lengthened almost twelve feet. In the old capitals the workmanship was plain, in the new the sculpture is excellent. There was no marble column, here are many. There, in the circuit without the choir, the vaults are plain ; here they are arched and studded. There, the wall, ranged on pillars, separated the crosses from the choir; hut here, without any interval, the crosses divided from the choir, seem to meet in one key fixed in the midst of the great arch which rests on the four principal pillars. There was a wooden ceiling, adorned with excellent painting ; here, an arch neatly formed of light sandstone. There was one balustrade; here, are two in the choir, HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION and one in the aile of the church. All which will he much better under¬ stood by seeing than by hearing. But it should be known, that the new building is as much higher than the old as the upper windows, both of the body of the choir and of its side, exceed in height the marble arcade. But, lest it should hereafter he asked why the great breadth of the choir near the tower is so much reduced at the top of the church, I think it not improper to mention the reason. One of which is, that the two towers, namely, St. Anselm s, and St. Andrews, formerly placed in a circle on each side of the church, prevented the choir from proceeding in a straight line. Another reason is, that it was judicious and useful to place the Chapel of St. Thomas at the head of the church, where was the Chapel of the Holy Trinity, which was much narrower than the choir, as far as the confines of those towers in a straight line. Afterwards, by degrees avoiding those towers on both sides, and yet preserving the breadth of that passage which is without the choir, as much as possible, on account of the processions which were fre¬ quently to be made there, he narrowed his work with a gradual obliquity, so as neatly to contract it over against the altar, and from whence, as far as the third pillar, to reduce it to the breadth of the Chapel of the Holy Trinity. After that, four pillars of the same diameter, but of a different form, were placed on both sides. After them, four others were placed circularly, at which the new work met. This is the situation of the pillars. But the outer circuit of the walls, proceeding from the above-mentioned towers, first goes in a right line, then bends in a curve, and thus both walls meet at the round tower, and there are finished. All these things may much more clearly, and more agreeably be seen by the eye, than ex¬ plained by speaking or writing. But they are mentioned that the difference of the new work and the old may be distinguished. Let us now observe more attentively what, or how much work, our masons completed in this seventh year after the fire. To be brief, in the seventh year the new under¬ croft, elegant enough, was finished, and upon it the outer walls of the ailes, as high as the marble capitals; hut the architect neither could nor SECT. I. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAE. 25 would turn the windows on account of the approaching rains, nor place the inner pillars. With this the seventh year ended, and the eighth began. In this eighth year the architect placed eight inner pillars, and turned the arches, and the vault, with the windows, circularly. He raised also the tower as high as the bases of the upper windows under the arch. The ninth year the work was suspended for want of money 1 . In the tenth year the upper windows of the tower were finished, with the arch upon the pillars; also the upper and lower balustrade, with the windows, and the larger arch ; the upper roof, too, where the cross is raised, and the roof of the ailes, as far as to the laying of the lead. The tower also was all covered in, and many other things were done this year. In this year Baldwin Bishop of Worcester was translated to the see of Canterbury. 1 This was in all probability a political suspension, for the purpose of raising supplies and procuring liberal contributions. The monks well understood the powerful nature of such an appeal. _ > '-«si HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL CHURCH SECTION II. CONCLUSION OF THE HISTORY OF THE STRUCTURE. Arrogance of the Convent of Christchurch.—Henry II. endeavours to con¬ trol! its power.—Fails of success.—Appeal of the monks against Hu¬ bert Walter.—They elect Langton.—Altercation between John and the Pope.—The sentence of interdict.—Nature of its operation .— John compelled to submission.—Fitting up the Trinity chapel for the relics of Becket.—His translation.—Its pomp.—Prior Henry de Esti'ia.—His tasteful additions to the choir.—Decline of the political influence of Christchurch.—Edward I.—His altercations with the monks. — Decrease of donations to the church. — Islip* s liberality .— Western transept rebuilt by Sudbury.—The ancient Norman nave taken down.—Death of Sudbury.—Rebuilding the nave by Prior Chitten¬ den.—Pure and elegant style of architecture then prevailing.—Its characteristics.—Prior Goldstone erects the beautiful chapel of the SECT. II. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 27 Virgin Mary.—His other works.—Prior Sellyngeglazes the cloisters. —Undertakes to rebuild the central tower.—Its completion by the second Prior Goldstone.—lie builds Christchurch gate.—Munificence of Cardinal Morton and the Prior.—Christchurch at the zenith of its splendour.—Its magnificence and sumptuous adornments.—Grand effect of the services of the Romish church.—The pride of Christchurch humbled by Henry VIII.—He annuls their festivals.—Degrades their patron Saint.—Plunders his shrine. — Finally , dissolves the monastery.—Christchurch formed into a collegiate church of a Dean and twelve Prebendaries.—Observations on the dissolution of the con¬ vent .— Vindication of the monks by Batteley.—Decline of architec¬ ture under Henry VII.—Fantastic varieties of the florid style .— Gross licentiousness and barbarism of the mixed style of the close of the sixteenth century.—Gaudy screen given by Mary.—Undercroft given by Elizabeth to the refugee Protestants from the Netherlands. —Devastations by the fanatics of the Commonwealth. — Re-adornment of the choir at the Restoration.—Added varieties of style.—Spire of Arundel steeple taken down.—Further improvements of the choir .— Decoration of the altar.—A somewhat finished appearance given to Bucket's crown.—Injuries of the building from time and the weather. —Perishable nature of the stone employed by Sudbury and his suc¬ cessors.—Care taken for the preservation of the edifice.—Conclusion of the history. By this time the natural effects of accumulated wealth, and extended power, had begun to display themselves in the haughty assumption and unbridled insolence of the convent of Christchurch. Lurking jealousies of the in¬ fluence of Rome were evinced by the secular government, in its endeavour to direct the election of the Archbishops '. Baldwin lent his aid to a poli- 1 The election of the Archbishop was a subject of severe contest on many occasions; the opposing parties were the Prior and Chapter of Christchurch, under the sanction of numerous papal bulls j and 28 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. II. tical project of the King, to controul the dangerous preponderance of the monks, by founding a collegiate church of secular canons and prebendaries in honour of the martyred Bccket, at Hackington, three miles from Can¬ terbury ; che number of canons to he equal to that of the suffragans of Can¬ terbury ; the King to bestow one of the prebendaries, and the suffragans the remainder. By this scheme it was hoped covertly to transfer from Christchurch the management of archiepiscopal and secular affairs, and to undermine an influence too powerful for an open assault. The wary and subtle monks perceived the intention, and appealed to the Pope. Baldwin, with becoming firmness, suspended the Prior Honorius, and excommunicated the appellants ; and upon a repetition of the offence, imprisoned the convent within their own walls. The Prior escaping, fled to Rome, and his repre¬ sentation was of such effect, that the spirit of Henry was again compelled to bend to monkish arrogance. He in vain courted them to withdraw their appeal. Baldwin went so far as to consecrate the chrism at London, a pe¬ culiar right of Christchurch ; but finding dangerous consequences likely to result from continued opposition, relinquished his endeavour. Leaving further details of these contests to the biographical part of our volume, it is sufficient tor our present purpose to remark that the convent was triumphant under the protection of the Pope ; although the monks con¬ descended so far as to elect Hubert Walter at the recommendation of the captive Richard. He proved an enterprising and able statesman. Jealous of political ability, not exerted solely for the interest of the church, they the suffragan Bishops, countenanced by the Sovereign. The former had to plead their having on former occasions received the Royal licence to exercise their alleged privilege. The Bishops claimed a voice in the election of a Metropolitan, to whose authority they were to submit, and pleaded the examples of the elections of Rodulph, William Corboil, Theobald, and Becket. The altercations arrived at a height per¬ fectly ridiculous. Upon the death of Baldwin, when the Bishops and Nobles arrived at Canterbury to join in the election, the Prior and Convent forcibly seized the Bishop of Bath, and dragged him to the metro- political chair, proclaiming him their Archbishop elect. Pope Innocent III. by a bull, A. D. 1206, in which he peremptorily decides for the monks, set the matter at rest. In succeeding instances the Popes in the plenitude of their power chose to nominate the Archbishops of Canterbury by bulls of provision ; which method prevailed until the Reformation put an end to this disgraceful usurpation. SECT. II. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 29 complained to Rome, where they always found a ready ear to their appeal. Upon the death of Richard, Walter lost the royal support. He was suc¬ ceeded by Stephen Langton. The election of this Prelate, in opposition to the will of the Sovereign, proved a memorable event in the English annals. The enraged Monarch expelled the monks, who took refuge in the Flemish convents, while their brethren of St. Augustine’s took possession of the convent and church. This led to an angry correspondence between the King and the Pope ; and finally, to the passing the sentence of interdict upon the country. All religious offices were ordered to cease, except confession, the visitation of the sick, and infant baptism. “ The nation was of a sudden deprived of all exterior exercise of its religion ; the altars were despoiled of their ornaments ; the crosses, the reliques, the images, the statues of the saints, were laid on the ground; and, as if the air itself were profaned, and might pollute them by its con¬ tact, the priests carefully covered them up, even from their own approach and veneration. The use of bells entirely ceased in all the churches ; the bells themselves were removed from the steeples, and laid on the ground with the other sacred utensils. Mass was celebrated with closed doors, and none hut the priests were admitted to that holy institution. The laity partook of no religious rite; the dead were not interred in consecrated ground ; they were thrown into ditches, or buried in common fields ; and their obsequies were not attended with prayers or any hallowed ceremony. Marriage was celebrated in the church-yards; and that every action in life might bear the marks of this dreadful situation, the people were prohibited the use of meat as in Lent, or times of the highest penance; were debarred from all plea¬ sures and entertainments, and even to salute each other, or so much as to shave their beards, and give any decent attention to their persons and ap¬ parel. Every circumstance carried symptoms of the deepest distress, and of the most immediate apprehension of Divine vengeance and indignation.” 1 Hume’s England. John. HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION Such is the masterly picture drawn by the historian, of the sentence and its effects : by an awful gradation, excommunication and deposition fol¬ lowed ; and the misjudging monarch, having neither fortitude to withstand, nor ability to avert the storm, was compelled to make his peace with Rome and the monks, by the most ahject and pusillanimous submission. These dissentions operated to prevent any improvements which might have been carried on in the structure of our metropolitan cathedral : the fitting up the Trinity chapel, and circular tower adjoining, for the reception of Becket’s reliques, engrossed the care and attention of the guardians of the church at this period. A costly altar-tomb having been prepared for enshrining the now' ca¬ nonized martyr, in the centre of the Trinity chapel, the translation of his remains from his tomb in the undercroft took place July 7, 1220. This ceremony was dignified with the utmost pomp, and graced by the presence of the Monarch, Henry III. Pandulph the Pope’s Legate, the Archbishops of Canterbury and Rheims, and other Prelates and Abbots, carried the coffin on their shoulders, and deposited it within the new shrine: a gorgeous erection, covered with plates of gold chased and embossed; “ garnished with broaches, images, angels, chains, precious stones, and orient pearls. The expense attending this ceremony was so immense, as not to he fully discharged by the three succeeding Prelates. The Arch¬ bishop provided at his own cost, along the road from London, refreshments for all who chose to attend, with provender for their horses : conduits were dispersed about the city which ran with wine : nothing was wanting to give splendour and effect to this triumph of monkish and papal power. The upper part of his skull, which had been severed by his murderers, was pre¬ served by itself in an altar richly decorated, at the eastern extremity of the church, in the tower still called Becket’s Crown. The records of this period notice many liberal offerings made by the Monarch, and other royal and noble personages, to this church. SECT. II. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 31 Trivial architectural improvement or addition appears to have taken place till the time of Henry de Estria, elected Prior A. D. 1285; during the prelacy of Archbishop Peckham. This monk seems to have possessed an exquisite taste, from the beautiful screen at the west end of the choir, believed to have been erected by him, whose decorative sculpture is justly deserving the highest admiration : he is reported to have enriched the choir, which he and beautified with much carved work, and to have which he bestowed many ornaments and books upon the church : he erected a new clock, and rebuilt the pediment of the south eastern transept. In the subjoined note is a list extracted by Dart from the Cotton MSS. of his improvements, reparations, and decorative additions, with their costs annexed 1 . Arch- 1 Bib. Cotton. Galba. E. IV. 14. Fol. 103. Nova opera in Ecclesia et in curia tempore Henrici Prioris. Pro vestimentis et aliis ornamentis ecclesiasticis in ecclesia et domibus edificandis et reparandis infra ambitum ecclesise et curiae, infra 37 annos tempore Henrici Prioris. Ab anno Domini 1*285 usque ad annum 1290. Camera magni Prioris, cum pictura. Camera minor, cum capella et novo camino. Camera longa, cum novo camino. Camera ad scaccarium, cum diversoriis ibidem. Camera nova in veteri plumbario, cum capella et camino. Magna grangia ad fenum. Cisterna in piscina. Cisterna juxta scholara novitiorum. Studium Prioris. s . d. Reparatio magnee auke juxta portam curiae - 230 16 O A. 1291.—Nova camera Prioris plumbata, cum garderobll, camino, caelatura, pictura et pavimento aliarum camerarum - - - _ _ 36 186 A. 1292.—Novum orologium magnum in Ecclesia - - - 30 O 0 Nova thurris ultra thesaurarium - - - - _ 10 00 A. 1294.—Novum gablum Ecclesiae ultra altare Sancti Gregorii - - 13 12 0 Nova panctria, et nova coquina plumbata in camera Prioris - - 13 18 0 A. 1295.—Pavimentum claustri et nova gaola - - - 42 O 2 A. 1298.—Decern novge schoppse lapideee in Burgate - - - 40 0 6 A. 1301.—Novum stabulum thesaurario, cum solario, et parvo granario - 7 8 0 A. 1303.—Novum granarium in bracino - - - - 8 5 10 A. 1304, &c. Reparatio totius chori, cum tribus novis ostiis, et novo pulpito, et reparatio capituli cum duobus novis gabulis - 839 7 8 vj' 32 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. II. I bishop Winchelsea at the same time made many liberal gifts of vestments and hooks. From this period we may date the commencement of the decline of the political influence of the Convent of Christchurch. Edward I. a high- spirited and heroic prince, occupied the throne : of a firm and resolute nature, lie disdained to brook the arrogance of monks ; even the Prelate, although much esteemed for his sanctity and amiable qualities, incurred his dis¬ pleasure upon declining to assist him in his wars against France with the funds of the clergy. The Convent supporting the Archbishop, was pro¬ scribed, and eighty of the monks expelled, to whom Edward was with dif¬ ficulty reconciled. The papal thunder was in vain directed against him, or its conciliations employed to soothe him. He denied the right of the Roman Pontiff to interfere in any form with the church temporalities, acknowledg¬ ing his authority in spiritual affairs only : the Court took the tone of opinion from the Sovereign, which diffused itself downward ; and donations to the A. 1314. —Pro corona Sancti Thomai, e, aurum et argentum et lapides preciosi ornanda Pro nova cresta am i feretrum Sancti Tliomse faciendum A. 1316 — Quinque campana!, quarum uni qua vocatur Thomas in magno chicane, qua: ponderat 8000 lb. Ti es alls in novo clocario longo versus North, quorum una ponderat 24001b. alia 22001b. et tertia 2000 lb. Una campana ad sonitum capituli. quae ponderat 8001b. Pretium campanarum sine carpenteriis etfemunentis - - . A. 1317.—Novum clocarium longum versus North Pro plumbo et plumbario ... Ires campanae novae in clocario, sub angulo, quarum prima ponderat 1460 lb. secunda ponderat 12101b. et tertia ponderat 1124 lb. Pretium sine carpenteriis et ferramentis - Tres campanae novae minores in eodem clocario, quae ponderant 2750 lb. A. 1317. et IS.—Pro novis studiis faciendis _ Pro nova braeino, cum novo granario, et caminis et aliis domibus infra curiam per duos annos predictos - In diversis annis. Pro novis vestimentis et aliis ornamentis ecclesiasticis cum nova tabula magni altaris ______ Summa totalis pro vestimentis, et aliis ornamentis ecclesiasticis in ecclesia et domibus edificandis et reparandis infra ambitum Ecclesiae et curiae, per 37 annos tempore Henrici s, d. 12 0 14 6 5 3 0 9 ' 18 0 9 7 16 0 2184 18 8 SECT. II. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 33 church began to decrease very sensibly; “ even Becket’s shrine,” says Dart, “ had almost gathered in its harvest.” The revenues of the convent and church, of a permanent nature, arising from the rich donations of land, and other property it had received, were notwithstanding very considerable. Many of the offices adjacent to the cathedral were constructed, or en¬ larged, during the time of the Prelates from Reynolds to Sudbury; among whom Islip is recorded as a liberal benefactor. In 13/6a great and magni¬ ficent improvement was commenced, by the rebuilding the western transept under the direction of Sudbury; and at the same time the nave was pulled down in order to be re-built in the pure and elegant style of pointed archi¬ tecture which now prevailed. Falling in the unfortunate insurrection in the early part of the reign of Richard II. the work devolved upon his suc¬ cessor Courtney, and was continued by Arundel, and Chichely, under the tasteful superintendance of Prior Chillenden, a learned and ingenious monk l . At this era of our national architecture, the style was in its purest stage 2 ; elegance of form, and diversified but not crowded ornaments, were its marked characteristics. The massy and cumbrous round column of the nave was superseded by the light and graceful cluster. The plainly vaulted roof gave place to a groining of delicate ribs, intersecting, and knotted to¬ gether with roses, escutcheons, &c. while the judiciously-scattered trefoil and quatrefoil ornaments, gave additional lightness and beauty. The win¬ dow, extended to a magnificent size, was gracefully pointed, and divided by mullions, and transoms, surmounted by elegant tracery. Buttresses were terminated by light and spiry pinnacles, purfled, and crowned with finials; 1 It is to be lamented that historical and biographical notices of these superintendants of the church and their labours, are so brief j a minute account of the works executed by this Prior would fill up a chasm in the records of art. a If Dallaway’s classification be admitted (although the line of demarcation between what he calls pure Gothic, and the ornamented, seems to be scarcely sufficiently defined), the western transept is of the former style, the nave belonging to the latter. See Contemporary Arch, of Cathed. Churches, in “ Observations on English Architecture.” F HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION or thrown with magical effect to connect divisions of the building, and break the plain masses of the walls and roof. Niches exquisitely wrought, and carved as by fairy hands, with canopies of tabernacle work, contained sculptured images, sometimes displaying elevated taste and masterly exe¬ cution. These characteristics are to be met with in the nave, cloyster, and chap¬ ter house, all the work of this time; as were also many of the surrounding monastic offices and buildings. Chillenden was much esteemed during the twenty years in which he presided over the convent and directed the works. The altars at the same period received many new decorations, and the inte¬ rior of the church was ornamented with paintings. There is no mention of any important addition to these works (if we except the furnishing the bell-tower at the south-west angle with a large bell named Dunstan by Prior Molash, about 1430, from whence it was called Dunstan Steeple) until the creation of Prior Goldstone, in 1449. The exquisite Chapel of the Virgin Mary, now called the Dean’s, does honour to his taste, and is not to be excelled for the beauty of its ornaments, and delicacy of its taber¬ nacle work, by any similar work existing. He completed also the tower above-mentioned, crowning it with pinnacles, and embellishing its base with the beautiful niche work, which connects the southern porch with the western entrance. To Prior Sellynge, elected 14/2, is to be given the honour of being the next in succession to contribute to the embellishments of the building; he glazed the south walk of the cloysters, and had it painted with Scripture texts, called carols. Pie undertook the re-building the magnificent central tower, known hy the names of Angel Steeple and Bell Harry Tower, in order that it might harmonize with the elegant proportions of the recent erections ; it was completed by his successor, the second Prior Goldstone; Cardinal Archbishop Morton contributing largely to the work ; and stands a stately monument of architectural genius. To give strength to the sup¬ porting pillars, and bind the work together, he inserted ornamental stone braces, perforated with quatrefoils, and embellished with his device and motto, which connect the clusters supporting the angles of this lofty struc¬ ture with the surrounding parts. Goldstone likewise contributed to increase the splendour of the Chapel of the Virgin Mary in the crypt. He designed and nearly finished the beautiful Gate at the principal entrance to the close ; and constructed various works in the vicinity of the church. Both the Cardinal and Archbishop, and the Prior, seem to have been emulous in their zeal for the church ; and their contributions of books, vestments, ornaments of gold and silver decorated with jewels, plate, hang¬ ings of embroidered silk, &c. were munificent and princely '. At this time the cathedral church had reached the zenith of its splen¬ dour, from which it was so rapidly to decline : its reparations were nearly all complete; the stores of decorative articles for the processions, and other religious rites, were immense; men of taste and magnificent spirit superin¬ tended the concerns of the church; its fame spread abroad throughout Christendom; grand and imposing in all its accompaniments, it over¬ whelmed the senses of beholders, and drew forth rapturous exclamations from the learned Erasmus, who witnessed its splendour a short time before it received the death-blow of its pride 2 . The different services of the Romish church were performing in perpetual succession, and at numerous altars, where tapers continually burning gave glittering radiance to their sumptuous adornments ; masses were celebrated in all its chantries for the souls of the ' Among other splendid donations. Cardinal Morton bestowed upon the church 80 copes embroidered with his name and arms, with this inscription in gold, Deo sit gratiarum actio. 2 The choir, and all the eastern end of the interior, appear to have been hung with tapestry superbly embroidered, particularly on the high festivals. The lists in Dart’s appendix, of the vestments, gold and silver utensils, jewels, &c. are almost incredible. Speaking of St. Thomas’s shrine, Erasmus says, “ A coffin of wood, which covered a coffin of gold, was drawn up by ropes and pullies; and then an inva¬ luable treasure was discovered; gold was the meanest thing that was to be seen there ; all shone and glittered with the rarest and most precious jewels, of an extraordinary bigness; some were larger than the egg of a goose. When this sight was shewn, the Prior with a white w and touched every jewel, one by one, telling the name, the value, and the donor of it.” This shrine had a clerk in regular and con¬ stant attendance, to take an account of the donations. illustrious dead ; clouds of perfumed incense were tinged with the rays which flowed through windows of gem-like brilliancy, contrasting with the grey harmonizing hue of the walls. The church anthems and responses were chanted by the most melodious voices, which, blended with the notes of the organ, vibrated through the lofty edifice. A picturesque and uniform cos¬ tume, according to rank, was compelled to he jvorn by those who officiated; all was conducted with a view to dazzle the senses, and fire the imagination But the spell was doomed to be dissolved; a profligate Monarch was the agent through which the pride of the Church was to be humbled. Uncon¬ trolled in self-indulgence, he knew no law but his appetite, no guide but his caprice. Needy and rapacious, he beheld the treasures of the con¬ ventual bodies with desiring eyes. While the rich possessions of the latter exposed them to be regarded with envy, the progress of the reformed opinions deprived them of the power of appeal to the popular zeal and ve¬ neration for support. Henry’s first attack upon the subject of our history was made by the abrogation, by his royal authority, A. D. 1536, of all the high festivals between the first of July, and the twenty-ninth of September, under the plea that the people were induced to neglect the harvest in order to attend them. This prohibition necessarily included the festival of the translation of St. Thomas, the period of the grand display of the convent’s riches and greatness, and its anniversary of the highest solemnity. Stag¬ gered by this blow, before they could recover themselves, another, and a more deadly, was aimed directly at their celebrity, and peculiar sanctity. Their patron saint was ordered to be no longer commemorated in any man- and the seventh of July was to be considered in the church services as only an ordinary day ; the Archbishop himself giving his support to the royal authority by supping publicly on flesh on the eve of the festival of his trans¬ lation, heretofore observed as a solemn fast. Feeling his strength, Henry, who The stately pomp with which the feasts and solemnities attached to the archiepiscopal office were conducted, is strikingly exemplified in the account in Batteley's Appendix of the inthronization feast of William Warhara, elected 1;>03 : this was indeed the season of “ pouip and ancient pageantry.' 1 a SECT. II. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 3 7 had made his advances with necessary caution, was now convinced of his security in making a grasp at the treasures of the church. In the following year he issued an injunction, setting forth “ That Archbishop Becket had been a stubborn rebel and traitor to his Prince, and that he was not to be esteemed, or called a Saint ; that his images and pictures throughout the realm should be pulled down and cast out of all churches; that his name should be rased out of all books ; and the festival service of his days, the collects, antiphons, &c. should for ever remain in disuse, upon pain of his majesty’s indignation, and imprisonment at his Grace’s pleasure.” The spoliation of his shrine immediately followed; its treasures were seized for the King’s use, his bones burned on the pavement, and the ashes scattered ; the relics destroyed, and the vases of chrystal, gold, and other valuable receptacles which contained them, taken away. The dissolution of the mo¬ nastery was finally effected on the 30th of March, A. R. Hen. VIII. 31, by a commission, signed by Richard Cromwell, directed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sir Richard Rich, Chancellor of the Court of Augmentation, Sir Christopher Hales, Master of the Rolls, Walter Henly, Attorney of the Court of Augmentation, William Peter, Nicholas Baker, Solicitor of the Court of Augmentation, John Ap Rice, William Cavendish, and Thomas Spelman; that they, or any three of them, should repair to Christchurch, and draw up a surrender in form ; and the same being signed and sealed by the Prior and Convent, to receive and take possession thereof; and then to take an inventory of all the goods and chattels, plate, jewels, and lead, belonging to the monastery ; and to convey to the master of the jewel-house at the Tower of London, all the plate, precious ornaments, and money, which they shall receive. — The convent could not do otherwise than ac¬ quiesce quietly; and to induce them to yield, with some show of willingness, the general property of the foundation, most of its members were engaged to be provided for in the new establishment of a collegiate church, of a Dean and twelve Canons, with subordinate offices, possessing the same pri- -jo HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. II. vlieges as the convent, together with all its buildings, gardens, &c. the King reserving to himself the cellarer’s hall and lodgings. Thus, in common with all similar institutions throughout the realm, fell the proud, the dignified monastery of Christchurch. To qualify an act which might shock the prejudices of a considerable portion of the people, it is piobable that some ill-founded calumnies were circulated respecting the conventual bodies. In an age like the present, a sufficient reason for the measure w ould be found m the erroneous doctrines, and corrupt usages of the church of Rome, of which they were both the main supports and the channels through which its influence was diffused. The tide of public opinion was then fluctuating and uncertain, and it might require every effort to cause it to flow congenial to the wishes of the government. The monastic bodies, unquestionably, were strongly tinctured with the arrogance and pride which form a striking characteristic of the papal system of church government. The useful ends which they might heretofore have answered, might be better fulfilled by other establishments, less burdensome and less dangerous, and in which their defects might be avoided. The purer form of worship established at the glorious reformation being now firm and secure on the basis of experience of its excellence and fitness, it may be worth while to consider, with Batteley, how far the individual characters of the monks of Christchurch were likely to be exempt from the causes of general obloquy. It is due to our subject to convey a just impression of the moral character of a portion of the men to whom this country owes almost all it possesses that is ancient, venerable, and excellent in art. The following passage is written in the true spirit of candour and liberality, becoming a minister of the established Church of England. “ flic archiepiscopal throne had been adorned with a succession of great and good men tor many years ; some of them were of an honourable and noble descent, all of them were men of public spirit, of competent learning, of a good conversation, and of an unspotted reputation. These worthy prelates had often and at due times visited the monastery, and had strictly SECT. II. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 39 examined the manners and behaviour of the monks. These also had a right, which they never failed to exercise, of placing over the convent their chief officers, supervisors, and governors. The Prior, who at the time of the dis¬ solution had presided over the convent three-and-twenty years, was a learned, grave, and religious man, as his predecessors in that dignity for many years before him had been. The convent was a society of grave per¬ sons. The aged were diligent to train up the novices, as in the rules of their institution, so also in gravity and sobriety; and the younger were placed in the cells of the dormitory among the elder, so as they were con¬ tinually under a kind of guard, to prevent their doing any thing unseemly. Are they charged with covetousness ? they had indeed many arts and tricks to get money, and did abound in wealth ; but they neither enriched their families, nor consumed their wealth upon their lusts. All they had was spent either in alms and hospitality, or else in stately and magnificent build¬ ings, of which the present fabric of the church is a fair monument; or else in decorating and beautifying the church with the richest ornaments, wherein they abounded, and exceeded even to profuseness. Are they accused of idleness ? their life, indeed, was not much spent in bodily labours, but much of it in bodily exercises, in fastings, penances, devout meditations night and day, and in some other superstitious formalities, wherein they placed too much merit, and which they mistook for godliness itself. Their life was chiefly contemplative, and silence was one of the rules of their order. Are they censured as illiterate ? in those times there was but little learning in the world : that age is commonly styled the dark or illiterate age ; but most of the learning that then was, was to be found in the cloysters of the monks, where some did attain to such a proficiency of knowledge as in those times was to be esteemed high and great. Are they condemned as guilty of intemperance and luxury ? They had their daily allowance of food and wine in their common refectory, and I do not conceive that their daily allowance did administer to excess, even in their extraordinaries upon their festival commemorations. Are they represented as lewd and filthy ? I will 40 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. II. not undertake to vindicate the reputation of all monasteries from this shame¬ ful scandal; that is impossible; for some of them M ere wretchedly scan¬ dalous in this respect: but I cannot think that the priory of Christchurch can he represented justly under this black character ; for, besides, that Dr. Gold well had been, as I said before, a long time Prior, Archbishop Cran- mer had filled the patriarchal chair in this church about seven years before the dissolution of the priory: he was their visitor, and had been so much with them as to know them, and the manner of their behaviour. And wdien this church was new founded and modelled. Archbishop Cranmer being employed therein by the King, took into this new foundation, as we are told, twelve monks as members of this new collegiate church. The computation had been much truer if that author had named more than twice twelve; for there were eight prebendaries, ten petit canons, nine scholars, and two choristers, being in all twenty-nine, admitted into this college, who had been members of the dissolved priory; besides several others, as Dr. Goldwell, and William Wynchepe, who were marked out and assigned for prebends in this new church, but did not accept thereof. Others were preferred in other churches ; all of them had pensions and rewards. If lewd ness and immorality had been scandalously practised in this house, good Archbishop Cranmer would neither have suffered them to have been admitted in this college, or new foundation of his cathedral church, nor have loaded them with pensions and gratuities. Hereupon let us lay aside all such reports concerning immoralities practised in the monasteries, and let us build upon surer grounds, and more Christian prin¬ ciples, the reasons whereby we justify the dissolution of Popish monasteries in this nation. Let us charge them with superstitious and idolatrical prac¬ tices, in paying such honour to saints and their relics as is not due to them. Let us charge them with mistaken devotions ; let us condemn them as guilty of those errors in doctrine and practice, as are at this day maintained and practised in the Church of Rome. We shall by such principles as these are, undeniably demonstrate the necessity of the dissolution of monasteries, SECT. II. OF CANTERBURY CATHpDRAL. 41 and justify the wise proceedings of the pious reformers of our church : anil in thus arguing, we can never fail to have truth and charity on our side.” With the downfal of its inventors and encouragers, sunk the noble style of architecture, the peculiar boast of this country in the province of art. During the reign of Henry VII. it had degenerated into a taste which be¬ came gradually more licentious : simplicity was abandoned for profuse de¬ coration ; the arch lost its elegant form, and sunk to an obtuse flatness; the walls, roof, and windows, were crowded with ornaments, which displayed themselves in every fantastic variety; yet the leading characteristics of style were not altogether abandoned, and many elevations of this time have a surprising, though obtrusive richness of effect. The works of the second Prior Goldstone about this Cathedral are excellent specimens of this stage, particularly the front of the entrance gate ; our Frontispiece contains a deco- corative door-case in the best style of this period, forming a successive specimen to the varieties in our other examples. In the reign of the suc¬ ceeding monarch the destruction of the schools of architecture, the convents, was aided by the importation from Italy, of an heterogeneous blending of Grecian forms and ornaments with the features of the Pointed style. A capricious love of novelty, and ignorance of guiding principles, gave birth to the ridiculous erections of this and the succeeding reigns, until the genius of Jones and Wren led to the substitution of the Greek and Roman styles, in a purer and more correct taste, adapted to the climate, habits, manners, and forms of our country and religion. Contemned and despised, its principles unknown, and its merits unap¬ preciated, reproached as gothic and barbarous, our national architecture was sinking into oblivion, as its examples mouldered away, or were ignorantly defaced. To the present age is due the credit of rescuing its character, and respecting its productions; while the researches of the learned antiquary have elucidated its merits, and ascertained its principles. It is needless to observe that here, with trifling exceptions, terminates the foundation of our historical notices : what remains is little else than a G 42 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. II. brief observation of destructive ravages, gradual decay, and endeavours to resist its force, or repair its devastations. The fanatical Queen Mary, zealous for the honour of the church, whose cause she espoused, presented the Cathedral with the gaudy and tasteless altar-screen which fronts the Trinity Chapel, a sad specimen of wretchedly degraded taste. In the time of Elizabeth, the persecutions they received in their own country compelled many of the Protestants in the Netherlands to seek refuge in England, and numbers settled in Canterbury. They were pre¬ sented with the undercroft for their church, which they fitted up for Divine service in their own language, and according to their own forms. Honoured and enriched by the gifts of mistaken piety, our structure was doomed in its turn to feel the furious assaults of fanatical violence : the enfuriated rabble, whose wanton devastation has left its traces in most of our ecclesiastic buildings, could not be expected to spare Canterbury; and perhaps it is worthy of wonder that they did not make the work of destruc¬ tion more compleat. The more solid parts of the edifice opposed perhaps too stubborn a resistance to their labours; and the authority of their com¬ missions seems to have extended no farther than to the destruction of Popish emblems ; which, of course, included many of the designs in the exquisitely brilliant painted windows, whose fragile material was demolished with fa¬ cility. One Richard Culmer, commonly called Blue Dick, but styling him¬ self a Minister of God's Word, and Master of Arts, headed the band who undertook to purify the cathedral church, and the once superb window of the Martyrdom fell a victim to their barbarous zeal. “The commissioners ” says he, “ fell presently to work on the great idolatrous window standing on the left hand as you go up into the choir; for which window (some affirm) many thousand pounds have been offered by outlandish Papists. In that window was now the picture of God the Father, and of Christ, besides a large crucifix, and the picture of the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove, and of the Twelve Apostles ; and in that window were seven large pictures of the Virgin Mary, in seven several glorious appearances ; as of the angels SECT. II. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 43 lifting her into heaven, and the sun, moon, and stars, under her feet; and every picture had an inscription under it, beginning with Gaude Maria; as “ Gaude Maria sponsa Dei,” that is, Rejoice, Mary, thou spouse of God. There were in this window many other pictures of Popish saints, as of St. George, &c. but their prime cathedral saint, Archbishop Becket, was most rarely pictured in that window, in full proportion, with cope, rochet, mitre, crosier, and his pontificalibus. And in the foot of that huge window was a title, intimating that window to be dedicated to the Virgin Mary: “ In laudem et honorem Beatissimse Virginis Marise, Matris Dei,” &c. In describing his own performance he says, “ A minister was on the top of the city ladder, near sixty steps high, with a whole pike in his hand, rattling down proud Becket’s glassy bones ’, when others then present w r ould not venture so high.” At the same time the font built by the Right Rev. John Warner, Bishop of Rochester, and consecrated 1636, was broken to pieces ; the brasses and other ornaments were torn from the tombs ; and to make the desecration more compleat, the stately nave was insulted by being con¬ verted into a temporary barrack for the soldiers of the Commonwealth. Forlorn ; in a state of comparative neglect; despoiled of its trappings, and its beauties unnoticed or despised; Christchurch was doomed to await the happier period, when, with the restoration of the second Charles, a taste for liberal pursuits, and the adornments of elegance, was not deemed inconsistent with moral w'orth, or religious duty. At this time the choir was repaired, and fitted up with stalls for the Dean and Prebendaries, and the necessary requisites for divine service. The examples of Inigo Jones 1 “ One circumstance,” says Gostling, “which he did not think proper to insert in his book, may, perhaps, deserve a place here. While he was laying about him with all the zeal of a renegado, a towns¬ man, who was among those who were looking at him, desired to know what he was doing: “lam doing the work of the Lord,” says he : “ Then,” replied the other, “ if it please the Lord I will help you;” and threw a stone with so good a will, that if the saint had not ducked, he might have laid his own bones among the rubbish he was making ; and the place perhaps been no less distinguished by the fanatics for the martyrdom of St. Richard Culmer, than by the Papists for that of St. Thomas Becket, though his relics might not have turned to so good an account." 44 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. II. had set the fashion of the day, and the work of these was of course in the style considered classic and refined, however uncongenial with the general character, or harmony of the building. Perhaps it may be alleged that our subject presents a blending of the styles of successive ages, and modern varieties are not more incongruous than the mixture of circular and pointed arches, or of octagonal, round, and clustered columns, with capitals, and sculptured mouldings of an endless diversity. In the prints by Hollar and others, which illustrate the early histories of the cathedral, the Arundel Steeple at the north-west angle (an ancient campanile, or bell-tower, of the Saxon era), is represented as crowned with a lofty spire. A violent storm in 1703 having done it much injury, it was conceived necessary to take it down, which was soon after effected. The stalls of the monks, with some old seats, and other remains of the pristine state of the choir, were taken down, and replaced by an order of the chapter in the year 1/04, and at the same time the present throne was given by Archbishop Tenison. The able sculptor, Gibbon, appears to have been employed upon the decorations of these alterations. In 1729 the chapter, with creditable taste, in lieu of the gaudy present of Mary, caused the Corinthian screen behind the altar to be constructed from the design of Mr. (afterwards Sir James) Burrough, of Caius College, Cambridge ; the expence of which was defrayed from a legacy left by Dr. John Grandorge, Prebendary of Christchurch. About the same time the pavement of black and white marble within the altar-rail was laid down, being bequeathed by the widow of Dr. Thomas Nixon, as an inscription denotes. At the time of the extensive reparations of the church by Goldstone, the exterior of Becket’s crown had been intended to be repaired and altered, upon a plan corresponding with the other improvements of the edifice, and was, doubtless, meant to be crowned with pinnacles or spires. Checked in its progress by the Reformation, it remained in an unfinished state until Captain Humphry Pudner, in 1748, gave a hundred pounds towards its SECT. II. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 45 completion, which was expended in giving it something like a finished aspect. Time now began to show the mark of his resistless power upon the ex¬ terior of the building. It is much to be lamented that the example of the Norman architects in procuring the durable stone which the quarries of their native country afforded, was not followed by Sudbury and his successors; their works of such exquisite elegance are fast decaying. The western tran¬ sept, the northern side of the nave, with the fronts of the cloyster arches, their canopies, pinnacles, and finials, shew the perishable nature of the material employed for their construction ; a few years more, and this part of Christchurch promises to present nothing but a mouldering ruin, the traces of whose fading beauty will only be found in the transcript of the artist. It would he unjust not to yield a deserved tribute of praise to the care and attention bestowed in preserving from farther devastation this noble work of our ancestors, and in checking as much as possible the progress of decay. The partial restorations which have taken place are executed with scrupulous fidelity to the character of the original design ; instances of which are displayed in the front of St. Anselm’s chapel, the pediment of the eastern transept, the great window in front of the western transept, the pinnacles surmounting the buttresses of the nave, and in various other parts Fated to experience vicissitudes of fortune; by turns honoured and neglected, enriched and despised, revered and plundered; our Cathedral bears witness in its records of every eventful change in our national history, of every fluctuation in the taste of our predecessors. In ages antecedent to the earliest tradition, Druids may have first hallowed its site by the per¬ formance of their mystic rites. Borne in the train of the masters of the world, the gods of Grecian mythology were here for a while worshipped and invoked. In the dark and low recesses of a rude structure formed of a ruined temple, here were assembled the earliest Christian communicants. Hence they were expelled by the worshippers of sanguinary and relentless deities, 46 HISTORY' AND DESCRIPTION, &C. SECT. II. engendered in the gloomy forests of the North. Here broke the radiant light of the true faith, and humanized barbarians ; and here subtle and designing monks plotted their projects of political ascendancy, to whose aid, a delegate from the Roman Pontiff, came Superstition, and stored her relics, and displayed her pageantry. These carefully swept away with the besom of reform, Fanaticism, a more direct foe, next insulted its venerable antiquity. Rescued from further degradation by being placed under the protection of the members of a pure and enlightened Church, breathing charity and peace, may it continue to exhibit, through ages of tranquillity, a memento of the varieties of art, of the vicissitudes of fate ! HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL CIIURCII OF Canterbury SECTION III. A DESCRIPTIVE SURVEY OF THE STRUCTURE, EXPLANATORY' OF THE PLATES. Approach to Canterbury.—Distant view of the Cathedral.—View from St. Martin s church-yard.—Its surrounding antiquities.—Advance to the city.—Christchurch gate. — Description.—The Close.—Exterior survey of the building.—The western front.—The nave.—JVestern transept , and central tower.—Ancient part of the building. — St. Michael's Chapel. — Choir.—Its alterations.—Eastern transept.—The oaks.—Censure of erections bordering upon the Close. — St. Anselm's Chapel.—Trinity Chapel.—Deckels Crown.—Green Court. — Re¬ marks on the northern side of the building.—Some ancient remains pointed out.—The dark entry.—The Cloyster.—Its decorative en¬ trances.—The Chapter-house.—Reflections induced by the scene .— Return to the southern porch.—Interior survey.—Effect of the internal 48 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. III. view injured by entering at the southern porch.—The nave.—Grand western window.—Its heraldic decorations.—Consistory Court. — Ex¬ planation of the view of the nave.—The Martyrdom.—Spot on which Bechet was murdered,—Interesting recollections.—Beaut fid window, the donation of Edward IV.—The Dean’s, or Lady Chapel.—Its incongruous monuments.—Its beauty, and mutilations.—Its elegant deling.—The Undercroft.—Hypothesis respecting the sculpture of its columns .— Chapel of “ £. Maria in cryptis.” Its richness.—Chapel of John the Baptist.—View from the steps of the choir.—Beautiful screen.—The Choir.—Its stalls, throne, and altar.—Its architecture. Ability of JVilliam of Sens.—Imitations of Grecian art.—Eastern transept, northern wing. — Baptistery.—Its ancient uses unknown .— The font.—Offices attached to the northern aile.—The Trinity Chapel. —Site of Bechet’s shrine.—Existing evidences of its attraction. — Cu¬ rious pavement.—Marks of veneration of Edivard the Black Prince .— Architecture of the chapel.—Painted windows.—Chantry of. Henry IV.—Recommended as a model, —Bechet’s Crown.—Patriarchal chair. Explanation of the view from this point. — St. Anselm’s Chapel, and apartment above.—Injurious effect of modern additions to the choir. —Southern wing of the eastern transept.—Displays the first rude essays of the Pointed style.—Southern aile.—Western transept .— Caref ul reparation of Sudbury’s architects .— St. Michael’s Chapel .— Its inelegant monuments.—Memorials of architects.—Ascent to the top of the central tower.—Luxuriant prospect of the surrounding country.—Conclusion of the Survey.—Measurements of the building. In the approach to Canterbury, the stately central tower, with its graceful pinnacles, forms an object of impressive dignity, and announces the conse¬ quence of that ancient seat of Sanctity. There are not many situations from whence on a near approach to the structure the parts unfold to advantage, on account of the contiguous mass of buildings ; combined, however, with SECT. III. OE CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 49 the surrounding objects of antiquity, all of them connected with its history, it presents a magnificent assemblage. Advancing from the eastward, St. Martin’s church-yard forms a station not unfavourable for a general view. The Cathedral rises nobly above the city, Becket’s crown being the nearest point to the eye, behind which ex¬ tends the venerable eastern transept, and in its rear the angel steeple crowns the view. Over the roof of the transept are seen the pinnacles of the Dun- stan steeple, and the small leaden spires of the Saxon turrets at the junction of that transept with the choir. Immediately to the left of Becket’s crown appears the decorative entrance to St. Augustine’s monastery, flanked with octagonal turrets of singular beauty ; and still farther, the remains of the abbey church, and the lofty dilapidated tower honoured with the name of Ethelbert. From this point of view there is an agreeable blending of fo¬ liage with architectural forms highly picturesque. Entering the city, we direct our course to Christchurch gate, the avenue from the city to the cathedral close. It presents a front superbly en¬ riched, although fast mouldering away from the friable nature of the stone employed for its construction. According to the usual method of building these edifices, it possesses a double entrance, consisting of a larger and smaller gateway, the greater arch turned with the obtuse angle of Henry VII. the smaller slightly curved. The whole front, including its side tur¬ rets, is divided into well-proportioned compartments, with a niche and ca¬ nopy in the centre. Over the entrance was the following inscription, now almost obliterated: “Hoc opus constructum est anno domini millesimo quingentesimo decimo septimo.” Its surface is covered with well-disposed ornaments, a blended mixture of quatrefoils, escutcheons, armorial bearings, angels, roses, &c. Its reverse side, although less decorated, contains some curious grotesque sculpture k ' A very correct representation of the present appearance of this gate is given in Hastings's “ Vestiges.” H 50 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. III. Upon advancing into the Close, the first impression upon the mind is that ot a want of surrounding space, in order to contemplate the edifice to advantage, and to give due effect to its dignity. The necessity of having the monastic buildings and archiepiscopal palace attached to the church, first occasioned the encroachment; but it is to be lamented, that modern dwellings, ill corresponding with its general features, are permitted to in¬ crease the evil. Proceeding to the western front, of which a good general view is not to be procured, the beautiful work of Chillenden engages our attention. The arch ot the main entrance is of a good proportion, its spandrils filled up with quatre foils in circles, over it a square architrave, above which is a small central niche, with three escutcheons on each side. A band of elegant niches extend themselves on either side, with pedestals and canopies of the finest workmanship ; beneath which are square compartments, filled with escutcheons in starred quatrefoils, and above all rises the grand western win¬ dow, divided by mullions and transoms, surmounted by elegant tracery, and over this one of a singular form adapted to its situation in the centre of the pediment formed by the extremity ot the roof ot the nave. On the northern side is an ancient campanile, or bell-tower which retains nearly its pris¬ tine appearance, although it is difficult to ascertain why it has not been de¬ corated with ornamental casing, to correspond with the rest of the front. Gostling imagines that Archbishop Sudbury’s design was interrupted before this could be done; most probably it was held unsafe to attempt innovation while it contained the ponderous bells recorded to have been suspended there. The beautiful niches we have mentioned are continued round the base of the Dunstan tower, and its angular buttresses. This tower contains on the western side a window divided by two mullions terminating the southern aile. The buttresses of this tower are of very graceful proportions; it is crowned with an embattled roof, and pinnacles. By receding to a garden Unquestionably one of those mentioned by Gervaise as being: adorned with gilded pinnacles. These pinnacles of the Saxon and Norman architects were small conical spires, totally devoid of elegance. SECT. III. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 51 on the site of the ruins of the Archbishop’s palace, we acquire a good view of the upper part of this front, and the northern side of the Arundel tower, which we cannot hesitate to pronounce of Saxon construction. Returning to the southern front, the entrance porch engages our atten¬ tion. In its ornamental niches the effigies of the four murderers of Becket are stated to have held a place. At the angles are grotesque figures formed to contain water-spouts. Above, and in the front of the tower, is the clock, which strikes the hours on a very large and fine-toned bell, weigh¬ ing 7,500 lbs. 1 Proceeding along the southern side of the nave, which is buttressed and well-lighted by eight lofty windows in the wall of the aile, and a similar number of smaller on the Receding wall, divided by flying buttresses and pinnacles, we notice a tasteful octagonal turret at the angle of the western transept, resting upon its supporting buttresses. The great window in front of the transept is very magnificent, and has been judiciously restored. From the junction of this transept with the nave rises the central tower, whose decorations are given in correct proportions in the various views in which it occurs. We now quit this noble example of the state of architecture at the com¬ paratively modern era of its erection, to enter upon the most ancient part of the building. St. Michael’s Chapel, contiguous to the transept, is con¬ jectured to possess remains of the reparations under Odo, in the construction of its walls. It was heightened and altered by Lanfranc ; and brought to its present appearance by enlarging its windows at the time of the other great improvements. The outer walls of the choir display traces of frequent innovation. The solid wall, of Saxon origin, was heightened by Lanfranc, and perforated by circular-headed windows of increased dimensions. To him, and his imme¬ diate successor, Anselm, may be attributed the fantastic girdle of diversi¬ fied columns, and intersecting arches, which forms a belt to the choir, the 1 This we have mentioned as constructed in the time of Prior Molash. HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION eastern transept, and St. Anselm’s Chapel; as a specimen of the whole we have selected some that appear on the western side of the transept. The resemblance of the designs of the capitals with those to the columns of the crypt on the same plate is strikingly apparent'. The columns themselves are capriciously varied; some octagonal, others cylindrical ; some plain, others decorated with sculpture. The flat buttresses of the Norman era strengthen the wall, and the windows are decorated with an ornamental canopy and mouldings. The formation of the French church in the un¬ dercroft occasioned the breaking open the windows by which it is lighted, also the entrances in front of the eastern transept, which have contributed much to weaken that ancient part of the building. The staircase turret at the angle of the junction of the choir is worthy of notice, from the orna¬ mental sculpture with which it is embellished above the walls of the choir. Of the transept itself our view will convey a more correct idea than any description ; we shall therefore merely refer to the plate \ We now pass onward through the cemetery (vulgarly centry) gate into the conventual garden, traditionally called “ the Oaks,” with regret that some mean offices are allowed to block up the area, and extend so near the building, when a trifling removal would produce a considerable improve¬ ment. Resting awhile, we cast a retrospective glance, and the front of St. Anselm’s Chapel, judiciously restored, presents itself. This building, we readily perceive, was once of greater height than at present; previous to the placing the shrine of the canonized Archbishop it was dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul. In Edwyn’s rude effort to delineate the building, published by the Antiquarian Society, this, and the corresponding chapel of St. An¬ drew, are represented as lofty structures. The projecting buttresses of the chapel of the Holy Trinity are a characteristic mark of an advanced style from that of the choir. The perforations in them, represented in the plate, 1 We shall discuss the probable causes of this resemblance in treating of those in the undercroft. s The opposing circular windows at the extremities of this transept are evidently the prelude to the Catherine w heel, or marigold window, forming so beautiful an object in the transepts of several of our cathedral churches. SECT. III. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 53 seem to form a prelude to that noble invention, the flying buttress, which another gradation of advance served to produce. The obliquity of the side walls, mentioned by Gervaise, may be perceived in this view, assisted by a reference to the ground plan. We have now reached the eastern extremity of the structure, and the circular tower intended to contain Becket’s shrine, but not judged conve¬ nient for the accommodation of his numerous votaries. In order to give a comprehensive view, we have taken our station in an adjoining garden. Its aspect displays it to have been left unfinished; what was the design of its original termination is unknown ; probably it was intended at the period of the other great reparations to have crowned its turrets with spires, and the buttresses with pinnacles, as we have already noticed. We now pass through the avenue leading by the Deanery and Prebendal houses, anciently the Prior’s residence, into the Green Court '. The northern side of the structure possesses a general correspondence with its opposite, although from the earliest date it appears to have been closely en¬ veloped by the monastic offices : these buildings, converted to modern uses, have screened the lower part of the walls from the effect of the weather. A very perfect specimen of the belt of intersecting arches which surrounded Lanfranc’s structure may be examined by exploring this side of the build¬ ing more closely from an aperture in the undercroft; many curious remains of Lanfranc’s work, and very probably of Odo’s, exist in the vaults beneath the auditory, the baptistery, and other erections in this quarter. 1 This is a square area, on the eastern side of which was the residence of the Prior 5 the other ranges of buildings were the various offices of the convent, as its brewhouse, bakehouse, granary, &c.; next the gate from the city, at which the conventual porter was stationed, are the remains of a spacious hall, appropriated for the accommodation of poor pilgrims. This apartment conveys a noble idea of monastic hospitality, having been 150 feet in length, and 40 broad, with a steward and attendant attached, who furnished its tables with a regular allowance from the offices of the cellarer, which liberality was distinct from the daily distribution in the almonry adjoining, where all the fragments of the refectory were given to the poor. The entrance to this domus hospitium will gratify the observer: among the sculptured or¬ naments of its columns and arches he will trace on the capitals a close imitation of that beautiful Grecian embellishment commonly called the honeysuckle. 54 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. III. If we follow the course of the dark entry into the Cloyster, we witness the deplorable effect of the northern blast upon the comparatively modern nave, and western transept. To acquire a good point of view for a pic¬ turesque representation of these, with an angular view of the central ton er, we have advanced to the site of the ruins of the archiepiscopal palace, and of the cellarer’s lodgings, which bound the cloyster on the west, where the view of the transept displays even in ruins the lightness and elegance of Sudbury’s design. Upon examining the Cloyster, we find traces of that which existed prior to the time of Chillenden, particularly on the northern side, in the reliques of ancient stalls. The roof of the cloyster walk is a vault of converging groins, with escutcheons at the intersections of the ribs, bearing the arms of benefactors to the church to the number of 683. The surrounding walls contain several enriched entrances of various antiquity, of which that lead¬ ing into the Martyrdom is the most distinguished by ornament, probably decorated by Prior Henry, and particularly distinguished as the way by which the Archbishop entered the Cathedral from his palace, except on occasions of peculiar solemnity, when he took the course of the great wes¬ tern door. Opposed to this, on the western side, is that by which he entered the cloyster, evidently of the time of Chillenden. It consists of a double arch, each surmounted by a square canopy, with quatrefoil in circles in the span- drils. On the eastern side, besides that we have mentioned, is one which forms our Frontispiece ; and a very ancient door-way, leading to what was once the dormitory, with a semi-circular arch, enriched with chevron mouldings, resting on sculptured columns, now sadly mutilated. This cu¬ rious door was for many years covered up with plaster, and has received its injuries in carelessly clearing aw'ay the envelope. The entrance to the chapter-house, and a small one leading into a stillatory ’, are also on this Or open space between the buildings, by which the waters are drained from the roofs. SECT. III. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAE. 55 side. An enriched entrance to the cellarer’s lodgings, which likewise ap¬ pears to be the work of Prior Henry, and one to the refectory, are in the northern walk. The southern walk was formerly, being less likely to he intruded upon by the conventual attendants, held sacred for the purposes of meditation and prayer, and was glazed by Prior Sellynge, for the sake of privacy and warmth, who, in order to fix attention upon devout subjects, had the walls painted with texts of Scripture. The area of the cloyster is now used as a burial-ground, and various monumental tablets of modern date are affixed to its walls. We now enter the Chapter-house, yet magnificent in decay. Well-pro¬ portioned and lofty, it excites awe and admiration, with a feeling of regret that its beauties are almost unnoticed, and that it is rarely converted to pur¬ poses of utility. Its form is a parallelogram, and at the eastern and western extremities are two corresponding window's, of superb dimensions and adornment, the work of Chillenden, and decorated with his name and arms. We have given an exterior view of that at the western end, which contains some remains of painted glass, in figures representing the orders of the hierarchy, with titles inscribed “ Cherubim, Seraphim, Angeli, Arch- angeli, Virtutes, I’otestates, Dominationes.” On the north the plain sur¬ face of the upper wall is broken by four well-shaped blank windows, cor¬ responding to others opposite, which give light. Above these the ceiling forms an elegant vault, enriched with gilt ribs upon a white ground, with roses, stars, and escutcheons at the intersections. All the above were the work of the same able artist, whose taste is no less conspicuous in preserv¬ ing the pristine stall-work which surrounds the apartment, the w'ork of his equally intelligent predecessor, Prior Henry. This consists of a seat and magnificent canopy at the eastern end, on each side of which are six stalls, divided by columns of Petworth marble, gilt and painted. The work is continued along either side in a somewhat plainer, yet truly elegant form. Five stalls on each side at the upper, or eastern end, are distinguished by the remains of gilding on the capitals and ornaments. The pavement has 56 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. III. suffered considerably, and the monumental stones are stripped of their brasses '. At tile western end we notice the defective adjustment of Chillen- den s design for the cloysters to that of the more ancient entrance to this apartment, a defect which was insurmountable.—On this spot, and in a prior building, was witnessed the degrading, the mortifying spectacle of a high-souled monarch submitting to be scourged by presumptuous monks, with the most humiliating accompaniments which church penance could in¬ flict.— Invited by interesting recollections, aided by a solitariness the most impressive, the mind of the observer is here led to revert to times long past; as striking a lesson of the mutability of human institutions exists in the de¬ cayed splendour with which he is surrounded, and the awful contrast of sunken magnificence with recorded pomp, as ever furnished a theme for the moralist. The Chapter-house of the Monks of Christchurch ! How many important discussions have been held on this very spot ! Here grave delibe¬ ration has planned the sagest institutions, and here adverse parties have contended with the most virulent animosity for political ascendancy. All is quiet now ! The proud, the meek, prelates and monks, with all they plan¬ ned, all they executed, save these surrounding reliques, are swept away ! To return to our observations : Upon the dissolution of the convent, when so spacious an apartment was needless for the assemblage of a chap¬ ter of a Dean and twelve Prebendaries, it was converted into a sermon-house, and fitted up with a pulpit, pews, and galleries; one of which, with lat¬ ticed casements, was appropriated to the royal use. The indecorousness of the removal of the congregation after prayers in the choir, with the attend¬ ant struggle for seats, occasioned it to be disused for this purpose, except during the periods of the reparation of the choir. “ In King James’s time,’ says Gostling, “ the Lord Chancellor Jefferies informed the chapter, that the Presbyterians had a petition before the King and Council, repre- 1 These monuments are those of some of the priors and architects, among the rest Chillenden: they were removed from the nave at the time the pavement was repaired. 1 His arms here upon a shield hanging on a tree, are. Azure, a cross fleuree between five martlt Or, (the arms of the Confessor) impaling, quarterly, France sem£e, and England. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRA!.. senting this as a place of little or no use, and desiring they might have for their meeting-house. The person who was entrusted with this messa being a member of the choir, proposed the making it the chapel for eai prayers, which are read every day in the week, and till then were in t choir.” “This will do,” says the Chancellor; “advise your Dean a Prebendaries from me to have it put to that use immediately; for if the Pre byterians do not get it, perhaps others will whom you like worse.” It is now in a state of total disuse. It appears to have served as a be rack for the Hanoverian troops quartered here in 1J’56, also for the II who succeeded them. It has answered the purpose of a parish chur while that of St. Andrew in the city was rebuilding. Having thus surveyed the exterior of our Cathedral, we enter by t South porch, in order to contemplate the relics of fallen splendour, ai investigate the examples of art which an internal survey affords. The coi d’ceil would be impressively grand if strangers were conducted by the entrance with a view to permit them to receive the full effect of the vista the nave, its graceful clustered columns receding in gradual perspective, ai the lofty areh of its groined roof diminishing in distance ; this effect is 1< from the customary entrance : nor is the deficiency compensated by the vie from the front of the choir, when the eye has become familiarized to its Upon gaining the centre of the nave, we cast a retrospective glance at t spacious western window, which though inferior in the brilliancy of its hu to those of earlier date, has a noble effect from its extent. For the su stance of the description of this as well as the other painted windows are indebted to an able article in Gostling’s “ Walk,” &c. It is divided in bays, and above into smaller compartments, by subdivisions. The uppe most, close under the point of the arch, contains the arms of Richard ] who having chosen Edward the Confessor for his patron, empaled his coat 58 HISTORY ANI) DESCRIPTION SECT. III. The second range contains six small figures between the arms of his first wife 1 , on the north, and those of his second on the south 2 . The third stage has ten saints. The fourth the Twelve Apostles, with a youth kneel¬ ing and censing on the southern side, and another kneeling figure on the north. Below these, in the uppermost range of the larger compartments, are seven large figures of our Kings 3 , standing under highly-wrought niches. The figures in the two remaining courses were nearly destroyed, and have been replaced. At the extremity of the northern aile the space of the interior of the Arundel Tower is fitted up in a plain manner for a consistory court. If we return into the opposite aile we arrive at the spot we have selected for a view of the nave. On the left the sight is directed obliquely across the building, and through the arch, at the extremity of the northern aile, into the north¬ west transept, or Martyrdom, and the Dean’s (formerly the Lady) Chapel. Immediately above the female figures are the canopies of the ornamental screen, which divides them, with a portion of one of the northern windows of the chapel. Attached to the last clusters on either side are the orna¬ mental braces affixed by Prior Goldstone to support the angles of the cen¬ tral tower. To give them an air of lightness, they are pierced with qua- trefoils, and embattled: beneath the cornice is the motto of the Prior : Non ' Ann, daughter of the Emperor Charles IV. and sister of Winceslaus, Emperor and King of Bohemia, whom he married Jan. 2‘i, 13S l 2. The arms are, quarterly, France sernde and England, impaling quar¬ terly, Or, an eagle displayed with two heads, Sable; the Imperial arms; and Gules, a lion rampant, queue forchee Argent, crowned Or; the arms of Bohemia. 1 Isabella, the eldest daughter of Charles VI. King of France, whom he espoused Oct. *2L, 1396. Arms, quarterly, France semde and England, impaling Azure, three fleurs-de-lis, Or. Charles VI. re¬ duced the semee of fleurs-de-lis to three. 3 They are bearded, have open crowns on their heads, and swords or sceptres in their right hands. They have been mutilated and repaired. Each had his name under him in black letter ; of which there are very little remains. These seven are, Canute, under whom remains Gan; Edward the Confessor holding a book ; under him remains ©h ; then Harold ; William I. holding his sceptre in his right hand, and resting it transversely on his left shoulder; under him remains • * • mua 2 T-oquf 0 tor IRcjr. Then Wil¬ liam II.; Henry I ; Stephen. If complete, the series would end with Richard III. SECT. III. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 59 nobis Domine, non nobis, set 1 nomini tuo da gloriam. In tbe middle of the line is Goldstone’s rebus, according to tbe fondness for quaint devices of that period. an escutcheon with three gdded stones, ; making Thomas Goldstone, Prior. That which would have filled up the northern arch was omitted, as it would have interfered with the view of the magnificent window of the Martyrdom. To the right of the cluster, in front, are the steps by which we ascend to the choir, with a part of the ornamental screen of Prior Henry. At the upper part of this division is shewn a portion of the central tower; and on the right of the view, looking across the western transept, the eye is carried along the vaulted side aile of the choir. The eastern part of the church was formerly divided from the western by a massy railing in front of the choir, for the security of the treasures it contained. We now cross over to the entrance of the Martyrdom, formerly for its peculiar sanctity inclosed by a stone partition, over the door of which was inscribed, “ Est sacra intra locus, venerabilis atque heatus, Prsesul ubi sanctus Thomas est martyrizatus.” This is now removed, and we descend a few steps, where we observe the spot on which the Prelate fell before the altar of St. Benedict 2 , marked by a marble stone in the pavement, from which a piece of about four inches square has been taken out, where his brains are said to have fallen ; which with the stone were sent to Rome. This scene of an event so memorable, forcibly impressed upon the mind by circumstantial minutiae, may be al¬ lowed to arrest the observer awhile. His mind will revolve upon the im¬ portant incidents this spot has witnessed. Through the door upon his left, leading from the cloyster, how many venerable prelates have successively been accustomed to enter the holy edifice to perform the offices of devotion ! * So spelt in the original. 9 An altar was afterwards erected on the same spot, dedicated to the Virgin. Erasmus says " a small wooden one, enough to shame the extravagance of these ages; upon which lay the point of the sword broken off upon splitting his scull, and which was devoutly kissed by pilgrims." 6*0 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION Here the heroic Edward I. received the nuptial benediction upon espousing Margaret of France. The area within which he stands was for ages con¬ stantly crowded with pilgrims of all degrees, and of all countries. Before him are the tombs of Peckham, and of Warham, both men of learning and high endowments, and both remarkable for the splendour with which they filled the archiepiscopal dignity. He will behold, in the chantry inclosing the effigy of the latter, a specimen of the florid style of art, harmonizing with the gorgeous taste of the age in which he lived. Above these he will contemplate with a sigh the ravaged window, the magnificent donation of Edward IV. ; some gratification, will, however, be experienced in tracing the memorials of the race of the donor, which were suffered to remain by the fanatical zealots who destroyed the vestiges of the Saint and the Virgin Mary, with whatever else they considered as Popish emblems h ' “ However zealous the destroyers were in defacing whatever they found here that related either to st. Thomas of Canterbury, or the Blessed Virgin, they spared the beautiful memorials of King Edward IV. and his family ; perhaps, because at that time (1643) they pretended to be good and loyal subjects to the King, whom they were contriving to dethrone and bring to the block ; and had not declared those designs against royal authority, which afterwards occasioned so much confusion and bloodshed. But, to describe the present state of this window : the three lower stages consist of seven compartments each, and reach up to the turning of the arch ; above which the upper part is divided into four rows more of small ones. The first, or uppermost point of the arch contains two shields of arms, one of France and England, quarterly, the other of Canterbury, empaling the arms of Bourchier. The second stage has ten Prophets, with caps on their heads, and dressed either in robes of crimson or blue, over which is a white mantle, with an embroidered border ; or in a white under-garment with a crimson or blue mantle over it; and their names under them, except that the first and last were too near the arch to admit of names: 2 Jonas. 6 Jeremias. 3 Daniel. 7 Amos. 4 Esdras. 8 lost. 5 lost. 9 much broken. The third stage has the Twelve Apostles, each holding in his hand either the symbol or the instrument of his passion, with his name underneath in the black letter, as are the others : 1 • • • • deus *, 2 Tho. 3 Johes, 4 Andreas, 5 Jacob, 6 Pieter, 7 Paulus, 8 Thomas, 9 Philippus, 10 Mattheus, 11 Jaco min. 12 lost. I suppose Thaddeus. SECT. III. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAE. 6] The Lady Chapel now claims our attention, into which we enter by a door in a beautiful ornamental screen of open arches, crowned with purfled canopies. Its present appellation is derived from its containing the monu¬ ments of several of the deans ; and here we cannot but express regret at the The fourth stage has fourteen Bishops in episcopal habits, with palls, their copes crimson or blue, each carrying a crosier in his right hand, and a book in his left, with their names below: 8 Gregorius with his papal crown on, 9 Augustinus, 10 Anselmus, 11 Nicolaus, 12 Blasius, 13 Alphegus, 14 Audoenus. 1 S. Dionisius, carrying his head on his left arm, 2 S. Wilfridus, 3 S. Augus episc. 4 S. Martinus, 5 S. Jeronymus, in white, with a crimson cloak, and a hat on his head, around which are rays, 6 ■ ■ • us, 7 Thomas, All these are in small pannels, -each just big enough to contain one of them. This, and their standing pretty far within the stone-work, preserved them, perhaps, from the fury of Richard Culmer when he was reforming here with his whole pike and long ladder. The seven compartments of the three ranges below these are larger and very deep, fit to contain figures little less than life. The figures of the first design in the uppermost of these are utterly destroyed and gone, except that at the turning of each of the arches is the head of an angel, holding an escutcheon of arms before his breast, from whence we may form some conjectures concerning the figures which were below them. The first is Argent, a cross Gules, or St. George’s cross ; so we may suppose under this was the picture of that champion. The second is quarterly, first and fourth. Argent, a saltier Gules, between four martlets Sable; second and third. Argent, a bend ingrailed. Gules. The third, Canter¬ bury, impaling a chevron between three crows, but the colour lost: as this was the bearing of Becket, here was probably his effigies. The fourth has the monkish device of the Trinity, Pater non est Filius, &c. under which we may suppose was the representation of God the Father, and of Christ, besides a large crucifix and the picture of the Holy Ghost in the form of a Dove, mentioned by Culmer. The fifth. Gules, a cross fleur£e between five martlets Or; the arms of St. Edward the Confessor, whose picture was undoubtedly under it. The sixth, Azure, the frame work over a well, Or. The seventh is broken. There remains the foot of the T, or St. Anthony's cross, with which the field was charged. Lower down, in each division of the same range, is a fine figure of an Angel with golden locks and expanded wings, larger than those above, and holding before him a shield of arms, which by the bearings seem to belong to the royal personages in the range below, and to have been removed from their proper places, at a general repair of the windows, to those they now occupy. The first is habited in a large and flowing wliite robe ; his wings are azure, and his shield charged with the royal arms, viz. France and England, quarterly, with a label of three points, Argent. The figure under this in the next stage is that of Richard of Shrewsbury, and these are either his own arms or those of his wife. The second is habited and winged as the former} on his shield England and France, quarterly; and the figure below is Edward of York, Prince of Wales. The third is in a closer garment, on the bottom of which, on the right side, is em- 62 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. III. corrupt taste which has filled this elegant chapel with such cumbrous and ill-executed works, tasteless in their design and appropriation. Their im¬ perfections too are rendered strikingly apparent from their contrast with the exquisitely light and delicately-sculptured tabernacle work of the niches, broidered in gold a fleur-de-lis, irradiated. In his shield is France and England, quarterly. The fourth is in a close garment, like the third, his shield Gules, three crowns Or, per pale. This is over the broken compartment between Edward the lVth and his Queen, and seems in the removal to have changed places with the next, who supports the Queen’s arms. The fifth Angel has been broken, and is repaired with frag¬ ments of armour; on his shield are the arms of Castile and Leon, viz. quarterly, Gules, a castle Or, and Argent, a lion rampant Purpure. This is above the picture of his Queen Elizabeth. These arms were borne in right of Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, great grandfather of Edward IV. whose Hi st wife was Isabel, the younger daughter and co-heiress of Peter, King of Castile and Leon. The sixth Angel has a belt Or, crossed en saltier over his shoulders, embroidered with cross croslets Sable ; he holds before him a shield, which, though broken in part, corresponds exactly with the seal of Elizabeth, Edward IVth's Oueen, as given by Sandford in his Genealogical History. The seventh Angel’s shield is supported by only one belt, like the former, passing over his right shoulder. In the range below these is the family of King Edward IV. the donor of the window. The middle compartment, 1 suppose, was the large crucifix, which Culmer tells us was broken Dec. 13, 1G43, with the other idolatrous paintings of this beautiful performance. The three compartments on the west side contain the King, the Prince of Wales, and the Duke of York, each kneeling before a desk, and turning eastward to the place of that crucifix. On the east side are the Queen and five princesses kneeling, and turning westward towards it. The figures are large, and the back ground represents rich hangings under a cot nice finely carved and gilt, and fringed with silver. The hangings behind the King are paned with a purple and blue silk, embroidered with silver roses on a golden Sun, which device he took in memory of the battle of Mortimer's Cross, where three suns were seen immediately conjoining in one. He kneels before a desk or table, under a rich canopy of crimson velvet, holding in his right hand a sceptre, which rests on his right shoulder. The face is well pre¬ served, although the glass has been cracked; his hair is flowing and curled, and he wears on his head an arched crown. He has on a rich white sattin vest embroidered with gold, over which flows a beautiful crimson mantle ermined about the shoulders. That side of the desk before which he kneels, which pre¬ sents itself to the spectator, is adorned with a fine relievo of St. George in armour trampling on the dragon, and piercing him with his spear. In the compartment next behind the King is Edward Prince of Wales, habited like the King, kneeling, and holding in his hand an open book, which lies on an ele¬ gant desk ; his head, which was demolished, has been replaced by the fair face of a mitred Saint, over which is an arched royal crown. His canopy is of a rich blue damask, and the back ground is paned with white and green, embroidered with white ostrich feathers in sockets, with the motto IC DIEN. In the compartment behind him is Richard Duke of York, the King’s second son, in every respect re¬ sembling his brother, even to having a mitred head placed upon his shoulders. He has also an arched crown over his head. The canopy over him is of crimson damask, and the back ground Azure em¬ broidered in gold with the device of a falcon rising on the wing within a fetterlock somewhat open. Sandford says that on St. George's day, 1466, the King determined that his second sou should bear the their pedestals, and canopies, of the eastern end ; and the wretchedly mu¬ tilated remains of the sides. The eastern window is surrounded with sculp¬ tured vine-leaves, and grapes. It is divided by mullions, and has the un¬ usual form of a semicircular arch. Its painted glass presents some armorial like arms with the King, with this difference, a label of three points silver, on the first part a canton Gules; and for his badge a falcon volant Silver, membred with two sewels Gold, within a fetterlock unlocked, and somewhat open Gold, but the falcons here arc Gold. This device Camden, in his Remains, tells us he gave in memory of his great grandfather Edmund Langley, the fifth son of King Edward III. who gave for his device a falcon in a fetterlock closed, having then no near hope of the crown; but his descendant, Edward IV. having obtained the crown, gave now the fetterlock open. Of the great crucifix which filled the middle compartment, I have already said there are now no remains. In the first com¬ partment eastward of it, and kneeling with her face toward it, is Elizabeth Widevile, or YVoodvile, Queen of Edward TV. (married to him May 1, 1464) with her hands joined over an open book on a desk. Her face has been cracked, but is, however, preserved. On her head is a crown of gold, composed of crosses patee and fleurs-de-lis. Her dress is of white satin embroidered with gold, and comes down close to the wrist, over which she has on a rich crimson mantle, with an ermined collar over the shoulders. The canopy is crimson, and the back ground azure, embroidered with broom-stalks, green, and bearing red flowers. The desk has been broken, and ill-patched up, as has the Queen’s neck and hair, which have been ridiculously filled up with an arm and uplifted hand, placed So as to touch her left cheek. The two next compartments are filled up with the five Princesses ; three in the first, and two in the second. First, Elizabeth, born Feb. 11, 1466, afterwards married to King Henry VII. The second, Cecile, mar¬ ried to John Lord (afterwards Viscount) Wells. The third, Anne, married to Thomas Duke of Norfolk. Bridget of York, the fourth daughter, who very early became a nun at Dartford, is, perhaps, for that reason left out. The fifth daughter, Maiy of York, promised to the King of Denmark, but never mar¬ ried, for she died 1482. The sixth, Margaret, born 1472, died in her infancy, and is not here. The seventh, Catherine, married to W. Courtney, Earl of Devonshire; she died 1527- All these are with their faces towards the place of the great crucifix. The first kneels before an elegant desk, on which lies an open book. Her face is gone, but supplied by one of a smaller sized person. Over her head is a circle composed of pearls. She is dressed in crimson, her garment being tied round the waist with a golden cord, the end of which hangs almost to the ground. The other ladies are dressed also in crimson, but not with the girdle. The second has on her neck a white handkerchief bordered with an open gold lace falling over the shoulders. The third has no pearls in her coronet. The fourth has lost her head, which has been supplied by a man’s head and neck with light hair and an ermined collar close up to the chin, below which the princess’s golden locks -flow over her shoulders. This man’s head seems of the same workmanship with the other figures here. The coronet over this lady's head is lost. The fifth has a coronet of pearls. The hair of all the five is golden. The remains of the canopy which was over them is crimson, and the back ground azure. Under each figure was the name and quality of the person ; these have been broken, and the fragments improperly put together, with no design but to fill up the vacancies. After the same manner, in great measure, has the middle compartment of this range been repaired; but at the top is a very large arched crown over the arms of the Prior irradiated ; under which is a very curious piece of different work from the other parts of this window. Under two Gothic niches '-tev* 6*4 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. III. bearings of the Bourchier family, and in the upper divisions are circles, each bearing a golden falcon volant. The side walls are divided in their centre by opposite columns, from which springs the groining of the roof; this di¬ verging, divides the sides each into two circular arches. Those in the north are filled up with windows surrounded by an elegant quatrefoil moulding. The diverging ribs of the groining on each side are bounded by semicircles, which, with quartercircles at the angles, leave spaces for two completely circular compartments in the vault of the cieling; all the divisions beauti¬ fully filled up with trefoil. As a very choice specimen of that ornamental style which induced the florid, this Chapel deserves much notice. From the Martyrdom, descending by a flight of steps, a circular-arched Saxon entrance, in which the chevron moulding is profusely employed, con¬ ducts us to the dark and silent undercroft, the primaeval church ; and again hallowed by being formed into a place of worship for voluntary exiles in the cause of religion. It is divided longitudinally by rows of pillars, forming supports to the columns of the eastern part of the superstructure. Our view are two figures looking to one another. That on the right hand is a King, crowned, with flowing hair and curled beard. He seems in armour, having on his breast a well-drawn face (like Pallas’s Gorgon) over which is a royal mantle reaching from his shoulders to his heels. In his right hand he carries a sword, the point of which rests on the shoulder, and his left thumb is stuck in his girdle. Under the other niche is a lady, not young, and full-bosomed : she too is in armour, over which is a long flowing mantle ; on her head is a helmet j her hair falls over her armour and shoulders ; she holds a sword up¬ right with her right hand, and rests the left on her hip. The niches are supported by pillars richly ornamented, and over the bending of the arch of the King's niche is on each side an escutcheon, Sable, a cross Argent. The inscriptions under these figures seem to have no relation to them, being Sanctits Mauritius, as Sanctus is again under the Queen. Should these have been intended for King Henry VI. and his martial Queen, Margaret of Anjou, chance seems to have brought the dethroner and the de¬ throned peaceably together. The lowest stage of this window has nothing in its compartments but some coats of arms brought hither from other parts of the church. Rut here I suppose were the seven large pictures of the Virgin Mary, in seven several glorious appearances, of which Richard Culmer speaks in his Dean and Chapter News from Canterbury.’’ —Gostling. The latter figures are conjectured, and with every appearance of justice, to represent Edward III. and his martial Queen Philippa ; see note to the foregoing article in Gostling's book. Works composed of so fragile a material are in frequent want of reparation, and in adjusting fragments stolen from other situations, upon the principle of the famous Roman triumphal arch, strange incongruities are apt to arise. Too much care cannot be taken of what remains to this country of this beautiful manufacture, which every revolving year renders more valuable. SECT. IJI. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 65 is taken from the northern side, looking obliquely across to the entrance to the French church from the Close. The capitals to the short and rudely formed columns, are mostly sculptured with fantastic devices, upon the meaning of which antiquaries have bestowed much pains, without being able to establish any thing like a system. They have been supposed to have an hieroglyphic signification, and an Egyptian origin. Jt is certainly by no means improbable that the early essays of Saxon sculptors, like those of all inexperienced practitioners in art, were imitations of other works; and Roman reliques would consequently he their models. This hypothesis is strengthened by the consideration that the early Christian churches were in many instances composed of the ruins of Pagan temples, and Pagan cere¬ monials, and their accompaniments were sanctified hv their adoption in the usages of the Church. Hence there may he some foundation for Ledwich’s conjectures, when he traces these sculptures to represent “ an aelurus, a hawk killing a serpent, an Egyptian gryphon, a gladiator and lion, a figure on horseback in a cap and trou sers, a Roman equestrian, a sheep, a double-headed anubis bestriding a double-headed crocodile, a figure on the head of another holding a fish and cup, a bird destroying a crocodile, a satyr on two deers, two birds on a Roman masque, a monster having a cock’s head, winged shoulders, body human, and playing with a bow on a violin ; below it a scalene triangle, opposite a grotesque blowing a trumpet.” That the crypt beneath the choir is originally of Saxon construction, seems to be indisputable, although various traces of Norman, work are discoverable in the supports, which give additional strength to maintain the superstructure. In front, and along the sides of the arches, we notice texts of Scripture in old French, painted for the benefit of the frequenters of divine service in that language. In former days the chief object of attraction in this place was the Virgin Mary’s Chapel toward the East. It is enclosed on either side by open screen work, and this was again surrounded by a double iron rail. It contained an altar adorned with the most profuse decoration, spangled with radiant stars upon a ground of etherial blue, and set with K 66 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. III. glittering stones. Above the place of the altar yet remains the niche which contained her image, and fragments of the sculptured figures which told her history. This Chapel was esteemed of such peculiar sanctity, that the Arch¬ bishop’s special leave was obliged to he procured for strangers who wished to examine it. “ I never saw any thing more laden with riches,” says Erasmus, “ lights being brought, we saw a more than royal spectacle; in beauty it far exceeds that of Walsingham.” The second Goldstone seems to have contributed largely to its embellishment. In front, and to the South, is the tomb of Cardinal Morton, although his body was interred at his own desire in the Chapel before the altar. He founded here a chantry of two monks to sing daily mass, with placebo and dirige, for twenty years. The inclosed church for the French Protestants is plainly, but neatly fitted up. Near it was the chantry of the Black Prince, and also adjoining, the site of Cuthbert’s erection in honour of John the Baptist is marked by the remains of a chapel, once gorgeously painted and dedicated to that Saint. The paintings are nearly obliterated, but a rude representation, if it can be depended upon, is given in Dart’s book. Here was an altar in honour of the Archangel Gabriel, and another dedicated to St. Catharine. The un¬ dercroft likewise held an altar to the martyred Becket, and one to St. John the Baptist. Becket’s tomb stood at the upper end, where his reliques, which had been hastily deposited by the affrighted monks as in a place of security, remained until his translation. Emerging from this dark and solitary seat of sublime recollections, we ascend the steps leading to the choir, and rest to enjoy the finest general view of the interior. To the westward we have a full and commanding prospect of the nave we had quitted, and in the East, through the grated door of the choir, we catch a glimpse of the brilliant window at that ter¬ mination of the long extended structure, sparkling with a radiancy unparal¬ leled. Above us tlie central tower displays the delicate groining of its vault, painted and gilt upon a white ground. After casting a glance around, we turn to the screen before-mentioned as fronting the choir. The entrance SECT. III. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 6*7 door is in its centre. Over it remains the niche formerly containing an image of the Virgin, and surrounding it are the pedestals and canopies which were graced hy the Twelve Apostles. On either side are three statues of royal personages, in a style of sculpture so admirable as to have occasioned a doubt whether it could possibly be the work of so early a period ; an uni¬ form and graceful simplicity prevails in the attitudes, and the general ex¬ pression is elevated and serene. Five of them hold a globe and a sceptre, and the sixth a church. From the form of the vestments and regalia, they are evidently intended to represent Saxon Monarchs, and the last mentioned Ethelbert, hearing an emblem of his having been the founder of ecclesiastic establishments. Above their canopies is a frieze of Angels bearing shields ; and over this a perforated and embattled cornice. This screen is of marble, which has acquired a mellow and beautiful tinge ; the whole is of admirable symmetry, and chaste and elegant proportions l . Passing into the choir, we first observe the wainscot stalls for the Dean and Prebendaries. They are of the Corinthian order ; the sculpture of the capitals and entablature well executed. This stall-work is continued along the sides to the Archbishop’s throne, over which is a rich canopy supported by columns of the same order; corresponding with which is the style of the altar screen, also of wainscot; the centre is very judiciously formed into a glazed aperture, which admits a view of the building to the East, and dis¬ closes the brilliant windows above-mentioned. In rear of the stalls ex¬ tends the stone partition mentioned hy Gervaise as dividing the side ailes from the choir, and connecting the columns. These are well worthy of observation. They display that William of Sens had contemplated with attention the reliques of classic architecture, and evince a bold struggle for emancipation from the puerile efforts of his contemporaries in the Italian cities. It is not to be wondered at that the monks gazed with astonishment and rapture at these examples of the felicitous adaptation of a purer and holder style than they had been accustomed to. The examples we have 1 Over this screen is placed the organ, which formerly stood in the northern side of the choir above the stalls. 68 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. III. given will require no explanation. The members of Grecian art, the plinth, the double torus, the acanthus, and caulicolse, with the abacus, and astra¬ gal, are varied with taste and ingenuity. This choir must upon the whole be considered as the work of a powerful genius breaking through the tram¬ mels of example, and confiding in its powers. Pointed arches dividing the choir from the vaulting of the side ailes are supported by these columns; between them rise slender columns of Petworth marble, connecting their capitals with clusters of smaller supporting the arches of the lower triforium. Above these are the upper triforium and windows, and the lofty vault of the deling. These are exhibited in our view from the northern wing of the eastern transept, which also displays the junction of the choir and transept, consi¬ dered at that time so bold and admirable a performance. In this view the tomb of Chichely fronts the spectator ', to the right of which is an entrance to the choir, and the stone partition of which, the ornamental arches, and embattled cornice, are probably among the works recorded to have been executed by Prior Henry. Above the circular arch with the chevron moulding, which opens from the northern aile into the transept, is a near representation, necessarily foreshortened, of the double triforium. To the right of the view, and immediately above the pavement, is a specimen of a belt of arches which seems to have surrounded the interior of Lanfranc’s structure, al¬ though subsequent innovations have caused them to disappear in many places. The circular recesses in this transept formerly contained the altars of St. Martin and St. Stephen; in the painted glass of one of the windows is a representation of the former dividing his cloak with a beggar. From this transept a passage to the North leads to the circular apart¬ ment called the baptistery, or vulgarly Bell Jesus ; said to be so named from an immense bell of the same dimensions, lost at sea. This story is too ridiculous to be further noticed. Certainly the original uses of this structure are wrapped in obscurity, though from its superior decoration it 1 The tasteful observer will regret that the wainscot of plain and modern construction is so conspi¬ cuous in this representation, and blocks out from the view the choir and beautiful tombs on the opposite side. We shall treat of this subject in the course of the southern aile. SECT. III. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 69 was evidently intended to answer some important purpose. Its situation is justly imagined by Gostling to militate against the idea of its having been used for the performance of the baptismal rite for the laity, as it is attached to a part of the edifice to them peculiarly difficult of access '. Probably, judg¬ ing from its site, it was one of the erections for the accommodation of the Prior ; and it is now of little consequence to ascertain its ancient usages. It is of an octangular form, and lighted by windows of painted glass, each divided by a mullion into two divisions, with a quatrefoil filling up the point of the arch. It contains the font given by Bishop Warner, hut bro¬ ken to pieces by the fanatical rabble. Somncr the antiquary collected the fragments, which, upon the Restoration, were put together in the nave. It is well calculated for the situation it now occupies. It presents a pedestal raised upon steps, at each angle of which is a column, and on each side a niche and statue : this supports an elegant basin enriched with sculpture, and crowned with a figure of Charity ; the whole of creditable design and execution. The library extends to the East of this erection ; it is of brick, and of modern construction, built upon the site of the Prior’s Chapel. Following the course of the northern aile, whose brilliant windows are its most noticeable objects, hut whose devices it would he tedious to explain, being rudely designed subjects from Scripture, we arrive at the steps leading to that “ holiest of holies,” the Trinity Chapel, once containing the shrine of the sainted Martyr. Near the foot of these is an entrance to what was formerly the store-room of the sacrist 1 2 , conjectured by Somner to have been the place in which was deposited the wax for manufacturing the tapers, of which there was a constant and extraordinary consumption 3 . Judging from 1 Baptism, being considered a ceremony of initiation, appears to have been customarily performed in the body of churches, and near the westex - n entrance, or at the porch. 3 The Sacrist was one of the great officers of the monastery, and was assisted in the discharge of his duties by four Sub-sacrists. 3 " The paschal taper contained three hundred pounds of wax j seven wax candles in seven branches weighed fifty pounds j namely, six of them seven pounds a-piece, and the seventh, in the middle, eight pounds : procession candles two pounds a-piece; and on the feast of Purification, each candle weighed three pounds." Batteley. HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. III. 70 the security of its construction, it seems more probable that it was a place of deposit for the most valuable articles entrusted to that officer l . Adjoining this is the vestry for the Dean and Prebendaries, once the Chapel of St. Andrew, and the audit bouse, a modern building; also the treasury, for¬ merly a place of deposit for reliques 2 . These offices possess nothing worthy of particular mention. Having ascended the steps we perceive that the side ailes and columns here sweep to form a circular area, the ribs of the vaulted roof being knotted together over its centre by a large boss. This space is replete with me¬ morable subjects; but the first attention of the observer is usually directed to trace the site of that shrine, once the object of so much attraction, the sight of which was the reward of so many toilsome pilgrimages. This cu¬ riosity will not be disappointed. The erection itself, with all its costlv gar¬ niture, is gone; but the place of the rail which enclosed it is marked by an indention in the pavement, worn by the knees of its incessant votaries. It was of the usual size and form of altar-tombs. To the North and South of this spot, being considered situations of the most privileged sanctity, stand the tombs adorned with trophies, and painted canopies, of Henry the IVtli and his Queen, and of the heroic Edward the Black Prince. In front is a beautiful piece of tesselated work, on either side of which the pavement is composed of Norman tiles, containing in circular compartments curious and grotesque devices; among others, the zodiacal signs. This observation of the pavement leads to the notice of regular furrows marking the ascending and descending course of the pious train of visitants on the steps of the southern aile, by which direction they were conducted in order not to inter¬ rupt the church-service, nor interfere with the more private parts of the edifice. Surveying these, arises a mournful reflection, to consider how many ages Superstition must have reigned supreme to have left such inde¬ lible traces of her influence ! Perhaps the patriot may find a readier excuse * See Dart’s Appendix, No. VI. s Of this there is a neatly engraved external view in Storer's Cathedrals. for those aspirations breathed forth at the altar opposite the tomb of the courteous, the heroic Edward Prince of Wales, where the steps, yet re- maining, bear similar traces of veneration. After submitting for a moment to emotions the scene must naturally inspire, we contemplate its architecture, which is a continuation of the design of William of Sens, for which be might probably have constructed models previous to his departure for his native place. The device of using double columns seems to have originated with a view to preserve lightness, and gain additional strength; as some apprehensions were evidently enter¬ tained that the single columns of the choir were unequal to the weight they upheld ; this appears from their having been strengthened with bars of iron soldered into them and the wall which connects them. The foliage of the capitals of these double columns, which would naturally introduce the clus¬ ter, is sculptured with much taste and ability, and very ingeniously varied, as displayed in our plate of examples The triforia we have noticed are here continued, but owing to the contracted distance of the columns, the lower arches are exceedingly acute. The ornamental mouldings, princi¬ pally the chevron and the billet, are of precisely the same character as those of the eastern transept. The windows of this chapel are well worthy ol admiration. Those on the South, both here and in the side aile of the choir, have been much mutilated, and are nearly all plain ; but the opposite having been better protected externally by the contiguous buildings, have suffered less. It is not a matter of much regret that the regularity and unity ot their designs is destroyed, which were principally scripture subjects, and legends of the Saints, in compartments surrounded by Mosaic borders. Gosthngs diagram explains the subjects of many, and for further elucida¬ tion Batteley’s Somner may be consulted : we fear a minute description of these rude compositions would be deemed a tiresome detail 2 . The charm 1 1 By an unfortunate error of the writing-engraver this plate has been entitled " Capitals iri the Lady Chapela blunder which did not meet our observation until it was printed. 5 Most of them had labels bearing couplets of monkish Latin. SECT. III. 72 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION and beauty of the windows consists in the extreme brilliancy of their hues ; the different pieces are very small, and where they form borders, &c. of regular design, are fitted with much art; hence their rich and gem-like effect, which would be greatly injured by larger divisions. These, with those of the circular tower adjoining, are all of the happiest period ot an art which afterwards experienced a gradual degeneracy, now deplored in vain. Taking the course of the aile from the point at which we entered the chapel; opposite the tomb of Henry IV. we turn aside to examine the chan¬ try built for the purpose of containing an altar at which daily mass might be said for the repose of the souls of that Monarch and his Queen. It is a beautiful little structure, lighted by two windows, and vaulted upon the principle of the Lady Chapel, with which it appears to he coeval. For a long period after the Reformation it was used as a depository of lumber, but has been cleaned out, and is preserved in a state of elegant neatness. Architects aiming to revive, and re-adopt a style of art, truly elegant, and purely national, may here find an admirable model, capable from its size ot being applied to various purposes of domestic embellishment. Reserving our description of the tomb, and that of Dean Wotton, whose statue can never be passed without admiration, we enter the tower we have noticed externally, called Becket’s Crown ; in which stands the patriarchal chair, removed to this situation from the back of the high altar. It is ot grey marble, the seat formed of a solid cubical stone, having a raised back and sides, carved with plain square pannels. It was used for the magnificent ceremony of the enthronization, which invested the Prelate elect with the metropolitical dignity. The same style of architecture is preserved in the triforia, but the supporting columns are here converted into slender clusters attached to the wall between circular-headed windows. The ribs of the roof, springing from these columns, meet in the centre, and are knotted by a boss. We notice over Cardinal Pole’s monument, and 111 the opposite compartment, the remains of monkish painting, which it would be a waste SECT. III. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. ^5 of time to describe, and which are only valuable as serving to elucidate the history of art. From this situation we enjoy a comprehensive view through the Trinity Chapel, and along the vista of the choir; and this point we have selected for representation. In front is the arch which connects the tower to the body of the edifice, supported by clusters of slender columns, and on either side those which rise to meet the ribs of the roof. We next discern the vaulting of the aile, and the double co¬ lumns we have noticed. Through the arch immediately in front, the tri- foria recede in perspective, and the area of the Trinity Chapel appears ter¬ minated by the screen at the back of tile altar, in front of which some figures denote the place of the descent. The choir retires in shadow, and the vista is terminated by the eastern transept, irradiated by a gleam of light from its southern extremity. In rear of the nearest double column are the railing and canopy of Henry the Fourth’s tomb, and between the columns the monument of Dean Wotton. To the right of these, the sweep of the side aile and the front of the chantry, where there once stood a confessional, over the place of which are indications of some of the exquisite painted windows we have noticed. Before quitting this end of the edifice strangers should not omit the enjoyment of a beautiful view of the city, its antiquities, and the adjacent country to the eastward, through an aperture opened for that purpose in the terminating window. Taking our course in a retrograde direction, we pass the tombs of Odo, Cardinal Chastilion, of the illustrious house of Coligny, and of Archbishop Theobald, and enter upon the southern aile. Descending the furrowed steps we turn to the left into St. Anselm’s Chapel, disfigured by a coarse wooden partition dividing it into a depositary for surplices, &c. and a vestry for the minor canons. The circular mouldings of the entrance arch are rich in effect, and some ingenious sculpture dispersed about the capitals, &c . 1 ' While in this place it may be proper to direct attention to the tomb of Mepham filling up the lower part of the arch which divides it from the southern aile. In the spandrils both of the upper and lower arches is some very excellent sculpture, which if not looked for might pass unnoticed. I. HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. III. will repay the observer’s investigation. A small apartment over this chapel has occasioned some controversy as to its uses, certainly not a matter of much importance. It was probably a place of confinement for an offender in the convent, not intended to he debarred the benefit of the service in the choir, which he might witness through a grate looking towards the high altar. The tombs and enriched canopies of Kemp, Stratford, and the unfor¬ tunate Sudbury, may justly arrest observation. Until a recent date these tombs were open to the choir, from which they are closed by the wainscot¬ ing about the altar, excluding the fine perspective views beneath their canopies. The southern wing of the eastern transept corresponds in style with the opposite. In its acute and ungraceful arches we perceive that English art, like that of Greece, went through a course of rude essays before it esta¬ blished a standard of purity, and principles, which experiment alone can establish. The mutilated effigies of Walter and Reynolds beneath the win¬ dows are the only subjects unmentioned (if we except the reliques of paint¬ ing, in stars and other capricious ornaments on the dividing wall) in our course of the aile, until we reach the steps by which we cpiit the line of the choir, and turning to the left find ourselves in the transept, with which Sudbury commenced his improvements. The stately window answers in ex¬ tent to that of the Martyrdom, beneath which is an entrance from the Close, and in the south-western angle a stair-case leading to the roof of the church. In casting a glance over this and the opposite wing, we find that the monas¬ tic architects, with due reverence, preserved whatever was deemed memorable in the interior of the building during the alteration. This is particularly evinced by Peckham’s tomb, and an ancient projection for supporting an organ over the entrance of St. Michael’s Chapel, adorned with the effigies of Pope Gregory, and Augustine. These representations are pierced with holes of musket-shot, a mark of abhorrence inflicted by some of the military in the service of the Puritans once stationed here. SECT. Ill OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 7 $ St. Michael’s, otherwise the Warrior’s, Chapel, so designated from the military monuments it contains (with the exception of a beautiful altar-tomb, with cumbent figures in the centre, to the memory of Thomas Duke of Clarence, John Earl of Somerset, and their lady), mostly of that mongrel style adopted for these memorials after the Reformation ; yet, while we can¬ not but condemn the general taste of these erections, it would be invidious not to admit that some of the workmanship in statues, busts, &c. is of mas¬ terly execution. The deling of this chapel is richly gilt, hut the dispo¬ sition of the ribs is by no means elegant, curvilinear forms seem almost indispensable to give beauty to a roof of this description. Perhaps the Chapter-house affords almost a solitary exception, where straight ribs are judiciously adapted to the form of the vault. Above this chapel is an apartment, to which we should have noticed an ascent from the southern aile, now the chorister’s vestry, formerly an ar¬ mary, or store-room of reliques. It deserves observation from being the place in which Sudbury’s architects have left their memorials, consisting of three sculptured heads at the intersection of the ribs of the roof, which appear to have been originally inscribed Tho. Chillenden Prior, Johns Wodnesberg, and Willms. Molasch Discipulus. These two latter able artists afterwards became Priors, and directed the affairs of the church they had adorned with so much taste The conclusion of our course brings us to the stair-case 2 by which we ascend the central tower, having openings to the galleries, from whence its interior may be examined. Over the vaulting which closes the view 1 “ It seems pretty remarkable that within the compass of an hundred years there should have been six Priors who made architecture their study, and of whose taste and skill we have many beautiful proofs at this time.: but here the monks judged perfectly right; nothing could do greater honour to the society, or so well express their zeal for the house of God, the keeping and adorning of which was entrusted to their care, as chusing those to preside over them who were best qualified to direct them in the discharge of that trust.” Gostling. - We perceive on this side of the ascent to the choir an entrance to the undercroft beneath a pointed arch, and consequently of more modern construction than that from the martyrdom. 7G HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. III. from the church is a loft with machinery for drawing up materials for re¬ pairs, lighted by loop-holes, through which we catch glances of the sur¬ rounding country. The remainder of the interior, which we can here ob¬ serve to the top of the tower, has nothing particularly worthy of notice; there are some apertures for containing the ends of beams intended to sup¬ port a peal of hells The south-western pillar of the tower having be¬ trayed symptoms of weakness, most admirably corrected by Goldstone, pre¬ vented this design from being carried into effect. The fatigue of the ascent to the platform of the roof is most amply repaid by the enjoyment of a lovely and luxuriant prospect. Below us Kent unfolds all its charms. Its mouldering ruins, its stately mansions, its fertile fields of waving corn, the rich foliage of its woods, streams that glitter in the sun, its vales and proudly swelling hills studded with farms and cottages, peopled by a manly and healthful race of peasantry, extend¬ ing in long perspective to that ocean which formerly so often wafted to her shores desolating and destructive hosts, now bearing on its bosom, and into her ports, the productions of the remotest nations, the wealth of the world. Measurements of the Building. Feet. Total exterior length - - 530 Interior ditto - - 514 Length of the nave from the western door to the entrance of the choir - - - 214 Breadth of ditto - - - 71 Exterior, including its ailes - - 82 Height of ditto to the vaulting - - 71 1 This tower contains a small bell, tolled before the service in the choir, called Bell Harry, from whence it has received its modern appellation. SECT. III. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 77 Feet. Length of Trinity Chapel and Becket’s Crown 120 Breadth of Trinity Chapel 63 Height of ditto 58 Diameter of Becket’s Crown 32 Length of the western transept - - 124 Breadth of ditto - - 34 Height of the central tower - - 235 Diameter - - - 35 Height of its interior vaulting - - 130 Length of the eastern transept - - 154 Breadth of ditto - 29 Height of ditto - - - - 71 Length of Lady Chapel 37 Breadth of ditto - - - - 21 Height of ditto - - 36 Length of the chantry of Henry IV. - 14 Breadth of ditto - - 9 Height at the western end - - 10^ Length of St Michael’s Chapel 34 Breadth of ditto - - - - 21 Height of ditto 29 Diameter of the baptistery 17 Square of the cloysters, each side - - 134 Length of Chapter House 92 Breadth of ditto - - 37 Height of ditto - 54 Height of the Dunstan steeple - - 130 Height of Arundel ditto - - - 100 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OP THE METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL CHURCH OP Canterbury. SECTION IV. A CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENTS WITHIN THE CATHEDRAL. Early modes of sepulture. Invention of the sarcophagus.—An admirable essay for infant sculpture.—Sepulchral constructions attached to Chris¬ tian places of worship.—Introduced into our Cathedral. — Classifica¬ tion from Gough’s “ Sepulchral Monuments.”—First class; shrines of the Saxon saints, and altar-tombs.—Have no existing remains. —Second class ; sculpture introduced,—Its progress.—Tomb of Theo¬ bald,—Third class ; invention of the cumbent effigy.—Its solemnity °f effect.—Corrupt invention of cadaverous figures.—Tombs of Hu¬ bert Walter.—Of Stephen Langton.—Fourth class; introduction of canopies—Tombs of Peckham—Of Walter Reynolds—Of Mepham. ' Qf Stratford.—The trophied tomb and ejfigy of Edward the Black Prince.—His epitaph.—Tomb of Sudbury.—Cenotaph of Courtney. SECT. IV. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 79 — Tombs of Chichely. — Of Lady Mohun. — Superb tomb of Henry IV. and his Queen.—Tombs of Thomas Duke of Clarence, John Earl of Somerset, and their Lady. — Of Kemp. — Of Bourchier. — Of Morton.—Fifth class; tombs inclosed in chantries.—Magnificent specimen in that of TVarham.—Sixth class ; tombs inlaid with brass. —Have been all despoiled.—Seventh class; monuments against the ivails and columns.—Their prevailing bad taste.—That of Dean TVotton an exception.—Remarks on the sudden chhnge of taste and style. — Monument of Sir James Hales. — Of the families of Thorn- hurst and Nevil. — Of Sir John Boys. — Of Colonel Prude. — Of Sir George Rooke.—Modern monuments.—Additional notices of de¬ faced and destroyed memorials.—Lists of altars .— Of shrines. — Of chantries. THE disposal of the remains of those whom death has summoned from their earthly sojourn, lias always been more or less connected with the ideas men have entertained of religion, and of a future state. In the earliest ages of the world, and among the rudest classes of society, the sedulous hand of affection has scooped the rock, or raised the mound within which the mor¬ tal remains of those who were dear in life might rest until some undefined period of restoration to an animated existence. Respect for elevated rank, or superior talents and virtue, was displayed in the united labour which heaped the tumulus, or piled rude masses of stone above the hallowed depositary. The simple and natural method of inhuming in the earth the relics, which Nature herself, as it to impel man to cast his hopes and views upon futurity, tears from his embrace, gave way when the amiable weakness of affection and reverence found an aid in art, to the construction of the sarco¬ phagus, whose durable material presented a firm resistance to unhallowed violence, and might contain its precious deposit in its bosom unmolested to the latest periods of time. 80 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. IV. When could sculpture find so fit, so admirable an exercise of her dawn¬ ing powers, as in decorating these receptacles ? the tumulus, or the pyra¬ mid, the cromlech, or the kist-vaen, told but an imperfect tale ; but the surface of the sarcophagus, or soros, might be indelibly impressed with evidences of identity ; and who can contemplate without admiration, the examples of reverence and affection existing in the rude and mystical hiero¬ glyphic, the finished elegance of Grecian adornment, and the expressive moral concealed in the emblems of the Roman urn ? The salutary laws of the Romans, which regarding alone the public welfare, held a stern eontroul over the feelings of individuals, prohibited interment within the precincts of their cities. Their cemeteries were con¬ structed contiguous to the public roads, enforcing the traveller to bear in view the termination of his earthly journey ’. But the primitive Christians, in their pious veneration, had been accustomed to perform the celebration of their holy rites upon the spot which held some martyr to the faith, or in the gloomy catacombs in which their remains were secretly deposited. The celebration of the Eucharist received additional force and solemnity in being administered from the stone which covered an example of sainted devotion. When, no longer a persecuted wanderer, Christianity ranked among her converts the Sovereigns of the world, and was installed in all the pomp of earthly splendour in the temples built for the worship of creations of the imagination, of idolatrous personifications, the purity and simplicity of her forms received a taint of corruption. Artful policy seized hold of the weak¬ ness of human nature, and entrammelled her followers into the worship of external subjects of reverence. The altar and the shrine were stored with 1 Thus, the site of St. Augustine’s monastery, was the Roman cemetery adjoining the road from Richborough, and immediately without the walls of the city. The donation of Ethelbert was already rendered sacred by its established uses, and upon the foundation of a church, the porch hallowed by its contiguity to the holy edifice into which custom forbade the entrance of the dead, was appropriated to royal and archiepiscop;il interment. Here were buried Ethelbert and Augustine, with their successors until the time of Rrichtwald, when the porch being full, the corrupt custom of introducing the body into the church was first introduced, A. D. 731. SECT. IV. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 81 relics. Bodies of Saints and Martyrs received that adoration themselves had taught to be due to God alone. This hold upon human nature, whose best feelings were converted into engines of corruption, was too powerful not in a short time to become uni¬ versal. Accordingly we find that Cuthbert, elected to this see in 7^2, received full licence to adopt the practice then prevailing at Rome, and was himself the first person buried within his cathedral church. In the course of a short time we find altars, tombs, and shrines, containing the bodies of his successors, and of other holy persons, multiplying in all parts of the building; and at length the distinguished laity, who from their liberal do¬ nations, or superior reverence, claimed the gratitude of the church, were allowed to be deposited within its sanctified walls. In the very able Introduction to the first volume of Gough’s elaborate work on “ Sepulchral Monuments,” is an abstract of a classification of those memorials by Maurice Johnson, Esq. which we shall adopt as being well illustrated by the examples we are about to describe. The first class, whose date commences with the age of the Saxon pre¬ lates succeeding Cuthbert, continued to prevail, with slight alteration, un¬ til the close of the eleventh century. The tombs of this class generally consisted of plain stones, or of a single stone, hollowed out, containing the body, and usually widened towards the head ; covered by a flat stone of a prismatic form, undecorated with sculpture. It is most probable that Ger- vaise means a tomb of this description when he compares that of Dunstan to a pyramid, and by expressing its great height, meant to convey the idea that it was elevated on side stones; to distinguish it from the general situa¬ tion of these sarcophagi, which were raised but a small degree above the pavement. The tombs of canonized persons were called shrines, and those which served as altars were raised, having a flat stone on the surface. The destruction of the shrines and relics has left us no examples of this stage in our Cathedral. M 82 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. IV. The second class appears to be distinguished by the raised sarcophagi, decorated with flat and rude sculpture ; and having sometimes on the upper stone a cross, at first plain, afterwards fleury. This sculpture gradually became bolder in its execution, while the sides of the sarcophagi were orna¬ mented with arches, or short columns of Purbeck marble. The date of this class may be considered as occupying the twelfth century, and an excellent example is to he found in the tomb believed to have been constructed for the remains of Theobald It is fixed against the wall of the southern aile of the Trinity Chapel. The side and ends of the sarcophagus are ornamented with trefoil arches upon small columns, whose bases are clumsily dispro¬ portionate. These columns have a kind of foliage along their sides, and the spandrils of the arches are filled with similar work. Over the cornice which these support, the prismatie-formed surface is adorned with quatrefoils in lozenges, in each of which is a head in alto relievo, expressing the eccle¬ siastic gradations from a simple monk, to the papal Legate. Towards the close of the twelfth century, the efforts of Sculpture became still more emboldened; and the commencement of the thirteenth was parti¬ cularly distinguished by the introduction of the cumbent effigy upon tabular tombs, forming our third class 1 2 * * * * * * 9 . These tombs are a very characteristic 1 Doubts have arisen whether this can justly be considered as the tomb of Theobald} and Gervaise’s narration has been supposed to controvert the tradition by which it is given to that prelate. We do not conceive that the long-entertained opinion is at all proved erroneous by any thing in the account of that monk. He expressly mentions Theobald’s tomb as being constructed of marble ; meaning, as through¬ out his whole account, when he uses that term, the stone of the Sussex quarries, and by his particular mention, it was, doubtless, an esteemed work: he then tells us the same tomb was erected over his body upon his translation into the nave. Although not canonized, he was styled by many of the convent St. Theobald, and the preservation of his body was deemed miraculous ; see p. 22. It is not at all wonder¬ ful, that when the Trinity Chapel was completed his tomb should be restored to its former situation, and contribute to increase the sanctity of the place j an honour fitting the early patron, and best-esteemed friend of the martyred Becket. As to the objections taken to the style of decoration, it is certain that the trefoil and quatrefoil began to appear in tliis country about this period, in the rude form in which they are sculptured on the tomb. Should a fastidious doubt yet remain, it may be urged that a new tomb might have been erected about the period of Becket's translation; an hypothesis, however, at variance with the style and character of all sepulchral works of the thirteenth century now existing. 9 “ Among Piranesi's ‘ Vasi e Candelabri' is a curious sepulchral monument, of an oblong form, with SECT. IV. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 83 appendage to the pointed style of architecture, with which they continued to be associated through all its gradations, and to which they were admirably calculated to give heightened solemnity. The death-like character of the attitude, the fixed tranquillity of the features, the unbending severity of the straight lines, and angular forms of the draperies, all seem to place before our eyes beings suddenly transfixed by the dart of death, and converted into marble, as awful memorials of an inevitable fate. They lead the imagination to penetrate the hallowed receptacle beneath; to ponder on the contrast of earthly elevation with the gloomy level to which the grave reduces the mortal portion of all animated nature. The appeal is of a powerful descrip¬ tion ; and the feeling with which every observer of sensibility contemplates these memorials is a tacit homage to the genius which produced them. A melancholy degeneracy from all the principles of true taste was displayed when, in succeeding ages, the stone veil was impiously rent asunder, and the cadaver presented its loathsome contrast to the eye of the spectator, which before had been wisely left for his imagination to realize l . the figures of a man and woman half recumbent as on a seat in a triclinium, surrounded by a border or battlement. On the sides of the tomb, in four, and two compartments, or arches, are represented the labours of Hercules. This may be one of the oldest altar tombs. The posture is not uncommon on the funeral monuments of the Greeks and Romans. “ How much more natural is the old cumbent attitude representing the body as actually laid in a tomb below, than the varied attitudes of modern times, which seem to suppose the party reanimated, or never dead.” Gough’s Introduction to Sepulchral Monuments, vol. I. p. 98. We join with Mr. Gough in condemning the absurd and obscure allegories of many modern ceno¬ taphs. The simplicity of the moral couched in the cumbent figure is easily comprehended, and of irre¬ sistible force. Many of these works of the last century seem only intended to commemorate the sculp¬ tor's abilities, and evince how vagrant Art may stray from her course, when she has forsaken her genuine guide. Simplicity. 1 We have an instance of this absurdity in the tomb of Chichely. Its origin has been traced to the middle of the thirteenth century; and it seems to have spread over most, parts of Europe. See Archte- ologia, vol. II. p. 200. Landaff Cathedral contains one of a woman. Worcester Cathedral possessed two, and, indeed, not only the Cathedral, but also many of the conventual churches, contained similar em¬ blems of mortality. Of these works the grandest existing examples are the mutilated tombs of the Kings of France, many of whom were buried in the abbey of St. Denis, with sculptured effigies in all the pomp of regal magnificence (accordant with the national fondness of the French for forced contrasts,) above these poor emaciated specimens of “ unaccommodated natuie.” *54 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. IV. The most ancient specimen of this date and description which our Ca¬ thedral possesses, is the tomb, with the effigy of that distinguished prelate and statesman, Hubert Walter; filling the recess beneath a window of the southern aile of the choir. It is much mutilated, but as one of the most original examples ol this class, we have thought proper to preserve a repre¬ sentation of its present appearance, in the plate which forms our vignette at the close of the volume. The front of the sarcophagus is adorned with a tier of elegant arches, headed with the cinquefoil, and their spandrils filled up with the trefoil ornament. The effigy is considerably shorter than its support, which has occasioned a supposition that the sarcophagus is not that for which it was originally destined, an opinion not warranted by its style. The figure is mitred, and clad in the pontifical vestments. Its head reposes on a tasselled cushion ; the hands, now broken off, were elevated in the attitude of prayer, and at his feet is a dog, emblematical of vigilance and fidelity. At either end, against the wall of the building, are two short columns, with octagonal bases, and capitals of foliage. It is not clear for what purpose they have been placed in this situation. The sepulchral construction next in date is that of Stephen Langton, which appears to be a work of receding taste, being simply a stone chest, fixed in, and projecting from the wall of St. Michael’s Chapel, with a sculptured cross “ enchasse dans lemuraille.” The turbulent transactions in which his life was involved, and before the close of which he died, may have been the reason that no more decorative memorial bears his remains. The close of this century introduced our fourth class. Art, which had drooped and languished through an age of violence and contention, now be¬ gan to rear her head, as the storm of war was directed by an able monarch from the soil of a well-governed country, to that of his surrounding foes. The sarcophagus now became still more richly decorated. Its ornamental arches were hollowed into niches, and filled with emblematic figures. A rich canopy gave an air of state to the cumbent effigy; and the charm of that delicate lightness, still more evinced in succeeding works, began to he SECT. IV. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 85 felt and understood. The figure of Peckham, of oak, now worm-eaten and mouldered, reclines upon a sarcophagus against the northern wall of the Martyrdom ; in front of which is a range of mitred personages in niches. Above him springs an arch, with a purfled canopy, adorned with sculptured foliage, and the remains of gilding; the supports of which on the sides, also contain niches and statues. That elegant termination, the finial, crowns the whole, a design of the time of that tasteful patron of art, Henry do Estria, whose name is worthy of all the respectful mention claimed by su¬ perior genius. In the exertions of this Prior to promote the splendour and elegance of his church, the national superiority of the English in Pointed architecture, and all its accessories, may he justly acknowledged to have originated. Bending under the weight of advanced age, the traces of his directing influence cease to be discernible in the tomb of Walter Reynolds, an inferior work of the beginning of the fourteenth century, in which is introduced the corrupt custom of placing a canopy on the surface of the sar¬ cophagus, as if laid down with the figure. The double arches, and em¬ battled cornice in front, are, notwithstanding, in an elegant style. This sar¬ cophagus occupies the recess beneath a window westward of that over the memorial of Hubert Walter. His successor, Mepham, dying under the sentence of excommunication, no mitred effigy graces his tomb, but elegant taste and pious veneration have contributed to construct an example of the rapid advances art was now making towards perfection. We have mentioned in our survey its situation between St. Anselm’s Chapel, and the adjoining aile. Its beautiful sym¬ metry is much injured by the wooden partition fixed against its screen within the chapel. This screen, and the sarcophagus of black marble, are correctly chaste in their design. The former consists on either side of five open arches on clustered columns, supporting an embattled cornice ; the trefoils of the spandrils, filled with sharp and delicate sculpture, on either side of the end arches, which form entrances to the chapel; the length of the sarcophagus occupying those in the centre. This latter is also pierced with three open HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. IV. 86 arches, resting on a base of qua trefoil, and adorned with similar workman¬ ship. These latter perforations are owing to the situation of the tomb, which admitted the remains to be let into the pavement, as in the case of that of Chichely. The novelty and originality of the construction seem to connect this memorial with the after invention of the enclosing chantry, which in this case would be formed at once by detaching the columns of the screen from the tomb. Our next monument in the order of succession, is a verv richly canopied tomb to the memory of that intrepid defender of the Church’s privileges, Stratford, in the partition between the southern aile and the choir; a speci¬ men of that fairy lightness of decoration evinced in its greatest purity about this period. His canopied effigy in pontifical attire, bearing the pastoral staff, rests on his altar-tomb, which was formerly surrounded with statues, whose pedestals remain. The symmetrical intricacy of its design almost baffles description: slender buttresses crowned with pinnacles divide the canopy into three principal arches, each again subdivided by two small buttresses into three flowered canopies, above which are the slender pillars of delicate arches, also purfled and canopied ; over these a tier of three divisions of double arches, plain. The front of the sarcophagus is charged with arches resting on clustered columns, and six pedestals, formerly bearing images. The base is of quatrefoils. The figure has a cumbent canopy, and the usual pontifical insignia. We can only repeat our lamentation that much of the beauty of this tomb, and those on either side, is destroyed by the wainscot which has closed their graceful perforations. The church was now doomed to encounter times of turbulent dissention; to struggle to maintain the privileges it had acquired, to feel the ravages of pestilence among its members, and the want of means and abilities to con¬ struct monuments for several of the succeeding Archbishops. Clerical sanc¬ tity no longer claims our undivided attention to its memorials; and whether as an example of taste in art, or of excellence in the worth and modesty it commemorates, we turn with delight to dwell upon the trophied tomb of SECT. IV. or CANTERBURY CATHEDRAE. 8/ Edward Prince of Wales, commonly called the Black Prince ; of whose effigy and sarcophagus we have given a faithful representation, and for the sub¬ stance of the description of which we are indebted to the late Mr. Gough’s very excellent work '. “ The tomb itself is a sarcophagus of grey marble upon a base sculptured with open quatrefoils ; the ends and sides garnished with sixteen copper shields within starred quatrefoils, on which are alter¬ nately his arms, England and Old France quarterly, with a file of three points; and his device, three ostrich feathers, the quill end of each in a socket, across which is a label with his motto U(j OienC, superscribed with the words fjOUItlOUt and xcf) SlCllC. By his will he directed twelve escutcheons of laton to be disposed round his tomb, each a foot square or wider; six of which were to contain his arms complete, and the other six his badge of ostrich feathers ; on each of the twelve to be inscribed the word fjOUlHOUt J . These labels have been broken off, with the exception of seven. He also directed that upon his tomb should he placed a table of laton, gilt, of the same dimensions with the tomb, whereon was to he laid an image of laton in relief, gilt, in memory of him, armed in a warlike manner, with his arms quartered, and his face uncovered, his helmet with the leopard under his head.” His cumbent effigy is of copper, gilt, of beautiful execu¬ tion, the hands gracefully joined, as in prayer, and the figure cased in the panoply of a knight completely armed. “ His face is whiskered, his helmet pointed, and adorned with a coronet of oak leaves, once enriched with gems, 1 A defaced monument in the undercroft is the most ancient tomb of a lay person within the walls of this Cathedral. It commemorates Isabel Countess of Athol, wife of David de Strabolgy, earl of Athol, and second daughter of Richard de Dover, natural son of King John, by Rohes, his wife, daughter of Robert de Dover, Baron of Chilham. It is adorned with three escutcheons in quatrefoils, the two outer¬ most charged with three cinquefoils, that in the centre with a trivet. Her effigy is drcst in a mantle and petticoat; her head-dress curiously plaited and veiled ; her head is supported by angels, and a dog is beneath her feet. The face of the arch has an annulated border, and its centre has been embellished with a rose. 2 These significant mottoes are very expressive of the qualities of that amiable character : houmout, a high or noble spirit, was indicative of his valour and intrepidity ; Ich diene, I serve, of his loyalty and fidelity ; uniting to form the hero, the prince, and the faithful subject. HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. IV. 88 of which only the collets now remain ; under his head a helmet surmounted by a leopard, crowned, and having round his neck a label of three points ; his gorget of mail; on his surcoat France and England, quarterly, under a label of three points ; the lappets of his surcoat are bound with a girdle, enamelled, studded with leopards’ faces in rounds, and fastened by a lion passant guardant; under his surcoat appears mail; his gauntlets are armed on the knuckles with iron spikes ; his cuisses and greaves plated, the latter seamed like spatterdashes : his shoes, formed of brass plates folded over each other, are, according to the fashion of the time, remarkably long and picked; his spurs have large rowels, and the straps are fastened with roses; at his feet is a lioness, by his side lies his sword loose, being with the sheath all of solid copper, four feet long, studded with lozenges, the hilt of wire- work, gilt, with an enamelled lion’s head, on a blue ground. This sword had been fastened to his girdle by a hook still remaining thereon.” On a brass plate surrounding the upper part of the tomb is inscribed the epitaph in the old character, which is a curious specimen of the style of the age, bearing, as iVIr. Gough justly observes, a considerable similarity m the turns of its phraseology to the celebrated “ llomaunt of the Rose,” 1 and other rvorks of that age. At the head of the tomb. <£p (jigt ic noble Prince agones’ aisne? fil? bn tres noble IRoy ffibluarb tiers : iabis prince b’3quitainc a be ©ales, buc be Carncinaiilc et CEountebeCestre qi mouvust cn lafestebe laCrinite questoit Ic O33IJ lour be June fan be grace mil trois ccitj septante sisine, I’atme be qi Dicu cit merep. South side. qi pagge? one boueije tloge: intent ce qe te tnrai: gar la ou ce corps repose: ^iconic tc dire le gap : 1 We regret that in the faint indication of this epitaph given in the print the ancient character is not sufficiently observed, and that the labels of the ostrich feathers are omitted, which, however, would be scarcely distinguishable in the reduced size of the representation. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 89 arid come tu ej? je outiel fue: Cu terras! tiel come je £u : ©e la mort ne penpal je mpe: Cant come j’oboi la tie: lOC00ttICtt Azure, on a cross, Or, five estoils. QpCnCtJCtl Gules, two cross keys on a sword, Or. (ZEjCOnien A cross potent per pale, O. and G.between four crosses patee. CotlCntticn Virgin and Child. ^aruni Gules, a cross between four lions rampant, Or. IDllItCiltl The following is the epitaph originally inscribed round it, upon Dart’s authority : lj)ic meet IDeru Cfjicljle H Doctor quontram £ancellariu0 Saturn qui 3 nno 7 l£)en- 3123 Eegi0 an ®regorium Papam 22 in amba00iata tran0mi00u0 in ctoitate &cncn0i per manu0 eju0nem Pape in €pifcopum &)encoen0em con0ecratu0 e0t; 1 J)ic ettam l£>enrjcu0 anno n l£)cm 23 !Rcgi0 in bac @anc= ta €ccle0ia in arcfn'epi0copum po0tulatu0 $ a 31 oanne Papa 23 at) canticm tran0latu0 qui ohiit anno Dom. 1443, a9en0. 3 pr, Die 12. To which was added the monkish jingle, Cetu0 0anftorum concortiitcr i0te precetur. 231 Deu0 ip0ortnn meriti0 0il)i propitietur* Its situation is shewn in our interior view from the eastern transept. 92 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. IV. And round the base, £Uiigquig cris qui trangicrig roqo meinorcrig tu quoD crig mifji congfmtlig qui pogt morictig omnibug borribiiig pulnig bcrmig cato uilig. Over the tomb is a flat canopy, painted with stars, having in the middle Canterbury impaling Or, a chevron between three roses, and on the top a cornice of oak leaves. It rests on two piers, each having three faces, and a double tier of niches, once containing the twelve Apostles ; the places of four being supplied with absurd allegorical figures of Death, Time, &c. 1 Lady Mohun, of Dunstar, a liberal benefactress to the church, who died at the close of the fourteenth century, has a handsome monument in the undercroft on tile side of the Lady Chapel. The canopy consists of six pointed arches, supported by three pillars. The tomb is plain, on which reclines her effigy of stone, clad m a boddice, with a stomacher of jewels, petticoat and mantle, and a reticulated head-dress; at her bead are the attendant Angels. That a monarch, so true a friend to the Church as Henry IV. and who displayed so peculiar a reverence for Christchurch in desiring his body to be interred within its sacred walls, should be honoured with a distinguished situation, and a superb memorial, is not at all surprising. The monument of this Sovereign and his Queen is “ a tabular tomb of alabaster, in the Trinity Chapel, on the northern side of the site of Beeket’s Shrine, richly sculptured, and former] y g iu aiul painted. Its sides are adorned with five large tabernacled niches, with projecting canopies and pedestals, and di¬ vided by pinnacled piers. On it are his cumbent effigy, and that of his Queen, of the same material. He is habited in his crown and robes, a rich ermine mantle, studded in front, hemmed with roses, and fastened by cords and tassels ; the arm-holes are richly hemmed, and fastened by one or two flowered bands; the sleeves reach to the knuckles; his right hand is on bis 1 This tomb is occasionally repaired by his College, to which we may ascribe its incongruous addi¬ tions j certainly the college has not been spaiing of paint and leaf gold to do honour to its founder. SECT. IV. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 93 breast, his left by his side, the fingers broken : it probably held his sceptre. His crown is composed of fleurs-de-lis, pellets, and oak-leaves, on a base of jewelry in form of roses and lozenges, with a footing or lining of fur. At his feet is a iion. His shoes are crossed with lace, the pattern differing on each foot. At bis right hand lies his Queen, Joan of Navarre, who died 1437- She has a similar crown, and is regally habited in a surcoat studded at the head, necklace, and cordon, and a petticoat and mantle richly bor¬ dered. She wears a small puff of the reticulated head-dress over her ears ; her head rests on a cushion supported by two Angels. Her neck is long. Her right hand formerly fell gracefully down ; her left holds her solitaire of jewels ; but her arms are now broken off. At her feet lie two dogs. At the head of each figure is a rich canopy ; and a pillar, extended along either side of the tomb, is faced with three niches. Over the tomb is a flat wooden canopy of three surbast arches; a cornice of oak leaves; and on the facia frequently repeated in gold letters, on the southern side the word and on the northern, SitCmpCl'anCC.” Gostling justly remarks that it is somewhat singular that the motto applicable to the King is on the side of the queen, and vice versa. Opposite the foot of the tomb is a pictured tablet of a crowned Angel bearing a shield, with the arms of England and France, quarterly, impaling Evreux and Navarre. Opposite the head is a corresponding tablet, with a picture of Becket’s murder, now nearly obli¬ terated. This tomb has suffered much from the effects of careless cleaning and wanton destruction ’. An elegant sarcophagus of grey Sussex marble, in the centre of St. Michael’s Chapel, with cumbent figures of alabaster, is the tomb erected by Margaret Holland, daughter of Thomas, and sister to Edmund, Earls of ’ Admonition and reproof against carelessness or vvantonness would be superfluous ; the age of bar¬ barism is past, and the guardians of our churches are aware of their responsibility for the preservation of these interesting works, so dear to the historian, the artist, and the patriot. While a neighbouring country displays its “ Museum of Monuments,” torn from the hallowed walls which contained them, let us display our abhorrence of sacrilegious violence, by car efully preserving every fragment which our an¬ cestors have placed to honour the remains of the dignified, or the virtuous. 94 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. IV. Kent, to the memory of her husbands, John Beaufort Earl of Somerset, the eldest son of John of Gaunt; and Thomas Duke of Clarence, second son ol Henry IV. and of herself. “ The Earl’s figure, on the left hand of his lady, represents him in plated armour, and gorget, covered with a surcoat pinned on the breast; his helmet is pointed, and encircled with precious stones; he has a collar of SS; his gauntlets are open at the fingers, that on the left hand has an additional plate on the back ; his cuisses are buttoned within, and tied on the outside of the thigh; his sword is on his left side, and on his right a dagger and whittle united, the points of both turned upward. Under his head is a double cushion, supported by Angels, and at Ins feet an eagle displayed, collared and chained, his crest. The figure of the Duke is an exact counterpart of the Earl, except the circle round his hel¬ met ; at his feet is a greyhound, collared, his crest. The figure of the lady lying between her husbands, represents her habited in a mantle, kirtle, and surcoat; her sleeves buttoned down to the wrists, her mantle fastened across her breast by a double cordon, passing over two cinquefoils; a kind of neckerchief covers her neck ; on her head, which rests on a double cushion supported by Angels, is a studded head-dress, and a coronet of jewels ; the hair is plaited on the top and sides ; and such is the exact neatness of the artist, that he has expressed the pins that fasten the back of her cap. At her feet, which are folded up in her robe, are two collared dogs. On the third finger of each hand she wears a ring. The tomb is adorned on the sides with five beautiful starred quatrefoils, which in Weever s time had shields of arms, on the left those of Beaufort, on the right those of Clarence. The base is charged with ten single quatrefoils in rondeaux.” A brass which surrounded the upper ledge has been purloined, but Weever gives the fol¬ lowing punning epitaph upon Clarence from a MS. in the Cotton library: ll)ic facet in tumulo Cbo. Clat. nunc quasi nullus, Uni Cult in hello <£larus, nee Ctarior uiiuS. The monument of Kemp has a rich and elaborate, but heavy canopy of three arches, on the top of which is a cornice of Angels standing, each SECT. IV. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAE. 95 between two shields, now plain. The sarcophagus has no eftigy, and is adorned in front by three starred quatrefoils parted by pairs of arches. Leland calls it “ a highe tumhe of marble; hut no ymage engrossid on it.” This monument is in the southern aile, fronting the eastern transept. We are now about to describe one of the chastest and most elegant pro¬ ductions of this ornamental style, whose magical lightness of design, and delicacy of execution, afford superior gratification to the eye of taste. The monument of Bourchier in the northern aile, parallel with that of Sudbury in the southern, is a highly finished construction of grey marble. “ It con¬ sists of one lofty surbast arch, supported by slender single columns, relieved from the wall ; with a deling of stone ribbed work ; the outer border of the arch charged with various flowers, and Bourchier’s knots alternately, and the spandrils with quatrefoils in circles. The frieze above is adorned wi th shields of the arms of Old France and England quarterly, and of Bourchier, held by Angels, sitting and standing, an eagle volant with a scroll, figures of angels and flowers, and the upper member of the cornice carries the Bour¬ chier knot and foliage. Over this are three light open tabernacled niches, divided by arch work, and slender buttresses; the whole surmounted with a cornice of oak leaves. The ends of the arch are supported by buttresses, between which are two rich tabernacled niches, one over the other. The Bourchier knot is scattered over the arch, carved in a variety of modes, sometimes intertwined with the pall, single, or between two water-bougets* sometimes with itself, and sometimes surmounted with a single water-bouget; Angels holding shields with the knot; a saltire, a plain cross, the pall, three billets, and three water-bougets, are sprinkled over other parts of the monument, together with a radiated rose, and other devices. The tomb under the arch is of the same materials, adorned with a tier of six beautiful tabernacles, formerly filled with images, divided by pairs of arches, with rich canopies in double stories ; under their pedestals are quatrefoils, be¬ neath which is the following inscription, then a border of enriched quatre¬ foils, and a base sculptured with many smaller. , 96 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. IV. Inscription. jt)ic meet mctictmoigsimus in Christo Pater ? DominujS DominuS C&o mas TBoureftier quondam sacro sanctae Komanae Ccclcsiac ® sancti C^riaci in Cfiermis perifait CatDinalis arcfticpiscoptis bums Ccclcsiae: qui obiit rrr Die i^ensis sgavtii anno Domini 8 ©illcsimo cccc irrrPf cujuS animac propitfetur Dcus. amen. One of the arches in front, and to the south of the Lady Chapel, is filled up with the tomb of Morton, a very elegant, although much mutilated me¬ morial. The mouldings of its canopy take the circular sweep of the arch ; the outer one enriched with canopied images oi a female saint in a veil, St. John the Evangelist, St. John the Baptist, Mary Magdalen, another fe¬ male saint treading on a dragon, St. Paul with his sword, a Bishop with his crosier and pontificalibus, a female saint, and a Bishop pontifically ha¬ bited treading on a dragon. The moulding within this displays alternately a rose and coronet, or crown ', the cardinal’s hat, the portcullis, and the rebus of Morton, an eagle or falcon displayed on a tun. The inner surface of the arch is faced with fret-work, and in its centre is a half length Angel. Against the pier at the head of the effigy is a vacant niche, and canopy; and at his feet in the central space beneath a treble canopy, a pot of lilies, on each side of which were probably the Virgin and the Angel. A vacant niche also crowns the outer face of the arch. The sarcophagus, bearing the effigy, is low, and adorned with six blank shields in quatrefoils. The figure of the Archbishop is in pontificalibus, maniple and pall, a double cushion under his head, his mitre richly studded with jewels, his gloves fringed, and set with a jewel at the back, his crosier, headless, lies under his right arm ; six Angels support him, three on each side.” We are gratified in having to notice that this monument has been cleaned with much care, and is carefully preserved from additional injury. » Emblematical of the union of the rival houses of York and Lancaster, which took place in his time, and partly through his agency. SECT. IV. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 9/ The custom of founding and endowing chantries, or chapels in which service might be said for the repose of the souls of the deceased, had now become prevalent, and a natural consequence would be the union of these structures with the tombs of those for whose benefit they were established. Tombs enclosed in chantries form our fifth class, comprehending the most magnificent memorials of this description which grace the records of English art. Their construction took place at a time when the Pointed style had reached that delicately ornamental stage best suited to these minor works. The tomb and chantry of Warham, on the northern side of the Martyrdom, are distinguished as being the latest in which the purity of the Pointed style is preserved undebased by foreign alloy. The chantry is small, being just sufficiently large to hold the sarcophagus, and afford space for the priest at its foot. Its front is divided by three arches with flowered canopies, that in the centre higher than those on the sides; between these rise slender but¬ tresses, pinnacled, and crowned with finials resting upon Angels with shields, and connected by a flat cornice of oak leaves; the vacant spaces of the face beneath the cornice filled up with delicately sculptured arches and canopies, and shields. The piers on either side are each faced with two most elegant vacant niches, supported also by slender buttresses, whose pinnacles are lower than those of the centre. The cieling of the chantry is adorned with a tracery of roses in quatrefoils. The effigy is in full pontifical attire, with two Angels at the head, and two monks kneeling on cushions at the feet. The front of the sarcophagus is embellished with five blank shields in starred quatrefoils. Following the authority we have adopted for our classification, we shall give the sixth place to tombs inlaid with brass, although their construction seems to have been coeval with the two former classes, and to have been adopted in our Cathedral, either to comply with the humility of the desire of the deceased, to commemorate churchmen of inferior dignity to the prelate, or from the necessity of economy. Islip, who died 1366, is the first person recorded to have had a memorial of this description, from the o 98 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. IV. motive we have first assigned. It stood between two pillars of the nave on the northern side, but has since been removed to the cloyster. “ It was,” says Dart, “ a long table, raised two feet above the pavement.” The brasses have been torn away, but he has given a representation, we know not on what authority. Wittlesey, 13/4, had a similar tomb on the southern side of the nave, which has also been removed and despoiled. We have noticed in our survey of the chapter-house, that it contains several of the tabular stones inserted in its pavement, which were once en¬ riched in this manner, as those of Chillenden, of Wodnesbergh, &c. They formerly contained engraven figures of the Priors, with the mitre and other insignia. In these tombs a canopy was usually represented above the head, and an epitaph was engraved on a brass plate at the foot; sometimes the epitaph formed a border round the tomb l . The purifying storm of the Reformation had now shaken the Church to its foundations. New forms and new associations were accompanied by a novel style of art, and the change is no where so conspicuously displayed as in monumental works. The Italian school had assumed a regenerate cha¬ racter; and England, who had taken the lead in her own noble style, was 1 In this place it may not be improper to notice two memorials, which from their extreme rudeness cannot be brought into the above arrangement. The first is a tabular monument of brick, plastered over, on the northern side of Becket's Crown; it holds the remains of Cardinal Pole, the last metropolitan interred in this cathedral church. It is of the most simple construction, and bears this equally plain inscription : Depositum Cardinalis Poli. Over it, against the wall, are some rude paintings, nearly obliterated, in which are introduced two Angels bearing the Cardinal’s arms; quarterly, of eight pieces, four in chief, and four in base : 1. Cla¬ rence; 2. Pole, per pale. Sable and Or, a saltire engrailed, counterchanged j S.Nevil Earl of Warwick; 4. Beauchamp ; 5. Warwick ; 6. Montague ; 7 ■ Monthermer ; 8. Clare and Le Despenser, quarterly. The other is a brick coffin, plastered over, and painted, at the feet of Courtney in the Trinity Chapel, enclosing the body of Odo, Cardinal Chastilion, Bishop elect of Beauvais, and a favourite of Queen Eliza¬ beth : he is reported, for his attachment to the Reformed opinions, to have been poisoned by his catholic servants, 1571. SECT. IV. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 99 content to become a servile follower of the imitators of the ancients. The cumbent figure started from the reposed and tranquil attitude by which it was connected with the awful idea of dissolution, into an absurd mimicry of action. The tabernacled sarcophagus, the enriched canopy, the delicately wrought chantry, disappeared as if touched by a magician’s wand, and in their stead, forming our seventh class, arose clumsy tablets, disfiguring the form of columns, or growing like excrescences from the walls ; loaded with obelisks, trophies, vases, columns, entablatures, &c. the more cumbrous and more complicated, the more esteemed. The heads of families kneeling opposite to each other, are frequently attended by a formal train of descend¬ ants, growing progressively less. Epitaphs, as full of false ornament as the monuments themselves, replete with quaint conceits, were inscribed to tell the virtues of the deceased ; and the execution of the whole was usually equal to the taste of its design. From this sweeping condemnation let us rescue a single excellent work, which, if not altogether free from the defects we have noticed, has counter¬ balancing merit of a superior class. The monument of Dean Wotton, 1566, is a sarcophagus of marble in the Trinity Chapel, parallel with that of Court¬ ney. Its sides are curved in an ogee form, and ornamented with three square pannels, the styles of which are footed with claws and balls resting on a plain base. Its verge is surrounded with festoons of fruit and flowers. It bears the statue of the Dean holding a book and kneeling on a cushion before a desk. He is clad in a gown. The character of the head is in¬ imitably fine, and may challenge the boasted productions of the Athenian school. The sides ot the desk are impanneled with his arms. At the head of the sarcophagus, against a double column of the chapel is a tablet with the inscription, on each side of which is a fluted Corinthian column on a pedestal, bearing an entablature; all of good proportions, and only disfi¬ gured by a heavy termination of balls, and an ornamented shield of arms. At the foot of the tomb is an obelisk resting on a pedestal. We subjoin the | I I 100 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION epitaph, which relates the memorable events of his life, and is bv no means an unpleasing composition *. Yet the change of taste which Sculpture underwent, must be acknow¬ ledged beneficial as respects its general service as a branch of art ; and perhaps scarcely less so than that of Painting, when Leonardo, Raffaele, and Michelangelo, abandoned the hard and meagre style of their predeces¬ sors; still, in this country, we must repeat, its adoption was infelicitous in all its connections with Pointed architecture. For a full illustration we 1 NIC OLAUS WOTTONj Roberti Wottoni Equitis Aurati cx Anna Belknappa Filius, utriusque juris Doctor, Ecclesiie hujus primus, itemque Metropolitans Ecclesise D. Petri Eboracensis Decanus; Hen¬ rico VIII. Edoardo VI. Mariae, et Elizabethse, Angliae Regibus, in secretis consiliis. Ad Carolum V. Cte- sarem bis, et ad Philippum Hispaniarum Regem semel, ad Franciscum primum Francorum Regem seme], ad Henricum II. ejus Filium ter, ad Mariam Hungariae Reginain, Belgarum Presidem, semel, ad Gulielmum Clivensium Ducem bis, legatione functus. Renovatae pacis inter Anglos, Francos, et Scotos ; inter Guinas et Arderam, Anno 1546; similiter et ad Castrum Cameransense, Anno 1559; deniq; Edin- burgi Scothe, Anno 1560, Oratorum unus. Hie tandem fere septuagenarius, requiescit. Hgec ille ante mortem et ante morbum, quasi fatalem diem presentiens, et cygneam canlionem pro- phetiefe canens, sua manu in Musajo scripta reliquit. Qui apud tales Principes, Diving Providential gubernantc, laudabiliter, et in tot et in tantis causis (quarum magnitudo gravissima utilitas publica fuit) feliciter bonam vilge suge partem consumpsit, eum virum sapientem et experientissimum ipsa Invidia judicare debet. Quam semper ab omni contentione Honorum fuerit alienus, illud declarat, quod ad banc Ecclesiasticam Dignitatem non ambitione ull£t sui inflatus, nec amicorum opera usus aspira\it, sed cam utramque Henricus VI11 (hominis Merito et Virtute provocatus) ultro delulit. Cumq; idem Rex IUustrissimus morbum lethalem ingravescere persentisceret, et Edoardi Principis sane Excellentissimi, adhuc tamen pueri, et Reipublicae adminLtrandge imparis, imbecillam ./Etalem senili prudentia secretions sui consilii regendam esse existimaret, illis ex sedecim, quos suprema; voluntatis suge Testes et Vindices Testamento instituit, hunc Nicolaum (absentem tunc in Francia Legalum) unum esse voluit. Edoardo Rege, jam medio regni curriculo prope confecto, Unus e primariis Secretariis fuit; quem locum diutius tenere potuisset, nisi et suis et assiduis Amicorum precibus abdicandi veniam impetrasset. Corpus illi erat gracile quidem et parvum, sed rectum; habitudo sana, vultus liberalis, victus ex- quisitus, quem semel tantum in die carpere consueverat. Yaletudo adeo Anna, ut raro morbum aliquem senserit. Animus vero totus libris et literis dicatus ; Artium, Medicinge, Jurisprudentiae, et Theologige studiis intentus. Linguarum Romance, Italicge, Galliete, et Germanicae Inferioris cognitione pulclnbex- ornatus. Itaviriste, Genere clarus, Legationibus clarior, Domi ac Foris clarissimus, Honore florens, Lahore fractus, JElale confectus, postquain Decanus hujus Ecclesige Annos 25. Dies 293 praefuisset, Lon- dini, Januarii 26. Anno nostra; Salutis 1566, pife et suaviter in Domino obdormivit, Thom& Wottono Nepote Hcerede relicto; qui ci hoc Monumentum non Honoris ergo, quo abundavit vivus, et florescet mortuus ; sed Amoris causa, quem memoria colet, ut debot, sempiterna, consecravit. SECT. IV. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 101 have only to take a survey of the remaining contents of St. Michael’s Chapel. Sir James Hales, his wife and child, are commemorated by a mural monu¬ ment against the southern wall; at the top of which is a has relief, repre¬ senting his figure in armour, suspended over the sea from the side of a vessel. Beneath, Dame Alice kneels in prayer at a desk between two obelisks, hearing escutcheons. The inscription which we annex is on a tablet with trophies on either side, surmounted by a cornice. On a smaller tablet be¬ low, the figure of the son is also kneeling at a desk h The same chapel contains three mural monuments of the Thornhurst family. That of Sir Thomas Thornhurst presents the statue of himself in armour, reclining on a pedestal, holding his shield of arms, with Dame Barbara by his side, whose head rests on a double cushion. A tablet on the pedestal is graced with the kneeling effigies of their three children. On either side a warlike figure in armour holds aside a curtain disclosing a tablet and epitaph 2 , with a trophy of arms. On the entablature is another tablet: 1 Memoriae et Posteritati Sacrum. JACOBO HALES, Militi, Virtutibus et Munevibus civilibus insigni et Patriae charo, in expeditione Portugalliense Thesaurario, in qua patriam revisurus, An. Dom. 1589, obiit. D. ALICI JE, ejusdem Jacobi Relictae, Paeminae summis Natura; et Pietatis dotibus ornatae : Quae Anno D. 1592 mortua est. CHENEIO HALES, unico eorundem Jacobi et Aliciae Filio, qui Anno D. 1596 immaturo fato periit. Ricardus Lee, Armiger, ejusdem Aliciae Maritus superstes, moei ens posuit. J On the upper tablet, THOMAS THORNHURST miles, Stephani Thornhurst Equitis aurati Films, viribus animi corporisq; pollens, postquam in Batavinis, Trans-Rhenanis, et Hispanicis bellis gloriosara pro Pat rift navftsset operam, et ducis officio optime functus esset, ad Insulam Rheam 17 Julii Anno Domini 1627, primo appulsu, non sine laude sua, et victorift Anglorum, interfectus est. Ex Barbara Uxore, filia et una cohasredum Thomae Sherley Armigeri, tres suscepit liberos, Barbaram, Antonium, etCeciliam. Charissimi conjugis memoriae, pietatis et amoris erg6, hoc monumentum posuit moestissima Uxor Barbara. On the lower tablet. Stay, gentle Reader, pass not slightly by. This Tombe is sacred to the Memory Of Noble Thornhurst, what he was and who There is not roome enough in me to show. .' vrsial f' Nor his brave Story out at length t’explain. Both Germanyes, the new-found World, and Spain, Ostend’s long siege, and Newport battle tried His worth ; at last warring with France he died ; His blood sealed that last conquest, for black Rhee Gave him at once a Death and Victory. His Death as well as Life victorious was, Fearing lest Rhee (as might be brought to pass) By others might be lost in tyme to come, He took possession till the day of dooiue. 1 Dom. DOROTH. THORNHURST, Rogeri Drew, de Dentsworth in agio Sussexiensi, Armigeri, Elite, post fata Doctoris Hippocratis de Otten prioris mariti, ex illustri Familia Otteniana in Holsatia, Medici insignis, secundis nuptiis Stepliano Thornhurst militi sociatae; post ejus secessum, ejusdem cineribus hoc ipso in loco xn Jun. Anno jlv jEtatis sute; Jesu sui cio id cxx. redditae, Monumentuin hoc pife ac moerens posuit (ex Patre Neptis) Martha Nortun. Si laudata Venus, Juno, si sacra Minerva, Quis te collaudet, foemina ? tabs eras : Te te magnanimam, pulchram, doctamq; cadentem Et talem tantis dotibus urna teget ? Spiritus astra ferit, sic inter sidera sidus, Coelicolam recipit, ccelicolClmque domus. 102 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. IV. an adorned escutcheon and obelisks crown the whole. The second is to the memory of Lady Thornhurst, sometime the wife of Sir Richard Baker, ot Sissingherst, co. Kent. Her effigy is a curious example of the costume of the age, displaying an immense hood, ruff, bodice, and stomacher, far¬ thingale, &c. She reclines on the pedestal, resting her head on the right hand. Below, on two small pedestals facing each other, kneel her two daughters, the Lady Grisogone Lenard and the Lady Cicely Blunt. In an arched recess above kneels the armed figure of her husband. The arms of Thornhurst, Blunt, Baker, and Lenard, are displayed about the face of the tomb, which has the customary disposition of columns and obelisks. The third bears the effigy of Dame Dorothy Thornhurst, kneeling in the attitude of prayer, beneath an arch adorned with cherubim ; on each side an obelisk. The epitaph contains a curious allusion to the Pagan deities *. Coeval with these, and of the same style, we must notice the memorials of the family of Nevil, originally in a small chantry projecting externally SECT. IV. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 103 from the wall of the church beneath one of the windows of the southern aile of the nave, founded by the Lady Joan Brenchley, 1447, and converted into a family burial-place by Dean Nevil, about 1600. Falling into decay, it has been removed, and the monuments are now attached to the wall of the church. The epitaphs which are annexed are worthy of preservation The description of the tombs would prove but a tedious recapitulation. 1 THOM® NEVILLO, sacrce Theologian Doctori Praestantissimo : Ortu illustri; Pietate insigni; Ingenio optimo ; eruditione haud vulgari; moribus suavissimis ; et spec- tatissimoTheologo j dignissimis, in flore primse indolis (Cantabrigiie in aulft Pembrochianfi ad Annos fere quindecim) omnibus iis ornamentis, quibus adolescentior aetas illusti-ari solet, egregie perpolito; Mag- dalenensisCollegii, in eadem Academia (quod et ornavit, et studio atque industriasua quoad potuitlocu- pletavit) praefecto; gratiosissimae Reginae Elizabetbae (cujus a sacris fuit) excellentissiini judicii Principi, ob singulares et vere laudabiles animi dotes, acceptissimo j Petroburghensis Ecclesiae (cui ad annos octo haud mediocri cum laude praefuit) Decano eminentissimo : Sacrae et individuae Trinitatis Collegii, jam non ejus Academiae tantum sed totius Europae celeberrimi (labantis non ita pridem, et prope cadentis, nec non ob veterem structuram male cohacrentis, ipsius consilio, auspiciis, atque aere etiam suo libera- lissime collato, disjectis male positis acdificiis, atque in elegantiorem formarn redactis : Viis, areisque ve- teribus, directis, et ampliatis, novis pulcherrime constitutis, auctis, ornatis, ad banc quit nunc conspi- citur eximiam pulchritudinem evecti) Moderatori, Amplificatori, Instauratori felicissimo ; hujus deni- que Ecclesiae, quam surama aequitate, rara modestia, fide singulari, ad Annos . . . gubernavit, Decano moderatissimo, integerrimo, amplissimo: Hoc Monumentum memoriae erg6, Virtus et Honos, invita morte, suis quasi manibus construx&re. Obiit Anno Domini . . . ®tatis suae.mensis die.Atque in hac capella, quam (dum vixit) sibi et suis adornavit, non sine ingenti suorum mcerore, huic tumulo illatus, advenientis Domini nostri Jesu Christi, gratiam et Glorialn sempiternam expectat. Etiam veni, Domine Jesu, veni cito. Depositum ALEXANDRI NEVIL, Armigeri, Quaeris qui fuerim ! audi. ALEXANDER NEVILLVS, Richardi Nevilli, Armigeri, ex nobili et perantiqua Nevillorum Familia oriundi, et Annie Mantelii, Gualteri Mantelii, Equitis aurati filiae, Alius natu maximus. Vixi, dum vixi, Deo: Mihi, Meis: Musarum cultor assiduus : Contemptor Mundi: Candidatus Coeli: Servus Jesu Christi indignissimus. En qui fuerim ! Quaeris qui sim ? dicam et id quod. Dimidium mei (mortale scilicet et interitui obnoxium) labefecit ®tas, dejecit Morbus, adripuit Mors, et in bunc quern vides carcerem praedae veluti suae metuens, abstrusit. Pars aufem ilia mei melior, atque superstes, Christo lietabunda adhaeret, furentique jam morti, et mortalitatis me® exuvias (ut cerriis) clanculum devoranti, Christo vindice, mortem intentat; utraque summae Majestatis secundum adventum expectat: utraque (quum justitiae Sol ille magnus mortuos ac vivos judicaturus toti Terrarum orbi denuo illuxerlt) resurrec- tionis et immortalitatis Gloria, quam mihi miserrimo peccatori, redemptor humani generis Deus pretio- sissimo suo sanguine acquisivit, sternum praeservetiu - . In hac spe vixi; in hac spe et fide, invita Carne 1 Sacred to the Memory of WILLIAM PRUDE, Esq. Lieftennant Coronell in the Belgick Warres Slayne at ye siege of Maxtritch the 12th of July 1632. Stand, Soldiers j e're you march, by way of chardge. Take an example here, that may inlarge Your Minds to noble Action, Here in Peace Rests one whose Life was Warre, whose rich increase Of Fame and Honour from his Valour grew} Unbeg'd, unbought: for what he wonne he drew By .just deseart ; having in Servise beene A Souldier till near Sixty, from Sixtcene Yeares of his active Life ; continually Fearles of Death, yet still prepared to dye In his Religious thoughts 5 for midst all harmes He bore as much of Pietie as Ai mes. Now Soldiers on ; and feare not to intrude The gates of Death, by example of this PRUDE. He married Mary Daughter of S r Adam Spracklin Knt. and had issue by her 4 Sonnes and 3 Daughters. To whose memory his surviving sonne Searl.es Prvde hath erected this Monument. 104 HISTORY f AND DESCRIPTION The monument of Sir John Boys, who died 1612, is in the northern aile, and has been repaired by his successor Grotius Boys in consequence of the injuries it sustained in the civil commotions. His figure rests on a pe¬ destal supported by his right arm on a cushion. The attitude not un¬ graceful. An armed statue kneeling on a cushion beneath a panneled arch, sup¬ ported hy armed figures in the place of columns, similar to the ancient caryatides, in St. Michael’s Chapel, represents Colonel Prude, of whom an account is given in his epitaph. The attitude easy and engaging l . Mundo, Morte, Diabolo, obii, Anno .... iEtatis mete, Incarnati Christi 1614. Mensis Octob. 4. Sat est. Habeas (O bone) quae me dicere, te scire par est. Vale. O Deus ! In Te salutis spem posui meae ; fac, me perennis ne pudor obruat ! Ubi tua, 6 Mors, Victoria ! Ubi tuus, 6 Sepulchrum, Stimulus ! Cur furis incassum Mors ! Cur premis, Invidia ! Quern mox restituet Christus ; quo redeunte, peris. Ecce, venio cito, et merces mea mecum est. SECT. IV. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. The intrepid Sir George Rooke is commemorated by a good bust, having a large flowing peruke, over a marble tablet garnished with a naval trophy, and bearing a well-written epitaph '. These are supported on a pedestal, and graced on the sides by fluted Corinthian pilasters, supporting an enta¬ blature, from which depends a curtain, and on which rest three ornamented shields, that in the centre adorned with flowers. There is so little variety in all that remain to be noticed of these ■ I. M. s. GEORG 11 ROOKE, Militis, GUL1ELMI ROOKE, Militis, Filii. ANGLIAE VICE-ADMIRALLI. O Quantum est Historian in isto Nomine ! At Quantillum hie Titulus potis est enarrare ! Pro fugientibus ex acieGALLIS A" MDCXC1I. Ipse apertH Cymbula Immistus Tormentorum Globis, Imbribusq; Glandium (Tot GALLIS Testibus, credite Posteri) Ultrices Primus FJammas aptans, Naves Bellicas XIII juxta La HOGUE combussit : Compositis dehinc inter SUEVUM et DANUM Summo Consilio et Justilia Discordiis, A Pacato Septentrione ad Meridiem se convertit, Iterumq; exusta aut capta ad VIGONEM Tota Prasidiatrice Hostium Classe, Atque onerariis immensee Molis Argento foetis, In Patriam feliciter adductis, Opimam Praedam, Fide Integerrima, In AErarium Publicum deportavit. GIBRALTARIAM Copiis Navalibus Paucioribus Horis cepit, Quam postea Mensibus irrito Conatu Obiit XXIV Die Januarii, Anno /Etatis Sum LVII1. Christi MDCCVIII. Uxores Habuit Tres Mariam Howe ^ Cold Berwick r Wilton, Mariam Luttrel Catharinam Knatchbull M Dunster Castle Mersham Hatch Quarum ex secunda GEORGIUM Filium unicum reliquit. t| f GUL. BRODNAX \ . . H. M. < s. Armigeri, T. C. P. 1 & SAM. MILLES J 5 * P Justus obsidebat Exercitus. Et eadem fere Impressione Instructissimam GALLORUM Classem, Inferior multo viribus j Consilio et Fortitudine longe superior. Non denuo in aeiem prodituram, profligavit. ^CAROLO III ad Solium, Sic < HISPANIISad Libertatem, S viam aperuit. '-EUROPAE ad Pacem, His atque aliis exant latis Laboribus, HEROI CHRISTIANO, Ob egregiam in Ecclesiam Pietatem, Ob Fidem GULIELMO MAGNO, et ANNAE OPTIMAE, Sanctissimfe semper praestitam : Ob Nomen BRITANNICUM perTerrarum Orbem Amplificatum et decoratuin : Non Titulos superbos. Non Opes invidiosas, Nec inanes vulgi plausus : Sed optimse Mentis Conscientiam, Bonorum Amorem omnium, Otium in Paternis sedibus, Et Mortem in CHRISTO concessit DEUS. }* inagroc Somerset. '-Cantiauo. 106 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. IV. memorials, that a mere cursory enumeration will suffice. The chapel of the Virgin Mary contains the altar tomb of Dean Fotherby, who died 1619. It is of a somewhat singular description, being surrounded by a barbarous sculpture in very high relief, representing a medley of human bones and shields of arms. In the centre of the front a tablet and inscription. The worthy and learned Dr. Boys, also Dean, who died suddenly in his study, 1625, is represented in an attitude of meditation, seated in his library, and leaning on a table, on which lies an open book. On the sides Ionic co¬ lumns supporting a heavy entablature, and shields; “ all,” says Dart, “ curiously done in white marble.” The mural monument of Dean Bar- grave, 166/, is perfectly sui generis. It consists of his portrait painted on copper, of which there is a good engraving in Dart. This is set in a frame work of marble, crowned with an urn, and having a tablet and inscription beneath. That of Dr. Turner, also Dean, and Chaplain to Charles I. is simply a tablet garnished with foliage, and an urn. He died at an ad¬ vanced age, 1672. The epitaph annexed '. In this chapel also are plain 1 II. S. E. THOMAS TURNER, S. T. D. Beat! Pauli apud Londinenses CanoniCus Residentiarius. sise / Deinde Roffensis Ann0 CIODC'XXXI. j Decanus 1 Tandem hujus Christi Cantuariensis CI 3 DCXL111. Ouem Carolus primus, et Arehiepiscopus Laud, Gloriosi et Sanctissimi Martyres, Sacellanum habuerunt, et una cum illis fortissimum Confessorem ; Quern Rex in ultimis fere agonibus, in Curia Hamptoniensi, et Insula Veclis, unum e paucis fidissimum aseivit sibi: generosa prosapia Redingiae natus, si quis alter bono Publico, Fortuna magnaq; rerum copia, reverenter usus est; ,-Humilitatis profundissimEe Ingens r J Simplicitatis Chris t-Zeli pro Ecclesia f Calamitates sub Tyrannide Perduellium animo eequissimo toleravit, et utriusq; fortunee expertus utriq; par exstitit. lunuissimaj -n iristianissimse > ia fervent issimi^ Exemplar. SECT. IV. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 107 stones to commemorate Dr. Rogers, Dean, 1597; Dr. James Wcdderburne, 1639; Francis Taylor, B. D. 1656, whose epitaphs, with such others as we have omitted, are to be found in Dart. In the Martyrdom is a half-length figure of Dr. Chapman, 1629, with the customary adornments of the time. Also tablets for Dr. Thomas Fo- therby, 1710, and Dr. Clerke, 1700. The opposite wing of the transept is honoured by holding the remains of the learned and the good Meric Casau- bon 1 . There are also tablets to Archdeacon Batteley, 1 7OS, and Jane Juxta felicem Caroli Secundi reditum novas dignitates minime ambiebat, et octogenarius senex adhuc in Concionibus dominabitur; Jamqj maturus Coelo, post multa Immortalia facta, nihil optavit mortale, nisi mori in Domino. Et obiit anno Domini CI 3 DCLXXII. jEtatis suaj LXXXI. 1 Casaubon was distinguished, similarly to the worthy churchman recorded in the preceding epitaph, for the high esteem in which he was held by King Charles and Archbishop Laud, and for resisting all the overtures of Cromwell, who wished him to write the history of the civil war. Even, although his con¬ scientious integrity dictated a refusal, the Usurper testified his sense of Casaubon's merit by a present of a considerable sum, which he returned ; and at the same time declined an offer of Christiana Oueen of Sweden, to superintend one of her universities. At the Restoration he recovered his spiritualities. Fur¬ ther particulars are unfolded by his epitaph. Sta et Venerare, Viator. Hie Mortales Immortalis Spiritus exuvias deposuit MERICUS CASAUBONUS. Magni nominis Eruditique Generis J ^ reies • '-Proavum Robertum Stephanum ' Hui quos Viros ! Quec literarum luraina 1 Quee A£vi sui decora! Ipse Eruditionem per tot erudita capita traduce excepit, Excoluit, et ad Pietatis (quffi in ejus pectore Regina sedebat) Ornamentum et incrementum fosliciter consecravit: Rempublicamq; literariam multiplici rerum et linguaruin Supellectile locupletavit. 108 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION Hardress, 1675, of an ancient and distinguished family. Her epitaph an¬ nexed h Miss Anna Milles, 1/14, has a mural monument with a bust in St. Michael’s Chapel, which is worthy of notice from the singularity of its epitaph 2 . In the same chapel is a monument with military trophies for Frances Godfrey, Esq. 1/12. Vir incertum, doctior an mclior, In pauperes Liberalitate, In Amicos Utilitate, In omnes Humanitate, In acutissimis longissimi Morbi tormcntis Christiana Patientia insignissimus. Gaudeat Piimaria hcec Ecclesia Primariis Canonieis CASAUBONIS Ambobus; ()ui eundem in Eruditorum, (pio Ipsa in Ecclesiarum serie, Ordinem obtinent. Obiit nosier pridie Idus Julii Anno 1671, iEtatis sute 75. Canonicatus sui 46. ' H. S. M. JANE HARDRES, Thomaj Hardres Equitis aurati servientis Dom. Regis ad Legem, et Philadelphia} Uxoris ejus, unicffi Filiae, perantiquo stemniate oriundce. Virgo turn Nature turn Mentis Dotibus eximib decorata, omnibus precipufe Pa- rentibus valde obsequiosa, precibus assidua, indigentibus larga, moribus conspicua vere niveis, placida et affabilis 3 Forma et Decore prestans, cognatis chara, et ab omnibus, quibus nota, maxime deplorata. Animam Deo libenter resignabat, f Salutis 1675, 1 ^Etatis 20 . O vos selectissimse sodales adeste, si quid Juvenilis ./Etas, si Purentum Amor flagrantissimus, fratrumq; rojy*), si res affluentior, si denuo densa amicorum Corona, quid valuissent, etiamnum vobis, interessem superstes ; sed Deo aiiter visum ; hoc saltern vos exoratas velim, adblandienti Mundo discite diffidere. a H. S. E. ANNA MILLES, Samuelis Armigeii Annaiq; Filia, Parentibus quibus usa est, dignissima filia; Quam cum Virginem vixisse intellexeris, et Virginem mortuam esse, Mireris forsan quanti pretii sit Virgo, aut quEenam Virgo fuerit Anna ; Hinc discas licet, Quodcunq; pulchri sit, ut adametur ? Undecimo Die Martii An. • SECT. IV. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAE. 109 The walls of the ailes of the nave contain various tablets, from which we select, Dr. Cole, 1643, and Dr. Turner, 1720, Prebendaries of this church; Dr. Thomas Boys, 1722, and Dr. Adrian Sara via, Prebendary, and his two wives A bust of Orlando Gibbons, 1625 *. A tablet to the memory of Quodcunq; Pudici, ut colatur ? Id orane (quantum quantum sit) id Virgine nostra coaluisse; At enim queenam Forma ? quinam Pudor r Non ilia, quamsuis manibus sibi inducunt Callidae nonnulla: Colorum Artifices Vesperi perituram j Non Pudor, qui pro libitu h quibusdam evocatur, aut invitis nonnunquam extorquetur, scd Forma Naturae manu insita, Et Pudor Religionis norma oriundus j Hujus Concordiae Formam inter et Pudicitiam, Testes onines ii sunt quibus aut Forma est Cura? aut Pudor Cordi. Ipsa sibi benfe conscia quam fragilis sit Forma, Quam impar Militia? Christiana? per se Pudicitia, omnem Virtutum Chorum sibi in pectus accepit, et Christianum n«vo7rX/a» tcneros humeros induit : In lvac Ecclesift Apud sacrum Fontem Nomen Christo dedit, Hinc Christi Nomen assumens Signumq; gerens ; In hac Ecclesi& Quotidianis precibus adfuit PuraCultrix; Sacrse Coense interfuit Christi Conviva Frequens ; At nec Publicis Ecclesite Ofiiciis Quam Cubiculi Privatis frequentior ; Hominum oculos pariter ac laudem fugiens, Cum solummodo adhibuit Pietalis Testem Quem expectavit Eemuneratorem. Ad Agni Nuptias invitatur Innupta, et Prudentium ad instar Virginum, Ardente Lampade exiit ad Sponsi occursum Dec. Die 23. An. Dorn. 1714. TEtat. 20. ' This distinguished theological writer was a native of Hedin, in Artois. He was incorporated Doc¬ tor of Divinity at the University of Leyden, and about 15SS came over to England. He taught at several of our public seminaries, which paved the way to his ecclesiastical promotions, first to a Prebend at He was organist of the Royal Chapel, and composer of various hymns. HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. IV. Dr. Ayerst 1 ; a tablet surmounted by a bust in alto relievo, adorned with the caduceus and olive branch, to Dr. Lawrence And one of recent date, bearing a piece of sculpture from the masterly chisel of Turnerelli, the de¬ sign a wounded officer supported by the Genius of Britain, to commemorate Gloucester ; next, to the same dignity in this church, and also at Westminster. His friendship with the great Hooker is a proof of high merit, and to him the episcopal church is indebted for numerous treatises in its defence against Beza, and the ministers of the Low Countries. He was also employed in translating the Bible in the early part of the reign of James I. His works were collected, and published at London, 1611. 1 Beneath are deposited the remains of WILLIAM AYERST, D. D. a Person of distinguished Abilities and Merit, both as a Divine and a Man of Business ; He sustained with great Credit the Character of Chaplain and Secretary to several Embassies in the Reigns of .QUEEN ANNE and KING GEORGE I. and in Recompence for his faithful service was advanced by the latter of those Princes to a Prebend in this Church. He enjoyed that Preferment 40 Years, and by his singular Diligence in the duties of a Retired Life maintained the Reputation which he acquired in his Publick Employment. He died May 9, 1765, aged 81 years. a M : S : THOMjE LAWRENCE M . D : Qui ad Studia, quaj virum liheraliter eductum medicinse Aptiorem faciunt, ipsa, quee faciunt Medicum, adjunxit. Ilium adhuc juvenem ad se allexit optimum sanataris artis Fundamen, Anatomia: Hanc /Etate proveclior toto pectore excepit: Hanc altius subtiliusque in Oxonio suo excoluit: Hanc denique in Medicum protulit, Atque ex Cathedrk illustravit. Ad usum medendi voeatus, munere suo functus est Diligenter et honeste: In morbis dignoscendis acutus, in curandis simplex ; Nihil interim sibi laudis arrogabat, Nec Gloriola: appetens nec Lueelli. In scriptis suis puritatem Latini sermonis attigit. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. one of the gallant warriors who fell in the late arduous, prolonged, but gloriously terminated contest'. Rem suam omnem ornate explicans, Eamque nec impeditam verbis, nec brevitate obscuram. In communi vitae victilsque consortio facilis, modestus, affabilis j Nunquam se aliis praeponens, nemineni sibi adversum. In Collegio Medicorum Londinensi onera quaevis. Non suos ac honores, cequa mente sustinuit, In Registrarium, in Praelectione saqrius. In Praesidem per oetennium electus. Accidente seneetS. murbo tentatus est insanabile ac diuturnus Nihilominus tamen beatus ille, etiam ante obitum, Vere dici potuit, cui unicum mali solamen adfuit Yitae bene actae conscientia. Natus est patre classis Brittaniae Navarcbo : Uxorem duxit Franciscam Caroli Chauncy Medici Derbicnsis Filiam, cx qua novcm liberos suscepit: Quorum Gulielmus Chauncy in Indiis Orientalibus, Carolus apud Lyme Regis in comitatu Dorsetensi decesserunt; Francisca, Harrietta, et Johannes eodem quo pater tumulo clauduntur. Ties alii teneri state abrepti fuerunt. Supers tit es hoc monumentum posuere. Obiit 6° Die Junii A. D. 17S3. Cum duos et septuaginta annos complevisset; et sepultus est in vicina A£de parochiali Sancta: Margarets;. 1 Sacred to the Memory of Lieut. Colonel John Stuart, who fell at the Head of the 9th Regiment of Infantry in the 32d year of his age, at the battle of Roleia on the IJth of August, 1808, while the British Army was successfully supporting the cause of Portugal against the usurpation of France. He was lost to his Country at a period oflife when his Attainments and natural Endowments might have secured to her Benefit the most important advantages; but it is the private loss that the Officers of his Regiment would chiefly deplore, in paying this tribute of veneration to his beloved Memory. He lives revered in the Recollection of all who knew him; but they are anxious to transmit to latter ages, some Memorial of a distinguished Example of Worth and Excellence. 112 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. IV. The cloister walls and chapter house likewise contain some of these me¬ morials, uniformly of simple construction. The devastations which our church has suffered from time to time, have not caused the total destruction of any monumental works of consequence, except the shrines, and some few inlaid with brass ; as those of Wittlesey, Islip, &c. Frequent reparations of the pavement have caused various flat stones to be displaced. Of persons mentioned to have had tombs in this Cathedral of which there are no remains, we have on record : Sir William Septvans, 140/, Sheriff of Kent, in the reign of Richard II. and a cele¬ brated warrior under Edward III. ; Robert Clifford, Esq. 1422, who held the same office under Henries V. and VI; John Bockingham, Bishop of Lincoln, about 1400 ; Edmund Haute, Esq. 1408 ; Sir William Arundel, a Judge; Sir William Molyneux, 13/2, made Knight Banneret by the Black Prince at the battle of Navarret, in Spain, 1307; with some others. Thus we have brought the history of these piously constructed memo¬ rials to the present day. No structure in the universe can boast finer ex¬ amples of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. In the dark¬ ening storm which closed the latter, and with the uncertain light which followed, we must confess hut few gleams from the sun of taste illume the ample space of our building. National munificence has since selected the ecclesiastical structures of its metropolis for the dignified purpose of record¬ ing the great and good.—May we hail the return of taste and simplicity beaming a pure and natural radiance over the world of art! Let us court their influence upon productions eminently calculated to display the charac¬ teristics of the present time to future generations. While we blush for the absurdities of the otherwise glorious Elizabethan age, let us guard against obscure allegory, strained allusions, and affected imitations. SECT. IV. OP CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 113 List op Altars previous to the Reformation. Tile High Altar, in which Odo deposited the body of Wilfrid, Arch¬ bishop of York, stood at the eastern end of the Saxon church, against the wall. Before it, stood the altar dedicated to Christ. Upon the rebuilding the church by Lanfranc, Odo and Wilfrid were placed under Christ’s altar in the chapel of the Holy Trinity, which thus became the High Altar. It was much respected, being that on which Becket was accustomed to say mass. When taken down at the rebuilding, after the fire, the stones were used to form the altar of John the Baptist '; and the High Altar was re¬ moved to the site of the present, at the eastern end of the choir. The Virgin Mary had an altar at the eastern end of the Saxon church. Also one in the nave of Lanfranc’s church at the eastern end of the northern aile, upon which stood her image of ivory in a tabernacle, with an ivory cross; another in the new Lady Chapel ; a small one in the Martyrdom; one in her chapel in the undercroft, and another in the Black Prince’s chan¬ try in the same place. The Altar of the Holy Trinity lost its name at Bechet’s translation. The Altar of St. Peter and St. Paul in Anselm’s chapel. Two altars in the southern wing of the transept of the old church were dedicated to St. Gregory and St. John Evangelist, and two others in that opposite to St. Martin and St. Stephen : . The Altar of the Holy Cross inclosed King Canute’s crown, and stood on the ascent to the choir beneath the Angel ' " 1 find. 1317, a new table for the High Altar, purchased by Henry de Estria, and at the same time the furniture for it, viz. four palls with frontels, of which one de panno operetta; and four without frontels, of which two embroidered with roses ■, one with the frontel embroidered with shields, one with a scarlet frontel embroidered with vines, one black embroidered with v ines and shields, one other with a frontel consuto de scutis. This was screened from the view, unless on festivals, by curtains ; two pair of which at that time, were of red syndone, with the King of England's arms, and two white ones with red laqueis, one pall of rich satin, containing six ells. And about 1397, Bishop Bockingham, of Lincoln, gave 2of. towards the fabric of the High Altar then erecting, after the church was new built.”— Dart. 1 “ These three last were repaired and finely adorned with paintings by Chillenden.”_ Dart. Q 114 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION Tower ; another of the same name stood in the southern aile of the choir. The Altars of St. Michael and All Saints in the western transept. The Altar of St. Blaise behind the High Altar. The Altar of St. Benedict where Becket fell. The Altar of St. Andrew in the northern tower, answer¬ ing to St. Anselm’s. The Altar of St. Dunstan, south of the High Altar 1 , and that of St. Elphege, north. The undercroft also contained those of St. Mary Magdalen, the Holy Innocents, St. Catharine, St. Paulinus, St. Austin or Augustin, St. John Baptist, St. Nicholas, St. Clement, the Arch¬ angel Gabriel, and that of the tomb of St. Thomas Becket. Lise Shi Of these we have noticed as altars, that of Wilfrid and Odo ; that of St. Dunstan 2 ; of St. Elphege. St. Anselm was inshrined in the chapel bearing his name; St. Alfric near the Altar of St. John the Evangelist ; St. Blaise in his Altar ; St. Owen, Archbishop of Rouen, at first in the south¬ ern transept, afterwards in the armary, and finally was deposited by Gold- 1 Both these altars were sumptuously adorned to harmonize with their centre, the High Altar, and had six embroidered altar cloths, similar to those described, appropriated to them. a A dispute existed for along time between the monasteries of Christchurch and Glastonbury, con¬ cerning the possession of the body of this Saint; and notwithstanding the circumstantial accounts of his elevation, and translation, by Eadmer and Gervaise, it was thought necessary by Archbishop Warham to set the question at rest by opening the tomb, which was effected April 20 , 1508. Somner’s Appendix contains along record of the scrutiny, which he calls “ a pretty relation, and worth reading.” The sub¬ stance is, briefly, that in the evening, the monks having guarded against interruption, opened the stones, and found a wooden chest seven feet long, lined inside and out with thick lead, and secured with iron bands, which they opened with very great difficulty, and found within it a coffin of lead, in which they discovered the body in pontifical robes, almost wasted away, and a plate oflead lying on his breast with this inscription: li?ic rcquicacit £>anctu0 Dunatanua artftirpiscopua. His scull was reverently kissed by the Archbishop and the rest of the convent, and ordered to be set among the relics. The other remains were then re-inclosed in the Shrine. SECT. IV. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 115 stone in a new shrine, curiously carved and gilt; St. Selvius had a shrine upon the screen, against which stood the High Altar ; St. Woolgam behind St. Stephen’s Altar ; and St. Swithin behind that of St. Martin. Lastly, the famous Shrine of St. Thomas Becket, whose situation we have noticed. A rude delineation from an illuminated manuscript, which has been engraved for Batteley and Dart, may give some idea of its form. The lower part was of stone on a sculptured base, above which was a belt of arches. On this stone altar, which formed a pedestal, was a case of timber inclosing the coffin of iron, most superbly adorned, and having a cover of a prismatic form, upon the ridge of which Prior Henry de Estria placed three golden finials. List of Chantries. The first Chantry upon the records of the church is that of Islip, who left a considerable donation upon condition of having a perpetual chantry, and for maintaining a priest to pray for himself and the other Archbishops. Of this nothing further is mentioned. The Chantry for the soul of the Black Prince we have described as being in the undercroft; it was endowed with the manor of Vauxhall, near London. In the same place Lady Mohun had a Chantry, founded in the time of Richard If. and endowed with the manor of Selgrave. Bishop Bockenham, of Lincoln, covenanted for a Chantry Chapel to be speedily erected near his tomb, about 1400. It is not clear that this co¬ venant was ever executed. That of Henry IV. we have described. By his will, dated at his manor of Greenwich, Jan. 1, 1408, he devised and ordained a perpetual Chantry of two priests to sing, and pray for his soul. Archbishop Courtney appointed a Chantry of two monks. 116 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION. SECT. IV. Archbishop Arundel, 1411, founded a Chantry of two chaplains to say mass in the nave of the church when the choir doors were shut, which he endowed with the tithes of Northfleet. Archbishop Morton appointed a Chantry of two monks. Archbishop Warham had a Chantry connected with his tomb, which we have noticed. Sir William Brenchley and Joan his wife founded a Chantry about 1460, which was afterwards the burying-place of the Nevils HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF Canterbury. SECTION V. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF THE LIVES OF THE ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. AUGUSTINE. THE conversion of the Anglo-Saxons was a favourite object of Gregory the Great. He had visited in person, and ascertained the extent and power of the Saxon establishments, and felt how much might be achieved among those uncultured barbarians by men of enlightened minds, uniting the zeal of missionaries to the requisites for supporting the projects of his policy. He apprehended the influence of the churches existing in a de¬ pressed and disorganized state in the western parts of Britain, and which kept aloof from any incorporation with the Papal system. The venerable Bede, whose details, it they be somewhat tinctured with a monkish spirit, yet possess the character of veracity in the main events of his history, has been so often quoted upon the events of this period, that it is needless to 118 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. IV. enter more fully upon a subject long since professedly trite, than an indis- pensible recapitulation requires. Augustine, with several attendant monks, were sent to effect this important object. They appear to have remained awhile in France, holding correspondence with Luidhard, confessor to Queen Bertha, who earnestly endeavoured to smooth the difficulties of the task. The offer of an eternal and celestial kingdom was a tempting bait to Ethelbert, to whom were assiduously reported the miracles wrought by the holy men. With the frankness of an unsophisticated barbarian, but with the distrust of ignorance, he acknowledged his readiness to listen to their doctrine; but to guard against magical arts, desired the interview might take place in the open air. He listened to them patiently, but hesitated at submitting suddenly to their ordinances. With respectful attention he allotted them a place of residence in his metropolis. Observing that the habits of their lives illustrated their doctrines, he yielded to conviction. He professed their faith, assigning them his royal palace for their residence, and retired to lleculver to devote his life to prayer and meditation. Au¬ gustine returned to France, and received his consecration from Eleutherius, Bishop of Arles. He was reinforced by other monks bringing his pall', and an epistle of instructions from Gregory, directing him to establish twelve Episcopal Sees among his converts. Augustine accordingly proceeded to organize the new church, and esta- 1 The pallium was a robe of state peculiar to the Roman Emperors, who on their conversion admitted it to be worn by the Patriarchs as a symbol of dignity. The Bishops of Rome gradually acquired a right of bestowing it upon the Metropolitans of its church, and Pope Zachary, 742, procured a canon to be passed that all Metropolitans should apply personally at Rome to receive the pall, and acknowledge a canonical obedience to St. Peter’s injunction. This pall, the fees on receiving which were very consi¬ derable, was simply a strip of white woollen cloth, ornamented with crosses, and worn as the modern decorations of the knightly orders, but only on certain solemn occasions ; the Pope reserving to himself the distinction of wearing it constantly. It was understood to be taken off the coffin of St. Peter, and when its owner died, was ordered to be buried with him ; “ whether," says Gostling, “ for his use in the other world, as savages are said to bury weapons with their warriors, or whether for fear his successor should impute virtue to the relic, and think the trouble and expence of getting a new one unnecessary, 1 leave my reader to determine." SECT. V. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAI.. 119 bllali the Papal system. He Invited the Welsh Bishops to a conference, in which he proposed to them to lend their aid to the work of conversion, and endeavoured to persuade them of the policy of coalescing with the Court of Rome. They justly questioned lus authority to guarantee to ruthless in¬ vaders the wrested territory ol their own unhappy race. Thev could not perceive that any divine impulse called upon them to acknowledge for their masters the Pope and his vassal; and, although at a second meeting he offered to rest the truth and sanctity of his cause upon a miracle, they still rejected his overtures. In energetic language he warned them to dread the vengeance of Almighty Power. After appointing Mellitus to the See of London, and Justus to that of Rochester, he died, 604. His relics long constituted a valuable treasure to the church of St. Peter and St. Paul. Of the merits and virtues of this prelate it is difficult to speak decidedly. The idolatrous veneration of monkish panegyrists render their narrations worse than suspicious. Arguing from the known ability and earnestness of Gregory, we may infer that the head of so important a mission was a well- selected person, whose qualifications were indisputable. With respect to the wavering and trepidating fluctuation with which he has been charged by some writers, we feel disposed to believe his stay in France to have been occasioned by the dictates of policy, which would not risk the failure of an expedition of so much consequence by precipitation. That he was a staunch adherent of the Pontiff, and even used artifices to support his cause, seem to prove an overweening and intolerant zeal, and a corrupt degraded mind. Yet we cannot possibly aver that an effervescent ardour might not in some instances impose upon itself, and mistake natural results for the effect of its delegated powers. The task of Augustine was arduous ; he had much to perform, and what he achieved in so short a space of time is very creditable to his memory. Laurentius, an Italian, and companion to Augustine, succeeded him in the direction of an unsettled and insecure establishment. He sought to strengthen the stability of his church by bringing over the Scots Christians, 120 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. V. who displayed a similar aversion to the proffered incorporation with the Bri¬ tish. Ethelbert, the patron of the monks, dying, 616, his throne was filled by his son Eadbald, whose youthful and ardent passions were at variance with the self-denying doctrines of the church. He apostatized from the faith in order to indulge an incestuous love for his step-mother, Judith, by making her his wife. Overwhelmed with difficulties, and hopeless of success, the coadjutors of Laurentius had already left the island, and the Archbishop him¬ self in despair made preparations to follow them. Perhaps some indications of contrition, and a dread of Divine justice, in the conduct of Eadbald, might induce the monk to try the effect of a bold imposture. He appeared before the King one morning with his back and shoulders bare, and bloody, and lacerated with the scourge. The apostle, of whose successor he was the delegate, had appeared before him in a vision ; had sternly reprimanded his pusillanimity; had given him the severe castigation of which he bore the marks ; and sent him to the King, to thunder in his ears the dreadful sen¬ tence of the church upon her foes. The scared and disconcerted Monarch tremblingly acknowledged his conversion, and gave himself up to the guidance of the monks. Soon after this Laurentius died, 621. Mellitus, Bishop of London, was his successor, of whom nothing worthy of mention is recorded, except that he continued to labour indefati- gably in the regulation of the English Church. He died 624. Justus, Bishop of Rochester, was next appointed by the monks to be their head. He was instructed in the management of his church by epistles from Pope Boniface. He died 630. PIonorius, a Roman monk, was similarly elevated, and was consecrated at Lincoln by Paulinus, Archbishop of York, a privilege granted by the Pope. He was a resolute opposer of the Pelagian heresy, which at this time had many followers in the British and Scots Churches. He procured an edict from Ercenbert, successor to Eadbald, rendering Paganism a penal offence. This prelate is reported to have first divided his province into parishes. Upon his death the See remained vacant eighteen months ; that of York, 121 SECT. V. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAE. to which the right of consecrating the southern Metropolitan had been granted by Boniface, being also unoccupied. Trithona, the first English Archbishop, was next appointed, on whom was bestowed the honorary surname of Deus dedjt, and whose learning and piety have been much extolled. Upon his decease the See was again vacant for four years. Damianus, also called Wjgard, or Wighard, a Saxon priest, was then called to the metropolitan chair. After his consecration by the Bishop of Rochester, he visited Rome, and perished there of a pestilential malady. At this time the difficulties and embarrassments of the English Church caused the task of its government to he very unpopular with the clergy at Rome. An appointment to controul restive and haughty barbarians in an obscure island was conceived a sentence to painful labour and banishment; but the Pope was resolved not to lose so favourable an opportunity of as¬ suming the right of personal authority, as was now afforded by the death of Damianus. Vitalian offered the See in vain to Adrian, a Carthaginian abbot, and Andrew, an esteemed monk. The former directed the Pope’s attention to a man peculiarly calculated for the office, of learning in that age almost unrivalled, of intrepid firmness, and an unspotted reputation ; whose situation in the church rendered the appointment desirable. The Pope hesitated. Theodore, horn at Tarsus in Cilicia, was a monk of the Greek Church. Id is adherence to the court of Rome was suspected. lie was known to be of a liberal and comprehensive mind. Fitted for the office by his abilities, might he not become dangerous as the head of the church of a remote province. Adrian pledged himself for the fidelity of his friend. The Pope rested his appointment upon this foundation, that Adrian should accompany Theodore, and become personally answerable for his conduct. The latter assented. Theodore remained at Rome studying the duties of his office until his hair had grown to make a crown (being a Greek monk he was shaved) when the Pope gave him the tonsure, and afterwards conse¬ crated him, April 1, 668. R 122 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION Theodore the Great was in his sixty-seventh year when he sailed for England, accompanied by his friend Adrian, whom he constituted Abbot of St. Augustine s. He immediately made a personal inspection of the con¬ dition of the English Churches, settled their points of difference, and re¬ moved ill-qualified or disreputable pastors. Like his townsman the glorious Apostle, he was indefatigable in the discharge of his duties. In a syn od which he convened at Herutford, 6/3, he laid before the clergy a hook of canons, regulating the observance of Easter, and the duties of priests and Bishops, to which he gained their assent. Having thus organized a system of discipline, he would not suffer his authority to be rendered nugatory by a right of appeal to a foreign and distant potentate. Upon a dispute which arose between Ecgfrid and Archbishop Wilfred he assumed a right of ordaining four Bishops in the diocess of the latter, alleging that the in¬ come of Wilfred was too considerable for a prelate. Theodore, in these proceedings, had prudently secured the Royal support, so that Wilfred’s unsupported appeal to Rome was a subject of ridicule to the Court. This was the issue to which Theodore had looked as the source of the consumma¬ tion of his power, and which would establish his undivided authority over the suffragans. Wiltred made a personal application to the Pope, and represented the dangerous consequences likely to accrue to the Papal system from the daring innovations of his rival. He was ordered by a synod to be restored to his Bishoprick, hut upon his return found his credentials despised, and was himself imprisoned for nine months under a charge of having procured them by bribery. Theodore then held a synod at Haeth- field, October 680, to make inquiry concerning the Monothelites. Having in all these proceedings displayed great firmness and vigour of mind, with true magnanimity he made overtures of reconciliation to his rival Wilfred, expressing his regret that his duty had compelled him to exercise a harsh 1 Wilfred was originally a monk of Straenshu], and a man of considerable learning and talents. A firm friend to the Papal system, he was no mean rival to Theodore. His memory was held in extrava¬ gant fondness by the monks. We have noticed his having been enshrined in our cathedral. SECT. V. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 123 conduct towards him, and promised to exert his influence that he might be restored to tile Royal favour. Full of years, venerated and respected, he continued to sway the Church in peaceful dignity until the year 690, when he died, aged 88. The greatness of Theodore’s character shines resplendent through the flimsy veil with which the monks endeavour to obscure the merits of the first Archbishop who dared boldly to declare his independence of the Court ol Rome. Baronius makes a sort of exculpatory apology for his conduct by presuming that he possessed a legantine authority, not considering, that even in that capacity he was bound to obey the Roman Synod, whose in¬ junctions he despised in the course of his altercation with Wilfred. This contest seems to have arisen from Theodore’s conviction of the necessity of possessing a full undivided authority over a Church of notoriously lax dis¬ cipline, and not to have been in the least tinctured with private malignity. Learning and science owe much to this prelate. Assisted by his friend Adrian, he founded colleges at Cricklade, near Oxford, at Canterbury, and at other places, for the instruction of disciples in Divinity, Philosophy, Arithmetic, Astronomy, and Music. Many of their scholars, says Bede, spoke Greek as familiarly as their native tongue, and became much distin¬ guished for their literary merits; of which were Tobias, Bishop of Rochester, Ostforus, Bishop of Worcester, Aldhelm, the first Abbot of Malmsbury, and Bishop of Sherburne; and John of Beverley, Archbishop of York. Although the writings ot Theodore himself are supposed to have perished, with the exception of his Penitentiale, his taste and superior endowments are evinced by the valuable works with which he first enriched this island, and of which his Homer, the Psalms ot David, and Chrysostom’s Homilies, are reported to have been lately in existence. To sum up his merits, in a word, he was the first prelate of truly Protestant principles, with which Divine Providence has blessed the English Church ’. ' Theodore has been said to have first introduced into this country the practice of auricular confes¬ sion. This appears doubtful; he did, however, introduce the general public confession, still used in the church service previous to receiving the sacrament. I 124 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION Brichtwald, Abbot of Reculver, was elected July 692, and presided at a council convened by Withred, King of Kent, at Beccanchild (now Bapchild) for securing the privileges of the hierarchy. The champion of the Pope, Wilfred, having no longer to dread the firmness and ability of Theodore, revived his claims, and again appealed to Rome. A synod held at Onestresfield deprived him of his revenues, but in a short time the Papal authority becoming tacitly submitted to, he was reinstated in triumph. Brichtwald lived to an advanced age, and died Jan. 731. Tat wine, a Mercian, and monk of Boardney Monastery, was conse¬ crated in the same year, and died Aug. 734, after a struggle for the Primacy with the See of York Nothelmus, a monk of London, and coadjutor with the venerable Bede in the compilation of his History, succeeded to the chair. Pie is recorded to have written several books. He died Oct. 739. Cuthbfrt, an Englishman of noble extraction, was consecrated 741 ; in whose time Boniface, Bishop of Mentz, under a pretence that the English Clergy had become notoriously licentious, sent the Archbishop the transac¬ tions of the synod of Augsburg as a model, and particularly enforced sub¬ jugation to the Pope. Notwithstanding, in a synod held at Cloveshoe, 747? at which the Pope’s letters were read, together with the Augsburg decree, enjoining strict subordination to the Court of Rome, it was determined that the correction of the inferior clergy should be vested without appeal in the Archbishop. We have noticed in our preceding pages, that this prelate procured the right of sepulture for his church. Knowing the jealousy of the neighbouring monks, when at the point of death he desired his convent not to toll the bell until after his burial. Immediately upon hearing the sup¬ posed signal of his dissolution, the Abbot of St. Augustine’s, with his monks, hastened to remove the body, but were compelled to return mor¬ tified and disappointed. Bregwine, monk of Christchurch, and native of Canterbury, was cho¬ sen by the convent, whose life, by Osbern, is but a tissue of monkish 1 Dart mentions two of his works still in existence, a book of Poetns, and another of Enigmas. SECT. V. or CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 125 miracles. He died Aug. 762. The same squabble is recorded to have been renewed at his burial. Jaenberght, or Lambert, Abbot of St. Augustine’s, and the resolute opposer of the newly established privilege of Christchurch, was elected by the mbnks in the hope that new-formed interests might induce him to sup¬ port their cause. He was consecrated at Rome, 763. In his time, by the intrigues of Oflfa, the See of Lichfield was declared by Adrian to be archi- episcopal, and Canterbury was impoverished to give it consequence. In spite of the expectations of the convent, when he found his end approach¬ ing, he ordered his remains to he removed to St. Augustine’s, and interred there. He died about J90. Athelard, consecrated 793, was a monk of this convent, afterwards Abbot of Malmsbury, next Bishop of Winchester, and finally Archbishop, and was a great favourite of Pope Leo, who styled him “ Sanctissimus, dignissimus, carissimus, et peritissimus,” and restored his See to its pristine honour and opnsequence. He died 806. Vulfhred, monk and Archdeacon, was next elected. He is recorded to have held a council at Calcuith, 816, at which Kenulph the King, and his Nobles, were present, for prescribing to canons regulating some church ceremonials. He died April 831. Theologlld, or Feolgeldus, held the See but for a few months. A pestilential malady now raging in the city and convents, Syred was elected, but died before he could be consecrated. Celenoth was then chosen by the few remaining members of a mourn¬ fully ravaged establishment, whose numbers he filled up with secular clergy, and for near forty years of distress, turbulence, and dismay, presided over the Church with credit. He died 870. Athelred, a prelate thoroughly imbued with a monkish spirit, was elected to this See from that of Winchester. He laboured to expel the secular clergy introduced by his predecessor. He died 893. Plegmund, a holy hermit, whose name deserves to be respectfully re¬ corded, if accompanied by no other claims than those of having been the 126 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. V. divinity preceptor and favourite of the immortal Alfred; a certain evidence of exalted goodness and ability. Mourning over his desolated country, he passed the morning of his life in a solitary retreat near Chester. No sooner had the royal valour achieved the deliverance of his country, than Pleg- mund was invited to court, and became the theological instructor and com¬ panion of his sovereign. Upon the vacancy of the metropolitan See, the monarch bestowed an additional blessing upon the country he had saved, in procuring the election of his friend, who was consecrated at Rome, 891, but on his return had to lament the death of his patron and sovereign. He crowned his son Edward, and then proceeded to regulate the Bishop- ricks of the West Saxons, who had been without prelates for seven years. He was honoured with unlimited powers by the Pope, by whom he was much esteemed. He died 924, venerated for his wisdom and his virtues. Athelmus, Bishop of Wells, originally of Glastonbury, was elected ; of whom nothing is recorded worthy of mention. He died 928. Wl fhelme, likewise Bishop of Wells, is mentioned to have presided at several synods for settling the payment of tithes, trial by ordeal, punish¬ ments of perjury, witchcraft, &c. He died 941. We are now about to record an era in sacerdotal history of a nature afflicting to the philanthropist, and revolting to the Christian ; so uncon¬ genial is ferocious austerity with the amiableness and benignity of pure religion. Odo by his birth was the child of adventure, and of intrepid daring. His father was one of the ferocious followers of Hinguar and Hubba; and in his early days he exercised the military profession. His youthful intel¬ ligence being aided by the rudiments of instruction, he soon learned to con¬ trast the barbarous worship of his ancestors with a religion, the political construction of whose establishments opened a sphere for his ambition. He became a convert to the faith, and was expelled his home by his indignant parents. Athelm, a nobleman in the court of Alfred, took compassion on his friendless youth, and placed him under the tuition of some enlightened scholars on the establishment of Theodore’s college, by whom he was in- SECT. V. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 127 structed in the Greek and Latin languages, and other branches of education. Afterwards, having taken priest’s orders, he accompanied his patron to Rome. Blending his discordant professions, he appears to have been en¬ gaged in warlike conflict upon several occasions, although Osbern endea¬ vours to explain his assistance to have been confined to the use of prayers alone. Influenced throughout its earthly course by an early bias, the hu¬ man character will, as often as occasion permits, reveal its natural tendency. The instinctive fierceness of Odo had been nurtured by sanguinary barbarians. He was promoted to the See of Wilton, and upon the death of Wlfhelme, was invited to the primacy by Edred, which he at first declined ; Odo, according to his monkish panegyrists, deeming himself unfit for the office until he had been sanctified by the cowl. He was cueullated by the Abbot of Floriac in France, and soon after consecrated. Placed in a situation which gratified his ardent spirit by admitting the free exercise of his powers, lie became the avowed patron of the Benedictine order, whose regulations of rigid discipline, and implicit obedience to superiors, were grateful, as Turner justly observes, “to his stern, unfeeling and illiberal temper 1 .” ' It may not be improper in this place to give a sketch of the formation and nature of this singular political machinery. It had its origin in an enthusiastic ascetic named Benedict, born 480 , whose ex¬ traordinary popularity enabled him to found several monasteries in Italy, for which he framed a peculiar code of regulations, prefacing them by observing, that it was the duty of the religious to live together under a chief, and to be directed by a fixed system. He condemns migratory, or solitary monks as use¬ less, and inculcates the necessity of implicit subordination. In the following brief abstract will be found the essence of this engine of despotism which enthralled the fairest portions of Europe for so many ages. The duties of prayer were extremely severe; every monk being obliged to attend public devotions seven times in twenty-four hours. The services all strictly laid down. At the tolling of the bell the monks were immediately to leave off whatever they might be employed upon, and those who entered the church late were to sit at a table in the refectory, appropriated for the idle, and to be put on short allowance. They were all to sleep separately in the dormitory, in which a lamp must be burning all night. The beds of the younger monks to be mingled with those of the elder. These beds consisted of a mat, a straw pillow, and a piece of serge, on which they slept in their clothes and girdles. They were in turn to serve in the kitchen and refectory, to wash the feet of the others, and to attend the sick. These septenarians, or weekly attendants, were to dine after the others. Meat was strictly forbidden to any but the sick. The punishments for disobedience were severe 3 for the slightest failing, expulsion from the common 128 HISTORY AN1) DESCRIPTION SECT. V. With such prepossessions, and a disposition from which all the softer feel¬ ings were totally alienated, he laboured strenuously to establish his favourite system throughout the country, and Providence thought proper to provide him a most active coadjutor in the Abbot of Glastonbury, the celebrated Dunstan, whose assimilating disposition, and superior mind, soon acquired a complete ascendancy over Odo, the rigidity of whose nature began to be hardened by advanced age to savage insensibility. The immature years and fondness for voluptuous indulgences of the unhappy Edwy, served to foster the political views of these monks. Resolute in establishing their system, it was resolved to control the monarch, and compel him to countenance their projects. The story of their treasonable violence at the coronation feast, with all its direful consequences to the unfortunate Elgiva, are too well known to need repetition. Edwy displayed a spirit of resistance to their measures very extraordinary in a youth of sixteen, and the ecclesiastic and royal powers became fairly at issue. The politics of Odo and Dunstan (which we shall notice more fully in our account of the latter), eventually triumphed. Sacerdotal treason drove the sovereign from his throne, and Odo had the satisfaction on his death-bed of prognosticating the consumma¬ tion of his labours in the elevation of his favourite Dunstan. He died June 958. The character of Odo was an incongruous compound of good and evil. table ; for greater, they were cut off from all commerce with their brethren; and incorrigible criminals were expelled the convent. No monk was to be absent from the monastery without leave; if sent on business two were to go out together, to report of each other. They were to receive no letters or presents without permission ; were to attend upon all guests; and enjoined to be particularly careful of the poor. Their equipment, constituting all their individual property, consisted of a long loose gown of black serge, with a hood of. the same, and a scapulary, an under-dress of white flannel, and boots ; a knife, a needle, a handker¬ chief, a steel pen, and writing tablets. Of their clothes a single change was allowed, and upon receiv¬ ing new clothes the old must be given to the poor. No military organization was ever more compleat; the minutest occurrences were all reduced to method ; doomed to eternal poverty, the fruits of the labours of the intelligent or industrious were the property of the church, and placed at the disposal of its superiors, to enable them to dazzle and to awe the ignorant and enduring laity, from whom the treasures of knowledge were carefully excluded. SECT. V. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAE. 129 Pile monastic spirit, deadening all the social feelings in minds where they have once prevailed, harmonized with the very nature of Odo, surnamed by the monks Severus. Had his sternness been duly tempered he might have presented no. unpleasing example of virtuous inflexibility, and might have proved a salutary scourge to a church, the members of which had become notoriously profligate. Converted into the political tool of the aspiring Dunstan, all his bad qualities were set in array, and brought into full action. It is truly pitiable to turn over the rolls of absurdities which Osbern and other monkish writers relate as miracles achieved by this prelate. One of these is singularly blasphemous. To convince those who dared to doubt the truth of transubstantiation, the consecrated wafer became converted to real flesh in the hands of Odo, and dropped blood ! This awful fiction of a later age was told with a view to prove the antiquity of the opinion of the real presence among the Saxons, to whom at this time it was totally unknown. Edwy yet retained that portion of his territories which lay to the south of the Thames. The daring monks, headed by Dunstan, had raised his brother Edgar to the exercise of sovereign authority, under their controul. ith a natural detestation ol his persecutors, the unhappy monarch named to the primacy Elfsine, Bishop of Winchester, a secular, and connected to himself by the ties of relationship; and whose politics were directly ad¬ verse to those of his predecessor, whose memory he is said to have re¬ proached with dotage. Unfortunately, in the prosecution of the absurd practice of going to Rome to receive that badge of subjection, the pall, he perished of cold in the Alps. Brithelm, the Bishop of Wells, was fixed upon by Edwy to fill the vacancy this disaster had occasioned, and was translated to the primacy 959; m which year, from what cause is not clearly explained, the hapless Edwy perished. Suspicion, with some probability, points to the monks as the perpetrators of the murder of their sovereign. This prelate was of a meek and placid disposition, altogether unfit to cope with his virulent and able s 130 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. V. antagonists, by whom he was beset instantly upon the acknowledgment ot Edgar as sovereign ot the whole country. Yielding to necessity, lie re¬ turned to the See he had relinquished, to make room for the man who swayed the destinies of the kingdom. He survived his abdication 12 years, and died 9^3. We have now to treat of the life and character of one of those men who stamp the fate of nations, and who are either a blessing or a curse, as their fiery energies are controlled by a correct sense of their relative duties, or suffered in their lofty bounds to trample on all obstacles to the frantic course of ambition. Dunstan. It is necessary, in order to elucidate the character and policy of this extraordinary man, to give some details of his early life, separating as well as possible the fallacies of imposture from the indisputable events which his monkish biographers have thought proper to intermix with theii legends. His parents, Heorstan and Cynedryth, were of reputable ex¬ traction, and lived in the neighbourhood of Glastonbury 7 , where there ex¬ isted a school for ecclesiastic instruction, in which he acquired the rudiments of the learning of that time, and displayed a capacity which distanced all his juvenile competitors. His intervals of relaxation were passed in solitary meditation in the ancient church of that place, which tradition reported to have been built without the aid of human hands. Here he indulged in vi¬ sionary dreams of future greatness, and gave vent to the exuberances of an enthusiastic spirit. Whether from ardent application to study, or from some more common cause, he was attacked with a violent fever. In the delirium which accompanies the crisis of that complaint he broke from his guardian, and ran impetuously over the country, baffling all pursuit. He forced a way into his favourite haunt, the church, and was discovered the following morning in a tranquil slumber on the pavement. Wben awakened he was found restored to reason and to health. This event could not be regarded otherwise than as a miracle. Divine agents themselves were watchful for his preservation. Upon regaining his strength, his application became still SECT. V. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 131 more intense. He was a proficient in various languages, acquired all the ma¬ thematical science then known, and practised both the liberal and mechanic arts. Painting, embroidery, working in various metals, by turns engaged his attention. His harp was the solace of his toils, and the most flattering presages supported his spirit. By his uncle Athelm he was introduced into the court of Edmund, and gave great delight to that sovereign by his musical talents. The favour be experienced excited the envy and enmity of the courtiers. His superior ac¬ quirements were represented as magical delusions. He was expelled the palace, and his malignant foes assaulted the* now defenceless youth After suffering great indignity, he took refuge in the house of a friend. Sick of aspiring projects, disgusted with the specimen he had expe¬ rienced ot the baseness of mankind, he gave up his illusory expectations from courtly honours. Domestic happiness and connubial joys were embodied into the softer and more harmonious picture, upon which he now bent with the same eager delight, the same highly-wrought anticipations, with which he had mentally surveyed the glowing splendours of successful ambition. He loved : he would renounce the vain chimseras of worldly greatness : his lot in life might be humble, but its privations would be compensated by the blandishments of tenderness; his sorrow and cares assuaged, and par¬ taken by one, whose object it would be to soothe his deeply wounded heart. Emotions so amiable, so true to nature, were imputed by his ecclesiastic friends to the instigations of the powers of hell. What!—should one who had been gifted by Heaven with abilities evidently designed to answer no common purpose, submit to the suggestions of a depraved inclination, to the base allurements of passion ! Was his nature so weak, that he could not maintain his course in the narrow path of holy self-denial, and bene¬ ficial mortification, but must become an inglorious loiterer in the soul- enfeebling regions of pleasure ? Could not his judgment appreciate the value of the reverence on earth for, the certainty of eternal blessings upon, those who assumed the monastic cowl ?—Such were the arguments applied 132 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. V. to stifle the impulses of nature, to rouse the ardour of Christian heroism. All the most powerful emotions of his soul were set in vigorous opposition to each other. He could not support the conflict. Mental agitation brought on a dangerous disease, and his life was despaired of. He recovered ; but the tone of his mind was entirely changed. While languishing in the debility of convalescence, he was again assailed—Heaven had worked a miracle in his favour. Could he be so stubbornly ungrateful as to refuse to devote to its service a life twice bestowed ?—Could he despise the dreadful warning he had received ?—He had been spared to give him the opportunity of earning a crown of celestial glory.—He quietly submitted to these importunities, and became a monk.—Thus forcibly constrained to follow a course of austerity ; to smother all good and amiable inspirations ; to relinquish, and for ever, all his highly-wrought anticipations of domestic felicity; his heart, like a withered flower cast into a petrifying spring, be¬ came cased with an indurate and impenetrable envelope, until its very sub¬ stance was changed to stone. The common austerities of an ascetic life were not sufficient to occupy his desolated mind. He dug a cavity in the earth, just sufficiently large to admit his body, which he made his habitation. This he covered with a plank, perforated to admit light and air. This was his abode, not designed merely for rest'. He passed whole nights in mechanical processes, and other studies. The reputation of his extraordinary sanctity and self-denial spread over the country, and procured him a distinguished patroness in Ethelfleda, a widow allied to the sovereign, who at her death left him her whole fortune, which, professing the utmost contempt for worldly goods, he distributed among the poor. 1 It was in this place that the monks report he was intruded upon by the devil, whom he caught by the nose with his red-hot tongs, which luckily happened to be in the forge, and held him until his howl- ings and roarings were heard by all the neighbourhood. SECT. V. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 133 If early disappointment had damped the fire of ambition in the breast of Dunstan, it was never altogether extinct; an invitation to the court of Edmund revived its ardour. Turketul the minister gave him countenance, and he was constituted Abbot of Glastonbury. This distinguished honour was conferred upon him at a time when he had scarcely reached the age of maturity. Upon the death of Edmund his influence arrived at an unbounded height, the sickly Edred entrusting to his confidential management the con¬ cerns of his government, and placing his treasures at his disposal. The Court was the natural sphere for Dunstan’s talents to exhibit them¬ selves, but he was linked to the church by indissoluble bonds. So framed, the Benedictine system seemed as if purposely designed to enable him to blend religious and civil polity. His whole soul was wrapt in its success. He visited Fleury purposely to become initiated. Returning, he established the order in his own monastery, and for the remainder of his life laboured to extend it throughout the kingdom.—He had now acquired the craft of courts, of which dissimulation and imposture are prime utensils. The See of Winchester was vacant, and was offered to him by the King, but he refused it with affected humility. The King’s desire was backed by the soli¬ citations of his mother, but Dunstan refused all honours which would require him to forego his personal attendance upon his sovereign, even the highest the English Church could afford, were it free for his acceptance. The fol¬ lowing night St. Peter appeared to him in a vision, and smote him with wrath, enjoining him not again to refuse the primacy. The King, on hear¬ ing his report, naturally foretold that Dunstan was intended by the Divine will to fill the metropolitan chair. At this time Odo was in advanced years. Edred, approaching his end, wished to make a distribution of his treasures, Dunstan hastened to fetch those entrusted to his care. Before his return the death of the King was communicated to him in a voice which spoke from the clouds. We now find him making free use of that machinery, some description of which daring and unprincipled minds always find it convenient to use, to work their ends with the vulgar and the unenlightened. O O 134 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION His memorable conduct at the coronation feast of Edwy, when he pre¬ sumed to drag by force the youthful monarch from the society of his be¬ loved Elgiva back to the presence of his Bishops and nobles, is altogether indefensible. Although be seemingly acted in compliance with the com¬ mand of Odo, bis object was evidently to impress the young King with a feeling of his power and resolution. Edwy’s extreme youth must be allowed to plead his excuse for his neglect of royal duty, and the slight thus offered to his court. Pity has often mourned over the melancholy tale of his early unhappy love, and painted the tortured Elgiva a bleeding victim to priestly cruelty. Direful, indeed, are the extremes to which the human mind is capable of proceeding in labouring to establish some ambitious project, or some theoretic and plausible scheme. The moral declension of the character of Dunstan kept pace upon an inverted scale with his political elevation. The grasp of his intellect was vast, and his calculations just. Edwy, animated with resentment for the insult and injuries he had received, compelled him to withdraw his person from the royal vengeance into a Flemish convent; but his spirit remained incorporated in the system he had established. Dunstan well knew that most of the Bishops and nobles who had been present at the festival would consider his cause their own, and that his persecution would but increase their disaffection. Edwy was violent and voluptuous. Turketul, the Chan¬ cellor, and Odo, the Primate, were his own powerful and observant auxiliaries. Edwy’s first step was to suppress the monasteries of Glastonbury and Abingdon. The trumpet of alarm was instantly sounded by the monks. He had commenced sacrilegious warfare against Divinity itself. All alle¬ giance was absolved. The standard of rebellion was raised in the north, and Edwy driven beyond the Thames. Dunstan returned in triumph to resume the command of his army of monks. These successful rebels pro¬ cured Edgar, a youth of thirteen, to be appointed the ostensible sovereign ; but the whole of his prosperous reign ought rather to be considered as that SECT. V. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 135 of Dunstan ; and it we could forgive Ins dereliction of principle, we should confess with pleasure, that England’s prosperity does honour to his talents. The life of Edwy soon terminated. Dunstan, who had been successively made Bishop of Worcester, Rochester, and London, now found no diffi¬ culty in compelling Brythelm to abdicate a dignity for which he appeared to have been no otherwise qualified than by the possession of the Christian virtues of meekness and forbearance. Dunstan hastened to Rome and re¬ ceived the pall, Aug. 960, from John XII. Upon his return, his first step was to surround himself with auxiliaries devoted to his interests. Oswald, a Dane, and kinsman to Odo, who had imbibed the spirit of the new system, was recommended by him to the King as a worthy person to fill the vacant See of Worcester, and was consequently appointed. Athelwold, Abbot of Abingdon, his ecclesiastic aid-de-camp, was next introduced into that of Winchester. These two, with himself, became Edgar’s acknowledged counsellors. But the machinery by which the vulgar herd were to he moved as he thought proper, was not to be neglected. Celestial conferences, and holy visions, now became more frequent. Though imprisoned in a wall of flesh, his soul was a constant inmate in the heavenly regions; there he beheld his mother, wedded to the Saviour, with every nuptial solemnity, and Dunstan recited to the monks a song which on that occasion he had been taught by an angelic being. This vision was not to be interpreted literally. His mo¬ ther was the church of his adoption, and he was permitted to witness the joy which its establishment diffused throughout the heavens. In the year 96/ a synod was held tor the express purpose of enforcing the adoption of the Benedictine system, at which Edgar attended, and de¬ livered a speech, supposed to be the composition of Dunstan, which Turner gives us from Etheldred and Spelman. It is both energetic and masterly. He first enumerates, and returns thanks for the blessings of his reign. He expresses his sense of the duty he owes in return, to labour strenuously to diffuse religion. He next dilates upon the necessity of the purity of the 136 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. V. ecclesiastic body, reminds the Bishops of the immorality and profligacy yet existing among the inferior clergy; tells them that the military exclaim against them ; that the people are dissatisfied, and that they are the subject of ridicule to mimics. He next proffers his aid to join the sword of Con¬ stantine with that of Peter, to drive out the lepers from the sanctuary, to cleanse away the rubbish which had accumulated, to expel the madmen who abused the large donations of his ancestors. “ Oh Dunstan !” adds he, “ father of fathers ! behold, 1 pray you, the eyes of my father beaming on you from yon lucid sky; hear his lamenting voice sounding in your ears. You Dunstan, my father, have given me wholesome counsel, to raise mo¬ nasteries, and to build up churches; you have assisted, have co-operated with me in all. I have chosen you the shepherd of my soul, and keeper of my morals. When have I not obeyed you ? What treasures, what posses¬ sions have I withheld when you requested ? If you thought the poor should be assisted, I gave; if you complained that monks and churches were in need, 1 never denied. You told me that alms were an everlasting treasure ; that nothing would be more profitable to me than my gifts to monasteries and churches. O, illustrious charity! O worthy reward of the soul! O wholesome remedy for omissions !”—He laments that all his exertions have hitherto been vain to effect a proper reform, and concludes by charging Dunstan and his colleagues to use measures of force, as words had proved inefficacious. The consequence of this speech was a general persecution of the clergy who opposed the new system.—Yet Duns tan’s political measures were many of them of the most beneficial description. He encouraged foreign trade. Under his administration the tribute from Wales was commuted to the an¬ nual payment of three hundred wolves heads. The standard of the coin was fixed, and those who reduced it severely punished. The police of the king¬ dom was vigilant and active, and its naval defence amply provided for. Every year the King made the tour of his provinces, to examine into their condition, and relieve the distressed.—Unfortunately for Dunstan, Edgar SECT. V. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 13/ died young, and he found a powerful and unprincipled rival in the depraved Elfrida, by whom he was abhorred, and who gave all the weight of her authority to the clergy inimical to the monkish system. Edward was crowned by Dunstan, who now found that his elevation had surrounded him with enemies among the nobility, ever ready to crush an able and aspiring favourite. He convened a synod at Winchester. His measures were in¬ veighed against; particularly the foundation of so many monasteries. Dun¬ stan heard in silence, and seemed incapable of a reply. The image on the crucifix answered them in his stead, and forbade their opposition. Dunstan knelt in reverence : Heaven had decided for him ! Yet this artifice was not wholly successful; the sneering nobles had learned from experience to appretiate the character of Dunstan. He called these refractory men to a council at Caine, from which the king was absent on account of his youth. To all their reproaches he merely answered, “ I commit the cause of the church to the decision of Christ.” Suddenly the floor gave way, and precipitated the assembly to the earth : many were killed ; a greater number severely maimed ; the seat of Dunstan alone re¬ mained firm. This daring and atrocious proceeding was intended to work its effect upon the superstitious vulgar. With the multitude on his side, Dunstan trusted to be able to crush the few discerning men who penetrated his plans. Ethel wold died.—St. Andrew appeared in person, and com¬ manded Dunstan to appoint Elphegus his successor. He was, of course, obeyed. The dreadful tragedy of the assassination of the King at Corfe castle had now taken place. The wretched Elfrida by this means had raised her son Etheldred to a throne, for which his mental imbecility rendered him totally unfit. Dunstan died 988, just in time to be spared the misery of witnessing the devastation ol his country by devouring hosts of invaders. We have been somewhat diffuse in our account of this prelate, as from his labours the English Church acquired a constitution which characterised it for so many subsequent ages, and through his policy the Anglo-Saxon T 138 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. V. kingdom reached its meridian of glory. As a statesman, Dunstan was pe¬ netrating, active, of a comprehensive capacity, and a great soul. As a prelate, he sacrificed all the genuine interests of Christianity for the sake of securing temporal power to the church. Ethelgar held the See for little more than a twelvemonth. He had been monk of Glastonbury, Abbot of Hyde, and Bishop of Selsea. Siricius was translated from the See of Wilton. His memory is branded with the disgrace of having advised Ethcldred to buy off the Danes, by giving them ten thousand pounds. He appears to have been old and imbecile. He died 994. Alfric succeeded 995. He had been regularly trained in the monkish discipline at Abingdon, was chosen Abbot of St. Alban’s, appointed Bishop of Wilton, and translated to the primacy. He ejected from the convent the seculars introduced in the time of Edwy. He is recorded to have translated a considerable portion of the Scriptures into the Saxon tongue, and to have written several theological treatises and homilies. He presided over the church seven years, and was doomed to witness the miseries inflicted upon its members by predatory hosts of ruthless adventurers. Elphegus, or Elphege. This unfortunate prelate was of noble extrac¬ tion. He entered a monk at Derhurst, from voluntary attachment to a re¬ ligious life ; became Prior of Glastonbury ; was elevated by Dunstan, as we have noticed, to the See of Winchester, and translated to Canterbury. Taken prisoner by the Danes, he received the honour of martyrdom, being stoned to death at Greenwich, May 1012. The favour in which he had been held by Dunstan, his esteemed sanctity, and the devotion and firmness with which he met his fate, caused him to be long venerated as a patron saint of Christchurch. Living us was translated from Wells 1013, at a most inauspicious and disastrous period. He was for some time held in captivity by the invaders, but his piety and sufferings were amply compensated by the favours which SECT. V. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAE. 139 lie afterwards received from Canute. He was liberal to his church, and attentive to its discipline. He died July 1020. Egelnoth, or Ethelnoth, monk of Glastonbury, and Dean of Christ¬ church, succeeded to the direction of the church, now taken peculiarly under the royal patronage. This prelate possessed considerable influence over Canute, and, faithful to that monarch’s dying injunction, refused to crown Harold. He died Nov. 1038. Eadsius, the esteemed chaplain of Canute, who bestowed Folkstone upon Christchurch upon condition that he should be admitted a monk of that convent, as a preliminary to his election to arohiepiscopal dignity, was appointed in the time of Harold, and after a short period deposed through the artifices of Earl Godwin, who procured Siward, Abbot of Abingdon, to be appointed his coadjutor in the primacy, upon which Eadsius, with proper dignity, refused to exercise the functions, nor did he resume them till after Siward’s death, 1049. He survived his resumption one year. Robert. While an exile in Normandy, the imbecile Edward, surnamed the Confessor, had formed intimate connections in that country, and Robert, a monk of Gemetica, was his chosen favourite. Upon his elevation to his paternal throne, he brought over the precursors of the future lords of the country. He made his favourite Bishop of London, and upon the death of Eadsius, procured him to be chosen to this See. This was a galling stroke to Godwin, who regarded the foreigners with a jealous eye, and soon as¬ sumed a hostile attitude towards his King. Edward having procured the assent of the Witeuagemote to the outlawry of Godwin and his adherents, a free intercourse was held by the Normans in power with their native country, and it appears probable, that Duke William’s exploratory visit to this coun¬ try was invited by the primate. The fortunes of Godwin experienced a change, and Robert was compelled to fly the country. He soon after died in Normandy, 1052, waiting the success of an appeal to the Pope. StyganD had the misfortune to have his destiny interwoven with an unsuccessful cause, both in religious and secular politics. He had been 140 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. V. chaplain to Harold Harefoot, Bishop of Helmam, Selsea, and Winchester, and upon the fugitation of Robert, was placed in the primacy by Edward the Confessor, and procured a pall from Benedict the pretender to the pope¬ dom. With a stern feeling of patriotism, he refused to acknowledge the Norman usurper, or to stamp the degradation of his country by placing the English crown upon his head. The artful William, knowing his wealth and influence, pretended the most submissive veneration, implored his com¬ pany on his visit to his native country, and flattered him with the expecta¬ tion that he would become submissive to his directions.—Thus removing from the seat of danger a powerful enemy, William secretly intrigued with the Pope Alexander to get rid of an object of mutual dislike.—This could not be effected in an instant, but when William’s power had become conso¬ lidated, he procured a synod to be convened at Winchester, at which de¬ puties from Rome accused Stygand of simony and disobedience. Perceiving his safety endangered, he fled to Scotland, and joined Edgar Atheling, and the disaffected Saxon nobles. The Scottish King, dreading the arms of William, surrendered the prelate, and the remainder of his life was lingered in confinement in Winchester castle. He survived his deposition four years, and his remains were added to those of the distinguished personages of the Saxon era, collected by Bishop Fox, and placed in chests on the side walls of the choir of Winchester cathedral'. Lanfranc. William having deposed Stygand, had to guard against being troubled with a disaffected primate. He had in his own train a man of talents belonging to the church who would enter into the spirit of his measures. In his youth Lanfranc left his native Italy, and became a school¬ master in the Norman territory. Falling among robbers when on a journey, he was bound and left blindfolded, in a wood ; in which condition he made 1 See Milner's Winchester.—The monks bring a string of accusations against this prelate, and charge him particularly with covetousness. That he was rich, seems to be undoubted. William, who politically waited for his death before he seized his treasures, wished to spread an opinion that they were ihe ac¬ quirements of avarice. “ He lost his See," says Dart, for not being a bigot, his liberty for not being a traitor, and his reputation for not being a monk.” SECT. V'. OP CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 141 a vow of a monastic life, should God permit his release. This vow he ful¬ filled, and became Prior of a newly-established convent at Bee. His repu¬ tation spread abroad, and he procured several distinguished scholars. When Duke William founded a monastery at Caen he solicited him to become its Abbot. He complied, and was afterwards fixed upon by his patron for the Primate of England. He appears to have exerted himself in the reformation of the clergy, the establishment of the papal system, and the diffusion of knowledge. His charity is recorded to have been conspicuous, and we have had occasion to notice his taste and liberality in the rebuilding his cathedral church. He died June 1089'. Anselm. The cupidity of the second William caused him to appropriate to his own use the revenues of this See, which now remained vacant for three years, until, in a fit of sickness, he courted clerical consolation. He was attended by the renowned Anselm, who had been Abbot of Bee, and the celebrity of whose sanctity had procured him an invitation to England from Hugh Earl of Chester. The penitent King offered his ghostly comforter the primacy, which Anselm refused with affected humility, until constrained to the acceptance. William little foresaw the dangerous consequences to mo¬ narchical power which would follow this appointment. Anselm was spirited and intrepid, and a supporter of Pope Urban, while the King espoused the cause of Clement.—The Sovereign had heretofore possessed an established privilege of appointing Bishops by investiture of the staff and ring : Anselm supported a baneful claim of Rome to overthrow this prerogative. William banished the prelate, and seized his temporalities.—-Henry I. sought to prop a precarious title by his recal, and Anselm assumed a still bolder tone. He was once again compelled to fly the country, and take refuge at Rome, where he was received with honour by Pascal 11. An accommodation was entered into, and the unfortunate King surrendered the important right of investi- ’ He was so much esteemed by Pope Alexander, who had been his scholar, (hat, according to Steph. Birchington, on visiting Rome for his pall, the pontiff, when he would have paid him the customary obedience, arose and kissed him. Matthew Paris gives a high character of this prelate. 142 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION ture, and likewise permitted the enforcement of the celibacy of the clergy. Having gained these important points for the Papal interests, Anselm died, 1107. This prelate does not appear to have been so able a politician as an active agent of more powerful capacities. Plis rigorous persecution of long shoes and long hair favours of narrow-minded bigotry. The rooted political con- troul which it was the object of Urban to acquire for the Papal power over all Europe, was so strenuously supported by him in this country as to sink his character into that of a mere tool of ecclesiastical tyranny. Radulph. Dreading the rapid encroachments of Rome, the King and nobles now sought to establish a secular in the Primacy, but the power of the monks was too formidable to he thwarted. Policy dictated another course,—to procure the appointment of a regular of a harmless nature, and friendly to the Court.—Radulph, Bishop ot Rochester, was consequently elected, and invested by the King ; but the jealous vigilance of the Pope dictated at his receiving the pall, an oath of canonical obedience and fidelity to Rome, till then unknown. He aimed, notwithstanding, to support the independence of his See, and went to plead his cause at Rome ; but without success. Himself and his sovereign were threatened with excommunication unless they manifested due obedience. He returned and died 1122. William Corboil. Papal tyranny now extended her griping hands, and advanced step by step to inclose the whole civilized world in her tram¬ mels. The sovereign and the English Church made yet another effort of resistance. A convention of the nobles and bishops was held at Gloucester, at which William Corboil, canon of Chichester, a secular priest, was elected ; and a resolution passed, that no monk should hereafter be qualified to fill the Primacy. Pope Calixtus, whose own power was scarcely confirmed, granted the pall; but soon after took occasion, during Henry’s embarrass¬ ments, to send over to England Cardinal de Crema, with a legantine com¬ mission. This minion assumed airs of the highest consequence, claiming authority over, and demanding homage from the whole English Church, OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 143 and Court. He was, however, entrapped into so disgraceful a situation that he was glad to hasten back, leaving his task unfinished The King now entered into a compromise with Rome, by which the Pope consented to appoint the Primate his Legate, and renewed the commission from time to time, thus reserving his right of controul for any fit occasion. Upon Henry’s decease, the memory of this Archbishop is stained with the disgrace of having crowned the usurper, Stephen, notwithstanding he had already sworn fealty to Matilda 1 2 . William died 1136. Theobald. Following the example of Rufus, Stephen held the pri¬ macy vacant for two years, in order to appropriate its revenues; hut the Le¬ gate, Alberie, bishop of Ostia, requiring it to be filled without further delay, Theobald, another Abbot of Bee, was elected, and consecrated by the Legate, whom he accompanied to Rome for his pall. Upon his return he found Henry, Bishop of Winchester, the King’s brother, holding legantine authority, and citing the dignitaries of the church in the most arbitrary manner. Finding the archiepiscopal functions strangely encroached upon, he appealed to Pope Celestine; and a tedious and disgraceful string of re¬ ferences to Rome shew the altercations of the church. Theobald attended the council of Pope Eugenius 111. at Rheims, and procured himself to he 1 He travelled over the country, and inveighed strongly in each diocess against priest’s marriages, which he represented as a detestable abomination. Holding a synod for this purpose at Durham, the following night, “ being well-entertained, and his heart warm with liquor, he lusted after a young woman, niece to the Bishop, and enticed her to his bed; the Bishop was privy to this, and when they were together, entered with his Chaplains, and the boys of the choir with lights and cups, and standing round the bed, they cried out, “ Benedicite, Benedicite," at which the Legate was much confused, and said “ quid facitis pro St. Petro.” “ My lord," says »he Bishop, “ it is the custom in our country, when any gentleman marries, to be complimented by his friends in this manner; arise, therefore, and drink what I have brought you in this bowl, which if you refuse, you shall drink of such a cup that you will never be thirsty afterward.” He therefore, sore against his will, arose, and being naked, he drank to the new marriage half the bowl; the Bishop then left him, and he soon hastened to Rome."—See Matthew Paris, Hen. Knighton, &c. 2 It is to be considered that much importance was formerly attached to the ceremony of coronation • the monkish historians never allow any monarch the title of King until the church had given efficacy to the exercise of sovereignty. 144 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. V. appointed Legate in the room of the Bishop of Winchester. The latter insti¬ gated his brother to proceed to violent extremities with Theobald, who was authorised to pass the sentence of interdict upon Stephen.—An accommo¬ dation was effected, but harmony between the primate and King was de¬ stroyed. Theobald favoured the cause of Matilda, and some time after refused compliance with Stephen’s desire to anoint his son Eustace as the future sovereign. He fled the anger of the monarch, and upon his death returned to place the Crown upon the head of Henry II. by whom he was greatly respected and beloved. Of a sweet and amiable disposition, he passed his declining years in tranqudlitv, and died 1161, having exercised with moderation the awful power which church-encroachment had procured for its dignified ministers. Thomas Becket. A contemplative observer might have perceived that the struggle between the ecclesiastical and royal powers was now approach¬ ing to a crisis in England. Their respective limits of authority were too undefined, and their interests too frequently clashed to admit of any con¬ tinuance of harmony. This situation of things was properly felt by Henry, who sought to adopt the surest and safest course, to procure at a national council a strict definition of the boundaries of the rival jurisdictions, and, as a preparatory measure, to fill the primacy with a churchman of talent, bound to himself by the ties of gratitude for personal favours.—Such a man was not to be sought after.—Thomas Becket was in every respect calculated to forward his great object; he was born a citizen, and son of the Port-reve, or Mayor of London; had been educated at Merton Abbey ; had travelled in France and Italy; had studied civil and canon law at Bologna; and was distinguished by his love of gaiety, and his gallantry of dress and manner. II is pliable qualities caused him to become a court favourite, and procured him to be made chaplain to the King, Provost of Beverley, Dean of Hast¬ ings, Constable of the Tower, and Archdeacon of Canterbury; which last promotion he owed to the venerable Theobald, who took much delight in his society, from his fascinating manners, and elegant accomplishments. The SECT. V. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. ]45 next office with which this courtier-priest was honoured, was the important one of Chancellor '. His style of living now became splendid in the ex¬ treme. He entered with apparent thoughtless avidity into the sports and pastimes of the time. At the head of twelve hundred knights he distin¬ guished himself by his military service in the Norman wars. And in a diplomatic capacity he surprised the Court of France by the magnificence of his retinue. Towards the King he displayed the most pliant disposition, who encou¬ raged him in the practice of habits of the greatest familiarity, and confi¬ dentially entrusted him with all his views. Upon the death of Theobald he procured him to be elected Archbishop.—There were not wanting persons about the court who had penetration enough to discover that the disposition of Becket was dangerously aspiring, and that the monarch ran great risk in promoting him to a rank so elevated, and to the exercise of power so un¬ limited, as to afford him no very shadowy prospect of making himself the first person in the kingdom ; but the suggestions of such prying observers were easily attributable to the instigations of envy and jealousy. Henry was soon painfully awakened to a sense of his error.—Immediately after his installation, Becket, without any previous intimation, sent the great seal to the King in Normandy, declaring, that the duties of his new and sacred office required him to forego all secular concerns ; thus indirectly informing his friend and sovereign that he was naturalized to other, and more important interests. Complaints soon began to reach the King from various persons from whom Becket had wrested their lands by means of revived claims of the Church. He was informed that the primate had totally altered his mode of living, that he practised an austerity commensurate to “ Chancellor, in that age, besides the custody of the great seal, had possession of all the vacant prelacies and abbies; he was the guardian of all such minors and pupils as were the King's tenants ; all Baronies which escheated to the Crown were under His administration; he was entitled to a place in c ouncil, even though he were not particularly summoned and as he exercised also the office of Secretary of State, and it belonged to him to countersign all commissions, writs, and letters patent* he was a kind of Prime Minister, and was concerned in the dispatch of every business of importance."— Hume. U HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. V. 146 his former luxury, that while his retinue preserved all its pomp and splen¬ dour, himself was clad in sackcloth, his diet was of the coarsest nature, and that he practised incessant penitential discipline. He was told that the praises of Becket filled the mouths of the people, and he clearly saw, to use a military phrase, that the primate had taken up his ground, and was entrenching himself for defence, or preparing to attack. The warfare was commenced on the spiritual side, in the appointment by Becket of one Laurence to the living of Eynsford, from which he was expelled by the Lord of the manor, claiming to hold the right of presenta¬ tion of the Crown by military tenure. Becket excommunicated the Baron, who appealed to his sovereign, that as he held in capite of the Crown he was not by law subject to that awful sentence without the royal sanction being formally granted. Henry ordered the excommunication to be taken off, hut it was not until after many remonstrances and threats that Becket thought proper to comply with the royal mandate. He also cited Roger Earl of Clare to do him homage for the castle of Tunbridge, which he alleged had formerly belonged to the See of Canterbury, and that the church lands could on no account be alienated. Henry perceived that some prompt measures had become indispensable : he summoned a council ot all the pre¬ lates, and put them to the proof by this concise question, whether they were willing to submit to the ancient laws and customs of the realm ? They answered in the affirmative, “ saving * their own order.' This evasive answer roused the indignation of the King. He left the assembly abruptly, and demanded Becket instantly to surrender the honours and castles of Eye and Berkham with which he had been invested when Chancellor. Becket re¬ sisted ; but finding that the suffragans were alarmed, and not thoroughly inclined to support him in the stand he wished to make, and the Pope’s Legate joining his intercessions, and reminding him that his master’s em¬ barrassments would prevent his support from being of its proper efficacy at that time, he retracted the saving clause, and promised unlimited obedience to the established usages of the realm. SECT. V. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 14/ But this general assent was of no service to set the question at rest. It yet remained to define the church privileges, and those of the crown and subject. This was done in the famous council of Clarendon, held in the month of February, 1164, when the Constitutions of sixteen articles were agreed to by the nobles and prelates; and after some demur by tile reluctant primate, who took an oath, “ legally, with good faith, and without fraud or reserve, to observe the constitutions.” 1 Becket’s subtle projects might now be supposed to he foiled; but this was far from being the case : the King and aristocracy might sway the council, hut he well knew that public opinion was enslaved to his cause, and there yet remained an earthly power to whom there was a right of ap¬ peal, whose sentence none would have the hardihood to despise. He af¬ fected the most painful sorrow and contrition ; he had done an action de¬ testable to God ; polluted with the sin of resigning the rights of the church, was enacted, that all suits concerning t By these celebrated Constitutions i __ b ^ ^ ^ ^ llw „ church should be decided in the civil courts, that churches in the King's fee should not be given . perpetuity without his consent; that clerks, when summoned by the King's judges, shall appear in hi courts, and if convicted in an ecclesiastical court, that the church shall not protect them ; that Arch bishops. Bishops, anil others, should not depart the kingdom without the King’s license i that all pel ,ons going abroad, shall, if the King pleases, give him security not to say or do any thing to his pre Judice while away | excommunicated persons to be incompetent as witnesses ; laymen should not b accused in the spiritual courts, except by legal and fit accusers and witnesses , none that hold of th King capite shall be excommunicated without first acquainting the King: that appeals in spiritua causes should be carried from the Archdeacon to' the Bishop, from the Bishop to the Archbishop am lastly to the King, as highest, and no farther. In all suits between the clergy ami laity concerning land a jury should decide whether it be a lay or ecclesiastical fee; if the former, the cause to be tried in the civ i courts i if a layman be cited in the spiritual court and does not appear, he shall not be excommunicated but the King's Magistrate shall use compulsive measures to enforce his attendance , Archbishops Bisho-,s and all subjects who, holding of the King in capite , rank as Barons, must answer to the King’s Judges and are liable to serve in bis courts, the revenues of vacant Sees to belong the King, that chant., elections should take place in the King's chapel, and receive the royal assent; and that the Bishop elec should do homage to the Crown, that if any Baron refuse to submit to the spiritual conns, the Kins should enforce h,s obedience; or if any churchman threw off his allegiance, that the prelates should assiri the King with the church censures, goods forfeit to the King should not be protected in churches • that the clergy should not of themselves enforce die payment of debts, but submit to the proceeding, of the civil courts, that the sons of vassals should not be ordained clerks without the lords'consent. 148 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. V. lie held himself unworthy to perform the archiepiscopal functions; his austerities were increased and incessant; and tears and groans testified the agony of his spirit.—At this time he was secretly intriguing with Pope Alexander, then in France, who, upon receiving the Constitutions from the King, with a request that they might be ratified, declared them to be abominable, and offensive to God, indignantly annulled them, and sent the primate an absolution from his oath. Hitherto we have had to consider Archbishop Becket as assuming and tyrannical; ungrateful for the highest favours, and aiming to controul the power which had raised him to his present consequence ; and Henry, injured, insulted, and irritated by unceasing encroachment upon his royal privileges. Henceforward the conduct of the King seems scarcely less reprehensible than that of the primate. Becket well knew he had cause to apprehend strong measures from the anger of the incensed monarch, and, induced by some private warning he received, sought to quit the country. Contrary winds baffled the attempt. The King caused the Mareschal of the Exche¬ quer to sue Becket upon some frivolous pretences, and on his excusing himself from appearing in the civil court on account of sickness, he was found guilty in the council, of contempt of the King’s courts; and his goods and chattels ordered to be confiscated. Henry next brought forward pre¬ tended pecuniary claims against Becket, which he was compelled to give sureties to answer; and lastly, insisted upon his accounting for the revenues of all property which had been subject to his management as Chancellor, and the balance of which, remaining due to the Crown, the King estimated at an enormous sum. Becket saw very clearly that nothing short of his total ruin was intended, and that his security depended upon identifying his cause with that of God and the Church. After celebrating the mass, in which he directed attention upon the martyrdom of Stephen, clad in his pontifical vestments, and surrounded with all the pomp of the church, he repaired to the royal palace, bearing aloft the crucifix, as the banner of his cause, and intruded into the private apartments of the King. Henry was SECT. V. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAE. 1-19 astonished, and awed at this hold action. He perceived that Becket re¬ solved to set the Church in full array against him, and had considerable dread of the consequences. He sent for some of the Bishops, to confer and remonstrate with their primate, and remind him of his subscription to the Constitutions. He sternly replied, that the cause of God could not be re¬ linquished by any engagements on their part; that the Pope, the highest authority to whom they owed obedience, had solemnly declared the Consti¬ tutions to he destructive to the church they were bound to uphold ; that he was persecuted arbitrarily, and without justice ; that he placed himself and his See under the protection of the Pope, and exhorted them to resist in his injustice a temporal sovereign, whose utmost stretch of power could only enable him to incarcerate or destroy the body, while the spiritual head could cast the souls of his and their enemies into eternal perdition.—He then withdrew, and secreting himself for a while, found means to escape into France. Henry must now have felt that he had gone too far; that he had brought forward the constitutions of Clarendon without duly preparing the minds of his subjects to receive them, and arrayed himself in hostility against the church without securing proper points of support: his violent persecu¬ tion of Becket contributed to increase the evil, of which his rival neighbours did not fail to take advantage, in order to add to his embarrassments. The Earl of Flanders, and King of France, received the exiled primate with the highest honours ; and the Pope, then at Sens, refused to listen to the accu¬ sations of Henry's Ambassadors. The prelate’s banished relations and do¬ mestics were all honourably,entertained, and distributed among the convents of France and Flanders ; and a magnificent establishment formed for him¬ self at Pontigny, at the expense of the King of France. Henry sequestered the revenues of Becket’s See ; the primate surrendered the See itself to the Pope, alleging that he had been unduly elected by the authority of a royal mandate, and received back from their prime source all his honours, with a bull of protection. To stop short in the course Henry had chosen, or been 150 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. V. compelled to take, would have been to acknowledge himself overpowered, and his persecutions unjust. He forbade, under the most severe penalties, any of his subjects to submit to the authority of the Pope or the Archbishop. Becket proclaimed all those who had sworn to obey the Constitutions, to be absolved from their oaths ; fulminated the church-excommunication against those who supported them ; and indicated that the like awful sentence was suspended over the King, and it depended upon his future conduct whether he should not experience that dreadful visitation of the church's anger. Wherever the monarch cast his eyes he saw nothing but cause for apprehen¬ sion and dismay ; his Norman possessions were a source of embarrassment; the temporal power he could wield was feeble and uncertain ; the prelates were attached to the cause of his antagonist, with few exceptions ; and the people alarmed at the idea of resisting the minister of the will of Heaven. No alternative remained.—Henry displayed the first marks of receding from the contest, by temporising with the Pope, whose authority he had decried and by means of the friendly offices of tKe Cardinal de Pavia, he sought to carry on a protracted negotiation, in order to ward off the impending blow. An attempt to accommodate differences between the King and primate was now conducted with much obstinacy and ill-will on either side ; each party insisting upon conditions and saving clauses highly offensive to the opposite interest, to be embodied in the treaties. Becket carried his pertinacity to a pitch that was blamed even by the King of France, and the Pope.—At last an engagement was entered into, by which Becket was to be restored to his honours, without agreeing to surrender any of the church’s rights, and allowed to have the power of ejecting all those who had been placed in benefices belonging to his See during his absence ; while Henry gained nothing but the condition that the excommunication of his ministers should be taken off.—The primate’s return to England was a scene of triumph, hut not followed by peace.—While dreading the sentence of excommunication, the King, to strengthen his tottering authority, or at least to preserve the sovereignty in his family, had caused his son Prince Henry to be crowned ' <$/:» {, ; 1 •. o (• r- SECT. V. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAE. 151 by the Archbishop of York, and associated with himself in the royal dig¬ nity. Becket had inhibited the Bishops from being- present at or officiating tn this ceremony, an invasion of his own acknowledged privilege. On ar¬ riving in England he acquainted the Archbishop of York, and the Bishops ot London and Salisbury, that the latter were suspended, and the former excommunicated by the Pope.—He visited his diocess, and was every where met by the people headed by the clergy, who received him with honours and unbounded acclamations. He advanced towards Woodstock, where the young King resided, but was peremptorily desired to confine himself to Ins church '. Here he received intelligence which convinced him that Henry’s activity ill forwarding his intention of releasing himself from spiritual control was not at all diminished.—He became visibly perturbed.—After mass on Christmas-day he excommunicated several of the King’s ministers, and seems to have made up his mind to perish a martyr in the cause of church immunities. The excommunicated prelates and nobles made their report to the King at Baieux, who, in the irritation of his spirit, uttered something like a reproach upon his retainers, that he was suffered to be so long tormented by that turbulent priest. Some of these held a consultation, the result of which was, that Reginald Fits Urae, William de Tracy, Hugh de Morville, and Richard Britton, crossed the sea and hastened to Canter¬ bury with an armed train, where they arrived Dec. 28, 11/0, and with twelve attendants went to the archiepiscopal palace, and rushed into the presence of the Archbishop, who was seated in the midst of his clergy. A fierce altercation ensued, the knights informing him that they came by the order of his King to desire him to absolve those he had excommunicated, and to make becoming submissions to the young monarch. He undauntedly refused, and despised their threats. They retired, hut returned in the even- mg with their armed followers, and assaulted the palace, entering through Beckct seems to have made an effort at reconciliation by means of the Abbot of St. Alban's, but without success; and his observation on the Abbot's report shews his sense of his situation, '■ Siccine," biucl he, with a sigh, “ siccine adesse festinant tempora consummationcs ?" 152 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. V. one of the windows. Learning that Becket was in the church they followed him there *. “ Where,” said they, rushing in, “ is this traitor Arch¬ bishop ?”—Becket fronted them with firmness. “ Here,” he replied, “ is the Archbishop, but no traitor.” Tracy seized him as his prisoner, but the prelate shook him off, and they instantly attacked him with their swords. “ 1 commend my cause,” he exclaimed, “ to God, the Virgin, the Patron Saints of this church, and to St. Denis ;” and fell before the altar of St. Benedict. Even after his death the fury of his assassins vented itself in mangling his remains.—Thus perished Becket, the tutelary Saint of Christ¬ church. Abstractedly considered, his character presents an instance of in¬ flexibility, meritorious from preserving its consistency in both good and evil fortune, and which did not forsake him in the extremest peril. To judge him fairly, his conduct should be considered under all the relative circum¬ stances of the state of opinion, of learning, and of the obscure notions with respect to government, prevailing in the age in which he lived.—The rash and detestable action of his murder proved a deadly blow to Henry’s cause. Nothing could now save him from the effect of public indignation, and ecclesiastic justice, but unqualified submission, and instant humiliation. Messengers were dispatched to deprecate the anger of the Pope upon any terms. On Henry’s return to England, as soon as he approached Canter- bury, he alighted, and walked barefoot to the church ; prostrated himself on the earth before Bucket’s tomb ; and stretching up his hands to Heaven, lay long in prayer; then implored absolution, calling God to witness that he had not commanded nor desired the death of the Archbishop. Afterwards, going into the chapter-house, he submitted himself naked to discipline, and was scourged by all the religious present. He made rich offerings to the martyr, and gave 50 1 . yearly to find lights for his tomb; the rest of the 1 The terrified monks wished to have closed the door, but Becket prevented them :—“ Begone, cowards,” he cried out, *' I charge you on your obedience, do not shut the door : What ! will you make a castle of a church ? ” SECT. V. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAE. ] 53 day and night lie passed in prayer, and devoted three days to fasting and religious penance. Richard. The See was vacant for two years, when a severe contest took place concerning the right of election, between the convent and suf¬ fragans, which terminated in their joint election at Lambeth, of Robert, Abbot of Bee, who refused to accept the dignity. They held a second meeting, and chose Richard, Prior of Dover, and Chancellor of Lincoln, who had been joint Chaplain with Becket to Archbishop Theobald.—He had a dispute with Roger, Archbishop of York, concerning carrying the cicfss in the See of Canterbury.—Henry had now warded off the storm by which he had been threatened, and his endeavours began to revive. Un¬ fortunately for his cause, his rival, Pope Alexander, had settled his dif¬ ferences with the Emperor, and every effort on the part of the King only ended in fresh concessions to the clergy. The conduct of the primate throughout these contentions seems to have been prudent, and cautious; though he did not want firmness in supporting his privileges. The re¬ bellious conduct of the Princes received from him very severe censure. He died at Hailing Palace, near Rochester, after holding the See eleven years. 1 lie monks would make us believe that he felt severe compunction for not having laboured more strenuously in the church’s cause. Baldwin was elected at Westminster by the monks of Christchurch, after another virulent contest with the King and the suffragans, in which at last, the monarch, affecting to acknowledge all their privileges, soothed them to appoint an enemy to their arrogance in the person of this prelate, who had been Abbot of Ford, and was then Bishop of Worcester. Soon after his elevation he sought to break down the power of the haughty con¬ vent by the measure we have before noticed, of founding a college of secular canons in honour of St. Thomas the Martyr, to which the King purported to give consequence by means of large donations, and which, in return, was to be induced to admit his supremacy. Pope Urban III. granted a hull for its establishment, and ordered that a fourth of the oblations at the Martyr’s x 154 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. V. tomb should be devoted to the erection of a magnificent church. Clement III. his successor, listening to the appeal of the monks, sent his Legate to forbid any further progress in the design, whom the monarch would not suffer to advance further than Dover, but thought it prudent to visit Can¬ terbury in person, and conciliate the monks. The project was then drop¬ ped, but afterwards unsuccessfully attempted to be revived at Lambeth.— Baldwin accompanied Richard I. to the Holy Land, and died at the siege of Ptolemais, 1191. Reginald Fitz-Josceline, Bishop of Bath, and a liberal benefactor to the churches of that See and Wells, was forcibly placed in the chair by this turbulent convent, but died within a month. Hubert Walter had been Dean of York, and afterwards Bishop of Salisbury. He accompanied the King and Archbishop to the siege of Ptolemais, and was elected by the monks at the recommendation of the cap¬ tive Richard, who much valued his state-services, appointing him Lord Chief Justiciary, and Lord Chancellor. He was at the same time honoured with a legantine commission.—He immediately laboured to make up the King’s ransom, conducting the national affairs with ability and faithfulness. He strove unsuccessfully to establish the college at Lambeth. He died 1205, in much disgrace with King John, whose mean soul was imbued with suspicion and fear, on account of his steady loyalty, and statesman¬ like qualities l . Stephen Langton. The constantly increasing animosity between the King and the convent had now risen to an extremely high pitch. The monks made a secret midnight election of Reginald, their Prior, and dis¬ patched him to Rome for his confirmation. This man conducted himself with so much consequence in Flanders, as the Archbishop elect, that they 1 Giraldus Cambrensis represents this primate as not being so well qualified for tasks of eloquence as of business ; and tells us the Pope and Cardinals were in the habit of jesting at his discourses.' He founded several monasteries, built the wall, and formed the moat round the Tower of London ; and is much ex¬ tolled for munificence and hospitality. SECT. V. OP CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 155 felt disgusted and offended ; more particularly as they wished his confirma¬ tion to have taken place before their choice had reached the ears of the King. They therefore submitted to the monarch’s desire, in revoking their appointment, and choosing John Grey, Bishop of Norwich ; hut without consulting the suffragans,, who complained to Rome. The Pope, taking advantage of this division, and double election, set aside both persons, and gave directions to the monks to elect Cardinal Stephen Langton, a man devoted to his interests, and to disregard the hitherto customary form of applying for the royal licence; bestowing on them absolute, and independ- aut power. The incensed King immediately dispatched to Canterbury an armed train, headed by two of his Knights, to turn out the monks, and confiscate their goods. The convent took refuge beyond the sea. John wrote an upbraiding intemperate epistle to the Pope, who answered him in a determined style of reproof, and warned him to dread the result of his ob¬ stinacy. The Bishops of London, Ely, and Worcester, implored the King, with tears, to acknowledge Langton, pointing out to him the insecurity of the ground on which he stood, and intimating that they were ordered by the Pope to pass the sentence of interdict in case of his refusal. He cursed the Pope and Cardinals, and drove them from his presence with abuse and violent threats. Hence the interdict—deposition—invasion—and a cere¬ monial surrender of the royal authority to the Pope’s Legate, who returned the kingly office by virtue of his own powers, with absolution for past of¬ fences, and papal pardon. Stephen died 1228. Richard Magnus, Chancellor of Lincoln, and Dean of St. Paul’s, was appointed by the Pope, by a hull of provision. He was a learned and eloquent churchman, and so tenacious of the rights of the church, that, on a dispute with Hubert Burg, Earl of Kent, he went to Rome to plead his cause, and returning, died at St. Gemma, at the church of the Friars Minors, 1231. Several ot his servants perished at the same time, which caused a suspicion that he was taken off by poison. 156 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION Edmund. The Pope now set aside two elections of the convent; their Prior, John, as disqualified from weakness of capacity; and John Blund, for holding pluralities, and simony. Their third choice fell upon Edmund, canon of Salisbury, who was consecrated. He had much tiresome contro¬ versy with the turbulent monks. At last depressed, and exhausted in spirit with the irritations of an unceasing struggle with various interests, he retired from a station of painful eminence to end his days in exile at Soissy, in Pontiniac, where he died 1240. He was afterwards canonized, and his body enshrined by Lewis, King of France. Boniface, son of Peter, late Duke of Savoy, and procurator of the church of Burgundy, a man of violent and uncontroulable temper, was chosen at the Queen’s solicitation. He procured from the Pope permission to appropriate a year’s revenue of the vacant livings in his province to pay off the debts with which his See was incumbered.—The monks found his sway so oppressive, that, disliking all tyranny but their own, many of them left the convent, and became Carthusians.—Having personally as¬ saulted and beaten the Prior of St. Bartholomew at a visitation, he was in danger of being murdered by the citizens of London. This primate finished the archiepiscopal palace, and great hall, and founded a college at Maid¬ stone. He returned to Savoy, and died in the castle of St. Helena, 12/0. Robert Kilyvardby, provincial of the Dominicans in England, was placed in the chair by the Pope. He had been educated at Oxford, and according to Matthew Paris, wrote many excellent treatises in his younger days *, but on his elevation, confined the exercise of his talents to preaching. 1 Dart enumerates these, and says that a MS volume of his works is extant in St. Peter’s college, Cambridge. He wrote, “ Tractatus de tempore, de universali, de octo scientiarum," which Matthew Paris calls “ cuviosus ulilisque libellus.” Treatises on Ezekiel; the Epistles to the Romans and Corinthians; Origines Patrum ; de passione Christi; of the Eucharist Sacrament; de confessionibus Augustini; Tables to St. Augustine ; Heads of St. Augustine’s Works ; de magist. Sententiarum, Divine commentaries; Distinctions of Doctors; Expositions on a Letter from a Master of the sentences; quudlibcts of con¬ science; on Boetius; on Porphyrius’s Isagogue; on Aristotle's Predicaments; Periherminias, &c. on Logic; on Thomas Aquinas; on Aristotle’s Physics, and other works; on Gilbertus’ssix principles; on Priscian; on Grammar; against Donatus; and divided the Fathers into chapters, and entituled them. SECT. V. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAE. 15/ His oratorical powers are said to have been very great. In the year 1278, Pope Nicholas III. gave him the purple, upon which he resigned the pri¬ macy, and departed for Rome. After a few months he died at Viterbo, not without suspicion of poison. John Peckham. The monks, upon Kilwardby’s resignation, made choice of Robert Burnel, Bishop of Bath and Wells, whom the Pope re¬ jected, and appointed Peckham, at that time Palatine reader and auditor of the papal palace. This very able prelate was of humble parents in Sussex, was educated at Lewes, and became a Franciscan at Oxford. He studied divinity and philosophy at Paris, and canon law at Lyons. Upon his return from France he was much admired at Oxford, and read next to the cele¬ brated friar Bongey. Peckham had a considerable taste for magnificence, and expended 4000 marks at Rome on his confirmation, and 2000 at Can¬ terbury on his inthronization. He also devoted 2000 marks to improving the palaces belonging to his See, and founded a college at Wingham, for canons. His general disposition was mild and amiable, but he was ex¬ tremely severe against non-resident clergy, and such as held pluralities. He wrote various tracts on divinity, one of which is in the Cott. Lib. Ves¬ pasian, D. 13. 9. He died Dec. 1292. Robert Winchelsea was educated in the grammar-school at Canter¬ bury, studied at Paris, where he commenced A. M. and went next to Mer¬ ton college, Oxford, where he became D. D. and Chancellor of that uni¬ versity. At the time of his elevation to the primacy he held the Archdea¬ conry of Lssex, and a canonry in St. Paul’s. This truly great man had the misfortune to he involved in much altercation with his sovereign, Edward I. concerning the church immunities. In whatever light we may now con¬ sider the cause he supported, it is impossible to doubt the purity and con¬ scientiousness of his motives. His charities, as recorded, are unexampled, even in church history. He supported numbers of poor scholars at the uni¬ versities, who discovered talents for liberal pursuits. He relieved 4000 poor every week, and made distributions at the great festivals of the church. 158 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. V. T1 ie delicacy of his feelings, and nobleness of his mind, are displayed in his causing diligent search to be made for such as were reduced in fortune, and too modest to ask relief. He practised rigid self-humiliation, yet was indulgent to others, and his manner had a peculiar charm of affability and cheerfulness. He died at Otteford, May 1313. Though not canonized, he was long regarded as a Saint by the people. Walter Reynolds. The convent now chose Thomas Cobham, Dean of Salisbury; but the Pope again annulled their election, and Walter Rey¬ nolds, Bishop of Worcester, was translated to a See, which his weakness of mind rendered him incapable of holding with dignity. He was the son of a baker at Windsor, and had been preceptor to the Prince, against whom, as sovereign, he headed an atrocious rebellion. In the tumults which shortly ensued, by temporising with all parties, he lost the esteem and reverence of all. When the depraved Queen had gained the ascendancy, he abjectly obeyed her mandate in consecrating James Barley, Bishop of Exeter, for which he was so severely reproved by the Pope, that he died soon after of a broken spirit, Dec. 132/- Simon Mepham was a native of Mepham, in Kent, took the decree of D. D. at Oxford, was Prebendary of Landaff, Canon of Chichester, and St. Paul’s, and Rector of Tunstal. Upon his return after his confirmation he made a visitation of his provinces, and it gives a curious instance of the manners of the clergy, and the temper of the age, that on arriving at the frontiers of Exeter he was met by the Bishop of that diocess, with a body of armed men, who refused to admit him. The King, to prevent a more serious termination to the dispute, recalled the primate. Soon after crown¬ ing Edward Ill. he was excommunicated by the Pope, and to add to his vexations, fell into a dispute with the Archbishop of York concerning pri¬ vileges, which, together, preyed so much upon his spirits that he shortly after died at Mayfield, Oct. 1333. John Stratford was a truly noble character. He commenced D. D. at Oxford, became canon of York, Archdeacon of Lincoln, Bishop of Win- SECT. V. OP CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 159 chester, Lord Chancellor, and Metropolitan by bull of provision. His firm allegiance to the cause of Edward II. while in the See of Winchester, first involved him in severe altercations with the courtiers attached to the Queen and Prince, and although Edward III. had so just a sense of the value of his abilities as to entrust the state affairs almost exclusively to his manage¬ ment, yet their malignant representations had so much effect as to detach from him the royal countenance, notwithstanding his offence does not seem to have amounted to more than withholding unconstitutional supplies for carrying on the wars in which that sovereign was engaged '. He defended his own conduct and the church’s rights with great spirit, in the parlia¬ ment, and at the intercession of many Bishops and nobles, was again taken into favour, admitted to the privy council, and became chief counsellor. He died at Mayfield, 1348. John de Offohd was also appointed by bull of provision. He com¬ menced D. D. at Cambridge, became canon of Wells, Dean of Lincoln, and Chancellor of England. He died 1349, before he could be consecrated. Thomas Bradwardin, a very worthy and skilful divine, who had at¬ tended Edward III. on the continent as his confessor, and from whom that monarch received much religious instruction, was fixed upon to fill the chair, both by the Pope and the King. He had commenced D. D. at Oxford, 1 he late Rev. Mr. Duncombe admirably pleads the cause of the prelate in this dispute : “ A minister who had thus ably,, and thus faithfully, served his King and country, in the highest posts of church and state, owed it to his own character to assert his innocence against calumny in the manner he did, with fortitude and freedom. The Prince who could so far forget himself as to enter into the cabals of his courtiers against such a minister, deserves to be treated with as little ceremony as this Archbishop used in his defence. An honest man, overborne by superior power, has no other resource but in his own magnanimity; and he was happy in such a spirit. Had he sunk under the weight of the King's dis¬ pleasure, stirred up by the treachery of invidious courtiers, his innocence must have been sacrificed to their craft and malice; and Stratford would have descended to posterity, characterised as a corrupt and unfaithful Minister of State, while he is now recorded for an able politician, a disinterested patriot, and an excellent metropolitan.”— Duncombe’s Antiquities of Cant. Cathed. 2d edit.—It may, perhaps, ex¬ cite a smile to consider the comparative expenditure of modern and former diplomatists. Stratford crossed the channel thirty-two times in the public service, besides several journeys to Scotland, for which he never received above 300/. out of the Exchequer. I 160 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION and filled a canonry at Lincoln. The fatigue of his journey for the pall, and the consequent return, brought on a fever, of which he died the same year. He wrote against the Pelagian heresy, and was so well versed in school-divinity as to have gained the title of “ Doctor profundus Simon Islip, sirnamed from the place of his birth in Oxfordshire, took the degree of D. L. at Oxford, in which university he founded Canterbury college, since annexed to Christchurch : he was appointed Archdeacon ot Stow, Vicar-general to the Bishop of Lincoln, Canon, and Official of that See, Canon of St. Paul’s, and Dean of the Arches; and had the primacy given him by the Pope. Although very liberal in his endowments, he was rigidly severe towards the inferior clergy in his visitations; enforcing heavy penalties for immoral conduct. When he came to this See he found its palaces in a most ruinous state, and pulled down that at Wrotham to repair and finish one at Maidstone. He died at Mayfield, May 1366. 2 Simon Langham, Prior and Abbot of Westminster, was made Lord Treasurer by the King, next promoted to the See of Ely, and the follow¬ ing year honoured with the dignity of Lord Chancellor. He was elevated to the primacy by bull of provision. Equally honoured by two patrons, the Pope and the King, this prelate found himself in a situation of great un¬ pleasantness when a breach took place between these potentates, concerning the tribute which Urban VII. had the presumption to claim from England, as agreed to be paid by John.—The Pope, to secure Langham’s interest, gave him the purple, a proceeding which gave such umbrage to the King, • Chaucer has a sarcastic touch at this species of learning, then highly in vogue : ,l But I ne can not boult it to the Bren, As can the holy Doctour Saynt Austin, Or Bocce, or the Bishop Bradwardin. 1 In order to re-establish, in some measure, the credit of his See, this prelate sued the executors of his predecessors for dilapidations, and recovered; and also procured permission from the Pope to tax his clergy four pence in every mark, which his collectors enlarged to a tenth.—By his last will he gave to his convent the churches of Eastry and Monkton, and to the church of Christ 1000 sheep, many rich vestments, and much plate. SECT. V. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 161 who had not been consulted, that he seized Langham’s temporalities, who made a compulsory resignation of his dignity, and retired to Avignon. In consideration of his privations, the Pope bestowed upon him several bene¬ fices, by which means he acquired much wealth. Backed with this power¬ ful auxiliary, he returned to England, and in paying reverence to the King by taking off his hood much incensed the Court of Rome. He, however, contrived to be re-appointed on Wittlesea’s death by the election of the con¬ vent, but found his power so unstable that he returned to, and died at Avignon, 1374. His body was afterwards removed to England, and in¬ terred in Westminster Abbey '. William Wittlesea, was nephew to Archbishop Islip, and educated at Cambridge, where he was made master of Peterhouse. His uncle ap¬ pointed him his proctor at Rome, Vicar-general, and Dean of the Arches, Archdeacon of Huntingdon, Rector of Croydon and Cliffe, and Bishop of Ro¬ chester ; thence he was translated to Worcester, and was placed in the pri¬ macy upon Langham’s resignation. He procured a bull to free the univer¬ sity of Oxford from the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Lincoln. He died July 1374. Simon Sudbury, a very liberal and munificent prelate, was translated hither from the See of London. He was a native of the village in Suffolk from whence he took his sirname. Going abroad when young, he- rose to he Chaplain to Innocent VI. and Auditor to the Rota at Rome. Upon his return to England he was made Chancellor of Salisbury, and placed in the above-mentioned See. Soon after his elevation, he commenced the magni¬ ficent plan of rebuilding great part of his cathedral church at his own cost; 1 Under this primate the monkish system began visibly to totter.—The sarcasms of Chaucer and other writers had lessened the reverence for the monks which had hitherto prevailed with the community; and in his zeal for the Benedictine interest, the Archbishop gave great offence to that respectable body the secular clergy, by expelling them from the college of his predecessor. These, with Wickliffe at their head, now ventured openly to declaim against the intolerable bondage in which the Court of Home aimed to maintain the opinions and understandings of men. Y 162 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. V. but being made prisoner by the mob under Straw and Tyler, was beheaded on Tower Hill. Hon. William Courtney, fourth son of Hugh Earl of Devon, by Margaret, daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, had been three years Chancellor of Oxford, and besides other benefices held a pre¬ bend in Wells, Exeter, and York. He became successively Bishop of Hereford, and London ; from which he was translated according to the pre¬ sent custom by hull of provision. He died July 1396, after having contri¬ buted liberally to carry on the works his predecessor had planned. Hon. Thomas Arundel, destined to he an active agent in the me¬ morable revolution which brought in Henry IV. was the second son of the Earl of Arundel. His preferments were, Archdeacon of Taunton, Bishop of Ely, Archbishop ol York, and primate : being at the time of his transla¬ tion Lord Chancellor, which office he resigned. He was not long after impeached in parliament for instituting the commission of government which curtailed the royal prerogatives of Richard II. and was sentenced to banish¬ ment; from whence he returned with the Earl of Derby, and gave the church’s sanction to his usurpation. After contributing liberally to the de¬ corations and wealth of his church, he died Feb. 1413 '. Henry Ciiichely, a most exemplary model of a Christian pastor, was translated from the See of St. David’s. He was born at Higham Ferrers, where he founded a college, and alms-house; educated at Oxford, where he founded Bernard’s college, now St. John’s, and All Souls. He likewise built the library to his church, and furnished it with books.—He died April 1 If it were possible that the fury of bigotry might become calm, and the flame of intolerant zeal extinguished, in the breasts of those who blindly persecute their fellows for differences of opinion on religious topics, how awfully self-accusing must be the sensations of minds, which, on such points only, seem dead to all natural sympathies !—The mind of Arundel was of a superior cast, yet he was a most rigorous persecutor of the Lollards. Surely then that system , which interweaving temporal power with spiritual doctrines, would enforce speculative dogmas by the dungeon, the rack, and the faggot, ought to be uniformly exposed to abhorrence, however our admiration may be excited by the men, unfortu¬ nately linked to its cause, and giving it false dignity. SECT. V. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 16*3 1443.—Notwithstanding the persecuting spirit of the time, Chichely dis¬ played much gentleness of conduct towards the Reformers; and his correct sense of his duty to his country and his sovereign, are evinced by his resist¬ ance to papal encroachments, though he thereby sacrificed his elevation to the purple. John Stafford was appointed by the Pope, having been recommended as his successor by Chichely. He was the son of Sir Humphry Stafford, of Dorset, and educated at Oxford. Through various ecclesiastic and secular preferments he was elected successively to the Sees of Salisbury, and Bath and Wells, and appointed to the office of Lord Treasurer, which he resigned on gaining the primacy. He died at Maidstone, 1452. John Kemp was a native of Kent, and educated at Merton college, Oxford. After preliminary stages of promotion, he became progressively Bishop of Rochester, Chichester, and Archbishop of York, was created a Cardinal, and appointed Lord Chancellor, and at a very advanced age was translated to the primacy. He founded a college at Wye, the place of his birth, for secular priests, to instruct youth. He died April 1454. Hon. Thomas Bourchier, by whose agency the newly discovered art of printing is reported to have been brought to England from Haarlem, and practised at Oxford, was some time Chancellor of that university, Dean of St. Martin’s London, Bishop of Worcester, and of Ely, from which See he was translated to Canterbury, and honoured with the Cardinal’s hat, and the office of Lord Chancellor.—He has been accused of avarice and mean¬ ness : perhaps the anarchy of the times in which he lived, and the unsettled nature of public establishments, might justify a prudential reserve of the means in his power, until such institutions bore an aspect of security. He left liberal bequests to both the universities, and to the several churches of the Sees he had held. John Morton commenced D. L. at Baliol college, Oxford, and after various preferments in church and state, becoming a favourite of Edward IV< was recommended by him to the See of Ely, translated to the primacy, and 164 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION was made a Cardinal by Alexander VI. before which be was appointed Lord Chancellor. His talents for state affairs were laudably exerted to relieve his country from the distracted state in which contending claims for the govern¬ ment had placed it.—His loyalty to Henry VII. after he had exerted him¬ self to establish him on the throne, distinguished itself in many sagely- conceived, and able proceedings, to ingratiate him with the people, and to render his government universally respected. He was munificent to the church, and universities. He died Oct. 1500. Henry Dean commenced IX D. at New college, Oxford ; was next Abbot of Lanthony, preferred to the Bishopric of Bangor, and appointed by Edward I\ . Chief Justiciary of Ireland, where he displayed much vigi¬ lance and ability; in reward for which lie was made Chancellor of the Gar¬ ter, translated to Sa!isbury r , and thence to the primacy; and finally was made Lord Chancellor ; which office he held at his death, Feb. 1503. William Warham, a man of learning and ability, but the lustre of whose talents was eclipsed by the superior brilliancy of his rival for courtly honours, Wolsey, was born at Oakley, in Hampshire, educated in Wyke- ham’s college at Winchester, created D. L. at New college, Oxford, and through various preferments, arrived at the honour of holding the See of London, and the office of Lord Chancellor.—In the affair of the divorce of Henry \ III. he conducted himself considerably to tile satisfaction of that self-willed and arbitrary tyrant, who found Warham’s complying, if not servile nature, more conformable to his desires than the refined subtlety of the Cardinal, and primate of York. It would he foreign to our plan of treating our subject, as a work of an¬ tiquity, and would carry us much beyond our prescribed limits, to dilate upon points of history purely theological. The communication of know¬ ledge, the spread of opinion, by the mysterious direction of an all-wise Providence, were now producing that course of events which led to tile establishment of the office of the primacy upon a footing better consistent with the real interests ol the church, than the unbecoming union of state- intrigues and cabals, with the functions of a spiritual pastor; and which placed in a light of nnld and radiant splendour, the truly great and good men, of whom we shall do little more than enumerate the names in our re¬ maining succession of prelates. Warham, from mistaken zeal, in vain persecuted a cause which gained ground with rapidity, and forced upon the monarch the consideration of the advantages it afforded to enable him to throw off the fettering shackles of Rome.—After exercising much severity towards the Reformers, Warham died at Ha eking ton, Aug. 1532. Thomas Cranmer. This amiable man owed his elevation from a ty¬ rannical, yet not undiscerning monarch, to the purity of his principles.— Having been sent to Rome to plead Henry’s right of acting upon the opinions of English divines, in the affair of his divorce, without submitting to papal interference, he was in Germany communicating with the illus¬ trious reformers of that country when sent for to fill the primacy.—Henry had felt so much controlled by men whose subtle schemes sought to coun¬ teract his endeavours at acquiring the power of unlimited indulgence, that he placed, with delight, at the head of the English church a prelate whose conscientious sense of his pastoral duties would direct him to fix his atten¬ tion upon more sublime ends than were promised by practising the craft of courts.—Thus appointed, and thus protected, he laboured with holy fervor in support of that good cause which has graced Christianity with its most illustrious martyrs. We have only to mention, that the amiable Prince Ed¬ ward, and the Princess Elizabeth, received from Cranmer their religious instruction, to render conspicuous the vast and important benefits, of which his exertions were laying the foundations. It would have spared an agoniz¬ ing feeling to the breast of sympathy, had the life of the former been spared to protect his venerable tutor, and to prove the medium through which the world might receive the benefit of his labours.—But Cranmer was to receive all his rewards in a higher sphere.—The simplicity, the goodness of his character—the memorable occurrences of his life—his malignant persecution ■<>£>■ a.s'-* m >'< SECT. V. OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 166 HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION SECT. V. and barbarous death, have been too often detailed to need repetition. He was burned at Oxford, in the reign of Mary, upon a double charge of trea¬ son and heresy, May 1555. Hon. Reginald Pole, descended from the royal house of Plan tage net, was at Verona, and had been made a Cardinal, when be received an earnest request from Mary to return to England, with which he complied, and ar¬ rived as Legate from Julius III. He was consecrated Archbishop of Can¬ terbury the day after Cranmer’s execution, and died Nov. 1558.—Pole was of a mild and engaging disposition, and though conscientiously attached to the cause of Rome, was so gentle towards the Reformers, as to receive much reproach from the zealots of the day. Matthew Parker was born at Norwich, and educated at Bennet college, Cambridge, was made Chaplain to Henry VIII. and tutor to the Princess Elizabeth, Dean of Lincoln, and Prebendary of Coldingham. On Mary’s accession he was deprived of bis preferments, hut afterwards ad¬ vanced by Elizabeth to the primacy. He died May 1576, after having dis¬ tinguished himself by much liberality, and patronage of art and literature. Edmund Grindall was translated from York. He died July 1583. John Whitgift, from Worcester, died Feb. 1603. Richard Bancroft, from London, died Nov. 1610. George Abbot, from London, died Aug. 1633. William Laud, from London, was beheaded on Tower Hill, Jan. 10, 1645. William Juxon, from London, died June 20, 166S. Gilbert Sheldon, from London, died Aug. 9, 16/7- William Sancroft, from the Deanery of St. Paul’s, died Nov. 24,1693. John Tii.lotson, from the Deanery of St. Paul’s, died Nov. 22, 1694. Thomas Tenison, from Lincoln, died Dec. 14, 1715. William Wake, from Lincoln, died Jan. 24, 17^7- John Potter, from Oxford, died-1747- Thomas Herring, from York, died March 13, 1 7 ^ 7 - 01? CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. , fi - Matthew Hutton, from York, died March 19, 1 7 58 Ihomas Secker, from Oxford, died Aug. 3, 17«8. 19, Sr"" C ° KNWALLIS ’ fr ° m Lichfidd a " d Coventry, died March •John Moore, from Bangor, died Jan. 18, 1805. Charles Manners Sutton, from Norwich. /J'UHn if- tt'.Hoohu-tl . y/'z/rV-/ V/'/Z/Pr, (ANTERBURY CATIIEI)UAE. ~,X- ■ v -'-. ‘ • •■'SJiV c’j A ADDENDA TO SECTION V. List and Biographical Notices of the Deans and Priors of Cfjust Cfwtcfi; also of the Deans of Canterbury, and of Distinguished Members of the COllfoent Of CljtfetCfjUtClj* Until the time of Lanfranc, the title of Decanus, or Dean, seems to have been borne by the principal of this monastery, after which that of Prior was retained until its dissolution. A system of order and discipline was first established among the monks in the time of Wilfrid, when they were collected to¬ gether in cells and offices attached to the cathedral church, and that prelate appointed their first suuer- intendant about 820. Deans. 820. Celenoth preferred to the prelacy. 831. AEgelvvine. In his time the plague carried off most of the monks. Alfric—Kinsyn — Maurice —Alsine—AElfwine— At helsine. 1015. /Fgelnoth preferred to the Archbishopric. 1020. Gothic, a disciple of Elphegus, whose re¬ mains he translated from London to Canter¬ bury, 1023 ; he presided above 30 years. Priors. 1080. Henry, a Norman, and scholar to Lanfranc in the abbey of Bee ; appointed by William Ru¬ fus to the abbey of Battle, 1096. 1096. Ernulphus, a Norman monk, and the first Prior of Rochester; to which convent, and also to Christchurch, he was a very liberal be¬ nefactor. He was preferred to Peterburgh, where he constructed many useful buildings; and finally made Bishop of Rochester by Ra- dulph. He was the author of the Textus Rof- fensis. 1 107 . Conrad, monk and sacristan of this church, and Confessor to Henry I. We have noticed that he gave his name to the magnificent choir which was destroyed by fire. He was pro¬ moted to the abbey of St. Benner, of Holme, co. Norfolk, 1126. 1126. Gosfride. The reputation of the monks of this convent for learning and piety had risen so high, that in the year 1128, David, King of Scots, petitioned the Archbishop to admit this Prior to superintend his abbey of Dumfermling, which was granted, and Gosfride soon after repaired thither. 1 128. Elmerus, a learned and good monk. Ger- vase calls him “ Vir magnte simplicitatis etexi- miae religionis." He wrote various theological treatises, homilies, epistles, &c. 1137- Jeremiah, monk of this church, mentioned by Gervaseas having had much altercation with Archbishop Theobald, by whom he was deposed, when he retired to St. Augustine's. 1143. Walter, sirnamed Hardlooth, w as appointed upon Jeremiah’s deposition. His learning is commendably spoken of. He wrote several treatises on divinity. He was promoted to the See of Coventry 1149. 1153. Walter Parvus, or the little. Chaplain to Archbishop Theobald, whose displeasure he in¬ curred, and was deposed, and imprisoned at Gloucester. 1153. Wybert, Sub Prior, was now elevated, and was a very liberal benefactor; among other va¬ luable donations, he is said in the Obituary, to have given his church a bell so immense as to require 32 men to ring it. 1167. Oliver. Wrote a book of sermons and ho¬ milies. 1170. Richard was elevated to the Archbishopric. 1173- Odo, a virulent oppose!* of Henry II. in defence of the privilege of the convent at aiv chiepiscopal elections. He wrote many works, ADDENDA. which are enumerated in Dart. He was made Abbot of Battle 11/5. 1175. Benedict, a great favourite of Richard I. to make up whose ransom he sold the church plate of the abbey of Peterburgh, to which he was translated two years after his appointment. He wrote a valuable History of the Life and Transactions of Henry 11. nowin MS. in the Cotton library. 1177- Harlewine, resigned his office on account of blindness. 1179. Alanus, Doctor of Divinity, and sacristan of the convent; a faithful friend to Becket, and a no less zealous opposer of Baldwin, who procured him to be removed to Tewksbury, 118G, asGerva.se says, “ quasi in poenam suae constantiae." He wrote several works concern¬ ing Bccket and Henry II. the Acts of Claren¬ don, Epistles, &c. 118G. Honorius, Chaplain to Baldwin, and cel¬ larer, died two years after at Rome, whither he went to complain of Baldwin's proceedings. 1189. Roger Norris was forced on the refractory convent by Baldwin, and so much displeased the monks, that he was soon after made Abbot of Evesham. Giraldus Cambrensis gives him a most unfavourable character, and states that he had at one time two-and-twenty bastards. He became so notorious that the Bishop of Tus- culum, the Pope's Legate, deposed him with disgrace. 1190. Osbern de Bristo was also placed over the monks against their will by Baldwin, but re¬ moved the following year, on the Archbishop’s death. 1191. Galfridus, Sub Prior, was elected by the convent, and earnestly resisted, on their behalf, the attempt of Hubert to found a college at Lambeth, upon the plan of the one projected by his predecessor. 1206. John de Chatham, in whose time the con¬ vent had the celebrated altercation with King John. 191“. Walter 11T. 1999. John de Sittingburn. This Prior was said to have been chosen by the convent for their Archbishop, but, when he went to Rome the Pope rejected him as a simple old man. 1934. Roger de la Lee. 1244. Nicholas de Sandwich resigned upon a dif¬ ference with Boniface, and was afterwards made Precentor. 1258. Roger de St. Elphege built a chapel be¬ tween the dormitory and infirmary. 1263. Adam de Chillenden, elected Archbishop 1270, but not approved of by Pope Gregory X on going to Rome. 1274. Thomas Ryngmere, a rigid disciplinarian, who much displeased the luxurious part of the convent; he resigned his priory in order to embrace the strict life of the Cistercians, at Baulieu, in the diocess of Winchester; and afterwards, by leave of Archbishop Winchelsea, turned Anchorite; a history of his resignation is in Cot. lib. Cleopatra C. VII. 12. 1285. Henry de Estria, a man of great genius, taste, and liberality ; a careful steward of the church's revenue, and a brave assertor of its liberties. We have noticed the exquisite works with which he adorned our cathedral: he died at the advanced age of 92. 1331. Richard de Oxinden. 1338. Robert Hathbrand, a careful guardian of the property of the church, and of so much humility and devotion, that he is said never to have officiated without weeping. 1370. Richard Gillingham. 1376. Stephen Mongeham. 1377- John Finch de Winchelsea first procured from Urban VI. a bull, permitting the Prior of this distinguished convent to use the mitre, tunic, dalmatica, and ring. 1391. Thomas Chillenden, a most intelligent and skilful architect (see Sect. II.), and also distin¬ guished for his commentaries on the ancient laws: he procured various privileges for his convent; among others the use of the pastoral staff, and sandals, and liberty of solemn bene¬ diction, for the Prior. 1411. John Wodnesburgh, another able Archi¬ tect, and coadjutor, if not the instructor of Chillenden, also a worthy head of the convent. 1428. William Molash, also celebrated for as¬ sisting in the re-edification, and for his libe¬ rality, and purity of conduct. 1438. John Salisbury, D. D. 1446. John Elham. 1449. Thomas Goldstone. His beautiful works we have noticed. 1468. John Oxney. 1471. William Pet ham. 1472- William Sellynge, D. D. a man of learning, and a great benefactor to the church. 1495. Thomas Goldstone, 2. D. D. extolled for his learning and talents, and much esteemed by Henry VII. by whom he was sent on an embassy to the King of France. Of his buildings, re¬ parations, and princely donations, we have spo¬ ken in Sect. II. 1517- Thomas Goldwell, D. D. who, yielding to imperious necessity, surrendered to the com¬ missioners of Henry VIII. 1540, and refusing to accept of a prebend, retired to live privately on a small pension. ADDENDA. 171 Deans of Canterbury. 1540. Nicholas Wotton, D. L. was constituted Dean by the charter of incorporation; he is more particularly known for his state services, for which see his epitaph Sect. IV. and was of so much value as to be retained in his dignities during all the fluctuations of the times in which he lived. 156G. Thomas Godwin, D. D. was much esteemed by Queen Elizabeth. He was finally promoted to the See of Bath and Wells. 1584. Richard Rogers, D. D. 1597. Thomas Neville, D. D. was educated at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, became head of Magdalen college, Dean of Peterburgh, and head of Trinity college. He erected, 1609, the noble structure called after him, Neville's Court, Trinity college. 1615. Charles Fotherby, Fellow ofTrin. coll, and B. D. was 24 years Archdeacon, 20 Prebendary, and 4 Dean of this church. 1619. John Boys, D. D. was celebrated for his sermons and expositions. 1625. Isaac Bargrave, D. D. had been Rector of Chatham, Chaplain to Prince Charles, Pastor of St. Margaret, Westminster, and Chaplain to Charles I. 1642. George Eglionby, D. D. of Christ Church, Oxon. was one of the masters of Westminster school, tutor to George Duke of Buckingham, and Prebendary of Westminster. 1643. Thomas Turner, D. D. was recommended by Abp. Laud, to whom he had been domestic Chaplain, to be made Chaplain in ordinary to Charles I. to whom he remained faithfully at¬ tached through all his reverses, and from whom he received this Deanery, to which, after much persecution, he returned on the restoration, refusing all higher dignities. 1672. John Tillotson, D. D. preferred to the Arch¬ bishopric. 1689. John Sharp, D. D. preferred to York. 1691. George Hooper, D. D. preferred to Bath and Wells. 1703. George Stanhope, D. D. 1728. Elias Sydall, D. D. preferred to St. David’s and Gloucester. 1733. John Lynch, D. D. 1760. William Friend, D. D. 1766. John Potter, D. D. He was the eldest son of Archbishop Potter. 1770. Hon. Brownlow North, D. L. second son of Francis Earl of Guilford. Bishop of Lich¬ field and Coventry, 1771 j Worcester, 1774; and Winchester, 1781. 1771. John Moore, D .D. Bishop of Bangor, 1775; Archbishop of Canterbury, 1783. 1775. James Cornwallis, D. L. Bishop of Lich¬ field and Coventry, 1781. 1781. George Horne, D. D. 1790. William Buller, D. D. 1793. F. H. Wal. Cornwall, D. D. 1797. Thomas Powys, D. D. 1809. S. G. Andrews, D. D. Distinguished Monks of the Tn the time of Dean Celenoth. Hedde, sirnamed Stephen, is much praised by Bede, for his knowledge and application to study. He possessed great skill in ecclesiastic affairs. He is mentioned to have written the lives of St. Wilfrid, and of Eata and Tumbertus. Egelnoth. Fridegood, an excellent master of the Greek and Latin languages, a man of great piety, and strict discipline, and much praised by William of Malmsbury ; he wrote various tracts, the Life of St. Owen Monk ; the Sinner in the Gospel; Of the blessed Vision of Celes¬ tial Jerusalem; and Contemplations; also, at the request of Archbishop Odo, the Life of Wil¬ frid, Archbishop of York, in hexameter verse, which is extant in Cott. Lib. Claudius A. I. 1. Prior Henry. Osbern, a very ingenious monk, and much favoured by Archbishop Lanfranc; he was skilled in music, and of a courteous be¬ haviour, and most pleasant and witty conver- ConDcnt of Cfmstcfmrcf). sation. He wrote the Life of St. Dunstan, Arch¬ bishop ; of Odo, Archbishop ; of St. Elphegns, in verse and prose ; of Sf. Martin, Odilo, Mai- ola, &c. and Familiar Epistles of Music. Ernulphus. Folgard wrote the Life of Archbishop John, of Beverley, at the request of Aldred, Arch¬ bishop, which is in Cott. Lib. Faustina, B. IV. 8. also the Life of Odo. Conrad. Alexander wrote a book of the sayings of Archbishop Anselm—Edmund wrote con¬ cerning the quarrel between the King and An¬ selm ; of Ecclesiastical Liberty; and some other pieces.—Edmer, monk and chanter, afterwards Abbot of St. Alban's, and lastly Archbishop of St. Andrews in Scotland, was a considerable writer. He composed a History of England ; the Life and Acts of Anselm, and Elphegus, in prose and verse, together with elegiac verses upon the death of the former, and collections of his actions and sayings; the Life of St. Wil- frid; the Praises of the Virgin Mary, of St. Dunstan, in verse ; of the Actions of his times ; of the institutes of a Christian Life ; and seve¬ ral tracts. Odo. Samson Dorobernensis wrote homilies.— John de Duvia was made Abbot of Battle, 1213. —Edward, a friend of Abp Becket, and witness of his murder, wrote the life of that prelate. Alanus. Richard Pluto, much commended by Le- land for his skill in Poetry, Rhetoric, Mathe¬ matics, Philosophy, and Divinity, and espe¬ cially for his Ecclesiastical History of the King¬ dom. He wrote besides, various tracts. Roger Norris. William Fitz-Stephen, of a noble Norman family, was famous for his knowledge in Philosophy and Divinity. He wrote the Life of Becket, and of the affairs of Henry II. He is much referred to bv Hume. Galfridus. The celebrated Gervaise, historian and antiquary, to whom we are so much indebted. He wrote the History of England ; of the Bri¬ tons, Saxons, and Normans ; the Lives of the Archbishops to Hubert; of the Burning of Christchurch ; of the Quarrel between Baldwin and the Monks ; of the small regions of Bri¬ tain ; of the Bishop's Sees; of Monasteries, &c.—Nigellus Wireker, monk and chaunter, according to Leland, a learned divine, and very severe against the vices of the clergy, and who wrote some severe satires against William Long- champ, Bishop of Fly, and Chancellor, extant in the Cot. Lib.; likewise numerous' legendary works. Henry de Estria. John of Thanet, monk and chaunter, skilled in Mathematics, and in Mu¬ sic ; set the church service to music, and wrote some legends. Richard de Oxinden. Edmund Albone, D. D. Le¬ land commends him for his Enquiry into Di¬ vine Mysteries. He wrote a comment on Boe- tius. and a treatise on the Trinity. John Finch. Stephen Burchington wrotethe Lives of the Archbishops, to Courtney. T. Chillenden. William Gyllingham, a famous his¬ torian, especially concerning the affairs of this church; the convent had paintings designed from his writings, to be hung round the church at festivals, to instruct the people, of which that of Becket's murder, still remaining, is supposed to be one.—John Bockingham, D. D. Bishop of Lincoln, retired to this'monastery, and wrote some treatises. J. Wodnesburgh. John Langden, D.D.Sub Prior, afterwards BLhop of Rochester, was appointed with others to judge of Wickliffe’s doctrine. He published a chronicle of England. T. Goldstone. John Stone wrote of the affairs of the monastery, and the opinions of the Fathers concerning Faith, Hope, and Charity, now in Bene't college library.—Wm. Chartham wrote Speculum parvulorum, now fa Lambeth librury. W. Sellynge. Thomas Cawston wrote an account of the monks professed from 1407 to I486, now in the archives of Canterbury. T. Goldstone II. John Uton wrote the obiits, and affairs of the church.—Lawrence Vade wrote the Life of Becket.—Reginald translated the Life of Malchus of Constantinople, into Latin verse.—Martin Clyne, a famous preacher, left behind him a volume of sermons. INDEX. ALFRIC, Abp. 138. Altars, superfluity of, 8; list of, 113; decorations of, ibid. Altar-screen, given by Queen Mary, 42; modern one erected, 44. Angels at the head of effigies, 90. Anselm, Abp. 141. Anselm's, St. chapel, exterior of, 52 ; interior, *3. Archbishops, contests for electing, 27 ; List of since the Reformation, 166. Archiepiscopal chair, situation of, 14. Architecture, Norman, 10; intioduction of the Grecian and Roman styles of, 4 i. Arundel steeple, spire of, taken down, 44. --, Hon. T. Abp. 162. Athc-lard, Abp. 125. Athelred, Abp. 125. Athelmus, Abp. 126. Athol, tomb of the Countess of, 87. Augustine, Abp. mission of, 4; account of, 171; character of, 119. Ayerst, Dr. epitaph of, 110. Baptistry, 68. Baldwin, Abp. 153. Bargrave, Dean, mon. of, 106. Becket, Abp. life of, 144 ; bold proceeding of, 148 ; murder of, 152 ; character of, ibid, translation of his remains, 30. Becket, St. Thomas, degraded by Hen. VIII, 36. -shrine of, despoiled, 36 ; situation of, 70. -'s crown, architecture of, 72; view from, ibid; is finished externally, 44; described, 53. V \ INDEX. 173 Benedictine order, account of, 127. Boniface, Abp. 156. Bourchier, Abp. 163 ; tomb of, 95 ; epit. of, 96. Boys, Sir John, mon. of, 104 -Dean, mon. of, 106. Bradwardin, Abp. 159. Bregwine, Abp. 124. Brichtvvald, Abp. 124. Brithelm, Abp. 129. Burial, early modes of, 79 ; Roman method of, SO. Canterbury, antiquity of, 2 ; pestilence at, 6 ; plun¬ dered by the Danes, 7 ; approach to, 48 ; gene¬ ral view of, 49. Canute's encouragement to ecclesiastics, 7; crown of, preserved, ibid. Casaubon, epitaph of, 107. Central Tower, building of, 34 ; ascent of, 75 ; view from, 76. Celenoth, Abp. 125. Chancellor, office of, 145. Chantry chapel of Henry IV. 72. Chantries, 97; List of, 115. Chapter-house described, 55 ; tombs in, 98. Character of the monks vindicated, 38. Chair, patriarchal, original situation of, 9. Chatillion, Cardinal, tomb of, 98. Chichely, Abp. 162; tomb of, 91 ; epitaph of, ib. Choir of Conrad, magnificence of, 12; description of, ibid. ; destruction of, 16 ; curious girdle of arches on the exterior of, 51. Choir, new, consecration of, 20; modern, de¬ scribed, 67. Christchurch, consecration of, 4 ; original form of, ibid.; enlargement of, 5; reparation of, 6; Odo’s reparation of, ibid.; Osbern’s description, ibid. ; Edmer's description, 7 ; Lanfranc’s reparation, 10; Gervase’s description, ibid ; desecration of, 14 ; burning of, 15 ; choir of, rebuilt, 17; mag¬ nificence of, 35 ; forlorn state of, during the Commonwealth, 43 ; adornment of, at the Re¬ storation, ibid ; decay of the building of, 45 ; care taken of, ibid.; retrospect of the history of, ibid. Christchurch-gate, 49. Christianity, introduction of, 2. Clarence, Duke of, tomb of, 93 ; punning epitaph upon, 94. Clarendon, constitutions of, 147- Close, encroachments upon, 50. Cloyster described, 54. Constantins Chlorus encourages the Christians, 3. Consistory court, 58. Colleges founded by Theodore, 123. Coronation, ceremony of, its importance, 143. Corboil, William, Abp. 142. Convent of Christchurch, arrogance of, 27 ; con¬ tentions of Henry II. with, 28 ; decline of, 32 ; festivals of, abrogated, 36; dissolution of, ibid. Courtney, Abp. 162 ; tomb of, 90. Cranmer, Abp. 165. Crypts, origin of, 8. Cuthbert, Abp. 124 ; procures privilege of inter¬ ment to Christchurch, 81. Damianus, Abp. 121. Dean, Abp. 164. Deans of Christchurch, list of, 169 ; of Canterbury, 171. Domus hospitium, 53. Dunstan, Abp. life of, 130 ; remains of, discovered, 114. Dunstan steeple, building of, 34; description of, 50. Eadsius, Abp. 139. Edmund, Abp. 156. Edward the Black Prince, his tomb, 87; epitaph of, S8. Effigy, cumbent, striking effect of, 83. Effigies, cadaverous, reprehended, 83. Egelnoth, Abp. 139. Elphegus, Abp. 138. Essex, Mr. the architect, letter of, 12. Ethelbert, conversion of, 4. Ethelgar, Abp. 138. Fitz-Josceline, Abp. 154. Font described, 69. Fotherby, Dean, mon. of 106. Front, west, described, 50. Gibbons, Orlando, 109. Green court, 53. Hales, Sir James, mon. of, 101 ; epitaph of, ibid. Hardres, Jane, mon. of, 108; epitaph of, ibid. Hemy IV. and his Queen, tomb of, 92. Henry de Estria, Prior, taste of, 31; his works about the church, ibid. Holland, Margaret, tomb of, 93. Honorius, Abp. 125. Hubert, Walter, Abp. 154; tomb of, 84. Jaenberght, Abp. 125. Interdict, nature of, 29. Islip, Abp. 160 ; tomb of, 97. Justus, Abp. 120. Kemp, Abp. 163 ; mon. of, 94. Kilwardby, Abp. 156. Lady-chapel, building of, 34; described, 61. Lady-chapel in crypt, beautified, 35; described, 65. Lanfranc, Abp. 140. Langham, Abp. 160. Langton, Stephen, Abp. 154. Laurentius, Abp. 119. Lawrence, Dr. mon. of, 110,. epitaph of, ibid. Legate, curious story concerning, 143. Library, 69. Livingus, Abp. 138. Magnus, Richard, Abp. 155. Martyrdom, described, 59 ; window of, 60. Measurements of the building, 76. Mellitus, Abp. 120. 174 Mepham, Abp. 158; tomb of, 85. Michael’s, St. or Warrior's chapel, described, 75. Milles, Anna, raon. of, 108 ; epitaph of, ibid. Miracle, fabrication of, 129. Mohun, Lady, of Dunstar, tomb of, 92. Monastery of Christchurch established, 5. Monks, distinguished, list of, 1/1. Monumental constructions, classification of, 81. Monuments, change in style of, 99. Morton, Abp. 163, tomb of, 96. Nave, rebuilt by Chillenden, 33. Nevil, Dean, epitaph of, 103. Nevil, Alexander, epitaph of, 103. Nothelmus, Abp. 124. Oaks, the, a conventual garden, 52. Odo, Abp. 126. Offbrd, John de, Abp. 159. Pall, account of, 118. Parker, Abp. 166. Patriarchal chair, 72. Peckham, Abp. 157; tomb of, 85. Plegmund, Abp. 125. Pointed style of architecture, characteristics of, 33; degeneracy of, 41. Pole, Abp. 166 ; tomb of, 98. Priors, skill and taste of, “5 ; list of, 169. Prude, Col. mon. of, 104 ; epitaph of, ibid. Radulph, Abp. 142. Reformation produces change in art, 90. Relics, origin of the sanctity of, 80. Reynolds, Abp. 158; tomb of, 85. Richard, Abp. 153. Robert, Abp. 139. Rooke, Sir G. mon. of, 105; epitaph of, ibid. Sacrist, office of, 69. Saravia, Dr. Adrian, 109. Sarcophagus, invention of, 79. Saxons, invasion of, 3. Screen to the choir, described, 66. Shrine of Becket, offerings at, 15; description of, 115. Shrines, list of, 114. Siricius, Abp. 138. Somerset, Earl of, tomb of, 92. South Porch described, 51. Stafford, Abp. 163. Stephen Langton, Abp. tomb of, 84. Stratford, Abp. 158 ; tomb of, 86. Stuart, Col. mon. of, 110, epist. of, 111. Stygand, Abp. 139. Sudbury, Abp. 161 ; tomb of, 90. Survey, internal, 57. System, monkish, decline of, 161. Tapers, size of, 69. Tatwine, Abp. 124. Theodore, Abp. 121. Theologild, Abp. 125. Theobald, Abp. 143; preservation of the remains of, 22 ; tomb of, S2. Thornhurst, Sir T. mon. of 101 ; epitaph of, ib. -Lady, mon. of, 102. -Dame Dorothy, mon. of, 102; epi¬ taph of, ibid. Tombs, destroyed, notice of, 112. Transept, west, rebuilt, 33 ; interior of, 74. -east, interior of, 68; exterior, 52, Translation of the fathers of Christchurch, 20. Trinity chapel, described, 70, architecture of, 71- Trithona, Abp. 121. Turner, Dean, mon. »>»»»»>»>>: 'rrrrr.r