FOOTNOTES:
[7] "The Century Magazine," March, 1888.
[8] The numerals in brackets refer to the position of each monument as shown on the plan.
[9] In 1448 Nicholas Upton the precentor tried to limit the choice of the choristers to three candidates selected by the chapter; but this attempt to curtail their privilege was successfully resisted by the boys.
THE CATHEDRAL PRECINCTS.[ToC]
he common practice of writers who are describing any one of our more important cathedrals is to declare that altogether it may be fairly called the most beautiful. So great is the fascination exercised by continual study of a single mediæval building which has escaped destruction, or over-restoration, that such a statement may be advanced in all good faith. In claiming, however, that the cloisters of Salisbury are on the whole the most beautiful in England, it is merely re-asserting what many critics of Gothic architecture have already decided to be true. The cloisters of Gloucester are far richer, the space they cover at Wells (like Salisbury, not a monastic establishment) is greater, and in other details these may not be the finest. But, as a whole, their beautiful proportion and the general symmetry of their design make them worthy adjuncts to a building which is pre-eminent for these special qualities.
Situated, according to the usual custom, on the south-west side of the cathedral, with their western wall in a line with its west front, they are exceedingly picturesque. Even so far back as the time of Leland, we find him declaring that "the cloister on the south side of the church is one of the largest and most magnificent in Britain." Yet, as a recent critic has observed, from a purely technical point of view, there is "too great a mass of blank wall above the arcade." The green sward of the large garth, 140 feet square, with its covered walks, 181 feet long, on each side, and the fine group of cedars in the centre, showing against the cool grey of the stonework realize the ideal of that cloistered solitude so dear to the poets; it should not be forgotten, however, that the arrangements of this cathedral are not monastic, for it was never aught but a collegiate building. The style is late thirteenth century with windows of exceedingly graceful design; double arches with quatrefoils above, united in pairs with a large six-foiled circle in the main head. The upper portions of the tracery had, not so long ago, traces of coloured glass here and there, but whether this feature was part of the original scheme is very doubtful. The shafts, originally of Purbeck marble (replaced in 1854 by stone) both between and in the centres of the windows have simply moulded capitals; while those of the clustered columns at the main angles are carved. Modern opinion is inclined to date the beginning of the work between 1260 to 1284; but so late as 1338, as a dated charter in Bishop Wyville's time which refers to the enlargement of the cloisters shows, they were not quite completed; hence it is inferred that a part, possibly only one side, was built at first. The north arcade is entirely independent of the south wall of the nave, the long space between being known as the Plumbery. The garth is used as a burial ground, and in the cloisters are many monuments, but none of more than local interest, except possibly a tablet to the memory of Francis Price (died Mar. 20th, 1753, aged 50), the cathedral architect, whose excellent monograph devoted to the building is still one of the most useful books of reference on the subject. The drawing here reproduced from Britton's "Salisbury," shows the work before its restoration by Bishop Denison; but it has been chosen because it suggests the peculiar beauty of the place better than any photograph. From the cloisters a very charming glimpse of the spire may be obtained.
THE CLOISTERS.
From a Photograph by Messrs. Poulton.[ToList]
THE CLOISTERS, LOOKING NORTH.[ToList]
The Library occupying the upper story that extends over part of the eastern arcade is an important collection, its manuscripts alone filling a hundred and eighty-seven volumes. These (with one exception, bequeathed by Bishop Denison, a splendidly illuminated breviary circa A.D. 1460, containing among other specially interesting matter the order of service for the installation of the Boy-bishops,) have been in the possession of the dean and chapter at least four hundred years, and range in date, according to the best authorities, from the ninth to the fourteenth centuries.
Among the most important is (No. 150) A Psalter, of the Gallican Version, on vellum, 160 folios, tenth century. The decorations of this MS. are somewhat rude, the initials and colouring throughout being chiefly in red. Internal evidence fixes its date about A.D. 969. A Psalter (No. 180) on 173 folios, contains in parallel columns the Gallican and Hebrew of Jerome's translation, and other matter, with ornamental initials and devices; a Lectionary on vellum, 190 folios (No. 153) is a finely written manuscript, with elaborate initials in gold and colours, this is about A.D. 1277. A fifteenth century "Processional for the Use of Sarum," on vellum, 50 folios (No. 148) contains some entries that throw light on various local customs, as for example, the distribution of the carpet used in the enthronement of the bishop, which was laid from ostio hospicii agni to the altar in the treasury. The unique "Tonale secundum usum Sarum" bound with an "Ordinale secundum usum Sarum" (No. 175) is of the fourteenth century, on 214 folios of vellum. In a volume (No. 39) is a copy of the Gospel of Nicodemus in an English version beginning, "Whanne Pylatus was reuler and justyse of ye Jewerye, and Rufus and Leo were consuls." Another book of more than ordinary interest is Chaucer's translation of Boethius' "De Consolatione Philosophiæ," on vellum in double columns, fifteenth century. A twelfth century MS. of the "Historia Regum Brittaniæ," by Geoffrey de Monmouth (No. 121); and the "Historia Miscella" of Paul Warnefrid, are among many others that deserve mention.
Among the printed books of the Library are about a score belonging to the fifteenth century, and one hundred of the sixteenth. Some of these are of extreme rarity. In a copy of Sibbes' "Returning Backslider" is this couplet (attributed to Doddridge) in the handwriting, with autograph, of Isaac Walton:
"Of this blest man let this just praise be given,
Heaven was in him before he was in heaven."
Bishop Gheaste was a benefactor to the library, and left it a large legacy, the foundation of the present collection of printed books.
The library is shown to the public on certain days, and the clergy of the diocese have the privilege of borrowing books therefrom.
According to the "Inventory of the Riches of the Cathedral Church of Sarum," made by Master Thomas Robertson, treasurer of the same church in 1536, 28th year of Henry VII., we find images, "of God the Father with our Saviour young, of silver and gilt with gold, ornate with red stones weighing 74 ounces." Others of Our Lady, including a "grate and fair ymage sitting in a chaire ... her child sits in her lap very costly and fair to look upon." Reliques of the 11,000 virgins, in four purses; Pyxides of Ivory of Chrystal, and silver gilt, "Cruces" of Gold and Silver. And a great Cross silver and gilt with images on the crucifix, Mary and John, and the left part of the cross—weighing 180 ounces. Calices (chalices), Fereta, Candelabra, Philateria, Tabernucla, Ampulæ, Thuribula, Chrismatones, Copes and Chasubles, Mitres, Basons, Garlands, and hangings, Morses and many other items. Also the textus, which was given by Hubert de Burgh, here described as "A text after Matthew having images of St. Joseph, and our Lady and our Saviour all in a bed of straw, in every corner is the image of an apostle," and a huge list of items not merely interesting in themselves, but as evidence of the wealth of the cathedral.
RINGS FOUND IN THE LADY CHAPEL.[ToList]
The Muniment Room, which is approached from the south choir transept, is part of a two-storied building, octagonal in plan. The ground floor, formerly the sacristy, is now used as a vestry for the canons; the upper one, a dimly-lighted room, with an oak roof supported by a central column of wood, is the muniment chamber. Traces of a cross on the central pillar support the theory that the "Altar in the Treasury," referred to in various early documents, stood here. The solidity and strength of the building, and the fact that it was undoubtedly the store house for the vestments and treasures of the church, leaves little doubt that the supposition is true.
A very fine cope chest, reproduced by Mr. William Burges in his "Architectural Drawings," 1870, until lately preserved in the vestry, now in the north choir aisle, has a quaintly-carved capital on one of its shafts that suggests a very early date for its construction. The heavy lid was originally lifted by a rope and windlass. Although possessing no traces of painting or gilding, and but little carving, it is both curious and interesting as a specimen of woodwork coeval with the cathedral itself. A somewhat similar one exists in Westminster Abbey, in both the lifting lids worked on very slight pivots. At Westminster the chains remain. In 1834 a writer described the room as "a feast for moths and spiders;" now it is kept in admirable order. The most important of its extremely valuable documents have been printed in a volume devoted to Sarum in the "Master of the Rolls Series," in the late Canon Jones' "Fasti Ecclesiæ: Sarisberiensis." In addition to these historic papers there is an immense quantity of Chapter Registers and other MSS. of more local interest. Many of the chests and presses date from early times, when the three keys needed to open each were severally in the charge of three of the cathedral dignitaries. The contemporary copy of Magna Charta, made for William Longespée, first Earl of Salisbury, and referred to elsewhere, is sometimes exhibited here.
The documents which contain "the statutes and ordinances" by which the cathedral is governed, extend over six centuries, commencing in 1091 and ending 1697. These were edited by Dr. Edward A. Dayman, and the late Rev. W.H. Rich Jones, Vicar of Bradford-on-Avon, whose researches in the past history of not merely the cathedral, but the whole district, were so extended, that it is impossible to do justice in every instance to many facts which have been taken from his pages in the preparation of this handbook. The privately printed volume, published in 1883, contains the Latin text with English notes of these various documents. The details of most of these, although of immense value to antiquarians, are too technical to be available for quotation here, but the indirect allusions to customs and manners of the past, makes many a paragraph pleasant reading, although the whole document may refer to merely the working details of administration. The statute, dated A.D. 1319, relating to the rights of the boy bishop, is one of the few that have more than local interest.
HANGING PARAPET ON THE EAST WALL OF THE CLOSE.[ToList]
The Close is certainly a fit setting for the jewel it surrounds, and with full remembrance of the superb position of Durham, the picturesque eminence of Lincoln, the dignity that marks the isolated hill whereon Ely towers over the fens around it, the harmonious environment of Wells, and many another site made memorable by its cathedral, Salisbury is, in its own way, not less beautiful. The quiet tranquillity of the large lawn, the half-hidden houses that nestle among its trees, the sense of being completely shut off from the work-a-day world, impress one as much as the apparent vastness of the area thus devoted to the cathedral. Leland, in his "Itinerary," was equally struck with its beauty, although, as the frontispiece shows, the surroundings were very different before Wyatt's exploits, and probably in Leland's time preserved still more of their mediæval aspect. He says: "The great and large embatelid waulle of the palace having 3 gates to entre into it thus namyd: the close gate as principale by north ynto the town, Saint Anne's gate by est, and Harnham gate by south toward Harham bridge. The close wall was never ful finished as in one place evidently apperith I redde that in Bishop Rogers days as I remembere a convention was between him and the Canons of Saresbyri de Muro clausi."
Whether the builders of our great churches were conscious of the beauty of their surroundings, or whether no little of that loveliness is but the slow result of centuries of care and the accident of natural growth, need not be discussed. That to an American especially this peculiar beauty tells with great force we can readily believe, and Mrs. Van Rensselaer, whose paper on Salisbury has been quoted before in this book, expresses admirably the feeling, which, whether it be true or only imaginary, is no doubt the impression of such a place as the Close of Salisbury on many an educated visitor. "Salisbury," she writes, "is the very type and picture of the Church of the Prince of Peace. Nowhere else does a work of Christian architecture so express purity and repose and the beauty of holiness, while the green pastures that surround it might well be those of which the Psalmist writes. When the sun shines on the pale grey stones, and the level grass, and the silent trees, and throws the long shadow of the spire across them, it is as though a choir of seraphs sang in benediction of that peace of God which passeth understanding. The men who built and planted here were sick of the temples of Baalim, tired of being cribbed and cabined, weary of quarrelsome winds and voices. They wanted space and sun, and stillness, comfort and rest, and beauty, and the quiet ownership of their own; and no men ever more perfectly expressed, for future times to read, the ideal they had in mind."
The Bell Tower, a striking feature of the close as it was before 1789, is shown on page 19, in the facsimile of an engraving originally published in 1761, and re-engraved in the superb County History in 1804(?). This shows the campanile standing at the north-west corner of the inclosure.
In style it was about the same period as the chapter house and cloisters. The plan appears to have been square, although one writer, frequently quoted, calls it multangular; the stone tower was in two massive stories with lancet windows in the lower, and windows with plate tracery above, with a spire apparently of wood crowning the whole. Leland speaks of it as "a notable and strong square tower for great belles, and a pyramis on it, in the cemiterie." It was evidently massive enough to have stood for centuries, and the single pillar of Purbeck marble, "lying in its natural bed," which was the central support that carried the bells, the belfry, and the spire, is specially mentioned by Price as perfectly sound, but he owns that the leaden spire, and a wooden upper story, were decayed, and puts forward a design of a sham classic dome which he hopes might be erected in its place. When the cathedral was visited in 1553 by the Royal Commission there remained a peal of ten bells, and the re-casting in 1680 of the seventh and eighth by the Purdues, local founders, is recorded among the muniments. The sixth is now the clock bell of the cathedral, but the fate of the others is absolutely unknown.
DEATH AND THE GALLANT.[ToList]
Several of Wyatt's iconoclastic blunders have been already mentioned; we now come to his chief iniquity. The Hungerford Chapel, demolished by Wyatt, stood at the east end of the building on the north side of the Lady Chapel, with which it was connected by openings cut in the main wall. This chapel was one of those of which Fuller so quaintly wrote, "A chantry was what we call in grammar an adjective, unable to stand of itself, and was therefore united for better support to some ... church." An addition to the building in a much later style, it was founded by Margaret (daughter and sole heir of William, Lord Botreaux,) in 1464; she was interred within its walls in 1477. Her history, too full to note here, is a sad one, the loss of her movable goods by "fyre" in Amesbury Abbey being but a small incident among her many troubles. A peculiarly interesting inventory of the ornaments and furniture that she gave to this chantry has been preserved; it is printed in Dugdale's "Baronage," vol. ii., p. 207, and also in "The Wiltshire Archæological Magazine," vol. xi. The chapel, in the somewhat florid late Perpendicular style, had a large east window of five lights, and three of triple lights in its north wall. The outside was adorned with shields and devices of the family, and crested with battlements. Within it had a richly-groined roof, and underneath a large arch cut in the north wall of the Lady Chapel, and therefore opening into the hall of the chantry, stood the monument of Lord Hungerford, surmounted by an ornamental four-arched canopy. This altar tomb, now devoid of the gold and colour that once enriched it, is in the nave. Its armour, "like a lobster," with its peculiar pattern, its large shoulders and elbow-pieces, and its jewelled girdle, is quoted by Meyrick as a very fine example of its period. Above were eight niches of demi-quatrefoiled arches, with a fascia of quatrefoils surmounted by a cornice of oak leaves. Between the monument and the doorway was a series of wall-paintings of great interest. One, "Death and the Gallant," has been engraved, and the dialogue below it preserved. As the verses are archaic in spelling, it may be best to follow a more modern version ("Wilts Archæological Magazine," vol. ii., p. 95):
"Alas, Death alas! a blissful thing thou were
If thou wouldst spare us in our lustiness,
And come to wretches that be of heavy cheer
When they thee ask to lighten their distress.
But out, alas, thine own self-willedness
Harshly refuses them that weep and wail
To close their eyes that after thee do call.
Graceless Gallant in all thy lust and pride
Remember this, that thou shalt one day die,
Death shall from thy body thy soul divide—
Thou mayst him escape not certainly,
To the dead bodies (here) cast down thine eye;
Behold them well, consider too and see,
For such as they are, such shalt thou too be."
Of this Mr. Francis Douce, in his volume "The Dance of Death," says it was "undoubtedly a portion of the Macaber Dance, as there was close to it another compartment belonging to the same subject. This painting was made about the year 1460, and from the remaining specimen its destruction is greatly to be regretted, as judging from the dress of the young gallant the dresses of the time would be correctly exhibited."
There were other wall paintings, including a large St. Christopher with the Christ Child on his shoulder, and an Annunciation, said to have been a fine work. An interesting memorial of the chapel as it stood in the middle of the seventeenth century, is to be found in an MS. pocket-book, still preserved in the British Museum (Harl. MS. 939), which belonged to a Captain Symons, of the Royalist Army. When he visited Salisbury in 1644 he made many notes and sketches of the armorial bearings in this chantry.
The Beauchamp Chapel.—The interior view here reproduced from "Gough's Sepulchral Monuments of Great Britain" although not very clear is curiously interesting, conveying as it does trustworthy evidence of the building so wantonly swept away.
INTERIOR OF THE DEMOLISHED BEAUCHAMP CHAPEL.[ToList]
Of the Beauchamp Chapel, on the south side of the Lady Chapel, there appears to be no exterior view extant, but from sketches of its interior, and descriptions, it must have been a fine specimen of its period, and worthy of its designer, the builder of St. George's Chapel, Windsor. It was larger and more elaborate in detail than the Hungerford chantry, but like it in plan, and similarly lighted by one large east window, and three in the side wall. The remains of its founder, Bishop Beauchamp, reposed in a plain tomb in the centre. In the wall on the north side were exquisite canopies above the tombs of the father and mother of the bishop. An altar tomb of Sir John Cheyne, now in the nave, stood formerly at the south-west corner (see [page 48]). There was a custom that on Christmas Day and all holy days the wives of the mayor and aldermen and gentry of the city, came to prayers in the Beauchamp chapel in the evening with flambeaux and torches, excepting on Innocents' Day, when they went to their own parish churches. In an interesting Guide to the Cathedral, now in the British Museum, annotated in the last century by some visitor, we find an entry concerning this chapel, "The ceiling is of Irish oak, and never known to have spiders or cobwebs in it."
Much of the carved work in both these chantries was employed elsewhere in the buildings. The plea put forward for their removal was founded on a report by Francis Price thirty-six years before, wherein he considered them unsafe. When the Hungerford Chantry was added one of the outside buttresses of the Lady Chapel aisle was removed to make room for it; the opening pierced through the main walls of the cathedral into both the chapels were also sources of weakness. Wyatt seized upon these facts, and with the precedent of Price's report, declared the chapels unsafe, and also, which was no doubt his real motive for action, that "their lack of uniformity" injured the appearance of the buildings. Wyatt's ideal virtues were of the lowest order, to obtain neatness and tidiness he was prepared to sacrifice any and every thing, and the two chapels were obviously not in the style of the cathedral, nor, unluckily (for had they been they might yet be standing), precisely symmetrical in effect, so they were swept away. These actions at Salisbury, and similar destruction at Lincoln, Hereford, and elsewhere, have made Wyatt's name odious; but deserving though he be of all blame, it must not be forgotten that restorers of to-day, even at Salisbury, have effaced much interesting work of past time on the same pretext: that it failed to accord with the rest of the work to which it was obviously a late addition. This plea, specious and even excellent in theory, has probably done more irreparable injury to our ancient buildings than even the iconoclasts of the Reformation. A shattered ruin may convey a clear idea of its original state, while a smooth, pedantic restoration will obliterate it entirely.
The Stained Glass throughout the whole building survives but in a few instances, and these, with two exceptions, not in their original places. Of its wholesale destruction we have sad evidence extant in a letter, dated 1788, from John Berry, glazier, of Salisbury, to Mr. Lloyd, of Conduit Street, London. It may be transcribed in full, to show how reckless the custodians of the fabric were at that time:—"Sir. This day I have sent you a Box full of old Stained & Painted glass, as you desired me to due, which I hope will sute your Purpos, it his the best that I can get at Present. But I expect to Beate to Peceais a a great deal very sune, as it his of now use to me, and we do it for the lead. If you want more of the same sorts you may have what thear is, if it will pay for taking out, as it is a Deal of Truble to what Beating it to Peceais his; you will send me a line as soon as Possoble, for we are goain to move our glasing shop to a Nother plase, and thin we hope to save a great deal more of the like sort, which I ham your most Omble servant—John Berry."
PORTIONS OF THE OLD STAINED GLASS.[ToList]
The fragments that survived were collected some fifty years since, and placed in the nave windows, and in parts of some of the others. The most important are in the great west triple lancet, wherein the glass ranges in date from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. Mr. Winston, in his Paper read in 1849 before the Archæological Institute and printed in the Salisbury volume for that year, considered that the earliest fragments are from a Stem of Jesse about 1240, and some medallions about 1270. He describes two of the ovals that are on each side of the throned bishop, a prominent figure in the lower half of the central light, one of the Christ enthroned, the other of the Virgin. The two medallions below them he believes represent "Zacharias in the Temple," and "The Adoration of the Magi." The later glass now in the same window may be either Flemish work brought hither from Dijon, or possibly partly from Rouen, and partly from a church near Exeter. It has been conjectured that in the south lancet the figures represent SS. Peter and Francis, in the central one the Crucifixion, the Coronation of the Virgin, and the Invention of the Cross, and in the north light the Betrayal of Christ and St. Catherine. In two of the side windows of the nave are the arms of John Aprice (1555-1558) and Bishop Jewell (1562).
The stained glass in the north choir aisle includes a window executed by Messrs. Clayton and Bell, in memory of Archdeacon Huxtable, with figures of archangels and angels in the upper lights, and the Angel appearing to Gideon, and the Vision of Isaiah, in the lower panels. Also a window by Clayton and Bell to the memory of the wife of the Rev. Chancellor Swayne, having for its subject the reply of our Lord to his disciples. In the east side of the Morning Chapel is a window by Messrs. Burleson and Gryles to the memory of Mrs. W.R. Hamilton, with the Nativity, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and the three archangels, Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael.
In the south choir aisle are two Clayton and Bell windows, to the memory of George Morrison, and two others excellently treated, both designed by Holiday, and executed by Powell. In the one eight panels represent four holy women of the Old Testament, and the four Maries. This is to the memory of the late Countess of Radnor. In the other, to the memory of Jacob, the 4th Earl of Radnor, a similar screen of decoration embodies figures of eight prophets.
In the south-east transept is a window erected to the officers of the Wiltshire Regiment who fell in the Sutlej Campaign in 1845-6, and in the Crimean War of 1854-5; also one of "The Raising of Lazarus." In the upper windows of this transept is a quantity of old glass of different dates, which had been stored away for over a century in the roof of the Lady Chapel, until lately collected and placed where it now is.
The south choir aisle has a window in memory of the late Duke of Albany, "Jacob's Dream," and two of the intended six windows of a hierarchy of angels—the Angeli Ministrantes and the Angeli Laudantes—designed by Sir E. Burne-Jones, and executed by William Morris, which are notably among the most superb examples of the art of glass painting since mediæval times. Next in order towards the east is a window of fine design to the memory of the late Duke of Albany.
In the south-west transept there are three Clayton and Bell windows: in memory of Archdeacon Macdonald, with three subjects from the Life of Christ; in memory of Bishop Douglas, and in memory of C.G. Verrinder; also one to the memory of Sir G.A. Arney, with Moses and the Tables of the Law, and the Sermon on the Mount; and the large south window, by Bell, to the memory of Dean Hamilton.
Above the altar is a fine light window of last century work, singularly good of its kind—bad though the kind may be.
In the south aisle of the nave is a window to the memory of Mr. W.M. Coates, with subjects, the miracles of healing, executed by Messrs. Clayton and Bell.
In 1890 a fine modern window, from a design by Henry Holiday, was inserted in the south aisle of the nave. This has for its subject, "Suffer little children to come unto me." It is to the memory of John Henry Jacob and his wife.
In 1620 Dr. Simpson mentions "three great windows newly glazed in rich colours to make the story of St. Paul."
Throughout the cathedral, and in the Chapter House, were many specimens of geometrical painted glass, some of which are figured in Mr. Winston's Paper, before referred to. These have served as motives for much modern design, which, faithfully as it may have copied the forms, has generally missed the softened colour that distinguishes the original work.
TOMB OF WILLIAM LONGESPÉE, 1ST EARL OF SALISBURY (P. 47).
From a Photograph by Catherine Weed Ward.[ToList]
HISTORY OF THE SEE.[ToC]
he site of old Sarum—Searobyrig, the dry city, as the Saxons called it—is about a mile to the north of the present New Sarum, or Salisbury, to use the more familiar name. It was probably a fortified place from very early times, long before it became the Roman station of Sorbiodunum. William of Malmesbury says that "the town was more like a castle than a city, being environed with a high wall, and notwithstanding that it was very well accommodated with other conveniences, yet such was the want of water that it sold at a great rate." This latter statement, although repeated by every chronicler, is not supported by investigations of recent explorers, who found an ample supply in divers wells. Francis Price concludes that "it was frequented by Roman Emperors from the coins of Constantine, Constans Magnentius, Crispus, and Claudius, being found frequently among its ruins." This statement also lacks probability. A legend of the visit of a single emperor might have been barely credible; but the lavish variety the otherwise trustworthy historian offers is fatal to one's belief. Its early history, more or less legendary, need not be chronicled here. Probably Kenric the Saxon, who captured it in 553, lived there, and it seems to have been kept in his line until Egbert united the whole Heptarchy. King Alfred ordered Leofric, Earl of Wiltunscire, to add to its fortifications, which appear to have fallen into decay after the Romans held it. In 1003 Svein, King of Denmark, pillaged and burnt it, but the religious establishments if not spared were soon re-established, for we find that Editha, Queen of Ædward the Confessor, conveyed the lands of Shorstan to the nuns of St. Mary, Sarum. At this time it appears to have possessed a mint, as a coin of Ædward the Confessor bears an inscription showing that it was struck by Godred at Sarum.
From the time of St. Aldhelm, in 705, to that of Herman, in 1058, there are no other facts of its secular history sufficiently pertinent to our purpose to warrant their quotation here, as the record of the place is so woven into the lives of its bishops, that the brief summary of the ecclesiastics who held the see includes all we need of the history of the city. In this kingdom within a kingdom, a cathedral surrounded by a fortress, its inhabitants were naturally split into factions; the soldiers and the clergy failed to agree, and in spite of the document quoted below, there is little doubt that political rather than climatic reasons led to the removal of the cathedral. Whether, as some writers think, it was but an insignificant structure, it is certainly recorded that the church erected by Osmund took fifteen years to build. Five days after its consecration, on April 5th, 1092, it was partially destroyed by a thunderstorm. We find in Robert of Gloucester's "Chronicle" (Hearnes ed., p. 416) this allusion to the disaster:
"So gret lytnynge was the vyfte yer, so that it al to nogte,
The rof the Church of Salesbury it broute
Rygt evene the vyfte day that he yhalwed was."
Whether the sentence in an old chronicler that Roger "made anew the church of Sarum" means it was so seriously damaged by the lightning that he actually rebuilt it, or merely that he restored it, is not clear. Roger was the great architectural genius of his time, and from the evidence of its ground plan, traced in the foundations revealed in the singularly dry summer of 1834, it may be that the stately edifice, 270 feet long by 75 feet wide, on the plan of a Latin cross, was in its last state not the work of Osmund. During the excavations at this time, various fragments of stained glass and several keys were discovered, also what was apparently the original grave of St. Osmund before his body was moved to Sarum. An extract from Harrison's "Description of Britain," prefixed to Hollinshed's "Chronicle" shows clearly enough the principal events that produced the crisis which doomed Old Sarum to desolation. "In the time of ciuile warres the souldirs of the castell and chanons of Old Sarum fell at ods, inasmuch that often after brawles they fell at last to sadde blowes. It happened therefore in a rogation weeke that the cleargie going in solemn procession a controversie fell between them about certaine walkes and limits which the one side claimed and the other denied. Such also was the hot entertainment on eche part, that at last the Castellans espieing their time gate betweene the cleargie and the towne and so coiled them as they returned homewards that they feared anie more to gang their boundes for that year. Hereupon the peope missing their belly-chere, for they were wont to haue banketing at every station, a thing practised by the religious in old tyme, they conveyed forthwith a deadly hatred against the Castellans, but not being able to cope with them by force of arms, they consulted with their bishop ... that it was not ere the chanons began a church upon a piece of their own ground.... And thus became Old Sarum in a few years utterly desolate."
By other accounts we find there was insufficient room for all the canons to live within the walls, and the right of free egress being disputed the position became so intolerable, that Bishop Richard Poore, a man of great force of character, who succeeded his brother, took up the design Herbert had set aside, and commenced negotiations in earnest, the result of which is best explained by the following document:
"Honorius, bishop, Servant of the servants of God to our rev. brother Richard, bishop, and to our beloved sons the Dean and Chapter of Sarum, health and apostolical benediction. My sons the dean and chapter, it having been heretofore alleged before us on your behalf, that forasmuch as your church is built within the compass of the fortifications of Sarum, it is subject to so many inconveniences and oppressions, that you cannot reside in the same without corporal perils: for being situated on a lofty place, it is, as it were, continually shaken by the collision of the winds; so that while you are celebrating the divine offices, you cannot hear one another the place itself is so noisy: and besides the persons resident there suffer such perpetual oppressions, that they are hardly able to keep in repair the roof of the church, which is constantly torn by tempestuous winds. They are also forced to buy water at as great a price as would be sufficient to purchase the common drink of the country: nor is there any access to the same without the licence of the Castellan. So that it happens on Ash Wednesday when the Lord's Supper is administered at the time of the Synods, and celebrations of orders, and on other solemn days, the faithful being willing to visit the said church, entrance is denied them by the keepers of the castle, alleging that the fortress is in danger, besides you have not there houses sufficient for you, wherefore you are forced to rent several houses of the laity; and that on account of these and other inconveniences many absent themselves from the service of the said church."
This mandate, dated at "the Lateran, 4th of the calend of April, in the second year of our Pontificat," concludes by giving formal power for the translation of the church to another convenient place.
After the cathedral was removed the prosperity of the place quickly waned. The new roads and bridges made access to the new city more convenient. Wilton suffered from the growth of its new rival, but Sarum ceased to be even a ruin, as the very stones of its cathedral were ultimately taken to build a wall around the precincts of the new church, and oblivion soon overtook the ancient city, which to-day is not even a hamlet, but at most a geographical expression. As a specimen of an early "burgh," or hill fortress, its form well deserves study. Its circular walls, and various ditches and ramparts, are shown in plans in the County History, in Francis Price's book, and elsewhere.
TOMB OF "THE BOY BISHOP" (P. 49).
From a Photograph by Catherine Weed Ward.[ToList]
THE DIOCESE OF SARUM.[ToC]
o far as its history concerns us here, it suffices to note that the greater part of Wiltshire, and those portions of Dorset and Somerset which had been comprised in the see of Winchester, were, about the year 705, during the reign of Ina, King of the West Saxons, included in the new diocese of Sherbourne, which in its turn, about two hundred years after, circa 905-9, was sub-divided into those of Wells, for Somerset, and Crediton, for Devon. About 920, a new see was allotted to Wiltshire, whose bishop took his title from Ramsbury, near Marlborough, on the borders of the county; and with this was soon after re-united the smaller diocese of Sherbourne, and in 1075, the episcopal seat was removed to the fortress of Old Sarum, whence in 1218 it was again removed to the present city. In 1542, part of the see was devoted to the new diocese of Bristol. The see of Sherbourne, ruled over by St. Aldhelm from 705 to 709, was a much larger one than the second diocese of the same name which in 1058 was united to Ramsbury, under Herman, who held it from 1058 to 1078. The eight previous bishops are more or less well known, and in the admirable "Diocesan History" and in the "Fasti Ecclesiæ Sarisburiensis," both by the late Rev. W.H. Jones, there is much interesting detail of the earlier rulers of the diocese now called Salisbury.
Herman, by birth a Fleming, was one of the ecclesiastics brought over by Edward the Confessor. His record is unmarked by events that left lasting results. He made a bold but fruitless attempt to annex the Abbey of Malmesbury. During his time, as an old writer quaintly phrases it, "it is agreed by all authors, both printed and in manuscript, that there was not yet any cathedral, church, or chapter, either within or without the King's Castle [of Old Sarum], but only a chapel and a dean." Later authorities, however, assign to him the commencement, at least, of a cathedral. In Benson and Hatcher's "Wiltshire," we find it has been conjectured that Herman, on removing his see to Sarum, found there a chapel and a dean, and that in exchange for this building he transferred the two cathedrals of Sherborne and Sunning to the Dean to whose peculiar jurisdiction they have since belonged; other evidence, however, points to the church having been begun and finished by Osmund, his successor, whose own words in the charter of foundation run: "I have built the church at Sarum and constituted canons therein." An epistle of Gregory IX. to the bishops of Bath and Wells states that, "Osmund of pious memory had employed great care as well in temporals as in spirituals, so that he had magnificently builded the said church from its foundations and enriched it with books, treasures, ... and lands from his own property." Herman, like other English bishops who were his fellow-natives Leofric at Exeter, and Giso at Wells, was not deprived of his see after the Conquest; but in 1075, in obedience to the decree of the Council of London that bishops' sees should be removed from obscure to more important places, he chose the hill of Sarum. His remains are said to have been transferred to a tomb in the present cathedral, but later antiquarians decline to endorse the tradition.
Osmund, who is believed to have been the nephew of William the Conqueror, was son of Henry, Count of Seez, in Normandy; he was created Earl of Wiltshire soon after the Conquest, before he became an ecclesiastic; Camden speaks of him as the "Earl of Dorset." As the author of the "Consuetudinariam," the ordinal of offices for the use of Sarum, wherein he collated the various forms of ritual in use at many churches, both in England and on the Continent, he won a fame far more than the building of Old Sarum, were it never so stately a cathedral, could have secured him. His famous "Sarum Use" was adopted by almost the whole of England, and reflected glory upon the church that instituted it, so that in the words of an old historian, "like the sun in his heavens, the church of Salisbury is conspicuous above all other churches in the world, diffusing the light everywhere and supplying their defects." The original manuscript of this great work is one of the choicest treasures of the cathedral library exhibited to those who have access to that collection; it is also available to the ordinary student in a volume entitled, "The Church of our Fathers," published by Dr. Rock in 1849. "As a man," says William of Malmesbury, "Osmund was rigid in the detection of his own faults, and unsparing to those of others." Although his body and his tomb were moved to the Lady Chapel of the new cathedral in 1226, and his name adored popularly, he was not canonized until over two hundred years later. Pope Callistus, the first of the Borgias, issued the bull on January 1st, 1456, but not, according to rumour, until ample funds had been supplied to facilitate his action. Some interesting correspondence relating to it has been lately printed in the "Sarum Charters and Documents," issued under the direction of the Master of the Rolls. The bull itself, in the keeping of the chapter, has been printed in Volume iii. of the great collection of Papal bulls edited by Cocqueline, and published in Rome, 1743. On July 15th, 1457, according to the authority of a writer in "Archæologia," Vol. xiv., the translation of his body was completed, principally at the expense of the bishop, a huge concourse of people being present at the festival. From the plentiful accounts of miracles worked at his shrine long before he was officially canonized, there is but little doubt but that it had become a favourite place of pilgrimage. He died in 1099, and in spite of his tomb being removed to the cathedral in 1226 and a stately shrine erected later, a stone with no inscription but a date of doubtful authenticity—MXCIX—is all that commemorates him there to-day.
The next bishop was Roger, who was elected in 1102, consecrated in 1107, and died in 1139. If his fame as an ecclesiastic is not so assured as that of his illustrious predecessor, in architecture and in secular history he has left a decided mark. He was a poor Norman priest, who won his mitre by singing a hunting mass quickly before Henry I. Made chaplain by the king on his accession, he afterwards became first chancellor, and then justiciary. He organized the Court of Exchequer, which has preserved the earliest official records known to us. His castles at Devizes, Sherborne, and Malmesbury excited the jealousy of the nobles; his son was chancellor, one nephew Bishop of Ely, and another nephew Bishop of Lincoln. Besides much work, now destroyed, at Old Sarum (so that whether he merely restored the damage caused by lightning, or rebuilt it from the foundations, according to the Norman custom, we cannot tell), his additions to Sherborne Minster are still memorable as a new departure in Norman architecture; in fact, he has been called the great architectural genius of the thirteenth century. "Unscrupulous, fierce, and avaricious," he is a type of the great feudal churchmen when they were veritable rulers. According to William of Malmesbury, "was there anything contiguous to his property which might be advantageous to him, he would directly extort it either by entreaty or purchase, or if that failed, by force." Although after King Henry's death Henry, Bishop of Winchester, persuaded him to open the vast treasure of the late king to Stephen, yet in the fourth year of his reign Stephen imprisoned him, and the Bishop of Lincoln, his nephew, and seized their castles of Devizes and Sherborne, Newark, and Sleaford. Bishop Roger the same year, according to one chronicler, "by the kindness of death, escaped the quartan ague which had long afflicted him, and died broken-hearted." But another version says that "he starved to death through a promise to King Stephen that his castle of Devizes should be surrendered to him before he eat or drank; but his nephew, the Bishop of Ely, who then had possession of it, kept it three days before he made the surrender to the king."
Jocelin de Bohun, or, as he is sometimes called, de Bailleul (1142 to 1184), is best known from his quarrel with Thomas à Becket, of Canterbury. For his share in framing the "Constitutions of Clarendon," he was excommunicated by the archbishop. On the death of Roger, in 1139, King Stephen nominated Philip de Harcourt, but the canons preferred Jocelin, who was not, however, consecrated until 1142. After the murder of A'Becket he "purged himself by oath of his offences" towards his late foe. In 1184 he retired to a Cistercian monastery, and died shortly afterwards. A monument on the south side of the cathedral nave is attributed to him.
The see was now left vacant for five years, when Hubert Walter, was consecrated, in 1189; he shortly after went to the Holy Land to join Richard I. in his crusade. While at Acre he was nominated to the vacant archbishopric of Canterbury, to which he returned in 1193. He exercised a powerful influence on both king and people; the latter, with whom he had never been popular, found at his death that "they had lost the only bulwark strong enough to resist or break the attack of royal despotism."
Herbert de la Poer, or Poore (1194-1217), who succeeded him, ruled in a troubled period, when the realm was under the interdict of Pope Innocent III. Compelled to quit Old Sarum, he died at Wilton in 1217.
MONUMENT LOCALLY ACCREDITED TO BISHOP POORE.[ToList]
With Richard Poore, who was consecrated Bishop of Chichester in 1215, and in 1217 Bishop of Old Sarum, where he had been dean, begins the record of the bishops immediately connected with the building. His history is so intimately bound up with that of the cathedral, that here it is sufficient to note that he ruled at Old Sarum and Salisbury until 1229, when he was translated to Durham.[10] His distinct influence upon the architecture of that cathedral, in connection with Elias de Derham, is noticed elsewhere. He died at his birthplace, Tarrant (Tarent Crawford[11]), in Dorsetshire, where he had founded a Cistercian nunnery, in which his heart is said to have been interred; his body was taken to Durham, and a monument with his effigy erected in the new cathedral at Salisbury. The names of St. Osmund and Richard Poore stand out beyond all others in connection with this see. The one for the indirect glory he conferred upon it by his memorable ordinal; the other by his removal of the cathedral and the superb fabric he left to commemorate his fame. With them, excepting possibly Bishop Hallam, the record of men of mark ceases; of their successors hardly one has had a reputation beyond his diocese, and certainly there is not one whose fame has spread beyond his native land.
NORTH CHOIR AISLE, WITH BISHOP BINGHAM'S MONUMENT.[ToList]
Robert Bingham (1229-1246) finished the work of the cathedral during his eighteen years' rule; but when he died he left it in debt 1,700 marks. His monument, with effigy, is now in the north choir aisle.
William of York (1247-1256) was one of the chaplains to Henry II.; by his renewal of the vexatious custom of attending the lord's courts, he became very unpopular. Matthew Paris mentions him as one of the favourites of the king, and Bishop Godwin says that he was better versed in the laws of the realm than in those of God.
Giles of Bridport, or de Bridlesford (1257-1262), who held also the Deanery of Wells by a faculty "in Commendam," for Pope Honorius, continued the works of the cathedral until it was consecrated, in 1258, by Boniface, Archbishop of Savoy, the brother of the queen of Edward I. He also founded the college of Vaux. In 1260, during his bishopric, there is a curious entry in a document, lately printed, which refers to Nicholas of York, Canon of Salisbury, Le engineur.
In the same volume (Rolls Chronicles, 1891), there is a note of this bishop granting 200 lbs. of wax annually from his wardrobe for increasing the lights in the church, as he had been told that amount would be sufficient to double the number of the candles at each ministration.
Walter de la Wyle (1263-1271), the founder of the church of St. Edmund of Abingdon, has a mutilated effigy assigned to him in the cathedral.
Robert de Wykehampton (1274-1284), although elected by the canons, the monks of Canterbury, and the king, was opposed by the archbishop, who, after four years' interval and an appeal to Rome, was forced to consecrate him. He is said to have become blind in 1278.
Walter Scammel (1284-1286). Although on his election the monks of Canterbury appealed to the Pope against it, they subsequently withdrew their opposition. He was buried near the Audley Chapel.
Henry de Braundeston (1287), who died the same year, was buried, according to Leland, in the Lady Chapel.
Walter de la Corner (1289-1291) was one of the chaplains of the Pope. He was buried in the middle of the choir, "nearly under the eagle."
Nicholas Longespée (1292-1297) was fourth and youngest son of the first Earl of Salisbury, and Countess Ela.
Simon of Ghent, or de Gand (1297-1315), first empowered the mayor and citizens to fortify the city. According to a document printed in the "Rolls Chronicles," 1891, the visitation of many of the churches, about 1300, compares badly with a similar record for 1220; ignorance of the clergy, gross neglect of the fabric, insufficient and dilapidated books and vestments, with other evidences of lack of energy, are very frequent.
Roger Mortival (1315-1330) founded a collegiate establishment at Knowsley, his birthplace. The Library of Merton College, Oxford, contains many manuscripts, his gift while he was Archdeacon of Leicester. He is said also to have drawn up the statutes by which the cathedral is still partly governed.
Robert Wyville, or Wivil (1330-1375), was, by Walsingham's account, not merely destitute of learning, but so deformed and ugly, "it is hard to say whether he was more dunce or dwarf, more unlearned or unhandsome," that had the Pope seen him he would never have endorsed his appointment. He was a militant bishop, and in 1355 instituted a suit against William de Montacute, and sent his champion clothed in white to try wager of battle with him. He recovered for his see 2,500 marks and the ancient castle of Old Sarum, also that of Sherborne. He obtained permission to fortify his manors of Sarum, Sherborne, Woodford, Chardstock, Potterne, Canning, Sunning, and his mansion in Fleet Street (now Salisbury Court), "in the suburbs of London." His brass is in the Morning Chapel.
Ralph Erghum (1375-1388) was probably of Flemish birth. He was translated to Bath and Wells in 1388, where he died in 1400. He is said to have erected the City Cross as a penance, but the Sarum register seems rather to indicate that he compelled the Earl of Salisbury to do so.
John Waltham (1388-1395) was Master of the Rolls in 1382, and Keeper of the Privy Seal in 1391. For a time he resisted the metropolitan visitation of Archbishop Courtney, notwithstanding that the Bishop of Exeter had been forced to yield in a similar contest, but when the archbishop excommunicated him he was compelled to submit. He was specially in the favour of his king, Richard II., and died Lord High Treasurer in 1305. He was buried ("not without much general dissatisfaction," according to Walsingham,) in Westminster Abbey, where his brass can be seen in the floor of the chapel of the Confessor, to the right of King Edward's tomb.
Richard Mitford (1395-1407) was the favourite, and confessor of Richard II., but during the so-called "wonderful" parliament he was imprisoned in Bristol Castle, until released by the King on his re-assumption of power. In 1389 he was nominated to the see of Chichester, and translated therefrom to Salisbury in 1395. His tomb stands in an angle of the south transept.
Nicholas Bubwith (1407), at one time Treasurer of England, held Salisbury for three months only, between the bishoprics of London and Bath and Wells. He died at Wells, 1424.
Robert Hallam (1407-1417). Notwithstanding his brilliant career, both the origin and birthplace of this prelate are unknown. "Born in England of royal blood," says one chronicler, but there is no corroborative evidence. Prebendary of York, Archdeacon of Canterbury in 1401, Chancellor of Oxford 1403, he left England in 1406 for Rome, and was nominated by Pope Gregory XII. to be Archbishop of York; this latter preferment was withdrawn, but in its stead he became Bishop of Salisbury in 1407. He was at the Council of Pisa in 1409, and, in 1411, was created a cardinal by Pope John XXIII. At the famous Council of Constance, 1415-1417, he was one of the foremost champions of religious liberty, and almost alone in condemning the punishment of death for heresy. Indeed, the whole future of the Roman church is said to have been changed by his death at the Castle of Gotlieb in 1417, and the supremacy of the Italian party assured by the decease of its most formidable opponent. The brass that marks his burial place in Constance cathedral is supposed to have been executed in England, and sent thence some time after his death. It is engraved in Kites' "Monumental Brasses of Wiltshire."
John Chandler (1417-1426) is remembered chiefly for his brief life of William of Wykeham.
Robert Neville (1427-1438) was the nephew of Henry IV.; after holding the see of Salisbury for ten years he was translated to Durham. He founded the monastery at Sunning.
William Ayscough (1438-1450), who has left little record of his life, met his death during a local rising in 1450, the year of the Jack Cade rebellion. On the feast of SS. Peter and Paul his church at Edingdon, near Westbury, one of his palaces, was attacked by a mob, who seized the bishop in the vestments wherein he had just said mass, and, dragging him to a hill-top near, there they stoned and beheaded him, stripping off his garments and dividing them among themselves for memorials. His body was afterwards interred at Edingdon. Possibly his scholarship, which separated him from his people, was the real cause of his unpopularity, which is, however, generally attributed to his frequent absence with King Henry VI., to whom he was Confessor.
Richard Beauchamp (1450-1481) was translated from the bishopric of Hereford. Son of Sir Walter, and grandson of Lord Beauchamp of Powick, he was sent on diplomatic missions to various courts, including Burgundy. In 1471 he was one of the signatories of the truce with the Duke of Brittany. In 1477 he became Dean of Windsor, and was appointed by Edward IV. master of the works then in progress, which included the rebuilding of St. George's Chapel. At Salisbury he left the great hall of the bishop's palace and his own superb chantry as memorials of his architectural skill. Elsewhere in this book is a fuller description of this beautiful tomb demolished by Wyatt. He himself was buried at Windsor; in an arch opposite his tomb was a missal carved in stone with a quaint inscription, beginning, "Who leyde this boke here." He is said to have been the first chancellor of the Order of the Garter, although Dr. Milner assigns that honour to William de Edingdon. Whether the first or not, he and his successors in the see held it by charter of Edward, until they were deprived in the reign of Henry VIII. In 1671 it was again awarded to the see of Salisbury, but passed, in 1836, with Berkshire to that of Oxford.
Lionel Woodville, or Wydville (1482-1484), nephew of Elizabeth, queen of Edward IV., was appointed to the see in 1482. His brother-in-law, the Duke of Buckingham, was beheaded in Salisbury market place just before the battle of Bosworth. Woodville is said to have died of grief occasioned by the downfall of the fortunes of his house on the accession of Richard III.
Thomas Langton (1485-1493) is best remembered as a patron of literature, for which he has been called a second Mæcenas, yet, despite the "fostering hand he always afforded to learned men," he was an opponent of Wicklif's heresies, and did his best to stamp them out in his see when they had gained a number of adherents.
John Blyth (1494-1499) was Chancellor of Ireland in 1499. An effigy, assumed to be his, is in the north transept.
Henry Dean, or Denny, or Syer (1500-1501), was translated to Canterbury shortly after his appointment to Salisbury. He is believed to have been one of the victims of the Great Plague, and to have died at Lambeth in 1503.
Edmund Audley (1502-1524) was Bishop of Rochester in 1480, translated to Hereford in 1492, and to Salisbury in 1502. His beautiful chantry still remains in its original position. St. Mary's, Oxford, contains a pulpit said to be his gift.
Lorenzo Campegio, Cardinal of St. Anastatius, was nominated by Pope Clement in 1524. He was sent to England to join Cardinal Wolsey in adjudicating upon the royal divorce. In 1535, when Henry VIII. disgraced Wolsey, Campegio was also deprived of his see by Act of Parliament. At Rome, however, he was regarded as Bishop of Salisbury until his death; and "for some time after" an independent succession was maintained by the Pope in two English bishoprics, namely, Salisbury and Worcester.
Nicholas Shaxton (1535-1539) was President of Gonville Hall, Cambridge, and for a while a sturdy supporter of the king. At the time of Latimer's resignation he also resigned in common with many other bishops. He was imprisoned, and in 1546 condemned to be burnt, for denying the real presence; but recanting became prominent as opponent of the reformers, preaching fiery sermons at the martyrdom of Anne Askew and others. After he resigned his see he became suffragan to the Bishop of Ely. He died at Cambridge in 1556.
John Capon, or Salcote (1539-1557), had been Bishop of Bangor. His record is notorious for its greed and time-serving. First orthodox, then Protestant, and one of the revisers of the Liturgy under Edward VI., again changing under Mary, and one of the judges at the trial of Bishop Hooper of Gloucester. Fuller impeaches him with Veysey, or Harman, of Exeter, saying, "it seems as if it were given to binominous bishops to be impairers of their churches."
Peter Peto (1557), a cardinal nominated by the Pope, was refused possession by Queen Mary, who appointed Francis Malet, Dean of Lincoln, in his stead, but he in turn, before his consecration, was ejected by Elizabeth, who had succeeded to the throne meanwhile.
John Jewel (1560-1571) is one of the few Protestant bishops connected with this see who can claim more than diocesan fame. He was born at Berry Narbor, Devonshire, in 1522, and appears to have belonged to a good old family. When a Fellow of Corpus, at Oxford, his adherence to the doctrines of the Reformation caused him to be expelled; but so greatly was he beloved for his pure life and his profound scholarship there, that in spite of his expulsion he was chosen to be Public Orator at his University. His life is too widely known to need an epitome here. Among his writings, the most famous, the "Apology for the Church of England," published in 1562, was quickly translated into every language in Europe. In episcopal matters he took great interest, and built the library over the cloisters,[12] besides devoting great care to the education of students, having always a number of poor lads in his house, and maintaining others at Oxford, one of whom was the famous "Judicious Hooker." Fuller praises him in terms that seem, however extravagant, to be generally admitted by his contemporaries to be fully deserved, and the famous sentence, "It is hard to say whether his soul or his ejaculations arrived first in heaven, seeing he prayed dying, and died praying," shows that he was reverenced by the Reformed Church as a veritable saint. He died at Monkton Fairleigh in 1571, his tombstone, despoiled of its brass, is now near that of Bishop Wyvil, whence it was removed from its former place in the choir.
Edmund Gheast, or Gest (1571-1577), the first Protestant Bishop of Rochester, was translated to Salisbury, where he gave a fine collection of books to the new library of the cathedral. His tombstone is in the north choir aisle.
John Piers (1577-1589) preached before Queen Elizabeth at the solemn thanksgiving for the defeat of the Spanish Armada. He was translated to York in 1589.
John Coldwell (1591-1596), a physician before he became a cleric, is also noticeable as the first married bishop who held the see. He was accused of wasting its revenues, and is responsible for the loss of Sherborne Castle, which he alienated, says Fuller, "owing to the wily intrigues of Sir Walter Raleigh."
Henry Cotton (1598-1615) was one of the chaplains of Elizabeth, and a godson of the Queen, of whom she is reported to have remarked that "she had blessed many of her godsons, now one should bless her." Sir John Harrington says, "he had nineteen children by one wife, which is no ordinary blessing, and most of them sonnes. His wife's name was Patience; the name of which I have heard in few wives, the quality in none." As the second married bishop he certainly appears to have supported fully the Protestant opposition to the celibacy of the clergy.
Robert Abbott (1615-1618) was the elder brother of George, Archbishop of Canterbury. Fuller says, "George was the more plausible preacher, Robert the greater scholar; George the abler statesman, Robert the deeper divine. Gravity did frown in George, and smile in Robert." As one might infer from so strong an opponent of Laud, amid the large number of his published works most are polemical and Anti-Romish.
Martin Fotherby (1618-1620) held the see but a year, and hence left no lasting impression upon it.
Robert Townson (1620-1621), who attended the execution of Sir Walter Raleigh, and has left a graphic and touching account of his last hours, was but ten months bishop when he died, says Fuller, who was his nephew, of a fever contracted by "unseasonable sitting up to study," when preparing a sermon to preach before Parliament.
John Davenant (1621-1641) attended the Synod of Dort at the bidding of James I., and was the author of many theological works.
Brian Duppa, or de Uphaugh (1641-1660) was tutor to the sons of Charles I., and appointed to Salisbury just before the Commonwealth; he was deprived almost immediately, and lived in seclusion at Richmond until, at the Restoration, he was translated to Winchester. His memorial tablet is in Westminster. Of him Izaak Walton said, "he was one of those men in whom there was such a commixture of general learning, of natural eloquence, and Christian humility, that they deserve a commemoration by a pen equal to their own, which none have exceeded."
Humphrey Henchman (1660-1663) was appointed at the Restoration, no doubt as a reward for his great services to King Charles after the battle of Worcester. After holding the see three years he was translated to London.
John Earles (1663-1665), appointed Bishop of Worcester at the Restoration, was translated to Salisbury in 1663. One of his books, "The Microcosmographie, or a Piece of the World Discovered in Essays and Characters," first published anonymously in 1628, was extremely popular, and ran through many editions; it is still read as a faithful picture of its times. Hallam in his "Literary History" praises it highly, Clarendon in his "Memoirs" also eulogizes its author, and Izaak Walton in his "Life of Hooper" speaks of his innocent wisdom, sanctified learning, and pious, peaceable, and primitive temper. Earles was constantly with Prince Charles during his exile, and hence one of the first ecclesiastics to receive preferment.
Alexander Hyde (1665-1667) was first cousin to the famous Lord Chancellor Clarendon. A portrait, alleged to represent this prelate, was found by Bishop Fuller in an obscure cottage; it is now in the Bishop's palace.
Seth Ward (1667-1689), who was made Bishop of Exeter at the Restoration, and translated to Salisbury in 1667, took great interest in the fabric, and restored the bishops' palace. The survey of the cathedral by Sir Christopher Wren was undertaken by his request and at his own cost. He regained for his see the Chancellorship of the Order of the Garter, lost for a century and a half. He founded the College of Matrons, and at his death at Knightsbridge in 1688, was buried in the south choir aisle. Dr. Walter Pope's biography of this bishop is an interesting record of an eventful life.
Gilbert Burnet (1689-1715). Lord Macaulay has summed up the character of this bishop in terms, that if they convey an impression of a vain, indiscreet, and somewhat blundering partisan, yet do justice to the vigour and strength of his character, while of the "History of his Own Times," and many other volumes yet remembered, he says: "A writer whose voluminous works in several branches of literature find numerous readers one hundred and thirty years after his death, may have had great faults, but must also have had great merits."
BRASS OF BISHOP WYVILLE
([see P. 66]).[ToList]
William Talbot (1715-1721) was of the house of Shrewsbury, and father of Lord Chancellor Talbot. He was translated to Durham in 1721.
Richard Willis (1721-1723) held the see for two years, when he was translated to Winchester.
Benjamin Hoadly, Bishop of Bangor 1716, Hereford 1721, Sarum 1723. Owing to the controversy raised by one of his sermons, Convocation was suspended for 150 years.
Thomas Sherlock (1734-1748) was appointed to Bangor in 1727, translated to Salisbury in 1734, declined the Archbishopric of Canterbury in 1747, and was translated to London in 1748. In the most apathetic time of the Anglican Church he is a striking example of activity and earnestness.
John Gilbert (1749-1757) was a turbulent bishop whose record is full of disputes with the civic authorities at Salisbury.
John Thomas (1757-1761), Bishop of Peterborough 1746, and afterwards Bishop of Winchester, was married four times, and is reported to have said that he had killed three wives by never contradicting them.
Robert Hay Drummond (1761) was translated to the Archbishopric of York four months after his appointment to Salisbury. He preached at the coronation of George III.
John Thomas (1761-1766), elected Bishop of St. Asaph in 1743, but consecrated to Lincoln, was eighty years old when translated to Salisbury.
John Hume (1766-1782), Bishop of Bristol 1756, Bishop of Oxford and Dean of St. Paul's 1758.
Shute Barrington (1782-1791), translated to Durham. Excepting Bishop Wilson, his fifty-six years' tenure of office is the longest in the Anglican Church. He died in 1826.
John Douglas (1791-1807) was present as an army chaplain at the battle of Fontenoy, in which he very nearly took an active part, but was so laden with valuables left in his care by officers, that he was compelled to refrain and be content to remain a non-combatant, and remove his treasures to a safe place. As author of "The Criterion, or Rules by which True may be distinguished from Spurious Miracles," 1754, and many other books, he established for himself a sound literary reputation. Made Bishop of Carlisle in 1787, and translated to Salisbury in 1791; he was also Dean of Windsor from 1780 to his death, when he was buried in St. George's Chapel.
John Fisher (1807-1825). Exeter, 1803, Preceptor to Princess Charlotte.
Thomas Burgess (1825-1837). St. David's, 1803.
Edward Denison (1837-1854). Brother of a late Speaker of the House of Commons, Viscount Ossington.
Walter Kerr Hamilton (1854-1869). Author of a "Letter on Cathedral Reform," which followed his exhaustive contribution to the Cathedral Commission Reports, 1853.
George Moberley (1869-1885). Head Master of Winchester, 1835-1866.
John Wordsworth (1885).