We may here quote an interesting account of the duties of[pg 007] the cathedral treasurer, which were probably settled about this time. They throw a curious and suggestive light on the ceremonies of the period. "At Hereford," says Walcott, "he found all the lights; three burning day and night before the high altar; two burning there at matins daily, and at mass, and the chief hours on festivals; three burning perpetually, viz., in the chapter-house, the second before S. Mary's altar, and the third before the cross in the rood-loft; four before the high altar, and altar on "Minus Duplicia," and five tapers in basons, on principles, and doubles, at mass, prime, and second vespers, four tapers before the high altar, five in the basons, thirteen on the beam, and seven in the candelabra; the paschal and portable tapers for processions. He kept the keys of the treasury, copes, palls, vestments, ornaments, and the plate, of which he rendered a yearly account to the dean and chapter. He found three clerks to ring the bells, light the candles, and suspend the palls and curtains on solemn days. He found hay at Christmas to strew the choir and chapter-house, which at Easter was sprinkled with ivy leaves; and on All Saints' day he provided mats."[1]
The next great changes were made under Bishop William de Vere (1186-1199). His work was of transitional character, and bears much resemblance to the beautiful transitional work at Glastonbury. He removed the three Norman apsidal terminations at the east end, doubled the presbytery aisles, thus making two side chapels in each transept which have since been replaced by the Lady Chapel with its vestibule.
In a paper read before the Archæological Institute in 1877, Sir G. G. Scott suggests that the central apse projected one bay beyond the sides; but this is merely conjecture. A curious feature in De Vere's work was his putting columns in the middle of the central arch. It is probable that the part of the presbytery we now have was but the beginning of a larger scheme never carried out, which included building the presbytery and dividing the eastern wall into two arches instead of one as at Lichfield and Exeter.
According to Sir Gilbert Scott's theory, the Early English Lady Chapel was an extension of the work of Bishop de Vere: it is especially interesting, and an unique example of its date in being raised upon a crypt.
At the Bishop's palace was a splendid hall of which it seems likely De Vere was the builder,—at any rate he must have been the first or second occupier. It was of noble dimensions, being 110 feet in length, consisting of a nave 23 feet broad, with aisles 16 feet wide, independently of the columns. This was divided into five bays by pillars supporting timber arches formed of two pieces of curved oak. Nearly the whole of the present Bishop's palace is included within the space occupied by this grand hall.
In 1188 when Archbishop Baldwin made pilgrimage into Wales on behalf of the crusade, he was entertained in this hall by Bishop de Vere, and doubtless some of those who devoted themselves to the work were Hereford men.
The central tower of the cathedral, that fine example of decorated work, covered with its profusion of ball-flower ornament, was built by, or at any rate during the episcopate of, Giles de Braose (1200-1215), an ardent opponent of King John.
The remaining examples of decorated date are the inner north porch (as distinct from the addition of Bishop Booth) and what remains of the beautifully designed chapter-house, a decagon in plan, each side except the one occupied by the entrance being subdivided into five seats.
During the term of office of Bishop Foliot (1219-1234), a tooth of St. Æthelberht, whose remains had been almost entirely destroyed by Ælfgar and Gruffuth in 1055, was given to the cathedral. The donor of this precious relic was Philip de Fauconberg, Canon of Hereford and Archdeacon of Huntingdon.
The next Bishop, Ralph de Maydenstan, 1234-1239, presented some service-books to the cathedral.