Mr. Collins presents us with three interesting graphic descriptions. This city owes its name to the numerous springs, and more particularly to that of St. Andrew's Well, whose water, rising in the vicinity of the episcopal palace, flows through the south-western part of the city. Ina, King of the West Saxons, named it thus. He, in 704, founded a collegiate church and dedicated it to St. Andrew the Apostle.
This foundation was handsomely endowed by Cynewulf in 766, and flourished till 905. Wells was then erected into a see. This change was consequent on an edict of Edward the Elder for the revival of religion, which had been brought down to a low ebb by the frequent and terrible incursions of the Danes. To combat this state of things, Pligrund, Archbishop of Canterbury, consecrated several new bishops, of whom Aldhelm, formerly Abbot of Glastonbury, became first bishop of Wells.
Edward the Confessor made his chaplain, Giso, the thirteenth bishop to the See, and at the same time enriched it by the confiscated property of Godwin, Earl of Kent, and Harold, Earl of Wessex, his son, whom he had driven into exile. Harold, in spite of his exile, made an incursion into Somersetshire, levied mail on his former tenantry, and eased the church of its treasures.
In the meantime Giso was being consecrated at Rome. On his return he was fortunate enough to gain some compensation from the queen, who was sister to Harold. But, unfortunately for Giso, Harold was again received into favour. He promptly procured the banishment of Giso, and on his succession later to the throne straightway resumed all his estates, which Edward the Confessor had granted to the Church, and thus impoverished the See.
Bishop Giso's opportunity came with the Conquest, when he was reinstated. William, in his second year of reign, restored to the Bishopric, with some small deduction, all Harold's estates. Giso augmented the number of canons, and built a cloister, hall, and dormitory, and enlarged and beautified the choir of the Cathedral. John de Villula, his successor, swept away these buildings, and on their site built a palace.
Villula's name in ecclesiastical history is closely associated with a memorable event which caused considerable commotion and rivalry between the inhabitants of Wells and Bath. He removed the See of the diocese to Bath, and assumed the title of Bishop of Bath. Feeling ran high, and the Archbishop of Canterbury was appealed to. His ingenuity proposed that the prelates should be styled "Bishop of Bath and Wells," that an equal number of delegates from both cities should elect him, and that their installation should take place in both churches. Yet, later, the determination of the diocese's headquarters became again a vexed question, under Bishop Savaricus, who was closely allied to the Emperor of Austria.
Richard I.'s liberty was granted him by the Emperor of Austria on one condition besides the ransom, that the then vacant Abbey of Glastonbury should be annexed to the See of Bath and Wells. Savaricus afterwards changed the seat of his diocese to Glastonbury, and styled himself Bishop of Glastonbury. The seat was finally settled in 1205, after his death, by the monks under his successor, Joscelyne de Wells. Glastonbury petitioned Rome, favourably, to be reinstated as an abbey, on condition of relinquishing a handsome portion of its revenue to the See.
Joscelyne assumed the bishopric title of Bath and Wells, which has remained to this day. The death of this prelate was the signal for further dispute in another direction. The monks of Bath endeavoured to exercise, in opposition to the Canon of Wells, the right of electing the successor to the See. All dispute was settled by the Pope, who managed to draw closer the union of the churches. At the Reformation the monastery of Bath was suppressed, and though the name of the See was retained, all ecclesiastical authority and the right of electing the Bishop were vested in the Dean and Chapter of Wells, which then became the sole chapter of the Diocese.
