Cathedral Cities of England

by George Gilbert

N the great peninsula that runs out into the Atlantic is Devonshire, adjoining Cornwall, that dwindles to the Land's End, the point eagerly welcomed by visitors to England, the last of the Old Country to which a farewell is given. Through the northern portion of Devonshire meanders the river Exe, having established its source in Somersetshire. Quite ten miles before the river empties its waters at the mouth into the English Channel, on a broad ridge of land rising steeply from the left bank of the Exe, is the old city of Exeter. It is the chief of the county, and has had a varied existence.

For the earliest period of Exeter, Geoffrey of Monmouth supplies much information, which has been greatly borne out by subsequent researches. He considered that Exeter was a city of the Britons some time before the Romans elected to establish their camp. The British named it indifferently Cær-Wisc (city of the water), or Cær Rydh (the red city), from the coloured nature of the soil. When captured by the Romans they made it a stipendiary town. They called it Isca, to which was added Danmoniorum, to avoid confusion with the other Isca, a Latinised name given also to a town on the river (now Usk) in Monmouthshire. Many proofs of Roman occupation have turned up in the shape of numerous coins and other relics.

The year 1778 was especially notable for the excavations which brought to light many important objects. Small statuettes of Mercury, Mars, Ceres, and Apollo, evidently the household gods of the Romans, together with urns, tiles, and tessellated pavements, were unearthed. Exeter at one time went by the name of Augusta, which was due to its having been occupied by the Second Augustan Legion, whose commander, Vespasian, included the city under his conquest Britannia Prima. The same legion, during the period 47 to 52, had also a permanent station at Isca Silurum, as Cærleon-on-the-Usk in Monmouth was called. But as Vespasian continued the conquest, 69 to 79, it seems fair to surmise that the Second Legion of Augusta was advanced or a portion sent from Isca Silurum to garrison Isca Danmoniorum, the present Exeter.

For a considerable time it was the capital of the West Saxon kingdom. It was probably during the Saxon occupation that the city changed its name to Excestre, which would easily be contracted into that of Exeter. In violation of a compact made with Alfred, who was a Saxon monarch, the Danes seized the city. They were, however, compelled to evacuate it, together with the surrender of all their prisoners within the West Saxon territory, by Alfred, in 877. This monarch was again called upon in 894 to relieve the Saxons from their Danish oppressors. The next century witnessed a marked improvement in the prosperity of the city. It had from quite an early period been distinguished for its numerous monastic institutions, so much so that it was said to have been called "Monk Town" by Britons in Cornwall and the heathen Saxons. They were pleased to deride it thus, but when Athelstan came he clearly made them understand that it was no happy state to be without the pale of the Church. He so thoroughly instilled into them the necessity of imbibing the principles of religion that those who were unwilling to become converts were expelled.

With the exception of a few, we may take it that many embraced Christianity as a matter of compulsion or for expediency's sake, for in those days of hard knocks it was hardly likely that any mass of ignorant peasants would comprehend anything but the most stringent measures. The transition from heathen darkness to the light of Christianity must have meant a severe initiation to two-thirds of the population of Exeter at the time of Athelstan's accession. He came westward about the year 926 and found the Britons and Saxons living amicably and enjoying equal rights. The city had by them already been called Exenceaster, that is, the "cester" or fortified town on the "Exe." Athelstan augmented the number of religious institutions by the foundation of a Benedictine monastery. The building was dedicated to St. Peter, the establishment of which there seems no reason to doubt gave birth eventually to the present cathedral. Besides this he materially increased the importance of the town by appointing two mints and erecting regular fortifications with towers and a wall of hewn stone. Athelstan's monastery was destroyed by the Danes. King Edgar in 968 restored it, and appointed Sydemann to the Abbacy, as it then became. Ultimately this abbot was raised to the Bishopric of Crediton, which was the seat of the Devonshire Diocese about 910. In 1003 Exeter, after a gallant defence of some three months' duration, was betrayed by its governor into the hands of Sweyn. As has been said elsewhere, this king came from Denmark especially to punish Ethelred the Unready for having allowed the massacre of Danes, in which the sister of Sweyn had perished. The monastery of St. Peter was not spared, nor was the city, which did not recover from the terrible visitation till the accession of Canute.

From this time Exeter increased to such importance and wealth that in the reign of Edward the Confessor it was deemed advisable and for better security to make it the head of the Diocese.

For this purpose the Sees of Crediton and St. Germans (Cornwall) were united under one bishop. To uphold worthily the new dignity, the abbey church of St. Peter was erected into a cathedral by the Confessor, who appointed his chaplain Leofric as first bishop of the united see. Leofric had the monks removed to Westminster Abbey, and installed in their stead were twenty-four secular canons. The date of Leofric's installation is about 1040, which is, of course, that of the foundation of the Cathedral. This arrangement was altered on the re-erection of the Cornish See in 1876.