The Cathedral Library was founded by Leofric himself. One of his principal reasons for translating the see from Crediton to Exeter being his fear lest the valuable books he had collected should at any time be destroyed by raiders in an unfortified town.
When, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, Sir Thomas Bodley, himself a native of Exeter, founded the Bodleian Library at Oxford, the Dean and Chapter of Exeter presented to it a large number of books and manuscripts, many of which had belonged to Leofric. Fortunately one volume remained in Exeter, overlooked by owners then unaware of its value, possibly of its very existence. This volume, "The Exeter Book," is the greatest treasure possessed by the Dean and Chapter, being an Anglo-Saxon manuscript, containing almost a third of all the Anglo-Saxon literature that is known. The contents include "Cynewulf's Christus," a poem on the life of our Lord; some legends of saints; and a quaint collection of riddles and jokes. The ink of its writing, nearly one thousand years old, is as fresh as if it had been inscribed but recently.
As already mentioned, the muniments room was formerly above St. Andrew's Chapel. At a later date the library was placed in the Lady Chapel, and was thence removed to the chapter house. Towards the end of the last century Canon Cook and Chancellor Harrington left their valuable libraries to the Dean and Chapter, and in order to accommodate the books Dean Cowie restored the south side of the cloister, and built a new library over it.
Here may be seen the Exeter Book, the Exeter Domesday, Grandisson's Ordinale, Lacy's Pontifical, and other beautiful examples of illumination. Also the original charter of Edward the Confessor appointing Leofric Bishop of Exeter, signed by the King and Queen, Earl Godwin, and a notable group of Saxon Thanes.
Among the printed books are a First Folio of Shakespeare, and the sealed Prayer Book of King Charles II.
The library is open to the public after Matins on Tuesdays and Fridays.
The Palace is a building so closely associated with the cathedral as to demand a brief notice. In it is the chapel of St. Mary, which seems to have been frequently used in preference to the cathedral for the celebration of espiscopal functions. Ordination services were often held within its walls. It was originally built that services might be said there for the repose of the souls of dead bishops of Exeter. A document is quoted by Oliver, in which the parish of Alwyngton is called upon to pay the officiating chaplain a yearly sum of four marks and that of Harberton two. This chapel, now restored, is used for domestic purposes. But at one time it was clearly regarded as pertaining to the cathedral, for the Dean and Chapter, on the festival of St. Faith, presented to it a pair of wax candles. Brantyngham, in 1381, mentions the "fructus et proventus cantariae infra Palatium nostrum Exonie, pro animabus predecessorum nostorum ipsius fundatorum." The old entrance was under the great archway, and battlements, by gracious permission of royalty, surrounded the whole. In the great hall feasts were held for 100 poor people; but the palace now is shorn of a good deal of its grandeur. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1845 decided to rebuild and repair what remained.
