The Three Choirs: A Handbook to the Cathedrals of Gloucester, Hereford, and Worcester / A Complete Description of the Buildings, a History of Each Diocese and Biographical Notices of the Bishops

by R. J. King

PEDESTAL OF THE SHRINE OF BISHOP CANTILUPE.

Plate IV.

The shafts at the angles of all the windows are ringed, and the triangular arches, throughout the transept, are slightly stilted. Such arches are by no means common. They occur, however, in the clerestory on the south side of the nave in Worcester Cathedral, but of later date than this transept, which was possibly imitated by the Worcester architect.

This transept has been carefully and truly “restored,” under the direction of Mr. G. G. Scott. The stone-work has been freed from whitewash and cleaned; and the plain quadripartite vaulting has been touched with colour, and the bosses gilt, with excellent effect. The vaulting springs from clustered shafts, the corbels supporting which, on the east side, are beautiful and singular, and resemble bunches of reeds, terminating in a small open flower. The small heads below these corbels, at the intersection of the main arches, should also be noticed.

The transept has been laid with red and green tiles in panels, the divisions being marked in grey sandstone.

XII. The eastern aisle is lighted by three very beautiful windows, each of three lights, with three quatrefoils in the tracery. They are set back within wider arches, as is the case with the windows in the main transept. In this aisle, in a line with the central pier, is the pedestal of the Cantilupe Shrine. [Plate IV.] (For a sketch of the life of St. Thomas Cantilupe, the last Englishman canonized before the Reformation, see Pt. II.) Bishop Cantilupe died on his way to Rome, at Civita Vecchia, Aug. 25, 1282. His remains were divided. A portion was interred near Orvieto; the heart was brought to Ashridge in Buckinghamshire; and the bones were brought to his own cathedral at Hereford, where they were deposited in the Lady-chapel. The reputation of Bishop Cantilupe had been great during his life. Numerous miracles were recorded as having taken place at his tomb, which soon became one of the most frequented places of pilgrimage in the west of England; and in 1286 (April 6) his remains were translated to a more stately resting-place in this transept, which had probably been rebuilt in his honour. The King, Edward II., was present at the translation. Bishop Cantilupe was not canonized until 1320[36]; but the pedestal of his shrine, which alone now exists, is (with the exception of the western end, which seems to be at least thirty years later) of the date of his translation.

This is a long parallelogram, narrowing toward the lower end, and is entirely of Purbeck marble. It has two divisions; the lower closed, like an altar-tomb, the upper a flat canopy, supported on small open arches. Upon this rested the actual shrine, containing the relics of the saint. Cantilupe was Provincial Grand Master of the Knights Templars in England; and round the lower division of the pedestal are fifteen figures of Templars in various attitudes, placed in the recesses of a foliated arcade. All are fully armed, in chain-mail, with surcoat, shield, and sword. All are seated, and tread on various monsters, among which are dragons, and swine muzzled. The spandrels in this arcade, and the spandrels between the arches in the upper division, are filled with leafage of the most beautiful and varied character. It is the leafage of the first Decorated period, retaining some of the stiff arrangement of the Early English, but directly copied from nature. In the lower spandrels it is arranged in sprays; in the upper it is often laid in rows of leaves, among which occur oak, maple, and trefoil. The whole of this work will repay the most careful examination. (It should be compared with the foliage of the capitals of the shafts surrounding the central pier of the aisle, which is far more stiff and conventional.) On the top of the lower division of the pedestal was a brass of the Bishop, of which the matrix alone remains.

The position of the shrine in this transept may be compared with that of St. Frideswide at Oxford, and with that of St. Richard de la Wych at Chichester. All had an altar immediately adjoining the shrine, which was dedicated to the saint, and at which the offerings of pilgrims were made. In these cases, however, the usual position of a great shrine—at the back of the high altar—was, for some special reason, departed from. At Hereford, this position of highest honour was probably occupied by the shrine of St. Ethelbert; and the shrine of St. Thomas Cantilupe must have taken an inferior place, had it been fixed near that. This was avoided by the dedication of the entire transept to the sainted Bishop. In the same manner, the south transept at Chichester seems to have been occupied by the shrine of St. Richard de la Wych; in whose honour the great south window was probably inserted.