The Works of Sir Thomas Browne, Volume 3

by Sir Thomas Browne

And according to the Number of the Three Persons in the Inscription, there are Three Figures upon the Tomb.

On the North Wall of Jesus Chappel there is a legible Brass Inscription in Latin Verses; and at the last Line Pater Noster. This was the Monument of Randulfus Pulvertoft custos caronelle. Above the Inscription was his Coat of Arms, viz. Six Ears of Wheat with a Border of Cinque-foils; but now washed out, since the Wall was whiten'd.

At the Entrance of St. Luke's Chappel, on the Left Hand, is an arched Monument, said to belong to one of the Family of the Bosvile’s or Boswill, sometime Prior of the Convent. At the East End of the Monument are the Arms of the Church (the Cross) and on the West End another (three Bolt Arrows,) which is supposed to be his Paternal Coat. The same Coat is to be seen in the sixth Escocheon of the South-side, under the Belfry. Some Inscriptions upon this Monument were washed out when the Church was lately whiten'd; as among the rest, O morieris! O morieris! O morieris! The three Bolts are the known Arms of the Bosomes, an ancient Family in Norfolk; but whether of the Bosviles, or no, I am uncertain.

Next unto it is the Monument of Richard Brome, Esq. whose Arms thereon are Ermyns; and for the Crest, a Bunch or Branch of Broom with Golden Flowers. This might be Richard Brome, Esq. whose Daughter married the Heir of the Yaxley's of Yaxley, in the Time of Henry VII. And one of the same Name founded a Chappel in the Field in Norwich.

There are also in St. Luke's Chappel, amongst the Seats on the South-side, two substantial Marble and cross’d Tombs, very ancient, said to be two Priors of this Convent.

At the Entrance into the Cloister, by the upper Door on the Right Hand, next the Stairs, was a handsom Monument on the Wall, which was pulled down in the late Times, and a Void Place still remaineth. Upon this Stone were the Figures of two Persons in a praying Posture, on their Knees. I was told by Mr. Sandlin, that it was said to be the Monument for one of the Bigots, who built or beautified that Arch by it, which leadeth into the Church.

In the Choir towards the high Altar, and below the Ascents, there is an old Tomb, which hath been generally said to have been the Monument of Bishop William Herbert, Founder of the Church, and commonly known by the Name of the Founder's Tomb. This was above an Ell high; but when the Pulpit, in the late Confusion, was placed at the Pillar, where Bishop Overall’s Monument now is, and the Aldermen's Seats were at the East End, and the Mayor's Seat in the middle at the high Altar, the height of the Tomb being a Hindrance unto the People, it was taken down to such a Lowness as it now remains in. He was born at Oxford, in good Favour with King William Rufus, and King Henry I. removed the Episcopal See from Thetford to Norwich, built the Priory for 60 Monks, the Cathedral Church, the Bishop's Palace, the Church of S. Leonard, whose Ruins still remain upon the Brow of Mushold-Hill; the Church of S. Nicolas at Yarmouth, of S. Margaret at Lynn, of S. Mary at Elmham, and instituted the Cluniack Monks at Thetford. Malmsbury saith he was, Vir pecuniosus, which his great Works declare, and had always this good Saying of S. Hierom in his Mouth, Erravimus juvenes, emendemus senes.

Many Bishops of old might be buried about, or not far from the Founder, as William Turbus, a Norman, the third Bishop of Norwich, and John of Oxford the fourth, accounted among the learned Men of his Time, who built Trinity Church in Ipswich, and died in the Reign of King John; and it is deliver’d, that these two Bishops were buried near to Bishop Herbert, the Founder.

In the same Row, or not far off, was buried Bishop Henry le Spencer, as lost Brass Inscriptions have declar'd. And Mr. Sandlin told me, that he had seen an Inscription on a Gravestone thereabouts, with the Name of Henricus de, or le Spencer: He came young unto the See, and sat longer in it than any before or after him: But his Time might have been shorter, if he had not escaped in the Fray at Lennam, (a Town of which he was Lord) where forcing the Magistrate's Tipstaff to be carried before him, the People with Staves, Stones, and Arrows, wounded, and put his Servants to Flight. He was also wounded, and left alone, as John Fox hath set it down out of the Chronicle of S. Albans.