Bell\'s Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Hereford, A Description
A >> A. Hugh Fisher >> Bell\'s Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Hereford, A DescriptionHEREFORD FROM THE WYE.
_Photochrom Co., Ld., Photo._
The Cathedral Church Of Hereford
A Description Of Its Fabric And A Brief History Of The Episcopal See
By A. Hugh Fisher
London
George Bell and Sons
1898
GENERAL PREFACE.
This series of monographs has been planned to supply visitors to the great
English Cathedrals with accurate and well illustrated guide-books at a
popular price. The aim of each writer has been to produce a work compiled
with sufficient knowledge and scholarship to be of value to the student of
Archaeology and History, and yet not too technical in language for the use
of an ordinary visitor or tourist.
To specify all the authorities which have been made use of in each case
would be difficult and tedious in this place. But amongst the general
sources of information which have been almost invariably found useful
are:--(1) the great county histories, the value of which, especially in
questions of genealogy and local records, is generally recognised; (2) the
numerous papers by experts which appear from time to time in the
Transactions of the Antiquarian and Archaeological Societies; (3) the
important documents made accessible in the series issued by the Master of
the Rolls; (4) the well-known works of Britton and Willis on the English
Cathedrals; and (5) the very excellent series of Handbooks to the
Cathedrals, originated by the late Mr. John Murray; to which the reader
may in most cases be referred for fuller detail, especially in reference
to the histories of the respective sees.
GLEESON WHITE.
EDWARD F. STRANGE.
_Editors of the Series_.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
In addition to the well-known books mentioned in the General Preface, the
"Monastic Chronicles" and many other works named in the text, some dealing
especially with Hereford have been of valuable assistance to me in
preparing this little book. Amongst these are the various careful studies
of the Rev. Francis Havergal, Dean Merewether's exhaustive "Statement of
the Condition and Circumstances of the Cathedral Church of Hereford in the
Year 1841," and "The Diocese of Hereford," by the Rev. H.W. Phillott.
My best thanks are also due to the Photochrom Company for their excellent
photographs.
A. HUGH FISHER.
CONTENTS
GENERAL PREFACE.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
CHAPTER I. - THE HISTORY OF THE BUILDING.
CHAPTER II. - THE CATHEDRAL - EXTERIOR.
CHAPTER III. - THE INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL.
CHAPTER IV. - HISTORY OF THE SEE.
ILLUSTRATIONS
HEREFORD FROM THE WYE.
HEREFORD CATHEDRAL, FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.
A GARGOYLE IN THE CLOISTERS. DRAWN BY A. HUGH FISHER.
THE AUDLEY CHAPEL.
THE WEST FRONT (FROM AN OLD PRINT).
THE NAVE AFTER THE FALL OF THE WEST END.
THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTH AT THE END OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
BISHOP BOOTH'S PORCH AND NORTH TRANSEPT.
GENERAL VIEW, FROM THE WEST.
EXTERIOR OF THE LADY CHAPEL. DRAWN BY A. HUGH FISHER.
THE CLOISTERS, WITH THE LADIES' ARBOUR.
THE NORTH PORCH.
THE NAVE.
THE CHOIR SCREEN.
SECTION THROUGH TOWER AND TRANSEPTS.
NORTH ARCH OF CENTRAL TOWER, SHOWING MASONRY ERECTED ABOUT 1320.
THE NORTH TRANSEPT.
THE CANTILUPE SHRINE.
EAST WALL OF THE SOUTH TRANSEPT.
THE LADY CHAPEL.
SECTION THROUGH LADY CHAPEL AND CRYPT.
ARCH DISCOVERED AT ENTRANCE OF LADY CHAPEL.
SEAL OF JOHANNA DE BOHUN.
THE CRYPT.
VIEW BEHIND THE ALTAR, LOOKING NORTH. AFTER A DRAWING BY W. H. BARTLETT,
1830.
COMPARTMENT OF CHOIR, EXTERIOR, NORTH SIDE.
COMPARTMENT OF CHOIR, INTERIOR, NORTH SIDE.
EAST END OF THE CHOIR IN 1841.
EARLY ENGLISH WINDOW MOULDING.
THE REREDOS.
ANCIENT RELIQUARY IN THE CATHEDRAL.
MONUMENTAL CROCKET.
EARLY ENGLISH BASEMENT MOULDING.
A GARGOYLE IN THE CLOISTERS. DRAWN BY A. HUGH FISHER.
TOMB OF BISHOP THOS. CHARLETON.
A GARGOYLE IN THE CLOISTERS. DRAWN BY A. HUGH FISHER.
A GARGOYLE IN THE CLOISTERS. DRAWN BY A. HUGH FISHER.
BYE STREET GATE. FROM AN OLD PRINT.
PLAN OF HEREFORD CATHEDRAL.
[Illustration: HEREFORD CATHEDRAL, FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.]
HEREFORD CATHEDRAL, FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.
_Photochrom Co., Ld., Photo._
HEREFORD CATHEDRAL
CHAPTER I. - THE HISTORY OF THE BUILDING.
The early history of Hereford, like that of the majority of cathedral
churches, is veiled in the obscurity of doubtful speculation and shadowy
tradition. Although the see had existed from the sixth century, it is not
till much later that we have any information concerning the cathedral
itself.
From 755 to 794 there reigned in Mercia one of the most powerful and
important rulers of those times,--King Offa. He was a contemporary of
Charles the Great, and more than once these two sovereigns exchanged gifts
and letters. Under Offa Mercia became the first power in Britain, and in
addition to much fighting with the West Saxons and the Kentish men he
wrested a large piece of the country lying west of the Severn from the
Welsh, took the chief town of the district which was afterwards called
Shrewsbury, and like another Severus made a great dyke from the mouth of
the Wye to that of the Dee which became henceforth the boundary between
Wales and England, a position it has held with few changes to the present
day. In church history Offa is of no less importance than in secular, for
as the most powerful King in England he seems to have determined that
ecclesiastical affairs in this country should be more under his control,
or at least supervision, than they could possibly be with the Mercian
church subject to the Archbishop of Canterbury. In 786, therefore, he
persuaded the Pope to create the Archbishopric of Lichfield. Although
Canterbury regained its supremacy upon Offa's death when Lichfield was
shorn by a new Pope of its recently acquired honours, the position gained
for the latter see by Offa, though temporary in itself, must have had
lasting and important influence. Offa is generally held responsible for
the murder, about 793, of AEthelberht, King of the East Angles, who had
been promised his daughter, AEthelthryth, in marriage.
Had AEthelberht been gifted with a knowledge of future events (which would
not have been a more wonderful attribute than many of the virtues which
were ascribed afterwards to his dead body), he could hardly have desired a
more glorious fate. His murder gained for him martyrdom with its immortal
glory, and he could scarce have met his death under happier auspices.
Visiting a king's residence to fetch his bride he died by the order of a
man whose memory is sullied by no other stain, a man renowned in war, a
maker of laws for the good of his people, and eminent in an ignorant age
as one who encouraged learning.
Legend and tradition have so obscured this event that beyond the bare fact
of the murder nothing can be positively asserted, and the brief statement
of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, "792. This year Offa, King of the Mercians,
commanded the head of King AEthelberht to be struck off," contains all that
we may be certain of.
One writer speaks of a hired assassin, and others lay the crime at the
door of Cynethryth, Offa's Queen, who is said to have insinuated that the
marriage was only sought as a pretext to occupy the Mercian throne.
Finding her lord's courage not equal to the occasion, she herself arranged
the end of AEthelberht. There is talk of a pit dug in his sleeping-chamber
and a chair arranged thereover, which, with an appearance of luxurious
comfort, lured him to his fate. The body was, according to one writer,
privately buried on the bank of the river "Lugg," near Hereford.
"On the night of his burial," says the Monkish Annalist, "a column of
light, brighter than the sun, arose towards heaven"; and three nights
afterwards the figure (or ghost) of King AEthelberht appeared to Brithfrid,
a nobleman, and commanded him to convey the body to a place called
"Stratus Waye," and to inter it near the monastery there. Guided by
another column of light, Brithfrid, having placed the body and the head on
a carriage, proceeded on his journey. The head fell from the vehicle, but
having been discovered by a "blind man," to whom it miraculously
communicated sight, was restored by him to the careless driver. Arrived at
his place of destination, then called "Fernlega" or "Saltus Silicis," and
which has since been termed Hereford, he there interred the body. Whatever
the motive for the crime, there is ample evidence of Offa's subsequent
remorse. In atonement he built monasteries and churches, and is even said
by some to have gone on a pilgrimage to Rome, though this rests on slight
evidence.
The miracles worked at the tomb of the murdered King were, according to
Asser, so numerous and incredible that Offa, who had appropriated
AEthelberht's kingdom, was induced to send two bishops to Hereford to
ascertain the truth of them, and it is generally agreed that about A.D.
825 Milfrid, who was Viceroy to the Mercian King Egbert after the death of
Offa and of his son Egfrid, expended a large sum of money in building
"_Ecclesiam egregiam, lapidea structura_" at Hereford, which he
consecrated to the martyred monarch, and endowed with lands and enriched
with ornaments.
Although one of the old chroniclers calls it a church of stone, it is
quite uncertain what were the materials, size, or architectural character
of this edifice. It seems, however, that by 1012, when Bishop Athelstan
was promoted to the see, it had fallen into sheer ruin, or, at any rate,
sufficient decay to necessitate his beginning a new building. Of this no
clearer account has been handed down to us than of Milfrid's church. Soon
after it was finished Algar or Elfgar, Earl of Chester, son of the Earl of
Mercia, was charged with treason at a Witan in London, and (though his
guilt is still disputed) was outlawed by Edward the Confessor. He hired a
fleet of Danish pirate ships from the Irish coast, joined King Gruffydd in
Wales, and marched with him into Herefordshire, determining to make war
upon King Edward. Here they began with a victory about two miles from
Hereford over the Earl of that shire who was a Frenchman, and tried to
make his men fight on horseback in the French fashion, which they did not
understand,--the English way being for the great men to ride to the field
of battle, but there to dismount and fight with their heavy axes on foot.
Earl Ralph, the Frenchman, turned his horse's head and fled the field, and
the English, encumbered with their long spears and swords, followed helter
skelter. After killing some five hundred, AElfgar and Gruffydd turned to
Hereford and came upon the church which Bishop Athelstan had caused to be
built. There they met with a spirited resistance: amongst other victims
seven of the canons were killed in an attempt to hold the great door of
the minster; but, ultimately, the church and town were burned.
Earl Harold, son of Earl Godwin, himself, when it was too late, came with
half of his army to Hereford, and with his usual predilection for peace
(notwithstanding his valour) soon after removed the outlawry from AElfgar,
and quiet was restored.
In 1056, the year following this disaster, the worthy Bishop Athelstan
died at Bosbury. He had been blind for thirteen years before his death,
and a Welsh bishop had acted for him. His body was interred in the church
which he had "built from the foundations," and we may therefore suppose
that the "minster" was not entirely destroyed.
In 1057, on the death of Earl Ralph, the Frenchman, so important was
Herefordshire, through its position on the Welsh borders, and, since it
had been strengthened by Harold, such an important military post was the
town of Hereford, that it became part of his earldom.
From 1055 to 1079 the minster is said to have been in ruins. At the latter
date Bishop Lozing (Robert de Losinga) began to rebuild the cathedral, and
there are vague accounts that it was in the form of a round church in
imitation of a basilica of Charlemagne which had been built at
Aix-la-Chapelle between 774 and 795. If such a form ever existed it must
have been completely destroyed, as the work of the Norman period that
remains is clearly English both in treatment and in detail. If this could
be proved to be Lozing's work, then it had no similarity to the Roman
style. The building begun by him was carried on by Bishop Raynelm, who
held the see from 1107 to 1115, and placed on a more regular basis the
establishment of canons living under a rule. These prebendaries or canons
did not live in common like the monks, but in separate houses near the
church. Whether he completed the building or not, Bishop Raynelm
undoubtedly made many additions and alterations.
We may here quote an interesting account of the duties of the cathedral
treasurer, which were probably settled about this time. They throw a
curious and suggestive light on the ceremonies of the period. "At
Hereford," says Walcott, "he found all the lights; three burning day and
night before the high altar; two burning there at matins daily, and at
mass, and the chief hours on festivals; three burning perpetually, viz.,
in the chapter-house, the second before S. Mary's altar, and the third
before the cross in the rood-loft; four before the high altar, and altar
on "_Minus Duplicia_," and five tapers in basons, on principles, and
doubles, at mass, prime, and second vespers, four tapers before the high
altar, five in the basons, thirteen on the beam, and seven in the
candelabra; the paschal and portable tapers for processions. He kept the
keys of the treasury, copes, palls, vestments, ornaments, and the plate,
of which he rendered a yearly account to the dean and chapter. He found
three clerks to ring the bells, light the candles, and suspend the palls
and curtains on solemn days. He found hay at Christmas to strew the choir
and chapter-house, which at Easter was sprinkled with ivy leaves; and on
All Saints' day he provided mats."(1)
The next great changes were made under Bishop William de Vere (1186-1199).
His work was of transitional character, and bears much resemblance to the
beautiful transitional work at Glastonbury. He removed the three Norman
apsidal terminations at the east end, doubled the presbytery aisles, thus
making two side chapels in each transept which have since been replaced by
the Lady Chapel with its vestibule.
In a paper read before the Archaeological Institute in 1877, Sir G. G.
Scott suggests that the central apse projected one bay beyond the sides;
but this is merely conjecture. A curious feature in De Vere's work was his
putting columns in the middle of the central arch. It is probable that the
part of the presbytery we now have was but the beginning of a larger
scheme never carried out, which included building the presbytery and
dividing the eastern wall into two arches instead of one as at Lichfield
and Exeter.
According to Sir Gilbert Scott's theory, the Early English Lady Chapel was
an extension of the work of Bishop de Vere: it is especially interesting,
and an unique example of its date in being raised upon a crypt.
At the Bishop's palace was a splendid hall of which it seems likely De
Vere was the builder,--at any rate he must have been the first or second
occupier. It was of noble dimensions, being 110 feet in length, consisting
of a nave 23 feet broad, with aisles 16 feet wide, independently of the
columns. This was divided into five bays by pillars supporting timber
arches formed of two pieces of curved oak. Nearly the whole of the present
Bishop's palace is included within the space occupied by this grand hall.
In 1188 when Archbishop Baldwin made pilgrimage into Wales on behalf of
the crusade, he was entertained in this hall by Bishop de Vere, and
doubtless some of those who devoted themselves to the work were Hereford
men.
The central tower of the cathedral, that fine example of decorated work,
covered with its profusion of ball-flower ornament, was built by, or at
any rate during the episcopate of, Giles de Braose (1200-1215), an ardent
opponent of King John.
The remaining examples of decorated date are the inner north porch (as
distinct from the addition of Bishop Booth) and what remains of the
beautifully designed chapter-house, a decagon in plan, each side except
the one occupied by the entrance being subdivided into five seats.
During the term of office of Bishop Foliot (1219-1234), a tooth of St.
AEthelberht, whose remains had been almost entirely destroyed by AElfgar and
Gruffuth in 1055, was given to the cathedral. The donor of this precious
relic was Philip de Fauconberg, Canon of Hereford and Archdeacon of
Huntingdon.
The next Bishop, Ralph de Maydenstan, 1234-1239, presented some
service-books to the cathedral.
In 1240 Henry III., with his wonted preference for foreigners, appointed
to the Hereford bishopric, Peter of Savoy, generally known as Bishop
Aquablanca, from Aqua Bella, his birthplace, near Chambery. He it was who
rebuilt the north transept. He was one of the best hated men in England,
and not content with showering benefices upon his relations, he
perpetrated one of the greatest frauds in history in order to raise money
to aid the annexation schemes of Popes Innocent IV. and Alexander IV. Of
these, however, full particulars will be found in a chapter on the
Diocese.
While he was absent in Ireland collecting tithes, attended by a guard of
soldiers, Prince Edward, coming to Hereford to resist the encroachments of
Llewellyn, King of Wales, found there neither bishop, dean, nor canons
resident. For this they earned the severe reprimand of the King, and the
Bishop returned to Hereford. Shortly after, he was seized within the
cathedral precincts by the insurgent barons of Leicester's party, together
with all the foreign canons (who were his own relations). They were
carried to Eardisley Castle, where the spoil they had just brought from
Ireland was divided among the insurgents.
Bishop Aquablanca died soon after these events, in 1268. He was endowed
with a character full of contradictions, extreme aggressiveness, mingled
with remarkable tact.
When he got the better of the Hereford citizens, after their attempt to
encroach upon his episcopal rights, he remitted one full half of their
fine and devoted the other to the cathedral building. While he was showing
in his life a disgraceful example to the clergy of the country, at the
same time he gave liberally to the cathedral foundation in books,
ornaments, money, and land, left a rich legacy to the poor, and a lasting
monument in the rebuilding of the north transept of the cathedral itself.
With the exception of the arches, leading into the aisles of the nave and
choir, the Norman work of the transept was altogether demolished, and
replaced by another consisting of two bays with an eastern aisle. Over the
latter was built a story now used as the cathedral library, which is
approached from the north aisle of the presbytery by a staircase turret.
His tomb is one of the finest in the cathedral. Under it, together with
those of his nephew, a Dean of Hereford, are his own remains, except the
heart, which, as he had wished, was carried to his own country of Savoy.
In 1275 the Chapter of Hereford elected to the bishopric Thomas de
Cantilupe, one of the greatest men who has ever held that office, a man
whose life was in almost every way a remarkable contrast to that of his
predecessor, Bishop Aquablanca. It is said that the Bishop of Worcester,
his great-uncle, asked him as a child as to his choice of a profession,
and that he answered he would like to be a soldier. "Then, sweetheart,"
his uncle is said to have exclaimed, "thou shalt be a soldier to serve the
King of Kings, and fight under the banner of the glorious martyr, St.
Thomas." Regular attendance at mass was his custom from earliest years.
Both at Oxford and Paris he distinguished himself, gaining his degree of
M.A. at the Sorbonne, and on his return accepted, at the request of the
university of Oxford and with the consent of the King, the office of
chancellor. In this capacity he showed singular courage and determination
in repressing a brawl between the southern scholars and those of the
north, in which we are told he escaped with a whole skin, but not with a
whole coat.
He was chosen to fill the post of Chancellor of England under Simon de
Montfort, at whose death, however, he was deprived of the office. It was
some years after this that he became Bishop of Hereford, and was
consecrated at Canterbury, September 8th, 1275. No Welsh bishop attended
the consecration.
After he became a bishop he still wore his hair-shirt and showed ever
intense devotion in his celebration of divine service. He was remarkable
in the steadfastness and ability he displayed in maintaining the rights of
the see. Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, claiming a certain "chace"
near Malvern Forest, whence came the Bishop's supply of game, found a
relentless opponent in Bishop Cantilupe. The Bishop was prepared with the
customary "pugil" or champion (who received 6s. 8d. per annum), though his
services were not required. The Earl was excommunicated, and appealing to
the law in a trial Bishop Cantilupe eloquently maintained his right to
capture "buck, doe, fawn, wild cat, hare, and all birds pertaining
thereto," and as a result of the verdict being in his favour, caused a
long trench to be dug on the crest of the Malvern Hills as a boundary
line, which is still traceable.
Llewellyn, King of Wales, was made to restore three manors of which he had
obtained unlawful possession; and Lord Clifford, for cattle-lifting and
maltreating the Bishop's tenants, was compelled to walk barefoot to the
high altar in the cathedral, while the Bishop personally chastised him
with a rod.
Many cases did he fight out successfully, but his greatest struggle was on
a question of testamentary jurisdiction with Peckham, Archbishop of
Canterbury, by whom he was ultimately excommunicated and obliged to leave
the country, attended by Swinfield, his faithful chaplain.
He obtained a decree in his favour from Pope Martin IV., but died on the
homeward journey on August 25th, 1282. He was buried in the church of St.
Severus, near Florence; but his bones having been divided from the flesh
by boiling, were later carried to England and solemnly placed in the Lady
Chapel of the cathedral. It is said that the Earl of Gloucester, with whom
Bishop Cantilupe had had the dispute about the chace, attended the
ceremony, and that blood began to flow from the bones when he approached
the casket containing them; upon which the Earl immediately restored the
property he had taken unjustly from the church.
Forty years later Bishop Cantilupe was canonised. It is said, amongst
other evidences of his saintliness, that he never allowed his sister to
kiss him. Three hundred sick people are said to have been cured at the
place of his interment, and so many candles were presented by the crowds
of visitors that Luke de Bray, the treasurer of the cathedral, had a
dispute with the prebendaries as to the value of the wax, two-thirds being
finally assigned to the treasurer and one-third to the prebendaries.
After five years Bishop Cantilupe's bones were removed to the Chapel of
St. Katherine, in the north-west transept, on Maundy Thursday, April 6th,
1287, in presence of King Edward I. They were again twice moved in the
sixteenth century to the Lady Chapel and back again to the north-west
transept.
The building of the chapter-house may have spread over some part of
Cantilupe's episcopate, and probably part of the cloisters were erected
about this time.
The miracles said to have been wrought at the shrine of St. Cantilupe are
both many and various. More than sixty-six dead people are said to have
been restored to life. The saint's intervention appears to have been
extended even to animals, as we find that King Edward I. twice sent sick
falcons to be cured at this tomb. So great was the reverence for the saint
that the See of Hereford was allowed by the Crown to change its armorial
bearings for the arms of Cantilupe, which all its bishops have since
borne.
Bishop Cantilupe was succeeded by his devoted chaplain, Richard Swinfield,
an excellent preacher and a man of agreeable manners. Bishop Swinfield,
like his predecessor, stoutly vindicated the rights and discipline of his
diocese, once against a layman for taking forcible possession of a vacant
benefice, another time against a lady for imprisoning a young clergyman in
her castle on a false charge, and also against the people of Ludlow for
violating the right of sanctuary, and in many cases against abuses of all
sorts. On one occasion Pontius de Cors, a nephew of Bishop Aquablanca, who
had obtained from the Pope the provision of the prebend of Hinton,
interrupted the installation of Robert de Shelving appointed by Bishop
Swinfield, gained admission to the cathedral with an accomplice, and was
formally installed by him in spite of the remonstrance of the Chapter. He
held his place by force of arms during that day and the next, but later
submitted to the Bishop.