Chapter 4

The inside of the church is spacious and commodious, and has lately been rendered still more so by converting the gothic arches of the south side of the nave into one bold semicircular arch whose span is 39 feet, and erecting a gallery in the wide south aisle, said to have been built by John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster.

In the great choir or chapel called Trinity choir, at the east end of the great south aisle, (for the aisles of our churches were formerly often divided into chapels, but of which in this church no traces now remain), was held a _Guild_ or Fraternity, called _Trinity Guild_, founded in the reign of Henry the Seventh, by Sir Richard Sacheverel, Kt. and the good Lady Hungerford. Collections were made four times a year, of the brethren and sisters belonging to this Society, whatever it might be, for Antiquaries have not rendered the point sufficiently clear, but from their meetings being held in churches, it is most probable that they were of a religious nature. The money when collected was applied to meet various expenses, but chiefly to pay the wages of their priest, perhaps their confessor, and to supply their great feast held annually on Trinity Sunday, for which, according to the account of the steward and wardens, the following articles were purchased, A.D. 1508.

s. d.

A dozen of Ale 1 8 A fat Sheep 2 4 Seven Lambs 7 0 Thirty Chickens 1 11 Two gallons of Cream 0 8 0.5qr. of Malt 2 0 Fourteen Geese 4 3

From a curious and ingenious Mathematical Essay on the comparative prices of similar articles in different ages, presented to the society of Antiquaries, we have here the pleasure of offering to the attention of our visitor, the following valuable remarks.

"The generality of readers when they look into the records of antient times, are forcibly struck by the seeming lowness of the prices of every article of common demand, when compared with the modern prices. When they find that an ox was formerly sold for a few shillings, and the price of a quarter of corn calculated in pence, they are led to envy the supposed cheapness of those ages, and to bewail the distressing dearness of the present. Nothing however can be more absurd than the whining complaints founded upon such facts; for since the cheapness of living depends not so much upon the price given for every article of prime necessity, as upon the means by which, to use a common expression, the purchase may be afforded, we must, if we wish to form a proper judgment on the subject, rightly compare these means as they existed in different ages, otherwise our conclusions will be not only idle, but sometimes mischievous.

"It is very certain that money is a commodity, no less than the articles it is employed to purchase, and like them, its absolute value is depreciated or lowered by abundance. Since the discovery of America, the quantity of gold and silver brought into general circulation, and of late, the general and extensive use of paper money which represents real specie, produces the same effect as would arise from a still greater encrease of it. From this natural depreciation alone of the value of coin, it follows that were all other circumstances to have continued the same, the relative value of money would have decreased, or a greater number of pieces of the same denomination would be now required to produce the same effect as formerly, and therefore that it will be necessary to multiply any sum of money of the present age, into some certain number, in order to learn the effect of the same sum in an assigned preceding age."

From this multiplication it is demonstrated that the price of the dozen of Ale, for which the Trinity Guild paid 20d. is equivalent to something more than 6d. a quart;--the fat sheep at 2s. 4d. to 1l. 11s. 4d.--the seven lambs at 7s. to 16s. each;--the thirty chickens at 23d. to rather more than 2s. 6d. the couple;--the two gallons of cream at 8d. to 2s. 8d. a quart;--the half quarter of malt at 2s. to 3l. 4s. the quarter;--the fourteen geese at 4s. 3d. to nearly 5s. each.

In the reign of the Norman kings, articles, but especially corn, were dearer than at present. In Henry the sevenths reign meat was cheaper, but other articles dearer than at present. We now return to the church of St. Mary.

In the year 1783, the spire which had several times been injured by lightening, was so much shattered by a fresh stroke as to require to be taken down to the battlements. It was rebuilt under the direction of an architect, of the name of Cheshire at an expense, exclusive of the old materials, of 245l. 10s. the height of the spire from the ground 61 yards. In this church, in which for many years he officiated as curate, is interred the Rev. W. Bickerstaffe, a man of great simplicity of manners, and urbanity of disposition; who by his laborious and minute researches materially assisted the Topographers of Leicester.

Near the north door of this church is a passage leading under an old fashioned building forming a gate-way into an area called the castle yard. That the present structure was the gate-way of the castle when it was tenable as a place of defence, cannot, for a moment be imagined; but that there was always an entrance at this place we are well assured, for the adjoining building on the left is known by the name of the Porter's Lodge, and it must therefore be concluded that the present was built upon the scite of the antient gate-way, and that it was constructed with the timbers and other materials taken in later ages from some part of the castle which had been taken down.

At this gateway was preserved, till within a few years past, an antient ceremony expressive of the homage formerly paid by the magistrates of Leicester, to the feudal Lords of the castle. The mayor knocking for admittance at the gate was received by the constable of the castle, while the mace was sloped in token of homage; he then took an oath of allegiance to the king as heir to the Lancastrian property; the latter ceremony, agreeable to one of the corporation charters, is still performed, but in private. The office of constable of the castle, which in the beginning of the reign of Mary, was held by Henry duke of Suffolk, with the annual fee of sixty shillings and eight pence, is now retained only nominally.

Opposite the gate-way stands a building most probably erected by the first of the Bellomonts, tho' the modern front which meets the eye effectually conceals all the outward traces of antiquity. The inside of the edifice however is a room exceedingly curious. Its area is large, being about seventy-eight feet long, twenty-four high and fifty-one broad. It is framed into a sort of aisles, by two rows of tall and massy oaken pillars, which serve to support a large and weighty covering of slate. This vast room was the antient hall of the castle, in which the earls of Leicester, and afterwards the dukes of Lancaster, alternately held their courts, and consumed in rude but plenteous hospitality, at the head of their visitors, or their vassals, the rent of their estates then usually paid in kind. On the south end appear the traces of a door-way, which probably was the entrance into a gallery that has often, among other purposes, served as an orchestra for the minstrels and musicians of former days. This hall, during the reigns of several of the Lancastrian princes was the scene of frequent Parliaments, whose transactions our provincial historians have carefully recorded. At present it is used only for the holding the assizes and other country meetings, to which purpose it is, from its length, so well adapted, that, tho' the business of the civil and crown bars is carried on at the same time at the opposite ends of the room, the pleadings of the one do not in the least interrupt the pleadings of the other.

The reflecting visitor, who may choose to compare the uses to which this place is now applied, with the purposes for which it was built, will not fail to derive from the comparison so very favorable to the present times, a satisfaction most worthy the benevolent heart. Instead of the rude licentious carousals of the Bellomonts, when the baron domineered, even in drunkenness, over his assembled slaves, we often see large bodies of the inhabitants of the county, men worthy of freedom and possessing it, assembled to consider with decorum, and to decide with unawed, unbiassed judgment, upon measures of no little importance to the kingdom of England. And instead of the savage violence, or idiot folly which mostly dictated the award of every kind of property, in those feudal times, we see happily substituted the fair examination of the witnesses, the eloquent pleadings of the barristers, the learned observations of the Judge, and the impartial decisions of the Jury, nobly co-operating to investigate truth, and to decide, according to right, the means alike of happiness and virtue. In what manner, and by what degrees this happy change was effected, the following well authenticated anecdote may serve to shew.

Robert de Bellomont, the first earl, sitting in the apartment of the keep of his castle at Leicester, heard a loud shout in the neighbouring fields. Enquiring into the cause, he found that it was given by the partizans of a combatant who was then fighting a duel with his near relation to ascertain the right to a certain piece of land in St. Mary's field. The cruelty and absurdity of such a mode of decision seems to have been forcibly impressed upon the mind of the earl, by this affecting circumstance; and he agreed with the burgesses and inhabitants of Leicester, on the payment of one penny for every house that had a gable or gavel in the High-street (a payment afterwards known by the term _gavel pence_) that all pleas of the above mentioned nature should be determined by a jury of twenty four persons.

From the county hall, or castle, as it is commonly called, a road to the right leads to an antient gate-way strongly built and once furnished with a port-cullis, and every requisite for defence. The embattled parapet being much decayed, was taken down a few years ago, and its roof is now reduced to one of an ordinary form. When this alteration was made, the arms of the dukes of Lancaster by whom the gate-way was undoubtedly built were destroyed on the outside; but on the inside, at the spring of the arch, two mutilated figures, one of a lion, the other of a bear, doubtless some of their devices, still remain. The lion passant, it is well known, formed part of the arms of that family, and the muzzled bear was a symbol used on the seal by Edward the first in his transactions with Scotland. Nothing can be more probable than that the Lancastrian princes would ornament their buildings with a figure which would serve to preserve the memory of their descent from so renowned a monarch.

The stranger must now be requested to pass thro' the uninviting doorway of the adjoining public house; and he will be led by an easy ascent up to the _mount_, or perhaps the scite of the keep of the castle, which tho' lately lowered considerably for the purpose of converting it into a Bowling-green, yet affords a pleasant station for a view of the environs of Leicester, and is the spot from which the best idea can be formed of the antient form and boundaries of the fortifications.

It is well known that the fast Saxons built few or no castles, for having nearly exterminated the Britons, during the long continued warfare that preceded their conquest of that people, they had no occasion for strong fortresses to secure the possession of the territories they had acquired; and in the later ages of their dynasty they were too indolent and ignorant to undertake such works with spirit and effect, notwithstanding the frequent and sudden inroads of the Danes, rendered such places of retreat highly necessary, and the great Alfred earnestly recommended their construction. Hence the places of defence found in this island at the conquest, were few in number, and those generally too slight to resist the continued attacks of time. For this reason the antiquary need not endeavour to extend his researches after the state of the castle of Leicester beyond the time of the arrival of William the Norman. On the division of the provinces made by that monarch, Leicester became part of the royal demesne; a castle was erected to ensure the submission of the inhabitants, and the wardenship of it entrusted to Hugh Grentemaisnell baron of Hinckly, who possessed considerable property in the neighbourhood. This castle, like other Norman works of the same kind, would have its barbican or out-work, defending the gate and bridge over the outer ditch would be commanded by a strong wall, eight or ten feet thick, and between twenty and thirty high, with a parapet, and crennels at the top, towers at proper distances, and a gate-way opening into the town. It would, we may presume, extend from the river below the Newark round by St. Mary's church, and then, turning towards the river again, whose waters were brought by a cut across the morass lying on the west side, to wash that part of the wall, and fill the ditch, would thus enclose what was called the outer Bayle or Ballium. Within this, at a distance not now to be ascertained, but probably not less than eighty or an hundred yards, another, similar, but perhaps stronger fortification, would extend from, and to the river, and this entered at the gates already described, would enclose the inner Bayle, where stood the lofty massy keep, the hall, and all the apartments and rooms belonging to the noble and potent owners. Although the curious will be inclined to join in the pathetic laments of the writer of the memoirs of Leicester, (Throsby) that the just position of the castle and its extent in former times cannot be known; yet strong probability will almost authorize us to believe that the account here given does not vary very widely from the truth; for these conjectures are directly confirmed by the well still open on the top of the castle hill or keep, and by the entire remains of a large cellar, forty-nine feet long and eighteen wide, nearly adjoining the great hall, on the west. That more traces should not be discoverable will not appear surprising when we consider what effects may be produced by the decays of time and accident, by the accumulation of soil, and encroachments of buildings.

During the disputes concerning the succession, on the death of the Conqueror, the Grentemaisnells seized Leicester castle, and held it for duke Robert. This subjected it to the fury of the successful partizans of William Rufus, and the castle lay for some time in a dismantled state. In the next reign it was granted by Henry to his favourite Robert first earl of Leicester, who repaired the damages and it became the principal place of residence of himself and the second earl, Robert Bossu. The third earl Robert surnamed Blanchmains, encreased his property and power, by his marriage with Petronilla, or Parnel, the heiress of the Grentemaisnells, but the violent temper of this earl involved him in disputes with king Henry the second, whose forces under the command of the Chief Justiciary, Richard de Lucy, took Leicester and its castle by assault, and reduced both to an almost uninhabited heap of ruins. Blanchmains regained however the favor of his king and was restored to his estates, but both he and his son, Robert Fitz-Parnel engaging in the crusades, the town of Leicester was but ill rebuilt, and the castle remained in a state of delapidation for many years. Fitz-Parnel dying without issue, the _honor_ of Leicester, as part of the Bellomont estates were called, passed into the family of Simon de Montfort, in consequence of his marriage with one of the sisters of Fitz-Parnels. But the Montfort earls of Leicester, both father and son, were too much engaged in the busy transactions of their times to pay much attention to their property at Leicester. After the death of the latter, in the Battle of Evesham, the Leicester property was conferred by Henry the third on his second son Edmond earl of Lancaster, whose second son Henry, heir and successor to Thomas earl of Lancaster, beheaded at Pontefract, in the year 1322 made Leicester his principal place of residence, and under him and the two next succeeding earls, the castle recovered and probably surpassed its former state of splendor.

When the dukes of Lancaster ascended the throne, Leicester tho' frequently honored with their presence, received no permanent benefit, and tho' several parliaments were held there in the reign of Henry the sixth, the castle had so far decayed in the time of Richard the third, that that monarch chose rather to sleep at an inn a few evenings before his fall, than occupy the royal apartments in the castle. From this time the castle seems to have made constant progress to decay, so that in the reign of Charles the first, orders, dated the ninth of his reign, were issued to the sheriff Wm. Heyrick, Esq. of Beaumanor (as appears from papers in the possession of that family) "to take down the old pieces of our castle at Leicester, to repair the castle house, wherein the audit hath been formerly kept, and is hereafter to be kept, and wherein our records of the honor of Leicester do now remain; to sell the stones, timber, &c. but not to interfere with the vault there, nor the stalls leading therefrom."

From others of the same papers it appears that the timber sold for 3l. 5s. 8d. the freestone, and iron work for 36l. 14s. 4d. and that the repairs above ordered cost about 50l. Thus was the castle reduced to nearly its present state, and tho' the Antiquary may in the eagerness of his curiosity lament that so little of it now remains, yet he must surely rejoice in his reflecting moments that such structures are not now necessary for the defence of the kingdom, and that the fortunes of the noblemen are now spent in a way calculated to encourage the arts and promote industry, rather than in maintaining in these castles a set of idle retainers, ever ready to assist them in disturbing the peace of the realm, and still more ready to insult and injure the humble inhabitants in then neighbourhood.

Descending from the castle mount, and passing thro' the south gale-way of the castle yard, the visitor enters a district of the town called the Newark, (New Work) became the edifices it contained were new when compared with the buildings of the castle. They owed their foundation to Henry, the third earl of Lancaster, and his son Henry first duke of that title. By these two noblemen they were nearly finished, and what was wanting towards their completion was afterwards added by John of Gaunt. They must then have formed a magnificent addition to the antient dignity of the castle. The remains of the walls which enclosed this area enable us to affirm that its form was a long square, bounded on the north by the castle, on the east by the streets of the suburbs of the town, on the south by the fields, and on the west by the river.

Judging from what remains of these walls, we feel inclined to maintain that they were rather calculated to enclose, than strongly protect, the buildings they surrounded; for if the walls now standing be the original walls, they were not capable of resisting the modes of attack usually practised in the age in which they were built; nor is the gate-way that still remains entire, formed with towers to command, or with grooves for a port-cullis to defend, the entrance. Indeed if the state of England during the age of the founders be considered, magnificence rather than great strength might be expected to be their object, and magnificent truly were the buildings of the Newark. The gate-way now known by the name of the Magazine, from the circumstance of its being the arsenal of the county, is large and spacious, yet grandly massive; and the form of its arches, which partake of the style of the most modern gothic, tho' built at the time when, according to the opinions of the most learned Antiquaries, that truly beautiful species of architecture was not generally established, prove the ready attention of the founders to the progress of the arts.

This gate-way led to an area, which tho' nearly surrounded by buildings, was much more spacious than the present wide street, an area worthy the dukes of Lancaster. On the south another gate, similar to the Magazine now standing, opened into the court opposite the strong south gate of the castle, and on the west rose a college, a church, and an hospital, which completed the grandeur of the Newark. These latter buildings formed a lesser quadrangle or court, having on the north the present old, or Trinity Hospital, built and endowed for an hundred poor people, and ten women to serve them. On the south stood a church dedicated to St. Mary, and cloysters; the former called by Leland "not large but faire;" the "floures and knottes in whose vault were gilded," he says, by the rich cardinal of Winchester; the latter, (the cloysters,) were both "large and faire;" the houses in the compace of the area of the college for the Prebendaries (standing on the west side) the same author says, "be very praty," and the walls and gates of the college occupying the east side of the court, he says, "be very stately." Nor did the princes of Lancaster limit their designs to magnificent structures; this college was as well filled as the hospital, for it contained a dean and twelve prebendaries; thirteen vicars choral, three clerks, six choristers and one verger, in all thirty-six persons; and the endowment was adequate to the establishment, for the revenues at the dissolution amounted to 595l. 12s. 11d. Among the various donations to this college, the following taken from the Parliamentary rolls of the year 1450, will not be found unworthy the attention of the curious. The king (Henry the seventh) grants to the dean and Canons of the church collegiate of our lady at Leicester, "a tunne of wynne to be taken by the chief botteller of England in our port of Kingston upon Hull," and it is added "they never had no wynne granted to them by us nor our progenitors afore this time to sing with, nor otherwise."

When it is considered that the castle just surveyed occupies a station most pleasant as well as commanding; that from the buildings of the Newark it derived all the splendor which the arts and taste of the times could bestow, and that its adjoining a large, well fortified, and not ill built town was calculated to contribute most essentially to the convenience of its possessors, it will appear to have been one of the most agreeable residences in the kingdom for such powerful noblemen as were the dukes of Lancaster; nor will the visitor be surprised to find that it was occasionally used as a seat by the kings, its owners.