Part 6

The Peter, or Great Bell, of Exeter is said to have been a gift of Bishop Courtenay's. This opinion is very much disputed, as the Fabric Rolls show that there were bells here in the time of Edward II. As early as 1351 is an entry of 6s. for mending the Peter Bell. Again in 1453, twenty-five years before Courtenay was created bishop, mention is made of the spending of twenty pence "in una bauderick pro Maxima Campana in Campanili Boreali." Oliver, however, acutely points out that this last entry is dated the very year that Courtenay was appointed Archdeacon of Exeter, and suggests that "on that occasion he may have offered such valuable presents." On the 5th November, 1611, the bell was crazed, but was recast in 1676. Its reputed weight is 12,500 lb. If this is correct, it is the second largest bell in England. Great Tom of Christ Church, Oxford, is more than 5,000 lb. heavier, but it easily exceeds its other rivals, Tom of Lincoln and the Great Bell of St. Paul's, which weigh respectively 11,296 lb. and 8,400 lb.

* * * * *

#The Chapter House# lies at the south end of the transept beyond the Chapel of the Holy Ghost. The lower part of the room is the original building of the early thirteenth century, between 1224 and 1244, and the face of the wall is decorated with Early English arcades separated by delicate shafts. This building probably had a stone vaulted roof. Lacy heightened it, adding lofty Perpendicular windows; and the whole is completed by a rich tie-beam roof, partly the work of Bishop Bothe (1465-78), whose arms, with Lacy's, are painted on it (see p. 13). The east window, recently restored, contains many coats of arms in ancient glass. Among these is the Austrian eagle quartered with the lion of Bohemia, reminding us that Richard, Earl of Cornwall, brother of Henry III, and lord of Rougemont Castle, Exeter, was about 1260 elected King of the Romans, thus associating Exeter with the highest secular honour then known to Europe.

#The Cloister.#--Archdeacon Freeman thinks that originally the cloister "was confined to the east side, as a necessary communication between the chapter house and the great south door of the nave." During Stapledon's time a desire had been evinced to enlarge this cloister; and in 1323 there is a record to the effect that eight heads had been carved for vaulting the cloister. In the Fabric Rolls are entries that show the work of building proceeded with some activity and considerable cheapness. Here are a few extracts that are interesting:

"Twenty-five horse-loads of sand for the cloister, 9d. A thousand lath nails and healing pins for do. S. Clifford sculpanti 18 capites 3/9: 10 do. 2/-."

By 1342 the work was probably finished to the north, and forty years later the whole must have been completed. It has been said that the old cloister was inferior to those of Worcester and Gloucester. But they must have had considerable merit if Mr. Pearson's restoration really represents, and there is little doubt it does, the old structure.

It is curious that the cloister, certainly the least offensive and not the most beautiful part of the cathedral, should have suffered so severely at the hands of the Puritans. For on the whole the cathedral proper escaped with but small damage. Professor Freeman, in discussing the alleged desecrations suffered by St. Mary and St. Peter, after the entrance of Fairfax and his army into the city, writes thus: "The account in Mercurius Rusticus, which has given vogue to the common story is wholly untrue." He further adds: "Some fanatic soldier may, indeed, according to the story, have broken off the head of Queen Elizabeth, mistaking her for our Lady. But no general mutilation or desecration took place at this time. And at Exeter, one form of mutilation, which specially affected the west front, was not the work of enemies but of devotees. For ages the country folk who came into the city loved to carry home a Peter stone for the healing of their ailments." It is only fair to add that Archdeacon Freeman refers in very different language to the result of the occupation by the Puritans, but though the decorative portions of the cloister may have suffered, we cannot account for the disappearance of the exterior walls without a better reason for their destruction. It should be noted, however, that in the fifteenth century the Dean and Chapter bitterly complained of the conduct of the Exeter boys, who played "unlawfull games as the toppe, queke, penny pryke & most atte tenys" in the cloister, whereby they were "defowled & the glas windows all to-brost." But at this time the cathedral and municipal authorities were far from friendly to each other. Dr. Oliver writes of the ruins in his day that they "have disappeared with the exception of part of a fluted column at the west corner of the carpenter's shop." With the debris small and mean houses were built. On the 30th of October, 1657, we are given a hint as to what may have been the meaning of this wanton destruction. Apparently the ground set apart for "the convenience of the studious and contemplative" was found to have valuable attributes as a market-place, for on the above day the "Friday cloth market for serges and other drapery" was ordered to be held in this place. Commerce did not triumph for long, though, as only three years later the buyers and sellers were bundled back into South Street.

A large number of bosses and carvings of the original structure, discovered during the recent excavations, have been skilfully incorporated by Mr. Pearson in his restoration. Above the cloister is a library containing 8,000 volumes, many of them bequeathed by the late Chancellor Harrington.

#The Close.#--This was an important adjunct to all cathedrals in the days following the Conquest. We have seen that on one occasion at least the cathedral church of Exeter was severely bombarded, with the result that the northern tower differs considerably from the southern in places. The church, then, we may presume, was intended to be used, when necessary, as a fortress: but as it was also something else very different, this necessity was rather shunned than courted. Therefore it was customary to separate the church from the world by walls and gates of proved strength. This space so secured formed an outer fortress, against which the attacks of an enemy must, perforce, have been directed first. It placed entirely in the hands of the clergy the defence of their own church, a task they were quite capable of performing with credit; for Matthew Paris tells us of one bishop of Exeter, Bruere, that he displayed activity both "spiritual and temporal" in the Holy Land. The defence of the city, that of the sacred building being thus provided for, was the business of the captains and men-at-arms. The walls and gates of the close have vanished, without leaving a trace of their existence. One privilege, however, yet haunts the place--the corporation have no jurisdiction over it.

In the close at the north side of the cathedral has been placed a statue of Richard Hooker, the theologian (1553-1600), author of "The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity." The "Judicious Hooker" was born in Exeter, and was a nephew of John Vowel, alias Hoker, Chamberlain and Historian of the city.

#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.

THE DIOCESE OF EXETER.

A chronological list of the bishops of the diocese, from the days of Leofric, when the seat of the bishopric was removed from Crediton, to our own day, when the diocese of Truro has been carved out from that of Exeter, is here given briefly, since the more notable holders of the see have been already mentioned in the first chapter.

#Leofric# (1046-1072). In 1050 the see was removed from Crediton and the new See of Exeter founded.

#Osbern# (1072-1103). No alterations were made to the building during this period. The bishop was admired for his "simplicity of English manners and habits," for although Norman by birth he had been educated in England.

#William Warelwast# (1107-1136), a nephew of William the Conqueror, began to demolish the Saxon Church. To him may be attributed the towers, choir, apse, and nave of the Norman building. The story of his blindness, and of his being sent on an embassy to Rome, rests on somewhat slender authority.

#Robert Chichester# (1138-1155) was promoted from the deanery of Salisbury at the Council of Northampton. He continued Warelwast's work.

#Robert Warelwast# (1155-1160) was a nephew of the former bishop of that name.

#Bartholomæus Iscanus# (1161-1184), a native of Exeter, was of humble birth. He is said to have been an enemy of Becket's and was called by Pope Alexander III. "the luminary of the English Church."

#John the Chaunter# (1186-1191) continued the buildings which had been suspended during the last episcopate.

#Henry Marshall# (1194-1206), brother to the Earl of Pembroke, Marshal of England, was promoted from York, of which cathedral he was dean. He completed the buildings as designed by the first Warelwast. To him we owe the Lady Chapel, the larger choir, the north porch, cloister doorway, and six chapels. He assisted at the coronation of King Richard at Winchester in 1194, and at that of John in 1199.

#Simon de Apulia# (1214-1223). But little is recorded of this bishop. He assisted at Henry III.'s coronation at Gloucester when the king was a lad of ten. To him also is attributed the fixing of the boundaries of the city parishes. His tomb is in the Lady Chapel.

#William Bruere# (1224-1244) served as Precentor of Exeter before he was made bishop. To him are due the chapter house and stalls in the old choir. For five years he was in the Holy Land, and Matthew Paris writes of his energy and untiring devotion in administering to the wants of his countrymen.

#Richard Blondy# (1245-1257). According to Hoker this bishop was the son of Hilary Blondy, Mayor of Exeter in 1227.

#Walter Bronescombe# (1257-1280), a native of Exeter, was only in deacon's orders when chosen bishop. He restored the chapels of St. Gabriel, St. Mary Magdalene and St. James. He also founded a college at Glasney and restored "the establishment of Crediton" to much of its former splendour.

#Peter Quivil# (1280-1291) was born in Exeter, and a _protégé_ of Bronescombe's. His first preferment was as Archdeacon of St. David's, from whence he was promoted bishop of his native city. He it was who designed the Decorated cathedral and transformed transepts with chapels, eastern bay of the nave, and the Lady Chapel.

#Thomas de Bytton# (1292-1307) continued Quivil's work, transforming the choir and its aisles. He was a native of Gloucestershire and had been Dean of Wells. An indulgence of forty days was granted by the Pope, Boniface VIII., three archbishops and five bishops, to all who should pray for his prosperity. The rules he made for the government of the collegiate church at Crediton won general approval.

#Walter de Stapledon# (1308-1326) was Professor of Canon Law at Oxford and a chaplain to Pope Clement V. He was killed by a London mob. The transformed choir transepts are his work, and he erected the organ screen, bishop's throne, and sedilia. During his episcopate, also, the cloisters were begun.

#James Berkeley# (1326-1327), Archdeacon of Huntingdon, and grandson of William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby, died a few weeks after his consecration.

#John Grandisson# (1327-1369) was born in Herefordshire, of good family. His long tenure of the see is one of the most memorable chapters in the history of Exeter. The fatal Black Death occurred during his episcopacy, 1348-1369. He inherited the transforming zeal of his predecessors and set his seal on the six western bays of the nave, the great west windows, and the vaulting and the aisles. He completed the north cloister.

#Thomas Brantyngham# (1370-1394) was educated at the Court of Edward III., and was a canon of Exeter when chosen bishop. He was a constant adviser of the king, only being released from his privy council and parliamentary duties when his advanced age made them irksome to him. He was very busy in all the affairs of the diocese, but found time to complete the cloisters, east window, and west front.

#Edmund Stafford# (1395-1419) came of a greatly distinguished family. He was a canon of York when Pope Boniface IX. advanced him to the See of Exeter. For a time he served the king as Lord High Chancellor. He has been abused by Campbell in his "Lives of the Lord Chancellors of England": but there seems little doubt that he deserved the reputation he certainly got of being learned, grave, and wise, and "very well accounted generally of all men." To him are attributed the canopies over the tombs in the Lady Chapel.

#John Ketterick# or #Catterick# (1419) died at Florence a month after his appointment.

#Edmund Lacy# (1420-1455), composer of an office in honour of the Archangel Raphael, left a saintly reputation, and pilgrimages were, for long, made to his tomb. According to Canon Freeman he raised the chapter house and glazed the nave windows.

#George Neville# (1458-1465) was a son of the Earl of Salisbury. He was Chancellor of Oxford, and only twenty-four when made bishop. Though for several years Lord High Chancellor, and translated to York, he died in disgrace and comparative poverty.

#John Bothe# (1465-1478) was the son of a Cheshire knight. He has often, but wrongly, been credited with being the donor of the throne. With more certainty the roof of the chapter house has been acknowledged as his work.

#Peter Courtenay# (1478-1486), son of Sir Philip Courtenay of Powderham, had been Archdeacon of Exeter and Wiltshire, and Dean of Windsor and Exeter before he was appointed Bishop of Exeter. He assisted at the coronation of Richard III., but was none the less translated, for his services, by Henry to the diocese of Winchester.

#Richard Fox# (1487-1491), the next bishop, was held in great esteem by Henry VII., whom he represented for a time as Ambassador at the Court of Scotland. He arranged the preliminaries of the marriage of Henry's daughter Margaret with James IV. He was translated to Bath and Wells, then to Durham, and finally to Winchester. He is said to have refused the dignity of Archbishop of Canterbury, which his godson, Henry VIII., was anxious he should accept.

#Oliver King# (1492-1495) was Bishop of Exeter for a short time only, being translated to Bath and Wells. He began building the Abbey Church at Bath, but did not live to see much of it completed.

#Richard Redman# (1496-1501) was translated to Exeter from St. Asaph. He resigned the see on becoming Bishop of Ely.

#John Arundell# (1502-1503) was translated from the See of Lichfield and Coventry. He was famous for his benevolence and hospitality. He died after barely two years' tenancy of the western bishopric.

#Hugh Oldham# (1504-1519) came of an ancient Lancashire family. A large and flourishing manufacturing town in that county bears his name. He founded the grammar school in Manchester, and on his elevation became famous throughout the west of England for his learning and piety.

#John Vesey (Harman)# (1519-1551). A lengthy account is given of this bishop in the first chapter.

#Miles Coverdale# (1551-1553) was a famous reformer, and revised Tyndale's translation of the Bible. He was not popular in the diocese, and on Queen Mary's accession was deprived of his see, to the great satisfaction of his flock.

#James Turberville# (1555-1559) was deprived of his see on his refusal to acknowledge the ecclesiastical supremacy of Elizabeth. He had been popular in the west of England, where the Reformation was at first heartily disliked.

#William Alleyn# (1560-1570). Oliver writes the surname Alley. The diocese was now so poor that he was compelled to reduce the number of canons from twenty-four to nine. Only by accepting the rectorship of Honiton was the bishop himself able to support the dignity of his office. He was the author of several religious books that had considerable popularity in their day.

#William Bradbridge# (1570-1578) is said to have speculated largely in agricultural land, and to have died a debtor for a large amount, including £1,400 owed to Queen Elizabeth. Beyond this little is recorded of him except that he lived at Newton Ferrers, of which he held the living _in commendam_, which must have put his clergy to great inconvenience.

#John Wolton# (1579-1594). During Wolton's episcopate the revenues were restored to the chapter, the crown reserving to itself the sum of £145 yearly. The priest-vicars, also, received back from the queen the greater portion of their possessions.

#Gervase Babington# (1595-1597) was translated from Llandaff. He remained at Exeter but a short time. He seems to have been a favourite with the queen, who took an early opportunity to promote him to the wealthy See of Worcester.

#William Cotton# (1598-1621).

#Valentine Carey# (1621-1626) had been Master of Christ's College, Cambridge, and Dean of St. Paul's.

#Joseph Hall# (1627-1641) was Dean of Worcester when promoted to the See of Exeter. He was a famous theological writer, and was translated to Norwich in 1641. There he suffered a great deal of unmerited persecution, which he bore bravely, though the ill-treatment of his enemies killed him.

#Ralph Brownrigg# (1642-1659), Master of St. Catharine's, Cambridge, was bishop in troublous times. He had to retire to a friend's house in Berkshire. He was elected Preacher of the Temple, and was buried at the cost of the Inn.

#John Gauden# (1660-1662) was Master of the Temple. His title to fame is as the reputed author of the [Greek: EIKÔN BASILIKÊ]. Being the first bishop appointed after the Restoration, his arrival in Exeter was gladly welcomed by the loyal citizens. But he does not seem to have been a lovable man, and was over-eager for riches. He was translated to Worcester on his complaint of poverty reaching the king's ears.

#Seth Ward# (1662-1667) was already popular as dean when he succeeded Gauden as bishop. He cleared the cathedral of the small traders who desecrated the precincts, and gave to his church the finest organ then known in England. He was translated to Salisbury, and became Chancellor of the Order of the Garter. He obtained an enviable reputation for his good sense, piety, learning, and generosity.

#Anthony Sparrow# (1667-1676) was Master of King's College, Cambridge, when consecrated bishop. Cosmo III. visited Exeter during his tenancy of the see.

#Thomas Lamplugh# (1676-1688) seems to have been a clever politician. By expressing his loyalty to James II., when William had landed at Torbay, he was created Archbishop of York; thereupon he actively supported the Prince of Orange. "My Lord, you are a genuine old Cavalier," was the king's greeting. One hopes the memory of those words troubled the archbishop during his three years' experience of an ill-deserved dignity.

#Jonathan Trelawny# (1689-1707) came of a famous Cornish family. As Bishop of Bristol he was already famous, for he was one of the seven bishops whose trial and acquittal hastened the downfall of the last Stuart king. He was translated to Winchester. A popular refrain, wedded to verses by the celebrated parson Hawker, of Morwenstow, keeps his memory alive in the western counties.

#Offspring Blackball# (1708-1716) was chiefly and honourably known as a promoter of charity schools.

#Launcelot Blackburne# (1717-1724). Of this bishop there is little to record. He was translated to the Archbishopric of York in 1724.

#Stephen Weston# (1724-1742). The episcopal registers were now kept for the first time in English. His long reign seems to have been quite uneventful, and probably was, therefore, entirely successful.

#Nicholas Claggett# (1742-1746) was translated from St. David's.

#George Lavington# (1747-1762).

#Frederick Keppel# (1762-1777), a son of the Earl of Albemarle, was a canon of Windsor when appointed Bishop of Exeter.

#John Ross# (1778-1792).

#William Buller# (1792-1796), of an old west country family, was promoted from the deanery of Canterbury.

#Henry Reginald Courtenay# (1797-1803), translated to this see from Bristol.

#John Fisher# (1803-1807) was tutor to the Duke of Kent, father of Queen Victoria. He was translated to Salisbury in 1807.

#George Pelham# (1807-1820) was translated from Bristol. After, according to Oliver, "for thirteen years expecting higher preferment," he was promoted to Lincoln.