Part 33

“Such a precious thing as this jewelled shrine and the still more precious bones within it could not be left for a moment unguarded and unwatched, for stealing relics, when a favourable opportunity arose, was a temptation too great to be resisted by any monks, however holy. So on the south side of the shrine was erected a watching loft; the one that remains was constructed probably during the reign of Richard II., and his badge appears on it, but, no doubt, from the first there was some such place provided for the purpose of keeping guard. The chamber had two stories: the lower contained cupboards, in which vestments and relics were kept, these are now filled with various antiquarian curiosities, Roman pottery from Verulamium, architectural fragments, etc. An oaken staircase leads up into the chamber where the ‘custos feretri’ sat watching the shrine day and night, guard of course being changed at intervals. It must have been trying work watching there during the night-time in frosty weather, but monks were accustomed to bear cold. The watching chamber was built of oak and was richly carved. On the south side of the cornice are angels, the hart--badge of Richard II., the martyrdom of St. Alban, Time the reaper, and the seasons; on the north the months of the year are represented.”--(T. P.)

On the south side is buried =Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester=, son of Henry IV., brother of Henry V., and uncle of Henry VI. He died in 1447. The handsome tomb was probably erected by the Abbot Wheathampstead, who was a great friend of Duke Humphrey’s.

In the north aisle of the Saint’s Chapel we come to the pedestal of the =Shrine of St. Amphibalus= (see page 362). It stood in the centre of the retro-choir until Lord Grimthorpe removed it to its present position.

An oak screen separates the Saint’s Chapel from the =Retro-Choir=. This is Lord Grimthorpe’s work, and through it we pass. The Retro-Choir dates from the end of the Thirteenth Century, and has been greatly restored. In the centre once stood the shrine of St. Amphibalus (now removed to the north aisle of the Saint’s Chapel), and there were several altars: to Our Lady of the Four Tapers; to St. Michael; to St. Edmund, King and Martyr; to St. Peter; and to St. Amphibalus.

The =Lady-Chapel=, greatly restored, dates from the latter part of the Thirteenth and early part of the Fourteenth Centuries. Several changes of style may be noted. The side windows are fine examples of the Decorated, and the statuettes ornamenting the jambs and mullions still remain. The eastern window of five lights is a strange combination of tracery and tabernacle work. Originally the Lady-Chapel was separated from the retro-choir by a screen. The glass in the windows is modern, and the stone vaulting is also modern. Historical associations are numerous.

Beneath the floor lie the hated Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, grandson of John of Gaunt; Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, son of the famous Hotspur; and Thomas, Lord Clifford: whose bodies were found lying dead in the streets of St. Albans, after the first battle in 1455, in which they fell fighting for the Red Rose party.

Beyond the eastern bay on the south side was built the =Chapel of the Transfiguration=, dedicated in 1430. Of late years this addition was rebuilt for a vestry. The walls were made lower than the original ones, so as to show the fine window above that consists of a traceried arch within a curvilinear triangle, beneath which is a row of niches. Beneath these is a very fine row of _sedilia_ and _piscinœ_. The carving in the new chapel is very naturalistic, and represents the poppy, buttercup, primrose, gooseberry, rose, blackberry, pansy, ivy, maple, and convolvulus and other local flowers and leaves.

OXFORD

DEDICATION: THE HOLY TRINITY, ST. MARY AND ST. FRIDESWIDE.

SPECIAL FEATURES: CEILING IN CHOIR; WINDOWS; SHRINE OF ST. FRIDESWIDE.

This Cathedral is peculiar in being almost hidden from sight in a series of college buildings, gardens and quadrangles. It is the chapel of Christ Church, as well as a cathedral; and to enter it we have to pass through the gateway of the famous =Tom Tower=, and across the great quadrangle, familiarly known as =Tom Quad=.

The big bell =Tom= gives its name to the tower and quadrangle, is seven feet one inch in diameter, and weighs 17,000 tons. It was brought from Oseney Abbey with the other bells, the “merry Christ Church bells,” that now hang in the bell-tower above the =hall staircase=. Tom was recast in 1680.

The lower story of Tom Tower was built by Cardinal Wolsey. The cupola was added by Sir Christopher Wren. Three sides of the quadrangle were built by Wolsey, and the north side by Bishop Fell. As we pass through Tom Tower we note that a statue of Cardinal Wolsey faces St. Aldgate’s, and a statue of Queen Anne faces the quadrangle.

=Christ Church= is the largest college in the University of Oxford, and stands on the site of the ancient priory of St. Frideswide.

In 1524 Cardinal Wolsey obtained authority from Henry VIII. and Clement VIII. to suppress a number of religious houses in various parts of England, and to appropriate their revenues to the building and endowing of a College. After he had made considerable progress in the building of Christ Church he fell into disgrace with the King, who seized the property and distributed it among his courtiers. At a later period Henry VIII. refounded the establishment, and added to it the Abbey of Oseney, which was then the Cathedral of the See of Oxford. Christ Church (the present Cathedral) was at that time called the College of Henry VIII., and was a Collegiate Church. In 1546, on the suppression of Oseney Abbey, St. Frideswide became the Cathedral Church of Oxford. Oseney is depicted in the King window (see page 391).

The foundation was converted into one of secular canons in the Eighth or Ninth Century; and these were in turn succeeded by the regular canons, who built their chapter-house, dormitory, refectory and cloisters. In 1158 they began the present Cathedral, which was completed in 1180, having swept away the Saxon church rebuilt by King Ethelred in 1004, according to some critics, while other antiquaries think that much of the present Cathedral is St. Ethelred’s. The church was dedicated to the Holy Trinity, St. Mary, and St. Frideswide, and was somewhat peculiar for the Twelfth Century, in being more elegant than was usual at that time. Cramped for room the south transept was cut off for the sake of the cloisters; and aisles were given to the north transept. There was no room for a Lady-Chapel at the east end; and, consequently, an additional aisle north of the north aisle of the choir was built. The same arrangement occurs at Ripon; the Elder Lady Chapel at Bristol holds a similar position.

“St. Frideswide Church, now Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, is a fine example of late Norman and transitional work of early character. It was consecrated in 1180, and was probably building for about twenty years previously: the confirmation, by Pope Hadrian IV. (Breakspeare, the only English Pope), of the charters granting the Saxon monastery of St. Frideswide to the Norman monks was not obtained until 1158, and it is not probable that they began to rebuild their church until their property was secured. The Prior at this period was Robert of Cricklade, called Canutus, a man of considerable eminence, some of whose writings were in existence in the time of Leland. Under his superintendence the church was entirely rebuilt from the foundations, and without doubt on a larger scale than before, as the Saxon church does not appear to have been destroyed until this period.

“The design of the present structure is very remarkable; the lofty arched recesses, which are carried up over the actual arches and the triforium, giving the idea of a subsequent work carried over the older work; but an examination of the construction shows that this is not the case, that it was all built at one time, and that none of it is earlier than about 1160. In this church the central tower is not square, the nave and choir being wider than the transepts, and consequently the east and west arches are round-headed, while the north and south are pointed: this would not in itself be any proof of transition, but the whole character of the work is late, though very rich and good, and the clerestory windows of the nave are pointed without any necessity for it, which is then a mark of transition.”--(J. H. P.)

St. Frideswide (Bond of Peace), or “the Lady,” as she was called in Oxford, lived early in the Eighth Century, when Ethelbald was king of Mercia. Her father, Didan, was a prince who lived in the city of Oxford about 727, where Frideswide was born. Of her early piety, her refusal of marriage, her foundation of this nunnery at Oxford, her miracles of healing and her “glorious death,” there are many pretty stories.

St. Frideswide’s Church was burned in 1002, when Ethelred the Unready ordained the Massacre of the Danes.

Ethelred afterwards made a vow that he would rebuild St. Frideswide’s Church; and in 1004 he began the splendid edifice, of unusual magnificence for the period.

Robert of Cricklade, prior from 1141 to 1180, seems to have restored Ethelred’s church; and in that year the relics of St. Frideswide were translated to a more conspicuous place in the church.

Many distinguished noblemen and prelates were present:

“After they were meet, and injoyned fasting and prayers were past, as also those ceremonies that are used at such times was with all decency performed, then those bishops that were appointed, accompanied with Alexio, the pope’s legat for Scotland, went to the place where she was buried, and opening the sepulchre, took out with great devotion the remainder of her body that was left after it had rested there 480 yeares, and with all the sweet odours and spices imaginable to the great rejoycing of the multitude then present mingled them amongst her bones and laid them up in a rich gilt coffer made and consecrated for that purpose, and placed it on the north side of the quire, somewhat distant from the ground, and inclosed it with a partition from the sight hereafter of the vulgar.”--(A.-à-W.)

In 1289 these relics were again translated and placed in the position of the old shrine, probably in the north-choir-aisle, where the marble base recently discovered now stands (see page 385).

“In the Lancet period (1190-1245) the works went on apace. An upper stage was added to the tower and on that the spire was built--the first large stone spire in England. It is a Broach spire, i.e., the cardinal sides of the spire are built right out to the eaves, so that there is no parapet. On the other hand, instead of having broaches at the angle it has pinnacles. Moreover, to bring down the thrusts more vertically, heavy dormer windows are inserted at the foot of each of the cardinal sides of the spire,--altogether a very logical and scientific piece of engineering, much more common in the early spires of Northern France than in England.”--(F. B.)

About the Thirteenth Century the monks built the Chapter-House now standing; then the Lady-Chapel; altered the Norman windows to Decorated; and in the Fifteenth Century made many changes in the new Perpendicular style.

Wolsey destroyed half of the nave in order to build Tom Quad. His idea was to erect a magnificent church on a large scale; but in the meantime his fall occurred. In 1546 St. Frideswide’s was made, as already noted, the Cathedral Church of Oxford.

In the Seventeenth Century the tracery of many windows was altered for the sake of glass by the Dutchman Abraham Van Ling, for which old windows depicting scenes from St. Frideswide’s life and ancient arms were sacrificed. In later times some of Van Ling’s windows suffered the same fate, for modern work. One of his windows, however, remains (see page 382). Some of the windows were smashed during the Puritan wars; but on the whole the Cathedral escaped damage.

Christ Church being a royal college, during the Civil War a University regiment of Cavaliers was drilled in Tom Quad; and when Charles I. occupied Oxford, after Edgehill, he held court in Christ Church.

The Cathedral went through the fate of all English cathedrals in the Nineteenth Century; and finally, in 1870, a thorough restoration was undertaken by Dean Liddell and Sir Gilbert Scott, whose conservative alterations and restorations of windows, etc., have brought all the parts of the Cathedral into harmony. The windows of Burne-Jones are a great addition to the charm of the interior.

“The whole church is exceedingly interesting. It fills a niche in the history of English architecture all by itself. It is not the early and rude Traditional work of the Cistercians. On the other hand, it has not yet the lightness and grace of Ripon; still less the charm of the Canterbury choir, Chichester presbytery, Wells and Abbey Dore--Gothic in all but name. In spite of a pointed arch here and there, it is a Romanesque design.

“The work commenced, as usual, at the east, as is shown by the gradual improvement westward in the designs of the capitals. The evidence of the vaulting, too, points in the same direction. In the choir-aisle the ribs are massive and heavy; in the western aisle of the north transept they are lighted; in the south aisle of the nave they are pointed and filleted.”--(F. B.)

Owing to its secluded position it is almost impossible to get a view of the Cathedral; but the tower and spire can be seen from the cloisters.

The =Cloisters= line three sides of the square only, for the west side was destroyed by Wolsey for the hall staircase, which is surmounted by the =Bell Tower=, in which the bells from the Abbey of Oseney hang.

“From the same position at the west of the cloister one can enjoy the best view of the tower and spire of the church. One is close enough to see all the detail and yet from this angle nothing is lost of the general effect. On a moonlit evening the effect is particularly solemn and beautiful. From this point also should be noticed the difference in the masonry of the south transept. The lower story is entirely rubble, while the upper story is partly of good ashlar work.

“On the south side of the cloister is the Old Library, as it is now called, which was formerly the refectory of the monastery, and is all that now remains of the conventual buildings. Its large Perpendicular windows, rising like a clerestory above it, look on to the cloister, but they were spoilt on the inside by a staircase, when the building was turned into undergraduates’ rooms. On the other side, facing the meadow buildings, there is a curious little oriel window, its lights now walled up, that once contained the pulpit whence the lessons were read during meals.”--(P. D.)

We may remember, as we stand here, that Cranmer was unfrocked in this quadrangle.

Entering through the porch in Tom Quad, cut through one of the canonical houses, we come into a sort of ante-chapel with the organ screen before us. Passing under the screen we have an unbroken view of the =Nave=, the Choir with its wonderful ceiling and the handsome wheel-window rising above the arcade and two round-headed windows at the east end.

“Christ Church is the smallest of our cathedrals; for even with the new ante-chapel it measures about 175 feet in length. Instead of being of the usual cruciform plan, it is now almost square,--in fact, the length from the reredos to the organ-screen is 132 feet, while the breadth across from the Latin Chapel to St. Lucy’s Chapel is 108 feet. The church is made up of the shortened nave with its two aisles, and ante-chapel, the central tower, the north transept with its one aisle, the south transept, and the eastern half of the church, which itself contains no less than six divisions,--the choir, with its two aisles, the Lady-Chapel on the north, and the Latin Chapel (or St. Catherine’s) on the north again of that, while on the south is the small chapel of St. Lucy.

“If the unusual appearance of the cathedral is partly due to Wolsey’s destruction, it is partly due also to its being used as a college chapel, and partly to the fact that in general plan, and to some extent in detail, it is Ethelred’s design, commenced seventy years before the great developments of Norman architecture began.”--(P. D.)

We stop at the west end of the north aisle of the nave to examine the one remaining window designed by Van Ling.

“There are various opinions about this window, which represents Jonah sitting under his gourd, and the town of Nineveh in the distance. We must confess to a great admiration for it; the foliage is fine and rich, and if it is a little over-strong in its green, that only makes it more characteristic of its age. And, however that may be, there cannot be two opinions as to beauty of the town in the background, which reminds one irresistibly of Dürer; and, with its rich brown houses, bluish roofs, touches of greenery, and fair purple hills beyond, makes the right-hand light of the window a picture of which one never wearies. The whole is leaded in rectangular panes, like Bishop King’s window.”--(P. D.)

We now cross to the west end of the south aisle of the nave to see Burne-Jones’s =Faith, Hope and Charity= window, a memorial to Edward Denison (died 1870), son of the Bishop of Salisbury, and a pioneer worker in the East End of London.

“The figure of Hope has a greyish-blue drapery, varied in tint and diapered with the pattern of a flower in stain. The scarf floating round the figure is sky-blue in tone and lighter than the dress. The figure of Charity has a ruby over-mantle, with a white dress underneath; while the figure of Faith has a blue dress beautifully and richly diapered, the upper portion with a sumptuous Venetian design familiar on the brocades of the Sixteenth Century, and the lower portion with a sprig of foliage. The tone of the backgrounds is a rich, warm green, and is very carefully painted with foliage, and the contrast yielded by

the pale blue of the drapery, and the rich, warm green of the background in the two outside windows, is most harmonious and striking. The detail in this window is very elaborate, and every part of it bears traces of care and thought.”--(P. D.)

The =Choir= consists of four bays, with the presbytery beyond. Perpendicular alterations are noticeable in the upper part. The triforium is late Norman. The pillars are larger than those in the nave and their capitals are very fine specimens of stone carving. Some critics go so far as to say they are Saxon.

The most striking feature of the whole Cathedral is the pendant =ceiling= of the Choir.

“Fergusson considers this work to be the most satisfactory attempt ever made to surmount the great difficulty presented in all fan-tracery by the awkward, flat, central space which is left in each bay by the four cones of the vault. At Gloucester, King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, Henry VII.’s Chapel, Westminster, and other places, various attempts were made to deceive the eye, and hide the unmanageable space; in Henry VII.’s Chapel the well-known pendants were boldly introduced with this object. None were wholly satisfactory, but, says Fergusson:--

“‘Strange as it may appear from its date, the most satisfactory roof of this class is that erected by Cardinal Wolsey over the choir of Oxford Cathedral. In this instance the pendants are thrust so far forward, and made so important, that the central part of the roof is practically quadripartite. The remaining difficulty was obviated by abandoning the circular, horizontal outline of true fan-tracery, and adopting a polygonal form instead. As the whole is done in a constructive manner and with appropriate detail, this roof, except in size, is one of the best and most remarkable ever executed.’

“Fan-tracery is a peculiarly English feature, and was invented, according to Fergusson, in order to get rid of the endless repetition of inverted pyramids which earlier vaulting produced. He therefore considers it an improvement on the vaulting of the early English and Decorated periods; and, as he thinks the ceiling of Christ Church Cathedral to be the best example of fan-tracery, he comes near to pronouncing it the finest in the world.”--(P. D.)

The East End is Scott’s restoration in the style of the Twelfth Century. The large wheel-window (an imitation from Canterbury) and the two round-headed windows below produce a fine effect.

On the left of the Choir we come to the most curious part of the Cathedral. Columns and arches mark the divisions of the north-choir-aisle, the =Lady-Chapel= further north and the =Latin Chapel= beyond--practically three aisles. The east end of each aisle contains a beautiful Burne-Jones window. The north transept forms the western boundary of these three aisles, which are in reality only an extension of this transept.

“Here the eye wanders among pillars and arches which branch away in so many directions that the grandest churches can scarcely give more thoroughly the idea of infinity. And here one stands on the site of St. Frideswide’s first little church, with the very arches that she had built for her, still standing in all their primitive simplicity.

“At the end of the north-choir-aisle is the St. Cecilia window, presented in honour of the patroness of music by Dr. Corfe, a former organist, in 1873. In the centre light the saint is represented playing her regal or small hand-organ; two angels holding other musical instruments, with palms in their hands, stand by her. The drapery is wrought in white glass, the angels have pale-blue wings, and the flesh tints matted over with red tell warm against the drapery. In the lower panels are three scenes from her life: ‘Here St. Cecilia teaches her husband,’ ‘Here an angel of the Lord teaches St. Cecilia,’ ‘Here St. Cecilia wins a heavenly crown;’ the saint’s figure in the last panel is most touchingly drawn. These lower panels are richer in colour than the rest, and a greater variety of tints is introduced; but the colours are so delicate, and so skilfully blended, that they fall in most harmoniously with the main parts of the window.”--(P. D.)

In the most eastern arch between the north-choir-aisle and the Lady-Chapel we stop to examine the =Shrine of St. Frideswide=.