CHAPTER VI.

HISTORY OF THE DIOCESE.

The Abbey Church was converted into the Cathedral of the newly-founded diocese of Peterborough by deed bearing date September 4, 1541. The counties of Northampton and Rutland were the limits of the new see. The king's original plan for the establishment of bishoprics out of the confiscated estates of monastic establishments was too generous to be put into practice. He designed the foundation of no less than twenty-one new sees. In this scheme Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire were assigned to the diocese of Peterborough; and, considering the situation of the new cathedral, this would have been a more satisfactory arrangement than the one which was ultimately carried out. The only change that has been made in the limits of the diocese is that, in the year 1839, the county of Leicester was detached from the see of Lincoln and joined to Peterborough.

As has been said above, the first bishop was =John Chambers= (1541-1556). He was consecrated[35] in the minster on the 23rd of October 1541, by Thomas (Thirlby), Bishop of Ely, Robert (Blyth), Bishop of Down, last Abbot of Thorney, Suffragan of Ely, and Thomas (Hallam or Swillington), Bishop of Philadelphia, Suffragan of Lincoln. Strype has an account of his costly funeral. The two memorials to him in the church had been erected by himself in his lifetime.

=David Pole= (1556-1559) is generally held to have been a relative (some say a nephew) of Cardinal Reginald Pole. He was Dean of the Arches. He was not consecrated till August 1557, and so held the bishopric less than two years, being deprived by Queen Elizabeth in June 1559. He lived quietly in London till his death in 1568.

=Edmund Scambler= (1560-1584) in the Roman index of books prohibited is called Pseudo-Episcopus, no doubt because there was another Bishop of Peterborough, Pole, still living. He alienated many of the lands and manors of his bishopric to the queen and to her courtiers; and as a reward he was translated to Norwich, where he died ten years later.

=Richard Howland= (1584-1600) was Master of Magdalene, and afterwards of S. John's, Cambridge. He was present at the funeral of Mary Queen of Scots. He was buried at the upper end of the choir, but no stone or monument exists to his memory.

=Thomas Dove= (1600-1630) was Dean of Norwich. He was[36] "a lover of hospitality, keeping a very free house, and having always a numerous family, yet was so careful of posterity that he left a fair estate to his heirs." He was buried in the north transept. "Over his body was erected a very comely monument of long quadrangular form, having four corner pilasters supporting a fair table of black marble, and, within, the pourtraiture of the bishop lying in his Episcopal habit." This was destroyed in 1643. There was a long Latin inscription in prose and verse, and among the verses these occur:--

"Hoc addam: Hie illa est senio argentata Columba Davidis, coelos hinc petit ille suos."

This monument was erected by the bishop's eldest son, Sir William Dove, Kt., of Upton.

=William Peirse= (1630-1632) was promoted from the Deanery. He only remained here as bishop two years, when he was translated to Bath and Wells. "A man of excellent parts, both in divinity and knowledge of the laws: very vigilant and active he was for the good both of the ecclesiastical and civil state." He was silenced during the civil war, but restored in 1660. On his tombstone, at Walthamstow, it is said "_Templum Cathedrale Wellense reparavit, Episcopale Palatium exædificavit, coelis maturus terris valedixit an. æt._ 94 _salut_. 1670."

=Augustine Lindsell= (1632-1634) was Dean of Lichfield. He was translated to Hereford after being bishop here two years, but died within a few months.

=Francis Dee= (1634-1638) was Dean of Chichester. "He was a man of very pious life and affable behaviour." He founded scholarships and fellowships at S. John's College, Cambridge, of which he had been Fellow, for boys from the King's School, Peterborough, of his name or kindred. In 1637 Archbishop Laud reported to the King that "My Lord of Peterborough hath taken a great deal of pains and brought his diocese into very good order." He left by will £100 to the repairs of the Cathedral, and the same amount to the repairs of S. Paul's. He was buried in the choir, near the throne.

=John Towers= (1638-1649) was one of the King's chaplains. He was promoted from the Deanery. He protested, with eleven other bishops, against the opposition that was made by the Parliamentary party to their taking their seats in the House of Lords, in which protest it was declared that all laws, orders, votes, or resolutions, were in themselves null and of none effect, which in their absence from Dec. 27th 1641, had been passed, or should afterwards be passed, during the time of their enforced absence. For this they were committed to the Tower, and kept there four or five months. Being set free he was allowed to return to Peterborough, but his revenues were taken away. Living here in a state of continual alarm, he betook himself to the king's forces at Oxford, where he remained until the surrender of the place. Coming back here in 1646 his health failed, and he died about three weeks before the king was beheaded. He was buried in the choir.

No successor was appointed until the Restoration. =Benjamin Laney= (1660-1663) was then made Bishop. He was Dean of Rochester, and had been Master of Pembroke, Cambridge. He was translated to Lincoln in 1663, and to Ely in 1667. He died in 1675, and is buried at Lambeth.

=Joseph Henshaw= (1663-1679) was Dean of Chichester. He died suddenly on March 9, 1679, on his return from attending service at Westminster Abbey. He was buried at East Lavant in Sussex, where he had been rector.

=William Lloyd= (1679-1685) was translated from Llandaff, and was further translated to Norwich in 1685. He was deprived of his see as a Nonjuror in 1691. He lived at Hammersmith till his death in 1710. He was the last survivor of the seven deprived bishops. It is singular that his namesake, William Lloyd, bishop of S. Asaph, should have been one of the seven bishops committed to the Tower by King James II. in 1688; but he had no scruples about taking the oaths to the new sovereigns, and became afterwards Bishop of Lichfield, and ultimately of Worcester.

=Thomas White= (1685-1691) was one of the seven committed to the Tower, and also one of the seven deprived in 1691 as Nonjurors. He attended Sir John Fenwick on the scaffold. This bishop, with his predecessor, Bishop Lloyd, the deprived Bishop of Norwich, were two of the consecrators of the Nonjuring Bishops, Hickes and Wagstaffe. There were really ten bishops (including Archbishop Sancroft) who refused the oaths to William and Mary; but the Bishops of Worcester, Chichester, and Chester died before the time fixed for the deprivation. Bishop White lived in retirement after he left his diocese. He died in 1698, and his funeral is mentioned in Evelyn's _Diary_, under date June 5th: "Dr White, late Bishop of Peterborough, who had been deprived for not complying with Government, was buried in St Gregory's churchyard or vault, at St Paul's. His hearse was accompanied by two Nonjuror bishops, Dr. Turner of Ely, and Dr. Lloyd, with forty Nonjuror clergymen, who could not stay the office of the burial, because the Dean of St Paul's had appointed a conforming minister to read the office, at which all much wondered, there being nothing in that office which mentioned the present king." Lathbury remarks on this retirement from the grave, that it was a singular circumstance, and contrary to the practice of the Nonjurors in many other cases.

=Richard Cumberland= (1691-1718) had a reputation as a philosophical writer. The only memoir of him is to be found in the preface to _Sanchoniathon's History_,[37] a posthumous work, in which his chaplain (and son-in-law) thus describes his appointment:--"The king was told that Dr Cumberland was the fittest man he could nominate to the bishopric of Peterborough. Thus a private country clergyman, without posting to Court--a place he had rarely seen--without suing to great men, without taking the least step towards soliciting for it, was pitched upon to fill a great trust, only because he was fittest for it. He walked after his usual manner on a post-day to the coffee-house, and read in the newspaper that one Dr Cumberland of Stamford was named to the bishopric of Peterborough, a greater surprise to himself than to anybody else." His chaplain speaks of the bishop's character, zeal, and learning in terms of unqualified praise. One of the bishop's sons, Richard, was Archdeacon of Northampton, and father of Denison Cumberland, Bishop of Clonfert and of Kilmore. This last named married a daughter of Dr Bentley, the famous Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and one of their sons was Richard Cumberland, the dramatist. Bishop Richard Cumberland is buried in the Cathedral, and a tablet to his memory remains in the New Building.

=White Kennett= (1718-1728) had been Dean. He was a most industrious writer, many of his works, which are upwards of fifty in number, being most laborious. His manuscript collections in the British Museum are also of great value. He is best known from his antiquarian tastes and studies, and for having directed the attention of his clergy to the value of parish registers. It would seem that before his time no transcripts of parish registers were ever sent to the Bishop's Registry at Peterborough. The earliest transcripts now to be found date only from the beginning of his episcopate, except that, in a few instances, some incumbents appear to have sent the entries for six or eight years previously. Notwithstanding the efficiency of his predecessor he "found the irregularities of the diocese great and many." The Cathedral service was negligently conducted, many clergy were non-resident, some small benefices had been left unfilled. Many other abuses were discovered from time to time. Bishop Kennett was most active and conscientious in administering his office, and thoroughly re-organised the diocese; but his strong political partisanship made for him a great number of enemies. The enmity he raised came to a culminating point while he was still dean. An altar-piece representing the Last Supper had been painted for Whitechapel Church.[38] In this Judas was painted turning round to the spectator, and was intended to represent Kennett. We do not know whether the likeness in itself was sufficiently good to be recognised, but the intention was sufficiently indicated by a black patch in the centre of the forehead, just under the wig. Kennett always wore such a patch, to hide a scar which had remained after being trepanned in early manhood. Judas is, moreover, represented as clean-shaven, being the only figure so drawn except the Evangelist S. John. Great scandal and excitement were caused by this picture, and it was removed. It ultimately found a home at S. Albans Abbey, where it may still be seen (patch and all), but no longer in the position it once occupied over the high altar. Bishop Kennett died in 1728, and is buried in the New Building.

=Robert Clavering= (1728-1747) was consecrated Bishop of Llandaff in 1725, and translated to Peterborough in 1728. He is buried here, but no memorial exists.

=John Thomas= (1747-1757) was Canon of S. Paul's. He was translated to Sarum in 1757, and to Winchester in 1761. He was preceptor to Prince George, afterwards King George III., who used to visit him at Farnham Castle. In the early part of his episcopate he had a namesake on the bench, John Thomas, formerly Dean of Peterborough, who was made Bishop of Lincoln in 1744, and of Sarum in 1761; and during the latter part another namesake, John Thomas, Bishop of Rochester from 1775 to 1793. Bishop Thomas of Winchester died in 1781, in his 85th year, and is buried in his cathedral.

=Richard Terrick= (1757-1764) was Canon of S. Paul's. He was translated to London in 1764, and died in 1777.

=Robert Lamb= (1764-1769) had been Dean. He is buried at Hatfield, where he had been rector.

=John Hinchcliffe= (1769-1794) is an instance of a man, rising from an inferior station to positions of the greatest eminence. His father was a stable-master in London. Proceeding from Westminster School to Trinity College, Cambridge, he obtained a Fellowship there. He afterwards, through a gentleman of wealth to whom he was tutor, secured some very influential friends, and became Head Master of Westminster School, Chaplain to the King, and Master of Trinity. This last appointment he continued to hold with his bishopric until 1789, when he was made Dean of Durham. A memoir published at the time of his death describes him as learned, assiduous in his duties, obliging in his manners, and honest and sincere in his religious and political principles. He died in 1794, and is buried in the cathedral.

=Spencer Madan= (1794-1813) was a prebendary and king's chaplain, and first cousin to the poet Cowper. He came back to Peterborough from Bristol, to which see he was consecrated in 1792. He is buried in the New Building.

=John Parsons= (1813-1819) was Master of Balliol and Dean of Bristol. He was a man of great mark and influence at Oxford, where he died and was buried. There is a monument to him in the chapel of Balliol.

=Herbert Marsh= (1819-1839) was the author of many controversial works. He was translated to this see from Llandaff, where he had been bishop since 1816. He was buried in the New Building--the last bishop interred in the cathedral.

=George Davys= (1839-1864) was Dean of Chester, and had been preceptor to Queen Victoria. He was buried in the Cathedral Yard; the Queen sent one of her carriages with servants in state liveries to attend the funeral as a mark of her affection and esteem.

=Francis Jeune= (1864-1868) had been Dean of Jersey, Master of Pembroke, Oxford, and Dean of Lincoln. His eldest son was the well-known judge. Bishop Jeune is buried in the Cathedral Yard.

=William Connor Magee= (1868-1891) was Dean of Cork. He was translated to the Archbishopric of York, but died within a very few months, May 5th, 1891. He is buried in the Cathedral Yard, where a massive cross of Irish marble has been erected over his grave. In the south choir aisle of the cathedral there is also a recumbent effigy, the likeness to the deceased prelate being most remarkably good. His career is so recent and his eminence so well known that it is unnecessary to speak of them.

=Mandell Creighton= (1891-1897) had been Canon of Windsor, and previously of Worcester. He was translated to London when Bishop Temple became Archbishop of Canterbury. He died in 1901, and is buried in the crypt of S. Paul's; an inlaid marble slab copied from the one over his grave is in the south choir aisle of the cathedral.

=Hon. Edward Carr Glyn= (1897-1916), Vicar of Kensington, Chaplain to the Queen; resigned 1916.

=Frank Theodore Woods= (1916), Vicar of Bradford, Yorks, 1912-1916, is the present bishop.

PRINCIPAL DIMENSIONS.

Interior length, 426 feet. Interior height, 78 " Nave length, 228 " Nave width, 35 " Nave and Aisles, 79 " Transept length, 185 " Transept width, 58 " Area, 41,090 sq feet

DEANS OF PETERBOROUGH CATHEDRAL.

1541 Francis Abree, B.D. 1543 Gerard Carleton, B.D., Canon of Westminster. 1549 James Curthop, M.A., Canon of Christ Church. 1557 James Boxall, LL.D., Archdeacon of Ely, Warden of Winchester, Dean of Norwich, Dean of Windsor. 1560 William Latimer, D.D., Archdeacon of Westminster. 1585 Richard Fletcher, D.D., Bishop of Bristol, of Worcester, and finally of London. 1590 Thomas Nevill, D.D., Master of Magdalene, and afterwards of Trinity, Cambridge, Canon of Ely, Dean of Canterbury. 1597 John Palmer, D.D., Prebendary of Lichfield, Master of Magdalene, Cambridge. 1607 Richard Clayton, D.D., Archdeacon of Ely, Master of Magdalene, and afterwards of S. John's, Cambridge. 1612 George Meriton, D.D., Dean of Bucking, Dean of York. 1616 Henry Beaumont, D.D., Dean of Windsor. 1622 William Peirse, D.D., Prebendary of S. Paul's, Canon of Christ Church, Bishop of Peterborough, and afterwards of Bath and Wells. 1630 John Towers, D.D., Bishop of Peterborough. 1638 Thomas Jackson, D.D., Prebendary of Winchester, President of Corpus, Oxford. 1640 John Cosin, D.D., Prebendary of Durham, Archdeacon of Cleveland, Master of Peterhouse, Dean of Durham. 1660 Edward Rainbow, D.D., Master of Magdalene, Cambridge, Bishop of Carlisle. 1664 James Duport, D.D., Master of Magdalene, Cambridge, Professor of Greek, Prebendary of Lincoln. 1679 Simon Patrick, D.D., Canon of Westminster, Bishop of Chichester, and afterwards of Ely. 1689 Richard Kidder, D.D., Prebendary of Norwich, Bishop of Bath and Wells. 1601 Samuel Freeman D.D. 1707 White Kermett, D.D., Archdeacon of Huntingdon, Prebendary of Lincoln and of Sarum, Bishop of Peterborough. 1718 Richard Reynolds, LL.D., Prebendary and Chancellor of Peterborough, Bishop of Bangor, and afterwards of Lincoln. 1721 William Gee, D.D., Canon of Westminster, Prebendary and Dean of Lincoln. 1722 John Mandeville, D.D., Archdeacon and Chancellor of Lincoln, Canon of Windsor. 1725 Francis Lockier, D.D. 1740 John Thomas, D.D., Canon of Westminster and of S. Paul's, Bishop of Lincoln, and afterwards of Salisbury. 1744 Robert Lamb, D.D., Bishop of Peterborough. 1764 Charles Tarrant, D.D., Canon of Bristol, Dean of Carlisle, Prebendary of Rochester, Prebendary of Sarum. 1791 Charles Manners Sutton, D.D., Bishop of Norwich, Dean of Windsor, Archbishop of Canterbury. 1792 Peter Peckard, D.D., Prebendary of Southwell, Master of Magdalene, Cambridge. 1798 Thomas Kipling, D.D. 1822 James Henry Monk, D.D., Professor of Greek, Cambridge, Canon of Westminster, Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. 1830 Thomas Turton, D.D., Professor of Mathematics, Regius Professor of Divinity, Cambridge, Prebendary of Lincoln, Dean of Westminster, Bishop of Ely. 1842 George Butler, D.D., Headmaster of Harrow. 1853 Augustus Page Saunders, D.D., Headmaster of Charterhouse. 1878 John James Stewart Perowne, D.D., Prebendary of S. David's, Canon of Llandaff, Margaret Professor of Divinity, Cambridge, Bishop of Worcester. 1891 Marsham Argles, D.D., Canon of Peterborough. 1893 William Clavell Ingram, D.D., Hon. Canon of Peterborough. 1901 William Hagger Barlow, D.D., Prebendary of S. Paul's Cathedral. 1908 Arnold Henry Page, M.A.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: "English Towns and Districts," 1883, pp. 103, 130.]

[Footnote 2: A few other cathedrals which were originally churches of monasteries are still called Minsters, as York (nearly always), Canterbury (occasionally), Ripon, Southwell, and perhaps more. Lincoln Cathedral though often called a Minster was a Cathedral from the first, and was never attached to a monastery.]

[Footnote 3: Gunton, p. 4.]

[Footnote 4: "Ingulf and the Historia Croylandensis." By W.G. Searle, M.A., Camb. Antiq. Soc., 8vo. xxvii. p. 65.]

[Footnote 5: Searle: Ingulf, p. 63.]

[Footnote 6: "On the Abbey Church of Peterborough." By G.A. Poole, M.A. Arch. Soc. Archdeac. Northampton, 1855, p. 190.]

[Footnote 7: Poole, p. 193.]

[Footnote 8: Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, anno 1128.]

[Footnote 9: "Remarks on the Architecture of Peterborough Cathedral." By F.A. Paley, M.A. 2nd Ed., 1859, p. 21.]

[Footnote 10: The two eastern pillars of the nave are circular; and the third pillar from the tower, on both sides, is "composed of nook-shafts set in rectangular recesses against the body of the pier."]

[Footnote 11: Some of Mr Poole's reasoning, as to the different parts of the nave to be attributed to different abbots, depends upon an assumption that the Saxon church was on the site of the present one, and that some part of the nave was still existing in a ruinous condition while the present choir and tower were being built. Recent discoveries have proved that this assumption is groundless, for the nave of the Saxon church was beyond the south aisle of the existing nave.]

[Footnote 12: Poole, p. 204.]

[Footnote 13: Paley, p. 54.]

[Footnote 14: Poole, p. 216.]

[Footnote 15: The engraving that accompanies this description represents a dignified altar-piece, but seems taken from a rough drawing, or possibly from memory. On the altar were two tapers burning, an alms dish, and two books. The Abbot's chair, of stone, is to the south, facing west.]

[Footnote 16: "Memoirs of the Protectoral-House of Cromwell," ii, 18.]

[Footnote 17: These shields, which were of metal, are now arranged on the walls of the library.]

[Footnote 18: Where the author has often seen it. It was at last destroyed in a fire.]

[Footnote 19: Museum Criticum, viii, 672.]

[Footnote 20: "Handbook of Architecture," 2nd ed., 1859, p. 869.]

[Footnote 21: "English Towns and Districts," 1883, p. 29.]

[Footnote 22: Guide, p. 48.]

[Footnote 23: Sir William Feeld, Peticanon, in his will dated 1558, desires that his body may be buried in the Gallery before the church door, where all his fellows are buried. "Gallery" here is probably a corruption of "Galilee."]

[Footnote 24: Paley, p. 30.]

[Footnote 25: Gunton, p. 91.]

[Footnote 26: Patrick's Supplement to Gunton, p. 334.]

[Footnote 27: King Ethelred resigned his crown and became Abbot of Bardney. He is here figured with a mitre.]

[Footnote 28: As well as one other, probably the one now under one of the arches on the north of the choir.]

[Footnote 29: Archaeological Journal, 1861, p. 196.]

[Footnote 30: Gunton, p. 12.]

[Footnote 31: Properly Northumberland. See Bede's Eccl. Hist. iii. 6.]

[Footnote 32: Patrick, p. 284.]

[Footnote 33: Historical Memorials of Canterbury, p. 184.]

[Footnote 35: Patrick, p. 330.]

[Footnote 35: Stubbs' _Episcopal Succession_, p. 79.]

[Footnote 36: Gunton, p. 82.]

[Footnote 37: P. 12; quoted in the account of Bishop Cumberland in the _Penny Cyclopeia_, viii. 229.]

[Footnote 38: A full account of this famous picture with an engraving is given in _Northamptonshire Notes and Queries_, iv. 209.]

INDEX

Abbots, account of, 112-126. Altars, 87. Apse, 22.

Bell-tower, 48. Benedict, Abbot, 16. Bishops, account of, 127-134.

Canons' door, 56. Ceiling of nave, 84; of choir, 64. Chapel of St. Thomas, 100. Choir, 60-76. Church of S. John Baptist, 108. City, 108. Cloister Court, 103.

Danes, ravages of, 6, 8, 11. Deanery, 102. Deans, 136. Dean's door, 50. Diocese, history of, 127.

Edgar, King, 8-10. Ernulf, Abbot, 12. Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester, 8.

Fire of 1116, 12.

Gateway of Monastery, 99. of Deanery, 102. Glass, stained, 88. Guildhall, 108. Gunton, Prebendary, historian, 6, 14.

Hereward, 11.

Infirmary, 103.

John of Sais, Abbot, 12-13.

Katharine of Aragon, Queen, 24, 26, 95. Knights' Chamber, 101.

Lady Chapel (destroyed), 20, 52. Laurel Court, 103. Lectern, 74.

Magee, Archbishop, monument, 96. Martin, Abbot, 15. Mary Queen of Scots, burial, 95. Monastery, foundation of, 5. Monastery, history of, 112. Monastery, plan of, 51, 52. Monuments, 91. Museum, 111.

Nave, 81. New building, 24, 55, 76. Norman church built, 13, 15

Organ, 72.

Palace, Bishop's, 106. Patrick, Dean, 14. Parvise, 45, 90. Pavement of choir, 72-74 Porch, western, 22, 45, 90. Pulpit, 70. Puritanical destruction, 26.

Reredos, 72. Reredos, destroyed, 26. Restoration, first, 28; recent, 31-35.

Saxon church, 8-10, 18, 80. Saxulf, Abbot, 5. Scarlett's monument, 98. Screens of choir, 74. Spire of south-west tower, 22. Stalls, 67-69.

Throne, 70. Transept, north, 52; south, 55; interior, 77. Transept, western, 87. Tower, central, 21, 29-32, 51. Towers, western, 17, 44.

West front, 19, 33, 39-44. William of Waterville, Abbot, 15.