Part 25

The _Chapter-House_ is one of the most beautiful in England. The entrance is an arch, divided into two arches by a canopied pier, which bears a mutilated statue of the Virgin and Child. Clustered shafts, with capitals, are on each side of the doors, which have remarkably good scrolled iron-work. The chamber itself is very magnificent. It is octagonal, and in each bay there are six canopied stalls under a five-light window. The window tracery is superb. Clustered shafts support the vaulted roof. Everywhere we see richly-carved stone-work, the finest in any cathedral, the foliage of maple, oak, vine, and other trees. Here are pigs and squirrels feeding on acorns, men gathering grapes, birds, and coiled dragons and reptiles. The grotesques are most curious and interesting. In 1845, unfortunately, the building was restored, and the painted figures of kings and bishops were destroyed, a poor tiled floor laid down; but, in spite of all, it can still maintain its proud boast:--

"_Ut Rosa flos florum, Sic est Domus ista Domorum._"

["As the Rose is the flower of flowers, so is this House the chief of Houses."]

The _Choir-Screen_, erected in 1500, is good Perpendicular work, and has figures of kings from William I. to Henry VI. The rebus of the master-mason, Hyndeley (a hind lying) occurs in the capitals. The canopies are richly carved. There is an ogee pediment, and a niche with angels on each side, with censers. The Tudor flower is used as an ornament, and plaster angels by Bernasconi were added in 1810. The organ was erected in 1632.

_The Choir and Lady Chapel._--The Lady Chapel, occupying the four east bays, was built in 1361-1405, the choir in 1407-1420. The style is Perpendicular, though it follows the design of the nave; yet the builders endeavoured to improve upon the earlier work and remedy its defects. They were eminently successful, and produced one of the most stately and magnificent choirs in England. The roof is made of wood, like the nave, and has a large number of foliated bosses. A disastrous fire in 1829 destroyed all the old carved stalls and _misereres_, and the modern substitutes are fairly successful. The altar-screen is a good reproduction of the ancient one, and the reredos was designed by Street, with reliefs by Tinworth. The lectern was given by T. Cracroft in 1686. The differences in the style of the clerestory windows in the east and west portions will be readily noticed. Only in the western part is the Perpendicular style fully developed. The east window is the largest window in England, retaining its original glazing, but in actual size it is surpassed by that at Gloucester. Its height is 75 feet, and breadth 32 feet, and each compartment is a yard square. The artist of the glass was one Thornton, of Coventry.

The Altar of the Virgin stood under this window, and here was a chantry, founded by the Percys. There is a curious ancient carving, much mutilated, of the Virgin and Child. Archbishop Bowet's Chantry (1407-1423) was at the east of the south aisle, and his tomb is here, the finest in the Cathedral, though much mutilated. There are many monuments in the choir, which are too numerous to mention--the second son of Edward III. (d. 1344), Archbishop Savage (d. 1507), Archbishop Sterne (1689), Archbishop Scrope, beheaded by Henry IV., to whose tomb there was great resort by pilgrims.

The _Crypt_ was mainly discovered after the fire of 1829. It has fine Norman piers, part of Roger's Cathedral (d. 1181), and contains some "herring-bone" work of Saxon architecture, the remains of Edwin's church. The vestry has some very interesting antiquities: an old Installation Chair, used at the consecration and enthronement of the archbishops; an old treasury-chest; Prayer-Book and Bible, presented by Charles I.; an old chained Bible; two _misereres_, left after the fire; a pastoral staff of 1686; the famous Horn of Alphus, presented before the Conquest, the title-deed to several acres of land held by horn tenure; chalices and patens of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; episcopal rings, and the bowl of the Cordwainers' Company, formerly belonging to Archbishop Scrope.

The vastness of York Minster, with its forest of clustered pillars, its unrivalled ancient stained glass, its importance as the metropolitan church of Northern England, combine to make this splendid Cathedral one of the most interesting in the kingdom.

OTHER OBJECTS OF INTEREST IN THE CITY

_St. Mary's Abbey_, in the Museum Gardens, founded by Earl Sward in 1050. The present buildings were erected, after a fire in 1137, in 1270, and the Abbey grew to become one of great wealth and importance. The style is Decorated. On the site of the abbot's house is the _King's Manor_, or _Royal Palace_, now used as a Blind School. Near at hand is the _Multangular Tower_, which formed part of the old Roman wall, and _St. Leonard's Hospital_, founded by King Athelstan in 936 A.D., and rebuilt by Stephen. The Museum is worthy of a visit, and the _Hospitium_ of the old Abbey, which now contains a good collection of Roman antiquities and carved stones from the Abbey.

_St. William's College_ (College Street), the famous abode of the chantry priests of the Cathedral, founded in 1460, is now a series of cottages.

The city walls should be visited, and the old gates--Mickelgate, Walmgate, Monkgate, and Bootham Bar. The hall of the Merchant Adventurers' Company is interesting, and Clifford's Tower, the keep of the Conqueror's castle, celebrated for the Massacre of the Jews in 1190. Many of the churches are ancient, and have beautifully-carved doors and interesting old glass. The Church of St. Mary the Younger has a Saxon tower.

DIMENSIONS

Total length 486 ft. Length of nave 262 ft. Breadth of nave and aisles 104 ft. Height of nave 99 ft. Length of choir 224 ft. Length of transept 223 ft. Height of central tower 198 ft. Height of western towers 196 ft. Area 63,800 sq. ft.

For Building Dates _see_ page 312.

FOOTNOTE:

[16] We must except Lord Grimthorpe's modern innovations at St. Albans.

BEVERLEY MINSTER

Although Beverley is not a cathedral, its Minster is certainly worthy of being ranked as such, and perhaps some day, when our dioceses are again divided, it may have a bishop of its own. Of John of Beverley's foundation want of space forbids us to write, or of the great Æthelstan, who conferred great privileges on the place. Ælfric and Archbishop Aldred were great builders, and did much for the Minster; but in 1188 a great part of the church was destroyed by fire. The nave seems to have escaped without much serious injury, and the monks set about repairing the east end and building a central tower; but, after the manner of towers, this one fell, and reduced the eastern arm of the church to ruins. Then came the era of the great Gothic builders, and early in the thirteenth century the monks began to rebuild the east end of the church, the tower, and one bay of the nave, and nobly did they accomplish their undertaking. They accomplished a work which caused their Minster to rank with the best achievements of Early English Gothic art, and we must look to Salisbury or the choir of Lincoln to find anything equal to it. For many years the old Norman nave remained. Nearly 100 years passed away, and then a new era of building dawned. At the end of the first quarter of the fourteenth century the monks set to work to rebuild the nave. Quickly the work progressed, until the Black Death, which seems to have been especially virulent in monasteries, laid low many of the builders. The noise of the chisel ceased, until at length the monks resumed their work, and built that crowning glory of their Minster, the noble west front. Such was the history of the building of Beverley Minster. Since that time little has been done, except to preserve the exquisite workmanship of these early builders. The church suffered from neglect, and from the evil genius and vile taste of the Georgian architects; but happily all their monstrosities have been removed by Sir Gilbert Scott, who restored the Minster to its ancient beauty.

The _West Front_ is one of the finest examples of the Perpendicular style in England. It consists of two towers, flanking a large window, above which is a high gable, and below a deeply-recessed door. The window has nine lights. The whole front is panelled, and the buttresses are ornamented with various tiers of niche-work of excellent composition and most delicate execution. These niches are about to be filled with figures. We enter the Minster by the north porch, which is a fine piece of Perpendicular work, with a parvise over it. On entering the building we are struck with its great loftiness and the consummate beauty of its architectural details. As we have said, the _Nave_ is later than the choir, with the exception of the first bay adjoining the tower. That one bay is Early English; the rest is superb Decorated work. The ball-flower moulding is conspicuous in the latter, the dog-tooth in the former; but there seems to have been some attempt to assimilate the later work with the earlier. The west end is Perpendicular, and the west window is a fine example of the work of that period. The glass is modern. There is some beautiful arcading in the aisles, that in the north aisle being more developed Decorated than that in the south. The tomb of the "Sisters of Beverley" in the south aisle should be noticed. It belongs to the Decorated period, and possesses many features of interest. History is silent as to the names of these sisters, who are supposed to have been benefactors to the townsfolk. The tracery of the windows in the aisles should be noticed, as it is remarkable for its gracefulness and variety. The only relic of Norman work in the church is the font, near the south door, which is of a somewhat late character. The _Transepts_ are of noble Early English construction. Tall lancets shed light upon the exquisite architectural details displayed here. Each transept has double aisles. The arcading of the triforium is curious, but effective. In the tympanum of each trefoil arch there is a quatrefoil and two semi-arches, which are completed by similar ones under the next arch. The effigy and monument of a priest in the north transept (fourteenth century) have some exquisite carving, and afford an excellent study of ecclesiastical vestments. The _East End_ of the church is entirely composed of Early English work, and without doubt contains some of the best and most perfect architectural achievements of the thirteenth century. The piers are composed of eight massive columns. There is no triforium gallery, a very exquisite arcade taking its place, similar to that in the transepts, consisting of trefoil arches, ornamented with dog-tooth. Purbeck marble is extensively used throughout the choir. The screen is modern. The choir stalls and _misereres_ are scarcely surpassed by any in England. They belong to the sixteenth century, and the designs represented on the latter are extremely quaint and curious. Few churches have such a superb _Altar-Screen_ as Beverley. It is Early English, but has been much mutilated and robbed of its images, which now have been replaced by good modern sculpture. It has also been decorated with glass mosaic work. Near it, on the north, is the famous _Percy Tomb_, which is well known to all students of architecture. It is very beautiful Decorated work, and is generally considered to have no equal. It was erected about 1338, and is to the memory of Lady Eleanor Percy, the wife of the first Lord Percy. The carving is quite superb, the details of the figure-sculpture being worthy of the closest attention. In the gable is a figure of the Almighty receiving the soul of the deceased, who is represented as being held up by a sheet supported by two angels. The east transepts and retro-choir possess also some fine Early English work, and is similar to that which has been described. In this retro-choir stood the shrine of St. John of Beverley, which was watched by a monk stationed in the watching chamber over the altar-screen. Notice the frith-stool, seated in which the person who sought sanctuary could defy the approach of his enemies and escape the justice which doubtless he deserved. Beverley was a noted place for sanctuary, and the records relating to this privilege are full of curious interest. The _Staircase_ leading to the chapter-house, now destroyed, is remarkably fine, and is certainly a very beautiful feature of this wonderful church. The great east window is Perpendicular, and has some ancient glass. On the north is the Percy Chapel, founded in the fifteenth century; in it lies the body of one of the Earls of Percy, who was cruelly murdered at the close of that century.

WAKEFIELD CATHEDRAL

The See of Wakefield was created in 1888. The enormous increase of the population of England and the growth of the Church's work have necessitated the multiplication of bishoprics and the division of many of the ancient enormous dioceses. This is one of the sees which it was found necessary to form. The old Parish Church of All Saints was converted into the Cathedral, but it possesses few of the associations and architectural beauties of our ancient minsters. It is, however, a fine parish church. It was consecrated by Archbishop William de Melton of York in 1329, but almost wholly rebuilt in the fifteenth century. Its main features are, therefore, Perpendicular. It consists of a chancel and large nave, with aisles. There is a clerestory, but no triforium. At the west end there is a tower, surmounted by a fine spire, rebuilt in 1860, the total height being 247 feet. A heavy screen separated the nave from the chancel of Jacobean style, and the organ and font belong to the seventeenth century. The whole building was restored by Sir G. Scott at a cost of £30,000.

On the bridge across the Calder there is a beautiful little chapel or chantry, dedicated to St. Mary (30 feet by 24 feet). This was built and endowed by Edward IV. in memory of his father, Richard, Duke of York, killed at the battle of Wakefield in 1460. It was restored in 1847. Near here was fought the famous battle between Queen Margaret, wife of Henry VI., and the Duke of York, whom this chantry commemorates. Wakefield was an ancient seat of manufacture, foreign weavers being established here by Henry VII.

LINCOLN CATHEDRAL

The city of Lincoln has a history of profound interest. The first view of its mighty minster rising above the lower houses of the city is most impressive, and the whole place teems with historical association. Professor Freeman states that Lincoln has "kept up its continuous being through Roman, English, Danish and Norman conquests." Before the advent of the Romans it was a British stronghold, and bore a Celtic name--Lindum; and when the conquering legions came they made it one of the chief towns of the empire, and honoured it with the rank of a "colony"--hence Lin_coln_, "the colony of Lindum," thus preserving its ancient name, and adding the title of its dignity. The only existing Roman gateway in England is here, and the remains of a basilica, mosaic pavements, altars, sepulchral monuments, testify to the greatness of Roman Lincoln. The Anglo-Saxons wrought much havoc, and devastated the city. Here came St. Paulinus in 627 A.D., and converted the Pagan Saxons to Christianity. The fierce Danes attacked Lincoln and made it their chief town, the principal member of their League of the Five Towns (Leicester, Stamford, Derby, Nottingham and Lincoln). Before the Norman Conquest it ranked fourth among the cities of England. Then came William the Conqueror, who raised a castle and made it the base of his operations against the northern counties. Lincoln soon was raised to a position of great ecclesiastical pre-eminence, when Remigius of Fécamp became the first Norman bishop, and ruled the vastest diocese in England, extending from the Humber to the Thames. The city was in the eleventh and twelfth centuries one of the greatest trading towns in the country, the resort of traders both of land and sea. Here King Stephen was vanquished and carried off a prisoner to Bristol. Here King John received the homage of William the Lion of Scotland. The din of wars and battles has often been heard in the streets of Lincoln; in the Wars of the Barons against the young King Henry III., the Wars of the Roses, and above all in the great Civil War, when the city was stormed and sacked by the Roundheads. Here Edward I. summoned his first Parliament. Here kings have held their court and worshipped in the minster, and here a most formidable insurrection arose in consequence of the arbitrary acts of Henry VIII. and the destruction of the monasteries. The Bishops of Lincoln have been men of great power and influence, and have played prominent parts in the history of England. Such prelates as St. Hugh, Robert Grosseteste, and many others have conferred honour on the see over which they presided.

HISTORY OF THE CATHEDRAL

The first Cathedral of Lincoln was built by Remigius, the earliest Norman bishop, on the removal of the see from Dorchesteron-the-Thames about 1074. Previous to this Paulinus had preached here, and converted its prefect, Blaecca, who built a church of stone, which was probably on the site of St. Paul's Church, the name being corrupted from Paulinus. Stow village was the seat of the Lindsay Diocese until the Danish invasion. Then Dorchester was the bishop's residence until Remigius transferred his throne to Lincoln, and built a church "strong as the place was strong and fair as the place was fair, dedicated to the Virgin of Virgins." This church was ready for consecration on the founder's death in 1092 A.D. It was cruciform, with a semi-circular apse at the east end. The parts remaining are the central portion of the west front with its three recesses, a fragment of the first bay of the nave, and the foundations of the apse beneath the floor of the choir. It was a massive stern Norman building.

The third Norman bishop, Alexander, called "the magnificent," after a disastrous fire in 1141, restored the Cathedral "to more than its former beauty." This Alexander was a nephew of Bishop Roger of Salisbury, and during his time raged the war between Stephen and the Empress Maud. The adherents of the latter held the Castle of Lincoln; so Stephen seized the Cathedral and used it as a fortress. The chroniclers tell us that Alexander "remodelled the church by his subtle artifice," and made it the most beautiful in England. All that remains of his work are the three western doorways inserted in the arches built by Remigius, the intersecting arcade above the two side recesses of the west front, and the three lower storeys of the west tower, with their elaborately-ornamented gables facing north and south. These were all in the Late Norman or Transition style.

A terrible earthquake wrought much damage in 1185, and grievous was the condition of the church after this deplorable visitation. But happily in the following year the famous St. Hugh of Avalon, near Grenoble, was made Bishop of Lincoln by Henry II. He determined to restore the ruined House of God, and began to build in 1192. Freeman states that "St. Hugh was strictly the first to design a building in which the pointed arch should be allowed full play, and should be accomplished by an appropriate system of detail." Before his death in 1200 he built the choir and aisles and east (or smaller) transept, with a portion of the east wall of the great transept. All architects praise this beautiful work, the first development of the Early English style, the earliest building of that style in the world.

The great transept was completed and the nave gradually carried west-wards in the Early English style during the successive episcopates of William de Blois, Hugh de Wells and Robert Grosseteste (1203-1253). Of the nave, Freeman wrote: "There are few grander works in the style of the thirteenth century than Lincoln nave, few that show greater boldness of construction and greater elegance of detail." To the same period we may assign the two western chapels, the arcaded screen wall of the west front and its flanking turrets, the Galilee Porch and the vestry, the two lower storeys of the tower, and chapter-house. During the rule of Grosseteste, the two lower storeys of the tower were built. This Grosseteste was a remarkable man, of great learning and ability, defended the rights of the English Church against the claims of the Papacy, and reformed many abuses in his diocese.

Great sanctity was attached to the body of St. Hugh, which caused many miracles. It was buried according to the wishes of this holy and humble-minded man in an obscure corner of the Cathedral. In such honour were his remains held that it was resolved to transport them to a more distinguished place; hence it was decided to erect a large and costly shrine, and the beautiful "Angel Choir" was erected for its accommodation. This magnificent structure was built in 1255-1280, and belongs to the period of Transition between the Early English and Decorated styles, just when Gothic architecture was touching its point of highest development. It is simply perfect in its proportion and details. The translation of the body of St. Hugh was performed with much pomp, and the ceremony was attended by the highest in the land, King Edward I. himself being one of the bearers of the revered saint's remains. The cloisters and vestibule belong to the Decorated period, 1296 A.D., of which they present a small but beautiful example. The "Bishop's Eye," the large circular window of the south transept, was erected in 1350. About the same period much was done to adorn the interior. John de Welbourn, treasurer of the Cathedral, 1350-1380, set up the beautiful choir stalls, erected the vaulting of the central and west towers, with the internal panelling of the latter, and the row of niches and regal statues over the great west door. The three western windows and the upper stages of the west towers belong to a closely subsequent period. In these works we see the transition from the Decorated to Perpendicular style. Some of the chantry chapels are purely Perpendicular.