LOS ANGELES 

 
 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES
 
 Sir Thomas More. 
 From the portrait by Holbein in tin- possession of Edward Huth, Esq.
 
 ENGLISH 
 EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 (PROVINCE OF CANTERBURY) 
 
 CONTRIBUTED BY 
 
 CAROLINE C. MOREWOOD, VALENTINA 
 HAWTREY, LILIAN J. REDSTONE, 
 HENRIETTA L. E. GARBETT, CHARLOTTE 
 M. CALTHROP, EVELINE M. WOODCOCK 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 R. S. RAIT 
 
 NEW YORK 
 JAMES POTT & COMPANY 
 
 1910
 
 
 • • . • »
 
 
 
 BWot's (ttofe 
 
 GREAT books have a way of producing smaller 
 ones; and these sketches of the history of the 
 Episcopal Palaces of the Southern Province 
 have been inspired by work done for the 
 " Victoria History of the Counties of England." The plan 
 and the scope of that great work prevents its writers from 
 availing themselves of much of the interesting material 
 which their researches discover. The authors of this book 
 have taken the opportunity of presenting in popular form 
 the results of investigation into the lighter side of history. 
 The editor is responsible for the general plan of the 
 book, but he has left his contributors to choose their own 
 methods of telling the stories entrusted to them. He 
 hopes and believes that the result has been to produce a 
 volume of varied interest which will appeal to all who 
 wish to know about the life of the Church and its great 
 dignitaries, and about the houses in which its bishops 
 have lived. The editor and his contributors wish to offer 
 their thanks to the guardians of episcopal palaces and docu- 
 ments for access to both, and to express their indebtedness 
 to Mr. William Page, editor of the Victoria County 
 History. 
 
 R. S. R. 
 New College, Oxford. 
 November, 1909. 
 
 Life
 
 Contents 
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 THE PALACE OF LAMBETH. 
 THE PALACE OF FULHAM. 
 FARNHAM CASTLE. 
 
 Caroline C. Morewood 
 Valentina Hawtrey 
 Valentina Hawtrey 
 Lilian J. Redstone . 
 
 the old palace of Lincoln. Henrietta L. E. Garbett 
 the palace of Norwich. Charlotte M. Calthrop . 
 
 the palace of Hereford. Henrietta L. E. Garbett 
 
 THE PALACE OF WELLS. 
 
 Eveline M. Woodcock 
 
 PAGB 
 I 
 
 51 
 90 
 
 123 
 
 155 
 209 
 
 255 
 287 
 
 INDEX 
 
 327
 
 Bifitf of Jihetvatiom 
 
 SIR THOMAS MORE . ... 
 
 HENRY CHICHELE, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY 
 WILLIAM WARHAM, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY 
 RICHARD BANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY 
 EDMUND BONNER, BISHOP OF LONDON . 
 WILLIAM JUXON, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY 
 BEILBY PORTEUS, BISHOP OF LONDON . 
 WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM, BISHOP OF WINCHESTER 
 JOHN WILLIAMS, ARCHBISHOP OF YORK . 
 SIR THOMAS GOOCH, BISHOP OF ELY 
 DR. BATHURST, BISHOP OF NORWICH 
 
 EDWARD STANLEY, BISHOP OF NORWICH 
 
 PHILIP BISSE, BISHOP OF HEREFORD 
 ARTHUR LAKE, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS 
 THOMAS KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS . 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 Facing 
 
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 E.E.P.
 
 Jnfrobucforg Cfycyhv 
 
 IN a work of this kind it would be obviously impossible 
 to present a complete account of all the episcopal 
 palaces in the Province of Canterbury, and in an 
 Introductory Chapter we propose to offer a brief 
 sketch of the residences, whose history is not related 
 elsewhere in the present volume. The history of these 
 buildings is necessarily bound up with those who built and 
 inhabited them. The architects have left the stamp of their 
 personalities on the stones, which are in many cases the only 
 trace we have of these characters of the past. Their public 
 acts had the world for an audience, but the real men with 
 their motives and ambitions are but shadowy phantoms too 
 often shrouded in the mists of religious controversy. One 
 wishes there were more of these traces, but unfortunately 
 many of the palaces shared the fate of other Church 
 property during the Civil Wars, and were swept away in the 
 storms of fanatical zeal. 
 
 More than half the bishoprics in England are of Saxon 
 foundation, and there is little or no record of the bishops' 
 houses ; but we can easily picture the simple wooden 
 structures which would supply all the needs of these saintly 
 fathers of the Church. Their ambitions were for spiritual 
 riches, and they had little esteem for the perishable goods of 
 this world, the care of which would only distract them from 
 the work of their Master. 
 
 E.E.P. B
 
 2 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 As time went on, bringing increased wealth and power, 
 the episcopal residences naturally underwent great changes. 
 It was necessary for the bishop-baron to have a castle large 
 enough to accommodate his armed retainers, and strong 
 enough to withstand the attacks of hostile neighbours. 
 
 Then again his position as dispenser of justice neces- 
 sitated a large hall in which cases could be tried, as well 
 as a prison where the guilty paid the penalty for their 
 misdoings. 
 
 The position of the bishops in the Great Council, and 
 afterwards in Parliament, and the prominent part they 
 often played in State affairs rendered it necessary to provide 
 them with London houses, as well as various manors en 
 route where they could break their journey. Travelling was 
 no easy matter in those days, and we are told that the 
 Bishop of Worcester spent five days on the journey from 
 London to the seat of his diocese. 
 
 Very little material change was effected in the arrange- 
 ment of the bishoprics until the Reformation, when 
 Henry VIII., whose conscience, it is to be hoped, was 
 sometimes disturbed at the destruction of so many 
 religious houses, wished to make amends by endowing new 
 bishoprics out of the revenues of the dissolved monasteries. 
 
 In the Province of Canterbury he raised to the dignity of 
 bishoprics, Gloucester, Bristol, Westminster (afterwards 
 suppressed by Edward VI.), Peterborough, and Oxford. In 
 each of these cases, the abbot who had surrendered his house 
 to the king, was installed as bishop — his house, of course, 
 becoming the episcopal palace. 
 
 From this time onward, the various sees have retained 
 their former dimensions, until the enormous increase in the 
 population of recent years necessitated the formation of new
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 
 
 dioceses. In 1836 the sees of Gloucester and Bristol were 
 united, although once more separated in 1897. Five new 
 bishoprics have been formed since 1877, namely, St. Albans, 
 Truro, Southwell, Birmingham, and Southwark. 
 
 We find therefore that bishoprics and episcopal residences 
 fall naturally into four groups : (i.) those of Saxon founda- 
 tion ; (ii.) those of Norman origin ; (iii.) those founded 
 by Henry VIII. ; and (iv.) those formed within the last 
 fifty years. We proceed to deal with each in turn. 
 
 Canterbury 
 
 On the west side of the cloisters of Canterbury Cathedral 
 may still be seen an old gate-house, all that now remains of 
 the archbishop's palace ; close to this gate-house is an arched 
 entrance, through which Thomas Becket had just passed 
 when he was attacked by his murderers. In a garden near 
 are remains of pillars and arches, probably once forming part 
 of the great hall, so often mentioned in history. It was begun 
 by Archbishop Hubert, about 1200, and finished by Langton. 
 It was the scene of many a noble feast : notably at the time 
 of the translation of the body of St. Thomas of Canterbury, 
 when crowds of devoted pilgrims were entertained by the 
 Archbishop. The expense of this feast, as well as the building 
 of the hall, laid a heavy debt on the see, which was not 
 cleared till Archbishop Boniface's time. He is said to have 
 sorrowfully remarked : " My predecessors built this hall at 
 great expense ; they did well indeed, but they laid out no 
 money except what they borrowed ; / seem to be the 
 builder, because I pay their debts." 
 
 In this hall Edward I., after his marriage in the cathedral 
 with Catherine in 1299, kept the nuptial feast. Two 
 hundred years later Archbishop Warham entertained the 
 
 B 2
 
 4 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 Emperor Charles V., and his mother, Queen of Aragon, as 
 well as Henry VIII. It evidently shared the fate of so 
 much Church property at the time of the Dissolution, but 
 was rebuilt by Archbishop Parker in 1572, who was 
 honoured by a visit from Queen Elizabeth in 1575. Its 
 magnificence was doomed, and fell a victim to the ruthless 
 fanaticism of Cromwell's followers. The arms of Arch- 
 bishop Parker and the date 1572 may still be seen engraved 
 on chimney-pieces and windows in neighbouring houses. 
 The site has since been leased out, and turned into tene- 
 ments. The centre once formed a bowling-green, and 
 afterwards a timber-yard. 
 
 Although the palaces of Canterbury and Lambeth were 
 their state abodes, the archbishops had many other palaces 
 and manors. Of these the best known are, perhaps, 
 Mayfield, Croydon, Addington and Otford. Mayfield 
 belonged to the archbishops from the earliest times, and 
 the first house is said to have been built by St. Dunstan. 
 It was certainly a favourite place of residence with 
 succeeding archbishops, who loved to retire there and 
 rest from the laborious duties of their state. It was finally 
 alienated by Cranmer in 1535, and has since fallen into 
 decay. 
 
 Of all the archiepiscopal palaces, none is so well known as 
 the beautiful palace at Croydon. This manor had belonged 
 to the archbishops since the days of Lanfranc, and though 
 it is uncertain when a house was first erected, we know one 
 existed in 1273, in the time of Archbishop Kilwardy, who 
 dates several mandates from Croydon. The five succeeding 
 archbishops also spent much of their time in this palace, and 
 added considerably to its size and beauty. 
 
 Archbishop Courtney received the pall in the great hall in
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 
 
 1382, and either he or his successor, Arundell, built the 
 guard-chamber. The whole palace was repaired by Arch- 
 bishop Stafford, who made Lambeth and Croydon his chief 
 places of residence. Cranmer, too, was very fond of the 
 place, and many bishops were consecrated by him in the 
 adjoining chapel. So beautiful and complete was this 
 residence that Queen Elizabeth visited it more than once, 
 and on one occasion remained there for seven days. 
 
 The palace was still more improved by Archbishop Laud, 
 at whose death it was sold to Sir William Brereton. He 
 had little appreciation for its stately beauty, and converted 
 the chapel into a kitchen. 
 
 At the Restoration it came into the hands of Archbishop 
 Juxon, who did much towards restoring it to its former 
 splendour. Archbishop Wake (1715) made it a summer 
 residence, and rebuilt the great gallery leading to the 
 garden. Dr. Herring also completely repaired and furnished 
 the palace in 1747, and was the last primate who lived there. 
 Soon afterwards it was allowed to become very dilapidated, 
 and an Act of Parliament was passed for its sale. It has 
 now been converted into a girls' school. 
 
 When Croydon was no longer available as a summer 
 residence, the Archbishop Manners-Sutton bought Adding- 
 ton in 1808. It was considerably improved by Dr. Howley, 
 who added a chapel and library. It has, however, since 
 been disposed of. 
 
 Otford was also a very favourite abode of the arcbishops, 
 several mandates and letters being dated there. Here they 
 enjoyed the seclusion of two large parks, and had the right 
 of free-warren. Thomas Becket appears to have been 
 the first to live here, and finding the supply of water 
 insufficient, he is said to have struck the ground with his
 
 6 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 staff, and the spring of water which gushed up, still bears 
 the name of St. Thomas's Well. Here also Archbishop 
 Winchelsea died in 1313. A great part of this mansion was 
 rebuilt by Archbishop Deane in the reign of Henry VIII. 
 But Warham, his successor, had ideals of episcopal dignity 
 which it did not satisfy ; he therefore demolished the whole 
 structure except the chapel and hall, building a veritable palace 
 at a cost of £"33,000. Archbishop Cranmer, who succeeded 
 Warham, appears to have felt that this magnificent property 
 was an over-weighty burden, and that his head would rest 
 more securely in a humbler dwelling ; accordingly he passed 
 it over to Henry VIII. It remained Crown property until 
 James I. granted the site, together with the greater park of 
 seven hundred acres, to Sir Thomas Smith. A vast heap of 
 rubbish is all that now remains of this palace, but part of the 
 wall and two towers of the outer court still give some slight 
 idea of its former magnificence. 
 
 Rochester 
 
 The see of Rochester is the smallest in the kingdom 
 although one of the earliest foundation. There is no 
 mention of any episcopal house till the time of the saintly 
 Gundulph. He was a monk in the Benedictine monastery at 
 Bee in Normandy, and was elected bishop in 1077 through 
 Lanfranc's influence. He turned the secular priests out of 
 their monastery at Rochester, and filled it with Benedictines. 
 He probably built a house for himself at the same time that 
 he rebuilt the church and added to the priory. He appears 
 always to have loved his Benedictine home, and when Arch- 
 bishop Lanfranc restored to the see many manors and lands 
 formerly confiscated, Gundulph granted most of them to 
 the priory, greatly impoverishing the see ; and succeeding
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 7 
 
 bishops were constantly disputing with the monks their 
 right to certain lands. 
 
 Gundulph was, at heart, always more of a Benedictine 
 than a bishop, and when he felt his end drawing near, he 
 would not die as a bishop in his palace, but as a monk 
 amongst monks, in a lower place. So his servants carried 
 him into the Church of St. Andrew, where he prayed long 
 and earnestly for himself and his beloved monastery, and 
 when his strength was exhausted, they took him into the 
 monks' infirmary, where he died amongst his spiritual 
 children in 1107. The church begun by him was finished 
 in the time of Bishop John, about 1130. The dedication 
 was attended by the king and many nobles and clergy, 
 who no doubt were entertained at the bishop's palace. 
 While the feasting was still in progress, fire broke out, 
 almost destroying the city, and doing considerable damage 
 to the church. The priory also was reduced to such a 
 state that the monks were obliged to disperse until the 
 damage was repaired. That the bishop's house shared 
 the same fate seems probable, for we are told that Gilbert 
 de Glanville, who was consecrated in 1185, rebuilt the 
 palace at Rochester, as well as a house at Lambeth. The 
 dispute, which had long been smouldering between the 
 bishop and the monks, was fanned into a blaze by this 
 tyrannical prelate, who threw himself heart and soul into 
 the contest. He succeeded in regaining most of the 
 possessions which Gundulph had alienated, but not without 
 a struggle on the part of the monks who were reduced to 
 the extreme necessity of melting down and coining the 
 silver shrine of St. Paulinus. Having got what he wanted 
 he appears to have been willing to make some reparation, 
 and built a new cloister for the monks, providing them also
 
 8 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 with an organ, and various ornaments and books. He 
 died in 1214, and earned the epithet of a "confounder 
 amongst founders." 
 
 The next bishop who turned his attention to building 
 was Hamo de Hethe, Prior of Rochester. The see had 
 been vacant for two years, owing to a dispute about 
 the election ; however, the Pope's consent was at last 
 obtained, and Hamo went to Avignon to be consecrated 
 in 1319. He had many difficulties to contend with during 
 the first years of his episcopate, not only the heavy expenses 
 incurred by the suit and journey, but his palace and other 
 manor houses were practically uninhabitable, and had been 
 despoiled of their live stock and agricultural implements, 
 and even of the furniture. Accordingly he retired to some 
 secluded spot, his wants being supplied by his clergy, who 
 voluntarily gave up a small portion of their stipends to 
 support their bishop. As soon as his debts were paid he set 
 to work to rebuild his palace and manor houses. At Hailing 
 he rebuilt the hall, and improved the chapel and dining- 
 room ; he spent the Lent of 1322 in this house, and passed 
 on to Trottescliffe, where he celebrated Easter. The latter 
 had belonged to the bishopric since the days of King Offa, and 
 though it was wrested from them during the Danish wars, was 
 restored by Lanfranc to Gundulph, who kept it mainly to 
 supply his table with poultry, eggs, and other farm produce. 
 Hamo de Hethe spent a year at Trottescliffe with the 
 object, apparently, of superintending the building operations. 
 He added a dining-room for himself and one for his clerks, 
 as well as a large kitchen, bake-house, and cow-house, 
 surrounding the whole with walls. This palace remained in 
 the hands of the bishops of Rochester till the Reformation, 
 when it was leased out to various tenants.
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 
 
 It was during Hamo de Hethe's episcopate that England 
 was visited by the plague ; it was particularly violent in 
 Kent, and the bishop lost most of his chaplains and 
 domestics. The parish priests in his diocese fell victims to 
 this frightful scourge, their places often being filled by 
 illiterate men, hurriedly ordained, with but a superficial 
 knowledge of the Faith they professed to teach. The bishop 
 endeared himself still more to his people by his devotion 
 during this sad time. He went amongst the stricken people, 
 helping the dying and burying the dead, and doing all in his 
 power to relieve the suffering. 
 
 Worn out with his labours, towards the end of his life, he 
 begged the Pope to relieve him of his episcopal duties. This 
 request was evidently not granted, for he died at his palace 
 three years afterwards, in 1352. 
 
 During the next hundred years there is little mention 
 of the palace, until the time of Bishop Lowe, who evidently 
 rebuilt it, as one of his letters is dated from the new palace 
 of Rochester in 1459. The next six bishops were all trans- 
 lated to other sees, and the palace was much neglected 
 when John Fisher inhabited it. Erasmus of Rotterdam 
 paid him a visit in 1524, and complains of the bishop's 
 disregard to his health. He adds that the walls of the 
 library were so thin that the air came in through the crevices, 
 that it was neither wainscotted nor floored with wood, and 
 had only a brick pavement. The money he grudged spend- 
 ing on his own personal comforts he gave liberally to 
 St. John's College, which he furnished with a magnificent 
 library. He was far beyond his age in learning, and the 
 sanctity of his life has gained for him the respect and 
 admiration of all. He warmly opposed the divorce of 
 Katherine of Aragon, and was eventually sent to the Tower
 
 io ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 with Sir Thomas More. The Pope rewarded his fidelity by 
 raising him to the dignity of a cardinal, which probably 
 hastened his end. He was beheaded when nearly eighty 
 years old, and his head set on London Bridge. He could 
 never be induced to change his bishopric for a better one, 
 and often said that his church was his wife, and he would 
 never part with her because she was poor. He was the last 
 to live at the Rochester Palace, which was let for a term of 
 years, and so neglected that at the time of the Common- 
 wealth survey it was valued at £12 13s. 4^. 
 
 The succeeding bishops lived at Bromley, which had been in 
 the possession of the see since the eighth century. This old 
 palace was probably built about 1100, and has undergone 
 many alterations. During the Commonwealth it was granted 
 away from the see, but restored by Charles II. in 1660 in a very 
 dilapidated condition. It was renovated by Bishop Sprat in 
 1669, and again by his successor, Bishop Atterbury. The 
 entire palace was rebuilt in 1775 by Bishop Thomas, a fact 
 recorded on a stone above the entrance door bearing an 
 inscription under the arms of the see of Rochester, 
 
 A fine avenue of lime-trees led up to the house, which 
 stood on a slope in a small park near the road, and was 
 built in the heavy substantial style typical of the eighteenth 
 century, when solid comfort was more considered than beauty 
 in form and proportion. The square entrance-hall gives a 
 noble stamp to the house, and the eye lingers willingly on 
 the dark oak staircase leading to the upper apartments. On 
 the left of the entrance-door is the chapel, which was con- 
 secrated in 1 701. In the grounds is an old chalybeate well 
 dedicated to St. Blaise, the patron saint of woolcombers. 
 It was much frequented by pious pilgrims, especially at 
 Whitsuntide, and near it once stood a little chapel or oratory.
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER u 
 
 The manor passed into the hands of the Ecclesiastical 
 Commissioners when the see was rearranged and the bishops 
 moved to Danbury, near Chelmsford. The present episcopal 
 palace is called Bishop's Court, near Sevenoaks. It is 
 comparatively modern, and has a beautiful garden. 
 
 Lichfield 
 
 The bishopric of Lichfield was established by Oswy, King 
 of Mercia, about 665. It was originally united with Coventry, 
 and at King Offa's request was raised by Pope Adrian to the 
 dignity of an archbishopric. After the death of King Offa, 
 however, it was again reduced to a bishopric. 
 
 There seems to be little record of a palace before the days 
 of Walter de Langton, who was consecrated in 1295. He 
 was a great favourite of Edward I., and often sent by him 
 on important affairs of State, and continued High Treasurer 
 after being raised to the episcopate. 
 
 After the death of his royal master in Scotland, Langton 
 was ordered by the new king, Edward II., to bring his 
 father's body up to London for burial. This was, no doubt, 
 a ruse on the part of the king, in order to get Langton 
 into his power, for Edward had never forgotten a 
 certain severe correction he had received from the bishop 
 when caught in the ruthless destruction of his lordship's 
 deer. Langton was imprisoned in the Tower, chiefly at the 
 instigation of Piers Gaveston, then in high favour with the 
 king. 
 
 During this unjust imprisonment all the bishop's posses- 
 sions were confiscated, the palace, no doubt, amongst them. 
 It was chiefly owing to the loyal support of his clergy that 
 he was finally released and allowed to return to his diocese. 
 He greatly improved the condition of the cathedral and
 
 12 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 town, and, having given up his old mansion to his clergy, 
 set to work to build a new palace in the north-east corner 
 of the close. According to a plan now in the Bodleian 
 Library, this must have been an extensive building, occupy- 
 ing 250 feet, and having two towers ; the ruins of one of 
 which may still be seen. The bishop's lodging-room 
 was 40 feet by 32 feet, with a leaden roof and a cellar under- 
 neath ; it contained an enormous chimney-piece, opposite 
 which was a door leading to the dining-hall. This hall he 
 had decorated with paintings of Edward I.'s marriage, 
 coronation, wars, and funeral, which, though much faded, 
 still existed till the Civil Wars. The episcopal establishment 
 included a large brew-house and kitchen, and extensive stables. 
 A pleasing instance of Christian charity is recorded of this 
 bishop, which deserves notice. When all the nobles and 
 clergy rose up against Piers Gaveston, the bishop, to whom 
 he had formerly done so much injury, refused to join in the 
 general condemnation of him. For this, Langton was ex- 
 communicated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, but absolved 
 by the Pope. This palace was the scene of many a banquet. 
 On Christmas Day, 1397, Richard II. entertained so many 
 guests that a room had to be specially built between the hall 
 and the kitchen. It is said that 200 tuns of wine and 2,000 
 oxen were consumed on this occasion. The following year, 
 on the installation of Bishop Burghill, the king once more 
 gave a feast to the nobles and clergy. 
 
 By the fifteenth century the possessions of this see had so 
 increased that the Pope issued a decree that the palaces of 
 Coventry and Lichfield, the castle and manors of Eccleshall, 
 Haywood, Beaudesert, and the mansion in the Strand were 
 sufficient for the bishops, and that they should not be obliged 
 to repair any others. The palace in the Strand was afterwards
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 13 
 
 granted by Henry VIII. to Edward, Earl of Hertford 
 (and afterwards Duke of Somerset), and shared the same 
 fate as that belonging to the Bishop of Worcester, being 
 cleared away to make room for Somerset House. All the 
 chief manors were alienated by Bishop Sampson, during the 
 reign of Henry VIII., and were granted to Sir William Paget. 
 When Lichfield was besieged by the Parliamentarians during 
 the Civil War, the cathedral close was held by the Loyalists, 
 when the rest of the town was occupied by Cromwell's men, 
 with Lord Brooke at their head. He was well known as 
 an inveterate enemy to episcopacy, and when marching on 
 Lichfield asked for a sign of divine approval, praying to be 
 cut off if his cause were not just. This request was quickly 
 answered by a bullet fired from the cathedral towers, bringing 
 him instant death. It happened on the feast of St. Chad, 
 the patron saint of Lichfield, and brought renewed hope to 
 the hearts of the Royalists. However, their provisions ran 
 short, and surrender was inevitable. 
 
 The cathedral close became a prey to the ruthless rabble, 
 whose destructive passions ran riot amongst these sacred 
 buildings. The cathedral itself was the scene of the vilest 
 sacrilege and profanation, and the episcopal palace with all 
 its treasures was reduced to a heap of ruins. In this con- 
 dition it remained till Bishop John Hacket was raised to 
 the see. His first care was the restoration of the cathedral, 
 to which he applied himself with such vigour that in eight 
 years it was restored to its former beauty. He also laid out 
 £1,000 on his palace, where on Christmas Eve he entertained 
 all the clergy and nobles who had come to the consecration 
 of the church. Succeeding bishops appear to have had little 
 affection for the place, which for many years was leased to 
 tenants, during which time Eccleshall became the episcopal
 
 14 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 residence. Here they lived in great state, and it is said that 
 Bishop Frederic Cornwallis turned out in a coach-and-four 
 to attend the church, though only a few yards from his door. 
 After Bishop Lonsdale's death in 1687 Eccleshall was sold, 
 and the bishops again took up their abode at Lichfield. 
 
 The present palace was built by Bishop Wood in 1687 in 
 what was formerly the garden of Langton's palace. The 
 walk in front is full of interest : over the beautiful valley, 
 can be seen the willow made famous by Johnson, and the 
 spot where Lord Brooke received so prompt an answer to 
 his prayer. 
 
 Opposite the palace, and behind the chapter-house, is an 
 enclosed spot called Mint Yard : probably where the bishop's 
 mint once stood, for the privilege of coining was granted to the 
 bishops by King Stephen, and coins bearing the Lichfield mint 
 mark were discovered not long ago at Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 
 
 Worcester 
 
 Hartlebury has from the earliest times been the principal 
 seat of the bishops of Worcester. The manor was granted 
 to them by Burthred, King of Mercia, in 850. The earliest 
 mention, however, of a castle is during the episcopate of 
 Walter de Cantilupe, who began building one for himself 
 and his successors in 1257. He did not live to complete 
 the work, which was carried on and finished by Godfrey 
 Giffard. In 1267 — 8, Henry III. granted him leave to 
 " build, fortify, embattle, and with lime and stone to finish 
 his castle at Hartlebury," adding a little later the right 
 of free-warren. A beautiful chapel was soon built, and 
 the whole surrounded by a moat. Towards the close of the 
 reign of Henry VI., Bishop John Carpenter added a gate- 
 house.
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 15 
 
 Owing no doubt to its position and strength it was chosen 
 by the king's forces during the civil wars as a convenient 
 stronghold, and was garrisoned by Lord Windsor and 
 Colonel Sandys. It was attacked by the Parliamentary 
 forces, capitulated after two days, and was left a heap of 
 ruins, with the exception of the keep. The castle was 
 rebuilt in the reign of Charles II., and was greatly improved 
 by Bishop Hurd, who added the present fine library, 
 bequeathing at his death a valuable collection of books. 
 Unfortunately these improvements necessitated the removal 
 of the old keep, thus leaving nothing of the original building. 
 The castle as it stands at present is approached through an 
 avenue of fine lime-trees, planted by Bishop Stillingfieet. 
 Part of the old moat still remains. The castle is built 
 round a quadrangular court, and is surmounted with battle- 
 ments. The present bishop has converted a portion of the 
 building into a college for clergy. 
 
 The bishops of Worcester early had a house in London. 
 In 857 King Bertwulf gave Alcune, Bishop of Worcester, a 
 piece of ground outside the west gate of London, called 
 Ceolmundinge-haga, the rent being I2d. a year. They 
 afterwards had a house in the Strand, for which Bishop 
 Wulstan de Bransford gave William de Netterton 40^. and 
 a robe yearly for keeping it in order. Amongst the accounts 
 of Bishop Tideman is the entry : " To Henry Cambrigge, 
 citizen and fishmonger, the keeping of the house without the 
 gate of the new Temple together with easements of all 
 houses lying between the great gate of the said house and the 
 Savoy, also a certain void piece of ground whereon to build 
 a house for life — for the rent of one pound of pepper yearly, 
 repairing all the houses outside the gate, and finding the 
 bishop and his successors in herbs."
 
 16 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 The episcopal residence was afterwards destroyed by 
 the Protector Somerset to make room for Somerset House, 
 the bishop receiving in exchange a mansion in Whitefriars. 
 In 1680 they moved again to Soho Square, that being the 
 " genteelest " part of the town. 
 
 Chichester 
 
 The see of Chichester was originally fixed at Selsey. The 
 cathedral and bishop's palace were evidently built close to 
 the shore, in Saxon times, and when it was realized that the 
 sea was gradually encroaching on the land, it was deemed 
 advisable to transfer the buildings to some more permanent 
 site. Camden says that in his day at low tide, the ruins of 
 the ancient Saxon buildings might still be seen. Part of 
 the coast still bears the names of Bishop's Park and Park 
 Coppice. This land had been granted to the bishops in 
 very early days — probably when the bishopric was first 
 founded in 681 — and was confirmed to them by Henry I. A 
 curious old document in the bishops' archives shows with 
 what extraordinary care the game was preserved. 
 
 About 1070 most of the old cathedral and other buildings 
 were pulled down, the materials being taken to Chichester 
 to form a new cathedral. Stigand was the last Bishop of 
 Selsey, and the first of Chichester, but he was not able to 
 proceed very quickly with the new buildings. The times 
 were too troublous, and the men too much occupied with the 
 sterner duties of warfare, to be able to turn their attention 
 to stones and mortar. But when, in the reign of Henry I., 
 the country had somewhat quieted down, Bishop Ralph 
 was able to do more in this respect. He built a beautiful 
 cathedral and a palace for himself. The site he chose had 
 evidently been once a Roman house, for when alterations
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 17 
 
 . ■ - - - 1 ■■■ ! ■■« 11 ' ■■■■ ■ ■ ' . ' . I.. .1. 1 1 1 ■ ,L"f WWLJUiBPI || i i.3 . .B t .,. |j- f l_J J l . 1 . 1 . .. ■ ■ . ! .. ■ 
 
 were being made, part of a Roman pavement was discovered 
 as well as several coins. In 1104 a devastating fire con- 
 sumed most of the town of Chichester, and both the 
 cathedral and the palace perished in the flames. Seffrid, 
 the second bishop of that name, received a grant from Earl 
 William of a fourth part of the city, extending from the 
 south to the west gate, including the site of the cathedral 
 and episcopal palace, as well as the whole close. This 
 grant was confirmed by several succeeding monarchs. 
 
 It was probably about this time that Seffrid built the new 
 cathedral and palace, which were once more doomed to 
 destruction, being burnt to the ground in 1186. Nothing 
 daunted by these two calamities, the bishop began the work 
 of restoration almost immediately, and the new cathedral 
 was consecrated in 1199. It may be that a gloom had been 
 cast over the bishop's residence by this twice repeated 
 destruction, which according to the predictions of certain 
 wise folk would certainly be followed by a third ; at any rate 
 the succeeding bishops had little interest in the palace, 
 though they did much towards beautifying and strengthen- 
 ing other residences. Bishop Neville obtained a grant from 
 Henry III. to build a palace for himself in London, which 
 was no doubt in accordance with that prelate's magnificent 
 ideas ; but we hear nothing of restorations at Chichester. 
 Bishop Rede, his successor, appears to have had still more 
 exalted ideals of episcopal dignity, and considered his 
 residences far inferior to those of contemporary prelates ; 
 he accordingly built Amberley Castle, part of which still 
 remains to bear witness to his architectural tastes. But he 
 again appears to have quite ignored the palace at Chichester. 
 It was in the reign of Henry VI. that the episcopal estates 
 increased to an almost incredible extent. Adam de Moleynes 
 
 E.E.P. C
 
 18 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 or Molyneux received licence from that monarch to impark 
 two thousand acres of land in Amberley, Cakeham, and 
 Cold Waltham ; two thousand at Drungewick, one 
 thousand in West Wittering, two thousand in Bexhill, two 
 thousand in Bishopstone and Heathfield ; two thousand in 
 Broill and Ticehurst, with leave also to crenellate with 
 stone all his manor-houses in these places. He did not 
 live long, however, to enjoy his vast possessions. He 
 obtained leave to absent himself the following year ; when 
 with an annuity of five hundred marks he prepared to enjoy 
 himself in more congenial surroundings. He probably 
 resigned the bishopric and proceeded to Portsmouth, with 
 the intention of crossing over to the Continent, but got no 
 further, being attacked by seamen in the boat and murdered. 
 
 Succeeding bishops spent most of their time at Amberley 
 or Aldingbourne, and when Bishop Sherburne was raised to 
 the see in 1521, he found Chichester Palace in a ruinous 
 condition. He built the great dining-room, the timber 
 framed ceiling of which was divided into compartments, 
 and decorated with Gothic scrolls and armorial bearings. 
 He entirely remodelled the plan, and divided the former 
 hall into an upper and lower apartment, adding also a great 
 hall, the ceiling of which was said to have been painted by 
 Bernardi. 
 
 All this wealth of course attracted the eagle eye of Queen 
 Elizabeth, who pounced down on the tempting prey, and carried 
 off eight out of the thirteen episcopal manors. Selsey was 
 amongst the number of those alienated. It appears the 
 bishops had been in the habit of storing up wood and timber 
 at Selsey, to supply the episcopal residence of Chichester with 
 fuel and material for repairs, and the bishop complained 
 that it was impossible to keep the house in order without
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER ig 
 
 these supplies. Judge Heath, replied on behalf of the queen, 
 that " Aldingbourne was near, and the bishop could be 
 supplied from thence"; but this was small comfort to the 
 unfortunate bishop, as his predecessors had cut down all the 
 trees there. With such trials and impoverished revenues, 
 little could be done to the palace ; the bishop no doubt felt 
 his tenure so uncertain, that it was hardly worth while 
 spending time and money on what might be confiscated next 
 day. Bishop Henry King did, however, turn his attention 
 to the house, and restored it considerably in 1641. He might 
 have saved himself the labour, for two years after the town 
 was besieged by Sir William Waller. The bishop was in 
 residence at his palace, and received scant mercy from the 
 Puritans, who carried him off a prisoner to London. They 
 had evidently promised that his library should be spared 
 the usual rough treatment, a promise that was not kept, 
 for the bishop complains in his will that it was " seized, 
 contrary to the condition and contract of the generall and 
 Counsell of War at the taking of that city." It was com- 
 pletely ransacked, and many valuable registers and documents 
 lost, which might have thrown more light on the past history of 
 the bishopric. Bishop King passed the next seventeen years 
 in retirement. At the Restoration he once more returned to 
 his episcopal palace at Chichester, which was, of course, in 
 a very ruinous state. After all his trials, he had neither the 
 energy nor the means to do much repair. He must have 
 spent the last nine years of his life with few of the comforts 
 so necessary to old age, and died in 1669. Opinions vary 
 considerably as to this bishop's character, and are evidently 
 not the result of unbiassed judgment. His friends describe 
 him as " the epitome of all honours, virtues, and generous 
 nobleness, and a person never to be forgotten by his tenants, 
 
 c 2
 
 20 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 and by the poor." Those who evidently differed from his 
 religious views give him the character of " a proud prelate, 
 and a most pragmatical malignant." These epithets savour 
 so much of Puritan fanaticism that one prefers to believe 
 the kinder judgment. 
 
 The palace was partly restored in 1727 by Bishop 
 Waddington, who spent a considerable sum on it. He made 
 many changes in the exterior appearance, substituting 
 window-frames for the old mullions, and a flat parapet for 
 the original gable roof. After the death of Bishop Hare in 
 1740 there was a law suit between his widow and the new 
 bishop, who demanded about £80 for dilapidations. Mrs. 
 Hare was not willing to pay so large a sum : her husband 
 having kept the palace in perfect repair she could not 
 believe that the few months' vacancy could have wrought 
 such havoc with the buildings. The new bishop was evidently 
 a man of fastidious tastes, with a keen eye for all deficiencies. 
 Nothing escaped him — the window seats that were cracked 
 with the sun, the garden wall that was a little out of the 
 perpendicular, and the stucco that was discoloured — all were 
 added to the bill for dilapidations, which Mrs. Hare was 
 expected to defray. Her lawyer marvels that the spiders' 
 webs on the stable walls had escaped his lordship, and that 
 he had not wished the whole house turned round, so that the 
 window seats should escape the warping rays of sunlight. 
 The bishop's demands were judged exorbitant, and the 
 original sum agreed on by Mrs. Hare's representatives was 
 paid, with a little extra for the wainscot in the chapel. Once 
 more the house was neglected, and once more completely 
 restored by Bishop Buckner, who made many judicious 
 alterations. 
 
 It is curious how the history of each palace differs
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER zi 
 
 from, and yet resembles, others. Some have been built 
 with such pride, and adorned with so much loving care : 
 they were jealously guarded too, sometimes at the cost of 
 conscience and principle. And others, again, like Chichester, 
 seem never to have aroused any sentiments at all. It is one 
 long story of neglect and restoration — restoration and neglect. 
 Occasionally one of the bishops made an effort to restore, 
 but it was never carried on by his successor. And yet, 
 strange to say, the palace has escaped complete destruction 
 and stands to this day, with more remains of antiquity than 
 most of its contemporaries. It seems, like some personali- 
 ties, to have existed without arousing any deep feelings, 
 either of love or hatred. It just stands there, and the storms 
 and tumults of the past have had little effect on its walls, 
 and even as we read its history it arouses but little of the 
 interest that clings round others. 
 
 Chichester House stands to the west of the cathedral, and 
 is entered through Canon Gate, erected in the reign of 
 Henry III., above which was formerly the ecclesiastical 
 prison. The chapel also dates from the same period, and is 
 often used for ordinations. When restoring it some time ago 
 a curious picture was found on the south wall, which had no 
 doubt been concealed when some of Henry VIII. 's " visitors " 
 were expected. It dates from the twelfth or thirteenth 
 century and represents Our Lady seated on a rich seat with 
 the Divine Infant in her arms ; the angles of the picture are 
 adorned with birds' heads. The dining-hall remains very 
 much as Bishop Sherburne left it, with its curious painted 
 ceiling already described. 
 
 Perhaps the most interesting part of the whole building is 
 the kitchen, which is said to be a relic of old times, when 
 the site was occupied by a monaster}-. It certainly has that
 
 22 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 appearance, with its double-arched door and its roof sup- 
 ported by trusses of oak beams at each angle. The garden, 
 which covers eight acres, comprises part of the ancient 
 ramparts, now converted into a terrace. 
 
 Allusion has already been made to other residences of the 
 bishops of Chichester. They were so numerous that a 
 description of all would be tedious ; but two of the most 
 important deserve a few words : they were Amberley Castle 
 and the house in London. 
 
 Amberley was amongst the very earliest endowments of 
 the Saxon see of Selsey, and was included in the grant made 
 by Csedwallar. At the time of the Domesday Survey the 
 bishop possessed twenty-three hides in " Amberle," extend- 
 ing, no doubt, over several parishes. Part of this they 
 evidently held in demesne. The exact date when they took 
 up their residence at Amberley is uncertain. It was probably 
 after the Conquest that a castle was built, for in the remains 
 now existing there is distinct evidence of Norman architec- 
 ture. In the fourteenth century Bishop William Rede 
 began to build a castle. He evidently considered that his 
 predecessors had been somewhat negligent in providing 
 suitable residences, and set to work to make up for these 
 deficiencies. He had ideas of his own on the subject of 
 architecture, and was not entirely guided by any existing 
 models. The builder has left the stamp of his own strong 
 personality on this work of his, which has stood for six 
 centuries, and may well continue for as many more. Neither 
 was he one of those who in their hurry for results neglect the 
 foundations. He intended the work to be as perfect as 
 man could make it, and ten years passed before it was 
 completed. 
 
 In 1377 the bishop received from Richard II. licence "to
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 23 
 
 fortify with a wall of stone and lime his manor of Amberley, 
 and to crenellate it, for himself and his successors for ever." 
 It consisted of two square towers and three projecting semi- 
 circular towers, two of them flanked the gateway and one 
 faced north at the end of the hall, which had evidently been 
 used as a chapel. The whole enclosed space measured 
 260 feet by 160 feet. It was a favourite residence of the 
 bishops during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. 
 Bishop Sherburne was the last to inhabit this castle. He 
 added considerably to the main building, and put in two 
 large mullioned windows in the state chamber. The artist 
 Bernardi spent many months under the bishop's roof, and 
 painted the ceiling of the "queen's chamber" about the 
 same time that he decorated the palace at Chichester. 
 
 We have already said that Bishop Neville obtained a grant 
 from Henry III. to build a palace in London. The bishops 
 of Chichester had, of course, always owned a residence in 
 the metropolis, but it was not spacious enough for Bishop 
 Neville's enormous household. He accordingly chose a site 
 in the seclusion of Lincoln's Inn, close to Chancery Lane, 
 and the palace which he built could compare favourably 
 with any episcopal residence in England. He lived there 
 many years in great state, and died there in 1244. His 
 successors also spent a good deal of their time in this palace. 
 The garden covered many acres, but was reduced in size by 
 Bishop Wych, who leased a part of it for building purposes. 
 It was evidently regarded with covetous eyes by one of 
 Henry VII I. 's courtiers, William Sulyard, usher of the bed- 
 chamber ; and whether or not any force was brought to bear 
 on the owner we know not, but it was leased for ninety-nine 
 years. Perhaps the bishop was glad of this augmentation 
 to his impoverished revenues. It seems to have been little used
 
 24 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 as an episcopal residence after this, and was finally alienated 
 by Bishop Sampson. It has since been divided into 
 tenements, and part of the site still bears the name of 
 Chichester Rents. 
 
 Salisbury 
 
 The see was originally fixed at Old Sarum, two miles from 
 the present Salisbury. In early times it was a fortified town, 
 garrisoned by soldiers and surrounded by entrenchments, the 
 whole area being under martial law. 
 
 The bishops appear to have inhabited the castle there, 
 although it was never actually granted to them, but only in 
 their keeping. The place had little to recommend it, having 
 but a poor supply of water, and being in such an exposed 
 position that tradition says : " When the wind did blow they 
 could not hear the priest say Mass." Besides these natural 
 defects, the priests and soldiers were uncongenial neighbours, 
 the devotions of the former often stirring the rude soldiery to 
 open hostility. On one occasion they surrounded the 
 bishop's house, while he and most of his clergy were saying 
 their office in the cathedral, and refused them admittance, 
 obliging the unfortunate priests to spend the whole of a 
 winter's night without shelter. On other occasions they 
 would find the doors of their church bolted and barricaded, 
 making it impossible for them to perform their sacred duties. 
 The annoyances were so frequent that at last Bishop Richard 
 Poore asked leave of the Pope to transfer the see to a more 
 secluded spot where his clergy could be sheltered alike from 
 the inclemencies of the weather and the attacks of their 
 hostile neighbours. 
 
 Wishing for some token of divine favour before beginning 
 so great a work, an arrow was shot down into the valley
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 25 
 
 below, and the spot where it alighted became the site of the 
 new cathedral. The bishops took up their abode at Wilton, 
 just outside Salisbury, though there is no record of the exact 
 spot. The succeeding bishops of Salisbury passed across the 
 stage of life, playing but a very minor part and arousing 
 neither applause nor condemnation ; nor is there any record 
 •of the scenes on which their small roles were played. They 
 certainly had a palace at Edington, near Westbury, in the 
 fifteenth century, which Bishop William Ayscough visited 
 occasionally during his twelve years' episcopate. His visits 
 were few and far between, for he was in constant attendance 
 on King Henry VI. in the capacity of confessor. His 
 parishioners appear to have resented his long absence, for 
 we are told that during one of his flying visits to his diocese 
 he said Mass, on the feast of SS. Peter and Paul, before 
 an unruly congregation of noisy peasants. He had barely 
 finished when they dragged him from the altar steps, in 
 his sacred vestments, to the top of a hill near by. His head 
 was then struck off, and the blood-stained vestments divided 
 amongst the murderers as a memorial of their heroic deed. 
 His naked body was discovered on the hill by some religious 
 of the house of Bonhommes, who carried it to their house at 
 Edington, where it was buried. In the meantime the infuriated 
 mob attacked the episcopal palace, which they ransacked 
 and plundered of all its treasures. The murdered bishop 
 was succeeded by Richard Beauchamp, who, unlike his 
 predecessors, has left many traces of himself behind, par- 
 ticularly in the buildings he erected. So highly esteemed 
 was he for his architectural talents, that he was appointed 
 by Edward IV. to superintend the new buildings at Windsor, 
 where St. George's Chapel still bears witness to the artistic 
 tastes of this great prelate. Nor did his royal master's favour
 
 26 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 lead him to neglect his own diocese. He added greatly to 
 the beauty of Salisbury Cathedral, and the great hall of the 
 episcopal palace was built by him. His gateway tower can 
 still be seen, though the doorway has been blocked and the 
 whole surmounted with a battlemented parapet. Succeeding 
 bishops added nothing to the house : several of them held the 
 see but a short time, and others never inhabited the palace 
 at all, but spent most of their time at Ramsbury. In the 
 second year of Bishop Blythe's episcopate the palace was in 
 charge of a caretaker, who, in 1495, received for his services 
 " all the grass growing within the precincts of the palace, a 
 cart-load of hay from the bishop's meadow, 2d. a day, and a 
 robe annually." 
 
 John Jewel was the first Protestant bishop who occupied 
 the episcopal palace. He was indeed a gem in the circle of 
 prelates, and by the brilliancy of his virtues attracted the 
 admiring gaze even of those who differed most from his 
 religious belief. From the first he attached himself to the 
 Protestant cause, and remained true to his principles 
 throughout the troublous times of Queen Mary, when he 
 retired to the Continent. He remained abroad until the 
 accession of Queen Elizabeth, who, almost immediately, 
 installed him in the bishopric of Salisbury. He was a 
 learned and holy man, whose door was never closed to the 
 poor and suffering. He built the library over the cloisters, 
 and took into his palace several boys who had scholarly 
 abilities, but no means of developing them. He also paid for 
 the education of many students at Oxford : amongst others, 
 Richard Hooker, in whom he early discovered signs of great 
 promise. Richard Hooker was a native of Exeter, and when 
 travelling home on foot from the University, used to call at 
 his patron's palace. He was always sure of a welcome,
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 27 
 
 which sometimes took a very practical form. We are told 
 that during one of these passing visits, the good bishop, 
 noticing the tired looks and dragging steps of the penniless 
 student, presented him with a few silver pieces, which he 
 jestingly named his "walking-staff." The generous gift, and 
 the kind tact with which it was given, must indeed have 
 cheered the foot-sore student on his way. This great Jewel 
 was lost to the world in 1571, and lies buried in the 
 cathedral. Fuller, in his "Church History" remarked: "It 
 is hard to say whether his soul or his ejaculations arrived first 
 in heaven, seeing he prayed dying, and died praying." 
 
 The next nine bishops who inhabited the palace neither 
 added to nor embellished it — though one almost wonders that 
 the original dimensions could have sufficed for Bishop Cotton 
 and his family of nineteen children. 
 
 During the Commonwealth, the episcopal palace fared 
 somewhat better than other Church property. The great 
 hall was wrecked, though not completely demolished. The 
 ruined building was sold to a Dutch tailor, Van Ling by 
 name, whose material mind saw nothing incongruous in con- 
 verting the stately episcopal apartments into an inn. The 
 remaining rooms were let out separately to poor working 
 people, and a passage was opened through the close wall to 
 admit the country folk, who came through Harnham, to 
 attend the weekly market. In this deplorable state the palace 
 remained until the Restoration, when Bishop Seth Ward 
 was installed. After repairing the cathedral — which, strange 
 to say, had passed almost unscathed through the storms of 
 the Revolution — the bishop practically rebuilt his palace, 
 where he once received a visit from James II. For the next 
 hundred years the palace remained untouched until the time 
 of Bishop Barrington, who entirely remodelled the building,
 
 28 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 and made a new entrance. Little has been changed since 
 his day. It stands now on the south side of the cathedral 
 close, the battlements fitting in well with its old-world 
 surroundings. A door from the cloisters takes one into 
 the garden, from whence the cathedral can be seen to great 
 advantage. The house is a fine old mansion. The hall, 
 built by Bishop Beauchamp in 1460, fortunately survived 
 the ravages of the Commonwealth, and is now hung with 
 portraits of all the bishops since the Restoration — these 
 are mostly copies, with the exception of those representing 
 Bishops Hyde, Burnet, Sherlocke, Barrington, and Douglas, 
 which are originals. 
 
 Exeter 
 
 In Saxon times the see was fixed at Crediton, and was 
 transferred after the Norman Conquest to Exeter. There is 
 no record of any episcopal residence until the time of Bishop 
 Brewer, who held the see from 1224 to 1244. He is said to 
 have built a palace, and attached to it was a chantry chapel 
 where Masses were constantly offered for departed bishops. 
 The dean and chapter made an annual offering of two wax 
 candles of a pound weight on the feast of St. Faith. There 
 is constant reference to this chapel throughout the history of 
 the palace, and it still exists as a domestic chapel. Bishop 
 Brewer did not spend much of his time at Exeter. Five 
 years of his episcopate were spent in the Holy Land, and on 
 his return he was constantly sent abroad by the king on 
 important affairs of State. His successor, Richard Blond, 
 was a very different stamp of man, preferring the seclusion of 
 his own dwelling and the company of his books. His 
 simplicity and trustfulness of course made him an easy victim 
 to the unscrupulous men in his service who hesitated not to
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 29 
 
 grant away benefices in his name and dispose of his property. 
 In 1257, when on his death-bed, they congregated at his 
 palace, and, before the breath had left his body, continued 
 their robberies under a solemn oath of secrecy. Two years 
 later, the ringleaders of this band of robbers, filled with 
 remorse, went to Bishop Bronescombe, the successor of 
 Blond, and in the chapter-house of Buckfastleigh Monastery 
 they confessed their sins and asked for absolution, which was 
 granted them after the prescribed penance had been performed. 
 Walter de Stapledon, who was consecrated in 1307, spent 
 most of his episcopate in London, where he built " a very 
 fair mansion without Temple Bar for himself and his 
 successors." This prelate was a great favourite of Edward II. 
 and supported him loyally in his struggle with Queen 
 Isabella. When this queen and her lover, Mortimer, landed 
 in Suffolk, the king fled to Wales, leaving Stapledon in 
 charge of London. Accounts vary as to his murder, but it 
 appears he called on the mayor to deliver up the keys of the 
 city. The mayor refused, and the mob at his back set fire 
 to the gates of the episcopal house. The bishop, seeing his 
 case was hopeless, left his palace to be plundered by the 
 excited mob, and, mounting a horse, escaped towards the 
 sanctuary of St. Paul's. However, he was overtaken at 
 the north door, dragged from his horse to the " Chepe," 
 where he was proclaimed " a public traitor, a seducer of the 
 king, and a destroyer of the liberties of the city." His head 
 was struck off and sent to the queen, and the poor mutilated 
 body buried in a heap of rubbish near his palace. It was 
 afterwards taken up and interred with great pomp in his 
 own cathedral. The following year John Grandisson was 
 appointed to the see. He found the revenues in a very 
 impoverished state, and the diocese needing much care and
 
 3 o ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 attention. He devoted all his energies to the work, and 
 obtained leave to absent himself from a council in London, 
 saying there was so much to be done in Exeter, and also, he 
 had no " lodging" in London since the house in the Strand 
 had not recovered the attack of the mob in 1307. This 
 bishop came from a noble and wealthy family and made a 
 judicious use of his fortune. The half-finished cathedral was 
 completed by him, and he evidently added considerably to 
 the beauty and comfort of the palace. 
 
 Not long ago, when alterations were being made, the 
 plaster on the ceiling of one of the rooms was removed, 
 revealing a fine oak roof with ornamental cross-beams 
 and beautifully carved bosses at the points of junction. 
 One of these bosses represented a bishop with mitre, amice, 
 and chasuble, and another, the figure of a woman in a 
 hood, both surmounted by foliage. Two adjoining cross- 
 beams bore the arms of Grandisson and Montacute ; and 
 as Bishop Grandisson's mother was a Montacute it is 
 reasonable to suppose that the figures represent him and his 
 mother. A little of the original gilding can still be seen, and 
 remains of red, black, and white paint. This prelate came 
 into all the family property on the death of his eldest 
 brother in 1358. He founded the College of St. Mary Ottery, 
 and benefited many churches, hospitals, and religious houses 
 in his diocese. At his death, in 1369, the see of Exeter was 
 one of the richest in the kingdom, owning thirty-two manors, 
 and fourteen fair palaces, all completely furnished with 
 necessaries. This bishop's register contains many interesting 
 details. He speaks of the prison on the west side of the 
 palace, where priests, convicted of felony and scandal, were 
 confined. During the episcopacy of Thomas de Brantingham, 
 six of these prisoners broke loose during the bishop's absence ;
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 31 
 
 they murdered Simon Prescote, the chaplain and keeper of 
 the palace, also the gaoler, and the keeper of the wardrobe, 
 and, after plundering their chambers, escaped. The bishop 
 was exonerated from all blame in the matter, and pardoned 
 by the king. Four years afterwards the same story was 
 repeated, and seven others escaped, but evidently without 
 violence. 
 
 During the episcopacy of Bishop Lacy, the City of 
 Exeter was visited by Henry VI., on his progress through 
 the west of England in July, 1452. The event is recorded in 
 some old annals, which tell us that the mayor and chamber, 
 with three hundred persons in the city's livery, went forth to 
 meet him to a certain moor on the west side of Honiton's 
 Clist. All the parochial clergy of Exeter were stationed at 
 the High Cross, where the king, after receiving the incense 
 and kissing the Cross, proceeded to Broadgate at the entry of 
 the Close. After hearing Mass at the High Altar, he retired 
 to the episcopal palace, where he remained for two days. 
 During this royal visit a "gaol delivery " was held in the 
 bishop's hall, and two men condemned. The bishop resented 
 this exercise of temporal authority in his own court, and the 
 condemned men were eventually released. The palace was 
 much improved in the time of Bishop Peter Courtenay, 
 consecrated in 1478. He put in a fine oriel window, 
 unfortunately lost in recent alterations, and also a magnificent 
 mantelpiece in the dining-hall, which has since been moved 
 to the hall. This bishop strongly opposed the match 
 between King Richard III., and Ann, Duchess of Exeter, and 
 succeeded in preventing it. Nevertheless he assisted at that 
 monarch's coronation, in 1483, and escaped to Brittany soon 
 after. During his absence the king visited the episcopal 
 palace at Exeter, which he found well stocked with provisions.
 
 32 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 Bishop Courtenay remained on the Continent during Richard's 
 short reign, and helped to establish Henry VII. on the 
 throne, for which he was translated to the see of Winchester. 
 
 In 1519, the bishopric was held by John Veysey, who was 
 more of a courtier than a priest. So courteous was he to his 
 royal master that he agreed with all his varying opinions, 
 upholding him in the question of the divorce, and admitting 
 his supremacy in the Church. This loyal bishop, at his 
 master's request, alienated nearly all the episcopal possessions, 
 " leaving but three manors, and those also leased out, and 
 but one house bare and without furniture, and yet charged 
 with sundry fees and annuities." From being one of the 
 richest sees in the kingdom, Exeter became one of the 
 poorest, and when Miles Coverdale, with his wife arrived at 
 the palace in 1551, they found that " the bones of his see had 
 been so clean picked, that he could not easily leave them 
 with less flesh than he found upon them." 
 
 The bishops who succeeded him lived but little at the 
 palace, and consequently there is but little to record until 
 1 62 1, when Bishop Valentine Cary applied to the mayor for 
 permission to make a door through the city wall, to enable 
 him to pass into the fields of Southernhay without encountering 
 the inquisitive glances of the citizens. This request was 
 denied him, whereupon he appealed to James I., who wrote 
 to the mayor and aldermen asking them to make the door, 
 and close it again if necessary. But the mayor was jealous 
 of his rights, and once more, politely but firmly, refused. 
 The bishop was not a man to be overcome by difficulties and 
 at his instigation the case was referred to the Privy Council, 
 and an order issued to the effect that a door should be made, 
 not exceeding two and a half feet in breadth, and six feet in 
 height ; that a single key should be made for the door and
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 33 
 
 kept by the bishop himself during his residence at the palace ; 
 but if he were absent for four days, the key was to be given to 
 the mayor. The bishop was ordered to defray all charges 
 occasioned by this passage, and also to have it closed in case 
 of tumult and insurrection, or if the city magistrates 
 demanded it. 
 
 During the Civil War, Exeter was twice besieged. On 
 the second occasion it was surrendered after a fortnight to 
 Sir Thomas Fairfax in 1646. His mob of unruly followers 
 was let loose in the Cathedral Close, and carried on the 
 usual work of destruction. The cathedral, of course, 
 received their first attention, and, after stripping it bare of 
 the treasures that Love had lavished on it, they proceeded in 
 their usual systematic manner to plunder all the houses 
 in the close. The bishop's palace was deemed the most 
 suitable shelter for the sheep and oxen, no doubt the great 
 hall became the slaughter-house. They delighted in con- 
 trasts in those days. When the soldiers retired from Exeter, 
 the palace was sold to the mayor and chamber for £405, and 
 passed into the hands of a merchant, who converted the 
 building into a sugar-refinery. 
 
 At the Restoration, Bishop Gauden was appointed to the 
 vacant see, and on his entry into the city was received with 
 great pomp and ceremony. His palace was, of course, unin- 
 habitable, being still in the hands of the sugar-refiner, and 
 the bishop became the guest of a widow ladv, Mrs. Alice 
 Ford. This prelate had formerly been Dean of Booking, and, 
 owing to his services to the royal family, had been raised to 
 the episcopate. He soon discovered it was but an empty 
 honour, and that the dignity of the mitre and crozier could 
 hardly be sustained without some practical means. He 
 accordingly wrote to the Lord Chancellor, Clarendon, 
 
 E.E.P. D
 
 34 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 complaining of the "distress, infelicity, and horror" of such a 
 bishopric, which could only be rendered tolerable by an extra 
 £500 a year. His modest request was evidently not granted. 
 He left Exeter in 1661, and was eventually translated to 
 Worcester. The sugar-refiner continued in undisputed posses- 
 sion of the episcopal palace until 1662, when Bishop Seth Ward 
 appeared on the scenes. His biographer tells us he "retrieved 
 the palace out of the hands of the sugar-baker, repaired it, 
 and made it habitable." The palace remained unaltered until 
 the time of Bishop Keppel, who spent large sums on improve- 
 ments during his fifteen years episcopacy, lasting from 1762 
 to 1777. Succeeding bishops were either translated to other 
 sees or lived so little at Exeter that when Henry Philpotts 
 was consecrated in 183 1 he found the palace almost unin- 
 habitable. He completely restored it, rebuilding a consider- 
 able portion. The palace now stands close to the cathedral 
 on the same side as the chapter-house. The velvety lawns 
 and fine-grown trees harmonize well with the sombre grey 
 buildings, and breathe an air of restfulness far removed from 
 all the tumults of modern life. 
 
 Ely 
 
 In 1 133 Bishop Nigel, treasurer to Henry I., built a castle 
 at Ely. No trace of it can now be seen, and even the site is 
 uncertain. The succeeding bishops all took a leading part 
 in State affairs, and had little time to devote to their diocese. 
 
 The castle erected by Nigel was evidently neglected, for 
 when Hugh de Northwode became bishop in 1229 he built 
 an episcopal palace " of stones, covered with lead." In 
 1252 Hugh de Northwode had the honour of entertaining 
 Henry III. This palace has also completely disappeared, 
 and there is no record of its destruction. We only know
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 35 
 
 that Bishop Alcock in i486 found the palace in a ruinous 
 state, and entirely rebuilt it. His stately towers survived 
 the storms of the Civil Wars, and are still standing, as well 
 as the long gallery added by Bishop Goodrich. The latter 
 was one of the most zealous supporters of the Protestant 
 Church during the reign of Henry VIII., and afterwards, as 
 chancellor to Edward VI., affixed the great seal to the instru- 
 ment declaring Lady Jane Grey the rightful heir to the 
 crown. However, when Queen Mary occupied the throne 
 he loyally suited his conscience to the altered requirements, 
 and died next year, still Bishop of Ely. 
 
 After the death of Bishop Cox the see was kept vacant for 
 eighteen years, during which time the revenues went to swell 
 Queen Elizabeth's exchequer. The palace naturally went to 
 rack and ruin, and was restored by Bishop Heton in 1609. 
 During the Civil Wars, Oliver Cromwell paid a visit to Ely, 
 and, marching into the cathedral without uncovering his 
 head, shouted to the minister in the pulpit " to leave that 
 foolery and come down." No doubt the palace was declared 
 " public property " and was thrown open to the Roundheads 
 to satisfy their insatiable hunger for destruction. 
 
 It was again completely rebuilt by Bishop Keene during 
 his episcopate (1771 — 81). He pulled down all that remained, 
 except the two towers and the long gallery, and built the 
 present palace. Bishop Woodford improved the exterior by 
 altering the windows, and Lord Alwyne Compton added the 
 present dining-room. In the gallery is a curious old painting, 
 one of the most interesting relics of the past, supposed at 
 one time to have been painted in the eleventh century. This, 
 however, has been disproved, although it no doubt dates 
 from the sixteenth century. It is divided into forty equal 
 compartments, each containing a portrait of a monk and an 
 
 D 2
 
 36 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 armed knight. Legend says it commemorates the time 
 when, after quelling Hereward the Wake's insurrection, 
 William the Conqueror quartered his knights on the monas- 
 tery, each monk having a knight as his guest. These guests 
 so endeared themselves to the monks that when the king 
 recalled them to put down another rebellion, the monks 
 bewailed the departure of these " dere fellows," and followed 
 them to Haddenham with " howlings fereful to be heard, 
 beating their breasts as voyde of all hope." 
 
 The most interesting of all the Ely palaces from an his- 
 torical point of view is Ely Place, Holborn. At any early 
 date the bishops had a house in the Temple, and in 1290 
 Bishop Kirkeby bequeathed an " inn " or town house, called 
 " Le Bell," and nine cottages in Holborn to his successors, on 
 condition that a requiem Mass should be celebrated on the 
 anniversary of his death. John Hotham, who was conse- 
 crated in 1316, added to this property. He played a leading 
 part in State affairs during the troublous reign of Edward II., 
 and was entrusted with the Great Seal when Edward III. 
 was proclaimed king in 1327. About this time he bought a 
 house and several parcels of land near his manor in Holborn 
 in the suburb of London, consisting of a vineyard, kitchen 
 garden, orchard, and enclosed pasture, all of which he settled 
 on the see of Ely. By the sixteenth century it was a " hand- 
 some and commodious mansion," standing in twenty acres of 
 ground, with the chapel, dedicated to St. Etheldreda, in an 
 adjoining field. The beauty and seclusion of the place 
 attracted the notice of Sir Christopher Hatton, who asked 
 Queen Elizabeth to obtain the lease of it from Bishop Cox. 
 He was loath to part with it, even temporarily ; but as threats 
 succeeded entreaties further resistance was useless, and the 
 palace was let for twenty-one years for the rent of one red
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 37 
 
 ■1 ■ ■www — wmw — —^ w^— ^ ■^^-^^»^^^^M^j»^i 1 i ji i- mig— 
 
 rose at midsummer, and the grounds for ten loads of hay 
 and £"10 yearly. The bishop reserved two rooms for himself, 
 as well as free access through the gate-house, and the right 
 to walk in the gardens and gather two bushels of roses each 
 summer. 
 
 As soon as Hatton was in possession he set to work 
 to improve and embellish both the house and gardens, 
 and became so enamoured of the place that the prospect of 
 having to turn out after twenty-one years was unbearable. 
 He therefore once more applied to his royal mistress to 
 obtain a perpetual grant of the property. The bishop 
 replied in a well-worded Latin epistle, full of expressions 
 of undying loyalty, but his "fearful" conscience would 
 never permit him thus to rob his successors. Queen 
 Elizabeth's answer to this epistle was short and very 
 much to the point. It ran as follows : " Proud prelate, you 
 know what you were before I made you what you are. If 
 you do not instantly comply — by G — , I will unfrock you." 
 The unfortunate bishop had no choice, and, sorely against 
 his will, a compromise was effected. The place was mort- 
 gaged to the queen, and by her to Hatton, for £1,800 — the 
 sum that Hatton had spent on it. 
 
 After the death of Bishop Cox the bishopric was kept 
 vacant for eighteen years, and when at last it was filled by 
 Bishop Heton the revenues were so much reduced that it 
 was impossible to collect the necessary funds in order to 
 redeem the estate. And so the heirs of Lord Hatton con- 
 tinued in undisputed possession until the time of Bishop 
 Wren, who once more asserted his right to the palace, and 
 entered his suit at the Court of Requests. The money being 
 forthcoming, his claim was established, and Lady Hatton 
 began pulling up her choice plants and fruits, and even the
 
 38 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 water-pipes, preparatory to a move. Once more fate inter- 
 vened in the shape of the Long Parliament, and Wren was 
 given a free lodging in the Tower. 
 
 During these years of imprisonment his thoughts must often 
 have wandered to that palace at Holborn, which had been 
 snatched from him at the moment when it seemed within his 
 grasp. When at last he was set at liberty and hastened to the 
 place that had cost him so dear it was hardly recognizable ; 
 the beautiful garden was built over with small houses, the 
 gate-house and part of the main building had entirely 
 disappeared, and most of the out-houses demolished. The 
 bishop was obliged to enter his palace by a back door, and to 
 drive his horses through the great hall. The quiet of the 
 cloisters was disturbed by noisy revellers in the crypt below, 
 then converted into a drinking-tavern, and the sound of their 
 rude voices and coarse laughter penetrated even to the sacred 
 stillness of the chapel above. The work of destruction was 
 complete, and, worn out with his long imprisonment, the 
 bishop had neither the energy nor the means to attempt any 
 restoration. Succeeding bishops tried to regain possession. 
 The case dragged on, enriching the lawyers and clerks, but 
 bringing no relief to the unfortunate bishops. 
 
 Now all that remains of this sumptuous palace, which had 
 brought little but misery to its various owners, is the chapel 
 of St. Etheldreda. It is well worth a visit. 
 
 Turning away from the noise and bustle of Holborn into a 
 quieter by-street, it is difficult to imagine that we are stand- 
 ing on the site of a garden, where once a bushel of roses could 
 be gathered in one summer. The little chapel is so crushed 
 up between tall smoke-grimed buildings that it could easily be 
 passed by unnoticed. The entrance at the side takes us into 
 all that remains of the cloisters ; the old paving-stones might
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 39 
 
 well be the same that were once trodden by so many bishops 
 of Ely. A few yards further on is an arched entrance, and a 
 flight of steep steps leads us down into the crypt below. At 
 first we can see nothing but the red lamp burning before 
 the altar, and a hushed sense of peace steals over the soul. 
 It seems as if these old, old walls enclosed Time itself, and 
 eight centuries have passed without leaving any trace. 
 Perhaps the oaken rafters are somewhat blacker and the old 
 stones not quite so regular as when they were first laid there. 
 Our thoughts naturally wander back to the days when these 
 rafters echoed back the noisy laughter and ribald song of the 
 drinking-tavern,and these stones were stained with the dregs of 
 beer and wine and the staggering feet of the drunken revellers. 
 But that has passed, and the crypt has been restored to its 
 original purpose, and the holy stillness of a Divine Presence 
 pervades every corner. 
 
 Gloucester 
 
 At the dissolution of the monastery at Gloucester 
 Henry VIII. installed his chaplain, John Wakeman, as bishop, 
 granting him the abbot's house for his episcopal palace. 
 This house covered a great deal of ground, and was more 
 than ordinarily spacious. The great hall was built by Abbot 
 Thomas Horton, who governed the monastery from 1351 to 
 1377. The year after his death the king held his Parliament 
 in this great hall. Adjoining it was the " guest chamber," 
 where the Privy Council sometimes met. It is described as 
 a " goodly brave place," and "so swetly keept and so richly 
 furnyshed " that it was called the king's chamber. 
 
 A very minute description of the palace is given in the 
 grant of Henry VIII. It is full of interest, and deserves to 
 be quoted.
 
 4 o ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 " And whereas we will that the said Bishop of Gloucester 
 and his successors be honorably endowed, we give and by these 
 presents grant to the same bishop all that our hall covered 
 with lead commonly called the ' leaden hall,' and a pantry 
 and a buttery together with a kitchen with two little hoases 
 for storing food, and a small court with a certain pond or 
 stew to which fresh water flows, situated and being at the 
 east end of the hall. Also a great chamber in which the 
 servants of the late abbot were wont to eat, situated and 
 being at the west end of the said hall, and likewise a pantry, 
 buttery, and underground cellar, with a certain way leading 
 to it, on the south side of the same great chamber ; also a 
 certain court or waste or waste place, adjoining the same 
 great chamber. Also one other chamber, commonly called 
 the court chamber, with three other bedchambers built over 
 the said court chamber. Likewise one other great chamber 
 in which the late abbot was wont to eat, with a pantry, a 
 buttery, and an underground cellar (subterraneam officinam) 
 on the south end of the same chamber. And also a gallery or 
 walking-place, and a bedchamber on the south part of said 
 gallery, with three bedchambers together constructed on the 
 north end of the said gallery. Also all those three inner bed- 
 chambers with a middle chamber, a chapel, and another gallery 
 adjoined to the same bedchamber and privy to the late abbot. 
 Also one other hall, a pantry, a buttery, and a kitchen and two 
 bedchambers at the east end of the same gallery. Also all and 
 singular the chambers, houses, buildings, underground cellars, 
 and other offices whatsoever, situated or built over or under 
 the said halls, chambers, galleries, and all other and singular 
 premises. Also a certain garden, which extends itself before 
 the said three inner bedchambers, and the rest of the build- 
 ings privy to the said abbot. And also all the messuages,
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 41 
 
 dwellings, houses, edifices, and structures with the land and 
 soil of the same, the gardens, orchards, waste places, walls, 
 and all other hereditaments whatsoever known by the name 
 of the ' Abbottes Lodgyng ' situated within all that precinct, 
 circuit, and court called the ' Abbottes Lodgyng.' And we 
 will that the said messuages, dwellings, halls, and other the 
 premises whatsoever be deemed, named, and called the palace 
 of the Bishop of Gloucester and his successors." 
 
 Bishop Wakeman was succeeded by John Hooper. He 
 had formerly been a White Friar at Bristol. After the Dis- 
 solution he went abroad, where, freed from the protecting 
 walls of his monastery, he had not the strength to remain 
 true to his vows. Wishing naturally to justify his own 
 weakness he went to the other extreme, and threw all the 
 force of his nature into the Protestant cause. He imbibed 
 Calvinistic doctrines, and returned to England in the reign 
 of Edward VI. with an inveterate hatred of all "Papist 
 ceremonies." He was offered the Bishopric of Gloucester, 
 but flatly refused to wear the episcopal vestments at his 
 consecration. He was consequently sent to the Fleet Prison 
 to think things over quietly. After a few months' reflection 
 he gave in, and was consecrated in the obnoxious garments 
 in 1550. He is described as obstinate and morose, and his 
 dislike for Ridley was so insurmountable that it is said that 
 " when his episcopal habit was half worn out yet his anger 
 to Ridley was new and fresh as at the beginning." Not long 
 after his consecration he resigned his see to Edward VI., 
 receiving it back from him to hold " during the king's good 
 pleasure." In Queen Mary's reign he was once more 
 deprived. One cannot help admiring the way the obstinate 
 old Protestant went to the stake rather than take back one 
 word of his opinion. Perhaps the fires purified some of the
 
 42 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 proud spirit of the man. He was at least no time-server, 
 though he had the choice of retaining the bishopric if he 
 returned to his former faith. 
 
 We hear little of the palace till the time of Bishop Ravis, 
 who was consecrated in 1604. He added greatly to the 
 comfort of the house by making several conduits to bring in 
 water. He also paved it throughout and rebuilt a great deal 
 of it. He was very lavish in his hospitality, which perhaps 
 occasioned his translation to the see of London. During 
 the Commonwealth the see was vacant, and the palace sold 
 to Thomas Hodges for £913. 
 
 The palace was considerably improved in 1735 by Bishop 
 Benson, who built a new front and a large hall, the end of 
 which was lighted by a beautiful window. He also added 
 a domestic chapel. In 1788, during the episcopate of Dr. 
 Halifax, King George III. and his queen paid a visit to 
 Gloucester, and were entertained by that prelate. A small 
 marble tablet was put up over the fire-place in the hall to 
 commemorate the occasion. 
 
 Dr. Beadon made many judicious changes in the arrange- 
 ment of the rooms, adding considerably to the comfort of 
 the house. The present palace was built in 1862, and very 
 little of the old building remains. 
 
 Bristol 
 
 The see of Bristol was separated from that of Salisbury 
 in 1542, and raised to an independent bishopric. Henry VIII., 
 according to his usual custom, endowed the bishopric with 
 the abbot's lodging and some of the possessions formerly 
 belonging to the dissolved monastery. Paul Bush was the 
 first bishop installed, and according to some doggerel lines, 
 he was " the first prelate that Christiandom ever did see, a
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 43 
 
 husband to a Ladee." He and his "ladee"took up their 
 abode in the abbot's house, where they spent eleven years. 
 When Queen Mary came to the throne, the bishop was asked 
 to resign either his diocese or his wife. He chose to remain 
 faithful to the latter, and retired from Bristol. His wife 
 died soon after, and the wise bishop, finding no sacrifice 
 necessary, returned to his former faith, and received the 
 rectory of Winterbourne. Here, maybe, he wished to make 
 amends for past self-indulgence, by a life of severe penance ; 
 and tradition says his fasts were so rigorous and continual 
 that he died from starvation. The next bishop of any note 
 who occupied the palace was Dr. Fletcher, in the reign of 
 Queen Elizabeth. He was essentially a shrewd man of 
 business, and was not going to be hurried into the bishopric 
 without making his own terms. He first obtained leave to 
 lease out the revenues to various courtiers, which he did to 
 such an extent, that the see became one of the poorest. 
 Perhaps that accounted for the fact that, after his translation 
 to Worcester, no bishop was installed for four years. Having 
 buried his first wife, he took to himself another, which he 
 did apparently without consulting the wishes of his royal 
 mistress. She was not slow in showing her displeasure ; and 
 so loyal and devoted a subject was he that the coldness of 
 her looks froze him completely. He died quite suddenly in 
 1596. The episcopal palace and the park attached to it were 
 sold to Thomas and John Clark for £260 during the Rebellion. 
 The house as it then stood was large and rambling, with a 
 great deal of waste space ; it opened into the east cloister. 
 The domestic chapel was very small, only fifteen feet by 
 eleven, with a good deal of painted glass. Judging from 
 the names and armorial bearings of the last abbots who 
 occupied the house, it could not have been a very ancient
 
 44 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 structure. In 1831 the original episcopal palace was attacked 
 by the rioters, and burnt to the ground. Some of the 
 blackened ruins can still be seen in the graveyard on the 
 south side of the cathedral. 
 
 Peterborough 
 
 Peterborough was formerly a part of the see of Lincoln. 
 In 1541 the monastery of Peterborough was surrendered to 
 Henry VIII. by Abbot John Chambers, when the town 
 became the seat of a new diocese, the former abbot being 
 installed as bishop. This monastery escaped the fate of .0 
 many others, perhaps because Catherine of Arragon had 
 found a last resting-place in the cathedral, and the king 
 wished to make amends after death for his treatment of her 
 during life. Be that as it may, the abbot's house remained 
 standing, and was converted into the episcopal palace. The 
 building existing in the sixteenth century was large and stately 
 with "fair vaults and goodly cellars." The great hall was one 
 of the finest in England, at the upper end high up above 
 the ground were three thrones, on which sat three figures, 
 curiously carved in wood, and adorned with paint and gilding. 
 They represented the founders of the monastery, and bore 
 the following inscription : — 
 
 " Per Peadam primo domus hasc fundatur ab imo, 
 Post per Wolferum stabat possessio rerum 
 Fabit Ethelrsedus frseternum ponere fcedus." 
 
 This hall was the scene of a great banquet during the 
 funeral of Mary Queen of Scots, in Peterborough in 1586. 
 Richard Howland was bishop at the time, and we are told 
 that " on Monday afternoon came to Peterborough all the lords 
 and ladies and other assistants appointed, and at the bishop's
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 45 
 
 palace was prepared a great supper for them, where all at 
 one table supped in the great hall, being hanged with black, 
 where was a state set on the right side thereof of purple 
 velvet. Upon Tuesday morning the chief mourners, lords and 
 ladies and other assistants being ready, about ten of the clock, 
 they marched from the hall of the bishop's palace " to the 
 cathedral, where the bishop preached. After the funeral they 
 departed to the bishop's house, " where was a great feast 
 appointed accordingly. The concourse of people was many 
 thousands, and after dinner the nobles departed everyone 
 towards his own home." 
 
 The next occupant of the palace was Thomas Dove, 
 chaplain to Queen Elizabeth, who called him the " Dove 
 with the silver wings," on account of his venerable appear- 
 ance and a happy knack of clothing his thoughts in silver 
 words. He was a great lover of hospitality, and during his 
 episcopate the great hall witnessed many a noble feast. 
 He kept open house, and did his duty nobly by entertaining 
 his friends and bringing up a numerous family. In spite 
 of apparent lavish expenditure, he husbanded his resources 
 so well that his children had no cause for dissatisfaction. 
 He began making many alterations in the palace, and 
 obtained leave from the archbishop to demolish the monks' 
 hall as well as the abbot's kitchen. He did not, however, 
 live to replace these buildings. 
 
 In 1640, during the episcopate of John Towers, the Com- 
 mission for draining the fens was held at Peterborough, the 
 commissioners sitting in the bishop's great hall. 
 
 At this time it was decided by Parliament to deprive 
 bishops of their vote. A measure strongly opposed by 
 Bishop Towers. A protestation was drawn up by twelve 
 bishops declaring all laws null and void that were passed
 
 46 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 during their absence from the House of Lords. The Bishop 
 of Peterborough, with the other eleven, was imprisoned in the 
 Tower, and all his goods confiscated. There he remained 
 for four or five months, and on his release found an empty 
 palace awaiting him. It was impossible to settle down with 
 any degree of comfort, his peace being disturbed by alarming 
 rumours and threats. So the bare palace was abandoned, 
 and the bishop tied to Oxford, which was then garrisoned by 
 the king's troops. Here again tumult and bloodshed 
 pursued him. Oxford was besieged, and surrendered to 
 Sir Thomas Fairfax, and the bishop again sought the shelter 
 of his own roof. His health was shattered, and the remain- 
 ing years of his life were spent in the misery of an incurable 
 disease. He died at Peterborough early in 1648. 
 
 Soon after his death the palace was sold to those who had 
 little reverence for beauty and antiquity. They laid their 
 ruthless hands first on the chapel, and having successfully 
 demolished that, turned their attention to the palace. The 
 great hall was wrecked ; the figures of the three founders, 
 which had looked down on many a gay banquet and solemn 
 council, were hurled from their thrones amongst these 
 beasts of prey, whose hunger could only be appeased by 
 what was fashioned in beauty or hallowed by age. Having 
 levelled it all to the ground, the lead, stone, and timber 
 were collected in heaps, to be sold to any who cared to 
 carry them away. 
 
 It would seem sometimes as though a curse rested on this 
 work of destruction, and as if the stones consecrated to God's 
 service could not, with impunity, be used for lesser purposes. 
 We are told that a certain merchant bought the greater part 
 of these materials, with which he loaded a ship and set sail for 
 Holland, but neither the crew nor the cargo was ever seen
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 47 
 
 again — the stones and lead have found a last resting-place 
 beyond the reach of desecrating hands. 
 
 The palace received a little milder treatment than many 
 of its contemporaries, and part of the original building is still 
 standing on the south side of the western part of the cloister. 
 The old gate-house which formerly led to the abbot's house 
 may still be seen, and the chamber above, known as the 
 "knight's chamber," is said to be the work of Abbot Godfrey 
 de Croyland in 1319. The beautiful vaulted under-crypt 
 dates from a century earlier. The palace also contains two 
 oriels of a chamber known as "heaven's gate chamber," built 
 by Abbot Kirton not long before the Dissolution. In the 
 gardens one may still see the ruins of the former refectory. 
 
 Oxford 
 
 The Bishopric of Oxford was another of those founded by 
 
 Henry VIIL, who fixed it in the first place at Oseney. Here 
 
 stood a magnificent abbey of Augustinians — one of the richest 
 
 and most beautiful in England. When the abbot, Robert King, 
 
 surrendered it to the king, his loyalty was rewarded with a 
 
 bishop's mitre, and he continued there for four years in his 
 
 double character of bishop and abbot. However, the fair 
 
 monastery with all its treasures was too rich a plum for 
 
 Henry long to resist, and in 1546 it was finally dissolved. 
 
 Not a stone now remains to tell of its former splendour. It 
 
 being necessary to provide the bishop with a suitable abode, 
 
 he was installed in Gloucester College. He did not long 
 
 remain there, for when Edward VI. inspected his father's 
 
 charter, with the object of confirming the various grants, 
 
 Gloucester Hall was omitted. It was perhaps after this 
 
 that Bishop King inhabited a house in the parish oJ 
 
 St. Aldates, facing Trill Mill stream. He must have spent
 
 48 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 a considerable sum on the decorations, and his arms were 
 conspicuous everywhere. 
 
 King, like some of his contemporaries, had an adaptable 
 conscience, which suited itself most conveniently to all 
 requirements. He was evidently a man with one purpose 
 in life — retaining his mitre — and all trifles, such as con- 
 science or principle, must perforce be brushed aside. He 
 certainly succeeded admirably, becoming a zealous Reformer 
 under Edward VI., and in his maturer years, when Queen 
 Mary governed the land, all the teaching of his monastic 
 days revived, and he was once more a Catholic. Whether 
 he would have recovered his senses in the Protestant days of 
 good Queen Bess, we know not, for he never lived to stand 
 this test ; but we can well believe that a man of his marvel- 
 lous breadth and loyalty, would have risen superior to all 
 difficulties, and still remained Bishop of Oxford. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth kept the see vacant for forty-one years, 
 during which time most of the lands formerly granted by 
 Henry VIII. were alienated — a few, including Cuddesdon, 
 being given in exchange. The succeeding bishops appear 
 never to have had a fixed abode. They were wanderers on the 
 face of the earth, at times occupying some vacant parsonage 
 in their diocese, and sometimes renting a house in the city 
 of Oxford. It was not till John Bancroft was raised to the 
 bishopric that any attempt was made to provide a per- 
 manent dwelling. He looked about him for a suitable site, 
 and finally chose Cuddesdon. This village is five miles from 
 Oxford, and has already been mentioned as one of the estates 
 granted to the see by Queen Elizabeth in exchange for those 
 alienated. The lease of the parsonage had just expired, and 
 the parish was without a vicar. Bishop Bancroft accord- 
 ingly inducted himself, and took up his abode in the vacant
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 49 
 
 parsonage. His impoverished revenues were augmented by 
 a pension of £100 a year, granted by Charles I., who like- 
 wise gave him leave to take what timber he liked from the 
 royal forests of Stowood and Shotover, and so the palace was 
 begun. Archbishop Laud took a great interest in the new 
 building, and tells us in his diary, September 2, 1635 : " I was 
 in attendance with the king at Woodstock, and went from 
 thence to Cuddesdon to see the house which Dr. John Ban- 
 croft had built to be a house for the bishops of that see for 
 ever, having built that house at my persuasion." Although 
 he spent £3,500 on the new palace, which was a considerable 
 sum in those days, we are told it was rather commodious 
 than splendid. 
 
 Dr. Bancroft did not spend many peaceful years there, 
 for in 1640 the Long Parliament fixed its fascinating gaze 
 on the unfortunate bishop and so paralyzed him with fears 
 of imprisonment and confiscation that he withered up and 
 died with little or no sickness. His fears must have had 
 some foundation, for the Puritans described him as " a cor- 
 rupt unpreaching Popish prelate." The palace did not long 
 survive its builder. Colonel Legge, who was Governor of 
 Oxford, knowing that the property of the " Popish prelate " 
 would become a prey to the Puritan party, anticipated their 
 work of destruction by burning it to the ground himself, and 
 once more the bishops of Oxford had no fixed residence. 
 When the storms had somewhat abated, Dr. Paul collected 
 materials for a new building, but got no further. It was 
 Dr. Fell who eventually, "with monies out of his own purse," 
 began the erection of a new palace on the same site as the 
 old one. It was finished about 1679, and remains to the 
 present day with very little alteration, eyond the addition 
 of a chapel in 1846 by Bishop Wilb force. It stands 
 E.E.P. E
 
 50 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 surrounded by a small park, and is an imposing mansion, 
 though with little to distinguish it from other country 
 houses. 
 
 Having given this brief sketch of the episcopal palaces 
 belonging to the sees founded in Saxon and Norman times, as 
 well as those at the Reformation, it now only remains for 
 us to speak of those founded in recent times. The present 
 palaces are quite modern, with no historical interest attached 
 to them. The only exception is, perhaps, Southwell, which 
 deserves a few words. There stood formerly, close to the 
 cathedral, the ancient palace belonging to the archbishops of 
 York, begun by Bishop Kempe, who governed the northern 
 province from 1425 to 1452. It was completed by his 
 successor, William Booth, and embellished by several 
 succeeding prelates. The buildings formed a large quadrangle 
 with gardens and a path on the south. For many years the 
 building was in a ruinous condition, until it was bought by 
 Dr. Trollope together with the gardens and a small part of 
 the park. In 1882 he restored the "great chamber" or 
 smaller hall, which formerly adjoined the "great hall," 
 panelling it with oak, and putting in some beautiful stained 
 glass windows filled with royal arms. 
 
 The palace was restored in 1906 — 7 for the present Bishop 
 of Southwell.
 
 t$t (paface of BamBe^ 
 
 A LMOST opposite to Westminster, where the course 
 / ^ of the Thames runs due north and south, 
 £~ %, stands Lambeth Palace. Seen from the river it 
 appears a squat, sombre castle of mingled dull 
 red brick and grey stone, the dignity of age rendering it 
 equally aloof from the surrounding squalor of the neighbouring 
 slums, and from the solid handsome monotony of the row of 
 buildings constituting St. Thomas's Hospital. A tram passes 
 along the road which divides the palace from the river ; 
 nearly opposite the gateway, on the site of the old horse- 
 ferry, Lambeth Bridge leads across to the wharves on the 
 opposite shore; the Thames, rigidly embanked, is the highway 
 now only for coal or hay-barges, small boats, and steamers. 
 Facing the river, the Lollards' or Water Tower rises square, 
 rough, and grey against the enclosing wall of the palace. The 
 windows are few and so inconspicuous that at a distance it has 
 an aspect of blankness. A little further back, at right angles 
 to it, extending southward, stands the great hall, while 
 stretching inland behind the tower, are the main buildings of 
 the palace. The red castellated gateway faces south. It 
 leads into a thin, narrow grass court, bounded on the north by 
 the Lollards' Tower, and lying between the outer wall and 
 the great hall, now the library. Immediately to the right of 
 the entrance, beyond an archway which connects the library 
 and the porter's lodge, lies a larger grass court and garden. 
 
 E 2
 
 52 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 I . I IIW IJ] HW— ■! II ■ II I I lllll I I ■ ■ II I ■■!!! — - I II I I I II — " I I 
 
 The oldest part of the palace is the crypt beneath 
 the chapel, at one time said to be the crypt of the 
 collegiate church, which was begun by Archbishop Baldwin, 
 about 1 190, and was pulled down again by the Pope's 
 command in 1199. Though this is now held to be incorrect, 
 it seems not unlikely that the position of the palace was 
 determined by the destruction of the church — site and materials 
 being thus ready to hand. 
 
 The erection of this church at Lambeth had been suggested 
 by Richard I., as a compromise in the famous quarrel 
 between Baldwin and the monks of Christchurch, Canterbury. 
 Baldwin, who is described as an austere melancholy man, 
 was a lover of learning and a " fervent monk." The 
 magnificence and independence of the monks outraged his 
 conception of the monastic life, and he planned the founda- 
 tion of a college of secular priests at Hackington, near 
 Canterbury, which should be a centre for students and 
 scholars. The monks of Christchurch believed that the 
 archbishop intended to supplant their house. They uprose 
 in indignation. The existence of such a college encroached 
 on their rights and privileges. They appealed to the Pope, 
 to the kings of England and France. Finally, Baldwin 
 agreed to transfer the college to another and more distant 
 neighbourhood, and for this purpose he obtained twenty-four 
 acres of land in Lambeth from the monks of St. Andrew, at 
 Rochester, who at that time were lords of the manor of 
 Lambeth, giving them in return land in the Isle of Grain ; 
 and this exchange was confirmed by the king, March 20, 
 1 190. Baldwin laid the foundations of his church, and then 
 sailed on the Crusade, and both the quarrel and the building 
 languished during his absence. He died in the camp of the 
 Crusaders in that same year, and it was not until the
 
 THE PALACE OF LAMBETH 53 
 
 election of Hubert Walter to the archbishopric, in 1193, that 
 the dispute was resumed with renewed bitterness. Finally, 
 in 1199, the total destruction of the church was commanded 
 by Innocent III. 
 
 It was while the quarrel was at its height that Archbishop 
 Hubert acquired the whole of Lambeth Manor from the 
 monks of St. Andrew in exchange for that of Darenth and 
 the Chapel of Helles, in Kent. The archbishops appear to 
 have constantly occupied the manor-house at Lambeth 
 while it still belonged to the Priory of Rochester, and it may 
 well have been, even then, their customary residence when 
 they wished to be within reach of London. Probably this 
 house was insufficient for their requirements as a permanent 
 dwelling-place, for it is within the next few years that the 
 first buildings were begun, from which the present palace 
 has grown. Hubert Walter himself is said to have begun 
 the original " great hall." 
 
 At that time Lambeth was a village. The surrounding 
 country was chiefly meadow and marsh land intersected 
 with narrow channels of water, and scantily wooded. Game 
 of all sorts, red and fallow deer, were to be found there, but 
 the marshes especially were haunted by wild sea-fowl and 
 fen-fowl, swans and ducks. The river banks were low. The 
 water then flowed close under the palace walls. 
 
 Stephen Langton is said to have continued the building ; 
 but it is Boniface of Savoy, the turbulent, lawless arch- 
 bishop, who with his own hand knocked down the sub-prior 
 of St. Bartholomew's for resisting his demands, and was 
 pursued by a wrathful mob to the doors of Lambeth, saved 
 only from hurt by the coat of mail that he wore under his 
 robes — it is this Boniface who has the credit of finishing 
 the great hall and constructing the chapel. Probably he
 
 54 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 did much more than this ; for in 1262 he obtained a bull 
 from Urban IV. permitting him to rebuild his old houses at 
 Lambeth in a fit place, or to erect new ones. 
 
 By the beginning of the fourteenth century the arch- 
 bishop's manor-house had attained considerable dimensions, 
 though it seems to have been in continual need of repair. 
 The purchase of tiles, "tile-pins," and " roof-nails," and the 
 payment of carpenters, plasterers, and plumbers, are frequent 
 items in the accounts. In 1321 repairs were done to the 
 walls of the wardrobe next (juxta) the lord's chapel, as well 
 as in the lord's chamber itself, in the chancellor's room, the 
 room next the hall, the great chapel, the store-house, the 
 bake-house, and another wardrobe. The hay-loft and the 
 stable and the walls upon the Thames were also put in order. 
 At this date a fruit-garden belonged to the palace, and also 
 a " great " and a " little " garden, and the account includes 
 a list of the seeds bought during the year — amongst others, 
 cabbage, cucumber, hyssop and spinach. 
 
 Stephen Langton succeeded to Archbishop Hubert in 
 1205, but except for two years during which the Great 
 Charter was won from the king, he lived in exile until the 
 death of John. He returned to England after the Treaty of 
 Lambeth had restored peace and secured the departure of 
 the French, in consequence of Hubert de Burgh's victory 
 over the French galleys commanded by Eustace le Moine, 
 and the defeat on shore of Louis, the son of Philip Augustus, 
 by the Earl Marshal. The Treaty was drawn up at Lam- 
 beth and attested by the Papal Legate, Henry III., and Prince 
 Louis, whose names are followed by those of Hubert de 
 Burgh, the justiciar, and William Marshall, Earl of Pem- 
 broke. Amongst the names of the great nobles occurs 
 that of Falk de Breaute, the unscrupulous foreign adventurer,
 
 THE PALACE OF LAMBETH 55 
 
 from whom the neighbouring manor of Vauxhall took its 
 name. Falk, however, appears to have been in no hurry to 
 carry out his part in the agreement, for the king wrote to 
 him from Lambeth in the following month, commanding 
 him to release, in accordance with the terms of the Treaty, 
 Osbert, the son of Nigel, whom he was still keeping 
 captive. 
 
 In 1231 Henry III. spent Christmas at Lambeth, Hubert 
 de Burgh providing all things necessary for the festivities, 
 and in the following year the king held a council there. 
 Councils of the clergy and convocations of the Province of 
 Canterbury were held in the great hall. Aids and subsidies 
 were voted to the king at these assemblies, and matters of 
 Church government were there treated, often in defiance of 
 the royal claims. In 1281, in a council at Lambeth, 
 Archbishop Peckham proposed to confine suits on patronage 
 to ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and to prevent the royal courts 
 from interfering in cases concerning the chattels of the 
 spiritualty. Before they had assembled, however, Edward I. 
 wrote to the archbishop and clergy reminding them of their 
 oaths of fealty, and warning them, on pain of losing the 
 temporalities they held from him, to do nothing to prejudice 
 the royal dignity. At the same time he deputed four laymen 
 to be present in order to protest against anything they 
 judged contrary to the interests of the Crown, and in the 
 end Peckham had to give in. 
 
 In 1408 all the members of the convocation, and many 
 others " eminent in every branch of literature," were enter- 
 tained at Lambeth by Archbishop Arundel "with elegance 
 and great profusion of viands." It was also in the great 
 hall that the consecration banquets took place at the cost of 
 the newly created bishop : the most famous for splendour
 
 56 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 being that of William of Wykeham, who, though consecrated 
 at St. Paul's, held the festivities at Lambeth. 
 
 In 1345, John de Montfort, Duke of Brittany, did homage 
 to Edward III. in the archbishop's palace of Lambeth, and 
 it is related that on May 20, the Friday in the week of 
 Pentecost, in the presence of the archbishop John Stratford, 
 of Robert de Sadington the chancellor, William de Adding- 
 ton the treasurer, of Bartholomew de Burghersh, John de 
 St. Pol and John Darcy keeper of the rolls of Chancery, 
 and of many other nobles, he addressed the king in these 
 words : " My lord, I acknowledge you to be the rightful 
 King of France, and I do homage to you as my liege lord and 
 the rightful King of France for the Duchy of Brittany, which 
 I claim to hold from you, my lord, and I become your liege 
 man in life and member, and to keep faith in life and death 
 against all people." Shortly after this, Edward III. went 
 himself to Brittany to uphold his " liege man's " cause 
 against Charles de Blois, whose claims were supported by 
 the King of France. 
 
 Many of the archbishops of Canterbury were lord chan- 
 cellors ; amongst whom were Thomas Becket, Hubert 
 Walter, Simon Sudbury, and William Warham, while several 
 have filled the office of lord treasurer. That of justiciar 
 was held by Radulphus at the beginning, and by Hubert 
 Walter at the end of the twelfth century. There are several 
 allusions to the presence of the Great Seal at Lambeth. On 
 one occasion, " after the sealing," it was left with Walter 
 Reynolds, archbishop-elect, at his manor of Lambeth " under 
 the seals of Adam de Osgodeby, Robert de Bardelby, and 
 William de Ayremynn," and the next day the archbishop 
 took it to the king at Shene. Again, on December 8, 1339, 
 it was brought in a bag at sunrise to Lambeth by Sir John
 
 THE PALACE OF LAMBETH 57 
 
 de Wodehouse and Sir Gilbert de Kitchill, steward of the 
 household to the Bishop of London, who had died that 
 night, and was delivered to Archbishop John Stratford, while 
 in the following year the king gave the seal to the same 
 archbishop, who took it to Lambeth " and caused charters, 
 letters patent, and writs to be sealed therewith on the 
 morrow." 
 
 In 1378, John Wycliffe was summoned from Oxford to 
 Lambeth to answer for his doctrine before Archbishop 
 Sudbury. On learning of this, Joan, the widow of the 
 Black Prince and mother of the king, sent to the archbishop 
 bidding him not to pass sentence upon the preacher. Wycliffe, 
 however, obeyed the summons, and appeared on trial in 
 Lambeth Chapel, but the citizens of London forced their 
 way in, and interrupted the proceedings. Archbishop 
 Sudbury, gentle and well-meaning, but unable to grapple 
 with the situation from either point of view, incurred both 
 the resentment of the people and the disapprobation of 
 the clergy. To the first, he represented the opposition to 
 Wycliffe ; to the other, his actions appeared half-hearted 
 and lacking in conviction. 
 
 The feeling on both sides was fierce, and the spirit of 
 angry criticism, encouraged by Lollardry, probably gave an 
 added impulse to the peasants' revolt under Wat Tyler and 
 Jack Straw. But it was as lord chancellor, rather than as 
 the antagonist of the Lollards, that the archbishop was an 
 object of hatred and distrust to the insurgents. A contem- 
 porary poem of alternate English and Latin lines describes 
 the rise of this ragged army in Kent and their progress 
 towards London, brandishing weapons and attacking the 
 manor-houses that lay in their path. On the night of the 
 13th of June, 1381, a detachment of the rebels who were
 
 58 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 camping on Blackheath, marched to Lambeth Palace, sacked 
 and set fire to it, burning all the goods and books they 
 could lay hands on. The archbishop was in the Tower with 
 the young king, and two days later, while Richard II. was 
 treating with the rebels at Mile End, Wat Tyler and a band 
 of his followers made their way to the Tower, and with a 
 show of boisterous friendliness to the guard they pushed in. 
 They found the archbishop in the chapel, who faced them 
 unflinching, replying to their outcry : " Here am I, your 
 archbishop, and no traitor or spoiler." The rebels seized 
 him, dragged him out on to Tower Hill, and there beheaded 
 him. 
 
 Sudbury's successor, Archbishop Courtney, who was a 
 man of much greater determination, showed himself uncom- 
 promising in his dealings with Lollardry, and in June, 1382, 
 he summoned to Lambeth the chancellor himself, Dr. Robert 
 Ry gge, for favouring Wycliffe. Not only had Dr. Ry gge 
 permitted Wycliffe to preach, but he had been present at 
 the sermon, and had shown himself in friendly conversation 
 with the preacher afterwards. The chancellor acknowledged 
 his fault, asking for pardon on his knees, and he was forgiven 
 at the intercession of William of Wykeham. 
 
 The Water Tower was supposed to have served as a prison 
 for the Lollards, and even now is generally known as the 
 Lollards' Tower, while the wooden pillar in the centre of 
 the large room of the ground floor used to be pointed out as 
 a " whipping-post " for heretics. There is, however, no truth 
 in this. The pillar was put up to support the middle beam 
 of the ceiling, about the beginning of the eighteenth century ; 
 and, though the archbishops had a prison in their palace, 
 there is no evidence that the Lollards were ever shut up there. 
 
 The tower was erected by Archbishop Chichele, at the
 
 Henry Chk hei e, Archbishop oi Canterbi ry, 
 
 m the window in All Sotti
 
 THE PALACE OF LAMBETH 59 
 
 west entrance of the chapel on the site of an older building 
 which was pulled down to make room for it. The turret- 
 chamber and winding-stair, which are practically a part of 
 Chichele's tower, are considered to be of a far earlier date. 
 The stair is of wood, originally of oak, but now repaired 
 with deal, and mounts round and round up to a small square 
 room with double doors. The last few steps are very dark 
 and steep, and very narrow. The room is dimly lighted by 
 two small windows facing north and west ; iron rings are 
 fastened in a line round the grey walls, to which the prisoners 
 used to be chained, and the stonework is cut with names and 
 brief ejaculatory prayers. A great open fire-place on the 
 north wall faces the doorway. 
 
 The items of expenditure for the building of the Water 
 Tower are entered in the bailiffs account for 1435. Accord- 
 ing to this, the pulling down of the old stone walls and the 
 digging of the new foundations took five days. Rag-stone 
 was procured from Kent, and all materials were brought by 
 boat, including iron bars for the windows, window-stones, 
 paving-tiles, and " ostrycch bord, called waynscot " ; the cost 
 of carriage being added to the price in each case. One 
 shilling a day for eight days was paid to the glass-maker 
 from whom the windows were bought, and who put 
 them in. 
 
 On the north side of the " post-room" a door led to the 
 river-stairs, from which the archbishops entered their barges. 
 This was probably a rather more private exit from the 
 palace than the landing-stage, or "bridge " as it is called in the 
 documents, which had been built in 1424-5, at the palace 
 entrance. This landing-stage and another " bridge " on the 
 shore of the Thames were both mended in the following 
 year. About this time a water-gate and flood-gate were
 
 60 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 repaired, and work was needed in the cloisters, the ewery, 
 the seneschal's room, and the audience chamber. 
 
 Lambeth Palace suffered considerably during the Wars of 
 the Roses ; and when John Morton, Bishop of Ely, was made 
 archbishop in i486, the buildings were falling into serious 
 disrepair. Morton, who had been imprisoned by Richard III., 
 had conceived the plan of uniting the York and Lancastrian 
 parties by the marriage of Henry Tudor and Elizabeth of 
 York, and after the accession of Henry VII. he became the 
 king's chief minister. His name is associated with a trick 
 of extorting money, which was known as Morton's fork or 
 crutch, and by which he helped to replenish the empty 
 treasury. To those who lived lavishly, he pointed out that 
 if they could afford to spend so much they could afford to be 
 generous to the king ; to those who made no display, he 
 urged that so much economy represented so much saving, 
 and they, too, had no excuse for not contributing to the 
 exchequer with an open hand. 
 
 Archbishop Morton, who was afterwards made also a 
 cardinal, besides repairing the palace, built its present 
 gateway which stands at right angles to the old parish 
 church of St. Mary. In the centre is a large pointed arched 
 doorway, and beside it a small one, while on either hand 
 rise massive towers of red brick. Rooms in these were 
 sometimes used as prisons or places of temporary custody, 
 but the first floor of the western tower is said to have been 
 Cardinal Morton's sitting-room. 
 
 Sir Thomas More, as a child, was taken into the cardinal's 
 household, and appears to have been a boy of high spirits 
 as well as of unusual intelligence. "Though he was young, 
 yet he would at Christmas suddenly sometimes step in among 
 the players, and, never studying the matter, make a part of
 
 THE PALACE OF LAMBETH 61 
 
 his own there presently among them, which gave the audience 
 more sport than all the other performers." The cardinal, 
 who afterwards sent More to Oxford, delighted " in his wit 
 and towardness," and would point him out to the nobles, who 
 from time to time dined at the palace, saying: "This child 
 here waiting at the table, whosoever shall live to see it, 
 will prove a marvellous man." Sir Thomas More recipro- 
 cated his admiration, and described him afterwards as a man 
 whose "conversation was easy, but serious and grave," and 
 who was " eminently skilful in the law, had a vast under- 
 standing, and a prodigious memory." Bacon, however, 
 though acknowledging that Morton was wise and eloquent, 
 calls him harsh and haughty, " much accepted of the king, 
 but envied by the nobility and hated of the people." 
 
 From 1503 to 1533 the Archbishop of Canterbury was 
 William Warham, the kindly humorous lover of learning, 
 the patron of all scholars in general and of Erasmus in 
 particular. He was so delighted with the " Adagia " of 
 Erasmus that Lord Mountjoy, who had lent it him, could 
 not get it back from him, and the archbishop sent £5 to its 
 author for his journey to England. The first meeting, 
 however, between the archbishop and the scholar was not 
 altogether promising. It occurred during the second visit 
 of Erasmus to England, 1505-6. He had lately translated 
 the " Hecuba " of Euripides, and " by the advice of erudite 
 friends, especially William Grocyn, " he presented the volume 
 to Warham. He and Grocyn went together to Lambeth 
 Palace, where he describes being received by the archbishop 
 before dinner, " with few words, being myself by no means 
 a talkative or ceremonious person ; and again after dinner, as 
 he also was a man of unaffected manners, we had a short 
 conversation together, after which he dismissed me with an
 
 62 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 ._ J. J .... L- t J I I I I I .— ... ■ — i.— 
 
 honorary present which he gave me when we were alone 
 together, according to a custom he had, to avoid putting the 
 receiver to shame or creating a jealousy against him." 
 Erasmus, however, was disappointed in the amount of the 
 gift, which he considered an insufficient recognition of his 
 work. As he and Grocyn were returning from Lambeth by 
 boat, "as is usual there," Grocyn asked how much he had 
 received. Erasmus replied by naming in jest a large sum, 
 and Grocyn laughed. Whereupon Erasmus inquired 
 whether " he thought the prelate not generous enough to 
 give so much or not rich enough to afford it, or that the 
 work was not worthy of a munificent present?" Finally, 
 having revealed the real amount of the present and per- 
 sistently asking the possible reason of its meagreness, he 
 received the reply that the archbishop's generosity had been 
 checked by the suspicion that the book had already been 
 dedicated elsewhere. " Surprised at such a speech, I asked 
 how that suspicion had come into his mind, and Grocyn 
 said with a smile, but of a sardonic kind, ' Because that is 
 the way with you people.' " 
 
 In spite of this beginning, a warm and lasting friendship 
 grew up between Erasmus and Warham, who proved a 
 generous patron, and Erasmus spoke of him in terms of real 
 affection, admiration, and gratitude. " Happy was I to find 
 such a Maecenas. . . . All who have gathered good from my 
 writings must thank Archbishop Warham," he wrote on one 
 occasion, and again : " The Archbishop of Canterbury did all 
 for me that was possible. He is one of the best of men and 
 an honour to the realm ; wise, judicious, learned above all 
 his contemporaries, and so modest that he is unconscious of 
 his superiority. Under a quiet manner, he is witty, energetic, 
 and laborious."
 
 William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 From 11 />/• lure in the possession of Lord Dillon.
 
 THE PALACE OF LAMBETH 63 
 
 Warham died of grief at the separation of the English 
 Church from Rome and the king's claim to supremacy. He 
 had been frugal in his daily life, caring nothing for splendour 
 and amusements ; but he had been open-handed to others, 
 and at his death he was so poor that there was barely enough 
 to pay for his funeral. His portrait by Holbein hangs in the 
 old guard-room at Lambeth, now the dining-room. 
 
 Two sets of domestic regulations for Lambeth Palace, 
 which were written in the middle of this century, give a 
 detailed account of the archbishop's establishment. These 
 are the statutes of Cranmer's household — part of which, 
 however, were drawn up after Cranmer — and the statutes for 
 the household of Archbishop Parker. The arrangement of the 
 offices was no doubt the result of a gradual growth, and had 
 been much the same for many years before. 
 
 All the gentlemen and yeomen of the household were 
 under the control of the steward, the treasurer, and comp- 
 troller, and these "head officers" were expected to meet in 
 the counting-house two or three times a week, "to take 
 orders for the lord's service, and to redress faults and dis- 
 orders." The clerk of the kitchen, who kept the key of the 
 counting-house, was present at these meetings, and entered 
 in "a great book or ledger" all the doings and decisions of 
 the head officers, while a yeoman bearing a white wand, 
 stood in waiting at the door, in readiness to go on errands 
 at their bidding. Every one who was engaged to serve the 
 archbishop was first taken to the counting-house, and there 
 the rules were read to him, after which he took an oath to 
 serve faithfully ; and his name, the day, and the year were 
 entered in a book. 
 
 The household was divided into a great number of depart- 
 ments : consisting of the bake-house, pantry, cellar, buttery,
 
 64 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 ewery and " chaundry," the spicery, laundry, almery, kitchen, 
 wardrobe, and stable. Besides these the palace had its own 
 millers and butchers. 
 
 For the archbishop's personal service, there were the 
 gentlemen ushers of the chamber and the yeomen under 
 them. Of these one gentleman and four yeomen in 
 Cranmer's time, and three gentlemen under Archbishop 
 Parker, were expected to be daily in the great chamber 
 during a week of attendance from between six and seven in 
 the morning till nine at night. At the end of each week the 
 gentleman usher, who had last served, handed in an account 
 to the steward of those who had been in attendance and how 
 they had behaved ; and on every Monday morning the list of 
 those who were to replace them in the coming week, and 
 what each one was to do, was fastened up on the " bark side 
 of the great chamber doore to be seene of every man, that 
 none could plead ignorance of his charge." It was the 
 business of the ushers to order the officers to prepare for my 
 lord's dinner, and to look after the details of its service, to 
 have a fire lit in the archbishop's room, and to see that torches 
 and lights were there when required. It also fell to them to 
 receive guests, and to take care that the guest-rooms " be 
 made cleane, every man after his degree, and that they lack 
 neither beere, ale, wyne, nor fyer and candles in time of the 
 yere." If the visitor were "a man of worship," then "a 
 cubbord clothe, a bason and an ewer, waxe and a towell " 
 were also to be provided. Strangers were to be served at 
 meals according to their condition in life ; a yeoman with the 
 yeomen, near the door of the hall, and a gentleman with the 
 gentlemen, but if there were many guests they were to sit 
 at one table. During the hours of prayer, and of the 
 archbishop's dinner the great gates of the palace were
 
 THE PALACE OF LAMBETH 65 
 
 closed, and no stranger was admitted until the plate had 
 been put away. However, if anyone "of honestie " should 
 come at such times, he was put to wait in the porter's lodge, 
 and the person he wished to see was sent for ; while should 
 he have asked for the archbishop himself one of the head 
 officers was to be informed. 
 
 The archbishop's dinner was an imposing ceremony, and 
 the more lavish the display and the hospitality, the more 
 honourable was it accounted to him. A hint of stinginess 
 in housekeeping was a grave accusation. It so happened 
 that a report of meanness had been circulated at the Court 
 against Cranmer, and one day as Henry VIII. was going to 
 dinner he called Sir Thomas Seymour, who had been most 
 active in spreading the accusation against the archbishop, 
 and sent him to Lambeth on a message. On arriving at 
 the palace the porter took him into the hall, "and it chanced 
 that the hall was set to dinner. And when he was at the 
 skreen and perceived the hall furnished with three principal 
 messes, besides the rest of the tables thoroughly set, having 
 a guilty conscience, recoiled back, and would have gone into 
 my lord by the chapel way." On his return to the king, he 
 knelt down and asked for pardon. 
 
 " What is the matter ? " said the king. 
 "I do remember," said Mr. Seymour, "that I told your 
 Highness that my lord of Canterbury kept no hospitality 
 correspondent to his dignity, and now I perceive that I did 
 abuse your Highness with an untruth. For besides your 
 Grace's house, I think he be not in the realm of none estate 
 or degree that hath such a hall furnisht-d or fareth more 
 honourably at his own table." 
 
 " Ah ! " said the king, " have you spied your own fault now." 
 Nevertheless, Cranmer had made an attempt to curtail the 
 E.E.P. F
 
 66 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 extravagant living of the clergy, and, together with a council 
 of other prelates, he drew up rules for moderating their daily 
 fare. According to these, an archbishop should not have 
 more than six different kinds of meat at his table, or as many 
 dishes of fish on days of abstinence ; at the second course, of 
 such things as custards, tarts, fritters, cheese, apples, pears, 
 etc., four dishes were allowed him. " Of the greater fish or 
 fowl — as cranes, swans, turkeys, haddocks, pike, tench — there 
 should be but one in a dish ; of lesser sorts than they — as 
 capons, pheasants, conies, wood-cocks — but two." Of still 
 smaller birds, an archbishop could have three partridges to a 
 dish, six blackbirds, while of larks the number was not to 
 exceed twelve. Anything that was saved by these retrench- 
 ments was to be spent in " plain meat " for the poor. The 
 dishes of the rest of the clergy were restricted according to 
 their degree, but scarcely anyone seems to have observed the 
 new regulations, and six months later they were forgotten 
 again. 
 
 The archbishop's dinner was cooked separately from that 
 of the household, and the cooks were specially enjoined "to 
 keepe my lord's privie kitchen for his owne mouth." The 
 table was spread with all sorts of plate, "chargers, dishes, 
 platters, pottagers, and sawcers," which after dinner were 
 conveyed by a "yeoman of the squillery "to the jewel-house 
 or wardrobe, except when supper also was to be ceremonious. 
 The gentleman usher chose the cup-bearer, carver, and server 
 and the waiters, and these accompanied the archbishop when 
 he dined away from home. The duties of the gentleman 
 usher are given in greater detail in Parker's " Statutes," where 
 it is stated that he is to hand the water for the archbishop 
 to wash his fingers before and after meals ; that he is to see 
 that all the gentlemen and yeomen are in the dining-room ;
 
 THE PALACE OF LAMBETH 67 
 
 "that the tables be orderly covered in due time, at ten in 
 the forenoon and five in the evening " ; that the sideboard 
 and cupboards are furnished with plate and glasses, and 
 upon extraordinary occasions that he is to carve himself " for 
 the better instruction of others." 
 
 After each meal, both in the hall and in the chamber, it was 
 the duty of the almoner to collect all the fragments of bread, 
 drink, and meat that were left, and having " diligently kept 
 it from devouring of doggs," to distribute it to the poor at 
 the gate, three or four times in the week, at his discretion. 
 He was also expected to attend whenever the archbishop 
 dined abroad " to take up every dish when the lord hath sett 
 it from hym, and thereof to make sufficiently the almes dish 
 to be given to the most needy man or woman by his direc- 
 tion, always the lord's tenant." Those dishes were excepted, 
 however, which the archbishop sent to " strangers or other 
 of his household." This distribution of broken meats 
 amongst the poor, known as the Lambeth Dole, was started 
 by Robert Winchelsea, who was archbishop from 1293 till 
 1313, and in a modified form it still exists. 
 
 Accounts were kept by the head of each department, and 
 were periodically brought and submitted to the comptroller, 
 who himself kept a book, " and divided it into certain titles, 
 as wardrobe, stable, kitchen, board wages, journeying, etc." 
 An example of the form of entry is given under each title, 
 the following being a specimen bill for the wardrobe : — 
 
 '' June, 1 561. 
 
 Thomas Marshall asketh allowance for xx" e elnes of canvas by hym 
 bought of me. At viii d the elne xiii 5 iiii d - Item for xx ,ie burden 
 ruffles iii 1 iiii d 
 
 Sum : xvi s - viii d 
 
 Probatur per me N.D. 
 Ultimo die Junii, 1 561 " 
 
 F 2
 
 68 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 Under the title of journeying was entered the allowance 
 for the expenses incurred by any servant who was sent away 
 on " the lord's business," provided he reported himself before 
 starting and on his return. If, however, the sum given 
 him did not cover his outlay, the deficiency could only be 
 made up by special warrant from the archbishop in form of 
 a gift. 
 
 In spite of the lavish display and hospitality, precautions 
 were taken against all wastefulness in the household. The 
 grooms of the chamber were obliged to bring their torches 
 every day to the ewery to be measured and weighed. The 
 wheat was delivered to the bakers by " taile and weight " ; 
 and from every bushel thirty-two loaves had to be made, 
 each weighing twenty-three ounces. All trenchers were to 
 be cut as large as the loaf would allow, and no loaf was to 
 be " rounded or pared, except for my lord's table." All 
 loaves, however, could be chipped, and the chippings were 
 the legitimate perquisites pertaining to the pantry. All the 
 lees and dregs of the wine were put into a separate vessel, 
 and part of it given to the " clerk of the sawcery " to make 
 vinegar, the rest being used by the cooks "for gellies, 
 pottage, and other subtleties." Only the empty vats, etc., 
 constituted the perquisites of this department. The spices 
 and fruits were given out by weight by the clerk of the 
 spicery, and he was expected to " take heed to them daily, 
 as some are tender and need of oversight." Here the fees 
 were the empty pots of green ginger and the bags and boxes 
 that had contained succades. 
 
 In the larder and kitchen the cooks were not supposed to 
 take any of the skimmings from the pots for themselves until 
 th household had been served. The empty barrels of 
 herrings sturgeon, salt salmon, etc., were their property, and
 
 THE PALACE OF LAMBETH 69 
 
 ___^^__. . ., I J, Ml !■! ■■— —— ^^— ^— 1— ^ IT n-Tf-M HI ril ■■! I || 11 
 
 also the skins of all the rabbits which were presented to the 
 archbishop. The skins of those that were bought, however, 
 belonged to the caterer, and the panniers of sea-fish were 
 distributed amongst the yeomen, grooms, and pages. 
 
 According to the rules for the general conduct of the 
 household, no member of it was allowed to keep more than 
 a certain number of servants or horses, and he was expected 
 to give sufficient wages and livery of the lord's colour. Special 
 stress is laid upon the injunction against swearing and picking 
 quarrels, and the marshal and ushers of the hall were to 
 see to it, that there was no "wrestling" or evil language at 
 the serving-board at breakfast. No dogs were to be kept 
 within the household, and the servants were to refrain from 
 " shouting, crying, or blowing of horns " at night. They 
 were also requested not to break windows or doors, nor to 
 pick locks without the command of head officers. Cards 
 and dicing were strictly forbidden in any place but the 
 great hall, and there only on feast days in the winter months 
 and on the twelve days following Christmas. 
 
 In Archbishop Parker's time anyone who spoke to a superior 
 officer without uncovering had his hat taken from him and 
 nailed against the screen in the hall for every one to see. 
 
 When the archbishop was travelling with his household 
 no one was permitted to ride "out of my lord's company," 
 except those who looked after the sumpter horses and the 
 purveyors who went on ahead to prepare food and lodging. 
 Every one rode in the cavalcade according to his degree : 
 " the head officers next unto my lord, except the cross-bearer ; 
 and next, after my lord, doctors and chaplains, and then 
 yeomen : and after them grooms, pages, and males." 
 
 After Warham's death Thomas Cranmer became arch- 
 bishop, chosen by Henry VIII. as one likely to further the
 
 7 o ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 king's schemes. He was consecrated on March 20, 1533 ; 
 in the following May he pronounced the sentence of divorce 
 against Katherine of Aragon, and in June he proclaimed the 
 validity of the marriage with Anne Boleyn, announcing it 
 " in a certain well-known gallery in the manor of Lambeth." 
 In April in the following year the commissioners for the 
 oath of succession, including the Archbishop, Lord Audley, 
 the Chancellor, and Thomas Cromwell, the king's secretary, 
 sat at Lambeth to receive the oaths of those clergy, chiefly 
 of London, that had not already sworn. Both Bishop Fisher 
 of Rochester, who had refused the oath at the breaking up 
 of Parliament, and Sir Thomas More, the only layman 
 summoned on this occasion, were commanded to attend at 
 Lambeth. On that morning Sir Thomas More went to Chelsea 
 Church and confessed and Communicated. He departed 
 gloomily, refusing to allow his wife and children to accompany 
 him as usual to the riverside, " but pulled the wicket after 
 him, and shut them all from him." Together with his son- 
 in-law, William Roper, and four servants, he embarked 
 " with a heavy heart, as from his countenance it appeared," 
 and was rowed towards Lambeth. For a time he remained 
 silent ; then suddenly he turned and said : " Son Roper, I 
 thank our Lord the field is won." William Roper did not 
 immediately gather what he meant, but he replied : " Sir, I am 
 very glad." Afterwards, thinking it over, he believed " that 
 it was the love he had to God wrought in him so effectually 
 that he utterly conquered his carnal affection." 
 
 Sir Thomas was the first to go in before the commis- 
 sioners. After the reason of the summons to him was 
 explained, he asked to see the oath, and it was shown to him 
 " under the Great Seal " ; then he asked also for the Act of Suc- 
 cession, which was given to him in a printed roll, and he read
 
 THE PALACE OF LAMBETH 71 
 
 the two, and compared them in silence. At length he replied 
 that, while he abstained from finding any fault in the Act, or 
 blaming any man who had sworn to it, yet his conscience so 
 moved him, that, though he did not deny the succession, he 
 could not in good faith take the oath. 
 
 The commissioners warned him that such an attitude 
 would rouse the king's suspicions ; and they showed him the 
 long list of nobles and commons who had already signed. 
 Then finding that their representations did not move him 
 they requested him to withdraw to the garden. " I tarried 
 in the old burned chamber that looks into the garden," Sir 
 Thomas More wrote to his daughter, Margaret Roper, " but 
 would not go out because of the heat." From here, pre- 
 sently, he watched Dr. Latimer strolling in the garden with 
 other doctors and chaplains ; "and very merry I saw him, for 
 he laughed and took one or twain about the neck so hand- 
 somely that if they had been women I would have weened 
 that he had waxed wanton." 
 
 While he was still waiting here, Dr. Wilson was brought 
 passed him, and "gentilmanly sent straight to the Tower." 
 But the Vicar of Croydon, who had formerly made some 
 difficulty, now took the oath with the rest of the London 
 clergy, "and had such favour at the counsel's hands, 
 that they were not lingered nor made to dance any long 
 attendance to their travail and cost ... so far forth, that 
 Master Vicar of Croydon, either for gladness or for dryness, 
 or else that it might be known quod tile notus erat pontifici, 
 went to my lord's buttery and called for drink, and drank 
 valde familiar iter." Sir Thomas was summoned once again, 
 " when they had played their pageant," but he only repeated 
 what he had already said, and refused to take the oath as it 
 stood.
 
 72 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More met at Lambeth on 
 this day, and More greeted the bishop, saying : " Well met, 
 my lord! I hope we shall meet in heaven"; and Fisher 
 replied: "This should be the way, Sir Thomas, for it is a 
 very straight gate that we are in." 
 
 Bishop Fisher asked five days for consideration, and then 
 he too refused in practically the same terms as Sir Thomas 
 More. 
 
 It was only two years later that Anne Boleyn herself was 
 brought to the Crypt of Lambeth, to answer "on the salva- 
 tion of her soul," whether there had not been some lawful 
 impediment to her marriage. The queen had been tried 
 and condemned to death the day before, and in the hope 
 that confession might save her and those accused with her 
 she acknowledged that such impediments existed, particularly 
 in her engagement to Lord Percy. Cranmer himself, who 
 owned that he was " most bound to her of all creatures 
 living," and who " loved her not a little," pronounced the 
 marriage to have been invalid, and Anne was taken away 
 again, up into the post-room of the Water Tower, and out on 
 to the river-stairs, where she entered her barge, and was rowed 
 down the river to the Tower. 
 
 Before all else Cranmer served the king ; he supported him 
 through the intricacies of his marriages, and gave some 
 dignity to his religious enterprise. Henry VIII. never with- 
 drew his favour from him, though Anne Boleyn's disgrace 
 rendered the archbishop obviously anxious lest the king 
 should change his opinions with his love, and in a letter of 
 condolence to his royal master he expresses the hope that 
 the king " would continue his love to the Gospel, lest it 
 should be thought that it was for her sake only that he had 
 favoured it."
 
 THE PALACE OF LAMBETH 73 
 
 Lambeth Palace was the scene of constant discussions upon 
 doctrine and ritual : the Bishops of London, Durham, and 
 Chichester, at one time resorting there frequently to confer 
 with the archbishop. The Bishop of Durham had a book in 
 Greek concerning- the usages of the Old Church, which 
 " divers times " he brought with him to Lambeth to support 
 his views, showing it to the Bishop of Chichester, as they 
 proceeded there together in his barge. And often when these 
 three bishops had left Cranmer they would pace the gallery 
 at Lambeth, and " were very earnest " in favour of the old 
 usages. 
 
 Stokesley, Bishop of London, disapproved of Cranmer's 
 doctrine, and refused to collaborate with him on any point. 
 When the archbishop undertook a new edition of the Bible 
 in English he sent portions of an old version to the " best 
 learned bishops " to be corrected by them, and returned to 
 Lambeth by a certain day. " The Acts of the Apostles " was 
 sent to the Bishop of London ; but when the day came his 
 portion was the only one not returned. A messenger was 
 sent toFulham, and the MS. was delivered to him untouched, 
 with the reply that Stokesley " had bestowed never an hour 
 on it, nor never would," for he would " never be guilty of 
 bringing the simple people into error." 
 
 Cranmer's opinions aroused the ill-will of other of his sub- 
 ordinates, as appears from the plot of the prebendaries and 
 canons of Canterbury against him. On this occasion it 
 was the king himself who warned the archbishop of his 
 danger. " He put the book of articles [against Cranmer] in 
 his sleeve, and passing one evening in his barge by Lambeth 
 Bridge, the archbishop standing at the stairs to do his duty 
 to His Majesty, he called him into the barge, and accosting 
 him with these words: ' Oh, my chaplain, now I know who
 
 74 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 is the greatest heretic in Kent,' communicated to him these 
 matters, showing him the book of articles against him and 
 his chaplains, and bade him peruse it." Cranmer then knelt 
 to the king and begged for a commission to try the truth of 
 these accusations. 
 
 Under Edward VI., the archbishop invited Peter Martyr, 
 Alasco the Pole, Martin Bucer, and other foreign Protestants, 
 who were persecuted on the Continent, to stay at Lambeth. 
 
 On the accession of Mary, Cranmer faced his fate. He 
 was arrested, tried, and condemned. The archbishopric was 
 sequestered into the hands of Cardinal Pole, and it is said 
 that Mary completely refurnished the palace for his reception. 
 The country was suddenly Catholic once more, and on 
 December 6, 1554, the whole convocation of the Upper and 
 Lower Houses proceeded to Lambeth, and kneeling before 
 the cardinal, " he absolved them from all their perjuries, 
 schisms, and heresies." Cardinal Pole died at Lambeth of a 
 double quartan ague on the very day of Mary's death, 
 November 17, 1558, and his body lay in state there until 
 December 10, when it was conveyed to Canterbury. It was 
 Cardinal Pole who is said to have planted the two fig-trees 
 in Lambeth garden, which were still to be seen in 1806, while 
 slips taken from the original plants are now flourishing trees. 
 
 Mathew Parker, who was chosen by Elizabeth to succeed 
 Reginald Pole, was the first archbishop to be consecrated 
 according to the Protestant rite. The ceremony took place 
 in Lambeth Chapel on December 17, 1559. The east end of 
 the chapel was hung with tapestry; the floor was covered 
 with a red carpet, and the Communion table was prepared 
 with a cloth and a cushion. Four chairs were placed for the 
 four officiating bishops on the south side of the east end, and 
 in front of them a bench covered with a carpet and cushions
 
 THE PALACE OF LAMBETH 75 
 
 on which they were to kneel. Opposite these stood the chair 
 for the archbishop himself. Very early in the morning, 
 Mathew Parker, in a long scarlet gown and hood, four 
 torches carried before him, entered the chapel by the west 
 door, accompanied by the four consecrating bishops, William 
 Barlow, Bishop-elect of Chichester, John Scory, Bishop-elect 
 of Hereford, Miles Coverdale, Bishop of Exeter, and John 
 Hodgkin, Bishop of Bedford. After the ceremony a banquet 
 was given in the great hall. 
 
 Judging from a list of the charges incurred by Mathew 
 Parker " at his entry," the expenses of becoming an arch- 
 bishop were by no means light : the fees to the queen's 
 household and the "charges of consecration " amounting to 
 £300, and the cost of enthronement to another £200. In 
 the same document were entered the approximate sums spent 
 on furnishing the palace. The bedding, tapestry, and carpets 
 were estimated at £200, and the linen at £80 ; £120 was paid 
 for hand-irons, tables, stools, chests, pewter, brass and all 
 kitchen necessaries, and the household plate cost £40. A 
 barge and its fittings were put at £20, and the chapel furniture 
 amounted to the same sum. The armoury was supplied 
 " according to the statute," with lances, demi-lances, corslets, 
 rivets, pikes, bows and arrows, etc., at an expenditure of 
 £100. Twenty geldings cost £80, and " the four great 
 horses, according to the statute," £40. The servants, gentle- 
 men, yeomen, and grooms were fitted out in new liveries of 
 cloth and velvet for £80, and £40 were spent on the 
 " necessary furniture " for the archbishop himself, such as 
 silks, velvets, and furs. 
 
 During the years that Parker was archbishop, Queen 
 Elizabeth frequently visited Lambeth, sometimes staying 
 there two or three days and sometimes only remaining to
 
 76 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 dine. On one occasion, her visit being in Lent, a sermon 
 was preached before her by Dr. Pearce. A pulpit was put up 
 in the quadrangle near the pump. The queen was seated in 
 " the upper gallery that looks towards the Thames ; the 
 nobles and courtiers in the other galleries which form the 
 quadrangle." The courtyard was crowded with people who 
 stared at the queen as much as they listened to the preacher. 
 After the sermon, a banquet was given in " the great room 
 next to the garden below- stairs," all the rest of the house 
 being occupied by the queen and her attendants. Nine earls 
 and seven barons sat at the archbishop's table ; at a second 
 table were the comptroller of the queen's household, her 
 secretary, and many knights and esquires ; while a third was 
 provided for the lord treasurer, the chamberlain, and State 
 officials. The whole cost of entertainment was borne by the 
 archbishop. 
 
 It was at the end of one of her visits to Lambeth that the 
 queen took the opportunity to pay off a grudge that she had 
 against the archbishop, who had absolutely and consistently 
 refused to enforce celibacy amongst the clergy at her wish. 
 The queen retorted by her famous insult to his wife. 
 " Madam I may not call you," she said to Mrs. Parker, " and 
 mistress I am ashamed to call you, so as I know not what to 
 call you ; but yet I do thank you for your good cheer." 
 Madam, at that date, was the title of married women, and 
 mistress that of unmarried women. 
 
 The queen, however, appreciated Parker's moderation and 
 capacity, and on one occasion, when he had incurred her 
 displeasure by speaking too plainly, she restored him to 
 favour with a skilful publicity. The archbishop, himself 
 writing to Lady Bacon, describes what happened. " The 
 other day I was well chidden by my prince's hand ; but with
 
 THE PALACE OF LAMBETH 77 
 
 one ear I heard her hard words, and with the other, and in my 
 conscience and heart, I heard God. And yet Her Highness 
 being never so much incensed as to be offended with me, the 
 next day coming to Lambeth Bridge into the fields, and I 
 according to my duty meeting her on the bridge, she gave me 
 her very good looks, and spoke secretly in mine ear that she 
 must needs continue my authority before the people to the 
 credit of my office." 
 
 The archbishop's hospitality was extended to all-comers, 
 and he commanded his servants to receive strangers with 
 civility. At the same time, a certain decorum of manner was 
 required, and conversation at meals was restricted to religion 
 or " some honest and beseeming subject " ; while, if any man 
 spoke too loud, the monitor hushed him with a cry of 
 " Silence ! " 
 
 In 1561 an assessus of the bishops was held at Lambeth, and 
 various articles of religion were agreed upon between them. 
 Ten years later, on account of the archbishop's indisposition, 
 the conference was again held there, and it was then 
 ordained that the articles should be put into English and 
 printed. 
 
 Archbishop Parker did a great deal to restore and improve 
 the palace. He covered the great hall with shingles, and he 
 built " the long bridge that reacheth into the Thames." A 
 summer-house, originally built by Cranmer, but then almost 
 in ruins, he restored completely, and he repaired also two 
 aqueducts — one in the garden, and the other in the inner 
 cloister for the use of the household. Besides all this, he 
 devised drains leading underground into the Thames, " to 
 cleanse and keep his house sweet." 
 
 Parker's successor, Edmund Grindal, was not in favour 
 with Elizabeth, and she never went to Lambeth in his day :
 
 78 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 but after John Whitgift became archbishop in 1583, her visits 
 there were resumed, sometimes lasting for two or three days. 
 In 1602, when " Mrs. Fowler's brother, Boughton," who 
 served the archbishop, was stabbed at bowls by a page, 
 Whitgift was said to be much grieved, and the queen came to 
 Lambeth herself to comfort him. 
 
 Archbishop Whitgift was in very high favour with the 
 queen, who used to call him "her little black husband, and 
 called his servants her servants." He was even supposed to 
 be her confessor and to know all her secrets, and " she never 
 eat flesh in Lent without obtaining a licence from her little 
 black husband." She was also accustomed to say that she 
 had laid all the burden of her "clergy-cares upon his 
 shoulders." 
 
 It fell to Whitgift to receive at Lambeth the queen's fallen 
 favourite, the Earl of Essex, when on his way to the Tower. 
 The night was so stormy that the barge could not advance 
 with the prisoners down the river, and Essex was brought for 
 shelter to the palace, the archbishop meeting him upon the 
 river-stairs. 
 
 James I. visited Whitgift during his last illness at Lambeth, 
 " and found him in his bed in a declining condition and very 
 weak." The king remained talking with him for a little, and 
 as he took his leave assured him that " he had a great 
 affection for him, and a very high value for his prudence and 
 virtues, and would endeavour to beg his life of God for the 
 goodof His Church"; and the dying bishop merely murmured, 
 " Pro Ecclesia Dei, pro Ecclesia Dei" And these were the 
 last words he ever spoke. 
 
 Edmund Bancroft, who was archbishop from 1604 to 1610, 
 founded the library at Lambeth with the bequest of his own 
 collection of books.
 
 Richard Bancroft, Archbishop or Canterbury. 
 
 From his portrait in the National Portrait Gallerv.
 
 THE PALACE OF LAMBETH 79 
 
 The archbishopric of William Laud began in September, 
 1633, with what was afterwards regarded as an ill-omen. On 
 his first arrival at Lambeth, the ferry-boat was over-loaded, 
 and his coach, horses, and men were upset into the river ; 
 fortunately neither horses nor men were drowned. Probably 
 the water was already low, for in the December of that same 
 year, after a warm and dry season, the barges could not 
 pass along the river. In the following winter, however, the 
 inconvenience was reversed, and an unusually high tide 
 caused the river to overflow, and the water came within the 
 gates of the palace, and flooded the walks, cloisters, and 
 stables. 
 
 During the few years that he was archbishop, Laud spent 
 a considerable amount upon Lambeth, and in the very 
 month of his election he began to repair the chapel and 
 house. He put in a new altar-rail, a pulpit, and an altar- 
 table ; and " a piece of wainscot that parted the pew for the 
 lords," was renewed. Mention is also made of the purchase 
 of four "holdfasts" for the king's picture, and "lockers" for 
 pigeons. Two years later the archbishop put new painted 
 glass into the chapel, and blazoned the royal arms with his 
 own in "the great window at the upper end of the hall." 
 His arms again, with those of the see, were richly gilded 
 over the chapel door. It was in this chapel that, in 1637, 
 the Duke of Lenox was married to Lady Mary Villiers, 
 Charles I. giving the bride away, and the archbishop officia- 
 ting. Laud also repaired the organ, supplying it with three 
 bellows, a wind-trunk, and a new set of keys, the pipes 
 being gilded and the case painted " wainscot colour." He 
 bequeathed this organ to his successor, on condition that it 
 should be then left to the see for ever. The archbishop 
 appears to have had a taste for music, for in his will he also
 
 80 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 mentions " my harp, my chest of viols, and the harpsicord 
 that is at Lambeth." 
 
 In 1635 he had his barge done up, and Thomas Babb, a 
 painter, sent in his bill for " painting the barge with the six 
 oars with state-room, laid twice a fair green in oil." The 
 small tower adjoining the Water Tower on the south was 
 built by him. 
 
 The unpopularity of the archbishop, which had been 
 sullenly but steadily growing, came to a head early in 1640. 
 In the April of that year Samuel Plumley, servant to one of 
 the clerks of the office of Six Clerks, was heard to say, that 
 if Parliament should be disssolved, Lambeth House would 
 be set on fire, "and that they would keep his Grace in it 
 until he should be burnt, and that thousands would say as 
 much." On May II, at midnight, a mob attacked Lambeth, 
 but the archbishop had been warned and had barricaded the 
 house, and although the insurgents were there for two hours, 
 they did no serious harm. After this outbreak the king 
 ordered double watches to be kept in the city, and a detach- 
 ment of men on horse and foot were to be on guard round 
 about Lambeth, Newington, and St. George's Fields. 
 
 Nevertheless a good many disbelieved in the seriousness 
 of the popular feeling, and Lord Conway, writing to the 
 archbishop in June, remarked that " if there were persons 
 fitting to be heads to a discontented multitude there were 
 danger if those men could not be secured ; but he that 
 fears any head that can be given to any discontented body 
 here in England will be afraid, like boys and women, of a 
 turnip cut like a death's head with a candle in it." Laud 
 knew better than this, and he speaks of being daily 
 threatened with ruin throughout the autumn. One evening, 
 on going into his study at Lambeth to look at some MSS.
 
 THE PALACE OF LAMBETH 81 
 
 which he was about to send to Oxford, he found the portrait 
 of himself lying face downward upon the floor, the cord 
 broken. This seemed to him an omen of coming evil, but it 
 was not till nearly two months later, December 18, that he 
 was accused before the Parliament of high treason and 
 delivered into the custody of the gentleman usher. He was 
 permitted, however, to go under guard to Lambeth to fetch 
 some papers. In his own account of this day, he relates 
 that he stayed at Lambeth till the evening to avoid the 
 gazing of the people. " I went to Evening Prayer in my 
 Chapel. The Psalms of the day, Ps. 93 and 94, and chap. 30 
 of Esai. gave me great Comfort. God make me worthy of it 
 and fit to receive it. As I went to my Barge hundreds of my 
 poor Neighbours stood there, and prayed for my safety and 
 return to my House. For which I praise God and them." 
 For three years Laud was a prisoner in the Tower, and from 
 time to time rumours reached him of the fate of his palace 
 at Lambeth. One day he heard that Captain Brown and 
 his company were in occupation, and that it was to be given 
 up to public uses. A little later the news reached him that 
 the soldiers had broken into the chapel and " offered 
 violence " to the organ. Again, about a year later, he learnt 
 that the chapel windows were broken and the steps torn up. 
 In 1643, the archbishop was beheaded. He bequeathed all 
 his chapel plate and furniture to St. John's College, Oxford, 
 and all those books that were to be found in his study which 
 the college library did not already possess. In a note written 
 at an earlier date, he presented to Lambeth Library for 
 posterity "a book in vellum, fair written, containing the 
 records which are in the Tower and concern the clergy." 
 These documents, which cover the years between 1292 to 
 [483, the archbishop had had copied at his own expense. 
 E.E.P. G
 
 82 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 The pictures at Lambeth — both those he had found there and 
 those he had added himself — and his barge, he bequeathed, 
 with the organ, to his successor, should he have one. After 
 his execution all his papers, both at Lambeth and in the 
 Tower, fell into Prynne's hands, and were not recovered till 
 many years later. 
 
 For twenty years after the arrest of Laud, in 1640, there 
 was no archbishop at Lambeth. On January 5, 1643, the 
 order was issued for using the palace as a prison ; but it 
 appears that it was already being used as such, and in the 
 preceding December Dr. Alexander Leighton had been given 
 the keys of Lambeth in order to take charge of those to be 
 imprisoned there. Dr. Leighton had previously been con- 
 demned to the pillory and the loss of his ears by Laud, for 
 writing a book called " Zion's Plea against the Prelacy," in 
 which he " counselled the killing of all the bishops, and 
 called the queen a Canaanite and idolatress." 
 
 A great number of the prisoners were confined in the 
 small turret-room in the Lollards' Tower, and it was from 
 here that Dr. Guy Carleton succeeded in escaping. His 
 wife procured him a rope, and arranged to wait for him in a 
 boat beneath the tower. One night Carleton squeezed 
 through the narrow north window and slid down the rope ; 
 but it was too short, and he fell to the ground breaking both 
 his legs. He was taken into the boat, however, and con- 
 veyed to some safe place, eventually escaping to France. 
 After the Restoration he returned to England, and became 
 successively Bishop of Bristol and of Chichester. 
 
 In 1644 Sir Roger Twysden was committed to Lambeth 
 House for preferring " a seditious petition " ; and in 1648 
 Richard Lovelace, the poet, was imprisoned there. 
 
 Pestilence and fever raged at Lambeth from the
 
 THE PALACE OF LAMBETH 83 
 
 overcrowding of the prisoners. Numbers of them died, while 
 those that survived were weakened by prolonged illness. 
 
 The towers of Lambeth continued to be used as State 
 prisons until the Restoration ; and in the year before Oliver 
 Cromwell's death a number of " obstinate and resolute 
 fellows " were sent there who had been conspiring against 
 the protector. The plot had been discovered " amongst the 
 faction of Sundercome " ; and Cromwell himself went down 
 there for a couple of days, sitting up far into the night 
 examining the prisoners, who refused to take off their hats to 
 him and addressed him as " thou." 
 
 About this time Edward Dandy was the jailor at Lambeth. 
 He had been serjeant-at-arms at the trial of Charles I., and 
 besides reading the Proclamation at Westminster, Cheapside, 
 and the Old Exchange, he had received the axe from the 
 officer of ordinance at the Tower, with which the king was 
 to be executed. 
 
 Even before this date the bolder tongues were beginning 
 to foretell an end to Cromwell's prosperity, and it was seized 
 upon as an omen when, in 1655, his coach and six horses 
 were upset at the ferry, three of the horses being drowned 
 and the boat and coach sinking to the bottom. It was then 
 remarked that the same thing had happened to Archbishop 
 Laud, and " unhappy people " made " idle observation upon 
 it," pointing out that " my lord of Canterbury's coach and 
 horses had been drowned in the same place a little before he 
 was sent to the Tower." 
 
 Excepting those parts reserved for the prisoners, Lambeth 
 House was sold, in 1648, to Colonel Thomas Scott, one of the 
 regicides, and Mathew Hardy. A minute description of 
 the building and grounds is given in a survey taken about 
 this time by the Parliament. The " great stairs or bridge," 
 
 G 2
 
 84 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 evidently so called to distinguish it from the stairs by the 
 Water Tower, jutted out into the river by the ferry, from 
 what was called the Palace Yard, which was planted with 
 seven elms and two willows. Morton's Gateway stood to the 
 north of this space, and is described as having " one faire 
 chamber" over it. To the east of it, then, as now, stood the 
 porter's lodge, and to the west the "evidence chamber," both 
 of these having rooms above them reached by stone stair- 
 cases. The relative position of the gate-house, the Lollards' 
 Tower, and the great hall was the same as at the present 
 day, enclosing upon three sides an oblong court ; the fourth 
 side next the Thames being shut in by a "great brick wall." 
 At the north end of the great hall, between it and the 
 chapel, which extends east of the Lollards' Tower, lay a 
 square court surrounded by a cloister. In the centre stood 
 a well, and this was no doubt the quadrangle where Dr. 
 Pearce preached before Queen Elizabeth. The library of 
 the archbishopric was over the cloisters. At the north-east 
 corner of the hall were " a great paire of stone stairs leading 
 up into the lardge room called the great chamber." This, 
 which is now the archbishop's dining-room, used also to be 
 called the guard-room, and from its northern end passages 
 led, on the left, to the library, and on the right to the 
 presence chamber. At the opposite end of the guard-room 
 extended " a row of lodging-chambers " called Crooked Lane, 
 which chambers were for servants, with chambers under 
 them, much ruined ; and apparently parallel with these, at 
 the south-east corner of the great hall, extending into what 
 is now an open grassy court, were the kitchen, larders, 
 pantries, etc. Near by a gate led eastward into the stable- 
 yard, next the churchyard, where stood the malt-room, corn- 
 chambers, washhouse, and stables.
 
 THE PALACE OF LAMBETH 85 
 
 East of the chapel stood another tower, and beyond this 
 were the dining-rooms, while further east again was " a 
 fair long wainscoted gallery," with a terrace-walk beneath 
 it, opening on to the garden which lay to the north of the 
 palace. 
 
 The archbishop's apartments consisted of three wainscoted 
 rooms leading out of this gallery upstairs, and three rooms 
 under them reached by a private staircase. To the south 
 these rooms overlooked the kitchen garden. 
 
 The flower garden, which was bounded on the south by 
 the palace, " was foure square, and Walled about on the north 
 and West sides with Brickwalls." To the east of it lay an 
 orchard "sett with Apple Trees, Paire Trees, Plum Trees, 
 and Moated round about." Along the western wall was 
 another terrace-walk " paved with square Tyles, opening with 
 arches" into the garden, and over this was "a fair leaden 
 Walke with a Bankuetting house in the North-East 
 Corner thereof." The gardener's house, consisting of three 
 rooms one above the other, stood in the north-east corner. 
 
 The park or close, only about four acres in extent, lay to 
 the east of the palace, and was also surrounded by a moat, 
 except on the north side, where a wall divided it from the 
 street. This park, which contained two fishponds, was 
 planted with over 200 elms, forty-eight walnut trees, and 
 half a dozen chestnut trees. 
 
 During the Commonwealth serious damage was done to 
 the palace. The great hall was completely demolished, the 
 chapel windows smashed, and the tomb of Archbishop 
 Parker was torn up, the lead within the coffin sold, and the 
 body itself " thrown into some obscure hole." The monu- 
 ment, by some chance, escaped destruction, and when Arch- 
 bishop Juxon was repairing the chapel, Mathew Hardy
 
 86 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 was summoned to reveal where the body lay, and it was 
 reburied near the chapel door. Juxon rebuilt the great 
 hall after the pattern of the old building, and in the three 
 years that he was archbishop he spent about £1,500 in 
 repairs at Lambeth and Croydon. 
 
 It was Archbishop Sheldon who recovered Laud's papers, 
 and he commissioned William Sancroft to translate and edit 
 Laud's diary and the history of his trial and death. Sancroft's 
 election to the archbishopric obliged him to defer this work, 
 and he did not resume it until after his deposition. He was 
 at work upon it in 1693 when his last illness prostrated him, 
 and he bequeathed the labour to his chaplain, Henry 
 Wharton. 
 
 Sancroft was the head of the Seven Bishops, and the 
 petition against the Declaration was drawn up at Lambeth. 
 He was also amongst those who signed the order to Lord 
 Dartmouth, bidding him take no hostile action against 
 William of Orange ; but at the first suspicion that William 
 desired the crown for himself the archbishop drew back. 
 State affairs were discussed daily at Lambeth ; and Sancroft, 
 while acknowledging that James II. was unfit to rule, 
 insisted that while he lived no other king could reign, and 
 William could only be regent. Nor would he permit his 
 chaplain to pray for the new king and queen in Lambeth 
 chapel. 
 
 On August 1, 1689, the archbishop was suspended ; in the 
 February of the following year he was deposed, and John 
 Tillotson was publicly declared to be his successor. But 
 Sancroft would not leave Lambeth. He dismissed nearly all 
 his servants ; shutting his doors against the world in general, 
 he put an end to the traditional hospitality which entertained 
 all comers. He packed up his books, and advised his
 
 THE PALACE OF LAMBETH 87 
 
 chaplains to leave him, but Henry Wharton, though he 
 disagreed with him politically, refused to go. 
 
 In May, an order came from the queen that he was to 
 leave Lambeth at once, but he declared that he would not 
 go until the law compelled him. Early in June he was 
 summoned to answer a charge of intrusion, and on the 23rd 
 judgment was given against him. On that same evening 
 Sancroft left Lambeth with Henry Wharton. Wharton was 
 the first regular librarian of Lambeth Library, and he devoted 
 his whole life and energies to learning. Besides editing 
 Laud's diary, he compiled the " Anglia Sacra," the most 
 famous of his many works. Wharton died at the age of 
 thirty-one — only six months after his master, Sancroft — and 
 was buried in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 In 1723 Lord Harley, afterwards second Earl of Oxford, 
 and his chaplain, Thomas, went over Lambeth Palace, which 
 they saw while their servants and horses were crossing in 
 the ferry-boat, they themselves having "got over in a pair 
 of oars." Thomas, who wrote the account of their journeys 
 through England, speaks of Juxon's Hall as a "very hand- 
 some capacious room." From thence they went upstairs 
 and through several apartments into the gallery which was 
 the archbishop's private librar)\ This gallery was hung 
 with pictures which roused the chaplain's wrath by their 
 lack of merit, and he was only mollified by the sight of 
 Holbein's portrait of Warham which was hanging in another 
 room. 
 
 An account of the dilapidations at Lambeth in 1737 
 shows that the cloisters were repaired. A vineyard by 
 the churchyard is also mentioned, and so are the barge- 
 house, brew-house, and mill-house. 
 
 According to a plan of Lambeth, made in 1750, the
 
 88 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 cloisters round the court between the chapel and hall were 
 still there, and what at this date went by the name of the 
 " piazza " corresponded to the terrace-walk and gallery, from 
 which opened the archbishop's own apartments. These 
 rooms, however, were now given up to the housekeeper. 
 The gardener's house still stood in the north-east corner 
 of the garden, but the terrace-walk, along the western wall 
 with the banqueting hall at the end, had vanished. A melon- 
 ground had been made in the centre of the orchard, and the 
 extent of the grounds is given as 12 acres, 3 roods, and 12 
 perches. 
 
 At the end of the eighteenth century Lambeth Palace 
 was once more attacked by a furious mob. In the Lord 
 George Gordon Riots the insurgents surrounded the palace, 
 and it was only saved from them by the arrival of troops. 
 
 Dr. Howley, who became archbishop in 1828, demolished 
 the great mass of irregular buildings which had grown up 
 through the centuries and replaced them by a dwelling-house 
 on a definite plan, spending on the alterations some £60,000. 
 This part of the palace stands now, as it did then, eastward 
 from the Lollards' Tower. It was Dr. Howley, moreover, 
 who turned the great hall into the library, placing there the 
 collections of Bancroft, Tenison, and Seeker. 
 
 The great changes in the surrounding country had begun 
 before this. In 1750 Westminster Bridge was opened after 
 nearly a century of opposition from the citizens of London 
 and the Company of Watermen. By degrees the marshes 
 were drained; the meadows became covered with an intricate 
 maze of small slums crossed by big thoroughfares. Factories 
 arose ; mills and wharfs were built along the river's edge, 
 and the river itself was strongly embanked. The green fields 
 have vanished, the game and wild birds have vanished, the
 
 THE PALACE OF LAMBETH 89 
 
 Duke of Norfolk's Palace that once stood opposite the 
 church has vanished, and so also has the palace that first 
 belonged to the bishops of Rochester and then to the 
 bishops of Carlisle. The country hamlet has become a part 
 of London itself, and the greater part of the palace has 
 taken the form of a modern dwelling-house ; but the chapel 
 and crypt, the Lollards' Tower, the guard-room, the gateway, 
 and the great hall remain as landmarks upon the highway 
 of Time.
 
 Z$t (paface of fuf^am 
 
 UNTIL early in the nineteenth century Fulham 
 was a country village, famous for its market 
 gardens and orchards ; and at that time, when 
 strawberries were in season, young women (chiefly 
 from Shropshire) would flock there to pick the fruit and 
 carry it to London, walking in by night, the baskets poised 
 on their heads, and singing as they went. The way then 
 into Town lay between meadows and the gardens of big 
 estates. 
 
 The soil of Fulham was said to owe much of its fertility 
 to the deposits of mud left each time the river overflowed 
 its banks ; but the low level of the ground also meant bad 
 roads, and in the seventeenth century the inhabitants of 
 Hammersmith (then in Fulham parish), petitioned Bishop 
 Laud for a chapel-of-ease, as the way to Fulham was 
 long and foul, " in winter most toilsome." In the 
 preceding century, the few roads round Fulham are said to 
 have been at times nearly impassable, two teams of horses 
 being needed to draw a single cart. The duty of keeping 
 the roads in repair fell on the tenants of land in the parish, 
 and in 1576 — 7, John Johnson, a gentleman of London, was 
 sued for not having done his share. Although it had been 
 duly announced from the pulpit that the six days from 
 June 18 to 23 in that year were appointed for mending 
 the highways, yet he had not sent " any wain or cart fitted
 
 THE PALACE OF FULHAM 91 
 
 according to the custom of the country with oxen, horses, 
 or other cattle, two fit men and fit necessaries for carting 
 things for this purpose." 
 
 At the time of the Domesday Survey, Fulham was thickly 
 wooded, the forests being sufficient for the pannage of 1,450 
 hogs; while throughout the Middle Ages the woods and 
 hedgerows provided lurking-places for robbers, rendering 
 the wayside dangerous to travellers, to such a degree that 
 on one occasion a certain Thomas was called to order for 
 allowing his grounds " to growe so thycke with underwoods 
 that it is a grett harbour for theeves." At the present day 
 Fulham is practically continuous with London, and is 
 reached by the two great thoroughfares of the Fulham Road 
 and the King's Road ; but there is still a broad line of fields 
 along the river's edge, and in the midst of these stands the 
 Bishop's Palace within grounds of some twenty-eight acres 
 in extent, the whole enclosed by a moat. 
 
 The Palace is of dull red brick, ornamented with diamonds 
 of single black bricks. The buildings are low, being only of 
 two stories in height, and are constructed round two 
 quadrangles. The entrance is through a wide arched 
 gateway into the first and oldest of the courts, in the centre 
 of which stands a fountain, probably on the site of the one 
 mentioned in the Middle Ages. The outward aspect of the 
 Palace gives an impression of combined smallness and 
 dignity, but within it is a bewildering range of rooms and 
 passages, with occasional apartments of unexpected state- 
 liness. Between the moat and the river are now trim 
 flower-beds and public walks, whence the dusky red buildings 
 are here and there visible through the branches of the trees. 
 
 The Manor of Fulham was granted to St. Erconwald, 
 fourth Bishop of London, by Tyshthal, Bishop of Hereford.
 
 92 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 Erconwald, who was the son of Offa, King of the East Saxons, 
 was bishop from 675 to 693, and he possibly built or laid the 
 foundations of the first manor-house. The bishops of 
 London certainly had a habitation there at an early date, 
 and it was at Fulham that the monk, Robert de Sigillo, who 
 had been made bishop by Queen Maud, was taken prisoner 
 by Geoffrey de Mandeville, one of Stephen's knights. In 
 1255, Walter de Gray, the Archbishop of York, died there. 
 He was taken ill, while attending Parliament, "weighed 
 down by diverse cares, his mind weakened by daily fasts," 
 and at the invitation of Fulk Basset, Bishop of London, he 
 went to rest " from his weariness and fruitless labours" at 
 Fulham, and here he died three days later. 
 
 Several patents of King John and Henry III. are dated 
 from Fulham ; and Ralph Baldock, author of the " Annals of 
 England," who was bishop in 1304 and chancellor two years 
 later, is said to have lived there much. Bishop Richard de 
 Bentworth, who was consecrated at Lambeth July 12, 1338, 
 was also chancellor ; and a memorandum recounts that on 
 the eve of the feast of St. Margaret, in that year, Sir John 
 de St. Pol, keeper of the Chancery rolls, and Sir Thomas 
 de Baumburgh, keeper of the Great Seal during the king's 
 absence, came up from the port of Orewell, where the king 
 had embarked, and delivered the seal to the bishop at 
 Fulham in the presence of various nobles, and the bishop 
 " caused it to be opened immediately after dinner and writs 
 to be sealed therewith." 
 
 The expenses of keeping the manor-houses belonging to 
 the see in repair appear to have been a constant and heavy 
 burden, and in 1391, Urban VI. granted the perpetual 
 appropriation of the churches of " Stebenheke, Fulham, and 
 Hakeney, value 330 marks," to the Bishop's mensa. This
 
 THE PALACE OF FULHAM 93 
 
 grant was in answer to a petition from Robert Braybrooke, 
 then Bishop of London, who had complained that he was 
 " put to great charges " by the " yearly influx to London of 
 nobles and others, especially in parliaments and councils of 
 the king and realm," and that the buildings on his manors 
 being out of repair, he found himself unable to spend the 
 necessary money on them. Some years later, permission 
 was given to the bishops to sell certain of their houses 
 which were half-ruined, and which they could not afford to 
 keep in order, retaining only their palace in London, the 
 manors of Fulham, Hadham, and Wickham, and the castle 
 of Storteford. 
 
 The items of repairs in the yearly accounts give one some 
 idea of Fulham Palace and its grounds at about this time. 
 In 1387, John Padnoster, a carpenter, was employed to 
 arrange accommodation for the bishop's cattle in winter, 
 and the " lord's chapel " is also mentioned in this year, an 
 iron saucer having been purchased for the censer. In 
 1402 — 3, an allusion is made to the hall near the entrance 
 court, while 2s. were paid for cleaning the lord's room, and 
 the other rooms of the manor, after the departure of the 
 household of the Queen of England. This was Joan, the 
 daughter of Charles II. of Navarre, who had married Henry 
 IV. in the spring of this year. Another entry of the same 
 sort occurs in 1439 — 40, after a visit of Henry VI., when the 
 cleaning of the hall and rooms after the king's departure, 
 took four days. 
 
 In this year, " shyngyl bord to repair and cover the hall " 
 was brought from the janitor of Fulham Church. The 
 palings between the "house husbondrie " — presumably the 
 home farm— and the great garden, and those of the " vyne 
 garden " were mended, and the bucket or basin [bogette] of
 
 94 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 the well was renewed for 6d. This well is said to have 
 been there since 1426. The larder, hay-loft, stable, and 
 the " gate of the garden where the wood lies," were all 
 repaired at this time, and five years later, half the cow-house 
 was rebuilt. 
 
 In the reign of Edward IV. the shingles on the roof of the 
 hall, apparently being insecure, were made fast, and a 
 hundredweight of small stones were purchased in London 
 and brought to Fulham to repair the roof of the manor- 
 house, the bake-house, and the " reredos in the place called 
 the servyng-place." The hall behind the quay was covered 
 with shingles, and the tiles on the chapel were renewed 
 " where most defective." The " reredos " of the kitchen was 
 repaired with brick. A herche or frame to hold candles was 
 bought, and also a corn-measure, containing about eight 
 bushels, was procured to stand at the door of the house larder. 
 
 Many of the archbishops of Canterbury were first bishops 
 of London. Simon Sudbury, who was elected to the latter 
 see in 1361 — 2, was translated to the archbishopric in 1375, 
 and his immediate successor as Bishop of London, William 
 Courtenay also succeeded him, at his death, as primate. 
 Courtenay, a man of determination and strongly defined 
 views, was the opponent of John of Gaunt and Wycliffe, and 
 it was he who braced the gentle, rather nerveless opinions of 
 Archbishop Sudbury, and induced him to take clear action 
 against the Lollards. 
 
 John Kemp, Bishop of London in 1421, was translated 
 first to York in 1426, and thence to Canterbury in 1452, 
 becoming at the same time Cardinal-bishop of Santa Ruffina ; 
 and it was at Fulham that he received the Cross and Pall, 
 at the hands of his nephew, John Kemp, then Bishop of 
 London.
 
 THE PALACE OF FULHAM 95 
 
 It was also at Fulham that William Warham was made 
 lord keeper of the Great Seal by Henry VII. in August, 
 1502, and it was there again that he was consecrated Bishop 
 of London in the following September. Warham was 
 translated to Canterbury two years later, and was succeeded 
 by Dr. William Barons, who, at the marriage of Prince 
 Arthur and Katherine of Aragon in 1501, had been deputed 
 to answer in Latin all the objections which the king's 
 secretary was to put forward at the calling of the banns. 
 His successor, as Bishop of London, Richard Fitzjames, then 
 Bishop of Rochester, was also present at the marriage, he 
 being one of the six bishops appointed to meet the princess 
 in procession, and to attend upon the archbishop who was 
 to receive Katherine at the west door of St. Paul's " in 
 pontificabilis accompanied with suche bishops and abbotes 
 as be commanded to come to the feste." Fitzjames became 
 Bishop of London in 1506, and it was he who built the 
 oldest existing part of the present palace. These buildings 
 surround the western court, which is entered by the massive 
 arched gateway. From the opposite side of the quadrangle, 
 a squat tower of about the same height as the rest of the 
 buildings, projects forward into the court, and a wide door 
 under this tower led orginally into the great hall. A passage 
 is now partitioned off at this end of the hall. This spacious 
 room, which is 50^ feet by 27 feet, was probably not completed 
 till the end of the sixteenth century. The armour or guard- 
 room, with a fine square fire-place surmounted by four oblong 
 carved panels, stands in the western block of these buildings 
 beside the great gateway. Fitzjames probably also enclosed 
 the kitchen garden with the venerable red wall that now 
 separates it from the other grounds, for the bishop's arms are 
 placed over the arched doorway that leads into it.
 
 96 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 Richard Fitzjames died of the plague January 15, 1521 — 2, 
 and was succeeded by Cuthbert Tunstall, who became lord 
 privy seal in the following year. 
 
 At this period herons and spoonbills are said to have built 
 in the grounds of Fulham, and in 1522, Bishop Tunstall 
 brought an action against one of his tenants for taking these 
 birds. The defendant held a lease of some twenty acres of 
 land, which it is suggested may be identical with the seven- 
 teen acres of meadow by the river-side, extending north of 
 the palace to Craven Cottage. The meadow called Pale- 
 meade, described in 1647, is probably the same land', though 
 it was then said to contain only fifteen acres " by estimation." 
 The tenant of this land pleaded that as the herons and 
 spoonbills had made their nests in the trees on his territory, 
 he considered himself justified in taking them. On the 
 other hand, the bishop retorted that the wood and underwood 
 were excepted from the lease, and as the birds built in the 
 trees they were his private property. The opinions on this 
 case were diverse, some arguing that if the trees could be 
 dealt with as distinct from the soil they grew in, the birds 
 could be equally distinct from the trees they built in ; others 
 that if the trees were excepted from the lease, all that was 
 appurtenant to trees was also excepted. Unfortunately, the 
 verdict is not recorded. 
 
 Tunstall was translated to Durham in 1530, but during the 
 reign of Edward VI. he was imprisoned in the Tower as a 
 Catholic. Under Mary he was freed once more, but after the 
 accession of Elizabeth, having refused to assist in the conse- 
 cration of Mathew Parker according to the new rite, he was 
 once more deprived of his see. He was not sent again to the 
 Tower, however, but to Lambeth, where Archbishop Parker 
 treated him with all courtesy, so that it was said of him, " he
 
 THE PALACE OF FULHAM 97 
 
 showed mercy when in power, and found it in adversity, 
 having nothing but the name of prisoner." Tunstall died at 
 Lambeth, November 18, 1559, and was buried in the chancel 
 of Lambeth Church. He was a most saintly man, and even 
 Michael Wood, " the dealer in hard words," could find no 
 fault with him other than his devotion to his religion, which, 
 Wood says, " was much to be lamented in respect of his 
 excellent giftes and virtues." 
 
 John Stokesley became Bishop of London when Tunstall 
 was transferred to Durham. He had been confessor to 
 Henry VIII., and attended him to the Field of the Cloth 
 of Gold. Erasmus, writing to Paul Bombasius, speaks of 
 him as " well versed in the schoolmen and intimately 
 acquainted with three languages." Indeed, in describing 
 the Court of England, which was frequented by such men 
 as More, Colet, Linacre, Tunstall, and Stokesley, he declared 
 it to have been " more a museum than a Court." 
 
 Stokesley gave his support to the divorce of Henry VIII., 
 but he strongly opposed any religious changes, and not only 
 did he refuse to take any part in Cranmer's innovations, 
 but he attacked heretics with rigour. In 1535, a certain 
 Richard Jonson and his wife, inhabitants of Buckstead, near 
 Colchester, complained to Cromwell that " about Shrovetide 
 was a twelvemonth " they had been brought to Fulham, 
 imprisoned there by the Bishop of London, "and compelled 
 to abstain from flesh till Whitsuntide, besides being so 
 scantily fed that they would sooner have died." In spite of 
 the fact that nothing was proved against them, and that the 
 king commanded their release, they were afterwards taken to 
 Colchester " and imprisoned worse than before." At first 
 people helped them with charity, but were " so opprobriously 
 said to, that they durst come no more." About Michaelmas, 
 E.E-P. H
 
 98 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 however, Jonson and his wife escaped, but they dared not be 
 seen for fear of the bishop. 
 
 Again John Valey or Faley, the parish clerk of St. Peter's, 
 Colchester, and four others were examined at Fulham by the 
 Bishop of London on a charge of heresy, while John Coole 
 was also indicted there for his religious opinions. 
 
 In 1534, a grave scandal arose concerning the bishop and 
 the abbess of the Benedictine Convent at Wherwell, and the 
 abbess was several times brought before the council to be 
 interrogated. Amongst other things she was asked whether 
 she did not come to Fulham from her monastery " to make 
 merry with the bishop," and whether the bishop did not 
 " cause her to do on his kirtle to keep my lady warm, wherein 
 she sat at supper." And again it was inquired whether the 
 bishop and the abbess did not " sit at talk together so long in 
 the night that her ladies were asleep." 
 
 Stokesley, who died in 1539, was succeeded by Edmund 
 Bonner, the fierce persecutor of heretics, who was himself 
 twice deprived of his see and imprisoned for his faith. He 
 was the illegitimate son of Elizabeth Frodsham and a 
 certain George Savage ; but he seems to have always been 
 known by the name of his stepfather, Bonner, a sawyer, 
 whom his mother married after his birth. At Wolsey's 
 death, Bonner became one of the chaplains of Henry VIII., 
 and he was much concerned in advocating the king's divorce. 
 During the first year of his bishopric, the Act of the Six 
 Articles was passed ; the tide seemed turning in favour of 
 Catholicism, and in the following year Bonner was one of a 
 commission to try heretics. However, on the accession of 
 Edward VI., Bishop Bonner was commanded to preach at 
 Paul's Cross in favour of the new religion. He preached, 
 but omitted the Article of the King's Supremacy. He was
 
 
 
 •. •'.'■.■■ ■ 
 
 -■',f 
 
 r*ia? --?'.""l- ■-.-.•( 
 
 llllifpfN 
 
 nut 
 
 Edmund Bonner, Bishop of London. 
 
 in ' ' ' in the British Museum.
 
 THE PALACE OF FULHAM gg 
 
 arrested, and accused before Cranmer at Lambeth of defying 
 the king, and, being found guilty, he was imprisoned at 
 the Marshalsea, Nicholas Ridley being made bishop in 
 his place. 
 
 Ridley is described as a man " comely and well propor- 
 tioned in all points." He seems to have been kindly and 
 peaceable, quick to forgive and to forget injuries. The 
 tenor of his day was calm and regular. Every morning, 
 " as soon as his apparel was put on," he gave half an hour to 
 prayer. Then he went to his study till ten o'clock, at which 
 hour the household assembled for " common prayer." After 
 this he went to dinner, " where he used little talk, and then 
 it was sober and discreet and wise, and sometimes cheerful 
 as cause required." He then went back to his study until 
 five, when once more there were prayers, followed by supper. 
 The evening was spent also in his study till eleven o'clock, 
 when he was accustomed to go to bed. At Fulham he used 
 to read a " lecture " every day to his household, beginning 
 with the Acts of the Apostles and continuing through the 
 Epistles of St. Paul, " giving to every man that could read a 
 New Testament." The bishop, however, did not abjure all 
 recreation ; he was fond of " shooting in the bow and playing 
 tennis," and often would engage in these amusements with 
 Dr. Turner, the Dean of Wells. 
 
 During Bonner's imprisonment his old mother, Elizabeth 
 Bonner, continued to live in Fulham, in a house near the 
 palace, probably in what was afterwards the Golden Lion 
 Inn, which was still standing early in the nineteenth century. 
 It is supposed that this house belonged to Bishop Bonner 
 and a vaulted cellar approached by a trap-door and a winding 
 staircase was known as Bonner's dungeon. A subterranean 
 passage led from this house to the palace, and when the 
 
 H 2
 
 ioo ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 Golden Lion was pulled down in 1836, Joe Hatch, a water- 
 man, explored it as far as he could, rinding there a number 
 of human skeletons, packed away into recesses about eighteen 
 inches deep. 
 
 It is told of Bishop Ridley that when he was at Fulham 
 " he always sent for Mistress Bonner, who dwelt in a house 
 adjoining to his house, to dinner and supper, with one Mistress 
 Mungey, Bonner's sister, saying : ' Go for my Mother Bonner,' 
 who coming was ever placed in a chair at the table's end, 
 being so gently treated, welcomed, and taken as though he 
 had been born of her own body, being never displaced of 
 her seat, although the king's council had been present, 
 saying, when any of them were there : ' By your lordship's 
 favour this place of right and custom is for my Mother 
 Bonner.' " 
 
 Old Mistress Bonner died during her son's imprisonment, 
 "who, notwithstanding, gave for her, mourning coates at her 
 death." 
 
 It was Ridley who ordered that the altars in his diocese 
 should be done away with, "as occasions of error and 
 superstition." Plain tables were to be used instead, and the 
 absurd disputes which raged as to their position in the 
 chancel, afterwards, laid Ridley open to the taunt : " When 
 your table was constituted, you could never be content in 
 placing the same, now east, now north, now one way, now 
 another, until it pleased God of his goodness to place it clean 
 out of the church." 
 
 Ridley's fall came after three years of dignity. At the 
 death of the young king, he supported the claims of Lady 
 Jane Grey. He preached against Mary at Paul's Cross, 
 drawing a picture of the evils that would overtake the 
 country if she were queen, and he asserted that both she and
 
 THE PALACE OF FULHAM 101 
 
 Elizabeth were illegitimate. However, when he saw that it 
 was a hopeless cause, he hurried to Queen Mary's camp at 
 Framlingham, and asked for pardon. But Mary ordered 
 him to be taken to the Tower, and he was conveyed back to 
 town " on a lame and halting horse." 
 
 Ridley thus became a prisoner, and Bonner was released, 
 once more to become bishop of London. The accusations 
 against him were examined and declared void. 
 
 During the short time that he was again in power, Fulham 
 Palace became a judgment hall for heretics, and on one 
 occasion ten Essex men, two women, and a Dutchman were 
 tried there and condemned to be burnt at Stratford-le-Bow. 
 There is a tradition that, when examining heretics at Fulham, 
 Bonner was accustomed to sit in a chair at the end of a 
 winding path leading through a shrubbery, called the Monk's 
 Walk, and it was in this garden that Thomas Henshaw and 
 John Willes were flogged for defying him. Henshaw, who 
 had already been in prison for some eleven weeks, was 
 brought to Fulham and put in the stocks, " remaining there 
 all night on bread and water." The next day the bishop and 
 his attendant archdeacon discoursed with him, but the youth 
 retorted boldly, whereupon " the bishop fumed and fretted 
 that for anger being scarce able to speak, he said : ' Dost 
 thou answer my archdeacon so, thou naughty boy ? I shall 
 handle thee well enough be assured.' " 
 
 Bonner then sent for two willow wands, and "caused him 
 to kneel against a long bench in an arbour in his garden," 
 and he beat him " till for weariness he was obliged to leave 
 off." 
 
 Willes was treated in the same way, the bishop " having 
 him to his orchard, there, within a little arbour, with his own 
 hands beat him with a willow wand,"
 
 102 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 In after years some one showed Bonner his own picture in 
 the first edition of Fox's " Book of Martyrs," "on purpose to 
 vex him "; but the bishop only laughed, and said : " A vengeance 
 on the foole ! How could he draw my picture so right ! " 
 
 The palace chapel was sometimes used instead of the 
 church for the Administering of Articles to heretics : as, in 
 1557, when four prisoners were brought by Bonner's orders 
 to Fulham, " and there in his private chapel within his 
 house, he judicially propounded unto them certain Articles." 
 Henshaw was also brought into the chapel for the same 
 purpose after he had been beaten. The chapel is said to 
 have stood at this time to the north-east of the eastern 
 quadrangle, and Thomas Hankes, who had scornfully refused 
 to be present at a service there, " came down and walked 
 between the hall and the chapel in the court till evensong 
 was over." 
 
 In 1555, the deprived bishop of Chester, a member of the 
 reformed Church, John Byrde found an asylum with Bonner 
 at Fulham, bringing with him an offering of a dish of apples 
 and a bottle of wine. 
 
 On the accession of Elizabeth, Bonner was again deprived 
 of his benefice, and nine months later, again imprisoned in 
 the Marshalsea. During those last weeks of liberty his well- 
 known figure was the butt of much mockery, to which, 
 however, he was prompt to reply. Once, when walking in 
 the street wearing his tippet " one begged it of him (in 
 scoffe) to line a coat ; ' No,' saith he, ' but thou shalt have a 
 foole's head to line thy cap ! ' " Again, to a passer-by who 
 greeted him with : " Good-morrow, Bishop quondam,'" he 
 replied promptly, " Farewell Knave semper." 
 
 Sir John Harrington, writing at the beginning of the 
 reign of James I., remembered the fact that in his childhood,
 
 THE PALACE OF FULHAM 103 
 
 Bonner was still alive, " unbishoped and went sometimes 
 abroad ; but I was so young then, as I could judge nothing, 
 and he was so hated that every fat, ill-favoured fellow that 
 went in the street, they would say that was Bonner." Bishop 
 Bonner died in the Marshalsea, September 5, 1569, and 
 Edmund Grindal, then Bishop of London, wrote from 
 Fulham to Sir William Cecil, describing his funeral. Bonner 
 was considered excommunicate by the English Church, from 
 which he had " never desyred absolution, wherefore by the 
 law Christian burial might have been denyed him, but 
 we thought not goode to deal so rigorously ; and therefore 
 permitted him to be buried in St. George's Churchyard, and 
 the same to be done not in the day solemnly, but in the night 
 privily." This was done because rumours had reached 
 Grindal that several Catholics, friends and relations of the 
 late bishop, had arrived in London " intending to honour his 
 funeral as moche as they coulde," and he feared lest the 
 people " to whom Bonner in his life was most odious, if they 
 had seen flocking of Papists about his coffin . . . would 
 have been mooved with indignation and so some quarrelling 
 or tumulte might have ensued." 
 
 At this date the vines at Fulham were renowned for their 
 excellence, the grapes having the reputation of ripening 
 earlier there than elsewhere. As Elizabeth particularly liked 
 this fruit, the bishop used to send her each autumn a present 
 of the first bunch. It so happened, however, that in this 
 year the grapes did not ripen as well as usual, and in a post- 
 script to his letter Grindal expressed his hope that they 
 would be ready at the end of the following week, when he 
 would send some to the queen's majesty. 
 
 His hope was fulfilled, and the grapes were brought to 
 the Court by a servant at about the date he mentioned ;
 
 104 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 but this incident was nearly the means of bringing the 
 bishop into disgrace. A rumour had got about that one of 
 his servants had died of the plague, and that three more 
 were ill. Was it possible that with infection in his house- 
 hold he had sent a member of it to the Court ! The bishop 
 wrote an emphatic explanation. It was true that one of his 
 men had died, but not of the plague, and none in his house 
 were sick. "Neither would I so far have overseen myself as 
 to have sent to her majestie if I had not been most assured 
 that my man's sickness was not of the plague. And if I 
 suspected any such thing now, I would not keep my household 
 together as I do." 
 
 Bishop Grindal had been chaplain to Ridley, and through- 
 out Mary's reign he had lived out of England. It was 
 during his sojourn in Switzerland that he first saw the 
 tamarisk-tree, a specimen of which he brought with him to 
 England on his return, and planted in his garden at Fulham, 
 " where the soil being moist and fenny well complied with 
 the nature of this plant." 
 
 A good deal of familiar correspondence appears to have 
 passed between this bishop and Sir William Cecil, and in 
 1563, hearing that the secretary was ill, Grindal wrote com- 
 paring the symptoms with those he had himself at one time 
 experienced, and sending him a sealed glass of Thomas 
 Gibson's balsam. 
 
 Grindal was translated to York in 1570, and to Canterbury 
 six years later. He was succeeded in the Diocese of London 
 by Edwin Sandys, a determined Protestant who had suffered 
 imprisonment under Mary. Bishop Sandys was the owner 
 of a " faire brynded dog " which had been given to him by 
 Lady Rich, and was evidently much valued. Not long after 
 his election, this dog was stolen from his house at Fulham,
 
 THE PALACE OF FULHAM 105 
 
 and the bishop, hearing that it had been seen near Guildford, 
 wrote to Mr. More who lived near there, and begged him to 
 assist in recovering the animal ; while Sir Henry Weston, the 
 bishop's cousin, was also asked to be on the watch for it. 
 Lady Rich was probably the wife of the Puritanical 
 Lord Rich, whose want of orthodoxy was the cause of 
 violent quarrels between him and Bishop Aylmer. 
 
 In 1576 — 7, when Sandys was translated to York, he 
 recommended John Aylmer to the queen to take his place 
 in the see of London, and when Aylmer arrived in Town, he 
 " courteously entertained him at his house, and upon his 
 desire assisted at his consecration," which took place on 
 March 22. Moreover, when Sandys took his departure for 
 York he left various articles in the houses belonging to the 
 bishopric for the use of the new bishop. Aylmer moved by 
 gratitude, impetuously declared that he would require 
 nothing for dilapidations. He modified this generosity a 
 little later, and said that " he would be contented to take 
 £100 in full satisfaction for them." However, after a 
 survey of his new estates had been made, he repented still 
 further of his haste, for the repairs needed at Fulham alone 
 amounted to £159 18s. lod. But not only did he now 
 require the archbishop to pay for the repairs, but he also 
 demanded the entire revenues of the last half-year, from 
 Michaelmas till Lady Day, although Sandys had remained 
 bishop until Candlemas. A lawsuit followed between the 
 two ecclesiastics, and the archbishop expressed his indigna- 
 tion in no measured terms, accusing Aylmer of " coloured 
 covetousness, and an envious heart covered with the coat of 
 dissimulation." The judgment was given against Sandys, 
 who was required to pay £1,000 for the dilapidations. 
 
 Aylmer is described as " mean of stature, but of courage
 
 106 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 great, and very valiant in his youth, which quality departed 
 not from him when he was old " : a proof of which was the 
 cudgelling he administered in defence of his daughter's 
 reputation to her husband, Dr. Squire, who, not content with 
 neglecting her, plotted to cast a slur upon her reputation. 
 
 The bishop was hot-headed, truculent, and quick to take 
 up any quarrel. Consequently he was surrounded by 
 enemies, and tales were rife against him at Court. Never- 
 theless, he remained in good favour with the queen until his 
 death, and it would seem that he had a certain charm of 
 manner, and that, especially in his bearing towards women, 
 he was gentle and courteous. As a young man he had been 
 tutor to Lady Jane Grey, who regarded him not only as an 
 instructor, but as a friend ; and discoursing one day to 
 Roger Ascham she said : " One of the greatest benefits that 
 ever God gave me, is that he sent me so sharp and severe 
 parents and so gentle a schoolmaster ; for when I am in 
 presence either of father or mother, whether I speak, keep 
 silence, sit, stand or go, eat, drink, be merry or sad, be sewing, 
 playing, dancing, or doing anything else, I must do it as it 
 were in such weight, measure, and number, even so perfectly 
 as God made the world, or else I am so sharply taunted, so 
 cruelly threatened — yea, presently, sometimes with pinches, 
 nipps and bobbs and other ways (which I will not name for 
 the honour I bear them) so without measure misordered that 
 I think myself in hell, till the time come that I must go to 
 Mr. Aylmer who teacheth me so gently, with such fair 
 allurements to learning that I think the time nothing whiles 
 I am with him. And when I am called from him, I fall on 
 weeping because whatsoever I do else but learning is full of 
 grief, trouble, fear, and wholly misliking to me?' 
 
 On the other hand, Aylmer was a vigilent persecutor of all
 
 THE PALACE OF FULHAM 107 
 
 who diverged to either side of the narrow line of the English 
 Church, being as uncompromising in his dealings with Puritans 
 as with Catholics, which led to passionate quarrels between 
 him and Lord Rich, and afterwards with his son. 
 
 About 1580, Lord Rich, the son, was holding Puritanical 
 meetings in his house in Essex, and giving harbour to a certain 
 Mr. Wright, a preacher of unorthodox views. This Wright 
 had been tutor at Cambridge to the Earl of Essex, whose 
 sister had married Rich. Such meetings had already taken 
 place in the time of Lord Rich's father, and had been the 
 cause of " many great storms " between him and the bishop. 
 
 Lord Rich, the son, was no more amenable, and together 
 with " his bastard uncle " and Wright, he came to the 
 bishop's house at Fulham, and demanded licence for the 
 latter to preach throughout the diocese. The bishop refused 
 absolutely, unless Wright would submit to the English 
 Church, whereupon " the lord's aforesaid uncle did so shake 
 him (the bishop) up, that he said he was never so abused at 
 any man's hands since he was born." 
 
 The matter came to the queen's ears, and both Lord Rich 
 and Wright were tried for their opinions and imprisoned. 
 
 Aylmer was twice vexed by accusations of spoiling the 
 woods on the estates of the see, and of unlawfully felling 
 trees. On the first occasion, he replied indignantly that 
 those he had cut down were pollards, " doated and decayed 
 at the top." He owned, however, that he had sold timber 
 to the value of £600 during the years 1577, I 57^> an d 1579 5 
 but then had he not also in the same time paid £1,800 to the 
 queen, "besides his housekeeping wherein he had threescore 
 persons young and old"? And, when at Fulham, he bought 
 all his fuel. Nevertheless, in spite of such considerations, 
 the queen forbade the bishop to cut down any more trees.
 
 108 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 The second occasion was some years later, when a Court 
 musician, called Litchfield, declared that the bishop had been 
 felling the elms at Fulham. Aylmer was immediately up in 
 arms. As a matter of fact, the trees in the park were in 
 better condition now than they had been before his time. 
 " And for the out-woods he did his best (both by suit of 
 law and by diligent looking to them) to meet with the 
 outrage of the borderers." He acknowledged with bitter- 
 ness that much good timber had been felled, but that was 
 the fault of his predecessors who had given to the wood- 
 wards a large grant of fees of dead trees, starvelings, sear, 
 and decayed trees, under cover of which these men were 
 carrying away all the sound timber. And thus not only was 
 the bishop the sufferer, but all the blame was visited upon 
 him. And what was more, this very Litchfield, who was 
 accusing him, had asked for twenty timber-trees, and had 
 been refused. Moreover, he appealed to the queen and 
 Court to bear witness to the falseness of this rumour, for Her 
 Majesty " had lately lodged at the palace there ; where she 
 misliked nothing but that her lodgings were kept from all 
 good prospect by the thickness of the trees, as she told her 
 vice-chancellor, and he so reported to the bishop." 
 
 Not long after this Dr. Pern, the Dean of Ely, and a friend 
 of Aylmer's, was dining at " a great man's table," where 
 much abuse was vented upon the bishop for felling the elms 
 at Fulham. Dr. Pern waited his opportunity, and then 
 asked how long it was since the trees had been cut down. 
 " Some half a year ago," was the reply. " Then," remarked 
 Pern, they " are marvellously grown in that time. For, I 
 assure you, I was there within these four days, and they 
 seemed to be two hundred years old." And he added point 
 to his statement by relating the story of the queen's criticism.
 
 THE PALACE OF FULHAM 109 
 
 In spite of all the bishop could say, and the defence of his 
 friends, his innocence was only half believed, and the incident 
 was not forgotten, giving opportunity for a taunt on one 
 occasion when Aylmer was engaged in a combat of words. 
 The bishop being involved in "a ruffle with a mad blade 
 called Maddocks," an inhabitant of Fulham, punned angrily 
 upon his name. " Thy very name," he exclaimed, " expresseth 
 thy nature, for Maddocks is thy name, and thou art as mad 
 a beast as I ever talked with." " By your favour, sir," 
 replied Maddocks, " your deeds answer your name righter 
 than mine ; for your name is Elmar, and you have marred 
 all the elms in Fulham by lopping them." 
 
 This John Maddocks was usher of the exchequer (hos- 
 tiarius scaccarii) in Middlesex, holding also the offices of 
 marshal, herald, and pleader (barriarriore) during the sessions 
 of the itinerant justices. He seems to have been a turbulent 
 fellow, and had incessant disputes both with the bishop and 
 the townsfolk. With the latter he quarrelled concerning a 
 passage to a piece of the bishop's ground. With the bishop 
 he quarrelled about a pew in the parish church, and on 
 Easter Day, when Aylmer and his men were at court, he 
 entered the church " in a warlike manner with rapier and 
 target," and disturbing the bishop's daughters in their seat, 
 " there thrust in his mother and sister." Again one of the 
 bishop's men, who was executor to the will of an inhabitant 
 of Fulham, defrauded a certain shepherd of his legacy. 
 Maddocks immediately took up the shepherd's cause, and 
 appealed to the court of requests. The bishop asked the 
 court to discharge his man, promising himself to arrange 
 the matter. The court refused, and Aylmer sent for 
 Maddocks, " who coming, angry words happened." After this 
 "divers frays " also " happened," and constant brawls took
 
 no ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 place between the bishop's servants, " who would not hear 
 their master abused," and Maddocks and his men. 
 
 Before long Maddocks complained that he went in fear of 
 his life, and he demanded a warrant to arrest the bishop's 
 " cutters." He added that " his wife was with child and 
 rested since the last assault (in which he had been wounded) 
 in a very bad way." 
 
 The bishop declared that he had already bidden his men 
 not to meddle with Maddocks, who had been the aggressor, 
 and he enumerated a long list of lawless deeds which were 
 laid to this man's account. Finally, Maddocks was sum- 
 moned before the Archbishop of Canterbury and forced to 
 ask for pardon and to promise " that he would ever after 
 have a reverent regard of his duty towards the said bishop." 
 
 That Aylmer was tenacious of his rights even in trifles is 
 shown by another story. Some thieves left in a ditch in 
 Fulham a piece of cloth which they had stolen from some 
 dyers staying at the Old Swan Inn. The bishop finding it, 
 had it watched for a night or two, and as neither the rightful 
 owners nor the thieves appeared he took it for his own. 
 Some time after the dyers claimed it, and the thieves, who 
 were caught, acknowledged it to be theirs, " but upon con- 
 ference with learned lawyers it was found that the ownership 
 of the cloth was altered and transferred to the liberties." One 
 version of the story says that, though the thieves were hung, 
 the bishop kept the cloth as his right ; another relates that 
 he gave part of it back to the owners. 
 
 Aylmer appears to have pursued all occupations with the 
 same impetuosity and thoroughness. Amongst other things 
 he was exceedingly fond of bowls, at which he used to play 
 at Fulham on Sunday afternoons after evening prayer. 
 " And herein he would be so eager that he sometimes had
 
 THE PALACE OF FULHAM m 
 
 such expressions in his game as exposed him to the censure 
 of many, especially of his enemies." Frequently the bishop 
 would be seen running after his bowl, excitingly crying, " Rub, 
 rub, rub ! " or "The devil go with it ! " while some one 
 wishing to see him when he was playing was asked to wait, 
 as " it was a pity to trouble him lest he swore." He exerted 
 himself with equal energy in putting his property in order, 
 and he erected new buildings, repaired and added to old ones, 
 restored bridges, cleansed ditches and sewers, and spent more 
 on the estate than any Bishop of London had done for forty 
 years. 
 
 Aylmer was said to keep " a good house " — that is to say, 
 it came up to the requisite standard of magnificence and 
 hospitality ; and the members of his household numbered 
 according to one account, sixty, and to another, eighty. 
 
 Elizabeth again stayed at Fulham in January, 1588, 
 when she made a progress thither on her way to Hounslow 
 " ahawking." 
 
 Bishop Aylmer died at Fulham Palace on June 4 or 5, 
 1594, aged seventy-three, and Richard Fletcher, the father of 
 John Fletcher, the dramatist, was translated from the see of 
 Worcester to succeed him. Fletcher, who had been Dean of 
 Peterborough in 1583, had attended Mary, Queen of Scots, 
 at her execution, urging her up to the last to change her 
 faith. He is said to have been a handsome man, but of 
 rather haughty manners. His pride, however, was "only in 
 gate and gesture-deep, not sinking to his heart," so that he 
 was " causelessly condemned for a proud man, as who was 
 a goodly hypocrite and far more humble than he appeared." 
 Shortly after he became bishop, Fletcher roused Elizabeth's 
 wrath by marrying a second time, his wife being the widow 
 of Sir John Baker and sister to Sir George Gifford. For six
 
 ii2 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 months he was suspended from his duties, and when he was 
 at last forgiven and reinstated it was said that the joy killed 
 him. " Certain it is the queen being pacified and he in great 
 jollity with his faire lady and her carpets and cushions in 
 his bedchamber, he died suddenly taking tobacco in his chair, 
 saying to the man that stood by him, whom he loved very 
 well, ' Oh, boy, I die.' " Fletcher was at Fulham at the 
 time of his death, which took place on June 15, 1596. It 
 was during his short episcopate that the great hall began by 
 Fitzjames was completed, and his dated cypher is placed in 
 one of the windows. 
 
 From the lost churchwardens' books, quoted by Lysons, 
 Queen Elizabeth twice visited Bishop Bancroft at Fulham — 
 once in 1600 and again in 1602; but either one of these dates 
 is an error, or else she was also there a third time, in 1601. 
 
 On August 1 in this last year Thomas Lowe offered his 
 " poor house here at Putney " to Sir Robert Cecil, as he had 
 heard that the queen intended going to Fulham on the 
 following Tuesday for two days or more, and he knew well 
 " that the receipt of my lord of London's house will not con- 
 veniently be able to receive such of her honourable followers 
 as most commonly attend and are near her Majesty, whereof 
 I observe Mr. Secretary to [be] the chief and principal." 
 
 This visit was unfortunate, for on August 9 two yeomen 
 broke into the palace and stole a silver salt-cellar worth £4, 
 and belonging to " the lady the Queen Elizabeth, the said 
 queen in her royal majesty being then and there at Fulham 
 and in the said house." The bolts and bars of the palace 
 do not appear to have been very sound at this time, for in the 
 following year another thief " broke burglariously " into the 
 bishop's house at Fulham and stole " five carpettes of divers 
 colours worth ten pounds."
 
 THE PALACE OF FULHAM 113 
 
 Mr. Lowe's offer of his house to the secretary suggests that 
 the condition of the palace made accommodation difficult 
 for a great retinue, and two or three years later, when 
 Bancroft invited Sir Fulke Greville to stay at Fulham, 
 he limited his invitation, stating that there would be " lodg- 
 ing in his house " for Sir Fulke and two men, while the 
 horses were to be put up in the town. 
 
 The repairing of the huge buildings on their estates was a 
 burden handed down from one bishop to another, and a 
 burden that was never permanently diminished. In 1598 
 Bancroft complained that he had spent £300 on Fulham 
 Palace alone. He also compared in this year the revenues 
 of the see with his expenditure, showing that he was £450 
 out of pocket. The income of the see was £1,000, but in 
 first-fruits, subsidies, and fees for patents he had spent £570, 
 while his ordinary charges for housekeeping, wages, and 
 liveries, " which without offence cannot be well abated doe 
 amount per annum to £760." Added to this was the cost of 
 sending two horses to Ireland at the rate of £60 each. 
 Former bishops, he declared, had made £400 yearly or more 
 by the wood on the estate ; but not only had Bancroft had to 
 buy timber for repairs, but he also had to burn sea-coals at 
 Fulham. 
 
 Between 1601 and 1604 the bishop spent £106 19s. 6%d. 
 on repairs at Fulham and London. This included the 
 " digging up, scouring, and covering of the kitchen vault " at 
 Fulham, and the repairing of the landing-bridge, which was 
 done by a carpenter and his man in two days ; a couple of 
 boats being hired for the work, and four labourers helping 
 " during the ebb." 
 
 Bancroft attended Elizabeth in her last illness. Just 
 before his coronation, James I. visited the bishop at Fulham, 
 
 E.E.P. I
 
 ii 4 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 and in 1604 promoted him to the primacy. In 1627 
 Charles I. and Henrietta Maria dined at Fulham with 
 Bishop Montaigne. 
 
 William Laud was Bishop of London from 1628 to 1633, 
 in which year he was translated to Canterbury. An amusing 
 letter, dated from Fulham, was written by him, when arch- 
 bishop-elect, to Sir Thomas Roe, thanking Lady Roe for a 
 cat she had sent him. The cat, she said, had come from 
 Smyrna ; and while he expressed his gratitude for it, where- 
 ever it came from, he hoped she had no intention of scratch- 
 ing her friends with any token she sent them. 
 
 William Juxon, who was chosen to succeed him as bishop 
 of London, was his great friend, and after Laud's arrest he 
 went to see him in the Tower. It was also Bishop Juxon 
 who read the service on the morning of the king's execution, 
 and gave him the Sacrament. He alone of all the king's 
 friends was allowed to be with him on the scaffold, and it 
 was to him that Charles I. spoke his last word as he laid his 
 head on the block — "Remember." 
 
 Juxon himself escaped all censure from the Parliament, 
 although he was a bishop and for some years treasurer, the 
 white staff of office having been given to him March 6, 1635. 
 He resigned it in 1641 ; but for several years he remained 
 unmolested at Fulham, where he was occasionally visited by 
 some of " the grandees, and found respect from all, yet 
 walked steadily in his old paths." 
 
 In 1647 Fulham Palace was sold by the Parliament to 
 Colonel Edmund Harvey for £7,617 8s. lod. ; the deed of 
 sale describes it as the site of the manor with " one private 
 chappell, and all buildings, outhouses, dove-houses, barnes, 
 stables, granaries, coach-houses, courts, courtyards, orchards, 
 gardens, walkes, fishponds, pumps, water-courses thereto
 
 William Juxon, Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 /■'rout his pop-trait in tin National Portrait Gallery.
 
 THE PALACE OF FULHAM 115 
 
 belonging, and two foot-bridges, and one great bridge, and 
 three closes of pasture called the warren, which premises are 
 all encompassed with a moat, about two poles over, in most 
 parts thereof flowes and draynes att pleasure, and doe 
 contayne together within the said moate thirtie-six acres and 
 a halfe by admeasurement." There were then calculated to 
 be about 700 trees within the palace grounds. One hundred 
 trees grew in the Green Lane next the moat, and ten trees 
 in the hedge of this same lane. There were 240 willows by 
 the causeway along the water-side, which, with the rest of 
 the wood in the parish, were valued at £689 5s. 4J. There 
 were osier and reed-grounds on the banks of the Thames 
 near the landing-stage, and the royalty of salmon-fishing in 
 the river within the bounds of the manor was valued at 30s. 
 yearly. The demesne-lands were tithe-free. 
 
 Edmund Harvey, the son of a fishmonger, had himself 
 been a mercer. He was one of the commissioners at the 
 trial of Charles I., but he did not agree with the verdict, nor 
 did he sign the warrant for the execution. During his pos- 
 session of Fulham Palace he entertained Cromwell there 
 with much display and magnificence, but shortly after, in 
 1655, he was arrested for defrauding the Parliament, and 
 was imprisoned in the Tower. He returned to Fulham for 
 one month in the following January on £10,000 security that 
 he would return at the end of that time. However, his 
 frauds were charged upon his estate, and he was definitely 
 released in February, thenceforward living at Fulham until 
 the Restoration. In 1660 he was tried as a regicide and 
 condemned to death, but the fact that he had not 
 signed the warrant saved his life, and the sentence was 
 changed to one of perpetual imprisonment. Probably as 
 Colonel Harvey had used Fulham Palace as his own 
 
 1 2
 
 n6 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 ■ j iii h i i ii i |i ^JlLl .mil i.u l|J 1. i 11 ■ ■ . ' ■ >■ _ ■■■ I ! ■ 1. i W M^^^^^B-B^Bi^a^FW^i»WWWWIgl"^g^^M^W^We^gW"J"?--»Tg^i 
 
 residence, the buildings had not been damaged in the same 
 way as those of Lambeth and other episcopal dwellings ; but, 
 nevertheless, Bishop Sheldon spent considerable sums on its 
 restoration, and he is said to have rebuilt portions of the 
 eastern quadrangle which have since been pulled down. 
 
 Sheldon had only been three years Bishop of London when 
 Juxon, then Archbishop of Canterbury, died, and he was 
 promoted to the primacy. He was much in favour with 
 Charles II. by reason of his political astuteness. Bishop 
 Burnet, while acknowledging his charity and generosity, 
 reproaches him with a certain falseness. His manner was 
 urbane and cheerful to excess, and his actions hardly tallied 
 with his expressions of friendship. Sheldon was also accused 
 of regarding religion purely as a matter of policy, referring to 
 it as if it were " an engine of government." That he was 
 scarcely spiritual-minded was admitted even by his chaplain, 
 Samuel Parker, who, while describing him as " very assiduous 
 at prayers," goes on to say that he " did not set so great a 
 value on them as others did," but rather held that the leading 
 of a good life was more important than any worship. And 
 he was accustomed to say to the young noblemen, " who by 
 their parent's commands resorted to him daily, ' Let it be 
 your principal care to become honest men.' " 
 
 The next bishop, Humphrey Henchman, had, while a 
 prebendary of Salisbury, helped Charles II. in his escape 
 after the Battle of Worcester. He is the only bishop who is 
 buried within Fulham parish church. His gentleness and 
 generosity made him much beloved, and thirty years after 
 his death Bowack found that his memory was still held in 
 such veneration " that several who knew him can't mention 
 his name even now without unusual emotion." Bishop 
 Henchman's successors kept up the tradition of open-handed
 
 THE PALACE OF FULHAM 117 
 
 generosity, and under Dr. Henry Compton (1675 — 1713) the 
 inhabitants of Fulham continued to relish the " bountiful 
 housekeeping " and the charity they frequently received at 
 the palace. 
 
 In describing Fulham in 1705, Bowack mentions the 
 " private stairs to take water at " belonging to the palace, 
 and he also refers to the library, which he calls very choice, 
 it having been increased by gifts from Dr. Compton. 
 
 It was under this bishop that the gardens of Fulham 
 Palace attained their greatest fame. He was an enthusiastic 
 botanist, and many rare trees were imported by him and 
 planted in the palace grounds. 
 
 "The gardens round this house," writes Bowack, " as they 
 are now improved by his lordship are very fine and enter- 
 taining, and the kindness of the soyle and great plenty of 
 water makes them very proper for the breeding of some 
 choice foreign plants, of which there is a very valuable 
 collection. There is likewise a small park adjoining, which 
 with the gardens, is moated all round by a large canal well 
 stored with fish ; in and upon the banks of which are five 
 or six choice physical plants not discovered to grow naturally 
 in any other part of England." 
 
 In 1688, Dr. Compton was suspended from his duties by 
 James II. for refusing to inhibit Dr. Sharp, Rector of St. 
 Giles-in-the-Fields, who had preached against Catholicism, 
 and he solaced himself by retiring to Fulham and devoting 
 himself yet more entirely to his garden. Amongst the many 
 foreign trees planted by him were the Virginian flowering 
 maple, the cut-leaved jessamine, the Virginian sumach, and 
 the red horse-chestnut. John Evelyn visited Fulham in 
 October, 1681, when he saw the Sedum arborescens in flower; 
 and in 1687, the Rev. John Ray, the naturalist, wrote an
 
 n8 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 account of the North American trees to be found there. 
 A great number of these trees were still to be seen in 1751, 
 when Sir William Watson wrote a statement of what was 
 there, which was read before a meeting of the Royal Society. 
 Some years later, 1793, the Rev. Daniel Lysons made a 
 survey of the gardens, and he found the number much 
 diminished. Amongst those he saw, he mentions two 
 specimens of the cedar of Libanus, which had been planted 
 in 1683, the larger of the two measuring 7 feet 9 inches in 
 girth'; while near the porter's lodge was a row of limes of 
 obviously great age, one being 13 feet 3 inches round. 
 Sixteen years after, Lysons went there again, and many of 
 the trees he had noted before had disappeared, and of those 
 remaining, many were decayed with age. The great lime, 
 however, was still there, and at that time measured 14 feet 
 1 inch in girth. 
 
 Unfortunately, Compton's immediate successor, Dr. John 
 Robinson, knew little and cared less, about horticulture, and 
 he allowed many of the valuable trees and shrubs to be 
 disposed of by the gardener. 
 
 Dr. Robinson was more concerned with the palace itself, 
 and the year after his election to the see, he petitioned 
 Archbishop Tenison for leave to pull down part of the vast 
 building. He reiterated the complaint of his predecessors 
 that the house was ruinous, and " for many years past has 
 been a great burden and expense." 
 
 In reply, a commission was appointed in July, 1715, to 
 survey the buildings, Sir John Vanbrugh, Christopher Wren, 
 and the rectors of Chelsea, Kensington, and Barnes, being 
 amongst the commissioners. According to their report, the 
 bishop's request was reasonable. The portion he proposed 
 to demolish consisted of " all the buildings lying north of
 
 THE PALACE OF FULHAM ng 
 
 the great dining-room, with the bake-house and pastry-house 
 adjoining the kitchen." Even after these were pulled down, 
 there would still remain some fifty or sixty rooms besides the 
 chapel, hall, and kitchen, and these, they judged, would be 
 " sufficient for the use of the present lord bishop and his 
 successors and their families." The necessary permission 
 was granted, and the buildings were destroyed. The great 
 hall was repaired in the middle of the eighteenth century by 
 Bishop Sherlock, whose arms are carved in wood over the 
 fire-place, and it is he who built the present great dining- 
 room. 
 
 Richard Osbalderton, who died at Fulham in 1764, after 
 being bishop only two years, left £1,000 to be spent on the 
 palace, and Bishop Terrick, his successor, used the money to 
 build a new east front terminating at each end in a squat 
 tower and a suit of rooms facing the river. This last is 
 described by Bishop Porteus (1787 — 1809) as " a very com- 
 modious appartment consisting of three rooms above and 
 three below." The older chapel was done away with by 
 Terrick, and several small rooms on the north side of the 
 eastern court were thrown together to form another, 53 feet 
 by 16 feet. It was fitted up with wainscot brought from the 
 London palace in Aldersgate Street, whence the greater part 
 of the painted glass also was brought. 
 
 When Bishop Porteus first came to Fulham, in the summer 
 of 1788, an old accacia, one of Dr. Compton's plantations, 
 stood by the venerable gateway. The approach to the 
 palace was then a stately avenue of elms, 372 yards in 
 length, but most of these trees have since been cut down. 
 A walk, also for the greater part of the way under elms, led 
 round the grounds including the kitchen garden and the 
 shrubbery. The Monk's Walk and Bonner's chair were still
 
 120 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 to be seen at this date. On the south side of the house an 
 embankment had been raised to prevent the high tides from 
 flooding the grounds, and along the top of this embankment 
 was a public foot-path called the Bishop's Walk. This was 
 the way to church for a great part of the inhabitants of 
 Fulham, and Bishop Porteus considered that "they enlivened 
 it with their numbers and their neat Sunday clothes." The 
 schools in particular pleased the bishop's eye, and he declared 
 that " the female children, walking two and two in their 
 white dresses between the large green trees on each side of 
 them, form the prettiest and most picturesque processions 
 that can be imagined." 
 
 The great dining-room built by Sherlock, he describes as 
 a very fine room, " of exact Palladian proportion, 36 feet by 
 24 feet, and 18 feet in height." The portrait of Bishop 
 Sherlock was given by a friend of his to Bishop Porteus, 
 and it was hung by him over the fire-place in this room. 
 Unfortunately the floor had been originally placed on the 
 earth, and Dr. Porteus found it to be so rotten that it was 
 necessary to completely relay it, hollowing away the ground 
 for three feet underneath. The library was then a gallery, 
 48 feet long by 12 feet 3 inches wide, with a bow window of 
 9 feet in depth, looking out over the lawn to a grove of trees 
 partly planted by this bishop. A good library was the one 
 thing he considered lacking, and he had once contemplated 
 building one, even going so far as to draw the plan. But 
 the scheme went no further in his lifetime ; he left it to 
 be accomplished by those who came after him, and he 
 bequeathed to it his collection of books. 
 
 Dr. Porteus put Gothic windows with coloured borders 
 into several parts of the house : at the foot of the great 
 staircase, on the first landing at the end of the long passage
 
 r^flfl 
 
 Photo. Emery II 
 BeII.BY Pi >K I EUS, BlSHOP i >V LONDON. 
 From his portrait in the National Portrait Gallery.
 
 THE PALACE OF FULHAM 121 
 
 which led from the hall to the lawn, and also in a small 
 cabinet which he had " fitted up as a monk's cell near the 
 library, and made use of in the early hours of the morning 
 before breakfast." 
 
 It was this bishop who began to collect the portraits of 
 the bishops of London since the Reformation, some of which 
 hang in the dining-room and some in the library which 
 bears his name. He also spent a 100 guineas upon cleansing 
 the moat. 
 
 In 1814 — 5 Bishop Howley rebuilt the east front, sweeping 
 away practically all the buildings put up by Terrick, 
 including the towers, the library, and the chapel. On the 
 site of the last he built the Porteus Library. He used the 
 great hall as an unconsecrated chapel, sub-dividing it with 
 a lath-and-plaster partition ; but under Dr. Tait it was 
 restored to its former condition. 
 
 Dr. Howley also altered and modernized the gardens — a 
 work which was continued by his successor, Bishop Blom- 
 field (1828 — 1856). Like Compton, Dr. Blomfield was 
 deeply interested in botany, and the soil at Fulham gave 
 him scope to grow various new and rare plants. He only 
 erred, according to his son's account, in not being sufficiently 
 ruthless with the axe. 
 
 In spite of Dr. Howley's alterations, he found a great 
 deal yet to be done to the palace. The first of the courts 
 was in a bad state of dilapidation, and he rebuilt one wing 
 of it. He new-roofed the house and built additional rooms. 
 Besides this he had the moat cleaned, the sluices remade, 
 the river embankments restored, and he caused one of the 
 water-meadows to be raised by several feet. 
 
 During the early days of his episcopacy, while he still had 
 health and strength, many men of note used to frequent
 
 122 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 Fulham, amongst whom were Wordsworth and Sir Henry 
 Holland. Dr. Blomfield loved Fulham, and always regarded 
 it as far more his home than the London house ; and when 
 his shattered health forced him to resign in September, 1856, 
 he was permitted to remain at Fulham for his life. He 
 died there in the following August, and was buried in the 
 churchyard. 
 
 The development of Fulham into part of London occurred 
 at a later date than that of Lambeth, and its character is 
 essentially different. Endless rows of small flats and houses 
 have been built, which have the indefinable aspect of being 
 on the outskirts, while the activity of the streets appears to 
 be to a great extent local. 
 
 In the midst of these surroundings the Palace stands 
 aloof, separated from them by its age, its history, and its 
 sedate beauty. Though it can no longer be looked upon as 
 the country house of the bishops, yet, in the centre of its 
 moat-enclosed grounds, half-hidden by the trees, it gives an 
 impression not only of distance from the metropolis, but also 
 of a certain remoteness from the present day.
 
 Jwnfjam £<\dk 
 
 A BOVE the main road from the south-western 
 /^L counties to the east stands Farnham Castle in 
 £ " %^ the midst of a delightful country surrounded by 
 heath and woodland, pastures carved out of its 
 park, and hop-gardens sheltered by the slopes of chalk hills. 
 It overlooks the little market town from which it is 
 approached by a steep but wide street lined by irregular 
 houses save on one side near the castle, where the cottages 
 stand in a neat white row, each with its flight of steps and 
 green wooden porch. From the street the castle can 
 scarcely be seen above the massive wall which encircles it, 
 or through the dark boughs of cedars brought from the hills 
 of Lebanon. One part only, the dark-red entrance-tower, 
 built in the sixteenth century by Bishop Foxe, stands out 
 prominently above the town. Within the walls are the 
 well-kept beds of a peaceful garden whose southern slopes 
 catch all the sun, while its northern parts are the turf- 
 covered sides of the wide dry moat which surrounds the 
 keep. 
 
 The house itself is built about a roughly triangular court, 
 the grey broken walls of the keep at its blunted northern 
 apex, the great hall occupying nearly all the length of its 
 southern base, the old chapel and kitchen on one side, more 
 modern buildings on the other. The castle plainly shows 
 the vicissitudes of an existence which has extended over
 
 124 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 many centuries. Here a strong wall has faced all weathers 
 since the days of the Norman bishop, Henry ; there the 
 brick-work of Bishop Foxe's tower and the lofty chimneys 
 above it call to mind the days of Tudor sovereigns ; every- 
 where repairs and alterations, added wings and changed 
 plans, show the gradual growth from the strong fortress of 
 a Norman soldier-bishop to the comfortable home of a 
 twentieth-century prelate. 
 
 Behind the castle is the " Little Park" which, in spite of 
 its name, contains three hundred acres and has a circuit 
 of some three miles. Its chief landmarks are a noble avenue 
 of elms upon the rising ground to the east of the castle, and 
 the keeper's lodge, formerly a bare and ugly building, 
 standing out upon a mound, but now made beautiful by a 
 surrounding enclosure of trees. The " Little Park " was so 
 called to distinguish it from the " Great Park " of the bishop 
 which extended further to the west of the castle. This was 
 broken up in the time of Charles II., and subsequent 
 enclosures and the sale of the woods and pastures thus 
 formed have left the castle with the " Little Park " alone. 
 
 Early in the ninth century the bishops of Winchester had 
 many an acre in the valley of Farnham ; but it was in 
 a.d. 858 that St. Swithun, then bishop, gave to Ethelbald 
 his land there, and that the king agreed that at his death it 
 should be restored to Swithun and his successors. At an early 
 date there was formed on the hill-side a great earthen mound, 
 protected on the north and east by a deep fosse, and on 
 the south and west by the steep fall of the ground. Men 
 sought its neighbourhood and gathered near the roadway 
 below, looking to their bishop for protection and for justice. 
 Even since British times a track had passed along the downs 
 above the river-valley, and the road which now follows the
 
 FARNHAM CASTLE 125 
 
 line of the village street still brings many a traveller to 
 the metropolis from the great centres of the south, from 
 Southampton with its busy port, or Winchester, so closely 
 connected for over a thousand years with the little town in 
 the valley. 
 
 A market grew up in the street ; the townspeople were 
 busied first with making cloth, and in later years the country 
 around became noted for its corn and for the fine quality 
 of its hops, preferred above those of any neighbouring 
 parish. The townsmen began to begrudge the master of 
 the castle his dues, his endless exactions for this service or 
 that, and his tiresome demands of fealty and suit at court. 
 They wanted to have a court of their own in which to settle 
 their disputes, and they longed to be free burgesses as were 
 the London merchants who passed through their town. 
 Gradually the bishops yielded to their demands and gave 
 them dearly valued charters. Then came a time when the 
 stronghold brought the town more harm than good. It 
 was the fortress on the hill that brought all the distress of 
 civil war to the burgesses, and, Royalists as they were, they 
 were glad to pave their streets with the stones of the keep 
 which had brought to their town the hated Parliamentary 
 soldiers. Now the bishop's home overlooks townsfolk 
 who have forgotten even the bitter feeling of the last 
 century, and the sight of the castle above them brings only 
 peace, goodwill, and gratitude to the minds of the people 
 below. 
 
 It was Bishop Henry of Blois who first began to build 
 the massive keep upon the earthwork which till then had 
 served to protect the town. He was a great builder; in 
 1 138 he had begun to raise for himself at Winchester the 
 stronghold known as Wolvesey Palace. Moreover, he was
 
 i 2 6 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 a man of military knowledge and of great influence. As 
 Papal Legate, his interest had gone far to procure for his 
 own brother, Stephen, the throne of England, and he could 
 not be content to have only one castle in the country when 
 " there was no one of any worth in England who did not 
 either build or strengthen some place of defence." So he set 
 to work to build luxurious palaces throughout his whole 
 diocese — then larger than it is now. He formed great ponds 
 and aqueducts in difficult places, and at his palaces he kept 
 all kinds of wild beasts, birds, and monsters which he brought 
 from all parts of Europe. Under the care of so great 
 a builder did Farnham Castle come into being. His 
 work there consisted of a great shell-keep of massive masonry 
 — that is to say, a roofless stone building with no other 
 shelter for the men who formed its guard than was afforded 
 by rough wooden penthouses within the walls. It was 
 probably Henry himself or one of the two lawyer-bishops 
 who followed him, who added to the south of the keep the 
 beginnings of the triangular block of buildings which now 
 form the habitable part of the castle. Although these were 
 of a more domestic character, the kitchens, the chapel, 
 the great hall and the narrow wedge-shaped " dungeons," 
 (approached from the portcullised entrance to the keep by 
 a steep flight of stairs) were all massive enough to resist 
 attack. 
 
 Bishop Henry was much in need of fortified houses, 
 for he took a very active, and not always a consistent, 
 part in the warfare which made his brother's reign one long 
 period of anarchy. In this great struggle he did not always 
 give his support to his brother's cause, but he subordinated 
 brotherly feeling to his zeal for the Church. Hoping to 
 obtain an extension of the privileges conceded by Stephen,
 
 FARNHAM CASTLE 127 
 
 he joined the Empress Matilda in 1141, when the king was 
 a prisoner ; but he soon found that he had been mistaken 
 in her. The alliance was, therefore, not a long one, and 
 Bishop Henry, true to the cause of the Church, turned 
 against the Empress, besieging her in Winchester with a 
 royalist force which doubtless included many tenants of his 
 own from the neighbouring manor of Farnham. Subse- 
 quently he did his best to promote peace between his brother 
 and Matilda's son, Henry Plantagenet, and received the 
 latter with honour at Winchester in 1153. 
 
 There is nothing to show whether Henry of Blois spent 
 much time or none at all at his castle of Farnham. In spite 
 of his earlier relations with the new king, Henry, he was not 
 left long in possession of the fortresses which he had built. 
 Henry would not allow so strong a prelate to own many 
 castles in his country, so in 1155 he made a pretext of the 
 bishop's " secret " departure from England without his licence 
 to seize ail his castles, including Farnham. He destroyed 
 six of them wholly or in part, yet Farnham seems to have 
 escaped the general destruction. Bishop Henry returned to 
 England to find his possessions bereft of their noble defences. 
 He died, " full of years," August 8, 1171. 
 
 The lawyer-bishop who succeeded him was Richard of 
 Ilchester. He apparently found time to continue the work of 
 building at Farnham. Indeed, he erected in his bishopric 
 such admirable buildings that the admiring chronicler writes 
 that these " recall his name from generation to generation." 
 Although his work is a perpetual memorial of his connection 
 with the castle, he cannot have spent much time there, for 
 as a justice he was constantly journeying about the country, 
 and he also " had the ear of the king," upon whom he often 
 attended. He entertained Henry at his palace at Waltham,
 
 128 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 and their friendship was so intimate that he was chosen by 
 the barons to go to the king in Normandy in 1174, as one 
 " who would speak to him much more warmly and urgently 
 than anyone else." The Normans even jeered at the barons 
 in England for sending so important a messenger, saying that 
 the next to come would be the Tower of London itself. 
 
 Godfrey de Lucy, his successor, was less fortunate in his 
 relations with the Crown. Possibly he continued his pre- 
 decessor's work at Farnham ; but he had much difficulty in 
 maintaining himself against the grasping policy of William 
 Longchamp, who, while he was ill in France, seized the royal 
 castles in his custody, and these were again taken from him 
 by King Richard himself in 1194, upon his return from 
 captivity in Germany. 
 
 Farnham Castle next passed into the hands of a foreign 
 bishop, the Poitevin, Peter des Roches, who had the custody 
 of it for a year before he was elected to the Bishopric of 
 Winchester. Farnham, with his other lands and those of 
 his fellow-bishops, was seized by King John in retalia- 
 tion for the interdict ; but Peter of Winchester was a favourite 
 of the king's, and his property was immediately restored to 
 him. While the whole of England lay under the ban of the 
 Church he was one of the only two bishops who remained in 
 the country ; but his business did not lie in his diocese, and 
 he was less occupied in defending the Church than in 
 administering the affairs of the king. His enemies decried 
 his greed and made a Latin song about the bishop who 
 presided over the royal exchequer, rolling and unrolling the 
 parchments, very zealous in the keeping of accounts, but not 
 so zealous for the preaching of the Gospel, and ever crying, 
 " Give, there is not enough." 
 
 He and his castles were soon to suffer in the causeof the
 
 FARNHAM CASTLE 129 
 
 king. When the barons, angered by John's want of faith, 
 invited Prince Louis of France to cross the Channel and 
 take for himself the Kingdom of England, Louis was not slow 
 to accept the invitation. He had captured Rochester in 
 May, 1216, and had been received with great rejoicing by the 
 Londoners — usually no friends to a foreign invader. Reigate 
 and Guildford Castles had just fallen an easy prey to the 
 French troops, when, elated with their victories, they arrived 
 before the walls of Farnham. Its master was not there to 
 defend it ; he was hurling his excommunications against 
 Louis from the camp of the fleeing king, and had doubtless 
 passed hurriedly through the town with his master as he 
 hastily retreated to the west. He does not even appear to 
 have left a guard to hold Farnham against the French as his 
 men did his castle of Odiham. Apparently it yielded at 
 once to the French forces, which hurried on after the 
 retreating king, leaving a party of soldiers to defend the 
 castle. 
 
 While the French were in possession of Farnham, Peter 
 des Roches was sharing the fortunes of his master, whom he 
 faithfully accompanied until his death in 1216. Even then 
 the bishop was not free to conduct in person the force which 
 set about the recovery of his castles, but was obliged to 
 remain away from the field of active warfare with his young 
 charge, the new king, Henry. It fell to William the Marshal 
 to reduce the French garrison left in Farnham Castle by their 
 prince, who had again crossed the seas. The French capitu- 
 lated before March 7, and doubtless made no very stubborn 
 defence, for they were allowed to retire to London, which was 
 still in favour of their master. The castle narrowly escaped 
 destruction by the Marshal in the following month. It was 
 the only one of the fortresses which he had recovered which 
 
 E.E.P. K
 
 130 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 was not wholly or partially dismantled in fear of a second 
 surprise by Louis, who had then returned to England and had 
 forced a landing in spite of all the efforts of the men of the 
 Cinque Ports. Perhaps Farnham escaped through oversight, 
 perhaps through its comparative unimportance ; for Louis 
 himself did not think it worth while to attempt its recapture. 
 As his army passed through the town with a great cavalcade of 
 waggoners, bands of cross-bowmen and a host of well-trained 
 soldiers, he was too anxious to reach Winchester as soon as 
 possible to allow even one arrow to be shot against the walls 
 of the castle so recently his own. So the French hurried 
 through the little town and Peter des Roches retained his 
 property. 
 
 He died at Farnham, June 9, 1238, after a long life of 
 energy devoted to warfare and statecraft rather than to the 
 interests of his diocese. Then for six years the castle was in 
 the hands of custodians appointed by the Crown, and they 
 accounted faithfully for all the details of their charge until it 
 was wrested from the king with threats of interdict and 
 excommunication by the new bishop, William of Raleigh. 
 Raleigh had not much enjoyment from the bishopric that he 
 had striven so hard to obtain. Probably he never saw 
 Farnham, for he died in 1250, at Tours, where he had 
 retired to eke out the remains of his princely income, greatly 
 diminished by the bribes which had been necessary to secure 
 it for himself. 
 
 Thus in the end the king had his own way and procured 
 the revenues of the rich see of Winchester for a creature 
 of his own — his half-brother, Aymer de Valence. Then, 
 indeed, the castle had a wealthy lord, but one without 
 learning or character, a man even ignorant of the language 
 of his own monks at Winchester. The king had forced
 
 FARNHAM CASTLE 131 
 
 him upon them, entering in person the pulpit of their 
 cathedral church to preach obedience with mingled threats 
 and persuasions. 
 
 There was no love lost between this foreigner, over-bearing 
 and grasping as he was, and the people of England. It was 
 quite natural, too, that the men of Farnham, who lived 
 within sight of his strong castle and went there twice yearly 
 to do suit of court at his " law-days," should learn to share 
 in the general hatred for all " strangers." Subsequently they 
 even took to beating the dogs of those who passed through 
 the town, and struggles ensued with blows which occasionally 
 proved fatal. Good Churchmen must have been struck with 
 horror to see the approach of the cavalcade of armed servants 
 of the " Elect of Winchester " bringing to the castle the 
 unhappy official of the Archbishop of Canterbury, whom 
 they had brought with insults from Lambeth, not even 
 allowing him to guide his own horse. Perhaps the townsfolk 
 were too much over-awed by the stern ruler of their castle to 
 give his prisoner hospitality, when at last, thrust forth as 
 rudely as he had been brought in, he crept away, not daring 
 even to look behind him for fear of pursuit, to find a refuge 
 in the neighbouring monastery of Waverley. Yet it must 
 have been whispered in the little town that his sole offence 
 had been the excommunication of an obstinate priest, illegally 
 thrust upon the Hospital of St. Thomas of Southwark by the 
 bold master of the castle. No wonder if, after the sight of 
 such violent deeds, the townspeople rejoiced when they heard 
 how Aymer de Valence had been driven into exile from his 
 castle at Winchester, and had died in Paris as he was 
 returning. Perhaps the ill-will towards foreigners revived once 
 more when, in the winter of 1424, there marched through the 
 town a hundred and fifty prisoners of war, who had been 
 
 K 2
 
 132 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 captured two years before by Henry V. at Meaux, his last 
 conquest in France. 
 
 The years following the death of De Valence saw a great 
 change at the castle. There succeeded as bishop, John 
 Gervays, a warm supporter of the national cause and no 
 friend to Poitevin or Provencal. He was a faithful supporter 
 of Simon de Montfort, and probably the latter's troops 
 hastened by his castle in 1263 on their way to the taking of 
 Dover. The bishop himself was suspended in 1266 until he 
 should have satisfactorily explained to the Pope his connec- 
 tion with the doings of the younger Montfort. 
 
 At this time the districts of western Surrey were even more 
 thickly wooded than they are at present. They had always 
 been well stocked with red deer, and the bishops, who doubt- 
 less loved the chase, had many an opportunity to hunt in the 
 "forest" about their Surrey castle. Their "chaces" 
 stretched far and wide, and the enclosures of their " Great 
 Park" extended for several miles to the north and west of 
 the castle. Beyond their park there lay the forests of Alice 
 Holt and Woolmer, and it was here that a band of outlaws, 
 supporters of De Montfort and the barons, took refuge with 
 their leader, a brave knight named Adam de Gurdon. They 
 took to the woods early in 1267 making raids on the lands of 
 the neighbouring Royalists and holding the winding road 
 from Alton to Farnham Castle. Doubtless the men at the 
 castle, knowing their master's inclinations, sent help to his 
 friends in the woods, or were blind to the loss of his deer in 
 the park. Adam de Gurdon knew the forest well, for he had 
 married the keeper's daughter and had received her father's 
 office as her dowry. Unfortunately there is much to dis- 
 prove the story of the chronicler, who tells how the young 
 prince Edward, hearing of the bravery of this Robin Hood
 
 FARNHAM CASTLE 133 
 
 ■ — ■ m i.', - i^ I——— ——— ' 1 1 — w w ^wT wwm^^^ege- 
 
 sought him out and challenged him to single combat. The 
 tale goes on to describe how the fight was for a long time 
 equal, until the prince persuaded his bold enemy to sur- 
 render, and so save his life, and how he sent him to his 
 mother, the queen, at Guildford, to receive her pardon. 
 Certain it is that he lived to serve Edward faithfully for 
 many years. 
 
 There followed a century during which the bishops often 
 stayed at their castle at Farnham ; yet little is known of 
 their doings there. They were chiefly statesmen, and some, 
 like the founder of the castle, Henry of Blois, helped to make 
 and unmake kings. Bishop Woodlock, in 1307, had crowned 
 the new king, Edward II.; nine years later he retired to 
 Farnham to die. The agreeable chancellor, John Sandale, 
 visited his castle shortly before his death, and perhaps had 
 often stayed there before. Evidently his constable or keeper 
 in charge of his home at Farnham was a relative, for his 
 name was Sandale, and after the bishop's death he took for 
 himself (perhaps in memory of his late master) sundry pieces 
 of furniture, tables from the great hall and others from the 
 steward's room, in addition to swans and stock from the sur- 
 rounding estate. The worldly bishop, Adam of Orlton, 
 played a prominent part in the civil dissensions of his time, 
 and finally induced the king, Edward II., to resign his 
 crown. Many bitter thoughts must have followed him to his 
 retirement in Farnham, where he spent the last years of his 
 life stricken with blindness. Another bishop, Edendon, was 
 probably a constant visitor, for he made permanent provision 
 for the maintenance of a domestic chaplain to officiate in the 
 castle chapel, setting aside for his use the profits of a house 
 in the Stews at Southwark and the rent of another house at 
 Farnham itself.
 
 i 3 4 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 Most memorable, however, of the fourteenth-century 
 bishops is the great founder and statesman, William of 
 Wykeham. It is quite evident that he had a liking for 
 Farnham Castle, although he spent much time at all his 
 palaces. He visited Farnham within a fortnight of 
 his enthronement as Bishop of Winchester, and there 
 received a deputation from the mayor and burgesses of the 
 great port of Southampton, sent to plead their privileges. 
 For a time Farnham Castle must have been in the 
 hands of the Crown, for all Wykeham's temporalities were 
 seized at the instigation of his political opponent, John of 
 Gaunt ; but after their restoration Wykeham paid many a 
 visit to his castle on the Surrey borders. He took refuge 
 there during the three summer months of 1399, while he 
 waited in fear of his life to hear the result of the struggle 
 between Richard II. and Henry of Lancaster. 
 
 A fitting successor to so great a bishop was the royal 
 statesman and cardinal, Henry Beaufort, son of Wykeham's 
 adversary, John of Gaunt. This patriotic statesman, whose 
 influence was felt throughout the Continent, began his con- 
 nection with Farnham by a renewal of the privileges of the 
 burgesses who traded in the little town below his castle. He 
 remembered them too in disposing of his accumulated wealth, 
 bequeathing to his poor tenants in Surrey and Hampshire 
 the lordly sum of 2,000 marks. 
 
 Less is known of the connection between his successors 
 and their home in Surrey. William of Waynflete, who was 
 distinguished by the uprightness and prudence with which, 
 in times of great difficulty, he executed the office of chan- 
 cellor, was a staunch Lancastrian. Perhaps he took refuge 
 at Farnham in 1461, when he was fleeing into "secret 
 corners " for fear of King Edward. He ruled at Farnham
 
 William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester. 
 
 From his portrait in II 'hit kester College I lull.
 
 FARNHAM CASTLE 135 
 
 for exactly forty years, and died a venerable old man 
 August 11, i486. It was not till the February following that 
 the temporalities of his see, including Farnham, were 
 delivered to Peter Courtenay, then Bishop of Exeter. The 
 eldest son of Henry VII., the short-lived Prince Arthur, had 
 been born at Winchester in the September preceding, and 
 doubtless the town of Farnham seemed a convenient place 
 for the dwelling of the infant prince, while his mother, Eliza- 
 beth of York, returned to the palace at Shene, and prepared 
 for the great festivities which were to accompany her corona- 
 tion. It is uncertain whether the prince's nursery with all 
 his retinue of "lady-mistresses, nurses, and gentlewomen" 
 was fixed at the castle or elsewhere in the town ; but the 
 good townspeople took advantage of his presence there to 
 lay stress on the poverty of their parish church. The affec- 
 tionate king at once established a chantry at the altar of the 
 Virgin Mary in the north of the church, where the chaplain 
 should yearly celebrate for the good estate of the young 
 prince, and of his father and mother and grandmother. 
 Thus began an intimate connection between Farnham 
 and the Tudor sovereigns. Courtenay had fled to Henry 
 of Richmond in Brittany when he feared the anger of 
 Richard III. at his attempts to stir to rebellion the men of 
 his native county of Cornwall. 
 
 Bishop Foxe, too, was the intimate adviser of the king, and 
 thus the sixteenth century brought to the castle a time of gay 
 Court life. Henry VIII., who loved the hunt and could in 
 one day tire out ten horses, discovered that Farnham was an 
 ideal centre for his favourite recreation. Moreover, it was a 
 most convenient resting-place between two stages of the 
 journey to Southampton or Winchester ; so he paid many a 
 visit there to his friend and adviser, Bishop Foxe, into whose
 
 136 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 special care he had been committed by his father. Foxe 
 was then building the noble entrance-tower, which still gives 
 colour and dignity to the southern face of the castle. The 
 king was entertained at the castle in 15 16, and sat up till 
 eleven o'clock one Sunday night writing to Wolsey an 
 account of the embassy which he had just received from the 
 Emperor — news which brought the Cardinal and the Bishop 
 of Durham hurrying to Farnham. 
 
 The dreaded "sweating sickness" was rife in the summer 
 of 1517. The king, alarmed by the death of the pages who 
 slept in his own room, dismissed the Court and went into 
 retirement at Farnham with only the queen and three of his 
 favourite gentlemen, and, to while away the time, Dionysius 
 Memo the musician. All public business was at a stand-still, 
 while the king and Wolsey took refuge in the country to be 
 free from the danger of infection ; but in November there 
 arrived two French ambassadors, the Bishop of Paris and 
 Monseigneur de la Guiche. Henry received them graciously 
 when they found him in his country retreat, but took good 
 care that they should be lodged at a distance from the castle 
 at the sign of the " St. George." They were feasted there on 
 such delicacies as larks and curlews ; while their retainers 
 also appear to have been generously entertained, for among 
 the items of their expenses at the inn is "damage done in the 
 breaking of beds" — riotous conduct which could hardly be 
 attributed to grave ambassadors, whose business concerned 
 the peace of Europe. 
 
 Doubtless Foxe's home was also open to Wolsey, his life- 
 long friend, who, far from being jealous of the bishop's 
 intimacy with the king, often rebuked him for not visiting 
 the Court more frequently. Wolsey dated from Farnham an 
 account of the fight off Brest, 1512, but he does not show
 
 FARNHAM CASTLE 137 
 
 whether he was then staying at the castle. He was himself 
 to succeed his friend as Bishop of Winchester, but he was 
 only master of the castle for the last year before his fall. In 
 his time there was a custodian of Farnham — the king's friend 
 and chamberlain, Baron Sandys, no lover of Wolsey. No 
 wonder, then, that the cardinal, when he was receiving " fair 
 words but little comfortable deeds " in the time of his dis- 
 grace, was anxious to arrange that the successor to the office 
 should be " Mr. Treasurer." He wrote pathetic letters on 
 the subject to " his only refuge and hope," Cromwell, but 
 they were useless. Sandys remained keeper of the castle 
 after it had been seized by the king, and the custody of the 
 Great and Little Parks with the care of the garden and the 
 office of ranger in the North and South Chaces were given to 
 Court officials. No one could hunt within the neighbouring 
 woods without fear of imprisonment in the castle, while its 
 keeper was a man of a practical turn of mind and set his 
 prisoners to the unpleasant task of pulling up the nettles in 
 the park. The offices of custodian and ranger were granted 
 out for terms of years, and difficulties sometimes arose 
 through the claims which the local gentry thus acquired 
 upon the estate of the bishopric. 
 
 Gardiner, the bishop who succeeded Wolsey, was a more 
 compliant courtier than his predecessor. At the castle he 
 gathered around him a household filled with affectionate 
 devotion. His visits there were snatched in the intervals 
 between energetic work throughout his diocese and the ever- 
 increasing duties of his political life. He also entertained the 
 king at Farnham ; but Henry did not scruple to listen to the 
 tales of a petty official, who, annoyed at difficulties he had 
 experienced in trying to obtain the custody of the Little Park, 
 revealed to the king all Gardiner's conversation and the
 
 138 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 remarks which passed at his dinner-table at the castle on the 
 important subject of the Pope's supremacy. The astute 
 statesman evidently succeeded in making a suitable 
 explanation of the views which he had expressed, for 
 he was restored to the favour of the king, and was sent 
 in that same year upon an important embassy to France. 
 After Henry's death, however, he had need of all the 
 consolation which the devotion of his faithful servants 
 could afford him. He was imprisoned in the Fleet for his 
 opposition to the religious innovations of the Council, and on 
 his way to Winchester, after his release, he passed the night 
 at Farnham. On the following day, a festival, he was 
 induced by the discontent and ill-feeling — roused among the 
 townspeople at the recent visit of the Vicar of Andover for 
 the purpose of pulling down the superstitious images in their 
 church — to preach to them a sermon on the obedience in 
 which the Council had just given him "a good lesson and 
 admonition." He was not long with them. A few months 
 later he travelled to London from Winchester in a horse- 
 litter, and a little while afterwards was imprisoned in the 
 Tower. His loyal servants at Farnham looked eagerly for 
 any hope of his release. Gardiner himself expected to be set 
 free in the summer of 1550, and sent a messenger to the 
 castle to summon men to prepare his house at Southwark. 
 They were strictly charged not to disclose their mission to the 
 rest of the household "for fear lest they being stricken with 
 gladness should come straggling up " to welcome their 
 master. They must have suffered bitter disappointment as 
 day after day passed by and still he remained in the Tower ; 
 doubtless they were still more sorrowful when they heard in 
 1551 that he had surrendered all his temporalities to the king. 
 The Council immediately took steps for putting Farnham
 
 FARNHAM CASTLE 139 
 
 Castle in good repair, and apparently kept it in their own 
 possession until Gardiner's restoration to his bishopric at the 
 accession of Queen Mary. In June and July of 1554, there 
 were held at the castle many anxious meetings of the Council 
 to discuss the preparations for the queen's coming marriage. 
 Mary herself is said to have stayed there on her way to 
 celebrate her nuptials at Winchester. 
 
 The castle had been put into the keeping of a worthy 
 housekeeper renowned for her good cooking. She provided 
 Gardiner with such tasty dishes, and above all with such 
 good cordials, that in his gratitude he was ready to connive at 
 her heresy and even to protect her from the fury of others. 
 " Sensible of the consumptionous state of his body" and of 
 his health broken by years of imprisonment, he found " the 
 physic out of her kitchen more beneficial than physic out of 
 the apothecary's shop." 
 
 Yet another Tudor sovereign, Queen Elizabeth, took 
 advantage of the convenient situation of Farnham as a 
 resting-place in the progresses by which she grew familiar 
 with her people. In 1569, her Court journeyed there 
 from Guildford ; with it rode the Duke of Norfolk filled 
 with new hopes of restoration to the Queen's favour 
 raised by the promises of his crafty rival, Leicester. Their 
 fulfilment seemed near at hand, when Elizabeth graciously 
 invited him to sit at her own table, probably in the great 
 hall of the castle ; but the jealous queen could not refrain 
 from giving the unhappy duke " a nip " before the end of the 
 meal, rebuking him for his folly in hoping for an 
 alliance with Mary Queen of Scots, and bidding him " take 
 heed to his pillow." 
 
 It was not long before Mary's wily ambassador, John 
 Leslie, Bishop of Ross, was brought to Farnham, charged
 
 140 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 with complicity in Norfolk's marriage-scheme and with the 
 more serious offence of inciting Elizabeth's people to rebellion. 
 There could scarcely be much sympathy between the fanatical 
 Puritan, Bishop Home, and his Scottish prisoner, who had 
 been removed to more comfortable quarters at Farnham 
 after a rigorous confinement in the Tower. He remained in 
 the bishop's custody for a year and three months, very 
 straitly kept and constantly watched by two of the bishop's 
 gentlemen, without permission to speak to anyone save in his 
 custodian's presence. Dr. Home, with all his fanaticism, 
 must have exercised considerable self-restraint to treat his 
 prisoner as he did, " with honourable and friendly usage," 
 while he was pleading with Burleigh for the removal of that 
 " devil " or that " devilish spirit." The presence of a Roman 
 Catholic bishop must have been a constant annoyance to so 
 zealous a reformer. Meanwhile Leslie spent his time at the 
 castle in compiling pious treatises of consolation to be read 
 by the Scottish queen in her prison, and in drawing up a 
 Latin address to Elizabeth pleading for release— a subtle 
 compliment to her learning. In one point the two prelates 
 agreed : they were both men of learning, and Bishop Home 
 may have spent at Farnham a part of the time devoted to his 
 work upon the " Bishops' Bible." 
 
 His successors were free from the restraint of so important 
 a prisoner, but they were not without the duties of gaolers. 
 In 1590 Bishop Cooper was required to keep in custody at 
 his castle the less dangerous recusants of the neighbourhood. 
 They paid him for this enforced hospitality at the rates which 
 were fixed for the entertainment of their friends who were 
 lodged with criminals and debtors in the Fleet. While the 
 castle was being used as a prison for those who defied 
 Elizabeth's authority, she herself planned visits to it at a
 
 FARNHAM CASTLE 141 
 
 period when her safety in more crowded places was endangered 
 by Popish plots. Her last entertainment there took place in 
 1601, although, only six years before, the bishop had lamented 
 that some of the towers of the castle were already fallen, and 
 others threatened to fall, to the danger of the whole house. 
 Just outside the town the Sheriff of Hampshire, who had been 
 escorting the queen through his county, took his leave, 
 perhaps not without relief, for he had been well snubbed at 
 Basing. The Sheriff of Surrey welcomed Elizabeth and 
 escorted her with all her following to the castle, where she 
 was nobly entertained by Bishop Bilson. Some of the 
 Hampshire gentlemen lingered with the Court after their 
 sheriff had departed and were rewarded for their pains, for 
 two of their number received knighthood from the queen at 
 the bishop's recommendation. He had gained her favour by 
 his learned defence of the Protestant cause, and so well had 
 he fought on her behalf that he had become the acknow- 
 ledged " commander-in-chief of the spiritual warfare." The 
 death of Elizabeth did not put an end to the royal visits to 
 Farnham. Under the Stuart sovereigns they increased. 
 In the very first year of his reign, James I. stayed with his 
 queen at Dr. Bilson's " hospitable residence." The king 
 took a great fancy to the castle, with its wide parks and its 
 convenient neighbourhood to the bailiwick of north-west 
 Surrey, which he insisted upon calling a part of his forest of 
 Windsor. The house would be an ideal centre for his hunting 
 parties ; so he took a lease of it for the bishop's life, and 
 many subsequent summers brought the royal party to this 
 pleasant retreat. Yet all did not go smoothly at the new 
 abode. The parks had been ill-kept, the lodges were out of 
 repair, and the neighbours had pulled down the palings for 
 firewood. The famous surveyor, John Norden, had to be
 
 142 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 called in to restore order in the wide-spreading chaces 
 before the visit of the royal party in June, 1609 ; and 
 Ramsay, then Viscount Haddington, was installed as constable 
 of the castle and master of the game. The king and 
 queen arrived on June 1, but the night was one of alarm. 
 Some unknown negligent person had left a candle on a post 
 in the stables. It fell into the litter and set fire to the 
 buildings. The whole household was roused at ten o'clock, 
 and many set to work to save the royal horses. Some faithful 
 courtiers, however, kept watch with the king, for besides 
 spreading unfounded reports of some new gunpowder plot, 
 people were suggesting that the fire was a ruse to draw 
 away the king's attendants, and so leave him unprotected 
 against the evil practices of his enemies. 
 
 The country folk did not always appreciate these costly 
 journeys of the Court. In 1615 they were impoverished by a 
 hard winter followed by a hot, dry summer, which spoilt 
 their crops, while producing the finest grapes and melons 
 known in England for many years before. They begged 
 King James not to make his progress through their counties, 
 but he remained obstinate. On his return journey he stayed 
 at Farnham Castle, and showed his gratitude to Bishop 
 Bilson by appointing him one of his privy council. Bilson 
 only lived one year to enjoy his new honour, but the 
 termination of his lease did not put an end to the king's 
 visits. In the time of Bilson's successor, building was 
 carried on at " a great charge." 
 
 Matthew Wren, uncle of the great architect, accompanied 
 Bishop Andrewes to Farnham in 1620 and was impressed by 
 the magnificence of the king's entertainment there. This feast, 
 which lasted for three days, cost the bishop £1,000 ; yet the 
 king privately felt bored in the company of the grave bishop,
 
 FARNHAM CASTLE 143 
 
 in whose presence he felt bound to refrain from his wonted 
 mirth and liberty. Doubtless he turned for amusement to 
 the skilful disputations of Wren, who at one time argued 
 that the king's dogs "might perform more than others, by 
 the prerogative." It is remarkable that the generosity of 
 this entertainment should have been insisted upon in the 
 funeral discourse on a prelate so eminent and so saintly 
 as Bishop Andrewes. 
 
 Like his father, Charles I. enjoyed the pleasures of a 
 country retreat at Farnham. In August, 1630, he was there 
 with his whole Court, intent upon the chase. Secretary 
 Dorchester wrote that " at Farnham their tents were set up 
 like Tartars, and they hunted before and after noon like 
 Indians, as if they should dine and sup on nothing but what 
 they killed." The king again paid Farnham a visit in the 
 next year, coming in by torchlight and going " abroad " 
 again next morning. 
 
 The townspeople acquired a personal affection for their 
 sovereign, although they rebelled against the billeting of his 
 soldiers in their houses, and were only pacified by the good 
 promises of Bishop Neile. Subsequently, they were the 
 " tenants and creatures " of the loyal Bishop Curll, Neile's 
 successor, who did not at once retire into private life when 
 the Civil War broke out, but took part in the defence of 
 Winchester against Cromwell's troops. Probably, therefore, 
 the castle was at first at the king's disposal ; but the Royalist 
 townsmen seem to have stood by quietly while, in October, 
 1642, it was occupied for Parliament by the poet, George 
 Wither. He had previously distinguished himself mainly 
 by the beauty of his delicate lyrics; but he knew the country 
 well, and was convinced of the strategic importance of the 
 castle, situated as it is upon the main roads from London
 
 i 4 4 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 to Southampton, to Winchester, and on one of the chief 
 approaches to Portsmouth. He was also quite certain of his 
 own capacities as commander, and a little angry that he was 
 placed in dependence upon Sir Richard Onslow, who was in 
 command of the Surrey train-bands. The energetic poet set 
 to work on the very first day of his arrival to strengthen the 
 fortress which, he declared, had for years been only inhabited 
 by daws and crows. This can only have been true of the 
 keep. He hastened to dig a well, for water had previously 
 to be fetched from the town, and fifty years before the bishop 
 had complained that the aqueduct was broken. He set his 
 men to work to build stables in place of those which had 
 been burnt down in the time of James I., and hastened the 
 erection of platforms, palisades and counter-scarps. In his 
 industry he pestered Onslow for stores, ammunition, and 
 reinforcements, and would not believe that his demands could 
 not be supplied at once. With sensitive self-consciousness 
 he took upon himself " the duty of inferior officers," instruct- 
 ing the recruits of his scanty garrison in the management of 
 their weapons ; and bitterly he felt his helplessness when 
 they " gave him leave to instruct others," and went off into 
 the country round to tell the malignant "creatures of the 
 bishop " how the fine garrison at the castle had neither 
 lodging nor victuals, nor more than sixty muskets between 
 them. The good captain had evidently expected to find 
 himself in command of a well-defended fortress, well supplied 
 with stores and ammunition to resist a lengthy siege, and 
 was disappointed to find himself at the head of an ill-trained 
 garrison of raw recruits in an ancient castle, which had not 
 been besieged for over four centuries. He vented his rage 
 on Sir Richard Onslow, bringing against him quite ill-founded 
 charges of treachery. His own behaviour was soon questioned,
 
 FARNHAM CASTLE 145 
 
 for he left the castle and made his way to London. Accord- 
 ing to his own account he went there unwillingly at Onslow's 
 command. When once there he spent his time in vain 
 entreaties for stores and cannon from the Tower. It was too 
 late. Prince Rupert's troops were between him and his 
 castle, and the Committee of Both Houses would not trust 
 him with their guns for fear they should be captured. 
 Hearing that orders had been sent to his soldiers to evacuate 
 the castle, he determined, with praiseworthy spirit, to ride 
 through the enemy's country and share in their retreat. 
 Meanwhile news was brought him that the townsmen would 
 not even allow his garrison meat for their supper, much less 
 waggons in which to carry off what stores they had. He 
 went to his own house on the way and fetched thence sheep 
 and waggons. These he brought " through the Little Park 
 at the backside of the castle." Then the little band retired 
 in military order through the midst of the townsfolk, who, 
 he said, suppressed their snarls and barks till they were out 
 of sight. 
 
 Doubtless the snarling turned to cheering when, soon after- 
 wards, the castle was occupied by the Royalists. The garrison 
 was again commanded by a poet, Sir John Denham, composer 
 of the first English descriptive poem. He was better supplied 
 than the Parliamentarian captain, for he had a hundred soldiers 
 under his command. Besides, it seems that Wither, in spite 
 of the dignity of his retreat, had left his 300 sheep behind. 
 Sir John Denham did not hold out long when Sir William 
 Waller appeared before the walls of the castle. It does in 
 fact appear to have been untenable, and Denham lacked 
 resource. On December 1 the outer gate, whose weakness 
 Wither had bemoaned, was broken in with a petard. A 
 wooden palisade beyond it proved no obstruction to the 
 
 E.E.P. L
 
 146 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 besiegers. Denham yielded at once, and was allowed to 
 retire. The fate of the sheep is unknown, but the two poets 
 never forgave one another. Wither received compensation 
 for his losses in the shape of a grant of his rival's house, and 
 was much disgusted when in pity for Lady Denham the 
 Parliament restored it to her. He poured out his grievances 
 in angry prose, far different from his sweeter lyrics. His 
 wife, said he, must have what house she could, while Parlia- 
 ment gave to Denham's wife the house she fancied. Den- 
 ham retaliated by pleading for his rival's life, saying that 
 while Wither lived he would not be the worst poet in 
 England. 
 
 In the capture of the castle the Parliamentarians all but 
 lost one of their most skilled commanders. As Waller had 
 entered the building and was passing through a narrow 
 passage he barely escaped a shot fired by one of his own men, 
 who was following him. The townspeople, too, did not 
 content themselves with passive antagonism. On one 
 Sunday, appointed by the Parliament for a general fast, 
 they crowded riotously into the Great Park, driving away 
 the deer and jeering at the keeper and the ordinances of 
 Parliament. 
 
 It is said that Waller soon afterwards commanded the 
 destruction of the keep, but it does not appear to have been 
 totally dismantled until 1654. In the early years of the 
 Civil War Farnham was an important base of the Parlia- 
 mentary operations in the southern counties, and the habit- 
 able part of the castle was converted into a kind of frontier 
 fortress. In the winter following its capture Waller was 
 obliged to fall back upon it, and while entrenched at Farn- 
 ham was alarmed to see a Royalist force four times as large 
 as his own gathering upon a hill in the Great Park. He
 
 FARNHAM CASTLE 147 
 
 ■1WEMMW— — I— B^—H MB L I I L I I , III J ' -UM- I H « ■ illB^iai.ULX'JJl *ULUJ. I .EJ-1..L WJ.W-^JIJM W-EJI I , 1 1L I [ L . 1W — IHWIMi (B1WMHBI 
 
 attributed his deliverance to divine intervention. A thick 
 mist fell, and the enemy dared not attack in the darkness. 
 When the fog was driven away he was so strongly placed 
 that the enemy retired on Crondall, and the Parliamentarian 
 flag was left to wave defiance from the walls of the castle. 
 
 From time to time during the next two years Farnham 
 was filled with Parliamentary troops, sent thither from 
 the counties round London to join Waller's army in the 
 south. He sent prisoners there to be guarded at the castle 
 and in the church. The castle was converted into a depot 
 for ammunition and stores for the troops in the neighbour- 
 hood. This became the more necessary as the resources of 
 the country round were exhausted by the troops who wintered 
 in the town. 
 
 Early in 1645 the castle was left more or less unprotected, 
 and charges of treachery were brought against a certain 
 Mr. Stoughton. These were probably connected with a 
 surprise attack by General Goring, who occupied the town 
 for the king, January 9, but only held it for one day. Later 
 in the year the garrison was reorganized, but the gentlemen 
 of Surrey had been alarmed at the thought of a Royalist 
 stronghold on their very borders, and begged that the castle 
 might be demolished. It was not yet entirely destroyed. 
 In 1648 it was still a garrison, and the captain was com- 
 manded to keep a look cut for Royalists who were raising a 
 troop of horse in the neighbourhood. Then there were new 
 fears of a surprise, and the Parliamentary captain did his 
 best to strengthen his command. Finally an order came for 
 the demolition of all its fortifications, so as to render it 
 indefensible within a fortnight. Six years later the same 
 captain was still at the work of destruction, doling out stones 
 from the keep to the townsmen to pave their streets. 
 
 L 2
 
 148 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 Thus ends the military history of the fortress built by 
 Henry of Blois. After an existence of 500 years the walls of 
 the massive keep were broken down to pave the streets of 
 the little town which it had protected. The mound within 
 served for many years as an orchard or a kitchen garden. 
 Now nothing could be more peaceful than the smooth turf 
 borders and well kept flower-plots which cover it. Even in 
 1648 the battered outer walls must have looked sadly altered 
 to Charles I. as he rode out of the town, where he had slept 
 at Vernon House, a prisoner buoyed up with vain hopes of 
 escape. 
 
 During the next few years no care seems to have been 
 bestowed on the castle. Once more it became the home of 
 daws and crows. After the Restoration, Brian Duppa, the 
 new bishop, lived scarcely long enough to set in order so 
 much that had been destroyed in the last twenty years, 
 although he did begin to repair the castle. The election of 
 his successor, George Morley, in 1662, brought in a new era. 
 It was he, who, deciding to leave warfare alone, rebuilt the 
 domestic part of the building, leaving the keep in its now 
 ruinous state. He was so noted for his liberality that 
 Charles II. declared that he would never be the richer by the 
 great income of the see. Indeed, he spent it largely on 
 rebuilding his palaces with great magnificence. He made 
 many alterations in the great hall at Farnham, reducing its 
 length by 20 feet, and adding to its comfort by building a 
 wide fireplace. He fitted the chapel with stalls and a screen 
 of carved woodwork, and also put up heavily carved balus- 
 trades upon the main staircase. Yet in the midst of all this 
 growing splendour he contented himself with an austere life, 
 sleeping in a little room under the entrance-tower, only 8 feet 
 square, reminded of the futility of his grandeur by the constant
 
 FARNHAM CASTLE 149 
 
 presence of his coffin, and rising at five every morning to 
 study, winter and summer, without a fire. Before 1672 he 
 spent £8,000 on the castle. The king and the Duke of York 
 had known him well in the time of their exile, and often 
 visited him at the castle after his consecration. Their 
 constant visits tried the temper of the bishop, generous as he 
 was, and in his irascible way he " murmured mightily," and 
 asked some who told the king again whether he intended 
 to make the bishop's house always an inn. The report of 
 his complaints put an end to the royal visits, and the king 
 looked about to provide himself with a good house on the 
 way to Winchester. 
 
 Nevertheless, the bishop was most hospitable. His chap- 
 lain for a time was Bishop Ken, who practised an austerity 
 similar to his own. There is not much to connect Ken with 
 the castle, for his chaplaincy was short ; but his brother-in- 
 law, Isaac Walton, spent many a day under the bishop's 
 roof. After his wife's death the good old angler spent a 
 great part of his time as Morley's guest, and the castle 
 looking down upon the valley of the Wey would have great 
 attractions for him. It is thought that it was here that he 
 wrote the lives of Hooker and Herbert. The fifth edition of 
 the " Complete Angler " is dated from the castle. He used to 
 spend the Christmas there and had a lodging of his own, 
 where he left his books and a " desk of prints and pickters." 
 Morley had also more disagreeable guests — his nephews, 
 who came for what they could get from their uncle's rich 
 bishopric. For three weeks during which the poor bishop 
 lay upon his death-bed they would scarcely let him have time 
 to say his prayers, for fear he should die before he had sealed 
 and signed the favourable leases of the episcopal property 
 which they had induced him to make in the time of weakness.
 
 150 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 Even if unadvised, Morley's liberality had saved the castle 
 from further decay. His successor, the " old, honest 
 Cavalier," Peter Mews, would have been more fitly lodged 
 in the keep. He had been a loyal soldier of the king in 
 the Civil War, and soon after his consecration took part in 
 the battle of Sedgmoor. His portrait in the castle drawing- 
 room shows the black patch which hid a wound in his cheek. 
 Though he firmly resisted the unconstitutional proceedings 
 of James II., court gossip declared that the king begged a 
 refuge at Farnham in the time of his troubles. 
 
 The succeeding bishop, the "spiritual dragoon," Sir 
 Jonathan Trelawney, was roused to indignation by the 
 presence in Farnham of French prisoners of war. Among 
 them was the Bishop of Quebec, who, with his ecclesiastics, 
 was on parole not to leave the town, until their " impudent 
 perverting of Martha Newland to the Popish religion " caused 
 them to be put under restraint. Added to the dislike for 
 foreigners which still remained with the inhabitants of " one of 
 the loveliest spots in England," as the French bishop called it, 
 was the suspicion that their guards had brought to the town 
 a severe epidemic of small-pox. 
 
 The eighteenth-century bishops were mostly courtiers, but 
 they spent a great part of their time at Farnham. Bishop 
 Trimnell was a zealous supporter of the royal prerogative ; 
 and Hoadly, a leader of the Latitudinarian party both in 
 Church and State, was chaplain to George I. and intimate at 
 Court. In the time of Bishop Thomas the connection 
 between the sovereign and Farnham Castle was renewed ; 
 but the frequent visits of George III. to his old tutor were 
 very different from the gay hunting parties of Charles I., or 
 the magnificent entertainment prepared for James I. They 
 were quiet and homely visits, which continued till the bishop's
 
 FARNHAM CASTLE 151 
 
 death. A little more ceremony was used in a congratulatory 
 visit on his birthday. One Sunday, the king on hearing that 
 Thomas would be eighty-one next day, exclaimed : " Then I 
 will go and wish him joy." The queen, not to be outdone 
 in kindness said that she would go too. So the royal 
 phaeton, with three coaches and six and one coach and four, 
 and a large retinue of servants, set out early in the morning 
 and arrived at Farnham in time for eleven o'clock breakfast, 
 for the king had risen at six and the royal family usually 
 joined him at the chapel at eight. The king had brought 
 with him the princes and the Princess Royal. Prince 
 William, with his sunny ways, " engaged the heart" of the 
 old bishop, and would stay with him while the rest of the 
 party rambled about the house. The accomplished Mrs. 
 Chapone, friend of Dr. Johnson and of Richardson, was 
 there, and made tea for the humbler guests in the dressing- 
 room. She was proud when the queen introduced the 
 Princess Royal as one who had profited much by her " Letters 
 on the Improvement of the Mind." Yet Mrs. Chapone was 
 not very happy at Farnham, and soon ceased to visit the 
 castle. At that time its chief beauty was the fine avenue of 
 elms in the Little Park, three quarters of a mile in length. 
 It is broken now, but still retains some of its old grandeur. 
 
 The gloomy splendour of the old house, little altered since 
 the days of Bishop Morley, was unpleasing to Mrs. North, 
 the fashionable wife of the new bishop, who owed his 
 preferment to the influence of his brother, the prime 
 minister. She mingled as much of modern elegance and 
 fashion as she could with its old-world glory, while her 
 husband strove to recover the Little Park from the ill-effects 
 of years of neglect. The old regime at the castle was fast 
 dying out. The last constable had surrendered his office to
 
 152 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 the bishop, and the sole remaining " burgess " in the little 
 town below had " dissolved " himself, giving up the precious 
 charters for which his predecessors had struggled. For 
 nearly eight centuries the bishops of Winchester had ruled 
 in the civil affairs of their tenants about Farnham as well as 
 in their spiritual life. It was with sorrow that Bishop 
 Sumner, who has justly been called the last of the prince- 
 bishops, saw the transfer of the civil jurisdiction of the see to 
 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. It was the dawn of a new 
 era throughout all the country. In the time of the riots 
 and disturbances which preceded the Reform Bill, the men 
 of Farnham, who had welcomed their new bishop with 
 eager enthusiasm three years before, dragging his carriage 
 through the town and up the steep hill to the castle door, now 
 turned upon him, angered at the opposition of the bishops to 
 the Bill. The rioters marched in great numbers up the hill 
 leading to the castle, which they intended to attack. They 
 were only prevented from doing so by the massive entrance- 
 gates, which had been repaired by Bishop Sumner. They 
 turned back into the town and showed their wrath by 
 preparing to burn an effigy of the bishop. The effigy was 
 saved from destruction only to be replaced by another. 
 
 The bishop received many distinguished visitors at 
 Farnham. Among them was the Duke of Wellington who 
 rode over from his home at Strathfieldsaye to discuss the 
 Roman Catholic Relief Bill. Wilberforce, who afterwards 
 succeeded to the bishopric but never lived at Farnham, was 
 often a visitor in his predecessor's time, and many men of 
 note in the literary world visited Sumner as their friend. In 
 the summer of 1856 he was honoured by a visit from Queen 
 Victoria. She rode over in the evening from the camp at 
 Aldershot where the Wellington College had recently been
 
 FARNHAM CASTLE 153 
 
 opened. Approaching the castle by way of the great 
 avenue in the park, she alighted at the garden gate, and was 
 shown over the house and keep by the bishop. 
 
 He continued to live at Farnham after his resignation of 
 the see in 1869. It was for this reason that Bishop Wilber- 
 force did not make it his abode. At the beginning of the 
 episcopates of Bishop Browne and Bishop Thorold the 
 removal of the residence of the bishops to Winchester was 
 seriously considered. Bishop Browne was troubled by the 
 "long passages, staircases, and boundless roof" of Farnham 
 Castle, but soon began to love the place and its associations 
 and to take pride in the rare possession of a Norman oak pillar. 
 He improved the great hall by putting in mullioned windows; 
 but the palatial house was always a burden to him, and his 
 successor, Bishop Thorold, once again threatened to break 
 the link which had bound Farnham to Winchester for a 
 thousand years. Happily he changed his plans, and under his 
 care the whole building was repaired and remodelled ; corri- 
 dors were pierced, the great drawing-room was hung with 
 the Garter portraits of his predecessors, from Brian Duppa 
 onwards, and the gloomy wilderness of attics, inappropriately 
 called "Paradise" and "Arcadia," were converted into 
 bright cubicles fitted up for the entertainment of ordination 
 candidates. It was not the interior of the building alone 
 that occupied his attention ; it is due to him that the former 
 kitchen garden within the keep has given place to the trim 
 parterres of an Old English flower-garden. Bishop Browne 
 had entertained the Anglo-Continental Society at the castle, 
 and Bishop Thorold's hospitality was lavish. He loved the 
 very stones of his home with its outlook over the town in 
 the valley to the distant hills of Hindhead, and grew to 
 consider it " as indissolubly a part of the see of Winchester
 
 154 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 as Lambeth is of Canterbury." To enable his successors to 
 live there he bequeathed to them the bulk of its furniture ; 
 nor is the building without traces of its last master, the 
 present Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 Although with Bishop Sumner there ended the succession 
 of princely bishops who for many centuries had ruled at 
 Farnham, the castle is still the home of generous hospitality, 
 and, above all, the centre of organization and life in the 
 great work of the Church throughout the diocese of 
 Winchester.
 
 ۤt <Dft> (J)aface of Bincofn 
 
 A CITY set on a hill that cannot be hid; a church 
 held high like a minster on the hand of a painted 
 saint ; a triumphant gloria with its challenge to 
 all that pass by : such is Lincoln seen from 
 below. The cathedral first draws the eye ; then the castle ; 
 then, perhaps, a tower with a house close by among the 
 trees, which emphasizes with a narrow finger the huge 
 length of the minster just behind. This is the palace — the 
 " Old Palace," as it is called, as if to conjure up visions and 
 wraiths of the saints, sovereigns, statesmen, sinners who 
 have bound its long tale inseverably with the story of the 
 years and of the realm. 
 
 Perhaps on no English city has the Roman occupation left 
 such permanent traces as at Lincoln, where a Roman gate- 
 way still gives entrance to the town which the Romans 
 founded on the hill. For Lincoln is divided into two distinct 
 districts : the high quarter where both castle and cathedral 
 lie, and the clustering city below them on the Witham 
 bank. It was on the hill that the first settlement was made, 
 and here the Romans formed their camp. Traders followed 
 the legionaries, and a wall was built on the old military lines, 
 so that the first Roman city of Lindum Colonia arose. For 
 in Lincoln, as in London, the population in time outgrew 
 the straitness of the lines, and the city was enlarged by pro- 
 longing the east and west walls southward down the hillside
 
 156 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 to within eighty yards of the stream. The original city 
 covered about thirty-eight acres, and, being military in origin, 
 it lay four-square, so that a wall pierced by a gate faced each 
 point of the compass. On the east this wall ran just east of 
 the deanery and across the site of the chapter-house, its 
 south-east corner being near the bishop's gateway, whence 
 going west it followed the line of the wall of the palace 
 grounds. 
 
 Invaders plundered and burnt the city — the Newport Arch 
 still bears marks of the fire ; but probably some vestiges 
 remained in Saxon times, for to this day the upper city and 
 Bailgate, its chief street, still follow the Roman plan. 
 
 With the Conquest came many changes ; first the castle 
 was built by the Conqueror in the south-west corner of the 
 first Roman city — a site covered with at least 166 small 
 houses, all of which were destroyed. The city must have 
 presented rather a dilapidated appearance in 1086, for the 
 jurors who made the Domesday return declared that 
 there were also seventy decayed houses without the castle 
 bounds, but they were hasty to add that these were ruined 
 not by the oppression of sheriffs or officials, but by misfortune, 
 poverty, and fire. At this time Lincoln was not the seat of 
 the bishopric which now bears its name. After many 
 vicissitudes following the political fortunes of the land the 
 see of Dorchester was, in 1066, established at Stow, already 
 little more than a village though formerly of greater import- 
 ance. Remigius determined to move his bishop's stool to 
 Dorchester, the Oxfordshire village whence the see took its 
 name ; and he had begun to build there when, in 1073, the 
 Council of Windsor decreed that bishops should transfer 
 their seats from villages to towns. But before Remigius 
 could carry out this order land had to be provided for the
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 157 
 
 buildings which would be required, and the bishops of 
 Dorchester had none in Lincoln though there had been 
 churches there ever since Paulinus, in 628, had built a stone 
 church of beautiful workmanship which was still standing 
 when Bede wrote, though the roof had fallen in, either from 
 age, neglect, or the malice of men. This was no obstacle to 
 Remigius, who had been present at Hastings and had seen 
 one difficulty after another disappear before the Conqueror. 
 Among the lands forfeited by Saxons in Lincoln were thirty 
 holdings (mansiones) and a hall, once the property of Joch, 
 son of Out, who had had rights in each of the three churches 
 there. The hall was granted to Geoffrey Alselin ; but 
 Remigius procured from the king the thirty holdings as well 
 as a small manor and other lands both within and without 
 the walls. The date of the transfer of the see has been much 
 disputed, but it was probably about 1076 that William I. 
 gave this land, and by 1086 Domesday Book records that 
 the " Bishop of Lincoln " was in possession. By this grant 
 almost the whole of the eastern half of the ancient Roman 
 city passed into the hands of the bishop, for at this date the 
 chapter was really only his council, and it was not until later 
 that the land was divided between them — part going to form 
 the palace grounds and part the close. 
 
 Remigius, having secured his land, at once began to build 
 his cathedral on the site of the Church of St. Mary Magda- 
 lene and wholly within the bounds of the Roman wall — as 
 the chronicler says, " on the very peak of the city of Lincoln, 
 high up next that most strong castle." Remigius did not 
 see it consecrated, for a dispute with the Archbishop of York 
 caused delay, and when at last the bishops had consented to 
 perform the ceremony, Remigius was dying. Whether he 
 also built any palace here, or had any fixed dwelling for
 
 158 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 himself, is not known ; if he had such a dwelling it was 
 probably on another site and not where the palace now 
 stands. 
 
 In 1094 Robert Bloett succeeded to the see, which had 
 been kept vacant by William Rufus until in a panic, during 
 an illness at Gloucester in 1093 he made Anselm Archbishop 
 of Canterbury and gave Lincoln to his chancellor. Bloett 
 resigned his office on becoming bishop ; but on the accession 
 of Henry II. he received yet greater promotion as justiciar, 
 and was high in royal favour. As bishop, he surrounded 
 himself with magnificence and such state that Robert, the 
 king's son, was among the youths trained in his service. 
 Henry of Huntingdon, his archdeacon, tells, in hisde Contemptu 
 Mundi, of how as child, youth, and young man, he wondered 
 at the bishop's display, and of how, later in life, the knights 
 fully equipped, the noble lads in his household, the valuable 
 horses, the vessels of gold or silver-gilt, the garments of 
 purple and eastern silk, all left him with the sense of a 
 splendour that could not be excelled. It must have been 
 during this, his period of pomp, that Bloett received from 
 the king that charter which gives the first indication we have 
 of a palace at Lincoln. Whether Bloett built it or not, a 
 bishop's house, or " episcopium," was evidently there on a 
 site without the bailey wall, for Henry sent Ranulf Meschins, 
 Earl of Chester, Osbert the sheriff, and Picot son of Colsuen, 
 an intimation that he had granted to Robert, the Bishop 
 of Lincoln, leave to make an opening in the wall of 
 the castle for access to his dwelling, provided that such 
 exit did not weaken the wall. It is probable that this 
 entrance was in the position of the present gateway, which 
 cuts through the line of the wall of the second Roman city ; 
 that the wall was intact at this point may be inferred from
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 159 
 
 the fact that just south of the gateway a large block of it 
 still remains as the division between the vicar's court and the 
 episcopal demesne. 
 
 Some such entrance was made necessary by the nature of 
 the ground, for on the south the escarpment of the hill was 
 too steep for the approach of horsemen or a train of followers 
 unless on foot, and on the west the Church of St. Michael on 
 the Mount already separated the land occupied by the bishop's 
 land from Bailgate. There is, moreover, no trace of an 
 ancient approach on either of these sides, and in a city such 
 as Lincoln, where roads and customs are apt to keep their 
 ancient way, some weight must be attached to this negative 
 evidence. 
 
 Robert Bloett, though holding such high office in the 
 State, seems to have lacked decision of character, and in his 
 latter years suffered much from suits brought against him by 
 an inferior justiciar. These actions and the heavy fines 
 imposed were a source of great grief to the bishop who, as 
 Henry of Huntingdon relates, wept at a banquet at beholding 
 his retinue diminished in its pomp through the heavy drain 
 on his revenues. At the same time, while feeling so bitterly 
 against the king that he said one day, " The king praises no 
 one of his servants but him whom he wills to hurt to the 
 quick," he remained in touch with the Court, as the story of 
 his death shows. One day in 1123 he rode with Henry and 
 the Bishop of Salisbury through the royal deer forest of 
 Woodstock, talking, when suddenly he fell forward with the 
 cry, " My lord the king, I am dying." Straightway Henry 
 dismounted and took him in his arms. They bore him to the 
 lodge, where the bishop died. Then with great pomp they 
 brought his body to Lincoln, and buried it before the altar 
 of St. Mary there. In the previous year there occurred a
 
 160 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 disastrous fire in Lincoln ; almost the whole of the city was 
 destroyed, though it is expressly stated that the minster and 
 the bishop's palace escaped. So great was the destruction 
 that the news spead far and wide, and it was recorded as one 
 of the chief events of the year by the writer of the " Annals of 
 Margam " far off in Wales. 
 
 Robert Bloett was succeeded by Alexander, whose taste 
 ran to building rather than to the maintenance of a princely 
 retinue, and to him the see owed the three castles of Newark, 
 Sleaford, and Banbury, all of which were later favourite 
 residences of the bishops. There is, however, no evidence 
 that Alexander wrought anything at his palace in Lincoln, 
 though he obtained more land there ; and Henry I. notified 
 William de Albini and William son of Haco, then sheriff, 
 that he had granted to Bishop Alexander the East Gate with 
 the lands beyond for his entertainment. Long afterwards 
 this land was given by the bishop for the enlargement of the 
 deanery which stands exactly at the west of the old line of 
 the wall. 
 
 But a few years later the city was involved in the stress of 
 civil war, and all thought of building aught but castles of 
 necessity came to an end. When in 1140 the Empress 
 Matilda landed in England and made her claim to the throne; 
 she took up a position for a time at Lincoln Castle until 
 Stephen drove her out, and, having garrisoned the castle, 
 went his way. Although he was imprisoned and illtreated 
 by Stephen the bishop remained an adherent of the Crown, 
 and was with the king's army in 1141. Lincoln Castle was 
 held for Stephen until that year, when it was taken by 
 stratagem by Ranulf, Earl of Chester, and his brother William 
 de Romara, Earl of Lincoln. Alexander was apparently 
 staying at Lincoln at the time, for he, as well as the citizens
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 161 
 
 sent word to Stephen of the loss. Accordingly the king 
 marched to the city. He appears to have entered it with 
 little trouble, for only the castle was held by the opposing 
 force, the upper town being evidently in the bishop's hands. 
 And a bishop of Lincoln of the twelfth century was no mere 
 ecclesiastic, but as William of Malmesbury assures us, one of 
 the most powerful barons of the realm, with a goodly force of 
 knights at his command. Here too the Roman walls are 
 apparently decayed, but the East Gate, as we have seen, was 
 in the bishop's hands, while the southern boundary was 
 probably already occupied by the bishop's house, which at that 
 date was bound to be a fortified dwelling. This commanded 
 the greater part of the south slope of the hill, while just 
 north of it was the cathedral, also in the bishop's hands, 
 and directly fronting the gate of the actual bail of the 
 castle. It was therefore but a natural precaution — and one 
 not unprecedented at that time — for Stephen to seize the 
 cathedral and to convert it into his chief stronghold, for 
 which indeed its solid Norman stonework made it not 
 unsuitable. Stephen reached Lincoln with his army in the 
 octave of Christmas, 1141, and was probably lodged with 
 his follower the bishop. He invested the castle, but could 
 not prevent the escape of Ranulf, Earl of Chester, who went 
 with all speed to his father Robert of Gloucester, and both 
 returned with a strong force to relieve the besieged. The 
 army of the barons reached Lincolnshire on the second of 
 February, and encamped on the western side of the hill. On 
 that morning, being Candlemas Day, the king went in 
 solemn state to Mass, and made his offering of a great candle 
 at the high altar. Alexander the bishop stood there in all 
 splendour of vestment ready to receive the gift. The candle 
 was lighted, and the king knelt with it in his hands ; but in 
 E.E.P. M
 
 1 62 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 the very handling it broke in two and went out. Great was 
 the consternation of the many, and great that of the king — so 
 great that a hundred years later Richard of Wendover, prior 
 of Belvoir, could relate it in his " Flowers of History." Nor 
 was this the only sign of coming misfortune, for when the 
 great mystery had been wrought and Alexander raised the 
 pyx aloft for worship, the thread that fastened it broke, and 
 the vessel fell on the altar-stone — a forecast of the ruin of 
 the realm. It must have been with a sick heart that 
 Stephen left the church, and drew up his lines of battle. 
 The day went against him ; all around the king were cap- 
 tured or fled; and at length Stephen, beaten to the ground, 
 was himself taken captive, and sent as a prisoner to Bristol. 
 The city was bound to suffer, and a great part of the citizens 
 were slaughtered ; of the fate of the bishop's palace nothing 
 is known, but when such general allies of the king suffered it 
 is hardly likely that the bishop, his acknowledged friend, 
 should have escaped. That the palace was destroyed before 
 the middle of the twelfth century seems certain from the 
 remark of Giraldus Cambrensis — that Robert de Chesney 
 began to build " on the old foundations." 
 
 Alexander was succeeded in 1143 by Robert de Chesney, a 
 young man belonging to one of the most important families 
 in Oxfordshire. Though lacking strength of character he was 
 popular with all classes ; his election by the chapter was 
 unanimous, and both Stephen and the people greeted the 
 news with great joy, partly probably because his reputation 
 for humility and simplicity was in marked contrast to the 
 pride of Alexander. Robert de Chesney was not, however, 
 wanting in appreciation of his state as bishop of a great 
 see : his ideas in fact outran his means, and like so many of 
 his contemporaries he solved the problem thus raised by
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 163 
 
 recourse to the Jews. To this he had peculiar temptation, 
 for the greatest money-lender of his time lived almost at 
 the bishop's doors. Aaron the Jew of Lincoln was a power 
 throughout the land ; nearly every great noble was in his 
 debt, and the bishop was only following the fashion in 
 pawning to him the ornaments of his cathedral church in 
 return for £300. With this money he began to build the 
 palace, which he proposed should stretch from Roman wall 
 to Roman wall. Henry II. visited Lincoln between 1154 
 and 1 157, and the bishop took this opportunity of obtaining 
 from him a grant which fixes the limits of his palace as 
 much those of the present demesne. At the same time 
 the form of the grant shows it to have been a confirmation 
 of existing liberties and conditions, so that it in no way 
 militates against the theory that the bishops of Lincoln had 
 fixed their abode at this spot at an earlier date. Why a con- 
 firmation was considered advisable is not known, but probably 
 Robert de Chesney was about to extend the buildings of the 
 palace, and was anxious that the land he was about to cover 
 should be acknowledged by the king as part of the original 
 gift of William I. In this way the bishop was saved the 
 risk of the land being afterwards claimed as " purpresture" 
 or land " jumped " from the royal demesne. This security 
 was of importance, as the officers of the Crown were active 
 in making such claims, and a heavy annual quit-rent was 
 frequently exacted. The charter of Henry II. accordingly 
 defines the boundaries of the bishop's land as running from 
 the churchyard of St. Michael on the Mount as far as the 
 churchyard of St. Andrew ; and from the churchyard of St. 
 Andrew as far as the wall of the city — that is, the second 
 Roman wall, on the east ; and grants, moreover, the ditch of 
 the bail wall on the east. The king also confirmed the rights 
 
 M 2
 
 164 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 appurtenant to the land, and expressly freed the bishop from 
 land gable or land tax, parcage, and all other dues. This 
 was important, as taxation was being reorganized, and the 
 question of the bishop's immunity from the ordinary fiscal 
 burdens of his neighbours was bound to arise. Though the 
 great Galilee porch — the state entrance of the bishops — had 
 not yet been added to the cathedral, they probably always 
 entered by a door in the transept, and Robert de Chesney 
 applied to Henry II. for permission to make an entrance 
 opposite to it and through the ancient wall of the bail. A 
 clause was therefore added to the charter empowering the 
 bishop to make such a door, and part of it may still be seen, 
 though the earth has crept up until all but the jambs are 
 covered, and the grass touches the spring of the arch. The 
 arch itself is heavy and round. The door was probably 
 not very lofty, and it was certainly narrow, for the distance 
 from jamb to jamb is but six feet, just sufficient for a 
 stately procession to the church, but quite inadequate to an 
 army such as invariably clustered round a bishop of that 
 day. 
 
 Robert de Chesney died in 1166, and was succeeded by 
 Geoffrey, an illegitimate son of Henry II. and some mistress, 
 who was not, however, Fair Rosamund, as used to be main- 
 tained. Soon after his father's accession Geoffrey was 
 acknowledged as his son and brought up in the royal house- 
 hold, though destined for the Church. He took deacon's 
 orders when quite a boy, and at a very early age was made 
 Archdeacon of Lincoln. In 1173, when scarcely twenty, 
 Henry secured his election to the bishopric. Papal dis- 
 pensations were obtained to overcome the obstacles of his 
 youth and birth, and in July, 1175, Archbishop Richard of 
 Canterbury confirmed the election in the name of the Pope.
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 165 
 
 But Geoffrey had no desire either for priest's orders or 
 consecration ; he preferred the camp to the Church, and 
 young as he was he succeeded in quashing the revolt of his 
 brothers and of the Scots in 1174. Energetic, and a good 
 man of business, one of his first acts was to redeem the 
 ornaments of the cathedral which Robert de Chesney had so 
 rashly pawned ; and besides restoring these he added to the 
 treasures of the minster two bells which still exist in the 
 Great Tom. But through all his vigorous administration 
 he made no attempt at securing further orders ; and so 
 great did the scandal become that in 1181 the Pope called 
 upon him to resign or be consecrated. Resignation fitted in 
 with the plans of Henry II., and his son accepted his advice. 
 On the feast of the Epiphany, 1182, the see accordingly 
 became vacant, and it was not until the following year that 
 Walter de Coutance became Bishop of Lincoln. 
 
 Walter died two years later, when his successor was the man 
 afterwards known far and wide as St. Hugh of Lincoln. A 
 French Carthusian with a reputation for asceticism and 
 business capacity, Henry III. called him to England to 
 reorganize his foundation of Witham Priory, and made him 
 his friend. It was, therefore, with personal knowledge of 
 the man that Henry, in 1186, procured Hugh's election to the 
 see of Lincoln. Hugh took up his residence at Stow, and 
 besides administering the diocese he began to enlarge his 
 cathedral to the east. The palace also was his care. What 
 was the plan of the older building it is impossible to say : 
 if there are foundations they are probably now deep under- 
 ground. The earliest building now standing in the palace 
 grounds is part of the fair hall which Hugh began to build " in 
 the sure and certain hope," as the chronicler tells us, "with 
 God's aid to bring it to completion." This hope was not to be
 
 166 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 fulfilled; but St. Hugh was building for a see and not for an 
 episcopacy, and the work carried on by his successors still 
 show traces of its glory even in decay. But beautiful as the 
 hall was, it was surpassed in every way by the choir and the 
 eastern transepts. It was these, rather than the hall of the 
 palace, that struck the imagination of the time, and stories 
 were told afterwards of how the saint himself wrought at 
 the building, carrying a hod with the meanest of his men. 
 
 Probably Hugh did not live much in Lincoln ; he pre- 
 ferred Stow, where lived the swan that followed him like a 
 dog and afterwards became his emblem. Though both 
 gentle and devout, so that even lepers were not loathsome in 
 his sight, his perfect moral courage made him withstand the 
 demand of the Crown for a money-grant in 1198 — the first 
 refusal of the kind ever made in England — and enabled him 
 to reprimand King John. He was, indeed, much employed 
 in affairs of State, and it was on royal business that he was 
 summoned to France in that year. Before he left he went 
 to Lincoln, where he bade his canons farewell, giving to each 
 the kiss of peace, and commending them, in the words of 
 the apostle, " to God and to the word of His grace." When 
 Hugh returned, he entered Lincoln amid plaudits such as 
 might greet a conqueror from a great crowd drawn not only 
 from the city, but from the diocese. In 1200 he set out for 
 France once more, but the journey was his last. On his 
 way home he caught a fever, and struggled back to his 
 London house in Southampton Row to die on November 16 ; 
 two days later the funeral procession set out for the north. 
 The clergy and people of London, with crosses and tapers, 
 saw the mourners on their way far beyond the city. Every- 
 where through the fields and the townships the people, of 
 either sex and every condition, flocked to meet the procession,
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 167 
 
 striving to touch the coffin with their hands. Northward 
 through Hertford, Biggleswade, Buckden, Stamford, and 
 Ancaster, they journeyed, and at length on November 23 
 they reached the city. Lincoln has seen many splendid 
 sights, and the ages have given her pageantry in full, but 
 probably never did it see more solemn pomp than on the 
 day of the funeral of St. Hugh. It was the time of a great 
 council, and all the nobles of the realm were assembled 
 there, and there, too, was the King of Scots. So the streets 
 were full not only of the people of Lincoln and the diocese — 
 men who had known and loved their bishop — but of men at 
 arms, and all the throng attached to the lords, drawn by 
 curiosity and report. On the slope of the hill the procession 
 was met by the two Kings of England and Scotland. Even 
 John was sobered, and the King of Scots shed tears in the 
 sight of all. Then the King of England and his great nobles 
 took the coffin to bear it to the cathedral, but often the 
 bearers were relieved, for all would ha\e a share in the glory 
 of that toil. Thus, through the mud, up the steep streets 
 of the town, past the Jewry, where the Jews bewailed 
 him in their fashion, the procession moved onwards to the 
 ringing of bells and sound of hymns until it came to the 
 great church itself. 
 
 It was not surprising that, with sentiment so poignant, 
 miracles followed. Worshippers thronged round the tomb, 
 and, in popular opinion, Hugh of Avalon was accounted a 
 saint long before his canonization in 1220. A long list of 
 wonders brought men from all parts of the north, so that 
 Giraldus Cambrensis couples St. Thomas, the red rose of 
 Kent — "rosy with his precious blood outpoured" — with 
 St. Hugh, the bright lily of Lincoln. 
 
 William of Blois, the successor of St. Hugh, seems to
 
 1 68 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 have carried on the work both of the cathedral and the 
 palace hall, both of which were unfinished when he was 
 succeeded in 1209 by Hugh of Wells. The operations must 
 have been much hindered by the turmoil of the barons' wars, 
 in which Lincoln played no inconsiderable part. In May, 
 1217, the army of the barons retired from the siege of 
 Montsorrel to attack Lincoln Castle, which was held for 
 King John by the brave old lady, Nicholaa de la Hay, and 
 certain officers of the king. Roger de Wendover probably 
 saw them as they marched down the valley of Belvoir past 
 his monastery, and he has described how miserable was their 
 array as, clad in tattered garments, they burnt and harried 
 all they passed. The defences of the city were no better in 
 1217 than they had been in 1141, and the royal forces were 
 in no condition to hold Lincoln, even if the theory of war at 
 that time had looked upon the occupation of a city as impor- 
 tant. The castle in their opinion was the only really needful 
 point, and the baronial party was allowed to occupy the town, 
 and not merely the lower portion of it, but also the hall, the 
 palace, and the cathedral. From this eastern position the 
 barons poured a ceaseless fire of stones into the bailey of the 
 castle, and destroyed many of the buildings there. So great 
 was the danger that a strong Royal force was sent to the 
 relief of the castle under William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, 
 and Peter, the fighting Bishop of Winchester. The barons 
 were thus between the forces of the besieged and relievers in 
 precisely the same way as the forces of King Stephen had 
 been some eighty years before ; their position was, however, 
 fairly secure, for they could not be attacked from the south, 
 where the town was doubly guarded by the Witham and 
 Sencil dykes. The relieving force made its way to the west 
 side of the city, and there established communication with
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 169 
 
 Nicholaa de la Hay and her men in the castle. Then came 
 the problem of how to get at the besiegers. The long 
 French poem, which purports to be a history of William 
 Marshal, tells how, when finally the old Newport Arch had 
 been forced and an attack became possible, Peter, Bishop of 
 Winchester, in high good humour called to the men to spare 
 the palace for him. William Marshal gave the order 
 " Charge ! " adding, " They will soon be conquered. Shame 
 on him who tarries longer." Swifter than a merlin, he 
 spurred on his charger, and all those who were with him 
 were heartened at the sight. Into the crowd he pressed, the 
 bishop behind crying, " God aid the marshal." With the 
 whole weight of his force behind him he drove the enemy 
 before him, clear first of the bail and then down the hill. In 
 such a position retreat could only be rout. Down through 
 the narrow lanes, so steep that now no vehicle attempts 
 them, the battle was carried. Bargate stood in the way; 
 narrow and old as the Newport Arch, the door was fastened 
 by a bar which swung of its own accord. Each fugitive 
 came up to find the way blocked ; to dismount in mail, 
 unhasp the bolt, speed through as the door clanged, took 
 time, and time was freedom that day. But even when 
 through the gate it was only to find that a flank move- 
 ment had here cut off retreat. Complete victory as the 
 " Fair of Lincoln " was, the battle was singularly bloodless. 
 The poem speaks of many wounded, bruised, or made prisoner, 
 but Roger of Wendover knew of only three slain. And it 
 cost the citizens of Lincoln dear. Once again the place 
 was given over to pillage, and the whole city was spoiled 
 to the last farthing. The soldiers broke open every chest 
 with hammers, and carried off from them gold and silver, 
 the scarlet cloth for which Lincoln had won fame, the
 
 170 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 women's ornaments, gold rings, cups, and precious stones — 
 all the luxuries in fact, which the merchants had bought 
 for their pleasure and adornment. Not even the cathedral 
 escaped this plague, for the Legate had given the soldiers 
 to understand that they might regard the canons as excom- 
 municate, having been enemies to the Roman Church 
 and the King of England from the beginning of the war. 
 That the palace did not escape may be assumed from the 
 jest made by Bishop Peter before the attack ; Hugh of Wells, 
 moreover, was well known as an adherent of the barons, and 
 so was considered excommunicated and a suitable victim. 
 It is perhaps significant that a few years later the offices and 
 kitchens there were newly built. At any rate there is no 
 reason to suppose that it escaped a plunder which left no 
 corner untouched, until, peace proclaimed within the city, 
 each returned a rich man to his lord. 
 
 It was probably to a much battered house that Bishop 
 Hugh returned at the close of the war ; but at first the 
 administration of his diocese and the work at the cathedral 
 occupied all his energy, for the north transept was being 
 built, and in 1220 " the Dean's Eye " — that great rose-window 
 which fills the end — first shone forth. Then the bishop found 
 himself free to repair his palace, and finish the work St. Hugh 
 had begun. The interest of Henry III. in architecture was 
 well known, and Hugh enlisted his sympathies in the work 
 when the king came to Lincoln in 1224. It was but a short 
 distance from the castle to the palace, and Henry must have 
 seen the unfinished hall, and probably discussed the plan 
 with the bishop. Nor was his interest ineffectual, for he 
 promised timber for the work, and issued a mandate to 
 Hugh de Nevill, keeper of the royal forest of Sherwood, 
 empowering him to cut down forty trunks of trees to make
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 171 
 
 beams and joists for the hall at Lincoln, and ordered that 
 the timber should be taken at a point where the bishop's 
 men could best take it in charge. The king did not stop 
 here, for in the same year he wrote to the mayor and bailiffs 
 of Lincoln to intimate that he had given licence to the 
 bishop to hew stone in the fosse of the city near the palace, 
 and to use that stone for building his house, provided that 
 he could do so without injury to the city. The meaning of 
 this grant is somewhat obscure, but probably the idea was to 
 increase the steepness of the southern escarpment of the 
 hill by removing the stone and using it for building purposes 
 on the terrace thus formed. Seven years later, Henry gave 
 a similar power to the dean and chapter, who were to use 
 for the fabric of the church and the repair of their houses 
 such stone from the ditch of Lincoln Castle as the sheriff 
 might think conduced to the improvement of that ditch. 
 Hugh of Wells went further ; for, to the south of the hall 
 and overhanging the wall of living stone which the masons 
 had just cleared, he built a mass of kitchen buildings, with the 
 butteries and pantries needed for service. There is nothing 
 to show at what date they were finished, but the upper town 
 of Lincoln must have rung with the sound of mallet and 
 hammer in 1233, when all this work was going on at the 
 palace, when just above it men were busy on the minster, 
 and when, just to the west, they were mending the king's 
 lodging at the castle and rebuilding the western gate there 
 which had almost fallen to the ground. 
 
 In 1235 Hugh of Wells was succeeded by Robert 
 Grosseteste, one of the greatest English prelates of the 
 Middle Ages. As prebendary of Empringham in Lincoln 
 Cathedral he seems to have been deeply impressed by the 
 want of order and governance in the chapter due to lack of
 
 172 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 outside control. Of this criticism, however, his fellow-canons 
 were happily ignorant, and after some quarrelling they 
 unanimously elected him, in 1235, to fill the empty see. 
 Grosseteste encouraged the work on the cathedral, as the 
 nave and west front, the western transept, and the Galilee 
 porch bear witness ; but the canons found to their amaze- 
 ment that the bishop proposed not merely to adorn the 
 church, but to reform the chapter. The episcopal zeal was 
 shown within the very year of Grosseteste's consecration, 
 when he held a visitation of the monasteries under his 
 rule and removed the superiors from eleven houses. The 
 panic in the diocese was great, and great was the horror of 
 the canons in 1239 when they received official intimation 
 that the bishop would visit his cathedral in spite of the grant 
 of immunity from episcopal jurisdiction. This grant was 
 the canons' only refuge from Grosseteste, whose ideal bishops 
 were, as he said, as beasts of the Apocalypse, not merely 
 winged, but full of eyes before and behind. By Whitsuntide 
 the chapter had sent a proctor to Rome, and by the autumn 
 the dean and chief dignitaries had followed him there, so that 
 when Grosseteste arrived at his cathedral, as he had pro- 
 mised, on October 18, not a single member of the cathedral 
 body was there. 
 
 It was, of course, a public insult, and Grosseteste must 
 have spent a disturbed evening at his palace, but a few yards 
 away. For years the struggle dragged on, and it was not 
 until 1245, after both dean and bishop had appealed to the 
 Pope at Lyons, that a papal judgment was obtained ; this 
 was satisfactory, on the whole, to the bishop, though the 
 canons secured some minor points in contention. 
 
 To the history of the palace the struggle is chiefly of 
 importance as limiting its use during this period, and, as far
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 173 
 
 as is known, Grosseteste made no additions to the fabric. 
 At the same time more details have come down to us of his 
 manner of life than of almost any Bishop of Lincoln, with 
 the possible exception of St. Hugh. Though a stern opponent 
 of malpractices, whether of king, Pope, or lesser men, his 
 honesty of purpose and frankness left his opposition without 
 sting, and when once his quarrel with his chapter was settled 
 he became their very good friend. With the king, too, he 
 was on intimate terms, and his hospitality was well 
 known. It was, perhaps, in the banqueting hall at Lincoln 
 that he entertained the Earl of Gloucester at dinner, and 
 astonished him by the perfection of his manners. It was a 
 fast -day, and wolf-fish were the chief fare. The earl sat 
 by the bishop's side, and the dapifer or butler entered bear- 
 ing the fish ; the best he placed before his lord, the smaller 
 he gave to the earl. The bishop frowned and ordered : 
 " Either take away the fish or place as good a one before the 
 earl." Knowing Grosseteste's humble origin, the earl was 
 surprised, and he did not seek to hide his astonishment. 
 " My lord bishop," he exclaimed, " if I may ask without 
 offence, I should like to know where you learnt such 
 courtesy, for we understand you are of humble birth, and 
 yet you act as one used to the ways of the world." " Very 
 true it is, my lord earl," was the dignified reply, " that my 
 father and mother were humble, but yet Irom my youth I 
 was nurtured among men and masters of the highest virtue 
 of life." We even know of some of his domestic worries. 
 The bishop's cook died, and to fill his place he had to borrow 
 a certain John of Leicester from his friend the Countess of 
 Leicester, the sister of Henry III. John proved a good 
 cook — one probably who followed the bishop's taste and 
 used pepper rather than ginger to give flavour to his sauces —
 
 174 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 and Grosseteste, in asking that the loan might be made 
 permanent, wrote a letter which made his friend Adam Marsh 
 at once laugh and cry. Grosseteste was indeed no believer 
 in asceticism ; and a story is told of how, when a friar of 
 melancholy aspect came to him, he enjoined on him as a 
 penance that he should drink a cup of the best wine. The 
 friar had to obey, but it was much against his will, and the 
 joy of the onlookers was great when the bishop tenderly 
 remarked : " My dear friar, if you had such a penance 
 frequently you would have a better ordered conscience." So, 
 too, his robust common sense was heard in a dictum to a 
 Dominican : " There are three things necessary to earthly 
 salvation — food, sleep, and good humour." His fondness for 
 music was well known, and it is related how : — 
 
 " He lovede moche to here the harpe, 
 For mans witte it makyth sharpe ; 
 Next hys chamber, besyde his study, 
 Hys harpers chamber was fast the by. 
 Many tymes by nightes and dayes 
 He hadd solace of notes and layes," 
 
 In 1253 the bishop died, and in the same year the chapter 
 elected their dean, Henry de Lexington, to the see. Neither 
 he nor his immediate successors are known to have made any 
 permanent alterations to the palace, though Oliver Sutton 
 was imbued with the spirit of reform, and built the Vicars' 
 Court just without the palace gate, that there the vicars- 
 choral might form a college. It was not until the second 
 decade of the fourteenth century that fresh work was under- 
 taken. With the fourteenth century began a period of calm 
 greater than that which Lincoln had enjoyed for many a 
 year. Battles there were none ; the palace was little visited, 
 for the bishops were great men of affairs, busied not merely
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 175 
 
 with their huge diocese, but with the ordering of the kingdom 
 at large. Buckden was more accessible and more central 
 than Lincoln, and, moreover, afforded sport for their leisure, 
 and when the affairs of the see made a visit to Lincoln 
 needful Nettleham, where Bishop Gravesend had entertained 
 Edward I. in 1276, was more to their taste than their Lincoln 
 palace. 
 
 But though wars had ceased, the country was disturbed 
 by robberies ; danger became great to the canons and the 
 vicars as they went to and fro between their lodgings and the 
 church for the services at night; for the close, a wide space, 
 held many shadows. Oliver Sutton had obtained licence 
 from the king for the canons to surround their close with a 
 wall, wherein should be gates which might be secured at 
 dusk ; but the work seems to have been ill-done or not done 
 at all, for in 1327 royal commissioners were appointed to 
 inquire into the enclosure of the precinct, and whether it 
 would be detrimental to the king's interests. One of the 
 special articles of inquiry dealt with that part of the city 
 wall which joined the precinct on the south of the church 
 from the wall of the bailey to the southern head of the 
 vicars' garden, and this piece was certainly crenellated within 
 the next two years. Henry Burghersh was Chancellor of 
 England, and it was, according to the grant, in acknow- 
 ledgment of " his profitable services and the great place he 
 holds in the direction of the king's affairs " that in 1329 he 
 received licence to repair and crenellate the walls of his 
 palace. Crenellation probably did not mean much, but it 
 was the fashionable fad of the day when the old fortified 
 dwelling-houses were fast passing and the manor-houses 
 taking their place. What was important to the bishop was 
 the additional grant of the old piece of Roman wall which
 
 176 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 separated the palace from Vicars' Court. This wall contained 
 in length 18J perches, as measured by the standard rod of 
 20 feet. The length seems to indicate that the bishop had 
 already purchased " the lower garden " from the mayor and 
 citizens. This step was probably necessitated by the 
 discovery that the walls of Bishop Hugh's kitchen were 
 bearing outwards and needed immediate attention if a 
 collapse was to be avoided. Accordingly, on the piece of 
 land acquired just under the wall, the bishop erected the two 
 great buttresses of dressed Ancaster stone, which are still one 
 of the most conspicuous objects on the hillside when viewed 
 from below. 
 
 When Bishop Burghersh obtained his licence to crenellate 
 he was careful to secure a clause in the same charter granting 
 to the palace " the immunity and ecclesiastical liberty of the 
 church, its cemetery and other places within the precincts." 
 This was really not only a confirmation of the grant by which 
 the bishop was to be quit of all dues whatsoever, but also 
 was an acknowledgment of the court held in the room above 
 the Galilee porch, at which offences committed in the close 
 received their punishment. What was the incident which 
 made this confirmation desirable is not known, but in 1385 — 9 
 the bishop, John Bokyngham, paid 50s. to the king for a 
 further confirmation of the right. A few years later the 
 charter proved useful. In 1393 — 5 there was great ill-feeling 
 between the dean and the chapter, and so high did animosity 
 become that the friends of the dean and the friends of the 
 canons formed two distinct and somewhat disorderly parties. 
 One winter's night Simon the bell-ringer was making his 
 way back to his lodging after ringing for service ; he had 
 got as far as the north porch of the great transept, when 
 suddenly, out of the shadows, seven of the dean's household
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 177 
 
 sprang upon him. Vainly he tried to get into the church, 
 but the odds were against him, and the door was held fast. 
 Wounded, Simon fell to the ground with blood streaming 
 down his face. Great was the sensation, when service was 
 over and the news spread of what had been done. As soon 
 as day broke a messenger went hot-haste to the bishop at 
 Stow, and Bokyngham saw that a crisis had come. Straight- 
 way the bishop took the road, going to the palace, where he 
 called before him his chancellor, John Bottesham, and John 
 Kele, Prebendary of St. Mary Crakepool. Investing them 
 with power to make an inquiry and examine witnesses, the 
 bishop sent them to the cathedral across the road. Many 
 must have been the tales which he heard during the hour or 
 two of waiting for the commissioners' report, but at last they 
 returned and had their interview. 
 
 All Lincoln had heard of the scandal, and the cathedral 
 was thronged when it was known that Bokyngham himself 
 would go there to make pronouncement. At length the pro- 
 cession appeared through the Galilee porch, and in solemn 
 judicial fashion the bishop took his seat before the high 
 altar. Rising to his full height he pronounced the minster 
 polluted by the effusion of blood and, so, unfitted for the 
 service of God, until the culprits had confessed and 
 penance had been done. To that intent he cited the guilty 
 persons to appear before him in his court at Stow. Every- 
 body of course knew that the dean was the real, if not the 
 actual, delinquent, and every one appreciated the humour of 
 the case when, on the feast of the Epiphany, the dean was 
 excommunicated in his own cathedral with all the solemnity 
 of bell, book, and candle. The subdean was now at the head 
 of affairs, and it fell to his lot to ask for the cathedral to be 
 reconciled. Bokyngham felt that once the emphasis thus 
 e.e.p. N
 
 178 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 made, there was no good to be gained in laying further stress 
 on the point, and on the following Wednesday he performed 
 the reconciliation. The dean did not escape so lightly, for 
 the Court of Canterbury took the matter in hand, and on 
 February 18 the archbishop pronounced sentence, ordering 
 the dean and his accomplices to pay the bishop twenty 
 marks for his trouble in reconciling the church. 
 
 Such was one of the incidents which would bring a bishop 
 of Lincoln to his cathedral city. Happily scandals of the 
 kind were not frequent, and the palace seems to have been 
 little used during the fourteenth century. Probably the 
 older buildings had fallen into disrepair when William 
 Alnwick was translated from Norwich to Lincoln in 1436. 
 A monk of St. Albans, taking his name from his birthplace, 
 Alnwick had won a reputation for learning and holiness 
 which gained for him the confidence of both Henry V. and his 
 son. He was promoted to the Bishopric of Norwich in 1426, 
 and was well known as a prosecutor of Lollards. At Lincoln 
 he set to work to heal the dissensions of the chapter, and in 
 1439 he issued the Laudum or award, by which the cathedral 
 has been practically governed down to the present day. The 
 love of architecture he had shown at Norwich — where he 
 restored the west front of the cathedral — prompted him 
 to build the south wing of the schools at Cambridge and 
 soon set him to work on his palace at Lincoln. The bishop's 
 private quarters were probably both old fashioned and 
 incomplete, so that Alnwick was justified in adding an east 
 wing in which were a chapel, two halls, a study, and other 
 chambers. These he connected with the older work by the 
 beautiful tower which bears his name ; this stands at the 
 north-east corner of the hall and gave access to it, to the new 
 wing, to the kitchen, court, and to what is now the drive.
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 179 
 
 As this building of Alnwick's completed the old palace, it 
 may be well to give here a short description of the whole 
 structure as it must have appeared at this time. The whole 
 space enclosed was a quadrilateral of about three acres 
 sloping rapidly down the hill with its northern end many feet 
 higher than its southern bounds. The entrance was pro- 
 bably at the extreme north-east corner near the present gate- 
 way, though that dates only from the time of Bishop Smith 
 (1496 — 15 14) whose arms surmount it. Passing through the 
 gate a courtyard was probably reached, for the chapel wing 
 lay on the south, and there are signs of ancient fire-places on 
 the bounding north wall. A little further west the court 
 widened ; on the site of the present house were more build- 
 ings, but of them little is known, though a long structure con- 
 taining about eight rooms was still standing there in 1660 
 and was known as "the officers' lodging." South of this and 
 on a lower level was a further range of buildings, to which 
 must have belonged the fire-places shown in the lower wall in 
 Buck's drawing of 1726. The whole of the eastern side of 
 this upper court was occupied by the great hall, built 
 between 1200 and 1224. The best idea of it may be 
 gained from the survey taken by order of the House 
 of Commons, which describes it as " very faire, large, 
 lightsome, of strong freestone, buildinge, in good repaire, 
 being 60 foote of assize in breadth, and go foot of 
 assize longe. The form of building consisteth of one large 
 middle allye and two out iles on eyther syde, with 8 gray 
 marble pillars, bearing up the arches of freestone in the form 
 of a large church, having large and faire freestone windows, 
 very full of stories in paynted glasse of the kinges of this 
 land. The fyre is used in the middle of the hall. The 
 roofe is very stronge tymber covered all over with leade. 
 
 N 2
 
 180 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 The proporcon of it is much lyke the bodye of Christe 
 Church in London." St. Hugh had planned his hall as an 
 oblong with sides broken only by windows, in which he set 
 the new fashioned transom, so that a casement might be 
 inserted when the bishop was there. But Alnwick found the 
 design too severe, and in the north-west corner he built the 
 bay window with its stone seat and the little turret stair 
 which still remain. In depth this window almost cor- 
 responded to St. Hugh's great porch, which opened at the 
 south-west corner into the upper court. Even as late as 
 1784 Grimm drew this porch, showing how its arcading 
 rivalled in beauty that of the cathedral choir. Very lovely 
 too was the south wall of the hall, where, adorned with 
 carving, a door led southward to the kitchen, and was flanked 
 on either side by doors to butteries. From the slope of the 
 ground the kitchen could not lie close next to the butteries, 
 but was some thirteen feet beyond, and was gained through 
 a passage over a kind of bridge. Furnished with five fire- 
 places this room was well fitted for cooking the enormous 
 joints then used ; moreover it was a pleasant room, for 
 windows looked southward over the city and a door led 
 downstairs to the open air of the kitchen court on the east. 
 The only room in this block above the ground floor of which 
 we have certain knowledge is the bishop's solar or private 
 apartment. This was gained from the hall by a small turret 
 stair placed in the extreme south-west corner between the 
 porch and the western buttery. The room above was light- 
 some and pleasant, for two windows looked south over the 
 city to the hills and distant Trent. Between them was the 
 fire-place, and on the wall were marble corbels to uphold the 
 vaulted roof above the hangings which covered the walls 
 with manifold colours and designs. It must have been in
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 181 
 
 this room that, on one December day in 1351, the chapter 
 and precentor made up in Bishop Gynwell's presence their 
 quarrel over the choice of a schoolmaster for the choir-boys, 
 and it would be here that the bishop would give the new pre- 
 bendary seisin of his dignity with a book or loaf of bread. 
 
 Though the room was beautiful it is quite possible to see 
 the inconvenience of an approach to it up so narrow a stair 
 and through the great hall where the whole household met, 
 and Alnwick accordingly built a distinct range of buildings 
 to the east, leaving a small court — the kitchen court — 
 between. The new wing was joined to the old by the fine 
 Alnwick Tower, with its four doors — one into the modern 
 drive, one into the north-east corner of the great hall, and 
 two to the south, one opening into the kitchen court and 
 looking over its slope to the hills, the other leading into a 
 passage which ran down south with windows on to the 
 kitchen court. The Parliamentary Survey records that in 
 1649 — 51, as earlier, there opened from this passage two 
 rooms, the lesser hall and the dining-room, each with windows 
 looking on to the court round which the block was built. 
 The north end of this court was formed by the parlour with 
 the chapel above, while the south was blocked by the study 
 with windows looking south over the countryside. The 
 chapel was Alnwick's special care : he dedicated it to the 
 Virgin, the patroness of Lincoln, and filled the windows with 
 painted glass wherein were quaint Latin verses coupling his 
 name with hers. Under the chapel was a parlour with a 
 bay window looking into the inner court, and a dais marked 
 off on the floor of coloured tiles by a yellow line. At the 
 western end of the room was a pantry, and at the west a 
 stone sideboard was let into the wall beneath an arched 
 recess, with a door on either side leading, one to a cellar, the
 
 182 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 other to the little hall. There was, too, a stone fire-place 
 here, and a private kitchen and a well were close at hand. 
 Indeed, beneath the whole of this range of buildings there 
 were cellars — some for storage, one for a brew-house, others 
 for uses conjectural only. Now these deep underground 
 rooms are all that are intact, for the state-rooms have gone, 
 and to the chambers that must have been above imagination 
 is the only guide. 
 
 Such was the palace when Henry VII. passed Easter 
 there in i486, " and full like a christen prince, herd his 
 dyvyne service in the cathedrall churche and in no privie 
 chapell. And, on Shere Tharsday he had in the Bishops 
 Hall XXX poore men, to whom he humbly and cristenly, 
 for Crist love with his noble handes, did wessh ther fete, 
 and gave as great almes, like as other his noble progenitours, 
 kynges of England, have been accustomed aforetyme." 
 
 There is a sort of fitness in the fact that Wolsey was for a 
 few months in 1514, Bishop of Lincoln, for his career may 
 serve as a type of the fate of his palace, that from the height 
 of its splendour passed in a few years to desolation and 
 decay. When Wolsey was translated to York he was suc- 
 ceeded at Lincoln by his friend, William Atwater, who, like 
 Wolsey, seems to have done little or nothing to the palace ; 
 indeed, his financial position probably did not allow of it, for 
 in 1514 he borrowed from Henry VIII. £600 — a considerable 
 sum at that date. He was followed by one whose magnifi- 
 cent displays were the last the palace should se„. John 
 Longland was the king's almoner and confessor in 1521, 
 when he was promoted to Lincoln on the death of Atwater, 
 and had won much favour with Henry VIII. by his preaching. 
 Longland was not, however, entirely subservient, or even as 
 submissive as Cromwell and his master had expected ; but at
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 183 
 
 the same time he was one of Henry's most enthusiastic 
 supporters, both in the matter of the divorce and of his 
 independence of Rome. This is the more interesting in face 
 of More's eulogy of the bishop as a second Colet, both in 
 regard to his preaching and the purity of his life. His office 
 as confessor gave him peculiar intimacy with Henry's motives, 
 and that a man of Longland's rectitude should have taken 
 Henry's part is much in the king's favour. 
 
 Longland was, in fact, a perfect epitome of the Anglican 
 position. The Pope he had come to abhor — by what process 
 is not clear — the rights and doctrines of the Church he 
 upheld, and the supremacy of the king he maintained. It is not 
 perhaps surprising to find that he was popularly misjudged. 
 In his fashion he was severely orthodox, and he was hated for 
 the way in which poor people were " indited for small matters 
 of pretended heresy." But while he was thus disliked, and 
 not without reason, by the reforming party, he was in no more 
 favour with the upholders of the old state of things. The 
 rebels who disturbed the north by their Pilgrimage of Grace 
 in 1536 especially singled Longland out as one of the royal 
 ministers who had brought about the religious changes of 
 the last few years. As they marched through the country- 
 side, headed by a banner bearing the marks of the Five 
 Wounds of Christ, they sang a party-song ; the last verse 
 runs : — 
 
 "Crim, Crame, and Riche, 
 With thre 111 and the liche 
 As sum men teache 
 
 God theym amend. 
 And that Aske may 
 Without delay 
 Here make a stay 
 And well to end.''
 
 1 84 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 The first line refers to Cromwell, Cranmer, Richard Riche ; 
 the " thre 111" were Longland, Dr. Legh, and Dr. Layton ; 
 while by "the liche" was meant the Bishop of Lichfield, 
 almost equally obnoxious to the pilgrims. 
 
 Longland was too careful an administrator to neglect his 
 estates, and under him the palace was as well maintained as 
 it had been by any of his predecessors, and so great was its 
 state that in 1541 it was held sufficient for royal entertain- 
 ment. 
 
 Great must have been the preparations in the late spring 
 of 1541, when it became known that the king would go on 
 progress to the north to meet the King of Scots, and would 
 take with him his bride, Catherine Howard, and a many fitted 
 to his rank. The state-rooms of the palace were freshly 
 adorned, and painters wrought in proper colours on the walls 
 the arms of the royal pair and those of Brotherton and other 
 sons of ancient kings. All these preparations must have 
 been made at Longland's order by his stewards and servants, 
 for the bishop himself was with the king. 
 
 At length, on a Tuesday morning early in August, the news 
 spread through the city that the king had reached Temple 
 Bruer for dinner, and so was but seven miles away. The 
 townsfolk made their last preparations, and with them joined 
 the gentry of the shire, who furnished the guard of honour 
 that lined the streets where the king should pass. At the 
 farthest end of the liberty of the city tents were pitched for 
 the king, the queen, and for her ladies, and here, as one of 
 the heralds has told us, they " dyd shyfte theyre apparrell, 
 for his Grace was apparelleyd before he cam to hys tent in 
 Greene veluet, and the quene in Crymesyn veluet, and then the 
 kinge shyfted hym into clothe of golde, and the quene into 
 clothe of sylver." The Lady Mary was there, but her dress
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 185 
 
 is not recorded, and we can imagine that it was with rather 
 a bad grace that she rode through the city where one of the 
 last efforts had been made to maintain that state of affairs 
 which she had so much to heart. Brave indeed must have 
 been the sight as " aftre that everye thynge was sett in good 
 ordre," and the king had received deputations from city and 
 chapter, the train wound its way through the city and up 
 " the height." First of all went the heralds in their tabards 
 of many colours, then the gentlemen and pensioners with 
 the nobles, including the ambassador of France ready to 
 criticize and decry. " My Lorde Hastinges " bore the sword 
 before the king who, on a great charger, was impressive in 
 spite of his enormous bulk, and was this time very ready to be 
 pleased. Behind him six children of honour, dressed in 
 cloth of gold and crimson velvet, were followed by the 
 queen's chamberlain. Then came the queen, hardly yet 
 used to royal honours, and perhaps conscious of the 
 burden of the day. Her ladies attended her, and then 
 rode the captain of the guard, with some sixty or eighty 
 bowmen with bows drawn. Decorations were every- 
 where ; Lincoln can never have shown more colour, more 
 movement, or more variety than on that summer day when 
 Henry VIII. brought there his queen. We do not know 
 what road was followed, but in any case the sharpness of the 
 ascent must have made the progress slow. Perhaps " the 
 Steep " was the way they took ; at any rate, while all 
 the bells of the city rang, and the townsfolk and country- 
 men shouted their huzza, the procession passed beneath the 
 Chequer Gate, and halted at the west door of the minster, 
 while the mayor and his brethren stood aside. At the great 
 door stood the bishop with the cross and choir " gyving 
 attendance." Where the king was to alight a carpet had
 
 1 86 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 been spread and set with stools with " quyssheons " of cloth 
 of gold — one for the king whereon a crucifix was laid, and 
 another for the queen's grace. " After his Grace was kneeled 
 downe, the bishop in his mitre came forth of the church and 
 gave the crucifix to the king to kiss, and then to the queen, 
 and then censed them and offered them blessed water." In 
 solemn wise king and queen advanced beneath a canopy, 
 while the choir sang the canticle Summa Trinitate ; down 
 the aisle through the screen to the high altar they went, and 
 there before the Sacrament the free-will offering was made. 
 On such a high occasion St. Hugh put in his claim, and to 
 the head and to the shrine the procession moved, and then 
 on to the palace " cum honore." or as the herald puts it : " And 
 aftre this don, his Grace went strayght to his lodgings, and 
 in lyke case all the trayne for that nigght." 
 
 Where the train was bestowed is indeed a problem. Our 
 knowledge of the palace is almost entirely confined to the 
 rooms of ceremony, or, at any rate, to those more immediately 
 used by the bishop and his personal servants. The list of 
 them raises some wonder as to how the king, the queen, and 
 the bishop could have been lodged there with any comfort 
 even for one night, far less for several days. The queen, we 
 know, was lodged in one of the chambers of state, close by 
 which a little stairway led up to the room of Jane Lady 
 Rochford, her lady-in-waiting — that indiscreet lady who was 
 not merely a cousin of Catherine Howard, but had been kin 
 to Anne Boleyn. Most unhappily in the royal train was 
 Thomas Culpepper, gentleman of the king's privy chamber 
 and cousin — afterwards some said lover — of the queen. Both 
 queen and esquire were Lincolnshire folk, and it must have 
 been strange for both to come back in such magnificence to a 
 country where she had been so neglected as a child, and he
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 187 
 
 had been one of her few early friends. It may have been 
 with something of this in her mind that one night Catherine 
 went up to Lady Rochford's room, taking with her the two 
 women, Margot, and Catherine Tylney. The women were 
 soon dismissed, and Catherine went to bed, though Margot, 
 either uneasy or more in the queen's confidence, went up 
 again " eftsoons." The door to the " litle payr of stayres by 
 the quenes chamber " was not the only entrance to Lady 
 Rochford's room, for there was also a back stair with a door 
 below leading into the open air. Up this stair Lady Roch- 
 ford admitted Culpepper for an interview with the queen. 
 What really passed will never be known, though Culpepper 
 confessed that he told Catherine of his love ; Lady Rochford 
 had retired to the other end of the room and afterwards 
 declared that she had slept. Margot must have known 
 something of what passed, for it was two o'clock when she 
 went to bed, and answered a yawning companion's exclama- 
 tion of" Jhesus, is not the quene abedde yet ? " with a short, 
 tired " Yes, even nowe." But if this first meeting here was 
 indiscreet, still more so was the second. Catherine Tylney 
 was again in attendance, but stayed with Lady Rochford's 
 woman in a little alcove outside while the queen was in her 
 kinswoman's chamber. It grew late ; Culpepper did not 
 come. As the queen and her lady waited by the back door 
 the watch came past with his torch, and seeing the door 
 unfastened down below, locked it and passed on. We can 
 imagine the consternation of the women, standing there with 
 every nerve tense and the knowledge of Queen Anne's fate 
 ever before their eyes. They had not very long to wait ; 
 Culpepper and his servant found the door, and found it 
 locked. To have picked a heavy lock of that day without 
 attracting attention argues some skill, and tends to show
 
 i88 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 that the stairway opened on a quiet inner court where few 
 would pass. Culpepper once safely upstairs, Lady Rochford 
 on her own showing, went fast asleep, and only woke when 
 the queen called her to answer one of her women who 
 knocked at the door. 
 
 Whatever the truth in regard to these interviews — and 
 their indiscretion must be admitted — such were the intrigues 
 round the queen that they were bound to be interpreted in 
 the worst possible light. The secret meetings at Lincoln 
 were not the only ones, and formed only part of the indict- 
 ment against Thomas Culpepper, under which, in November 
 of that same year, he was convicted of treason and sentenced 
 to be hanged, drawn and quartered ; a few days later 
 Catherine Howard met her fate at the block. 
 
 The junketings that marked the royal visit to Lincoln 
 must have been among the last festivities at the palace. 
 Longland died at Woburn on May 7, 1547 ; his heart was 
 brought to Lincoln and buried before the high altar of his 
 cathedral. Over it was built a " fair tomb " of marble, with 
 the legend, punning on his name : " Longa terra mansura eius ; 
 Dominus dedit." Longland had shown unusual strength of 
 character in his relations with the Crown, but his successor, 
 Henry Holbeach, or Raundes, as he has been called, was a 
 weak man set in times of peculiar difficulty. The see of 
 Lincoln was richly endowed, so that its bishops could well 
 keep their state as princes of the Church. To Henry VIII. 
 this seemed fitting ; his theory of the relations of Church and 
 State postulated magnificence in the rulers of the Church of 
 which he was supreme head upon earth. The idea had no 
 meaning for his son's ministers, who saw in the estates of 
 the bishops still unsurrendered — and grabable — ecclesiastical 
 land. In pursuance of this notion the Crown, in 1549,
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 189 
 
 demanded the surrender of the manors and lands held by the 
 see. Holbeach was driven into a corner, and finally complied, 
 receiving in " exchange " various livings and impropriations 
 which brought but little revenue, and for that reason were 
 abandoned by the Crown. Buckden, Nettleham, and a few 
 acres were indeed spared, but proved rather a burden than a 
 blessing, as the expenses of maintaining them were great. 
 Of necessity some economies must be made, and to Holbeach 
 and his successors the simplest plan seemed to be the 
 abandonment of the palace at Lincoln and of Buckden in 
 favour of the simpler grange at Nettleham, but a few miles 
 from the city. Bleak and exposed to the full force of the 
 weather, the palace was rarely repaired and still more rarely 
 visited ; that its beauty survived the next sixty years of 
 neglect is at once a marvel and a mystery. 
 
 In 1621 Bishop Monteigne, translated to York, was suc- 
 ceeded by John Williams who was at once a scholar and a 
 man of much administrative energy. He made himself 
 immediately popular, so that even the bitter critic of " Three 
 Looks over Lincoln " was bound to confess that he " carried 
 himselfe so affably and discreetly unto all, that he had the 
 publike applause of all people," and this in spite of Visitation 
 Articles, which seemed to many " not onely gross absurdities, 
 but likewise a meere confirming of Canterburies former 
 opinions." 
 
 With characteristic decision Williams began to reorganize 
 the episcopal estates, and one of his reforms was the 
 abandonment of Nettleham. His first step was to sue the 
 executor of Monteigne for dilapidations ; the house had 
 not been used by the bishops for more than eighty years, and 
 the greater part of it had already fallen. The executor 
 complained that to repair it would absorb the whole of the
 
 igo ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 late archbishop's estate, and petitioned the king to order its 
 demolition. The question was referred to Bishop Neile of 
 Winchester, who had been translated to that see from 
 Lincoln, and to Bishop Williams himself. The two prelates 
 reported in favour of destruction, adding that they could not 
 conceive in what kind the house at Nettleham had ever been 
 useful, seeing that it was so near Lincoln and had so little 
 demesne land attached. 
 
 It was, indeed, one of Williams's most cherished hopes 
 that the palace at Lincoln might become as much a seat of 
 his successors as Buckden had hitherto been. The neglect 
 since the time of Bishop Neile had been lamentable, and in 
 Hacket's quaint phrasing, " it did seem irreparable in the 
 Delapidations, and workmen did ask so much, as the Neigh- 
 bours of the Close did think it would deter the Master of it." 
 The economies in regard to Nettleham and his own private 
 fortune put Williams in a position to carry out the work of 
 repair, and in three years' time the palace was once more not 
 only habitable but beautiful. Williams appears to have 
 spent some time here, and he always took a deep interest in 
 the affairs of the city. While promoting a scheme for the 
 assistance of the poor he tried also to raise the level of 
 scholarship in the diocese, " and because," his biographer 
 writes, " he found a decay of Learning in those remote Parts, 
 for want of good Books, he designed it among his good 
 Deeds to provide a Remedy, another Store-house for Authors 
 of all Arts and Sciences." There was probably a small 
 library at the palace already, for in 1639 some books which 
 seem to have been given to the cathedral by James I., were 
 kept there, and were in that year ordered to be removed to 
 the old library of the cathedral, probably to separate them 
 from the bishop's new books. These he obtained by the
 
 |'Hi\ Williams, Archbishop of York. 
 
 From a print in the British Museum.
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 191 
 
 purchase of the library of Dr. Day, Rector of St. Faith's, 
 
 London, who had been well supplied with books by the 
 
 Stationers' Company, Stationers' Hall being in his parish. 
 
 The books were brought to Lincoln, and stored until the new 
 
 library should be built. 
 
 It is not possible now to determine where this " plasket or 
 
 coffer to put in the jewels of the Muses " was designed to 
 
 stand — possibly it was to have been built westward of the 
 
 great hall, and in continuation of its northern wall, in what 
 
 was then the upper court, and where the carriage-drive now 
 
 runs. Hacket speaks of the place as " a yard," and says that 
 
 timber was already hewn and disposed there for building " a 
 
 capacious Room." The work had reached this stage when 
 
 Williams became involved in a Star Chamber prosecution 
 
 which resulted in his imprisonment in 1637. Herrick had 
 
 prophesied his release by Charles I., comparing it to the 
 
 time when — 
 
 " That earthquake shook the house, and gave the stout 
 Apostles way unshackled to go out " ; 
 
 but he had hardly foreseen the extent of the convulsion. In 
 1642 Charles was at Lincoln, trying to rouse the loyalty of 
 the country gentlemen ; in the same year Williams was 
 translated to the archiepiscopal see of York, and was suc- 
 ceeded at Lincoln by Thomas Winniffe, who died in the very 
 year of the Restoration, 1660. 
 
 Lincoln remained in the possession of the Royalist forces 
 until 1644. A newsletter entitled, " A True Relation of the 
 Taking of the City, Minster, and Castle of Lincoln," describes 
 how, " on Friday last, May 3, my lord of Manchester sat 
 down before Lincolne. And after some small resistance was 
 master of the lower part of the City. The enemy all flying 
 from their outworks, and betaking themselves to their upper
 
 ig2 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 works, to the Minster, and to the Castle, which they con- 
 ceived to be impregnable." 
 
 The whole of the upper part of the city was in a state of 
 siege, for the gates of the close were barred, rendering it 
 difficult to mass troops before the eastern, and principal 
 gate of the castle. On Saturday, May 4, much rain fell, 
 making attack impossible. A storming party tried to carry 
 the position that night, but the ground was too slippery, 
 " the mount whereon the castle stood being nere as steep as 
 the eaves of a house." On the following day news came 
 that Colonel Goringe was bringing relief to the castle, and 
 Cromwell, then a lieutenant-general, was despatched with a 
 force to intercept him. Meanwhile the upper city was being 
 badly mauled on all sides. "A fair tenement," standing 
 between the East Gate and Winnowsty Lane was ruined, as 
 were two houses in North Gate, as well as others. The 
 churches suffered severely, eight being more or less des- 
 troyed. Finally the castle was taken by storm in, it is said, 
 half an hour, and at least fifty of its defenders were 
 slaughtered in the bailey. The Close was, however, still 
 intact. The Chequer Gate rushed, the soldiers at once 
 attacked the subdeanery and precentory, which stood just 
 within, and wrought such ruin that in the surveys of 1647 — 51 
 both houses are described as having all the habitable part 
 pulled down and taken away by the soldiers. These houses, 
 perhaps, drew the attack from the bishop's palace, which 
 lay immediately to their east ; but it is remarkable that the 
 Vicars' Court, on the other side of the palace, was also 
 injured, some of the houses forming "its fair quadrangle" 
 being destroyed. In fine, " all the pillage of the upper town 
 (which was taken by storming) was given to the soldiers." 
 
 That the palace did, however, escape with little hurt was
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 193 
 
 pointed out by Mr. J. G. Williams, in " Lincolnshire Notes 
 and Queries," and seems certain from the account of the 
 building given by the surveyors shortly afterwards. It seems 
 also to have been partly respected by the governor of the 
 castle, Captain Hotham. In his diligence in furnishing the 
 Parliamentary officers with bullets this officer stripped the 
 lead from nearly all the churches of the city, as well as from 
 the roof of the bishop's kitchen, though he left that on the 
 hall in its place. Most of the lead pipes in the palace were also 
 removed by one Emas, an alderman, though he "cold show 
 noe warrant for his soe doinge." So great was the annoy- 
 ance caused by this seizure of lead that John Broxholme, one 
 of the members for the city, brought it before the notice of 
 the House of Commons, who accordingly commanded that 
 none was to be " meddled with or pulled down or taken 
 away upon any pretence whatever." The order was trans- 
 mitted to the Earl of Manchester, and was apparently 
 effective, for no further complaint was made. 
 
 By an order of the House of Commons the palace, with 
 the rest of the episcopal estates, was vested in trustees, who, 
 in 1647 — 51, made the survey so often mentioned. They 
 valued the ground, materials, and utilances of the palace at 
 £1,587 T2S. id., and described it as " a very stronge build- 
 inge and in good repaire." Accordingly, when an effort 
 was made to refortify Lincoln Castle, in 1643, the governor 
 was told to remove the prisoners to safe keeping in the 
 palace, where the ancient kitchens probably suggested 
 themselves as suitable dungeons. 
 
 The very strength of the palace proved its ruin. By 1648 
 Lincolnshire was in the hands of the Parliamentary forces, 
 and was under the command of Colonel Rossiter, who was 
 stationed at Belvoir, a position chosen for its strength and 
 
 E.E.P. O
 
 ig 4 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 accessibility. Lincoln Castle it was hopeless to fortify, and 
 the city was left in the command of a draper, one Captain 
 Bee, with a force of about a hundred men at his command. 
 On June I the Royalists of Southern Yorkshire suddenly 
 rose in support of the Scotch invasion of the northern 
 counties, and took Pontefract, which became the centre of 
 raids in the surrounding county. These excursions were 
 harassing rather than dangerous ; but nevertheless the Parlia- 
 mentary Committee for Safety called a meeting at Lincoln, 
 at which it was resolved to raise a troop of horse for the 
 defence of Belvoir and Tattershall Castles, the only positions 
 either likely to be attacked or strong enough for defence. 
 
 The action was justified in the middle of June, when " the 
 Pomfreters," as they were called, seized the Isle of Axholme. 
 The consternation in the city was great when on Friday, 
 June 30, news came that 400 horse dragoons and 200 
 musketeers had crossed the Trent at Gainsborough Ferry 
 and were marching on Lincoln. The crossing was made at 
 nine o'clock, and in two hours the news had reached the town. 
 Captain Bee was in a desperate position, with no arms, but 
 a hundred men, and the castle untenable. The minster and 
 the palace were the only possible places of defence, and the 
 minster was open to attack on all sides, and was too vast to 
 be held by so small a force. The palace, on the other hand, 
 could only be attacked with ease by a body of horse from 
 the east, where a narrow gateway opened on to the Close. 
 On the rest of its eastern side it was defended by the Vicars' 
 Court and the remains of the old Roman wall ; on the 
 north the Close wall hemmed it in, while the west side was 
 thickly built upon, and the escarpment of the hill was an 
 effectual barrier against cavalry on the south. Captain 
 Bee accordingly retired to the palace, taking with him
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 195 
 
 what arms he could lay hands upon, the city funds, and 
 other valuables. 
 
 As for the Royalist forces, according to the newsletter, 
 " about twelve or one o'clock they were come up to Lincolne, 
 where they found the City very unready to oppose them, as 
 not expecting their company so soon." They seem to have 
 met with little opposition, and at once took possession of the 
 minster, which they recognized would be untenable " if not 
 well and speedily manned." They then turned their atten- 
 tion to the palace. It seems probable that Captain Bee had 
 ensconced himself in the hall, for it was this which suffered 
 most severely in the short siege. The gateway was probably 
 soon taken ; and Mr. Williams has suggested that it was in 
 the rush that " one Mr. Smith, belonging to the Sequestra- 
 tion " was killed. The chapel wing appears to have been 
 captured without much trouble, for it was little damaged. 
 The great hall met with a different fate. Hacket, when 
 speaking of the timber provided for Williams's projected 
 library, says that it was used by the soldiers for making 
 fortifications ; and it seems reasonable to suppose that 
 Captain Bee formed from these planks his barricade. This 
 would also explain the fact that after a siege of three hours 
 the cavaliers succeeded in setting fire to the palace. The 
 roof of the hall seems to have been burnt, and havoc was 
 even done to the Alnwick Tower, so that, until a few years 
 ago, it still bore marks by the window of the second storey 
 showing that the walls had once been red hot. Surrender 
 seemed now the only possible means of escape. That 
 there was possibly an entrance underground beneath the 
 Vicars' Court was probably unknown to Captain Bee, and 
 remained forgotten until rediscovered on building the new 
 palace in 1888 ; or even if the passage were known it seems 
 
 o 2
 
 ig6 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 to have been in the hands of the cavaliers. Captain Bee 
 offered to surrender on condition that, among other terms, 
 his person and estate should receive no hurt. These terms 
 were not respected, and the newsletter relates how the 
 Royalists took " Alderman Emas, the mayor of the city, 
 Alderman Dowse, Captain Bee, and all the officers and 
 souldiers, with other prisoners." The soldiers wrecked and 
 partly burnt the palace, and " valiantly plundered the well- 
 affected " Puritans, singling out especially the house of 
 Captain Pert, a well-known Parliamentary officer then 
 serving in Northumberland. 
 
 From the first it had been anticipated that the cavaliers 
 could not remain at Lincoln ; they had neither a sufficiency 
 of men or provisions, and now they had destroyed the only 
 remaining position capable of defence. In this destruction 
 they had probably fulfilled part of their purpose, and they 
 had also struck a blow at the prestige of the Parliamentary 
 force in the county as well as provided themselves with a 
 bountiful supply of provisions and plunder, including Captain 
 Bee's stock of drapery, with which they retired to 
 Gainsborough on Saturday morning. 
 
 But if they had been successful, their action had been 
 very disastrous to the palace. A year before the commis- 
 sioners had declared that the hall " of y l selffe (by dividinge 
 of y l ) might make a dwelling-house with all convenient 
 rooms for use " ; now the upper storey had disappeared, and 
 the very walls of the lower hall were reduced to half their 
 height. The chapel wing was, however, little the worse. 
 The commissioners were probably referring to this half of 
 the building and the hall when they pointed out that the 
 palace would " serve (being divided into two equall parts) 
 for two families of honnor," and valued it for this purpose
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 197 
 
 at £2,000. It is uncertain at what date the palace passed 
 into the hands of James Berry, one of Cromwell's major- 
 generals, but he was certainly living there in 1655. In his 
 hands considerable alterations were made to the ruins. The 
 chapel wing was converted into a house, and the chapel 
 itself divided into two storeys by placing a floor half way up 
 its walls. A small chamber with sharply pitched roof and 
 dormer windows was built on the top of the Alnwick Tower, 
 which must have been partly restored ; and dormer windows 
 also lighted chambers made in the roof of the chapel wing. 
 As a busy soldier Berry needed large stables, and these he 
 built all along the western side of the great hall, quite 
 enclosing the remains of Alnwick's bow window. The hall 
 itself was apparently converted into a stable-yard. Berry 
 was not without some idea of his own dignity and impor- 
 tance. Originally a clerk in ironworks in the west of 
 England, he had lived with Richard Baxter who called him 
 his "old bosom friend." Later he had taken service under 
 Cromwell, and procured Baxter's nomination as chaplain to 
 his troop ; the friendship of the two men, however, waned, 
 and Baxter complained that Berry came to regard the old 
 Puritan ministers as dull, self-conceited men. But although 
 he regretted Berry's change of views he admitted his 
 sincerity, saying, that " all this was promoted by the mis- 
 understanding of Providence, while he only thought that 
 God, by their victories, had so called them to look after the 
 government of the land, and so entrusted them with the 
 welfare of all his people here, that they were responsible 
 for it, and might not in conscience stand still while anything 
 was done that they thought was against the interest which 
 they judged to be the interest of the people of God." It 
 was natural that with such a character and with a certain
 
 1 98 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 amount of military skill Berry should become a favourite 
 with Cromwell, to whom he was acting as his captain- 
 lieutenant, when in 1643 he followed Charles Cavendish into 
 a morass and slew him at the battle of Gainsborough. He 
 was one of the spokesmen for the army in its dispute with 
 Parliament in 1647, and was chosen president of the Council 
 of Adjutators. In 1655 he and Major-General Whalley were 
 appointed by the Council of State as commissioners to settle 
 the disputes which had arisen between the Mayor of Lincoln 
 and " well-affected" aldermen and the other town councillors, 
 some of whom were Royalists. 
 
 In this year also he was involved in a dispute which 
 illustrates the temper of the new owner of the palace. The 
 minster had been much damaged in the various sieges of the 
 last few years, and the glass of its windows had suffered. 
 It was still used as a place of worship, one Reyner being 
 minister. He and his congregation felt the cold as it swept 
 in through the windows of the nave while they listened to or 
 gave the lengthy sermons of the period, and they accordingly 
 petitioned the Parliamentary Committee for permission to 
 move the pulpit eastward and out of the draught. Unfor- 
 tunately in doing this they blocked up access to the bishop's 
 throne. Now Berry maintained that in purchasing the 
 palace "with appurtenances" he purchased the right to sit 
 in the throne. He was, perhaps, not very popular, for his 
 claim was resisted. An influential man, he had friends on 
 the Council of State, and to these he applied : President 
 Henry Lawrence wrote to the Committee ordering them to 
 see that Berry's just demand was satisfied. 
 
 In this same year Berry was employed in suppressing the 
 Royalist rising in Nottinghamshire, and a few months later 
 he was made major-general for Herefordshire, Shropshire,
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 199 
 
 and Wales, where he was very unpopular among the gentry, 
 who, as Baxter says, " had known his inferiority " in his 
 youth. He was now at the height of his power, and was 
 nominated by Cromwell as one of his House of Peers ; but 
 on his leader's death Berry was foremost among those who 
 procured Richard Cromwell's downfall. As a member of the 
 Committee of Safety constituted by the army in 1659, his 
 engagement to live peaceably was especially required at the 
 Restoration, and being suspected by General Monk he was 
 imprisoned in Scarborough Castle. He was still confined 
 there in 1663, when his wife Mary petitioned the king for the 
 release of her husband, " an aged and peaceable man," or at 
 least " for liberty of the castle and free access for herself and 
 children to him." In September of the same year Berry 
 was the only prisoner in the castle, though he had more 
 freedom. His ultimate fate is uncertain, Baxter declared that 
 he was released and became a gardener ; Professor Firth, in 
 the " Dictionary of National Biography," thought that he 
 remained a prisoner until his death ; while Mr. Clephan, in 
 his " Remembrance of the Rev. C. Berry," maintained that 
 he was the Lieutenant-Colonel Berry who in 1689 was 
 second in command at Newton Butler. 
 
 The palace stood, in 1660, a desolate ruin among the trees 
 on the hillside, dropping slowly to decay. Even the chapel 
 wing was deserted, for with the Restoration Colonel Berry's 
 wife had lost her home, and had gone north to be near her 
 husband's prison. The palace was restored to the see, but 
 Bishop Sanderson was dying, and nothing was done for a 
 time ; his successor, Benjamin Laney, was translated to Ely 
 in 1667, having been Bishop of Lincoln for too short a time 
 to leave any permanent trace on his diocese. 
 
 In September, 1667, William Fuller was elected to the
 
 200 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 vacant bishopric. An ardent Royalist, he had suffered 
 severely in the Civil War, and had maintained himself by 
 keeping a school at Twickenham. On the Restoration he 
 was given the deanery of St. Patrick's, Dublin, and restored 
 that cathedral. Shortly afterwards he was made Bishop of 
 Limerick, and Pepys, a great friend of his, described him as 
 " one of the comeliest and most becoming prelates in all 
 respects that ever I saw in my life." Fuller's promotion to 
 Lincoln was a great joy to the diarist. 
 
 But though Fuller, when holding his Irish preferments, 
 had spent the greater part of his time in England he held 
 strong views as to the duty of a bishop, and was determined 
 to have a house at Lincoln that he might be in the midst of 
 his diocese. It was evident that no attempt could be made 
 to restore the palace, and the dwelling which Berry had 
 formed from the chapel was neither large enough nor con- 
 venient for a bishop's dwelling. In the Close, however, the 
 dean and chapter owned a house, of which the tenant, Sir 
 Adrian Scrope, had recently died. The situation of the 
 house — now Nos. 4 and 5, Pottergate — was pleasant, with 
 its view of the cathedral from the front and the green of the 
 chancellor's orchard and gardens behind ; and, moreover, 
 the house was a substantial building suited to a person of 
 quality. Bishop Fuller was enthroned by proxy on Sep- 
 tember 30, 1667, but came to Lincoln shortly afterwards, 
 and seems, as Canon Venables showed in " Lincolnshire 
 Notes and Queries," to have chosen this house as the most 
 convenient for his purpose. The executors or assignees of 
 Sir Adrian accordingly sublet it to him, and so pleasant did 
 the bishop find it that he proposed to Dean Honeywood 
 that he should become the tenant in fact. Accordingly, in 
 February, 1668, the dean, precentor, and chancellor met at
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 201 
 
 the deanery and decreed that — " whereas the Bishop of 
 Lincolne's house in Lincolne was in y* late tymes of confusion 
 pulled downe and utterly defaced, whereby his lordship is 
 destitute of a convenient habitation in y e County of Lincolne, 
 the dean and chapter, considering y e great benefitt which 
 would accrewe to y e church and city and whole diocese of 
 Lincolne by the presence of their diocesan, have designed 
 that house in the Close lately in the tenure of Sir Adrian 
 Scrope or his assignees to be reserved for the onely use and 
 dwelling of the bishop and his successors on such reasonable 
 terms and conditions as shall be agreed upon by the bishop 
 and dean and chapter for y e tyme being when it shall come 
 into their hands, and that therefore the lease in being of 
 that house shall not upon any terms be renewed, but suffered 
 to expire " — they would lease it to the bishop. Accordingly, 
 when the lease expired in 1675, the house was assigned to 
 Bishop Fuller and his successors in the see for the term of 
 twenty-one years at a rent of £4, which was annexed to the 
 Minster Fabric Fund ; a stipulation was included that the 
 lease should be rendered null if the bishop or his successors 
 "granted, alienated, or sold" the house, thus indicating the 
 genuine desire of the chapter for the bishop's residence in 
 Lincoln — a state of affairs very different to that noticeable in 
 the fourteenth century. 
 
 On April 22, 1675, Bishop Fuller died, and with him 
 departed all desire on the part of his successors to live at 
 Lincoln until the nineteenth century brought with it new 
 ideals of episcopal duty. Fuller's successor was Thomas 
 Barlow, Provost of Queen's College, Oxford, who had long 
 determined to seize the next vacant see. So great was his 
 haste that he obtained the bishopric on the very day of 
 Fuller's death, and on April 23 was despatched the conge
 
 2o 2 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 d'elire to the dean and chapter. A very learned man, Willis 
 says of him in his " Survey " that he was " esteemed a 
 thorough-paced Calvinist, and consequently no friend to his 
 order ; insomuch that while he sate bishop he was remark- 
 able for having never visited any part of his diocese in 
 person, or been ever in all his life at Lincoln." In this last 
 accusation, however, Willis was mistaken, for when Dean 
 Honeywood wrote to him in the hope that he would main- 
 tain the house at Lincoln, Barlow replied that " he had seen 
 and loved Lincoln, and thought it the best place for his 
 abode," adding that " he must, however, for some reasons, 
 reside awhile at Buckden." But it was some time before he 
 even went to Buckden, for on May 29, 1675, he wrote to Sir 
 Joseph Williamson, the secretary of State, saying, that as 
 his confirmation, consecration, fees, first fruits, etc., would 
 cost him £2,000 or £1,500 before he received a penny from 
 his bishopric he would get into debt unless he were allowed 
 to stay at Queen's until the following Lady Day. Further, 
 he asked that he " might have the benefit of his sinecure and 
 archdeaconry that he might have something to live on till 
 the revenue came in." In spite of remonstrances from 
 Halifax, among others, and in spite of the fact that a house 
 was awaiting him at Lincoln, Barlow refused to leave 
 Buckden, and so notorious did his attitude become that he 
 was universally known as the " Bishop of Buckden." 
 
 The history of the house which was for so short a time 
 the episcopal palace may be briefly summarized. For many 
 years the dean and chapter kept it vacant in the somewhat 
 forlorn hope that Barlow might change his mind ; finally, 
 they lost patience, and on September 4, 1686, they granted 
 it on lease to William Farmery of Thavies Inn, and the 
 brother-in-law of Bishop Fuller. He sublet the house to
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 203 
 
 Mr. Dobell, who on October 27, 1695, found it sufficiently 
 large and convenient for the entertainment of William III., 
 then on his way from Bolton to Welbeck ; indeed, he gave a 
 large banquet there, and in all spent, it is said, £500 on the 
 evening's amusement. Mr. Farmery surrendered the lease 
 on April 9, 1696, and it was then leased for twenty-one 
 years to Thomas Pownall, sometime Governor of New 
 Jersey and of South Carolina, who afterwards obtained an 
 extension of the term to forty years. He died in 1705, and 
 the house was again leased. Later, it was divided into two 
 tenements, and it is still occupied as private dwellings. 
 
 In the meantime, the house once occupied by Colonel 
 Berry was still held by tenants, the first of whom was one 
 James Debiah, clerk. The place was probably neglected 
 and suffered to fall into disrepair, though, if Buck's view 
 taken in 1726, may be trusted, the chapel wing and Alnwick 
 Tower were still substantial buildings. There was also a 
 great mass of dislodged but undecayed stone, and in 1726, 
 when question arose of repairing the cathedral, dean, chapter, 
 and bishop saw in the palace an economical quarry. A 
 faculty from the Archbishop of Canterbury and a royal licence 
 fortified Bishop Reynold's grant, and when, in 1727, the site 
 was leased to Dr. Nelthorpe it was on condition that the 
 chapter might, for two years more, take what stone they 
 desired. Dr. Nelthorpe set to work to build a new house 
 using the materials of the chapel wing which he razed ; he 
 was succeeded in the tenancy by Mrs. Amcotts, who made 
 such additions that the house was now of considerable size, 
 and a clause was inserted in the lease by which every suc- 
 ceeding tenant held it on condition of affording entertainment 
 to the bishop when his business brought him to Lincoln. 
 The house remained unchanged until the beginning of the
 
 204 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 nineteenth century, when Mr. Charles Mainwaring became 
 the tenant. One of his first acts was to clear away the 
 stables, which had covered the western side of the great hall 
 since the days of Colonel Berry. He was amply rewarded 
 for his pains, for the great oriel of Bishop Alnwick came to 
 light as well as the other windows on that side, all of which 
 had been walled up. The remainder of the hall was then 
 cleared, care being taken to preserve as much as possible of 
 the stone. To replace these stables he built the present 
 block between the gateway and the Alnwick Tower, and just 
 to the north of the old chapel wing. He then turned to the 
 ruins which were beyond hope of repair, and did much to 
 preserve them by clearing away the rubbish and weeds 
 which covered them. To him also is owing the second 
 gateway, which stands within that of Bishop Smith. Mr. 
 Mainwaring also made various improvements to the house 
 itself — the chief, perhaps, being the construction of a terrace 
 running between the great porch of the hall to steps at the 
 south-east corner of the house, and overhanging the lower 
 court. This, then, was the condition of the house in 1863, 
 when Bulwer Lytton described it in " A Strange Story." 
 
 Profoundly as the industrial revolution has changed the 
 whole fabric of society it has had almost as revolutionary 
 an effect upon the external side of the Church of England, 
 and in the organization of no diocese has this been more 
 keenly evident than in that of Lincoln, which, stretching 
 from the Humber to the Thames, included the Counties of 
 Leicester, Huntingdon, Rutland, Oxford, Northampton, and 
 Nottingham, in addition to Lincoln, the second largest 
 county in the kingdom. 
 
 In 1858 the diocese was divided, and Buckden, now 
 without its bounds, was disposed of by the Ecclesiastical
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 205 
 
 Commissioners. The loss was a relief, for the estate was too 
 large to be maintained by the see so much impoverished by 
 Bishop Holbeach, even although the revenue had been 
 increased by the annexation of the Prebend of Buckden, 
 and by the commissioners in the nineteenth century. The 
 commissioners were careful in their choice of a new seat for 
 the bishop to find one both of moderate size and near the 
 cathedral city. Why they did not restore the Old Palace, as 
 it was called, seems mysterious ; but there is probably truth 
 in the confession one of their number made that they had 
 no idea of the charm of the place. The notion of a palace 
 at Lincoln did not occur to them. 
 
 The house which is now part of the palace, was, however, 
 already in the hands of the bishop. From the first certain 
 rooms had been reserved for episcopal use at times of visita- 
 tion, and so forth; and in 1804, for instance, a clergyman went 
 to the palace to be instituted by Bishop Tomline, though 
 hitherto his institutions had always been at Buckden. But 
 whereas the visits of Bishop Tomline were occasional, Bishop 
 Wordsworth made it a rule when living at Riseholme to be 
 at the palace every Friday, except when on a Confirmation 
 tour or his annual holiday, to meet his clergy, following in 
 this his predecessor, Bishop Kaye, who had taken the lease 
 into his own hands. 
 
 In 1873 the palace was put to a new use. Bishop 
 Wordsworth, who was a keen educationalist as well as a 
 strenuous bishop, was much struck by the need of better 
 training for divinity students, and especially for those for 
 whom a university career was impossible. In May, 1870, 
 he attended a service at the minster, at which Edward 
 W. Benson, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, but then 
 Prebendary of Heydour, preached a sermon on this subject.
 
 206 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 The archbishop afterwards told how, as they came away, 
 Wordsworth said to him that some day he must come to 
 Lincoln as chancellor and " restore the schools of the 
 prophets." Three years later his plan was afoot. At 
 Benson's suggestion the name of the ancient Scholae 
 Cancellarii was revived — this having been the title by which 
 the ancient school of the chancellor was known in the 
 thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Two lecture-rooms 
 were fitted up in the palace, and the scholae opened with 
 two students. The number grew steadily, and more lecture- 
 rooms were needed than the palace could afford. Some one 
 suggested that the Alnwick Tower might be repaired and 
 would yield two fine rooms. The bishop welcomed the idea, 
 and gave for the restoration the £1,000 raised in the diocese 
 to reimburse him for his expenses in the Great Cotes case. 
 Considerable restoration was necessary. The drawing made 
 by Grimm in 1784 shows the tower perfect up to the first 
 storey, though a sapling grew in the broken oriel window, 
 and all was open to the rain and weather. The tower was 
 much in this state in 1876, but on February 24 the first 
 stone for its restoration was laid. The work went rapidly 
 forward, and the building was then fitted up for lecture- 
 rooms, which were used by the students until the scholse 
 removed to their new quarters in what is now Wordsworth 
 Street. 
 
 It was then determined to employ the tower for a new 
 purpose. Its fireproof qualities had been rigorously tested 
 in the Civil War, and it seemed an excellent storehouse for 
 the episcopal records. To receive them the upper room of 
 the tower was fitted with wooden presses and shelves — part 
 being divided off by a wooden screen to form a search-room, 
 which was furnished with table and chairs. The spacious
 
 THE OLD PALACE OF LINCOLN 207 
 
 lower chamber with its wide windows was, at the same time, 
 furnished as an office for the bishop's legal secretary, who 
 there carries on his business in a calm disturbed only by 
 the flutter of pigeons against the window or the harsh cry 
 of peacocks from below. 
 
 In 1888 the history of the palace began a fresh chapter. 
 The inconvenience of Riseholme, two miles from the city 
 and distant from trains, had been much felt, and especially 
 after the succession of Dr. Edward King to the bishopric in 
 1885. After some discussion the Ecclesiastical Commissioners 
 agreed to sell Riseholme, and to enlarge the house at Lincoln 
 to a suitable size that the bishops might once more inhabit 
 their palace in the cathedral city. This was accordingly 
 done. The old house was retained as the north wing, and 
 to this a long southern block was added, extending along 
 the terrace built by Mr. Mainwaring and reaching as far as 
 the porch of the great hall. The situation was very 
 beautiful; Lord Lytton in "A Strange Story" described 
 how " the town stretched, far and wide, below with all its 
 numberless lights ; below — but somewhat distant ; an inter- 
 vening space was covered, here by the broad triangle (in the 
 midst of which stood, massive and lonely, the grand old 
 church) ; and there, by the gardens and scattered cottages or 
 mansions that clothed the sides of the hill." His words still 
 hold good, and the wide rooms of the palace and the 
 terraces below stand open to the wind and to the sun. 
 
 Perhaps the most beautiful part of the palace is the 
 domestic chapel, built a few years ago on the spot once 
 occupied by the bishop's solar. Raised on the ancient arch- 
 way which leads west to the upper garden from the kitchen 
 court, its stone looks blanched against its surroundings, and 
 from the city beneath it seems poised in mid-air. Within it
 
 208 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 is decked with all the skill of the modern craftsman, and 
 though it must lack much of the colour, yet it may be that it 
 exceeds in dignity, the desecrated chapel that lies below. 
 
 Sitting at the close of the day in the aery of the ruins, 
 with the Trent showing bright in the sunset, although many 
 miles away, while the mist lowers over the factory chimneys 
 and the shadows thicken in the streets which lie open to the 
 view, there comes a sense of space, of the vastness of time, 
 of manifold plans and coloured hopes not yet fulfilled. So 
 many men have passed this way, and for all the palace has 
 been the same : a stimulus, a symbol of lordship and service, 
 a low amen.
 
 #0e (paface of (Hornric0 
 
 THE history of the episcopal palace of Norwich 
 begins, like that of the great cathedral which 
 overshadows it, with the bishop who settled the 
 wandering East Anglian see in this city. The 
 first step to this change was probably taken by Herbert de 
 Losinga, in 1094. Three years before, when head of the 
 wealthy abbey of Ramsey, he had bought his bishopric of the 
 king for a great sum of money, and from the very moment of 
 his consecration the sin of simony had lain as a heavy burden 
 on his conscience. In defiance of William Rufus who, as the 
 Anglo-Saxon chronicle tersely relates, when weather-bound 
 at Hastings on his way to Normandy, took his staff from 
 Herbert Losang, Bishop of Thetford," he left the country 
 to obtain absolution from the Pope. This he won on 
 condition that he should found religious houses and build 
 churches in proof of his repentance. At the same time 
 Urban II. gave him leave to remove his see, and Herbert 
 must have made his peace with the king soon afterwards, 
 for the change was effected in the following year. Then, in 
 fulfilment of the papal injunction, the bishop began his 
 cathedral. He bought of the king the Cowholm — a great 
 riverside meadow east of the city, at that time part of the 
 royal manor of Thorpe — and acquired from Roger Bigod, in 
 exchange for some estates in Suffolk, the earl's palace and the 
 " land of St. Michael, which is called Tombland." On this 
 E.e.p. P
 
 210 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 site the building began in 1096 — king, nobles, and people all 
 contributing to the work, and the bishop himself bearing no 
 small share of the expense. The south side of the cathedral 
 was chosen for the home of the Benedictine monks who 
 were to have charge of it, and by 1101 the monastery had 
 become a habitable building, and the church was ready for 
 consecration. Then Bishop Herbert turned his attention to 
 his own dwelling. He chose for it the site which the 
 episcopal palace has always occupied, building, as the Nor- 
 wich chronicler relates, north of the cathedral that the peace 
 of the monastery might be undisturbed by the going to and 
 fro of the many whose presence was indispensable to him. 
 
 Some remains of this first palace have survived to the 
 present day. Its main body seems to have extended north- 
 wards from the north aisle of the cathedral to which it was 
 attached until the middle of the last century. Here, in the 
 place of the modern drawing-room, was the hall, and beneath 
 it a long, low undercroft with a barrel roof, strengthened by 
 Norman arches from wall to wall. This, like the massive 
 walls of the square vault adjoining it, which has been adapted 
 to its present use as a kitchen from the fifteenth century, was 
 undoubtedly part of the original house, and the outline of a 
 Norman window on the floor above shows that the upper 
 walls are chiefly of the same date. A half-buried Norman 
 doorway, in the long wing which runs eastward from the 
 main building and now contains the dining-room, is another 
 relic of the founder's work. In 1859 the site of Bishop 
 Herbert's chapel was fixed by excavations which disclosed a 
 semi-circular apse beneath the foundations of its successor. 
 It stood east of, and apart from the palace, being probably of 
 the same dimensions, 132 feet long by 20 feet wide, as Bishop 
 Salmon's chapel which replaced it.
 
 THE PALACE OF NORWICH 211 
 
 Herbert de Losinga's letters, of which a considerable 
 number have been preserved, contain several references to the 
 progress of the mother-church, in which the work of his later 
 years was centred, but no mention of his own home in 
 Norwich. It must, nevertheless, have been the scene of 
 many activities during his episcopate. Though he was often 
 absent from his diocese on affairs of Church and State — for 
 he was high in favour with William Rufus who had brought 
 him to England, and given him the office of sewer at his 
 Court, and afterwards enjoyed the friendship of Henry I. and 
 Queen Maud — the chroniclers who are loudest in their 
 censures on the simony of his youth all acknowledge that he 
 made full atonement by the virtues and disinterested devotion 
 of his later days. He showed a very special interest in the 
 school of which his monks of Norwich had charge, directing 
 now and again the studies of some of their pupils in his 
 correspondence. One youth, to whom several of his letters 
 are addressed, William Turbe, became prior and afterwards 
 bishop. He must have spent a considerable part of his long 
 episcopate, which lasted from 1146 to 1174, at the palace, but 
 only one incident is recorded in connection with it. About 
 the year 11 50 a council was summoned to meet in its garden 
 as a preliminary to the trial of two knights who were accused 
 of conspiring against King Stephen's life. Bishop William 
 presided, and his friend Nigel, Bishop of Ely, the Abbot of 
 St. Edmund's, and several barons were present. When the 
 business for which they were assembled had been disclosed, 
 the abbot rose and claimed the two knights as men of St. 
 Edmund, and answerable only to himself. The exemption of 
 this great and powerful house from their jurisdiction had 
 already been jealously contested by the East Anglian bishops 
 and was destined to be the subject of later dispute, but on 
 
 P 2
 
 212 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 this occasion, as indeed generally, the abbot prevailed, and the 
 case was transferred to his own court. The long-standing 
 rivalry with Bury St. Edmund's, is not, however, a salient 
 feature in William Turbe's career. A man of great learning 
 and piety, but superstitious almost beyond his generation, he 
 is remembered in his own city chiefly for his zealous fostering 
 of the cult of St. William of Norwich — prototype of not a few 
 English boys, reputed to have been murdered by the Jews — 
 and beyond it for his courageous and unswerving loyalty 
 to Becket. 
 
 For seventy years after his death the palace was seldom 
 occupied by his successors, though there are a few Early 
 English remains which show that one or more of them must 
 have made some alterations in it. The saintly Walter Cal- 
 thorpe, or Walter of Suffield, the first to interrupt this series of 
 non-resident prelates, owned six other houses in the diocese, 
 and some of the bishops who came after him seem to have 
 preferred to live at a distance from the city, distracted as it 
 was by the feuds of monks and citizens. In 1272 the struggle 
 between them broke out into open violence. One mediaeval 
 chronicler, who describes the havoc wrought by the impious 
 populace of Norwich, asserts that Bishop Walter's chapel of 
 St. Mary in the cathedral where, after his death miracles 
 were said to have been worked at his tomb, the monks' 
 cloister, and the bishop's house had alone escaped the 
 incendiary flames. Modern research has proved how greatly 
 the monkish writers exaggerated the mischief done by their 
 opponents, and divides the blame of the quarrel impartially 
 between the contending parties, but it is likely that on this 
 occasion, and on others, the position of the episcopal palace 
 under the shelter of the great cathedral saved it from injury. 
 For the bishop of that time, Roger of Seaming, a Norfolk
 
 THE PALACE OF NORWICH 213 
 
 man, like Walter Calthorpe, but resembling him in no other 
 respect, showed himself a strong partisan of the monks, and 
 must have been cordially hated by the citizens, against 
 whom, at a safe distance, he launched his spiritual weapons 
 of interdict and excommunication. 
 
 In the last year of this century the see of Norwich came 
 into the hands of a prelate who left his abiding mark both on 
 cathedral and palace. John Salmon is better known in 
 history as a diplomatist and a statesman than as a bishop ; 
 but there is evidence enough to prove that he took an active 
 interest in the welfare of his diocese. He was there soon 
 after his appointment, and seven years later spent, it is said, 
 some time at Norwich in adjusting the differences of the 
 monks and citizens. From the accession of Edward II., 
 who sent him abroad on various embassies, until the latter 
 years of his life, when the duties of chancellor were added to 
 his other secular business in England, he can seldom have 
 stayed more than a few days consecutively at the palace. 
 His deep regret at his enforced absence from his diocese was 
 expressed in a letter, still extant, to the Prior of Norwich ; 
 and his generous benefactions both to cathedral and monas- 
 tery testified to his sincere affection for them. The changes 
 made by Bishop Salmon in the palace probably date from 
 1319, when he obtained a patent from the king authorizing 
 him to acquire " certain plots of land containing 47 perches 
 and 4 feet in length, and 23 perches and 12 feet in width, 
 adjacent to his palace within the city of Norwich, for the 
 enlargement thereof." On this site the bishop raised a 
 magnificent hall, 120 feet long and 60 feet wide, with kitchen 
 and butteries connected. Only one relic of this building 
 remains above ground, the beautiful two-storied porch which 
 stands in the palace garden and was long known as Bishop
 
 214 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 Salmon's Gateway. Within this ruin is the doorway of the 
 hall, a fine Early Decorated work with bold vaultings over- 
 head and sharp-pointed arches. In the room over the porch, 
 — the bishop's muniment room in the eighteenth century — 
 which is reached by a staircase from the great hall, there is 
 an old door with beautiful iron work. Some foundations of 
 the hall itself, excavated under Mr. Harrod's directions about 
 fifty years ago, showed that lines of clustered pillars ran 
 within it parallel to its east and west walls and forming two 
 aisles on either side of the main part of the building. There 
 was a doorway in the west wall opposite the porch, and three 
 were found in the north wall. By the central and largest of 
 these a passage into the kitchen was reached. The other 
 two led into the pantry and buttery. The discovery at the 
 same time of the foundation of a staircase connecting the 
 private apartments with the south-west end of the hall points 
 to the conclusion that the " great chamber " of the palace at 
 this period was on the same site as the dining-room, which 
 is wholly modern, but rests on a vaulted substructure of the 
 fourteenth century. Bishop Salmon must have made con- 
 siderable alterations in this wing. The buildings themselves 
 are mainly ascribed to him, besides the substructure, where 
 the vaulting and piers, as in the part of the palace immediately 
 adjoining the cathedral, date from his time. Besides erecting 
 his great hall and reconstructing and probably enlarging the 
 early palace, Salmon busied himself with the chapel. He 
 pulled down Herbert de Losinga's building — "the old chapel" 
 mentioned in episcopal records of 1277 and 1294 — an d raised 
 another on its site, replacing the Norman apse by a square 
 end. Here his successor, William Ayermin, a man of a very 
 different stamp, faithless and avaricious, established a chantry 
 of three priests, for each of whom he provided a yearly
 
 THE PALACE OF NORWICH 215 
 
 stipend of six marks. All were to be appointed by the 
 bishop ; to have apartments in the palace, with meat, drink, 
 and lodging at his cost, and to pray daily for the souls of their 
 founder and his family. More than a century later Bishop 
 Walter Lyhert abolished this chantry, finding, possibly, 
 the maintenance of three chaplains in his palace somewhat 
 irksome. It is recorded of William Ayermin also that he 
 obtained licence to enclose his palace and manor-houses 
 with stone walls and keep them fortified. One of his suc- 
 cessors, the warlike Henry Despenser, had no need of any 
 such artificial defence against his enemies^ Capgrave, the 
 Lynn monk, who was born some thirteen years before 
 Despenser's death, and included him amongst his twenty- 
 four illustrious Henries, described him as " a soldier valorous 
 in all things, and who in the vigour of youth seemed to thirst 
 after warfare only." The see of Norwich was bestowed on 
 him by the Pope in reward for his success in warring against 
 the enemies of the Church, and his eulogist goes on to 
 record that "for many years he ruled his people in peace, 
 and obtained the affections of all beneath his sway." When 
 the peasants' rebellion spread to Norfolk, Despenser hastened 
 against the insurgents with a small following, and after 
 defeating a detachment of them at Newmarket made his way 
 to Norwich. There, where John the Litester, ringleader of 
 the rebels in that part, had preceded him and " committed 
 many horrid deeds, especially in the destruction of houses 
 and places in which certain nobles lived who were friends of 
 the law or of the king," he was welcomed with universal 
 joy. Many of the nobles and gentry of the county had joined 
 him on the way to the city and left it with him in pursuit of 
 the insurgents, who had fled at his approach. At North 
 Walsham they were overtaken and utterly routed, and their
 
 216 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 leader was captured and hanged, the bishop himself, after 
 confessing and absolving him, attending him at the gallows. 
 Four and a half centuries later the road down which a 
 Bishop of Norwich had marched forth from the precincts of 
 the palace to cross the river at the head of 6,000 men-at-arms 
 was pointed out to Dean Stanley. According to the current 
 tradition the bishop was William Turbe, but the legend is 
 more in keeping with the character of Despenser. If it does 
 belong to him, however, it is probably connected with a later 
 event in his career. The courage and somewhat ruthless 
 determination which he had displayed in crushing the 
 rebellion of 1381, and which provoked a conspiracy against 
 his life in the following year, coupled with the military renown 
 of his younger days, were perhaps the cause of the Pope's 
 choice of him to lead a crusade against the supporters of his 
 rival, the Anti-Pope Clement VII. Money was collected all 
 over the kingdom for this enterprise, and Despenser under- 
 took to enter France at the head of 3,000 men-at-arms and 
 3,000 archers. Through no fault of his own the expedition 
 ended disastrously, and the bishop returned to be called to 
 account in Parliament for its failure. A fighting man from 
 beginning to end of his long career, and constantly at 
 variance with his contemporaries, contending now against 
 the regular clergy of his diocese, among whom his own monks 
 of Norwich were foremost in opposition to him, now against 
 " good old Sir Thomas Erpingham," whose Lollard proclivi- 
 ties he detested ; he was a staunch supporter of Richard II. 
 in his fall, and suffered imprisonment from Henry IV. in 
 consequence. One chronicler, who extols his zeal in attack- 
 ing Lollardy, records his oath that " if any of that perverse 
 sect should presume to preach in his diocese he should be 
 given to the flames or lose his head." William Sawtre, the
 
 THE PALACE OF NORWICH 217 
 
 first martyr who suffered at Smithfield under the persecuting 
 statute of 1401, was actually examined by Despenser at his 
 Suffolk manor of South Elmham, and may very probably 
 have been imprisoned in the dungeon of the bishop's palace 
 at Norwich in the spring or early summer of 1399. Some 
 later heretics were confined in this bishop's prison, which 
 tradition identifies with a cellar off the kitchen, described by 
 a recent writer as unlighted, unventilated, and undrained ; 
 its roof, a rudely constructed stone vault, springing from a 
 central column, where the staples to which the prisoners' 
 chains were attached are still visible. No record seems to 
 survive of its use under Henry Despenser's successor, 
 Alexander of Totington, the Prior of Norwich, with whom 
 the soldier-bishop had been engaged in a long contest. One 
 act of Alexander's brief episcopate was the repairing of the 
 palace, which for a considerable period after his death was 
 occupied only by suffragans. This was the case under John 
 Wakering, who was bishop nearly two years before he came 
 into his diocese to hold an ordination at Norwich. He had 
 for long been chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and 
 master of the rolls, and in the year of his consecration to the 
 see went as ambassador to the Council of Constance. A 
 non-resident bishop he is remembered, nevertheless, in the 
 history of Norwich Palace for the beautiful cloister which he 
 built from it to the church door. This, of which no vestige 
 has survived, ran east of the palace, extending from the 
 south end of Bishop Salmon's great hall to the cathedral. 
 It was paved with tiles of various colours laid chequerwise, 
 and covered with a handsome roof of stonework. In the 
 last year of his life Wakering became a bitter persecutor of 
 Lollardy. A large number of Norfolk heretics were brought 
 before him ; but the first to suffer at Norwich was one
 
 218 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 William White, who was condemned at a synod held in the 
 chapel of the palace more than three years after Wakering's 
 death, and burnt at the stake in the " Lollards' Pit " on the 
 eastern outskirts of the city. 
 
 The career of the able and statesmanlike William of 
 Alnwick, under whom White suffered, resembled that of his 
 predecessor in several respects, but especially in his relent- 
 less persecution of Lollardy. Pleasanter associations with 
 his episcopate, however, are not wanting. He was a great 
 architect, and before his translation to Lincoln in 1436, 
 besides completing the cloisters of Norwich Cathedral, he 
 had erected the great portal of its west front and a gateway 
 to the episcopal palace. Both were afterwards finished by 
 one of his immediate successors, Walter Lyhert, the 
 cathedral porch being paid for by a sum of money which 
 Bishop Alnwick had left for that purpose. His gate-house, 
 still the main entrance to the episcopal precincts, stands 
 upon St. Martin's Plain, opposite the church of St. Martin-at- 
 Palace. It is a lofty two-storied structure with two arched 
 entrances : the larger for carriages, the smaller, on its western 
 side, for foot-passengers. Both, which open beneath the 
 same groined vaulting, are flanked by squared flat buttresses 
 composed of stone quoins and flints. Cotman's etching of 
 the palace gateway, which was first published at Norwich 
 between the years 1812 and 1818, shows that one of the 
 buttresses was crowned by a seated figure on a pinnacle. In 
 1847, when the antiquary, John Britton, described the gate- 
 houses of Norwich to the Archaeological Institute, this was 
 still there, but the sculptured figures which now surmount 
 the buttresses, their pedestals, and the whole of the parapet 
 between them, are modern. The archways, the larger of 
 which has its spandrels adorned with rich tracery mouldings
 
 THE PALACE OF NORWICH 219 
 
 enclosing blank shields, and the elaborate frieze of panelled 
 compartments above them, surmounted by a canopied niche, 
 probably belong to the original design, though the crowned 
 and seated figure under the canopy may be of later date. It 
 is likely that the gate-house buildings extended to a consider- 
 able distance both east and west. In the sixteenth century 
 they included stables, hay-house, slaughter-house, the 
 dwelling-house of the keeper of the palace, and porter's 
 lodge with lodging over it, besides chambers in the two 
 towers of the gateway itself; but all have suffered from 
 injudicious restoration, as well as from neglect, and it 
 is now difficult to determine their former dimensions. The 
 massive oak doors were the work of Lyhert, and bear, as 
 do many parts of the cathedral, his rebus, a hart lying 
 in water. 
 
 By his contemporary, Gascoigne, Lyhert was described 
 as of Cornwall. The anniversary of one John Lyhert, how- 
 ever, was kept by the monks of Norwich Priory in the 
 early part of the fifteenth century — a fact which lends some 
 countenance to the theory that the bishop was of Norfolk 
 ancestry. A Fellow and Provost of Oriel, he was a leading 
 man at Oxford, but had held no preferment of very great 
 importance before the end of 1445 when he was promoted to 
 the see of Norwich, through the influence of his patron the 
 Duke of Suffolk. The king had intended the vacancy for the 
 Provost of Eton, when his minister anticipated him, but 
 Lyhert's appointment did not meet with any serious opposi- 
 tion, and not long afterwards he became confessor to the 
 young queen, Margaret of Anjou. Though Gascoigne writes of 
 him as resident at Court on account of this office, there are not 
 wanting indications that he was a good deal occupied with 
 the affairs of his diocese. Under his immediate predecessor,
 
 220 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 Bishop Browne, the old feud between monks and citizens 
 had broken out again — there had been open riots, and 
 the mayor had laid siege to the priory at the head of the 
 commons. Heavy penalties fell on the city in consequence, 
 but through Lyhert's good offices its liberties were restored 
 in 1447. Both within and without his diocese he played the 
 part of a peacemaker. The " Paston Letters" show how the 
 Norfolk people looked to him to do justice in an age of 
 violence and lawlessness, and his mission to Savoy, as 
 mediator between two rival popes, is said to have brought 
 about the resignation of one of them. 
 
 The year of this embassy was marked by a very rare event in 
 the annals of the episcopal palace. On Saturday, August 29, 
 1449, Henry VI. came to Norwich and stayed here until the 
 following Monday night " at the sole expense," we are told, 
 " of the bishop, the prior, the mayor, and commons." Since 
 the cost of the king's entertainment was shared by the 
 monastery and corporation it is likely that he brought 
 a large train with him, and the queen herself may have 
 accompanied him on this visit to her confessor. Lyhert's 
 alterations in the palace are believed to have been made for 
 this occasion. The present drawing-room, modernized 
 though it is, is a Perpendicular building, and has a hand- 
 some timber roof above its plaster ceiling. In the frieze 
 of panelled compartments over the oaken doors of the 
 gateway, which are undoubtedly Lyhert's work, the letter 
 M, crowned, alternates with blank shields. Is it fanciful 
 to suppose that the frieze had been left unfinished by 
 Bishop Alnwick and that this decoration was designed by 
 Lyhert in compliment to the queen ? Three and a half 
 years later Margaret was certainly in Norwich, being then 
 entertained by the city. She had come into Norfolk to
 
 THE PALACE OF NORWICH 221 
 
 win what friends she could against the growing Yorkist 
 faction, and John Paston's wife wrote him a shrewd descrip- 
 tion of how she " made right much " of one of the ladies she 
 summoned to her presence. 
 
 From the breaking out of the Wars of the Roses until his 
 death in 1472, Lyhert was much in his diocese, and his 
 popularity there was undoubtedly great. James Gloys, a 
 dependent of the Pastons, wrote to his master that "my 
 lord of Norwich hath so flatered the lay pepill as he hath 
 redyn a bought his visitacion that he hath thers herts." 
 Like many of his predecessors, however, he seems to have 
 often resided at Gaywood, Hoxne, or some other house 
 belonging to his see. Bishop Salmon's improvements had 
 made the palace too large for his successors. Their 
 suffragans lived in it for the greater part of the fifteenth 
 century, and the office of keeper of the palace, to which 
 some references occur at a later date, may possibly have 
 already been long in existence as a necessary provision to 
 preserve it from decay during the periods in which it was 
 unoccupied. 
 
 The annual feast of the gild of St. George was first held 
 at the palace during the episcopate of Bishop Goldwell, 
 Lyhert's successor. This association had been formed in 
 1385 as a religious fraternity, the brothers and sisters of 
 which bound themselves to hear Mass and evensong and 
 offer " a candel brennand " and a halfpenny in the cathedral 
 on St. George's Day ; to sing a requiem for all Christian 
 souls on the day following the festival ; to attend the dirges 
 and Masses sung on the death of a brother or sister, and 
 make a weekly payment for the support of such members as 
 had fallen into poverty. After the grant of a charter in 1417 
 the community increased in importance and became a
 
 222 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 powerful factor in the municipal life of Norwich. Even 
 before Henry V. ratified and confirmed it to be a gild for ever 
 some secular observances had been added to the religious 
 ceremonies of the festival. The day seems to have begun by 
 the assembling of the brethren on horseback to ride without 
 the city to the wood where the little St. William had been 
 murdered. There were, too, processions through the city 
 and a conflict between the George and the Dragon, and when 
 the Mass in the cathedral was over all the brothers and 
 sisters met for the feast, towards which each had contributed 
 for " mete, wax, and minestral x d ," at the place assigned by 
 their alderman. The assembly books of the gild show that 
 it was proposed in 1473 that this place should be the palace 
 if it might be obtained for the purpose; and that the festival 
 was certainly held there from 1495 to 1498. In the absence 
 of evidence to the contrary it seems likely enough that 
 Bishop Salmon's great hall, even then, possibly, showing signs 
 of the decay to which the neglect of later generations con- 
 signed it, was the usual scene of the banquet during the last 
 quarter of the fifteenth and the first half of the sixteenth 
 centuries. Many of the leading men of Norfolk were enrolled 
 amongst the members of the gild of St. George. Lyhert 
 himself belonged to it, as too, did Sir John Fastolf ; and for a 
 brief season every year the old building must have been 
 waked into life by the joyous company in their gay liveries of 
 scarlet and "sanguin," that thronged its deserted aisles and 
 ate together under its roof. The accounts of 1530 record the 
 payment of 26s. 8d. for grey canvas to line the cloth belong- 
 ing to the cathedral church, which was always lent when the 
 feast was held in the bishop's palace, and in the following 
 years there were charges for cupboards, stulps, and various 
 repairs. In 1536 a sum of 10s. was paid for divers expenses
 
 THE PALACE OF NORWICH 223 
 
 and writings for the lease of " Palacehall " to Master Steward. 
 This evidently refers to the lease by which Bishop Nix 
 granted his great hall, with buttery, pantry, kitchen and 
 other offices at its north end, to the gild that they might hold 
 their annual festival there, for six days before and six days 
 after St. George's Day, with the proviso that should the king, 
 queen, bishop, or any other lord or person of dignity keep 
 house in the palace at that time, the feast was not to be 
 celebrated there without the bishop's licence. In 1548, 
 however, the gild, now formed into St. George's Company, 
 decreed that after attending divine service in the cathedral 
 its members should proceed to the common hall, " there 
 to take such repast as the feastmakers shall provide." 
 This common hall was the church of the dissolved house 
 of the Black Friars, where the annual feasts of the cor- 
 poration and their gilds were henceforth held, and Bishop 
 Salmon's great hall fell once more into disuse. It was 
 partly pulled down between 1550 and 1554 by Thirlby, 
 one of Mary's bishops, and the commissioners who sur- 
 veyed the palace forty years later reported that " the walles 
 yet stand ruinous," and that no attempt had been made 
 to restore them. 
 
 Bishop Nix's lease was perhaps made in consequence of 
 the very heavy sentence passed on him in the previous year, 
 when he had been brought to trial on the charge — probably 
 only used as a pretext for royal extortion — of infringing the 
 customs of Thetford by citing its mayor to appear before 
 him, and had been condemned to pay £10,000. He was 
 imprisoned in the Marshalsea, where, being totally blind and 
 upwards of ninety, he can hardly have kept the " good 
 heart " of which Gardiner, when he was ambassador to 
 Rome on the matter of the divorce some years before, had
 
 224 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 told the Pope, relating " a merry tale " how the octogenarian 
 Bishop of Norwich " wolde have a chamber devised nere the 
 grounde without any stayres, to lie in twentie yeres hens 
 when he knew well he shulde be somewhat feble." It is 
 hardly safe to assume that this chamber belonged to the 
 palace, for Nix seems to have resided a good deal at Hoxne, 
 but one room at least within its precincts must have seldom 
 lacked an inmate. The bishop, whose consistent and dis- 
 interested opposition to every form of innovation brought 
 him no favour in high places, was a ruthless persecutor, and 
 as the reformed doctrines were spreading rapidly in the 
 diocese, his dungeon cannot often have been empty. One 
 reformer whom he arrested for an eloquent sermon against 
 superstition, Nicholas Shaxton, afterwards Bishop of Salis- 
 bury, is said to have been succeeded in the palace prison 
 by Latimer's " Saint Bilney," who suffered at the stake in 
 the Lollards' Pit for holding doctrines so similar to those 
 which Shaxton had preached that Nix is said to have 
 exclaimed after his death : " Christ's mother ! I fear I 
 have burnt Abel and let Cain go." 
 
 Persecution was still rife under Nix's successor, William 
 Rugge or Reppes. He was head of the ancient abbey of 
 St. Benet's, Hulme, and before his consecration the estates 
 of his house with those of Hickling Priory were transferred 
 to the see of Norwich, stripped, by the same Act of Parlia- 
 ment, of all its ancient possessions with the solitary exception 
 of " the palyce called the Bisshoppes Palyce " and such 
 appurtenances in the priory as the bishops had always 
 enjoyed. With resources thus impoverished it is small 
 wonder that Bishop Rugge fell into financial difficulties, 
 and was at last obliged to resign. The Norfolk historian, 
 Blomefield, preserves some lines which are said to have
 
 THE PALACE OF NORWICH 225 
 
 .. -. — m . ——■■ M l ■■■— H I II I II ■ I . 1 — — ' H. - ■ ■ I 1 ■ ■■ 1 I ■ PI - *.— • T 1.1 ■ 1 ■ ■ II, —11 » — — I P . . . . I.I... H . 
 
 been composed by an old officer of the bishopric on this 
 occasion : — 
 
 " POOR WILL, THOU rugged art and ragged ALL, 
 Thy abbey cannot bless thee in such fame 
 To keep a pallace fair and stately hall 
 When gone is thence that should maintain the same, 
 First pay thy debts, and hence return to cell, 
 And pray the blessed Saint whom thou dost serve 
 That others may maintaine the pallace well, 
 For if Thou stay'st we all are like to starve." 
 
 In 1548 Rugge had obtained a royal licence to alienate the 
 palace to Sir Francis Bryan, but the bargain was never com- 
 pleted. It seems to have been after its failure that he carried 
 away the carved oak panelling from the abbot's chamber at 
 St. Benet's and used it for the wainscoting of the walls of the 
 room which adjoins the modern drawing-room on the south. 
 Here are still to be seen the arms of the abbey, of Sir John 
 Fastolf, and of some well-known Norfolk families, besides the 
 portraits of various famous characters of history and legend 
 — Joshua, Deborah, Caesar, Charlemagne, Ulysses, Penelope, 
 and others — with their names carved and attached to them. 
 
 A few months before Bishop Rugge laid down his staff a 
 desperate battle was fought on St. Martin's Plain, just outside 
 Bishop Alnwick's Gateway, in which the Norfolk insurgents 
 under Kett utterly routed the Marquis of Northampton and 
 his Italian mercenaries. Some days before the rebels had 
 fought their way into the city over Bishop's Bridge, which is 
 said to have been connected with the palace as early as 1249. 
 They were accused by contemporary writers of having set 
 fire to the city gate on the bridge, called Bishop's Gate, 
 besides many houses in " Holmstrete," the present Bishop- 
 bridge Street ; but no attack on either cathedral or palace is 
 recorded against them. 
 
 e.e.p. Q
 
 226 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 With the first of Elizabeth's bishops came a change in the 
 history of the episcopal palace. John Parkhurst, who filled 
 the see from 1560 to 1575, made it his home for a considerable 
 part of that time, and spent largely on its repairs. A friend 
 of the martyrologist Foxe, who visited him at Norwich shortly 
 after his consecration, he had fled to Switzerland on Queen 
 Mary's accession, and formed friendships with the Continental 
 reformers which lasted to the end of his life. Norwich was 
 supposed to have been leavened with popery by Bishop 
 Hopton, the late queen's confessor, and Parkhurst, whose 
 diocesan rule was generally characterized by a masterly 
 inactivity, showed some zeal in proceeding against suspected 
 Papists. One of them, however, a Mr. Cotton, who feigned 
 or made convenient use of a tertian ague, he allowed to 
 escape him, and the archbishop wrote in vain pressing for 
 his arrest. But it was his dealings with the Puritans that 
 generally incurred Parker's censures. " He winketh at schis- 
 matics and anabaptists," Sir William Cecil wrote of him in 
 1561, and his sympathies were always with " the fantastical 
 folk " who supported prophesyings and demanded loaf-bread 
 for the Communion. The bishop's affection for foreign Pro- 
 testants led to one somewhat strange proceeding. About 
 the time of his elevation to the see the Mayor and Corpora- 
 tion of Norwich had waited on the Duke of Norfolk with a 
 petition that he would encourage some of the refugees from the 
 Low Countries to settle amongst them, and so restore their 
 decaying worsted manufacture. Four years later when a royal 
 patent was granted authorizing the establishment of some 
 thirty master-workmen and their households — not exceeding 
 in all three hundred Dutch and Walloons — in the city, there 
 was already a considerable number of these strangers in 
 residence, and in 1565 the duke wrote to the archbishop
 
 THE PALACE OF NORWICH 227 
 
 asking him to sanction the grant of a vacant church for their 
 use. He had already obtained Parkhurst's consent, and the 
 matter was settled for the Walloon congregation by a lease 
 of the chapel of the bishop's palace. Here for more than 
 seventy years the strangers worshipped, not always fulfilling 
 their duty of keeping the building in repair, and, in the latter 
 part of their occupation, sometimes deserting it for the more 
 attractive services of the parish churches in the city. 
 
 In the palace itself Parkhurst kept up a lavish hospitality 
 until, in the last three years of his life, he fell on evil days. 
 He had entrusted the collection of the tenths of his diocese 
 to a dishonest receiver, who appropriated them to his own 
 uses. In 1572 the bishop was summoned to pay the arrears 
 of two years into the royal exchequer, and discovered the 
 fraud which had been practised on him. The offender was 
 imprisoned, but it does not appear that Parkhurst ever 
 recovered the missing tenths. He was obliged to leave 
 Norwich and live in comparative retirement at Ludham, 
 whence he wrote that he " was forced to live in miserable 
 sort, neither able to maintain a family fit for his place, 
 neither to build nor repair his houses, nor bestow his liberality 
 where he would, neither to keep hospitality or relieve the 
 poor." 
 
 One result of Parkhurst's straitened circumstances — he 
 had to pay £400 a year into the royal exchequer to make up 
 the deficiency — was that his successor, Edmund Freake, 
 found most of the houses of the see falling into decay. An 
 allowance for dilapidations was granted him out of the estate 
 of his predecessor, some of whose charitable legacies and 
 bequests were in consequence revoked by the executors. 
 The matter was brought before the Privy Council, and 
 Freake, who had repaired both the palace and the house at 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 -- ■ -■ - — ■-■■ — ^— — * ■ — -- - ■■ -—...... ., . . ........ .... 1 ., | . . . . 
 
 Ludham, was urged to surrender the compensation which 
 was his legal due. He showed considerable reluctance to 
 yield, and the lords' letter was followed by a second in which 
 they hinted plainly how greatly their good opinion of him 
 would be enhanced by his compliance. The bishop's 
 hesitation was probably not prompted by avarice. Not long 
 afterwards he showed some disinterestedness in steadily 
 refusing promotion to the wealthier see of Ely, because he 
 was loath in his old age to incur the infamy of furthering an 
 iniquitous scheme of Elizabeth and her ministers to appro- 
 priate some of its revenues. On that one occasion he seems 
 to have followed his own judgment, but in matters that lay 
 nearer home he can seldom have been a free agent. 
 
 If a full chronicle of life in the palace during Bishop 
 Freake's episcopate existed it would probably be largely 
 made up of the sayings and doings of the lady, who was 
 generally described there as " Mrs. Busshopp." It was well 
 known in that household that when Mrs. Freake wanted 
 anything done " my lord " must straightway do it, " will he 
 nil he." The poor old man complained with tears to his 
 servants that if he did not do as his wife willed " she 
 wolde make him weary of his liffe " ; and one of them related 
 that if any visitor came to the palace without a present she 
 would " looke on him as the devill lookes over Lyncolne." 
 
 Under the lax rule of Parkhurst the numerous sectaries of 
 Norwich had enjoyed comparative immunity, and though 
 their prejudices were now and again shocked by his broad 
 and tolerant teaching he was not unpopular. Freake, on 
 the contrary, did his utmost to restore discipline in the 
 disorderly diocese, and had not been there much more than 
 a year when certain preachers of the city petitioned Parlia- 
 ment against the ceremonies on which he insisted. He
 
 THE PALACE OF NORWICH 229 
 
 found his clergy refractory and insubordinate, and was 
 involved besides in a serious dispute with his chancellor. 
 Here again Mrs. Freake was active, and the good people of 
 Norwich maintained that the bishop deposed Dr. Becon at 
 her instigation. She wished, they said, to turn every honest 
 man out of his presence. There was but one religious 
 person, in their sense of the word, in the palace — a certain 
 Mr. Chamberlayne, his steward ; and Mrs. Freake left her 
 husband no peace till he had been " thrust out of doors." 
 She was one of several people against whom formal deposi- 
 tions were made for abetting the bishop in showing favour 
 to the Papists. It was a time of great severity against the 
 recusants, and Freake was certainly very gentle in his 
 dealings with them. A characteristic letter of his to one 
 has been preserved : " Having of late receaved verie sharpe 
 reprehension from my Lordes of the Counsaill for my lenitie 
 extended towardes you and the reste in question for religion 
 in theese partes, upon some complaint made against me for 
 that your libertie, I am hereupon urged to call you and the 
 reste to prison, requiringe you therefore not to faile in your 
 repaire to James Bradshawes in Norwich, within tenne daies 
 next after the receipt hereof, there remayninge as before. 
 And so I bid you well to faire in Christe. Ludham, this 
 13th of March, 1581. Your lovinge friende, Edmund 
 Norwich." This was written before an event which must 
 have stirred all Norwich to excitement, and been the occasion 
 of no little righteous triumph amongst the godly folk who 
 had described their bishop and his wife a few years before as 
 " linked " to " the whole rabble of the Papists." Two of the 
 bishop's family were found attending Mass in Norwich, and 
 he wrote in consternation to the lord treasurer to explain the 
 untoward circumstance. Both persons — one his butler, the
 
 230 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 other a lawyer, whom he described as " a man of small 
 reckoning " — had been constant in attendance at the public 
 service and sermons in his own house, and he had been 
 deceived by their apparent conformity. What with his 
 household, which must have always been somewhat unruly, 
 if there was any foundation for the charge brought against 
 Sir Thomas Cornwallis in 1578 of sharing the drunken 
 banquetings of the bishop's servants, and his turbulent 
 diocese, where his officers were constantly opposed in their 
 visitations, it is small wonder that even before this catas- 
 trophe Freake had begged to be removed to a quieter sphere. 
 " No comfort (God knowythe)," he wrote, " have I here, but 
 continuall crossing and overthwarting to my grat grefe and 
 unquietnes, nether looke I for any better." He was 
 translated to Worcester, and there ended his days in 
 comparative peace. 
 
 It does not appear that Freake played a prominent part 
 in the great doings which celebrated Queen Elizabeth's 
 visit to Norwich in 1578. As one of her chaplains, however, 
 and her host — for she stayed six days at the palace — he must 
 have enjoyed some share of royal favour, and seems to have 
 taken advantage of it to complain of certain Norfolk and 
 Suffolk gentry who encouraged the sectaries against him. 
 His influence was of very short duration. The queen's 
 progress through the eastern counties was hardly over when 
 Sir Thomas Heneage wrote to Walsingham that by some 
 good means Her Majesty had been brought to think well of 
 the zealous and loyal gentlemen against whom the foolish 
 bishop had tried to prejudice her. As he described at the 
 same time how the lords of the council had "straightened" 
 certain obstinate persons who refused to come to church, 
 it is clear that the queen also disapproved of the bishop's
 
 THE PALACE OF NORWICH 231 
 
 leniency towards the recusants. It would be interesting to 
 know how Mrs. Freake fared during the royal visit. Elizabeth, 
 as is well known, could hardly bring herself to tolerate her 
 bishops' wives, and one who usurped her husband's authority 
 in the diocese must have been especially obnoxious to her. 
 
 Whatever may have happened within the palace there is 
 no doubt that without it this August week was a season of 
 unmixed rejoicings and festivities which were long remem- 
 bered in the city. A century later Sir Thomas Browne, 
 commenting on the great equipages which the luxurious 
 habits of his contemporaries required, described to his son 
 how in the summertime of 1578 Elizabeth came on horse- 
 back by the high road from Ipswich to Norwich with but a 
 coach or two in her train and rode through the city to the 
 bishop's palace, where she stayed a week, sometimes going 
 a-hunting on horseback and often up to Mousehold Hill to 
 see wrestling and shooting. Sir Thomas had heard many 
 things about the queen's visit from an aged patient of his 
 who had been in attendance on the Earl of Leicester at the 
 time ; but the memory of the pageants and shows arranged 
 in her honour has not been left to oral tradition alone. One 
 who, besides being a spectator, took some part in their pre- 
 paration, and judged it better to record Elizabeth's reception 
 than " let it perish in three halfpenie pamphlets and so die 
 in oblivion," wrote a detailed description of the triumph and 
 feasting, telling how " a shew of some strange devise " was 
 planned for each day, and none of the queen's train left 
 unfeasted. She was met outside the city by the mayor and 
 aldermen and a company of the most comely young men of 
 Norwich in rich apparel, who attended her to St. Stephen's 
 Gate. Here there were brilliant decorations of the red and 
 white rose and the royal arms, and the city waits greeted
 
 232 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 her with music. Two pageants were displayed before the 
 queen reached the cathedral, whence she withdrew, after 
 service, to the bishop's palace. It was a Saturday, and 
 Elizabeth seems to have spent most of the Sunday in retire- 
 ment. Meantime, the organizer of the city festivities was 
 busy arranging pastimes for her delectation. On Monday, 
 however, she was kept indoors by bad weather, and it was 
 not till the late afternoon that a new device was sent before 
 supper to the palace as though Mercury had come from the 
 gods to request Her Majesty to go abroad and behold what 
 was planned for her welcome. He drove in a wonderful 
 coach, covered with birds and spirits hanging from the 
 clouds, and with a high tower in its centre adorned with 
 gold and gay jewels and a fair plume of white feathers on 
 the top. His own dress was of blue satin, lined with cloth 
 of gold, and slashed in the most approved fashion, and his 
 high-peaked hat, blue also, bore a pair of wings. There 
 were wings, too, on his heels and on his golden rod, round 
 which two serpents writhed as if they were alive. When 
 the equipage set forth, which it did so swiftly that the horses 
 seemed to fly, the people followed it in such crowds that the 
 Green Yard outside the palace was filled to overflowing. 
 " And when the coche approached in the hearing of a trumpet 
 the trumpetter sounded, and so came in to the greene sound- 
 ing, until the coche was full placed before a window at which 
 the queene stood and might be plainelie seene and openlie 
 viewed. When Mercurie had espied hir highnesse, he 
 skipped out of the coch, and, being on the ground, gave a 
 jump or two and advanced himself in such a sort that the 
 queene smiled at the boldnesse of the boie. Thus Mercurie, 
 beholding the queene, with great courage and audacitie at 
 the length bowed downe his head and immediatlie stood
 
 THE PALACE OF NORWICH 233 
 
 bolt upright and shaked his rod, and so began his speech 
 with a most assured countenance." He was both well heard 
 and well received by the queen as she stood at one of the 
 windows of the " great chamber," which is now the drawing- 
 room, and the chronicler adds, in evident self-gratulation to 
 himself and his fellow-players, that though no pageant was 
 looked for at that hour, " yet hap was so good and the 
 gratious favour of the prince that all was well taken." After 
 that wet Monday Elizabeth spent but a small part of her 
 time in the palace. There were other pageants for her 
 entertainment, one representing Venus and Cupid thrust 
 from heaven, another with a cave and twelve water-nymphs, 
 a third the show of Manhood and Desert, besides presenta- 
 tions, orations, decorations, and a masque of gods and 
 goddesses, who brought her gifts after supper one day. 
 Altogether, she was so contented with her reception that 
 when she rode away at seven o'clock on the Friday evening — 
 the hour being so late for the five-mile journey before her 
 that the mayor had to forego bis speech and present it to 
 her in writing — she declared, " I have laid up in my heart 
 such good will as I shall never forget Norwich," and there- 
 upon proceeding forward did shake her riding rod and said, 
 " Farewell, Norwich," with the water standing in her eyes. 
 
 Freake's successor, Bishop Scambler, who had earned the 
 reputation of a shameless spoiler in his first see of Peter- 
 borough, was hardly more scrupulous in his dealings with 
 the Norwich revenues. Apparently, however — to judge from 
 a survey made in October, 1594, a ^ ew months after his 
 death — he left the palace in a better state of repair than some 
 of his predecessors had done. The report then made to the 
 queen's auditor by carpenters, masons, glaziers, and other 
 workmen who had been employed in the house names each
 
 234 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 room in order, beginning with those which adjoined the 
 cathedral. It is interesting to compare this presumably 
 exhaustive survey with the record of a dilapidation suit 
 brought forty years later by Bishop White, then already 
 translated to Ely, against the representative of one of his 
 predecessors, Samuel Harsnet. In the later document only 
 those parts of the palace are mentioned for the repairs of 
 which compensation was claimed. The Elizabethan survey 
 begins with the middle chamber next the church, probably 
 the little chamber next the pulpit of Bishop White's suit, and 
 a higher chamber over it. The title of the principal room in 
 the next group, " the Lord Cromwell's chamber so called of 
 late," seems to be the sole surviving record of some awe- 
 inspiring visit of Henry VIII. 's great minister to the bishop's 
 palace between his elevation to the baronage in the July of 
 1536 and his downfall four years later. In connexion with 
 this visit, if such there were — for history and tradition are 
 alike silent on the point — it is noteworthy that in 1594 no 
 room bore the name of the great queen who had stayed in 
 the palace only sixteen years before, although two and a half 
 centuries later " the state-room " was known to Bishop 
 Stanley's family as the apartment in which Elizabeth had 
 slept. The Lord Cromwell's chamber lay between a 
 withdrawing-room and another chamber, and is followed in 
 the category by a green parlour, which reappears in the next 
 century as the green chamber. Amongst other rooms 
 mentioned in both documents are the great chamber where 
 Elizabeth had received Mercury's address from the Green 
 Yard, the hall, and the study. To this hall — certainly not 
 Bishop Salmon's great hall, which the Elizabethan survey 
 describes as already in ruins — there were entries from the 
 green parlour and the great chamber. The chamber adjoining
 
 THE PALACE OF NORWICH 235 
 
 the great chamber is probably the room which Bishop 
 Rugge had decorated with the panelling from St. Benet's. 
 Near this was the bishop's chamber and withdrawing-room. 
 The dilapidation suit was not concerned with these three 
 apartments, nor with the armoury which, whatever its con- 
 dition in 1594, was sparsely enough furnished fifty years 
 later, when Bishop Hall owned but two muskets for the 
 defence of his house. On the other hand, the wardrobe and 
 nursery of 1634 have no place in the Elizabethan survey, 
 though, as there seems to be no record of fresh building 
 during the interval, it is likely enough that they were only 
 old rooms bearing new names. At both dates the palace must 
 have had its complement of kitchen offices, pantry, butteries, 
 wine-cellars, and so on, though these are only enumerated 
 in full in the survey. From this, too, comes the information 
 that there were four chambers in the galleries for the serving- 
 men, a "chapel chamber" on the backside of the chapel, and 
 two others upstairs next the chapel ; that the steward had 
 his own set of apartments, a study amongst them; and that 
 the outbuildings comprised brewery, granary, bake-house, 
 mill, coal, fagot, and plumber's houses, besides those already 
 mentioned in connexion with Bishop Alnwick's Gateway. 
 
 The depositions of Harsnet's servants and certain workmen 
 employed about the palace show that the bishop had from 
 time to time spent a considerable amount of money on its 
 repairs. He, too, had sued his predecessor's executors for 
 dilapidations, and at the end of four years, when his costs 
 had amounted to £300, was awarded £200. To an uninitiated 
 reader the claims of the Bishop of Ely do not appear 
 altogether reasonable. They were chiefly for glass — this, in 
 some cases, for windows not hitherto glazed — and leads, 
 including those of the chapel or French Church, for which
 
 236 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 the bishop had not been responsible. From another source 
 we learn that Harsnet had granted the keeper's house to one 
 Thomas Fitton with a fee of fourpence a day for keeping the 
 palace, and a charge was made for the repair of the walls 
 about the gardens and of " the house by Mr. Fitton's." 
 Something had also been expended on the leads of the walk 
 going to the church, so that Wakering's Cloister must have 
 been still in use. 
 
 Bishop Harsnet, who " kepte residence and hospitalitie " 
 in the palace " all the time it was fitt for his place and 
 degree," was an earnest and devout prelate, but too moderate 
 to satisfy either party in the Church. With the Puritans of 
 Norwich he was in great disfavour for putting down some of 
 the lectureships so popular at that time in his diocese, and 
 for which there was a special endowment in the city, and 
 they brought formal accusations against him in Parliament 
 both on this account and for his insistence on ceremonial 
 observances. He seems to have suppressed only such 
 lectures as interfered with attendance at church services, 
 but as Fuller describes him as a " zealous asserter of cere- 
 monies," adding that he was the first to complain of 
 " conformable Puritans," it is not surprising that his efforts 
 to enforce ritual made him unpopular at Norwich. 
 
 It was during the episcopate of Bishop White's successor, 
 Richard Corbet, that Laud determined to put an end to the 
 occupation of the palace chapel by the Walloons. The 
 bishop accordingly wrote to the ministers : " You have 
 promised me from time to time to restore my stolen bell 
 and to glaze my lettice windows. After three yeeres con- 
 sultation (bysides other pollution) I see nothing mended. 
 Your discipline, I know, care not much for a consecrated 
 place, and anye other roome in Norwiche that hath but
 
 THE PALACE OF NORWICH 237 
 
 bredth and length may serve your turn as well as the 
 chappel : wherefore I say unto you without a miracle Lazare 
 prodi foras. Depart and hire some other place for your 
 irregular meetings : you shall have time to provide for your- 
 selves betwixte this and Whitsontide. And that you may 
 not think I mean to deale with you as Felix dyd with St. Paul, 
 that is, make you afraid, to get money, I shall keepe my 
 word with you, which you did not with me, and as neer as I 
 can be like you in nothinge. Written by me, Richard 
 Norwich. December 26, 1634." On the receipt of this whim- 
 sical letter the Walloons appealed to the archbishop, but did 
 not succeed in shaking his resolution. They were using the 
 chapel, however, when Corbet died six months later, and the 
 next bishop, Matthew Wren, found them still in possession, 
 Laud testifying for him in 1636 that he had spent the 
 summer of that year at Ipswich partly because his presence 
 was required in that part of his diocese, but also because 
 the chapel at his house in Norwich was held by the French 
 congregation, who had received warning to quit by the 
 following Easter. In 1637 they took their departure, paying, 
 it is said, only twenty nobles, though the bishop had claimed 
 £150 or £200 for dilapidations. 
 
 Like Bishop Harsnet, Corbet had not shown himself dis- 
 posed to countenance the lectureships. He seems to have 
 been in sympathy with Laud's endeavours to enforce stricter 
 discipline, especially in the matter of residence. At Norwich, 
 where he spent only three years, dying whilst still in middle 
 life, he was long remembered for his eloquent preaching and 
 exuberant wit. Even in that brief time the jolly doctor, who 
 had sung ballads at Abingdon Cross one market day to help 
 an unsuccessful vendor, drawing together a great audience 
 by the charm of his handsome person and rare full voice,
 
 238 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 must have said and done many things delightful to hear and 
 tell of, but neither in Aubrey's " Brief Lives " nor in a longer 
 memoir is any incident recorded which can be assigned with 
 certainty to this period of his life. If, however, he brought 
 with him from Oxford his favourite chaplain — which seems 
 probable, since his last words on his death-bed in Norwich 
 were, " Good night, Lushington," — one of the palace wine- 
 cellars may have been the scene of some merry-makings 
 with this kindred spirit. A man of a generous and benevolent 
 nature, courteous, sincere, and affectionate, Corbet — even 
 according to Aubrey, who chronicles some frolicsome jests 
 bordering on buffoonery — was not without dignity as a prelate. 
 Among his contemporaries he was best known as the friend 
 of Ben Jonson, as himself a poet of no inconsiderable merit 
 and an incomparable wit and good fellow. 
 
 His successor, Wren, according to Clarendon, " a man of 
 a severe, sour nature, but very learned," was impeached before 
 the Long Parliament and imprisoned for nearly eighteen years 
 in the Tower without trial. Though he had been translated 
 to Ely in 1638, when he had been Bishop of Norwich less 
 than three years, most of the charges brought against him 
 were concerned with the earlier episcopate. He was said to 
 have suppressed the preaching of the Word of God, and 
 introduced many superstitious and idolatrous practices into 
 the city, besides forcing the inhabitants to pay two shillings 
 in the pound of their rents in tithes. There was probably 
 more foundation for the accusation that he had driven 
 3,000 of the king's subjects into Holland by his rigorous 
 prosecution, for we have it on Clarendon's authority that 
 many of the Huguenots in his diocese left the kingdom 
 on account of the harsh treatment they experienced at 
 his hands.
 
 THE PALACE OF NORWICH 239 
 
 Before Wren came to Norwich some attempt had been 
 made to increase the attendance at the cathedral sermon. 
 This was preached every Sunday morning, during the winter 
 months in the cathedral itself, but from Easter to Michaelmas 
 in the Green Yard west of the palace, which now forms part 
 of its gardens. Here through a doorway, long since closed, 
 in the north aisle of the nave, the congregation adjourned 
 after prayers to listen to the preacher selected by their bishop. 
 Galleries were erected along the walls of the palace and 
 north aisle of the cathedral for the mayor and aldermen, with 
 their families and officers, the dean, prebendaries, and other 
 persons of rank, whilst the rest of the audience stood or sat 
 on forms, paying a halfpenny or penny for the hire of their 
 seats. The pulpit described by Dean Hassall in 1631, when 
 it had been lately rebuilt, and he was proposing to decorate 
 it with the arms of the king and some of his nobility, as very 
 like St. Paul's Cross, had a capacious covering of lead with a 
 cross upon it. Probably its restoration and embellishment 
 were part of a scheme to exalt these orthodox sermons 
 against the lectures in which the people of Norwich took 
 such delight. Four years later a royal letter addressed to the 
 mayor and corporation commanded their constant attend- 
 ance in the cathedral or Green Yard every Sunday morning, 
 none being allowed to absent himself without the bishop's 
 permission. The city magnates complied with the king's 
 mandate, and shortly afterwards refused a petition for new 
 lectures and evening readings presented by their fellow- 
 citizens. Not many years later, however, some at least of 
 them seem to have assisted at the sacrilegious spoliation of 
 the cathedral by the Parliamentarians. The leaden cross 
 was then sawn down from the Green Yard pulpit and 
 burnt, with service-books, vestments, and organ-pipes, in the
 
 240 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 market-place, the pulpit itself being afterwards removed to 
 the New Hall Yard. 
 
 Wren was not the only Bishop of Norwich who suffered 
 for conscience' sake in the seventeenth century. The scholar 
 and antiquary, Richard Montague, who came after him, had 
 already been the object of the relentless attacks of the 
 Parliaments of Charles I., and might have shared the same 
 fate had he not escaped his accusers by a timely death, going, 
 as Fuller said, " a more compendious way to answer all in the 
 high court of heaven." Their rigid discipline and enforce- 
 ment of ritual had earned for the Laudian bishops the hatred 
 of the Puritans in many parts of the country, but when the 
 Parliament triumphed, in Norwich, at least, the brunt of the 
 storm was borne by one who had done little or nothing to 
 provoke it. In his first diocese of Exeter, Joseph Hall had 
 more than once found it difficult to clear himself from the 
 suspicion of showing undue favour to the disaffected, and his 
 wide tolerance and large-hearted charity met with little 
 sympathy from the extremists on both sides. Moderate men, 
 however, such as the Earl of Essex, who had a great 
 reverence and kindness for him, seem to have loved him as 
 much for these qualities as they respected his holy and 
 consistent life, and admired his genius as writer, contro- 
 versialist, and preacher. 
 
 The events which followed Bishop Hall's election to the 
 see of Norwich are well known from his own account. He 
 was one of the twelve prelates charged with high treason for 
 protesting against the validity of Acts passed during their 
 enforced absence from the House of Lords. They were 
 committed to the Tower and imprisoned there for some 
 months. In the meantime a Bill was passed for the forfeiture 
 of their spiritual and temporal estates, out of which an annual
 
 THE PALACE OF NORWICH 241 
 
 allowance — in Hall's case £400 — was to be made to each. On 
 his release the bishop went down to Norwich, where he was 
 received with more cordiality than he had expected. He 
 took up his abode in the palace, and preached the next day to 
 a large and attentive congregation. The story of his subse- 
 quent experiences there, written in his own vigorous and 
 simple language, has been often quoted. Notwithstanding 
 some murmuring among the disaffected, he enjoyed com- 
 parative peace until the ordinance of sequestration was 
 passed about eleven months after his arrival. The first hint 
 of the troubles that were impending seems to have reached 
 the bishop through a London trooper who came with others 
 in his company to the palace gates very early one morning, 
 and threatened to break them down if he were denied 
 entrance. Dr. Hall found him struggling with one of his 
 servants for a pistol, and " demanded his business at that 
 unseasonable time. He told me he came to search for arms 
 and ammunition of which I must be disarmed. I told him I 
 had only two muskets in the house and no other military 
 provision. He, not resting upon my word, searched round 
 about the house, looked into the chests and trunks, examined 
 the vessels in the cellar. Finding no other warlike furniture, 
 he asked me what horses I had, for his commission was to 
 take them also. I told him how poorly I was stored and that 
 my age would not allow me to travel on foot. In conclusion, 
 he took one horse for the present : and such accompt of 
 another that he did highly expostulate with me afterwards 
 that I had otherwise disposed of him." After this came the 
 sequestrators with the news that they must take possession of 
 the palace, and all the bishop's estate, both real and personal. 
 Certain officers sent by their command to value all the goods 
 in the house, performed their task " with all diligent severity ; 
 E.E.P. R
 
 242 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 not leaving so much as a dozen of trenchers, or my children's 
 pictures out of their curious inventory. Yea, they would 
 have apprised our very wearing clothes, had not Alderman 
 Tooley and Sheriff Rawley, to whom I sent to require their 
 judgment concerning the ordinance in this point, declared 
 their opinion to the contrary." Books and household stuff 
 were exposed for sale, and but for the compassion of a gentle- 
 woman of Norwich and a clergyman in the diocese who came 
 forward to advance their value, would have been all lost to 
 the bishop. He had now but scanty means left for replacing 
 even the barest necessaries. All his rents had been stopped 
 and the order for the yearly payment of £400 remained a dead 
 letter. He appealed to the Parliamentarian Committee in the 
 city who promised to secure him the pension out of the 
 manors of the bishopric. It soon became evident, however, 
 that the commissioners had over-estimated their powers. 
 An order of inhibition came down from London, and the sole 
 concession eventually granted was a tardy allowance to Mrs. 
 Hall of one fifth for the maintenance of herself and her 
 family. The synodals were kept back, and ordinations and 
 institutions were the only spiritual profits left to the bishop. 
 It was not long before these too were denied him. " Certain 
 forward volunteers in the city," having stirred up the mayor 
 and corporation to interfere, " divers of them came to my gate 
 at a very unseasonable time, and knocking very vehemently, 
 required to speak with the bishop. Messages were sent to 
 them to know their business ; nothing would satisfy them but 
 the bishop's presence. At last I came down to them and 
 demanded what the matter was : they would have the gate 
 opened, and then they would tell me. I answered that I 
 would know them better first : if they had anything to say to 
 me, I was ready to hear them. They told me they had a
 
 THE PALACE OF NORWICH 243 
 
 writing to me from Mr. Mayor and some other of their 
 magistrates. The paper contained both a challenge of me for 
 breaking the covenant, in ordaining ministers, and, withal, 
 required me to give in the names of those which were 
 ordained by me both then and formerly since the covenant. 
 My answer was, that Mr. Mayor was much abused by those 
 who had misinformed him, and drawn that paper from him ; 
 that I would the next day give a full answer to the writing. 
 They moved that my answer might be by my personal appear- 
 ance at the Guildhall. I asked them when they ever heard of 
 a Bishop of Norwich appearing before a mayor. I knew mine 
 own place, and would take that way of answer which I thought 
 fit ; and so dismissed them, who had given out that day that 
 had they known before of mine ordaining, they would have 
 pulled me and those whom I had ordained out of the chapel 
 by the ears." 
 
 Bishop Lyhert's sturdy oaken gates stood his successor in 
 good stead on more than one occasion, but did not always 
 avail to keep out the Puritan mob. " One while," continues 
 Bishop Hall, " a whole rabble of volunteers came to my 
 gates late, when they were locked up, and called for the 
 porter to give them entrance ; which being not yielded, they 
 threatened to make by force; and had not the said gates 
 been very strong they had done it. Others of them clambered 
 over the walls and would come into my house : their errand, 
 they said, was to search for delinquents. What they would 
 have done I know not, had we not by a secret way sent to 
 raise the officers for our rescue. Another while, the Sheriff 
 Toftes and Alderman Linsey attended with many zealous 
 followers, came into my chapel to look for superstitious 
 pictures and relics of idolatry, and sent for me to let me 
 know they found those windows full of images which were 
 
 R 2
 
 244 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 very offensive and must be demolished. I told them they 
 were the pictures of some ancient and worthy bishops, as 
 St. Ambrose, Austin, etc. It was answered me that they 
 were so many popes, and one younger man amongst the rest 
 (Townsend, as I perceived afterwards) would take on him to 
 defend that every diocesan bishop was pope. I answered 
 him with some scorn, and obtained leave that I might, with 
 the least loss and defacing of the windows, give order for 
 taking off that offence, which I did, by causing the heads of 
 those pictures to be taken off since I knew the bodies could 
 not offend." 
 
 For a short time after the desecration of the cathedral in 
 June, 1644, Bishop Hall was suffered to remain at the palace 
 though with a poor retinue and means. Miles Corbet, how- 
 ever, at whose instance the grant of the pension had been 
 revoked, thought the house too good for him and sent many 
 peremptory messages for his removal. The ostensible pre- 
 text was that the palace was required as a meeting-place free 
 of cost for the commissioners, but though Mrs. Hall offered 
 to pay the rent of the building they then occupied out of her 
 fifth it was of no avail, the bishop and his family were driven 
 out and might have had no lodging but the street had not a 
 kindly neighbour in the close lent them his house. From 
 this hospitable refuge they afterwards removed to the small 
 suburb of Heigham, where Dr. Hall spent the last years of 
 his life, preaching, whenever the opportunity was granted 
 him, in the Norwich churches, administering, at least on one 
 occasion, when Simon Patrick, the future Bishop of Ely, 
 came to him with two other fellows of his college, the rite of 
 ordination in his own parlour, and still practising with his 
 straightened means the munificent charity which had always 
 characterized him. "A Person of singularly Humility,
 
 THE PALACE OF NORWICH 245 
 
 Patience and Piety," as his friend and physician, Sir Thomas 
 Browne, described him; "his own Works are the best Monu- 
 ment and Character of himself." 
 
 Meanwhile the palace came into the hands of the trustees 
 appointed by the Long Parliament to deal with the bishops' 
 lands and was sold, with its site, ground, and soil, its chapel, 
 houses, buildings, courtyards, and orchards, covering in all 
 an area of six acres and two roods, to John Blackwell in 
 1647. The leads and material of all the buildings were 
 valued at £800, the site itself at £"260. Not long afterwards 
 Captain Blackwell stripped the leads from palace and 
 chapel, tore the casements from their hinges and defaced 
 both buildings in other ways. The hall was turned into a 
 meeting-house for the sectaries, and some of the rooms were 
 let out as tenements to poor families. 
 
 Dr. Hall did not live to see the Restoration. When in 
 the April of 1662 Miles Corbet, suffering on the scaffold as a 
 regicide, tasted the hard measure he had meted out to others, 
 the palace from which he had been driven was in other 
 hands. In character and learning Edward Reynolds was 
 no unworthy successor to Bishop Hall. Sir Thomas Browne, 
 who knew him well, described him as "a person much of the 
 temper of his predecessor"; and it was fortunate for the 
 diocese that Baxter, though declining a bishopric for him- 
 self, advised Reynolds to accept the see. As one of the lead- 
 ing Presbyterians he had been a member of the Long Parlia- 
 ment's Assembly of Divines, but had afterwards undergone 
 some persecution from the Independents. Their treatment, 
 however, did not make him intolerant, and the fifteen years 
 of his mild and beneficent rule were unstained by any violent 
 measures against the Nonconformists. 
 
 At Norwich, where he chiefly resided, he found the palace
 
 246 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 almost in ruins. When it had been rendered habitable once 
 more he proceeded to build a new chapel in the place of 
 Bishop Salmon's, which was now quite past repair, the fabric 
 itself having become ruinous and useless since the removal of 
 the leads. It was therefore pulled down, and some of the 
 materials were used in the erection of its successor. This, 
 which was of smaller dimensions and fitted up with wains- 
 coted sides and stuccoed flat ceiling, was built almost 
 entirely at Reynolds's expense. Here he lies buried, and his 
 monument at the east end faces that of his successor, 
 Anthony Sparrow. 
 
 The new chapel had not been consecrated when Charles II. 
 came to Norwich in the September of 1671. He reached 
 Trowse Bridge in the afternoon, with the Dukes of York, 
 Monmouth, and Buckingham in his train, whilst the queen 
 travelled later by a different route. The old palace of the 
 Dukes of Norfolk in the heart of the city, according to a con- 
 temporary account the greatest town-house in the kingdom 
 out of London, had been richly furnished for the occasion, 
 and here the king and his court were sumptuously enter- 
 tained by Lord Henry Howard. On the following day 
 Charles went to the cathedral, whence, says a Norwich 
 gentleman who wrote a full description of the royal visit to a 
 friend, " he retyred out of the Crowd and stept into the Lord 
 Bishop's Palace adjoyninge to refresh himselfe with a Glass 
 of choyce wyne and sweetmeates, atended only by his Roial 
 Highnesse the Duke of Buckingham and ye Lord Howard." 
 The Duke of York visited Norwich again on his return from 
 Scotland, nearly ten years later, in the midst of a Tory 
 reaction against the Exclusion Bill. He came on the invita- 
 tion of the city, and was met at the Bishop's Gate at nine 
 o'clock in the evening by the magistrates, who conducted
 
 THE PALACE OF NORWICH 247 
 
 him, after due formalities, to the New Hall, great guns firing, 
 bells ringing, and bonfires blazing meanwhile : that night he 
 was lodged at the bishop's palace, from which the next 
 morning he went on his way to Newmarket. 
 
 James's host on this occasion, the Royalist bishop, Sparrow, 
 who, like Reynolds, made the palace his home, and was much 
 loved and respected in Norwich, did not long survive his 
 accession. Under his successor, the non-juror Lloyd, a great 
 change came over the sentiments of the citizens. On the 
 eve of the Revolution a Protestant Duke of Norfolk, son of 
 the Lord Henry Howard who had entertained Charles II., 
 rode into the city at the head of three hundred knights and 
 gentlemen, and declared for a free Parliament. He was 
 welcomed by the mayor and aldermen, whilst the common 
 people evinced their approval by breaking out into riots in 
 which they burned the furniture of a new Roman Catholic 
 chapel, pillaged the houses of Papists, and threatened finally 
 to plunder the bishop's palace and the dwellings of the 
 principal residents. At this point, however, vigorous 
 measures were adopted to check their depredations, and 
 the palace remained untouched by violence or alteration 
 until the first half of the following century. Considerable 
 changes were made during that period by Bishops Trimnell 
 and Gooch. On his arrival at Norwich in 1738, Bishop Gooch 
 repaired and beautified the palace at very great expense, 
 adding much to its convenience, we are told, " by opening 
 a Way on the North Side of the Church out of the Upper 
 Close, which enabled him, with the consent of the Dean and 
 Chapter, not only to set aside the Passage to the Palace 
 through the Church, but to shut it quite up, unless in the 
 Time of Divine Service, preventing thereby that scandalous 
 but common practice of carrying Burthens of all kinds thro'
 
 248 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 it, even during the Performance of Service therein." It does 
 not appear that Sir Thomas Gooch, as he became after his 
 translation to Ely, spent much time at the palace. He was 
 master of Caius College and lived chiefly at Cambridge. 
 Notwithstanding his non-residence he was very greatly 
 beloved in the diocese, his unconcealed pursuit of preferment 
 being no doubt forgotten in the charm of his generous and 
 kindly spirit, lively wit, and attractive presence. His charity 
 seems to have been almost unbounded, and it is small wonder 
 that he left Norwich declaring "that he was not a farthing 
 richer since he was a bishop." 
 
 Other alterations had been made in the palace before 1754 
 when the Thetford antiquary, " Honest Tom Martin," dined 
 there with Bishop Haytor, whose fine new large hall and 
 other improvements and embellishments, both in the house 
 and its extensive gardens, seemed " surprizingly beautifull" 
 to his guest, and were no doubt the modern buildings which 
 were said, fifty years later, to give the episcopal residence 
 the appearance rather of a small town than of a single 
 dwelling. 
 
 Some memories of Bishop Home, the earnest and devout 
 commentator on the Psalms, still linger about the palace. 
 He was in failing health when he came to Norwich, and 
 exclaimed on reaching the large flight of steps on the west 
 front by which the house was then entered: "Alas, I am 
 come to these steps at a time of life when I can neither go 
 up them nor down them with safety." At his chaplain's 
 instance he was persuaded to walk every morning in the 
 garden, but increasing illness soon drove him from the 
 diocese, and he died at Bath eighteen months after his 
 consecration. 
 
 Few events in the social history of their city seem to have
 
 Sir Thomas Gooi n. Bishop of Ely. 
 
 From an engraving in the British Museum.
 
 THE PALACE OF NORWICH 249 
 
 made a greater impression on the good people of Norwich 
 than the grand ball given by Mrs. Manners-Sutton in honour 
 of the young Prince William of Gloucester, nephew of 
 George III., who came here in 1800. The splendour of the 
 scene and the gay decorations which adorned the interior of 
 the palace eclipsed all earlier memories, and when Bishop 
 Stanley began his residence thirty-seven years later his son 
 wrote that the only associations with the place were the 
 examinations for ordination and " an enormous ball." Pos- 
 sibly the lavish expenditure necessitated by this occasion, 
 as well as his large family and undoubted liberality, had 
 something to do with the pecuniary difficulties in which 
 Bishop Manners-Sutton was involved during his residence at 
 Norwich. His elevation to the primacy in 1805 was followed 
 by the election of one who was known for many years as the 
 only Liberal bishop in the House of Lords. During the 
 twenty-two years of his episcopate Bishop Bathurst never 
 wavered in his support of Catholic emancipation, sacrificing 
 Court favour, and every chance of preferment, to this cause. 
 In Norwich his lovable disposition and urbane manners 
 rendered him popular even with those who held different 
 views. His daughter tells a story of how a certain resident 
 attacked him in a violent letter, but was so disarmed by the 
 temperate reply he received that he hastened to the palace 
 to apologize. Dr. Bathurst's acquaintance with " Coke of 
 Norfolk," begun before his promotion to Norwich, was there 
 ripened into an intimate friendship, and he was a frequent 
 visitor at Holkham. It was natural that his staunch support 
 of Liberal measures should bring him into close association 
 with the great Norfolk agriculturist and politician, and earn 
 him also the esteem of Charles James Fox, who vainly urged 
 his translation to the Archbishopric of Dublin on the ground
 
 250 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 that he was " the only tolerant bishop." Other qualifications 
 were needed to attract Elizabeth Fry's brother, Joseph John 
 Gurney of Earlham. In 1811 a meeting of the British and 
 Foreign Bible Society was held in Norwich, and the bishop 
 presided. The genuine and loving sympathy with all Christian 
 workers of whatever persuasion which he then evinced seems 
 to have won him the affection of the gentle Quaker, who 
 wrote to him nearly twenty years later : " For many years 
 have I now enjoyed the privilege of thy friendship, and I can 
 truly say that I have never more felt the value and pleasure 
 of it than during our late intercourse." 
 
 When he was in residence at Norwich the greater part of 
 the bishop's days were devoted to diocesan business, the 
 evenings being generally passed in the quiet entertainment 
 of friends and sometimes ending in a rubber of whist. He 
 took a very great pleasure in the palace garden, where in 
 the early summer mornings he was often to be seen wander- 
 ing in night-cap and dressing-gown to watch the progress of 
 his blossoms or fruit. It was here that Crabb Robinson, 
 then on circuit in Norwich and introduced at the palace by 
 a friend, found him arm-in-arm with a Roman Catholic. 
 The bishop laid hold of him too, and the three representa- 
 tives of the Roman, Anglican, and Nonconformist communions 
 continued their walk thus linked together. Though " the 
 Liberal bishop " was out of favour at Court, he, like his 
 predecessor, had one visitor of royal birth. The Duke of 
 Sussex came to the city in the autumn of 1824 as patron of 
 a grand musical festival for the benefit of the hospital, and 
 spent the week at the palace, attending all the concerts and 
 expressing great satisfaction both with the management of 
 the festival and his entertainment. 
 
 For the last few years of his life Dr. Bathurst generally
 
 Dr. Bathurst, Bishop of Norwich. 
 
 Front 11 print in the British Museum.
 
 THE PALACE OF NORWICH 251 
 
 lived away from Norwich. Dean Stanley records that when 
 his father first reached the palace he found it both dreary 
 and dilapidated. His own impressions were more favourable. 
 He was struck with its size rather than with its ugliness, and 
 described it as a sort of Moscow amongst houses, containing 
 very fine rooms side by side with the meanest of passages 
 and staircases. " The dean's room," a small low-ceiled attic 
 at the end of an upstairs passage towards the cathedral, 
 where every morning, from ten to one, he stood working 
 at his desk by the fire-place, was destroyed in 1858, but the 
 passage and ante-room which led to it still remain. 
 
 Under Bishop Stanley's vigorous administration the palace 
 became the centre of many activities, social and philan- 
 thropic as well as diocesan. " A bishop should always be 
 at his post in the chief city of his diocese," was his answer 
 to the proposal that he should live outside Norwich, and he 
 made the city his peculiar charge. Visitors of all sorts and 
 degrees — candidates for ordination, rural deans, representa- 
 tives of different societies — were gathered from time to time 
 under his hospitable roof. Here, in 1843, he entertained the 
 Irish priest, Father Mathew, who had lately converted his 
 country-people to temperance. Another guest who stayed 
 twice at the palace was the famous singer, Jenny Lind. In 
 the early years of his episcopate he had encountered much 
 opposition, but long before its close he won the esteem and 
 affection of all classes. Eyewitnesses describe his funeral 
 as one of the most impressive sights ever beheld in Norwich 
 Cathedral. Every place of business in the city had been 
 closed, and the long procession of clergy and citizens which 
 followed his coffin moved from the palace to the Erpingham 
 Gate through a silent crowd of 20,000 spectators. In the 
 church itself were many more thousands, all in mourning
 
 252 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 and not a few deeply affected. He was buried in the centre 
 of the nave, according to his own wish with neither tomb 
 nor effigy. 
 
 Bishop Stanley's work in Norwich was that of an organizer 
 and reformer ; he was not one of her building prelates. With 
 the exception of some general repairs which were needed to 
 render it a habitable home for his family and the erection of 
 the great oriel window in the drawing-room he made little 
 change in the palace. During the episcopate of Bishop 
 Pelham, however, it underwent extensive alterations, the 
 north-west corner being rebuilt and other portions entirely 
 demolished. The most ancient part of the building, which 
 had always been united to the cathedral, was pulled down, 
 and in the opposite direction communication between the 
 house and chapel was cut off by the removal of some rooms 
 and a staircase at the east end of the great dining-room. 
 These were almost in ruins, and the dining-room itself was 
 so unsafe that it was rebuilt, the old room at the east end 
 being added to it. The chapel which Bishop Stanley had found 
 and been obliged to leave " a wilderness and lumber-room " 
 was entirely restored by Bishop Pelham, and for about 
 eighteen years used as the church of the parish in the close 
 called St. Mary-in-the-Marsh. Since that time Bishop 
 Sheepshanks has connected the chapel with the house by a 
 new passage and made considerable improvements in the 
 interior. The fine windows which Reynolds had rescued 
 from the earlier building destroyed by the Puritans, are still 
 its chief beauty. The work of the restorers of the seven- 
 teenth and eighteenth centuries and the inevitable changes 
 wrought by time and neglect have made the house itself an 
 irregular building with few architectural merits ; but though 
 its interest lies mainly in associations with the different
 
 Edward Stanley, Bishop of Norwich. 
 
 From a print in the British Must ion.
 
 THE PALACE OF NORWICH 253 
 
 prelates who lived here it bears even now a certain venerable 
 and picturesque aspect. 
 
 The third and fourth volumes of Blomefield's History of 
 Norfolk contain many scattered references to the bishop's 
 palace. For its founder, Dean Goulburn's Life, Letters and 
 Sermons of Bishop Herbert de Losinga and Mr. Beloe's article 
 in the Norfolk Archeology (vol. viii.) are the chief authorities. 
 Mr. Harrod described his excavations in the palace grounds 
 in vol. vi. of the same journal, and an account of St. George's 
 Gild from Mackarell's unpublished history of Norwich 
 appeared in vol. iii. Much general information is to be 
 gathered from Dean Goulburn's A ncient Sculptures of Norwich 
 Cathedral, and Dr. Jessopp's Diocese of Norwich. In the 
 Norfolk Antiquarian Miscellany (vols. ii. and iii.) and Burns's 
 History of Foreign Protestant Refugees, the story of the Walloon 
 congregation is told. Britton described Alnwick's Gateway 
 in an article on the "Ancient Gate-houses of Norwich" 
 (Archaological Institute Proceedings, 1847), and the palace 
 itself in his History of Cathedral Churches, whilst the Journal 
 of the British Archaeological Association (vol. xiv.) also con- 
 tains a brief account. The principal authorities for the six- 
 teenth and seventeenth century bishops are : Lives of the 
 Elizabethan Bishops, by the Rev. F. O. White ; Parker's 
 Correspondence, Strype's Annals and Life of Parker, Octavius 
 Gilchrist's memoir of Corbet, Bishop Hall's Hard Measure 
 and his life, by the Rev. John Jones ; Christopher Wren's 
 Parentalia, Sir Thomas Browne's Repertorium, Chalmers's 
 memoir of Bishop Reynolds, Acts of the Privy Council, and 
 Calendar of State Papers. More recent lives are those of 
 Bishop Bathurst by his daughter Mrs. Thistlethwayte ; 
 of Dean Stanley, by Prothero, and of Bishop Stanley, by the 
 dean. At the Public Record Office the following documents
 
 254 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 bear on this subject : Pat. 2 Edw. VI., pt. 6, m. 8 ; Close 
 23 Chas. I., pt. 3, No. 27; Exch. Spec. Com. Norf. 38 Eliz., 
 No. 1607 ; State Papers Domestic, Chas. I., Vol. 70, No. 67, 
 and the Chancery Guild Certificate, No. 29. The add. MSS. 
 5828 and 27967, in the British Museum, give some details 
 about Sir Thomas Gooch, and the visit of Charles II., and 
 Freake's letter praying for his removal is preserved in Lans- 
 down MS. 38. A contemporary account of Elizabeth's visit 
 is incorporated in a later edition of Holinshed's Chronicle.
 
 £0e (pafoce of gereforb 
 
 IYING between the city and the open country, 
 protected on the one side by the windings of the 
 V Wye, on the other by the towering pile of the 
 cathedral, the palace of Hereford carries with it 
 a sense of quiet yet strenuous life, of leisure that is only rest, 
 and of a beauty grown to its height after many years. 
 
 The palace lies built round three sides of a square, open to 
 the sun and the river on the south, with stables and low red 
 kitchens on the west and north, and on the east with the 
 ancient Norman hall, the curia episcopi, as it was called. And 
 the palace is a true manor-house, not isolated or remote, but 
 essentially at one with the people who live not a stone's 
 throw from the gate. 
 
 Ancient as is the see of Hereford, little has been preserved 
 to tell us of its lands before the Conquest, nor do we know by 
 whom the present site of the cathedral was given to the 
 Church. A tradition points to Milfrid, King of Mercia, as 
 the donor of much land round the city ; but Canon Capes, in 
 his introduction to the printed volume of " Charters and 
 Records of Hereford Cathedral," declares that it is impossible 
 to distinguish earlier gifts from those which Offa is said to 
 have made in expiation of his murder of the saintly 
 Ethelbert, King of East Anglia. The reason of this silence 
 of the past must be sought in the peculiar position, and 
 consequently history, of the county. Throughout the
 
 256 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 centuries it has been a borderland ; all through the Middle 
 Ages just beyond it dwelt the Welsh, whose race-hatred 
 for the Englishmen, their invaders and neighbours, was 
 heightened and sharpened by a hunger for the good things 
 of the plain. From this they were geographically divided 
 only by the Wye, west of which the land was always in 
 debate, held indeed nominally by Englishmen, but subject 
 not merely to raids, but to immemorial customs and incidents 
 of tenure which marked it off distinctly from the rest of the 
 shire. Hereford, built on the banks of the Wye, was there- 
 fore not merely the chief town of a county, but was also 
 essentially an outpost and a bulwark of defence for the 
 fertile lands around, and to this its character it owes its 
 distinctive story. One of the first events known in its 
 history was its harrying in 1055 by the Welsh, under 
 Gruffydd ab Llywelyn, when the citadel was destroyed as 
 well as the cathedral but newly erected by Bishop Ethelbert. 
 A punitive expedition under Earl Harold followed, and 
 Hereford was fortified with a rampart and ditch, and later 
 with a stone wall. The castle was first built by Earl 
 William in 1055, its wooden tower, stockade, and ditch being 
 the precursor of the castle which was dismantled at the close 
 of the seventeenth century. 
 
 In all the fighting the bishop must have played his part, 
 for he was not only a bishop but a great temporal lord, head 
 of a barony, with a special care for the marches ; the tem- 
 poral aspect of his rule was particularly emphasized in 
 Hereford, where the palace was the head of a distinct 
 lordship or fee. 
 
 The earliest evidence of the existence of a palace is 
 architectural rather than documentary, and it is impossible 
 to assign an exact date to the remains of what Mr. Francis
 
 THE PALACE OF HEREFORD 257 
 
 Bond, in his " Gothic Architecture in England," has charac- 
 terized as one of the oldest and the best preserved of the 
 Norman roofs in this country. Originally this roof covered 
 a great hall running north and south, and at a distance of 
 perhaps a hundred yards from the south wall of the cathedral. 
 The hall itself was a hundred feet long and fifty-five feet 
 wide, forming a magnificent space for a great assembly 
 either at a banquet, court, or one of those musters which 
 must so often have met within its walls when the Welsh had 
 exceeded their lawful bounds. There are still great woods in 
 Herefordshire, but they were much greater in extent then 
 than now ; perhaps it was in the Forest of Dene, where the 
 oak still flourishes, that the bishop obtained the timber for his 
 hall. Huge trees they must have been, for only heart of oak 
 can be seen, and the planks used must have been, as Mr. 
 Havigal has estimated, 16 feet long, 2 feet thick, and at 
 least 4 feet 6 inches wide. Like most domestic halls of 
 early date the plan adopted was that which the builders 
 of churches used, and the space was divided into three 
 portions, consisting of a nave 23 feet wide, flanked on either 
 side by aisles, each of which was 16 feet broad. The 
 columns of the aisles were formed by the giant oak planks, 
 cut square with a circular projection on each side, running 
 upward above men's heads to 12 feet from the floor, where they 
 ended in carved capitals. The side arches, which supported 
 the roof of the aisles, sprang likewise from such capitals at 
 16 feet from the ground, while the arches of the central 
 nave sprang from capitals 23 feet up the wall. Such was 
 the splendid hall which men saw rise at least seven hundred 
 years ago, and which still shelters part of the present palace. 
 There must, of course, have been other buildings attached 
 to serve as kitchens, offices, or stables, but the only other 
 E.E.P. b
 
 258 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 part of the palace of which we have certain knowledge is 
 the chapel. 
 
 The hall has been attributed, with what reason is not 
 evident, to Gilbert Foliot, the remarkable man who became 
 Bishop of Hereford in 1148. The full strength of his 
 character and influence only became known in 1162, when 
 he opposed the election of Becket, though the private 
 relations of the two men were not unfriendly. It has been 
 suggested that to him rather than to William Fitz Stephen 
 is due the credit of the remark that the king had wrought 
 a miracle in turning a secular man and a soldier into an 
 archbishop. Foliot had held the bishopric for sixteen 
 years when, in 1163, he was translated to London. A few 
 instruments of his still survive, among them being a grant 
 to his canon, Ranulf, of the land which his father, Erkomar, 
 had held as far back as the time of Richard, bishop from 1121 
 to 1131. The house on it was small, so small that Gilbert 
 Foliot enlarged the holding by adding to it a second house 
 near at hand, but to it was annexed land in " Cocedale " 
 and an orchard in the Barton, or farm-ground, west of what 
 is now Bridge Street. Robert de Melun, the successor 
 of Gilbert Foliot, held the see but for four years, and on 
 his death, licence of election was refused by Henry II., 
 whose obstinacy had been thoroughly aroused by his experi- 
 ences with Becket. Among the chancellor's followers in 
 1151 had been Robert Foliot, a connection of the previous 
 Bishop of Hereford ; but although Robert was so high in 
 Becket's favour that he was given the Archdeaconry of 
 Oxford, he was in such close touch with the opposite 
 party that he exchanged affectionate letters with Gilbert 
 Foliot, even when that bishop lay under the excom- 
 munication of Becket. It was, perhaps, as a result of this
 
 THE PALACE OF HEREFORD 259 
 
 friendship that in 1155 Robert Foliot was chosen to fill the 
 newly founded Prebend of Wellington in Hereford Cathedral, 
 and it may have been due to the same influence that Henry 
 was persuaded to give way in favour of Foliot, who was 
 appointed as Bishop of Hereford in 1167 though he was not 
 consecrated until 1174. As a bishop Robert Foliot showed 
 himself very active, and he did much to enrich his cathedral 
 by gifts of all kinds, not merely of ornaments, vessels, and 
 books, but of land. But although these gifts are mentioned 
 there seems no reason to assign to him the building of the 
 palace hall, which has been ascribed to his episcopacy. 
 More probably the building was the work of his successor, 
 William de Vere, who was consecrated to the see in 1186, 
 and held it until his death in 1200. The documentary 
 evidence in his favour is almost negative in character, or 
 perhaps it can best be described as circumstantial. For the 
 present purpose one of his most important steps was the 
 purchase of the piece of land once held by Ranulf, son of 
 Erkomar, that same Ranulf whom Gilbert Foliot had styled 
 " his canon," perhaps being, as Canon Capes suggests, his 
 penitentiary. This Ranulf was succeeded by a son of the 
 same name, who sold his holding to the bishop, his feudal 
 lord. The land was given by the bishop to God, the Blessed 
 Mary the Virgin, and to the Chapter of Hereford and is 
 described as all that land before our door at Hereford 
 which once belonged to Ranulf son of Erkomar and 
 afterwards to Ranulf his son. The grant is important as 
 showing that a portion of the land of the church was already 
 set apart for the dwelling-place of the bishop, and that the 
 dwelling-house was such as to be regularly defended by a great 
 door or gateway, the ancestor of the picturesque entrance of 
 the present day. It may well be that William de Vere 
 
 S 2
 
 260 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 erected the hall, for his love for architecture was great, and 
 the cathedral long bore marks of his rule in the alterations 
 and additions he made to the older fabric throughout the 
 eastern portion of the church. 
 
 Of the history of the palace during the thirty or forty 
 years following the death of William de Vere we know little or 
 nothing, and his successors, Giles de Bruce, Hugh de Mapenore, 
 and Hugh Foliot, are scarcely more than names. Even Ralph 
 Maidstone, who succeeded them and became bishop in 1234, 
 left little permanent mark on the history of the see, though 
 he benefited the estates by the purchase of that house in 
 Fish Street which became the London residence of his succes- 
 sors. Devout and weary of the world, he only remained 
 bishop until December 1239, when he resigned and entered 
 the Gloucester house of the Franciscans, where he died. The 
 canons of Hereford thought of him with gratitude, and on 
 each 27th of December, as the years passed by, they remem- 
 bered him at Mass, for had he not given to his cathedral 
 church two antiphonaries, with a Psalter, a gradual, and two 
 volumes of the Golden Legend, not to speak of other things ? 
 
 The vacancy in the see supplied Henry III. with the 
 chance of rewarding one Peter de Aigueblanche, whom he 
 was anxious to serve ; in 1240 the king succeeded in his 
 efforts to procure the see for his friend, and Peter was con- 
 secrated bishop at St. Paul's in December of that year. 
 Peter de Aigueblanche, was one of those Savoyards intro- 
 duced by the king's marriage with Eleanor of Provence. 
 His whole time was spent at the Court, the business of his 
 diocese being transacted by officials, among whom the most 
 hated was his financial agent, Bernard, Prior of Champagne. 
 As the years passed and nothing was seen of the bishop, 
 though promotions were given to his foreign relations,
 
 THE PALACE OF HEREFORD 261 
 
 discontent became as rife among the English canons and 
 tenants at Hereford as among the English nobles at the Court. 
 In spite of a temporary breach with Henry III., caused by the 
 bishop aiding Boniface in protecting William de Raleigh, 
 Bishop of Winchester, against the king, Peter continued 
 an ally of the Royalist party in the Barons' War which now 
 broke out. At Hereford the struggle had tragic results, for 
 it gave the English party courage to attack the foreigners 
 whom Peter had appointed. Party feeling had no reverence 
 for sacred buildings, and one of the first warnings of the 
 coming storm was heard on the day when Robert de Bosbury 
 dragged Peter de Langon, a Savoyard prebendary, from his 
 stall. The natural result of this was increased rancour on 
 both sides, and the French officials of the bishop must have 
 soon realized that they carried their lives in their hands. 
 How true was this was proved soon afterwards. Bernard, 
 Prior of Champagne, went one morning to his Mass in the 
 little chapel of St. Mary Magdalene just without the great 
 hall of the palace, which it served. It must have been dark 
 in there, for the windows were ancient and very small. 
 Nor was there any way of escape through the chapel of 
 St. Catherine beneath. St. Mary Magdalene's was not 
 unfrequented, for tenants of the fee would worship there as 
 well as those from the palace hard by, and Bernard could 
 have thought nothing of the presence of John de Frome, 
 although he was not of the bishop's household. The prior 
 turned as he did his service, and John sprang on him. "A 
 second St. Thomas," some must have thought as they saw 
 the prior lying there hacked to his death; but most rejoiced, 
 and the news spread abroad that at Hereford, at least, there 
 was one fewer of the pestilent foreign brood. John de Frome 
 was seized and haled to prison by the king's officers ; as he
 
 262 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 was reputed a clerk, Bishop Peter claimed him for his own 
 dungeon, but no sign of tonsure was found on him, so the 
 royal officers had him again. A wretched prisoner, he was 
 hurried off to London, where his friends induced the Bishop 
 of London to claim him as a cleric once more, and Peter de 
 Aigueblanche also desired his custody. The officials were 
 utterly puzzled; the crime was notorious; John's clerkship 
 doubtful, but his friends very powerful; and the question was 
 carried to Henry III. far away in Gascony. He was equally 
 perplexed, and the last mention of John is to be found in the 
 royal order that he is to be handed over to the officer of the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury who is to keep him in ward until 
 some settlement of the question could be made. John de 
 Frome was probably anxious to escape the prison of the 
 Bishop of Hereford, for Peter felt much sorrow for the death 
 of his trusted clerk. His punishment of the canons was 
 characteristic of the age, for in 1256 he bought certain lands 
 in the neighbouring village of Holme Lacy from Craswell 
 Priory and vested them in the dean and chapter for the good 
 of his own soul, and the souls of the other bishops of his 
 diocese, and of Bernard, Prior of Champagne and others, 
 conditional on the distribution of certain doles of corn to the 
 poor. Possibly even this transaction was carried out without 
 Peter having visited Hereford, for in 1263 the cathedral was 
 in a condition of such laxity on the part of the canons as can 
 only have arisen after many year's neglect by their visitor. 
 At the end of May in that year Henry III. visited the city. 
 He was doubtless surprised on his entry into the city to be 
 received by no procession of great ecclesiastics bearing relic 
 and cross and decked with all that pomp of colour and rich- 
 ness which he loved. Inquiries as to their absence mingled 
 with his discussions of the strength of the castle, and the
 
 THE PALACE OF HEREFORD 263 
 
 king learnt with something like horror that not merely was 
 the bishop unknown there, but that no vicar of his or dean 
 was to be found ; moreover the great cathedral, once wont to 
 shed forth delights, was now silent, for the canons who 
 ought to serve there day and night had gone their ways into 
 far-off parts. The king was full of a righteous anger that 
 third day of June when he called to him a clerk ; stern were 
 the words dictated: " Shepherds," the king wrote, "are set 
 over their flocks to keep watch over them day and night " ; 
 but Peter had betrayed his trust, for he had left his sheep all 
 unprotected and unfed. But though the offence was spiritual 
 Peter was also a temporal lord, and Henry intimated in 
 plain terms that unless he returned to his duties and his 
 diocese he would take the temporalities into his own hands. 
 Henry did well to be angry at the bishop's neglect, but pro- 
 bably his feelings were also influenced by considerations of 
 his own interest, for it was important that the bishop should 
 be able to bring to Henry's aid the whole force of his barony. 
 The remonstrance had its effect, and Peter took up his resi- 
 dence in his cathedral city. The Barons' War was now at its 
 height, and Peter was still recognized as one of the leaders of 
 the royal party. So influential was he that the barons 
 deemed it desirable to put a term to his plans and counsels, 
 and a daring plot was devised. The bishop received warning 
 and, partly for sanctuary, partly for greater safety since the 
 palace does not seem to have been fortified, he betook him- 
 self to the cathedral one day in May, 1263. Here he stood 
 a regular siege, but at length an entrance was made, and the 
 baronial party rushed in. Thomas Turbeville made for the 
 bishop and, as Robert of Gloucester says, "harlede him out of 
 church"; in the meanwhile the Savoyard canons had been 
 secured. With the bishop prisoner the palace soon fell into
 
 264 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 the raiders' hands, and Peter's treasure was confiscated. 
 The barons then rode off with their captives, whom they 
 lodged in Roger de Clifford's castle of Eardisley. It was not 
 until September that they were released, and then Peter 
 went abroad, where he remained until his death in 1268. 
 
 In 1269 John le Breton became bishop, and held the see 
 until he died in 1275, leaving his episcopal lands and manors 
 in a state of great dilapidation and neglect. Among the 
 canons of Hereford was Thomas de Cantelupe. He owed 
 his position, in some measure, to family influence, for his 
 father was William, second baron of that name, and his 
 uncle was Walter de Cantelupe, Bishop of Worcester, and a 
 great friend of Simon de Montfort. Educated at Oxford and 
 Paris he was a chaplain to Innocent IV., and in 1262 was 
 elected as Chancellor of Oxford. There he made a reputa- 
 tion for legal knowledge, and in 1265 he was made Chan- 
 cellor of England under the baronial party. This promotion 
 he lost after the Battle of Evesham, when he thought it 
 advisable to retire to Paris and abandon the law for theology. 
 In 1266 he was back in England and in favour with Henry III. 
 who offered no resistance to his election to the see of Hereford 
 in 1275 ; later he was one of the most trusted of all those able 
 ministers whom Edward I. gathered round him for his 
 service. Very different was his sway in the diocese to that 
 of his predecessors; everywhere active, he wrought many 
 reforms and brought the organization into good order. It is 
 significant that his register is the earliest one surviving for 
 this diocese. The episcopal manors also came in for their 
 share of attention, and he insisted on his bailiffs rendering 
 regular account. He does not seem to have passed much 
 time at his palace, and it has been even doubted whether he 
 kept it in such state as would enable him to use it. He was,
 
 THE PALACE OF HEREFORD 265 
 
 however, careful to maintain the rights of his fee against the 
 encroachments of the city, just as he vindicated the rights of 
 the Church in more general matters, thus bringing on himself 
 excommunication by Peckham. His quarrel with the arch- 
 bishop sent him to Orvieto where Martin IV. was then living, 
 and there Cantelupe died in 1282, in the presence of his 
 friend Richard de Swinfield. 
 
 Of the early life of this man we know little, but the first 
 notice of him which has come down to us connects his name 
 with Thomas de Cantelupe, whose service he entered as 
 chaplain. Naturally tactful, painstaking, and gentle, he was 
 for eighteen years his master's secretary, agent, and friend. 
 His position brought with it certain ecclesiastical preferments, 
 and in 1277 Cantelupe gave him a prebend in Hereford 
 Cathedral. This was followed, before 1280, by the Chancellor- 
 ship of Lincoln, and in 1281 — 2 by the Prebend of St. Pancras 
 in St. Paul's. His knowledge of the diocese made him 
 eminently suited to fill the vacant bishopric, although he 
 suffered from an internal trouble which prevented his taking 
 part in general politics. Nevertheless, he was active in visiting 
 his diocese, travelling in a cart when riding was impossible 
 for him. As a result of his efforts and those of Edward I., 
 the Pope, Clement V., appointed the Bishops of London 
 and Mende, with the Papal Nuncio, William de Testa, to 
 make the examinations necessary before Cantelupe could be 
 canonized. The first meeting was held at St. Paul's in July, 
 1307, and on August 30 the Bishops of London and Mende 
 set out for Hereford to continue their questionings. It was 
 a gay cavalcade that rode into Hereford, and made its way 
 through the city to the palace gate, perhaps one of the gayest 
 that passed in that way for many a year, for Swinfield, when 
 alone, travelled very soberly. The sumpterers had travelled
 
 266 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 on before with the hangings and furnishings of the bishop's 
 chambers, and great preparations had been made. The 
 palace had been thoroughly cleaned, a great brewing and 
 baking had gone forward, and a huge stock of venison had 
 been brought in from the outlying manors, as well as beef, 
 mutton, and birds of all kinds. 
 
 The bishops soon got to work. In the cathedral they had 
 enough evidence of faith, for there the sick and infirm waited 
 day and night for healing. Already the tomb of Cantelupe 
 was hung with offerings : 211 ships of silver or wax attested to 
 escapes from the sea ; 1,553 waxen or silver images of men or 
 their limbs stood for other mercies ; and seventy-seven figures 
 of birds had been offered with prayers for recovery, such as 
 the king himself had made through Thomas Corbett for the 
 recovery of a sick falcon. To the ocular proofs of silver 
 and gold, gold thread, and silken attire, were added no less 
 than 204 miracles ; and the commissioners toiled with the 
 details all through the summer days, and only finished their 
 task when November came. But Swinfield had done his part, 
 and Cantelupe was declared a saint. 
 
 Although Swinfield passed some months at his palace at 
 this time he does not appear to have occupied it much later 
 in his life, and in 1289 — 90, when the business and procession 
 of Palm Sunday brought him from Sugwas to the city, he 
 dined with his favourites, the Friars Minor. At the same 
 time he did not neglect his lands and manors but kept them 
 in good repair. Although knowledge of the state of the 
 palace at this time is very meagre, it is possible to reconstruct 
 his household in minute detail by the fortunate chance which 
 preserved the " Roll of Household Expenses of Richard de 
 Swinfield," edited by Webb for the Camden Society in 
 1854 — 5- The household of the bishop moved with him
 
 THE PALACE OF HEREFORD 267 
 
 everywhere, and consisted usually of about forty persons, 
 divided among the four classes of squires, serving-men, 
 inferior servants, and pages. Of the squires, the chief in 
 1289 — 90 was William de Cantelupe, a relation of the late 
 bishop, whose office was complimentary, for he was rarely 
 among the bishop's followers. Raulin de Marines was the 
 actual leader of the bishop's gentlemen, and received a 
 salary of no less than 16s. 8d. for the half-year. Under him 
 were John de Basevill and Robert Deinte ; Adam the marshal, 
 and Richard, his second in command, completed the tale of 
 the squires. Adam the marshal was a very important person 
 in the household, for with him rested the ordering of the many 
 and all matters concerning houses and journeys. Under the 
 heading of serving-men the chief was Ralph, clerk of the chapel, 
 who was normally helped by Robert his fellow, both receiving 
 6s. 8d. a year. John and Robert the carters, Ywenetto the 
 larderer, Adam Harpin the falconer, William the door- 
 keeper, Thomas the palfreyman, Robilardo the butler, were 
 each entrusted with important departments, and among this 
 class were also Henry de Beckford, a hunter, and two farriers. 
 The inferior servants were thirteen in number, ranging 
 from Adam of the chapel, who received 4s. 6d. a year, 
 through the carter, cooks, Roger the baker, and two personal 
 servants, to William, the sub-palfreyman. There were also 
 thirteen pages attached to various household officers : the 
 cook, the baker, the carter, and the huntsman. All the 
 members of these four classes were in a strictly dependent 
 position ; but beside them were a few others, attached to the 
 household in an official or private capacity. Of these the 
 most important socially was Stephen, " my lord's brother " 
 and a layman, who, with his little son, was permanently 
 attached to the bishop's court. Contemporary with the little
 
 268 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 boy was Walter, son of Sir Walter de Dunr', a tenant of an 
 episcopal fee in Chilston, in the Golden Valley. On his 
 father's death, this little boy had been handed over to the 
 guardianship of the bishop as his feudal lord, and Richard 
 de Swinfield had granted the custody to his brother Stephen 
 that the two boys might be brought up together. " Watkyn," 
 as the child was called, was always in the bishop's 
 following, and seems to have been a great favourite. The 
 presence of the children served to lighten a society from 
 which women were entirely lacking, though Swinfield was 
 not so rigorous as had been his predecessor, Cantelupe, who 
 quelled even his sister's affection and himself slept elsewhere 
 when she spent a night at his palace. Another layman was 
 Reginald de Bocland. If Stephen undertook to help the 
 bishop on social occasions, Thomas de la Dane was his right- 
 hand man in all matters of business. He was a clerk in the 
 household, as were six others, among whom Roger de Sevenak 
 was the most important, though a position of peculiar trust 
 was held by John de Kemeseye, who to his clerkly office added 
 that of treasurer and writer of the accounts. These clerks were 
 probably not always in attendance, but each took his turn, 
 for all held benefices to eke out their salaries. The goods of 
 the chapel were just as much carried from place to place as 
 the furnishings of the bishop's room ; and Swinfield says in his 
 will that he was often at a loss to obtain everything needful for 
 the due observance of the rites until he himself bought the 
 vessels. He, therefore, on his death, bequeathed to his 
 successor the pontifical and all the books which he and his 
 clerks were commonly wont to use in chapel — namely, those 
 which he bought of the executors of St. Thomas Cantelupe, 
 and to these he added a silver chrismatory bought in London, 
 and one silver incense-box with its shell.
 
 THE PALACE OF HEREFORD 269 
 
 One of the most noteworthy of the Bishops of Hereford 
 was Adam de Orlton — no saint, indeed, but a statesman 
 who left his mark more deeply on the realm than on his 
 diocese. In his early years he found a patron in one of the 
 Mortimers, lords of Wigmore, and later he went abroad, 
 becoming an auditor in the papal court. In this position he 
 won the friendship of John XXII., and rumour named him 
 as the next papal favourite to be rewarded with an English 
 see. Accordingly, when the bishopric of Hereford became 
 vacant in 1317, John nominated Orlton, who received 
 a letter from the king enjoining him to refuse the Pope's 
 nomination. Edward himself put forward a candidate 
 in the person of Thomas de Charlton. Adam did not fall 
 in with the king's desires, and on Sunday, October 2, 1317, 
 the Archdeacon of Hereford enthroned his new bishop. 
 Edward soon recovered from his disappointment, and recog- 
 nized that in Orlton he had a most useful servant used to 
 all the intrigues and by-ways of Continental politics. In 
 1318 and 1319 the Bishop of Hereford can have been little 
 in his diocese, for he was sent on a mission to Philip V., and 
 entrusted with both public and private business of the king. 
 It has been pointed out in the printed edition of " Orlton's 
 Register " that the bishop was guided in all things by strong 
 personal loyalty to John XXII. on the one hand, and to 
 Mortimer, who had now succeeded his father, on the other. 
 
 It was probably this personal friendship which led Orlton, 
 in 132 1, to take the side of the barons in their rising under 
 Badlesmere ; and so prominent a part did he play in their 
 counsels that he was brought before Parliament and charged 
 with treason as an adherent of Mortimer. The bishop at 
 once denied the right of a lay tribunal to try an ecclesiastic, 
 refusing to answer the charges brought against him. The
 
 270 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 Archbishop of Canterbury supported him, and the whole 
 body of bishops took him under their protection. But, 
 though Orlton was thus saved from personal violence, he 
 could not keep his temporalities from molestation when the 
 king ordered them to be seized, and an immense amount of 
 damage was done in the two and a half years in which they 
 were sequestrated. The manors came largely into the hands 
 of the younger Hugh Despenser, whose bitter grudge against 
 the bishop found vent both in seizing the gold and silver 
 vessels and other costly ornaments from the bishop's houses 
 and in destroying his crops. The bishop was now practically 
 outlawed, for hardly any dare give him food or shelter, and his 
 train disappeared. Wandering about on foot, his only friends 
 were those of the baronial party who were left in England. 
 But as time passed, Edward alienated his people more and 
 more, till the Despensers, Baldock his chancellor, and 
 Stapleton his treasurer, were the only men on whom he 
 could rely. Affairs were in this condition in September, 
 1326, when the queen landed at Harwich and made her way 
 across England. Orlton had met her on her arrival, and 
 had invited her to Hereford, which she reached a few weeks 
 later, having passed through Oxford, Gloucester, Berkeley, 
 and Bristol on her way. The move was amply justified, for 
 Edward moved before the advancing army into Wales, and 
 was practically cornered there. The queen was well accom- 
 panied ; Orlton was her chief adviser, and she lodged at the 
 palace, probably because the troops were occupying the 
 castle. William, Earl of Lancaster, and William, Lord de 
 la Zouche, were with her, as well as various permanent 
 officials. A council was called to Hereford, and probably 
 the bishop's hall was used for these meetings, as the chapter- 
 house was too small a building for the purpose. Some effort
 
 THE PALACE OF HEREFORD 271 
 
 was made at bringing things into order, for on St. Cecilia's 
 Day De la Zouche and Sir John and Sir Edward St. John 
 "caused to be carried to the chamber of Queen Isabel . . . 
 four bags wherein were rolls, inquisitions," and so on, taken 
 from Swansea Castle, and these were delivered up to Master 
 Henry de Cliff, keeper of the rolls of the Chancery, who took 
 them to his lodging. It was apparently by Orlton's advice 
 that the queen sent a detachment of troops into Wales ; 
 Edward was captured and sent a prisoner to Kenilworth. 
 Bloody work was going on at Hereford ; the Earl of Arundel, 
 John Daniel, and Thomas de Michedeure, all obnoxious to 
 the baronial party, were beheaded at the instigation, it was 
 said, of Roger de Mortimer. Later, Hugh Despenser the 
 younger was led out to die on gallows 50 feet high, and 
 was then drawn and quartered, Simon de Reading meeting 
 the same death. Baldock, one of the best hated men in 
 England, would doubtless have suffered in the same way, 
 but Orlton, who had himself pleaded clerkship in his dire 
 straits, now claimed the chancellor as a clerk and lodged him 
 in his prison. There he remained until early in the following 
 year, when Orlton determined to have him tried before the 
 Ecclesiastical Court in London. In January, therefore, he 
 made the wearisome journey under guard, and was lodged 
 in the bishop's town-house at St. Mary Mounthaw. But a 
 few months before, Stapleton the treasurer had been mur- 
 dered by the Londoners, who were still vehement against 
 the king's party; Baldock now became their prey, for under 
 the pretext that no man might keep a private prison within 
 the liberties a mob seized the unfortunate cleric and shut 
 him up in Newgate. On the way he was very roughly 
 treated, and his injuries and the neglect of the next few 
 weeks proved too much for him and he died in the gaol.
 
 272 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 For the next hundred and fifty years the palace was little 
 occupied by the bishops, and was indeed chiefly used for the 
 holding of the manor courts of the bishop's fee, which were 
 regularly held until the beginning of the eighteenth century, 
 though in 1702 it was said that the power of the court was 
 in a manner lost, " scarce any one minding to yield obedience 
 thereto." It should be added that a court leet for the manor 
 is still held. 
 
 The origin of the fee is unknown, but the church of 
 Hereford certainly held it in the reign of Edward the Con- 
 fessor, who granted that the priests might be free of all soke 
 and sake on their lands and over their men, whether within 
 or without the city, in as free a way as they had hitherto 
 enjoyed. The result of this was that before Edward's death 
 the bishop's fee was already established as a separate entity 
 to the borough, though existing within its limits and so 
 completely organized that the bishop had his " moneyer." 
 As the organization of the borough became more defined the 
 difficulty of this double jurisdiction increased, so that it forms 
 the keynote to one of the most interesting portions of the 
 history of the palace. For, besides its direct bearing on events, 
 its indirect result was to make the bishops somewhat wary of 
 visiting their city : it was an unpleasant state of affairs when 
 the escort might at any moment be embroiled with the citizens, 
 who would certainly refuse redress and probably make a 
 counterclaim. The case was complicated by the absence of 
 boundaries : at Lincoln the close was enclosed within a wall, 
 and there could be no question as to whether a thief was 
 taken on city ground or no. Here it was different, for the 
 fee extended far beyond the proper limits of the close, and, 
 indeed, covered nearly half the city. Moreover, the canonical 
 houses were leased to lay-folk from an early date, and in
 
 THE PALACE OF HEREFORD 273 
 
 1321, when Adam de Orlton granted Richard de Vernon 
 permission to unite to his own lodging that of Hugh de 
 Braose the penitentiary, he explained that there were 
 many canonical dwellings which from the inconvenience of 
 the situation and other causes were not considered suitable 
 for the canons and so had fallen into neglect. These 
 houses stood near the palace, perhaps in Pie Lane, now 
 Queen Street, but one, at least, was in Cabbage Lane, at 
 some distance from the cathedral, and this was leased by 
 Bishop Trevenant (1389 — 1404) to John the Carpenter, alias 
 Menyfer, a citizen of Hereford. The lease was for forty 
 years, and the rent two silver marks ; moreover, John was 
 to repair the hall and other buildings, and was also to add 
 to the hall a chamber " with six posts." 
 
 Many such grants as this occur in the bishops' registers 
 from this time down to 1702, when "y e Lady Croft held a 
 mansion or canonical house " for three lives. 
 
 Undoubtedly the citizens had some room for complaint. 
 They may well have thought it hard that householders within 
 their very walls should have been free from the burden of 
 contributing to the fee-farm rent, which the householders 
 generally had to pay to the Crown. The city made some effort 
 to get money from the bishop's tenants in about 1207, and were 
 straightway excommunicated ; this brought about their sub- 
 mission, and Hugh Foliot, who had taken the matter to the 
 royal courts, absolved them on their promise to make 
 restitution. Peace was only established for a time, and 
 discontent again became rife. One of the most annoying 
 of the bishop's rights was the St. Ethelbert's Fair, which 
 began on the feast of St. Dunstan — that is, on May 19 — 
 and lasted for nine days. Usages such as this vary little 
 from century to century, and probably the description given 
 
 E.E.P. T
 
 274 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 to Bishop Humphrey in about 1702 of " the uninterrupted 
 manner of holding the bishop's fair " represents immemorial 
 custom. " The Bailiff and his Steward on the morning 
 come to the palace and there call all the resiants of the 
 said fee by name to appear and give their attendance on 
 the Bailiff in proclaiming his Fair. When the Inhabitants 
 are called, the Bailiff and Steward, with a mace before 
 them, and perhaps a hundred or two hundred Horse 
 attending them, ride round the fee and from one gate 
 of the City to another till they have gone to every gate, 
 and at each gate the Bailiffs appoint a porter for the 
 nine days and the Steward gives him a proper oath ; and then 
 they ride to the High Cross and there the fair is proclaimed 
 very solemnly and most commonly by the city cryer. The 
 Bailiff by his two porters takes all the fair Toll at the respective 
 gates of the City, and by his sergeant-at-mace the toll of the 
 market of all sorts of grain and other things that ought to be 
 tolled. The Bailiff also has the Benefit of pitching-pence and 
 all standings erected on the High Causeway. The Bailiff 
 frequently weighs the Butter, and if any deceit be he seizes it 
 and gives it to the poor or where he pleases. During this fair 
 the Mayor's Sergeants-at-mace execute no process without 
 the leave of the Bailiffs." Such regulations were very galling, 
 for they had the effect of making the citizens strangers 
 within their own city, and in 1241 they actually class them- 
 selves with "other foreign merchants." A little before this 
 date they had apparently started a separate market for 
 themselves, and refused to sell their wool and grain with the 
 traffickers from without. Once again the bishop subdued 
 them, and though they made a rather half-hearted confession 
 of his rights they promised in the future they would sell all 
 their goods, except bread, wine, ale, flesh, and fish, in the
 
 THE PALACE OF HEREFORD 275 
 
 places assigned to them by the bishop's bailiff. Another 
 twenty years brought a fresh quarrel. The city struck on the 
 brilliant idea of retaliation by treating the tenants of the fee 
 as foreigners, and so subject to all manner of vexatious tolls. 
 They had also further developed their claim to sell victuals 
 without interference from the bailiff into a definite denial of 
 the bishop's claim to the assize of bread and ale, and they 
 refused to allow the town's pillory and ducking-stool to be 
 used for scolds and other offenders sentenced in the court of 
 the fee. Once more the bishop appealed to the king's courts, 
 and obtained judgment, and once more the city submitted — 
 with how much repentance was evident in the following year 
 when the citizens refused to give up the keys of the gates at 
 the annual fair. The whole question was really one of juris- 
 diction ; the bishop claimed that he alone could hold courts 
 in his fee, that he alone had infangenethef and utfangenethef 
 against felons, that he alone within his liberty could attach 
 men's persons and put in prison. In 1285, after the bailiffs 
 and citizens had made arrests within the fee and refused to 
 give up his prisoners, the Crown once more interfered and 
 addressed a writ to the sheriff to enforce submission. It 
 was, therefore, only under pressure that on St. Denis's Day, 
 1285, the citizens went in state to the cathedral, and that 
 there the bailiffs, William, called Godknave, John le Gaunter, 
 Hugh Bolock and others, made submission. 
 
 In the fourteenth century the citizens' grievances centered 
 chiefly round the prison, where the bishop kept not only 
 criminous clerks but recalcitrant citizens of his fee. Even 
 as late as the close of the seventeenth century, " when Mr. 
 Hum : Gullipher was Bayliff, he sent a Ballad-singer to the 
 Palace Prison for singing Ballades in ye nine days fair." It 
 was also said that "one Probyn, an Ironmonger, bought of 
 
 T 2
 
 276 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 Coll. Birch 10,000 weight of Iron that belonged to the Palace 
 Prison." Though the ordinary janitor of the household was 
 one of the lower servants the permanent janitor at Hereford 
 was much more than this, being both keeper of the palace 
 during the bishop's absence and, a still more important post, 
 gaoler of the episcopal prison. He was appointed by a new 
 bishop by a special warrant, and on the resignation of 
 Nicholas de Grozord, a formal quittance was given him by 
 Bishop Trellick. It is quite appreciable that when feeling 
 between the city and the bishop's officers had grown very 
 high, the keeper of the palace should have been decidedly 
 unpopular. In the first half of the fourteenth century 
 popular sentiment found vent in various petty thefts deliber- 
 ately planned to annoy. Steps and a wicket-gate in the 
 close disappeared, and in 1353 a more daring outrage was 
 planned, doubtless brought about by some incident of which 
 the particulars are lost. Whatever the cause, the plan was 
 well thought out, the leader being William, son of Sir Roger 
 Corbett, knight, one of the chief men of the county. How 
 or when he did it is not known, but he managed to kidnap 
 the janitor of the palace, put him in the city prison and carry 
 off his keys, risking, as the record states, the danger of the 
 greater excommunication. The scandal was, of course, 
 tremendous, and the thing had been done so openly that 
 there was no doubt of the culprit. William had apparently 
 fulfilled his purpose, and he made submission on August 4, 
 I 353> a t St. Peter's Church, and, laying hands on the con- 
 secrated elements, one by one, he swore in solemn fashion to 
 be of good behaviour in the future, and was thereupon 
 absolved. 
 
 Little or nothing is known of the history of the palace 
 during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and it was
 
 THE PALACE OF HEREFORD 277 
 
 probably not much used by the bishops during this period. 
 Indeed, John Scory, who was translated to the see in 1559, 
 found it "an uncommodious and unwholesome dwelling," and 
 wished to pull down part of it. The chapter, however, still 
 had a certain amount of power in the matter and vetoed the 
 proposal. The bishop's views do not seem to have been 
 shared by royal commissioners in 1535, when the tem- 
 poralities were in the king's hand through the death of 
 Charles Booth, for Sir Thomas Englefield wrote to Cromwell, 
 saying : " It will be well when the king appoints any of his 
 chaplains to the bishopric, we may have liberty to lie in the 
 bishop's palace in Hereford at such times as we think con- 
 venient, as no other place is so suitable." 
 
 It was during the episcopate of Bishop Scory that the 
 episcopal revenues were much diminished by one of those 
 disastrous "exchanges" so fashionable at that date. 
 
 Among the lands then alienated to the Crown was the inn 
 or lodging of the Bishops of Hereford in London. The house 
 stood in the ward of Queenhithe on the west side of Old Fish 
 Street, about 74 feet east of its junction with Lombard Street. 
 Ralph de Maidstone bought it in about 1274 f° r £ 2 7 from, it 
 is said, the Montalts, a family of much importance in 
 Norfolk, where they were lords of Castle Rising. For this 
 early ownership there is, however, no evidence beyond the 
 statement of Stowe, and it is quite possible that the name of 
 " Mounthaw," applied to the chapel, was derived in some 
 other way. From the " Roll of Household Expenses of 
 Bishop Swinfield," it is evident that the house was built partly 
 of stone and partly of wood, and consisted of long rooms, with 
 a hall, outbuildings, stables and cellars, and the chapel. 
 This chapel became the parish church of St. Mary Mount- 
 haw the bishop being patron ; burnt down in the Great Fire
 
 278 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 of 1666 and never rebuilt, its rights became attached hence- 
 forth to St. Mary Somerset. From the first it seems to have 
 been let to tenants who held it on condition that the bishop 
 might have lodging there when his affairs brought him to 
 London. So, in 1290, when Swinfield came to town he paid 
 compensation to the tenant and also made various repairs ; 
 the carpenters mended the roof and set up a long manger in 
 the stable for the many horses of the bishop's train ; mats 
 were bought for the benches in the hall, and rushes for the 
 floor ; there was a vigorous cleaning, and a pavement was 
 laid down on the west side of the house in the garden or 
 yard. Even greater must have been the preparations in 1307 
 when Swinfield entertained here the papal commissioner, 
 Durandus, Bishop of Mende, who had come to make inquiry 
 before Cantelupe could be canonized. Four years later 
 Swinfield gave a lease of the premises to Hamo de Chigwell, 
 whom Stowe calls a pepperer and the records a fishmonger. 
 This lease was merely a continuation of a former tenancy, 
 for it seems to have been in his family from its coming into 
 the hands of the bishops, and Richard de Chigwell was 
 holding it in 1289. Adam de Orlton seems to have retained 
 the Chigwells as tenants, for in 1318 he acknowledged a debt 
 of £"20 to Hamo de Chigwell. In 1327 it, or part of it, 
 seems to have been sub-let, for when Joan de Chigwell died 
 she left in charity certain rents which she was wont to 
 receive from it every year. It is certain that in 1400, at any 
 rate, the whole of the tenement was not in the possession of 
 one tenant, for in that year Bishop Trevenant leased to John 
 Howell, mason, a " parcel of land of the garden in the west 
 part of the lodging," opposite the king's highway, called 
 " Lombardeshull next Oldefyschestret," on condition that he 
 built thereon a house " de uno stage," in which no window
 
 THE PALACE OF HEREFORD 279 
 
 might overlook the garden, and that he did all repairs and 
 maintained it against rain and wind. This must have been 
 the tenement which was valued on Trevenant's death, in 
 1417, at 6s. 8d., while the lodging was worth six marks. 
 This shows a great increase in value since 1302 — 3, when it 
 was appraised at only half a mark ; but the value of land 
 in the city was increasing rapidly, and in 1422 it was set 
 down at £5. 
 
 Disastrous as was the " exchange" made by Scory to the 
 revenues of the see it was favourable to the palace ; as early 
 as 1356 the enormous expenditure entailed by keeping up so 
 many manor-houses had necessitated an arrangement between 
 Trellick and his chapter by which the palace and the manor- 
 houses at Sugwas, Prestbury, Whitborn, Bosbury, and 
 Richard's Castle were to be maintained, while on the other 
 manors only the farm buildings were to be kept in repair. 
 The result of this further reduction was that the bishops 
 were forced to live in the palace which had hitherto been so 
 little frequented. Scory, whose avarice and neglect brought 
 on his son a heavy claim for dilapidations, was followed by 
 Herbert Westfaling and many another : Francis Godwin 
 author of " The Man in the Moon," as well as of a learned 
 catalogue of English bishops, was one of the best known 
 before the Civil War. 
 
 As in most cathedral cities the Civil War had disastrous 
 results to the fabric of cathedral and palace. The county 
 was, on the whole, Royalist in sympathy, and in February 
 1641 — 2, the commissioners appointed by the king had no 
 trouble in taking possession of the county magazine at St. 
 Owen's Gate in Hereford. It was important for the Cavaliers 
 to hold the city, for it secured their line of communication 
 with Monmouthshire and southern Wales, and this made it
 
 280 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 equally desirable to the Parliamentarians. On October 7, 
 Lord St. John appeared with a regiment of foot and horse, 
 and demanded entrance in the name of the Parliament. The 
 mayor, in a panic, opened the gates, and the soldiers " with 
 much joy were by all the well-affected townsmen received," 
 as a newsletter tells. Meanwhile the Cavaliers in the city 
 had taken refuge with the Marquis of Hertford, and on the 
 next day, when Charles appeared before the gates, he was 
 refused admission, " upon which His Majesty was much 
 incensed, and in passion departed with his army towards 
 Chester, hearing the Earl of Essex was marching toward 
 Hereford." The Parliamentary forces under Lord Stamford 
 occupied the city for some months, and then finding them- 
 selves isolated and their presence no longer needful they 
 retreated to Gloucester, leaving Hereford to the Royalists 
 under Colonel Sir Richard Lawder. They only retained it 
 for a few months, for on April 25, 1643, Sir William Waller 
 appeared and captured it and all its garrison. But he, too, 
 was not strong enough to hold it long, and it was again 
 evacuated in May. In April, 1645, Prince Rupert took up 
 a stand here, and the Royalist strength was needed, for in 
 July the Scottish army appeared in the country. The 
 citizens were thoroughly alarmed, for only a week earlier 
 the Roundheads had stormed Canon Frome and put the 
 governor and the greater part of the garrison to the sword. 
 A printed Letter to the governor gives a vivid account 
 of the siege which began on July 30. The great point of 
 the struggle was to cross the Wye, and the bridge was 
 first attempted. The governor, Sir Barnabas Scudamore, 
 " ensafed the ports," and stopped the cathedral bells and 
 clocks so that the enemy might not tell how time went. 
 Next morning the attack began in earnest. "Our men,"
 
 THE PALACE OF HEREFORD 281 
 
 Scudamore wrote, " galled them handsomely at their several 
 sallies over Wye-bridge, once beat them up to their main 
 guard and at another demolished one side of St. Martin's 
 steeple, which would have much annoyed us at the Bridge 
 and Palace ; this was performed only with the hurt of two 
 men, but with loss of great store of the enemy's men." This 
 importance of the palace was great, for its gardens lay just 
 to the east of the bridge, and if they were seized a way could 
 be found to the castle, which was not now strong enough to 
 bear investment. The attack on the bridge increased in 
 fury after the Parliamentary Major-General Crafford was 
 killed, and " they battered it so much (being the weakest) 
 that it was rendered useless, yet our men stopt it up with 
 Wooll-sacks and Timber, and for our greater assurance of 
 eluding their attempt, we brake an Arch and raised a very 
 strong Worke behind it." Batteries were then built on the 
 Wye side and directed against the wall. No breach was 
 made, but it must have been at this time that the mediaeval 
 outbuildings and offices of the palace were destroyed so that 
 now nothing of them remains. The siege went on all through 
 the hot days of August, but in spite of discomfort the citizens 
 worked well, clergy and laymen alike took their place on 
 guard, the women helped heedless of bullets, and the little 
 boys delighted in being allowed to creep with torches to fire 
 the enemy's lines. There was plenty of work for all, for the 
 Scots were mining near St. Owen's Gate and counter-mines 
 were the only remedy ; then when the besieged were desper- 
 ate, rain came. And it rained continuously day after day 
 for eight days, drowning the Scottish mines completely. 
 These were abandoned, but the siege was still pressed, and 
 on August 31, a scaling-party was formed for next day; " but 
 the same night His Majesty advancing from Worcester gave
 
 282 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 them a very hot alarum, and drawing a little neerer to us, 
 like the Sunne to the meridian, this Scotch mist begunne 
 to disperse, and the next morning vanished out of sight." 
 " Hereford," as Webb says, " and the whole country were 
 transported with exultation and triumph." The triumph was 
 to be shortlived. Webb, in his edition of the " Military 
 Memoir of Col. John Birch," has shown how insecure was 
 Scudamore's position ; he had offended the city, and some 
 of his garrison left him to join the enemy. Among these 
 were Captains Alderne and Howarth, who came in contact 
 with John Birch, a Presbyterian colonel, then Governor of 
 Bath. It must have been about this time that the House of 
 Commons ordered Birch to advance with 1,000 foot and 
 horse " to distress the cittie of Hereford." They set out 
 from Bath and Bristol on December 9, "which day it pleased 
 God to begin a great frost, without which it had been impos- 
 sible to have marcht at that time of the yeare in those 
 Counties of Gloucester and Herefordshire." Birch formed a 
 very simple plan, and marched his troops to Ledbury, the 
 weather being so severe that some men died there from the 
 cold. At nine o'clock on the evening of December 16, Birch 
 roused his men, who marched on Hereford " speedily, but 
 soe silently that a dog scarce barked all the night, though 
 wee marched through three or four villages; but in deed that 
 was not strange, for if a dog had bin without doores that 
 night he would have been starved to death." 
 
 It was Scudamore's custom to send out " warrants to the 
 constables in the country to send him soe many men every 
 morneing to breake the ice on the mote and river." Birch 
 knowing this, disguised seven foresters as a " constable and 
 his sixe men, gave him his warrant, appointed him his bill, 
 and to them their pickaxes and shovells, bound up for them
 
 THE PALACE OF HEREFORD 283 
 
 very black rie bread and cheese in course table napkins, soe 
 that to see them goe a man would have ventred his life they 
 had bin country labourers indeed." A body was hidden in a 
 hollow without Bister's Gate, and when eight o'clock came and 
 the drawbridge was let down, an entrance was forced, while 
 the mock constable engaged the guard. "And although 
 within the cittie of Hereford was 1,100 townsmen whoe had 
 taken up armes for the king, after halfe an hour's dispute in 
 the street, and the loss of about tenn," the city was taken. 
 Birch sent news of this prize to the Parliament, which 
 immediately made him Governor of Hereford. "A New 
 Tricke to Take Towns," remarks that " the governor thus by 
 policy and force surprised, without remedy, was plundered ; 
 neither could the commanders rhetoricke or threats prevaile 
 with the souldier to keep their hands from pillage." The 
 palace was rifled, though it probably escaped more lightly 
 than some other places, as Birch and Colonel Morgan his 
 companion, made it their headquarters. It was here that all 
 the various committee meetings were held, and that in 1647 
 the soldiers discussed the possibility of disbanding the troops. 
 Birch must have found the palace a pleasant abode, and he 
 certainly appreciated its value, for when the House of 
 Commons had vested the episcopal estates in trustees who 
 were empowered to sell, Birch determined to purchase the 
 palace and the group of manors annexed thereto. Accord- 
 ingly on February 22, 1649 — 50 he became the owner of 
 "all that capitall messuage or mancion house with all and 
 singuler the right members the appurtenaunces thereto 
 belonging, situate, lying, and being within or neare unto the 
 citty of Hereford, being commonly called or knowne by the 
 name of the Bishopp of Hereford Pallace together with the 
 seyte groune and circuite," the whole being valued at £11.
 
 284 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 " And alsoe the materialls of the said Pallace . . . valued 
 at eight and fortie poundes." The price of the palace, and 
 the manors of Shelwick, Barton, Tupsley, Bishop's Eaton, 
 Bishop's Hampton, and Sugwas was £2,475 12s. 5^. [sic], the 
 purchase being clearly one of those speculations for which 
 Birch had particular talent. A Bristol merchant before the 
 war, he had lent money to the Parliament at eight per cent, 
 interest, and before buying the palace had got into his hands 
 the episcopal manor of Whitborn, which Walker, in 1714, 
 says, was then, " by the sorry compliance of some one who 
 might have prevented it," still held by members of his family. 
 Birch perhaps found the house too large for him, for he is 
 said to have divided it into two parts, and perhaps in this 
 may be found the meaning of Wood's statement that Birch 
 bought but half the palace, the second purchaser being 
 Captain Silas Taylor. At the Restoration he had, of course, 
 to leave, but he made a bid for compensation, and when 
 rumour put forward Baxter as a possible successor to the 
 see Birch tried to persuade him to accept it " because," as 
 Baxter put it, " he thought to make a better bargain with 
 me than with another." 
 
 The palace does not seem to have been much altered until 
 the episcopate of Philip Bisse who was translated from 
 St. David's in February 1712 — 13. A notably handsome man, 
 he was a favourite at Court, and he found the palace at once 
 old fashioned and inconvenient. He accordingly divided the 
 great hall into five compartments corresponding with the 
 bays, and either pulled down or refaced the walls with red- 
 brick, inserting the long narrow windows then the rage. He 
 is said to have used two windows from the chapter-house in 
 his repairs; but he had so little sympathy with Gothic archi- 
 tecture that it is difficult to see where he employed them.
 
 Philip Bisse, Bishop 01 I [ereford. 
 
 From an engraving in the British Museum.
 
 THE PALACE OF HEREFORD 285 
 
 Brown Willis, in his "History of the Cathedral," says that Bisse 
 spent nearly £3,000 on the work. In 1721 Bisse died " most 
 universally lamented, being ... a great benefactor to his 
 cathedral church and especially to his palace, which last he 
 in a manner rebuilt." He was succeeded by Benjamin 
 Hoadley, whose "Measure of Obedience " had created a great 
 sensation ; and on his death, the see was given to Henry 
 Egerton, fifth son of the third Earl of Bridgewater. He 
 found the chapel of St. Mary Magdalene in disrepair, and in 
 1739 he obtained a commission from the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury to report on its state. The commissioners — the 
 dean, two canons, one of the principal tenants of the fee, the 
 steward, and a joiner — considered it ruinous and useless, as 
 Duncomb relates in his "History of Herefordshire." The 
 bishop ordered destruction — to save the £20 needed for repairs, 
 every one said — and great was the delight when £50 was 
 spent in taking down a third of the building, so firm was the 
 cement. The work was stopped, but, in spite of a protest 
 from the Society of Antiquaries, resumed amid the gibes of 
 the papers, such as the one quoted by Duncomb, which said 
 that it was done "in order to erect a more polite and neat 
 pile, in the present taste, for the public service, in which it is 
 expected the generosity of the noble and reverend prelate of 
 that see (as in the rest of his life) will be most conspicuous." 
 This part of the work was, however, left to be done by 
 Bishop John Butler, in 1798. The present chapel is a very 
 small building at the extreme north-east corner of the ancient 
 hall, and is designated as " neat " by the county historian. It 
 has been much improved during the episcopacy of the present 
 bishop, who has added frescoes and a screen of good design, 
 though the most noteworthy object is still the fine Jacobean 
 chair of the bishop.
 
 286 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 The next considerable change was made in 1846 when 
 Thomas Musgrave, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 took down the most southerly bay of the hall and erected 
 across it the red-brick wing which still looks so new against 
 the rest of the buildings. This greatly increased the comfort 
 of the house, and especially provided more bedrooms, which 
 had been rather lacking hitherto. He did not attempt any 
 restoration : that he left to his successor, Renn Dickson 
 Hampden, the nominee of Lord John Russell in 1847. His 
 election was strenuously opposed by a section, which held 
 that his Bampton Lectures on the "Scholastic Philosophy" 
 were unorthodox; but happily for the diocese, Hampden came 
 to Hereford. Energetic in his diocese he also set to work on 
 the palace, laid down the pavement in the hall, inserted the 
 portrait of his ancestor, John Hampden, over the mantle- 
 piece there, and, above all, restored the ancient porch — the 
 only bit of the original stonework left. The work was 
 carried further by his successor, James Atlay (1868 — 95), to 
 whom the hall owes its present neo-classical ceiling and 
 decoration that is in such strange contrast to its history. 
 
 Heavily as time has laid its hands on the palace, altering, 
 replacing, creating, it has not hurt its calm. In the garden, 
 where traces of old buildings linger in the walls and where 
 the chapel of St. Mary Magdalene still shows, the doves now 
 flutter, flying up between their cote and the cathedral, which 
 stands just behind, and so close that the painted windows 
 glow and the organ sounds clearly. No longer dreaded for 
 its prison, or hated for its feudal rights, the palace now more 
 than ever before speaks of all that goes to the furthering of 
 the interests of the people and the Church.
 
 £0e (paface of TJJeffe 
 
 IF a traveller from Bath had reached the brow of the 
 hill where the wide valley of Wells and Glastonbury 
 suddenly opens at his feet, and looked down on the 
 buildings lying beneath him, he would have seen, 
 in the year 1206, the unfinished cathedral, and beside it a 
 house used by the Bishops of Bath when they visited Wells. 
 No towers, no west front, no chapels, cloisters, chapter- 
 house, Vicars' Close or palace were yet standing, and the 
 waters of St. Andrew's Well, which now fill the palace moat, 
 were flowing in their natural channel. Of the house 
 which was the predecessor to the bishop's palace little is 
 known. John of Tours, Bishop of Bath (1088— 1 122), had 
 built himself a new house in Wells on the site of a refectory, 
 dormitory, and cloister which he had pulled down. The 
 Wells house was, according to Mr. Edmund Buckle, only a 
 manor-house, for John of Tours and all his successors 
 until the thirteenth century lived at Bath. Bishop Savaric 
 was styled Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury. This remained 
 the official title until 1220, when Jocelin dropped that of 
 Glastonbury, and henceforward styled himself Bishop of 
 Bath, and this in spite of the fact that the Wells Chapter 
 had equal rights with that of Bath in the episcopal elections. 
 It was not until the time of Bishop Jocelin that Wells became 
 the home of the bishops of the see. 
 
 The year 1206, the first of Jocelin's episcopate and the
 
 288 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 seventh of the reign of King John, was a significant date in 
 the history of Wells. Unlike his predecessors the new 
 bishop, Jocelin, was a native of Wells. His father had lands 
 at Lancherley, about two miles south-west of the city, where 
 he and his brother, Hugh, were brought up. As chaplain 
 and canon Jocelin spent his youth there, " rising," as Canon 
 Church relates, " through all gradations of ecclesiastical 
 office to the bishop's throne in the church of his home." 
 He set himself to raise the status of his native city, and to 
 strengthen his hand against Glastonbury and Bath. One of 
 his first works was to choose a site and prepare grounds for 
 a house calculated to enhance his dignity. In 1207 he 
 obtained King John's licence to enclose a park on the south 
 side of Wells, and he was stocking his park with wild deer 
 from the forests of Cheddar and Selwood at the same time 
 that he was building the west front of the cathedral. His 
 works were interrupted by political troubles in the kingdom. 
 Jocelin was one of the bishops to publish the interdict of 
 Pope Innocent III., and was banished by King John, 
 spending about five years in the neighbourhood of Bordeaux 
 and Castille. His companions in exile were his brother, 
 Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, and Elias de Derham, the famous 
 architect of Salisbury Cathedral, whom Matthew Paris 
 describes as one of the " incomparable artificers " of the 
 shrine of St. Thomas at Canterbury. The three men are 
 thought to have co-operated in plans for the new buildings 
 at Wells. In after years Elias de Derham became Jocelin's 
 seneschal or steward in Wells, and may have assisted him as 
 architect. 
 
 Jocelin returned to England when the king was nominally 
 reconciled with the bishops in 1213, and stood by the side of 
 Archbishop Stephen Langton at Runnymede when John was
 
 THE PALACE OF WELLS 289 
 
 forced to sign the Great Charter. It was Jocelin who 
 administered the oath at the coronation of Henry III. at 
 Gloucester, the new king being then ten years old. This 
 was an extension of privilege, for it is properly the function 
 of the Archbishop of Canterbury to administer the coronation 
 oath. The Bishop of Bath and Wells has the right to walk 
 by the king's side, under his canopy of state in the coronation 
 procession in Westminster Abbey, the Bishop of Durham 
 supporting the king on the other side. 1 
 
 The latter part of Jocelin's episcopate he spent at Wells, 
 devoting himself to building the cathedral and palace, 
 and organizing the work of the cathedral clergy. The 
 portions of the present palace ascribed to Jocelin by Mr. 
 Edmund Buckle are " the vaulted halls of entrance and 
 reception on the ground floor, now called the undercroft and 
 used as a dining-room on state occasions, and on the first 
 floor the gallery and great chamber, solar, and oratory, which 
 form the central block of the present building." Part of the 
 manor-house, still to be seen, at Wookey, was also his work. 
 Jocelin died in 1242, " full of days," says Matthew Paris, " and 
 commendable in life and character." He was buried before 
 the high altar of the cathedral, under a marble tomb which 
 he had erected during his lifetime. The place of his burial 
 had been carefully planned beforehand. Jocelin was the 
 first bishop of this see to be buried in Wells Cathedral. 
 This was a bold infringement of the privileges claimed by the 
 monks of Bath, their abbey having been for the last 150 
 years the burial-place of the bishops. The Wells canons 
 
 1 This was the order observed at the coronation of King Edward VII., 
 the Bishop of Bath and Wells being on his left hand and the Bishop of 
 Durham on his right. The custom was broken at the coronations of 
 Henry VII., of William and Mary, and Anne. 
 
 E.E.P. U
 
 ago ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 expected opposition from the Bath Chapter, and accordingly 
 gave no notification of Jocelin's death until after the burial. 
 But while they were rejoicing in possessing for the first time 
 the tomb of a bishop, their enemies, the monks of Bath, 
 determined to forestall them in the choice of a candidate for 
 the vacant see, and hastily sent a deputation to Henry III. 
 to obtain licence for themselves alone to elect a new bishop 
 without the co-operation of the Wells Chapter. This was 
 the beginning of the last long strife between the two 
 chapters; but Jocelin had secured to his native town the 
 pre-eminence he had given it in his lifetime. He had 
 obtained permission from Pope Honorius III. to add Wells 
 to his style ; but although he never signed himself " Bishop 
 of Bath and Wells," his successor, Roger, was able to adopt 
 the new style within four months after his accession in 1244, 
 Pope Innocent IV. sanctioning the change and assuring to 
 Wells equal rights in all respects with Bath. 
 
 Henceforward the palace of Wells was the home of 
 Jocelin's successors in this see. 
 
 Robert, Lord of Acton Burnell in Shropshire, the great 
 lawyer and chancellor of Edward I., was the next bishop to 
 add to Jocelin's palace. He had obtained vast wealth during 
 his political career, providing his friends and relatives with 
 lands, and himself possessing estates in nineteen counties. 
 When the king and his consort, Eleanor, were being enter- 
 tained, in 1277, by the monks of Glastonbury, doubtless 
 Bishop Burnell was inspired to add to his own house a hall 
 capacious and magnificent enough to grace a royal court. 
 Canon Church writes : " At the end of the thirteenth century 
 Burnell raised on the south side of Jocelin's building a stately 
 banqueting hall — of which the four towers, the northern side, 
 and the chapel remain still witnessing to the magnificence of
 
 THE PALACE OF WELLS 291 
 
 the builder." Burnell's chapel is still used as a bishop's 
 private chapel, but the hall has stood in ruins since the 
 Reformation. This was the hall where the Court of 
 Edward III. and Queen Philippa were to hold their revels 
 some fifty years later ; where the Bishops of Wells were to rule 
 in state, and where the trial of the last Abbot of Glastonbury 
 was to be the prelude to the destruction wreaked upon it at 
 the Reformation. Burnell was a worldly prelate, too much 
 involved in State affairs to be resident long at Wells. He 
 was warden of the Welsh marches, comrade of the king in 
 Gascony and in the Scottish wars, and died in 1292 at 
 Berwick-upon-Tweed. But though little resident he had 
 encouraged progress in his cathedral city — by his riches, by 
 the grant of indulgences in return for work upon the fabric 
 of the cathedral, by the gift of four advowsons to the chapter, 
 and, above all, by the erection of the great hall of the palace. 
 Forty years after the death of Robert Burnell, Wells Palace 
 was honoured by a royal visit. In 1332 — 3, Edward III. 
 with his young wife, Philippa of Hainault, a bride of three 
 years' standing, and then aged nineteen, were the guests of 
 Bishop Ralph of Shrewsbury, holding their Court in his 
 palace between Christmas and Epiphany. The chronicles 
 of the reign tell of a "wonderful and sumptuous" outlay on 
 the occasion, when the palace must have been the scene of 
 banquets and tournaments. King Edward was then aged 
 twenty-two, and comely, says a contemporary chronicler, 
 " his face like the face of a god, wherefrom so marvellous 
 grace shone forth that whosoever openly considered his 
 countenance or dreamed thereof by night conceived a sure 
 hope of pleasant solace and good fortune that day." The 
 young queen was "tall and straight, wise, gladsome, free- 
 handed, and courteous." No doubt they brought their 
 
 u 2
 
 292 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 hawks and their hounds with them to Wells, and a rich 
 display of jewels and silken robes stiff with gold ; and had 
 Froissart been present at those Christmas festivities we might 
 have had a tale of revels such as Edward had led at Windsor, 
 clad in white and silver, wearing broidery with his motto : — 
 
 " Hay, hay, the white' swan ! 
 By Goddes soul I am thy man ! " 
 
 Some idea of the ceremonies of that time is given by the 
 contemporary description of a tournament which took place 
 in the streets of London in the September preceding the 
 Christmas spent at Wells. "The king and other knights 
 appeared riding, masked as Tartars, and each knight had on 
 his right hand one lady, leading her by a silver chain. The 
 ladies were dressed in tunics of red velvet, with hoods of 
 white camel's hair. More than sixty armed men in uniform 
 preceded, and there followed horsemen richly caparisoned; 
 thus they passed with trumpets and many kinds of instru- 
 ments." On the following day there was a tournament, 
 sixteen knights defending a mock fortress from attack. Very 
 possibly similar dresses and pageantry figured in the festivities 
 at Wells : " Ubi fiebant multa mirabilia sumptuosa." 
 
 No explanation of the purpose of the royal visit has been 
 given save that suggested by Canon Church, that the fame 
 of the new chapter-house, with its noble ascent of stairs, 
 and of the other great buildings in Wells, might have 
 attracted them thither. Edward's love of building is well 
 known. Some years later, in 1344, he had the Round Tower 
 built at Windsor, with such speed that it was finished in ten 
 months, hundreds of labourers being pressed into the work. 
 The young king's interest in architecture must have been 
 stimulated by his visit to Wells, and by converse with his 
 host, Bishop Ralph.
 
 THE PALACE OF WELLS 293 
 
 Queen Philippa's memory was long revered by the clergy 
 there. Nearly forty years later a new Mass was instituted to 
 be said daily for her soul, the performance of this Mass being 
 imposed by Bishop John Harewell (1366 — 86) on the canons 
 of Staverdale. For every omission they were bound to pay 
 yearly, on St. Andrew's Day, 20s. to the bishop's alms, 3s. <\d. 
 to the bishop in his palace at Wells, and 3s. 4^. to the dean 
 and chapter in the cathedral. 
 
 The entertainment of these popular sovereigns, in the fresh 
 bloom of their youth and gaiety, must have added prestige 
 to the Wells Palace, and have left a brilliant picture in the 
 minds of the inhabitants of the quiet city. 
 
 Bishop Ralph of Shrewsbury (1329 — 63), the third of 
 the chief builders of the palace of Wells, obtained from his 
 late guest, Edward III., a licence to embattle and fortify it. 
 The grant made in March, 1340 — 1, gave licence " For 
 the glory of God, the honour of the cathedral church of 
 Wells, and the saints whose bodies repose therein, and the 
 security and quiet of the canons and ministers resident there, 
 for Ralph, Bishop of Bath and Wells, to build a wall round 
 the churchyard and the precinct of the houses of himself 
 and of the canons, and to crenellate and make towers in 
 such wall. He is to make doors and posterns in the wall 
 where necessary, and to cause any streets enclosed to be 
 diverted in such manner as shall be most to public con- 
 venience ; and the doors and posterns to be open for 
 thoroughfare from dawn to night." 
 
 Before Bishop Ralph's time, the waters of St. Andrew's 
 fountain had flowed in their natural channel. He now 
 diverted them to form a moat round the area of the palace 
 and the palace courts ; and on the embankment within the 
 moat were raised crenellated walls with bastions at the
 
 294 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 angles, and an entrance gate-house, defended by portcullis 
 and drawbridge. The slits for the portcullis and the chains 
 of the drawbridge are still to be seen. In one of these 
 bastions was a prison for criminous clerks, subsequently 
 known as the Cow-house and the Stock-house. The keeper 
 of the bishop's park had the duty of watching the prison. 
 The bishop's palace was now his castle, which he could defend 
 if need were, against turbulent burghers. The townspeople of 
 Wells were generally on good terms with their mesne lord, 
 the bishop, to whom they paid rents, and who received the 
 chattels of condemned persons and fugitives ; but a spirit of 
 independence was growing in the fourteenth century. The 
 citizens were irritated by the revocation of a charter which 
 they had just purchased. It had contained a clause exempt- 
 ing them from all labour upon castles, houses, walls, ditches, 
 and other public works ; and Canon Church suggests that 
 enforced labour on the fortification of the palace had pro- 
 duced friction between the bishop and the citizens. A riot 
 broke out in 1342 — 3, the citizens resisting the levy of tolls 
 by the bishop's officers. Some of the bishop's men were 
 taken and kept in prison until, under compulsion, they 
 promised to pay certain sums of mone}\ The king sent 
 commissioners to inquire into the trouble, and the bishop's 
 rights were upheld by the judgment of the court, his damages 
 being assessed at £3,000, but it does not appear whether the 
 bishop ever received this enormous fine. 
 
 Within the palace, life was organized and ceremonious. 
 The janitor, or door-keeper, was at this time an important 
 personage, installed in his office with much circumstance. 
 In 1330 six burgesses of Wells stood surety for a new janitor, 
 Roger of Ashbury, their fellow- burgess, that he would faith- 
 fully serve the bishop in that office. There was also a keeper
 
 THE PALACE OF WELLS 295 
 
 of the palace, whose duty it was " to discover, correct, and 
 punish any excesses, crimes, or faults whatsoever within the 
 palace or court, the punishment of which belonged to the 
 bishop by right." In his palace-chapel Bishop Ralph 
 instituted officials and clergy and received oaths of allegiance. 
 On one occasion a certain " Robert atte Boxe " came into his 
 chapel, and, in the presence of the bishop and two of his 
 officials, made oath never to aid or favour John de Actone, 
 knight, who was the bishop's enemy, but rather to disclose 
 and hinder any attempts to the bishop's harm. Another record 
 depicts Bishop Ralph as solemnly seated in the hall of his 
 palace when there were admitted to his presence the dean, 
 the precentor, and eight other canons, who presented him 
 with a request to attend the next chapter, couched in a stiff 
 and monitory tone. Conflicts between the dean and chapter 
 and the bishop had continued from the time of Bishop 
 Drokensford, Ralph's predecessor, when the fame of Dean 
 Godelee had eclipsed the bishop's importance, and this scene 
 marks the strained relations between the bishop and the 
 chapter-house. 
 
 It was the custom of the vicars to bring offerings in person 
 into the presence of the bishop seated in his hall, and he 
 would graciously receive such gifts, as, for instance, "two 
 loaves, two pigs, and two bottles of mead," and order them 
 to be distributed among the poor. Bishop Ralph spent his 
 life and energies in his own diocese, and lived to a great age. 
 His long and detailed register attests his activity there. 
 During the scourge of the Black Death, which carried off 
 numbers of his clergy, he remained at his post providing for 
 the spiritual needs of the sufferers. He issued a letter allow- 
 ing a layman or a woman to hear the confessions of the 
 dying and admitting such confession to be efficacious. A
 
 296 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 hundred years after his death his obit was still being observed 
 at his tomb in the cathedral, for in 1461, in the accounts of 
 the vicars of the cathedral, an entry appears for the use of 
 wax upon the obit of Bishop Ralph of Shrewsbury. He was 
 a special benefactor of the vicars-choral, whose houses he 
 had first planned and built in the famous Vicars' Close. In 
 the hall of the Vicars' Close is a painting representing 
 Bishop Ralph sitting on his throne, the vicars kneeling 
 before him. His marble effigy is in the north choir aisle of 
 the cathedral. " He lies vested in his episcopal ornaments, 
 the mitre, gloves, maniple, the apparel round the neck, and 
 the vexillum round the crozier." 
 
 The interior of the palace at the end of the fourteenth 
 century was not bare and comfortless. The walls were 
 covered with tapestry, the backs of the chairs of state were 
 cushioned and covered with fine embroidery, each chamber 
 had a different suit of hangings, and the seats were supplied 
 with feather cushions. Two beds are particularly named 
 in the will of Bishop Erghum, proved in 1400, which supplies 
 these details as to furniture : " a green bed with white lilies, 
 and a red bed with the curtains and sheets and all apparel." 
 Such beds cost vast sums in those days. In 1369, on Queen 
 Philippa's death, a sum worth £1,000 of our money was paid 
 for her bed, and entries in the royal accounts show that the 
 king paid £3,000 of modern money for the queen's bed of 
 green velvet, embroidered in gold, with red sirens bearing 
 a shield with the arms of England and Hainault. If the 
 furnishing of the Wells Palace was on a similar, though 
 possibly less sumptuous, scale, the value of the fittings must 
 have been immense. Silver " charjours," bowls, salt-cellars, 
 and spice-plates, finely chased, are enumerated in Bishop 
 Erghum's will ; and a certain piece of tapestry, with the image
 
 THE PALACE OF WELLS 297 
 
 of St. John, he bequeathed to the cathedral " to be placed 
 under the feet of the bishop when he celebrates there." Such 
 were the rich appointments of the palace in the year 1400 ; 
 and sumptuous banquets were given in the great hall of 
 Robert Burnell in the years 1424 — 5. 
 
 A happy chance has preserved a verbatim account of two 
 fifteenth-century banquets served in the hall of the bishop's 
 palace, of which Dr. F. A. Gasquet has given in substance 
 the following description : — 
 
 A famous cook of unknown name collected in his note-book 
 a set of menus and a brief note of the occasion upon which 
 the banquet described was served up. This note-book has 
 survived till the present day, and is to be seen in the MSS. 
 Room of the British Museum (Harl. MS. 279). 
 
 One banquet took place at the funeral of Bishop Bubwith, 
 and the other at the installation of his successor, Bishop John 
 Stafford. 
 
 The date of the first dinner was December 4, 1424. On 
 the preceding October 27 Bishop Bubwith had died. Over 
 a month, therefore, had elapsed before the funeral. The 
 ceremony was celebrated with customary pomp. A great 
 concourse of people, distinguished clergy, laymen and their 
 followings, and monks in large numbers assembled at Wells 
 for the occasion. Nicholas Bubwith had been a man of 
 note, Bishop of London and Lord Treasurer of England, and 
 he had taken part after the Council of Constance in the 
 election of Pope Martin V. He was buried in his chantry, 
 still to be seen with its screen of light and elaborate tracery, 
 in the nave of the cathedral, and after the funeral the 
 ecclesiastics repaired to the great hall of the palace, where the 
 dinner described in the menu was served. The season of 
 the Church on this occasion was Advent, and accordingly a
 
 298 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 special dinner was provided for the monks, who had at this 
 time to abstain from meat. Before the secular clergy and 
 laymen a first course was set consisting almost wholly of 
 heavy joints of meat and game ; there is no mention of 
 vegetables beyond the herbs used for flavouring. The second 
 course consisted chiefly of game, ending with a "payn puffe" 
 or pastry puff, " a colde bakemete " or cold fruit-pie, and 
 "irchouns" — that is, pork prepared with spikes made of 
 almonds to look like a hedgehog. 
 
 The second banquet was given nine months later, on 
 
 September 16, 1425, to celebrate Bishop John Stafford's 
 
 installation. On this occasion no fast was being observed, 
 
 and there was no provision for a " diner maigve." Two 
 
 dinners were, however, prepared — one for the more honoured 
 
 guests, and the other for those who had seats in the lower part 
 
 of the hall. Each course concluded with a " sotelte " 
 
 (subtlety), a confection in sugar and paste, which generally 
 
 pointed some allusion to the circumstances of the feast. A 
 
 doctor-of-law, an eagle, and a Saint Andrew figured at this 
 
 festivity. The lawyer apparently referred to the new bishop's 
 
 early profession, the eagle was the emblem of St. John, his 
 
 namesake, and St. Andrew was the patron saint of the 
 
 church of his new see. The " sotelte of Sent Andrewe " was 
 
 repeated at another installation feast of the same bishop 
 
 when he was translated to Canterbury, and is then fully 
 
 described as " Saint Andrew sitting on his high altar in state 
 
 with beams of gold. Before him kneeling the bishop in 
 
 priestly robes, his crosier-bearer kneeling behind him coped." 
 
 It is evident that the culinary art was not neglected in the 
 
 episcopal establishment. The furnishing of the palace 
 
 kitchen must have been ample to allow of so many as a 
 
 dozen joints being roasted together. The various dishes of
 
 THE PALACE OF WELLS 299 
 
 one course were probably not served up one after another, 
 but various meats and birds were dished up together that 
 every one might make his choice. One can picture the army 
 of serving-men that would be needed to prepare these 
 elaborate feasts. The head cook was a professional, who 
 probably came down from London for both occasions ; his 
 services were in great request, his menu-book including the 
 feast of the coronation of King Henry IV. in 1399, royal 
 dinners at Winchester and elsewhere, the installation feast of 
 Bishop John Chandler of Salisbury in 1417, and many other 
 notable banquets. 
 
 Only twenty-five years previously, in 1400, a bull had been 
 sent to the Dean and Chapter of Wells by Pope Boniface IX. 
 forbidding the expenditure of vast sums, 150 or 200 marks, on 
 feasting the bishop and the dean and chapter, as had been the 
 custom whenever a new canon came into residence. This 
 feasting had produced disputes and scandal, and was to be 
 altogether abolished. But as this papal mandate did not 
 affect the bishops, the banquets in the episcopal palace 
 were not discontinued. 
 
 The last great mediaeval Bishop of Wells who ruled in the 
 palace, to which he put the finishing touches, was Thomas of 
 Bekynton. Born at Beckington, in Somersetshire, from 
 which village he took his name, a boy at Winchester, a 
 scholar and fellow of New College, Oxford, and then Canon 
 of Wells, he rose partly under William of Wykeham's 
 influence to high authority. He was secretary and reader to 
 the young King Henry VI., a copy of his official Letters being 
 still preserved in a beautiful volume in Lambeth Palace 
 Library (published by G. Williams in the Rolls Series). 
 Before his appointment to the bishopric he served on a 
 delicate diplomatic mission to the Count of Armagnac, to
 
 3oo ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 negotiate a marriage between Henry VI. and one of the 
 count's daughters whose likenesses he was first to obtain and 
 submit to the king. In 1443 he was consecrated Bishop of 
 Bath and Wells in the old church of the newly founded 
 College of Eton, and held his inaugural banquet within the 
 new college buildings. He was deeply interested in the 
 foundation of Eton College, which he advised Henry VI. to 
 model on Wykeham's School at Winchester. 
 
 He was a magnificent prelate, and spent no less than 6,ooo 
 marks in building and in repairing different houses belonging 
 to the bishopric. The prevalence of his rebus, " a flaming 
 beacon and a tun," about Wells, attests his work as a builder. 
 Shields bearing his arms were discovered during the restora- 
 tion of the palace, and were built into the walls of the under- 
 croft and the ground-floor gallery in the time of Bishop 
 Hervey ; his arms are also to be seen on the chimneys of the 
 Vicars' Close and on the outer gate-house forming the entrance 
 to the park from the market-place, now called the Bishop's 
 Eye. Mr. Edmund Buckle writes : " On the north side of the 
 great hall Bekynton made a place of trees, and he added to 
 the palace itself a cloister, a parlour, and guest-chambers, 
 together with a very large kitchen, at the great cost of over 
 £1,000, with conduits of water to the kitchen, buttery, cellar, 
 bake-house, and tanks for breeding fish." He was an 
 eminently practical man, providing not only for his own 
 household, but for the larger community outside his palace. 
 His best remembered act is his gift to the citizens of Wells 
 of a bountiful supply of water from the great spring called 
 St. Andrew's Well, within the palace precincts. He allowed 
 the burgesses to build, at his expense, a head for a water-con- 
 duit upon a spot chosen by himself in his garden near the well, 
 and to carry thence, at their expense, pipes leading the water
 
 THE PALACE OF WELLS 301 
 
 on the one side to the city as far as the high cross in the 
 market-place, and on the other side to various parts of the 
 palace. The details of the transaction were exact and com- 
 plete, provision being made for the need of emptying, cleaning, 
 and refilling the palace moat, and for inspecting and cleaning 
 the well-head, which was to have one door and two keys, the 
 bishop keeping the one and the burgesses the other. In 
 return for this favour the " master and burgesses " of Wells 
 undertook for themselves and their successors to visit once a 
 year the place where the bishop was to be buried in the 
 cathedral, and to offer prayers for his soul. Finally he added 
 a spiritual to this temporal benefit, " trusting in the mercy of 
 God and the merits of St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. Andrew, his 
 patrons, he granted forty days' indulgence for every such visit." 
 From the pen of Thomas Chaundler, a younger contem- 
 porary of Bishop Bekynton, Chancellor of Wells in 1452, 
 and in 1461 Chancellor of Oxford, there is a glowing account 
 of the palace at this time, written in Latin, in the form of 
 a dialogue. An Oxford visitor approaching Wells calls it a 
 village, and his guide answers : " You should call it rather a 
 city could you see all the beauty and neatness that is within 
 it. That most beautiful church which we discern at a 
 distance contains the episcopal chair of a munificent prelate. 
 It has also adjoining to it an extensive palace adorned with 
 wonderful splendour, surrounded with flowing waters, bul- 
 warked by its circlet of battlemented walls and towers, 
 in which dwells the most dignified and learned bishop, 
 Thomas, the first of that name. 'That the clergy here are 
 religious in their manners, honest in their lives, noble in 
 hospitality, affable and agreeable to strangers, and to all 
 benevolent, you will first discover from observation and 
 then learn from experience, for they are accustomed to wait
 
 302 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 on strangers and travellers with every office of humanity, 
 and they seem to contend who shall first invite anyone and 
 prevail on him to partake of their hospitality. Is not this 
 city rightly called Wells, where fountains gush out on every 
 side, which both make and beautify the city ? " 
 
 In a letter from Chaundler to Bekynton, preserved in the 
 library of Trinity College, Cambridge, there is a drawing of 
 a chamber in the palace. The floor is represented as tiled in 
 dark and light squares, and the wall covered with painting of 
 flowers, leaves, and conventional designs. Bishop Bekynton 
 is seated on a throne under a canopy with a jewelled mitre 
 suspended over his head, which is covered with a skull-cap. 
 His right hand is raised in the act of blessing. On his right 
 stands his chaplain with the crosier in his left hand and a book 
 or bag in his right, and kneeling before the bishop is the 
 author, Chaundler, in the act of presenting a book to his 
 patron. The bishop's face is stern and serious and has the 
 lines of age. Chaundler has a younger and rounder face. 
 It is thought that the three heads are portraits — that of 
 Bekynton bearing a resemblance to the effigy on his tomb. 
 
 His monument is in the south choir aisle of the cathedral, 
 and was ready prepared and consecrated by himself thirteen 
 years before his death. In an early morning of January, 
 1452, a vast congregation assembled in the cathedral to 
 witness the bishop vested in the robes in which he desired 
 to be buried, consecrating his own tomb. The Rev. P. 
 Dearmer has described this monument : "A carved skeleton 
 corpse lies in gorgeous vestments beneath the portrait effigy 
 resting on the upper slab. The carving of the arcade 
 supporting this slab is very beautiful, delicately wrought 
 wings of angels spreading over the arches so as to fill the 
 spandrels. Traces of colour are strongly marked on the
 
 THE PALACE OF WELLS 303 
 
 tomb and on the canopy from which it has been divided. 
 The latter was dragged from its place, when the chapel was 
 restored, and set up in St. Calixtus' Chapel, where it is still 
 to be seen." In 1465, thirteen years after the consecration 
 of his tomb, Bishop Bekynton died, aged about seventy-five 
 years. 
 
 The bequests in his will were magnanimous and princely. 
 Among great legacies to his own cathedral, to Bath, to New 
 College, Oxford, and the foundation of annual scholarships 
 to Oxford for ten priests of his diocese, the poor of his own 
 household were not forgotten. He made special mention 
 of the boys who served in his private chapel within the 
 palace. " I bequeath to ten poor scholars, not having a 
 sufficient exhibition in the University of Oxford, to be 
 selected from my diocese, lod. each weekly. And I will that 
 in this bequest the poor boys of my chapel, who are now there 
 or who will be at the time of my death, of whatever diocese 
 they may be, be preferred before others for this exhibition." 
 He left £100 to his successor for the dilapidations of the 
 palace, although, as he remarks, he had received nothing 
 from his predecessor, Bishop Stafford. He expressed in his 
 will his anger at the latter's neglect. " Stafford," he said, 
 " had received 1,600 marks for dilapidations from Bishop 
 Nicholas Bub with of good memory, and yet laid out nothing 
 in repairs during his whole time, which was eighteen years. 
 Timber there was cut down for repairs, but sold, and the 
 money put to his private use." There is mention in 
 Bekynton's will of " my great and precious Bible, written 
 in four volumes, which I will shall be chained in the library 
 of Winchester College [i.e., New College], Oxford, for the 
 use of those wishing to study in the same." Bishop 
 Bekynton's Bible is still a possession of New College. To
 
 30 4 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 Winchester Cathedral he left his large silver pomander — a 
 vessel like an apple, to be rilled with warm water, for the 
 priest to warm his fingers during excessive cold to prevent 
 accidents in handling the chalice. From the opening sen- 
 tence — " I will that my funeral expenses shall be moderate, 
 that they shall be rather in the recreation and relief of the 
 poor than in the solace of the rich and powerful" — to the 
 end of the lengthy testament there breathes the spirit of the 
 practical administrator and the large-hearted but prudent 
 man of business. 
 
 The palace had now reached its zenith, and the story of 
 its decline begins with the death of Bekynton. A series of 
 statesmen-bishops followed in close succession, who neglected 
 the palace, preferring to live in king's Courts. Bishops 
 Stillington, Fox, and King ceased to make the Wells Palace 
 their home ; Hadrian de Castello (1504 — 18) resided at 
 Rome, and never visited England after his translation to the 
 see of Wells. Cardinal Wolsey followed (from 1518 — 1523), 
 holding in his own person the Archbishopric of York and 
 the Bishopric of Bath and Wells. 
 
 Only two events concerning the palace are known to have 
 occurred during this period. 
 
 During the Wars of the Roses there was a moment, 
 between Michaelmas, 1469 — 1470, when two hostile parties 
 passed through Wells, possibly meeting there during a truce. 
 Canon Church has discovered an entry in the account-roll of 
 the escheator of the church of Wells for that year, from 
 which it appears that King Edward IV. had made an offering 
 there of 10s., the Duke of Clarence, Lady Isabel, Duchess of 
 Clarence, and the Earl of Warwick had each given 5s., either 
 towards the fabric fund or at the shrine of Our Lady. 
 Bishop Stillington, then lord privy seal, and the king's
 
 THE PALACE OF WELLS 305 
 
 private agent, would have ordered the gates of Wells to be 
 opened to Edward. Canon Church suggests that the king 
 and his retinue were lodged at the palace while the Earl of 
 Warwick was at the deanery, but little light has been thrown 
 on this incident. 
 
 The palace had fallen into disrepair by the year 1497, the 
 third of Bishop King's episcopate. Oliver King (1495 — 
 1503) Secretary of State to Henry VII., had been appointed 
 to the Bishopric of Bath and Wells for three years before he 
 thought of visiting Wells. In the autumn of 1497 he 
 journeyed westward from London with King Henry VII. 
 and 30,000 armed men, bent upon subduing Perkin War- 
 beck's rebellion — Warbeck had landed at Whitesand Bay, 
 Cornwall, and passed with 3,000 followers to Taunton. The 
 king was to pass through Wells on his way to Taunton, and 
 the bishop hurried forward to be beforehand at Wells, where 
 he had not yet been installed as bishop. Until the installa- 
 tion had taken place he had no right to enter the Cathedral 
 choir or to sit in the episcopal seat. On his arrival he was 
 enthroned as bishop a few hours before he in that capacity 
 took part in the reception of the king. He evidently found 
 the palace unfit for the entertainment of royalty, and accord- 
 ingly Henry, when he arrived on September 29, was lodged 
 at the deanery as the guest of Dean Gunthorp. In the 
 meanwhile Warbeck fled from his army and took sanc- 
 tuary in the Abbey of Beaulieu in the New Forest. He 
 was brought back to Taunton whither the king had moved. 
 Bishop King did not remain at Wells after the public recep- 
 tion of Henry VII., but relegated his episcopal functions to 
 a suffragan, Thomas Cornish, Chancellor of Wells. His 
 interests were rather at Bath than Wells. About 1500 he 
 rebuilt Bath Abbey, prompted, it is said, by a vision of 
 
 E.E.P. X
 
 3 o6 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 Jacob's ladder. The vision may still be seen carved on the 
 west front of Bath Abbey. No bishop bestowed further care 
 on the palace until Bishop John Clerk (1523 — 41) added the 
 two oriel windows on the north front overlooking the moat. 
 
 Leland visited the palace between the years 1540 — 2 and 
 wrote the following description of it : — 
 
 "The area afore the Bishop's Palace lyith Est of the 
 Market stede, and hath a fair high Waul toward the Market 
 stede, and a right goodly Gate House yn it, made of late by 
 Bishop Bekingtun as it apperith by his armes. On the south 
 side of this Area is the Bishop's Palace, dichid brodely and 
 watered about by the Water of S. Andres Streame let into it. 
 This Palace ys strongely waullid and embateld Castelle lyke, 
 and hath in the first Front a godly Gate House yn the 
 midle, and at eche ende of the Front a round Towr, and 2 
 other rounde Towers be lykelyhood yn the South side of the 
 Palace, and then is ther one at every corner. The Haul of 
 the Palace ys exceeding fayre." 
 
 Only fifteen years later this fair hall was reduced to ruins. 
 It was during Bishop Clerk's episcopate, though he himself 
 took no known part in the matter, that a tragic scene took 
 place in the great hall, which was probably the last public 
 event within its walls. 
 
 Tradition has it that the trial of Richard Whiting, last 
 Abbot of Glastonbury, was held in the great hall of the Wells 
 Palace. The letters of Henry VIII. 's agents concerning the 
 trial and execution prove that the abbot was in Wells on 
 November 14, 1539, the eve of his execution, and that his 
 judges were residing in Wells, but the exact place of the trial 
 is not named. The ruined hall of Bishop Burnell is, how- 
 ever, accepted as the scene of the trial by Dr. F. A. Gasquet, 
 the abbot's biographer. His " Last Abbot of Glastonbury"
 
 THE PALACE OF WELLS 307 
 
 has fully pictured the cruel tragedy with all the circum- 
 stances which led up to it. 
 
 Richard Whiting was trained as a boy in the monastic 
 school at Glastonbury and sent to Cambridge to complete 
 his education, his name appearing among those who took 
 their M.A. degree in 1483. For many years he held the 
 office of Chamberlain at Glastonbury, a position of respon- 
 sibility in such a vast establishment with its numerous 
 officials. In 1525 he was appointed abbot by Cardinal 
 Wolsey's selection. The new abbot was described in the 
 cardinal's letter as " an upright and religious monk, a pro- 
 vident and discreet man, and a priest commendable for his 
 life, virtues, and learning. He had shown himself watchful 
 and circumspect in both spirituals and temporals, and had 
 proved that he possessed ability and determination to uphold 
 the rights of his monastery." Among the men who bore 
 witness to the abbot's high character was a monk who had 
 been at Glastonbury for nineteen years, and who declared 
 that during all that time Richard Whiting had been reputed 
 a man of exemplary piety. Thus he was raised to a dis- 
 tinguished place among the peers of the realm, and, as the 
 head of the richest abbey in England, Westminster alone 
 excepted, he became an obstacle to Henry VIII. and the 
 object of his attacks. 
 
 " The King and his council," said the then Abbot of 
 Colchester, " were drawn into such inordinate covetousness 
 that if all the water in the Thames were flowing gold and 
 silver, it were not able to slake their covetousness." The 
 revenues of Glastonbury Abbey afforded a tempting prey. 
 No charge of laxity in morals or discipline could, however, 
 be brought against the abbey under Whiting's rule. During 
 his abbacy some three or four hundred youths of gentle birth 
 
 X 2
 
 308 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 were trained there, the poor flocked to his gate and found 
 regular relief every Wednesday and Friday in the week, and 
 he showed hospitality to the poorest as to the most 
 distinguished visitors. 
 
 On August 21, 1535, the attack upon Glastonbury began. 
 Dr. Richard Layton, one of the most unscrupulous of the 
 royal inquisitors, was sent to pry upon the abbey, but for all 
 his scrutiny he could not report one notable offence. This 
 did not exempt the abbot from royal depredations. Manors, 
 livings, and annuities for the king's servants were demanded 
 from him and granted perforce. In the meanwhile the sup- 
 pression of the monasteries continued. By 1539 Glastonbury 
 was the only religious house left standing in Somersetshire. 
 In the autumn of that year, when the venerable abbot must 
 have been about 76 years old, final steps were taken against 
 him. Three royal commissioners, Layton, Pollard, and 
 Moyle, unexpectedly arrived at Glastonbury about ten 
 o'clock in the morning. The abbot was away at his grange 
 of Sharpham, about a mile from the monastery. They found 
 him there, took him back to the abbey and proceeded to 
 search his papers and ransack his apartments. The only 
 incriminating evidence they could find was a book written 
 against the divorce of Henry VIII. and Katherine of Aragon. 
 They submitted the old man to a severe interrogatory to 
 make him " show a traitorous mind againt the King's 
 Majesty." Then they brought him, " being but a very weak 
 man and sickly, with as fair words as they could " to London, 
 and imprisoned him in the Tower, so that Cromwell might 
 examine him for himself. It was discovered that the abbot 
 had hidden a fair chalice of gold and other parcels of plate, 
 and that he had sent away money and plate for safety to the 
 country. His fate was sealed before he left the Tower, after
 
 THE PALACE OF WELLS 309 
 
 - ■ 11 ■■— 11 1 11 1 1 •"" "'T- 1 11 1 1 « ii - ■ ■ 1 1 1 ■ 1 1 1 1 --n-r-m - 
 
 two months' imprisonment. Henry VIII. and Cromwell 
 determined that he should die a traitor's death at Glaston- 
 bury in the sight of his own people, on a charge of robbing 
 his own abbey. 
 
 Lord John Russell, the king's agent, was ordered to pre- 
 pare for a mock trial at Wells. He collected witnesses and a 
 jury whom he could trust to carry out the royal will, assuring 
 Cromwell that he had gathered " as worshipful a jury as was 
 charged here these many years." Pollard escorted Whiting 
 from the Tower to Wells, protesting that he " was appointed 
 to bear him company for worship's sake, and therefore might 
 not forsake him till he did see him safe at Glastonbury." 
 At Wells a great throng awaited his arrival, and the trial was 
 begun without giving the condemned man time for rest. 
 New accusers stepped out from the crowd, his tenants and 
 others, alleging wrongs he had done them. He was associated 
 and sentenced with a number of common felons accused of 
 rape and burglary. Pollard pestered him to confess the 
 hiding-places of more treasures belonging to Glastonbury, 
 " but he would accuse none but himself, and confessed no 
 more gold and silver than he did before Cromwell in the 
 Tower." The next morning, Saturday, November 15, 1539, 
 the abbot and two of his monks, John Thorne and Roger 
 James, were taken to Glastonbury. At the entrance to the 
 town the abbot was made to dismount, his limbs were 
 stretched upon a hurdle, and he was dragged by a horse 
 through the streets of Glastonbury and up to the gallows on 
 Tor Hill. Lord John Russell wrote callously the next day 
 to Cromwell : " The abbot was beheaded and quartered — 
 one quarter stands at Wells, another at Bath, the rest at 
 Ilchester and Bridgwater, and his head upon the abbey gate 
 at Glastonbury." Pollard wrote : " He took his death
 
 3 io ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 „■--!.■.■ ...^ 1.- ^ ».-=■- rr.--.:-.^^= -■■-: . .. -. . -,B . iii , .- ■ — -■ ~ t ii" Hi" «v - t- ~ i i T -r— i i i. - r-T-rrra .i g . --..i a .i ,r (f i. i . r . - a- a ir . - i -r ■ , ■ ■ ■ ■■ 
 
 patiently, asking pardon of God and the king for his 
 offences, and desiring my servants to ask me and my lord 
 president to mediate with the king for his forgiveness " ; 
 and closing his letter with the pith of the business : " It will 
 be near Christmas before I have surveyed the lands of 
 Glastonbury and taken the audit." 
 
 The Bishops of Bath and Wells were more complacent 
 than the venerable abbot. In the very year 1539, when the 
 king's desires were consummated with regard to Glastonbury, 
 the process of spoliation began also at Wells. In March, 
 1539, a demand came from Cromwell, then non-resident Dean 
 of Wells, that the chapter should send him an inventory of 
 their jewels and plate. A humble petition accompanied the 
 canons' answer, begging Cromwell " to be a mediator to the 
 king if he thinks any of it may remain to the honour of God 
 and the necessary use of the Church." 
 
 Five years later it was the bishop's turn to disburse. 
 " Upon information of the Bishop of Bath's great substance " 
 Henry VIII. desired a loan of £3,000. Bishop Knight 
 denied that he had any such store, but confessed to having 
 " £1,000 in angels, £200 or £330 more in ready money, and 
 plate to as much value as all the money." He sent 1,000 
 marks' worth of plate and coin, begging the king to accept 
 it as his "free and poor gift," and was "inwardly sorry not 
 to be able to satisfy his Majesty's expectation fully." Not 
 only money, but goods and chattels, lead and bells passed 
 into the royal exchequer from Bishop Knight at Wells and 
 from the Bishop of St. Asaph's and St. David's. The latter 
 was William Barlow, who was to be Knight's successor in 
 the see of Bath and Wells. To his name the odium is 
 attached of having sold the estates of the see and the palace 
 of the bishops. He had caused the lead to be stripped from
 
 THE PALACE OF WELLS 311 
 
 the episcopal palace at St. David's, and had preached 
 zealously against pilgrimages, relic and saint worship, thus 
 commending himself to the all-powerful Protector, Somerset. 
 In 1549 he was made Bishop of Bath and Wells to act as 
 the Protector's tool. Within a year of his installation Barlow 
 sold to Somerset the episcopal palace, the manors of Wells 
 and Westbury, and the park at Westbury, in return for a sum 
 of £400 and the mansion called the Dean's House. While 
 the Protector was in possession of the palace, Barlow lodged 
 at the deanery, and caused Dean Goodman, on the pretext of 
 disobedience, to be sent to Fleet Prison. The Duke of Somerset 
 did not enjoy his possessions long. The date of the purchase 
 was December 10, 1550, and within eighteen months he was 
 attainted and beheaded, on January 22, 1552. Wells Palace 
 and estates lapsed to the Crown, but were subsequently 
 granted back to Bishop Barlow in exchange for other pro- 
 perty. Barlow then petitioned to be allowed to take 
 down and sell the great hall of the palace. In 1552 King 
 Edward VI. signified his permission that " the bishop, 
 having many fit places within the precinct of the house of 
 Wells to make an hall of and for his hospitality, may (edifying 
 one thereon) take down the great hall now standing and 
 grant the same away, commending unto him for that pur- 
 pose Sir Henry Gates, upon knowledge had of the bishop's 
 good inclination towards him." 
 
 The agent employed by Barlow to demolish the banquet- 
 ing hall was, however, not Sir Henry Gates, but his brother, 
 Sir John. Godwin, canon of Wells, writing in 1595, states 
 authoritatively that Sir John Gates had destroyed the hall 
 about forty years previously. Gates had been a trusted 
 servant of Henry VIII., and enforced Bishop Ridley's order 
 to remove " superalteries, altars, and such like ceremonies and
 
 3 i2 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 abuses." He obtained possession of Wells Palace through 
 the influence of his patron, the Duke of Northumberland, 
 and proceeded to make what profit he could out of the 
 materials of Burnell's Hall. Then the great banqueting-hall 
 was stripped of its timber and of its leaden roof, and the 
 bare walls were left standing open to the sky. The ruins 
 still remain, bearing witness to the ruthless greed of its 
 destroyers. By Barlow's orders the chantry chapel had been 
 pulled down after the suppression of the chantries and left in 
 a ruined heap. Sir John Gates entered into a contract with 
 the bishop and dean and chapter to remove the materials 
 from the ground within four years and three months. But 
 he was implicated in Northumberland's plot to enthrone 
 Lady Jane Grey, and was executed, in 1553, before the time 
 of the contract was complete. 
 
 Bishop Barlow, a more prudent time-server, survived. On 
 Mary's accession he attempted to escape from England, leaving 
 Bristol by sea in the boat of one " William, Maryner of 
 Bristowe." The sailor was arrested and committed to 
 Marshalsea, and the fugitive Barlow caught and imprisoned 
 in the Tower. There he made a recantation, and when set 
 at liberty fled to Germany. At Frankfort he was in the 
 company of some foreign Protestant weavers whom he had 
 helped during the Duke of Somerset's supremacy, installing 
 them in Orwell Park at Glastonbury. The accession of 
 Elizabeth brought Barlow back to England, where he ended 
 his days as Bishop of Chichester. Froude describes him as 
 a feeble enthusiast. He had twice recanted in face of danger, 
 and was zealous only in the cause of a powerful patron. 
 
 The palace, bereft of its former splendour, was left 
 uncared for until the end of Elizabeth's reign. The beautiful 
 oak staircase dates from about this period, one authority
 
 THE PALACE OF WELLS 313 
 
 ^^^ — r ... ... ., .. — ._ _ rTITl — rnrM;LM _ 11 _^,_ L _ LLJ _ L _ 
 
 attributing it to Bishop Gilbert Berkeley (1560 — 1581), and 
 another to James Montagu (1608 — 1616). Both primates 
 occupied themselves with the buildings of their diocese. 
 
 On Berkeley's death, the see remained vacant for three 
 years, so that Wells Palace must have been considerably in 
 need of repairs when Bishop Godwin was installed in 1584. 
 Again, on the death of Godwin, two years elapsed before the 
 appointment of Bishop John Still. His successor, Bishop 
 Montagu, spent a revenue which came in from the Mendip 
 lead mines in restoring the palace chapel, and with such 
 taste as to call for the admiring words of the Wells historian, 
 Godwin, who wrote of it in 1616 : " That goodly chapel, the 
 most beautiful I have yet seen in England." Bishop 
 Montagu provided it, too, with organs and other fittings 
 and ornaments, all of which were soon to be destroyed 
 by the Puritans. The story is told of Bishop Montagu that 
 he was one day in Bath walking in the rain, when his com- 
 panion, Sir John Harington, led him into the abbey, then 
 roofless, under pretence of seeking shelter, thus to impress 
 him with its dire need of repair. And the bishop added to 
 his other works that of restoring the nave of Bath Abbey. 
 It was during his episcopate that Wells was favoured with 
 another royal visit. 
 
 Queen Anne of Denmark, the gay lover of masques and 
 entertainments, made a progress in 1613 to Bath, Bristol, 
 and Wells, a journey which cost the royal exchequer £30,000. 
 She spent some weeks taking the waters at Bath for the 
 sake of her health, and passed on to Bristol, where she 
 received so hearty a welcome that on her departure she 
 remarked that she never knew she was a queen till she 
 came to Bristol. Bishop Montagu took part in her reception 
 there, leading her from her coach and conducting her to the
 
 314 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 chancel of the Cathedral. He no doubt invited the queen to 
 extend her progress to his own cathedral city. He wrote to 
 the Mayor and Corporation of Wells telling of the queen's 
 intention to visit Wells, and desiring that " a Silver Bole 
 bee given to her Majestie of the price of £20, that the 
 streates bee made handsome, and the towne rid of beggars 
 and rogues." 
 
 On August 20, 1613, " the Mayor of Wells and his breth- 
 ren " awaited the queen " in their scarlet near about Browne's 
 Gate ; the rest in black gowns, and the other burgesses in their 
 best apparel." The well-known portrait of this queen in a 
 high-hooped dress, the skirt standing out at half a foot's 
 length from her waist in a complete circle, helps to fill in 
 the picture of this day's doings at Wells. The queen and 
 the notables of her train were invited to dine with Mr. William 
 Bull, the Mayor of Wells, the list of guests including the 
 Earls of Worcester and Tinmouth, Bishop Montagu, Sir 
 Thomas Somerset, the Countess of Derby, the Lady Cary, 
 the Lady Gray, the Lady Windsor, the Lady Hutton, the 
 Lady Walsingham, and four maids of honour. It is likely 
 that some of this company, and perhaps the queen herself, 
 lodged in the bishop's palace, but neither the place of the 
 dinner nor the queen's lodging is recorded. 
 
 A pageant was presented before Her Majesty by the masters 
 and wardens of every trade and occupation within the city. 
 " The Hammer-men, the Shermen " or clothworkers, " the 
 Tanners, Chaundlers and Butchers, the Cordyners" or leather- 
 workers, "and Mercers" had prepared five shows to pass in 
 procession before her. The tanners, chandlers, and butchers 
 presented " a carte of olde Virgines ; the carte covered with 
 hide and homes, and the Virgines with their attires made 
 of cow-tayles, and bracelettes for their neckes, of homes sawed
 
 Arthur Lake, Bishop of Bath and Wells. 
 
 .(/; engraving in tlu British Museum.
 
 THE PALACE OF WELLS 315 
 
 and hanged about their neckes for rich jewelles. Their 
 charriot was drawne by men and boyes in oxe-skines, and 
 calve-skines, and other skines. St. Clement, their saint, rode 
 allsoe with his booke, and his Frier rode allsoe, who dealt 
 almes out of his master's bagge (which he carried verie full 
 of greynes) verie plentifullie." Acteon with his huntsmen 
 brought up the rear. 
 
 The tailors presented Herod and Herodias, and the daughter 
 of Herodias, " who daunced for St. John the Baptiste's hedd, 
 and St. John the Baptiste beheaded." 
 
 The mercers gave " a morrice daunce of young children, 
 the giant and the giantesse, Kinge Ptolemeus with his Queen 
 and daughter, which was to be devoured of the Dragon ; 
 St. George with his Knightes, who slew the Dragon and 
 rescued the Virgin ; Diana and her Nymphes, carried in a 
 chariot, who turned Acteon to a harte." 
 
 The twice repeated hunting-scene perhaps pointed an 
 allusion to the queen's love of hounds, the dogs with which 
 she was so often painted. She was an ardent patron of 
 such entertainments, and had personally appeared in several 
 masques by Ben Jonson, so that the performers at Wells 
 must have felt themselves under the eye of an expert. 
 
 During the latter half of the reign of James I. one of the 
 most saintly bishops of this see, Bishop Arthur Lake (1616 — 
 26), occupied the Wells Palace. He raised the spiritual status 
 of life there. In the inner and domestic hall of the palace 
 he used to dine daily with his household of some fifty of his 
 poorer clerks and neighbours, and on every Sunday, like his 
 famous successor, Bishop Ken, he fed twelve poor men from the 
 city at his own table. Accessible to all, " he was to scholars 
 a living library, and to his city an oracle." Before conferring 
 holy orders he examined the candidates personally, and after
 
 3 i6 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 ordination watched over the clergy and their families with 
 paternal care. He was firm in maintaining ecclesiastical 
 discipline, never allowing penance to be replaced by a 
 pecuniary fine. At the coronation of Charles I. he occupied 
 the traditionary place of the Bishops of Bath and Wells, 
 and walked to Westminster Abbey by the side of the king 
 beneath the canopy of state, Bishop Neile of Durham, sup- 
 porting King Charles on the other side. He died the fol- 
 lowing year at the age of fifty-nine, and was buried in the 
 south choir aisle of his own cathedral. There are portraits 
 of Bishop Lake in the Wells Palace and at New College, 
 Oxford, where he had endowed lectureships in Hebrew and 
 mathematics. 
 
 Bishop Laud (1626 — 8) was for two years bishop of this 
 diocese, but he never lived at Wells. As archbishop he 
 made an award concerning dilapidations of the palace. 
 Bishop Piers, finding the palace in disrepair, sued his pre- 
 decessor, Bishop Walter Curll, who had been translated to 
 Winchester, concerning dilapidations. The archbishop 
 awarded that £160 should be paid by Bishop Curll to Piers 
 for repairs, and that Piers and his successors should be 
 discharged from the liability to repair such parts of Banwell 
 House and of the old stable of Wells as should be adjudged 
 unuseful to the see of Bath and Wells. 
 
 Bishop William Piers (1632—70), the friend and sup- 
 porter of Archbishop Laud, had to meet the tide of the 
 Great Rebellion, and was overwhelmed by it. Piers was in 
 ill-favour with the Puritans. He had encouraged the 
 observance of Church-ales, clerk-ales, and bid-ales, Sunday 
 merry-makings hated by the Sabbatarians. He wrote to 
 Laud in 1633 : " The chiefest cause of dislike of these feasts 
 among the preciser sort is because they are kept on Sundays,
 
 THE PALACE OF WELLS 317 
 
 which they never call but Sabbath-days, upon which they 
 would have no manner of recreation, neither roast nor sod " 
 [seethed meat]. " Some of the ministers confess that if the 
 people should not have their lawful recreations upon Sun- 
 days after evening prayer they would go either to tippling 
 houses, and there talk of matters of Church and State, or 
 else into conventicles." Piers shared in Laud's fall. He 
 was ejected from his diocese, impeached by the Long Parlia- 
 ment, and imprisoned in the Tower, but recovered his liberty 
 and lived on his private estate at Cuddesdon, Oxfordshire, 
 until the Restoration, when he entered once more into his 
 palace in his old age. 
 
 The palace suffered much during the Civil War. It was 
 during August, 1642 that skirmishing took place on the hills 
 round Wells and on the high road between Wells and 
 Glastonbury. Royalist forces, under the Marquis of Hert- 
 ford and Sir Ralph Hopton, had removed from Bath to 
 Wells and there made the bishop's palace their headquarters. 
 On the morning of Friday, August 5, they perceived a large 
 body of men encamped against them on the top of Mendip 
 Hill, above the town. This force had come from Bristol 
 under Sir Francis Popham and Sir Edward Hungerford, and 
 had spent the night in prayer and psalm-singing. They had 
 two pieces of ordnance, which they mounted against the 
 palace, and a few shots were made. " The report of the guns 
 made the Cavaliers bestir themselves. All the foot-soldiers 
 were drawn up in the avenues of Wells, which were immedi- 
 ately barricaded as well as the time would afford. The 
 horse and dragoons and gentlemen volunteers were drawn 
 out of the town towards the enemy and had a skirmish at 
 the foot of the great hill." Two other bands coming up to 
 surround the town, the marquis determined to evacuate it,
 
 3 i8 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 and made a feint of withdrawing to Glastonbury, thus 
 drawing off the enemy to secure the high road between 
 Wells and Glastonbury. Suddenly changing front, the 
 marquis's force marched for Sherborne, the cannon being too 
 high on the hill to hurt them. On his departure the mayor 
 and citizens of Wells sent messengers to Chewton to petition 
 that the Parliamentarian soldiers might not be allowed to 
 come down or attempt anything against them ; but the 
 victors' ardour could not be restrained. The Mendip men 
 entered the city with unbounded joy, glorying in having 
 vanquished the Papists. They broke the painted glass in 
 the cathedral and overran the palace, seizing and throwing 
 out the wine and the organs, and tearing down the pictures 
 from the walls. A picture representing the Virgin was 
 hoisted on a spear and carried about in contempt and 
 derision. 
 
 Wells Palace thus passed into the hands of new masters. 
 There came down from London one Dr. Cornelius Burges, a 
 sturdy leader of the Assembly of Divines, who had served 
 on a Parliamentary committee for treating ecclesiastical 
 questions and had advocated the confiscation of episcopal 
 lands. An ordinance of 1646 ordered that these lands should 
 be sold for the use of the Commonwealth, and Cornelius 
 Burges bought the palace, the deanery, and other ecclesias- 
 tical property in Wells. He left his post as preacher of 
 St. Paul's and removed to Wells. He set to work to despoil 
 the palace, removed the timbered ceiling, and stripped the 
 lead off the roof, so that the walls stood bare to the sky, 
 matching the ruin of Burnell's Hall. He sold what materials 
 he could and used the remainder in improving the deanery 
 where he established himself, and proceeded to let the gate- 
 houses as lodgings, it is said, " to some inferior people."
 
 THE PALACE OF WELLS 319 
 
 For some years Dr. Burges received a stipend as " preacher 
 in the late Cathedral church of Wells " ; but many people 
 walked about in the Cathedral while he was preaching and 
 would not listen. He then kept it closed, and the inhabitants 
 of Wells petitioned Parliament that Dr. Burges should 
 deliver up the keys of the Cathedral, which he kept locked 
 while they wished to repair it. At the Restoration his 
 property was taken from him without compensation. He 
 refused to leave the deanery, but was ejected to make room 
 for Dean Creighton. 
 
 Bishop Piers was reinstated in his see. Fines and 
 renewals of leases came in abundantly, providing the means 
 for repairing the damage done to the Cathedral and palace, 
 and the two succeeding bishops, Robert Creighton (1670 — 2) 
 and Peter Mews (1672 — 84) also spent sums on the work 
 of restoration. 
 
 The palace remained unscathed during the Monmouth 
 rebellion, though the rebel force passed and repassed through 
 Wells. On July 1, 1685, the mob of Monmouth's rustic 
 followers invaded and damaged the Cathedral, using it as a 
 stable for their horses, and mutilating the sculptured figures, 
 but apparently left the palace untouched. Two reasons for 
 this immunity have been suggested : either the palace 
 gateways, walls, and moat had served as a defence against an 
 irregular attack, or possibly the new bishop, Ken, had already 
 become loved of his people, and in his absence they may 
 have protected his property. During the Rebellion Bishop 
 Ken was in London, whither he had been summoned in 
 April, 1685, to take part in the coronation of James II., and 
 he had remained there to attend Parliament. His prede- 
 cessor, an old fighting cavalier, Bishop Mews, who had been 
 translated to Winchester, hastened to Wells, and showed the
 
 320 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 gunners how to plant their guns at the battle of Sedgemoor, 
 and on the following Sunday, July 8, when the king's forces 
 were resting at Wells, he preached in the Cathedral at the 
 service of thanksgiving for the victory. 
 
 Thomas Ken was consecrated Bishop of Bath and Wells 
 in the January preceding the Monmouth Rebellion of June, 
 1685. The most famous of the bishops of this see and one 
 of the renowned "seven" arrested by James II. in 1688, he 
 took a foremost part in the stirring events of English history 
 during the five years of his episcopate. 
 
 A scholar and tutor of New College, Oxford, his first step 
 on the road to distinction was his appointment as chaplain 
 to Mary, the king's sister, wife of William II., Prince of 
 Orange. While at the Hague Court he dared to remonstrate 
 with the prince for his unkind behaviour to his wife, and on 
 another occasion incurred William's anger by persuading 
 Count Zulestein to marry a lady whom he had seduced. 
 William was struck by his courage and refused to accept 
 his resignation. Another often quoted instance of his moral 
 force is the tale of Charles II. 's visit to Winchester in 1683 
 when Bishop Ken refused to allow the king's favourite, Nell 
 Gwyn, the use of his house. Charles thought all the more 
 highly of him, and in the following year, 1684, chose him to 
 fill the vacant bishopric of Bath and Wells, declaring that 
 no one should have the see but " the little black fellow that 
 refused his lodging to poor Nelly." A few months later 
 Charles summoned Bishop Ken to his death-bed, and the 
 bishop persuaded him to send the Duchess of Portsmouth 
 from the room and to send for the queen; pleaded with 
 him without avail to receive the Communion, and finally 
 pronounced his absolution. 
 
 Bishop Ken's influence extended to James II. in a marked
 
 Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath \\i> Wells. 
 
 From his portrait in Wardens Lodgings, .V< a 1 College, Oxford.
 
 THE PALACE OF WELLS 321 
 
 degree. After the Monmouth Rebellion he was sent, with the 
 Bishop of Ely, to inform the duke of his death sentence ; he 
 spent the night before the execution with the duke in the 
 Tower and accompanied him to the scaffold. He then went 
 down to Wells and used his influence with the king to save 
 many of Monmouth's supporters from their fate at the hands 
 of Colonel Kirke and Judge Jeffreys. From his palace he 
 went forth to the gaols and cells of the condemned peasants, 
 of whom in Wells alone ninety-seven are said to have been 
 hanged and 385 transported. He is said to have saved one 
 hundred prisoners from death. 
 
 Bishop Ken's saintliness shed a lustre over the palace, 
 and many traditions of the good bishop linger there. His 
 favourite walk in the beautiful palace gardens is said to have 
 been the terrace path, following the line of the wall between 
 two corner bastions. Local tradition says that he composed 
 there his well-known morning, evening and midnight hymns, 
 which better authorities declare to have been written at Win- 
 chester. But doubtless many of his friends and pupils first 
 learnt the hymns from his lips as they walked up and down 
 in the gardens, and he must have often played them upon 
 his organ in the palace. Ever since his youth he had been 
 a lover of music, and when a young chaplain at Winchester, 
 had possessed an organ of his own. 
 
 Within his palace he wrote many of his books: "The 
 Practice of Divine Love," the " Directions for Prayer," and 
 " Prayers for the use of all Resorting to the Baths at Bath," 
 his " Pastoral Letter on the Observance of Lent," and a Letter 
 to the clergy on behalf of the French Protestant refugees. 
 Frugal in his personal habits, he was large-hearted and 
 liberal, from the days of his academic life when he gave 
 £100 as his parting gift to New College, to those of his 
 
 E.E.P. Y
 
 322 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 episcopate when the larger part of £4,000 was his contribu- 
 tion to a fund for the Huguenot refugees. He avoided 
 ostentation, going on foot when others went in coaches. 
 When he was at Wells on a Sunday he would have twelve 
 poor men or women to dine with him in his palace, cheering 
 them the while with discourse, generally mixed with some 
 useful instruction, and when they had dined, the remainder 
 was divided among them to be carried home to their families. 
 The guests bore away too the memory of kindly and com- 
 forting words — the more to be remembered and valued as 
 their host was a great man and a friend of the king. He 
 combined a wide experience of the world with the homely 
 virtues of a parish priest. When a beggar came to him he 
 would examine whether he could say the Lord's Prayer or 
 the Creed, and, finding much ignorance among the poor he 
 started schools for the children of his diocese. But his work 
 there and his devout life at Wells were interrupted by the 
 passing of the House of Stuart. 
 
 One of the famous Seven Bishops who petitioned James II. 
 to be excused from reading the Declaration of Indulgence he 
 was arrested and sent to the Tower. Yet after the triumphant 
 acquittal, and in spite of his support of the Revolution, he 
 retained so much feeling of loyalty towards the " royal 
 sufferer," as he called the fugitive king, that he refused to take 
 the oath of allegiance to William of Orange, and accordingly 
 forfeited his see. His decision to remain a " non-juror " was 
 arrived at after many heart-searchings. More than a year 
 was allowed to elapse between the time when he was legally 
 deprived and the actual expulsion in 1691. The day on 
 which Bishop Ken read from his throne in the cathedral his 
 protest against his deprivation, was probably his last appear- 
 ance there. It was followed soon afterwards by his departure
 
 THE PALACE OF WELLS 323 
 
 from the palace. His biographer, Dean Plumptre writes of 
 " partings under that roof from his clergy, from the poor who 
 had been his Sunday guests, from the boys whom he had cate- 
 chized and confirmed." Now he went forth bereft of his life's 
 work ; his only fund for the future being £700, the proceeds of 
 the sale of all his effects at the palace, his library excepted. 
 His books were stored at Longleat, with those of Lord 
 Weymouth, who placed his home at the bishop's disposal. 
 
 The palace was then empty for some months. It was 
 hard to find a willing successor to Bishop Ken. The first 
 candidate nominated in his place, Dr. William Beveridge 
 declined the bishopric, being unwilling to take the title which 
 Ken still used as his right. Richard Kidder accepted the 
 appointment, and so strong was the local feeling against him 
 in Wells, that when Bishop Kidder and his wife were killed 
 in the palace by the fall of some chimneys during the terrible 
 storm of 1703, popular superstition regarded the fatality as a 
 judgment of Providence on the supplanter of Ken. 
 
 Queen Anne offered to restore him to the see. He refused 
 the offer on the ground of his age and infirmity, and wrote 
 to George Hooper to accept the see. He died in 1710 at 
 Longleat House where Lord Weymouth had received him 
 twenty years before. He was buried as he had previously 
 given instructions " at sunrise, without any manner of pomp, 
 in the churchyard of the parish nearest the place of my 
 death " ; and his tomb is to be seen beneath the east window 
 of the parish church of Frome, and not in his cathedral city. 
 One of the ten portraits of Ken is in the palace at Wells. In 
 the north aisle of the cathedral a glass window was erected 
 in honour of Bishop Ken, as a memorial to his biographer 
 Dean Plumptre, who died in 1891. In the centre Ken is repre- 
 sented in full pontifical vestments ; over his head is the 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES 
 
 favourite superscription of his letters, " All glory be to God," 
 and at his feet his rule of life, " Et tu quaeris tibi grandia ? 
 Noli quaerere." 
 
 The years of Ken's episcopate are thrown into high relief 
 by the century of spiritual indifference in high places which 
 followed it. The bishop's palace at Wells ceased for several 
 generations to be the important centre of the diocese. Three 
 bishops in succession — Bishops Wynne, Willes, and Moss — 
 lived little at Wells. Bishop Wynne's fine place, Soughton 
 Hall, in Flintshire, was his favourite place of residence. No 
 one of these bishops was buried in Wells Cathedral. The 
 parish work in the diocese was neglected, rectors, like their 
 superiors, being mostly non-resident. As late as 1789 the 
 rector of Cheddar resided at Oxford, and his curate at Wells 
 and in nineteen adjoining parishes there does not appear to 
 have been a single resident clergyman. Brutal amusements 
 were practised, bulls were still baited in the villages and even 
 on the Cathedral green. With the great Revivalist movement, 
 under John Wesley, the bishops of the eighteenth century 
 had naturally no sympathy ; but in favour of Bishop Moss and 
 of his successor, Richard Beadon, it must be said that they 
 approved the work of the orthodox Revivalists, Hannah 
 More and her sister, who had established Sunday schools 
 throughout the Mendip district. 
 
 In the nineteenth century attention was again bestowed 
 upon the palace. Bishop Beadon (1802 — 24) restored 
 Bekynton's building so as to obtain three storeys in place of 
 two. Bishop Law (1824 — 45), wishing to make the ruins 
 in his grounds more picturesque, pulled down two walls of 
 Burnell's Hall, and t carefully repaired what he left standing. 
 In the year 1846 Bishop Richard Bagot carried out con- 
 siderable works of alteration and restoration with Benjamin
 
 THE PALACE OF WELLS 325 
 
 Ferrey for his architect. The marble shafts and bases were 
 then inserted in the windows in the gallery, and the upper 
 storey, the porch, and buttresses were added to the west 
 front ; the tower at the north and the turret at the south 
 were new additions, and Bekynton's kitchen and offices were 
 rebuilt. 
 
 At the close of the nineteenth century Lord Arthur Hervey 
 (1869 — 94) converted the undercroft or ground floor of the 
 palace, with its row of slender Purbeck columns down the 
 centre, into a splendid dining-room, paving it and inserting 
 a fire-place, and it is now used on state occasions as the dining- 
 room of the palace. Of this bishop, his friend the Rev. Canon 
 Church writes : " In a long episcopate of a quarter of a century 
 he has added an honoured name to the roll of worthies who 
 have sat in the seat of Ken and Ralph, of Bekynton and of 
 Jocelin. Keenly sensible of the historic dignity of his palace, 
 and of the beauty surrounding his noble heritage, as well as 
 of the sacredness of his office, he delighted to make his palace 
 the centre of spiritual and intellectual life, and to open his home 
 and gardens for the enjoyment and recreation of all his 
 friends and poorer neighbours, with a refined courtesy and 
 sympathetic hospitality." 
 
 The palace, now seven centuries old, still stands in the 
 green island below the Mendip Hills, where the Cathedral and 
 Vicars' Close, the Lady chapel, and chapter-house form its 
 beautiful setting. The bustle of commerce has not reached 
 Wells. The wide greensward spread out before the west 
 front, the deep pools of clear water reflecting the Cathedral, 
 and, above all, the stately buildings themselves, have a 
 benign dignity and peace which tell of a long life spent 
 in quietness.
 
 Jnfce;r 
 
 Aaron, the Jew of Lincoln, 163 
 Acton, Sir John de. 295 
 Acton Burnell, Salop, 290 
 Addington, Surrey, 4, 5 
 
 William de. 56 
 
 Aigueblanche, Peter de, Bishop of 
 
 Hereford, 260 — 264 
 Alasco the Pole, 74 
 Albini, William de, 160 
 Alcock, John, Bishop of Ely, 35 
 Alcune, Bishop of Worcester, 15 
 Alderne, Captain, 282 
 Aldingbourne, Sussex, 18, 19 
 Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln 160 — 
 
 162 
 Alnwick, William, Bishop of Lincoln, 
 178— 181 
 
 Bishop of Norwich, 
 
 218 
 Alselin, Geoffrey, 157 
 Amberley, Sussex, Castle of, 17, 18, 
 
 22 
 Amcotts. Mrs.. 203 
 Andrews, Launcelot, Bishop of 
 
 Winchester, 142 
 Anne Boleyn, Queen of Henry VIII., 
 
 70. 72 
 of Denmark, Queen of James I., 
 
 3I3—3I5 
 Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 
 158 
 Arthur, son of Henry VII., 135 
 Arundel, Thomas, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, 55 
 
 Arundel, Earl of. See Fitz-Alan. 
 
 Ascham, Roger, 106 
 
 Ashbury, Roger of, 294 
 
 Atlay, James, Bishop of Hereford, 
 286 
 
 Atterbury, Francis, Bishop of 
 Rochester, 10 
 
 Atwater, William, Bishop of Lincoln, 
 182 
 
 Audley, Thomas, Lord, 70 
 
 Aylmer, John, Bishop of London, 
 105— in 
 
 Ayremynn or Ayermin, William de, 
 Bishop of Norwich, 56, 214 
 
 Ayscough, William, Bishop of Salis- 
 bury, 25 
 
 B. 
 
 Bagot, Richard, Bishop of Bath and 
 
 Wells, 324 
 Baldock, Ralph, Bishop of London, 
 92 
 
 Robert de, Lord Chancellor. 
 
 270, 271 
 Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 
 52 
 Banbury, Oxon., Castle of, 160 
 Bancroft, Edmund (for Richard), 
 Archbp. of Canterbury, 
 78. 
 
 John, Bishop of Oxford, 
 
 48 
 Bardelby, Robert de, 56 
 Barlow, Thomas, Bishop of Lincoln, 
 201
 
 328 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Barlow, William, Bishop of Bath 
 and Wells, 310 
 —312 
 
 Bishop-elect of 
 
 Chichester, 75 
 
 Barons, William, Bishop of London, 
 
 95 
 Barrington, Shute, Bishop of 
 
 Salisbury, 27 
 Barton. Hereford, 284 
 Basset, Fulk, Bishop of London, 
 
 92 
 Bath, Abbey, 289, 305, 313 
 
 Chapter, 287, 290 
 
 Bathurst, Henry, Bishop of Norwich, 
 
 249—250 
 Baumburgh, Sir Thomas de, 92 
 Baxter, Richard, 197, 199 
 Beadon, Richard, Bishop of Glou- 
 cester, 42 
 
 Bishop of Bath 
 
 and Wells, 
 
 324 
 Beauchamp, Richard, Bishop of 
 
 Salisbury, 25, 28 
 Beaudesert, Warwick, 12 
 Beaufort, Henry, Bishop of 
 
 Winchester, 134 
 Becket, Thomas a, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, 
 
 5 
 Lord Chan- 
 cellor, 56 
 Becon, Dr. John, 229 
 Bee, Captain, 194 — 196 
 Bekynton, Thomas of, Bishop of 
 
 Bath and Wells, 299—304 
 Belvoir Castle, Leicester, 193 
 Benson, Edward, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, 205 
 
 Martin, Bishop of Glou- 
 
 cester, 42 
 Bentworth, Richard de, Bishop of 
 
 London, 92 
 Berkeley, Gilbert, Bishop of Bath 
 
 and Wells, 313 
 
 Bernard, Prior of Champagne, 260 — 
 262 
 
 Bernardi, 18, 23 
 
 Berry, Major-General James, 197 — 
 199 
 
 Bertwulf, King of Mercia, 15 
 
 Beveridge, Dr. William. 323 
 
 Bexhill, Sussex, 18 
 
 Bigod, Roger, 209 
 
 Bilney, " Saint," 224 
 
 Bilson, Thomas, Bishop of Win- 
 chester, 141 
 
 Birch, Colonel John, 282 — 284 
 
 Birmingham, See, 3 
 
 Bishopstone, Sussex, 18 
 
 Bishop Stortford (Storteford), Herts., 
 Castle of, 93 
 
 Bisse, Philip, Bishop of Hereford, 
 284 
 
 Blackwell, Captain John, 245 
 
 Bloett, Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, 
 
 158 
 
 Blois, Henry of, Bishop of Win- 
 chester, 125 — 127 
 
 William of, Bishop of 
 
 Lincoln, 167 
 
 Blomefield, Francis, 224 
 
 Blomfield, Charles, Bishop of Lon- 
 don, 121 
 
 Blond, Richard, Bishop of Exeter, 
 28 
 
 Blythe, John, Bishop of Salisbury, 26 
 
 Bokyngham, John, Bishop of Lincoln, 
 176 
 
 Bolock, Hugh, Bailiff of Hereford. 
 
 275 
 Bond, Francis, " Gothic Architecture 
 
 in England," 257 
 Bonner, Edmund, Bishop of London, 
 
 98—103 
 Booth, Charles, Bishop of Hereford, 
 277 
 
 William, Archbishop of York, 
 
 50 
 
 Bosbury, Hereford, 279 
 
 Bottesham, John, 177
 
 INDEX 
 
 329 
 
 Bowack, John, 117 
 Boxe, Robert atte, 295 
 Bradshawes, James, 229 
 Bransford, Wulston de, Bishop of 
 
 Worcester, 15 
 Brantingham, Thomas de, Bishop of 
 
 Exeter, 30 
 Braybrooke, Robert, Bishop of Lon- 
 don, 93 
 Breaute, Fulk de, 54 
 Brereton, Sir William, 5 
 Breton. John le, Bishop of Hereford, 
 
 264 
 Brewer, William, Bishop of Exeter, 
 
 28 
 Bristol Abbey, 2 
 
 Palace, 43 
 
 See, 2, 42 
 
 Brittany, Duke of. S(e Montfort. 
 
 itton, John, 218 
 Broill, Sussex, 18 
 Bromley, Kent, Palace, 10 
 
 St. Blaise's Well, 
 
 10 
 Bronescombe Walter, Bishop of 
 
 Exeter, 29 
 Brooke, Lord. See Greville. 
 Brown, Captain, 81 
 Browne, Edward, Bishop of Win- 
 chester, 153 
 
 Thomas, Bishop of Norwich, 
 
 220 
 
 Sir Thomas, 231, 245 
 
 Broxholme, John, 193 
 
 Bruce, Giles de, Bishop of Hereford, 
 
 260 
 Bryan, Sir Francis, 225 
 Bubwith. Nicholas, Bishop of Bath 
 
 and Wells, 297 
 Bucer, Martin, 74 
 Buckden. Hunts., 175, 189, 190, 202, 
 
 204 
 Buckfastleigh, Devon, Abbey of, 
 
 29 
 Buckingham, Duke of. See Villiers. 
 Buckle, Edmund, 287, 289. 300 
 
 Buckner, John, Bishop of Chichester 
 
 20 
 Buckstead, Essex, 97 
 Burges, Dr. Cornelius, 318 
 Burgh, Hubert de, 54 
 Burghersh, Bartholomew de, 56 
 
 Henry, Bishop of Lin- 
 coln, 175 
 Burghill, John, Bishop of Lichfield, 
 
 12 
 Burnell, Robert, Bishop of Bath and 
 
 Wells, 290 
 Burnet, Gilbert, Bishop of Salisbury. 
 
 28, 116 
 Burthred, King of Mercia, 14 
 Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, Abbot 
 
 of, 211 
 Bush, Paul, Bishop of Bristol, 42 
 Butler, John, Bishop of Hereford, 
 
 285 
 Byrde, John, Bishop of Chester, 102 
 
 C. 
 
 CtDWALLAR, 22 
 
 Cakeham, 18 
 
 Calthorpe, Walter, Bishop of Nor- 
 wich, 212 
 Cambrensis, Giraldus, 162, 167 
 Cambrigge, Henry, 15 
 Cantelupe. Thomas de, Bishop of 
 Hereford, 264, 266 
 Walter de, Bishop of 
 
 Worcester, 14, 264 
 William de, Baron Cante- 
 lupe, 264 
 Canterbury, Christchurch Priory, 52 
 Palace, 3, 4 
 
 Gate-house, 3 
 
 Capes, Canon, " Charters and Records 
 
 of Hereford Cathedral," 255 
 Capgrave, Monk of Lynn, 215 
 Carleton, Guy, Bishop of Bristol, 
 82
 
 330 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Carleton, Guy, Bishop of Chichester, 
 82 
 
 Carpenter. John, Bishop of Worces- 
 ter, 14 
 
 Cary, Valentine, Bishop of Exeter, 32 
 
 Castello, Hadrian de, Bishop of Bath 
 and Wells, 304 
 
 Catherine of Aragon, Queen of Henry 
 VIII., 44. 
 
 Howard, Queen of Henry 
 
 VIII., 184—188 
 Cavendish, General Charles, 198 
 Cecil, Sir Robert, 112 
 
 — William, 103, 104, 226 
 
 Chambers, John, Abbot and Bishop 
 
 of Peterboro', 44 
 Chandler, John, Bishop of Salisbury, 
 
 299 
 Chapone, Mrs., 151 
 Charles I., 79, 114, 143, 191, 280 
 
 - II., 149, 246, 320 
 V., Emperor, 4 
 
 Charlton, Thomas de, 269 
 
 Chaundler, Thomas, 301 
 
 Chelsea Church, 70 
 
 Chesney, Robert de, Bishop of 
 
 Lincoln, 162 — 164 
 Chester, Earl of. See Meschins. 
 Chichele, Henry, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, 58 
 Chichester Palace, 16 — 22 
 
 See, 16 
 
 Siege of, 19 
 
 Chigwell, Joan de, 278 
 
 Hamo de, 278 
 
 Richard de, 278 
 
 Clare, Richard de, Earl of Gloucester, 
 
 173 
 Clark, John, 43 
 
 Thomas, 43 
 
 Clephan, Mr., " Remembrance of the 
 
 Rev. C. Berry, 1 ' 199 
 Clerk, John, Bishop of Bath and 
 
 Wells, 306 
 Clifford, Roger de, 264 
 Colchester, St. Peter's Church, 98 
 
 Cold Waltham, Sussex, 18 
 Compton, Lord Alwyne, Bishop of 
 
 Ely, 35 
 
 Henry, Bishop of London, 
 
 117 
 Conway, Edward, Lord, 80 
 Coole, John, 98 
 
 Cooper, Thomas, Bishop of Win- 
 chester, 140 
 Corbet, Miles, 244, 245 
 
 Richard, Bishop of Norwich, 
 
 236—238 
 Corbett, William son of Sir Roger, 
 
 276 
 Cornish, Thomas, Chancellor of 
 
 Wells, 305 
 Cornwallis, Frederick, Bishop of 
 Lichfield, 14 
 
 Sir Thomas, 230 
 
 Cotton, Henry, Bishop of Salisbury, 
 27 
 
 Mr., 226 
 
 Courtenay, Peter, Bishop of Exeter, 
 
 3i 
 
 Bishop of Win- 
 
 chester, 135 
 Courtney, William, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, 4 
 
 Bishop of Lon- 
 
 don, 94 
 Coutance, Walter de, Bishop of 
 
 Lincoln, 165 
 Coventry, Warwick, 12 
 Coverdale, Miles, Bishop of Exeter, 
 
 32, 75 
 Cox, Richard, Bishop of Ely, 35, 36 
 Crafford, Major-General, 281 
 Cranmer, Thomas, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, 5, 6, 63 — 65, 69, 72 — 74 
 Craswell Priory, Hereford, 262 
 Crediton, Devon, 28 
 Creighton, Robert, Bishop of Bath 
 
 and Wells, 319 
 Cromwell, Oliver, 35, 83, 115, 192 
 
 Thomas, Dean of Wells, 
 
 310
 
 INDEX 
 
 331 
 
 Cromwell, Thomas, Secretary, 70 
 Croydon Palace, 4, 5 
 
 Vicar of, 71 
 
 Croyland, Godfrey, Abbot of Peter- 
 
 boro', 47 
 Cuddesdon, Oxon, Estate in, 317 
 
 Palace, 49 
 
 Vicarage, 48 
 
 Culpepper, Thomas, 186 — 188 
 Curll, Walter, Bishop of Winchester, 
 
 M3 
 
 Bishop of Bath and 
 
 Wells, 316 
 
 D. 
 
 Dandy, Edward, 83 
 
 Daniel. John, 271 
 
 Darcy, John, 56 
 
 Darenth, Kent, 53 
 
 Davidson, Randall, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury. 154 
 Day, Dr., Rector of St. Faith's, 
 
 London, 191 
 Deane, Henry. Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, 6 
 Debiah. James, 203 
 Denham, Sir John, 145 
 Derham, Elias de, 288 
 Despenser, Henry, Bishop of Norwich, 
 215—217 
 
 Hugh, 270, 271 
 
 Devereux. Robert. Second Earl of 
 Essex, 78 
 
 Third Earl of 
 
 Essex, 240, 280 
 Dobell, Mr., 203 
 Dorchester, See, 156 
 Douglas, John, Bishop of Salisbury, 
 
 28 
 Dove. Thomas, Bishop of Peterboro', 
 
 45 
 Dowse, Alderman of Lincoln, 196 
 D range wick, 18 
 
 Drokenford, John, Bishop of Bath 
 
 and Wells, 295 
 Dudley, Robert, Earl of Leicester, 
 
 231 
 
 Duncomb, John, " History of Here- 
 fordshire," 285 
 
 Dunn, Walter, son of Sir Walter de, 
 
 268 
 Duppa, Brian, Bishop of Winchester, 
 
 148 
 Durandus, Bishop of Mende, 265, 
 
 278 
 
 Eaton Bishop, Hereford, 284 
 Eccleshall, Staffs., 12, 14 
 Edington or Edendone, William of, 
 Bishop of Winchester, 
 
 133 
 
 Edington, Wilts., Palace, 25 
 
 Bonhommes. Friars 
 
 of, 25 
 Edward I., 3, 175, 290 
 
 III., 291 
 
 IV., 304 
 
 Egerton, Henry, Bishop of Hereford, 
 
 285 
 Eleanor, Countess of Leicester, 
 sister of Henry III., 
 
 173 
 
 Queen of Edward I., 290 
 
 Elham, South, Suffolk, 217 
 Elizabeth, Queen of England, 5, 75, 
 
 78, in, 112, 141, 230—233 
 Ely Castle, 34 
 
 Cathedral, 35 
 
 Palace, 34, 35 
 
 Emas, Alderman of Lincoln, 193, 
 
 196 
 Englefield, Sir Thomas, 277 
 Erasmus, 9, 61, 97 
 Erconwald, Bishop of London, 91 
 Erghum, Ralph, Bishop of Bath and 
 
 Wells, 296 
 Erpingham, Sir Thomas, 216
 
 332 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Essex, Earls of. See Devereux. 
 Ethelbald, King of the West Saxons, 
 
 124 
 Ethelbert, King of East Anglia, 255 
 Eustace le Moine, 54 
 Evelyn, John, 117 
 Exeter Cathedral, 30, 33 
 
 Palace, 28, 30, 31, 33, 34 
 
 Chapel of, 28 
 
 Prison of, 30 
 
 See, 28 
 
 Broadgate in, 31 
 
 High Cross in, 31 
 
 Southernhay in, 32 
 
 Fairfax, Sir Thomas, 46 
 
 Farmery, William, 202 
 
 Farnham Castle, 123, 124, 126, 129, 
 
 135. 137. r 39. I4 1 ! 
 
 142, 148, 149, 152, 
 
 153 
 
 Siege of, 143—147, 
 
 150 
 Church, 135, 147 
 
 " Great Park " in, 124, 137 
 
 " Little Park" in, 124, 137, 
 
 151 
 
 St. George's Inn in, 136 
 
 Townspeople, 131, 134, 143, 
 
 145, 146, 152 
 
 Vernon House in, 148 
 
 Fastolf, Sir John, 222, 225 
 
 Feel, John, Bishop of Oxford, 49 
 
 Ferry, Benjamin, 325 
 
 Firth, Professor, 199 
 
 Fisher, John, Bishop of Rochester, 9, 
 70, 72 
 
 Fitton, Thomas, 236 
 
 Fitz-Alan, Edmund, Earl of Arundel, 
 271 
 
 Fitzjames, Richard, Bishop of Lon- 
 don, 95 
 
 Fletcher, Richard, Bishop of Bristol, 
 43 
 
 Fletcher, Richard, Bishop of London, 
 
 in 
 Foliot, Gilbert. Bishop of Hereford, 
 258 
 
 Hugh, Bishop of Hereford, 
 
 260, 273 
 
 Robert, Bishop of Hereford, 
 
 258 
 Ford, Mrs. Alice, 33 
 Fox, Charles James, 249 
 Foxe, John, Martyrologist, 226 
 
 Richard, Bishop of Bath and 
 
 Wells, 304 
 Bishop of Winchester, 
 
 135 
 Freake, Edmund, Bishop of Norwich, 
 227—233 
 
 Mrs., 229 
 
 Frome, John de, 261 
 
 Fulham Church, g2, 93, 97, 109, 116 
 
 Manor, 91, 93 
 
 Palace, 91, 93, 95, 105, 113, 
 
 114, 119, 120, 121 
 
 Chapel, 93, 102, 119, 
 
 121 
 
 Elms, 108 
 
 Gardens, 117, 118 
 
 121 
 — — Vines, 103 
 
 Roads, 90 
 
 Bishop's Walk in, 120 
 
 ■ Bonner's Chair in, 119 
 
 Craven Cottage in, 96 
 
 Golden Lion Inn in, 99 
 
 Green Lane in, 115 
 
 Monk's Walk in, 101, 119 
 
 Palemeade in, 96 
 
 Fuller, Thomas, 236, 240 
 
 William, Bishop of Lincoln, 
 
 199 — 201 
 
 Gardiner, Stephen, Bishop of Win- 
 chester, 137 — 139, 223 
 Gascoigne, Thomas, 219
 
 INDEX 
 
 333 
 
 Gasquet, Dr. F. A., " Last Abbot of 
 
 Glastonbury," 306 
 Gates, Sir Henry, 311 
 
 — John, 311 
 
 Gauden, John, Bishop of Exeter, 33 
 Gaunter, John le, Bailiff of Hereford, 
 
 275 
 
 Gaywood, Norfolk, 221 
 
 Geoffrey, Bishop of Lincoln, 164 
 
 George III., 150 
 
 Gervays, John, Bishop of Winchester, 
 132 
 
 Giffard, Godfrey, Bishop of Wor- 
 cester, 14 
 
 Glanville, Gilbert de, Bishop of 
 Rochester, 7 
 
 Glastonbury, 287, 288, 308 
 
 Abbey, 307 
 
 Orewell Park, 312 
 
 Sharpham, 308 
 
 Tor Hill, 309 
 
 Gloucester, Abbey, 2, 39, 40, 42 
 
 Earls of. See Clare and 
 
 Robert. 
 
 Robert of, 263 
 
 See, 2, 3, 39 
 
 Gloys, James, 221 
 
 Godelee, Dean of Wells. 295 
 
 Godwin, Francis, Bishop of Hereford, 
 
 279 
 
 Canon of Wells, 311 
 
 Thomas, Bishop of Bath and 
 
 Wells, 313 
 
 Historian of Wells, 
 
 313 
 
 Goldwell, James, Bishop of Norwich, 
 221 
 
 Gooch, Sir Thomas, Bishop of Nor- 
 wich, 247 
 
 Goodman, Dean of Wells, 311 
 
 Goodrich, Thomas, Bishop of Ely, 
 
 35 
 Goring, George, Earl of Norwich, 147, 
 
 192 
 Grandisson, John, Bishop of Exeter, 
 29 
 
 Gray, Walter de, Archbishop of York, 
 
 92 
 Greville, Sir, Fulke, 113 
 
 Robert, Lord Brooke, 13 
 
 Grey, Henry. Earl of Stamford, 280 
 
 Lady Jane, 106 
 
 Grindal, Edmund, Bishop of London, 
 
 103 
 
 Archbishop of 
 
 York, 104 
 
 Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, 77, 
 104 
 
 Grocyn, William, 61 
 
 Grosseteste, Robert, Bishop of Lin- 
 coln, 171 — 174 
 
 Grozerd, Nicholas de, 276 
 
 Gullipher, Humfrey, Bailiff of Here- 
 ford, 275 
 
 Gundulph, Bishop of Rochester, 6 
 
 Gunthorp, Dean of Wells, 305 
 
 Gurdon, Adam de, 132 
 
 Gurney, Joseph John, 250 
 
 Gwyn, Eleanor (Nell), 320 
 
 Gynwell, John, Bishop of Lincoln, 
 181 
 
 H. 
 
 Hacket, John, Bishop of Lichfield, 
 
 13, 190, 191, 195 
 Hackington, Kent, College of, 52 
 Haddington, Viscount of. See 
 
 Ramsay. 
 Hadham, Herts., 93 
 Hakney, Middlesex, 92 
 Halifax, Samuel, Bishop of Gloucester, 
 
 42 
 Hall, Joseph, Bishop of Norwich, 
 
 240—245 
 Hailing, Kent. 8 
 Hammersmith, Middlesex, 90 
 Hampden, Renn Dickson, Bishop of 
 
 Hereford, 286 
 Hampton Bishop, Hereford, 284 
 Hankes, Thomas, 102
 
 334 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Hardy, Mathew, 83, 85 
 
 Hare, Francis, Bishop of Chichester, 
 20 
 
 Harewell, John, Bishop of Shrews- 
 bury, 293 
 
 Harington or Harrington, Sir John, 
 io2, 313 
 
 Harley, Edward, Earl of Oxford, 87 
 
 Harsall, Dean of Norwich, 239 
 
 Harsnet, Samuel, Bishop of Norwich, 
 234, 235 
 
 Hartlebury, Worcester, Castle, 14, 15 
 
 Chapel, 14 
 Harvey, Colonel Edmund, 114, 115 
 Hastings, John, Lord, 185 
 Hatton, Sir Christopher, 36 
 Havigal, Mr., 257 
 Hay, Nicholaa de la, 168 
 Haytor, Thomas, Bishop of Norwich, 
 
 248 
 Haywood, Staffordshire, 12 
 Heath, Judge, 19 
 Heathfield, Sussex, 18 
 Heigham, Norwich, 244 
 Helles, Kent, Chapel of, 53 
 Henchman, Humphrey, Bishop of 
 
 London, 116 
 Heneage, Sir Thomas, 230 
 Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles I., 
 
 114 
 Henry I., 159, 160 
 
 II., 123, 163 
 
 III., 34, 55, 170, 262 
 
 VI., 31, 93, 220 
 
 VII., 182, 305 
 
 — viii., 65, 73, 84, 135—137 
 
 Henshaw, Thomas, 101, 102 
 Hereford, Bishop's Fee, 272 
 
 Borough, 272, 275 
 
 Cathedral, 263 
 
 Friars Minor, 266 
 
 Palace, 255, 257, 259, 265, 
 
 277, 283, 284, 286 
 
 St. Catherine's 
 
 Chapel, 261 
 
 Hereford, Palace, St. Mary Magda- 
 lene's Chapel, 261, 285 
 Prison, 275 
 
 Sieges of, 279 — 283 
 
 Bister's Gate in, 283 
 
 " Cocedale " in, 258 
 
 St. Ethelbert's Fair, 273 
 
 Pie Lane in, 273 
 
 St. Martin's Church in, 281 
 
 St. Owen's Gate in, 279, 281 
 
 Herring, Thomas, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, 5 
 Hertford, Earl and Marquis of. See 
 
 Seymour. 
 Hervey, Lord Arthur, Bishop of Bath 
 
 and Wells, 325 
 Hethe, Hamode, Bishop of Rochester, 
 
 8 
 Heton, Martin, Bishop of Ely, 35 
 Hoadley, Benjamin, Bishop of Win- 
 chester, 150 
 
 Bishop of Here- 
 
 ford, 285 
 Hodges, Thomas, 42 
 Hodgkin, John, Bishop of Bedford, 
 
 75 
 Holbeach, alias Raundes, Henry, 
 
 Bishop of Lincoln, 188. 205 
 Holme Lacy, Hereford, 262 
 Honeywood, Dean of Lincoln, 200, 
 
 202 
 Hooker, Richard, 26 
 Hooper, George, Bishop of Bath and 
 
 Wells, 323 
 John, Bishop of Gloucester, 
 
 41 
 Hopton, John, Bishop of Norwich, 
 226 
 
 Sir Ralph, 317 
 
 Home, George, Bishop of Norwich, 
 
 248 
 Robert, Bishop of Winchester, 
 
 140 
 Horton, Thomas, Abbot of Gloucester, 
 
 39 
 Hotham, Captain, 193
 
 INDEX 
 
 335 
 
 Hotham, John, Bishop of Ely, 36 
 Howard, Lord Henry, 246 
 
 Duke of Nor- 
 
 folk, 247 
 
 Thomas, Duke of 
 
 Norfolk, 226 
 Howarth, Captain, 282 
 Howland, Richard, Bishop of 
 
 Peterboro', 44 
 Howley, William, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, 5, 
 88 
 Bishop of Lon- 
 don, 121 
 Hoxne, Suffolk, 221, 224 
 Hugh of Avalon, Bishop of Lincoln, 
 
 165—167 
 Hulme, Norfolk, St. Benet's Abbey, 
 
 224, 225 
 Humphrey, Humfrey, Bishop of 
 
 Hereford, 274 
 Hungerford, Sir Edward, 317 
 Huntingdon, Henry of, 158, 159 
 Hurd, Richard, Bishop of Worcester, 
 
 15 
 Hyde, Alexander, Bishop of Salis- 
 bury, 28 
 
 Ilchester, Richard of, Bishop of 
 
 Winchester, 127 
 Isabella, Queen of Edward II., 270 
 
 J- 
 
 James I., 78, 113 
 
 James, Roger, 309 
 
 Jewel, John, Bishop of Salisbury, 26, 
 
 27 
 Joan, Queen of Henry IV., 93 
 
 Widow of the Black Prince, 57 
 
 Jocelin, Bishop of Bath, 287 — 289 
 Joch, Son of Out, 157 
 John, King of England, 167 
 Johnson. John, 90 
 
 Jonson, Richard, 97 
 Juxon, William, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, 5, 
 85, 116 
 Bishop of Lon- 
 don, 114 
 
 K. 
 
 Kaye, John, Bishop of Lincoln, 205 
 Keene, Edmund, Bishop of Ely, 35 
 Kele, John, Prebendary of St. Mary, 
 
 Crakepool, 177 
 Kemp, John, Archbishop of York, 50 
 
 Bishop of London, 94 
 
 Ken, Thomas, Bishop of Bath and 
 
 Wells, 319—323 
 Keppel, Frederick, Bishop of Exeter, 
 
 34 
 Kett, Robert, 225 
 
 Kidder, Richard, Bishop of Bath and 
 
 Wells, 323 
 
 King, Edward, Bishop of Lincoln, 
 
 207 
 
 Henry, Bishop of Chichester, 
 
 19 
 
 Oliver, Bishop of Bath and 
 
 Wells, 304 
 
 Robert, Abbot of Oseney, 
 
 Bishop of Oxford, 47 
 Kirkeby, John, Bishop of Ely, 36 
 Kirton, Abbot of Peterboro', 47 
 Kitchell, Sir Gilbert de. 57 
 Knight, William, Bishop of Bath and 
 Wells, 310 
 
 L. 
 
 Lacy, Edmund, Bishop of Exeter, 31 
 Lake, Arthur, Bishop of Bath and 
 
 Wells. 315 
 Lambeth Church, 52, 53 
 
 Manor, 52, 53, 56, 70 
 
 Palace, 51, 53, 58, 60, 71, 
 
 73. 7 6 - 77- 80, 
 83, 87, 86
 
 336 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Lambeth Palace Chapel, 53, 58, 74, 
 79,81 
 
 Domestic regula- 
 
 tions, 63 — 69 
 
 Library, 78, 81, 87 
 
 Lollard's or Water 
 
 Tower, 51, 58, 
 72, 80, 82, 84, 88 
 
 Morton's Gateway, 
 
 84 
 
 Bridge, 73, 77 
 
 Dole. 67 
 
 St. Mary's Church, 60 
 
 • Treaty of, 54 
 
 Lancherley, Somerset, 288 
 
 Laney, Benjamin, Bishop of Lincoln, 
 
 199 
 Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 
 54 
 Langon, Peter, de, Prebend of Here- 
 ford, 261 
 Langton, Stephen, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, 53 
 Walter of, Bishop of Lich- 
 field, 11, 12 
 Latimer, Hugh, Bishop of Worcester, 
 
 7i 
 Laud, William, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, 5, 
 79—82 
 
 Bishop of Bath 
 
 and Wells, 316 
 Bishop of Lon- 
 don, 90, 114 
 Law, George, Bishop of Bath and 
 
 Wells, 324 
 Lawder, Colonel Sir Richard, 280 
 Lawrence, Henry, 198 
 Legge, Colonel, 49 
 Leicester, Countess of. See Eleanor. 
 Earl of. See Dudley. 
 
 John of, 173 
 
 Leighton, Dr. Alexander, 82 
 Leland, John, 306 
 Lennox, Duke of. See Stuart. 
 Leslie, John. Bishop of Ross, 139 
 
 Lexington, Henry de, Bishop of 
 
 Lincoln, 174 
 Ley ton, Dr. Richard, 308 
 Lichfield Cathedral, 13 
 
 Mint Yard, 14 
 
 Palace, 11, 12, 13, 14 
 
 See, 11, 12 
 
 Lincoln Castle, 156, 160, 168, 171, 
 192, 193 
 
 Cathedral, 157, 161, 164, 
 
 165, 171, 172 
 
 Palace, 158, 163, 165, 170, 
 
 *75- i7 8 — 182, 
 193, 196, 199, 
 200, 203, 206 
 
 Alnwick Tower, 
 
 178, 195, 197, 
 203, 204, 206 
 
 "Fair of," 169 
 
 Sieges of, 160, 168, 192, 
 
 194 — 196 
 
 Bailgate in, 156, 159 
 
 ■ Bargate in, 169 
 
 Chequer Gate in, 185, 192 
 
 Eastgate in, 160, 161, 192 
 
 ■ Newport Arch in, 155, 199 
 
 North Gate in, 192 
 
 Pottergate in, 200 
 
 St. Andrew's Church in, 163 
 
 St. Martin - at - Palace, 
 
 Church of, 218 
 
 St. Martin's Plain in, 218, 225 
 
 - St. Mary Magdalene's 
 
 Church in, 157 
 
 St. Michael on the Mount, 
 
 Church of, 159, 163 
 
 Sencil Dyke in, 168 
 
 "Steep, the," 185 
 
 Vicar's Court in, 174, 176 
 
 192, 194, 195 
 
 Winnowsty Lane in, 192 
 
 Witham Dyke in, 168 
 
 Lincoln, Earl of. See Romara, de. 
 Lind, Jenny, 251 
 
 Linsey. Alderman of Norwich, 243 
 Litester. John the, 215
 
 INDEX 
 
 337 
 
 Lloyd, William, Bishop of Norwich, 
 
 247 
 Llywdyn, Gruffydd ap, 256 
 London, Aldersgate Street, tig 
 
 "Bell,Le,"Holborn,36 
 
 Chepe, the, 29 
 
 — — Chichester Rents, 24 
 
 Ely Place, Holborn, 36 — 39 
 
 Fish Street, 260 
 
 — Old, 277, 278 
 
 Lincoln's Inn, 23 
 
 " Lombardeshull," 278 
 
 St. Mary Mounthaw, 271, 277 
 
 — St. Mary Somerset, 277 
 
 St. Paul's, 29 
 
 Savoy, 15 
 
 Soho Square, 16 
 
 — Somerset House, 13, 16 
 
 Strand the, 12, 15 
 
 — Temple Bar, 29 
 
 New, 15 
 
 Whitefriars, 16 
 
 Longchamp, William, 128 
 Longland, John, Bishop of Lincoln, 
 
 182—188 
 Lonsdale, John, Bishop of Lichfield, 
 
 Losinga, Herbert de, Bishop of 
 Norwich, 209 — 211, 214 
 
 Louis, son of Philip Augustus, 54, 129 
 
 Lovelace, Richard, 82 
 
 Lowe, John, Bishop of Rochester, 9 
 Thomas, 112 
 
 Lucy, Godfrey de, Bishop of Win- 
 chester, 128 
 
 Ludham, Norfolk, 227, 228, 229 
 
 Lyhert, Walter, Bishop of Norwich, 
 215, 218, 219 — 221, 222 
 
 Lysons, Rev. Daniel, 118 
 
 Lytton, Lord Bulwer, " A Strange 
 Story," 204, 207 
 
 M. 
 
 Maddocks, John, 109 
 Maidstone, Ralph, Bishop of Here- 
 ford, 260, 277 
 
 E.E.P. 
 
 Mainwaring, Charles, 204, 207 
 
 Malmesbury, William of, 161 
 
 Manchester, Earl of. See Montague 
 
 Mandeville, Geoffrey de, 92 
 
 Manners-Sutton, Charles, Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, 5 
 
 Manners-Sutton, Charles, Bishop 
 of Norwich, 249 
 
 Mapenore, Hugh de, Bishop of Here- 
 ford, 260 
 
 Margaret of Anjou, Queen of Henry 
 VI., 219, 220 
 
 Marsh, Adam, 174 
 
 Marshall, William, Earl of Pembroke, 
 54, 168 
 
 Martin, Thomas, 248 
 
 Martyr, Peter, 74 
 
 Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, 44 
 
 Mary Tudor, Queen of England, 139, 
 184 
 
 Mathew, Father, 251 
 
 Maud, Empress, Daughter of Henry 
 I., 160 
 
 Mayfield, Sussex, 4 
 
 Melun, Robert de, Bishop of Here- 
 ford, 258 
 
 Memo, Dionysius, 136 
 
 Meschins, Ranulf, Earl of Chester, 
 158, 160, 161 
 
 Mews, Peter, Bishop of Winchester, 
 
 150 
 
 Bishop of Bath and 
 
 Wells, 319 
 Michedeure, Thomas de, 271 
 Milfred, King of Mercia, 255 
 Moleynes, Adam de, Bishop of 
 
 Rochester, 17 
 Monmouth, Duke of. See Scott. 
 Montague, Edward, Earl of Man- 
 chester, 193 
 James, Bishop of Bath 
 and Wells, 313 
 Richard, Bishop of Nor- 
 wich, 240 
 Montaigne or Monteigne, George, 
 Bishop of London, 114 
 
 Z
 
 338 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Montaigne or Monteigne, George, 
 
 Bishop of Lincoln, 189 
 Montfort, John de, Duke of Brittany, 
 
 56 
 
 More, Sir Thomas, 10, 60, 70—72 
 
 Morley, George, Bishop of Win- 
 chester, 148 
 
 Morton, John, Bishop of Ely, Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, 60 
 
 Moss, Charles, Bishop of Bath and 
 Wells, 324 
 
 Moyle, Sir Thomas, 308 
 
 Musgrave, Thomas, Bishop of 
 Hereford, 286 
 
 N. 
 
 Neile, Richard, Bishop of Win- 
 chester, 10, 143 
 
 Bishop of Durham, 
 
 316 
 
 . . Bishop of Lincoln, 
 
 190 
 Nelthorpe, Dr., 203 
 Netterton, William de, 15 
 Nettleham, Lines., 175, 189 
 Nevill, Hugh de, 170 
 Neville, Ralph, Bishop of Chichester, 
 
 17. 2 3 
 
 Newark, Notts., Castle of, 160 
 
 Nix, Richard, Bishop of Norwich, 
 223 
 
 Norden, John, 141 
 
 Norfolk, Duke of. See Howard. 
 
 North, Brownlow, Bishop of Win- 
 chester, 151 
 
 Northampton, Marquis of. See Parr. 
 
 Northwode, Hugh de, Bishop of Ely, 
 
 34 
 Norwich Cathedral, 210, 212, 218, 
 
 222, 239 
 
 Charity, 214 
 
 Dominican Friars, 223 
 
 Palace, 210, 213, 217, 218, 
 
 220, 222, 224, 225, 232, 
 233—236, 244, 247, 252 
 
 Norwich Palace, St. Mary's Chapel 
 in, 212, 214, 246 
 
 Priory, 219 
 
 St. George's Guild, 221 — 
 
 223 
 Walloons in, 226, 236 
 Bishop Alnwick's Gateway, 
 
 218, 225, 235 
 Bishop Salmon's Gateway, 
 
 214 
 
 Bishop's Bridge, 225 
 
 Bishop's Gate, 225, 246 
 
 Cowholm, 209 
 
 Erpingham Gate, 251 
 
 Green Yard, 232, 234, 239 
 
 Guildhall, 243 
 
 " Holmstrete," 225 
 
 Lollards' Pit, 218, 224 
 
 Mousehold Hill, 231 
 
 New Hall Yard, 240 
 
 St. Mary - in - the - Marsh, 
 
 Church of, 252 
 St. Michael's Land alias 
 Tombland, 209 
 
 St. Stephen's Gate, 231 
 
 Thorpe, 209 
 
 Wakering's Cloister, 236 
 
 ■ Earl of. See Goring. 
 
 O. 
 
 Offa. King of the East Saxons, 92 
 
 King of Mercia, 255 
 
 Old Sarum, 24 
 Onslow, Sir Richard, 144 
 Orlton, Adam de, Bishop of Hereford, 
 269—271, 273, 278 
 
 Bishop of Win- 
 
 chester, 133 
 Osbalderton, Richard, Bishop of 
 
 London, 119 
 Osbert, Sheriff of Lincoln, 158 
 
 son of Nigel, 55 
 
 Oseney, Oxon, Abbey of, 47 
 Osgodeby, Adam de, 56 
 Otford, Kent, Palace, 4, 5
 
 INDEX 
 
 339 
 
 Ottery St. Mary, Devon, College of, 
 
 30 
 Oxford, Earl of. See Harley. 
 
 Gloucester College. 47 
 
 See of, 47 
 
 Siege of, 46 
 
 Paget, Sir William, 13 
 Parker, Mathew, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, 63, 64, 66, 69, 
 
 74—77. 8 5. 96 
 
 Samuel, 116 
 
 Parkhurst, John, Bishop of Norwich, 
 226, 228 
 
 Paris, Matthew, 288, 289 
 
 Parr, William, Marquis of North- 
 ampton, 225 
 
 Paston, John, 221 
 
 " Paston Letters, The," 220 
 
 Patrick, Simon, Bishop of Ely, 244 
 
 Paul, William, Bishop of Oxford, 49 
 
 Paulinus, 157 
 
 Pearce, Dr., 76 
 
 Peckham, John, Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, 55 
 
 Pelham, John, Bishop of Norwich, 252 
 
 Pembroke, Earl of. See Marshall. 
 
 Pepys, Samuel, 200 
 
 Pern, Dr., Dean of Ely, 108 
 
 Pert, Captain, 196 
 
 Peterboro' Cathedral. 44, 45 
 
 Palace, 44, 45, 46, 47 
 
 See, 44 
 
 Philippa, Queen to Edward III., 
 
 291 
 Philpotts, Henry, Bishop of Exeter, 
 
 34 
 Picot, son of Colsuen, 158 
 Piers, William, Bishop of Bath and 
 
 Wells, 316, 319 
 Plumley, Samuel, 80 
 Plumptree, Dean, 323 
 Pole, Cardinal Reginald, Archbishop 
 
 of Canterbury, 74 
 
 Pole, William de la, Duke of Suffolk 
 
 219 
 Pollard, 30S, 309 
 Poore, Richard, Bishop of Salisbury, 
 
 24 
 Popham, Sir Francis, 317 
 Porteus, Beilby, Bishop of London, 
 
 119 
 Pownall, Thomas, 203 
 Prescote, Simon, 31 
 Prestbury, 279 
 
 Q. 
 
 Quebec, Bishop of, 150 
 
 R. 
 
 Raddlphus, Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, 56 
 
 Raleigh, William, Bishop of Win- 
 chester, 130, 261 
 
 Ralph, Bishop of Chichester, 16 
 
 Ramsay, Sir John, Viscount of 
 Haddington, 142 
 
 Ramsbury, Wilts, 26 
 
 Ramsey Abbey, 209 
 
 Ranulf, son of Erkomar Canon of 
 Hereford, 258, 259 
 
 Raundes, Henry. See Holbeach. 
 
 Ravis, Bishop of Gloucester, 42 
 
 Rawley, Sheriff of Norwich, 242 
 
 Ray, Rev. John, 117 
 
 Reading, Simon de, 271 
 
 Rede, William, Bishop of Chichester, 
 17, 22 
 
 Remigius, Bishop of Dorchester, 
 
 156 
 Reppes, William. See Rugge. 
 Reynolds, Edward, Bishop of Nor- 
 wich, 245 
 
 Richard, Bishop of Lin- 
 
 coln, 203 
 
 Walter, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, 56
 
 34Q 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Rich, Robert. Lord, 107 
 
 Lady, 104 
 
 Richard II., 12 
 
 III., 31 
 
 Richard, Bishop of Hereford, 258 
 Richard's Castle, Hereford, 279 
 Ridley, Nicholas, Bishop of London, 
 
 99 — 101 
 Riseholme, Lines., 205, 207 
 Robert, Earl of Gloucester, 161 
 
 son of William Rufus, 158 
 
 Robinson, Crabb, 250 
 
 John, Bishop of London, 
 118 
 Roches, Peter des, Bishop of Win- 
 chester, 128, 130, 168 
 Rochester Palace, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 
 — — — — Chapel, 8, 10 
 St. Andrew's Priory, 6, 7, 
 
 52, 53 
 Rochford, Jane, Lady, 186 — 188 
 Roe, Sir Thomas and Lady, 114 
 Roger, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 
 
 290 
 Romara, William de, Earl of Lincoln, 
 
 160 
 Roper, William, 70 
 
 Margaret, 71 
 
 Rossiter, Colonel, 193 
 
 Rugge, alias Reppes, William, Bishop 
 
 of Norwich, 224, 235 
 Rupert, Prince, 280 
 Russell, Lord John, 309 
 Rygge, Dr. Robert, 58 
 
 Sadington, Robert de, 56 
 St. Albans, See of, 3 
 St. Pol, Sir John de, 56, 
 Salisbury Castle, 24 
 
 Cathedral, 25, 27 
 
 Palace, 25, 6, 28 
 
 See, 24 
 
 Salmon, John, Bishop of Norwich, 
 213, 217, 221, 222 
 
 Sampson, Richard, Bishop of 
 
 Chichester, 24 
 Sancroft, William, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, 86 
 Sandale, John, Bishop of Winchester, 
 
 133 
 Sanderson, Robert, Bishop of 
 
 Lincoln, 199 
 Sandys, Colonel, 15 
 Edwin, Bishop of London, 104 
 
 Archbishop of York, 
 
 104 
 
 William, Baron, 137 
 
 Savaric, Bishop of Bath and Glaston- 
 bury, 287 
 
 Savoy, Boniface of, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, 53 
 
 Sawtre, William, 216 
 
 Scambler, Edmund, Bishop of 
 Norwich, 233 
 
 Seaming, Roger of, Bishop of 
 Norwich, 212 
 
 Scory, John, Bishop of Hereford, 75, 
 277, 279 
 
 Scott, James, Duke of Monmouth, 
 246, 319, 321 
 
 Colonel Thomas, 83 
 
 Scrope, Sir Adrian, 200 
 
 Scudamore, Sir Barnabas, 280 — 282 
 
 Seffrid, Bishop of Chichester, 17 
 
 Selsey, Sussex, 16, 18 
 
 Seymour, Edward, Earl of Hertford, 
 
 13 
 Duke of Somer- 
 set, 16, 311 
 
 Sir Thomas, 65 
 
 William, Marquis of Hert- 
 
 ford, 280, 317 
 
 Sharp, Dr., 117 
 
 Shaxton, Nicholas, Bishop of Salis- 
 bury, 224 
 
 Sheen (Shene) Surrey, 56, 135 
 
 Sheepshanks, John, Bishop of 
 Norwich, 252 
 
 Sheldon, Gilbert, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, 86
 
 INDEX 
 
 34i 
 
 Sheldon, Gilbert, Bishop of Lon- 
 don, 116 
 
 Shelwick, Hereford. 284 
 
 Sherburne, Robert, Bishop of 
 Chichester, 18, 21 
 
 Sherlocke, Thomas, Bishop of 
 
 Salisbury, 28 
 
 Bishop of 
 
 London, 119 
 
 Sherwood Forest, Notts., 170 
 Shrewsbury, Ralph of, Bishop of 
 
 Bath and Wells, 291 — 296 
 Sigillo, Robert de, Bishop of London, 
 
 92 
 Sleaford, Lines., Castle of, 160 
 Smith, William, Bishop of Lincoln, 
 
 204 
 Somerset, Duke of. See Seymour. 
 Soughton Hall. Flintshire, 324 
 Southwark, Surrey, St. Thomas' 
 
 Hospital, 131 
 See, 3 
 
 Stews at, 133 
 
 Southwell, Notts., Palace, 50 
 
 See, 3 
 
 Sparrow, Anthony, Bishop of 
 
 Norwich, 246, 247 
 Sprat, Thomas, Bishop of Rochester, 
 
 10 
 Squire, Doctor, 106 
 Stafford, John, Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, 5 
 
 Bishop of Bath and 
 
 Wells, 297, 298, 303 
 Stamford, Earl of. See Grey, Henry. 
 Stanley, Arthur, Dean of Westminster, 
 216, 249, 251 
 
 Edward, Bishop of Norwich, 
 
 249, 251 
 Stapledon, Walter de, Bishop of 
 
 Exeter, 29 
 Staverdale, Somerset, Canons of, 293 
 Stephen, King of England, 160—162 
 Stepney (Stebenheke) Middlesex, 
 
 Church of, 92 
 Stigand, Bishop of Chichester, 16 
 
 Still, John, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 
 
 313 
 
 Stillingfleet, Edward, Bishop of 
 
 Worcester, 15 
 Stillington, Robert, Bishop of Bath 
 
 and Wells, 304 
 Stokesley, John, Bishop of London, 
 
 73, 97 
 Stoughton, Mr., 147 
 Stow, Lines., 156, 165, 177 
 Stratford, John, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, 57 
 Straw. Jack, 57 
 Stuart, James, Duke of Lennox, 79 
 
 Duke of York, 246 
 
 Sudbury, Simon, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, 56, 
 
 57 
 Bishop of Lon- 
 don, 94 
 
 Sufneld, Walter of. See Calthorpe. 
 
 Suffolk, Duke of. See Pole, de la. 
 
 Sugwas, Hereford, 279, 284 
 
 Sulyard, William, 23 
 
 Summer, Charles, Bishop of Win- 
 chester, 152 
 
 Sussex, Augustus Frederick, Duke of, 
 250 
 
 Sutton, Oliver, Bishop of Lincoln, 
 
 174 
 Swinfield, Richard de, Bishop of 
 
 Hereford, 265—268, 278 
 
 Swinfield, Richard de, " Roll of 
 Household Expenses," (Camden 
 Soc), 266 — 268, 277 
 
 Swithun (Saint), Bishop of Win- 
 chester, 124 
 
 T. 
 
 Tait, Archibald, Bishop of London, 
 
 121 
 Tattershall Castle, Lines., 194 
 Taylor, Captain Silas, 284
 
 342 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Temple Bruer, Lines., 184 
 
 Tenison. Thomas, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, 118 
 Terrick, Richard, Bishop of London, 
 
 119 
 Thetford, Norfolk, 223 
 Thirlby, Thomas, Bishop of Norwich, 
 
 223 
 Thomas, John, Bishop of Rochester, 
 10 
 
 Bishop of Winchester, 
 
 150 
 
 Thorne, John, 309 
 
 Thorold, Anthony, Bishop of Win- 
 chester, 153 
 
 Thynne, Sir Thomas, Lord Wey- 
 mouth, 323 
 
 Ticehurst, Sussex, 18 
 
 Tideman de Winchcomb, Bishop of 
 Worcester. 15 
 
 Tillotson, John, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, 86 
 
 Toftes, Sheriff of Norwich, 243 
 
 Tomline, Sir George Pretyman, 
 Bishop of Lincoln, 205 
 
 Tooley, Alderman of Norwich, 242 
 
 Totington, Alexander of, Bishop of 
 Norwich, 217 
 
 Tours, John of, Bishop of Bath, 287 
 
 Towers, John, Bishop of Peterboro 1 , 
 
 45 
 Trelawny, Sir Jonathan, Bishop of 
 
 Winchester, 156 
 Trellick, John, Bishop of Hereford, 
 
 276 
 Trevenant, John. Bishop of Hereford, 
 
 273, 278 
 Trimnell, Charles, Bishop of Nor- 
 wich, 247 
 Bishop of Win- 
 chester, 150 
 Trollope, Edward, Bishop of 
 
 Nottingham, 50 
 Trottiscliffe (Trottesclive), Kent, 
 
 Palace, 8 
 Truro, See of, 3 
 
 Tunstall, Cuthbert, Bishop of London, 
 
 96 
 Tupsley, Hereford, 284 
 Turbe, William, Bishop of Norwich. 
 
 211, 216 
 Turbeville, Thomas, 263 
 Turner, William, Dean of Wells, 99 
 Twickenham, Middlesex, 200 
 Twysden, Sir Roger, 82 
 Tyler, Wat, 57 
 Tylney, Catherine, 187 
 Tyshthal, Bishop of Hereford, 91 
 
 Valence, Aymer de, Bishop of Win- 
 chester, 130 
 
 Valey, John, 98 
 
 Vanbrugh, Sir John, 118 
 
 Van Ling, 27 
 
 Vauxhall, Surrey, 55 
 
 Venables, Canon, " Lincolnshire 
 Notes and Queries," 200 
 
 Vere, William de, Bishop of Here- 
 ford, 259 
 
 Veysey, John, Bishop of Exeter, 32 
 
 Victoria, Queen of England, 152 
 
 Villiers, George, Duke of Bucking- 
 ham, 246 
 Lady Mary, 79 
 
 W. 
 
 Waddington, Edward, Bishop of 
 
 Chichester, 20 
 Wake, William, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, 5 
 Wakeman, John, Bishop of 
 
 Gloucester, 39 
 Wakering, John, Bishop of Norwich, 
 
 217 
 Waller, Sir William, 19, 145 — 147, 
 
 280 
 Walsham, North, Norfolk, 215
 
 INDEX 
 
 343 
 
 Walsingham, Sir Francis, 230 
 Walter, Hubert, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, 53, 56 
 Walton, Isaac, 149 
 Warbeck, Perkin, 305 
 Ward, Seth, Bishop of Exeter, 34 
 
 Bishop of Salisbury, 27 
 
 Warham, William, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury. 
 6, 56, 61—63 
 , Bishop of Lon- 
 don, 95 
 Watson, Sir William, 118 
 Waynflete, William of, Bishop of 
 
 Winchester, 134 
 Webb, "Military Memoir of Colonel 
 
 John Birch," 282 
 Wellesley, Arthur, Duke of Wel- 
 lington, 152 
 Wells, Hugh of, Bishop of Lincoln, 
 
 168, 170, 288 
 Wells Cathedral, 287, 288, 289, 302, 318 
 
 Citizens, 294 
 
 Manor, 311, 319 
 
 Palace, 289, 290, 293, 296, 300, 
 
 306, 311, 312, 318, 324 
 
 Siege, 318 
 
 Barnwell House, 316 
 
 Bishop's Eye, 300 
 
 Browne's Gate, 314 
 
 St. Andrew's Well, 293, 300 
 
 St. Calixtus' Chapel, 303 
 
 — — Vicars' Close, 296, 300 
 
 Wendover, Richard de, 162, 168, 169 
 
 Westbury, Somerset, 311 
 
 Westfaling, Herbert, Bishop of 
 Hereford, 279 
 
 Westminster Abbey, 2 
 
 Weston, Sir Henry, 105 
 
 Weymouth, Lord. See Thynne. 
 
 Whalley, Major-General, 198 
 
 Wharton, Henry, 86, 87 
 
 Wherwell, Hants., Benedictine Con- 
 vent, 98 
 
 Whitbourne (Whitborn), Hereford, 
 279, 284 
 
 White.Francis, Bishop of Norwich, 234 
 
 William, 218 
 
 Whitgift, John, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, 78 
 Whiting, Richard, Abbot of Glaston- 
 bury, 306—309 
 Wickham Bishops (Wickham), Essex, 
 
 93 
 Wilberforce, Samuel, Bishop of 
 
 Winches- 
 ter, 152 
 
 Bishop of 
 
 Oxford, 
 
 49 
 Willes, Edward, Bishop of Bath 
 and Wells, 324 
 
 John, 101 
 
 William II. (Rufus), 158, 209, 211 
 
 III., 203 
 
 called Godknave, Bailiff of 
 
 Hereford, 275 
 
 Earl, 256 
 
 Frederick, Duke of Glouces- 
 ter, 249 
 
 Saint, of Norwich, 212, 222 
 
 son of Haco, Sheriff of 
 
 Lincoln, 160 
 
 Williams, John, Bishop of Lincoln. 
 189 — 191 
 J. G., " Lincolnshire Notes 
 and Queries," 193, 195 
 
 Willis, Browne, 202, 285 
 
 Wilson, Dr., 71 
 
 Wilton, Wilts.. 25 
 
 Winchcomb, Tideman de. See Tide- 
 man 
 
 Winchelsea, Robert, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury. 6. 67 
 
 Winchester, Wolvesey Palace in. 1J5 
 
 Windsor, Thomas, 15 
 
 Winnicliffe, Thomas, Bishop of 
 Lincoln, 191 
 
 Winterbourne, 43 
 
 Wither, George, 143 — 145 
 
 Wittering, West. Sussex, 18 
 
 Wodebourne, Sir John de, 57
 
 344 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Wolsey, Thomas, Cardinal, Bishop of 
 
 Bath and 
 Wells, 304 
 
 Bishop of 
 
 Lincoln, 182 
 
 Bishop of 
 
 Winchester, 
 136 
 Wood, Thomas, Bishop of Lichfield, 
 
 Woodford, James, Bishop of Ely, 35 
 Woodlock, Henry, Bishop of Win- 
 chester, 133 
 Wookey, Somerset, 289 
 Worcester, See, 14 
 Wordsworth, Christopher, Bishop of 
 Lincoln, 205 
 
 William, 122 
 
 Wren, Christopher, 118 
 Matthew, Bishop of Ely, 37, 142 
 
 Wren, Matthew, Bishop of Norwich, 
 
 237> 2 38 
 Wright, Robert, 107 
 Wulfere, King of Mercia, 144 
 Wych, Richard, Bishop of Chichester 
 
 23 
 Wycliffe, John, 57, 58, 94 
 Wykeham, William of, Bishop of 
 
 Winchester, 56, 58, 134 
 Wynne, John, Bishop of Bath and 
 
 Wells, 324 
 
 York, Duke of. See Stuart. 
 
 Zouche, William, Lord de la, 270 
 
 CORRIGENDUM. 
 Page 78, line 3 from bottom. For " Edmund," read " Richard.' 
 
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