r DIOCESAN HISTORIES, Cbt gwnwrsrt Qiorese, BATH AND WELLS. BY WILLIAM HUNT, LATE VICAR OF CONGRESBURY WITH WICK ST. LAWRENCE, SOMERSET AUTHOR OF " NORMAN BRITAIN," "HISTORY OF ITALY," ETC. PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE TRACT COMMITTEE. LONDON : SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS, W.C. ; 43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C. ; 26, ST. GEORGES PLACE, HYDE PARK CORNER, S.W. BRIGHTON : 135, north street. New York: E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO. 1885. s\on PREFACE, My thanks are due to the Commissioners on His- torical Manuscripts for allowing me to see, while yet in the press, the Calendars of the Wells Chapter Records, drawn up by the Rev. J. A. Bennett, rector of South Cadbury, to whom, also, I would express my thanks for his ready permission to use his work, and for much other help. Had I seen these interesting Calendars earlier my labour would have been lighter, and the result probably more satisfactory. To the Right Reverend Bishop Hob- house, D.D., who has most kindly supplied me with much matter from manuscripts at Wells, to the Rev. C. M. Church, Canon of Wells, to E. Green, Esq., to the Rev. J. Hardman, LL.U., and other clergy of the diocese, I am indebted for help of various kinds, and especially for extracts from unpub- lished documents. I should also acknowledge the courtesy of the Dean and Chapter of Wells, and of the Bishop's Registrar, the late W. H. Dore, Esq., JC27257 BATH AND WELLS. in allowing me to study the Chapter Manuscripts and the Episcopal Registers. In the case of the registers, however, I have chiefly used the Hutton Transcripts. MSS. Had. 6964-6968, in the library of the British Museum. Many papers contained in the Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society have been of considerable service to me. The materials for the last chapter have been largely supplied by the kindness of my friend, the Rev. J. Coleman, vicar of Cheddar, and late secretary of the Bath and Wells Diocesan Societies. London,////)' 30, 1S85. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. Introduction — The Celtic Church : Glastonbury, Congres- bury, Celtic Saints — The Conquest — Ini, King of the West-Saxons — The Bishopric of Sherborne : Ealdhelm — The Schism — Parochial Organisation — The Danes — Alfred : the Treaty of Wedmore, the School at Athelney page CHAPTER II. THE EARLY EPISCOPATE. Foundation of the See — Dunstan : his Life and Eccle- siastical Work — Doubtful Succession of Bishops — Duduc — Gisa : Disputes about Property, the Rule of Chrodegang ... ... ... ... ... ... 15 CHAPTER III. DIOCESAN ORGANISATION. The Norman Conquest — Domesday — John de Villula : See removed to Bath — Bishop Robert — Prebendaries and Dignitaries — Reginald Fitz-Jocelin — Savaric and Glastonbury — Jocelin, Bishop of Bath — Period of the Great Charter — Fabric of the Cathedral Church of Wells — Rules for Residence ... ... ... ... 27 VI BATH AND WELLS. CHAPTER IV. MONASTIC AND COLLEGIATE FOUNDATIONS. Monasticism and the Conquest — Benedictines — Glaston- bury : its Wealth, Economy, and History — Cistercians — Cluniacs — Carthusians: Hugh of Avalon — August- inian Canons — Preceptories — Nunneries — Friaries — Alien Houses — Colleges and Hospitals — General Character of Monastic Houses — Anchorites ... page 56 CHAPTER V. DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATION. Royal and Papal Claims — Final Settlement of the Style of the See — The Friars — Ecclesiastical Taxation — Number and Character of the Clergy — Wells Ordinal and Statutes — Rights of Jurisdiction — Suppression of the Knights Templars Cathedral Fabric — John of Drokensford Ralph of Shrewsbury Ordination of Vicarages — The (heat Plague — Illustrations of Eccle- itical Jurisdiction ... ... ... ... ... 93 CHAPTER VI. UKADNESS AND 1:1 VOl I. Translations Bishop Beckington Worldliness — Super- stitions, Ignorance, Witchcraft— Lollardy : Special 1 1 of Lollardy— Rebellion and Fines An Alien bop The New Learning — Architecture ... ... 131 CONTENTS. VII CHAPTER VII. REFORMATION PERIOD. Character of the Reformation under Henry VIII. — The Visitation of the Monasteries and the Dissolution of the Smaller Houses — Surrender of the Greater Houses — Fall of Glastonbury — The Effects of the Suppression — Foundation of the See of Bristol — Suffragan See at Taunton — Reform and Robbery — An Insurrection — The Strangers' Church— Plunder of the See — Bishop Bourne — The Work of Elizabeth — Scarcity of Clergy — The Chapel Question — The Wells Charter — Romanists — Presbyterian Tendencies— The Queen and the Bishops ... ... ... ... ... page 15S CHAPTER VIII. THE REBELLION. James I. and the Puritans — Bishops' Courts — Sports — Church Ales — Lectures — The Altar Question — Out- break of War — Civil War in Somerset — Persecution of the Clergy — Rise of the Sectaries — Ministers and Religious Ordinances ... ... ... ... ... 194 CHAPTER IX. THE RESTORATION, REVOLUTION, AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. The Restoration — Ejection of Nonconformists — Bishop Ken — Monmouth's Rebellion — The Nonjurors — Bishop Kidder — General Character of the Diocese in the Eighteenth Century — The Methodist Revival — Hannah More and her Work in the Mendip District 218 Vlll BATH AND WELLS. CHAPTER X. OUR OWN TIME. Boundary of Diocese — Bishops Law, Auckland, and Hervey — The Cathedral and other Churches — Diocesan Societies — Wells Theological College — Diocesan Conference — Conclusion ... ... page 241 APPENDIX. A Letter Concerning the Surrender of Athelney Abbey ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 247 List of Bishops from the Foundation of the See to the Present Time ... ... ... ... ... ... 251 Index ... ,., ... ... .. .. ... 253 BATH AND WELLS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. Introduction — The Celtic Church : Glastonbury, Congresbury. Celtic Saints — The Conquest — Ini, King of the West- Saxons — The Bishopric of Sherborne : Ealdhelm — The Schism — Parochial Organisation — The Danes —Alfred : the Treaty of Wed more, the School at Athelney. The history of the diocese of Bath and Wells has a special interest belonging to it. The bishopric is, and always has been, virtually coterminous with a shire. Nor is that shire a mere artificial division, l'or Somerset is not a department arbitrarily mapped out, such as Buckinghamshire is ; nor did it grow out of the subject-lands of some great town as Middlesex probably grew out of the district that owed obedience to London. And although its name does not, like Sussex, preserve the name of an ancient kingdom, it does preserve the name of a tribe, and declares it to be the land of a tribal settlement. The bishop of Hath and Wells, then, is the bishop of the Sumorsretan, the settlers in Somerset ; and his diocese may be said to extend over their land, and over their land 2 BATH AND WELLS. only. Such history as Somerset has is the history of a people possessed of a certain measure of distinct existence, and the history of the diocese is, there- fore, the history of that people looked at in an ecclesiastical light. Although the bishopric of Somerset was not founded until the beginning of the tenth century, the con- tinuous existence of one remarkable monument of prse-Anglican Christianity, the monastery of Glaston- bury, calls for some notice of the ecclesiastical condition of the land of the future see even before the coming of St. Augustine. The memory of Roman Christianity may, perhaps, be preserved by an inscribed stone found at Bath, a slender record compared with the abundant relics both of the heathenism and of the secular life of the imperial people that are scattered throughout the shire. Of deeper interest than any such doubtful memorial is the monastery which connects the Christianity of Celtic Britain with our own Church. "While in many dioceses it would be a vain labour to attempt to prove a relationship between the churches of the conquered and the conquerors, in the diocese of Bath and Wells we have an abiding link between them. What the beginning of Glastonbury was is unknown. Legends speak of a mission of St Philip and St. James, of a church built of wattles by St Joseph of Arimathca, of another church built by Fagan and Diruvian, and of a third by St. David. A story of an earlier date ill. in the ( laboration of the Arthurian romance in the twelfth century connects the name of Arthur with the isle of Ynysvitrin, though it is certain that, in INTRODUCTORY. 3 the time of William of Malmesbury (that is, in the middle of the twelfth century), the monks had not yet thought of claiming to possess the burying-place of the British king and his queen Guenever. While these and other such-like stories are, of course, absolutely unhistorical, they point to the existence of a famous church at Glastonbury in times before the Saxon conquest ; and the first historical mention of the monastery confirms their witness. William of Malmesbury tells us that the monks showed him a charter by which a certain king of Dyfnaint, in 60 1, granted Ynysvitrin to "the old church." It is probable that this was a genuine grant, for, if the monks had set about to forge such a charter, they would scarcely have given so late a date to the possession of the island by their church. While, then, this grant sweeps away the legends of the temporal greatness of Glastonbury in remote times, it shows that the monastery was in existence before the Saxon conquest. And, as in Dunstan's youth large numbers of Irish pilgrims resorted thither, because they believed that it was the resting-place of the younger St. Patrick, there must have been an Irish tradition of a famous church there in early times — a tradition which may safely be held to have been independent of any spurious records manufactured by its monks. The first inroad of the Saxons into Somerset was made while they were still heathens, for in 577 Ceawlin overthrew the Roman city of Bath and cut off the Britons of Dyfnaint from the help of their fellow-countrymen beyond the Severn. From that b 2 4 BATH AND WELLS. time the monastery inYnysvkrin stood almost on the very border of heathendom, and year after year it seemed as though at any moment the heathen might enter on the Lord's inheritance. Before the next wave of Western conquest, however, the invaders were converted by the labours of St. Birinus, and when the West-Saxons subdued the district, 652-8, "the old church " seems to have remained unharmed. Next among the records of Glastonbury after the grant made by the British king of 601, conies an alleged charter of the Saxon Genwealh, the founder of the see of Winchester, who in 658 conquered the land as far as the Parret, and even if this charter is spurious, it is not the less a proof that the invaders did not destroy the church. Another stage in the conquest of the land is marked by the victory ot Centwine, who in 682 " drove the \\ elsh to the sea,'' or in other words added the Quantock district to the West Saxon land, and Centwine. too, is reckoned among the benefactors of the old church. A third advance was carried to its farthest point, when in 722 Ini made Taunton the border fortress of his 1 . im, and [ni appears at Glastonbury as a founder. It is, then, a small matter when the monastery was firs! formed, or even what meaning should be attached to the li gends of the various founders who are said to h.r. e built chun he i on the island. It may be that the charter ol 60 j nun! . thi beginning of the important e of the house, and that it did nol become the great ol the British until after the fall of Ambres- bury. Et may be thai Vhysvitrin, like Clonmacnois, on< 1 held a group 1 ii 1 hun h I memoi ' whi< h INTRODUCTORY. 5 has been preserved by stories referring their founda- tion to the saints to which they were dedicated. 1 What is really important is that " the old church " of wicker and timber, the object of the veneration of Briton, Englishman, Dane, and Norman, enriched alike by Ini and by Cnut, lived on through successive shocks of conquest; and still, in another shape, as the ruined church of St. Joseph, bears witness that, in the larger part of the diocese of Bath and Wells, the worship of Christ was never displaced by the worship of Woden. Another legend of early Christianity in Somerset records that a bishop's see was planted at Congres- bury, and was removed to Wells, with the consent of King Ini, in 721, by Daniel, the last British bishop; while Congresbury itself is said to have derived its name from St. Cungar, who is described as having founded an oratory there and in Morganwy in the time of Dubritius, bishop of Llandaff (died 612?). The story of the removal of the see evidently arises from a confused recollection of the division of the West Saxon diocese on the consecration of Daniel to the see of Winchester (705), while the choice of Con- gresbury as the place of the see probably points to its ecclesiastical importance in British times : for either a monastery, or at least a church of sufficient im- portance to be called a minster, existed there in the reign of Alfred, and was granted by him to Asser, bishop of Sherborne. Although the story of St Cungar is purely legendary, it is not to be set aside as 1 Freeman, " English Towns and Districts," p. 98. 6 BATH AND WELLS. worthless. He is said to have come to Congresbury from beyond sea, to have moved thence to Morganwy, and to have been called " Doccuin," because he taught the people (quod doceref) ; the derivation is fanciful, for the name preserves the memory of Docwinni, a famous monastery in the diocese of Llandaff. Disregarding the date assigned to St. Cungar, we may, then, accept the legend as an illustration of the strict connexion between the Celtic churches here and in the land to which the name of Wales is now appropriated, and in Armorica, from the middle of the fifth to the middle of the sixth centuries. The name of St. Cungar is commemorated in the dedication of the churches ot Badgworth in Somerset, of Hope in Flintshire, and of Llangafni in Anglesey. The Celtic Church in Somerset has left its mark in the names of various churches and villages,— at Barton St. David, for ex- ample, which is named after the bishop of Menevia (died 601 ?), and at St. Decumans, called after a hermit who crossed over from Wales. St. Dubritius is the patron of Porlock ; a chapel dedicated to St. Columban once stood at Cheddar, ami the ammo- nites of Kcynsham were believed to show forth the victory of St. Ceneu over the snakes that once in tested the place. In the same way the ecclesiastical connexion with Ireland Is pointed at in the Glaston bury stories of the Irish saints, and by the dedications at Brean and Chelvey to St. Bridget These instances mUSl !»■ taken only as illustrations, for the subject is capable of further development. The legend of the n idence of St. Gildas on the steep Holm appears historically worthless. From the saint's vague tirades INTRODUCTORY. 7 two important facts may be gathered concerning the British Church at the time of the invasion : — it is evident that the Church was fully organised, and that it possessed a version of the Scriptures peculiar to itself. The signs of the continuous life of the Celtic Church, equally with the physiology, the dialectical distinctions, and the place-names of Somerset, illustrate the milder character of the war between the two races after the conversion of the invaders. Although Ini continually pressed on the kingdom of Geraint, within the bor- ders of the land already won the conquerors and the conquered dwelt side by side. Within the dominions of Ini the Briton might be a landowner and a scot- payer, and a special wer, or money value, was set upon his life. The ecclesiastical character of Ini's laws is strongly marked. They are declared in the title to be made by the advice of Hosddi, the West Saxon bishop. God's servants are bidden to keep their rule ; baptism is to be administered within thirty days after a child's birth, and, if any die unbaptized, the priest is to make amends with all that he has. A provision that if any swear falsely before a bishop he shall make amends with 1 20s. proves the existence of an ecclesiastical jurisdiction apart from the ordinary sphere of the shire-moot, though exercised in its sessions. This jurisdiction was exercised by the bishop and his officers, his archdeacon and his deans, in the ordinary courts of the shire and the hundred. In these courts they declared the law in spiritual matters, enforced the canons and the religious laws of the kings, and administered the penitential system devised for the 8 BATH AND WELLS. correction of morals, in addition to, and apart from, the private discipline of the confessional. During the reign of Ini a step was taken towards the formation of our diocese by the division of the West Saxon diocese into two parts. West of the forest of Selwood the new bishopric of Sherborne included part of Wiltshire, and the whole of Somerset and Dorset, and was bounded on the west only by the border of English conquest or influence. The rest of Wessex lying to the east of Selwood was left to the see of Winchester. A detailed account of the work of Ealdhelm, the first bishop of Sherborne, belongs to the history of the diocese of Salisbury, and his work must only be noticed here so far as it specially concerned the Sumorsanan. Among the churches built by him were St. John the Baptist's at Frome, which William of Malmcsbury says was destroyed by his time, and St. Peter's at Bruton, the east end of which, the historian tells us, had been enlarged shortly before he wrote. These churches were, of course, built in the same primitive Romanesque style as Ealdhelm's still existing church at Bradford. Ealdhelm had great influence with the king, who carried out whatever he suggested. Bj his advice [ni -ranted a charter to t '. 1 . i s t < ml airy, which is now to be (ailed by its English name, for it now stood on English soil. Avalon and even Vnysvitrin are names that on slender historical foundation. Glastonbury is said to d( < laic itself tO he the abode of the (Ikes an otherwise unknown family of the conquering race, f"i hi re, as elsewhere, the syllable ingis held to he patronymic, Ini is also said to have been moved INTRODUCTORY. 9 by Ealdhelm to build the church at Glastonbury. He built, that is to say, a church dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, the forerunner of the great ruin we still see, to the east of" the old church " of St. Mary, and standing a little apart from it, for the connecting building which unites the ruins representing " the old church " and the church of Ini respectively, is of a later date. While, however, the West Saxon king thus recog- nised the conquered people as law-worth)-, and honoured their famous shrine, a bitter schism divided the two Churches. The main points of difference concerned the date of the Easter Festival and the shape of the tonsure. As regards Easter, the Britons followed the ancient computation of the Western Church ; but, being far from Rome, they did not adopt the change made in the Roman cycle in the middle of the fifth century, and still kept their Feast on the Sunday next after the equinox, between the fourteenth and twentieth days of the moon — a practice which, though contrary to the Roman use in the time of Ini, is a distinct witness to the Western origin of their Church. In the shape of the tonsure they seem to have adhered to the fashion followed by the Scots and by their own kinsmen in Armorica, which was different both from the Greek and the Roman custom. Other smaller differences divided the Churches, and national hatred inclined the conquered people to cling passionately to their own usages. Small as these matters may seem, they had a real importance. To the Britons, more especially to those who dwelt in the western part of Somerset, on the borders of the conquered district, 10 BATH AND WELLS. and probably to many throughout the whole land of the Sumorssetan, these peculiar usages were signs that they were still a people ; while, on the other hand, all hopes of peaceful dominion and of the success of Ini's policy depended on the conquerors being able to wipe out these signs of separation. Apart from any national cause, it is evident that there were Englishmen who were grieved at this schism for higher reasons. Paganism was still secretly practised by many of their people, and the larger part of Europe still lay in darkness. In the face of a pagan world, ecclesiastical uniformity was of the first importance. Accordingly, at a West Saxon synod, Ealdhelm, who was not as yet a bishop, was requested to write a letter setting forth the opinions of Latin Christendom, and urging the duty of union. This letter, addressed to Geraint, king of Dyfnaint, is still extant ; it had great success, for it was the means of turning many of the British subjects of the West Saxons who, probably, for the most part dwelt in Somerset, from the error of their ways. The next year (705) Eald helm was made bishop of Sherborne. Very earnestly did he fulfil the duties of his office, going on foot from place to place throughout his diocese, and preaching in the open air. It was, perhaps, on one of these expeditions, whi< h so Impressed men that they became the subject of legends, that he fell sic k at Honking, a village he had given to the church of Glastonbury, ing the profit \ to himself foi his life. He bade men carry him into the little wooden church of the village, and there, silting on a stone scat, he died. When Doulting came into the possession of the INTRODUCTORY. 1 1 monks, they built a stone church in place of the wooden one, and Doulting church still preserves the memory of Ealdhelm in its dedication. As the invaders pushed westwards they settled in colonies or townships. These townships, whether under a lord, or at first held by independent freemen (the question does not concern our subject), were the origin of our parochial system, for the parish is nothing else than one or more townships, as the case may be, in their ecclesiastical character. The priest was the spiritual officer of one or of a cluster of townships, according to size, and the area over which he exercised his office was his parish. These town- ships became the manors of Norman times. For the most part, their ecclesiastical has outlived their civil character, and the purely secular business of the township is transacted in the vestry of the parish church. For while the priest was a spiritual person, he had a place in the civil administration. As the bishop sat with the ealdorman in the courts of the shire and the hundred, so the parish priest went up with the four best men of the township to attend these courts. Save for the rights of the lord and his steward, he was the head of the parish ; and he still presides as of right over all parish meetings even for secular purposes, held nominally or actually in the vestry of the church. Offerings were made by the faithful for the support of the church and its priest. The payment of tithes, though recommended, was not as yet enforced by spiritual censure, nor was their appropriation determined. Strangers, the poor, and the parish church had an equal claim on them. 12 BATH AND WELLS. Certain dues belonged by law to the clergy. Chief among these was the church-scot, a payment resem- bling our Easter offerings, save that it was made for the house, and not for each member of the house- hold. Besides these and voluntary offerings, a grant of land (glebe) was no doubt generally made for the maintenance of the priest. Even where the two races dwelt side by side, the English land system naturally became universal; and, in like manner, the rights and position of the parish priest were the same throughout the conquered land. Whatever the organisation of the Celtic Church may have been, it gave way before that of the Church of the conquerors. The schism died out in the West soon after the time of Ealdhelm. Parishes were multiplied by the devotion of men who built churches in the various townships, and gave lands for the maintenance of the priests who served them, and all alike, until 909, were under the care and government of the bishop of Sherborne. The invasions of the heathen Danes in the ninth century brought much evil on the Church, for they burned churches and monasteries, destroyed the libraries, and plundered the treasures of the monks. Men neglected the monastic, life : the long wars deadened the early desire after spiritual things, and ive of many waxed cold. On the other hand, the ( in 1 11 noil dangei strengthened the union between the Church and the nation. Ecclesiastics became the champions of the English people; and. when the i had passed by, the influence of the Church formed a powerful factor in the reunion of the kin-don), and it was e\ei< LSed by men who were cmi- INTRODUCTORY. 13 ncnt alike as statesmen and as churchmen. While any attempt to follow out these suggestions satisfactorily would carry us beyond Somerset, some illustrations of them may be found even within the limits of the future diocese. When, in 845, the Danes tried to gain a footing at the mouth of the Parret, Bishop Ealhstan joined the ealdormen of Somerset and Dorset in leading the forces of the two shires against them, and the gallant resistance the invaders met with delivered Wessex from their attacks for the next twenty years. Ealhstan's successor, Heahmund, was slain in S71, fighting in the battle of Merton, outside his diocese. Two years afterwards the submission of Mercia opened Wessex to the Danes, and Alfred was forced to retreat to the isle of Athelney. After the English victory at Edington, Guthorm, with thirty of his chief men, came to Aller, near Athelney, and was baptized there. Alfred stood godfather to him, and gave him the name of .Kthelstan. Then Guthorm went with the king to Wedmore. There, on the eighth day, the fillet bound round his brow at baptism was unloosed, and there the Treaty of Wedmore was signed. The invasion of the Danes destroyed the ancient civilisation of the North. In preserving Wessex by the Treaty of Wedmore, Alfred provided a home for the learning and good order that he loved. He set himself to educate his people, and founded a monastery at Athelney, where the monks might teach any boys committed to their care. The effect of the long wars on the religious feelings of the people is exhibited by the difficulty he met with in carrying out his plan. 14 BATH AND WELLS. Not a single West Saxon noble or freeman would enter the monastic life. Children he found would be sent to his monastery, but there was no one to teach them. He therefore sent for John, the Old Saxon, and made him abbot of his new house, and filled it with foreign clergy, some from John's own land and some from France. The work of education began, and Asser tells us that he saw one young Dane, of noble birth, wearing the monastic dress. It seems however that the mixture of French and Saxons occasioned trouble. At all events, two of the French monks conspired against their abbot, and almost slew him. The well-known jewel of Alfred, in the Ashmolean Museum, at Oxford, is probably the head of some ecclesiastical instrument, such as the staff used by the chanter or precentor in beating time. It was dug up between Newton and Bridg- water, in 1693, and may well be a relic of the king's monastic school at Athelney. 13ATH AND WELLS. 15 CHAPTER II. THE EARLY EPISCOPATE. Foundation of the See — Dunstan : his Life and Ecclesiastical Work — Doubtful Succession of Bishops — Duduc — Gisa : Disputes about Property, the Rule of Chrodegang. By the conquest of Devon and Cornwall, which may be said to have been completed in the reign of Ecgberht, the diocese of Sherborne became too large for one bishop. During the troubles of the Danish wars no measure of ecclesiastical reform could be taken in hand. And when the western land had rest under Eadward, the son of Alfred, several dioceses appear to have been vacant. Eadward and Archbishop Plegmund held a council in 909 to remedy this state of things. The West Saxon land was redivided, and Somerset received a bishop of its own. His see was planted at Wells. At first sight the choice may seem strange, for Wells is, and ever has been, a small place. An English bishop, however, unlike the bishops of the continent, was the bishop of a people rather than of a city. The early English system of administration was local rather than central, and was carried on through popular rather than royal institutions. There was, then, nothing really strange in the choice of Wells', for it was fairly convenient for the work of a bishop who had the spiritual supervision of the Sumorsaetan. 1 6 BATH AND WELLS. There must, however, have been some special reason for the choice, and this reason seems to have been that an ecclesiastical establishment of some size already existed there. Tradition declares Ini to have been a founder at Wells, and some truth generally under- lies even a false tradition. Besides this, a charter of Cynewulf, dated 766, records a grant "to the minster near the great spring at Wells for the better service of God in the church of St. Andrew." The charter may be spurious, and yet, like the tradition about Ini, may contain some truth. Eadward probably fixed the new see at Wells because there was a large church there, served by secular priests, and founded, it may be, by Ini. 1 These secular priests would form the chapter of the new bishop, and, because his see (seat = cathedra) was placed in their church, it became the cathedral church of the diocese. The first bishop of Wells was Athei.m, or .Kthelhclm. lie was con- secrated in 909. He is said to have been an uncle of Dunstan, and, if this was so, he was of noble family, and was perhaps connected with the royal house. Before lie was made bishop he seems to have been a monk of Glastonbury. He probablj priests dwelt in the world [in ad were 1 lei y, who lived in their bei mnd by .-. i than tho e of ordination, and who, in En al 1 t, were generally married, 01 canons, who served in common some church <>f special dignity, and were undei ihe of Hi- ii institution. I on the other hand, and the like, who were bound to obey the rule 1 of their order. < lathedral ch 1 eithei At Wells the chaptei was ilar. THE EARLY EPISCOPATE. I 7 ruled well in Somerset, for in 914 he was made archbishop of Canterbury. Whatever the manner of monastic life was in England in early days, it was by no means so strict as the Benedictine rule observed on the continent. And, such as it was, it became less regular, in con- sequence of the Danish wars. Early in the tenth century, Glastonbury appears to have been more like the headquarters of a great estate, where many land- lords lived on rents they shared between themselves, than a place of religious seclusion. The monks do not seem to have lived in common ; nor, indeed, to have had fitting buildings for such a life. Even the work of education, the special glory of our English monasteries, was probably, to some extent, performed by Irish strangers. That monks should live as secular clergy was to be unfaithful to their vows, and to misappropriate the bounty of their founders and benefactors. Glastonbury and many other houses were at this time really in the hands of secular priests. Monastic discipline had disappeared. The abbacy conferred a bare title, for those who held it exer- cised no authority. Much of the Glastonbury land seems to have been held by the Crown, and such abbots as were appointed were nominated by the king, and not chosen by the convent. Among those to whom the English Church owed the reformation of monachism, Dunstan holds the highest place. Dun- stan was born in 925. His father's estate was near Glastonbury, and the boy went to the abbey school. There he read the books of the Irish, who came in great numbers to the abbey. While yet a child, he c 1 8 BATH AND WELLS. received the tonsure and served in "the old church." He was much at ^Ethelstan's court, where many of his young kinsmen were. Gentle, dreamy, and studious, with fair though scanty hair, of innocent heart, and a lover of ladies' society, he was no favourite with the young thegns. His knowledge seemed to them unearthly. They accused him falsely to the king, and, as he left the court in disgrace, they set upon him, bound him, and threw him into a marshy place, where he well-nigh perished. He set his heart on marrying a young lady whom he greatly loved. His kinsman, /Elfheah the Bald, bishop of Winchester, earnestly besought him to become a monk. For a while he refused, for he could not give up his love. At last a severe illness seized him, and when he recovered he took the vows. He made himself a little cell against " the old church " of Glastonbury, and lived and worked in it. Osbern, his biographer, who lived in the eleventh century, saw this cell. He tells us that it was no larger than 5 feet by 2% feet. Dunstan gave himself to the study of the Scriptures and to working with his hands. He excelled in the arts of transcription, painting, carving, music, and working in metals. One specimen of his art is still to be seen. On the Inst page of a MS. volume in the Bodleian Library is an illumination representing the I. "ill with a sceptre and a book, and a monk in .id. nation, with writing above, which declares the kneeling figure to be the painter, Dunstan. The book i' 1 If 1 ontains some of the earliest written speci- mens ol Welsh, affording, bishop Stubbs remarks, the strong* I proof ol the connexion of Glastonbury THE EARLY EPISCOPATE. 1 9 with early British history. King Eadmund once acted unjustly towards Dunstan. Soon afterwards, the king hunted the stag on Mendip. In its flight the hunted beast fell over Cheddar cliffs and was dashed to pieces. The hounds that pressed upon it shared its fate. Eadmund's horse was going at full speed, and he had no control over it. His danger brought his sin to remembrance. He confessed the wrong he had done, and vowed that if his life were spared he would make amends. The horse stopped on the very brink of the precipice. The king at once sought Dunstan, and forthwith appointed him abbot of Glastonbury. As abbot, Dunstan began a work of reformation. He at once set about building a larger church, in place of the church raised by Ini to the east of " the old church " of timber. He also raised conventual buildings, and made the brethren dwell in them. By thus causing them to live together, and separating them from the world, he was able to lead them to a more spiritual life. This life was not one of idleness. Under his rule, Glastonbury became what Alfred had hoped that Athelney might be, a centre of light and learning. Its scholars were so well taught that England was supplied with archbishops, bishops, and abbots from the great house in Somerset. Nor was it merely book-learning that they gained. One of the ecclesiastical laws of Eadgar, in which Dunstan's hand is visible, commands that every priest should diligently teach handicrafts ; and in Dunstan's house, the arts in which the English generally excelled, of transcribing, painting, and working in metals, were, c 2 20 BATH AND WELLS. we may be sure, well taught. Dunstan must have been a gentle teacher, for when, long after his death, the little scholars of Canterbury were to be flogged by their cruel masters, the weeping children cried to their "kind father Dunstan," and the good saint, it is said, heard their cry and delivered them. Some of the inmates of the house disliked the strict order he introduced, for when .Ethelgifu persecuted him for opposing the marriage of her daughter to Eadwig, a party in the abbey took part against him. During his exile at Ghent, Dunstan saw the working of the Benedictine rule, and when he came back to England he laboured effectually for its establishment here. In the struggle between Eadwig and Eadgar, the leaders of religious reform upheld Eadgar's cause. On the other hand, BRIHTHELM, the fifth bishop of Wells (956-973), appears to have stood high in Eadwig's favour, and to have opposed the political and religious policy of Dunstan. On the death of .Elfsine, the archbishop-elect, he was appointed by Eadwig to succeed him. Eadwig, however, died the same year (959), and Eadgar made Dunstan. who was then bishop of London, archbishop in his stead. Brihthelm was accordingly sent back to his diocese, lie is said to have been too lax a disciplinarian .uid, by a later account, too self-indulgent for the metropolitan chair. The succession of Eadgar, how ever, is enough to account for his fall. \- archbishop, Dunstan carried on the work of reformation lie had begun as abbot. His work as a statesman docs not belong to our subject, but it mi t nol be forgotten, it hows the same largeness THE EARLY EPISCOPATE. 2 1 of mind that is apparent in his ecclesiastical reforms. In these reforms, if we may be guided by the best and earliest accounts of his life, he made no attempt to enforce celibacy on the secular clergy. He laboured to promote purity in all alike, to make the monks obey their rule, and lead spiritual and useful lives. There is no proof that he carried out the changes he effected at Glas- tonbury with harshness. One famous story exhibits the impression that his fearlessness in rebuking vice left on men's minds. At Bath, where a monastery had been founded, perhaps by Offa, king of Mercia, Dunstan in 973 officiated at the second coronation of Eadgar, after the king, it is said, had gone through a seven years' penance for incontinence. The corona- tion is historical, and while the sin and penance of the king are matters of legend, they illustrate the prevalent conception of Dunstan's character. His work as an educational reformer is much insisted on. And if, as we are told, he lighted all England with his teaching, his light must have shone with special brightness in our own diocese, and in the immediate neighbourhood of the great conventual school he formed in his abbey. Besides the education to be gained at such schools as Glastonbury and Winchester, the priest of every parish was charged to teach all who would come to him ; and though the learning these teachers could impart was small compared with that to be gained at the more famous conventual schools, still education of some kind was widely spread. Considerable doubt hangs over the succession to the see at the end of the tenth and in the early part of 2 2 BATH AND WELLS. the eleventh centuries. Sigegar, a pupil of Dunstan and abbot of Glastonbury, was consecrated in 975, and signs charters as late as 995. We are told that he was supplanted by tElfwine. He died in 997, and in that year yElfwine succeeded to the bishopric. If ^Elfwine did any wrong to Sigegar, he did not long profit by it, for he died in 999. The story current in Wells in the twelfth century, that he lived only thirteen days after he had, as it was then believed, displaced Sigegar by underhand means, does not appear to be correct. It is possible that he administered the diocese during the latter part of Sigegar's life, that he succeeded him on his death, and that he died shortly after. He was succeeded by yEthelstan, also named Lyfing, another Glaston- bury man, who was made archbishop on the martyr- dom of /Elfheah, in 1013. After the translation of Lyfing, the see was disputed between /Ethelwine, abbot of Evesham, and Brihtwine ; each, we are told, turned out the other, Brihtwine keeping the see at last. The names of both are sub- scribed, one after the other, to three charters of Cnut ; and Brihtwine was, perhaps, the coad- jutor, rather than the rival, of . Ethelwine. lie signs as late as 1023, /Ethelwine's last signature bring perhaps a little earlier. In 1026, Merewit, another abbot of Glastonbury, was made bishop. His name also was Brihtwine, and he has been identified, though without due cause, with the rival of /Ethelwine. With his successor, Duduc (1033- 1060). we again begin to know something certainly, for Gisa, who followed him at Wells, speaks of him THE EARLY EPISCOPATE. 23 in a short account he wrote of his own life, which has been preserved in a treatise of the twelfth century on the early bishopric of Somerset. Duduc was a native of the old Saxon land beyond the sea. The relations of Cnut with the Frankish emperor probably caused him to be brought into the king's household as one of his chaplains. Before he was made bishop, he received from Cnut the abbey of Gloucester, and the estates of Congresbury and Banwell, which Alfred had given long before to Asser, bishop of Sherborne. According to Gisa, Duduc, with King Eadward's consent, left Congres- bury and Banwell to the Church of Wells ; and, when on his deathbed, further bequeathed to it his store of vestments, books, and the like. On his death, however, Earl Harold laid hands on the Somerset estates and on all the bishop's movables. The successor of Duduc was Gisa (1061-1088), a Lotharingian and one of King Eadward's chaplains. He gives a sad account of the condition of his see at his consecration. The church was small; the canons lived among other people, like parish priests ; they were poor, and even, he says, forced to beg. Their poverty, however, could not have been the result of the loss of Duduc's property, for the Church had never possessed it. Gisa at once set about remedying this state of affairs. He obtained Wedmore from the king, and Mark and Mudgeley from the queen. He excommunicated a certain .Flfsige, who refused to restore Winsham, and at last obtained that estate from William the Conqueror. Harold, he says, he threatened with a like sentence ; and when the 24 HATH AXD WELLS. earl came to the throne he promised to restore what he had taken away, and to give more besides, but, the bishop adds, divine vengeance overtook him. The story of Gisa and Harold has been magnified, until the earl has been represented as reducing the Church of Wells to beggary. None of the possessions of the church were touched by Harold ; the whole question concerns the right to the bequests of Duduc. If the earl had reason to believe that the bishop left his goods to the Church, he should not have inter- fered with the bequest. If not, then he had a right to take them as the movables of a deceased clerk. As regards the estates, the right of Duduc to leave them depended on the terms of the grant. Gisa based his claim on certain charters of Eadward. If these charters enabled Duduc to alienate the lands, Gisa would, one would have thought, have sued the earl for them, and produced the deeds in the shire-moot. He pursued this course in the case of ^Elfsige, and only excommunicated him when he refused to give up Winsham, after the shire had declared the bishop's right to it. With Harold, on his own showing, he trusted to threats and persuasion. And it is evident that he made no attempt to establish a legal claim in the next reign. From the Conqueror, indeed, he received Banwell, but Congresbury was not given to the Church until King John's reign; and this partial Compliance with Gisa's wishes shows that it was a matter of favour and not of right In short, it is evident that Harold did nol take away from the Chun h of Wells anything it ever had before, and it cannol I proved, to say the least, that he acted THE EARLY EPISCOPATE. 25 unlawfully in preventing it from acquiring Duduc's bequests. A charter, granted by Harold on coming to the throne, confirms Gisa in his possessions, and orders the king's reeves in Somerset to help him to uphold the rights of his Church. This charter does not, of course, apply to the estates in question : it was probably granted because Harold felt the need of friends. Gisa acquired other lands besides those already mentioned, and among them the important estate of Combe. Some losses indeed he had, though, on the whole, the property he gained for the Church was considerable. Both from his own record of these transactions and from the Domesday Survey, it is evident that the chapter had as yet no property of its own, apart from the bishop. The canons were dependent on him, and the two estates they had which were separate from his demesne were held of him as over-lord. Gisa would not allow the canons to live any longer in their own houses, like parish priests, — a custom which often led them to marry, and so to engage in secular work, and, according to his account, even to beg. He built a cloister, refectory, and dormitory ; and made them eat and dwell together, binding them by the rule observed by canons in his own land, the rule of Chrodegang of Metz, which compelled them to live rather as monks than as secular clergy. The same course was pursued at Exeter by Bishop Leofric. who had been brought up in Lorraine. Following out the Lotharingian system, Gisa caused the canons to choose an officer, called a provost, to look after their temporal matters. They 2 BATH AND WELLS. chose a certain Isaac of Wells. The appointment of this officer was a step towards the separation of the property of the canons from that of the bishop. It was quite against English ideas that canons should be made to live together in the monastic fashion insisted on by Gisa, and his reforms were doubtless disliked by the chapter. His work in this direction was undone by his successor. BATH AND WELLS. 27 CHAPTER III. DIOCESAN ORGANISATION. The Norman Conquest — Domesday — John de Villula : See removed to Bath — Bishop Robert — Prebendaries and Dignitaries — Reginald Fitz-Jocelin — Savaric and Glastonbury — Jocelin, bishop of Bath — Period of the Great Charter— Fabric of the Cathedral Church of Wells — Rules for Residence. In ecclesiastical as in civil matters, the immediate effect of the Norman Conquest was a change of men, rather than of institutions. In this diocese, as else- where, the highest offices in the Church were given to foreigners. Although Gisa, himself a foreigner, and with no love for the late king, escaped from shar- ing the general deprivation of the English bishops, his successor was a Frenchman. At Glastonbury, Abbot yEthelnoth was deposed in 1078, and a Norman was put in his place. At Bath, as we shall see, a still greater change was made. The abbots of the smaller houses at Athelney and Muchelney seem to have kept their offices, and to have been succeeded by foreigners. The rule of strangers naturally brought some trouble on those beneath them. When Thurstan, a monk of Caen, was made abbot of Glastonbury, the monks meant kindly by him, and prayed him to treat them well. He insisted, however, that they should leave off the use of the Gregorian chant, and learn a 28 PATH AND WELLS. new system invented by William of Fecamp. This they would not do. In their church and throughout Latin Christendom the Gregorian music had been used for ages ; and, besides, it was grievous to them to have such a change forced on them by a foreigner, and one who had never been a brother of their house. One day, after Thurstan had been disputing with them on the matter, he sent for his armed men to come into the chapter-house. In great fear the monks ran into the church, locked the door, and took shelter round the altar. The soldiers broke into the choir and tried to drag them out. Some of the young men went up into the " upfloor " {triforium gallery ?) and kept shooting arrows downwards at the monks. Some were slain and many were wounded. When the king heard this he was wroth, for he hated disorder. Thurstan was sent back to Caen in disgrace, and many of the monks were sent to various houses to be kept in ward. As soon as William Rufus came to the throne, Thurstan paid the king 500 marks, and so obtained leave to come back to his abbey again. Domesday liook shows that the abbey lost some lands both in Somerset and Dorset between the death of Eadward and the Survey, and these dismemberments were doubtless caused by the troubles which left the abbey for a while defenceless. On the whole, how- ever, n -.lined in wealth during Tlnustan's time of m|ii, e, for the Normans greatly admired monasticism. At the time of the Survey, the abbey held the ancient ip (ailed the Twelve Hides, which lay round about it, consisting of about 20,000 statute acres. The hide is a term of value, nol of extent. It de- DIOCESAN ORGANISATION. 29 notes an area assessed at a certain sum for purposes of taxation : its extent depended on situation, the nature of the soil, and other causes. Within this lord- ship the bishop might not celebrate a solemn mass, nor dedicate an altar, nor ordain a priest without leave of the convent. Besides the Twelve Hides, the estates of Glastonbury extended over 442 hides more in Somerset alone, and in all maintained a population of 1,390 men, besides women and children. The abbey also possessed some eighty hides in Dorset. The estates of Bath were computed at eighty; of Muchelney, at sixty-four ; and of Athelney, at twenty- two hides. In money, the revenue of Glastonbury from lands in Somerset was assessed at ^460. 8s. Sd. ; of Bath, £70. 133. 6d. ; of Muchelney, £$2. 3s.; and of Athelney, £19. 10s. The estates of the see, including the lands held of the bishop by the canons and the archdeacon, amounted to 280 hides, bringing in a revenue in money of £333- 10s. As regards the significance of these sums, the pound must be taken to denote a full pound of silver, the shilling and the penny in Norman times bearing respectively the same proportion to the pound that they do now. It is impossible to speak at all certainly as to the general purchasing power of money. At Bedminster arable land seems to have been worth 2d. and at Henstridge 3 .Id. an acre yearly rent. A fat hog was worth is., and a large cheese 3s. 6d. The commissioners who surveyed the western shires for the compilation of Domesday Book took no notice of any church not having land separately assessed, with the single exception of the church of 30 BATH AND WELLS. Frome. We have, therefore, but few notices of the condition of the Church in our diocese at the time of the Survey. Some matters may, however, be gathered concerning it. Although the confiscation of the lands of laymen fell more lightly on Somerset than on many shires, all the larger lay tenants-in-chief in 1086, with one exception, were "Frenchmen,"' as the foreigners, whether French or Normans, are styled in Domesday. The tenure of a manor generally implied the advowson of the parish church, when one stood upon it ; for among the qualifications of the thegn before the Conquest were reckoned the pos- session of five hides of land with a church, and the rights of the dispossessed English thegn passed entire to his foreign successor. Frequent as grants of parish churches to English monasteries were before the Conquest, they became more frequent now, for the Normans were lavish benefactors to the monks, and now, as it seems, for the first time, parish churches in Somerset were granted to abbeys beyond the sea. Puriton church, for example, held T.R.E. (Tempore Regis Eadwardi) by Eadgyth, wife of the Confessor, had, in 108C, been granted, perhaps by the queen herself, to St. Peter's at Rome. Chewton church had become the property of the abbot of Jumieges, and Crewkerne church, with a church-fee of ten hides, had passed into the possession of St. Stephen's at Caen. When a parish (lunch thus belonged to an abbey, all the profits went to the monastic landlords, who arranged for the necessary services— a plan wholly subversive of the parochial system, and often in- volving neglect of the parishioners. These evils were DIOCESAN ORGANISATION. 31 necessarily exaggerated when a church fell to an alien monastery. All services were paid by grants of land both before and after the Conquest, so Reinbald, the chancellor of the Confessor, held the church of Frome T.R.E., and kept it in 1086, for the parish clergy were not dispossessed by the Conqueror. A universal system of tenure was introduced by William, and St. John's Milborne Port, with 120 acres of arable land of the value of £,\. 10s., which, T.R.E., had no lord, was, in 1086, held by this Reinbald of the king. The chancellorship, up to the fourteenth century, was always held by a clergyman, and the chancellor had under him a body of clerks, who com- bined with their administrative functions the office of royal chaplains. One of William's chaplains, named Stephen, held the church of Milverton. When Reinbald died, his churches and other possessions were granted by Henry I. to the abbey of Cirencester. Many churches were held of the king " in alms," i.e., by no other service than that of prayer. St. Mary's at Warverdinestoc (Stogumber),for example, held T.R.E. by^Elfric, now had a foreign parson, Richer of Andelys, who held in alms. This tenure by alms extended to other ecclesiastical persons besides the parish clergy. Eadgyth, a nun, held a large estate in the hundred of Cannington in this way, and two nuns holding by alms had succeeded two English thegns in an estate called Holnecote, in Selworthy. It is not easy to say what business these nuns had to be holding lands. Their position as landowners either proves a laxity of monastic discipline, or suggests grants made to them in order to pay for their maintenance in the nunneries 32 BATH AND WELLS. to which they had retreated. A curious entry con- cerning the church at Carhampton — " The king has a priest there " — perhaps means that the church had no beneficed clergyman at the time of the Survey. It may probably be explained by the fact that it had been the property of Peter, bishop of Chester, once one of the king's chaplains or clerks. The bishop, who died in 1085, probably kept the church in his own hand, and sent a clerk to perform the services, just as the monasteries used to do. As then the church fell into the king's hand just at the time of the Survey, the church is described as served by a man who seems to have been in the position of a hired servant, rather than of a beneficed clergyman. An arrangement of the same kind was probably made at Kilmersdon, where the church had also been held by Bishop Peter, and at Congresbury, where Maurice, bishop of London, held the church of the king. Whether Gisa made a like arrangement in any of his estates does not appear. In some cases certainly he did not do so, for Brithelm held the church of Yatton of the bishop ; some of the tenants of the episcopal lief are described as priests; and in the Inquest of 1084 it is distinctly staled that six parish priests held five and a half hides of the bishop. Two instances of disputes as to ecclesiastical property are worthy of notice. North Petherton was another church held by the bishop of Chester, and on his death his nephew I the i( \ 1 iiucs of the church fee or glebe, amount- ing to 20s. a year. By [086, however, the king had 1 him. Here seems to have been an attempt to treat church property as heritable, like a lay-fee. DIOCESAN ORGANISATION. T,3 This was the natural tendency of the prevalent cus- tom of the marriage of the clergy. Had it remained unchecked, English parishes would have descended from father to son, and the priesthood would have become ignorant and unspiritual. The chief work ot Archbishop Anselm (1093-1109) was to check the feudalisation of spiritual benefices, while the regula- tion by Henry II. of the assize of "darrein present- ment," a legal process for securing the rights of patrons, indirectly had a like tendency. A dispute about St. Andrews at Ilchester, held T.R.E. of the abbey ot Glastonbury by Brihtric, and now claimed by the bishop of London as tenant of the Crown, probably points to the losses suffered by the abbey during the disgrace of Thurstan. It has been calculated that little less than one-third of the whole shire was held by the church either immediately or through its depen- dents. While the more valuable pieces of preferment became the prey of strangers, there is no reason to doubt that many parishes were held by English priests after the Conquest, though in some cases the Norman lord evidently bestowed his church, when it became vacant, on a priest of his own race. The successor of Gisa, John deVillula( 1 088-1 122), was a physician of Tours. Although the knowledge of medicine was confined to the clergy, its practice was held to be somewhat incompatible with advance- ment to the highest ecclesiastical dignity, for Faricius, an abbot of Abingdon, seems to have been held to have been disqualified for election to the archbishopric by his medical career. John was a skilful man, and had made a good sum by his fees. As bishop, he soon D 34 BATH AND WELLS. found a use for his money. One effect of the influence of the Continent on the English Church was, that sees were moved from villages to towns. These changes began in the reign of the Conqueror, in accordance with a decree made by the Council of London in 1075. On a vacancy in the abbacy of Bath, John obtained the house from Rufus, and moved his see from Wells to the church of the abbey. He bought some lands round the city, and shortly after bought the city itself for 500 lb. of silver. The grant of Bath and the removal of the see were further confirmed by a charter of Henry I. The abbacy of Bath now ceased to exist as a separate office from the bishopric : the highest monastic officer of the house henceforth was the prior. For a time, also, the church of St. Andrew at Wells lost its position as the head church of the diocese, and the church of St. Peter at Bath took its place. When John came to Lath he found much to alter. Some irregularity may have existed in the official arrangements of the house, for it seems, from an entry in Domesday, that there had been two abbots at the same time. Nor was the bishop likely to be satisfied with his monks, lie was a Frenchman, and so had little sympathy with them. 1 [e delighted in the society of literary men, and ( onsiden d the monks lazy and uneducated. Accord- ingly, i the conventual estates from them foi himself, and doled them out ;i scanty sustenance at the hand, of his lay stewards. In time he gradually got together a newset of monks men of science and of busines . 'I hi n he b 1 ame more gra< ious. 1 [e set about building a new church in the heavy Norman DIOCESAN ORGANISATION. 35 style of his age, raising a fabric so vast that the present abbey church represents merely the nave of its predecessor, and so solid that some remains of his work still exist, though the building has met with much neglect and ill-usage. He gave the house many gifts, and restored some of the conventual estates. At Wells he undid the change introduced by Gisa, pulled down the new cloister, refectory, and dormitory, and sent the canons, whom Gisa had forced to live in monastic fashion — for such the life imposed by the rule of Chrodegang seemed in English eyes— to dwell again among the laity like parish priests. On the site of Gisa's buildings Bishop John set up a house for himself, for, though he chose to have his see at Bath, he wanted a house on so valuable an estate as Wells. He also, much against the will of the canons, took some of the lands of the church of the value of ^30 a year, which had been managed for their benefit by Provost Isaac, and gave them into the hands of his steward, his brother Hildebert, whom he made provost. Hildebert paid the canons a yearly pension of 60s. each, and kept any profits for himself. When he was dying, he wished to give back the canons' land. After his death, however, his son John, the archdeacon, claimed the lands and the office his father had held, as though they were matters of inheritance. Bishop John died in 11 23, and was buried in his new church at Bath. He was succeeded by Godfrey (11 23-1 135), a German chap- lain of Queen Adeliza of Louvain, a man of noble family, gentle and 'good. Godfrey tried in vain to d 2 5U BATH AND WELLS. get back the canons' lands from the archdeacon ; "but neither justice nor judgment could he have," for Henry and liis minister, Roger, bishop of Salis- bury, upheld the cause of John. When the arch- deacon was on his death-bed, he, like his father, was uneasy concerning these lands, and solemnly charged his brother Reginald to give them up. The matter was at last settled by Godfrey's successor, Robert (i 1 36-1 1 66). This bishop was of Flemish parentage, but was born in England. He was a monk of the Cluniac priory at Lewes. When Henry of Blois, the brother of Stephen, was made bishop of Winchester (1129), he still retained his former office of abbot of Glastonbury, and sent Robert to act as his deputy there. 1 luring the early part of the civil war, the bishops generally were on the side of Stephen : and many of them at different times, on one side or the other, were not ashamed to ride armed at the head of their men to divide the spoil with the lay barons, and to take part in their deeds of violence. Somerset had a full share in the troubles of the anarchy. As Robert owed his promotion to the bishop of Winchester, he naturally upheld the cause of Stephen. Bristol, on the other, was the head quarters of the party of Robert of Gloucester, and the Bristol men also made war on their own account, The bishop had no small difficulty in holding Bath, lie took an active pari in the war, which, in the timed the 1 haracter of a struggle between the two cities. ( >n< e he fell into the hands of the Bri tol men, and only* leaped hanging by giving up an Importanl prisoner he had taken shortly before. DIOCESAN ORGANISATION. 37 Robert's friendship with Stephen enabled him to carry out some important changes in the constitution of his church. With the help of the king and the bishop of Winchester, he recovered the lands of the canons. Then, " lest the late tribulation should happen again," he gave the canons a secure position with respect to their property by dividing it from the possessions of the see. One part he settled on them collectively, and the remainder he divided into separate estates, assigning one to each canonry as maintenance for the canon. These portions are called prebends, and the canons by receiving them became prebendaries. He also set up the offices of dean and precentor, attaching certain estates to them. The number of capitular dignitaries was afterwards increased, either by Robert, or, at least, before 1242; and, when complete, included a sub- dean, succentor, treasurer, and chancellor, while the office of provost still went on, though it was now of less importance than formerly. 1 The claims of Reginald, the heir of John, the late provost, were satisfied with the office of precentor and the large estate of Combe, which, after his death, was divided into five prebends. In the days of Henry II., how- ever, when the bishop was no longer powerful at court, the two nephews of Reginald brought an action against the bishop, the precentor, their uncle, 1 It should be noted that in 1390 the chapter, in answer to a royal mandate, declared that the provost need not be a priest, and that he had no voice or claim to enter their body by reason of his office. As a prebendary, however, he of course had these rights. As provost, he was the steward of the chapter. 38 BATH AND WELLS. and the church of Wells, to upset this agreement. Much to the annoyance of the defendants, who con- sidered that the case pertained to the ecclesiastical courts, the plaintiffs prosecuted their suit in a lay court. The question of jurisdiction was, it will be remembered, the subject of the quarrel between Henry II. and Becket. Ivo, the first dean, was much troubled by this suit, and at last the chapter paid the claimants seventy marks to settle it. According to our ideas, the right of the canons to their estates seems clear enough. According to feudal ideas, however, office and tenure were closely allied, and the tendency of both was to become hereditary. The lands had originally been delivered to llildebert. They had been in his family for three generations, and the presumption was that, so long as the heirs of Hilde- bert paid the canons the same pensions he had paid, they had a right to them. Thus the canons of Wells were made independent of the bishop, as far as their property was concerned. Each member of the chapter was not merely a canon in respect of his office, but a prebendary in respect of the benefice he held. The whole chapter formed a corporation aggregate, with common estates, while each member of it be- came a corporation sole, having a distinct office, and either a distinct estate or a pension charged on an estate, l<>i some Of the estates were too large lor one prebendary. The manor of Wedmore, for example, wa i dh ided into six prebends, of which one, the < hun h, wa i ;ned to the sub dean, and the o maindi r, togethei with the i hurt h of Wookey and othei i tates, to the dean. In Bishop Jocelin's DIOCESAN ORGANISATION. 39 time, the dean and sub-dean exchanged the Wedmore and Wookey prebends. Out of his estates, however, the dean had to pay four canons a yearly pension of ioos. each. So, too, after a while, the estate of Combe was charged with pensions of ^5. 6s. 8d. to fifteen canons. Each of the dignitaries of the church had a special office. The dean was the president of the chapter and judge in all capitular causes. The duty of the precentor was to govern the choir, to lead the chant- ing, and to admit and instruct the choir-boys. The chancellor, called also the archiscohi, had both educa- tional and legal work. He was the head of the cathe- dral school, having a schoolmaster under him, and he corrected the service-books — a necessary task, not merely because of "the hardness of the rules, called the Pie," but because the clergy often made altera- tions in the Ordinal, or book of directions for the per- formance of service, to suit their own convenience. He also kept the seal of the church, and was the secretary and legal adviser of the chapter. All the ornaments, the management of the candles, and the like, were committed to the treasurer. The sub- dean and the succentor, or sub-chanter, were the assistants of the dean and precentor respectively, and their representatives in their absence. With these dignitaries must be classed the archdeacons. In early times the bishop had but one archdeacon, " his eye." One of the results of the Conqueror's decree, sepa- rating the spiritual from the temporal courts, which came into full operation in the reign of Henry I., was the division of dioceses into territorial archdeaconries 40 BATH AND WELLS. — a change which was probably made in this diocese during the bishopric of Godfrey. With the exception of the jurisdiction of Glastonbury and of certain other places under special jurisdiction, the whole diocese was divided into the archdeaconries of Wells, Taunton, and Bath. As, however, in feudal society, lordship and jurisdiction were necessarily united, the prebendaries had peculiar rights within their prebends, which were exempt from the ordinary jurisdiction of the archdeacons : they held courts and had power to inflict ecclesiastical penalties. As these rights were the consequence of tenure, they did not pertain to such prebendaries as were paid by pensions. At first there was no rule as to the residence of canons who were not dignitaries. If a man chose to reside, he had his share of the undivided capitular estate, in addition to the income of his prebend. If he chose to live elsewhere, he enjoyed his prebendal revenue only. Although Robert is said to have rebuilt the church of Wells, his work probably was confined to the pres- bytery or apse; and, as this implied a removal of the high altar, it demanded a reconsecration, which took place in 1148. Whatever his work may have been, it has now perished, though its effect on later truction has been ingeniously traced. He is aid to have built the church of Bath, for t he city, told, burnt in [135. He probably finished tin- church of Bishop John, and, if the building had been damaged, repaired it I [e also added to it :im ritual buildings, a 1 hapter house, dormitory, and the like. Moreovei he obtained a decree from DIOCESAN ORGANISATION. 4 1 Hadrian IV., ordering that Bath should be the desig- nation of the see, and so gained the papal recognition of the change made by Bishop John. A Wells history of the fifteenth century says that he settled a dispute between the canons of Wells and the monks of Bath by obtaining a decree that the see should be in both churches alike, though Bath was to come first in the title on account of its civic dignity. This story seems highly doubtful, and Robert is to be reckoned simply as Bishop of Bath. It appears, however, that Alexander III. (1159-1181) ordained that the right of election should pertain to the canons and monks acting in concert, and that the dean of Wells should declare the result. Robert's reforms did not stop with ecclesiastical matters. The new life which he breathed into the con- stitution of the church of Wells, conjoined possibly with the restoration of the fabric and the increased wealth of the chapter, turned the village which Bishop John despised into a thriving town. For the origin of Wells is purely ecclesiastical: it grew up because a bishop's see was placed there, just as Glastonbury owed such life as it had to the presence of its ancient abbey. Robert's dealings with the townsmen were fair and liberal, for, so far from trying to keep them wholly dependent on the see, he granted the burghers full rights over their tenements on payment of a rent of 1 2d. a year for each, and allowed them to make their own police arrangements as to all unimportant cases. Another charter he gave them is of more distinctly ecclesiastical interest : it shows that the spirit of irreverence, which in those days so often 42 BATH AND WELLS. co-existed with violent religious feelings, was to be found amongst the lower classes, as well as amongst men like Henry II. Forasmuch, the bishop declares, the noise of the market, hitherto held in the church and in its forecourt, is to the shame and discomfort of those ministering therein, and a hindrance to the prayers of the worshippers, he allows three free fairs to be held in the streets of the town, viz., on the festivals of the Invention of the Holy Cross, of St. Calixtus (the day on which the battle of Hastings was fought), and of St. Andrew, and forbids them any longer to violate the church or the court of the church. Robert died in 1166, and was buried " before the steps of the great altar " of his church at Bath. After his death, Henry II. kept the see vacant for eight years and eight months. During this period the bishopric was in the king's hand, and all the profits of the see, amounting the year after Robert's death to ^334. us. 8d., were paid into the Exchequer, so that it was well for the canons that their property had been separated from the lands of the bishopric. At last the see was filled by the election of Ki ginald Fitz-Jocelin (1 1 74—1 191)- The new bishop was the son of Jocelin, bishop of Salisbury, who had been one of the opponents of Archbishop Becket. IK' was brought up in Lombardy, and was hence tailed the Lombard. As a young man, he was fond of ire, and e :pe< ially of hawking, I [e soon de voted himself to diplomacy, and was sent by Henry on embassies to Alexander III. in 1 167 and 1169. I5ecket complained bitterly of him to the Pope, mi of peaking lightly of the Holy See, DIOCESAN ORGANISATION. 43 declaring it was venal, and the like. He was wholly on the king's side in his quarrel with the archbishop ; and, when Henry sent to the Pope to clear himself of all complicity in the archbishop's murder, Reginald was one of the ambassadors. No less than six English sees, besides Canterbury, were now vacant, and Henry was anxious to fill them up. Reginald was elected (1173) to the see of Bath, as the Pope probably had appointed, by the two chapters. They had doubtless little choice but to follow the royal recommendation, for the young king, Henry, who was now quarrelling with his father, declared that the king made all the chapters choose whom he would. After his election, Reginald went with the elect of Canterbury to Rome. On May 5, 11 74, he wrote to the king to say that the election to Canterbury had been confirmed, but that his own consecration was still put off. It is evident that, though Alexander III. liked him, he thought it necessary to appear somewhat stern with the oppo- nents of the martyred archbishop. When, however, he and the new archbishop arrived at St. Jean de Maurienne, on their way home, he was consecrated by his companion. He then went to the Great Chartreuse, and persuaded Hugh of Avalon (bishop of Lincoln, 1 186-1200) to come over to England and take charge of a new Carthusian house lately founded by the king at Witham. As bishop, Reginald continued to take an active part in public affairs. He was present at the synod held at Westminster in n 75, where many decrees were made to secure the greater separation of the clergy from the world. Among these all clerks above the order of subdeacon who had concubines 44 BATH AND WEI ! S. (for so the wives of priests were called) were, after three warnings, to be deprived of office and benefice, and the sons of priests were not allowed to succeed to their father's livings. In t i 7 7, Reginald attended the council held to make an award between the kings of Castile and Navarre. The next year he was sent on a mission to Toulouse, where he sat in judgment on and excommunicated two heretical preachers. Thence he went on to Rome to the council held in 1 1 79 against the Albigensian sectaries. At the coro- nation of Richard, the dignity of the see was illustrated by the fact that Reginald walked on the king's left hand, while the bishop of Durham was on his right. When the king sold the great offices of the kingdom, before he left for the Crusade, a certain Reginald "the Italian," with whom our bishop should doubtless be identified, offered ,£.1,000 for the chancellorship, but did not obtain it. Reginald took part with the king's brother, Geoffrey, archbishop of York, and attended the council of 1191, which overthrew his enemy, Longchamp, the chief justiciar and chancellor, lie also sided with the monks of Christ Church in their quarrel with Archbishop Baldwin. Accordingly, en October 22, 1 191, the chapter elected him to the archbishopric. Reginald, however, died the following I >ei ember 2G, before his el< 1 tion was confirmed, and was buried at Bath, near the high altar. Reginald was nol unmindful of the temporal interests ol hii < lnin h. No le.s than eighteen estates were granted to it during his epi 1 opate, besides the manors of North Curry, Wrentich, and Hatch, which he bought and added to the Common fund of the (annus. The DIOCESAN ORGANISATION. 45 number of prebendal stalls, in Bishop John's time probably ten, and under Robert twenty-two, was raised by Reginald to thirty-five. The bishop's sporting tastes were gratified by a charter granting him and his suc- cessors licence to hunt all manner of beasts throughout all Somerset, roe and fallow deer alone excepted. A more becoming desire for the benefit of the churches under his care is perhaps implied by a grant of the right to mine for lead in all his manors. He enlarged the liberties granted to Wells by Bishop Robert, and made the city a free borough. His dealings with Bath and Glastonbury will be mentioned later. He is a good example of the better sort of worldly bishops of the twelfth century — well versed in public matters, ambitious and self-seeking, but liberal to his church, wise in his administration of its affairs, and, as far as we know, of moral, though not of devout, life. When Bishop Reginald was dying, he recommended the monks of Bath to choose his kinsman, Savaric (1193-1205), to succeed him. Savaric's relationship to Reginald is somewhat obscure. He was of noble descent ; and claimed cousinship, probably through his mother, with the Emperor Henry VI. One or two notices of his early life seem to show that his tastes were secular. In 1172 he was fined for trying to wrest a bow from one of the king's servants in a forest in Surrey. He was made treasurer of Salisbury by Bishop Jocelin, and also held the archdeaconry of Northampton. Like many other young arch- deacons of the time he seems to have gone to Italy to study law, and, as was the habit of these youthful 46 LATH AND WELLS. dignitaries, to have spent his money freely there. His revenues were sequestered for debt in n 86; and extravagance seems 'to have been an abiding failing with him, for even after he was a bishop we find one of the Molinari visiting England, with authority from an Italian merchant, to collect a debt of 87! marks from him. When Richard went on the Crusade, Savaric followed him to Sicily, and obtained the king's permission to accept any bishopric to which he might be elected. He was active in for- warding the election of Reginald to Canterbury ; and the monks of Bath obeyed the wishes of their former bishop, for, in spite of the arrangement made by Alexander III., they elected Savaric, though he was not yet in priest's orders, without consulting the Wells chapter. Savaric was consecrated at Rome, Septem- ber 20, 1 193. He visited the king in captivity, and obtained letters from him, recommending him for the see of Canterbury ; though Richard wrote privately to his mother, bidding her pay no heed to the recom- mendation, for he desired that Hubert Walter should be archbishop. During the latter part of his life Savaric held the office of imperial chancellor for the kingdom of Burgundy, an office which, like the hip itself, conferred on his master, Richard, was purely honorary. A bishop, Savaric sought to strengthen the con- nexion between the see and the religious houses of the diocese. The < on tanl aim of monastic establishments was to Ives from dio< anisa- tion. Savari< endeavoured to count) rat 1 this tendency, and aimed at making the monastic power a means DIOCESAN ORGANISATION. 47 of increasing the dignity of his see. Bath Abbey had already, from policy of a different nature, become an adjunct of the bishopric. The churches of Ilminster and Sutton were now made prebendal, and annexed to the abbacies of Muchelney and Athelney. A some- what similar policy is indicated by the establishment of a prebend in the church of Cleeve, to be held by the abbots of Bee. The three abbots were thus enrolled as members of the Wells chapter, with full prebendal rights in choir and chapter-house. They were of course excused residence, and each had to pay a stipend, or stall wages, to a vicar to perform his duties for him. Between these abbots and their houses and the bishop and chapter a bond of spiritual brotherhood was established. Masses were to be offered by each monastery on the death of a bishop, as though each had lost its abbot, and so on through different grades in the chapter ; while the Wells clergy performed a like good office on a death in any of the monasteries. Savaric is also said to have tried to persuade the abbot of Cirencester to found a prebend at Wells from the church of Milborne Port, which belonged to his house, but to have failed in this attempt. Although the dealings of Savaric with Glastonbury were more sweeping, they should be viewed in strict connexion with the policy he pursued towards these other monasteries. Bishop Reginald had already tried to connect Glastonbury with the cathedral organisation. He made the abbot a member of the chapter, creating a prebend for him in the church of Pilton, which already belonged to the abbey, and agreed to make 48 BATH AND WELLS. him archdeacon over the Glastonbury jurisdiction. Finding, however, that his position as canon put him in a subordinate position, the abbot withdrew from the scheme. Greed and policy alike prompted Savaric to a more decisive step. He persuaded the emperor to demand that Richard, who was then his captive, should grant him the abbe)', to be held along with the bishopric. In order to create a vacancy, the abbot, Henry of Sully, was made bishop of Worcester. Savaric gave up the city of Bath to the king, and tried to enforce his claim on the abbey. Upheld to some extent by the king and the archbishop, the monks elected William Pyke, one of their own number, as abbot. Savaric, however, gained the support of the papal court. He excommunicated Tyke and all the convent, and the archbishop was forced to confirm the sentences. When John came to the throne, Savaric bribed him to take his side ; and on Whit Sunday went to the abbey, with certain canons and laymen of Wells, and was inducted by force. All the monks, save eight who were on his side, were locked up in the infirmary, and kept a night and day without food. They were then brought down to the chapter-house, where they were beaten and forced to submit. In 1200 Savaric took the title ol bishop of bath and Glastonbury, and con- templated removing his sec from Bath to his new acquisition. When the monks attempted to lay their before the Pope, the precentor and subdean of W< lis witli Jocelin, who was afterwards bishop, came down to ( ompel them to withdraw their appeal. They '1 the monks out of their church, and sent DIOCESAN ORGANISATION. 49 them off in carts as prisoners to Wells, amidst the jeers of the people. In the tumult, it is said that one, the parson of Monkton, was beaten to death. At last the monks managed to lay their appeal before Innocent III. Pyke died suddenly at Rome, and the Glastonbury writers accuse Savaric of poisoning him. The bishop's money stood him in good stead, and a partition of the estates of the abbey was decreed by the papal commissioners. Savaric died in 1205, and was succeeded by Jocf.lin Trot.man (1206-1242), a canon, and probably a native of Wells. Jocelin carried on the dispute with the abbey until 12 19. In that year it was at last settled by an agreement made before the commissioners of Honorius III., by which the bishop gave up his claim to the abbacy, receiving the manors of Winscombe, Pucklechurch, Blackford, and Cranmore, with the advowsons of six churches, and surrendering the other estates he held in virtue of the partition made in Savaric's time. Jocelin accordingly dropped the title of Glastonbury, and in 1220 applied to the Pope to be allowed to use the title of Bath and Wells. He does not, however, appear to have adopted this style, and from 12 19 onwards is described as bishop of Bath. 1 When John attacked the liberties of the Church by refusing to receive Stephen Langton as archbishop, Jocelin took part with the bishops who laid the kingdom under an interdict, and went with them into 1 See the able article on this subject by Mr. J. A. C. Vincent, in the Getualogist of July, 1SS5, which has appeared while these pages were in the press, and to which I am indebted. E 50 BATH AND WELLS. exile to escape from the fury of the king. His estates were seized and he was outlawed. The quarrel of the king with the bishops put an end to the accord between the Church and the Crown, and arrayed the churchmen on the side of the nation in the struggle against the king's tyranny. On John's submission to the Pope in 1 2 13, he agreed to recall Jocelin, together with the archbishop and the other bishops, and to pay him 750 marks damages. Jocelin stood with Stephen Langton and the rest of the bishops, who acted as the king's counsellors when he sealed the Great Charier at Runnymcad. The papal excom- munication of the baronial party forced the bishops, after some vain attempts at reconciliation, to stand aside from the contest. When John was dead, Jocelin joined the bishop of Winchester in making the child Henry king. At the coronation at Gloucester on October 28, 12 16, he dictated the constitutional oath, and then he and the bishop of Winchester anointed and crowned the king. In a picture of the great sea-fight won by Hubert de Burgh over the French fleet on August 24, 1217, which is given in a MS. of Matthew Paris, the historian, Jocelin and some other bishops are represented as pronouncing the absolution of Such as should fall for their country. focelin upheld the government of Hubert de Burgh, who set himself to regain the royal castles for the Crown. At the surrender ol Bedford, the castle of Fawkes de BreautS, in [224, his words decided the 1 ison. " li the men you took at Biham had been hanged," he said, "the men you have liken now would never have held the castle against DIOCESAN ORGANISATION. 5 I you." Ill as it became a bishop, the advice was as wise as it was fearless. Jocelin's "episcopate is a memorable era in our dio- cesan history, for it settled the form of the cathedral church, and, in a measure, also the organisation of its clergy. The work of Bishop Robert probably attached a late Norman choir and presbytery to the old church, which had stood, as we may suppose, at least from the foundation of the bishopric of Somerset. What Robert's building was like we can only imagine by the help of others of the same period. There are traces that, as might be expected in a church of such importance, the east end was formed by an apse. Bishop Jocelin declares that he found the church in ruins, and this shows clearly that Robert's work could not have extended to rebuilding the nave. Enriched by the Glastonbury manors, he set about the work of pulling down the old English building, and raising a new and larger one in its place. The work of Jocelin is usually held to have included the nave, transepts, the three towers as high as the roof of the church, and three bays of the eastern limb, now the choir, but then forming a square- ended presbytery, the choir being usually placed under the central tower. The work is said to have been carried on from the east westwards, and certain changes in detail are held to mark the stages, the breaks, and the fresh starts in its progress. The whole, including the west front, is in the style called Early English, the earliest form of Gothic used in England. At the same time a con- siderable difference in style can easily be discerned E 2 52 BATH AND w i;i.i s. between the west end of the church and the rest of the work, the two styles having been fitted into one another with evident difficulty. The work at the west end is of the common Early English type. The tops of the capitals are round, the mouldings are free, and simple and detached shafts are abundantly used. The remainder of the work is marked by a certain stiffness and severity, bespeaking the influence of Romanesque feeling, and the tops of the capitals are square or octagonal. In the earlier part of his work, then, the bishop seems to have employed local masons — the names of some of them have come down to us — who built in a style peculiar to this part of the west country, to Somerset and to a part of South Wales, which Professor Willis has called "the Somerset style"; while in his later work, and the west front was doubtless the latest, he employed masons from a distance. This account, it will be observed, assigns no part in the building to Bishop Reginald. Another theory, the result of a close study of the themselves, is, that the west front and its external side towers exhibit traces of earlier feeling, and can he proved to be older than the rest of the and that these, with three hays of the nave, partially completed, arc the work of Reginald. 1 What share Oth focelitl took in thi of building the church is not known. Most likely he and the < hapter a< ted together. I rom i 225-1237 1 1 ,,, full ■ I compan Mr, I reeman in "T1 11 ' I Chui ■ ' w ■ ! ." 75- 7 6 , and Mi. [rvine, in " al Society's Pro- : ■. . ii, .• 1 . DIOCESAN ORGANISATION. 53 the king granted five marks a year in aid of the building, and other external help was probably given. The other works of Jocelin were the cloisters, the oldest part of the present palace, and the manor- house at Wookey. His church was sufficiently finished to be dedicated on October 23, 1239 — a year marked by the dedication of seven other great churches. During the bishopric of Jocelin, the offices of the other dignitaries of the church, besides those of the dean, precentor, and provost, were, if not instituted, at least, perhaps, settled. As there was no rule to com- pel the residence of prebendaries, it was often the case that the services of cathedral churches were left to an insufficient number of priests. In order to meet this evil, Jocelin made residence more to be desired, and took care that those who did not reside should pro- vide others to do their duty for them. He increased the common fund by adding to it the church of Congresbury and other grants, and by appropriating to it the profits of vacant prebends. Besides the share they had out of this fund, the resident members of the cathedral staff, from the bishop downwards, re- ceived a certain daily allowance, anciently paid partly in bread and partly in money. Jocelin commuted this allowance wholly into money, and raised its amount. Of old, for example, the allowance paid to each of the five chief dignitaries was 6d. and two white loaves and two brown, and to each canon 3d. and one loaf of each sort. By Jocelin's arrange- ment, the dignitaries received Sd., and 4d. for bread, and the other canons half these sums. About this 54 BATH AND WELLS. time, too, the bishop began to grant a house, or land to build a house, from lands given him for that purpose, to canons coming into residence. By these means he made residence profitable ; and, in order that those who claimed to share in these profits should not do so wrongfully, residence was defined as six months for a simple canon and eight months for a dignitary. As every new residentiary made a new claim on the common fund, a custom arose that when a canon first came into residence he should give great feasts, called " oyster feasts," to the dean and chapter. While it was by no means needful that all the canons should reside, Jocelin took care that the cathedral service should never suffer from a scanty supply of priests. Every canon who had his prebend in a parish church had, as prebendary, to keep a vicar there, and, as canon, to keep another at Wells. Although Jocelin was not the first to institute the custom that canons should have vicars for the performance of the cathedral service, he seems to have made it a rule binding on all. and to have arranged that each vicar should be paid by his canon, or "lord" — for, as the idea that a man might held an estate on condition of performing a certain service, and yet have that service performed by another, was distinctly feudal, so tin- feudal term "dominus" was used to l \|>ress the relation of the canon to his. vicar. Jocelin evidently cared lor education. lie and Hugh oi Wells, bishop of Lincoln, who is said to have been his brother, both probably were taught in boyhood at the cathedral school, and it is there- fore interesting to find him, as bishop, endowing it DIOCESAN ORGANISATION. 55 with houses and land. His grant, too, has a special interest, for the former owner is described as Adam Lock, mason, and the two witnesses are two other masons, Deodatus and Thomas Norrays, all three, probably, men who bore their share in the work we still admire at Wells. Nor was Jocelin a mere pedant who would force children to learn. He evidently had no liking for the harsh treatment boys used to receive from their teachers; for, when he heard that a certain schoolmaster had beaten his scholars unmercifully, he laid his official censure on him, and would not forgive him until Innocent III. himself wrote to say that he had absolved him, and that he desired the bishop to forgive him, and to allow him to officiate as a clergyman in his diocese. Jocelin died Nov. 19, 1242, and, according to his desire, was buried in the middle of the choir of his church at Wells. The monks of Bath were indignant at this, and in the dispute which arose about the right of electing his successor, accused the canons of robbing them of the bishop's body. 56 BATH AND WELLS. CHAPTER IV. MONASTIC AND COLLEGIATE FOUNDATIONS. Monasticism and the Conquest — Benedictines — Glastonbury : its Wealth, Economy, and History — Cistercians — Cluniacs — Carthusians : Hugh of Avalon — Augustinian Canons — JPreceptories — Nunneries — Friaries — Alien Houses — Col- leges and Hospitals — General Character of Monastic Hou >es — Anchorites. English monasticism at the time of the Conquest was national and insular in character. The monas- teries were centres of opposition to the foreigner ; and the manner of life within them, in spite of the revival effected by St. Dunstan and those who worked with him, was not in accord with the strict usages observed on the Continent. While Archbishop Lan- franc insisted on greater strictness of life, the Con- queror, for a political reason, was at one with him in dealing sharply with the monasteries of the con- curred people, and placed determined, and sometimes violent, men to rule over them. For, though the cruelty of Abbot Thurstan at Glastonbury was an extreme case, it was typical of the vigorous measures taken in other houses to quell the national spirit which found a home in the cloister, before a hundred years had passed away, the charactei ol English monasticism had changed. A suca of foreign abbots naturally influenced the character MONASTIC AND COLLEGIATE FOUNDATIONS. 57 of the monks. From the very first these abbots took pride in the greatness and privileges of the houses they ruled over. Of these privileges, inde- pendence of episcopal control was the one most eagerly sought. In their struggle with the bishops, the monasteries were by no means feeble enemies, for the Conquest was followed by a rapid increase in the power of monasticism. The Norman baron sought to atone for the deeds of violence and wrong in which he had spent his life by lavish gifts to religious foundations. New orders, the outcome of revivals of monastic devotion, were introduced from abroad, and in some cases continued, even in their new homes, subject to foreign rule. Old foundations were enriched, and the number of Benedictine houses — the only monasteries existing in England at the time of the Conquest — was increased by the piety of the invaders. English monks then were subject to another influence besides the taste of their abbots, for they found their founders and benefactors among the Normans. These influences, combined with the fusion of the two races, virtually completed by the middle of the twelfth century, caused English monas- ticism to lose its special character. In spite of this change, however, the spirit of resistance remained, though it took a new direction. In their struggle with the secular clergy, which had for its aim the attainment of independence and isolation, the monks separated themselves from the national system and sought their support abroad. Brought by the Conquest into closer relations with Rome, the Church of England in the twelfth century 5b BATH AND WELLS. was divided in her policy. As a rule, her secular priests cast in their lot with the king and the nation, while the regulars trusted in appeals to the Pope. In such a struggle, then, as that of Savaric with Glastonbury, the cause of the abbey is not to be looked at as an instance of resistance to foreign op- pression ; and the evident sympathy shown by the people with the claim of the bishop may, perhaps, to some extent, be taken as marking a change which might be more forcibly illustrated by events outside our diocese. Of the old Benedictine houses of Somerset, the abbey of St. Peter at Path lost much of its importance by its union with the see. Still, the prior of Path was a greater man than he would have been had there been a resident abbot, and on one occasion at least he received a summons to parliament. And, although the bishop held the abbey, the monastic estates were not merged in the property of the bishopric. It would, indeed, seem that it would have been for the good of the house had the bishops interfered more frequently with its affairs. Bishop John of I hokensford, ample, an active administrator, writing to Prior Robert, in 1321, says that he hears that the wealth of the church had been so wasted by mismanagement, that the monks had not proper loud to eat, and that if oil'- of them coin plained ever : o properly, the prior abused him, and threatened him with worse food, and even with a heav) punishment. The fabric of the church, cathedra] though it was, had evidently been allowed to fall into decay, tor tin bishop issued a letter directing colle< tions l<> he made lor its restora- MONASTIC AND COLLEGIATE FOUNDATIONS. 59 tion. Another prior, John of Iford, was turned out for immorality in 1347. At Dunster was a cell, or dependency of Bath, founded by William of Mohun, in the reign of the Conqueror. The church illustrates the curious arrangement sometimes made in order to allow a body of monks to carry on worship in the same building with the parishioners. In old times, it seems that " the monks' choir was the chancel of the parish church." At the end of the fifteenth century, in consequence of a dispute between the monks and the parishioners, it was decreed by arbi- trators, that the parish should build for itself a separate choir, west of the central tower, while the monks should have theirs to the east, the space under the tower, the natural choir of the church, being left free. The consequence of this award was that, before the late so-called restoration, the building consisted of two separate churches. West of the tower were the nave and chancel of the parish church ; eastwards came a sort of ante-chapel formed by the transepts and tower space, and beyond was the monks' choir. Other churches have the same or similar arrange- ments in different parts of the country. 1 Dwarfed by the greatness of Glastonbury, the other religious houses in Somerset in like manner have little history. Over Athelney and Muchelney, founded by /Ethelstan in 939, the abbot of Glastonbury set up a claim of patronage. The abbots of both these houses were cited by Lanfranc to answer a complaint made against them by Bishop Gisa. The case was opened 1 Freeman, " English Towns and Districts," p. 333. 60 BATH AND WELLS. at a meeting of the witan in the presence of the king. The abbot of Muchelney answered, evidently at the suggestion of Abbot Thurstan, that he would plead at Glastonbury. A bolder answer was given by the abbot of Athelney. Lanfranc threatened to take away his staff. " I care not," he said, " for I have a better one at home : all the same, you shall not have it." Thurstan pleaded that both were in the jurisdiction of his house, and that the abbots of both churches were elected by the chapter of Glastonbury. The archbishop's sentence was that the bishop should judge the case at Glastonbury. Against this Thurstan protested. He would have no one holding courts in his house contrary to its ancient privileges. If the bishop came, it must be at his bidding. He gained his cause. The bishop came to his chapter-house, and there, as was to be expected, the abbots cleared themselves of whatever they were accused of. It is possible that the two abbots were Englishmen, and that the proceedings against them were taken in order to displace them. One would, at least, be glad to find that the fearless abbot of Athelney was an Englishman. Even if it were not so, the case is valuable, for the position taken by such a man as Thurstan, both as regards the rights of his house, and in opposition to the rulers of the national ( 'hurch, is an antic ipation oi the < hange in the monastic spirit which, as we have seen, was developed during the next century. Athelne) wasapoor house. In 1304, Edward I. made 1 di in. iml on it for two i orrodies and a pension of 40s. i oily was maintenance allowed by an ecclesias- tical foundation to an) person, either as a matter of MONASTIC AND COLLEGIATE FOUNDATIONS. 6 1 favour or in fulfilment of a special arrangement, or as a right pertaining to the descendants of a founder. Kings often demanded corrodies and pensions from cathedrals and houses of royal foundation on behalf of persons for whom they wished to provide — a custom so burdensome that, in i Edward III., it was limited by law to one such demand on each house. In this case, the monks of Athelney pleaded poverty as an excuse for not complying with the demand. Muchelney was a richer house, and the abbot was allowed by the Pope to wear the mitre. He was, however, only once summoned to sit in parliament, for there was no necessary connexion between a mitred and a parliamentary abbey. In a mitred house, the abbot, by the Pope's leave, wore certain insignia, such as the mitre, ring, gloves, and dalmatic ; while a par- liamentary abbey was a royal foundation, holding its possessions of the crown by barony, and consequently bound, in the person of its abbot, to attend parlia- ment. In the early days of parliaments, a large number of abbots received summonses, and in 1299 we find that the prior of Bath, when disabled by sickness from attending to his duties in parliament, sent one of his monks as his proctor. During the fourteenth century the number declined, and when it was to some extent settled at twenty-seven, Glaston- bury was the only parliamentary abbey in Somerset. The external means of preserving discipline in religious houses was by visitation, and the ordinary visitor was the bishop of the diocese. Epis- copal visitations do not seem to have been made periodically, but only when occasion required. A 62 BATH AND WELLS. visitation, which is really an inquisitorial and judicial court held by the bishop or other visitor, either in person or by officials, was much disliked by the monks. In the first place, it interfered with the in- dependence they sought to establish ; and, secondly, it was a time when disagreeable questions were asked, when discipline was enforced and punishments were administered. The rule by which the monks were bound was stringent and exactly expressed. For the most part, the brethren of an old Benedictine house were men of good social position, belonging to a wealthy society, and it is not to be wondered at if the searching questions of a visitor often brought irregu- larities to light. Bishop Ralph, for example, wrote to the convent of Muchelney, in 1 335, that at his late visi- tation he found that some of the brethren used costly and splendid vessels in the refectories; that some, instead of the little cots in which they were bound to lie, had beds like tents or lobbies (four-posters ?) set up for them ; that some would not eat in the refectory, hut had their meals in private j ami that some wandered or rode alone about the country. A common punishment for an offending monk was, that he should be kept for a while in solitarj confinement on a strict diet, ami made to repeat tin- psalter as a penance. A punishment of this kind was inflicted, by the bi-h"p'. ordi r, in [338, on John of Worthy, a monk of Muchelney, who, perhaps, persisted in luxurious living in spite of the bishop's warning. On Sundays il l h-.' \va , lo have the same food as the other brethren; on Tuesdays and Thursdays, barley-bread, pulse, and one kind of fish: and on MONASTIC AND COLLEGIATE FOUNDATIONS. 63 the other days of the week barley-bread and pulse only. At Glastonbury, Abbot Thurstan, in spite of his arbitrary conduct, showed himself as anxious for the material splendour as he was for the privileges of his house, for he pulled down the church of St. Dunstan and began to build one more suited to Norman taste as to size and shape. The mention of the " up- floor " in the account of his attack on his monks shows that he had by that time (1083) built the choir — he probably began his work at the east end — with aisles and a triforium, and a gallery over the aisle- vaulting. But, just as Anselm pulled down the choir his predecessor raised at Canterbury to build one more magnificent, so Abbot Herlwin pulled down the work of Thurstan as unworthy of the wealth of his house, and began a new church, on which he spent ^480. In spite of this good work, he was, like Thurstan, a violent and extravagant man, — another typical specimen of the worse sort of the churchmen of the Conquest. Determined to be famed for princely hospitality, he took the abbey gates off their hinges, and threatened to slit the porter's ears if he refused any one admittance. He succeeded in re- gaining many of the possessions of the abbey alienated during the troubles in Thurstan's time. Other estates were also regained by Henry of Blois, brother of Stephen, who was abbot 11 26-1 171. Three years after his appointment to Glastonbury, Henry was made bishop of Winchester. Although he held the abbey along with the bishopric, he did not neglect it, for he raised the domestic buildings of the convent, 64 BATH AND WELLS. the cloisters, and the tower of the church, which lie must, therefore, have found almost finished. After the death of the abbot in 1178, Henry II. took the house into his own hands, and sent down a certain Peter of Marci, a monk of Clugny, who had been of service to him, to administer the abbey- Peter tried to persuade the monks to elect him abbot, but they would not, for he was a man of evil life, and had shed blood. To convince them that his hands were free from blood, Peter celebrated a mass. Now, when blood was shed in a church or churchyard, or the divine mysteries were performed by a homicide, the place was said to be polluted, and before it could again be used for worship it had to be reconciled by a rite especially provided for thai purpose. This was not done, for the monks probably were unwilling to quarrel openly with the king's officer, and to this neglect they attributed the calamity that shortly fell upon them. On St. Urban's day, 1185, the monastery of Glas- tonbury was destroyed by fire; the venerable "old 1 hurch," the vast church so lately finished, the noble buildings of Henry of Blois, all save one chamber and its chapel and the bell tower, were bumed to the ground. With bitter tears the brethren saw their sacred treasures of gold and silver, ol silk and other stuffs, their 1 ks and the ornaments of their i hurch destroyed, and even the relics of saints lying scat ti red amid the rubbish. The king was deeply grieved that this should have happened while the house was in his keeping. He issued a charter promising that he or his uccei ors would build up the abbey yet MONASTIC AND COLLEGIATE FOUNDATIONS. 65 more magnificently than it had been built before, 1 and sent down Ralph Fitz-Stephen— for Peter was then dead — to be administrator. Ralph did much for the good of the house, for he increased the allowances of the monks, he built the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, now called the chapel of St. Joseph^ where the "old church "had stood, and began the greater church to the west, laying the foundations of a building 400 feet by 80 feet. In all these works, whatever the revenues of the house failed to do, was done by the king. When Henry died, however, all was brought to a stand. Richard had other ways of spending the treasure he so greedily gathered, and the abbot, Henry of Sully, great-grandson of the Conqueror through his daughter Adela, and nephew of Henry of Blois, cared nothing for the building, and only used his office as a means of granting estates to his friends. Left to their own resources, the monks sent out brethren to raise money by preaching ser- mons in different dioceses for the restoration of the fabric. About this time the so-called discoveries of the bones of Arthur and of the relics of St. Dunstan are said to have taken place — the body of the arch- bishop having, it was alleged, been brought from Canterbury, secretly, in 1012, to save it from the Danes. As the romance of Geoffrey of Monmouth was being eagerly read, the finding of Arthur's tomb — if the pretended discovery really took place then- fell in with the fashion of the day ; while the story of the translation of St. Dunstan was no less calculated 1 " Monasticon," i. 62. F 66 BATH AND WELLS. to rouse fresh reverence for a spot already in truth the resting-place of Eadmund, of Eadgar, and of Ead- mund Ironside, and, according to legends of more or less probability, of a goodly company of saints and of other kings. Though Henry of Sully was care- less of the interests of his house, he magnified his office by obtaining from the Pope the right to wear the mitre and to bless the priestly robes. The termination of a long period, during which the revenues of the abbey were in the hands of adminis- trators, was naturally made the occasion of drawing up an elaborate terrier or estimate of the property of the abbey, with the rights and duties of its tenants. From this book, called the Book of Henry of Sully, some idea can be gained of the wealth of a great English abbey in the twelfth century, of its internal arrangement, and — a point which only indirectly bears on our subject — of the condition of the labourers and others who held of it. The number of officers was large, and each had his own duties and his special pay, consisting, not of money, but of certain rights and allowances. Next to the abbot, for example, was the prior, who had his own lodgings, and was allowed two servants, two loaves a day, one of white and one of black bread, two dishes from the kitchen, one measure of good and one of common ale, a certain drinking measure of wine, and hay and keep for his horse, together with 10 lb. of wax and 10 lb. of i andle each year. Next to him came the sub prior, and i while probably a third prior, then the chamber lain, the precentor, who was allowed a scribe with a 1 payment, the almoner, the sacristan, the eel MONASTIC AND COLLEGIATE FOUNDATIONS. 67 larer, the refectory-man, the guest-man, who took care of strangers, and the granerer. All these officers were brethren of the house. The gardener was pro- bably a layman, and the butler, porter, master-fisher- man, cook, and herdsman evidently were so, for their offices at this time were hereditary. Such an arrange- ment was in accordance with the ideas of feudal society, which looked on an office as a fief or heritable possession, held in virtue of the discharge of certain duties for which the holder was responsible, but which might be delegated by him to another. The butlership at the time when the terrier was made belonged to a girl, the daughter of Adam, the last butler. The office was valuable, and the young woman was made a ward of the prior, who arranged for the discharge of its duties and managed the pro- perty annexed to it, with a due regard, one would hope, to his ward's interest. Another and highly- important lay officer was the reeve, who presided over the abbot's courts and enforced his rights in the various manors belonging to the abbey. His office also became hereditary. A considerable loss of wealth was consequent on the growth of these here- ditary offices, and among the various steps taken by Abbot Michael (1235-1252) to restore the fortunes of the house, after the troubles of the contest with Savaric and Jocelin, we read that he bought up the offices of the reeve and porter, and restored them to the abbey. A curious illustration of the magnificent scale on which the services of the church were carried out is afforded by the evident value of the right to the ends and droppings of the candles which Abbot f 2 68 BATH AND WELLS. Michael took away from the office of the porter and attached to that of his chamberlain. The registrar must have had important duties where the charters were so many and so valuable as they were at Glaston- bury. Besides these officers, there were the steward, the goldsmith, the repairer of the ornaments and maker of embroidery, the bedel, brewer, scullion, vineyard-man, woodman, charcoal-man, swineherd, pounder, and others. Three vineyards are mentioned in Domesday as belonging to Glastonbury. At that time their whole extent was less than four acres, but it may be inferred from various notices in Abbot Henry's terrier that the cultivation of the vine had considerably increased by his time. At Muchelney there was a small vineyard near the abbey. At bath, the abbey held the tithe of the vines of Lyncombc. In the manor of North Curry, obtained by Bishop Reginald for the chapter, there was, in [ 086, a vine- yard of no less than seven acres. Green Oar on Mendip, with its ancient lead mines, was a cell or dependency of Glastonbury. The rights of the house there were in the charge of a prior, ami these rights pro- bably account for the twelve metal workers {fabri) on the home manor of the abbey at the time of the Survey. The rents of the abbey were pail partly in money, but ( hielly in service. Many of these rents consisted eral services, burdensome alike to the tenants form and t" the hud to enfon e. John Pese, ol Lympsham, for example, held hah a virgate (thirty acres r), for which he paid 3od. From Michaelmas to Martinmas he had to plough an acre a week ; to do MONASTIC AND COLLEGIATE FOUNDATIONS. 69 one acre corn-sowing at his lord's bidding, and half an acre harrowing ; every Monday he owed a day's labour ; from Martinmas to Hokeday (the second Tuesday after Easter) he had to do certain ploughing and harrowing, and so on, according to the different seasons throughout the year, and he had besides to do certain hauling, and find a packhorse when required. At Hokeday, he paid a id. a sheep; at Martinmas, a certain amount of wheat for church-scot ; and at Michaelmas, 5d., as a kind of chief-rent. The ex- penses of such a house as Glastonbury were neces- sarily large. Besides the maintenance of the brethren and the various officers of the abbey, of the buildings, and of the services of the church, alms were given away, strangers entertained, and the sick relieved. The infirmary of every large abbey, which was under the care of its special officer, was filled not merely with members of the convent, but with all manner of sick persons, who there received the attention of the best and almost the only physicians of the day. Provision, too, was made for all who had a claim on the funds of the house by the system of corrodies. No cor- rody or pension could be granted without the bishop's leave, and, accordingly, when Abbot Michael retired from his office on account of old age, and the convent gave him the magnificent pension of ^,160 a year, besides lodging and allowances, the assent of the bishop was asked and obtained for this arrangement. At the date of the terrier of Henry of Sully, the abbey seems to have paid eighteen corrodies. One recipient was a royal nominee, and nine were women, of whom one was a cripple. Learning of all kinds, 70 BATH AND WELLS. sacred and secular, the study of theology, of the classics, of law, natural science, and grammar found a home in our monasteries. Above all, it should be remembered that nearly every historical work that has come down to us from the Middle Ages was pro- duced in them. Annals and histories were written, and copies of national and local charters were made and preserved by the monks. And while Glaston- bury, indeed, had not, like St. Albans, a school and line of historians, it found its own chroniclers in Adam of Domerham and John of Glastonbury. Nor is there any lack of evidence as to the value placed on learning in our great monastery. Various abbots, and especially John of Taunton (i 274-1291), gave many books to the library, which I. eland, when he visited the abbey, declared could scarcely be matched by any in the kingdom. Here, as in every large monas- tery, was a scriptorium, where books, often borrowed for the purpose, were copied. .Much of the domestic arrangements of Glastonbury was common to other monastic houses in the diocese, and, indeed, in the kingdom. Fuller records, however, have come down to us of this famous house than of any of the others in Somerset, and its economy was, doubtless, more perfect than that of any smaller monastery. Glastonbury was considerably impoverished by its long struggle with Savaric and Jocelin, and though Abbot Mil hail did imnh to mend matters, leaving it free from debl and with its lands well stocked, the troubles of the house were not over, lor it was for some time longer engaged in trying to win back the advantages the see had gained from it. For besides MONASTIC AND COLLEGIATE FOUNDATIONS. 7 I the loss of the estates ceded to Jocelin, the monas- tery further suffered from the claim the bishops now- made to interfere in its internal affairs and to stand in the position of intermediate (mesne) lord between it and the Crown. In 1254, for example, the bishop (William Button) tried to make Abbot Roger Forde pay the aid levied on the knighthood of the Lord Edward (Edward I.) through him, instead of paying it in his own name. Abbot Roger withstood this, and struggled manfully for the rights of his house on all occasions. He seems, indeed, to have grudged everything that was not spent in law. At all events, the brethren complained to the bishop that he stinted them of their provisions. Glad enough to find an occasion for interference, the bishop held a two days' visitation of the abbey, and at the close declared the abbot deposed. Then Roger went out of the chapter-house into the cloister, and his men and his party armed themselves, and beat the bishop's men out of the abbey. When the bishop heard the tumult outside the chapter-house, he was afraid, and so he ate his dinner with the monks in the refectory. While they were at dinner, Roger and his men seized on the charters and treasures of the house, and rode off with them. The monks, with the bishop's approval? chose another abbot. Roger, however, was reinstated by the Pope, and so the bishop's unjustifiable attempt came to nought. Again, on the death of Abbot Robert of Petherton, in 1274, the officers of the bishop (another William Button) tried to take possession of the abbey during the vacancy, as though it was held of the see. Their 72 BATH AND WELLS. project was, however, defeated by the prompt action of the sacristan, Adam of Domerham, the chronicler, and by the opportune arrival of the king's escheator. At last John of Taunton succeeded in establishing the immediate dependence of his house en the Crown ; and so it came to pass that the abbot of Glastonbury sat in parliament as a Lord Spiritual, for he held by barony of the Crown. The estates surrendered to Jocelin were never regained. Abbot John agreed to give up the claim to them in con- sideration of obtaining the independence of the abbey. During his tenure of office, in 1278, Edward I. and his queen visited Glastonbury in great state. The abbot made the visit profitable to his house by suc- cessfully asserting its privileges. When the marshal's men came to mark, out the lodgings for the court, he would not allow them to do so, and gave his chamberlain directions to make the necessary arrange- ments. And when he found that the king intended, during his visit, to hold an assize by his justices at Glastonbury, fearing that the visit of the royal judges would interfere with the abbey's rights of jurisdiction over the "Twelve Hides," he persuaded Edward to hold the assize at Street, which lay just beyond the boundary. The event of the visit was the opening of the pretended tombs ol Arthur and Guinever by the king and queen, and the translation of their bones to a tomb in front of the high altar, a cere- whii h, of < ourse, added to the honour and glory of the abbey. This mention of the high altar shows us that the church was nearly finished; and we find that, in 1303, Abbot Geoffrey Fromund MONASTIC AND COLLEGIATE FOUNDATIONS. 73 caused it to be dedicated. Among the various works executed by Adam of Sodbury (i 323-1334) were the vaulting of the nave, and the adornment of the vault with paintings, the erection of an organ of great size, and the curious mechanical clock now preserved at Wells. The Cluniac order, perfected by St. Odo, in 912, was introduced into England by the foundation of the priory of Lewes by William of Warren. The only house in Somerset belonging to this order was founded at Montacute, by William of Mortain, about 1100. All the Cluniac houses in England were priories dependent on the foreign abbeys of the order, and were used as a means of supplying the mother- churches with money. In the war with France, therefore, they were taken into the king's hand. The patronage of Montacute was granted by Edward III. to William of Montacute, earl of Salisbury ; and in the reign of Henry IV. the house was finally freed from foreign rule, and made denizen by letters patent. The Cistercians, another branch of the Benedictines, had an abbey at Cleeve, founded by William of Romare, in 118S. Like the other houses of this order, the abbey was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and stood in a lonely spot. Shunning the haunts of men, the Cistercians loved to make their dwellings where they might best carry on their labours, which, in so many cases, made the wilderness blossom as the rose. And if the agricultural value of a site was of the first importance in their eyes, the romantic names they gave their abbeys are proofs that natural beauty did not appeal to them in vain. Cleeve Abbey was 74 BATH AND WELLS. called Vallis Florida ; it was the house of our Lady of the Vale of Flowers. A third offshoot of the Benedictines, the Carthusian order, founded by St. Bruno in 1080, followed an exceedingly rigid rule. The monks never ate flesh, and, on one day in the week, were bound to fast on bread, water, and salt ; they wore a hair-shirt next the skin, and were forbidden to leave the grounds of their monastery. Henry II. introduced this order into England by founding at Witham a monastery, or charterhouse, as all the houses of the order were called after their mother-priory, the Great Chartreuse. The early days of the new foundation were stormy ; the first prior deserted his post, and the next died before the necessary buildings of the convent were begun. By the advice of a noble of Maurienne, Henry sent to the Great Chartreuse to beg Hugh of Avalon to take charge of his new house. Hugh, as we have seen, was finally persuaded by Bishop Reginald to do so. He at once gained the king's esteem; and, with an energy which must have pleased his energetic patron, set about the buildings of the house. The regular number of brethren in a charterhouse was only thirteen, including the prior. Besides these, how- ever, there were thirteen lay-brethren {convcrsi\ each attached to a clerical monk. For these lay- brethren, a separate set of buildings was needful, with a gue 1 house. Eat h charterhouse had also two churches— the greater for the monks, the lesser for the lay brethren. Structural, as well as written, evi- dence seems to show that the existing parish church of Witham was the very church of the lay brethren MONASTIC AND COLLEGIATE FOUNDATIONS. 75 of Hugh's convent, and that it was, moreover, the old parish church, which was a chapel belonging to the prior of Bruton. This church, then, may have been found already standing by Hugh, and have been altered by him so as to fit it to become the lesser church appropriated to the use of the lay brethren ; it was no longer wanted for the use of the few people of the village, for, as the rule of the Carthusians demanded entire seclusion, the king caused the inhabitants of Witham, who were all villeins, to leave their homes, giving them their choice either of a fresh settlement on any of his manors, or of their freedom from villenage ; while, at Hugh's request, he amply com- pensated them for the loss of their cottages. 1 Before long Witham became a model of perfect discipline. More than one monk, having entered the convent without counting the cost, left it again. Among these was a monk of Muchelney, who went back to the easier discipline of his old house. In spite of the king's gifts to his new foundation, Hugh still lacked one thing for which he greatly longed, and that was a copy of the Holy Scriptures. One day as he was talking familiarly with the king, he let drop something about his need of books. " Why do you not hire scribes to copy," asked the king. To this Hugh answered that he had no parchment. " And how much money do you want for that ?" was the next question. " A mark of silver would last a long time," the prior answered. The king smiled, and bade tell down ten marks to the brother who was 1 Somerset Archseol. Soc.'s Proceedings, xxiv. , i. 19. 76 BATH AND WELLS. with Hugh, promising at the same time that he would send him a volume with the Old and New Testaments complete. Mindful of his word, Henry looked about for a good copy, and at last heard that the monks of St. Swithun's, at Winchester, had made a fine one to read in their refectory at meal-times. He bribed the prior with many fine promises to let him have it. Hugh and his brethren received the king's gift with delight, for the carefulness of the copy matched the beauty of the workmanship. One day, however, it chanced that a monk of St. Swithun's came toYVitham, and from him Hugh found out how the brethren at Winchester had toiled over the work, hoping to have it for their own use, and how the king had really cheated them of it. When he heard this, he insisted on sending the precious volume back, for as he loved God, so he loved the brethren also. The Winchester monks rejoiced greatly at getting back their treasure, and the MS. still remains a noble monument of how the monks in both dioceses loved the Word of God, and of the unselfish spirit that animated our own Carthusian house. Charterhouse on-Mendip was a ), however, the prior and convent petitioned bishop Beckington to consecrate a burying-ground and a font, and lit .use a chaplain for the lay folk, setting forth that, owing to the decay of zeal, lay persons of both sexes had Oi late been employed by tin m, and so a parochial family had grownup. The petition MONASTIC AND COLLEGIATE FOUNDATIONS. 77 was granted. No separate parochial church is mentioned, and it seems that the chaplain minis- tered in the lesser church of the lay brethren, the present parish church. Another Carthusian monastery, founded by William Longsword, earl of Salisbury, in 1222, was settled at Henton [Hinton] by his widow Ella, and was called God's House. The monastery was poor, and in 1344 the monks were in some trouble, for the mills, from which the larger part of their income was supplied, were stopped by floods ; to relieve them, William Littleton, their patron, who was then precentor of Wells, granted them the church of Henton. Secular canons, as we have seen, differed little from ordinary priests : they were attached to some collegiate or cathedral church, they usually lived apart, and had the cure of souls, which monks could only have by dispensation. Besides these, Lanfranc intro- duced a new sort of canons into England, called canons regular, who were under a rule less strict than that of the monks, though they lived together, with a common dormitory and refectory. In outward appear- ance, they differed from monks, for monks were shaven, while canons had beards and wore caps. The principal order of canons regular was the order of St. Augustine, or the Black Canons, as they were called from their black cassocks. To this order belonged the priories of Taunton, Bruton, and Barlinch. The rule of St. Augustine was also adopted by the order of St. Victor, which had priories at Keynsham, Stavordale, and Worspring (now called Woodspring). There is little worthy of remark in the history of 78 BATH AND WELLS. anv of these houses. Taunton, founded by William Giffard, bishop of Winchester (1107-1129), the lord of the manor, affords an example of the way in which funds were sometimes raised for building a church. Walter, bishop of Exeter, in 1277, sent letters to his archdeacons informing them that the bearers were authorised by him to collect money in his diocese for the erection of the conventual church of Taunton. The building was begun on a somewhat magnificent scale, and the canons were often engaged in begging expeditions. It was still unfinished in 1337, and in that year our bishop, Ralph of Shrewsbury, offered an indulgence of fifteen days to all who should con- tribute towards it. Bruton, founded by William of Mohun, in 1 142, is said to have taken the place of an earlier Benedictine convent — it will be remembered that Ealdhelm built a church there. The house was poor. Standing on the high-road, it was overburthened by the duties of hospitality, and in 1301 it received the church of Chilthorne Domer to help it out of the difficulties into which it had thus been brought. During the first half of the fifteenth century two priors were cited before the bishop for evil conduct. Shortly before the dissolution, its prior obtained leave to convert it into a Benedictine abbey. Barlinch was founded by William Say, temp. Henry II. keynsham, founded by William, earl of Gloucester, 11 70, passed through troublous times. The great tithes of Chew Stoke had been granted for the clothing of the canons, and tin- hou^e had land, and churches in Ireland and by 1324, however, the Chew Stoke tithes had been tal 1 □ away "by oppression of adversaries," and MONASTIC AND COLLEGIATE FOUNDATIONS. 79 other losses had been sustained. To make up for these losses, Bishop Drokensford gave the convent the rectory of High Littleton. A few years later it was again in difficulties through the loss of all profits from its property in Ireland and Wales : its churches were burned, and the constant wars in both countries rendered its estates worth nothing. Accordingly, in 1336, Walter Rodney made certain grants to relieve the poverty of the house. Stavordale, a little priory founded by the Zouch family, was made over to Taunton by its prior in the reign of Henry VIII. Worspring was founded in 1210 by William Courteney, a near relation of the family of William Tracy, one of the murderers of St. Thomas of Canterbury. Tracy was a Devon man. Two of his partners in wickedness — Fitzurse, of Williton, and Brito, of Sampford Brett — belonged to our diocese. Courteney's house, dedicated to St. Thomas, was built as an expiation for his kinsman's crime. In some recent repairs done to the neighbouring church of Kewstoke, a walled-up niche was discovered containing a small cup, in which was a residuum of human blood, and there can be little doubt that the canons of Wor- spring, in the sixteenth century, here concealed the most precious relic of their house — some of the blood of their martyred patron — to save it from sacrilege. This relic is now deposited in the Somerset Archaeological Society's Museum in Taunton Castle. The Knights Hospitallers, instituted 1098, had houses called commanderies situated on their more important estates, and dependent on the Hospital at Clerkenwell. One of these commanderies was at 80 EATH AND WELLS. Temple Combe : it was originally a preceptory of the Knights Templars, an order introduced into England in the reign of Stephen, and whose possessions were handed over to the Hospitallers. 1 Another commandery of Hospitallers at Buckland is spoken of below. Four nunneries in this diocese — at Cannington. Barrow, I lchester, and Buckland — present some points of interest. Cannington, founded by Robert de Courcy about 1138, and Barrow, founded at the beginning of the thirteenth century by the Goumay family, were both small and poor houses. Of both alike a good deal of evil is recorded. This is no more than might be expected of small societies, removed from the influence of public opinion, from the natural occupations of healthy life. and. as these nunneries from their unimportance naturally were, from any constant supervision. Among the monastic institutions of either sex, the smaller houses were at all times far less pure in tone than great monas- teries like Glastonbury, in which perfect organisation and discipline gave to every man his work, where the number was sufficiently large to ensure a fairly healthy state of society, and where the great traditions of the ! v., re, foi the most part, handed down unsullied through a line of vigilant and capable abbots. Nun- , tOO, were liable tO a trial of a special kind, for CUStOmary for ladies who were cither for a time or altogether alone in the world to enter them as 1 1 ,,, h ii Ti mpli I ombe originall) belong* d to the I the lands >>f the Templars (p. 824) j ;: ount of the admission of 1 T< tnplai in the chapel of Combe, i>. 847. MONASTIC AND COLLEGIATE FOUNDATIONS. 8 1 places of shelter, and to dwell with the sisters at their own expense, and without becoming members of their society. Drokensford, for example, writes to the prioress of Cannington, in 13 15, bidding her and her nuns receive the Lady Dionysia Peverel as a boarder ; and again the next year he bids them take in the wife and sisters of John Ffychet during his absence, de- claring that their abode with them should not bring scandal on the house. While, however, the bishop's command was a sufficient answer to any who might object to the presence of ladies still belonging to the world in a society of nuns, it was beyond his power to prevent any evil consequences arising from the con- tact between the world and those who had renounced its sins, its pleasures, and even its life. And it is im- possible not to connect this contact with the scandals that the very next year, 1317, caused the deposition of the prioress. A visitation of Bishop Ralph, in 135 1, disclosed a terrible state of immorality. Two of the sisters (the convent only consisted of thirteen in all) were found guilty of consorting with loose women, and of tempting the servants of the house to improper behaviour, and one of them of incontinence with a chaplain. One of these sisters, when reproved by the prioress, refused to say Mea culpa, but threatened her and the other nuns with a knife. These two were condemned to keep within the cloister for a year. Another, who had borne a child, was imprisoned for a year and kept on prison fare. The prioress herself was convicted of simoniacally receiving money for admissions to the convent, and the sub-prioress of gross neglect. At Barrow, some troubles seem to G 82 BATH AND WELLS. have arisen from the exercise of privileges claimed by the family of the founder, for the house fell into a wretched state under Johanna Gournay, who, though prioress, was not even a professed nun. In 1325, Bishop Drokensford caused Johanna and two of the sisters to appear before him at his house at Banwell, and, after a private inquiry, Johanna resigned her office. The first religious community at the White Hall at Ilchester consisted of certain brethren and sisters of the Augustinian order, who dwelt in a hospital founded for poor and sick pilgrims by William Dacus, in 12 18. Disregard of the intention of the founder is not, however, a new thing, and through- out the Middle Ages the character of religious foundations was often changed to suit the wants and even the fashion of the day. Accordingly, by 1286 the White Hall had become a nunnery. Like the sister-houses at Cannington and Barrow, it was poor, and, as with them, its moral condition in the early part of the fourteenth century was bad. In 13 15, the nuns complained to the bishop of the harsh con- duct of their prioress, who forced them to beg their bread. She was deposed, and, though she appealed to the archbishop, the sentence of the bishop was confirmed. Badly as she had behaved, it seems that the convent was really almost reduced to beggary by tin- dishonest dealings of those who had been ap- pointed by the king and the bishop to manage its The next prioress Alice ( 'hiltern — was deprived for incontinence with the chaplain. The Ilchester people were, as we shall see later on, a MONASTIC AND COLLEGIATE FOUNDATIONS. 83 violent set. Indignant, probably, at the disgraceful state of the house, Nicholas Boleville, the patron, who was of kin to the founder, Dacus, and certain other men of the town broke into the grange while the case of the abbess was still pending, carried away the corn, and turned the cattle into the meadow. The riot came before the judges of assize. In the early part of the fifteenth century the character of the foundation was again changed. The nunnery was suppressed, and the funds were devoted to the main- tenance of a free chapel — that is, one which was not attached to the parish church as a chapel of ease. Such chapels were often founded as chantry chapels, for the special purpose of commemorative services, tinian canons. Soon after its foundation, the canons Buckland priory was originally founded in the reign of Henry II., by William of Erlegh,as ahouse of Augus- slew the steward and kinsman of their founder, and the house was consequently forfeited to the Crown. In 1 180, the king granted it to the prior of the Hospital in England, on condition that all the sisters of the order in the kingdom should be settled there. The prior accordingly collected together the sisters, who seem to have been only eight in number, from the different commanderies, and settled them at Buckland, called from this settlement Mynchin, or Nuns' Buckland. There, too, he established a commandery, or, as it is often called, a preceptory of the order, a dependent branch of the Hospital at Clerkenwell, under the rule of a commander or preceptor, who was himself sub- ordinate to the prior of England. From a pension granted by Henry III., it appears that the cost of each G 2 $4 BATH AND WELLS. nun's living was reckoned at i^d. a day. In the reign of Edward III. the preceptory contained a preceptor, five brethren, their servants, a chaplain, and the holder of a corrody, besides any chance guests. The bread consumed represented ninety-four quarters of wheat, at 3s. a quarter ^14. 2s. ; the beer cost £1 1. 4s. ; the kitchen, £10. 8s. ; the robes of the preceptor and brethren, ^"io. 8s.; and the salary of the chaplain, 20s., besides his living. Between the preceptor and the sisterhood there was little good feel- ing. It is evident that the brethren felt the nuns a •drag on their establishment ; for, when the account was rendered from which these extracts are made. the preceptor entered that from the nuns he received nothing but burden and trouble. At that time there were as many as fifty sisters in the house, and its revenues must have been barely sufficient for their maintenance. Being under the government and pro- tection of the prior of England, the Buckland sister- hood was exempt from many worldly cares, and, as far as we know, it was also free from scandal. 1 From a return made by Droken.sford in 131 7, the Mendicant orders appear to have had only three- houses in this diocese. The Dominicans, the Black Friars, or preachers, who came into England in 1221, had a house at Ilchester ; the Franciscans, the Grey, <>r Minor Friars, were settled .it Bridgwater by William Brewer, the younger, and the Augustinian Friars had a newly-founded house at Temple Gate, near Bristol. 1 1 detailed accounts of these nunnei ies « ill lie found in papers by tin- late Rev. 'J'. Hugo, in the "Somerset Archaeological Society's Proceedings," .\. xiii. MONASTIC AND COLLEGIATE FOUNDATION?. 85 An attempt was made by Walter of Merriott, in the reign of Edward III., to set up a house of Carmelites, or White Friars, in Taunton ; but, if the foundation was ever actually made, it soon came to nought. Besides the endowments in land, money, and ad- vowsons held by our own monks, a large sum was annually drawn out of the country by foreign monas- teries. In the case of the Cluniacs, the surplus wealth of the whole order was, as we have seen, sent to France. This, however, was not all ; for one of the consequences of the Conquest was the endowment ot foreign monasteries with English estates. When such an endowment was valuable, the foreign monastery sent over some of its brethren with a prior to take charge of it. The society thus formed was called an alien priory, and answered to a cell set up by an English house on one of its distant manors, such as the cell of Charterhouse on Mendip, belonging to Witham, only in the case of an alien priory English wealth was collected for foreigners, and sometimes for our enemies. When these priories were endowed with English livings, they robbed our Church of her rights, and often marred the efficiency of our parochial system. Only two of these alien houses seem to have been set up in this diocese, one at Stogursey, belonging to the abbey of L'Onley, and the other at Endeston, belonging to St. Sever. In 1326, certain of the monks at Stogursey were accused before Drokensford of incontinence, and, at the request of Robert Fitz Payn, the patron, were sent over to L'Onley. The prior and one monk only were left behind, and the revenues of the house were so small S6 BATH AND WELLS. as scarcely to maintain even them. The priory, how- ever, was not dissolved until the general dissolution of alien priories in the reign of Henry V., consequent on the war with France. In the next reign, both Stogursey and Endeston were granted to the king's college of Eton. Unjust as such institutions were, it must be remembered that our own Church appeared as a spoiler in other lands : Glastonbury, for example, had property in Wales ; Bath had cells at YVaterford and Limerick for the management of its Irish estates, and Keynsham, as we have seen, had churches and lands both in Ireland and Wales. As the greatness of Glastonbury dwarfed the other monastic institutions of the diocese, so, too, it pro- bably checked the foundation of colleges of secular priests. Two such colleges, established at Wells for the vicars and for the chantry priests will be spoken of hereafter. A collegiate church was founded at Stokc-sub-Hamdon by Sir John Beauchamp, in 1304, for a provost and four priests. And, save these, and such as were in connexion with some hospital, there seems to have been no other purely collegiate church in the diocese; for a foundation devised at North Cadbury by the Botreaux family speedily came to nought, if, indeed, it was ever carried out. Hospitals, however, abounded, for the mediaeval Church was. not neglectful of her duties towards the sick and aged, and our diocese was not behind others in this respect. Only a few of these institutions can be mentioned lure. Bishop Reginald founded the Hospital of St. John, the usual patron 1 11 institutions, for the poor who came to seek MONASTIC AND COLLEGIATE FOUNDATIONS. 87 relief from the Bath waters. Another hospital appears to have been founded at Bath, towards the end of the fifteenth century, for insane persons, who were too often treated with cruelty or neglect in an igno- rant and superstitious age. A hospital was set up at Wells, by Hugh of Wells, bishop of Lincoln, and one at Glastonbury by Abbot Michael. In the reign of John, William Brewer founded the Hospital of St. John at Bridgwater, for the relief of thirteen sick poor, besides pilgrims and men of religion (those in orders or under monastic vows). This house was served by a college of secular priests. A special interest attaches to it. In the constitution drawn up by Bishop March and the chapter in 1298, and confirmed in 1334, it is provided that the hospital shall maintain thirteen poor scholars daily attending the schools of the town : they were to be the most proficient in the town, and were to enjoy the benefits of the hospital only so long as they remained so. The selection was entrusted to the " Rector Scho- larum," a clerical schoolmaster. This is, perhaps, the earliest case of a merely eleemosynary institution being charged with an educational duty, and it throws a valuable side-light on the condition of education in the diocese. Leprosy was fearfully common in the middle ages, and this loathsome disease especially excited the charity of the Church. Hospitals for lepers were founded at Taunton about 11S0, at Ilchester and Langport before 1310, and at Bridgwater by the reign of Edward III. Our bishops interested them- selves in their maintenance. Bishops Bubwith and 05 EATH AND WELLS. Stillington offered indulgences to those who contri- buted to the repair of the Taunton Hospital of St. Margaret, the usual patroness of these houses, and William of Waynflete, bishop of Winchester, the lord of the manor, followed their example. The nature of their disease prevented the lepers from joining in the service of the Church. In some churches, how- ever, at Oihery for example, a small window was made in the wall of the chancel through which the priest could pass the wafer to the leper on a stick, and which, at all events, enabled the sufferer to witness the elevation of the Host. From the instances already given, the reader will be able to gather something of the character of the religious houses of the dim esc. It may, however, be well to insist on the fact that, when the monastic rule was thoroughly carried out, as it doubtless was in large houses, and always under a good head, the life of the monk was not an idle or a useless one. Besides the constant services of the Church, at which he was bound to assist both by night and day, the care of the sick, the calls of hospitality used, without grudg- ing, towards kings, towards strangers of high spiritual and temporal rank, towards pilgrims, and towards the poorest who had need, the management of the household and estates, work in the scriptorium, in the garden, in the mill, or in the house, found ceaseless employment for those whose rule allowed, and en- joined labour equally with prayer and praise. Nor COUld the inlliu n< e Ol a Well Ord< red nasterv have been small. Most convents were < onnet ted with families of high rank, either by their foundation or MONASTIC AND COLLEGIATE FOUNDATIONS. 89 by the fact of receiving some of their members ; they educated the youth, they entertained him in man- hood as a guest in a household devoted to good works ; in times of trouble he knew that a peaceful shelter was open to him within its gates, and in the hour of death he prayed to be clothed in the garb which in life represented to him security and holi- ness, and looked forward to a grave within the walls he loved, and to the prayers of men whom he honoured as the servants of God. Nor was the monastic influence confined to the noble. The hospitality and kindness rendered to the great as matters of courtesy, and to benefactors, indeed, as matters of right, were ex- tended to the poor and weak, if for no higher reason, at least in obedience to the rule of the order. In the workshops attached to the house, in the gold- smith's, the forge, and the bakery, young men learned of skilful masters ; while it is evident, that in early days, neither expense nor trouble was grudged in farming the lands of the greater houses. All classes alike contributed to the support of these houses. In these gifts a certain business-like spirit constantly shows itself. To give one of many instances of this, we find that, in 1263, John of Axbridge, the sub- dean, gave the priory of Stavordale 40 marks to buy some land, while, in return, the priory covenanted to pay him 30s. a year for life, and after his death to pay the same sum to the chapter for masses for him. The founder of a monastery had, and transmitted to his heirs, valuable claims over his foundation, for cor- rodies, pensions, and patronage. The name of the benefactor was entered in the " White-book " of the 90 BATH AND WELLS. house he enriched, and he received the benefit of prayers and masses, while the founder of a chantry invested his money in endowing one or more priests with the special charge of performing services for his own soul and the souls of those he loved or honoured. Even this spirit, however, bears witness to the confidence men placed in the changelessness and good faith of the ecclesias- tical order, for they did not hesitate to expect a constant return for their bounty from future gene- rations of priests. The religious building, whether regular or secular, cathedral church, or monastic foundation, was, in most cases, at once a centre of spiritual and intellectual light, and a symbol of the abiding strength of that city whose foundations are upon the holy hills. Here and there, it is mie, monks and nuns fell far short of fulfilling their voca- tion. Such failures, however, were for the most part confined to small houses, where there was a lack of the healthy influence of public opinion, and where a little leaven, therefore, quickly leavened the whole of the small society. And in reading of the sins of priests, and of the corruption of convents, it should be remembered that these are the subjects of registers and legal proceedings, while the lives spent in devotion, self-conquest, and good works, fir the most, have left no earthly record. Nor is u strange that there should have been many SUCh lives among those who left the world because they were filled with an overwhelming en e of the necessity of securing salvation each tor himself. Looking on religion merely as a personal MONASTIC AND COLLEGIATE FOUNDATIONS. 9 1 matter, some even desired to retire from the society of their fellows more completely than by entering a religious community. Men, and even women, became anchorites : that is to say, they dwelt in some little cell, usually, if not always, built on to a church, where they were walled up at their own request, and so separated from their fellow-creatures. A window between the anchorite's cell and the church enabled him to hear and see the sacrifice of the mass, and even to receive the Sacrament. Sometimes, too, through another window, he took in the offerings made for his support, and even talked with those outside. No one was allowed to enter on this life without the bishop's permission, and, at the walling-up of an anchorite, a solemn service was performed. After he was once shut in, the bishop's sanction was neces- sary before any relaxation of his vow was permitted. Dunstan, for a while, as we have seen, was an an- chorite at Glastonbury, and many wild tales are told of his spiritual conflicts in his cell there. Another famous instance of this strange mode of life occurred, as one would naturally expect, in the midst of the anarchy of Stephen's time, and in a part of the diocese especially affected by it. A certain priest, named Wulfric of Compton Martin, who had led a careless life, was suddenly converted. He thereupon went to Haselbury, near Crewkerne, and shut himself up in a cell adjoining the church. There he mortified his flesh. His story was told and admired through- out the whole land ; and it is said that, while Henry of Anjou was still a child, Wulfric declared that he would come to the throne. He died in 1154, and 2 BATH AND WELLS. was buried in his cell by Bishop Robert. In 1328, a petition was sent to the bishop by Thomas, a Franciscan, who had undertaken the life of a recluse in the hermitage of Och in the parish of Aller, pray- ing that, as, since the time of his seclusion, no one had visited him or seen how ill he was, a door might be made in his cell that some one might come in and hear his confession, and that when he died he might be buried in the church or churchyard of Aller, and not, as the custom was, in his cell. The bishop allowed the door to be made, and ordered that the vicar of Muchelney should keep the key. Again, in 1331, Bishop Ralph offered an indulgence of ten days to all who contributed to the support of Philip of Shipham, a poor hermit at St. Romanus, probably a chapel so dedicated in YVinscombe. Such contributions were often sought in other dioceses, for, shortly after this appeal for the Winscombe anchorite, another of a like kind was made here on behalf of Sybil, who was about to be shut in a cell attached to the presbytery then being built to the church at Tiverton. BATH AND WELLS. 93 CHAPTER V. DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATION. Royal and Papal Claims — Final Settlement of the Style of the See — The Friars — Ecclesiastical Taxation — Number and Character of the Clergy — Wells Ordinal and Statutes — Rights of Jurisdiction — Suppression of the Knights Templars — Cathedral Fabric — John of Drokensford — Ralph of Shrewsbury — Ordination of Vicarages — The Great Plague — Illustrations of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction. In common with the Church of England at large, the Church in our diocese was considerably affected by the character and issues of the struggles of the early part of the thirteenth century. Victorious in its conflict with John, and successful in upholding the right of Henry III., the Roman See thenceforward interfered continually in the ecclesiastical affairs of the country; and its greedy and oppressive policy provoked no small resistance in England. When, indeed, there was a weak king the Church received little help, and often found herself plundered by Pope and king acting in concert. And as the Pope was now more than ever the head of the jurisdiction on which their privileges depended, some churchmen took part with him when a strong king like Edward I. withstood the papal claims, while others, as we shall see in the story of our own bishops, acting as politicians rather than as churchmen, upheld the 94 BATH AND WELLS. cause of the king. Nor was the reign of John with- out its effect on the position taken by our bishops. Before John's conflict with the Pope, the political bishop was almost invariably devoted to the service of the Crown. When, however, the long alliance between the Church and the Crown was broken, the political bishops — though many of them were great officers of State — were, as a rule, a more distinct power in the kingdom than they had been when their chief im- portance was derived from royal employment. In this diocese the settlement of the disputes concerning their see enabled the bishops to turn their attention to secular politics. Many of them held high official positions, and the record of their lives belongs rather to civil than to ecclesiastical or diocesan history. At the same time, some of our most worldly bishops were active in enforcing organisation and discipline in their diocese. In dealing with these, then, their purely episcopal work must be exhibited as fully as possible ; while, as regards their political careers, it will be enough if the nature of the part they played is briefly indicated. On the death of Jocclin, November 19, 1242, the monks of Bath set at nought the arrangement made by Alexander III. tor joint election, obtained the king's licence to ele< t. and in the following January ROGJ 1:. pre< en toi' of Sarin n, as bishop. Henry, r, commanded them to elect his treasurer, Peter < haceporc, and on their refusal, granted licence to elect to the Wells chapter, Intending, doubtless, ;r help to ( arry his nominee. The Wells chapter appealed to Rome, [nnocent IV., while, as it seems, DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATION. 95 blaming the irregularity of the proceeding, confirmed the election of Roger, and he was consecrated Sep- tember ii, 1244. The canons found themselves involved in a debt of 1,765 marks, and the convent also suffered heavily. On January 3, 1245, Innocent finally decided the matters in dispute between the two chapters. The elections of bishops were to take place in each chapter-house alternately ; the bishop was to be installed where he was elected ; the see was to be in both churches alike, and the bishops were thence- forward to be styled " of Bath and Wells." This, then, is the date of the settlement of the see, and, in spite of repeated assertions to the contrary, it is evident that Roger, and not Jocelin, should be reckoned as the first bishop of Bath and Wells. For even if a contem- porary document should be forthcoming in which Jocelin is so described, his regular style after 12 19 was bishop of Bath, while this decree of Innocent IV. authoritatively conferred on Roger, who up to that date had been called bishop of Bath, the double title of " Bath and Wells." l In spite of their opposition to his election, the canons had good reason to be satisfied with Roger, who was, indeed, a man of high character and of theological learning. He granted them the profits during vacancy of the deanery, and of two-thirds of the bishop's livings, the other third being reserved to the archdeacon, whose duty it was to collect the revenues. Roger died December 21, 1247. He was the last bishop buried in Bath. After his time, with, perhaps, one 1 On this matter see Mr. Vincent's article referred to on p. 49. 96 BATH AND WELLS. unimportant exception, there were no more disputes about elections. Henceforward, until the dissolution of the abbey, the bishop was chosen by an equal number of delegates, from each chapter. During the six months between the death of Bishop Roger and the consecration of his successor, William Button (1 248-1 264), the king was beforehand with the Pope in seizing the tem- poralities of the see. Bishop William's episcopate was a period in which the Church was shamefully plundered by both the king and the Pope. About the time of the death of Jocelin a fresh influx of foreigners came over to Henry's court, and his extravagance consequently grew greater than before. In addition to his demands, Innocent IV. pressed for money to help him carry on his strife against the emperor. Pope and king worked together, or rather the king worked as the Pope's instrument, in wring- ing money from the English Church. In 1246, for example, the clergy had to pay 6,000 marks to uphold the Pope's quarrel ; and in 1257, when the king pledged himself to the Pope by accepting the crown of Sicily for Edmund, his younger son, Henry was but ill-content with their offer of 52,000 marks. It was not, however, by direct taxation only that the Church was plundered. Pnormous sums were paid to Rome for appeals, and on various other o< < asionsj while the foreign archbishop of Canterbury, Boniface of Savoy, took every means in his power to make his office profitable. Bishop William was active in obtaining a mandate from Rome forbidding the archbishop to visit secular non-collegiate churches, DIOCESAN' ADMINISTRATION. 97 or to take more than four marks from any church as procurations. In 1253 he joined the other bishops in demanding in Parliament that the king should respect the Church's right of freedom of election, and in solemnly excommunicating the transgressors of the charters. This excommunication, pronounced in Westminster Hall by fourteen bishops, robed in pontificals and with lighted candles, was directed against the transgressors of the liberties of the Church and the free customs of the kingdom, and especially of the charter of common liberties, and the forest charter. A record of the sentence was sent to the different cathedral churches and abbeys, and the Wells chapter still preserve their copy. Resistance to wickedness and wrong in high places was vigorously maintained by the friars, who were dominant in the universities, and had almost a monopoly of learning. By the middle of the century the Franciscan and Dominican friars were spread all over the country. In every town and village in England were heard the voices of these new teachers, preaching at the market- cross and by the waysides, in a style familiar to the ears of the people, stirring up the laity to greater holiness of life, and compelling the secular clergy in very self-defence to a more faithful discharge of their duties. Although no records of their work in this diocese seem to exist, there is reason to believe that the religious revival worked by the two orders was not without its effect on the character and administration of some of our bishops. In the first year of William's episcopate there was a great earthquake. The bishop himself told Matthew H oS BATH AND WELLS. Paris, the historian, of the terrible damage done to his church at Wells. Gaps and fissures were made in the walls, and a heavy stone spire (t/wh/s), lately built, fell on the church. The finials and battle- ments were destroyed, and though the bases of the columns remained unmoved the capitals were crushed. In spite of his adherence to the national party, the bishop appears to have been a greedy and quarrelsome man. Of his unjustifiable attack on the abbot of Glastonbury, a notice has been already given. He made an equally unsuccessful attempt to deprive the Wells chapter of the living of Congres- bury, given them by Jocelin, and of the grants of his predecessor Roger. Unhindered in the matter of patronage, he gave rich preferments to five of his nephews and brothers; two of them, the one another of our bishops, the other a bishop of Exeter, were worthy men. With Walter Giffard (i 265-1 266) our diocese has little concern. Unlike his predecessor, he was one of the king's party. Elected in the midst of the disturbances of 1264, he offended the barons by quitting the kingdom without leave in order to be consecrated abroad ; they accordingly burned his manors, and lie retaliated by excommunicating Simon, carl of Leicester, and his adherents. The victory at Evesham found him on the winning side, am! he was made chancellor. His name as bishop Oi Bathj lands first among those who m August 1266, drew up the award of Kenilworth, the earliesl step taken towards healing the wounds inflicted by 1 ivil War. Two months later he was translated DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATION. 99 to York. His successor, William Button, the second (1267-1274), nephew of the elder William Button, was a bishop of a wholly different stamp. Little as we know of his life or his diocesan work, it may be safely assumed that he was an example of the influence of the revival of religion which followed the preaching of the friars, for when Kihvardby, the provincial of the Dominicans, was elected to the see of Canterbury, he said that he would have Bishop William to consecrate him on account of his eminent piety. It is, however, more to our purpose to note the impression his character made on the people of his diocese. Though never acknowledged as a saint by the Catholic Church, he received the honour of popular canonisation. Crowds visited his tomb with prayers and offerings. Such visits were of course welcomed by the chapter. Little advance probably had been made in the work of building since Jocelin's time, and even the damage done by the earthquake of 1248 seems still to have been unremedied. The first Button was not likely to engage in such work; and, as his nephew was old when he was made bishop, and was also probably burdened by the loss inflicted on the episcopal estates in Giffard's time, he was unable to do so. The offerings brought to the tomb of the saint seem to have given the canons fresh courage for the work ; and we find that a convocation of the chapter was held in 1284, " for finishing the new work and repairing the old." Somerset folk held that the good bishop's aid was especially effectual for the cure of toothache, a belief that was strong in the sixteenth century, and that is 11 2 IOO BATH AND WELLS'. said to have lingered even later. On tiie capitals of some of the pillars of the transepts of the cathedral are figures representing sufferers from toothache; and it has been suggested that those parts of the church were built from the offerings made at the saint's tomb. No one had a larger share in defining the relations between Church and State than our next bishop, Robert Burnell (1.275-1292), the chancellor of Edward I. During his tenure of office the growth of endowments to corporate bodies was checked by the statute of mortmain, ecclesiastical jurisdiction in temporal matters was restrained, and the way was prepared for the appearance of the estate of the clergy in Parliament. The position of the clergy as one of the three estates of the realm was the effect of the special taxation of the revenues of the Church : that they form the first estate is due to their spiritual character. Ecclesiastical property is divided into tem- poralities, such as land, which might be held by a lay- man as well as by a clergyman; and spiritualities, such as tithes and offerings, which pertain solely to spiritual persons. In the fourteenth century the claims of the Pope to tax the revenues of the English Church were disregarded. Other sources of profit, however, were not wanting. Legal proceedings at Rome were costly, and the necessity of making friends among the cardinals added to the expense of them. More hurtful in its effects on the Church was the inter ferencewith its liberty of elections and appointment ■ This was managed by frequent translations, which gave the Pope the right of filling vacant sees, by provision, bj which he appointed on the pretence DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATION. I 01 of desiring to prevent a long vacancy, and by reserva- tions or the setting apart of preferments for his own purposes. The extent to which this system was carried is illustrated in our own diocese by the fact that, in 131 7, there were seventeen churches vacant through reservations ; in 1 3 1 8 there were five more vacancies, and in 1319 the number had risen to four prebends and forty-two benefices, while, shortly after, the see itself, with many other bishoprics, was reserved for the Pope's appointment. By these and many other means, the popes weakened our national Church, and injured its spiritual efficiency. Contrary as such interference with the Church's liberty was to our common law, as expressed in the coronation oath, and expressly forbidden as it was after a while by statute, some of our kings, either from weakness or from need of papal help, actually encouraged it. Edward II., for example, petitioned the Pope to withdraw his enemy, our bishop, John of Dro- kensford, from the kingdom, by translating him to another see elsewhere. Although this system was checked by vigorous kings, it gave rise to the acknowledgment of the Pope's right to first-fruits. The right of the State to tax the spiritual revenue of the clergy, first asserted by Henry II., was established by the latter part of the thirteenth century. After some earlier assessments, a grant of a tenth of all ecclesiastical revenues, confirmed by Nicolas IV. to Edward I., was, in 1291, made the occasion of an assessment called the " Taxation of Pope Nicolas," which remained in force until the time of Henry VIII. In this assessment all benefices under the annual 102 BATH AND WELLS. value of io marks were exempt. An abstract from it will give some idea of the condition of our diocese : — SPIRITUALITIES. Archdeaconry of Wells. i. Deanery of Frome. Twenty-eight parishes £34& 15 11^, Less thirteen benefices, under 10 marks 70 6 o £ 27 S 9 "i 2. Deanery of Cary. Thirty-four parishes .£327 17 4 Less nineteen benefices under 10 marks 100 17 4 .£227 o o 3. Deanery of Merston. Twenty-three parishes £293 13 4 Less nine benefices under 10 marks ... 4S 6 N £245 6 S 4. /> 8 .£220 9 S 5. Deanery of Ilchester. ['wenty-foui parishes / ;v s 16 8 I foUl under IO marks 21 1 ; 1 Z337 3 •» DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATION. 103 6. Deanery of Pawlet, with Glastonbury Jurisdiction. Fourteen parishes £227 o 4J- Less five benefices under 10 marks ... 24 10 8 £202 9 8 J, Archdeaconry ov Taunton. 1 . Deanery of Bridg a \iter. Sixteen parishes ^'59 6 8 Less six under 10 marks 31 10 o £127 16 8 2. Deanery of Dunster. Twenty-four parishes £ l 9l ° § Less fourteen benefices under 10 marks 72 13 o £120 7 8 3. Deanery of Taunton. Twenty-five parishes ^289 15 o Less eight under 10 marks 43 1 5 o £246 o o 4. Deanery of Creivkerne. Eighteen parishes £230 16 8 Less eleven benefices under 10 marks. 62 10 o £i6S 6 8 Archdeaconry of Bath. I. Deanery of Bath. Ten parishes £9 2 10 4 Less five benefices under 10 marks 26 8 £66 3 8 104 BATH AND WELLS. 2. Deanery of Redcliff. Twenty-six parishes ^3 1 1 o o Less ten benefices under 10 marks ... 51 n 4 £259 S 8 3. Jurisdiction of tlu Dean. Thirteen parishes ;£ IT 3 13 4 Less eleven benefices under 10 inarms... 55 iS o ^57 15 4 Spiritualities of the cathedral chapter, consisting of the dean, precentor, chancellor, treasurer, three archdeacons, provost, sub-dean, succentor, and forty- six other prebendaries, some with churches, and others, like fifteen prebendaries of Combe, with portions. ^"749. 3s. 4d., and the common fund, ^153. 6s. 8d. ALIEN MONASTERIES. Cluniac. — Montacute ^163 11 1 Bermondsey (Surrey) 29 iS 4 Norman monasteries. — Ik-c 59 7 4J „ (Cleeve) ... 26 13 4 St. .Michael in periculo maris 26 13 4 Lonley (Stogursej ) {4 19 6 Grestein 22 3 4 £363 6 3J •|'i MPORALITIl . / ■ opal Estates. Hampton and Claverton, l.yn, Bath, Vatton, Doulting, Evercreecb, Hewish, Kingsbury, ('haul. Wellington and Bocland, Lydeard, Worle, Oxbridge, Banwell, bury, Cheddar, Com p ton, Blackford, Wells, Wookey, Westbury, £552. 18s. 1 id. DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATION. 105 Principal Monasteries. — Abbey of Glastonbury, ^996.ios.6d. ; Priory of Bath, .£51. is. lid.; Abbey of Athelney, ,£49. IIS.4CL Abbey of Muchelney, ^43. 19s. od. Total value of spiritualities in the diocese... £4, 109 2 8 ,, temporalities ., 2,395 5 5 £6,504 8 1 With this result may be compared the valuation of the two neighbouring dioceses, Exeter — Spiritualities, ,£4,601. 15s. 5Jd. + Temporalities (including Epis- copal estates, ^461. 18s. 4fd.), £i,39 8 - 2S - 9h d - = ,£5,999. 18s. 2|d. ; and Sarum— Spiritualities, ,£7,914. us. ioid + Temporalities (Episcopal estates, ^529. 19s. 56.), .£6,310. 8s. o|d. = ,£14,224. 19s. io^d. The revenues of the clergy were generally estimated at a third of the value of the whole kingdom, and there is reason to believe that in Somerset they certainly did not fall short of this proportion. The taxation of the clergy usually took the form of tenths, and was granted in con- vocation. The amount of a clerical tenth in our diocese in 1291 was ,£650. 9s. gd. The value of this tax constantly declined. This was due partly to the adherence of the monasteries to an old-fashioned mode of cultivation, to the sums they spent in law business, and to the decay of their energy; partly, also, to the increase of exemptions on the score of vacancy, and to the large number of livings which gradually fell below the margin of taxation, either from bad management or by disasters, in this diocese often caused by floods. In 1497, the lo6 BATH AND WELLS. prior of Bruton excused the non-payment of a pension of J~8, due from his house on the revenues of the church of Chilthorne Domer, on the ground that the rectory had become so impoverished, through the arable land of the parish having fallen out of culti- vation, and through the barrenness of the rest, that it was not worth the amount. The number of the clergy was large in proportion to the population of the diocese. In the return for the poll-tax granted in 1377, the number of beneficed persons of both sexes, regular and secular, who paid i2d., not reckoning mendicants or men below the four higher orders, is given as 119. and the number of non-bencficed persons, including acolytes, as 82. This return, how- ever, is evidently insufficient, for in the reign of Richard II. (the exact date of the document is un- certain) the number of stipendiary clergy and chantry priests in the diocese was 212, not reckoning the city of Bath, or the inhabitants of monasteries. Of these, ten belonged to St. Cuthbert's at Wells, six being chantry and four stipendiary parish priests : to the various deaneries — Frome, 12; Cary, 21; Merston, n ; Elchester, 13; Axbridge, 13 j Pauler, 3; Glastonbury, 1; Redcliff, 33 (7 being chantry priests); Bath, 4: Taunlon, 23 j Crewkerne, 25; Bridgwater, 23 ; Dunster, <; ; sick and blind, 8. The number seems to have been tolerably normal; for, in the return made for the clerical subsidy of 1435, of which the particulars of the archdeaconry of \\ ells and of the ( '.laslonbui v jurfsdi* tioil have been rved, the number, viz. 83, is the same as that given in the above li »l foi the same area, though it is DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATION. 107 somewhat differently distributed, and in a return of 1429 for the archdeaconry of Bath, including the deaneries of Bath and Redcliff, the number of these clergy is given as 33, as against 37 in the list of Richard's reign. At the present day the number of stipendiary clergy in the whole diocese, now shorn of Bedminster, is under 140, a falling off that must be estimated by remembering the vast increase of popu- lation, rather than merely by the numbers of the clergy. Many new churches, too, have been built and new parishes have been formed, so that in many cases the rector or vicar, who in the fifteenth century would have had the services of two chaplains, is now left to work single-handed. A large number of the non-beneficed clergy, however, were simply employed in performing chantry services. Many chantries, in memory and for the benefit of the dead, were founded in the cathedral ; their priests are not reckoned in these lists, many of them were also vicars. As an example of these foundations, may be quoted the chantry of Bishops Burnell and Hasleshaw, worth ^ioa year, charged on Burnham church, the remainder being appro- priated to the cathedral fabric. Each obit or death commemoration was endowed with £1 for the priest who said mass, and 10s. for bread for the poor, the remaining ^7 being applied to the maintenance of a special service at the altar at the entrance of the choir. Finding that the chantry priests of Wells often fell into mischief, Bishop Erghum(i388 -1400) founded a college for them, that they might dwell together, separate from the laity, and under fitting discipline. His foundation perished in the general ruin of the 108 BATH AND WELLS. sixteenth century. Its memory is still preserved in the name of College Lane. Many of the stipendiary clergy had only such pro- vision as they could pick up by serving chantries, others were private chaplains to great men, and others were parish priests with much the same office as our curates. A considerable number, both of the bene- ficed and stipendiary clergy, were poor. The return made for the archdeaconry of Bath, in 1429, shows that there were thirty of these clergy with incomes under 100s., three between 9 marks and 10 marks, and none above. Non-residents often put priests in charge of their benefices at small payments. In 1378, the pay of a stipendiary was fixed at a maximum of S marks or 4 marks and victuals. Owing to their large number the clergy formed an important factor in society. Every will was made with the advice of some spiritual director, and scarcely any family was without some ordained member. For the priesthood was not confined to any single class. The door of the Church was seldom shut, and even some, who were distinctly disqualified by canonical or by national law, found entrance. Bishop Ralph, for example, ordained his villein, who bore the high-sounding name of Richard de Burgh, and dispensations from the dis- qualification "l illegitimacy were not infrequent. As the clergy were many and poor, some, at least, «>l them were ignorant. In 1317, a rector on institution was bidden keep a good chaplain to teach him, since he was but indifferently learned. As this institution iade "ii the king's presentation, tin- bishop had ;i special inducement to be lenient. At the same DIOCKSAN ADMINISTRATION. I09 time, the bishop's examination was a reality, and institution was sometimes made conditional on a course of study to be followed by a " pass." For such study, licences of non-residence Avere often granted in our diocese, that the priest might return to his university ; while sometimes the study was to be pursued in the parish. In 1445, John Hopkins was instituted to the vicarage of Weare, conditionally on his studying for two years, and his passing the examination at the end. The rules of the examina- tion were precise, and were the same in all dioceses. Every one in orders was bound to know how to read and write, and all in the higher orders had to pass an examination in Scriptural knowledge. A licence to study, however, does not necessarily imply that the holder was too unlearned for institution, for such licences were sometimes applied for by men of learning. While many of the bishops of the fourteenth century were engaged in temporal matters, their morality, at least, was usually undoubted. With Burnell, however, this was not so. His life seems to have been little dif- ferent from that of a lay noble. The ruins of what was once his banqueting-hall and court of justice still bear witness to his magnificence, while the number of his sons, and the splendid matches he made for his daughters, scandalised the regular clergy. If, however, our bishops were too often immersed in worldly affairs, our inferior clergy too often fell into the worse snare of idleness. The chantry priests and the crowd of badly-paid chaplains had little to do. Often belonging to the lower classes, they lived much the same lives as their neighbours, save for the immunities they IIO BATH AND WELLS. enjoyed, and for the two disastrous facts that they were exempt from the necessity of working for wife or children, and from the safeguards of legitimate marriage. The annals of our cathedral and parochial clergy during the Middle Ages are full of instances sometimes, it maybe, of half-recognised concubinage, more often certainly of common immorality. Some instances will, for truth's sake, be given hereafter, but the subject is not one to dwell on. BurnelPs successor, William of March (1293- 1302), though also a minister of state, must have been a man of a different stamp to his predecessor. Many miracles were said to have been worked at his tomb in the south transept of Wells. This was, of course, a matter of deep interest to the dean and chapter. Dean Godelee was anxious for the repair of the church, Glastonbury probably had attracted more visitors than ever since the translation of Arthur, and this, no doubt, roused the emulation of the canons of Wells, who, as we have seen, had some experience of the value even of an un- authorised saintship. Determined in this case to gain the recognition of I\r them. Their request was : by John of Drokensford, the bishop, 1>\ other bishops, by the archbishop, and by the king elf. William was described as ".1 good pastor. who bore many burdens and injuries in defence of 0i d miracli were said to he worked daily at his tomb. The chapter knew, however, that ■ I 1 ni my, fohn Britton, going to Rome to DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATION. Ill oppose their request, and, in spite of all their efforts, his representations were fatal, for it was said that it was by the advice of William, who was then treasurer, that Edward I. had seized the money stored up in the sacristies of the monasteries. A fresh and equally unsuccessful attempt to procure the canonisation was made by Edward III. in 1329. Walter of Hasleshaw (1302-1308) was dean before his election to the see. During his tenure of the deanery, he made some additions to the statutes of the church. In the order of services, Wells adhered pretty closely to the Use of Sarum. On more than one occasion, the chapter sought information from the church of the famous Bishop Osmund on matters of government. In 1137, for example, it was decided by the advice of the Sarum chapter that the canons had archidiaconal authority each over his own prebend, and at a later time that the dignitaries of the cathedral were exempt from episcopal visitation — a point of constant dispute. It is, therefore, not surprising to find that the Wells Ordinal, probably put into its present shape in 1298, which contains directions for the conduct of the clergy in the choir, and for the order of services, only differs from the Sarum book in a few minute points, such as the use of red at Wells during Easter, while the colour at Sarum was white. In the directions for the Ordinary of the Mass no difference occurs. To the Ordinal are added sundry statutes made by the dean and chapter for the government of their church. At first the bishop presided over the convocations of the chapter, but the separation of capitular property from the revenues BATH AND WELLS. of the see led to a jealousy about rights both of jurisdiction and legislation. "William Button II. pre- sided over a convocation in which some statutes were made, but the statutes of Dean Hasleshaw were made without the bishop's presence. Before long, the bishop seems to have lost all right to a vote in the deliberations of the chapter, for, in the reign of Richard II., Bishop Harewell paid £60 to the king to be allowed to annex the provostship with its pre- bend, that so he might obtain a share in the manage- ment of the church. Among other matters ordered by Hasleshaw's statutes, the choristers were bidden to sing in tune, and not to try to get before one another. An order made in 1323, though not in- serted among the statutes, illustrates the mode of conducting service. The canons were bidden each to have his own book and his own candle, for they were not bound to know the service by heart, only they were to take care that the vicars should not grow more careless than usual by looking over their books. A statute forbidding any canon who, before his ap- pointment, had a concubine (wife), to allow her to visit her children, or to meet her. save before discreet witnesses, forcibly illustrates the prevalence of mar- among tin' parochial clergy,— an irregularity discouraged among the members of a capitular body, while it was evidently overlooked in the case of a parish priest, and held to be no bar to his ad- vam ement in the I Ihurch. The old abuse of buying and selling in the cathedral serins to have revived, for it i> again expressly forbidden. Another custom Offensive to our ideas of reverence was the represcnta- DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATION. 113 tion of miracle plays in the church. These plays were performed at Wells by the vicars from Christmas to the end of the Octave of the Holy Innocents, and at other festivals. By the end of the thirteenth cen- tury, they seem to have degenerated into an unseemly exhibition, and in 1300 were forbidden by a statute of Dean Godelee. Old customs, however, did not yield easily, and fifty years later the performance of plays and the sale of goods in the church were again forbidden. Plays were acted in many churches, especially at Christmas. In 1482, the churchwardens of St. Michael's at Bath made several payments for beer, bread, &c, together with 2od. for skins, pro- bably for disguise, used by " le playeres " on different occasions. Rights of jurisdiction were matters of profit as well as of discipline, and were, therefore, sharply looked after. The jealousy between the bishop and- the chapter on this score came to a head in 13 19, during the episcopate of John of Drokensford ( 1 309-1 329). The bishop contemplated making a visitation of the churches under capitular jurisdic- tion, and Dean Godelee and the chapter sent their proctor to warn him from thus infringing on their rights. The proctor found him in the chapel of John of Erleigh, and there did his errand. In great wrath, the bishop shouted that he would visit the deanery itself, with its members, let custom be what it might ; and when the proctor proceeded to read the formal warning, he caught him by the chest and arms, and snatched the document from him. On this, the chapter appealed to Rome, and took the opinion of 1 114 BATH AND WELLS. several lawyers. Among these was Adam Murimuth, the chronicler of affairs during the early part of the century, who was one of the canons of the church. In the end, Drokensford yielded, and the rights of the chapter were confirmed. Rights of jurisdiction were also disputed among the members of the chapter themselves ; for about this time an attempt of the sub-dean to encroach on the dean's jurisdiction brought on him a fine of ten casks of wine, or ,£20, while, on the other hand, the dean disputed his right to visit Wookey Church. The quarrel caused much scandal among the people. The sub-dean appealed against the bishop's decision, and the matter was finally settled by his independent jurisdiction being acknowledged over Wookey, and confined to that manor. While Drokensford was still bishop-elect, in 1309, he received a copy of the bull of Clement V., de- manding the trial of the English Templars. The wealth and power of the order in France excited the avarice and interfered with the policy of Philip IV. It was, of course, impossible to crush the order in one land only. Master as he was of the Pope, Philip determined on its entire suppression. Yet even he did not dare wholly to trample on the feelings with which Christendom regarded the defenders of the Holy Sepulchre. Accordingly, lie employed the machinery of the law to Mast their reputation before iie \entnrcd to destroy them. Accusations of the most revolting kind were made against the order in Prance ; shameful, unspeakable things were, it was viid, done by the knights in their secret meetings. DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATION. II5 Torture was used with some success to extort con- fessions from the prisoners, and though some died under the hands of their tormentors, enough evidence of a sort was gathered to enable the Papal Com- missioners to begin the trial in August, 1309. Meanwhile Philip sought to persuade his son-in-law, Edward II., to join in the persecution. The news of the accusations laid against the order was received in England with amazement. Neither the king nor the lords were inclined to believe the guilt of the knights, or to move in the matter. Little, however, as Clement approved the violence of Philip's pro- ceedings, he was pledged to his policy, and he therefore pressed Edward to yield to his representa- tions. In obedience to the papal bull, the knights were arrested and brought up to London. The only preceptory in this diocese was at Temple Combe. When the Commissioners began the trial, on Oct. 21, the first knight examined was William Raven, of Combe. He described his admission to the order — there were no secret rites ; he swore on the Gospels to observe the rules of obedience, poverty, and chastity, that he would see no man unjustly put out of his inheritance, and that he would lay violent hands on no man, save in self-defence or in war against the Saracens. The ceremony of his admis- sion took place in the chapel of Combe, in the diocese of Bath, in the presence of about 100 lay persons. The inquisitors bade the keepers of the knights take care that no man had any communi- cation with him. The trial of the order lasted nearly two years, and there can be little doubt but 1 2 I I 6 BATH AND WELLS. that, according to the Pope's recommendation, tor ture was used, though not to the same extent as in France. In the end, the knights were declared guilty of secret initiation, of allowing absolution by their officers, and of an oath to advance the wealth of the order by right or wrong. They were con- demned to perpetual penance, or, in other words, to be kept shut up in various monasteries. It is evi- dent that men thought well of them. An allowance was made for their maintenance, and a record of a receipt given in 13 17 shows that the abbots of Glas- tonbury and Muchelney and the priors of Taunton and Montacute had received from the Exchequer ;£i8. 8s. for four knights kept by them for 276 days, viz., 4d. a day for each. The dissolution of the order was declared in 131 2, and the Templars' lands were given to the Hospitallers. The building of the cathedral church went on briskly under Dean Godelee. Considerable repairs must have been executed before his appointment in 1305, for in 12S9 all the canons gave a tenth of the revenues of their benefices for five years for that purpose. At the same time, too, it is probable that the chapter-house was built. By 1321 a new bell- tower, raised by tenths granted by the canons for another five years, must have been nearly finished, for all the clergy of Taunton deanery subscribed a penny in the pound for its roof. This entry seems to refer to the central tower of the church. The mi reased weight of this tower on the ar< hes soon made a disaster imminent, and by 1337 the canons resident had subscribed no less than^/, 1,000 for urgent DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATION. I I 7 repairs, while the non-resident canons, who happened to hold the richer prebends, had given nothing, and were, therefore, compelled by the chapter to pay ^200 still owing. Part of the canons' ^"1,000 had, doubt- less, been spent on the curious and ugly contrivance of inverted arches to resist the pressure of the tower. Meanwhile, a considerable advance had been made eastwards, for in 1325 the old stalls were destroyed, - and each canon had to pay thirty shillings for making his stall, an entry which seems to show that the members of the chapter no longer sat under the lantern, but had their places in the new presbytery. By the time of Drokensford's death in 1329, such advance had been made that he was buried in the south choir -transept. In addition to the means already noticed of raising money for these works, the bishop in 13 15 licensed collectors to beg for funds for the tower, and in 1335 an indulgence of forty days was offered to all who contributed to the new work. Of course, this and other indul- gences were not, as is vulgarly supposed, licences to commit sin; they were, indeed, dependent on the true repentance of the transgressor. In 1332, Ralph of Shrewsbury, who was then bishop, in consideration of the work the dean had done, largely at his own cost, gave him leave of absence to collect money. Godelee died the same year. The great expense which the chapter had incurred brought them into some difficulties, and, as we shall see, the bishop was no better off than they were. Drokensford took a prominent part in the troubles of the reign of Edward II. He was in opposition Il8 BATH AND WELLS. to the king in 1310 and 1320, and was implicated in the rebellion of 1321. The attempt of the king to remove him from his see has been already noticed. In 1327 he openly joined the cause of the queen. His political career, like those of some other bishops of the same period, was not a creditable one. In the exercise of his patronage he did not forget to advance his own relations. One or two other ap- pointments have a special interest. Adam Orlton, who afterwards, as bishop of Hereford, adopted much the same policy as Drokensford, was in 13 10 admitted a prebendary of Wells by papal mandate, and the bishop seems to have cemented his alliance with the house of Berkeley by conferring a prebend on Ivo, son of the rebel Lord Maurice. Ivo was a layman, and this scandalous appointment was annulled byDrokens- ford's successor. The relief of the poor depended chiefly on the clergy; and bishops, accordingly, in granting leave of absence, often added the condition that the absentee should devote part of his income to that purpose. Greedy as he was, Drokensford set a good example in this respect, for in 1313 he wrote to the stewards of his six chief manors, ex- plaining that certain disturbances in the kingdom hindered him from coming to his diocese, and bidding them allow one halfpenny a day to forty poor persons. If any of these almomers were old and poor priests, he ordered that the) should have four shillings each at Mi) haelmas to buy a cloak, a cape, and shoes. The condition of his gift was that the recipients should each day say certain prayers, or. if they were too \\< ,ik to say them, should have them DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATION. 1 19 said for them. As regards the amount of his gift, it may be noted that his register contains an entry showing that 2S. o?,d. was paid for 49 days work, and that ploughing was paid for at the rate of 3d. an acre. On the death of Drokensford in 1329, the see itself was, like many others, reserved by the Pope. Ralph of Shrewsbury (i 329-1 363) was, however, elected by the two chapters, received confirmation from the crown, and was consecrated before any appointment was made at Rome. Indignant at this independent action, John XXII. threatened to withhold his confirmation. Letters were written on his behalf by the chapter, the two universities, and the earls of Lancaster and March. Finally, after protesting that no contempt was intended, and having secured the good offices of some of the papal court, our bishop was allowed to purchase the Pope's confirmation by a gift of two thousand florins. More, he said, he would have given, but his predecessor had left the church in a ruinous state (the works were but half done), and more he would give if better times came. Ralph had other claimants to satisfy. According to custom, he had to put a prebend at the disposal of Archbishop Islip, who consecrated him, and also to pay heavy fees. As the temporalities of the see were in the king's hand, he could not pay all at once, and he proposed to leave a debt of ^19. In paying the balance of ,£17, he tells the archbishop that one of his chaplains had insisted on his fee of forty shillings being paid on the spot. Ralph was a man of learning and high cha- 120 BATH AND WELLS. racter. He was chancellor of Oxford both before and after his consecration, and the letter sent by the university to the Pope dwells on his attainments. He was an adherent of the friars, to whom he left a third of his property. He is described as upholding the doctrines of St. Thomas Aquinas, and the Oxford Dominicans used their influence to secure his con- firmation. Two reforms in cathedral organisation are due to his influence. Although the chancellor of the church was the nominal head of the school, he seems to have neglected taking any direct part in education, — indeed, as he was the regular legal adviser of the chapter, he must have had plenty of work of another kind. In 1335, however, Ralph, with the consent of the chapter, ordained that he, or a substitute provided by him, should read lectures on theology or on the decretals, from the day after St. Calixtus to the feast of St. Thomas the Martyr (October 15 December 29) in each year. From this time every chancellor, on taking office, was sworn to obey this rule, which thus, for one term in the year, made Wells a place where the younger canons could study with advantage. Attempts were made to enforce this regulation as late as 1596 and 1606. The re- iidence of the vicars of the church in different dwellings in I he city had led to great irregularities. .V 1 ordingly, Ralph incorporated them into a separate 1' »dy from the « hapter, procured them dwellings with a ( ommon hall and chapel, the whole being the fore- runner of the Vicars' ('lose as it now exists, assigned them property, and enjoined on them rules inr their < ondui l and > oinmon life. DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATION. 121 By a regulation insisted on by certain papal con- stitutions in the reign of Henry III., in cases where the rectory was impropriated, the rector was bound to endow the vicar. This was largely carried out in the fourteenth century, and thus many vicars, instead of being merely stipendiary, became beneficed clergy. The usual apportionment was, that the rector had the great, and the vicar the small tithes. Dif- ferent arrangements, however, were sanctioned by the bishop in different parishes. At Stockland, for example, which belonged to the hospital of St. Mark, in Bristol, the rectors were bound to set apart a vicarial house and fifteen acres of glebe, together with the tithes of two mills, of hay, wool, milk, apples, hemp, flax, lambs, calves, pullets, pigs, geese, and pigeons, and all offerings. The tithe of swans was reserved for the hospital, which was bound to keep up and supply all the ornaments of the church, save two wax-candles for processions, which were to be furnished by the vicar. When the rectors lived on the spot more minute arrangements were made. At Taunton (1308), the priory supplied the vicar with allowances of bread and ale, of hay and corn, and even with two shillings a year for the shoeing of his horse. Bishops Drokensford and Ralph seem to have vigorously urged on the institution of vicarages, a measure which much increased the comfort and use- fulness of the parochial clergy. In some cases, and especially where a church pertained to the see, the bishop interfered to secure the vicar a sufficient maintenance. In 1327, Walter, vicar of Yatton, complained that he had not enough for himself and 122 BATH AND WELLS. his two chaplains, or, as we should now call them, curates. The prebend was worth one hundred marks, and the prebendary only gave his vicar twelve marks. Drokensford accordingly made an apportionment of the tithe for his relief. In spite, however, of these arrangements several impropriated churches con- tinued to be served by stipendiary vicars up to the sixteenth century. I icences were sometimes given to private persons to keep a chaplain, and have services in their own chapel. Care, however, was taken that people should not be drawn away from their parish church, and if this was found to be the case the licence was withdrawn. No straying from the parish church, indeed, was allowed. In 1350, Ralph having heard that the parishioners of Monckton were in the habit of attending Taunton church, ordered the vicar of Taunton, before he celebrated, to find out whether any of them were present, and to command them to withdraw. The e;ulie>t bishop's register of the diocese new extant is that of Drokensford. In common with that of Ralph, and of one or two other bishops, it contains copies of letters and many interesting notices of events, along with the records of official a< ts, such as institution . exi ommunications, and the like, themselves by no means such unimportant or dry as dust matters as a firsl glance would take them to be. Much use has been and will be made of thi is in this volume. Some entries have a national interest. In [324, when ('li.nlcs IV. of Franc e thn at< ii' d I England with invasion, the bishop was ordered to remove all secular priests holding DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATION. I 23 benefices near the sea or navigable rivers, who were under the power of that king, save the Flemings only, to places further inland, allowing them thirteenpence a week for food, and forty shillings a year for clothes and shoes. At this time, wheat was at 6s. 8d. to 5s. 8d. a quarter, barley, 4s. to 3s., and oats, 2s. ; 2 cocks, 2 capons, and 8 hens were valued at i4d. and a pig at i8d. In 1336, a year of heavy taxation on account of the French war, Ralph wrote to the archbishop, chancellor, and treasurer, stating the lamentable com- plaints of the people of his diocese, who, in addition to taxation, were charged with maritime defence, and were now called on to find and fit out no fewer than 3,000 men, and begging some relief for them. During the autumn of 1348, the fear of the plague hung over the country, and Ralph ordered that pro- cessions and stations should be observed for six weeks in every church of the diocese, to pray God to turn away from this people the plague from the East ; and an indulgence was offered to all who fasted and prayed to this end. Early the next year, the Great Plague was wasting our land. Ralph did not leave his people in their distress. He took measures to meet the spiritual destitution caused by the sickness. Many parishes lost their priests, and none were to be had for love or money, to visit the sick or administer the last sacraments. From the extraordinary number of institutions that took place as the sickness decreased, — often three and four day after day, — it is evident that a large proportion of our clergy perished in this pestilence, which is believed to have carried off one-half of the population 124 BATH AND WILIS. of the kingdom. As men, consequently, died without the opportunity of confession, the bishop put out a letter, saying " that since through infection and fear of contagion, many may die without the sacraments through ignorance of what to do, believing no confession to be profitable save that made to a priest having the keys, we, being anxious, as we are bound, for men's salvation, and to turn sinners from, the error of their ways, command to be published," in all churches, "that, if any be at the point of death, he should confess to a layman, for the apostle saith, ' Confess your sins one to another,' even to a layman, and, if that be not possible, to a woman, and that such confession should be profitable to sal- vation." At the same time, he would have all confess while yet in health, " to a priest with the power of binding and loosing," and lie offers an indulgence of forty days to such as do so. The whole letter, of which this is a bare summary, is a noble witness to the writer's character. As might be expected, the plague loosened the bonds of society. Lawless men did open deeds of violence, such as they would not have dared to do at other times. During this terrible time, the bishop '•visited" Ilchester, where, in the last reign, as we have seen, an attack was made on the farm of the priory. While he was in the church, a crowd of " men and women, armed with swords, bows and arrows, iron bars, stones," &C, attacked his house- hold in the Churchyard, and beat and wounded his , even to the shedding of blood. They then entered the i hur< h. and " these wretches and devils DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATION. 125 incarnate " (the register-writer seems to labour to fitly describe them) abused the bishop and shut up him and his household till nightfall ; and, indeed, by keeping guard over them, virtually held them prisoners till the next day, when " a large company of sons of the Church came and set them free." No reason is given for this violence ; it may be inferred that it was caused by fear of infection. It is, however, possible that it arose from another cause. The fearful diminu- tion of population caused a corresponding rise in wages. At the very beginning of the plague, the bishop received, for publication in his diocese, an ordinance regulating the rate of wages. This natu- rally aroused great dissatisfaction, and may possibly have been the cause of the Ilchester riot. Although the ordinance was afterwards turned into a statute, it had little effect. At the same time, the attempts made to check the rise of the labourers ended in the insurrec- tion of 1 38 1. In this movement, the social aspect of Wyclifs teaching was largely concerned, along with political discontent and actual causes of grievance. While the preaching of Purvey, at Bristol, which, as we shall see, had considerable effect on our diocese, probably was of later date, the fact that a shire so far distant as Somerset from the chief seat of the move- ment acted in concert with the eastern counties suggests the agency of poor priests of the character of John Ball. Eleven men of our diocese are mentioned as ringleaders of the insurrection, and the town of Bridgwater was exempted from the general pardon. Ecclesiastical jurisdiction extended not merely over 126 BATH AND WELLS. spiritual persons and things, but, in certain cases, over laymen. It was exercised by the bishop, by archdeacons, and, as we have seen, by the chapter, and by certain members of it in their estates and prebends. Spiritual jurisdiction over the clergy was a matter wholly apart from the common law. The bishop had a prison for the confinement of refractory clerks. Our bishop's prison, at Wells, was called the " Stochouse," or the " Cowhouse," names of course of the same import. Clerks and laymen tried in a spiritual court were admitted to purgation, /'.<■., to clear themselves by their own oatli or the oaths of others. In 1335, one Nicholas Bray, or Lardyner, was tried before the bishop's commissary, at Chew, for assaulting a clerk. The commissary ordered him to find six men to swear for him. At the request of the accused, the number was reduced to four, and by their oaths he cleared himself. By an agreement made in 1337, the question of the bishop's right of visitation in the cathedral was settled by his promising to visit the members of the chapter and the priests of the church only through the dean. The order of visitation was that the whole cathedral body assembled in the chapter-house, where they heard a sermon from the bishop: in 1337, Bishop Ralph's text was, "Call the labourers, and give them their hire;" all th( 11 withdrew, save the bishop and his clerks, and the dean, to whom the bishop then put his inquiries. Su< h visitations were by no means unnecessary, for jross irregularities sometimes existed in the chapter. Drolcen ford, for example, found that the chancellor lot in full orders. En 1336 the bishop reproved DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATION. I 27 the canons for their evil conduct with a certain Cecilia Pomfret. The chief subjects of investiga- tion in 1338 were : Why the revenues of Burnham church were not paid to the cathedral fabric fund, to which they had been assigned ? How far the statutes of Dean Godelee were to be approved ? Why the canons who received commons (i.e., were in resi- dence) and the vicars absented themselves from the services of the canonical hours ? In a diocesan visitation, the priest was ordered to bring with him six of the leading parishioners (testes synodoles, or sydesmen) to support the presentment of the wardens. Incontinence, the prevailing vice among the clergy, was usually punished with suspension for six months, and often in the case of the vicars of the cathedral merely with an order to sit among the choir-boys. In spite of the many records of offences of this sort, it should be remembered that the Church presented the only standard of purity of life, and that she enforced it by her officers, without respect of persons. Ecclesiastical jurisdiction over laymen extended to all injuries done to spiritual persons or things, to non- payment of tithes, and to suits connected with wills, matrimony, and breaches of trust. In addition to these must be reckoned suits instituted for correction of morals. Ecclesiastical punishments consisted of penances, and sometimes also of fines : they were enforced by excommunication ; and if, as seldom happened, the offender proved rebellious, the judge could call in the sheriff, who imprisoned him until he had satisfied the demands of the Church. Con- I A I II AND WELLS. siderable jealousy existed between the temporal and spiritual courts. A sign of the long struggle between the two jurisdictions appears in a letter of Bishop Ralph, complaining to Archbishop Stratford of some interference of the king's justices in matters pertain- ing to his court. This letter was written about the time of the quarrel between Edward III. and the archbishop, in which Ralph, like the other bishops, upheld the cause of his metropolitan. A few instances of spiritual jurisdiction under Drokensford and Ralph will illustrate the system and throw some light on the state of the diocese. In 131 5, Lady Petronilla, widow of Sir Thomas Cogan, sued John Cogan, rector of Huntspill, and others, her husband's executors, for restraining her dower and certain goods {paraphernalia) to which she was entitled even during marriage. In a matrimonial suit, in 1342, William Pleytenyn, of Mells, was bound in ^20 to live peaceably with his wife and not exceed the limits of conjugal chastisement by breaking her limbs or hurting her seriously. As a punishment for incontinence, the rector of Bleadon, sitting as the bishop's commissary at Banwell, in 1338, sentenced one Alice of Blackford to walk twice round Banwell church barefooted. A curious case of resistance clesiastical authority is noted in Drokensford's ter. In 1315, Lady Plokene! [Plucknet] directed by will that her body should be buried in Sherborne church. Her son, sir Alan, probably to save expense, buried her in "a less dignified place." 'I he bishop sent him orders by the rector of h Wake, who was rural dean of Crewkerne, DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATION. 129 to obey his mother's request. Falling into a rage at this, the knight rushed on the dean, caught him by the throat and choked him by twisting his hood, and even caused him to bleed. The dean got away and fled. At Haselbury, however, Sir Alan and his men caught him and there the knight made him eat the bishop's letter and chew and swallow the wax seals. For this he was excommunicated, but made submission. In 1338, Richard Rokebere, having illegally intruded himself into the vicarage of Kingston, the bishop, by the dean of Taunton, who was a notary, forbade the parishioners to communicate with him or pay him offerings. The monition was served when he was about to celebrate. Richard immediately cried out, " If the bishop has excommunicated me, I excom- municate him," and he forthwith celebrated before about two hundred persons, and the parishioners having locked the church door with threats, he administered to many who were present. I have not found any notice of the consequences of this insub- ordination. The Uchester riot was punished by excommunication and interdict. A ringleader, Roger Warmville, was tried at Taunton by the commissary, and sentenced to a severe penance. He was to walk on three several occasions bareheaded and barefoot round Uchester church in front of the procession made on Sundays and feast-days, holding a candle, which he was to present at the altar during mass while a chaplain declared his sin to the congregation in the vulgar tongue. Moreover, he was to be flogged thrice on market-days at Uchester, Wells, K 130 BATH AND \\ II T s. Bath, Glastonbury, and Somerton : he was to pay a fine of ^20 and make a pilgrimage to Canterbury in honour of St. Thomas the Martyr. Constant quarrels took place between the tenants of the chapter and of the abbey of Glastonbury. In 1324, the vicars of Doulting and Pilton were commanded to excommuni- cate the men who had destroyed the church's pro- perty at Hertlake, between Wells and Glastonbury, and had broken a sluice in YVookey parish, probably in assertion of a right. Considerable lawlessness is implied by the notice that in 1326 Dean Godelee was admitted to purge himself from the charge of firing the moors between Burtle and Glastonbury, with intent to set fire to the monastery. Two evils were connected with ecclesiastical jurisdiction. One was the system of purgation, which hindered discipline and often shielded powerful offenders. The other was the constant use of excommunication rather for the purpose of enforcing submission to penance than as a punishment in itself. Apart from the spiritual mischief of this practice, it unduly promoted the I lower of the clergy, and fostered among the laity feelings of revolt which before long found voice in I < Hardy. Of the same tendency, too, were the pi nam es inflii ted tor petty wrongs done to ecclesias- tical persons. Oul of many instances Oi these only one need he given. Bishop Ralph sentenced John of Champflower, the forester of Mendip, to stand 1 t and in his shirt at Wells, holding a candle, «rhi< h he was to present at the altar at mass, because rid liis men had Stopped tin- bishop's carts as they ( ame OUt of the episcopal wood on Mendip. BATH AND WELLS. CHAPTER VI. DEADNESS AND REVOLT. Translations — Bishop Beckington — Worldliness — Superstitions, Ignorance, Witchcraft — Lollardy : Special Cases of Lol- lardy — Rebellion and Fines — An Alien Bishop — The New- Learning — Architecture. During the fourteenth century the appointment of bishops was often made a matter of arrangement between the king and the Pope, and the chapters were accordingly deprived of their right of election. Moreover, as the popes claimed to appoint to all vacancies caused by translation, they took care to make translations as frequent as possible. The effect of this system was that a bishop looked on his see simply as a step to further promotion. Indeed, his connexion with each he held in turn was often too short for him to do any abiding work, even if he had wished to do so. Our own diocese suffered greatly from this system of translation and provision by papal bull. Bishops and clergy became worldly ; diocesan administration declined ; there was little personal supervision, and the Church to some extent lost its hold on the people. On the death of Ralph of Shrewsbury in 1363, the Wells chapter chose William of Monyngton abbot of Glastonbury. This election seems to have been made without the con- ic 2 132 LATH AND WELLS. currencc of Bath chapter, and the monks refused to agree to it. The archbishop set it aside, and John Barnet, who had been consecrated to Worcester in 1362, was translated hither, to be again moved to Ely in 1366. At the request of the Black Prince, the Pope next appointed John Harewell (1367- 13S6). He, indeed, was kept in this diocese until his death, and he consequently interested himself in the fabric of his church, for he gave one-third of the cost of the completion of the south tower, the chapter contributing the remainder. At his death Walter Skirlaw was translated by hull from Lichfield, and two years later was moved on to Durham. Then Ralph Erghum(i388-i4oo) was brought from Saru m. He again remained here until his death, and ac< ord ingly his episcopate is marked by a good work already noticed, the foundation of the college for chantry priests at Wells. At his death, the Pope "provided" in favour of a certain archdeacon of Canterbury. Henry IV., however, objected to his nominee, and refused to grant him the temporalities of tin' see. The Pope gave way, and made a second provision in favour of the king's nominee, HENRV BOW] 1 1 (1401 1 .507), who, after six years here, was translated to York. ( >n his translation, NICHOLAS r.iiAvnn ( 1407 [424) was moved hither from Sarum. Bubwith deserves to he remembered, for he gave v to the completion of the north tower; he founded the almshouses at Wells, still called by his . and presented the burgesses with the old town hall, which forms part of the same building. He was one <>f the English envoys at the Council of DEADNESS AND REVOLT. 1 33 Constance, which condemned the writings of Wyclif, and burnt Hus and Jerome. His dealings with Lollardism in his own diocese will be noticed later. As one of the thirty-four electors joined by the Council to the College of Cardinals, he took part in the election of Martin V. His successor, John Stafford (1425-1443), treasurer and chancellor, was less of a bishop than a statesman. On Stafford's translation to Canterbury, Thomas Becktngton (1443-1465) was at the king's request appointed by provision. Eeckington was born in the village near Frome from which he took his name, and is said to have been the son of a weaver. Before his consecration he held many offices in Church and State ; and a treatise he wrote, upholding the right of the king to the crown of France, greatly forwarded his advancement. At the time of his consecration he was private secretary to Henry VI. ; and the volume of his letters, published in the Rolls series, shows how much work that office entailed on him. He was a magnificent prelate, and spent no less than 6,000 marks in building and repairing different houses belonging to the bishopric. Chief among these buildings is the Vicars' Close, which was finished by his executors. " Various excesses and abuses " pre- vailing among the vicars formed the subject of an inquiry shortly before 1450 ; and, in 1459, Beckington added some fresh ordinances to those made by Bishop Ralph and Deans Godelee and Carleton. From these we learn that the vicars affected the dress of the laity; they had the collars of their doublets high and standing up like lawyers, and the collars of their 134 BATH AND WELLS. gowns and cloaks very short and low : this was to be remedied. The custom of admitting laymen to the college had already begun. These lay-vicars had an equal right in the common property with their clerical brethren, but they were not allowed an equal share in the government of the college. Beckington's Close consists of a double row of little houses, with a 1 at one end, and a hall, where all were to eat together, at the other; in spite of considerable injury, the buildings still retain much of their original beaut}-. Vacancies were filled up by the nomination of the dean and chapter, after a trial of the candi- date's voice and knowledge in the presence of the college. The new member was then admitted into tin- ( ollege for a year's probation on the payment of 13s. .(d. If he passed this term satisfactorily he be< .line a full member, and could not be deprived of his office except for some sufficient offence. The govern- ment of the college was committed to two principals, rj on the beast of St. Matthew by the other members. The five senior vicars acted as their ants. The (barter of Queen Elizabeth did not iallj change the position of the vicars, who still retain the constitution provided bj Beckington. 1 am especially bound to praise the liberality of iln bishop for the erection ol the beautiful vicarage- at Congresbury, carried out by his executors. ington was .1 patron of learned nun, and among I Thomas Chandler, — the authoi oi .1 curious dialogue between St. Andrew and St. Peter on the oi th, ir u sp< < tlVC cities,- whom he made He was al »o a liberal benefai tor to DEADNESS AND REVOLT. 1.35 Winchester and New College, and to Lincoln Col- lege. Although he did not use his patronage for the promotion of his family, he showered benefices on his friends. One of these, Hugh Sugar, for whom he obtained papal licence to hold incompatible benefices, was treasurer of Wells. His office was one of trust, and, after the death of his patron, Sugar was found to have been unfaithful in his dis- charge of it. Beckington retired from secular work soon after his consecration. He was an active administrator. Nothing escaped his notice, even down to regulations for the observance of decency by the bathers at bath. He looked keenly after the rights of the see, and in a somewhat overbearing fashion enforced the right of visitation over Glastonbury. Another visi- tation, and one more sorely needed, was made of Kcynsham monastery, where homicide and other grievous crimes were reported. The spiritual duties of his office Beckington seems to have discharged by suffragan bishops. These bishops were either con- secrated by the Pope to sees in parts held by un- believers (in partibus infidelium), who exercised epis- copal functions sometimes on special occasions, and often for long periods, for bishops unable or unwilling to do their work themselves, or else were Irish bishops who had permanent duty here. A great many bishops in partibus were to be found in England ; and some of those who claimed the episcopal office, and looked out for employment in English sees, were sus- pected of being mere pretenders. Accordingly, we find that, in 1362, when Ralph of Shrewsbury was old 136 HATH AND WELLS. and infirm, John Langebrugge, Bishop " Buduensis," was appointed suffragan, because many unauthorised bishops were in England. Bowett employed a bishop whose see lay in Media ; Stafford, a certain John Bloxwych, who had been appointed by the Pope to a see in Iceland. In Beckington's time, bishops of Sidon, Tenos, and Achonry, acted as suffragans of Wells. Failing health probably caused Beckington to leave much to them, for in 145 1 he was excused attendance in parliament on account of age and weakness ; at the same time it may well be that the spiritual and humbler duties of a bishop had little attraction for him. Some ceremonies, however, he performed in person. On January 13, 1452, at 5 a.m., he dedicated an altar in the cathedral to the Blessed Virgin and St. Thomas of Canterbury, and two days later he consecrated a tomb he had made for himself, and said mass for his own soul, for the souls of his parents, and of all the faithful dead, in the presence of a vast congregation gathered to gaze on their great bishop, decked, as we are told he was, in all the ornaments of his office. On beckington's death, the two chapters, in obedience to the Pope's order, elected John Free, the master of Balliol. Free, however, died at Rome before he was con- secrated, and his place was taken by ROBERT StIL- LINGTON (1466 1 |') 1 )■ Little need be Said here about this ministei ol Edward [V. and partisan of Richard III. He had a quarrel with the chapter, who resisted mi to appoint and 1 ommand the installation of one Worthington to the provostship, and the prebend and canonry ol Combe XII. After the battle of DEADNESS AND REVOLT. 1 37 Stoke, in 1487, he was accused of helping Lambert Simnel, and was imprisoned at Windsor until his death. His episcopal duties were discharged by bishops of Tenos, Ross, and Enaghdun. Worldliness prevailed among the clergy as well as the bishops of our diocese at this period. As early the fourteenth century it was the custom for each canon who was called into residence, and so became a partaker in the common fund, to entertain the bishop and the officers of the church at a feast. No less than ^150 was sometimes expended on these occasions, and in 1 400 a papal bull com- manded that no more feasts should be held, and that each canon on coming into residence should pay 100 marks, or, if entering on a dignity, 150 marks to the fabric fund. Before long, however, the canons divided these payments amongst themselves, after giving ten marks only to the fund and ten marks to the vicars. And then these feasts — oyster-feasts they were called — began again, and the bishop, the dean, the canons in residence, and all the officers of the cathedral and their wives, had long and sumptuous banquets. Thus, along with much magnificence in the lives of the bishops and dignified clergy, there- was no small amount of worldliness and neglect of spiritual duty, while the scandal of Sugar's conduct, the perversion of the money from the fabric fund, together with complaints of the ill-behaviour of vicars and the like, argue a low moral standard among the members of the cathedral body. Willi the parish priests matters were certainly no better. When the revival worked by the friars died out. and they in 138 BATH AND WELLS. their turn gave themselves up to the temptations of the world around them, the Church seemed to have lost regenerative energy. Although the bishop's examinations still continued, the practice of institu- ting unlearned priests on their promising to study, seems to have increased. At the same time, dark as the fifteenth century was, it must be remembered that the tracts of Wyclif found crowds of readers, and that it was a time when schools and colleges were founded for the instruction of those who were to enter the priesthood. It was not, however, as far as one can see, until the end of the century that the revival of learning- gave any outward sign of its influence in our diocese. Sermons were no longer preached, for the friars had become dumb. As far as their authorised teachers were com erned, the people were left in ignorance. The prevailing worldliness of the Church led men tu question the title of its ministers to their wealth, and, above all, to the authority they exercised. This authority was based on matters of faith, and Wyclif, having first attacked the right to posse.' s riches and power, was led to attack the foundations on which the claim to that right < hiefly rested. Independently of certain great doctrines of the Church, which in later times she has renounced, there were manj matters ,,i prai ti< e whi< h called tor reformation. I here was much superstitious observance, and great virtue was held to he atta< hed to a. 1 i of no public benefit. 1 tli,- an. horites, whi< h have been alread) menti :d, othei vows were made bj people 111 the world, and owTlhcc, too. the ludiophad authority, in the episcopal registers several notices DEADNESS AND REVOLT. 139 occur of vows of fasting and of chastity. In 1413, for example, Margaret, widow of Leonard Hakeluyit, of Bridgwater, vowed perpetual chastity before the bishop, — " en la presence de vous tres honurable pier en dieu Sire nichol [Nicholas Bubwith] par la grace de dieu evesque de Bathe et de Well, et promitte establement vivere en eel avowe et a ce faire je de ma mayn demesne face la subscripcion. + Margrete." In the same year, licence was given to the warden of the friars minors at Bridgwater to hear this lady's confession with reference to a vow of fasting on Saturdays, which she cannot keep through illness. Although there was no shrine of national fame in this diocese, there were certain places of pilgrimage. Some went to Button's tomb at Wells ; many more to the pretended tomb of St. Dunstan, at Glastonbury. Abbot Beere, writing to Archbishop Wareham in the beginning of the sixteenth century, to defend the genuineness of the saint's relics possessed by his house, says that multitudes of pilgrims came to the shrine, and that on the anniversary of the saint the people of the country, men and women, masters and servants, kept holy day and assembled in the church, believing that they who neglected to do so would have no luck for a year. Bath, too, had its spiritual attractions in the Holy Trinity — possibly some statuary or painting in the abbey-church. There were also certain wonder- working objects, such as the holy thorn at Glaston- bury, which blossomed and flowered on the night of Christmas Eve, at the hour when Christ was born, and Our Lady's girdle at Bruton, which was placed round women in labour. At Wembdon, a spring 140 BATH AND WELLS. called St. John's Well, — it belonged to the Hospital of St. John at Bridgwater, — was reported in 1464 to work miracles of healing. Crowds flocked to it, bringing offerings, and the bishop sent a commissioner to the spot to institute inquiries. Ignorance Mas naturally accompanied by degrading practices and superstitions. A special characteristic of the fifteenth century was a belief in the power of witchcraft among all classes of society. In our diocese this belief, and even many secret practices connected with it, still con- tinue to an extent which few probably arc aware of. At this time accusations of witchcraft were constantly connected with Lollardy. In 1431, Stafford ordered a monition to be published in all the churches of the diocese in the vulgar tongue against the use of sorceries and incantations ; declaring any one who believed that any creature could be made worse or better, or turned into another shape, save by the Creator, to be an infidel and worse than a heathen, forbidding love philtres, the pretence of knowing the state of the sick by looking at their clothing, the searching out of the moon and stars, or the naming of lucky and unlucky days for building, sowing, ami the like. While the bishop thus forbade the practice of ignorant Stipei tition, he at the same time .sought to lake away the key of knowledge j for his declaration threatens willi excommunication any who should translate the Bible into English, or copy, or cause to be copied, any such translation. One Agnes Hancock was accused i the bishop of witchcraft in 1 '38. She was said to claim to heal the sick by incantations, only requiring to see some garment they had worn, and of DEADNESS AND REVOLT. I41 charming children " hurt by the spirits of the air, which the common people call Feyry." In her defence she said that she sent medicine to the sick, saying a prayer at the same time. This prayer she repeated to the bishop ; it contained some gibberish. She was allowed to abjure her practices, and so departed. There was, then, much in the state of this diocese, as well as in the Church at large, to dispose men to accept the doctrines of Wyclif, and to join in the revolt against ecclesiastical authority known by the general name of Lollardy. The part of our diocese in that movement is the most interesting fact in its history during the fifteenth century. From the instances that will be quoted, it will be seen that, though the socialistic side of the movement was generally suppressed, considerable discontent with the doctrines of the Church and the hierarchical system lingered on to the very eve of the changes of the next century, and did much to prepare the way for their acceptance. Lollardy was a wide term. In some cases the accused evidently held some at least of Wyclif's doctrines intelligently ; sometimes the Lollards were simply indignant at the spiritual dead- ness around them ; and sometimes their offence con- sisted in expressions of impatience, which may have proceeded from religious conviction or from political or social discontent, or merely from a spirit of irre- verence. The movement was dealt with differently at different periods and in different parts. Here, as else- where, it scared churchmen into assuming a position of rigid conservatism, in this diocese happily unaccom- panied by vindictive measures. In every case the I42 BATH AND WELLS. accused abjured their heresy. This was not so every- where. In London, for example, many were burned or hanged in the Lancastrian period and in the reign of Henry VII. Here, however, men had far fewer opportunities of reading the Scriptures, or, indeed, any other books, and, until the Bible was more or less accessible, Lollardy, as a movement of doc- trinal reformation, could not take any strong hold. Our Lollardy seems to have come to us chiefly from Bristol. Towards the end of the reign of Richard II., John Purvey, Wyclif's fellow-worker in the translation of the Bible, preached there with great success. The movement in Bristol, as elsewhere, was evidently, to some extent, connected with attach- ment to Richard, and, after he was known to lie dead. to the houses in opposition to the Lancastrian dynasty. At all events, Bristol, equally with London, was reckoned a stronghold of heretical opinions. The effect of Purvcy's preaching is evident from an order sent by Bubwith to the dean of Redcliff in 1408, forbidding any save holders of licences or graduates to preach or dispute on doctrine. No small part of \\\i lil's success arose from the vigorous tracts in which his opinions were disseminated. Such, for example, was the " Wicket," a little book written in English on the subject of the Sacrament. In 1 p; a penance was imposed on one John Devenish, of St. Cross (now called the Temple Church), in the : v of Redcliff, for having maliciously placed one Of th( e tracts "a scandalous book of the I ,ol lards " in a vicar's stall. Mandates were sent to Bubwith by tin archbishop for the prosecution of heretics. DEADNESS AND REVOLT. 143 but no proceedings seem to have been taken until Stafford's time. A full report is given of a Lollard case heard by Stafford in 1429. On March 10, William Curayn, of Bristol, a notorious heretic, was cited before the bishop sitting in judgment in the chapter-house of Wells, in the presence of Nicholas Frome, abbot of Glastonbury, of the dean (Forrest), and six canons, the public being admitted to the proceedings. On examination, it appeared that Curayn had been cited for heresy four times in other places, and had been imprisoned under sentence of the bishop of Lincoln. On the 14th, after a private conference, he again appeared as before. His opinions were then read out in English, after having been arranged in the following articles : — " That every prayer should be made immediately to God, and not to the saints, as the child that had wasted his father's goods came immediately to his father, and his father forgave him. That it is not lawful for a man spiritual to charge or force a man to swear on a book. That confession is but a 'counsail,' even as St. Peter cried 'God mercy,' and David and Magdalene, and their sin was for- given, so should we do. That the Pope in deadly sin is anti-Christ, and not the vicar of Christ : saith He, ' He that is not with me is against me.' That every priest is bound, under deadly sin, to preach the Word of God openly. That it is against God's law, for any man or woman that is sole, to enter into any house of religion, for those places be dens of foxes and birds'-nests. That friars should not beg, but work, as Paul did, with hands, for they be children 1-4-1 BATH AND WELLS. of Cain. That it is nut lawful for any priest which ministereth the Sacrament or singeth for a soul in church, college, or other place, to take any salary for his labour. That the Head of the Church is Christ, and they that be most virtuous in living be most highest in the Church, and they that be in deadly sin be out of the Church, according to God's ordi- nance, and of the synagogue of Satanas. That to images no manner of worship should be done, nor genuflection, nor incensing. That it is damnable to go on pilgrimage to any sepulture or relics : a pil- grimage should be done to poor men. That it is damnable to offer to any image. That it is not lawful to the king that the lords spiritual and temporal should be calling to them the commons of the realm, to make statutes in his parliament, to bind the people of the realm, but as they be founded and grounded on Christ's gospel, and the writers of such statutes be like the Scribes and Pharisees to whom Christ said, 'Woe,' cS:c. That it is not lawful for spiritual, such as the pope, nor to temporal, such as the king, to occupy temporal goods, if they be in deadly sin, for they be not owners of the same goods. That the opinions that Sir John Oldcastle Lord Cobham, Mr. John Wyclif, and others (grammar defective) which qs were convented and doomed for heretics were holy men, and their do< trines true and catholic, . nd therefore they be worshipped in heaven as hoi) martyrs. That Master John Wyclif was holier, and more in bliss and higher in heaven, than St. Thomas of Canterbury, the glorious martyr." On 2 1, in ('una Domini (Maundy Thursday), DEADNESS AND REVOLT. 1 45 Curayn again appeared in the cliapter-house, abjured these, his condemned errors, and received absolution. In 1449, John Young, chaplain of St. Cross, was imprisoned by Beckington's officers in Muchelney Abbey, where he was interrogated by the abbot and the bishop's commissary. He was old and infirm, and, being brought before the bishop at his manor of Chew, made submission: — "In the name of God. Amen. Tofore you, Rt. Worshipful Fader in God, I, J. Y., preste of your diocese and subject, detect, denounced, and noysed to your Fadyrhood, being in doom before you, felyng that I have helde and taught dyvers articles agaynst the Feyther of Holy Chirche that is to say," &c. After Curayn's case, the only articles in his abjuration worth notice are — "That every maner of goods should be comyn," and " that every man may preche." Having abjured and en- gaged to give up all books that came into his hands, and to inform against all heretical teaching, he received absolution. From these processes, it appears that the Lollardy of Bristol was an intelligible series of opinions on matters of doctrine and practice, which closely fol- lowed the ideas of Wyclif on the subject of grace as the one lawful foundation of rights of property and authority. In other parts of the diocese, where pro- bably Wyclif s teaching was not so well understood, Lollardy took the form of an impatient revolt against ecclesiastical authority. Beckington, writing to John, duke of Somerset (died 1455), complains that the duke's tenants at Langport neither "dred God nor lyve by Holy Chirche " : they ministered the L 146 B \ I II AND WELLS. sacraments and buried the dead themselves ; they refused to allow the priest to do service for them ; they would not do penance, and had beaten the bishop's officers. The offenders asserted, he says, that they had the duke's approval, but this he will not believe. At Philips Norton, one Thomas Cole, a baker, who abjured in 1459, had declared that "Peter was a dauber of walls "; and Agnes, his wife, confessed that she had said that "it was but waste to offer to the Trinity of Bath ; and I have reproved them that have gone on pilgrimage; and, in especial, in time of the translation of St. Osmund, I affirmed and said that I would that the way to Salisburyward, on the which the people went on pilgrimage, were full of bremmell [brambles] and thorns as any wood is to let them to go thither." An entry in Stillington's register declares that in 1475 there were many heretics in the diocese. In 1 5 14, Isabella, wife of John Persons, of Woolavington, abjured all witchcraft and heresies, with which she- was charged before the vicar-general silting in the parish church, and bound herself to undergo any judicial penalty if she did not mend her ways. The Inquiry was sought by the parishioners, who were in great fear of her power over man and beast. An entry occurs, 1518-19, of a commission issued t heretics by the legate to Thomas Cromwell, and a certain Richard Whitcombe, of Holcombe, abjured and did penan< e, 1 onf< ising that he had said. '• 1 had as leve see my dog's ear as the bread the hold* tii up at the mass, ami I had as leve see my salt sellai as the ( hali< <• holden up at the mass." DEADNESS AND REVOLT. 1 47 Stillington was succeeded by Richard Fox, keeper of the privy seal (149 2- 1494), who was translated from Exeter, and, after two years at Wells, was again translated to Durham. The next bishop, Oliver King (1495-1503), who was also translated from Exeter, was the chief secretary of Henry VII. He does not appear to have visited his new diocese until two years after his translation. When he came thither, in 1497, it was a critical time. The Cornish rebels had been received, on their march towards London, by the abbots of Athelney, Muchelney, and Clceve. At Wells, and elsewhere, they had been joined by many gentlemen of the county, and the parochial clergy were largely concerned in the move- ment, for the taxes were burdensome to all alike. After the defeat at Bloreheath, the king treated the rebels leniently. Before the summer was well over, Perkin Warbeck, after failing in an attempt on Exeter, seized Taunton. Many in the western part of the county joined him. When this second rebellion was over, the king came down to Somerset, and with him came the new bishop. On September 31, Henry entered Wells, and stayed at the deanery, which had just been finished by Dean Gunthorpe : the palace, probably, was in disorder. The next day he went on to Glastonbury, where he was the guest of Abbot Beere. This abbot was a great builder, and had lately raised new abbot's lodgings. In them Henry was entertained, and they were, therefore, called the King's Chambers. Henry showed good policy in not driving the offenders in Somerset to despair. Commissioners were appointed to deal with them, L 2 148 BATH AND WELLS. and they received pardons on payment of fines of various amounts. The abbot of Athelney paid j£66. 13s. 4d., the abbot of Muchelney ^60, and the abbot of Cleeve ^40 ; five of the parochial clergy were fined. Altogether, nearly ^8,000 was paid by the shire, and this was supplemented by another and lighter list of fines, made the next year, in which the names of six parish priests occur. The king's clemency seems to have made him popular in the diocese, for, on some of the stately towers raised during this period, the royal arms may be seen ; and it has been proved that in one or two cases these towers were the work of men who, having been fined for treason, were made loyal by the light- ness of the punishment inflicted on them. In con- nexion with the part taken by several of the clergy in the rebellions, and the probability that many of the cathedral body agreed with their late bishop, Stillington, in politics, it is curious to read that to meet Henry's wishes, the chapter consented to make such changes in the prayers for the king as the bishop should appoint. Incited, it is said, by a dream which lie had at Bath of the Holy Trinity, the special object of reverence in that city, and of the angels ot ( iod on a ladder such as Jacob saw, King under- took the rebuilding of the abbey church. A repre- sentation of liis dream may still be seen on the west ofthe church, lie built only over the ground covered by the nave of the vast church of John of I audi .eland, the antiquary in the next reign, saw the walls of the ruined Norman chancel still standing beyond the new building. King ordered that the DEADNESS AND REVOLT. 149 prior and monks of Bath should receive certain por- tions out of their revenues, and that the rest should be appropriated to the fabric. After his death, Prior Bird zealously continued the work, and the church was almost completed when the storm of sacrilege fell upon it. King was succeeded by Hadrian de Castello, cardinal of St. Chrysogonus (1504- 15 iS). Hadrian had made himself useful to the king, who rewarded him first with the bishopric of Hereford, and then with this see. Enthroned by proxy, he never visited England after his translation. He was col- lector of Peter's-pence, and this and his other affairs here were managed by the famous scholar and historian, Polydore Vergil, archdeacon of Wells. During his episcopate, the revenues of the see were farmed to Wolsey, and the spiritual duties of t'ie office were discharged by suffragans. Although Hadrian's history does not directly concern our diocese, it illustrates the scandalous way the Church was treated at this period. It was said to have been in his garden that Pope Hadrian VI. was poisoned, and the cardinal declared that he himself barely escaped with his life. However this may have been, Hadrian, after having been forced into exile from Rome during the reign of Julius II., returned on the accession of Leo X., and was implicated in a plot to poison that Pope. Hadrian fled to Venice in dis- guise. He and his agent, Polydore, fell into disgrace with Henry VIII., for a letter was intercepted from the archdeacon to his patron which contained scorn- ful remarks on the king and Wolsey. Polydore was 150 BATH AND WELLS. shut up in the Tower till the end of the year, and, in revenge, has said all he could in his history to blacken "Wolsey's character. Hadrian was deprived of his see, which was conferred on Wolsey (15 18- 1523), to be held in commendam, together with the archbishopric of York. He probably was assassinated in Italy in 1521. It is not surprising to find that certain vicars, who were guilty of incontinence at this period, were punished with almost nominal penances, or even that the vicar-general had occasion to ad- monish the dean to correct one of the canons for keeping " a concubine" in his house of residence. While, then, as regards our diocese, the fifteenth century was a period of outward splendour and power, it was also marked by unspiritualitv and by an ineffectual revolt against ecclesiastical domination. Lollardy was met with unbending conservatism, and failed to arouse churchmen to a smso cither of the moral and spiritual dangers that threatened their polity, or of the unsatisfying nature of purely dogmatic teaching, l'.efore the close of the century, however, a revolution, at onre moral and intellectual, assailed the mediaeval Church system. The causes of this revolution were manifold. The westward immigration of ( rreek s< holars during the long agony of Constantinople, and after the fall of the city in 1 (.53 ; the new familiarity of tin- West with Italian culture, consequent on the invasion of Charles VIII. ; and, above all, the ait of printing, brought us an influx of intellectual vigour, new thoughts of beauty, impatience of worn-out fetters, a spirit of critical inquiry, and an awakened sense "f the dutie DEADNESS AND REVOLT. 151 man owed to society. More's " Utopia " affords the measure of this change in its political and social aspects, while the translation of the New Testament from the Greek by Erasmus illustrates its connexion with the foundations of faith. Up to this time, the authority of the Church had secured the acceptance of the Vulgate version. Chief among the apostles of the new learning, Erasmus turned away from dogmatic authority to seek out the genuine Word of God by the light of critical scholarship. From this time the dogmatic interpretations of the mediaeval Church were exposed to the assaults of rational inquiry, aided by the new study of Greek. Although Erasmus printed his translation at Basel, it was, as has been well pointed out, " strictly the work of his residence in England ; " it was written with the help of English scholars, and printed by the funds supplied by English patrons. Nowhere was it received with greater excitement, or criticised with greater eagerness ; nowhere had it greater effects, immediate and remote, than in this country. Nor was our diocese without part in this matter. Among the sweeping accusations often brought against the mediaeval Church in England, is the assertion that the monks and friars stood utterly apart from the new learning. At Glaston- bury, Erasmus had a critic, whose judgment he re- spected, in the great builder, Abbot Beere, and in a letter addressed to the abbot, he speaks of hospitality foreign scholars received from him. In England the revival of learning was of a different kind t > the Italian Renaissance, for it was accompanied by a conscious effort after a reformation of the morals 152 BATH AND WELLS. both of the clergy and of the people at large. " We are troubled with heretics," Colet said, in his address to Convocation ; " but no heresy is so fatal as the vicious and depraved lives of the clergy." Where, then, as at Glastonbury, a community had in any measure caught the spirit of the new learning, there, we may be sure, men strove after purity of life. The English movement, too, was full of desire to do good to others. Men who knew that the truth had made them free were not content to leave others in the bondage of ignorance. It was this feeling that found expression not merely in magnificent founda- tions at the universities, but in the establishment of free grammar schools throughout the country. Fox, already the founder of Corpus Christi College at Oxford, did not, after his translation, forget the needs of the diocese he had left, following the example of Colet at St. Paul's, he built, in the precincts of Taunton Castle, which belonged to him as bishop of Winchester, a grammar school, at which, before long, two hundred scholars received a free education ; and, moreover, in his new college at ( )xford set apart two fellowships for natives of Somerset. About the same tunc, Sir John bit/jaines, the t liief Justice, and his brother Richard, bishop of London, founded the grammar school at Bruton. While Little of the spirit of the new learning entered into the ecclc- siastical changes of the reign of Henry VIII., the criticism brought to bear on religious teaching, and 1I1- protest made against unfruitful and corrupt living, could not but had to some wide reformation in the ( 1 1 1 1 1 . h ;. item. The special < hara< ter of that ARCHITECTURE. J 53 reformation was, however, determined by other forces. Architecture. — The passion for building that pre- vailed here in the fifteenth century has rendered our diocese comparatively poor in earlier work. While many bits belonging to the styles that preceded the Perpendicular are to be found here and there, the churches generally have been remodelled to suit the taste of a later age. A possibly solitary example of primitive Romanesque is afforded by the straight-sided arches of Milborne Port. The common type of the small Norman church was a nave with transepts, but without aisles. Some, like Lullington and Stoke-sub- Hamdon, had only nave and chancel. Along with this form, however, may be found the central tower. An unusual example of a clerestory in a small Norman church is afforded by Compton Martin. Small, deeply-splayed windows may be seen at Witham. Fine doorways — the special feature of external orna- ment — exist at Christon, Kewstoke, and other places. An example of great beauty, at Lullington, has twisted columns, richly-carved capitals, and a sculp- tured tympanum. The same church also has some curious transitional tower-arches. At Montacute is a good chancel-arch ; and there is a small though rich example of the same feature at Christon. Vaulting is uncommon, but is to be seen at Compton Martin, a fine Late Norman building of the twelfth ce?itury. The transition from Norman to Gothic work is beau- tifully illustrated by St. Joseph's Chapel, at Glaston- bury, where round arches are combined with general lightness of character, and the intersecting arcade 154 l'.Alll AND WELLS. presents at once round and pointed arches. The difference between the purely local style of the greater part of the nave of the cathedral and the Early English of the west end, has been already noticed. St. Cuthbert's, at Wells, originally an Early English church, with central tower, preserves much of its original character in its interior. The arcades of Shepton Mallet and the quintuple lancets of Martock are also noteworthy examples of this style. At Montacute there is a wavering between Early English and Decorated, the transept arches be- longing, one to the former the other to the latter class, while the chancel windows exhibit geometrical tracery. The step, indeed, from the plain lancet to geometrical adornment can scarcely be said to corre- spond with any date ; it was merely a change in ornamentation, not in principle. Traceried windows. which, speaking generally, may be said to have always existed side by side with lancets, became the rule in the thirteenth century; detached shafts dis- appeared, and the early tooth-moulding gave place io the flower, A curious feature in the church archi- te< lure of the diocese is the prevalence of octagonal towers before Perpendicular times. Although barton St. David's is perhaps the only existing example of a town- octagonal from the ground, others are really i i lit sided in form, and not merelj finished off with an 0( tagon. Soul- are < riitral, as at Stoke St. ( in and are 01 tagonal from the roof, others standing at the side, or, ., , al Hi hester, on the west end, spring from a squi ■ Such square western towers as remain from pi'- Perpendit ular days are lor the most pari ARCHITECTURE. 155 plain and poor. Spires arc uncommon, but are found at Congresbury and some other places; their charac- teristic though not universal fault is a lack of union between them and the towers on which they stand. The Perpendicular period, which may roughly be described as extending through the fifteenth and the early part of the sixteenth centuries, was the most important era in the architectural history of our diocese. During its course, and especially towards its close, nearly every church was, to some extent, remodelled ; and many were partially rebuilt. An instance of remodelling on a vast scale is afforded by St. Cuthbert's, at Wells, which, at various dates ex- tending from the first introduction of the style on to its perfection, was gradually changed from a large Early English cross church, with central tower, to its present form of a Perpendicular church with a tower at the west end. To this era belong the great cruci- form churches, of which Ilminster is a prominent example. As, however, the Perpendicular builders worked on already existing churches, some fine build- ings are marred by want of proportion. At Yatton, the old chancel is small and mean ; and at Wrington the nave is jammed between the older chancel and the Perpendicular tower, which, according to general custom, was built against the old nave before it was pulled down. During this period were raised those towers for which Somerset is famous. Dr. Freeman arranges these towers in three classes. In the general type the tower is divided into stages, with the stair- turret at one corner, combined with the buttresses. Of this class, Taunton, Huish. Bishop's Lydeard, 156 BATH AND WELLS. and Bruton are the best examples. Under another head come such towers as Banwell, Dundry, and Bleadon, in which the stair-turret is a pro- minent feature ; while the highest class, perfectly represented only by St. Cuthbert's, at Wells, and Wrington, is marked by the treatment of the whole upper part as one panelled stage. Of scarcely less note than the towers are the west fronts, formed by a dignified arrangement of the ends of the aisles with the central members, to be seen at Yatton, Crewkerne, and elsewhere. The clerestories are for the most part composed of a few large windows, and the beautiful scries of little clerestory windows at Congresbury is an exception to the general rule. Inside there is great diversity in the size of the piers and arches, though the the piers are often lofty and the arches comparatively narrow. The four centered arch is not often used in conspicuous positions, though liath abbey is an unfortunate exception to this rule. The vault in this church may be taken as an ex- ample of the fan tracer)- of the period. Wood is the common material of our roofs, which are generally of cove or wagon shape, and are often of extraordinary richness. Tie beams are used only with clerestories. I [ere and there, however, a clerestory is found without the beams to the root, as at Congresbury, where a beautiful series of panelling connects roof and clerestory together. The diocese is especially rich in SU( h stone pulpits as may be seen at \\ i6, the brethren of St. Joint's Hospital, Bridg- water, asked the bishop for some relief, lor their regular REFORMATION PERIOD. 1 59 attendance at the night services had caused many of them to fall sick from the cold. Accordingly they were allowed to hold their first service at 5 a.m. in summer, and 6 a.m. in winter, provided that they first rang a bell to waken travellers, workmen, and their neighbours, that they might come to mass, and so might ask God's blessing before going about the work of the day. Moreover, in purity of life and regularity of discipline, the advantage was not wholly on the side of the reforming party. The religious changes of Henry's reign took most men by surprise. There is something touching in reading how the priors of Bath devoted themselves to the rebuilding of their church up to the time when, under the reforming king, it again became a ruinous heap. It should be noted, too, that while the term Reformation is convenient, it is somewhat misleading, for it carries with it the idea of a single movement. The reign of Henry VIII., however, left the doctrines and, to a great extent, the observances of our Church, un- changed. What he did was by means of different Acts of Parliament to enforce certain measures, to which men were obliged to submit or suffer, and to plunder the Church, for the most part under the cover of law. Changes in matters of faith and prac- tice with which, to speak generally, our diocese had little sympathy, and robbery, which almost disdained constitutional pretences, marked the next reign ; while, after an interval, during which the old order was restored, in Somerset happily without bloodshed, Elizabeth effected the establishment of a new system, and new questions came into debate. Lastly, it is l6o BATH AND WELLS. certain that many men who lived in this period did not realise the greatness of the changes through which they passed in the same way we do, who look back on them as events in a single epoch, with the common name of the Reformation. In the face of persecution, or under the teaching of foreign reformers, this unconsciousness could hardly have existed. In this diocese, however, many a parish priest may have conformed to the various regulations of the days of Henry VIIL, Edward VI., and Mary, without any conscious change of religion. Wolsey's suppression of certain small houses, for the purpose of endowing his colleges, set an ex- ample, which the king and Cromwell were not slow to follow. It had not passed without criticism. William Barlow, afterwards bishop of this diocese, the author of certain Lollard tracts, reflected bitterly on the cardinal's conduct in his " Dyaloge between the Gentyllman and Husbandman." In fear of the king's displeasure, however, he recanted all that he had said against "the blessed sacrament of the altar," and his "slanderous infamy of the pope and my lord cardinal.'' The first general visitation of monasteries was begun in the autumn of 1535. The character Of the visitation was calculated to undermine the authority of the head of a house by inciting members to make complaints. All who wished to desert their monasteries were to be allowed to go, and were to receive money and raiment. Stri( t injun< tions as to future management frightened many away. All houses were to be closed; the monks were virtually imprisoned within their precinct walls; REFORMATION PERIOD. l6l no leases were to be made without the approval of the majority of the convent, and if any monk had a complaint to make of his abbot or his brethren, the abbot was to give him money to go to the king or Cromwell, the visitor-general. Sir John Fitzjames wrote to Cromwell on behalf of the abbot of Glas- tonbury, to point out the hardship of these rules. The abbot always had certain officers, brethren of the house, to attend him ; if all were to be thus shut in, " it schuld muche disapoynt the order of the howse, whiche hathe longe ben full honorable." The management of the estates was in the hands of two officers, and, if nothing could be done but by the vote of the whole convent, much delay would ensue ; and as to the carrying of complaints, the abbot knew that "there be sume of his brodirs would be glad to be abrode, and to make untrew r surmyse, so the abbot may pave for ther costes." For the future " no reliques or feigned miracles " were to be shown ; and Layton, one of Cromwell's most active agents, seized and forwarded to his master two flowers of the Glastonbury thorn, and "oure lades gyrdell at Bruton." In 1536, the Act was passed which dis- solved all monasteries of less annual value than ,£200, and gave them to the king. While little reliance can be placed on the statements drawn up by Cromwell from the reports of his agents, men who carried out their work in the worst spirit, it is certain that there was much evil among the smaller convents. Many had become very poor, and in nearly all of these probably the funds once employed in education and good works were now devoted to selfish pur- M 1 62 BATH AND WELLS. poses. A letter written by Richard Zouche to Cromwell shortly before this visitation, asking for the priory of Stavordale, shows into what a low state this, and probably many like houses in our diocese, had fallen. Claiming the priory as "a foundacion of my nawynsestres, wyche ys my lorde my fathcres ynerytans and mine," he complains that it had been sold by "a lewyde priorc "' to Taunton, and says that, "now hys hytt dcstryde, and ther ys but to chanons, wyche be off no goode levyng and that ys gret petty "; and finally asks Cromwell " to gett me the pore howse wyche ys callyd Staverdell." The fall of these houses excited the greed of the nobles and gentry, who clamoured for a share of the spoils. Amongst others, Ilumfrey Stafford begged Cromwell to be " so good master unto me as to helpe me to Worsprynge priorie." Whatever may have been the state of the lesser monasteries, their dissolution was effected by Act of Parliamentj and was therefore a strictly consti- tutional measure. For the proceedings against the greater houses no such plea can be put forward. In the Act of 1536, it was declared that "there were divers great and solemn monasteries of this realm wherein (thanks be to Cod) religion is right well kepi up and observed," and the visitor, Layton, who certainly was not of those thai rejoice not in iniquity, wrote, "at Bruton and Clascnburie there is nothyng notable j the brethren be so stinile l.eppide that il offende;" characteristically adding, "but faine wolde it they myght, as they confesse, and 90 the faulte is not in them." Yet, in 1537, the REFORMATION PERIOD. 1 63 king, with unsatisfied greediness, began a fresh visitation. Every effort was made to force or per- suade the abbots and convents to surrender their houses, an act scarcely lawful and decidedly dis- honest. In some cases intimidation was tried ; in others, agents were employed to bribe the abbots. Athelney was in debt ,£869. 12s. 7d., and shortly before the visitation the abbot wrote to Cromwell, sending him a statement of his debts, and asking him whether he had a friend that "wolde lene iiij. or v. hundert pounds without any prophet or lucour." When the time came to take measures for the destruction of the abbey this letter was not forgotten. Cromwell and Lord Audley, the chancellor, who coveted the house, sent an agent to tempt the abbot to make advantageous terms. The report the man sent of his mission exhibits the way these creatures did their work. 1 The abbot yielded to temptation. He and his eight monks surrendered, February 8, 1540. Lord Audley rented the site of the house and home-lands of the crown, and so King Alfred's founda- tion was brought to nought. The prior of Henton had many misgivings as to the act he was called on to perform. Writing to his brother he says that he and his house "would not be light and hasty in giving up those things which were not theirs to give, being- dedicated to Almighty God." No cause, he said, had been given by him or the brethren why their house should be put down: the service of God, religious conversation, hospitality and almsdeeds had been ob- 1 See Appendix. M 2 164 BATH AND WELLS. served. Nevertheless, '"'the King's high displeasure and my Lord Privy Seal's' - " (Cromwell's) was to be taken for cause, and he and his nineteen monks sur- rendered Mar. 31, 1539. In April, 1540, an Act was passed declaring that, as many monasteries had "voluntarily" surrendered, their property and that of all that should surrender should belong to the king. This Act, then, did not dissolve the greater houses, and it remained for the king to complete his work of plunder. Richard Whiting, the abbot of Glastonbury, refused to surrender his house, and commissioners were sent to find what cause they could for seizing it. They arrested the abbot, "a very weak man and sickly," at his manor house at Sharpham, examined him, and his answers being " not to their purpose," showing no fault in him, they imprisoned him in the tower of the abbey. Greatly struck with the splen- dour and beauty of the buildings, they described the house " as mete for the king's majesty and no man else." Of jewels and plate they saw little, but as they searched they found that the abbot, two monks, and two lay clerks had hidden the treasures of the house to preserve them from them and from the other commissioners who had visited the abbey. \ii< r they had been invi lor about a fortnight, they wrote to Cromwell that they had ■I men to accuse the abbol of matters " wych we thynke to be very haut and ranke trea These accusations cannot have been of any value, for Cromwell, in default of any better charge, ordered that he should be tried for robbing (*'.*. for trying to REFORMATION PERIOD. 1 65 prevent others from robbing) the abbey of its trea- sures. What sort of trial he had may be judged from one of Cromwell's loose memoranda: — "The abbot of Glaston to be tryed at Glaston, and also to be executed there with his complices." The trial was held Oct. 14, and on the next day the abbot and the two monks were taken from Wells to Glastonbury ; the abbot was drawn through his town on a hurdle up to the Tor, the steep hill crowned with the chapel of St. Michael, and there all three were hanged. Even those who put them to death could not but declare how patiently they bore their sufferings. The abbot's body was quartered, and the quarters were sent to Wells, Bath, Ilchester, and Bridgwater ; his head was set upon the gates of his house. It was long before the indignation caused by his fate died out in Somerset, and when, a century after, the Church was again in the hands of robbers, the ballad singers' homely sarcasm ended with 'Tis an ominous thing how this church is abused, Remember how poor Abbot Whining was used. The annual value of the abbey at the time of its fall was ^3,508. The congregation consisted of forty-nine brethren, besides the abbot. By the fall of the monasteries a large number of families in Somerset — the Pagets, Homers, Pophams and others, acquired wealth and importance. The scramble after the spoil lowered the tone of morality here and elsewhere; men sought eagerly after fresh booty, and the rights of church patronage were scan- dalously abused. The poor suffered from the sudden 1 66 RATH AND WELLS. change in the ownership of land. Although the monasteries had long ceased to improve their pro- perty they were easy landlords, while the men who took their place were greedy of gain. Changes already in progress were hastened on. Arable land was turned into pasture, the price of corn was raised, and em- ployment became less plentiful. Great men tried to filch the rights of the poor. Commons were enclosed, and attempts were made to claim land on the pre- tence of villenage. In 1561, for example, Lord Grey seized half an acre of land at High Ham and declared that John Grove, who sought to recover it, was his villein. Grove set up a plea of bastardy to prove that he was not born a villein ; this brought the case into the bishop's court, and he gained his suit. The increase in the numbers of the poor was met by harsh vagrancy laws, and by an effort to relieve them. Collectors for the poor, the forerunners of our over- seers, were now first appointed, and the title may be seen in some old vestry books, as at West Monckton. Education also suffered. Libraries, like the collec- tion at Glastonbury, which excited Leland's admira- tion, were wantonly destroyed. The poor lost much by the closing of the monastic schools. Rich and poor alike attended the great school of Glastonbury in Whiting's days; the rich usually finished their edu- < ation at these s< hools, while the pick of the poorer scholars went to the universities, helped either by endowments or special charity, since this time the universitii 1 have been filled by the rich, and their scholasti< endowments have been diverted from the ippre sion soon filled the diocese with REFORMATION PERIOD. 167 ruins. The commissioners offered to sell the monastic cathedral of Bath to the townsmen. They refused to buy it, and the entry, made 1547-8, by the church- wardens of S. Michael's, "xvi.d. for ii.c. of tyle and ii.d. for the carriage of the same from the Abbaye," shows the use to which it was put. The lead was stripped from the roof, and the bells were sold and shipped off to Spain : they were lost on the voyage. With the monastery, of course, fell the monastic chapter. The work of John of Tours was undone, and an episcopal see no longer existed at Bath ; for though the name of the city is still retained in the style of our bishops, they are now only bishops of Bath in the same sense as they are of every place in their diocese. A grand scheme for the foundation of new bishoprics of the monastic spoils ended meanly enough. Among those actually founded was the bishopric of Bristol. St. Mary Redcliff, the Temple church, and Leigh, formerly in this diocese, were included in it. As the separation of the Church of England from Rome prevented the further employ- ment of bishops in parttbus as suffragans, an Act was passed naming certain places which might be made suffragan sees. For this diocese were named Taunton and Bridgwater, and in 153S William Finch was consecrated suffragan bishop of Taunton. He died in 1559, and the Act had no further operation here. The oath of supremacy was taken by regular persons and by the secular clergy in 1534. This oath was enforced on pain of death. In 1538, 1 68 EATH AND WELLS. George Crofts, formerly rector of Winford, and then vicar of Shepton Mallet, was tried for declaring " that the king was not, but the pope was, Head of Church. " Assuming his execution to be certain, Cranmer wrote a characteristic letter to Cromwell, begging his living for his chaplain Champion, a native of the place. Crofts was put to death early the next year. The royal mandate, for the use of certain godly prayers and suffrages " in our native English tongue," readied WClls in June, 1544. It is given at length in Bishop Knight's register, and marks the beginning of the English Litany, or Procession, as it was then called, because it was still used in procession. Under Edward VI. changes were rapidly made. In May, 1547- Knight received notice that his visitatorial power was suspended, that a royal visitation would be held, and that meanwhile no one was to pn i< h in any church save his own. The dean and chapter were cited to attend on 14th September, between 8 and 10 a.m. All clergy and schoolmasters, with eight, six, or four principal persons from each parish, had to appear. The commissioners, two clergy and a layman, were accompanied by a her, who exhorted all persons to desert their old usages. In a letter to die chapter, die com : "Whereas at the suite and earnest request of the ministers of the < !hur< he < >t" Exeter, wee have put downe the wearing <>r black coopes and ! I apulas and aiii\ i S < if I 1' ithe, 1 H thi lUghl to be a kinde of monkerye . . . werequyreyou . . . to surcease from weai ing any black < oope ol < lothe," &c Thai iIh- ministers of the cathedral and of REFORMATION PERIOD. 1 69 other churches who resorted thither might have some " holsome doctrine," one of the homilies was to be read after the offertory of the high mass on holy days. The epistle and gospel were to be read in English. Churchwardens were forbidden to hold church ales because of the " inconvenience " that arose from them. This refers to one of the ways in which funds were raised for the maintenance of churches. Among these the custom of letting pews was already creeping in. An early instance of this occurs in the accounts of St. Michael's, at Bath, where, in 1441, a payment of 7d. for a seat is entered. In the Tintinhull accounts we find the custom of a parochial collection made at Easter for the Paschal taper. Gifts were often made for this and other special objects by will or in life, the names of benefactors were kept in a book, and they were commemorated at a stated anniversary, probably on the day of the dedication of the church. At Tintinhull there were no fixed seats before 1500, and no seats were sold till 161 3. The churchwardens there, who, by the way, were sometimes women, realised 6s. 8d. by a Christmas play, which they put towards the purchase of a new rood-loft. Sometimes church sheep were kept, and the flock was increased by gifts and legacies. In many parishes the wardens made a good profit by brewing ale, which they sold out on some Sunday or holy day, and the merry- making, which was often a scene of riot, was called a "church-ale." These festivals were now forbidden. They were revived again, and, as we shall see, became the subject of a famous dispute in Stuart [70 BATH AND WELLS. days. Instead of these ales, the wardens were now bidden " to make yearly collections for the reparation of their churches, and for the sustentation of other common charges of the parish " ; in other words, the churches were to be supported by a rate. In September, 154S, all preaching was forbidden, so that men's minds might be kept quiet and ready to receive the new order of prayer. Many incidents in the progress of reformation in the diocese are noted in [parish vestry-books. At Yatton, 8d. was paid in 1540 for making a chain to the bible ; in 1547, 5d. went "yn expenses" at the taking down of the images and the iron (used probably in fastening them); in 1548 the silver cross was sold by certain "honest parishioners," and the money was expended " upon the makyng of a syrten slusse, or yare (wear), agenste the rage of the salt watur " ; in the same year ns. was paid for a bible " of the largest volume," and a labourer was employed " yn takyng downe our Lady yn the chauncell." So, too, at St. Michael's, Bath, in 154S, 2od. was received for a picture of St. Chris- r; and in 1549, 2s. was spent on "the servys boke in Inglishe." In 1550 an order was made for the "plucking down"' of altars, and accordingly the warden, paid 1 5(1. "for pullyng downe of the hy awter," and 6d. for washing the altar place with lime, for the purpose of destroying the frescoes which once enriched with many colours the lighl that streamed in through the large windows of our Perpendicular churches, and at the same time were the easily-read 1 of the] oor. The next year 6s. 8d. was paid and making the "communion table," REFORMATION PERIOD. 171 and 8s. for a carpet. Of the vestments wrought with divers colours of needlework, which were now laid aside, one or two specimens are still preserved, as at Chedzoy. In 1580, Alice Brown, churchwarden of Tintinhull, cut up the cope belonging to the church there to make an altar-cloth, and this was probably the fate of many another. Grievous wrong was done by the suppression of chantries, chantry chapels, colleges, hospitals, and guilds, begun under Henry VIII. and carried out under Edward VI. The opportunities of worship were seriously diminished. Many chantry priests helped the parish clergy, or acted as schoolmasters, and the confiscation of their incomes left the parochial clergy too few in number for their work, and made it hard to find masters for the various schools in the diocese. Most of the provision made by the Church for the sick and aged was taken away. Attached to many chantries were charitable endowments, which were now swallowed up. The guilds were the benefit clubs of the Middle Ages ; they were, speaking gene- rally, brotherhoods for secular as well as for religious purposes. They helped the poor brother in diffi- culties, provided for him in sickness, furnished his funeral, cared for those he left behind, and had masses said for his soul. They afforded the people the means of recreation, the strongest incentives to orderly living, and the opportunity of self-government. No excuse can be made for this cruel robbery of the poor. It was pretended that the money would be spent on education, but the Act rather " served to rob learning." At Taunton, the greatest cure in the 172 BATH AND WELLS. diocese— where the fall of the priory only left^io a year to the church, which barely maintained a " preacher " and a curate — four chapels were sold, and eight chantries and two guilds were suppressed. The school was without a master, and the sick and aged in forty almshouses were left without support. Here, however, the townsmen supplied the funds that were needful, and some endowments were afterwards secured. The immediate loss to education was made up in the reign of Elizabeth, and in later times, by corporate and private liberality. Probably, indeed, the learning thus afforded was sounder than under the older system. The Reformation brought many refugees to Eng- land, and the Duke of Somerset endeavoured to turn this to good account. In 1550 lie brought over a number of weavers, mostly French and Walloons, and settled them at Glastonbury, lodging them in the abbey buildings, of which he had obtained a grant, and promising to provide them with houses, with pasture for two cows for each family, and wool for their trade, which was perhaps the making of serge (sqyi). The colony consisted of 34 households and six widows (ten more families came over later), was under its own preacher, Valerand Pollan, and used its own form of worship. No one who knows Somerset folk will be surprised to find that the Strangers were looked on with dislike. Their patron t to death 1 fi re he 1 ould allot them houses and work hop;, their steward < heated them, and they for ed io pawn their < loths to gel br< ad. The ( loum ii mi' rf( n d and relieved them. At the acccs- REFORMATION PERIOD. I 73 sion of Mar)' they left the kingdom and found a refuge at Frankfort. They showed kindness to many English exiles who were soon forced to follow their example, and among these they must have greeted Bishop Barlow as an old friend. The enclosure of lands that followed the fate of the monasteries, the dearth and the general misery were set down by the anti-reforming priests to the change of reli- gion. In 1549 an insurrection was made in Somerset, and the people " brake up certain parks of Sir W. Herbert and the Lord Stourton." The objects of the rioters must be gathered from the articles of the Devon men, who soon took up the movement. The sacraments were to be administered as of old ; God's service was not "to be set forth like a Christmas play;"' they would have the priests unmarried, and half the abbey lands restored. As far as this county was concerned, the insurgents were quickly overthrown by Herbert. In Devon the movement was far more for- midable. Somerset men probably took part in it, for after the rebels were defeated at Sampford Courtenay, many fled to Kingweston, where they were overthrown by Carew and Baulet. The insurgents were cruelly treated, for the great men of the west looked on this movement of the commons as a war of classes. Among the ringleaders who were hanged, Berry and Paget probably belonged to this county. The church of ^'ells suffered greatly from spolia- tion during this period. In 1537, Cromwell, then earl of Essex, was, at the king's request, made dean, and held the office until he was beheaded in 1540. After Wolsey had held the see in commendam for 174 BATH AND WELLS. three years, John Clerk, an active and subservient minister of the king, was made bishop (1523-1541). He was succeeded by William Knight (1541- 1547). The next bishop, William Barlow, had been prior of various religious houses, had written several Lollard tracts, and in the time of Henry VIII., had recanted his opinions and written a tract against the Lutheran heresies. Soon afterwards, how- ever, he became one of the foremost of the reformers, and was again in some trouble, being accused of preach- ing false doctrine, saying that "two or three meeting together in God's name, though they were weavers or cobblers, was the true church of God." As eager as he was unstable, he commended himself to Somerset, and he was accordingly translated to this see from St. David's in 154S. The complete domination of the Crown over the Church is illustrated by the fact that the very form of election was cast aside, that the chapter re< eived no congk cPilire, and that Barlow was simply appointed bishop of this diocese by letters patent. In the early part of Henry's reign the rents of the bishopric fell little short of .£1,500, a large sum considering the purchasing power of money at the time, which may roughly be stated at aboul twelve times what it is now. The wealth of the sec was now to be woefully reduced. Shortly after Barlow's appointment, he made over to the Duke of Somerset the manors of Banwell, Wells, Chew, ford, W< ' Cranmore, and Evercreech, !i of Wells, sundry rights of jurisdiction, and t. For thi grant, it is commonly said that he v. ive £2,000, and that he was only REFORMATION PERIOD. I 75 paid ^"400 of that sum. Of the grant itself, there is no doubt; the story of the payment is, however, wrongly told. Whatever the whole price of manors was to be, it appears by Close roll, 6 Edw. VI., m. 5, that the bishop was to receive ^"400 for himself in consideration of this iniquitous transaction, and that he afterwards affirmed that he only received ^300. It is asserted by Collinson, the county historian — and the assertion has been universally copied, even by the most careful writers — that Barlow was the same year forced to surrender another large batch of estates to the king in exchange for a few rectories. This assertion is based on a Close roll of 2 Edward VI., May 20, 1548, which certainly says as much in plain terms. By a comparison of this grant, how- ever, with a patent roll of Oct. 10, of the same year, it will be seen that this grant to the king was made for the purpose of securing the title to the estates there named. It was perhaps part of a scheme of "re-foundation." By the grant of Oct. 10, the king restored the manors of Claverton, Hampton, Lydeard, and the rest, which had passed to the Crown in May, allowing the bishop to rent the advowsons he had re- ceived in exchange for them of the value of ,£168. 5s. at ;£n. os. iJUl., while, in consideration of the im- poverishment of the bishopric (by the grants to Somerset), the first-fruits were to be reduced to ^■479. 15s. i£d. Moreover — and here lies the shame- ful part of the business — the episcopal manor of Wookey was granted to the bishop and his heirs (not successors) for ever with licence to sell. Now, too, the see lost Bath Place (afterwards Arundel House, in 176 BATH AND WELLS. the Strand), and its other London property. The palace itself went to Somerset in 4 Edw. VI., and afterwards came into the hands of Sir John Gates, who is accused of wrecking the great hall of Bishop Burnell. Gates also destroyed the Lady chapel, built by Stillington, and for this piece of barbarity he actually received the permission of the dean and chapter, contracting, on his part, to rid the ground of stone, lead, and all rubble. This Gales was a powerful man at court, and it is to be hoped that the dean and chapter had no choice in the matter. By a complicated arrangement of exchange and sale, the palace and "the house appointed for the safe keeping of convicted clerks " were restored to the see (Close roll 6 Edw. VI., pt. 5) after the attainder of Somerset. Other cathedral dignities fared as badly as the bishopric. Dean Fitzwilliams was made to surrender his office in 1547, and the office of dean with all its dependencies was granted to Somerset (Pat. rolls, t Edward VI., 7), who a month before had re- ceived the archdeaconry of Wells (ibid. 6). The deanery was now " re-crectcd." The "re-erection'' of an office served a double purpose : ii made it a royal donative, a change more thoroughly carried out at Wells by the charter of Elizabeth, and it gave an opportunity for plunder. The new deanery was endowed with the dividends of ihe archdeaconry — thai wily Scholar, Polydore Vergil, seems already to have sold the an hdcacon's house — by robbing the chapter, annexing the prebend of Curry, and sup- ing the offices of provost and succentor. Good REFORMATION PERIOD. I 77 man was made dean, and the chapter remonstrated in vain. He was soon afterwards deprived for an offence, of which Strype was unable to discover the nature. By the chapter documents, its appears that it was for trying to do a little job on his own account, by annexing the prebend of Wiveliscombe. On his deprivation, William Turner was installed dean by royal command (March 4, 1550). Turner had been one of Ridley's pupils at Pembroke Hall. As one of the early Cambridge gospellers, he went about preach- ing without having taken orders. Learned, witty, and indeed coarse-minded, he was well fitted for this work. His zeal led to his imprisonment in the reign of Henry VIII., and, when he was set free, he had to leave the country. During his exile he studied physic (he had already written a small "Herball"), and took his degree in medicine in Italy. On his return, he became physician to the duke of Somerset's household, and published his large "Herball," a learned and once famous book. He was not ordained priest until two years after his appointment to the deanery, and, indeed, seems to have held the office as a layman, as the earl of Essex and the duke of Somerset had done before him. In 1551, he received licence of non-residence while " preaching the pure and sincere Word of God in other parts and places of the Kingdom." On the accession of Mary, the old ritual was restored ; images were again set up and masses said. Barlow, who was a married man, resigned his see and tried to escape out of the kingdom in disguise, in company with John Taylor, usually called, perhaps 178 BATH AND WELLS. from his father's trade, Cardmaker, vicar of St. Bride's, Fleet-street, and chancellor of Wells. They were caught and put in prison in November, 1554. Fear of death induced the bishop to recant. Gardiner published his former recantation and the book he had written in old days against the Lutheran sectaries, and he was then allowed to take refuge in Germany. When he returned to England on the accession of Elizabeth, he was translated to the poorer see of Chichester, probably because he was unwilling to face his old diocese after his second recantation, though Sir John Harrington, of Kelston, in his " Nugae Antiqua?," says that he was deterred from returning to Wells by an idle superstition. His fellow-prisoner Taylor remained steadfast, and was burnt May 30, 1550. While his martyrdom is an honour to the Wells chapter, it does not otherwise concern our diocese, for he suffered as a London clergyman. Gilbert Bourne, who was consecrated to this see in 155.]. had been chaplain of Bonner. The year before his consecration a dagger was thrown at him while preaching at Paul's Cross on his master's sufferings, and he only escaped from the mob by the help of the two popular preachers, Bradford and Rogers. As bishop, Bourne assisted .-it the trials of many heretics. In so doing he acted in obedience to lawful authority ; and as men had not Lrnedthe lesson of toleration, neither he nor the othi 1 bishops who carried out the law, cruel as it was, .11. to bi blamed for so doing. In judging their conduct, we should consider the spirit they displayed REFORMATION PERIOD. I 79 and the part they acted in their own dioceses. While Bourne was a zealous Romanist he took pains, both in public and private, to persuade those charged with heresy to recant, and boldly checked Bonner's impatience. A strong proof of his humane temper is afforded by the fact that no burning for heresy took place in his diocese ; for while this also bespeaks the slight hold that the reformed religion had on the people of Somerset, Bourne could, doubtless, have found martyrs if he had looked for them. Two clerks, John More, afterwards rector of Cheddon Fitzpaine, and Richard Brereton, were in his prison in 1554. but the cause of their imprisonment is not stated. A certain Richard Lush, a layman, was also tried for heresy and delivered to the sheriff, but he, evidently, did not suffer death. Nevertheless, many of the clergy lost their livings because they had married and were not willing to put away their wives. In obedience to a royal injunction, Bourne, on his consecration, sent instructions to his vicar-general to deprive "clerks and priests keeping in adulterous embraces women upon show of feigned and pretensed matrimony, and who had joined themselvesunlawfully with the same women and broken and despised the vow of chastity, . . . also married laics, who, in pretence and under colour of priestly orders, had rashly and unlawfully mingled themselves in ecclesiastical rights." In consequence of these instructions, 82 clergy were deprived, while many others resigned their benefices. Among the deprived was Dean Turner. He tells us that he stayed some time among the Germans, and he ap- pears also to have gone to Basle, where probably he n 2 I So BATH AND WELLS. published his " Booke of Spirituall Physik," a pun- gent satire partly directed against the Romanist nobles and partly against the robbery of the Church and the poor by the chiefs of his own party. He was also the author of several other works, some controversial and others medical. On his deprivation, Goodman was restored. During the reign of Elizabeth our Church re- ceived its distinctive character. While political reasons kept the queen constantly engaged in a triumphant war with Rome, she was by no means inclined to favour the puritans. Loving to have all things ordered in stately fashion, she abhorred the meanness of their worship : while in their aversion to ecclesiastical authority, she readily discerned principles derogatory to her civil government. In establishing Church order and in moderating religious excesses, Elizabeth and her ministers were met by certain difficulties, which can be observed, with mure or less clearness, in the story of our diocese. The clergy were few in number, and, as a rule, uneducated and of low position. The robbery of the Church had weakened itspowersof influencing the people and had been fruitful of evil. Ecclesiastical dignitaries were looked on by the queen herself and society generally as men to be sli hted, and, if occasion served, to be plundered. < !hurch patronage was abused and sacred buildings were in decay. The Romish part] the Governmenl constant uneasiness, while on the other hand, the puritans were dis< ontented at the per- nee with which the queen carried out the aits enfon ing the acknowledgment of die royal suprema< j REFORMATION PERIOr. Ibl and compelling uniformity in worship. In carrying out their work, the queen and Cecil employed the bishops to report on the ecclesiastical and moral condition of their dioceses. They were the servants, and in many cases by no means the honoured servants, of the State. Soon after Elizabeth's accession, Bourne was deprived of his bishopric and committed to the Tower. After 1562, he was kept in a kind of free custody, chiefly by the Dean of Exeter. He died at Silverton in 1569. During his episcopate he suc- ceeded in recovering some of the estates of the see, though some of the lands of which it had been robbed in the days of Edward VI. were lost for ever On Bourne's deprivation, Gilbert Berkeley (1560- 158 1 ) was made bishop. At the time of his con- secration the annual value of the see was reputed to have fallen to ^500. In dioceses where the clergy were largely in favour of the old religion the insufficient supply of parish priests was much felt during the early years of Eliza- beth's reign. Archbishop Parker, in his visitation, found " many a stiff papist " in this diocese. Many beneficed clergy went abroad and left proxies in their livings, sometimes making leases of their benefices to them. In most cases these proxies only conformed outwardly. One of them threatened to go to law with the bishop for refusing to institute him, but Parker bade Berkeley "deal roundly" with all such cases. It was, however, easier to oust the Romanist clergy than to find men to supply the vacancies they left. The suppression of the monasteries was followed by the impropriation of their livings by laymen, who 1 82 BATH -VXD WELLS. made various scandalous arrangements in connexion with them. Turner, in his " Spirituall Physik," says that he knew " one knight who had ten benefices in one shire " — probably in Somerset. " Some," he says, " bagge or buy the advowsons of vicarages and parsonages, and as soon as they fall will let none have the benefice but suche as will let them the bene- fice to farm. Some by bribery, simony, and unlawfull wayes have robbed many a poore paryshe in Englande of their parsonages and parsons, and have dronken up quyte the parsonages for themselves and their heyres for ever . . . Others have dronken up divers churchyards, hospitalles, chapelles, and chauntries to patch and clout up their livings." A disgraceful attempt, made by Lord Thomas Paulet in 1578, to impropriate the titles of West Monckton was foiled by Berkeley, who wrote to the Lord Treasurer, pointing out that by such means as he proposed "ministers would be brought to poverty and the Gospel and ministry to utter contempt." By such arrangements as that which Paulet tried to make, and by the robbery of glebe lands and houses of which Turner complains, livings were so impoverished, that few men of learning Mere willing to take them. In order to meet this difficulty, licences for plurality were freely granted. An incumbent took several livings, ;enerally in the print ipal one, and serving the others by curates or readei , These readers were laymen ordained to read the service and the homilies. They were for the most part ignorant men, and many mechanics. Their appointment brought scorn on the reformed Churchj it was, however, a tempo- REFORMATION PERIOD. 1 83 rary measure, and was better than the too prevalent habit of admitting unfit men into the number of the clergy. From 1592 onwards the chapter records con- tain frequent notices of the appointment of preachers or lecturers by letters from the bishop. The earliest of these lectureships was maintained by the aldermen of Bridgwater. As we shall see in the Stuart times, they became the means of encouraging puritan opinions. At the same time they were doubtless of considerable spiritual benefit to the people. A return made by Berkeley in 1562 as to the num- ber of churches and annexed chapels (in MS. in the British Museum) shows in the archdeaconry of Wells 1 So parish churches and 42 chapels, of Bath 58 parish churches and 15 chapels, of Taunton 147 parish churches and 37 chapels, and in the Glaston- bury jurisdiction 10 parish churches and 9 chapels. Of these parishes, in Wells 51, in Bath 1 7, in Taunton 36, and in Glastonbury jurisdiction 1, are described as served by the parson's or vicar's curate ; they were probably either held by absentees, or else served in the manner already described. The number of parishes served by the " curate onlie," was in Wells 14, in Bath 2, and in Taunton 19: these livings were probably in lay hands. In another undated return (in the Record Office) made by Berkeley in a later year, we find 19 vacant livings in the archdeaconry of Bath, and 6 in that of Taunton. One example will show the cause of these vacancies — at Shepton Mallet the vicarage was pulled down, and "hath been these 10 or n years." The vacancy is caused " by reason of the exilitie thereof 184 BATH AND WELLS. and the fruits sequestered for serving the cure." Be- sides these vacancies, 19 other livings in the diocese, "sometime appropriated to monasteries, remain voide without vicar or parson." Preachers were wanted to instruct the people in the doctrines and practices enjoined by law. The cathedral clergy do not seem to have come forward in this matter. At a royal visita- tion held in 1559 the residentiaries and others holding- considerable prebends were ordered to preach in turn every Sunday, but it was found difficult to make them take their turns. The visitors also found great neglect in ministering and receiving the Holy Communion, and ordered that it should be ministered in the cathe- dral once a month. In parish churches a sermon a month seems to have been held sufficient. Many of the parochial clergy were too ignorant to preach. The Prophesyings, which were organised conferences held in public by the clergy for the discussion of texts of Scripture, did something to enlighten them as to the truths they had to teach, and Berkeley told Grindal that they had been of great good in his diocese " bj bringing men to study Holy Scriptures and beating down popery." Considering, however, that these meetings were likely to encourage nonconformity, the queen ordered Parker to suppress them. The reign of Mary < hc< kctl the desecration oi sacred buildings. An abortive proposal of the few remaining monks of Glastonbury to rebuild their abbey only needs a pa sing mention. Far more im- portanl LS the sign of die change in such matters afforded by an entry in bourne's register, which re< oid i ho* ii"' parishioners ol < !hil< ote < omplained, REFORMATION PERIOD. 1 85 in 1554, that their chapel had been wrecked by one Coke, who had a lease of it, as " a free chapel," from the Court of Augmentations. The Star Chamber interfered, declared that the building was a chapel of ease (it seems to have belonged to Moorlynch), made Coke produce his " pretensed lease," that it might be cancelled, and ordered him to refit the building. Some acts of spoliation had been done without even the excuse of legal right. The parish MSS. of Wookey, for example, show how one Chapell had destroyed the free chapelry of Henton, and sold the lead and bells for 126s. 8d. ; and how a like fate had befallen a chapel at Horrington, the buildings in both cases being Crown property. The inquiry of 1562 was useful as fixing the status of chapels annexed to parish churches, and preserving them from desecration. The bishop's letter to the Lord Treasurer, sent with the report, shows how necessary this was. Although great secrecy was preserved as to the inquiry, a rumour got about that these chapels were about to be tak away. Forthwith " certain patrons, farmers of impropriations, and such as had yearly benefices, not only gave out evil bruit for the pulling down of all chapels, but also some of them put in ure [use] to take down the lead of the chapels and cover them with tiles." The parishioners saw these doings with anger, for the bishop wrote to the Lord Treasurer to take steps to " cause the common people to cease from grudging." Part of this letter illustrates Berkeley's character. He was a lazy man, and his report was late. The plague, which constantly visited England at this period, had appeared. This was the bishop's 1 86 BATH AND WELLS. excuse for his negligence. " Eight weeks ago," he writes, " I removed from Wells. God had visited one house in Wells, and therefore I was constrained to remove, and have ever sythen remained in a town called Monkton." Ralph of Shrewsbury would scarcely have sent such an excuse ; but Berkeley was a married man, and his wife had the character of being a masterful woman. The bishop alone, however, is accountable for an act which illus- trates the treatment of patronage at that time. To please Sir John Harrington, he instituted his son Thomas to the living of Kelston, though only eighteen and a student at Oxford. Along with his bishopric he also held the chancellorship of Wells for about a year and a half. By a charter granted in 1592, Elizabeth changed the constitution of the cathedral. All the dignities and prebends were rcfounded as they were before, and a new body was called into existence by de- daring the residentiary canons to be a separate body from the rest of the prebendaries. Eight rcsiden- tiaries at most, and not less than six, with the dean, were henceforth to be the corporate body of the 1 )ean and Chapter, and all government was vested in them. The Other prebendaries still retained a voice in the chapter, but were not allowed to use that voice except at the elc< lion of a bishop, and each still had his own stall in the choir. The appointment to the deanery was declared to belong to the Crown. Resi- for a dignitary was now declared to he kept in four, and lor oilier residentiarics in three months. While the customs which were fixed and legalised by REFORMATION PERIOD. 1 87 this charter, were of gradual growth, it nevertheless definitely destroyed what may be called the popular element in the chapter, and, without any other sanction than the mere exercise of royal authority, took away many of the ancient rights of the main body of the prebendaries and vested them in a self-electing oligarchy. Now that the very prebends have been taken away, the territorial title of a non-residentiary canon, his right to his stall, and his vote at the election of a bishop, seem to be the only marks which distinguish him as a member of a chapter of the Old Foundation from the mere honorary canon of a cathedral founded by Henry VIII., or in later days. The Roman worship was practicallyforbidden by the Act of Uniformity. In 1562, Sir Edward Waldegrave, of Chewton, one of the leading Romanists in Somerset, was imprisoned, along with his wife, his priest, and others, for having mass performed in his house. Nevertheless, a few openly, and many secretly, adhered to their old faith. Their attachment to it was kept alive by missionaries, sent from the seminaries for refugee priests, and by the work of the Jesuit society. One of the most active of the seminary priests was Robert Parsons, a native of Nether Stowey, who fled from England in 1574. On his return he travelled all over the country in different disguises, and did much to advance the papal cause. From about 1579 the Government was led by political causes to adopt severe measures against the catholics. Among the priests who were put to death was John Hambley, who suffered at Chard in 1587 ; and B riant and Hart, 1 88 BATH AND WELLS. who were executed elsewhere, were natives of this diocese. Recusants were heavily fined, and usually paid a yearly composition for refusing to conform. Some converts were, however, gained by the Romanists. Chief among them was John Bridgwater, a canon residentiary of Wells and rector of Porlock, who was deprived by Berkeley in 1574. Besides his benefices in this diocese, Bridgwater was rector of Lincoln College, Oxford ; and when he joined the church of Rome, several students of his college imitated his example. He fled to Douay in 1577, accompanied by a singing man of Wells, named Rasing, who acted as his servant. Before long, the exile of the priests in the first years of the reign, and the sharp treatment of all who professed Romanism, brought the diocese to at least outward assent to Prot< doctrines. In 1577, only eight recusants arc re- turned, and of these, Stourton and Tynte alone held considerable property, and as the diocese is not mentioned among the returns of 1587, the number then must have been inconsiderable. At the same time many secretly hankered alter Romanist obser- vances, and Harrington observes that, owing to Berkeley's inactivity, his diocese "inclined much to superstition and the papal religion." While the establishment ol the Reformation in the special form in whi< h it was adopted by tin.' Anglican Church displeased those who were attached to the old religion, others, and especially those who in the lasl reign had taken refuge abroad, were mortifii d to find that the aew order of the < !hur< h ol England was to be wholly different from the usages REFORMATION PERIOD. 1 89 of Geneva. It is perhaps worth noticing that the full and final desertion of the Romish order is marked by a decree of the chapter in 157 2, that the plate that beforetime was used to superstition should be defaced, and two communion cups made out of the old chalices. The Wells communion-plate accordingly bears the date 1573. Some few churches in the dioceses, and Beckington among them, have plate that is a little older. A strong body among the clergy was in favour of doing away with certain vestments and ceremonies prescribed by law, and in 1562 a proposal to this effect was lost in convocation only by a single vote, Bowers, the proctor of the clergy of Somerset, voting in the minority. The queen, however, insisted on conformity, and the violence of some of the malcontents did harm to their own cause. Among those who resisted the law was Dean Turner. During his two periods of exile abroad he had become attached to the system of church government adopted by his co-religionists on the Continent, and he was strongly in favour of a kind of presbyterianism. He set forth his ideas in a satire entitled " The Huntyng of the Romyshe Uuolfe," printed in 1554, which contains a dialogue between the Foster (forester), the Hunter, and the Dean. In every parish he would have had a board of electors to choose the minister, and in every little shire four bishops at least, " no mitred nor lordlye, no rachetted bishoppes, but suche as should be chosen out of the rest of the clergie every yere and not for ever.*' On his return to his deanery he made Berkeley's life a burden to him, for he used openly to rail against 190 BATH AND WELLS. bishops. At last, in 1564, Berkeley complained of him to the Treasurer. " I am much encumbred," he writes, "with Mr. Doctor Turner, deane of Wells, for his indiscrete behaviour in the pulpitt, where he meddleth with all matters and unsemelie speaketh of all estates more than is standinge with discression. I have advertised him by wrytynges and have admonished secretlie by his owne frendes : notwithstandinge, he persisteth still in his follie : he contemneth utterlie all bishoppes, and calleth them white coates, tippett gentlemen, with other wordes of reproach more un- semelie, and asketh who gave them authoritie more over me than I over them, eyther to forbidd me preachinge or to deprive me, unless they have it from their holy father the pope."* Berkeley had already written to the archbishop on the matter and had received no answer : he therefore entreats Cecil to send the dean " three or four lines " to call him to order. Turner is also said to have trained his dog to help him in expressing his contempt for the episcopal dress. When a bishop dined with him, so the story goes, he said during dinner : " The bishop sweats," and the dog then jumped up, pulled off the bishop's square cap, and carried il to his master. ( >n one 0C< asion, too, he made an adulterer do penance by standing in a public place with a squa -11 his head. At last the dean was sequestered for nonconformity. The sequestration only to have lasted a little while, for in . die year of his death in London, the chapter wrote t" the Lord Treasurer to complain of his ■ Lansdowne MSS., S, 3, Brit. Mus. REFORMATION PERIOD. 191 non-residence. Puritan prejudices evidently grew up among the members of the chapter, for in 1592 it was found necessary to decree that a fine of 40s. should be paid by every canon, dignitary, or other prebendary who should preach without wearing his surplice and hood, while considerable laxity is denoted by a fine of ios. to be paid by every canon resident who neglected to administer the Holy Communion 'in his course.' Rigid insistance on conformity gradually led to the formation of separate conventicles. At the same time, in spite of strict discipline, the discordant opinions held in the diocese during the reign of Elizabeth, found ex- pression in varieties of ritual within the Church, and produced much carelessness and irregularity, which were made the subject of attack in the next age. In upholding the authority of the bishops, the queen and her ministers were swayed by the services they rendered to the Government. Nonconformity, whether Romanist or Puritan, was held to imply poli- tical disaffection. The ecclesiastical condition of a diocese was made the gauge of the feelings of the people in civil matters. Returns were therefore re- quired from the bishops as to whether the justices of the peace were fit for their office, and whether they and others were well affected towards the established religion. In 1564 Berkeley answered that, as far as he could learn, " everie justice in the sheire of Somer- set doo diligently exequeete their offycc," and adds that he has not much to say against any man except by report, wherewith he has not thought good to 192 BATH AND WELLS. trouble their lordships. A longer return was made by his successor Godwin. Three justices had been dis- placed whom he judges worthy to be again put in the commission, " being sound in the faith." Two, Sir John Sydenham and John Lancaster, were unfit for their office. Sydenham's lady was a recusant, and so too was his eldest son's wife, who was said " to have been married at a mass." Lancaster was " taken of all honest men to be an enemy of the truth," his father and mother were " lady-matin folks," his brother a seminary priest, and his wife's father " no recusant, but backward in religion ; " besides, the bishop adds, " his liability too smal, for he refused to be cessed at j£io lands." While the queen thus used the bishops as the servants of her government, she had little respect for ecclesiastical rights or persons. Berkeley, when he was dying, wrote an urgent appeal to the Lord Treasurer that a good successor might he ap- pointed in his place, and that other vacant sees might be filled up worthily. His petition was disregarded, and this diocese was left for three years without a bishop, until the appointment of Thomas Godwin (1584-1590). Godwin, like Turner, had been a physician, for, at the accession of Mary, he had lost the appointmenl he held as master of a free school, and turned to the study and pra< tice of medii ine for his support. He did not take orders until the acces- sion of Elizabeth, when he was past fort)-. 1 [e was a man of high character, but unfortunately he was in- discreet enough when nearly seventy to marry a • 1 wife. The queen n< ver approved of the marriage ol the 1 lergy, and though tat :itly allowed, it REFORMATION PERIOD. I 93 was actually unlawful during her reign. No better illustration can well be given of the slight esteem in which the clergy were held at this time, than the fact that though a large number of the bishops and clergy r including Archbishop Parker, were married men, their marriage was still disallowed by an unrepealed law, and was frowned on by the sovereign. Such a marriage as Godwin's was, of course, highly displeasing to Elizabeth, and to make matters worse she was, told that the bishop's wife, who seems to have been a widow of advanced years, was a mere girl. Godwin had some sharp messages from her, and was forced to purchase peace by granting the crown a ninety-nine years' lease of the manor of Wiveliscombe. After his death the see was again kept vacant for two years,, until the appointment of John Still (1592-1607). 194 BATH AND WELLS. CHAPTER VIII. THE REBELLION. James I. and the Puritans — Bishops' Courts — Sports — Church Ales — Lectures — The Altar Question — Outbreak of War — Civil War in Somerset — Persecution of the Clergy — Rise of the Sectaries — Ministers and Religious Ordinances. Elizabeth's strict insistance on conformity aroused some discontent, and even led to a disagreement between her and the Commons. A reaction in favour of conformity marked the later years of her reign, for men were disgusted at the violence of the anti- episcopal part}-. At the same lime there was a growing desire for toleration. On the accession of James I. there were many churchmen who would gladly have made any reasonable concessions to satisfy the puritan party. Concessions, however, the nonconforming < lergy did not want, they strove for the mastery. They wished that the ceremonies they objected to should he forbidden, and that some approai h at least should be made towards presby- terianism. On the other hand, the bishops as a body, were opposed to measures of coin ilution. The people at large were attached to ceremonies to which they had long been accustomed. Presby- ii m. too, was a distinctly clerical movement. Apart from other reasons, the system implied THE REBELLION. I 95 too much government to be popular with Somerset folk, to say nothing of the people of other dioceses ; and even when it was established by law, it took no strong hold on the laity here. The puritans had hopes of obtaining some support from the new king. James was alive to the need there was of a preaching ministry, and was not unwilling to correct abuses. At the Hampton Court conference, however, the puritans roused his anger by exhibiting their attachment to presbyterianism. Like Elizabeth, he was conscious that the system was republican in spirit, and from henceforth all his church policy was guided by the maxim, " No bishop, no king." Elizabeth, while strongly upholding the Church, kept it subordinate to herself, and as she took care to be generally in accord with her people, her ecclesiastical policy may fairly be described as national. Unfor- tunately the Stuart kings did not seek either to learn or to fulfil the wishes of the nation, and accordingly the strict alliance formed between the Church and the Crown brought disaster on both alike. For a season the king and the bishops were triumphant. All curates and lecturers were ordered to subscribe to the prayer-book and articles on pain of dismissal, and all beneficed clergy were at least to profess their assent if called on to do so. At the same time there were many abuses that needed amendment among the conforming clergy. No good example was set to the rest of the dioceses by the cathedral body at Wells. Although the church stood insurgent need of repair, some of the prebendaries obstinately refused to pay the tenths due from them O 2 196 BATH AND WKLLS. to the fabric. And in spite of the Injunctions of 1559, commanding the dignitaries and prebendaries " to preach the Word of God purely and sincerely " in the cathedral, it was found necessary in 1605 to threaten those who refused to preach in their turn with suspension, and in 1607 to request the arch- bishop to reform the negligence of the canons in this respect. All the energies of the bishops were employed in enforcing conformity and submission to authority, and the proceedings of the episcopal courts were a constant source of grievance. While the sentence of excommunication now usually pronounced by lay officials had lost nearly all spiritual significance, it was galling in itself and in its consequences. This weapon was used with extraordinary frequency, and often simply for the purpose of enforcing some trilling fine. Bishop Still, who, as Master of St. John's ( lollege, Cambridge, had been a bitter enemy of the Nonconformists, was not likely to let his power as bi hop remain unemployed. Under his successor, [ami Montagi 1 ( 160S-1616), the proceedings of the bishop's court called forth a petition from the dio- cese against the officials. In this petition Kdtnond Peacham, rector of Hiuton St. George, took a pro- minent part, lie drew up a series of charges against tory court, ami a< 1 11 ed the bishop hi of variou i evil deeds. His " ( I j \ ill. liny " was not found, but he was tried before the court of I ommissioil lor libelling the bishop, and was need to be deprived of his orders. Hewasalso indicted for trea; in on the ground of a sermon THE REBELLION. I 97 found in his house containing statements " never preached nor intended to be preached, but only set down in writing." In order to find out whether any plot was on foot in the county, Peacham was put to the torture. Nothing, however, could be drawn from him. The bishop also examined him, and, it is said, " dealt with him in an effectual manner, but prevaileth nothing hitherto." He afterwards implicated Sir John Sydenham, brother-in-law of his patron John Paulet, of Hinton, but both these gentlemen cleared themselves. Peacham was tried at Taunton, and found guilty. Sentence was not carried out on him, and he died in prison shortly after his trial. The next bishop, Arthur LAKE(i6i6-i626),aman of great piety, exercised his jurisdiction in a different spirit to that of Montague. He sat in person in his court, refused to allow penances to be commuted for money payments, and himself saw that they were duly per- formed. On these occasions he used to preach " a sermon of mortification," and then would take the offender to dine with him and exhort him to forsake his sin. He thus used his spiritual jurisdiction for an end that was spiritual in a higher sense. Diligent in his office, he personally examined all candidates for orders. It would have been well for the diocese had he been succeeded by men of like character in the critical years that ensued. During the short time that William Laud (1626- 1628) held the see, before his translation to London, he was chiefly occupied at court. Leonard Mawe (1628-1629), and Walter Curll (1629-1632) are mere names as far as this diocese is concerned. 198 BATH AND WELLS. Both of them appear to have belonged to the High Church party. The episcopate of William Piers (1632-1670) saw the outbreak and full course of the Rebellion. Piers was the son of a hatter; and, though he was a learned man, his conduct towards his inferiors, and his subservience to Laud, show that he yielded to the snares that beset men who have risen to power from a low station. Easily moved by kindness as the people of Somerset are, their resolute will, and their impatience of any asser- tion of authority over them, rendered the appoint- ment of such a man as Piers to this see a singularly unfortunate one. The special character of the bishop himself and of the people of his diocese, pro bably had, at least, as much to do with the resistance to Piers's measures as any differences of principle. The questions in dispute between the two parties, as far as mere external matters go, chiefly concerned popular amusements (especially such as were practised on Sundays), lecturing, and changes of ritual. Among the amusements disliked by sober-minded men were bear-baiting and bull baiting. These cruel sports were often scenes of riot. In 1500, two of the lli. inns forcibly took a hear from the bear-keeper of Taunton at midnight, and "did, by the space of three howres, with dogges and other devices, and whips and wheel harrows, liayt the said heare. and did not tye the said beare, but in this manner bayted him 1 Pulls were baited within the 1 athedral pre cinct, and the sport was enforced by law, for it 1 "Star Chambei Proceedings," by Rev. 1. Brown, in "Somei el Archaeological Society's Proci kxv. ii. 60. THE REBELLION. I 99 was considered that it made the flesh more whole- some. Accordingly we find that in 1612, a Wells butcher was summoned before the city-magistrates for having slaughtered a bull "not first bayted." Sports of different kinds were held on Sundays after morning prayer ; and because the puritans were vehement Sabbatarians, James I., while for- bidding the baiting of bulls and bears on Sundays, insisted that the people should carry on other sports on that day. The question of Sunday sports came to a crisis in this diocese on the attempt to put down wakes and ales. The wakes were parish feasts, ori^ ginally held on the dedication day of the church; they had, however, come to be held on Sundays. Church ales, forbidden by the commissioners of Edward VI. , had been revived. Piers strongly upheld them. " By church ales," he writes, " many poor parishes have cast their bells, repaired their towers, beautified their churches, and raised stock for the poor." There were also " clerks' ales," for paying the parish- clerk, and "bid ales," then laid aside, for setting up poor men. These wakes and ales were often scenes of debauchery and violence. The report of an "ale" held in 1592 is curious. Langham and Horner, having a quarrel with Sydenham, ranger of Exmoor, about a prosecution for deer-stealing, deter- mined to hold an ale at Skilgate, where Sydenham was churchwarden, in order to raise money to prosecute suits against him. In spite of Sydenham's resistance, they stored the ale in the church-house, and sent round to sixteen neighbouring parishes, bidding the clergy give notice of the ale in their churches 200 BATH AND WELLS. during service, and this was accordingly done. On the day of the ale, which was a day appointed by the Church to he observed, a large party was expected from Taunton, and while the Skilgate people were in church a man was set to watch for their coming. As soon as he saw them he ran into the church, where the curate was in the midst of divine service, and cried out ''They are come! they are come ! Mr. Langham, ring out the bells." On this the service was stopped, the bells were rung, and all the congregation went out to meet the visitors." 1 In consequence of the disorder attending these feasts, they had from time to time been forbidden by proclamation, and on the petition of the justices of the shire they were again forbidden, in 1632, by Chief Justice Richardson, who ordered the clergy to publish the proclamation in (heir churches. Some of the court party in Somerset brought the matter under Laud's notice. Angry at what he con- ceived to be mere puritanism, as well as at the order to the clergy, Laud complained to Charles. Writing to Tiers, he tells him that ''the king hath been informed by men of good place thai humourists increase much in those parts, and unite themselves by banding again ;1 the leasts," and he direi ts the bishop to let him know how the wakes were COndu( ted. Accordingly, Tiers, to quote his own words, " sent letters into several deaneries, lor the opinion ol seventy-two of the better sort of clergy " — Prynne 1 " Stai I hambi 1 Proi eedings.' THE REHELLION. 201 says they were the " deboystest and worst " — and by their counsel answered that there were no dis- orders at these wakes, that on the Sundays on which they were held there were better congregations and larger communions, and that they tended to the settlement of quarrels and the relief of the poor. " The true cause of the outcry against them," he said, "was Sabbatarianism," adding, as a convincing reason in their favour, that "if people should not have their honest and lawful recreation upon Sundays after evening prayers, they would gather into tippling houses, and there, upon their ale benches, talk of matters of the Church and State, or else into con- venticles." The Laudian party won the day, and even before Piers's letter arrived, the king ordered his father's Declaration of Sports to be read in churches. Two of the clergy of Somerset were punished for resisting the order ; Chambers, the rector of Claver- ton, by imprisonment and suspension for two years ; and William. Thomas, the learned and godly rector of Ubley, by three years' suspension. Piers took care to follow up the victory of his party. He censured the rector of Beercrocombe for preaching twice on the parish revel-day, " as a hindrance to the revel, and a utterance to the church-ale provided." Never- theless, the vicar of Montacute was bold enough, on the day of Montacute wake, to preach from Joel ii., on a text which the bishop is said to have described as "scandalous to the revel." The lack of a preaching ministry was partially supplied, as we have seen, by the appointment of lecturers, who preached in virtue of letters from the BATH AND WELLS. bishop, but who were not fully under his control. These lecturers took no part in the service, and ascended the pulpit when the conforming parish clergyman had ended the prayers. Some of them were maintained by a system of " combination lec- tures," set on foot by the inhabitants of towns, where nonconformity generally was strong, for supplying lecturers to the villages round. The evils attendant on the lecture-system are obvious. Acting on the king's Instruction of 1629, Piers took measures to compel the lecturers to conformity by making them read the prayers before they preached, and ordering that they should read in surplice and hood, and preach in a gown and not in a cloak. Unfor- tunately he went on to wage war against all lectures, even when given by the parish priest, ordering that catechising should take the place of a lecture on Sunday afternoons. He did his work so thoroughly that in a short time he was able to say, " I thank God that I have not one lecture left in my diocese." As regards this and some other spec, lies of the bishop, it should be remembered that they rest on the authority of the enemies of his master, I though, at the same time, they are in accordance with other things that he certainly said and did. The loss of spiritual instruction was great. One of the most 11 d of the puritan < lergy in the dio< ese, Samuel 1 ike, hail been appointed re< tor ol W rington, in 1602. It was '• a most uncultivated si" 1 ' " and m igh bourhood. Never before had there 1" en a preaching mini iter there ; and among his own parishioners, and, indeed, in all the country round, he was "the fust. THE REBELLION. 203 by preaching, to bring religion into credit." His Tuesday evening lecture, a special feature in his work, was stopped by the bishop. Many ministers, while obeying Piers's order in the letter, evaded it by making the afternoon catechising an opportunity for giving informal instruction, using extemporary prayer before and after the service. This Piers said was catechising sermon-wise, and was as bad as preaching, and he charged the clergy to ask no questions and receive no answers from their people save such as were in the words of the prayer-book. Humphrey Blake, churchwarden of Bridgwater, was put to penance for neglecting to present his vicar, Devenish, for delinquency in this respect ; and Devenish himself was suspended for lecturing in his church on market-days. In opposing the stress laid by the puritans on the Old Testament, the Laudian party was sometimes guilty of irreverence. The churchwardens of Batcombe having painted the words of Isaiah lviii. 13, 14, on the walls of their church, refused to remove them, even though threatened with excommunication. Piers, how- ever, sent his chaplain, with a plasterer, to cover the inscription, declaring, it is said, that "a Jewish place of Scripture was not fit to be suffered in the church." The most notable dispute took place with reference to the order made in the visitation articles of 1633 for removing the communion-tables against the east wall, and railing them in " altar-wise." The bishop justified this order on what would now be thought sufficient grounds: (1). It was so ordained in the 204 BATH AND WELLS. Injunctions of Queen Elizabeth. (2). There should be some difference between the place of the Lord's Table in the church,, and of a man's table in his house. (3). It was not fit that people should sit above the Lord's Table, and above the priest when he consecrated. (4). " If it stand not thus and be rayled in it will be subjected to many prophanities ; parishioners will sit round it and talk of parish business, schoolmasters will teach their boys to write upon it, (the parish schools at that time were often held in churches) .... glaziers will knock it full of nail- holes, and dogs will defile it." (5). "When the table stands thus the chancel is the fairer, there is room for the communicants, and the face of the priest is seen of all who sit on the north side of the chancel." (6). " It is fit that the daughter should be like the mother" (that the parish church should have the same arrangement as the cathedral church), " so that there may be uniformity." Even in the cathedral the growing puritanism of the later years o( Elizabeth's reign had caused much lack of order and reverence. In 1652 the dean received a letter from Sir J. Coke, warning him that the king had been informed "that the communion-table was not furnished with such decent ornaments as are requisite, and as in other cathedral < hun lies are supplied," and commanding "speedy redress.'' In parish churches probably matters were worse, and there is good reason to believe that painful scenes of irreverence sometimes happened. The order for the change in the position of the communion table, however, was held to savour of popery, and gave offence. It was obeyed in THE REBELLION. 205 140 churches, but was resisted in the rest. At Beckington, the table u had for 70 years stood in the midst of the chancel, enclosed with a very decent wainscot border and a door, with seats for the communicants to receive in round about it." The churchwardens, Wheeler and Fry, refused to change this arrangement ; they were cited to the bishop's court, and excommunicated. They were upheld by Ashe, the lord of the manor, and by their fellow-parishioners, and a large sum was raised to enable them to go to London and appeal to the Arches Court. A petition sent by the parishioners to the archbishop was disregarded, and the appeal was disallowed. Wheeler and Fry then appealed to the king, but could get no answer. At last, after having been excommunicated for a year, they were imprisoned in the county gaol under a writ of capias excommunicatum^ and there lay until they made submission. They were sentenced to stand in the middle aisle of their parish church on Sunday, June 26, 1637, and there, after the reading of the gospel, to make open confession and submission, and to repeat the same at Frome and Bath on the following Sundays. Wheeler died of lung disease soon after (prisons were rough places in those days), declaring that his heart was broken ; and neither " enjoyed themselves" again after being thus worsted. Their fellow-parishioners were still undaunted, and hindered Huyshe, the rector, in raising " a mount " at the east end of the church. In this, as in most of his pro- ceedings, the bishop was the tool of Laud, who, when in prison in 1641, fearlessly declared that the 206 BATH AND WELLS. Beckington prosecution was his own work. Piers was impeached, and committed to prison along with the other bishops who signed the protestation of December 30, 1641. After his release in the next year he lived in retirement until the Restoration. In spite of Piers's high-handed doings, the diocese, as a whole, was well affected to the Church. Most of the great men of Somerset were on the royalist side. Popham, Horner, Strode, and Pym, were for the Parliament. The puritan party was strongest in the towns, in Bath, Taunton, Bridgwater, and Ilchester, in the Mendip country and in the cloth- making districts. In many cases, however, one village upheld one side and its immediate neighbour the other. On December 10, 1641, a petition in favour of Episcopacy and the Common Prayer was presented to Parliament on behalf, it was said, of 14,350 people of the county, of whom :: i were clergy. This called forth a counter-petition the next year, and that again another in answer to it, which seems to have been a failure. Too much stress, ver, must not be laid on these petitions; that of i'. 1 1 was in some cases urged on the people in the churches. In August, 1642, when the royalists were holding ■\Yells, a large force was gathered against them (in tin Mendips. Foremost among those who enlisted recruits for the parliament was Crooke, of ton. Many who joined the army knew little 01 nothii cause of quarrel, believing that they were to fight against "the papists." The cavaliers were for 1 1 t<> leave the city, and tlie Mendip forces THE REBELLION. 207 entered in triumph. They broke the painted windows in the cathedral, and made havoc of the wine, "organs,"' and pictures in the palace; one picture, which was thought to represent the Blessed Virgin, being carried about and mocked. The parliamentarians took credit to themselves, because no one was injured save those who gave "provocation." Among these were some of the " cathedral companions," who, thinking they were the provoked party, seem to have made some resistance, and so received " knocks and loss." Local feuds were mixed with the weightier subjects of dispute. At Batcombe, the puritans were strong. When Piers washed out the text in the church the living was held by Richard Bernard, the author of a curious allegory of the same kind as those afterwards written by Bunyan. He had lately been succeeded by Richard Alleine, the son of the puritan rector of Ditcheat, and a man of like mind. The Batcombe villagers seem to have been on bad terms with the neighbouring town of Bruton, which belonged to the royalist house of Berkeley, and, in 1642, they made an attack on the town which is commemorated in the Bruton register — " All praise and thanks to God still give For our deliverance, Matthias' eve. By his great power we put to flight Our foes, the raging Batcombites." After the retreat of the royalists from Wells, the puritans were in the ascendant in the diocese for nearly a year. Early in 1642 an assembly of divines was proposed for the reformation of the Church, and 2C0 BATH AND WELLS. Crooke of Wrington, and Conant, the rector of Limington, were selected to represent Somerset. 1 The assembly did not meet until June, 1643, and then Crooke's place was taken by another. Jn the summer of that year the taking of Taunton, Bridg- water, and Dunster Castle, the evacuation of Wells, and the defeat of Waller at Lansdown, restored the diocese to the royalists, and after the reduction of Bristol " the rebels had not the least visible influence upon any part of Somersetshire." Commissioners were sent into various parts to enforce submission, and the Church order was everywhere restored. When the commissioners visited Wrington, Crooke, we are told, "was affronted by rude ruffians and bloody-minded soldiers, who tyrannized over him in his own house, not permitting him to enjoy himself and his Cod in his private study ; even there would they pursue him with drawn swords, vowing his instan; death for not complying with their bloody-minded engagements." In other weirds, probably, soldiers were quartered at the rectory to enforce his submission. Thus pressed, Crooke signed a paper, in which he declared that all resistance to the king was unlawful, that he had always abhorred the defacing of churches and images, and tlu- 1 out. inning of the Common Prayer, an.'. promi ed that he would preach a sermon both at Wells and Wrington to this ci'fci t. Thomas of l bley must have withstood all efforts to make him follow his 1 1. ighbour's example, for he was suspended dining the time the king's party held Somerset, both 1 "A Biographical Notice of Sam. Crooke,"' by Mr. E. (irccn. THE REBELLION. 209 now and during his former separation from his flock he had the happiness of knowing they were well cared for. "God ordered it so," he writes, "that such were present with you during the time of my absence and restraint by whom you were diligently and profitably instructed." From the summer of 1643 to that of 1645, the cause of the Church and the king was triumphant in the county, save that in 1644 Robert Blake re- gained Taunton for the rebels. After an unsuc- cessful attempt to retake it, the royalists again closely besieged it in May 1645. Taunton was the stronghold of the puritan party, and Blake's gal- lant defence of the town bore a specially religious aspect. " We will not," he wrote, " prefer the honour and reputation of gentlemen before the goodness and power of an Almighty Saviour." At last Fairfax was able to march into Somerset ; he relieved Taunton on May n, a day long kept in thankful remembrance by the townsmen. The news was hailed by the presby- terians as a signal instance of God's favour. " Thanks to the Lord," men cried, " for He is gracious and His mercy endureth forever; Who remembered us at Taunton, for His mercy endureth forever." Fairfax defeated Goring at Langport, and laid siege to Bridg- water, where the vicar Devenish kept a strong party in the town faithful to the parliament. On the fall of Bridgwater, Dr. Walter Raleigh, the dean of Wells, a nephew of the famous Sir Walter Raleigh, and twelve other clergy who had refuge there, were made prisoners Meanwhile, a new movement, which was largely en. couraged by the royalist clergy, was made in the p 2IO BATH AND WELLS. county. Many fanners and others banded themselves together in a voluntary association for the defence of their property, and, being armed with clubs and such other weapons as they could get, were called club- men. Under the influence of some royalist officers and of the clergy, some of whom followed the club- army as chaplains, this association was turned to the support of the king. It extended over the neighbouring counties also, and the club-men dared to encounter the parliamentarian army, bearing on their banners texts and mottoes, one of which ran, "If you offer to plunder our cattle, Be sure we will give you battle." Fairfax and Cromwell, however, dealt sharply with the movement, and soon put an end to it, at least in this county. The diocese was now again brought com- pletely under the power of the puritans. As early as 1640, a committee, appointed by Par- liament in consequence of a petition from Becking- ton against Tiers and Huyshe, todk into consideration all complaints made against the clergy of the diocese. This work was SOOH carried on under the direi tion of ill.- ('.rand Committee on Religion, or the Committee for Scandalous Ministers. In 1643,8 committee was appointed for this county, to take examination of all ministers that were scandalous in life or doctrine, or that had joined theroyal tones. Although some of tin- royalisl 1 lergy may have been unlit for their posts, ii 1 . < ( it .1 in that men were not scrupulous as to the 1 . they bro tinsl them. Sa\ e in the cases of Piers and a lew < lergy, the work of sequestration docs not seem to have been begun in this di until the reconquest by Fairfax in 1646. By an THE REBELLION. 2 1 I ordinance of 1643, the committee of sequestration was empowered to allow the wives and children of delinquents the fifth part of the lands and goods seized. These fifths, however, seem to have often been withheld. The sufferings of the royalist clergy were very bitter, and the papers of Curll, the se- questrator for the hundred of Catash, tend, as far as they go, to show that Walker's record of them is true. The whole number of clergy sequestered in this diocese seems to have been 107. Dr. Walter Raleigh, the dean, was in attendance on the king as his chap- lain when the war began. In his absence his rectory at Chedzoy — for he held that living with the deanery — was plundered, and his wife was forced to pass two nights in the open fields. When the royalists regained Somerset the dean returned to Chedzoy, but on the approach of the army of Fairfax, in 1645, he took shelter in Bridgwater. The rectory was made the headquarters of the rebel generals. On the fall of the town, the dean was set on a horse, with his legs tied beneath its belly, and so led prisoner to his house. There he remained for a while, for he was suffering from illness ; but Henry Jeanes, vicar of Kingston, who from a bitter opponent had now become a zealous upholder of presbyterianism, de- sired the living, and Raleigh was sent prisoner to Ilchester jail. From Ilchester he was taken to the bishop's house at Banwell, and was next confined in the deanery, where he was in the custody of one Barrett, a shoemaker, the constable of the city. This Barrett being one day in ill humour, demanded to see a letter the dean was writing to his wife, and when the dean p 2 2 12 BATH AND WEILS. resisted, and struggled to withhold it, he stabbed him through the body. After lingering some weeks, Raleigh died, October 10, 1646. He was buried by Standish, one of the priest-vicars, who read the Church Service over his body, a crime for which he was imprisoned till the day of his death. Barrett escaped all punishment. William Tiers, the son of the bishop, archdeacon of Taunton and rector of Kingsbury, was forced to earn a scanty living by threshing and by carrying cheese to Taunton and Ilminster markets. Tarlton, the vicar of Ilminstcr, was also sequestered, and his daughter, in after days, used to say that she had often seen her father, Piers, and other royalist clergy, sitting together on market- days, eating bread and salt, with not a jenny to buy a glass of ale. Gaulen, the rector of Chiselborough, was sequestered in 1646, for refusing to sign the Covenant ; his goods were seized, ami he was kept some lime in prison, in spite of a petition in his favour from his parishioners. When he was released he was unable to obtain his fifths, ami the intruding minister offered him two spinning wheels, once his own property, telling him that his daughters ought to spin for a living. It is needless to multiply instances of the wrongs dune to the royalist clergy of this diocese; they have been recorded by Dr. Walker. There is reason to believe that some parishes that i.. I their rightful incumbents lay for a lung lime without any permanent minister. At Nynehead, where, by the way, the vicar was justly deprived for plurality, the church was served by wandering royalists, until the neighbouring ministers formed "a THE REBELLION. 213 club " to share the services. The palace, the deanery, and much church property at Wells, including the chapter house of the cathedral, were sold by the commissioners to a certain Dr. Cornelius Burges, a native of Batcombe. This Burges, who was vicar of Watford in 1613, turned against the Church, and was appointed evening lecturer at St. Paul's. He was held in high repute by the parliament, and had great influence with the Londoners. He came down to Wells, stripped the lead off the roof of the palace, and left nothing but the bare walls. With the material he thus obtained he enlarged the deanery and lived in it. He had authority from parliament " to preach the Word of God in the late cathedral church of St. Andrew, in Wells." The corporation, however, had bought the bishop's rights of civi? jurisdiction, and also some church property, and fel? out with Burges in consequence. Whether for this reason, or because they resented the insult done to their church, the Wells people had no mind to listen to him, and, greatly to his annoyance, walked up and down the cloisters all sermon time. At least as tyrannical as any episcopal rule could be, the presbyterian system never became popular in this diocese. In 1647, a plan for settling the presby- terian government of Somerset was prepared for parliament by John Horner and five others. The county was to be a single province, and was mapped out into nine " classes," or districts, which were called after the principal place in each of them. These districts were to be Bath, Wrington, Wells, Bruton, Ilchester, Ilminster,Taunton, Bridgwater, and Dunster. 2 14 BATH AND WELLS. By reason, however, of" the scarcity of fitting ministers and of elders, - ' the commissioners were forced to reduce the number of classes to four. Bath and Wrington, for example, including 137 parishes, were to form one class, which was represented by 12 ministers, among whom were Crooke and Thomas, and 32 elders. The rise of the Independents and other sectaries was grievous to the presbyterians. Early in 1648 seventy-one of the Somerset ministers followed the example of certain of their brethren in London by signing a document addressed to parlia- ment entitled a " Testimony to the truth of Jesus Christ 'and to our solemn League and Covenant, as also against the errors, heresies, and blasphemies of these times, and the toleration of them." These ministers desired Church government, and strongly condemned the error of toleration, which allowed every man to worship Cod as he pleased. Crooke, Thomas, and two Alleines, father and son, of 1 Jit- cheat and Batcombe, were among those who signed this attestation. Thomas found that men began to "disdain a duly tailed ministry under pretence of being more perfect saints," and that even among his own congregation had arisen "angry and unbrothcrly contentions." Political causes secured the predomi- nance of the independent party in 1648, and the next . ni",. h to their disgust, the presbyterian ministers 1 ailed upon to take the " Engagement," declaring that tin j would be faithful to the Commonwealth as h was then established. Although there was nothing to offend them in the promise itself, it marked the downfall of their cause. The Taunton ministers THE REBELLION. 215 showed their annoyance by refusing to observe the appointed fast-day. Among the various sects which now divided the diocese the Baptists appear to have formed a con- gregation as early as 1630. This congregation, which at first met in the woods in the neighbourhood of Taunton, finally settled at Hatch. About 1648, Sims, a Baptist, preached in the parish church of Middlezoy, to a congregation of about 100 persons, and was seized by the presbyterians for doing so without a licence. At Taunton the Baptists were persecuted by the dominant faction. The sectaries, however, now got the better of their persecutors, and in 1650 Cromwell, who tolerated every form of Protestant worship save that of the Church, caused the magistrates to grant the use of the shire-hall at Chard to a congregation of Baptists. Under the presbyterian system the appro- bation of ministers pertained to the presbytery of each count)'. In 1654, however, this work was committed to a Board of Triers, which, in Somerset as elsewhere, included laymen as well as ministers. The lack of all Church government was severely felt. A fresh source of uneasiness to the ministers of other sects arose from the appearance of the Quakers. Here, as elsewhere, these new sectaries were imprisoned, and men and women were cruelly whipped. Different voluntary attestations, made from time to time during the suspen- sion of Church government, exhibit the consciousness of weakness arising from the prevalent spirit of schism. In 1653 an association of Baptist congregations was formed for Somerset, and put under the presidency of Collier, and in 1656 a Confession of Faith was drawn 2l6 BATH AND WELLS. up and signed on behalf of die congregations of Bridgwater, Taunton, Ryden, Hatch, Chard, Somer- ton, Wells, Wedmore, Stoke, Wincanton, and Monta- cute. Crooke's last days were clouded by seeing the Covenant slighted by " dissenting brethren." After forty-seven years' ministry at Wrington he died on December 25, 1649. About this time Thomasof Ubley received, as his pupil, George Bull, the future bishop of St. David's. Bull had left Oxford in consequence of refusing the "engagement," and studied for a while with his tutor, Acland, at North Cadbury. From Thomas he gained no help as far as learning went, though he used to say that his residence in the well- ordered household of Ubley rectory did him some good. Strangely enough, it was here that he first made acquaintance with the works of the best ortho- dox divines, such as Hooker and Hammond. These books were lent to Bull by Thomas's son Samuel, who afterwards, as vicar of Chard ami prebendary of Wells, suffered for the Stuart cause. " He will corrupt Mr. Bull," Thomas used to say; and. indeed, the youth read the books to some purpose. Among the best known presbyterian ministers of the diocese was Joseph Alleine, who, in [654, was appointed assistant to Newton, the minister of St. Mary's, Taunton. Once <>n Sundays and on Tuesday even- \lleine prea< hed at Taunton, and was besides constantl) 1 I in helping his brethren, or minis- tering in vacanl churches, sometimes, it is said, preai I »ften as ten or even fourteen times in a week. In addition to his sermons, he was diligent THE REBELLION. 21 7 in visiting and catechising. A scholar and a tutor of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, he found time for study even in the midst of such exhausting ministerial work. His " Alarm to the Unconverted," which at once met with a large sale, was published at a later period. In 1654 an Act was passed legalising marriages entered into before a Justice of the Peace after the " intention of marriage" had been published for three weeks in the church, chapel, or market- place of the parish. Many register-books in the diocese contain entries of such marriages. In many also are entries of births, with no notice of baptism, for this sacrament was often unduly delayed or wholly neglected. The number of communicants was small, for " the gathered churches," as they were called, admitted none to the Lord's Supper who were not members of their body, while examination and formal admission were generally insisted on. John Humphrey, the vicar of Frome, wrote against this custom of excluding persons from the Lord's Table. Amidst the general jarring of sects there must have been many longings for a return to Apostolis order. Nothing seemed stable in religion or in politics. Humphrey, who was a presbyterian royalist, seems to have felt this, for he had the boldness to preach on Ezek. xxi. 27, "I will overturn, overturn, overturn it ; and it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is ; and I will give it Him." His text was prophetic, and in 1660 the king enjoyed his own aeain. 21 8 BATH AND WELLS. CHAPTER IX. THE RESTORATION, REVOLUTION', AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. The Restoration — Ejection of Nonconformists — Bishop Ken — Monmouth's Rebellion — The Nonjurors — Bishop Kidder — General Character of the Diocese in the Eighteenth Century— The Methodist Revival — Hannah More and her Work in the Mendip District. The Restoration was hailed with gladness, for men were weary of the tyranny of the nonconformists. Vet there must have been many misgivings among the ministers as to its results. At Wincanton, Henry Sacheverell, grandfather of the famous Doctor of Queen Anne's time, chose i Sam. xii. 24, 25, for his text on coronation day, whereon many left the church, and when the service was over all joined in burning him in effigy. Tiers was reinstated in his rid passed the rest of his days quietly, fines and renewals came in abundantly, and provided monej for repairing the damage done to the cathedral and palace. The old bishop died in 1670, at the I ninety four, and was buried at Wahhain where he was then residing. Those of the ejected < lergy who were still living regained their benefices, though they were not allowed to claim the inter- mediate profits. Burges did not give up possession Of the church land without a struggle, lie had THE RESTORATION, REVOLUTION, ETC. 219 written a book, " No Sacrilege nor Sinne to aliene or purchase the Lands of Bishops or others whose Offices are abolished," to defend his action. He had spent, it is said, ^1,500 on rebuilding the deanery, and not long before the Restoration refused ^10,000 for his purchase, which he appears to have obtained in return for £3,900 he had advanced the parliament. Refusing to leave the deanery, he was ejected by process of law, to make room for Dean Creighton. He then retired to Watford, and before he died, Hearne tells us, became "so poor that he had not bread to eat." Of the ministers ejected in 1662 for refusing to comply with the Act of Uniformity, about eighty seem to have belonged to this diocese. The period between the passing of the Act and August 24, when it was to come into operation, was a time of great anxiety, for many of the ministers could not at first decide what they ought to do. Among others, Thomas of Ubley was strongly urged to comply with the Act. In his "Preservative to Piety," which he had published that year, while he decides that forms of prayer are " not so properly intended for grown Christians as for young beginners," he says that they " cannot be justly condemned." And he could not make up his mind for some time whether it was his duty to give up the charge he had so long and so faithfully fulfilled. He prayed earnestly for guidance, and at last, on August 21, he saw his way clear. He had no wish to slight the Common Prayer. " I bless God it is so good," he writes, " but yet it might be better." At the same time, he found that he could tATH AND WELLS. not give his assent and consent to all it prescribed. Some ceremonies seemed to him " unprofitable, and as burthensome by casting out." Bishop Tiers, it is pleasant to find, gave him leave to preach on Sunday, the 24th. Nevertheless, " thro' fear, sadness, and discomposure of mind,*' he " became a hearer else- where with wonder and weeping." At night he went to the meeting, held as usual for prayer ; and for a duty he, in common with other puritan ministers, strongly insisted on, the "repetition of sermons." There " his heart was enlarged in prayer," and so he ended his ministry, lie remained among the people he loved, living on good terms with his successor, and sometimes at least attending the service of the church, until he died in 1667. In other places besides Ubley it is evident that a kindly feeling existed between the new incumbents ami the ejected ministers. From the country squires and from the people generally the puritans met with little mercy. As they and their party had done by the loyal clergy of the Church, so and even more men now did by them. Norman of Bridgwater was arrested for un- licensed preaching in 1663, fined /ioo, and sen- tenced to imprisonment until it was paid. After a ml ;i hall in lh hester gaol, the fine was reduced to £5, and so he gained his release. One of his companions in gaol was Alleine of Taunton, who was confined, il is said, in a great room with five other ministers and fifty Quakers. Ten more prisoners were added to the number, and the win- dows were broken to admit the air. Alleine was again impri oned in 1665. Many of the county THE RESTORATION, REVOLUTION, ETC. 22 1 magistrates delighted in carrying out the harsh laws made by the " Cavalier " Parliament of i66r. " We are come from sessions," Edward Phelips writes in 1663, "and only one nonconformist tried, who pro- mised conformity at our mercy, upon a fine of 6s. Sd." Decency and order were gradually restored in our churches. This, however, was not the work of a day ; for on October 14, 1664, the church- wardens of Stoke St. Gregory present at the Visita- tion, that they have no white linen cloth for the Communion Table, no surplice, and no book of homilies. Another legacy of a different kind received by the Church from puritan days was an increased diligence in preaching. From the Restoration onwards an afternoon as well as a morning sermon was regularly preached in the cathedral. After the death of Piers, Robert Creighton was moved from the deanery to the palace, and held the see for two years (1670-72). He was succeeded by Peter Mews, a stout cavalier, who had taken up arms for Charles I. in 1642, had served his son in Scotland in 1653, and had shared his exile. After the Scotch campaign he took orders, and on the Restoration his loyalty was rewarded with many preferments. In 1684 he was translated to "Winchester. He was succeeded by Thomas Ken. Though born at E-erk- hamstead, Ken belonged to the family of Ken Court, near Clevedon. While Fellow of Winchester, his preaching brought many Baptists to enter the Church and receive baptism at his hands. As chaplain to the Princess of Orange, he did not dis- guise his indignation at the coldness and infidelity of 22 2 BATH AND WELLS. the Prince towards his young wife. This seems to have caused his return to Winchester, and there, on the occasion of the king's visit in 16S3, his zeal for righteousness made him refuse the use of his pre- bendal house to Eleanor Gwynn. His boldness was no bar to his advancement, and his nomination to the bishopric was, in a special way, the king's personal act. He was consecrated on January 25, 16S5, and instead of holding a consecration dinner, contributed ;£ioo to the rebuilding of St. Paul's. Conspicuous alike for learning, piety, and courage, he stood by the bed of the dying king, and as he exhorted him to repentance, he seemed to those who stood by to speak with the spirit and power of Nathan and Elias. The early days of Ken's episcopate were troubled In the rebellion of the duke of Monmouth, and the civil war in Somerset. This remarkable episode in the history of the diocese, and the terrible vengeance that Kirkc and Jeffreys took on the rebels, have been described by the master-hand of Lord Macaulayj it would be presumptuous, and it is certainly needless, to attempt any detailed account of them here. The nonconformists had seen their ministers reduced to poverty by the Act of Uniformity, and separated from them by the Five Mile Act; the Conventicle A.c( had made their meetings for worship illegal : they had been fined, reviled, and cruelly persecuted ; yet this very severity had kept alive the spirit of resistance in the diocese, and especially in the puritan towns of Taunton and Bridgwater, and in the Mendip distrii 1. Dissenting ministers and crowds of people of the low i < 1 1 si , haili d the duke's rebellion with delight, THE RESTORATION, REVOLUTION, ETC. 223 and the paramour of Henrietta Wentworth was received as the champion of Protestant noncon- formity. The clergy, of course, were on the side of the king, and on May 4, when Monmouth's coming was still expected, the Wells chapter lent ^100 for the defence of the county. Colonel Luttrell with the militia left Taunton on Monmouth's approach, and no small part of his force deserted him. At Taunton, the old stronghold of presbyterianism, the duke was received with enthusiasm. He was proclaimed king there on June 20, the next day he advanced to Bridg- water, and thence to Glastonbury, where his men camped amidst the ruins of the abbey. On June 23 he marched to Wells. From Wells he proceeded to Pensford and Keynsham, hoping to seize Bristol. Baffled in his designs on Bristol and Bath, and finding it hopeless to attempt to advance on London, the duke, hearing that the people of the moors south of Mendip were gathering at Bridg- water to uphold his cause, marched back to Wells. Embittered by disappointment, the rebels indulged their hatred to the Church by spoiling the cathedral. They tore off the lead of the roof and melted it into bullets, hurled down the corner statues of the west front, and seem to have amused themselves by shooting at those that were out of their reach, for the mutilated image of the Lord which crowns the long ranges of sculpture still bears the marks of bullets. Inside the church they did much mischief, and would have desecrated the altar itself if Lord Grey, one of their leaders, had not defended it with his drawn sword. A note in the 224 BATH AND WELLS. chapter book, made by Holt, the chancellor, in the afternoon of July i, records some of their misdeeds : — " The civil war still grows. This cathedral church has suffered very grievously from the rebel fanatics, who have this very morning laid hands upon the furniture thereof, have almost utterly destroyed the organ, and turned the sacred building into a stable for horses." On Sunday, July 5, the rebel forces were encamped in Castle-field, near Chedzoy, and heard their ministers preach, as in old days, booted and armed. The next day they were routed by Feversham. Love of his old trade of soldiering brought Mews from Win- chester to join the royal army, and it is said that he showed the gunners how to plant the guns so as to fire saltire-ways, and thus do more execution among the ranks of his former flock. The peasants fought bravely, but in vain. Weston Zoyland church was filled with prisoners, many of them wounded and some dying. As soon as the battle was over, Fever- sham began the work of vengeance. Against the un- episcopal part Mews took in the battle should lie set the vigorous remonstrance he appears to have made with feversham for hanging his prisoners without trial, which has often been set down to Ken. Bishop Ken's memory, however, needs no praise that bell mgS to another. At Wells the clergy re< eived the new sof the battle of Sedgemoor with gladness. below his former entry the chancellor records how "that happy day, the 6th of July, put an end to the rebellion at Weston Zoyland in this county. Deus, dettSf ii<>l>is lure otia fecit." Ken was bidden attend the last hours THE RESTORATION, REVOLUTION, ETC. 225 of the duke, and laboured in vain to bring him to repentance. From the terrible scene on Tower Hill he hastened down to his diocese. While he and his chapter had cause for thankfulness, Ken's heart was heavy. The gaols were filled with hundreds of poor people waiting their trial, wretched, destitute, and only expecting death or some cruel punish- ment. Although these men were the enemies of the government, the enemies of his order, and the spoilers of his church, Ken only remembered their needs and sorrows. He went daily amongst them, praying with them, and entreating the gaolers to use them well, and spent so much on relieving their bodily wants that he had to reduce his household expenses. His labour of love was brought to an end by Jeffreys. Ken remonstrated with the king on the slaughter that made the very air of his diocese heavy with death. It was in vain. At Taunton 134 were condemned to die, and at Wells 95, of whom 12 were hanged in the city itself. Nearly 600 were transported. It was not at a crisis alone that Ken's virtues were conspicuous. A consistent High Churchman, he zealously fulfilled his episcopal duties. He went about to all the larger churches in the diocese preach- ing twice and catechising on the Sunday. He was an eloquent speaker, and crowds came to hear him wherever he preached in London. When he spent a Sunday at Wells he would have twelve poor men and women to dine with him, and " while he fed their bodies, would comfort their spirits with cheerful discourse." It was a time of trouble for loyal o 226 BATH AND WELLS. churchmen, for the king, strengthened by the support of Romanists and dissenters, violated the rights of the Church. In 1687 lie touched for the "evil " in Bath abbey, a Romanist function being performed meanwhile between the two canonical services. Ken, unable to prevent the flagrant wrong, preached the next Sunday in the abbey, explaining that the occasion was one of cbarity, so that the king's act might not be held to create a precedent. Three addresses, from dissenters at Taunton, from the dis- senting teachers of the county, and from the presby- terians at Bath, thanked the king for his Declaration of Indulgence. Encouraged by these and other addresses of a like nature, he determined to accomplish the degradation of the Church, by compelling the clergj to publish the declaration in their churches. Ken was one of the seven bishops who petitioned the king against this order. The tie between the Church and the Stuart dynasty was severed at last, and Ken joined in the letter of invitation sent to the Prince of Orange, though he opposed the declaration that the king had abdicated the throne. While Ken held that it would be foil)- to allow James to return, his conscience would not allow him to take .tli to William, and in accordance with an Acl Hi Parliament he was deprived ofhis see in February, 1690. His example was followed by nine of the beneficed clergy of Ins diocese, among whom was Samuel Thomas, the vicar of ( 'hard, and a preben dary of Wells, together with a curate, a chaplain a schoolmaster. Weak as the position of many ol tin' nonjurors was, their deprivation bereft the ( 'Inn < h THE RESTORATION, REVOLUTION, ETC. 227 of a body of men unsurpassed by any of their con- temporaries either in public or private virtues, and among them there was no one she could spare more ill than Bishop Ken. He refused to acknowledge the right of the temporal power to sever the tie between him and his diocese, and continued to use the style of his see. He found a home with Lord Weymouth at Longleat. On Ken's deprivation the see was offered to Beveridge, but, after some hesitation, he declined to take Ken's place. It was then conferred on Richard Kidder, who, though regularly ordained, had been deprived for nonconformity in the diocese of Lincoln in 1662. He afterwards conformed. Though not eminent as a scholar, he was learned, and his own account of his life shows that he was pious, industrious, and anxious to rule his diocese well. Unfortunately, he was not a thorough church- man, and this was enough to set the Wells chapter against him. He accepted the see against his own judgment, and often repented doing so. A violent dispute arose on his determination to ordain a Mr. Mallarhe, who had been a nonconformist, without requiring a specific recantation, and other quarrels of like kind followed. Mallarhe probably, at least by descent, was a French Huguenot. Among the exiles who were driven from France by religious persecution during the latter part of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries, many settled in the Mendip district, where the puritan feelings of the people insured them a welcome. It is possible that the remembrance of the duke of Q * 228 BATH AND WELLS. Somerset's colony may have had something to do with this later immigration into the same neighbour- hood. One of these exiles, Elias Rebothicr, became rector of Axbridge in 1720, and the colonisation can still be traced in such names as Thiery, Moger, and Say, and, in some cases, in the personal charac- teristics of those who bear them. In certain parts of the diocese, and especially in the Mendip district, puritan prejudices lingered long. At Ubley, Thomas's old parish, for example, the dislike to the use of the cross in baptism is illustrated by entries of baptism in which children were not " signed," and, in 171 r, by the comment in the Register : — " They in pretence 'tis like to dy, Will have it named by and by ; But then to save all charge and cost, They will not have it sign'd nor crost." The terrible storm in the autumn of 1 70J; blew down some chimneys of the palace, and killed Kidder anil his wife. Anne wished GEORGE HOOPER, bishop of St. Asaph, to accept the see. Hooper, however, pressed the queen to restore Ken, and. being a tine churchwoman, she gladly agreed t<> his wish. Ken could not but rejoice thai his old diocese was no longer tinder the rule of a man so opposed to his views as Kidder had been. Age and infirmity lot bade him again to undertake the ( harge of whi< h he had been deprived. Iii Hoopei he had a man hl.e minded. " I wrott," he ■ ays, " to him to a< 1 epl of il. I did it in charity to the diocese, that they might not have a Latitudinarian traditor imposed on them." Hooper was consecrated in 170.4, and, in THE RESTORATION, REVOLUTION, ETC. 229 17 10, Ken formally resigned his right in his favour. Ken died at Longleat the same year, and was buried at Frome, beneath the east window of the church. His will contains his memorable profession: — "As for religion, I die in the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Faith, professed by the whole Church before the dis- union of the east and west ; more particularly I die in the Communion of the Church of England as it stands distinguished from all papal and puritan innovations, and as it adheres to the doctrine of the cross." Wherever the English tongue is spoken the name of the author of the " Morning and Evening Hymns " is as ointment poured forth. During the eighteenth century the general character and condition of the clergy of the diocese present few satisfactory features. Of Bishops Wynne, Willes, and Moss, little need be said. Wynne and Moss amassed large fortunes. Wynne's fine place, Soughton Hall in Flintshire, probably was dearer to him than his epis- copal palace. Willes held office at court ; one of his sons and two of his sons-in-law were archdeacons of Wells. It is a significant fact that no one of these bishops was buried at Wells. Between the higher and lower clergy there was a sharp division. Among the richer incumbents plurality and non-residence were common, and little attention was paid to the needs of their benefices. Many of the smaller livings scarcely afforded a bare maintenance to the clergy who held them, while curates who had no interest to help them, often lived far more poorly than the farmers and tradesmen among whom they found the only society open to them. The dignified rector was a stranger 230 1A1 II AND WELLS. to his parish, and a haughty master to the curate whom he engaged to perform duties that were utterly distasteful to himself, except as the means of gaining future promotion. As late as 17S9 the rector of Cheddar resided at Oxford, and the curate at Wells ; nor was this a solitary instance, for in nineteen adjoining parishes there docs not appear to have been a single resident clergyman. Many parishes had hut one service on the Sunday, and when that was over the curate often had to hasten off to officiate in some other church. Socially the taint of the evil days that followed the Restoration still clung to the Church, and no man of good position dreamt of sinking into the life of a clergyman unless a family living or the command of interest insured his speedy promotion. What the best and the worst of the poorer clergy of the diocese were like in the early part of the century may be gathered from the pictures Fielding gives of Parson Adams and Parson Trullibcr. Theclergy of the towns, however, were usually of a far higher stamp than their brethren in the country. With all alike zeal was reckoned fanaticism, and sermons were generally dry essays. Nevertheless, the Church was popular, though its popularity was to no small extent due to political causes. The year [718, which saw the repeal of the Schism and Occasional < lonformity A.< I ;, was marked by ;> slight outbreak of religious animosit) in Bridgwater, for the mayor was I to interfere to prevenl an attack planned to be made mi a meeting house. The condition of the old puritan party in the town is hinted at in a present- ment made by the sexton and clerk of fourteen THE RESTORATION, REVOLUTION, ETC. 23 1 dissenters who rarely attended church, and of many more, presbyterians and anabaptists, and among them Oldmixon, the historian, who had but of late come thither. Among the good works of Ken must be reckoned his care for the children of the poor, and his desire for their instruction was carried out by the foundation of numerous charity schools throughout the diocese. Yet the age was one of cruelty and superstition. Among other brutal amusements, bulls were still baited in every village, and even on the cathedral green. Scattered notices show how firm a hold certain superstitions kept on the people. In 1613 Mr. Warre, of Hestercombe, tried to make a suspected murderer undergo the ordeal of touching the corpse of the victim. The proposed appeal to the judgment of God aroused great excitement, but the accused made his escape before the ceremony was performed. As late as 1745 one Jack White was put to the ordeal of touching, in YVincanton church porch, the corpse of a man he had murdered. Witchcraft, condemned in Wells cathedral in the fifteenth century, was one of the sins against which William Thomas of Ubley especially warned his people in 1662, and notices of its practice are abun- dant. An instance of credulity of another kind is afforded by a letter from the rector of Chedzoy, who records certain monstrous births and other phenomena as presages of Monmouth's invasion. A hundred years later Mendip farmers consulted a fortune-teller as to whether Hannah More was free from the taint of methodism, and instances of various superstitions, which might be supplied in great numbers by any 232 BATH AND WELLS. one well acquainted with the agricultural population of the diocese, would show that a far wider diffusion of education has even yet failed to root out these legacies of darker day?. A case of penance is recorded at Barrow Gurne) between 1754 and 1784; the date can only be approximately arrived at by the years during which Goddard appears to have held the curacy. The entry runs: "Penance. — Moses Yeates, the father of the present parish-clerk, William Yeates, was put to penance publickly on a certain Ash-Wednesday, when the Rev. Charles Goddard was curate of Barrow. He stood in the aisle clothed in a white sheet, and as his penance repeated after the minister" a confession of his sin, which was that he had called his sister-in-law a foul name, adding the words, "and I am heartily sorry for it.'' Religious apathy seems to have prevailed gene- rally in the diocese, when it was stirred by the Methodist revival. In 1737 crowds assembled to hear Whitelield preach in the abbey and elsewhere at Bath. Unfortunately his utter disregard of con ventionality, and the extravagant excitement that attended his preaching, offended the clergy, and the churches of the diocese were closed against him. The vicar of Publow, however, offered him the use of his church in i7.:;<). It was found too small for the ci >n, and he prea< hed in the open air, Alter ..in hesitation John Wesley adopted the same , on: , . .111,1 preai h< d al 1'. n ford, w here he was for bidden the use of the 1 hurt h. Eiis i ermon was interrupted by ballad ingei . Intense excitement THE RESTORATION, REVOLUTION, ETC. 233 was caused by his work, and the Methodist preachers were exposed to violent attacks. On March 19, 1742, Wesley was invited by several godly people to preach at Pensford, on the green outside the village. A crowd of people had been engaged in baiting a bull, and they tried to drive the worried and tortured beast against the table on which the preacher stood. After an hour spent in disgusting cruelty, they finally upset the table by pushing the dying bull by main force against it, and so broke up the congregation. Methodism was introduced at Frome by a Bristol pedlar, who sang Wesley's hymns as he went his rounds. It was quickly taken up, and was met by violent opposition. Two women were sent to prison, and another was fined ^20 for allowing her house to be used for meetings ; she was unable to pay, and her goods were seized. On one occasion the mob broke into the preaching place and burnt the benches. The county gentry, and in some cases the clergy, encouraged the rabble to ill-treat the preachers. At Bridgwater the vicar assisted, while the people prevented Whitefield from preaching by pumping on him with a fire-engine, and the incident was recorded in the vestry-book of St. Mary's. As a reason, though not as an excuse, for such conduct, it should be noted that the clergy were exasperated by the abuse heaped on them by many of the Methodist preachers, while the magistrates were provoked at the disorderly scenes that took place wherever they came. A reasonable cause of opposi- tion is to be found in the appeals by which the preachers worked on the nerves of the weak and 234 BATH AND WELLS. ignorant, and in the ghastly scenes of hysteria and religious mania that followed them. Although this does not apply exclusively to any one district, it should be taken into account in considering the cha- racter of the Methodist revival among the back- ward and, in some places, partially Celtic popula- tion of this diocese. And it is impossible to read without pain of the conversion of the whole of Miss Owen's school at I'ublow, " a visitation of children not known in England these hundred years." It was not from churchmen alone that the extra- vagances of the early Methodist movement were met with bitter opposition. The regular dissenters abhorred the aggressive ardour of the new prea< hers. At Frome, where the persecution especially was violent, Wesley describes the population as "a medley of sects, Allan, Baptists, Quakers, Presbyterians, and Moravians." By the fashionable company at Bath the preaching of Wesley was heard with curiosity, and a certain transient admiration. Here, however, his particular work failed, for in 1767 the number of members had dwindled to twelve. More permanent results followed the movement headed by the ( '011 n less of I lunlingdon, Whitefield's patroness, who opened a chapel there in 1765. A CUrioUS notice Ol this chapel is given by Horace Walpole, who heard Wesley preach therein 1766, admired its "true Gothic windows" and the "i the boys and girls "who sang hymns in pans to s< otch ballad tunes, ' tin' " el( 1 1 ladii 1 1 itting in balconies, and the rest of the < ongregation on forms. THE RESTORATION, REVOLUTION, ETC. 235 The social position of the countess brought several people of rank to listen to her preachers, and for some time she was able to command the services of Romaine, Venn, Jay, and other clergy of the like views. Independently of the personal effects of their preaching, the association of these men in the same work, and under the orders of this masterful lady, did much to form the Evangelicals into a distinct party. In course of time the revolting physical phenomena that attended the early stages of the Methodist movement died out, and the persecu- tion of Wesley's followers gradually ceased. At Castle Gary, where the first preacher was thrown into a horse-pond, Wesley says that in 1787 "high and low " came to hear him. Some churches were again thrown open to him. At Midsomer Norton, for example, the rector lent him the church in 1776, and when he preached there again a few years later, the curate read prayers for him. Several clergy of the diocese, without leaving the Church, adopted Methodistical opinions. Wesley's credulity in matters relating to witchcraft, Satanic agency, and the like, met with ready approval in Somerset, and a certain lunatic at Yatton, named George Lukins, was declared in 1788 to be possessed by a devil. He was taken to Bristol, and seven Me- thodist clergymen, after a long and revolting scene in the vestry-room of Temple church, de- clared that they had cast the devil out of him. Public thanksgiving was offered for his recovery in Yatton church on Sunday, June 15. In spite of some follies, and in spite, too, of the schismatic 236 BATH AND WELLS. character Methodism finally assumed, the movement gave the Church in the diocese the quickening im- pulse that it needed. On the one side it was the direct parent of the Evangelical party, as a party ; while, on the other, it stirred up the whole body of clergy, and among them many, who never adopted Evangelical opinions, to a deeper sense of the re- sponsibilities of their office. Another striking religious movement, which was confined to one portion of the diocese, was the result of the work of Mrs. Hannah More and her sister "Patty." When these ladies began their labours, in 1 7S9, the Mendip district was in an almost heathenish state. Non-resident incumbents had long left the care of their parishes to underpaid curates. The curate of Cheddar, for example, had only ^25 a year for taking entire charge of the parish. Some of these men eked out their stipends by taking duty else- where, and " the galloper " who rode into the parish to perform one hasty service on a Sunday was a recognised institution. Save at Wrington and Churchill there was not a Sunday school in the whole district. The ignorance of the people was aggravated by the isolation in which they lived at li a t during many months in each year. Without a minute knowledge of the natural features oi the district, ii is hard to realise how -real thai isolation must have been before enclosure awards, modem ms oi drainage, and improved roads opened up ( ommunication ; when, as in 1 794, it was almost im- ile ioi the ladies of Barlej Wood, for so their house at Wrington was and still is named, to visit THE RESTORATION, REVOLUTION, ETC. 237 Nailsea in a wet season, when their only approach to the villages on the summit or on the south of Mendip was by the old road which crosses the present one at right angles near the Star at Ship- ham ; when the Yeo was in flood during no small part of the winter, and the rich Congresbury level lay under water for weeks at a time. The More sisters were stirred up to undertake the work of rescuing the young people of the district from moral and spirtual darkness by Wilberforce, the philanthropist. " Something must be done for Cheddar," he said, when, while staying at Barley Wood, he visited that celebrated spot. The poor there seemed hopelessly degraded. Other places were in as bad a state. At Shipham, where no rector had preached for forty years, there was much law- lessness. Meet him where he might, no constable dared arrest a Shipham man for fear lest he should one night be found on Mendip, and left to perish in some disused pit. At Blagdon, the very farmers lived in terror of the wild miners of Charterhouse, among whom robbery was handed down from father to son. With funds supplied through "Wilberforce, the sisters began their work by opening a Sunday school and a school of industry, at Cheddar, in 1789. The next year they set up a class for teaching older people to read the bible on Sunday evenings. Fresh fields of labour were ready for them, and they soon opened Sunday schools at Shipham and Rowberrow, at Sandford, Banwell, Congresbury, Yatton, Blagdon, and Nailsea. Their women's clubs were not only of material benefit to the poor, but by encouraging those 23S BATH AND WELLS. who married virtuously were the means of checking the special vice of the district. For some time their efforts were wonderfully successful. At a great gathering held at Mendip, in 1793, more than 90a children were assembled from their nine schools. Some 7,000 persons assisted at the great school-feast, and heard the words of counsel delivered to the young people of different ages, who had been brought under instruction. The labour all this entailed was great. Remembering what the country and the people then were, it was no slight thing for a lady, brought up as these had been, to visit on Sunday, October 26, 1794, Banwell, Sandford, and Yatton r and to read a sermon at Shipham at night. Much of the labour fell on Patty More, who had delicate health. Hannah, indeed, did not fail to do much also, for on her rested the chief responsibility, the organisation, and general direction of the whole scheme. She, too, was especially useful in another way. An authoress, and with considerable social and mental gifts, she would have aspired to the life of a lady of fashion had it not been for her religion and her love of others. As it was, her position in society, as the pet of bishops, the counsellor of greal ladies, and the correspondent of Horace Walpolc and many more, gave her and her sister an authority which they used for the furtherance of their noble work. The farmers were generally won over without much difficulty, and in some cases formed themselves into a committee for visiting the school in their parish, fining themselves is. when any missed his turn Seven.] ol the clergy warmly upheld the work, some THE RESTORATION, REVOLUTION, ETC. 239 from good motives, some probably because the sisters were rather great people. The Methodists were jealous of the success of the movement; at Shipham they were forced to close their meeting-house, and every- where they found themselves losing ground. With Methodism, Hannah More had no sympathy ; she removed two teachers who showed signs of "enthu- siasm/' She allowed no extempore prayer at her Sunday evening classes. "Vulgar people," she said, " will be vulgar in their religion." All her schools were under clerical supervision. At the same time her sym- pathies were with the evangelical clergy, who gradually formed a strong party in the district. In common with other more eminent men of their order, Bishop Moss and his successor, Richard Beadon (i 802-1 824), approved her work. Nevertheless, it did not go forward without many discouragements and disap- pointments. Far the most serious of these arose from clerical jealousy. The dispute with the curate of Blagdon nearly ruined the movement. The rector was non-resident, and Bere, the curate, had considerable power from his position as a magis- trate. Although he had joined in inviting the sisters to work in the parish, he soon became jealous of their influence. He declared he would set up an evening service to ruin their class, but this threat he was too lazy to carry out. He stirred up the farmers to present the school at the visitation as a means of disseminating " French principles," accused the master of immorality, and at once suc- ceeded in reducing the scholars from 200 to 35. The sisters were coarsely abused by letters in different 240 BATH AND WELLS. publications, by placards, and in other like ways. The case was widely discussed, and the Anti-Jacobin held them up to scorn. Almost heart-broken they closed the school in 1800. After months of suffering however, not alone the justice of their cause, but to some extent also the social standing of Hannah More, brought victory to the right side. The falsity of Bere's charges was exposed, and though for a little while the attack on the sisters was continued, he was at last forced to leave the neighbourhood. The school was re-opened in 1802. Faulty as some with the ideas of another age may judge the system of these ladies to have been, their work was a noble one. And if it is a great thing to have been the means of giving new spiritual and moral life to a whole distrii t, then it is not without cause that the name of Hannah More is held in honour in the rich valley and on the mountains, where her feet were as the feet of one "that bringeth good tidings, that published! salvation." BATH AND WELLS. 241 C H A P T E R X. OUR OWN' TIME. Boundary of Diocese — Bishops Law, Auckland, and Ilervey — The Cathedral and other Churches — Diocesan Societies — Wells Theological College — Diocesan Conference — Con- clusion. When the sees of Gloucester and Bristol were united, in 1836, the parish of Bedminster, with St. Man Redcliffe and its other chapelries, was for a few years restored to the diocese of Bath and Wells. A new arrangement by which Bedminster formed part of the united bishopric was made by an order in council of July 19, 1837, to take effect on the next vacancy of this see, which occurred in 1845. During the early years of the rule of Bishop George Henry Law ( 1 824-1 845) the temporal and spiritual duties of the see were fulfilled with energy and ability. In common with the Church at large, the diocese began to feel within itself the stirrings of a new and active life. Somewhat later it came under the fuller influence of what may be termed the most modern Renaissance of the Church. To the strong common sense and genial temper of Lord Auckland (1S54-1869) were due in no small degree the peace and goodwill that generally prevailed during a time when the new spirit R 242 BATH AND WELLS. that animated the clergy brought with it, along with its abiding blessings, some temporary danger of lack of charity. In a far higher degree is the harmony of the diocese due to the present bishop, Lord Arthur Hervev. It may, perhaps, be allowed to one who is no longer one of his clergy to note the effect that his episcopate has had on the union and order that are the special characteristics of the diocese at the present time, and on the increase of energy displayed in the performance of pastoral duties. Himself an indefatigable worker, the bishop has taken care to establish such near and friendly relations with all (lasses in his diocese, and especially with his clergy of every grade, that his influence has been widely felt. Large as his diocese is, there surely is not a single parish of any size where his coming has not often been welcomed and his voice heard in the church. The revival of ecclesiastical energy in Somerset has been fully met by his self denying labours. How great even physically these are may be gathered from the fact that during the three . 1882-1884, the rite of Confirmation has been administered to 13,071 persons. New churches have been consecrated, many more have been reopened .in 1 restoration, many new church schools have been built, and each joyful occasion has found the bishop glad to take the principal pari in the >ny thai atti cm!, d it Although 1 communicants are always misleading, the numbers will be found to follow the increase of celebrations, and the present condition of church life in the dio i"i' d by the bishop's recent announce- OUR OWN TIME. 243 ment that these have now become frequent in almost every parish. More than thirty years ago, chiefly through the exertions of Dean Goodenough, considerable repairs and alterations were effected in the cathedral church under the direction of Mr. Salvia From 1869- 1874 further works were carried on, of which the most important was the restoration of the justly- celebrated west front of the church by Mr. Ferrey and Sir G. Scott. The total sum expended on these two series of works was about ^22,000. The exqui- site thirteenth-century chapter-house still stands in need of thorough repair. Exclusive of the sum spent on the cathedral, no less than ^700,886 was expended on church building and restoration in the diocese from 1840 to 1875, and the last thirteen years have certainly seen no falling-off in this respect. An important part has been played in this movement by the Church Building Society. This organisation, and two others of like character, for providing funds for the payment of curates, and for the promotion of education on a Church basis — known under the common name of the Bath and Wells Diocesan Societies, have done much to forward the progress made in the last half-century, while the Association for the training of missionaries has exercised a healthy influence by promoting interest in the spiritual welfare of the heathen. "When the Church Building Society was set on foot in 1836, under the auspices of Bishop Law, the town of Bridgwater had but one church, and Taunton could not provide church room for more R 2 244 BATH AND WELLS. than a sixth of its population of 12,500, while many churches, especially in small parishes, were in a sad state of neglect. Since its foundation, the society has voted ^22,516 towards providing places for 40,125 additional worshippers, besides remitting ,£6,772 to the Incorporated Society. At present there are few churches in the diocese that are not in excellent order, a change largely owing to this institution. The Curates' Fund, founded in 1S38, contributes about p£6oo a year towards paying additional curates in poor and populous places. As early as 181 2 was formed ;i The Bath and Wells Diocesan Society for the education of poor children in the principles of the Established Church." Much useful work was done by it, but as it was found that it was unable to meet the demand for a supply of trained teachers, it was superseded in 1838 by the existing Education Society. Among the original aims of this institution were the increase of capable teachers, which it proposed to effect by adding to the salaries and improving the position of those employed, and the furtherance of the education of the middle class on Church principles. Although later events haw some- what altered the character of its work, it did much. while pursuing its earlier course, to improve the character of our village schools. Owing to the special effort made by the society in 1N70, the numlui ol hoard si hool • doi s Dot exceed sixty, while there are 415 church schools in the diocese, officered by 489 certificated and sixteen uncertificated head tea< hers, 25 1 assistants, and 288 pupil teachers. Two paid dio- 1 hi pe< tors, with a staff of twenty unpaid assist- OUR OWN TIME. 245 ants, hold examinations in religious knowledge, and their work is furthered by the rewards given by the Diocesan Prize Scheme. The Missionary Candidates' Association, formed in 1859, has been the means of training a considerable number of young men for the work of preaching the Gospel to the heathen. Although still in its infancy, the Lay Helpers' Asso- ciation, formally constituted in 1SS2, numbers about 1,500 members, who have pledged themselves to work in various ways under the superintendence of the bishop and clergy. The Wells Theological College, founded May 1, 1S40, has been the means of training 939 men, almost without an exception graduates of Oxford or Cam- bridge, for the work of the ministry, and, at the pre- sent time, its old students are holding cures in forty- four dioceses at home and abroad. The high place that the college holds in the regard of churchmen is chiefly due to the work of its first principal, Canon Pinder, to " the wise moderation with which for a quarter of a century he inculcated the principles of the Church, and to the marvellous personal influence he exercised over the students by his holy life and example." At the same time, it should be said that Mr. Pinder has had worthy successors. Of the various new schemes that have marked the rule of the present bishop, none perhaps is of greater importance than the Diocesan Conference, which held its first session at Wells in 1870. Meeting in three bodies for the three archdeaconries at Path, Wells, and Taunton, and in one collective body each alter- nate year, it gathers in its collective form 180 clerical 246 BATH AND WELLS. and 270 lay representatives, besides various ex-offido members, while its numbers are far larger in its three- fold sessions. Among the results of this institution may be reckoned a general concord among men of all parties in the work of the Church, an increasing spirit of true union based on the mutual recognition of identity of belief and purpose in all things essen- tial, and the incalculable advantages arising from a free and outspoken expression of opinion on Church matters. As I write the last lines of this little book, prepara- tions are being made at Wells for a commemorative festival to be held in honour of Bishop Ken. It is not inappropriate that such a commemoration should be held at the present time, for never surely has the spirit of the diocese been so thoroughly in accord with that saintly prelate's definition of the true character of the Church of England "as distin guished from papal and puritan innovations." So far, through Cod's grace, has His wmk been carried on among the people whose forefathers received Athelm as the first bishop of Wells nearly a thousand yeai i ago. APPENDIX, A LETTER CONCERNING THE SURRENDER OF ATHELNEY ABBEY. [This letter, which does not appear to have been printed before, is characteristic of the spirit of the time, and is full of life ; it is, therefore, given at length, and, with the exception of contractions, is a literal copy.] From MS. Cotton. Cleopat. E. iv. "For as mucheas ytt plesythe you re lordshype to haue knolege how I dyd my message to the abbot off Athelne and what saying was between hym and me, I haue send youre lordshype this letter, Fryste for the true declaracion of my message to the abbot of Athelne from my lorde my master the lord Audley, I found the said abbott yn the chyrche cummyng from masse at the hour of x off the clocke before nown, and, as reverently as I aide, I delyvrde the sayd my lords and masters letters and shewyd hym that my lord Audley recummendyd hym unto hym. And the sayd abbott answered, I am glade to hear off my lords welfare, and so he rede hys letter, and sayd, Go with me to my chambere and ye shall know my mynde, and I folowd hym the sayd abbott, and sodynly he stayed and sayd, what is my lorde Audley a man off the new sett or after the olde sorte, my lorde, sayd I, he is after the beste sorte and lyke a kynd harte subiecte to the kyngs grace and a good englyshe man that lovythe all the realme. Well sayd the abbott, Doo ye thynke he dawthe nott judge thare wyll be another worlde presently. My lorde, sayd I, thare wyll be another worlde when we be oute off thys worlde, but yn this I thynk thare was neuer so gracilis a prynse as the kynges grace ys that now ys for he lovethe virtew and wyll punnysse vyse, Whereon the abbot strouke hys hede, and sayd Here you no newe tydyngs off thys gret consell beyonde the see, 248 BATH AND WELLS. No my lorde sayd I, thare ys no matter to be passyd upone of those consell, for the kynge wyll provyd sewrely Inoychg [enough ?] for all suche matters. And thareon I was in a stounde for I wyste not what that mattere mente and then the abbott sayd, Well, yf I wyste what wolde cum off this matter I wolde be sowne at a pointe with my lorde, with that the abbott wente forthe and sayde, I wyll wryte a letter to my lorde, and ye shall know my mynde, and then he wente to hys chamber, were he callyd me secrett unto hym and sayd, Ys yt my lords mynde to have me resynd my bowse to hym, no my lorde sayd I, but yt may fortune upone good consideracions and cawse why he wolde have you to resynd youre howse into the kynges hand, and then sayd he Oure howse shall be destryd and all the contre under by that menys, as yt ys about Mytchylne. No my lonle sayd I, my lorde and master wyll cum and dwell here and I thynke lie wyll be a peticioner to the kynges heynesse to have sum parte of the order here as yt ys att saynt Marc autre [St. Mary Otlery ?]. W'yche I sayd somewhat to satisfy the abbotts mynde. Why sayd he then what shulde I have. My lorde sayd 1, 1 dare undertake thai yf ye wyll be conselyd and advysed by my lorde he wyll getl you a c marks and he wyll gett you some prebent of byschope of Sarum wher ye schall were a gray amys and all your brethres schall be provyded for and schall have servisses and provisyans as schall lie mette for them, Well sayd the abbott and struke upon hys hand, yff 1 wolde have takyn a c marks a yere I coulde be stede or thys Lyme, but 1 wyll faste iii days bred and wain then take so lytell. My lorde sayd I spek not in haste, ye schall fynde my lorde myche better when ye spek with hym. Well sayd he agayne yfl 1 wyste what wolde cum oli'ytt I wolde be fayne att a poynte, and tharewith he sett hym !,,1 ette bred and bul tei ami mayd me ette w ith him, and afterward wrote hys letter to my lorde whiche I resayvyd and he bade me shew my lorde he wold folow liis advyse.and then I u.iii to tin- stewarde that was of! my olde acquaintanse and dynydewith hym, and thai was moste parte "i all the brethyryn (.ft the howse whiche sayd with one voyse that they ware all glade Ivj ryd by m) lorde to yelde Hi ir how <■ and lande mi.. the kyngs hande al m) iayd lorde and masters requeste and . u herevi ith I wa tde, and then tha) sayd, you knowe well yfl mj sayd lorde wolde take payn to cum to thai and thaj all \\..ldc sewerel) be order) by my lords advyse and consell yn re ynyng ofl thar lande \ nto ti 1 inde, ana thu i wi mayd mere irtyd \\ nil. an an) more word ■ to be wryttyn oil an-, and I wyll tak( y\ a] ■ mj 1 hat je a , I wyll APPENDIX. 249 answer betwyn god and me, and thus Jesu send you encresse of Ik ivrse and helth etc By yowre powre chaplaine Parson of Ilolford. " My lorde I dare take yt on lyffe and dethe that dame harre poynnings cannot devyse syche a letter as ys send to your lordschype." When Athelney was surrendered, the abbot was allowed to keep his prebend at Wells, and received £50 a year pension. The question about the Council referred to the project of a General Council, at which the king was cited to appear, in J 53 6 - Muchelney surrendered January 3, 153S. The postscript seems to imply that the parson had succeeded in getting this job to do instead of another agent, Dame Harriett Poynings. LIST OF BISHOPS From the Foundation of the See to the present Time Bishops of the Sumors.-etan or of Wells. Accession. Deatli or Translation. 914 to Canterbury. 923 to Canterbury. 937 ?d. 955 ?d. 973 <1. 975 <1. 997 d. 99S? 1012 to Canterbury. 1023 ? d. 1023 ?d. ... 1033 d. 1060 d. 10SS d. Bath. 1122 d. ... M35d. n66d. Reginald l'itz-Jocclin ... 1174 ... 1 191 to Canterbury. Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury. Savaric 1192 ... 1205 d. Athelm ... 909 Wulfhelm 9H /Elfheah... ... 923 Wulfhelm ... 93S Brit helm ... ... 956 Cyneward 973 Sigegar ... 975 /Elfwine ... 997 Lyfing ... 999 ^Ethelwine ) 1013 Br ih twine J 1013 Merewit ... ... 1027 Duduc • •■ 1033 Gisa 1061 Bishops of John of Tours . 1088 Godfrey ... 1123 Robert 1136 Jocelin Trotman (after ) 1219 " of Bath " / 1206 1242 d. Bishops of Bath and Wells. Roger • • 1244 1247 d. William Button ... 1248 1264 d. Walter Giffard ... .. 1265 1266 to Vorl William Button 1 [. .. 1267 1274(1. Robert Burnell ... ■ • 1275 1292 d. William of March • • 1293 I302 d. Walter Hasleshaw .. 1302 I308 d. John Drokensford • • 1309 1329 d. 2 $2 BATH AND WELLS. A ccession. E eath or Translation. Ralph of Shrewsbury ... 1329 1363 d. John Barnet 1363 1366 to Ely. [ohn Harewell ... 1367 1386 d. Walter Skirlaw 13S6 13SS to Durham. Ralph Erghum ... 1388 ... 1400 d. 1 lenry Bowett 1 40 1 1407 to York. Nicolas Bubwith 1407 1424 d. John Stafford 1425 1445 to Canterbury. Thomas Beckington 1443 1465 d. Robert Stillington 1466 1401 .1. Richard Vox 1492 \ to Durham & 141)4 j Winchester. < >liver King 1495 1503 d. Hadrian de Castello 1504 1 5 1 S deprived. Thomas Wolsey ... 1518 1523 to Durham. John Clerk •5 2 3 1541 d. William Knight ... 1541 1 547 d. William Barlow ... 1549 \ deprived : to - S - Vl j| Chichester. Gilbert Bourne ... 1554 1 559 deprived. Gilbert Berkeley 1560 15S1 ,1. Tin mi. is 1 rodwin 1584 1590 .1. John Still 1593 1608 d. James Montague 1608 [616 to Winchester. Arthur Lake 1616 [626 \ to ' ' null in William Laud ... 1626 / Canterbury. I eonard Mawe ... [628 1629 d. Walter Curl] ii'.''i io;j to Win. \\ illiam Piers ... 1070 ,|. ( Ireighton [670 1072 d. Peter Mews 1673 10N4 tO Win' Ken [685 1690 depi ive 1, Rii hard Kiddei ... 1691 1703 d. i '7"l 1727 d. |i illll \\ Villi'' 1727 '713 d. 1 dward Willis 1743 1773 d. Moss 1774 1S1.2 .1. In hard Beadon. .. 1802 1824 d. Law |S.'.) 1845 d. i 184S r854 .1. [ohn Baron Auck- land ... ... 1 6 ' ■!. Lord Arthur < !hai li ■ lb..'. INDEX. [The names of the Bishops of the Diocese are printed in Small Capitals. ] Abbeys, mitred and parlia- mentary, nature of, 61. (See also under Monasteries.) Adam of Domerham, 70, 72 "Ales," Church and other, 169, 199-201 Alexander III., Pope, his ordinance concerning the see, 41, 46 Alfred, King, 5, 13-14 Alien priests, 122 priories, 85-86 Alleine, Joseph, 216, 217, 220 ; Richard, 207, 214 Aller, 13, 92 Alms, tenure by, 31 Altars, pulled down, 170, 171 ; position of, see under com- munion-tables. Anchorites, 91-92 Anselm, St., archbishop of Canterbury, 33 Archdeacons and archdeacon- ries, 39-40, 45 Architecture, ecclesiastical, of diocese, 153-157 Arthur, King, 2 ; alleged dis- coveries of relics, 65 ; trans- lation of, 72 Asser, bishop of Sherborne, 5. H Athelm, first bishop of the diocese, 16 Athelney Abbey, foundation of, 13-14 ; notices of, 27, 29, 47, 59. 61, 147, 148 ; surrender of, 163, 247-249 Auckland, Robert John, Baron, Bishop. Ban well, 23, 24, 128, 211 ; tower, 156, 237, 238 Baptists, 215-216 Barlinch priory, 77, 78 Barlow, William, Bishop, 160, 173, 174-178 Barnet, John, Bishop, 132 Barrow, nunnery at, 80-82 ; penance at, 232 Barton St. David, 6 ; tower, 154 Batcombe, 203, 207 Bath, city, 2, 3, 34, 36, 4$, 135, 206, 213, 234 abbey, 21, 34, 35» 4°, 47, 55, 5&> 68 ; Irish estates of, 86 ; place of pilgrimage, 139, 146; rebuilt, 148, 159; four-centred arches in, 156 ; ruin of, 167; Romish service in, 226 ; Whitefield in, 232 254 BATH AND WELLS. Bath, chapter of, 41, 55, 94, 132, 167. (See a/so under See.) St. Michael's, 113, 170 Beadon, Richard, Bishop, 239 Bear-baiting, 198 Bee, Abbey of, 47, 104 Becket, St. Thomas of Canter- bury, 3S, 42 ; relic of, ^9 Beckington, 133, 189, 205- 206, 210 Beckington, Thomas, Bishop, 133-136, 145 Beere, Richard, Abbot of * Uastonbury, 139, 151 Benedictine monasteries, 57-73 Berkeley, Gilbert, Bishop, 181-186, 188-190, 191, 192 Beveridge, William (liishop of Asaph), declines see, 227 Bishopric, foundation of, 15- 16 ; value of, 29, 42, 104, 174 ; spoliation of, 174-176, 181 ; vacancies, long, 42, 192, 193. (See a/so under I liocese and Sec.) ford, 49 n, 70, 237 ; " I he Blagdi m < lontroversy," 239 Humphrey, 203 ; Robert, 209 n. ti IWI 1 , IV' Bournj , < rilbert, Bishop, 1 78 1S1 B< w 1 11, I tenry, Bishop, 1 J2, Bridgwater, town of, 125, I39i 206, 208, 209, 220, 222, 2 43 hospital at, 87, 140, 158 [ohn, :i canon n identiary, I © omes a 1 Bri tol, 36, 142, 1 13, 145 ! I i hoprii of, 16; 1 Bruton, 8, 77, 78, ic6, 139, 152, 161, 162, 207 l'>ri;w 111 r, Nicholas, Bishop, 87, 132, 139, 142 Mucklaiid priory, 83 S4 Bull, George, bishop of St. 1 >avid's, 216 Bull-baiting, 19S-199, 231, 233 Bulges, Cornelius, 213, 218- 219 Bl 1 mil, Robert, Bishop, 100, 107, 109 Burnham church, revenues of, 107, 127 Hi 1 roN, William, Bishop, I., 71, 96, 9S, 112 , Bishop, II., "the Saint," 71, 99, 100, 139 Ca) iBI RY, North, S6; George Bull at, 216 Cannington, nunnery at, So, 81 Canons, 16, 25, 37, 38. (See also under Wells, chapter Of.) aker or 1 aylor, John, Prebendary, burnt, 1 78 Carhampton church in Domes- day, 32 ( larthusian 1 >rder, 71 77 H, king "I the West Saxi 11 1, in • onquests, 3 < leltic church, 2 6 ; date <>f l 1 ter, 9, 12 < '1 Hi h ine, king ol the w 1 1 Saxon , his ( onquesl . 1 I ore, Peter, nominated ( lhancelli rol I !hun h of Wells, 37. ( li.niii ies, [06-108 j sup- pn ed, 171 1 ha] 'I . free, 83 ; suppressed, INDEX. 2 55 171, 182, 185; of ease, 183, 1S5 Chard, 187, 215, 2l6 Charter, the Great, 50, 97 Charterhouse-on-Mendip, 76, 237 Cheddar, 6, 19, 230, 236, 237 Chedzoy, 171, 224, 231 Chewton church in Domes- day, 30 Chilthorne Domer, church of, 78 ; agriculture at, 106 Chiselborough, rector of, de- prived, 212 Christon, Norman doorway at, 153 Chrodcgang of Metz, rule of, 25-26, 35 Churches, maintenance of, II, 169-170 ; spoliation of, 1S2 ; present state of, 243, 244 Cistercian Order, 73 Civil War in Somerset, 206- 210 Cleeve Abbey, 47, 73, 104, 147, 148 Clergy of diocese, position of before the Conquest, 11, 12 ; secular and regular, 16 ; number and character of me- diseval, 106-110; character in fifteenth century, 137 ; number and ignorance of, in sixteenth century, 181, 184 ; persecution of Royalist, 210- 212; ejection of noncon- forming ministers, 219 ; character of, in eighteenth century, 229, 236 ; abused by Methodists, 233. (See also under Marriage of the Clergy.) Clubmen, 209-210 Cluniac Order, 73, 85 Cnut, King, 22, 23 Colleges, 86, 107, 132 ; sup- pressed, 171. {See also Vicars, cathedral.) Communion - tables replace altars, 170; position of, 203-205 ; communion-plate, 189 Compton, Martin, 91 ; archi- tecture of church, 153 Congresbury, legend about, 5- 6 ; given to Gisa and seized by Harold, 23-24 ; church in Domesday, 32 ; given to canons, 98 ; vicarage house, 134 ; church, architecture of, 155, 156 ; Hannah More at, 237 Conquest, Saxon, 3, 4 Norman, 27, 30, 56 Corrodies, nature of, 60-61 ; instances of, 69 Cranmer, Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, 168 Cranmore, 49 Creightox, Robert, dean and bishop, 219, 221 Crewkerne, 30, 156 Crofts, George, vicar of Shep- ton Mallet, executed, 16S Cromwell, Oliver, 210, 215 Thomas, earl of Essex, 146, 158, 161-162, 164, 1 68 ; Dean, 1 73 Crooke, Samuel, of Wi ington, 202, 206, 208, 214, 216 Crosses, churchyard and market, 157 Cungar, Saint, 5-6 Curayn, William, a Lollard, 143 Curry, North, 68 Cynewulf, king of the West Saxons, his alleged grant to the Church of Wells, 16 Danes, invasion of, 12-14 Daniel, bishop of Winchester, 5 256 LATH AND WELLS. Dean, office of, 37, 38, 39, 41, 186 Declaration of Indulgence, 226 Dedications of churches to Celtic saints, 6 Demoniac, George Lukins, the Vatton, 235 Diocesan Conference, 245 Diocesan Societies, 243-245 Diocese, steps in formation of, 5, 8; formed, 15 ; extent of, 1, 167, 241 Domesday, 29-33 I )i Hiking, 10, 130 DROKENSFORD, JOHN OK, Bishop, 58, Si, S2, ioi, 1 13- 119, [21, 122 I )TJDUC, Bishop, 22-25 Dunstan, Saint, 16, 17-21 ; pretended relics of, 65, 139 Dunster priory and church, 59 1 \i", \k, King, 19, 21 I idmund, King, 19 Eadwig, King, 20 Ealdhelm, bishop of Sherborne, 8-11 Education, 13, 17, 19, 21, 55, 87, 138, 152, 161, 166, 171, 172, 231, 244 Edward i., King, 100, 101, in ; I II., King, IOI, 115 I •..11I 1 I 1., King, 128 ill,. I ;ider, King, 1 I ,1, ,.i Nbn< onToi mi -1 ministei , 219, 220 Elizabeth, Queen, 159, 1 195 ; hei 1 barter, 1 ;j, 17'', 186, 187 Endeston priory, 85, • s " 1 m, Rai in. Bishop, ■ i tnunu ation, 127, ' I 1 • I 11 .1 fruil . is Lollard and Lollardy, 130, 13s, 1 .}<» 1 41. Lullington church, an hite< 1 53 '..nl Hi ry tenant ofj March, William, Bishop, 87, no Marriage of the clergy, 16, 33, 43, no, 112, 179, 192-193 civil, legalised, 217 Martock church, 154 Mary, Queen, 177-1S0, 184 Mendicant Orders, 84, 85, 137 Methodism in Somerset, 232- 236 ; and Mrs. H. More, 238-239 Mews.Petek, Bishop, 221,224 Michael, abbot of Glastonbury, 67, 69, 70, 87 Middlezoy, 215 Midsomer Norton, 235 Milborne Port, 31, 47 ; church architecture, 153 Milverton church in Domes- day, 31 Mori iteries, suppression of, 160-167, 181 Monasticism, 13, 17, 19, 56- 86, 88-91 Monckton, 122, 182 Monmouth, duke of, his rebel- lion, 222-225, 231 Monl cuti priory, 73 ; church, architecture of, 153, 154 ; revel, 201 Mi IN rAGI B, 1 AMI'S, bishop, 196- 107 Monyngton, William, abbot ol ( rlastonbury, elected to see, 131 More, Mrs. 1 tannah, and ber sister Patty, 236-24O Mucheli 6l, I I, 147, 148 ; Burrendi 1 • Murimuth, Adam, 1 1 1 \< »NJ1 ROR8, 226 Nunnerie 1, 80 8 ( Nynehead, 212 INDEX. 2 59 Offa, king of the Mercians, 21 Ordeal, late cases of, 231 Ordinal of Wells, 39, m Oyster feasts, 54, 137 Parishes, formation of, 11 Peacham, Edmund, rector of Hinton St. George, 96-97 Penance, 7, 12S-130 ; late case of a, 232 Pensford, Wesley at, 232 Petherton, North, 32 Pews, letting of, 169 Philips Norton, 146 Piers, William, Bishop, 198- 206, 210, 218 Pilgrimages, 139, 144, 146 Pilton, 47, 130 Plague, the Great, 123-124 Plays, Christmas, and other, 113, 169, 173 Poor-law, beginning of, 166 Porlock, 6, 188 Prayer-book in English, 170 Preaching, 1S4, 195 ; in ca- thedral, 191, 196, 221 Prebends, 37, 38, 39, 44, 53. (See also under Wells, chapter of.) Precentor, office of, 37, 39 Presbyterianism, 188, 194; a system of, for Somerset, 213, 214 Prison, episcopal, at Wells, 126, 176, 179 Prophesy ings, 184 Provisions, papal, 100, 131, 132 Provost, office of, 25, 26, 35, 37, 112, 176 Publow, Methodism at, 232, 234 . Purgation, 126, 130 Puritans, 188-191, 194, 195, 220, 221, 222, 227-228, 230 Puriton church in Domesday, 30 Purvey, John, Lollard, at Bristol, 142 Pyke, William, abbot of Glas- tonbury, 48 Quakers, 215 Raleigh, Walter, Dr., Dean, 209, 211-212 Ralph of Shrewsbury, Bishop, 81, 92, 108, 117, 119, 120, 130, 131, 135 Readers, 182 Recusants, 187-188 Reginald Eitz - Jocelin, Bishop, 42, 45-47, 68 Renaissance, the, 150-152 Reservations, papal, 101, 119 Residence, canonical, 40, 53- 55. 186 Residentiary canons, 186 Richard I., King, 44, 46, 48 Robert, Bishop, 36, 40-42, 51 Roger, Bishop, 94-95 "Sabbath," observance of, puritan insistance on, 198- 201 Sarum, use of, adhered to at Wells, in Savaric, Bishop, 45-49, 58, 70 See, place of, fixed at Wells, 15, 16; removed to Bath, 34, 41 ; at Bath and Wells, 95 ; ceases to be at Math, 167 ; style of—" of Wells," or "of the Sumorsretan," 15; "of Bath," 34; "of Bath and Glastonbury," 48 ; "of Bath," 49; "of Bath and Wells," 95. (See also under Bishopric.) 260 BATH AND WELLS. Shepton Mallet church, archi- tecture of, 154 ; vicar exe- cuted, 168 ; state of living in sixteenth century, 183 Sherborne, diocese of, 8, 15 Shipham, 92, 237, 238 Skilgate, an "ale" held at, 199 Skirlaw, Walter, Bishop, 132 Somerset, Edward, duke of, 172, 174, 176, 177 " Spirituall Physik," Dr. Tur- ner's satire, 180, 182 Sports, Book of, 201 Stafford, John, bishop, 133, 136, 140, '43 Statutes, cathedral, 111-113 Stavordale priory, 77, 79, 89, 162 Still ington, Robert, Bishop, 88, 136, 137, 146, 176 Stockland, vicarage of, 121 Stogumber church in Domes- day, 31 Stogursey priory, 85, 86 Stoke St. Gregory, church- wardens, presentment in 1664, 221 Stoke - sub - Hamdon, 87 : church, architecture of, 153 Succentor, office of, 37, 39; suppressed, 176 Suffragan bishops, 135 137, I ! .. 167 See ii Taunton, 167 Su^ar, Hugh, treasurer of Wells, 1 |S, 137 Supremacy, the royal, 107, 180 Sutton, prebendal chun h, 17 Sydesmen, meaning of office, 127 Taunton priory, 77, 7s, 171 ; lepei i' hospital, 87 ; vicar- age, 121 ; parish church, 122; tower of, 155; suffra- gan see at, 167 ; grammar school, 152 ; loss by disso- lution of priory, 1 71-172 ; puritans strong in, 206 ; taken by royalists, 208 ; re- taken and defended, 209 ; presbyterian ministers, 214, 216 ; Baptists at, 215 ; part in Monmouth's rebellion, 222, 225 ; church accom- modation, 243 Taxation of clergy, IOI-105 Temple Combe, 80, 1 1 5 Thomas, Samuel, prebendary, nonjuror, 216, 226 Thomas, William, rector of Ubley, 201, 208, 214, 216, 219, 220, 231 Thurstan, abbot of Glaston- bury, 27, 2S, 56, 60, 63 Tintinhull churchwardens' ac- counts, 169, 171 Treasurer of church of Wells, office of, 37, 39 Triers, board of, for the ap- probation of ministers, 215 Turner, William, Dr., Dean, 1 77, 179, 182, 189, 190 L'lu.KY, 216, 228, 231. [See also under Thomas, William.) Vergil, Polydore, 149, 176 ills, |68, 171, 189, 191 Vicarages, ordination of, 54, 121, [23 Vii ai ., cathedral, 47, 54 I in- corporated, 120 ; Becking- ton's ordinances for, 133, »34 Villeins, ordination of a, 108 ; insurrection of, 1 25 ; a plea of villenage, 166 INDEX. 26l Vincent, Mr. J. A. C, on the first bishop of Bath and Wells, 49, 95 Visitations, cathedral, III, 113, 126, 127; monastic, 61, 62, 135, 160, 164; paro- chial, 96, 124, 127, 168, 181 Vows of chastity, &c, 138, 139 Weare, an ignorant vicar of, 109 Wedmore, 23, 38, 157; treaty of, 13 Well, holy, instance of a, 140 Wells, see at, 15, 16, 34, 41, 95. (See also under See.) cathedral church, fabric, 16, 40, 51-53, 97-100, 116 117, 132, 136, 137, 195,243; sacked by Puritans, 207 ; desecrated by Monmouth's men, 223-224 chapter of, 16, 35-40, 53, in, 112, 116-117, 126, 137, 168, 184, 191, 195, 196; spoliation of, 176; constitution of, changed by Elizabeth, 186, 187 right of electing bishop, 41, 46, 94, 95, 131, 136, 186 • bishop's palace, 53, 109, 176, 213 colleges at, 86, 132. (See also under Vicars, cathedral. ) theological college, 245 city, 41, 45, 132, 147, 206 St. Cuthbert's church, 154-156 Wembdon, 139 Wesley, John, 232-235 Weston Zoyland, 224 "[White-book ' of benefactors, 89 Whiting, Richard, abbot of Glastonbury, 164, 165 Wife-beating, limits of lawfu 128 Wilberforce, William, the phi- lanthropist, at Cheddar, 237 Wincanton, 218, 231 Winchester, see of, 5, 8 ; St. Swithun's monastery, 76 Winscombe, 49, 92 Witchcraft, 140, 231, 235 Witham priory, 43, 74-76, ?53 Wiveliscombe episcopal manor, 193 Wolsey, Cardinal, Bishop, 149, 150, 175 Woodspring or Worspring priory, 77, 162 Wookey, 38, 53, 114, 175, 185 Woolavington, Lollardy at, 146 Wrington, church architecture of, 155, 156; spiritual con- dition in seventeenth cen- tury, 202 ; H. More at, 236. (See also under Crooke, Samuel.) Wulfric, anchorite, 91 Wyclif, John, 125, 138, 142, 144. (See also under Lol- lards.) 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