Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Exeter Part 4

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE LADY CHAPEL.

The Photochrom. Co. Photo.]

At the other end of the ambulatory is #Bishop Oldham's Chantry#, dedicated to our Saviour. It was richly restored by Bishop Oldham, who also restored the Speke--or St. George--Chantry immediately opposite. It is to this bishop we owe the "delicate and elegant screening which imparts distance and veiling to all nine chapels and to Prior Sylke's chantry in the north transept." The walls and vaulting are richly decorated, and the panelling and rebus at the north-east corner contain a rebus on the bishop's name (oul-dom), being decorated with owls. In accordance with his object in restoring the chapel, his body was buried there and his effigy lies in a niche of the south wall. Oldham was a part founder of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, by whose orders the chapel was restored some years ago. He settled the arms of the see--gules, a sword erect in pale argent, pommelled and hilted or, surmounted with two keys in saltire of the last. He was a native of Manchester, founded the grammar school there, and held the post of warden. He was a man of very methodical habits, according to Hoker. He dined regularly at eleven, and supped at five. "To ensure precision he had a house clock to strike the hours and a servant to look after it.

Should his lords.h.i.+p be prevented by important business from coming to table at the appointed time, the servant would delay the clock's striking the hour until he knew that his master was ready. Sometimes, if asked what was the hour, he would humorously answer, 'As your lords.h.i.+p pleaseth,' at which the bishop would smile and go away."

#The Lady Chapel.#--It has been suggested that this chapel occupies the site of the choir in the old cathedral of Leofric. The earliest mention of it is in a deed of Bishop Bruere's in 1237. It was remodelled by Brons...o...b.. and Quivil. But the "two pointed arches with solid piers--totally different from any others in the Cathedral--dividing the Chapel from the side chapels," though their moulding has been altered very considerably in order to tally with a later style, show evidence of much earlier date. The shafts are of Purbeck marble, and the windows, arranged as in the nave, contain the last importation of gla.s.s from abroad, save that in the transeptal windows, used in the cathedral. The bosses in the eastern bay, with the evangelists' emblems and head of Christ, should be noticed. The elaborate fourteenth century reredos is the work of Grandisson. The central niche contained a figure of the Virgin, before which a lamp was suspended. The sedilia and double piscina on the south side are interesting.

The Lady Chapel contains several monumental tombs of interest. Beneath the arches conducting to the side chapels are the effigies of Bishops Brons...o...b.. and Stafford.

Brons...o...b.. died in 1280, Stafford in 1419; but with a regard to symmetry, which is conspicuous in the cathedral, the earlier effigy of Brons...o...b.. was raised and provided with a new canopy to correspond with Stafford's tomb on the opposite side. Brons...o...b.. lies on the south side, at the entrance to, or the north side of, his chapel of St. Gabriel. The colouring on the effigy must have been uncommonly splendid, and even the remnants of the patterns have not faded out of all beauty.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BISHOP BRONs...o...b..'S MONUMENT (FROM BRITTON'S 'EXETER,' 1826).]

Stafford's tomb is on the north side at the entrance to the chapel of St. Mary Magdalen. It has had to contend with severer enemies than old age, but shockingly as the effigy has suffered, it still preserves something of its original beauty and stateliness. The att.i.tude is simple; the gloved hands of the bishop are joined over his breast in an att.i.tude of prayer. The face is thin and ascetic, its saintly austerity being rendered more noticeable owing to the rich mitre that crowns the head. The folds of the robe are managed with a consummate simplicity and skill. In Leland's "Itinerary" the bishop's epitaph is preserved:

"Hic jacet Edmundus de Stafforde intumulatus, Quondam profundus legum doctor reputatus, Verbis facundus, Comitum de stirpe creatus, Felix et mundus Pater hujus Pontificatus."

#Tomb of Sir John and Lady Doddridge.#--Sir John Doddridge came of an old Devons.h.i.+re family, for in 1285 one Walter Doddridge and his wife surrendered to the Dean and Chapter of Exeter a right of entrance into the close from their house in High Street. Fuller says of him that it were "hard to say, whether he was better artist, divine, Cure, or Common Lawyer, though he fixed on the last for his publick Profession." He was second justice of the King's Bench, and gained great renown as a judge of stern integrity. Sir John was three times married, the lady whose effigy is here represented being his third wife, Dorothy, daughter of Sir Amias Bampfylde. She died in 1615. Sir John, who became a judge of the King's Bench, lived till 1628. He won the nickname of the "sleepy judge," for he always closed his eyes in court, the better to keep his attention fixed on the case. The monument is very elaborate, and if not beautiful is well worth attention on account of its technical qualities and the probable accuracy of its representation. The dress of Lady Dorothy Doddridge exhibits a good example of costume; the skirt embroidered with pansies and carnations; the ruff and cuffs showing old Devons.h.i.+re "bone lace." It was no doubt copied from one of the lady's actual gowns.

On the south side of the Lady Chapel are two most interesting monuments of early bishops. That towards the east has been a.s.signed to Bartholomew Isca.n.u.s (1161-84), but in all probability it represents one of his far earlier predecessors. The sculpture is almost archaic in style, the mitre low, the face bearded, and the type extraordinarily Byzantine. The left hand holds the pastoral staff, the point of which impales a winged dragon, with a sphinx-like head, at his feet. In the angles of the archway at the tomb are the figures of two angels with censers.

The other tomb is that of Simon de Apulia (d. 1223). It presents a great contrast to that just described. The great advance made in the art of sculpture is noticeable in the more human character of the face, which is clean shaven, and the more skilful management of the hands. The artist, too, seems to have courted difficulties, for the bishop's robe and mitre are richly jewelled, and the foliage and animal at his feet, though conventional, are most elaborately designed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SCREEN OF ST. GABRIEL'S CHAPEL.]

#Bishop Peter Quivil# (1291).--This tombstone in the centre of the pavement was restored here in 1820 on the representation of Mr. John Jones of Franklyn; the cross and letters were re-cut under his directions. The epitaph is "Petra tegit Petrum, nihil officiat sibi tetrum," and Westcott in his "View of Devon" writes, "which verse was written in an ancient character, each letter distant from the other at least four inches; so that this short verse supplied the whole large circ.u.mference, and cost me some labour in finding out and reading it."

Certainly this is one of the most interesting memorials in the cathedral; indeed, it may be well considered the most interesting, for it is dedicated to the man by whose genius the whole great design was begotten. Its simplicity is noteworthy. But Quivil required no elaborate sepulture; the cathedral itself is his mighty monument, since it was he who founded--

"A fane more n.o.ble than the vestal trod-- The Christian's temple, to the Christian's G.o.d."[4]

[4] Richard Clarke Sewell, 1825, Magdalen College.

#St. Gabriel's Chapel.#--This chapel was transformed by Bishop Brons...o...b.. (1257-80). The vaulting has been recoloured in conformity with the ancient tints and patterns. The chapel contained several monuments, but these have been removed to other parts of the cathedral.

Brons...o...b.. transformed the chapel that it might be used for his burial place. St. Gabriel was his patron saint, and he caused the day of the archangel to be celebrated with honours similar to Easter Day and Christmas Day. There is some old gla.s.s in the windows. Note the kneeling figure of the bishop with the scroll: "O Sancte Gabriel Archangele, intercede pro gratia." The skilful restoration of the south window with pieces of old gla.s.s is one of the most happy results of later work in the cathedral. The altar slab marked with five crosses, appears to have been used in Leofric's monument, where it was found in the last century.

It was placed here by Dean Cowie.

#St. Mary Magdalen Chapel#, first mentioned in the Fabric Rolls for 1284. It was probably Marshall's work originally, Brons...o...b.. further improved it, and Quivil entirely remodelled it. With the exception of the Perpendicular screen shutting it off from the north aisle, it is of the same date as the Lady Chapel. The north window is Brons...o...b..'s work, and the still finer east window, containing a good deal of the early fifteenth-century gla.s.s, is Quivil's. The chapel originally contained an altar to St John the Evangelist and a figure of the Magdalene, for in Bishop Lacy's register are the words, "extra vestibulum coram ymagine Sanctae Marie Magdalene." On the floor of the chapel is a bra.s.s to Canon Langton, dated 1413. He was a cousin of Bishop Stafford. He is represented kneeling, clothed in a most rich cope and alb, on which is designed the Stafford knot. His hands are met in prayer. The epitaph only gives the date of his death, and refers to his relations.h.i.+p with the above-named bishop.

In this chapel also is a magnificent monument to Sir Gawain Carew and his wife, and their nephew, Sir Peter. It is in two parts: on the upper lie the figures of Sir Gawain and his dame, on the lower that of the more famous nephew, with his legs crossed, an unusual position for a figure on so late a tomb. Sir Peter and his uncle took an active part in quas.h.i.+ng the rebellion that disturbed the western counties in the reign of Edward VI. The former died at Waterford, in Ireland, 1575. Sir Peter Carew sat on the King's Commission of 1552, which summoned the Dean and Chapter to the bishop's palace, "then and there to answer all demands and questions concerning the jewells plate and other ornaments of your cathedrall churche."

In 1857 the monument was admirably restored by the members of the Carew family, the whole being gilded and coloured.

TOMBS IN THE CHOIR AND CHOIR AISLES.

The first tomb to notice on the north side of the choir is that of the murdered bishop, Stapledon. The canopy was judiciously restored at the beginning of the century. From beneath it one observes a great image of Christ, the pierced hands raised to bless. The wounded feet stand upon a sphere, possibly to represent His dominion over the world, and an insignificant earthly king, in scarlet robes, seems to take refuge in the shadow of the Saviour. Beneath the canopy lies the figure of the bishop, grasping the crozier in his left hand and a book in his right.

The keys upon his sleeve represent the arms of the see. Above the monument the arms of the bishop figure on the choir screen, and over the tombs of Lacy and Marshall the same plan has been observed. This screen was erected about the close of the fourteenth century.

Below the sacrarium, on the north, are the tombs of the Elizabethan bishop, William Bradbridge, and that of Bishop Lacy (1420-55). His arms, "Three shovellers heads erased," may be seen on the screen work above it. The tomb is despoiled of the bra.s.s that once adorned it--said to have been taken out by the Reformation Dean, Simon Hayes (who also despoiled St. Radegunde's Chapel), because pilgrims resorted to Lacy's tomb, and regarded him as a saint.

The next tomb, that of Marshall, is of peculiar interest, and it is unfortunate that a good view is not easily attainable. It has been pointed out by a specialist that the ornament on the chasuble is almost unique, reminding one of the foliage in Early English work. The medallions at the side are especially interesting.

At the west, near the Speke Chantry, is the remarkable monument, generally supposed to be the tomb of Sir Richard de Stapledon, an elder brother of the great bishop whose tragic death we have already described in the first chapter of this book. He was a lawyer and one of his Majesty's judges. Prince's quaint description of his tomb is worth quoting in full: "In a niche in the wall is a monument erected to his Memory, representing his Figure lively cut in stone sitting on horseback; where is cut out also in the same, a cripple taking hold of the foreleg of his horse: which seems to confirm the Tradition, That a certain Cripple, as Sir Richard was riding into the City of London with his Brother, lying at the gate, laid hold on one of his Horse's Fore-legs, and by crossing of it threw Horse and Rider to the Ground; by which means he was soon slain; and that from this occasion the place obtain'd the name of Cripple-gate, which it retains to this day." It is a pity so quaint a story belongs to the realm of legend, for there is no substantial proof forthcoming of its truth.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TOMB OF BISHOP STAPLEDON.]

The next monument on this side is an emaciated figure, or _Memento Mori_, a gruesome style popular in the fifteenth century. It may have been intended for a cenotaph of Bishop Bothe, the legend, nearly erased, at the top, being the same as that on his bra.s.s in the church of East Horsley, Surrey, where he is buried.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MONUMENT OF BISHOP MARSHALL (FROM BRITTON'S 'EXETER,' 1826).]

The monument to Anthony Harvey of Colomb John is of no great interest, being poorly designed. Its date is 1564. Harvey was steward of the abbeys of Hartland, Buckland, and Newenham at the time when the religious houses were suppressed. He is said to have ama.s.sed very considerable wealth; for, in addition to the profits derived from the spoliation of the above monasteries, he received from Henry VIII considerable lands belonging to the abbey of Tewkesbury, which he sold, probably most advantageously, to a clothier of Crediton. Harvey was connected with the Carews through the marriage of his daughter, and heiress, with George Carew, Dean of Exeter, the notorious pluralist.

Their son, Harvey's grandson, was created Earl of Totnes, but died without issue.

At the west end of the south aisle is the monument of Bishop Gary (1621-26) and a mural tablet commemorating Robert Hall, eldest son of Bishop Hall, and treasurer of the cathedral. To him Exeter owes a perpetual debt of grat.i.tude, for, when the city surrendered to Fairfax in 1646, he took down the Bishop's Throne and concealed it (buried it according to local tradition), and after the Restoration was able to re-erect in its proper place the most magnificent Bishop's throne in England.

Neither the effigy of Bishop Cotton (1621) nor the angel resting on the sarcophagus of Bishop Weston--a typical Georgian monument--are of much intrinsic merit. Flaxman's statue to General Simc.o.x, the hero of the Queen's Rangers in the American War, is the only other notable monumental achievement in the south choir aisle.

The Peter, or Great Bell, of Exeter is said to have been a gift of Bishop Courtenay's. This opinion is very much disputed, as the Fabric Rolls show that there were bells here in the time of Edward II. As early as 1351 is an entry of 6s. for mending the Peter Bell. Again in 1453, twenty-five years before Courtenay was created bishop, mention is made of the spending of twenty pence "in una bauderick pro Maxima Campana in Campanili Boreali." Oliver, however, acutely points out that this last entry is dated the very year that Courtenay was appointed Archdeacon of Exeter, and suggests that "on that occasion he may have offered such valuable presents." On the 5th November, 1611, the bell was crazed, but was recast in 1676. Its reputed weight is 12,500 lb. If this is correct, it is the second largest bell in England. Great Tom of Christ Church, Oxford, is more than 5,000 lb. heavier, but it easily exceeds its other rivals, Tom of Lincoln and the Great Bell of St. Paul's, which weigh respectively 11,296 lb. and 8,400 lb.

#The Chapter House# lies at the south end of the transept beyond the Chapel of the Holy Ghost. The lower part of the room is the original building of the early thirteenth century, between 1224 and 1244, and the face of the wall is decorated with Early English arcades separated by delicate shafts. This building probably had a stone vaulted roof. Lacy heightened it, adding lofty Perpendicular windows; and the whole is completed by a rich tie-beam roof, partly the work of Bishop Bothe (1465-78), whose arms, with Lacy's, are painted on it (see p. 13). The east window, recently restored, contains many coats of arms in ancient gla.s.s. Among these is the Austrian eagle quartered with the lion of Bohemia, reminding us that Richard, Earl of Cornwall, brother of Henry III, and lord of Rougemont Castle, Exeter, was about 1260 elected King of the Romans, thus a.s.sociating Exeter with the highest secular honour then known to Europe.

#The Cloister.#--Archdeacon Freeman thinks that originally the cloister "was confined to the east side, as a necessary communication between the chapter house and the great south door of the nave." During Stapledon's time a desire had been evinced to enlarge this cloister; and in 1323 there is a record to the effect that eight heads had been carved for vaulting the cloister. In the Fabric Rolls are entries that show the work of building proceeded with some activity and considerable cheapness. Here are a few extracts that are interesting:

"Twenty-five horse-loads of sand for the cloister, 9d. A thousand lath nails and healing pins for do. S. Clifford sculpanti 18 capites 3/9: 10 do. 2/-."

By 1342 the work was probably finished to the north, and forty years later the whole must have been completed. It has been said that the old cloister was inferior to those of Worcester and Gloucester. But they must have had considerable merit if Mr. Pearson's restoration really represents, and there is little doubt it does, the old structure.

It is curious that the cloister, certainly the least offensive and not the most beautiful part of the cathedral, should have suffered so severely at the hands of the Puritans. For on the whole the cathedral proper escaped with but small damage. Professor Freeman, in discussing the alleged desecrations suffered by St. Mary and St. Peter, after the entrance of Fairfax and his army into the city, writes thus: "The account in Mercurius Rusticus, which has given vogue to the common story is wholly untrue." He further adds: "Some fanatic soldier may, indeed, according to the story, have broken off the head of Queen Elizabeth, mistaking her for our Lady. But no general mutilation or desecration took place at this time. And at Exeter, one form of mutilation, which specially affected the west front, was not the work of enemies but of devotees. For ages the country folk who came into the city loved to carry home a Peter stone for the healing of their ailments." It is only fair to add that Archdeacon Freeman refers in very different language to the result of the occupation by the Puritans, but though the decorative portions of the cloister may have suffered, we cannot account for the disappearance of the exterior walls without a better reason for their destruction. It should be noted, however, that in the fifteenth century the Dean and Chapter bitterly complained of the conduct of the Exeter boys, who played "unlawfull games as the toppe, queke, penny pryke & most atte tenys" in the cloister, whereby they were "defowled & the glas windows all to-brost." But at this time the cathedral and munic.i.p.al authorities were far from friendly to each other. Dr. Oliver writes of the ruins in his day that they "have disappeared with the exception of part of a fluted column at the west corner of the carpenter's shop."

With the debris small and mean houses were built. On the 30th of October, 1657, we are given a hint as to what may have been the meaning of this wanton destruction. Apparently the ground set apart for "the convenience of the studious and contemplative" was found to have valuable attributes as a market-place, for on the above day the "Friday cloth market for serges and other drapery" was ordered to be held in this place. Commerce did not triumph for long, though, as only three years later the buyers and sellers were bundled back into South Street.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE EAST GATE, PULLED DOWN IN 1784.]

A large number of bosses and carvings of the original structure, discovered during the recent excavations, have been skilfully incorporated by Mr. Pearson in his restoration. Above the cloister is a library containing 8,000 volumes, many of them bequeathed by the late Chancellor Harrington.

#The Close.#--This was an important adjunct to all cathedrals in the days following the Conquest. We have seen that on one occasion at least the cathedral church of Exeter was severely bombarded, with the result that the northern tower differs considerably from the southern in places. The church, then, we may presume, was intended to be used, when necessary, as a fortress: but as it was also something else very different, this necessity was rather shunned than courted. Therefore it was customary to separate the church from the world by walls and gates of proved strength. This s.p.a.ce so secured formed an outer fortress, against which the attacks of an enemy must, perforce, have been directed first. It placed entirely in the hands of the clergy the defence of their own church, a task they were quite capable of performing with credit; for Matthew Paris tells us of one bishop of Exeter, Bruere, that he displayed activity both "spiritual and temporal" in the Holy Land.

The defence of the city, that of the sacred building being thus provided for, was the business of the captains and men-at-arms. The walls and gates of the close have vanished, without leaving a trace of their existence. One privilege, however, yet haunts the place--the corporation have no jurisdiction over it.

In the close at the north side of the cathedral has been placed a statue of Richard Hooker, the theologian (1553-1600), author of "The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity." The "Judicious Hooker" was born in Exeter, and was a nephew of John Vowel, alias Hoker, Chamberlain and Historian of the city.

#The Cathedral Library# was founded by Leofric himself. One of his princ.i.p.al reasons for translating the see from Crediton to Exeter being his fear lest the valuable books he had collected should at any time be destroyed by raiders in an unfortified town.

When, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, Sir Thomas Bodley, himself a native of Exeter, founded the Bodleian Library at Oxford, the Dean and Chapter of Exeter presented to it a large number of books and ma.n.u.scripts, many of which had belonged to Leofric. Fortunately one volume remained in Exeter, overlooked by owners then unaware of its value, possibly of its very existence. This volume, "The Exeter Book,"

is the greatest treasure possessed by the Dean and Chapter, being an Anglo-Saxon ma.n.u.script, containing almost a third of all the Anglo-Saxon literature that is known. The contents include "Cynewulf's Christus," a poem on the life of our Lord; some legends of saints; and a quaint collection of riddles and jokes. The ink of its writing, nearly one thousand years old, is as fresh as if it had been inscribed but recently.

As already mentioned, the muniments room was formerly above St. Andrew's Chapel. At a later date the library was placed in the Lady Chapel, and was thence removed to the chapter house. Towards the end of the last century Canon Cook and Chancellor Harrington left their valuable libraries to the Dean and Chapter, and in order to accommodate the books Dean Cowie restored the south side of the cloister, and built a new library over it.