Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Exeter Part 5

Here may be seen the Exeter Book, the Exeter Domesday, Grandisson's Ordinale, Lacy's Pontifical, and other beautiful examples of illumination. Also the original charter of Edward the Confessor appointing Leofric Bishop of Exeter, signed by the King and Queen, Earl G.o.dwin, and a notable group of Saxon Thanes.

Among the printed books are a First Folio of Shakespeare, and the sealed Prayer Book of King Charles II.

The library is open to the public after Matins on Tuesdays and Fridays.

#The Palace# is a building so closely a.s.sociated with the cathedral as to demand a brief notice. In it is the chapel of St. Mary, which seems to have been frequently used in preference to the cathedral for the celebration of espiscopal functions. Ordination services were often held within its walls. It was originally built that services might be said there for the repose of the souls of dead bishops of Exeter. A doc.u.ment is quoted by Oliver, in which the parish of Alwyngton is called upon to pay the officiating chaplain a yearly sum of four marks and that of Harberton two. This chapel, now restored, is used for domestic purposes.

But at one time it was clearly regarded as pertaining to the cathedral, for the Dean and Chapter, on the festival of St. Faith, presented to it a pair of wax candles. Brantyngham, in 1381, mentions the "fructus et proventus cantariae infra Palatium nostrum Exonie, pro animabus predecessorum nostorum ipsius fundatorum." The old entrance was under the great archway, and battlements, by gracious permission of royalty, surrounded the whole. In the great hall feasts were held for 100 poor people; but the palace now is shorn of a good deal of its grandeur. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1845 decided to rebuild and repair what remained.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BISHOP'S PALACE.

Alfred Pumphrey Photo.]

THE DIOCESE OF EXETER.

A chronological list of the bishops of the diocese, from the days of Leofric, when the seat of the bishopric was removed from Crediton, to our own day, when the diocese of Truro has been carved out from that of Exeter, is here given briefly, since the more notable holders of the see have been already mentioned in the first chapter.

#Leofric# (1046-1072). In 1050 the see was removed from Crediton and the new See of Exeter founded.

#Osbern# (1072-1103). No alterations were made to the building during this period. The bishop was admired for his "simplicity of English manners and habits," for although Norman by birth he had been educated in England.

#William Warelwast# (1107-1136), a nephew of William the Conqueror, began to demolish the Saxon Church. To him may be attributed the towers, choir, apse, and nave of the Norman building. The story of his blindness, and of his being sent on an emba.s.sy to Rome, rests on somewhat slender authority.

#Robert Chichester# (1138-1155) was promoted from the deanery of Salisbury at the Council of Northampton. He continued Warelwast's work.

#Robert Warelwast# (1155-1160) was a nephew of the former bishop of that name.

#Bartholomaeus Isca.n.u.s# (1161-1184), a native of Exeter, was of humble birth. He is said to have been an enemy of Becket's and was called by Pope Alexander III. "the luminary of the English Church."

#John the Chaunter# (1186-1191) continued the buildings which had been suspended during the last episcopate.

#Henry Marshall# (1194-1206), brother to the Earl of Pembroke, Marshal of England, was promoted from York, of which cathedral he was dean. He completed the buildings as designed by the first Warelwast. To him we owe the Lady Chapel, the larger choir, the north porch, cloister doorway, and six chapels. He a.s.sisted at the coronation of King Richard at Winchester in 1194, and at that of John in 1199.

#Simon de Apulia# (1214-1223). But little is recorded of this bishop. He a.s.sisted at Henry III.'s coronation at Gloucester when the king was a lad of ten. To him also is attributed the fixing of the boundaries of the city parishes. His tomb is in the Lady Chapel.

#William Bruere# (1224-1244) served as Precentor of Exeter before he was made bishop. To him are due the chapter house and stalls in the old choir. For five years he was in the Holy Land, and Matthew Paris writes of his energy and untiring devotion in administering to the wants of his countrymen.

#Richard Blondy# (1245-1257). According to Hoker this bishop was the son of Hilary Blondy, Mayor of Exeter in 1227.

#Walter Brones...o...b..# (1257-1280), a native of Exeter, was only in deacon's orders when chosen bishop. He restored the chapels of St.

Gabriel, St. Mary Magdalene and St. James. He also founded a college at Glasney and restored "the establishment of Crediton" to much of its former splendour.

#Peter Quivil# (1280-1291) was born in Exeter, and a _protege_ of Brones...o...b..'s. His first preferment was as Archdeacon of St. David's, from whence he was promoted bishop of his native city. He it was who designed the Decorated cathedral and transformed transepts with chapels, eastern bay of the nave, and the Lady Chapel.

#Thomas de Bytton# (1292-1307) continued Quivil's work, transforming the choir and its aisles. He was a native of Gloucesters.h.i.+re and had been Dean of Wells. An indulgence of forty days was granted by the Pope, Boniface VIII., three archbishops and five bishops, to all who should pray for his prosperity. The rules he made for the government of the collegiate church at Crediton won general approval.

#Walter de Stapledon# (1308-1326) was Professor of Canon Law at Oxford and a chaplain to Pope Clement V. He was killed by a London mob. The transformed choir transepts are his work, and he erected the organ screen, bishop's throne, and sedilia. During his episcopate, also, the cloisters were begun.

#James Berkeley# (1326-1327), Archdeacon of Huntingdon, and grandson of William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby, died a few weeks after his consecration.

#John Grandisson# (1327-1369) was born in Herefords.h.i.+re, of good family.

His long tenure of the see is one of the most memorable chapters in the history of Exeter. The fatal Black Death occurred during his episcopacy, 1348-1369. He inherited the transforming zeal of his predecessors and set his seal on the six western bays of the nave, the great west windows, and the vaulting and the aisles. He completed the north cloister.

#Thomas Brantyngham# (1370-1394) was educated at the Court of Edward III., and was a canon of Exeter when chosen bishop. He was a constant adviser of the king, only being released from his privy council and parliamentary duties when his advanced age made them irksome to him. He was very busy in all the affairs of the diocese, but found time to complete the cloisters, east window, and west front.

#Edmund Stafford# (1395-1419) came of a greatly distinguished family. He was a canon of York when Pope Boniface IX. advanced him to the See of Exeter. For a time he served the king as Lord High Chancellor. He has been abused by Campbell in his "Lives of the Lord Chancellors of England": but there seems little doubt that he deserved the reputation he certainly got of being learned, grave, and wise, and "very well accounted generally of all men." To him are attributed the canopies over the tombs in the Lady Chapel.

#John Ketterick# or #Catterick# (1419) died at Florence a month after his appointment.

#Edmund Lacy# (1420-1455), composer of an office in honour of the Archangel Raphael, left a saintly reputation, and pilgrimages were, for long, made to his tomb. According to Canon Freeman he raised the chapter house and glazed the nave windows.

#George Neville# (1458-1465) was a son of the Earl of Salisbury. He was Chancellor of Oxford, and only twenty-four when made bishop. Though for several years Lord High Chancellor, and translated to York, he died in disgrace and comparative poverty.

#John Bothe# (1465-1478) was the son of a Ches.h.i.+re knight. He has often, but wrongly, been credited with being the donor of the throne. With more certainty the roof of the chapter house has been acknowledged as his work.

#Peter Courtenay# (1478-1486), son of Sir Philip Courtenay of Powderham, had been Archdeacon of Exeter and Wilts.h.i.+re, and Dean of Windsor and Exeter before he was appointed Bishop of Exeter. He a.s.sisted at the coronation of Richard III., but was none the less translated, for his services, by Henry to the diocese of Winchester.

#Richard Fox# (1487-1491), the next bishop, was held in great esteem by Henry VII., whom he represented for a time as Amba.s.sador at the Court of Scotland. He arranged the preliminaries of the marriage of Henry's daughter Margaret with James IV. He was translated to Bath and Wells, then to Durham, and finally to Winchester. He is said to have refused the dignity of Archbishop of Canterbury, which his G.o.dson, Henry VIII., was anxious he should accept.

#Oliver King# (1492-1495) was Bishop of Exeter for a short time only, being translated to Bath and Wells. He began building the Abbey Church at Bath, but did not live to see much of it completed.

#Richard Redman# (1496-1501) was translated to Exeter from St. Asaph. He resigned the see on becoming Bishop of Ely.

#John Arundell# (1502-1503) was translated from the See of Lichfield and Coventry. He was famous for his benevolence and hospitality. He died after barely two years' tenancy of the western bishopric.

#Hugh Oldham# (1504-1519) came of an ancient Lancas.h.i.+re family. A large and flouris.h.i.+ng manufacturing town in that county bears his name. He founded the grammar school in Manchester, and on his elevation became famous throughout the west of England for his learning and piety.

#John Vesey (Harman)# (1519-1551). A lengthy account is given of this bishop in the first chapter.

#Miles Coverdale# (1551-1553) was a famous reformer, and revised Tyndale's translation of the Bible. He was not popular in the diocese, and on Queen Mary's accession was deprived of his see, to the great satisfaction of his flock.

#James Turberville# (1555-1559) was deprived of his see on his refusal to acknowledge the ecclesiastical supremacy of Elizabeth. He had been popular in the west of England, where the Reformation was at first heartily disliked.

#William Alleyn# (1560-1570). Oliver writes the surname Alley. The diocese was now so poor that he was compelled to reduce the number of canons from twenty-four to nine. Only by accepting the rectors.h.i.+p of Honiton was the bishop himself able to support the dignity of his office. He was the author of several religious books that had considerable popularity in their day.

#William Bradbridge# (1570-1578) is said to have speculated largely in agricultural land, and to have died a debtor for a large amount, including 1,400 owed to Queen Elizabeth. Beyond this little is recorded of him except that he lived at Newton Ferrers, of which he held the living _in commendam_, which must have put his clergy to great inconvenience.

#John Wolton# (1579-1594). During Wolton's episcopate the revenues were restored to the chapter, the crown reserving to itself the sum of 145 yearly. The priest-vicars, also, received back from the queen the greater portion of their possessions.

#Gervase Babington# (1595-1597) was translated from Llandaff. He remained at Exeter but a short time. He seems to have been a favourite with the queen, who took an early opportunity to promote him to the wealthy See of Worcester.

#William Cotton# (1598-1621).

#Valentine Carey# (1621-1626) had been Master of Christ's College, Cambridge, and Dean of St. Paul's.

#Joseph Hall# (1627-1641) was Dean of Worcester when promoted to the See of Exeter. He was a famous theological writer, and was translated to Norwich in 1641. There he suffered a great deal of unmerited persecution, which he bore bravely, though the ill-treatment of his enemies killed him.

#Ralph Brownrigg# (1642-1659), Master of St. Catharine's, Cambridge, was bishop in troublous times. He had to retire to a friend's house in Berks.h.i.+re. He was elected Preacher of the Temple, and was buried at the cost of the Inn.

#John Gauden# (1660-1662) was Master of the Temple. His t.i.tle to fame is as the reputed author of the [Greek: EIKoN BASILIKe]. Being the first bishop appointed after the Restoration, his arrival in Exeter was gladly welcomed by the loyal citizens. But he does not seem to have been a lovable man, and was over-eager for riches. He was translated to Worcester on his complaint of poverty reaching the king's ears.