Bell's Cathedrals: A Short Account of Romsey Abbey Part 2

This is a small octavo ma.n.u.script containing thirty pages of vellum measuring 6.9 by 4.7 inches, each page containing as a rule twenty-two lines. The approximate date is probably about the middle of the fifteenth century. This is arrived at partly from the character of the writing, and partly from the fact that the Kalendar in it contains no mention of the Feast of the Visitation of the Virgin on 2nd July, a feast which was ordered to be used by the convocation of the province of Canterbury in 1480. Hence it would seem that this Psalter with its Kalendar must have been written before this date. The capital letters are painted either red or blue, and besides these there are eight illuminated initial letters, seven of which occupy a s.p.a.ce equivalent to eight ma.n.u.script lines, and the other a s.p.a.ce equal to nine lines. Connected with these illuminated letters are floral borders on the left-hand side of the page, and in most cases at the top or bottom also. The first and last pages of the book are soiled, probably from the book for some long period of its existence having been left lying about without covers. The present binding is of much more recent date.

There are reasons for supposing that the book was the private property of some abbess or nun, or, at any rate, of some one connected with the nunnery, and not a public service book.

It is also thought that the book was written by a Franciscan friar for the use of some one in a Benedictine house. For in the invocation of saints in the Litany which the book contains, the names of the monastic saints are arranged in the following order: Benedict, Francis, Anthony, Dominic (Bernard being omitted), instead of the usual order: Anthony, Benedict, Bernard, Dominic, Francis.

The fact that the death days added to the Kalendar in the sixteenth century are chiefly those of the abbesses of St. Mary's nunnery, Winchester, seems to indicate that the book somehow before that date had pa.s.sed from Romsey to the nunnery at Winchester. Of its further history nothing is known save that at one time it belonged to a certain T. H.

Lloyd, whose name is written in it, until at last it was advertised for sale by Quaritch in his catalogue of old books in 1900. The Dean of Winchester happened to see this list, and called the attention of the Vicar of Romsey to the fact that a book of such interest might, provided the money to purchase it could be found, once more pa.s.s back into the possession of the church, where it had been used in its early days. There was little difficulty in collecting the money, and the book may now be seen preserved in a gla.s.s case in the ambulatory at Romsey.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SOUTH CHOIR AISLE]

It is worth notice that in this book the Psalms are so divided that the first 109 would be recited at Mattins in the course of a week, the others being used at Vespers during the same time.

There are certain hymns appointed for use on Sundays, canticles from the Old and New Testament, the Te Deum, Benedicite, and Quicunque Vult. Also a Litany, and sundry additional prayers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SAXON CARVING AT THE EAST END OF THE SOUTH AISLE]

The east end of the #South Choir Aisle# corresponding to that of the north choir aisle is now fitted up with an altar for week-day services. But this chapel has in it one of the oldest if not the very oldest piece of carved work connected with the abbey. Taking the place of a reredos, is a carving of the Crucifixion of unmistakable pre-Conquest character, its probable date is about 1030. The figures are Byzantine in character, and besides the Virgin and St. John who are so often represented in carvings and paintings of the Crucifixion, there are two of the Roman soldiers, one holding the spear with which afterwards the side of Jesus was pierced, and the other offering the sponge of vinegar on the hyssop rod.

What the original position of this carving was we do not know, it is described in 1742 as being on the south wall near the communion table; then it appears to have been built face inwards, into the wall, and was placed in its present position by the late vicar, the Rev. E. L. Berthon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE NORTH-EAST ANGLE OF THE CROSSING]

The apsidal chantry attached to the east wall of the southern arm of the crossing is now used as the clergy vestry, and contains in a frame the deed of sale of the abbey church to the parishioners of Romsey after the dissolution of the nunnery. It is dated 20th February, 1544.

#The Screen.# The screen that divides the choir from the crossing looks at first sight distinctly modern, yet it contains some ancient carving dating from 1372. It has occupied various positions in the church. At one time it was used to separate from the Abbey Church the chancel of the parish church, formed as already described from the north arm of the crossing. It was afterwards placed across the nave, near the west end, under the organ which blocked up the great triple lancet window. In a guide book in the abbey, published in 1828, we read that "there is a curious oaken screen of neat Gothic workmanship, which now separates the west end from the part which is fitted up for worship. It formerly stood in the northern transept, and separated it from the body of the church, but when the alteration in the pewing was made, it was removed to the place it now occupies, immediately under the organ: it was then painted. The top of the screen is crowned with running foliage, underneath which, in twenty-three Gothic trefoils, are as many carved faces. They are evidently portraits very tolerably executed, and on this account curious and interesting. One of them is crowned, and all of them have their heads covered with flowing hair, or wigs, or caps; the last on the right hand is a head thrusting out its tongue, perhaps a sportive essay of the carver." When the restoration was begun about the middle of the nineteenth century, this screen was removed, treated as useless lumber, and stowed away in the triforium, which at that time, as already described, was separated from the church by a wall. Here in 1880 the vicar, the Rev. E. L. Berthon, found, to use his own words, "the ancient oak-carvings of heads in trefoils with a curious cresting above." He resolved to utilize it in the construction of the chancel screen. The lower part is modern, designed to match the old work.

The seats in the choir were designed by Mr. Berthon, and the heads intended to represent various kings, saints, and abbesses, were carved in the town. The pulpit was erected in 1891, the figures being carved by Harry Hems of Exeter, who has done so much wood and stone carving in restored reredoses and screens in various churches.

The #Organ# stands under the westernmost arch of the choir on the north side.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TOMB AND EFFIGY IN THE SOUTH TRANSEPT]

The mediaeval #Monuments# remaining at Romsey are not numerous, being for the most part the graves and coffins of former abbesses, many of them incapable of identification. The Old English chronicle states that Eadward the Elder, his son aelfred, his daughter Eadburh, St. aethelflaed, Eadmund, brother of King aethelred, were all buried here, but their graves are unknown, and not a stone remains to commemorate them. There is one very beautiful effigy of Purbeck marble now placed under an ogee canopy at the south-east corner of the transept, but whom it represents we cannot say.

The slab is about 7 ft. long. A small piece at the left-hand upper corner is broken off: were this replaced the stone would be 2 ft. 3 in. wide at the head, tapering downwards to about 1 ft. 3 in. at the foot. The rec.u.mbent figure is itself about 6 ft. in length. The lady is dressed in a tight-sleeved loose robe, which falls in folds to the feet, but is girt about the waist with band and buckle; the right hand holds a fold of the robe; the left hand, lying on the bosom, is in the position seen in so many of the figures on the west front of the Cathedral Church at Wells, grasping the cord that holds up the mantle to the shoulders; the head rests on a cushion; beneath the head-dress the wimple may be seen pa.s.sing beneath the chin. The pointed shoes rest on an animal, possibly intended for a dog. This effigy bears a strong resemblance to that of Eleanor, wife of Edward I, at Westminster, and is certainly late thirteenth century work. There is no staff or other symbol to show that the lady was an abbess. By some it has been supposed that it was erected to the memory of Isabella de Kilpec by her daughter, Alicia Walrand, who was abbess from 1268 to 1298. At any rate, the date fits in well with the character of the monument. Its original position in the church is unknown. It was found somewhere towards the west end of the nave, by some workmen who were engaged in digging a grave, and as it chanced to fit the ogee canopy in the transept, it was laid under it, but it must not be supposed that it originally had any connection with it. Near by is a seventeenth century monument of John St. Barbe, and Grissel his wife, whose family owned the estate of Broadlands, near Romsey, which was afterwards bought by the great-grandfather of the well-known statesman, Lord Palmerston. Several coffin lids of various dates have been found, among them, that of the Abbess, Joan Icthe, who died in 1349, of the terrible scourge that visited England in the fourteenth century, known as the Black Death. Almost all the persons buried in the abbey were women, but one curious exception may be noted. In 1845 a coffin was discovered in the nave, under an enormous slab of stone, measuring 11 ft. 5 in. by 3 ft. 9 in. Mr. Ferrey, the architect, under whose supervision the restoration of the abbey was then being carried out, thus describes the discovery:

"Great care was exercised in raising the stone. Upon its being moved, there was discovered immediately under it a stone coffin, 5 ft. 10 in.

long, by 2 ft. wide in the broadest part, and 1 ft. deep; containing the skeleton of a priest in good preservation, the figure measuring only 5 ft.

4 in. in length; the head elevated and resting in a shallow cavity worked out of the stone, so as to form a cushion. He had been buried in the vestments peculiar to his office, viz., the alb and tunic. Across the left arm was the maniple, and in his hand the chalice covered with the paten.

Considering these remains to be about five hundred years old, it is remarkable that they should be in such preservation. The chalice and paten are of pewter,[4] the latter much corroded: a great portion of the linen alb remains; the maniple is of brown velvet fringed at the extremity, and lined with silk; portions of the stockings remain, and also all the parts of the boots, though from the decay of the sewing, they have fallen in pieces. About 2 ft. from the end of the coffin is a square hole through the bottom, with channels worked in the stone leading to it. This was probably a provision to carry off the fluids, which would be caused by the decomposition of the body. On the sides of the coffin could be traced the marks of the corpse when it was first deposited, from which it would appear that the deceased had been stout as well as short of stature. It is to be regretted that the inscription being stripped from the verge of the slab, we have no means of knowing whose remains these are. The Purbeck marble slab has never been disturbed, being found strongly secured by mortar to the top of the stone coffin. It is curious that the covering should be so gigantic, and the coffin under it so small: judging by the size of the slab and the beauty of the large floriated cross, it might have been supposed to cover some dignified ecclesiastic. This is clearly not the case.... In the absence of any known date, judging from the impress on the marble, and the shape of the stone coffin, I should a.s.sign both to the early part of the fourteenth century."

[4] It was common to bury not the real silver vessels used by the dead priest, but imitations in baser metal.

There are sundry mural tablets of modern date, and near the west end an altar tomb, with the rec.u.mbent effigy by Westmacott of Sir William Petty, the founder of the Lansdowne family, who was born at Romsey in 1623, and was buried within the abbey, and on the north side a tomb on which a child lies on its side as if asleep, with its limbs carelessly stretched out.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE NORTH AISLE OF THE NAVE]

There is no painted gla.s.s of mediaeval date to be seen in the church; such as we find is modern. The three lancets at the west are the work of Messrs. Clayton and Bell, and were inserted as a memorial to Lord Palmerston, who died in 1865. The gla.s.s in the windows in the east wall of the ambulatory commemorating C. B. Footner, who died in 1889, was painted by the same firm. The two east windows, painted by Messrs. Powell, were inserted as a memorial to Lord Mount-Temple, who died in 1888. To the same firm are due the windows in the transept, which commemorate the Hon. Ralph Dutton, Lady Mount-Temple, Mr. Tylee, Professor Ramsey, and the Rev. E. L.

Berthon, and the one in the north chancel aisle erected to the memory of the wife of the Right Hon. Evelyn Ashley. The window at the east end of the north aisle is by Kempe, and commemorates Mr. G. B. Footner.

The #Font# is in the north aisle of the nave, dates from about the middle of the last century, and stands on the same spot as the ancient font of the church of St. Laurence. The conventual church, of course, would not need a font. But in post-Reformation times one stood on a raised platform at the west end of the church.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SOUTH TRANSEPT]

CHAPTER IV

THE ABBESSES OF ROMSEY

A complete list of the abbesses who ruled the religious house at Romsey is not in existence; there are several gaps of many years in the succession.

The exact dates of the election of some of those whose names have been handed down to us are not known. The following list is as complete as possible. The names printed in ordinary type are taken from a board suspended in the retro-choir, those printed in italics are added from a list given in the "Records of Romsey Abbey," by the Rev. H. G. D. Liveing, 1906, which embodies the result of the most recent research. Whenever the date is uncertain _c._ for "circa" is prefixed; the date of death when known is added, marked with _o._ for "obiit." The spelling of many of the names is uncertain; in the list below the spelling follows that given by the authorities quoted above:

_c._ 907 aelflaeda, _o._ _c._ 959.

966 S. Merwenna.

_c._ 999 Elwina.

_c._ 1003 aethelflaeda.

_c._ 1016 _Wulfynn._ _c._ 1025 _aelfgyfu._ * * * *

_c._ 1130 Hadewis.

_c._ 1150 Matilda, _o._ 1155.

1155 Mary, married 1161, _o._ 1182.

_c._ 1171 Juliana, _o._ 1199.[5]

1199 Matilda Walrane.

1219 Matilda (Paria), _o._ 1230.

1230 _Matilda de Barbfle_, _o._ 1237.

1237 _Isabella de Nevill._ 1238 _Cecilia._ 1247 _Constancia._ 1261 Amicia _de Sulhere_.

1268 Alicia Walerand, _o._ 1298.

1298 _Philippa de Stokes._ 1307 Clementia de Guildeford, _o._ 1314.

1314 Alicia de Wyntereshulle, _o._ 1315.

1315 Sybil Carbonel, _o._ 1333.

1333 Ioane Jacke (or _Icthe_).

1349 Iohanna Gervas (or _Gerneys_).

1352 Isabella de Camoys.

1396 Lucy Everard.

1405 Felicia Aas.

1417 Matilda Lovell.

1462 Ioan Bryggys.

1472 Elizabeth Broke, _o._ 1502.

1502 Joyce Rowse, resigned 1515.

1515 Ann Westbroke, _o._ 1523.

1523 Elizabeth Ryprose, dispossessed 1539.

[5] Christina is mentioned as abbess in 1190, in the list suspended in the church, but it is uncertain if she was an abbess.

About the majority of the abbesses little or nothing is known; some, indeed, were women of exemplary piety, others were remarkable for their administrative abilities, and did good work in their own way; but of many all that can be said is that

In due time, one by one, Some with lives that came to nothing, some with deeds as well undone, Death stepped tacitly and took them where they never see the sun.[6]