Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Carlisle Part 10

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE FRATRY. _A. Pumphrey, Photo._]

THE MONASTIC BUILDINGS

The Monastic Buildings were erected on the land south of the cathedral.

The cloisters, enclosing a large open court, stood west of the south transept, communicating with the two doors--one in the north-east angle, the other in the north-west.

The dormitory, built upon an arcade, was joined to the south transept, and had a door opening into it above the present modern doorway.

West of the dormitory, and parallel with the nave, was the fratry; adjoining the east end of which, and stretching to the south-east, were the domestic offices.

West of the fratry was the prior's lodging (now the deanery).

The chapter-house, which was built somewhere in the angle formed by the choir and the dormitory, has disappeared entirely. It was octagonal in shape, about 28 feet across, and had a conical roof.

The great fire in 1292 caused great destruction to the priory buildings.

They were put up again about 1350, and Prior Gondibur almost entirely rebuilt them towards the end of the fifteenth century.

There is no reason for doubting that the various buildings were handed over in good order at the dissolution of the priory. The destruction which has left standing only the fratry, the prior's lodging, and the gate tower (1528), was the act of the Parliamentary troops and their Scottish allies in 1645, when, in addition to pulling down part of the nave, they destroyed most of the monastic buildings, in order to use the materials for the erection of guard-houses, and to strengthen the fortifications.

Dr. Todd says: "The Abbey Clois^{rs}, part of ye Deanery, and Chapter-House.... they pulled down, and employed ye stone to build a maine guard, and a guard-house at every gate; to repair y^e walls, and other secular uses as they thought fit."

The #Fratry# still remains. It was built about the middle of the fourteenth century, and rebuilt by Prior Gondibour (1484-1511) towards the close of the fifteenth century. It contains the canons' dining-hall, a fine hall, 79 feet by 27. At the upper end is a beautiful little reader's pulpit, and in the north wall there are two handsome canopied niches. The Perpendicular windows on the south side are very fine specimens; the tracery, however, is modern, but that of the west windows is very old. The late Mr. Street very carefully restored the fratry in 1880, and it is now used as a chapter-house, library, and choir-school.

Beneath the fratry is a very fine Decorated crypt, with a groined roof.

The boss of one of the pillars bears the initials of Prior Gondibour.

Near the fratry, to the south-west, is the prior's lodging, which, having been enlarged, is now the #Deanery#. It has an embattled tower, and was a refuge for the abbey inmates when danger was near; in fact, to all intents and purposes it was a "peel tower." Formerly there was a covered pa.s.sage leading from the first floor, over the cloisters, into the cathedral. There is a remarkable room in the deanery, the priors'

dining-hall, with a very fine ceiling, put up by Prior Senhouse (1507-1520). It is of oak, richly carved and painted; and covered profusely with verses, armorial bearings, and devices. In every third compartment are two birds holding a scroll between them, on which, and on the cross beams, the following rude verses are written in old English characters:--

Remember man ye gret pre-emynence, Geven unto ye by G.o.d omnipotente; Between ye and angels is lytill difference, And all thinge erthly to the obediente.

By the byrde and beist under ye fyrmament, Say what excuse mayste thou lay or finde; Thus you are made by G.o.d so excellente But that you aughteste again to hy' be kinde, Simon Sonus sette yis Roofe and Scalope here, To the intent wythin thys place they shall have prayers every day in the yere.

Lofe G.o.d and thy prynce and you neydis not dreid thy enimys.

The abbey gateway is to the north-west of the nave. It is a plain, round-headed archway, built by Prior Christopher Slee, and bears the following inscription:--"Ora te p^r anima Christofori Slee Prioris qui primus hoc opus fieri incipit A.D. MDXXVII." Formerly, it was provided with battlements, which have now been removed.

Near the south transept, two arches of the vestibule of the chapter-house are still visible.

CHAPTER IV

HISTORY OF THE SEE

Ecgfrith, king of Northumbria, drove the Britons away from what is now the northern part of Lancashire, and the Lake district, 670-675. Some years later he granted Carlisle with a circuit of fifteen miles to St.

Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne (685-687), and his successors. In 883 Chester-le-street was chosen as the seat of the bishopric on account of the Northmen's raids on Lindisfarne, and in 995 the see was finally removed to Durham. Carlisle thus formed part of the bishopric of Durham until the death of Flambard in 1128. This bishop had greatly displeased Henry I., and in order to curb the power of the bishops of Durham he reduced the size of the diocese. Carlisle, owing to its distance from Durham, and because of the laxity of ecclesiastical supervision in the surrounding district, was chosen as the seat of a new bishopric, and, with about half of the present counties of Westmoreland and c.u.mberland, made independent of Durham. A further reason for the choice of Carlisle may have been the presence of the priory church begun by Walter, and finished by Henry I. William Rufus in his lifetime had definitely made the district of Carlisle part of the kingdom of England, and "Henry gave the special care of this last won possession of the English Crown to a prelate, whose name of aethelwulf is sure proof of his English birth."

aethelwulf, the king's own confessor and prior of Carlisle, was accordingly consecrated bishop in 1133.

More than 400 years later, at the Reformation, the priory was dissolved (1547) and the cathedral re-dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity.

In 1856, on the death of Bishop Percy, a large part of Westmoreland was transferred to Carlisle, and the diocese now embraces all c.u.mberland (except the parish of Alston), Westmoreland, and Lancashire north of the Sands.

#Aldulf# (or #aethelwulf#) (1133-1155), Prior of St. Oswald's (Nostell); Prior of Carlisle; Confessor to Henry I. He was one of those who elected Henry Murdac, Abbot of Fountains Abbey, to the archbishopric of York, although the election displeased Stephen; and received him as his metropolitan when he came to Carlisle on a visit to David, king of Scotland, in 1148. He died in 1155.

#Bernard# (1203), Archbishop of Ragusa. For more than thirty years there was no appointment made to the see, perhaps because "the bishop's revenues were so small that no able and loyal person would accept thereof." It is not known how long Bernard held the bishopric.

#Hugh of Beaulieu# (1218-1223), Abbot of Beaulieu, Hampshire, was const.i.tuted Bishop of Carlisle by Gualo the Pope's legate. Henry III.

had complained to Honorius III. that the canons had elected a bishop against his will and in opposition to the legate, and had sworn fealty to the king of Scotland, at that time the enemy alike of Henry and Honorius. So the canons were banished, and Hugh made bishop. He died at La Ferte, Burgundy, while returning from Rome.

#Walter Mauclerk# (1223-1246). This bishop was a favourite of King John, and was employed by him on many missions; for instance, in 1215 he was sent to Rome to support the king against the barons; and in 1228 he went on an emba.s.sy to Germany to treat for the king's marriage with Leopold of Austria's daughter. He was made treasurer of England by charter in 1232. The following year he was deprived of the office by the machinations of the Bishop of Winchester, and fined 100. Mauclerk set out to appeal to the Pope, but was stopped at Dover by command of the king. The Bishop of London, happening to witness this ill-treatment, excommunicated all those who were hindering Mauclerk, and, proceeding to the king at Hereford, renewed the sentence, in which he was supported by all the bishops there present. This had the effect of gaining permission for the release of Mauclerk, and leave to go to Flanders. In 1234 the bishop was restored to favour. He resigned the bishopric in 1246, and became a Dominican friar at Oxford. When this order of friars first came into England he had stood their friend, presenting them with land and mills. He died in 1248.

#Sylvester de Everdon# (1247-1255), Archdeacon of Chester; Lord High Chancellor. Sylvester was among the bishops who supported the Archbishop of Canterbury in his opposition to the king's encroachments upon the liberties of the Church, particularly in the matter of electing bishops.

He was killed in 1255 by falling from his horse.

#Thomas Vipont# (1255-1256). This bishop enjoyed the bishopric for less than a year. He died in October 1256.

Two years elapsed before the next appointment.

#Robert de Chause# (1258-1278), Archdeacon of Bath; Chaplain to Queen Eleanor.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ABBEY GATEWAY. _A. Pumphrey, Photo._]

Again there was an interval of two years before the appointment of

#Ralph Ireton# (1280-1292), Prior of Gisburne. He was elected by the prior and canons of Carlisle, in 1278, without royal licence; so the king (Edward I.) fined the chapter 500 marks, and refused his a.s.sent.

Eventually Pope Nicholas III. quashed the appointment on the grounds that it had been technically wrong, and then nominated Ireton to the vacant see. Edward agreed to this, pardoned the prior on payment of 100, and restored the temporalities in 1280. Ireton was avaricious, and extorted money from the clergy. This he used for building a new roof to the cathedral. He died in 1292, and was buried in the cathedral; where, shortly after, his tomb and a great deal of his work was destroyed by the great fire which occurred in May that same year.

#John of Halton# (1292-1324), Canon and Prior of Carlisle; Custos of Carlisle Castle. He defended the city against Wallace. The diocese suffered so often from the ravages of the Scots that more than once he had to obtain remission of the Papal taxation levied on the clergy. He was employed many times in various negotiations with Scotland, his last emba.s.sy being in 1320. He died four years later, and was buried in the cathedral.

#John de Ros# (or #Rosse#) (1325-1332), Canon of Hereford. He was appointed by the Pope to Carlisle in 1325. During his episcopate he was frequently non-resident. He died in 1332.

#John de Kirkby# (1332-1352), Prior of Carlisle, was bishop during very troubled times, and took part in many raids made on the Scots. He helped to raise the siege of Edinburgh in 1337. Five years later he took part in an expedition to raise the siege of Lochmaben Castle. In 1345 the Scots made a raid into c.u.mberland, and were defeated. The bishop, while fighting valorously against them, was unhorsed and nearly taken prisoner. The following year he was one of the English leaders at the battle of Neville's Cross. He died in 1352.

#Gilbert Welton# (1353-1362). The chapter of Carlisle had, with the king's leave, elected John de Horncastle, but the Pope annulled the election, and made Gilbert Welton bishop. He was a very busy official of the king; amongst other matters he was one of the commissioners who treated for the ransom of David of Scotland, and was also a warden of the western marches.

#Thomas Appleby# (1363-1395), Canon of Carlisle. More than once during his episcopate he was a warden of the western marches. In 1372 he was required by the king, in conjunction with the Bishop of Durham, and others, to be ready to repel any invasion by the Scots. He was also one of the commissioners, in 1384, to treat with the king of Scotland for a renewal of the truce, and, in 1392, to execute that part of a treaty with France which concerned Scottish affairs. He died in 1395.

#Robert Reade# (1396-1397), a Dominican friar. In 1394 he was appointed by the Pope to the bishopric of Waterford and Lismore, and, in spite of the election of William Strickland by the canons, translated to Carlisle, whose temporalities he received in March 1396. In October, however, he was translated (by Papal bull) to Chichester, receiving the temporalities of that see May 1397.

#Thomas Merke# (or #Merkes#) (1397-1400). Educated at Oxford. The Pope, at the king's request, compelled the chapter of Carlisle to elect him in 1397. He is said to have been a boon companion of Richard II., and remained faithful to that king. He was one of the eight whose safety Richard demanded when surrendering to Bolingbroke. He is said to have made a strong protest in Henry IV.'s first parliament (October 1399) against the treatment which Richard had received. The following January he was tried for high treason, and, after being deprived of his bishopric, was committed to the Abbey of Westminster (23d June 1400).

Pope Boniface IX. intervened in his favour, and, by translating him to a t.i.tular eastern see _(ad ecclesiam Samastone_), prevented his being degraded and handed over to the secular arm. He died in 1409, having, after his deposition, held benefices at Sturminster, Marshall, and Todenham, his eastern see affording him no revenue.

#William Strickland# (1400-1419), whose election (after the death of Bishop Appleby) had been annulled, was now made bishop. He rebuilt the tower of the cathedral, and provided the tabernacle work in the choir.

He also furnished Penrith with water from the Petteril. He died in 1419, and was buried in the cathedral.

#Roger Whelpdale# (1420-1422). Educated at, and Fellow of, Balliol College, Oxford; Provost of Queen's College. He founded and endowed a chantry in the cathedral, and made various bequests to his old colleges at Oxford, dying in London 1422.