Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Gloucester Part 14

Parker wrote a Rhythmical History of St. Peter's Abbey, which was reprinted in the appendix of Hearne's "Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle." It was compiled from local records extending up to the time of Abbot Horton.

He subscribed in 1534 to the King's supremacy, and remained Abbot till the dissolution of the greater monasteries. Different traditions are current as to his behaviour. Willis (in "Mitred Abbeys") describes him as losing his pension and the chance of preferment on the score of contumacy. Another tradition a.s.serts that the king promised him the bishopric, but that he died before the appointment was made. The place of his burial is not known, and it is hoped that his tomb will escape desecration for the sake of gratifying mere idle curiosity.

BISHOPS OF GLOUCESTER.

#John Wakeman# (1541-1549) was the last abbot of Tewkesbury, and chaplain to Henry VIII.

#John Hooper# (1550-1554) was originally a monk at Cleeve; afterwards became a Lutheran. He could not comply with the statute of the Six Articles, and left Oxford in 1539 and went abroad. In Edward VI.'s reign he preached the reformed doctrine in London. He was instrumental in procuring the deprivation of Bishop Bonner in 1549, and was extremely hostile to Gardiner. He was consecrated Bishop of Gloucester and Worcester by Archbishop Cranmer. He was summoned to London in 1553, and imprisoned. In 1554 his bishopric was declared void. He refused to recant, and was burnt as an obstinate heretic in Gloucester in 1555.

#James Brookes# (1554-1558). Formerly chaplain or almoner to Bishop Gardiner, and a very zealous Papist. He was delegated by the Pope for the examination and trial of Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer.

#Richard Cheiney# or #Cheyney# (1561-1579).

#John Bullingham# (1581-1598).

#G.o.dfrey Goldsborough# (1598-1604).

#Thomas Ravis# (1604-1607), previous to his inst.i.tution, had been Dean of Christ Church, Oxford. He was one of the translators of the Authorised Version. He was translated to London.

#Henry Parry# (1607-1610) was translated from Rochester in 1607, and from Gloucester went to Worcester.

#Giles Thompson# (1611-1612).

#Miles Smith# (1612-1624). He was one of the translators of the Authorised Version, and is said to have written the preface.

#G.o.dfrey Goodman# (1624-1640).

#William Nicholson# (1660-1671).

#John p.r.i.c.kett# or #Prichard# (1672-1680).

#Robert Frampton# (1680-1690) was Dean in 1673. He refused to take the oath of allegiance and supremacy after the accession of William III., and was deprived of his office.

#Edward Fowler# (1691-1714).

#Richard Willis# (1714-1721) was translated to Salisbury in 1721, and thence to Winchester in 1725.

#Joseph Wilc.o.c.ks# (1721-1731). He was translated to Rochester, which see he held, together with the Deanery of Westminster.

#Elias Sydall# (1731-1733). Translated from St. David's. He was also Dean of Canterbury.

#Martin Benson# (1734-1752).

#William Johnson# (1752-1759) was translated to Worcester in 1759.

#William Warburton# (1759-1779). The well-known editor of Pope's works.

#James Yorke# (1779-1781). When Dean of Lincoln was appointed Bishop of St. David's, then translated to Gloucester in 1779, and in 1781 from thence to Ely.

#Samuel Hallifax# (1781-1789). In 1789 he was translated to St. Asaph's, a curious reversal of the usual order of episcopal promotion.

#Richard Beadon# (1789-1802) was Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1781, but resigned on being made Bishop of Gloucester. Was translated to Bath and Wells in 1802.

#G. J. Huntingford# (1802-1815). He was translated to Hereford in 1815.

#Henry Ryder# (1815-1824). Was Dean of Wells, previously Canon of Windsor. He was made Bishop of Gloucester in 1815 and was translated to Lichfield in 1824.

#Christopher Beth.e.l.l# (1824-1830). Formerly Dean of Chichester. Was Bishop of Exeter for one year, 1830-1831, and was then translated to Bangor.

#James Henry Monk# (1830-1856). Dean of Peterborough in 1822.

Consecrated Bishop of Gloucester 1830, and from 1836, when the sees of Gloucester and Bristol were united, was Bishop till his death in 1856.

#Charles Baring# (1856-1861). Translated to Durham in 1861.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MONUMENT TO MRS. MORLEY.

_H. C. Oakden, Photo._]

#William Thomson# (1861-1862). Became Archbishop of York in 1862.

#Charles John Ellicott# (1863-). One of the ablest of modern divines. He was chairman for eleven years of the New Testament Revision Committee.

He has published commentaries on various epistles; also works on "Scripture and its Interpretation," "Modern Scepticism"; also a commentary for English Readers on the Old and also on the New Testament.

The sees of Gloucester and Bristol were separated in 1897, and the separation took effect as from January 1st, 1898.

THE CITY OF GLOUCESTER

Gloucester has always been a town of importance, owing to its situation.

A Roman camp was formed here in A.D. 43, and later it was fortified with a ma.s.sive wall (of which the traces still survive), as befitted a military post equal in importance to Cirencester, Winchester, Chichester, and Colchester. Much of modern Gloucester rests on Roman foundations.

After the Romans left Britain in 410 A.D., the country suffered from the struggles between its petty kings, and from the invading hosts of the Angles, Jutes, and Saxons. In the end Gloucester, or Gleawan-ceastre, became one of the chief cities of the Mercian kingdom. Alfred held a Witan in the town in 896. Athelstan--the reputed founder of St. John's church--died in it in 940. King Edgar resided there in 965. Hardicanute and Edward the Confessor both held Witans here, but William the Conqueror must always be the central figure in the long line of notable men connected with Gloucester. It was in Gloucester that he spent his Christmas vacations when he could, and it was in the Chapter-House that he took "deep speech" with his wise men, and ordered the compilation of Domesday Book. His son and successor was often at Gloucester, and as Professor Freeman wrote, "in the reign of Rufus almost everything that happened at all, somehow contrived to happen at Gloucester." His death was prophesied by the Abbot of Shrewsbury in a sermon in the Abbey, and warning was sent to the king, but it was of no effect.

Henry I., Henry II., and John were frequently in the town, and the youthful Henry III. was crowned in the Abbey in 1216. Later on he was imprisoned in Gloucester by Sir Simon de Montfort. Edward I. held a Parliament, which pa.s.sed the celebrated Statutes of Gloucester. Edward II., foully murdered in Berkeley Castle, was buried in the choir of the Abbey.

Richard II., in 1378, held his famous Parliament in the Abbey precincts.

In this Parliament the House of Commons secured for itself the right of controlling the financial arrangements of the nation.

Henry IV. and V. a.s.sembled their Parliaments in Gloucester, and from Gloucester Richard III. is said to have issued the death-warrant of his nephews. Henry VII. was well received as Earl of Richmond, when he pa.s.sed through the town on his way to Bosworth Field. Henry VIII., with Anne Boleyn, is said to have spent a week in what is now the Deanery.

Later he visited the neighbourhood with Jane Seymour. Elizabeth visited the town, and stayed in the old house next to St. Nicholas' Church. She gave the city the privileges of a seaport, much to the annoyance of Bristol. Gloucester supplied one ship to the navy at the time of the Armada in 1588. In the disastrous Civil War the city played an important part. It is said that the unpopularity of Laud, who had been Dean of Gloucester, led the citizens to side with the Parliament. They held the city under Colonel Ma.s.sie, against enormous odds, through a long siege, and the king, who had his headquarters at Matson House, was obliged, owing to the approach of Ess.e.x with relief, to raise the siege. This was a most serious blow to the failing cause of Charles I.

During the Commonwealth the citizens seem to have lost their heads somewhat, and to have turned against the officer who had saved their city from destruction. Some, too, had made arrangements for demolishing the Cathedral, but fortunately were frustrated in their plans.

As a matter of policy the city congratulated Charles II. at the Restoration in 1660, but without much result, as the walls and gates were ordered to be destroyed. James II. visited Gloucester, and is said to have touched over a hundred persons for the king's evil, a proceeding to which he objected on the score of expense.

The last two Georges visited the city, and Queen Victoria visited it when Princess Victoria, and again later, after her marriage.

The city, like Tewkesbury, is a curious admixture of the new and the old. It has long emerged from the primitive state, and is now well drained and well supplied with water; but the heavy penalty attaching to transition has been paid, and many old houses and historic buildings, like the Tolsey and others, have disappeared.