Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Winchester Part 6

#Thomas Wolsey# (1529-1530) at length gained the coveted see, which he held _in commendam_ with the archbishopric of York, but only for one year.

#Stephen Gardiner# (1531-1555), another of the more famous prelates who have held this see, is said to have been the illegitimate son of Bishop Lionel Woodville of Salisbury, brother-in-law of Edward IV. Fuller, in one of his favourite conceits, says that Gardiner retained in his wit and quick apprehension the sharpness of the air at his birthplace of Bury St Edmunds. In 1529 he became archdeacon of Norwich, and, owing to his services to Cardinal Wolsey and Henry VIII., was appointed to Winchester. On the whole, he managed to keep on good terms with the king; but his famous six articles in support of the Real Presence sent so many to the stake that the t.i.tle of "the b.l.o.o.d.y statute" has clung to them. During the reign of Edward VI. he was kept prisoner in the Tower, and in 1550 was deprived of his bishopric, which was restored to him on the accession of Mary, whom he crowned at Westminster. He performed also the marriage service of Mary and Philip of Spain, mentioned on page 13.

"His malice," says Fuller, "was like what is commonly said of white powder which surely discharged the bullet yet made no report, being secret in all his acts of cruelty. This made him often chide Bonner, calling him 'a.s.s,' though not so much for killing poor people as for not doing it more cunningly." Cruel and vengeful as he was, it is yet possible that he has been rather unjustly accused of personal delight in his victims' sufferings; but, while the persecutions under Mary continue to be the worst chapter of English church history, the "hammer of heretics," as he was called, will always continue to be execrated. On his death-bed at Westminster in 1555 he is reported to have said: "I have sinned with Peter, but I have not wept with him." It has indeed been held that in his latter days he was half a Protestant at heart, though this is difficult to establish. There is preserved a rather amusing appeal of Gardiner to the Privy Council, dating from 1547. He had intended to hold in Southwark a solemn dirge and ma.s.s in memory of Henry VIII., and writes to complain that the players who flourished in the neighbourhood say that they will also have "a solemne playe to trye who shal have most resorte, they in game, or I in earnest." During Gardiner's imprisonment by Edward VI., #John Poynet#, once Cranmer's chaplain, held his see. As the author of "On Politique Power" (1558), where he pleads that "it is lawful to kill a tyrant," and uses some very immoderate language, Poynet may be remembered, but as an ecclesiastic he has left only a discreditable record in his short term of office. He died in 1556 in Germany, whither he had retired on the Roman Catholic revival.

#John White# (1556-1559), who succeeded Gardiner, was deposed by Queen Elizabeth. He was born at Farnham, and educated at Winchester. Though personally he appears to have been pious, during his tenure of the see four burnings of religious opponents took place in the diocese.

#Richard Horne# (1560-1580) was a very vigorous supporter of the reformed religion, and suffered consequently under Mary. He appears to have been very fanatical against the use of vestments, pictures, and ornaments of all kinds. He may have pulled down the monastic buildings at Winchester, less from a mistaken zeal than from motives of economy; but his reputation in this respect is very bad.

#John Watson# (1580-1583), formerly a Doctor of Medicine, only held the see for three years.

#Thomas Cooper# (1583-1594) was ordained on the accession of Elizabeth, his Protestancy hindering him from taking holy orders under Mary. His preaching abilities rapidly secured his promotion to the see of Lincoln in 1570, and Winchester thirteen years later. He was buried in the choir, but his monument has disappeared. He engaged in controversies both with the "recusants" and with the Puritans.

#William Wickham# (1594-1595), who also came from Lincoln to Winchester, only held the see for ten weeks.

#William Day# (1595-1596), brother-in-law of the preceding, was provost of Eton for no less than thirty-four years, but he died eight months after his elevation to Winchester.

#Thomas Bilson# (1597-1616), though called by Anthony a Wood "as reverend and learned a prelate as England ever afforded," and the author of several theological works, has left little behind him at Winchester.

#James Montagu# (1616-1618) may also be briefly dismissed. Bilson's "On the Perpetual Government of Christ's Church" and Montagu's Latin translation of the writings of James I. can hardly be said to have made them famous. Montagu's tomb is in Bath Abbey.

#Lancelot Andrewes# (1619-1626) is the most celebrated of the post-Reformation bishops who have held the see. He was made Bishop of Chichester in 1605, Bishop of Ely in 1609, and moved to Winchester nine years later. As a pious and austere man, a powerful preacher (an "angel in the pulpit," he was called), a scholar versed in patristic literature, and a polemical writer, he is well known. Milton's elegy suffices to prove the great respect and admiration which he inspired in his contemporaries, and he held a considerable influence over James I.; but his "Manual of Devotion" is the only volume of all his writings that can fairly be said to have become a cla.s.sic in any sense of the word.

Andrewes died at Winchester House, Southwark, on September 11, 1626; and his tomb is at S. Saviour's, Southwark, in the Lady Chapel, whither it was moved on the destruction of the chapel to the east of the building, where it was originally placed.

#Richard Neile# (1627-1631), son of a tallow-chandler, though of good descent, became Bishop of Rochester 1608, Lichfield and Coventry 1610, Durham 1617, Winchester 1627, and Archbishop of York 1631. He was censured by the House of Commons, together with Archbishop Laud, as "inclined to Arminianism and favouring Popish doctrines and ceremonies."

#Walter Curle# (1632-1650), who came next, was deprived of his see during the Civil War. Like Neile, he was a follower of Laud. He is best remembered in the Winchester of to-day for his cutting of the pa.s.sage known as the "slype."

#Brian Duppa# (1660-1662), chaplain to Charles I. and tutor to his sons, was appointed to Chichester in 1638, having previously been dean at Oxford. In 1641 he was translated to Salisbury, but during the Commonwealth he retired to Richmond, where he lived in solitude until the Restoration, when he obtained the see of Winchester. An allusion to him during his first year here may be found in Pepys, who, in his diary for October 4, 1660, says: "I and Lieut. Lambert to Westminster, where we saw Dr Frewen translated to the Archbishop.r.i.c.k of York. Here I saw the Bishops of Winchester, Bangor, Rochester, Bath and Wells, and Salisbury, all in their habits, in King Henry VII.'s chapel. But, Lord!

at their going out how people did most of them look upon them as strange creatures, and few with any kind of love or respect." Duppa was, however, we are informed, "a man of such exemplary piety, lively conversation, and excess of good nature, that when Charles I. was in prison at Carisbrooke Castle he thought himself happy in the company of so good a man." He died in 1662 at Richmond (where an almshouse, founded by him, bears over its gate the inscription: _I will pay my vow which I made to G.o.d in my trouble_) and was buried at Westminster Abbey in Abbot Islip's chapel, where a tablet records his adherence to his two kings.

#George Morley# (1662-1684), a constant supporter of Charles I., was much favoured by him until his death on the scaffold. From this point he lived in exile until the Restoration, when he was created Bishop of Worcester in 1660, and was chosen to be one of the revisers of the liturgy. In 1662 he succeeded Duppa at Winchester. He restored Farnham Castle, the palace of the bishops, at a cost of 8000; obtained Winchester House, Chelsea, for the see; and founded the "College for Widows of the Clergy" near the close at Winchester. He died at Farnham Castle in 1684. Bishop Morley was an acquaintance of Isaak Walton the angler, whose guest he was after Parliament had expelled him from his see. The cathedral library owes its being to a bequest from Morley to "the dean and chapter and their successors."

#Peter Mews# (1684-1706), bishop of Bath and Wells in 1672, took part personally in the Civil War, attaining the rank of captain, and followed Charles II. to Flanders in 1648. Even long after his ordination he retained his martial spirit, for as bishop of Winchester he personally took part in the battle of Sedgmoor against the followers of Monmouth and received a wound. He died in 1706, and was buried in the cathedral.

#Jonathan Trelawney#, Baronet (1707-1721), was one of the famous seven bishops who underwent trial in the reign of James II. He was before his occupancy of the see of Winchester, bishop of Bristol and of Exeter.

During his episcopacy, the cathedral received some questionable adornments, including the "Grecian" urns in the niches of the reredos, now fortunately removed.

#Charles Trimnell# (1721-1723) was a very energetic Whig and a strong opponent of the once famous Sacheverell. He only spent two years at Winchester, his term being cut short by death.

#Richard Willis# (1723-1734) was bishop successively of Gloucester, Salisbury, and Winchester, but he has left little by which he may be remembered.

#Benjamin Hoadley# (1734-1761) was "a zealous partisan of religious liberty," and a strenuous Low Churchman. He occupied in turn the bishoprics of Bangor, Hereford, Salisbury, and Winchester. During his tenure of the first-named see he started the famous Bangorian Controversy by the publication of a tract and a sermon in which he denied the existence of a _visible_ Church of Christ in which "any one more than another has authority either to make new laws for Christ's subjects, or to impose a sense upon the old ones, or to judge, censure, or punish the servants of another master in matters relating purely to conscience or salvation." As a result of the heated discussion of the matter in Convocation, that body was virtually suspended for a century and a half. Pope ridicules Hoadley for his verbose eloquence, speaking of "Hoadley with his periods of a mile." He was, however, a great favourite of George I., whose private chaplain he became on that king's accession; and it was under royal protection that he published the works which gave rise to the great controversy.

#John Thomas# (1761-1781) was tutor to George III. He was called by his successor "a man of most amiable character and a polite scholar"; and it is difficult to say much more about him.

#Hon. Brownlow North# (1781-1826) was half-brother of Lord North, to whom he owed a rapid preferment. In 1771, when he was thirty years of age, he was made bishop of Coventry and Lichfield; in 1774, bishop of Worcester. At Winchester he spent over 6000 on Farnham Castle, and during his time 40,000 was devoted to the restoration of the cathedral, but the result cannot be commended.

#George Pretyman Tomline#, Baronet (1820-1827), had a distinguished university career and was the author of several theological works.

#Charles Sumner# (1827-1869) came to Winchester after a year at Llandaff. He was a vigorous supporter of the Evangelical party. During his term of office the boundaries of his see were re-adjusted and contracted.

#Samuel Wilberforce# (1869-1873), third son of the celebrated abolitionist, William Wilberforce, was translated to Winchester from Oxford, where for twenty-five years he was bishop. His record at Winchester is neither so long nor so important as at Oxford, where he successfully pa.s.sed through the troubles of the Tractarian movement. His death was occasioned by a fall when he was out riding with Lord Granville.

Since the death of Bishop Wilberforce the see has been occupied by three bishops whose names alone need be given here, for their records will be fresh in the memories of all:--

#Edward Harold Brown# (1873-1890), who came from Ely to Winchester;

#Antony Wilson Thorold# (1890-1895), whose tomb lies outside the cathedral, close to the new memorial south window of the Lady Chapel;

#Randall Thomas Davidson# (1895), the present occupant of the see.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DETAILS OF THE FONT (also see THE NORMAN FONT in Chapter III).]

CHAPTER VI

OTHER INSt.i.tUTIONS CONNECTED WITH THE CATHEDRAL

It is hardly possible to conclude an account of Winchester Cathedral without briefly alluding to several places in the immediate neighbourhood which are more or less intimately connected with the church and its benefactors. Only four buildings, however, call for any detailed description--Wolvesey Castle, the College, Hyde Abbey, and St Cross.

#Wolvesey#, which is said to mean Wolf's Island, is quite close to the east end of the cathedral. It contained at one time a regular residence of the bishops of Winchester, the greater part of which was erected by Henry de Blois. The remains of this castle are very ruinous, though the outer walls and the exterior of the keep are in good condition still.

Woodward pointed out traces of a refectory with a Norman arch and window. The building more than once underwent attacks, the earliest being during the struggle between Stephen and Matilda, in which Henry de Blois took a vigorous part. Finally, in 1646, Cromwell practically destroyed it, after it had held out against him in the Royalist cause.

It served as the residence of many well-known characters in history, and among its bishops Cardinal Beaufort died there. Mary slept at Wolvesey Castle in 1554, before her marriage at Winchester. Bishop Morley commenced building a modern house close by the old site, and subsequent bishops completed it. Only the middle portion of this, with the Tudor chapel, now remains, the southern end having been pulled down by Bishop Brownlow North. The ruins of the castle can be seen from the top of the cathedral tower.

On Wykeham's charter for the incorporation of his new foundation, "Seinte Marie College of Wynchestre," is the date October 20, 1382; but it seems that long before this date and up to the actual completion of the #College# buildings, the bishop superintended the education of the boys for whom his inst.i.tution was founded, housing them in temporary structures in the meantime--possibly in S. John's parish, on S. Giles'

Hill, it has been suggested. Before Wykeham's time, and indeed before the Conquest, it appears that the monks of S. Swithun's inst.i.tution had a school at Winchester, at which no less celebrated a pupil than Alfred the Great was brought up. We have already touched on the subject of Wykeham's ideas on education, and the change which he brought about by his colleges at Winchester and Oxford, and it is not necessary to go into the subject again. The College buildings lie beyond the southern limits of the cathedral close, on the south side of the narrow College Street, being entered by a gateway with an ancient statue of the Virgin in the niche over it. This door leads into the quadrangle, about which are ranged various parts of the college. A further arch under the tower in this court leads to a larger quadrangle, in which are the Chapel and the refectory or Hall, a room 63 feet by 30, with a groined oak roof and a dais at one end for the Warden and Fellows; while at the other is the audit room, which has some fifteenth-century tapestry and an iron-bound chest once belonging to William of Wykeham. Beneath the Hall is "Seventh Chamber," an early schoolroom. Beyond are cloisters and more buildings, and then the meadows which run down to the Itchen. The niches over the second gateway contain figures of the Virgin, the Angel Gabriel, and William of Wykeham; while the room below them is known as the election chamber, where the annual election of scholars took place. In the inner quadrangle the carvings over the windows should be noticed. "Over the hall and kitchen entrance are the psaltery and bagpipe; over kitchen window, Excess, a head vomiting; opposite a Bursar as Frugality, with his iron-bound money-chest; over the Masters' windows are the Pedagogue, the Listless Scholar, etc." In the Chapel, which is 93 feet long by 30 wide and 57 high, the Perpendicular windows should be noticed, and in particular, the large east window. The gla.s.s is declared by Mr Winston to be, with the exception of a few pieces, modern, dating from 1824, while the "Jesse" window is "a very good copy of the old design." In the vault Wykeham's wooden fan-tracery remains, but there has been much change in the fittings of the chapel. The old screen has gone, and the reredos is a restoration; the original stalls were removed as early as 1681. The tower had to be rebuilt in 1863, though the old stonework of 1470 was used where possible. At the north-east end are the sacristy and muniment room, in which the college charters, etc., are kept. Among the MSS., etc., kept here are certain Anglo-Saxon doc.u.ments and charters of Privileges from Richard II. to Charles II.; a table of Wykeham's domestic expenses; a thirteenth century Vulgate in ma.n.u.script; a "Briefe description of the Newe Founde Lande of Virginia," by Sir Walter Raleigh; and a pedigree of Henry VI., tracing his descent from Adam. The chief relic of Wykeham is a gold ring with a large sapphire in it. The Cloisters are 132 feet in length on each side, and the stone roofing is supported by rafters of Irish oak. The ground enclosed by the Cloisters was once used for the burial of the Fellows. Among the names cut in the walls may be seen the name of "Thos. Ken, 1646." In the square formed by the cloisters is the Chantry Chapel, built in 1420, converted into the library after Edward VI. had forbidden its use as a chapel, and now used once more as a chapel for the junior scholars. A portrait of Wykeham (the oldest on record) is shown in the east window, the gla.s.s of which dates from 1470, and comes from Warden Thurbern's chantry in the larger chapel. Behind the hall is "School," a detached building erected in 1687 by the Warden, Nicholas. It is now used for glee-club concerts and like events. The western wall has on it the often-quoted inscription: _Aut Disce Aut Discede Manet Sors Tertia Caedi_. Modern additions to the college buildings include a library in memory of Bishop Moberly, formerly head-master; a gymnasium, fives courts and a racquet court, and a new infirmary. One of the most curious properties of the College is the old painting (probably sixteenth century) of the "Trusty Servant,"

the words being ascribed to Johnson, the head-master in 1560-1571.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WINCHESTER COLLEGE "SCHOOL".]

[Ill.u.s.tration: WINCHESTER COLLEGE: THE OUTER GATEWAY]

[Ill.u.s.tration: WINCHESTER COLLEGE: CHANTRY CHAPEL.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: INSCRIPTION ON WESTERN WALL OF "SCHOOL,"

WINCHESTER COLLEGE.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE TRUSTY SERVANT.

A trusty servant's portrait would you see, This emblematic figure well survey; The porker's snout--not nice in diet shows; The padlock shut--no secrets he'll disclose; Patient the a.s.s--his master's wrath to bear; Swiftness in errand--the stag's feet declare; Loaded his left hand--apt to labour saith; The vest--his neatness; open hand--his faith; Girt with his sword, his shield upon his arm-- Himself and master he'll protect from harm.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ST CROSS FROM THE SOUTH. _Photochrom Co. Ltd., Photo._]

The remains of #Hyde Abbey# lie considerably to the north of the cathedral, outside the old North Gate of the city, where it was erected during the bishopric of William Giffard by Henry I. The buildings were occupied in 1110 A.D. by the monks who were forced to leave Alfred's "New Minster," pulled down because of its too close neighbourhood to the cathedral. Though the foundations of the abbey still exist, little is left of the upper part except an arched gateway with hood-mouldings and two royal corbel-heads. This gateway is in some walls that apparently were once part of the out-buildings of the abbey. The body of Alfred the Great was brought hither in 1110, and must still be here, though all traces of the tomb have now vanished utterly. The inst.i.tution, which was a very wealthy one, was not always on good terms with the cathedral authorities, of whom it was, of course, independent. A record is kept of a dispute between Cardinal Beaufort and the Abbot of Hyde. In the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII. it was impossible that the riches of Hyde Abbey could escape, and in 1538 pillage and violation overtook it. The Royal Commissioners wrote that they intended "to sweep away all the rotten bones that be called relices, which we may not omit, lest it should be thought that we came more for the treasure than for avoiding the abominations of idolatry." Probably Thomas Cromwell, to whom they wrote, understood how far the two motives influenced them and the king. The monastic buildings did not altogether disappear until close on the end of last century, when the materials were devoted to other purposes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ST CROSS FROM THE QUADRANGLE. _Photochrom Co. Ltd., Photo._]