Cathedral Cities of England Part 12

Remigius adopted the plan of the church at Rouen as the model of his foundation, which he laid in 1086. It was completed by his successor, Bishop Bloet. The accidental fire that broke out gave his successor, Bishop Alexander, the opportunity of repairing it. To prevent a like occurrence, this prelate conceived and carried out his idea of covering the aisles with a vaulted roof of stone. It had a disastrous effect in that its pressure weighed too heavily upon the walls. It necessitated a thorough overhauling by St. Hugh, a subsequent bishop, in the reign of Henry II. He rebuilt the church upon a plan then newly introduced, and greatly enlarged it by taking down the east end and re-erecting it upon a far bigger scale. Since his time the Cathedral has undergone several alterations and embellishments at the fostering care of several succeeding prelates. On the magnificent central tower there used to be a lofty spire, which was blown down in 1547. The two western towers were also deprived of their spires in 1808 to avert a similar calamity. The approximate dates of the different portions of the Cathedral are:

[Ill.u.s.tration: LINCOLN

BY MOONLIGHT]

The central west front and the font belong to Remigius' period.

The three west portals and Norman portion of the west tower above the screen to the third story are 1148.

The nave, its aisles, and north and south chapels of the west end were finished in 1220.

The Early English work of the west front and the upper portions of the north and south wings with the pinnacle turrets date from 1225.

The west porch of the main transept is 1220.

The lower courses of the central tower date from 1235, while the upper ones originated in 1307.

The gables, the upper parts of the main transept, the parapets of the south side of the nave, the south wing, the west front, and the screen in the south aisle take us back again to the year 1225. The subsequent additions are:

The west door of the choir aisles in 1240; the south porch of the presbytery in 1256; the choir screens in 1280, and ten years later the Easter Sepulchre. The fine circular window at the end of the north transept, and especially the ones in the south transept, attract considerable attention. They are called respectively "The Dean's Eye"

and "The Bishop's Eye," and are supposed to belong to the year 1350.

Perhaps they are better known as the rose windows, which were more popular in France than in England. They exhibit a network of interlacing stems in imitation of the freedom of the briar-rose, and show the advanced skill of the workmen upon the plate-tracery they formerly put up as a masterpiece in the close vicinity of the rose windows.

For purposes of fortification, if necessary, Remigius chose the summit of the hill close to the Castle as the site. The Cathedral, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, thus, from its commanding station, forms a magnificent object seen from many miles around, and in the days of pilgrimage must have held out a welcome beacon of hope to the weary pilgrims.

Of the many famous prelates of this see must be mentioned Remigius, Bloet, St. Hugh, and Fleming, who died in 1431. The latter was the founder of Lincoln College at Oxford. Just at the back of this college is situated the well-known college of Brazennose, the foundation of another Lincoln Bishop, namely Smith, who died in 1521.

Again, Polydore Vergil, W. Paley, Cartwright the inventor of the power loom, and O. Manning the celebrated topographer are some of the many capitular members of whom Lincoln may well be proud.

Another attraction that Lincoln possesses in its vicinity is the race-course just beyond Newland.

For the early history of Lincoln we must go as far back as the Saxon days. After the departure of the Romans, Lincoln was the chief city of the district. It was the capital of the kingdom of Mercia, as it now is of the county of Lincolnshire.

Besides being described like other cities as being locally in the county of Lincoln, it is said to be in the wapentake. This is a departure from the "hundred" only in name, not in purpose. In the northern counties of England the wapentakes denoted the usual divisions answering to the hundreds of other counties. The origin of the wapentake is woepenge-toc, woepentac, from the Icelandic vapnatak. It literally means a weapon-taking or weapon-touching, and became an expression of a.s.sent. It was anciently invariably the custom to touch lances or spears when the hundreder, or chief, entered in his office. Tacitus, in the "Germania,"

gives a full description of this interesting rite.

In the Low Countries words very similar appear as the names of streets.

At Bruges, in Belgium, there is the "Wapen-makers Straat," which means nothing more or less than that in that street was originally carried on an industry of warlike implements made by "weapon-makers."

In this wise Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, and Nottinghamshire were divided into wapentakes instead of "hundreds."

Another peculiar distinction of this city was its former government by a portreve. The term is now obsolete, but in the old English law it denoted the chief magistrate of a port or maritime town. In its old form it was written "portgerefa," a combined word meaning port, a harbour, and "gerefa," a reeve or sheriff. In the third year of the reign of George I. the city, with a district of twenty miles round it, was erected into a county, under the designation of "The City and County of the City of Lincoln." It was also entered as a maritime county. The extreme flatness of the Lincolnshire coast, with the slow sluggishness of the lower part of the course of the rivers, caused, in remote ages, the inundation of a great tract of land. The feasibility of reclaiming some portion of these fens received the attention of the Romans. They constructed the large drain called the car-d.y.k.e, signifying the fen-d.y.k.e, carrying it from the river Witham, near Lincoln, to the river Welland on the southern side of the county, with the object of draining the waters from the high grounds and of preventing the inundation of the low grounds. This policy was adopted in subsequent reigns with great success, and is even to this day continued. It has been the means of bringing rich tracts of land into cultivation, and of dispelling the unhealthy miasma which once caused the great prevalency of the ague fever. From fragments of vessels found near its channel it is affirmed that large ships of bygone days could formerly sail up the river Witham from Boston to Lincoln, but now it is only navigable for barges.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LINCOLN

THE STEEP HILL]

In 1121 Henry I. materially altered the great Foss-d.y.k.e, extending a matter of eight miles from a great marsh near Lincoln to the river Trent, to serve the double purpose of draining the adjacent level and of constructing a high waterway for vessels from the Trent to Lincoln.

For defraying the expenses of draining, it appears that in general a rate was levied upon all lands in the contiguous wapentakes.

With this preface of the general character of the district, we propose to give a history of the city from its commencement.

On the summit of a hill close to the river Lindis, which is now called the Witham, the ancient Britons established a city of considerable importance from the most remote period of the British history. They christened the city after the original name of the river. This, on the invasion of Britain, pa.s.sed into the hands of the Romans. They made it one of their chief stations in this part of England and established a colony. Instead of calling the city something "cester," they appear to have Latinised the Celtic name, signifying "the hill port by the pool,"

and called it Lindum Colonia. Through process of time and differences of p.r.o.nunciation, consequent on the various dialects spoken successively by the Saxons, Danes, and Normans, the t.i.tle became abbreviated to Lin-coln. The date of the Roman occupation is given as being in the year 100 A.D.

Their plan of the city consisted of the form of a parallelogram about 400 yards in length by the same number of yards in breadth, defended by ma.s.sive, strong walls and intersected by two streets running at right angles.

Presumably the extremities of these streets pointed to the four cardinal points. They terminated in gates, the sole one of which--an excellent example of Roman architecture in England--is the North Gate, or, as it is generally called, Newport. It is composed of a central arch, with two lesser ones, one on either side, and is on a lower level than that of the street. Through this gate pa.s.ses the great Roman Road called Ermine Street, out into the country for a distance of about ten miles or so. To the south-west of this entrance is supposed to have been a mint. This seems to be borne out by the discovery of many Roman coins found in the vicinity. The Exchequer Gate is a very fine specimen of the thirteenth century. It bears a carved representation of the Crucifixion, which lends it considerable interest.

At the top of High Street is Pottergate and Stonebow, over which is the Guildhall. The latter is an ancient embattled structure, rebuilt in the reign of Richard II.

Besides the Northgate, the Romans appear, according to remains found, to have contributed the inevitable bath and sudatorium. On their departure from Britain, Lincoln was made the capital of the kingdom of Mercia by the Saxons in 518. Vortimer, who endeavoured to oppose them, was slain and interred here. From 786 Lincoln suffered repeatedly from visitations of the Danes, control being recovered by Edmund II., according to agreement with Canute in 1016. Throughout the whole of this period the only peace the city had enjoyed was when Alfred the Great subdued the Danes. However, Edmund II., better known as Edmund Ironsides, did not live many days longer, being murdered at Oxford. Whereupon, in 1017, Canute took possession of the murdered monarch's territory, in which Lincoln was included. William I. then came along in 1086, swept away close upon two hundred houses to make room for the erection of a castle--on a site which meant the occupation of nearly one-fourth of the old Roman city.

The Castle still has traces of Norman work, the foundations of which were formed of enormous beams of wood and a mixture of thin, coa.r.s.e mortar, used for pouring into the joints of masonry and brickwork, usually called "grouting."

In that wonderful survey of his--the "Doomsday Book"--fifty-two parishes are stated to have composed this city.

The Castle in 1140 figured in the disputes between the Empress Matilda and Stephen, the latter of whom was crowned here in 1141. Stephen was, however, made prisoner, but was afterwards exchanged, and lived three years later to celebrate Christmas here. But prior to this period Lincoln was for the first time erected into a see in the reign of William Rufus.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LINCOLN

THE WEST TOWERS]

In pursuance of a decree of a synod held at London at this time, that all the episcopal sees should be removed to fortified places, Remigius, the Bishop of Dorchester, determined to establish the seat of his diocese at Lincoln. He built the church and an episcopal palace, but died just before its consecration.

His work was completed by his successor, Robert Bloet. In the reign of Henry II. the Diocese, which once extended from the Thames to the Humber, was curtailed to add a part to form that of Ely. It again suffered diminution in Henry VIII.'s time, when the limits of the Sees of Oxford and Peterborough were defined. In spite of it all, Lincoln's see is fairly extensive, though it suffered again in 1884. Prior to this monarch's reign Lincoln had as many as fifty-two churches, but when he decided upon reformation from Popery their number was greatly diminished. Their names, still preserved, are the sole reminders of their former existence, with the exception of fourteen which remain.

These have probably been rebuilt.

Before entering further concerning the See, and the Cathedral founded by Remigius, which was constantly in the hands of the architect even down to recent years, we shall add the chief political events subsequent to Stephen. On the death of this monarch, Henry II., probably not satisfied with his coronation in London, underwent the ceremony again at Wigford, a place just a little to the south of Lincoln city.

John here early in his reign received the homage of David the King of Scotland. During the struggle with the barons in 1216 the citizens remained loyal to their sovereign; but their city was taken at last in 1217, and invested by the barons under Gilbert de Gaunt, afterwards created Earl of Lincoln. After the disaster that overtook John's army in the pa.s.sage across the Wash, and his death, which took place soon afterwards, his son Henry III. was loyally a.s.sisted by the inhabitants against the barons, who had summoned to their aid Louis, the Dauphin of France. The Castle, however, remained for many years in the possession of the Crown. Eventually it became the summer residence of the celebrated John of Gaunt. He was Earl of Lincoln, and in 1396 married here Lady Swinford, who was a sister-in-law to Chaucer.

Several times Parliament was held in Lincoln; namely, twice by Edward I., and in 1301 and 1305; twice also by Edward II.; and in the first year of Edward III.'s reign.

Henry VI. paid a visit, as did also Henry VII., who held a public thanksgiving for his victory over Richard III. at the battle of Bosworth Field.

Throughout the parliamentary war the inhabitants were staunch supporters of the Crown. The city was stormed by Earl Manchester, an indefatigable soldier of Cromwell. The Commonwealth troopers during their occupation created considerable havoc in the ecclesiastical buildings. According to their invariable custom they stabled their horses and housed themselves within the cathedral walls. Not satisfied with that, they damaged the tombs and deprived the niches of their statuary.

To go back a matter of four hundred years to this period, the population of Lincoln rose _en ma.s.se_ against the Jews. They were alleged to have crucified a little Lincoln boy, presumably a Christian, at a place called Dunestall in the year 1255. The enraged mob wreaked their vengeance by causing the execution of eighteen Jews, murdering many more, and later on making a saint of the victim, under the name of "little Saint Hugh." The punishment seems to be out of proportion to the crime. In fact little Hugh's crucifixion appears rather to have served as an excuse for the wrongful persecution of the Semitic race than for the proper administration of the law irrespective of creed. Even to this day this regrettable racial feeling is kept alive. In the middle ages this bitter feeling was fostered and brought about chiefly owing to the wonderful success of the Jews in England, who grew rich upon the profits accruing to usury, which they alone might exercise. Among many prominent instances of popular vengeance, besides little St. Hugh's murder, are the tombs of boy-martyrs, shrines which became often the most popular in the Cathedral.

The most characteristic are the records of the burials, attended with great pomp, of St. William of Norwich in 1144, Harold of Gloucester in 1168, Robert of Edmundsbury in 1184, a nameless boy in London in 1244, and St. Hugh of Lincoln in 1255; boys canonised by the populace simply through bitter racial feeling. Remains of the shrine of little St. Hugh are still extant at Lincoln.

Among the many interesting antiquities of Lincoln is a fine specimen of the Norman domestic architecture. It is called the Jews' House, and it is an edifice of curious design. Its mouldings much resemble those of the west portals of the Cathedral, a date which probably would be 1184.

The house belonged to a Jewess called Belaset de Wallingford. She was hanged in the reign of Edward I. for clipping the coin.

Besides this are noticeable the ancient conduits of St. Mary le Wigford, which is Gothic, and the Greyfriars Conduit in High Street.

In the cloister garden are preserved a tesselated pavement and the sepulchral slab of a Roman soldier. From the same place the splendidly carved stone coffin lid of Bishop Remigius has recently been removed into the interior of the Cathedral.