Cathedral Cities of England Part 5

During the Diocletian persecution of the Christians, in the year 304 A.

D., a distinguished citizen, Alban of Verulamium, of Roman origin, but converted to Christianity, suffered martyrdom for giving shelter to Amphibalus, a Christian. For this crime he was executed on the site of the present abbey, and in 772 was canonised.

Nearly five hundred years after, in 793, Offa, the King of Mercia, was very much exercised in mind as to the best means of expiating his murder of aethelbert.

Greatly to his relief, he was bidden in a vision to seek the remains of St. Alban, and over them, when found, to erect a monastery. In accordance with these instructions he, with Higbert, Archbishop of Lichfield, the Bishops of Leicester and Lindsey, and a huge a.s.sembly of clergy and laity, visited the hill, where the "Proto-martyr of England,"

as St. Alban came to be known, had suffered. There the holy remains were discovered. Over them Offa founded the abbey, with a monastery for one hundred monks of the Order of St. Benedict.

The present abbey really dates from the eleventh century. At the close of the tenth century the ruins of the old Roman city of Verulamium were broken up to serve as materials for the new church buildings. But owing to the unsettled character of the times the erection was delayed, till William the Conqueror was firmly possessed of the throne, when Paul of Caen, a relative of Archbishop Lanfranc, was appointed abbot in 1077. He built the magnificent Norman structure, based upon the plans of St.

Stephen's, Caen--the same church which served as a model for Lanfranc, when he built Canterbury.

Though finished for some years past, it was only consecrated in 1115.

As was invariably the custom, the church was built in the form of a cross. In this connection it is interesting to note the evolution of the cross.

Prior to the Christian era the cross was looked upon with disfavour.

To be crucified was to undergo a most ignominious form of punishment, and it was only served out to malefactors of the worst description.

Nothing short of this would have been a sufficient check in those times to the growth of vice. But in the early days of Christianity the cross came to be regarded as the holiest symbol of "The Sacrifice" made for the good of mankind.

When converts met they formed on the ground the sign of the cross, in order to distinguish friends from foes. The mere fact of a severe punishment meted out consequent on discovery of this secret pa.s.sport served only to increase the reverence held for the symbol.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ST. ALBANS

FROM THE WALLS OF OLD VERULAM]

As soon as time and opportunity allowed places of worship were erected, and the natural form adopted would be that of the cross, for which they had suffered so much persecution, and which typified the foundation of their faith and hopes of salvation.

As they a.s.sembled in church they would be sensible of the prevailing influence of the emblem. In every direction, look where they would, they would always see the holy sign. The roof would reveal to the gaze the same form as that on the ground.

Even the walls, as they soared upwards, out-lined, tier upon tier, the Christian sign, capped at the last by a mighty cross, which cast its protecting shadows around and over the worshippers.

The altar came to be placed at the head of the cross. The transept, crossing it at right angles, formed the arms, and the nave the upright.

The altar was always situated at the east end, again ill.u.s.trating a link with the pagan times, when worshippers turned towards the sun.

As time progressed chapels were erected along the sides, causing the walls to be pierced and arched. These chapels were in honour, firstly, of "The Blessed Virgin," and then of the leaders of "The Faith," who had been canonised as saints on account of martyrdom. But the main building was always dedicated to the "G.o.d Head."

By a special grant in 1154, given by Pope Adrian IV., who was born near St. Albans, and who was the only Englishman ever appointed to the Papal See, the abbots of St. Albans were allowed the privilege of wearing a mitre. Added to this dignity he was given precedence over all in England, whether they were king, archbishop, bishop, or legate. He also exercised supreme episcopal jurisdiction over all clergy and laity in all lands pertaining to the monastery.

The first abbot was WillG.o.d, nominated by King Offa.

The last one was Richard Boreman, otherwise Stevenache.

In all there were forty-one from the foundation to the suppression, which took place in 1534. In that year the monastery was seized by Henry VIII., who allowed pensions to the monks, and an annuity to the abbot.

About 1480 the abbey was amongst the first in England to set up a printing press. On this the first English translation of the Bible was printed.

In spite of every loving care exercised, the relics of St. Alban enjoyed little rest. In Wulruth's reign as fourth abbot, the abbey suffered at the hands of the Danes. They carried away with them the bones of "the Proto-martyr" to Denmark, and there placed them in a convent at Owenses.

They were found and brought back to the abbey.

Again, seventy years later, the Danes ravaged the country. But this time aelfric II., eleventh abbot, resorted to artifice. He hid the bones in the walls of the church, and sent bogus relics to the monastery at Ely, giving the monks special charges to guard them well. On the retirement of the Danes from the country, aelfric sent post haste to reclaim these bones. Ely at first demurred, but, giving way in the end, sent back some subst.i.tuted bones. This disquieted the saint.

He appeared to Gilbert, a Benedictine monk, and to him disclosed the fraud, enjoining him to bring to light the true bones from their hiding-place. This was solemnly done. But Ely unexpectedly disclosed the artifice they had practised, and claimed that they were in possession of the true relics.

As neither party would yield, "the relics of St. Alban" for a hundred years received reverential and impartial homage both at St. Albans and at Ely. Eventually Ely disclaimed their right, on the appeal of Robert de Gorham, the eighteenth abbot, to the Pope.

In the history of the "Wars of the Roses," the city of St. Albans played a prominent part.

In 1455 Henry VI. set up his royal standard on the north side of the town, whilst the Yorkists, under the Duke of York and the Earl of Warwick, the "Kingmaker," encamped in the fields east of the town.

On May 3 of the same year in Holywell Street and its adjacent roads fought the two armies to decide the succession to the English throne.

The Yorkists gained the victory. The king was taken a wounded prisoner.

On February 17, 1461, St. Albans was for the second time the scene of a terrible battle. The Lancastrians, with Queen Margaret at their head, defeated the Yorkists under the Earl of Warwick, and restored Henry VI.

to the throne.

The princ.i.p.al portions now in existence of the original Norman church by Paul of Caen are the tower, the eastern bays of the nave, and the transepts. Though it exhibits specimens of architecture of different periods, and has undergone much restoration, the main architectural outlines, as conceived by Paul, have been adhered to all the time.

Within recent years Sir Gilbert Scott, succeeded by Sir Edmund Beckett, made extensive renovations. The only reminder of the once vast monastic buildings is the great gateway, within a few yards of the west entrance to the abbey.

Wells

Welle.

("Doomsday Book.")

"Wells, a city, having separate jurisdiction, locally in the hundred of Wells-Forum, County of Somerset." Thus runs a description of this place, and is a fair sample of most cities. We think a little explanation anent "the hundred" may possibly make that term more clear of understanding, and may not be amiss. The description, short as it is, has quite a condensed history of its own, but only conveys a hazy idea of the status of the city.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WELLS

CATHEDRAL AND THE POOLS]

In the days of heathenism, it must be remembered that England was part.i.tioned into several kingdoms, the size of which was regulated by the might of their respective kings. Each tribe, or kingdom, was ruled by a tribal chief, or folk-king. He was chosen by the tribe, and the king-ship became in time practically hereditary. To maintain his power he had to respect and keep the customs of his people. Without their consent he could pa.s.s no law; he could touch no freeman's life or heritage without consent of law, which gave the freeman the right of defending his cause before his fellow-freemen; he presided, at regular annual intervals, at the folk-moot, or tribal a.s.sembly, and at the great feasts and sacrifices. Counsellors and wise men a.s.sisted the king with advice. His marriages were the result of favourable and pacific negotiations with other tribes. He was called upon to travel throughout his kingdom and see that justice was properly administered and evil and oppression suppressed. He was almost regarded as a demi-G.o.d, and his crimes were supposed to be punished by the G.o.ds, who denied good seasons and brought about other calamities. The king was allowed a little army, or comitatus as it was called, of paid retainers, to maintain adequate discipline, and to form his bodyguard. These kings, chosen by the people at the tribal-moot, in heathen times were throned on the holy stone and carried about on a shield, and in Christian times were consecrated. In accordance with the extension of the West Saxon kingdom, which became the kingdom of the English, the court increased. At the time of the Conquest, a treasurer, a chancellor, and other officials looking after the king's plate, clothes, and horses were added to the royal household. When in addition to these were added the bishops, abbots, and the aldermen, who had succeeded the tribal kings in the several "folks,"

or "shires," on their absorption into the West Saxon kingdom, the king was recognised as the head of the Witema-gemot, or Concilium Sapientium, as the "meeting of wis.e.m.e.n" was called. In the tenth century the king no longer went about to get the consent of each folk-moot to a certain law, but convened the heads of each shire-moot at some convenient central spot. This convening of moots, or Mycel-gemot, became the Magnum Concilium of the Normans, and in the thirteenth century developed into the High Courts and Parliament. Beneath the shire-moots came the "hundred-moots," and later on the "hall-moots." The origin of the "hundred" appears, by some authorities, to be based on the military organisation. It is supposed, in the first instance, to be a grouping of a sufficient number of free homesteads to furnish at least one hundred and twenty fully-armed freemen for war service, and to supply full-qualified jurors for the cases of the district. This hundred-moot was presided over by a lord or an hundred-elder, and discharged the duties for the district much in the same way as the shire-moot did for the county. It was a criminal and civil court with its grand jury, and enforced the attendance of persons from each manor within the hundred. When the king was absent from the shire-moot, the "ealdorman"

(alderman) of the shire presided, and to watch the royal interests was nominated the "shire-reeve," or sheriff (scirgerefa), chosen from the better cla.s.s of the freeholders. We are told that the laws of England were far in advance of those in France. In fact, the English had written laws at the time of the Conquest, and the Normans had none. It hardly seems credible that the conquered were, in some respects, more civilised than their conquerors.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WELLS