The Cathedral Church of Peterborough Part 7

[Ill.u.s.tration: Iron Railings, 1721.]

=Adam of Boothby= (1321-1338), one of the monks, was a man of great "innocence and simplicity" His revenues were much employed in contributions to the king's expenses and in royal entertainments; and his energies devoted to divers legal difficulties connected with manors, wardships, repairs of bridges, rights of hunting, and the like. Of the last eleven abbots, whose rule extended over a period of 124 years, all but one had been monks of the place.

=Henry of Morcot= (1338-1353) in all probability was also one of the monks, but this is not so recorded. And the same may be said of all the remaining abbots, but the historians do not say so until the time of William in 1471. At the same time it is never said that any of them came from elsewhere.

=Robert of Ramsey= (1353-1361) ruled for eight years, and nothing else is known about him.

=Henry of Overton= (1361-1391) was abbot during the commotions in King Richard II.'s reign. The tenants with others rose up against the abbey, intending to destroy it. The Bishop of Norwich "coming to the a.s.sistance of the monastery with a strong power, forced the villains to desist from their enterprise: nay, dispersed them, and took some of them, and killed others; the rest, taking the church for sanctuary, which they intended to have destroyed, were there run through with lances and swords; some of them hard by the altar, others by the walls of the church, both within and without."

=Nicholas= (1391-1396), =William Genge= (1396-1408) the first mitred abbot, =John Deeping= (1408-1438) in turn succeeded. Nothing remarkable is told of them. The name of the last and the names of the next two are really the names of places; but the prefix "de" seems now to have been discontinued, and the place-name to have become a surname. Abbot John resigned his office the year before he died.

=Richard Ashton= (1438-1471) took great pains about the regulation of the services in the church, and drew up a customary out of the ancient usages of the place.

=William Ramsey= (1471-1496) appears to have devoted his time to the management of the estates and to upholding the territorial privileges of the house. If the epitaph formerly to be seen on a bra.s.s on his tomb is to be believed, he was a man prudent, just, pious, esteemed by all, chaste, kind, and adorned with every virtue.

=Robert Kirton= (1496-1528) has left several proofs of his energy in building, signing, as it were, the stones with his autograph. His rebus, a kirk on a ton, sometimes accompanied by the initial of his Christian name, is to be seen in the New Building, which he completed, on the Deanery gateway, and on the graceful oriel window in the Bishop's Palace. The chamber to which this window gives light still retains the name originally given of "Heaven's Gate Chamber." Much other work done by him towards the beautifying of the church and buildings has perished.

The last abbot was =John Chambers= (1528-1540). One incident of considerable interest is related as having taken place in his first year. "Cardinal Wolsey came to Peterburgh, where he kept his Easter.

Upon Palm Sunday he carried his palm, going with the monks in procession, and the Thursday following he kept his Maundy, washing and kissing the feet of fifty-nine poor people, and having dried them, he gave to every one of them 12d. and three ells of canvas for a shirt; he gave also to each of them a pair of shoes and a portion of red herrings.

On Easter day he went in procession in his cardinal's vestments, and sang the High-Ma.s.s himself after a solemn manner, which he concluded with his benediction and remission upon all the hearers." This abbot was a native of Peterborough, and was sometimes known as John Burgh; and on the bra.s.s placed on his tomb he was called "Johannes Burgh, Burgo natus." A monumental effigy was also erected to him, "made of white chalkstone"; and this is almost certainly the figure now placed (temporarily) at the back of the apse. This abbot was B.D. of Cambridge and one of the king's chaplains. It was during his time that Queen Katherine of Arragon was interred in the minster. The well-known story that the building was spared by the king out of regard to the memory of his first wife is told by Dean Patrick in these words:--[34]"There is this traditional story goes concerning the preservation of this church at the dissolution of abbeys: that a little after Queen Katherine's interment here (which Mr G. mentions), some courtiers suggesting to the king how well it would become his greatness to erect a fair monument for her, he answered, 'Yes, he would leave her one of the goodliest monuments in Christendom,' meaning this church, for he had then in his thoughts the demolishing of abbeys, which shortly after followed." Abbot Chambers surrendered the monastery to the king in 1540, and was appointed guardian of the temporalities, with a pension of 266, 13s.

4d. and 100 loads of wood. The king divided the whole property of the abbey into three parts, retaining one-third for himself, and a.s.signing the other parts upon the foundation of the see to the Bishop and Chapter respectively. If the annual value of the portion he reserved for his own use may be taken to be exactly one-third of the possessions of the abbey, the entire property must have been worth as nearly as possible 2200 per annum. The last abbot became the first bishop.

It is remarkable that of the two queens buried at Peterborough, the body of one has been removed to Westminster by the orders of her son, and that a similar removal had been previously designed for the body of the other. Queen Katherine's daughter, Queen Mary, left directions in her will that "the body of the virtuous Lady and my most dere and well-beloved mother of happy memory, Queen Kateryn, which lyeth now buried at Peterborowh," should be removed and laid near the place of her own sepulture, and that honourable monuments should be made for both. It would have been a singular coincidence if this intention had been carried out.

CHAPTER VI.

HISTORY OF THE DIOCESE.

The Abbey Church was converted into the Cathedral of the newly-founded diocese of Peterborough by deed bearing date September 4, 1541. The counties of Northampton and Rutland were the limits of the new see. The king's original plan for the establishment of bishoprics out of the confiscated estates of monastic establishments was too generous to be put into practice. He designed the foundation of no less than twenty-one new sees. In this scheme Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire were a.s.signed to the diocese of Peterborough; and, considering the situation of the new cathedral, this would have been a more satisfactory arrangement than the one which was ultimately carried out. The only change that has been made in the limits of the diocese is that, in the year 1839, the county of Leicester was detached from the see of Lincoln and joined to Peterborough.

As has been said above, the first bishop was =John Chambers= (1541-1556). He was consecrated[35] in the minster on the 23rd of October 1541, by Thomas (Thirlby), Bishop of Ely, Robert (Blyth), Bishop of Down, last Abbot of Thorney, Suffragan of Ely, and Thomas (Hallam or Swillington), Bishop of Philadelphia, Suffragan of Lincoln. Strype has an account of his costly funeral. The two memorials to him in the church had been erected by himself in his lifetime.

=David Pole= (1556-1559) is generally held to have been a relative (some say a nephew) of Cardinal Reginald Pole. He was Dean of the Arches. He was not consecrated till August 1557, and so held the bishopric less than two years, being deprived by Queen Elizabeth in June 1559. He lived quietly in London till his death in 1568.

=Edmund Scambler= (1560-1584) in the Roman index of books prohibited is called Pseudo-Episcopus, no doubt because there was another Bishop of Peterborough, Pole, still living. He alienated many of the lands and manors of his bishopric to the queen and to her courtiers; and as a reward he was translated to Norwich, where he died ten years later.

=Richard Howland= (1584-1600) was Master of Magdalene, and afterwards of S. John's, Cambridge. He was present at the funeral of Mary Queen of Scots. He was buried at the upper end of the choir, but no stone or monument exists to his memory.

=Thomas Dove= (1600-1630) was Dean of Norwich. He was[36] "a lover of hospitality, keeping a very free house, and having always a numerous family, yet was so careful of posterity that he left a fair estate to his heirs." He was buried in the north transept. "Over his body was erected a very comely monument of long quadrangular form, having four corner pilasters supporting a fair table of black marble, and, within, the pourtraiture of the bishop lying in his Episcopal habit." This was destroyed in 1643. There was a long Latin inscription in prose and verse, and among the verses these occur:--

"Hoc addam: Hie illa est senio argentata Columba Davidis, coelos hinc pet.i.t ille suos."

This monument was erected by the bishop's eldest son, Sir William Dove, Kt., of Upton.

=William Peirse= (1630-1632) was promoted from the Deanery. He only remained here as bishop two years, when he was translated to Bath and Wells. "A man of excellent parts, both in divinity and knowledge of the laws: very vigilant and active he was for the good both of the ecclesiastical and civil state." He was silenced during the civil war, but restored in 1660. On his tombstone, at Walthamstow, it is said "_Templum Cathedrale Wellense reparavit, Episcopale Palatium exaedificavit, coelis maturus terris valedixit an. aet._ 94 _salut_.

1670."

=Augustine Lindsell= (1632-1634) was Dean of Lichfield. He was translated to Hereford after being bishop here two years, but died within a few months.

=Francis Dee= (1634-1638) was Dean of Chichester. "He was a man of very pious life and affable behaviour." He founded scholarships and fellowships at S. John's College, Cambridge, of which he had been Fellow, for boys from the King's School, Peterborough, of his name or kindred. In 1637 Archbishop Laud reported to the King that "My Lord of Peterborough hath taken a great deal of pains and brought his diocese into very good order." He left by will 100 to the repairs of the Cathedral, and the same amount to the repairs of S. Paul's. He was buried in the choir, near the throne.

=John Towers= (1638-1649) was one of the King's chaplains. He was promoted from the Deanery. He protested, with eleven other bishops, against the opposition that was made by the Parliamentary party to their taking their seats in the House of Lords, in which protest it was declared that all laws, orders, votes, or resolutions, were in themselves null and of none effect, which in their absence from Dec.

27th 1641, had been pa.s.sed, or should afterwards be pa.s.sed, during the time of their enforced absence. For this they were committed to the Tower, and kept there four or five months. Being set free he was allowed to return to Peterborough, but his revenues were taken away. Living here in a state of continual alarm, he betook himself to the king's forces at Oxford, where he remained until the surrender of the place. Coming back here in 1646 his health failed, and he died about three weeks before the king was beheaded. He was buried in the choir.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Details of Chasuble on Abbot's Tomb.]

No successor was appointed until the Restoration. =Benjamin Laney= (1660-1663) was then made Bishop. He was Dean of Rochester, and had been Master of Pembroke, Cambridge. He was translated to Lincoln in 1663, and to Ely in 1667. He died in 1675, and is buried at Lambeth.

=Joseph Henshaw= (1663-1679) was Dean of Chichester. He died suddenly on March 9, 1679, on his return from attending service at Westminster Abbey. He was buried at East Lavant in Suss.e.x, where he had been rector.

=William Lloyd= (1679-1685) was translated from Llandaff, and was further translated to Norwich in 1685. He was deprived of his see as a Nonjuror in 1691. He lived at Hammersmith till his death in 1710. He was the last survivor of the seven deprived bishops. It is singular that his namesake, William Lloyd, bishop of S. Asaph, should have been one of the seven bishops committed to the Tower by King James II. in 1688; but he had no scruples about taking the oaths to the new sovereigns, and became afterwards Bishop of Lichfield, and ultimately of Worcester.

=Thomas White= (1685-1691) was one of the seven committed to the Tower, and also one of the seven deprived in 1691 as Nonjurors. He attended Sir John Fenwick on the scaffold. This bishop, with his predecessor, Bishop Lloyd, the deprived Bishop of Norwich, were two of the consecrators of the Nonjuring Bishops, Hickes and Wagstaffe. There were really ten bishops (including Archbishop Sancroft) who refused the oaths to William and Mary; but the Bishops of Worcester, Chichester, and Chester died before the time fixed for the deprivation. Bishop White lived in retirement after he left his diocese. He died in 1698, and his funeral is mentioned in Evelyn's _Diary_, under date June 5th: "Dr White, late Bishop of Peterborough, who had been deprived for not complying with Government, was buried in St Gregory's churchyard or vault, at St Paul's. His hea.r.s.e was accompanied by two Nonjuror bishops, Dr. Turner of Ely, and Dr. Lloyd, with forty Nonjuror clergymen, who could not stay the office of the burial, because the Dean of St Paul's had appointed a conforming minister to read the office, at which all much wondered, there being nothing in that office which mentioned the present king."

Lathbury remarks on this retirement from the grave, that it was a singular circ.u.mstance, and contrary to the practice of the Nonjurors in many other cases.

=Richard c.u.mberland= (1691-1718) had a reputation as a philosophical writer. The only memoir of him is to be found in the preface to _Sanchoniathon's History_,[37] a posthumous work, in which his chaplain (and son-in-law) thus describes his appointment:--"The king was told that Dr c.u.mberland was the fittest man he could nominate to the bishopric of Peterborough. Thus a private country clergyman, without posting to Court--a place he had rarely seen--without suing to great men, without taking the least step towards soliciting for it, was pitched upon to fill a great trust, only because he was fittest for it.

He walked after his usual manner on a post-day to the coffee-house, and read in the newspaper that one Dr c.u.mberland of Stamford was named to the bishopric of Peterborough, a greater surprise to himself than to anybody else." His chaplain speaks of the bishop's character, zeal, and learning in terms of unqualified praise. One of the bishop's sons, Richard, was Archdeacon of Northampton, and father of Denison c.u.mberland, Bishop of Clonfert and of Kilmore. This last named married a daughter of Dr Bentley, the famous Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and one of their sons was Richard c.u.mberland, the dramatist. Bishop Richard c.u.mberland is buried in the Cathedral, and a tablet to his memory remains in the New Building.

=White Kennett= (1718-1728) had been Dean. He was a most industrious writer, many of his works, which are upwards of fifty in number, being most laborious. His ma.n.u.script collections in the British Museum are also of great value. He is best known from his antiquarian tastes and studies, and for having directed the attention of his clergy to the value of parish registers. It would seem that before his time no transcripts of parish registers were ever sent to the Bishop's Registry at Peterborough. The earliest transcripts now to be found date only from the beginning of his episcopate, except that, in a few instances, some inc.u.mbents appear to have sent the entries for six or eight years previously. Notwithstanding the efficiency of his predecessor he "found the irregularities of the diocese great and many." The Cathedral service was negligently conducted, many clergy were non-resident, some small benefices had been left unfilled. Many other abuses were discovered from time to time. Bishop Kennett was most active and conscientious in administering his office, and thoroughly re-organised the diocese; but his strong political partisanship made for him a great number of enemies. The enmity he raised came to a culminating point while he was still dean. An altar-piece representing the Last Supper had been painted for Whitechapel Church.[38] In this Judas was painted turning round to the spectator, and was intended to represent Kennett. We do not know whether the likeness in itself was sufficiently good to be recognised, but the intention was sufficiently indicated by a black patch in the centre of the forehead, just under the wig. Kennett always wore such a patch, to hide a scar which had remained after being trepanned in early manhood. Judas is, moreover, represented as clean-shaven, being the only figure so drawn except the Evangelist S.

John. Great scandal and excitement were caused by this picture, and it was removed. It ultimately found a home at S. Albans Abbey, where it may still be seen (patch and all), but no longer in the position it once occupied over the high altar. Bishop Kennett died in 1728, and is buried in the New Building.

=Robert Clavering= (1728-1747) was consecrated Bishop of Llandaff in 1725, and translated to Peterborough in 1728. He is buried here, but no memorial exists.

=John Thomas= (1747-1757) was Canon of S. Paul's. He was translated to Sarum in 1757, and to Winchester in 1761. He was preceptor to Prince George, afterwards King George III., who used to visit him at Farnham Castle. In the early part of his episcopate he had a namesake on the bench, John Thomas, formerly Dean of Peterborough, who was made Bishop of Lincoln in 1744, and of Sarum in 1761; and during the latter part another namesake, John Thomas, Bishop of Rochester from 1775 to 1793.

Bishop Thomas of Winchester died in 1781, in his 85th year, and is buried in his cathedral.

=Richard Terrick= (1757-1764) was Canon of S. Paul's. He was translated to London in 1764, and died in 1777.

=Robert Lamb= (1764-1769) had been Dean. He is buried at Hatfield, where he had been rector.

=John Hinchcliffe= (1769-1794) is an instance of a man, rising from an inferior station to positions of the greatest eminence. His father was a stable-master in London. Proceeding from Westminster School to Trinity College, Cambridge, he obtained a Fellowship there. He afterwards, through a gentleman of wealth to whom he was tutor, secured some very influential friends, and became Head Master of Westminster School, Chaplain to the King, and Master of Trinity. This last appointment he continued to hold with his bishopric until 1789, when he was made Dean of Durham. A memoir published at the time of his death describes him as learned, a.s.siduous in his duties, obliging in his manners, and honest and sincere in his religious and political principles. He died in 1794, and is buried in the cathedral.

=Spencer Madan= (1794-1813) was a prebendary and king's chaplain, and first cousin to the poet Cowper. He came back to Peterborough from Bristol, to which see he was consecrated in 1792. He is buried in the New Building.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Details of Albs on Abbots' Tombs.]

=John Parsons= (1813-1819) was Master of Balliol and Dean of Bristol. He was a man of great mark and influence at Oxford, where he died and was buried. There is a monument to him in the chapel of Balliol.

=Herbert Marsh= (1819-1839) was the author of many controversial works.

He was translated to this see from Llandaff, where he had been bishop since 1816. He was buried in the New Building--the last bishop interred in the cathedral.

=George Davys= (1839-1864) was Dean of Chester, and had been preceptor to Queen Victoria. He was buried in the Cathedral Yard; the Queen sent one of her carriages with servants in state liveries to attend the funeral as a mark of her affection and esteem.

=Francis Jeune= (1864-1868) had been Dean of Jersey, Master of Pembroke, Oxford, and Dean of Lincoln. His eldest son was the well-known judge.

Bishop Jeune is buried in the Cathedral Yard.