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THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF SAINT PAUL
An Account of the Old and
New Buildings with a
Short Historical Sketch
by
THE REV. ARTHUR DIMOCK, M.A.
Rector of Wetherden, Suffolk
[Illustration: _Photochrom Co. Ltd. Photo._
ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, FROM THE SOUTH BANK OF THE THAMES.]
[Illustration: (Arms of the See)]
With XXXIX Illustrations
London George Bell & Sons 1900
PREFACE.
The MSS. relating to St. Paul's are deficient in regard to the earlier
periods, but become gradually more complete as time progresses. They
have been published or quoted, probably, more extensively than those
belonging to any other religious foundation in this country, unless it
be such communities as St. Alban's, which have attracted the continued
attention of the editors working under the Master of the Rolls. In
consequence, although our knowledge, not only of the Romano-British
period but of many succeeding centuries, is defective or altogether
wanting, yet as time advances after the Norman Conquest the merely
printed material at our disposal becomes gradually almost
embarrassing. When we come to the present Cathedral, we know not only
exactly _when_ it was built, but to a great extent _how_ and _why_.
In the _Parentalia_ Wren's grandson, Stephen, partly in his own words,
partly in those of his famous grandfather, lifting the curtain,
discloses the personal history and inner self of the architect at his
work.
Among the leading authorities are the following, giving the place of
honour to the--
_Parentalia or Memoirs. Completed by his_ [Sir Christopher's] _son,
Christopher. Now published by his grandson, Stephen Wren, Esq._
(London, 1858).
_The History of St. Paul's_, by Sir William Dugdale (Ellis' edition,
1818).
_Repertorium_, by Richard Newcourt (London, 1708).
_Radulfi de Diceto, Decani, Lundoniensis Opera Historica_ (vols. i.
and ii., edited for the Master of the Rolls by the Bishop of Oxford).
I have to thank the Dean for permission to consult the Chapter copy of
the _Registrum Statutorum_, edited for private circulation (1873) by
that enthusiastic and accurate St. Paul's scholar, the late Dr.
Sparrow-Simpson, one of the last of the Minor Canons on the old
foundation, Librarian and Sub-dean. There is a supplement (1897).
Dr. Sparrow-Simpson also wrote or edited the following--
_Documents Illustrating the History of St. Paul's Cathedral_ (Camden
Society, 1880).
_Chapters in the History of Old St. Paul's_ (1881).
_Visitation of Churches_ (Camden Society, 1885).
_Gleanings from Old St. Paul's_ (1889).
_St. Paul's and Old City Life_ (1894).
His remaining work, the Catalogue of the Library, I have not
consulted.
_Annals of St. Paul's_, by Dean Milman (1868).
The learned and talented historian did not live to see this his last
work through the press. In consequence there are printer's errors as
to dates, &c., which I have not thought it necessary to point out.
_Domesday of St. Paul's_, by Archdeacon Hale (Camden Society, 1858).
_The Three Cathedrals dedicated to St. Paul_, by William Longman
(Longmans, 1873).
Amongst other sources of information are the lectures delivered in St.
Paul's by Bishop Browne when a residentiary, and published by the
S.P.C.K. The value of these to the students of early Church History is
in an inverse ratio to their size. The origin of our secular colleges
yet remains to be written; but I am again indebted to Mr. Arthur
Francis Leach for the Introduction to the _Visitations of Southwell_
(Camden Society, 1891), for valuable information on this subject.
In regard to the efforts to complete Wren's designs by mosaic
decorations, I have carefully observed all that has been done, and
have attentively followed much that has been said and written. In
particular I have been interested by a statement that has gone the
round of the press. Certain young ladies and gentlemen of the Slade
School of Art and elsewhere are reported to have protested that even
good and appropriate decoration would be contrary to the wishes of Sir
Christopher Wren.
My thanks are due to the Dean for his courtesy and trouble in
rendering me all the assistance I asked for; to the Bishop of Oxford
(like the Bishop of Bristol, a former residentiary) for providing me
with a list of authorities at the commencement of my task; to the
librarians of All Souls' College, Oxford, and their committee, and
particularly to Mr. George Holden, assistant librarian, for permission
to use their invaluable collection of Wren's designs and drawings; to
the Archdeacon of Middlesex for information concerning the
inscriptions on the stalls; to Canon Milford, successor to Wren's
father as Rector of Bishop-Knoyle, for communicating to me the
irregularity about the registration of Wren's baptism, and for the
loan of Mrs. Lucy Phillimore's _Life and Times of Wren_, a work out of
print and not to be procured at the London Library; to Mr. Peter
Cazalet for kind assistance in drawing one of the arches and also in
describing the monuments; and if last, certainly not least, to the
ever courteous officials of the Cathedral, who have rendered me every
facility in my study of Wren's building.
ARTHUR DIMOCK.
WETHERDEN RECTORY,
HAUGHLEY, SUFFOLK,
_January 3, 1900._
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Foundation and History to the Accession of Dean Colet
(61-1505) 3
II. From the Accession of Dean Colet to the Great Fire
(1505-1666) 19
III. Old St. Paul's. Exterior 36
Interior 40
Precincts 48
Dimensions 54
IV. From the Fire to the Completion of New St. Paul's
(1666-1710) 55
V. New St. Paul's. Exterior 77
North and South Fronts 84
East End 86
West Front 86
The Dome 89
The Lantern 93
VI. New St. Paul's. Interior 94
The Nave 95
The Main Arcade 97
The Triforium Belt 98
The Clerestory 98
The Vaulting 98
The Nave Aisles 100
The West Chapels 100
The Geometrical Staircase 102
The Dome--The Arcading 103
The Whispering Gallery 104
The Drum 104
The Cupola 106
The Pulpit 107
The Mosaics 107
The Transepts 111
The Choir--The Stalls 112
The Organ 114
The Reredos 115
The Apse 116
The Mosaics 116
The Reredos Arch 120
The Monuments 121
The Crypt 132
The Galleries and Library 136
VII. Conclusion 138
APPENDIX A. Bishops and Deans 143
APPENDIX B. Comparative Size 147
Dimensions 148
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
St. Paul's, from the South Side of the Thames _Frontispiece_
Arms of the See _Title_
South View of Old St. Paul's in 1658, after Hollar 2
Monument of John of Gaunt 12
The Shrine and Altar of St. Erkenwald 17
Dean Colet, from Holland's "Heroologia" 20
Tomb of Dean Colet, after Hollar 21
Inigo Jones' Portico, after Hollar 29
St. Paul's in Flames, after Hollar 33
The Nave of Old St. Paul's, after Hollar 41
The Choir of Old St. Paul's--looking East, after Hollar 43
St. Paul's Cross, from an old picture of 1620 49
The Chapter House and Cloister, after Hollar 51
Plan of Old St. Paul's in 1666, from Dugdale 53
Elevation and Section of Wren's rejected design, from his own
drawings 57
Sir Christopher Wren, after a portrait by Kneller 60
Relative Position and Area of Old and New St. Paul's 64
Model of Wren's First Design 66
Interior of the Model, from a sketch by Rev. J.L. Petit 67
The "Warrant Design," from Wren's drawing 69
A Later Design, as reproduced in Dugdale's "St. Paul's" 71
The West Front of St. Paul's Cathedral, from a photograph 76
North-East View 85
Section of the Dome 90
The Lantern, from the Clock Tower 92
The Choir and Nave, from the East End 96
The Order of the Interior, drawn by Peter Cazalet 97
The Geometrical Staircase 101
Interior of the Dome, from an engraving by G. Coney 105
The South Choir Aisle 110
Bishop's Throne and Stalls on the South Side 111
The Choir, Altar, and Reredos 117
The Wellington Monument 123
Nelson's Monument 128
Monuments of Dr. Donne and Bishop Blomfield 131
Nelson's Tomb 133
Church of St. Faith in the Crypt 135
The Library 136
PLAN OF THE CATHEDRAL _At end_
[Illustration: SOUTH VIEW OF OLD ST. PAUL'S IN 1658.
_After the Etching by Hollar, in Dugdale's "History of St. Paul's
Cathedral."_]
ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL.
CHAPTER I.
ITS FOUNDATION AND HISTORY TO THE ACCESSION OF DEAN COLET (61-1505).
=Romano-British.=--Tacitus, in his characteristically concise style,
introduces London into authentic history during the apostolic era and
the reign of Nero.[1] Suetonius Paulinus, governor of Britain, came in
hot haste from Mona, suspending the slaughter of the Druid leaders in
this their last fastness, to restore the Roman arms. For Boadicea,
Queen of the Iceni, outraged at the treatment of herself and her two
daughters, had, like a second Deborah, raised a popular uprising
against the foreign invaders. Colchester fallen, the ninth legion
annihilated, nothing remained but to abandon the thriving mart of
London itself for a time to the fury of the natives, before the Roman
sway could be restored.
The ground rising both from the northern bank of the Thames, some
three hundred yards distant, and from the eastern bank of the Fleet
beck, forms an eminence. Here, to protect the riverside mart below, on
or about the site of the present churchyard the Romans formed a camp;
and looking down what is now Ludgate Hill, the soldiers could see the
Fleet ebbing and flowing with each receding and advancing tide.
Northwards the country afforded a hunting ground, and a temple to
Diana Venatrix would naturally be erected. During the excavations for
New St. Paul's, Roman urns were found as well as British graves; and
in 1830, a stone altar with an image of Diana was likewise found while
digging for the foundations of Goldsmith's Hall in Foster Lane. On
such incomplete evidence rests the accuracy of the story or tradition
that a temple of Diana occupied part of the site of the present
Cathedral.
Suetonius himself restored order in London; and in spite of
insurrections, she progressed during the next three centuries to
become a centre of such importance, Roman highways spreading in
different directions, that the accurate and impartial Ammianus
Marcellinus concedes to her (_circa_ 380) the style and title of
Augusta. And it was during these three centuries of progress that
Christianity obtained a firm footing, but when and how we know not.
The picturesque story, which deceived even Bede, how that Lucius,
"king of the Britons," sent letters to Eleutherus, a holy man, Bishop
of Rome, entreating Eleutherus to convert him and his, must now be put
down as a pious forgery.[2] Tertullian (_circa_ 208) says that the
kingdom and name of Christ were then acknowledged even in those parts
inaccessible to the Romans; and we are probably on the safe side in
asserting that missions had been successfully introduced into London
by the end of the second century. Neither are we in much doubt or
difficulty as to whence they came. Gaul, visited by missionaries from
Ephesus, in turn sent others on; and the Church in London, as
throughout these Isles, in Romano-British times can be safely
described as a daughter of Gaul, and a granddaughter of the Ephesus of
St. Timothy. Beyond we know little, if anything at all, more than that
a Bishop of London, known by the Latinised name of RESTITUTUS, was one
of three British prelates at the Council of Aries (314). And while
there is no reason to suppose otherwise than that the bishops, of whom
Restitutus could not have been anything like the first, had their
principal church erected in the neighbourhood, at least, of St. Paul's
churchyard and dedicated to that saint, neither site nor name can ever
be authenticated. When the Roman troops retired, so thoroughly did the
invading savages destroy all records, that our knowledge of the
British Church in London may be compared, not inaptly, to our
knowledge of Thornhill's paintings in the concave sphere of the dome.
We know that they exist; but even on a bright May day they are
invisible from below.
=Saxon, Angle, and Dane.=--In the early years of the fifth century the
Romans are stated to have finally abandoned this country. If certain
lists are to be credited, Bishops of London of the original British
series continued until the flight of Theorus in 586. These lists have
now been rejected,[3] although as the taking of London by the East
Saxons was not prior to the date above, there is reason in the
suggestion that church and bishop were still in existence. In the
pages of Bede, writing about a century later, we come across something
more definite, which readers interested in St. Paul's may care to
have.
"In the year of our Lord 604, Augustine, Archbishop of Britain,
consecrated two bishops, viz., Mellitus and Justus; Mellitus to preach
to the province of the East Saxons, who are divided from Kent by the
river Thames, and border on the eastern sea. Their metropolis is the
city of London, situated on the bank of the aforesaid river, and is
the mart of many nations resorting to it by sea and land. At that time
Sabert, nephew to Ethelbert [Augustine's King of Kent] by his sister
Ricula, reigned over the nation, though under subjection to Ethelbert,
who had command over all the nations of the English as far as the
river Humber. But when this province [East Saxons] also received the
word of truth by the preaching of Mellitus, King Ethelbert built the
church of St. Paul in the city of London, where he and his successors
should have their episcopal seat."[4]
Bede, in one sense most interesting, becomes in a second sense most
irritating. We would give much to know how long an interval had
elapsed since the last bishop, whether this rude East Saxon building
was erected on the ruins of another or on a different site, whether
the name ST. PAUL'S was a continuation or no. Bede is silent,
ignoring the distressed and defeated Britons as an inferior race.
Ethelbert may have given the endowment of Tillingham in Essex. "And if
any one should be tempted to take away this gift, let him be anathema
and excommunicated from all Christian society." Whether the deed with
these lines originated with him or with some unknown and later donor,
it is certain that the language has been respected; for when the
valuable estates were alienated, this particular donation was reserved
for the fabric fund; and in consequence the Dean and Chapter are by
far the oldest county family in Essex.[5]
Sabert and Ethelbert were gathered to their fathers; and both were
succeeded by pagan sons. London and the East Saxon province or
kingdom--let us say Middlesex and Essex, with perhaps Herts--seem to
have been ruled by the three sons of Sabert in commission, who,
disregarding whatever thin veneer of Christianity they had found it
convenient to adopt during their father's lifetime, boldly
apostatised, and the East Saxons readily followed. Entering St.
Paul's, as the bishop was celebrating, the three scoffed and mocked,
"We will not enter into that laver, because we do not know we stand in
need of it; but eat of that bread we will." Giving the bishop the
alternative of compliance or expulsion, he withdrew after an
episcopate of twelve years and retired across the Channel. Returning
in answer to the entreaties of Laurentius, "the Londoners would not
receive Bishop Mellitus, choosing rather to be under their idolatrous
high priests." Eventually he succeeded Laurentius at Canterbury. And
for a second time London relapsed into paganism.
Thus the good fruits of the mission of Augustine were completely lost.
An interval occurs, and then Sigebert the Good, on a visit to King
Oswy of Northumbria, was converted by the reasoning of his host, and
baptised by Bishop Finan of Lindisfarne. Finan had no connection with
Rome, but belonged to that remarkable body who traced their origin to
Ireland and Iona. Sigebert took south with him two brothers, English
by race, recommended by Finan, of whom one was CEDD; a third
brother was the more famous Chad. The work of re-planting was at once
set about with the help of Sigebert's example and protection. Up and
down the province they went, and gained so many converts that Finan
felt justified in consecrating Cedd bishop of the East Saxons. The new
bishop now employed much of his time in training converts, natives of
the province, for the priesthood, both at Ythancester, near
Tillingham, and at Tilbury.[6] He acted as interpreter at the Whitby
Conference, where he was won over to the continental method of
reckoning Easter, and died shortly after of the plague (664). A later
visitation of the pestilence is assigned as a cause of half of the
diocese relapsing, while the other half, governed by Sebbe, remained
faithful. King Wulfhere of Mercia--the then overlord--sent his own
bishop Jaruman with a number of clergy, who effected a complete
restoration. Mellitus, Cedd, Sabert, Sigebert, and Sebbe (said to have
been buried at St. Paul's) now appear in the transept windows as
founders of English Christianity.
Thus we find, after various vicissitudes and relapses, the Christian
religion planted in the East Saxon province before the end of the
seventh century. The succeeding centuries must be rapidly passed over.
A staff of clergy was formed who came to be called canons; other
endowments by degrees added; the services at St. Paul's maintained as
a model for the diocese; parish churches and monasteries built. We
must even pass over Bishop Erkenwald, the hero of so many stories, and
whose shrine was the most popular in Old St. Paul's. In 962, just
after Dunstan had left the bishopric for Canterbury, St. Paul's was
burnt, and the same year rebuilt. Both before and after this London
suffered from the ravages of the Danes.
The Primate Elfege, the victim of a drunken rabble, was buried at St.
Paul's (1014), as was Ethelred the Unready (1017), and nearly fifty
years later Edward the outlaw, the representative of the house of
Cerdic and of Alfred.
William the Norman, bishop (1051-1075) in spite of the Confessor and
his nominee the Sparrowhawk, occupied the see long enough to greet his
countrymen on taking possession; and just before his death would be
present at the great council held in his cathedral presided over by
Lanfranc. Norman though he was, he was in touch with the citizens
around his church, and earned their enduring gratitude and friendship
by obtaining a fresh grant of their privileges, as he did for the
cathedral. "I will," said the Conqueror, "the said church to be free
in all respects, as I trust my own soul to be at the Judgment Day."
=The Normans.=--Maurice, of course a Norman, had been only recently
elected bishop in the room of Huge de Orivalle, when the tenth century
church of Bishop Elfstan was destroyed in a fire that consumed the
greater part of the City (1086 or 1087).
He set to work to build another on a larger scale and after the
approved Anglo-Norman method. Fresh ground was procured, and houses
pulled down for the enlargement of church and churchyard. "Barges,"
says Mr. J.R. Green, "came up the river with stone from Caen for the
great arches that moved the popular wonder, while street and lane were
being levelled to make space for the famous churchyard of St. Paul's."
Maurice died before the work was anything like finished, but Richard
de Belmeis, a most munificent prelate, devoted his episcopal revenues
for the purpose.
An earthquake in the second year of Rufus, followed two years later by
a destructive November storm, impeded the progress, but in spite of
all drawbacks and hindrances, builders and workmen toiled on, Henry I.
exempting the stone from toll. "Such is the stateliness of its
beauty," said William of Malmesbury, "that it is worthy of being
numbered amongst the most famous of buildings; such the extent of the
crypt, of such capacity the upper structure, that it seems sufficient
to contain a multitude of people." It was the variation of an inch or
two in the regularity of the arching of Maurice's new nave that
afterwards sorely vexed Wren.
We have now come to a time when Domesday gives us some interesting
information. A commencement had been made of endowing separate stalls.
Certain of the estates were parcelled out in this way, partly because
they may have been safer from alienation, partly that the canons might
be responsible, if necessary, for the services of religion in the
manors and townships in which their endowments, technically known
afterwards as _corpses_, were situated. In Domesday, St. Pancras,
Rugmere (in St. Pancras), and Twyford, in Willesden, appear, and may
fairly be set down as the three original _prebends_, although the term
"prebend" does not yet appear, neither do the distinctive names of the
stalls. To these three some would add Consumpta-per-Mare in the Essex
Walton, so called because the glebe was _consumed_ by the
encroachments of the sea. We will dismiss this obscure subject by
anticipating a little, and stating that, what with parts of the old
endowments and what with additions, by the end of the twelfth century
the thirty prebends were complete. The names and inscriptions will be
found in the account of the interior of the present Choir.
The two Caddingtons were a gift in Bedfordshire in the diocese of
Lincoln; the remaining twenty-eight were in Middlesex and Essex. The
corporate property of the Chapter by the same date must have reached
24,000 acres.[7]
The Conquest brought other changes in its train. Originally the bishop
was head of the Chapter, and the canons his assistants. But, beginning
not later than with Maurice, who held high office under the Crown, the
bishops became more and more immersed in politics, and found no time
to preside, while the Chapter would naturally raise no objection to
greater independence. What our French neighbours now call a _doyen_, a
senior from among the canons, took the bishop's vacant place, and
became dean.
John de Appleby, so late as 1364, dean by virtue of papal proviso, was
only allowed to summon the Chapter, and could not preside until he had
obtained a prebend by exchange. A hundred and fifty years later Colet
was a prebendary. I find no traces of archdeacons--London, Essex,
Middlesex, or Colchester--prior to the Conquest, but these eyes of the
bishop soon appear afterwards; and the Chanter becomes Precentor; the
Sacrist, or keeper of the plate, vestments, and other valuables,
becomes Treasurer; and the Master of the Schools, Chancellor. For the
sake of convenience looking forward a little, these changes, begun in
Norman times, were completed not long after.
=The Plantagenets.=--As in the tenth century and as in the eleventh,
that evil demon Fire for a third time, "three days before the
Christmas of 1136," partially destroyed, or at least seriously
injured, St. Paul's, during a conflagration which reached from London
Bridge to beyond the Fleet. In rebuilding, the then method was to
throw a coating of the more refined Romanesque of the day over the
older work;[8] and this is how I explain an obscure passage in
Pepys--"It is pretty here to see how the late church was but a case
wrought over the old church; for you may see the very old pillars
standing whole within the wall of this."[9] The old pillars of the
nave were restored, and furnished with graceful engaged columns, and
vaulting shafts rising from the ground. As the choir was afterwards
superseded by another, we cannot tell what was done to it.
We have now come to a time when it is impossible even to catalogue the
numerous stirring events which the cathedral witnessed. William
Fitzosbert the Longbeard, for thundering forth at PAUL'S
CROSS--where the citizens' folk-mote was wont to be held--against
tyranny and corruption in high quarters, suffered the extreme penalty.
But people in a higher position were soon to do the same. When John
and Innocent formed their strange alliance against the national
liberties, it was at St. Paul's that Stephen Langton produced the
Charter of Henry I. Here John publicly handed over his kingdom to the
Pope, and received it back as a vassal. Here came the counterblast,
when Louis, son of King Philip II. of France, received the kingdom
from the assembled magnates. After the death of John and Innocent the
papal claims were upheld; and at a council in 1232, at which the papal
legate presided, he took for his text, "In the midst of the throne and
round about the throne were four beasts."[10] The four beasts were not
the four Evangelists, but four opposition prelates, including the two
primates and the Bishop of London, Roger the Black. It was the great
bell of St. Paul's which in the days of Simon de Montfort summoned the
citizens to rise against their king.
=Old St. Paul's completed.=--Whilst the nave was constantly witnessing
scenes like this, and whilst clergy and people were protesting against
encroachments on their liberties from abroad or at home, a new and
more magnificent choir, and a new or restored north aisle to either
transept were in course of construction, the ways and means being
found with the help of indulgences issued by various bishops, Scotch
and Irish included, over a lengthy period.[11] In 1240 the king and
the Cardinal Legate Otho attended the consecration of so much of the
new work as was then completed; and Bishop Roger was supported by the
Primate, Edmund Rich, and other prelates.
East of the cathedral was St. Faith's, one of those parish churches in
which cathedral cities are notoriously prolific--churches with
parishes of the size of an average meadow, or less.[12] Whether it be
owing to greater wealth, or to greater subdivision of property, or to
enthusiasm kindled at a religious centre, nowhere do donors and
benefactors appear to have been more numerous than in these ancient
cities, like London, Norwich, and Exeter. St. Faith's was pulled down,
and the rights of the parishioners made good by allotting to them the
new crypt underneath the site of their old church. About this time
also the vaulting was renewed throughout, and various adornments added
from time to time. In 1312 the choir was paved with marble at a cost
of fivepence per foot; and three years later the old and ruinous
steeple was superseded by a new one of wood covered with lead, rising,
according to the lowest estimate--that of Wren--to a height of 460
feet, without the cross. The cross had a "pomel well guilt" set on the
top, and contained relics of different saints, put there by Bishop
Gilbert de Selgrave with all due solemnity, accompanied by an
indulgence, for protection. Thus was finished Old St. Paul's, the most
magnificent church in England, meet to be the cathedral of the
capital, which London had now become.
[Illustration: MONUMENT OF JOHN OF GAUNT, DUKE OF LANCASTER.
_After Hollar._]
=Wycliffe and Gaunt.=--The Primate Sudbury and Bishop Courtenay tried
John Wycliffe at the cathedral on a charge of heresy (February 13,
1377). This was in the days of rival popes at Rome and Avignon, and
one or other or both had been described by the accused as "Antichrist,
the proud, worldly priest of Rome, and the most cursed of clippers
and purse-kervers."[13] By an alliance almost as strange as that
between John and Innocent, Wycliffe found himself supported by John of
Gaunt, with whom was the Earl Marshal, Percy, Earl of Northumberland.
Wycliffe and the Duke of Lancaster had this much in common, they both
wished to confine the clergy to their strictly clerical duties, the
latter through jealousy, the former for higher reasons. An immense
concourse filled the cathedral. Courtenay was popular with the
citizens, Gaunt was not; and Percy was strongly suspected of a wish to
abolish the mayoralty, and as Earl Marshal to appoint a captain of his
own instead. During an angry altercation Gaunt whispered loudly to a
neighbour, "Rather than I will take those words at his [Courtenay's]
hands, I would pluck the bishop by the hair out of the church." In the
tumult that followed this insult Gaunt and Percy with difficulty
escaped; the former fled across the river to Kennington, and his
palace at the Savoy was sacked. Yet, in spite of all this, Gaunt was
the only royal prince after the Conquest buried at St. Paul's. His
tomb under the arch on the north side of the high altar, enriched by a
noble canopy to which his spear, shield, and insignia were attached,
contained effigies of himself and of his second wife, Constance of
Castile. He had also a chantry.
=Bishop Robert de Braybroke.=--On Courtenay's translation to
Canterbury, Braybroke became bishop (1382-1404). A thoroughly
practical reformer, he held out the threat of the greater
excommunication because "in our Cathedral not only men but women also,
not on common days alone but especially on Festivals, expose their
wares as it were in a public market, and buy and sell without
reverence for the holy place.... Others play at ball or other unseemly
games, both within and without the church, breaking the beautiful and
costly painted windows, to the amazement of the spectators." He also
attempted to regulate residence. Owing to the increased value of the
corporate or common property divided amongst the residentiaries or
_stagiarii_, residence was no longer reckoned a burden, but sought
after. To keep the number down to two the canons in residence would
admit no fresh colleague unless he spent during his first year from
six hundred to a thousand merks in feasting and other useless
expenditure. Braybroke put a check to this abuse, and by the
arbitration of the king the practice of Salisbury was taken as a
model.[14] It was after his death (October 15, 1414) that the Use of
St. Paul in the religious services was superseded by the Use of Sarum.
The Petty or Minor Canons now received their charter of corporation
immediately after the death of Anne of Bohemia, wife of Richard II.
Apparently when Becket's representative ventured on his dangerous
errand, deed of excommunication in hand, the canons' vicars or vicars
choral sang the services. In Braybroke's time we find a body
intermediate between the canons and their vicars. They were twelve in
number, were required to have good voices, and to understand the art
of singing, and by their charter were to pray for their royal
benefactor, as well as for the repose of the souls of his wife and
ancestors. The first ranked as Sub-dean, taking for many purposes the
dean's place in his absence, and the two next were the Cardinals. The
Sacrist, the Almoners, and the Divinity Lecturers endowed by Bishop
Richard de Gravesend and Thomas White were appointed from among them.
They enjoyed their own common hall, and elected their own warder and
steward; and two years after incorporation, drawing up their own
Statutes, provided that they were to be read in Hall every quarter,
and that no one was to shuffle his feet during the reading.[15]
The vicars choral either now or later had dwindled down to six, and
seem to have been only in minor orders. The Petty Canons had their own
endowments; but if the canons had to pay their own vicars, we need not
be surprised at this diminution.
=The Wars of the Roses.=--With this period St. Paul's is closely
associated. At St. Paul's the Yorkist leaders pledged their allegiance
to the unhappy Henry VI. on the Sacrament--only to break it. After
Barnet the dead bodies of the king-maker and his brothers were
exposed, and after Tewkesbury the murdered corpse of Henry received
similar treatment. Most striking of all is the grim figure of Richard
of Gloucester. He it was who caused Jane Shore to be put to open
penance on the ground that she had bewitched him, she "going before
the Cross on a Sunday with a taper in her hand," says Stow, "out of
all aray saue her kirtle only." Hastings, the successor of Edward in
her affections, was implicated with her, and his offence read from
Paul's Cross. At Paul's Cross, newly restored by the bishop, the
younger Kempe, and while the boy king was a prisoner in the palace
hard by, that worthless sycophant, Dr. Ralph Shaw, the preacher (May
19, 1483), took for his text, "The multiplying brood of the ungodly
shall not thrive, nor take deep rooting from bastard slips, nor lay
any fast foundations" (Wisdom, iv. 3). His sermon went to prove to the
citizens that Richard was the only, or at least the senior, legitimate
member of the royal family. Richard was present to hear his own mother
dishonoured; and the preacher, pointing dramatically to him, argued
that, unlike his three elder brothers, he resembled the late Duke of
York. But the people showed no sympathy, would not cry "Long live King
Richard," and dispersed, fearing the worst for the poor lad immured in
the bishop's palace.
=The Clergy and Services.=--We may now conveniently glance at these
important subjects. The Bishop, who appointed all the dignitaries
except the dean, was Visitor. At the great festivals he was usually
present, and the bells were rung in his honour. How the DEAN always,
or nearly so, held another stall has been already stated; how he came
to be presented by the Crown instead of elected by his brethren is
uncertain; but the Chapter somehow practically lost their right of
electing both bishop and dean, for either pope or king in effect
appointed their diocesan. The dean was visitor of the homes of the
clergy and of the chapter estates. To the four ARCHDEACONRIES of
London, Essex, Middlesex, and Colchester was afterwards added the
small one of St. Alban's on the dissolution of that important abbey,
but without a stall in the choir.[16] The office of PRECENTOR is
explained by the name. The TREASURER was responsible for the very
valuable treasures--jewels, vestments, relics, and the like--as
distinct from the moneys. Lower in rank, but in reality of greater
importance, came the CHANCELLOR. He had jurisdiction over the old
school of St. Paul's, and any others in the City with the exception of
those of St. Mary-le-Bow and St. Martin's-le-Grand, and was secretary
and keeper of the seals, receiving a pound of pepper for each deed
sealed. The thirty PREBENDARIES (or rather twenty-nine when the dean
was one) could only hold one stall each at St. Paul's, but any number
of benefices elsewhere like the higher dignitaries; and it is by no
means certain that in the thirteenth century John Mansell did not hold
three stalls at St. Paul's simultaneously among his innumerable
benefices which together, according to Matthew Paris, amounted to
4,000 merks per annum.[17] Of the prebendaries a varying minority in
residence, stagiaries (_stagiarii_, perhaps a corruption of the more
classical _stationarii_),[18] not only divided amongst themselves the
balance of the common fund, but were not above partaking of a share of
the capitular bakehouse and brewhouse. The dean, the three higher
dignitaries, and the prebendaries constituted the Chapter, in certain
matters the non-residentiaries having no jurisdiction, and, as
recorded in their Visitations, exercised a very great authority over
their various manors. Below the Chapter came the twelve PETTY CANONS,
officers peculiar to St. Paul's and Hereford;[19] and there were over
fifty CHANTRY PRIESTS when suppressed. Besides their appointed daily
masses they would divide amongst them the annual masses called
_obits_, which amounted to about a hundred, and were expected to
assist the Petty Canons. They spent their extensive leisure after the
proverbial manner of idle and ignorant men. The VICARS CHORAL had
dwindled down to six by Colet's time, were no longer in priests'
orders, and eventually became laymen pure and simple. Space would fail
us to enumerate the remaining official and semi-official officers.
Among the latter were the twelve scribes, who sat in the nave for the
service of the illiterate public, and were sworn to do nothing
detrimental to the interests of the Chapter.
The Apostle's mass was sung the first thing in the morning, in earlier
days by a Vicar Choral, and subsequently by a Petty Canon; and next
came the two masses named after the Virgin and the Chapter, the
Cardinals taking the latter. The other daily services were the usual
Nocturns or Matins and the rest, ending with a combined evensong of
Vespers and Compline. We do not know how the old Use of St. Paul's
differed from that of Sarum. Besides the Conversion and Commemoration
of St. Paul, the Deposition (April 30th) and the Translation (November
14th) of St. Erkenwald were red-letter days when, before the peal was
sounded, the bells were rung two and two. On the eve of St. Nicholas
(December 5th), patron saint of children, the choristers elected
their boy bishop and his clerks. On St. John the Evangelist's Day
(December 27th) at evensong the newly elected boy bishop in pontifical
vestments, with his boy clerks in copes, walked in procession, and
after censing the altar of the Blessed Trinity returned and occupied
dignitaries' stalls, and any evicted dignitary had to take the boy's
place as thurifer or acolyte, the boy bishop giving the benediction.
The next day (Holy Innocents) this youth preached and took the earlier
part of the mass. These choir lads were trained to act mysteries and,
later on, stage plays.[20]
[Illustration: THE SHRINE AND ALTAR OF ST. ERKENWALD BEHIND THE
HIGH ALTAR.
_After Hollar._]
Each new Lord Mayor, accompanied by the Council, went in procession to
St. Thomas Acon, and from thence to the cathedral. He paid his
devotions at the tomb of Bishop William the Norman, in the nave, in
gratitude for privileges obtained from the Conqueror, and then at the
tomb of his predecessor, the Portreeve Gilbert Becket, father of
Thomas, in a little chapel in the churchyard. On Whitsunday and the
following Tuesday were great processions in which the Corporation
joined, as they did on seven other festivals. At Whitsuntide,
according to a sixteenth century account, a huge suspended censer was
swung along the nave, and the descent of the Holy Spirit illustrated
by the letting loose of a white pigeon. Those who are curious about
the shrines, and particularly of St. Erkenwald's, the scene of so many
reputed miracles of healing, and of the relics, which included a vase
believed to contain some hair, milk, and a garment of the Virgin, are
referred to Dugdale and other like works. Passing over _Te Deums_ for
victories like Agincourt and Obsequies for the dead--this latter a
source of income to the officers--we will close this chapter with the
wedding of Arthur, Prince of Wales, a lad of fifteen, to Catherine of
Aragon, in November, 1501. The next spring Arthur died, and the king
effected the betrothal of the widow of eighteen to his younger son
Henry, aged eleven. Seven years later Henry VII. died, and lay in
state at the cathedral.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Tacitus, "Annals," xiv. 33.
[2] Bishop Browne ("The Christian Church in these Islands before the
Coming of St. Augustine," 1897, pp. 59-62; S.P.C.K.) in a learned note
disposes of this, as he does of the veteran claim of St. Peter's,
Cornhill, to take rank as the elder sister of St. Paul's.
[3] The list in the south nave transept, compiled with the assistance
of Bishops Stubbs and Browne, leaves this period doubtful and
uncertain (_vide_ Appendix A).
[4] "Eccles. Hist.," book ii., chap. iii.
[5] The grant is in Dugdale, p. 288; in Domesday it runs "tenet
_semper_ Paulus."
[6] Bishop Browne's "Conversion of the Heptarchy," p. 154 (S.P.C.K.).
[7] Dugdale, p. 299 _et seq._, quotes the Exchequer Domesday. Also,
Hale's "Domesday of St. Paul's" and Leach's "Southwell" (the
Introduction); Freeman's "Cathedral Church of Wells," p. 50 _et seq._;
and Newcourt's "Repertorium." Hereford is the only other cathedral in
Domesday where canons held in this way. Southwell (now a cathedral,
though the prebendaries are gone), Bedford, Twyneham, and Stafford
were collegiate churches of a like kind.
[8] Freeman's "Wells," p. 69.
[9] "Diary," Sept. 16, 1666. So far as the pillars are concerned I
know of no other time when this "casing" could have been done; and the
architecture in Hollar's prints, as reproduced in Dugdale, agrees.
[10] Dean Milman says the text was from Ezekiel, i. 5; was it not from
Revelation, iv. 6?
[11] "Documents Illustrative," p. 175.
[12] St. Faith's parish reaches westward to 62, St. Paul's Churchyard,
north side.
[13] "Chapters in the History," p. 97.
[14] Perhaps the residentiaries were increased to eleven.
[15] "Gleanings," chap. i. It is disappointing to find that it was
thought necessary to provide in the Statutes against gross immorality,
and that a fine of 3s. 4d. was deemed a sufficient punishment for the
first offence, to be doubled on repetition.
[16] Were they ever members of the chapter _ex officio_?
[17] If he had to read his share of the Psalter every day for each,
his time for affairs of State must have been encroached upon.
[18] So says Dr. Sparrow-Simpson. In the Gallican Church the _stage_
was the time of qualifying for residence. In modern French a
_stagiaire_ = a licentiate in law going through his stage.
[19] In former days. The Vicars Choral of other foundations are now
called Minor Canons.
[20] "Chapters in the History," p. 53.