COVENTRY: ITS HISTORY, ROMANCE, CHURCHES, AND ANCIENT BUILDINGS
The ancient city of Coventry—situated amidst sylvan scenery of
great beauty, should if possible be approached by the wayfarer
from Kenilworth along the unrivalled avenue which is also the high
road—is of great antiquity and of very considerable interest to the
archæologist. Seen from a distance, on account of its many church
spires, it presents a wonderfully picturesque appearance; and with its
old–world survivals in the shape of timbered houses and the exquisite
architecture of its churches, is one of the most interesting towns of
the Midlands.
One derivation of the name is generally supposed to indicate that it
was originally Couentre; the first syllable representing a convent,
with the addition of the British affix “tre,” meaning a town. Other
authorities appear, however, to think that the name was derived from
Cune, the Celtic name of the River Sherbourne, on which the town
stands, and the affix “tre,” as already explained. At any rate the town
is of great antiquity, and is generally supposed to have been founded
by the Britons, although it is agreed that its history cannot be traced
with any great degree of accuracy prior to about 1016, when, according
to Rous the historian, Canute, King of Denmark, during his invasion of
Mercia amongst other ravages destroyed a nunnery, which at that period
had been founded at Coventry. The same authority further states that no
attempt was made to restore or rebuild this establishment until about
the middle of the same century, when Leofric, then Earl of Mercia, and
his Countess, the famous Godiva, founded a Benedictine monastery on
a site half a mile to the south of the original Saxon Nunnery of St.
Osburg.
It appears that Leofric not only bestowed upon the monastery half
of the entire town, but also gave to it in the reign of Edward the
Confessor no less than twenty–four other towns in the county of Warwick
and elsewhere. Leofric’s lady, Godiva, also enriched this foundation
with much treasure, searching throughout the country for “skilful
goldsmiths, who, with all the gold and silver she had, made crosses,
images of saints, and other curious ornaments, which she devoutly
disposed thereto.”
Leofric died in 1057, and was buried in one of the porches of the
church of the monastery which he had founded, which ultimately became
the Cathedral of the diocese, a proud position it held until the
bishopric was removed to Lichfield. His Countess survived him many
years, but the date of her death is not recorded, although it is known
that she was buried in the same church.
It was Leofric’s Countess Godiva or Godeva around whom the well–known
legend centres. Although there seems little doubt that it had less
foundation in fact than the romantic desire, it was certainly an
accepted legend and believed by many as embodying an historical fact in
the early part of the reign of Edward the Confessor.
The first description of this somewhat apocryphal ride is to be found
in the writings of Roger of Wendover, a chronicler of the beginning
of the twelfth century; that is to say of a date about one hundred
years after the time when the event is said to have taken place. The
account given by this writer, whose work generally we are bound to
state is open to considerable question on the score of accuracy, runs
as follows:—
The Countess Godiva, who was a great lover of God’s mother, longing to
free the town of Coventry from the oppression of a heavy toll, and even
with urgent prayers besought her husband, with every regard to Jesus
Christ and His mother, he would free the town from that service, and
from all other heavy burdens; and when the Earl sharply rebuked her for
foolishly asking what was so much to his damage he always forbade her
for evermore to speak to him on the subject; and while she, on the other
hand, with a woman’s pertinacity, never ceased to exasperate her husband
with that matter, he at last made her this answer—
“Mount your horse and ride naked before all the people, through the
market of the town from one end to the other, and on your return you
shall have your request.”
To which Godiva replied:—
“But will you give me permission if I am willing to do it?”
“I will,” said he.
Whereupon the Countess, beloved of God, loosed her hair and let down
her tresses, which covered the whole of her body like a veil, and
then mounting her horse and attended by two knights she rode through
the market–place without being seen, except her fair legs; and having
completed the journey, she returned with gladness to her astonished
husband, and obtained of him what she had asked, for Earl Leofric freed
the town of Coventry and its inhabitants from the aforesaid service, and
confirmed what he had done by a charter.
Into this ancient version of the “Godiva legend” more modern
elaborations have been imported. These, stating nothing of Godiva’s
garment formed by her own tresses, record that the people being
forewarned of the Countess’s intentions all remained indoors behind
closed shutters, out of respect for her and her desire to serve them;
and in consequence she rode unobserved except by one inquisitive
tailor, whose Christian name was Tom. It is he who has been handed down
to posterity and obloquy under the nick–name of “Peeping Tom,” whose
eyes as a punishment for his curiosity and indiscretion are said to
have either dropped out of his head or were smitten with blindness!
Unhappily this romantic story, which casts a sidelight upon the
manners and morals of those early times, and also upon the attitude
of husbands towards their wives, is open to grave criticism regarding
its authenticity. Indeed, most authorities are inclined to believe
that at all events the part relating to “Peeping Tom” is of no greater
antiquity than the reign of Charles II., and that the remainder of the
story does not date earlier than King John, at least one hundred and
fifty years later than the date of Godiva’s traditional ride.
That this story of Godiva’s self–sacrifice in the interests of the
oppressed inhabitants of Coventry has very little foundation on actual
fact is proved by several circumstances; the chief of which are, that
other more trustworthy chroniclers, who, writing at the actual period
when the event is supposed to have taken place, whilst recording
fully the many good actions which the Earl and Countess undoubtedly
did perform, make no mention of Godiva’s ride. Another fact is that
the population of Coventry was so small at that period that there
was scarcely likely to have been in existence a market of the size
suggested by Roger of Wendover, and, indeed, hardly a town at all
through which Godiva could have ridden. Yet another circumstance is
that with so small a place a mere toll would have been a matter of
such small consequence, when the majority of the people were serfs,
that Leofric would certainly have remitted it without exacting such
a condition from his wife. There are, indeed, several versions in
different countries of legends closely allied in general detail to that
of Godiva, and it is more than probable that this particular one is
of great antiquity, which became tacked on to the life of this famous
woman without any real foundation in fact.
The mention of Coventry in the Domesday Book, which was written nearly
thirty years later than Leofric’s death, describes the place, even
with its fine monastery, which Leofric founded, as little more than a
small agricultural village, with a population probably of not more than
three hundred to three hundred and fifty souls. Most of the houses at
that far–off period were the merest hovels, without windows; whilst
nearly all the adult inhabitants, save the very aged, were engaged in
agricultural occupations.
By the year 1218, when Henry III. granted a charter for a yearly
fair, lasting eight days, Coventry must of course have grown very
considerably; and it is interesting to know that it was in connection
with this fair in 1677, that the legend of Countess Godiva’s ride
took form as a pageant and procession, the last of which took place
on August 2, 1892. On that occasion the rôle of the self–sacrificing
Countess of ancient times was played by a young lady attired in
fleshings and a short jerkin–like garment of white satin, who also wore
a pair of white kid gloves, a plume, and a flaxen wig!
Sixteen years after the institution of the fair the Franciscans or
Grey Friars founded an establishment in Coventry; and their coming was
followed about ten years later by the Carmelites or White Friars; and
in 1381 there was also a settlement of Carthusians near the south–east
gate. Edward III., in 1344, constituted in the city a Municipal
Corporation by letters patent, and for the better security of Coventry
the inhabitants obtained from the same King permission to levy a
toll towards the expense of fortifying and enclosing the town, to be
commenced twenty–seven years after the grant was obtained. It appears,
however, that the fortifications were commenced in 1355, and the walls
and gates were finished in the time of Richard II. With the walling
in of Coventry the merchants of the period became enriched, the town
flourished and extended, and the beautiful steeple of St. Michael’s
Church was designed and partly finished. In addition to this, the
staple manufacture of clothing was cultivated, and public buildings of
adequate importance began to be constructed.
It was just outside the city, on Gosford Green, that the famous meeting
took place in September 1397, between Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of
Hereford, afterwards Henry IV., and Thomas de Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk,
to which encounter Shakespeare himself refers in “King Richard II.”
The duel, which the King commanded to be fought on this spot, arose
from a quarrel between the ducal combatants, Hereford having accused
Norfolk of speaking disrespectfully of his Sovereign. Richard and a
great number of the nobility had gathered in the brilliant sunshine of
that September day on the triangular piece of greensward where two of
the greatest nobles of the realm were to engage in single combat, the
trial by combat of those far–off days. But just as the champions were
about to commence hostilities Richard suddenly placed his veto upon the
encounter and banished both of the disputants from England; Hereford
for ten years, and Norfolk for life.
It was in 1451 that Henry VI. conferred on Coventry and certain
contiguous villages the honour of being constituted a county of
themselves, and the charter which made this enactment provided that
the bailiffs of the city should be also sheriffs of the county, and
that the same coroner should preside over both. Edward IV. confirmed
the charter, and in the agricultural survey of Warwickshire, it is
mentioned that the county and city of Coventry, situated in the
north–east part of Warwickshire, with “the greatest length from
Bedworth, to a point named Baginton, in a north–east and south–west
direction, is 7–1/2 miles; and the greatest breadth, from Nettlehill to
Brownshill Green, in about an east and west direction, is 7–1/4 miles.”
Exhall, Keresley, Anstey, Foleshill, Stivichall, Stoke, a part of Sow,
and Wyken, are all united with the city to form the county of Coventry.
The Quarter Sessions were, prior to 1842, held with the same full
powers as counties at large, and the men and aldermen of the city had
considerable privileges as well as being Justices of the Peace.
It was in the Priory that Henry VI. held a second Parliament in the
year 1459, known to the Yorkists as the “Parliamentum Diabolicum,”
this name being given to the assembly on account of the large number
of attainders which were passed by it against the Yorkists, including
Richard, Duke of York, and the Earls of March, Salisbury, and Warwick.
Afterwards King Edward IV. and his Queen spent the Christmas festival
in the city in 1465, evidently with the intention of winning over the
citizens to the Yorkist side; but it is recorded that even the presence
of the King and Queen was not sufficient to alienate their affections
from the House of Lancaster.
[Illustration: KENILWORTH CASTLE.]
Four years later the outskirts of Coventry was the scene of one of
the too frequent tragedies of those unsettled times, when Earl Rivers
and his son were beheaded at Gosford Green by the orders of Sir John
Coniers, who had obtained some partial success in Oxfordshire. In
the following year, 1470, the Earl of Warwick, on his return from
France, entered Coventry, which was still Lancastrian in sympathy,
with much war material and hostile intentions to the inhabitants. On
hearing of the Earl of Warwick’s presence King Edward, who lay at
Leicester with his forces, marched thence, and after resting at Coombe
Abbey, proceeded to Gosford Green, and then approaching Coventry
demanded admission; but this being refused, he continued his march to
Warwick. Later on, when he had won the decisive battles of Barnet and
Tewkesbury, and had regained power, Edward, in revenge for the action
of the people of Coventry in refusing to receive him in the previous
year, deprived them of many of their privileges and levied upon them
a considerable fine, amounting to five hundred marks. But the King
soon realised that the good–will of the townsfolk was of too great
importance for him to risk losing it by undue severity; and, therefore,
on payment of the fine, their privileges of which they had been
deprived were again restored to them.
Four years later Edward kept the Feast of St. George at Coventry, and
in the same year his son stood as godfather to the Mayor’s child, and
was presented with a cup and a hundred guineas, and also made a brother
of the Guilds of Corpus Christi and Holy Trinity.
Richard II. also visited the city, and Henry VII. came and lodged at
the Mayor’s immediately after the decisive victory over Richard III. at
Bosworth Field.
It would appear that the people of Coventry of these days were opulent
and generous, but exercised little originality in the form of the gifts
they bestowed upon royal or distinguished visitors, for, like Prince
Edward of York a few years previously, Henry VII. was presented with
a cup and a hundred guineas, and seems to have made so favourable an
impression upon the townsfolk that they a few years later subscribed
£1100 towards the tax which was levied for the purpose of defraying the
expense of the King’s expedition to France.
Henry VIII. and Catherine of Arragon visited Coventry in 1510, and
witnessed three magnificent pageants; and it is possible that the
prosperity of the town, which was popularly attributed as chiefly
owing to the magnitude and wealth of its monastic institutions, may
have suggested to the King’s mind the idea of the ultimate suppression
of these foundations. Be it as it may, it was stated by one John
Hales, Esq., to the Protector Somerset, “that in consequence of the
Dissolution trade grew so low, and there was such a dispersion of
people from this city, that there were not even 3000 inhabitants,
whereas there had been formerly 15,000.” Although this picture of
the desolation wrought by the suppression of the religious houses
is probably painted in too vivid colours, there seems little doubt
that great distress resulted in the years immediately following the
arbitrary action of Henry VIII.’s minister Cromwell, for we find that
although at least one branch of commerce, the clothing trade, was still
flourishing, a charter for an additional fair was granted to alleviate
the distress of the remaining inhabitants.
One of the great features of Coventry life in the Middle Ages was
undoubtedly the wealth and influence of the numerous bodies called
Guilds, which were of both a religious and secular character, and
to the support of these must be attributed much of the fame that
distinguished Coventry for its “mysteries” or sacred plays. These
dramatic performances, which partook of much of the character of that
most interesting and popular survival of the present day “Everyman,”
took place on movable platforms which were drawn through the principal
streets and open places. The subjects of these plays were generally
Scriptural or semi–Scriptural in character, and the different
festivals, more especially that of Corpus Christi, were popular days
for the representations. In addition to these there was at Coventry the
play on Hock Tuesday, which was founded upon incidents of the Massacre
of the Danes, and also pageants which were performed on the occasion of
Royal visits, and at other special times.
On the occasion of Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Coventry in 1565, during
one of her progresses she was received by the sheriffs in scarlet
cloaks and a score of young men on horseback, clad in a livery of fine
purple. The Queen was met at the limits of the liberties of the city
in the direction of Wolvey, and each of the young men presented to
the Queen a white rod, which she receiving delivered to them again,
and they then rode before her until they came near the city, when the
Mayor and Aldermen in their scarlet cloaks came out to receive her. As
was the custom in these times a presentation of money was made; the
Recorder, we learn, presenting “a purse, supposed to be worth twenty
marks, and in it £100 in angels,” which the Queen accepting was pleased
to say to her lords: “It is a good gift, a hundred pounds in gold; I
have but few such gifts.”
To which the Mayor answering boldly, replied: “If it please your Grace,
there is a good deal more in it.”
“What is that?” said she.
“The hearts,” he replied, “of all your loving subjects.”
“We thank you, Mr. Mayor,” said the Queen.
This at any rate is a much more courtier–like account of the
presentation than that recorded by another writer, by whom the Mayor is
said to have made the following rhyming address to the Queen, which, if
the idea is based on fact at all, is probably a travesty fabricated at
a later date:—
“We men of Coventree
Are very glad to see
Your gracious Majesty,
Good Lord, how fair ye bee!”
To which somewhat over–bold remark the Queen is stated to have replied
sarcastically:—
“Your gracious Majesty
Is very glad to see
Ye men of Coventree,
Good lack, what fools ye bee!”
In the year previous to the Queen’s visit the plague had committed
great ravages in the city, hundreds of the inhabitants falling victims,
and the “dreadful dead carts passing constantly through the streets
taking their horrible toll from most houses, and picking up those who
had fallen of the sickness in the streets.” Thus with the clothing
business falling to decay without any substitute being introduced to
fill its place, and suffering from the suppression of the religious
houses, Coventry was in but a poor state at the time of Elizabeth’s
visit. The Recorder’s speech, however, which was very lugubrious,
probably exaggerated the situation, although, as Mr. Brewer says, “the
ardour of the natives had been damped when they saw the gorgeous piles
of religious splendour, so long their pride and boast, one vast heap of
ruins.”
The Queen during her visit lodged at the White Friars, then a residence
of the Hales family, and was, notwithstanding the reputed decay and
poverty of the times, entertained with lavish magnificence.
The next Royal visitor within the city walls had no pageants,
addresses, or honours showered upon her, but hapless Mary Queen of
Scots was brought to Coventry and shut up a prisoner in the Mayor’s
parlour during the year following the coming of her royal cousin.
Again, three years later, in 1569, she was brought to Coventry and
incarcerated in the Bull Inn (the site of which is now occupied by the
Barracks), and kept under the charge of the Earls of Shrewsbury and
Huntingdon. The citizens had during her incarceration within their
walls the melancholy and troublesome task of keeping watch and ward
night and day at each of the gates, so that none might pass to or fro
without good cause.
In 1610 King James I., in a letter addressed to the heads of the city
and the Church, commanded that the inhabitants should kneel whilst
receiving the sacrament, and when they several years later applied to
him for a renewal of their charter the King refused to grant it until
he had been satisfied that his command regarding their kneeling when
receiving of the sacrament had been obeyed. A few years later the King
visited Coventry and was presented with what must be almost considered
the inevitable £100, and in addition thereto with a silver cup of
fine workmanship weighing forty–five ounces, out of which, the King
exclaimed, that he would drink wherever he went.
During the succeeding reign and the Civil War which broke out,
Coventry attached itself to the side of Parliament; the influence of
Lord Brooke of Warwick overpowering that of the Earl of Northampton,
who was Recorder and a staunch Royalist. At the outset of the war,
King Charles, after he had raised his standard at Nottingham, sent to
Coventry and demanded quarters, and these being refused he attacked
the city in full force and succeeded in capturing one of the gates.
He was, however, finally repulsed with considerable loss, and obliged
to abandon his attempt to take the town. For this act of contumacy
and the fact that it was garrisoned by Parliamentary troops until
the Restoration it was destined to suffer later on. Charles II.,
notwithstanding the enthusiastic demonstrations of the inhabitants
at his restoration and the surrender of possessions which the city
had originally purchased from the Crown, did not forget the part
Coventry had played during the Civil War, and a commission held in 1662
prescribed the demolition of the city walls as a mark of the King’s
displeasure for the disloyalty of the inhabitants to his father. This
act was immediately put into effect by the Earl of Northampton. All
that now remains of the fortifications are two of the gates, Cook
Street Gate, now a mere roofless shell, and the Swanswell or Priory
Gate in Hales Street, which after the archway had been blocked up some
years ago was converted into dwellings.
Twenty–five years later, when King James II. visited Coventry, the
citizens, no doubt remembering the exactions and punishment under which
they suffered in the previous reign for their old–time disloyalty to
the Crown, paid the King the greatest marks of attention and respect.
They presented him with a gold cup and cover, and even went the
length of smoothing the rough surfaces of their streets with sand,
white–washing their houses, and decorating them with garlands and
flags. Occasionally interesting relics of the Roman occupation are
discovered when excavating foundations for new buildings, and when
laying out new roads.
Rich in ancient buildings Coventry is full of interest to the students
of medieval architecture and to the archæologist. Of the ancient
monastery church of the Grey Friars, which was built in the reign of
Edward III., little now remains save the beautiful octagonal tower and
spire, which rises to a height of upwards of 200 feet. This church
became so rich in later years from the gifts bestowed upon it by
various benefactors that the historian William of Malmesbury writes
of it: “It was enriched and beautified with so much gold and silver
that the walls seemed too narrow to contain it; insomuch that Robert
de Limesie, Bishop of this diocese in the time of King William Rufus,
scraped from one beam that separated the shrines 500 marks of silver.”
The church was also a rich storehouse of relics, amongst which, placed
in a beautiful silver shrine, was an arm of St. Augustine, and on the
casket containing it was a notification of its purchase from the Pope
by Agelnethus, Archbishop of Canterbury.
After the suppression of the monasteries the site and remains of the
church were granted about 1542 to the Mayor and Corporation, and, as
was the case with many other similar buildings, the partially ruined
church served for a long period as a quarry from which the inhabitants
appear to have drawn building materials for their own houses.
[Illustration: STONELEIGH ABBEY.]
Fortunately, however, the elegant tower escaped. It was ultimately and
for many years surrounded by an orchard, which belonged to a nurseryman
who turned the lower portion of the tower into a piggery, and who
used to laughingly boast that he possessed the tallest pig–sty in the
country. In the early years of the last century the idea of building
on a new church to the old tower presented itself to the minds of
some Coventry people, and the Corporation released their rights to
the tower for the purpose. The work, which was commenced in 1829, was
finished three years later. The idea, we believe, was to erect this
church in the style of the original, but one can scarcely credit that
this intention was carried out if one may at the same time accept the
statement that the ancient building was of such elegance and beauty as
chroniclers have recorded.
In St. Michael’s Church one has, however, an early and remarkably
beautiful example of Perpendicular architecture, the tower and spire of
which is almost world–famed.
In the reign of King Stephen a grant was made to the prior of the
neighbouring Benedictine monastery, and this constitutes the earliest
mention of the church. Of the original building, which was of Norman
design, only a few fragments have from time to time been discovered,
and the first church was superseded in the thirteenth century by one
of Early English design, of which nothing except some portions of
the walls, the south–west doorway, and the south porch remain at the
present day.
The present beautiful church was probably erected between the year 1373
and the first half of the next century, its founders being members of a
family named Botoner. William and Adam Botoner were not only prosperous
merchants and notable citizens of Coventry, but had each of them the
unusual distinction of filling the office of Mayor three times. The
munificence of the family, tradition asserts, was perpetuated by a
brass tablet which was formerly affixed in the church, and bore the
following inscription:—
William and Adam built the tower,
Ann and Mary built the spire;
William and Adam built the church,
Ann and Mary built the quire.
Strange to relate, the tower was the first part of the church to be
commenced, and this, finished in 1394, had its cost defrayed by the two
brothers we have mentioned, who made yearly payments for the purpose of
£100. Thirty–eight years later the spire was commenced by the sisters
Ann and Mary, but the date of its completion is uncertain. Two years
after the commencement of the spire these benevolent women undertook
the building of the central aisle.
The tower is built in four stages, and has a height of 136 feet; the
two upper stages are pierced with windows and beautified with panelling
and canopied niches, which contain a considerable number of figures;
the latter are a somewhat cosmopolitan collection, made up chiefly of
saints, but also comprising statuettes of members of the Botoner family
we have before referred to, Lady Godiva, her husband, and several
English kings and their wives. The flying buttresses supporting the
tower are of very great beauty and grace, two springing from each
pinnacle of the main tower and resting against the angles of the
octagonal lantern, above which rises the beautiful spire to a further
height of 130 feet, the total elevation of the whole being just over
300 feet.
Although the spire is still of great beauty much of the detail of the
original ornamentation has unfortunately disappeared, owing to the soft
nature of the stone used in its construction.
The total length of the church is 293 feet, with a greatest width of
127 feet, the nave being 50 feet in height. The interior, with its long
range of slender columns in the nave, and the number of large windows
and the fine timbered roof, has a very beautiful effect. The chapels
of the various Guilds now form the north and south outer aisles, and
still go by the names which they bore at the time the members of these
various organisations were in the habit of worshipping in them.
Beginning with those on the south side, next the tower, the first is
the Dyers’ Chapel, on the walls of which are some interesting monuments
dating from the early years of the seventeenth century onwards. Next
comes the Cappers’ Room, over the south porch, with the chapel devoted
to the same Guild, and known as St. Thomas’, on the east side. The
Mercers’ Chapel, near by, also contains some interesting monuments of
the sixteenth century, worthy of attention as marking, both in their
style and the inscriptions they bear, the florid spirit of the times.
From this chapel a flight of steps leads down into the vestry, an
extension of the ancient sacristy, which tradition asserts was used
sometimes as a prison; carved on the wall of which is a crucifix,
supposed to be the work of some prisoner confined for an ecclesiastical
offence.
The apse of the church, formerly the Lady Chapel, contains nothing of
any great note save the fragments of ancient stained glass collected
from various windows in other portions of the church, now placed in a
few of those of the apse.
The reredos is partly Early English, and partly Decorated in style,
and the eastern compartments contain some good sculpture. The Drapers’
Chapel, which is situated in the north aisle, is of considerable
artistic interest, as it contains thirteen stalls which have finely
carved standards and _misereres_ or folding seats, the under portions
of which are ornamented with humorous designs. On the north wall of the
chapel is an ancient brass, dating about 1506, to the memory of Thomas
Bond, Mayor of Coventry in 1497, and founder of the Bablake Hospital.
Next is St. Lawrence’s Chapel, followed by the Girdlers’ Chapel;
and last of all the Smiths’ or St. Andrew’s Chapel, containing some
interesting tombs removed from their original position in the Drapers’
Chapel.
The pulpit, though a fine one, is modern; but the font at the west end
of the chancel is in all probability the one given by John Cross, then
Mayor of Coventry, to the church in 1394; it bears on a small brass
plate a shield containing four crosses, the ancient merchants’ mark.
Almost a rival to St Michael’s, at least in interest if not in beauty,
is the church of the Holy Trinity, the date of the original foundation
of which is unknown, but certain portions of the present building in
and above the north porch probably date from about the middle of the
thirteenth century, at which time the church was joined to the priory.
It is an undoubted fact, however, that a much earlier building must
have existed on the same spot. The present church, which is 178 feet
long and 67 feet broad, probably dates from a short time before that
of St. Michael’s, and differs very much from it both as regards its
form and construction. In shape it is cruciform, and consists of a nave
with north and south aisles, a chancel with chapels, and transepts. The
tower and spire are situated in the centre, and are supported on four
arches, springing from massive but well–proportioned piers. The ancient
spire was blown down during the terrific hurricane of January 24, 1665,
the church being greatly damaged by its fall. The task of rebuilding
it and repairing the injury done to the church was commenced almost
immediately, and so rapidly did the work proceed that the spire was
completed in two years to a height of 237 feet, which is supposed to be
somewhat greater than that of the one destroyed.
Over the north porch, which is the most ancient portion of the present
church, is situated a domus or priest’s chamber, the east side window
of which was formerly a doorway leading into St. Thomas’ Chapel.
Prior to the Reformation there were a large number of chapels and
altars attached to Holy Trinity, the chief of which were the Marlers’
or Mercers’ Chapel to the east of the transept; the chapel of Our Lady,
now forming the choir vestry, anciently a continuation of the south
chancel aisles; the Butchers’ Chapel; the Jesus Chapel in the south
transept; and the Tanners’ or Barkers’ Chapel in the south aisle of the
nave.
In 1831 a fresco, illustrative of the Last Judgment, was discovered
in the space over the west arch under the tower. This survival, which
was probably whitewashed over during Puritan times, has unfortunately
deteriorated and become almost indistinguishable. The picture when
discovered depicted the Saviour in the centre, seated on a rainbow, and
flanked on either side by six apostles; at a slightly lower position
were figures of the Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist; two angels
with trumpets were sounding the summons to judgment, and the dead were
seen issuing from their tombs. On the right hand of the Saviour was the
figure of a pope entering Paradise, while on the left were figures of
doomed spirits being dragged to torment.
The clerestory of the church is of the Perpendicular period, and is
divided into eight bays, each containing two windows. The pulpit,
attached to the south–east pier of the tower, is noticeable as being a
fine specimen of stone–work in the Perpendicular style. The font, which
stands on its original base of two steps, has sunk panels painted and
gilt in the Decorated style. The brass eagle is of far greater interest
than usually attaches to these things, owing to the fact that it is
contemporary in date with the church itself, and is also one of the
earliest examples of core casting.
A considerable amount of romance is connected with this lectern, for in
1560 an entry is found in which it is stated that xvjd were expended
“for mendyng of ye Eagle’s tayle,” which had been damaged, possibly
at the time of the suppression of the monasteries. This self–same
eagle was threatened with even greater risk of destruction during the
Commonwealth, for we find an entry in the vestry book of the date of
July 13, 1654, which states “that Mr. Abraham Watts made a motion, that
whereas he was informed that this House had an intention to sell the
brass Eagle standing in the vestrie, that he might have the refusall
thereof when such shall be mede.” An additional entry running, “Agreed,
that if it be sold, he shall have the refusall thereof.” At the time
when the lectern was nearly sold, the font, being in those times
considered an objectionable survival of Romanism, was removed and an
ordinary vessel was provided for use at baptisms. It was, however,
fortunately preserved, and brought back and set up in its original
position after the Restoration.
The handsome reredos was erected in 1873 by Sir Gilbert G. Scott,
R.A., and represents the Crucifixion in the centre, with the Nativity
and Ascension on either side.
An event of more than passing interest in connection with the church
was the marriage, recorded in the register, of Sarah Kemble—afterwards
the famous Mrs. Siddons—with William Siddons, an actor in the
theatrical company of the bride’s father, which was at the time
performing in the Drapers’ Hall.
The Church of John the Baptist, also known as Bablake Church, is
one well worth visiting, especially by students of architecture and
archaeology. It possesses a fine lantern tower with battlements
springing from the centre of the church. Since 1774 it has been the
Parish Church.
Coventry, famous in the past for its religious foundations and
ecclesiastical architecture, was not perhaps less notable for its
buildings of a purely domestic or municipal character, and happily not
a few of these have survived, either complete or in part, to provide
object lessons for the student and the lover of antiquities.
Amongst the beautiful buildings which make this town still one of
the most interesting in the Midlands, is St. Mary’s Hall, hard by the
church of St. Michael. This fine and ancient building, which, however,
from the dilapidation of the stone–work front, possesses a somewhat
heavy and decayed appearance from the outside, and is too closely
surrounded by other buildings for a good general view to be obtained,
was commenced towards the end of the fourteenth century, and completed
in 1414 by the united Guilds of St. Mary, St. John the Baptist, St.
Catherine, and Holy Trinity, known as the Trinity Guild. Unfortunately,
the front and the tower at the south–west angle has been allowed to
fall into decay, the two upper stories of the latter having long ago
vanished.
[Illustration: THE PARADE, LEAMINGTON.]
The courtyard is entered through the depressed archway leading into
a finely vaulted porch, on the central boss of the groining of which
is an interesting carving representing the coronation of the Virgin,
and on the projecting impost of the inward arch on the right hand is a
representation of the Annunciation; whilst the impost on the opposite
side is ornamented with animal grotesques. There is a lofty room on the
east side of the porch, which was formerly the chapel of the Mercers’
Company. The courtyard lies beyond this, and on the western side of it
is the entrance to the crypt beneath the Great Hall. Near the windows
of the crypt are the ancient lockers, used for the safe custody of
documents and other valuables belonging to members of the Guild. In
the smaller chamber next the street are several relics, not the least
interesting of which is the knave’s post, a figure six feet high,
having arm openings, which was removed from a wall in Much Park Street
in 1886. It came originally from one of the religious houses, and was
the goal of offenders, who, sentenced to be whipped at the cart’s tail,
usually started from the Mayor’s parlour in Cross Cheaping, to which
they were sometimes also whipped back. The last occasion on which a
public whipping was given is supposed to have been between the years
1820 and 1830. The old Coventry stocks, which are also to be found in
this room, formerly standing in the market–place, and last used in July
1861, are threefold, which speaks but ill for the conduct of the town.
The south end of the inner court is the kitchen, which was originally
the hall of the Merchants’ or St. Mary’s Guild, turned to its present
use when the new hall was erected. Unfortunately the chamber has
suffered considerably at various times from repairs and structural
alterations. It contains four great chimneys, with an opening in the
roof to allow of the escape of steam. In the lobby on the eastern side
of the courtyard is an interesting statue, which, however, has been
considerably restored and is generally believed to represent Henry VI.
It once formed one of the chief figures on the ancient city Cross in
Cross Cheaping, which was unfortunately demolished in 1771. Dugdale
wrote of it as “one of the chief things wherein this city most glories,
which for workmanship and beauty is inferior to none in England.”
From the lobby a broad staircase leads up to the vestibule, and thus
to the Great Hall, in which so many historic scenes in past times
have taken place. Up these stairs in ancient days passed the leading
citizens of Coventry, and also, in all likelihood, some at least of
the royal and famous visitors who have at various times been received
by the town. The great hall, which is some 70 feet long, 30 feet
broad, and 34 feet high, is lighted by seven Perpendicular windows,
three on either side, each containing four lights, and mullioned and
transomed, and a fine nine–light window set in the northern end. This
latter is filled with ancient stained glass, the upper portion with
nineteen coats of arms, and the lower containing a number of full
length representations of kings, amongst whom are William I., Richard
I., Henry III., Henry IV., Henry V., Henry VI., Constantine the Great,
King Arthur, and one unidentified. The glass is by the John Thornton
who was a native of Coventry, and also the artist of the magnificent
east window in York Minster. The roof of this beautiful hall is of oak,
very richly carved, with the space above the tie beams filled with open
panel–work. In the centre are full–length figures of angels, symbolical
of the Heavenly Hosts, bearing in their hands musical instruments;
whilst the bosses at the intersection of the ribs are also richly
carved.
The tapestry hanging below the north window, which is beautiful
work, although of Flemish design, was probably made in England
either in the last years of the fifteenth or commencement of the
sixteenth century. One thing is clear from the lines of the divisions
corresponding with the mullions in the window above, namely, that it
was originally made for the purpose to which it is applied. There are
three compartments, each of them divided into an upper and lower tier,
and the subject of the tapestry is popularly supposed to represent
incidents of the visit paid by Henry VI. and his Queen Margaret to
Coventry on September 21, 1451, on which occasion they were the guests
of the Prior of the Benedictines. Not only is this tapestry of great
antiquarian interest, but it is also valuable as representing some of
the famous people of Henry VI.’s reign and the costumes of that and
of other days. Especially to be noted are the subjects occupying the
centre compartment, which relate to the connection of the building
with the Trinity Guild, and that also of the Guild of St. Mary which
was incorporated with it. One strange anachronism in connection
with the pictures in the first tier of the first compartment is the
representation of Duke Humphrey and Cardinal Beaufort as being present
at the time of the visit of King Henry. Both of these predeceased
the occasion by several years, and probably the explanation of their
presence is the fact that the work was undertaken and completed a
considerable time after the visit of the King.
In the upper row of the middle compartment is a figure of Justice
enthroned, surrounding which are angels holding in their hands the
instruments of the Passion. It is supposed that this incongruity was
due to the insertion of the figure of Justice in Puritan times, and
authorities differ in their views as to whether the evidently offending
and deleted figure was that of the Trinity or Christ. Mr. Scharf, who
has made a close study of this particular work, is of the opinion that
the remains of the handsome throne and part of a beautiful embroidered
mantle which are depicted, may have belonged to a seated figure of
Christ clad in flowing robes, often the subject of paintings at that
particular period. His argument, which is as follows, indeed seems
to be a weighty one. He writes, “had it been a representation of the
Trinity with the first Person holding a crucifix, I do not think
we should have had the angels with the instruments of the Passion,
but rather the four emblems of the Evangelists, as on the canopy
of the tomb of the Black Prince at Canterbury, and in various MS.
illuminations.”
Whatever may be the true explanation of this inserted and incongruous
figure, one cannot feel other than satisfaction that the mutilation
of the tapestry, permitted by Puritan fanaticism, did not proceed to
greater lengths.
In the hall are a number of royal portraits, including pictures of
Charles II. and James II. by Lely, and of George III. and George IV. by
Sir Thomas Lawrence; and on the walls are also some Latin inscriptions,
including one surmounted by the letters E.R. celebrating Queen
Elizabeth, and another commemorating the Black Prince.
Within recent years a new fireproof Muniment Room has been built
downstairs, where is kept a most valuable and interesting series of
documents. Earliest of these is a charter received from Ranulph,
Earl of Chester, in the reign of Henry II. A similar document of
Confirmation, granted in the reign of Charles II., has additional
interest from the fact that it contains a fine miniature portrait of
the King. In addition to more important documents relative to Coventry
affairs are many most interesting and unique letters, some of them of
a more or less private character. One in particular from Margaret, the
mother of Henry VII., calling attention in peremptory language to a
former and unanswered letter. There are two communications from Henry
VIII., one bearing a written signature and the other stamped with a
wooden stamp.
Another exceedingly interesting letter is that received by the Mayor
of Coventry in September 1534, dated the 12th of that month, from
Ann Boleyn, announcing to him the birth of her daughter Elizabeth,
afterwards Queen. There is also one from Elizabeth herself, dated
thirty–six years later, relative to the arrival at Coventry of unhappy
Mary Queen of Scots.
A strange side light upon the custom of the times is thrown by an
indenture dated Warwick, 1478, relating to some jewels which the
impecunious Duke of Clarence had pledged to the city. There are other
letters from royal personages, including Edward IV., Richard III.,
Henry VII., James I., Charles II., James II., and from Archbishops Laud
and Cranmer, and Richard Baxter. In addition to all these memorials of
the past, valuable alike for their historical and antiquarian interest,
is a remarkable miscellaneous collection of nearly twenty thousand
documents, including deeds of gift, charters, grants, leases, etc., and
a set of the trade–marks of Guild members impressed in wax, extending
from the reign of Edward I. down to the latter half of the fifteenth
century.
At the rear of the Minstrel Gallery is a large room formerly used as
the armoury, in which is hung a fine picture, the “Bacchanali,” by
Luca Giordano, and at the back of these apartments is another room,
traditionally supposed to have been that in which Mary Queen of Scots
was confined when at Coventry.
The Mayoress’s parlour possesses a fine moulded ceiling, in two
compartments, with diagonal ribs united in an octagonal panel. The
fireplace has hollow jambs ornamented with tracery, copied from the
banqueting hall of Kenilworth Castle, and is formed by a depressed
Tudor arch; and above it is a figure of Godiva on horseback placed
in a recess. The elaborately carved state chair of oak undoubtedly
dates from the early part of the sixteenth century, and possibly even
earlier. On one side is the figure of the Virgin and Child, whilst
the other is simply panelled. The back is surmounted on one side by
an elephant and castle—the town arms; and on the other side, which
formerly was the centre, stand two lions acting as supporters for a
coronet or crown, which has disappeared. The chair when perfect was
a double one, and was probably made for the use of the Master of the
Guild, and the Mayor, when present at its meetings. On the walls are
hung some interesting portraits of royalty and of former mayors of the
town.
Amongst the other buildings of Coventry worthy of note as representing
survivals of ancient architecture is the Bablake Hospital, endowed by
one Thomas Bond in 1506. “For”—as it is quaintly phrased—“ten poore
men, so long as the world shall endure, with a woman to look to them.”
This Thomas Bond was a draper of the city, and also its Mayor, in 1497;
when Perkin Warbeck was causing rebellion.
Even a brief consideration of Coventry would be incomplete without
a mention of the famous Guilds which in medieval times played so
prominent a part in its civic history. Of the many founded in the city
the oldest of all having a religious character was that of St. Mary,
which used to hold its annual meeting of Masters, Brothers, and Sisters
on Assumption Day, as the quaint spelling of the time had it, “En sale
n’re dame,” in other words, in St. Mary’s Hall.
As showing the power and importance of this Guild, and, indeed, of
the Guild system itself in ancient times, one only has to remember
the Royal and noble persons who were frequently enrolled as members.
Amongst those who became members of the Guild of Holy Trinity were
Henry VI. and his Queen, Margaret of Anjou; Henry VII. and his Queen,
Elizabeth of York; and Edward V. when he was Prince of Wales. It is
interesting also to record that the name of Shakespeare is included
among the brothers and sisters of the Guild.
The form of petition for admission into the Guild, and the oath
which had to be taken by intending members at the ceremony of their
admission, are both quaint; the former runs, “Maister, we beseech you,
at the reverence of the Holy Trinity, that you will receive us to be
brethren of this place with you.” And the latter runs, “Ye shall be
good and true, and each of you shall be good and true to the Master of
the Gild of the Holy Trinity, Our Lady, St. John and St. Catherine of
Coventre, and to all the brethren and sisters of the same Gild; and all
the good rules and ordinances by the said Master and his Brethren afore
this time made, and hereafter to be made, and your days of payment
truly for to keep to your power, so God you help and all Saints.”
[Illustration: ST. MARTIN’S CHURCH, BIRMINGHAM.]
Amongst the other Guilds possessing royal members was that of Corpus
Christi, instituted in the reign of Edward III., which rendered
assistance to the churches of St. Michael and Holy Trinity, by part
payment of the priests; of this Guild King Edward V. was a member.
The Trade Guilds, of which there were many, one of the oldest
being that of the Sheremen and Tailors, founded in honour of the
Nativity some time in the reign of Richard II., were very jealous
of their privileges, and resented promptly any infringement upon
their prerogative. An interesting instance of their action in this
respect was afforded by a combination of the Guilds for the purpose
of suppressing an imitation guild which some of the young men of the
town had formed in the early years of the reign of Henry VI. Dugdale’s
account of this action runs as follows:—
“The common people,” he says, “namely, Journeymen of several trades,
observed what merry–meetings and feasts their masters had, by being of
those Fraternities, and that they themselves wanted in like pleasure did
of their own accord assemble together in several places of the city and
especially in St. George’s Chapel near Gosford Gate, which occasioned
the Mayor and his brethren in the 3rd year of Henry VI. to complain
thereof to the King; alledging, that the said Journeymen in their
unlawful meetings called themselves St. George his Gild, to the intent
that they might maintain and abet one another in quarrels; and for their
better conjunction had made choyce of a Master, with Clerks and Officers
to the great contempt of the K. authority, prejudice of the other Gilds
(viz. holy Trin and Corp Christi) and disturbance of the city; whereupon
the King directed his Writ to the Mayor and Justices, with the Bayliffs
of this City, commanding them by proclamation to prohibite any more such
meetings.”
Thus were the perhaps not unnatural desires of young people of the
Middle Ages to emulate the gaiety and junketings of their betters
crushed by royal authority.
These trading Guilds were almost analogous to the ancient Companies
of the City of London, and have in many cases survived to the present
time, although nowadays their _raison d’être_ is somewhat far to seek,
and one is forced to the conclusion that the chief excuse for their
continued existence is the feeling that old institutions should not be
allowed to disappear, even though the original and perhaps justified
reasons for their foundation no longer obtain.
In some of the Guilds great and striking alterations have been made
from their aforetime character, although they survive at the present
day. The Guild of Fullers or Tailors and Sheremen, one of the most
ancient, had at one time only one surviving brother, who nominated a
second, and thus it remained until the year 1860, when the number was
once more reduced to a single brother, who then made seven others.
Coventry, now so essentially a commercial city, in ancient days saw,
perhaps, more of change and tragedy than most towns of central England.
In the Middle Ages, indeed, stirring events succeeded one another with
somewhat startling rapidity within its walls, and public executions
were far less uncommon than the inhabitants could have wished. Opposite
the old Black Bull Inn, where Henry VI. stayed after the Battle of
Bosworth Field, and where Mary Queen of Scots was confined for several
months in 1569 (now the site of the Barracks), one Thomas Harrington
of Oxford was beheaded in 1487 for having claimed that he was the son
of the Duke of Clarence. In the garden known as Park Hollows, near
which are some fragments of the ancient city walls, during the Marian
Persecution, several martyrs, including Lawrence Sanders, Cornelius
Bungey, and Robert Glover were burnt for heresy.
From the town of these days it is a far cry, indeed, to the bustling
modern city; still containing, however, somewhat of the philosophy of
ancient civic life, though chiefly concerned with the manufacture of
such modern things as bicycles, motors, and aeroplanes.
Even before the Great War the city was a hive of industry, and its
rapid growth, and the wide extension of its boundaries have been,
indeed, remarkable during the last decade.
To recount Coventry’s part in the waging of the Great War would occupy
far more space than can be devoted to it in a book like the present;
but many of the most essential elements in the ultimate victory had
their origin in the wonderful activities of the ancient town.
War material, munitions, motor cars, aeroplanes, and petrol engines
were turned out in enormous quantities. Thousands of skilled mechanics
were drawn off from industry to play a more active part in the war
overseas, but the older men, women, boys, and girls took their places,
and magnificently carried on the ceaseless activities of providing the
munitions of war.
A descriptive writer gave this war–time picture of Coventry. “It is a
city of ancient greatness inspired with a spirit so modern as to strike
one as being incongruous. There are few lights at night, for it is war
time, but at sunset against the pale lemon evening sky its spires are
sharply silhouetted, and the lofty chimneys of its restless factories
trail diaphanous veils of smoke across the vault of heaven. Even at a
distance one hears a murmurous hum of machines, which comes upon the
evening air like the hum of innumerable bees.... Coventry never sleeps.
In the age of the curfew it slept soundly, its streets dark as now. But
to–day the work is continuous, for only that way can victory lie.”
Yes, Coventry bore its burden, did its share, and played its part.
But, seen from a little distance and from certain aspects, Coventry
still possesses a strange old–world charm, and the more modern elements
of its present–day life seem to fade away, leaving a picture of elegant
spires rising from amid a sea of indistinct and even picturesquely
disposed roofs.