consequently to non-residence, which was the bane of the mediæval
Church, and which brought to nothing so many fair schemes of discipline
and reform. This had already begun to extend itself to cathedral
foundations. We may be sure that in early times the whole body of
Canons were constantly resident. Gisa at all events, we may be sure,
would allow of no absentees from the common refectory and the common
dormitory. But the changes made by Robert would certainly tend to make
non-residence possible. A Canon was no longer a mere member of a body
which, even as a body, had hardly any corporate rights. His prebend
had now been made a distinct benefice, as independent, as far as its
temporal possessions went, as a Bishoprick or a rectory. The feudal
ideas which, as I before said, came to be applied to ecclesiastical
benefices, would come to be applied to a prebend no less than to a
Bishoprick or a rectory. It would come to be looked on as a benefice,
which a man might, as in the case of any other benefice, hold along
with any other preferment, and, as in the case of any other benefice,
its holder would deem his conscience discharged if its duties were
discharged by deputy. The non-residence of Canons became a matter
of complaint in the twelfth century. It was a favourite subject for
monkish writers, who naturally found in it a fruitful field for
declamation against their secular rivals. Thus Richard of Devizes, one
of the most amusing writers of that or of any age, holds forth on the
superiority of the monks who praised God with their own mouths, while
the Canons praised Him only through the mouths of their Vicars. He
goes on to draw a grotesque picture of a stranger coming to ask alms
at the door of a rich Canon. The door is opened by a poor Vicar, who
bids the wayfaring man go away, as the master of the house is not at
home.[42] Then, at a somewhat earlier time, in the Life of Saint Thomas
of Canterbury, we find how the man whom he sent over with a bull of
excommunication against the Bishop of London went to high mass in Saint
Paul's Cathedral on so great a festival as the Ascension, and found the
officiating priest to be neither Bishop, Dean, nor Canon, but only a
Vicar.[43] An incidental notice of this sort speaks volumes.
The non-residence of the Canons was in itself an evil, and it grew
out of a relaxation of discipline; still it wrought some incidental
good by calling into being a class of men whom I look upon as highly
valuable, and indeed as essential to the proper working of the
cathedral system. I mean the Non-residentiary Canons. The distinction
between Residentiary and Non-residentiary Canons, which is found in
all the strictly English cathedrals of the Old Foundation, grew up
in different churches at nearly the same time and by nearly the same
steps, but with some differences of detail in each case. The first
stage seems to have been one of very general non-residence. The Canons
lived at the cathedral or not just as they pleased; those who did not
reside keeping (as we have incidentally heard) Vicars to discharge
their share of the duties of the church. Here we have the origin of
that body of Vicars, clerical and lay, whom we still see among us.
The Vicar at first was simply the deputy of the Canon whose place he
took, just as a curate takes the place of a non-resident rector. Each
Vicar was thus dependent on a particular Canon, who was looked upon
as his _Master_. Of this name, after the lapse of so many ages and
after such great changes in the position of the Vicars, we still have
traces among us. Among the legislative acts of Jocelin were some which
concerned the institution of Vicars.[44] He certainly did not form them
into a corporation, which was the work of a benefactor of the next age.
But he probably insisted that the non-residence of the Canons should
not involve any neglect of the services of the church, that every
absent Canon should be represented by a competent Vicar, perhaps even
that each Vicar should receive a decent stipend. It is plain that the
principle of non-residence was already recognized. Savaric, in founding
two new prebends in the church, had directed them to be held by the
Abbots of Muchelney and Athelney for the time being.[45] It probably
was good policy thus to connect the heads of two great monastic houses
in the diocese with the diocesan church. But it is plain that the two
Abbots were not meant to reside permanently at Wells. They would have
their votes in Chapter, and they would come to give them on fitting
occasions; but their share in the ordinary duties of the cathedral must
have been discharged by deputy from the beginning.
Non-residence thus became rife everywhere. But strict men naturally
looked upon it as a scandal. It was not fitting that all or most of the
responsible officers of the church should be habitually absent from
their post, leaving their duties to be discharged by deputy. And it is
likely enough that the deputies might not in every case be the most
creditable representatives of their principals that could be found.
It was needful to take some steps to check the system by which, in
cathedral churches as well as elsewhere, one man did the work while
another took the pay. On the other hand, we can see a growing and very
reasonable feeling that, as it was not possible, so neither was it
desirable, to demand constant residence at the cathedral from the whole
of so large a body as the Canons had now become. Now that the prebends
had been increased to so great a number as fifty, there was really no
object in requiring the holders of all of them to be always present
either in the choir or in the chapter-house. The twofold objects of the
cathedral foundation would be better carried out by dividing the Canons
into two classes. One portion of the body was placed constantly on the
spot, to maintain the regular services and to discharge the routine
duties of the corporation. Another portion consisted of men scattered
about the diocese, appearing at the cathedral only at stated seasons,
who, as being at once cathedral clergy and diocesan clergy, might
help, above all other men, to keep up the connexion between the mother
church and the diocese at large. How far these objects were consciously
present to the minds of those who established the distinction between
Residentiary and Non-residentiary Canons, I do not pretend to say; but
I do say that the distinction has really worked for good, and has
given us, in the Non-residentiary Canons, a very valuable body of men,
whose position I should like to see better appreciated than it commonly
is. This is, however, a subject which will again come before us, and
at present we have to deal only with the origin of the distinction.
In the first stage no fixed number of Residentiaries was appointed.
It was open to every Canon to reside if he chose; and if he chose
to reside, he was in every sense a Residentiary. There could not be
then, as there is now, the strange sight of Canons, even dignitaries,
of the cathedral, who really do reside, but who are not reckoned as
Residentiaries, while others bear the name of Residentiaries who
come among us for three months in the year only. The first stage was
commonly this. Every Canon could reside or not, as he pleased; but
those who did reside enjoyed great worldly advantages over those who
did not. The common revenues of the corporation were divided among
those only who resided, while those who did not reside received only,
what the corporation of course could not meddle with, the incomes of
their own prebends. The non-resident thus had only his prebend; the
resident had his prebend and a share in the common income as well. This
is all explained in a statute of Jocelin himself, dated in 1242, the
year of his death, in which a daily distribution is ordered to such
Canons and Vicars as are present, while at the end of the year the
remainder of the common revenues is to be divided among such Canons as
have kept residence. Residence is defined to be six months in the year
for a simple Canon, that is, for one not a dignitary, and eight for
the Dean, Precentor, Chancellor, and Treasurer.[46]
With this stage, when residence was voluntary, is connected the curious
institution of _ribs_, which, as far as I know, is peculiar to our own
church. A rib, as many of you know, is a house, or a piece of ground
fit for building a house, which the Bishop must give to some Canon,
but which he might give to any Canon that he pleased. If therefore the
Bishop wished to call into residence any Canon who had not a house of
his own, he might give him the means of residing by giving him a rib.
At this stage, then, residence was optional, just as it is at this
moment among Fellows of Colleges in the Universities. But there was
this important difference, that the resident Canon, unlike the resident
Fellow, greatly bettered his income by residing. The natural result was
that, whereas hitherto the tendency had been to shirk residence, there
now was a general rush of the Canons to reside. And this new tendency
to residence next led to all kinds of devices to hinder residence. If
a small number were already residing, and therefore divided the common
fund among them, they would be tempted to look with no friendly eye on
those of their brethren who came trooping in to share their funds, and
thereby to lessen their own dividends. It was often ordered that no one
should be allowed to reside, or at least to draw any profits from his
residence, unless he obtained the consent of those who were already
Residentiaries. And it was no uncommon rule, a rule which existed in
our own church, that no one should reside unless he purchased the
right to residence by giving a series of costly entertainments to his
brother Canons and to various other people.[47] This of course many of
the Canons could not afford to do, and so were hindered from residing
if they wished. All these devices were clear abuses, arising out of
a selfish wish on the part of the existing Residentiaries to have as
few sharers in their dividends as they could. Still it was clearly not
to be wished that the whole body of Canons should reside, while it
was desirable that the choice of those who should reside should not
depend upon their power of giving great dinners. The remedy was to
appoint a fixed number of Residentiaries to be chosen in some regular
way out of the whole body of Canons. This was done sooner or later
in all the strictly English Old Foundation churches, but the number
of the Residentiaries, and the way of choosing them from among the
Canons, differed widely in different places. Here in Wells the number
finally settled was eight, including the Dean; now, by the Act of
Parliament settling such matters, it is, as you all know, four besides
the Dean. Here too, on a vacancy among the Residentiaries, the existing
Residentiary body determines which of the other Canons shall be called
into residence. You will see that the rule that no man could reside
without the consent of the existing Residentiaries would, as soon as
there was a fixed number, naturally grow into an election of this kind.
But in some places, as at York, the Dean alone called into residence
whom he would. In others, as at Lincoln, the duty of residence was
laid on some or all of the dignitaries, who of course must reside
if they are to do their duties effectually. This, you will see, was
in effect to put the choice of Residentiaries into the hands of the
Bishop. At Saint David's this mode was combined with that with which we
are familiar here. There was a Residentiary body of six, consisting of
three dignitaries, the Precentor, the Chancellor, and the Treasurer,
and of three other Canons elected by the Residentiary body. As the
Church of Saint David's had no Dean, the Precentor was the President
of the Chapter.[48] These small differences meet us everywhere, but
the general system is the same everywhere. Both the likeness and the
unlikeness were exactly what was to be looked for, when the same causes
were working in different places in a great number of institutions of
the same class, but where the changes were made, not by any one general
enactment, but by independent local legislators laying down rules for
their own societies only. But the general result was everywhere the
same. A smaller body arose within the general body of the Canons, a
body on whom alone fell the duty of residence and the common daily care
of the fabric and its services. The change was undoubtedly a good one.
It brought in a regular order and discipline instead of a state of
things which must have been verging on anarchy. It produced two classes
of men, the Residentiary and the Non-residentiary Canons, each of whom,
as it seems to me, has a very useful function to perform in the economy
of the Church. But it had its weak side also. The tendency of a smaller
body, more constantly present on the spot and more constantly in the
habit of acting together, has naturally been gradually to draw all
power into its own hands. The result has been that in many churches,
including our own, the rights of the Non-residentiary Canons have been
cut down, greatly to the disadvantage of the institution as a whole, to
little beyond a bare name and a barren precedence.
I need hardly say that when the duty of residence was laid exclusively
on a certain number of the Canons on behalf of the whole, it was
meant that those on whom the duty of residence was laid should really
discharge that duty. But the same tendencies which had before worked
in the general body of Canons began after a while to work again in the
smaller body of Residentiaries. It was clearly intended, it was implied
in the very distinction between Residentiaries and Non-residentiaries,
that those who were to reside should really reside; that the cathedral
should be their home, their dwelling-place, at least as constantly
as the parish of a clergyman who resides on his living is his
dwelling-place. But a passion which seems almost inherent in human
nature, the passion for shirking one's own immediate duties, soon
stepped in. Residence was shirked even by the Residentiaries; it was
cut short to the smallest possible amount, till the strange doctrine
was finally established that residence was effectually kept by the
presence of a single Canon, the Residentiary body coming in turn for
periods which in some places fell below, and which I believe never rose
above, the mystical period of three months. This period is now fixed by
law for all churches alike. At Wells, however, it does seem to have
been, even in the worst times, at least the theory that there should
always be two Canons resident at once.[49] But even two is a very small
show out of fifty, and with what propriety of language a man who is
away nine months or longer in the year can be called a Residentiary
is altogether beyond my understanding. The three months' system is a
mockery, and worse. Three months is too long a time for a bad man, and
not long enough for a good man. The man who comes for three months
only has not time enough to do much good, but he has time enough to do
a great deal of mischief. We ourselves know by experience that more
mischief may be done to the fabric of the cathedral in one term of
three months than can, with the best will in the world, be undone in
the next term. We do not want to get rid of our Residentiary Canons,
but we do want to have more of their company. If our cathedrals are
ever to be made what they ought to be and what they might be, the first
reform of all must be that Residentiaries shall really reside. I assume
of course that they hold no other preferment involving residence. I
do not want them to be resident at the cathedral and non-resident
somewhere else. No Dean or Canon Residentiary ought to have any other
benefice, or any cure of souls, except such as may be attached to the
cathedral itself. And if the right kind of men--men very far from
scarce in the Church--were always made Deans and Canons Residentiary,
they would find their cathedral offices enough for them, and would not
go hungering after other functions which are incompatible with their
proper discharge.
We must now turn once more from the constitution of the Church to its
fabric. The church as built by Jocelin, though capable, as we know,
of much further enlargement and improvement, was still essentially
perfect. But one important building was still lacking. In a secular
foundation, where each man lives in his own house, only one common
building besides the church is actually necessary. The refectory and
dormitory are useless; the cloister is a luxury which may be dispensed
with; but there must be a place where the whole body may meet for
elections, and for whatever other business they have to discharge. The
Chapter-house is therefore quite as much needed in a secular as it is
in a monastic foundation. And it should be noticed that in secular
foundations the Chapter-house is much more strictly part of the church
than it is in a monastery. In a monastery the Chapter-house is one of
the main parts of the whole building. It communicates directly with
the cloister, and thereby with the church and the other principal
buildings. But it has no direct communication with the church; it
has no more connexion with the church than the refectory has, and
not nearly so much as the dormitory has. But in secular foundations
the Chapter-house is much more commonly a part of the church, its
principal or only entrance being from the church itself. This is a
general but not an universal rule, Salisbury being a notable instance
to the contrary. This, as you all know, was at first the case with
the Chapter-house at Wells. When it was first built, and up to the
time when the way which leads to the Vicars' Close was made, long
afterwards, the only approach to the Chapter-house was from the church
itself. And now that the door which leads to the Vicars' Close is
always kept fastened, we may be thought to have come back again to the
old state of things. Our Chapter-house is one of the best examples of
a type which chiefly belongs to the thirteenth century, though one or
two examples are earlier and one or two examples are later.[50] This is
the type in which the building is of an octagonal or other polygonal
shape, most commonly with a single pillar in the middle, from which all
the ribs of the vaulting branch out in different directions. This is
the case with our own and with most other chapter-houses of this kind,
both in monastic and in secular churches. But in the great example at
York, and in the smaller one imitated from it at Southwell, the central
pillar is wanting. With the beauty of our own Chapter-house we are
all familiar; its windows are amongst the finest examples of tracery
of their own date; still the details of the Chapter-house itself
do not please my personal taste so much as the details, one stage
earlier in the history of art, of the staircase which leads to it. The
Chapter-house stands on what is commonly called a crypt, but which,
as not being underground, hardly deserves that name. It is rather of
a piece with those vaulted undercrofts or substructures which are so
common under the principal buildings of monasteries and other houses,
and which are constantly mistaken for cloisters, dormitories, and what
not.[51] There cannot be a better example than the lower stage of our
own Bishop's palace. I need hardly say that, when this substructure
and the staircase were made, the Chapter-house was already designed;
for both staircase and substructure are simply buildings subordinate
to the Chapter-house. Yet there must be a certain difference of
date between the two. The staircase must be a little later than the
church itself, for it is manifestly built up against the buttresses
of the north transept, and, while the church has only lancet windows,
the staircase has some of the best examples of the earliest form of
Geometrical tracery. The Chapter-house itself again has Geometrical
tracery of a later type, and the details throughout are more advanced.
It appears from Professor Willis's account that in 1286 the Chapter
determined to finish a certain new structure which had been long
before begun, and which urgently needed to be finished. This, as the
Professor says, can be no other than the Chapter-house. In 1286, then,
the staircase and substructure were already finished, but the works
were at a standstill, and the Chapter-house itself had not yet been
begun. The result of these debates of the Chapter was the carrying out
of the Chapter-house. The general design had no doubt been planned long
before, and it was now carried out according to that original design,
but, as might be expected, with all the changes in detail, whether we
look on them as improvements or not, which had come into fashion since
the work began.[52]