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[Illustration: GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL, FROM THE ROOF OF ST. JOHN'S
CHURCH.]
THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF
GLOUCESTER
A DESCRIPTION OF ITS FABRIC
AND A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE
EPISCOPAL SEE
BY H. J. L. J. MASSE, M.A.
AUTHOR OF "TEWKESBURY ABBEY" AND
"DEERHURST PRIORY," ETC.
WITH FORTY-NINE ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON GEORGE BELL & SONS 1905
_First Published January 1899_
_Second Edition August 1900_
_Reprinted January 1905_
_The Riverside Press Limited, Edinburgh_
GENERAL PREFACE
This series of monographs has been planned to supply visitors to the
great English Cathedrals with accurate and well illustrated guide-books
at a popular price. The aim of each writer has been to produce a work
compiled with sufficient knowledge and scholarship to be of value to the
student of Archaeology and History, and yet not too technical in language
for the use of an ordinary visitor or tourist.
To specify all the authorities which have been made use of in each case
would be difficult and tedious in this place. But amongst the general
sources of information which have been almost invariably found useful
are:--(1) the great county histories, the value of which, especially in
questions of genealogy and local records, is generally recognised; (2)
the numerous papers by experts which appear from time to time in the
Transactions of the Antiquarian and Archaeological Societies; (3) the
important documents made accessible in the series issued by the Master
of the Rolls; (4) the well-known works of Britton and Willis on the
English Cathedrals; and (5) the very excellent series of Handbooks to
the Cathedrals originated by the late Mr John Murray; to which the
reader may in most cases be referred for fuller detail, especially in
reference to the histories of the respective sees.
GLEESON WHITE, E. F. STRANGE,
_Editors of the Series._
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
I wish to express my great obligations to Mr F. S. Waller (the Cathedral
Architect) for his courtesy and kindness in allowing me to make the
fullest use of his "Notes and Sketches" of the Cathedral, a book which
is now, unfortunately, out of print; to Mr W. H. St. John Hope, F.S.A.,
for permission to quote from his "Notes on the Benedictine Abbey of St.
Peter at Gloucester," published in the Records of Gloucester Cathedral;
also to the Records of Gloucester Cathedral.
To Mr E. J. Burrow I owe special thanks for permission to use blocks
made from his black-and-white drawings, one of which has not been
published before; to the Very Rev. the Dean for much useful information
and assistance; and lastly to the Sub-Sacrist, Mr T. W. G. Cooke, whose
help has been at all times ungrudging and invaluable.
H. J. L. J. M.
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I.--History of the Building 3
CHAPTER II.--The Exterior of the Cathedral 14
The West Front 20
The South Front and Porch 20
The South Transept 21
The Tower and the Bells 22
The Lady Chapel 26
CHAPTER III.--The Interior 28
The Nave 32
The West End and South Aisle 36
The West Windows and the Font 40
The North Aisle 41
The Choir Screen 44
The Organ 46
The Choir 47
The Reredos 56
The South Transept 65
Chapel of St. Andrew and 'Prentice Bracket 67
The Crypt 68
South Ambulatory of Choir 72
Triforium of the Choir 73
The Whispering Gallery 77
The Lady Chapel 79
Abbot Boteler's Chapel 85
The North Transept 89
CHAPTER IV.--The Precincts and Monastic Buildings 94
The Vineyard, the Dorter, the Refectory 95
The Little Cloisters 96
The Library 98
The Chapter-House 101
The Cloisters 104
The Monks' Lavatory 108
The Slype 111
The Deanery 112
CHAPTER V.--List of Abbots and Bishops of Gloucester 117
The City 122
Other Churches and Monastic Foundations 124
Remains of Old Gloucester 128
Notes Architectural and Chronological 133
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
The Cathedral from St. John's Tower _Frontispiece_
The Tower from the East 2
Bird's-eye view of Norman Work 15
The Cathedral from the South-West 17
The Cathedral from North-West corner of the Cloisters 19
The Tower from the Palace Yard 21
View of the Cathedral in 1727 23
South Porch since the Restoration 25
Piscina in the Triforium 27
The Nave, looking East 29
The Nave and North Aisle 33
South Aisle of the Nave 37
Plan of the Original Choir Screen 44
The Choir, looking East 49
Plan of the Triforium of the Choir 50
Plan of the Original High Altar 51
Sketch of Old Norman Choir 52
The Choir, looking West 53
The Choir in 1806 57
Tomb of Edward II 61
South-East Chapel in the Crypt 69
Plan of the Crypt 71
South-East View of Cathedral 75
Triforium of the Choir, looking East 76
South Ambulatory of the Choir 78
The Lady Chapel 81
West End of Lady Chapel 83
Tomb of Robert Curthose 87
North Ambulatory of the Choir, looking East 90
North Ambulatory of the Choir, looking West 91
Door from North Transept into North Ambulatory of the Choir 92
St. Mary's and King Edward's Gates 96
College and Palace Yard Gateways 97
Remains of Infirmary 98
Mediaeval House 99
Chapter-House (Plan) 102
Plan of Abbey Precincts 103
Cloister Garth from North-West 107
The Monks' Lavatory 109
Plan of Old Tank in the Cloister Garth 111
The Cloister, showing the Carrels of the Monks 113
South Aisle of Nave 116
Monument to Mrs Morley 121
The Old Judge's House 125
The House of Robert Raikes 127
The New Inn 129
Carving at New Inn Lane 130
Remains of Roman Wall 131
Plan of Cathedral (with Dimensions) 134, 135
[Illustration: The Tower. Gloucester from the East.
Edward J. Burrows 1894]
GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
CHAPTER I
HISTORY OF THE BUILDING
It is neither possible, nor desirable, within the limits of a book of
this size and scope, to go fully into the question, interesting though
it be, of the relative claims of Aldred and Serlo to the honour of the
first building of the Abbey of Gloucester. Professor Willis, in his
lecture addressed to the meeting of the Archaeological Institute, held at
Gloucester in 1860, after giving various reasons for believing that the
crypt dates back no further than 1089, when the foundation-stone was
laid by Abbot Serlo, goes on to state that he was "clearly of opinion
that when the foundations of the cathedral were laid, the crypt was
planned to receive the existing superstructure and no other."
Professor Freeman, in his lecture published in the "Records of
Gloucester Cathedral," says: "The first thing we do know for certain is,
that in the year 1089, thirty-one years only after the dedication of
Ealdred's church, Serlo, the first Norman Abbot, began the building of a
new church, which was itself dedicated in 1100."
From the record quoted by Mr W. H. Hart ("Chartulary," i. 3), the first
mention of the abbey is in 681, when it was founded by Osric, viceroy of
King Ethelred. It was dedicated to St. Peter, and Kyneburga (the sister
of Osric) was the first Abbess of a double foundation for monks and
nuns. She died in 710.
Osric himself was buried in his church in 729 (Hart, i. 5), and his
sister was buried near him, in front of the altar of St. Petronilla,
which was on the north side of the then existing church.
The second Abbess was also a lady of royal descent, and widow of
Wulphere, King of the Mercians. She died in 735, and with Eve or Eva, or
Gaffa, her successor, who died in 769, the monastery came to an end.
In 823 a new _regime_ began--viz. that of secular priests, introduced by
Beornwulf, King of Mercia, and the _Monasticon Anglicanum_ (Caley, i.
563) says that he found the monastery "_spoliatum et ruinosum_" and
therefore rebuilt it. He also changed its constitution, by introducing
secular priests, of whom many were married to lawful wives, and who were
very little different in their way of living to other secular
Christians. This state of things went on till 1022, when Cnut, as Leland
says, "for ill lyvynge expellyd secular clerks, and by the counsell of
Wolstane (Wulfstan), Bysshope of Wurcestar, bringethe in monkes." The
monks introduced by Cnut were of the Benedictine rule, or Black monks,
as Parker calls them in his "Rhythmical History of the Abbey."
This change was effected about the same time in many other places in
England, but was not generally popular, and certainly was not so in
Gloucester. Abbot Parker, in his rhyming account of the founding of the
abbey, says that in 1030
"A lord of great puissance, named Ulfine Le Rewe,
Was enjoyned by (the Pope) for ever to finde
Satisfying for the seaven priests that he slew,
7 monkes for them to pray world without minde."
Mr Hope, in his "Notes on the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter at
Gloucester," 1897, p. 2, says: "The Benedictines thus introduced by Cnut
do not seem to have been a success, and after an existence of
thirty-seven years under a weak Abbot, whose long rule was marked by
great decay of discipline, the '_Memoriale_' (Dugdale, i. 564) says:
'God permitted them to be extirpated, and the monastery in which they
were established to be devoured by the fiercest flames, and the very
foundations and buildings to be rent asunder, razed to the ground, and
utterly destroyed.'"
"The monastery was next taken in hand by Aldred, Bishop of Worcester,
who in 1058 re-established the monks. He also began to build a new
church from the foundations, and dedicated it in honour of St.
Peter."[1]
"Until now the monastery seems to have occupied the same site throughout
its chequered history; but the '_Memoriale_' states that Aldred began
the new church 'a little further from the place where it had first
stood, and nearer to the side of the city.'"
The language of these authorities is quite plain, but the interpretation
thereof is not so evident. As Professor Freeman said: "By the time when
the oldest church, of which we have any part remaining, came into being,
the Roman Wall, or at least this corner of it, must have pretty well
passed away." It seems clear that the "_side of the city_" cannot refer
to the Roman Wall. To quote Professor Freeman again: "The existing
church is something more than near to the Roman Wall. It actually stands
over its north-west corner."
"Even under Aldred's auspices the monastery did not altogether flourish.
But this time it was through the fault of Aldred himself, for, on his
translation to York in 1060, he retained very many of the possessions of
the abbey that had been pledged to him on account of his expenses in
repairing and re-edifying the church."
In 1072, Wilstan (Wulstan), the Abbot consecrated by Aldred in 1058,
died, and was succeeded by Serlo, who found the convent reduced to two
monks and eight novices. Through his energy the monastery increased to
such an extent that in about fifteen years' time it became necessary to
rebuild the monastery.
This rebuilding was begun exactly thirty-one years after Aldred had
built his church, _de nova_ and _a fundamentis_. Why was this necessary?
Professor Freeman says: "The reason is not very far to seek for any one
who has really mastered the history of architecture during the eleventh
century.... The simple fact is that the Norman prelates pulled down and
rebuilt the English churches, mainly because they thought them too
small." Further on he says: "This proves that, of the two types of
church which were in use side by side in the days of the Confessor,
Aldred had followed the older type. He had not conformed to the new
Norman fashions, vast size among them, which were coming in after the
example of the king's own church at Westminster.... His church was built
in the Primitive Romanesque style, the style common to England, with
Germany, Italy, and Burgundy, not in the newly-developed style of
Northern Gaul. Therefore, neither its scale nor its style suited the
ideas of Abbot Serlo.[2] It was condemned, and the minster that now
stands was begun."
In the MS. Lives of the Abbots in Queen's College Library, Oxford, it is
stated that "in A.D. 1089, on the day of the festival of the Apostles
Peter and Paul, in this year were laid the foundations of the church
(ecclesia) of Gloucester, the venerable man Robert, Bishop of Hereford,
laying the first stone, Serlo the Abbot being in charge of the work."
(So, too, Hart, i. 11.)
In August 1089 there was an earthquake, which did serious damage to the
then existing building. Eleven years after this (1100), in the last year
of the reign of William Rufus, "the church," as Florence of Worcester
wrote, "which Abbot Serlo, of revered memory, had built from the
foundations at Gloucester, was dedicated (on Sunday, July 15th) with
great pomp by Samson, Bishop of Worcester; Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester;
Gerard, Bishop of Hereford; and Herveas, Bishop of Bangor." This
dedication under Serlo's _regime_ is the last authentic record for some
years.
Nothing is known exactly as to how much of the building was completed by
1100. Professor Freeman points out that eleven years was quite long
enough for its building, and that there is no hint in the local
chronicle of any additions being made to the building dedicated in 1100.
Probably part of the church was finished for the dedication, such as the
presbytery, choir, the transepts, the Abbot's cloister, the
chapter-house, and the greater part, at any rate, of the nave.
The nave, though so different in scale as compared with the original
choir, must have been built very early in the twelfth century, and, like
the rest of the building, originally had a wooden roof.
In 1101 or 1102 damage was done to the building by fire, notably the
chapter-house, and again in 1122. Possibly in this latter fire the nave
roof was destroyed, and of this fire the piers in the nave show traces.
Of the same date must be much of the strengthening masonry in the crypt,
the Prior's lodging, the chapel, and the slype beneath it.
The whole of the Abbey buildings were surrounded by Abbot Peter with a
stone wall, and the necessary gates--viz. the great gatehouse on the
west, another on the south, and a third more to the east. All these can
be identified from the small plan of the monastic buildings, reproduced
(p. 103), by permission of Mr F. S. Waller. The Saxon Chronicle tells us
that in 1122, while the monks were singing mass, fire burst out from the
upper part of the steeple, and burnt the whole monastery. Some time
between 1164 and 1179 one of the western towers, probably the south-west
tower, fell down. Fire in 1190 is said to have destroyed the greater
part of the city, as well as almost all the buildings in the outer
court. Helias, the sacrist, also made new stalls for the monks in the
choir. Of these Early English stalls, a fragment has been thoughtfully
and carefully preserved behind the seat of the Canon in residence.
In 1222 we learn from Hart, i. 25, that the great eastern tower was
built under the direction of Helias of Hereford, the sacrist. Of this
tower no traces now remain. Helias built his superstructure on the
Norman work that we see in the nave.
The Early English Lady Chapel was said to have been built between the
years 1224-1227 by Ralph of Wylington, and Olympias his wife, and
endowed with lands.
The church was dedicated again in 1239, in Abbot Foliot's time, by
Walter of Cantelupe, "the patriot prelate who, six-and-twenty years
later, stood by Earl Simon on the day of martyrdom at Evesham."
Three years after the dedication in 1242 alterations in the triforium of
the nave were made, and the stone vaulting was done by the monks
themselves. It was a very laudable object, but they effectually spoiled
the nave. The same year saw the beginning of the rebuilding of the
south-west tower, and it was finished before 1246. If this was the tower
that collapsed in 1170, the monks would seem to have somewhat neglected
their duty to the fabric. The Norman refectory or "frater" was
demolished in 1246, and the new one begun. This building stood to the
north of the cloisters, and was pulled down at the Dissolution. Of the
Early English infirmary or "farmery" traces remain near the Bishop's
Palace.
In this place we may refer incidentally to Gloucester Hall, Oxford,
which college was founded in 1283 as a residence for thirteen monks, to
be chosen out of the brotherhood at Gloucester, and sent to study at
Oxford. The hall was empowered later on to receive students from other
Benedictine foundations, and the buildings were enlarged for this
purpose in 1298.
Fire again ravaged the Abbey and its precincts in 1300, on the feast of
the Epiphany. "It began in a timbered house in the great court, from
which it spread to the small bell-tower, the great camera, and the
cloister" (Hope, 36). Mr Hope thinks this bell-tower was either a single
western tower, as formerly there was at Hereford, or else a Norman
north-west tower, and that the great camera was part of the Abbot's
house, now the Deanery. Professor Freeman thinks that the small
bell-tower or _parvum campanile_ was so called as being less in height
than the south-west tower rebuilt in 1245-6.
In this same fire the Norman dorter or dormitory suffered considerable
damage. It was pulled down three years later, and a new one, which took
ten years to build, was opened for use in 1313, after being blessed and
sprinkled with holy water by the Bishop of St. David's. 1318 is a date
of importance in the history of the Abbey. John Thokey, Abbot from
1307-1329, made many changes. He reconstructed the south aisle of the
nave to save the south side from collapse. The windows on the outside
have been restored, but the buttresses have been very little touched.
Most of the tracery in the windows of the aisles and chapels of the
choir, and the triforium of the choir, date back to his time.
Thokey, between 1316-1329 built the new camera of the Abbot, beside the
infirmary garden (Hart, i. 55).
Thokey's successor, Wygmore, carried out the works planned previously,
and in 1331-1337 the south transept was recased, and vaulted practically
as we see it to-day, in the style now known as Perpendicular. Part of
the front of the Deanery is presumably of the same date, though many
later alterations have been made in it. Wygmore also built the double
screen (_vide_ p. 44) which separated the nave from the choir. "Parts of
it," says Mr Hope, "are worked up in the present screen," and he quotes
Hart, i. 47, to show that Wygmore was buried in 1337, "before the
Salutation of the Blessed Mary in the entry of the quire on the south
side, which he himself constructed with the pulpitum (or loft) in the
same place."
The transformation of the Norman minster had thus begun. In the days of
Adam de Staunton (1337-1357) the great vault of the choir was made at a
great expense, together with the stalls on the Priors' side--_i.e._ the
north side.
The oblations at the tomb of Edward II. rendered much of his extensive
work practicable, as the funds of the Abbey were becoming exhausted.
Thomas Horton (1351-1377) finished the work, comprising the high altar,
with the presbytery, the stalls on the Abbot's side, or south side of
the choir. (Hart, i. 49.)
He also caused to be made the images and tabernacle work at the entrance
of the choir on the north side, and in the six years, ending with 1374,
he completed the casing of the north transept, defraying the greater
part of the cost himself (L444, 0s. 2d. out of a total sum of L781, 0s.
2d.).
Horton also built "the Abbot's chapel near the garden of the infirmary,
the covered camera of the monks' hostelry, and the great hall in the
court, where the king afterwards held his Parliament in 1378." (Hart, i.
48, 50.)
The present cloister, as far as the door of the chapter-house, is also
his work.
This important work was for many years unfinished, but was completed by
Froucester in the years 1381-1407. As Leland says, "he made the cloyster
a right goodly and sumptuous piece of worke."
In the one hundred and thirty years that elapsed between the finishing
of the cloisters and the Dissolution many further important changes took
place, both in the interior and in the exterior of the fabric.
John Morwent (1421-1437), utterly destroyed the west front, with its two
towers, which, in the opinion of many, may have been counterparts of
those at Tewkesbury. To him also is credited, mainly on Leland's
authority, the insertion of the south porch.
Abbot Seabroke (1450-1457) took down the tower as far as the Norman
piers, and built the present beautiful structure. He died before it was
finished, and Robert Tully, one of the monks of the monastery, carried
out the work, as the inscription on the wall in the interior (_vide_ p.
63) testifies.
Before the tower was complete, the present Lady Chapel (which was
finished before 1500) was begun by Abbot Hanley, and finished by Abbot
Farley.
John the Baptist's Chapel is usually ascribed to Abbot John Browne (or
Newton), from the similarity of his initials to those of the saint.
The eastern bay of the chapter-house dates back to Abbot Hanley's
time--_i.e._ between 1457-1472.
In 1540 Henry VIII. sent his commissioners, and they demanded the
surrender of the Abbey to the king. This cannot have been a surprise to
any of the monks who were in the Abbey at the time. As far back as 1534
they had all been compelled to take the oath by which they acknowledged
the king as supreme head of the Church of England, and denied that any
foreign bishop had any authority in these realms.
The monks, too, had seen the smaller monasteries in Gloucester dissolved
two years before, and the more thoughtful of them must have foreseen
that it was a mere question of time for the greedy king to absorb the
larger monasteries as well.
Abbot Parker's tomb, and also that of King Osric, practically date
themselves, and of the same period are presumably the gateway into
Palace Yard, and part of the Abbot's lodging on the site of the present
Bishop's Palace. From Leland we learn that the south gate--_i.e._ King
Edward's gate--is of the same date, having been rebuilt by Osborne the
cellarer.
The library, and the set of rooms beneath it, now used as vestry and
practice-room for the choir, are perhaps the latest additions to the
buildings.
At the Dissolution the Abbey which had "existed for more than eight
centuries under different forms, in poverty and in wealth, in meanness
and in magnificence, in misfortune and success, finally succumbed to the
royal will. The day came, and that a drear winter day, when its last
mass was sung, its last censer waved, its last congregation bent in rapt
and lowly adoration before the altar there; and, doubtless, as the last
tones of that day's evensong died away in the vaulted roof, there were
not wanting those who lingered in the solemn stillness of the old
massive pile, and who, as the lights disappeared one by one, felt that
there was a void which could never be filled, because their old abbey,
with its beautiful services, its frequent means of grace, its
hospitality to strangers, and its loving care for God's poor, had
passed away like a morning dream, and was gone for ever." (Hart, iii.
49.)
The charter of Henry VIII. founding the see is too long to quote _in
extenso_, but it stated that "Whereas the great convent or monastery,
which, whilst still in being, was called the monastery of St. Peter of
Gloucester, ... and all and singular its manors, ... and possessions,
for certain special and urgent causes were, by Gabriel Moreton, Prior of
the said abbey or monastery and the convent thereof, lately given and
granted to us and our heirs for ever.... We, being influenced by divine
goodness, and desiring above all things, that true religion, and the
true worship of God may not only not be abolished, but entirely restored
to the primitive and genuine rule of simplicity; and that all those
enormities may be corrected into which the lives and profession of the
monks for a long time had deplorably lapsed, have, as far as human
frailty will permit, endeavoured to the utmost that for the future the
pure word of God may be taught in that place, good discipline
preserved...."
The charter goes on to say that, "considering the site of the said late
monastery in which many famous monuments of our renowned ancestors,
Kings of England, are erected, is a very fit and proper place ... we
have decreed that the site of the said monastery be an episcopal see....
We also will and ordain that the said Dean and Prebendaries, and their
successors, shall for ever hereafter be called the Dean and Chapter of
the Holy and Individed Trinity of Gloucester." Henry also assigned to
the Bishop all the premises formerly occupied by the Abbot.
In 1576 the fabric seems to have been in want of considerable repair,
and in 1616, when Dr Laud was Dean, it was said of it that "there was
scarcely a church in England so much in decay." The Dean procured an Act
of the Chapter, by which the sum of L60 per annum was to be allowed for
repairs.
In the time of the civil war it suffered less than might have been
expected. It was subsequently in danger of total destruction from the
machinations of some persons, who are said "to have agreed amongst
themselves for their several proportions of the plunder expected out of
it." The little cloisters and the Lady Chapel were begun to be pulled
down, and "instruments and tackle provided for to take down the tower,"
but in 1657 the church was made over by grant to the mayor and burgesses
at their request, and from this it is to be assumed that they wished to
prevent it from possible ruin. Mr Dorney, speaking in 1653, recommends
to the officers of the city then elected, "that they would, together
with others, join their shoulders to hold up the stately fabric of the
College Church, the great ornament of this city, which some do say is
now in danger of falling."
In 1679 we find an insensate prebendary securing an order from the
Chapter for destroying some of the old glass in the west window of the
choir. Bishop Benson (1734-1752) spent vast sums of money on the
building, and to him are due the paving of the nave, and pinnacles to
the Lady Chapel, which were removed at a recent restoration. A stone
screen (removed in 1820) was erected at the entrance to the choir by
this energetic Bishop, and his architect, Kent, in whose hands he was,
suggested the fluting of the pillars of the nave.
Fifty years ago, in 1847, under the energetic administration of Dr
Jeune, the Treasurer, extensive repairs and improvements were begun by
Mr F. S. Waller. The crypt was drained, concreted, and later on glazed.
The grounds round the cathedral have been lowered, enlarged, and laid
out, and the drainage has been properly done. Of the restorations during
the last fifty years mention has been made in detail in the description
of the various parts of the building that have been restored, and there
is no need to repeat.
Restoration is a cause of much strife, and in the hands of many
architects it means destruction of the original features of the
building. Gloucester has suffered somewhat at the hands of Sir Gilbert
Scott, but probably not a tithe of what would have been inflicted upon
it had Wyatt been turned loose with an absolutely free hand. Mr Waller,
writing in 1890, said: "Forty years ago everything not 'Gothic' (the
fashion of the day) was destroyed; but were it possible now to reinstate
the Chapter-House book-cases, the Renaissance Reredos of the Choir,
Wygmore's pulpit, the aisle screens, the remains of the Rood Loft, and
the Choir fittings, and to put them all back--odd mixture as they would
be--to the positions they occupied in 1727, few would be found to
object, even though the replacement of the monuments on the columns of
the nave became one of the conditions."--Truly "_Tempora mutantur_,"
and fortunately _nos et mutamur in illis_.
#Dedication.#--The building of Osric was dedicated to St Peter by
Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bosel, Bishop of Worcester. When
Bishop Wulfstan ejected the secular canons, and brought in his
Benedictine monks, he reconsecrated it to St. Peter and St. Paul.
Bishop Aldred after building _de novo_ re-dedicated the church to St.
Peter, as the chief of the apostles. Abbot Serlo seems to have
remembered the earlier dedication to St. Peter and St. Paul, for he
caused the foundation-stone to be laid in 1089 on the festival of those
two apostles in June, but his dedication in 1100 was to St. Peter. Both
St. Peter and St. Paul are now represented among the statues on the
front of the south porch. After the dissolution of the monastery Henry
VIII. ascribed the Cathedral Church to the Holy and Individed Trinity.
The Cathedral is traditionally by many called "St. Peter's," and by some
"The Abbey Church," but this, of course, is quite inaccurate.
_Apropos_ of the question of the dedication, the arms of the see may be
briefly considered.
The original arms were Azure, two keys in saltire, or.
By the fifteenth century the sword for St. Paul had become incorporated
with the crossed keys, and it is found upon the bells and also on the
east side of the organ case. At the Dissolution the arms were Gules, two
keys in saltire surmounted by a sword in pale, argent. Brown Willis, in
1727, wrote that "the old arms of this see as used 100 years ago, were
three chevronels, the middle one charged with a mitre, but the bishops
now give _Azure, two keys in saltire, or._"
FOOTNOTES:
[1] So says the MS. Lives of the Abbots in the Library of Queen's
College, Oxford.
[2] Formerly a canon of the Church of Avranches, and afterwards a
monk in the Church of Mont St. Michel.