erected by the Guild of the Holy Cross, a fraternity attached to St
Helen's Parish Church. The cross was repaired in 1605; and, on the
occasion of the signing of the Treaty with the Scots in 1641, two
thousand persons assembled round it to sing a psalm of thanksgiving.
It was destroyed by Waller's army in 1644. The structure was both
later in date and more elaborate than any other of its class except
Coventry Cross (Fig. 8), to which, in very many respects, it bore a
striking resemblance. Abingdon Cross, however, was octagonal, whereas
that of Coventry was hexagonal on plan. The lowest stage of either
cross was solid, with surface tracery-panelling; while each of the
three diminishing stages above consisted of niches with figures,
and was further enriched with flying buttresses and with pinnacles
surmounted by king's beasts holding iron rods, or pivots, to which
were attached metal vanes like little banners. The similarity between
the two crosses is explained by the fact that, in bequeathing £200 on
25th December 1541 for building a new cross at Coventry, Sir William
Holles, formerly Lord Mayor of London, expressly directed that it was
to be modelled upon that already existing at Abingdon. Coventry Cross,
then, was begun in 1541 and finished in 1544. It stood 57 ft. high,
mounted on three steps, and was divided into four stages comprising
in all eighteen niches for statues. The statues in the first-floor
storey, reckoning from the south, were Henry IV., King John, Edward
I., Henry II., Richard I., and Henry V.; in the second storey, Edward
III., St Michael, Henry III., St George, and Richard II.; and in the
uppermost storey, a religious, St Peter, a religious, a king, St James
the Less, and St Christopher. Above the topmost storey the cross
swelled out into a tabernacled lantern surmounted by a metal vane
pierced with the Royal arms (quarterly France, modern, and England),
the supporting rod having a crown upon its summit. In later times the
cross was surmounted by allegorical figures of Justice and Mercy.
The cross underwent some repairs in 1629; but on 12th August 1668
a covenant was entered upon by the Mayor and certain stone cutters
and masons for the thorough renewing of all defective parts of the
stonework, with "good, sure stone from Sroby quarry," Warwickshire, as
well as the iron and lead necessary for fixing the statues. Their work
completed, the masons were to leave all the scaffolding in position,
that the gilders and painters might then carry out their share of
the embellishing. The total cost of the work executed in 1668, and
following year, was £276. 2s. 1d. By 1760 nothing survived of the
structure but the lowest storey and a portion of that above it. And in
1771 the last vestiges of Coventry Cross were bodily swept away.
To this same type belongs the High Cross at Tottenham (Figs. 139,
140), Middlesex, although at the present day it sadly belies its real
character. Dressed, as it is, in Gothic mouldings, crockets, and
panel-work, it looks as though it should belong, at least, to the
latter half of the fourteenth century (Fig. 140). But the ornament,
unfortunately, is a mere superficial casing of nineteenth-century
creation; and, to judge from an engraving, of the year 1788,
representing the cross as it stood before it underwent falsification
(Fig. 139), it can scarcely date any further back than the early part
of the sixteenth century.
Again, the ancient Butter Cross, at Scarborough, which stands, or at
least in 1860 stood, in Low Conduit Street, was of the same type, but
square on plan. In fact, it may be described as shaped exactly like
an obelisk, only with early-fourteenth-century Gothic details. How
far such an object may, or may not, have been genuine, it is perhaps
wisest to leave an open question.
V. PREACHING CROSSES
Whether or not preaching crosses, for the delivery of outdoor sermons,
were required before the advent of the Friars in the first half of the
thirteenth century, it may be assumed that, from that time forward,
they did exist and were in use. The Dominicans, or Black Friars, came
to England in 1221; the Franciscans, or Grey Friars, in or about 1224;
the Carmelites, or White Friars, in 1240, and the Austin Friars in
1250. Twenty years after the arrival of the first of the Friars occurs
the first recorded mention of Paul's Cross, which attained afterwards
to the dignity of the most celebrated of all preaching crosses,
not merely in London, nor even in England alone, but throughout
Christendom. It must be stated, however, that no actual record of the
cross as a preaching-place is found before 1382; the cross at the
outset being resorted to rather for secular and general assemblies of
the people. But in course of time, perhaps by reason of its convenient
situation, the cross seems to have been the focus of every phase of
the life of the capital; many of the most stirring and momentous
events in English history, whether civil or ecclesiastical, being
enacted beneath its shadow. The full story of Paul's Cross would fill
volumes. Yet a few representative episodes are enough to show of what
varied scenes and movements it was the centre. At the cross took place
the promulgation of laws, public announcements, political propaganda,
the reading of Papal Bulls, the administration of oaths, elections,
examinations, recantations, and the performance of public penances;
while in the sermons preached in the pulpit of Paul's Cross, each
successive variety of religious opinion was propounded from the time
of the Lollards, and through the successive stages of the Reformation
and counter-Reformation, until the cross itself came to an end in the
reign of Charles I.
The first specific mention of Paul's Cross was in 1241, when King
Henry III. met an assemblage of the citizens of London there before
he set out for Gascony in connection with the French war. From that
time onward there occur very numerous references to Paul's Cross, "the
earlier ones, for the most part, recording meetings of the citizens
there." The earliest notice of the cross as a place of proclamation
was in 1256-57, when Justice Mansell read a document of the king's,
assuring the citizens of his purpose to preserve their rights and
liberties. In 1257 the king, having called a folk-moot at the cross,
was present in person; and again met his subjects there in 1258. In
1259-60 another folk-moot was held at the cross by Henry III., on
which occasion proclamation was made, requiring every stripling to
take the oath of allegiance to the crown. In October 1261 a bull of
Pope Urban was read at the cross by the king's order. In 1266 the king
made Alan la Zouche constable and warden of the City in the presence
of the people at Paul's Cross. On 13th May 1269 a bull of Pope
Innocent was read; and in 1274-75 the Mayor of London was elected in a
folk-moot at the cross.
[Illustration: 141. LONDON
PAUL'S CROSS]
"In 1311 the new statutes, made in the Parliament of that year, were
published and proclaimed ... _super crucem lapideam_"; whence it has
been inferred by Mr Paley Baildon, F.S.A., that Paul's Cross, or
the High Cross, as it was also called, must have comprised a raised
platform surrounded by a parapet, with a lofty shaft in the middle,
somewhat after the fashion of the Mercat Cross at Edinburgh, the cross
at Aberdeen, and other Scottish examples.
[Illustration: 142. LONDON
PAUL'S CROSS]
On 7th March 1378, during the time when the Bishop of Carlisle was
preaching at the cross, he was disturbed by a tumult arising out of a
quarrel between certain trade corporations hard by in West Cheap. From
that date onward, down to 1633, sermons at Paul's Cross were of very
frequent occurrence.
In 1378 also, the Bishop of London excommunicated at Paul's Cross
the murderers of Robert Hawle and two other victims, who had been
sacrilegiously slain in the quire of Westminster Abbey during the
solemnisation of High Mass on 11th August. On 12th July 1382 the
Archbishop issued an order that the preacher at the cross, whoever
he might be, on the following Sunday was to take advantage of the
occasion, when the fullest number of persons should be gathered
together for the sermon, to denounce publicly and solemnly two
contumacious heretics, Nicholas Hereford and Philip Reppyingdon,
"holding up the cross and lighting of candles, and throwing the same
down upon the ground, to have been, and still to be so excommunicated
by us."
In the same year, 1382, Paul's Cross suffered very great injury from
tempest or earthquake; and on 18th May 1387 Archbishop Courtenay and
other Bishops, desirous of repairing the damage, offered an indulgence
to any of the faithful who should contribute toward that object. In
two years' time the cross seems to have been put in order. Thomas
Kempe, Bishop of London, however, rebuilt it, some time between 1449
and 1470; giving it the aspect which illustrations have made familiar,
viz., an octagonal pulpit of wood, raised on stone steps and roofed
with a lead-covered cupola, surmounted by a large cross (Figs. 141
and 142). The arms of Bishop Kempe were introduced in several places
on the roof. From the time of the erection of this new pulpit-cross,
the old name of High Cross, applicable to the different form of the
earlier structure, seems to have died out of use.
Meanwhile, on Quinquagesima Sunday 1388, a great stir was caused by a
Wycliffite sermon preached at Paul's Cross by R. Wimbledon. In 1401,
under pressure from Archbishop Arundel, two Wycliffites, John Purvey,
and a doctor of divinity, named Herford, recanted their errors at
Paul's Cross.
In 1457 Bishop Pecocke, of Chichester, a prelate, so it would appear,
of sadly "modernist" tendencies, made his submission at Paul's Cross,
abjured his unorthodoxy, and submitted to the burning of his books
at the same time and place. In a sermon at the cross, on 4th March
1461-62, the Bishop of Exeter urged the justice of the title of Prince
Edward of York to the throne. In 1483 Jane Shore was compelled to do
public penance at Paul's Cross; and on 19th June of the same year
the Lord Mayor's brother, Dr Ralph Shaw, in his sermon at the cross,
openly intimated that the validity of Edward V.'s right to the crown
was questionable, and that there were substantial reasons (which did,
in fact, ultimately prevail) why both of the young princes should be
debarred from succession.
[Illustration: 143. HEREFORD
BLACK FRIARS' CROSS]
[Illustration: 144. IRON ACTON, GLOUCESTERSHIRE
PREACHING CROSS IN THE CHURCHYARD]
On a certain Sunday, in 1492, two men did public penance for heresy,
standing at Paul's Cross "all the sermon time, the one garnished with
painted and written papers, the other having a faggot on his neck."
On Passion Sunday another man "with a faggot stood before the preacher
all the sermon while at Paul's Cross; and on the Sunday next following
(Palm Sunday), four men stood and did their open penance ... in the
sermon time, and many of their books were burnt before them at the
Cross."
On 12th May 1521, in the presence of Cardinal Wolsey, Bishop Fisher,
of Rochester, delivered at Paul's Cross a sermon in denunciation of
the German heresiarch, Luther.
In 1534 the king, Henry VIII., caused sermons to be preached against
his wife, Catherine of Aragon, and also against Papal supremacy.
In the same year, Elizabeth Burton and six of her most prominent
supporters (all of them ultimately hanged at Tyburn) were brought to
Paul's Cross for public exposure and degradation there, for the crime
of having dared to express disapproval of the king's liaison with Anne
Boleyn.
On 24th February 1538, the Rood of Grace, from Boxley Abbey, in Kent,
an image which was alleged, by means of wires and other devices, to
simulate various gestures and changes of countenance, was exhibited at
Paul's Cross by Bishop Hilsey, of Rochester, and, at his incitement,
broken and plucked to pieces amid the jeers of the mob. "The like
was done by the blood of Hayles, which in like manner, by Crumwell,
was brought to Paul's Cross, and there proved to be the blood of a
duck," according to the veracious Foxe. From this time onward Paul's
Cross witnessed the delivery of a succession of controversial sermons,
first on one side and then on the other. When Edward VI. ascended the
throne, Bishop Latimer, of Worcester, became a frequent preacher at
Paul's Cross. Thus in the month of January 1548 he preached no less
than four times.
In 1549 the Privy Council delivered to Bishop Bonner a set of
articles, which he was required to advocate in a series of quarterly
sermons at Paul's Cross. But the Bishop in preaching there having
neglected to comply, was cited, on information laid against him by
Latimer and Hooper, to appear for examination before the King's
commissioners on 10th September 1549.
On 1st November 1552, at Paul's Cross, Bishop Ridley, of London,
preached at great length in favour of the latest version of the Book
of Common Prayer.
On 13th August 1553 Gilbert Bourne, a chaplain of Queen Mary, and
Canon of St Paul's, preaching at the cross, narrowly escaped being
murdered. One of the audience aimed a dagger at the preacher. The
weapon, missing its mark, the point became embedded in one of the
wooden posts of the pulpit. On the following Sunday Thomas Watson,
preaching at the same place, was protected by a guard of 200 soldiers
with halberds. At the same time an order was issued forbidding
apprentices to attend the sermon, armed with knives or daggers.
On 2nd December 1554, in the presence of Cardinal Pole, the
Lord-Chancellor preached at Paul's Cross commending the reconciliation
of the kingdom, and its restoration to communion with the Holy See.
[Illustration: 145. WINCHESTER
BUTTER CROSS]
Abbot Feckenham preached at the cross on 18th June 1555, and Dr Hugh
Glasier, Queen Mary's chaplain, on 25th August of the same year.
On 27th October 1584 Samuel Harsnett, subsequently Archbishop of York,
delivered at Paul's Cross a sermon, which caused no little stir, on
Predestination.
On 20th August 1588 Dean Newell made, at the cross, the first public
announcement of the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
On 17th November 1595, at a special thanksgiving service for the long
reign of Queen Elizabeth, Bishop Fletcher, of London, preached at
Paul's Cross, which had been repaired and partly enclosed with a low
brick wall for the occasion.
In 1616, at the instance of Harry Farley, one John Gipkyn painted
a panel picture, in which he represented, by anticipation, the
attendance of James I. at a sermon at Paul's Cross, which actually
came to pass on 26th March 1620. The panel now in the possession of
the Society of Antiquaries affords the most authentic view extant of
the preaching cross (see Fig. 142).
Charles I. attended in state to hear a sermon at the cross in 1630,
and Archbishop Laud preached there in 1631, perhaps the last preacher
of eminence to occupy the pulpit--for in 1633 the use of Paul's
Cross as an open-air pulpit was formally abandoned. Its consequent
demolition cannot have been long delayed, although it has been
contended that the cross was pulled down only that the pulpit might
be reconstructed on a grander scale--a project which, however, was
never attempted. In a publication of the year 1641 occurs the passage:
"Paul's Crosse, the most famous preaching-place, is downe and quite
taken away," which shows that the date usually given for the abolition
of the cross, viz., 1643, cannot be correct. But it is the fact
that, in May 1643, the parishioners of St Faith's complained of the
obstruction caused by the presence of "stones, rubbish, and pales" in
the churchyard, presumably the uncleared refuse from the demolished
cross. In time the very site was forgotten; but in the spring of 1879
it was discovered by Mr C. F. Penrose, the cathedral surveyor. The
cross stood about 12 ft. from the wall of Old St Paul's; and close
to the north-east corner of Wren's cathedral. The octagonal base
measured some 37 ft. across. "The platform itself," writes Rev. W.
Sparrow Simpson, "was supported by a vault. A brick wall was found
which probably carried the timber supports of the pulpit proper. The
probable diameter of the pulpit itself was 18 ft."
Paul's Cross was not the only preaching cross in London. There were,
at least, two others. One stood in the churchyard on the south side
of St Michael's, Cornhill. This cross was built by Sir John Rudstone,
Mayor, who, dying in 1531, was buried beneath it. St Mary Spital,
without Bishopsgate, also had an open-air pulpit-cross, where special
sermons were preached in Easter week, year by year.
[Illustration: 146, 147. LEIGHTON BUZZARD, BEDFORDSHIRE
MARKET CROSS]
In the majority of cases it is likely enough that there was not
a distinctive pulpit-cross, the steps of the ordinary churchyard
cross sufficing to afford a platform for the preacher, when occasion
required. There remain, indeed, no more than two crosses obviously and
primarily designed as preaching crosses, viz., that at Iron Acton,
Gloucestershire, and the Black Friars' Cross at Hereford.
The preaching cross at Iron Acton (Fig. 144) stands in the north
part of the churchyard, and is a very good example of its kind. The
base, 10 ft. 9 in. in diameter at the ground level, consists of three
brick-built steps, topped with stone slabs, forming drips with a
slight overhang. These steps are octagonal on plan. Upon the second
step (and thus encompassing the top step and the low stone plinth
resting on the same) stand the piers of the cross. The piers are
buttressed each with one diagonal buttress, like the cross itself,
square on plan. The arched openings (2 ft. 11 in. wide) are obtuse
headed. One arch (the northern one according to Lysons, the southern
one according to Charles Pooley) is open from top to bottom to make
an entrance doorway. The three others are railed in with a low fence,
composed of a pair of arches, cusped in the head, beneath a transom.
The mullions between these small arches had disappeared previously to
1868; so the present mullions are modern restorations. The ceiling
within is vaulted, with ribs and sculptured bosses, some of the latter
representing acorns and oak leaves. In the centre, forming a pendant,
are the remains of a capital of an octagonal shaft, now perished,
though the traces of its footing on the floor were remarked by Charles
Pooley in, or shortly before, 1868. The whole cross upward from the
springing level of the principal arches is sadly mutilated, all the
pinnacles, as well as the statues, wanting. The total height of that
which survives of the cross is 19 ft. 2 in. The upper part is a shaft
with four panelled sides, having, at the foot of each, between a
pair of shields borne by demi-angels clad in albs, a pedestal for
a standing statue, with projecting canopy overhead. Of these eight
shields four exhibit emblems of the Passion; two are blank and two are
armorial. One of these last is quarterly per fesse dancetty argent
and gules, Acton; while the other shield is Acton as before, impaling
quarterly or and gules a bend argent, Fitz-Nichol. Robert Poyntz,
lord of the manor of Iron Acton, married, for second wife, Catherine,
daughter of Sir Thomas Fitz-Nichol, and died on 15th June 1439. The
cross, then, dates from the early part of the fifteenth century.
Contiguous to the ancient house of the order within the city of
Hereford stands the Black Friars' Cross (Fig. 143), which apparently
dates from the reign of Richard II. It is hexagonal on plan, and is
mounted on steps. Its six arches were all open down to the bottom
in 1806, but were fenced in some time previously to 1875, after the
manner of those of the Iron Acton preaching cross. In the middle is
a hexagonal socket, its sides panelled with Gothic panel-work. From
the top of the socket rises a central shaft from which springs the
vaulting of the roof. The cornice is embattled, and from the midst
rose the stump of the shaft, now replaced by a modern shaft and cross.
The whole structure has, in fact, been completely renovated since 1875.
Besides those above named there is a small class of open crosses,
which, though not built for the purpose of preaching crosses, yet
resemble the latter more than any others, and must therefore, from
the point of view of design and construction, be grouped under the
same head. These, then, comprise the crosses of Bristol, Holbeach
(Lincolnshire), Leighton Buzzard (Bedfordshire), and lastly Winchester.
The High Cross at Bristol (Fig. 9) stood at the junction of four
main thoroughfares: Broad Street, Wine Street, Corn Street, and High
Street. The site had already been occupied by a cross, when a new
cross was erected in 1373. The cross of that date was constructed
of coarse-grained oolite, specially liable to absorb moisture; but
the original paint (blue and vermilion with gilding) effectually
preserved it from the weather for centuries. Above the arches of
the lowest stage was a stage comprising four niches, which were
eventually filled with statuary, standing figures, facing toward the
four cardinal points. A statue of King John faced northward, Henry
III. eastward, Edward III. westward, and Edward IV. southward. The
cross was taken down in 1633, to be erected on an enlarged scale, its
height, by the addition of an extra stage or storey, attaining to a
total of 39 ft. 6 in. The new storey contained four seated figures,
representing, respectively, King Henry VI. facing eastward, Queen
Elizabeth facing westward, King James I. southward, and Charles I.
northward. Above these, again, was a tier of armorial shields, with
pairs of _putti_ for supporters, obviously an addition of the same
period, viz., Charles I.'s reign. Then also was the cross embellished
with fresh painting and gilding, and encircled with an iron railing to
protect its lowest stage. The latter consisted of four open arches,
grouped about a central shaft. The cross was redecorated in 1697. It
was subsequently taken down in 1733. Its remains were then carted to
the Guild Hall, whence, after a short interval, they were taken and
set up in the College Green, to north of the cathedral. There it was
standing in 1737, when R. West made the drawing, which was engraved
and published in 1743. The cross in its new position was painted to
look like grey marble, with the ornaments gilt, and the figures tinted
in their natural colours. Not many years later, viz., in 1763, it was
again taken down, and its portions relegated to an obscure corner of
the cathedral. Finally, Dean Barton gave the remains to Sir Richard
Colt Hoare, of Stourton, who transported them, in August 1766, and set
up the cross once more, with a new base, summit, and central pier in
the gardens of Stourhead, Wiltshire.
The cross at Holbeach was pulled down in 1683, but Dr William
Stukeley made a drawing of it, dated 1722 (Fig. 10). The structure
thus depicted appears to have been pentagonal on plan, four steps
supporting the piers, which were buttressed with buttresses,
square on plan, panelled on their outward face, and surmounted by
pinnacles. The open arches were four-centred. The roof underneath was
vaulted with lierne and tierceron ribs, having carved bosses at the
intersections. Above the arches was a parapet or frieze, comprising
on each side a shield between two quatrefoils. Above, in the midst,
rose a huge crocketed pinnacle, forming the shaft for the cross which
originally crowned the summit.
The Market Cross at Leighton Buzzard (Figs. 146, 147), also, is
remarkable in being pentagonal on plan. Apart from the difficulty of
treating a five-sided structure satisfactorily, the design is faulty,
because the upper stage of the cross (admirable though it be, _per
se_, with its statuary, its flying buttresses, and its exquisite
cluster of pinnacles) altogether lacks coherent continuity with the
open stage beneath, the latter finishing abruptly with a pronounced
horizontal break, which divides the cross into two distinct parts,
upper and lower. The piers are buttressed and the arches four-centred.
Above the latter runs a frieze of masks, surmounted by crenellation.
The cross stands on a base of five steps, and is 27 ft. high. The
total height, including the weathercock, is 38 ft. The original
figures, representing the Blessed Virgin and Child, a Bishop, St John
Evangelist, Christ, and a King, were taken down in 1852 and replaced
by modern replicas. Fortunately, the old figures were preserved for
the embellishment of the Town Hall, and when the architect, G. F.
Bodley, repaired the cross in 1900, he restored them to their proper
position. The modern copies were, at the same time, set up against the
outside walls of the Town Hall, where they still remain. Mr Bodley
assigned the cross to the late-fourteenth or early-fifteenth century.
If this be somewhat too early, the cross can hardly be of later date
than the middle of the fifteenth century.