_From the transformation of the monastery into a Cathedral during the
rule of abbot Chambers, in 1541, to the present time._
The dissolution of the religious houses of England is one of the most
important events recorded in our national history. It changed the whole
aspect of civil and ecclesiastical affairs, and produced an entire
revolution in the scheme of legislation.
John Chambers, who was the abbot of _Peterburgh_ before these changes
commenced, conformed to the new order of things, and was retained in
office by the king,--the monastery being converted into a cathedral,
and the abbot into a bishop. The new establishment consisted of a
Bishop, a Dean, and six canons; besides these the statutes directed
that there should be six Minor Canons chosen, among other good
qualifications, for their skill in singing, by whom the services in the
Cathedral, were to be conducted, according to the usage of the old
Cathedrals. Of these, one was to be chosen as Precentor, to whom the
other Minor Canons, the Organists, Lay Clerks, and Choristers, were to
be subordinate. The chancel of Thomas à Becket's Chapel, already spoken
of, was then converted into a school-room, in which the Choristers, and
a certain number of other boys, were to receive a classical education
at the hands of one of the Minor Canons appointed, for his superior
learning, to the office of schoolmaster. Chambers governed 15 years in
his new office. There is some dispute amongst the historians of this
church about the time of his death, but it is generally agreed that the
tablet to his memory is dated wrong, and that he died in 1556. There
were two monuments erected to him, by his own orders, before his death;
and this circumstance may account for the error in the date upon the
tablets. One of the monuments was a beautifully executed statue of
himself, in white chalk, but it was destroyed in 1643. The bishop
adorned the doors of the church with carved images and hieroglyphics,
one of which at the west front represents a sinner tormented by devils,
though it is now much defaced.
From the death of Bishop Chambers to the accession of Richard Howland,
in 1584, nothing of importance occurred. It was during his rule that
the unhappy queen of Scots fell a victim to the vanity and jealousy of
Elizabeth, in the castle of Fotheringhay.[17]
"Although that unfortunate Queen had been executed on the 8th of
February, her body was not brought to Peterborough for burial till the
night of the thirtieth of July following, when it was conveyed by
torch-light from Fotheringhay Castle by Garter King at Arms, and other
Heralds, with a guard of horsemen, in a chariot made for the purpose,
covered with black cloth. The corpse was met at the entrance of the
cathedral by the bishop, Richard Howland, and Fletcher, the dean of the
cathedral, with others, who attended it in solemn procession to the
vault appointed for it, in which it was immediately deposited. The
vault was then covered, an opening merely being left through which the
Heralds might deposit their broken staves. No service was said at the
time, as it was agreed that it had better be done on the day fixed for
the solemnization of the funeral. On the day following, there came to
Peterborough all those persons of rank appointed to attend the funeral,
for whom a grand supper was prepared at the bishop's palace. On
Tuesday, the first of August, 1586, being the day fixed for the
funeral, they all marched in order to the church, the Countess of
Bedford being chief mourner. The funeral service was performed by the
Dean of Peterborough; the prebendaries and choir of the Cathedral then
sang an anthem, after which a sermon was preached by Wickham, Bishop of
Lincoln. The officers having broken their staves and cast them into the
vault, and the offerings appointed having been made to the Bishop and
Dean and Chapter of Peterborough, the nobility and officers, who had
attended the funeral, returned to the bishop's palace, where a
sumptuous repast was provided, after which they all returned to their
respective homes.
"The place where this queen was interred, is now marked by a marble slab
directly under the doorway leading from the choir into its south aisle.
Over this was erected a superb monument to her memory, which remained
perfect until the time of the great rebellion.
"After the queen's body had lain at Peterborough about 25 years, her
son, James I., wishing to have it removed to Westminster Abbey, wrote
to the Dean and Chapter of Peterborough, requesting them to allow of
the removal.[18] The corpse was accordingly taken from its grave at
Peterborough, and removed to the place where it now lies, at
Westminster, under the care of Richard Neile, Bishop of Coventry and
Lichfield, on October 11th, 1612."
The next event of public interest happened during the bishopric of John
Towers, in 1643; namely, the destruction and defacement of all the
monuments and ornamental pictures of the cathedral, through the foolish
prejudices and blinded bigotry of the puritanical followers of
Cromwell, who destroyed every thing valuable within it, and spread
terror over the surrounding country. The stately front, the curious
altar-piece, and beautiful cloister, for which the cathedral was
remarkable, were defaced and injured by them as they passed through the
city, on their way to Croyland, which they were going to besiege, it
having declared in favour of the king. To reduce that town, the
Parliamentarian forces marched through Peterborough about the middle of
the month of April. The first regiment that came did no harm to the
church, for, being commanded by one Hubbart, who seems to have been a
great improvement upon the puritanical leaders of that time, the
soldiers received orders, in no way to injure the Cathedral. But
unfortunately, about two days after, a regiment of horse arrived,
commanded by Colonel Cromwell; and these men the morning after their
arrival, commenced the work of destruction. They broke open the doors
of the church, demolished the monuments, and turned the building into a
stable.
The fury of Cromwell's soldiers is thus described in an old paper
called:--
"_A short and true narrative of the Rising and Defacing the Cathedral
Church of Peterborough, in the year 1643._"
"The next day after their arrival, early in the morning, they break
open the church doors, pull down the organs, of which there were two
pair. The greater pair which stood upon a high loft over the entrance
into the quire, was thence thrown down upon the ground, and then
stamped and trampled on, and broke in pieces.
"Then the souldiers entered the quire, and their first business was to
tear in pieces all the common prayer books that could be found. The
great bible indeed, that lay upon a brass eagle for reading the
lessons, had the good hap to escape with the loss only of the
apocrypha.
"Next they break down all the seats, stalls and wainscots that was
behind them, being adorned with several historical passages out of the
old testament, a latin distich being in each seat to declare the story.
Whilst they were thus employed, they happened to find a great parchment
book, behind the ceiling, with some twenty pieces of gold laid there,
by a person a little before.--This encourages the souldiers in their
work, and makes them the more eager in breaking down all the rest of
the wainscot. The book was called 'Swapham,' and was afterwards
redeemed by a person belonging to the minster for ten shillings.[19]
"There was also a great brass candlestick hanging in the middle of the
quire, containing a dozen and a half of lights, with another bow
candlestick about the brass eagle. These both were broke in pieces, and
most of the brass carried away and sold.
"A well disposed person standing by and seeing the souldiers make such
spoil speaks to an officer, desiring him to restrain them; who
answered, '_See how these poor people are concerned to see their
idols pulled down_.'
"When they had thus defaced and spoiled the quire, they made up next to
the east end of the church, and there break and cut in pieces, and
afterwards burn the rails that were about the communion table. The
table itself was thrown down, the table cloth taken away, with two fair
books in velvet covers; the one a bible, the other a common prayer
book, with a silver basin gilt, and a pair of silver candlesticks
beside. But upon request made to Colonel Hubbert, the books, bason, and
all else, save the candlesticks, were restored again.
"Not long after, on the 13th day of July, 1643, Captain Barton and
Captain Hope, two martial ministers of Nottingham or Darbyshire, coming
to Peterburgh, break open the vestry, and take away a fair crimson
satten table cloth, and several other things, that had escaped the
former souldiers hands.
"Now behind the communion table there stood a curious piece of
stone-work, admired much by strangers and travellers: a stately skreen
it was, well wrought, painted and gilt, which rose up as high almost as
the roof of the church, in a row of three lofty spires, with other
lesser spires growing out of each of them. This now had no imagery work
upon it, or any thing else that might justly give offence, and yet
because it bore the name of the high altar,[20] was pulled all down with
ropes, lay'd low and level with the ground.
"Over this place, in the roof of the church, in a large oval yet to be
seen, was the picture of Our Saviour seated on a throne; one hand
erect, and holding a globe in the other, attended with the four
evangelists, and saints on each side, with crowns in their hands,
intended, I suppose, for a representation of Our Saviour's coming to
judgment. Some of the company espying this, cry out and say, 'Lo, this
is the God these people bow and cringe unto; this is the idol they
worship and adore.' Hereupon several souldiers charged their muskets,
(amongst whom one Daniel Wood, of Captain Roper's company was the
chief) and discharge them at it: and by the many shots they made, at
length do quite deface and spoil [the] picture.
"The odiousness of this act gave occasion (I suppose) to a common fame,
very rife at that time, and whence _Mercurius Rusticus_ might have his
relation, viz.:--that divine vengeance had signally seized on some of
the principal actors; that one was struck blind upon the place; by a
rebound of his bullet; that another dyed mad a little after, neither of
which I can certainly attest. For, though I have made it my business to
enquire of this, I could never find any other judgment befal them then,
but that of a mad blind zeal, wherewith these persons were certainly
possest.
"Then they rob and rifle the tombs, and violate the monuments of the
dead. And where should they first begin, but with those of the two
queens, who had been there interr'd: the one on the north side, the
other on the south side of the church, both near unto the altar. First
then they demolished Queen Katherin's tomb, Henry the Eighth his
repudiated wife: they break down the rails that enclosed the place, and
take away the black velvet pall which covered the herse,--overthrow the
herse itself, displaced the gravestone that lay over her body, and have
left nothing now remaining of that tomb, but only a monument of their
own shame and villany. The like they had certainly done to the Queen of
Scots, but that her herse and pall were removed with her body to
Westminster by King James the First, when he came to the crown. But
what did remain they served in like manner; that is, her royal arms and
escutcheons, which hung upon a pillar, near the place where she had
been interr'd [which] were most rudely pulled down, defaced and torn.
"In the north isle of the church there was a stately tomb in memory of
Bishop Dove, who had been thirty years bishop of the place. He lay
there in portraicture in his episcopal robes, on a large bed under a
fair table of black marble, with a library of books about him. These
men that were such enemies to the name and office of a bishop, and much
more to his person, hack and hew the poor innocent statue in pieces,
and soon destroy'd all the tomb. So that in a short space, all that
fair and curious monument was buried in its own rubbish and ruines.
"The like they do to two other monuments standing in that isle; the one
the tomb of Mr. Worm, the other of Dr. Angier, who had been prebendary
of that church.
"In a place then called the new building, and since converted to a
library, there was a fair monument, which Sir Humphrey Orm (to save his
heir that charge and trouble), thought fit to erect in his own life
time, where he and his lady, his son and wife and all their children,
were lively represented in statues, under which were certain English
verses written:--
_"Mistake not, reader, I thee crave,_
_This is an altar not a grave,_
_Where fire raked up in ashes lyes,_
_And hearts are made the sacrifice, &c._
"Which two words, altar and sacrifice, 'tis said, did so provoke and
kindle the zealots indignation, that they resolve to make the tomb
itself a sacrifice: and with axes, poleaxes, and hammers, destroy and
break down all that curious monument, save only two pilasters still
remaining, which shew and testifie the elegancy of the rest of the
work. Thus it hapned, that the good old knight who was a constant
frequenter of Gods publick service, three times a day, outlived his own
monument, and lived to see himself carried in effigie on a souldiers
back, to the publick market-place, there to be sported withall, a crew
of souldiers going before in procession, some with surplices, some with
organ pipes, to make up the solemnity.
"When they had thus demolished the chief monuments, at length the very
gravestones and marbles on the floor did not escape their sacrilegious
hands. For where there was any thing on them of sculptures or
inscriptions in brass, these they force and tear off. So that whereas
there were many fair pieces of this kind before, as that of abbot
William of Ramsey, whose large marble gravestone was plated over with
brass, and several others the like, there is not any such now in all
the church to be seen; though most of the inscriptions that were upon
them are preserved in this book.
"One thing, indeed, I must needs clear the souldiers of, which
_Mercurius Rusticus_ upon misinformation charges them with, viz.:--That
they took away the bell clappers and sold them, with the brass they
plucked off from the tombs. The mistake was this: the neighbourhood
being continually disturbed with the souldiers jangling and ringing the
bells auker, as though there had been a scare-fire, (though there was
no other, but what they themselves had made,) some of the inhabitants
by night took away the clappers and hid them in the roof of the church,
on purpose only to free their ears from that confused noise; which gave
occasion to such as did not know it, to think the souldiers had stolen
them away.
"Having thus done their work on the floor below, they are now at
leasure to look up to the windows above, which would have entertained
any persons else with great delight and satisfaction, but only such
zealots as these, whose eyes were so dazzled, that they thought they
saw popery in every picture and piece of painted glass.
"Now the windows of this church were very fair, and had much curiosity
of workmanship in them, being adorned and beautified with several
historical passages out of scripture, and ecclesiastical story; such
were those in the body of the church, in the isles, in the new
building, and elsewhere. But the cloister windows were most famed of
all for their great art and pleasing variety. One side of the
quadrangle containing the history of the Old Testament; another, that
of the new; a third, a history from the first foundation of the
Monastery of King Peada to the restoring of it by King Edgar; a fourth,
all the kings of England downwards from the first Saxon king. All which
notwithstanding were most shamefully broken and destroyed."
[But little remains to be seen of these famous cloisters beyond the
mouldings of arches imposed in rough walls on each side. The five
recesses in the south wall were partly the lavatories used by the Monks
before entering the refectory by the richly cut door in the corner.]
_"Every window had at the bottom the explanation of the history thus
in verse:_--
_First Window._
COL. 1.
"King Penda, a paynim, as writing seyth,
"'Gate yese five children of Christen feyth."
COL. 2.
"The noble Peada, by God's grace,
"Was the first founder of this place."
COL. 3.
"By Queen Ermenyld, had King Wulfere,
"These twey sons that ye see here."
COL. 4.
"Wulfade rideth, as he was wont,
"Into the forest, the hart to hunt."
_Second Window._
COL. 1.
"Fro' all his men Wulfade is gone,
"And 'suyth himself the hart alone."[21]
COL. 2.
"The hart brought Wulfade to a well,
"That was beside Seynt Chaddy's cell."
COL. 3.
"Wulfade askyd of Seynt Chad,--
"Where is the hart that me hath lad."
COL. 4.
"The hart that hither thee hath brought,
"Is sent by Christ, that thee hath bought."
_Third Window._
COL. 1.
"Wulfade prayd Chad, that ghostly leech,
"The feyth of Christ him for to teach."
COL. 2.
"Seynt Chad teacheth Wulfade the feyth,
"And words of baptism over him he seyth."
COL. 3.
"Seynt Chad devoutly to mass him dight,
"And hoseled Wulfade Christy's knight."
COL. 4.
"Wulfade wished Seynt Chad, that day,
"For his brother Rufine to pray."
_Fourth Window._
COL. 1.
"Wulfade told his brother Rufine
"That he was christned by Chaddy's doctrine."
COL. 2.
"Rufine to Wulfade said again,--
"Christned also would I be fain."
COL. 3.
"Wulfade, Rufine to Seynt Chad leadeth,
"And Chad with love of feyth him feedeth."
COL. 4.
"Rufine is christned, of Seynt Chaddys,
"And Wulfade, his brother, his godfather is."
_Fifth Window._
COL. 1.
"Werbode, steward to King Wulfere,
"Told that his sons christned were."
COL. 2.
"Towards the chappel Wulfere 'gan goe,
"By guiding of Werbode, Christy's foe."
COL. 3.
"Into the chappel entred the King,
"And found his sons worshipping."
COL. 4.
"Wulfere in woodness his sword out drew,
"And both his sons anon he slew."[22]
_Sixth Window._
COL. 1.
"King Wulfere, with Werbode yoo,
"Burying gave his sons two."
COL. 2.
"Werbode for vengeance his own flesh tare,
"The devil him strangled, and to hell bare."
COL. 3.
"Wulfere, for sorrow, anon was sick,
"In bed he lay, a dead man like."
COL. 4.
"Seynt Ermenyld, that blessed Queen,
"Counselled Wulfere to shrive him clean."
_Seventh Window._
COL. 1.
"Wulfere contrite, hyed him to Chad,
"As Ermenyld him counselled had"[23]
COL. 2.
"Chad bade Wulfere, for his sin,
"Abbeys to build his realm within."
COL. 3.
"Wulfere in haste performed than,
"Brough that Peada his brother began."
COL. 4.
"Wulfere endued with high devotion,
"The abbey of Brough with great possession."
_Eighth Window._
COL. 1.
"The third brother, King Ethelred,
"Confirmed both his brethren's deed."
COL. 2.
"Saxulf, that here first abbot was,
"For Ankery's, at Thorney, made a place."
COL. 3.
"After came Danes, and Brough brent,
"And slew the Monkys as they went."
COL. 4.
"Fourscore years and sixteen,
"Stood Brough destroyed by Danes teen."
_Ninth Window._
COL. 1.
"Seynt Athelwold was bidden by God's lore,
"The abbey of Brough again to restore."
COL. 2.
"Seynt Athelwold to King Edgar went,
"And prayed him to help him in his intent."
COL. 3.
"Edgar bade Athelwold the work begin,
"And him to help he would not lyn."
COL. 4.
"Thus Edgar and Athelwold restored this place,
"God save it and keep it for his grace."[24]
"But to proceed, notwithstanding all the art and curiosity of
workmanship these windows did afford, yet nothing of all this could
oblige the reforming rabble, but they deface and break them all in
pieces, in the church and in the cloyster, and left nothing
undemolisht, where either any picture or painted glass did appear;
excepting only part of the great west window in the body of the church,
which still remains entire, being too high for them, and out of their
reach. Yea, to encourage them the more in this trade of breaking and
battering windows down, Cromwell himself, (as 'twas reported,) espying
a little crucifix in a window aloft, which none, perhaps, before had
scarce observed, gets a ladder, and breaks it down zealously with his
own hand.
"But before I conclude the narrative, I must not forget to tell, how
they likwise broke open the chapterhouse, ransack'd the records, broke
the seals, tore the writings in pieces, specially such as had great
seals annexed unto them, which they took or mistook rather for the
popes bulls. So that a grave and sober person coming into the room at
the time, finds the floor all strewed and covered over with torn
papers, parchments and broken seals; and being astonisht at this sight,
does thus expostulate with them. Gentlemen, (says he,) what are ye
doing? they answered, we are pulling and tearing the popes bulls in
pieces. He replies, ye are much mistaken: for these writings are
neither the popes bulls, nor any thing relating to him. But they are
the evidences of several mens estates, and in destroying these, you
will destroy and undo many. With these they were something perswaded,
and prevailed upon by the same person, to permit him to carry away all
that were left undefaced, by which means, the writings the church hath
now came to be preserved.
"Such was the souldiers carriage and behaviour all the time during
their stay at Peterburgh, which was a fortnights space: They went to
church duly, but it was only to do mischief, to break and batter the
windows and any carved work that was yet remaining, or to pull down
crosses wheresoever they could find them; which the first founders did
not set up with so much zeal, as these last confounders pulled them
down.
"Thus, in a short time, a fair and goodly structure was quite stript of
all its ornamental beauty, and made a ruthful spectacle, a very chaos
of desolation and confusion, nothing scarce remaining but only bare
walls, broken seats, and shatter'd windows on every side.
"And in the time of this publick confusion, two other things hapned not
unworthy of relating: the one for the strangeness, the other for the
sadness of the accident. The first was this, when now the church lay
open to all comers, without locks and bars, and none to look after
them, those specially that lead up to the leads above; two young
children not above five years old, had got up the steeple by
themselves, and having lost their way down, come to the place where the
great bells hang. Here there was a large round space left purposely in
the arch, when first built, for the drawing up bells or any other
things, as there should be occasion. This place used to be safely
closed before, but now it lay wide open, and was between thirty and
forty yards off from the ground. The two children, coming hither and
finding this passage, one, out of his childish simplicity, was for
jumping down: No, (saies the other) let us rather swarm down, there
being a bell rope then hanging down through that place to the
clockhouse below. Now, this last they did, and a gentleman walking
there beneath at that time, sees two children come with that swiftness
down the rope, like arrows from a bow, who were both taken up for dead,
on the place. This hapned on a Sunday ith' afternoon, in sermon time.
The news coming into the parish church, that two children falling off
from the minster were slain, the congregation were exceedingly
disorder'd, so that the preacher could not go on for a time, every
parent fearing it might be their own childrens case; till at length
they understood the truth and certainty of all. For it pleased God by a
strange and wonderful providence to preserve both these children,
having no hurt but only their hands galled by the rope, and their feet
a little stunted by the fall from the clock-house, where they were
thrown off, the rope being fastened there, and this some four or five
yards high. The persons, I suppose, are both living still; and one of
them, (whose father was then one of the chief tradesmen of the town)
since a grave minister, and rector of a parish in Northamptonshire.
"The other thing that hapned of more fatal consequences was this:--it
being that time of the year when young lads are busie in rifling
jackdaws nests to get their young, a scholar of the free-school, a son
to a parliament officer, was got upon the top of the minster about this
employment; who going along the cieling in the body of the church, and
treading unwarily on some rotten boards, fell down from thence, upon
the loft where the organ now stands, having his pockets filled with
those inauspicious birds, and with the fall from so great a height, was
slain outright and never stirred more.
"These two things hapned much about the same time, and in the time of
that publick confusion and disorder. But to proceed in our intended
narrative. These things I have related before were indeed the acts of
private persons only, men of wild intemperate zeal, and who had no
commission for what they did, but what was owing to the swords by their
sides. Yet notwithstanding all these things seemed afterwards to be
own'd and approved by the powers then in being, when they sold all the
churches lands, and many fair buildings adjoyning to the minster, were
likewise pulled down and sold by publick order and authority, such were
the cloysters, the old chapter-house, the library, the bishops hall and
chapel at the end of it: the hall was as fair a room as most in
England; and another call'd the green chamber, not much inferior to it.
These all were then pull'd down and destroyed; and the materials, lead,
timber, and stone exposed to sale, for any that would buy them. But
some of the bargains proved not very prosperous; the lead especially
that came off the palace, was as fatal as the gold of Tholouse; for to
my knowledge, the merchant that bought it, lost it all, and the ship
which carried it, in her voyage to Holland.
"And thus the church continued ruined and desolate, and without all
divine offices for a time; till at length by the favour of a great
person in the neighbourhood, it was repaired and restored to some
degrees of decency again; and out of the ashes of a late cathedral,
grew up into a new parochial church, in which way it was employ'd and
used ever after, untill the kings happy restauration. For Mr. Oliver
St. John, chief justice then of the common pleas, being sent on an
embassy into Holland by the powers that governed then, requested this
boon of them at his return, that they would give him the ruin'd church
or minster at Peterburgh; this they did accordingly, and he gave it to
the town of Peterburgh for their use, to be employ'd as a parochial
church, their own parish church being then very ruinous and gone to
decay.
"Now the town considering the largeness of the building, and the
greatness of the charge to repair it, which of themselves they were not
able to defray, they all agree to pull down the ladies chapel as it was
then called, an additional building to the north side of the minster,
(being then ruinous and ready to fall) and to expose the materials
thereof, lead, timber, and stone to sale, and to convert the mony that
was made of them, towards the repairs of the great fabrick.
"All this they did, and appointed certain persons to oversee the work,
and expended several summs thus in repairs, mending the leads, securing
the roof, glazing several windows, and then fitting up the quire, and
making it pretty decent for the congregation to meet in. And this they
did, by taking the painted boards that came off from the roof of the
ladies chapel, and placing them all along at the back of the quire, in
such manner as they continue to this day.
"When the place was thus fitted up, and the devastations which the
souldiers had made in some measure repaired, one Mr. Samuel Wilson,
school master of the charter-house, in London, was sent down by the
committee of plundred ministers, as they were then called, to be
preacher, with a sallary of 160_l._ per an. in which employment he
continued untill the kings return. Then Dr. Cofin, the antient dean of
the church, after almost twenty years exile in France, return'd and
re-assumed his right again, in the year 1660, about the end of July. He
then after so long an interval renew'd the antient usage, and read
divine service first himself, and caused it to be read every day
afterward, according to the laudable use and custome, and settled the
church and quire in that order wherein it now continues.
"But though the church was thus delivered from public robbers and
spoilers, yet it was not safe from the injuries of private hands. For
some ten or twelve years after, certain thieves in the dead of the
night, broke into the church and stole away all the plate they could
find, viz.: a fair silver bason gilt, and the virgers two silver rods,
and a linnen table-cloth to wrap them in, which were never heard of to
this day. This was the same bason that had been plunder'd by the
souldiers, and recovered again, but irrecoverably lost now. Yet both
these losses were soon repaired, one by Dr. Henshaw, bishop then of the
place, who gave a fair new silver basin gilt; the other made up by Dr.
Duport, then dean, who furnisht the virgers again with the ensigns of
their office, by buying two new silver maces for the churches use.
"And thus is this history brought down at length within our own
knowledge and remembrance; where we have seen what various fortunes
this antient church has had, which now reckons at least one thousand
years from its first foundation. It has been often ruinated, and as
often re-edified. Once it was destroyed by Danes; twice consumed by
fire; it escaped the general downfal of abbies, in Hen. the Eighth's
time, though not without the loss of some of her fairest manners; and
yet what that king took away in revenues, he added to it in dignity, by
converting it from an abbey into a cathedral church. But the worst
mischief that ever befel it, was that in the late rebellious times,
when the church itself was miserably defaced and spoiled; and all the
lands for the maintenance thereof, quite alienated and sold. And yet
through Gods especial goodness and favour, we have lived to see the one
repaired, the others restored, and the church itself recovering her
antient beauty and lustre again. And that it may thus long continue,
flourish and prosper, and be a nursery for vertue, a seminary for true
religion and piety, a constant preserver of Gods publick worship and
service, and free from all sacrilegious hands, is the earnest and
hearty prayer wherewith I shall conclude this discourse."
[17] Sir William Fitzwilliam, of Milton, to whom the castle then
belonged, used to pay visits to the queen of Scots during her
confinement, and his noble and gentlemanly conduct, secured the
good esteem of Mary. At a later period, a little before the queen
was executed, she presented him with a picture of her son, as a
testimony of the value which she set upon his friendship. This
picture is now in the possession of the Fitzwilliam family.
[18] The original letter, in the king's own hand-writing, is
still in the possession of the Dean and Chapter of Peterborough,
and has recently been placed in a frame by the entrance from the
south aisle. The following is a copy:--"JAMES R. Trusty and
wel-beloved, wee greet you well, for that wee remember it
appertaynes to ye duty wee owe to our dearest mother that like
honour should be done to hir body and like monument be extant of
hir as to others, hirs and our progenitors have bene used to be
done, and ourselves have already performed to our deare sister ye
late Queen Elizabeth. Wee have commanded a Memoriall of hir to be
made in our church of Westminster, ye place where ye Kings and
Queens of this realme are usually interred. And for that wee
thinke it inconvenient that ye monument and hir body should be in
severall places, we have ordered that hir said body remayning now
interred in that our Cathedrall Church of Peterborough shalbe
removed to Westminster to hir said monument; and have committed
ye care and chardg of ye said translation of hir body from
Peterborough to Westminster to ye reverend father in God our
right trusty and wel beloved servant ye Bishop of Coventry and
Lichfield, bearer hereof, to whom wee require you (or to such as
ye shall assigne) to deliver ye corps of our said deceased
mother, ye same being taken up in a decent and respectfull manner
as is fitting. And for that there is a pall now upon ye hearse
over hir grave which wilbe requisite to be used to cover hir said
body in ye removing thereof, which may perhapps be deemed as a
ffee that should belong to ye church. We have appointed ye said
reverend father to pay you a reasonable redemption for ye same,
which being done by him wee require you that he may have ye pall
to be used for ye purpose aforesaid. Given under our signet at
our Honor of Hampton Court ye eight and twentieth day of
September in ye tenth yeare of our reigne of England, France and
Ireland, and of Scotland ye six and fortieth. To our trusty and
welbeloved ye Dean and Chapter of our Cathedrall Church of
Peterborough, and in theire absence to ye right reverend father
in God ye Bishop of Peterborough and to such of ye Prebends or
other officers of that church as shalbe found being there."
[19] This ancient record is said to have been written about the
year 1217, by a monk named Hugh Candidus. It is a MS. account of
the History of the Abbey from its foundation. Dean Patrick gives
the following account of its singular preservation:--"One book
indeed, and but one, still remains, which was happily redeemed
from the fire by the then precentor of the church, Mr. Humfrey
Austin, who knowing the great value of it, first hid it, in
February, 1642, under a seat in the quire: and when it was found
by a soldier on the twenty-second of April, 1643 (when all the
seats were pulled down), rescued it again by the offer of ten
shillings, 'for that old latin bible' as he called it, and about
which he pretended to enquire. The name of the bible by the help
of the ten shillings, preserved this precious treasure from the
flames, whither it was going, as Mr. Austin hath left a record in
the beginning of the book; with a copy of the soldier's
acknowledgement:--'_This booke was hide in the Church by me
Humphrey Austin; February, 1642. And found by one of Coll.
Cromwelle souldyers when they pul'd down all the seats in the
quire, April 22th, 1643. And I makeing inquirie amongst them for
an old Latin Bible which were lost, I found out at last the
partie who had it, and I gave him for the booke tenn shillings as
you see by this acquittance.... The coppie of his acquittance:--I
pray let this Scripture Book alone, for he hath paid me for it,
and therefore I would desire you to let it alone. By me HENRY
TOPCLIFFE, souldyer under Captain Cromwell, Colonel Cromwell's
sonn; therefore I pray let it alone._--By me Henry Topcliffe.'"
This Ancient Manuscript book is now kept with other documents in
the Chapter house of the Cathedral.
[20] Dean Patrick, in his supplement to _Gunton's History of
the Cathedral_, says it was famous for three things, "a
stately front, a curious altar piece, and a beautiful cloister."
Mr. Davys, in his _Guide_, also says, "we learn, from other
writings, that the stall-work, in its choir, was remarkably
fine, that its windows of painted glass were of a most superb
description, and that, in the number, and beauty of its monuments
and brasses, it excelled most of the other churches of the realm.
Its central tower, though then in an incomplete state, was much
finer than it now is, as it had a handsome octagon above what now
forms the central tower. The north western transept tower was
also adorned with a lofty spire. This spire, which was of wood
covered with lead, was taken down soon after this time."
[21] "Wulfade was much addicted to hunting, and one day pursuing
a goodly hart, which being hotly pursued, took soil in a fountain
near unto the cell of St. Chad, who espying the hart weary, and
almost spent, was so compassionate towards him that he covered
him with boughs and leaves, conjecturing, as if heaven had some
design in the access and deportment of that beast. Presently
comes Prince Wulfade, and enquired of St. Chad concerning the
hart, who answered, That he was not a keeper of beasts, but the
souls of men, and that Wulfade was then, as an hart to the water
brooks, sent by God to the fountain of living water: which
Wulfade hearing with astonishment, entered into further
conference with St. Chad in his cell, and was by him baptized:
and returning with joy to his father's court, he secretly told
his brother Rufine of all that had passed, perswading him to be
baptized also; to which Rufine consenting, Wulfade brought him to
St. Chad, who likewise baptized this other brother."
[22] "This Christian pair of brothers did often resort to a
private oratory, where they performed their devotions; but at
length being discovered to their father by the steward Werbode,
who instigated, and enflamed the fire of paternal fury against
the sons, King Wolfere, the father, watching the time when his
sons were gone to pray, followed them, and entering the oratory,
slew both his sons with his own hand; and he, and Werbode
demolishing the place, left the bodies of his sons buried in the
rubbish." "Queen Ermenild, having searched for the bodies of her
sons, found them out, and giving them burial, [in one stone
coffin,] built in the same place where they were slain, a church
of stone."
[23] Dean Kipling, on the authority of tradition, is of opinion,
that St. Chad's well was in the quadrangle on the south side of
the minster, called the laurel court; but Gunton says, "St. Chad
had his cell in the county of Stafford, was the first bishop of
Lichfield, where he founded the cathedral church, and there lieth
buried." And this assertion would appear to be born out by the
fact that the "church of stone" referred to in the previous note,
is known to have been erected at _Stone_, in Staffordshire.
[24] The present painted windows are of modern date, excepting
one or two, which are composed of fragments of the windows of the
cloisters above described.