There are differences of opinion as to Bishop Bitton's share in the
transforming of Exeter Cathedral, and I have followed that expressed by
Archdeacon Freeman, who, after speaking of the prevalent idea that the
present choir was the work of Stapledon, states that, from the evidence
of the Fabric Rolls, it was done by Bitton, whose episcopate lasted from
1292 to 1307. After noticing the facts which point to this conclusion,
Archdeacon Freeman adds: "We thus establish, as I conceive, with
absolute certainty, the date of the completion of the _eastern half of
the choir_, a point entirely misconceived hitherto. To Bitton and not
to Stapledon it must be ascribed. And we shall see reason presently for
ascribing to him all the substantial features of the remainder, and the
vaulting of the whole."
With regard to the story itself, no one can be more conscious than I am
myself of the dangers inseparable from attempting to place it at so
early a date, when the author is at once plunged into a very quagmire of
possible anachronisms. I can only ask the indulgence of those who,
happening to cast their eyes upon these pages, detect there the errors
in manners and customs which I am too conscious may exist.
It may be convenient, for the unlearned, to notice that the value of
coins was about fifteen times as much as in the present day. Thus one
pound equalled fifteen pounds, and one mark (or shilling) fifteen
shillings. A groat contained four silver pennies, and there were two
hundred and forty pennies in a silver pound.