THE INTERIOR OF OLD ST. PAUL'S.
_Fine_ coup d'oeil _on entering the Nave_--"_Paul's Walk_"--
_Monuments in Nave_--_Sir John Montacute_--_Bishop Kempe_--_Sir
John Beauchamp, wrongly called afterwards Duke Humphrey's_--_The
Choir_--_Shrine of St. Erkenwald_--_Nowell_--_Braybrooke_--_two
Kings_--_many Bishops_--_Elizabethan Worthies._
The aspect of the Nave, on entering the western door, must have been
magnificent. There were twelve bays to the nave, then the four mighty
pillars supporting the tower, then the screen closing in the choir.
The nave was known as "Paul's Walk," and not too favourably known,
either, under this title. Of this more hereafter. At the second bay in
the North Aisle was the meeting-place of Convocation, closed in as a
chamber. Here, too, was the Font, by which was the Monument of Sir
John Montacute. He was the son of the first Earl of Salisbury, and it
was his mother of whom the fictitious story about the establishment of
the Order of the Garter by Edward III. was told. John de Montacute's
father was buried in the Church of the Whitefriars. The son was
baptized in St. Paul's, and directed in his will, "If I die in London
I desire that my body may be buried in St. Paul's, near to the font
wherein I was baptized."
At the sixth bay came "the Little North Door," and it was answerable,
as till lately was a similar door at St. Alban's Abbey, for much of
the desecration of the church which went on. There was a notice on it
that anybody bringing in burden or basket must pay a penny into the
box at hand. Between the columns of the tenth bay was the Chantry of
Bishop Kempe (1450-1489). It was the finest in the cathedral, built by
Royal licence. He did much for the beautifying of the cathedral, and
rebuilt Paul's Cross, as we have said already. He seems to have kept
clear of the fierce struggles of the Wars of the Roses, for he saw
rival kings in succession ostentatiously worshipping in St. Paul's,
and did not lose the friendship of any of them. So far as one can
judge, he honestly felt that he was not called upon to become a
partisan of any, and this fact was recognised.
It was Edward IV. who gave him licence to erect his chantry. "For
the singular reverence which he bore to God and to the blessed and
glorious Virgin Mary, as also to the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and
to St. Erkenwald and Ethelbert, those devout confessors, he granted
license to Thomas Kempe, Bishop of London, for the founding of a
chantry of one priest, who should be the Bishop of London's confessor
in this cathedral, for the time being, to celebrate divine service
daily at the altar of the Holy Trinity in the body thereof, towards
the north side, for the good estate of the said King and Queen
Elizabeth, his Consort; as also of the said Bishop, during their
lives in this world, and for the health of their souls after their
departures hence, and moreover for the souls of the said King's
progenitors; the parents and benefactors of the said bishop and all
the faithful deceased; and to unite it to the office of confessor in
this church for ever, and likewise to grant thereunto one messuage,
one dovehouse, 140 acres of land, six acres of meadow, with eight
acres of wood, called _Grays_, and 10_s._ rent with the appurtenances,
lying in _Great Clacton_ in the county of _Essex_; as also another
messuage, twenty acres of land, two acres of meadow and two acres of
wood, with the appurtenances in the same town, and two acres of land
lying in _Chigwell_, together with the advowson of the Church of
Chigwell, in the same county."
The next monument has a very strange and quaint interest. It was
nearly opposite Kempe's, in the eleventh bay on the south side, that
of Sir John Beauchamp, of Powick, in Worcestershire (son of Guy, Earl
of Warwick), who died in 1374. He settled, out of some tenements in
Aldermanbury, for the payment of 10 marks a year for a priest to
celebrate at his altar, and 50_s._ a year for the special keeping of
the anniversary of his death, December 3rd. There was a very fine
image of the B.V.M. beside this tomb. Barnet, Bishop of Bath and
Wells, gave a water mill, ninety acres of arable and pasture, and
eight acres of wood, all lying at Navestock, in Essex, to the Dean and
Chapter for the saying of certain prayers and a _de profundis_ beside
this image for the souls of the faithful; and there were constant
oblations here. John Westyard, citizen and vintner, founded another
altar at the same place for a chantry priest to say masses for the
soul of Thomas Stowe, sometime Dean of St. Paul's, and for those of
his parents and benefactors. In after years a strange mistake befell
this tomb, one wonders why. It became popularly known as the tomb of
Duke Humphrey, of whom we have more to say hereafter, who was buried
not here but at St. Albans.
Entering within the choir, the first monument--a marble altar
tomb--was that of Thomas Ewer, or Evere, who was Dean for twelve
years, and died in 1400. In a straight line with it, before the steps
of the high altar, lay Robert Fitzhugh, Bishop 1431-1436, who, as the
learned Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, was sent as an
English delegate to the Council of Basel. Whilst he was there he was
elected to the See of London, and consecrated at Foligno. He was an
earnest labourer for the betterment of the poor clergy in his diocese.
Immediately behind the high altar screen was the magnificent shrine of
St. Erkenwald, and beside it the tomb of Dean Nowell, both of which
are described hereafter (see pp. 24, 51). East of this again, at
the entrance to the Lady Chapel, was the beautiful brass of Robert
Braybrooke, Bishop 1381-1405. His was a troublous time, the time of
the evil government of Richard II. The Bishop exerted himself with all
his might to bring about righteous government, and to draw the king
away from evil counsellors. But he also persuaded the citizens to keep
the peace when they would have run into riot, and was all his life
held in honour. He was fierce against the Lollards, hardly to be
wondered at, as they were constantly affixing papers against current
doctrines and doings on the doors of the cathedral. It was this
bishop who rebuked the citizens for their neglect of the Feast of the
Conversion of St. Paul, their patron saint, and he made arrangements
for special services, which from that time were carefully observed.
He also gave directions for more devout observance of St. Erkenwald's
Day, and set aside money from the See for the feeding of 15,000 poor
people on that day in St. Paul's Churchyard. Robert Preston, a grocer,
left a rich sapphire to the shrine, to be used for rubbing the eyes of
persons who were threatened with blindness, and Braybrooke gave orders
that the clergy should appear on all these high festivals in their
copes, that nothing might be lacking to do them honour. He offered
no opposition to the deposition of King Richard II.: it was clearly
inevitable. Braybrooke was a vigorous reformer of abuses, and
denounced the profanation of the church by traffickers, shooting at
birds inside, and playing at ball.
Alongside the Lady Chapel, on the north side, was the chapel of St.
George. We will now pass from it back by the north aisle. By the
pillar north of the altar screen was the tomb of Sir Thomas Heneage.
He was Vice-Chamberlain to Queen Elizabeth, and all his life was much
trusted by her in matters of foreign diplomacy, though he sometimes
got into trouble by taking too much on himself. His daughter Elizabeth
was ancestress of the Earls of Winchelsea. He died in 1595.
Opposite this, at the North Wall, was the tomb of Ralph Hengham (d.
1311). Like so many great lawyers of old time he was in Holy Orders,
Chancellor of the Diocese of Exeter, and also Chief Justice of the
King's Bench. He was sent to the Tower for falsifying a document,
which he is said to have done in order to reduce a fine imposed on
a poor man from 13_s._ 4_d._ to 6_s._ 8_d._, and was himself fined
heavily; the money being applied to building a clock tower in Palace
Yard, opposite the door of Westminster Hall. Two judges, on being
urged to tamper with records for beneficent purposes, are said to
have declared that they did not mean to build clock towers! He
was afterwards restored to office. He did good work in his day in
compiling a Digest of the law.
SIR SIMON BURLEY, K.G., tutor and adviser of Richard II., beheaded on
the charge of having corrupted the King's Court, 1388.
[Illustration: THE CHAPTER HOUSE AND CLOISTER, _After W. Hollar_.]
[Illustration: THE NAVE, OR PAUL'S WALK. _After W. Hollar_.]
[Illustration: THE CHOIR. _After W. Hollar._]
[Illustration: THE LADY CHAPEL. _After W. Hollar._]
[Illustration: THE ROSE WINDOW. _From the drawing by E.B. Ferrey in
the Trophy Room, St. Paul's Cathedral._]
[Illustration: GROUND PLAN OF OLD ST. PAUL'S. _After W. Hollar._
_The dotted line shews the position of Wren's Cathedral._]
[Illustration: THE SHRINE OF ST. ERKENWALD. _After W. Hollar._]
[Illustration: TOMBS OF SEBBA AND ETHELRED. _After W. Hollar._]
St. Paul's, as we see, was rich in tombs of mediæval bishops; as to
Royalty it could not be named as compared with Westminster Abbey, for
the City was not a royal residence except in very rare cases. But here
we come to two tombs of Kings. Sebba was buried in the North Aisle in
695. He had been King of the East Saxons, but being afflicted with
grievous sickness he became a monk. His tomb remained until the Great
Fire, as did that of Ethelred the Unready, next to it. On the arches
above were tablets containing the following inscriptions:--
"Hic jacet Sebba Rex Orientalium Saxonum; qui conversus fuit ad fidem
per Erkenwaldum Londonensem Episcopum, anno Christi DCLXXVII. Vir
multum Deo devotus, actibus religiosis, crebris precibus & piis
elemosynarum fructibus plurimum intentus; vitam privatam & Monasticam
cunctis Regni divitiis & honoribus præferens: Qui cum regnasset annos
XXX. habitum religiosum accepit per benedictionem Waltheri Londinensis
Antistitis, qui præfato Erkenwaldo successit. De quo Venerabilis Beda
in historia gentis Anglorum."[1]
"Hic jacet Ethelredus Anglorum Rex, filius Edgari Regis; cui in die
consecrationis his, post impositam Coronam, fertur S. Dunstanus
Archiepiscopus dira prædixisse his verbis: Quoniam aspirasti ad regnum
per mortem fratris tui, in cujus sanguinem conspiraverunt Angli, cum
ignominiosa matre tua; non deficiet gladius de domo tua, sæviens in te
omnibus diebus vitæ tuæ; interficiens de semine tuo quousque Regnum
tuum transferatur in Regnum alienum, cujus ritum et linguam Gens cui
præsides non novit; nec expiabitur nisi longa vindicta peccatum tuum,
& peccatum matris tuæ, & peccatum virorum qui interfuere consilio
illius nequam: Quæ sicut a viro sancto prædicta evenerunt; nam
Ethelredus variis præliis per Suanum Danorum Regem filiumque suum
Canutum fatigatus et fugatus, ac tandem Londoni arcta obsidione
conclusus, misere diem obiit Anno Dominicæ Incarnationis MXVII.
postquam annis XXXVI. in magna tribulatione regnasset."[2]
Certainly in this latter terrible epitaph, it cannot be said that the
maxim _de mortuis_ was observed. But it speaks the truth.
Of a much later date is a royal monument, not indeed of a king, but of
the son and father of kings, namely, John of Gaunt. He died in 1399,
and his tomb in St. Paul's was as magnificent as those of his
father in the Confessor's Chapel at Westminster, and of his son at
Canterbury. It was indeed a Chantry founded by Henry IV. to the memory
of his father and mother, Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster. She was
Gaunt's first wife (d. 1369), and bore him not only Henry IV., but
Philippa, who became wife of the King of Portugal, and Elizabeth, wife
of John Holland, Earl of Huntingdon. It was through Blanche that Gaunt
got his dukedom of Lancaster. She died of plague in 1369, during his
absence in the French Wars, and was buried here. Before his return
to England he had married (in 1371) Constance, daughter of Pedro
the Cruel, and hereby laid claim to the crown of Castile, as the
inscription on his monument recorded. Their daughter married Henry,
Prince of the Asturias, afterwards King of Castile. Constance died in
1394, and was also buried in St. Paul's, though her effigy was not on
the tomb. In January, 1396, he married Catharine Swynford, who had
already borne him children, afterwards legitimised. One of them was
the great Cardinal Beaufort; another, John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset,
was the grandfather of Margaret Tudor, mother of Henry VII. Gaunt's
third wife (d. 1403) is buried at Lincoln. The long inscription on the
monument closed with the words, "Illustrissimus hic princeps Johannes
cognomento Plantagenet, Rex Castilliæ et Legionis, Dux Lancastriæ,
Comes Richmondiæ, Leicestriæ, Lincolniæ et Derbiæ, locum tenens
Aquitaniæ, magnus Seneschallus Angliæ, obiit anno XXII. regni regis
Ricardi secundi, annoque Domini MCCCXCIX."
Close by John of Gaunt, between the pillars of the 6th bay of the
Choir, was the tomb of WILLIAM HERBERT (1501-1569), first Earl of
Pembroke of the second creation, a harum-scarum youth, who settled
down into a clever politician, and was high in favour with Henry
VIII., who made him an executor of his will, and nominated him one of
the Council of twelve for Edward VI. He went through the reign of Mary
not without suspicion of disloyalty, but was allowed to hold his
place at Court, and in the reign of Queen Elizabeth he was accused
of favouring the Queen of Scots, though here also he overcame the
suspicions, and did not lose his place. He married Anne, the sister of
Queen Catherine Parr, and they were both buried in St. Paul's.
JOHN OF CHISHULL, who filled the see from 1274-1280, and was Edward
III.'s Chancellor, held a great number of valuable posts together.
This may have produced the mental incapacity into which he fell.
Archbishop Peckham had to appoint a commission to manage the diocese.
He was buried against the wall of the North Aisle, not far from John
of Gaunt.
ROGER NIGER, bishop from 1228 to 1241, was buried under the fifth
bay of the Choir, between it and the North Aisle. There were three
inscriptions on his tomb, the first on the aisle side:
"Ecclesiæ quondam Præsul præsentis, in anno
M bis C quater X jacet hic Rogerus humatus:
Hujus erat manibus Domino locus iste dicatus:
Christe, suis precibus veniam des; tolle reatus."
Then we have a short biography in laudatory terms, and below that a
record which one may translate as it stands: "It came to pass while
this Bishop Roger stood mitred [infulatus] before the high altar,
ready to begin the Divine mysteries, there came on such a dense cloud
that men could scarcely discern one another; and presently a
fearful clap of thunder followed, and such a blaze of lightning and
intolerable smell, that all who stood by fled hastily, expecting
nothing less than death. The Bishop and one deacon only bravely
remained, and when the air was at length purified the Bishop completed
the service." We shall have more about this storm hereafter.
SIR JOHN MASON (1503-1566), the son of a cowherd at Abingdon, and
afterwards a great benefactor to that town. His mother was a sister to
the Abbot of Abingdon, and through this relationship he was educated
at Oxford, became a Fellow of All Souls', took orders, and, in
consequence of the skill which he displayed in diplomacy and
international law, received rich Church preferments, among them the
Deanery of Winchester. At the accession of Queen Mary he had to
relinquish this, but as he had been faithful to her, she showed him
much favour, and gave him some secular offices. On the accession of
Elizabeth, he returned to his Deanery, and was all his life one of
the most trusted of the Queen's councillors, especially in foreign
matters.
DR. WILLIAM AUBREY was appointed Vicar-General of Canterbury by
Archbishop Grindal, and was esteemed a great lawyer in his time. He
was the grandfather of the famous antiquary (d. 1595).
Crossing the Choir, and beginning from the west, we will now proceed
eastward along the South Aisle of the Choir. First, we come to two
famous Deans, Donne and Colet, the account of whom belongs to a
subsequent page. In fact, the greater number of monuments in this
aisle are of later date than the others, but it will be more
convenient to take them here, excepting those which are connected with
the subsequent history. The wall monument of WILLIAM HEWIT (arms, a
fesse engrailed between three owls) had a recumbent figure of him in a
layman's gown. He died in 1599.
SIR WILLIAM COKAYNE (d. 1626) was a very rich Lord Mayor; high in the
confidence of James I., who constantly consulted him on business. He
was a munificent contributor to good works. It was said of him that
"his spreading boughs gave shelter to some of the goodliest families
in England." From his daughters descended the Earls of Nottingham,
Pomfret, Holderness, Mulgrave, and Dover; the Duke of Ancaster, and
the Viscounts Fanshawe.
JOHN NEWCOURT, Dean of Auckland, Canon of St. Paul's, Doctor of Law
(d. 1485).
The handsome brass of ROGER BRABAZON, Canon of St. Paul's (d. 1498),
had a figure in a cope. At the foot was the scroll, "Nunc Christe,
te petimus, miserere quæsumus: Qui venisti redimere perditos, noli
damnare redemptos."
Passing into the south side of the Lady Chapel, we come to two
more mediæval Bishops of London: HENRY WENGHAM (1259-1262). He was
Chancellor to Henry III. Close to him was EUSTACE FAUCONBRIDGE, a
Royal Justiciary, and afterwards High Treasurer, and Bishop of London,
1221-1228.
WILLIAM RYTHYN, LL.D., was Rector of St. Faith's and Minor Canon of
the Cathedral (d. 1400).
RICHARD LYCHFIELD, Archdeacon both of Middlesex and of Bath, Canon
Residentiary of St. Paul's (d. 1496).
The tomb of SIR NICHOLAS BACON (1509-1579), Queen Elizabeth's famous
minister, and father of the great philosopher, had his recumbent
figure, and those of his two wives, Jane, daughter of William Fernley,
and Ann, daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke. The latter was the mother of
Francis. The Latin inscription on the tomb was most laudatory, and
reads as if it came from the same pen that wrote the dedication of the
_Advancement of Learning_.
Another of the Elizabethan worthies is SIR FRANCIS WALSINGHAM (d.
April 6th, 1590). The monument to him was placed on the wall, with a
long Latin biographical inscription and twenty lines of English verse.
Two other wall tablets in the same chapel commemorated other heroes
of that period. SIR PHILIP SIDNEY, who died of his wound at Arnhem,
October 15th, 1586, was buried in St. Paul's, with signs of public
grief almost unparalleled. "It was accounted sin for months afterwards
for any gentleman to appear in London streets in gay apparel." The
tablet to him was of wood, and bore the following inscription:--
"England, Netherlands, the Heavens and the Arts,
The Soldiers, and the World, have made six parts
Of noble Sidney; for none will suppose
That a small heap of stones can Sidney enclose.
His body hath England, for she it bred,
Netherlands his blood, in her defence shed,
The Heavens have his soul, the Arts have his fame,
All soldiers the grief, the World his good name."
Close to this, on the same pillar, was a tablet to SIR THOMAS
BASKERVILLE, who had also done good service as a brave soldier,
according to the account given in fourteen lines of verse, which, it
must be said, are a great deal more musical than Sidney's.
SIR CHRISTOPHER HATTON (1540-1591) had a finer monument than any of
the other Elizabethan celebrities. Whether he deserved it is another
matter. He was clever and handsome, and got into special favour with
the Queen by his graceful dancing. He even wrote her amorous letters.
The part he took in procuring the condemnation of the Queen of Scots
is well known.
At the extreme end of St. Dunstan's Chapel we come to another Mediæval
worthy.
HENRY DE LACY, EARL OF LINCOLN (1249-1311), "the closest councillor of
Edward I." (Bishop Stubbs), was somewhat doubtful in his loyalty to
Edward II., being divided between his grateful memory of the father
and his disgust at the conduct of the son. His house was on the site
of Lincoln's Inn, which owes its name to him. He was a munificent
contributor to the "new work" of St. Paul's, and was buried in St.
Dunstan's Chapel, on the south side of the Lady Chapel.
[Footnote 1: "Here lieth Sebba, King of the East Saxons, who was
converted to the faith by Erkenwald, Bishop of London, in the year of
Christ 677. A man much devoted to God, greatly occupied in religious
acts, frequent prayers, and pious fruits of almsgiving, preferring
a private and monastic life to all the riches and honours of the
kingdom, who, when he had reigned 30 years, received the religious
habit at the hands of Walther, Bishop of London, who succeeded the
aforesaid Erkenwald, of whom the Venerable Bede makes mention in his
History of the English People."]
[Footnote 2: "Here lieth Ethelred, King of the English, son of
King Edgar, to whom, on the day of his hallowing, St. Dunstan, the
archbishop, after placing the crown upon him, is said to have foretold
terrible things in these words: Forasmuch as thou hast aspired to the
Kingdom through the death of thy brother, against whom the English
have conspired along with thy wretched mother, the sword shall not
depart from thy house, raging against thee all the days of thy life,
destroying thy seed until the day when thy Kingdom shall be conveyed
to another Kingdom whose customs and language the race over whom
thou rulest knoweth not; nor shall there be expiation save by
long-continued penalty of the sin of thyself, of thy mother, and of
those men who took part in that shameful deed. Which things came to
pass even as that holy man foretold; for Ethelred being worn out and
put to flight in many battles by Sweyn, King of the Danes, and his son
Cnut, and at last, closely besieged in London, died miserably in the
year of the Incarnation 1017, after a reign of 36 years of great
tribulation."]
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