Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Saint Albans Part 4

[Ill.u.s.tration: WATCHING LOFT.]

Such a precious thing as this jewelled shrine and the still more precious bones within it could not be left for a moment unguarded and unwatched, for stealing relics, when a favourable opportunity arose, was a temptation too great to be resisted by any monks, however holy. So on the south side of the shrine was erected a watching loft; the one that remains was constructed probably during the reign of Richard II., as his badge appears on it, but, no doubt, from the first there was some such place provided for the purpose of keeping guard. A similar loft may be seen in the cathedral church of St. Frideswide at Oxford, and a watching loft of a different construction in the south triforium at Malmesbury.

The chamber had two stories; the lower contained cupboards, in which vestments and relics were kept, these are now filled with various antiquarian curiosities, Roman pottery from Verulamium, architectural fragments, etc. An oaken staircase leads up into the chamber where the "custos feretri" sat watching the shrine day and night, guard of course being changed at intervals. It must have been trying work watching there during the night-time in frosty weather, but monks were accustomed to bear cold. The watching chamber (see ill.u.s.trations, pp. 66, 72) was built of oak and was richly carved. On the south side of the cornice are angels, the hart--badge of Richard II., the martyrdom of St. Alban, Time the reaper, and the seasons; on the north the months of the year are represented.

The west side of this chapel is closed by the back of Wallingford's screen, on which may be seen five statues representing St. Peter, St.

John, St. Mary, St. Stephen, and St. Michael. The eastern side is closed by a low wall, erected by Lord Grimthorpe in place of the wall by which these arches were completely blocked up after the dissolution. It was here that some of the fragments of the pedestal were found. Into his new wall Lord Grimthorpe has built some old fragments of carved work found in different places of the church.

The south side of this chapel is formed of the monument over the grave of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, surnamed "good" by an admiring people, though some modern historians hold that he had little real claim to this t.i.tle. He was the son of Henry IV., and therefore brother of Henry V., and was uncle of Henry VI. and guardian to the young King in the early part of his reign. He who likes may read in any history of the part he played in the affairs of the country: how he incurred the hatred of the unscrupulous and vindictive Queen of Henry VI., Margaret of Anjou, "she-wolf of France"; how he was murdered by Suffolk, with, it is said, the connivance of the Queen and Cardinal Beaufort. It was at one time supposed that he was buried in London, but there is little doubt that he found a resting-place in a grave prepared for him in St. Alban's Abbey, on March 4, 1447. This would be during the time that John Stokes was Abbot, between the two abbacies of John of Wheathampstead. The body was discovered in its leaden coffin during the reign of Queen Anne, when another grave was being dug. The coffin was opened, and the duke's body was discovered to be in a good state of preservation in the coffin, which is described as being "full of pickle." It is said that at one time the vergers would, for a due consideration, allow visitors to carry away the smaller bones when, owing to the body having been removed from the preserving fluid, nothing but a skeleton was left.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MONUMENT OF HUMPHREY, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER.]

The monument is a handsome one. It was probably erected by Wheathampstead, who had been on terms of intimacy with the duke, when he for the second time became Abbot. The canopy over the grave is richly carved; the antelopes we see on it were the badge of the duke. His epitaph speaks of him, among other things, as

Fraudis ineptae Detector, dum ficta notat miracula caeci.

This refers to the story told of him by Sir Thomas More, how he convicted an impostor who claimed to have been born blind, but to have received sight at St. Alban's shrine, by asking him the colour of the garments that the duke himself and others were wearing; all these questions were correctly answered by the beggar, who forgot for the moment that one born blind who had only just received his sight, would not have known the _names_ of the various colours, though he might distinguish one colour from another. The beggar was punished for his imposture by being set in the stocks.

This story is introduced into the first scene of the second act; of the second part of "Henry VI.," a reproduction of a St. Albans legend in which some students of the play will find an argument for attributing the play to Francis Bacon, who lived close by and would be likely to know the stories current in the town.

#The Tower and Bells.#--The ringing loft is reached by a staircase starting from the door near the north-west corner of the north arm of the transept. The steps were originally built of Roman bricks, but at the time of the restoration had fresh treads of stone laid on them, so that the ascent is an easy one; from this staircase one pa.s.ses along the triforium gallery of the western side of the transept, and then up a staircase in the turret at the north-west angle of the tower to a room whose floor is above the flat ceiling of the lantern visible from the floor of the church. The bells are in the next story, and at no great height above the floor of the ringing loft. In the ringing loft may be seen boards on which are inscribed records of several memorable sets of changes that have been rung, with the dates, the number of changes, the time occupied, which was generally between three and four hours, and the names of the ringers and the number of the bell that each one pulled.

The peal consists of eight bells; the tenor is in the key of E flat, and measures 4 ft. 6 in. in diameter, and is calculated to weigh about 28 cwt. The whole peal was originally cast in London by Philip Wightman in the year 1699; but the second, fifth, and sixth bells were recast in the middle of the eighteenth century, and the treble in 1845. On the tenor may be read the following legend: "Vivos ad coelum, moritu[r]os ad solum pulsata voco." The clock was in great measure reconstructed under Lord Grimthorpe's direction and fitted with his gravity escapement; it strikes the quarter chimes on the second, third, fourth, and seventh bells, and the hours on the tenor. The mechanism of the chimes, which play at three, six, nine, and twelve o'clock, was remade by Mr. G.o.dman, of St. Stephen's parish; this mechanism may be described as a kind of gigantic musical box. A huge cylinder revolves, on which are projecting pegs of bra.s.s, which as the cylinder goes round catch against wooden levers which raise clappers that in their fall strike the bells. The same tune is played all through each day, but a different tune is played each day of the week; at the end of the week the barrel is automatically set so as to begin the series of tunes again. There is, moreover, another tune--the Trinity hymn--which can be set by hand, and this is used on the greater festivals.

Besides the peal of eight the sacring bell which once hung near the high altar is now hung in the tower.

It may be well to finish the description of the church with a few notes about the material used and the method of building, abbreviated from a paper by Mr. James Neale. He says that during the restoration many examples were found of lead dowels in the joints of detached shafts.

Sinkings were cut in the upper surface of the lower stone and in the lower surface of the upper, so that when in place these sinkings would be opposite to each other; a small hole one-eighth inch in diameter was then bored in the upper stone, through which lead was poured into the sinkings. The mortar used between the outer stones of the fourteenth-century bays of the nave was mixed with oyster-sh.e.l.ls, contained a large amount of lime, and was very hard. There is much clunch stone used in the interior and this is in a good state of preservation, but any that has been used externally has decayed. The abaci of the Early English capitals in the main arcade are of Barnack stone, which is harder than clunch and so more suitable for bearing a weight. The Norman stonework was cut with an axe, the Transition with a chisel. The Early English is bolster-tooled; the Decorated ashlar (including the bays on the south side of the nave) is claw-tooled, the mouldings being sc.r.a.ped; the Perpendicular is finely sc.r.a.ped.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SOUTH CHOIR AISLE.]

CHAPTER IV.

THE HISTORY OF THE MONASTERY AND SEE.

Although, as stated in Chapter I., Alba.n.u.s suffered martyrdom in 303 A.D., and a small church was soon afterwards built over his grave, and another of larger size subsequently erected, it was not until the eighth century that the monastery was founded.

The foundation was an act of atonement on the part of Offa II., King of the Mercians, in the year 793. In the previous year he had been at the court of Ethelbert, King of East Anglia, and was a suitor for the hand of his daughter. But he treacherously murdered his host and took possession of his kingdom. Either as a politic effort to remove the evil reputation of such deeds, or as a conscientious offering to regain the favour of Heaven by means of a great work for the Church, Offa resolved to found a monastery, in honour of the protomartyr of Britain, upon the site of the martyrdom. The first thing to do was to discover the actual remains of St. Alban. The story of the discovery would not be complete without a vision and a miracle. Accordingly a vision is said to have appeared to the King at Bath, and a miraculous light to have guided him to the spot where the coffin was found. This had been purposely removed from its first resting-place within the walls of the church, for fear of its being desecrated by the Saxons, who certainly did reduce the building almost to a ruin. The coffin was found to contain the body of the martyr, as well as the precious relics which had been placed within it by the Bishop of Auxerre. Their presence establishes the ident.i.ty of the remains. The church was then repaired so as to be able to preserve safely the reliquary which contained the precious relics "until a more worthy edifice should be built." Permission to build and endow the monastery was obtained from Pope Adrian I., the King making a special journey to Rome in order to procure it. The martyr was canonized at the same time. At some later time a valuable concession was granted to the new monastery: the tribute known as Peter's Pence being a.s.signed to it, while the lands belonging to the Abbey were exempted from the payment.

This grant applied to the whole of Offa's kingdom. The payment of Peter's Pence had only been inst.i.tuted sixty-six years previously, the object being to maintain a Saxon college at Rome. Offa lived to see the monastery established and partially endowed. He himself gave one of the royal manors to the endowment, but he did not live long enough even to make a beginning of the grand church he appears to have had in contemplation, for he died not long after his return from Rome, some authorities giving the year 794 as the date of his death, others 796.

The monastery was of the Benedictine order. Though it became important, and at last the chief of the Benedictine houses in England, it was not one of the earliest. The Benedictine order had been introduced into England in 596, and forty-five monasteries had been founded before that of St. Alban's. Many of these were little more than cells, and many were afterwards absorbed into the larger establishments. Yet several very famous abbeys were founded at least a century before Offa founded St.

Alban's.

Many of the early Abbots of St. Albans were men of mark and of influence in the national councils, and some of them were closely related to the royal family. The Chronicles, however, tell us but little of them, except when the Abbey itself is concerned. Some notes on the Abbots will now be given.

1. #WilleG.o.d# (793-796). His rule, we are told, was short but prudent.

His death is attributed to vexation at not being able to obtain the body of Offa for burial in the Abbey. He died two months after the King. The chronicler charitably hopes that Offa's name is written in the book of life, although his mortal remains are not honourably preserved. Offa's son and successor, Ecgfrid, confirmed his father's charter and gave another manor to the Abbey.

2. #Eadric.# He was elected in 796, according to the express wishes of the founder, from among the inmates of the monastery. He was of royal blood and had the King's support in some critical difficulties, and ruled with discretion.

3. #Wulsig.# This Abbot, like his predecessor, a monk and akin to the King, scandalized the house by hunting in lay attire; and by entertaining n.o.ble ladies within the precincts. He wasted the substance of the Abbey by bestowing it upon his relations. Most of the property that he had alienated was recovered after his death, and those whom he had fattened died miserably in poverty. It is said that he was much hated by the monks and died of poison.

4. #Wulnoth.# He began well, but after a few years gave himself up to sport habited as a layman. He is said to have ruled eleven years, and to have repented when affected by paralysis, and to have made a happy end.

The chronicler adds with sly humour that his change to holiness was brought about "_faciendo de necessitate virtutem._" In his time the Danes plundered the Abbey of its treasures, vestments and sacred vessels, and carried off the bones of St. Alban to Owense (probably Odense in Funen). The sacrist Egwin was much distressed at the loss of this his greatest treasure, and prayed that he might see the body brought back. St. Alban appeared to him in a vision, and bade him go to Owense and there await instructions. After a year's stay at the monastery he was admitted into the brotherhood and became sacrist, never revealing the fact that he had come from St. Albans. Long did he wait for an opportunity of carrying away the sacred bones, until one winter's night he found means of removing them from the shrine wherein they were kept, and packing them in a chest, which he gave to an English merchant whom he knew, bidding him take it to St. Albans. He said that it contained books which the Abbot had lent him, and which he was now returning; he added that he would shortly bring the key himself, or, if he could not come himself, would send it by a messenger. Together with the chest, which in due course was delivered, a letter was sent detailing the circ.u.mstances of his pious fraud; this was read by the Abbot in chapter, to the great joy of the brethren. Egwin shortly after this obtained leave to make a journey to England, and when safely in the Abbey he wrote to the monks at Owense, telling them what he had done.

Some of them denounced him as guilty of sacrilege, others justified his action. When he opened the chest in the chapter-house at St. Albans miraculous cures were wrought on many who were infirm, both in the Abbey and in the town.

5. #Eadfrith.# This Abbot was handsome in person, but despicable in his deeds. He never attended the services in the choir. During his time Wulfa, the prior, built an oratory in honour of Germa.n.u.s on the spot where the rude dwelling he had occupied when visiting St. Albans lay in ruins. After Wulfa's death Eadfrith saw the error of his ways, resigned his office, became a hermit, and died a holy man.

No new Abbot was appointed for a year, as the monks were divided into two parties in favour of rival candidates.

6. #Wulsin.# The bishop after a time intervened and put an end to the dissension, and the monks unanimously elected Wulsin, or Ulsinus. He helped the inhabitants of the town to build the three churches of St.

Michael, St. Stephen, and St. Peter (see Appendix). He died holy and full of days.

7. #aelfric.# This Abbot purchased of King Eadgar a large fishpond which was too near the Abbey to be pleasant; he drained it, leaving only a small pool of water and a bed of reeds, converting the rest of it into gardens. He translated into Saxon some of the historical books of the Old Testament. His doctrine on the Lord's Supper, as expounded in a letter to Wulfstan, Bishop of Sherborne, which is preserved at Exeter, was identical with that of the twenty-eighth Article of Religion. He died "full of days, eminent for sanct.i.ty, after having achieved many praiseworthy actions."

8. #Ealdred.# He ruled but for a short time, but was a benefactor to the town. He cleared away much of the ruins of Verulamium, especially those caverns which had become the abode of robbers and outlaws. He also collected materials (chiefly from the Roman ruins)--tiles, stone, and timber--with a view to the rebuilding of the abbey church.

9. #Eadmer.# He was pious, courteous, learned, but he left the monastery much in debt, so that some possessions had to be sold and some timber to be cut down.

10. #aelfric# is described as of singular and conspicuous merit. He wrote a history of St. Alban, and arranged it for musical recitation. Being afraid of a Danish invasion, and thinking that the relics of the protomartyr, which had already been once carried away to Denmark, would not be safe in the shrine as it stood, he hid them under the altar of St. Nicholas, and at the same time pretended to send them to Ely for safe custody, giving the authorities at Ely to understand that the true relics were being committed to their charge; this, it is said, he did being a prudent and circ.u.mspect man, and fearing that the men at Ely would be blinded by covetousness, and refuse to return the true relics if they once got them into their possession. The Danish invasion was soon over, the King being drowned, and then aelfric demanded from the monks of Ely the relics he had intrusted to their care. The caution he had exercised was justified by the conduct of the Ely monks; for they, thinking that the bones they had were really those of St. Alban, at first refused to return them, but at last consented to do so. The bones, however, that they sent back were not those they had received. It is plain that these old monks were not always to be trusted to behave in an honourable manner when precious relics were concerned. The chronicler, however, who tells the story, considers the conduct of the monks of St.

Albans in sending spurious relics was "pious," while the behaviour of the monks of Ely was "detestable and disgraceful"--but then the chronicler was a monk of St. Albans. aelfric bought the royal palace of Kingsbury and its land near the Abbey, demolis.h.i.+ng the whole of the palace except one tower. aelfric in 995 was promoted to the office of Archbishop of Canterbury.

11. #Leofric.#[10] This Abbot was half brother to aelfric. During a great famine he spent large sums in the relief of the poor, devoting to this purpose even some of the treasures that had been got together for the rebuilding of the church, and many gold and silver vessels a.s.signed to his own use in the Abbey. The monks, however, objected to this conversion of the property of the Abbey to uses for which it was not originally intended.

[10] The "Gesta Abbatum" reverses the order of the two Abbots, aelfric and Leofric, but this is probably wrong. It is recorded that Leofric had the offer of the archbishopric, but declined, saying that his brother aelfric was far more fit for the post than he, and it is supposed that when aelfric became Archbishop in 995, Leofric succeeded him as Abbot.

12. #Leofstan.# This Abbot was confessor to King Edward (the Confessor) and his Queen Edith. He acquired much land for the Abbey, and cleared away the woods between London and St. Albans, to make the roads safer for travellers. To secure the good services of a knight as protector of the Abbey he a.s.signed him a certain manor; the service was faithfully performed. The Normans, when they came, dispossessed the holder, and conferred the manor upon Roger, a Norman knight, who, strange to say, fulfilled the conditions on which his predecessor had held the land. At Leofstan's death the Abbey was in a state of the greatest prosperity.

13. #Frithric.# This Abbot was chosen in the reign of Harold as leader of the southerners against the Normans, just as Aldred, Archbishop of York, was chosen as the leader of the northcountrymen. William accordingly ravaged the possessions of the monastery. After the Conquest, when William was accepted as King, Frithric administered to him the oath that he would keep inviolate all the laws of the realm, which former kings, especially Edward, had established. Needless to say, William soon began to disregard this oath, and despoiled the Abbey of St. Alban's more and more, till Frithric in despair resigned his office as Abbot and retired to Ely, where he soon died. The monks of Ely pretended that he took with him to their monastery the precious relics of St. Alban the Martyr.

14. #Paul of Caen# (1077-1093). A great change now comes over the history of the monastery. The new Abbot was a Norman and a kinsman of Lanfranc, the first Norman Archbishop of Canterbury. Like Lanfranc, who had been Abbot of Caen, he resolved to rebuild his church, and, like Lanfranc, adopted in England the style he had been accustomed to at Caen; but his ideas on the matter of size were far grander than that of his former Abbot, for St. Alban's Abbey Church far surpa.s.sed in its dimensions the cathedral church which the new archbishop built at Canterbury. As we have already seen (Chap. I.), he used the Roman bricks from the ruined city of Verulamium as building material. Important as this work was, the account of it occupies but a few lines in the Chronicles. In these it is mentioned that Lanfranc contributed 1,000 marks towards the cost. Paul was an energetic man, as may be seen by the short time occupied in building this large church; but it was not only in providing a new church that he was active, for it is recorded that he reformed the lives and manners of the monks, secured the restoration of land that had been alienated, founded cells as occasion demanded, and persuaded lay donors to give largely to the Abbey--t.i.thes, bells, plate, and books. Robert Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, gave the Priory of Tynemouth, which he had founded, to the Abbey of St. Albans. Abbot Paul died on his way home from a visit to this new priory, and was buried magnificently in his own Abbey.

The "Gesta Abbatum" begins at this point to sum up the good and evil deeds of the abbots. Among Paul's shortcomings the following are mentioned: he lost property through negligence; he destroyed the tombs of his English predecessors in the Abbey; he did not secure as he should have done the bones of Offa for his new church; he alienated the woods of Northame; he bestowed some of the property of the Abbey upon his illiterate kinsfolk. Yet, on the whole, his good deeds outweighed his evil ones. William II., after Paul's death, kept the Abbey in his own hands for four years, using, as was his wont, the revenues for his own advantage. His death in the New Forest was considered by the monks of the Abbey as a special punishment for the extortion he had practised on them.

15. #Richard d'Aubeny# or #d'Albini# (1097-1119). This Abbot, a Norman, was a man of much influence, and during his rule the Abbey was very prosperous. He presented many and valuable ornaments to the church: a shrine wrought in gold for the relics of the apostles, which Germa.n.u.s had placed in St. Alban's coffin in the fifth century; another shrine of ivory and gilt, for the relics of martyrs and saints; a great number of vestments and many valuable books. During his time, 1104, the relics of St. Cuthbert were translated from the temporary shrine which Bishop Carileph had erected over them to the new Cathedral Church at Durham, and Abbot Richard, as head of Tynemouth Priory, was present on that occasion, and a miracle was worked upon him, for his withered arm was cured by being brought into contact with St. Cuthbert's body. In grat.i.tude for this benefit, he built a chapel in honour of St. Cuthbert in his own Abbey. For some reason the Abbey, though no doubt used, had not hitherto been consecrated. This omission was made good on the festival of the Holy Innocents, 1115, by Geoffrey, Archbishop of Rouen, the Bishops of Lincoln, London, Durham and Salisbury a.s.sisting. Henry III., his Queen Matilda, the chief n.o.bles and prelates of the kingdom, were present and stayed at the Abbey from December 27th until the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6th). Wymondham Priory in Norfolk was founded by William, Count of Arundel, and conferred on St. Albans during Abbot Richard's rule. Like his predecessor, he enriched his relations at the expense of the Abbey, and is further blamed by the chronicler for having promised that the Abbey should be subject for the future not to the Archbishop but to the Bishop of Lincoln.[11] This change seems to have led to a stricter rule and so was displeasing to the monks, though it is admitted that the Archbishop had not treated the Abbey well.

[11] The church remained in this diocese until 1845, when it was handed over to Rochester, although, as will be seen afterwards, the Abbey was made independent of the Bishop of Lincoln's jurisdiction.

16. #Geoffrey of Gorham# (1119-1146). This Abbot came from Maine, where he had been born. He had been invited to take charge of the monastery school, but did not arrive in time, so he opened a school at Dunstable.

On one occasion, when a miracle play was being performed by his scholars, he borrowed some vestments of the Abbey; these were unfortunately destroyed in a fire; unable to pay for them, he offered himself as a sacrifice and became a monk. He was unanimously elected Abbot on the death of his predecessor, but at first was reluctant to accept the office, though finally his reluctance was overcome. He made a most energetic ruler. He increased the allowances to the kitchen, cellars, and almonry. He ordered that the revenues of certain rectories should be used for providing ornaments, for a fabric fund, and for the infirmary. He founded and endowed the leper hospital of St. Julian on the London Road, and established the nunnery of Sopwell (see Appendix) for thirteen sisters. He built the guest hall, the infirmary, and its chapel. He also began to construct a new shrine for the relics of the saint, but after spending 60 on it discontinued the work to give himself breathing time, and never went on with it again. He felt himself constrained to sell some of the materials he had collected for this purpose, to obtain money for the relief of the poor during a famine. A long description is preserved of the decoration of the shrine. Among other precious things worked into it was an eagle with outstretched wings, the gift of King Ethelred. Although it was not quite finished, it was sufficiently so as to be ready to receive the bones of the martyr.

The remains were examined in the presence of Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, and sundry Abbots in 1129. The genuineness of the relics, so it is said, was established by appearances of the saint to divers persons as well as by miracles. One shoulder blade was missing; but this, as it afterwards appeared, had been given by a former Abbot, at the request of King Canute, to the reigning duke of some foreign land, who had founded a cathedral church on purpose to receive so precious a relic. A long list is given of the valuable gifts this Abbot made to the monastery and church. During his time lived the hermits Roger and Sigur, and the recluse Christina, whose story has been told in Chapter III.

At this time also Henry I. granted to the Abbots the Liberty of St.

Albans, which gave them the power of trying minor offences, which had hitherto been tried in the civil courts of the hundred and the s.h.i.+re.

There are only two faults that are recorded of this Abbot: first, he gave some of the Abbey t.i.the to the support of the church that he had rebuilt; and, secondly, he was too easy in business dealings and allowed himself to be imposed upon.