Medieval England Vol II

MEDIEVAL
ENGLAND

A XET; EDITION

EDITED BY

AUSTIN LAXE POOLE

3,L;::., F.3.A.

VOLUME 11

OXFORD
AT CLARENDON

MEDIEVAL
ENGLAND

Oxford University Press, Amen House, London B.C. 4

GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE WELLINGTON

BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS KARACHI KUALA LUMPUR

CAPETOWN IBADAN NAIROBI ACCRA

Oxford University Press 1958

PRINTED IN CHEAT BRITAIN

. - IT

t :_ CONTENTS

VOLUME II
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS vii

XII. RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION, by DOM
DAVID KNOWLES, F.B.A., Regius Professor of Modern History in

the University of Cambridge 382

i. The Old English Church, 382-9. 2. The Anglo-Norman Church,
389-400. 3. The Religious Orders and Institutions, 400-10. 4. The
Thirteenth Century: administration and jurisdiction, 410-17. 5. The Papal
Government: taxes, provisors, and pluralism, 417-27. 6. The Fourteenth
Century: parishes, parliament, and convocation, 427-33. 7. The Spiritual
Achievement, 433-6. Works for Reference, 436-8

XIII. ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE, by G. F.
WEBB, C.B.E., F.S.A., HON. A.R.I.B.A., Secretary to the Royal Com'
mission on Historical Monuments 439

Works for Reference, 484

XIV. ART, by x. s. R. BOASE, President of Magdalen College, Oxford 485
Works for Reference, 513-14

XV. LEARNING AND EDUCATION, by A. B. EMDEN,
formerly Principal of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford 515

i. Anglo-Saxon Period, 515-18. 2. Anglo-Norman Monasticism and the
Twelfth-century Renaissance, 518-23. 3. Growth of the Universities of
Oxford and Cambridge, 523-7. 4. The Earlier Oxford and Cambridge
Colleges, 527-30. 5. Curricula in Universities and Inns of Court of
Chancery, 530-5. 6. The Later Middle Ages, 536-40. Works for Refa'
ence, 540

XVI. HANDWRITING, by v. H. GALBRAITH, F.B.A., formerly
Regius Professor of Modern History in the University of Oxford 541

Works for Reference, 557-8

XVII. PRINTED BOOKS, THE BOOK>TRADE, AND
LIBRARIES, by STRICKLAND GIBSON, formerly Keeper of

the Archives in the University of Oxford 559

i. Printing, 559-64. 2. Binding, 564. 3. Book Trade, 565-6. 4. Libra
ries, 566-70. Works for Reference, 570

vi CONTENTS

XVIII. SCIENCE, by A. c. CROMBIE, Lecturer in the History of
Science in the University of Oxford 571

Works for Reference, 603-4

XIX. RECREATIONS, by A. L. POOLE, D.LITT., F.B.A., formerly
President of St. John's College, Oxford 605

i. Minstrelsy, 605-10. 2. Board Games, 610-13. 3. London Games,

614-16. 4. Hunting and Falconry, 616-21. 5. Tournament, 621-4.

6. Athletic Games, 624-30. 7. Early Tudor Festivity, 630-1. Works
for Reference, 632

INDEX 633

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

VOLUME II
PLATES

74. Durham Cathedral and Monastery. Photograph by Curator of

Aerial Photography, University of Cambridge. Crown

copyright reserved Facing p. 402

75. Kirkstall Abbey. Photograph by Curator of Aerial Photo-'

graphy, University of Cambridge. Crown copyright

reserved 403

76. Brixworth Parish Church: interior. Photograph by Dr. J. R. H.

Weaver 444

77. 0. Worcester Cathedral: Crypt. Photograph by National

Buildings Record 445

&. Tewkesbury Abbey: Nave. Photograph by National Build'

ings Record 445

78. Durham Cathedral: Nave. Photograph by B. C. Clayton 450

79. a. Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire: North aisle. Photograph by

B. C. Clayton 451

L Roche Abbey, Yorkshire: Transepts. Photograph by

National Buildings Record 451

80. a. Lincoln Cathedral: Nave. Photograph by National Build'

ings Record 458

I. Wells Cathedral: Nave. Photograph by National Buildings

Record 458

8 1. a. Peterborough Cathedral: The Great West Portico. Photo"

graph by Royal Commission on Historical Monuments
(England). Crown copyright 459

k Salisbury Cathedral: Chapter House Interior. Photograph

by the Rev. F. Sumner 459

82. Wells Cathedral: Section through Chapter House. From an

engraving in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries of

London 4 6 4

83. a. Lincoln Cathedral: East Front of Angel Choir. Photograph

by H. Felton 4<*5

L Merton College, Oxford: East Window of Chapel. Photo"

graph by the late Sir Alfred Clapham 465

84. Howden Church, Yorkshire: East Front of Choir. From E.

Sharpe, Architectural Parallels, 1848 474

viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

85. Gloucester Cathedral: Tomb of King Edward II. Photograph

by Frith, Reigate Facing p. 475

86. Gloucester Cathedral: Longitudinal section. From an engrav

ing in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries of

London 476

87. a. Old St. Paul's Cathedral, London: Chapter House. From

the engraving by Hollar in the British Museum 477

L Sherborne Abbey, Dorset: Nave. Photograph by Royal
Commission on Historical Monuments (England). Crown
copyright 477

88. King's College, Cambridge: Ante^chapel. Photograph by

Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England).

Crown copyright 480

89. a. Leuchars Parish Church, Fife. Photograph by courtesy of the

Courtauld Institute of Art 481

L Lawford Parish Church, Essex. Photograph by Royal Conv
mission on Historical Monuments (England). Crown
copyright 481

90. Purse'lid from Sutton Hoo. British Museum 486

91. a. St. Luke, Lindisfarne Gospels. British Museum, MS. Cott.

Nero D. IV, f. 137* 487

1. The beginning of the Gospel of St. Matthew, from the

Lindisfarne Gospels (f. 27). British Museum 487

92. a. Detail of the Ruthwell Cross: Mary Magdalen at the foot of

Christ. Photograph by courtesy of the Warburg Institute 490

I. Codford St. Peter: stone shaft. Photograph by National

Buildings Record 99 490

93. a. The prophet Joel from the stole of St. Cuthbert. British

Museum M 49!

L Crucifixion from British Museum, MS. Harley 2904, f. 3 V .

Photograph by courtesy of the Courtauld Institute of Art 491

94. a. Adoration of the Kings, from the Missal of Robert of

Jumieges, MS. Rouen Y. 6, f. 37. Photograph by courtesy
of the Courtauld Institute of Art 492

i. Initial from British Museum, MS. Royal 12 E. XX, f. I24 V .

Photograph by courtesy of the Courtauld Institute of Art 492

95- <* Capital from St. Gabriel's Chapel in the crypt of Canterbury
Cathedral. Photograph by courtesy of the Courtauld Lv
stitute of Art

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix

&. St. Paul and the Viper. Wall painting in St. Anselm's

Chapel, Canterbury Cathedral, c. 1160 Facing p. 493

96. a. King David, from the British Museum Psalter, MS. Royal 2

A. XXn, f. if 494

b. Joseph and Potiphar's wife, from the Psalter in the State
Library, Munich, MS. lat. 835, f". 14. Photograph by
Kunstinstitut, Marburg 494

97. a. The Malmesbury Apostles, c. 1160. Photograph by A. F.

Kersting 495

I. Detail from the Gloucester candlestick in the Victoria and

AJbert Museum. Crown copyright 495

98. a. Joseph and Potiphar's wife from the Gospels in Trinity

College, Cambridge, MS. B. 11. 4, f. 7. Photograph by

courtesy of the Courtauld Institute of Ait 496

&. North tower of west front of Wells Cathedral: statues of
deacon saints. Photograph by the late F. H. Crossley, Esq.,
F.S.A. 496

99. a. The incredulity of St. Thomas: wall painting in the south

transept of Westminster Abbey. Photograph by Royal
Commission on Historical Monuments (England). Crown
copyright 497

t>. Tomb of Eleanor of Castille, bronze cast by William Torel,
1291-2, Westminster Abbey. Photograph by Royal Conv
mission on Historical Monuments (England), Crown
copyright 497

100. a. Angel with censer: south transept, Westminster Abbey.

c. 1255. Photograph by Walter Scott, Bradford 498

I. Angel of Judgement from the Angel Choir, Lincoln
Cathedral,, c. 1270. Photograph by the Hon. Hugh St.
Leger 498

1 01. a. Crucifixion from the Evesham Psalter, British Museum,

MS. Add. 44874, 5. Photograph by courtesy of the

Courtauld Institute of Art 499

&. Virgin and Child with Matthew Paris at her feet: British
Museum, MS. Royal 14 C. VII, f. 6. Photograph by
courtesy of the Courtauld Institute of Art 499

102. a. Abraham and Melchisedeck from the Psalter in St. John's

College, Cambridge, MS. K. 26. Photograph by courtesy

of the Courtauld Institute of Ait 500

b. Felbrigg brass, 1416, Felbrigg Church, Norfolk. From Beau"

mont y Ancient Memorial Brasses 500

x LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

103. Page from the Ormesby Psalter, Bodleian Library, MS.

Douce 366, f. 55 V Facing?. 501

104. a. Hop/leaves capital: the Chapter House, Southwell Minster,

c. 1300. Photograph by the Rev, F. Sumner 502

4. Freestone effigy of a knight. Early fourteenth century. Photo^

graph by the kte F. H. Crossley, Esq., F.S.A. 502

105. The tomb of Lady Idoine Percy, Beverley Minster: detail.

Photograph by Valentine & Sons, Dundee 503

106. a. Light from Gloucester east window, 1347-9. St. Peter.

Photograph by the late S. Pitcher 508

4. Light from a window in the north clerestory of the choir,
Great Malvern, c. 1460-70. St. Wulfstan. Photograph by
the late S. Pitcher 508

107. a. Opus Anglicanum. Panel from the orphrey from Marnhull

Priory in Dorsetshire, now in the Victoria and Albert
Museum. Crown copyright 509

I. Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick: bronze. Photo'

graph by the late F. H. Crossley, Esq., F.S.A. 509

108. a. Alabaster effigy of Alice de la Pole, Duchess of Suffolk

(d. 1477) from her tomb at Ewelme. Photograph by the

late F. H. Crossley, Esq., F.S.A. 512

I. St. Sebastian between the Ajrche: Henry VII Chapel,
Westminster. Photograph by courtesy of the Courtauld
Institute of Art 512

109. a. Cloister, Gloucester Cathedral, showing carrels. Photo'

graph by H. Felton 534

1. The Divinity School, Oxford. Photograph by Dr. J. R. H.

Weaver 534

no. a. Winchester College, founded 1373 535

4. New College and its hundred clerks. From New College,

Oxford, MS. 288 535

in. a. Roman Square Capitals. Inscription of A.D. 222, conv
memorating the provision of a water-supply for the fort at
South Shields (Co. Durham). Eph. Epigr. ix, 1140.
Photograph by courtesy of the Corporation of South
Shields 542

4. Roman Cursive. Writing-tablet from London. From The
Antiquaries Journal, vol. xxxiii, by permission of the
Society of Antiquaries of London 542

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi

112. a. Rustic Capitals. Vergil, Codex Palatinus. Fourth-fifth

century. From Codices Latini Antiquiores, Pt. i, edited by

E. A. Lowe (Clarendon Press) Facing p. 543

b. Uncial. Codex Amiarinus written at Jarrow by order of

Abbot Ceolfrid (A.D. 690-716). From Cotices Latini
Antiquiores, Pt. iii, edited by E. A. Lowe (Clarendon
Press) 543

c. Half-uncial. Hilarius de Trinitate. Fifth-sixth century.

From Codices Latini Antiquiores, Pt. i, edited by E. A.

Lowe (Clarendon Press) 543

113. Carolingian minuscule. About A.D. 820, Tours writing. From

Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 218, 62 r 544

114. Irish majuscule. The Book of Kells. Eighth-ninth century.

From the manuscript in Trinity College, Dublin 545

115. Insular minuscule. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle written at WHV

Chester about A.D. 891. From the manuscript in Corpus

Christi College, Cambridge 546

1 1 6. Latin book'hand. Life and Miracles of St. Augustine by

Goscelin, a monk of St. Augustine's Canterbury. Early
twelfth century. British Museum, MS. Cotton Vespasian
B. xx 547

117. Cursive. Letter from Stephen, the Dean and the Chapter of

St. Peter's at York to the Justices of the Bench. A.D. 1202-

12 12. Bodleian Library, MS. Ch. Yorks, 540 550

1 1 8. a. Latin book^hand. Thirteenth century. The beginning of

the Argumentum in epistola Petri ad Romanos which Matthew
Paris himself added to a Bible written by a scribe. Corpus
Christi College, Oxford, MS. 2, f. 369* 551

I. Cursive. Notes written by Matthew Paris. Thirteenth

century. British Museum, MS. Cotton Nero D. i, i66 b 551

119. Gothic script. Douce Apocalypse. Probably written before

1272. English. Bodleian Library, MS. Douce 180, p. 87 554

120. Humanistic script Letter from the University of Oxford to the

Judges at Westminster. A.D. 1524. Bodleian Library, MS.

Bodley 282, 70 V 555

121. a. Chancery set hand. Sixteenth century. By permission of the

Public Record Office 556

I. Secretary hand. A.D. 1591. By permission of the Public

Record Office 556

122. Colophon of Caxton's Dfctes or Sayengis of the Philosophers, from

the copy in the John Rylands Library, Manchester 560

MI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

123. Lectern desks in the Old Library of Trinity Hall, Cambridge.

Photograph by F. R. Yerbury, Hon. A.R.I.B.A. Facing p. 561

124. a. From the Catalogue of Dover Priory, 1389. Bodleian

Library, MS. Bodley 920 566

1. The West Wing of Merton College Library, Oxford 566

125. a. An astrolabe in use. Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 614 592

I. Richard of Wallingfbrd measuring a circular instrument
with a pair of compasses. British Museum, MS. Cotton
Claud, E. iv 592

126. The Merton Astrolabe, c. 1350 (face). By permission of the

Warden and Fellows of Merton College, Oxford 593

127. Bramble (Rubus fructicosui) from the twelfth-century Herlal of

Apuleius Barbarus. Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 130 596

128. a. Bees, from a twelfth-century bestiary, British Museum, MS.

Royal 12. c. xix 597

I. Dissection, or post mortem, from Bodleian Library, MS.

Ashmoie 399 597

129. Knight firing a cannon against a castle, from Walter de Mile-*

mete's De Nolilitotivus Sapientiis et PrudentUs Regum.
Christ Church, Oxford, MS. 92. By permission of the
Governing Body of Christ Church, Oxford 598

130. Matthew Paris's map of Great Britain, from British Museum,

MS. Cotton Claudius D. vi 599

131. a. Costume of a Fool. British Museum, MS. Add. 42130,

f. 167 608

I. Juggler: Woman dancing on swords. British Museum,

MS. Royal 10 E. iv, f. 58 608

132. a. A company of musicians, Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley

264 f. 173 609

I. Bear-baiting. British Museum, MS. Add. 42130, f. 161 609

c. Performing bear. Trinity College, Cambridge, MS. R. 17. i,

f. 50 609

133. a. Quintain from a boat. Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 264,

f. 89 r 6I 4

i. Quintain from a wooden horse. Bodleian Library, MS.

Bodley 264, f. 82 V 614

c. Quintain with a tub of water. Bodleian Library, MS.

Bodley 264 L $& 614

L Wrestling pick-a-back. British Museum, MS. Royal 2.

B. VII, f. i6iv ff 6I4

e . Swinging. Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 264, f. 78 V 614

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii

134. a. Blind man's buff. Bodleian Library, MS .Bodley 264, f. 13 o v Fating p. 615
I. Punch and Judy show. Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 264,

54 V 615

c. Catching butterflies. Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 264, f. 1 3 5 r 615

135. a. Hunting scene. British Museum, MS. Royal 2 B. VIE,

f. I50 V 6i 8

h. Ferreting. British Museum, MS. Royal 2 B. VE, f. I55 V 618

136. a. King Harold riding with a hawk on his wrist. From the

Bayeux tapestry. Photograph by Victoria and Albert
Museum. Crown copyright 619

1. Hawking. British Museum, MS. Royal 10 E. IV, f. 78 619

137. Tournament (melee). British Museum. MS. Cotton Julius E.

IV, f. n v . 622

138. Tournament (joust) showing the tilt. British Museum, MS.

Cotton Julius E. IV, f. 16^ ,,623

139- a. Hockey. British Museum, MS. Royal 10 E. IV, f. 95 628

k Club ball. British Museum, MS. Royal 10 E. IV, f. 94 V 628

140. a. Game of ball. University College, Oxford, MS. 165, f. 8 629

I. Putting at gol British Museum, MS. Add. 24098, 27 V 629

TEXT'FIGURES

98. Durham Cathedral and Monastery. After the plan by G. R. F. Fknel

in The Builder, 3 June 1893, by permission Page. 402

99. Kirkstall Abbey. After R. Graham, An Essay on English Monasteries

(Historical Association Pamphlet, 102) ,,403

100. Brixworth Church. After A. W. Clapham, English Romanesque

Architecture before the Conquest (Clarendon Press) 440

101. St. Augustine's, Canterbury. Ibid. 443

102. Durham. Half cross'secu'on of Choir. After Archaeological Journal,

Ixxix (Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and
Ireland) 449

103. Peterborough Cathedral. After the drawing by Roland Paul in

TheBuiUer, 1891 462

104. Wells Cathedral. After Archaeological Journal, Ixxxviii (Royal

Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland) 471

105. Cicero's Pro Milone, c. 1480 562

1 06. Coverdale's Bible, 1535. Tide^page of the New Testament 563

107. Diagrams from the thlrteenth^century MS. Royal 7. F. viii, in the

British Museum, illustrating Roger Bacon's classification of the
properties of curved refracting surfaces, in the Opus Majus, v. pages 590-1

VOLUME II

XII. RELIGIOUS LIFE AND
ORGANIZATION

i. The Old English Church

THI S short survey of the development and institutions
of the Church in medieval England will for reasons of
practical convenience begin only with the tenth cen^
tury. By that time, indeed, more than six centuries had
passed since the first introduction of Christianity to Britain,
and more than four since a more fully organized ecclesiastical
system had come from Rome to southern England with Aug/
gustine, and the flowering of that new life had been so wide'
spread and luxuriant, both before and after its fusion with
Celtic Christianity, that the first and greatest of English church
historians, Bede the Venerable, had been able to make it the
theme of a work which was treated at once and is still recognized
as a classic. The memory of that age of monastic sanctity and
missionary zeal was never lost, and the Church of the late Old
English period inherited numerous customs and characteristics
fromthepast, butthe wholesale destruction of the monuments of
that age, and the still more widespread breakdown of organized
religious life owing to the invasion and occupation by the Danes
of almost half the inhabited area of England, together with the
confusion caused elsewhere by their raids and those of the North'
men, reduced the ecclesiastical life of England to what may be
called its lowest possible terms: a Church with few bishops, no
great buildings, no kind of organized education, no religious
houses, and no centres of administration. Though the desola^
tion may seem even greater than it was owing to the absence of
material or literary memorials, there can be no doubt as to its
gravity. The Church in England was reduced to little more
than the performance by an ill/educated, ill-found clergy of

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 383

the essential liturgical and sacramental services in the village
churches and halls of the landowners.

Yet the situation of the Church, distressful as it was, and
rendered more forlorn by the lack of any effective central
authority or focus of culture in the western Church as a whole,
must not be reckoned in terms of modern experience. The
Danes, though often destructive, were not Mongols; they were
akin to the peoples they invaded and willing to receive what
they had to give, and there was not in the world of that day any
rival religion or system of thought hostile to Christianity. Only
peace and recovery were needed, and the fact that this recovery,
at least in its early stages, came entirely from within the country
and was the work of kings such as Alfred, Athelstan, and
Edgar, and of bishops acting in close alliance with them, helps
to account for the characteristic features of the Old English
Church in the tenth and early eleventh centuries.

The Old English Church, then, was so much the product
of its age and country that unless these are closely regarded every
kind of inaccurate or anachronistic judgement is possible.
Perhaps it is well to begin by recalling some of its negative
characteristics. It had no doctrinal or institutional peculiarities.
Its bishops held and desired to hold the doctrine and obser^
vance of the Catholic Church as they had been handed down
by Augustine and Theodore and Wilfrid and Bede. The
Church itself had none of the peculiarities which racial habits
and long isolation had introduced into the Celtic Church. Nor
did the network of feudal dependencies exist which made of the
higher ecclesiastics ofFrance, and still more of Germany, a class
of territorial magnates preoccupied with their own affairs and
with their relations to Rome or to the Empire.

Yet this freedom from feudal ties did not make of the English
Church a purely religious association. It was in fact more
closely interwoven with the secular framework of the country
than the Church of any other land; but this intermingling took
its rise neither from theory nor from an act of power, but from
the circumstance that Englishmen of every degree had had to
achieve national liberty and to organize their social life in close

5526.2 B

384 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

co/operation, each contributing all he had. As a result, it was
almost impossible to say where the boundary between the
functions of Church and State lay. The bishops were appointed
by the king, usually with the advice and during a meeting of the
Witenageinot, of which the existing bishops and (in later days)
abbots were influential members. The king, for his part, owed
his position largely to the approval of the same body, and was
crowned with a ceremony that recalled both the God/given
monarchy of Israel and the hallowing of a bishop. The Witan,
composed of elements both lay and clerical, counselled or de^
cided all the affairs of the country, both temporal and spiritual,
even fulfilling many of the functions of the synod which, so
frequent in the days of Theodore, had now lapsed altogether.
On a lower level, the bishop in the hundred court judged cases
both lay and ecclesiastical. Bishops were often used for diplo'
matic missions, and had often (as had abbots) wide adminis'
trative powers as the lords of immunities or districts withdrawn
from the immediate control of the king and his deputies. When
monasteries came into being it was at a royal meeting, probably
a reinforced Witan, that the code of their observance was ap/
proved; the king appointed abbots and the monks and nuns
regarded themselves as bedesmen and bedeswomen of the royal
family.

Yet this interpenetration of Church and State, temporal and
spiritual, which is at first glance so similar to the Erastian
Church of later ages, reflected no positive desire to form a
national church, still less to withdraw in any way from the see
of Peter. Reverence and devotion to Rome had been charac^
teristic of the Church in England since the days of Augustine.
Pilgrims from England to the tombs of the Apostles were so
numerous that they had given their name to a district in the
City; the archbishops of Canterbury went to Rome for the
pallium when this became a customary discipline (the first
recorded visit was in 927), and since the days of Alfred, or
perhaps of OfFa, England alone of the countries of Europe had
sent an annual free-will personal trib ute of Peter/pence. It was an
axiom that agreement with Rome was the final touchstone of

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 385

any doctrine or principle of action. The whole state of things,
indeed, which was based on no code or explicit set of ideas, but
rested on a mutual understanding and sense of obligation, had
in it, we may perhaps think, something of that sense of the
practical and love of a working compromise that others have
noted as typical of the Anglo-Saxon genius. Nevertheless, it
was something essentially temporary, and could suit only an
age when neither men in England nor popes in Rome felt any
need to define precise rights or to make urgent demands.

If the relations between the secular and ecclesiastical author/
ity were ill defined, the internal economy of the Old English
Church was equally loose and transitional. The number of
bishops had always been small, little more than one-half of that
designed by Gregory the Great, and the invasions had reduced
their number still further and had dislocated their activities.
The East Anglian see of Elmham and the Mercian see of
Leicester had been engulfed, and all England north and east of
Wading Street had been without bishops save for the isolated
and poverty-stricken see of York and the quasi-Celtic bishop
ric of Lindisfarne. The nine old sees that remained had been
increased when peace returned by the revival of Elmham and
Lichfield, but the void between Humber and Thames had
never been filled, thus giving a vast territory to the diocese of
Lincoln when the see was transferred thither from Dorchester
after the Conquest. In the west, Anglo-Saxon colonization
had been followed up at a long interval by the creation of three
sees roughly corresponding to the shire divisions at Wells
(Somerset), Sherborne (Dorset), and Crediton (Devon); for
a short time a Cornish see existed at St. Germans. The lack
of any local administrative personnel as well as of any central
organization, together with the circumstance that the churches
from which the bishops took their tides were in no sense centres
of diocesan life, while the bishops met together constantly as
counsellors of the king all this considerably weakened the
link between the bishop and his diocese and the internal co
hesion of the diocese itself, and what may be called a general
blurring of outline was further increased by the long-standing

386 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

amalgamation of York and Worcester, by the shifting condi-
dons west of Wiltshire, and by the occasional holding of two
sees by a single bishop. An energetic bishop in a small diocese,
such as Wulfstan in the now independent Worcester and Giso
at Wells, could leave his mark, but evidence of such local and
personal government is scanty.

The lack of organization and the fusion of lay and clerical in
the higher spheres had their counterpart on a lower level. It is
often said, and with truth, that the rural parishes of England
were in great part delimited and village churches in existence
before the Conquest on the sites where their successors still
stand, but the modern term 'parish* has canonical and adminis-
trative implications unknown to pre-Conquest England. Save
for a few districts, such as Kent and Northumbria north of the
Wear, where the principal churches were minsters founded by
bishops or by groups of missionary priests, save also for a few
surviving semi-canonical establishments, the churches of Eng
land were proprietary churches (eigenkircberi) : that is to say, they
had been founded by landowners and other individuals or
groups of individuals who 'owned* them. Churches were in
truth extremely numerous in Anglo/Saxon England, though
the total population of the country was probably less than one-
and-a-half millions. They were equally numerous both in
country and town: Suffolk, for example, contained over 420,
and the town of Norwich, with a population of 6,500, had
20 churches and 43 chapels. Their owners came from all
the free classes: many of the richest belonged to the king, the
principal magnates, and bishops; a large number, from the
tenth century onwards, to the monasteries; of the remainder
many belonged to small landowners and (especially in towns
and in the Danelaw) to groups of two or more freemen. It
was not uncommon for six, eight, or even twelve men to
own a church, while afraction of a church might by inheritance
come to be shared by half a dozen heirs. The ownership of
a church conferred advantages both spiritual and material.
The owner had the right to appoint the priest, from whom
he very frequently demanded a substantial entrance fee; he

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 387

had the first claims upon his services and prayers, some of
which would be regulated on appointment; he also enjoyed the
relatively small tax which the priest paid for his land. The
church, therefore, as a potential source of material and spiritual
wealth, could be sold, bequeathed, or given away, and the
patronage at the disposal of those who owned several churches
was of considerable advantage to kings or ambitious magnates.
If the owner was a bishop he had episcopal rights over his
church even if it lay outside his diocese; if the owner was a
monastery its churches shared any immunity the abbey en^
joyed; and churches of these kinds usually formed the nucleus
of the fairly numerous enclaves or 'peculiars' belonging to the
bishop of another diocese, or exempt from any diocesan control.
Nevertheless, substantial as were the advantages of ownership,
the proprietors of churches in England before 1066 had not
engrossed the revenues so completely as had their neighbours
over the Channel. Tithes and oblations still went to the priest,
though it is possible that monasteries owning churches had be^
gun to appropriate some of their tithe.

It was a consequence of this system of private ownership that
the priest had few of the canonical rights or social duties of a
'parson* of Chaucer's time. He was in a sense only a servant in
things spiritual of the lord, and there are instances in Domesday
of services similar to those of sergeants being demanded of
priests. In most rural districts he was drawn from among the
people of the village; he was poorly educated and, though the
ancient discipline of celibacy had never been abandoned in
principle, and had been reasserted by the monastic bishops, a
domestic union recognized as marriage was common, if not
universal, though the bishops were always, save for occasional
scandalous individuals, celibate. Nevertheless, the lower clergy
of England were in some respects in better case than their
neighbours in Normandy and elsewhere before 1066. They
were generally drawn from the class of freemen and ranked as
ceorls; their endowment of land was twice that of the ordinary
villager, thus putting them near to the small landholder, and
they were not liable to the exacting and sometimes menial tasks

388 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

demanded of the Norman country clergy, who were often of
servile origin. In addition, they often enjoyed what may be
called sub-ownership of the church, which was heritable by a
clerical son, and it is noteworthy that the hereditary churches
were often both the most wealthy and the most worthily filled.
Moreover, in consequence both of private ownership and of
loose organization, the country priest was almost entirely un-
molested by the bishop. Synods and visitations were rare, if
not non-existent; the bishops (save for some notable except
tions) rarely perambulated their dioceses, and almost the only
regular contact was the annual visit to the cathedral for holy
oils, which no doubt was itselfsometim.es neglected. All this
made up a state of things which could only be regarded as
tolerable in an epoch and region where all were in tacit agree-
ment, and where the claims of mature institutions, of definite
codes, and of professionally educated men were non-existent.

This formless, unlearned, and largely rudimentary church
received a great accession of spiritual and intellectual strength
from the monasteries which were established in such numbers
in the second half of the tenth century. Besides giving the in
dividual scope for a more intense and ordered religious life, the
monasteries were from the start integrated into the life of the
nation. They gave education to some, at least, of the children
who afterwards passed to clerical or lay life; they wrote and
translated works for the secular clergy and the laity; they per
formed the liturgy at some of the more important cathedral
churches, and above all they gave a steady succession of their
ablest inmates to rule the church as bishops. Though exact
figures are unobtainable, it is known that every diocese in the
century before the Conquest was filled at least once by a monk,
and in some, such as Canterbury and Winchester, the suc
cession was all but unbroken.

If the new Danish invasions and the dynastic changes of the
early** eleventh century broke such of the harmony of aim
the concordtaordinum as remained from the days ofDunstan, the
Old English Church under the last king of English line began
to feel the stirring of the new forces of the great religious revival

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 389

that was awakening Italy and France. New types of bishop
appeared: a Norman monk or two, half a dozen royal clerks
from Flanders or Lorraine; the canonical movement began to
have its effect, both in Harold's foundation of Waltham and in
the re/establishment by archbishops of York of communal col'
legiate bodies at Ripon, Southwell, and Beverley. More sig/
nificant still, English bishops attended the synods and councils
which the reformed papacy was holding, and papal legates
visited England.

2. The Anglo-Norman Church
(a) Lanfranc's reforms

Nevertheless, the general picture of the English Church re/
mained unaltered, and it was that of a Landeskirche, the Church
of a region, penetrating and penetrated by the national and
secular life at every level, with little organization and no sense of
corporate action. How far it was positively debased or degenerate
has long been debated; the most probable judgement would
seem to be that, granted the framework of a particular age and
region, it was not intolerably corrupt and decadent, though far/
reaching institutional reform was certainly needed before it
couldtakeitsplaceinanyarticulatedanddevelopedecclesiastical
society. Had there been no political revolution it is probable
that new ideas and methods would have gradually filtered in
from the Gregorian reform. As it was, the English Church
was certainly reformed to some purpose, but not directly from
Rome.

The Norman Conquest marks the beginning of a new epoch
in English church life, as it does in every department of English
life save the cultivation of the land. It is indeed the only moment
between the coming of Augustine and the fall of Wolsey when
something like a revolution occurred. The effect of the Con/
quest was threefold: the transference of direction and control
from Englishmen to Normans; the reorganizing by William I
and Lanfianc of the whole fabric of the Church; and the in/
filtration of new ideas and movements from the Continent now

390 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

that the Channel was no longer a moat. The first is in a sense
accidental; the last was a long/term result which continued for
more than a century; the direct reorganization must be con'
sidered first.

The large tract of north/western France invaded and settled
by the Northmen in the early part of the tenth century had for
some time remained pagan, but towards the end of that century
it had developed a religious life of remarkable fecundity, radial
ing chiefly from the newly founded monasteries but affecting
all ranks, particularly that of the feudal baronage, in a virile
but in so many ways lawless and uncivilized society. Duke
William the Bastard had early appeared as a patron and pro-
tector of the monasteries, and as conqueror of England he set
the reform and wellbeing of the island Church in the forefront
of his programme, choosing for this purpose as archbishop of
Canterbury the celebrated Lombard lawyer and theologian
Lanfranc, then abbot of his new foundation at Caen. Both
William, who had grown to power in his remote self-contained
duchy, and Lanfranc, now a man of sixty years, who had
known only the Italy of the days before the reform, were in a
sense twenty or thirty years behind the swiftly moving times, in
which a rejuvenated papacy was rapidly assuming effective
leadership and exploiting all its latent powers of action and
supervision and coercion. William, like the emperors Otto the
Great and Henry II, considered it his task, and his alone,
to control and reform the Church within his dominions;
Lanfranc, for his part, with the compilers of the earlier, pre-
Gregorian canonical collections, saw in the regional metropolis
tan the natural centre of authority and activity for the English
Church; the unorganized Anglo-Saxon Church, in which
bishops and abbots depended willingly upon the king, offered
no kind of opposition either in theory or in practice. Both
William and Lanfranc looked to Rome for approval and help,
especially in the first years of change, and both were in close
relationship with Alexander II; it need not be said that both
regarded the pope as the supreme fount of doctrine and
authority. When, however, the papacy under Gregory VII

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 391

made increasing use of legates a latere and of legatine councils,
while at the same time the issue of lay control of elections and
benefices was being brought to a crisis, both king and primate
relaxed their contact with Rome and discouraged papal ad'
vances. They were aided in their policy by the existence of an
anti'pope, while Gregory, with his hands full and recognizing
the essential zeal of William and Lanfranc, made no attempt to
precipitate a quarrel. As a result of all these circumstances,
added to the existing insularity of the Church in England, the
Conqueror was able to preserve his conquest as an administra^
tive unit and enjoy, in close association with Lanfranc, com/
plete freedom in its reorganization.

Before Lanfranc had taken the reins, however, the king had
effected a change which, though it provoked very little con^
temporary comment, and had probably no motive but the inv
mediately practical, was in fact decisive in the history of the
medieval English Church and has had repercussions down to
the present day. He gathered up all the existing bishoprics and
abbeys into the tightly woven net of the newly established feud'
alisrn, and, by imposing on all the bishops and most of the
abbots the obligation of knight service and feudal incidents,
gave the Church a secular status and linked it firmly to the
Crown in an economic and legal dependence which was none
the less real for being in origin based on no high theory of state.
It would indeed have been well/nigh impossible for the loosely
knit and politically involved Old English Church to have
attained under any circumstances to the position of a Tree
Church' in a feudal world. The action of William I was none
the less a decisive moment which settled the character of the
relations of Church to Crown for centuries.

While the hedge between the Conqueror and the pope had
not yet grown, and before the implications of feudalism had
been felt, the king and Lanfranc, aided by papal support and
papal legates, ordered and regularized the hierarchy. Four sees
were moved, as the canons directed, from decaying villages to
towns which had a future; the bishops of Dorchester, Rams-'
bury, Elmham, and Selsey took the new titles of Lincoln,

392 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

Salisbury, Thetford (later Norwich), and Chichester; a little
later two others made a somewhat different move, which did
not extinguish the ancient cathedral but added Bath and
Coventry to the titles of Wells and Lichfield. When all per/
sonal irregularities had been adjusted the number of diocesan
bishops was fifteen, and the dioceses thus established remained
unchanged till 1540 save for the creation under Henry I of the
two small sees of Ely and Carlisle, the latter in territory never
effectively controlled by William I. With similar papal ap/
proval and questionable documentary support Lanfranc sue/
ceeded in winning, if the expression may be allowed, the first
round in the long contest between Canterbury and York, and
obtained from his opponent the canonical oath of obedience.
This was only part of a very ambitious programme, closely
linked with the designs of William I in the secular sphere,
which aimed at making the British Isles into a single ecclesi/
astical area, a kind of patriarchate of Canterbury. Wales was
easily and permanently included; York was encouraged to
claim metropolitan rights over southern Scotland, and English/
educated monks were consecrated in England for more than one
Irish see, while from one of them, the archbishop of Dublin,
Lanfranc had no difficulty in obtaining an oath of obedience.
This grandiose scheme of Lanfranc's died with him; besides
its intrinsic impracticability, it was outmoded by papal policy
and by the new canon law, which did not recognize metro/
politans with vast provinces; but while the primate lived his
energy and prestige made him the arbiter wherever Norman
arms or English influence made themselves felt.

Lanfranc's pontificate was distinguished by a series of impor/
tant national councils held (with some intervals) annually.
In these he made a number of important reforms, including
a decree in which he reaffirmed the traditional obligation of
celibacy upon all ordinands. Priests already married were not
to be disturbed, but future transgressors were to forfeit their
benefice or their married status. It was a compromise: but,
if effective, this legislation would have produced a celibate
clergy in little more than a generation. As it was, the result was

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 393

not universally apparent. Clerical marriage, at least in some
districts, continued to be regarded as respectable, or at least as
tolerable, but the application of canon law in the early twelfth
century gradually reduced both the numbers and the prestige of
priests who remained in a state of what was now officially rex
garded as concubinage.

The Conqueror's original policy in England was to take
over existing rights and institutions with as little change as
possible, and to secure the support of all in positions of im/
portance. The bishops and abbots therefore continued to at/
tend his court and council as they had attended the Witan, and
the feudal bond which made the vassal a councillor of his lord
ensured the continuance of this duty. The Great Council, in/
deed, tended to become an assembly of greater feudal magnates,
summons to which had its basis in the tenurial bond, and
though later kings succeeded in extending the summons to
ecclesiastics outside the feudal circle in order to broaden their
resources of taxation, the tenurial obligation was alone ad/
mitted by the courts of law, and became the legal criterion for a
summons to Parliament. In this respect, therefore, as in so much ,
elsd[ the action of the Conqueror was ultimately responsible for
the inclusion of the bishops and abbots of the original mon/
asteries in the parliamentary body, thus perpetuating the inter/
penetration of Church and State that had begun in the Old
English Church, and was to have its influence upon, and to
endure long after, the religious changes of the sixteenth century.

Lanfranc was a lawyer by training, and there is evidence that
as archbishop he devoted much time to the editing and dif/
fusion of the canons of the Church; but here again he was a
pre/Gregorian, emphasizing the powers of bishop and metro/
politan, but omitting the strongly papal canons of the pseudo-"
Isidore, and ignoring the recent papal pronouncements on the
unlawfulness of all lay contr.ol of parsons and benefices. In fact,
the Conqueror, like the Confessor, appointed bishops and
abbots, and on occasion removed the latter, but it is certain that
Lanfranc's advice was regularly taken, and it was Lanfranc
who deposed those guilty of canonical offences; no difference

394 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

of opinion ever arose between the two, and the quarrel of
papacy and empire had as yet no echo in England. One great
innovation, however, of permanent significance, was made by
the king, almost certainly at the demand of his primate, and
perhaps as an enforcement of a conciliar decree of 1076. In the
last century, at least, of the Old English Church the bishops,
sitting with lay magnates in the hundred court, had given
judgement on canonical as well as on secular causes. In 1080 or
thereabouts, by a general writ to his sheriffs, the king estabx
lished separate episcopal courts in each diocese with full
powers, and guaranteed the support of the secular arm in
bringing those accused to justice. The aim of this decision was
to leave the decision in spiritual cases to those holding spiritual
authority and acquainted with the canon law; it was not
directed towards the protection of clerical offenders as such; it
was an elementary and necessary unravelling of a tangled skein;
but it was to have weighty consequences.

Along with this major reform went a number of smaller ad'
ministrative changes, all tending to bring England into line
with continental practice, which was in most cases the ancient
traditional discipline of the Church. Foremost among these
was the establishment of a disciplined body of clergy at the
cathedral church of each diocese. Save at the existing monastic
cathedrals of Winchester, Worcester, and Canterbury there
was little that could be called organization of worship or
administration. Gradually the Norman bishops introduced
a system of prebends and officials such as already functioned
at Rouen, Bayeux, and elsewhere. The cathedral chapter so
formed, with duties of performing the liturgy and overseeing
the revenues attached to the cathedral, gradually acquired a
standard form with a rota of attendance under the 'quadri'
lateral' of officials dean, precentor, chancellor, and treasurer
and a norm of liturgical observance, taking its name from the
cathedral where Osmund, one of the Conqueror's bishops,
had been an influential reformer, was gradually adopted all
over England and became the Sarum rite. A body thus came
into being which soon found itself invested with the right of

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 395

electing the bishop and administering the see during a vacancy;
it gradually developed that traditional jealousy of episcopal in'
terference which gave birth to some of the most bitterly con^
tested litigation of the middle ages and ended in the paradoxical
situation which made of the cathedral close a territory exempt
from the bishop's jurisdiction and of the chapter a body un^
amenable to episcopal visitation, leaving the bishop without
control of the fabric of his cathedral and deprived of his palace
in the city as a place of permanent residence. As has been noted,
however, a very important group of cathedrals was already
staffed by monks. Lanfranc, though a monk himself, seems at
first to have regarded this as one more undesirable insular cus'
torn, unfitting for monks and hampering the bishop. He was,
nevertheless, a man of his age sufficiently to regard the monastic
order and its ideal as the panacea for all the ills of the time, and
not only accepted the existing state of things but integrated it
firmly at Canterbury and countenanced its extension elsewhere.
Before the end of the century Durham, Norwich, and Roch/
ester were flourishing cathedral monasteries (followed a little
later by Ely), while at Bath and Coventry, where bishops had
attempted to invade monastic territory, a monastic chapter
acquired similar rights.

(F) The cathedral and the parish

In addition to the cathedral officials, the administrative
machinery of the diocese gradually took shape. Whatever may
have been the case in earlier ages, it would seem that in 1066 an
archdeacon existed, if at all, only in the diocese of Canterbury.
With the introduction of ecclesiastical courts the office became
essential, and in a short time (before the end of the eleventh
century at latest) one or more, as circumstances demanded, are
found in every diocese. Rural deans followed in the first half of
the twelfth century, and towards its end the bishop's Official,
who held his courts. With the organization thus growing and
the path indicated by the archbishop, the diocesan synod was
introduced, probably in the early decades of the twelfth century.

But though the Conquest brought reform and regularity in

396 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

so many ways, it hardened rather than loosened the private
ownership of churches, which was more comprehensive in
Normandy than in pre-Conquest England, and had been
given an institutional and hal&legal status by being taken up
and knit into the feudal system. It was, indeed, the conception
of ownership and supreme dominion over churches that made
the imposition of feudal service and burdens upon the bishop/*
rics and abbeys an easy and natural step for the Conqueror.
The Normans, moreover, were in the habit of engrossing the
tithes and often also the oblations of their churches, and the
practice was adopted in England by lay and monastic owners
alike. Consequently, the value of the small church to its priest
declined, and with it his status in the community, which be'
came nearer to that of the villein, while on the other hand the
church became more valuable as a pecuniary asset to its new
owner, who gained from tithe more than he had lost by his
greater scrupulosity, stimulated by the reforming legislation,
over receiving money as an entrance fee from his priests. Feeling
against lay ownership of tithe, however, increased, and re
ceived ecclesiastical sanction, and it became common for lay
owners to farm out their churches to a clerk, or to bestow their
assets in tithe, with or without the church itself, upon religious
houses. These latter came to have more and more churches in
their possession, from which they drew more of their income
than before. In the early decades after the Conquest, some
churches were given to the monks and more to the regular
canons, in the hope of assuring a more regular and decorous per
formance of the services, but in practice the religious rarely un
dertook the cure of souls. Instead, they carried out their duties
by means either of a clerical 'farmer' or of a priest-pensioner;
they had thus in fact gone nine-tenths of the way towards im-
propriation. As is familiar to all, the lay control of churches
great and small was a principal object of attack for the Gre
gorian reformers, and the revived canon law, which was their
principal weapon, knew nothing of it. After their success in
the investiture contest they hoped also to abolish lay ownership
of advowson even in the lower churches. In this they failed, and

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 397

advowson remained in lay hands, though Alexander III re/
duced it to the bare right of presenting a candidate to the bishop
for approval. They failed also, in the case of those churches
that had clerical or monastic owners, to vindicate for the actual
incumbent the whole of the church's income, and the status quo
was legalized by the admission of impropriation as a canonical
process. Thus came into being the vicarage system; together
with lay patronage, it was a lineal if enfeebled descendant of the
proprietary church. Relatively uncommon as a canonical act,
though not as a practice, in the twelfth century, it became very
frequent in the thirteenth, when a number of energetic diocesan
bishops were at great pains to regulate the details by a formal in'
strument ensuring a fair income for the vicar and apportioning
responsibility for repairs, the chancel and its furnishings rex
maining the share of the impropriating body. With the growth
of legal machinery, impropriation could no longer be achieved
by the mere will of the owner; some catastrophe or unusual
burden was alleged by the monastery. In the sequel, and in the
long run, the process was no doubt injurious to religion, and
helped to depress the status of the lower clergy; on the other
hand, a fixed income and the certainty of a relatively suitable
priest might well be an improvement over less regular condv
tions, while when a church was bestowed upon a monastery
with the understanding that it would be impropriated, a regu^
larized vicarage might be preferable to an absentee or pluralist
rector. Seen by the historian, however, like so much else in
medieval practice, it will appear not so much as an abuse as a
survival, in a slightly changed form, of what had gone before.
Vicarages were a consequence on the one hand of the steadily
appreciating, and perhaps even originally excessive, endow
ments of the church on the one hand, and of the proprietary
church and the lay enjoyment of tithe on the other.

(c) The 'freedom of the Church'

When Lanfranc died in 1089, after less than twenty years in
a strange land that he had found in a turmoil, the Church in
England had passed through a revolution. This revolution,

398 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

in part a result of the Conquest and in part the effect of the
so/called Gregorian reform, would have occurred piecemeal
whoever might have been at Canterbury, but in fact it was con>
trolled and given a force and a direction by Lanfranc. With
the possible exception of Theodore of Tarsus he did more to
mould the shape of the Church in England than any churchx
man between Augustine and Cranmer. Yet from another point
of view the Church of the Conqueror was sui generis. Though
no conflict of Church and State had arisen in the realms of the
duke of Normandy and king of England, the Conqueror did
in fact delimit the action of the papacy with precision. Though
England was in full communion with Rome there was in prao"
tice a ring/fence around it. William I maintained, in the oft/'
cited words of Eadmer, that he decided (when the occasion
arose) who was legitimate pope; no papal letters were to be
received without his permission; no prelate was to leave the
country without the same permission; and no bishop was to
excommunicate a tenant/in^chief unless the king allowed it.
The change from the days of Edward the Confessor is at once
apparent. William I, while claiming to do no more than assert
the rights which he had inherited from the Old English
monarchy, was in fact meeting a changing world with new
methods. In the flux of years, as in all other changing things,
one cannot step twice into the same stream.

With the passing of William and his primate the time of
peace passed also. The harmonious and fruitful alliance be-"
tween king and archbishop, resting on no firm principles,
ceased. The unscrupulous and unstatesmanlike Rufus showed
the danger of dependence on the monarch at the very moment
that high Gregorian ideas were extending their sway over the
Church, and circumstances combined to introduce England
to the problem, inescapable in a self-conscious society, yet in
practice unsusceptible of final solution, of the relations between
Church and State, and for the first time, when Rufus died, the
undertaking was asked of and granted by the new king, that
the Church in England should be free.

For almost eighty years this problem was to lie near the suiy

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 399

face of English ecclesiastical life. A compromise in the king's
favour, though verbally safeguarding canonical demands,
under the moderate Henry I gave place to what was almost a
parody of Gregorian theory during the anarchy of Stephen
when his brother, Henry of Winchester, used his position as
papal legate and his assertion of canonical theory to cover every
kind of violence and intrigue. The attempt of Henry II to re^
adjust the balance led to endless frustration and ultimately to
tragedy, partly because in human affairs the past can never be
restored without doing violence to the present, partly because
the issue, soluble only by good sense and good will, was con^
fused beyond remedy by error and passion in different measure
on either side. The result was once more a compromise, this
time in favour of the Church, and the compromise of the late
twelfth century was never completely and permanently dis'
turbed till the reign of Henry VIII, though the course of events
gradually turned the balance more and more in favour of the
Icing. In the sphere of administrative practice the Church had
established two rights: the right office election by cathedral
chapters or monastic communities to bishoprics and feudal
abbeys; and the right of all clerks to trial before an ecclesiastical
court. But beyond this the whole character of English ecclesi'
astical organization and thought had been changed by the
gradual infiltration, which soon became saturation, of the
* Gregorian' conception of the pope as the effective ruler and
legislator and judge of the whole Church a conception which
developed insensibly into that of the pope as universal Ordi"
nary. This conception, whatever resistances and evasions oc/
curred in practice, was victorious in the twelfth century. It
carried with it the right of the pope to issue privileges, to com'
mand under sanction of excommunication and interdict, to
send his legates to act with plenary power, to summon to judge'
ment or to receive appeals at every stage of the case, as also to
give answers on all questions of discipline which became ipso
facto law applicable to similar cases throughout the Church.
England in the last decades of the twelfth century had its share
had, indeed, more than its share both in developing the

6526.2 C

400 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

new discipline of canon law and in soliciting new papal pro/
nouncements. Henceforward the canon law, as approved by
popes and interpreted by the great canonists, was the ruling
code in the EngKsh ecclesiastical courts.

3. The Religious Orders and Institutions

Hitherto the Church has been considered in its organization
and administration, with only passing references to the monks
and other religious orders who filled so large a space in the
medieval canvas. Here again the story is one of great growth
and steady elaboration. England, indeed, even before the days
of Bede, had filled a notable page in monastic history, and had
subsequently taken a large part in giving the monastic life to
Germany. But long before the reign of Alfred organized mo/
nastic life had ceased to exist within the bounds of what is now
England.The revival of the tenth century is always associated
with the names of Dunstan and his two colleagues in the habit
and in the episcopate, Ethelwold and Oswald; it is also asso/
ciated with the name of King Edgar, and the combination of
Church and State is once more characteristic of the land and
the age.

Before the death of the last survivor of the three bishops there
were more than thirty large houses of monks and seven nun/
neries in England, and by 1066 their numbers had risen to
forty and twelve. All these monasteries followed the Rule of
St. Benedict; they were entirely English in origin and spirit,
though they drew many of their customs and observances from
Cluniac and Lotharingian sources, They, and all the monas/
teries of the body known throughout the middle ages as the
'black* monks, and in more recent times as Benedictines, fol/
lowed the way of life expressed in the Rule of St. Benedict with
the traditional modifications that four centuries of European
history had introduced. They were all fairly large and fairly
well endowed communities of men devoted to a common life
of liturgical service, meditative reading, and such work as the
copying, adorning, and binding of service and other books, to/

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 401

gether with the lesser arts and crafts; their days were spent in
choir and cloister, with a common dormitory and refectory.
The monasteries also housed a small population of children of
all ages from infancy to adolescence, placed there for educa/
tion by their parents. Many of these, who had been solemnly
'offered to God*, passed into the ranks of the monks; children
of the cloister were, indeed, in the tenth and eleventh centuries
the main source of recruitment. All these black/monk houses
were self-contained, self-governing units owing allegiance to
no external prelate or community, save for the post/Conquest
Cluniacs. In the Old English Church which, as has been re/
marked, was rudimentary in its institutions, the monasteries of
necessity formed the only spiritual and intellectual focus for
ability and fervour, and they were a reservoir upon which all
drew heavily. They were the source of all the religious and
historical literature of the age, and of most of the religious art;
they gave the country a majority of its bishops for more than a
century. They had therefore a valuable and essential function in
society apart from their purely spiritual raison d'etre, and with
their extensive estates, their jurisdictional immunities, and their
treasures they came to form an important element in the eco/
nomic and administrative life of the country. Besides the
monasteries there were in pre/Conquest England a few secular
colleges in which a small number of clerks or canons, often
only seven in number, lived together, or at least lived as neigh/
bours, in the service of an important or royal church. Eminent
among these were the chapters of the three 'sub/cathedrals' of
the archdiocese of York, at Ripon, Beverley, and Southwell,
but there were others up and down the country, as at Chester
and Crediton, and at a group of royal free chapels in the north/
western midlands. Shortly before the Conquest a notable
foundation was made by Harold at Waltham. These were not
in origin religious houses, for they followed no Rule and took no
vow of poverty and obedience, and though a few, with Wai/
tham, converted themselves into houses of Austin canons, the
majority, with the innate conservatism of ecclesiastical insti/
tutions, continued throughout the middle ages under their

PLATE 74

MEDIEVAL ENGLAND. Vol. II

ERRATA

The publisher regrets that the blocks of the plans for

Figs. 98 and 99 on pages 402-3 have been inadvertently

transposed.

PLATE 75

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404 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

original form, leaving few monuments behind them but the
magnificent fabric of their churches.

Immediately after the Conquest there began a great monastic
invasion which continued almost without pause for a century
and a half In some respects it resembled the waves of invasion
that poured into the Roman Empire; successive orders, like
successive tribes and nations, crossed the frontiers as it were
impelled by those behind who had come from a greater dis/
tance. The first to arrive were the Norman monks from the Con/
queror's duchy, many of them men who combined the native
energy and power to command of their race with the zeal of
a new and fervent religious movement. Some of them were
picked men, chosen to govern the existing monasteries; others
came to colonize the new foundations such as Chester (Bee)
and Battle (Marmoutier), or to reinforce existing communities
and their daughter/houses, as at Canterbury, Rochester, and
Colchester, or to man the small priories and cells which sprang
up all over the great Norman fiefs, where lesser lords, unable to
found an abbey, hoped to set up a small community in their
castle or near their hall, or where conscience/stricken owners
of churches wished to substitute edifying celibate ministrants
for the boorish married priests whom they found. In all
this Lanfranc, the 'father of monks', gave wise direction and
counsel, and it would be impossible to exaggerate the regene/
rating power of the great Norman abbots and priors of the first
and second generation, but the English abbeys lost none of
their autonomy: the Norman influence was the work of in/
dividuals within the houses, not of authority without. The
Norman monks were soon followed by others. Foremost
among these were the Cluniacs, who had already covered all
the rest of western Christendom with their network of depen/
dencies. They were planted in strength at Lewes by William de
Warenne, and branched rapidly out into a family that de/
pended immediately or mediately upon the great Burgundian
mother/house. Though numerous, the Cluniac houses were
almost all small and uninfluential. They were never caught up
into the life of the country by feudal dependence on the king,

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 405

and only at Lewes, Thetford, Much Wenlock, and one or two
other priories could they have presented the spectacle of a
strictly ordered community following a rich liturgical life that
was Cluny's 'message' to the tenth and eleventh centuries.

Following the monks came the regular canons, the Austin or
'black* canons as they were called, having as their code the
short Rule of St. Augustine and importing the customs of some
great church in northern France or Flanders, and propagating
their observance all over England. Notable among them were
the houses deriving from the celebrated centre of St. Victor at
Paris. They too were introduced by the new landowners in
small groups to leaven the mass of the country clergy, though
in fact they did little or no apostolic work, but served their
churches with the liturgical offices of a semi^monastic life. Like
the black monks, the black canons were isolated, autonomous
communities.

All these, however, were but spies to the battalions that were
to come. Chief among the new orders were the Cistercians or
'white* monks, professedly an austere and militant reform, who
aimed at following the Rule of St. Benedict to the last dot (ad
apicem litterae). Their earliest plantations were at Waverley in
Surrey and Rievaulx in Yorkshire; thenceforward they spread
with phenomenal rapidity over England and, later, over Wales,
asking only waste land in remote and uncultivated districts.
The Cistercians restored agricultural work to honour for
monks, but the tasks of clearing forests, draining marshes, over'
seeing flocks and crops in wild and desolate places, were be'
yond the powers of unaided choir monks; the Cistercians, by
recruiting cottars and small freeholders as lay brethren, opened
the religious life to classes hitherto excluded from it, and created
a labour force of great economic potentiality that for a century
did much to further the contemporary extension of the limits
of cultivation and to add to the bulk of the profitable wool clip
of the land.

In the wake of the Cistercians came the Premonstratensian
or 'white* canons, who had originated as an apostolic preaching
institute but had felt the pull of St. Bernard and the Cister^

4<> MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

cians, and had become a semi/monastic order, with houses in
remote districts like the Cistercians, and with flocks like theirs
in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

Hitherto there had been little scope for women. The rela^
tively few nunneries were old, selective, and often aristocratic
Benedictine houses, almost all in Wessex or near London. A
few had been added after the Conquest, but the real need was
not met till a new order came into being that was in origin
and always remained (save for a single temporary exception)
English in personnel, though its codes and observances were all
drawn from the Continent. This was the order of Sempring'
ham, founded in a village of south Lincolnshire for women of
the district by Gilbert, a small landholder of Norman blood
turned priest. The group of devout women directed by himself
rapidly increased; Gilbert, who had a genius for organization as
well as for spiritual direction, added lay sisters to the nuns, who
followed the Rule of St. Benedict; later, lay brothers were added
on the Cistercian model and with the Cistercian Uses to ex/
ploit the nuns' property, and finally an institute of canons,
following the Rule of St. Augustine, was created to supply
spiritual direction and serve the nuns as chaplains. Last of all,
Gilbert unwillingly consented to join his own order as Master.
He had drawn up a long and complicated set of constitutions,
with elaborate provision against abuses in the 'double* estab'
lishments of nuns and canons, where the two families lived
each round its own cloister, separated by the church of the
nuns, in which a medial wall divided the halves of the choir
reserved to the nuns and canons. The Gilbertine nuns long re/
mained numerous and fervent, but they were in effect a Lin/
colnshire order, with a fringe of houses in south Yorkshire and
in the north/east midlands, and a rare outpost elsewhere.

A 'double' order of another type, the aristocratic family of
Fontevrault, had a few nunneries in England, the largest being
at Amesbury, but spread no farther. Vocations of women,
however, increased; during the twelfth century both the Cister/
cians and the Premonstratensians were compelled, against their
original wishes, to allow communities of women to follow their

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 407

customs and statutes and be guided by resident chaplains of
their order. At the same time numerous houses of Augustinian
canonesses were coining into being and continued to multiply
throughout the thirteenth century. All these nunneries, it may
be noted, were of a single basic type, following the traditional
liturgical life, though with a certain freedom, in the absence
of a strict 'enclosure', unknown to their counterparts in the
modern world. There was as yet nothing of the austere, peni'
tential way of life later associated with the Poor Clares and
Carmelites, and the middle ages in England knew nothing of
the innumerable 'active' orders devoted to teaching, nursing,
and charitable works of all kinds that have grown up in such
profusion since the fifteenth century.

Finally, two orders of men, following a severe and quasi'
eremitical way of life, appeared in England at this time. The one
was the order of Grandmont, a monastic institute with elabo/
rate constitutions of an almost fiercely logical severity; its houses
in England were few, remote, and small. The other was the
more celebrated and long-lived order of the Chartreuse, which
at this epoch of its history was made up of two separate conv
munities the monks, who lived in small houses surrounding
a large cloister, and the lay brothers, who lived in a group of
buildings half a mile or so away. The Carthusians were, and
have remained, a strictly enclosed hermit group. They were
long in multiplying from their two earliest houses in Somerset
and never became numerous, but from first to last they were
something of a spiritual elite.

Three other classes of religious family must be mentioned to
complete the picture of the late twelfth century. There were,
first of all, a few colleges of secular priests living together. This,
as has been seen, was an ancient form of organization akin to
the groups of clergy at a cathedral, and existed here and there
at the Conquest. Its aims were realized and extended by the
regular canons, xvho had a great vogue from the beginning of
the twelfth century, but a few of the collegiate groups survived.
Some of them were relatively well endowed, with no obliga^
tion save that of Masses and prayers for the founder and other

408 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

specified persons, and as the prebends were often in the gift
of the king or of a bishop they soon became desirable sinecures
for royal or episcopal clerical employees, who often performed
their statutory duties through paid substitutes or vicars. The
colleges of Hackington near Canterbury and of Lambeth,
planned by the Archbishops Baldwin and Hubert Walter,
which led to the cause celebre between the archbishop and the
monks of Canterbury, were to be of this type. Though exter/
nally similar, they were in character quite different from the
academic and residential colleges that later became so nu/
merous.

The second class was that of the military orders of the Temple
and of St. John of Jerusalem. These, a direct consequence of
the Crusades, were perhaps the most characteristic, or at least
the most singular, manifestations of the piety of an epoch. By
combining the monastic and the military ideals they united
in uneasy equilibrium two ways of life the most diverse, each of
which appealed powerfully to the society of its day, and, like
the Cistercian lay brothers at the other end of the social scale,
they threw open the religious life to a new class of society, that of
the knights and men/at/arms. The Templars were founded for
purely military service, the Hospitallers for the protection, re/
ception, and healing of pilgrims, but the resemblances between
the two were more important than the differences. Both had,
in the twelfth century, an effective part to play in the life of
Outremer, but both soon became possessed of innumerable
small properties throughout Europe, and established posts for
recruitment as well as for the exploitation of their estates and the
collection of their revenues. Save for the London Temple and
the priory of St. John at Clerkenwell the preceptories and com/
manderies scattered over England were small and religiously
insignificant.

The third class was that of the hospitals. History shows that
the organized care of the sick in buildings erected for that pur/
pose only develops in countries where large agglomerations of
population exist, as in the Byzantine empire and Persia. There
is scarcely a trace of such establishments in England before

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 409

the Conquest, save perhaps in a few urban monasteries. In
the twelfth century, however, the growth of towns, and the de-"
velopment of travel and commerce, together with the appear^
ance of new diseases such as leprosy, true and supposed, and
the existence of a large class of potential benefactors, led to
the multiplication of hospitals, many of which combined the
functions of hospice, clinic, and almshouse. Their organizax
tion was assisted and in some ways conditioned by the expert
ence gained in the east and by the needs of returned pilgrims
and crusaders. These hospitals gave scope for the promiscuous
services of many charitable persons who had found no scope in
the monasteries and nunneries of the age; they were staffed
almost invariably by a quasi^religious body, and founders
always made provision for the spiritual needs of the inmates;
many were served by a group of brethren or sisters or both, who
followed a regular life, often based upon the Rule of St. Augus'
tine, making it difficult for historians, as it was for contempox
raries, to distinguish between a religious house and a hospital.
Though medically primitive and entirely without influence
on the development of surgery or clinical practice, the hospitals
are impressive in the aggregate if only by their numbers, and
their services in the relief and consolation of the sick and aged
must not be left out of the reckoning when the religious balance
sheet of the age is being drawn up.

By the end of the twelfth century the spiritual forces released
by the revival of the previous age and by the birth of the new
monastic and canonical orders were approaching exhaustion.
The monks and canons had become possessed of a large frac^
tion of the land and potential wealth of the country; their
houses were ubiquitous, more than six hundred in number, and
their numbers formed a notable percentage of the free popular
tion. It might have seemed that the age of regression was ap'
preaching. The scene was transformed, however, by the arrival,
at the end of the first quarter of the new century, of the recently
founded Friars Preachers and Friars Minor or, as they later
came to be called, the Dominicans, the 'black' friars, and the
Franciscans, the *gr e y* fii^s. Their story has often been told

410 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

and need not be repeated; it is enough to note that their primary
work lay among classes of society hitherto neglected, the new and
rapidly increasing urban populations which in the thirteenth
century and later formed a section of the people far more homo/-
geneous in its interests and needs than were the later industrial
and mercantile cities with their aristocracy of wealth and their
residue of paupers, and with their sharp distinction between
employers and employed. In the towns the friars lived, and
from them they drew a majority of their recruits, though the call
to a new form of the religious life, as yet in its first enthusiasm,
and, a little later, the dazzling attractions of a brilliant academic
career, drew many from the higher ranks. Preachers and Minors
were followed by Carmelites and Austin Hermits and lesser
'splinter' groups such as the Friars of the Sack. They were soon
established in every sizeable town in England and Wales,
preaching, confessing, and visiting, but their work in the
Church was given an unpredictable impulse and direction by
their success and appeal at the newly organized universities,
where they captured on arrival some of the outstanding masters
and their most brilliant pupils, and then became themselves
preponderant in the schools. This again is a twice-told tale, but
even in the briefest survey the reader must be reminded that for
nearly two hundred years the theological life of England (and
therefore of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge) was
directed and dominated by the friars. The monks had ceased to
be the leaders of religious thought, and though many of the
bishops were university masters, it is significant that the only
two thirteentlvcentury prelates who have a place in the history
of European thought are the two mendicant archbishops, Kil/
wardby and Pecham.

4. The Thirteenth Century: administration and jurisdiction

The twelfth century was for the medieval world the luxuriant
season of May and June, in which ideas and institutions of all
kinds sprang suddenly from the new blade to the full ear, often
before the guardians of the field could thin the crop or weed the

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 411

soil. The thirteenth century by contrast was the time of selection
and harvest, and the turn of the century between the two ages
gained a real significance from its coincidence with the pontiff
cate of Innocent III and the celebration of the Fourth Lateran
Council, from the formal foundation of the universities, and
from the rise of the orders of friars. The papacy, indeed, as a
result of the vagaries of King John, had under Innocent III
acquired a great, if accidental and in some ways excessive,
interest in English affairs. This passed, and the reaction under
Edward I more than recovered the ground for the monarchy.
The real significance of the century lies not in the realm of ecclex
siastical politics but in that of organization, administration,
and consolidation. The bishops of England, from the days of
Stephen Langton to those of Robert Winchelsey, were for the
most part men trained in the schools; they were also, if consi
dered as a body, men of practical ability and upright character
which often approximated and sometimes attained to the high
level of sanctity. It was, therefore, a century of diocesan bishops
who, instructed in the canon law, and fortified by the ancient
powers of correction reaffirmed by the Council and by the
new precision of sacramental legislation, worked methodically
throughout England at the task of establishing an educated,
respectable, and economically independent priesthood and of
providing preachers and confessors for the increasing popular
tion, both in the country and in the new urban centres. The
new tasks and the trained minds demanded tools and agents,
and the thirteenth century saw the bishop's household and the
diocesan courts take final shape, while the appearance of official
registers and archives of every kind reflect and perpetuate the
new methods of administration. They deserve consideration in
somewhat greater detail.

Before the Conquest diocesan administrative machinery,
where it existed at all, was simple and primitive. The bishop
must always have had a few priests and other clerks who made
arrangements for him and assisted him in the ordinations, con^
secrations, and confirmations that he performed, and besides
the collection of charters that were his warrant for his see's

412 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

properties there must always have been at least an embryonic
chancery and archive which the trained king's clerks appointed
to bishoprics such as Leofric of Exeter and Giso of Wells
immediately before the Conquest may have considerably de/
veloped. Ordinarily, however, both household and chancery
must have been humble in scale. As for the judicial work, this
was accomplished, as has been seen, in the hundred court along
with secular business, and what record there was would have
been kept by the court's clerk. The Conquest brought the
elements of a secretariat and the institution of the episcopal
court, but for long all business was discharged by the bishop in
person or by the clerks of his household acting for him. Al/
though by the middle of the twelfth century the archive and
secretariat had developed, the clear view of an archbishop in
action that we derive from the letters and biographies of St.
Thomas show us an administration still largely personal and
unformalized. The clerks of Theobald and Thomas, who
counted in their number Vacarius, John of Salisbury, Herbert
of Bosham, and future bishops and curialists, were as distin/
guished and able as any that served a prelate in any age of the
Church, but their activities were largely individual and direct;
they were men of ability, young or mature, who had chosen or
had been chosen by the archbishop, and they looked forward
to a career of similar distinction. Though thefamilia of Canter/-
bury was in some ways exceptional since the monastic chapter
performed many of the duties of the see's regular officials, what
we know of Chichester and York at the same date shows the
same personal attachment of a group of clerks to the bishop.
The great change came in the decades on either side of the
Lateran Council: the development of canon law; wider
administrative duties; the appearance of a large class of pro/
fessional lawyers and secretaries; the disappearance of the in/
dependent literary man, half/scholar, half/churchman, of the
type of John of Salisbury and Peter of Blois all this brought
about a revolution comparable to the change from the hand/
written ledgers, letter/books, and personal accounting of the
family businesses of the early nineteenth century to the apparatus

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 413

of stenography, fik'cabinets, stencils, microfilms, and media'
nical calculators deployed by an army of trained accountants
and statisticians in the work of helping or hindering the
efficient conduct of a great combine or National Board,

Episcopal lists and registers survive from the middle decades
of the thirteenth century, isolated and summary at first, but
soon ubiquitous and full, covering all the activities of the
bishop in his diocese, and we soon begin to see the whole group
of officials in action. These varied considerably from diocese
to diocese and from age to age in number, function, and title,
but speaking generally the administration had finally crystal'
lized by the second half of the fourteenth century, when the
custom of appointing as bishops government officials who con'
tinued to occupy posts in the king's service became normal,
implying a quasi'permanent absence of the bishop from his
diocese and the consequent devolution of important duties on
subordinates. The group surrounding the bishop when in his
diocese, and acting as his council and executive, were still
known as his clerks, but they were in fact a group of officials
with defined spheres of action in which they were all but Ordi'
naries 1 themselves. Besides the bishop's Registrar, a notary pub'
lie, the most important of the group were the Official and the
Vicar General. The former was the bishop's permanent delegate
and alter tgo in judicial affairs; he had full powers in the con'
sistory court, and there was no appeal from him to the bishop,
though the latter reserved his right to judge in person, anywhere
in the diocese, special cases at will. The Vicar General was the
bishop's delegate with full powers in all jurisdictional and ad'
ministrative functions. Originally appointed for the occasion
when the bishop was leaving his diocese for a considerable
time, he was in later centuries, when bishops were often ab'
sentees, appointed in permanence to take over whenever the
bishop was away. He never, in the mid'medieval period,
formed an essential figure in every diocese as he does in modern

1 An Ordinary, in canonical terminology, is a prelate with full jurisdiction, i.e.
having the right to issue and enforce commands and to judge causes and allot
penalties.

4^4 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

canon law, acting alongside of the bishop as an alternative as
well as a substitute. Later, there was a tendency to combine the
offices of Vicar General and Official in a single holder who was
usually the Chancellor; this last, originally holding a secretarial
post, had developed in dignity without a corresponding in/
crease in duties of importance. There were, however, certain
actions, such as ordinations, consecrations, and blessings,
which required episcopal orders and which in consequence
neither of the bishop's customary delegates could perform. For
these suffragan bishops were employed, who were neither (as
with some Anglican dignitaries holding the title) charged with
the administration of a district nor (as in modern Roman
Catholic practice) dignified or office/holding members of the
diocesan clergy, but temporary assistants, usually Dominican,
Franciscan, or Carmelite friars, and later also Austin canons,
who had been furnished by the pope with titular or inaccess/
ible Irish sees. They were usually maintained by the gift of a
benefice in the diocese, and took no part in its conduct.

While the bishop's duties as Ordinary and consecrator were
thus performed or shared by a group of delegates, other tasks
were permanently executed by subordinates. The chief of these
was the archdeacon. This functionary was of ancient institu/
tion as the bishop's principal assistant in a primitive urban
diocese, and he existed before the Conquest at Canterbury, if
nowhere else. Originally a single official in a see/city, the arch/
deacon remained sole in small dioceses; in larger sees there
might be as many as five (York) or eight (Lincoln). The arch/
deacon's powers were merely visitatorial and penal; he was a
standing example of the medieval axiom that a court is a pecu/
niary asset (magnum emolumentumjustitia) . His two functions were
those of parochial visitation and the imposition of fines for
moral and ecclesiastical offences, and it soon became customary
for him to receive a fee instead of visiting and to collect fines
out of court by deputy, he thus became a target for satirists and
the most cordially disliked official of the diocese. Beneath the
archdeacon were the rural deans, who are first seen in being in
the early twelfth century. They were members of the clergy who

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 415

had within their restricted area of competence powers similar to
that of the archdeacon, whose office they in fact filled in certain
small territories such as the isolated deaneries in Essex and
Sussex depending upon Canterbury; they also executed small
tasks for the bishop by mandate.

While the bishop's direct control was thus lessened function/'
ally by the multiplication of officials it was restricted in area by
local and personal exemptions of every kind. Hitherto the dio/
cese has been spoken of as though it were (as it is with incon/
siderable exceptions in modern Anglican practice) a plain area
in which the bishop could exercise all his normal jurisdiction.
Actually, the medieval diocese was a honeycomb of local and
personal exemptions of every kind, some of them dating from
early Saxon times, others attaching to persons who were mem/
bers of this or that order or institution, and still others that had
resulted from the persevering obstruction of individuals or
corporations. The simplest to reckon with were those of the
religious orders. Originally, the monastery had been not only
within the diocese in the ancient Church but had had in the
bishop the guarantee of its well-being. The vast majority of the
houses of black monks and black canons were still in this posi'
tion, and in the days after the Lateran Council were visited
officially by the diocesan, who also confirmed their elections.
A certain number, however, never very large, had obtained
a privileged position. Some of these had royal immunities of
immemorial antiquity guaranteeing them against interference
from the bishop; such immunities were granted by kings to
their foundations before the Conquest Bury St. Edmunds
is an example, Westminster another of what were in fact
royal eigenkirchen, and the Conqueror followed the example at
Battle. Others had commended themselves to the Apostolic
see and obtained the right of depending upon it without the
intermediary power of a bishop (nullo mediante), and most of the
anciently immune abbeys hastened to obtain such privileges as
a 'hedge* or counter/insurance. In most of these cases an area,
great or small, outside the abbey was included in the immunity.
At Westminster it was only the church of St. Margaret; at

5526.2 D

416 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

Battle only the leuga or small district round the abbey; but at
Evesham and St. Albans it included a group of churches with
their parishes, and occasionally a group of the abbey's churches
(as at Glastonbury) was exempt while the abbey itself was not.
This class of exemption, besides being small, became fixed as
the result of a series of suits in the twelfth century; it was enx
tirely local and private in character. On the other hand, certain
orders were totally exempt. The Cistercians had begun by
asserting their dependence upon the diocesan, but as they
asserted with equal force the inviolability of all their statutes
and uses, and complete freedom of election, the bishop was in
fact debarred from all effective jurisdiction, and in time the
whole order became officially exempt. Cistercian example
carried the Premonstratensians along the same path, and the
mendicant orders were dependent directly upon the papacy
from the beginning. The bishop could, indeed, in the case of
the monks and canons prohibit the first entry into his diocese,
but with the friars this was in practice impossible, and though
for a time the bishops retained the power of prohibiting the
friars from hearing confessions and preaching in the diocese,
this also was curtailed in favour of the mendicants by the papal
privileges, and an equilibrium, fair to both parties but guaran/
teeing adequate facilities to the friars, was only established in
1300 by the celebrated bull Super cathedram of Boniface VIII,
which remained substantially effective till the Council of
Trent.

But the exemptions of the regulars, though extensive and
applying also to the precincts, had at least some elements of order
about them and were chiefly personal in their effects. Far more
galling to the bishop were the numerous enclaves in his diocese
that withdrew numerous parishes and their clergy and some
of his own churches and functionaries from his jurisdiction.
There were, in the first place, the churches of other diocesan
bishops. These, relics of the old system of proprietary churches
and ill/defined diocesan boundaries, were churches owned
by a bishop situated within the diocese of another. Known
in England by the name of 'peculiars' these had always de^

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 417

pended for all purposes upon their owner; thus Canterbury
had scattered peculiars in Sussex, Middlesex (Harrow), and
Essex; York had (among others) the enclave of Hexham in the
diocese of Durham. The detailed map of medieval England
shows innumerable islands of this kind, even more ubiquitous
than the isolated fragments of counties that appear on older
maps of England which themselves (as in the case of the islands
of Worcestershire in Warwickshire and Gloucestershire) were
often the scattered parishes of a bishopric. Next, there were the
areas which in the course of time had won partial or total ex^
emption such as the archdeaconry of Richmond in Yorkshire
or the royal free chapels of Staffordshire* Finally, there were the
capitular bodies, and in particular the chapters of the secular
cathedrals, who enjoyed exemption, which they communicated
to the churches owned by them in the diocese. Instances could
be multiplied of results verging on the ridiculous; one such was
at Chichester, where the city and close in which the bishop's
palace stood were the peculiar of the dean and chapter; he had
only to cross a street to find himself in a detached fragment of
the diocese of Canterbury; while the parishes west of his park
were in the jurisdiction of the canons of Bosham, a royal free
chapel immediately subject to the bishop of Exeter. 1

5. The Papal Government: taxes, provisors, and pluralism

For 150 years after the Conquest the concentration of Church
government in the hands of the papacy had steadily increased,
despite such moments of tension and controversy as the investi'
ture contest, the struggle of Alexander III with anti'popes and
Barbarossa, and the Becket upheaval. During that period the
popes with scarcely an exception had acted as leaders and sup'
porters of a great religious revival and had upheld the interests
of the Church at large. Freedom of election to bishoprics and
abbacies had been asserted and in large part won; protection

1 A. Hamilton Thompson, The English Clergy, p. 75.

418 MEDIEVAL^ENGLAND

had been given to the goods and privileges of churches and
monasteries; a coherent body of law had been established; a
higher justice had been made available; and the papacy had
beenaliving source of counsel and encouragement. In all this the
papacy, by and large, had acted as ahead working in solidarity
with its members and for their good, and despite very real
abuses and justified complaints the pope was, and was felt to be,
a support and a guide from whom individual churches received
more than they lost. The costs of litigation and protection, if
sometimes excessive, were at least borne by those concerned,
and such quarrels as arose were between the secular power and
the Church or between bishops and regulars, not between the
papacy and its subjects.

The climax of this development, so far as England was con/'
cerned, came in the pontificate of Innocent III (1199-1216),
from whom, in the reign of John, both the king and his
opponents solicited aid which the pope did his best to give, and
to whom John in desperation commended his realm as to a
feudal overlord. That episode was at once the climax and the
watershed in the history of the political relations of the papacy
with England. Thenceforward, at first slowly but afterwards
more rapidly, the solidarity of interest between the Curia and
various parts of the Church began to loosen. The papacy,
wielding unquestioned authority, advanced with apparent
success claims to complete and immediate jurisdiction over
every branch and member of the Church, but often gave the
impression of irresponsible and autocratic action. The Curia
began to exploit the rest of the Church for its own profit, and
the papal court, swollen out of all recognition since the days of
Gregory VII or even of Innocent III, began to be regarded and
to act as a bureaucracy whose interests might well conflict with
those of the Church as a whole. Two administrative develop'
ments which attained maturity in the thirteenth century were at
once causes and symptoms of this new state of things: papal
taxation, and papal interference with the customary processes of
appointment to prelacies and benefices.

Before the end of the twelfth century the papal Curia had

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 4*9

lived, sometimes with considerable difficulty, upon the re^
venues of the patrimonies of St. Peter together with the normal
charges and gifts taken from litigants and petitioners and the
relatively small annual census levied upon monasteries and
fiefs that had sought papal protection, and from the free-will
offerings of individuals and countries (such as the ancient
Peter's pence of England, imitated later in Scandinavia and
Poland), and occasional solicited aids from abbeys and pre/
lates. Towards the end of the twelfth century the papacy, in
imitation of secular rulers, levied a tax for the Crusade of one>
fortieth on clerical incomes. This was often repeated in the fol/
lowing century and finally replaced by a similar tax *fbr the
needs of the Church*. Taxes implied tax/collectors: at first
bishops and abbots were employed, but gradually the papal
camera developed a service of collectors, usually foreigners and
armed with full spiritual powers of coercion. A bureaucracy
tends always to proliferate and to be wasteful; taxes are always
considered excessive; and medieval men, unused to an elabo/
rate machinery of government, did not realize that an efficient
central government, either domestic or foreign, had to be sup'
ported by its beneficiaries; in England in particular all taxation
was resented as something essentially extortionate.

Besides the direct tax on clerical incomes a number of other
resources were tapped. Archbishops and exempt abbots, who
needed confirmation at Rome for their election, had for long
given substantial presents in the Curia; these were gradually
(c. 1275) made obligatory at a high fixed tariff which (as in all
similar cases) by no means excluded subsidiary gratuities; later
these irregular sums were turned by actuarial calculation into an
annual tax. A little later than this (1306), under Clement V an
old tax was given a new direction, owing partly to its con"
nexion with papal provisions. This was the annates, a part of
the first year's revenues of a benefice hitherto sometimes paid to
chapters or prelates and now diverted to the pope and made uni<"
versal. Similar to this was another tax, levied during vacancy on
all benefices falling vacant in the Curia (i.e. by the death of the
occupant while in or near the papal court); yet another was the

420 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

spotia, a death duty on the property of bishops and clerics dying
in the Curia. Although the total sums involved were small if
compared with the burden of taxation in the late Roman and
Byzantine empires or the modern world, their impact was con/
siderable, coinciding as it did with stringent royal demands,
and beyond the actual financial sacrifice there was a not un^
justified fear of what might come next from a papacy that
advanced with relentless logic from tax to tax, progressing
steadily in financial efficiency, and using for its purposes the
spiritual sanctions of excommunication and suspension. Feel/*
ings of grievance were aggravated in the fourteenth century
by the knowledge that wealth was passing out of England
into hands that were now regarded as bound in sympathy with
the national foe. To judge, however, by contemporary com^
ments, protest came in its most forcible form not so much
from the clergy as from the king and his officials, who felt
that others were profiting from the taxes. In the sequel, what
with subsidies voted for the king by the command of the pope
and a handsome 'rake/ofF on the papal taxes themselves,
the government derived more profit from papal taxation
than did the Curia, but the economic pressure here, as among
the centralized orders, was one of the principal psychological
forces that broke down the existing conception of a united
Latin Christendom.

Concurrently with the development of papal taxation, and
in part arising from the same causes, was the practice of papal
intervention in the bestowal of benefices known as papal pro/
vision. This affected in different ways two different classes: the
so-called major benefices or bishoprics; and the minor bene^
fices ranging from official dignities such as deaneries, provost'
ships, and treasurerships to rectories, canonries, prebends, and
small offices. As regards bishoprics, direct papal appointment
as a general practice was slow in coining. It had, indeed, been
maintained from ancient times by the Apostolic See that as
diocesan bishops were ecclesiastical brethren of the pope and
owed allegiance to none save the Prince of the Apostles, a pope
could on occasion appoint or depose a bishop. Nevertheless,

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 421

one of the principal aims of the Gregorian reform had been to
assert the free canonical election of a bishop by his chapter as
against the claims of secular rulers, and free election continued
to be the demand of the English bishops in the days of John,
and was supported by Innocent III. For this reason the applica^
tion to bishoprics of the centralizing tendencies of the thirteenth
century was late in coming, and was in a sense the result rather
than the cause of papal provision to smaller benefices.

There, the ancient discipline had never changed. All minor
benefices, from the days of the primitive Church, had been
directly controlled by the diocesan, just as appointments in
Rome fell to the pope as bishop of the city. When, therefore,
lay control was being excluded, the bishop took his canonical
place once more. The regime of the proprietary church, how
ever, had shaken the whole fabric of tradition, and from the
middle of the twelfth century onwards the papacy had begun
first to solicit, then to demand, and ultimately to enforce the
bestowal of a certain number of benefices throughout Europe
for its proteges. Whatever the ultimate cause or causes of this
change may have been inevitable or logical development, the
natural tendency of lawyers to extend claims and precedents, or
mere political advantage one of the most common uses to
which this procedure was put was to provide or augment the
income of the officials, high and low, of the Curia. Beginning
with comparatively rare requests, the demands of the popes of
the late twelfth century increased in frequency and urgency
till by the middle of the following century the freedom of
bishops in filling their churches and chapters was becoming
notably curtailed. Paradoxically enough, the rights of lay
patrons were consistently respected, though there was some
friction in England between the courts Christian and the royal
courts, both of which claimed the right of decision as to the
fact of lay patronage.

An important canonical step was taken by Clement IV in
1265: while asserting the pope's right over all benefices he
proclaimed his exclusive control over all those vacated by their
holders while in the precincts of the Curia. John XXII

422 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

extended this reservation to cover every kind of cession by
death, resignation, deprivation, or translation and every kind
of cleric and benefice, and widened the precincts of the Curia
to a two/days* journey in any direction. As those who ended
their days in or near the Curia were, almost by definition,
richly beneficed, this gave the pope considerable freedom.
Finally, the reservation was applied to all benefices vacated by
a bishop appointed by the pope. In addition to direct confer^
ments, expectations to benefices were also bestowed in great
numbers, and the situation was further complicated by the
fact that all that the papal grant conferred was the right to
claim a benefice, which might be disputed in the papal courts
or elsewhere.

During the first century of papal provisions, before the great
decretals of reservation had been issued, most of the appoint'
ments went to curial dignitaries and officials to foreigners,
that is, or at least to absentees and it was towards the end of
this epoch, when the Church in England was being simul"
taneously exploited in the interests of the Savoyard connexions
of Henry III, that the opposition was most vocal. The succes/
sive waves of reservation, while greatly increasing the number
of provisors, also widened the scope of the papal bounty, and
gave hopes to both careerists and poor clerks in every country,
while the legislation against pluralism, to be mentioned shortly,
spread the supply still more widely. As the royal and lay pa^
tronage was left untouched, the king and barons had no per"
sonal^ grievance and so did not press their opposition; indeed,
the king himself used the system widely by entering the market
as petitioner for his proteges and officials. To strike the balance
of loss and gain to religion is a task which, even impossible,
would lie far outside the scope of these pages, but it is worth
while noting that from the end of the fourteenth century on>
wards considerable use was made by Oxford and Cambridge
of the papal largesse of preferment to university clerks who
might well otherwise have been left unbeneficed.

As has been already noted, the fortunes of major benefices
followed a different rhythm. Free canonical election, fought

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 423

for under Henry I, Stephen, and Henry II, was demanded
and secured by Langton in Magna Carta, and for several
decades was respected by both pope and king. Disputes, how
ever, factious and genuine, abounded at election time, and if
taken to Rome the smallest irregularity in carrying out the
somewhat stringent canonical precautions gave the pope the
right to quash the election and appoint; there was also oppor/
tunity when a bishop was translated or died in the Curia or
(like Kilwardby) was recalled to be cardinal. Nevertheless,
the canonical forms of election, often influenced by the king,
were still honoured, though papal reservation of individual
cases continued. Finally, in 1363, Urban V reserved to him/
self all episcopal sees however vacated. Consequently, from
1349 until the Reformation, with the insignificant exception
of a few months in 1416-17, every appointment to a bishopric
in England and Wales was made by papal provision, though
this was normally preceded by a canonical election by the
chapter acting on what was in effect a royal mandate. Three
methods of appointment were thus, so to say, concurrent or
conflated, and while all agree that the canonical electors had
little to say in the choice, historians have not been in complete
agreement as to the relative shares of the two major parties in
the result. Undoubtedly political considerations kept the pope
from appointing any clerk outside a narrow class of those dis/
tinguished either by high birth or close connexion with the
king's circle of officials, and hence some kind of royal favour
was a paramount consideration; on the other hand, the need
for papal confirmation was probably one of the causes that
kept the English episcopate respectable, and there were several
cases where, of two eligible government officials, the king pro/
posed one and the pope provided the other. Moreover, the
papal right to translate, and to fill the see thus left vacant of his
own initiative, was not in dispute and was in fact untouched
by English legislation, though here again the frequent trans/
lations of the fifteenth century were often moves in the political
game. Speaking broadly, it may be said that episcopal ap/
pointment was achieved by a collusive process in which the

424 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

king usually got the man he asked for, and always one he could
accept, while the pope in return was left unhindered in his
other spheres of provision and dispensation. The system was
not ideal; but it is hard to see that, given the mental and
spiritual climate of Rome and England in the fifteenth century,
any other method would have greatly altered the character of
the episcopate. There were no distinguished apostolic priests,
no saints or theologians among the monks and friars who
could have dominated the religious scene and ousted the civil
servants.

The great and unpredictable advance in centralization, rex
fleeted in taxes and provision, had serious repercussions upon
English sentiment. The extent and precise character of anti^
papal feeling in the country will probably always remain a
debatable and debated question, though it would add greatly
to the clarity of discussions if care were taken to distinguish
between a recognition of the paramount spiritual authority of
the papacy which, despite the views of conciliarists, was never
questioned in practice, save by Wyclif and the Lollards, be'
fore the sixteenth century, and the acceptance of new and
questionable administrative principles and practices which,
though deriving from spiritual claims, were neither essential nor
irreversible consequences of them. Somewhat paradoxically,
it was while papal claims were still moderate, and while the
monarch, the long-lived Henry III, was most complaisant,
that the spirituality of the realm, symbolized by Grosseteste
and Matthew Paris, were most vocal in their protests. When,
in the age of the two first Edwards, the king and the magnates,
apprehensive of a loss of rights and wealth, revived in a more
modern form the theories of patronage and regalian rights
echoes of the proprietary regime, which had national and anti-
clerical undertones the bishops and regulars were less en-
thusiastic and the measures taken against the papal prerogative
did not have their official approval. The king, with the sup-
port of Parliament, secured legislation in 1307 and again in
1351 (Statute of Pro visors) against the implementing of re
scripts of provision, and in the Statute of Praemunire (1353,

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 425

1365, 1393) outlaw and confiscation were made possible
penalties for those who secured papal privileges against the
royal rights or appealed to papal courts in matters where the
royal courts claimed jurisdiction. This last statute, however,
though it was to have a redoubtable future, was severely
limited in its original aim and was rarely invoked in practice.
At the moment of its third enactment the opposition in some
quarters to papal government had become much more theo'
logical and drastic, but the promoters of these views were re/
garded as heretical and the enemies of government in Church
and State alike.

Another feature of medieval church life, not wholly un/
connected with the proprietary church on the one hand and
with papal centralization on the other, was pluralism, or the
simultaneous occupation of more than one lucrative benefice
or dignity. Never wholly unknown in a well/endowed church
in any age, the evidence of Domesday and the familiar case
of Stigand show that it was present in a mild degree before
the Conquest, but the relatively modest endowments of the
Church at that date, and the almost total absence of any lucra/
tive office or prebend save that of a cure of souls, prevented
it from becoming a common abuse. The rich endowments
following upon the redistribution of land at the Conquest, the
enduring piety of the age, and the great increase in the wealth
of the country, together with a host of other causes the
growth of a large clerical staff at court and in the law courts
and bishops* households, the new learning and its expenses,
the multiplication of clerks with a consequent plethora of
potential vicars and locum tenentes all this led to a rapid in/
crease in pluralism and an ever/sharper division between the
clerical proletariat and the highly born or highly gifted careerist.
As early as the middle of the twelfth century Thomas Becket,
while archdeacon of Canterbury, amassed a rich and miscel/
laneous bundle of benefices and posts. It had been an axiom
of ancient discipline that a priest was the priest of a single flock
under the bishop, and the Lateran Council of 1179, followed
by its successor of 1215, reiterated the familiar principle that

426 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

only one benefice with cure of souls was allowable, though the
fathers of 1215 realistically added that some form of dispensa/
tion must be made available for high/born, clerics and men of
letters. With or without such dispensations, the distinguished
clerks of the thirteenth century made their age the golden age
of pluralism, and John Mansel, the servant of Henry III, with
four important dignities, eight or nine rectories, and half a
dozen prebends, and the familiar Bogo de Clare, with twenty
four parish churches and a dozen benefices besides, were only
primi inter pares.

Meanwhile the papacy was making determined and on the
whole effective attempts to remedy with its right hand the evil
which it was doing something to foster with its left. The two
energetic legates Otto and Ottobuon, whose reforming decrees
in 1237 and 1268 remained classic for almost three centuries,
made stringent regulations against holding more than one
benefice which Archbishop Pecham in 1281 did his best to
implement, and Boniface VIII made a dispensation necessary
for holding even a sinecure along with a cure of souls. It was
still possible, however, to obtain a 'blanket' dispensation
covering all types of benefice up to a specified total value. It
was left to John XXII in 1 3 1 7 to promulgate an epoch/making
decree with his bull Execralilis, which laid it down that not
even by dispensation could a clerk hold more than one bene^
fice with a cure of souls and one without, all others save
these two being resigned. Urban V did no more than env
phasize this when he ordered returns to be made of each
diocese so that pluralists might be deprived of all save the
canonical two benefices, but it is to this action that we owe
our knowledge of the English pluralists of the day, including
the egregious William of Wykeham. He certainly had a long
list, but one far less scandalous than Bogo's, for the super/
fluous benefices were all without cure of souls. With Clement's
decree the worst was over in England. Pluralists were not un/
known, but they were, so to say, an economic rather than a
spiritual scandal, and were not a major cause of weakness in
the early Tudor Church.

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 427

6. The Fourteenth Century: parishes, parliament,
and convocation

We have already glanced at the origins of the vicarage
system, which in its beginnings and for some two centuries
was largely an adjustment of monastic demands. Though
responsible for a majority of appropriations, however, the re/
ligious houses were not the only interested parties. Bishops
appropriated their own proprietary churches to the episcopal
mensa or to a secular chapter, and from the fourteenth century
onwards lay owners of advowsons, desirous of founding col/
leges or chantries, made over their rights to their foundation
on the understanding that these would subsequently petition
for the impropriation that was unlawful for laymen. Though
bishops often delayed or obstructed, there was never any
movement towards a complete non possumus, partly because
the conception of a church as a pecuniary asset died hard,
partly because the petitioners could usually, at somewhat
greater expense, secure a papal privilege. After 1366, indeed,
when Urban V ostensibly laid a moratorium on impropria/
tion throughout the Church, a papal permission was neces/
sary in every case. This did not of itself act as a brake, but the
rate of appropriations fell in the fourteenth century and re/
mained low for the rest of the middle ages, partly, no doubt,
because the monasteries had reached an equilibrium where
further impropriations, by lessening the patronage in the hands
of the house, would have been on the balance an economic
disadvantage. Occasionally, however, we find an abbey in the
fifteenth century obtaining a privilege to farm out a number of
churches, even without the consent of the bishop. But by that
time a very high proportion of the parish churches of England
one in four in some dioceses, one in five or six in others
had been appropriated.

The system as a whole has been severely judged by modern
historians, as it had been long ago by medieval moralists and
reformers. In the abstract it has little to commend it, and in the
long run it probably had considerable influence in lowering

4^8 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

the economic condition of the clergy, and consequently the
quality of their spiritual services. On the other hand, it is not
a question that admits of a single, clear/cut answer. It could
scarcely have arisen but for the fact that the Church, owing to
indiscriminate gifts, to the appreciation of property, to the rise
of population, and to the wider exploitation of the land, had
become very wealthy. The Church, indeed, from c. 1160 on/-
wards, was too wealthy, while the relation of tithe to the needs
of the rural clergy was quite arbitrary. The rich benefices,
which ex bypotbesi were the natural objects of impropriation,
had been the first, before impropriation, to fall into the hands
of pluralists, absentee rectors, and (later) of provisors. To sub'
stitute one abuse for another, however, is not necessarily an
advantage, and appropriation no doubt played its part in
widening still further the gap between the small class of bene/
ficed clerks and the vast clerical proletariat.

The 'church* that has been the subject of the preceding
paragraphs is the church of a recognized group of persons and
of a delimited district a 'parish church'. It has been already
remarked that the parish churches of medieval England were
almost all in existence before uoo; this was stated in negative
form towards the end of his life by the scholar of our genera/
tion most competent to give such a judgement: 1 'It would be
difficult', he wrote, *to point with any certainty to a decree
which created a new parish.' Granted that before 1250 a
bishop's act of this kind might well have disappeared, the
judgement is striking when we remember that between the
Conquest and the Black Death the population of England
more than doubled itself, and that the area under exploitation
increased to a striking, if incalculable, extent. Besides the in/
nate conservatism, however, which preserved so many pre/
Conquest boundaries through the centuries, the economic
difficulties in the way of creating a new parish would have
been great, and the collision with the vested rights of patron
and incumbent considerable. Overhead reforms of this kind
were not made easily, save by a ruthless act of power, till the

1 A. Hamilton Thompson.

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 429

nineteenth century. Nevertheless, the need was imperative for
more churches, as cottages grew to hamlets, and hamlets to
villages five or ten miles from their parish church up a York/
shire dale or in the Surrey heathland, or sundered by a river
unfordable after heavy rain. It was met chiefly by two processes,
working towards the same result in different ways: the one
was the enlargement of the lord's chapel in an upland manor,
which never became a parish church but developed into a
quasi'parish church with a rector admitting dependence upon
the mother church; the other was the construction of a parish
chapel (the modern chapel/of/ease) with a resident curate ap/
pointed by the rector or vicar and directly dependent upon the
parish church. Such chapels might originally have had no
right of burial (for the burial fee was a noteworthy part of the
incumbent's income) and might acknowledge an obligation
to visit the parish church on certain annual occasions when
oblations were customary. These chapels were as frequently
established in growing cities as in remote moorlands; it has
been noted that one of the claimants to be 'the most noble
parish church in England*, St. Mary Redcliffe at Bristol, was
in fact during the medieval centuries a 'chapel' to Bedminster.
But if the number of benefices with a rector or canonically
established vicar was, if not small, at least finite, the number of
priests, even excluding the regulars, was legion. The rector or
vicar of a large parish had under him the vicars or 'rectors' of
chapelries, as well as at least one 'parish priest*, who took
something of the place of the modern curate, and probably a
deacon to boot. In addition there would be a hospital or two
and a chantry and possibly a nunnery, all of which would
need priests; it will be remembered how the early editors of
Chaucer strove hard to eliminate the 'prestes thre' that the
prioress took on pilgrimage with her. In a town or city of fair
size, with colleges, guilds, and almshouses added, the clerical
numbers would be multiplied out of all proportion (to our eyes)
to the population. Some of these, from the vicar downwards,
would be substituting for absentees; few could expect to rise
far in the economic scale. How did these men come to be or'

430 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

dained? What training, intellectual and spiritual, did they have?
These are questions which the modern reader inevitably asks,
but they touch one of the most obscure points of medieval life,
and a satisfactory answer has yet to be given. It has at one and
the same time to explain the numerous rectors who could not
repeat the Pater in Latin and the author of Piers Plowman who,
though probably only a singing/clerk, had a knowledge of
spirituality and of moral problems that would have left many
a bishop as astonished as it leaves the reader of today. That the
system could produce parish clergy of the type of Chaucer's
parson, as well as ruffians, is perhaps not remarkable, for
men's capabilities of feeling and of action, enlarged by Chris'
tian faith, are not bound by the limitations of educational or
administrative systems.

We have seen that the bishops and abbots, who had taken a
principal part in the deliberations of the Witan, took an equally
important place in the Great Council of the Conq ueror, which
almost immediately became a feudal gathering of important
vassals under their king and lord. This Council remained a
function of government for two centuries, changing somewhat
in composition; attendance, at least for the abbots, became a
burden rather than a privilege, but the obligation of answering
the royal summons remained. In the political disturbances of
the mid/thirteenth century, when the Council was changing
by slow degrees to Parliament, all parties threw their net wide
in order to obtain the greatest possible measure of consent to
their proceedings, and many abbots and priors, not holding in
chief and in many cases holding in free alms, were summoned,
and attended. Edward I used this broad/based Parliament
for taxation, and swept in a still larger number of ecclesiastics.
While the bishops, who necessarily took an important place in
public life, and now began to take on themselves a heavy burden
of administration, accepted attendance as part of their profes/
sjon, for most of the religious it was an unprofitable waste of
time and money, and they gradually succeeded in ignoring or
escaping the call save a nucleus of about twenty, almost all
abbots of pre'Conq uest houses ; and during the reign of Edward

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 43*

III the principle was established in the courts that ancient and
unbroken summons, and that alone, implied the right and
duty of attending Parliament. Henceforward this group of
regulars, together with bishops almost equal in number and far
more important in influence, formed a majority, and at times
a considerable majority, in the House of Lords.

Meanwhile, another assembly, known as Convocation,
composed of clergy alone and meeting in two provincial gather^
ings, had become formalized. The provincial council was one
of the organs of ancient church discipline revived and en>
couraged by the Gregorian reformers, and their celebration was
again enjoined by the Fourth Lateran Council They were
held at irregular intervals under archbishops and papal legates
during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. When Edward I
began to summon his great gatherings for fiscal purposes, he
ordered the bishops to summon similar gatherings of lesser pre^
lates, together with representatives of chapters and the lower
clergy. These met simultaneously with Parliament, and an
endeavour was made by the king to secure the assent of all to'
gether to taxation. The clergy resisted the demand, as being
against the privileges of their order and papal command, but
they agreed to deliberate in their own assembly. The practice
therefore grew up of summoning a provincial council or con-"
vocation (the terms were long interchangeable) to meet either
on the same day as, or shortly after, the meeting of Parliament.
Ordinarily the two convocations did little but vote, after dis/
cussion and appropriate protest, taxation for the king, but they
retained the powers, which they used chiefly in meetings un/
connected with Parliament, of legislation for spiritual persons
and affairs. As the courts throughout the middle ages recognized
canon law as the code of the Courts Christian and the spirv
tuality, convocation and Parliament functioned side by side
without difficulty, save in the border territory which both com/
mon lawyers and canonists claimed as their own.

It has often been noted that this successful insistence of the
clergy in retaining the right to tax themselves was a chief factor
in preventing the growth of a third house of Parliament corre/

6526-2

43^ MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

spending to the clerical estate in France. An additional factor,
sometimes overlooked, may be found in the Old English inter'
penetration of Church and State in the persons of the magnates
of each, which was continued in the Great Council. This
created a solidarity among the lords spiritual and temporal
which was not disturbed by the additional ecclesiastics tenv
porarily added by the two first Edwards; these, unlike the
burgesses and knights of the shire, had no representative import
tance. It would have required a planned reorganization, wholly
out of harmony with the methods of the monarchy or the spirit
of the times, to disengage the essential elements from Parliax
ment and convocation and unite them in a single assembly
of their own. Convocation therefore remained an essential if
lethargic witness and guarantee of the independence of the
Church, and its abdication of sovereignty was rightly seen by
both More and Cromwell as the end of a chapter.

In the earlier decades of the fourteenth century the number
of religious houses in England and Wales, and of religious men
and women within them, reached a total which was never smv
passed. The losses in numbers from the Black Death were
slowly repaired, but only in part, and although there were a few
new foundations notably a handful of Charterhouses and
the Bridgettine Syon Abbey these were more than offset by
the disappearance of a few houses, and the suppression of many
of the alien priories. At almost the same time, in the later de-"
cades of the same century, the administrative organization and
the parish and guild life of the medieval Church attained its
fullest expansion. The Great Pestilence of 1348-9 has often in
the past been regarded as a catastrophe to religion, but in fact
the feature that was most characteristic and, as the event
proved, most pregnant with consequence in the last medieval
centuries a hierarchy recruited almost exclusively from gov>
ernment circles and largely absentee had nothing to do with
the plague, while the most significant of the new appearances
the birth of Lollardy and the flowering of college foundations
were symptoms of energy rather than of decay. It was an
accident, if a striking one, that the last medieval archbishop of

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 433

Canterbury to rise to that eminence from a combination of per^
sonal holiness of life with theological eminence the profound
Thomas Bradwardine, who sowed much seed that was long in
coming to harvest should have died of the pestilence a few
weeks after his consecration. The mid'fburteenth century is a
dividing line, not by reason of the plague but because all over
western Europe currents of thought were beginning to flow
that would stream far beyond the dates that have been chosen
to mark the end of the middle ages. Yet it is also true that in
England, at least, and in the English Church, time seemed to
stand still in the fifteenth century in some such way as, in late
August or early September, the course of nature seems to
slacken and windless days pass without apparent change over
the rich countryside till the inevitable storms of autumn come.
Such a comparison is no more than a fancy, but it is at the
beginning of the epoch of formalized government, unspiritual
but not visibly decaying, undisturbed (after Lollardy had been
driven underground) by opposition from without or reform
from within, that we may end this brief survey.

7. The Spiritual Achievement

Much of this short survey has been concerned with the insti'
national framework of religion. What, we may ask, was the
spiritual life for which alone all this outward show existed, or
should have existed, and which alone gave to it any religious
value and real significance? The historian cannot be God's spy;
the Spirit bloweth where He listeth, we know not why nor
whence. Nevertheless we can say that certain epochs have been
notable for the external manifestation of spiritual power, and
others for its absence. The period of awakening and reform
from 1000 to 1250 was undoubtedly one of remarkable spiritual
renewal and achievement; thenceforward, for more than two
centuries, the August sunshine waned to December.

Speaking very loosely, we may call the century and a half
from 1070 to 1216 the monastic period of English spirituality;
the period, that is, when the monastic ideals and virtues not

434 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

only drew multitudes to the cloister but were also the exemplar
and inspiration of all others who aspired to a life of holiness
among the clergy and layfolk. During this period, and espe^
daily perhaps among the ranks of the new Anglo/Norman
ruling classes, England could show many examples of sanctity,
even if the list is strictly drawn to include only those sainted
by papal or popular judgement. Among the men of English
blood we have Edward the Confessor, Wulfstan the monk/
bishop of Worcester, Godric the hermit of Finchale, Ailred,
abbot of Rievaulx, and Waltheof, abbot of Melrose. Of native
Anglo-Normans there are Gilbert of Sempringham, Thomas
of Canterbury, and Robert of Newminster, and among those
of foreign birth who lived and worked in England there are
Anselm of Canterbury, Osmund of Salisbury, Gundulf of
Rochester, William, first abbot of Rievaulx, and Hugh of
Lincoln. To these might easily be added a dozen of acknow
ledged holiness of life such as Lanzo, prior of Lewes, and
Robert of Bethune, bishop of Hereford. Taken as a group, it is
a notable list for a country of perhaps a million and a half in
habitants. One comment may be made: no woman saint is
among the number, though St. Margaret of Scotland might
fairly be included. Neither in this age nor in any other of the
later middle ages did England give birth to a Hildegarde, a
Clare, or a Catherine.

The thirteenth century was the century of friars and bishops
the former preaching a way of simplicity and poverty, more
individual and in a sense more evangelical than what had gone
before; the latter presenting the Christian life and virtues as
they had been analysed and defined in the schools. Among the
early friars there were many examples of sanctity, though from
the nature of things only a domestic fame was won. Among the
bishops there were several of unusual holiness of life, and it is
noteworthy that the only Englishmen of the period to become
canonized saints were diocesan bishops, none of whom was a
monk or friar. Edmund of Canterbury, Richard of Chichester,
and Thomas of Hereford attained the altars of the universal
Church; the cause of the great Robert of Lincoln was re'

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 435

peatedly taken to Rome, and that of his successor half a century
later, John Dalderby, went there too; these failed, but popular
veneration made of their tombs a place of pilgrimage as it did
also of the tombs of William of Wells, Roger of London, and
Walter of Worcester. The shift of popular sentiment was not
misplaced nor accidental, for it was in this century that a race
of great bishops laid the foundations of the parish life of Eng^
land that was to be a notable religious and social force in the
following age.

The fourteenth century saw neither monk nor friar nor
bishop canonized. The one canonized saint was, significantly
enough, the obscure prior of a house of the Austin canons at
Bridlington, and his rival in popular devotion was Richard
Rolle, the hermit of Hampole. Each in his way was connected
with what is the most remarkable external manifestation of
English religion at this time, the growth of an attraction to the
contemplative life and to a mystical approach to the problems
of theology and conduct. This phase of sentiment is seen in the
spread of the Charterhouses when other orders had ceased to
multiply, and in the deeply introspective outlook of the poets of
the age, such as William Langland and the author of The
Pearl, and above all in the group of writers, of whom Rolle was
one and the Austin canon Walter Hilton another, known as
the English mystics. In the fourteenth century the monastic
spirituality, the theology of the schools, the preaching of the
friars, and the reforming labours of the bishops bore fruit in the
lives of a multitude of men and women up and down England.
Both Hilton and Rolle wrote for layfolk, who were served also
by a number of new collections of prayers and devotions. Nor
must we forget that new earnestness of thought of which
Lollardy is an indication, the first recognizable appearance of
that urgent, untutored, racy, fiercely independent, half/sour
religious zeal that was to become, under many changing
names, such a powerful and characteristic force in English
history. But if we set aside the mystics and the zealots, we can
find no clearer evidence of the penetration of every aspect of re^
ligion into the consciousness of the people of the time than in

43<5 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

the works of the two great poets of the age. Chaucer, for all his
satire and coarseness, is at every point the unquestioning be'
liever, at home with the devotion of his time and admiring
simple piety wherever he sees it. Langland, with a far deeper
and more melancholy vision, ponders the mysteries of provi/
dence and grace, of the active and contemplative lives, that had
exercised Bradwardine and Wyclif and the writer of The Cloud
of Unknowing, but sees in charity, divine and human, the
essence of all religion and the answer to all problems. He and
Chaucer are very different in mind and character, yet to both
the traditional faith is the foundation of their world, which is
the world neither of the Cistercian cloister nor of the conx
venticle, but of the medieval church, a net holding all manner
of fishes.

WORKS FOR REFERENCE

There is no recent or authoritative history of the Church in England, and for
many topics and personalities the relevant sections in Stubbs's Constitutional History
are still of value. Chapters in such volumes as have appeared of the Oxford History
of England summarize the findings of recent scholarship and briefer (but still valu/
able)accounts are given in the 'Pelican* books dealing with medieval|English history.
For the early period (c. 500-1189) vols. i and ii of English Historical Documents,
ed. D. Whitelock and D. C. Douglas (London, 1952, 1955) are of importance.
The following books and articles may be mentioned as useful on particular as^
pects of Church history:

The Old English Church

BOEHMER, H. 'Das Eigenkirchenwesen in England", in Festgabefur F. Lieber*
mann (Halle, 1921).

DARLINGTON, R. R. 'Ecclesiastical Reform in the Late Old English Period',
in Eng. Hist. Review, li (1936).

The Conquest and After
BOEHMER, H. Kirche und Staat in England und in der Normandk (Leipzig, 1899).

BROOKE, C. N. L. 'Clerical Marriage in England, 1050-1200', in Cambridge
Hist. JnL xii, p. i.

BROOKE, Z. N. The English Church and the Papacy (Cambridge, 193 1).

RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ORGANIZATION 437

The Thirteenth Century

DOUIE, D. L. Archbishop Pecbam (Oxford, 1952).
GIBBS, M., and LANG, J. Bishops and Reform 1215-1272 (Oxford, 1934).
MOORMAN, J. R. H. Church Life in England in the Thirteenth Century (Cambridge,

1945).
POWICKE, F. M. Stephen Langton (Oxford, 1927).

The Fourteenth Century
PANTIN, W. A. The English Church in the Fourteenth Century (Cambridge,

1955).

PERROY, E. L'Angleterre et le Grand Schisme d' 'Occident (Paris, 1933).
WooivLEGH, K. L. Church Life in England under Edward III (Cambridge,

1934).
Papal Provision and Taxation

BARRACLOUGH, G. Papal Provisions (Oxford, 1935)-

DEELEY, A. 'Papal Provision and Royal Rights of Patronage*, in Eng. Hist.
Review, xliii (1928).

LUNT, W. E. Papal Revenues in the Middle Ages (New York, 1924); Financial
Relations of the Papacy with England to 1327 (Cambridge, Mass., 1939).

THOMPSON, A. HAMILTON. 'Pluralism in the Medieval Church', in Associated
Architectural Societies' Reports and Papers, xxxiii, pp. 35~73-

WAUGH, W. T. 'The Great Statute of Praemunire*, in Eng. Hist. Rev. xxxvii
(1922).

The Religious Orders

COLVIN, H. M. The White Canons in England (Oxford, 1951).

DICKINSON, J. C. The Origins of the Austin Canons (London, 1950).

GRAHAM, R. St. Gilhert of Sempringham and the Cilhertines (London, 1902);
English Ecclesiastical Studies (London, 1929).

GWYNN, A. The English Austin Friars (Oxford, 1940).

HINNEBUSCH, W. A. The Early English Friars Preachers (Rome, 1952).

KNOWLES, M. D. The Monastic Order in England (Cambridge, 1940); The
Religious Orders in England, vols. i and ii (Cambridge, 1948, 1955); (with
R. N. HADCOCK) Medieval Religious Houses (London, 1953)-

LITTLE, A. G. Studies in English Franciscan History (Manchester, 1917)-
Preaching

OWST, G. Preaching in Medieval England (Cambridge, 1926).

Administration

CHURCHILL, L Canterbury Administration (London, 19 33).
THOMPSON, A. HAMILTON. The English Clergy and their Organization in the
kter Middle Ages (Oxford, 1947).

438 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

Devotional Life

Article Angleterre in Dictionnaire de Spiritualite, ed. M. Viller (Paris, 1932);
chapters in Cambridge Medieval History and History of English Literature; Pantin,
W. A., op. cit.

Map

Ordnance Survey Map of Monastic Britain; this shows dioceses (with all 'peculiars*
and exempt territories) as well as all religious houses, hospitals, and colleges.

XIII. ECCLESIASTICAL
ARCHITECTURE

T

f HE first great age of English architecture begins with
the last years of the eleventh century and, compared with
the building then begun, the architecture of the Anglo/
Saxon age seems rather tentative and unformed. This is
not to decry its interest. England is fortunate compared with
other countries in northern Europe in the possession of smv
viving buildings of the early Dark Ages and though only one,
Brixworth, is of monumental scale, it is enough to give us an
idea of the quality and character of the important buildings of
whose existence we know only from literary sources. Brixworth
church dates from thelast quarter of theseventh century (Fig.ioo
and PL 76). It consists of a nave of four bays, with arches turned
in Roman brick opening to what are believed to have been a
series of rectangular cells which may have been linked together
to form a kind of aisle, but was almost certainly conceived not
as one continuous passage but as separate compartments open/
ing off the nave. To the east there was a square unaisled pres/
bytery, originally separated from the nave by an arcade of three
arches, and beyond it again a narrower apsidal chancel. The
east wall of the presbytery is pierced by a single arch leading to
the chancel, flanked by two small windows, and at a later date
pierced also by two openings leading down to a passage round
a crypt beneath the apse. At the west there was a porch, flanked
by chambers to the north and south, though these were sub/
sequendy pulled down, as were the chapels flanking the nave.
The nave and presbytery are some 30 feet wide in the clear and
even in its truncated state, with the arches of the nave walled up,
the interior remains, with the eighth/century sculptured friezes
at Breedon in Leicestershire, to show that the first heroic age of
English church art produced buildings of a scale and quality

440

MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

not altogether unworthy of its achievements in painting and
sculpture.

In the tenth century Brixworth church underwent serious
modifications. It is probably at this time that the five lateral
compartments of the nave were pulled down, and certainly the
western porch was raised into a tower. It seems likely that the
new floors added above the porch, together with a gallery at the
west end of the nave, formed some sort of state pew for a local

FIG. 100. Brixworth Church. Pre/conquest church

dignitary. There are analogies to this arrangement of the west
end both in England and in churches of the Carolingian age
on the Continent.

The great outburst of building which began about 1090
owes almost everything, but not quite everything, to the Nor/
man Conquest. This is true both of the general social and
economic conditions, which made building on such a scale
possible, and of the architectural ideas and techniques with
which the builders embodied the energy, ambition, and prac/
tical organizing ability that the Normans brought to religion as
to every other aspect of life. The old name for the style then de/
veloped was Norman, though we now call it Anglo/Norman
Romanesque, to indicate the truth that it forms part of a great
artistic movement which is shared by all western European
countries, and that in England its character differs in many
ways from the architecture of Normandy itself. The old name
had more than a mere chronological significance, but the

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE 441

architecture of Normandy at the time of the Conquest was not
an isolated phenomenon, and of recent years it has been in/
creasingly realized that it had a greater variety and drew from
a wider range of sources in central and north-eastern France
than the accidents of survival among major buildings might at
first lead one to suppose. Moreover, the Norman conquerors
were not all Normans and the Conquest quickened rela/
tions between England and all northern France and the Low
Countries. The latter seem to have been the most important
source of continental ideas affecting the architecture of the later
Anglo/Saxon period and remained influential after the Con/
quest. The attention of students, and not only English students,
has been concentrated on Normandy itself and later on the area
round Paris, while the great importance of north/eastern France
and the Low Countries in the history of English architecture
of the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries has been neglected.
This is natural enough, as far more important early buildings
have survived in Normandy and the Paris district, but this
accident has caused a great gap in our knowledge.

The most important surviving examples of architecture of
the late eleventh century in England are the crypt and transepts
of Winchester, the crypt and choir aisles of Gloucester, the
crypt at Worcester (PL 77 a), the centre part of the west front at
Lincoln, and the tower, transepts, and part of the nave at St.
Albans. The last ten years of the century show the beginnings
of the great churches at Ely and Norwich, and, most important
of all in quality and achievement, at Durham and Tewkes/
bury. In addition, we have evidence from excavation and
the study of surviving fragments above ground to fill out the
picture very considerably.

The first characteristic of most of these buildings is their
grandiose scale. This was made possible by the share of the
spoils of the Conquest that eventually came to the Church,
and was occasioned by the appetite for material splendour
in worship which characterized the reforming period in the
Church associated with the name of Cluny.

The influence of Cluny was already strong in Normandy,

44* MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

and though only four new monasteries actually under the
authority of the great institution itself were founded in England
before uoo, this is no measure of the importance of its ex/
ample, or even of its direct influence. The reforming movement
was, above all, Roman in spirit, using the word in the sense of
historic sentiment as well as more narrowly, and one of the ideas
for which the Roman name stood was magnanimity as ex/
pressed in the scale and ordered splendour of buildings. This
was not altogether a new thing in England in the late eleventh
century; the monastic reform movement of the tenth century
associated with St. Dunstan and St. Ethelwold shared this
feeling and expressed it in buildings of more than considerable
size, though they were far surpassed by those that succeeded
and replaced them. In this connexion the changes made at St.
Augustine's abbey at Canterbury in the tenth and eleventh
centuries as shown by excavation, are particularly interesting
(Fig. 101). The earlier St. Augustine's consisted of a series of
three churches set axially and dating from the earliest years of
Christianity in Saxon England and of great traditional sanctity
as associated with the saint himself. In order, from east to west,
these churches were St. Pancras, St. Mary's, and SS. Peter and
Paul, in the last of which St. Augustine and his early successors
and the Christian kings of Kent were buried. To the west of the
church of SS. Peter and Paul an outer narthex and a further
western porch (making ultimately three in all) were added by
St. Dunstan, thus greatly increasing the splendour of the
ceremonial approaches to the church itself. The capitals from
this western extension show the consciously Roman sentiment
of the builders, being quite clearly an attempt to imitate the
antique Corinthian order. Later, in the time of Edward the
Confessor, the two churches of St. Mary and SS. Peter and
Paul were linked by a new building, an aisled rotunda, circular
inside and octagonal without. To make room for this building
the apse of SS. Peter and Paul was pulled down. After the
Conquest all this was swept away and a single unified build'
ing took the place of the two westernmost churches with their
tenth/ and eleventh/century additions. Only St. Pancras was

444 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

left, a detached building to the east of the enlarged church. A
rather similar process seems to have gone on at Glastonbury,
where again a very early monastic establishment consisted of a
number of small churches laid out axially, which were eventu/
ally linked to form a continuous series of buildings, and lastly,
though much later than St. Augustine's, superseded by a great
unified scheme. At Glastonbury the legendary sanctity of the
early wooden church at the west of the group was so great as to
prevent its ever being absorbed completely in any reorganiza^
tion of the building, and even after the complete reconstruction
in the late twelfth century it retained its separate identity. These
examples, where excavation has shown the actual process of
change from the early system of a group of small churches to the
single unified building of impressive scale, are perhaps the most
telling, but the evidence of Sherborne shows that the tenth
century could on occasion produce new buildings of impres^
sive size, for the width of the central vessel of the nave at Sher^
borne, as built at the end of the tenth century, seems to have been
the same as that of its Gothic successor which still exists, and
the crossing space beneath the central lantern tower was prob^
ably actually reduced in size in the modifications made by
Bishop Roger of Sarum in the 1120*5. At Winchester, too, the
evidence of the size of the great organ, which is recorded as
needing seventy men to blow it, implies a building of conx
siderable proportions.

All this evidence from pre/Conquest England only shows
that the desire for the single great church of impressive scale was
not a new importation from Normandy in the late eleventh
century, but unquestionably it was greatly promoted by the
wholesale importation of churchmen from the Continent
which then took place. The desire was common to all Europe,
and it was greater resources, both wealth and technical re^
sources, and perhaps a sense of quickened missionary zeal on
the part of the new/comers, which gave to the new outburst of
building in England its specially monumental character.

The dimension in which the new churches took on their
great increase in size was more particularly length. The new

PLATE 76

PLATE 77

a. Worcester Cathedral: crypt

i. Tewkesbury Abbey: nave

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE 445

Anglo-Norman churches were longer, both east of the crossing
and especially west of it in their naves, not only than their Saxon
predecessors but than most of the contemporary churches on
the Continent, and the greater English churches retained this
characteristic throughout the Gothic period. No really satis/
factory explanation of this has ever been put forward, and it was
as marked at Lincoln, Ely, and Peterborough, where the west
end is elaborated in a manner that derives from the practice of
late Carolingian times, as it is in the churches which finished
simply in a gabled front or two western towers in the later
French fashion, so that the additional bays added to the English
churches can hardly have been a substitute for these western
elaborations. The first example that we know of was the Con-
fessor's church at Westminster, which seems to have had a nave
of twelve bays arranged in pairs after the manner of the existing
cathedral at Durham, deriving probably from Jumieges in
Normandy, where, however, there are only eight bays.

The existing buildings of this period, including the great
crypts, show two main types of plan. All of them, with the
exception of Old Sarum, were cross plans with a central
lantern tower at the intersection of the limbs of the cross, the
difference between the types being in the treatment of the eastern
limb. This was ended either in a series of apses corresponding to
the main vessel and the two aisles, or by returning the aisle round
the curved end of the central vessel and providing chapels set
radially as at Gloucester or tangentially to the curve as at Nor/
wich. There were generally apsidal chapels projecting from the
eastern side of the transept, and at St. Albans, and its daughter
house at Binham in Norfolk, there are two of these to each
transept, the inner ones next to the aisles having greater projec/
tion than those to north and south of them, the whole eastern
part of the church forming a group of seven apsidal/ended
spaces set en ecMon. At St. Albans, the early Lincoln, Old
Sarum, and elsewhere the aisles were separated from the main
vessel by solid walls. These two systems were both to be found
in Normandy in the mid'eleventh century, the three^apsed one
being the more common, though such influential buildings in

446 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

the abbey of Jumieges and the cathedral at Rouen had the aisle
returned round the central apse. This latter plan seems to be
especially associated with the central regions of France and, inx
deed, the first example known in England, Battle abbey, near
Hastings, begun in 1070/1 and finished within the lifetime of
the Conqueror, was colonized by monks from Tours, who are
recorded to have personally supervised the building. It is rex
markable that there seems to be no sign of any regional dis/
tribution of these two types of plan, and at Canterbury the two
great contemporary monasteries, Lanfranc's Christchurch and
the new St. Augustine's, provide examples of each.

Structurally the most important characteristic of these build'
ings is their immense massiveness as compared with^ earlier
churches. This is especially marked in England, possibly for
economic reasons. The extraordinary outburst of building may
well have made for a shortage of skilled labour and so tended to
increase the dependence on rubble as against wrought stone.
Walls and piers were built of a core of rubble faced with cut
stone, and the unribbed vaults of the great crypts are also made
in a sort of concrete technique of small stone and mortar
brought to a tidy finish with a mortar rendering. Very consider^
able skill and a realization of the flexibility of this method of
vault building appear quite early in these crypts, which, being
generally of the apse and ambulatory form, gave rise to conv
plicated shapes in the compartments of their vaults, notably at
Winchester and Worcester.

The two great buildings which were begun in the last years
of the eleventh century, Tewkesbury abbey and Durham
cathedral, though they are both highly individual works, may
be taken to represent two aspects of the architecture of the
twelfth century. At Tewkesbury the monks were put in
possession of their new quarters in noi, and this means pre'
sumably that at least a large part of the eastern end of the church
must have been usable by that date. It was, as we know now,
built with an eastern limb designed internally in four storeys,
consisting of a giant order of cylindrical piers surmounted by
arches embracing both the opening into the aisle and above it

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE 447

the opening into the tribune. Above the giant order was a
triforium with small double/arched openings, and above
that a clerestory. The vestiges of this arrangement can only
be deduced by minute examination of the existing choir of
the church, which was drastically altered in the fourteenth
century, and by a comparison with the remains of the early
arrangement in the transept. In the nave the giant order of
cylindrical piers and arches was maintained but the tribune was
omitted and the great arches of the arcade left open to their full
height, the resultant system being three^storeyed rather than four
(PL 77 J). This highly original arrangement may have derived
ultimately from central France, but it had no future in that
country though it was certainly imitated in a number of inv
portant buildings erected in England and Scotland during the
twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. They include Romsey
abbey, the cathedral at Oxford, Jedburgh abbey in Scotland, the
great church at Glastonbury abbey, and, latest of all, the cathe^
dral at Waterford in Ireland. At Glastonbury and Waterford the
scheme is translated into Gothic with pointed arches, and at
Romsey the influences of other regions than the Severn basin
have profoundly modified the scheme. At Tewkesbury the
early pre/Romanesque tradition is clearly perceptible in the
broad expanses of plain wall surface which play so large a part
in the total effect. The same use of plain wall surfaces is recog/
nizable in other eleventh-century buildings, notably the tran/
sept at Winchester, and may be taken as a continuation of an
architectural tradition which dates back to Carolingian times
and to the Carolingian/type buildings erected in England be/
fore the Conquest. It was perceptible also in the treatment of
the west end of Lincoln cathedral, which dates from about the
same time as the work at Tewkesbury. Tewkesbury has been
mentioned first by reason of these old-fashioned traits in what
is otherwise a highly original design.

Durham, which has indeed many interesting qualities of
treatment which derive from this late Carolingian tradition, is
a building which in two important ways anticipates the later
development of medieval architecture. There can be no ques/

5526.2 F

448 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

tion that Durham is one of the most precocious and one of the
most completely assured designs of the early middle ages. It was
designed from the beginning in the lopo's to be covered with
stone vaults, not only in its aisles but also in its main span, and
these vaults were no longer of the concrete groined type such as
are found in the great eleventlvcentury churches of Germany,
or in the crypt of the other eleventlvcentury buildings in Eng'
land, but were from the beginning ribbed vaults, anticipating
by several years the development of such vaults in the Paris area,
where the great steps in the development of the ribbed vault
which led to the early Gothic structural system were to be ac'
complished (Fig. 102). In addition to this structural precocity,
the design of Durham is also precocious in that it abandons the
simple exploitation of plain wall surfaces in favour of a system
whereby the main parts of the structure are outlined by com'
plicated mouldings, so that the structural forms of the building
are clearly differentiated one from another. This new develop'
ment is clear enough in the eastern parts of the church which
were first undertaken, but is carried much farther and with in'
creased richness of moulding in the western parts. In addition
to this use of mouldings to define, by clearlymarked lines, the
fundamental structural divisions of the building, Durham also
shows a tendency to break up any broad, plain stone surfaces
with a purely decorative system of linear patterns. The church
is built on a scheme of double bays, consisting of complex
rectangular piers alternatingwith cylindrical ones (PL 78). The
plain surfaces of the cylinders are enriched with a variety of in'
cised lines, spirals, zigzags, or lozenges, or in some places with
shallow ribs in relief, and the aisle walls below the windows,
even in the earlier parts of the church, are adorned with inter'
secting arcading so as to present an interesting continuous linear
pattern. The newly invented ribs of the great vaults suggest
equally a desire to carry this linear definition of the parts of the
building not only over the wall spaces but over the vaults also,
and thereby give a consistent linear quality to the whole in'
terior of the building. It has been suggested that the whole of
developed medieval architecture took its character from the

FIG, 102 Durham. Halfcross/-section of Chair. North side

450 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

desire of the builders to express in line the component parts of
the design. If this theory is tenable, Durham stands at the be>
ginning of a development which in France led to some of the
greatest achievements of European architecture. But the great'
est examples in France are all characterized by a strong sense of
direction in the linear embellishments of the building, which
are almost always governed by the essential structural system
which they adorn. At Durham this is true also, but the purely
pattern^making treatment of the plain surfaces without any
structural reference is also marked, and this last characteristic
was exploited in England and gave its character to the whole
development of the medieval architecture in this country down
to the end of the thirteenth century and beyond, and distin^
guishes it from the art of northern France with which in other
respects it was so closely allied. The sources of the Durham de/
sign can be traced to a variety of places. It is remarkable that
throughout the building the cushion capital employed was one
which was in common use in Germany and the Low Counx
tries, but hardly known in Normandy at the time that the build'
ing of Durham was undertaken. Equally the cushioned capital
was familiar in late Saxon architecture, the close connexion of
which with the Empire has already been mentioned. This plan,
including the system of alternate piers and double bays, can
be associated with buildings known in Normandy such as
Jumieges, but Jumieges itself is a Norman building with strong
affinities outside the province of Normandy and comparable
with the work of regions to the east and north. The outstanding
quality of Durham, however, apart from the structural inx
genuity and daring of its builders, resides in the masterly quality
of the synthesis that they have made from what appear to be
diverse sources. We are very apt to attribute to one man works
of the middle ages which were probably due to the collaborax
tion of several persons. Durham is one of the few buildings
and certainly the earliest whose individuality makes this un/
historical approach excusable.

A number of other great monastic buildings were initiated
in the last years of the eleventh and first part of the twelfth

PLATE 78

Durham Cathedral; nave

PLATE 79

a. Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire: north
aisle of nave

Roche Abbey, Yorkshire: transepts from the north-west

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE 451

tury, notably Ely, Norwich and, a little later, Peterborough, all
in the eastern part of England. In point of scale they are even
grander than the great church at Durham, but otherwise they
show little of the structural enterprise of that building. In them,
however, the tendency noticed at Durham, which was to be of
such immense importance to the future of English architecture,
was carried even farther in a variety of ways. This tendency was
to create an overfall impression of linear pattern by breaking up
the main structural forms such as piers with subordinate shafts,
pilasters, and mouldings so that the areas of plain surface are
reduced to a minimum. This is a progressive tendency and can
be traced as between the earlier and later parts of all three
churches, and as between Ely, Norwich, and Peterborough,
in that order, which is the order of their beginnings. Much dis'
cussion has been occasioned by the custom in these designs of
dividing each bay from the next with a long, attached, half-
round shaft which rises from the ground/level to the top of the
clerestory. Writers have speculated as to whether these imply an
original intention to vault the main span of the church, which
was subsequently abandoned through timidity in favour of a
wooden ceiling rather than a stone roof. This seems an unlikely
explanation, and whatever the origin of these half-round shafts
between the bays it seems likely that they were continued in
use because by the sharp division between each bay the linear
pattern of the succeeding bays was accentuated. That the pur^
pose of this device was probably a matter of taste is made more
likely by the fact that in all of these three great churches, and
more markedly in the later than in the earlier parts, extra
vertical members in the form of half-columns or breaks in the
plan of the compound piers are introduced without any struc^
tural justification, apparently because the builders liked the
look of them, and this habit of design continues far beyond the
early Romanesque that we are discussing well into the de/
veloped Gothic of the thirteenth century. It is as though the
structural relevance of the pattern devised by the master of
Durham had few imitators in this country, where the increasing
technical mastery of stone^cutting and the great variety of new

452 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

mouldings which were introduced into architecture in the first
third of the twelfth century were exploited largely to increase the
effect of all over linear surface pattern. This taste for linear pattern
spread over broad surfaces is extremely marked in certain build'
ings of the midxtwelfth century, notably in the additions made
to the upper parts of the earlier west front at Lincoln and in the
treatment of the broad gable^ends of the transepts at the great
church at Southwell It is extremely difficult to determine any
regional distribution of these habits of design, except that we
can say that the nave of Gloucester cathedral seems to be a ver/
sion of the Tewkesbury nave design, but carried out with a use
of the new variety of mouldings to emphasize its various parts,
and that the most completely developed examples of the taste
for breaking up the main masses of the building, notably the
great piers of the interior, by minute subdivisions seems more
common in the east of England than in the west. Such interiors
as that of Southwell nave, which show an awareness of the
new taste for enriched mouldings, seem, however, to have
deliberately rejected the vertical division into bays and to have
held fast to the tradition of the unbroken wall surface which at
Tewkesbury and elsewhere seems to be a survival of an earlier
architectural tradition.

One structural device of great importance to the future of
English medieval architecture was certainly imported from
Normandy, most likely from the Caen area, and appears in the
transept of Winchester in the late eleventh century. This is a
method of giving strength to the clerestory wall by making the
upper walls of the building specially thick. So much so that in
many cases the wall above the main piers exceeds the thickness
of the piers themselves and over^sails on to the haunches of the
vaults of the side aisles. The middle storeys of the bays are
occupied at tribune level by arches and at clerestory level by an
arcaded gallery, thus leaving the thickened wall as a sort of en^
larged pier between each bay. This device makes it unneces'
sary to provide a special abutment in between each bay on the
exterior of the building and in some cases the whole line of the
clerestory wall was treated externally with a pattern of blind

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE 453

arcading into which the open arches of the windows were
fitted. The arcaded galleries on the internal face of the clerestory
wall were linked from bay to bay by low vaulted tunnels
through the intervening masses of masonry. It seems that this
system once imported from Normandy appealed to the desire
for decoration which characterized the architecture of the
twelfth century and was exploited with enthusiasm by English
builders, who continued the system well into the thirteenth
century. One of the latest and most developed examples is the
late thirteenth/century eastern extension of Lincoln cathedral,
where the clerestory consists of two planes of tracery, one in the
outer face of the wall glazed, the other on the inner face open.
This system of thick double walls to the clerestory, with arcaded
galleries on the inside, seems to have been abandoned com/
paratively early in Normandy in favour of the elaborated but'
tress system which was being developed in the Paris area,
and its survival and increased use in England is the more
remarkable.

In the second quarter of the twelfth century the Cistercian
order founded its first House in England. The order was par/
ticularly successful in this country and a series of great houses
grew up, notably in the north, and almost equally in Wales and
on the Welsh borders. The first Cistercian buildings, especi/
ally the two Cistercian abbeys, Rievaulx and Fountains, show
that the new order imported its architectural ideas almost
wholesale from Burgundy, the region of France where the
order took its rise. At Rievaulx we know the form of the early
nave from excavations, and at Fountains the nave has, in the
main, survived (PL 79 a). The Rievaulx nave was of extreme
architectural severity and very close indeed to such early Bur/
gundian Cistercian churches as Fontenay. Two character/
istics in particular recall Burgundy, the use of pointed barrel
vaults set transversely to the direction of the church, and the
consequent employment of the pointed arch for the main
arcades. At Rievaulx the pointed barrel vaults appear to have
been constructed as continuations of the soffits of the arcade
arches. At Fountains both these devices are found in a slightly

454 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

more sophisticated form and there are signs that the Burgundian
traits arc being modified by the influence of the native Anglo/
Romanesque, chiefly by the introduction of mouldings of
Anglo-Norman character. The church at Fountains also,
while clearly related to that of the great French Cistercian
churches, shows one important departure undoubtedly deriw
ing from the later Anglo/Norman practice, that is, the church
was given a very distinct crossing/space at the intersection of the
four main limbs of the church. Such a crossing clearly implies
a tower, and this is the more remarkable as towers were one of
the architectural features expressly forbidden by the regulations
of the order. The naves of Rievaulx and Fountains belong pre^
sumably to the 1130*5 or possibly early 1 140*5. In the Cistercian
churches of the 1 150*5 and 6o*s, such as Kirkstall in the north
and Buildwas in Shropshire, the Anglo-Norman traits are far
more marked, and not only in the mouldings but also in the in-
troduction of the ribbed vault, which is used together with the
pointed barrel form.

The prestige of the Cistercian order in the north, parti/
cularly during the lifetime and immediately after the death of
St, Ailred of Rievaulx, had a great influence which was not
confined to the Houses of the order alone, and in 1170 a new
architectural phase makes its appearance at Roche abbey, a
Cistercian house in south Yorkshire (PL 79 b). This represents
a second importation of French ideas, this time not Burgundian
Romanesque but north French Gothic. The new fashion set at
Roche soon spread to other buildings, such as the Canon's
dhtirch at Rifxm and the great new Cistercian house at Byland,
aed from chore spread throughout northern England and
Scotland, as much in the buildings of the Aegustinian canons
as in those of die Cistercians themselves. This architectural
movement in the north was dharacterized by a quality of ele'
and sophisticated Puritanism which may possibly be
iated with the personality of St. Aikcd and his followers,

bin ii is iotetdn| to m ^ c ^ cvm ** ^P n w &ch was
gun within a very few years dfRodhe, the design, though clearly

dkriviog from roe QswciaB building, shows a tendency to

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE 455

greater elaboration, especially in the direction of linear pattern^
making, and this tendency continues and grows throughout
the later twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. The example of
Ripon is a peculiarly marked one, as Archbishop Roger of
York, who began the rebuilding of the church, had only a few
years earlier carried out works at his own metropolitan church
in York in a most sumptuous and ornamental Anglo-Norman
Romanesque manner. Equally, though the restrained elegance
of the Cistercian fashion ultimately prevailed in this region, it
was not unchallenged, and the evidences of the remains of
sculpture from St. Mary's abbey at York show all and more
than all of that richness of representational decoration against
which St. Bernard and St. Ailred had both inveighed.

In planning, the early and middle years of the twelfth century
show a very important development which was to influence
the whole character of English church architecture in sub/
sequent centuries. This was the gradual abandonment of the
apsidal-ended plan, whether the three/apsed or the apse and
ambulatory plan, in favour of a rectangular treatment of the
eastern parts of the church. There are three main variations of
this: the simple rectangular presbytery projecting one or two
bays beyond the aisle ends; the treatment whereby both aisles
and the main vessel are carried out and finished off square to the
east in a great flat eastern fagade; and a third system in which
the aisles are returned at right angles round the east end of the
main vessel, forming an ambulatory, sometimes double the
width of the aisles themselves, so as to accommodate chapels on
the eastern side. No completely satisfactory explanation of this
development away from the apsidal treatment has yet been
found. At Chertsey, at Southwell, and in the reconstruction of
the cathedral of Old Sarum in the 1120'$, rectangular eastern
arrangements were adopted before any question of Cisterican
influence could arise, but it seems unquestionable that the
influence of the early Cistercian church, which implies a rect"
angular treatment of the presbytery, often even simpler than
any of the types already described (the aisles of Cistercian
churches were often not carried farther east than the transepts),

45<5 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

greatly reinforced the tendency to abandon the earlier apsidal
treatment in favour of the new square/ended forms. By the end
of the twelfth century the rectangular fashion of planning had
triumphed almost completely. The effect of this development
in planning was widespread and continued throughout the
middle ages, and gave to English church-building some of its
most remarkable opportunities in the great eastern facades
which have no parallel in continental Gothic.

Contemporary with the building of the Cistercian church at
Roche the monks of Christchurch, Canterbury, were com-
pelled to rebuild the eastern parts of their church as a result of
a disastrous fire in 1174. This is one of the most remarkable
enterprises of the twelfth century, not only in scale and splen-
dour but because we have a very full and business-like account
of the circumstances in which the work was undertaken and
carried on, written by a man who took part in the organization
of the building work. A mason from northern France was im-
ported to carry out the rebuilding, which was conditioned to
some extent by the desire of the monastic body to retain as
much as possible of the pre-existing building. The plan con-
sisted of a choir of five bays to the east of the great transept, an
eastern transept and crossing, a presbytery of four bays, and
then an eastern chapel of two bays and an apse, the aisle being
returned round the apse in the French fashion. To the east of
the returned aisle a circular chapel projects flanked by two
staircase turrets. The outer walls of the western part of this great
building, the size of a major church in itself, belong to the pre-
fire building, and the plan, with its eastern transept and two
chapels placed north and south one bay farther to the east,
derives from that period. The whole of the internal effect of the
main body and eastern transepts was, however, due to the new
French mason and the English mason who succeeded him
after he had been injured in an accident. It has even been said
that the mason, William of Sens, imported at Canterbury the
Parisian style as it had been developed at that time, and this is
certainly true of such important features as the capitals of the
great piers and the character of the vaulting, which is of the type

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE 457

known as sexpartite (i.e. with an extra transverse rib in each
bay, meeting the diagonal ribs at the centre). But it is curious to
note that the structural system as a whole appears to be a curious
compromise between the Anglo-Norman thick/wall system
and the newly developed buttress structure of northern France.
However this may be, undoubtedly Canterbury was a major
means of the introduction of up-to/date French ideas which had
immense influence throughout the country. One characteristic
of the Canterbury work was particularly influential; that was
the use of special marble-like stone imported from Dorset for
use in the subordinate shafts, so as to enhance the effect of the
linear pattern made by these shafts by the contrast of their
textures and colour with that of the main stone used in the
building. This fashion of contrasting materials for the sub
ordinate shafts and the main building material which formed
their background had an immediate success and was imitated
far and wide, first at Chichester and Rochester, then on an ex
aggerated scale at Lincoln, and from thence spread all over the
country in the course of the thirteenth century. It is likely that
thescheme came originally from the north-eastern part of France
and the adjacent parts of the Low Countries where there was an
abundant supply of black marble from Tournai, but the de
struction of much of the important medieval building in those
areas has rather obscured the question. The prestige of the great
cathedral monastery at Canterbury, more particularly in the
years following the martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket, ensured
that its example should be known and imitated far and wide.
The most ambitious of the early imitations was that begun by
St. Hugh at Lincoln in 1192, when the rebuilding of the
eastern parts of the great cathedral church was undertaken.
In plan the eastern parts of Lincoln as begun at that time are
very clearly derived from the new work at Canterbury, and the
imitation extends to details of capitals, of the vaulting in parts
of the church, and above all to the prodigal use of Purbeck
marble for subordinate shafts. Two interesting and significant
departures from the Canterbury model can, however, be ob
served at Lincoln. First, the number of subordinate shafts is

458 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

increased, sometimes without any structural justification, and
the effect of linear pattern^making is much more strongly
marked than at Canterbury. Secondly, though the sexpartite
system of vaulting is to be found in the eastern transepts and
rather later in the great transepts themselves which followed the
rexerection of the eastern limb of the church in the early years of
the thirteenth century, the main vessel of the eastern limb was
vaulted with an original system of ribbed vaults, the purpose of
which seems to have been to provide a consistent pattern of ribs
both for the normal bays of the choir itself and for the larger bay
of the eastern crossing and thereby to avoid the interruption of
the pattern of the vaulting, which is a marked feature of the
Canterbury design, where the system changes from sexpartite
to quadripartite at that point.

Work on the church at Lincoln seems to have been conx
tinued steadily throughout the greater part of the thirteenth
century. The great transepts which were in building in the early
years of the century, one of the most remarkable features of the
church, are of exceptional breadth and aisled both east and
west. Work on the nave continued during the 1220*5 and
123 o's, and in the early 1240*5, under the episcopate of the
celebrated Grosseteste, the western parts of the church were
reached and the central lantern tower was rebuilt. The characx
ter of the work remains remarkably consistent throughout in
spite of important changes, notably in the character of the vaults
and in the greater richness of the bay design, especially at the
tribune level and in the clerestory (PL 80 a). At the west end of
the church the remarkable late eleventlvcentury western block,
which had already been enlarged and enriched in the mid'
twelfth century, was profoundly modified by having its
western face framed by a great screen wall which extended
considerably farther to the north and south and rose to a level
parapet line at the height of the twelfth/century gables. These
alterations were in part made necessary by the greater height
of the new thirteentlvcentury nave, but also offered a space
for large chapels built flanking the west end of the church to
the north and south outside the aisles. The nave vault shows

PLATE 80

a. Lincoln Cathedral: nave from the
south transept

I. Wells Cathedral: nave

PLATE 8 I

a. Peterborough Cathedral: the great west portico

Salisbury Cathedral: chapter house
interior

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE 459

an interesting development from the experimental character of
the vaults farther to the east. There is a longitudinal ridge rib to
which five ribs spring from each side, and a short transverse
ridge rib which stops at a point where it is met by two addi/
tional ribs. The effect of the transverse ridge ribs and the large
boss at the central point of each bay is to place the main interest
of the pattern in the middle of the bay rather than at the trans/
verse rib dividing one bay from another. This tends to em/
phasize the continuity of the pattern of ribs in the length, as
against the sexpartite system used in the transepts, where the
division into bays is very clearly marked. Moreover, the multi/
plication of ribs, as compared with a continental church of
the same age, extraordinarily reinforces the impression that the
main preoccupation of the designers of these vaults was the
continuity of linear surface pattern.

Almost exactly contemporary with Lincoln, the canons of
Wells began the reconstruction of their church. The scale of the
building was much less ambitious than Lincoln and the eastern
limb, the transepts, and a considerable part of the nave seem to
have been completed by about 1215 or shortly after (PL 80 6).
As originally built, Wells had a square east end with the aisle
returned round the east end of the main vessel to form an am/
bulatory with chapels opening off it to the east. That this was
the original plan of the late twelfth/century church is fairly well
established, though the whole of the eastern part of the church
was profoundly modified in the early fourteenth century. During
the 1220*5 and 1230*5 the nave of the church was continued
westward and the whole work was completed by the celebrated
west fr ont,with its towers, which flanked the aisles of the nave to
the north and south. The earlier Wells work is entirely different
in character from the Canterbury/derived style of Lincoln. It is
carried out consistently in one/coloured freestone and is dis/
tinguished for the high quality of its sculptural decoration,
notably in the foliage capitals which in the transepts contain a
large number of small genre figure subjects and grotesques.
The plan of the piers, with their groups of triple attached shafts,
and especially the treatment of the triforium openings, is very

460 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

typical of a west country school of design which can be traced
at Malmesbury from about 1150, at the neighbouring great
church of Glastonbury, and at various other important build'
ings in the lower Severn basin and South Wales. Though the
Wells work has so strong a regional character and seems to re'
present a different tradition from that of Canterbury and Lin'
coin, French influences are almost as marked in the design as at
Canterbury itself. This is very clearly seen in the character of the
clerestory treatment and of the vault. The clerestory has, indeed,
a passage in normal Anglo/Norman tradition, but whereas at
Lincoln everything is done to exploit this feature with elabo'
rate arcading, everything is done at Wells to minimize its effect
and almost to deceive the spectator into supposing that a French
galleryless clerestory existed. The original form of the clere'
story windows at Wells rather broadly proportioned lancets
and the form of the middle storey of the eastern limb and parts
of the transept, equally suggest French influence, but rather of
the kind that is represented by Roche and may well also have
come through some Cistercian building as an intermediary.
The vault is also rather French in character, being a simple
quadripartite ribbed treatment, very accomplished but, as
compared with the many/ribbed vaults of Lincoln, curiously
inconsistent with the elaborate linear treatment of the lower
parts of the interior elevation. Wells before the fourteenth
century had a bold and well'designed lantern tower over the
crossing, a feature which is common to almost all the great
churches of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in England.
The most celebrated features of Wells cathedral are the north
porch of about 1215 and the great west front, which was being
finished about i240.The north porch, which is the main cere'
monial entrance to the church, is the most sumptuous example
of the later work of the west country school of masons men'
tioned above. The west front, however, with its elaborate de'
tached shafts of special material, shows a complete breakaway
from this regional style and implies the influence of either Lin'
coin or Canterbury. This most celebrated of English medieval
facade designs is partly distinguished from the great facades

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE 461

built in northern France in the first half of the thirteenth century
by the fact that it is not intended to embody a ceremonial en/
trance to the church, which was provided by the north porch.
The fagade is therefore treated as a great screen of figure sculp/
ture in tiers, and the three doorways, corresponding to the main
vessel of the nave and the two aisles, are kept very small in re/
lation to the total height of the fagade; indeed, the aisle doors do
not reach above the plinth mouldings and the central door only
just above them. This device gives an extraordinarily enhanced
sense of scale to the whole composition. Wells is fortunate as
compared with other great thirteenth/century churches in that
its fagade has retained almost all its original figure sculpture,
much of it of very high quality.

The other great church which has retained a fagade of the
early thirteenth century of importance comparable to Wells is
the great monastic church at Peterborough. The Peterborough
front is one of the most original compositions which survive to
us from the middle ages (Pl.Si a). The completion of this great
Anglo/Norman church was begun in the last quarter of the
twelfth century when work on the two western towers originally
intended was discontinued; the nave was then carried west/
ward two further bays and a western transept to the full height of
the main vessel of the church was begun (Fig. 103). In the first
years of the thirteenth century the work was continued on the
western transept, and a great portico, equal in length and height
and almost equal in width to the new transept, was built to the
west of it. The portico is open to the west with three great arches,
the two outside ones being wider than that in the centre. These
arches rise the whole height of the portico and transept, some
73 feet. They are flanked by two slender towers and surmounted
by three elaborate gables, having tall, spire/like pinnacles be/
tween them. The original intention was that the composition
should be completed with two substantial western towers rising
behind the gables of the portico above the bays of the western
transept, corresponding to the aisles of the nave. Only one of
these towers was built and has now lost the wooden spire which
was probably intended to finish it. This extremely original de/

4^ MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

sign appears to be in some ways a Gothic derivative of the west
front of Lincoln as then existing, that is, with the eleventh/

Line, ofi first
J

>wa y\

FIG. 103. Peterborough Cathedral: plan of Western Transepts and
Great Portico

century western building enriched and enlarged in the mid/
twelfth century. A certain amount of sculpture originally
adorned the slender flanking towers and the western face of the
wall dividing the portico from the transept and has survived in

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE 463

the upper parts of the composition. Evidence of the original
treatment with figure sculpture also still remains in the other
parts. The Peterborough fajade, the additions to the west front of
Lincoln made in the 1240*5, and, as it seems, the south fagade
of the great transept which was built at York minster in the
middle years of the century, probably inspired by the Lincoln
transepts, all share a manner of treating their decorative figure
sculpture in relation to the architectural lines of the composition.
The figures are placed on brackets against a flat, broad wall sur/
face and are framed in a relatively delicate linear system of
arcades. At Wells the sculpture is treated rather differently and
the main figures are placed in tabernacle/like housings with
gable tops. These give a far greater sense of design in depth than
the more clearly linear treatment at Peterborough and Lincoln,
and seem to point the way to the elaborate niche compositions of
the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

At its first setting/out the designers of the new church at
Wells made provision for a chapter/house to the north of the
choir; this was to be an octagonal building raised on an under'
croft. Only the undercroft, however, was completed in the
early part of the thirteenth century, and the chapterhouse itself
was not finally built until about a hundred years later (PL 82).
In the meanwhile, however, an early thirteenth/century chap/
teahouse of polygonal plan was built on a large scale at Lin/
coin. This was placed to the north of the church and provided
with a large and elaborate rectangular vestibule which rises to
the full height of the chapter/house itself. The chapter/house at
Lincoln is a decagon with pairs of lancets in each side. It is
vaulted to a central column with an elaborate ribbed vault.
It measures some 59 feet across. The fashion for polygonal
chapter/houses seems to have been initiated in the early twelfth
century by the work at Worcester, where, however, the build/
ing is a rotunda vaulted to a central column, but the circular
plan was soon translated into a polygon at Margam and a little
later at Abbey Dore (two Cistercian houses) which were both
examples with twelve sides. The most celebrated examples of
the polygonal chapter/house are the great octagons at West/

5526.2 G

4<*4 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

minster abbey, completed in the early 1250*5, and at Salisbury,
finished about fifteen years later (PL 8 1 6). This form of chapter^
house seems to be a peculiarly English invention and became
extremely popular, fine examples continuing to be built well
on into the fourteenth century and beyond.

The second quarter of the thirteenth century was a period of
very active building enterprise, and in the work then under'
taken at such buildings as Salisbury, Beverley, Worcester,
Southwell, and many others, the influence of the fashion for
elaborate pattern/making, with boldly projecting and deeply
cut mouldings, and detached shafts of special marble, which
has been traced from Lincoln and Canterbury, spread to all
parts of the country. The work of this period is characterized by
an increasing richness of detail, and this is particularly marked
in the eastern extension built at Ely, where work was in full
swing in 1239. This increasing decorative elaboration begins
to foreshadow the new developments which were profoundly
to change the character of English church architecture in the
second half of the century. One other factor of extreme impor^
tance, however, must be reckoned as the chief instrument of that
change. This is the new type of large traceried window first
found at Binham priory in Norfolk, a daughter^house of St.
Albans, where the window dates from about 1240. This type
of window had been in use in -France for more than twenty
years, but the English builders had remained attached to their
peculiar national form of tall, narrow lancet window, a type
possibly originating with the Cistercians and possibly ulti/
mately of Burgundian origin. Appropriately enough, the finest
examples of the use of lancets are to be found in the north, in
such compositions as the eastern fagades of Whitby and Tyne^
mouth and in many fine examples in Scotland and the Border
country. Both in Scotland and in the north the vogue of the
lancet continued almost to the end of the thirteenth century and
delayed in those regions the adoption of the new French fashion
which came in, naturally enough, through the influence of
the court and in the London area. The great exemplar of
the new fashion in windows was the new church built by

PLATE 82

c
"o

3
o

-S

rt

O

PLATE 83

a. Lincoln Cathedral: east front of Angel Choir

Merton College, Oxford: east window of chapel

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE 465

Henry III at Westminster, when he took over the work in
1244 and carried out a complete reconstruction of the main
parts of the church, together with a part of the cloister and
a new chapterhouse, completing the work, which included
several bays of the nave, by 1269. Westminster abbey is in
many ways an extremely French design; it is a return to the
apse and ambulatory plan which had almost completely gone
out of use in England since the mid/twelfth century, though at
Westminster it is revived in the developed form of contempox
rary French churches. All the windows in the church are
traceried on a geometrical system consisting of a pair of foiled
lancet lower lights surmounted by a circular foiled figure above.
The most remarkable Westminster windows were, however,
in the chapterhouse, which was an octagon in plan, and
henceforward the octagonal form generally prevails as giving
better opportunities for the new fashionable windows than
would be afforded by a greater subdivision of the walls.

Beside the plan and the very tall, rather narrow proportions
of the main vessel of Westminster, both French characteristics,
and the introduction of the French type of traceried window,
King Henry Ill's building was revolutionary also in its
decorative treatment. It is traditional that he was attempting to
rival St. Louis's splendid chapel in his palace at Paris, which
was, however, begun a year after Westminster, though conv
pleted within three years. One of the outstanding qualities of
the design of the Sainte Chapelle was the elaboration of its in^
ternal colouring, the whole surface of the stonework of the
building being coloured or gilded. Equally at Westminster the
decorative treatment of the interior is carried a stage farther than
in any of the immediately preceding or contemporary English
buildings. It is, moreover, different in character, the emphasis
being rather on quality of texture and colour than on linear
pattern. This is clearly seen if one considers the treatment of a
single bay of the main vessel of the church. The piers of the
arcade are entirely of Purbeck marble, a material valued for its
colour and texture; the arches are very elaborately moulded even
for English thirteenth/century work and the spandrels of the

4$<5 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

arcade are filled with an elaborate diaper pattern in low relief.
The middle storey, which is a tribune that is, a practical upper
storey to the aisles, having its own windows has elaborately
moulded and enriched arches filled with a geometrical tracery
pattern, and the spandrels of the tribune arches are again treated
with diaper. It is only in the clerestory, which in the French
fashion was almost entirely filled with a traceried window, that
any plain, unenriched masonry is to be found, and the proporx
tions of the church are such that these plain surfaces hardly tell
from the viewpoint of the floor. How far the carved work of the
middle storey and the diapers of the spandrels were coloured is
questionable; certainly where figure sculpture was employed,
as in the transept ends, these were treated in full colour, and it is
reported that in some parts of the church diaper was painted
with gold and red, though it seems unlikely that this is true of
anywhere except the actual presbytery. The decorative treatx
ment extended equally to the treatment of the aisle walls, which
have elaborate blind arcadings with foliage or figure sculpture
in the spandrels. Certain important features of the church, in^
eluding the great ceremonial entrances to the north transept and
the doors from the cloister through the chapter/house vestibule
and the door within the chapterhouse itself, were treated with
figures and foliage sculpture arranged in a manner which
clearly derives from the practice of manuscript illuminators.
Indeed, the building as a whole gives the impression of being
largely conceived in terms of painted decoration and special
materials chosen for their texture. This characteristic con/-
tinues in the English architecture of the rest of the thirteenth
century and is one of the most important elements in the type of
architecture which reached its full maturity in the first half of the
fourteenth century. Westminster abbey, as the personal work
of a splendour/loving king, is of course much the most extreme
example of this new taste. It was, moreover, a building very
celebrated in its time and so placed as to exercise the widest in'
fluence throughout the country for example, from an early
date Parliament and other great national assemblies were held
in the new chapterhouse. The continuation and development

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE 467

of the decorative tradition established at Westminster can be
traced clearly enough. The French fashions introduced by the
king's builders are somewhat more elusive. Certainly the
French type of apse and ambulatory plan had little or no lasting
effect in this country, but the tall, narrow proportions are liable
to appear in works of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth
centuries where there is some direct court influence; notable
examples seem to be the lady chapel at Lichfield and the new
choir at Gloucester, both buildings of the fourteenth century.
Another French trait which is perpetuated is the continuance
of the lines of the vaulting shafts right down to the lower parts
of the internal elevations, even on occasion right down to the
ground level, though these devices may be explained as a
means of emphasizing the vertical lines of the building in lieu
of the tall and narrow lancets which provided the strongest
vertical lines in the designs of the earlier part of the century;
when such lancets were superseded by the new broad/traceried
windows some means had to be found to restore the vertical
emphasis in the composition. A notable example of this seems
to be the design of the nave at York minster, a work begun in
the last years of the thirteenth century. Of direct imitations of
Westminster or rather of features of the Westminster design
the most outstanding examples are the new north transept
at Hereford, built in the 1260*8, and certain characteristics of
the nave at Lichfield.

The two greatest building enterprises of the second half of
the thirteenth century for the nave of York was not begun
until 1290 were the eastern extension of Lincoln cathedral,
which was begun in 1256 and to which St. Hugh's body was
translated in 1280, though work continued on the building
until after 1 300, and Exeter cathedral, which was begunfrom the
east end about 1270 and continued on a very consistent scheme
until the nave was completed about 1 3 50, the west front being
added in the last years of the century. The Lincoln work is
largely a very enriched version of the eastern extension of Ely
but with certain characteristics notably the angels in the
spandrels of the middle storey which appear to be related to

468 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

the Westminster treatment; it is, however, profoundly different
from Ely in that the fashion for the great traceried window is
exploited at Lincoln on a colossal scale. The great east window
of the church (P1.8 3 a), as occasioned by the continuance of the
main vessel at full height to the extreme east end, is one of the
largest ever constructed and is the first of the colossal traceried
windows which give a special character to the buildings of the
east and north of England in subsequent years. The Lincoln
window is of eight lights, treated as a series of lancets sur^
mounted by foiled circles, a geometrical method of compost
tion common in France, and at Lincoln possibly derived from
Westminster, which was soon to be superseded by far more
varied and ingenious systems of design. Above the main east
window at Lincoln is a second window lighting thespaceabove
the vaults. This window, though still based on the lancet and
foiled circle motif, has five lights and, this being an odd number,
indicates one of the forces which tended to break up the perfect
geometry of the early traceried patterns. Later thirteenth'
century windows employed a greater variety of geometrical
motifs, such as trefoils, small dagger/shaped openings, a pro"
digal use of cusping to the lancet shapes themselves, and an
astonishing variety of patterns composed of those elements, a
favourite device being to incorporate one large circular figure
within a surrounding network of trefoils, almost as if the motif
of a small rose window were embodied in the traceried pattern.
There are good examples of this at Merton College, Oxford,
(PL 8 3 ), at the very end of the century, and rather earlier in the
east window of the lady chapel at Exeter. These varied de^
veloped geometrical traceries were never, in fact, entirely super'
seded, but in the first years of the fourteenth century the use of
the doublexcurve or ogee led to a new type of tracery with flow
ing lines and an even greater freedom of composition which
seems to anticipate the flamboyant windows of the fifteenth
century on the Continent. One early form of developed geo^
metrical tracery met most frequently in the west of England has
been called the reticulated, filling the upper part of the window
with trefoil or quatrefoil figures of equal size, giving the effect of

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE 469

a network. Good early examples are to be found in the eastern
parts of Wells, dating from just before 1300. The builders of
the second half of the thirteenth and first half of the fourteenth
centuries show an extraordinary fecundity of invention both in
the geometrical tradition and in the freer/flowing patterns. The
development of these large windows gave a new character to
the whole of the architecture of this period, as the complicated
linear patterns of these traceried designs were concentrated in
the areas of the window heads and so tended towards a general
conception of a design of contrasting areas enriched with linear
pattern and plain areas of stonework to set them off. This is
very noticeable in early fburteentlvcentury compositions such
as the exterior of the choir of Selby abbey in Yorkshire. This
seems to be a development of that change from the all-over
linear pattern which characterizes the architecture of the first
half of the thirteenth century and is anticipated by the attention
given to surface textures in the design at Westminster. With
the growth of this feeling for surface textures and the greater
amount of light admitted to the buildings by the new large
windows came a change in the mouldings and eventually also
in the character of the carved decorations, such as capitals. The
early thirteentlvcentury system of pronounced roll mouldings
and deep/cut hollows a device suitable for the linear treat'
ment then in vogue is superseded in the latter part of the
century by broader mouldings with shallower hollows and less/*
pronounced projections, sometimes even broad mouldings of
double curvature employing the new fashionable ogee curve.
These later thirteenth' and fourteenth/century mouldings are
subtler in effect than the earlier type and also more suited to
show off the colour, and especially the gold, with which they
were often enriched. The change in the nature of the foliage
carving on capitals seems to follow a similar course. From Westx
minster onwards one finds examples of the extreme naturalism
in foliage carving which appears rather earlier in France; but
about the end of the century a new stylization sets in in which
the surface of the leaves is given a rippling effect calculated to
make the most of the gilding and colour with which they were

470 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

to be adorned. Good examples of this are to be found in the
early fourteenth century in the alterations to the east end of
Wells, notably in the capitals of the ambulatory piers. Some
of these changes are already to be observed in the earlier parts of
Exeter, notably the contrasting patterned areas of the window'
heads and the plain ashlar which surrounds them and in the
way the Purbeck marble is used in the piers, the attached shafts
of which are all much less boldly projecting than the earlier
Purbeck shafts of Lincoln and its early thirteentlvcentury con'
temporaries. As in the case of Westminster it seems clear that
the material is being used not for the contrast of its colour,
which would reinforce the linear pattern, but for the quality of
its surface texture.

Another development of the late thirteenth and early four-"
teenth centuries which seems to be connected with this change
of taste appears in the planning and general distribution of the
buildings. At Wells in the last years of the thirteenth century a
reconstruction of the whole east end of the church was under/
taken; this was finally completed about 1335 (Kg. IO 4)* The
original form of the east end of Wells was, as mentioned above,
that its aisle returned square round the east end of the presby
tery. The new building included a lengthening of thepres'
bytery, the addition of transeptal chapels projecting north and
south from the ends of the choir aisles, and the building of a lady
chapel projecting from the new ambulatory to the east. The
lady chapel, the first part of the new work to be undertaken, is
in the form of an elongated octagon, the east end of which in/
terpenetrates with the ambulatory as it returns across the end of
the new presbytery. The lady chapel is of considerably greater
internal height than the adjacent parts of the ambulatory and in
consequence this interpenetration produces a relation of in/
ternal spaces of extraordinary complexity, and it is managed
most ingeniously. It is clear that the new building is intended to
provide a great variety of vistas from different viewpoints and
represents a breakaway from the logical geometrical planning
of the earlier Gothic buildings. Also in the earlier fourteenth
century a new porch was added to the church of St. Mary

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE

471

Redcliflfe at Bristol, or rather, the existing Gothic

porch enlarged by the addition of a domed
outer porch, producing on a smaller scale an of

variety of spaces as between the new building and

^Fl. Catherine

o ^ y 2p 31) ^o y 60 70 to ^6 i

FIG. 104. Wells Cathedra!: Plan of choir .and eastern extension

the simple rectangular vaulted structure to which it was
attached. Perhaps the most grandiose example of this fashion
was undertaken at Ely cathedral as a result of the accident In
1322 when the central tower fell, destroying the older I.e.
western part of the original eastern limb. In the rebuilding of
the crossing and central tower an octagon some 70 feet across
was devised by taking Into the crossing space one bay'of each of
the main limbs of the church* This great octagonal central

472 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

space was covered in by a wooden roof surmounted by an open
lantern, one of the most remarkable feats of structural engineer^
ing in European architecture. The effect is to break up the
logical rectangular system of planning which had been in'
herited from the late eleventh century when thegreat church was
first undertaken. The construction of the octagon roof and
lantern is, with the roof of Westminster hall built some years
later, the best known and most spectacular of the great timber
constructions of that age. It is not, however, the first. In the last
decade of the thirteenth century a new chapter/house was
undertaken at York and this is 58 feet across, covered with a
wooden roof without internal support, ceiled in imitation of
vaulting. The York chapterhouse has round seven of its sides
a series of canopied stalls, the canopies having bayed fronts,
part octagon in plan, so giving the effect of a rippling line
around the great building immediately below the window
level. This is a good and early example of the tendency to dis^
solve the logical structural lines of a building of which the
planning at Wells and Bristol are more complicated and
elaborate examples. The same tendency appears in the hand"
ling of the clerestories at Exeter and later, in the early fifteenth
century, at Winchester, where the traditional way of treating
the clerestory in two planes, an inner arcaded gallery and an
outer arcade containing the window, is abandoned in favour
of a gradual stepping'in from the inner wall to the plane of the
window so as again to produce a rippling effect down the
length of the church. This tendency to develop effects in depth
or in the thickness of the walls is to be seen in the exploitation of
niche forms as well as in the treatment of the jambs of windows.
One of the most remarkable of all these niche compositions is
to be found at the east end of Howden (PL 84), a composition
with a great eastern fagade, comparable to, though not as large
as, that of Lincoln. In it the great east window is surrounded
by a pattern of elaborately decorative niches which not only
provide the contrast of areas of plain and enriched stone surface
but also of a play of light and shade between the outer surface
of the wall and the shadowed recesses of the niches. The most

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE 473

remarkable examples of this new fashion are, however, to be
found in the smaller objects, such as tomb canopies and church
furniture, the sedilia at Bristol cathedral and the tomb of
Edward II (PL 85) being amongst the most striking. The
Bristol sedilia have a series of tall finials alternating with free-'
standing figures surmounting the canopies and, set well
behind them, a row of niches which provides a shadowed
background to the figures rather than an enclosing frame. The
tomb canopy of Edward II at Gloucester is so contrived that
the miniature buttresses are set at an angle to the tomb chest and
attached to the inner canopies by a series of miniature flying
buttresses. Owing to the angle at which the vertical buttresses
are set these flyers are seen on a diagonal view and so lead the
eye inwards towards the upper stages of the canopy and its
pinnacles, a curious example of diagonal composition rather
than the more normal series of parallel planes one behind
another.

The generation that saw the development of these new archi/
tectural tendencies is also that of the most remarkable spires and
towers the middle ages have left to us. Outstanding among
these are those of Salisbury and later those of Wells and
Gloucester, and, latest of all, the great central tower of Canter/
bury. At Salisbury the spire was raised on a thirteenth/century
lantern tower which had presumably originally been sur/
mounted by a wooden pyramidal roof. It is interesting to note
that, both at Salisbury and at Wells, the increased height of the
central feature of the church was apparently undertaken entirely
for external appearance and that the original function of a central
tower as a lantern over the crossing/space was abandoned and
the lantern itself ceiled off internally with a vault. The most
remarkable example of this process, however, was at Glou/
cester, where the rebuilding of the eastern limb of the church
included a vault at a much higher level than the original roof,
and this vault was carried westwards, uninterrupted by the
eastern arch of the crossing, to cover the entire space of the
monastic choir which in the normal way occupied the crossing/
space as well as part of the western limb (PL 86). A similar

474 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

unification of the choir and presbytery space for a monastic
church by the device of continuing the vault of the presbytery
over the crossing was carried out at Sherborne in the fifteenth
century. In general, however, the great churches at Canterbury,
Lincoln, and Durham retained the internal lanterns over the
crossing which they had inherited from Anglo/Norman tra^
dition even when their central towers were rebuilt in the four/'
teenth and fifteenth centuries.

The alterations to the eastern parts of Gloucester are also
celebrated as the earliest surviving example of a fashion in
architecture which was to become widespread over the whole
country in the course of the later fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries and to a large extent to supersede the type of design
which we have been discussing in connexion with Wells,
Exeter, and Ely. This new fashion is now believed to have
originated in London in the first years of the fourteenth century,
where its most striking examples were the new chapter/house
built in the 1320*5 at St. Paul's (PL 870) and the splendid chapel
made for the king's palace at Westminster, which was begun
in the 1290*5 and only finally completed about 1360. The St.
Paul's chapterhouse and St. Stephen's chapel, Westminster,
were the work of masons whose main employment seems to
have been for the court and many of whose names are known to
us. This court style is distinguished by an extraordinary refine^
ment and elegance of mouldings and also for a continued taste
for geometrical forms and a rather sparing use of the new ogee
doublexcurved line so popular in other works of the time. It
seems likely that this predilection for geometrical forms is a
reflection of the close association of the court and London with
the Continent, especially Paris, and many of the motifs of the
court masons can be traced to French practice of the later
thirteenth century. Two of these motifs call for special men'
tion: first, the device of covering one set of structural forms by
another set formed of openwork tracery. This is well known
from the Continent. There are notable examples in the west
front of Strasbourg. Amongst other examples it was adopted
on the exterior of the king's new chapel, where the lines of the

PLATE 84

Howden Church, Yorkshire: east front of choir

PLATE 85

Gloucester Cathedral: tomb of King Edward II

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE 475

mullions of the windows are carried down below the window/
sills on the exterior to interpenetrate the hoodmoulds of the
windows of the undercroft and so form a web of tracery lines
over the whole exterior of the building. Another motif, also as it
seems deriving from French practice, is to enclose an arch in a
rectangular moulded frame and to fill the spandrels so formed
with a pattern of cusped arch/headed panelling. This motif is
found in the lower parts of St. Paul's chapter/house design and
on a magnificent scale in the interior of St. Stephen's chapel,
as recorded by the nineteenth/century draughtsmen who saw
that building before the fire of 1834. These two motifs were
exploited on a grand scale in the new eastern limb of
Gloucester. A large part of the original eleventh/century struc/
ture at Gloucester was allowed to remain up to the top of the
tribune level. The original clerestory was removed and a new
clerestory with very tall windows built on top of the Roman/
esque masonry, the whole being covered.with the vault already
mentioned, the vault shafts of which were carried down un/
broken to the floor. The mullions of the clerestory windows
were also continued down across the face of the Romanesque
tribune and even below the arches of the Romanesque arcade.
They were linked at intervals by horizontal mouldings so as to
form a web of panelled tracery largely disguising the Roman/
esque structure behind them which, however, is in part visible
and lends a sort of piquancy to the contrast of the earlier struc/
ture with the new additions. The actual form of this tracery
screen seems largely derived from the second of the two motifs
we have mentioned at St. Stephen's. The outstanding quality
of the work at Gloucester is its extraordinary ingenuity. The
Romanesque church had been built with a three/sided apse and
ambulatory; the whole of this apse was removed in the course of
the new work, and the last bays of the central vessel were canted
outwards slightly to the north and south; the east end was then
filled with a colossal window composed of cusped tracery
panels, the effect of the canted bays being to disguise the angles
of the main structure with the east window so that in the longi/
tudinal vista the whole east end of the church appears to be

476 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

formed of a great grille of stained glass a striking example of
the desire to get away from the logical and easily comprehended
forms of the earlier architecture.

In addition to these developments in planning and tracery
design, the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries^ saw
equally remarkable developments in vaulting. A great series of
vaults was perfected in the west country, notably at Bristol
cathedral, Gloucester cathedral, and as part of the remodelling
of the eastern parts of Tewkesbury. The Bristol vaults are the
earliest and almost the most remarkable. The church, an
Augustinian house, was built on the plan with the central
vessel projecting two bays to the east beyond the aisles. There is
no clerestory to the main vessel and the aisles are made of equal
height with it. The aisle vaults are of an extreme ingenuity, the
aisle being crossed between each bay by an arch supporting a
horizontal stone beam/like member from the centre of which
the vault springs out in all directions. The main vault is one of
the earliest examples in which, by the use of small additional
lierne ribs, linking the main ribs which spring from the piers,
an elaborate pattern is formed on the vault surface. At Bristol,
and equally in all these fourteentlvcentury west-country vaults,
this pattern is so disposed as to shift the interest of the vault de-
sign from the divisions between the bays and so emphasize the
continuity of the vault in length as against the orthodox con-
tinental system of a well-marked series of vaulted bays. Some of
the vault ribs at Bristol are given cuspings so as to make foiled
figures standing bold from the surface of the vault and give an
effect of depth and light and shade which seems to be another
aspect of the fashion we have already noticed. In one of the sub
ordinate buildings at Bristol an even more fantastic vault is
found, in which the ribs are boldly detached from the vault
surface, almost like internal struts. Other examples are to be
found on a small scale at St. David's and in the later fourteenth
century on a comparatively large scale at St. Mary's, Warwick.
At Wells the choir vault, which dates from the early i33O*s,
that is, perhaps about ten years later than the Bristol example, is
an even more striking example of the use of ribs as a decorative

PLATE 86

,

u

o

|::

iHf

PLATE 87

a. Old St. Paul's Cathedral, London: chapter house and cloister after

Hollar

Sherborne Abbey, Dorset: nave

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE 477

rather than a structural feature. All the main ribs except the
transverse are interrupted by rectangular or kite/shaped foiled
figures made up of these small subordinate ribs so that the vault,
though a perfectly sound structural piece of masonry, no longer
expresses its structure but appears like an elaborately decorated
stone ceiling. At Gloucester the subordinate ribs are multiplied
to such a degree that a tight mesh all-over pattern was pro/
duced, giving a continuous effect from the west side of the
crossing to the east end of the church. The continuity of this
pattern is strongly reinforced by no less than three parallel
longitudinal ribs. At Tewkesbury, which is almost content
porary with Wells, the pattern is less elaborate but equally de/
signed to subordinate structural expression to linear pattern
used to reinforce the unity of effect. All these late vaults from the
mid/thirteenth century onwards are natural, if in the later cases
extreme, examples of the English tendency to exploit the
springing of the ribbed vault as a sort of large stone/built corbel
or bracket. This tendency reaches its full development in the
later fourteenth century with the invention of the fan vault. In
the fan vault the ribs are spaced equally and generally of equal
curvature from the springing, so that a symmetrical part/
conoidal/shaped bracket is achieved. The orthodox fan vault,
of which the grandest examples date from the later fifteenth and
early sixteenth centuries, covers the surface of these conoidal
brackets with a system of panelling formed out of the ribs, and
thereby achieves a continuity of pattern motif with the tracery of
the later medieval windows and the stone panelling applied
to wall surfaces and piers* Sherborne minster is perhaps the
most complete example of this (PL 87 H). The early fan vaults,
however, show this process just beginning. With reference to
chronology, it seems that the earliest fan of which we have
knowledge was built for the new chapter/house at Hereford
and completed by 1 371 : this vault is only known from a draw/
ing by the antiquary Stukeley, made in the early eighteenth
century, but the surviving fragments of the building bear out
the accuracy of Stukeley's detail. This is of extraordinary in/
terest, for the tracery patterns formed by the ribs on the vault at

478 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

Hereford are not quite those of the orthodox later fan, but show
markedly the influence of the court school of masons with their
predilection for French/derived geometrical patterns. Almost
contemporary with the Hereford chapter/house are the first
bays of the cloister at Gloucester, in which the fan vault,
though used on a slightly smaller scale, has already begun to
assume the patterns with which the later examples have made
us familiar.

The invention of the fan vault did not mean that the more
varied type of patterned vault, of which the most extreme ex^
amples have been described at Wells and Gloucester above, was
altogether superseded, though the tendency to make the vault
conoids into symmetrically formed corbel brackets prevails in
almost all important late^medieval vaults. The freer pattern^
making of what is called the lierne vault, as opposed to the fan,
however, continues in fashion right down to the early sixteenth'
century vaults at St. George's, Windsor, a building which
contains some of the most remarkable examples of late vaulting.
In the last quarter of the fifteenth century there was developed,
apparently first at Oxford, a type of vault which is sprung not
from the piers nor the clerestory walls at the sides of the building
but from two points being voussoirs of transverse arches thrown
across the main space, each voussoir being about a quarter of
the way across. In the earliest example, at the Divinity School
at Oxford (chap. XV, PL 109 V} 9 the great transverse arch is
plainly visible and the voussoir consists of a huge stone from
the upper part of which the vault is sprung and which hangs
below the line of the arch in the form of a lantern pendant. The
best known and most elaborate example of this type of vaulting
is that of the great chantry chapel which Henry VII added to
the east end of Westminster abbey, in which the pattern of
vault ribs, an orthodox fan pattern, springs from the lower
part of the voussoir stone just above the pendant lantern and
the network of panels conceals the great transverse arch which
passes across the church above it. A further refinement at West'
minster is that the panels are largely openwork tracery through
which a keen eye can just discern the great transverse arch.

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE 479

The discussion of these later vaults has taken us beyond the
point in the general history of architectural taste which we have
reached in the account of the work on Gloucester choir, which
was finished in the middle years of the fourteenth century, A
profound change had come into being in the later years of the
century which is possibly an example of the influence of the
great constructional carpenters on the whole attitude to archi-
tectural design. This is the vogue for the four-centred, rather flat
arch, a form which comes naturally in wood, where a slightly
cambered tie-beam roof gives a very spacious effect to the interior
of a church while providing the slope to the outside of the roof
which is suitable to the use of lead as a roof covering, a material
which lies more easily on a low-pitched than a high-pitched
roof. One of the finest early examples of this flat four/centred
arch treatment that survives to us is in the parish church of
Northleach in Gloucestershire, where all the arcades have this
form. This gives an entirely different kind of space effect, at
once broader and with less emphasis on the vertical direction,
than the more acutely pointed two-centred arches which had
prevailed up to that time. The later vaults, both lierne and fan,
but especially the former, tend to exploit this form of arch and
so give a broader space effect to the whole interior of the build
ing. It seems likely that the taste for pendant vaults which we
have mentioned at Oxford and at Westminster may also owe
something to the invention of the great carpenters, for in the
later fourteenth century a type of open timber roof was de
veloped whereby the trusses spanning the building have on
each side a series of great wooden brackets known as hammer-
beams, the projecting ends of which are adorned either with
sculpture or pendants.The earliest known hammer-beam roof
is said to be a comparatively modest example in one of the sub
ordinate monastic buildings at Winchester, but the earliest
surviving important example is the astonishing roof of 67 feet
span built for Richard II in the 1390*5 at Westminster hall.
This was the work of Hugh Herland the king's master carpen
ter, and superseded the aisled treatment of the hall, which dated
from the late eleventh century. It seems likely that a great

5526.2 H

4^0 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

hammer/beam, roof had been built a few years before the work
at Westminster over the great hall at Dartington in Devon
for King Richard's elder half-brother. In the course of the
fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries the hammer/beam roof
became extremely popular both for parish churches especi/
ally in eastern England and for the halls of important domestic
buildings. Notable examples survive at Eltham palace of the
later fifteenth century and at Hampton Court dating from the
1530*5 and already showing signs of renaissance influence in its
carved details. The most extravagant examples of the hammer-
beam roof, however, are to be found in the East Anglian
parish churches such as Knapton in Norfolk and March in
Cambridgeshire. In these examples the trusses have two super/
imposed series of brackets, each terminating in angels with out/
spread wings, so that the view up into the roof seems to be filled
with a pattern of such angel figures. The ingenuity of such de/
vices as these was exploited in the court architecture of the early
Tudor kings to express a taste which may be described as that
of artificial pageant chivalry, which can be traced from the
mid/fourteenth century onwards, a simple example of which
may be seen in the growing use of heraldry as a decorative motif
not only for tomb design, but as architectural decoration on a
major scale. This heraldic pageant chivalry taste reaches its
most extreme expression in the ante/chapel of King's College
chapel, Cambridge (PL 88), built under the terms of the will
of Henry VII, in his chantry chapel at Westminster, and at
St, George's, Windsor.

The most notable feature of the architecture of the later
middle ages in England is the number and splendour of the
parish churches.

The parish churches of the earlier middle ages (twelfth and
thirteenth centuries) are in general notable for the evidence
they^ provide of local building technique, and occasionally
for richness of decoration, rather than for size or architectural
ambition. The most common plan forms are a series of
rectangular spaces arranged axially: twofold aisleless nave
and square, or more rarely apsidal, choir; or threefold nave,

PLATE 88

King's College, Cambridge: antC'chapel from the east

PLATE 89

a. Leuchars Parish Church, Fife

L Lawford Parish Church, Essex: from the south-east

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE 481

square choir, and apsidal presbytery. In some instances the
square choir of the threefold type formed the base of a tower,
though generally the church bells were hung in a bell cote on
the west gable. Examples where no expense has been spared to
enrich the building decoratively are Kilpeck in Herefordshire,
with its celebrated porch and chancel arch sculpture, Iffley in
Oxfordshire, with a notable treatment of the west front, and
Leuchars in Fife, a rather later example (PL 89 a). A variation
of this type of plan is where a tower is added to the west of the
nave, anticipating the usual form of parish church of the
middle ages. A less usual plan form than the axially arranged
series of 'boxes* is the aisleless cruciform church with a central
tower, of which the remains of a fine and richly/decorated ex/
ample dated 1124 is at Castor in Northamptonshire, and a
remarkable thirteentlvcentury example at Potterne in Wilt'
shire. These are all examples of basic types of plan; most often
early medieval parish churches have been enlarged or re-'
modelled at various dates. The most usual modification is the
addition of aisles to the nave, or, less frequently and generally
later, to the chancel. This, as also with the addition of porches,
western towers, transeptal chapels, &c., was done piecemeal,
and it is this process which gives the parish churches their evi'
dential value as documents in the religious and social history of
the middle ages and also a great part of their picturesque appeal.
The number of early parish churches which have a truly
architectural quality such as one finds in the great churches is
comparatively small. They are to be found in large villages or
small towns; the larger and more ancient towns were divided
into a large number of small parishes, and even when they were
very rich, as in Lincoln and Norwich, were, at any rate before
the thirteenth century, remarkable for the number rather than
the splendour of their churches, and this was particularly
true of London. In such quickly grown seaports as New
Shoreham or Hythe there are early churches of great magni/
ficence; Melbourne in Derbyshire, a residence of the bishop of
Carlisle, is a church with a great nave of five bays with two
western towers, and at Long Sutton in Lincolnshire and Wai/

482 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

soken in west Norfolk there are other fine late twelftivcentury
aisled naves. These last two, like the later West Walton, were
aisled from the beginning, but in the majority of cases aisles
were added to pre/existing churches, a most striking example
being Geddington in Northamptonshire where, above the
arcades on the face towards the aisles, the late/Saxon blind
arcading which ornamented the exterior of the original church
can clearly be seen. These early aisles are generally narrow and
often have been widened in the later middle ages. In the fenx
lands of Lincolnshire and west Norfolk a number of fine
towers were built in the first half of the thirteenth century, as at
Long Sutton and West Walton, and these form an early ex^
ample of a regional group of parish church features such as
became frequent in the late middle ages.

The earliest examples of the late/rnedieval movement for re/ 1
building and beautifying parish churches date from the late
thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries and are to be found in
the great collegiate chancels added to many parish churches in
the midland counties. These buildings are called collegiate as
they were often occasioned by the endowment of chantries
that is, provision for masses to be sung for the souls of the
founders at the main altar of the parish churches, the chancels
of which were elaborately reconstructed to accommodate the
priests endowed to say these masses. The priests were either
formed into an association or college from the beginning, or
were subsequently organized in this way. Splendid examples
of such chancels are to be found in Huntingdonshire, such as
Fenstanton, Bassingbourne in Cambridgeshire, and, perhaps
the most elaborate of all, at Lawford in Essex (PL 89 J). But in
the course of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, notably with
the growth of religious guilds attached to parish churches and
reflecting the widespread prosperity of the country districts due
to the wool and cloth trade, the naves and other parts of the
parish churches shared in this movement for enrichment. That
is not to say that the parish guilds by themselves could afford to
undertake these great works, but they formed a vehicle direct/'
ing the benefactions of the rich towards the parts of the church

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE 483

which were peculiarly the property and responsibility of the
parishioners.

An immense variety of enlarged and enriched parish
churches were developed in the course of the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries. These can be considered on a regional
basis, the regional schools being determined partly by economic
considerations such as the availability and cost of transport of
certain kinds of materials, and partly by the tendency to prex
scribe to the masons particular existing buildings as models
which should be taken as a general guide to what was required
by the clients. These examplars were generally chosen from some
readily available example in the neighbourhood and tend to
the formation of a regional school. One interesting example of
this may be found in a type of church which prevailed both in
Devon and in Kent. This is the prevalence of a plan of three
almost equal vessels, the side aisles being of almost the same
width as the central vessel. All three vessels are covered at an
equal height and there is no clerestory; fine examples of this type
of church are to be found in both these counties. A smaller and
more striking example of the affinities between these two
widely separated regions is to^be found in the church of Chart"
ham in Kent, built in the very first years of the fourteenth
century or even a little earlier. This church consists of a broad,
spacious chancel, broad but rather shallow transepts, and a
wide, aisleless nave, the whole being covered with wagon roofs
which meet at the crossing with four great diagonal wooden
ribs, like a skeleton vault. A very favourite addition to make to
a parish church in the late middle ages was a new and am'
bitious tower, generally a western tower. There are clearly
recognizable regional or local schools of design of which those
of Somerset are the most famous, though many of the flint
towers of Norfolk and Suffolk are of admirable proportions
and great splendour. The eastern county churches are par'
ticularly noteworthy for the elegance and slenderness of
their arcades and the great spaciousness of their interiors. The
slenderness of piers was probably a direct consequence of the
need for economy in cut freestone. But above all the eastern

484 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

county parish churches are notable for their elaborate lantern/
like clerestories and the splendour and ingenuity of their open
timber roofs, of which two of the most striking examples of the
hammer'beam type have already been mentioned. In the later
fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries the colourful pageantry
taste we have already referred to produced in East Anglia a
vogue for the use of brickwork and for elaborate patterned
surfaces in specially cut flints inlaid with patterns in freestone.
Inevitably, owing to their generally more modest scale, the
parish church buildings do not give so clear examples of the
changing taste as we have traced in the greater church build/
ings, but it can be claimed with some confidence that, broadly
speaking, the story as we have traced it in the great buildings
can be seen reflected and with increasing clarity in the parish
churches,

WORKS FOR REFERENCE

BILSON, J. *The Architecture of the Cistercians*, Arcb.Jnl. Ixvi (1909).
BOND, F. Gothic Architecture in England (1905).

CLAPHAM, A. W. English Romanesque Architecture before the Conquest (1930);
English Romanesque Architecture after the Conquest (1934); Romanesque Architecture
in England (1950).

HARVEY, J. H. 'The Mediaeval Office of Works',>/. Brit. ArchaeoL Assoc. vi
(1941); *The King's Chief Carpenters*, ibid. (1948).

LETHABY, W. R. Westminster Alley and the Kings Craftsmen (1906); Westminster
AObey Re-examined (1925).

PANTIN, W. A. Durham Cathedral (1948).
PRIOR, E. S. Gothic Art in England (1900).

Royal Commission on Historical Monuments: St. Allans Cathedral (1952) (In>
ventory of the Historical Monuments in London: I. Westminster Abbey).

SALZMAN, L. F. BwUwg in England down to 1540 (1952).

THOMPSON, A. HAMILTON. The Ground Plan of the English Parish Church (1911);

The Historical Growth of the English Parish Church (1913); The Cathedral Churches

of England (192$).

WEBB, G. F. Ely Cathedral (1951); Gothic Architecture in England (1951).
WILLIS, R, The Architectural History of Canterbury Cathedral (1845).

XIV. ART

T

HE emergence of a genuine medieval art, a synthesis of
barbaric and classical styles, took place in England at
the close of the seventh century. Its greatest centre was
Northumbria, following the synod of Whitby in 664,
but at Canterbury also there was a new creative impulse. Celtic
art had reached a fine skill in pattern, which is known to us in
the scroll work of objects such as the Desborough mirror or the
somewhat later, less vigorous and daring ornament of the Batter^
sea shield, both of them to be seen in the British Museum. The
Romans brought their tradition of monumental figure sculp"
ture: their officers carried with them elaborately chased silver
plates, such as the Corbridge lanx found in 1735 on the bank
of the river Tyne, or the Mildenhall treasure discovered in Suf/
folk in 1946: above all, in their villas they laid out mosaic pavex
ments whose abstract designs had a direct and easy appeal to
native British craftsmen and underlie the great triumphs of
Northumbrian book decoration. A Romano'Celtic phase pro'
duced works such as the small Gloucester head or the Bath
gorgon, where classical forms are infused with a crude but in'
tense barbaric emotionalism. The Anglo/Saxon Conquest
brought new types of ornament, particularly used for metal
work, drawn from a Celtic tradition, but transmuted through
wanderings and contacts unknown to Celtic Britain. The
great burial treasure found in 1939 at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk
shows a range of artistic achievement which had never, before
its discovery, been suspected. The metal work is of the highest
quality, using stylized but recognizable human and animal
forms (PL 90), and Prankish coins and two large Byzantine
silver bowls prove that there were wide and prosperous external
contacts. The burial itself, if the term can be used, for there was
no corpse, is generally assigned on the evidence of the coins to

486 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

the years 650-70, but an earlier date is not altogether excluded.
The first great Anglo-Irish illuminated manuscript, the Book
of Durrow (Trinity College, Dublin), also dates from the third
quarter of the century. Its exact place of origin is uncertain. It is
traditionally held to have been written at the monastery of
Durrow in Co. Offaly, but its ornament, particularly its
trumpet'pattern, suggests English motifs, and textually it is
based on the Vulgate version of the Gospels current in the
newly Romanized English Church, Whatever its prove/
nance, it is the precursor, in its magnificent decoration, of the
Lindisfarne Gospels, the great masterpiece of Northumbrian
monasticism, written c. 700. But where the evangelist pages of
the Durrow Gospels are still patterned abstractions, hardly
recognizable as human, the Lindisfarne pages show seated
author portraits, based on classical humanist models, with a
genuine attempt to give proportion and roundness to the forms,
a pictorial tribute to the return of Christian Rome (PL 91 a).
The splendour of the book lies, however, in its glowing, inx
tricate initials, where trumpet patterns swell and curve, ribbon
animals ceaselessly interlace, bending birds appear, and closely
woven patterns fill the background spaces with an ever-chang/
ing, brilliant inventiveness (PL 91 ). The new classical feeling
can be seen in two pieces of carving, the Bewcastle and Ruth/
well crosses, the former datable by an inscription to c. 700, the
latter undated but nearly contemporary work. Both crosses have
figure/subjects; those of Bewcastle are somewhat flatter and
stiffen Both have affinities to the Lindisfarne evangelists and
also to the figure of St. Cuthbert incised in 696 upon his coffin.
On the Ruthwell cross the figures, worn and weathered
though they are, still have a plastic sense and a noble dignity
that stand comparison with the masterwork of any period. The
huge, simplified gesture of the Magdalen at the feet of Christ
has an expressiveness which transcends any crudity in the
naturalism of its execution (PL 92 a).

Nowhere in north-western Europe has this union of the
classical and the barbaric produced such striking work, and it
was not long before its influence began to spread. Northunv

PLATE 90

PLATE pi

.2 2

il ~^" *S

_^> II . __ _ ^ s5 15 3

g'u S ^-s |i

ART 487

brian manuscripts rapidly became known on the Continent.
The famous copy of the Vulgate, the Codex Amiatinus, was
taken by Abbot Ceolfrid of Jarrow (d. 716) to Rome as a
present for Pope Gregory II, and as befitted a work for such a
recipient its illustrations, based on a sixth/century original,
probably the Codex Grandior of Cassiodorus, are the most fully
classical of all the Northumbrian paintings. It was a return
traffic, for, earlier, Benedict Biscop had brought paintings from
Rome to Jarrow and Wearmouth, which no doubt were among
the models on which this northern renaissance drew. At Ech/
ternach in Luxembourg, a house founded c. 700 by St. Willi/
brord, the Northumbrian/born missionary archbishop of
Friesland, there was a scriptorium which carried on the North/
umbrian tradition; the Echternach Gospels (Paris, Bibl. Nat.
MS. lat. 9389), where a new decorative effect is achieved by
setting the evangelist symbols against a background patterned
only by black/line rectangular divisions, may be taken as an
example of this artistic dispersion. This greater simplicity is a
mark of the more restrained style of the middle years of the
eighth century. In Mercia, however, in the second half of the
century, under the prosperous rule of Offa, there is a full use of
exuberant ornament, thinner and prettier than any as yet men/
tioned, which can be seen in the pages of the Vatican Gospels
(MS. Barb. lat. 570), the English contemporary of the great
Irish Book of Kells, and in the carvings preserved at Breedon
and Fletton. This is a period where the arts are all too little
known, and extant examples all too few. Offa's coins show
a high ability in craftsmanship and compare favourably with
any contemporary designs in north/west Europe. His contacts
with the court of Charlemagne introduced new continental
influences and motifs such as the scraggy, prowling lion that
appears on the Rothbury cross in Northumberland and is to
be found amongst the foliage of the Ormside bowl, one of the
most admirable of our Anglo/Saxon pieces of metal work. The
increased skill in figure representation, as shown in the evan/
gelists of the^Vatican Gospels and in some of the Breedon
carvings, probably owes something to these foreign influences.

488 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

Southern England has on the whole less striking pieces to its
credit. If the fragments of the Reculver cross are contemporary
with its base, set in the pavement of a seventlvcentury Saxon
church, then Kentish sculpture had reached a fluency and ease
of representation unknown farther north; but stylistically these
pieces would fit more easily with a late tenth/century date and
the evidence they present is too problematic for any firm state^
ment. Certainly the treatment of drapery in them is much more
sophisticated than it is in two manuscripts of the midxeighth
century, the Codex Aureus at Stockholm and the Canterbury
Psalter, now Cotton MS. Vespasian A.I in the British Museum.
In them the figures are based on classical prototypes, beyond any
question of relapse into barbaric formulas, though the native
idiom can be seen in the decorative initials. In the kingdom of
Wessex, steadily growing in importance in the ninth century,
we have few certain pieces of evidence. At Codford St. Peter,
between Warminster and Salisbury, there is a cross shaft with
the figure of a man holding a branch in one hand and some small
instrument in the other; it is probably an early example of one
of the seasonal labours. It has a beautiful dancing rhythm
and the whole design is most ingeniously adapted to the space.
Nothing at all like it survives, but it is hard to place stylistically
except as nintlvcentury work (PL 92 &). No doubt there were
many other such imaginative works swept away in the dex
structive inroads of the Danes that filled the middle years of
the century.

The return of better^ordered times under Alfred and his suc^
cessors gave an opportunity for a renewal of the arts. The most
famous object associated, though not certainly, with the great
king himself is the Alfred Jewel, now in the Ashmolean
Museum, inscribed * Alfred had me made*. Here the elaborate
setting is composed of barbaric motifs, though the technique of
the cloisonne enamel may come from continental examples.
Other influences are apparent: between 909 and 916 ^Elflaed of
Wessex, the wife of Edward the Elder, commissioned an em/
broidered stole and maniple, which later were given to the
shrine of St. Cuthbert and enclosed in the saint's tomb, where

ART 489

they were found in 1827. The ornament includes acanthus
sprays and standing figures of prophets and saints; the shape of
the bodies under the draperies is outlined with curving folds;
they are the product of a developed Romanesque style, where
classical and Byzantine models have been fully understood
and their meaning absorbed into the artist's own range of ex/
pression (PL 93 *)

The second half of the century saw a great monastic revival
in England. Aesthetically its most satisfying surviving product
is the group of manuscripts of the so-called Winchester School,
a misleading title, for Canterbury and the monasteries of the
fenland certainly counted for much in the development of the
style. The name, however, is a not unfitting tribute to St.
^Ethelwold, bishop of Winchester, the presiding figure, with
St. Dunstan, in these monastic reforms. Here again there were
close continental contacts, particularly with the abbey of
Fleury. In a Psalter (B.M. MS. Harley 2904), probably written
at Ramsey, the Crucifixion page is a famous masterpiece, and
the same artist or a colleague who had closely absorbed his style
illustrated a Fleury book, St Gregory *s Homilies on Ezekiel,
which is now MS. 175 in the BibHotheque Municipale of
Orleans. The Harley Crucifixion, a work of the last quarter of
the century, is a tinted outline drawing (PL 93 ), and it is for its
drawings, executed with light, broken, impressionistic strokes,
that the School today is particularly admired. To contempox
raries the magnificent fully painted pages of the Benedictional
of St. ^Ethelwold (now at Chatsworth) were probably more
prized. The Benedictional is indeed a memorable book. The
heavy bars of the frames, the fleshy acanthus leaves, the stolid,
somewhat flaccid figures, fall short of the monumental and are
a not always happy reflection of Carolingian models of the
*Ada* group, but the relation of the figure scenes to the wide
ornamental borders is altogether excellent, and the gay colours,
gold, pinkish red, blue, purple, green, picked out here and
there with opaque white, relieve the heaviness of some of the
figure drawing. In the scene of the Marys at the Tomb the
drapery of the women flutters away to merge with theornaments

490 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

of the frame, and the shields of the sleeping guards echo and
blend with the decorative roundel behind them. The Benedict
tional was illuminated either at Winchester or Ely between 975
and 980; a later book, the Missal (actually Sacramentary) of
Robert of Jumieges (now MS. Y. 6 at Rouen), whose date
must lie between 1008 and 1025, shows fully painted scenes
treated with nervous, twisting lines, which invade even the
backgrounds, squiggled with impatient brush strokes; the
drapery bunches in small folds, giving a wrinkled outline to
the figures, and its lower edges break into zigzag frills. This is
the closest interpretation of 'Winchester* drawing in painterly
terms; classical repose is far away; its odd, pulsating liveliness
is the work of a notable and individual artist (PL 94 a).

The outline drawings, like the paintings of the Benedic/
tional, owe much to Carolingian models. Here the influence is
that of the Rheims style, of which a famous example, the
Utrecht Psalter, was at Canterbury by the end of the tenth
century, when a copy of it was made there (B.M. MS. Harley
603). These crowded scenes, filled with small figures, seem to
have awoken a ready response in English artists. The Psalter,
now B.M. MS. Cotton Tiberius C. VI, is an example of work
on a larger scale; its fine, uncrowded drawings measure 9j
inches by 5! inches and the figures fill the space. It is a book
with no provenance, but it clearly dates from the middle years
of the eleventh century. The sensitive modelling of earlier work
has now become stylized; the hair is set in formal curls, the
features fixed in a rigid pattern; it has a fine remoteness and
monumentality, but the emotional intensity of the Harley
Crucifixion or the dazzling liveliness of the Sacramentary of
Bishop Robert are no longer within its scope.

Of tenth/ and eleventh/century sculpture tantalizingly little
is known. Bradford/on/Avon has two large angels, each about
5 feet in length, which must have been part of a great tenth'
century rood. Carved in comparatively low relief, they are very
linear in concept, and their long albs have the frilled edges of
the Winchester School. Some ivory carvings reflect more clearly
the stylistic phases to be found in manuscript illumination,

PLATE 92

a I

a. Detail of the Ruthwdl Cross: Mary Magdalen at the foot of Christ. The cross is a little over

i y ft. high and is made of red sandstone. The figures are carved in deep relief

b. Codford St. Peter: stone shaft, about 4 ft. high. The two sides have decorative scroll
work. The dating of this remarkable piece of carving is extremely uncertain. Kendrick

places it on the evidence of its ornamental portions in the first half of the ninth century

PLATE 93

. The propk Joel from the stoleof St. Cuthbert(2f in. wide). Froman inscription

on the stole it is known to have been made by the command of Queen ^Iflzd

(d. c. 916). Silk and metal thread on silk

t. Crucifixion & mMS.Harley2904, 3 1 '. Probable dating, 970-^0. Drawingin

red outline, heightened by black strokes; some blue is used in the folds and patterns of

the drapery. Size of page, i

ART 491

and two ivory figures in the museum at St. Omer, a Virgin
and St. John from a Crucifixion, must be near in date to the
Psalter MS. Cotton Tiberius C. VI. But the main sculptural
achievement remains controversial, a controversy centring
round three celebrated works, the Romsey Rood, the York
Virgin, and the Chichester slabs of the Raising of Lazarus.
The first of these is almost life size, the figure is fairly fully
modelled, the loincloth, looped in a familiar Winchester
style, clings to and is moulded by the body beneath with no trace
of Winchester fluttering lightness: it is possible to regard it as a
contemporary parallel to the Harley Crucifixion, and to ex/
plain stylistic differences by the needs of the different mediums,
or to place it in the early twelfth century as part of a new wave of
humanistic feeling. The York Virgin, headless but beautifully
cut in hard, local stone, is claimed as eleventh century on ac/
count of its epigraphy, or as mid/twelfth on the treatment of its
drapery; it remains a puzzling piece, but the Chichester slabs,
both from the history of the cathedral and from their own stylistic
qualities, must come from the first half of the twelfth century.
In English ornament in the tenth and eleventh centuries
Viking influences steadily become apparent. Its earliest manifest
tations, the so/called Jellinge style, seem to have coincided with
and been part of a general revival of stylized animal carving,
where the animals are enmeshed in thick bands of interlace, a
revival that is particularly associated with the Danelaw and
with Northumbria. The second Viking style, the Ringerike,
is on the other hand mainly confined to southern England. Its
features are a reduction of the fulHeaved Winchester acanthus
to a thinner, irregular foliate design, which sprouts unex/
pectedly from the tails and feet of the animals depicted, as in the
gravestone carved with a stag in the Guildhall Museum. In the
last phase, the Urnes style, beasts and plants dissolve into flow/
ing ribbon pattern, a curious barbarism beside the Winchester
humanism. The process can be seen at work on a fine tym/
panum preserved at Southwell. Tympana and fonts are in fact
the most numerously preserved examples of Anglo/Saxon
stonework, particularly in smaller, country churches; but they

492 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

are hard to date exactly and many of their carvings, vigorous
but crude, may be later products subject to a considerable pro-
vincial time-lag.

In the graphic arts, as opposed to architecture, the Norman
Conquest made comparatively little break. The reforming in-
fiuence which had created the Winchester style was already
losing its impetus. Normandy had its own school of illumina-
tors and Norman books soon appear at Durham and Exeter,
but the Norman School owed much to England, and Anglo-
Saxons had been working in Norman scriptoria such as Mont"
St.-Michel. The Norman artists used harder outlines, which
never equal the expressive touch of the Winchester style at its
best, and had a liking for stronger, contrasted colours, greens,
yellows, and reds. They filled the trellis-work of their initials
with climbing figures, men hunting or being pursued by fan'
tastic beasts; there is a fierceness, sometimes brutality, in their
imaginings which had not appeared in Anglo>Saxon art; but
their fluttering draperies and twisted poses recall Anglo-Saxon
models, and the two schools easily amalgamated (PL 94 ). In
sculpture the same strange beasts of this age of dragons soon
appear. Normandy seems to have had a less-developed practice
in stone-carving, but the capitals in the crypt and on the outer
arcades of the transepts at Canterbury, which must almost
certainly precede the consecration of 1127, show Norman
fancies interpreted with a new and very considerable skill (PL
95 a). They provided stylistic types for a whole school of south
ern carving, of which Romsey and Christchurch still have
notable examples. Moving northwards, Henry Ts foundation
at Reading was another centre, more Anglo-Saxon in the
wiriness of its interlaces, gripped by cat's masks as in some
Winchester initials; here beakheads were employed as voussoir
ornament, and it may well be at Reading abbey that this char
acteristically English motif was popularized. Leominster in
Herefordshire, a cell of Reading, provided a local centre for the
diffusion of the Reading style, and a local sculptor of originality
and force gave to Herefordshire carving, in churches such as
Kflpeck and Shobdon and on fonts such as those at Castle

PLATE 94

tf. Adoration of the Kings, from Ac missal of Robert of Jumieges, MS, Rouen
Y. 6, 37. The size of the page is I ^ x 8} in. The quick brush/strokes givea curious

shimmering effect of motion to this remarkable piece of visual interpretation

i. Initial from British Museum MS. Royal 12 E XX ( 124*'). This small

drawing, by a Canterbury or Rochester artist, where each beast bices its man, is an

epitome of the inventive violence of the .first half of the twelfth century

PLATE 95

a. Capital from St. Gabriel's Chapel in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral A

fox plays the recorder and a griffin the harp. These represent a favourite medieval

fable, the beasts mentioned by Boethius in his Comolatio, that despite their long

ears do not understand the music that they make

k St. Paul and the Viper. Wall painting in St.
Anselm's Chapel, Canterbury Cathedral, c, 1160.
Approximately 3 ft. 6 an. square. The saint is
shown against a blue background, framed in a
green border. He wears a buff mantle over a white
garment; the folds are painted in red

ART 493

Frome and Erdisley, a particular individuality which makes
them the most interesting of the products of our provincial
schools. Here and in many parts of England (the Yorkshire
churches are a notable group) there is an inventive confusion of
dragons, griffins, signs of the zodiac, symbols of the evangelists,
wild huntsmen, and creatures from the bestiary. A great Bible
in the Bodleian Library (MS. Auct. E. Infra, i and 2) has
a remarkable gallery of such themes and brings to a high state
of excellence this tangled, violent pattern making.

Figural representation of a naturalistic kind advanced more
slowly. A Psalter made for St. Albans about 1130 (now pre-
served at St. Godehard's church in Hildesheim) shows a new
wave of Byzantine influence, which possibly came through
Ottoman versions, and in which the continental upbringing
and contacts of the Empress Matilda may have had some part.
The biblical scenes are still highly formalized, but are lucidly
set out in a framed space, not enmeshed in whirling coils. The
Bury Bible, painted at Bury St. Edmunds in the middle years
of the century, is the greatest product of this phase, the work of
an important artist who could create a sense of space around his
figures, and whose deep-toned colours lend a new solemnity to
his work. Close in style, possibly even by his hand, is the fresco
of St. Paul and the viper at Canterbury (PL 95 &), the greatest
surviving medieval wall-painting in England. Here a Byzan
tine style and pose has been fully absorbed and a singularly
impressive and convincing work produced. Canterbury has
other wall-paintings, in St. Gabriel's chapel in the crypt,
probably dating from the 1 1 3O*s, which are of fine quality and
further evidence of the lost achievement in this branch of the
arts, now little known except in shadowy remains or in the
reduced scale of manuscript illumination.

Throughout the century there is a dual movement, natural
ism, linked with Byzantine humanist conventions, and the old
barbaric tradition of intricate and formalized patterns. Some
times the two blend as in the brilliant pages of the Lambeth
Bible, or in the work of some of the hands, in particular that of
the so-called Master of the Leaping Figures, in the Winchester

494 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

Bible. But gradually naturalism triumphs. The draperies cease
to cling in rounded folds, as though damp and moulded to the
body beneath; instead they fall loosely round figures which, a
little stiffly at first, have relaxed from their strained and twisted
postures and are firmly seated, with some sense of perspective,
in their chairs (PL 96 a). Narrative interest widens: a Psalter
made for Gloucester, now in the Staatsbibliothek of Munich,
has some eighty full pages of Old and New Testament scenes.
It is a return to a classical, humanist style, worked out simul^
taneously in England and northern France; it is in fact a
Channel style, and it represents the interrelationships of the
Angevin Empire rather than any national trend (PL 96 &).

In sculpture this classicizing movement was to lead in France
to the great triumphs of the west portals of Amiens and Rheims
and the south porch of Chartres. England, fertile and imagi^
native in manuscript painting, had no equal sculptural achieve^
ment, at least as far as can be judged from the existing remains,
much battered by Puritan fanaticism and crumbled by English
weather. When in 1 146 Alexander the Magnificent, bishop of
Lincoln, began the remodelling of his cathedral fagade, he
borrowed many motifs from recent work at St. Denis, and his
carved columns show a curiously direct relationship with the
French example. But there is no trace of the column figures
which were the great innovation at St. Denis and were to have
in France so distinguished a future. These do not appear in
England till some years later, at Rochester, and they never bex
came a common English feature. The museum of the York'
shire Philosophical Society has a group of noble figures,
prophets and apostles, almost life size, either from a doorway
or the inside of the choir: they must date from the last quarter of
the twelfth century, and have a real sense of form and a classical
certainty in the fall of the drapery; but, impressive though they
are, they are provincial work compared to their French contenv
poraries. The same is true of the two reliefs of seated apostles at
Malmesbury, precursors of York by probably some twentyfive
years, robust and vigorous, memorable in the rhythm of their
grouping, but somewhat coarsely cut (PL 97 a). English artists

PLATE 96

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PLATE 97

a. The Malmesbury Apostles. One of a pair of tympana carved on either side

of the south porch of Malmesbury Abbey, c. 1160. The figures are almost life

size. On the right St. Peter can be identified by his large key. The figures are

uncouth, the postures naif, but the group has the strong Hnear rhythm that

is one of the most characteristic qualities of English twelfth/century art

b. Detail from the Gloucester candlestick in the Victoria and Albert
Museum. The candlestick is in gilt bell/metal and 23 J in. high. It was
given to Gloucester by Abbot Peter between 1104 and 1113. It may be
taken as a small/scale model of the large paschal candlesticks which are
known to have existed in many of the greater churches

ART 495

were happier in the decorative work of capitals and voussoirs,
in the small trellised scenes of the outside of the Malmesbury
porch or in the subtle variations of the simple foliage capitals
that were the only ornaments tolerated by the strict Cistercian
houses. A curious trend is noticeable in decorative art: the
elaborate intertwinings, inhabited scrolls, and beakheads of the
Reading school give way to a severely geometric, regular pat'
tern, the finest example of which is perhaps Hugh du Puiset's
doorway in the castle of Durham; this in turn is replaced by the
new classicism, the magnificent acanthus capitals of the rebuilt
choir at Canterbury, the freely curving foliage of Wells, inter'
spersed with a three^petalled leaf that has a new naturalism of
growth.

To contemporaries, however, if we may judge from the
comments of the chroniclers, art meant above all the shining
splendour of metal work, inlaid with enamels and jewels, the
great candlesticks, the carved altars and shrines, that gleamed
in the great cathedrals and were singularly adapted to their ill/lit
mysteriousness. Nitens, 'gleaming*, is the characteristic word;
but all this admired output is hardly known to us, save for
small models such as the Gloucester candlestick (Victoria and
Albert Museum) (PL 97 &), or enamel plaques, mainly dex
tached from the object they originally decorated. This love of
sparkle and brilliance can, however, still be appreciated by us
in one medium, that of stained glass, and in particular at
Canterbury where there remains much late twelfth'century
glass, displaced, restored, but sufficiently preserved to show its
great beauty, the final flowering of our Romanesque style; and
in the cathedral's later windows we can follow the develop'
ment, in the panes of the miracles of Becket, of the new
Gothic mannerisms.

For the classic phase of transition is not truly Gothic in its
figural representation; rather was it striving after a sense of
weight and dignity which was soon to find itself at variance
with the narrow, pointed, crocketed tabernacles of Gothic art.
These, whether the decoration was drawn or carved, demanded
lightness and elegance rather than substance and gravity. In

5526.2

496 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

some manuscripts illustrated at Peterborough under Abbot
Robert de Lindeseye (1214-22) we can see the new features
appear: legs and arms are grotesquely thin and give a curious
affected refinement to the poses; there is a graceful swaying
movement throughout; the Cross itself is decorated with bands
of English stiff leaf. In the works of one of our named illumi^
nators, William de Brailes, the scenes are set in ovals linked by
decorative patternings which recall the tracery of a window; in
a Psalter at Trinity College, Cambridge (MS. B. II. 4), some of
the scenes used in the Gloucester Munich Psalter are repeated;
probably some twentyfive years only lie between them, but the
thin'limbed, mincing figures of the later version are a new world
of fantasy, charming, tender, and ingenuous, fresh in inspira^
tion, lacking the less couth force and grandeur of the upo's
(PL 98 ).

In sculpture the main surviving English achievement of the
first part of the thirteenth century is the west fafade of Wells.
Here a great army of statues, including 176 fulUength figures,
interspersed with smaller biblical scenes in quatrefbil openings,
were set in tiers of pointed niches covering the whole facade.
When fully painted, as traces show that they originally were, it
must have been a fantastically imaginative spectacle. It has no
exact parallel in France, and the small size of the doorways,
with their lack of emphasis, is a peculiarly English feature.
Iconographically it is a great summary of the Church triunv
phant. The work seems to have been mainly completed be^
tween 1220 and 1242. Many different hands were at work on
it, though there is little marked stylistic development and some
of the more archaic, squatter figures are scattered amongst the
finer examples. The Gothic counterpoised pose is sometimes
apparent and in the higher ranges there are thin, elongated
figures, which contrast strikingly with the finely proportioned
deacons on the bottom range of the eastern gable. These latter
are the work of a considerable master of the close of the classicist
period: rarely has virile manhood been so vigorously portrayed
as in these powerful heads, finely erect on their strong necks, the
broad/built frames curiously contrasted with the long, loose

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PLATE 99

a. The incredulity of St. Thomas: wall painting in the south

transept of Westminster Abbey. The figure of Christ is about

9 ft. high. His mantle is red, that of the apostle dark green over a

pale yellow tunic

Tomb of Eleanor of Castille, bronze cast by William Torel, 1291-2, Westminster Abbey

ART 497

robes, in which the fine pleating of the linen is exactly rendered
(PL 98 &). There are no foreign models that can be exactly set
beside them, though resemblances of course exist. It is a
curiously unified and English school, whose influence can be
seen in some of the tomb effigies of the time and in some
scattered figure/carvings; an influence which lies behind the
sculpture of Westminster abbey, though here new and power/*
ful contacts with France came into play.

The work on the abbey, the new choir, the chapterhouse,
the crossing and transepts, was in progress between 1245 and
1269 and was contemporaneous with the building of the
Sainte Chapelle (1245-9) and the new choir of Amiens (c.
1240-69). Henry III and St. Louis were linked by marriage,
piety, mutual tastes, and rivalry. There can be little doubt that
the English king in his devoted patronage followed closely
the styles and fashions of France. Westminster was a great foyer
of all the arts. Some of its wall-paintings survive, and the In/
credulity of St. Thomas and the St. Christopher, where the
figures are approximately nine feet high, are amongst the most
striking of our surviving Gothic wall-paintings. Rediscovered
in 1936, they still have some of the brilliancy of their colour
contrasts, and the great curve of St. Thomas's arm is a piece of
genuine visual expressionism (PL 99 a). Some of their charac/
teristics recall the contemporary illumination of the St. Albans
School; they have the same curled hair and the exaggerated
sidelong glance of the eyes; the mannered elegance of the poses
is more French than English, but it is an elegance that was be/
ing rapidly assimilated by English artists. The Westminster re-
table comes from the same artistic phase and, though much
damaged, is a striking example of the high quality of the fit-
tings of this sumptuous church. The mosaic paving of the
presbytery, still wonderfully intact, and the mosaic on the base
of the Confessor's shrine and Henry's own tomb are Cosmati
work by Italian craftsmen.

Henry's effigy was of bronze, cast in London by William
Torel in 1291-2. In the same years Torel had made the effigy of
Eleanor, wife of Edward L This is a work of great beauty. The

498 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

head on its engraved cushions is formalized, with probably no
attempt at natural likeness, and the hair is set in regular curves;
but this severity is counteracted by the flow of the drapery,
which has a suavity of line that had not yet been achieved in
English stonexcarving (PL 99 &). These bronze figures introx
duce a notable line of tomb effigies which continue throughout
the later middle ages to represent much that is best in English
craftsmanship. Purbeck marble was in the thirteenth century
the fashionable material for the major tombs, and here the
hardness of the material resulted in a simplified treatment of the
features and a stiff rigidity of the drapery; both qualities can be
seen in one of the finest examples, the tomb of King John at
Worcester, probably about 1230. The sculptor of another
splendid monument, the effigy of Archbishop de Gray at York,
was more subtle in the use of his tools, more able to suggest the
forms below the drapery. The archbishop lies beneath a pin'
nacled canopy, also of Purbeck marble, and these canopied
tombs, ever increasing in elaboration till they come to enclose a
complete chapel, were to provide some of the happiest express
sions of English plastic sense.

As compared with these tombs, but little religious sculpture
has survived. The great doorway of the north transept at West'
minster was rich in statuary but nothing now remains of it.
The Virgin and the Angel of the Annunciation from the
chapter/house show us the Wells tradition meeting with a new
French civility, a subtlety in the sense of gesture, a modishness
in the gathering of the drapery, which are outside the range of
the provincial schools. But it is the angels of the transept
spandrels that reveal Westminster sculpture at its best. Carved
in such high relief as to be almost free standing, they have a
liveliness of movement, a sureness of modelling, and a vigorous
charm that can hold their own against any angelic rivalry.
Hard to see from floor level, they remain, preserved from icomv
clasm by their remoteness, one of the greatest treasures of our
medieval inheritance (PL 100 a).

Beside them the angels of the choir at Lincoln are heavy,
boorish/looking creatures, their robes treated in flat planes with

PLATE 100

a. Angel with censer: south transept, Westminster Abbey. There is no
exact evidence for dating, but c. 1255 would fit the general progress of the
building and be stylistically acceptable. Cleaning in 1933-4 revealed traces
of the original painting and gilding, which doubtless made the figures tell
more convincingly from the height at which they are placed

b. Angel of Judgement, from the Angel Choir, Lincoln Cathedral, c. 1270.
Seen from below the distortion of the left arm is corrected by perspective

PLATE 101

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ART 499

none of the delicate perceptiveness of the Westminster work.
Elsewhere in Lincoln minster, Westminster sculptural in/
fluence is evident. The south door begun in 1256 may well be
modelled on the north door of the abbey; the central tympanum
has been sadly battered and somewhat sentimentally restored,
but the little figures in the foliage scrolls of the arches have the
poise and skill and gestures of the best Westminster work. In^
side the new extension of the choir the angels already men^
tioned were, on the Westminster model, carved in the spandrels ;
as the scheme advanced, its meaning deepened, and instead of
musical instruments one angel holds a naked soul, one a
balance (PL 100 &), a third sternly expels the naked figures of
Adam and Eve. Solidly and broadly made, they are intended to
be seen from below, and it is from there, unlike Westminster,
that their effect is most telling. This is a local school, to whom
the graces of the porch carvings must have seemed strangely
foreign. But the Lincolnshire stone on which the masons
worked has a warmth of tint, and there is no lack of subtlety in
the colouristic effects of contrasting Purbeck colonnettes and of
the play of light and shade over these broad carved surfaces.
The Angel Choir has rare beauties of its own, owing little to
other examples whether English or French.

One feature of the rise of Gothic art is a new emphasis on
simple, recognizable human emotions. In the Crucifixion, St.
John leans his head on his hand, his face furrowed with grief
(PL ici'd). In the Nativity of the Missal of Henry of Chichester
die Virgin gives the Child her breast, while a woman draws
back the bed'covering to aid her (an original inventive touch
typical of this humanizing movement). The seated Virgins no
longer present the Child frontally to the congregation; it is
their own relationship within the carved or painted scene that
is stressed, as in the famous roundel at Chichester, work of the
mid/thirteenth century.

It is in a group of manuscripts associated with Salisbury that
this tendency can best be seen. While in France the ornateness
of Gothic was being stylized and refined to a medium capable
of wide ranges of indirect expressiveness, clear, rhythmical,

500 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

precise as a piece of Mozartian music, England returned to a
more frankly narrative style. The Amesbury Psalter (All Souls
College, Oxford), the Missal of Henry of Chichester (John
Rylands Library), and the Rutland Psalter (Belvoir Castle) are
a trio of masterpieces, all from the middle of the century, Gothic
in their diapered backgrounds, curving postures, softly falling
drapery, but classicist in their sense of rounded forms and their
strong feeling for the human implications of the story. Whereas
in France the window tradition of splitting up the page into
small scenes still held good, these English books have fullxpage
Crucifixions, Nativities, and, in the Rutland Psalter, Old
Testament scenes.

The great central school is, however, that of St. Albans. Here
all the arts were practised: fresco paintings of the thirteenth
century, a nobly posed series of Crucifixions, still survive on the
pillars of the nave; a St. Albans craftsman, Walter of Cok
Chester, made the shrine for the relics of St. Thomas Becket
(translated 1220), and the scriptorium was in the thirties pre^
sided over by Matthew Paris, the historian, famous also to his
contemporaries for his skill in illumination. Space does not
permit here any attempt to distinguish between the many works
that have at various times been claimed for him. In his Chronica
Minora there is a full/page drawing of the Virgin and Child,
with the inscribed figure of Matthew himself kneeling before
her. It is a mature and powerful work; the sense of weight and
volume in the figure, so securely posed upon the seat, would not
seem out of place in the Giottesque painters of the Trecento
(PL i oi ). Far less sympathetic and pleasing than her Ames^
bury sister, this representation of the Virgin shows a grasp of
visual forms in advance of the technical level of the times.
Tinted line drawings, to which English artists have always
been so partial, were much favoured at St. Albans, and it is a
medium which reveals all the skill of the draughtsmanship, the
sense of proportion, the reasonable anatomy, the bunched and
knotted drapery, carefully examined and no longer conven/
tionally formalized. Hair and beards fall in rippling curls, the
heads are slighdy bent and often seen three-quarters full; the

PLATE 102

tf. Abraham and Melchisedeck, from the Psalter in St.. John's College, Cambridge, MS, K. 26:

ii xjjin. These pictures (46 in all) are bond op with a late/fourteenth/century text, and nothing

is certainly known of their provenance. Stylistically they seem to belong to the St Albans style

of the late thirteenth century, and are notable examples of it

i. Felbrigg brass, 1416, Felbrigg Church, Norfolk. Sir Simon Felbrigg and his wife Margaret (cousin
to Anne of Bohemia) who died 1416, when the brass was made, the spaces for the date of his
death being left blank. He is represented as standard/bearer to Richard II. Notice his palettes bearing
St. George's cross, and the garter on his left leg. She wears kirtle, mantle, and crespine head/dress, and
has a pet dog at her feet. Above are the arms of Richard II and his queen, and on the middle pinnacle
those of Sir Simon and his wife, with his badge, a fetterlock, repeated. Richard II's badge, a white hart,
forms the corbel from which the .arches spring

PLATE 103

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Page from the Ormesby Psalter, MS. Douce 366, f. 55^. I n the initial D (blue and
gold, pink background) is Christ before the high priest. In the bottom border is the
story of the unicorn (symbol of the Incarnation) which loses its fierceness in the lap of
a virgin. The main design of the border is in blue and gold, with details in pink and

green

ART 501

slanting eyes, with their strongly marked pupils, gaze always
sideways. It was a centre with wide influences: certainly the
painter of the frescoes at Westminster was well conversant with
the style; a noble book, the Oscott Psalter, has similar echoes,
and might almost be from the hand of the fresco painter; a
group of Apocalypses, notably one in Trinity College, Canv
bridge (MS. R. 16. 2), andoneintheBibliothequeNationale,
Paris (M.S. fr. 403), also have stylistic connexions with the
St. Albans School. The illustrated pages bound in with a later
Psalter, MS. K. 26 of St. John's College, Cambridge, may be
taken as the climax of this style before it loses its individuality
in the general acceptance of the rhythm, poses, and physio^
gnomies of French predominance (PL 102 a).

Illustrated Apocalypses, with their scenes of the terrors of the
Last Days, the Rider on the White Horse, the Manyheaded
Beast, the Mouth of Hell, enjoyed a great vogue at the end of
the century. Their sensational but symbolic incidents replaced
in popular favour the bestiaries, which had long catered for
similar interests and in the early years of the century had at'
tracted some of the ablest artists. One of the Apocalypses (MS.
Douce 1 80 in the Bodleian Library), partially composed of
finished paintings, partially of uncompleted drawings, must
receive special mention, for its angel scenes are among the
loveliest of English conceptions and have a placid, dreamlike
beauty seldom equalled.

More genuinely Gothic in its small, swaying figures and its
closely wrought tracery is the Windmill Psalter (now in the
Pierpont Morgan Library, MS. 19). The calendar is missing
and it is hard to date it at all exactly: but its vigorous figure-'
drawing suggests thirteenth' rather than fourteentlvcentury
work, and its draperies have something of the metallic q uality of
an earlier age. The work of an able and original artist, its famous
initial to the first Psalm, with its fine mesh of pen work, may be
taken as bridging the passage from the Salisbury School to the
great highly decorated manuscripts of the first half of the four'
teenth century. These fall into three main groups, the East
Anglian, with the Ormesby and Gorleston Psalters as ex>

5 2 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

amples; the York-Nottingham group, with Queen Isabella's
Psalter and the Tickhill Psalter; and the so-called Queen
Mary's Psalter and Psalter of Richard of Canterbury, these last
two being decorated by the same hand, a very skilled draughts^
man, whose tinted drawings are among the great examples of
this particularly English convention.

It is in the East Anglian School that we find some of the most
splendid page layouts of English art; script, historiated initial,
linexending, and endlessly elaborate borders are built up into
intricate displays, which at times defeat their own object by bex
coming fussy, wearisome, and a little pretentious. One of the
most splendid, to judge from photographs, was the Douai
Psalter, destroyed in the First World War; the St. Omer and
Gorleston Psalters are characteristic examples; the Ormesby
Psalter, a puzzling book by various hands, shows classical
motifs from some Italian prototype woven into this English
pattern with considerable gain to the firmness and clarity of the
design (PL 103). Latest of the group, the Luttrell Psalter (c.
1 3 3 5^40) has the same treatment of the page, but its grotesq ues,
its large and ludicrous monsters, are crudely drawn and the
line has almost been crossed between fantasy and buffoonery,
though, as in all these manuscripts, there are some charming
genre scenes of everyday agricultural life.

Elsewhere the countryside begins to bulk large in the artist's
consciousness. The chapterhouses of York and Southwell
have each a series of capitals, where the foliage is lovingly
studied from the actual leaves of trees and hedgerows, studied
with an accuracy that makes exact botanical identification
possible (PL 104 a). This is a new relationship between visual
experience and visual art, but these carvers, bred in a long
tradition of pattern making, could still control these natural
istic growths which mask but never forsake the form of the
capitals^ they so notably adorn. From now on these careful
borrowings played a large part in English decorative art.

At the close of the thirteenth century the type of figure sculp/
ture favoured by the court may be seen in the Eleanor crosses
erected in the 90*5. In the canopies the ogee curve is employed

'PLATE 104

tf. Hop'leaves capital: the chapter house, Southwell Minster, c. 1300. The leaves are

carefully naturalistic in their treatment and belong to a style first popularized at Rheims

Cathedral in the mid/thirteenth century. The sculpture of Southwell chapter house is

closely related to that of the chapter house at York

I. Freestone effigy of a knight, early fourteenth century. There is no sense of death or

repose. The knight draws his sword from its sheath, with little regard for his recumbent

posture, but with a fine sense of curvilinear design

PLATE 105

The tomb of Lady Idoine Percy, Beverley Minster: detail of canopy. In the
spandrels of the cusps of the ogee arch are the shields, held by knights
(right) of Edward III (after 1340) and of Lady Idoine's family, FitzAlan;
(left) of the Warenne family and of the lordship of Clun (this last held by
a lady). Below the finial, God the Father holds the soul of the deceased
in a cloth supported by angels. The larger angels, like those on the other
face, may have held emblems of the Passion. Lady Idoine died in 1365,
but the tomb may have been carved during her lifetime

ART 503

(an early instance of it), and the crosses show in their figures
also an increasing sense of curving rhythms. They have a sway/
ing motion, the head slightly bent in a contrary movement to
the hips; the drapery is flatly treated but is edged with small,
crumpled folds. The Virgin and Child in the York chapter/
house, though sadly mutilated, shows this mannered charm of
the first q uarter of the century. Tomb effigies have again survived
more plentifully, and have in the female figures the same smooth
falling garments, though the recumbent attitude presents a
more rigid discipline. This in the male effigies was sometimes
avoided by the popular fashion of crossing the legs, so as to give
a coiling twist to the whole composition. On the knight's
tomb at Dorchester (Oxon.) the movement of legs, arms, and
head are conceived in a series of spirals, which give to it a
curiously modern, abstract appearance (PL I04&). A new
material was now coming into use, alabaster, which was to play
a conspicuous part in English carving of the later middle ages.
An early example is the effigy of Edward II at Gloucester,
placed on his tomb some time after his death, one of the un/
doubted masterpieces of the century, though curiously old/
fashioned in its stylized hair and beard and its sidelong glance
which recall the conventions of the St. Albans School. Above
the effigy rises a splendid canopy, and it is in these elaborate and
detailed works, and in the small/scale carving of bosses, that
fourteentlvcentury invention seems at its happiest. The Percy
tomb at Beverley (after 1339, possibly as late as the 6o's), still
wonderfully complete and sharply cut, is a marvellously in/
genious piece of pattern/making, and has a delicacy and ele/
gance almost at variance with the stone from which it is
wrought (PL 105). The small figures on it have a sureness of
touch in their execution, whereas much of the large/scale
sculpture of the time, such as that on the west front of Exeter
(c. 1 340-80), has a gauche clumsiness. There is in fact much
that is disappointing about English figure/carving as it has
come down to us from the last quarter of the fourteenth and first
quarter of the fifteenth centuries. At a time when France was
producing a new and vigorous realism and Glaus Sluter was

504 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

working in Burgundy, there is nothing in England that shows
any real understanding of these neighbouring movements. The
well/known and much/admired Virgin and laughing Child
on the outer gateway of Winchester College has the smooth,
curving drapery of the international style but none of its suavity
of pose or expression. The best work is to be found in bronze,
but this from its expense was used only for the tombs of the very
great. The effigy of Edward III and the bronze mourners round
the tomb chest are works of genuine feeling, and the effigies of
the Black Prince, Richard II, and Anne of Bohemia make a
notable line of successors, where an actual likeness is more and
more vividly aimed at. This aim can be seen also in the ala-
baster effigy of Henry IV, cruder than the more stylized and in-
dividual 'laton* work, but with a convincing toughness of its
own.

The alabaster quarries of Nottingham, Lincoln, and York
provided much of the material for tomb effigies. They also pnv
vided the basis of a thriving English trade in small statues and
retables, many of which were exported to the Continent. From
the mid-'fourteenth century till the Reformation, the industry
continued, growing more organized and less sensitive in its
productions. Some of the earlier pieces have considerable
quality, and are not unrelated to the much finer work that was
being done on an even smaller scale on ivory plaques, of which
the Grandisson triptych in the British Museum may be taken
as an example. But as the demand grew, it was met by readier,
more repetitive production, and a collection of English ala/
basters, unless most scrupulously picked, soon becomes weari'
some, though even in the second half of the fifteenth century
works were produced as graceful and charming as the ala-
baster slab of the Annunciation inset on the tomb chest of
Thomas Boleyn in Wells cathedral, a wonderfully fresh
variant of a stock theme.

The carved effigy was not the only form of figural conv
memoration. England is pre-eminently the country of engraved
brasses, though the metal sheets seem mainly to have been
imported from Flanders and Cologne and the most splendid

ART 505

brasses in England, those in St. Margaret's, King's Lynn, are
by Flemish workmen. In England as opposed to the Conti/
nent the figures were cut out and bedded in stone, lettered sur-
rounds and canopies being likewise cut out (PL 102 &). From
the early fourteenth century till the late sixteenth this remained
an extremely popular form of memorial, and even today many
survive. At its best this is a medium of delicacy and distinc-
tion; in its economical lines a great survey of costume and
armour is chronicled for us; but it lent itself to repetition and
shop production and the later brasses reach a low level of in-
sipid clumsiness.

The history of English painting is at this stage confused and
hard to judge. From 1350 Master Hugh of St. Albans was in
charge of the painted decorations of St. Stephen's chapel at
Westminster. Something of the general design is known from
early nineteentlvcentury copies, and a fragment, the scene of
the children of Job, is now preserved in the British Museum. It
is curiously Italianate in conception; the rounded modelling,
the relations of the figures to the space are quite apart from
Gothic conventions. Master Hugh is known to have had some
painted 'Lombard* panels; certainly in some way Italian
models were available. Their influence is visible not only in
these wall-paintings but in the work of an English illuminator
responsible for a series of illustrations to Genesis (B.M. MS.
Egerton 1894) and to the so-called Derby Psalter. This was a
Giottesque influence; Sienese models, more closely bound up
with the general international style, can also be traced in pages
such as the Gorleston Psalter Crucifixion. For a time it seems as
though the English decorative school was submerged beneath
an influx of continental styles.The English idiom of detailed,
intricate surface patterning re-asserts itself, however, all the
more intensely because on a small scale, in the psalters made for
the Bohun family, where the Italian and English influences
meet and blend.

English art was now losing its anonymity, at least to the ex
tent that there are many known names of master masons, sculp
tors, painters, illuminators, and glaziers. It Is not always, how-

5<*5 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

ever, easy to attach particular works to particular names. Mr.
John Harvey's researches have done much to bring these artists'
names out of the oblivion of accounts and inventories and to
associate them with relevant works, but when a great building
was undertaken many hands were employed and we can rarely
be sure that the genius visible in some work of art corresponds
with the name that figures in the account roll. Such an artist with
no identified paintings is Gilbert Prince, whose name figures
frequently in the royal accounts between 1364 and 1396; the
tasks noted are painting of banners, funeral pomps, festival
decorations, but such were the normal employments of great
painters from Leonardo downwards. The work that may with
most likelihood be assigned to him is the large panel, 86 inches
by 43 inches, of Richard II, probably painted for Westminster
abbey and still hanging there. Gilbert, however, as he did not
die till 1 3 96, is a possible claimant for the most celebrated court
painting of the time, the Wilton Diptych, for this famous
problem piece of Richard II kneeling before the Virgin is
generally dated, on heraldic grounds, to c. 1395. There has
been much controversy as to whether its delicate and precise
beauty, its convincing masterliness, are due to a French or
English hand. Subject and provenance make it clear that it has
an English origin; stylistic parallels are more easily found in
France, but in the absence of English comparative material
these cannot be considered conclusive. Many of the due de
Berri's treasures have survived. When the rebels burned John
of Gaunt's palace of the Savoy in 1381, what may not have
perished in the fire?

English painting at the close of the fourteenth and opening of
the fifteenth centuries is in fact wonderfully varied in its styles.
A series of paintings collected from a scrapbook and recon/
structed into a Carmelite Missal (B.M. MS. Add. 29704-5,
44892) shows Bohemian and Burgundian influences upon the
various artists at work on it. A certain Hermann Scheere, an
illuminator who had connexions with Cologne, was working
in London in the opening years of the fifteenth century and was
the leading artist amongst those responsible for the Bedford

ART 507

Hours (B.M. MS. Add. 42131) painted between 1414-35.
Doubtless other foreign artists were attracted to Lancastrian
London and settled and practised there. John Siferwas, a Do^
minican friar, is a named English artist who reflects some of
these foreign influences in his work in the Sherborne Missal
(Alnwick castle) and the Lovell Lectionary (B.M. MS. Harley
7026); in the latter manuscript the presentation plate showing
Siferwas offering his book to Lord Lovell is a striking instance
of the new interest in portraiture, which seems to have resulted
in a numerous production of small panels, showing the head
and shoulders, It is a type common to France and Flanders, and
in England seems to have been practised with no particular in'
dividuality or distinction; but the examples known are mainly,
possibly entirely, sixteenth/century or later copies of earlier
works. Now that the Portrait Gallery panel of Margaret
Beaufort is known to have another head beneath its present
surface, and the same gallery's portrait of Henry VII is generally
attributed to a visiting Fleming, English panel portraiture,
between Richard II and Henry VIII, can boast few extant
triumphs. The countess of Salisbury (<:. 1532-5) (National
Portrait Gallery) is perhaps the best survival of this class of
work and its rigid lines and flat head-dress and garments serve
as a link with the decorative costume pieces of the Elizabethan
age. Subject paintings on panel are comparatively rare. The
Norwich retable (Norwich cathedral), a series of five panels
of which the central one, the Crucifixion, has been cut down
to form an even board, has been associated, from its heraldic
ornament, with the suppression of the Revolt of 1 3 81. Painted
on a background of gilt/embossed gesso, the slender, brittle
figures and the carefully painted clothes recall the work of the
East Anglian miniaturists. The painting of the Crucifixion in
the collection of the late Viscount Lee of Fareham is a work
of uncertain provenance but of strongly English characteristics.
It has many parallels with the fine miniatures of the Hours of
Queen Elizabeth (Dyson Perrins Collection, Malvern), which
probably dates from c. 141 5~c. 1440. As compared with the
Norwich retable the figures are more rounded and better pro'

508 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

portioned. The artist had certainly seen some contemporary
Flemish work, but he still uses a conventionalized rocky ground
space, and the blue background, now much flaked, can never
have conveyed much spatial illusion. It is, however, distin^
guished work and if it represents an active school of painters
their output would have taken a worthy place in north-west
European art.

In the most notable surviving painted cycle of the second half
of the fifteenth century, the Eton chapel wall/paintings (1479-
83), Flemish influence is dominant. The artist was William
Baker, a good English name, but iconographically and stylis/
tically the frescoes are dependent on Burgundian manuscripts
of the Miracles of the Virgin, such as that which is now MS.
Douce 374 ^ n ^ e Bodleian Library. Their grisaille treatment,
their full draperies and experiments in perspective are found
some years earlier in the illustrations to Thomas Chaundler's
Litter Apologeticus, now in Trinity College, Cambridge.

One branch of Gothic art was peculiarly associated with
England, that of embroidery. The Cuthbert stole shows an
early proficiency in the medium. It had been recorded as far
back as the Norman Conquest that Englishwomen were very
accomplished with the needle and the Bayeux Tapestry,
whether made in England or Normandy, may be taken as an
example of this type of skill. By the second half of the thir'
teenth century, English embroidery, opus angticanum, enjoyed
a wide continental repute. In the Vatican inventory of 1295 it
is mentioned 113 times. Many pieces, some of them papal gifts,
still survive on the Continent. One of the finest was the gift of
Clement V to St. Bertrand de Comminges, where the figure
scenes are set on a closely patterned ground. Some of them,
such as the education of the Virgin, have a delicacy of line,
which even in this material recalls contemporary works such
as the Douce Apocalypse. The Pienza cope, presented to the
cathedral by Pius IV in 1462, is probably work of the late
fourteenth or early fifteenth centuries, and is one of the most
magnificent of the surviving pieces. The better^known Syon
cope (in the Victoria and Albert Museum) cannot compare

PLATE 106

& Light from Gloucester east
window, 1347-9. Figure of St.
Peter holding the abbey church
which was dedicated to him. His
.nimbus is light blue, the 'diapered
background dark blue. The rest is
carried out in white and yellow
stain. The window was erected .as
a memorial of Crecy

t. Light from a window in the north clerestory
of the choir, Great Malvern, c. 1460-70. St.
Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester (1062-95), * n
white and gold vestments, with red dalmatic and
apparels. Black/and/white checker pavement. The
canopy is in white and yellow stain. Blue back/
ground for the figure, red for the canopy

PLATE 107

a. Opus Anglicanum. Panel from the orphrey from Marnhull Priory In Dorset
shire, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The figures are embroidered with
silk on a ground of gold thread. The style is that of the early fourteenth century

I. Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick: bronze, cast by William Austen from

a wooden model by John Massingham. The tomb was commissioned in 1454,

fifteen years after the earl's death, and therefore is in no way a likeness. It is in the

Beauchamp Chapel, St. Mary's, Warwick

ART 509

with some of the more splendid and individual vestments pre/
served on the Continent, but in the same museum the panels of
the Marnhull orphrey show the range of expression and vivid
narrative quality that was achieved (PL 107 a).

The colours which, somewhat faded, still glow on the em'
broidered vestments are more brilliant in the stained glass that
survives in some quantity. Canterbury has the greatest collect
tion of early thirteenth/century glass, but it is at York that the
developments of the glaziers' art can best be studied. During the
Civil War, a period very dangerous to pictured windows,
those of the minster were protected by Fairfax; in the replacing
of the glass after the war of 1939-45, much cleaning and re/
grouping of scattered fragments was undertaken. York has
been doubly fortunate; in preservation, and in the scholarly skill
and devotion which has surveyed and reinterpreted its great
possessions. In the Five Sisters window of the north transept the
minster has a notable example of grisaille glass, where leading,
tracery, and strips of coloured glass build up a trellis frame/
work through which on a background of greyish glass runs a
scroll and leaf pattern. The Five Sisters is work of the later
thirteenth century. Early in the fourteenth century the discovery
of the silver stain process (painting the glass with a preparation
of silver, which when feed produced a yellow colour on white
glass or green on blue) increased the range of details that could
be secured without separate leading of each different colour.
By 1 3 3 8 when Robert the Glasier made the York west window
this process was freely used. The type of design also had
changed. Each light has a large single figure under an elaborate
Gothic canopy against a single/coloured background, a type
that was to be demonstrated even more finely in the huge east
window of Gloucester, glazed between 1 347 and 1 349 to com/
memorate the victory at Crecy (PL 106 a). These stately indv
vidualized figures under their elaborate canopies reach their
full developmental the glass of the ante/chapel of New College,
Oxford, where a new subtlety of colour, cooler and less vivid
but with a brilliant shimmering effect, lends especial distinc/
tion. In the fifteenth century York was once more one of the

510 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

great centres, and the one whose produce is best preserved, for,
apart from York city itself, the rich collection of fifteenth'
century glass in Great Malvern priory church is the work of the
York glaziers. Very considerable realism had by now been
achieved. The figures are rounded, the draperies fall in natural
curves (PL 106 b); in the narrative scenes a genre element ap^
pears. This reflects an improvement in the cartoons; there is
also noticeable a lack of originality in using them. At Malvern
the same cartoon, sometimes reversed, was made to serve for
various personages. By the close of the century the English
tradition, which can be so clearly followed at York, was be^
ing modified by Flemish influences and free borrowing from
fifteentlvcentury Flemish designs, a repertory which England
could not equal. Henry VII's glazier was a German by origin,
Barnard Flower (d. 1517), who contributed four windows to
the great series of richly coloured and dramatic scenes in King's
College chapel, Cambridge (1515-31), which marks the
splendid close of our medieval glass.

English sculpture of the fifteenth century is also something
pattern'ridden. The gallery of carved figures in Henry V's
chantry at Westminster, completed in the middle years of the
century, contains notable figures such as that of St. George, in
which the problem of representing plate armour in stone is
capably handled without any loss of movement and liveliness,
but the smaller figures are squat, unexpressive, and repetitive,
and the famous relief of the king on horseback, with its attempt
to render a landscape background, is, for all its enterprise,
clumsy work. The figures of the choir screen at York are almost
grotesque with their frizzed hair and gauche poses. But much
of the sculpture of the time has disappeared; the great reredoses
with tiers of figures were left as shattered empty niches by waves
of iconoclasm. Here and there fragments suggest that work of
real quality has perished. Winchester has some striking heads,
full of feeling and power. In the Beauchamp chapel at Wat'
wick some charming figures surround the east window, and
the great ceiling of the Oxford Divinity School includes in its
pendent tabernacles some small figures vigorously cut.

ART 511

It is in the Beauchamp chapel, referred to above, that Eng'
land's greatest fifteentlvcentury statue is to be found, the
recumbent bronze effigy of Richard Beauchamp, earl of War'
wick. In full plate armour, the earl lies with his head on his
helm; his eyes are open, gazing on the Virgin, carved in a
corbel above the east window; his hands are not folded in
prayer, but, apart, they seem to be welcoming the celestial
vision. The bronze is treated in smooth, broad planes, but
wrinkles and veins are clearly marked. In its finality and con/'
viction it rises above the English idiom as we know it elsewhere
into the company of European masterpieces (PL 107^). It was
cast by William Austen of London, and the wooden pattern
for it was commissioned from John Massingham. It is tempting
to see in Massingham a knowable artistic personality; he had
already been working for three years in the Beauchamp chapel,
and the carved figures of the window and the models for the
moving and expressive bronze weepers round the tomb are
probably his. Ten years earlier he had been working at All
Souls. Here only the general framework, reset with later figures,
remains in position, but the statues of Henry VI and Arch'
bishop Chichele, which formerly stood above the main gate'
way, are preserved and, despite much weathering, can be seen
to be works of unusual ability; the cloaked, restricted figures,
adapted for narrow niches, are given movement and variety by
the slight but emphatic fall of the drapery.

The Warwick effigy stands by itself, the climax of our bronze
figures, till, some sixty years later, the Italian Pietro Torrigiano
(1472-1528) designed the tomb of Henry VII and Elizabeth
of York and that of Lady Margaret Beaufort, using the old
Gothic convention of recumbent pose with joined hands raised
in prayer, but modelling the faces with a new truth to nature
and spreading the drapery in full, pliant folds, that belong to
the high renaissance in their luxuriant sense of form. Between
Massingham and Torrigiano, however, many fine tombs were
produced, of which one must stand as an example, that of
Alice, duchess of Suffolk, at Ewelme, cut in alabaster. She lies
under a canopy with a frieze of angels, crowned by standing

5526.2 K

^ MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

angels carved in wood, while more angels hold heraldic shields
on the side of the tomb chest. Beneath lies the lady's corpse,
almost a skeleton, somewhat gruesomely shown; above it on the
chest's foot, invisible except by bending down to floor level, is
painted the Annunciation, the colours still well preserved in
their obscurity. The thin ascetic face of the duchess, the eyes
half^closed, is clearly a likeness, the portrait of a woman of
character who has known and suffered much; now death has
come; already the cheeks are halsunken; the smooth sheen of
the alabaster, smoothly carved with little modelling, increases
the impression of the final moment (PL 108 a); there is none of
the deep lines, the round indentations, the humorous hal&smile
which Torrigiano gives to Lady Margaret.

The last great series of our Gothic standing figures is in
Henry VH's chapel. This assemblage of saints is by many
hands, some probably not English: there is a German look
about these reading prophets, with their fantastic headgear and
their voluminous, sharply indented cloaks; the group of St.
Sebastian between the archers is set on Gothic pedestals under
crocketed canopies, but a renaissance example, from Italy if at
some removes, lies behind this straining, youthful nude (PL
1 08 H). It was, however, mainly in decoration, in friezes and
roundels fixed on Gothic frames, in new classical motifs, rams*
skulls and cornucopias, that the renaissance influence became
apparent, and the Gothic style was still powerful when in 153 8
the first iconoclastic blow was struck by Thomas Crom/
well's injunctions ordering the destruction of 'such feigned
images' as were 'abused with pilgrimages'. Of the cult images
of England many of the most revered were of wood: a holocaust
began, the first of many in which our medieval wooden figures
perished, so that we only know this great branch of carving in
the superb work of screens and choir stalls, such as those
worked under the direction of William Brownfleet of Ripon
(Jl. 1489-1520) or the angels of the roof of Westminster hall
carved by Robert Grassington in Richard II's reign. Gold and
silver work had cupidity as an added foe. The great silver
shrines such as that of Becket were melted down, and there are

PLATE 108

tf. Alabaster effigy of Alice de la Pole, Duchess of Suffolk (d. 1477) from her
tomb at Ewelme

L St Sebastian between the Arche: Henry VII Chapel, Westminster

ART 513

few pieces of our ecclesiastical metal work that have survived.
The crozier of William of Wykeham, piously preserved at
New College, is a rare reminder of this gap in our artistic
heritage.

The history of English iconoclasm has never yet been fully
written. Medieval builders were none too nice about their treat/
ment of the art of previous generations. When they rebuilt the
choir of St. Mary's abbey, York, the great column figures, only
some seventy years old, were buried in the new foundations.
But in the sixteenth and seventeenth century religious fanati/
cism was added to the mere utilities of changing taste. As
Thomas Cromwell's engineers blew up Reading abbey or
Lewes priory, whole chapters of English carving were lost, and
the scattered stones, less valuable than the squared ashlar, were
roughly hacked to serve what building use they could. Torn
leaves from illuminated missals blew about college quad/
rangles, and vestments, the prized opus anglicanum, were ripped
in pieces or set to vile purposes. But even as destruction took its
course, with a thorough violence almost unparalleled on the
Continent, palliatives appeared. John Leland in 1533 was
made 'king's antiquary*. He noted many things now lost to us
and some he was able to preserve. The age of collecting began,
and something was saved, though little could be done for the
great statuary schemes of the abbeys and eventually of the
cathedrals also. The weather has joined with man in the de/
struction of our medieval achievement; but enough remains to
show its accomplishment, its varying history, its moments of
originality, its times of decline, its adoption of foreign fashions,
and its recurrent assertion of peculiarly English qualities.

WORKS FOR REFERENCE

BOASE, T. S. R. English Art 1100-1216 (O.H.E~A. iii, Oxford, 1953).

BOND, F. Fonts and Font Covers (London, 1908); Screens and Galleries in English
Cbttrcbes (London, 1908), Wood Carvings in English Cbvrcbes: L Misericords;
iL Stalls and Tabernacle Work (London, 1910).

BORENIUS, T. and TRISTRAM, E. W. English Medieval Painting (Florence and
Paris, 1927)-

5*4 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

BRIEGER, P. H. English Art 1216-1307 (O.H.E.A. iv, Oxford, forthcoming).
CHAMOT, M. English Mediaeval Enamels (London, 1930).
CHRISTIE, A. G. I. English Mediaeval Embroidery (Oxford, 1938).
CROSSLEY, F. H. English Church Monuments 1150-1550 (London, 1921).
DODWELL, C. R. The Canterbury School of Illumination (Cambridge, 1954).
EGBERT, D. D. The Tickhill Psalter and Related Manuscripts (Princeton, 1940).
EVANS, J. English Art 1307-1461 (O.H.E.A. v, Oxford, 1949).

KENDRICK, SIR T. D. Saxon Art to cjoo (London, 1938); Late Saxon and Viking
Art (London, 1949).

KEYSER, C. E. Norman Tympana and Lintels, 2nd ed. (London, 1927).
LONGHURST, M. H. English Ivories (London, 1926),

MILLAR, E. G. English Illuminated Manuscripts from the loth to the ijth Century
(Paris and Brussels, 1926); English Illuminated Manuscripts of the iqth and i$tb
Centuries (Paris and Brussels, 1928).

MOLESWORTH, H. D. Mediaeval Sculpture in England (London, 1951).
OAKESHOTT, W. The Sequence of English Medieval Art (London, 1950); The
Artists of the Winchester B&le (London, 1945).

PRIOR, E. S. and GARDNER, A. An Account of Mediaeval Figure. Sculpture in
England (Cambridge, 1912).

RICE, D. TALBOT. English Art Sji-noo (O.H.E.A., if, Oxford, 1952).
RICKERT, M. Painting in Britain: The Middle Ages (London, 1954).
SAUNDERS, O. E. A History of English Art in the Middle Ages (Oxford, 1932);
English Illumination, 2 vols. (Paris and Florence, 1928).

SAXL, F. and SWARZENSKI, H. English Sculpture of the Twelfth Century (London,

1954)-
STONE, L. Sculpture in Britain: The Middle Ages (London, 1955).

TRISTRAM, E. W. English Medieval Wall Painting: i, The Twelfth Century
(Oxford, 1944); ii, The Thirteenth Century, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1950).

WOODFORDE, C. English Stained and Painted Glass (Oxford, 1954).
WORMALD, F. English Drawings of the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries (London, 1952),

ZARNECKI, G. English Romanesque Sculpture 1066-1,1^0 (London, 195 i); Later
English Romanesque Sculpture 1140-1210 (London, 1953).

XV. LEARNING AND
EDUCATION

i. Anglo-Saxon Period

WHEN Augustine made Canterbury the head/
quarters of Pope Gregory's mission to the Eng/
lish, he and his fellow monks had from the
outset to apply themselves to a great educational
undertaking. They had to make intelligible a religion, the
scriptures, theology, and service/books of which were written
in a foreign tongue. What provision Augustine made for the
instruction of converts is not recorded. It must have been,
however, partly to serve an educational need that the monks
sent by Gregory in 60 1 to reinforce his mission brought with
them a large number of books. Thomas Elmham, the
fifteenth/century historian of Augustine's abbey of SS. Peter
and Paul, outside Canterbury, termed these volumes with
some truth 'primitiae l&rorum totius eccksiae Anglicanae. The
existence of a school at Canterbury prompted Bishop Felix
in 631 to ask Archbishop Honorius for pefagogi and maestri
with whom to staff the one that he wished to set up at Dun/
wich for the benefit of his East Anglian converts. As this
request was for professional teachers and masters, it may be
inferred that at Canterbury, in accordance with the growing
practice of western Christendom, there was already an arch/
bishop's school in addition to the cloister/school for novices
which Augustine's monks must have instituted. The work of
Irish missionaries soon proved no less important than that of
the Roman in transforming the pagan culture of the English
peoples. The need for the re/establishment of Christianity in
Northumbria after the fall of King Edwin and the flight of
Paulinus gave Irish missionary enterprise its greatest oppor/

5*<5 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

tunity in England. Monasteries founded under Irish influence
quickly became as important for the spread of Christian learn/
ing and education here as they were already proving to be in
western Europe. The cultural influences of Ireland were not
confined to Northumbria. Glastonbury has claim to be re/
garded as hardly less fertile in its propagation of Celtic tradi/
tion.

With the advent of Archbishop Theodore and Abbot
Hadrian in 668 a new chapter opened. Their prestige soon
drew students to Canterbury from all parts of England and
from Ireland too. Even though an elementary knowledge of
Greek was one of the distinctive accomplishments of con/
temporary Irish scholarship, no Irish monk could compare in
classical and theological learning with these two scholars who
were as familiar with the heritage of Byzantium as with that of
Rome. The most distinguished offspring of the union of the
continental and the Irish traditions was St. Aldhelm, 'the
father of Latin poetry in England', the first Englishman to win
fame as a scholar in western Europe. Dr. M. R. James has
reckoned that 'quotations from some forty Latin authors, pagan
and Christian, may be traced in his works, made in such a
manner as to imply acquaintance with their writings'. In a
well-known letter excusing himself on account of his studies
from spending Christmas with Bishop Hedde at Winchester,
Aldhelm mentions, in addition to classical exercises, his pre
occupation with mathematics, astronomy, and Roman law.

Such an advance in learning could not have been made
without a considerable collection of books being available. The
distinction of being an outstanding benefactor in this respect is
given by Bede to Benedict Biscop (d. 690), friend and sue/
cessor of Abbot Hadrian, who endowed his twin foundations
of Wearmouth and Jarrow with a notable library, which in
the course of many years he had collected on the Continent.
Without the use of this library his pupil, Bede (d. 735), could
never have won his exalted reputation in the middle ages as
theologian and scholar. In Bede's lifetime and for a century
after his death Northumbria gave the lead to the remarkable con/

LEARNING AND EDUCATION 517

tribution made by English scholars and scribes to the revival
of learning in Europe. The labours of English mission'
aries like SS. Willibrord, Boniface, and Willibald, greatly in^
creased intellectual intercourse between western Europe and
their homeland. Great as was the achievement and influence
of Bede, the scholarly activities ofeightlvcentury England were
by no means confined to the monasteries. The northern cpisov
pate notably fostered the cause of education. Bishop Acca
(d. 740), founder of a fine library at Hexham, was taught in the
household of Bosa (d. c. 705), bishop of York. There were
schoolboys in the household of Bosa's successor, St. John of
Beverley (d. 721). Under Archbishop Ecgberht (d. 766) this
practice was further developed, and the school of York took
shape with ^Ethelberht (d. 780) and, after his accession as
archbishop, his pupil Alcuin (d. 804).

Alcuin has left a memorable poem descriptive of the school
and the library of York, a school where instruction in the
seven liberal arts led on to study of the Scriptures. Such a school
was more than a grammar school. It aimed at the education of
a well^equipped clergy. A single teacher was essaying to cover
a curriculum which five hundred years later would have been
appropriate to a university. It was a school of this sort that
Alcuin wished might be re/established at Canterbury, when
in 797 he wrote from abroad urging the clergy and nobles of
Kent to obtain 'doctors and masters of holy scripture, lest the
word of God be lacking among you'. 1

While Alcuin was writing these words, ruin threatened
Christian civilization in England. In 793 Lindisfarne was
plundered by Viking war-bands : in the following year Jarrow.
A hundred years later King Alfred was moved to lament that
such was the decay of learning on account of the ravages of the
Danes that very few clergy south of the Humber, none in
Wessex, not many beyond the Humber knew enough Latin to
understand the meaning of their service-books or to translate a
letter from Latin into their mother/tongue. In setting himself
the task of reviving educational standards he aimed at ensuring

1 Councils and EccL Docts., &c. (ed, Haddan and Stubbs), iii, p. 797.

518 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

that all clergy of his kingdom could read Latin and all young
freemen English. With heroic application he himself took the
lead in providing translations of such books as he deemed it
'most necessary for all men to know*. In so doing he inaugu/
rated the literary use of English prose.

Owing to the collapse of monasticism throughout England
caused by the Danish invasions, the main task of educational
reconstruction fell to the bishops and clergy during the first
fifty years after Alfred's death. The school at Glastonbury,
where St. Dunstan received his education, was under the con/
trol of a community of secular priests. A similar connexion
seems to account for the few other schools that are known to
have existed in the tenth century. Eventually under the inspira/
tion of St. Dunstan (d. 988) and his disciples St. Oswald (d.
992) of Worcester and St. JEthelwold (d. 984) of Winchester
monasticism revived; it was, however, the influence of Alfred
that was reflected in the works of yElfric, author of the earliest
Latin grammar of medieval Europe. ^Elfric wrote for the
instruction of a wide circle: his Dialogue was designed for the
benefit of English schoolboys whether they were to be monks
or not: his translations of Scripture and his homilies were
composed with the thegn as well as the parish priest in view.
In the hands of ^Ifric (/. 1006), Byrhtferth (f. 1000), Bishop
Wulfstan (d. 1095), and other writers, the English language
was made a noble literary instrument for prose and verse and
a remarkable vehicle of education during the last century before
the Norman Conquest and was unsurpassed by any other
European vernacular. With the coming of the Normans the
English language was displaced and confined to humble usage
for the next three hundred years.

2. Anglo-Norman Monasticism and the Ttvelfthscentury
Renaissance

The Norman regime imparted new intellectual stimulus to
monastic life in England. But whereas the intellectual activities
of Anglo-Saxon monasteries had redounded to the advantage

LEARNING AND EDUCATION 5*9

of the nation at large, the notable literary productivity of mon-
astic cloisters during the century following the Conquest was
more self/centred. The histories invaluable for subsequent his/
torians and the lives of saints were composed primarily for the
benefit of individual houses. The schools of Anglo-Saxon
monasteries had been open to external scholars, but those of the
Anglo-Norman generally were not. Within the greater houses,
notwithstanding the importation of a number of monks from
Normandy, Old English traditions survived. Their hagio-
graphy was largely concerned with Old English saints, and
their best histories reflected the influence of Bede. The most
notable Anglo-Norman historians, Osbern (/. 1090) and
Eadmer (d. c. 1124) of Christ Church, Canterbury, William
ofMalmesbury (d. c. 1 143), Simeon of Durham (f. 1130), and
Orderic Vitalis of Saint-Evroul (d. c. 1143) were English or
half-English by birth. Notwithstanding their separation from
society the black monks acted as the chief medium through
which England made contact with the intellectual renaissance
that was stirring clerical life on the Continent during the
twelfth century. The reputation of Lanfranc and Anselm as
theologians was won before they came to England and belongs
rather to Norman history; but in the professional field England
is specially indebted to Lanfranc for his introduction of the
standard western text of the Vulgate and for the foundation that
he furnished for the new study of canon law. The cultural dis
tinction of the monasteries during the first century after the Con-
quest lay in other directions, in the growth of their libraries, in
the literary activity of their scriptoria, in the knowledge of
classical authors, and in the polished latinity of their ablest
monks.

The addition of a considerable number of French-speaking
foreigners to the landed and trading classes in England and the
rapid growth of the towns after the Conquest greatly increased
the need of school education, and effected a revolution in the
curriculum, as Norman-French replaced English as the every
day speech of the upper orders of society. Evidence for ascer
taining the number of schools and their location at any period

520 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

during the middle ages is insufficient; and for the first two
centuries after the coming of the Normans it is very meagre
indeed. Nevertheless, there are enough grounds to warrant the
surmise that every fair-sized town had a school at some time
during these two centuries but not always continuously, and
that schools existed for a time at least in places where none
might have been expected. Early in the twelfth century Theo
bald of fitampes, the first master known to have lectured at
Oxford, expressed the opinion, albeit in a rhetorical context,
that 'throughout Normandy and England not only in the
cities, but also in small towns, there are as many practised
schoolmasters as there are tax-collectors and other royal offi
cials'. 1 Reginald, a monk of Durham, writing in the second
half of the century about the miracles worked by St. Cuthbert,
tells how the key of the church of Norham, in which a priest
held classes for boys living near the Scottish border, was found
in the gullet of a great salmon netted in the Tweed, having
been pitched into a deep pool by young Haldene, who was due
for a beating on account of idleness. 3 Early in the fourteenth
century there were as many as eight grammar schools in the
county of Lincoln.

Song-schools attached to cathedral and collegiate churches
continued throughout the medieval period to teach small boys
*to synge and to rede'. But the standard, as one of the elder boys
in the song/school described by Chaucer in the Prioresses Tale
(11. 84-95) explains, was elementary: 1 lerne song, I can but
smal grammere/ He did not pretend to understand the Latin
words of a service book, but learned them by heart.
And than he song it wel and boldely
Fro word to word acording with the note.

In the nine secular cathedrals the primary responsibility for the
choristers and the song/school rested with the precentor who
also might suppress unlicensed song-schools, kept by 'divers
chaplains, holy water-carriers and others', from competing
with that of the cathedral. Great interest was shown in the

1 Collectanea (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), ii, p. 158.

2 Regnalti monacbi Dtmelm. L&elks (Surtees Soc.), p. 149.

LEARNING AND EDUCATION 521

development of church music, and song/schools rendered an
important service in that connexion. They helped, too, to serve
the more general educational purposes of the modern primary
or preparatory school.

The provision of masters to teach grammar and the liberal
arts was made an episcopal charge by papal decree in 826.
Subsequent legislation to this same end was reinforced by
the Lateran Council of 1215, which required every cathedral
and every sufficiently endowed collegiate church to provide
free schooling in grammar for all clerks by attaching a prebend
to the mastership, and every metropolitan church to provide a
theologian. In the secular cathedrals this responsibility came to
be vested during the course of the twelfth century in one of the
canons, generally known as magister schohrum, but by the end
of the century as chancellor. In the eight dioceses where the
cathedral churches were under monastic administration the
bishop usually retained the appointment of a schoolmaster in
his own hands, leaving the prior and convent to provide a
theological lecturer; and so, too, at Carlisle where the cathe/
dral church was linked with a priory of Austin canons.

In some towns the appointment of the master of the grammar
school is found in the twelfth century to rest with a house of
Austin canons. At Bristol the grammar school had ancient
association with *the guild or brotherhood of the community
of the clergy and people of Bristol* or the Guild of Kalendars,
as it was better known. London, as might be expected, was not
restricted to a single school. In addition to St. Paul's school
there were two other privileged schools, one attached to the
church of St. Mary of the Arches, the other to the college of St.
Martin Vie/Grand. For any additional school the licence of the
master of the cathedral school was required.

While the revival and extension of grammar schools was
taking place in England, an educational movement of greater
import was gathering momentum among the secular clergy of
Normandy and France where cathedral schools, such as those
of Chartres, Laon, and Paris, were rapidly winning fame for
their concern not only with the liberal arts but also with theo'

522 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

logy and law. The influence of these developments was soon
felt in England, as scholars crossed overseas to avail themselves
of the better facilities for study, and as scholars trained in conx
tinental schools came to win a livelihood by opening schools
in England where clerks might study these subjects. There
were bishops in twelftlvcentury England, who by their own
eminence in learning or by their employment of trained scholars
from abroad in their households, were in a position to lend
encouragement to the growth of a similar movement in this
country. Archbishop Theobald (d. 1161) by his choice of
able scholars for hisfamilia stimulated the study of ecclesiastical
law. Thefamilia of his successor, Archbishop Becket, which
was noted for its eruditi, included John of Salisbury (d. 1180),
one of the greatest scholars of his age, and Herbert of Bosham,
the hebraist. During the course of the century the secular cathe/
dral churches were all influenced by this new movement. The
study of law at Lincoln was in sufficient repute by 1160 to
attract St. Thorlak from Iceland; but with the appointment of
William de Monte as chancellor about 1 190, Lincoln became
more noted for theology. The study of law prospered at Exeter
during the time of Bishop Bartholomew. Gerald of Wales
(d. c. 1220), who studied theology at Lincoln when he could
not cross to France, was told on his appointment as a canon of
Hereford that the liberal arts were better studied there than
elsewhere in England.

These promising developments were not confined to the
cathedral cities. Other 'towns more favourably placed were
sought by masters who were minded to set up schools in this
country on the lines of those in which they had received their
training abroad. For this purpose, owing to the centrality of
their position, Northampton and Oxford offered ideal alterx
natives. Towards the close of the twelfth century there were
schools at Northampton of sufficient repute to attract lecturers
of the calibre of Daniel of Morley, who had studied at Paris and
Toledo, and Geoffrey of Vinsauf, the accomplished author of
a treatise on the art of poetry. Oxford had other advantages
besides its central position at the crossing of two important

LEARNING AND EDUCATION 523

highways. Masters might well have expected to receive eiv
couragement there from the religious houses of the town, St.
Frideswide's priory and the collegiate chapel of St. GeorgeV
in/the'casde, both notable in the middle years of the twelfth
century for canons of considerable reputation. Moreover, close
by there were two royal residences. Beaumont, outside the
north gate, and Woodstock manor about eight miles away.
With the exception of King John, medieval English kings
were to prove powerful protectors of Oxford as a seat of
learning.

In these circumstances a sequence of notable lecturers at
Oxford from the early years of the century is explicable: by
1117 Theobald of tampes, who boasted of having an audi*
ence of from 60 to 100 clerks; in 1 1 3 3 Robert Pullen, a leading
theologian and later a cardinal; in 1 149 Vacarius, a Lombard
jurist of repute. This auspicious beginning may have received
fresh impulse from scholars returning from Paris, when, about
1 167, Henry II, as a measure against Becket, then sheltering in
France, banned Englishmen from studying abroad. Gerald of
Wales, in recounting his visit in 1184 to give public readings
of his Topograpbia Hibemica, describes Oxford as the place
where the clergy in England 'flourished and excelled in clerk'
ship*, and records that on the second day he read his work to 'all
the doctors of different faculties and such of their pupils as were
of greater note*. Evidence is forthcoming from other sources to
confirm the conclusion that in Oxford a studium generale was
already forming. A charter executed in 1201 preserves the
name of the first graduate known to have presided over its
schools: MagisterJ. Grim magister scolarum Oxonie. 1

3. Growth of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge

For a long time the future of the Oxford schools remained pre^
carious as one crisis followed another. In consequence of grave
trouble with the townspeople in which King John sided with
the town, masters and scholars dispersed in 1209 for four years.
1 Stupe's Formkry, %Tc. (Ox Hist. Soc.), p. 309.

5*4 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

This suspendium dericorum had historic conseq uences, for some of
the masters, who with their scholars found accommodation in
other towns, moved to Cambridge and, deciding to stay there,
originated a second English university. Cambridge, a small
town of no great consequence at this period, might seem to
have little to offer a settlement of clerks. The Austin canons
there had left their house a century earlier and moved to a larger
site at BarnwelL But the relatively large population of East
Anglia may sufficiently explain the choice of towns like Canv
bridge, and, later, Stamford, by migrant masters.

Both universities experienced severe troubles, sometimes due
to bitter disputes with townspeople over rents and the price and
quality of victuals, sometimes to internal disorder caused by
student factions, and sometimes to strained relations with their
respective spiritual overlords, the bishops of Lincoln and Ely.
The problem of securing a modus vivendi as between town and
gown vexed successive generations of masters. The position in
both towns was exceptional. Nowhere else in England were
townsmen required to accommodate a large extraneous con-"
course of clerks who had everything to buy and nothing to sell.
The temptation to exploit this advantage was great. Further^
more relations were constantly embarrassed by the follies and
factiousness of young students. It was fortunate for both unix
versities that they early received royal support. Henry III, for all
his faults, proved himself a good friend to Oxford, not only by
his grants of privileges, but also by his plainly expressed interest
in the rise of an important university in his kingdom. He sent
relatives of his own to study there, including the unpopular
Aymer de Valence (d. 1260), bishop of Winchester. When
in 1229 the masters and scholars of the university of Paris were
in trouble with the Parisians, he invited them to England: it
was a memorable gesture.

At Oxford the most serious clash between town and gown
occurred on St. Scholastica's day (10 February) 1355, as the
result of a tavern brawL During the revolt of 1381, the towns'
men of Cambridge took their revenge upon the university in
their midst by indulging in a riot of destruction which has left

LEARNING AND EDUCATION 5 2 S

its mark until the present day. In the course of it all academical
muniments stored in the University church were burned in the
marketplace. By the close of the middle ages both universities
were so well fortified with privileges as to form, ecclesiastically
and civilly, two exceptionally independent clerical communi'
ties, directly responsible to the Crown. Neither university was
in origin, despite the claims of their medieval champions, a
royal foundation: but each became a royal university (unwersitas
nostra) by grace of royal patronage.

Until the fifteenth century the university of Cambridge
seems to have been largely dependent on the eastern counties for
its support; but Oxford soon attracted clerks from all parts of
Great Britain and Ireland: and the rapidly/growing prestige of
its schools rendered the continued resort of English secular
scholars to the university of Paris something of a luxury. The
days had passed when able Englishmen, like Archbishop
Langton (d. 1228) made their reputations as theologians in the
schools of Paris. Langton's successor, St. Edmund of Abing/
don (d. 1240) studied at both places. Until the outbreak of the
Hundred Years War placed the French universities out of
reach, connexion between Oxford and Paris was maintained,
but by friars rather than by secular scholars. In medieval times
neither Oxford nor Cambridge drew scholars in appreciable
numbers from the Continent. Again the chief link was fur^
nished by foreign friars assigned to study theology in the Eng'
lish studia of their orders.

Although at Oxford and Cambridge racial differences did
not affect the constitutional organization of the university to the
same extent as at Paris, regional loyalties and prejudices neces^
sitated at an early stage the recognition of two 'nations',
Northerners and Southerners. In addition there were explosive
groups of clerks from Wales and Ireland, who for the purpose
of factionxfights ranked as Southerners. As late as 1 3 34 a party
of aggrieved northern masters seceded to Stamford and, being
minded to establish themselves there, had ultimately to be dis/
lodged by royal writ Feud between North and South bit deep
into the social life of the universities and outlasted the medieval

5*6 * MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

period. As the early masters of Oxford and Cambridge did
not live under the shadow of a cathedral church they were
spared many of the conflicts with ecclesiastical authority in
which the masters of Paris engaged; but, even so, they were not
without their disputes over claims of exemption and indepen-
dence. By 1221 the bishop of Lincoln had accorded to the
magister scolamm at Oxford the title of chancellor, and by 1226
the bishop of Ely had followed suit at Cambridge: but
only after long-drawn-out disagreement was each university
acknowledged free to elect its own chancellor without seek
ing episcopal confirmation: Oxford by 1370, Cambridge by
1400.

During the course of the thirteenth century the number of
students in Oxford rose rapidly and probably reached its peak
before the end of the century. In 1315 it was computed that
there were 1,500 clerks in residence. By that date a decline was
setting in which was greatly accelerated by the Black Death
and subsequent outbreaks of plague. Some recovery had taken
place by the beginning of the fifteenth century when the resident
university, it has been computed, numbered about 1,200. The
academical population of Cambridge remained relatively
small, amounting to about a third of that of Oxford, until the
fifteenth century when a substantial increase began. The early
masters were obliged in the interest of law and order to bring
the miscellaneous aggregation of students under some control.
In 1231 it was required by the king that all clerks at Oxford
must be attached to a master. By the close of the century it had
become the general practice in both universities for masters to
rent premises to serve as boarding-houses where undergraduates
or young graduates could lodge and be under tuition. Halls
(aulai) for students reading arts, inns (bospida) for those reading
law, as they were called at Oxford, and hostels (bospida) as they
were usually called at Cambridge, came to be regarded as
approved pkces of residence where all students might live
under the rule of a Principal at their own charges. At Oxford
lodging in the houses of townsmen was forbidden by statute
c. 1410 owing to the indiscipline of cbamberdekyns as such

LEARNING AND EDUCATION 527

lodgers were termed- Students of high birth and ample means
rented halls of their own in which to reside with their houses
holds.

4. The Earlier Oxford and Cambridge Colleges

Before the Black Death a large number of clerks coming to the
universities were rectors of benefices who were given leave of
absence by their bishops for the purpose of study, provided that
they appointed curates to discharge their parochial duties. This
procedure was regularized by the constitution Quum ex to of
Boniface VIII. There must have been many scholars who were
too young to accept a benefice, or who had no wish as yet to
commit themselves to proceeding to Holy Orders. The grade
of 'first tonsure' sufficed to secure all clerks 'benefit of clergy'.
Then as now many looked to their parents or relatives for their
support; others were fortunate in receiving from a benefactor
an exhibition for their maintenance, as, for example, Adam of
Usk, ecclesiastical lawyer and chronicler, who owed his educa^
don at Oxford to Edmund Mortimer, earl of March (d. 1409).
Medieval testators turned this form of charity to reciprocal ad'
vantage. At the suggestion of Bishop Grosseteste, Alan Basset,
an Oxfordshire landowner, founded by his will, about 1243,
scholarships for two priests studying at Oxford or elsewhere who
were to say mass daily for the souls of the testator and his wife.
William of Kilkenny, bishop of Ely, made a similar benefacy
tion in 1256 at Cambridge. In 1249 William of Durham, who
had distinguished himself as a master at Paris, bequeathed, with
the same intention, 310 marks to the university of Oxford for
the maintenance often or more masters of arts studying theo'
logy. Out of this legacy there grew University College, but
not before the precedent for a collegiate hall for the residence of
graduates had been set by Walter of Merton (d. 1277), bishop
of Rochester and chancellor of England. A rarer form of
academical benefaction at this early period was the provision of
an annual sum for the support of scholars in atonement for an
ecclesiastical offence. Under the legatine award of 1214 the

5526.2

528 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

citizens of Oxford were obliged to pay $zs. a year to Oseney
abbey in usus pauperum scolarium. About 1260 John Balliol in
part compensation for an outrage against the Church in the
diocese of Durham was required by the bishop to maintain a
certain number of poor scholars at the university. Out of this,
with the added munificence of his widow, Devorguilla, there
grew Balliol College. But it was Merton College, founded
about 1260, furnished with statutes in 1270 and 1274, that
became the prototype for subsequent collegiate foundations.
A few years later, about 1280, Cambridge received her first
college, Peterhouse, founded by Hugh Balsham, bishop of
Ely, and provided by a subsequent bishop, Simon Montacute,
with statutes on the model of those of Merton.

In days when residence was required as a qualification for the
higher degrees a scholar was faced with a lengthy and expen/
sive sequence of study. The early founders of colleges were
prompted, in the main, by a desire to provide means for a sue/
cession of select scholars to pursue post/graduate studies in arts
or theology: in some colleges a small proportion of the fellows
were allowed to read canon or civil law or medicine. Very often
the choice of these scholars was limited to parts of the country in
which a founder was interested. By the middle years of the four/
teenth century six secular colleges (University, Balliol, Merton,
Exeter, Oriel, and Queen's) had been founded at Oxford, and
eight (Peterhouse, King's Hall, Michaelhouse, Clare, Pern/
broke, Gonville, Trinity Hall, and Corpus Christi College)
at Cambridge. King's Hall and Trinity Hall are noteworthy:
the former because it was 'supported by public funds, founded
in the first place for laymen connected with the Court* and the
latter because it was the first college in either university in/
tended for study of canon or civil law. Nine of these colleges
were founded by ecclesiastics, three by women (the lady De/
vorguilla, the lady Elizabeth of Clare, and Marie Valence,
countess of Pembroke); two of those founded by ecclesiastics
were fortified by royal patronage (Oriel and Queen's). Corpus
Christi College was the singular achievement of two Cam/
bridge guilds which combined to found it.

LEARNING AND EDUCATION 5^9

Although constitutionally not colleges, the convents of the
four orders of Friars, Dominican, Franciscan, Carmelite, and
Augustinian, that were established in Oxford and Cambridge
by the end of the thirteenth century served a similar object. The
Dominicans settled in Oxford in 1221, and in Cambridge by
1238; the Franciscans arrived in Oxford in 1224, and in
Cambridge about two years later. Their activity in the erection
of buildings for their convents must have imparted an encour^
aging sense of stability and permanence at a time when the
secular masters and scholars still only described themselves as
staying (commorantei) at Oxford or Cambridge. Their con^
vents, moreover, pointed the way to the provision of more en^
during residential societies for secular clerks in the form of
colleges. The other religious orders were slower to associate
themselves with the new movement. By the end of the thirteenth
century, however, a group of Benedictine houses was support^
ing a combined studium in Gloucester College; and the monks
of Durham had established Durham College. In the following
century the student monks of Christ Church, Canterbury,
were accommodated in modest premises until Archbishop
Islip founded the dual establishment for monks and secular
clerks over which John Wyclif unsuccessfully presided. In
1348 Canterbury College was reconstituted by Archbishop
Langham and placed under monastic administration. At
Cambridge the student monks of Ely were provided with a
hostel by Prior Crawden (d. 1341); but it was not until 1428
that the student monks of other Benedictine houses in the
eastern counties were given a combined studium, later known as
Buckingham College. Cistercian monks assigned for study
at Oxford were granted separate accommodation in Rewley
abbey, founded in 1281, until the erection of St. Bernard's
College in 1437. No similai arrangement was made at St.
Frideswide's priory or Oseney abbey for Austin canons. Such
student canons usually resided in colleges as 'sojourners* before .
St. Mary's College was founded in 1435. Gilbertine canons
were housed in St. Edmund's hostel at Cambridge. No special
arrangements seem to have been made for the residence of

530 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

the few Cluniac or Carthusian monks or Premonstratensian
canons who came to study at either university.

5. Curricula in Universities and Inns of Court and of Chancery

With the rise of the universities the monk's carrel in the quiet
seclusion of the cloister (PL 109 a) was no longer the chief seat
of learning. It had been replaced by the master's chair set in the
public forum of the schools; and with the change a revolution
took place in the conditions under which learning was pur'
sued. The educational method developed at the universities
was one of question and answer. Lectures prepared the student
for engagement in disputations and determinations appnv
priate to the successive stages of his course. Every course of
study had an immediate professional objective, the licence to
teach (licencia docendi). Whatever ultimate career a scholar
might have in view, he was required to deliver lectures at given
stages in his academical progress. If he reached the degree of
master in any faculty, he was under oath to lecture for two years
as a necessary regent before he was free to leave the university.

The original organization of a curriculum and the institu'
tion of a system of degrees were effected at Oxford and Canv
bridge by masters who for the most part were familiar with the
precedents set by Paris. Degrees were granted in Grammar,
Arts, Theology, Law (canon and civil), Medicine, and, from
the fifteenth century, Music. Study of the Seven Liberal Arts
formed the broad foundation on which the other subjects were
based. It was divided, in accordance with ancient tradition,
into two parts, the trivium (grammar, rhetoric, and logic) and
the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music).
Grammar and rhetoric, which covered classical literature, had
received enlightened attention under the stimulus of the twelfth'
century renaissance; but the intense concentration on logic and
philosophy which characterized the study of arts during the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries resulted in a depression of
linguistic and literary studies and a lowered standard oflatmity
until the influence ofltalian humanism reached England in the
fifteenth century. Meanwhile Donatus and Priscian reigned in

LEARNING AND EDUCATION 531

English schoolrooms. Even so, the grammar schools of the
country soon came to depend largely upon the universities for
their better qualified schoolmasters, and the grammar schools
of Oxford to be noted for their masters. John Cornwall (fl.
1345) and Richard Pencridge (f. 1365) were credited with
having brought English back into the schools in place of
French. It was said of John Leland (d. 1428) 'ut rosafosjlorum,
sic Leland grammaticorum .

The importance of classical studies, including a knowledge
of Greek and Hebrew was appreciated by Robert Grosseteste
(d. 1253), first chancellor of Oxford and founder of its Euro->
pean reputation for the study of philosophy and theology. But
there were few after him, as Roger Bacon complained, who
followed his lead. Besides Bacon himself, William de la Mare,
also a Franciscan, deserves to be remembered as a thirteenth^
century student of Hebrew. The Convocation of Canterbury
in 1320 gave orders for the carrying out of the decree of the
council of Vienne (1311) that the leading universities should
make provision for the teaching of Greek and Hebrew; Wor^
cester priory is known to have complied with this order by con^
tributing its quota towards the salary of a magister grecorum at
Oxford. Latin translations, and indifferent ones at that, were
accepted as adequate media for the introduction of the greater
knowledge of the works of Aristotle and his Arabian comx
mentators that revolutionized philosophical and theological
studies in the universities in the course of the thirteenth century.
St. Edmund of Abingdon, later archbishop of Canterbury, is
credited with having been the first to lecture on Aristotle's
Sopbistici Ekncbf at Oxford. Not much later (c. 1209) John
Blund was lecturing on the 13m mturales. But at Paris the
opinions of Aristotle soon came under suspicion; public
lectures on his Wm naturaks and Metaphysics were banned by
1210. Nevertheless the 'reception' of Aristotle continued to
make progress at Oxford, greatly to the benefit of the studies of
Oxford masters in arts and theology. In this development, as
in many others, the potent influence of Grosseteste is discern^
ible. The first surviving list of works set for the arts course at

532 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

Oxford well illustrates the extent to which the study of logic
and philosophy rested on Aristotle by 1268. No coincidence
of greater moment for the advance of philosophy and theology
in Oxford could have occurred than the advent of the Domini/
cans and Franciscans just at the time when Grosseteste was at
the height of his academical career. His decision to associate
himself closely with the newcomers by consenting to act as the
first lector at the Franciscan convent had great historic issue.
Several outstanding masters of arts became friars in the early
days of the mendicant movement. Robert Bacon became the
first Dominican master at Oxford about 1230; his famous
namesake, Roger, entered the Franciscan order about 1257,
and Alexander of Hales (d. 1245) while lecturing at Paris as
master of theology stepped down from his chair with dramatic
effect to assume the Franciscan habit.

At the time of the arrival of the friars theology at Oxford was
still closely identified with the study of the Bible; but by the
second half of the century a separation, based on Parisian
practice, was being made between commentary with its moral
emphasis and the discussion of theological problems. The
latter were being given their appropriate place in the bachelors*
necessary lectures on the Sentences of Peter Lombard. The way
was opened for the development of theology as a speculative
science and for the more strictly exegetical treatment of Bible
study. The friars rapidly outclassed the secular masters in both
these fields and maintained this lead for the next hundred years.
During this period Oxford had no superior in Europe as a
school of theological learning. The friaries at Cambridge
played a no less important part in the faculty of theology there,
being reinforced for many years by able friars from Oxford.

It was inevitable that the intellectual ferment which the friars
did so much to promote should beget controversy. Disputes
with the university authorities soon broke out at both univer/
sities on account of their claim, by reason of previous training in
their convents, to be free to proceed to degrees in theology with/
out having previously incepted in arts. The question of the
meaning of evangelical poverty became a much vexed topic

LEARNING AND EDUCATION 533

as between Dominicans and Franciscans, and between the
mendicants of all four orders and the secular clergy. Differ-
ences of approach to abstruse problems common to philo-
sophers and theologians such as the principle of individuation
and the unity of form tended to divide Dominicans and Fran-'
ciscans into two schools of thought. Aristotle continued to
prove a stumbling-block to many mendicant and secular
theologians; consequently the Aristotelian complexion of the
thought of St. Thomas Aquinas provoked condemnations at
Paris in 1277. These were followed by no less severe condem-
nations at Oxford promulgated by Archbishop Kilwardby
(d. 1279), himself a Dominican, and renewed by his Fran
ciscan successor, Archbishop Pecham (d. 1292) in 1284. But
Thomism found bold supporters among Oxford Dominicans.
Oxford, too, was one of the main battle grounds of the realist
disciples of John Duns, the first great Scottish philosopher and
theologian. Duns Scotus, doctor subtilis, was followed by an
other great Franciscan leader of thought, William of Ockham,
doctor invindUlis.

In the fourteenth century, the secular masters, most of
them fellows of Merton College, became prominent. In the
main, their great contribution was made in the study of logic
(sultilitates anglicanae) and philosophy: but the most famous of
the Merton scholars was Thomas Bradwardine, the greatest
English secular theologian since Grosseteste. The same period
is notable for the new interest shown, outside the religious
orders, in the collection of books. Richard Bury (d. 1345),
bishop of Durham, whose love of books is commemorated in
his PMoUUon 9 intended that his fine library should have a
home in Oxford, but, owing to his debts, his executors had to
dispose of it. The university was furnished by Thomas Cob-
ham (d. 1327), bishop of Worcester, with its first library-
building; Merton College by William Rede (d. 1385), bishop
of Chichester, with a building even more spacious and with
books.

The Black Death carried off Bradwardine within a few
weeks of his promotion to the see of Canterbury. This scourge

5H MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

did great damage to the cause of education throughout the
country: but in the universities, the ill consequences of the long>
protracted war with France were more lasting. It interrupted
the free interchange of ideas between English and French unix
versities that had hitherto proved one of the most fruitful and
salutary features of academical studies. The decline in papal
prestige added a further disturbing factor. John Wyclif
(d. 1384), the reforming theologian, embodied the confident
individualism, the nationalist bias, and the high/minded
scepticism that flowed from these events. The firm measures
taken by Archbishops Courtenay and Arundel to eradicate
his teaching from Oxford were calculated to discourage
further challenge to traditional theology. The Wyclifite crisis
was productive of some apologetic by mendicant theologians,
notably the Doctrinale of the Carmelite, Thomas Netter of
Walden; but by the time the superb Divinity School was
completed about 1470 (PI. 109 ), Oxford theology had never
been at so low an ebb.

Unlike Paris, Oxford and Cambridge developed flourish'
ing faculties of law in which both canon and civil law were
read. At Oxford, as is evidenced by the visit of Vacarius,
legal studies have their origin in the middle years of the twelfth
century. By the thirteenth century a legal degree, whether in
canon or civil law, or both, had become a muclvdesired quali'
fication for all clerks who wanted to be ecclesiastical lawyers
rising to become important diocesan officials or clerks in the
royal service carrying out diplomatic missions and other respon^
sible duties. It is likely that Henry Bracton (d. 1268) acquired
his knowledge of civil law as a student at Oxford. From the
middle of the fourteenth century the majority of bishops were
graduates, and many of these graduates in law. The training in
civil law given at Oxford and Cambridge met the professional
needs of English clerks, but never compared with that to be
obtained in the law schools of Italy. William of Drogheda
(d. c. 1245) was the only civilian in either university to be
quoted by the doctors of Bologna. In canon law, on the other
hand, both universities developed schools of importance, and

PLATE 109

tf. Cloister, Gloucester Cathedral, showing carrels

L The Divinity School, Oxford

PLATE 110

a. Winchester College, founded 1373

L New College and its hundred clerks
(New College, Oxford, MS. 288)

LEARNING AND EDUCATION 535

produced the two best/known English authorities on the sulv
ject, John Atton (d. 1350) and William Lyndwood (d. 1446),
bishop of St. David's. The ecclesiastical courts of the various
dioceses and the chancellors 5 courts in the two universities
formed essential finishing schools for canonists. At the episco*"
pal visitation of the Exeter consistory in 1323 there were five
graduates in law described as studens.

By the close of the thirteenth century the growth of English
law necessitated the organization of a system of training for
lawyers who were to practise in the king's courts. Although the
origins of the Inns of Court are obscure, enough is known to
warrant the conclusion that the provision made for the teaching
and housing of the apprenticii of the law centred in bospicia
similar to those which had multiplied in the universities. By the
fifteenth century four chief Inns of Court were in being, Linx
coin's Inn, Gray's Inn, the Inner Temple, and the Middle
Temple, containing, according to Sir John Fortescue, 200
students each. These Inns were administered by masters of the
bench. The curriculum, as at the universities, consisted of
lectures delivered by readers, whom the benchers appointed,
and of the discussion of debated points of law in moots. The
licence to practise took the form of the call to the bar. In the
second half of the fourteenth century bospicia of similar character
were established in the same quarter of London by chancery
clerks for the training of their pupils in the intimate knowledge
of writs required of those who wanted to qualify for adminis^
trative service in the chancery. As the common lawyers also
needed this knowledge these smaller Inns of Chancery seem to
have been drawn into association with the Inns of Courts and
eventually to have been dominated by them. Educationally the
rise of the Inns of Court and of Chancery are of particular in^
terest, as they were the first professional schools in England for
laymen. As described by Sir John Fortescue they included, in
the middle of the fifteenth century, other subjects than law, such
as history, scripture, music, and even dancing, in their currv
culum, and were attracting many young men of social standing
who were not looking to a legal career.

536 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

6. The Later Middle Ages

William of Wykeham (d 1404), bishop of Winchester and
chancellor of England, was moved to his notable munificence
in the cause of education by the general decay of the militia
dericalis which he attributed to 'the pestilences, wars, and other
afflictions of the world'. In his twin foundations at Winchester
and Oxford (PL 1 10 a) he not only erected a great school and
a great college, but, in so doing, initiated a revolutionary de^
velopment in the provision of university and school education.
The number of fellows in Oxford colleges was nearly doubled
by the founding of New College: the quadrangular layout and
size of its buildings set a new standard for collegiate architect
ture. It was the first college in which undergraduates were in/
corporated on a large scale; and,consequently, the first to adopt
and make famous the tutorial system which the halls had de/
veloped. The dependence of New College on a sister founda/
tion at Winchester for all its fellows was also an innovation.
And Winchester College has the distinction of being the
earliest fully endowed school in England. In OxfordWyke/
ham's example inspired two subsequent benefactors: Henry
Chichele (d. 1443), archbishop of Canterbury, who founded
All Souls College in 1438, and a collegiate school at Higham
Ferrers in Northamptonshire; and William Waynflete (d.
1486), bishop of Winchester, who founded Magdalen College,
in its first form, ten years later. Waynflete, who had been head/
master of Winchester and provost of Eton, followed Wyke/
ham's example further by founding a school in association with
his college at Oxford and another at Wainfleet, his native
place. Waynflete introduced two important innovations in
his statutes for Magdalen. He provided three lectureships in
theology, moral philosophy, and natural philosophy, thereby
making his college largely selsufficient for the purpose of
teaching. As the lectures were to be open to other members of
the university, he pointed the way to the endowed university
professorships which were eventually to supersede the regency
system. He also made provision for the admission of the sons of

LEARNING AND EDUCATION 537

noblemen as commoners (commensaks*), setting a precedent for
the participation of feopaying students in the teaching facilities
and common life of a college.

Henry V is credited with the intention of founding a *noble
college' in the castle at Oxford: but his son looked to Canv
bridge as freer from the taint of Wyclif 's 'damnable errors', and
with truly royal munificence founded King's College in 1441,
and linked it, in the manner of Wykeham's twin foundations,
to the * College Roiall' which he had erected the previous year
at Eton to be 'the lady, mother, and mistress of all other gram'
mar schools*. The promotion of theology as a defence against
heresy prompted the foundation of Lincoln College at Oxford
by Richard Fleming, bishop of Lincoln, in 1429, and St.
Catharine's College at Cambridge by Dr. Robert Woodlark,
provost of King's, in 1475. The foundation of Godshouse
(later Christ's College) at Cambridge in 1439 calls for
separate mention. With the establishment of Jesus College at
Cambridge in 1497 on the site of the nunnery of St. Rhade^
gund's by John Alcock, bishop of Ely, the impressive se^
quence of colleges founded in the fifteenth century is brought
to a close.

By the middle of the century it is possible from extant uni"
versity registers to form some rough estimate of the number of
students at both universities who left with degrees; but at no
period in the middle ages is it possible to judge how many left
without. Even so, there is reason to suspect that the proportion
was large. The great majority of those who graduated remained
celibate and proceeded to clerical careers: but there is no means
of ascertaining how many of the non^graduates became laymen
and married. In this connexion the evidence available for New
College, although it does not furnish an answer to the last
question, is significant, as it appears that on the average about
half of the scholars who entered the college from Winchester
did not graduate.

The parlous state into which grammar schools had fallen
during the first half of the century is reflected in the foundation
of Godshouse. It was founded by a London rector, William of

538 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

Byngham, as a training college for grammar schoolmasters, as
he had been shocked to find in the eastern parts of England no
less than seventy grammar schools closed for lack of masters that
had been flourishing fifty years before. This scarcity of school"
masters may in a measure be attributed to the fact that the
stipends attaching to the masterships of the free grammar
schools dependent upon a bishop's or a chancellor's licence
were no longer adequate. But with the need there came at least
a partial remedy in the form office grammar schools endowed
by private benefaction. As with the colleges at the universities,
the fifteenth century witnessed the exercise of remarkable enterx
prise on this account. Several collegiate schools, in addition to
those already mentioned, were founded by noblemen and
prelates; schools were promoted by town guilds like that at
Stratford on Avon; and chantry schools were multiplied. In
London the monopoly of the three privileged schools was
broken when in 1441 John Carpenter, sometime provost of
Oriel, later bishop of Worcester, founded St. Anthony's
school, which became for many years the leading school in the
city.

The most important development in English learning and
education in the fifteenth century resulted from the awakening
interest of English scholars in the revival of classical studies in
Italy. Classical scholarship had made little progress in England
since the days of John of Salisbury and Robert Grosseteste.
The first contacts with Italian humanism were due to Lancas^
trian patronage. Although the visit of Poggio to England from
1418 to 1422 at the invitation of Cardinal Beaufort bore very
little fruit, the concern of Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, for
the humanities set English learning and letters moving in new
channels, particularly at Oxford. In deference to him the uni>
versity revised its Arts course in 143 1 so as to include the Nova
Rhetorica of Cicero, the Metamorphoses of Ovid, and the works
of Virgil as alternative texts for the study of rhetoric. There folx
lowed his princely gifts of books which made accessible to
scholars translations from Greek authors that served to direct
attention to Greek literature. Timely encouragement was given

LEARNING AND EDUCATION 539

by men of scholarly Influence like John Whethamstede, abbot
of St. Albans: but more fruitful were the visits of the fortunate
few to study in Italian universities and in the school of Guarino
da Verona at Ferrara. John Tiptoft (d. 1443), earl of Worces^
ter, and John Free, his literary assistant, were, each in his own
way, masters of the new cult: Tiptoft, the English nobleman
who came nearest to the Italian princely patron of the renais^
sance and Free *the first Englishman to become a professional
humanist and reach the standard of the Italians'.

By the second half of the fifteenth century humanistic studies
were beginning to win interest in Oxford, under the stimulus of
Thomas Chaundler, warden of New College and chancellor
(PL no&). John Farley and William Grocin, both fellows
of the college, when acting as registrars of the university left
memorials of their newly won accomplishment by writing their
names in Greek characters in the margins of official letter^
books. Stefano Surigone, a Milanese scholar, had given courses
on Latin eloquence at Oxford by 1470. The seal of Chaund'
ler's fostering interest was set when as an old man he came up
from Hereford where he was dean to reply to a Latin oration
delivered by another Italian scholar, Cornelio Vitelli. The
range of neo-classical literature in Oxford was enlarged by the
benefactions of two distinguished Oxford scholars who had
studied in Italy: William Grey, bishop of Ely (d. 1478) to
Balliol College, and Robert Fleming, dean of Lincoln
(d. 1483) to Lincoln College. Christ Church, Canterbury,
introduced to humanism by its monks studying at Canterbury
College, became a noted centre of the revival where the study
of Greek was encouraged under the direction of its acconv
plished prior, William Selling (d. 1494). Reading abbey is
associated with the activities of the Greek scribe, John Serbo^
poulos, in the transcription of Greek books for academic
clients. The verdict that *a utilitarian conception of the human'
ities is the main feature of humanism in England during the
fifteenth century' is borne out in the careers of a succession of
ambassadors and high officials such as Thomas Bekynton
(d. 1465), bishop ofBath and Wells, Andrew Holes (d. 1470)

540 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

archdeacon of Wells, Adam Moleyns (d. 1450), bishop of
Chichester, John Gunthorpe (d. 1498), dean of Wells, George
Neville (d. 1476), archbishop of York, and William Shir^
wood (d. 1494), bishop of Durham. The publication of the
Compendium Totius Gramaticae by John Anwykyll, master of
Magdalen school, printed at Oxford in 1483, prepared the
way for the revolution in the teaching of Latin grammar that
was to mark the educational revival of the next century. The
wider diffusion of the New Learning was now well assured.

WORKS FOR REFERENCE

HOLDSWORTH, SIR WM., History of English Law, chapter on the Legal Profession
in volume ii.

KNOWLES, D. The Monastic Order in England (1940), chap, xxviii-xxxi; The

Religious Orders in England, i (1948); ii (1955).
LEACH, A. F. The Schools of Mediaeval England, 2nd edn. (1916); allowance

needs to be made for his prejudice against the monasteries; his articles on schools

in the Victoria County Histories.

LEVISON, W. England and the Continent in the 8th century (1945).

LITTLE, A. J. and PELSTER, F. Oxford Theology and Theologians c. 1282-1302
(Oxf. Hist. Soc., 1934), Introduction.

POOLE, A. L. From Doomsday to Magna Carta, chap. viii.

RASHDALL, H. The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, ed. F. M. POWICKE
and A. B. EMDEN (1936).

SALTER, M. E. Medieval Oxford (Oxf. Hist. Soc. 1936), lecture 5.

SMALLEY, B. The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages, 2nd edn. (1952), chaps.
v and vL

STENTON, F. M. Anglo-Saxon England (1943), chaps, vi and xiii.

TOUT, T. F. 'The English Civil Service in the Fourteenth Century*, in his

Collected Papers (1934), iii, pp. 191-221.
WEISS, R. Humanism in England during the i$th century (1941).

XVI. HANDWRITING 1

I

THE handwriting of the middle ages is one of its greatest
achievements: comparable with its architecture, and,
forthehistorian,evenmorefundamentalandimportant.
For although palaeographers study it primarily as a great
art, wemustneverforget that most of our knowledgeof the period
rests upon written records. They are the very stuff of history;
and the student is even more concerned with what is in his
manuscripts than with their beauty. For this double approach
we are rather better off than our medieval ancestors, most of
whom were illiterate; and just because we all use a pen today
we can appreciate, even if we cannot copy, the calligraphy, or
fine writing, of the middle ages. Contrariwise, we have a lot to
forget; for we must think ourselves back into a period when
printing not to mention the typewriter was unknown:
when men wrote with quills instead of steel pens, on sheepskin
instead of paper, and in Latin instead of English.

A bald contrast between the handwriting of medieval and
of modern society is, however, something less than a half-truth.
Between, say, A.D. 500 and 1500 the extent and the funcx
tion of handwriting were both transformed. In the barbarous
centuries which followed the disintegration of the Roman
Empire the practice of writing was increasingly confined to the
Church, whose 'clerks' copied the great books written in better
times the Bible, the works of the fathers, and the classics
and in their chronicles kept a brief record of the more impor/
tant contemporary events. They were acutely aware of the
general collapse, and fearful lest the memory of the great days
behind them should fall into oblivion. In these dark ages

1 The witter wishes to acknowledge the expert assistance of Dr. R. W. Hunt
who, as Keeper of Western manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, has so many of
the oldest and finest manuscripts in his charge.

542 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

society rested largely on an oral and customary basis. Justice
was done verbally in large assemblies, and the transfer of land
or rights became a ceremonial act accompanied by a symbolic
livery of seisin* and witnessed by neighbours. With the com/
ing of the tenth century these primitive arrangements slowly
gave ground, as well/knit states arose governed by autocratic
rulers. Impressed by the changes of the last four centuries, we
are apt to forget that between A.D. 500 and 1200 Europe
changed at least as much as between A.D. 1200 and 1900. This
revolution, for it is no less, is reflected in the history of medieval
handwriting, which beginning in England as an occasional
accessory of the monastic life gradually became the basic and
indispensable instrument both of the central government and
of ordinary business. Its finest triumphs as a pure art lie in the
earlier centuries, but its importance in the history of society in/
creases to the end of our period and, indeed, far beyond it.
Much more attention not unnaturally has been devoted by
palaeographers to the earlier centuries and therefore to Book
hand or Text than to its 'poor relation' Court hand or Cursive.
But Domesday Book and Magna Carta are also landmarks,
though of a different kind, for they are stages in the gradual
transition from oral custom to written record.

Because handwriting is at once a fine art and a daily utility,
its history is governed by the broad distinction between text and
cursive. For instance, it lies at the root of that slow and subtle
development of writing at its best over the centuries, since as
Dr. Lowe puts it, 'scripts like populations recruit chiefly from
below'. 1 Yet the distinction over/simplifies the facts; for while
calligraphic writing tends at any given moment to follow a
single, fixed pattern (though with local variations), utility
scripts of differing types and sometimes of real excellence cox
exist with it, often in great numbers. Indeed, by the fifteenth
century most of the great departments of government, like the

1 Thus, die lettoyfbrms of die ordinary writing of ckssical Rome (PL in &)
preserved for us on waxed/tablets and wall/inscriptions are basically those of the
square capitals (PL in a), disguised and modified by being written currente calamo.
But from these modifications over centuries fresh formal hands evolve and ultv
mately a new and smaller calligraphic, or beautiful, writing the minuscule.

PLATE III

Roman Square Capitals. Inscription of A.D. 122, commemorating the provision of a
wa:o> supply for the fort at South Shields :'Co. Durham; Eph. Epigr. ix, 1140

i. Roman Cursive. Writing^ablct from London
cdlhuni saluton epittico et mm \ bus mtukrmliius certiorts vos use , . .
(Antiquerks Journal, vol. xxxiii, p. 206)

PLATE 112

U

u

HANDWRITING 543

chancery, the exchequer, and the law courts had each evolved
its own highly artificial and intricate hand, uniform in execu^
tion and recognizable at a glance. For this reason the historians
of court hand tend to draw a further distinction between the set
and the free hand, that is between writing according to the copy
book and what the professional scribe often pressed for time
makes of it in practice. For writing throughout the middle
ages was in general a matter for experts and a profession. Of
the products of the *literate layman* or amateur we encounter
very little until the later part of our period.

The fundamental hand of all medieval writing, as well as
modern, is the square Roman capitals (PI 1 1 1 0), the supreme
legacy of Roman art, which has persisted unchanged for nearly
two thousand years. Here already is the alphabet we use today,
and though *an inconvenient form of writing*, except for titles,
it was employed for important books as late as the fourth or
fifth century. Not very much survives, apart from inscriptions
on stone, in this script. For whole books it was wasteful both of
space and of time; and in PL 1 120, the full severity of the basic
script is relaxed. The name of this fine script, Rustic Capitals,
is, in fact, a misnomer, for the evidence suggests that it was the
true book hand of classical times: but by the fifth century, its
place was being filled by Uncials (PL 1 I2&) and a century later
by Half'Uncials (PL 1 12 <;). In both these scripts the angularity
of writing in capitals is systematically rounded offinto curves,
more suited to penmanship, and both arose under the influence
of the cursive forms used in everyday writing. To British
students the hal&uncial is of particular interest, for it is the basis
for the script of the Irish 'Book of Kells* and older manuscripts,
almost equally famous, written in England (PL 114).

These four large or majuscle scripts embody the highest
achievements of writing until about the eighth century, and
each, as it were, has a foot in antiquity. The centuries in which
they flourished were the twilight of the ancient world, and their
history is very imperfectly known. So long as the Empire held

5526.2 M

544 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

together they seem to have been written with surprising uni/
fbrmity throughout its whole extent. After that, barbarian ins
vasions and the decline of the Roman imperium in western
Europe slowly brought to birth a new world. The widespread
secular culture of Rome was replaced by a society in which
writing (together with learning) inevitably became the special'
ized function of the Church. Writing, in consequence, began
to show more and more regional variations, associated for the
most part with important monasteries, which appear to us now
as islands of civilization in the general welter of the times. The
importance of Christian literature, and more especially of the
Bible increased, and decisive changes occurred in both the
form and materials of writing. In classical antiquity the normal
writing material was papyrus, a material manufactured from the
plant and made up in the form of a roll (yolumeri). By the fourth
century papyrus was giving way to sheepskin or parchment,
and there was a growing tendency more and more to substitute
for the roll the codex or book, made up in quires. The replace/*
ment of the papyrus roll by the parchment book effected a
revolution in the history of writing. Parchment gives a better
surface than papyrus for writing, and gradually a new pen
made from goose quills took the place of the reed pen of the
classical world. Parchment, moreover, is tougher and much
more durable than papyrus, and to this fortunate fact we owe
the survival of our medieval books. Hence our knowledge of
writing steadily increases as the use of papyrus declines. For
instance, the papacy, always a conservative institution, re'
tained papyrus as the material for its 'bulls' or letters until the
eleventh century, and so few originals have survived, that we
are today better informed about the charters of the Carolingian
or the French monarchy, than about the more sophisticated
products of the papal chancery.

By the eighth century the majuscule scripts were dying out.
All over Europe their place was being taken by new and
smaller book hands, generally described as minuscule. Among
the complex causes of this transition must certainly be included
the need for economy, which could best be achieved by getting

PLATE I 13

A

2

H

1-

v I

Pwnp

;E I 5 1

* 1 f 1

**^ C V ~

1-7- 3 ^ "^

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^ 3 x 3 .1

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bp
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PLATE 114

Irish majuscule. The Book of Kells. Eighth-ninth century
fi crucijixeruitt[t eu}m (Manuscript in Trinity College, Dublin)

HANDWRITING 545

more writing on to the skins available. Sheepskins and cal
skins, properly prepared, were hard to come by, and when, as
often, Christian texts were written over those of the Latin
classics (palimpsests) no disrespect was intended to what was
erased. The scribes, in their poverty, were simply putting first
things first. Our knowledge of how all this came about is onex
sided, since so little is known of the writing which the minus-'
cule displaced the scripts of the notaries and the traditional
products of a fading classical culture. The only learning known
to us in the eighth century is that of the monasteries, and the
only scripts, apart from the exiguous remains of the Frankish
and Italian chanceries, are those connected with particular
regions or monasteries. In south Italy, for instance, a local
minuscule arose, which we call Beneventan, associated parties
larly with the abbey of Monte Cassino: in Spain another, the
so-called Visigothic, and in Frankland another, the Merovinx
gian. Still earlier, Ireland and northern England had evolved
a highly distinctive, if crabbed, minuscle with its own charac^
teristic system of abbreviations based, like all abbreviations, on
those used in Roman law-books. The insular scribes, however,
with whom parchment seems to have been especially scarce,
were pioneers in admitting abbreviations into the text of their
writings. Different as these local scripts are from one another,
they share the common fault ofbeing extremely difficult to read.
This defect was at last overcome by a new script with a great
future (PL 113). This was the Caroline minuscule, a hand of
great beauty and supremely legible, the emergence of which is
closely associated with the great religious revival of Charles the
Great's reign. Smaller than majuscule writing, it achieved its
affect, Dr. Lowe tells us, *by a rigorous elimination of cursive
dements and by keeping letters distinct and properly aligned*.
It was no sudden discovery, but the achievement of a new
dear style, approaches to which go well back into the eighth
century in various monastic centres. The earliest recognizable
specimens come from Corbie, but it was the great abbey of St.
Martin of Tours which was responsible for its diffusion over
Europe in the ninth century, though rather after the time of its

54<5 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

famous abbot, Alcuin of York (796-804). This process was
speeded by its august parentage: but in the last resort the new
script won its way on its merits. Of all minuscules, it was the
Caroline that survived though here and there the older varieties
persisted for centuries. Beyond all other scripts it is the medieval
legacy to handwriting. Though transformed by the modifica^
tions of generations of scribes into the Gothic script of the
thirteenth century, it was rediscovered by the Italian scholars of
the Renaissance, and by the invention of printing, given perma/-
nent preservation.

By the middle of the tenth century the new script had reached
England, where for the next three centuries the finest Latin
books were written, with local English idiosyncrasies, in the
Caroline minuscule. But its triumph was qualified and limited
in England by earlier historical developments. The majuscule
scripts were, of course, brought into England by Augustine and
the other Roman missionaries after the year 597, but the origins
of native handwriting in the British Isles are entirely obscure. It
is only certain that by the seventh century there is evidence of
a definitely 'insular' type of hal&uncial writing, and of the
pointed minuscule mentioned above, unique in being derived
from hal&uncial, instead of being elaborated from cursive like
the minuscules of the Continent. The insular half/uncial, like
other majuscule scripts, died away leaving behind a number of
splendid manuscripts. Of these the most perfect example is the
'Book of Kells' which remains, both for its illumination and
its script, 'the admiration and despair of succeeding ages*. But
the insular minuscule remained; and the missionaries of the
eighth century who passed over to the Continent took their
minuscule with them. Indeed, the best evidence of their activi'
ties, which did so much to stimulate the great reform of
Charles the Great's reign, is supplied by the books they wrote
in famous abbeys like Bobbio, St. Gall, and Fulda. Meanwhile
at home the insular minuscule enjoyed a growing popularity
owing to the extraordinary development of a precocious ver^
nacular literature in England before anything of the kind
developed abroad. We can only suppose that Ireland and Eng'

PLATE I 15

"\ tt* T* d&

i Sld^Vlt

f 4:t>iJ-j >jLr

_r^i- s j_-.||-^

- r- P js^E .?

PLATE 116

^^<^m^:^^^fto^

iatiojfttii^
jdefcputcka&aluotio^taufa

.> V^VVVV4'V1 w ISVIIWMJ AVt U4VACUI

tofaimni&wixw
ifoow^tmafti]^itad^; dc<S^

a*>*<f45<^i*i v fiir J <YrffiiTfti^4><!^^m ; i

0w^tmafci]tjit^S^; de4a .
ad^to^o>l%m?tf)dkinl

* " '"^nC *

B^^;:^>^iM^'' ':',^ -:. . ^/ ;:-. .^ .

Laun bookx-hand. Life and Miracles of St. Augusdne by Goscelin, a monk of St.
Augustine's, Canterbury. Early twelfth century

Solennia c%lo tnumphata qug nuper eglmus laude
(Maunde Thompson Fac. 176. British Museum, MS. Cotton Vespasian B. xx)

HANDWRITING 547

land, lying on the outer fringe of Latin civilization, were
driven to this course by the dearth of scribes who knew Latin.
We still have at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, a copy
of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle written at the end of the ninth
century (PL 1 1 5), and in the Bodleian Library a contemporary
manuscript of King Alfred's translation of Gregory's Pastoral
Care. It is not therefore surprising that in the tenth century, the
Old English insular script, with its special letters [p (w), lp
(tb\ 3 (/&), 3 (g&)] was able to hold its own, for all vernacular
manuscripts, against the competition of Caroline minuscule
which was henceforth reserved for Latin books. In the royal
charters of the tenth and eleventh centuries superb specimens
of calligraphy the two scripts appear together: the Latin text
written in Caroline, the Old English 'boundaries* of the pro'
perty granted, in the native minuscule. Thus for centuries to
come we have two streams of palaeographical development in
England; two distinct book hands depending on language;
and the strife of tongues was further complicated after the Nor'
man Conquest by the introduction of Norman French, though
this, of course, followed the Latin tradition.

These English peculiarities, though of great historical in'
terest to us today, were not so important at the time, when the
Latin language reigned supreme. Vernacular manuscripts are
only a small fraction of what has survived, and it is probable
that they were written as the only alternative to sheer illiteracy.
Latin manuscripts alone had much scholarly repute and for
these the Caroline minuscule reached the heyday of its develop'
ment in the eleventh and early twelfth centuries. The specimen
given in PL 116, which was written in the first quarter of the
twelfth century, is taken from the Life and Miracles of St.
Augustine by Goscelin, a monk of St. Augustine's, Canter'
bury. By this time the minuscule was a faultless script
supremely legible, with the words at last carefully separated,
the sentences punctuated, and a still growing yet systematic
scheme of abbreviations. Punctuation was not, as with us,
grammatical but a guide to the reader who normally spoke
aloud or muttered to himself as he read, while the abbreviations

548 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

and contractions were Intended to lighten the labour of copy/
ing. In manuscripts of late antiquity the abbreviations are con/
fined to b; (bus),c^que), u (urn), and the contractions of the
holy names: e.g. DS for Deus, IHS, XPS for Jesus Christus,
but as time passed the practice was greatly extended, until in
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the chief difficulty in
reading manuscripts lies in the correct extension of the
abbreviations. Roughly speaking, words were shortened in
four different ways:

1. By suspension, or the omission of the final letters of the
word, shown either by a dot (e.g. R. for Rex) or a horizon/
tal line above the last letter written (e.g. boste for bostem).

2. By contraction, or the omission of medial letters, shown by
a horizontal line (e.g. dns for dominus, apli for apostolf).

3. By superior letters, such as fm for quam.

4. By special signs, some of which go right back to the Roman
system of shorthand: e.g. 7 for ef, and to the abbreviations
used in legal and non/literary manuscripts: e.g. p for
prae, at for autem.

These methods of abbreviation used either singly or in com/
bination certainly present great difficulties to the student more
especially if his Latin is weak. But when once they are mas/
tered good manuscripts (at any rate until the end of the twelfth
century) can soon be read with almost the same ease and at the
same pace as modern print.

The development of abbreviations was, of course, deter/
mined by Latin manuscripts which alone used a fixed spell/
Ing; but they were also applied, so far as could be, to books in
French and English, the history of which in England was pro/
foundly affected by the events of the year 1066. Very soon after
the Norman Conquest the status of English, hitherto the
language of all classes and of government, was depressed, and
for nearly three centuries everyone except the serfs (the over/
whelming majority) spoke French. The writing of English
books almost, though not quite, ceased in the twelfth century,
and its place both in education and polite literature was filled

HANDWRITING 549

by the new French literature, which was now spreading like
wildfire across Europe. The French language has no great place
in the specialized history of handwriting, but its social inv
portance in medieval England was immense. So French in/
deed did society become that a local offshoot arose in England,
with a literature of its own, known as Anglo/Norman: and
this, we may suspect, meant more to the tiny minority who
then aspired to 'education' than all the Latin learning of the
period. Yet in the long period, the most important of post/Con/
quest developments was the increased knowledge of Latin
which had always been c in short supply* among the Anglo/
Saxons. Learning and letters in England were at last caught up
into the main stream of European civilization, and at the very
moment when the religious life of medieval Europe was at its
highest pitch of fervour. The new monastic orders the Clun/
iacs, the Cistercians, the Canons Regular, and the Gilber/
tines were heavily endowed by the new French nobility.
Scores of new monasteries were founded, which not only col/
lected great libraries, but were themselves, not seldom, writing
centres of repute. The old Benedictine houses of Anglo/Saxon
times, soon full of French/speaking and Latin/minded monks
foundations like Canterbury, Worcester, Durham, and
Winchester continued to produce Latin books in their
scriptoria, which were masterpieces of calligraphy, though the
French minuscule in which they were now written was rather
different from that of pre/Conquest days. In the twelfth cen/
tury the best elements of continental learning were thus fused
with the older English tradition, while in the thirteenth a new
foreign stimulus was supplied by the mendicant orders of
Friars, especially the Dominicans and Franciscans, whose
houses became centres of learning and writing. In the British
Museum, the Bodleian, the college libraries of Oxford and
Cambridge, our old cathedrals, and even in private hands,
finely written Latin manuscripts of these centuries survive in
thousands: a great field for palaeographers, still less than halt*
explored.
Yet, though today we value the middle ages chiefly for their

550 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

learning, scholarship, then as now, was a world apart, and, if
possible, even more remote. The 'educated Englishman* of the
twelfth century was, in fact, nearly a Frenchman who enjoyed
listening to romances, like the Song of Roland, and took his
English history from French translations of the romantic
Geoffrey of Monmouth. On the other hand, he was
more or less bilingual, which few of us are today, and if
he happened to be a clergyman and knew Latin, trilingual.
But the number of those, whether native or foreign, who
spoke French can never have been more than some thousands
in a population approaching two millions; and although
the aristocratic structure of society preserved the vogue of
French for centuries, it was English which inevitably prevailed
as the spoken tongue. Nor did the written tradition fail, a fact
attested by the survival into the late middle ages of the letters
peculiar to the Old English script. Before the final resurgence
of the mother tongue, enriched and transformed by foreign
influences, French gave way altogether, while Latin steadily
weakened. Already in the early fifteenth century Henry V was
sending home English dispatches from Agincourt (1415),
though the final victory of English was only achieved in the
sixteenth century.

These developments, however, were still undreamed of in the
tenth century, when the new minuscule from Tours was spread/
ing all over the west. The European dominance of the Caroline
minuscule for nearly four centuries is a potent reminder of the
unity of civilization and culture in this period. One must not
however think of it as either uniform or stationary. Within
the general pattern there were endless local variations, and all the
time, writing, like other forms of art, was changing, though
with glacier/like slowness. For these reasons the modern
scholar can generally tell where his manuscripts were written
and within half a century or less fix their date simply by
looking at them. At last, about the end of the twelfth century,
and just when Romanesque architecture developed into 'Early
English', the rounded minuscule gave way, quite suddenly, to
a difficult and angular script which for lack of a better name

PLATE 117

& -is

su> ~~i

o -ci

"a "&

c

s 4 ^=

ft ^ O

Q -g

f o

00 =:

Q -g

PLATE Il8

^'vr^^^A^^^^^^j^^

* ^ A fcjtatt&ftitffe'
Hr{0&*$iiAeiW

"^^^m^imm^^^tixtm^

fl. Latin book/hand. Thirteenth century. The beginning of the
Argtmentm in epistok Petri d Romarw which Matthew Paris himself

added to a Bible written by a scribe

Romanisunt qui ex Judeis gentihsque crdiderunt

(Corpus Christi College, Oxford, MS. 2, 369 a )

4. Cursive. Notes written by Matthew Paris. Thirteenth century

Seamdum diud tamen exemplar
(British Museum, MS. Cotton Nero D. i, i66 b )

HANDWRITING 55*

we may call Gothic (PL 119). This change from the 'grand
style* to one of 'general minuteness* was universal and perhaps
deplorable, for despite the beauty of the new script, it fails in the
fundamental quality of legibility. The falling off is all the more
serious, since with the coming of the thirteenth century the
number of surviving manuscripts increases in an almost geo/
metrical progression. This too was the great age of the medieval
universities, so that the whole academic learning of scholasti/
cism must be read in highly abbreviated close scripts most
trying to the eyes. Here none the less is a vast field for study and
one in which scholars today are making great discoveries.

The very finest examples of the Gothic style are, of course,
found in important religious books bibles, the works of the
great 'scholastics' like Peter Comestor, and, above all, in
service books, especially psalters, missals, and breviaries. These
were the de luxe volumes of the age, written without regard for
expense, by scribes of unusual skill and often superbly illum^
inated. For mere 'literary' works, like chronicles, the full vigour
of the new style was generally much mitigated, as in PL 1180,
which shows the pleasing hand of Matthew Paris, the his^
torian. Indeed, there was now so much bookhand writing on all
levels, that collectively there are today probably more manux
scripts written in modified Gothic, like that of Matthew Paris,
than in the script of PL 119. Nevertheless, it was the hand of the
missals and breviaries that was most esteemed at the time, and
we can still admire the fantastic skill required to write it. Per^
haps too it had a scarcity value, for it is hard to believe that the
supply of such skilled scribes even then was enough to meet the
demand. It could thus be only a matter of time until a reaction
set in and the scholars, if not the scribes, strove to recover the
splendid simplicity of the older writing. This movement in
which Italy pkyed a leading part brought about the archaistic
and artificial revival of the littera antiqua (i.e. the post'Caroline
minuscule of Italy) in the humanistic script of the fifteenth
century, a variety of which, the italic, is shown in PL 1 20, With
the simultaneous discovery of printing from movable type,
further development was arrested and both the Gothic and the

55* MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

humanistic script became models for the printed book. Thus
began a new 'battle of the books' which after a strife of
centuries, ended everywhere (except in Germany) in the
victory of the humanist letter/forms; and to this result, of course,
the very type of Medieval England bears witness. But in England
at least, the invention of printing did not immediately curb the
inventiveness of scribes, and early in the sixteenth century a
new hand, based partly on English models, makes its appear/
ance. This is the script which the writing masters call
'secretary hand* (PL 121 1) which was developed and perfected
as the century proceeded. It is, in Denholm/ Young's words,
'the native, current hand for everyday purposes'; the hand, for
example, of the great collection of State Papers, and as such of
great practical importance to students of the period.

The history of medieval handwriting at its best is
eminently that of the Latin language and of the Catholic
church: and it falls naturally into three periods. Of these the
first is concerned with those splendid majuscule scripts, whose
roots lie in antiquity, and their gradual replacement, under the
influence of cursive writing, by the minuscule, the especial con/
tribution of the middle ages to calligraphy. In the second
period, which is conveniently dated by the appearance of the
Caroline minuscule about the year 800 and lasts for four
centuries, the new script reigns supreme for all literary writing.
The third, beginning about 1200, is that of the Gothic script
which after rather less than three centuries was in its turn dis^
carded in the humanistic revival of the fifteenth century. In the
second of these periods England was bound up more closely
with the Continent than ever before or since, and shared a
common Latin civilization that was truly European. For
native and vernacular writing the periods, we have seen, need
alteration, the first closing in 1066 and the third beginning
early in the fourteenth century: the middle period almost
a blank representing the price paid for internationalism. Yet,
however, we distinguish periods, an underlying unity is found

HANDWRITING 553

in the material used for writing, and therefore in technique.
The classical world had employed papyrus: the modern world
writes, and prints, on paper which 'came in* during the fif/
teenth century. The medieval world in all three periods used
sheepskin or parchment or vellum three names for varieties
of the same thing which lasts longer than either papyrus or
paper and gives a better surface for the pen.

The sketch given above is, however, something of an abstrao
tion for in treating writing as a form of art, it inevitably neglects
history. But writing is, after all, only a synonym for history and
art for art's sake a poor motto for the scribe since even the most
exquisite manuscripts were written to serve useful purposes.
There is, when all is said and done, a greater thrill in reading a
manuscript than in merely looking at it, and the historian finds
significance in the script often beautiful of manuscripts
ignored by the student of writing as an art. The earlier centuries
from which, relatively, so little has been preserved present little
difficulty, for historians and palaeographers are equally ins
terested in all that survives. But from the twelfth century on^
wards our third period we enter a new world. The monks
to whom we owe the finest manuscripts of the middle ages were,
even then, a privileged class, to whom neither time nor money
was important. Then, as now, there was also the world of
aflairs the correspondence of kings, bishops, and barons, the
writing of the law-courts, the tax rolls of the bureaucrats,
private conveyancing and the accounts of business men. Not
much is known about either the nature or volume of all this
in the largely oral society of the early middle ages: but in the
century after the Norman Conq uest there was a rapid expansion
of the written document, and by the late twelfth century there
had developed a new cursive or semicursive, the 'court letter*
(Uttera curialis) or as we say court hand. This new writing smy
vives in baffling variety and ever growing quantity, but PL 1 17
will suffice to show its origin in the Caroline minuscule written
currente calama. A large and mixed body of secular, professional
writers sprang up, ranging from the halfilliterate scribe who
compiled the manorial courtarolls to the highlyxskilled clerks of

554 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

the royal chancery, the notaries, both papal and imperial, and
above all the Scriveners Company of London whose 'Com/
mon Paper' or entrance book survives from the year 1390. Into
this book for more than two centuries every member entered in
his own hand his name and his acceptance of the company's
rule a unique record of the development of professional yet
secular handwriting in its 'set* form. 1

As the middle ages advance the classification of handwriting
becomes increasingly difficult. Particularly well/written official
documents of the twelfth century are often said by cataloguers to
be written in 'charter hand*, and by the end of that century the
new cursive is already well developed. There was a growing
tendency to link letters together; and their forms were greatly
modified as the set hand taught to the apprentices became,
under pressure of time, a free hand. These developments pro/
foundly affected the development of book hand. The sudden
change to smaller writing in the thirteenth century, as we have
seen, reflects the influence of the new court hand, while the
chronicles, and the ever/growing mass of vernacular writing
(as English slowly came into its own) tend to be written more
and more in hybrid scripts half/way between book hand
proper and cursive. In this confusion of scripts we can, perhaps,
distinguish a standard court hand which reaches its height to/
wards the end of the thirteenth century. In the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries it slowly deteriorated, and at the same time
the spread of education and the appearance of the literate lay/
man* gave rise to a miscellaneous mass of documents as ill
written as those of today. None the less there was throughout our
period a body of highly trained professional scribes capable of
writing well the standard court hand. But this is not all: for
perhaps the most interesting feature of later medieval writing, as
has been said above, is the emergence of elaborate and artificial
set hands in the various departments of the 'civil service', which
soon became fixed and traditional, and lasted for centuries.
One of these, the new chancery hand of the late fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries, is illustrated in PL 121 a. And there were
1 See H. Jenkinson, Late Court Hanls in England (Cambridge, 1927).

PLATE 119

PLATE 120

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HANDWRITING 555

many others in the various departments of the exchequer and
the courts of law, which survive literally by the ton in the
Public Record Office. This official writing was done, gener/
ally speaking, not in books, but on great parchment rolls, the
membranes being either gathered at the head, or sewn end to
end, and then rolled up. In England the roll was as normal for
government records as the 'book* for literary manuscripts.

For more than four centuries handwriting has fought a losing
battle against the printing press; to which, we must now add,
the typewriter. Yet in the general degradation one of its oldest
functions remains in full force, and even grows in importance.
For however much we print or type our documents they have
still to be authenticated, and guarded against forgery. This is
done by the signature, which is not merely a name, but a name
written in an individual and personal way that carries convic^
don at sight. As such, it goes right back to the ancient world,
and the notion of signatures was never entirely lost in the
medieval world: indeed in the twelfth century the most solemn
'privileges' of the papal chancery were signed (or supposed to
be signed) personally by the cardinals. But signatures were,
after all, only intelligible to clerks while the written commands
of kings and princes had to be recognized at a glance by their
illiterate subjects. Thus, the conditions of the time were against
the use of signatures at any rate in the earlier part of our period,
when lay magnates -pro ignorantia Utterarum never aspired to
do more than to add the sign of the cross (+) at the foot of a
charter and even this seems to have been done more often
than not by the scribe. Feudal Europe therefore fell back upon
another device, also classical in origin the use of seals. By the
sixth century the popes were sealing their letters with a two^
faced leaden *bulla*, bearing on one side the pope's name and
number and on the other the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul. A
little later we find the Merovingian and Carolingian kings
impressing on the face of their charters a wax seal, which, how
ever, involved cutting the parchment to give it a grip and was in
any case too easily removed. At last in the eleventh century the
chancery of King Edward the Confessor evolved the pendent,

55<5 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

c coin* seal in wax, attached on a parchment strip cut at the foot
of the document. This adaptation of the 'bulla* was rapidly
copied in every European chancery, royal, baronial, and episov
pal. For the rest of the middle ages writing and seals were in^
separably connected in men's thoughts, and at Runnymede
King John accepted Magna Carta by affixing his seal to the
'petition' of the barons, not because he could not write (he
probably could), but because medieval government in 1215
was government by seals. By the close of the middle ages the
king possessed, in addition to the Great Seal employed in his
Chancery, both a Privy Seal and a Signet, each with its own
separate secretariat. Every department of government the
exchequer, the wardrobe, the law courts had also its depart'
mental seal, and the methods of government were copied by
merchants and almost all owners of property. Like most
medieval institutions, the system reached its height in the thirx
teenth century, after which period, as a result of the develop^
ment of cursive writing and the spread of education, the use
of seals by the middle class slowly decayed. In the fifteenth
century we find jurors signing their names to inquisitions:
and it was left to that very educated dynasty the Tudors to
introduce the personal signature or sign manual into the busv
ness of state. From the sixteenth century onwards the use of seals
by high and low to authenticate documents has grown steadily
less. The Signet still survives: but the Privy Seal was abolished
a century ago (though not its Keeper, the Lord Privy Seal),
and the Great Seal itself is only an antiquarian survival used
for creating peers by letters patent.

The history of handwriting has been studied by its greatest
exponents as an aspect of artistic evolution guided by natural
selection: and with good reason, for we can certainly put our
undated manuscripts in a rough sequence, merely by looking at
their script. But we must not carry this approach too far. One
recalls the old canon of Dunstable who proved a document to
be a forgery by testifying in open court that he had written all
their charters for the past forty years. Even if it be true that
writing has never been a 'thing at the mercy of individual

PLATE 121

HANDWRITING 557

whim*, the notion of the survival of the fittest is only acceptable
with large qualifications. The very reasons we advance for the
triumph of the Caroline minuscule make it difficult to explain
the vogue of the Gothic script for three whole centuries. At all
times handwriting has been influenced by the taste of indivi'
dual scribes, and also like the history of costume by the
vagaries of fashion. We shall do well, then, to think of it as an
art, governed by rules of course, but still as an activity of
individuals some of whom, did we but know it, may have de^
cisi vely changed its history. Wise men only date undated maniv
scripts within very wide limits, and even so, provisionally. But
caution, too, can be carried too far for no subject better illus^
trates the blind operation of conflicting tendencies in history.
Against the virtue of legibility must always be set the urge for
greater speed in writing. The need to be easily intelligible is off'
set by the tendency to contract the writing, either to save space or
the labour of the scribe. Most curious of all is the wellxattested
instinct to raise writing to the status of a 'mystery*, which in the
past has given rise to scripts of deliberate intricacy, and lingers
on in the prescriptions written by our doctors. The same
motives, allied with others, explain the revival of Latin in the
public administration at the Restoration, and the retention of
Law French well into the eighteenth century.

WORKS FOR REFERENCE

DENHOLM^YOUNG, N. Hanlwritmg m Englml tmd Wales (Cardiff, 1954).

GRIEVE, HILDA E. P. Some Examples of English Handwriting (Cbelmsfbrd, 1949);
More Exmpks &f English Handwriting (Cbelmsfbrd, 1950).

JENKINSON, H. The Later Court Hands m England (Cambridge, 1927).
JOHNSON, CHARLES, and JENKINSON, H. Cwrt Hand Illustrated (Oxford, 1914).
KENYON, F. G. Bwks and Readers In Ancient Greece ana* Urne (Oxford, 1932).

LOWE, E. A. Cwtices Latm Antiquwres. Parts i-vi (Oxford, 1934-53); 'Hand'
writing", in Tbe Legacy vftbe MiMk Ages> ed. C* G. CRUMP and E. F. JACOB
(Oxford, 1926).

STEFFENS, FRANZ. Latciwsche Pektograpbie, 2nd ed. (Fribourg, 1907; French ed^
R. COULON, 1908-10).

558 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

THOMPSON, E. MAUNDE. Handbook of Greek and Latin Palaeography (Oxford,
1912).

WARNER, G. F., and ELLIS, H. J. Facsimiles of Royal and other Charters in the
British Museum (1903).

Facsimiles

Facsimiles of Ancient Charters in the British Museum. 4 vols. 1873-8.
Facsimiles of Anglos Saxon MSB. 3 vols. (Ordnance Survey, 1878-84).
New Pakeographical Society, Facsimiles of Ancient MSS. First and Second Series

(1903-30).
Palaeographical Society, Facsimiles of MSS. and Inscriptions. First and Second

Series (1873-1901).

XVII. PRINTED BOOKS, THE
BOOKxTJRADE, AND LIBRARIES

T

i. Printing

THE introducer of printing into England, William
Caxton, was born in Kent about the year 1421 . Most of
his life was spent in business on the Continent, where he
became Governor of the English Nation in the Low
Countries. 1 By the year 1469 he had also entered the service of
the duchess of Burgundy, for whom he made various trans'
lations. His work proved popular, but the task of copying
becoming burdensome he decided to multiply copies of his
translations by the novel art of printing. Caxton seems to have
learnt this in Cologne, but it was at Bruges that he printed, with
the assistance of Colard Mansion, in 1475, the Recuyell of tbt
Historyes of Troye, the first book printed in the English lan^
guage. Caxton returned to England in the folio wing year, and
set up a printing press at Westminster. In 1477 his first dated
book,theD/rtoor SayengisoftbePhilos0phers,2Lppeaxed(PL 122).
From that date to 1491 Caxton printed ninetysix separate
books, the most notable being Chaucer's Canterbury Tales,
Malory's Morte d* Arthur, and the Golden Legend.

Caxton died in 1491 and left all his materials to his ap^
prentice, Wynkyn de Worde, who printed over one hundred
books in the fifteenth century. In 1 500 De Worde moved from
Westminster to London, where he continued working until
1 53 5, by which time he had printed nearly 800 different books.
The other fifteentlvcentury printers of Westminster and

1 The Governor was an official of the association of Merchant Adventurers;
he was elected by the members who resided in the Low Countries. His head-'
quarters were at Bruges, He acted as an arbitrator in disputes between English
merchants and represented them in correspondence with the home government.

5SSC.2 N

5<5o MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

don were Julian Notary, John Lettou, William de Machlinia,
and Richard Pynson.

Oxford was the first provincial town in which a press was
set up. Its earliest production was Rufinus's Expositio in sim<>
lolum Apostolorum, which, although dated "MCCCCLXVIII*,
was almost certainly printed in 1478, the figure x having
accidentally dropped out of the date. The name of the printer is
not given, but it is generally assumed that he was Theodoric
Rood of Cologne, whose name appears in 1481 as printer of
the Oxford edition of Alexander de Hales's commentary on the
De Anima of Aristotle. Four years later Rood is found associ/
ated in his business with Thomas Hunte, a university sta/
tioner. Seventeen books are assigned to the fifteentlvcentury
Oxford press, but some of them are known only from frag'
ments.

St. Albans had a printing press in 1480; the printer's name
is unknown. He is generally called the Schoolmaster Printer,
because of a reference to him by Wynkyn de Worde, who states
in one of his books that it had also been printed by one some/
time *scole master of saynt Albons'. The most notable pro/
duction of the press is the famous Boke of St. Albans, which
treats of hawking, hunting, and heraldry. Eight books are
known to have issued from this press, which ceased working,
with the Oxford press, in 1486.

In London alone was there any continuity of printing;
Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, and Notary carried on their
work into the sixteenth century, Copland, Faques, Redman,
Berthelet, and Rastell being the more notable of their con/
temporaries or successors. The Oxford press resumed work
from 1517 to 1519, and then broke off again till 1585. St,
Albans also had a press working from 1534 to 1538. Other
towns at which books were printed before 1550 were York
(1509), Cambridge (1521), Tavistock (1525), Abingdon
(1528), Ipswich (1547), Worcester (1549), and Canterbury
(1549). Printing was introduced into Scotland by Walter
Chapman and Andrew Myllar, who issued in 1508 a few
poetical tracts. No press existed in Ireland before 1 55 1, in which

PLATE 122

gMttg anb? feflg jstm+wty "gg ^gg coman;

Colophon of Caxton*s Dto or Ssjcngis of the Philosophers, from the copy in the
John Rylands Library, Manchester

PLATE 123

Lectern desks in the Old Library of Trinity Hall, Cambridge

PRINTED BOOKS, BOOK-TRADE, LIBRARIES 56!

year Humphrey Powell printed an edition of the Book of
Common Prayer in Dublin.

It is an interesting fact that the majority of books printed by
Caxton, including his first, were in English, many being of a
popular character. His successor, De Worde, also issued a
large number of small popular poems and tracts. Besides this
popular literature, service-books, law treatises, and minor theo^
logical and scholastic books were printed in considerable
numbers by the earlier English printers, but for editions of the
Bible, Latin and Greek classical texts, and works of scholarship
generally, England was dependent on the Continent.

The first classical text published In England Is an edition of
Cicero's Pro Milone printed by Theodoric Rood of Oxford
about 1480 (Fig. 105). The earliest specimen of Greek movable
type is found in a motto on the tide-page of a book printed by
Siberch at Cambridge in 1521. De Worde had previously
used a few Greek words in some of his books, but they had
been printed from wood-blocks. A Chrysostom printed by
Wolfe of London in 1543 is the earliest Greek text printed in
England.

The editio princess of the English Bible was printed on the
Continent in 1535 at someplace unknown (Fig. 106). This was
Coverdale's translation- The first Bible actually printed in
England was produced by James Nycolson of Southwark in
1537. In the same year appeared "Matthew's Bible*, another
continental printed version. This was followed by the * Great
Bible* of 1 5 39, printed partly In France and partly in England.
In 1560 the Geneva version was published. This, the first
popular edition of the Bible, Is noteworthy for its compact
form, the use of Roman type, and the division of chapters into
verses. The next important versions were the 'Bishops* Bible*
(1568) and the Authorized Version (1611).

The press used by printers of the fifteenth century was made
of wood, and of similar construction to the small platen presses
of today. Two men sufficed to work it, one laying the paper
and 'pulling* the press, the other 'beating', i.e. Inking the type
with ink-balls*

5" MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

Very many books printed in the fifteenth century are without
name of printer, place of printing, or date. When these are given

fhrt partfitt m

jfe tjfepuferenhjtttattif i8(etem em jtf
i cttinmie OH/a fca irt Jactutit ^)jSeq; fmpe#
qj ftiettft/ncqj picfente eomino q8 Jtios qiitft^
fewo0 w felt re Jatw tjohnffrf.^c (fait erpo|ai/ife gef
fe /tf waittecm/tDiafoi /tipetatuertjj tj'uta ie/uel jn.
fc'ue oppp uittafe aiiJiaoa e
pb.confctufe /li'^i^il qm'8

^tcjiil fane id p*oftt f^iiotii : qm fpc (aro
i qm'tem fcwiatc ftttuenf/qm ttd f&m

nto0 jjettftbue rf [trie itafatta ipfa pjefctipf(t:vf om*
femg Jm quaotnqj opf|feitt/a pic/a mpife

^5imte:qm fimid iuQifftie ommbHe/qw m laf wnee hi

opWiw mtlom' fait/

FIG. 105. Cicero's Pro Melont (Oxford, c. 1480)

they are usually found in the colophon, that is, a paragraph at
the end of the book giving details about its production. A
printer's device, if found in a book, can normally be accepted
as the mark of the printer who actually printed the book,

FIG. 106. Covcrdalc's Bible, 1535. TM^page of Ac New Testament

5<54 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

Caxton, however, first used his device in the Sarum Missal of
1487, which was printed for him by W. Maynyal of Paris,
Title-pages are uncommon; the earliest English book with a
title-page is the Treatise on the Pestihnce, printed by Machlinia
about 1486.

In the lower margin of certain leaves in a printed book will
generally be found a series of letters or numbers on the first
pages of each 'gathering*. These are called 'signatures', and
are intended to guide the binder when he 'gathers up* the
sheets of the book he is about to bind. The first printer in
England to use signatures was Theodoric Rood of Oxford.
When a sheet is folded once it forms two leaves (a folio or
foL); when twice, four leaves (a quarto or 4to); when thrice,
eight leaves (an octavo or 8vo). These are the normal sizes of
early printed books.

2. Binding

Leather has always been the usual covering for books in
western Europe, although in early times manuscripts were
sometimes cased in precious metals decorated with jewels. The
earliest extant English leather binding is on a copy of the
Gospel of St. John at Stonyhurst, and is supposed to be tenth-
century work. The bindings produced at Durham and
Winchester in the twelfth century are remarkable for the beauty
of the dies used to stamp the leather. Fifteenth-century bindings
have very distinct characteristics, and it is possible to identify a
considerable number of them by means of the dies used for their
decoration. The use of small stamps was continued until the
beginning of the sixteenth century when a large stamp, called a
'panel*, came into general use. This was succeeded by a tool of
wheel shape called a 'roll*, which by revolution could repro
duce indefinitely the design cut upon it. The use of gold on
bindings was popularized in England by the King's Printer,
Thomas Berthelet (died 1555), who produced some notable
bindings in leather and velvet. The 'boards* of bindings of the
medieval period were invariably of wood.

PRINTED BOOKS, BOOK/TRADE, LIBRARIES 5<*5

3. Book Trade

Before the introduction of printing into England our know/
ledge of the production and selling of books depends largely on
isolated facts gathered together from a variety of documents.
The transcription and binding of manuscripts were carried on
at most monastic foundations, and at literary centres such as
Oxford, scribes, illuminators, binders, and parchment'sellers
are found in considerable numbers from the twelfth century
onwards.

Although it was an Englishman who introduced printing
into England, yet it must not be assumed that Englishmen at
first held any important place in the book/trade in England.
Caxton is, in fact, the only known native fifteentlvcentury
printer in England; De Worde, Lettou, Machlinia, Notary,
and Rood were all foreigners. And so it was with the book/trade
generally. From 1476 to 1535 the majority of those engaged in
the book-trade in England were foreigners. This influx of
aliens was largely due to an Act of 1484 which allowed 'any
artificer, or merchant stranger of what nation or country he be
... or any scrivener, alluminor [illuminator], binder, or
printer* to exercise their trade and to reside in England.

These foreign stationers not only had books printed for them
on the Continent for sale in England, but established them'
selves at literary centres and attended fairs where any consider^
able trade in books was likely to be done. An account-took of
John Dome, an early sixteentlvcentury Oxford stationer, is still
preserved, and shows that a large part of his trade was done at
the Oxford book fairs, and that he made periodical visits to the
Continent to replenish his stock of books.

The book-trade flourished in England from the passing of
the Act of 1484 until 1534, when another Act was passed,
placing severe restrictions on foreign printers and stationers,
and on the importation of readybound books. The Act was
ostensibly for the protection of native workmen; it was, how
ever, also directed against the importation of prohibited books,
for which there was a great demand. The first edition o

5<56 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

dale's New Testament, printed on the Continent in 1525, is
known to have consisted of 3,000 copies. Others quickly fol/
lowed, but so efficiently was their suppression carried out that
of the editions known to have been printed before 1 5 3 2 not one/
quarter has survived either as copies or fragments. From 1535
the book/trade in England rapidly declined and did not per/
manently revive until the reign of Elizabeth.

4. Libraries

References to collections of books in the British Isles are fre/
quent from the seventh century, but there is little information
about the manner in which the earliest collections were stored.
We read, for instance, of manuscripts at Canterbury in the age
of St. Augustine, and of a library administered by Alcuin at
York in 778. In the twelfth century there were more than 300
works at Durham priory and the secular library at Christ
Church, Canterbury consisted of over 200 volumes. In the
latter collection were works by Cicero, Plato, Terence, Sallust,
Vergil, Horace, Lucan, Statius, Juvenal, Persius, Cato, and
Ovid. These collections were probably kept in presses in the
cloisters, where they were also read. In the cloisters of Gloucester
cathedral may be seen little alcoves, called carrels, where the
monks of the Benedictine abbey of St. Peter pursued their
studies. Later, when monastic collections increased in size,
special book/rooms were provided. In the book/room of
ChristChurch, Canterbury, attheendofthethirteenth century,
the books were arranged in two demonstrations (large general
divisions), and then into distinctiones (probably bookcases),
each distinctio having a certain number ofgradus (shelves). The
books were classified under groups such as Theology, History,
Philosophy, Music, Medicine.

A considerable amount of information about the arrange/
ment and classification of books in monastic libraries can be
derived from their catalogues, of which several are extant. The
illustration shows a portion of the catalogue of the priory of St.
Martin, Dover, compiled in 1389. This library was divided

PLATE 124

~

18

p***l fiftsrt r^i

-v-

is

O

6* utfj r
. ^

i^!0fe fitp 6" miii ii^t L

a. From the Catalogue of Dover Priory, 1389 (Bodleian, MS. Bodley 920)

The west wing of Merton College Library, Oxford

PRINTED BOOKS, BOOK/TRADE, LIBRARIES 567

into nine distinctiones, designated by the nine first letters of the
alphabet, each being divided into sevengradus numbered with
Roman figures. Each entry in the catalogue has six divisions
(see PL 1240): the first gives the shel&mark A. v. i (Case A,
shelf v, book i); the second, the book (an old glossed Psalter);
the third, the leaf on which certain opening words, selected for
the identification of the volume, occur (i.e. on leaf 6); the fourth,
the two first words on that leaf (apprebendite disci); the fifth, the
number of leaves in the volume (i.e. 105); and the sixth, the
number of works contained in the volume (viz. one).

The provision of a special building for a library seems not to
be found before the fourteenth century. The aspect favoured by
the early builder of collegiate libraries was one with the walls
facing east and west, so that advantage might be taken of the
morning sun, light rather than warmth being essential to the
student. With the decline of asceticism and a greater desire for
physical comfort a warmer aspect was often chosen. The light'
ing of the building was secured by lancet windows placed
closely together.

The earliest libraries were probably fitted up with bookcases
in the shape of lecterns, to which the books were chained on
either side. When books and readers were few this was con'
venient enough, but, when they multiplied, the lecterns became
crowded and one reader hindered another. The development of
the lectern was a case (still having counters on either side) with
a flat top, above which two or three shelves were fixed. Along
the shelves ran a rod, to which were attached chains, the other
ends of which were secured to the manuscripts. This method,
which has been styled the stall system, naturally accommodated
a much larger number of books and left the counters free for
those actually in use. The practice of fitting cases against the
walls of a library and carrying them from floor to ceiling is in
England a late development of library economy. The Arts
End (1612) of the Bodleian Library at Oxford is the earliest
example of the style in this country.

No early example of the lectern system any longer exists in
England. The lecterns at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, probably

568 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

date from about 1600 (PL 123). The cases in Queen's College
library, Cambridge, show traces of having been converted
from lecterns, and there is documentary evidence to show that
Pembroke College library, Cambridge, was fitted with
lecterns until 1617. Apparently the only early surviving exx
ample of the style is the library of the Church of SS. Peter and
Walburga at Zutphen, in the Netherlands.

Several excellent examples of the stall system still survive.
One of the finest is the west wing of the library of Merton
College, Oxford, the best example of a medieval library in
England (PL 124^). The bookcases, each with four shelves on
either side, are placed in the intervals between the windows.
On each side of a case are sloping counters, and between each
pair of cases is a thick wooden bench. The building itself dates
from 1378, but there is reason to believe that the bookcases are
of the late sixteenth century. Other good examples of the stallx
system are the libraries of Corpus Christi College (1517) and
St. John's (1596) at Oxford, and the Old Reading-room of
the Bodleian Library (1602).

Of the two great English university libraries that of Oxford
has priority of foundation, while that of Cambridge can claim
a longer continuous history. The university of Cambridge re^
ceived its first important gift of books in 1424. Its earliest library
was on the first floor of the west side of the Schools' Quadrangle,
but the room seems to have been employed for the purpose for
no great length of time. The chief library (Libraria communis)
was built in 1470 on the south side of the Quadrangle; five
years later another library was erected on the east side by the
chancellor of the university, Archbishop Rotherham. This
smaller room was reserved for the archbishop's own library and
the more valuable books possessed by the university. In the
sixteenth century the fortunes of the library declined to such an
extent that the Libraria communis was disfurnished in 1547.
When, however, the university received large gifts of books
from Archbishop Parker and others towards the close of the
century, the library was restored to its former use.

Some idea of the routine of a medieval library may be gained

PRINTED BOOKS, BOOK'TRADE, LIBRARIES 569

by reciting some of the statutes framed for the library (L&raria
communis} of the university of Oxford, which was founded by
Thomas Cobham, bishop of Worcester, between the years
1320 and 1327. The library, which was built above the Con'
gregation House adjoining St. Mary's church, was to be in the
charge of two chaplains, one of whom was to be on duty before
dinner, the other after. The books were to be secured by chains,
and no one was to be admitted unless one of the chaplains was
present. It was the duty of the chaplains to see that no reader
entered the library in wet clothes, or having pen, ink, or knife;
if notes had to be taken they were to be made in pencil.

Bishop Cobham died in 1327 heavily in debt, and there was
some delay in securing the use of the library for the university,
but by 1 3 3 7 its history may be said to begin, and by the begin'
ning of the fifteenth century it was fully established. In 1412
a new code of statutes was formulated. It provided that the
librarian, who in addition to his ordinary library duties said
masses in St. Mary's church for the souls of benefactors, should
once a year hand over to the Chancellor and Proctors the keys
of the library. The librarian's salary was fixed at ^5. 6s. 8<?. a
year, to be paid half-yearly. In addition he might also claim a
robe from every beneficed scholar at graduation. Should he
desire to resign his office, a month's notice was required. Ad'
mission to the library was restricted to students who had studied
in the Schools for eight years, an exception being made in the
case of the sons of lords who had seats in Parliament. Each
reader on admission had to take an oath that he would not in-
jure any book maliciously by erasing or by detaching sections
and leaves; theft of a whole volume was unlikely as the books
were chained. The library was to be open from 9 till 1 1 and from
I till 4, except on Sundays and the greater festivals, when it was
entirely closed. In the long vacation the librarian was allowed
one month's holiday. All books used during the day were to be
closed at night, and all the windows fastened.

A few years later the university received large gifts of books
and money from Humphrey, duke of Gloucester and about
1485 Cobham's library was moved *to the room, now called

570 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

Duke Humfrey', which had been built above the Divinity
School. In 1550 the books were dispersed by the Commis>
sioners of Edward VI, and in 1556 the fittings were sold as
being no longer needed. The room was restored to its original
use by Sir Thomas Bodley, and in 1602 again became the
public library of the university.

WORKS FOR REFERENCE

BENNETT, H. S. English Books and Readers, 1475-1557 (Camb. Univ. Press,

195*).
CLARK, J. W. Tbe Care of Books, 2nd ecL, 1909.

DARLOW, T. H., and MOULE, H. F. Historical Catalogue of tbe Printed Editions
of Holy Scripture in tbe Library of tbe Bible Society, i (1903).

DUFF, E. G. Tbe Printers, Stationers, and Bookbinders of Westminster and London
(1906); Tbe Englisb Provincial Printers, Stationers, and Bookbinders (1912); A
Century of tbe English Book Trade, 1457-1557 (1905).

JAMES, M. R. Tbe Ancient Libraries of Canterbury and Dover (1903).

MACRAY, W. D. Annals of the Bodleian Library, 2nd ed. (1890).

MADAN, F. Oxford Books, 2 vols. (1912).

POWICKE, F. M. Tbe Medieval Books ofMerton College (1931).

SAVAGE, E. A. Old English Libraries (1911).

SAYLE, C. Annals of Cambridge University Library (1916).

SHADWEIX, C. L. A Catalogue of tbe Library of Oriel College In 1375 (Ox Hist.
Soc., Collectanea, i, 1885).

Statuta Antiqua Universitatis Oxoniensis, ed. S. Gibson (1931).
STREETER, B. H. Tbe Chained Library (1931).

XVIII. SCIENCE

T

THE history of science in medieval England, as in the
medieval west generally, followed much thesame course
as the history oflearning as a whole. It is the history of an
intellectual tradition beginning with the literary rex
covery of classical science, firstfrom Latin and later from Greek
and Arabic sources, and leading to thoughts and investigations
which gradually took on an independent life of their own.
Most of the basic problems of medieval science and the metlv
ods of solving them came from classical sources, and to a
large extent science remained to the end of the medieval period
under ancient tutelage; but from their first contacts with class^
ical learning the barbarian invaders of the old Roman prow
inces showed so marked and vigorous an originality of mind
and intention that they recovered nothing they did not in some
degree transform. During the early medieval centuries this is
especially true of their approach to practical problems; and
where these came within the scope of contemporary formal
education, as did the calendar, with its dependence on astron/
omy, and medicine, their influence upon the development of
a theoretical science based on experiment was profound. The
connexion is less obvious between theoretical science and the
technological problems found in mining and metallurgy, the
construction of machinery, architecture, and agriculture, acx
tivities in which marked advances were made during the
middle ages but which lay outside the scope of formal educa^
tion. Some interest in these subjects men oflearning certainly
took. The medieval achievements in technology show the
same originality and strongly empirical attitude of mind as is
so characteristic of the achievements in theoretical science. In
both, not only by her own accomplishments, but also by her

SJ2 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

external influence, no country in Christendom contributed
more than England.

The earliest English science worthy of the name is found in
the Anglo/Saxon kingdom of Northumbria in the eighth
century; its outstanding representative, Bede, was a figure of
more than merely insular significance and has been called 'the
schoolmaster of the middle ages'. In Bede's time, western
scholars had to guide them only some remnants in Latin of the
great tradition of Greek science, and, meagre as these Latin
remnants were, the most considerable collection, the transla^
dons and commentaries of Boethius, was not yet known in
England. The main sources of Bede's scientific ideas were the
fathers, especially St. Ambrose, St. Augustine of Hippo, St.
Basil die Great, and St. Gregory the Great; the Visigothic
encyclopaedist Isidore of Seville, who lived a century before
Bede; most important of all, the Roman encyclopaedist Pliny;
and lastly, some Latin writings on the calendar. Based on these
sources, Bede's writings on scientific subjects fall into two main
classes: a largely derivative account of general cosmology, and
a more independent treatment of some specific practical prob'
lems, in particular those connected with the calendar.

Bede's cosmology is interesting for showing how an educa^
ted person of the eighth century pictured the universe. He set out
his views in De Rerum Natura, based largely on Isidore's book
of the same tide but also on Pliny's Natural History, which Isidore
had not known. Because of his more critical exposition as well
as his use of Pliny, Bede's book shows a marked improvement
over Isidore's. Bede's universe is one ordered by ascertainable
cause and effect. Whereas Isidore had thought the earth shaped
like a wheel, Bede held that it was a static sphere, with five
zones, of which only the two temperate were habitable and only
the northern one actually inhabited. Surrounding the earth
were seven heavens: air, ether, Olympus, fiery space, the firma/
ment with the heavenly bodies, the heaven of angels, and the
heaven of the Trinity. The waters on the firmament separated
the corporeal from the spiritual creation. The corporeal world
was composed of the four elements, earth, water, air, and fire,

SCIENCE 573

arranged in order of heaviness and lightness. At the Creadon
these four elements, together with light and man's soul, were
made by God ex nibilo; all other phenomena in the corporeal
world were combinations. From Pliny Bede got a much more
detailed knowledge of the Greek understanding of the diurnal
and annual movements of the heavenly bodies than had been
available to Isidore. He held that the firmament of stars revolved
round the earth, and that within the firmament the planets
circled in a system of epicycles. He gave clear accounts of the
phases of the moon and of eclipses.

The problem of the calendar had been brought to" Nortlv
umbria along with Christianity by the monks of lona, but long
before that time methods of computing the date of Easter had
formed part of the school science of computes, which provided
the finger exercises of early medieval science. The main problem
connected with the Christian calendar arose from the fact that
it was a combination of the Roman Julian calendar, based on
the annual movement of the earth relative to the^sun, and the
Hebrew calendar, based on the monthly phases of the moon.
The year and its divisions into months, weeks, and days be>
longed to the Julian solar calendar; but Easter was determined
in the same way as the Hebrew Passover by the phases of the
moon, and its date in the Julian year varied, within definite
limits, from one year to the next. In order to calculate the date
of Easter it was necessary to combine the length of the solar year
with that of the lunar month. The basic difficulty in these cal
culations was that the lengths of the solar year, the lunar month,
and the day are incommensurable. No number of days can
make an exact number of lunar months or solar years, and no
number of lunar months can make an exact number of solar
years. So, in order to relate the phases of the moon accurately to
the solar year in terms of whole days, it is necessary in con'
structing a calendar to make use of a system of ad hoc adjust^
ments, following some definite cycle.

From as early as the second century different dates of Easter,
resulting from different methods of making the calculations,
had given rise to controversy and become a chronic problem for

574 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

successive Councils. Various cycles relating the lunar month
to the solar year were tried at different rimes and places, until in
the fourth century a nineteen^year cycle, according to which 1 9
solar years were considered equal to 235 lunar months, came
into general use. But there was still the possibility of differences
in the manner in which this same cycle was used to determine
the date of Easter, and, even when there was uniformity at the
centre, sheer difficulty of communication could and did result
in such outlying provinces as Africa, Spain, and Ireland celex
brating Easter at different dates from Rome and Alexandria.

Shortly before Bede's birth Northumbria had, at the synod of
Whitby, given up many practices, including the date of cele^
brating Easter, introduced by the Irislvtrained monks of lona,
and had come into uniformity with Rome. But there was still
much confusion, by no means confined to Britain, as to how the
date of Easter was to be calculated. Bede's main contribution,
expounded in several treatises, beginning with De Temporibus
written in 703 for his pupils at Jarrow, was to reduce the whole
subject to order. Using largely Irish sources, themselves based
upon a good knowledge of earlier continental writings, he not
only showed how to use the nineteen^year cycle to calculate
Easter tables for the future, but also discussed general problems
of time/measurement, arithmetical computation, cosmological
and historical chronology, and astronomical and related pheno^
mena. Though often relying on literary sources when he could
have observed with his own eyes as, for example, in his
account of the Roman Wall not ten miles from his cell Bede
never copied without understanding. He tried to reduce all
observed occurrences to general laws, and, within the limits of
his knowledge, to build up a consistent picture of the universe,
tested against the evidence. His account of the tides in De
Temporum Ratione (chap, xxix), completed in 725 and the
most important of his scientific writings, not only shows the
practical curiosity shared by him and his Northumbrian conv
patriots, but also contains the basic elements of natural science.

From his sources Bede learned the fact that the tides follow
the phases of the moon and the theory that tides are caused by

SCIENCE 575

the moon's attraction. He discussed spring and neap tides, and,
turning to things which c we know, who live on the shore of the
sea divided by Britain*, he described how the wind could ad-
vance or retard a tide, and enunciated for the first time the inv
portant principle now known as *the establishment of a port*.
This states that the tides lag behind the moon by definite inter'
vals which may be different at different points on the same
shore, so that tides must be tabulated for each port separately.
Bede wrote: 'Those who live on the same shore as we, but to
the north, see the ebb and flow of the tides well before us,
whereas those to the south see it well after us. In every region
the moon always keeps the rule of association which she has
accepted once and for all/ On the basis of this, Bede suggested
that the tides at any port could be predicted by means of the
nineteen-year cycle, which he substituted for Pliny *s less accur^
ate eight-year cycle. Tidal tables were frequently attached to
computi written after Bede's time.

Compared with the science of the twentieth century, and
even with that of the thirteenth century, Bede's was humble
enough, but against the background of its time it was a remark'
able achievement. It contributed substantially to the Carolina
gian renaissance on the Continent, and found its way into the
educational tradition dating from the cathedral schools estab'
lished for Charlemagne by Alcuin of York. Bede's treatises on
the calendar remained standard textbooks for five centuries,
and were used even after the Gregorian reform of 1582; De
Temporum Ratione is still one of the clearest expositions of the
principles of the Christian calendar.

Besides Northumbria, Anglo-Saxon England saw some
scientific developments in Wessex. In the seventh century
astronomy and medicine were taught in Kent, there is evidence
that surgery was practised, and Aldhelm, abbot of Malmev
bury, wrote metrical riddles about animals and plants; but
the most notable contribution came in the first half of the
tenth century in the Leech Book of Bald, who was evidently a
physician living during or shortly after the reign ofKing Alfred,
to whom the book contains allusions. The Leech Rook gives a

5526.2 O

576 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

good picture of the state of medicine at the time. The first part is
mainly therapeutical, containing herbal prescriptions, based
on a wide knowledge of native plants and garden herbs, for a
large number of diseases, working downwards from those of
the head. Tertian, quartan, and quotidian fevers are dis-
tinguished, and reference is made to 'flying venom' or *air-
borne contagion*, that is epidemic diseases generally, small/
pox, elephantiasis, probably bubonic plague, various mental
ailments, and the use of the vapour bath for colds. The second
part of the Leech Book is different in character, dealing mainly
with internal diseases and going into symptoms and pathology.
It seems to be a compilation of Greek medicine, perhaps
mainly derived from the Latin translation of the writings of
Alexander of Tralles, together with some direct observation.
A good example is the account of 'sore in the side", or pleurisy,
of which many of the 'tokens' or symptoms are described by
Greek writers, but some are original; the Anglo/Saxon leech
recognized the occurrence of traumatic pleurisy, and the possi
bility of confusing it with the idiopathic disease, which the
ancient writers did not. Treatment began with a mild vegetable
laxative administered by mouth or enema, followed by a poul-
tice applied to the painful spot, a cupping glass on the shoul-
ders, and various herbs taken internally. Many other diseases
were described, for example pulmonary consumption and
abscesses on the liver, treatment here culminating in a surgical
operation; but on the whole there is little evidence of clinical
observation: no use was made of the pulse and little of the
appearances of the urine, which were standard 'signs' for the
Greeks and Romans. Anglo-Saxon surgery presents the same
combination of empiricism with literary tradition as the medi-
cine; treatment of broken limbs and dislocations, plastic
surgery for hare-lip, and amputations for gangrene are de
scribed.

A remarkable work, showing the intelligent interest of the
Anglo-Saxon scholars in improving their knowledge of
natural history in relation to medicine, is the translation into
Old English of the Latin Herbarium of Apuleius Piatonicus,

SCIENCE 577

probably made about 1000-1050. As in most early herbals, the
text is confined to the name, locality found, and medical uses of
each herb; there are no descriptions for identification, which
was to be done by means of diagrammatic paintings, copied
from the manuscript source and not from nature. About 500
English names are used in this herbal, showing an extensive
knowledge of plants, many of them native plants which could
not have been known from the Latin sources.

Some time before the Norman Conquest Canute and the Earl
Harold introduced into England astronomers and mathex
maticians from Lotharingia, the scene of a scientific revival in
the eleventh century, and after the Conquest William con'
tinued the same policy. The schools of Lotharingia had been
the first to benefit from scientific writings translated from
Arabic, especially those dealing with astronomy and the astro/
labe (see PL 125 a). In 1091 Walcher, the Lotharingian abbot
of Malvem, observed an eclipse of the moon while travelling
in Italy, and noted the considerably different hour at which
the same eclipse was observed by a brother monk in England.
The following year he was able to fix a second eclipse accurately
by means of an astrolabe. Some years later he worked out a set
of lunar tables based on this observation, using, in a first treatise,
the clumsy method of Roman fractions, but in a second, written
in 1 120, using the Arabic method of degrees, minutes, and
seconds derived from translations made by a converted Spanish
Jew named Petrus Alphonsi, who seems to have spent some
time in England. In the twelfth century, England was to play
a leading part in the revival of science brought about by this
great movement of translating, which, by the third quarter of
the thirteenth century, had put nearly all the known works of
Greek science and many Arabic commentaries into Latin.

From the end of classical times Greek scientific writings had
passed through a number of different languages. In the sixth
and seventh centuries many of these were translated in Syria

578 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

and Mesopotamia into Syriac; in the eighth, ninth, and tenth
centuries they were translated, both from the Syriac and the
Greek, into Arabic. Though some Arabic scientific influence
is detectable in the west as early as the end of the tenth century,
the new translations into Latin did not begin effectively until
the end of the eleventh century, when the Norman conquest
of Sicily and the reconquest of New Castile brought many
Arabicxspeaking subjects under Christian rule. For over a
century and a half scholars journeyed from all over the west
to these frontiers of Christendom and Islam, and made Sicily
and Toledo the chief centres of translating into Latin from the
Arabic. About the same time translating began also from the
original Greek, Sicily again being an active centre, and some
scholars travelling to Byzantium.

The first English scholar to take part in this movement was
Adelard of Bath. Little is known of Adelard except from his
own writings, but the evidence shows that he was born at Bath,
of English stock, went early to France to study at the cathedral
school at Tours, and later taught at Laon. He travelled widely,
visiting Greece and probably Sicily some time before 1 1 16. He
refers to a seven^years* absence in search of Arabic learning,
specifically mentioning things heard in Tarsus and an earth/*
quake witnessed from a bridge at Antioch, then under a
Crusader prince; at this time he possibly visited the Latin kingx
dom of Jerusalem. He may also have been in Spain. By 1126
he was back at Bath, making the geometry and astronomy of
the Arabs available to the Latin world. After this the evidence
connects him with the AngkvNorman court of Henry I,
possibly with a post in the exchequer, and suggests that he was
tutor to the future Henry II; he wore a green cloak and was
almost certainly not a monk.

Educated in the old Latin tradition of the cathedral schools,
Adelard belonged to the generation of scholars who brought
about the first stages of the intellectual revolution coming with
the new learning from the old Byzantine regions of southern
Italy and from the Arabic east. Adelard himself was the first
known Latin scholar to assimilate Arabic science in the revival

SCIENCE 579

of the twelfth century, and he did so, not merely passively, but
with an intellectual independence that matched his vigour as a
traveller. This is evident in two original treatises, De Eodem et
Diverso and Questions Naturaks, both belonging to an early
period in his Arabic studies and written as dialogues in which
he explains the purpose of his journeys to a nephew presented
as having been his pupil at Laon. The second treatise is espex
cially lively. The nephew taunts his uncle: 'I am sure you praise
[the Saracens] shamelessly and are too keen to point out our
ignorance/ Adelard rejoins: 'It is hard to discuss with you, for
I have learned one thing from the Arabs under the'guidance of
reason; you follow another halter, caught by the appearance of
authority, for what is authority but a halter! . . . If reason is not
to be the universal judge, it is given to each to no purpose.
Those who are now called authorities reached that position by

the exercise of their reason Wherefore, if you want to hear

anything more from me, give and take reason/ Later he says: *I
call myself a man of Bath, not a Stoic, wherefore I teach my
own opinions, not the errors of the Stoics/

Down to the end of the twelfth century the predominantly
theological interests of scholars had led them generally to treat
the natural world as a kind of shadow, and a symbol, of divine
power and providence. The context of Adelard's use of reason
marks the first explicit assertion in the middle ages that recogni'
tion of divine omnipotence did not preclude the existence of
proximate natural causes, and that these could be known only
by independent, scientific inquiry. Though relying mainly on
a priori reasoning, Adelard had some recourse to observation
and experiment. Discussing the question why plants sprung up
from earth collected and put in a pot, the nephew asks: 'To
what else do you attribute this but to the marvellous effect of the
wonderful Divine wilh* Adelard agrees, but asserts that it
also has a natural reason. Nature 'is not confused and without
system, and so far as human knowledge has progressed it should
be given a hearing. Only when it fails utterly should then be
recourse to God/

Of Addard's translations from the Arabic, by fk the most

58o MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

influential was that of Euclid's Elements. It is scarcely possible
to exaggerate the importance of this work. Before it became
available to them, the Latin mathematicians and natural
philosophers had known only the conclusions of some of En/
clid's theorems and perhaps the proofs of one or two; Ade/
lard's translation introduced them to the full conception of the
Greek axiomatic method and provided a model for their scien/
tific thinking. It remained the standard translation, the thir/
teenth/century revision becoming the first printed edition of
1482. Other translations by Adelard were of the astronomical
tables, including an account of trigonometry, and (in all
probability) the Liber Alcborismi, a work on the principles of
arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy, by the ninth/
century Persian mathematician, Al/Khwarizmi. These trans/
lations were the first serious introduction of the Latins to the
Arabic treatment of their subjects. Adelard also wrote, early
in life, a work on the abacus and the first known Latin treatise
on falconry, based largely on English usage; and among his
later works was a treatise on the Astrolabe, apparently written
at Bath, which is taken as the meridian for purposes of illustra/
tion, and dedicated to a young Henry, doubtless Henry Plan/
tagenet, the future Henry IL In that case this admirably sue/
cinct and clear account, based on Arabic sources, of elementary
astronomy and the various uses of the astrolabe would have
been written for his royal pupil probably between 1142 and
1143. Another work attributed to him, which would show
still further the wide range of his interests, is an expanded ver/
sion of the Mappe Clavicula, which goes back to Greek sources
and deals with the preparation of pigments and other chemical
products.

Following the lead given by Adelard, a succession of
Englishmen throughout the twelfth century joined in the
work both of translating and of introducing Arabic and Greek
scientific thought into England. About the middle of the cen/
tury the problematical figure Robert Ketene, or Robert of
Chester (if the two names refer to the same person), working
in Spain, translated from the Arabic one of the earliest treatises

SCIENCE 5 8i

on alchemy to appear in Latin, by a certain Morienus; he also
translated Al/Khwarizmi's fundamental treatise on Algebra, a
work by Alkindi on astrology, and some important astrono/
mical tables, recalculated for the meridian of London. Another
English astronomer, Roger of Hereford, wrote in 1 176 a Com/
potus and later some astronomical treatises, including an
adaptation of some Arabic tables for the meridian of Hereford.
A contemporary, Daniel of Morley, describes how he aban/
doned his studies in Paris, finding it dominated by law and
pretentious ignorance, and went to Toledo to learn of Arabic
science at the most famous Christian centre. There he was
taught by Gerard of Cremona, distinguished translator of
Ptolemy's Almagest and of several of Aristotle's works; from
the number of translations attributed to Gerard, he was un/
doubtedly the head of a school of translators. Daniel expounded
his Toledan knowledge in a work written for Bishop John of
Norwich. Also probably connected with Hereford and with
Spain was Alfred of Sareshel, who, sometime before 1200,
translated from the Arabic the pseudo/ Aristotelian De Plantis,
a Greek work written in the first century B.C. which provided
the middle ages with most of its botanical theory. Alfred's
commentary on De Plantis and still more his De Motu Cordis,
written early in the thirteenth century for the medical profession,
are among the earliest Latin works showing some detailed
knowledge of Aristotle's natural science, as they do also of
Hippocrates, Galen, and Arabic medicine.

The turn of the twelfth century in fact marked an important
change in the content of Latin science. Ever since contempor/
aries of Adelard of Bath had made a renewed study of Plato's
Timeus (of which the first 53 chapters were available in Chalx
cidius's Latin translation) an essential part of the revival of
learning at Chartres, giving to this cathedral school the intel/
lectual leadership of the west until the rise of Paris and the
universities, this work of Plato's had provided the main frame/
work for a conception of the physical world. Adelard himself
shows its influence, citing, for example, in Questiones Natoraks,
a long extract from the Timaeus on the physiology of vision and,

5 82 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

in answer to the nephew's inquiry, expounding Plato's theory
that a stone dropped through a hole bored through a diameter
of the earth would fall only as far as the centre and then come
to a stop.

As the new translations, at the end of the twelfth century,
revealed more and more of Aristotle's physical conceptions,
these came to replace Plato's as a guide for scientific thinking,
though the Timaeuswas certainly not forgotten, but joined with
the new translations of Ptolemy's astronomy, of the medicine,
anatomy, and physiology of Hippocrates and Galen, of the
numerous Arabic writings on these subjects, especially the
commentaries of Avicenna and the Spanish Arab, Averroes,
and of various important works on mathematics, mechanics,
and optics, to enrich with variety and to change in many de/
tails a predominantly Aristotelian scene.

The first important influence of Aristotle came, about the
middle of the twelfth century, with the so-called 'new logic',
especially the translations of the Prior and Posterior Analytics,
Aristotle's main treatises on formal logic and scientific method.
John of Salisbury, who became bishop of Chartres, shows a
good knowledge of these in his Metalogicon, written in 1159.
Aristotle's writings on natural science came to be studied
seriously in the first decade of the thirteenth century. Alexander
Neckham, who taught at a school at Oxford and died in 1217
as abbot of Cirencester, cited many of Aristotle's opinions
about animals, cosmology, and other matters in his De Rerum
Natura. Though written rather for moral than for scientific in/
struction, this work shows Neckham to have been a keen
student of science. Alfred of Sareshel dedicated his De Motu
CortKs to him. Neckham recalls the happy past when 'the
greatest princes were diligent and industrious in aiding in^
vestigation of nature*, but he is not dissatisfied with the schools
of his own day, which he believed had surpassed those of con'
temporary Greece and Egypt. Of special interest are Neckham's
accounts of the mariner's compass (the first in Latin) and of
glass mirrors; like many medieval writers he had an optimistic
expectation of the practical results of science, in peace and in

SCIENCE 583

war. "What craftiness of the foe is there', he asked, 'that does not
yield to the precise knowledge of those who have tracked down
the elusive subtleties of things hidden in the very bosom of
nature!* His book is mainly a compilation, but it was made
with some discrimination. He knew something of vacuums
and siphoning, and asserted that the antipodes were no more
under his feet than he was under theirs. He rejected certain
popular stories about animals, but accepted others, for example
the story of the barnacle goose growing on trees. The story that
the lynx had such keen sight that it could see through nine walls
was supposed to have been experimentally verified by showing
that a lynx, with nine walls between it and a person carrying a
piece of meat, always stopped, when the person stopped, at a
point exactly opposite the meat; Neckham accepted the expert
ment but attributed the result rather to the sense of smell. In
keeping with a tradition dating from the fathers and revived
with especial vigour at Chartres, he tried to show how physical
phenomena described in the Bible, particularly in Genesis,
could be rationally understood in terms of contemporary
physics. Here again he was discriminating, and several times
questioned the literal truth of biblical statements. For example,
he said that Adam's body was made of all four elements, not
only of earth, as stated in Genesis ; and that in making the state'
ment, 'God made two great lights', the sun and the moon, 'The
historical narrative follows the judgement of the eye and the
popular notion*, for the moon was not one of the largest planets.
Neckham's frankly didactic purpose comes out in his assertion
that the Fall had physical effects on nature, causing the spots on
the moon, the wildness of animals, insects to become pests and
other animals venomous, and the existence of disease.

Before Neckham died several other scholars began to lecture
on the 'new Aristotle* at Oxford, among them the great
Robert Grosseteste, first chancellor of the young university in
1214 and chief ornament and guide of its early years. Grosseteste
recognized clearly that, at that stage of the western revival,
natural philosophers needed not only to think and observe with
independence, but also to continue the work of recovering the

5*4 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

past. He gave to Oxford scholars their characteristic interest
not only in mathematics and physical science, but also in
languages, especially in Greek. His own translations from the
Greek, though mainly of non'Scientific works, included the
pseudo' Aristotelian De Lineis Indivisibilibus and a substantial
part of Simplicius's commentary on Aristotle's De Caelo, a late
Greek treatise containing a fundamental analysis of astronomi/
cd theories, with a profound influence on astronomy from
Grosseteste himself to Galileo. With the appearance of Grosser
teste upon the scene, science in England took on an entirely new
life and became, for a century and a half, for all practical pur^
poses synonymous with science in Oxford. Grosseteste's HV
fluence was especially strong among the Franciscans, in whose
house at Oxford he had taught, and who provided the most
original scientific thinking of the period.

3

The achievements of English science in the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries can only be briefly indicated. The revolt
tion introduced by Grosseteste was primarily one of method,
and this made Oxford for a time the leading scientific centre in
the west; the study of mathematics, of physics, and of the logic
of science came to be as characteristic of Oxford as were
metaphysics and theology of Paris, and law and medicine of
Bologna. Only in astronomy, dynamics, and magnetics could
the Parisian science of the period match that of Oxford, though
some of the best work was to be done neither in England nor in
France, but in Germany, for example Jordanus Nemorarius's
mechanics, Albertus Magnus's zoology and botany, and
Theodoric of Freiberg's optics, and in Italy, for example
Rufinus's botany, and medical studies at Bologna and Padua,
whose medical schools were equalled in the west only by
Montpellier.

By personality and position Grosseteste was well placed to
exploit for their own good the historical circumstances in
which he found the Oxford schools. In the twelfth century
philosophers had learnt from Euclid's Elements and Aristotle's

SCIENCE 585

two Analytics the basic Greek conception of scientific exx
planation, according to which a phenomenon was explained
when it could be deduced from general principles or a theory
connecting it with other phenomena, just as the conclusions
of Euclid's theorems were deduced from his axioms, postulates,
and definitions, and the conclusions of previous theorems.
Aristotle had given a generalized account of the method, and
shown that there were definite rules for selecting premisses and
for distinguishing between valid and invalid arguments, The
first subjects to benefit from this new rational thinking were
theology and law; its application to science at the end of the
twelfth century was simply the last stage of a general intellectual
movement, and by that time the formal structure of the new
method had been filled in with material examples from the
many specialized scientific writings translated from the Greek
and the Arabic. Of these Grosseteste had a wide knowledge,
and he saw that if science was to progress in his time, the primary
problems to be investigated were those of method. His own
scientific work, begun before 1209 and continuing even after
he became bishop of Lincoln in 1235, made two major con*"
tributions.

First, in commentaries on Aristotle's Posterior Analytics
and Physics he made a systematic application of logical
methods of analysis, verification, and falsification to the prob'
lems of constructing and testing scientific theories by observa^
tion and experiment. His methods can best be described by
means of a concrete example, the attempts made by himself and
his chief disciple, Roger Bacon, to explain the rainbow.
Grosseteste wrote several short treatises on optics, leading up to
one on the rainbow; Roger Bacon's account of the problem
appears in his Opus Majus, and follows the lines laid down by
Grosseteste. Bacon in fact gave it as an example of the experv
mental method; his Opus Majus, Opus Minus, and Opus
Tertium, all written in 1266-7, contain the chief thirteenth/*
century development of Grosseteste's conceptions of expert
mental and mathematical methods in science.

The basic problem in searching for an explanation of a

586 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

phenomenon was, according to Grosseteste, to find the condi"
tions necessary and sufficient to produce it. The inquiry began
with a 'resolution' of the phenomenon into its elements, and of
this process Bacon gave an excellent example in describing how
he collected instances of colours similar to those seen in the
rainbow, so that the rainbow could be related to the general
phenomenon of spectral colours. He examined the colours seen
in rainbows, in spray made by mill-wheels and by squirting
water from the mouth, in sunlight passed through a glass flask
full of water or through a glass prism or hexagonal crystal on
to a screen, and in different kinds of iridescent feathers. He
concluded that an essential condition for the production of a
rainbow was the presence of spherical water-drops in the atmo-
sphere; he showed also, by means of an astrolabe, that the rain/
bow was always seen at an angle of about 42 from the incident
light going from the sun to the drops.

The next stage was to find out how these conditions operated
to produce a rainbow, and for this Grosseteste, Bacon, and
their successors used the fruitful device of constructing a theo
retical model. Grosseteste's model supposed that a cloud as a
whole acted as a huge refracting lens, Bacon's that the effect
was produced by the reflection of sunlight from the outer sur
faces of individual raindrops. Neither will stand detailed ex
amination, but, though they did not grasp their faults, both
investigators did test the models they considered by subjecting
consequences deduced from them to experiment. Later contv
nental investigators, Albertus Magnus, Witelo, and Theodoric
of Freiberg, all directly or indirectly influenced by the work
of Grosseteste and Bacon, continued their work of searching
for an adequate theoretical model; Theodoric, shortly before
1311, finally constructed a successful theory, based on the
fundamental discovery that the sunlight entering each raindrop
was not only refracted, and thus broken up into colours, but
also reflected internally by the concave surface, which returned
the colours to the eye of the observer. This same model was to
be used by Descartes and Newton.

In using this process of experimental verification andfalsi-

SCIENCE 587

fication, Grosseteste assumed the principle of the uniformity of
nature, and was guided in his choice of possible theories by
the principle of economy. An important philosophical con/
sequence of his logical analysis was his conclusion that
scientific theories are at best probable, and not necessarily true.
His understanding of these matters established the methods
and interpretations of science developed by his successors both
in Oxford and abroad.

Grosseteste's interest in optics was directly related to his
second contribution to the scientific methods of his time. For
two reasons, one methodological and the other metaphysical, he
held that methematics was essential for a scientific understand'
ing of the physical world. The method by which he used
mathematics for this purpose was Aristotle's principle of 'sub/
ordination*, according to which some physical sciences, for
example optics and astronomy, were logically subordinate to
a mathematical science, for example geometry, in the sense that
they used particular cases of general mathematical laws. Grosse/
teste held that mathematics could be used to describe wl?at
happened, for example the reflection and refraction of light and
the movements of the planets, but that the mathematical ex/
pressions did not reveal the physical cause of these optical and
astronomical laws, which was to be sought in the nature of the
substances involved. This distinction between mathematical
and physical laws, analogous to the modern distinction between
kinematics and dynamics, had been developed by Simplicius,
from whom Grosseteste undoubtedly learnt it.

Grosseteste's conception of the nature of fundamental
physical substance was a peculiar one which provided his
second reason for holding that mathematics was essential for
physical inquiry; he maintained that the fundamental physical
substance was a fundamental 'light* (lux\ not identical with,
but manifesting itself in, visible light. In a short treatise, De Luce,
he described how in the beginning God created formless
matter and a point of this fundamental light; this propagated
itself in a sphere and produced the dimensions of space, and
then, by^a complicated series of changes and interactions, the

588 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

heavenly spheres, the earth, and all the substances and creatures
on it. This 'cosmogony of light* was of Neoplatonic origin. Its
importance in the history of science is, first, that it convinced
Grosseteste himself that optics was the fundamental physical
science; and secondly, because optics could not be studied
without mathematics, that Grosseteste's influence committed a
growing body of natural philosophers, both in Oxford and on
the Continent, to the use of mathematical theories, not only in
optics but also in all possible branches of science.

Grosseteste's own contributions to optics, apart from the
study of the rainbow, consisted of a partiallycorrect explana^
tion of the spherical lens and the suggestion that lenses could be
used to aid weak sight, an unsuccessful attempt to formulate
the law of refraction, and a most suggestive theory that light
propagates itself in a series of pulses or waves. Other contribux
tions were made by Grosseteste's followers. Roger Bacon,
writing about 1266-7, developed his theory of propagation in
the theory known as the 'multiplication of species', designed to
explain action at a distance, whether by light, heat, magnetism,
or gravity, extended his work on the rainbow and tried to ex'
plain the halo, gave a systematic classification of convex and
concave lenses (see Fig. 107) and discussed their use as aids to
sight, and used his knowledge both of optics and of anatomy to
try, with partial success, to understand the formation of an
image in the eye. Bacon also discussed the reflecting properties
of surfaces produced by rotating various conic sections about
their axes, stimulated perhaps by the man whom, next to
Grosseteste, he most admired, Petrus Peregrinus de Maricourt,
a Frenchman who made a fundamental experimental study of
the elementary properties of magnets; Bacon described expert
ments which heprobably made himself with a floating magnet.

A follower of both Grosseteste and Bacon, the unknown
author of the Summa Philosophiae formerly attributed to Grosse^
teste himself, seems to have been the first writer to point out that
the colours produced by passing sunlight through a prism were
refracted through different angles. The whole Summa is an
excellent review of science about 1270, ranging from astnv

SCIENCE 589

nomy and cosmology through discussions of meteorology,
optics, the magnet, chemistry, fossils, zoology, botany, and
physiology. Later in the century, John Pecham wrote an ad'
mirable short textbook on optics, and in the first half of the
fourteenth century John of Dumbleton, at different times a
fellow of Merton and of Queen's Colleges at Oxford, tried to
formulate the mathematical law relating intensity of light to
distance from the source.

Throughout the middle ages meteorology formed a single, if
heterogeneous, subject with optics, mainly because both were
discussed in Aristotle's Meteorology and medieval scientists
habitually published their original results in the form of conv
mentaries on Aristotle and other authorities. Moreover, comets
were regarded as meteorological phenomena, belonging to the
region below the moon. Grosseteste seems to have observed
'Halley's comet* in 1228, and he used his method of falsification
in an interesting discussion of theories of comets. Roger Bacon
also described a comet seen in July 1264, and attributed to its
influence various distressing political consequences. Another
meteorological phenomenon studied with interest in medieval
as in modern Engknd was the weather. A most remarkable
series of records were kept during 1 3 37-44 f r ^ e Oxford dis^
trict by William Merlee, with a view of making predictions for
farmers. He based forecasts partly on the state of the heavenly
bodies, and partly on inferior signs of humidity: the moisten^
ing of salt, the carrying of sound from distant bells, and the
increased activity of fleas.

Other physical problems discussed by Grosseteste in various
special tracts were heat, which he regarded as a mode of motion
of particles of matter, falling bodies, and astronomy; a mathe^
matical problem that extended into his cosmogony was the
summation of infinite aggregates; and a practical problem on
which he wrote several treatises was the reform of the calendar.
By the beginning of the thirteenth century the cumulative in/
accuracy of the accepted Julian calendar had produced gross
errors in the date of Easter, and, as Roger Bacon put it in his
development, in the Opus Majus, of Grosseteste's proposals for

IV

FIG. 107. Diagrams from the thirteenth/century MS., Royal 7. F. viii, the
British Museum, illustrating Roger Bacon's classification of the properties of curved
refracting surfaces, in the Opus Majus, v. Rays go from each end of the object (res, r),
are bent at the curved surface separating the optically rarer (sukilior, s) and denser
(fansw, J) media, for example air and glass, and meet at the eye (owlus, 0). The
image (ywgo, y) is seen on a projection of these bent rays entering the eye, and is
magnified or diminished according to whether the concave (i~iv) or convex (v-viii)
surface is towards the eye, whether the eye is on the rarer (i, ii, v, vi) or denser (iii,
iv, vii, viii) side of the curvature, and whether the eye is on the side of the centre of

C

vii

Vlll

curvature (centrum, c) towards (i, iii) or away from (ii, iv) the object, or the centre of
curvature on the side of the object towards (vi, viif) or away from (v, vii) the eye.
A confusion between the appearance of size and of nearness, which led Bacon inx
correctly to draw a diminished image in i and a magnified image in iii, is corrected
in a later section of the Opus Majus* where Bacon points out that *the size of the
(visual) angle is the pcevailing factor in these appearances*; that is, the angle sub>
tended by the object oc^he image at the eye. He recommended a convex lens fbrav
ing a hemisphere (vi) or kss than a hemisphere (v) to aid weak sight.

5526.2

592 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

reform, "every computer knows that the beginning of lunation
is in error 3 or 4 days in these times, and every rustic is able
to see this error in the sky'. The recommendations made by
Grosseteste and Bacon, based on determining accurately, from
astronomical evidence, the exact length of the year and the
relation between this and the mean lunar month, were used
in attempts made to revise the calendar in the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries, but such is institutional and popular con^
servatism that nothing was achieved until the Gregorian reform
of 1582, and this was not accepted in England until 1752.

In astronomy itself there was little advance in England during
the fifteenth century. An English contemporary of Grosse/
teste, John Holywood or Sacrobosco, as he was called, work'
ing mainly in Paris, gave an account of the Ptolemaic system
in his De Sphaera, an elementary textbook based on Arabic
sources which remained standard for three centuries; an Eng/-
lish translation was made for Prince Henry, son of King James
I, and reading it as a schoolboy is said to have decided John
Hamsteed (1646-1719), first astronomer royal, to devote hinv
self to astronomy. Sacrobosco also wrote a treatise on the
quadrant, an instrument for measuring angular altitudes.
Roger Bacon observed the heavens with instruments and dis'
cussed astronomical theories at length in various writings; his
emphasis on measurement seems to have helped to build up
both the Parisian school of astronomy at the end of the thiy
teenth century and the school associated with Merton College,
Oxford, in the fourteenth century.

Walter de Merton made his foundation, towards the end of
the thirteenth century, expressly for the training of secular
clergy, so that the learned professions and the civil service
would be adequately supplied with men of sound education.
The success of the college was immediate, and in science,
especially in astronomy, mathematics, and medicine, it rapidly
took over in England the leadership that had formerly be'
longed to the Franciscans. Practically every important English
scientist of the fourteenth century was at some time in his career
associated with Merton College, many of them as fellows.

PLATE 125

a. An astrolabe In use, from a t .velfiivcentiiry English MS.,
Bodleiar, MS. Bodley 614

If. Richard of Wallingfbrd measuring a circular instrument
with a pair of compasses. Note his abbot's crook and the
mitre on the floor, and the spots of his face, perhaps from
the leprosy he contracted in early life and of which he died at
the age of 43. From a fburteenth^century British Museum
MS. Cotton Claud, E. iv

PLATE 126

The Merton Astrolabe, c. 1350 (face)

SCIENCE

The main achievements of the Merton school in astronomy
were in the field of measurement and calculation. Basing thenv
selves in the first place on the so-called Alfonsine Tables made
at Toledo for King Alfonso X of Leon and Castile about
1272, men like John Maudith, William Rede, and Simon
Bredon constructed astronomical almanacs for Oxford which
gave this city something like the modern position of Green^
wich. They have left manuscripts describing the construction
of a variety of instruments, mainly for measuring and com-'
paring altitudes and for representing planetary motions. Most
striking are the instructions for making two such instruments,
invented by himself,left by Richard of Wallingford (PL 125 J),
son of a blacksmith and eventually abbot of St. Albans; and at
St. Albans he constructed, about 1320, an elaborate astro'
nomical clock, showing the motions of the sun, moon, planets,
and stars, and the ebb and flow of the tides. The excellent
treatise on the astrolabe, a standard work on the subject in
English, written later in the century by Chaucer, poet and busy
administrator, is a product of this Oxford school (PL 126). No
less important than the work on measuring instruments were
the improvements made by the Merton astronomers in mathe^
matical technique, especially in trigonometry, of which John
Maudith, Richard of Wallingford, and the contemporaryPnv
venjal Jew, Levi Ben Gerson may be considered the founders
in its rigorous modern form. So important did astronomy be^
come that William of Wykeham made special provision for
two fellowships in the subject in the statutes of New College.

Another set of problems to which Merton mathematicians
and other Oxford philosophers made fundamental contribu^
tions in the fourteenth century were those of dynamics and
kinematics. In many respects these were the central problems
of medieval physics, and in them can be seen most cleaxly that
process of reformulation, leading to replacement, of originally
Aristotelian conceptions and methods, which was the chief
and essential medieval contribution to the revolution in physics
completed in the seventeenth century.

Aristotle had conceived of the motion of a body from one

594 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

place to another as a process requiring the continuous action of
a motive agent, a conception precisely opposite to the seven^
teenth/century conception of inertia. So long as the external
motive agent continued to operate, the Aristotelian theory held
that velocity would be directly proportional to the motive
power and inversely proportional to the resistance of the
medium; remove the external agent, and the motion would
stop. Many everyday phenomena supported these judgements,
but three did not. First, according to this Aristotelian law 5 ,
there should be a finite velocity with any finite values of power
and resistance, yet in fact if the power is smaller than the resis^
tance it may fail to move the body at all. To escape this diffi'
culty, Bradwardine used a modification of the 'law* according
to which velocity was proportional to the excess of power over
resistance, and he tried to express by means of an algebraic
function how change in velocity was related, as a dependent
variable, to the independent variables, power and resistance.

Bradwardine's use of mathematical functions seems to have
inspired the attempt made by the French physicist, Jean
Buridan, to deal with the other two phenomena that provided
difficulties for Aristotle's conception of motion, the motion of
a projectile after leaving the projector, and the acceleration of a
freely falling body. What was the motive power that kept the
projectile going? This question had worried physicists since
Aristotle himself. Buridan introduced a quantitative notion
of impetus, analogous to Newton's momentum, imparted by the
projector; this impetus maintained the projectile's velocity and
enabled it to impart velocity to other bodies with which it col'
lided. The acceleration of freely falling bodies Buridan attri'
buted to successive increments of impetus added by gravity.

Work relevant to both problems was taken up again in Ox'
ford. William of ^Ockham, in accordance with his general
principles of inquiry, reduced motion to the fact that from inx
stant to instant a body is observed to change its spatial relations
with other bodies. He rejected Buridan's impetus as an unx
necessary complication. Science, he declared in effect, should,
in the interests of economy, confine itself to the description of

SCIENCE 595

changing relations between observable entities; *a plurality
should not be postulated without necessity', as he expressed
what came to be called Ockham's Razor; it was 'futile* to postu^
late causes like impetus. Ockham's parsimony in hypotheses was
here in some respects misplaced, for Buridan's impetus became
the ancestor of Galileo's impeto or memento; but Ockham's
general approach to scientific problems encouraged the view,
to be used by Galileo and Newton in their negative criticism
of contemporary physics, that the function of a scientific theory
is in the first instance to correlate the observed data and not to
reveal the essences of things.

In keeping with this view some contemporaries of Ockhatn
developed some fruitful mathematical methods of describing
changing relations between phenomena and rates of change.
Bradwardine developed a kind of algebra in which letters of
the alphabet were used for variable quantities while the opera'
tions of adding, dividing, &c., were described in words. John
of Dumbleton described how to express relationship between
two^ quantities by means of graphs, in which the lengths of
vertical lines drawn at intervals perpendicular to a horizontal
'line represented, for example, velocity at successive intervals of
time. Dumbleton and two other Mertonian mathematicians,
William of Heytesbury and Richard Swineshead (the famous
"Calculator*), proved algebraically, some time before 1335,
the important rule, which may be called the Mertonian Rule,
that the space traversed in a given time by a body moving with
uniformly accelerated velocity was equal to the product of the
total time of moving multiplied by the mean of the initial and
final velocities. The French mathematician Nicole Oresme,
later in the fourteenth century, proved this geometrically, and
it gave Galileo the kinematic law of falling bodies, which he
himself regarded as his profoundest discovery.

4

In none of the other sciences cultivated in the west in the
middle ages did England achieve such profound and in'
fluential results as in the methodological and mathematical in'

596 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

quiries just considered, but some mention of them must be
made to give a true picture of the scope of the medieval English
interest in the problems of nature. Many of these problems were
practical.

Thelong'characteristic English love of plants and animals is
seen in the illustrations from nature in a bestiary and a herbal
dating from the twelfth century, those in the latter, executed at
Bury St. Edmunds, being especially good (Pis. 127 and 128 a).
A number of thirteentlvcentury English manuscripts contain
excellent illustrations of animals of various kinds, especially of
birds; Matthew Paris about 1250 described an immigration of
crossbills, and illustrated the bird. Keen observation of nature
by sculptors and carvers is shown in the capitals, bosses, and
misericords of churches such as York, Ely, and Southwell.
Books on falconry and fishing, especially the fifteentlvcentury
Tnatyse of Fysshynge with an Angle and Boke of St. Albans,
and Walter of Henley's Hoselondrie, a standard treatise on agri'
culture from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century, are also the
work of naturalists. Bartholomew the Englishman's popular
work, On the Properties of Things, said to have been a source of
Shakespeare's natural history, contains some good observation,
for example his famous description of the domestic cat. The
descriptions of plants in herbals improved generally in the
fourteenth century, an English example being the herbal of the
surgeon, John Arderne. At the same time commentaries on
Aristotle's zoology, for instance those of Walter Burley and
John Dymsdale, show an interest in theoretical biology.

The field of biology in which it was possible most easily
to obtain some both practical and theoretical training was
medicine. The Anatomia PJcardi probably the work of an
Englishman written in the late twelfth century, asserts that
*a knowledge of anatomy is necessary to physicians in order
that they may understand how the human body is constructed
to perform different movements and operations'. Some pracx
tical instruction in anatomy was probably required of the
medical student at Oxford, as in continental medical schools,
by the end of the thirteenth century; a manuscript of about that

0mnkil

It , / --I ii/ ** i **

Bramble (Rdus fructkosus) from the twelfth/century Hfrk/ of Apulems Barkm,

Bodleian, MS. Bodley 130, executed at Bury St Edmunds

PLATE 128

a. Bees, from a twelfth/century bestiary, British Museum, MS. Royal 12, c. xix

L Dissection, or postmortem, from Bodleian, MS. Ashmole 399 (c. 1298). Above the

corpse are the kidneys and below it are the heart and lungs, stomach, and intestines;

the dissector holds the liver in his right hand

SCIENCE 597

date illustrates a dissection, or post/mortem (PL 128 &); but
certainly the opportunities for dissection were necessarily
meagre and there is no evidence of research. The structure of
the body was seen through the eyes of Galen and Avicenna,
just as a modern medical student follows his textbook. But on
going into practice the surgeon had perforce to rely on his
own knowledge and skill, and the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries saw considerable improvements both in this art and
in medicine in general, in which Englishmen played their part.
In the mid^thirteenth century Gilbert the Englishman, who
became chancellor of Montpellier, wrote a comprehensive
work on medicine in which he described a number of diseases,
including the local anaesthesia of the skin as a diagnostic symp^
torn for leprosy, recognized for the first time that smallpox is
contagious, advised operating for cancer, and recommended
travellers to drink distilled water and sea^avellers to eat fruit.
Early in the fourteenth century John of Gaddesden, the Oxford
physician mentioned by Chaucer, gave, among much nonx
sense, good clinical descriptions of cases of ascites with obstruct
tive jaundice, phthisis, leprosy, variola, small pox, and other
diseases; of operations for the stone and for hernia; of the re^
duction of dislocations; and described a new instrument for
extracting teeth. Later in the century John Arderne served as
army surgeon to two dukes of Lancaster, and saw the use of
gunpowder; afterwards he practised at Newark/upon/Trent
and London. He was a surgeon of genius, describing hisprac'
tice of cutting boldly, keeping the instruments clean, and using
light dressings. He made a special study of fistula, describing
and illustrating a new type of syringe and other instruments
used in treatment; and he gave a good account of the Black
Death in England. A medical encyclopaedia written at the end
of the fourteenth century by John Mirfeld, who seems to have
been connected with the priory and hospital of St. Bartholox
mew, gives a good picture of medical knowledge and practice
in London: at that time the number of hospitals, large and
small, in the city ran into hundreds.
Another science to which both men of learning and un/

598 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

lettered craftsmen contributed in medieval England was chenv
istry. The learned were interested mainly in alchemy which, as
Roger Bacon described in his Opus Tertium, both included a
theory of matter and chemical change based on Aristotle's
conception of elements and qualities, and as a practical subject
'teaches how to make the noble metals and colours ... not only
can it yield wealth and very many other things for the public
welfare, but it also teaches how to discover such things as are
capable of prolonging human life . . /.

Bacon regarded science as a whole as a means of obtaining
power over nature, power that would not only increase wealth
and health, but would also enable the military forces of Chris>
tendom to overcome the Tarters and Antichrist, whose advent
he expected 'from beyond the Caspian gates'. Though no base
metal was ever transformed into gold, no elixir found to pnv
long life, no powerful weapon invented to repel at a blow any
possible invasion from the east, the pursuit of the objectives de^
scribed by Bacon did achieve some valuable results for chem^
istry and for science in general. Alchemists learnt to use the
balance, and discovered the properties of some metals, acids,
and other substances. Bacon himself referred, without giving
the recipe, to an explosive powder, and pointed out that its force
would be increased by enclosing it in an instrument of solid
material. Early in the fourteenth century Walter of Odington,
a versatile mathematician who made astronomical observations
at Oxford and wrote on optics and musical theory, composed
a most interesting treatise on alchemy in which he attacked con^
temporary alchemists, with their gold^making, as humbugs,
and tried to give mathematical precision to the whole subject.
He described various chemical processes, calcination, solution,
sublimation, congelation, and proposed a method of measuring
the qualities of dryness, heat, and so on in degrees represented
graphically by an adaptation of the procedures being worked
out by his contemporaries at Merton.

The most striking results in industrial chemistry pursued in
the middle ages in almost complete independence of learned
interests, were achieved in metallurgy, and this, even more than

PLATE I2p

Knight firing a cannon against a castle, from Walter de Milemete's Di Notrititativuf
Saptentiis ft Pfuknttis Regan, Christ Church, Oxford, MS, 92

PLATE 130

Matthew Paris's map of Great Britain, from British Museum MS. Cotton Claudius D. vi
(e. 1250), Note the compression of Scotland, the two Roman walls, and that the whole of
south/east England is shifted round to the west, putting the mouth of the Thames on the

south coast

SCIENCE 599

alchemy, laid the foundations of quantitative chemistry,
mainly through the processes used in assaying, which in<"
volved the use of the balance. Throughout the whole period
the main advances, especially with the introduction of the blast
furnace, were made in central Europe, but English metallurgy,
centred mainly in the Weald of Kent and Sussex, was also
active. The empirical control of processes to produce an ac^
curate result is especially evident in the founding of bells of
different pitch that would ring in tune. When firearms, appar^
ently invented in China about the beginning of the thirteenth
century, began to be made in the west in the fourteenth century,
it was the bellfbunders who turned out the guns. Cannon were
introduced into England by Edward III, and the earliest'
known illustration of a cannon occurs in an English work, by
Walter de Milemete, dedicated to that monarch in 1327
(PL 129).

Cannons may have been used by the English at the siege of
Berwick in 1319, and at Crecy in 1346; they were certainly
used by them at Calais in 1 347 and, according to Froissart, the
English used 100 cannons, probably small mortars, at St. Malo
in 1378. These were probably manufactured in Flanders or
Germany, but by the end of the fourteenth century cannons
were being made in England.

The same empirical control of processes and materials is
found also in the arts of building and of constructing machi"
nery. The overcoming of the many mechanical problems that
culminated in the building of the great churches lies beyond
the scope of this chapter; but achievements no less interesting
were made in the medieval west in machinery: the water/mill,
the windmill, the use of geared wheels, the spinning wheel,
the loom, the giginill, the brace/and'bit, the lathe, the printing
press, the mechanical clock all show the same restless inventive/-
ness; nor must we forget the improvements in construction and
rig, and the invention of the rudder, by means of which, at the
end of the medieval period, western ships began to carry west'
em arms, science, and manners to conquer the whole world.

In England, the use of machinery in the cloth industry, the

MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

staple of English trade from the twelfth century, is especially
interesting. The number of water-mills had steadily increased
in the west, regardless of political disturbances, since the fourth
century, and, in the eleventh century, Domesday Book records
some five thousand mills in England. In the twelfth century the
undershot wheel on a horizontal axle was the common type;
evidence for overshot wheels comes in the fourteenth century.
Such mills were used for grinding corn and other purposes, but
their most dramatic effect came at the end of the twelfth century
with the introduction of the fulling-mill, in which trip/ham-
mers were operated by a waterwheel. The cloth industry shifted
wholesale from the cities of the plain like York, Lincoln, Win
chester, and Oxford, into the hills of the West Riding, Cum
berland, and the Cotswolds, where fast streams were available
to drive the mills.

The first medieval machines were made of wood; this, in
Mumford's phrase, 'provided the finger exercises for the new
industrialism'. But machines of greater precision needed a
material susceptible of more accurate shaping, and this was
provided by the development of metallurgy. From the metal
lurgical, as well as the mathematical skill, first of Byzantium
and the Arabic east and eventually, from the twelfth century,
of the Latin west, came the earliest scientific instruments, the
astrolabes and other devices requiring an accurate arrangement
of parts, for measuring the movements of the heavenly bodies;
refinements of metallurgy gave the surgeon the instruments to
develop his art; and, at the endjof the thirteenth or the beginning
of the fourteenth centuries, the west produced, in the mechani
cal clock, the prototype of modern automatic machinery, with
parts designed to produce a precisely controlled result.

The mechanical clock, driven by a falling weight which set
in motion a train of geared wheels, was the latest of a series of
time-keeping machines going back to the simple water-clocks
of antiquity; its originality consisted in the complete mastery it
showed of geared wheels and in the use of an oscillatory escape
ment mechanism which controlled the rate of motion. There
are references to what may have been clocks of this kind in

SCIENCE 601

London, Canterbury, Paris, and other places at the end of the
thirteenth century, and in Milan, St. Albans, Glastonbury,
Avignon, and elsewhere in the early fourteenth century. But
the earliest true clocks of which the mechanism is definitely
known are the Dover castle clock, which is now in the Science
Museum in London and used to be dated 1348 but is almost
certainly later, and Henri de Vick's clock set up on the Palais
Royal in Paris in 1 370.

Clocks may be said to have introduced the ordinary man to
the notion of mathematical time, divided into equal and in"
different intervals; mathematical space, extended into three
dimensions in equal units of length, was made the measure of
his world by the cartographer. As the natural and liturgical
seasons gave way in the organization of time to a mechanical
measure, so, alongside the hieratic maps, like the Hereford
Mappa mundi of 1 3 14, depicting the world divided into regions
according to their spiritual relation with the holy city of Jeru'
salem, there were made maps by which travellers and mariners
could find their way over the surface of the visible globe. Of the
most accurate of these medieval maps, the portolani or compass^
charts, made and used by mariners in conjunction with a conv
pass, there are no known English examples; but two maps of
England are pioneer ventures in mapping on land and show
that progress was made. The first was drawn by Matthew Paris
about 1250 (PL 130), and the second, the so-called *Gough
map*, was drawn by an unknown cartographer somewhat less
than a century later (PL 21 in Chap. VI). Both show roads
and towns, but the second is much more accurate, and also
indicates mileages, probably as estimated by travellers. Roger
Bacon belongs also to the history of English cartography, not
only for his recognition of the need for accurate astronomical
measures of latitude and longitude, but also for a pregnant
mistake. His belief that there was no great width of ocean
between Europe and China became known to Columbus
through the writings of Pierre D'Ailly and Aeneas Sylvius;
it is said to have encouraged him to make the voyage by which
he discovered the New World.

602 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

After the great advances of the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries, English science, and indeed that of almost the whole
west outside Italy, showed little or no originality for over a
hundred years. There were still astronomers at Oxford, and at
Cambridge, but their writings mostly copied the work of their
great predecessors; medicine was scarcely more alive. Thus
it came about that when, in the sixteenth century, English
scholars began once more to inquire vigorously into the probx
lems of nature, they saw their work as a revival, and especially
as a revival of the great days of Grosseteste, Roger Bacon, and
Merton College. One of the most interesting figures in that
revival, the mathematician Dr. John Dee, took pains to collect
manuscripts of the mathematical and physical writings espex
cially of Grosseteste, Roger Bacon, Pecham, and Bradwardine.
Thomas Digges of University College, Oxford, describes
how the pioneer work with telescopes done by his father,
Leonard, 'grew by the aide he had by one old written booke of
the same Bakons Experiments . . .*. The astronomer Robert
Recorde, with Dee and the Diggeses among the first English/
men to support the Copernican theory, wrote in recommending
astronomical books: 'Dyuers Englyshe menne haue written
right well in that argument: as Grostehed, Michell Scotte,
Batecombe, Baconthorpe, and other dyuers . . /. Later
Sir Henry Savile, Warden of Merton, linked the great past
with the greater future of English science by founding at
Oxford the chairs in Geometry and Astronomy that bear his
name.

From the science of Bede to that of such a Savilian Professor
as Sir Christopher Wren, to say nothing of Newton, is as great
a distance in achievement as it is in time. Far more than was
realized by the iconoclastic enthusiasts of the seventeenth cen/
tury, that achievement was the measure of the scientific vigour
and originality of the medieval west; and, of the western
peoples, none entered with more enthusiasm than the medieval
English upon those inquiries that have made the outlook of
the modern world scientific, its arts industrial, and its hopes
material. But it has also been from early times a virtue in the

SCIENCE 603

English to throw up, besides great and original scientists, philo^
sophers who have made the methods and implications of
science their special study and have measured these, with
generosity and perception, against the whole ambit of human
knowledge and expectations. Many of the problems of
modern philosophers of science may be read in the works of
their medieval English predecessors. And if the theme of coiv
tinuity, which has been stressed in this chapter, is true, we
might expect to find in the habits of medieval scientists some'
thing to remind us of the modern laboratory student. Chaucer's
description in the Miller's Tale of 'hende* Nicholas, a free-lance
at Oxford, may perhaps be not unfamiliar.

A chambre hadde he In that hostelrye
Allone, with-outen any companye,
Ful fetisly y^dight with herbes swote;
And he hinvself as swete as is the rote
Of licorys, or any cetewale.
His Almageste and bokes grete and smale,
His astrelabie, longinge for his art,
His augrinvstones layen fairc axpart
On shelves couched at his beddes heed.

WORKS FOR REFERENCE

The list includes only works in English. For a general history of medieval science
see A. C. Crombie, Augustine to Galileo. The History of Science A.D. 400-1650
(London, 1952), and for a more specialized study, Robert Grossfteste and the
Origins of Experimental Science IIOO-IJQO (Oxford, 1953); both have extensive
bibliographies. Basic works in this subject are C. H. Haskins, Studies in the
History of Mediaeval Science (Cambridge, Mass., 1928), which deals with the
translators; G. Sarton, Introduction to 3% History of Science, 3 vols, (Baltimore,
1927-47), a fundamental bibliographical study; and Lynn Thomdike, A History
of 'Magic and Experimental Science, 6 vols. (New York, 1923-43).

Special studies of English medieval science and technology are:

Roger Bacon, Essays contributed by various Writers on the Occasion of the Commemoration
of Us Eirtb, ed. A. G. LITTLE (Oxford, 1914).

Bede: His Life, Times, and Writings, ed. A. HAMILTON THOMPSON (Oxford, 1935).

CROWLEY, T. Roger Bacon, the Problem of the Soul in bis philosophical Cmmenterks
(Louvain and Dublin, 1950).

EASTON, S. C. Roger Bacon and bis Search for a Uw&ersat Science (Oxford, 1952).

604 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

GUNTHER, R. T. Early Science in Oxford, ii (Oxford, 1923).

JOHNSON, F. R. Astronmkal Thought in Renaissance England (Baltimore, 1937).

McKEON, C. K. A Study of the Summa Philosophic of the Pseudo'Grossetestc
(New York, 1948).

MOODY, E. A. The Logic of William ofOckham (New York, 1935).
PAYNE, J. F. English Medicine in the Anglo-Saxon Times (Oxford, 1904).

Works containing studies of particular aspects of English science and techno'
logy are:

ALLBUTT, SIR T. C. The Historical Relations of Medicine and Surgery to the End of
the Sixteenth Century (London, 1905).

SHERWOOD TAYLOR, F. The Alchemists: Founders of Modern Chemistry (London,

1952).

USHER, A. P. A History of Mechanical Inventions, 2nd edn. (New York, 1954).
WALSH, J. J. Medieval Medicine (London, 1920).

A basic reasoned bibliography is Lynn White's article, 'Technology and Invention
in the Middle Ages', Speculum, xv (1940), pp. 141 seqq.

XIX. RECREATIONS

r. Minstrelsy
"THROUGHOUT the middle ages the monotony

i

minstrels or joculatores might be found in any castle or
tavern, at any festivity, wedding, or celebration. The official
attitude of the Church towards them was one of disapproval.
Thus at the council of Clovesho in 747 it was decreed that
monasteries must not be ludicrarum artium receptacula, and these
arts are defined as those of versifyers, harpers, minstrels, or bu&
foons (canon 20). The canon law sternly forbade the clergy
from having anything to do with mimes, jesters, or play actors
(Dec. Greg. in. i. 15). This attitude is not unnatural, for their
songs and turns, their jesting and buffoonery were often coarse
and obscene and anyhow far from becoming. It is, however,
necessary to draw a distinction. In its wildest sense the word
minstrel was applied to all these variety performers. It was
applied to those who recited epics, romances, or chansons de
geste, and to the travelling players with their bawdy songs and
comic acts (more r&aUorum). These two classes inherited differ-'
ent traditions, the one those of the respectable Teutonic glee/
men (who correspond to the Celtic bards), the other those of
the disreputable mimes of decadent Rome. The former were
tolerated if not approved by the ecclesiastical authorities, for it
would be difficult to find anything seriously objectionable in the
recitation of Beowulf or of the Arthurian romance; and even
Robert Grosseteste, a severe critic who directed the attention of
the clergy of his diocese to the canonical prohibition of minx
strelsy, is said to have kept a harper. It was the latter class to
which they, or the majority of them, were so bitterly hostile.
The distinction is clearly brought out in a penitential written

606 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

early in the fourteenth century by Thomas de Chabham, sub/
dean of Salisbury. 1 He describes three kinds ofhistriones: some,
he says, distort their bodies by lewd dance and gesture, or strip
themselves and put on horrible masks; all such are damnable.
Then there are those of no fixed abode (non balentes cerium domi'
cilium) who follow the courts of the great and talk scandal; such
are called wandering buffoons (scurrae vagi) because they are
good for nothing except gluttony and scandal/rnongering.
These, too, are damnable. Then there is a third class, those who
have musical instruments for the amusement of men; they are
of two kinds. Those who Sequent drinking'parties and lascix
vious gatherings where they sing indecent songs. These also are
damnable. But there are others czlledjoculatores who sing of the
deeds of heroes and of the lives of saints. These alone are capable
of salvation. This class of entertainment was generally regarded,
as we have said, as respectable. Books of romantic literature
were highly prized. Even those who could not read the books
themselves could enjoy looking at the pictures in such a volume,
for example, as the splendidly illuminated manuscript of the
Romance of Alexander (MS. Bodley 264) brought to England in
1466 by Richard Woodville, earl Rivers, father/in/law of
Edward IV. King Edward III bought a 'book of romance*
from a nun of Amesbury for 100 marks and kept it in his own
chamber; Richard II had a copy of the Romance of the Rose and
Romances of Percevall and Gaivayn and many monastic and
cathedral libraries contained volumes of this class of literature.
At St. Swithun's at Winchester zjoculator recited the romance
of Guy of Warwick and the apocryphal legend of Queen
Emma (about the ordeal of the hot ploughshares).

Some minstrels were maintained in the households of the
great and were held in much higher esteem than the vagrant
entertainers who moved from tavern to tavern living on the road
or where they could; they are designated as 'minstrels ofhonour'
in the fourteenth century. At the head of the court minstrels was
a rex or marescallm ministrallorum; and just as the king had his

1 The relevant passage is printed by E. K. Chambers, The Medieval Stage,
if, pp. 262-3.

RECREATIONS 607

establishment of minstrels, so the aristocracy, municipal corx
porations, and even some ecclesiastical foundations had their
own troupe. We hear not only of the bistrhnef of the earls of
Stafford or Derby or the ministralli of the countess of Westmore^
land or the duke of Gloucester; of the bistrianes of the town of
Shrewsbury or the mimi of the city of Coventry, but also of the
minstrels and mimes of the lord cardinal (Bishop Beaufort). It
is evident from the accounts of Durham priory that in the first
years of the fourteenth century a troupe ofhistriones were accus^
tomed to perform there at Christmas or on the feast of St.
Cuthbert, and that a fool, stultus otfatuus, whose appropriate
garments were paid for, was kept on the establishment for the
delectation of the monks (PL 131 a). In the fifteenth century
the players (lusores) of the city or the minstrels of the bishop of
Winchester paid visits to Winchester College, whither also the
minstrels of the king or nobility were sent to provide entertain^
ment for the young scholars. In France there were scbolae minis'
trallorum to which English minstrels occasionally resorted to
improve their art. At the end of the period there was a guild or
fraternity of minstrels at London and at one or two other places
formed with the object, if possible, of controlling the profession.
But in the long run it was all but impossible to keep the
classes, the reputable and the disreputable, the household and
the vagrant entertainers entirely apart. The Church had not only
relaxed its stern attitude, but was actively participating in min^
strelsy. The great men kept buffoons and respectable gleemen
might be found in the taverns. Berdic, thejoculator regis, who
held lands in Gloucestershire recorded in Domesday Book,
may, like the bktrio who rushed to death at the battle of Hastings
singing of Charlemagne and Roland, have recited epics; but
thejoculator regis of the twelfth century, who held a considerable
property in the county of Suffolk, performed as his service any
thing but an edifying act at the Christmas festivities. It is at least
understandable that the great men found the recital of long
heroic epics a trifle tedious and would encourage their versatile
entertainers to turn to the lighter side of their art, to songs, even
if a little coarse, to juggling and tumbling, to dancing on ropes,

5526.2

608 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

on swords, or upside/down (PL 1 3 1 &), and to music. Music,
till the fourteenth century, was chiefly used to accompany the
voice and the dance; it then became an entertainment in itself
(PL 1320). It was a normal practice in the great houses to have
music during meals or on festive occasions. No less than eighty
named instrumentalists, including players of tabors, kettle^
drums, harps, gitterns, citoles, trumpets, flutes, pipes, psalterx
ies, organs, and various forms of fiddle, were gathered together
at the court of Edward I to celebrate the knighting of his son
in I306. 1 Edward III had a band attached to his household
(which served as a military band in time of war) composed of
five^trumpeters, one citoler, five pipers, one tabouretter, two
clarion players, one nekerer (kettlexdrummer), one fiddler, and
three waits. It was not uncommon for noblemen to have a
musician or two on their staff; at the close of the middle ages the
earl of Northumberland had a little orchestra consisting of a
tabouret, a lute, a rebeck, and six trumpets.

Pet animals provided amusement in the middle ages as they
do today. King Henry I kept a menagerie at Woodstock which
included lions, leopards, lynxes, camels, and a porcupine;
Henry III had three leopards and a camel presented to him by
his brotherxin/law, the Emperor Frederick II, and an elephant,
the gift of Louis IX of France, which he kept in a house spe>
dally built for it in the Tower of London; and Henry II had a
bear which sometimes travelled with him as he moved about
the country. Animals also play apart intherepertoireofthepnv
fessional entertainer. Some dressed up as animals, some led live
animals on to the stage. Bulls and bears were baited (PL 1326).
In the honour of Tutbury, where the minstrels were organ"
ized in the time of John of Gaunt under k roy des ministraulx, it
was customary for the prior of Tutbury to provide the bull for
the kistriones after they had attended matins on the feast of the
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. 2 Performing dogs and

1 The payments made to these musicians are printed by E. K. Chambers-
op, cit. ii, pp. 234-8.

2 This obligation survived the reformation and became vested in the family of
Cavendish (later earls of Devonshire) as bailiffs of Tutbury castle. An interesting

PLATE IJI

PLATE IJ2

It

"

RECREATIONS 609

monkeys and bears were common shows (PI. 132 r). A bear^
ward (ursinarius) was a not unusual appendage to a nobleman's
household in the later middle ages and doubtless earlier; and
he appears to have been a person of some social position, for
when in 1485 Lord Stanley's bears were staying at Magdalen
College, Oxford, the ursarii dined with the fellows at the high
table. A few years later this college had a bear of its own, the gift
of the king. A strange entry in the Magdalen accounts of about
this time records a payment to a college servant for looking
after quandam bestiam vocatam ly merumsytt (marmoset).

We have seen that the Church had been obliged to modify
its opposition to the prevalent forms of entertainment. However
much the Church reformers might dislike these pastimes, they
found themselves in an embarrassing position, for the lower
clergy had their own occasions for jollity which provided an
outlet from the normal restraints of ecclesiastical discipline.
They had their feast of fools, festum stultorum, fatuorum, oifolo'
rum, generally centred on a cathedral and held on one of the
feasts following Christmas, usually the day of the Circunv
cision(i January) ortheEpiphany (6 January). Bishop Grosse/
testein 1236 tried to suppress it at Lincoln on the ground that
it was 'replete with vanity and foul with voluptuosity', and two
years later the prohibition was repeated lest 'the house of
prayer should become a house of wantonness*. But these at'
tempts were not apparently altogether successful for at the end
of the fourteenth century when Archbishop Courtenay made
a visitation to Lincoln he was told that the vicars and other
clergy on the day of Circumcision dressed in secular garments
disturbed the divine office by their din, buffoonery, chattering,
and games, which they commonly call the Feast of Fools.
Details of the English celebrations are lacking; but if it was
anything like the similar feast in France, where it was firmly
entrenched, with its annual election of a dominusfesti, a "king* or
'bishop* from among the canons or vicars (sometimes baptized
with three buckets of water), its procession to the church, its

account of the ceremony is given by Robert Plot, who witnessed it in 1680, in his
Natural History of Staffordshire.

610 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

ribald office, its riot of song and dance, of eating and drinking,
and dicing on the altar, it was hardly an edifying example to
the laymen. Somewhat similar to the celebration of the Feast of
Fools were the ludi tbeatrales or masked shows (spectacula lar<>
varuni) which are found in the fourteenth century at Wells and
Exeter and the custom prevalent in many cathedrals from quite
early times when in the days following Christmas, especially
on the feast of the Innocents (28 December) a choir boy was
appointed bishop for thefestumpueromm. These *boy bishops*
both preached and sang the mass; and on these occasions ac/
cording to the royal ordinance which abolished them in 1541
'children be strangelye decked and apparelid to counterfaite
priestes, bysshopps, and women* and there is much singing
and dancing *to the derision of the glory of God*. 1 If the
Church countenanced foolery within their own circle, they
could scarcely adopt a very stern attitude towards the amuse-
ments of laymen.

By the close of the middle ages society had wearied of the
recitation of long romances. Those who could appreciate these
romances could now read at least some of them in print. This
form of entertainment died a natural death with the invention
of printing and the development of the theatre. With the bu&
foonery it was otherwise. There were fools at the court of Henry
VII, and payments are also made from the Privy Purse to *one
that joculed before the king* and *to a Spaynyard that tumb-
led*. These amusements, in spite of the renaissance, in spite of
Tudor legislation which classed wandering minstrels and the
like with rogues and vagabonds, in spite of the strictures of the
Puritans, survived. Thomas More kept a fool in his household
and Erasmus wrote In Praise of Folly. It is the stock-in-trade of
the sideshows at fairs and of the music halls of today.

2. Board Games

When books were scarce and reading the accomplishment of
the few it was customary to pass the long winter evenings by
playing indoor games. At once the most ancient and the most

1 Wilkins, GwaTw, iii, p. 860, quoted by Chambers, op. cit. i, p. 366, n.

RECREATIONS 6H

prevalent was the game of dice. It required no skill; it was
purely a gambling game of throwing the dice and betting on
the result of the throw. A great variety of games played with
pieces on boards of different design were known in the middle
ages. The game of merels (tokens, counters) figures under many
names morris, merrypeg, miracles, &c. and was played
with three, five, nine, or even twelve pieces; boards for these
games were often scratched on the stone seats in the cloisters of
monasteries and elsewhere. The object was to get the 'men* in
a row. In its simpler form this was done by merely entering them
on the board, somewhat as in the modern game of 'noughts
and crosses*. But in the more elaborate form the pieces, when
entered on the board, were moved in turn to attain the align'
ment. Draughts, derived in part from chess, was invented in
the twelfth century, probably in the south of France; but,
though played in England, it never attained to much popu^
larity until the seventeenth century. Backgammon, on the other
hand, or 'tables* as the medieval game (which did not differ
essentially from the game of today) was called, was much in
vogue. It was an ancient game, a race game, developed from
the Roman game of dea or tabula and the Persian nard, and
played with 'tablemen' resembling draughts but larger, and
three or two dice. It was known in Anglo-Saxon times for it is
mentioned in old English glossaries of the eighth and ninth
centuries. Like chess it was a favourite game of the upper
classes throughout the middle ages. King John was fond of
playing with his court favourites ad tatulas for modest stakes
which, ifhe lost, were faithfully recorded on the roll of his daily
expenses; and the knights in Robert of Gloucester's metrical
chronicle composed at the end of the thirteenth century played
*atte tables oj?er atte chekere (chess)*.

Among the aristocracy, however, by far the most popular
and universal of indoor recreations was the game of chess.
Originating in India, it came to the west by way of Persia
(where it was known in the seventh century) and the Muslim
world. The word 'chess* (Latin, scad, scacci, meaning chess^
men) is derived from the chess king, the Persian shah. It was a

MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

war game, a contest between two armies on the field of battle,
and in the eastern game the pieces have a military character. It
is the king with his army composed of a counsellor or vizier
(the queen of the European game), horses (knights), chariots
or rooks, elephants (later bishops), and infantry (pawns or
pedites). Through Islam before the year 1000 the game had
passed into Spain and Italy, and thence northward by way of
France and Germany into England. Apart from one or two
texts of late date and doubtful authority which connect King
Canute with the game, there is little to suggest that it had
reached England before the Norman Conquest. But shortly
after that event it was certainly known. By mo at latest
scaccarium, the chessboard, had been adopted as the name of the
financial department, the exchequer; a poem composed at
Winchester in the first half of the twelfth century describes the
game, the pieces, and the moves; and the de Naturis R.emm of
Alexander Neckham, probably written about the turn of the
century, contains a chapter de Scaccis. Henceforth the historical
and romantic literature of the middle ages abounds in allusions
to chess. The wardrobe accounts of Edward I show that mon/
arch possessed of two 'families' of chessmen, one of jasper and
crystal and another of ivory, and inventories of the chattels of
the nobility would sometimes make mention of a set. In Europe
some of the pieces changed their form and movement; the
counsellor changed sex and became the queen (as did the prox
moted pawn) and the elephant became the bishop. But at this
stage in the development of the game neither of these pieces was
held to be of great value; the queen's movement was very re*"
stricted and the bishop, who is referred to as a bald head (calms)
or an old man (senex) or even as a thief or a spy, was held in
some contempt. The powerful pieces in this early game, the
pieces on which the player relied in making his attack, were the
knight and the rook. The game was generally played for a stake,
and often violent quarrels broke out in which the heavy board
of wood or metal was effectively used as a weapon. The con'
tinued popularity of the game throughout the middle ages is
shown by the fact that the second book which Caxton printed

RECREATIONS 613

(Bruges 1476?) was his translation of the thirteentlvcentury
treatise by the Italian Cessolis, The Game and Playe oftbe Cbesse,
and he printed it again at Westminster a few years later. But the
book was already almost out of date, for a significant change
in the last years of the fifteenth century revolutionized the
game. This change is marked by the freedom of movement
given to the queen and the bishop: now, as in the modern
game, the former could move in any direction, and the latter in
a diagonal direction as far as the way was clear; it enormously
enhanced their strength, and the queen became the dominating
piece on the board. The new game, more scientific and elabor^
ate, originated in southern Europe, spread rapidly, and quickly
superseded the old game of which we hear no more in England
after 1529. But by this time it had lost its unrivalled supremacy
among the indoor recreations of the aristocracy. Other forms of
gambling, and especially cardxplaying which came into vogue
in the fifteenth century, were introduced to relieve the boredom
of the leisured classes during the long winter evenings.

The game of cards, which probably originated in Asia, is
not known to have reached Europe till the fourteenth century.
In 1393 an artist was paid for painting *in gold and diverse
colours ornamented with many devices* packs for King
Charles VI of France; seventeen of these cards are still pre^
served in the Bibliotheque Nationale. The earliest clear referx
ence to the game in England is in 1461 when it was prohibited
except during the Christmas festivities. The next notice of it
comes in a statute two years later (3 Edw. IV, c. 4) forbidding
the importation of caries ajuer; the object here, however, was not
to stop this form of amusement, but to reduce unemployment
by encouraging the home manufacture of this and other comx
modities. Henceforward it was a popular pastime. Though no
English cards earlier than the seventeenth century have smv
vived, the traditional costumes of the court cards appear to be
of the early Tudor period. The first two Tudor kings were
evidently much addicted to this form of amusement; and it has
been reckoned that Henry VIII lost ,3,243. $$. iod. in three
years at cards and other forms of gambling.

614 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

3. London Games

William HtzStephen writing in the twelfth century ends his
well-known description of the city of London, which he pre-
fixed to his life of Thomas Becket, with an account of the
sports and amusements of the citizens. 1 London he tells us *in-
stead of theatrical shows and stage plays has more holy plays,
representations of miracles, and the sufferings of martyrs*. In
deed miracle and liturgical plays were everywhere the essence
of the medieval drama, a subject too involved to develop in the
space of a brief chapter. FitzStephen then proceeds to speak of
boys* games, for, he says, *we were all boys once'. On a carnival
day they bring fighting/cocks to school, and all the morning is
given up to the sport of watching their cocks doing battle; after
lunch they go to the fields for a game of ball; the scholars of each
school have their own ball, and most of the tradesmen too. The
city fathers and rich men ride out to watch the sport of the young
men, and by so doing revive their own youth. Every Sunday in
Lent the youths would ride out with lance and shield and en
gage in jousting in the meadows, while during the Easter holi
days they would occupy themselves with aquatic sports on the
river (tilting at a quintain, PL 1 3 3 a), the bridge and the houses
on the banks being thronged with spectators who came to
laugh at the fun of seeing boys tumbling into the water and be
ing hauled out by their companions in boats alongside. On
feast days in the summer they exercised themselves with archery
or in running, jumping, wrestling, putting the stone, or in
practising with javelins and shields; and while the boys were
engaged in these vigorous and manly pursuits the girls of course
danced. 'Cytherea', writes our author imitating Horace, 'leads
the dance of maidens, the bright moon overhead, and the earth
is struck with free foot/ On winter mornings boars are set to
fight each other and bulls and bears are baited by dogs. When
the great marsh north of the city (Moorfields) was frozen over the
young men would disport themselves on the ice, sliding, tobog-

1 It is printed in Materials for the History of Thomas Becket, ed. J. C. Robertson
(Rolls Scries), iii, pp. 2-13.

PLATE 133

a. Quintain from a boat

L Quintain from a wooden horse

c. Quintain with a tub of water

L Wrestling pickaback

e. Swinging

Blind man's bufF

Punch and Judy show

f. Catching butterflies

RECREATIONS 615

ganing on large blocks of ice, and even skating with shinbones
of animals bound to their feet, and in this way moving as
swiftly as a bird in flight or a shaft from a cross/bow. These
evolutions, it may be added, were not performed without many
accidents and broken limbs. The London citizens also engaged
in the more aristocratic sports, hunting and hawking, for they
had a special privilege of pursuing game in the Chiltern Hills
and the woodlands of the home counties. In another place Fitz^
Stephen gives a lively picture of horse/racing which took place
at the weekly horse fair at Smithfield. He describes the inv
patience of the horses for the contest and the eagerness of the
jockeys urging them on with spur, whip, and shout. References
to this sport are rare in medieval literature, but there is an inter/
esting description of it in the early fourteenth/century metrical
romance Sir Beves of Hamtoun (E.E.T.S., 1886, 11. 3261-8):

In Somer about wytsontyde,
Whan Knyghtes most on hors ryde,
A cours they cryed on a day,
Stedes and palfiayes to assay,
What hors that best myght ren;
Thre myle the cours was then,
Who fyrst came to the ende, sholde
Have twenty pounde of redy golde.

FitzStephen's account is the earliest comprehensive descripx
tion of the recreations of Englishmen in the middle ages. But
John Stow, who quotes the passage in his Survey of London
written in the closing years of the sixteenth century, tells us that
these or like exercises have been continued till his own time;
and the pastimes of the metropolis, we may safely assume, were
common to the country as a whole. There were of course
changes in fashion; the dangerous and warlike jousting gave
place to riding at the quintain. Matthew Paris 1 relates how in
1253 the citizens of London tried their prowess and the speed
of their horses at a game 'quod quintena vulgariter dicitur*.
They were challenged by some members of the king's housex
hold who contemptuously call them scurvy fellows and 'soapy*

1 Cbron. Maj. v. p. 367.

<5i6 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

(saponarios). Yet the despised citizens hit the king's men about
with broken spears, making them 'black and blue', knocked
them off their horses, and won the prize a peacock. This
game, which consisted of riding at a target a sand bag or some
such thing hung on a cross-bar fixed to a pole, became a
favourite sport in fashionable society.

The quintain was also a game for children. Children's games
are seldom described; they are, however, frequently depicted
in the borders of manuscripts. Many of the best appear in the
well-known fourteenth-century manuscript of the Romance of
Alexander (MS. Bodley 264) which is illuminated by a Flemish
artist. Nevertheless the proximity of England and Flanders and
the close relations which existed between them render it un-
likely that the amusements of youth in the two countries differed
materially. This manuscript has therefore been used for the
purpose of illustration. Boys are shown playing at the quintain
in a variety of ways: they are drawn towards the target seated on
a wooden horse (PL 133 i), or running naked (doubtless to
avoid drenching their clothes) towards a tub of water set on a
post (PL 1 3 3 c) 9 or again rowed in a boat, the performer stand-
ing with a levelled pole (PL 133*). In other respects children
amused themselves much as they do today. They engaged in
sham fights and wrestled, sometimes pick-a-back (PL 133 f) 9
and in gymnastics on a horizontal bar; they swung on swings
(PL 1 3 3 e) 9 they whipped tops, they played cup and ball, and
they discharged pellets through tubes (trunks) like pea-shooters;
they played blind-man's-buff (PL 134 a) and prisoners' base,
which by a proclamation of 6 Edward III (1331-2) was not
allowed to be played near the Palace of Westminster while
Parliament was sitting. They took pleasure in looking at
puppet shows which bear a close resemblance to the Punch
and Judy of later times (PL 134 1); there are also pictures of
children catching birds and butterflies (PL 134 c\

4. Hunting and Falconry

The favourite sport of kings and the aristocracy throughout the
middle ages was the chase. Asser in his life of Bang Alfred

RECREATIONS 617

mentions hunting as a suitable occupation of the nobility and
Edward the Confessor, according to his biographer, spent
much time among the forests and woodlands in the pleasures
of the chase. With the Norman kings it became almost a
passion.

The forest [wrote Richard Fitz Neal in the Dialogue of the Exchequer (c. 1 1 79)]
is the sanctuary and special delight of kings where, laying aside their cares,
they withdraw to refresh themselves with a little hunting; there, away from
the turmoils inherent in a court, they breathe the pleasure of natural freedom.

Some two centuries later hunting is described as 'to every gentle
heart most disportful of all games* (PL 135*). It was con/
ducted under prescribed and elaborate rules. A literature of the
sport soon grew up in which the habits of the different kinds of
game, how each should be hunted, and the breeding and train/
ing of hounds, is carefully described. The earliest treatise, Le
art de Venerie, was written in French by Twici or Twety, hunts/
man to Edward II, and published a century later in English;
but a more detailed one, The Master of Game, was produced
about 1406 by Edward, second duke of York, who held the
office of Master of Game under Henry IV and was killed at the
battle of Agincourt. Though the greater part of this is merely an
English translation, with some interpolations, of the famous
book of Gaston de Foix (or Gaston Phoebus as he is generally
called) the friend of Froissart, the concluding chapters are
original and no doubt drawn from the author's personal know/
ledge. Here he describes the tracking down and starting the
quarry with the hound on a leash (the timer), the uncoupling
of the hounds of the pack (de mota), the pursuit with the appro/
priate hunting cries and blowing of horns, the death, the dis/
tribution of game, and finally the hunt supper where the
hunters

drink not ale, and nothing but wine that night for the good and great labour
they have had for the lord's game and disport . . . and that they may the
more merrily and gladly tell what each of them has done all the day and
which hounds have best run and boldest.

Two varieties of hounds were commonly used in the chase,
greyhounds (leporarii) which hunted by sight and running

618 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

hounds (canes currentes or raches) which followed the scent. We
hear also of harriers, for, says our author, 'the hare is a good little
beast and much good sport', and of foxhounds, Tor a fox is fair
for the good cry of the hounds'; and Edward IV kept a pack
of otterhounds. Particular attention is given in the hunting
literature to honvblowing and hunting cries. Thus Twici
tells us

Then ye shall begin to blow a long mote and afterwards two short motes
in this manner, Trout, trout, and then trout* tro ro rot, beginning with a long
mote, for every man that is about you, and can skill of venery may know
in what point ye be in your game by your horn.

The cries of the huntsmen, a curious mixture of languages,
seem to be traditional, for they appear with slight variation in
most of the manuals of hunting, thus to encourage the hounds
to go forward *Sa, sa, cy, avaunt, sohow' or 'how amy, swef,
mon amy, swef (gently, my friend, gently) or 'illoeques, illo^
eques' (illo loco, there there), possibly, as has been suggested, the
origin of the familiar cry 'Yoicks'.

Vast tracts of land embracing numberless farms and villages
were set aside for the enjoyment of this sport and were protected
by harsh and irksome forest laws imposed to make them *a safe
dwelling place of beasts'. An army of men were engaged in
managing this enormous game preserve : huntsmen and keepers
ofhounds, foresters and warreners, and officers of the forest courts
over which the chief forester had supreme control. The beasts
of the forest thus protected were the red and the fallow deer, the
roe and the wild boar. The roe, however, ceased to be a pnv
tected 'beast of the forest' in the fourteenth century on the ground
that it chased away the other deer; henceforth it was classed as a
*beast of the warren'. Sometimes great men also had their prik
vate forests or 'chases', and many more had enclosed parks in
which to preserve deer and to exercise the pleasure of hunting.
The king also claimed, at least over his demesne lands, the
right to take the smaller game, the fox and the hare, the rabbit
and the wild cat, the pheasants and partridges; but the right to
hunt these beasts and fowl of the warren, as they were called,
was often granted away to privileged subjects. Indeed, these

PLATE 135

rVV

; ? y *,

* t " ' .1

\

T"**' v

j. Hooting scene

k Ferreting

PLATE 136

a. King Harold riding with a. hawk on his wrist

4. Hawking
(Two women, with a perch in the centre, and a hawk seizing its prey)

RECREATIONS 619

grants of 'free warren*, which gave to the tenant an exclusive
sporting licence to hunt and shoot over his estates outside the
bounds of the forest anything except the protected beasts, be^
came more and more frequent until by the middle of the four'
teenth century the majority of manorial lords seem to have
enjoyed this right. Further, in the later middle ages sporting
licences were more freely given and more generous. Thus in
1384 Richard II gave to the dean of St. Martin le Grand *on
account of the affection we bear to him*, a very comprehensive
permit for life

to hunt and kill with greyhounds and other hounds and with weapons
(cum artillariis) harts, hinds, bucks, hares, and all other wild beasts capable
of being hunted with dogs and bows, and rabbits with ferrets and otherwise,
also to catch and kill as he knows best pheasants, partridges, plovers, quails,
larks, and all other birds of the warren in our forests, chases, parks, woods,
and warrens; and also to catch all kinds offish throughout England, Wales,
and the county of Chester, on condition that he does so in measure and
season and by view of foresters, parkers, and other the king's ministers, who
are to permit him to hunt, hawk, and fish and carry the same away at
pleasure (Pat. Roll 1381-5, p. 408).

Hunting, as we have said, was essentially an aristocratic
sport. Nevertheless, poaching at all times, despite the severity of
the penalties imposed by the forest law, was a popular pastime
of the masses not merely for the purpose of stocking the larder,
but for the sport of the thing. This is evident from numberless
cases brought before the forest courts and from the tales of
Robin Hood and similar romances. Moreover it was increasing
(free hunting and fishing were among the demands of the
rebels of 1 3 81) to the alarm of the privileged classes. So action
was taken in die parliament of 1 3 89-90.

Forasmuch as divers artificers, labourers, and servants, and grooms [the
preamble declares] keep greyhounds and other dogs, and on the Holydays,
when good Christian people be at church, hearing Divine Service, they go
hunting in parks, warrens and connigries of lords and others, to the very
great destruction of the same.

A property qualification was therefore required to keep hounds,
to use ferrets, nets, or 'other engines for to take or destroy deer,
hares, or coneys, or other gentlemen's game* (PL 135 V). The

620 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

qualification for a layman was lands worth 40*. a year, for a
clergyman a benefice worth .10 a year. The penalty which the
justices of the peace were authorized to impose was one year's
imprisonment (Statute 13 Ric. n, c. 13).

The forest law in the course of time had been considerably
relaxed. Indeed, when towards the end of the sixteenth century
John Manwood published his classic treatise, the forest system
was already in a state of confusion and decay. It had been
gradually superseded by the game laws of which the Act of
1 3 Richard II may be regarded as the first. The harshness of the
forest law has often and rightly been condemned; but it is
doubtful whether the system to which it gave way was more
considerate to the peasant and the poacher. It is little/remenv
bered that by an Act of 1828 (9 Geo. IV, c. 69), which rex
mained unrepealed for a great part of Queen Victoria's reign,
a poacher who took even a rabbit at night was liable in certain
circumstances to transportation for seven years.

Like hunting, falconry was a favourite sport of kings and
gentry. The birds in general use were the gerfalcon ('the noblest
of birds'), the peregrine, the goshawk, the sparrowhawk, the
lanner, and the saker; and all are mentioned in English records.
The last two species came from the countries bordering on the
Mediterranean; the chief source of supply of the others, which
were much more commonly used in England, was Norway,
and they were generally obtained at the great fair of St. Botolph
at Boston (Lines.), though they sometimes came as gifts from
the Norwegian kings. They were flown to cranes, herons,
partridges, and to small ground game, such as hares and
rabbits. Falconry was a highly technical and scientific art,
and much was written on the subject. The earliest treatise
known in western Europe was written by an Englishman, the
well known Arabic scholar, Adelard of Bath. The book itself
is disappointing, for it chiefly deals with the ailments of the
birds and the methods of curing them accordingto theprescrip/
tions of early medical lore; but he tells us that he derives infor ma/
tion fiom King Harold's books. Harold son of Godwin was
evidently a keen falconer, for more than once he is represented

RECREATIONS 621

on the Bayeux Tapestry with a hawk on his wrist (Pi. 1 36 a).
The Normans and Angevins were no less interested in falconry
than the last pre-Conquest king. It was indeed a universal sport,
and the literature of one country was applicable to another.
The most famous, interesting, and comprehensive book was
the treatise written between 1244 and 1250 by the Emperor
Frederick II, who married the sister of the English king Henry
IIL Though in the De Arte Venandi cum Av&u$ 9 the emperor
drew chiefly on his own personal experience and observations,
he was at pains to discover developments and particular prac^
tices of other countries; thus he claims to have introduced the
practice of hooding the falcons from the Arabs, and he is aware
of a custom peculiar to England of not shouting when they
lure, that is when they entice the bird back after its flight (non
vociferant in loyratione).

Hawks had to be trained and fed with infinite care and
patience for they were liable to 'bate*, that is to say, become
restless in the hands of an inexperienced falconer; they needed
regular exercise (PL 136 V) and good and substantial food,
meals of meat and poultry. King John, for instance, gave instruct
tions that his gerfalcons were to be given doves and pork, and
chicken once a week* They required specially careful treatment
in the moulting or *mewing* season if they were to be good for
flying after the moult The falconer's was a highly/skilled pro/
fession and tended to run in families; no less than ten members
of the family of Hauville were engaged in the business during
the first half of the thirteenth century. With the extravagant diet
of the birds, with the expense of maintaining so large an estab/
lishment, with the relatively small return of game, it can never
have been, like hunting, a contribution to the economy of the
country. It was indulged in purely as a sport, and its popularity
persisted until the advent of the shot'gun.

5. The Tournament

The tournament was a sport of knights, and, like everything
characteristic of chivalry, it seems to have originated and de

6 ^2 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

veloped in France; it was the ludus or conflicts Gallicus. Despite
repeated papal prohibitions from the time oflnnocent II ( 1 1 3 o)
till that of John XXII (1316), it flourished, and many reputax
tions and fortunes were made by young landless knights by
prowess on the tournament ground and by ransoms and prizes
won. The outstanding example of a man who made his fortune
in this way is William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, in the
twelfth century. In the reign of Henry II, if not earlier, the
tournament was introduced into England; in 1194 it was
legalized by Richard I in order to improve the skill in fighting
of English knights who were reputed inferior to the French,
but under certain conditions: the tournament must be licensed
by the king, the combatants must pay (in advance) entrance
fees according to their rank, ranging from twenty marks for an
earl to two marks for a landless knight, and it must be held on
one of five recognized grounds distributed about the country.
It was a battle game, indeed in its early days more battle than
game; it was a dangerous and bloody affair in which the
opposing teams of knights armed with swords charged about
in a general melee on the open plain without rules, goals, or
boundaries (PL 137). Fatal casualties were a frequent occur^
rence. Moreover, as it was often the prelude and the training for
baronial uprisings, it was prohibited by the government during
most of the reign of Henry III, though the penalties for dis-"
obedience were often little more than nominal. These violent
and disorderly melees continued long into the later middle ages*
But often, it should be said, the most turbulent element was not
the combatants, but the squires on foot who attended upon
them. Incentive was given to the tournament by Edward I,
himself a keen and skilful performer, both before and after he
ascended the throne, and he became the moving spirit in its
development. Under his direction rules were drawn up in 1267
(which about 1292 became statutory) and a committee apx
pointed to enforce them. Tourneying was also much affected
by changes of fashion in arms and armour; blunted (or re^
bated) instead of sharp weapons came into use, and plate
armour superseded mail in the fourteenth century and gradually

PLATE 137

v... v>^j3#rs

r ^f~; ;fJ

i*;W^^t^ilff

Tournament (melee)

myw^

;|.V ? ' -*,-. $
^ *)U ? : ' ->*^? ' "* "' " ^ i^"*T?!

* /JMJtivtl&B

Tournament (joust) showing the tilt

RECREATIONS 623

became heavier until at the end of the period the combatants
were completely encased in metal. 1

It was, however, the penetration of the ideas of chivalry, and
particularly Arthurian romance that exerted the most remark/
able influence on this form of sport. As early as 123 2 a 'Round
Table* is officially prohibited; in 1252 Matthew Paris draws
the distinction between this and the ordinary tournament:
in this year [he writes] the knights in order to prove their skill and prowess
in knightly exercise decided to try their strength not in a bastiludium, which is
commonly called a tournament, but in that knightly game called a Round
Table. 2

The difference is that instead of the team game or melee, two
combatants 'jousted' or charged each other with levelled lance
over a course; in the fifteenth century a barrier or 'tilt* was pro."
vided, on each side of which the riders charged, to prevent the
horses from colliding (PL 138). It was no longer necessary to
tourney over wide open spaces; it was done in clearly defined
enclosures, even in streets and city squares. The Round Table
was now attended by all the pageantry and display of chivalry;
it was proclaimed by heralds, who acted as masters of the
ceremonies; the lists* or enclosures were surrounded by gaily
coloured tents and stands crowded with spectators. It was
now a great social occasion which often lasted several days, and
was followed by feasting and dancing. In 1279 *an innumerx
able concourse of knights and ladies' attended a convivium and
a Round Table at Kenilworth which Roger Mortimer orga^
nized *at enormous expense'. Henceforth ladies figure promix
nently at tournaments. They might give away the prizes or
even be the prizes themselves. This at least is a common theme
of the romances; knights tourneyed for the love of a lady, and
her favours were the reward of success. Thus in the semi'
historical thirteenths-century Legend ofFulk Fitz<> Warm a pro'
clamation invited *all valiant knights who wished to tourney

1 Above, Chap. X.

2 Cbron. Maj. (Rolls Series), v, p. 3 18. Despite the use of the words bastilu&um or
fabwrd to indicate the team-game, it seems clear that blunted swords rather than
lances were the weapons usually employed. See Plate 137, and Denholnv Young,
The Tournament in the Thirteenth Century* p. 260.

5526.2

624 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

pur amurs* to present themselves and the prize was to be the land
and the love of a lady. The tournament opened with the sound
of trumpets and horns; there is much hitting about with swords,
knights were thrown from their chargers, the ladies watch from
a tower. This continued till nightfall. The next morning a joust
was proclaimed and the hero entered the lists. After unhorsing
three knights with his lance, the lady 'sent him her glove and
begged him to defend it*; this he did clad in scarlet armour and
successfully, and 'the great lords, the heralds, and the arbiters*
awarded him the prize 'and with great joy he took her and the
damsel him. So they sent for the bishop who married them/ 1
This savours more of romance than history, of troubadours
and courtly love, but the picture of the tourneying and jousting
may well be realistic.

By the end of the thirteenth century the tournament had
assumed the form it was to retain till the end. There is, how
ever, an increasing emphasis on the pageantry and the social
aspect and perhaps less on the skilled action of the combatants.
The climax is reached with the fantastic display exhibited on
the occasion of the meeting of the kings of England and France
in 1520 at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. This sumptuous
parade of magnificent folly with its prefabricated palace, its
towers and battlements, its decorative statuary representing
classical antiquity, and its rich hangings of crimson and gold;
with its feasting and dancing and fountains spouting malmsey
and claret into silver cups; and with its jousting according to an
elaborate code of rules drawn up for the event at which the two
monarchs entered the lists against all comers, marks the apx
proaching end of long/decaying chivalry. Changes in the art
of war, among other things, had made the tournament an
anachronism.

6. Athletic Games

Authorities on folk-lore see the origin of some modern games
in very remote antiquity, in primitive pagan cults and seasonal

1 Printed with the Cbronicon Anglicanum of Ralph of Coggeshall, ed. J. Stevenson
(Rolls Series), pp. 289-93.

RECREATIONS 625

festivals. Thus the children's game of 'Gathering Nuts in May*
may be a reminiscence of marriage by capture, the 'nuts' being
more probably 'knots* or 'posies'; 1 the chopping/off/the^head
action in 'Oranges and Lemons* may represent the selection of
the victim for human sacrifice. Or again football may have
originated in a fertility cult, in a scramble, a scrimmage, for the
possession of the head, the most prized portion of the sacrificial
beast. Such games formed part of the celebrations at village
festivals on May Day, Midsummer Day, and other feasts
which survived from pre-Christian times. However that may
be, games of ball are certainly of great antiquity. Nennius, who
compiled his Historia Brittonum in the ninth century, speaks of
boys playing pike ludum (ch. 43). We have seen that ball'
games were played by the London citizens in the twelfth
century in the fields; but they were not confined to the fields.
In 1 3 03 a student was attacked and killed while playing at ball
with others in Oxford High Street; 2 and Robert Braybrooke,
bishop of London, complained in 1385 that people played at
ball both within and without St. Paul's, breaking windows
and damaging the sculpture. 3 The game known as handball
may have been some form of fives which was commonly
played between the buttresses of buildings (as at Eton). We do
not, however, hear how games were played, but rather that
they ought not to be played at all. Thus in 1365 the sheriffs
throughout England were required to issue a proclamation forx
bidding all able-bodied men under pain of imprisonment *to
meddle in hurling of stones, loggats and quoits, handball, foot"
ball, club ball, cambuc, cock fighting or other vain games of no
value*. Instead, on Sundays and holidays they must practise
with bows and arrows, for thus 'by God's help came forth
honour to the kingdom and advantage to the king in his actions
of war*. The government no doubt had in mind the decline in
the fortunes of war since the glorious victories of Crecy and
Poitiers won by the British archers. In 1388 the gist of the

1 E. K. Chambers, Me&eval Stag* i, p. 189.

2 Records ofMefaval Oxford, ed. H. E, Salter (1912), p. n.

3 Wilkins, Condlta, iii, p. 194.

626 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

proclamation of 1365 was made statutory, and tennis and dice
are added to the list of prohibited games. This statute with
slight variations was re-enacted from time to time till the sixy
teenth century.

University legislators also discouraged games and sport of
any kind. In the fifteenth century the chancellor of Oxford forx
bade scholars to play at dice, tables, handball, or any other
dishonest game. The statutes of several colleges contain similar
prohibitions; they must not go hunting or hawking, play at
chess, dice, or ball. The austerity of life imposed by the statutes
of Queen's College, Oxford, drawn up in 1340, was almost
unrelieved: all they may do causa recreationis is occasionally to
play (jocarf) among themselves, honestly and peaceably.

Notwithstanding these stern prohibitions, it is evident that
all sorts and conditions of men, not excepting ecclesiastics,
played these games. Thus in 1 321 Pope John XXII granted a
dispensation to William of Spalding, a canon of Shouldham
of the order of Sempringham, who accidentally killed another
player in a game of football. 1 At a conference held near Calais
in July 1439 to discuss peace terms, the archbishop of Rheims,
the French Chancellor and one of the commissioners, was
injured while playing football and was unable to attend one of
the meetings. 2 Even kings played the game. In 1497 a sum is
charged on the accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scot'
land 'to buy fut ballis* for the king. In Elizabeth's reign strong
measures were taken to suppress football at Oxford:

If anie Master of Artes, Bachelor of Law, Bachelor of Artes, or Scholler
being above the age of eighteene yeares shall use anie plaieing at Footeball
in New parke or elsewhere within the precinctes of the universitie ... for
the first offence he shall paie 20$. and suffer imprisonment.

The punishments were increased if the offence was repeated;
for the second it was 40*., for the third banishment out of the
university. Those who were under the age of eighteen suffered

1 Cal of Papal Letters, ed. Bliss, ii, p. 214; for another early example of a football
casualty (1280) see Cal of Inquisitions, Misc. i, no. 2241.

2 Thomas Beckington's Journal, printed by Sir Harris Nicolas in Proc. and Ord.
of the Privy Council, v, p. 363.

RECREATIONS 627

open imprisonment in St. Mary's church. No mercy was al->
lowed to ministers of religion or deacons who committed this
indiscretion; they were sent down forthwith. 1

It was an unruly, rough game. Accidents were frequent and
sometimes fatal. It was played with an inflated pig's bladder
which was usually covered with leather, but might be bare and
filled with peas and beans; and this, it seems, could be pro'
pelled either by hand or foot. So Alexander Barclay (1475?-
1552) in the Fifth Eclogue:

Eche one contended! and hath a great delite

With foote and with hande the bladder for to smite.

In the sixteenth century it was rather a game for rustics than for
gentlemen and not held in high repute. Sir Thomas Elyot in
his book called The Governour written in 1 5 3 1 says 'Foote balle,
wherein is nothinge but beasdy furie and exstreme violence'.
This would hardly seem to be an understatement, for the
Register of Burials at North Moreton in Berkshire contains
under the year 1598 the following entry:

1598 John Gregoriethe son of William Gregorie was buried the2Oth of Mai.

1598 Richard Gregorie was buried upon Ascension Day.

These two men were killed by ould Gunter. Gunter's sonnes and the
Gregories fell by the years at football. Old Gunter drew his dagger and broke
their heads and they died within a fortnight after.

The story of the tennis-balls sent by the Dauphin to Henry V,
made familiar by Shakespeare, rests on good contemporary
authority; the incident may probably be dated 27 February
1414. This, however, is not the earliest mention of the game.
It was very likely the game to which Chaucer alludes in Troilus
and Criseyde (c. 1374):

But canstow pleyen raket, to and fro,

Nede in, dokke out, now this, now that, PandereJ

It was, as we have seen, added to the list of prohibited games in
the statute of 1388. It seems to have come to England from
France where it was certainly known in the thirteenth century.
In the later middle ages and after it enjoyed a great popularity
in this country. Sir Thomas Elyot, who disapproved so

1 Strickland Gibson, Statute Axtiqua Uwversfotfis Oxomcttsis, pp. 431-2.

628 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

strongly of football, regards tennis as c a good exercise for young
men*. It was played, Stow remarks, by gentlemen in courts and
by people of the meaner sort in open fields and streets. The Privy
Purse expenses of the first two Tudor monarchs bear witness to
their fondness for the game, which, like most other games, was
played for stakes. Thus, for example, in 1530 there is an entry
Tor betting at tennes* 45^., and two years later at a game with
Monsieur de Guise and the cardinal of Lorraine the king lost
.46. is*. 4<?. Henry VIII was a good all-round athlete and
a keen tennis player. *It was the prettiest thing in the world to
see him play*, the Venetian ambassador reported to his senate
in 1519, 'his fair skin glowing through a shirt of the finest
texture/ 1

Ball'games played with a bat or stick present a very puzzling
problem. In the proclamation of 1365, already quoted, men/
tion is made of a game called cambuc. The word is used for a
pastoral staff and is equivalent to cammock which means, ac/
cording to the Oxford English Dictionary, a stick with a crooked
head used in games to drive a ball. Hockey is suggested. A
drawing in an English manuscript of the fourteenth century
depicts two players with crooked sticks and a ball between, as if
in the act of bullying (PL 139, a). 2 The word cambuc does not
recur in the other statutes which deal with games; but hockey
eo nomine was known in Ireland, for a local statute of the city of
Galway dated 1527 forbids 'the horlinge of the litill balle with
hockie stickes or staves*. 3 This too is an isolated notice of a
game of which we know nothing more before the eighteenth
century when the poet Cowper remarks in one of his letters
that c the boys at Olney have a very entertaining sport; they call
it hockey*. Nevertheless, we cannot be sure that by cambuc
hockey is meant, for it is known that the earliest form of cricket
was also played with a crooked stick. The confusion is illusx

1 CaL State Papers, Venetian, ii, p. 559.

2 The antiquity of this opening of a kind of hockey game Is illustrated by a
relief on marble at Athens of the sixth century B.C. See PL vii of die Journal of
Hellenic Studies, xlii (1922). My attention was drawn to this by the Rev. R. L. P.
MiJburn of Worcester College.

3 Hist. MSS. Com. 10th Rep., App. Pt. v y p. 402.

PLATE 139

a. Hockey

b. Club ball

PLATE 140

a. Game of ball

J. Putting at golf

RECREATIONS 629

trated by the French word for a crosier, crosse, which today is
used to mean a hockey/stick; but the word is explained by
Randle Cotgrave in his French-English dictionary, published
in 1 6 1 1, as 'the crooked stafFe wherewith boyes play at cricket*.
The word 'cricket* is first mentioned in 1598 by a Surrey
coroner, aged 59, who asserted on oath that he, being a scholar
in the free school at Guildford, 'did runne and play* on a
certain field at 'CreckettV This would carry the game back to
the middle years of the sixteenth century. There is, however,
yet another game which may have contributed to the evolution
of cricket. In the same proclamation of 1365 mention is made
of club'ball. This game is referred to in a case which came be'
fore the Husting Court at Oxford in 1292; complaints were
brought against two men who were playing in the street with
a club and a great ball, and while doing so damaged the goods
displayed in a neighbouring shop. 2 A fourteentlvcentury picx
ture shows a man holding a ball and a second figure ready to
hit out with a club/shaped bat (PL 1 39, J). It may be that both
the disciplined games of modern times cricket and hockey
have developed from the confused rough/and/tumble game
depicted in a twelftlvcentury manuscript of Bede*s Life of
St. Cuihlert (PL 140, a) 3 which illustrates the prowess of the
youthful saint who boasted that he could surpass his content
poraries and sometimes even his seniors in leaping or running
or wrestling or anything else which required agility of limb.

The game of golf originated in the Low Countries and a
famous illumination in an early sixteenth/century Flemish
Book of Hours depicts a game in progress (three players are
engaged in putting (PL 140, i)). The Scottish like the English
government made a series of statutes prohibiting games in order
to encourage archery. In the Act of 1424 there is no mention of
golf; but in that of 1457 golf, like football, is to *be utterly cryt
down and not usyt*. From this we may infer that it was be'
tween these dates that the game became popular. Though the

1 See under 'cricket* in the Oxford English Dictionary.

2 Records ofMe&evd Oxford, e<L H. E. Salter, p. II.

* I am indebted to Dr. Otto Pack for drawing my attention to this picture.

<530 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

statute was re-enacted in much the same terms in 1491, it was
without effect, and did not deter James IV himself (1488-
1513) from playing the royal and ancient game. We find him,
for example, playing a round with the earl of Bothwell and
buying clubs and balls at the public expense. Golf, however,
was never played south of the Tweed in this period. A few
Scottish residents in London were accustomed to resort to
Blackheath for a game from the early seventeenth century. But
it was not till the mid/ Victorian era that golf was generally
taken up in England.

By a statute of Edward IV (1477) the game of closh is added
to the already long list of prohibited games. Though little is
known of this game, which appears to be of Dutch origin, it
seems to have consisted in driving a ball with a spadexlike im/
plement through hoops, somewhat in the manner of croquet.
But a more direct ancestor of this sedate Victorian game is pall
mall which probably came to England from Italy via France in
the late sixteenth century. Already in Charles fs reign the
citizens of London were taking air and exercise with mallet
and ball over the ground to the north of St. James's Park which
still bears the name of this pastime.

7. Early Tudor Festivity

The close of the fifteenth century is marked by an atmosphere
of gaiety hitherto not to be observed. In this the court took the
lead. Henry VII is often represented as a sombre character; yet
his household was by no means devoid of amusements. We
have noticed that he had fools and other comic entertainers at
his court; that he gambled at cards and dice; he also played
tennis and engaged in archery. His household accounts in'
eluded payments to musicians and singers, to dancing girls and
morris dancers. The primitive jollifications of the folk had also
penetrated to high places. The folk festival of Midsummer Eve
was celebrated in 1493 by a bonfire at the public expense; both
Henry VII and Henry VIE kept the MayDay festival, the
latter at enormous cost in 1515 when the king and his courtiers
dressed up (a 'disguising' it was called) as Robin Hood, Little

RECREATIONS 631

John, Friar Tuck, Maid Marian, a Queen of the May, or
'Lady May*, as she is named, and the rest for a pageant at
Greenwich. Christmas too had always been not only a religious
feast but also a season of secular merriment. It was Yuletide
(midxNovember to Candlemas) associated with logs, mistle^
toe, and boars' heads; and never perhaps was it celebrated more
elaborately than in the time of the first two Tudors when a
'Lord of Misrule' or as Stow calls him 'Master of merry dis^
ports* was annually appointed to supervise the revels. This
practice was not confined to the royal household; a Lord of
Misrule was commonly elected in the houses of great men, in
the Inns of Court, and in the colleges of Oxford and Canv
bridge. It was at the universities that it survived longest; the
Christmas Prince, an account of the revels held at St. John's
College, Oxford, which lasted from the Feast of St. Andrew
1607 to Shrove Tuesday 1608, contains perhaps the most de^
tailed account of this form of entertainment. 1 Where the court
gave the lead, the people followed. Hitherto the simple enjoy
ments of life had been impeded by government legislation and
decrees of the Church. After the battle of Bosworth a relaxation
is discernible. Though in 1495 a statute was again enacted
forbidding artificers and labourers from playing games, little
notice seems to have been taken of it. Outdoor games were be'
coining more general, more varied, and more orderly; bowling'
greens, skittle-alleys, and shovel/boards were everywhere to be
found. The cruder forms of amusement were giving place to
more civilized recreations. Above all the printed book, music,
and drama were fast developing to relieve the boredom of the
hours of leisure. Yet the problem of the long dreary winter
nights was not entirely overcome, and perhaps the most satis^
fying pastime was love-making. So Thomas Campion, who
wrote at the end of the sixteenth century, after recounting
various forms of amusement concludes his poem:
Though love and all his pleasures are but toys,
They shorten tedious nights.

1 Printed by the Malonc Society, 1922. Cf. R S. Boas, Stuart Drma (Oxford,
1946), pp. 401-12.

$12, MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

BOOKS FOR REFERENCE

The standard and most comprehensive work is Joseph Strutt, The Sports and
Pastimes of the People of England, first published in 1801; new edition by J. C. Cox
(London, 1903), but it is much in need of revision, E. K. Chambers, The
Medieval Stage, z vols, (Oxford, 1903) is invaluable. The two volumes by H. J. R.
Murray, A History of Chess (Oxford, 1913) and A History of Board'Games other than
Chess (Oxford, 1952), are the authoritative works on these subjects. Catherine P.
Hargrave has written a careful History of Playing Cards and a Bibliography of Cards
and Gaming (Boston, 1930). John Stow has incorporated in his Survey of London,
ed. C. L. Kingsford (Oxford, 1908), with other material William FitzStephen's
famous account of London games in the twelfth century. The English medieval
literature on hunting is contained in The Master of Game by Edward, second duke
of York, ed. W. A. and F. BailliexGrohman (London, 1904). Much useful inform
mation on Falconry may be found in the elaborate edition of Frederick IFs treatise
on the Art of Falconry, ed. C. A. Wood and F. Marjorie Fife (Stamford Univ.
Press, 1943). The excellent essay by N. Denholnv Young on *The Tournament in
the Thirteenth Century* in Studies in Medieval History presented to F. M. Powicke
(Oxford, 1948) should be consulted for the early history of this martial exercise in
England. See also F. H. CrippsXDay, The Tournament (1918). The laws forbidding
games are mostly contained in the Statutes of the Realm (Record Commission), i-ii
(1810). Useful information on sports of various kinds can be found from the
accounts of the Privy Purse. See particularly the Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of
York and Wardrobe Accounts of Edward IV (London, 1830), Privy Purse Expenses of
Henry VIII 1529-32 (London, 1827), all edited by Sir N. Harris Nicolas; and exx
tracts from the Privy Purse Expenses 1491-1505 contained in Excerpta Historica,
ed. S. Bendey (London, 1831). The most recent History of Football is by Morris
Marples (London, 1954).

INDEX

Abbeville (Somme), 153; coins struck

at, 287.

Aberystwyth (Cards.) castle, 114, 116.
Abingdon (Berks.), 200; bridge, 207;

printing at, 560.
abbot of, 207.
Abinger (Surrey), motte at, 101, 102,

104.

Acre, siege of, 142.
'Ada* group (carvings), 489.
Adelard of Bath, 578-81, 620.
Admiralty, Admiral, 178-80, 190-1.
JElRxd, w. of Edward the Elder, 488.
^Elfiic, 518.
^Elfric's Colloquy, 220.
^Ella, k. of Northumbria, 272,
^Ethandune, Guthrum defeated at,

273.

^Ethelberht, abp. of York, 517.
^Ethelberht, k. of East Anglia, 269.
^Ethelberht, k. of Kent, 269.
^Eltheldreda, St., 212; her chapel, 75.
^Ethelflaed, Lady of Mercia, 132.
^Ethelheard, abp. of Canterbury, 269.
^Etheked, abp. of Canterbury, 271,

274.

-^thelred I, king, 131.
^Etheked II, king, coinage of, 277,

278, 279, 291.

^thelweald, coin attributed to, 274.
j^Ethelwold, St., bp. of Winchester,

monastic reform of, 400, 442, 489,

518.
JBthelwold, St., Benedictional of, 301,

489-90.

^Ethelwult k. of Wessex, 271, 272.
Aeneas Sylvius, 601.
Agincourt, batde of, 158-60, 290, 327,

550, 617.

Aigues Mortes, 114.
alabaster effigies, 503-4.
Albertus Magnus, 584.
Alchred, k. of Nocthumbria, 266.
Alcock, John, bp. of Ely, 537.
Alcuin, 517, 546.

Aldfrith, k. of Northumbria, 266.

Aldhelm, St., 516, 575.

Aleppo, miners of, 143.

Alexander, bp. of Winchester, 494.

Alexander II, pope, 390.

Alexander HI, pope, 396, 417.

Alfonso X, k. of Leon and Castile,
593-

Alfred, king, 383; boroughs built by,
216-17; builds a fleet, 173; church
reform under, 383, 400; coinage of,
271-2, 273, 274, 278; Danes, wars
against the, 130-2, 272; educational
work, 517-18; jewel, 488.

Alfred of Sareshel, 581, 582.

Al'Khwarizmi, Persian mathemauv
dan, 580-1.

Alkindi, astrologer, 581.

Almeric of Winchester (moneyer), 278.

Alnwick (Northumb.), 200, 204.

Akesford (Hants), 198, 202.

Als (Denmark), 171.

Alton (Hants), 198, 202, 204.

Ambrose, St., 572.

Amesbury nunnery, 406.

psalter, 500.

Amiens (Somme): treaty o 286; woad
imported from, 233, 234, 237.

cathedral: sculpture at, 494; choir o

497-

Anderida, see Pevensey.
Anderne, John, herbalist and surgeon,

596-7-

animals, 596, 608-9, 614.
Anlaf Guthrithsson, k. at York, 275.
Anlaf Sihtricsson, k, at York, 275.
Anne of Bohemia, w. of King Richard

n, 304; effigy of, 504.
Anselm, abp. of Canterbury, 519,
Apocalypses, illustrated, 501, 508.
Appleby (Westm.), 202.
Appledore (Kent), set Home's Place.

Marsh, 31.

Apuleius Platonicus, his Herbarium,
S7&

634

INDEX

Aquinas, Thomas, St., 533.
Aquitaine, duchy of, 157; coins of,

286-7, -288, 290.
Arab coins, 267.
Arabic, translations of scientific works

from, 577-82.
archdeacon, 395, 414.
archery, archers, 133, 134, 140, 142-3,

147-63, 326-7, 625.
architecture: domestic, 37-96; ecclesiasx

tical, 439-84.; Gothic, 23, 447, 448,

451, 462; military, 98-125; Norman

or Anglo-Norman Romanesq ue,44<>-

53; Tudor, 480.

Arden (Warws.), forest of, 12, 16, 32.
Aristotle: study of at Oxford, 531-3;

study of, banned at Paris, 531;

natural science, 581-94, 596, 598,

600.

armigers, 373~7.

Armingford hundred (Cambs.), 197.
Arms, Assizes of, 139, 164, 317.
Arsuf, battle of, 317.
art, influences on English: Bohemian,

506; Burgundian, 506; Byzantine,

485 493J Carolingian, 487-90;

Flemish, 507-10; Italian 505; Nor"

thumbrian, 486-7; Norman, 492;

Romano'Celtic, 485; St. Denis,

494; Scandinavian, 491.

Gothic, 499-512.
artillery, 161-6, 189.

Arundel (Sussex), 203; castle, 102,

108.

Arundel, Richard, earl of, 76, 153.
Arundel, Thomas, abp. of Canter^

bury, 534.

Arnside (Westm.) castle, 120.
Ascot d'Oilli, castle, 106.
AshbyxdexlaxZouche (Leics.), 50;

castle, 124; hall, 43.
Ashdown (Berks.), battle of, 272.
Asser, 616.

astrolabe, 577, 580, 600.
astronomy, 589-93.
Athelney (Som.), 78-79, 131.

abbey of, 15. |
Athelstan, king: church policy, ^383; j

coins of, 273, 276, 277, 278; fleet,

174; sub'king of Kent, 271.
Atton, John, canonist, 535.
Auckland, West (Durham), 80.
Audley, John Touchet, Lord, 376.
Augsburg, armour made at, 325.
Augustine, St., abp. of Canterbury,

382, 383, 384, 415, 546; his life by

Goscelin, 547.
Augustine, St., of Hippo, Rule of,

405-6, 409, 572.
Austen, William, of London, his

effigy of Richard Beauchamp, 511.
Austin canons, 401, 405, 407, 521;

architecture of the houses of, 454; at

Oxford, 529.
hermits, 410.
Averroes, 582.
Avicenna, 582, 597.
Avon (Bristol) river, 237-9.
Axholme, Isle of, 82.
Aylesbury (Bucks.), So.
Aymery of Tours (moneyer), 282.

Bacon, Robert, 532.

Bacon, Roger, 531, 532, 585, 588-92,

598, 601, 602.
Bado Aureo, Johannes de, his treatise on

heraldry, 361, 362.
Baguley Hall (Ches.), 44.
Baker, William, artist, 508.
Bakewell, Robert, 20 n.
Bakewell (Derbys.), Lady Foljambe's

tomb at, 309.
Baldred, k. of Kent, 269.
Baldwin, abp. of Canterbury, 408.
Baldwin, count of Flanders, seal o>

352> 353.

Balliol, Edward, 151.
Balliol, Hugh de, arms of, 368.
Balsham, Hugh, bp. of Ely, 528.
Baltonborough (Som.), 14.
Bamborough (Northumb.), 200.
Banbury (Oxon.), 204.
Bannockburn (Stirling), bade of, 147,

149-51.
Barclay, Alexander, quoted on foot/

ball, 627.

INDEX

635

Bardolf) Thomas, arms of, 366.
Bardolf, William, arms of, 366.
Barnard (Durham) Castle, no.
Barnet (Herts,), 202; battle of, 162, 164.
Barnstaple (Devon) castle, 108.
Barnwell (Cambs.) priory, 524,
Bartholomew, bp. of Exeter, 522,
Bartholomew the Englishman, his book

'On Properties of Things', 596.
Bartolus of Sassoferrato, Italian jurist,

374-5-

Basil, St., the Great, 572.
Basset, Ralph Lord, Garter stall plate

of, 354-

Bassingbourne (Cambs.) church, 482.
bastards, arms of, 366-8.
bastictet, 59, 63.
Bath (Som.), 212, 485; granted to bp.

of Wells, 248.

bp. of, 230, 395-

Bath and Wells, bps. of, see Bekynton,

Thomas.

Battersea shield, 485.
Battle (Sussex) abbey, 404, 446; inv

munity o 415.
Bayeux cathedral, 394.

Tapestry, 508; evidence from, xor,
279,301,316, 317,338,621.

Bayham (Sussex), 203.

Bayonne (Gascony), 179, 186, 290.

Beare, Great (Devon), 89.

Beauchamp of Bedford, family of:
arms of, 350-1; heraldic differences
in arms, 364; pedigree, 365.

Beauchamp, Thomas, earl of Warwick,

355. 356.

Beauchief (Derbys.) abbey, 204.
Beaufort, Cardinal, 207, 538, 607.
Beaufort, Sir John, arms o 366-8.
Beaufort, Margaret, portrait ofj 507,

511.
Beaumaris (Anglesey), 59, 114, 116-

18.

Beaumont, arms of family of, 352.
Beaumont, Henry de, 149.
Beaumont, Lewis de, bp. of Durham,

284.
Beccles (Suff), 220.

Becket, Thomas, St., abp. of Canterx

bury, 225, 412, 417, 425, 457, 495,

512, 522, 523.
Beckley (Oxon.), 88.
Bede, the Venerable, 382, 383, 400,

516-17, 519, 572-5.
Bedford, 67, 219; siege of, 143.
Bedford, John duke of, 159, 308.
Bedminster (Som.), 238, 429.
Bedwyn (Wilts.), 200.
Beeleigh (Essex), 204.
Beeston (Ches.) castle, 113.
Bek, Anthony, bp. of Durham, 148,

284.
Bekynton, Thomas, bp. of Bath and

Wells, 539.

Belsay (Northumb.) castle, 120.
Belvoir (Leics.) castle, 196; Rutland

psalter at, 500.

Benedict, St., Rule of, 400, 405, 406.
Benedict Biscop, 487, 516.
Benedictine monasteries, 400, 406.
Beomwulf, k. of Merck, 269.
Beowulf, 316.

Berdic, the king's Jocu ktor, 607.
Berenger, Emperor, 274.
Bergen (Norway), 235.
Bergerac (Dordogne, France), coinage,

289-90.

Berkeley (Glos.) castle, 108.
Berkhampstead (Herts.) castle, 103,

108.

Berkshire, population, i.
Bernard, St., 405, 455.
Bern, Jean due de, 506.
Berthelet, king's printer, 560, 564.
Berwick: mint at, 284; siege o 151,

161, 599.
Beverley (Yorks. E.R.), 200; cloth,

229, 257; minster, 389, 401, 464;

Percy tomb at, 503.
Beverley, St. John of, 517.
Bewcastle Cross, 486.
Bexhill (Sussex), 14.
Bible, printing of, 561, 565-6.
Bigod, Roger, no.
Binham (Norf.) priory, 445, 464.
Biscay, bay of, 175, 221.

636

INDEX

bishoprics, 53 & n.; see also monastic

cathedrals,
bishops, see under the diocese: household,

411-15; suffragan, 414.
Bitterne (Hants), 264.
Bkck Death, effects of, 23-31, 432,

5^6-7, 533~4> 597-
Bkckheath, golf pkyed at, 630.
Blancboilly, John, 177.
Blanchland (Yorks. N.R.) abbey, 204.
Bknque Taque (ford over river

Somme), 153.
Btois, Peter of, 412.
Blund, John, 531.
Biyth (Notts.), 202, 204.
Bobbio, abbey of, 546.
Bodiam (Sussex) casde, 121, 124.
Bodmin (Cornwall), 230.
Boethius, 572.
Bohun, Henry, 149.
Bohun, Humphrey de, earl of Hert^

ford and Essex, 358-9.
Bohun psalters, 505.
Boleyn, Thomas, his tomb at Wells,

504.

Bolsover (Derbys.), 201.
Bolton (Lanes.), 227.
(Yorks. W.R.) abbey 19, casde, 120.
Boniface, St., 517.
Boniface VIE, pope: bull Super catbe/

dram, 416; bull Qtwm ex eo, 527; on

pluralism, 426.
book trade, 565-6.
bookbinding, 564.
Bookham, Little, 86.
Boothby Pagnell (Lines.), 40.
bordar, 80.
Bordeaux, 155; coins of, 287, 288-9;

wine trade, 232, 238.
Boroughbridge (Yorks. W.R.), 202.
boroughs, 245; see also towns.
Bosa, abp. of York, 517.
Bosham (Hants), 39; jurisdiction of

canons of, 417.

Bosham, Herbert of, 412, 522.
Boston (Lines.), fair at, 242, 620;

port of, 205, 230, 235, 236.
Bothwell, earl of, 630.

Bourg Theroulde (Seinexlnferieure),
battle at, 140.

Bourne (Lines.), 200.

Bourton^onxthe/ Water (Glos.), 78-79.

Bowes (Yorks. N.R.), 196, 203.

Brabant, duke of, his alliance with
Edward III, 288.

Brackley (Northants.), 204.

Bracton, Henry, 534.

Bradford (Yorks. W. R.), 202, 257.

Bradford/on^ A von, sculpture at, 490.

Bradwardine, Thomas, abp. of Canter
bury, 433, 436, 533, 594-5. 602.

Brailes, William de, illuminator, 496.

Bramber (Sussex), 203.

Brampton (Hunts.), 199.

brasses, monumental, 504-5.

Braybrooke, Robert, bp. of London,
625.

Brecon, 202; casde, 108.

Bredon, Simon, 593.

Breedon (Leics.), carvings at, 439, 487.

Brendon, St., 170.

Brentford (Middx.), 202.

Brent Knoll (Som.), 15.

Brent Marsh (Som.), 14.

Bretigny, Treaty of, 288, 293.
Bridgnorth (Salop.), 206; castle, 107.
Bridlington, prior of, 435.
Brigg (Lines.), 171.
Bristol casde, 237.

cathedral, 472-3, 476.

charter granted to, 249.

expansion of, 67, 237.

grammar school at, 521.

mayor of, 252-3.

merchant adventurers of, 261.

mint at, 286, 295.

pkn of, 239.

St. Mary Redcliffe at, see RedcIifFe.

wine trade of, 232.

- otherwise mentioned, 56, 192, 202,

232, 260.
Brittany, Alan count of, 105.
Brittany, Conan duke o 101.
Brixworth (Northants.), 439-40.
Bronllys (Brecon) casde, no.
Brotherton (Yorks. W. R.), 201.

INDEX

637

Broughxunder/Stainmore (Westm.),

castle, 105, 107; road, 196, 203.
Brownfleet, William, of Ripon, artist,

512.

Bruce, Robert, 149.
Bruchsal, Alexander, coin engraver,
* 268, 296.
Bruges (Belgium), 235.
Brunanburgh, battle o 276.
Buch, captal de, 156.
Buckden (Hunts.), 50, 124.
Buckenham, Old (Norf.) casde, 104.
Buckingham, 2nd duke of, 52.
Buckingham, Edward Stafford, earl of,

125.
Building Assize, London: (1212), 45;

(1139), 69.

Buildwas (Salop) abbey, 454.
Builth (Brecon) casde, 114.
bull, papal, 555-6.
Bureau, Gaspard, 160.
Bureau, Jean, 160.
Burford (Oxon.), 71, 204.
Burghal Hidage, 131.
Burgred, k. of Mercia, coins of, 270,

272, 273.

Burgundian fashions in dress, 309, 311.
influence on architecture, 453-4,

464.
Burgundy, John duke of, assassinated,

*59-

burbs, 216-17.

Buridan, Jean, physicist, 594-5.

Burley, Sir Simon, 322.

Burley, Walter, biologist, 596.

BurneU, Sir Nicholas de, arms of,
377-8.

Burton Stather (Lines.), 206.

Bury St, Edmunds: abbey of, 212, 214,
215, 220, 230, 248, 302; Bible, 493;
Herbert, the dean of, 26; Samson,
abbot of, 26, 59, 302; immunity of,
415; Jews* houses at, 68; mint at,

283-4, 2g 6; pk* 1 C 58-59.

Bury, Richard, bp. of Durham, 533.

Butler, family cC 352.

Butky (Su), 3*

Buttington (Montgomery), 132,

Bygrave (Herts.), 5.

Byknd (Yorks. N.R.), abbey of, 19,

454-

Byngham, William of, 537-8.
Byrhtferth, 518.
Byrhtnoth, ealdorman of Essex, 301.

Cabot, John, 192.

Cabot, Sebastian, 192.

Caen (Calvados), coins struck at, 290.

Caerkverock (Dumfries), campaign of

(1300), 377-
Caernarvon, 59; casde, 105, in, 114-

19, 124.

Caernarvon, Edward of, see Edward II.
Caerphilly (Glam.) casde, 116, 119.
Caesar, Julius (quoted), 170.
Caister (Norf.) castle, 124.
Calais: cannon used at, 599; English

possession of, 152, 155-8; mint at,

286, 293; siege of, 161, 377; staple

fixed at, 258.

Caldicot (Mon.) casde, no.
calendar, the, 570-5, 589-92.
Cambridge, 56, 205, 219; casde at,

53; library at, 568; printing at,

560-1.
Cambridge University, 524-7.

colleges and halls at, 41, 44, 71, 205 ;
Buckingham, 529; Christ's (God/
house), 537; Clare, 528; Corpus
Christi, 528, 547, 568; King's
College, 480, 510, 537; Jesus, 537;
Peterhouse, 528; Pembroke, 568;

, Queen's, 568; St. Catherine's, 537;
St. Edmund's Hostel, 529; St.
John's, 568; Trinity Hall, 528, 567.

friars at, 529, 532.
Canford (Dorset), 200.
Cannynges, William, of Bristol, 187.
Cantelupe, Thomas, St., bp. of Here/

ford, 434.
Cantelupe, Walter, bp. of Worcester,

435-
Canterbury, 39, 53, 215, 485.

abps. of, 219; see ^Ethelheard;
.^thelred; Ansdm; Arundel, Tbo>
mas; Augustine; Baldwin; Becket;

638

INDEX

Canterbury (cont.'):
Bradwardine, Thomas; Chichele;
Coelnoth; Courtcnay, William;
Dunstan; Edmund, St.; Honorius;
Hubert Walter; Islip, Simon;
Jaenberht; Kilwardby; Lanfranc;
Langham; Langton, Stephen;
Parker, Matthew; Pecham; Pleg'
muad; Theobald; Theodore of
Tarsus; Wulfred.

archdeacon of, 395.

cathedral, 223, 295, 394 44> 44^
456-60,^464, 473, 474; sculpture at,
495; stained glass in, 495; wall paint'
ings in, 493.

Convocation of, decree of, 531.

gateway, 121.

Greek studied at, 539.

library at, 566.

mint at, 264, 267-71, 283, 285, 297.

peculiars, 417.

printing at, 560.
Car Dyke, 205.

Carausius, coins struck by, 264.
Cardiff castle, 108.
Cardigan castle, 108.
Carisbrooke (I.W.) castle, 108.
Carlisle: castle, 107; road to, 196, 200,

202, 203; bishopric, creation of, 392;

cathedral school, 521.
Carlton, Middle (Lines.), 28.
Carmarthen castle, 109.
Carmelites, 407, 410.
Carpenter, John, bp. of Worcester,

538. _
Carthusian order, houses, 407, 432,

435-

Castel del Monte (Apulia), 124.
Castell Carn'Dochan (Merioneth)

castle, 109, no.

Castell Prysor (Merioneth) casde, 108.
Castell/y-'Bere (Merioneth) casde, 109,

no.
Castillon (Dordogne), battle of, 160,

328.

Casde Acre (Norfl), 103.
Casde Frome (Herefs.), carvings at,

493-

castles: baronial and fortified houses,

122-5; concentric, 111-18; keeps

and towers, 105-11; 'mottexancb

bailey', 95^105, no; Norman, 222;

Welsh, 113-19.

Castor (Northants.) church, 481.
Catherine, q. of Henry V, 309.
Catherine of Aragon, q. of Henry

VIII, 308.

Caus (Salop.) casde, 103, 108.
Caversham Bridge, 207.
Caxton (Cambs.), 206.
Caxton, William, 260, 55^-61, 564,

565, 612.
Cely family, 258.
Ceolfrid, abbot of Jarrow, 487.
Ceolwulf I, k. of Mercia, 269.
Ceolwulf II, k. of Mercia, 270, 273.
Ceorl, k. of Wessex, 265.
Cessolis, his book on chess, 613.
Chabham, Thomas de, 606.
Chalcidius, his translation of Plato's

Timacus, 581.
Chalgrave (Beds.), Sir Nigel Loring

of, 46.

Challacombe (Devon), 18.
Champvent (nr. Lake Neuchatel)

castle, 116 n.

Champvent, Sir Peter de, 116 n.
Chandos, Sir John, 183, 321.
Chapman, Walter, introduces printing

into Scotland, 560.
Chard (Som.), 204.
Charlemagne, emperor, 168, 214, 267,

355-

Charles V, emperor, 311, 328.
Charles VI, L of France, 290-1, 613.
Charnwood (Leics.), 32.
Chartham (Kent) church, 483.
Chartres cathedral: sculptures, 302, 494.
studies at, 521, 582-3.
Chaucer, 436; evidence of fashions in

costume in, 305-8; on science, 603;

quoted, 429-30, 520, 597.
Chaundler, Thomas, warden of New

College, 508, 539.

Chedworth (Glos.), Roman villa at, 21.
Chelmsford (Essex), 57.

INDEX

<S39

chemistry, 598-9.

Chcpstow: castle, 105, no; Marten's

Tower, no.
Chertsey (Surrey), 455.
Cheshire: halls in, 43; housebuilding

in, 89.
Chester, 53, 55, 56, 68, 70, 196, 211,

216, 232, 234, 248; moneyers, 276,

277, 286.

cathedral, 401, 404.
Chester^evStreet (Durham), 204, 275.
Chichele, abp. of Canterbury, 536;

statue of, 511.
Chichester, 53, 203.

bishopric o 391.

bps. of, set Rede, William; Sefrnd;
Wych, Richard.

cathedral, 457.

missal of Henry of, 499-500.

peculiar of, 417.

slabs, 491.

Chillingham (Northumb.) castle, 120.
Chippenham (Wilts.), 202.
chivalry, court o 375, 377-8; cases

heard before, 377^8.
Cholwich Town (Devon), 18.
Chrisall (Essex), brass of Joan de la

Pole at, 309.
Christchurch (Hants), 200, 492;

castle o 40.

Churburg, armoury in castle of, 321.
churches: parish, 23, 26-27, 3O 65,

286, 427-30; proprietary, 386-8,

296-7; impropriation of, 396-7.
Cifrewas, Richard, of Clewer, Joan

widow of, 46.

Cilgerron (Pembs.) castle, no.
Cinque Ports, 175-82, 203.
Cirencester (Glos.), 196, 212, 227.
Cistercian order, 19-21, 228, 230,

405-6, 408; independence of diocese,

416; its influence on architecture,

453-6, 460, 464.
Clairvaux (Aube) abbey, 230.
Clare family, see under earls of Hertford

and Pembroke.
Clare, Bogo de: household accounts of,

304; pluralism o 426.

6526.2

Clare, Elizabeth of, 528.

Clare, Rohese de, countess of Lincoln,

her arms, 373-4*
Clare, earls of; castles o 119; seals of,

340, 343-4-

Clarendon (Wilts.), 199; palace, 43, 45.
Classis Eritannica, 169-70.
Clavcring (Essex) castle, 99.
Clavering, arms of family of, 350-2.
Clee Hills, 32.
Clement IV, pope, 421,
Clement V, pope, 419.
Cletkenwell, nuns of St. Mary, 71,
Cleveland (Yorks. N.R.), 229.
Clifford, Sir Robert, 149.
Clifford, Roger de, arms of, 363.
Clifford, Walter de, arms of, 363.
Clipstone (Notts.), 201.
clocks, mechanical, 600-1.
cloth trade, 255-60.
Clovesho, council of, 605.
Clun (Salop) castle, 107.
Cluniac monasteries, 404-5.
Cluny, reforming influence of, 441.
Cotgrave, Randle, his French-English

dictionary, 629. *

Cnut, King, 173, 174, 214, 273; coins

of, 273-4, 279.
coal mines, 231.
Coates, Great (Lines.), 200.
coats of arms, 355.
Cobham, Thomas, bp. of Worcester,

533, 5<59-

Cockermouth (Cumb.) castle, 120.
Cockersand (Lanes.), 204.
Codex Amiatinus, 487.

aureus (Stockholm), 488.

giandior of Cassiodorus, 487.
Codford St. Peter (Wilts.), crossxshaft

at, 488.

Coelnoth, abp. of Canterbury, 274.
Coenwulf, k. of Mercia, 269, 270.
Coinage, 264-99; gold, 291-8.
Colchester (Essex), 132, 211; abbey,

404; castle, 106, 222; Thurbert's

hall at, 74.
Colchester, Walter o St, Albans

craftsman, 500.

640

INDEX

Cold Harbour, Dowgate (London),

75-

Coleshill (Warws.), 202.
Colkirk (Norf.), 30.
collegiate houses, 401, 407.
Cologne, 235.
Colnbrook (Bucks.), 202.
Columbus, Christopher, 60 1.
Combe (Warws.) abbey, 20.
Comestor, Peter, 551.
Compton Wynyates (Warws.), 34.
Conisborough (Yorks. W.R.) castle,

109, 201.

Convocation, 431-2.
Conway (Caernarvon), 59, 105;

castle, in, 114-17, 121-2.
Copeland, printer, 560.
Corbie (Somme), 234.
Corbie abbey, 545.
Corbridge lanx, 485.
Cordova, leather from, 232.
Corfe (Dorset) casde, 107, 112.
Cornwall: forest in, 13; tin/mines, 230.
Cornwall, John, 531.
Cornwall, Richard, earl o 88.
costume, civil, 300-13.
Cotswold Hills, 21, 83, 227,
cottages, 77-93-
cottar, 80.

Cottingham (Yorks. E.R.), 200.
Courtenay, William, abp. of Canter/

bury, 534, 609.

Coutances (Cotentin) cathedral, 230.
Coutances, John of, bp. of Worces/

tor, 245.
Coventry (Warws.), 66, 202, 204, 607;

mint at, 295.
cathedral, 395.
Coverham (Yorks. N.R.), 204.
Cowling (Kent) gateway, 121.
Cranbourne (Dorset), 200.
Craon, arms of family o 352.
Crawden, prior of Ely, 529.
Crecy (Somme), batde of, 153-8, 161,

327, 328, 509, 599.
Crediton, see of, 385, 401.
Cresacre, Anne, 312.
crests, 352-3-

Crewkerne (Som.), 204.
Crickhowell (Brecon) casde, 108.
Cromwell, lord treasurer, 123, 124,

125.

Cromwell, Thomas, 432, 512, 513.
Crondall (Hants), coin hoard found

at, 265.

Crump, Thomas, mason, 121.
Cuerdale (Lanes.), coin hoard, 274.
Cunetti, mint name, 275.
Cuthbert, St.: his athletic prowess, 629;

his coffin, 486; his shrine, 488;

miracles of, 520; stole, 508.
Cuthred, k. of Kent, 269.
Cynethrith, q. of Offa, 269.

D'Ailly, Pierre, 601.
Dalderby, John, bp. of Lincoln, 435.
Dale (Derbys.) abbey, 204.
Damerham (Hants), 21.
Danelaw, 90, 386.

coinage of, 273-9.
Daniel of Morley, 581.

Danish invasion, 130-3, 214-19, 272,

517-18.

Darlington (Durham), 204.
Dartington (Devon), hall at, 480.
Dartmoor, 13, 18.
Daubeney, Sir John, incised slab at

Brize Norton (Oxon.) showing
^ figure of, 354-
d'Auberville, family of, 352.
Daventry (Northants.), 202.
D'Ax (Aquitaine), coins of, 290.
Dean, forest of, 32, 229; miners from,

143;

Deddington (Oxon.), 204.

Dee, Dr. John, mathematician, 602.

Deerhurst (Glos.), 38.

Delgany (co. Wicklow), coin hoard

found at, 272.
Deptford, dockyard, 190.
Derby, 67, 132, 219.

psalter, 505.

Derby, Henry earl of, 158, 325.
Dereham (Norf.), 204.
Desborough mirror, 485.
Descartes, 586.

INDEX

641

Devon, 30-31; forest in, 12, 13; houses
in, 81-82; open fields in, 24; tin"
mines, 229, 230; villages of, 6, 9.

Devorguilia, w. of John Baiiiol, 528.

Digges, Leonard, 602.

Digges, Thomas, 602.

Dinan (Brittany) castle, 101, 104.

Dinant (Flanders), 241.

Dinas Bran (Denbighs.) casde, 109.

Dinton (Wilts.), 21.

Dishley (Warws.), 20.

d'Oilli, Robert, 106.

Dolbadarn (Caernarvon) castle, no.

Dolforwyn (Montgomery) castle, 1 10.

Domesday Book, cited, 8, 9, 10, 12,
215, 222, 280-1.

Dominicans (Friars Preachers or 'black*
friars), 409-10, 529, 549.

Donates, grammarian, 530.

Doncaster (Yorks. W.R.), 196, 202,
204.

Doncaster, William of, 233.

Donnington (Berks.) casde, 121.

Dorchester (Oxon.): bishopric, 224,
285, 391; knight's tomb at, 503.

(Dorset), effigies at, 324.

Dore (Herefs.) abbey, 463.

Dome, John, stationer, 565.

Dorset: houses in, 82; stone imported
from, 457.

Douai, 241.

Douai psalter, 502.

Douglas, arms of family of, 362.

Dover: casde, 99, 106, 113, 143; conx
stable of, 178; port of, 175; priory of
St. Martin, library of, 566-7.

Driffield (Yorks. E.R.), 200.

Drogheda, William of, 534.

Drogo, count of the Vexin, 99.

Dublin, printing at, 560-1.

Dudley (Worcs.) castle, 123.

du Guesclin, 157.

Dumbleton, John of, 589, 595.

Dunbar and March, Patrick earl o

357-

Duns, John (Scotus), 533.
Dunstable (Beds.), 202; canon o 556.
Dunstan, St., abbot of Glastonbury

and abp. of Canterbury, monastic
reform of, 14, 400, 442, 489, 518.

Dunstanburgh (Northumb.) casde,
120.

Dunwich (SufF.), 212; school at, 515.

Dupplin moor, battle o 151.

Durford (Sussex), 204.

Durham, 200.

bps- of, sec Beaumont, Lewis de;
Bek, Anthony; Bury, Richard;
Kellawe, Richard; Puiset, Hugh de;
Sherwood, John.

casde, 107.

cathedral, 395, 44i 445, 44$ 447-
5^474-

coinage of bishops, 283, 284, 286,
294, 297-

library at, 566.

minstrels at, 607.

peculiars, 417.

school of illumination, 301.

scriptorium, 549.

sculpture at, 495.
Durham, William of, 527.
Durrow, Book of, illumination in, 486.
Dymsdale, John, zoologist, 596.
Dyserth (Flints.) casde, 113.

Eadbaid, k. of Kent, 265, 269.
Eadberht, L of Northumbria, 266.
Eadberht, bp. of London, 269.
Eadberht Praen, coins o 269.
Eadmer, historian, 519.
Eanred, k. of Northumbria, 266.
Eardisley (Herefs.), 12; carvings at, 493.
Eardulf, 266.

Easby (Yorks. N.R.) abbey, 204.
Easter, date of, 573-4, 589.
Easterleigh (Oxon.), 30.
Eaton, Water (Oxon.), 3.
Ecgberht, k. of Wessex, coinage of,

269-72.

Ecgberht, abp. of York, 266, 517.
EcgfHth, k. of Northumbria, 266.
Echternach (Luxemburg) monastery,

487-

Edgar, king, 383; church reform under,
400; coinage, 277, 278, 285.

INDEX

Edgehiil (Warws.), battle of, 333.
Edith, queen, w. of Edward the Corv

fessor, see Stamford.
Edmund, St., k. of East Anglia, 214;

coinage of, 270, 272, 273-6.
Edmund, St., abp. of Canterbury, 434,

5^5.531.
Edward the Confessor, king, 393,

398, 617; coins of, 279, 281, 291;

laws of, 197; seal of, 555-6.
Edward the Elder, king, 132, 206, 217;

coins of, 274, 276-7, 291.
Edward I, king: coinage of, 284-5,

286; chess played by, 612; develop-'

ment of commerce by, 182; en'

courages tournaments, 622; organizes

the Cinque Ports, 178; parliaments

o 430-2; towns built by, 59, 61, 63,

64, 243, 246; and castles, 116;

Welsh and Scottish wars of, 145,

152.
Edward n, king: fleet of, 177; knight'

ing o 608; Scottish wars of, 149-52;

tomb of, 473, 503; toy castle of, 98.
Edward HI, king: army of, 326;

artillery used by, 161, 599; coinage

of, 284-96; customs imposed by, 182;

fleet of, 177; music at court o 608;

parliament under, 430-1; wars with

France, 161, with Scotland, 151-7.
Edward IV, king: coinage of, 294-6;

wins battle of Barnet, 164-5; hunting

activities, 617, 618.
Edward VI, king: coinage of, 297-8;

dispersed library at Oxford, 570.
Edward the Black Prince, 76; in Hun-

dred Years War, 153-7; Aquitaine

obtained by, 287; coinage of, 188-9;

effigy of, 321-2, 504; motto of, 355.
Edwig, king, 278.
Edwin, k. of Northumbria, 211, 515.
Egton (Yorks. N.R.), 200.
Ehingen, Jorg von, 309.
Eldergardyn, garden called, 46.
Eleanor of Aquitaine, q. of Henry IT,

286; effigy of, 302.
Eleanor of Castille, q. of Edward I,

^86, 303, 368.

Eleanor crosses, 502-3.

Elizabeth I, queen, coinage of, 298.

Elizabeth Woodville, q. of King Edx

ward IV, Book of Hours, 507.
Elizabeth of York, q. of King Henry

VH, 311.

Ellandune, battle of, 269, 270.
Elmham, bishopric of, 385, 391.
Elmham, Thomas, historian, quoted,

515.

Eltham palace (Surrey), 480.
Ely abbey (later cathedral): embrov

deries at, 301: estates of, 19, 21;

destruction of, 214; foundation of,

212; infirmary of, 39; rebuilt, 215;

wool from, 236.

bishopric, creation of, 292, 295,
revenues of, 226-7.

bps. of, see Alcock, John; Balsham,
Hugh; Grey, William; Kilkenny,
William of; Montacute, Simon.

bp.'s house in Holborn, see London.

carvings at, 596.

cathedral, 441, 445, 451, 464, 467-8,
471, 474-

relations with Cambridge Univeiy
sity, 524, 525.

Elyot, Sir Thomas, quoted on football

and tennis, 627, 628.
embroidery, 301, 508-9.
England, the arms of, 344-6.
Epping forest, 32.
Eric Blothox, k. at York, 275.
Erith (Kent) dock, 190.
Ermine Street, 197, 212.
esnecca, Henry II's galley, 176, 177, 179.
Essex: villages, 3; forest in, 13; sheep

farming, 21; cloth industry in, 257.
Essex, Robert Devereux, earl of, 3 35.
Etal (Northumb.) castle, 120.
Eton College: foundation o 537;

wall-painting at, 508; fives played

at, 625.

Euclid, 580, 584-5.
Eudes, seigneur du Pont, seal of, 368.
Eusebius, Merovingian moneyer, 264.
Evesham (Worcs.) abbey: immunity

of, 416.

INDEX

643

Evesham, battle of, 141.

Ewias Harold (Herefs.) casde, 99,

100, 102.

Ewloe (Flints.) castle, 109.
Exeter, 197, 202, 204, 212.

bps. of, see Bartholomew; Leofric. |

casde, 105.

cathedral, 230, 467-8, 470, 472,
474. 503.

consistory of, 535.

Danes at, 216.

mint at, 271, 286.

peculiar of, 417.

school at, 522.

theatricals at, 610.
Eynsham (Oxon.), 59, 63.

fairs, 241.

falconry, 615, 620-1.

Falkirk (Stirling), batde of, 148, 149,

151, 152, 327-
Faques, printer, 560.
Faringdon (Berks.), 204.
Farleigh Hungerford (Som.) casde, 124.
Farley, John, 539.
farmhouses, 77-93.
Farnham (Surrey), 200, 202; casde,

108.

Fawkes de Breaute, 143.
Fawler (Oxon.), 3.
Felix, bp. of East Anglia, 515.
fenland, 14, 16, 19.
Fenstanton (Hunts.) church, 482.
Ferdinand III, k. of Castile and Leon,

arms of, 368.
Ferrara, school of Guarino da Verona

at, 539.

Ferriby, North (Yorks. E JR..), 171, 172.
Field of the Cloth of Gold, pictures at

Hampton Court of, 312, 330, 624,
Fienes, Sir Roger, 124.
Figeac (HautX}uercy, France), mint

at, 288.

Fingest (Bucks.), 22,
FitzAlan, Brian, arms o 377.
FitzCount, Brian, coins of, 282.
Fitzjohn, Eustace, coins o 282.
FltzMatthew, Herbert, arms o 366.

FitzOsbem, William, 103, 105.
FitzRandolf, family of, 352.
FitzPiers, Reynold, arms of, 363.
FitzStephen, William, his description

of London, 225, 614-15.
FitzWarin, family of, 352; Fulk Fitzs

warin, 623-4.
FkzWimarc, Robert, 99.
Flamsteed, John, astronomer royal, 592.
Flanders: casde^building in, 101; trade

with, 227, 256 ft passim; treaty of

Edward III with count of, 288.
Flanders, Maud of Portugal, countess

of, her arms, 373-4.
Fleet (Lines.), terrier of, 16.
Fleming, Richard, bp. of Lincoln, 437.
Fleming, Robert, dean of Lincoln, 539.
Fletcher as surname, 327.
Fletton (Northants,), 487.
Fleury-sur'Loire, abbey, influence on

illumination, 489.
Flint, 59, 60, 65; castle, 113-17.
Flodden, batde of, 161, 165-6.
Florence, 235.
Flower, Barnard, glazier to Henry

VHI, 510.
Fontenay (Cote^d'Or), Cistercian

church of, 453.
Fontevrault (Maine/et/Loire), abbey o

406; royal effigies at, 302.
fools, 607; Feast of, 609-10,
Ford (Northumb.) casde, 120.
forest, 9-13, 617-20.
Formigny, batde of, 160.
Fortescue, Sir John, 535.
Foss Dyke, 205.
Fosse Way, 197, 212.
Fountains (Yorks.) abbey, 19, 20,

453-4-
Foxe, John, illustrations of his Book of

Martyrs, 312.

Framlingham (Suff.) casde, 109.
'Francheville* (near Swainston, Isle of

Wight), 59.

Francis I, k. of France, 311.
Franciscans (Friars Minor or 'grey

fears')* 49-io, 529, 549.
Frederick I, Barbarossa, emperor, 417.

644

INDEX

Frederick II, emperor, his treatise on

falconry, 621.
Free, John, humanist, 539.
Freemantle (Hants), 200.
Fulda, abbey of, 546.
Furness (Lanes.), abbey of, 19, 20.
Furnival, barony of, 373.
Fyfield (Berks.), 47.

Gaddesden, John of, physician, 597.

Galen, 581-2, 597.

Galileo, 584, 595.

Galway (Ireland), city of, 628.

Games: athletic, 624; board, 610-13;

card'playing, 613; children's, 616;

hunting, 615, 616-20; London, 614;

prohibited, 625-7, 629-30, 631.
Garendon abbey (Leics.), 20.
Garland, John, his Dktionarius, 350.
Garter, Knights of the, 355, 357, 380.
King of Arms, 379.
Gascony: cloth trade with, 256; wine

trade with, 182, 191, 232, 234.
Gaston de Foix, his book on hunting,

617.

gavefldndy 91.
Geddington (Northants.), 200; church

at, 482.
Genoa, 177.

Genoese galleys, 185, 187, 233.
Geoffrey Plantagenet, count of Anjou,

arms of, 301, 344-5.
Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambren^

sis), 522, 523.
Gerard of Cremona, translator from

Arabic, 581.
German fashions in dress, 311; armour,

325-35-
Ghent, 227.

Gilbert the Englishman, 597.
Gilbertine order, 406, 529, 549.
gilds: weavers, 228; armourers, 330.
Gilling (nr. Richmond, Yorks. N.R.),

202.

Gillys, moneyer at Chester, 276.
Girard Fossarivs, 14.
Giso, bp. of Wells, 386, 412.

Glanville, Rannulf de, family

nexions of, 352.
Glastonbury, abbey of, 22, 45, 214,

444 447, 4 6 , 5*6; immunity of,

416.

abbots of, 14, 15; see also Dunstan;
Thurstan.

school at, 518.
Gloucester, 199, 202, 206, 249.

candlestick, 495.

cathedral, 441, 445, 452, 467,
473-9.

expansion of, 56.

Gilbert, earl of, 149.

Humphrey, duke of, 538, 569-70.

iron industry, 220,

library at, 566.

mint at, 271.

plan of, 54.

population of, I.

psalter, 495, 496.

Roman influences in, 53.

sculpture at, 485.

stained glass, 509.
Godwine, Earl, see Southwark.
Gokstad ship, 173, 175.
Goodrich (Herefs.) castle, 107.
Gorleston psalter, 304, 501, 505.
Gothland, 241.

Gough map, 201, 203, 204, 601.
Gracedieu nunnery (Leics.), 34.
Grandisson triptych, 504.
Grandmont, order of, 407.
granges, monastic, 20-21.
Grantham (Lines.), 196, 206.
Grassington, Robert, carver, 512.
Gray, Walter de, abp. of York, his

effigy, 498.

Greatley, Council of, 277.
Greenwich: armoury workshops at,

330; pageant at, 631.
Gregory the Great, St., pope, 385, 515,

572.
Gregory VH, pope, reforms of, 289-91,

396, 398-9, 418, 421, 431.

rreinton (Som,), 14.
Gresford (Denbighs.), monument at,

305.

INDEX

<5 45

Grey, Sir John, of Ruthin, Garter stall

plate of, 371.

Grey, William, bp. of Ely, 539.
Grim, Magister J., 523.
Grocin, William, 539.
Grosmont (Mon.) castle, 103, 112.
Grosseteste, Robert, bp. of Lincoln,

4^4* 434-5. 458, 5^7, 531-2, 538,

583-92, 602, 605, 609.
Guiche (Saone/et^Loire), 290.
Guienne, 152, 158, 191; coinage for,

287, 288.

Gufldford (Surrey), 198, 200, 202, 629.
guildhalls, 43, 65.
Guines, county o 157.
Gtiisborough (Yorks. N.R.), 200.
Guise, cardinal of Lorraine, 628.
Guise, due de, 628.
Gundibert, moneyer, 274.
Gunduif, bp. of Rochester, 106.
gunpowder, 597-9.

Gunthorpe, John, dean of Wells, 540.
Guthlac, St., 303.
Guthred, Danish k. at York, 274,
Guthrum, Danish k., 273.

Hackington (Kent), college at, 408.

Haddon Hall (Derbys.), 48-50.

Hadley, Robert of (moneyer), 284.

Hadrian, abbot, 516.

Haldene, 520.

Hales, Alexander of, 532.

Halesowen (Worcs.), 204.

Halfdan, 272-3.

Halidon Hill (Northb.), battle of, 152.

Halifax (Yorks. W.R.), 257.

hall, domestic, 37-52.

'HalleyV comet, 589.

Hamburg, 235.

Hampton Court (Surrey), 480.

handwriting, 541-58; see also scripts.

Hanse, 234, 235, 256.

Harcla, Andrew, 151.

Harfleur (Seine/lnferieure), 158, 162,

290.
Harlech (Merioneth) castle, 114, 116-

18.
Harnham (Wilts.) bridge, 207*

Harold, king: coins of, 278, 279;
Dover castle built by, 99; at batde
of Hastings, 133-6, 316, 338; as
falconer, 620.

Harrison, William (quoted), 83, 89.

Harthacnut, king, 174,

Haselrig, Sir Arthur, 335.

Hasting, Danish leader, 274.

Hastings: battle of, 133-6, 607; port of,

175-

Hastings, Lord, 124, 125.
Hatfield, Great (Yorks. E.R.), 82.
Hatton, Randolph, 161.
Hauville, family of, falconers, 621.
Havant (Hants), 203.
Hawarden (Ches.) castle, no.
Hay (Brecon), 202; castle, 107.
Headington (Oxon.), 88.
Heame, Thomas, painter (quoted),

122.

Hedde, bp, of West Saxons, 516.
Hedingham (Essex): castle, 107, 124;

monument of John de Vere, earl of

Oxford, in church of, 331.
Helmsley (Yorks. N.R.) castle, 109.
Hengrave (Sui), 34.
Henley (Oxon.) bridge, 207.
Henry II, Emperor, 390.
Henry I, king: arms of, 346; church

under, 399; coinage of, 280-1, 285;

conquers Normandy, 140; laws o

197-

Henry n, king: arms of, 346; coinage
of, 282, 285, 286; forbids Englisrv
men to study abroad, 523; relations
with the Church, 399; tournament
introduced in reign o 622; see also
esnecca.

Henry ffl, king: attacks Bedford
castle, 143; coinage of, 283, 285,
286-7, 291; effigy of at Westminster,
497; privileges granted to Oxford
University by, 524; prohibits tournay
ments, 622; relations with Rome,
424; Savoyard connexions of, 422.

Henry IV, king: coinage o 290;
effigy p 504.

Henry V, king: French wars o

INDEX

152-62, 290; his fleet, i8<5; tennis^
balls sent by Dauphin, 627.

Henry VI, king: coinage of, 291, 294,
295; costume of, 309; Navy dispersed
by, 187; statue of, 511; founds Eton
and King's College, Cambridge, 537.

Henry VII, king: coins of, 268, 284,
295-6; court of, 610, 630; navy
under, 187-92; tomb of, 511.

Henry VIII, king: artillery forts built
by, 125; at war in France, 165; his
navy, 187-93; athlete and gambler,
613, 628; Church under, 399;
coinage of, 296-8; heraldic visitations
created by, 380; pistols introduced
under, 335; treasury of, 329-30.

Henry of Blois, bp. of Winchester, 282,
399.

Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony and
Bavaria, his seal, 342, 344.

heraldic arms, canting or punning,
362-3.

badges, 357-9-

differencing, 363-8.

marshalling, 368-73.

supporters, 355~7-

heraldry, grammar and terminology of,

359-62.

heralds, 376, 378-80.
Herbert de Losinga, bp. of Norwich,

224.
Hereford: castle, 99; hall at, 41, 43;

road, 202.

bps. of, see Cantelupe, Thomas.

cathedral, 467, 477-8.

earl of, 75; Humphrey, 149, 151.
Herland, Hugh, master carpenter, 479.
Heron, Cecilia, 312.

Hertford, Gilbert de Clare, earl of,

seal o 342.
Hertfordshire, 9, 14.
Hexham (Northumb.), 200.
Hexham, Acca bp. of, 517.
Heytesbury, William o 595.
Higham Ferrers (Northants.), collegiate

school at, 536.

High Wycombe (Bucks.), 202.
Hilda, St., abbess of Whitby, 214.

Hilton, Walter, 435.

Hippocrates, 581-2.

Holes, Andrew, archdeacon of Wells,

540.

Holmes (Ches.) chapel, 204.
Holywood (or Sacrobosco), John,

astronomer, 592.
Homildon Hill (Northumb.), bade of,

152, 327.

Honiton (Devon), 202, 204.
Honorius, abp. of Canterbury, 515.
Hopton (Salop) castle, 123.
Home's Place, Appledore (Kent),

chapel at, 47.
Hospitallers, see St. John of Jerusalem,

order of.

hospitals, 408-9, 597.
Howden (Yorks. E.R.) church, 472.
Howel Dda, k. of S. Wales, 276.
Hubert Walter, abp. of Canterbury,

408.
Hugh, St., bp. of Lincoln, 53, 457,

467.

Hull (Yorks. E.R.), 236, 286.
Humbcr, river, 204, 236.
Hundred Years War, 145, 152-60, 177,

182, 186, 525, 534.
Hungerford (Berks.), 202, 204.
Hunte, Thomas, printer, 560.
hunting, 615-20.
Huntingdon, 202, 207, 219; castle at,

53; gild at, 228.

Huntingdon, John Holland, earl of, 75.
Hurst, near Reeth in Swaledale, 89-90.
Hurstmonceux (Sussex), 52, 124.
Hythe (Kent), 175; church of, 481.

Icknield Way, 197.
Icomb Place (Glos.), 50, 51.
Iffley (Oxon.) church, 481.
flchester (Som.), 249.
Immingham (Lines.), 200.
Inkpen (Berks.), 204.
Innocent II, pope, 622.
Innocent HI, pope, 411, 418, 421.
Inns of Court, halls at, 44, 535.

Ecclesiastical, 75.

revels at, 631.

INDEX

647

lona, monks of, 573-4.

Ipswich: export trade of, 227, 236,

240; local government of, 250-1;

printing at, 560; population of, i;

seal of, 176.

Irish missionaries, 515-16.
iron'working, 32, 220, 229.
Isidore of Seville, 572-3.
Islip, Simon, abp. of Canterbury, 529.
Issoudun (Berry, France), coin struck

at, 286.

Italian bankers, 236.
trade, 236-7, et passim.

Jaenberht, abp. of Canterbury, 269.
James I, k. of England, 332; Henry,

son of, 592.

James I, k. of Scotland, 207.
James II, k. of Scotland, 310.
James IV, k. of Scotland, 165, 188,

626, 630.
Jarrow Priory (Durham), 487, 517,

574-

Jedburgh abbey (Roxbs.), 447-

Jellinge style in art, 491.

Jervaulx (Yorks.), abbey of, 19.

Joan of Arc, costume of, 308.

John, King: at siege of Rochester, 143;
coins of, 283; gamester, 611; his fleet,
177, 178; interest in falconry, 621;
itinerary of (1200-1), 199-201; Liver^
pool developed by, 246; relations
with papacy, 411, 418, 421; relations
with Oxford University, 523; tomb
at Worcester, 498.

John XXII, pope, 421, 622, 626; his
bull ExecraUUs, 426.

John, k. of Prance, 155-7.

Jordanus Nemorarius, 584.

Jumieges abbey (Normandy), 445, 446,
450.

Jumieges, Robert of, his missal, 490.

Justinian, emperor, 338-

Keith, marshal, 151.

Kellawe, Richard, bp. of Durham,

284.
Kells, book of, 487, 543, 54 6 -

Kendal (Westm.), 202.

Kenil worth (Warws.) castle, 107, 112;

tournament at, 623.
Kent, 13; marshes of, 15, 31; villages,

91-92; weald of, 14, 91, 598.
Kesteven, forest of (Lines.), 13.
Ketton (Rutland), 26.
Kiddington (Oxon.), 30.
Kilkenny, William of, bp. of Ely, 527.
Kilnsey (Yorks.), 19.
Kilpeck (Herefs.): castle, 103, 108;

sculpture of church, 281, 301, 492.
Kilwardby, abp. of Canterbury, 410,

423,533.

King, Daniel, quoted, 89.
King, Gregory, 9.
Kingston (Surrey), 202.
Kirby Muxloe (Leics.) castle, 125.
Kirkby Lonsdale (Westm.), 202.
Kirkoswald (Cumb.), 200.
Kirkstall (Yorks.) abbey, 19, 454.
Knapton (Norf.) church, 480.
knight, knight service, 134, 136-9,

141* 391.

Lacy, family of, 59; arms of, 350-2.
Lacy, Roger de, 105.
Lambeth, college at, 408.

Bible, 493-
Lamboume (Berks.), 204.
Lancashire, halls in, 43.
Lancaster, 202.

Lancaster, Henry duke of, 158; coins

struck by, 289; seal of, 353-4.
Lancaster, John duke of (John of

Gaunt), 289-90.

Lancaster, Thomas earl of, 120, 151.
Lanfranc, abp. of Canterbury, 297,

519; builds cathedral, 223; his rex

forms, 389-95* 397-8, 44*
Langham, Simon, abp. of Canterbury,

529.

Langland, William, 435, 43 6-
Langley (Norf.), 204.

(Northumb.) castle, 120.
Langton, Stephen, abp. of Canter^

bury, 423, 525-
language, 548-50 et passim.

648 INDEX

Laon: cathedral school at, 521; Ade^
lard of Bath at, 578-9.

Lateran Council: Third, 425; Fourth,
411,412,415,431, 521.

Lathom, arms of, 366.

Launceston (Cornwall) castle, 108.

Lawford (Essex) church, 482.

law merchant, 247.

Laxton (Notts.), 6, 7.

lead mines, 230.

Leech Books, 575-6.

Leeds (Yorks. W.R.), 243, 256-7.

Leeming Bar (Yorks. N.R.), 202.

Legh, Gerard, his works on heraldry,
362.

Leicester: captured from Danes, 132,
219; hall at, 41, 43; local govenv
ment at, 251; rights of the earl over,
248, 250; Roman road through, 196,
211-12; see of, 385; trade of, 237.

Leicester, Robert Dudley, earl of: his
armour, 331.

Leicestershire, 204; lost villages in, 29.

Leiston (Suff.), 204.

Leland, John, antiquary, 513, 531.

Le Mans (Maine, France), enamel at,
301, 344-5-

Lengenbach, Otto von, 350.

Leofiic, bp. of Exeter, 412.

Leominster (Herefs.), sculpture at, 492.

L'Espagnols^surxMcr, battle o 183.

Letters of Marque, 180.

Letton, John, printer, 560, 565.

Leuchars (Fife) church, 481.

Levi Ben Gcrson, 593.

Lewes (Sussex), 203; battle of, 141;

^ castle, 103, 108; priory, 404, 513.

libraries, 549, 566-70.

Lichfield, 196, 202, 204.

bp. o 219.

bishopric of, 385, 392.

cathedral, 467.
Limoges, mint at, 288, 289.
Lincoln, bps. o see Alexander;

Dalderby, John; Fleming, Richard;
Grosseteste; Hugh, St.; Remigius.

bp. of, his relations with Oxford
University, 524, 526.

Lincoln, bishopric of, 391.

castle, 53, 103, 108.

cathedral, 53, 224, 441, 445, 447,
45^-3, 457~6o, 463, 464, 467-8,
470, 474-

coinage, 273.

diocese of, 385.

earl o 227.

expansion o 222.

gild at, 228.

hall at, 43.

hall of Toki, s. of Outi, 74.

houses in, i, 68, 69, 257.

King Stephen captured at, 140.

market at, 240.

parish churches in, 481.

Roman roads, 196-7, 212.

school at, 522.

sculpture in cathedral, 498-9.

mentioned, 206, 211, 225.
Lincolnshire: fen, 15,16,20,21,23,24;

roads, 204; schools in, 520; wolds,

. 3 *.
Lindisfarne, bishopric o 385, 517.

Gospels, 486.
Linlithgow, 104.
Liverpool, 246.
Llangorse (Brecon), 171.
Llanhaden (Pembs.) castle, 103.
Llanstephan (Carmarthen) castle, 103.
Llywelyn the Great, 109.

Lollardy, 424, 432, 433, 435-
Lombard, Peter, his Sentences, 532.
London, bps. of, see Braybrooke,
Robert; Eadberht, Roger.

Bishopsgate, Sir John Crosby's hall
in, 76.

Bridge, 67, 207.

Brown's Pkce (St, Dunstan/in/thcy
East), 73, 76.

Bucldersbury, William Servat's
house in, 76.

Candlewick Str., Pountney's Inn,
76-

churches in, 481.

City Companies: arms o 3 73-4*

Clerkenwell, St. John's Priory at,
408.

INDEX

649

London, coins minted at, 264, 265,
270, 271, 280, 282, 285, 293.

Danish invasions, effect of, 214, 216.

Dowgatc, see Cold Harbour.

FitzStephen's description o 225-6,
614-15.

gilds: armourers, 330; goldsmiths,
241; minstrels, 607; weavers, 228.

Hanse, 234.

Harold's march to, 133,

Holborn, bp. of Ely's house in, 75.

houses in, 75-77.

Ironmonger Lane, 71.

Livery companies at, 260.

mayor of, 261.

Mercers" Company, 260.

Pall Mall, 630.

population of, i, 261.

printing at, 559-60.

roads from, 196-7, 202.

Roman survival at, 53.

St. Martin le Grand, dean of, 619.

St. Paul's cathedral, 211, 225, 474-
5, 625; canons o 88.

schools at, 521, 538.

shipping at, 177, 192.

Smithfield, horse fair at, 615*

Temple church in, 319, 408.

Tower o 106, 113, 225; armouries
o> 330.

trading centre, 209.

University, 76.

Willysdon, tallow chandler, his
house in Thames str., 76.

mentioned, 206, 214, 237, 291.
Longleat (Wilts.), 34.

Long Sutton (Lines.), church at, 481,

482.

Longthorpe (Northants.), 46, 47.
Longtown (Herefs.) castle, no.
Lotharingia, scientists from, 577.
Lothbroc, Ragnar, banner woven by

his daughters, 338.
Loughborough (Lughboiow) (Leics.),

69.

Louis IX, k. of France, coinage o 288.
Louis XII, L of France, his marriage,

311-

Louth (Lines.), 200, 229.

Level, Lord John, 124,

Lovcll lectionary, 507.

Lubeck, 235.

Lucca, 235, 304.

Lucy, arms of family of, 369.

Luddcsdown Court (Kent), 46, 47.

Ludgershall (Wilts.), 200.

Ludican, k. of Mercia, 269,

Ludlow: castle, 105; planning of, 58-

59, 64-65.

Ludlow, Laurence of, merchant, 234.
Lumley (Durham) castle, 120.
Luttrell psalter, 304, 307.
Lydford (Devon) castle, 107.
Lyndwood, William, bp. of St.

David's, canonist, 535.
Lynn: merchants of, 227, 235-7; port

of, 227, 230; St. Margaret's, brasses

in, 505.
Lyons, Richard, 76.

machinery, 599-601.

Machlinia, William de, printer, 560,

564, 565.
Macworth, John and Thomas, arms of,

376.
Maes^Celyn (nr. Crickhowell, Brecon)

casde, no.

Maes Maydog, battle o 148.
Magna Carta sealed by King John,

556.
Magnus Maximus, emperor, coins o

264, 265, 273.
Maidenhead (Berks.), 202.
Maldon (Essex), 132; battle of, 301.
Malmesbury (Wilts.), 248, 460; sculp'

ture at, 494~5-

Malvem, Great, priory, glass at, 510.
Man, Isle of, 4.
Manchester ^ 216.
Mandeville, Geoffrey de, earl of Essex,

family connexions of, 352.
manor-houses, 37-52.
Mansel, John, 426.
Mansion, Colard, 559,
manuscript abbreviations, 547-8*
Manwood, John, 620.

650

INDEX

maps, 601.

March (Cambs.), 480.

Mare, William de la, 531.

Margam abbey (Glarn.), 463.

Margaret, q. of Scotland, 435.

Markenfield Hall (Yorks.), 48.

markets, market/places, 56-57, 64, 197,

219, 220, 240, 243, 248, 255.
Marlborough, 200, 202.
marshland, 14-16.
Martin (Hants), 21.
Martindale, family of (Lanes.), 92.
Mary, sister of Henry VIII, her marriage

costume, 311.

Massingham, John, artist, 511.
Matilda, Empress, 493.
Matilda, queen, coinage of, 282.
Matsch, vogt of, 321.
Maudith, John, astronomer, 593.
Maundell, Peter de, arms of, 376.
Mayfield (Sussex), 203.
Maynyal, W., of Paris, printer, 564.
Meaux (Yorks.), abbey of, 20, 104.
(Semexet'Mame), siege of, 159.
medicine, 575-6, 596-7.
Mediterranean, trade with, 232-3, 256.
Melbourne (Derbys.), church at, 481,
Melton Mowbray (Leics.), 196.
Melun (Seinexet'Marne), besieged by

King Henry V, 143.
mendicant orders, dependence on pa-

pacy, 416; see also under Dominicans,

Franciscans, &C.
Mendip (Som.): lead mines, 230; coin

hoards found in, 264.
mercenary troops (Swiss, German,

Burgundian), 161, 332.
Merchant Adventurers, 258-60.
merchants* marks, 359.
Merlee, William, meteorologist, 589.
Merton, Walter of, bp. of Rochester,

5^7,592,
Messeliere (nr. Poitiers), chateau de la,

123 n.

Mettingham (SufT.) castle, 124.
Meulan, Waleran count of, seal o 339,

342-
Middleton Stoney (Oxon.), 201.

Middlewich (Ches.), 220.

Midhope, Upper, near Penistone

(Yorks.), 90.
Mikn: fashions in dress, 311; armour

from, 321, 324, 325, 328, 330.
Mildenhall treasure, 485.
Milemete, Walter de, 599.
mills: water, 25, 600; fulling, 26, 600;

wind, 26.

Minchinhampton (Glos.), 227,
minstrelsy, 605-10.
Mirfield, John, physician, 597.
Mitford (Northumb.), 200.
Moleyns, Adam, bp. of Chichester,

540.
monasteries: 212-13, 388, 400-10, 549;

Cluniac influence on, 400-1, 404-5;

dissolution of, 33-34; Lotharingian

influence on, 400.
monastic cathedrals, 395.

immunities, 413-14.

schools, 518-19.

moneyers: Anglo-Saxon period, 278;

Norman period, 279-81; Angevin,

282-4; names of, see Almeric of

Winchester; Aymery of Tours;

Hadley, Robert of.
Monmouth castle, 103.
Montacute, Simon, bp. of Ely, 528.
Monte Cassino, abbey of, 545.
Monte, William de, 522.
Montgomery castle, 105, no, 113.
Montpellier, school of medicine at, 584.
Mont'St'Michel, scriptorium, 492-
moorlands, 18-19.
Moray, earl o 150.
More, Sir Thomas, 296, 432, 610;

Holbein's picture of the family of)

311-12.

Moreton, North (Berks.), 627.
Morienus, his treatise on alchemy, 581.
Morley, Daniel of, 522.
Morley, Robert de, arms of, 377.
Morpeth (Northumb.), 204.
Mortain, William, Count of, 106.
Mortayn, Esmond de, arms o 376.
Mortimer, Edmund, earl of March,

527.

INDEX

Mortimer, Roger, earl of March, 623.
Morton Tinmouth (Durham), 200.
mottoes, in heraldry, 353-5.
Mountferaunt castle (nr. Birdsall

Yorks. E.R.), 104.
Muchelney (Som.), abbey of, 15.
Much Hadham (Herts.), 14*
Much Wenlock priory, 405.
Multone, family of, 16.
Munich psalter (quoted), 302.
music, 608.
Myllar, Andrew, introduces printing

into Scotland, 500.

Najera (Spain), bade of, 157.

Nantwich (Ches.), 220.

naval tactics, 183-4, 189; set also ships.

Navigation Acts, 184-5, 191.

Neckham, Alexander, 582-3, 612.

Nesle (Somme), 234.

Neville, George, abp. of York, 540.

Neville's Cross (Durham), battle of,

152.

Newark (Notts,), 202, 206, 597.
Newcasdexunder/Lyme (Staffs.), 202,

204.
Newcastle upon Tyne: casde, 106; mint

at, 286; port of, 177, 230-2, 236; road

to, 204; mentioned, 200.
Newent (Glos.), 202.
New Forest, 29.
Newfoundland, 192.
Newmarket (SufE), 204.
Newton, Sir Isaac, 587, 594-5.
Newtown (Berks.), 59.
Norfolk: lost villages in, 29-30; popular

tion, i, 24.
Norfolk, John duke of, household

books of, 310.
Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray, duke of,

325.
Norham (Northumb.) casde, 107; cap'

tured, 165.
church of, 520.
NormantonxonxTrent (Notts.), 39.
Northallerton (Yorks. N.R.), 201, 204.
Northampton, 197, 199, 200, 219;

cloth trade, 229, 242; school at, 522.

651

Northampton, carl of, constable, 377.
Northamptonshire: forest in, 13; lost

villages in, 29; population of, 24;

roads, 204.
Northleach (Glos.), John Fortey of,

258.

church, 479.
Northumberland, earl of, 608.
Northwich (Ches.), 220.
Norway, trade with, 232, 237-8.
Norwich, bps. of, see Herbert de

Losinga.

bishopric of, 391.

casde, 53, 67, 224.

cathedral, 224, 295, 441, 445, 451.

churches in, 65, 386, 481,

defences of, 67.

French setdement in, 56, 223.

Mancroft ward in, 56.

mint at, 295.

Register of Freemen of, 250.

retable, 507.

size of, i, 225.

trade agreements with, 234.
Notary, Julian, printer, 560, 565.
Nottingham: bridge over Trent at,

206; buildings in, 68, 69; French
setdement in, 56; gild at, 228; road
to, 204; mentioned, 200, 219.

Nunney (Som.), castellated house at,
123.

Numberg, armour made at, 325.

Nycolson, James, printer, 561.

Nydam (Schleswig), 171, 172.

Oakriam (Rutland), 41, 43.
Ockham, William o 533, 594-5.
Ockley (Surrey), Rorik defeated at,

272.

Odda,Earl, 38.
Odington, Walter of, mathematician,

598.

Odo, bp. of Bayeux, 301, 316.
OfFa, king: charter of, 14; coins of,

267-70, 276, 291, 437; treaty with

Charlemagne, 168, 214, 487.
Ogerston (Hunts.), 202, 206.
Ogilby, John, his &rittwwa> 203.

INDEX

Ogmore (Gkm.) casde, 103.

Okehampton (Devon), 202.

Olaf Trygvason, k. of Norway, 174.

Oleron, laws o 180.

Olney (Bucks.), hockey played at, 628.

open-field agriculture, 4-5, 8-9, 24,

34 9i.

Ordericus Vitalis, historian, 519.
Oresme, Nicole, French mathemati"

cian, 595.
Orewin Bridge (Brecon), bade of,

148.

Orford (SufF.) casde, 109.
Orleans, duke of, 156.
Orleans, siege of, 159, 160.
Ormesby psalter, 501.
Ormside bowl, 487.
Osberht, k. of Northumbria, 272.
Oscott psalter, 501.
Osmund, bp. of Salisbury, 394.
Oswald, St., bp. of Worcester, abp. of

York, monastic reform of, 400, 518.
Otford (Kent), 267, 268.
Otto I, the Great, emperor, 390.
Otto IV, emperor, his arms, 3<58.
Otto, papal legate, 426.
Ottobuon, papal legate, 426.
Ottokar m, marquis of Styria, seal of,

344-

Outi, Toki s. o see Lincoln.
Oxford, 196, 202, 204, 205, 2i(5, 217,

220,222,223.

astronomy at, 593.

Beaumont palace at, 523.

books printed at, 560-1.

cathedral, 447, 479.

gild, 228.

Golden Cross Inn, 71.

Grandpont, 207.

Husting Court, case before, 629.

mint at, 271, 274, 282.

Oseney abbey, 71, 528.

planning ofi 64.

royal kitchen at, 45.

St. Frideswide's, 523.

St. George's/iivthexCastle, 523.

St. Mary's church, imprisonment
in, 627.

Oxford schools, 522-3, 584.

shops in, 71.

Tackley's Inn at, 73.
Oxford University, 523-40.

Benedictine foundations, 529.

Bodleian Library at, 567, 570.

colleges and halls at, 41, 44; All
Souls, 536; Balliol, 528; Cantoy
bury, 529, 539; Durham, 529;
Exeter, 528; Gloucester, 529;
Lincoln, 537; Magdalen, 536, 609;
Merton, 527-8, 533, 592-3, 598,
602, Chapel, 468, Library, 568; New
College, 536, 537, 539, 593, glass,
509; Oriel, 528; Queen's, 528,
626; St. Bernard's, 529; St. John's,
revels at, 631; St. Mary's, 529;
University, 527-8.

Divinity School, 478, 510, 534.

friars at, 529, 53^-3, 584.

games prohibited at, 626-7.

revels at, 631.

Oxfordshire, 1, 3, 4. 21, 23; farming in,
4, 21, 23; population of, i; villages
in, 3,4.

Paeda, s. of Penda king of the Mercians,

266.
papal provision, 420-6.

taxation, 418-20.
Pappenheim, General, 335.

Paris: schools at, 521, 530; scholars

from, 523, 524-5; shield^makers of,

350.
Paris, Matthew, 424; quoted, 302-3,

615; as illuminator, 500, and writer,

55i 596, 601, 623.
Parker, Matthew, abp. of Canterbury,

568.

Patenson, Henry, 311.
Paulinus, abp. of York, 211, 515.
Paynell, Maurice, 243, 256.
Pecham, abp. of Canterbury, 410,

4*6, 533-

Pecham, John, 589, 602.
peculiars, 387, 416-17.
peel towers, 120.
Pega, sister of St. Guthlac, 303.

INDEX

Pembroke castle, no, 112.

earls of: Gilbert de Clare, seal of,
340; Jasper Tudor, seal of, 358;
William Herbert: his armoury at
Wilton House, 331; his expedition
to St Quentin, 331; William Marx
shal, 622.

Pencridge, Richard, 531.
Pendragon (Westm.) castle, 202.
penny, 268 et passim, Ch. VIE.
Penrhos (Mon.) castle, 103.
Penrith (Cumb.), 196, 202, 203.
Penshurst (Kent), 43.
Percy: arms of, 369; badge of family of,

357-

Pershore (Worcs.) abbey, 320.
Perth, 207.
Peterborough, 19.

abbey, 205, 445, 451, 460-3;
illuminated MSS., 496.

Peterborough, Robert de Lindseye,

abbot of, 496.
Peter's pence, 419.
Petrus Alphonsi, 577.
Pevensey (Sussex) castle, 106, 112.

Levels, 14.

Peveril (Derbys.) castle, 105.

Philip IV, k. of France, 180.

Philip VI, k. of France, 153.

Picardy,233,234.

Pickering (Yorks. N.R.), 200; castle,

108.

Pickworth (Rutland), 30.
Piers Plowman quoted, 430.
Pinkie, bade of, 161, 163, 165, 166.
Pinkney, Robert of, seal of, 368.
Plantagenet, Arthur, bastard son of

King Edward IV, 367^8.
Plantagenet, Geoffrey, count of Anjou,

344-5-

Plato, Timaeus, 581-2.
Plegmund, abp. of Canterbury, 271,

273, 274, 283.
Pliny, quoted, 78, 572.
pluralism, 425-6.
Plymouth, 177.
Plympton (Devon) casde, 108.
Poggio Bracciolini, humanist, 538.

Poitiers, battle of, 155-7, 327.

castle, 123.

Poitou, coins struck for, 286, 288, 289.

Pole, Michael de la, 122.

Pontefract (Yorks, W.R.), 202, 227.

Ponthieu, county of, 157; coinage for,

286.

Poole (Dorset), 63, 179.
Poor Clares, order of, 407.
Poore, Richard, bp. of Salisbury, 59,

64,243.

population, I, 24, 25, 26, 28, 33-
Porchester casde, 106.
Portsmouth: development of, 246; dry

dock at, 190.

Portugal, trade with, 232-3, 241, 256.
Potterne (Wilts.) church, 481.
Powell, Humphrey, printer, 560-1.
Poyntz, Hugh, arms of, 377.
Praemunire, statute of, 424-5.
Premonstratensian order: houses, 21,

203, 405, 406; independence of dic^

cesan control, 416.
Preston (Lanes.), 202, 203, 204.
Prince, Gilbert, artist, 506.
printing, 551, 555, 559-64-
Priscian, grammarian, 530.
Provisory statute o ,424.
Psalters, 500-2; see also Amesbury,

Bohun, Derby, Douai, Gorleston,

Luttrcll, Ormesby, Oscott, Queen

Mary's, Ramsey, St. Omer, Tickhill,

Windmill.

Pucklechurch (Glos.), 220.
Pudding Norton (NorfL), 30.
Puiset, Hugh de, bp. of Durham,

495-

Pullen, Robert, 523.
Pulteney, Sir John, 75, 77.
Punch and Judy, 616.
Purbeck marble, 457, 470, 498, 499.
Pynson, Richard, printer, 560.
Pythagoras, school of (Cambs.), 40.

Queen Hoo (Herts.) Hall, 8.
Queen Mary's psalter, 304, 502.
Quentovic, mint o 274.

654

INDEX

Raglan (Mon.) castle, 124.

Ralf, carl of Hereford, nephew of

Edward the Confessor, 99.
Ralf the Mason, no.
Ramon Berengar of Provence, seal of,

343, 344-
Ramon Berengar IV of Aragon, seal

of, 343, 344-

Ramsbury (Wilts.), bishopric of, 391.
Ramsey (Hunts.), 19, 236, 242;

psalter, 489.
Ramsey, abbot of, 87.
Rastell, printer, 560.
Ravenna, church of San Vitale at, 338.
Ravensworth (Yorks. N.R.), 200;

castle, 120.
Reading: abbey, 248, 513; sculpture at,

492, 495; bridge at, 207; King John

at, 200; mint at, 283; road through,

202.

Recorde, Robert, astronomer, 602.
Reculver cross, 488.
Redcliffe (Bristol), 238; church of

St. Mary, 429, 470-1.
Rede, William, bp. of Chichester, 533.
Rede, William, astronomer, 593.
Redman, printer, 560.
Redvers, Baldwin de, 108.
Redwald, k. of East Anglia, 212.
Reepham (Norf.), Sir Roger de

Kerdeston's tomb at, 304.
Reginald, monk of Durham, 520.
Regnaid I, k. at York, 275.
Regnald II, k. at York, 275.
Restormel (Cornwall) castle, 108.
Revesby abbey (Lines.), 20.
Rewley abbey (Oxon.), 529.
Reyns, Henry de, mason, in.
Rhdms: abp. of, injured at football,

626.
dauphin crowned at, 159; sculpture

at, 494.

Rhuddlan (Flints.), 104, 114, 117.
Rhyd Castell (Pentrevoelas, Den^

bighs.), no.
Rich, Barnaby, 163.
Richard I, king: his crusading fleet, 176;

develops Portsmouth, 246; coins of,

283, 286; effigy of, 302; legalizes

tournaments, 622; seal of, 317, 346.
Richard II, king, 304: coins of, 290;

effigy of, 504; portraits of, 506.
Richard's castle (Herefs.), 99, 108.
Richborough (Kent), 264.
Richmond (Yorks.) castle, 40, 105;

exemption of archdeaconry, 417;

honour of, 105.
Rickneild Street, 196.
Ridgeacre near Halesowen (Worcs.),

88.
Rievaulx (Yorks.) abbey of, 19, 20,

W, 453- ^

Rievaulx, Ailred abbot o 20, 454-5.
Ringerike style in art, 491.
Ripon, 389,401. 454-5-
river transport, 204-7; see also Hunv

ber; Severn; Thames, Till, Trent,

Witham.

roads, 196-204, 211-12.
Robert of Chester (or Ketene), arabist,

580-1.

Robert duke of Normandy, 140.
Roche (Yorks. WJR..) abbey, 454, 456,

460.

Rochelle (La), mint at, 288, 289.
Rochester, bp. of, see Gundulf ; Merton

Walter of.

castle, 106, 143.

cathedral, 395, 404, 457, 494*
Roger, abp. of York, 455.
Roger, bp. of London, 435.
Roger, bp. of Salisbury, 281, 444.
Roger of Hereford, astronomer, 581.
Rolle, Richard, of Hampole, 435.
Roman Britain, 1-3, 52-53, 169, 205;

roads, 196-7, 211-12, 217; towns,

209-12.
romances, French: description of cosx

tumes in, 303-9, 550, 606; on tournax

ments, 623-4.
Rome, relations with, 382-5, 390-1,

398, 417-26.
Romney (Kent) Marsh, 14.

port, 175.

Romsey (Hants) abbey, 447; rood, 491;
sculpture at, 492.

INDEX

<555

Rood, Theodoric, printer, of Cologne

and Oxford, 560-1, 564, 565.
Rossendale (Lanes.), forest of, 13, 33.
Rothbury (Northumb.), 200.
cross, 487.
Rotherham, Thomas, abp. of York,

568.

Rothesay (Isle of Bute) castle, 108.
Rouen, 221, 230, 394; besieged by

King Henry V, 143 ; cathedral, 446;

mint at, 290.

Rouvray (Eureka/Loir), battle of, 160.
Royston (Herts.), 202, 206.
Rufinus, scientist, 584.
Russell, John, his Book of Nature, evi'

dence of costume, 310.
Ruthwell cross, 486.
Rye (Kent), Land Gate at, 120-1.

Sack, Friars of the, 410.
St. Albans abbey, 224, 441, 445; imx
munity o 416.

abbot's control of, 248.

abbots of: Leofstan, 215; Paul of
Caen, 224; Wallingford, Richard
of, 593; Whethamstede, John, 539;
Wulsin, 56, 215.

Book of, 362, 596.

foundation, 19, 56, 215.

Master Hugh of, painter, 505.

plan of, 57.

printing at, 560.

Prudentius, MS. o at, 301.

Psalter, 493.

road through, 202.

school of art, 497, 500-1, 503.

town clock at, 254.

see also Verularniurru
St. Briavel's (Glos.), 229.

St. David^ (Pembs.), bp. of, set Lynd'
wood, William.

cathedral, 202, 476.
St. Gall, abbey of, 546.

St. George, James o master mason,

113, 118.

St. Germans (Cornwall), see o 385.
St. Ives (Hunts.), 242.

5520.2

St. John of Jerusalem, Order of

Knights of, 229, 408.
St. Lo (La Manche), mint at, 290.
St. Malo, cannon used at, 599.
St. Michael's Mount (Cornwall), 208.
St. Omer: ivories at, 491; psalter, 502.
St. Rhadegund (Cambs.) nunnery,

537-

Sainte Chapelle (Paris), 497.
Saints, English, enumerated, 434-5.
Salisbury, bps. of, see Osmund; Poore,

Richard; Roger.

bishopric o 391.

cathedral, 464.

chapter house, 464.

churches in, 65.

manuscripts, 499-501.

planning of, 59, 60, 63, 64, 243-4.

spire, 473,

mentioned, 67, 202, 204,

see also Sarum.

Salisbury, countess of, portrait of, 507.
Salisbury, John of, 412, 522, 538, 582.
Salisbury, William Longespee, earl of,

63; his arms, 345~6, 349, 366.
Salley (Yorks.) abbey, 19.
salt, 220.

Saltwood (Kent) gateway, 121.
Sandwich (Kent), 175, 233.
Sandwich, family of, 352.
Santon (Norf.), 30.
Sarum, Old, 59, 63, 243, 445, 455;

rite, 394-
Savile, Sir Henry, Warden of Merton,

602.
Savoy, count Amadeus HI of, his seal,

342, 344-

Savoy, Peter count of, 113.
Savoy, Philip count of, 113.
Sawbridgeworth (Herts.), 14.
Say, arms of family of, 350-2.
Scandinavian settlement, 2, 4, 8, 16,

20, et passim.
Scarborough (Yorks. N.R.) castle,

113, 200.

see at , coin, Anglo-Saxon period, 265-8.
Scheere, Hermann, illuminator, 506.
schools, 515-22; cathedral, 521-2;

656

INDEX

chantry, 538; grammar, 521, 537-8;

monastic, 517; song, 520.
science, 571-604.
Scithesbi (Lines.), 20.
Scrivelsby (Lines.), Teapot Hall at, So,

81, 83, 84.

Scriveners* Company, 554.
seals, 555-6.

Selby (Yorks. W.R.) abbey, 469.
Selfrid, bp. of Chichester, 26.
Selling, William, prior of Christ

Church, Canterbury, 539.
Selsey, bishopric o 391.
Sempringham (Lines.), order of, 406.
Sempringham, Gilbert of, 406.
Sens, William o mason, 456.
Serbopoulos, John, Greek scribe, 539.
Settle (Yorks. W.R.), 202.
Seven Years War, 335.
Severn, river, 204, 206, 237.
Shaftesbury, 204; abtey, 22.
Shap (Westm.), 202, 204.
Shapleigh (Devon), 18.
sheepxfarming, 21, 31, 32, 33.
ShefHeld: ironworks round, 32; steel,

327.

Shepway, court of, 178.
Shcrbome (Dorset), 59, 204, 444,

474, 477; plan o 62; see of, 385;

missal, 507.
Sheriff Mutton (Yorks. N.R.) castle,

120.

Sherwood forest (Notts.), 32.
Sherwood, John, bp. of Durham,

54<x

ships, types of, 169-74, *75 185-8.
Sbipston-on'Stour (Worcs.), 21.
Shipton'Under'Wychwood (Oxon.),

21.

shires, 219.
Shobdon (Herefs.), sculpture at, 301,

492.

Shoby (Leics.), 29.
Shorcham, New (Sussex), 481.
Shrewsbury, Butchers' Row, 71, 72.

castle, 53.

Norman Conquest, effects on,

Shrewsbury, John Talbot, earl of, 328;

Garter stall plate of, 370.
Siberch, printer, 561.
Sicily, herald of Alfonso V of Ara^

^gon, 361-2.
Sidney, Sir Philip, 331.
Siefred, Danish k. at York, 274.
siege engines, 141, 142-4.
Siena, merchants of, 235.
Siierwas, John, artist, 507.
Sigeberht, k. of East Anglia, 212, 214.
signatures, 555.

Sihtric Caoch, k. at York, 275.
Silchester (Berks.), 196.
silver mines, 230-1.
Silverstone (Northants.), 200.
Simeon of Durham, historian, 519,
Simplicius, 587.
Siward, Richard, 88.
Skenfrith (Mon.) castle, no.
Skipton (Yorks. W.R.), 202.
Sleafbrd (Lines.), 200.
Sluter, Claus, 503.
Sluys, battle of, 181, 292, 293.
Smite, Upper (Warws.), 20.
Smith, Henry, 33.
Snowdonia, castles o in.
Sokespitch, family of, 16.
Someries (nr. Luton, Beds.) castle, 125.
Somerset, Edmund duke of, 165.
Somerset, Edward duke of, Protector,

161.

Somerset, marshland of, 1415.
Sonning (Berks.), 207.
Soper, William, merchant of Soudv

ampton, 187.
Southam (Warws.), 204.
Southampton: port of, 23 3, 236-7, 241;

ships built at, 186; stone houses at,

68.
Southwark: Godwine's hall at, 74;

limekilns at, 252.
Southwell cathedral, 389, 401, 452,

455, 464; carvings at, 596; chapter

house at, 502: tympanum at, 491.
Spain, trade with, 232-3, 241, 256.
Spalding, William of, canon of

Shouldham, 626.

INDEX

657

Spalding (Lines.), 205.

Sparke, Sir John, 187.

Stafford: earthworks at, 217; houses of

bp. of Lichfield at, 219; knot, 357;

plan of, 218.

Stafford, Lord, arms granted by, 376.
Staffordshire, exemption of the royal

free chapels of, 417.
Staines (Middx.), 13; bridge, 198.
Stainforth (Yorks.), 19.
Stamford (Lines.), 202, 206, 237, 242,

257; castle at, 53; cloth, 228, 257;

fair at, 242; migration of students to,

524, 525; Queen Edith's hall at, 74;

roads through, 202, 206; trade in

woad, 237.

Stamfbrdbridge, battle of, 133.
Standard, battle of the, 140.
Stanley, Sir John, arms of, 366.
stannaries, see tin mines.
Stansfield (Suff.), 41.
Stanton Harcourt (Oxon.), 45.
staples, 258-60.
Steelyard, see Hanse.
Steeple Barton (Oxon.), 28.
Stephen, king: captured, 140; coinage

o 281-2.

Stirling castle, 149, 150.
Stockland (Devon), 204.
Stockton (Durham), 200.
Stokesay (Salop) castle, 47, 234.
Stone (Bucks.), 202.
Stonor family, 258.
Stony Stratford (Bucks.), 202.
Stourton, Lord, of Stourton (Wilts.),

50.

Stow (Lines.), 200.
Stow, John, his Survey of London, 615,

628, 631.

Stow.on/the'Wold (Glos.), 204.
Strange, barony of, 373.
Strangways, Richard, 375.
Strasbourg cathedral, 474.
StratfbrdxonxAvon (Warws,), 245-6,

538.

Stretton Baskerville (Waiws,), 33.
Stretton, Great (Leics.), 8.
Stukeley, William, 477. j

Stuteville, Robert de, coins of, 282.
Suffolk, Alice, duchess o her tomb at

Ewelme, 511-12.
Suffolk: churches in, 386; industrial

towns in, 257; population of, i, 24;

mentioned, 13.

Surigone, Milanese humanist, 539.
Surrey, John earl of, 145.
Surrey, Thomas earl of, 165.
Surrey, Warennes earls o 342.
Sussex, 229; marshes, 15; population,

25; villages in, 3; weald, 14, 32.
Sutton Coldfield (Warws.), 92.
Sutton Courtenay (Berks.), 48, 78.
Sutton Hoo (Suffe), 173, 316, 485.
Swineshead, Richard, 595.
Symonds, Richard, Si.
Syon (Middx.), Bridgettine abbey, 432.

Tacitus, quoted, 78.

Talbot, John, see Shrewsbury, earl of.

Tamworth (Staffs.) castle, 108.

Tandridge (Surrey), 26.

Tattershall (Lines.), tower house at, 50,

122-3, 124-

Taverner, John, merchant of Hull, 187.
Tavistock (Devon), 231; printing at,

560.

'Teapot Hall', see Scrivelsby.
Teffont (Wilts,), 21.
Temple, Templars, order of, 408.
Tetsworth (Oxon,), 202.
Tewkesbury (Glos.) abbey, 441, 446-7,

452, 476-7.

battle of, 162, 165.
Thame (Oxon.), 45.

Thames, river, 205, 206, 207 et passim.
Thanet, Viking settlement in, 272.
Theobald, abp. of Canterbury, 412, 522.
Theobald of Jstampes, 520, 523.
Theodore of Tarsus, abp. of Canterx

bury, 383, 398, 516.
Theodoric of Freiburg, 584.
Thetford (Nodf.), i, 68, 270.

bishopric o 391.

priory, 405.
Thomas, William ap, 124.
Thorlak of Iceland, 522.

5526.2

T2

658

INDEX

Thornbury (Glos.), 34, 52, 125.
Thornton (Lines.) abbey, 124.
thymscty Anglo-Saxon coin, 265-6.
Thurbert, see Colchester.
Thurstan, abbot of Glastonbury, 14,
Thynne, Sir John, 34.
Tiberius II, emperor, 265.
Tickhill psalter, 304, 502.
Tilbury, muster at, in 1588, 333.
Tilgarsley (Oxon.), 29.
Till, river, 205.
tin mines, 229-30.
Tinchebrai (Ome), battle of, 140.
Titchfield (Hants), abbey of, 203, 204.
Tiverton (Devon), 257; BlundelTs

school, 257.

Toledo, Arabic studies at, 581, 593.
Tollerton (Yorks. N.R.), 204.
Tonbridge (Kent) castle, 108, 119.
Topsham (Devon), 230.
Torel, William, bronze effigies by,

Toresbi (Lines.), 20.
Torksey (Lines.), 205, 206.
Torre abbey (Devon), 204.
Torrigiano, Pietro, artist, 511.
Totnes (Devon) casde, 108.
Toumai: English citadel at, 125;

marble, 457.
tournament, 322, 324, 330, 332, 378,

621-4.
Tours, abbey of St. Martin of, difFu/

sion of Caroline minuscule from,

545, 550.
cathedral, 446.
Towcester, 132.
towns, 25 and n., 52-77, 209-226, 236,

242-57 etpassm; fortification of, 65,

67, 215-17; freemen, 250; govern^

ment, 249-255; mayors o 252,

261-2,
Towton (Yorks. W.R.), batde ofi 162,

164.
trade, foreign, 168-9, 175, 182, 184-5,

*9*~3> 213-14, 220-1, 226-8, 231-7,

255-60.
Tregrug (Vale of Usk) casde, 119,

120.

Trematon (Cornwall) castle, 108.

Trent, Council o 416.

Trent, river, 205, 206, 207.

Tretower (Brecon) castle, 108, no.

Troyes, treaty of, 159, 290-1.

Tralles, Alexander of, 576,

Tudor games and festivity, 630 et

passim, Ch. XIX.
Tutbury, honour of, 608.
Tuxford (Notts.), 202.
Twici (or Twety), Edward IFs hunts'

man, 617, 61 8.
Tynemouth (Northumb.), 464.

Upton, Nicholas: his treatise on

heraldry, 361; quoted, 375.
Urban V, pope, 423, 426, 427.
Urnes style in art, 491.
Usk, Adam o 527.
Utrecht psalter, 490.
Uxbridge (Middx.), 202.

Vacarius, 412, 523, 534-

Valence, Aymer de, bp. of Win/

chester, 524.
Valence, Marie de, countess of Penv

broke, 528.

Valence, William de, arms of, 368.
Vegetius, 129.
Venice, Venetian: galleys, 186, 187,

233; cloth sold at, 229.
Vere, arms of family of, 350-2; badge

of, 357J blazon of, 361.
Vermandois, Isabel of, 352.
Verneuil, batde of, 160.
Verulamium, 212, 215.
vestments, ecclesiastical, 312-13, 508-9.
Vienne, council of, 531.
Viking coin issues, 274.

invasions, 214, 517.

ships, 173, 174, *7<5, 177-

weapons, 315, 316.
villages, 2-5, 10, 20, 24.

deserted, 28-30, 78.
Vinsau Geoffrey oif, 522.

Vitelli, Cornelio, Italian scholar, 539.

Wainfleet (Lines.), school at, 536.
Wakefield (Yorks. W.R.), 202.

INDEX

659

Walcher, abbot of Malvern, astnv

nomer, 577.

Walkelin, bp. of Winchester, 223, 241.
Walkce, William, 148.
Wallingford: bridge, 207; defensive

position of, 216; houses of abp. at,

219; houses of thanes at, 217; mint

at, 281; siege of, 282.
Walsoken (Nor), church, 482.
Walter of Henley, Hosebondrk t $96.
Waltham abbey, foundation of, 389,

401.

abbot of, his inn, 75,
Waltham Cross (Herts,), 202.
Walton, West (Norf.), church, 482.
Wansfbrd Bridge (Northants.), 202,

206.

Warden (Beds.) abbey, 20.
Wardour (Wilts.) castle, 124.
Ware (Herts.), 202, 206.
Ware, John, clerk o 208.
Warenne, arms of family of, 352.
Warkworth (Northumb.) castle, 123;

hall at, 43.

Warmington (Northants.), 23.
Wameford (Hants), 43.
Warrington (Lanes.), 204.
Wars of the Roses, 161, 164-5.
Warwick, Beauchamp chapel, 510-11.

castle, 108.

earl o the marshal, 377.

earls o arms of, 343, 35^, 37^-3;
badge of, 357-

defences of, 217, 219.

mediatized, 248.

Richard Beauchamp, earl o effigy,

325, s-

St Mary's church at, 476.
Warwickshire, 9; lost villages in, 29.
Waterford cathedral, 447.
Wading Street, 196-7, 212, 215.
Waverley (Surrey) abbey, 19, 405.
Waynflete, William, bp. of

Chester, 536.
Wearmouth (Durham) priory, 487.
Welbeck (Notts.) abbey, 204.
Welf VI, marquis of Tuscany, seal o

343, 344-

Wells, see of, 15, 385.

bp. of, see Giso, William.

cathedral, 459-63, 469-78; sculp'
ture, 495, 49$, 498-

theatricals at, 610.
Wendling (Norf.), 204.
Wenham, Litde (SufF.), 41.
Wenlock, Lord, 124.
Wentbridge (Yorks. W.R.), 204.
West, Lord, 184.

Westminster abbey, 465, 468, 469, 480,.
497; chapter house, 111, 464, 465-
70; Henry VHTs chapel, 478, 512;
nave, 445; painted chamber at, 318;
sculpture, 497, 4$8, 499, S*> wall
paintings at, 497, 501.

abbots of, 14.

exchequer at, 198, 199, 206.

hall, 41, 225, 472, 479.

printing at, 559.

St. Margaret's church, 415.

St. Stephen's chapel, 474-5, 505.
Wetherby (Yorks. W.R.), 202.
Wheathampstead (Herts.), 14.
Whitby (Yorks. N.R.), 214, 464;

synod of, 485, 574.
White Castle (nr. Grosmont, Mon.),

103, 112, 113.
Wigan (Lanes.), 204.
Wigfbrd (suburb of Lincoln), 53.
'Wigingainere*, 132.
Wigla k. of Mercia, coinage of, 269-

71.

Wigmund, abp. of York, 266-7, -291.
Wiffid, St., 383.
William, bp. of Wells, 435.
William, brother of Henry 31, seal of,

346.
William, duke of Normandy, after'

wards king, 99, I33~7, ^* 338;

church reform under, 389-96, 398;

coinage of, 279, 280.
William n, king Rufus: coinage of,

280; fashions of dress introduced by,

302; Church under, 398.
William of Malmesbury, historian, 519.
William the marshal, cad of Penv

broke, no.

660

INDEX

Willibald, St., 517.

Willibrord, abp. of Friesland, 487, 517.

Willsworthy (Devon), 18.

Wilton (Wilts.), 243.

diptych, 506.

Wiltshire, population of, i; houses in,

82.
Winchelsea: Cinque port, 175; Gerx

vase Alaid of, 179; planning of, 59,

61, 63, 64, 246-7.
Winchester: art, style of, 491, 492.

baronial meeting at, 199.

Bible, 317.

bps. of, see ^Ethelwold; Blois,
Henry of; Valence, Aymer of;
Walkelin; Waynflete, William of;
Wyekham, William of.

cathedral, 216, 223-4, 2 30, 394> 44 1 *
444, 446, 447, 452, 472, 479, 510.

centre of West Saxon kingdom,
199, 209.

college, 536, 537* <507J sculpture at,
504.

Danish invasions, effect of, 214.

defences at, 217, 219.

development of, 212.

gild at, 228.

hall at, 43.

hall of Queen Emma at, 74.

illumination, 490, 493-

mint at, 271.

moneyers of, 281.

roads through, 202, 204, 211.

St. Giles's fair at, 241-2.

St. Swithun's at, 606.

school of manuscripts, 489.

scriptorium, 549.

statute of (1285), 139, 146.

treasury at, 198.

mentioned, 225, 230.
Windmill psalter, 501.
Windsor castle, 102, 107.

St. George's chapel, 478, 480.
Wingield (Suff.) manor, 122.

South (Derbys.) towerhouse, 124.
Wirksworth (Derbys,), 213.
Wkdo, 586.

Witham (Essex), 217.

Witham river, 205, 236.
Witney (Oxon.), 202.
Wolfe, printer, 561.
Wolsey, cardinal, 33, 296, 297.
Woodham Ferrers, 12.
woodlands, 9-14, 23, 32.
Woodlark, Dr. Robert, 537.
Woodstock (Oxon.), 199, 200, 523.
Woodville, Richard, Earl Rivers,

606.
Wool trade, 214, 227, 231-2, 235, 236,

255; see also cloth trade.
Woolwich, dockyard, 190.
Worcester, 69, 206.

bps. of, see Cantelupe, Walter;
Carpenter, John; Cobham, Thomas;
Coutances, John of; Wulfstan.

cathedral, 394 44* 44<5, 4^3, 464-

priory, provision for teaching Greek
at Oxford, 531.

printing at, 560.

scriptorum, 549.

Tiptoft, John, earl of, 539.
Worcestershire, islands in Gloucester^

shire and Warwickshire, 417.
Worde, Wynkyn de, printer, 559-61,

565.

Wraysholme (N. Lanes.) castle, 120.
Wreake valley (Leics.), 4.
Wrotham, William of, 178.
Wulfhere, abp. of York, 283.
Wulfred, abp. of Canterbury, 270-1.
Wulfstan, bp. of Worcester and abp.

of York, 286, 518.
Wych, Richard, St., bp. of Chichester,

434-

Wyclif, John, 424, 529, 534* 537-
Wykeham (Yorks. N.R.), 78.
Wykeham, William of, bp. of Winx

Chester, 426, 536-7; his crosier, 513.

Yardworthy (Devon), 18.
Yarmouth (Norf.), 179, 236.
Yeavering (Northumb.), 38 n.
Yeovil (Som.), 204.
Yevele, Henry, architect, 121.
York, abps. of, see JEthelberht; Bosa;
Ecgberht; Gray, Walter de; Oswald;

INDEX

661

Neville, George; Paulinus; Roger;
Rotherham; Wigmund; Wulfhere;
Wulfstan.
York castle, 1 10.

chapter house, 472, 502-3.

churches at, 65.

cloth trade, 229.

coinage, 273, 274, 283, 295, 297-

Danes at, 214, 221, 275.

devastated, 222.

diocese of, 211, 385, 386; subject to
Canterbury, 392.

gild at, 228.

guildhall at, 43 .

houses at, 67.

King Harold at, 133.

mayor of, 252.

merchant adventurers at, 260.

Minster, 53,463,467-

York, plan of, 54.

population of, I.

printing at, 560.

register of freemen of, 250.

Roman defences at, 53, 216.

St. Mary's abbey at, 455.

school at, 517.

sculpture, 491, 494, 511, 513, 59<5.

stained glass, 509-10.

mentioned, 204, 205, 206, 225.
York, Edward duke of, his book on

hunting, 617.
Yorkshire: churches, 493; devastation

of, 2, 19; houses in, 81, 83; lost vil'

lages in, 29; moorlands, 19; popula^

tion of, i, 25.
Ypres, 227, 241.

Zutphen (Holland), library at, 568.

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