Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Chichester (1901): A Short History & Description of Its Fabric with an Account of the Diocese and SeeCorlette, Hubert C. (Hubert Christian)
History
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Chichester (1901): A Short History & Description of Its Fabric with an Account of the Diocese and See
Corlette, Hubert C. (Hubert Christian)
Chichester Cathedral
The letters from Popes Eugenius and Alexander III., which confirmed
the possessions held by the see and guaranteed a papal protection of
the church in Chichester, are among the collection in the cathedral
library. The properties these deeds acknowledge include that portion
of the city--one fourth--in which the close was situated; and within
this area were comprised the church itself, the episcopal palace, and
the residences of the canons. The original grant of this land was
made by William, Earl of Arundel, in 1147, who bestowed it among other
things as compensation "for the damages which I once did to the same
church." Hilary was Bishop of Chichester during that historic period
when Becket opposed Henry II. He attempted, like the rest of the
bishops, to heal the breach; and Tennyson, in "Becket," adopting a
phrase he used, makes him say to his Primate, "Hath not thine ambition
set the Church this day between the hammer and the anvil ... fealty to
the King, obedience to thyself?" He went to Sens, to plead as an
advocate on the king's behalf before Pope Alexander III. and the
French king. The result of this meeting was that England was placed
under the ban of excommunication. But Henry replied by declaring that
the property of all who acted upon it should be confiscated and
themselves banished. The bishop was involved also in a local contest
with the Abbot of Battle, who refused to consider himself subject to
his episcopal jurisdiction.
After Hilary's death in 1169 the revenues of the see were for four
years appropriated to his own uses by the king, who late in the year
1173 appointed #John Greenford# (1174-1180), who was Dean of
Chichester, to the vacancy. The bishop-elect was not consecrated
until, in 1174, he, with three more nominated about the same time, had
done penance before Becket's tomb at Canterbury. Little is known of
him except that he attended some ecclesiastical councils.
The episcopate of #Seffrid II.# (1180-1204) introduces an important
period of activity, during which great alterations were made in the
fabric of the cathedral.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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