Remigius was not destined to witness the consecration of the cathedral he had reared. At the council of Windsor in the year 1072, Thomas, archbishop of York, had laid claim to a jurisdiction over the diocese of Lindsey, which claim had been disallowed. When the question of the consecration of the new cathedral arose, Thomas renewed his pretensions, and the ceremony was thus delayed. We learn from Roger de Hoveden that Remigius, feeling the day of his death draw near, wished to have the church consecrated as soon as possible, and that Rufus was finally won over by a sum of money from the bishop. A date was fixed, the 9th of May, 1092, and all the bishops throughout the country were summoned to be present for the occasion. But on Ascension-day, three days before, Remigius died. He was buried in his own church, before the Altar of the Holy Cross, which stood in front of the screen that carried the rood. The character of the energetic bishop is given in a few words by the historian Henry of Huntingdon--small in stature, but great of heart, swarthy in colour, but comely in deeds (_statura parvus, sed corde magnus, colore fuscus, sed operibus venustus_). His successor was Robert Bloet, Chancellor to William Rufus, but Thomas of York objected to his consecration as bishop of Lincoln. "He might be Bishop of Dorchester, like his predecessors; but Lindesey, part of the spiritual conquest of Paulinus, was of ancient right subject to the metropolitan authority of York. This claim came to nothing, and Thomas found better scope for his energies in the reform of his own church." [1] A present from Bloet of £5000 to the king set matters right, and the ceremony so long delayed was at last performed. The bishop does not appear to have made any addition to the fabric before his death, which occurred suddenly, while riding with the king in a "deer-fold" at Woodstock (10th January 1123). It was quite otherwise with his successor, Alexander the Magnificent, nephew of the princely Roger of Salisbury. Alexander had already shewn his love of building by the erection of strong castles at Newark, Banbury and Sleaford, when a fire which destroyed the roof of the cathedral about the year 1141, gave him an opportunity of exercising his talent in a direction more fitting to his office. Giraldus Cambrensis relates that in this fire the burning beams fell from the roof and broke the slab of Remigius' tomb. This fact is interesting as adding support to the opinion that the slab now replaced in the nave of the minster was really that which covered the original burial-place of the bishop. Of the stone vaulting with which Alexander replaced the wooden roof after the fire, not a fragment remains; but the lines of the vault may be traced at the western end of the nave and against the two west towers. In addition to this, we learn from Henry of Huntingdon that he so remodelled the church by his "subtle artifice," that it looked more beautiful than in "its first newness," and was not