Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Lincoln: A History and Description of its Fabric and a List of the BishopsKendrick, A. F. (Albert Frank)
History
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Lincoln: A History and Description of its Fabric and a List of the Bishops
Kendrick, A. F. (Albert Frank)
Lincoln Cathedral
The eight years during which Hugh carried on the work were busy ones at
Lincoln. Contemporary records enable us to picture him encouraging the
workmen by his presence and example, even shewing his zeal by carrying the
stones on his own shoulders. He did not live to see his work completed,
as Remigius had done. But he had set the example and given the pattern,
and the work was continued by his successors until the building was
again entire. Hugh had already finished the apse, the eastern transept,
the choir, and part of the western transept (_i.e._ the whole eastern
portion of the church) when he fell ill. Finding his death approaching, he
sent for his architect Geoffrey de Noyers, and enjoined him to hasten the
completion of the altar of St. John the Baptist, his patron. He then gave
directions for his funeral, and instructions that he was to be buried in
the mother-church of his diocese dedicated to the Mother of God, near the
altar of St. John the Baptist. The personality of the great bishop comes
vividly before us when we read that he also wished his tomb to be placed
near the wall, in a convenient place, lest it should be a stumbling-block
to those approaching. On the 16th November 1200, Hugh breathed his last,
lying, as he had wished, on the bare ground, on a cross of consecrated
ashes. "A more self-denying, earnest, energetic, and fearless bishop
has seldom, if ever, ruled the diocese of Lincoln, or any other diocese
whatever" (_Dimock_). His instructions regarding the funeral were carried
out; but such a light as Hugh's could not be hid, and within a century
we find his remains enclosed in a costly golden shrine, borne on the
shoulders of kings and bishops, and placed at last in a structure erected
specially for their reception, "one of the loveliest of human works,"
the celebrated Angel Choir. The original place of Hugh's burial has been
somewhat disputed. The "_Magna Vita_" tells us that he was buried near
the altar he had named, "_a boreali ipsius aedis regione_." On the east
side of the eastern transept, Hugh had placed four apsidal chapels, two
north and two south of the central apse. From the words above quoted, it
has been considered that the northernmost of these chapels was the site
of his tomb. The chapel was greatly enlarged about twenty years after
Hugh's death, by the removal of the apse and the extension of the side
walls about 50 feet, the chapel being finished with a square east wall.[4]
This fact would certainly add support to the theory that Hugh was buried
here, the enlarged chapel forming a sort of intermediate stage between the
narrow apse and the splendid Angel Choir. But Mr. T. J. Willson has pointed
out[5] that this place was hardly large enough to be a chapel at all,
especially as it had a doorway in the north wall, leading from the common
room. He considers that the altar of St. John the Baptist was in the
central chapel of the great apse, corresponding to its later position in
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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