Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Lincoln: A History and Description of its Fabric and a List of the Bishops — John Shaqi
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
During this episcopate occurred the trial of the Knights Templars in the
chapter-house. A Bull of Pope Clement V., the creature of the French king,
who feared the immense power of the knights, pronounced the suppression
of the Order in the year 1309. The cruelties with which this was carried
out abroad were avoided in this country. The English Templars were put
under custody in London, Lincoln, and York. From Lincoln the larger number
were transferred to the Tower of London, but Bishop Dalderby was
reluctantly compelled to preside at the trial of the others.
In order to trace the history of the walls and gatehouses protecting
the close, it is necessary to go back a few years. Edward I. had, in
1285, received a petition from the canons, praying that the close might
be fortified. Their plea was, that it had become positively dangerous
to attend the midnight services of the church, owing to the number of
evil-doers who thronged the precincts. The licence from the king in the
year 1285 to the dean and chapter, giving them permission to erect the
close wall, is still preserved at Lincoln. The wall was commenced, and in
the thirteenth year of Edward II. (1319), permission was given for the
addition of towers. Double gateways were erected to guard the approaches.
Before we come to speak of the upper storeys of the western towers, a few
less important matters may be recorded. It is not difficult to see that the
tracery which fills the round window, "the Bishop's eye," of the southern
limb of the great transept, does not accord in style with its surroundings.
The flowing lines mark a period subsequent to the geometrical forms of the
Angel Choir, and later by more than a century than the wall in which the
window is placed. This window and that in the gable above, the latter only
to be seen from the outside, must be assigned to about the middle of the
fourteenth century. About this time, Lincoln received a treasurer, who
has left abiding traces in the minster. John de Welburne has already been
mentioned as having restored the precious shrine of St. Hugh. Perhaps the
greatest of his benefactions are the present magnificent choir-stalls,
the finest examples in the kingdom. He also constructed the vaulting of
the central and western towers, and placed over the great west door the
respectable row of royal statues. Welburne died in the year 1380; this we
learn from a volume relating to his chantry and other foundations, written
in 1382. The tracery of the three west windows has been assigned by some to
him, and by others to a bishop who lived more than half-a-century later.
They may be considered as belonging to the end of the fourteenth century,
and mark the entrance into the next stage of Gothic architecture, the
Perpendicular. The two western towers, St. Mary's and St. Hugh's, had
been awaiting their completion for many years. They were now raised to a
height of nearly 200 feet, by the addition of early Perpendicular storeys,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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