History of the Cathedral Church of Wells: As Illustrating the History of the Cathedral Churches of the Old FoundationFreeman, Edward A. (Edward Augustus)
History
History of the Cathedral Church of Wells: As Illustrating the History of the Cathedral Churches of the Old Foundation
Freeman, Edward A. (Edward Augustus)
Wells Cathedral
Another doorway in the cloister is also spoken of in the same document;
"Ostium _versus capellam Beatæ Virginis in claustro_ propter cameram
necessariam." This door, I imagine, may still be traced in the east
walk of the cloister, near the remains of the Lady chapel in the
cloister. This chapel must be carefully distinguished from the Lady
chapel at the east end of the church. Mention is also made of "duo
ostia _de la Karole_, ex utrâque parte chori," one of which is further
described as "ostium _de la Karole versus librariam_." The word
_Karole_ or _Carel_ has several meanings; but it generally implies a
small recess or chamber of some kind. Were the books kept in one of the
transepts?
Another mention of the Lady chapel in the cloister is found in Anglia
Sacra, i. 566, when Bishop William Button the First, who died in 1264,
is said to have buried "in novâ capellâ B. Mariæ Virginis." On this
Professor Willis (Somersetshire Proceedings, 1863, p. 21) remarks: "As
his chantry was in the 'Capella B. Virginis infra claustrum' (Liber B,
p. 62), the above passage does not apply to any Lady chapel at the
east of the cathedral, but to the building of the other Lady chapel,
which was in the east walk of the cloister in the position usually
given to a chapter-house." By "usually" the Professor must mean in
monastic foundations. "Liber B" is one of the books in possession of
the Chapter.
[41] See the extract in note 10.
[42] The whole passage (pp. 65, 66) is most remarkable. The
writer is inveighing against Hugh, Bishop of Chester (or Lichfield),
who had removed the monks from the church of Coventry, and put in
secular canons. "Ædificaverant certatim etiam absentes canonici circa
ecclesiam ampla et excelsa diversoria, ad usus forte proprios, si
vel semel in vitâ locum visitandi caussam casus offerret. Nullus ibi
ex præbendariis, sicut nec alibi faciunt, religiose resedit, sed
pauperibus vicariis ad insultandum Deo modicâ mercede conductis,
pro foribus palatiorum facientes magnalia, sanctum eis chorum
victosque Penates et nudos ecclesiæ parietes crediderunt. Hæc est
vere vera religio, hanc omnis imitari et æmulari deberet ecclesia.
Canonico sæculari ab ecclesiâ suâ, quamdiu libuerit, licebit abesse,
et patrimonium Christi ubi, et quando, et in quascumque voluerit
voluptates absumere. Id tantum provideant, ut audiatur vociferatio
frequens in domo Domini. Si ad fores talium pulsaverit advena, si
pauper clamaverit, respondebit qui pro foribus habitat, (et ipse satis
pauper vicarius,) 'Transite, et alibi alimoniam quærite, quia dominus
domûs domi non est.' Hæc est illa gloriosa clericorum religio, cujus
gratiâ Cestrensis episcopus monachos suos de Coventreiâ expulit, primus
hominum tantum nefas ausus admittere. Caussâ clericorum irregulariter
regularium, scilicet canonicorum, ad placitum monachos eliminavit;
monachos, qui non vicario, sed ore proprio laudabant Dominum, qui
habitabant et ambulabant in domo Domini cum consensu omnibus diebus
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