“St. Frideswide Church, now Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, is a fine example of late Norman and transitional work of early character. It was consecrated in 1180, and was probably building for about twenty years previously: the confirmation, by Pope Hadrian IV. (Breakspeare, the only English Pope), of the charters granting the Saxon monastery of St. Frideswide to the Norman monks was not obtained until 1158, and it is not probable that they began to rebuild their church until their property was secured. The Prior at this period was Robert of Cricklade, called Canutus, a man of considerable eminence, some of whose writings were in existence in the time of Leland. Under his superintendence the church was entirely rebuilt from the foundations, and without doubt on a larger scale than before, as the Saxon church does not appear to have been destroyed until this period. “The design of the present structure is very remarkable; the lofty arched recesses, which are carried up over the actual arches and the triforium, giving the idea of a subsequent work carried over the older work; but an examination of the construction shows that this is not the case, that it was all built at one time, and that none of it is earlier than about 1160. In this church the central tower is not square, the nave and choir being wider than the transepts, and consequently the east and west arches are round-headed, while the north and south are pointed: this would not in itself be any proof of transition, but the whole character of the work is late, though very rich and good, and the clerestory windows of the nave are pointed without any necessity for it, which is then a mark of transition.”--(J. H. P.) St. Frideswide (Bond of Peace), or “the Lady,” as she was called in Oxford, lived early in the Eighth Century, when Ethelbald was king of Mercia. Her father, Didan, was a prince who lived in the city of Oxford about 727, where Frideswide was born. Of her early piety, her refusal of marriage, her foundation of this nunnery at Oxford, her miracles of healing and her “glorious death,” there are many pretty stories. St. Frideswide’s Church was burned in 1002, when Ethelred the Unready ordained the Massacre of the Danes. Ethelred afterwards made a vow that he would rebuild St. Frideswide’s Church; and in 1004 he began the splendid edifice, of unusual magnificence for the period. Robert of Cricklade, prior from 1141 to 1180, seems to have restored Ethelred’s church; and in that year the relics of St. Frideswide were translated to a more conspicuous place in the church. Many distinguished noblemen and prelates were present: