The Cathedrals of Great Britain: Their History and ArchitectureDitchfield, P. H. (Peter Hampson)
History
The Cathedrals of Great Britain: Their History and Architecture
Ditchfield, P. H. (Peter Hampson)
Cathedrals -- Great Britain; Church architecture -- Great Britain
Thomas de Cantilupe (1275-1282) was a noted bishop, who attained to
the honour of canonisation, and was, moreover, Chancellor of England.
He was by no means a meek-spirited saint, excommunicated an earl for
capturing his game, and made another lord walk barefoot to the altar
of the Cathedral, after chastising him for interfering with his
tenants. On his death in Italy his flesh was buried at Florence, his
heart at Ashridge, Bucks, and his bones at Hereford. Various miracles
were said to have been wrought at his tomb. His successor Swinfield
(1283-1317), built, or began, the eastern transept, the clerestory of
the choir, the central tower above the roof, and probably the nave
aisles. Adam de Orleton (1316-1327) espoused the cause of the queen
against Edward II., and involved Hereford in the troubles of that
disastrous time. He is said to have instigated the murder of the king;
at any rate he captured the fugitive monarch, and Hugh Despenser, the
king's favourite, was brought here and hanged. He obtained from the
Pope a grant of the tithes of two Berkshire parishes, Shinfield and
Swallowfield, for the repair of his Cathedral. The fifteenth century
saw several additions to the fabric, the cloisters in 1418-1448, the
great west window by W. Lochard, the precentor, some chantry chapels
which we shall notice later, and the enlargement of the north porch.
At the Reformation an ardent reformer, Edward Fox, was appointed
bishop, and Hereford, like other cathedrals, was despoiled of its
valuables and treasures. Fox's successor, Skip, was a liturgical
scholar, and helped in compiling our liturgies. Another learned
prelate was Francis Godwin (1617-1633), the author of the Lives of
English Bishops (_de Præsulibus Anglicæ_). At the Civil War period
Hereford suffered the usual misfortunes. Both bishop and people
espoused the cause of the king. The city was taken and retaken without
much damage being done, until Lord Leven with the Scottish army
besieged it in 1645, when the church suffered considerably; and when,
by the treachery of the governor, Colonel Birch, the city was again
taken, it was plundered and the Cathedral ransacked. Brasses were torn
up, monuments defaced, old windows broken, the library pillaged, and
when the dean courageously preached to the riotous soldiers on their
sacrilege, they levelled their muskets at him, and were scarcely
restrained from firing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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