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 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE 
 
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 THE GIFT OF 
 
 HENRY W. SAGE 
 
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CHAPTERS IN THE EARLY HISTORY 
 OF THE CHURCH OF WELLS. 
 
Five hundred copies printed. 
 July, 1894. 
 
HEAD OF A CROZIER FOUND AT WELLS. 
 Vide Appendix P. 
 
CHAPTERS 
 
 IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE 
 CHURCH OF WELLS 
 
 A.D. II36-I333 
 
 FROM 
 
 DOCUMENTS IN POSSESSION OF THE DEAN AND CHAPTER 
 
 OF WELLS. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. C. M. CHURCH, M.A., F.S.A. 
 
 Subdean and Canon Residentiary . 
 
 Hontoon: 
 ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 Taunton: BARNICOTT & PEARCE. 
 1894 
 
BARNICOTT AND PEARCE 
 PRINTERS 
 
WELLS CATHEDRAL. 
 
 Lift up your eyes to yonder wond'rous shrine, 
 
 mark with what matchless grace and magic power, 
 
 base, buttress, window, battlement and tower 
 
 are gathered into harmonies divine ; — 
 
 'twas so they built of old, for well they knew 
 
 god's works to be in tune, and all true art 
 
 to be but his voice speaking through the heart 
 
 of man, — his instrument ; and so they grew 
 
 ennobled in their work, till every stone 
 
 heaved with the breath of life, reflecting there 
 
 no broken fragment of an age by-gone, 
 
 but every aspiration, thought, and care, 
 
 in lifeless form, thenceforth to live, — and stand, 
 
 as mute memorials of their heart and hand. 
 
 Godfrey Thring. 
 
THESE PAGES ARE WRITTEN 
 
 IN CONSTANT MEMORY 
 OF 
 
 JAMES ARTHUR BENNETT, F.S.A. 
 
 Late Secretary of Somerset Archaological Society 
 
 BY WHOSE LABOUR OP LOVE 
 
 THE WELLS CHAPTER DOCUMENTS WERE ARRANGED 
 
 IN 1882-1885. 
 
 Desiderio tarn cari capitis. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION ....... IX 
 
 CHAPTER I. BISHOP ROBERT, A.D. II36-I166 . I 
 
 CHAPTER II. BISHOP REGINALD, A.D. II74-II9I . 37 
 CHAPTER III. SAVARIC, BISHOP OF BATH AND GLAS- 
 TONBURY, a.d. 1 192-1205 . . 88 
 CHAPTER IV. BISHOP JOCELIN, A.D. I206-I242. — 
 
 PART I 127 
 
 PART II 165 
 
 CHAPTER V. ROGER OF SALISBURY, FIRST BISHOP 
 
 OF BATH AND WELLS, A.D. 1244-1247 239 
 CHAPTER VI. THE CHAPTER OF WELLS, A.D. I242- 
 
 1333 2 58 
 
 CHAPTER VII. INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT OF THE 
 CHURCH OF THE THIRTEENTH 
 
 CENTURY 322 
 
 APPENDICES A — Y 352 
 
 INDEX 427 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 HEAD OF A CROZIER FOUND AT WELLS . frontispiece 
 
 THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE S.E. . . . vignette 
 
 GROUND PLAN OF THE CHURCH AS IN THE THIR- 
 TEENTH CENTURY I 
 
 SEALS OF BISHOPS ROBERT OF LEWES, REGINALD, 
 
 SAVARIC, AND JOCELIN 36 
 
 SEALS OF THE BOROUGH OF WELLS, THIRTEENTH 
 
 CENTURY 127 
 
 SEALS OF BISHOPS ROGER OF SALISBURY AND ROBERT 
 
 BURNELL 238 
 
 SEALS OF BISHOPS JOHN OF DROKENSFORD, RALPH 
 OF SHREWSBURY, DEAN GODLEY, AND DEAN AND 
 CHAPTER OF WELLS 258 
 
 TOMB OF BISHOP WILLIAM DE MARCHIA, PLATE I 
 ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, PLATE 2 
 
 TOMB OF BISHOP DROKENSFORD 
 
 SEAL OF BISHOP DROKENSFORD 
 
 PLAN OF EARLY LADY-CHAPEL .... 
 
 BUILDING OVER OLD WATERCOURSE IN BURIAL GROUND 
 
 SOUTH OF THE CATHEDRAL .... 425 
 
 288 
 289 
 312 
 
 313 
 425 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 When, in 1869, Mr. Freeman was delivering his 
 lectures on the history of the Cathedral Church of 
 Wells, 1 he looked forward to the time in which the 
 documents in the archives of the Bishop, and of the 
 Dean and Chapter, now " locked up in manuscript," 
 should be printed to illustrate the history which he 
 was teaching others to study. 
 
 It has been the aim of the Dean and Chapter for 
 some years past to bring into the light those charters 
 and historical documents with which they are en- 
 trusted. 
 
 In 1870 the Historical MSS. Commission com- 
 menced an enquiry into the original documents in the 
 Registry of the Chapter. They were then described 
 as "a mass of parchments almost wholly without 
 
 1. History of the Cathedral Church of Wells, by E. A. Freeman. 
 Macmillan, 1870. 
 
x Introduction. 
 
 arrangement and in varying stages of preservation." 
 About two hundred were then partially examined. 1 
 
 In 1880 the whole collection of eleven hundred 
 documents were cleaned, examined and arranged in 
 thirty-six boxes by Mr. W. DE GRAY BIRCH, and a 
 descriptive catalogue of each charter is now in the 
 Library. 
 
 In 1 88 1 the manuscript in the Archbishop's Library, 
 Lambeth Palace, No. 729, containing " Ordinale et 
 Statuta ecclesiac Cathedralis Wellensis," was obtained 
 by the late Mr. F. H. Dickinson, and permission was 
 given by the Dean and Chapter to Mr. H. E. Reynolds 
 to print the text of the MS., and to make extracts from 
 some of the books in the Dean and Chapter Library 
 for his work on " Wells Cathedral." 2 
 
 Between 1882 and 1885 all the Registers, Rolls, and 
 Indenture Books belonging to the Dean and Chapter 
 were calendared by the late James Arthur Bennett, 
 then secretary of the Somerset Archaeological Society, 
 and printed by the Historical MSS. Commission. 3 
 Without this preliminary labour, voluntarily under- 
 
 1. Report of Historical MSS. Commission, Appendix, 3, p. 351. 
 
 2. History of the Cathedral Church of Wells, H. E. Reynolds, 
 folio, 1881. 
 
 3. Report X, Appendix 3, Wells Manuscripts, 1885. The preface 
 to the Report gives an account of the registers which are there 
 entitled R. i, R. ii, R. iii, and this description is followed in these 
 pages. 
 
Introduction. xi 
 
 taken and conscientiously carried out, no consecutive 
 history of the church could have been possible. 
 
 These are the original documents which supply 
 elementary materials for the chapter history. 
 
 Besides these documents, I have found most 
 valuable help from the Chronicon Wellense, of Dr. 
 Edmund Archer, 1 a continuous digest of the 
 Registers and original Charters from the earliest time 
 to the death of bishop Drokensford, A.D. 1 329. His 
 book, written in the generation succeeding HENRY 
 WHARTON, corrects and fills up the meagre and often 
 inaccurate epitome of Wells history printed by 
 Godwin and Wharton. 
 
 We find now from these documents that the 
 authorities quoted by WHARTON under the title of the 
 Canon of Wells, and by GODWIN, are very far from 
 being the original sources for the early history of the 
 church of Wells. They are rather the traditions of 
 the fifteenth century as understood and interpreted to 
 us by Godwin and Wharton in the seventeenth. 
 
 1. Chronicon Wellense, sive Annates Ecclesia Cathedralis Wellensis. 
 
 Edmund Archer, Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford, Preben- 
 dary of Combe 9th, Archdeacon of Taunton, 1712, of Wells, 1726, 
 Canon Residentiary, died 1739. 
 
 He was a correspondent of Thomas Hearne, and copies of Wells 
 Charters supplied by him to Hearne occupy 176 pages in Hearne' s 
 edition of Adam of Domerham, ed. 1727. His hand can be traced on 
 the margin of the Registers throughout. 
 
xii Introduction. 
 
 i. The Canon of Wells is the title given in 
 Wharton's Anglia Sacra, 1 to a composite document — 
 two anonymous tracts of the fourteenth and fifteenth 
 centuries of six folios embedded in the Liber Aldus 
 (Register iii), 2 which WHARTON has " woven together " 
 to form a continuous epitome of the earlier episco- 
 pates. 
 
 (a.) Historia Minor contains a short catalogue of 
 the bishops, from Daniel the legendary bishop of 
 Congresbury, down to bishop Harewell's time, 1367- 
 1386. 
 
 (b.) Historia Major is a longer tract of the same 
 kind, which begins with Edward the Confessor's time, 
 and ends with bishop Bubwith, 1406-1424. 
 
 2. Francis Godwin, canon of Wells, bishop of 
 Llandaff, 1601, and of Hereford, 1617, was son of 
 Thomas Godwin, bishop of Bath and Wells, 1584- 
 1590. Though he had exceptional opportunities for 
 examining the charters in the Wells registers, he 
 seems to have been content to follow the same epitome 
 which Wharton has printed, varying his form of 
 statement in the different editions of his book, viz., the 
 English edition, The Catalogue, etc., printed in 1601, 
 
 1. Anglia Sacra, p. 551. London, 1691. 
 
 2. R. iii, if. 296-302. 
 
Introduction. xiii 
 
 and the Latin, De Prcesulibus Anglice Commentarius, 
 printed in 1615-1616. 1 
 
 By the kind permission of the Council of the Society 
 of Antiquaries, I am enabled to reprint papers from 
 Archceologia, now recast and enlarged, viz. : " Reginald," 
 vol. 1, 188; ; " Savaric," vol. li, 1887 ; " Jocelin," vol. li, 
 1888; " Roger," vol. Hi, 1890. 
 
 I am under special obligations to Bishop HoBHOUSE 
 and to Mr. W. H. St. John Hope for assistance and 
 correction on numberless occasions in the continuance 
 of this work. 
 
 1. Vide Wharton's comment on Godwin, Anglia Sacra, p. 588. 
 " Qui plus quam 30 annis Canonicus residentiarius ecclesiae Wellensis 
 erat, et archiva ejus adhuc integra inspexit. Nuper enim direpta 
 sunt, et impio furore mutilata ac discissa a schismaticis in rebellione 
 Somersetensi anno 1685 mota. Integris tamen monumentis usus 
 vir eruditus plerosque errores admisit." 
 
ORIGINAL AUTHORITIES. 
 
 Manuscript. 
 
 i. Original Charters in 36 cases, 
 
 Charters, Grants, etc., from a.d. 958. 
 
 2. Liber Albus (R. i), in 298 folios. 
 
 Cartulary and Chapter Acts, circa a.d. 1300-1393. 
 
 3. Liber Ruber (R. ii), ff. 1-77, parchment; ff. 78-378, paper. 
 
 Cartulary, circa a.d. 1215-1513. Chapter Acts, a.d. 1480-1513. 
 
 4. Liber Albus ii (R. iii), f. 456. 
 
 Charters, etc., circa a.d. 1380-1450. 
 
 5. Computus Communarii. 25 Rolls. 
 
 a.d. 1327-1560. 
 
 6. Fabric Rolls. 9 Rolls. 
 
 a.d. 1390-1565. 
 
 7. Escheatory Accounts. 36 Rolls. 
 
 A.D. I372-I560. 
 
 8. Indenture Books. 
 
 9. Charter of Queen Elizabeth, 25th November, 1591. 
 
 Transcripts and Printed. 
 
 10. Ordinale et Statuta. Lambeth MS. 729. Quarto, parchment, 
 
 in Lambeth Library, transcribed at Wells in 1634 for arch- 
 bishop Laud. 
 Printed in Wells Cathedral, H. E. Reynolds, 1881. 
 
 11. Dean Cosyn's Book. A manuscript book of 357 pages, small 
 
 quarto, partly parchment, chiefly paper ; transcripts of 
 statutes, etc., 1506. 
 
 12. Statuta Ecclesi^ Cathedralis Wellensis. Folio of 155 
 
 pages, parchment, bound in rough calf, in handwriting of 
 seventeenth century, transcripts in same order as No. 10, with 
 more entries. 
 
 13. Chronicon Wellense by archdeacon Archer, 1723-1739 
 
 Latin manuscript, quarto, 315 pages. A digest of Wells history 
 and documents to a.d. 1329. 
 
 14. Chyle's History, circa 1686. 
 
 15. Wells Cathedral, H. E. Reynolds, folio, 1881. 
 
 16. Report of Historical MSS. Commission, Report X, Appendix 3, 
 
 "Wells M^S," J. A. Bennett, 1885. 
 
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CHAPTERS IN THE 
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 
 
 OF WELLS. 
 
 r 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Bishop Robert, A.D. n 36-11 66. 
 
 ACCORDING to a "strong and consistent tradition" Ei s hth 
 
 century. 
 
 missionary priests were settled at Wells in the newly 
 conquered Saxon land between the Mendip hills and 
 the moorland, early in the eighth century. 
 
 Sherborne had been made the seat of the bishop of 
 these western lands, and Aldhelm was consecrated first 
 bishop in 705. He died in missionary labours in 709, 
 in the little wooden church of Doulting, which stands 
 on the Mendip watershed, looking down through its 
 western valley to the Severn sea. Aldhelm's counsel 
 had led Ine to refound the old religious house at 
 Glastonbury, 1 at the head of the marshes of the Brue. 
 He probably also planted this frontier station at Wells 
 for the vale and fen country of the Axe. 
 
 Here rose up the first Saxon church of St. Andrew, 
 by the side of the springs of water which " gush out 
 
 1. " Ejus monitu Glastoniense monasterium a novo fecit." Will. 
 Malm. Gesta Pont., ii, p. 196, v. 209 (Rolls Series). 
 
 B 
 
century. 
 
 2 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 like a river " from the limestone rock, and soon became 
 known as " the great fountain of St. Andrew." 
 Tenth T w0 hundred years later, when, under Edward son 
 
 of Alfred, Wessex was recovering from the harrying 
 of the Danes, the West Saxon bishopric was again 
 subdivided, and the church of Wells, then served by a 
 company or " college " of priests, became the spiritual 
 centre of the surrounding country, and the seat of the 
 bishop of Somerset. The priests, living under the rule 
 of the bishop, and dependent upon him for their main- 
 tenance, became the " canons of St. Andrew." Perhaps 
 at this time the old church of St. Andrew was made 
 more worthy to be the seat of the bishop. Perhaps it 
 was at this time of deliverance from the Danish terror 
 that another church was founded in the growing town, 
 and dedicated in the name of St. Cuthbert, the patron 
 saint of Alfred. A deep devotion was solemnly incul- 
 cated from father to son, for several generations of the 
 house of Alfred, towards St. Cuthbert. 1 
 
 During the tenth century the revival of discipline 
 and learning was going on under the successors of 
 Alfred. Glastonbury was the chief scene of monastic 
 and educational reform under Dunstan and Ethelwold, 
 and the stream of endowment flowed strongly thither. 
 The Benedictine monks of Glastonbury could look 
 without jealousy from their Tor upon the little church 
 of Wells in the distant shadow of the hills, almost 
 
 i . Perhaps also we may see a remembrance of these Danish times 
 in the sculptured martyrdom of King Edmund of East Anglia on the 
 capitals of the north porch; it may be a reproduction by later 
 builders of the story they found carved on the early Saxon church. 
 The tragic story of the fall of the East Anglian king, a.d. 871, in 
 Alfred's lifetime, must have been deeply graven on the memories of 
 the sons of Alfred. 
 
I.] Bishop Robert, AX). 1136-1166. 3 
 
 encircled by their own possessions, served by a few 
 secular canons under the rule of a bishop who was 
 sometimes chosen from their own house. 
 
 But in the eleventh century, under Giso, 1061-1088, Bp. Giso, 
 
 ' A.D. I06l- 
 
 the foreign bishop from Lorraine, contemporary with i°88. 
 Edward the Confessor and living over the Norman 
 Conquest, contemporary also with the decline of Glas- 
 tonbury under unthrifty abbots, the possessions of 
 the see grew by royal endowments and episcopal gifts, 
 and the number of the canons increased. 
 
 In the Wells chapter library are copies of charters 
 already published and well known, of local endowments 
 of the see in the time of Giso. There is the original 
 charter dated from Rome, April 25, 1061, given by pope 
 Nicolas II to Giso after his consecration, "confratri 
 et coepiscopo," confirming to him and his successors 
 all that pertained to the see at present, all that he 
 should acquire in future. 1 
 
 There are copies of charters, from king Edward, 2 
 with grants of Chew and Wedmore, and of Milverton 
 and Mark from the lady Editha, in 1062, 3 and the 
 charter recapitulating all the possessions of the see in 
 1065. 4 There are the grants in 1066, 6 from William 
 as king, to " St. Andrew the Apostle " of thirty hides 
 
 1 . This charter is printed in fall fac-simile in Hickes' Thesaurus, vol. 
 i, p. 177, " as it does not exist in the Bullarium Romanum — it is a very 
 beautiful and valuable example of Italian writing of the time." 
 
 2. R. i, f. 14. Kemble Cod. Dipl., 834-839. 
 
 3. R. i, f. 17. Cod. Dipl., 917, 918. 
 
 4. R. iii, 241. Cod. Dipl., 816. Eyton, Domesday Studies, i, 145. 
 '* The charter is instructive on matters of topography, and shows, if 
 not any genuine grants, yet still what the church of Wells claimed 
 before the Conquest." 
 
 5. R. i, f. 14. Cod. Dipl., 976. 
 
4 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 at Banwell, 1 and of Winsham "for the use of the 
 canons of Wells," 2 and of the church of Wedmore by 
 Matilda, William's queen, at Giso's frequent solicitation, 
 in 1075. 3 
 
 In 1086, two years before Giso's death, the great 
 Domesday Survey had been made. A review of the 
 Terra Gisonis Episcopi enables us to see the result of 
 Giso's diplomacy, and to estimate the possessions of 
 the see at that time. 
 
 The Terra Gisonis Episcopi then included more 
 than one twelfth of the shire, it was measured at 2S0 
 hides, or about 50,000 acres, and valued at £333 10s., 
 with thirty-seven free tenants and an adult population 
 of 854.* It was the second ecclesiastical estate in 
 extent and value, and next after the abbey of Glaston- 
 bury, which had a hidage of 442, a population of 1390, 
 and a revenue of £460 8s. 8d. 
 
 The bishop had fifty hides as his own demesne at 
 Wells, on which the canons of St. Andrew were his 
 tenants, with fourteen hides assigned for their support ; 
 they also held eight-and-a-half hides at Litton, and four 
 hides at Wanstrow. These canons were the staff of 
 
 1. R. iii, f. 246. cf. Somerset Archceological Proceedings, vol. xxiii, 
 
 P-49- 
 
 2. R. i, f. 49. 
 
 3. R. i, f. 58. The controversy as to Harold's treatment of Giso has 
 been fully discussed by Mr. Freeman. Archer, writing after review 
 of all the charters in the registers, gives his opinion " ex his chartis 
 apertissime constat quam plane et omnino ficta et commentitia ea 
 quffi canonicus noster (the ' canon of Wells ') et Godwinus narrant 
 de Haroldo patrimonium Gisonis diripiente, de Gisone, regnante 
 Haroldo, sponte sua exulante, et de caeteris ecclesise Wellensis 
 possessionibus ab eodem confiscatis." Archer was writing 1730-1739. 
 
 4. Dugdale's Monasticon, xiii, f. 288, ed. 1819. Eyton's Domesday 
 Studies, ii, pp. 23 and 43 ; i, p. 142. One half nearly were moor and 
 forest lands. 
 
I.] Bishop Robert, A.D. 1136-11 66. 5 
 
 the church, the ministers of the bishop, his counsellors, — 
 but his tenants at will — under Benthelius the arch- 
 deacon, as the bishop's officer, and Isaac the " Provost," 
 the steward. In complete dependence upon the bishop, 
 their position and services in the church were entirely 
 subservient to the character and policy of the bishop of 
 the time. 
 
 We have two notable instances of the precarious 
 position and tenure of the canons in the times of Giso 
 and his successor. 
 
 Giso, coming from Lorraine where the semi-monastic 
 rule of cathedral life for secular canons had been estab- 
 lished, found a small and humble church at Wells 
 (mediocrem), a few canons there, (guatuor aut quinque), 
 without any conventual house, without refectory or 
 cloister, or the necessary ecclesiastical buildings. He 
 introduced the much stricter discipline of his own 
 country, built cloister, refectory and dormitory for the 
 canons, and obliged them to live together "as a celibate 
 brotherhood. 1 A provost, elected out of their own 
 body, had charge over the property and internal 
 management of the brotherhood, " qui bonis eorum 
 exterioribus curam impenderet et interius fratribus." 
 
 Giso was one of the bishops who consecrated 
 Lanfranc in 1070. He was at the synod of London 
 in 1075 when it was decreed that the seats of bishops 
 should be transferred from villages to cities, and 
 among others that of Wells to Bath, and he must 
 have forecast the great change and uprooting of his 
 " family " and college at Wells which this would cause. 
 
 1. Historiola " De primordiis Episcopatus Somersetensis," in Cam- 
 den Soc. Publications, p. 22 : — " regulariter et religiose cohabitare." 
 
6 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 But the move was delayed until after his death. 
 b p . John of When in 1088 John of Tours the successor in the see 
 
 Tours, a.d. J 
 
 1088-1122. obtained from William II the grant of the abbey of 
 Bath 1 , the seat of the bishop was transferred to Bath, 
 Wells lost the preeminence which it had held for two 
 hundred years as the sedes prcesulea, and became as one 
 of the manors of the see, but retaining a collegiate 
 church. 
 
 " Andrew gave place to Peter, the elder brother to 
 the younger." 
 
 With this removal of the bishop and the loss of title 
 and dignity to the see, a great change came over the 
 position of the canons of St. Andrew. Bishop John 
 broke up the ecclesiastical establishment which Giso 
 had built up. He destroyed alike the conventual 
 buildings and the canonical discipline, and the canons 
 once more lived in houses in the town, cum populo 
 communiter? 
 
 Their lands were farmed out to Hildebert his 
 brother, the provost or steward, with a rent-charge 
 upon them of sixty shillings to each canon, ten in 
 number. The provost devised them by will as private 
 property, subject only to rent-charge 3 to John the arch- 
 deacon, his son, and he to his brother Reginald, the 
 precentor. 
 
 1. Wells Charters, No. 2. See for text and commentary Freeman's 
 Norman Conquest, Note F to vol. i, p. 137. 
 
 2. Historiola, p. 22. It is not said that he built a house for himself 
 on the ground : this addition only appears in the fifteenth century 
 writer and Godwin. 
 
 3. Historiola " partem reddituum ecclesise Welliae contra canones 
 distraxit et Hildeberto dapifero suo distribuit redditus ecclesia: equipa- 
 rantes xxx libras et ultra." 
 
I.] Bishop Robert, a.d. ii 36-11 66. 7 
 
 After the death of bishop John, Godfrey, his successor, b p- Godfrey, 
 tried in vain to recover the lands from John the arch- "35 
 deacon, but the hand of Roger bishop of Salisbury, 
 the chancellor, then prevailed against him with the king, 
 and at his death he left to his successor the church and 
 canons suffering grievously from the exactions which 
 their subjection to the provost had brought upon them. 
 
 Robert of Lewes succeeded to the see inn 36. B P- Robert, 
 
 J A.D. 1136 
 
 With Robert a new stage in the history begins. 
 
 Like Osmund at Sarum, and Remigius at Lincoln 
 at the close of the eleventh century, so Robert in the 
 twelfth century is the second founder of the cathedral 
 church at Wells. He founded the constitution of the 
 chapter ; he was the first builder of the new church ; 
 and by granting the first charter of freedom, as over 
 lord, to the burghers of his town, he was the first maker 
 of Wells as a borough. 
 
 We can glean comparatively little from contem- 
 porary notices of his personal life. He was of a 
 Fleming family, but born in England j 1 a monk of the 
 Cluniac order and of the Cluniac house of St. Pancras, 
 founded by William de Warenne earl of Surrey, in 
 1091, at Lewes in Sussex. He owed his first appoint- 
 ment as prior of St. Swithin, Winchester, to Henry of 
 Blois, himself a monk of Cluni, the brother of king 
 Stephen, who, as abbot of Glastonbury from 1123 to 
 his death in 1 171, and bishop of Winchester from 1 129, 
 afterwards papal legate from 1139 to 1143, was the 
 prime minister and most powerful man in the kingdom 
 during the troubled reign of Stephen. 
 
 1. Florentii Wigorniensis Continuatio, ed. B. Thorpe (English His- 
 torical Society), p. 95. " Flandrinensis . natus in partibus Anglise." 
 Historiola, p. 23, anno 1174. 
 
8 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 Robert, after having been employed by abbot Henry 
 at Glastonbury on some temporary commission, 1 was 
 elected in 1136 bishop of Bath, and confirmed in the 
 temporalities of the see, by Stephen, at Westminster, 
 in the Easter feast. 
 b p . Robert's The full text of his appointment to the see is given 
 
 appoint- x *• 
 
 ment. J n a charter, which illustrates the relations of the king 
 
 towards the church, and the procedure in the appoint- 
 ment of bishops at this time. 
 
 King Stephen, rex Anglorum, addressing the arch- 
 bishop and the great men of the realm, makes grant of 
 the temporalities of the see to " Robert bishop of Bath " 
 by canonical election, and confirmation by royal and 
 popular approval, " canonica prius electione precedente, 
 et communi nostro concilio voto et favore prose- 
 quente." The king confirms to the bishop all grants 
 which former kings have made to former bishops. 2 
 
 The charter is attested in public audience at West- 
 minster during the Easter solemnities, and subscribed 
 by the three archbishops, of Canterbury, York, and 
 Rouen, and others, " audientibus et collaudantibus 
 omnibus fidelibus meis hie subscriptis ;'' and Robert 
 was consecrated by his friend and patron Henry of 
 Winchester. 3 This was the first appointment Stephen 
 
 1. Historiola, 23, " miserat uti rebus abbatiae disponeret." 
 Another Robert was prior of Glastonbury during Robert's epis- 
 copacy in 1 159. R. iii, f. 26. And he, or yet another Robert, was 
 also prior of St. S within' s and abbot of Glastonbury after abbot 
 Henry's death in 1171 . Adam of Domerham, ii, p. 305, ed. Hearne, 1727. 
 
 The Glastonbury writers do not mention this mission of Robert 
 of Lewes to Glastonbury. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 15, " Carta regis Stephani concessa Johanni (sic) episcopo 
 Bathon." " Johanni " is evidently the copyist's mistake for " Roberto." 
 There is no date of the year to the charter, but on the margin a later 
 hand has written 1136. 
 
 3. Florentii Wigorniensis Continuatio, ii, 95. 
 
"54- 
 
 I.] Bishop Robert, A.D. u 36-1166. 9 
 
 had made. He had landed from Boulogne in the 
 December before with little following, and had ob- 
 tained the support of London and Winchester, where 
 his brother the bishop had induced bishop Roger of 
 Salisbury, the justiciar, to make over to him the royal 
 treasure. Thus strengthened, he returned to London 
 for formal election and coronation. He had been 
 crowned, not without misgivings, by archbishop 
 William on St. Stephen's day, 1 135-6, in the presence 
 of the two bishops of Winchester and Salisbury. 
 
 A council of clergy was held in April at London, state of the 
 
 D ' r Kingdom, 
 
 in which they had petitioned Stephen to defend the a.d. 1136- 
 liberties of the church, and to give effect to her 
 counsels and decrees. 1 Either at his coronation or 
 at this council Stephen had given a short charter in 
 which he confirmed generally the laws and liberties of 
 the kingdom, and promised to respect the canonical 
 election of bishops, and to fill up vacant sees without 
 unnecessary delay. There was therefore good reason 
 that the ancient form of precedent should be carefully 
 set out, and attested in this first charter of the first 
 bishop's appointment in Stephen's reign. 
 
 Henry of Blois was not yet papal legate, and there 
 is no mention of papal confirmation of Stephen's 
 appointment. 
 
 Though we know little of Robert's personal life, it 
 is evident that the Cluniac monk must have been a 
 man of vigour and sagacity to obtain the recognition 
 of the politic statesman bishop Henry. 
 
 His after life showed his power of administration in 
 those difficult times. In the first part of his life as 
 
 1. Gesta Stephani, p. 17 (Rolls Series). Stubbs' Constitutional 
 History, i, pp. 320-322. 
 
io Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 bishop his connection with bishop Henry attached 
 him to the side of Stephen, and in his zeal for the 
 king's cause he nearly lost his life in the faction fights 
 between Bath and Bristol in 1 1 38. 
 
 His diocese was one scene of that unparalleled law- 
 lessness which contemporary chroniclers have painted 
 so graphically during the reign of Stephen. 
 
 In those years 1138-1139 Stephen was at Bath and 
 besieging Bristol. 1 From there he turned aside to 
 blockade the castle of the Lovel family at Castle Cary, 
 which he forced to surrender. He then marched 
 across the Mendip hills against William Fitzjohn of 
 Harpetre. The castle of Harpetre was taken by sur- 
 prise and burnt. The bishop's own lands suffered 
 from this predatory baron who stretched forth his 
 hands across the Mendips and " unjustly took from 
 bishop Robert the fee of Dinre " 2 (Dinder) which was 
 not restored during his episcopate. 3 Another insur- 
 gent, William of Mohun, lord of Dunster, from his in- 
 accessible castle on the shore of the Severn sea (" quod 
 pulchre et inexpugnate in pelagi littore locarat") 
 sallied " out to ravage all that region with fire and 
 sword, and turned a region of peace into discord and 
 rebellion, mourning and woe." " The realm was rent 
 in two ; some lords inclining to the king, some to 
 the empress. Neither of them could exact command 
 or enforce discipline ; both allowed to their supporters 
 evety sort of licence for fear of losing them. In every 
 province numbers of castles had sprung up, and there 
 
 1. Gesta IStephcmi, p. 41 (Rolls Series), anno 1138, p. 51, 1139. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 333. 
 
 3. R. i, f. 60, " Carta de feodo de Dinre records the restoration by 
 William de ftarpetre, the son, to Reginald, successor of Robert, in 
 1178." 
 
I.] Bishop Robert, A.D. 1136-1166. 11 
 
 were as many tyrants as there were lords of castles, 
 and they fought among themselves with deadly hatred. 
 They spoiled the fairest regions with fire and rapine, 
 and destroyed almost all the provision of bread. 
 Many bishops (' non tamen omnes sed plurimi ') took 
 arms, joined with the barons, fought in battle, divided 
 the spoil, built castles, oppressed the people, and 
 public fame branded especially the bishops of Win- 
 chester, Lincoln, and Chester." 1 
 
 In the centre of this endless agitation bishop Robert Bp. Robert 
 
 * at Wells. 
 
 was quietly working out the new constitution and the First sketch 
 
 n * & of the con- 
 
 new fabric of his church at Wells, which, as a house stitution of 
 
 the chapter. 
 
 built upon the rock, was to stand the storms of many 
 generations. 
 
 The charters of Robert's time are few, but each of 
 them has important bearing upon the history of the 
 church of Wells. They are as landmarks and starting 
 points, giving a direction to the course of later govern- 
 ment and the progress of events. 
 
 Carta tie ortJttiatume pre&enKarum et institution* 
 commune. 
 
 This first charter belongs to the year 1 1 36, the date 
 of his own consecration. He set himself at once to 
 the recovery of Wells from the state of humiliation 
 under which it had been left by the rule of bishop 
 John of Tours. 
 
 The charter is the first draft of the constitution ; it 
 is incomplete, but it is virtually the incorporation of 
 the Chapter. 2 
 
 1. Gesta Stephani, p. 100, anno 1143. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 31. R. ii, f. 41. R. iii, f- 2, 3. cf. Drokensford's Register, 
 f. 24. Dugdale's Mon., ii, 293. It has been misquoted by Wharton, 
 A.S., 561. 
 
12 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 He says he had acted in council with the archbishops, 
 bishops, and chief persons of the Church. The charter 
 was drawn up in the presence of bishop Henry of 
 Winchester, and afterwards confirmed by the two 
 archbishops, William de Corbeil, of Canterbury, and 
 Thurstan de Bayeux, of York, and by the bishops 
 Roger of Sarum, William of Exeter, and Simon of 
 Worcester. 
 
 The date of the charter is fixed conclusively by the 
 signatures of archbishop William, and William 
 Warelwast bishop of Exeter, both of whom died in 
 1136. 1 
 
 In this first draft of the constitution he was applying 
 to Wells principles worked out by Norman bishops 
 in the English cathedral churches at the end of the 
 previous century, but he was prompted immediately by 
 sympathy with the pressing wants of his church and 
 clergy. 
 
 He found the church " suffering intolerably from the 
 oppression of the provostship " — " invenimus ecclesiam 
 indebitis prepositurae oppressionibus supra modum 
 afflictam." 
 
 The ministrant body were suffering from the claims 
 of the provost, who doled out to them a bare subsis- 
 tence from the lands which had been bequeathed to 
 the church for their maintenance. Powerless for united 
 action in the absence or negligence of the bishop, they 
 were as chaplains or curates of the bishop and stipen- 
 diaries of the provost. 
 
 His aim was to constitute a self governing com- 
 munity, with a spiritual head and officers, who should 
 
 1. Stubbs Episcopal Succession, anno 1136. 
 
I.] Bishop Robert, A.D. n 36-11 66. 13 
 
 have their share in the home government of the church, 
 with freehold endowments separate and distinct from 
 the lands of the bishop, secured alike from misappro- 
 priation by the bishop or his officers as of late, and 
 from the grasp of the crown when the temporalities 
 passed to the crown on a vacancy of the see. 
 
 Accordingly he instituted a dean, an officer of institution 
 
 b J of the dean- 
 
 dignity and authority to preside and rule the canons, ship. 
 
 invested "with the like dignities and privileges and 
 
 authority as in other well ordered churches." And 
 
 lest the office should suffer from the like usurpation 
 
 (" ne in eadem ecclesia pristina tribulatio locum denuo 
 
 vendicaret,") the office was endowed with its own 
 
 lands which secured independence and dignity ; " de- 
 
 canum illic ordinavimus, concessis sibi dignitatibus 
 
 libertatibus et consuetudinibus canonicis ecclesiarum 
 
 Angliae bene ordinatarum." 
 
 .The deanship is the only office here instituted and the 
 
 framework of the constitution is now imperfectly 
 
 sketched out ; but bishop Robert had before him the 
 
 models of other cathedral churches where the capitular 
 
 system was at work, and to these Wells was gradually 
 
 assimilated. 
 
 "The Norman bishops," Mr. H. Bradshaw says, 1 
 
 "had brought with them into England a form of 
 
 government for the cathedral churches which they had 
 
 followed in their own churches of Rouen and Bayeux, 2 
 
 whereby the canons obtained a separate and inde- 
 
 1. Lincoln Cathedral Statutes, ed. Bradshaw and Wordsworth, 
 
 PP. 30. 36- 
 
 2. H. Bradshaw, pp. 35, 36, " It is at Bayeux that we find the 
 precise pattern followed by St. Osmund at Salisbury in the ordering 
 of the offices of 'decanus, cantor, cancellarius, thesaurarius, four 
 archdeacons, subdecanus, succentor.' " 
 
14 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 pendent position, and the home government of the 
 church became vested in them as a body, the 
 Chapter." 
 
 In the previous generation, about the same time at 
 York and Lincoln in 1090, and at Salisbury in 1091, 
 that form of constitution was instituted for the govern- 
 ment of these cathedral churches which became the 
 pattern for all secular chapters subsequently erected. 
 About the same time, " shortly before 1 150, the bishop 
 of Lincoln, Robert de Chesney, had been persuaded 
 on his accession to the see to bestow upon his chapter 
 the fullest privileges which had been accorded to the 
 chapter of Salisbury by their founder, and this example 
 was followed by other bishops both in England and 
 Scotland." The churches were put under the govern- 
 ment of officers appointed by the bishop, with definite 
 offices and duties and separate possessions attached to 
 the offices ; and with them was a body of canons, with 
 the dean at the head of all, appointed at first by the 
 bishop, but soon elected by themselves. 1 
 
 Each of the officers had a distinct sphere of duty. 
 The dean was president of the chapter and judge in 
 all causes and matters relating to the chapter ; the duty 
 of the precentor, the next in importance "in days when 
 the science of worship was so serious a matter " was to 
 rule the choir, to lead the chanting, to admit and instruct 
 the choir. The chancellor, called also the archisckola 
 had both educational and legal work — head of the 
 cathedral school, corrector of the ordinal and service 
 books, keeper of the seal, secretary and legal adviser 
 
 1. The election of the dean by the canons was the rule in bishop 
 Jocelin's time at least, if not before. R. i, f. 57, anno 1216 ; Cf. R. i, 
 f. 113. 
 
I.] Bishop Robert, A.D. n 36-1166. 15 
 
 of the chapter. All ornaments and furniture of the 
 church and the ordering of ceremonial was in the hands 
 of the treasurer. Subdean and succentor were assist- 
 tants respectively of dean and precentor. 
 
 All these offices are found existing very early in 
 the church of Wells, some, in Robert's time, 1 as dean, 
 precentor, treasurer, subdean, and two archdeacons of 
 Bath and Wells, and all, in the next episcopate of bishop 
 Reginald. 8 The description of these offices is contained 
 in the earliest draft of statutes. The untiqua statuta 
 which stand at the head of the successive codes of 
 dated statutes, themselves undated, are a declaration 
 of the " ancient customs of the church when first com- 
 mitted to writing." 3 These statutes supplement this 
 first draft of the charter, and show the next stage in 
 the growth of the constitution. 
 
 The division of the lands of the bishop, and the Viands' 
 endowment of the dean and the canons with separate 1 e ^' s preb 
 estates, was the second part in this charter. 
 
 The office of the dean was endowed with the manor 
 of Wedmoreland including Mark and Mudgeley, the 
 island block between the marshes of the Axe and the 
 Brue. He was rector of the churches of Wedmore 
 and Wookey, 1 but charged to support four prebends 
 with 100 shillings each a year out of his estate of 
 Wedmore. The manor of Litton also supplied a 
 prebend which was attached to the deanship. 
 
 1. R. i, i. 46. R. iii, 292 an. 1159. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 25, and Reginald's charter to the Town, in appendix E. 
 
 3. R. ii, f. 40, 1. Printed in Wells Cathedral, Reynolds, from the 
 Lambeth MS. 729. " Statutes were for the most part looked upon as 
 declaratory of the ' ancient customs of the church.' " H. Bradshaw, 
 •p. 37- 
 
1 6 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 The manor of Biddisham was set apart to supply a 
 fund for the support of the fabric and furniture of the 
 church of Wells, and it was the titular prebend of St. 
 Andrew (" ad reparandam ecclesiam beati Andreae et 
 ornamenta emenda"). Only one virgate of its land 
 was reserved to support a vicar choral at Wells. 
 
 Dulcot with Chilcot, Wormestor (Wormister), 
 Wanstrow, Bromley or Bromfield in the Quantocks, 
 each formed a prebend. 
 
 Out of Winsham five prebends were made. 
 
 The manor of Combe St. Nicholas was given for 
 life to Reginald the precentor, in compensation for his 
 cession of the tenure of the estates received through 
 his uncle the archdeacon from the late bishop John, 
 of whom a kindly mention is here made : " memores 
 beneficiorum quae ab avunculo suo bonae memoriae 
 Johanne episcopo ecclesiae nostrae collata sunt." But 
 after his death, prebends for the support of five canons 
 were to be formed out of the manor. 2 All these manors 
 had formed part of the endowments of the see as held 
 by bishop Giso. 
 
 Robert now made grants of two more prebends 
 from later endowments, viz. : Yatton, and Huish in 
 Brent Marsh with the church of Compton. 
 
 Two more prebends were made by the grant of king 
 Stephen of the churches of North Curry and Perreton. 3 
 
 i. This endowment was afterwards recast; first, when the sub- 
 dean held the church of Wedmore, and again by bishop Jocelin, 
 when Wookey became the endowment of the subdean and Wedmore 
 church returned to the dean. R. i, f. 58, anno 1210. 
 
 2. In Jocelin's time Combe was divided into fifteen prebends, 
 with a provost or steward who farmed the manor and distributed the 
 fixed sum of £5 to each canon. 
 
 3. R. i, f. 11, " Perreton," whether it be North or South Pether- 
 
time. 
 
 I.] Bishop Robert, A.D. u 36-11 66. 17 
 
 Altogether twenty-four prebends were made in 
 bishop Robert's time out of the lands of the see now 
 transferred, and made the freehold of the canons. 
 
 The charter, though entitled de institutione com- The com- 
 
 ...... riii muna in 
 
 munae, so far treats only of the division of the lands Robert's 
 into prebends assigned to individual canons ; it says 
 nothing of the common property, the communa, as 
 specifically vested in the corporation. But at the 
 same time Robert confirmed to the canons the grants 
 assigned by his predecessors for special purposes, e.g., 
 half a hide of land in North Wootton with which Giso 
 had endowed the chapel of the Blessed Virgin, and 
 and half a hide with which bishop Godfrey had en- 
 dowed the rectory of St. Cuthbert, in Wells, at the 
 dedication of this church by him (1123-1 135), after re- 
 construction of the old Saxon church. Later documents 
 contain the evidence that during his episcopate bishop 
 Robert made over the church of St. Cuthbert to the 
 canons, as part of their common property. 1 Other 
 special endowments were made expressly to the com- 
 muna of the canons during bishop Robert's time, by 
 grants of lay lands in the diocese, which, though not 
 enumerated now, appear in the confirmation of the 
 possessions of the see in the early part of the next 
 episcopate. 3 
 
 One specific grant is made for the daily sustenance 
 of the canons, of a tenth of the wine, or of the vine- 
 yards, of the bishop, and a charge upon the tithes 
 
 ton, did not remain attached to Wells. Henry of Blois, Richard de 
 Luci, and William Martel dapifer of the king attest the grant in 1 141. 
 
 1. R. i, f. in. R. Hi, f. 5, Confirmatio bonorum ecclesise per 
 Rogerum episcopum, 1246. 
 
 2. R. iii, f. 266, anno 1179. 
 
 D 
 
1 8 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 of the bishop to provide the canons with the allow- 
 ance of bread. The vineyards are not specified; 
 Glastonbury had vineyards at Meare, Pilton, and 
 Pamborough. 
 Gradual This charter, made in the first year of the episcopate, 
 
 constitution, could only represent the purpose of the bishop and the 
 first outline of his plans. The partition of the lands 
 and the endowment of the canons could only be carried 
 out in the course of after years, as the lands came into 
 the bishop's possession after alienation. 
 
 Early in bishop Robert's time Reginald the precen- 
 tor had surrendered his hereditary tenure. But it was 
 long before the bishop came into quiet possession of 
 all the lands which he had held. The right of surrender 
 was disputed by the nephews of Reginald in the king's 
 court, and it was only at the close of Robert's life that 
 their claims to the lands of Winsham, Mudgeley with 
 Mark and a virgate of Biddisham, and Wanstrow, were 
 compromised, at a cost of seventy marcs, and they made 
 public renunciation of all pretensions. 1 
 Grant of Again, in the charter of 1 1 36 Robert made a grant 
 
 Huishwith *> > J a 
 
 Compton. of Huish in Brent to the canons, but it was not until 
 1 1 59 that he was able to execute his purpose. Huish 
 was a member of the manor of Banwell, which remained 
 for some time in lay hands, after Banwell had been res- 
 tored to the see by William at the Conquest. 
 
 The recovery of Huish, and the conveyance of it to 
 the church, are made the subject of a deed of great for- 
 mality. 2 
 
 In a charter addressed to Theobald the archbishop, 
 
 1. Historiola, 26, 27. R. i, f. 36. R. iii, f. 15. Among the wit- 
 nesses are Richard the dean, which fixes the date after 1160. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 26. " Carta ecclesiae de Hiwys in Brent marisco." 
 
I.] Bishop Robert, A.D. 1136-n 66. 19 
 
 the bishops, and the whole diocese, he names the lay- 
 lords by whom the lands had been held in succession 
 during his episcopate and his purpose obstructed, and 
 now, fearing lest the manor of Huish should be lost 
 to the church (" metuentes ne in jus et rem perpetuam 
 laicorum transferetur ") he publicly declares that it is 
 made for ever a prebend in the church of Wells, 
 that thereby " the number of the canons there serving 
 God may be increased, and the praises of God may 
 sound forth more joyously." It is remarkable that a 
 synod of the diocese seems to have been called to attest 
 this deed, which is dated with great precision of year 
 and month, and epact and indiction, in the fifth year of 
 Henry " the younger " and in the twenty-third year of 
 the episcopate, 11 59. Peter, prior, and the convent of 
 Bath, Ivo, dean, and " the convent " of Wells, the 
 abbots of Muchelney and Athelney, Robert prior of 
 the monks of Glastonbury, the priors of Montacute, 
 Taunton, and Bruton, archdeacons Robert of Wells 
 and Thomas of Bath, " et multa clericorum turba " 
 attest the deed. 
 
 There are some other charters in the registers which Charters 
 
 supplement- 
 supplement the first charter of ordination, and which ary to the 
 
 institution 
 
 represent rules probably instituted by Robert. One for of prebends, 
 instance regulated the succession of the prebends for 
 the year after death, that on the vacancy of a prebend, 
 two parts of the revenues were assigned to the communa 
 of the canons, who were bound to maintain the obituary 
 services for the deceased during the year after death, 
 and the third part belonged to the estate of the late 
 canon. Each canon was bound to pay tithes to the 
 parish church near to which his prebend was situated ; 
 
20 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 Division of 
 the psalter 
 among the 
 prebends. 
 
 Existence of 
 
 vicars 
 
 choral. 
 
 he was in no wise to diminish the value of the prebend, 
 but to leave it stocked as he had received it. 1 
 
 The daily recitation of the psalter by the members 
 of the chapter, formed part of the consuetudinary 
 introduced by the Norman bishops in the twelfth 
 century elsewhere, and it is ordered in the earliest 
 draft of statutes, the antiqua statuta, at Wells. This 
 usage can be traced to very early times in the ordi- 
 nances of the churches of Lincoln and Salisbury, as 
 of Wells. 
 
 " The earliest recorded statute to be found at Lincoln, 
 is one concerning the division of the psalter for daily 
 recitation : it is an ordinance based upon the " ancient 
 institution," antiqua institutio, of the church, and 
 drawn up by the dean and chapter, and confirmed by 
 St. Hugh, bishop, 1186-1200." 2 
 
 An order in the antiqua statuta of the church of 
 Wells directs that " the whole psalter shall be said 
 daily for the brethren and benefactors of the church of 
 Wells, and two masses each week shall be celebrated 
 for living and dead." 3 
 
 Together with the institution of prebends, the exist- 
 ence of the vicars choral seems to be coeval with the 
 earliest establishment of the constitution, though not 
 part of the constitution, but an offshoot from it. It 
 was a natural result from the endowment of the 
 canons with prebendal estates. 
 
 We have seen that in the charter of n 36 it was 
 ordered that the prebend of Biddisham should provide 
 
 1. R. iii, f. 3; R. i, f. 29. 
 
 2. H. Bradshaw in Lincoln Cathedral Statutes, p. 37 
 
 3. R. ii, f. 42. 
 
I.] Bishop Robert, A.D. n 36-1166. 2\ 
 
 a vicar in the church of Wells, for whom a special 
 endowment of land was set apart, una virgata terrm. 
 
 The custom grew up very soon that every prebend- 
 ary who undertook to reside in part, and to claim any 
 share in the communa, was bound to provide a substi- 
 tute in his absence, vicarium suum, subject to the 
 dean's approval, and under the authority of the dean 
 and chapter. There is no mention of vicars in the 
 antiqua statuta, but they were engrafted into the 
 cathedral system before the end of the twelfth cen- 
 tury. 1 
 
 Such was the first outline of the capitular constitu- General 
 
 r result. 
 
 tion of the church of Wells in the twelfth century. The canons 
 
 a corporate 
 
 From henceforth gradually the canons of the cathedral body, " dean 
 
 and chap- 
 church became a distinct corporation, with a head in ter." 
 
 the person of the dean, at first appointed by the 
 
 bishop, soon afterwards chosen by the canons. All 
 
 the canons and dignitaries were appointed by the 
 
 bishop. But whereas hitherto the bishop had been 
 
 the head of his canons, as an abbot was the head 
 
 of his monks, now by degrees the chapter became a 
 
 separate body, with interests and possessions of its 
 
 own, distinct from those of the bishop — a corporate 
 
 body, entitled the " Dean and Chapter," to whom was 
 
 committed the home government of the cathedral 
 
 church. Each member of the chapter became a 
 
 separate corporation sole, distinct alike from the 
 
 bishop and his brother canons, in the possession of a 
 
 prebend as his freehold. 2 
 
 1. In Savaric's time. Charter No. 16, the abbot of Bee held the 
 church of Old Cleeve as his prebend : he was to be non-resident but 
 to pay four marcs to his vicar in the church of Wells. 
 
 2. Freeman, Cathedral Church, vol. ii, pp. 49, 65. 
 
22 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 Relations of when the "dean and chapter" of Wells had been 
 
 the chapters r 
 
 of Bath and constituted, the relations of the two chapters of Bath 
 
 Wells 
 
 adjusted. and Wells required careful readjustment. 
 
 Since the transfer of the see to Bath, there had 
 been doubtless a change in the mode of election of the 
 bishop. The canons of Wells had lost the position 
 which they had held from the earliest times, and 
 probably the formal election of bishops Godfrey and 
 Robert had been exercised by the monks of Bath alone. 
 
 Either experience, or forecast of strife between the 
 two bodies must have moved Robert soon to make 
 provision for settling the relations of the canons and 
 the monks. We find that the constitutional relation 
 of the two sees was laid down during his episcopate 
 and confirmed by papal confirmation. A charter of 
 Hadrian IV, in 1157, formally recognised Bath as the 
 bishop's seat, sanctioned Robert's title as bishop of 
 Bath, and confirmed him in all the possessions of the see. 1 
 
 Another papal charter by the next pope, Alexander 
 III (11 59-81) confirms the title and recites these 
 articles of arrangement made for the harmonious 
 relations of the two chapters. 
 
 (a). The two churches of Bath and Wells to be 
 equally seats of the bishop. 
 
 (b). The bishop to be elected by representatives of 
 the two chapters. 
 
 (c). The prior of Bath to notify the election to 
 the archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 (d). The bishop to be enthroned in bpth churches, 
 and first in the church of Bath. 2 
 
 1. R. ii, f. 45, anno 1157 ; R. iii, f. 268. 
 
 2. R. ii, f. 46, an. 1176. 
 
I.] Bishop Robert, A.D. 1136-1166. 23 
 
 These terms, acted on in the election of Reginald the 
 successor to bishop Robert, received the formal sanc- 
 tion of the Roman court in the year after his election, 
 1 1 76— at the request of the dean and chapter. But 
 there was no change or addition to the title of the 
 bishop " of Bath " at this time, and not for many years 
 later. 1 No bishop was called "of Bath and Wells" 
 before bishop Roger in 1244. 
 
 This sketch of bishop Robert's constitution for his 
 church, may be closed in the words of Henry Bradshaw, 
 which also are a prelude to the future history of the 
 chapter. 
 
 " The capitulum or chapter had originally been the 
 body of clerici most nearly connected with the bishop's 
 see, and forming as such the bishop's immediate 
 council. 
 
 " But by the latter part of the eleventh century this 
 body had begun in many ways to develop a substan- 
 tive existence of its own. The need of an organisation 
 for the management of the mother church of the 
 diocese, whether from the importance of that church, 
 or from the necessarily frequent absence of the bishop, 
 led to the creation of a systematic form of home govern- 
 ment ; and, in order to create and foster a due sense 
 of responsibility, it became a matter of good policy for 
 the Bishops to confer very great powers and privileges 
 
 1. Godwin incorrectly says, " Bishop Robert set down the order 
 that the bishop should be called bishop of Bath and Wells," 
 following the fifteenth century writer, the " Canon of Wells." 
 Archer, Chronicon Well., p. 29, corrects him and Wharton, 
 "Canonicus noster et Godwinus, quin et ipse Whartonus, haud satis 
 perspicue rem narrant. Nullus etenim Episcoporum ' Bathoniensis 
 et Wellensis ' nuncupatus est a prima sedis translatione per Joannem 
 Turonensem facta usque ad annum 1244." 
 
the church. 
 
 24 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 upon the body, to which this home government was 
 entrusted." 1 
 The fabric of While Robert was building up the framework of the 
 
 constitution, he was also rebuilding the fabric of the old 
 Saxon church of Wells. 
 
 But we must look to the registers of the church of 
 Bath for any contemporary notice, scanty as it is, of 
 this great achievement. 
 
 The only evidence which the Wells documents sup- 
 ply is an allusion in one charter, 2 and an incidental 
 record one hundred years later in an inventory of 
 the possessions of the church, of an endowment made 
 by bishop Robert at the dedication of the church which 
 in 1246 was then called the " old church," in dedicatione 
 veteris ecclesia? 
 
 It is a remarkable instance of the fragmentary and 
 incomplete character of these materials of history that 
 such an event as the reconstruction and consecration 
 of the cathedral church should be almost unnoticed in 
 the contemporary records at Wells. 
 
 All that we learn from the Bath writer is that Robert 
 was a builder at Bath in completing the church which 
 John of Tours had begun, and that the church also of 
 Wells was built by his design and help, and afterwards 
 dedicated with a solemnity which made it memorable. 4 
 
 He dilates on the dedication of the church in the 
 
 1. H. Bradshaw, in Lincoln Cathedral Statutes, p. 31. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 46. 
 
 3. R. iii, f. 4. " Confirmatio bonorum ecclesiae per Rogerum epis- 
 copum," A.D. 1246. Lights for the high altar were to be provided 
 from lands at Dultingcote by the grant of bp. Robert, " in dedicatione 
 veteris ecclesiae." 
 
 4. Historiola, p. 24. " Porro non est oblivioni tradendum quod 
 ecclesia Welliae suo consilio fabricata est et auxilio." 
 
I.J Bishop Robert, KX>. n 36-1166. 25 
 
 presence of three bishops, Jocelin of Sarum, Simon of 
 Worcester, and Robert of Hereford. 
 
 The death of Robert de Bethune, bishop of Hereford, 
 on April 16, 1148, fixes the date of consecration to the 
 early part of that year. As if in fresh recollection of the 
 event, the writer tells how the consecration was marked 
 by the grant from the bishops present, of one hundred 
 days of remission of penance to all who should keep 
 the anniversary of that day by coming to the church. 1 
 
 The later writers, the canon of Wells and Godwin, 
 enlarge somewhat on this meagre account. They 
 speak each in much the same terms of the ruinous 
 condition of the church. 
 
 The fifteenth century writer in Wharton, says " dedi- 
 cavit ecclesiam Wellensem. Multas ruinas destruc- 
 tionem ejus in pluribus locis comminantes, egregie 
 reparavit." 8 
 
 Godwin follows " whereas our church of Wells at this 
 time was exceedingly ruinous, and likely every day to 
 fall to the ground, he pulled down a great part of it 
 and repaired it." 3 
 
 This is all we are told of Robert as a builder of the 
 church of Wells. 
 
 There is enough to lead us to look for evidence in the 
 architectural features of the fabric which may corres- 
 pond with the date of this consecration of some part of 
 it, in 1 148. This date, at least, must be the starting 
 
 1. " Magnum, mirificum, et memorandum collatumest donativum." 
 
 2. Anglia Sacra, p. 561. 
 
 3. Godwin, Lat. ed., 1614; Engl, ed., 1601. Archer quotes and 
 comments on their statements : — " Unde vero ista hauserunt non 
 constat." 
 
26 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 point for all enquiries into the architectural history of 
 the present church. 
 
 The church which Robert was rebuilding was the 
 Saxon or " Romanesque " church of Wells, in which 
 Dudoc and Giso were buried, each in their places on 
 either side of the high altar. 1 Mr. Freeman would 
 have us conceive of this " the old church of St. 
 Andrew" as built in the old Romanesque "style of 
 England which prevailed before the great improve- 
 ments of Norman Romanesque were introduced in the 
 eleventh century, — small, and low, and plain, with 
 massive round 1 arches and small round-headed windows, 
 with one or more tall, slender, unbuttressed towers, 
 imitating the bell towers of Italy." 2 It was such a 
 church which Robert was now rebuilding. 
 
 In the church of Bath which he is said to have 
 partly rebuilt or finished he must have had before him 
 a more finished example of that " later variety of 
 Romanesque which had been imported into England 
 under Edward the Confessor, from Normandy, and 
 which is called the Norman style," in which John of 
 Tours had been building. 
 
 But the associations of Robert were not limited to 
 Normandy, and he was living and building at a time 
 in the twelfth century when the earlier Norman archi- 
 tecture was undergoing a change, and the pointed arch 
 was beginning to take the place of the round massive 
 arches of the buildings of the first part of the century. 
 
 i. Historiola, 21, " Giso sepultus est in ecclesia quam rexerat in 
 hemicyclo (a round arch) facto in pariete a parte aquilonali prope 
 altare, sicut Dudoco predecessor ejus sepultus est a meridie juxta 
 altare." 
 
 2. Freeman, Cathedral Church, p. 24. 
 
I.] Biskop Robert, A.D. n 36-11 66. 27 
 
 He was connected with the great abbey of Cluni, 
 planted in Burgundy in the tenth century, and now in 
 the height of its fame and prosperity. His own Cluniac 
 monastery of St. Pancras, at Lewes, which had been 
 dedicated at the close of the last century, 109 1, by 
 bishops Walkelin of Winchester, Gundulf of Rochester, 
 and Ralph of Chichester, had lately been enlarged and 
 rebuilt, while he was at work on his own churches at 
 Bath, and Wells. 
 
 A year or two before the church of Wells was con- 
 secrated in 1 148, the church of his old home of St. 
 Pancras at Lewes, had been consecrated for a second 
 time, and Robert of Bath was one of the bishops who, 
 with Henry of Winchester, and Ascelin of Rochester, 
 assisted Theobald the archbishop. 
 
 Though there could be little or no likeness between 
 .the two churches of St. Pancras at Lewes and of Wells, 
 yet there is an interest in noting the remarkable features 
 of the church with which Robert was familiar while he 
 was building at Wells. " The convent of St. Pancras 
 of Lewes, taking the mother church of Cluni as a 
 desirable model, added to the presbytery an eastern 
 transept, with an apse in each arm and a lofty lantern 
 at the crossing, and, beyond this, an apse with five 
 apsidal chapels encircling its aisles." 1 
 
 Robert had also as another pattern, the church of 
 old Sarum, which bishop Roger, " the greatest builder 
 of his day," was building at his death in 1 139 ; and the 
 church of the abbey of Malmesbury, in which the 
 pointed arch appears, is ascribed also to bishop Roger. 
 
 1. Arch&ological J ournal, vol. xli. "Onthe Cluniac ipriorydf St. 
 Pancras, Lewes," by W. H. St. John Hope. 
 
28 . Chapters in Wells History. [chap. 
 
 These works of bishop Roger, Mr. Freeman says, 
 "brought to perfection that later form of Norman 
 architecture, lighter and richer than the earlier type 
 which slowly died out before the introduction of 
 the pointed arch and its accompanying details. . . 
 The greater lightness and richness of Roger's work 
 became the fashion in the days of Henry the Second 
 (1141-1189), and when the fashion had once been set 
 lightness and richness went on increasing. . . Now 
 all forms of Romanesque, the architecture of the 
 round arch, were to give way to the fully developed 
 architecture of the pointed arch. . . The germ 
 which we see at Malmesbury grew up by slow and 
 easy steps into the full growth of Lincoln and Salis- 
 bury. . . Before the twelfth century had run its 
 course the fully developed pointed architecture had 
 reached its perfection, not at the hands of a French- 
 man at St. Denis, but at the hands of the saint whom 
 the imperial Burgundy gave to England, St. Hugh at 
 Lincoln 1 186-1200." 
 
 If then on these grounds of architectural history, it 
 does not seem so impossible, or improbable, that the 
 pointed arch found its way as an architectural feature 
 into the church which Robert was building at Wells 
 in the middle of the twelfth century, we may hesitate 
 before we accept the assumption that " whatever was 
 the extent of bishop Robert's work, it is certain that 
 not a single bit of detail of his building is to be seen in 
 the present church ;" that " whatever was built in the 
 days of Robert has utterly vanished ;" and that here "one 
 of the massive piles of that day has utterly gone 
 without leaving any trace of itself." 1 
 
 1. See Freeman, Norman Conquest, v. 638-641 ; Cathedral Church 
 of Wells, pp. 67-69. 
 
I.] Bishop Robert, A.D. n 36-11 66. 29 
 
 But if we know little of the construction of the fabric ?P; Robert 
 
 . in the church 
 
 by bishop Robert, we have evidences in his charters 
 
 that he was active not only in building, but in furnishing 
 
 his restored church, and in promoting due order and 
 
 reverence of worship therein. 
 
 The one charter in which allusion is made by Robert p rant of 
 
 J lights to the 
 
 to his dedication of the church contains a grant of hi § h altar oi 
 
 , , & St. Andrew. 
 
 lands at Dulcot and Chilcot, of half a hide and half 
 a virgate to one who had been long engaged in some 
 way in his service, Ralph Martire, " qui per longa 
 tempora nobis servierat." 
 
 These lands were charged with the perpetual obliga- 
 tion of providing three lights, one of three pounds 
 weight, and two of two pounds each, for the high altar 
 on the vigil of the festival of St. Andrew. 1 
 
 This grant was confirmed by bishop Roger in 1246. 2 
 Another charter has a double interest. In it the statute to 
 
 remove mar- 
 
 bishop appears both as chief pastor and ordinary in kets from^ 
 his cathedral church, and also as lord of the manor 
 granting a charter of freedom from tolls to his burghers 
 of the town. 3 
 
 The preamble recites that whereas the noise and 
 disorder of markets held in the church and the vesti- 
 bule of the church (atrio ecclesice), bring dishonour to 
 God, disturbance to the ministering priests, and hin- 
 
 1. R. i, f. 46; iii, f. 292. Hyginus, the precentor (this may be a 
 mistake by the later copyist for Reginaldus), two archdeacons, Robert 
 of Wells, Thomas of Bath, Robert subdean, William the treasurer. 
 John the provost, Peter prior of Bath, William prior of Bruton, are 
 among the witnesses attesting this grant. Ivo the dean and others, 
 confirm it. 
 
 2. R. iii, f. 4. 
 
 3. R. iii, f. 245. " Carta Roberti episcopi de nundinis Wellensibus in 
 cimiterio non faciendis ; (cimiterio is written over atrio by a later hand). 
 
 the church. 
 
30 Chapters in Welk His.to.rty. [CHAiP. 
 
 drance to worshippers, lest the church should become 
 a den of merchandise, spelunca negotiations, the bishop 
 orders that henceforth, markets on the eves and fes- 
 tivals of the Invention of Holy Cross (May 3), of St. 
 Calixtus (October 14), and of St. Andrew (November 
 30), shall no longer be held near the church, but in the 
 broad places of 'the town, in plateis villce. 
 
 We realize the scene suggested — the stalls and 
 booths in the square in front, against the doors, and 
 on the ;steps, within the porches, or in the nave itself 
 of the church ; market people standing and chaffering 
 around the doors, coming with baskets and goods into 
 the church, kneeling before shrines and altars. Such 
 was the scene at the west door, and in the nave of the 
 old church, and on the ground outside, where after- 
 wards, when the later hand wrote the title to the 
 charter in the register, "in cimiterio" instead of "in 
 atrio " was the great cemetery. 1 
 
 As God's minister careful for the reverence due to 
 His house Of prayer, he removed the markets from the 
 west front of the church to the square of the town. 
 At the same time, as an act of grace from the lord of 
 the manor, he made a grant to the burghers of his 
 town that the tolls due to his officers at those markets 
 should be remitted for ever, " ut quieti de teloneo in 
 perpetuum permanerent." 
 
 This charter, made before 1 160, is attested by Ivo 
 the dean, Reginald the precentor, Robert and Thomas 
 archdeacons, Ralph Martire and others. It is one in 
 that series of local municipal charters whereby the 
 
 1. R. i, f. 64. See the arrangement in 1243, for the cemeteries round 
 the church. 
 
I.] Bishop Robert, A.D. n 36-11 66. 31 
 
 boroughs of England grew up into independent self- 
 government. 1 
 
 The charter fixed the time at which these free Festivals 
 markets should be held, and an interesting question 
 arises why these festivals should have been chosen. 
 
 The festival of St. Andrew was of course kept with 
 special ceremonial as the feast of the patron saint. 
 The other two days may have been chosen as the 
 great markets of spring and autumn. But there may 
 have been other historical reasons why these two 
 festivals were days of special observance in the church 
 of Wells. 
 
 Leodgaresburgh, afterwards Montacute in Somerset, 
 had been the scene of the " Invention," the discovery, 
 in the days of Cnut, 2 of a relic of the Holy Cross 
 which had been transported by oxen taking their 
 straight way as by divine monition, like the kine of 
 Bethshemesh, until they came to Waltham in Essex. 
 There in later days earl Harold had raised over the 
 sacred relic the great church of secular canons, rival of 
 St. Peter's Westminster, which was consecrated in the 
 presence of Edward and the great men of the land, 
 among whom bishop Giso was present, on Holy Cross 
 day, 1060. 
 
 The cross of Waltham, once the cross of Leod- 
 garesburgh, became the special object of the devotion 
 of Harold's life — the rallying cry of the men who 
 fought around his standard on the fatal day of battle, 
 which was the day of St. Calixtus, October 14. 
 
 1 
 
 1. Charters No, 5 ; cf. R. iii, 243-6. 
 
 2. "Regnante Cnuto et Anglis imperante — in ltico qui dicitur 
 Monsacutusquem Lutegaresberiecompatriotae appellant." Tr.actatus 
 de inventione Sanctce Cruris, ed. Stubbs, 1861. 
 
32 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 Could it be that an altar of the Holy Cross had been 
 raised in memory of the " Invention of the Holy 
 Cross " of Leodgaresburgh and endowed in the church 
 of St. Andrew in Wells by earl Harold himself, in 
 Giso's time ? 
 
 Nor again can we forget that it was on the day of 
 St. Calixtus, the third of these days of observance, that 
 Harold fell in battle and William the Norman won 
 the kingdom. The bishop at that time was Giso the 
 foreigner, whose sympathies and hopes would rather 
 be with the conqueror than with Harold. Could Giso 
 have dedicated the altar in the aisle of the south tran- 
 sept in the name of this saint, as a courtly compli- 
 ment to a powerful patron, or in gratitude for lands 
 recovered and endowments given ? 
 
 Whatever may have been the reason for the selection 
 of these festivals or for their original institution, we 
 know that there were three altars with these dedications 
 in the church in bishop Robert's time. 
 
 The escheator's accounts in the chapter archives 
 contain evidences that the offerings made at these 
 markets {nundinal) were paid, and formed part of the 
 revenues of the church through succeeding ages, until 
 all record of them ceases in the years of general con- 
 fiscation in the sixteenth century. 1 
 charters by Two charters of Henry II in Robert's episcopate 
 
 Henry II. ' r r 
 
 mark the recognition by the crown of freehold rights 
 of the bishop and of the dean, as lords in their res- 
 pective estates ; the one a grant to Robert to enclose 
 his parks throughout the county, thereby securing his 
 freedom from the usurpations of the king's officers of 
 
 i. Esckeatory Rolls, passim until A.D. 1544. Hist. MSS. Report, 
 p. 284. 
 
I.] Bishop Robert, A.D. 1136-1166. 33 
 
 the forests, 1 and about the same time Ivo, the dean 
 obtained a charter of " free warren " on his lands at 
 Wedmore 2 which gave him like immunity in his manor. 
 
 Ivo, the first dean, was succeeded by Richard of Richard of 
 
 Spaxton, 
 
 Spakeston (Spaxton on the Ouantocks) in 1160, and second dean, 
 
 1 ■ 1 i , • , , T - * . A - D - Il6 °- 
 
 he survived the bishop and the interregnum of eight 
 
 years which followed Robert's death in 1 166. 
 
 Through these thirty years of national strife and of 
 disputed succession to the throne, Robert was mostly 
 engaged in these works of home administration, but 
 at times he was also taking part in the public affairs of 
 church and state. 
 
 In 1 141 he was with bishop Henry at Winchester, 
 at the public reception of the empress Matilda, after 
 Stephen had been taken prisoner at the battle of Lin- 
 coln ; when many of the bishops, headed by Henry of 
 Winchester and Bernard of St. David's, shifted for the 
 time their allegiance from Stephen to the empress. 3 
 
 In 1 153 he assisted as witness to the compact made 
 between Stephen and the young duke Henry of 
 Anjou, and he was present at Henry's coronation 
 at Westminster, December 19, 1154.* In October of 
 that year he had been one of the consecrators at 
 Westminster of Roger de Pont PEv6que archdeacon of 
 Canterbury to the archbishopric of York. 
 
 In 1 162 he was one of the fourteen bishops present 
 at Canterbury at the consecration of Thomas the 
 chancellor to the archbishopric of Canterbury, and 
 
 1. R. i, f. 15. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 58. 
 
 3. Will. Malmb., ii, 188. 
 
 4. Matt. Paris. 
 
36 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. I. 
 
 preserved and handed on the traditions of Bee and of 
 Canterbury, which had gathered round Lanfranc and 
 Anselm," he was contemporary also with the lawyers 
 of the court of Henry, and the younger literary men 
 who formed the school of St. Thomas, the eruditi 
 Sancti Thomm, such as John of Salisbury, Ralph de 
 Diceto afterwards dean of St. Paul's, and Reginald 
 "the Italian," son of bishop Jocelin of Sarum, the 
 intelligent traveller and diplomatist, who after eight 
 years of vacancy in the see was his successor as bishop 
 of Bath. 
 
Savaric 
 
 Bp. of Bath and Glastonbury. 1192-1205 
 
 Jocelin 
 Bp. of Bath, 1206-1242 
 Bp. of Bath and Glastonbury. 1206-1219 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 Bishop Reginald, A.D. 1174-1191. 
 
 I venture to think that bishop Reginald Fitzjocelin 
 deserves a place of higher honour in the history of the 
 diocese, and of the fabric of the church of Wells, than 
 has hitherto been accorded to him. 
 
 His memory has been obscured by the traditionary 
 fame of bishop Robert as the " author," and of bishop 
 Jocelin as the " finisher," of the church of Wells ; and 
 the importance of his episcopate as a connecting link 
 in the work of these two master-builders has been 
 comparatively overlooked. The only authorities 
 followed for the history of his episcopate have been 
 the work of the Canon of Wells, and bishop Godwin. 
 But Wharton, in his notes to the text of his author, 
 comments on the scanty notice of bishop Reginald ; x 
 and Archer, our local chronicler, complains of the 
 unworthy treatment bishop Reginald had received 
 from Godwin, also a canon of his own cathedral 
 church. 2 
 
 1. " Reginaldi gesta historicus noster brevius quam pro viri digni- 
 tate enarravit." Wharton, Anglia Sacra, i, 871. 
 
 2. " Historicus noster et post eum Godwinus, nimis breviter gesta 
 Reginaldi perstringunt quae pro egregii viri dignitate narrationem 
 magis applicatam de Canonicis istis Wellensibus merita sunt." 
 Archer, Chronicon Wellense, sive annales Ecclesiae Cathedralis 
 Wellensis, p. 75. 
 
38 Chapters in Wells History. [chap. 
 
 J*** Bishop Reginald Fitzjocelin de Bohun, and bishop 
 
 Savaric, his kinsman and successor, were the two last 
 in the succession of foreign bishops who held the see 
 of Somerset from the time of Edward the Confessor. 
 Reginald was of the family of de Bohun, of the 
 C6tentin, the north-west corner of Normandy, where 
 two villages — St. George and St. Andre" de Bohun, 
 near Carentan, in a district of plain and canal like 
 Sedgmoor — still mark the cradle of the family. 
 Richard de Bohun, bishop of Coutances, 1151 — 1179, 
 was his uncle ; his father was Jocelin de Bohun, bishop 
 of Sarum, 1142 — 1184. 
 
 Another member of the family, Engelger de Bohun, 
 is mentioned as one of Henry II's evil counsellors who 
 incited Henry against Becket, when at Argentan he 
 uttered the hasty words which led to the murder of 
 the archbishop. 1 
 
 Into this family married Savaric Fitzchana, son of 
 Ralph, the lord of Beaumont and St. Suzanne, and of 
 Chana his wife, daughter of Geldewin, a Dane, lord of 
 Saumur. He himself was made lord of Midhurst, in 
 Sussex, by Henry I. 
 
 His son, Savaric FitzSavaric, inherited the lands of 
 de Bohun ; but, dying childless, he was succeeded in 
 his inheritance by his nephew Franco de Bohun, son 
 of Geldewin FitzSavaric and his wife Estrangia. 
 Savaric, bishop of Bath, 1192, in succession to his 
 
 1. W. FitzStephen, in Materials for History of Becket, vol. iii, 
 p. i2g, (Rolls Series), " Engelgerus de Bohun, quidam inveteratus 
 dierum malorum," gave the counsel, " Let him be crucified." Cf. 
 Register of St. Osmund, i, f. 206 (Rolls Series). 
 
II.] Bishop Reginald, A.D. 1174-1191. 39 
 
 cousin Reginald Fitzjocelin de Bohun, was younger 
 brother of Franco de Bohun. 1 
 
 Reginald Fitzjocelin was born about 1140, before 
 his father, the bishop of Sarum, had been admitted to 
 the priesthood, yet so shortly before, that the question 
 could be raised as an objection to his consecration to 
 the episcopate in after years. Sufficient testimony 
 was at that time brought forward to satisfy and to 
 remove objections. Either as born of Italian blood, 
 or from early residence in Italy, he bore the name of 
 "the Lombard" or "the Italian." The schools of 
 Lombardy, Pavia, Bologna, Padua, whence had come 
 to Normandy Lanfranc and Anselm, were famous. 
 The towns of Lombardy were asserting their inde- 
 pendence of the emperor at this time, and Henry's 
 wide-reaching continental policy, and the foreign 
 marriages of his sons, were bringing Englishmen into 
 close relations with Italians and Germans, as well as 
 with French. 2 
 
 Herbert of Bosham, in his life of St. Thomas, names 
 " Reginald the Lumbard " among those attached to 
 the archbishop in his earlier days abroad. Though he 
 laments his defection afterwards, in the time of the 
 archbishop's quarrel with Henry, he describes him at 
 this time as a young man high-spirited, intelligent, 
 prudent beyond his years in council, active and able. 3 
 
 1. Bishop Stubbs in Gentleman's Magazine, Nov., 1863, and 
 Preface to Epp. Cantuarienses, p. lxxxvi, note, has supplied materials 
 for genealogies of bishops Reginald and Savaric. 
 
 ■i. On Henry's relations with Italy, France, Germany, v. Stubbs' 
 Pre/, to Benedict of Peterborough, ii, p. xxxi. On Italian affairs of 
 interest in England at this time, v. Stubbs' Pre/, to R. Howden, ii, 
 p. xcii. 
 
 3. Herbert of Bosham names some Lombards among the 
 
40 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 From the letter of Peter of Blois archdeacon of Bath, 
 to Reginald when archdeacon of Sarum, we know that 
 he combined a keen love of hawking with attention to 
 business. 1 These qualities would have been likely to 
 have brought the young ecclesiastic into favour with 
 the chancellor in his earlier days. 
 
 In 1 1 58 Becket, then chancellor, was sent on an 
 embassy to Paris, with a large suite and much pomp, 
 to arrange the betrothal of Henry's eldest son, then a 
 boy of seven, to Margaret, daughter of Louis VII. 
 The marriage compact was finally completed, not 
 without a quarrel and a reconciliation between the 
 two kings, in 1160. 2 Perhaps Reginald joined Becket 
 about this time, and, as Becket's friend, passed into 
 favour at the French court. In 1 164, he received from 
 Louis VII of France a piece of court preferment, 
 succeeding therein the king's brother Philip as abbot 
 of St. Exuperius in Corbeil. The deed of gift, of which 
 the original is extant among the chapter documents of 
 Wells, entitles him " archdeacon of Sarum," and recites 
 that the preferment was due both to his own merits 
 
 "eruditi" of Becket's followers, together with Reginaldus Lum- 
 bardus; Lumbardus of Piacenza, afterwards archbishop of Bene- 
 ventum, Becket's teacher in canon law ; Humbert Crivelli, of Milan, 
 afterwards archbishop of Milan, and pope Urban III in 1185, and 
 others. Herbert thus describes Reginald : — 
 
 " Reginaldus natione Anglus, sed sicut educatione et cognomento 
 Lumbardus, pro aetate prudens et industrius, animosus et efficax in 
 agendis, qui extra patriam aliquanto tempore nobiscum fortiter stans, 
 cito doloris nostri fuit principium." Materials for Life of Becket, 
 iii, p. 524. 
 
 1. Peter of Blois, Ep. 61. He reminds him when archdeacon of 
 Sarum, " curam non avium sed ovium suscepisti," and warns him of 
 the danger, " si non oves avibus antefertis." 
 
 2. R. de Diceto, vol. i, p. 302 (Rolls Series), an. 1158. They were 
 betrothed 1160, p. 304. 
 
II.] Bishop Reginald, A.D. n 7 4-1 191. 41 
 
 and also to the solicitations of his friends — "donavi- 
 mus pro honestate sud, et pro amicorum suorum 
 prece." 1 
 
 The year of his appointment to the abbey of St. 
 Exuperius was the year of the archbishop's quarrel 
 with the king. 
 
 On January 25, 1164, the Council of Clarendon was 
 held, and, after the meeting at Northampton, Becket 
 withdrew from England to Pontigny. Bishop Jocelin 
 of Sarum, father of Reginald, had been the leader and 
 spokesman of the bishops in the vain attempt to 
 mediate between the king and the archbishop, and to 
 conciliate the archbishop after the scene at North- 
 ampton. He and Gilbert Ffolliot, bishop of London, 
 became thenceforth the objects of Becket's violent 
 hostility, and he excommunicated the two bishops, 
 together with John of Oxford, dean of Sarum, and 
 others of his opponents, from Vezelay, on Whitsun 
 Day, 1 166. In this quarrel Reginald took his father's 
 side, and withdrew from Becket's party. 
 
 Peter of Blois about this time intercedes for Reginald 
 with one of Becket's court, and defends him for having 
 left the archbishop in duty to his father, whom the 
 archbishop had denounced. But Reginald had now 
 taken the king's side. His education, ability, foreign 
 experiences, and conciliatory temperament soon made 
 him one of the most acceptable of Henry's diplomatists 
 at the court of Rome, where the quarrel between two 
 violent and headstrong men was mainly fought out. 
 
 In 1 167 he was at Rome with John of Oxford, dean 
 of Sarum, and Clarembald, abbot of St. Augustine's, 
 
 1. Charter No. 7. The text is quoted in Appendix C. 
 
42 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 when they obtained from pope Alexander the pro- 
 hibition to the archbishop against publishing his 
 censures pending the attempt at reconciliation. 1 He 
 was there again in 1169, and accompanied to England 
 the legates Gratian and Vivian, who were sent to effect 
 the reconciliation ; 2 and he then incurred Becket's 
 violent abuse for his activity and influence at Rome 
 on the occasion. 3 
 
 In 1 170, June 14, Roger, archbishop of York, to- 
 gether with the bishops of London, Sarum, Durham, 
 and Rochester, crowned the young king Henry in 
 Westminster abbey. The anger of the archbishop 
 and primate blazed out afresh at this violation of the 
 prerogative of the see of Canterbury. A formal recon- 
 ciliation was effected with the king for a time ; but at 
 the close of this year the six years' struggle between 
 king and archbishop reached its tragic end when the 
 archbishop was struck down by his murderers, the four 
 knights 4 of the court, in the transept of Canterbury 
 cathedral church, December 29, 1 170. 
 
 Reaction in favour of the cause of " the martyr " at 
 once set in. Henry, shocked at the outrage and sacri- 
 lege, and alarmed at the consequences to his kingdom 
 and to himself, sent at once an embassy to Rome, of 
 men selected as " acceptable to the court of Rome, 
 and well able to plead the king's cause," 2 of whom 
 
 1. W. FitzStephen, in Materials for Life of Becket, iii, 99 (Rolls 
 Series). 
 
 2. lb. vi, 565 (Rolls Series). 
 
 3. lb. vii, 59 (Rolls Series). 
 
 4. Three of the four knights held lands in Somerset : Reginald 
 Fitzurse— Richard Breto— William de Traci. 
 
 5. Gervase says (i, 233, Rolls Series) : " misit nuntios spectabiles 
 et admodum loquaces." R. Howden gives the names, vol. ii, p. 26 
 
II. J Bishop Reginald, A.D. n 74-1 191. 43 
 
 Reginald archdeacon of Sarum was one. The letter 
 to the king reports the result of the mission— they 
 had arrived on Palm Sunday, and had been treated with 
 little respect by the cardinals and denied audience by 
 the pope who was at Frascati ; the king's name was 
 execrated ; Maundy Thursday, the day of public 
 absolution or excommunication by the pope, was 
 approaching ; Henry's excommunication and the 
 interdict of the kingdom of England was threatened. 
 With the greatest difficulty 1 they obtained suspension 
 of the interdict, and it had been averted by their 
 pledging themselves that the king would stand to 
 judgment and submit to sentence from the pope. So 
 the interdict was averted ; but the excommunication 
 of the murderers and of all concerned was proclaimed. 
 The legates were sent to England or Normandy to 
 receive Henry's submission. The king's purgation 
 and penance at Avranches followed in the next year 
 (May 21, 1 1 72); the canonization of St. Thomas, 
 ordered by the pope, was proclaimed on Ash Wednes- 
 day, 1 173, and December 29 set apart as the festival 
 of St. Thomas of Canterbury. 2 
 
 According to one of the conditions required from 
 
 (Rolls Series) : Rotrodus, archbishop of Rouen, who stopped in 
 Normandy ; Aegidius bishop of Evreux ; Roger bishop of Worcester ; 
 Richard de Blosseville, abbot of La Valasse ; Reginald archdeacon 
 of Sarum ; Richard archdeacon of Lisieux ; Richard Barre and 
 Henry Pinchun, clerks. For the letter giving report, R. Howden, 
 vol. ii, p. 25. 
 
 1. Gervase adds (ibid.) : "aliam viam supplicandi, more scilicet 
 Romano sunt aggressi — vix tandem quingentis marcis interpositis 
 admissi sunt." 
 
 2. Bull for the canonization of St. Thomas, dated March 13, 
 1173. R. de Diceto, i, 369. 
 
44 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 Henry by the papal legates, Henry now proceeded to 
 fill up the English sees which he had kept vacant 
 during his quarrel with Becket. 
 
 Reginald Fitzjocelin was nominated to the see of 
 Bath, which had been vacant more than eight years, 
 since bishop Robert's death in 1166. He was duly 
 elected by the two chapters, the prior and convent of 
 Bath and the dean and canons of Wells 1 in conformity 
 with bishop Robert's provision ; and his election was 
 confirmed at the Council of Westminster, in April, 
 1 173. At the same time the sees of Winchester, Ely, 
 Hereford, Chichester, and Lincoln were filled up ; and 
 Richard, prior of Dover, the late archbishop's chaplain, 
 was nominated to the archbishopric of Canterbury. 
 
 But the young king Henry, under the influence of 
 his father-in-law Louis of France, protested against the 
 nomination of bishops in England without his consent, 
 and lodged an appeal against their consecration at 
 Rome. Reginald was selected to accompany the arch- 
 bishop-elect to Rome to obtain the pope's confirmation. 
 They started in the autumn of 1173. There were 
 tedious delays and diplomacy with the Roman chan- 
 cellery ; but at last Richard was consecrated archbishop 
 by the pope at Anagni, on Low Sunday, April 7, 1174, 
 and received the pall and his appointment as legate. 
 
 The consecration of Reginald and the other bishops- 
 elect was deferred under various pretexts until the 
 return to England. 2 
 
 1. The act of pope Alexander, reciting and confirming the joint 
 action of the two chapters, is contained in charter 40. Cf. R. i, f. 94 ; 
 R. iii, f. 266. It is quoted in Roger, Appendix A. 
 
 2. Howden, ii, 59, Reginaldi Epist. ad regem. May 5, 1174. He 
 says, " My own consecration and that of the others are deferred. Our 
 lord the pope has determined to settle nothing until reconciliation 
 between you and your son shall be brought to pass." Rym. Feed, i, 31. 
 
II.] Bishop Reginald, A.D. n 74-1 191. 45 
 
 Soon after, they left Rome on their homeward jour- 
 ney — one which has many points of interest for us. 
 The travellers crossed the passes of Mont Cenis, and 
 stopped for a time at St. Jean de Maurienne, in the 
 territory of the count of Savoy. 
 
 It was at this wayside station, on the old road between 
 France and Italy, that Reginald, notwithstanding the 
 delays interposed at Rome, was consecrated bishop of 
 Bath. 
 
 The chronicles do not tell us the causes which brought 
 about his consecration. We are left to infer them from 
 concurring circumstances, by which this distant Alpine 
 district was being brought into close connection with 
 England, and with our own diocese in particular. 
 
 Henry had been negotiating in 1 173 a marriage, for 
 political purposes, between his son John and the eldest 
 daughter of Umbert, count of Maurienne. Early death 
 in that year saved her from this fate. 
 
 In the terms of the marriage settlement, by which 
 certain places commanding the passes of the mountains 
 would have been secured to Henry, Reginald arch- 
 deacon of Sarum had been named as one of the 
 arbitrators on the king's side, in case of any change 
 being made in the terms. Some business arising out 
 of these settlements, and the closing of the arrange- 
 ments, may have caused Reginald's delay at this time 
 at St. Jean de Maurienne: 1 
 
 1. R. Howden, ii, 41, 45. Cf. Benedict, who gives the document. 
 By the settlements the passes of Mont Cenis, and four castles com- 
 manding them, would have been secured to Henry and put into his 
 hands. In November of the same year Frederick Barbarossa entered 
 Italy through the Mont Cenis passes, burnt Susa, and besieged Alex- 
 andria, lately built by the Lombard League. Vide Stubbs's Pref. to 
 Benedict, p. xvi, on Henry's projects. 
 
46 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 The presence of Reginald in these parts was oppor- 
 tune for another purpose which Henry had in view at 
 this moment. 
 
 Henry had undertaken to found three religious houses 
 in England, in partial performance of his penance for 
 the violence of his words against Becket. He had 
 enlarged and reconstructed the religious foundations 
 at Ambresbury and Waltham, and changed the religious 
 orders of the inmates ; and he was now planting the 
 first house of the Carthusian order in England. The 
 site which he had given was at Witham, on the borders 
 of the royal forest of Selwood, in the diocese of Bath. 
 Henry was seeking a prior for the new house from the 
 parent house of the order, the Great Chartreuse in the 
 " desert of St. Bruno," near Grenoble. 
 
 One of the envoys of the count of Savoy had told 
 him of the fame of brother Hugh of Avalon. " Such 
 a man as would not only ensure success to his new 
 foundation, but would fill the whole church with the 
 beauty of his holiness." 1 
 
 The Great Chartreuse was within easy reach of St. 
 Jean de Maurienne, and letters were sent to the arch- 
 bishop and to Reginald, to use all endeavours to induce 
 Hugh to come to England, to take charge of the 
 Carthusian colony at Witham. 
 
 The bishop-elect of the diocese in which it was 
 planted was the fit person to invite Hugh in Henry's 
 name, and doubtless it was felt that he would speak 
 with more effect if he were the consecrated bishop. 
 So, with this end in view, as we may conjecture, ob- 
 
 i. Vide Vita S. Hugonis, p. 54. (Rolls Series). Cf. Preface, p. xxi. 
 
II.] Bishop Reginald, A.D. u 74-1 191. 47 
 
 jections at Rome were overcome, and Reginald's con- 
 secration was hastened. 
 
 Reginald was required to purge himself by oath of 
 any complicity in the murder of St. Thomas. Testi- 
 mony sufficient was given to establish the legitimacy 
 of his birth. He was consecrated by archbishop 
 Richard and the archbishop Peter of Tarentaise, in the 
 church of St. John at Maurienne on the vigil of St. 
 John the Baptist, June 23, 1174. 1 
 
 Then, as bishop of Bath, in company with the bishop 
 of Grenoble, he journeyed to the house of the order in 
 the " Eremo " or desert of St. Bruno, enclosed under 
 the pines and crags of the Grand Som and between 
 the torrents of the Guier " Mort," and the Guier " Vif," 
 entering it probably from Grenoble on its south-east 
 side, by Sappey and St. Pierre de Chartreuse. 
 
 Hugh of Avalon, with much reluctance, and only by 
 order of his bishop, undertook as his mission the charge 
 of the new priory in England ; and it was the first act 
 of Reginald's episcopate to obtain for England and to 
 plant in his own diocese of Somerset, Hugh of Witham, 
 known afterwards to the whole church as St. Hugh of 
 Lincoln. 
 
 1. " Juga quoque montium transcendens intra valles Morianae, in 
 ecclesia S. Johannis, et in vigilia S. Joannis Baptistae, Batoniensem 
 electum consecravit, archiepiscopo Tarentasiae praesente, manum 
 etiam apponente ; accepta prius purgatione Batoniensis electi, quod 
 mortem beati Thomae neque verbo, neque facto, neque scripto pro- 
 curavit scienter. Alii juraverunt quod, sicutopinabantur.conceptusfuit 
 priusquam Jocelinus pater suus ad gradum sacerdotii promoveretur." 
 R. de Diceto, i, 391 . (Rolls Series) . Archbishop Peter had been present 
 at the betrothal of prince John with Aalis, daughter of the count of 
 Maurienne. Cf. Walter de Mapes de Nugis Cur. Dist., 2, 3, p. 69. 
 The archbishop was afterwards canonized. 
 
48 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 Then the archbishop and bishop Reginald continued 
 their journey to meet Henry in Normandy. 1 
 
 In the first days of August they were at St. Lo in 
 the diocese of his uncle the bishop of Coutances, and in 
 his own country of the C6tentin, and on the fifth of 
 August, 1 174, he consecrated the church of St. Thomas 
 at St. Lo, dedicated to the memory of his old master, 
 now the newly-canonized St. Thomas the Martyr. 2 
 
 This church, probably the earliest consecrated to the 
 martyr canonized only the year before, and consecrated 
 by the bishop who had been active against him, son of 
 a bishop whom he had excommunicated, is a monument 
 of the sudden revulsion of feeling which his murder 
 had caused. It is still standing, though long since 
 desecrated ; containing architectural signs of the period 
 of its consecration in the flat semi-Norman buttresses 
 on the outside, in the massive round columns of the 
 nave, and the apsidal end with six pointed arches 
 resting on the Norman columns. 3 
 
 1. " Archiepiscopus, Batoniensi comitatus episcopo, Burgundiae 
 promontoria, campestria Galliae, Neustriae littora, cum aliqua 
 remoratione transcendit, pertransiit, attigit." R. de Diceto, i, 391. 
 (Rolls Series). 
 
 ■1. The document is preserved in the archives of St. Lo. Som. 
 Archaeological Proceedings, xix, ii, 94. 
 
 3. The nave of the church is about 144 ft. long, by 30 ft. wide, 
 and is divided from aisles 15 ft. wide by six massive Norman columns 
 on each side. Two central columns on each side, larger than the rest, 
 support a tower. Pointed arches rest on the columns. 
 
 It is a painful instance of thorough desecration. The nave is 
 boarded over above the arches, and is used as an agricultural hall on 
 market days ; the upper part is a theatre, approached by a door at the 
 east end and stairs. Under the later tower arches is the stage of the 
 theatre where had been a representation by a travelling company 
 the night before I was there — on Sunday, June 27, 1886. Two 
 traditions about the church were told to me at St. Lo ; one, that it was 
 
II.] Bishop Reginald, A.D. n 74-1 191. 49 
 
 On August 8 they met Henry on the shore at Reginald in 
 
 & } J England. 
 
 Barfleur [Barbefluctus), just arrived from England after 
 an eventful month. On July 8 he had landed at South- 
 ampton from Normandy. He had gone through his 
 three days' humiliating penance at the tomb of St. 
 Thomas at Canterbury : he had crushed rebellion in 
 the midland of England ; and, with the king of Scots his 
 prisoner, he had now landed at Barfleur, within the month. 
 
 From thence the archbishop and Reginald crossed 
 to England. The archbishop arrived at Canterbury 
 on September 4, to become a witness of the fire which 
 broke out on the next day September 5, 1174 in his 
 cathedral church, and burnt the choir to ashes. On 
 October 6 Reginald assisted at the consecration at 
 Canterbury of the bishops of Winchester, Ely, Here- 
 ford, and Chichester, and there made his profession of 
 obedience to the primate. On November 24 he was Enthroned, 
 enthroned with much solemnity by the primate in 
 person, who was then making a visitation of his province 
 as " legate of the apostolic see," in his own church. 
 
 It would be interesting to know whether Bath or 
 Wells— the church of St. Peter, or the church of St. 
 Andrew — was the scene. Ralph de Diceto says the 
 presence of the legate made the event of the enthroni- 
 sation especially memorable j 1 but he does not name 
 the place of the enthronisation. 
 
 built by St. Thomas when in exile — the other, that he was at St. Lo 
 while it was building, and being asked to what saint it should be 
 dedicated, replied, "to the first martyr" ; after events led them to 
 take this as a prophecy and direction with regard to himself. 
 
 1. R. de Diceto, i, 398 (Rolls Series) : " Intronizationem Batoniensis 
 episcopi Dorobernensis archiepiscopus, dum officio fungeretur lega- 
 tionis visitando provinciam, sua praesentia multo sollempniorem 
 effecit, viii° kalendas Decembris, et futuris reddidit memorialem." 
 
 H 
 
SO Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 Bath had been the chief seat of the bishop, sedes 
 praesulea, from whence the title was derived since 
 bishop John's time, eighty years ago. Bishop Robert 
 had done much in reasserting the equality of Wells 
 with Bath, but Bath was still recognised by the pope, 
 Adrian IV, in 1157, as the sedes praesulea} The 
 fair conclusion we are forced to draw is, that the legate 
 on this occasion made Bath as the chief seat of the 
 bishop, the scene of the enthronisation in person, 
 though, no doubt, the bishop was enthroned in both 
 his churches, and perhaps by the legate also, in 
 Wells. 1 
 in public j n t he earlier years of his episcopate, bishop Reginald 
 
 appears as one of Henry's counsellors in the chief 
 national councils of the reign. 2 
 
 1. R. iii, f. 268, 289-293. Confirmation of possessions of Bath 
 abbey, by Adrian IV. 
 
 2. (a) During Henry's reign — from 1174 to 1189. 
 
 Bishop Reginald at Westminster, May 18, 1175. Howden, ii, 72. 
 
 At Woodstock, July 1. Howden, ii, 78. 
 
 At London, March 16, 1177. Howden, ii, 120, 131. 
 
 At Toulouse, March, 1178. Howden, ii, 151, 165. 
 
 At the Lateran Council, March, 1179. Howden, ii, 171, 189. 
 (6) During Richard's reign, 1189-1191. 
 
 Bishop Reginald was present at Richard's coronation at West- 
 minster, Sept. 3, 1 189. Howden, iii, 8. 
 
 At the Council at Pipewell, Sept. 15, 1189. Howden, iii, 14 
 
 At Canterbury, Nov. 26, 1189. R. iii, f. 13. 
 
 At the council in Normandy, March 1190. Howden, iii, 32. 
 
 He mediated at *' the peace of Winchester," April 25, ngi. R. of 
 Devizes, p. 33, § 42. 
 
 He mediated at "the peace of Winchester," July 28, 1191. How- 
 den, iii, 135. 
 
 He was at the Chancellor Longchamp's trial, Oct., 1191. Howden, 
 iii, 145- 
 
 Nominated Primate at Canterbury, Nov. 26, 1191. Howden, iii, 168. 
 
 His death took place at Dogmersfield, Dec. 27, 1191. 
 
 Gervase, Opera Hist., i, 512 (Rolls Series). 
 
II.] Bishop Reginald, A.D. 1174-1 ipr. 51 
 
 He was present at the Council of Westminster in 
 1175, at which acts were passed to repress clerical 
 scandals. At the Council of London, in 1177, he was 
 one of the signatories to the award in which Henry 
 adjudicated on the rival claims of the kings of Navarre 
 and Castille. In 1178, he was of a joint commission, 
 appointed at the request of the count of Toulouse by 
 Henry and Louis VII of France to inquire into the 
 heretical teaching of the sect of the Cathari, who were 
 established in formidable numbers in the country 
 round Toulouse and Albi, and became afterwards 
 known under the name of the Albigenses. Bishop 
 Reginald had for his colleagues on this occasion Peter 
 the papal legate, the archbishops of Bourges and 
 Narbonne, the bishop of Poitiers, and the abbot of 
 Clairvaux. They held their court of inquiry at 
 Toulouse, and reported in condemnation of the 
 heretical teaching of the sectaries. In the next year 
 Reginald was one of four English bishops 1 sent as 
 representatives to the Lateran council, summoned by 
 Alexander III, March 1179, at which, among other 
 acts of historical importance, the Albigenses sectaries 
 were condemned and excommunicated. He returned 
 from the council with a deed of confirmation from the 
 pope, his friend Alexander III, dated March 4, 1179, 
 confirming the rights and possessions of the see. 2 
 
 During the next ten years of Henry's reign he does 
 not appear much in public affairs. On the death of 
 his friend archbishop Richard, in 11 84, he strongly 
 
 i. The other bishops at the Lateran Council were Hugh bishop 
 of Durham ; John of Oxford, bishop of Norwich ; Robert Ffolliott, 
 bishop of Hereford. 
 
 2. This document is quoted later. See Appendix F. 
 
52 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 supported the king's nomination of Baldwin bishop of 
 Worcester to the primacy, against the claims of the 
 convent of Christchurch to have the sole appointment, 
 and afterwards he was influential in conciliating the 
 monks to accept Baldwin. In the dispute which 
 followed between the archbishop and his monks he 
 was appointed one of the pope's commissioners in 
 1 187. After Baldwin's death these events led on to 
 his nomination to the vacant primacy in the last year 
 of his life. 
 Bp. Reginald During these years of his episcopate, 11 74-1 191, 
 
 in his dio- . ,.,.,. 
 
 cese. bishop Reginald was doing good work in his diocese, 
 
 and they were years of diocesan life and progress. 
 
 Church building was going on around him and under 
 his eye at Bath, at Glastonbury, at Witham, and in 
 other religious houses in the diocese, and gifts and en- 
 dowments were being made to the cathedral church of 
 St. Andrew in Wells. It was his policy to carry on 
 bishop Robert's work and constitution at Wells, to 
 make Wells the headquarters and centre of the diocese, 
 and to give it a fabric and a ministrant body worthy 
 of the dignity of the cathedral church of the diocese. 
 Probably he resided at Wells : there is no evidence that 
 
 Bath. he ever resided at Bath. Yet Bath was not neglected. 
 
 The hospital of St. John Baptist, by which the sick and 
 poor of the city had the benefit of the hot waters, was 
 founded by him in 1180, and endowed with lands and 
 tenements in Bath and its neighbourhood, and with a 
 tithe of hay from his demesne lands. It was put under 
 the control and management of prior Walter and the 
 convent of Bath, who also gave their endowments. 
 Walter the prior, a man of learning and holy life, 
 
II.] Bishop Reginald, A.D. n 74-1 191. 53 
 
 was a contemporary and friend of bishop Reginald, 1 
 and he was with him in his last hours, when dying at 
 Dogmersfield. 
 
 The register of the priory of Bath contains a list of 
 gifts made by the bishop to the convent, of lands and 
 churches, of ornaments and vestments, of a statue of 
 St. Peter, and also, strange to read, of the body of St. 
 Euphemia, virgin and martyr. He also enriched their 
 library with many books. 2 
 
 At Witham, between 11 80 and 11 86, prior Hugh was witham. 
 at work laying the foundations of his Charterhouse, 
 with a small band of French monks, meanly lodged, 
 and endeavouring to support themselves under severe 
 and ascetic discipline, in the desert of Witham. The 
 chapel of the Fratry, some remains of which in the 
 transitional-Norman style are to be seen still in the 
 parish church, and the necessary buildings for thirteen 
 monks and about the same number of lay brethren, 
 were finished, and the discipline of the house was 
 organised before prior Hugh was called to be bishop 
 of Lincoln in 11 86. 
 
 The house became the home of those who sought 
 a severer discipline amidst the growing laxity of other 
 monastic houses. Walter prior of Bath, and Robert 
 prior of St. Swithun's, were two of those who entered 
 the house late in life. 3 Sometimes it was found too 
 
 1. " Vir multae scientiae et religionis." A. S. 585. 
 
 2. See appendix D. 
 
 3. Richard of Devizes, the chronicler of the "Gesta Ricardi," 
 1189-1192, a. monk of St. Swithun's, paid a visit there to his late 
 prior to whom he dedicated his Chronicle, " to see how much nearer 
 to heaven was the Charterhouse at Witham than the Priory of St. 
 Swithun." He bears his witness to the greater severity of discipline 
 there, not without a touch of sceptical sarcasm. " Robertus prior 
 
54 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 severe a life for those who had entered it without 
 counting the cost. 1 Walter left it again before his 
 death. It was the home of retreat year by year for St. 
 Hugh when he came from Lincoln to take up again the 
 simple life of a monk in his cell at Witham. 
 
 The bishop, who had been the instrument to bring 
 Hugh of Avalon to England, continued to support his 
 work in the diocese. The king's charter was granted 
 at Marlborough. A chapel had stood in the " Eremo," 
 the desert of Witham on the outskirts of Selwood 
 forest, belonging to the priory of Bruton. The king 
 gave to Bruton the rectory of South Petherton in ex- 
 change, and exchanges of land in North Curry were 
 made with the Witham owners. 
 
 The house was dedicated in honour of the Blessed 
 Virgin and St. John Baptist. The king granted lands 
 which afterwards became the parish of Witham, and 
 lands on Mendip for a cell of the Charterhouse near 
 Cheddar. The house was exempted from all eccles- 
 iastical visitations and imposts; from all claims of 
 sheriffs and officers of the forest. Bishop Reginald on 
 his part "cum consensu capituli Wellensis," granted 
 exemption from tithes and dues to the Charterhouse in 
 the parish of Cheddar. 2 
 
 S. Swithuni Wintoniae, prioratu relicto et professione postposita, 
 apud Witham, dolore (an dicam devotione ?) dejecit se in sectam Car- 
 tusiae. Walterus prior Bathoniae prius ibidem simili fervore vel 
 furore praesumserat, sed semel extractus nihil minus videtur adhuc 
 quam de reditu cogitare." R. of Devizes, p. 26, § 30. See also the 
 Prologue. 
 
 1. Reg. Prior. Bath., S. 315, 316. 
 
 2. Henry's grant is recited in a confirmation to the prior and con- 
 vent of Witham by Innocent IV, in 1246, in which the boundaries of 
 the land are set out. Vatican Transcripts in the British Museum. 
 Add. MS. 15355, v °l- *• ff- 374-381. 
 
II.] Bishop Reginald, A.D. n 74-1 191. 55 
 
 Other religious houses were growing up at the time 
 in the diocese. 
 
 The abbey of St. Mary at Glastonbury, the great Glastonbury 
 rival ecclesiastical power which had hitherto over- 
 shadowed the church of Wells, separated from it by six 
 miles of moorland, was soon about to go through a 
 period of disaster and humiliation. 
 
 But under bishop Reginald's episcopate there were 
 friendly negotiations and territorial exchanges and 
 mutual concessions. 
 
 Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester, who ruled the 
 abbey for more than forty years, 1125-1171, had lately 
 died. Robert prior of Winchester, succeeded. By an 
 arrangement with abbot Robert, the church of Pilton 
 was ceded to the bishop to form two prebends in the 
 cathedral church, of which the abbot held one, without 
 obligation of residence, but bound to pay three marcs 
 to a vicar. The canon appointed by the bishop to the 
 second prebend received ten marcs from Pilton. The 
 abbot thus became a member of the bishop's chapter, 
 and the Glastonbury writers deplore the advantage 
 obtained over the abbey by this arrangement, whereby 
 the bishop received the acknowledgment of jurisdiction 
 from the abbot, as one of the canons of his cathedral 
 church. 1 
 
 At the same time, to put an end to a long-standing 
 controversy between the abbey and the church of 
 Wells, the bishop granted the abbot a separate terri- 
 torial jurisdiction, to be held by a special officer (the 
 abbot's archdeacon) over the churches which were in 
 
 1. R. i, f. 24, lxix, f. 25, lxxv. Cf. Adam of Domerham i, 235; 
 
56 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 the twelve hides of Glastonbury. 1 The church of 
 South Brent, which had belonged to Glastonbury, was 
 ceded to the archdeacon of Wells for impropriation, in 
 lieu of his jurisdiction over seven churches of the 
 Glastonbury archdeaconry which the archdeacon of 
 Wells had claimed, and it has ever since remained 
 impropriated to the archdeaconry of Wells, and in its 
 patronage. The church of Huish near Langport was 
 also annexed to the archdeaconry of Wells by bishop 
 Reginald. 2 
 
 Great building work had been going on at Glaston- 
 bury under bishop Henry of Blois — the builder of St. 
 Cross near Winchester, founder of Romsey abbey, and 
 refounder of Taunton priory. Abbot Robert carried 
 on the work until his death in 1178. Then the abbey 
 was held by the king, and put into commission to 
 Peter de Marci, a Cluniac monk, as administrator of 
 the revenues during the vacancy. While the abbey 
 was in the king's hands, on St. Urban's day May 25, 
 1 184, a fire destroyed the whole of the abbey buildings 
 of Henry de Blois, and only a new chamber which had 
 been built by abbot Robert, with its chapel and the 
 great bell-tower, remained. 3 
 
 Henry, grieved at the loss sustained by the church 
 while the abbey was in his hands, undertook to rebuild 
 
 1. The abbey had claimed exemption for the churches of the 
 twelve hides from all local jurisdiction secular and spiritual, under a 
 pretended charter of king Ine, but confirmed by sovereigns and 
 archbishops as a real grant. 
 
 The exempt jurisdiction was now conceded, and the jurisdiction 
 of the abbot over the churches made equal to a separate and exempt 
 archdeaconry. 
 
 2. Reginald's grant ; in Adam of Domerham, ii, 345. 
 
 3. Adam of Domerham, ii, 333 
 
II J Bishop Reginald, A.D. 1174-1191. 57 
 
 the church, and committed the work to Ralph Fitz- 
 stephen, the chancellor, to spend all the available 
 resources of the convent on the fabric. A charter was 
 given by Henry, December, 11 84, in which he made 
 himself and his heirs responsible for the fitting restora- 
 tion. The work was of national interest, the revenues 
 of vacant benefices were applied to the work, and a 
 charge was laid upon certain churches in support. 
 Ralph Fitzstephen is described as munificent in his 
 gifts, and the royal treasury supplied what was required. 
 A great store of relics of saints and worthies buried at 
 Glastonbury was now displayed ; and the timely dis- 
 covery or invention about this time of the bones of 
 Arthur and his queen, and the publication of the 
 Arthurian legend, helped to draw a large concourse of 
 pilgrims, and brought much gain of money to the 
 abbey. 
 
 So rapidly grew the work, that in the second or 
 third year after the fire, "on St. Barnabas day, 1186," 1 
 or 11 87, bishop Reginald dedicated the new church 
 of St. Mary on the spot where the old church, the 
 "vetusta ecclesia," had stood. At the same time the 
 foundations were laid and the building commenced, of 
 " the great church," major ecclesia, 400 feet in length 
 and 80 feet in breadth. But with the death of Henry, 
 
 1. Adam of Domerham, ii, 335, describes the work, but does not 
 give the year of consecration, " Ecclesiam Sanctae Mariae in loco 
 quo primitus vetusta steterat ex lapidibus quadratis opere speciosissimo 
 consummavit, nichil ornatus in ea praetermittens." John of Glaston- 
 bury (i, 180) names the year thus indefinitely, " quam dedicavit Regi- 
 naldus, tunc Bathoniae episcopus, anno Domini millesimo centesimo 
 octogesimo circiter sexto die S. Barnabae." 
 
 Mr. Parker says, " more probably 1187." Somerset Archaological 
 Proceedings, vol. xxvi, 28. 
 
 I 
 
58 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 in 1 189, the works were stopped — until 1235. "King 
 Richard's mind was more directed to military affairs 
 than to the building which was begun, so the work 
 was stopped because there was no one to pay the 
 workmen." 1 Soon after began the great war with 
 Wells under bishop Savaric and continued under bishop 
 Jocelin until 1219, in which the revenues of the abbey 
 were consumed by litigation at Rome. No building 
 was carried on again until 1235 ; and the century had 
 passed before the next consecration of the church 
 then only partially built, on the day of St. Thomas 
 the Martyr 1303. 3 
 
 So far we have followed out bishop Reginald's 
 
 history, as it is connected with the general history of 
 
 the time, and described in the chronicles of Henry the 
 
 Second's reign. 
 
 B Pj,^f inald But we turn to our own local documents, and to the 
 
 at Wells. 
 
 history lurking in the unprinted manuscripts at Wells, 
 to learn more particularly what was going on at Wells 
 during bishop Reginald's episcopate. 
 
 Wells was the bishop's seat all through the time 
 until his translation to Canterbury in the last days of 
 his life. 
 
 The charters of his time show his care to tread in 
 the footsteps of his predecessor, and to carry on bishop 
 Robert's policy at Wells : (a) by confirming and in- 
 creasing the privileges of the town ; (b) by adding to 
 the number of the prebends, and increasing the per- 
 manent endowment of the stalls ; (c) by provision for 
 the building of the fabric of the church. 
 
 1. Adam of Domerham, ii, 341. 
 
 2. John of Glastonbury, i, 255. 
 
II.] Bishop Reginald, A.D. 1 174- 1 191. 59 
 
 The municipal history of Wells is ancient and inter- Charters to 
 
 r J the town of 
 
 esting. Its early charters are of especial value, as wells, 
 showing the relation of the town to the bishop, and 
 the growth of the town around the cathedral church. 
 
 Two charters to the city by bishop Reginald stand 
 at the head of these contemporary records, and are of 
 general as well as local interest. 
 
 Early in his episcopate, certainly before 11 80, as the 
 names of the attesting witnesses show, bishop Reginald 
 gave two charters to the town. 1 
 
 In the first of these he recites the charter of bishop 
 Robert; and, desiring to follow the footsteps of his 
 venerable predecessor, and at the request of the bur- 
 gesses, he confirms with further grants their privileges 
 then conferred. 
 
 Bishop Robert, as we have seen, had granted to the 
 citizens freedom from tolls on three festival times in 
 the year, viz. on the eves and festivals of the Invention 
 of the Holy Cross, St. Calixtus, and St. Andrew. 
 
 Bishop Reginald, in his confirmation of this charter, 
 granted three additional days, viz. the morrow of each 
 of these festivals. He also granted to the burgesses 
 one moiety of the profits arising from the hiring of 
 stalls, which belonged to him as lord. 
 
 In the second charter, referring again to the example 
 and the charter of his predecessor, he grants that the 
 town of Wells shall be a free borough ; that every one 
 dwelling within its limits and possessing a messuage 
 in the name of a burgage should have freedom of 
 dwelling, going, and coming ; also of mortgaging, 
 selling, and granting their houses, except to religious 
 
 1. See Appendix E. 
 
60 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 purposes. He reserves to the bishop the payment of 
 twelve pence a year out of every house in the borough ; 
 forbids sale of raw skins, or hides, within the limits of 
 the borough; grants authority to hold a court for 
 settlement of disputes and for civil and criminal trials, 
 except in cases where deadly wounds or injuries for life 
 had been inflicted, without any fee to the bishop's jus- 
 tices. He reserves to the bishop right of appeal, and 
 right to interfere or revise the sentence of the burgesses 
 if they failed to do justice. 
 
 These charters, two of a series of municipal charters 
 beginning with bishop Robert, confirmed and amplified 
 by bishop Reginald and afterwards by bishop Savaric 
 the lords of the manor of Wells, and confirmed by king 
 John, 1202, illustrate the peculiar position and character 
 of Wells as the ecclesiastical city growing up around 
 the church, which Mr. Freeman has described so fully 
 in his history of the cathedral church and elsewhere : 
 "Wells stands alone among the cities of England 
 proper as a city, which exists only in and through its 
 cathedral church, whose whole history is that of its 
 cathedral church. Like other cities, it has its municipal 
 history ; but its municipal history is simply an appen- 
 dage to its ecclesiastical history : the franchises of the 
 borough were simply held as grants from the bishop." 
 
 They have a further and subsidiary interest as setting 
 out before us the names and designations of the repre- 
 sentatives of the ecclesiastical corporation, of the 
 townspeople and their trades, of the owners of land in 
 the neighbourhood, the names of the farms and villages, 
 contemporary with these bishops of the twelfth cen- 
 tury. 
 
II.] Bishop Reginald, A.D. 1 1 74- 1 1 9 1 . 61 
 
 Bishop Reginald gathers round him the officers and Contempor- 
 canons of his cathedral church, the landlords and the 
 burgesses and townsfolk, to witness to the charter which, 
 as lord of the manor, he freely bestows upon them. At 
 the same time, as their lord, he reserves to the bishop 
 the right of administering justice and reviewing the 
 sentences of the town magistrates. 
 
 In the first of these charters given before 1166, 
 occur the names of some of the first officers of the 
 newly constituted chapter, as witnesses to bishop 
 Robert's charter : Ivo the dean ; Reginald the precentor, 
 nephew of the late bishop John of Tours ; and arch- 
 deacons Robert and Thomas. 
 
 In bishop Reginald's charter, between 11 74- 11 80, 
 there are the names of the second generation of officers 
 of the cathedral chapter; there is another dean, 
 Richard of Spaxton, 11 60- 11 80; another precentor, 
 Hildebert or Albert, 1174-1185; another archdeacon, 
 Richard of Bath, with title of local jurisdiction ; 
 William the treasurer ; Robert the sub-dean : there are 
 the canons Ralph of Lechlade, afterwards archdeacon 
 of Bath, and dean 12 16- 1220; William canon of 
 Haselbury ; and Peter of Winchester, afterwards chan- 
 cellor, 1 185. 
 
 In both charters of bishop Reginald we meet with 
 the first mention of a name which was to be more 
 known and honoured than any in the history of Wells, 
 Jocelin, then chaplain, the future bishop. 
 
 A large number of names, representing the neigh- 
 bouring landowners and the townsfolk of Wells, sign 
 on this memorable occasion in the early life of the 
 city, when canons and clerks, burgesses and tenants, 
 
62 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 were called together by the bishop, their lord, to 
 receive this first deed of city incorporation. 1 
 
 We gather from other charters in the Wells regis- 
 ters, and the attestations to documents belonging to 
 bishop Reginald's time, the names of some more of 
 his contemporaries in the diocese and in the chapter. 
 
 The names appear, nomina tantum for the most part, 
 of the several dignitaries — dean, precentor, chancellor, 
 treasurer, the three archdeacons of Wells, Bath, and 
 Taunton, subdean, succentor. Two deans were living 
 through his episcopate : Richard of Spaxton, from 
 1160 to 1 180; Alexander, from 1180 until the third 
 year of bishop Jocelin, 1209. 
 
 Two archdeacons, Thomas of Wells, and Peter of 
 Blois, archdeacon of Bath, appear in the history of the 
 time as taking part in public events beyond the 
 diocese. 
 
 Thomas Agnellus, archdeacon of Wells, is identified 
 as the preacher of the funeral sermon on the death of 
 the young king Henry, in 1183, which bishop Stubbs 
 quotes, 2 as showing that the son was looked upon as a 
 champion of the older party against the reforming 
 tendencies of the father. 
 
 Peter of Blois archdeacon of Bath, 1175-1190, is the 
 learned rhetorician and theologian and letter writer 
 and literary adventurer, who was known to all the 
 leading men of the day, an active political agent in 
 Henry's court, and at the Roman Curia — of Henry 
 against Becket — of Baldwin against the monks of 
 Canterbury, but changing sides after Baldwin's death. 
 
 1. See Appendix E. 
 
 2. Pref to R. of Howden, ii, p. lvii. 
 
n.] Bishop Reginald, A.D. 1 174- 1 191. 63 
 
 In his letters, 1 he appears as archdeacon of Bath 
 before Reginald's appointment to the bishopric ; he 
 anticipates Reginald's preferment, and warns him of 
 the responsibilities : he defended Reginald for taking 
 the side of his father in the quarrel with Becket. In 
 after years he complained to Reginald as bishop, of 
 his severity in enforcing discipline upon his deputy in 
 the archdeaconry for nonpayment of a debt. His 
 name does not once appear in the Wells charters, but 
 in 1 192 he was archdeacon of London, 2 and died 
 about 1200. 
 
 William of St. Faith, a witness to bishop Robert's 
 charter before 11 66, was precentor in 11 87. In that 
 year the precentor of Wells and the archdeacon of 
 Bath were at Rome working on Baldwin's side against 
 the monks of Canterbury, while their bishop was the 
 pope's commissary in England, and supporting the 
 monks against Baldwin. 3 
 
 The latter part of the twelfth century, and the Grants and 
 
 ' endowments 
 
 strong reign of Henry II, following the lawlessness to the church 
 
 and anarchy of Stephen's reign, was marked by an 
 
 outburst of zeal and liberality towards the church and 
 
 objects of religious veneration. 
 
 It was a time of foundation and endowment of 
 monastic houses, and of prebends for secular canons 
 in cathedral churches. 
 
 The registers of the chapter of Wells contain many 
 deeds of gifts of land and churches from clergy and 
 laity made to the church of Wells during bishop 
 
 I. Epistolae Petri Blesensis, i, Ep. 62, 58, 149. 
 
 a. R. de Diceto, i, Pref. lxxix. 
 
 3. Epist. Cantuar. cxxxv, p. 107. Ep. ccciv. 
 
64 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 Reginald's time. These gifts were employed by the 
 bishop in council with his chapter, in augmenting the 
 common fund of the chapter, or in endowing prebends, 
 or in the maintenance of the fabric. 
 
 The funds given to the cathedral church were divided 
 into a common fund for the support of the resident 
 officers of the chapter, and for the foundation of pre- 
 bends. 
 
 These deeds of gift were confirmed by bishop and 
 chapter, by king and pope, to secure their permanent 
 validity. Charters of confirmation of the rights and 
 possessions of the see occur frequently at this time, 
 and serve as compendious summaries of the gradual 
 growth of the property of the see during bishop 
 Reginald's episcopate. 
 
 They also show incidentally the state of insecurity 
 
 as to rights of property, and the care taken by the 
 
 bishop to obtain the highest legal sanction for the 
 
 rights and possessions of his cathedral church. 
 
 charters of There are seven such charters of confirmation in the 
 
 confirma- 
 tion, chapter registers of the time — 
 
 i. By pope Alexander III, in 1176, given at the 
 
 request (pro postulationibus), of dean Richard 
 
 and the canons of Wells. (R. ii, f. 46). 
 
 2. By pope Alexander III, in 1 179, given to bishop 
 
 Reginald at the Lateran Council. (R. iii, f. 
 266). (See Appendix F). 
 
 3. By king Henry II, in 1185, at Argentan, con- 
 
 firming former royal grants to Bath and to 
 the see. (R. i, f. 15, 16 ; cf. iii, f. 333). 
 
 4. By bishop Reginald, of gifts made to the see in 
 
 the early part of his episcopate before 1180. 
 (R. i, f. 24 ; cf. iii, f. 10). 
 
II.] Bishop Reginald, A.B, 1174-1191. 65 
 
 5. By king Richard I, Nov. 26, 1189, confirming 
 
 royal grants of his predecessors, with special 
 confirmation to bishop Reginald of an agree- 
 ment with regard to his land at Dynre 
 (Dinder), and grant of the park at Dogmers- 
 field. (R. i, f. IS, 16 ; cf. iii, 333). 
 
 6. By king Richard I, at the same date, in the first 
 
 year of his reign, confirming to bishop 
 Reginald the possessions of the see acquired 
 during his episcopate. (R. iii, f. 13 in 
 dors). 
 
 7. By pope Clement III, in 1 190. (R. iii, f. 260). 
 The two charters most valuable, as illustrating the 
 
 history of the diocese at this time, are the charters (1) 
 of pope Alexander in 1179, and (2) of king Richard I, 
 in 1189, ten years after, and two years before bishop 
 Reginald's death. 
 
 1. The charter of pope Alexander III, brought back charter of 
 by bishop Reginald from Rome after his attendance ander, a.d. 
 at the Lateran Council in 11 79, is very full in recapi- " 79- 
 tulation of all the possessions and rights of the see, 
 and also of the bishop's jurisdiction and relation to the 
 great religious houses in his diocese. The bishop has 
 the power of removing the prior of Bath for sufficient 
 reasons, after consultation with the chapter, " or other 
 religious men : " no church or oratory may be erected 
 in the diocese without the bishop's sanction : his rights 
 of authority and jurisdiction over religious houses and 
 churches within the diocese are generally but vaguely 
 defined, with reservation of appeal to the pontifical 
 legate or the Roman court : he has authority to compel 
 attendance at his synod of abbots and priors : none 
 
66 Chapters in Wells History. [chap. 
 
 are to officiate in the diocese without his permission : 
 if any monks, or other religious men, clerks or laymen, 
 present themselves or are presented to benefices without 
 the bishop's consent, he may remove them. 1 
 
 2. The charter of Richard I in the first year of his 
 Charter of reign, on the eve of setting out for the Holy Land, 
 
 Richard !,!-,-.„ r . , . c 
 
 a.d. 1189. November 20, nog, presents a summary 01 the gifts 
 which had been made to the church during bishop 
 Reginald's episcopate of fifteen years, by which six- 
 teen prebends were founded in the cathedral church, 
 and other grants and privileges were bestowed. 2 
 
 Additional privileges of a special character were also 
 granted by the crown at this time : (a) the right of 
 keeping hounds, which his predecessors in the see 
 held, but with fuller privileges of hunting through the 
 whole of Somerset, roe and fallow deer only excepted. 
 This was a privilege which, in mitigation of the 
 extreme rigour of the forest laws, as enforced by 
 Henry I, must have been a great boon to the bishops 
 and their officers, and which, from his earlier sporting 
 tastes, bishop Reginald would have been fully able to 
 appreciate. Richard conferred also at this time, (b) the 
 more important and permanent benefit to the see of 
 rights of mining for lead (mineram de plumbd) through- 
 out all the bishop's lands, and probably in connection 
 with this, (c) the power to create a borough and hold 
 market in his land at Radclive, terra sua de Radeclive, 
 described as also partus de Radeclive, in the manor of 
 Compton Episcopi and Axbridge — perhaps a " hithe," 
 
 1. Appendix F. 
 
 2. Appendix G. 
 
II.] Bishop Reginald, A.D. n 74-1 191. 6j 
 
 or wharf, at the head of the tideway on the Axe, for 
 the exportation of the lead ore of Mendip. 1 
 
 But the list in Richard's charter of confirmation 
 does not exhaust the grants made to the church at 
 this time. In the border country of the west of 
 Somerset were the family lands of three of the knights 
 who had struck down Becket in his cathedral church 
 at Canterbury. The Tracy family had given Bovey 
 in Devonshire to the church. Simon Brito, or le Bret, 
 of Samford Bret, now gave the church of St. Decuman 
 on the headland overlooking the western channel for 
 a prebend in the church of St. Andrew in Wells, and 
 Robert Fitzurse, of Willeton in the same beautiful 
 valley under the Quantock hills as Samford Bret, 
 endowed St. Decuman's with twenty acres of land, 
 and gave land to a manse for a chaplain to serve a 
 chapel at Willeton in the parish of St. Decuman.* 
 
 In the same district, on the borders of Exmoor, 
 William de Romara earl of Lincoln, founder of Cleeve 
 abbey in 1188, gave the church of Old Cleeve 3 to 
 bishop Reginald ; and the church of Wynesford 4 on 
 the Upper Exe, a few miles above the Augustinian 
 priory of Barlynch, was given by the lady Alicia de 
 Roges. 
 
 These documents show how the constitution and 
 
 1. Ratcliffe in Stuckey's map, on the Axe, which is navigable so 
 far — Ratley in Greenwood's map, in Compton ; it is Ripley in 
 Ordnance map. R. iii, f. 266. 
 
 2. St. Decuman, R. i, f. 40, Carta Simonis Brito ; R. i, f. 38, Carta 
 Roberti fil. Ursi ; R. i, f. 39, Confirmatio Reginaldi Episcopi, teste 
 Alexandro Decano ; R. i, f. 38. 
 
 3. Cleeve, R. iii, f. 382. 
 Wynesford, R. i, f. 59. 
 
68 Chapters in Wells History. [chap. 
 
 property of the church of Wells were built up at this 
 time, under bishop Reginald's rule. 
 
 Between the year after his return from the Lateran 
 Council in 1179 and Henry's death in 1189, bishop 
 Reginald does not appear much in public affairs. 
 
 These quiet years of his episcopate had formed 
 an important period in the history of the diocese. 
 Henry II, his old master, who had trusted and em- 
 ployed him on important occasions, died at Chinon on 
 the Loire, July 6, 1 189. 
 
 Life, a.d. a time of restless excitement, of foreign adven- 
 
 1189-1191. 
 
 ture and political struggles at home, followed upon 
 Richard's accession. Reginald, as one of the friends 
 and counsellors of Henry, took a leading part in the 
 first events of his son's reign. 
 
 He appears to have been drawn away from his 
 diocese into the political and ecclesiastical intrigues of 
 the court. 
 
 Whether justly or not, he incurs the suspicion of 
 having aimed at the chancellorship, and of secretly 
 intriguing for the primacy. 
 
 On September 3, 1 189, he assisted at the coronation 
 of Richard at Westminster. It was a scene of unusual 
 pomp. In the coronation procession to and from the 
 church, and to and from the altar, Hugh bishop of 
 Durham on the right, and Reginald bishop of Bath on 
 the left hand, walked by the side of Richard. 1 Four 
 
 1. " Deinde venit Ricardus dux Normanniae, et Hugo Dunel- 
 mensis Episcopus a dextris illius ibat, et Reginaldus Batoniensis 
 Episcopus a sinistris illius ibat, et umbraculum sericum portabatur 
 inter illos. Et omnis turba comitum et baronum et militum et 
 aliorum, tarn clericorum quam laicorum sequebatur usque in atrium 
 ecclesiae et sic usque in ecclesiam ad altare." Benedict, ii, 81. 
 
II.] Bishop Reginald, A.D. 1174-1191. 69 
 
 barons bore over them a silken canopy supported on 
 four tall lances, and the company of earls, barons, 
 knights, clergy and laity followed in long procession. 
 After Richard had made the coronation oaths, he was 
 anointed and crowned by archbishop Baldwin, the arch- 
 bishops of Dublin, Rouen, and Treves assisting, and 
 enthroned by the two bishops of Durham and Bath. 
 
 After this, Reginald was at the council of Pipewell 
 abbey, on September 15, when the appointments to 
 the chief offices and vacant bishoprics were made by 
 Richard. The see of Ely and the chancellorship were 
 then given to William Longchamp. 
 
 Richard, intent upon an immediate start for the 
 Holy Land, was selling the offices of state, and 
 making conveyances of crown lands and castles and 
 towns to the highest bidders. All who could were 
 buying rights and privileges, offices and benefices; 
 " not only to the confirmation of their own, but to the 
 usurpation of their neighbours' rights" — "et caeteri, 
 quicunque volebant, emebant a rege tarn sua quam 
 aliena jura." 1 
 
 It is assumed, on a statement of Richard of Devizes, 
 that Reginald made a high bid of £4000 for the chan- 
 cellorship, which Richard gave to William Longchamp, 
 though he paid for it £1000 less — " Willielmus Eliensis 
 electus, datis tribus millibus libris argenti, sigillum 
 
 It was a mark of honour to the see, and perhaps also in this 
 case to the man. Brompton, writing at the close of the thirteenth 
 century (f. 1158-9) says, " Atque istud privilegium etiam hodie 
 praesules Dunelmenses et Bathonienses sibi vendicant." Savaric, as 
 bishop of Bath, took this same place at the coronation of John. 
 
 1. Vide Howden, vol. hi, 29, for a list of some of the state offices 
 sold by the king at this time. 
 
yo Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 regis sibi retinuit, licet Reginaldus Italus quartum 
 millerium superobtulerit." 1 Only such men as St. Hugh 
 of Lincoln or as St. Anselm, could pass through kings' 
 courts and papal chancelleries without taint, or sus- 
 picion at least, of worldliness and corruption. Whether 
 Reginald was tempted to offer a high price for the 
 chancellorship or not is doubtful. But it is certain that 
 at this time Reginald was employing his money for the 
 benefit of the diocese in buying from the king confir- 
 mations of all the possessions and privileges of the 
 see, and the grant of the manor of North Curry, a 
 costly purchase, which he made over to the canons of 
 his cathedral church. 
 
 Reginald was a man who mixed in the world, but 
 he does not seem to have been covetous or personally 
 ambitious as compared with his contemporaries, such 
 as Hugh Pudsey of Durham, Hugh Nonant of Coventry, 
 and the chancellor Longchamp. He appears to have 
 been pushed forward into prominent positions, and em- 
 ployed by others as a counsellor and an arbitrator trusted 
 by both sides, rather than a self-seeking intriguer for 
 high places. In 1 191 he was twice employed as one ot 
 the arbitrators in the quarrel between the chancellor 
 Longchamp and earl John at the pacification of Win- 
 chester, April 25 ; and again, between the chancellor 
 and the rebellious sheriff of Lincoln, Gerard de 
 
 1. R. of Devizes. De rebus gestis R icardi, p. 9, § 10, ed. Stevenson. 
 Bishop Stubbs and others assume that bishop Reginald is the person 
 here so named; elsewhere, Richard of Devizes calls him by his 
 ordinary title Episcopus Bathoniensis. 
 
 At the same time Hugh, bishop of Durham, paid for the office of 
 justiciar 1,000 marcs; for the earldom of Northumberland, 2,000; 
 and 600 for the manor of Sedbergh. The king, '■ decern millia libras 
 argenti de scriniis ejus diligenter extraxit." R. of Devizes, p. 8, § 9. 
 
Canterbury. 
 
 II.] BisJtop Reginald, A.D. 1174-1191. 71 
 
 Camville, July 28. He was one of those who opposed 
 the chancellor for his high-handed treatment of 
 Geoffrey ; but he took no prominent part in his trial 
 and humiliation in October, 1191. 
 
 It was probably his unaggressive and conciliatory line 
 of conduct which led to his election to the vacant 
 primacy, rather than any secret intrigues on his part. 
 
 A struggle had been going on since n 87 between Reginald at 
 archbishop Baldwin and his chapter, the prior and 
 monks of the cathedral church at Canterbury. 
 
 Reginald had been forward in supporting Baldwin 
 as the king's nominee, and in conciliating the monks 
 to accept him in 1 1 84. But now, when it may reason- 
 ably have appeared that the archbishop was using his 
 authority arbitrarily, he did not shrink from opposition 
 to the king, an|l from taking the unpopular side of the 
 convent. St. Hugh of Lincoln was on the same side 
 afterwards. 1 
 
 The immediate subject of dispute was the foundation 
 by the archbishop out of some of the funds of the 
 cathedral chapter, of a college and church of secular 
 canons at Hackington near Canterbury. The project 
 gave much offence to the monks who thought they saw 
 
 1. Vide Stubbs, Pref. to the Epistolae Canluarienses, p. liii for the 
 history of this controversy ; and letters to and from Hugh bishop of 
 Lincoln in the collection. Also letters of Peter of Blois. Ep. cxxxv, 
 ccclv. Vide Vita S. Hugonis, p. 134-5. At this same time two of the 
 chapter of Wells were Baldwin's agents at Rome, Peter of Blois arch- 
 deacon of Bath, and William of St. Faith precentor of Wells. 
 
 The letters illustrate Peter's character. Ep. cxxxv, his letter on 
 Urban' s death ; ccclv, his change of sides in disgust at not having 
 been paid his expenses. So he writes about May, 1191, " perdidi 
 operam et impensas — meisque peccatis exigentibus permisit me 
 Dominus occasione illius archiepiscopi damnose deludi . . " and 
 he offers his services to the convent. 
 
72 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 in it, what was probably the intention, a desire to sup- 
 plant them in their position as metropolitan chapter, 
 and to substitute a body of secular canons (out of their 
 revenue) who would be more amenable to the primate. 
 
 They naturally resisted what in their view must have 
 appeared an act of usurpation and arbitrary authority 
 on the part of their abbot, the archbishop. 
 
 The king supported the archbishop ; the courtiers, 
 for the most part, went with him. The convent 
 appealed to the pope. The pope Urban III in October 
 1 187, took up the cause of the convent, and appointed 
 a commission, consisting of Reginald bishop of Bath, 
 Seffred bishop of Chichester, and the abbots of Fever- 
 sham and Reading, ordering them to destroy the 
 building. 
 
 With the death of Urban III in 1187, proceedings 
 were suspended. Henry died in July n 89. A new 
 reign began in England. The quarrel was arranged 
 for a time, and archbishop Baldwin went on the 
 Crusade with Richard. 
 
 Baldwin's death at Acre was known in England in 
 March 1191. 
 
 The monks used the opportunity of the vacancy 
 in the see to overthrow the scheme of the late arch- 
 bishop, and to secure to themselves the election of his 
 successor. 
 
 In May 1 191, pope Celestine III issued his mandate 
 peremptorily to bishop Reginald and the commis- 
 sioners, to execute the order for the destruction of the 
 new buildings at Hackington, and on July 21 they 
 were levelled to the ground. 
 
 The monks had succeeded in one of their objects. 
 
II.] Bishop Reginald, A.D. 1 174- 1 191. 73. 
 
 They were now eager to secure the election of the 
 archbishop. Reginald is charged with secretly intri- 
 guing for the primacy ; but there is no evidence that 
 he sought the office, or took any steps to obtain it. 1 
 
 It was likely that his support of the convent, his 
 position as pope's commissioner, and his execution of 
 the pope's orders, should have won him the favour of 
 the monks. He certainly had an active but self- 
 interested agent in his cause in Savaric, his kinsman, 
 who had some mysterious influence with the emperor 
 Henry VI, and with the king of France, Philip son of 
 Louis VII, the patron of Reginald in early life. If 
 Savaric was intriguing for Reginald, he certainly was 
 intriguing also for himself, and for the reversion of 
 Reginald's bishopric of Bath. 
 
 Under his influence, the emperor wrote in November, 
 1 191, to recommend the convent to take the advice of 
 Savaric " dilectus consanguineus noster," in the choice of 
 their archbishop. At the same time, Philip of France 
 recommended Reginald as the friend of his father, 
 who had given him the abbey of St. Exuperius in 
 1 164, and as strongly supported by Savaric, "our 
 faithful friend." 2 
 
 The king's justiciars had appointed December 3 for Elected 
 
 & J rr J archbishop, 
 
 a meeting of council to elect. But before the day, the Nov.a7.n91 
 monks, anticipating the meeting, held a chapter on 
 November 27, to assert their claim and to nominate 
 their candidate. 
 
 1. Gervase so says, " clam ambiens." Bishop Stubbs, Pref. Epp. 
 Cant, lxxxi, thinks " he was quietly laying his plans for the primacy." 
 See also ibid, lxxxix. 
 
 2. Epp. Cant, ccclxxxi, ii. 
 
 L 
 
74 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 The prior tried to sound the archbishop of Rouen, 
 the chief justiciar, as to the person who would be 
 accepted by the king. The archbishop, as Gervase 
 hints, 1 intended the monks to choose himself ; if so, he 
 must have failed to make himself intelligible, or to 
 have convinced the prior of his merits. " Would the 
 bishop of Bath be admissible ? " The archbishop did 
 not say " yes," but the monks interpreted his looks as 
 favourable. " We elect," cried the prior, " the bishop 
 of Bath." The monks re-echoed the nomination, and 
 laying violent hands on Reginald, thrust him, pro- 
 testing, imploring, struggling, into the archbishop's 
 chair. 
 
 The archbishop of Rouen protested in the king's 
 name ; the members of the council threatened further 
 proceedings ; but the monks supported their right to 
 elect. Reginald re-asserted his unwillingness, but 
 acquiesced in the election, and announced his inten- 
 tion of awaiting the pope's confirmation, with the 
 words : " anxius, invitus, consentio vel gratulabundus 
 cedo." 
 
 But all that had been done was made void by 
 Reginald's death within a month of the election. 
 
 He was on his way to or from his diocese, when he 
 was seized with paralysis at his manor of Dogmersfield 
 on Christmas Eve. 
 
 The prior of Christchurch was sent for. The arch- 
 
 5r^wii Dec ' b' s h°P) anticipating his death, ordered him to bring the 
 
 monk's habit, that he might die as a member of the 
 
 brotherhood. His last words were, " God willeth not 
 
 that I should be your archbishop. But I desire to be 
 
 I. Gervase, Of era Hist., i, 511. (Rolls Series). 
 
II.] Bishop Reginald, A.D. 1 174- 1 191. 75 
 
 a monk, and one with you. Farewell, and pray for me 
 without ceasing, as one of the brotherhood." 1 
 
 He died on St. Stephen's day. The body was 
 taken to Bath, and buried before the high altar on the 
 day of St. Thomas the Martyr, December 29. 
 
 Peter of Blois, no longer now archdeacon of Bath, 
 speaks of him as magni nominis umbra, and marks — 
 perhaps with malicious humour — the curious coin- 
 cidence that his days of death and burial were the 
 feasts of the two saints to whom the church was dedi- 
 cated, which he had been instrumental in destroying. 
 " It was as if St. Stephen had killed him, and St. 
 Thomas had buried him." But Richard of Devizes, 
 to whom bishop Stubbs gives the character of " an ill- 
 natured historian, who never misses an opportunity of 
 speaking ill," is witness to his love for his church of 
 Bath, and the love of the diocese for him, 2 and has 
 condensed in two lines of a homely epitaph, in which 
 he plays upon his name, a high testimony to his 
 character. 
 
 Dum Reginaldus erat bene scquc stiosque regebat — 
 Nemo plus quaerat — quicquid docuit faciebat. 
 
 Reginald rightly named, himself and his flock ruled well ; 
 How ? What he taught he did ; there is no more to tell. 
 
 Reginald's life is connected with interesting scenes 
 and important events in the great reign of Henry II. 
 As a statesman, he was one of the foremost in the 
 
 1. Ep. ccclxxxviii. " Mihi non videtur quod velit Deus quod 
 vester sim archiepiscopus. Vester autem volo et desidero esse 
 monachus. Valete, et gratia vestri incessanter, incessanter, oretis 
 pro me." 
 
 2. " Quam multum diligebat, magis ab ea dilectus." R. of Devizes, 
 P- 46. § 58- 
 
76 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 second rank of able men whom Henry gathered round 
 himself. 1 
 
 As a bishop, though he was of another type from 
 the ascetic and unworldly St. Hugh, yet he rose far 
 above the selfish and worldly bishops of his time who 
 were the scorn of Henry. 
 
 Reginald had no opportunity of showing whether 
 he was capable of ruling the church of England as 
 primate in those troubled times. We may think it 
 was happier for him and for his reputation, that he 
 had not to undergo the trial. But at least Wells has 
 reason to honour him as one of her chief benefactors, 
 not only in ecclesiastical, but in civil history ; zealous 
 and liberal, and wise in government, and a worthy 
 successor of bishop Robert. 
 Bp. Regin- it has been generally assumed by later writers, who 
 
 aid's share 
 
 in the fabric have followed the Canon of Wells and Godwin as the 
 
 of the 
 
 cathedral original authorities on the history of the fabric, that 
 Weils. we have no documentary evidence of bishop Reginald's 
 
 work on the fabric of his own cathedral church. 
 
 The Canon of Wells, as quoted in Wharton's Anglia 
 Sacra, and bishop Godwin say nothing of any building 
 works between the times of bishop Robert and bishop 
 Jocelin. 
 
 Professor Willis, 2 in his lectures on the church of 
 Wells, passes from bishop Robert to bishop Jocelin, 
 as the next prelate who comes architecturally on the 
 scene. 
 
 Mr. Freeman says " We may pass more lightly over 
 the time of the two bishops who came between the 
 
 i. William of Newbury, III, c. xxvi. 
 
 2. Somerset Archaological Proceedings, vol xii, part I, p. 17. 
 
II.] Bishop Reginald, A.D. n 74-1 191. 77 
 
 first great founder, Robert, and the second great foun- 
 der, Jocelin. Their time is a most important time in 
 the history of the see of Bath and Wells ; it is the 
 most important of all times in the late history of the 
 church of Glastonbury ; but it provides but little 
 matter bearing on the history of the fabric, or the 
 constitution of the church of Wells. The next bishop, 
 Reginald, founded several new prebends, but I do not 
 find any mention of the fabric in his time." 1 
 
 But we have additional evidences contained in the 
 chapter registers at Wells, which are of earlier authority 
 than the Canon of Wells and Godwin, and which in 
 some measure supply the blank in the history of the 
 fabric. Professor Willis had access to these registers 
 for his lectures on Wells ; and he says, that he " drew 
 from these records many particulars of dates and facts 
 hitherto unknown in relation to the progress of the 
 building in the fourteenth and subsequent centuries." 
 
 But, unfortunately, his researches did not extend to 
 the earlier records bearing on this first portion of the 
 history of the fabric. 
 
 The first document quoted from his own observation 
 is dated 1286. He exhorts members of the chapter, 
 who have the opportunity, to pursue inquiries into the 
 cathedral registers. 
 
 While bishop Reginald was receiving and applying 
 benefactions to the church from the clergy and laity of 
 the diocese, he on his own part was making liberal 
 provision by his own acts, both for the augmentation 
 of the common fund of the canons, and also for the 
 maintenance and progress of the fabric of the church. 
 
 1, Cathedral Church of Wells, p. 70. 
 
78 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 Gifts to the Early in his episcopate he had made over to the 
 canons the " Barton " or home farm, which was the 
 property of the bishop, free of the annual rent of 
 twelve marks which they had hitherto paid for it. 
 
 " We have given to God, and to St. Andrew, and to 
 the canons there devotedly serving God, their barton, 
 free from all service, and expressly (nominatim) from 
 the rent of twelve marks, which they were wont to pay 
 to us yearly." 1 
 
 He had also given to the common fund of the chapter 
 the tenths of all mill dues on his manor of Wells, " ad 
 communam canonicorum ibidem deo servientium." 2 
 
 These benefactions to the income of the canons, 
 
 given in perpetuity for himself and his successors, were 
 
 accompanied with another gift for his own lifetime 
 
 to the fabric fund of the church. 
 
 Fabric fund, In a deed done in chapter very early in his episcopate, 
 
 from vacant 
 
 benefices. in the presence of the dean Richard of Spaxton, 
 William of St. Faith the precentor, Thomas archdeacon 
 of Wells, and " almost all the canons of the church," 
 he made over to the chapter, specially for the uses of 
 the fabric, all the fruits accruing from vacant benefices 
 throughout the diocese, until the work shall be finished. 
 This grant is conveyed in a charter which is often 
 quoted in the later history. It recites in the preamble 
 the duty incumbent on the rulers of the church, and 
 his own continual solicitude, that God shall not be dis- 
 
 1. R. i, f. 25, i, f. 59. " Bertona est villa vel praedium frumen- 
 tarium." The " canon's barn " is now (1885) converted into the 
 cathedral grammar school, by the liberality of canon Thomas 
 Bernard, chancellor 1868. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 40. " Carta de decimis molendinorum de Welles," 
 recited and confirmed by Savaric afterwards. 
 
II.] Bishop Reginald, A.D. II 74-1 191. 79 
 
 honoured by the squalor of His house. So, with the 
 assent of the archdeacons and in full council with his 
 chapter, he had set himself to discharge this duty 
 incumbent upon him of providing a fund out of the 
 episcopal revenue from the fruits of benefices during 
 the time they were vacant, which should be entirely 
 applied during his lifetime towards the building of the 
 cathedral church, until, by the help of God, the whole 
 work shall be brought to an end. 1 
 
 1. Universis Christi fidelibus ad quos praesens carta pervenerit, 
 Reginaldus Dei gratia Bathoniensis episcopus salutem in Domino et 
 Dei benedictionem. lis quibus est divina dispositione pastoralis 
 officii cura commissa et ecclesiarum solicitudo injuncta, summo opere 
 providendum est, ut domum Dei ea excolant diligentia quod dignitas 
 Domini in domus squalore non possit devenustari. Hoc igitur zelo 
 ducti, de assensu et concilio archidiaconorum nostrae auctoritatis, ad 
 hoc duximus munimen impendendum, ut ad fabricam Wellensis 
 ecclesiae ad cujus regimen sumus domino disponente admissi, 
 fructus et obventiones vacantium ecclesiarum in nostra diocesi 
 existentium quamdiu vacaverint convertantur, et in usus operationis 
 ex toto cedant, donee per Dei miserantis auxilium consumetur. 
 
 Factum est hoc in 'capitulo Wellensi, praesente Ricardo de 
 Spakeston ejusdem ecclesiae decano, Willelmo precentore, T. archi- 
 diacono et omnibus fere illius ecclesiae canonicis." R. ii, f. 14. 
 
 " The vacant benefice reverted to the diocesan both in spirituals 
 and temporals. He was the guardian of both, bound to provide for 
 the spiritual care of the flock, and also for the revenues chargeable 
 with that care. 
 
 " This custom or rather common law was one of the survivals of 
 the earlier condition of the Church, when the endowments of a diocese 
 were a diocesan fund, administered by the bishop and synod, and 
 applied to the support of a diocesan corps of clergy. 
 
 " These fruits formed a regular part of episcopal revenue admin- 
 istered by a sequestrator-general, until the Act of Henry VIII which, 
 in order to secure payment of his first-fruits from the incoming 
 incumbent, gave to the incumbent the fruits during vacancy — leaving 
 to the bishop only the duty of husbanding those fruits by a seques- 
 trator, and providing therefrom for the spiritual duties." — Note by 
 bishop Hobhouse. 
 
 Bishop Jocelin in 1216, after consultation with dean Leonius and 
 
80 Chapters in Wells History. [chap. 
 
 Contemporary Other grants follow, which have a special interest as 
 
 grants to the 
 
 Fabric. unpublished evidence bearing upon the history of the 
 
 fabric. 
 
 Several of contemporary documents bear witness 
 that some building was going on in the church at the 
 time, and that grants were being made for the com- 
 pletion of the work. The dates of these early docu- 
 ments are not expressly given ; they can only be 
 ascertained by internal evidence and the names of 
 attesting witnesses. 
 
 There are three grants of churches neighbouring to 
 one another in the district of Castle Cary, made 
 probably by members of the same family the Lovels 
 of Cary, either attested by witnesses who were con- 
 temporaries with bishop Reginald, or confirmed by 
 Reginald himself. 
 
 (a.) Robert de Kari, lord of Lovinton, gives to God 
 and St. Andrew the advowson of the church of 
 Lovinton, with one hide of 160 acres of land, and a 
 messuage near the church. 1 
 
 This deed is confirmed by bishop Reginald. 2 
 
 the chapter, granted to the communa two-thirds of the revenues of 
 vacant benefices, R. i, f. 59. 
 
 Bishop Roger in 1246 claimed all the vacant benefices ; but the 
 chapter appealed to the grant made to them by bishop Reginald, and 
 the bishop withdrew his claim upon examination of the charters. 
 The chapter then made a free gift to him of the two-thirds (saving 
 to the archdeacon the third part) in consideration of the debts of the 
 bishopric. But they gave this only for the bishop's life, and their 
 act was not to bind future times. R. i, f. 64. So in after times 
 bishop Bytton and bishop Drokensford made the same claim and 
 received the same answer. 
 
 1. R. i, f. 38, cxxx ; iii, f. 4. 
 
 2. R. iii, f. 61 
 
II] Bishop Reginald, A.D. n 74-1 191. 81 
 
 (b) Nicolas de Barewe, 1 in ruri-decanal chapter at 
 Cary (in capitulo apud Kari), "considerata canoni- 
 corum Wellensium honesta conversatione et surgentis 
 ecclesie sue laudabili structura," gives up his life 
 interest in the temporalities of this same church of 
 Lovinton for an annual pension of two shillings. 2 
 
 (c.) Alured de Ponson grants the neighbouring 
 church of South Barrow, in fundo meo sitam, to God 
 and St. Andrew, to the communa of Wells, and to 
 Reginald bishop of Bath. 3 
 
 Among the witnesses are Thomas archdeacon of 
 Wells, Robert de Geldeford archdeacon, Alexander 
 subdean of Wells, etc. 
 
 These deeds follow one another in the register, as if, 
 in the mind of the clerk who copied them, they had 
 connection of time and place. 
 
 The attestations to these charters fix their dates to 
 the time of Reginald. 
 
 A special interest attaches to the charter of Nicolas 
 of Barrow for the insight which it gives, though but a 
 glimpse, into the state of the cathedral chapter at this 
 time. 
 
 The motives which prompted the grant of the 
 church of Barrow, perhaps of others, was a desire to 
 support in their work the canons who bore a good 
 reputation in the diocese, and to promote the building 
 of the church, which was now rising in beauty. He 
 makes his grant "in consideration of the right con- 
 
 1. North Barrow, the next parish to Lovinton. R. i, f. 38. — Cf. 
 R. i, f. 61. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 38. 
 
 3. R. i, ff. 35, 61. 
 
82 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 versation of the canons of Wells and the admirable 
 structure of the rising church." 
 
 These terms in the preamble of a formal document 
 have some meaning. They give an interest to the 
 bare names of canons which occur as signatories to 
 these documents of the time, they imply that there was 
 attention to duty and devotion in dean Alexander and 
 the archdeacons and canons, Robert of Guildford, 
 Ralph of Lechlade, William of Martock, and doubtless 
 Jocelin the chaplain, which commanded the respect of 
 their brethren of the ruridecanal chapter of Cary. 
 
 And also at this time the church of St. Andrew was 
 rising and becoming an object of interest and admir- 
 ation to the clergy and laity of the diocese, so that 
 when Nicolas of Barrow and Michael of Aldford and 
 Ralph of Yarlington came up to Wells they would 
 contrast their own little village churches with the 
 proportions and architectural beauty of the buildings 
 rising at Wells, and report that their cathedral church 
 was becoming " exceeding magnifical," and a praise in 
 the diocese. 
 
 Again there is another charter which tells more 
 definitely of new buildings at Wells, and of the res- 
 toration of older work at this time. 
 Building at Martin of Carscumbe, presumably Croscombe, near 
 a.d. 1196. Wells, makes a grant of three silver marcs towards the 
 construction of the new work, " ad constructionem novi 
 operis," of the church of St. Andrew in Wells, and 
 another two marcs to the repairs of the chapel of St. 
 Mary there, " ad emendationem capellae beatae Mariae 
 ejusdem loci." 1 
 
 1 . Carta Martini de Karscumbe. Noverit universitas vestra quod 
 ego Martinus dedi deo et ecclesiae beati Andreae in Wellia pro salute 
 
II.] Bishop Reginald, A.D. 1.174-1191. 83 
 
 The deed is attested by an unknown witness, Baldwin 
 the chaplain. But it is dated with a precision which 
 fixes it to certain years — "in the second year after the 
 coronation of the lord the king at Winchester." 
 
 Two years are possible. Winchester was the scene 
 of royal coronation twice during the last part of the 
 twelfth century. 
 
 At Whitsuntide 11 70, the young Henry, eldest son 
 of Henry II (sometimes called rex junior, sometimes 
 " Henricus III "f had been crowned at Westminster 
 without his wife Margaret of France, by Roger arch- 
 bishop of York. That act had brought down upon 
 Henry the wrath of Thomas of Canterbury for the 
 violation of the privileges of his see, and of the king 
 of France for the slight offered to his daughter. He 
 was crowned a second time, with his queen, in St. 
 Swithun's, Winchester, on August 27, 11 72. 
 
 If we might take our date as the second year from 
 this coronation, and assign 1174 to this charter, it 
 would fall in the first year of Reginald's episcopate, 
 and it would be the earliest evidence of any architec- 
 
 animae meae et animarum omnium antecessorum meorum, tres 
 marcas argenti ad constructionem novi operis — et duas marcas ad 
 emendationem capellae beatae Mariae ejusdem loci accipiendas de 
 redditu de Maperton quem dominus meus H. de Novo Mercato mihi 
 in solutionem debiti mei assignavit et in carta nostra confirmavit. . . 
 
 Ut haec donatio firma permaneat et inconcussa earn sigilli mei 
 appositione roboravi. His testibus : Baldwino capellano, etc. Anno 
 secundo post coronationem domini Regis apud Wintoniae. R. i, f. 41. 
 
 Henry Newmarch (de Novo Mercato) was lord of the barony of 
 Cadbury in Somerset, 6 Richard I. Dugdale, Baron, p. 435. 
 
 1. Richard of Devizes, De rebus gestis Ricardi I, p. 5. § 3. 
 " Ricardus Alius regis Henrici secundi, frater regis Henrici tertii." 
 " Henry, son of King Henry the Second, is frequently styled Henry 
 the Third in the early chronicles and contemporaneous State Papers. 
 He died in 1183." 
 
84 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 tural work succeeding Robert's consecration of the 
 church in 1 148. But it is improbable that the young 
 Henry, though crowned and called rex junior and 
 Henricus tertius in contemporary documents, would 
 have been called dominus rex during the lifetime of 
 his father. 
 
 There was another coronation at Winchester in 
 twenty-four years. Richard I who had been crowned 
 in state at Westminster on his accession on September 
 3, 1189, was crowned a second time after his return to 
 England, as it were " to wipe out the stain of his cap- 
 tivity and his foreign homage," on April 17, 1194, at 
 Winchester. The year 1196 would then be the second 
 year after the coronation, the fourth year of Savaric's 
 episcopate. 
 
 In either case the document is evidence that new 
 building was going on in the church at Wells in the 
 latter part of the twelfth century, either by Reginald 
 in succession to Robert, or by Savaric in succession 
 to Reginald ; and that there was then a chapel of 
 St. Mary which required and was undergoing repair. 
 
 We cannot trace any other documentary reference 
 to the " new work " in Savaric's time. But we have 
 some clue to an earlier chapel, which may be the 
 chapel of St. Mary now under repair. 
 
 In the great charter of bishop Robert of the date of 
 1 1 36, there is mention of " the chapel of the Blessed 
 Mary," which bishop Giso endowed with land in Wotton. 
 
 " Dimidiam etiam hidam in Wotton cum virgata 
 terrae quam jocundae recordationis Gyso episcopus 
 dedit capellae Beatae Mariae." 1 
 
 1. R. i, f. 31, " De ordinatione prebendarum." 
 
II.] Bishop Reginald, KM. 1174-1191. 85 
 
 It may be that Giso built this chapel at the time 
 when he was building the cloister and refectory for his 
 canons, on the ground south of the church, where we 
 know a '' chapel of St. Mary near the cloister " was 
 standing afterwards, and is mentioned repeatedly in 
 later documents. 
 
 This chapel may have been spared when bishop 
 John pulled down the canonical buildings of his prede- 
 cessor. 
 
 We now see that these documents, relating to the conclusive 
 years between 11 74-1 196, bear witness that building Slt e Regi- 
 was going on at Wells in the latter part of the j^? d ™o f a 
 twelfth century, and in Reginald's episcopate. oMVeU S Ch 
 
 There are no fabric rolls of that date, but the 
 charters of gifts and endowments for the sustentation 
 of the fabric and for the completion of work going on, 
 and the acts of confirmation by bishop and chapter 
 contradict the inferences drawn from the language of 
 the Canon of Wells and Godwin, that nothing was 
 done between Robert's and Jocelin's time. 
 
 It is antecedently improbable that Reginald should 
 have left the fabric of his own cathedral church to fall 
 into ruins, or to remain neglected during seventeen 
 years of an active episcopate. It was, as we see, a 
 time of activity and progress in the diocese. The 
 bishop was carrying on Robert's work, " following the 
 footsteps of his predecessors, and led by their example." 
 
 He was a vigorous man, a Norman, and might be 
 supposed to have had that love of building which dis- 
 tinguished the race. He was high in favour with the 
 kings Henry and Richard and John his brother. He 
 had travelled much, and must have seen or known of 
 
86 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 new buildings rising abroad and at home — in his 
 uncle's diocese of Coutances : and at Canterbury, where 
 the rebuilding after the fire of 1174 was going on 
 throughout his episcopate : in his own diocese — at 
 Bath, where he was the restorer of two churches, the 
 founder and builder of the hospital — at Witham, where 
 St. Hugh was building his first church, and preparing 
 for his greater architectural work at Lincoln — at Glas- 
 tonbury, where buildings of national interest were 
 rising between 1184 and 1193, under Norman work- 
 men, and where he was the consecrator of the first 
 completed part, the chapel of St. Mary. 
 
 There would have been sufficient to kindle the 
 ambition of an active ruler to keep up and to beautify 
 the church of Wells, one of the seats of his diocese, 
 which his predecessor had begun to rebuild. 
 
 We know now from these documents, and from his 
 own words, that the building of the church was the 
 subject of his care and solicitude. We know that he 
 was promoting the building by a large gift to the fabric 
 fund for his lifetime ; that the work was being carried 
 on, and the church was rising and becoming a goodly 
 structure in the land ; and that new works and repairs 
 of old building were being planned or carried out, to 
 which offerings were made, in the first years of his 
 successor's episcopate. 
 
 This evidence is to be borne in mind when we look 
 upon architectural features in parts of the church 
 which, as Professor Willis has said, bear a character 
 " unlike any early English building " . . and " belong 
 to an earlier style, characterised as a transitional 
 Norman," "an improved Norman, worked with con- 
 
II.] Bishop Reginald, A.D. 117 4-1 191. 87 
 
 siderable lightness and richness, but distinguished from 
 the early English by greater massiveness and severity," 
 and of which Britton says, " that had not the ' Canon 
 of Wells ' so particularly mentioned the restoration of 
 the Cathedral by Jocelin of Wells, and bishop Godwin 
 so strongly corroborated his testimony, there could be 
 little hesitation in ascribing the work to bishop Robert, 
 and to the reign of Henry II, 1154-1189." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Savaric, Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury, 
 A.D. 1192-1205. 
 
 " Savaric is a person whose career if it could be ex- 
 plored would be very interesting." So wrote Dr. Stubbs 
 in 1865. 1 The history of Savaric is yet to be written. 
 
 Some knowledge of his episcopate is necessary for 
 the consideration of the question whether any part of 
 the fabric of the church was his work. 
 
 His worldly and eccentric career is a strange inter- 
 lude between the decorous and beneficent episcopates 
 of his predecessors and that of bishop Jocelin his suc- 
 cessor. As a citizen of the world he exercised remark- 
 able influence for his personal ends with the chief 
 personages of his time at home and abroad — popes, 
 emperor, and kings. He was one of the diplomatic 
 agents at the court of Henry VI emperor of the 
 Romans, in the European questions raised by the 
 captivity of Richard. 
 
 1. Vide Epistolae Cantuarienses, Pre/, and Notes, p. lxxxvii, by 
 Dr. Stubbs. Also Gentleman's Magazine, November, 1863, p. 621. 
 These notes supply material for the pedigree of the families of 
 Savaric and Bohun in Appendix I. 
 
 Scanty notes of a paper by the late J. R. Green are to be read 
 in the Somerset Archaeological Society's Proceedings for 1863. 
 
Bishop Savaric, A.D. 1192-1205. 89 
 
 At home, his annexation to the see of Bath of the 
 abbey of Glastonbury by a circuitous and bold intrigue 
 forms one of the ecclesiastical events which throw light 
 on the relations of Church and State at the time just 
 preceding the Great Charter. 
 
 He was connected with the families of Savaric of 
 Le Mans, and Bohun of the Norman Cdtentin. His 
 elder brother Franco de Bohun held the estates of 
 Savaric Fitz-savaric his uncle, who had married into 
 the Bohun family and was first lord of Midhurst, in 
 Sussex, in the time of Henry I. The two brother 
 bishops, Jocelin de Bohun, 1 bishop of Sarum 1142 — 
 1 1 84, and Richard de Bohun, dean of Bayeux and 
 bishop of Coutances 1151 — 11 79, were his uncles, and 
 Reginald Fitz Jocelin, his immediate predecessor as 
 bishop of Bath, was his cousin. 
 
 Through his mother, as is supposed a Burgundian, 2 
 he was a kinsman of the emperor Henry VI. Names 
 of the Bohun family appear in the registers of Regi- 
 nald's and Savaric's time and among the canons of 
 Wells. 3 
 
 Savaric's first public appearance is ominous of his Early Life, 
 masterful character and turbulent career. ii g2 . 
 
 In the patent rolls for Surrey of the year 1 172 he is 
 named as heavily fined, £26 3s. 4d. for striving to 
 
 1. Vide Appendix I. Pedigree of Savaric, and Bohun family. 
 
 2. Dr. Stubbs, vide Pref. Epp. Cantuar. p. lxxxvii. Howden, 3, 
 197. 
 
 3. Franco de Bohun attests a charter of bishop Reginald to Glas- 
 tonbury — John de Bohun was canon at Wells in Savaric's time. 
 There is some reason for thinking Alexander the dean 1180 — 1209 
 was a Bohun. Roger de Bohun was canon in Savaric's time, and 
 nephew of the dean, vide Appendix I. 
 
90 Chapters in Wells History. [chap. 
 
 wrest a bow from the king's foresters. 1 Notwithstand- 
 ing, in 1 175 he was archdeacon of Canterbury, 
 appointed at Westminster by archbishop Richard.* 
 He was treasurer of the church of Sarum in 1180, 
 where his uncle was bishop. 3 He signs as archdeacon 
 of Northampton in a document in the Wells registers 
 of a date later than 1180, attesting a grant of the 
 church of Carenton (Carhampton), in West Somerset, 
 to bishop Reginald. 4 
 
 On this occasion the only other signatory is one 
 "Dalmatius Seneschallus Lugdunensis," an unknown 
 name suggestive of Savaric's Burgundian connection. 
 The confirmation of this grant by bishop Reginald is 
 attested by Savaric and by Alexander dean of Wells 
 and others. 
 
 As archdeacon of Northampton he came under the 
 displeasure of king Henry, and his conduct is matter 
 of complaint to the pope. In June 11 86 the king's 
 clerks bring letters from Urban to intercede for 
 Savaric, but with orders to sequestrate his arch- 
 deaconry for the payment of his debts. 5 
 
 Though in disgrace with Henry he rose quickly into 
 favour with Richard when king, probably through the 
 influence of Reginald. He was one of the crowd of 
 
 1. " Savaricus clericus debet xxvi libras et iii solidos et iv denarios 
 pro arcu quam voluit auferre ministris Regis in foresta." Mag. Rot. 
 18 Hen. II. Rot. 106, Surreia : quoted by Stubbs. 
 
 2. Le Neve, Fasti, i, p. 38. Ralph de Diceto, i, f. 403. (Rolls 
 Series). ,, 
 
 3. Jones, Fasti of the Church of Sarum. V. Osmund Reg. i, 
 268-299, 312. 
 
 4. R. i, f. 24. 
 
 5. Benedict, i, p. 356. Ralph de Diceto, ii, p. 105. (Rolls Series). 
 
III.] Bishop Savaric, A.D. 1192-1205. 91 
 
 ecclesiastics and courtiers who started with Richard for 
 the Holy Land, 1 and he was with him at Messina in 
 February 1191. There, by some mysterious means, 
 this disgraced archdeacon who could not pay his debts, 
 and was not yet in priest's orders, obtained private 
 letters from Richard ordering the king's justiciar to 
 sanction in the king's name his appointment to any 
 bishopric to which he might be elected. 2 
 
 These letters were sent to his cousin Reginald. 
 Savaric then betook himself to Rome, where he was 
 already very well known, as the centre from whence 
 he could best work out his schemes. 3 
 
 The see of Canterbury was now vacant by the death 
 of archbishop Baldwin at Acre in November 1190. 
 Savaric, in 1191, was using his influence with the 
 emperor Henry and Philip Augustus of France to 
 obtain letters from them to the convent of Canterbury* 
 recommending Reginald for the archbishopric. Regi- 
 nald, who had other recommendations as a steady 
 supporter of the convent in the quarrel with archbishop 
 Baldwin, was elected Nov. 27, 1 191, but he did not 
 survive his election more than a month, and the see 
 was again vacant. Savaric, while interceding for Regi- 
 
 1. He was " Cruce signatus " when archdeacon of Northampton. 
 Abbreviatio Placitorum, p. 38. 
 
 2. Richard of Devizes, p. 28. Ed. Stevenson. Richard was at 
 Messina from Sept. 23, 1190, to March 30, 1191. 
 
 3. " Ipse vero Romam concessit sicut qui fnerat Romanis notissi- 
 mns." 
 
 4. Epp. Cantuar. ccclxxxi, November 1191. The emperor urges 
 the convent to take the advice of Savaric, " our dear cousin and your 
 good friend." 
 
 Ep. ccclxxxii. Philip recommends Reginald as his father's friend, 
 " et propter commendationem a Savarico amico et fideli nostro." 
 
92 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 nald, had been working to acquire for himself the 
 reversion of the see of Bath. Reginald before his 
 death showed the king's letters to Walter prior of 
 Bath, and obtained from the convent the nomination 
 of Savaric as bishop. The election rested with the 
 two chapters, the canons of Wells, as well as the 
 monks of Bath, but Walter, archbishop of Rouen, the 
 king's justiciar, without waiting for the assent of the 
 Wells chapter, and in spite of their protests, gave 
 forthwith the king's assent to Savaric's election. 1 
 Savaric at Rome obtained the confirmation of pope 
 Celestine, and after some delay was by his order 
 ordained priest at St. John Lateran on Sept. 19, and 
 consecrated bishop of Bath the next day, Sept. 20, 
 1 192. 
 Savaric Savaric had thus attained the bishopric through his 
 
 abbo°t > of md influence with Richard and his friends in high place. 
 fioa tonbury He now made his kinsman, the emperor of the 
 Romans Henry VI, the means of coercing Richard to 
 advance still further his interests. 
 
 In the winter of 1192 Richard, returning from Pales- 
 tine, and tempest-tossed in the Adriatic, was wrecked 
 on the low shore between Venice and Aquileia. 
 
 After romantic adventures and escapes, which formed 
 the subject of troubadour lays, he was made prisoner 
 near Vienna, in the territory of his enemy the duke of 
 Austria, Dec. 12, and after confinement at Diirrenstein 
 on the Danube, he was delivered up to the emperor 
 
 1. Richard of Devizes, p. 46. " Walterus prior et suus sine clero 
 (sc. Wellensi) conventus elegerunt sibi in futurum episcopum Savari- 
 cum, et licet clerus reniteretur obtinuerunt." 
 
 R- i. (■ 93- " Canonicis irrequisitis et reclamantibus." 
 
 "93 
 
ill.] Bishop Savaric, A.D. 1 192-1205. 93 
 
 Henry 1 at the price of 60,000 crowns, and about 
 March 23-30 brought to Speyer. 
 
 Throughout the whole of 1193, ana " to Feb. 1194, 
 Richard was a prisoner in the hands of Henry, who 
 was basely making terms at the same time with 
 Richard for his release, and with his enemies his 
 brother John and Philip of France, for his retention. 
 
 News of Richard's captivity had reached England 
 in February 1193. A council was summoned by 
 Walter archbishop of Rouen, the justiciar, to meet at 
 Oxford on Feb. 28 to deliberate on measures to be 
 taken to obtain the king's release. Savaric was there 
 named as a fit agent to negotiate with the emperor as 
 being a kinsman of the emperor and then abroad, and 
 a mission was sent from England to confer with the 
 king, and to arrange the terms of release. 
 
 During 1 193 Savaric was present at interviews which 
 took place between the emperor and the king. At 
 Worms in June 1193, where Savaric and William 
 bishop of Ely were present, terms were finally 
 arranged. The ransom was 100,000 marcs, and 50,000 
 more were to be paid as perquisite to the duke of 
 Austria. Walter of Rouen, Savaric, and others, were 
 ultimately made hostages for payment of the ransom, 
 bound not to leave Germany without the knowledge 
 of the emperor. But it was not until after a protest 
 from the princes of Germany at Henry's ignoble 
 detention of his captive after promise of release that 
 
 i. Henry VI Emperor of the Romans 1190 — 1197, "son and suc- 
 cessor of Barbarossa, inherited all his father's harshness with none 
 of his father's generosity." Bryce, Holy Roman Empire, p. 205. 
 
94 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 Richard was finally released at Mainz on February 2, 
 1194. 1 
 
 After a captivity of one year six weeks and three 
 days Richard was again in England. 
 
 On April 17, 1194, he was crowned a second time 
 at Winchester, " to wipe off the ignominy of his cap- 
 tivity." But the burden of taxation for his ransom 
 lay heavily on the kingdom. 
 
 While Savaric was taking part in negotiations for 
 Richard's release he was not unmindful of his own 
 interests. He is said by the Glastonbury writers to 
 have had power with the emperor to make the king's 
 release in some way conditional on his acceptance of 
 clauses suggested to the emperor by Savaric, in which 
 he pressed his own advancement. According to 
 Richard's own statement, as reported by Adam of 
 Domerham, he had extorted from Richard the ex- 
 change of Bath city for the abbey of Glastonbury, 
 and the union of the abbey to the see of Bath, so that 
 the jurisdiction and rights of an abbot should be 
 vested in him, with the title of bishop of Bath and 
 Glastonbury. 
 
 There was no vacancy in the abbacy at the time, but 
 this immediate difficulty was overcome. 
 
 The abbot was Henry, of Sully on the Loire, 
 
 1. Vide Howden, 3, 194-231, for notices of Richard's captivity 
 under the emperor Henry, The stations and dates of his imprison- 
 ment were — 
 
 Speyer, March 21-30. 1193. 
 
 Treifels in Rhenish Bavaria. 
 
 Hagenau in Alsace, April — May. 
 
 Worms, May 28 — June 30. 
 
 Speyer, December and Christmas. 
 
 Mainz, February, 1194. 
 
ill.] Bishop Savaric, A.D. 1192-1205. 95 
 
 (Henricus de Soliaco), nephew of Henry of Blois, 
 kinsman of Richard, and appointed by him in 11 89. 
 Orders were sent to him by Richard to join him at 
 Hagenau, in Alsace, in April, 1193. 1 
 
 He there learnt from Richard himself that he was 
 beholden to cede in exchange the abbey to Savaric, 
 the kinsman of the emperor, that he must resign the 
 abbey, and should be provided for by the vacant see 
 of Worcester. The abbot entered into Savaric's plans 
 and made his arrangements accordingly. 
 
 At this same time Savaric was aiming at a higher 
 prize. The archbishopric of Canterbury which he had 
 sought to obtain for Reginald he now sought for him- 
 self. 
 
 Two letters from Richard following one another 
 from Worms, in May 28 and June 8, represent 
 Richard's ignominious position and Savaric's preten- 
 sions. 
 
 On May 28 Richard wrote to the convent of Canter- 
 bury on behalf of Savaric. 
 
 On June 8 he wrote to Eleanor the queen mother to 
 secure the election to Canterbury of Hubert Walter 
 bishop of Salisbury, and to credit no letters in favour of 
 Savaric, or any other candidate. He is forced, he 
 says, during his captivity to write in favour of persons 
 whom he does not wish to be promoted — " pro quibus- 
 dam supplicare quos nullatenus promoveri vellemus." 2 
 
 Hubert was appointed soon after in 1193, and 
 Savaric proceeded to mature his plans for Glaston- 
 bury. He obtained letters from the king and William 
 
 1. Vide Adam of Domerham, ii, 335. 
 
 2. Vide Epp. Cantuar. 402, 403. 
 
g6 Chapters in Wells History. [chap. 
 
 bishop of Ely (Longchamp) to pope Celestine, asking 
 for papal sanction to the union of the bishopric and 
 the abbacy as the only means of putting a stop to the 
 chronic state of discord between bishop and monks. 
 Abbot Henry had returned to Glastonbury about 
 Michaelmas, and, having made his arrangements with- 
 out revealing the secret treaty, he left the abbey at 
 Advent, and was consecrated at Canterbury bishop of 
 Worcester, December 12, 1193. 1 Then for the first 
 time did the convent learn that their abbot had be- 
 trayed them into the hands of their enemies, and that 
 they had passed under the jurisdiction of the bishop 
 of Bath as their abbot. 
 
 Adam of Domerham relates that Savaric was then 
 at Bath and sent for Harold, the prior, and announced 
 to his surprise, " I am your abbot." 2 
 
 The action of claiming possession of the abbey in 
 the king's name, and inducting the bishop by his proxy, 
 was carried out by Savaric's agents, selected from the 
 chapter of Wells. 3 On the part of the abbey a 
 solemn protest from prior and convent addressed to 
 
 1. Vide Adam of Domerham, 356-7. The betrayal of the abbey 
 has condemned the memory of abbot Henry to infamy in the 
 Glastonbury history, notwithstanding that he obtained for the abbot 
 from pope Celestine the privileges of the mitre and ring, and of 
 blessing the vestments. The " Inquisition of the manors of 
 Glastonbury Abbey," Liber Henrici de Soliaco, — the terrier of the 
 abbey in 11 89, — was made in his time. 
 
 2. It is not likely that Savaric, named as a hostage for the pay- 
 ment of the ransom, was in England at this time. He was at Mainz 
 at the time of Richard's release, which took place on Feb. 2, 1194. 
 
 3. Ralph of Lechlade, a well-known name in the chapter registers, 
 afterwards (in 1217-20) dean, in bishop Jocelin's time, is named as 
 proctor. 
 
ill.] Bishop Savartc, A.D. 1 192-1205. 97 
 
 the pope was laid upon the altar of St. Andrew in the 
 
 church of Wells. 
 
 Bath city at the same time was seized in the king's 
 
 name. 
 
 This bold invasion of the independence of the great a.d. 1194- 
 
 1202. 
 and most ancient abbey which until the last forty years 
 
 had held the primacy among the abbeys of England, 1 
 
 though effected by a surprise, was not submitted to 
 
 without a severe struggle. War between Wells and ^ ar i wi * 
 
 00 Glastonbury 
 
 Glastonbury ensued for the next twenty-five years, 
 until 12 19 — fought out under the two episcopates of 
 Savaric and Jocelin. Richard and John, with the 
 popes Celestine, Innocent III, and Honorius, were 
 engaged in the struggle. 
 
 The attempt to restrain the excessive power of the 
 religious houses was being made about the same time 
 at Canterbury, under the archbishops Baldwin and 
 Hubert, and at Coventry, under bishop Hugh Nonant. 
 But Savaric's audacity and strength of will carried him 
 through his struggle with more success than either of 
 his brethren, and he transmitted to his successor the 
 title of bishop of Bath and Glastonbury, with a fourth 
 part of the revenue and a large portion of the manors 
 of the abbey. 
 
 The Glastonbury writers are naturally vehement in 
 their complaints of the rapacity and cruelty of the 
 invader and oppressor, and the public opinion of 
 churchmen was generally against him. But the ex- 
 ample of the archbishops Baldwin and Hubert, and of 
 
 1. St. Alban's was made the primal abbey under pope Adrian IV 
 (Nicolas Breakspear) who had been a monk of St. Alban's in 1154. 
 
 O 
 
98 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP 
 
 bishop Hugh of Lincoln, 1 and the support which 
 Savaric received from his successor bishop Jocelin and 
 the chapter of Wells, show that there were good men 
 who saw the importance of checking the exorbitant 
 pretensions to independence of the overgrown monas- 
 teries in the diocese. Savaric's attempts to bring the 
 other religious houses of his diocese into closer relation 
 to the cathedral church are a sign that he had a policy 
 which was reasonable and consistent, though it is 
 probable that his leading motives in the annexation of 
 Glastonbury were greed and ambition, his acts were 
 violent and tyrannical, and he certainly showed nothing 
 of the spirit of a reformer. 
 
 The struggle illustrates the unsettled state of the 
 relations between Church and State at this time, the 
 growth of papal interference, and the inconsistent and 
 selfish policy of the Roman Curia, which soon pro- 
 
 i. It is instructive to compare how at the same time another and 
 a very different man was fighting a like battle with the king, and 
 with what different weapons he gained his cause. 
 
 St. Hugh of Lincoln in 1197 pressed his claim to the right of 
 patronship (jus patronatus) based upon ancient precedent, to the 
 vacant abbey of Eynsham, which had been disputed by the king's 
 ministers. 
 
 Hugh's friends tried to dissuade him from entering into a hopeless 
 conflict with the king : but he stoutly prosecuted his suit, and by the 
 oath of twenty-four credible witnesses, cleric and lay, gained his 
 cause in the king's court. Vita S. Hugonis, iv, 8, p. 188, ed. Dimock. 
 
 The custody of the abbey during vacancy was restored to him, 
 the right of confirming the abbot, and full jurisdiction over the con- 
 vent. At a conference of abbots and other religious of the neigh- 
 bourhood at Eynsham, the elected of the convent is presented to the 
 bishop, and his benediction is given at Lincoln. At the feast which 
 he gave afterwards it was the subject of rejoicing that like the Good 
 Shepherd he had gathered into one flock sheep that were of another 
 fold, and had united in federal union under one headship church and 
 abbacy. 
 
ill.] Bishop Savaric, A.D. 1 192-1205. 99 
 
 voked the national assertion of independence of papal 
 interference in the election of bishops and abbots in 
 the Great Charter of 12 15. 
 
 There are three stages in the history of the struggle 
 during Savaric's life, according to the Glastonbury 
 historian — 
 
 (a.) During Richard's time the wolf was kept 
 
 out of the fold for five years, 11 94-1 199. 
 (6.) As soon as John succeeded, the wolf sprang 
 into the fold to devour and to lay waste, 
 1 199-1202. 
 (c.) He was checked by the strong arm of the 
 pope, Innocent III, 1202-1205. 
 Sayanc had been inducted under Richard's grant, 
 then abroad and in captivity. But Richard, on his 
 return to England, resenting Savaric's power over him 
 in Germany, repudiated his concession as a fraudulent 
 exchange forced upon him when not a free agent. He 
 received the appeal of the convent, and refused to 
 acknowledge Savaric as abbot, and put the abbey 
 under the charge of William of Ste. Mere PEglise, 
 his prothonotary, afterwards bishop of London. This 
 was probably in the autumn of 1194. 1 
 
 Pope and king were at war. Celestine issued his 
 sanction of the union of Bath and Glastonbury in the 
 Lent of 1 195, and a second and stronger mandate to 
 the archbishop followed Richard's action in 1196 or 
 
 1. The dates in Adam of Domerham are confused; but he 
 definitely assigns this act to the first autumn after Henry of Sully's 
 consecration to Worcester, which took place December, 1193. Ste 
 Mere l'Eglise is a village in the C6tentin near Carentan. William, 
 bishop of London, is more generally called William of St. Mary- 
 church, but cf. Stubbs, Episcopal Succession, anno 1199. 
 
ioo Chapters in Wells History. [chap. 
 
 1197, ordering him to put Savaric in possession. 
 Archbishop Hubert, who secretly supported the con- 
 vent, and had delayed execution of the papal letters, 
 now ordered Alexander dean of Wells, and others of 
 the chapter, to read the pope's letters, inhibiting the 
 convent from electing another abbot, and ordering 
 obedience to Savaric. 
 
 The king's officers retired. The abbey was put 
 under the authority of Savaric in October, 1197, by 
 archiepiscopal and papal mandate. 
 
 Pope Celestine III died January 8, 1198. 
 
 Richard answered Celestine's mandate by writing to 
 the new pope, Innocent III, in favour of the convent, 
 by taking the abbey into his own hands as lord, and 
 giving the monks permission to elect their own abbot. 
 William Pica (" conversione novicius sed medicinae 
 professor") was elected abbot, and approved by the 
 king's justiciar November 25, 1198. 
 
 Savaric made the next move. From the manor of 
 Mells he issued his excommunication against William 
 as rival abbot, and laid an interdict upon the convent. 
 
 The convent stood out for a time. Abbot William 
 ruled from St. Nicholas' day, December 12, 1198, to 
 the Purification, February 2, 1199; but his attempt 
 to enforce discipline amidst the conflict of authority 
 and factions in the house, united all parties against 
 him, and he left Glastonbury to carry the appeal of 
 the monks before the king in Normandy, and before 
 Pope Innocent at Rome. The convent submitted and 
 prayed for remission of the interdict. By the arch- 
 bishop's authority the abbots of Sherborne and 
 Abbotsbury withdrew the interdict about Easter, 
 
III.] Bishop Savaric, A.D. 1192-1205. 101 
 
 1 199 ; and, a few days after, the abbots of Malmesbury 
 and Evesham, and the precentor of Wells, as the 
 bishop's representative, received the submission of the 
 monks to Savaric's authority. Such was the state of 
 things when Richard's death took place, April 6, 1 199. 
 
 We see the unsettled state of relations between 
 pope and king in this period of the struggle. 
 
 Papal mandates, illegal by the Constitutions of 
 Clarendon, are published and executed by the arch- 
 bishop. 
 
 The king acts in defiance of them — the bishop ex- 
 communicates those who act on Richard's authority — 
 the monastery appeals to both king and pope against 
 the bishop. There is a diversity of treatment by the 
 papal court • of the two cases of Canterbury and 
 Glastonbury. In the former case, the pope supported 
 the monks against their archbishop. In the case of 
 Glastonbury the pope sends mandates in favour of the 
 bishop against the monks. Richard is so far con- 
 sistent, after having repudiated his engagement made 
 to Savaric when a prisoner, that in the year 1198 he 
 forbade the execution of papal mandates alike at 
 Canterbury in favour of the monks 1 and at Glaston- 
 bury in favour of Savaric. 
 
 It is not easy to trace Savaric's movements through Savaric's 
 
 J movements, 
 
 his wandering life. 2 AD - " 8 9— 
 
 From the time when he left England with Richard 
 for the Holy Land in December 11 89 he was probably 
 absent from England until 1 197. 
 
 1. Ct.Epp. Cantuar.— Richard's Letters, June 14, 15, 1198, Fret. 
 p. cxi. 
 
 2. Vide Appendix K. 
 
102 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 Since 1194 he had held office as chancellor of 
 Burgundy, or "the kingdom of Aries," 1 under the 
 emperor Henry VI ; and he carried on his contest for 
 the abbey through his agents at Rome and by letters 
 to England. 
 
 In 1 197 he was sent to England by the emperor, 
 then at Messina struck with compunction and in fear 
 of death, to release Richard from submission made to 
 him when in captivity, and to offer restitution in 
 money or lands for the ransom exacted from him. 2 
 
 Savaric might possibly have used this mission as a 
 means of conciliating Richard to support him in his 
 hold of Glastonbury. But while Savaric was on the 
 journey the emperor died, and the opportunity was 
 lost. We then trace Savaric with Richard at Rouen 
 on October 16, 1197, where he attested the concord 
 made between Richard and the archbishop of Rouen 
 after a quarrel about the castle of Roche Andely, 3 and 
 his arrival in England will have coincided with the 
 execution of the papal mandate for his induction into 
 the abbey. 
 
 The abbey was now cowed into submission ; but 
 Savaric seems to have been restrained from taking 
 possession or from further aggression — perhaps by his 
 late interview with Richard, in Normandy. 
 
 1. " Regnum Arelatense," including Provence, Dauphine, the 
 southern part of Savoy, and the country between the Saone and the 
 Jura. Bryce, Holy Roman Empire, p. 448. 
 
 2. Howden says, that Richard when in captivity, " consilio matris 
 suae deposuit se de regno Angliae et tradidit illud imperatori Henrico 
 sexto sicut universorum domino." But as he was invested at the 
 same time with the kingdom of Aries by Henry VI, his homage may 
 have been for that fief only. Vide Bryce, p. 187. 
 
 3. Howden, 4, 30. Ralph de Diceto, ii, f. 156. 
 
III.] Bishop Savaric, A.D. 1192-1205. 103 
 
 His friend Celestine died soon after, and a very 
 different pope, Innocent III, succeeded. The monks, 
 supported by the king, were carrying their appeal to 
 him. 
 
 During 1 198 Savaric was in England, probably for 
 part of the time in his diocese, where some undated 
 charters to the church of Wells and confirmation of 
 his predecessor's grants, in the Wells registers, may 
 belong to this year. 
 
 In October of this year — 1198 — Savaric was one of 
 a commission to arrange Richard's quarrel with arch- 
 bishop Geoffrey of York, and on the archbishop's appeal 
 to Rome the commissioners were ordered to Rome to 
 conduct Richard's case there. 1 
 
 Savaric had also his own business to transact at 
 Rome. He had just excommunicated the abbot 
 elected by the convent of Glastonbury under Richard's 
 authority, and put an interdict upon the abbey for dis- 
 obeying the pope's mandate. It was now necessary 
 for him to obtain Innocent's confirmation of his act, 
 and to carry on his own case against the agents of the 
 convent in the Roman Curia. 
 
 He was there through the winter of 1 198-9, when a.d. 1199 m 
 
 England. 
 
 the news of Richard's death on April 6, 1199, brought 
 him back at once to England to take immediate 
 advantage of John's accession, and to try a shorter 
 method, by influence and by bribes, to obtain from 
 him possession of the abbey which Richard had 
 persistently denied him. 2 
 
 1. Howden, 4, 66. 
 
 2. "' Tarn prece quam pretio ejus comparans gratiam." Adam of 
 Domerham, 382. 
 
104 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 Savaric found John a ready instrument for his pur- 
 pose. He obtained at once an order to the archbishop 
 for his public installation as abbot at Glastonbury, 
 and Hubert issued a commission to the archbishop of 
 Arragon and the archdeacon of Canterbury to enthrone 
 him. 
 
 Savaric was present at John's coronation at West- 
 minster on Ascension Day 1199. According to the 
 ceremonial observed on Richard's coronation, the 
 bishops of Durham and of Bath, walking on the right 
 and left hand of John, conducted him from the throne 
 to the altar to receive the crown, and back again to 
 his throne. 
 At Giaston- Then Savaric lost no time in asserting himself. On 
 
 bury. 
 
 Whitsunday, June 8, Savaric appeared in person at 
 Glastonbury, attended by the dean Alexander, the 
 precentor of Wells William of St. Faith, 3 and other 
 secular clergy and soldiery. The doors of the abbey 
 were found closed, and were forced open : the cloisters 
 of the church were empty and the monks, all but eight, 
 refused to appear. The sacristy was broken open, 
 and the secular clergy in the vestments of the monks 
 formed the procession of installation. The monks were 
 then shut up in the infirmary, and soldiers took post 
 in the cloisters through the day and night. Next day 
 the monks were summoned to the chapter-house, where 
 some were publicly beaten, threats, promises, cajolery 
 were used with others, and at last the signatures of 
 fifty in number were extorted to a deed addressed to 
 the pope, by which they acknowledged Savaric as 
 
 3. He appears in the Canterbury Letters as one of the agents of 
 the archbishop Baldwin at Rome against the convent of Canterbury. 
 
III.] Bishop Savaric, A.D. 1192-1205. 105 
 
 their abbot, and promised obedience. The names of 
 the commissioners and of witnesses present attested 
 the deed, it was sealed with the convent seal, and then 
 the great seal of the abbey was given up to Savaric. 
 
 Savaric was now in full possession. The wolf had 
 sprung in upon the fold, and he entered in to devour 
 and to lay waste. 
 
 Deputations went from the convent to Rome to lay 
 their case before the pope. 
 
 Martin de Summa, 1 powerful in money and in 
 friends at Rome, was their chief champion, going 
 backwards and forwards throughout the struggle at 
 great personal risks on the journey. Savaric's un- 
 scrupulous agents waylaid, robbed, and imprisoned 
 the monks. 
 
 Eustace Comyn, afterwards prior and a great bene- 
 factor to the abbey, and John of Cossington, are names 
 of the most active agents. William Pica was there 
 now until his death, not without suspicion of poison, 
 in the next year. 
 
 Savaric was attending on the king in Normandy in in 
 
 Normandy. 
 
 the summer of 1199. 2 He was probably again at 
 Rome during the winter, pleading against the Glaston- 
 bury deputation, and he left his agents at Wells to 
 carry on the work of crushing the rebellious spirit of 
 the monks and forcing them to withdraw their agents 
 at Rome. A piteous tale was sent from the abbey to 
 the brethren at Rome of Savaric's outrages and 
 
 1. His brother was a Milanese, miles potentissimus. — Vide Royal 
 Letters, Henry III, 2, 512, and he is called " subdiaconus noster " by 
 pope Innocent. Adam of Domerham, 419. 
 
 2. He attests documents from July 1 to September 7 at different 
 places in Normandy. 
 
 P 
 
106 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 the sufferings of the monks. Innocent was moved to 
 tears by it, as the brethren report in their answer, and 
 promised that he would protect them. A letter from 
 Innocent of later date (August 28, 1202) 1 relates the 
 complaints which reached him at the time and which 
 roused his indignation against Savaric. The gates of 
 the abbey were closed night and day for a year and 
 more, so that no person, no letter, should pass in or out. 
 Refractory monks were punished, one by the loss of 
 his corrody or pension ; another was beaten in Savaric's 
 presence, so that he died from his injuries ; others were 
 injured for life by hardships endured. The pope com- 
 plained that his own letters, received by Savaric in 
 Flanders, had been treated as forgeries and disregarded, 
 and his messengers stopped and robbed. On the feast 
 of the conversion of St. Paul, after Savaric's instal- 
 lation, the prior had called to his aid some of the 
 canons from Wells, among whom was Jocelin, after- 
 wards bishop, 2 who, entering in with some lay people, 
 made a violent assault upon five of the leaders of the 
 rebellion, whom they dragged even from the altar, and 
 carried them off in carts to Wells. There they were 
 imprisoned for eight days, suffering hunger and thirst, 
 insults and mockings, and then were dispersed among 
 other religious houses in the country. 
 
 Innocent through this time was trying to arrange 
 matters so as to save the credit of the holy see, and do 
 justice between the parties. He was shocked by 
 Savaric's violence and defiance ; he was hampered by 
 
 1. Adam of Domerham, p. 406. 
 
 2. The names occur again of William the precentor, Thomas of 
 Dinant subdean, John de Bohun, and Jocelin, afterwards bishop. 
 
III.] Bishop Savaric, A.D. 1192-1205. 107 
 
 Celestine's policy of concession ; so he confirmed 
 Celestine's mandate for Savaric's induction, and he 
 annulled William Pica's election ; but he inhibited 
 Savaric from acts of excommunication, of vengeance 
 and spoliation, and he appointed a commission to 
 arbitrate and make award between Savaric and the 
 convent. 
 
 The commission consisted of Eustace bishop of Ely ; 
 Sampson abbot of St. Edmund's ; and Godfrey prior 
 of Holy Trinity, Canterbury. They received their 
 mandate in June, 1201 ; but, either thwarted or bribed 
 by Savaric, they did not proceed to business until, 
 forced by a second mandate from Innocent, they held 
 their sitting at St. Alban's, on September 8, 1202 ; 
 and made their award, which was confirmed by the 
 pope, September 23, 1202. 
 
 This award was the basis of a concordat which 
 lasted for the remainder of Savaric's episcopate. 
 
 The ordinance of pope Innocent, based upon the ? e ^ e 
 
 report of the commissioners, 1 is of general historical Savaric and 
 r ' b Glastonbury, 
 
 interest as an example of the Roman jurisdiction over- »•»• 1202- 
 
 1205. 
 riding the action of the civil court. It also exhibits 
 
 the internal economy of one of the largest and the 
 most ancient of the abbeys of England. It contains a 
 lengthy recital of the previous stages of the contro- 
 versy ; comments severely on Savaric's attempt to 
 forestall the settlement by an arrangement in the king's 
 court which is now set aside ; gives details of local 
 interest touching the income and property of the house, 
 and the number of the monks ; and sketches out a 
 
 1. The report is printed in Adam of Domerham, pp. 410-425, and 
 a duplicate MS. copy is among the Wells chapter documents. 
 
io8 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 scheme for a division of the revenues, and the govern- 
 ment of the monastery, " after the pattern of other 
 well-constituted cathedral churches in which are col- 
 leges of monks." The award was to be final ; if the 
 bishop did not accept it within three months the con- 
 vent should be restored to its former condition, and 
 the monks should be at liberty to elect their own 
 abbot. 
 
 It appeared from the testimony of the older monks 
 that the number in the house had ranged from seventy 
 to eighty, besides twenty-three of the body who held 
 hereditary offices : " hereditario jure constitutos." 1 The 
 nett divisible income after providing for these, and for 
 the necessary wants of the house, such as hospitality, 
 the support of the poor, and fabric repairs, was esti- 
 mated at £800 per annum. Besides this were the 
 altar oblations, which were set apart for the new build- 
 ings of the church. The abbey was a barony of the 
 Crown, bound to the service of forty knights. 
 Theconcor- The scheme of the commissioners on which the 
 
 dat. 
 
 papal award in the ordinance was made, estimated the 
 number of the monks at sixty, with a nett divisible 
 income of £800 : it provided — 
 
 (a.) That to the bishop as abbot should belong 
 ten of the manors with the patronage of all 
 the churches on the ten manors, in order to 
 
 1. Vide Liber de Soliaco, notes to p. 10. The offices of porter, 
 master baker, cook, and butcher, were hereditary (some from Dun- 
 stan's time), and occasionally descended to females who acted by 
 deputy, e.g. the office of pincerna, " butler," who distributed wine to 
 the guests, was held by a daughter of a former pincerna. This 
 office, and some others held hereditario jure, were afterwards bought 
 up by the abbey. Vide Adam of Domerham, p. 531. 
 
in.] Bishop Savaric, a.d. 1192-1205. 109 
 
 yield him a fourth part of the revenue 1 — 
 the abbot's house within the precincts of 
 the abbey 8 — and Meare in the Glastonbury 
 xii hides ; 
 {b.) The bishop should be answerable for a pro- 
 portionate share of the knight's service to 
 the Crown — should bear his share of the 
 debts of the convent, and should make 
 restitution or compensation for lands alien- 
 ated, for patronage unjustly exercised, for 
 injuries to monks ejected or persecuted 
 during the late troubles ; 3 
 (c.) The appointment and deposal of the higher 
 officers ; prior, sacrist, chamberlain, cellarer, 
 should belong to the bishop ; 
 (d.) The bishop should have canonical jurisdic- 
 tion over the prior and the convent. 
 In the internal government it was provided there 
 should be a common purse in charge of four treasurers 
 elected by the convent. The seal of the abbey was 
 to be kept under four keys, of which the prior and two 
 brethren elected by the convent and a fourth appointed 
 by the bishop should be holders. No deeds should be 
 
 1. The manors of Pucklechurch, Wynescomb, Badbury in Wilts, 
 Essebury (Ashbury in Berks), Buckland, Lyme, Blackford, East 
 Brent, Berges (Berrow), Cranmore. 
 
 2. " Ut habeat episcopus domos juxta capellam beatae mariae 
 quae fuerunt abbatum, cum clausura sua per murum qui extenditur 
 a lardario usque ad angulum praedictae capellae ; et ut fiat porta ejus 
 versus forum Glastoniense." 
 
 3. Martinus de Summa, " our subdeacon," is expressly mentioned 
 as one who had suffered. His services to the convent and their in- 
 gratitude to him afterwards are the subject of complaint to Henry III 
 in 1223 from the Podesta and the commune of Milan. Royal Letters, 
 Henry III 2, 215. 
 
no Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 signed otherwise than in chapter, in presence of the 
 brotherhood. 
 
 This ordinance was accepted by both bishop and 
 convent. Hostilities now ceased for the remainder of 
 Savaric's life — both parties seem to have fulfilled their 
 parts of the arrangement. Adam of Domerham has 
 no further complaint to bring against Savaric — "he 
 even showed himself gentle to all — he began to make 
 many gifts, and he promised more." In compensation, 
 he offered, and they accepted, the exchange of the 
 manors of Kingston and Christian Malford for East 
 Brent and Berrow. He voluntarily ceded the manor 
 of Lyme, which had been the hereditary possession of 
 the cook. 
 
 Savaric might well be content. He had won in a 
 struggle of nine years. Having obtained the enforced 
 concession of Richard, and pope Celestine's support, 
 he had held to his claim against the open opposition 
 of the king, the secret antagonism of archbishop 
 Hubert, and the weight of adverse public opinion. 
 John he had probably bribed. He had obtained 
 terms from even Innocent III. 
 
 Peter of Blois, in writing to him, had represented to 
 him the general opinion that he was striving for an 
 impossibility in seeking to bring under one mitre 
 bishopric and abbey, and that he need not be ashamed 
 to fail in a contest in which no bishop could succeed. 
 
 The protests and appeals to Rome from all sides 
 immediately after his death in favour of the abbey 
 witness alike to the displeasure with which his policy 
 was viewed, and to the extraordinary influence and 
 tenacity of purpose by which Savaric had triumphed. 
 
III.] Bishop Savaric, A.D. 1192-1205. in 
 
 But the pacification of 1202 was obtained at the cost 
 of much diplomacy and much money, in which both 
 Savaric and the convent must have grievously suffered. 
 
 The revenues of the see must have been lavished 
 among the lawyers and officials of the Roman chan- 
 cellery. Savaric's debts were the subjects of epigrams 
 at Rome, and we have evidence that they followed his 
 successor in the see. A letter from the agents of the 
 convent at Rome in the year preceding the award 
 throws some light upon the expenses of the litigation 
 to them — " the convent must pay their debts at Rome 
 before they obtain their award — their agents had made 
 themselves liable for a loan of 900 marcs, due to the 
 money-lenders of Troyes " ; the pope himself writes 
 to the convent that their agents had incurred debts to 
 the amount of 750 marcs, which must be paid to the 
 Roman money-lenders before they can be allowed to 
 depart. Martin de Summa and the brethren intimate 
 to the convent that the pope himself will expect to be 
 remunerated for his services to them. 1 
 
 Savaric did not appear at Glastonbury at this time. Savaric's 
 
 rr J wanderings. 
 
 He preferred the court of John to either of his bishop's 
 seats, or to ruling over recalcitrant monks at Glaston- 
 bury. In the summer of 1199 he was with John in 
 Normandy, during July, August, and September ; then 
 we lose sight of him. At one time he is in Flanders, 
 where he refuses to receive the pope's letters, or treats 
 them as forgeries. 2 At another time Innocent men- 
 
 1. He says, " Summus pontifex pro ecclesiae nostrae impensis 
 beneficiis remunerari voluerit et sub episcopo nihil recipere curaverit." 
 Adam of Domerham, pp. 399, 404. There is another reading, " ab 
 episcopo." These words have an ambiguous meaning. 
 
 2. Adam of Domerham, p. 406. 
 
112 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 At Lincoln, 
 November, 
 
 A.D. I200. 
 
 At St. 
 
 Hugh's 
 
 burial. 
 
 tions having seen him and received complaints from 
 him at Rome of losses to the see during his prede- 
 cessor's time. 1 He was at Rome probably in the 
 winter of 1199. 
 
 During the spring and summer of 1200 John was in 
 Normandy and Aquitaine, where, after his divorce, a 
 second marriage was arranged with Isabella of Angou- 
 lSme, and he returned for coronation at Westminster 
 on October 8, 1200. Savaric was probably there, as 
 he was certainly in England in October, and he was 
 one of John's court at Lincoln on two memorable 
 occasions in November. 8 
 
 On Wednesday, November 22, William the Lion king 
 of Scotland did homage to John, and Savaric was one 
 of the attesting witnesses. On the Friday, the 24th, he 
 assisted at the burial of Hugh bishop of Lincoln. 
 During that autumn Hugh had paid his last visit to the 
 homes of his youth in Burgundy, the family home at 
 Avalon, and the Great Charterhouse from whence he 
 had come so reluctantly to Witham. He had been 
 taken ill on return to England, and died in his house 
 in " the old Temple near London," on November 17. 3 
 Thence his body was brought down by stages and 
 arrived at Lincoln on the afternoon of Thursday, 
 November 23. There, unexpectedly to themselves, a 
 large and profligate court were called upon to pay the 
 world's last show of homage to the holy and humble 
 of heart. The king of England, the king of Scotland, 
 
 1. R. 3, f. 262. 
 
 2. He can be traced at Gildeford, October 11, Leddibria (Ledbury), 
 November 6, Upton 7, Feckenham 9, Lincoln 21-24, Geytenton 28. 
 
 3. Vita S. Hugonis, p. 331, "Proprium diversorium quod secus 
 Londonias apud vetus Templum possidebat." 
 
III.] Bishop Savaric, A.D. 1192-1205. 113 
 
 the archbishops of Canterbury, Dublin, and Ragusa, 
 fourteen bishops, a crowd of abbots, clergy, and barons 
 met the procession outside the city. 1 The body 
 was attended by the king and barons up the steep hill 
 to the church porch : there it was received by the 
 bishops and clergy and borne to its resting-place for 
 the night before the high altar of the church. The 
 next day, Friday, 24, St. Hugh was laid according 
 to his last injunctions before the altar of the newly- 
 finished chapel of St. John the Baptist, in the north 
 transept of the choir. 2 
 
 Reginald of Bath had been instrumental in bringing 
 Hugh of Burgundy from his cell at the Great Charter- 
 house to Witham, and had helped and honoured Hugh 
 in his work until he was removed to Lincoln. Now 
 Savaric, Reginald's successor, connected also with 
 Burgundy by birth and office, helped to bear St. Hugh 
 the bishop to his grave at Lincoln. 
 
 This is the last appearance of Savaric in public life, 
 as far as we can trace. 
 
 We must glance at the sequel of the quarrel with 
 Glastonbury after Savaric's death. 
 
 The controversy, which had been set at rest for a 
 time in 1202, broke out afresh immediately on Savaric's 
 death in 1205. No sooner had he passed away than 
 memorials were presented to the pope from all sides, 
 praying for the restoration of the abbey to its former 
 status. John was moved to write to Innocent, and to 
 
 1. Vita S. Hugonis, p. 370. 
 
 2. Vita S. Hugonis, p. 377, " Sepultus est sicut ipse nobis prae- 
 ceperat secus parietem non procul ab altare Sancti Johannis Baptistae 
 — a boreali ipsius aedis regione." 
 
 Q 
 
114 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 encourage petitions 1 throughout the kingdom in favour 
 of the abbey, before the see was filled up. 
 
 In a short time, general petitions from the barons, 
 from the bishops, abbots, and priors of England, from 
 the churches of Norwich, Worcester, Sarum, from 
 Abbotsbury and Muchelney, even from Bath and 
 Wells, poured in, representing the evils which had 
 ensued from the proceedings of Savaric, the scandal to 
 the Church, the sufferings of the monks, the poor, and 
 the stranger from the lack of means for alms and 
 hospitality ; and praying for the dissolution of the 
 union between the see and the convent. 
 
 The monks of Bath compare the harmony and 
 prosperity of the see and of the abbey under Reginald 
 with the discord caused by Savaric's policy, which, 
 carried out without their assent, had generated 
 quarrels, and tended to the impoverishment of the 
 abbey and the sufferings of the poor and the stranger. 
 
 The canons of Wells, of whom Jocelin was one, de- 
 plore their disappointment with the fruits of Savaric's 
 policy. They had hoped great things would result, 
 but their church and the convent have alike greatly 
 suffered. 
 
 The church of Worcester refers to the three perse- 
 cutions of regulars in their time — at Canterbury, at 
 Coventry, and at Glastonbury. Innocent had upheld 
 the cause of the monks at the two former, they pray 
 Innocent not to desert Glastonbury. 
 
 The monks of Muchelney, looking up to Glaston- 
 bury as their patron and protector, contrast the former 
 
 i. For these letters, vide Adam of Domerham, pp. 425, 437. 
 John was at Glastonbury September 3, at Wells September 5, 1205 
 
III.] Bishop Savaric, A.D. 1 192-1205. 115 
 
 glory of the house with its present shame, and derision, 
 and poverty. " What was the need that there should 
 be three cathedral seats in so narrow a diocese, with 
 expense and loss of social and religious unity ? " 
 
 The church of Sarum laments the weakening of 
 discipline and the loss of hospitality to the poor and 
 stranger. 
 
 They all pray for the "reformation" of the great 
 and ancient Benedictine house, and its restoration to 
 former independence. 
 
 Innocent, unwilling to revoke so soon his own act 
 and the concessions of his predecessor, yet evidently 
 moved by the strength and unanimity of these 
 petitions, could only evade a decision by declining to 
 make any change during the vacancy of the see, and 
 by giving permission to the convent to prosecute their 
 appeal when the bishop was appointed. 
 
 In the decretals of Gregory IX, the answer of 
 Innocent to the petition for a dissolution of the union 
 is made the precedent on which a general canon of the 
 Church is based, that "during the vacancy of a see 
 nothing shall be changed." 1 
 
 After a few months, in May 1206, Jocelin of Wells 
 succeeded to the see. He had been one of Savaric's 
 agents in the union, and whatever may have been the 
 opinion of the chapter, he, personally, was unwilling 
 that a policy carried out at such a cost should at 
 once be abandoned without bearing some fruit. The 
 disappointment of the monks vented itself in bitter 
 invectives against Jocelin, as the successor of Savaric 
 
 1. Gregorii Decretalia, lib. iii, tit. ix, c. i. "Ne sede vacante 
 aliquid innovetur." 
 
n6 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 in greed and guilt no less than in the see, and in com- 
 plaints and appeals to Rome. War was again renewed, 
 but Jocelin retained his hold on Glastonbury, and 
 Innocent supported him. Innocent died in 1216. It 
 was not until Honorius had succeeded Innocent that 
 the court of Rome could decently reverse its policy. 
 Honorius advised Jocelin to conciliate — terms were 
 proposed by him, and finally arranged in a pacification 
 at Shaftesbury, the octave of St. John the Evangelist 
 12 18. The abbey obtained their freedom to elect their 
 own abbot, and the union was dissolved, but the cession 
 of four of their manors was the price they paid for 
 independence. 1 
 
 Jocelin retained the position of patron, intermediate 
 between the Crown and the abbey, and therewith the 
 patron's right of guarding the temporalities during 
 vacancy, of granting conge" d'elire, of confirmation of 
 election, and of restoration of the temporalities, as 
 well as the diocesan rights of benediction and of 
 visitation. He was the holder of the fief immediately 
 under the Crown, whereby he became responsible for 
 the knights' service from the abbey to the Crown. 
 
 William was elected abbot by the convent on the day 
 of St. Grimbald, 12 19, and was presented to the bishop. 
 On the vigil of the translation of St. Benedict, July 
 11, 1219, Jocelin as patron admitted and confirmed the 
 abbot whom the convent had elected. 
 
 On the next day as diocesan he gave him the 
 benediction. 
 
 On the morrow of St. Laurence, August 11, the 
 
 1. Decree of Dissolution of Union, by Honorius III, May 17, 1218. 
 R. iii, ff. 263-265. 
 
ill.] Bishop Savaric, A.D. 1192-1205. 117 
 
 bishop came to Glastonbury, and caused the seal of the 
 convent to be put to the deed of concord. 
 
 " And so the monastery of Glastonbury, which had 
 been deprived of the dignity of an abbey for twenty- 
 six years, was restored through pope Honorius, although 
 not altogether, yet to the former state of being under 
 the government of its own abbot." 1 
 
 There is no doubt it was a rude and sacrilegious hand 
 which had seized upon the abbey, and succeeded in a 
 bold invasion of the independence and exemption from 
 jurisdiction of the great religious aristocracy, who had 
 lived in security under the protection of royal charters 
 and traditional reputation for sanctity. 
 
 But in justice to Savaric we must remember that the 
 Glastonbury historians are scarcely less severe in their 
 strictures afterwards upon Jocelin, the model bishop, 
 for not surrendering the abbey. The aim was good, 
 and some good result was obtained. 
 
 It was well to put a check upon the growing wealth 
 and exorbitant pretensions to independence of the 
 abbey, and to bring it into relation with the cathedral 
 church. 
 
 Reginald had attempted to bring the abbot into the 
 chapter of his church, and had given the direction 
 which Savaric followed out with some degree of con- 
 sistent policy towards the other religious houses in the 
 diocese, and Jocelin was unwilling to relax the hold 
 which Savaric obtained until terms were made which 
 secured some degree of subordination on the part of 
 
 1. So Adam of Domerham, pp. 469-475, and John of Glastonbury, 
 i, 208. But they still complain that the "jus patronatus " remained 
 with the bishop. 
 
n8 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 the abbey. The patronatus of the abbey, which 
 Jocelin at last secured to the bishop, placed the bishop 
 as patron of Glastonbury, instead of the Crown, saved 
 the abbey from the long vacancies which often took 
 place under the Norman and Angevin kings, and gave 
 some authority to the bishop in the appointment, and 
 some right of visitation and jurisdiction. Later bishops 
 reaped the benefit of Savaric's violent invasion. 
 
 Three years more remained before his death in 1205. 
 
 In this time we may bring together a notice of his 
 relations with the rest of his diocese. 
 Savanc at The register of the priory of Bath contains a scanty 
 
 at Weils" record of his gifts to the convent. The churches of 
 Chew, and Weston, and Compton Dando, 1 are impro- 
 priated — two copes are given to the church. When 
 the treasuries of all churches were being emptied to 
 pay king Richard's ransom, Savaric had redeemed from 
 pawn their vestments, crosses, and chalices (" ne con- 
 flarentur acquietavit). " 2 
 
 The monks of Bath deserved well of him for their 
 hasty zeal in electing him. 
 
 The chapter of Wells, notwithstanding their protest 
 and opposition to his election, had stood by him and 
 been his active agents in the struggle with Glastonbury. 
 They received more. 
 
 His acts in the latter part of his life seem intended 
 to make return to them ; to secure their privileges and 
 rights, and to increase their endowments by a few 
 additional grants. 
 
 1. " Comptona Fulconis de Alneto " — Dando in Somerset. Daw- 
 nay in Wilts is the family name. 
 
 2. Vide Reg. Prioratus Bathon. in Lincoln's Inn Library, 
 Appendix L. 
 
ill.] Bishop Savaric, A.D. 1192-1205. 119 
 
 The only charters which bear date belong to the 
 years 1201 and 1203. The registers record confirma- 
 tion of bishop Reginald's grant of the manors of 
 Combe and of North Curry, of the church of Car- 
 hampton, and of the tithes of all mills on his manors. 
 Additional grants are made of the churches of Lideard, 
 of Pilton, and of the valuable manor of Wiveliscombe, 
 given in commendation of " the true and laudable ser- 
 vice of the canons, and with the desire to increase their 
 insufficient endowments, and to remunerate their 
 labours." 1 
 
 Three more prebends were added, and at the same 
 time important arrangements were made with other 
 religious houses in the diocese — the church of Sutton 
 was made a prebend and attached to the abbacy of 
 Athelney, and Ilminster to that of Muchelney. 2 In 
 the same way the abbot of Bee in Normandy after 
 some controversy with Savaric held the church of 
 Cleeve as his prebend in the church of Wells. These 
 three abbots henceforth held stalls as non-resident 
 canons in the church and chapter of Wells, and each 
 supported a vicar, to whom they paid stipends to per- 
 form their duties. 3 A federal union with mutual share 
 of privileges and prayers after death was established 
 
 1. R. i, f. 59. Cf. iii, f. 371. "Attendentes quam honeste et 
 laudabiliter in ecclesia Wellensi Domino serviatur, communam eorum 
 tenuem nimis et insufficientem invenimus," i, f. 37, i, f. 23. 
 
 2. This charter bears a date, " Actum apud Welles in praesentia 
 venerabilis domini et patris Savarici in pleno capitulo ipsius ecclesiae 
 anno 1201 in crastino beati Andreae apostoli." 
 
 R. i, f. 42, 49. 
 
 R. iii, f. 384. Sutton, R. i, f. 24, R. iii, f. 369. 
 
 3. R. iii, f. 381. The abbot of Bee paid 4 marcs yearly. Cf. 
 Diceto, i, 16. 
 
120 Chapters in Wells History. [chap. 
 
 between the cathedral body and these brotherhoods. 
 There is herein the appearance of a general policy of 
 gathering the heads of the monasteries into the council 
 of the bishop, and making the cathedral church the 
 centre of the diocese. 
 
 Savaric appears to have been at Wells for the last 
 time in 1203. By an act in chapter, dated the octave 
 of St. Michael 1203, he exempted the prebends from 
 the jurisdiction of the archdeacons. 1 
 
 Another act, following next in the register, seems to 
 indicate that the violent aggression of Savaric on the 
 possessions of Glastonbury had been followed by in- 
 vasion of the rights of the Wells chapter. Savaric, 
 the invader of Glastonbury, in his turn now inveighs 
 with indignation at the wickedness of some lay people 
 who " at the instigation of the devil " had not feared to 
 invade the possessions of the church of Wells, and he 
 solemnly gives power to the chapter of Wells, in his 
 absence, of excommunicating all such offenders. 
 
 The words of this charter anticipate an immediate 
 and continued absence from his see, on account of 
 urgent and distracting affairs requiring his presence in 
 distant lands : " quia nos exigentibus negotiis interdum 
 ad multa distrahimur, et praeter voluntatem nostram 
 in locis remotioribus demoramur .... concessimus 
 (ut non expectata praesentia nostra) liberam licentiam 
 excommunicationis in eos sententiam promulgandi." 
 
 This charter of 1203 is the last notice in point of 
 time of his presence at Wells. With these words, so 
 characteristic of his erratic life and imperious dispo- 
 sition, he takes his leave of his see, bequeathing to the 
 
 1 R. i, f. 28. 
 
HI.] Bishop Savaric, A.D. 1192-1205. 121 
 
 chapter of his cathedral church this power of excom- 
 munication as their weapon of defence against their 
 enemies. 
 
 So Savaric, the " malleus monachorum," disappears 
 from our sight. We know nothing of his last years, 
 1 204- 5, except his death in a foreign land at "Scienes 
 la Vielle " J (either Siena or Civita Vecchia) on August 8, 
 1205, and his burial at Bath. 2 
 
 There is no mention in the registers of any gifts 
 made by Savaric towards the fabric of the church of 
 Wells, or of work done by him. 
 
 Considering his long absence from the diocese, the 
 heavy charges upon the revenues of the see in payment 
 of Richard's ransom, and the expenses incurred at 
 Rome by his litigation, it is not likely that Savaric 
 should have been a builder of the church. 
 
 One charter there is, quoted in the foregoing chapter, 
 the date of which has been assigned with probability 
 to the year 1196, which contains a gift towards "the 
 new work," and " the reparation of the chapel of the 
 blessed Virgin." At that date, as we have seen, 
 Savaric was abroad acting as chancellor of Burgundy 
 to the emperor Henry. It is very doubtful whether 
 he had been in his diocese since his consecration. If 
 work was then going on, it is probable that the dean 
 and canons were carrying out bishop Reginald's design. 
 But the ransom of Richard, the prodigality of Savaric, 
 and the troubles of his episcopate, would have crippled 
 also the resources of the canons of Wells ; and all 
 
 1. So Wharton. A. S. i, 563. Senes la Vieille= Civita Vecchia, 
 Glossary to Benedict, ii, 114. Howd. iii, 40. Senes la Vieille, = Siena. 
 idem ii, 229. Howd. iv, 25. 
 
 2. Godwin, p. 442, ed. Richardson. 
 
 R 
 
122 Chapters in Wells History. [chap. 
 
 building, both at Glastonbury and at Wells, was most 
 probably suspended while the litigation was going on. 
 
 The weighty condemnation of Savaric's government 
 followed quickly upon his death in the memorials to 
 the papal see which have been quoted. 
 
 The lighter satire upon his life, by the wits of the 
 Roman chancellery where he was so well known, 
 appears in a gloss to that same canon in the decretals 
 of Gregory IX, by which, as has been said, pope 
 Innocent's decision in the Glastonbury appeal became 
 a ruling precedent in canon law. 1 
 
 Two sayings then current about him at Rome strike 
 at his extravagance and debts, and at his restless and 
 unsettled life. 
 
 His debts were so notorious, yet his English credit, 
 it would appear, so good, that " one could make his 
 prayer that he might have shares among the creditors 
 of Savaric, whose name was legion." 
 
 One bill of Savaric's foreign debts still remains to us 
 among the documents at Wells — a power of attorney 
 granted by Speronus de Campomoldo, of Placentia, to 
 Rufinus Molinarius to demand 2>"j\ marcs from the 
 bishop of Bath and Glastonbury, for which the late 
 bishop Savaric had given security. This document, 
 dated Monday, March 9, eighth indiction, A.D. 1219, in 
 the " major ecclesia of Placentia," must have been pre- 
 sented to Jocelin soon after he had resigned the abbey. 8 
 
 1. Gregory's Decretals, iii, tit. ix, c. 1. " De illo episcopo nomine 
 Savarico dixit quidam alius, ' Domine me pone creditorem in legione, 
 id est in societate multorum creditorum quos moriens reliquit epis- 
 copus.' " 
 
 2. Charter 24. 
 
III.] Bishop Savaric, A.D. 1192-1205. 123 
 
 The other epigram on his wandering life Godwin has 
 published as if it were the epitaph on his tomb at Bath. 
 
 " Hospes erat mundo per mundum semper (undo 
 Sic suprema dies fit sibi prima quies." 
 
 " Through the world travelling, all the world's guest, 
 His last day of life was his first day of rest." 1 
 
 Savaric has hitherto only appeared as the ambitious 
 and worldly prelate grasping at power. There are acts 
 of his later episcopate which represent him in a 
 different light, as seeking to make his peace with the 
 world. 
 
 He was the first of the bishops of Wells who gave 
 definite expression to that peculiar form of religious 
 worship which was beginning to occupy such a dispro- 
 portionate place in the services of the church, the cultus 
 of the Blessed Virgin. He instituted a daily mass in 
 the church of Wells in honour of the Blessed Virgin. 2 
 
 He gives the first example of the fashion which be- 
 came so common in the church of Wells, as everywhere, 
 of making endowments to obtain intercessory prayers 
 from the living for the dead, and so providing by 
 requiem masses, obits, and chantries for a perpetual 
 memorial of the donors. 
 
 He instituted a daily mass for his predecessors in 
 the see, the benefactors to the church, and the faithful 
 departed, with a payment of £10 a-year to the chaplain. 
 By another charter 3 he made over to the canons the 
 
 1. Godwin de praesulibus, Lat. Ed. 1616. " Bathoniae sepultus 
 cum epitaphio." He omits " the epitaph " in the English edition. 
 
 I take the opportunity of adding the admirable translation given 
 to me' by my friend and colleague chancellor Bernard, whose help, in 
 many ways, I thankfully acknowledge. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 46. 
 
 3. R. i, f. 23, in dors. 
 
124 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 church of Pilton, charged with the payment to two 
 priests who were to celebrate daily for his soul and for 
 his predecessors ; and on his obit, or anniversary day, 
 one hundred poor were to be fed, and distribution to 
 be made to all who were present on the occasion. 
 
 We may read between the lines of this legal 
 document the act of repentance and the would-be acts 
 of expiation and atonement, according to the view of 
 the worn-out man of the world and the popular 
 theology of the time. 1 
 
 In spite of much that must have offended Jocelin in 
 the character and ways of Savaric, he appears to have 
 found some good in him, for which he could in some 
 way support his policy and follow his footsteps in his 
 own episcopate. 
 
 One of bishop Jocelin's first acts was to institute, or 
 confirm by a fresh ordinance, that the service of the 
 Blessed Virgin should be daily sung in the church of 
 Wells, 2 and that a requiem should be sung daily- for 
 bishop Savaric and all benefactors of the church ' in 
 the chapel of St. Martin, near the font ' — that chapel 
 in the eastern aisle of the south transept, near to 
 which still stands the ancient font, the only relic of the 
 Norman or pre-Norman church. 
 
 In 1535 the sum of £6 8s. 4d. was still paid, accord- 
 ing to bishop Jocelin's ordinance, for a daily mass, 
 " missa de requiem jam vulgariter nuncupata ' Martyn's 
 masse,' " on behalf of the souls of bishop Savaric, his 
 successors, and all benefactors of the church. 3 
 
 x. Vide Appendix M. 
 
 2. R. iii, 127, a.d. 1206, three priests, thirteen vicars to celebrate 
 in turn. 
 
 3. Wells MS. Ledger D. f. 30. St. Martin's chapel has been used 
 for long years as the " Canons' Vestry." 
 
in.] Bishop Savaric, A.D. 1192-1205. 125 
 
 There is yet another charter of great local impor- 
 tance, as one of the series of charters by which the 
 civil liberties of the borough of Wells were gradually 
 enlarged by the concessions of its lords, the bishops of 
 the see. 
 
 Savaric, following in the steps of Reginald, confirms 
 to the citizens the earlier charters granting the freedom 
 from tolls on markets held within the borough on 
 certain days, and the right of the borough magistrates 
 of trying causes not specially reserved for the courts 
 of the lord. 
 
 One more fair-day was appointed by Savaric, the 
 anniversary of the dedication of the chapel of St. 
 Thomas the Martyr at the entrance to the town on 
 the Glastonbury road, viz., the morrow of the festival 
 of St. John the Baptist. This charter has a peculiar 
 interest topographically, inasmuch as the boundaries 
 of the borough are marked out by lines which are still 
 traceable as nearly conterminous with the limits of 
 the municipal borough of Wells of the present time. 1 
 
 Following upon the charter of bishop Savaric is the 
 first royal charter given to the borough of Wells, 
 obtained through Savaric's favour with king John, 
 who himself was a frequent visitor in Somerset, and 
 to Wells and Glastonbury. 2 It confirms the previous 
 charters of the bishops, and adds another fair-day by 
 
 1. Appendix N. This charter, and that of king John are care- 
 fully preserved among the city records in the town hall of Wells, 
 and have been kindly lent to me by the Mayor and Council. 
 
 2. Vide King John's Itinerary. He was at Wells and Glaston- 
 bury, 1204, June 15, 17 ; 1205, Sept. 3, 5 ; 1207, Sept. 13 ; 1208, 
 March 3, 4. Archaeologia, vol. xxii, pp. 138-9. 
 
126 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. III. 
 
 royal authority, viz., an eight days' fair on the 
 " Translation of St. Andrew," May 7. 1 
 
 It is pleasant to take leave of Savaric with the 
 recollection that, whatever may have been his failings 
 and shortcomings, his offences and scandals as a 
 bishop, however little he may have added to the 
 fabric of the church, he has taken his place in the 
 civil history of Wells as one of " the first three " who, 
 with Robert and Reginald, gave the start and direction 
 to the growth and progress of the civil liberties of our 
 borough of Wells. 
 
 1. Appendix O. 
 
m 
 
 H 
 
 CO 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206-1242. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 Reginald and Savaric, bishops of Bath at the end of 
 the twelfth century, were succeeded by Jocelin of 
 Wells, 1 206- 1 242. 
 
 In Jocelin we have the instance unique in the roll of Early life. 
 the bishops of this see of a native, a " son of the soil," 
 rising through all the grades and offices of the church 
 to the bishopric, living at Wells through the greater 
 part of a long and beneficent life, dying there, and 
 buried among his own people. 
 
 There can be no doubt from the documents before 
 us that, as Godwin truly says, "he was qot only 
 English, but of Wells also — wholly Wells." "Nee 
 Anglus solum, verum Wellensis etiam, totus Wellensis." 
 
 The name Troteman found once only, in the 
 annals of the church of Margam, 1 may have been 
 the Saxon name of the family which was afterwards 
 lost in the territorial name of the father Edward de 
 Welles, after he had acquired lands and houses in 
 
 1. Annates de Margam, f. 29 (Rolls Series). 
 
128 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 and about Wells. 1 These he left to his sons, who 
 are described in the documents by no other names 
 than " Hugh, son of Edward," " Hugh the heir," 
 "Hugh of Wells," and "Jocelin, his brother." The 
 family rose under bishop Reginald's favour, probably 
 from small beginnings, for Hugh when bishop of 
 Lincoln in after years did not forget in his will " his 
 poor relations at Pilton and about Wells." We may 
 
 i . The family of bishop Jocelin can be traced in the documents 
 of the time, e.g. — Charter 9. 
 
 Certificate by bishop Rainaud, that Walter Pistor of Bath had 
 sold land at Lanferley, to Edward de Welles and to Hugh his heir 
 for five marcs of silver. 
 
 The original grant made to Walter by the late bishop Robert had 
 been burnt, and the fee is surrendered at the Hundred Court. 
 
 Witnesses : Ralph of Lechlade, archdeacon of Bath ; Richard, 
 archdeacon of Coutances ; Robert of Geldeford ; Robert of St. Lo 
 (de Sancto Laudo) ; Joceline, chaplain ; John of St. Lo ; Godfrid the 
 Frenchman, and others. Bishop Reginald was keeping up his con- 
 nection with his uncle's diocese of Coutances. 
 
 Charter 10. Inspeximus of grant by Ralph de Wilton of all his 
 land in Wells to Edward de Welles for ten shillings annually, and 
 a present of fifty shillings, and to Wimarc his wife a gold brooch, 
 and sixpence each to two of his sons. Witness to the original 
 grant : Ralph of Lechlade ; Alexander, subdean ; Robert Fitzpane, 
 sheriff of Sumerset. Witnesses to the Inspeximus : William of 
 Welesley ; Alexander, subdean ; Jocelin, chaplain ; Peter de Winton, 
 Mathias de Winton, and others. 
 
 In other documents we find the names of Sarum dignitaries ; e.g., 
 R. i, f. 36. 
 
 Agreement between bishop Reginald and William son of Richard 
 of Melbury (Mauleberg) about seven acres near the wood of Wokiole, 
 and a meadow of five acres near Poulesham, is witnessed by repre- 
 sentatives of the Wells and Salisbury chapters ; bishop Joceline of 
 Sarum ; Walter, the precentor of Sarum ; Thomas, archdeacon of 
 Wells ; Baldwin, chancellor of Sarum ; Ralph of Lechlade ; Robert 
 of Geldeford ; Jocelin, chaplain ; Stephen of Tor, canon of Wells, 
 and others. 
 
 In another document, Charter 13, among the witnesses occur the 
 names of Edward of Wells, Hugh son of Edward, Jocelin his brother, 
 together with Alexander the dean, Thomas the subdean, William of 
 Dinr (Dinder), William of Weleslia. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206-1242. 129 
 
 suppose the two brothers growing up on their father's 
 land at Lancherley, about two miles south-west of 
 Wells, attached to the household of the bishop, 
 showing early abilities which qualified them to be- 
 come by degrees leading judges, counsellors, states- 
 men, and bishops of their day, acquiring by office and 
 legal practice, and by favour of king and bishop, riches 
 and honours, grants of land and preferments in church 
 and state. 
 
 Hugh, the elder, became archdeacon of Wells under 
 Savaric ; was made chancellor of England by king 
 John, and was one of the custodians, for the crown, of 
 the vacant see after Savaric's death, and bishop of 
 Lincoln in 1209. 
 
 The register of the priory of Bath shows that 
 Jocelin was early in the service of the convent, and 
 owed his first preferment to the prior, as also doubt- 
 less to the influence of his elder brother, then arch- 
 deacon. 
 
 There are two charters from prior Robert (1 198-1223) 
 to Jocelin of Wells, attested by Hugh the archdeacon, 
 the one granting Jocelin one hundred shillings a year 
 until such time as he shall be provided with a benefice, 
 the other granting to Jocelin his clerk, clerico suo, the 
 church of Dogmersfield, saving twenty shillings in the 
 name of pension to the said prior and convent. 1 
 
 Jocelin appears in many Wells charters as chaplain 
 to bishop Reginald and canon of Wells. He was also 
 one of the judges in the King's Court before he was 
 made bishop of Bath in 1206. 
 
 1. Registrum Prioratus Bathonia, Lincoln's Inn MS., part ii, p. 15. 
 edited by Rev. W. Hunt for Somerset Record Society. 
 
130 
 
 Chapters in Wells History, 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 Jocelin 
 bishop 
 by election 
 of the two 
 chapters of 
 Bath and 
 Wells. 
 
 Hugh, heir and possessor of his father's lands about 
 Wells, and receiving grants of manors from king John, 
 which he made over afterwards to his brother Jocelin 
 for the use of the church, divided his great wealth 
 between Wells and his adopted Lincoln. Jocelin gave 
 all he had received to Wells, the place "he loved so 
 well," in which "he had been nourished from his 
 infancy,'' where, as his fellow-canons attest before his 
 election, "he had lived in all good conscience before 
 them all his life hitherto." 
 
 Thus the two brothers, in a spirit of local patriotism 
 and pious devotion which will compare with that of 
 Florentine citizens and builders of Italian towns, 
 became the makers of their native town. 
 
 The chapter registers give in very full detail the 
 process of his election — a notable instance of free and 
 unanimous election by the two chapters according to 
 the rule followed in Reginald's case, but departed from 
 in the hurried election of Savaric. 
 
 The letters of the two chapters bear highest testi- 
 mony to Jocelin's character and especial fitness. 
 
 The Wells canons, in their letter to pope Innocent 
 IV give a piteous account of the state of their church 
 on Savaric's death ; " deprived so long of the comfort 
 of a ruler, tossed with storms and exposed to various 
 oppressions and perils, by which both the property 
 and the persons of the canons have greatly suffered," 
 and they pray for the confirmation of the election of 
 Jocelin so singularly fitted by his character and know- 
 ledge of affairs for the office of their bishop. 
 
 The instruments of his separate election by the two 
 chapters of Bath and Wells are among the chapter 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 131 
 
 manuscripts. They witness to his connection with the 
 church of Wells from his earliest years, and his 
 irreproachable character. " Cum in sinu ecclesiae 
 Wellensis a primo lacte coaluerit, et sine querela inter 
 eos conversatus esset." We are familiar with his 
 attestation to documents in Reginald's time, and he 
 appears as a contemporary with Alexander the dean 
 between 11 80 and 1209. 1 
 
 King John who was in person at Wells and Glaston- 
 bury in the month after Savaric's death, was made to 
 know the unanimous choice of Jocelin, and wrote 
 letters to the pope praying for speedy confirmation of 
 the election. 
 
 His personal friends among the bishops, and at last 
 all the bishops of the southern province, wrote letters 
 testimonial to the pope praying for Jocelin's conse- 
 cration. 
 
 It took place in the abbey church of St. Mary, Consecra- 
 
 Reading, May 12, 1206. 1206. 
 
 One discordant voice, while all men spoke well of Glastonbury 
 1 ■ r «,,-,-.■ ™ dissentient. 
 
 him, arose from the monks of Glastonbury. Their 
 
 hopes of independence must have been raised to the 
 
 highest pitch by the strong petitions which were laid 
 
 before John, even from the chapters of Bath and of 
 
 Wells, as well as from other churches within and 
 
 without the diocese, praying for the reformation of the 
 
 abbey and restoration to former state of exemption 
 
 from the jurisdiction of the bishop, by which even the 
 
 king had been moved to join in the prayer to the pope 
 
 1. See the document and signatures in Part ii, under year 1205-6. 
 The instrument of his election by the chapter of Bath with signatures 
 of the monks is preserved among the Wells Charters ; Charter Nos. 
 45. 46- 
 
132 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 that these petitions should be favourably received. 
 But they knew Jocelin as an active agent in carrying 
 out Savaric's policy, and they had little hope of 
 obtaining from him freedom from the concordat estab- 
 lished in 1202. There is no sign that the monks were 
 ever consulted as a chapter in the nomination of the 
 bishop. 
 
 In the bitterness of their disappointment at Jocelin's 
 election they pronounced him a fit successor of 
 Savaric, not only in office, but in greed and guile. 
 For several years political troubles, and the confiscation 
 by the king of the property both of see and convent, 
 were sufficient to put off all settlement of the contro- 
 versy. There were also strong reasons urging Jocelin 
 to keep hold of Glastonbury for a time at least, such as 
 the desire of compensation to the see for debts incurred 
 by Savaric in the contest with the abbey, which could 
 be refunded out of the abbey revenues, and gener- 
 ally his sense of the need of restraint of the evils 
 growing out of the independence of the abbey. 
 
 Jocelin, before Runnymede, had stood by the king, 
 with Peter de Roches, Hubert de Burgh, and Marshall 
 earl of Pembroke ; and king John, notwithstanding a 
 letter to the pope in favour of the abbey, throughout 
 supported Jocelin, and in several deeds forbad the disso- 
 lution of the union without his sanction. 1 So Jocelin was 
 biding his time, and making his terms, and, probably 
 in anticipation of surrender of the abbey, he obtained 
 in 1215 from king John, as the monks alleged by pur- 
 chase, the patronship or protectorate (jus patronatus) 
 
 1. Royal Letters, Henry III (Rolls Series). Ed. Shirley. Pref. 
 xviii. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 133 
 
 of the abbey. 1 With this he obtained the rights which 
 had belonged to the crown, of custody of the abbey 
 during vacancy, of granting the conge" d^dlire, and con- 
 firming the election of the abbot, and he was enabled 
 to exercise more freely his jurisdiction in the visitation 
 of the monastery. 
 
 But when, under the pontificate of Honorius, the 
 papal court took up the cause of the abbey, Jocelin 
 withdrew from Glastonbury, having secured these ends 
 in some measure, and intent on making Wells his 
 home, and the centre of the diocese. 
 
 Jocelin's episcopate admits of two main divisions in Joceiin's 
 ■> * episcopate. 
 
 time — (a) from 1206 to 1219 — (b) from 1220 to 1242. 
 
 In the first he laid out his plans and entered on his 
 work, occupied and harassed by the political troubles 
 in the kingdom and by the quarrel with Glastonbury. 
 The local records say comparatively little of these years. 
 
 Soon after his consecration he was swept into the 
 current of civil strife. Though a friend and favourite 
 of king John he accepted the suzerainty of the pope as 
 a check to the king's wayward tyranny : he obeyed the 
 pope's order to publish the interdict, and then fled the 
 kingdom in 1208. 
 
 He was abroad about five years. We can trace him 
 in the neighbourhood of Bourdeaux in the year 12 n. 2 
 He may also have been in Spain. Eleanor daughter 
 of Henry II, and sister of John, was married to 
 Alfonso, king of Castile, and he may have visited 
 her. The traveller is shown among the archives of the 
 cathedral of Siguenza, 3 a contemporary account of the 
 
 1. See Part ii, under 1214. 
 
 2. Ibid., 12,11. 
 
 3. Dr. Edwin Freshfield, F.S.A., has kindly so written to me. 
 
134 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 murder of St. Thomas, given to the church by an 
 English bishop Jocelin, about this time. 
 
 Joined by his brother Hugh he remained in exile 
 until the bishops were admitted to peace by the king in 
 12 1 3. He was by the side of the archbishop, Stephen 
 Langton, when the great charter was forced from John 
 in 121 5. Then came the civil war and the death of 
 both king John and of pope Innocent in 1216. 
 
 Jocelin was at the coronation of the young king 
 Henry III by the legate Gualo at Gloucester, October 
 28, 1216, and he it was who administered the oath to 
 the king. 
 
 With the new pope Honorius III, the controversy 
 with Glastonbury took a new turn. Honorius advised 
 pacification, and finally the union between the see and 
 the convent was dissolved by Honorius, May 17, 1219. 1 
 
 Jocelin, giving up the abbacy and the title of " bishop 
 of Bath and Glastonbury " retained the rights of patron, 
 and possession of four of the manors of the convent. 
 
 It is clear that in the first years of his episcopate he 
 had planned and set on foot much of his work at 
 Wells, and that he had matured during exile arrange- 
 ments for reform of offices in the cathedral church. 2 
 jocelin at About 1220 he had settled himself down at Wells 
 
 Wells, a.d . . 
 
 1220. for the remainder of his time. 
 
 The year 1220 is marked as a memorable year in 
 England in ecclesiastical matters. 
 
 1. Adam of Domerham, p. 474, thus definitely gives the date: 
 " XVI" Kal. Junii, Indictione. VII. Incarnacionis dominicae anno 
 M°.CC". nonodecimo, Pontificatus vero Domini Honorii papae. Ill 
 anno tercio." 
 
 2. Part ii, under year 1209. 
 
IV Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 135 
 
 The register of the church of Salisbury commemo- 
 rates three events of the year : 
 
 (a.) The foundations of the new church of Salis- 
 bury were laid April 28th ; 
 (&.) At Pentecost the young king Henry III 
 was crowned a second time at Westminster ; 
 (c.) The translation of Saint Thomas of Can- 
 terbury, on July 7, was kept as a national 
 festival with extraordinary pomp. 
 The Wells registers mark the commencement of a 
 new era of computation. The years are dated from 
 the " Translation of St. Thomas." 
 
 It was also the year of the canonization of Saint 
 Hugh of Lincoln, on February 17. 
 
 Henceforward Jocelin devoted himself to the work 
 of perfecting the cathedral system at Wells. The un- 
 disguised jealousy and hostility of the great Benedic- 
 tine houses at Bath and Glastonbury made it important 
 to build up Wells as the centre of the diocese, to unite 
 more closely the diocese with the cathedral church, 
 and to give greater strength and dignity to the chapter 
 of secular canons* 
 
 It is significant that the first act in the register under 
 the year 1 220 was the synod of the diocese at Bath, at 
 which the question arose as to the right of precedency 
 of the prior of Bath or the dean of Wells on the right 
 hand of the bishop. It was decided in favour of the 
 prior, but with the expressed proviso that the church 
 of Wells shall not suffer thereby any loss of jurisdic- 
 tion or authority. 
 
 Interest and illustration is thrown upon Jocelin's 
 work by consideration of what was going on at Salis- 
 bury at the same time. 
 
136 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 There also two brothers, Herbert and Richard Poore, 
 bishops in succession from 1 194 to 1228, were working 
 together for the rebuilding of their church, and for the 
 improvement and due ordering of the cathedral body. 
 In 1 2 14 important cathedral statutes were embodied in 
 the document called by them the " nova constitutio," 
 in which, among other things, acts relating to the resi- 
 dence of the canons, the apportionment of the fruits 
 of a prebend on vacancies, the visitation of prebends 
 by the dean, the dress and demeanour of clerks in 
 choir, and the condition of the vicars choral, were 
 passed. 1 
 
 In 1220 the foundations of the new church of Salis- 
 bury were laid, and in 1225 the building of the east 
 end was so far advanced that the high altar to the 
 Holy Trinity, and the altars in the east ends of the 
 north and south aisles to St. Peter and St. Stephen, 
 were consecrated, and on the next day, the feast of St. 
 Michael, the bishop entered the new basilica, and 
 therein solemnly celebrated the divine offices. 8 Jocelin 
 was present on this occasion at Salisbury. 
 
 Jocelin had inherited the constitution of his church 
 from his predecessors, Reginald and Robert. He had 
 been observing the work, and sharing in councils, and 
 taking part in the duties of the church under bishop 
 Reginald from his youth, and now, as soon as he was 
 free to give himself up to the diocese, he carried out 
 plans of ritual, of building, and of organisation which 
 had doubtless been long maturing and prepared. 
 
 1. Osm. Reg. i, 379. (Rolls Series). 
 
 2. Osm. Reg. ii, 39. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1 206-1 242. 137 
 
 By one of his first acts, early in 1207, he had in- Ladymass 
 J J ' ' re-endowed. 
 
 stituted and endowed the daily mass to the Blessed 
 Virgin, to be celebrated with increased devotion by 
 three priests and ten vicars. He still further endowed 
 this service at the altar of the Blessed Virgin in 12 15, 
 and again in 1239. 1 
 
 His elder brother Hugh was a zealous co-operator 
 in his plans for building and reorganising. 
 
 An early draft of the will of Hugh of Wells in the 
 year 121 1, when in exile with Jocelin, shows that 
 thoughts and plans for their church and town were at 
 that time in the mind of the two brothers. 3 
 
 Hugh therein devises 300 marcs towards the fabric 
 the church of Wells, and an equal sum to the church 
 of Lincoln ; a larger sum (500 marcs) to a hospital to 
 be built at Wells, and other sums to the communa of 
 the canons, and to the vicars. 
 
 The hospital 3 afterwards built, and dedicated to St. Priory of St. 
 
 John the 
 
 John the Baptist, was intended for the poor and way- Baptist, 
 farers, but with special intention at first for the cruce 
 signati, those who had taken upon themselves the 
 cross, or had returned from the Crusades. It was in 
 the course of erection in 1221, and then received from 
 
 1. Part ii, under years 1206, 1215, 1239. 
 
 2. Ibid., 1211. 
 
 3. "A customary appanage to a bishop's headquarters, which 
 Wells hitherto had lacked. I cannot think that the primary and 
 permanent object of the Hospital of St. John was other than that of 
 similar institutions found, I believe, in every cathedral city, viz. the 
 discharge of Christian hospitality to the wayfarer who from risk of 
 disease and certainty of filth could not be relieved at the bishop's 
 gate. The reception of cruce signati was a temporary yielding to a 
 temporary demand, and lasted only one generation." Note by 
 bishop Hobhouse. 
 
 T 
 
138 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 bishop Jocelin its constitution and a grant of cemetery 
 and bells and chapel, which the chapter confirmed. 
 Park en- In 1207 we may conjecture that he had begun the 
 
 palace on the south side of the church. We have 
 evidence that the park on that side of the city was in 
 course of formation. In that year, Jocelin obtained 
 two charters from king John. 
 
 (a.) The first charter, dated from Harpetre, Sep- 
 tember 16, in the ninth year of the reign, 
 1207, gave Jocelin licence to impark land at 
 the south side of the town of Wells, and all 
 those woods being and growing on the south 
 side of the town, with all the liberties and 
 privileges belonging to parks, taking thence 
 what timber he wanted for his own use, and 
 to divert the way which runs through the 
 wood in the middle of it. 
 (a.) The other, dated November in the same year, 
 from Marlborough, supplements this licence 
 by granting leave to include two roads in the 
 park : (a) one road running across the park 
 under Tor Hill towards Dultingcote, which 
 he diverted to its present line ; (b) another 
 through Keward towards Coxley. He was to 
 give up land equivalent outside the park for 
 the public road. 1 
 These localities mentioned can be clearly identified. 
 The charters give the right of closing roads at the two 
 borders of the park, east and west, and through the 
 midway, and establish the complete privacy of the 
 bishop's demesne. 
 
 1. Part ii — under years named. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 139 
 
 (c.) About 1 22 1 the park was more widely ex- 
 tended by exchanges of land at Stobery and 
 Beril and Horrington with the lord of the 
 Glastonbury manor of Downhead, Walter de 
 Downhead, for five acres of meadow in the 
 valley on the south, and towards Keward. 
 The Close Rolls show that at this time Jocelin was 
 receiving charters giving him licence to cut timber 
 and to stock his park with deer from the king's forests 
 of Cheddar and Selwood, 1 and that he was bringing 
 into cultivation land on Mendip, and getting lead and 
 making iron out of the ore which he had permission 
 to dig. 2 
 
 In 1224 (8 Hen. Ill) he had licence from the king 
 to bring wood from Cheddar forest "to repair his 
 houses at Wokey." 3 
 
 So that to this time the works upon the palace, and 
 the chapel of the palace, and the manor-house, with its 
 chapel at Wookey, ascribed to him by the canon of 
 Wells, may with probability be assigned. 
 
 The dignities and offices of the church had been Dignities 
 
 and offices 
 constituted before his time, and here, as at Salisbury, reconstituted 
 
 the vicars choral had been in existence as part of the 
 
 ministrant body of the cathedral church. 
 
 It is apparent that his aim was to reconstitute all 
 these offices, and to give greater definiteness to duties, 
 and fuller endowments to all who served the church. 
 
 The records tell that when in foreign parts, " in 
 partibus transmarinis," in exile between 1208 and 12 13, 
 
 1. Close Rolls, 5 Hen. Ill, 15 Hen. III. 
 
 2. Ibid., 19 Hen. III. 
 
 3. " Decern frusta ad domos suas de Woky reparandas " 
 
140 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 he had designed the remodelling of the dignities of 
 dean, precentor, and chancellor. 1 
 
 After his return he made, in 12 16, additional and 
 very precise ordinances for the election of the dean. 2 
 
 In 1 22 1 a very full and special ordinance is made 
 with regard to the treasurer's office, containing — 
 (a.) A change of its endowment from Evercreech 
 
 rectory to that of Martock. 
 (b.) A precise description of the duties of that 
 office, so necessary for the newly-arranged 
 ceremonial of the rising fabric. 3 
 Later in his time, in 1237, a change was made in 
 the older arrangement between the dean and sub- 
 dean, by which the prebend of the sub-dean was 
 transferred to Wookey, and the dean took the church 
 of Wedmore. At the same time conflicting relations 
 between the offices of the dean and sub-dean formed 
 the subject of new regulations. 4 
 Houses for Houses were provided for the canons resident, by 
 
 the canons. c ' J 
 
 the purchase and gift of individual members of the 
 chapter and others, and the formation of the " Liberty " 
 began. 
 
 The positions of these lands and houses so granted 
 are marked out with much precision on the north side 
 of the church, in relation to the existing area canoni- 
 corum (probably the present cathedral green) and the 
 magna porta canonicorum, the entrance to the church, 
 the " Great Porch," on the north side of the church. 
 
 1. Part ii. See under years named 1209, 1216, 1221, 1226. 
 
 2. Ibid. 1216. R. i, f. 133. 
 
 3. Ibid. 1221. 
 
 4. Ibid. 1237. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1 206-1 242. 141 
 
 The north side of the church was the quarter where 
 mostly the houses for the dean and dignitaries of the 
 church were placed, and the portions of ground 
 described now gradually extended northwards and 
 adjoined land which bore the name of " Muntoria " 
 and " Muntorey." Here, afterwards, a college of 
 chantry priests was established by bishop Erghum in 
 1400, and the name became in later times Mont Roy. 
 
 These houses, purchased by individuals and given 
 to the church and the bishop for the perpetual residence 
 of canons, were freed by the bishop from all " secular 
 exactions," town dues or borough jurisdiction, and 
 formed the northern quarter of the " Liberty " in the 
 precincts of the cathedral church. The growth of the 
 Liberty 1 is traceable in the records of 1207, 12 19, 1228, 
 1234, 1236.* 
 
 The existence of schools in Jocelin's time deserves schools. 
 a more particular notice. In 1236 by a deed of some 
 solemnity Thomas Lock, son of Adam Lock, cemen- 
 tarius (bishop Jocelin's master builder presumably), 
 with the written consent, by charter, of his mother and 
 his father's executors, makes over lands in " La Moun- 
 tereye" to the chaplain of the bishop and he to the 
 church of St. Andrew, and to the chancellor, for the 
 use and endowment of schools. The master of the 
 schools is to have a house, and he is to keep the 
 buildings in order, and they are to be inspected once 
 
 1. " Liberty," a privileged area freed from some liabilities ; in 
 this case from those of the borough and parish. A lane called 
 "Canons' Walk" ran from opposite the north porch of the church 
 to the North Liberty nearly opposite the " Canons' Barn," and on 
 the west side of the present Vicars' Close. 
 
 2. Part U, under those years. 
 
142 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 Prebends. 
 
 Vicars 
 choral. 
 
 Vicarages. 
 
 a year by the chancellor and other canons. The 
 master and scholars are to be present at the anniversary 
 services for Roger the chaplain, and to pray for his 
 soul; and every Wednesday and Friday the scholars 
 are to sing an antiphon in honour of the Blessed 
 Virgin at the school. 1 These schools in the Muntory 
 are named in later records as " scholar grammaticales," 
 different from the school of the choristers. The 
 " domus choristarum " was on the west of the cloister. 
 
 A charter of the date of 12 13 may imply the 
 earlier existence of schools under Jocelin's supervision 
 at that time. 2 
 
 The number of prebends left by Reginald at thirty- 
 five, and increased under Savaric by the three assigned 
 to the abbots of Bee Muchelney and Athelney, was 
 now under Jocelin raised to fifty or more by the 
 division of the large manor of Combe into fifteen 
 prebends and the addition of Wiveliscombe and others. 
 
 The vicars choral not yet incorporated, but supported 
 for the most part by their several masters among the 
 canons whose places they served, and by a charge 
 laid on the prebends as stall wages, now received 
 regular " quotidians " or grants of daily supplies of 
 bread, which were increased and changed into money- 
 payments in the last years of Jocelin's life. 8 
 
 The formation of perpetual vicarages was carefully 
 enforced by Jocelin, requiring a fixed charge and a 
 division of tithes to be made by those holding the 
 rectories, to whom the churches were impropriated. 
 
 1. Charter 30. R. i, f. 33. " Domus in usum scholarum." 
 
 2. Part ii, under 1213 and letter of pope Innocent III, to bishop 
 Jocelin, in Charter 20. 
 
 3. Part ii. under 1234, 1239, 1241. 
 
1V.J Bishop Jocelin, a.d. 1206- 1242. 143 
 
 It had been throughout an object to him of great 
 solicitude to augment the common fund of the 
 chapter. 
 
 In the last years of his life, he made gifts to the Grants to the 
 
 communa. 
 
 chapter of the manors of Cheddar, North Curry, and 
 Winscombe, and the advowsons of Congresbury, 
 Mudford, Lideard, Winscombe, and St. Cuthbert's of 
 Wells. By substituting money for the quotidians of 
 bread to all members of the ministrant body in the 
 church, and increasing the scale of payments, con- 
 ditional on the fulfilment of allotted periods of 
 residence, he left a permanent legacy to the church 
 and established a claim to the gratitude of succeeding 
 generations. 1 
 
 So far in all this, it is to be observed that Jocelin 
 was not the creator of the constitution or of the order 
 and gradation of the several offices of the church. 
 But he was re-organising, reforming, and expanding 
 the system under which he had grown up, with 
 statesmanlike purpose and wise adaptation to the 
 needs of the time. And he gave such a fresh spirit 
 and life to the church, and so left the impress of his 
 master-hand by the finishing strokes to the work of 
 his predecessors, that his name is connected with the 
 whole ordering and constitution of the church of Wells 
 of the thirteenth century. 
 
 The question arises what was the style of the bishop The title of 
 
 1116 S6G. 
 
 in Jocelin's time ? 
 
 Jocelin of Wells has generally been styled by later 
 writers, " bishop of Bath and Wells : " 2 they have 
 
 1. Part ii, under year 1242. 
 
 2. As an exception v. p. 49 of the Diocesan History of Bath and 
 Wells, S.P.C.K. 1885, and the Genealogist, July and October, 1885. 
 
144 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 followed therein the printed works of Godwin and 
 Wharton. 
 
 Godwin, in his catalogue of the bishops, says of 
 Jocelin, that after giving up Glastonbury he resumed the 
 title of bishop of Bath and Wells ; " stilum repetiit 
 a duobus antecessoribus (Roberto et Reginaldo) usur- 
 patum ; dictus jam posthac, non Glastoniensis (sicut 
 primis consecrationis annis) sed Bathoniensis et Well- 
 ensis Episcopus ; quo etiam omnes deinceps successores 
 constanter usi sunt." 
 
 Wharton repeats the statement, and supports it by 
 alleging the authority of a charter of bishop Robert. 1 
 
 But Archer, in his Chronicon, writing about 1726, 
 exposes the mistakes by which Godwin had misled 
 others. He corrects Wharton as to the alleged charter 
 of bishop Robert, by which the relation between the 
 two sees was supposed to be arranged : he shows that 
 the charter, which Wharton has quoted, does not exist, 
 and that there is no evidence of the assumption of the 
 title of Bath and Wells earlier than the date of Jocelin's 
 successor in 1244-5. Archer says: "The canon of 
 Wells, and Godwin, and even Wharton himself, are not 
 clear on this subject, for not one of the bishops is styled 
 of ' Bath and Wells ' from the first translation of the 
 see by John of Tours until the year 1244. Then first 
 of all the bishops, Roger, who succeeded Jocelin, took 
 his title from both the churches ; but all the others held 
 the title of bishop of Bath alone, with the exception 
 of Savaric, who, after he had procured the union of the 
 
 1. (V. Anglia Sacra i, 563, and note t, p. 561, ed. 1691) " exstat 
 compositio in Registro Drokensford : quam ante annum 1139 initam 
 esse constat." 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 145 
 
 abbey of Glastonbury to the see of Bath, called himself 
 • of Bath and Glastonbury.' " 1 
 
 How is it to be accounted for that Jocelin never took 
 the title of Bath and Wells ? One can only suppose that 
 he was unwilling to incur the jealousy of the Bath 
 chapter. He inherited from his predecessor Savaric 
 the title of " Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury," but he 
 did not use it consistently. Sometimes his name 
 appears in deeds and attestations with this double 
 title, sometimes with that of " Bath " alone, but never 
 with the title of " Bath and Wells." 
 
 It is manifest that Bath, the sedes praesulea, the 
 mater ecclesia since 1091 — the seat of the ancient abbey 
 — the important city, civitas Bathoniensis — was most 
 jealous of the rising ascendancy of Wells, under 
 Robert, Reginald, and Jocelin. Jocelin made Wells to 
 be in reality the chief seat of the bishop, and when 
 forced to drop the title of " Glastonbury," he had 
 expressed to the pope Honorius a desire to have 
 compensation for that loss by being permitted to add 
 " Wells " to his style ; 2 yet he never did assume it ; 
 
 1. "When Wharton says that the record of a convention of 
 1 136 to this effect exists in the Register of bishop Drokensford, the 
 illustrious author falls into an error by confounding with it another 
 charter of bishop Robert not to the point, viz. the charter 'de 
 decanatu,' which is attested by the same witnesses set out by 
 Wharton, one of whom is William archbishop of Canterbury, who 
 died 1136." 
 
 Archer, Chronicon Wellense, f. 29. " De decanatu " is a later mar- 
 ginal insertion on the charter " de ordinatione prebendarum." 
 
 2. Vide letter of Honorius III to Pandulf the legate. He bids 
 that the register be searched, and if it be found that Wells be the 
 ancient sedes praesulea to give permission to Jocelin to assume the 
 title. "Viterbii, iv, Kal. April, pontificatus anno quarto, 1220." 
 Vatican Transcripts, Ep. 679. Pandulf had other things to do. 
 
146 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 and in his own documents and seal he calls himself to 
 the last Jocelinus Episcopus Bathoniensis. 1 
 
 The prerogative of Bath was formally acknowledged 
 at a diocesan synod held at Bath in 1220, when the 
 right of precedence was in question, and the prior of 
 Bath was adjudged the seat at the right hand of the 
 bishop, rather than the dean of Wells. Bath obtained 
 precedence in form and title ; but, notwithstanding, 
 the ascendancy of Wells was being established, to the 
 annoyance of the Bath chapter. The chapter of Bath 
 made a bold attempt to establish their supremacy, to 
 the exclusion of Wells, in the election of Jocelin's 
 successor. Their diplomacy at the Roman Court, 
 which involved them in ruinous expense, obtained a 
 confirmation of their election, and an empty acknow- 
 ledgment of priority of title, but the enforcement by 
 order of Innocent IV, that the full title of Bath and 
 Wells should henceforth be inscribed on the seal of 
 bishop Roger and his successors. 2 
 The Fabric Original documents now enable us to fix certain 
 
 in Jocehn s _ 
 
 time. historical landmarks of time within which the fabric 
 
 of the church was built, down to the end of bishop 
 Jocelin's life. 
 
 The first portion of the church was built and conse- 
 
 1. See Part ii, anno 1214. Jocelin's seal of dignity bears his 
 effigy, with the marginal legend: + IOSC9XINVS : DSI : 
 GRATIA I BATrjONIffNSIS : ffPISCOPUS. His counterseal 
 has Our Lady and Child sitting on a seat which is supported by St. 
 Andrew and St. Peter ; in base under a trefoiled arch is the bishop 
 praying. The legend is : ± : IjII : TIBI . PATRONI : SINT : 
 IOSCffLINGC : BONI. Seals of the bishops. Plate 1. 
 
 2. Pope Innocent's Letter, Lyons, May 12, 1245. Vide Letters 
 in Vatican Transcripts in British Museum, Add. MSS. 15353, vol. v, 
 p. 235. Cf. R. i, ff. 93-96. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 147 
 
 crated in or before 1 148 ; within the time contempor- 
 ary with bishop Roger of Salisbury, the builder of 
 Malmesbury, and with Henry of Blois abbot, and 
 builder at Glastonbury, bishop of Winchester, and 
 builder of St. Cross. 
 
 Bishop Reginald carried on the work between 1174 
 and 1 191, while William of Sens, and William the 
 Englishman were building at Canterbury, and while 
 the rebuilding of Glastonbury after the fire of 11 84 
 was going on. 
 
 Between the years 1206 — 1242 bishop Jocelin 
 repaired, enlarged, completed, and consecrated the 
 church anew ; while, at the same time, the neigh- 
 bouring church of Salisbury was rising from its new 
 foundation in 1220, and his brother Hugh was at 
 work on the church of Lincoln. 
 
 There could have been little building going on at 
 Wells at the beginning of Jocelin's episcopate. The 
 political troubles, the interdict upon the kingdom, and 
 Jocelin's exile from 1208 to 1213, when the revenues 
 of the see were seized by the crown, the struggle with 
 Glastonbury until 12 19, were causes sufficient to check 
 any building upon the church. Not until after Jocelin's 
 return from exile in 1213, not until after the final con- 
 cord had been made with Glastonbury, August 11, 
 1219, could Jocelin have begun the completion of 
 works left unfinished more than twenty years before, 
 and the repair of older parts which were suffering from 
 longer periods of dilapidation. 
 
 When we search for documentary evidence of build- 
 ing during Jocelin's episcopate, we are disappointed at 
 finding so little. One charter belonging to the years 
 
148 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 1 2 17 — 1220, shows that some work was going on at 
 least within those dates. 
 
 When Ralph of Lechlade was dean under Jocelin, 
 1217-1220, Alexander a canon gave for his life the 
 produce of the arable land of the rectorial glebe at 
 Henstridge, half his meadow in Ridgehill and pasture 
 adjacent, and one silver marc from the altarage of 
 Henstridge, to dean Ralph and the chapter of St. 
 Andrew in Wells for the fabric of the church, " ut 
 fabrica celerius ad optatam consummationem mea 
 sedulitate consurgat." He gives this in lieu of the 
 sum assessed upon his prebend by the chapter ; and it 
 is to be paid quarterly into the hands of the canons 
 who had charge of the fabric. 1 
 
 We gather from this charter that an assessment had 
 been levied upon the canons for the fabric at this time, 
 that Jocelin had begun to rebuild, and that voluntary 
 offerings over and above the assessment were being 
 made, in this instance at least, to promote and hasten 
 the work. 2 
 
 Beyond this charter we have very little documentary 
 evidence about the fabric in Jocelin's time before the 
 year 1239. 
 
 Outside our documents there are other evidences of 
 building operations. The Close Rolls of Henry III 3 
 contain grants to the fabric in 1220, of sixty large oaks, 
 grossa robora, from the forest of Cheddar ; in 1224, of 
 one penny a day remitted from the rent of Congresbury 
 manor, "ad operationem ecclesise Wellensis" ; in 1225, 
 
 1. R. i, f. 21 ; iii, f. 383. 
 
 2. The levy of one fifth by Jocelin is referred to as a precedent in 
 1248. R. i, f. 69. 
 
 3. Rot. Lit. Claus. pp. 425, 583, 595. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 149 
 
 of five marcs annually for twelve years ; in 1 226, of ~ 
 thirty oaks " for the fabric of the church of Wells " ; 
 and of smaller wood, frusta, to repair the bishop's 
 house at Wookey. 
 
 We can understand how the work taken up after 
 1 2 19 would go on and increase under favouring cir- 
 cumstances. After the composition with Glastonbury 
 in 1 2 19 the see was enriched by the ceded manors of 
 the abbey. Bishop Hugh of Lincoln, brother of bishop 
 Jocelin, was making gifts of manors and advowsons to 
 the see, and perhaps other gifts, such as that of Alex- 
 ander of Henstridge, were enriching the see, which had 
 been poor and impoverished between 1196 and 1 2 19; 
 and Jocelin was enabled to bring to completion his 
 work of twenty years by consecration in 1239, and then 
 to go on to augment the endowments of the church. 
 
 There had been so much built and renewed by Consecration, 
 
 ' A.D. 1239. 
 
 Reginald and by Jocelin since the consecration by 
 Robert, in 1 148, that reconsecration was necessary. 
 
 The bishop mentions the consecration of the church 
 twice in the introduction and preamble to two charters 
 given to the church about this time. In the year 1239, 
 in a charter confirming to the chapter the manor and 
 church of Winscombe, given " on the morrow of St. 
 Romanus," he thus states the fact of the consecration. 
 
 "Omnibus Christi fidelibus ad quos praesens carta 
 pervenerit Jocelinus Dei gratia Bathon. episcopus, 
 salutem in Domino. 
 
 " Noveritis nos in dedicatione ecclesiae nostrae 
 Wellensis quam die Sancti Romani mense Novembris 
 anno Incarnationis Dominicae 1239, in honorem Sancti 
 Andreae Apostolorum mitissimi dedicavimus, dedisse 
 
150 Chapters in Wells History. [chap. 
 
 et concessisse et hac present! carta confirmasse pro 
 nobis et successoribus nostris in dotem ejusdem 
 ecclesiae nostrae, et decano et capitulo nostro Wellensi, 
 manerium de Wynescumbe. 
 
 " In cujus rei robur et testimonium datum Welliae 
 in crastino Sancti Romani anno Incarnationis Domini- 
 cae 1239, et pontificatus nostri anno xxxiv." 1 
 
 In the next charter, three years later, his words 
 record that having done his work as builder of the 
 fabric, he was now bent upon increasing the endow- 
 ment of the ministrant body. 
 increase of i n the last year of his life (1242) he increased the 
 
 endowments 
 
 " quotidians," the daily apportionment of the common 
 fund of the canons, and made ampler provision for 
 the maintenance of every member of the cathedral 
 staff: 
 
 " Omnibus Christi fidelibus praesens scriptum visuris 
 
 1. There is a curious variation in the date of the day of consecra- 
 tion. The bishop himself fixes the date as " the day of St. Romanus, 
 in the month of November." 
 
 Matthew Paris, iii, 638 (Rolls Series) names the day of St. Romanus 
 as the day of consecration, but fixes the date as August 9, — " quinto 
 idus Augusti die scilicet S. Romani" — i.e. the day of St. Romanus, 
 martyr. The day of St. Romanus, confessor and bishop, archbishop 
 of Rouen, in the Sarum Calendar, is October 23. In the Calendar of 
 the Leofric Missal of the latter part of the tenth century November 
 18 is marked as the day of St. Romanus. " Passio Sancti Romani." 
 
 The same day, November 18, is marked in the calendar of the 
 church of Milan as the day of St. Romanus, martyr, of Antioch. 
 There is no mention of St. Romanus in the later Roman Calendar. 
 Did Jocelin consecrate the church on October 23 or November 18 ? 
 It is an interesting question whether the day of our dedication feast 
 should be October 23, according to the Sarum use, or November 
 18, following the earlier Ambrosian and Lotharingian Calendars. 
 Godwin assumes that October 23, the day of St. Romanus, bishop 
 and confessor, was the day of consecration — if so, Jocelin, when he 
 wrote " mense Novembris " must have meant the tenth of the kalends 
 of November, an inexact and unusual method of computation. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1 206-1242. 151 
 
 vel audituris Jocelinus Dei gratia Bathoniensisepiscopus 
 salutem in Domino. 
 
 " Postquam ad episcopatus officium nos promoveri 
 permisit altissimus, omne studium adhibuimus et 
 adhuc adhibemus, ut cultus divini nominis et decus 
 ecclesiae nobis commissae temporibus nostris cumu- 
 letur et amplietur ; quicquid ad dispositionem.utilitatem, 
 et ornatum ipsius ecclesiae respiciat semper cogitantes, 
 et ad effectum pro viribus nostris deducere festinantes, 
 ecclesiam Sancti Andreae Wellensis quae periculum 
 ruinae patiebatur prae sua vetustate, cui, Jesu Christo 
 Salvatore nostro permittente presidemus, ipsius aux- 
 ilium invocantes aedificare caepimus et ampliare ; in 
 qua de sola sua gratia adeo profecimus quod ipsam 
 divinis precibus et sacris unctionibus, cum altaribus, 
 vasibus, vestimentis et reliquiis ad divinum cultum 
 explendum in eadem devote solempniterque conse- 
 cravimus. Et quia ecclesias aedificantibus non solum 
 de aedificio ipsiusque consecratione cogitandum est 
 verum etiam de ministrantium alimentis, &c." . . . 
 and then he passes on to the subject of the " quoti- 
 dians " : " Acta in capitulo Wellensi sextodecimo Kal. 
 Nov. anno Incarnationis domini nostri Jesu Christi 
 Mill" cc°. xlii. (1242) et pontificatus nostri tricesimo 
 septimo." 
 
 This charter is sealed by the bishop and the dean 
 John Saracenus. 
 
 The words describe the completion of the work which 
 Jocelin had undertaken by the repair and enlargement 
 of the church which he found unfinished, old and 
 ruinous in parts, and suffering from neglect and dilapi- 
 dations of time. They occur in the preamble to a 
 
152 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 charter relating mainly to another subject, the increase 
 of the endowments yet remaining to be done. So 
 the words are general and not precise in their review 
 of what has been done. And when read in connection 
 with bishop Reginald's words and acts, and with the 
 history of the time intervening between Reginald and 
 Jocelin, they ought not to be wrested into the assump- 
 tion of a claim on the part of Jocelin, that he was the 
 rebuilder of the whole church. 
 
 Reconsecration was necessary from the changes and 
 additions which had been made both by Reginald and 
 Jocelin since bishop Robert's consecration, nearly one 
 hundred years before, in 1 148 ; and it was enforced 
 by the orders of the papal legate, according to which 
 several other churches were consecrated about the 
 same time. 
 
 The state of dilapidation and partial ruin in which 
 Jocelin says he found the church might well have been 
 the effects of some twenty or thirty years of neglect 
 of an unfinished building, in such times, under the 
 wasteful episcopate of Savaric, the confiscation of 
 king John, the civil war, the intolerable exactions of 
 papal legates, and the local quarrels with the great 
 rival power at Glastonbury going on to 12 18-19. 
 
 One more document completes the contemporary 
 history of the fabric at the death of Jocelin. It 
 implies that the buildings were completed according 
 to Jocelin's plans at his death. 
 
 Jocelin died November 19, 1242. 
 Arrange- No arrangements had hitherto been carried out for 
 
 ment of 
 
 burial the burial ground outside the church ; but now, when 
 
 grounds. ..... 
 
 the building on the west and south sides was com- 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, a.d. 1206- 1242. 153 
 
 pleted, the ground was laid out around the newly- 
 consecrated building by a statute of chapter passed on 
 July 9, 1243, during the vacancy of the see, probably 
 in accordance with Jocelin's provision and ordinance. 1 
 
 " 1 243. Jul. 9. Die Jovis proxime post translationem 
 beati S. [Thomae] s deliberatum est de sepultura 
 Willelmi de Chiue (Chew) Canonici ; statutum est inde 
 ut de caetero canonici residentes sepeliantur in claustro 
 per ordinem secundum dignitatem ordinis et conditionis, 
 ita quod majores minoribus proponantur [nisi forte 
 sepulturas alibi vel in ecclesia vel extra designaverant 
 in vita sua] 3 et ut incipiat sepultura eorum ad ostium 
 ecclesiae versus austrum, adeo prope sicut fieri poterit, 
 et ut extendet se usque ad angulum claustri directe et 
 sic deinceps ; cautum est etiam ut nullus laicus vel 
 vicarius sepeliatur inter eos, sed vicarii sepeliantur in 
 caemeterio versus orientem retro capellam beatae 
 Mariae [et alibi in caemeterio] laici vero in caemeterio 
 versus occidentem et incipiat sepultura eorum juxta 
 hulmos ibi plantatos juxta locum ilium ubi consuevit 
 esse Hastillaria et sic extendet se versus occidentem — 
 ita quod de caetero nullus laicus sepeliatur ante ostia 
 ecclesiae versus occidentem — majores autem personae 
 de ecclesia sepeliantur in nave ecclesiae si voluerint 
 ipsi, vel amici eorum. Predicta statuta sunt de canon- 
 icis nisi in vita sua de corporibus suis aliter ordina- 
 verunt." 
 
 This charter gives evidence that the church was 
 considered finished at the time of Jocelin's death, so 
 
 1. R. i, f. 64, m dors. 
 
 2. Partially erased. 
 
 3. In a later hand. 
 
154 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 that the ground on the west and south could be laid 
 out for burial ground. The door of the newly-con- 
 structed west front opened out on the burial ground 
 kept inviolate from markets since bishop Robert's 
 order a century before, and now become the lay burial 
 ground. The south-west portal led out to the cloister 
 girt about with walls, and to the burial ground of the 
 canons. East of the eastern walk of the cloister was a 
 chapel of St. Mary and the burial ground of the vicars. 
 
 The church of the time of Jocelin was finished. 
 
 It had been the work of the earlier builders to raise 
 the stately porch at the northern side of the church, 
 the great " Porch of the Canons " magna porta canoni- 
 corum, opposite the houses of the canons which clus- 
 tered on that side of the church. 
 
 It was Jocelin's work to raise the southern doors, 
 rich with Early English tracery leading into the cloisters 
 and the cemetery which was the last resting place of 
 the canons, and leading outward to the palace ground 
 on which he was building. 
 
 These contemporary documents supply links in the 
 chain of the history of the fabric which have hitherto 
 been wanting. They place in due relation the several 
 workers in the great fabric. They enable us to correct 
 the traditions of later writers, who ascribed all the 
 work to one great benefactor. 
 
 Judgments have been swayed by deference to the 
 supposed authority of the printed statements of the 
 Canon of Wells and Godwin. 
 
 It is time that we were set free from subjection to 
 those authorities as decisive on this period of the 
 architectural history of the church. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1 206-1242. 155 
 
 The Canon of Wells, writing of Jocelin, says : 
 " Ipsamque Ecclesiam vetustatis minis enormiter 
 deformatam prostravit, et a pavimentis erexit dedi- 
 cavitque." 
 
 This is the description of a building allowed to fall 
 into shapeless ruin, enormiter deformatam, by a century 
 of neglect and decay. 
 
 The rebuilding of the whole church is attributed to 
 Jocelin, from pavement to vault, "prostravit et a 
 pavimentis erexit." 
 
 Bishop Godwin enlarges upon the text of the 
 Canon, and describes, with more pretention to exact- 
 ness, Jocelin's work. 
 
 In the English edition he says : 
 
 " Moreover, in building he bestowed inestimable 
 summes of money. He built a stately chappell in his 
 pallace at Welles and another at Owky, as also many 
 other edifices in the same houses ; and lastly, the 
 church of Welles itselfe being now ready to fall to the 
 ground, notwithstanding the great cost bestowed upon 
 it by bishop Robert, he pulled downe the greatest 
 part of it, to witte all the west ende, built it anew 
 from the very foundation, and hallowed or dedicated 
 it October 23, 1239." 
 
 He varies and amplifies his statement in the Latin 
 editions of 1614-1616. 
 
 Under certain variations in detail the language of 
 these two authorities is decisive, that in their view 
 there was no building going on at Wells in the time 
 between Robert and Jocelin ; and that Jocelin pulled 
 down and rebuilt the west end and the greatest part 
 of the church. 
 
156 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 These statements representing the later tradition ot 
 the fifteenth century are opposed to both documentary 
 and architectural evidence. 
 
 They have not been received without weighty protest 
 even by those who have accepted the writers as 
 original authorities from whom there was no appeal. 1 
 
 Britton, writing in 1847, says, " There is, in fact, such 
 simplicity in all the more ancient parts which include 
 the nave and transept, and the walls of the west part 
 of the choir there, that had not the canon of Wells so 
 particularly mentioned the restoration of the cathedral 
 by Jocelin of Wells, and bishop Godwin so strongly 
 corroborated his testimony, there could be little hesi- 
 tation in ascribing it to bishop Robert, and assigning 
 them to the reign of Henry II." He continues — 
 "The north porch might still more decidedly be re- 
 ferred to the same period, for it possesses so many 
 characteristics of Norman architecture, that there can 
 be no doubt of its having been erected before the 
 Pointed style had obtained its full ascendancy." 
 
 Another writer comments on the difficulty of recon- 
 ciling with the architectural evidence, " the only known 
 authority for the history of the cathedral (viz. the so- 
 called canon of Wells) which, assigning nothing of 
 the existing church to Robert or Reginald, attributes 
 everything to Jocelin. If internal evidence were with 
 history or tradition I would not complain : but it is 
 dead against it." 2 
 
 It is evident that the church bears unmistakable 
 signs of two very different styles of building, in the 
 
 1. Britton, Architectural History of Wells, p. 88. 
 
 2. Wells Cathedral, Murray, 1861. Note part Hi, attributed to 
 Mr. Sharpe. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 157 
 
 west front and in the nave and eastern part. The 
 west front is built in the fully-developed Early English 
 style in which Salisbury, Ely, and Lincoln are built. 
 Mr. Freeman expresses the general judgment that 
 Jocelin was the builder of the west front. 1 There is 
 more division of opinion as to the date of the rest of 
 the church. 
 
 The church which Jocelin consecrated is generally 
 understood to take in the west front, the nave, north 
 porch, transepts, and the three western arches of the 
 eastern limb. It takes in the three towers >up to ,the 
 point where they rise above the roof of the church. 
 
 Mr. Freeman says, "The west front within ,and 
 without differs widely in its architectural detail from 
 the arcades of the nave and transepts." .... .Again, 
 he says of ;the. style of (the nave, "It has a good deal 
 of the earlier Romanesque .leaven hanging about it ; 
 its mouldings and the clustering ,of >its pillars are 
 much less free ; the abaci or tops of theicapitals are 
 square or octagonal instead of round ; it makes mo 
 use of detached shafts, often iof ^marble, which are so 
 abundantly found in the west front." 
 
 Professor Willis tells us t that the west front is. of 
 later date than the nave, and the western part of (the 
 nave is later (than the eastern, part, ithe choir, and :the 
 north porch.; and he enters into detailin hisi description 
 of differences and breaks in the building. In his lecture 
 at Wells, conducting his audience from east .towestiin 
 the order of the. building,: he (drew their attention to 
 
 1. Cathedral Church d/"W«Hj,~pp. 74-76. Prof. Willis in Somerset 
 Archaological Proceedings, , vol. xii,;parb i,rp.ji8. jMr.Indne- started 
 another view, that Reginald was the builder of the west front. 
 Somerset Arehaological Proceedings, vol. xix, part ii, pp. 13, 14, 23. 
 
158 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 breaks and stoppages in the work, and signs of differ- 
 ences of construction, which must occur in a building 
 which, in the vicissitudes of centuries, has experienced 
 repairs by different hands. But a general uniformity, 
 broken by regular diversity, is observable in the nave. 
 
 If then the west front is of later date than the 
 nave, and it is the work of Jocelin, finished in 1239, to 
 whom shall we ascribe the rest of the church, which is 
 " unlike any Early English building, and belongs to a 
 style on the whole fifty years earlier ? " 
 
 With this transitional architecture before us in the 
 north porch and nave, and these documents which speak 
 of buildings going on in the twelfth century, may we 
 not claim that in the nave of Wells we have a remark- 
 able example of transitional architecture intervening 
 between the Norman and the Early English styles ? 
 
 We may conjecture that the general design of the 
 parts east of the west front belonged to Robert and to 
 Reginald, though the actual work was stopped some- 
 where in the nave, and the whole has been greatly re- 
 modelled in details by successive builders in after years. 
 If, as we are told, all Robert's work has perished, we 
 may at least see in the three western arches of the 
 choir Robert's work recast by Reginald. If there is 
 one point in the nave where it is allowable to conjec- 
 ture that the great break between Reginald's and 
 Jocelin's work may have taken place, it will be in the 
 part westward of the north porch, where the three last 
 arches of the nave run on to the west front. 
 
 Here, Professor Willis remarks, the masonry im- 
 proves : here the forms of sculptured foliage and human 
 heads are more free and natural, more characteristic 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 159 
 
 of the later workmen : here he considers that we have 
 the work of a later date. Here we may conjecture 
 that Reginald's work stopped : here was the new work 
 suspended in 1196, when troubles threatened the 
 church under Savaric, when the war with Glastonbury 
 began. Here may have been for the next three and 
 twenty years, between 1 196- 12 19, the gaping chasm 
 between the unfinished nave and the older front, 
 which, from its age, was showing signs of decay and 
 was ready to fall, " pro sua vetustate patiebatur peri- 
 culum ruinae." 
 
 What if Jocelin, after 1219, began to build at the 
 west end, pulling down the old Norman work to the 
 ground, raising up on its ruins the new work in the 
 rich Early English style of the period, rivalling his 
 brother's work at Lincoln ? What if he then joined it 
 on to the unfinished nave of Reginald, building up the 
 three western arcades of the nave in the earlier style 
 of his predecessor, and uniting here, in one glorious 
 whole, his own new work with the work of Reginald 
 and of Robert ? 
 
 It would have been a noble architectural achieve- 
 ment for the last twenty years of a troubled episcopate. 
 
 If he did this and no more than this, it would not 
 be difficult to imagine how the tradition would have 
 grown that he was the builder of the whole church. 
 We can understand how after-generations who imme- 
 diately inherited the benefits of Jocelin's wise legislation 
 and generous benefactions should have cherished the 
 memory of the latest builder, as though he were the 
 one and only builder, of the church of the thirteenth 
 century. 
 
160 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 He was of Wells : he, as chaplain and canon and 
 bishop, had grown up, and lived, and died, and was 
 buried, among his own people : his grave and memorial 
 tomb was with them in their church, honoured the 
 more as it was the tomb of the first bishop buried at 
 Wells since the seat of the bishop had been transferred 
 to Bath one hundred and fifty years before. Each 
 generation had before their eyes that part of the 
 church which was Jocelin's undoubted work, gradually 
 rising under the hands of successive builders to the 
 height of its western towers, looking over the burial 
 place of the dead and the homes of the living. 
 Generation after generation saw the deeply recessed 
 niches, the six hundred tabernacles gradually filled 
 with sculptured imagery, telling the whole tale of 
 earth and heaven, of man's fall and resurrection, of the 
 Lord's advent in mercy and in judgment, and of the 
 long roll of saints and worthies of the race of their 
 own land. 
 
 It might well be that by the time of bishop Bubwith, 
 when the Canon of Wells wrote, more than a century 
 and a half after Jocelin's death, the tradition had 
 taken root that Jocelin of Wells, who had raised the 
 western front, had been also the architect of the whole 
 church, and that as builder, legislator and benefactor, 
 "there had been none like before him, neither after 
 him had any risen like unto him." " Qui sibi similem 
 anteriorem non habuit, nee hue usque visus est habere 
 sequentem." 1 
 
 But now with these contemporary documents before 
 us, we put in a plea that justice should be done to 
 
 i. Canon of Wells, in Wharton, A.S. 564. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 161 
 
 Robert and to Reginald, who have gone before as 
 builders of the church. 
 
 "Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona." Jocelin was 
 last and greatest, but Reginald ought to hold the 
 second place of honour between Robert the " author" 
 and Jocelin the "finisher," — "the first three" master 
 builders of our holy and beautiful house of St. Andrew 
 in Wells. 
 
 Obscure and doubtful are the earlier stages of the 
 architectural history of our church, as of so many of 
 the other great churches which were raised up about 
 this time throughout the land. Few and scanty are 
 the records preserved in contemporary registers. As 
 in the ancient temple at Jerusalem no sound of tool 
 was heard while it was in building — noiselessly the 
 fabric rose into being — so our church has grown up in 
 silence ; no portion of the building or sculptures can 
 be assigned with certainty to any one known architect. 
 
 We may think we can trace in our local documents 
 the names of one or two of those employed in the 
 work at Wells and elsewhere about this same time. 
 Families of masons (cementarii) at Wells, of the 
 names of Lock, father and son, and Noreis, 1 Norreys, 
 and one Deodatus (fit name for some cunning stone 
 worker in the service of the sanctuary) are found in 
 connection with members of the chapter of Wells, and 
 with other workmen of different occupations at both 
 Wells and Glastonbury ; John Faber, John the gold- 
 smith, and David the dyer (tinctor), and Simon the 
 colourist (pictor). A member of a family of the name 
 
 1. Gaufridus de Noiers was the name of St. Hugh's architect at 
 Lincoln. 
 
 Y 
 
1 62 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 of Buneton, established in Glastonbury in 1249, and 
 afterwards in Edward II's time called "de Buneton," 
 "the sculptor," is possessed of lands and houses at 
 Glastonbury, and gives name to a street in Glaston- 
 bury called after their own name, 1 Buneton Street. 
 Another name also is now found at Wells, famous 
 throughout England for his architectural works, Elias 
 de Derham — known at Salisbury as canon, rector 
 ecclesics and architect between 1220 and 1229 — known 
 at Canterbury as one of the " incomparable artificers " 
 of the new shrine of St. Thomas in 1220 — and at 
 Winchester as master of the works in the King's Hall, 
 1230-6. He appears at Wells as an early friend of the 
 brothers Hugh and Jocelin, and their companion in 
 exile — he is named co-executor with Jocelin of the 
 first draft of bishop Hugh's will in 1212 — in 1236 he 
 is seneschal or steward of Jocelin at Wells, and as such 
 attests the conveyance of houses by the family of the 
 masons Lock, which formed the first church school of 
 Wells. Matthew Paris records his death in 1245. 2 
 Others of the family, probably from Dyrham near 
 Pucklechurch in Gloucestershire are among the 
 canons. 
 
 But, beyond these shadowy names, we know nothing 
 certainly of the actual builders who planned or exe- 
 cuted " this immense and glorious work of high intelli- 
 gence " — who raised the " alta campanilia," to their 
 first stages — who spread the branching roof of the 
 nave — who designed or carved the canopies and 
 niches, tabernacles of life-like statuary, spirantia sigtia, 
 
 1. "In vico qui vocatur Boneton in villa Glaston." Appendix R. 
 
 2. Chron. Majora, iv, 418. (Rolls Series). Part ii, Appendix R. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A. D. 1 206-1242. 163 
 
 in that noble gallery of early Christian art displayed 
 on the breadth of the west front, which Flaxman des- 
 cribed as " the earliest specimen of such magnificent 
 and varied sculpture united in a series of sacred his- 
 tory that is to be found in western Europe," and which 
 in their decay, after six centuries of existence, still 
 raise the admiration and mysterious wonder of each 
 passing generation. 
 
 Jocelin was living in a period of continuous growth 
 and new development : he was unfolding and extending 
 the system which he inherited : he was working on the 
 fabric as he worked on the constitution of the church, 
 repairing, rebuilding what was dilapidated or un- 
 finished in the earlier building, adding largely new and 
 beautiful work. He left the church sufficiently com- 
 pleted for the ritual of his time in fabric and interior 
 arrangement and endowment, as he left the ministrant 
 body of the church enlarged and all but complete in 
 number, more richly endowed, with offices more defined 
 and reorganised, and working with more efficiency. 
 
 Within these years of troublous times, during the 
 lawless tyranny of John and the weak misrule of 
 Henry, and the arrogance and intolerable exactions of 
 papal legates, Jocelin was quietly working for the 
 good of the church of God in his own home, as 
 restorer, builder, legislator, reformer. 
 
 He has left to his native city a church equal at least 
 in architectural grace and interest to any of the rivals 
 of its day at home or abroad, and surpassing all in the 
 design and execution of the sculptures of its matchless 
 west front. 
 
Drawn from the wells of some diviner spring, 
 Rose — like a fountain leaping in the sun — 
 His thoughts high heavenward, ere his work begun, 
 Great Jocelin, — who made his day-dreams ring 
 With harmonies before unheard, and wing 
 Their flight in voiceless words, and deeds undone 
 Till he had shaped his yearning thoughts in stone, 
 And then, God-guided, taught the dumb to sing : 
 Apostles, prophets, saints, and martyrs rise, 
 Angels, archangels, with their silent song, 
 Tier above tier before our wondering eyes, 
 
 Who thro' unwearying years their strains prolong : — 
 And o'er the passing crowd they yet shall raise 
 Their great " Te Deum " to the end of days. 
 
 Godfrey Thring. 
 
CHAPTER IV. PART II. 
 
 Chronicon of Jocelin, bishop of Bath, 1206- 1242, 
 in Archer's " Chronicon Wellense." 
 
 Annus 
 Domini. 
 
 Cyclus 
 Solis. 
 
 Cyclus 
 Lume. 
 
 Epacta. 
 
 Litera 
 Dominicalis 
 
 Pascha. 
 
 Indictio. 
 
 1205 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 B 
 
 Apr. 10 
 
 viii 
 
 6 
 
 II 
 
 IO 
 
 20 
 
 A 
 
 Ap. 2 
 
 ix 
 
 7 
 
 12 
 
 II 
 
 1 
 
 G 
 
 22 
 
 K 
 
 8 
 
 13 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 FE 
 
 6 
 
 xi 
 
 9 
 
 14 
 
 13 
 
 23 
 
 D 
 
 Mar. 29 
 
 xii 
 
 1210 
 
 15 
 
 r 4 
 
 4 
 
 C 
 
 Ap. 18 
 
 xiii 
 
 11 
 
 16 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 B 
 
 3 
 
 xiv 
 
 12 
 
 17 
 
 16 
 
 26 
 
 AG 
 
 Mar. 25 
 
 XV 
 
 13 
 
 18 
 
 17 
 
 7 
 
 F 
 
 Ap. 14 
 
 i 
 
 14 
 
 19 
 
 18 
 
 18 
 
 E 
 
 Mar. 30 
 
 ii 
 
 15 
 
 20 
 
 19 
 
 29 
 
 D 
 
 Ap. 19 
 
 iii 
 
 16 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 CB 
 
 10 
 
 iv 
 
 17 
 
 22 
 
 2 
 
 22 
 
 A 
 
 Mar. 26 
 
 V 
 
 18 
 
 23 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 G 
 
 Ap. 15 
 
 vi 
 
 19 
 
 24 
 
 4 
 
 14 
 
 F 
 
 7 
 
 vii 
 
 1220 
 
 25 
 
 5 
 
 25 
 
 ED 
 
 Mar. 29 
 
 viii 
 
 21 
 
 26 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 C 
 
 Ap. 11 
 
 ix 
 
 22 
 
 27 
 
 7 
 
 17 
 
 B 
 
 3 
 
 X 
 
 23 
 
 28 
 
 8 
 
 28 
 
 A 
 
 23 
 
 xi 
 
 24 
 
 I 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 GF 
 
 14 
 
 xii 
 
 25 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 E 
 
 Mar. 30 
 
 xiii 
 
 26 
 
 3 
 
 11 
 
 1 
 
 D 
 
 Ap. 19 
 
 xiv 
 
 27 
 
 4 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 C 
 
 11 
 
 XV 
 
 28 
 
 5 
 
 13 
 
 23 
 
 BA 
 
 Mar. 26 
 
 i 
 
 29 
 
 6 
 
 14 
 
 4 
 
 G 
 
 Ap. 15 
 
 ii 
 
 1230 
 
 7 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 F 
 
 7 
 
 iii 
 
 3i 
 
 8 
 
 16 
 
 26 
 
 E 
 
 Mar. 23 
 
 iv 
 
 32 
 
 9 
 
 17 
 
 7 
 
 DC 
 
 Ap. 11 
 
 v 
 
 33 
 
 10 
 
 18 
 
 18 
 
 B 
 
 Apr. 3 
 
 vi 
 
 34 
 
 11 
 
 19 
 
 29 
 
 A 
 
 23 
 
 vii 
 
 35 
 
 12 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 G 
 
 8 
 
 viii 
 
 36 
 
 13 
 
 2 
 
 22 
 
 FE 
 
 Mar. 30 
 
 ix 
 
 37 
 
 14 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 D 
 
 Ap. 19 
 
 X 
 
 38 
 
 15 
 
 4 
 
 14 
 
 C 
 
 4 
 
 xi 
 
 39 
 
 16 
 
 5 
 
 25 
 
 B 
 
 Mar. 27 
 
 xii 
 
 1240 
 
 17 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 AG 
 
 Ap. 15 
 
 xiii 
 
 41 
 
 18 
 
 7 
 
 17 
 
 F 
 
 Mar. 31 
 
 xiv 
 
 42 
 
 19 
 
 8 
 
 28 
 
 E 
 
 Ap. 20 
 
 XV 
 
 The year begins on March 25th at this time. 
 
1 66 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP 
 
 Archer, f. go. 
 Custody of 
 the see. 
 
 January 2. 
 
 Savaric's 
 debts. 
 
 7 John. 
 
 8 Innocent III. 
 
 a.d. 1205 
 
 See of Canterbury vacant. 
 See of Bath vacant. 
 Alexander, dean. 
 Aug. 8 Savaric died. 
 Hugh archdeacon of Wells, and William de Wrotham 
 archdeacon of Taunton appointed by the king custo- 
 dians of the see. W. Prynne, History of King John, 
 etc., iii, 9. 
 
 Cf. Rot. Lit. Claus. p. 61 — The king orders payment 
 of a debt from Savaric of ^ioo to bishop Peter of 
 Winchester to be paid to the custodians of the see, by 
 the executors of archbishop Hubert's will, he having 
 at his death money in hand belonging to Savaric. 
 
 James Savage and Master E. de Derham were the 
 executors. 
 
 Dated Clarendon 2 January in the 7 th year. 
 
 Sept. 10. 
 Confirma- 
 tion of 
 manor and 
 church of 
 North Curry 
 to the 
 communa. 
 
 King John confirms to the canons the manor and 
 church of North Curry, the lands of Hatche and 
 Wrentich for the communa ; grants the right of holding 
 a market every Wednesday. R. i, f. 9 ; R. iii, f. 25 
 in dors. 
 
 " Datum per manus Hugonis de Welles archidiaconi 
 Wellensis apud Bristoll io mo die Septembris anno 
 regni nostri septimo." 
 
 Concordat 
 for election 
 of bishop 
 between 
 chapters of 
 Bath and 
 Wells. 
 
 The vacancy in the see is made the occasion of 
 formulating a compositio, based upon the precedent 
 followed in the election of bishop Reginald between 
 the two electing bodies to regulate future elections r 1 
 
 1. The process in the election of bishop Reginald, and this of 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206-1242. 167 
 
 Robert the prior and the convent of Bath, Alex- 
 ander the dean and the canons of Wells, agree 
 to meet in a convenient place to elect. 
 The prior shall announce the choice, and in the 
 name of the whole church shall challenge 
 objection (postulabit 1 ) — if the prior be elected 
 the dean shall so act. 
 The elected to be installed in the church of Bath. 
 Should the priory be vacant at the time dean 
 and canons promise that they will not hinder 
 the installation at Bath. 
 Prior and dean seal this compact. R. i, f. 56. 
 Prior, sub-prior, and two monks, appointed proctors 
 for the chapter of Bath, notify by letter to the king 
 their appointment and assent to whatever shall be 
 determined in conjunction with the canons of Wells. 
 Dean Alexander, William of St. Faith, precentor, 
 Thomas, subdean, and Ralph of Lechlade, canons, are 
 appointed proctors of the chapter of Wells. R. i, 
 ff. 54, 55. 
 
 The proctors unanimously elect Jocelin of Wells, 
 canon, to be bishop, and by a deed signed and sealed 
 publish the election to the two chapters. R. i, f. 55, 
 in d. ; R. i, f. 57. 
 
 bishop Jocelin, are recorded in full in the report of the Commissioners 
 appointed in July, 1242, to settle the dispute after bishop Roger's 
 nomination. Vide " Charter No. 40." 
 
 1. " Postulabit." Archer quotes Gibson's Codex, vol. i, p. 122, 
 " Postulatio est concors capituli petitio (i.e., nemine contradicente), 
 ut is in praelatum promoveatur sive adsumatur, qui non propter animi 
 vel corporis vitium sed ob alium defectum propter quern non est 
 inhabilis ad prospiciendum ecclesiae (veluti quia est minor triginta 
 annis aut laicus in minoribus ordinibus aut illegitimus) eligi nequit." 
 It was a "si quis," giving notice of nomination, challenging 
 objections. 
 
1 68 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 Letters of notification of the election are sent by the 
 prior and convent of Bath, and similar letters by the 
 dean and chapter of Wells, to the king, the archbishop 
 of Canterbury (though sede vacante) and pope Innocent. 
 R. i,f. 54; i, f. 55- 
 
 The subscriptions of the prior and monks of Bath, 1 
 and of the dean and chapter of Wells are appended to 
 their acts. 
 
 The letter of the chapter of Bath describes Jocelin : 
 " Clericum ecclesiae nostrse et canonicum Wellensem, 
 virum industrium, literatum et honestum." R. i, f. 64. 
 
 The chapter of Wells lament that " their church has 
 been for so many years deprived of the comfort of a 
 guide and ruler; tossed with storms and exposed to 
 various oppressions and extreme perils. (R. i, f. 28.) 
 For while Savaric has been absent, and too negligent 
 of his charge, things at Wells have gone from bad to 
 worse ; the canons have been oppressed and trampled 
 on by wicked men, unrestrained by fear of God or 
 reverence for man ; some have attacked the persons, 
 others the property of the canons. In the hope of 
 applying a remedy to these evils they unanimously, 
 and in conjunction with the chapter of Bath, have 
 elected to their bishop, Jocelin, one of their canons, a 
 deacon, industrious, learned, honest, of great experience 
 in business — whose early life and character are well- 
 known to us, inasmuch as he has grown up among us 
 from his infancy, and has lived among us without 
 reproach." 
 
 " Cujus profecto vita, moresque probabiles incognitae 
 
 1. The letter is printed in full in Introduction, p. 41, to " Account 
 of the Priory of Bath," by Rev. W. Hunt. Somerset Record Society 
 Publications. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 169 
 
 nobis esse non poterunt cum in sinu ecclesiae nostrae 
 a primo lacte coaluerit, et sine querela inter nos 
 hactenus conversatus." 
 
 They implore Innocent to assist in remedying this 
 their desperate condition, by granting confirmation of 
 Jocelin's election without delay. R. i, f. 55. 
 
 Cf. Inspeximus in 1242, of all the deeds relating to 
 election of Jocelin, in Charters 39, 40, 41. 
 
 The names of the canons and clergy of Wells follow 
 the instrument of election. 
 
 + Ego Alexander Wellensis decanus. 
 
 + Ego Willelmus precentor Wellensis. 
 
 + Ego H[ugo] Wellensis archidiaconus. 
 
 + Ego R[icardus] Cancellarius Wellensis. 
 
 + Ego T. Thesaurarius Wellensis. 
 
 + Wfalterus de Gray] Cancellarius domini regis. 1 
 
 + Ego P[etrus] archidiaconus Bathoniensis. 
 
 + Ego W[illelmus] archidiaconus Tantonensis. 
 
 + Ego T[homas] subdecanus Wellensis. 
 
 + Ego A[dam] succentor Wellensis. 
 
 + Ego Abbas Beccensis canonicus Wellensis. 
 
 + Ego Abbas Muchelnensis canonicus Wellensis. 
 
 + Ego R. archidiaconus Wyntoniensis. 
 
 + Ego magister R[adulphus] de Lechelade. 
 
 + Ego Stephanus Ridel. 
 
 + Ego magister Amandus. 
 
 + Ego P. Canutus. 
 
 + Ego Johannes Chauvel. 
 
 + Ego T. de London. 
 
 1. Walter de Gray, afterwards archbishop of York, is recorded 
 by Beatson as Lord High Chancellor in 1305, between two turns of 
 the office by Hugh de Wells. 
 
 Z 
 
170 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 + Ego Reginaldus Buzun. 
 
 + Ego magister W. de Tantonia. 
 
 + Ego R. de Tregoz. 
 
 + Ego magister T. de Heselle. 
 
 + Ego S. de Elmeham. 
 
 + Ego T. de Tornaco. 
 
 + Ego H. de Welles. 
 
 + Ego I. Capellanus. 
 
 + Ego P. de Inglesh. 
 
 + Ego A. Scottus. 
 
 + Ego Hugo de Wylt. 
 
 + Ego Arnisius de Constantiis. 
 
 + Ego Mauricius de Berkele. 
 
 + Ego Johannes de Bohun. 
 
 + Ego Iterus de Wandestr. 
 
 + Ego Phil, de Lucy. 
 
 + Ego R. de Tymbresb. 
 
 + Ego Radulphus Preciosus. 
 
 + Ego R. de Staweia. 
 
 + Ego R. de Camera. 
 
 + Ego W. de Sarum. 
 
 + Ego H. de Wyfelescumba. 
 
 + Ego A. Lugdunensis. 
 
 + Ego H. de Berkele. 
 
 + Ego T. de Cycestria. 
 
 + Ego I. de Kainesham. 
 
 + Ego magister R. de Wyltoii. 
 
 + Ego T. de Dundefi. 
 
 + Ego W. de Dinre. 
 
 + Ego I. de Kalna. 
 
 + Ego R. de Bathonia. 
 
 + Ego N. de Welles. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1 206-1242. 171 
 
 + Ego H. de Traco. 
 + Ego R. de Bereft. 
 + Ego R. de Sanford. 
 + Ego S. de Tornaco. 
 + Ego W. de Cerda. 
 
 The dean and 5 5 sign. 
 
 In the same year orders on the treasury to the King's order 
 two archdeacons, as custodians of the see, are given oftheproc- 
 by king John for payment to the proctors of the two others. 
 chapters, " for expenses in coming to us at Windlesore, 
 and in stay in our court at the election of their bishop," 
 and for payments to the same canons, with the addition 
 of Roger de Sandford. Rot. Lit. Claus. p. 52. 
 
 Again, in 7 John, January 20, 1205-6, from Bradene- 
 stoke, to the same persons (with the exception of 
 Roger de Bohun) "for expenses in coming to us in 
 Dorset and Wiltesir." Rot. Lit. Claus. p. 63. Roger 
 de Bohun, as if forgotten, is the subject of a separate 
 order, on the next day, January 20. 
 
 On February 7, from Lexinton, to the proctors for 
 coming to the king at Lexinton. Rot. Lit. Claus. p. 6j. 
 
 The proctors of the two chapters went to the king, 
 and were with the court, pending the confirmation, from 
 November to February. Rot. Lit. Claus. p. 56. 
 
 " Rex. etc. baronibus de Scaccario. Computate cum 
 H. (Hugone) archidiacono Wellensi et W. (Willelmo) 
 de Wrotham archidiacono Tantonensi custodibus epis- 
 copatus Bathoniensis de exitibus episcopatus Bathon- 
 iensis xx marcas quas liberaverunt priori Bathoniensi, 
 et canonicis Wellensis ecclesiae ad expensas suas 
 veniendo ad nos apud Notingham et apud Windlesore 
 
172 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 et in mora eorum in curia nostra ad electionem episcopi 
 faciendam ; et xxv solidos Iiberatos magistro Rogero 
 nepoti decani Wellensis de termino sancti Michaelis ; 
 et xxv solidos Iiberatos Thomae Turnay de eodem 
 termino et xii solidos vi denarios Iiberatos Herveo de 
 Tracey de eodem termino de praebendis suis quas 
 habuerunt ante tempora Savarici quondam Bathonien- 
 sis episcopi et xiii libras xviii solidos iii denarios et 
 obolum in expensa nostra apud Glaston. per unam 
 noctem et apud Pilton per aliam noctem et xi denarios 
 Iiberatos H. (Hugoni) archidiacono Wellensi de redditu 
 suo antiquo de Glaston. Teste meipso apud Windle- 
 sore quarto die Novembris, 7 Johannis regis." Rot. 
 Lit. Claus. p. 56. Prynne Hist. torn, iii, p. 9. 
 
 A.D. 1206. 
 \ 92- 8 John. 1 Jocelin, bishop of Bath. 
 
 .Letters testi" 
 
 moniaiofaii q Innocent III. Alexander, dean. 
 
 the bishops, 
 
 and of the The bishop of London (William de S. Mere l'Eglise), 
 
 province of 
 
 Canterbury, „ Hereford (Egidius de Bruce), 
 
 uniting in . 
 
 prayer for „ St. Asaph (Reiner), 
 
 ofjoceiin's ,. Llandaff (Henry of Abergavenny), 
 
 „ Bangor (Robert of Shrewsbury), 
 
 „ St David's (Geoffrey de Henlaw), 
 
 Totheiegate jointly write to the legate, John Ferentinus, cardinal 
 of St. Maria in Via Lata, and in vacancy of see of 
 Canterbury, urge that he will give audience to the 
 proctors of Bath and Wells, and ratify the election. 
 R. i, f. 54. 
 
 Robert, bishop of Bangor, a friend of Jocelin, writes 
 specially in attestation of Jocelin's great deserts, and 
 prays for confirmation. R. i, f. 55. 
 
IV. J Bishop Jocelin, a.d. 1206- 1242. 173 
 
 King sends letters missive with Jocelin to the legate, King's 
 
 ..-._.. missive to 
 
 and requests his confirmation. R. 1, f. 54. the legate, 
 
 The same bishops write jointly to the pope. 
 
 Robert of Bangor writes specially. R. i, f. 54. 
 
 Another letter is written by the bishop of London Letters to 
 
 and ten other bishops of the province of Canterbury 
 
 to the legate and to the pope. R. i, f. 56. 
 
 5. Kal. Junii. On Trinity Sunday Jocelin is conse- f- 93- 
 
 Consecration 
 
 crated bishop of Bath in the chapel of the abbey of St. of jocelin. 
 
 „,.,_,. May28, 1206 
 
 Mary at Reading. 
 
 The bishop of London consecrates, and nine other 
 bishops assist. (Matt. Paris, Hist. AngL, ii, 107, Rolls 
 Series.) "Jocelinus de Welles in episcopum conse- 
 cratur Bathoniensem." 
 
 In capite jejunii, on the morrow of Ash Wednesday, f. 95- 
 bishop Jocelin in council with his chapter ordained 1206-7. 
 that the mass of the Blessed Virgin should be cele- I2 \ 5 . 
 brated daily before her altar {ante altare suuni) by 
 thirteen vicars, of whom three were priests ; one to 
 celebrate weekly with ten vicars assisting, until the 
 number of the vicars should be completed by his 
 ordinance. One penny a day to be paid to each vicar 
 attending vespers, matins, and the other hours of the 
 Blessed Virgin and to the priests in addition another 
 half commons, " ut libentius et devotius ministerio suo 
 insistant." 1 
 
 In case of illness a substitute to assist ; but absence 
 without due cause to involve loss of daily stipend. 
 R. iii, f. 127. 
 
 1. Cf. Gesta abbat. Sancti Albani, i, 284. Abbot William de 
 Trumpington, 1214-1235, instituted "quotidiana celebratio missae S. 
 Marias," " videns quod in omnibus nobilibus ecclesiis Angliae missa de 
 Beata Virgine ad notam solemniter cotidiana decantatur." 
 
174 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 March 3, 
 1206-7. 
 
 King John confirms to bishop Jocelin, the dean and 
 canons, and to the prior and convent of Bath all posses- 
 sions, liberties, legal rights and privileges granted by 
 his predecessors. 
 
 R. iii, f. 2, given at Taydyngton, anno regni 8°. Cf. 
 Inspeximus by Edw. I, 1324, of all charters given to 
 Jocelin. R. iii, f. 392. 
 
 There is a note in Archer, pp. 94, 95, explaining 
 "privilegia usitata," and legal terms in charter, by 
 references to Spelman, Somner, and Cowel. 
 
 f. 96. 
 
 Preaching 
 friars come 
 to England. 
 
 Appoint- 
 ment of 
 archbp. 
 Stephen 
 Langton. 
 June 17. 
 
 9 John. 
 10 Innocent III. 
 
 A.D. 1207. 
 
 1 Stephen, archbishop. 
 
 2 Jocelin, bishop. 
 Alexander, dean. 
 
 In these days Innocent sent into England the 
 Preaching Friars ; who, suddenly appearing, filled the 
 land with their preaching, and "' rumusculos hominum 
 imperitorum aucupati sunt." Cf. Matt. Paris, Hist. 
 Angl., ii, 109 (Rolls Series). 
 
 The monks of Canterbury had elected as archbishop, 
 Reginald their subprior ; then, by the king's wish, 
 John de Gray bishop of Norwich. The double election 
 was referred to the Roman court by the king and 
 bishops of the province. 
 
 Innocent cancels both elections, and orders the 
 proctors of the convent then at Rome to elect Stephen 
 Langton, cardinal of St. Chrysogonus. Cf. Matt. 
 Paris, Hist. Angl., ii, 104-106, 110-111 (Rolls Series). 
 
 " Stephanum de Langetun, cardinalem, quo non erat 
 major in curia, immo nee ei par in moribus et 
 scientia." 
 
IV.J Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206-1242. 175 
 
 The proctors assent, and on Trinity Sunday Stephen 
 is consecrated by the pope at Viterbo. 
 
 Anger of John — and violence in consequence. Matt. 
 Paris, Hist. Angl., ii, 112. Letters pass between the 
 king and the pope. Finally, Innocent orders the 
 bishops of London, Ely, and Worcester to warn the 
 king; and, if he is contumacious, to pronounce an 
 " interdict." 
 
 Bishop of London confirms the grants of his pre- July 2. 
 decessors of the church of Scandeford (Shalford) to 
 bishop Reginald in 1175, to be a prebend in the church 
 of Wells reserving dues and right of institution. R. iii, 
 f. 388. Cf R. i, f. 48, and f. 24, containing early 
 history of grant of Shalford by Hamo FitzGodfrey. 
 Appendix G. 
 
 Two royal charters belong to this year. 
 
 (1.) "Johannes, Dei gracia, etc.: Sciatis nos con- "Deparco 
 
 apud Welles 
 
 cessisse et presenti carta nostra connrmasse venerabih ex parte 
 patri nostra domino J. Bath' episcopo, quod possit charterRoii, 
 claudere totum boscum suum de manerio de Well' qui sept. °6 m ' 7 ' 
 est ex australi parte ville de Well' et facere inde 
 parcum, et quod possit vertere cheminum quod vadit 
 per medium boscum ilium, ita quod de cetero nullum 
 cheminum sit per parcum predictum sine voluntate 
 predicti episcopi vel successorum suorum. Quare 
 volumus et firmiter precipimus quod idem episcopus 
 Bathon. et successores sui in perpetuum habeant et 
 teneant parcum ilium bene et in pace, libere et quiete 
 et honorifice, cum omnibus libertatibus et liberis con- 
 suetudinibus ad liberum parcum pertinentibus. Testi- 
 bus, W. Comite Sarr', Hugone de Nevitt, W. de 
 Cantilup, Thoma de Sanford, Thoma Basset, Matthaco 
 
176 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 Nov. 16, the 
 bishop's park 
 enclosed. 
 " De via in- 
 cludenda 
 infra parcum 
 de Welles." 
 
 Nov. 26, " de 
 
 quietatione 
 
 thelonei." 
 
 f. 97. 
 
 Glastonbury 
 appeals to 
 Rome for 
 dissolution 
 of union. 
 
 Holecumb. 
 
 filio Herberti, W. de Monte Acuto, Roberto de Berkel, 
 W. Malet, Willelmo Revel, Ricardo Revel. Datum 
 per manum nostram apud Herpetre xvj die Septem- 
 bris, anno ix°." 
 
 (2.) Licence to inclose the road. 
 
 Grant of John to bishop Jocelin to enclose " quantum 
 voluit de chemino regali quod pretendit ab oriental! 
 parte gardinii sui versus Dultincot sub monte qui 
 appellatur Le Torre ; et quod voluit de chemino quod 
 pretendit per Kiward versus Cokesley, et quod dimittat 
 ad cheminum tantumdem de alia terra extra illud 
 clausum — et prohibemus ne quis eum vel successores 
 suos super hoc disturbat vel molestat. Teste me ipso 
 et W. Cantuar. archiep. apud Merleberg xvi die Nov. 
 anno regni nostri ix°." 9 John. Rot. Lit. Pat., p. JJ. 
 Ed. Hardy. 
 
 The king grants immunity from market tolls to the 
 king's treasury (theloneum) to the chapters of Bath 
 and Wells, and to the bishop and his men — per totant 
 terram suam. R. i, f. 9, n. 5 ; R. iii, f. 2. 
 
 " Datum per manus Walteri de Gray Cancellarii 
 apud Merleberg. xxvi Novemb. anno nostri regni ix°." 
 
 The convent of Glastonbury renew their appeal to 
 Rome, and pray for dissolution of the union between 
 the see and abbey. The election of bishop Jocelin 
 was especially odious to them, as he had been a 
 zealous supporter of Savaric's policy against the 
 abbey, "tam in reatu, quam in episcopatu, Savarici 
 successor." 
 
 Cf. Adam de Domerham, pp. 441-2. 
 
 Henry of Chichester admitted to the church of 
 Holecumb in Devon by Simon of Apulia, bishop of 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 177 
 
 Exeter, at the petition of the canons of Wells. R. i, 
 f. 20. 
 
 Grants of canonical houses. Formation of North 
 Liberty. 
 
 (a) Nicolas of Wells gives to the church of St. f. 97- 
 
 Extension of 
 
 Andrew and to bishop Jocelin houses and land — Liberty, 
 
 •1 • i- north of the 
 
 " aream cum domibus suis — before the great gate of church. 
 the canons — ante magnam portam canonicorum — on 
 condition that they shall be for canons, and shall not 
 be alienated by bishop or chapter from the use of the 
 church. Bishop Jocelin confirms the grant, and liber- 
 ates the houses from all civil dues — "ab omni exact- 
 ione et seculari servitio sicut antiqua area canoni- 
 corum." 
 
 Hugh, archdeacon of Wells, attests. R. i, f. 19. 
 
 (b) Walter of Downhead 1 (Dunheved), with assent 
 of wife and heirs, grants to Adam of Litton (Ade de 
 Lectun) his kinsman, a priest, and to his successor one 
 acre of land in the northern part of Wells and near 
 his house at annual payment of 12 pence to Walter 
 and his heirs. 
 
 R. i, f. 28. Witness, Thomas nephew of the bishop, 
 Ralph his brother, Alfred of Downhead, Walter of 
 the Muntory (Walter de Muntoria), and others. 
 
 (c) Walter of Downhead grants to Malger of Wells, 
 priest vicar, land between his garden and the land of 
 Adam of Litton, extending from the town to a given. 
 
 1. Walter of Downhead appears in many of the documents of the 
 time. He was a layman holding the manor of Downhead on Mendip 
 under the abbey of Glastonbury, also holding a heritable lay fief in 
 Wells, subject to "regale servitium," and, though in Wells, and 
 apparently in the episcopal manor of former times, to no other. 
 Vide Charter 13. 
 
 Aa 
 
178 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 boundary, " a vico usque ad fossatum," and in breadth 
 5 perches all but 2 feet, on payment of 12 pence. 
 
 R. i, f. 28. Witness, dominus Odo, etc. 
 i- 98. (d) Malger grants to Ralph Preciosus, canon, all his 
 
 land and houses between the messuage which had 
 belonged to Adam of Litton and the messuage of 
 Leobert, clerk, with all the building on it, at an annual 
 payment to Walter of Downhead and Walter of Wyke 
 of 18 pence. 
 
 R. i, f. 19, in dors. Witnesses, Richard of Aterbery, 
 Adam Magot, etc. 
 
 (e) Ralph Preciosus grants to the chapter of Wells 
 his messuage of Leobert and the land which had be- 
 longed to Adam of Litton on payment of the said 
 18 pence, to be let by the chapter to a canon wishing 
 to reside, and to be inalienable, and subject to an 
 annual fine ("ghersuma," 1 ) to be distributed on the 
 anniversary of his death in equal proportions between 
 the canon and vicars present at the service. 
 
 R. i, f. 19, in dors, n 43. 
 
 Ralph Preciosus confirms more fully the grant — 
 " mansum meum cum edificiis meis quod est inter 
 mansum qui fuerat Leoberti clerici et terram quae 
 fuerat Adse de Lectun " — with provision that it shall 
 be assigned to one of the principal canons resident, or 
 desiring to keep perpetual residence. 
 
 R. i, f. 19. 
 
 Further transactions under year 1228. — At that 
 time the Kardunville family give their land adjoining 
 
 1. Note by Archer : " Ghersuma, usurpatur pro ' fine," seu 
 pecunia data in pactionem et rei emptae vel conducts compensa 
 tionem." 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 179 
 
 to the land of Malger — " quae vocatur Muntoria " — to 
 Helias the chaplain, and he, to the chapter. 
 
 So we gather from these charters of 1207 that 
 there existed at this time a "close," "antiqua area 
 canonicorum," free from all civil dues, " ab omni 
 seculari servitio," and by grants now made additional 
 lands were added at the north of the church. 
 
 R. i, f. 27, in dors. Charters 13 — 35. 
 
 The " Muntoria " was the designation of parcels of 
 this land on the northern part of the town now given 
 to the chapter. 
 
 Confirmations of grants made to bishop Reginald by *• 99- 
 Henry de Traci, of grant by Oliver de Traci, 11 86, of 
 pension from South Bovi, or Bovy Tracy. R. i, f. 37. 
 Robert de Courtenay, Hugo de la Pumeraye (Pom- 
 eroy), etc., witnesses. Cf. R. iii, f. 109. 
 
 Confirmation to bishop Jocelin of grant made to Eastonin 
 bishop Reginald by George de Stuble of patronage of 
 church of Estun (Easton in Gordano), by Alexander 
 de Rodolio, and William de la Stuble (Stuteville) in 
 1 190. R. iii, f. 370. Witnesses to the original deed — 
 the vice-sheriff, comes of Somerset and Dorset, William 
 de Morevill, Matthew de Clevedon, Richard Fitzarthur, 
 Reginald de Altaville (Hauteville). R. iii, f. 391. 
 Witnesses to the confirmation, William de Ham, pre- 
 centor of Wells, and others canons. 
 
 Grant by Robert de Meisy of advowson of church 
 of Bertun (Barton St. David's) and of a moiety of 
 church of Nunney (Nunniz) to form a prebend, if he 
 so willed. R. iii, f. 401. William de Ham, precentor, 
 witness — sixty shillings out of the church of Nunny 
 was afterwards given to the communa by bishop 
 
i8o 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 Hospital of 
 S. Lawrence 
 Bristol. 
 
 Nunnery at 
 Buckland 
 
 Monacho- 
 
 zi Dec. 
 Prior of 
 Montacute 
 deprived. 
 
 Jocelin — the prebend does not appear. R. iii, f. 4. 
 R. i, f. 112. 
 
 King John gives donations to the hospital of St, 
 Lawrence at Bristol. Dugdale, Monast. ii, p. 438. 
 
 Loretta, countess of Leicester, founded nunnery at 
 Buckland. Dugdale, Monast. do. 
 
 The convent of Montacute complain to the king of 
 the prior Durandus, and pray for his removal. 
 
 Jocelin is ordered to hold an inquisition ; finally he 
 is ordered to deprive him. 
 
 Rot. Lit. Pat. anno nono, apud Odiham 21 Dec. 
 "Quod ep. Bathon. deprivet Durandum priorem de 
 Monteacuto ob sua male gesta." 
 
 f. 99. 
 
 Interdict 
 proclaimed 
 March 24. 
 
 Jocelin in 
 exile. 
 
 The inter- 
 dict. Matt. 
 Paris. Hist. 
 Angl. ii, 116. 
 
 10 John. 
 
 11 Innocent III. 
 
 A.D 1208. 
 
 2 Stephen, archbishop. 
 
 3 Jocelin, bishop. 
 Alexander, dean. 
 
 John refusing to acknowledge Stephen as archbishop, 
 the bishops of London, Ely, and Worcester are ordered 
 by pope Innocent to put the kingdom under interdict. 
 The interdict is proclaimed on the vigil of the Annun- 
 ciation, March 24, " prima die Lunae in Passione 
 Domini, ix Kal Aprilis." [Easter Day fell that year 
 on April 6. 8 Id. April.] 
 
 Bishop Jocelin proclaims the interdict in his diocese, 
 and flies the kingdom with other bishops — London, 
 Hereford, Ely, Worcester — to avoid the king's wrath. 
 The king seizes their property. 
 
 " Cessaverunt itaque in Anglia omnia ecclesiastica 
 sacramenta, praeter solummodo confessionem et viati- 
 cum in ultima necessitate, et baptisma parvulorum ; 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 181 
 
 corpora vero defunctorum de civitatibus deferebantur 
 sepelienda, et in compitis more canum humabantur." 
 
 " Sub hoc tempus," Hugh, archdeacon of Wells and ^efista 
 chancellor of the kingdom, "Regis Cancellarius." £™£ r n with 
 Matt. Paris, Hist. Angl, ii, 1 20. Dugd. Orig. Judic. p. 6. 
 
 Hugh, judge " ad fines levandos," Dugd. p. 42, re- 
 ceives from the king the manors of Axbridge and 
 Cheddar, as a fee at £20 per annum, and the vill of 
 Axbridge. R. i, f. 108. 
 
 " Sub hoc tempus," Hugh, as lord of the hundred of 
 Wynterstoke, releases the episcopal manors of Banwell 
 and Compton of all dues to the court of the hundred 
 of Wynterstoke. R. iii, f. 356. Witnesses — Ralph 
 precentor, magister Elias de Derham, Thomas de 
 Thorn, Simon de Cumba, Hugh de Wells, Petrus de 
 Cicestria, Rob. de Mandeville, etc. Cf. R. iii, f. 347, 
 anno 12 14. 
 
 The vill of Axbridge was afterwards sold by Hugh 
 to Thomas Walensis, and by him to Maurice of Gaunt, 
 who in 1226 was one of the judges on circuit. 
 
 R. iii, f. 356. Cf. R. i, f. 108. 
 
 A.D. 1209. 
 
 11 John. 3 Stephen, archbishop. 
 
 12 Innocent III. 4 Jocelin, bishop. 
 
 Alexander, dean. 
 
 A statute, " de ordinatione decanatus et subdecana- f. 100. 
 
 ... . Revision of 
 
 tus, dated " 111, Nonas J unn, June 3. Pontificatus the constitu- 
 
 , ,1 t. • r r. tion oi tne 
 
 anno quarto ineunte.' R. 1, f. 58. cathedral 
 
 Bishop Jocelin, with the assent of the chapter, makes bp U joceifn 
 
 exchange of prebends between the dean and subdean transmarin^ S 
 
 — Wedmore to become the prebend of the dean ; four 1S " •' une 3 " 
 
1 82 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 marcs annually to be paid stall-wages to the priest 
 vicar. Wookey to be the prebend of the subdean, two 
 marcs stall-wages to the vicar. 
 
 In the preamble to this charter Jocelin sets forth (a) 
 his especial affection to the church of Wells — "quae 
 nos in gremio suo genitos et uberibus consolationis suae 
 educatos, in eum statum quern licet immerito tenemus, 
 materna semper affectione produxit." 
 
 (b) He states that he has already remodelled the 
 offices of precentor, chancellor, treasurer, and succentor, 
 and augmented the endowments, with the view to 
 induce " residence." Cf. ann. 12 17. R i, f. 49 ; R. ii, 
 f. 14. 
 
 f. 100. Hugh is appointed to the bishopric of Lincoln ; 
 
 Lincoln, and allowed leave of absence to Normandy, to be conse- 
 
 in Axils • 
 
 crated by the archbishop of Rouen. He makes pro- 
 fession of obedience to Stephen as archbishop, and is 
 consecrated by him at Melun, 13 Kal. Jan. Dec. 20. 
 M. Paris, Hist. Angl. ii, 120. 
 
 John seizes all his emoluments at Lincoln. 
 
 Walter de Gray is made chancellor. 
 
 From 1208 to 12 13 bishop Jocelin is in exile in 
 France. Hugh bishop of Lincoln is with him in 121 1. 
 
 A.D. 121 1. 
 
 13 John. 5 Stephen, archbishop. 
 
 14 Innocent III. 6 Jocelin, bishop. 
 
 Alexander, dean. 
 
 Draft of will Hugh of Wells, bishop of Lincoln, in exile with his 
 
 Nov. 15,1211 brother bishop Jocelin at S. Martin de Garenne, near 
 
 2 4 ' Bourdeaux, on St. Brice's day, in the third year of his 
 
 pontificate, appoints bishop Jocelin and Helias de 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocehn, A.D. 1206- 1242. 183 
 
 Derham executors of his will, and makes disposition 
 of his property between the dioceses of Lincoln and 
 Bath, " de bonis quae mihi restituenda sunt in Anglia." 
 The whole sum named amounts to about 6000 marcs, 
 of which about 2000 (1967), one-third, were to be 
 distributed among his friends, the poor ("pauperibus 
 de consanguinitate mea,") and pious uses ; the rest 
 devoted to churches and religious houses in the two 
 dioceses, after payment of dues to the papal see and 
 to the king : 
 
 (a) In the diocese of Lincoln. 
 To the fabric of the church of Lincoln 500 marcs. 
 To the communa of the chapter of Lincoln 500 
 To the vicars 60 
 
 To religious houses in Lincoln 300 
 
 To lepers' houses 100 
 
 To the construction of an hospital 300 
 
 (b) In the diocese of Bath and to bishop Jocelin. 
 To the fabric of the church of Wells 300 marcs. 
 
 To the communa of the chapter " tam ad 
 
 opus vicariorum quam canonicorum " 300 
 To build a hospital at Wells 500 
 
 To the hospital at Bath j\ 
 
 For distribution among the vicars 40 
 
 Other sums were left to lepers' houses at Selwood, 
 Uchester, and Bath ; and to religious houses at Bar- 
 linch, Buckland, Barrow, and Cannington. 
 
 The witnesses to this early draft of bishop Hugh's 
 will represent some of the '' familia " of the bishops in 
 exile — master Helias of Derham, master John of 
 York, master Reginald of Chester ; master William 
 Roger and Helias, chaplains ; Peter of Chichester, 
 
1 84 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 afterwards, in 1220, dean of Wells, William of Ham, 
 afterwards precentor, canons of Wells. 
 
 A will of another character and with totally different 
 bequests was made later in life by bishop Hugh. 1 
 
 A.D. 121 3. 
 
 1 5 John. 7 Stephen, archbishop. 
 
 16 Innocent III. 8 Jocelin, bishop. 
 
 Leonius, dean, 
 f. 101. The quarrel between the king and the pope was 
 
 events. reaching its bitter and shameful end in 121 3. In 1212 
 
 archbishop Stephen, and the bishops of London and 
 Ely went to Rome to complain of John's outrages. 
 
 Sentence of deposition was pronounced by the pope. 
 The legate Pandulf was sent to France and England, 
 to offer John terms of submission, or to pronounce 
 deposition and make over to the king of France his 
 dominions. John refuses submission ; the archbishop 
 and bishops retire from Rome, publish in France the 
 sentence of deposition of John, and the king of France 
 prepares to invade England. 
 
 M. Paris, Hist. Angl. ii, 130. Rymer's Fadera, 
 i, 166. 
 
 1. In this last will, made at Stow Park, June 1, 1233 (Vide 
 Giraldus Cambrensis, vol. 7, Appendix G, ed. Dimock, and Pref. xc, 
 xciii), bequests to the diocese of Bath are chiefly (a) to the hospital 
 at Wells "profits from wardships and marriages of certain estates 
 held of the see of Lincoln by military tenure, the heirs of which were 
 under age," (b) to his poor kinsfolk round Wells and Pilton, (c) to a 
 few private individuals, and servants. His brother Jocelin is 
 appointed executor, together with others from the Lincoln diocese. 
 His will is confirmed by anticipation in a charter of Henry III, dated 
 May 27, 1227, and another dated May 15, 1229. 
 
IV.J Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206-1242. 185 
 
 John and the legate Pandulf meet at Dover. Peace Ma y *3> 
 is made between John and the pope. John bound 
 himself to obedience to the pope's orders — to restore 
 the bishops in exile ; to recompense them for losses 
 since the interdict by the sum of ^8000. 
 
 The king writes to archbishop Stephen, bishop May 24. 
 Jocelin, and the other exiles, that they can return in 
 peace. Rymer's Fcedera, i, 170-173. 
 
 The interdict is taken off. J une '3- 
 
 Bishop Jocelin is admitted to peace at Winchester July™- 2 
 before the king on St. Margaret's day. £750 is "3 Kal - Re- 
 assigned to him in indemnity for losses. 
 
 Nicolas bishop of Tusculum came as legate. Sep. 29, 1213. 
 
 Conclave at Reading. Protest of the bishops late Dec. 6. 
 in exile. 15,000 marcs granted them in compensation 
 for losses. M. Paris, Hist. Angl. ii, 145. Rot. Lit. 
 Pat. 15 John. " Hugh de Nevile solvet episcopis indemnity 
 (London, Ely, Hereford, Bath, Lincoln) 15,000 marcas bishops. 
 pro rege" — apud Reading, December 12. 
 
 Alexander, dean since n 80, dies and is succeeded Alexander 
 
 the dean dies 
 
 by Leonius. 
 
 Thomas de Tornaco (Tournay) precentor. 
 
 Chapter ordinances are now made : chapter 
 
 / \ t-> ■ 1 »<•■/-, ordinances, 
 
 (a) During the annus post mortem the fruits of the upon 
 
 Jocelin's 
 
 prebend to belong to the chapter — two parts to be return to his 
 divided among the canons — one part to belong to the f. 10 i. 
 representatives of the deceased, for debts, or alms for 
 the soul. 
 
 (b) Dignitaries to be responsible for keeping their 
 
 1 and 2. Archer corrects M. Paris as to dates of both these 
 transactions. 
 
 Bb 
 
1 86 
 
 Chapters in Wells Histoty. 
 
 [CHAP 
 
 f. 103. 
 
 Sept. 29. 
 
 Vacant 
 
 prebends 
 
 and 
 
 benefices. 
 
 f. 102. 
 Sept. 30. 
 Grants and 
 confirma- 
 tions. 
 
 Institutions 
 of perpetual 
 vicarages, 
 and assign- 
 ment of 
 stipends. 
 
 benefices in tenantable repair — "cum tali instauramento 
 quale recepit." 
 
 (c) Allowances for improvements made, to be given 
 as alms for the soul of the deceased. R. i, f. 29 ; 
 R. iii, f. 13. 
 
 (d) After consultation with the church of Sarum, 
 with consent of dean and chapter de communi volun- 
 tate, (1) that fruits of all prebends vacant by death 
 belong to the chapter ; (2) Wedmore, when vacant by- 
 cession, not by death, to be appropriated to pious uses 
 in the church of Wells, according to joint consent of 
 bishop and canons ; if by death of the dean, to follow 
 the custom of other prebends ; (3) fruits of all vacant 
 dignities to belong to the bishop ; (4) appointment of 
 parochial vicars to be reserved for canon who shall 
 succeed. Vicars choral to be appointed by bishop 
 during vacancy of prebend. R. i, f. 58 ; R. ii, f. 14. 
 
 Confirmation of Savaric's grant of Lideard as 
 prebend to the chapter. 
 
 Chapter to appoint a vicar — " cum cura animarum " 
 — to be instituted by bishop. R. i, f. 45. 
 
 Wiveliscombe with Fifhide (Fifehead) chapel made 
 a prebend. Vicar to receive three marcs from the 
 prebend. R. i, f. 59 ; R. iii, f. 371. 
 
 Kingsbury vicarage to be the chancellor's presenta- 
 tion after death of present vicar. R. i, f. 46 ; R. iii, 
 
 f. is;. 
 
 Ashill (Aishulle) advowson granted by Robert de 
 Vallibus, confirmed by Alicia, his mother. R. 1, f. 39 ; 
 f. 38 in dors. Witness to the grant — John, bishop of 
 Norwich ; to the confirmation, Richard, abbot of 
 Muchelney. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206-1242. 187 
 
 Ilton advowson granted by Benedict, abbot of 
 Athelney. 
 
 R. i, f. 38 in dors. Witnesses — Richard, abbot of 
 Muchelney ; master Helias de Derham ; master John 
 of Ueford ; master William de Wells ; Helyas chaplain ; 
 William de Hamme. 
 
 Confirmation by Leonius the dean and the chapter 
 of a lease for life of half a virgate of land made by 
 Iterius, prebendary of Wanstrow, to his nephew 
 Ernulf ; to return to the prebend after death. R. iii, 
 
 f- 383. 
 
 Arbitration by bishop Jocelin between convent of 
 Goldclive, Monmouth, and Leonius, dean and chapter 
 of Wells, as to church of Staweia (Stowey), assigned 
 to Goldclive. Pension of 40 marcs to be paid. R. i, 
 f. 36 in dors. 
 
 Hinton Monachorum about this time founded de 
 novo by Ela, countess of Salisbury. Jocelin confirms. 
 Dugd. Mon. i, f. 960. 
 
 An instance of intimate knowledge of English March as 
 diocesan affairs and interference by the pope. innocent 
 
 7 r r Illtobp. 
 
 Pope Innocent to Jocelin de Welles, bishop of Bath. Jocelin. 
 
 "A certain M., a poor scholar now in orders, a 
 teacher in schools, had laid violent hands on his 
 scholars while teaching, and had fallen under censure. 
 He has been absolved by the abbot of St. Victor, the 
 duly appointed penitentiarius to receive penitents, and 
 has been absolved — admit him again to his functions, 
 and advance him." 
 
 Given at the Lateran, 5 Kal. April 12 13, Charter 20. 
 
 Through 12 13, the pope, by his legate, was pro- 
 tecting John — now his vassal since his surrender of 
 
i88 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 the crown at Dover, 15 May — against the king of 
 France and the barons. John repents of concessions 
 to the barons, and bribes the new legate, Nicolas of 
 Tusculum. The bishops appeal against the tyranny 
 and pride of the legate. The barons, under arch- 
 bishop Stephen, unite to compel John to confirm the 
 liberties of Henry I. 
 
 John is carrying on the war in France, and deceiving 
 the barons with false promises. 1 
 
 16 John. 
 
 17 Innocent III 
 
 a.d. 1 2 14. 
 
 8 Stephen, archbishop. 
 
 9 Jocelin, bishop of Bath and Glas- 
 
 tonbury. 
 Leonius, dean. 
 Nicolas bishop of Tusculum, papal legate, is at 
 
 f. 104. 
 April 12. 
 Nicolas, the 
 legate at 
 
 Glastonbury Glastonbury and Bath. Bishop Jocelin obtains from 
 bp. joceiin's him a public sanction to his title of bishop of " Bath 
 SLstonbury and Glastonbury," 2 probably with a view to the suit in 
 
 1. Under this year Archer quotes from R. i, f. 29, a group of 
 charters purporting to be letters from the church of Sarum of earlier 
 date addressed to Ivo the dean, and R. the bishop. He discredits 
 the authenticity and the early date of these documents, and considers 
 that they were drawn up with a controversial purpose in the conten- 
 tion between bishop Drokensford and the chapter. " Conscriptae 
 sunt istae litera? ad quas Sarisburienses respondent primo die 
 Octobris anno ut conjecturam facio 1319 cum Johannes de Drokens- 
 ford episcopus visitationem decano et canonicis minitaretur." Cf. 
 R. i, f. 249. But he admits the ordinance as to the " annus post 
 mortem " into the annals of this year. 
 
 2. Bishop Joceiin's "style" is variously found in the documents 
 of the time; in attestations to charters he signs sometimes, as 
 " Jocelinus Bathoniensis." 
 
 E.g. Rot. Cart. p. 170, anno 1207. 
 Do. p. 173, „ 1213. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1 206-1242. 189 
 
 the Roman court, which was being moved at this time. 
 R. iii, f. in. 
 
 Cf. Rot. Pat. 16 John, 121 5, pp. 129-132, contain 
 several royal letters " ne dissolvatur unio," without 
 the king's assent. 
 
 " Nicolas, papal legate, to all men. When lately we Letter of the 
 
 legate. 
 
 were at Glastonbury a certain clerk came and prayed 
 us to cause him to be admitted as a monk and a 
 brother. We therefore have admonished Jocelin 
 bishop of Bath and Glastonbury, ' qui in eodem 
 manerio vices gerit abbatis,' to cause this man to be 
 accepted ; he has consented, and the prior and convent 
 have accepted him. We, at the desire of the said 
 bishop, have issued this letter and appended our seal. 
 Given at Bath April 12." 
 
 King gives a charter " de libera electione praelat- f. 105. 
 
 June 15. 
 
 orum," to which Jocelin bishop of Bath and Glaston. is 
 witness. (M. Paris, Hist. Angl. i, 367 — Spelman's 
 Concilia, ii, p. 135.) 
 
 Nicolas the legate " auctoritate apostolica " relaxed June 29. 
 the interdict throughout the kingdom," in die Apos- 
 tolorum Petri et Pauli." 
 
 Hugh, bishop of Lincoln, makes grants to bishop B P^ u t | hs 
 Jocelin and the see : w ? lls - 
 
 J July 11, 12. 
 
 At other times with the title " Bathon. et Glaston." 
 E.g. Rot. Cart. p. 202, anno 1214. 
 p. 215, „ 1215. 
 „ p. 184, „ 1216. 
 „ p. 187, ,, 1216. 
 Before his consecration he was styled "J. Bathon. electo," (Rot. 
 Cart. p. 63, anno 1206, March 3) and he was consecrated as " Epis- 
 copus Bathoniensis." 
 
 He is styled " Bathon. et Glaston." in the grant of Magna Charta 
 1213, and in the reissue of the charter 1216. 
 
igo 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 Cessions by 
 the convent 
 of Bath. 
 Chew. 
 
 Stoke 
 Giffard. 
 
 (a) Half a knight's fee 1 in Draycot and Robor- 
 
 ough. R. iii, f. 339 in dors, and f. 349. 
 
 (b) Half a knight's fee in Norton, with freedom 
 
 from attendance at the meetings of the 
 hundred of Cheddar and Wynescomb. 
 R. iii, f. 350. 
 
 (c) The advowson of Axbridge. R. iii, f. 343 
 
 and f. 349. 
 
 (d) Freedom from dues to the hundred of Win- 
 
 terstoke of all bishop Jocelin's lands in 
 the hundreds of Winterstoke and Cheddar. 2 
 R. iii, f. 347 in dors. 
 
 (e) Manor of Cheddar granted to bishop Jocelin 
 
 and confirmed by the Crown at this time. 
 Cf. R. i, f. 108. 
 The prior and convent of Bath surrender : 
 
 (a) The advowson of Chew, which they held 
 
 from Savaric, and all rights in the church ; 
 they in return receive a pension of 10 
 marcs from Chew. R. iii, 294 in dors. 
 Thomas, prior of Glastonbury, and the 
 convent, confirm this grant. R. iii, f. 357 
 in dors. 
 
 (b) The advowson of Stoke Giffard, f. 106. 
 
 R. iii, f. 350 in dors. 
 
 1. Note by Archer, quoting Du Fresne : " A knight's fee," as 
 much land of the value of £10 as was held by a knight who was 
 bound to military service of forty days with the king. " Half a 
 knight's fee " equal to land of £10 value, and held by a knight bound 
 to twenty days' service. 
 
 2. "Ut omnes homines absoluti essent de sectis hundredorum 
 istorum scil. de servitio quo feudatarii ad frequentanda comitia 
 hundredariorum tenebantur." Archer. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1 206-1 242. 191 
 
 (c) The advowson of Dogmersfield and pension P ,! 1 ? 61 ?- h 
 of 20 shillings. R. iii, f. 35. Thomas, is made a 
 
 prebend 
 
 prior of Glastonbury (d. 121 5) attests next year, 
 and confirms. R. iii, f. 353, v. Adam of 
 Domerham, p. 238. Dogmersfield is made 
 a prebend in the church of Wells. R. i, 
 f. 46, 180. 
 Weston church is given to the convent of Bath. 
 R. iii, f. 287. 
 
 The king, on advice of the papal legate Nicolas, f- 106. 
 
 Nov. 21. 
 
 archbishop Stephen, and others of his council, con- Confirma- 
 
 firms the union between Bath and Glastonbury and king of the 
 .... , . union of 
 
 the ordinance made in 1202. Bath and 
 
 R. iii, f. 17. Rot. Pat. 16 Johan., " de unione Bathon. Glaston- 
 et Glaston. ecclesiarum," 1 Adam of Domerham, p. 239 : 
 " datum per manum Ricardi de Marisco, cancellarii 
 nostri, apud novum templum London, vicesimo primo 
 die Novembris, anno regni nostri decimo sexto." 
 
 The king grants to Jocelin the patronatus of the abbey, f. 107. 
 The rights appertaining to the patronatus are stated — Ja«- 9. 1214- 
 (a) That the abbot elect receive the temporali- Grant of 
 
 patronatus 
 
 ties from the hand of the bishop in lieu of abbey to 
 
 of the king. 2 
 (b) Do feudal homage and service to the bishop 
 " fidelitatem feodalem facturus et servitia 
 feodalia." 
 
 1. N.B. Erratum in Hardy's index of Pat. Rolls where the 
 charter is entered under the heading "de unione Bath, et Well, 
 eccles." 
 
 2. " Temporalia quae regalia appellarentur si ad nos pertineret 
 patronatus." The bishop stood in the place of the crown. But the 
 bishop had to find the knight's service due from the abbey barony. 
 
 the bishop. 
 
192 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 f. 107. 
 Jan. 23, 
 1214-15. 
 Whitchurch 
 in Dorset. 
 
 (c) The bishop in the vacancy of the abbey to 
 
 have the custody and ordination of the 
 
 abbey, " custodiam et ordinationem abba- 
 
 tiae" and grant permission to elect, "ut 
 
 dominus et patronus," dated as above, 
 
 ix" Januarii, anno sexto. 
 
 R. iii, ff. 16, 339. Adam of Domerham, pp. 240-42. 
 
 The attestations of the document indicate the leading 
 
 men of the king's party on the eve of the concession 
 
 of Magna Charta : Stephen the archbishop, and the 
 
 bishops of London, Winton, Ely, Hereford, Lincoln 
 
 are among them. 
 
 Herbert, bishop of Salisbury, admitted William de 
 Wellia to the church of Whitchurch, Dorset, on pre- 
 sentation of Robert de Mandeville. R. iii, f. 455. 
 
 Case between Richard parson of Whitchurch and 
 Jordan Malet clerk about the chapel of Charmouth 
 (Cernneure) adjudicated by abbot of Malmesbury and 
 prior of Bradenestoke, papal commissioners, reserving 
 rights of mother church of Whitchurch. R. iii, f. 455. 
 Cf. Charters bearing upon Whitchurch (Canoni- 
 corum). R. iii, ff. 450-457, and under year 1206, in 
 Dorset. 
 
 f. 107. 
 
 Magna 
 Charta 
 granted, 
 15 June. 
 
 17 John. 
 
 18 Innocent III. 
 
 a.d. 121 5. 
 
 9 Stephen, archbishop. 
 10 Jocelin, bishop of Bath and 
 Glastonbury. 
 Leonius, dean. 
 The meeting " in prato Renningmede inter Stanes 
 et Windleshore " at which bishop Jocelin was present, 
 when king John grants and confirms the great charter 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 193 
 
 of liberties and twenty-five barons are appointed to 
 carry out the provisions. 
 
 John secretly sends a statement of his grievances 
 against the barons to pope Innocent. 
 
 The pope annuls the charter of liberties granted by 
 the king. M* Paris, Hist. Angl. ii, 157-162. 
 
 Churches of Chew and Welinton are charged with November3o. 
 
 ,1 c , . Endowment 
 
 tiie payment 01 10 marcs each a year in endowment of of mass of 
 
 the mass of Blessed V. Mary " quo canonici Wellenses ginMary."" 
 
 in servitium beatse Virginis animos suos magis impense 
 
 intenderent." 
 
 Dated at Dogmersfield. Feast of St. Andrew. 
 
 Confirmed by the dean and chapter of Wells. 
 
 William de Wilton is persona of Chew. 
 
 Stephen de Tornaco of Welinton. R. i, f. 43. 
 See further under year 1239. 
 
 A.D. 1 2 16. 
 
 18 John, d. October 18. 10 Stephen, archbishop. 
 
 19 Innocent III. d. July 17. 11 Jocelin, bishop of Bath 
 1 Henry III. Ralph of Lechlade, 
 
 1 Honorius III. dean. 
 
 The vacant benefices belonged to the bishop, t lo6 - 
 Bishop Jocelin, after consultation with dean Leonius ordinance 
 
 concerning 
 
 and the chapter, now made over two parts to the com- vacant 
 muna of the chapter, and gave one part to the arch- 
 deacons of the place, binding the archdeacons to give 
 two parts of their share in same manner to the com- 
 muna. William of Bardeney, archdeacon of Wells, and 
 
 C c 
 
 benefices. 
 
194 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 William of Wrotham, archdeacon of Taunton, bound 
 themselves by this ordinance and were appointed cus- 
 todians of vacant benefices. Thomas, archdeacon of 
 Glastonbury, and Hugh of Bath, not being content to 
 follow this order, Jocelin made over to the communa 
 the two parts out of their archdeaconries, leaving to 
 them the third part. R. i, f. 59 ; R. iii, f. 12 in dors. 
 
 j ie? - " Sub hoc tempus," Ralph of Lechlade, canon, is 
 
 f^feuSfh' e l ec t e d dean. The process of election and appoint- 
 ed a dean, ment observed in two former precedents in bishop 
 
 Jocelin's time '• and handed down from ancient days," 
 
 is now confirmed by statute : 
 
 (a) The chapter petition the bishop for licence 
 
 to elect. 
 
 (b) The canons elect from among their brethren. 
 
 (c) The chapter present the elect to the bishop 
 
 and pray confirmation. 
 
 The charter is given at Bath on feast of Saint Basil 
 in eleventh year of the bishop's pontificate. R. i, f. 
 113 in dors. 
 
 Pope Gregory IX in 1241 confirmed the election of 
 dean John Saracenus, according to this precedent, and 
 the right of the chapter to elect a dean from among 
 the canons, according to the " antiqua et approbata 
 consuetude." R. i, f. 57. 
 
 There is a full statement of this same process of 
 
 appointment in case of dean Pemple, 1361. R. i, ff. 
 
 247-250 ; and of dean Fordham, 1378, in R. i, fi". 267- 
 
 278. 
 
 July 17. xvi KaL Aug. Pope Innocent died. Honorius III 
 
 Pope Inno- ° x 
 
 cent iii died elected pope. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206-1242. 195 
 
 King John died. Henry III a minor succeeds. Oct. 18. 
 
 King John 
 died. 
 
 On the Vigil of St. Simon and St. Jude Henry is Oct. 27. 
 crowned king at Gloucester by Gualo the legate and ofHenrym. 
 Peter bishop of Winchester ; bishop Jocelin administers 
 the oath. M. Paris, Hist. Angl. ii, 195. Ann. Waverl. 
 p. 286. 
 
 A.D. 12 1 7. 
 2 Henry III. 1 1 Stephen, archbishop. 
 
 2 Honorius III. 12 Jocelin, bishop of Bath and 
 
 Glaston. 
 Ralph of Lechlade, dean. 
 Jocelin appointed one of the judges on circuit in £ i°s. 
 Somerset and Western counties. Dugdale's Chron. appointed 
 
 . judge of 
 
 Series, p. 7. circuit. 
 
 Institution of Richard of Aterbury as parson to the institution 
 church of Charlton Makerel, saving to Robert de Makerei. 
 Meyse the perpetual vicarage' on payment of 50 
 shillings to Richard and his successors. R. iii, f. 192 
 in dors. 
 
 Confirmation by Thomas the precentor and the Division of 
 
 Combe 
 
 chapter of ordinance of bishop Jocelin, made " in prebend. 
 
 •1 • • 1. ■ m -.1 r Provostship 
 
 partibus transmannis, in exile, with consent of some ofCombe 
 of the chapter, remodelling and re-distributing Combe 
 prebend and instituting provostship. 
 
 Ten prebends to be made out of the prebend of 
 Combe, to receive 10 marcs each, instead of 10 shillings 
 —one appointed by the bishop to be provost^to pay 
 the others, to hold, besides his own 10 marcs, the 
 church of Combe, and whatever remained over from 
 
196 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 the fruits of Combe. The provost to pay 3 marcs 
 annually to the vicar choral, the other prebendaries of 
 Combe 2 marcs. R. i, f. 49. 
 
 For later arrangements, under year 1234, vide R. i, 
 f. 50, and R. i, f. 205 in dors, and Archer in Hearne's 
 Adam of Domerham, p. 214. 
 
 May 20. The archbishop of York, bishop Jocelin, and other 
 
 Excommuni- 
 cation of prelates pronounce excommunication on the followers 
 
 partisans of . 
 
 Louis of of Louis of France. Chron. de Mailros, p. 195. 
 
 France. 
 
 f. iog. About this time, Ralph beinp- dean, Alexander, 
 
 Grant to the > r to > . 
 
 fabric by canon of Henstridge, desiring to hasten, as far as lay 
 
 canon of 
 
 Henstridge. in him, the building of the fabric of the church of 
 Wells,"ut fabrica celerius ad optatam consumrnationem 
 mea sedulitate consurgat," gives for his life, in lieu of 
 the sum assessed upon his prebend for the fabric, the 
 produce of the arable land of the rectorial glebe at 
 Henstridge, half his meadow in Ridgehill, and one 
 silver marc from the altarage of Henstridge, to dean 
 Ralph and the canons who had charge of the fabric. 
 After his death the land is to revert to the prebend. 
 R. iii, f. 383- 
 
 Cf. R. i, f. 69, where a levy of one-fifth on the preb- 
 ends by bishop Jocelin for the fabric is referred to in 
 1248 ; and cf. Osm. Reg. ii, 7, 9 where, in 12 19, the 
 canons of Salisbury pledge themselves to contribute 
 to the new fabric of Salisbury according to the value 
 of their prebends for the next seven years, their preb- 
 ends to be sequestrated in default of payment (ii, 14), 
 and non-resident canons to pay one-fifth to the com- 
 muna of the residents. Osm. Reg. i, 366. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 197 
 
 a.d. 1218-1219. 
 
 2-3 Henry III. 12-13 Stephen, archbishop. 
 
 2-3 Honorius III. 13-14 Jocelin, bishop of Bath and 
 
 Glaston. 
 
 Ralph, dean. 
 
 R. iii, f. 263, and Adam of Domerham, pp. 464.-474. f - 10 9- 
 
 J J > rr f 1 1/ f Dissolution 
 
 Letter of pope Honorius to bishop Jocelin, reciting of union 
 
 between 
 the process by which the union was now dissolved : Bath and 
 
 (a) Letter of commission to Pandulf, bishop of 
 
 Norwich, and Richard, bishop of Salisbury 
 to arbitrate between bishop and convent. 
 Dated "Romse iv, Id. Junii pontificatus nostri anno 1218. June 4 
 secundo," 12 18. 
 
 (b) Report of papal commissioners of conference f - IIQ - 
 
 K ' r r r 1218-9. Jan. 3 
 
 at Shaftesbury on octave of Saint John 
 Evangelist, 12 18-9. 
 Abbot of Reading substituted for Pandulf in the i2ig,Mayi7 
 commission. 
 
 (c) " xvi, Kal. Junii. Indictione vii. 1 Incarna- 
 
 tionis dominicse anno Mcc° nono decimo 
 
 — Pontificatus Domini Honorii Papae III, 
 
 anno tertio," 1219. 
 
 Pope Honorius dissolves the union between see of 
 
 Bath and convent of Glastonbury (Jocelino tandem 
 
 annuente), and confirms term of composition made at 
 
 Shaftesbury on octave of St. John the Evangelist, 
 
 12 1 8-9, by the commissioners : 
 
 (a) The convent shall elect their abbot ; 
 
 (b) The bishop shall retain the patronatus 
 
 granted by the king in 1215 ; 
 
 1. Indiction vii, corresponds with the year 1219. Nicolas, Chron- 
 ology of History, p. 58. 
 
198 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 1219-20. 
 
 March 29. 
 Pope sanc- 
 tions 
 bishop's 
 change of 
 style. 
 
 (c) The manors of Wynescumb, Blackford in 
 
 Wedmore, Pucklechurch, and Cranmore, 
 to remain with the bishop ; 
 
 (d) The other manors assigned by the award of 
 
 1202 to the bishop to revert to the con- 
 vent, Meare, Buckland, Keinton, Christ 
 Malford, Badbury, and Ashbury, but the 
 advowsons of these manors to belong to 
 the bishop. 
 
 Bull 1 of Honorius III, warranting the change of 
 style from Bath and Glastonbury to Bath and Wells. 
 
 " Honorius, etc. Pandulfo Norwicensi Electo cam- 
 erario nostro apost. sedis legato. 
 
 " Ven. pater noster Bathoniensis episcopus nobis fecit 
 supplicari ut cum hactenus Bathon. et Glaston. epus 
 fuerit nuncupatus, ne videatur quasi capite diminutus 
 nuncupandi se Bathon. et Wellen. episcopum sibi 
 licentiam concedere dignaremur, praesertim quia sicut 
 asserit, ecclesia Wellensis ab antiquo extitit cathedralis, 
 prout constat ex privilegio sedis apostolicae apparere, 
 quamvis privilegium istud in registris quaesitum non 
 potuerit inveniri set illud penes se habere idem epis- 
 copus asseverat. 
 
 " Estimantes itaque dignum antiquis ecclesiis antiq- 
 uos reddere titulos dignitatum qui nonnunquam novas 
 novis dignitatibus insignimus, discretioni tuae per apos- 
 tolica scripta mandamus, quatenus inquisita super hoc 
 et cognita veritate, si rem inveneris ita esse, predicto 
 epo se nominandi Bathoniensem epum et Wellensem 
 auctoritate nostra concedas liberam facultatem. 
 
 1. This bull, not quoted by Archer, is here inserted to complete 
 the history of the transactions. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206-1242. 199 
 
 "Viterbii, iv Kal. April, pontif. a° iv° " 12 19, 1220. 
 (Brit. Museum Add. MSS. 15,536). 
 
 Sanction was thus given for Jocelin's assumption of 
 the style " Bath and Wells," — the privilegium was 
 contained in pope Nicholas' grant to bishop Giso in 
 the chapter archives ; but either Pandulf did not issue 
 his licence, or Jocelin did not wish to offend Bath, and 
 did not assume the double title, so far as we know. 
 
 On the eve of the Translation of Saint Benedict, at f - " a , , 
 
 1219. July 10 
 
 Glastonbury, bishop Jocelin, as patron, admits William 
 the abbot elect ; and on the feast, as diocesan, he 
 blesses him. Adam of Domerham, p. 476. 
 
 Jocelin is again appointed judge of circuit for this Jocelin 
 year, and sits at Exeter with other judges. A concord circuit. 
 is there made with H. de Traci about advowson of Bovy Trac y- 
 South Bovi — the advowson to belong to the bishop. 
 H. de Traci is granted participation in the prayers of 
 the church of Wells. R. iii, f. 109, in dors. 
 
 Grant of land and houses for canons by Hugh arch- ^^j."* 1 
 deacon of Wells (successor of Hugh now bishop of {^f^ 
 Lincoln), lying between land and houses of Otho, and chapter, 
 of Nicolas of Wells. 
 
 R. iii, f. 385. Witnesses, Hugh bishop of Lincoln ; 
 Ralph, dean ; and Peter of Chichester, canon. 
 
 Bull for canonization of St. Hugh of Lincoln ; the "^ 
 day of his burial to be kept as a festival, viz. November ^Hugh^ 
 17. (xv Kal. Dec.) Dated xiii Kal. Martii. 
 
 The Dominican brothers come into England. Dominicans 
 
 t-. t . 1 1 1 • in England. 
 
 Ralph, the dean, dies. 
 
 Peter of Chichester, canon, is elected dean. R. i, f. £ h ^ f ter 
 45. dean - 
 
200 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 4 Henry III. 
 4 Honorius III. 
 
 f. in. 
 
 April. 
 Precedence 
 in synod of 
 prior of Bath 
 
 July 7. 
 Translation 
 of St. 
 Thomas. 
 
 April 28. 
 
 Whitsunday 
 
 August 7. 
 Grant of oak 
 for fabric of 
 church from 
 Cheddar by 
 king. 
 
 Sept. 19. 
 Christian 
 
 Malford. 
 
 A.D. I220. 
 
 14 Stephen, archbishop. 
 
 15 Jocelin, bishop of Bath. 
 Peter of Chichester, dean. 
 
 Jocelin holds a synod at Bath ; the question is raised, 
 whether the prior of Bath or the dean of Wells shall 
 sit on right of the bishop. 
 
 Precedence is given to the prior of Bath ; " without 
 any prejudice to the rights of church of Wells." R. i, 
 
 f. 45- 
 
 Institution of the festival of the " Translation of St. 
 Thomas of Canterbury." The jubilee is kept on the 
 fiftieth anniversary of his consecration, is a scene of 
 great splendour, and the day is made an era of com- 
 putation. Vide M. Paris, Hist. Angl. ii, 241-2 on the 
 shrine of St. Thomas, of which Elyas of Derham and 
 Walter of Colchester were the artificers. 
 
 Foundation laid of the new church of Salisbury. 
 Osmund Reg. ii, 14. 
 
 Coronation of the young king at Westminster. 
 
 Grant from the king to bishop Jocelin of oak timber, 
 " 60 grossa robora in boscis nostris de Ceddar " for the 
 fabric of the church of Wells, "ad rogum quendam 
 faciendum ad operationem ecclesise suae de Welles." 
 
 Rot. Lit. Claus. m. 6, p. 425, anno 4 Hen. iii, 1220 
 apud Oxon. vii die August. 
 
 Dean Peter and chapter at bishop Jocelin's petition 
 receive Ilditius, nephew of John, cardinal of St. 
 Praxidius, vicar of Christian Malford, " ad Armarium," 
 at a rent of 25 marcs. 
 
 The charter is dated " 1st year of Translation of St. 
 Thomas." 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206-1242. 201 
 
 R. i, f. 98 ; cf. R. i, f. 71. This transaction is referred 
 to in 1249, and R. iii, f. 338 in 1245. 
 
 February 19, 1220-21. Richard, bishop of Salisbury, Whitchurch, 
 admits Hugh of Greneford to the church of Whitchurch 
 at presentation of Robert de Mandeville. R. iii, f. 455. 
 
 A.D. 1 22 1. 
 5 Henry III. 15 Stephen, archbishop. 
 
 5 Honorius III. 16 Jocelin, bishop of Bath. 
 
 Peter of Chichester, dean. 
 Jocelin, in council with the dean and chapter, makes *■ "i-ih. 
 ordinances for the hospital of St. John at Wells, lately about the 
 built by the bishop and his brother, bishop Hugh of st. S johnat 
 
 T . , " Wells, 
 
 Lincoln. founded by 
 
 (a) The hospital to have chapel and bells — a and Hugh" 
 
 cemetery for the brethren of the house, f^-21.' 
 Those are named especially who had 
 taken vows of going to the Holy Land, 
 or were under the pledge, if called, of ful- 
 filling their vows (" qui signati erant, et sub 
 signo viventes, si ibidem conversati fuis- 
 sent.") 
 
 (b) The rights of dean and chapter to parochial 
 
 dues reserved. 
 
 (c) The master and chaplains to be appointed 
 
 by the bishop, but to render canonical 
 obedience to the dean and chapter. 
 R. i, f. 43, p. 168, the chapter ratify. R. ii, f. 16, in 
 dors. 1 
 
 1. Cf. R. iii, f. 248 in dors. Bishop Hugh in the draft of his will 
 in 121 1 had set apart 500 marcs "ad construendum hospitale apud 
 
 Dd 
 
202 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 Oratory at 
 Stathe. 
 
 f. 113- 
 
 Muddesley 
 
 exchange. 
 
 Exchange of 
 Martock for 
 Evercreech 
 to the 
 treasurer. 
 
 Cession of 
 land in 
 Wedmore to 
 dean. 
 
 The dean and chapter grant licence to the chaplain 
 of the Lady Matilda, widow of Otho of Wandestre 
 (Wanstrow), to serve in the oratory lately built at 
 Stathe, in parish of North Curry — the chaplain to 
 swear obedience to the dean and chapter, that he will 
 not receive offerings due to church of North Curry or 
 chapel of Stoke, nor alms for annuals or tricennials 
 (30 masses on 30 days in succession) nor for any 
 sacred office without express leave of the parish priest 
 of North Curry. The licence granted only during the 
 lifetime of the Lady Matilda, and during her residence 
 at Stathe. No rights to accrue to any other possessor 
 of the lands. The Lady Matilda and Oliver Avenel 
 swear to observe conditions. R. iii, f. 38. 
 
 To this time Archer assigns certain undated charters. 
 
 1. Alexander of Muddesley exchanges land in 
 Muddesley with Peter the dean. 
 
 Boundaries are given. R. i, f. 44. 
 
 2. The church of Martock impropriated to the 
 treasurer instead of Evercreech. 
 
 Jurisdiction of the archdeacon and of the abbot of 
 " Saint Michael in periculo mortis " in Martock and of 
 dean and chapter in Evercreech, reserved. R. i, f. 44 
 in dors. 
 
 3. Robert of Malherbe son of Henry of Muddesley 
 releases to dean Peter his claim to half a virgate of 
 land in Wedmore, in Bemeston hundred. R. i, f. 59. 
 
 Welles." At first a hostel for wayfarers — no mention of monastic 
 brethren — and almshouse for poor and needy — those especially in the 
 first instance out of employment by their vow of joining the crusade. 
 
 There were ten priests and brethren in 1330. 
 
 In 26 Henry VIII the yearly revenues of master and brethren 
 amounted to £40 (Dugdale) or £41 3s. 6d. (Speed). 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 203 
 
 4. Convention between Peter the dean and the Exchange at 
 
 Wanstrow. 
 
 chapter and William de Ralegh canon of Wanstrow. 
 R. iii, f. 399. 
 
 5. Walter Rofend grants to Walter de Purl canon Cheddar. 
 of Wells half an acre in Cheddar, near the "curia 
 canonicorum," i.e., rectorial grange and manor house. 
 
 R. iii, f. 408. 
 
 6. Benedict abbot and convent of Athelney grant f- "4- 
 to bishop Jocelin advowson of Sutton church. Wit- Sutton, 
 ness — Richard, abbot of Muchelney. R. iii, 372, in 
 dors. (cf. f. 81, anno 1198). 
 
 7. Also grant of advowson of Ilton. R. iii, f. 400, Iltori - 
 in dors. ; R. i, f. 38. 
 
 8. William Fitzarthur grants advowson of Weston Weston, 
 (in Gordano). 
 
 Witnesses — Thomas de Cirencester, sheriff of Somer- 
 set and Dorset ; John de Paulton ; Henry de Campo 
 florido ; William, seneschal of the bishop : Baldwyn 
 de Wayford ; Thomas de Alta Villa (Hauteville) ; 
 William de Bonneville. R. i, f. 43 ; R. iii, f. 356 in dors. 
 
 9. Abbey of Lonley presents to bishop Jocelin one stoke 
 of the monks as prior of Stoke Courcy. R. iii, f. 1 1 1 
 
 in dors. 
 
 10. Hugh, chaplain of St. Bartholomew's hospital, ^J°jJ st - 
 London, grants to bishop Jocelin advowson of church 
 
 of St. George de Heanton (Hinton St. George). 
 R. iii, f. 347 in dors. 
 
 11. Bishop Jocelin grants to Thomas de Avenant, Bishops 
 
 Lydiard. 
 
 Bishopwoode in Lydiard, with feed for pigs and fuel 
 " fualliam ad ignem." R. iii, f. 347 in dors. 
 
 12. Walter of Downhead and Walter of Wyke Enlargement 
 
 ' of bishop s 
 
 grant to bishop Jocelin five acres within the park in p?^. 3 - 4 
 
bp. Jocelin. 
 
 204 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 exchange for lands at Horrington and Berihal. R. iii, 
 f. 353 in dors. At the same time Richard Fitz Walter 
 of Henton grants farm and meadow near Wells. 
 R. iii, f. 353 (Cf. with this king John's charters in his 
 9th year, 1207, " de via includenda " and " de parco 
 apud Welles ex parte australi.") 
 
 Charter 29. 
 A.D. 1 22 1. 
 Deed of *• Omnibus Christi fidelibus ad quos presens carta 1 
 
 exchange 
 
 between pervenerit, Walterus de Dunhieved et Walterus de 
 
 Walter of 
 
 Downhead Wyke salutem. Sciatis nos concessisse et in curia sua 
 ofWykeand quieta clamasse in perpetuum de nobis et heredibus 
 nostris, venerabili patri nostro domino Joscelino Bath- 
 onensi episcopo et successoribus suis, totam terram et 
 pratum et quicquid habuimus vel habere debuimus 
 
 1. Note by bishop Hobhouse. Facts to be gathered from this 
 deed of exchange : 
 
 That there was a bishop's park at Wells, or had been of old. 
 
 That it had been inclosed, e.g. " infra clausum parci." 
 
 That laymen had been allowed by the carelessness of the bishops 
 of the twelfth century to acquire rights therein and lands, " terra et 
 pratum." 
 
 That bishop Jocelin was engaged in restoring, if not enlarging, the 
 park, by building a wall which he was carrying over the five acres 
 now exchanged, and also in diverting the road to Doulting, substituting 
 "cheminium exterius preparatum," i.e. a roadway outside the park 
 wall. 
 
 The bishop valued the five acres etc. very highly, as appears by 
 the amount given in exchange, i.e. : — 
 
 1. Two messuages in "villa de Welles," i.e. within the borough 
 by East Wells. 
 
 1. Two parcels of land held by their owner on the side of the 
 way to Horrington (Horningedon). 
 
 3. Ten-and-a-half acres of bishop's demesne at Karswell. 
 
 4. Three acres under Stobery (Staberghe). 
 
 5. Seventeen-acres-and-a-half of demesne at Stobery. 
 6 Four acres at Beryl (Berihal). 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 205 
 
 infra clausum parci de Welles, cum quinque acris terre 
 ex australi parte strate qua consuevit iri versus 
 Dultinge, in quibus levatus est murus predicti parci et 
 cheminum exterius preparatum. Hec autem predicta 
 quieta clamavimus pro escambio quod ab eodem epis- 
 copo recipimus, videlicet pro duobus mesuagiis in villa 
 de Welles biestwalles — pro uno scilicet mesuagio quod 
 tenuit Cristina Pighele et pro alio quod tenuit Thud- 
 ricus Pighel, et pro duobus particulis terre quas 
 predicta Cristina tenuit — una ex boreali parte et alia 
 ex australi parte vie qua iter versus Horningedone, et 
 pro decern acris et dimidia apud Karswelle de dominico 
 ipsius episcopi, et pro tribus acris subtus Staberghe 
 quas Adam Grenne tenuit. Et pro decern et septem 
 acris et dimidia apud Staberghe de dominico ipsius 
 episcopi, et pro quatuor acris apud Berihale. Et pro 
 una apud Ailtredehulle et pro septem acris prati de 
 dominico prato suo de Horningedone. Et ad idem 
 pratum claudendum secundo anno de bosco episcopi 
 clausturam in perpetuum recipiemus. Quod ut ratum 
 sit in perpetuum presenti carte sigilla nostra apposu- 
 imus. Hiis testibus, Thomae de Cicestria, Ricardo de 
 Meauleberge, Reginaldo de Wudeforde, Willelmo 
 Forestario, Helia filio Ricardi, Willelmo Coco, et 
 multis aliis." 
 
 Of the witnesses, the first was a canon of Wells, two 
 were members of the Wells manor court, as tenants of 
 Melsbury and Woodford ; probably the rest were also 
 
 7. One acre of Ailtredehull. 
 
 8. Seven acres of meadow (bishop's demesne meadow) at Horring- 
 ton ; and for enclosing the same in the second year (? every other 
 year) fencing stuff (claustura) was to be given from the bishop's 
 wood. 
 
206 Chapters in Wells History. [chap. 
 
 constituents of the court present at the publication of 
 the deed — " cum multis aliis." 
 Buckiand Letter of Stephen de Tornaco to bishop Jocelin, 
 
 giving value of vicarage of Buckiand. The vicar 
 receives the altar oblations, small tithes (except of 
 wool, flax, and lambs), eleven acres of land at Ches- 
 croft and Stockland. R. iii, f. 157 in dors. 
 
 A.D. 1222. 
 6 Henry III. 16 Stephen, archbishop. 
 
 6 Honorius III. 17 Jocelin, bishop. 
 
 Peter of Chichester, dean. 
 f - "5- Archbishop Stephen held provincial synod at Oxford. 
 
 Matt. Westm. ii, p. 112. 
 Bumham. Roger de Clifford recovered by purchase from the 
 
 abbey of Gloucester right of presentation to Burnham. 
 R. i, f. 194 in dors. 
 
 b p . jocelin Reginald FitzReginald, of Cornhill, sheriff of Kent 
 
 buys land in ° D 
 
 London. (selling his land to liquidate his father's fine of £2,1 16), 
 sells to bishop Jocelin lands and messuage opposite 
 church of St. Helena in London, " where now is Gres- 
 ham College," for which the bishop has paid 200 marcs 
 " in ghersumam." Boundaries are described as extend- 
 ing through Cornhill, Bishopsgate Street, Broad Street. 
 Witnesses — " Petro (de Roches) Winton. episcopo ; 
 Comite Will, marescallo, rectore domini regis et regni ; 
 Hubert, de Burgo justiciario," etc. R. i, f. 17 in 
 dors. 
 
 Cf. William Thorn, decern Scriptores, col. 1878. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 207 
 
 A.D. 1223. 
 7 Henry III. 17 Stephen, archbishop. 
 
 7 Honorius III. 18 Jocelin, bishop. 
 
 Peter of Chichester, dean. 
 Gilbert Gule and his wife Christina, daughter of \ "5- 
 
 ' & June. 
 
 Thomas de Bolonia, grant or restore all the land which North Curry, 
 had belonged to Thomas in North Curry to the church 
 of Wells, and swear to defend their right. 
 
 Sealed in chapter at Wells " in die octavarum apo- 
 stolorum Petri et Pauli, anno a translatione beati 
 Thomae Martyris iii°." R. i, f. 12 ; R. iii, f. 38. 
 
 William, abbot of Glastonbury dies, and is buried Sept. 16. 
 " in capitulo in parte aquilonari." 
 
 Robert, prior of Bath, is elected abbot of Glastonbury E ,!f ct t ioi J of 
 by the convent. Bishop Jocelin confirms and gives the Glastonbury 
 benediction in the church of Bath. Adam of Domer- 
 ham, p. 478. 
 
 Thomas succeeds Robert as prior of Bath. &** oi 
 
 William Flandre de Dinre (Dinder) grants to bishop Dinder. 
 Jocelin the advowson of the church of Dinder. Robert, 
 abbot of Glaston. attests. R. iii, f. 403 in dors. 
 
 Letter of Robert, abbot of Glaston. to bishop Jocelin. 
 
 " The abbey had promised the church of Hamme to 
 R. de Lexington at bishop Jocelin's request, but the 
 pope's mandate orders the abbey to provide for one 
 Benedict, scriptor papa. They are willing, if their 
 appointment of Benedict satisfies their promise to the 
 bishop." R; iii, f. 1 10 in dorso. 
 
208 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 I. 115 
 April is 
 
 A.D. 1224. 
 
 8 Henry III. 18 Stephen, archbishop. 
 
 8 Honorius III. 19 Jocelin, bishop. 
 
 Peter of Chichester, dean. 
 
 The king grants bishop Jocelin one penny a day out 
 
 Kmg's grant of the rents of Congresbury for five years for the fabric 
 tothefabric. , , . , • 
 
 of the church of Wells, "ad operationem ecclesiae 
 
 Wellensis." 
 
 Godfrey de Mandeville gives advowson of church of 
 Whitchurch in Dorset to bishop Jocelin. 
 
 Order made by bishop Richard of Salisbury about 
 the tithes of Wodeton chapel, in parish of Whitchurch, 
 confirmed by dean and chapter of Salisbury. R. iii, 
 f. 450. 
 August 10. Letters patent of king Henry III acknowledging 
 
 aid given by prelates of province of Canterbury to the 
 king when besieging Fulk de Breaute in Bedford. 
 Their grant not to be taken as a precedent. Rot. 
 Claus. i, 655. M. Paris, Chron. Maj. iii, 88. R. i, f. 17. 
 
 f. 115. 
 February g, 
 1234-5. 
 
 Hinton 
 charter- 
 house. 
 
 9 Henry III. 
 9 Honorius III. 
 
 A.D. 1225. 
 
 19 Stephen, archbishop. 
 
 20 Jocelin, bishop. 
 Peter, dean. 
 
 Confirmation of Magna Charta by Henry III. 
 
 Ela countess of Salisbury carries out the will of her 
 husband William Longsword 1 in the foundation and 
 building of the Carthusian house at Hinton, " in parco 
 
 1. Archer says, " Sub hoc tempus aut annum insequentem." 
 This should be put under the following year, 1226-7. William 
 Longsword died suddenly March 7, 1226-7. Vide Osm. Reg. ii, 48. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 209 
 
 de Henton, in loco qui vocatur Locus Dei ; in honorem 
 Dei et beatae Virginis Mariae et S. Johannis Baptistae." 
 
 Grant of manors of Hinton and Norton, and the 
 advowson of church of St. Philip at Norton. 
 
 Bishop Jocelin and Richard bishop of Salisbury 
 attest. 
 
 Cf. Osmund Regist. ii, 118. The foundation charter 
 of abbey of Lacock, founded by the same in 1229, 
 " Locus beatae Mariae." 
 
 The Osmund Register under this year describes Jocelin at 
 
 & ' Salisbury. 
 
 contemporary events at Salisbury : 
 
 September 28. The first service in the choir of the 
 new church. The bishop dedicates three altars ; the 
 high altar to the Holy Trinity, the altars of St. Peter 
 and St. Stephen. 
 
 September 29. The archbishop preaches to the 
 people outside ; afterwards, the bishop " intravit novam 
 basilicam et in ea divina solemniter celebravit." The 
 cardinal Otho, two archbishops, five bishops — among 
 them bishop Jocelin — are present. 
 
 September 30. A chapter was held, in which the 
 obligation of the canons to contribute to the fabric was 
 reaffirmed. The rule of residence was relaxed for the 
 next seven years. Osm. Reg. ii, 37-42. 
 
 a.d. 1226. 
 10 Henry III. 20 Stephen, archbp. 
 
 Gregory IX, pope, March 18. 21 Jocelin, bishop. 
 
 Peter, dean. 
 
 Milverton church, given to bishop Jocelin by William f. 116. 
 
 Milverton 
 
 Brewer, coram rege, in presence of Stephen, arch- church. 
 bishop ; Peter, bishop of Winton ; Hugh, bishop of 
 
 Ee 
 
2IO 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [chap. 
 
 As a prebend 
 appropri- 
 ated to arch- 
 deaconry of 
 Taunton. 
 
 Axbridge 
 vill bought 
 by bp. 
 Jocelin. 
 
 f. 116. 
 Martock. 
 
 Re-constitu- 
 tion of 
 office of 
 treasurer- 
 ship. 
 
 Lincoln ; William, bishop of Exeter ; Godfrey of Ely. 
 William of Exeter was nephew of William Brewer, 
 counsellor of John and Henry. R. iii, f. 382 ; Cf. M. 
 Paris, Hist. Angl. iii, 253. 
 
 Confirmation by archbishop Stephen, May 1226. 
 R. iii, f. 368 in dors. 
 
 In 1 24 1 Milverton was made a prebend, value twenty 
 marcs, and appropriated to archdeaconry of Taunton 
 with consent of dean and chapter, and given to William 
 of St. Quintin. R. iii, f. 336 in dors. 
 
 All right in Axbridge town sold to bishop Jocelin 
 by Maurice de Gaunt for one hundred marcs. R. iii, 
 ff- 34 1 . 35 l m dors. 
 
 Thomas Walensis confirms grant. R. iii, f. 375 in dors. 
 
 Maurice notifies the change of ownership to the 
 townspeople. R. iii, f. 356. 
 
 Cf. R. i, f. 108. "The crown had in 1209 granted 
 Axbridge to Hugh de Wells, archdeacon of Wells, as a 
 fee at £20 per annum. The same Hugh granted 
 Axbridge to Thomas Walensis, and he to Maurice de 
 Gaunt, one of the king's justices, and he now to bishop 
 Jocelin," answer to "Quo warranto" in 1280. Cf. 
 under November 7, 1227. 
 
 Ralph, abbot, and convent of " Saint Michael de 
 periculo mortis," in Normandy, grant to bishop Jocelin 
 advowson of the church of Martock and pension from 
 thence. R. iii, f. 287 ; cf. under year 1221. 
 
 " Ordinatio domini Jocelini super thesauraria Well- 
 ense." R. i, f. 34 in dors. 
 
 Reconstruction of the treasurership as to 
 
 (a) Receipts. 
 
 (b) Duties of treasurer. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1 206-1 242. 211 
 
 Memorandum. — As to the fixtures and stock (in- stock to be 
 
 v left on 
 
 stauramentum) which belonged to the estate of the estatesofthe 
 
 ' ° dean, pre- 
 
 dean — to be left at death to his successor — 24 oxen, centor, and 
 
 Wanstrow. 
 
 etc. 
 
 Do. — To the precentor's prebend at Pilton,8 oxen, etc. 
 
 Do. — To the prebend of Wanstrow, 8 oxen, etc. 
 R. i, f. 34. Printed in Adam of Domerham, pp. 216, 
 217. 
 
 Grant of West Harptre by William Fitz-John de West 
 Harpetre. R. iii, f. 355. 
 
 King Henry confirms to bishop Jocelin manors and Jj^g^" 27 ' 
 advowsons ceded by the abbey of Glaston at the final tionof Gias- 
 
 ' ' tonbury 
 
 concord 12 18-9. Reg. iii, f. 99: cf. iii, f. 393. manors to 
 
 bishop. 
 
 Confirmation to bishop Jocelin of grant by king Feb. 4, 
 
 1226-7. 
 Richard to bishop Reginald of keeping dogs for the 
 
 chase. 
 
 Confirmation of king John's grant of North Curry y°n^|" rth 
 to the canons. R. iii, f. 407 ; cf. R. iii, f. 10. Fe" 3 ^ 
 
 Foundation of Alba Aula (Whitehall), Ilchester, by ™^ e f at 
 William Dacus as a hospital for wayfarers " pauperes founded 
 
 * " circa dies 
 
 debiles peregre profiscentes." Charter attested by istos." 
 archbishop Stephen, d. 1228, and Richard Poore of 
 Salisbury, translated to Durham 1228. Cf. Reg. 
 Drokensford, f. 58. 
 
 Honorius III died. March 15. 
 
 Death of 
 
 pope 
 
 Honorius. 
 
 Gregory IX elected. Concilia, torn, xi, col. 242-309. Election of 
 
 " J Gregory IX. 
 
 Sub hoc tempus Henry Lovesert gives bishop Jocelin 
 four acres in Winscombe, and a meadow to William 
 of Keynsham, parson of church of St. James at Wins- 
 combe. R. iii, ff. 99, 100. 
 
212 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 f. 117. 
 
 May 26. 
 Glaston 
 privileges 
 confirmed 
 by king. 
 
 f. 118. 
 Oct. 6. 
 Exemption 
 of chapter 
 from fines. 
 
 Nov. 7. 
 Axbridge. 
 Vill given by 
 bp. Hugh. 
 
 A.D. 1227. 
 9 Henry III. 21 Stephen, archbishop. 
 
 2 Gregory IX. 22 Jocelin, bishop. 
 
 Peter, dean. 
 
 Renewal by Henry III of charter of privileges 
 granted to Glastonbury abbey by Henry II, May 26, 
 anno Regni ii°. Reg. iii, f. 23, in dors. Adam of 
 Domerham, p. 479. 
 
 Charter of bishop Jocelin to the dean Peter and 
 chapter — that the dean and chapter shall be exempt 
 from all fines "de murdris, etc.," to the king and 
 answerable only to the bishop. Given at Wells, 
 " Octavis S. Michaelis. Anno pontificatus 22 ." R. i, 
 f. 59 ; R. iii, f. 10. 
 
 Bishop Hugh of Lincoln grants to his brother 
 Jocelin the vill of Axbridge, and all rights therein. 
 A long list of attesting witnesses ; canons of Lincoln, 
 canons of Wells, and laymen. 
 
 Given at Tinghurst " per manum Radulfi de Wara- 
 vill," canon of Lincoln. 
 
 November 7, anno Pontif. 18. R. iii, f. 342. 
 
 Cheddar and 
 
 Axbridge 
 
 confirmed. 
 
 May 9. 
 
 A.D. 1228. 
 12 Henry III. 23 Jocelin, bishop. 
 
 3 Gregory IX. Peter, dean. 
 
 Archbishop Stephen Langton died. Matt. Paris, 
 Hist. Angl. ii, 302. 
 
 King Henry confirms king John's confirmation of 
 bishop Hugh's grant to Jocelin of Cheddar and Ax- 
 bridge. In Inspeximus of Edw. I 1324. R. iii, f. 
 392 ; cf. R. i, f. 108. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D.' 1 206-1 242. 213 
 
 Bishop Jocelin, at petition of dean and chapter, 
 grants to Helias, chaplain and canon of the prebend 
 of Compton Huish in Brentmarsh, formerly a member Huisa in 
 
 Brentmarsh 
 
 of the manor of Banwell and held with prebend of attached to 
 Compton. Thomas prior of Bath attests. R. i, f. 27, prebend. 
 n. 85 ; R. iii, f. 388 in dors. ' August22 " 
 
 1. Lucia daughter of John of Kardonville gives to f. "9. 
 Helias chaplain and canon her land in Wells lying canonical 
 between her brother's land and the Muntoria, which weiisby 
 had belonged to Walter Malger, " quae vocatur Mun- chaplain. " 
 toria," subject to land rent of 12 pence to Walter of 
 Downhead and his heirs. Lambert, subdean, attests. 
 
 R. i, f. 87. 
 
 2. John her brother, and Mirabel sister, give the land 
 to Helias on the eastern boundary of the estate, and 
 the columbarium there — at rent of two pence. Helias 
 gives in one case 2 marcs, in the other 20 shillings, in 
 recognition. Peter, the dean, attests. 
 
 3. Helias gives these lands to the chapter for the 
 use of a resident canon, reserving the rent of 12 pence 
 and 1 marc to be distributed at his obit between the 
 canons and vicars celebrating, by the communars 
 (" praepositi ni fallor, de Comba et Winesham.") 
 
 Peter, the dean, attests. 
 
 Charter 35 — Grant of the " Muntoria," " hodie 
 Mount Roy," by Helias the chaplain. R. i, f. 27 ; 
 cf. i, f. 161, 2. 
 
 4. Roger Burgeys gives to Richard son of Ivo Cade, 
 land between that of Ralph Preciosus and of the Kar- 
 donville family. 
 
 5. Richard grants same to William, a vicar, called 
 " the archdeacon," with half acre in Chalve croft ; with 
 
214 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 three shops in High Street of Wells (" in magno vico ") 
 subject to the payment of— 
 
 (a) 8 pence to John of Palton. 
 
 (b) 3 „ to Ernisius of Downhead. 
 
 (c) 8 „ to the bishop for one shop. 
 
 (d) 8 „ „ for the other two shops. 
 
 And with provision for his obit. 
 William, "the archdeacon," gives the same to the 
 chapter, with charge — 
 
 (a) Of 1 1 pence to the lord. 
 
 (b) Of endowment of his obit with the remain- 
 
 der. 
 
 6. William Buche (Buck) of Wells gives to the 
 chapter lands which he had bought from Milo, origi- 
 nally part of the Kardonville lands, " apud Muntoriam," 
 charged with 6s. a year, to be distributed at the obit 
 of himself and Alicia his wife among the clergy there 
 present. R. i, f. 162, 163 ; cf. Archer's Long Book, pp. 
 100, 129; and compotus of 1391, pp. 281, 282, Wells 
 MSS. 
 
 By these grants three more parcels of land adjoining 
 the land of Walter Malger in the " Muntoria," now 
 called " Mount Roy," on the north side of the church 
 are now taken into the " Liberty." (Cf. grants under 
 year 1207.) Two more obits are now founded, of 
 Elias the chaplain, and William Buche. 
 
 This house of William, "apud la Montorie," is 
 granted as a canon's house afterwards to William 
 Burnell, subject to charge of six shillings to be paid to 
 the obits of his predecessors, Lucas Membury and 
 Alice Buche. R. i, f. in. Edward de la Cnole is 
 then dean, 1264. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 215 
 
 A.D. 1229. 
 14 Henry III. 1 Richard, archbishop. 
 
 4 Gregory IV. 24 Jocelin, bishop. 
 
 Peter, dean. 
 Royal grants to bishop and dean and chapter : — £ 120-1. 
 
 Crown 
 
 1. Deafiforestation of North Curry manor. May 5, grants, 
 
 May 5. 
 
 anno regm 13 . R. i, f. 10 ; R. iii, f. 26. 
 
 2. Freedom from tolls, " quietancia thelonei," to May 15. 
 
 all tenants except tenants in capite of 
 bishop, dean and chapter of Wells, abbot of 
 Glastonbury, prior of Bath. R. iii, f. 14 
 printed in app. to Hearne's Adam of Domer- 
 ham, p. 247). 
 
 3. Deafforestation of Congresbury manor. R. iii, May 15. 
 
 f- 395- 
 
 Richard Grant, chancellor of Lincoln, is consecrated J une IO - 
 
 Jocelin at 
 
 archbishop at Canterbury, bishop Jocelin assisting, on canterbury. 
 June 10, Trinity Sunday. M. Paris, Hist. Angl. ii, 318. 
 Confirmation by king of donations of Ela countess 
 of Salisbury to Carthusians. Ralph of Chichester, 
 chancellor, and bishop Jocelin attest. Reg. Rad., 
 f. 289. 
 
 Foundations of Maurice of Gaunt at Bristol. Gaunt 
 
 Hospital at 
 
 (1) Almshouse for one hundred poor and chaplain. Bristol. 
 
 (2) A chantry at St. Augustine's, Bristol. He 
 
 grants to canons of St. Augustine, the 
 manor of Poulet, mills at Weare and 
 at Radewik, and rents of houses in Bristol 
 for the endowment. Local notabilities 
 attest, lay and cleric: Robert de Gurnay, 
 
2i6 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 William Fitzjohn of Harpetre, Robert de 
 
 Berkeley canon of Wells, Jordan Warr, 
 
 Gilbert de Schipton, Adam de Budeford, 
 
 William de Hida, Reginald and Gilbert 
 
 de Sarum. R. iii, f. 280. 
 
 Next year. Inspeximus and confirmation by Robert 
 
 de Gurnay, for himself and heirs, of above charter, on 
 
 security of bishops of Worcester, Jocelin of Bath, 
 
 Richard of Chichester, chancellor, Hubert de Burgh, 
 
 " Comes Cantiae et Angliae justiciar," Anselm bishop 
 
 elect of St. David's, Stephen de Segrave, John 
 
 Marshall, Hugh fitz Richard, Jordan la Ware, Gilbert 
 
 de Sifton, John de Campo Florido, Henry de Veir, 
 
 Elga de Staford, Ralph Russell, Tervic clericus. R. iii, 
 
 f. 280 in dors. 
 
 A.D. 1230. 
 14 Henry III. 2 Richard, archbishop. 
 
 5 Gregory IX. 25 Jocelin, bishop. 
 
 Peter, dean. 
 Exchange of land in Pucklechurch between bishop 
 Jocelin and John of Abbetestun (Abson). 
 
 A.D. 1 23 1. 
 15 Henry III. 3 Richard, archbishop. 
 
 6 Gregory IX. 26 Jocelin, bishop. 
 
 Peter, dean. 
 Nov. 10. Robert de Gurnay confirmed grant of church of 
 
 Harpetre. Harpetre. Gives four acres of land — two of meadow 
 to bishop Jocelin in Chew. R. iii, f. 269 in dors, and 
 iii, f. 368. Cf. under year 1226. R. iii, f. 342, f. 353. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206-1242. 217 
 
 Arbitration by bishop Jocelin between archdeacon f - IZ2 - 
 
 Huishin 
 
 of Wells and Helias, prebendary of Compton, about compton. 
 Huish in Brentmarsh, Easter, March 23, R. iii, f. 389, July 25. 
 by which it was determined that Huish belongs to 
 Compton, and is exempt from jurisdiction of the arch- 
 deacon of Wells. July 25. R. i, f. 27. 
 
 Royal charter confirming liberties of Cheddar to Cheddar. 
 ' ° June 11. 
 
 bishop Jocelin. June n. R. iii, ff. 394-5. 
 
 Confirmation of former privileges to bishop Jocelin, 
 dean and chapter of Wells, and prior and convent of 
 Bath. R. iii, f. 394 ; also quoted R. i, ff. 1 and 2. 
 
 Royal licence of making a will and disposing of all R °5 ,al 
 property, granted to bishop Jocelin and his executors 
 until Michaelmas following death. R. iii, f. 340 in 
 dors ; and iii, f. 348; and f. 395. 
 
 Archbishop Richard dies on return from Rome at f - "3- 
 St. Gemma ; buried in the church of the Minorites. 
 M. Paris, Hist. Angl., ii, 336. 
 
 Controversy between rector of Whitchurch and con- 
 vent of Abbotsbury. 
 
 Robert de Mandeville, patron of the church, and 
 Robert bishop of Salisbury, confirm Jocelin's ordinances 
 about church of Whitchurch. R. iii, f. 453. 
 
 A.D. 1232. 
 16 Henry III. 27 Jocelin, bishop. 
 
 7 Gregory IX. Peter, dean. 
 
 Hugh, bishop of Lincoln, gave patronage of Hamel- 1 123. 
 dun and pension from St. Peter's, Stanford, to the 
 bishop of Lincoln. R. iii, f. 192. 
 
 Bishop Jocelin assigns tithes to the vicar of Pilton. 
 William Bytton, archdeacon of Wells, attests. 
 
 F F 
 
2l8 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 November 8 
 
 1232-3. 
 Morrow of 
 St. Benedict. 
 March 22. 
 
 Roger, abbot, and convent of Athelney confirm 
 the grant of lands of Pitney and Wern, made to parish 
 church of Huish by bishop Jocelin. R. i, f. 40 ; R. 
 hi, f. 365. 
 
 Jocelin grants church of Evercreech to hospital of 
 St. John in Wells ; confirmed by prior and convent of 
 Bath. R. iii, f. 159. 
 
 Jocelin decides controversy between Glaston and 
 Martin de Summis, " subdiaconus dom. Papae," by 
 giving tenths of church of Butleigh and of Domerham 
 Park to Martin, and ^100 to be paid in five years for 
 arrears. R. iii, f. 346 in dors., and f. 347. 
 
 Cf. Royal letters Henry III, A.D. 1223. The king's 
 protection is asked by the podesta of Milan in the suit 
 between M. de Summis, a Milanese, and Glastonbury. 
 
 Martin de Summis, one of a powerful Milanese 
 family, had been the champion of the convent in their 
 war with Savaric, and now the monks refused to fulfil 
 their bonds to him for his losses in their service. 
 
 f. 123- 
 March 25. 
 Rights in 
 Stathmore, 
 
 Saltmore. 
 
 August 15. 
 
 Weston-by- 
 
 Worle. 
 
 A.D. 1233. 
 17 Henry III. 28 Jocelin, bishop. 
 
 8 Gregory IX. Peter, dean. 
 
 Composition between dean and chapter and John of 
 Aire in chapel of St. Gregory de Stoke apud North 
 Curry as to mutual rights in Stathmore and Saltmore. 
 R. i, f. 12, iii, f. 35. 
 
 Confirmed in curia regis in Hilary term. R. i, f. 
 134. R. iii, f. 36. 
 
 Jocelin ordained that the parson of " Weston prope 
 Worle " should pay to the treasurer from the fruits of 
 the benefice one hundred pounds of wax annually, fifty 
 on "the Passion of St. Andrew," fifty on the "Trans- 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 219 
 
 lation," and that the treasurer should provide two wax 
 candles to be burnt perpetually before the high altar 
 day and night at every celebration of divine offices in 
 the choir. R. i, f. 214. R. iii, ff. 281, 282. 
 
 Composition and finalis concordia made about lands 
 in Lamelegh by Stoke, and Wrentich and Garstone, 
 and Huntesham, belonging to the canons. R. iii, f. 31. 
 R. i, f. 13 ; R. iii, f. 30 ; R. i, f. 13 ; R. iii, f. 36 ; R. iii, 
 f. 23 in dors. 
 
 A.D. 1234. 
 18 Henry III 1 Edmund, archbishop. 
 
 9 Gregory IX. 29 Jocelin, bishop. 
 
 Peter, dean. 
 
 Hugh, bishop of Lincoln, brother of bishop Jocelin, f - "4- 
 dies, and is buried at Lincoln, February 10. Bp. Hugh 
 
 M. Paris, Hist. Angl. ii, 375. The character there His'charac- 
 given of him by the monk of St. Albans, " canonicorum Paris, 
 sanctimonialium et omnium religiosorum malleus," 
 must be estimated by considerations of the party spirit 
 between the regulars and the secular clergy. The like 
 character is given by M, Paris to Hugh's successor, 
 bishop Grossetete (iii, S 2 8), and by the Glastonbury 
 writers to bishop Jocelin. Adam of Domerham, p. 445. 
 
 iv. Non. April. 4 S. in Lent, dominica qua cantatur ^jyjJsho 
 Icetare Jerusalem, Edmund Rich, of Abingdon, canon A P ril 2 - 
 and treasurer of Salisbury, is consecrated at Canter- 
 bury archbishop. Matt. Paris, Hist. Angl. ii, 367. 
 
 Comoepr<gpositura,consisting of Combe (StNicholas) f- «s-6. 
 
 L/6C. 20i 
 
 manor and church, and churches of Chard and Well- union of 
 
 . • r ttt 1 provostship 
 
 ington, now united with prcepositura of Wynesham, of combe 
 consisting of Wynesham manor and church. R. 1, i 50 ham. 
 and f. 205 in dors. Cf. Adam of Domerham, p. 214. 
 
220 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 Ordinance 
 for the for- 
 mation of 
 five new 
 prebends. 
 
 Formation 
 and endow- 
 ment of four 
 vicarages of 
 Wellington, 
 Chard, 
 Combe, 
 Wynesham. 
 
 Chard 
 vicarage. 
 
 Combe 
 vicarage. 
 
 Ordinance of the bishop, the dean and canons con- 
 senting to the union on these terms : 
 
 The provost of Combe without cure of souls is 
 charged, 
 
 (i) With administration of fifteen prebends, retain- 
 ing one for himself and paying to each ten marcs ; each 
 canon to pay two marcs to a vicar (choral) at Wells— 
 
 (2) With support of a vicar at Wells at three 
 marcs — 
 
 (3) With payment of twenty marcs to the mass of 
 the blessed Virgin at Wells— 
 
 (4) And of ten marcs to the " missa de defunctis." 
 Formation of perpetual vicarages of — 
 
 (a) Wellington. Endowed with lesser tithes and 
 altar gifts of Wellington and Buckland, of mills and 
 of hay, except from the bishop's demesne and that of 
 Sir Gerbert at Welinton. 
 
 Vicarage-house assigned on north side of church of 
 Wellington, and on east side of church of Buckland. 
 
 (b) Chard. Endowed with lesser tithes and altar 
 gifts of churches of Chard and its chapels (the bishop's 
 lands and mills excepted), charged with payment of 
 three marcs to the provost. 
 
 Vicarage-house assigned on east side of church, the 
 bishop to present to Chard and Wellington. 
 
 (c) Combe. Endowed with lesser tithes of the 
 mother church and of chapel of Watleston to the 
 amount of five marcs ; deficiency to be made up out 
 of provost's lands otherwise exempted from payment 
 to vicarage. 
 
 Vicarage-house assigned on north side of road to 
 Stanton (White Stanton). 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, a.d. 1206-1242. 221 
 
 (d) Wynesham. Endowed in like manner to same 
 amount, and with like exceptions. 
 
 The provost to present to Combe and Wynesham. Wynesham 
 
 L L J vicarage. 
 
 The parochial vicars to be responsible to the bishop 
 " in spiritualibus ; " to the provost " in temporalibus." 
 The bishop to have jurisdiction over churches of 
 Wellington and Chard. Dean and chapter to have 
 jurisdiction over Combe and Wynesham. 
 
 On death or vacancy of the provostship the fruits to 
 belong to his estate until St. John Baptist's day 
 next. 
 
 The value of the vicarage is five marcs. R. i, f. 50 
 and i, f. 205. 
 
 The ordinance decrees the amount of stock, instaur- 
 antentum, and the proportions of land in cultivation 
 on the manors to be transmitted in succession. 
 
 The manor of Combe consisted of : 
 
 334 acres — 107 in corn, 149 "de avena ; " 
 78 in fallow (de warecto) ; 
 40 oxen of the value of 5s. each ; 
 200 sheep (oves et multonias) at I2d. each. 
 At Wynesham : — 16 oxen at 3s. 6d. 
 132 sheep at Sd. 
 53 lambs at 2^d. 
 6 sows, 1 boar, at 4d. 
 Cf. Hearne's edition of Adam of Domerham, p. 214. North curry 
 About the same time a vicarage is endowed with 
 tithes and offerings at North Curry by the dean and 
 chapter, reserving " garbas cuj usque bladi in horto et 
 in agro " — mills and fisheries and hay. 
 
 Richard de Tregoz appointed to serve the church 
 
222 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 ff. 126-7. 
 Canonical 
 houses in 
 Wells 
 bought and 
 given to the 
 church by 
 Roger the 
 chaplain. 
 Cf. under 
 year 1228. 
 
 and chapel of Hache in person or by a fit chaplain. 
 R. iii, f. 38, in dors. 
 Circa dies istos. 
 
 (1) Thomas Lock, son of Adam Lock the mason, 
 cementarius, made over to Roger of Chewton, canon 
 and chaplain, for 10 marcs, his houses in Wells, a croft, 
 and half an acre " in campo Wellensi." 
 
 Agnes, his mother, confirms her son's gift. R. i, f. 
 34. R. iii, f. 161. 
 
 Lambert, sub-dean, and Richard de Wells, canon, 
 the executors of Adam Lock, approve and seal the 
 grant of Thomas Lock. 
 
 The grant of Agnes is attested by Lambert, sub- 
 dean, master Elyas de Derham seneschal of bishop 
 Jocelin, Richard de Wells, William de Bechamstede, 
 canons ; master Vincent, Walter de Bridport, Richard 
 de Langport, vicars ; Walter, the chamberlain ; Law- 
 rence and Ivo Cade, praepositi of Wells ; Deodatus 
 and Thomas Noreis, cementarii. Vide Charter 23. 
 
 Confirmation by Lambert, sub-dean, of a release of 
 Thomas Lock, son of Adam and Agnes Lock. (Cf. 
 earlier document in Charter 30), A.D. 1229, which 
 contains a first grant of Thomas Lock, conveying land 
 in Stobery to Roger of Chewton. 
 
 We have here the names of masons under bishop 
 Jocelin — Adam and Thomas Lock, father and son — 
 Deodatus — Thomas Noreis. 1 
 
 (2) William, son of Peter Canutus, made over to 
 Roger the chaplain his houses in Wells for rent of 18 
 pence. 
 
 1. Vide Appendix R. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 223 
 
 A.D. 1235. 
 19 Henry III. 2 Edmund, archbishop. 
 
 10 Gregory IX. 30 Jocelin, bishop. 
 
 Peter, dean. 
 
 (3) January 14. Peter, the dean, and chapter s - «*7- 
 granted to Roger of Chewton the houses which had 
 belonged to Peter Canutus for 18 pence rent, in con- 
 sideration of Roger having satisfied the claim of 
 Ernisius of Downhead in the king's court. R. i, f. 35. 
 
 4 January 13. Roger made over to the church, for 
 the use of a canon of Wells, three houses, after his 
 death on the same rent, on the condition that the 
 communarius shall distribute 10 shillings to the canons 
 and vicars present at his obit. R. i, f. 35. Charter 32. 
 
 January 13. Dean and chapter confirm this. R. i, '• I27- 
 
 f- 35- 
 
 Roger grants other houses, which had belonged to Grant of 
 Reginald of Waltham, to Richard of Kentiswood, schools, "in 
 
 " usura schol- 
 
 chancellor, and his successors, for the use of the schools arum " and 
 
 " domus 
 
 of Wells, on condition : schoiarchse." 
 
 (1) That the chancellor shall confer them on the 
 master of the schools. 
 
 (2) He shall pay rent at Easter of 12 pence to John 
 of Palton, ditto to Henry of Waltham, and 7 pence to 
 the chapter. 
 
 Another sum to be spent at his obit in distribution : 
 (a) To three clerks at three altars of the church ; 
 (b) to sacrist ; (c) to boys present, and (d) to poor. 
 
 (3) The master shall keep the buildings in order. 
 
 (4) The master and scholars shall celebrate 
 annually his obit in '' aliquo loco competenti." 
 
224 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 (5) The boys, who know the psalms to recite the 
 penitential psalms, others the prayers, and all shall 
 pray daily for the soul of Roger and his family before 
 they leave the school, and they shall sing an antiphon 
 of the Blessed Virgin on Wednesday and Friday on 
 coming to school. R. i, f. 33. 
 
 Richard de Wells, Walter de Derham, and dominus 
 Jocelin canonicus Wellensis, attest. 
 
 Cf. Charter 36. Grant by Katherine, widow of 
 
 Henry de Waltham, to Roger, of her share of lands. 
 
 f. 126 Arbitration by Richard, bishop of Durham, between 
 
 Warminster bishop Jocelin and Thomas Mauduit about Warminster 
 prebend. . . , , 
 
 prebend and advowson. 
 
 ( 1 ) Advowson to belong to Thomas. 
 
 (2) A portion of tithes to value of 30 marcs re- 
 served to the bishop to form a prebend for a canon of 
 Wells. R. iii, f. 1 10- 1 1 1 . 
 
 John Uffington is admitted by bishop Robert to the 
 prebend presented by bishop Jocelin. 
 
 Four marcs are assigned to the vicar choral at Wells, 
 
 and the land to the prebend, according to arbitration. 
 
 R. iii, ff. 1 09- 1 10. These charters quoted by Archer 
 
 are not now found in the Register. Four folios have 
 
 been cut out in the Register, but the paging, which is 
 
 of later date, goes on unbroken. 
 
 f. i27' Confirmation to bishop Jocelin of the patronalus of 
 
 Patronatus 
 
 of Giaston- the abbey of Glastonbury, April 25, " anno regni 19 " 
 
 firmed to the given by the hand of Radulf, bishop of Chichester, 
 
 chancellor, attested by Richard, bishop of Durham, 
 
 Walter of Kaerleon, Hubert de Burgh com. Cantiae, 
 
 Philip de Albiniato, Godfrey de Craucumb, seneschals. 
 
 R. iii, f. 15. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206-1242. 225 
 
 Wynescomb church dedicated by bishop Jocelin in winscomb 
 
 r * church dedi- 
 
 honour of St. James. August 26, anno pontif. 30 . cated. 
 
 Endowment by Henry de Lovesert of the church Endowed, 
 with four acres. 
 
 A meadow to the parson of Wynescomb, and an 
 alder bed "alnetum suum." R. iii, f. 100. 
 
 A.D. 1236. 
 20 Henry III. 3 Edmund, archbishop. 
 
 11 Gregory IX. 31 Jocelin, bishop. 
 
 William de Merton, dean. 
 Dean Peter of Chichester dies ; his executors are f. 127. 
 bishop Jocelin, Hugh, archdeacon of Taunton, and dies. 
 William of Bitton, sub-dean. R. i, f. 190. 
 William de Merton elected dean. wmiam de 
 
 Merton 
 
 John of Palton renounces his right to two marcs dean. 
 from the houses of Roger the chaplain, according to 
 his will made over to him by the executors of Roger, 
 William the dean, and Richard Kentiswood, chancellor. 
 
 R. i, f. 33- 
 Bishop Jocelin consecrates church of Compton f. "8. 
 
 t-% » . . Compton 
 
 Episcopi, and endows the church with ten acres in the Episcopi. 
 
 July 13. 
 
 moor to be closed ; he grants to Helias, chaplain, 
 canon, and parson of Compton to run eight oxen, 
 together with the bishop's oxen, in the pastures of the 
 bishop's manor. R. i, f. 26. 
 
 Confirmation by dean and chapter. R. iii, f. 338. 
 
 Bishop Jocelin grants to dean William Merton the Deanery 
 houses which Peter, late dean, held, lying between Sept. 19. 
 houses of Richard the chancellor and Henry of 
 London, canons. 
 
 Given by the hand of Master William de Mayden- 
 
 Gg 
 
226 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 stone (Maidstone) in chapter, Sept. 29, 1236. R. i, 
 
 f-43- 
 
 The canon of Yatton had leased for ten years the 
 
 rectory of Yatton to the abbot and convent of St. 
 
 Augustine's, Bristol. William, provost of Combe, 
 
 becomes sub-tenant of abbot of St. Augustine, Bristol, 
 
 as firmarius of Yatton for ten years from 1237 for 
 
 45 marcs a-year, the dean and chapter become surety 
 
 for him on the security of his provostship and all his 
 
 goods. 
 
 Octave of St. Martin, 1236. R. i, f. 61. 
 
 A.D. 1237. 
 21 Henry III. 4 Edmund, archbishop. 
 
 12 Gregory IX. 32 Jocelin, bishop. 
 
 William de Merton, dean, 
 f. 127. Bishop Jocelin gave the church of Congresbury to 
 
 Congresbury . . 
 
 to the com- the canons in augmentation of their communa, reserving 
 
 May 1. appointment of a vicar. 
 
 vicarage The vicarage endowed with lesser tithes, offerings 
 
 at altar, and a third of the tithe of hay — the "curia 
 personam " to belong to canons. Another curia to be 
 assigned to the vicar near the church. A third of ten 
 acres of wood belonging to the church to belong to 
 the vicar — the vicar to pay archdeacon's procurations 
 and " cathedralicum," and a third of all other dues. 
 Wells, in festo St. Phil, et St. Jacobi, 1237. R. i f. 43 
 in dors. 
 
 jurisdiction Arrangement made by bishop Jocelin between dean 
 
 of dean and , . . 
 
 sub-dean. and subdean as to jurisdiction over town and suburbs. 
 
 Dean, when present, to take cognizance of all causes, 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 227 
 
 in his absence the subdean ; in the absence of both 
 the dean's official. 
 
 Members of the bishop's familia to be tried by the 
 bishop, or his official, the money fines inflicted on them 
 to go to the fabric of the church ; in other cases the 
 fine to belong to the dean or subdean, whichever tries 
 the case, after paying fee of the apparitor. R. i, f. 44. 
 
 Confirmation by papal legate Otho (cardinal-deacon f- "8. 
 
 . J r r b \ Ordinance 
 
 of St. Nicholas in carcere Tulliano) of Jocelin's ordi- of election of 
 
 . . - , _ dean con- 
 
 nance concerning election of dean, 12 16. firmed. 
 
 Bishop Jocelin arbitrates between dean and chapter south 
 
 r J r Barrow. 
 
 and Alured, lord of South Barrow, about patronage of 
 South Barrow : 
 
 (1) The advowson to belong to the dean and 
 chapter, according to gift of grandfather of Alured to 
 bishop Reginald. R. i, f. 35. 
 
 (2) Pension to the chapter remitted. 
 
 (3) Jurisdiction transferred to archdeacon of Wells. 
 
 (4) The dean and chapter present as vicar the nomi- 
 nee of Alured, Thomas of Alitheford (Alford). R. i, 
 
 £ 35- 
 
 Release by William the chaplain and the brethren Land in st. 
 
 and sisters of the hospital of St. Bartholomew, London, Danes. 
 
 to bishop Jocelin of rent of ten shillings, which he 
 
 used to pay to the hospital on his messuage in St. 
 
 Clement " de Denissemans churche " (St. Clement 
 
 Danes), on south side of church towards the Thames, 
 
 paying yearly a pound of pepper. 
 
 Attested by Andrew Bukerell, mayor of London, 
 
 Richard Renger, Roger le due, Tervic de Colonia, 
 
 Stephen de la Strande, Richard Fitzedward. R. iii, f. 
 
 348 in dors. Charter 36. 
 
228 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 Obit of 
 Peter, late 
 dean, in the 
 chapel of St. 
 
 Calixtus. 
 
 Whitchurch. 
 
 22 Henry III. 
 13 Gregory IX. 
 
 A.D. 1238. 
 
 5 Edmund, archbishop. 
 33 Jocelin, bishop. 
 
 William of Merton, dean. 
 
 Peter of Chichester, late dean, had left land in Mer- 
 legh of Wookey to endow his obit. R. iii, f. 131 in 
 dors. 
 
 William of Maulesbury (Melbury) had renounced 
 all rights in that land. R. iii, f. 190. 
 
 Bishop Jocelin desiring to retain those lands in 
 Wookey in the bishop's hands, and also to carry out 
 the dean's bequest, gave to the church in exchange 60 
 shillings out of the £j 10s. due from the archdeacon 
 of Wells to endow the mass at the altar of St. Calixtus, 
 to be thus distributed : 
 
 1 penny to vicar celebrating. 
 
 1 farthing to the vicar assisting. 
 
 S shillings for lights. 
 
 10 shillings on the anniversary. R. iii, f. 13 1-2. 
 March 26, 1238. R. iii, f. 190. 
 
 Thomas, prior of Bath, and the convent attest. 
 R. iii, f. 363 in dors, and f. 364. 
 
 Godfrey de Mandeville gave advowson of Whit- 
 church Canonicorum to bishop Jocelin. R. iii, f. 450. 
 
 William Longsword, earl of Salisbury, granted for 
 himself and his heir William de Bratton, to the 
 canonry of Whitchurch or to the dean and chapter of 
 Wells to make a walled park " ad cuniculos servandos," 
 and surrendered his right of way for his cattle "jus 
 chaciae," i.e. " viam per quam aguntur animalia ad 
 pascua." R. iii, f. 375. 
 
iv.J Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 229 
 
 A.D. 1239. 
 23 Henry III. 6 Edmund, archbishop. 
 
 1 3 Gregory IX. 39 Jocelin, bishop. 
 
 William of Merton, dean. 
 Bishop Jocelin confirms grant by dean Peter (dated f - "4- 
 
 x April 1. 
 
 1236) and the chapter to Robert Gyfard, chaplain of st. cuth- 
 
 bert's Wells 
 
 St. Cuthbert's, Wells, of all lesser tithes and offerings, made 'a 
 reserving greater tithes, and of vineyards, and mills, 
 and tithes due to the White Monks, and tithes of hay, 
 but these last to belong to the vicar in Priddy, Wytenal, 
 and Chilcote. 
 
 Vicar to pay a pension of twenty marcs to the 
 chapter. R. i, f. 101 in dors. ; cf. R. i, f. 104. 
 
 May 2. Bishop Jocelin confirms Lydeard to the t iag. 
 canons " ad augmentum communae." R. i, f. 30 ; R. Lydeard. 
 iii, f. 408. 
 
 September 30. North Curry, " praedium et ecclesia," North Curry 
 confirmed again, subject to the provision for a vicar to 
 be appointed by dean and chapter. R. i, f. 30 ; R. iii, 
 f. 408. 
 
 Dedication of church of Combe, " in honorem sci. church of 
 
 Combe St. 
 
 Nicolai," by Stephen, bishop of Waterford, on mandate Nicholas. 
 
 (-> 0nS6Cr£LtGQ 
 
 of bishop Jocelin, but in his presence. August 9. 
 
 _ ..... r Endowment. 
 
 Bishop Jocelin endowed it, giving the provost of 
 Combe patronage of the vicarage of Chard, the mills 
 of Fordyngton, Hornysbowe, and South Chard, but 
 charged with pension of twenty shillings to the bishop 
 from South Chard. 
 
 The vicarage of Chard no longer to pay forty 
 shillings to the provost. Cf. Reg. Drokensford, p. 
 262 n. 
 
230 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 f. 129. 
 October 23. 
 Dedication 
 of church 
 of Wells. 
 
 Wynescumb 
 manor and 
 church given 
 to the 
 communa. 
 Vicarage 
 formed. 
 
 Charter of 
 bp. Jocelin. 
 
 Nov. 12. 
 Further 
 endowment 
 of servitium 
 B. V. Marias. 
 
 On day of St. Romanus the church of St. Andrew 
 in Wells consecrated " in honorem S. Andreae apostol- 
 orum mitissimi." 
 
 Wynescombe manor and church are given to the 
 communa, reserving 
 
 (a) Payment of five marcs to the vicar, to be 
 appointed by the dean and chapter. 
 
 (b) Dues to the hundred of Banwell. 
 
 This grant is made " on the morrow of the dedication 
 of the church of Wells," thus commemorated in the 
 charter. 
 
 " Omnibus Christi fidelibus ad quos presens scriptum 
 pervenerit. Jocelinus dei gratia Bathon. episcopus 
 salutem in Domino. Noveritis nos in dedicatione 
 ecclesiae nostras Wellensis quam die sancti Romani 
 mense Novembris 1 anno incarnationis dominicae 1239 
 in honorem sancti Andreae apostolorum mitissimi dedi- 
 cavimus, dedisse et concessisse et hac presenti carta 
 confirmasse pro nobis et successoribus nostris in dotem 
 ejusdem ecclesiae nostrae et decano et capitulo nostra 
 Wellensi . . . manerium de Wynescumbe, etc. 
 
 In cujus rei robur et testimonium presenti scripto 
 sigillum nostrum apponi fecimus. 
 
 Datum Welliae in crastino sci Romani anno incar- 
 nationis dominicae 1239 et pontificatus nostri anno 
 xxxiv." R. i, f. 50 in dors. ; R. iii, f. 99 ; printed by 
 Hearne in Adam of Domerham, p. 252. 
 
 On the morrow of St. Martin bishop Jocelin con- 
 firmed and made further augmentation of the endow- 
 ment of the service in honour of the Blessed V. Mary, 
 
 1. Erratum in transcript in Adam of Domerham — "mense 
 Octobri." 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 231 
 
 instituted 1206, and augmented in 12 15 by grant of 
 thirty marcs. Vide under years 1206-1215. 
 
 December 29, " die beati Thomae martyris," bishop Cheddar. 
 Jocelin confirmed to the canons, " in augmentationem 
 communse," the church of Cheddar, formerly held and 
 conceded by the convent of Bradenstoke. R. i, f. 30. 
 Cf. R. i, f. 30, anno 1188. 
 
 Resignation by rector and vicar of church of Mud- Morrow of 
 
 t A,- \- U T 1- St. Hilary. 
 
 ford to bishop Jocelin. a.d. 1239-40. 
 
 _, . , . , , . Mudford. 
 
 Grant of church to the communa, " sublevaturus 
 
 paupertatem canonicorum " ; patronage to belong to 
 
 dean and chapter. R. i, f. 30. 
 
 Confirmation of grant of tenths to vicar of St. Cuth- St. cuth- 
 
 & bert's, Wells 
 
 bert, made in 1236. R. i, f. 101 ; and f. 104 in dors. 
 
 A.D. 1240. 
 
 24 Henry III. 7 Edmund, archbishop. 
 
 14 Gregory IX. 35 Jocelin, bishop. 
 
 William, dean. 
 
 Confirmation of grant of St. Cuthbert, Wells, " in June 4. 
 
 „ -r. . . , St. Cuthbert, 
 
 augmentationem communae. R. 1 in dors. Wells. 
 
 Confirmation by royal charter of privileges to con- Hinton 
 vent of Hinton Monachorum. Dugd. f. 30 Mon. 1, p. house. 
 960. 
 
 Otho, cardinal legate, orders bishop Jocelin to sum- October 7. 
 mon to a synod at London all deans, archdeacons, 
 abbots, and priors in his diocese, in person ; all chapters, 
 abbesses, and prioresses by proxy, to appear before him 
 on the octave of All Saints, and to urge the parochial 
 clergy to make offerings, and to invite all to give one- 
 
232 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 f. 129. 
 
 Nov. 16. 
 Death of 
 archbishop 
 Edmund, 
 f. 130. 
 
 Xmas. 1240. 
 Whitchurch 
 vicarage. 
 
 Stoke St. 
 
 Gregory 
 
 vicarage. 
 
 twelfth of their revenue at least to the aid of the pope. 
 R. i, f. 191. M. Paris, Hist. Angl. ii, 431. 
 
 Edmund, archbishop, dies ; is buried at Pontigny ; 
 his heart at Soysi. M. Paris, Chron. Maj. iv, 72, 73. 
 
 Vicarage of Whitchurch in Dorset instituted and 
 endowed by Robert, bishop of Salisbury. 
 
 A division of the greater tithes between churches of 
 Wells and Salisbury. Patronage of vicarage reserved 
 to bishop. R. iii, ff. 341-343. 
 
 Lands and tenements in North Curry given to dean 
 and chapter by Simon Gyan, with condition of pro- 
 viding a chaplain for church of Stoke, with fifty 
 shillings annually. R. iii, f. 207. 
 
 f. 131- 
 
 John Sara- 
 cenus, dean. 
 
 April 3. 
 Milverton. 
 
 A.D. 1 24 1. 
 25 Henry III. 36 Jocelin, bishop. 
 
 15 Gregory IX. John Saracenus, dean. 
 
 John Saracenus, dean — son of Peter Saracenus, 
 civis Romanus, an agent of the pope in England. 
 Vide Royal Letters, Henry III, 6, 269, 270, in 1212- 
 1225. 
 
 John Saracenus is called " subdiaconus et capellanus 
 papae." R. i, f. 75 in dors. 
 
 Cf. Rot. Chart. 1215, 9 July, grant to Peter Sara- 
 cenus, civis Romanus, of £20. 1215, 27 July. Grant 
 to John, son of Peter Saracenus, of church of Skene- 
 frith apud Fekeham. 
 
 Church of Milverton is annexed as one benefice to 
 the archdeaconry of Taunton by bishop Jocelin, with 
 consent of dean and chapter, and two prebends formed 
 out of it. Woky, April 3, 1241. R. iii, f. 336 in dors. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 233 
 
 Confirmation by Thomas, prior of Bath. R. in, 
 
 f- 33/- 
 
 On the morrow of St. Augustine's. "Anglorum May 27. 
 
 & > & Statutes de- 
 
 apostoh, May 27, at a general convocation of the fining resi- 
 dence and 
 canons, and in presence of bishop Jocelin, statutes are apportioning 
 
 , '" share of 
 
 drawn Up — commtma. 
 
 (a) Defining obligatory " residence," to two-thirds 
 of the year for dignitaries ; half the year, either con- 
 tinuously or at intervals for ordinary canons, to entitle 
 them to share in the communa. Residence is optional, 
 but distribution of communa to be according to " resi- 
 dence." 
 
 (b) Revision of the Ordinale. 
 
 (c) Leave of absence to vicars for bloodletting to 
 be granted by dean, or, in his absence, by the sub- 
 dean. 
 
 (d) Vicars to take place in choir according to the 
 prebends to which they were admitted. 
 
 (e) One audit per year fixed to octave of St. 
 Calixtus. 
 
 (f) Bell to be rung to summon canons to the 
 chapter. R. ii, f. 17. 
 
 Pope Gregory IX dies. ( ; »3«- 
 
 1 ° J August 22. 
 
 Pope Celestine IV pope for eighteen days. M. Paris, 
 Chron. Maj., iv, 172, and Hist. Angl., ii, 458. 
 
 Innocent IV succeeds. Concil. torn, xi, col. 310, 
 590. 
 
 Boniface of Savoy elected archbishop of Canterbury 
 
 by monks of Canterbury. M. Paris, Hist. Angl. ii, 
 
 448. 
 
 Wynescumb appropriated to dean and chapter at vicarage of 
 
 Wynescumb 
 resignation of Walter of Cossington. Dean and 
 
 HH 
 
234 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 f- 133- 
 
 Chewton 
 
 appropriated 
 
 to Jumieges. 
 
 Feb. 17. 
 
 Chewton 
 
 vicarage. 
 
 Norton sub 
 
 Haradon. 
 
 f. 134. 
 
 Charter of 
 Richard de 
 Wrotham. 
 
 chapter inducted as perpetual rectors. R. iii, f. 97, 98. 
 Walter to receive the emoluments of the churches of 
 Mudford and Lovington during life. 
 
 Dean and chapter consent to whatever bishop 
 Jocelin shall determine about church of Chewton. 
 R. iii, 192. 
 
 Chewton appropriated to abbey of Jumieges in 
 Normandy. R. iii, f. 183 in dors. ; f. 184, and ordin- 
 ance made by bishop, with consent of convent, 
 regulating endowment of vicarage by the convent, 
 with lesser tithes — a house and 5 marks annually to 
 vicar; a pension of 35 marcs to be paid to the 
 chapter ; 3 marcs for a light at the service of the 
 B. Virgin ; and 3 marcs to the archdeacon. 
 
 The convent of Gresteign accept bishop Jocelin's 
 ordinance about Norton sub Hamdon. Church appro- 
 priated to the convent and vicarage instituted, forty 
 shillings pension to dean and chapter, half a marc to 
 the archdeacon. R. iii, f. 185, in dors. 
 
 Convent of St. Augustine Bristol, present to the 
 vicarage of Paulet, and bind themselves to proposed 
 payment of tithes of vicar and pension of one marc to 
 the Nunnery of Buckland. R. iii, f. 157. 
 
 Richard de Wrotham acquits the bishop and his 
 successors and their men from all charges " de espelta- 
 mentis canum," i.e., the " lawing " or mutilation of the 
 feet of hunting dogs — "et de pecunia danda pro 
 espeltamentis," or licences for remission. R. i, f. 39 in 
 dors. 
 
 About this time, as was stated afterwards in 1248, 
 a levy of one-fifth on all prebends and canonries for 
 seven years was made by bishop Jocelin. R. i, f. 69 ; 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206-1242. 235 
 
 cf. at Salisbury Osm. Reg. ii, 7, 9, 41 ; the precedent 
 there set in 1219 and 1235. 
 
 A.D. 1242. 
 26 Henry III. 37 Jocelin, bishop. 
 
 1 Innocent IV. John Saracenus, dean. 
 
 Bishops of Salisbury, Exeter, and Worcester certify 
 that they have made inspeximus of charters given by 
 king John to bishop Jocelin in 12 14, and by king 
 Henry III in 1235. R. iii, ff. 17, 18, 342; ff. 16, 
 
 339- 
 
 October 17. Bishop Jocelin in chapter with the 1. 135. 
 consent of the dean and canons increases the quoti- bishop in- 
 dians to all members of the church of St. Andrew in quotidians. 6 
 Wells. °* I7 " 
 
 In the preamble to the ordinance he makes a state- 
 ment of the completion of the fabric of the church. 
 
 The church having been built up from a state of 
 dilapidation and enlarged and furnished with all things 
 necessary for the divine offices, and consecrated anew, 
 provision is now to be made for the better maintenance 
 of the staff of the cathedral church. Their emoluments 
 are increased and proportioned to their residence. 
 
 Bishop Jocelin by his ordinance 
 
 (1) Changed the mode of distribution of the daily 
 
 quotidians of bread from the canon's barn 
 (panis de grangia) to money payments. 
 
 (2) Increased the scale of daily payments. 
 
 (3) Regulated the scale of payments by ''resi- 
 
 dence in Wells." 
 
236 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 Scale of quotidians according to 
 
 Bishop jocelin's Statute. 
 
 To the bishop. 8 pence. 
 
 5 pence. 
 
 To the " quinque 8 pence. * 
 personae," dean, 4 pence, 
 precentor, arch- 
 deacon of Wells, 
 chancellor, trea- 
 surer. 
 
 To all other 4 pence, ^ 
 
 canons. 2 pence, 
 
 To vicars-choral. 1 penny. 
 
 Yearly value. 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 h = 19 15 5 
 
 y = i8 5 o 
 
 926 
 
 V= 1 10 s 
 
 Earlier 
 usage. 
 
 6 pence. 
 
 4 white 
 loaves. 
 
 6 pence. 
 2 white 
 loaves. 
 
 2 black 
 loaves. 
 
 3 pence. 
 1 white 
 
 loaf. 
 
 1 black 
 
 loaf. 
 
 1 loaf 
 every 
 other 
 day, or 
 half- 
 com- 
 mons. 
 
 To all servantsjof 
 
 
 
 the church, 
 
 ' 
 
 
 (a) some ; 
 
 1 penny. 
 
 = 1 10 5 1 com- 
 
 y mons. 
 
 (b) others. 
 
 1 half- 
 
 = 15 2| Half- 
 
 
 penny. 
 
 com- 
 mons. 
 
IV.] Bishop Jocelin, A.D. 1206- 1242. 237 
 
 The residue at the end of the year to be distributed 
 equally between the five personae and the canons resi- 
 dent in Wells, conditionally upon the former having 
 resided two-thirds of the year either continuously, or 
 at intervals, the latter in the same way for half the 
 year. Cf. Archer's Long Book, p. 19 in dors. R. i, f. 
 51; R. ii, f. 44, 45 ; R. Hi, f. 8. 
 
 October 29. Wed more prebends reconstituted — October 29. 
 
 * Reconstitu- 
 
 (a) by union of Mark with Wedmore, as one tionofwed- 
 
 more 
 
 benefice, to belong to the dean. prebend. 
 
 (b) A fifth prebend formed thereby, united with 
 the prebend of Dogmersfield formed in 121 5. 
 This united prebend to follow the same 
 rules as other prebends. R. i, f. 5 1 ; R. 
 ii, f. 44, R. iii, f. 449 in dors. 
 
 Richard of Dynham, rector of Mark, had resigned 
 the church, and the union is now effected by bishop 
 Jocelin, to settle differences between the dean and the 
 rector of Mark. 
 
 With consent of bishop Jocelin and archdeacon of chapeiat 
 
 ■n 1 T-i i ii • Trubbewell, 
 
 Hath, patron and rector, Robert Bretanche, senior, in parish of 
 erected a chapel on his curia at Trubbewell, with con- Martin. 
 ditions — 
 
 (1) That the chapel be subject to the mother 
 church. 
 
 (2) That the lord and lady and family attend three 
 times a year on the three principal festivals at the 
 chapel of Empnett (Nempnett), a chapel of the parish 
 church at Compton. R. iii, f. 367 in dors. 
 
 Grant by dean and chapter of a shop in High 
 Street, "in magno vico," to John, son of Hugh the 
 cook, at 2s. a year. R. iii, f. 1 88. 
 
2 3 8 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 Death of bp. 
 Jocelin, 
 Nov. ig. 
 
 Burial at 
 Wells. 
 
 Announce- 
 ment of 
 death to 
 convent of 
 Bath, 
 Nov. 34. 
 
 xiii Kal. Dec. — vigil of St. Edmund, November 19 — 
 bishop Jocelin dies, " plenus dierum, vita et moribus 
 commendabilis." M. Paris, Hist. Angl. ii, 468. Archer 
 corrects M. Paris as to the date which he had given, 
 iii Kal. Dec. 
 
 He is buried at Wells (R. i, f. 74), in the middle of 
 the choir. R. iii, f. 300. 
 
 It would appear that notification to the chapter of 
 Bath of the death of the bishop was not given until 
 after the burial, the canons being anxious to secure the 
 burial at Wells. Some of the monks of Bath were 
 present in the church on the day of burial, and some 
 differences seem to have arisen between them and the 
 canons. R. i, f. 74 
 
 November 24th. Saturday after the feast of St. 
 Edmund. The chapter send William de Bytton, arch- 
 deacon of Wells, and Walter de St. Quintin, arch- 
 deacon of Taunton, and William de Maydenston 
 (Maidstone), canon, to inform the chapter of Bath, to 
 deliberate on the election of a successor, and to take 
 steps in conjunction with the Bath chapter to obtain 
 permission from the king to proceed to the election. 
 
 R. i, f. 73- 
 
 The chapter of Bath are hereby warned not to 
 attempt to do anything in this matter apart from the 
 chapter of Wells. R. i, f. 74. 
 
Robert de Berkeley 
 Sub-dean, 1233 
 
 Roger of Sarum 
 Bp. of Bath and Wells, 1244 -1247 
 
 Robert Burnell 
 Bp. of Bath and Wells, 1275-1292 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Roger of Salisbury, First Bishop of Bath and Wells, 
 A.D. 1 244- 1 247. 
 
 The episcopate of Roger of Salisbury, first bishop who 
 bore the title of Bath and Wells, is short, but memor- 
 able in the annals of the church of Wells. 
 
 It was the time when the rule of election of the 
 bishop by the joint action of the two chapters of the 
 monks of Bath and the canons of Wells was authori- 
 tatively and finally settled, and the style of the bishop, 
 Episcopus Bathoniensis et Wellensis, was officially 
 adopted. 
 
 There are two documents, original and unpublished, 
 in the manuscript records of the chapter library at 
 Wells, which are the historical landmarks on the sub- 
 ject in the time between the death of Jocelin and that 
 of Roger his successor, 1242 -1247 : 
 
 (a.) The first is dated July 1242. It is an 
 inspeximus of all the documents which 
 recorded the election of bishops Reginald 
 and Jocelin to the see of Bath, attested by 
 bishop Jocelin and by William Brewer, 
 bishop of Exeter, and William de Ralegh, 
 bishop of Norwich. 
 
240 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 (b.) The second is the " pacification " between 
 the two chapters — the charter by which the 
 rule of the bishop's election, the norma 
 eligendi, was settled, under the authority of 
 pope Innocent IV. It was drawn up by 
 bishop Roger, styling himself "bishop of 
 Bath and Wells," confirmed by the seals of 
 the two chapters, and afterwards ratified by 
 the prior and convent of Bath in their 
 chapter-house, August 19, 1246. 
 I propose to give in this chapter a sketch of the 
 chapter history between the dates of these two docu- 
 ments, as far as it is contained in the registers of the 
 dean and chapter of Wells. 
 
 The church of secular canons at Wells had at this 
 time hostile rivals on each side, in the Benedictine 
 houses of Bath and Glastonbury. These convents 
 claimed earlier and more hallowed traditions, and 
 looked with jealousy on the fostering care bestowed on 
 Wells by later bishops, and by Jocelin especially. 
 v Savaric had laid violent hands on Glastonbury : 
 Jocelin had withdrawn his hold, but in so doing had 
 attached to his see four principal manors ceded by the 
 abbey as the price of independence. He had made 
 Wells to be the secies prcesulea of the diocese, and the 
 primacy of Bath had become little more than nominal ; 
 a.d. 1242. and shortly before his death he had taken measures 
 with the view of securing to Wells the pre-eminence 
 he had given to it in his lifetime. 
 
 He had bequeathed his body to the church of Wells. 
 This choice of Wells as the place of burial consecrated 
 Wells as the first church of the diocese, and made a 
 
v.] Bishop Roger, a.d. 1244-1247. 241 
 
 great breach in the traditionary honour of the church 
 of Bath, which for the last hundred and fifty years had 
 been the burial-place of the bishops of the see of 
 Somerset. 
 
 Again, he had, as it were, left testamentary direc- 
 tions as to the election of his successor in the first of 
 these two documents just mentioned, setting out the 
 precedents of election sanctioned by papal authority, 
 and determining the rule of election for the future. 
 That charter 1 recorded : 
 
 (a.) The sanction of pope Alexander III to the 
 election of bishop Reginald, by act of the 
 Wells chapter alone, in 1174. 
 (b.) The papal confirmation of the rights of the 
 Wells chapter to be the sole electors, but 
 also the decree that a settlement with the 
 chapter of Bath for joint election should be 
 made. 
 (c.) That settlement, as exhibited in the process 
 of election of bishop Jocelin in 1206. 
 The canons of Wells appear to have trusted to the 
 strength of these authoritative precedents, and not to 
 have anticipated any independent action on the part of 
 the chapter of Bath on the death of bishop Jocelin. 
 
 But the Bath chapter had determined to attempt the 
 recovery of their position by securing the election of a 
 nominee of their own to the see as soon as vacant. 
 
 Reverting to the evil tradition of success in the 
 election of Savaric by secret diplomacy, without the 
 knowledge of the Wells chapter, they thought by a 
 
 1. Vide Appendix S. 
 
 I 1 
 
242 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 November 
 19, 1242. 
 Death of 
 Jocelin. 
 
 Nov. 22. 
 Conflict 
 with Bath 
 chapter. 
 
 like surprise to secure the election on this occasion 
 before the chapter of Wells was prepared to act. 
 
 Jocelin died on the vigil of St. Edmund, king and 
 martyr, November 19. That day was marked by a 
 violent storm, which Matthew Paris 1 thinks worthy of 
 record, when the Thames burst its banks, and boats 
 were plying in Westminster Hall. It was a day of 
 letting out the waters of strife between the two 
 chapters of Bath and Wells. 
 
 While the canons were laying Jocelin in his grave 
 in the middle of the choir of the church of Wells, the 
 Bath monks, acting with the secrecy and promptitude 
 of a small and united executive, had already sent a 
 deputation to the king, then at Bourdeaux, to obtain 
 for themselves alone the licence to elect 
 
 On November 22, the Saturday after the feast of St. 
 Edmund, a deputation was sent by the chapter of 
 Wells to Bath : the two archdeacons, William of 
 Bytton archdeacon of Wells, Walter de St. Quintin 
 archdeacon of Taunton, and William of Maidstone 
 canon and proctor, to announce the vacancy, and to 
 arrange for joint action in the coming election. They 
 were received with coldness, and pretexts for delay 
 were made. Finally, they discover that the Bath 
 chapter had already acted independently. They 
 protest, and threaten appeal to Rome. 2 
 
 The public protest of the chapter is put out after 
 their return by the canons resident, on the feast of St. 
 Lucia, December 13. 3 
 
 1. Hist. Angl., iii, 467 (Rolls Series) ; Ckron. Maj., iv, 330 
 
 2. R. i, f. 73. 
 3- Ri.f-75. 
 
v.] Bishop Roger, A.D. 1244- 1247. 243 
 
 Nearly a month, however, had passed before the 
 non-resident members of the chapter, summoned from 
 the different parts of the diocese, are gathered together 
 on December 19, nominally to proceed to the election 
 of a bishop, but warned that they are summoned 
 hastily to take action against the plots of the Bath 
 monks. Again they send a deputation to Bath, to £ec. 19. 
 remonstrate and protest ; their proctors, Hugh de canons. 
 Romenal the subdean, and Luke de Membury, with 
 four vicars, Richard of Bytton, John of Chard, William 
 of Brugges (Bridgwater), and David, a clerk. The 
 subdean reads the letters of the chapter in the hall 
 before the prior and some of the monks, but to no 
 purpose. They heard, but did not listen ; or, listening, 
 did not answer. " Again and again, yea, thrice," the 
 subdean remonstrates and warns against separate and 
 illegal action. The monks were content silently to 
 await the result of their diplomacy, and the canons 
 return again fruitless. Then the chapter in council 
 make their united protest, and take action. They 
 appoint the dean, John Saracenus, and canon Robert de 
 Marisco as proctors, to act for the chapter in petition- 
 ing the king for the conge" d'elire, and for carrying the Appeal to 
 
 kini? and 
 
 appeal to Rome. They write letters to influential pope, 
 friends in England, to Walter de Gray, a canon 
 (fratrem et concanonicum), archbishop of York and 
 chancellor, to the bishop of Caerleon, one of the 
 council of the regency, and to Sylvester de Everdon, 
 also a canon, the keeper of the exchequer (custos 
 scaccarii). They commission Philip de Gildeford, a 
 canon, to carry the letters from the chapter to the 
 king, and he is instructed to obtain the help of Peter 
 
1242-3. 
 
 244 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 Chaceporc, Hugh de Vivone, and Godfrey de Ulward, 
 men about the king. 1 
 
 January, Meantime, members of the Bath deputation were 
 
 already at Bourdeaux, and the king had granted to 
 them the conge" d'e'lire on January 6. As soon as the 
 king's letters arrived in Bath on January 30, the monks 
 send formal notification to the canons that the election 
 of the bishop will take place at Bath on February 6. 
 The canons are invited to be present and to hear the 
 nomination, "though," say the monks, "the canons 
 have no rights there by law or custom, and by this 
 invitation they do not mean to derogate from their 
 own rights, nor to attribute any rights to the canons of 
 Wells in the election." " Oh the intolerable insolence 
 of these shameless monks," is the outburst of our 
 chronicler — "Tanta erat impudentissimorum mona- 
 chorum effrenata et intolerabiiis insolentia." 2 
 
 February, Notwithstanding, the canons once more with much 
 
 meekness and forbearance, on the feast of St. Agatha 
 (February 5), the day before the meeting, write letters 
 asserting their equality of rights in the election, their 
 protest against the separate action of Bath, and their 
 appeal to the apostolic see, and " by the advice of some 
 good men, in the hope of preserving the peace of the 
 two churches, they a third time send their proctors, 
 and with them the three archdeacons, to arrange some 
 common action." Again they are treated with cool 
 contempt, and the prior refuses conference. They pre- 
 sent themselves at the hour of vespers at the door of 
 the choir, begging that they might address the assem- 
 
 1. R. i, ff. 73, 74, 75. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 75. Archer, f. 139 
 
 1242-3- 
 
v.] Bishop Roger, A.D. 1244- 1247. 245 
 
 bled convent. This is refused by those named as 
 prominent among their adversaries, Master Robert of 
 Thetford, Henry of Bath, and Simon the physician. 
 The monks are made to file out from the church into the 
 cloister, the doors of the choir are shut in the faces of the 
 canons, and they are left protesting before the precen- 
 tor and two servants of the convent. Next morning 
 (February 6) the monks invite the canons to join in 
 the election : they indignantly refuse. Then, in a 
 scene which must have been exciting, the monks pro- 
 ceed to the election : the precentor excommunicates 
 those who would impede the election : the canons pro- 
 test to the last. The monks nominate as bishop-elect 
 Roger, precentor of the church of Salisbury, and 
 announce that they present him as elect to the king. 
 Forthwith, the Wells proctors proceed to Salisbury to 
 lay their case before the chapter of Salisbury, and to 
 implore the precentor not to accept this illegal nomin- 
 ation. There, after much altercation, the precentor 
 cautiously replies to their question, that he will wait to 
 see if he is canonically elected, and finally he accepts. 1 
 So ended the first act : by sharp practice and high- 
 handed effrontery the monks had so far carried the 
 day. The canons might have taken to themselves the 
 promise "the meek spirited shall possess the earth." 
 But they had other resources. The papal see was now 
 vacant, and in anticipation of the papal election the 
 canons gird themselves for the struggle with their 
 adversaries in the Roman chancellery. A chapter is 
 summoned for the first Monday in Lent, February 27, 
 to consult on the state of affairs and the urgent needs 
 
 1. R. i, f. 65. 
 
246 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 of the church. Letters are written to the dean 
 announcing the citation of the chapter, describing the 
 fraudulent action of the chapter of Bath, urging him to 
 use his best endeavours at Bourdeaux that the king shall 
 not confirm the election of Roger pending their appeal 
 to Rome, and finally to work for their interests in the 
 Roman Curia, of which " he knew the ways better than 
 they did." They send the subdean to consult with 
 William of York, provost of Beverley, a man of wise 
 counsel and a brother and fellow canon, and they write 
 letters to the king himself, imploring him not to confirm 
 the Bath election. 1 The king throughout held himself 
 neutral between the two parties. He had given the 
 conge" d'e'lire to Bath in January " saving the rights of 
 the chapter of Wells." About the same time he had 
 written to the chapter of Wells that he had no intention 
 of interfering with the rights of the dean and chapter, 
 and invited their application to him in turn. 
 
 March. In March the dean and Robert de Marisco were at 
 
 Bourdeaux, and on March 10 the king writes to the 
 chapter of Wells that he has given to them the conge 
 d'e'lire " if it could be without prejudice to the rights of 
 Bath," and he recommends them to make choice of a 
 fitting person useful to the state. 2 
 
 April, 1243. On April 25 the king's writ had arrived at Wells, 
 and with it a letter, dated March 24, brought by canon 
 John of Dyrham, in which the king promises that he 
 will do nothing to the prejudice of the chapter during 
 the appeal. 
 
 It was now the turn of the canons to make boast of 
 
 1. R. i, ff. 76, 77. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 78. 
 
v.] Bishop Roger, a.d. 1244- 1247. 247 
 
 the king's licence to elect. They notify formally to 
 the chapter of Bath that they had received letters from 
 the king empowering them to elect, and they summon 
 the monks to Wells for Trinity Monday (June 8) as the 
 day of election, but if the time and place is not con- 
 venient they will meet their deputation at Ferenton 
 (Farrington Gurney), the usual place of conference, on 
 the vigil of St. Philip and St. James (April 30) to 
 arrange. 
 
 Whether this communication was answered at all or 
 not, the Wells deputation went out to Farringdon on 
 the day they had named. It must have been a goodly 
 company who on that spring morning rode up the Bath 
 road and over the long back of the Mendip Hills. We 
 have the names of the dignitaries and their followers. 
 There were the two archdeacons of Wells and Taunton, 
 Hugh the treasurer, the two proctors, their clerks, and 
 their "vallets"; Nicolas the clerk, and Gilbert de 
 Lentenay, vallet of the archdeacon of Wells ; Master 
 Robert de St. Quintin and Wileminus, clerks, and 
 Vigeroys, vallet of the archdeacon- of Taunton ; David 
 the clerk, and Dudeman, clerk and vallet of Henry the 
 treasurer ; R. de Guertrie, vallet of the subdean ; 
 Thomas, the huntsman (venator), of the late bishop 
 Jocelin, and his vallet Henry of Priddy ; Robert Mar- 
 mion, armiger of the archdeacon of Wells. 1 
 
 But not one of the Bath chapter was there to meet 
 this goodly array of dignity. Doubtless the canons 
 felt themselves flouted by the monks, but both parties 
 knew well that they were making an empty flourish of 
 the king's writ, and that the battle must be fought in 
 
 1. R. i, f. 78 in dors. 
 
248 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 June, 1243. 
 
 June 29. 
 Innocent IV, 
 pope. 
 
 July, 1243. 
 
 the Roman court. The canons, trusting to their dip- 
 lomacy at Rome, had no intention of acting on the 
 king's conge" d'ilire. 
 
 There was a full meeting of canons in chapter on 
 Trinity Monday, June 8, again summoned formally 
 for the purpose of electing a bishop. First, sentence 
 of excommunication was pronounced upon all who 
 should reveal the greater or lesser secrets of the chap- 
 ter, especially upon any of the chapter who should 
 maliciously impede the election, or should aid the 
 adversaries, the monks of Bath. 1 Then they write a 
 long letter to the king, and another letter to the queen, 3 
 full of gratitude, but respectfully declining to act on 
 the king's licence and to proceed to election of the 
 bishop, because they had made their appeal to the 
 apostolic see against the unlawful action of the chap- 
 ter of Bath. In a postscript they commend to the 
 king's favour John Mansel, a canon, as a friend of the 
 chapter, and beg for the king's gracious consideration 
 of their case. 3 
 
 On June 24, 1243, cardinal Sinibaldi, a Genoese, 
 was elected pope, and consecrated on June 29, under 
 the title of Innocent IV. 4 As soon as the news arrived 
 at Wells, the chapter met on July 31, the Feast of St. 
 Peter ad Vincula, 5 to address the pope and to state 
 their case. They notify that they have nominated as 
 their proctors in the Roman chancellery the dean 
 
 1. R. i, f. 64. 
 
 2. The city of Bath was part of the queen's dowry. Rymer, 
 Feed., i, 420. 
 
 3. R. i, f. 78, 9. 
 
 4. M. Paris, Hist. Angl. ii, 472. 
 
 5. R. 1, f. 79. 
 
v.] Bishop Roger, A.D. 1244- 1247. 249 
 
 John Saracenus, and canon John de Offinton. A 
 public notification is made at the same time of their 
 appeal having been lodged at Rome. The proctors 
 are implored to act with the greatest zeal in the cause 
 of the chapter. The chapter empowered the dean to 
 borrow first 100 marcs for expenses in the Roman 
 court ; then 100 more ; and the sub-dean holds five 
 deeds for a loan of 220 marcs. This is the first instal- 
 ment of the vast sums borrowed in this litigation, 
 which afterwards amounted to 2600 marcs. Letters 
 are written by the chapter to powerful men at Rome, 
 petitioning for their favour ; we know the names of 
 some, and the price of their assistance. Two cardinals 
 are named : John de Colonna, one of the most power- 
 ful of the cardinals, whom M. Paris 1 describes as " a 
 vessel of pride and insolence," one of the papal cham- 
 pions against the emperor ; another was Otho, the late 
 legate apostolic in England in 1237. We shall find in 
 the items of expenditure the honorarium of a cardinal 
 entered as £$0? During the autumn and winter of 
 1243 the decision of the pope is awaited, and there 
 were frequent communications between the chapter 
 and their proctors at Rome. In September of this September, 
 year (circa festum S. Michaelis^ instructions are given 
 very explicitly to the dean of the line he is to take 
 and of the means he is to employ. The precedents 
 contained in bishop Jocelin's charter, viz., the letters of 
 
 1. Vide Matt. Paris, Hist. Angl.n, 479 : " Vas superbiae et omnis 
 contumeliae qui inter omnes cardinales genere, castris, et possession - 
 ibus secularibus erat potentissimus." He died next year, February 9, 
 the Octave of the Purification. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 98. 
 
 3. R. i, f. 94. 
 
 Kk 
 
250 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 pope Alexander III and the instruments of Jocelin's 
 election, were sent to the proctors. Resting upon these 
 precedents, they say the chapter might have claimed 
 the sole election, but they will be content if equal 
 rights with Bath according to the precedents of Joce- 
 lin's election be secured to them. The proctors, accord- 
 ingly, are to press urgently that the election of Roger 
 shall be set aside, and that all safeguard be taken that 
 in future the election shall be common to both the 
 chapters. Divers suggestions are then made as to the 
 best or most practicable course for securing freedom of 
 election and perfect equality of rights. Arbitration is 
 suggested, but to no one in England, " because of the 
 power of the great men who will intrude themselves 
 into any election." If it should be in France, let it be 
 to the dean or chancellor of Paris ; or to a commission 
 appointed by the pope, of whom certain persons are 
 named as acceptable judges, e.g. in England, the bishops 
 of Worcester and Norwich ; the bishop, dean, and 
 archdeacon of Lincoln ; the archdeacon of Sudbury 
 in Norwich, or of Huntingdon in Lincoln diocese. 
 If in France, to the provost of St. Adomar (St. Omer), 
 in the diocese of Tournay (Morinensis), or to the dean 
 and magister scholarum in the diocese of Noyon 
 (Novionensis), or to the archdeacon of Rouen. 
 
 Four points, quatuor articuli, are specified on which 
 they are to obtain the papal decision : 
 
 (a.) What should be the place of prior election ? 
 
 (b.) And of installation ? 
 
 (c.) What should be the style of the bishop ? 
 
 (d.) Which of the two sees should have the 
 priority ? 
 
v.] Bishop Roger, A.D. 1244- 1247. 251 
 
 These instructions are accompanied by a character- 
 istic letter to the dean, which reveals the spirit in 
 which they worked, and the importance they attached 
 to the object. He is told to make friends of the 
 mammon of unrighteousness (facere amicos de mam- 
 mona iniquitatis), and to spend money freely. " We 
 love our honour more than our money," " and all our 
 money is offered " to gain powerful friends in the court, 
 in order that the adversary shall not prevail, and that 
 a decision to the honour of St. Andrew, " who protects 
 and will repay, may be obtained." 1 They give the 
 dean leave to return when he has done all for the 
 cause, and assure him of their gratitude (grates copios- 
 issimas). At the same time they took the opportunity 
 of putting into the hands of their proctors some other 
 minor matters of litigation. They desire the appoint- 
 ment by the Roman court of the judges they have 
 named to adjudicate their quarrel with Glastonbury 
 and Athelney about neighbouring moors, and the rati- 
 fication of Jocelin's arrangement of the union of the 
 provostship of Combe and Winsham. 2 
 
 The papal arbitrament came in April 1244. In a April, 1244. 
 letter addressed to archbishop Boniface, and to the o/thepop" 
 clergy and people of the diocese, the pope confirmed 
 the election of Roger. In another letter of April i, 5 
 addressed to the prior and convent of Bath, the pope 
 set. forth generally in the preamble the solicitude of 
 the holy see to cut off or shorten litigation, for the 
 sake of the appellants. In this case, in order to avoid 
 
 1. R. i, f. 94. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 96. 
 
 3. Quoted in Appendix U. 
 
252 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 the evil of a protracted vacancy of the see, the election 
 of Roger is confirmed. But to put an end to strife in 
 future elections, it is decreed that from henceforth the 
 dean and chapter of Wells shall have an equal voice 
 and rights in all things appertaining to the election of 
 the bishop. 
 
 This award was equitable and reasonable. Roger, 
 the precentor of Salisbury, the nominee of the Bath 
 chapter, was a good choice. He is described by 
 Matthew Paris as a good man, a scholar and a theo- 
 logian, vir eleganter moribus et scientid theologies prce- 
 ditus. The monk of St. Alban's implies that the pope 
 was influenced in the speedy confirmation of Roger by 
 the wish to provide for a kinsman in the precentorship 
 he vacated, and that Martin the legate had laid hands 
 on the precentor's benefice immediately on his nomin- 
 ation as bishop elect for some nephew of the pope. 1 
 The Wells registers give no authority for this gossip 
 of the day. 
 September, The temporalities of the see were restored by the 
 king to Roger, as bishop elect, on May 10, 1244, but 
 he was not consecrated until September 11. 
 
 On September 11, Roger was consecrated bishop of 
 Bath in the chapel of the convent of St. Mary in 
 Reading, where Jocelin had been consecrated nearly 
 forty years before. 2 The chancellor, treasurer, and 
 archdeacon of Wells, the subdean, and others of the 
 canons were present. The pope's decree of award in 
 the arbitration between the appellants was read. 
 Innocent set aside the protest of the Wells chapter 
 
 1. Matt. Paris, Chr. Mai., iii, 285. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 80. 
 
 1244 
 
v.] Bishop Roger, A.D. 1244- 1247. 253 
 
 against the election of Roger, but reserved his answer 
 to the questions on the four points, quatuor articulos 
 de fortnA et modo eligendi pontificis, for a future time. 
 The mandate of consecration to William de Ralegh, 
 bishop of Norwich, was then read. 
 
 The Wells chapter made their protest by their 
 proctors against the installation of the bishop in the 
 church of Bath rather than that of Wells, and appealed 
 to the pope's decision on the four points of detail (de 
 quatuor articulis). 
 
 Four months after, in January 1244-5, the result of 
 the diplomacy of the Wells proctors at Rome appeared 
 in the answer which came from the pope at Lyons on 
 these four controverted points. 1 In a letter dated 
 Lyons, January 3, 1244-5, addressed to the dean and January, 
 chapter of Wells, the pope ordained : 
 
 (a) That the throne of the bishop should be in Further 
 
 1 ' * abitrament 
 
 each of the churches of Bath and Wells ; °f the pope. 
 
 (b) That the election should take place in each 
 
 church in turns, first, in Bath, the next time 
 in Wells ; 
 
 (c) That the installation should take place in the 
 
 same church in which the election had been 
 held; 
 
 (d) That the style of the bishop in charter and 
 
 on seal henceforward should be " Bishop of 
 Bath and Wells," Episcopus Bathonietisis 
 et Wellensis ; "et utriusque ecclesise episcopus 
 nominetur, Bathoniensis videlicet et Well- 
 ensis, et sic in sigillo contineatur ipsius." 
 
 1. Vide Appendix U. R. iii, f. 108 in dors. 
 
254 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 May 14, 
 1245. 
 
 Mandate as 
 to title of 
 bishop. 
 
 Pacification 
 in August, 
 1246. 
 
 A few months passed, during which Roger had 
 entered peaceably on his office. 
 
 But perhaps from fear of offending his supporters at 
 Bath, who had promoted his election at such cost, the 
 bishop had not yet added " Wells " to his episcopal 
 style and seal. The Wells chapter made complaint to 
 the pope that his mandate had not yet been carried 
 out in this particular. 
 
 In May following Innocent wrote again from Lyons 1 
 a letter terse and peremptory addressed to bishop 
 Roger, in which he reminds him of his former mandate, 
 ordering the assumption of the full title of " Bath and 
 Wells." He learns from the dean and chapter of 
 Wells that the mandate in this particular has been 
 disobeyed, and orders that forthwith the title of Wells 
 as well as Bath shall be borne by him, and inscribed 
 on his seal. Very soon after this the bishop must have 
 adopted the double style. Charters and grants made 
 by him occur in the registers dated early in the 
 following year, as early as January 19, 1245-6,* in 
 which he bears the double title of Bath and Wells. 
 
 Acting still further on the tenor of this mandate, 
 bishop Roger set himself to draw up a scheme of 
 pacification, 3 by which the claims of the two chapters 
 were finally conciliated, and their joint and equal 
 action in each particular case most carefully adjusted. 
 In a charter dated from Sta wey in Chew, August 13, 
 1246, in which he officially assumes the title of 
 " bishop of Bath and Wells," he recites his solicitude 
 
 1. Vide Appendix U. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 67. 
 
 3. Appendix U. 
 
V.] Bishop Roger, A.D. 1244-1247. 255 
 
 to cut off all further causes of controversy between the 
 two chapters, and their joint engagement to abide by 
 his mediation and award. He then cites the two bulls 
 of pope Innocent IV upon which his award was based, 
 the one dated from the Lateran, March 23, 1244, the 
 other from Lyons, January 3, 1244-5, a °d proceeds to 
 make order for the joint action of the two bodies on 
 equal terms under all the possible occasions on which 
 they will be called to co-operate in the election of the 
 bishop, from the moment of the vacancy to the last 
 acts in the consecration and installation. 
 
 The charter of pacification was formally accepted, 
 signed, and sealed by the prior and convent of Bath 
 on August 19, 1246 5 1 and on August 26 (Sunday after 
 the beheading of St. John Baptist), Thomas the pre- 
 centor was sent over to Wells by the convent of Bath 
 with the deed attested and confirmed in their chapter 
 house. 
 
 So the long controversy was brought to an end — the 
 norma eligendi, the process of election by the two 
 chapters of Bath and Wells, was finally established, 
 and thenceforth it was acted upon on all occasions. 
 It held good without any further attempt on either 
 side to evade or dispute conditions, until the dissolu- 
 tion of the convent of Bath in the sixteenth century. 
 Wells was then left the sole seat of the bishop, the one 
 cathedral church, but the title of the bishop remained 
 unchanged to witness to the ancient primacy and 
 importance of the city of Bath. 
 
 " So Roger," says our Wells annalist, " was the first a.d. 1245. 
 of all the bishops who bore the title of ' bishop of Bath 
 
 1. Charters 45, 46, 47. 
 
256 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 and Wells' {Rogerus primus omnium Batkoniensis et 
 Wellensis nuncupatus.") So in 1245 the bishops who 
 had been styled successively bishops " of Somerset " or 
 " of Wells," from the time of Edward son of Alfred to 
 William son of Rufus, then " of Bath," and of " Bath 
 and Glastonbury" under Savaric and Jocelin, now 
 for the first time, and from henceforth invariably, 
 assumed the double title " of Bath and Wells " from 
 their twin cities of waters under the Mendip hills, 
 whence burst out the springs which, at Bath on the 
 north side, 
 
 " With hot currents flow, and from beneath 
 As from a furnace, clouds of steam arise,'' 
 
 and on the south rise in "the great fountain of St. 
 Andrew," 
 
 " Like crystal clear and cold as winter snow." 1 
 
 Roger died December 21, 1247, and was buried at 
 Bath. The monks carried to his grave the bishop 
 whom they claimed as their own, the last bishop to be 
 buried amongst them. 
 
 Both chapters had paid heavily. The monks of 
 Bath had gained a barren victory in the election and 
 consecration of their candidate. But the fruits of vic- 
 tory rested with the chapter of Wells. They had 
 established their right to equality in the election ; and 
 the bishop, whose illegal election they had opposed, 
 became their patron to guard their rights from future 
 
 1. Horn. Iliad, xxii, 149. 
 
 ij fiev ydp 6 i&iri Xiapw peet, d/u</>i 8e xairvos 
 yiyvcxai «£ dvrijs (w<rei 71-upos al6ofx.ivoio- 
 r) 8" crept) Oipei irpopea e'lKvla ^akdty, 
 $1 x'ovi i/t>xPD> V *£ SSai-os Kpuo-raAJUp. 
 
V.J Bishop Roger, a.d. 1244- 1247. 257 
 
 invasion. Moreover, they had won over" the bishop to 
 admit their independent privileges and separate juris- 
 dictions, and to confirm them in their estates. During 
 the vacancy of the see they had found their strength, 
 and had exercised their independence in the struggle 
 to establish their rights alike against the rival chapter 
 and the bishop. Under bishop Roger there was the 
 first assertion by the chapter of that separate and co- 
 ordinate power of jurisdiction in the government of 
 the church which in no long time brought about 
 collision between bishop and chapter. 
 
 Roger's short episcopate of three years was followed 
 by the episcopate of William de Bitton, the archdeacon 
 of Wells, and the leader of the chapter of Wells in the 
 struggle with Bath, nominated by the Wells chapter, 
 elected with all due and legal formalities by the two 
 chapters without any attempt at opposition from Bath, 
 and consecrated at Rome, June 14, 1248. 
 
 L L 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Chapter of Wells, 1 242-1 333. 
 
 The strife with the Bath chapter during the vacancy 
 in the see after Jocelin's death exhibits the independent 
 action of the dean and chapter in the home govern- 
 ment of the church. 
 
 The constitution established by Robert had been 
 developed under the succeeding bishops : the chapter 
 had received from those bishops divers privileges and 
 immunities from ordinary jurisdiction : offices had been 
 remodelled and more amply endowed by Jocelin, and 
 the " dean and chapter " had grown into a strong self- 
 governing corporation. 
 
 We enter now upon a new period in the history 
 when the growth of the chapter as the governing body 
 in the cathedral church is one of the chief features. 
 All through this time the bishop is in theory the head 
 of the chapter — he appoints the canons to their 
 prebends and offices, and the canons elect the dean. 
 The bishop is himself a canon : chief among the canons 
 he has his seat in choir and chapter among them : he 
 is head of the church in the diocese, and head of the 
 mother church of the diocese where is the seat of the 
 bishop. But in the course of time this power and 
 headship in the government became delegated to so 
 
Dean and Chapter of Wells 
 ad caiisas 
 
 Dean and Chapter of Wells 
 
The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242-1333. 259 
 
 great a degree to the " dean and chapter " by the acts 
 of the bishops, in provision for the internal administra- 
 tion of the cathedral church during their absences and 
 various civil employments, that the bishops lost very 
 much their place and voice in chapter ; and the dean 
 and chapter acted as by sole right. Later on in the 
 fourteenth century, when the bishops attempted to 
 recover their position, they were confronted by the acts 
 of their predecessors, and by customs sanctioned by 
 long use, and were forced to modification or withdrawal 
 of their claims. The worldly character of so many of 
 the bishops recommended to the crown for their ability 
 in civil affairs, and their frequent absences from the 
 diocese, led naturally to the concentration of power in 
 the hands of the resident body. On the other hand 
 the deans, elected by the canons from their own body, 
 de gremio nostro, often after long experience in the 
 business of the church, naturally took the lead in 
 carrying on internal order and discipline and in promo- 
 ting the new building of the fabric. 
 
 So whereas, hitherto, the chapters in the history of 
 the church of Wells have been marked by names of 
 individual bishops, in the next period the names of the 
 deans, men famous in the congregation, will stand in 
 honourable rivalry with the bishops. 
 
 The canons now formed a large and influential body. 
 The distribution of members of the cathedral church 
 through the diocese as holders of prebendal estates, 
 with local responsibilities and duties, bound together 
 the cathedral church and the diocese. Gradually the 
 appropriation of churches to the chapter by the bishops 
 and lay lords had increased the number of canons from 
 
260 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 twenty-four in Robert's time to thirty-five in that of 
 Reginald and Savaric. Under Jocelin the number was 
 still further increased. After his time the last made 
 prebend of Dinder, created in 1264, completed the 
 number to fifty-three. By degrees, and especially by 
 reason of the increased value of the endowments in 
 Jocelin's time, the dignities and offices in the church 
 tempted the grasping hands of pope, and king, and 
 courtiers. At the time of bishop Jocelin's death, the 
 dean was a nominee of the pope, John Saracenus, 
 appointed in 1241. 1 He was son of a Roman citizen 
 in the pope's body guard who had been the pope's 
 agent in negotiations and embassies, 5 the represen- 
 tative at Wells of the three hundred Italians for whom 
 
 j.. R. i, f. 57. Pope Gregory IX confirms his election, and at 
 the same time the right of the chapter to elect a dean from the 
 canons according to the " antiqua et approbata consuetudo, decanatu 
 vacante." 
 
 The process for the appointment of a dean at this time is fully set 
 forth in the Wells Registers, and illustrated by examples in the cases 
 of several succeeding deans until 1547. R. i, f. 57 contains the 
 charter of bishop Jocelin, concerning the appointment, 1216. Cf. R. 
 i, f. 113 in dors. 
 
 It sets forth what had been the process in the appointment of two 
 deans during Jocelin's episcopate, and such had been the process 
 handed down from ancient days : 
 
 Ut cum decanus ecclesie illius, Domino eum vocante, decesserit, 
 capitulum nobis et successoribus nostris celeriter nuntiare non 
 omiserit, precarique licentiam alium decanum eligendi. 
 
 Qua? quidem electio si concessa sit, convocatis fratribus ad diem 
 dictum, invocata Spiritus sancti gratia, talem sibi in decanum eligant 
 personam, qualem ecclesiae suae magis viderit fore necessariam et 
 quae sibi quoad vitam et aliis possit proficere ad exemplum. 
 
 Electam personam nobis praesentantes, confirmationem electionis 
 postulantes ut quod nobis est officii circa personam illius sicut decuit, 
 auctore Domino, exequamur. 
 
 2. Royal letters, Henry III, in 1217, 1236, 1252. 
 
VI.] The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242- 133 3. 261 
 
 the pope's legate had desired Henry to find English 
 benefices. 
 
 Some of the canons of the day were high in the 
 king's court : Walter de Gray, archbishop of York and 
 chancellor, one of the regency during the king's 
 absence, Sylvester de Everdon, keeper of the ex- 
 chequer, John Mansel, king's secretary and privy 
 councillor until his dismissal in 1261, Philip de 
 Gildeford, Robert de Marisco, men about the court, 
 all were at this same time non-resident canons. 
 
 Of the resident body, the archdeacon of Wells, 
 William of Bytton, was the leader of the chapter, foun- 
 der of a strong family interest in the chapter, members 
 of which occupied chief places in the church of Wells for 
 at least three generations. The family had come from 
 that same part in the north-west promontory of Nor- 
 mandy, called the Cdtentin, in which the Bohuns had 
 their seat. The manor of Bytton, in the Avon valley 
 between Bath and Bristol, had been given by Henry 
 II to Adam of Ammeville near Barfleur, about 1158. 1 
 It descended from father to son for four generations, 
 and some of the younger members of the family from 
 each generation found home and employment in 
 offices of the church of Wells. 
 
 The conflict with Bath called out the energies of the 
 chapter and gave occasion for their assertion of inde- 
 pendence of both bishop and pope. Several instances 
 occur. They had appealed in vain to the pope against 
 the unconstitutional act of Bath. Smarting under the 
 adverse decision of the pope, they showed their resent- 
 ment by rejection of the interference of papal delegates 
 
 1. Pipe Rolls, 1 158. 
 
262 Chapters in Wells History. [chap. 
 
 in their own chapter affairs. The delegates of the 
 papal commissioners had supported a rival claimant to 
 the archdeaconry of Wells against William of Bytton, 
 and summoned the chapter to appear before them to 
 hear their sentence on a certain day, September 15, 
 1244. The chapter refused to receive the letter, made 
 formal appeal against the decision of the delegates, and 
 solemnly excommunicated, " accensis candelis et cam- 
 panis pulsatis," the rival claimant and all of their own 
 body, or of the abbey of Glastonbury who yielded 
 obedience to the delegates. 1 
 
 At this same time, A.D. 1244, August 31, they joined 
 with the chapter of Lincoln in protest to the pope 
 against bishop Grosseteste's invasion of the chapter 
 rights. 2 
 
 Again, in 1247 they showed their jealousy of Roman 
 interference. The chapter refused to allow dean John 
 Saracenus, the Roman nominee, the usual permission 
 to take beneficial leases under the chapter, or to let 
 out the deanery lands, notwithstanding a papal licence, 
 on the express ground that his family had too great 
 influence at the Roman court, " et hoc solummodo 
 propter potentiam suam et suorum quam habent in 
 curia Romana." 8 
 
 Nor were they long in asserting their rival claims 
 against the bishop whom they had received at the 
 papal mandate. They thought him slow in carrying 
 out the order of the Roman court that " Wells " should 
 be added to the style of the episcopate. By immediate 
 
 1. R. i, f. 97, 
 
 2. R. i, f. 80. 
 
 3. R. i, f. 97, "de potentia Saraceni decani." 
 
VI.] The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242-1333. 263 
 
 appeal to pope Innocent they obtained a peremptory 
 order to the bishop, by which the title of " Bath and 
 Wells " was at once assumed in seal and signature in 
 1245. 
 
 They asserted their rights to the sequestrations of 
 all vacant benefices in the diocese on the strength of 
 bishop Reginald's grant of them to the chapter toward 
 the fabric fund, and the bishop was forced to yield. 
 The chapter, satisfied with the acknowledgment of 
 their claims, granted a life interest in them to the 
 bishop in relief of the debts of the see, " debitorum 
 suorum et episcopatus attendentes gravamina, in sub- 
 sidium et juvamen exonerationis ipsius et episcopatus 
 concesserunt." 1 
 
 At another time they disputed with success the 
 bishop's right to visit any of the prebends of the 
 chapter as exempted by Savaric from episcopal or 
 archidiaconal jurisdiction. 2 
 
 It is a proof of the conciliatory spirit of bishop 
 Roger that the two last years of his episcopate were 
 marked by many acts of favour towards the chapter. 
 He granted to them the custody and proceeds of the 
 deanery when vacant. He supported them in their 
 resistance to the attempt of Glastonbury to recover the 
 ceded manor of Winscombe ; and he drew up the Act 
 of Pacification, by which, as arbitrator, he closed the 
 strife between the two chapters, and established their 
 complete equality in the election of the bishop. 3 In 
 his last year he gave his episcopal confirmation of the 
 
 1. R. i, f. 64 ; ii, f. 15 ; iii, f. 11. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 28. 
 
 3. Charters 45 — 47. 
 
264 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 possessions of the chapter, which was confirmed also 
 by the prior and convent of Bath. 1 
 
 Such was the successful end of the first trial of 
 strength of the chapter in assertion of their corporate 
 rights, during bishop Roger's time, 1244 — 1247. 
 
 The complete acquiescence of the chapter of Bath in 
 the choice of his successor, William of Bytton, arch- 
 deacon of Wells, shows the strength of the Wells 
 chapter. He was elected without opposition by the 
 proctors of the two chapters on February 24, 1248, 
 and consecrated June 14 at Rome, with the double 
 title of the see " Bishop of Bath and Wells." 
 B f P B WiIllam Bishop William's episcopate lasted from 1247 to 
 
 a.d. 1247-' 1264. 
 1264. ^ 
 
 The episcopate of bishop William of Bytton, the first, 
 
 was chiefly remarkable for his long absences from 
 England, and for his controversies with his chapter at 
 home. He was at Rome at the time of his conse- 
 cration in June 1248, and probably through the year. 
 In 1253 he and John Mansel, the king's chief counsellor, 
 were sent on an embassy to king Ferdinand of Castile, 
 to negotiate the double marriage of prince Edward 
 to Eleanor his daughter, and of the eldest son of 
 Ferdinand to the English princess Beatrice. He was 
 with the king in Gascony in 1254. Again, he and the 
 bishop of Rochester were the king's secret agents at 
 Rome in 1256-1257, in transacting the king's money 
 negotiations with the pope, to whom Henry, to the 
 great discontent of the nation, had incurred a debt of 
 140,000 marcs as the price of his acceptance of the 
 fief of Sicily from the pope for his son Edmund. 
 
 1. R. iu, f. 4, 5 
 
VI.] The Chapter of Wells, a.d. 1242-1333. 265 
 
 While at Rome on the king's business he obtained 
 from the pope the confirmation of the possessions and 
 liberties of his see, and also a papal letter to the king, 
 which he bears testimony to the bishop's zeal in the 
 king's cause at Rome, " operosis suis negotiis nuperrime 
 apud sedem apostolicam confectis," and urges the king 
 to restore to the bishop the right of the " patronatus " 
 over the abbey of Glastonbury, which had been 
 granted by king John. But the king, probably under 
 prince Edward's influence, had assumed the chief 
 lordship over the abbey ; and the appeal from the 
 pope had little weight at this time of national discon- 
 tent. The king was forced to dismiss his counsellor 
 John Mansel in 1261, and, with the fall of his friend, the 
 bishop lost all further chance of the king's favour. 
 
 While the bishop was occupied with state affairs Home 
 
 government. 
 abroad the chapter was struggling with difficulties in 
 
 the home government of the church. 
 
 The registers give evidence of much activity on the 
 
 part of the chapter at the time, 
 
 (a) In assertion of their independent claims ; 
 
 (b) In meeting the debts of the church ; 
 
 (c) In enforcing discipline ; and 
 
 (d) In ordering and correcting ritual. 
 
 They had to hold their own against the bishop's 
 nepotism early in his episcopate, and other occasions 
 of controversy arose : 
 
 (a) In 1249 the bishop, in contradiction to his own 
 previous action as a member of the chapter, laid claim 
 to the fruits of vacant benefices. The chapter resisted, 
 on the same grounds with which they had met his pre- 
 decessor, and no doubt with the same calm confidence 
 
 M M 
 
266 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 in their rights, " cum animi tranquilitate et mansuetu- 
 dine contra respondebant." The bishop yielded ; and 
 then, as before, the chapter, in consideration of the 
 bishop's kindly feeling and the burden of his debts, 
 made a grant to him of the fund for his lifetime, with- 
 out prejudice to their successors. 1 
 
 Again, in 1250, the bishop collated to the church of 
 Congresbury, though in the patronage of the chapter, 
 his nephew William, archdeacon of Wells. The 
 canons protested, and on the bishop's refusal to revoke 
 his appointment, they cited him to the archbishop's 
 " court of arches," " in ecclesia S. Mariae in Arcubus." 
 Next year the bishop conceded the claim of the chapter, 
 and revoked his appointment. Then the chapter con- 
 firmed his nephew whom he had nominated.* These 
 amicable suits were the preludes to more serious con- 
 troversies in the next century. 
 a.d. 1244- We have followed the stages in the controversy, 
 
 The chapter whereby the style and title of the bishop of the see 
 were authoritatively determined. But the sketch is 
 incomplete without a short notice of the enormous 
 expense which this litigation must have caused to the 
 two bodies engaged. 
 
 It may well be matter of surprise how such litiga- 
 tion could be carried on by small local communities, 
 so great must have been the difficulties of travel, 
 and the expenditure of money involved, in journeys by 
 land and sea to and from Rome, in legal expenses in 
 the Roman courts, and in the purchase of the favour 
 of great men and influential ecclesiastics. 
 
 1. R. i, f. 8 ; ii, f. 15 ; iii, f. 11. 
 z. R. i, ff. 100, 101 ; R. iii, 207. 
 
 debts. 
 
vi.J The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242-1333. 267 
 
 We have some little insight into the expenditure 
 from the chapter minutes of loans authorised, of debts 
 incurred, and of the resources from whence the money 
 was drawn for repayment. 
 
 The first mention of a loan of 420 marcs authorised 
 by the chapter has been noticed in the letters addressed 
 to the dean and proctor at Rome in September 1243. 
 
 In the next summer, 1244, the dean probably was 
 
 on his return home, and the chapter had appointed 
 
 two fresh proctors, the archdeacon of Taunton Walter 
 
 de St. Quintin, and Hugh de Romenal the subdean. 
 
 They go out in October 1244, with authority to make Oct. 8-io, 
 
 a second loan, equal to ^360 of our money, 1 and 
 
 carrying with them the instructions consequent upon 
 
 the consecration of Roger.* 
 
 In April, 1245, the dean returned to Wells, and A P ril > 
 c > tj> ' AiD- 1245 . 
 
 gave into the hands of the chapter the letters and 
 documents he had taken with him, or had received at 
 Rome from the chapter. Among others he produced 
 the receipt for £50 from cardinal Richard, 3 as "a 
 gift from the chapter," and two sets of letters from 
 merchants at Florence about a loan of 200 marcs 
 which had not been raised, and the letters withdrawn. 
 
 Early in October the subdean, who had either October, 
 
 A.D. I24S. 
 
 come home or had delayed his departure for Rome, 
 was sent to London bearing letters of credit for negoti- 
 ation of other and larger loans to the amount of 1400 
 marcs to discharge debts at Rome and in the Roman 
 
 1. The loan was for ^ioo, and 390 marcs — and that may be mul- 
 tiplied at least by fifteen or twenty, to give an approximate value in 
 modern times. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 95. 
 3- R. i, f- 98- 
 
268 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 Debts met 
 by taxation 
 of prebends. 
 November, 
 A.D. 1245. 
 
 November 
 n, 1248. 
 
 courts ; also to treat about another previous loan of 
 1200 marcs from merchants of Siena and Florence. 1 
 
 So far the chapter seem to have been revelling in 
 unlimited credit. Next month came the time for 
 meeting their liabilities, and they did it manfully. 
 On November 25, 1245, in a chapter in which dean 
 and subdean, treasurer, and other canons who had 
 been employed in these transactions were present, the 
 canons were called to face the payment of a debt of 
 1775 marcs contracted in the Roman courts, payable in 
 five years from the Feast of the Purification following. 
 They were asked severally if they consented to mort- 
 gage their own annual receipts from the chapter estate 
 year by year, until this sum was paid. They unani- 
 mously assented, praying only for two conditions, that 
 the surplus, if any, should be divided after payment of 
 debt, and that the incoming dividend of 200 marcs in 
 the next month from the new corn should be divided 
 among the canons. 2 If the proportionate money 
 value at the two periods is considered, we realise how 
 lavish had been the expenditure in this litigation. 
 
 Two years later, or in the first year of the next epis- 
 copate, the chapter was again summoned to provide 
 for " the intolerable debts " of the church. An assess- 
 ment of one-fifth on all prebends for seven years was 
 ordered, the goods of all defaulters to be distrained, 
 and the persons excommunicated. 3 
 
 Great difficulty was .found in enforcing the assess- 
 ment, and throughout these years suits were going on 
 
 1. R. i, f. 98. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 97. 
 
 3. R. i, f. 69. 
 
VI.] The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242-1333. 269 
 
 against defaulters. Some of the greater and lesser 
 canons had made the payment, but very many, quam 
 plures, had not ; and distraint, sequestration of preb- 
 ends, and excommunications were threatened and 
 enforced. The prebendary of St. Decuman owed six 
 pounds for six years to the fabric, and the dean and 
 chapter sold his goods to satisfy their claim. 1 
 
 The abbot of Bee in Normandy was a defaulter; 
 he promised by his proxy to pay for his prebend of 
 Cleeve by a certain day, but the payment was not 
 made, and he was excommunicated.* 
 
 The abbot of Athelney, also canon of Wells, is cited 
 before the chapter on the charge of having broken his 
 canonical oath by carrying a case against the chapter, 
 on some alleged trespass, before the civil judges ; he 
 sent one of his monks as proxy with letters ; the 
 chapter refuse to receive his proxy, and summon him 
 in person ; he appears in person as abbot, and the 
 case is heard, adjourned, and arranged. 3 
 
 Yet let us look on another fifteen years ; the mort- January 12, 
 
 J 1363-4. 
 
 gage of the common fund of the chapter, the assess- Relief from 
 ments on prebends, private gifts from local patriotism 
 and devotion, the endowments of particular altars, 
 had come in, to the recovery of the church, and in his 
 last year bishop William, in 1263, could thank God that 
 the church was so nearly relieved from the late burden 
 of debt that he could make over once again the seques- 
 trations of vacant benefices which had been conceded 
 
 1. R. i, ff. 69, 70. 
 
 2. R. i, ff. 65 and 98. 
 
 3. R. i, f. 71. 
 
270 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 to him by the chapter for his lifetime, to the fabric 
 fund of the chapter. 1 
 Discipline (c) The dean and chapter were enforcing discipline 
 
 enforced. . . . . , , . 
 
 and inflicting punishment upon criminous clerks, vicars 
 and canons, by warning, and by deprivation. In the case 
 of some vicars accused of certain great offences, crimini- 
 bus enormibus, they were required to take the pledge of 
 going to the Holy Land, and to be deprived of their 
 commons for three years, and after that time they 
 might be admitted on conditions to be then fixed. 2 
 
 Canon Walter de Purley was suspended for a year 
 for incontinence, and his prebend of eight marcs value 
 was confiscated to the fabric fund. Robert Giffard, 
 another canon, was expelled from church and city for 
 six months and bound to pay sixty shillings to the 
 master of the fabric, magistro operarum, and warned of 
 deprivation of his canonry on another offence. 3 As 
 might be expected from the indefinite position held by 
 the vicars at this time, they supplied the more flagrant 
 cases requiring sharp correction and formal dismissal. 
 
 It must have added not a little to the difficulties of 
 the chapter that the dean at the first part of this time, 
 John Saracenus, was an alien element in the chapter. 
 While on one hand the canons were called upon to 
 proceed against defaulters in their own body for non- 
 payment of dues, and were enforcing discipline con- 
 tinually on disorderly vicars and upon canons for evil 
 life, they were also obliged to be upon their guard 
 against the intrigues of Roman connections of the 
 dean as well as against the nepotism of the bishop. 
 
 1. R. 2, f. 15 in dors ; R. 3, f. 11 in dors. 
 
 2. R. i, ff. 70, 71 ; R. i, f. 65. 
 
 3. R. i, f. 100. 
 
VI.] The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242- 1333. 271 
 
 But in 1253 the dean John Saracenus died, and B^ s °J t 
 
 Giles of Bridport, archdeacon of Berkshire, was elected dean > AD - 
 r 1253-1256. 
 
 by the canons. He held the deanery for three years 
 until his appointment to the bishopric of Salisbury in 
 1256. He has left little record in our registers, except 
 his tenacity in holding his offices in plurality. When 
 elected dean he protested that he did not intend to 
 withdraw from the archdeaconry or any of his other 
 benefices, and appealed to the apostolic see, and when 
 elected to Salisbury he again claimed to hold also the 
 deanery of Wells, and obtained papal letters suspend- 
 ing the election to the deanery as not being vacant. 
 The chapter protested and appointed their proctor and 
 petitioned the pope for right of free election, and then 
 proceeded to the election of the dean. 1 
 
 There must have been some strong men in the 
 chapter at this time thus to hold their own against 
 bishop and Roman agents. Such a man appears in 
 Edward de la Knoll, prebendary of Henstridge, who 
 was now elected by the chapter and confirmed by the 
 bishop as dean, September 1256, in spite of the oppo- 
 sition of the papal officers, and though dean Giles of 
 Bridport was not consecrated bishop until March 11, 
 1257. 
 
 Dean Edward was, like his master bishop Jocelin, Edwarddeia 
 
 . . Knoll, dean, 
 
 by whom he was brought into the chapter, " a son of a.d. 1256- 
 the soil," from the manor of Knoll in Wookey, where 
 father and grandfather had held land as tenants of the 
 bishops Jocelin and Robert. He lived through three 
 episcopates to September 12, 1284, and by his vigorous 
 administration of nearly thirty years he made the 
 
 1. R. i, ff. 101, 102. 
 
272 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 chapter the ruling body and centre of discipline and 
 
 government. His policy was carried on and developed 
 
 statutes, under his successors in the deanery, Thomas Bytton 
 
 A.D. 1259. 
 
 and Walter Haselshaw. With him began the series of 
 chapter statutes by which the constitution of Robert 
 and Jocelin was modified and adapted to the later 
 times in matters of residence and chapter business, 
 and the Ordinal was from time to time revised and 
 corrected. 
 
 The statutes of dean Edward in 1259 were promul- 
 gated with the will and assent of bishop William, 
 but under the presidency of the dean. 
 
 It is important to notice the relative position of the 
 bishop and the dean and chapter, in the home govern- 
 ment of the church, as exhibited in these statutes of 
 the thirteenth century. 
 
 Henry Bradshaw says, " It is desirable that we 
 should gain a clear notion of what a cathedral statute 
 was taken to be, from the earliest times. It was a pro- 
 vision made to supply the defects of the unwritten 
 custom, discussed and agreed upon by the dean and 
 chapter, and receiving the assent of the bishop, the 
 constitutional head of the whole cathedral body, much 
 as the bills discussed and agreed upon in parliament 
 become law on receiving the royal assent. The statute 
 is made, as a statute, by the dean and chapter ; and in 
 those cases when it is thought necessary, the episcopal 
 assent is added, and, this again in the most important 
 cases of all, is ratified by the bishop's seal. But for 
 ordinary purposes of home government, the agreement 
 of the dean and chapter was amply sufficient." 1 
 
 1. Lincoln Cathedral Statutes, p. 38. 
 
VI.] The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242-1333. 273 
 
 In this case where the bishop and the dean were 
 both men of like mind in their devotion to their office, 
 we v see this relation in chapter set forth in the official 
 preamble to the statutes. The bishop is present, and 
 gives his episcopal assent and the statutes are made by 
 the dean and chapter in general convocation of the 
 canons.' 
 
 They begin with a preamble of apology for the 
 necessity of change and innovation on the statutes of 
 bishop Jocelin, then they order a stricter rule of 
 residence than had hitherto prevailed at Wells. Two 
 views of canonical residence had been current. By 
 the "Nova Constitutio" of Salisbury, 12 14, it was 
 required that canons should reside continuously for a 
 fourth part of the year, so that a fourth part of the 
 body should always be in residence together with the 
 four chief dignitaries, " quatuor personae," except when 
 employed in the service of king, archbishop, or bishop. 
 Failure of residence involved the forfeiture of a fifth of 
 the prebend. 
 
 Bishop Jocelin in 1240 2 had ordained that the 
 dignitaries who held office, dean, precentor, chancellor, 
 treasurer, should reside continuously for two thirds of 
 the year, but prebendaries not more than half the 
 year, and at any time within the year, " sive continue 
 sive interpolatim," to entitle them to share in the 
 common fund ; for the rest of the year they might 
 reside on the prebend, either serving the cure of souls 
 
 1. R. i, f. 105. Statutes of 1259, " presente et in capitulo residente 
 viro provido et sagace domino Edwardo decano Wellense, habita 
 deliberatione qua decuit cum capitulo — de voluntate et assensu ven- 
 erabilis patris domini W. Bathon. et Wellen. episeopi. J 
 
 2. R. i, f. 51 ; ii, f. 17. 
 
 Nk 
 
274 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 in person or appointing the vicar at a fixed payment 
 regulated by the bishop, and no single canon was 
 bound to reside unless he wished. There was then 
 only one audit in the year — on the feast of St. 
 Calixtus, October 14. 
 
 But bishop Grossteste at Lincoln in 1239 had tried 
 to enforce the stricter rule of continuous residence for 
 all canons, and had forbidden the tenure of cure of 
 souls by canons. 1 
 
 This stricter rule of residence was now laid upon 
 the canons. Complaints had arisen of inexact com- 
 putation and unequal distribution. The year was 
 now divided into four terms of thirteen weeks ; from 
 Michaelmas to the vigil of St. Sylvester, December 3 1 ; 
 from St. Sylvester to the last day of March ; from 
 April 1 to June 30; from July 1 to Michaelmas. 
 Four audits were to be held in the year, one in each 
 term, and residence was strictly required within each 
 term, of six weeks and four days for simple canons, of 
 eight weeks for the dean and chief persons, "decano 
 et principalibus personis." Incomplete residence in 
 one term might not be made up in another. A more 
 equal partition of the common fund was ensured ; 
 fifty marcs reserved from the revenues of North Curry 
 were to be always in the hands of the communar for 
 division among the residentiaries. 2 
 
 These statutes were passed in chapter March 5, 
 1259; present, dean Edward; Gilbert de Byham, 
 precentor ; John Forte, chancellor ; Hugh de Romenal, 
 treasurer ; John de Axbridge, subdean ; Richard, 
 
 I. Grossteste Letters, pp. 74-127 (Rolls Series). 
 
 2 R. i, f. 105 ; ii, f. 17 ; cf. R. i, f. 119 ; Drok. Reg., f. 26. 
 
VI.] The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242- 1333. 275 
 
 succentor ; and twelve canons whose names are 
 given. 1 
 
 A second code of statutes was enacted July o, statutes, 
 
 "* ' A.D. 1*73. 
 
 1273, under the presidency of dean Edward de la 
 Knoll, in which the Ordinal is again corrected to pre- 
 vent confusion and irreverence. Four chief quarterly 
 chapter meetings in the year are fixed as audit days, 
 and for the transaction of more important business, at 
 which attendance of canons, or their vicars and proxies, 
 is obligatory, on pain of forfeiture of past quarterly 
 payments. 
 
 The vicars choral are now the subject of more direct 
 legislation. A year of probation is appointed for every 
 vicar presented by his master, during which time each 
 shall be under the charge of one of the body appointed 
 by the precentor to be his teacher, auscultator, who is to 
 hear and practice the probationer in the musical 
 services, and make report of skill and knowledge and 
 good conduct at the trial, before the whole chapter, at 
 the end of the year. 
 
 A preliminary trial of fifteen days shall test the fit- 
 ness of altogether untried candidates for this admission 
 to probation. 2 
 
 In the election of the bishop in succession to bishop Election of 
 
 Walter 
 
 William Bytton great care is shown in observing the Giffard, bp. 
 formalities which secured the rights of each of the two 
 electing chapters. Prior and convent, dean and chapter 
 
 1. R. i, f. 105. 
 
 2. R. ii, f. 3. 
 " The ordinate or book containing the general rules relating to the 
 
 ordo divini servicii, was the one book absolutely necessary for the 
 right understanding and definite use of the other service books." 
 H. Bradshaw. 
 
 a.d. 1264-7. 
 
276 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP, 
 
 send two proctors each to obtain the king's licence. 
 They send two proctors each to Ferenton (Faringdon 
 Gurney) midway between the two towns of Bath and 
 Wells, to fix the day of election. Four proctors from 
 each are deputed to make the election of one of their 
 body, " de ipsis, de gremio seu de collegio ecclesiarum 
 nostrarum." 
 
 Finally, on Thursday after the feast of St. Dunstan, 
 Walter Giffard, subdeacon, papal chaplain, and canon 
 of Wells, was chosen bishop, and May 22, 1264, the 
 dean, perhaps in the absence of the prior, made the 
 announcement to the archbishop, and to the king. 1 
 
 Walter Giffard was a statesman-bishop, and his 
 episcopate at Wells was of short duration. Elected in 
 the week after the battle of Lewes (May 14), he was 
 bishop during the year of the " great parliament," and 
 of the battle of Evesham, 1265 ; he was one of the 
 committee of three bishops and three earls chosen by 
 the assembled parliament in 1266, who drew up the 
 "dictum of Kenilworth" which gave terms to the 
 baronial party ; and in the next year he passed from the 
 see of Wells to the archbishopric of York. At Henry's 
 death in 1272, he held the Great Seal, and together with 
 Roger Mortimer and Robert Burnell, he was one of 
 the regents until Edward's return from the Holy Land. 
 William of His successor was a man of different type, William 
 
 Bytton the 
 
 second, a.d, of Bytton, nephew of the first bishop William, and 
 
 I267- 1274 
 
 his successor first in the archdeaconry of Wells and 
 then in the seat of the bishop ; duly elected by the 
 two chapters, he was accepted by the crown in 1267. 
 He had such repute for holiness of life that he was 
 
 1. R. i, f. 82 
 
VI.] The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1 242-1 333. 277 
 
 chosen by the archbishop elect Robert of Kilwardly, 
 to be his consecrator as the most saintly of bishops. 
 His episcopate was wholly devoted to his diocese, 
 distinguished only by uneventful acts of home admin- 
 istration, and his memory was kept alive by the local 
 tradition of miracles worked at his tomb. His tomb 
 is with us unto this day. 1 
 
 1. Godwin says of the tomb of bishop William the second: 
 " Monumentum ejus situm est inter duas columnas ab australi parte 
 chori ubi marmor videmus pontificis imaginem habens insculptam." 
 
 A stone coffin, containing the body of bishop William was dis- 
 covered during the changes made in the choir under Mr. Salvin in 
 1848. An eye-witness on that occasion, Mr. J. R. Clayton, then repre- 
 senting Mr. Salvin there, has described the position of the coffin 
 as lying between the second and third columns of the south choir 
 aisle, east of the present screen. 
 
 "On the coffin being opened in the presence of dean Jenkyns, it 
 contained a skeleton laid out in perfect order, every bone in its right 
 place ; an iron ring, and a small wooden pastoral staff in two frag- 
 ments ; a leaden tablet 10 in. by 3J with inscription most beautifully 
 rendered in Lombardic characters. 
 
 *' Hie jacet Willelmus de Button secundus Bathoniensis et 
 Wellensis episcopus sepultus XII die Decembris anno domini 
 MCCLXXIIII." 
 
 It was noted at the time that " the teeth were absolutely perfect 
 in number, shape, and order, and without a trace of decay and hardly 
 any discolouration." 
 
 Godwin in his day reported that " many superstitious people, 
 especially such as were troubled with the tooth ake, were wont (even of 
 late yeeres) to frequent much the place of his buriall." 
 
 A monumental slab of dark marble now lies on the floor of the 
 south aisle, not in a line with the coffin, but somewhat east of it, 
 "having a pontifical image graven upon it," the incised figure of a 
 bishop in act of blessing, but with the singular peculiarity that the 
 feet are not engraved. 
 
 There is a similar monument with the incised figure of a bishop in 
 Exeter Cathedral, to Thomas (Bytton) bishop of Exeter, nephew of 
 this bishop William. Thomas Bytton was dean of Wells in 1284, 
 soon after his uncle's death, and it is very likely that he laid down 
 this monument to his uncle. 
 
 No copy now exists of the seal of bishop William the second, 
 but it is thus described in Drokensford's Register : " Describitur 
 
278 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 The fabric, p or some years after 1242 no mention is made in 
 
 A.D. 1248-86. ' ^ 
 
 the registers of any work upon the fabric of the church. 
 Only one important event in the fabric history is re- 
 corded by Matthew Paris under the year 1248. He 
 says that he heard from the bishop, William of 
 Bytton, consecrated at Rome in June of that year, 
 that an earthquake, felt especially in his diocese four 
 days before Christmas, had thrown down a stone spire 
 (tholus) of great weight which the builders were 
 raising on the summit of the church : " tholus lapideus 
 magnse quantitatis et ponderis qui in summitate 
 ecclesiae in decorem ponebatur," and that much 
 damage was caused by the fall. He adds that the 
 effects of the shock were felt not so much on the 
 bases as on the capitals of the columns. 1 
 
 Mr. Freeman understands by the word " tholus " the 
 vaulting of the church, and attributes to this earth- 
 quake the fall of the vault, and the consequent breaks 
 in the masonry which are to be seen in the eastern 
 
 sigillum magnum authenticum Will. Bitton in cujus medio erat imago 
 cujusdam pontificis baculum pastoralem tenentis et manum dextram 
 sublevantis in modum benedicentis : a lateribus vero imagines duae 
 ecclesiae erant sculptae cum campanilibus et crucibus suppositis ; in 
 circumferentia vero ejusdem literae continebantur infra scriptae, Will, 
 dei gratia Bathon. et Wellen Epus. In suprema vero parte sigilli 
 minoris indorsati erant duae imagines sculptae, viz. beatorum apos- 
 tolorum Petri et Andreae cruces in manibus tenentium, sub quibus 
 imaginibus erat imago cujusdam episcopi genua flectentis et manus 
 sublevantis ad modum orantis. In superscriptione dicti sigilli minoris 
 hae literae legebantur : Crux germanorum, Willelmo sit via morum. 
 The brother's Cross 1 oh I may it be, 
 William, the rule of life to thee ! 
 
 One of the " campanilia " in the seal has a spire. 
 
 Drok. Reg. f. 152. Ordinatio vicariae de Wyveliscumbe. Banwell 
 1262, confirmata 1317. 
 
 1. Matt. Paris, Historia Anglorum, iii, 42 (Rolls Series). 
 
VI.] The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242-133 3. 279 
 
 parts of the nave. 1 If, on the other hand, it was a cap 
 or spire of the central tower which fell upon the 
 vaulting of the transept, at the junction of nave and 
 transept, we may look for differences in the masonry 
 of the transept under the tower and on the columns 
 and capitals of the transept as a mark of this time. 
 But the silence of the chapter registers on such a 
 disaster may suggest that the damage done was less 
 than was reported by the bishop, absent probably at 
 Rome at that time. 
 
 With the year 1263, and the restoration of the fabric A - D - ™ 6 s- 
 fund, begins a course of preparation for new buildings. 
 The recovery of the church from the burden of debt 
 was due to the self-sacrificing spirit of the chapter, 
 men of local ties and interests bound up with the city 
 and church in which they lived, men like Edward de 
 la Knoll and the Bytton family, Hugh de Romenal, 
 treasurer, John of Axbridge sub-dean, and others who 
 had pledged themselves to self-taxation of their in- 
 comes, and gave liberally of their substance to the 
 church. The Bytton family had become enriched by 
 the church, but some members of it also spent their 
 money liberally upon the church. We can trace John 
 of Bytton, the rich provost of Combe, brother of the 
 bishop, at one time undertaking a loan for the church 
 on his own responsibility, at another making himself 
 answerable for the payment of a pension of 100 marcs 
 to the cardinal Octavian, a patron of the chapter at 
 Rome, giving his money to assist the penury of relig- 
 ious houses in the diocese, building and endowing the 
 
 1. Freeman, Cathedral Church of Wells, 76, 77. 
 
280 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 altar of St. Nicholas 1 in the " Cloister Lady Chapel " as 
 the chantry of the family. It was a time when gifts 
 and offerings were flowing into the church for the 
 endowments of altars for memorial services of the 
 departed, some given by the clergy of the church for 
 themselves, or by strangers for their friends, others in 
 return for benefits received during lifetime. It was a 
 time when a change was taking place in the nature of 
 the endowments made by the religious world to the 
 church. Through the last century-and-a-half bene- 
 factions to the church had taken the form of endow- 
 ment by lands and money for the fabric fund or for 
 prebends and offices in the church. Now a greater 
 prominence was being given in the teaching of the 
 Church, to the doctrines of purgatory and indulgences, 
 and to the duty of the living towards the dead, of 
 remembrance before God in prayers and intercessions. 
 
 i. In 1276 the altar of St. Nicholas in the chapel of the Blessed 
 Virgin " near the cloister," constructed by the legacies of John of 
 Bytton, was endowed for mortuary services for himself and his brother 
 bishop William (R. i, f. 22, R. iii, f. 124), and further endowments 
 were made by bishop William the second. (R. i, f. 90, R. iii, f. 188). 
 There seems reason for thinking that this was the burial place of 
 bishop William the first. The endowments of obits made at the 
 altar of St. Nicholas and in the " Cloister Lady Chapel," by the 
 Bytton family, mark this as the mortuary chapel of the family, and 
 the place where the body of the bishop first rested. (R. i, f. 22.) 
 But bishop Drokensford's Register, ff. 123-8 mentions a collation 
 to the annale endowed in memory of bishop William the first, at 
 the altar in " the Lady Chapel behind the high altar " in 1319, and 
 the Canon of Wells and Godwin speak of his tomb as in the middle 
 of the "new Lady Chapel." 
 
 Perhaps we may reconcile the earlier and later statements by 
 supposing that when the second and more stately Lady Chapel was 
 raised, the body of the first bishop of the Bytton family, the first 
 bishop buried at Wells since the strife with Bath, was translated to 
 the more honourable place within the church by his great nephew 
 Thomas of Bytton, dean 1284-1292 and afterwards bishop of Exeter. 
 
VI.] The Chapter of Wells, A.D. I242'i333. 281 
 
 The foundation of chantries and obits in the church 
 was becoming the fashionable form of religious endow- 
 ment, by which provision was made by gifts and 
 legacies for the support of priests and chaplains who 
 should offer up memorial and intercessory prayers and 
 masses for the departed. 
 
 All such offerings contributed to the richness and 
 adornment of the church, " the offerings for the dead 
 became a source of trade to the living," they supported 
 the ministrant body, they brought worshippers and 
 almsgivers to the church, they fostered the sense of 
 communion between the departed and the generations 
 of the day ; and love and enthusiasm for their church, 
 as the common home of the departed and present 
 members of one body, were kindled and perpetuated. 
 
 So for forty years the chapter had been recovering 
 from the pressure of debts : they had also been pre- 
 paring for new buildings. It is in the year 1286 that 
 the registers give the first sign of that building activity 
 which went on for at least the next fifty years. The 
 dean at the time was Thomas of Bytton, one of the 
 
 third generation of that family in Wells, nephew of Thomas 
 
 & ' r Bytton dean 
 
 the late bishop William, elected by the canons as dean a.d. 1284. 
 
 in succession to Edward de la Knoll in 1284. He was 
 
 second son of Sir Adam de Bytton, and successively 
 
 precentor, archdeacon, and dean of Wells ; in 1292 
 
 he was elected bishop of Exeter. There he was builder 
 
 of the choir and vaulted roof, died September 21, 1307, 
 
 and was buried near the high altar. 1 
 
 On the Tuesday after " Quasimodo," April 26, 1286, 
 dean Thomas summoned a full chapter of residents a.d. 1286. 
 
 1. Episcopal Registers, diocese of Exeter, Bytton's. F.- C* 
 Hingeston-Randolph, Pref. xxiv. 
 
 Oo 
 
282 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 and non-residents to take into consideration the 
 urgent necessity of finishing the new structure which 
 had been long in progress, and of restoring and 
 keeping up the older fabric, and also at the same time 
 the insufficiency of the means of the chapter for the 
 work, " inspecta ante cetera necessitate urgente quam 
 dicta ecclesia patitur, tam in nova structura jamdiu 
 incepta perficienda, quam antiqua fabrica ipsius refi- 
 cienda et sustentanda, et ad hec assignatarum insuffi- 
 cientia facultatum." 1 
 
 The canons coming up in great numbers resolved 
 unanimously that each canon should give to the fabric 
 a tenth of his prebend yearly, according to the taxation 
 of Norwich of 1254, for five years, that receivers be 
 appointed by the chapter, and that defaulters should 
 be fined half a marc for failure of payment within 
 fifteen days of the quarter-day, and be further liable 
 to distraint and excommunication. 
 
 This resolution of the chapter meeting formed an 
 important precedent which was quoted and acted on 
 in later stages of the work. 
 
 The work before the chapter was twofold ; to put 
 in repair the old work, and to complete the new 
 structure which had been begun some time before. 
 
 We do not know if the repairs required at this time 
 were the repair of the roof or only the normal dilapi- 
 dations of an old building. The high authority of 
 Professor Willis may be cited that the " new structure " 
 begun, " diu incepta," and as yet incomplete " could be 
 no other than the chapter house." 2 
 
 1. R. i, f. 198. 
 
 2. Somerset Archaological Society's Proceedings, xii, 20. 
 
VI.] The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242-1333. 283 
 
 Hitherto there is no evidence of the existence of a The chapter 
 
 house, 
 chapter-house, or of any definite place where the dean 
 
 and chapter were wont to meet in council. They met 
 probably in some part of the church, or in one of the 
 chapels. 1 The important position of the capitular 
 body in the home government of the church, to which 
 they had now attained, demanded that, after the exam- 
 ple of other cathedral churches, there should be a 
 worthy council chamber of the dean and chapter 
 where they should daily meet for communion in coun- 
 cil, for enactment of discipline, and ordering of ritual. 
 
 This chapter act gives the first intimation that this 
 new work had been in progress for some time, and a 
 new start is now taken. 
 
 Professor Willis gives the general description of the 
 divisions of the chapter-house as it now exists : " It 
 stands upon a vaulted substructure, by which its floor 
 is considerably raised above the floor of the church. 
 This substructure cannot well be called • a crypt,' for 
 it is not sunk under ground, the springs of water in 
 the soil forbidding such a building : it is entered from 
 the north aisle of the choir by a doorway and passage. 
 The floor of the chapter-room is reached by a building 
 attached to its western side, which contains a staircase 
 lighted by great windows of early geometrical tracery 
 and leading to the elaborate doorway of the chapter- 
 house. The style of the chapter-room itself is so 
 greatly in advance of the substructure and stairs as to 
 show that a considerable interval of time elapsed 
 
 1. On one occasion, August 29, 1244, they met in cafella beats 
 Maria, the southern Lady Chapel probably, to take action againsl 
 the summons of the papal delegates to meet them in the greater 
 church " in Majore Ecclesia." (R. i, f. 97 in dors.) 
 
284 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 between the one and the other." Again, he says, " I 
 conceive that in 1286 the portion of the chapter-house 
 called ' the crypt ' was completed." 1 If so, in 1286 there 
 stood on the north side of the church, east of the north 
 transept, a detached octagonal building, on a slightly 
 lower level than the floor of the church, which was the 
 substructure, and the first part of a building as yet 
 incomplete. 
 
 Of this " crypt " the thick outer walls, and the mould- 
 ings of the wall shafts, the narrow lancet windows with 
 wide splays in each bay, are of somewhat earlier date 
 than the central pillars supporting the vault. The 
 vaulting is remarkable for the way " in which the 
 arches are disposed without the introduction of ribs." 
 Traces of " dog tooth " ornament on two of the capitals 
 betoken an early date in the century. All these are 
 indications that building had been begun awhile, diu 
 incepta ; had been going on through the time of 
 Edward de la Knoll, through the last forty years, and 
 perhaps, like the undercroft of the palace, even during 
 the later years of bishop Jocelin. 
 
 The solidity of this substructure shows that the 
 building was meant to be the basement story of a 
 higher building, and the great size of the central pillar 
 the root of an uprising shaft to stand upon it. At the 
 same time, the massive character of the ironwork of 
 the thirteenth century in the bars and bolts inside and 
 outside of the double doors, the deep sockets in the 
 thickness of the walls on each side of the door and 
 above and below for the drawbars with which the 
 
 1. Archaeological Institute, " Memoirs illustrative of the history 
 and antiquities of Bristol," etc., xxviii. 
 
1292. 
 
 VI.] The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242- 1333. 285 
 
 inside doors were protected, the recess in the thickness 
 of the wall on the south side, are evidences that the 
 building was used as the " treasury " in which all valu- 
 ables, of money, vessels, documents, were placed. 
 Here it may be was the Sacristy in which the vest- 
 ments were kept, and also the tkesauraria of the 
 church. 1 This was the building finished by 1286. 
 
 The next stage of building dates from 1286, and Robert 
 
 Burnett, 
 
 from this action of the dean and canons. At this a.d. 1275- 
 time Robert Burnell was bishop (1275 — 1292), one of 
 the greatest men in the kingdom as minister of Edward, 
 chancellor, the great lawyer of the time. The year 
 before, 1285, is marked in the constitutional history of 
 England by the promulgation of statutes of great 
 importance, " the culminating point of Edward's legis- 
 lative activity" 8 the statutes of Westminster, June 28 ; 
 the statutes of Winchester, October 8. In that year 
 the bishop had obtained a royal licence to raise an 
 embattled wall, kirnellare, round the cemetery of the 
 canons and the precincts, precinctum, of the houses of 
 the canons at Wells. 3 It is doubtful whether any of 
 this work was carried out by him, if the south wall of 
 the cloister is to be ascribed to Jocelin. The only 
 work ascribed to him by Godwin is the chapel of the 
 palace, and the stately hall which still witnesses in its 
 
 1. R. i, f. 131, in dors. Memorandum. Deeds relating to the 
 churches of Bath and Wells, to North Curry and Wynescumb, St. 
 Cuthbert's, Congresbury, etc., were delivered to Edward the dean to 
 be carried to London at the command of the archbishop on Saturday 
 next before St. Michael, and were brought back by him on St. 
 Crispin and Crispennas day and replaced in the " Treasury " — Oct. 
 25, 1281. 
 
 2. Stubbs, Constitutional History, ii, 122. 
 
 3. R. ii, f. 18. 
 
286 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 ruin to the magnificence of the builder. Burnell was 
 too much engaged in state affairs to be resident long, 
 if at all, at Wells. " He was much employed in Welsh 
 affairs, from which he could ill be spared. So the king 
 was content for a while to let him keep his court of 
 chancery at Bristol," 1284-1285. In May, 1286, he 
 went with the king to Gascony, and was out of Eng- 
 land until August, 1289. 1 
 
 But though little resident, the bishop was encourag- 
 ing and assisting the work which was going on in the 
 church at Wells, by granting indulgences, 2 and by the 
 gift to the chapter, for the fabric fund, of advowsons of 
 churches, Yeovilton, Burnham, Stanton Drew, and 
 Chelwood. He had also taken steps to appropriate 
 the church of Burnham to the chapter, but he died 
 before the appropriation was effected. Bishop Hasel- 
 shaw afterwards carried out his good intentions. In 
 return, the dean and chapter, in 1306, endowed a 
 chantry for the two bishops at the altars lately con- 
 structed at the entrance into the choir, the one in 
 honour of St. Mary, the other of St. Andrew. 3 
 
 1. Pat. 14 Ed. Ill, pt. 1, m. 13. A similar licence with the 
 addition only of the words "et precinctum domorum suorum," is 
 given by Edward III to bishop Ralph, sixty years later in 1341. This 
 royal licence to fortify and embattle the cemetery wall and the pre- 
 cincts was one of several given about the same time to cathedral 
 closes. In the 14th of Edward I, 1286, licences were given to Exeter 
 on January 1 ; to Wells in April ; to Lincoln, Salisbury, and York in 
 May ; to St. Paul's in June. Perhaps it was the king's policy to 
 multiply fenced places to give greater security throughout the land. 
 
 z. R. iii, f. 389. 
 
 3. R. i, f. 164. Chantries of bishops Burnell and Haselshaw 
 founded by dean Godley and chapter of Wells, 5 Kal. Jan., 1306. 
 
 A slab of blue lias, 16 feet long, with the matrix of a brass of a 
 bishop, and letters of name mark the site of bishop Haselshaw's 
 
A,D. 1286-92. 
 
 VI.] The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242-1333. 287 
 
 What was the next portion of the work of this time ? 
 
 A vaulted passage leads from the " crypt " to the 
 
 north aisle of the choir, and a doorway in the north 
 
 aisle is cut through the older wall of the church. 
 
 This was probably the next portion of the work after 
 
 1286, followed by the building of the grand stairway 
 
 of thirty-two steps leading upwards from the north 
 
 door of the transept. This north door was a door of 
 
 Jocelin's church, and on the outside the moulding 
 
 remains which shows that there was a small vestry 
 
 attached to it. It corresponds exactly in position to 
 
 the door of the south transept now blocked up by the The ascent 
 
 r c J to the chap- 
 
 monument in St. Martin's chapel, which also had a ter-house, 
 
 penthouse or vestry on the south side. The ascent of 
 the stairs was lighted by two great windows of early 
 and very beautiful geometrical tracery, and flanked by 
 tiers of stone seats rising with the stairs, which curved 
 round to the portal and double-arched vestibule of the 
 chamber. This we may suppose was the work of 
 Burnell's time, and of dean Thomas and of the canons 
 from 1286 to 1292. Whoever was designer and archi- 
 tect of this noble ascent up to the chapter-house, which 
 is the distinguishing characteristic of the chapter-house 
 of Wells above all its contemporaries, it is a work 
 worthy of the princely builder of the palace hall. The 
 large windows which light the west side of the stairs, 
 and in which the rich brown glass gives screen from 
 the western evening sun which strikes full into the hall, 
 are likenesses, on a grander scale, in form and tracery 
 
 burial place at the southern entrance of bishop Bubwith's chantry. 
 This also fixes the site of one of the altars, ad ingressum chori, and 
 so of the choir screen of the time. 
 
 Cf. R. i, f. 52. Dean Husee's obit was ordained there in 1307. 
 
288 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 to the windows in the little village church of Acton 
 Burnell, which was built by the bishop at the family 
 manor and castle in Shropshire. 
 
 On October 22, 1292, bishop Robert Burnell died at 
 Berwick, while with the king in his Scotch wars. His 
 body was brought to his church at Wells, and buried, 
 but no stone or inscription now marks the burial- 
 place of one of the greatest statesmen, though not 
 a very saintly bishop, of the see. Godwin says, 
 " he lieth buried in the middle of the body of his 
 church under a marble stone somewhat below the 
 pulpit," "paulo infra suggestum." 1 He means the 
 stone pulpit in the nave, built by bishop Knight in 
 a 5 16. Carter's plan (1798) shows a large slab con- 
 taining the matrix of a brass in the south of the nave 
 between the third and fourth pillars west of the tower. 
 That has disappeared. 
 
 Another and a third stage in the building was 
 going on under bishop William de Marchia 1293- 1302, 
 when Walter Burnell 1292-1295, and Walter de Hasel- 
 shaw 1 295 -1 303, were deans. Haselshaw succeeded to 
 the bishopric, and died 1 308. 
 wuiiam de William de Marchia, canon of Wells, had been one 
 
 Marchia, 
 
 a.d. 1293- of the king's agents at Rome in 1284 to obtain from 
 pope Martin IV concession of the tenths from the 
 clergy for five years, for the support of a crusade which 
 Edward undertook to join. 
 
 In 1289 he sat with the chancellor Burnell on a com- 
 mission to hear the complaints brought against the 
 judges during the king's absence in Gascony. 
 
 In 1290 he was made treasurer of the kingdom. 
 
 1. Dc Prasulibus, 426, ed. 1743. 
 
 1302- 
 
Tomb of BishopWilliam cfeiaHarcfria 
 
 IWellsCarfredral: 
 
 "OTT 
 
 ^cafecftaeir 
 
 
 fyftW. 
 
VI.] The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242-1333. 289 
 
 A copy of the deed of submission of the Scottish 
 chiefs to Edward as overlord — in the Wells archives 
 — is attested by him as treasurer in 1291. 1 
 
 He was rewarded with the bishopric in succession 
 to the chancellor, for his services to Edward in financial 
 difficulties. 
 
 Tradition has assigned to the time of bishop 
 William the building of the chapter-house. Godwin 
 says " In this man's time the chapter-house was built 
 by the contributions of well-disposed persons." We 
 are familiar with the local habit of ascribing to one 
 man, or period, as to bishop Jocelin and his time, the 
 progressive work of several generations. But in this 
 case so little is recorded of the bishop during his 
 episcopacy, in comparison with his predecessor and 
 his successors, that it has been difficult to account for 
 the tradition, and still more for the extraordinary 
 respect paid to his memory by the dean and chapter, 
 and for their strenuous efforts to obtain his canoni- 
 zation. 2 
 
 One original charter in the chapter archives may 
 suggest a reason for this posthumous gratitude and 
 for the tradition which ascribed to his time pre- 
 eminently, the building of the chapter-house. 
 
 1. Fadera.v., 274, ed. 1727. This deed was sent to Wells to be 
 enrolled in the chapter archives, July 9, 1291. R. iii, f. 22. 
 
 2. It is doubtful if his registers could be recovered. Reg. Drok- 
 ensford, f. 34. " The bishop to dean." " Being much embarassed for 
 want of our predecessors' registers, we bid you cite Robert provost 
 of Wells, and Henry archdeacon of Taunton, the last bishops' 
 executors to render up such as are needful for administration. Give 
 like monition to Antony Bradney executor of bishop William (i.e. de 
 Marchia) and his co-executor. If negligent, cite them before us at 
 Chard, second week in Lent." Pucklechurch, February 8, 1310. 
 
 Pp 
 
290 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 The pope Martin IV had granted to Edward a tenth 
 of all clerical incomes for five years in 1284, in aid of 
 a promised crusade. The crusade was deferred, and 
 in 1291 Nicolas IV renewed the grant to Edward. 1 
 
 The two chapters of Bath and Wells were the sub- 
 collectors for the diocese under Oliver Sutton, bishop 
 of Lincoln, and John de Pontoise, of Winchester, 
 executors for the kingdom. A deposit of £1,000 was 
 lying in the hands of the chapter, held in subsidium 
 terrm sanctce, while the crusade was deferred. By a 
 deed 2 dated Dogmersfield, January 20, 1295-6, bishop 
 
 1. Fcedera, ii, 274, 499, 517, ed. 1727. 
 
 2. Charter, 138. The original document incorrectly endorsed 
 in a later handwriting " Bp. Willm. receives £1,000 for the Holy Land 
 Warrs," and having a fragment of a bishop's seal, is here transcribed. 
 It runs thus : 
 
 " Universis videntibus hanc scripturam Willelmus permissione 
 divina Bathoniensis et Wellensis Episcopus salutem in domino sempi- 
 ternam. Noveritis quod cum nos, Episcopus supradictus, Thomas 
 Prior et conventus Bathoniensis, W. Decanus et capitulum Wellense, 
 recognoverimus per nostrum scriptum obligatorium nostro et cujus- 
 libet nostrum ac ecclesiarum nostrarum nomine, nos recepisse 
 [dep] ositum et habere a reverendo patre O [livero Sutton] dei gratia 
 Lincolniensi Episcopo executore, una cum venerabili patre domino 
 Jfohanne de Pontissera] eadem gratia Wintoniensi Episcopo 
 legitime impedito, super decimis domino E [dwardo] dei gratia Regi 
 Anglie illustri in subsidium terrse sanctse concessis in regno Anglie a 
 sede apostolica deputato, mille libras bonorum et legalium sterling- 
 orum in pecunia numerata de pecunia decimse antedictae restituendum 
 predictum depositum prefato domino Lincolniensi Episcopo vel 
 collegse suo, aut alteri eorundem succedenti vel succedentibus in 
 officio execucionis predicto, infra unum mensem postquam nos aut 
 aliquis nostrum conjunctim seu divisim per dictum patrem aut 
 collegam suum vel aliquem alium seu alios quern vel quos tangit 
 officium execucionis predictum fuerimus requisiti, prout in scripto 
 hujusmodi obligatorio plenius continentur. Quia tamen depositum 
 mille librarum supradictum ad nostras solum modo manus pervenit, 
 et in nostris ac nostri Episcopatus negotiis feliciter expediendis per 
 nos totaliter est conversum, indempnitatibus prioris et decani pre- 
 dictorum ac capitulorum ipsorum rovidere volentes, dictum de- 
 
VI.J The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242-1333. 291 
 
 William gave to the executors a bond for repayment 
 of this sum of £1,000 whenever it should be required. 
 It appears to have been already borrowed by the 
 bishop and the two chapters conjointly, with promise 
 of repayment on demand within one month. Now 
 the bishop makes himself solely responsible for repay- 
 ment, and pledges (no doubt with consent of his 
 chapter) the diocesan revenues and his personal 
 property as security for repayment to the collector. 
 
 Inasmuch as the money had come into his hands 
 only, and had been spent on diocesan objects "in nostris 
 et nostri episcopatus negotiis feliciter expediendis 
 totaliter est conversum," he promises to hold the two 
 chapters free from all liability "et ipsos indempnes 
 undique quoad hujusmodi depositum conservare." 
 
 There is no other evidence to show how this £1,000 
 was spent, or that it was ever repaid, or called for by 
 the executors. The chapter kept this bond as their 
 security under any circumstances. 
 
 At his death the bishop devised a tenth of this 
 sum, 100 marcs (£66 13s. 4d.) to the chapter to be 
 held by them in deposit for the crusade "ad sub- 
 sidium terrae sanctae " and " usque ad generale 
 passagium ad terram sanctam proxime faciendum," 
 but with ultimate reversion to his brother, and then to 
 
 positum predicto patri Lincolnie Episcopo vel collegae suo predicto 
 aut sibi succedentibus, ut premittitur, vel succedenti reddere seu 
 restituere, quando oportuerit, promittimus bona fide, et ipsos indemp- 
 nes undique quoad hujusmodi depositum conservare. Et ad hoc 
 fideliter faciendum obligamus nos executores et successores nostros, 
 ac omnia bona nostra presencia et futura ecclesiastica et mundana 
 ubicumque inventa. In cujus rei testimonium sigillum nostrum 
 presentibus est appensum. Datum apud Dogmerfeld xiiij s kalend 
 Februarii anno domini millesimo ducentesimo nonagesimo quarto." 
 
292 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 his nephew Robert Urry, if the crusade were aban- 
 doned. 
 
 This deposit in after years became a subject of 
 much trouble to the chapter, as hungry suitors wooed 
 them for it, first the bishop, then the king, to whom 
 they granted it for two years. Then the papal nuncio 
 adjudged it to the brother and after his death to the 
 nephew. The chapter, having yielded to the king's 
 demand, were unable to surrender it. 1 These trans- 
 actions throw some light on bishop William's motives. 
 
 We do not know sufficiently the nature of the 
 transaction, but it is probable that the treasurer-bishop, 
 who knew the king and the danger there was lest the 
 sum of ;£i,ooo lying in the hands of the chapter might 
 be swept into the king's coffers, took this method of 
 securing it for the service of the church in his diocese 
 at his own personal risk, and if such a sum, or part of 
 it, was spent by him on the chapter-house it would 
 
 i. R. i, ff. 119, 132. Receipt by the dean and chapter, Sept. 7, 
 1311, to the executors of bishop William. 
 
 R. i, f. 119 ; Reg. Drokensford, f. 37. The bishop borrows it 
 until Easter. London, Sept. 13, 1311. 
 
 R. i, f. 119. Letter (in French) to Thomas de Berkele, one of 
 the executors from the dean and chapter, " the money is sent to 
 London ' al hostel le deen de Seynt Poul ; ' they pray him to defend 
 them from damage." 
 
 R. i, f. 202. The king wishes to borrow it. R. i, f. 159. The 
 D. and C. write to the bishop and lend it to the king for two years, 
 1312. 
 
 R. i, f. 208. Order from official of papal nuncio that the money 
 is to be paid to the brother, 1313. 
 
 Probably it was never recovered from the Crown, for it turns up 
 again in the next generation : R. i, f. 205, 208. The papal nuncio in 
 1340 orders it to be paid to the nephew, according to former injunction 
 made in 1313. 
 
 R. i, f. 209. Dean and chapter now plead that the time for rever- 
 sion has not come, 1340. 
 
VI.] The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242-1333. 293 
 
 reasonably account for the gratitude of the chapter 
 and for his posthumous fame as a benefactor to the 
 church. 1 
 
 There must have been some special reasons, and 
 some high qualifications which won for him after his 
 death very strong testimonials from his contemporaries, 
 and influenced many great persons to join in seeking 
 his canonization, according to the fashion of the time. 
 Money was collected in the diocese for his translation 
 and honourable burial, and the stately tomb in the 
 south transept is a remarkable monument of con- 
 temporary gratitude. The letters written by the dean 
 and chapter twenty years after his death bear high 
 testimony to the virtues of his life, as "the good 
 shepherd," and to the effulgence of miracles at his 
 tomb ; and the highest personages in the kingdom were 
 moved to use their influence at Rome in support of 
 the prayer of the chapter. 8 
 
 It is pleasant at least to read a contemporary eulogy 
 from those who had lived with him, as a set-off against 
 the detraction which followed his memory from others. 
 The same terms are used in all the letters from the 
 chapter describing him as the man of holy life and 
 the exemplary bishop, "vitae sanctae, conversations 
 
 1. In 1282 Edward had seized the treasure at the Temple for the 
 Welsh war. Stubbs, Const. Hist., ii, 119. 
 
 2. 1324, June 2. R. i, f. 172. Laurence de la Waar, the king's 
 ambassador, is urged to take up the suit for the canonization, against 
 the machinations of John de Britton, the adversary. 
 
 1324, June 2. R. i, f. 171. Letters to John de Grandison and to 
 Robert Baldock, the chancellor. 
 
 1324, June 4. R. i, f. 172. A precis of letters to influential 
 persons. Bishop Drokensford writes to Rome. 
 
 1325, December 4. R. i, f. 174. The king, queen, archbishop 
 Walter, and eight bishops petition the pope for his canonization. 
 
294 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 honestse, bonus pastor in ministerio sacerdotali, pauper- 
 ibus et miserabilibus personis compatiens, elemosinarius 
 largissimus." 
 
 But yet all their efforts were in vain. The " machin- 
 ations of the adversaries " at Rome were too strong. 
 Matthew of Westminster and Polydore Virgil are 
 quoted by Godwin as representing the grounds of 
 opposition : " they complaine grievously of him 
 (bishop William) as the author of a hainous sacri- 
 lege in causing the king to spoile all the churches and 
 monasteries of England of such plate and mony as 
 lay hoarded up in them, for the paiment of his 
 souldiers." Godwin, gives his own opinion that the 
 bishop was made a scapegoat to bear the offence of the 
 king's arbitrary acts in obtaining money. "Edward 
 was a prince that neither wanted wit to devise nor 
 courage to execute such an exploit, and to lay the 
 fault upon another at last, which, how undeservedly 
 soever, might barre him out of the Pope's calender." 1 
 
 Evidences are not wanting that there were " other 
 well-disposed persons '* who were contributing at this 
 time to the fabric and the chapter-house. William of 
 Wellington, one of the canons, gave about this time 
 forty marcs " to the needs of the church and to the 
 fabric of the chapter-house." The dean and chapter 
 in 1300, "desiring to return spiritual things for tem- 
 poral," endowed, with ;£io a year charged on the 
 manor of North Curry, an obit for this benefactor at 
 " the altar of Holy Cross, under the bell-tower on the 
 north side of the church." 2 
 
 1. Godwin's de Prasulibus, p. 375, ed. 1743. 
 
 2. R. iii, f. 284. 
 
The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242- 1333. 295 
 
 Henry Husee, canon, precentor, and afterwards dean 
 in 1302-1305, gave to the chapter £200 on condition 
 that they endowed his obit with £ 10 annually. His 
 obit was afterwards celebrated at one of the two 
 altars at the entrance of the choir, and his monument 
 was raised by his executors in the chapel of St. 
 Calixtus. 1 
 
 Dean Walter de Haselshaw gave £10 a year to the 
 chapter during the lifetime of Walter de Charleton, 
 one of the canons, for which an acquittance was given 
 to the executors of the dean in 1317. 2 
 
 But whatever may have been the share of bishop DeanGodiey 
 
 A.D. I305- 
 
 William de Marchia and others in obtaining funds for 1333- 
 the building of the chapter house in life, and after 
 death, the credit of carrying to completion the last 
 stage of building belongs to dean John Godley (Johan- 
 nes de Godelee), the greatest builder of the church since 
 Jocelin. Prebendary in 1301, during the last years of 
 bishop William's life and during the episcopate of 
 Walter Haselshaw, he was elected to succeed dean 
 Husee in 1305, and he held office for twenty-seven 
 years until February 1332-3. During his earlier life 
 he must have watched the first stages of the building, 
 the growth of the great ascent, and of the noble portal, 
 and the gradual rise of the outer walls and buttresses 
 of the great octagonal building on the north of the 
 church. At first we may suppose a temporary roof 
 covered in the stone floor raised upon the vault of the 
 substructure. On this floor can yet be traced the 
 diagrams, perhaps of Godley's architect, which may 
 
 1. R. iii, ff. 103-109. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 140. 
 
296 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 have supplied the working drawings for the masons in 
 the interior arrangement of windows and vaulted roof 
 which rose above it in dean Godley's time. 1 
 
 Familiar with the designs of the first builders, he 
 
 and his master-mason, William Joy, worked them out 
 
 and brought the whole to its present perfected beauty 
 
 in the first fifteen years of his government. 
 
 Bp. John of John of Drokensford (Droxford in Hants) was 
 
 Drokensford ~ v ' 
 
 a.d. 1309- bishop for the greater part of dean Godley's time, 
 succeeding bishop Walter in 1309, and dying three 
 years and a-half before the dean in 1 329. 
 
 His register is the first in the series of episcopal 
 registers at Wells ; lately edited for the Somerset 
 Record Society, it gives the materials for a fuller 
 knowledge of the bishop's life and times than has 
 hitherto been published. 2 
 
 He was " one of the lawyer-statesman class of 
 bishops." He had held several lay offices under the 
 crown, and was rewarded by an abundance of ecclesi- 
 astical benefices. At the time of his election he held 
 office about the king's person as keeper of the ward- 
 robe, he was canon of Wells and of four other 
 cathedral churches, and he held prebends in five 
 collegiate churches, and other benefices in different 
 parts of the kingdom. 
 
 " Wells was not used by him as headquarters, save 
 that the dean and chapter furnished him skilled com- 
 
 1. Mr. Irving writes: "That wonderful collection of working 
 drawings now remaining on the floor of the first chapter-house. 
 There is not such a collection elsewhere in England, and I earnestly 
 hope that such an unique collection may be illustrated by the Society 
 of Antiquaries." 
 
 2. Somerset Record Society, vol. i, Drokensford's Register, 1887, 
 it is edited by bishop Hobhouse. 
 
VI.] The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242- 1333. 297 
 
 missaries for his varied commissions, and Bath was no 
 centre of diocesan action." 1 It is no wonder that as 
 he moved about from one to another of his manors 
 and of his sixteen official houses, he should have left 
 to the dean and chapter the home government of the 
 church, or that with little time to study the annals of 
 his church he should have come into collision with his 
 chapter when he assumed rights of episcopal juris- 
 diction which had been ceded by previous bishops to 
 their officers in the chapter. 
 
 It is to dean Godley that we owe the preservation a.d. 1332, 
 
 n 1 1 1 1 . r r 1 Liber Albus, 
 
 of early chapter documents and the formation of the Register i 
 first of the chapter registers, the Liber Albus (R. i), in dean Godley, 
 the chapter archives. He had known the full value of 
 these early charters in establishing the dean's position 
 in the great controversy with the bishop ; and in the 
 last year of his life he ordered that they should be 
 carefully copied, examined by the chancellor and 
 others of the chapter in presence of a notary, " sub 
 manu publica," and enregistered, lest these floating and 
 perishing leaves, which are the treasures of the church, 
 and contain the primary elements of its history, should 
 perish through neglect or age. 
 
 " Item quod quaedam chartae nostrae, quae sunt velut 
 thesaurus ecclesiae, in parte sint debilitatae, quaedam 
 vero quasi vetustate consumptae, volumus quod per 
 disertos viros concanonicos nostros, praesente ecclesiae 
 cancellario qui curam et custodiam habet eorundem, 
 circa festum Sancti Michaelis examinentur, et in uno 
 registro de verbo ad verbum conscribantur, et quam 
 citius commode fieri poterit sub manu publica, auctori- 
 
 1. Preface to the Register by bishop Hobhouse, p. xviii. 
 
298 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 tate judicis competentis ad perpetuam rei memoriam 
 publicentur, saltern illae de quarum consumptfone 
 magis timetur." 1 
 
 The registers of bishop and of chapter can now be 
 read together to illustrate and confirm one another. 
 The notices of the building become more frequent 
 though they are few and fragmentary considering the 
 importance of the works in progress. Yet we can 
 trace from these short and scanty chapter acts what 
 an amazing activity was manifested by the chapter in 
 raising those parts of the fabric which distinguish the 
 present church from the church of Jocelin and of the 
 thirteenth century. Within the twenty-seven years 
 of dean Godley's rule, 
 
 Work going ( a ) The central tower was raised and roofed in ; 
 
 deanGodley. W The chapter-house was finished ; 
 
 (c) The Lady-chapel was built ; 
 
 (d) The choir was being refitted with new stalls 
 and being prolonged eastward ; 
 
 (e) The parapet round the whole of the earlier 
 
 church was renewed. 
 The chapter records contain the notices, from time 
 to time, which enable us to affix certain dates to most 
 of these buildings during their progress to completion. 
 
 1. R. ii, f. 24. "Theearly part of this Register i, or Liber Alius, 
 was written" (Mr. Riley says in Report i of Historical Manuscripts 
 Commission), "in the reign of Edward I or possibly Edward II." 
 The date is fixed more precisely by this order of dean Godley. Mr. 
 J. A. Bennett says in his preface to the " Calendar of Wells Manu- 
 scripts," (Appendix 3 to vol. 10 of Report to Historical Manuscripts 
 Commission) : " this volume was probably once bound in black and 
 called the * Liber Niger,' to which there are references in the chapter 
 acts. The earliest entry is of the time of Edward the Confessor, the 
 last belongs to the year 1393." 
 
VI.) The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242- 1333. 299 
 
 During the first decade (1305-1315) no mention of 
 the fabric occurs. 
 
 But with the year 13 15 commences a series of short 
 notices from time to time which indicate the progress 
 of the works then going on. 
 
 In 1315 a commission was sent through the diocese, Central 
 under the official of the bishop and the official of the a.d. 1315- 
 dean, to levy money for the work on the tower, I3 " 9 ' 
 "campanile," of the cathedral church. The bishop 
 had assigned to that object the fees received for non- 
 residence and other sources. 1 
 
 In 1318, May 8, an important chapter meeting was ^Pf* 
 held, of which the minutes are given with unusual 1318. 
 detail. 2 One of the foremost questions discussed was 
 how to deal with defaulters who had not paid the 
 " decima quinquennalis,'' agreed upon at a late chapter 
 meeting towards the " new campanile." They were to 
 be proceeded against by censures and sequestrations, 
 
 It was announced that large sums were coming in f f °? r ^ e 
 for the new campanile from different sources : 
 
 (a) From the tenths of assessments on the pre- 
 bends of the canons, the decima quinquennalis ; 
 
 (b) From the offerings made at the tomb of bishop 
 William (de oblationibus Sancti Wilklmi) who was 
 already canonized by popular voice without waiting 
 for the decree from Rome. 
 
 (c) From the collections made throughout the 
 diocese by the " fraternity of St. Andrew," a brother- 
 hood formed at this time to raise funds for the 
 
 1. Reg. Drokensford, f. 81. " Commissio ad levandam pecuniam 
 concessam fabricas campanilis Wells." Banwell, July, 1315. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 143. Archer sums up the purpose of this chapter 
 meeting, "ad constructionem novi campanilis finiendam." 
 
3<30 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 cathedral fabric. They collected the sums which were 
 given as the " cathedraticum," or by bequest, to the 
 fabric fund. They published the bishop's "indul- 
 gences " and letters to stimulate parochial collections, 
 and they carried the year's collection to Wells for an 
 audit now appointed by the chapter, or " paid it to a 
 lessee who had agreed to give a fixed sum to the 
 chapter." 1 Two canons are to audit the accounts of 
 each collector. 
 
 In 1318-1319 the central tower was being built. In 
 1 32 1 it was raised up high enough to be roofed in. 
 
 In August 1 32 1 the chapter borrowed £\0 ( =,£800) 
 for building purposes, " quadraginta libras in fabrica 
 ecclesiae reparanda impendendas," 2 and on Decem- 
 ber 23 in that year they acknowledged the grant of 
 one penny in the pound from the benefices of the 
 clergy of the deanery of Taunton for the covering in 
 of the tower, " in subsidium cooperturse novi campanilis 
 ecclesiae Wellensis." They undertake that this volun- 
 tary gift shall not be made a precedent for a demand 
 in other times. 3 
 
 So in 1322 we have reason to suppose that the 
 central tower was approaching completion. 
 Chapter- j n these same years, while the tower was being 
 
 a.d. 1319. built up, the chapter-house was finished. In 13 19 the 
 
 1. See preface to bishop Drokensford's Register by bishop 
 Hobhouse, p, xxv. He compares the "Brotherhood of St. Chad" 
 at Lichfield. The upper parts of the western towers of Tours cathe- 
 dral church were built by the " Brotherhood of St. Gatien," in the 
 fifteenth century. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 155. Bond of the dean and chapter to Richard, " dicto 
 Richeman de Well." for £40 borrowed " per manus R. de Baker 
 custodis fabrica; ecclesiae Wellensis ad usum ejusdem ecclesiae." 
 20 kal. Sept., 1321. 
 
 3. R. i, f. 157. December 23, 1321. 
 
VI.] The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242-1333. 301 
 
 chapter meetings were held in the new "domus 
 capitularis ; " perhaps for the first time on the occasion 
 of the contest with bishop Drokensford as to his right 
 of holding there his ordinary visitation of the cathe- 
 dral church. Hitherto throughout the registers the 
 meetings and acts of the dean and chapter have been 
 described as " in capitulo," but no place of meeting 
 has been definitely named. The word 'capitulum' is 
 used both for the place of meeting of the chapter and 
 for the body itself. For the first time now, at the 
 opening of this controversy, dean Godley summoned 
 the chapter to meet in the " Chapter-house " on the 
 Wednesday after the translation of St. Thomas, July 
 1 3 19, "in domo capitulari ecclesiae Wellensis." 
 
 " Reverendus vir dominus Joannes de Godelee deca- 
 nus . . . omnes canonicos per pulsationem magnae 
 campanae juxta modum et consuetudinem ejusdem 
 ecclesiae fecit evocari, quod comparerent in domo 
 capitulari ecclesiae Wellensis die Mercurii proximi 
 post festum translationis beati [Thom. erased} martiris 
 anno domini MCCC mo nono decimo." R. ii, f. 31, 
 
 Now and from henceforth, generally, but not univer- 
 sally, the place of meeting is thus named in important 
 chapter acts ; " actum est in domo capitulari." 
 
 The chapter had now achieved the completion of 
 their " Domus Capitularis," their council chamber ; the 
 place of business and legislation of the capitular body 
 in its several grades of governors and governed as a 
 great landed corporation in the shire, and the place of 
 discipline and of regulation of ritual of a great religious 
 and educational institution. 
 
 The building was for the most part the creation of 
 
302 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 the capitular body, and its rise in beauty and dignity 
 was a sign and record of the rise and culmination to 
 power and to independent jurisdiction of the chapter, 
 which now had grown up from small beginnings to a co- 
 ordinate position with the bishop in the home govern- 
 ment of the cathedral church, and an independence in 
 the management of its own internal affairs. 
 
 In the outer walls and interior arrangement of this 
 noble octagonal chamber, with its fifty-one canopied 
 stalls, in the engaged shafts and rich mouldings and 
 tracery of its eight noble windows, in the tall central 
 pillar branching out, palm-like, to support the vaulting 
 and the roof above, in the characteristic mouldings and 
 distinctive ornaments, such as the ballflower in the 
 window mouldings, we have one of the best examples 
 of the " decorated " order of architecture, at the begin- 
 ning of the fourteenth century, the years of the second 
 Edward, 1 307-1 327. 
 
 It may as truly be said of the chapter-house of 
 Wells as of its rival at York which lacks the unique 
 stately grandeur of the ascent of winding stair, and 
 the grace of branching central shaft : 
 
 " Ut rosa flos florum, ' 
 
 Sic est domus ista domorum." 
 
 O rose of flowers fairest ! 
 O house of beauty rarest ! 
 
 The master It is pleasant to be able to record the name of the 
 
 builder, 
 
 William joy. master builder who was working with dean Godley in 
 the prosecution of these great works. In a chapter 
 act at this time, but of which the actual date is 
 illegible, a life pension of forty shillings is granted by 
 the dean and chapter to William Joy, master of the 
 
VIt] The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242-1333. ,303 
 
 fabric, " magistro fabricae," for his faithful services to 
 the church, " pro bono et laudabili suo obsequio nobis 
 et ecclesiae nostras," and his services are retained, as 
 hitherto, to superintend the fabric and repair defects. 1 
 Again in 1329, a further pension of 36s. 8d. is assigned, 
 with the same condition of retaining his services, 
 "quolibet anno et quotiens opus fuerit, inspicere 
 defectus reparandos in ecclesia nostra, et consilium et 
 auxilium impendere." 2 
 
 We cannot fail to remark the coincidence of the con- conflict 
 
 between 
 
 flicts about jurisdiction between bishop and " dean and bishop and 
 • - /- dean and 
 
 chapter with the first mention of the entrance into chapter, 
 the new chapter-house. 1321. 
 
 The bishop may have wished to mark his formal 
 entrance into the new building by an assertion of 
 episcopal visitation, and a challenge of the alleged 
 immunities of dean and chapter from his ordinary 
 jurisdiction. It may be that he, a great state officer 
 whose duties occupied him much outside his diocese, 
 had yet to learn from the history of his church that 
 the autonomy of the chapter was the growth of long 
 years of custom, and the result of privileges and 
 grants bestowed by his predecessors in the see. But 
 when the charters of Reginald, Savaric, and Jocelin 
 were exhibited to him, he was forced to acknowledge 
 that his rights by common law had been narrowed by 
 custom and special charters, so that the prebendal 
 churches and parishes were exempt from the visitation 
 of the bishop and his archdeacons. It had come to 
 this that the bishop could not visit a prebendal parish 
 
 1. R. i, f. 179. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 181. 
 
304 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 nor summon an offending prebendary, but he must 
 admonish the dean to enquire and to answer corpor- 
 ately before him in chapter-house and to take pro- 
 ceedings accordingly. 
 
 The chapter retained throughout all these proceed- 
 ings their respect for the bishop and acquitted him of 
 personal motives ; they so fully considered that he had 
 been instigated to action by his official principal, that 
 after the settlement of the quarrel they petitioned the 
 bishop to remove his official from office, " pro honore 
 sua et pro pace et tranquillitate," as the cause of all 
 the differences that had arisen between them ; " a quo 
 tota dissensionis materia inter nos et vos sumpsit origi- 
 nem." 1 
 
 Before the question of jurisdiction had been settled 
 another subject of litigation was moved by the bishop's 
 official. He claimed the two-thirds of the sequestra- 
 tions of vacant benefices, which had been granted by 
 charters of Reginald and Jocelin to the dean and 
 chapter as a fabric fund. The dean and chapter again 
 protested. 2 But the rights of the dean and chapter 
 were so clearly established by these charters, and they 
 had been so successfully vindicated against former 
 bishops, according to proofs now put forward, that in 
 this case the bishop could not support his officials ; 
 he withdrew his right of ordinary visitation, and con- 
 ceded all the claims of the dean and chapter. 3 The 
 
 1. R. i, f. 157. William of Edyngton, clerk, was the obnoxious 
 official. He was appointed 2 kal. Oct., 1318. Reg. Drok. f. 196. 
 
 2. R. i, ff. 154, 155 
 
 3. Reg. Drokensford, f. 175. " Memorandum : the bishop yields 
 to the dean and chapter on points at issue : 
 
 (a) Their claim to fruits of vacant benefices. 
 
VI.] The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242-1333. 305 
 
 controversy had lasted two years and more, from July 
 1 3 19 to August 1 32 1. 
 
 It is curious to find as a sequel to this controversy, 
 in the very charter which accompanies the bishop's 
 concession, the practical acknowledgment by the bishop 
 that the chapter was also the guardian of the treasure 
 of the church. He borrows for some special occasion 
 from the treasurer of the church his necessary epis- 
 copal apparel, and gives a bond for safe return at a 
 given date, or the value at his death. 
 
 On December 15, of this year 1321, he gives a bond 
 to the dean and chapter for two mitres, to be returned 
 at Michaelmas 1323, if required ; also a crosier, a gold 
 and sapphire ring, sandals, and gloves ; and the value 
 estimated is to be paid by his executors at death. 1 
 
 (b) Their wonted jurisdiction over city and prebendal parishes. 
 
 (c) The wonted jurisdiction of the three archdeacons. On each 
 point with reserve. 
 
 Given at the Temple, London, 9 kal. August, 1321." The text of 
 the controversy is published in Wells Cathedral, H. E. Reynolds, 
 Appendix H, p. 133, transcribed from R. ii, f. 31, where it fills eight 
 folios; see also R. i, ff. 151, 156. It is curious that the mistake 
 "Johannes Bathon. et Glaston. Episcopus" instead of " Jocelinus" 
 runs through the copy in the registers. 
 
 1. R. i, f. 164. The two mitres are valued at £23 6s. 8d., one £10 
 the other /13 6s. 8d. ; the " baculum pastorale " at £6 13s. 4d. ; the 
 gloves "cum nodis aureis " and the sandals valued at £2, 10s. were 
 all to be restored, "vel eorum estimationem in morte. Blakeford 
 18 kal. Jan., 1321." To carry on the story a little further, see R. i, 
 f. 182, under date Oct. 23, 1329. Ralph of Shrewsbury had been 
 elected bishop. He writes to the dean and chapter that his prede- 
 cessor had sold a mitre to a burgess of London and if the chapter 
 desire he will obtain it if possible, to remain in perpetuum in the 
 church. They assent, and then they supply by the treasurer the 
 bishop's apparel for his consecration, viz. : One mitre, value 100s. ; 
 a crosier, value 10 marcs ; a silver censer, value 4 marcs ; two silver 
 candlesticks, 12 marcs, all to be restored on St. Michael's day after 
 his consecration. More careful than before, they require receipt and 
 
 Rr 
 
306 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 These were some of the valuables kept in the 
 strong room of the cathedral church, " the treasury " 
 under the chapter-house, together with the muni- 
 ments of the chapter and the documents of the 
 bishop, of which the chapter were the guardians for 
 the bishop. 1 
 
 During the years that followed, work was silently 
 
 New work going on, of which we see the results in 1326-1327. 
 
 a.d. 1325- ° ° 
 
 13*7- The dean and chapter were collecting money for 
 
 another " new work," and were making great efforts 
 to Obtain the canonization of bishop William de 
 Marchia, as St. William, the local saint. 2 
 
 In June 1324, the letters were being written to Rome, 
 to influential persons there by the dean and chapter, and 
 they were using all their influence at the English court 
 to obtain the highest support. At the end of 1325, 
 December 4, the queen Isabella wrote to the pope, and 
 the archbishop and bishops, some of whom were lead- 
 ing members of her faction, 3 united in a petition to the 
 pope for bishop William's canonization " on account of 
 
 security with oath on the Gospels from the bishop's factor for return 
 on Oct. 23. Bishop Ralph afterwards gives personal receipt and 
 bond for return. Dogmersfield Nov. 13, 1329. 
 
 Cf. Inventory of the tresor of Carlisle cathedral church in 1325- 
 1332, in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, 2nd S. xii, 129. 
 
 1. Reg. Drokensford, ff. 161-166. Cf. R. i, f. 131, documents 
 deposited there in 1281. 
 
 2. R. i, ff. 171, 172. 
 
 3. R. i, ff. 172, 174. Stubbs, Const. Hist, ii, p. 370, writing of 1323-6 
 says : ' ' The weakness of Edward and the policy of the popes, who some- 
 times played into his hands, sometimes defied him with impunity, had 
 promoted to the episcopate men of every shade of political opinion 
 and every grade of morality. Three of these, John Drokensford, 
 bishop of Bath, Henry Burghersh of Lincoln, and Adam Orlton of 
 Hereford, had been implicated in the late rebellion." These three 
 were among the petitioners, Dec. 4, 1325. 
 
VI.] The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242-1333. 307 
 
 his many virtues and the many miracles which are 
 wrought at his tomb." 
 
 But the years 1324 and 1325 were troublous times, 
 and it is evident that much disquietude was felt by the 
 chapter in undertaking these great enterprises and 
 incurring such expenses. 
 
 In January, 1325, a summons was addressed to the 
 chancellor, Thomas of Retford, for a chapter meeting Alarm of the 
 to consult on their policy, the state of their finances ape ' 
 and the reformation of the church, " super reformatione 
 status ecclesiae," which had formed the subject of 
 previous conferences, "tractatus." A general convo- 
 cation of residents and non-residents was called to 
 take counsel in these perilous times, " ad deliberan- 
 dum de convulso ecclesiae Wellensis statu atque de 
 rebus fere perditis ad pristinam dignitatem constituen- 
 dis." 1 The preamble of the summons contains com- 
 plaints of the oppressions under which the church has 
 been " trodden down ; " " modernis oppressionibus con- 
 culcata et deformata tot et tantis gravaminibus." 
 
 It has been assumed 2 that these strong but vague 
 words of alarm have special reference to that disas- 
 trous subsidence of the lately raised central tower, 
 which led to the introduction of inverted arches be- 
 tween the piers of the tower as a means of support. 
 But the recurrence of similar language in chapter 
 acts of following years, and at the same time the con- 
 
 j.. R. i, f. 169. Datum in domo capitulari Wellen. 13 kal. Feb., 
 
 J3Z4-5- 
 
 2. As by Professor Willis : " On this evidence he is reported to 
 have said that the piers of the central tower were found to be dread- 
 fully crushed, so as to produce the utmost anxiety for the safety of 
 the building." — Paper read before Royal Institute of British Archi- 
 tects, April 8, 1861. 
 
New stalls. 
 
 308 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 tinuance of new works of construction, seem to show 
 that no such grave cause of interruption occurred at 
 least during dean Godley's lifetime. 
 
 Political troubles of these years of civil war, 
 pecuniary difficulties under the heavy taxation of the 
 clergy, and, local quarrels and disturbances, were 
 cause enough to account for the strong language 
 which the resident canons used in summoning their 
 brethren to give their counsel and support in the 
 costly enterprise before them, which was no less than 
 the reconstruction, reformatio, of the eastern part of the 
 church. 
 
 Later in this year 1325, on November 10, there is 
 a chapter memorandum that the bishop had given one 
 half of the proceeds of his visitation to the "new 
 work " of the church, and a collector, R. de Wamberg, 
 is appointed. 1 
 
 There is a confirmation of this chapter act in 
 the bishop's register, under date January 30, 1325- 
 1326. 
 
 " The bishop then sent a circular to all rectors to 
 stir their people jointly and severally in aid of the 
 ' new work ' going on at Wells Cathedral ; the 
 collection for this object is to take precedence of all 
 other collections. An indulgence of forty days is 
 promised, and it is ordered that a roll of the bene- 
 factors shall be sent in, who shall share in all benefit 
 of the spiritual acts of the cathedral body." 2 
 
 The stalls in choir of Jocelin's time, were decaying, 
 
 i. R. i, f. 173. 
 
 2. Reg. Drokensford, f. 242. Indulgentia pro novo opere Cathedralis 
 ecclesiae Wellensis. Chew, 2 kal. Feb. 1325-26. 
 
VI.] The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242-133 3. 309 
 
 old-fashioned, and of bad style, " ruinosi et deformes." 
 In the new zeal for the beauty of the church they were 
 thought unworthy, and new stalls were to be provided. 
 All dignitaries are now ordered to construct their own 
 stalls: "in vigilia Sancti Martini, 1325, ordinatum fuit 
 eodem die quod canonici qui sunt in dignitate et officio, 
 sumptibus privatis faciant stallos suos et ad hoc per 
 decanum compellentur." It was ordered, moreover, 
 that each dignitary should spend thirty shillings " in 
 stallo suo faciendo," and that a tax shall be levied half 
 yearly up to that amount on each dignitary by a 
 collector then appointed. 1 
 
 This renewal of the stalls of the choir was part of Prolongation 
 
 of the choir 
 
 the " new work " in 1 326. But the stalls could not itself, 
 have been meant for the old choir, which was still 
 cramped under the tower arches. The choir and 
 presbytery were to be extended eastward, and to 
 undergo a great " reformation." It was doubtless the 
 anticipation of this great and formidable work which 
 had caused the chapter such anxiety and misgivings 
 in the January before ; while the church was in a state 
 of almost " demolition," and while the eastern end was 
 being pulled down in order to build up the new 
 north and south walls of the presbytery, the appear- 
 ance of things might well justify alarm about the 
 distracted condition and ruinous state of the church. 
 
 The renewal of their stalls was comparatively a 
 light burden to put upon the canons while such great 
 works were being designed and carried out by the 
 energy of the dean and the resident body. 
 
 For, in the same year 1326, another and a fourth 
 
 1. R. i, f. 173. 
 
310 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 " new work," as part of the great design, must have 
 been well nigh brought to perfection. 
 Eastern The beautiful eastern Lady-chapel, a detached 
 
 Lady-Chapel ' c 
 
 a.d. 1316. polygonal building, was rising up outside the eastern 
 wall of the church, separated by some distance from it. 
 There is no mention of it in the register until inci- 
 dentally we thus learn that it is built, " noviter con- 
 structa." On June 4, 1326, the bishop gave canon 
 Michael of Easton a parcel of ground in his garden 
 near to the canon's house, measuring fifty feet from the 
 wall of the newly constructed Lady-chapel, " a muro 
 capellae beatae Virginis noviter constructs:," and twenty- 
 eight feet south towards St. Andrew's Well from the 
 old wall of the bishop's garden. A medlar tree in 
 the midst of the garden was reserved for the bishop, 
 and a path of eight feet wide, as if to give him access 
 to it. 1 
 
 So in 1 326-27, the central tower, chapter-house, and 
 Lady-chapel were finished, the stalls of the choir were 
 being renewed, and the reconstruction of the eastern 
 limb of the church was going on. 
 
 Civil war, In that year, 1 326, the queen Isabella and Mortimer 
 
 were in rebellion against Edward II. These western 
 parts of England were the scene of Edward's flight, 
 imprisonment, and murder. In October 1326, the 
 • rebel party were at Bristol and the regency was pro- 
 claimed. Bishop Drokensford was one of the queen's 
 partisans. Adam Orlton, bishop of Hereford, formerly 
 
 1. R. i, f. 173. 
 
 Cf. Reg. Drokensford, f. 252. " Bishop to canon Mich, de 
 Eston. Grant of garden adjoining his house by the east end of new 
 Lady Chapel and St. Andrew's Well. The medlar to be kept for the 
 bishop with access by path eight feet wide. — 1326." 
 
VI.J The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242-1333. 311 
 
 canon of Wells, was the guiding spirit of the queen's 
 party in the deposition of Edward in the parliament of 
 January 1327, and the adviser of Edward's death. 
 Edward was murdered at Berkeley on September 21, 
 1327. 
 
 This year the chapter very nearly lost their dean. 
 Dean Godley was elected bishop of Exeter, but his 
 election was set aside by the pope in favour of John 
 de Grandison, archdeacon of Nottingham, who was 
 promoted to the see of Exeter by papal provision, 
 August 28, I327. 
 
 Yet the work at Wells was ceaseless. There was 
 work to be done in uniting the presbytery and choir of 
 the old church to its new Lady-chapel ; the presbytery 
 and choir were to be prolonged eastward, the walls of 
 the present eastern presbytery to be built, the delicate 
 triple arches to support the eastern wall with its 
 unrivalled Jesse window and its gallery of niches and 
 statues under its clerestory, and then the arcading of 
 the processional path behind the high altar which was 
 to unite the Lady-chapel and its transepts with the 
 sanctuary. All this new work was yet to be done, and 
 it was certainly begun in the later years of dean 
 Godley's life. In the years 1326 and 1327 the clergy 
 of the diocese were contributing to this " new work " 
 of the church, "in subsidio novae fabricae ecclesiae 
 Wellensis," and at the same time towards the trans- 
 lation and honourable entombment of William de 
 Marchia, whom the chapter were trying to enthrone as 
 the local miracle-working saint of those latter days. 1 
 
 1. Reg. Dirok. f. 251, May, 1326. R. i, i. 165, Dec z6, 1326. 
 The clergy of the Axbridge deanery, and (Reg. Drok. f. 267, Sept. 2, 
 
312 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 Death of 
 bp. John, 
 May g, 13291 
 
 His burial 
 place. 
 
 But now the two chief actors in this eventful period 
 were passing away. They were preparing for their 
 end by endowing chantries and ordaining services of 
 commemoration, and of intercession for their souls 
 after death. 
 
 Bishop Drokensford had obtained license of mort- 
 main from the king to the amount of £10 per annum, 
 and lands at Okehampton in Wiveliscombe, which were 
 conveyed to the chapter as endowment of his chantry. 
 He united dean Godley with himself in his ordinance 
 for the endowment of a chantry at the altar nearest 
 to his grave. This ordinance was dated 1328-9, March 
 17, 1 and he died on 9th of May following at Dogmers- 
 field. 2 He was buried at the entrance of St. Katherine's 
 chapel, the "capella beatarum Katerinse, Mariae Mag- 
 dalenae, et Margaretae," 3 on the north side of the altar, 
 where the tomb shorn of its canopy now stands. 
 
 1327), the clergy of the diocese, "omnes et singuli," give one tenth 
 from their benefices for the canonization of William de Marchia and 
 the novum opus of the cathedral. The collectors were raising money 
 for these objects in 1328. Reg. Drok. f. 30. 
 
 1. Reg. Drokensford f. 306. " Ordinatio Cantariae." The chantry 
 in the cathedral church at the altar nearest to his grave was still 
 further endowed with houses in Wells. There was to be a daily cele- 
 bration there for the soul of the bishop and dean Godley. The dean 
 and chapter nominated the chaplain, with lapse to the bishop after 
 one month. Chalice and vestments were given by the bishop to be 
 in the chaplain's charge. Dogmersfield, March 17, 1328-9. 
 
 Charter 226 contains further endowments in 1330 ; Charter 230 in 
 1332 ; R. i, f. 184, in 1338. 
 
 2. Archer quotes R. i, f. 177, but this folio has been torn out of 
 the register since his time. 
 
 3. R. i, f. 181. The dean and chapter appoint two chaplains to 
 celebrate for the souls of Robert Cormailles and the bishop in the 
 chapel of St. Katherine, 1329. 
 
 R. i, f. 193. St. Katherine's Chapel is named as the place "ubi 
 sepelitur," 1333. 
 
VI.] The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242-1333. 313 
 
 The process of election by the two chapters took 
 place at once, and Ralph of Shrewsbury canon of 
 
 The canon of Wells says, ' sepelitur ante altare S. Johannis Bap- 
 tiste,' which is the altar east of his tomb — but more distant. 
 
 This notice in the writer of the 15th century has given rise to the 
 later mistake as to the burial place of the bishop, which was by the 
 side of St. Catherine's altar, in front of the altar of St. John Baptist. 
 
 The pattern of the tomb is peculiar. The panels of the sides are 
 all blank, saving the canopied heads, which are through-cut from side 
 to side. The heads are ogeed with crockets and finials above, and 
 cusps below. The slabs of Purbeck marble under the recumbent 
 figure (which was highly coloured) are too thin to admit of inscription 
 on the bevel. 
 
 A canopy rose overhead from pedestals at the four corners, but the 
 bases of these pedestals alone remain. In each pair of spandrils 
 over the side panels are emblazoned a pair of shields, the same pair 
 again and again. One of these shields is identified as a Drokensford 
 coat by the seal still appendant to a charter of Philip de Drokensford, 
 the bishop's nephew, conveying land in Wiveliscombe for the endow- 
 ment of his uncle's chantry, 1332, 6th Edward III. Charter, 230. 
 
 See Jewers's " Heraldry of Wells Cathedral," 1892, p. 86, where 
 the arms on the seal are described as " four swans' heads, couped and 
 addorsed, in chief a label of three points (i.e. the eldest son's difference) ." 
 
 The condition of the tomb in the year 1758 is thus recorded : " In 
 a chapell beyond the quire is a curious tomb for bishop John 
 Drokensford. It was neatly arched and painted and gilded, and his 
 effigy lying thereon ; which arching was taken down in 1758, when 
 the high altar was being decayed and seemed in danger of falling." — 
 Note from a MS. note-book, formerly belonging to the Rev. Mr. 
 Bowen, one of the priest vicars, in MS. note to Britton's " Wells 
 Cathedral" in the Serel collection of papers in Taunton Museum. 
 
 See in Appendix W a further quotation as to the " high altar " in 1758. 
 
 Ss 
 
314 Chapters in Wells History. [chap. 
 
 Wells, chancellor of the University of Oxford, was 
 elected on June 2nd. 
 Dean Dean Godley had preceded the bishop in office by 
 
 obits. four years. He survived him for more than three 
 
 years and a half. 
 
 In the year 1330-1, February 21, the chapter, under 
 the presidency of the dean's friend Thomas de Retford 
 the chancellor, marked their sense of the dean's merits 
 as " a defender of the liberties of the church " by 
 ordaining during his lifetime his mortuary services. 
 It is ordained that two priests shall celebrate masses 
 for his soul at two altars, one at the altar of the 
 Blessed Virgin in the " cloister Lady-chapel," juxta 
 claustrum, the other at the new altar of Corpus Christi 
 not yet dedicated, " ad altare in honorem corporis 
 et sanguinis Christi constructum, et adhuc dedican- 
 dum." Prayers are to be said for the good estate of 
 the dean, his brother Hamelin de Godelee and his 
 friend John de Bruton canons, and for their souls, 
 and the souls of their families and also of the royal 
 family, after death. 
 
 A long array of county noblemen attest the deed, 
 which thus takes the form of a public testimonial. 1 
 Dean God- The chapter announced his death within two years 
 
 ley's death, J 
 
 Feb. 9, 1333. after, on February 9, 1332-3, "the Friday after the 
 feast of St. Agatha." 3 
 
 There is evidence that the dean was active to the 
 last in his zeal for the church. In his last year, 1332, 
 he obtained leave of absence from the new bishop 
 Ralph of Shrewsbury, and the answer of the bishop in 
 
 1. R. i, f. 179. Details of the services to be held at each altar on 
 different days follow. — Wells, February 21, 1330-1. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 191. 
 
VI.] The Chapter of Wells, A3). 1 242- 1333. 315 
 
 conveying the licence bears striking testimony to his 
 appreciation of the greatness of the work which had 
 been done, and of the dean's indefatigable zeal in 
 carrying on what yet remained to be done. The 
 bishop thus sets forth the grounds on which leave of 
 absence was sought and granted : " quum ecclesia 
 nostra reparatione seu verius nova conStructione 
 indigeat, ac tu domine decane non solum ecclesiam 
 nostram sumptibus tuis propriis reparare et pro majore 
 parte de novo construere, sed et ipsam defensare 
 laudabiliter inceperis, nee possis hujusmodi incepta 
 perficere nisi ad loca forinseca se transferes et re- 
 mota ; " and then he heartily gives him God speed in 
 his mission for the church : " Go where you will in 
 your good purposes for the restoration of our build- 
 ings," " Concedimus tibi ut vadas quocunque volueris, 
 quamdiu circa fabricam ecclesiae intenderis." 1 
 
 In the last weeks of dean Godley's life the young ^J^ m 
 king Edward III and his queen kept their court at toweiis. 
 Wells, from Christmas to Epiphany 1332-3. The fame 
 of the new chapter-house and Lady-chapel, and the 
 rising presbytery, might well have attracted them. 
 
 The chronicles of the reign tell of a sumptuous out- 
 lay on the occasion : " ubi fiebant multa mirabilia 
 sumptuosa," 2 but the presence of the court must have 
 made a heavy charge upon the resources of the bishop 
 and chapter, with large and unfinished work upon their 
 hands. 
 
 The next year, February 12, 1333-34, when the king 
 
 1. Excerpta a Kegistro Radulphi anno 1332, Harleian MS. 6964, 
 p. 62. 
 
 2. " Chronicles of Edward," i, 356 (RoUs Series). 
 
316 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 Dean 
 
 Godley's 
 
 monument. 
 
 Review of 
 dean God- 
 ley's work. 
 
 demanded a subsidy for the marriage of his sister the 
 princess Eleanor, the chapter of Wells prayed to be 
 excused, pleading the ruinous and dilapidated state of 
 their church which would swallow up their common 
 fund for more than three years. 1 
 
 It is remarkable that no monument is known to 
 exist in the church to this greatest builder since the 
 time of Jocelin. It has been reasonably conjectured 
 that the monument, a facsimile of bishop Drokensford's 
 monument, which stands at the entrance to the north 
 transept of the Lady-chapel, 2 corresponding in position 
 to the Drokensford monument on the southern side, 
 may be the contemporary memorial of dean Godley. 
 It would be an appropriate resting-place for the dean, 
 side by side with the bishop, at the entrance of the 
 Lady-chapel which the two had been instrumental in 
 building. At any rate, the Lady-chapel itself is one 
 fair memorial of dean Godley's work. Here and in 
 the chapter-house it may be said of him, " Si quaeris 
 monumentum, circumspice." 
 
 Charters belonging to the years after Godley's 
 death may be selected as a sequel to this sketch of 
 the work on which he had been employed, and they 
 show the yet unfinished state of the church at his 
 death. 
 
 r. R. i, f. 192. At the same time bishop Ralph sent £40 " in mar- 
 itagio Alienors sororis regis, et excusat se non plus posse dare ob 
 quam plurima sua debita et ass alienum." Excerpta a Reg. Radulphi, 
 f. 64, Harleian MS. 6964, p. 62. 
 
 2. It bears a recumbent figure of a priest and a defaced inscription. 
 A vague tradition has supplied the name of dean Forrest (d. 1446) 
 but against evidence : " by his will he directed that the place of his 
 burial should be ' coram summo ostio infra ecclesiam.' " Letter from 
 Rev. F. W. Weaver. 
 
VI.] The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1 242-1 333. 317 
 
 Six months after dean Godley's death, July 15, 1333, 
 the chapter gave formal release to his executors for all 
 sums which had passed through the dean's hands in 
 his several enterprises during office, " pecunias ad 
 dictum opus seu fabricam dicte ecclesiae receptas." 
 
 They were thus enumerated : 
 
 1. The demolition of the church which had pre- 
 
 ceded new work begun, " ratione demoli- 
 tions ecclesiae Wellensis et operis seu 
 fabricae ejusdem ecclesiae per eum de- 
 functum qualitercunque dum vixit, in- 
 choatae ; " 
 
 2. Completion of the new works on the fabric 
 
 and on the stalls of the choir ; 
 
 3. The canonisation of William de Marchia. 
 They reserved a claim upon the executors for the 
 
 return of some of the muniments of the church still in 
 their hands. 1 
 
 This deed forms an honourable testimony to the 
 integrity of the late dean as trustee of the large sums 
 which had passed through his hands in these great 
 undertakings, and to the exactness of his accounts 
 now wound up within a few months of his death. 
 
 The immediate successor of dean Godley was 
 Richard de Bury, but he soon passed to the bishop's 
 
 1. Charters 240. The executors named are Hamelin de Godelee, 
 Ricardus de Chudderleigh, Johannes de Chudderleigh, Rogerus de 
 Acton. 
 
 The bishop at the same time gave a release in the same terms. 
 Reg. Radulphi f. 84. The chapter document is endorsed: "Dupli- 
 cata et ideo ista remanebit in scrinio thesaurariae," and in a later hand, 
 " Release to dean Godelee's executors. Canonisatio dfli Willi de 
 Marchia." 
 
31 8 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 seat at Durham, 1 where he left an honoured name as 
 founder of the great library. 
 
 Wybertde Littleton, elected dean in place of Richard 
 de Bury, had died before installation. 2 
 Review of Walter de London succeeded August 30, 1335. At 
 
 the work, , . , . ,, , 
 
 in a.d. 1337. a chapter meeting in 1337, he reviews the dangers to 
 the church of Wells, on one hand from external 
 assaults, " concussionibus et oppressionibus plus solito," 
 and on the other from the unfinished state of the works 
 upon the church, " fabrica ejusdem ecclesiae pro magna 
 parte restauranda." Then he cites the precedents in 
 dean Godley's time, for calling upon the whole body 
 of the chapter to unite in common action to support 
 a common burden, and to provide a remedy for com- 
 mon evils. 
 
 The result of those appeals had been that the 
 resident canons, who had borne the burden and heat 
 of the day (pondus diei et cestus), had spent more than 
 ;£i,ooo in the defence and restoration of the church, 
 " mille libras et amplius sterlingorum circa defensionem 
 et restaurationem ecclesiae impenderant." But there 
 still remained a debt upon the church of £200 ; and 
 he complains that the non-resident canons, many of 
 whom held the richer prebends, had contributed 
 nothing, "ab omni contributione et subsidio pro defen- 
 sione et restauratione facienda penitus abstinuerunt." 
 He now called upon them to bear their part, and to be 
 forward in beautifying the house of God, " ad honorem 
 Dei et celeriorem exornationem ecclesiae." Then it 
 was ordered in chapter that the debt of £200 should 
 
 1. R. i, f. 193. 
 
 2. R. i, ff. 194-197. 
 
vi.] The Chapter of Wells, a.d. 1242- 1333. 319 
 
 be raised by the taxation of the prebends of all non- 
 resident canons. 1 
 
 Again, in the next year, May 28, 1338,* the dean Causes of 
 
 distress, 
 
 sends out another summons to the chapter in strong in a.d. 1338. 
 terms of distress, first on account of attacks on the 
 liberties of the church growing in violence, " ausibus 
 sacrilegis plus quam solito multiplicatis," and also on 
 account of the dangerous state of the fabric. There 
 had been frequent conferences in chapter on these sub- 
 jects, but now again the whole body is summoned at 
 the desire of the bishop, "presente et id fieri postu- 
 lante," in order that one and all should unite in support 
 of the church, and that the fabric now shattered and 
 deformed, " enormiter confracta et deformata," may be 
 finished and thoroughly restored, " expleri et efficaciter 
 expediri." 
 
 There was enough to justify this alarm of assault 
 from without, in the public affairs of the times, and 
 also there was growing up a local spirit of revolt 
 against the privileges and claims of the bishop on the 
 part of the burghers of Wells, which broke out a few 
 years later, 1343-4, in a riot at Wells, leading to a law- 
 suit which was finally decided in favour of the bishop. 3 
 There must also have been much cause of anxiety in 
 the unfinished state of the fabric. The duty lay upon 
 the bishop and chapter of carrying on the design of 
 
 i. R. i, f. 200. 1337, March 31. 
 
 2. K. i, f. 201. 
 
 3. R. i, ff. 241—246, 17 Edw. III. Nov. 8, 20, 1344. Resistance 
 to the levy of tolls at the fairs by the bishop's officers and riot. The 
 king sends commissioners to enquire; they gave three thousand 
 pounds damages to the bishop, and the charter of the pity was 
 annulled. 
 
320 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 dean Godley in the prolongation eastward of choir and 
 presbytery. When the eastern wall was broken down, 
 and new walls and vaulting were being raised, the 
 eastern part of the church would have appeared frac- 
 tured and unsightly. 
 
 Or, perhaps, now in addition, there were also the 
 warning signs in the cracks visible at this day in the 
 interior arcading of the central tower, telling of settle- 
 ments and threatening approaching downfall. But no 
 fuller or more special reference to the construction of 
 the great arches of support under the central tower 
 as yet appears in any of the chapter documents of this 
 time. 
 
 Here we must close the story of the fabric. The 
 transcript and publication of the register of bishop 
 Ralph of Shrewsbury 1 will throw light upon the next 
 very important period in its history. 
 
 Such was the state of the church of Wells at the 
 close of dean Godley's life and at the opening of 
 bishop Ralph's episcopate. So much had been done ; 
 central tower, chapter-house, and Lady-chapel, were 
 finished. The parapet round the church, raised upon 
 the semi-Norman corbel table, bears witness by its ball 
 flower in the string course that it is work of this same 
 time. Stall work for the new choir was waiting for 
 the completion of the decorated sanctuary. A won- 
 derful and beautiful series of works had been carried 
 on, the outgrowth of twenty-five years of architectural 
 genius, and enthusiasm, and labour, the memorial of 
 dean Godley. Much more remained to be done to 
 
 i. This will form the volume to be printed by the Somerset 
 Record Society for 1895. 
 
VI.] The Chapter of Wells, A.D. 1242-1333. 321 
 
 complete the grand design, and more remains to be 
 told of the progress of the fabric during the vigorous 
 episcopate of Ralph of Shrewsbury. 
 
 Yet something has been brought to light from these 
 chapter documents to show who were the builders of 
 the church of Wells, and how the work was done, in 
 the century since Jocelin of earlier fame. Dean Godley 
 and his master builder William Joy, names hitherto 
 little known among us, stand side by side with bishop 
 Jocelin and his builders, Adam and Thomas Lock, 
 Thomas Norris, and perhaps Elias of Dyrham, as the 
 builders of the next period of architectural beauty. 
 They, like Jocelin, were the finishers of works pre- 
 pared for them by the piety, the gifts, the patriotism, 
 and the labours of the men who had preceded them. 
 They too, like Jocelin, have been the authors of new 
 creations of art which have made the church of Wells 
 a " thing of beauty and a joy for ever." 
 These were the men who 
 
 " fashioned for the sense, 
 These lofty pillars, spread that branching roof 
 Self-poised, and scooped into ten thousand cells, 
 Where light and shade repose, where music dwells 
 Lingering — and wandering on as loth to die ; 
 Like thoughts whose very sweetness yieldeth proof 
 That they were born for immortality." 
 
 Tt 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The interior arrangement of the Church of the Thirteenth 
 Century. 
 
 THE growth of the fabric has been traced in outline, 
 in former chapters, from bishop Robert's time as far as 
 the beginning of the episcopate of bishop Ralph of 
 Shrewsbury. 
 
 From the same documents which have supplied 
 materials for the history, we can perhaps discover the 
 plan and interior arrangement of the church within 
 that time. 
 
 Mr. Freeman's words have given us hitherto a general 
 description of the area and divisions of the church. 
 The nave stood perfect from western door to choir 
 screen ; the choir, including the stalls of the canons 
 and the throne of the bishop, was under the central 
 tower, stretching possibly a bay eastward, or a bay 
 westward. " The central lantern, not yet driven to lean 
 on ungainly props, with the rich arcades of its upper 
 stages still open to view, rose in the simple majesty 
 of its four mighty arches as the noblest of canopies 
 over the choir below J' 1 
 
 i. Freeman, Cathedral Church of Wells, p. 99. 
 
Church of the Thirteenth Century. 323 
 
 The eastern limb of the cross contained the presby- 
 tery, the void space left to give dignity to the high 
 altar which stood at the square east end of the church 
 rich with the best detail of the thirteenth century. 
 The aisles extending further eastward enclosed a 
 procession path behind the high altar, and between it 
 and a small Lady-chapel at the extreme east end. 
 
 This description leaves undefined the line of separ- 
 ation between nave and choir, and the exact position 
 of the choir screen. 
 
 Later and more detailed study of the building has S° s jS°" r of 
 led Mr. W. H. St. John Hope to fix with scientific screen. 
 judgment upon this line of separation as running 
 between the columns of the first bay westward from 
 the piers of the central tower, and to draw out the 
 accompanying plan of the choir and presbytery of the 
 church of the thirteenth century. 
 
 The evidence of the masonry and that of the docu- 
 ments both combine to confirm that judgment. Marks 
 on the columns of the first bay and insertions of later 
 stones on the walls of north and south aisles show 
 that a wall stood there, stretching across in that line 
 from aisle to aisle, rising to the height of the capitals 
 of the columns. In the central space between these 
 columns was the choir screen, which bore upon it 
 the roodloft and pulpitum, surmounted by the great 
 Cross which looked down the nave. In the centre 
 of the screen was the choir door, and on either side 
 screens either of stone or wood were continued across 
 the north and south aisles, with a door in each giving 
 entrance into the transepts. 
 
 At the entrance of the choir, on either side of the 
 
324 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 choir door, " ad ingressum chori," stood two altars, one 
 in honour of the Blessed Virgin and the other of St. 
 Andrew, which had been lately constructed in 1306. 1 
 Before these altars at that time, by order of the chapter, 
 the obits were celebrated of bishops Burnell and Hasel- 
 shaw, endowed by the chapter with £10 a year, a 
 charge upon the revenues of North Curry, in return for 
 benefactions by those bishops. The grave-stone of 
 bishop Walter Haselshaw, who was buried in 1308, 
 a blue lias slab sixteen feet long, 2 bearing the 
 effigy of a bishop in the matrix of a brass and some 
 letters of his name, lies on the north side of the place 
 where, on this supposition, was the choir door, and 
 before the site of the altar on the north side of the 
 choir door. Here then was the screen which separated 
 choir from nave. 
 
 Statutes of dean Haselshaw's time in 1298 3 show 
 that there was reason for separating off for greater 
 privacy the eastern parts of the church, where the 
 ministers of the church were continually on duty in 
 the daily offices, and were guardians of the sanctuary 
 and of the treasury of the church. The nave was 
 a place of public resort, of traffic, and often of 
 tumult. Complaints of the noise and disorder there 
 occur in the statutes of 1298, which forbid games, 
 spectacles, and buying and selling in the nave of the 
 
 1. R. i, f. 52 ; R. iii, ff. ioi, 277 ; R. i, f. 164. 
 
 2. Godwin, De Prasul. 427, describes his burial place. " He lies 
 buried under a huge marble in the body of the church towards the 
 north, almost over against the pulpit," i.e., the stone pulpit in the 
 nave. It is also at the southern entrance of bishop Bubwith's 
 chantry, and the step rests partly upon it. 
 
 3. R. i, f. 215-219, contain the text of these statutes. 
 
VII.] Church of the Thirteenth Century. 325 
 
 church, and enforce on the sacristan greater strictness 
 in keeping order. 1 
 
 The following statute in 1297 regulates the times 
 and occasions for opening and closing the doors of 
 the church and of the 'choir, with a view to ensure 
 quiet for the church services. 
 
 De hostiis aperiendis. 
 
 In eodem die ordinatum fuit per decanum et capitu- 
 lum quod magnum hostium ecclesie sub campanile 
 versus claustrum tam de die quam de nocte sit clausum, 
 nisi quando pro processione vel alia causa necessaria 
 debeat aperiri. 
 
 Item quod duo hostia de la Karole ex utraque parte 
 chori sint clausa de nocte; ita tamen quod hostium 
 versus librarium sit apertum a prima pulsatione matu- 
 tinarum donee post tertiam pulsationem hostium chori 
 aperiatur. Ita quod idem hostium semper sit clausum 
 de die, propter conculcationem librorum ecclesiae quae 
 fit per extraneos, et per exclusionem laicorum ne 
 audiant secreta capituli, nisi de precepto alicujus 
 canonici illud contigerit aperiri. 
 
 Item quod post gloria Patri primi psalmi, hostium 
 chori claudatur et serratur per sacristam dum matu- 
 tine dicuntur, nisi ex rationabili causa illud oporteat 
 aperiri, et quod hostium versus capellam beate Virginis 
 in claustro, propter cameram necessariam, aperiatur 
 dum matutine dicuntur qualibet nocte. 2 
 
 1 . " Mercaturas exerceri intra navem ecclesiae prohibemus omnino, 
 decernentes sacristam si hoc fieri presumpserit graviter puniendum 
 — custodiat etiam ecclesiam melius solito a tumultu. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 126, anno 1297, FeD ' x 8- 
 
326 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 Doors of "This chapter memorandum is an important landmark 
 
 choir screen. r u 
 
 in determining the position of certain parts of the 
 church at this time. 
 It directs that — 
 
 (a) The great door of the church, magnum hostium 
 ecclesie, under the south-western tower was always to 
 be closed, except on special occasions, as for pro- 
 cessions. 
 
 (b) The two side doors of the choir screen, the 
 doors de la Karole 1 in the aisles, were always to be 
 shut by night. One door is described as near the library 
 "versus librarium," where the books were then kept, 
 and this door was to be kept shut also by day, to 
 prevent intrusion from the nave, and rough usage of 
 the books by the public, "propter conculcationem 
 librorum ecclesise quae fit per extraneos." 2 It was also 
 near the place of meeting of the chapter, and the door 
 was to be closed lest strangers should overhear the 
 chapter conferences, " per exclusionem laicorum ne 
 audeant secreta capituli." 
 
 The reasons thus given for closing this door also 
 indicate that the library and the chapter room of 
 that time, the capitulum, were near to one another, and 
 were near to one of the side choir doors. That door 
 must have been in the north aisle, nearest the chief 
 door of entrance into the church by the north porch. 
 That door in the screen, de la Karole, was only to be 
 opened in preparation for matins, and until the choir 
 
 i. " Karole," Carol, bears the meaning of a place enclosed with 
 partitions or screens, " Ea voce significari videtur id omne quod 
 aliquid circumseditur et vallatur." Ducangc, ii, 188, ed. 1883. 
 
 2. A list of books lent to Salisbury and returned in 1291, is given 
 in R. i, f. 116. 
 
VII. J Church of the Thirteenth Century. 327 
 
 door proper was opened, viz., between the first and the 
 third bells. The choir door was then opened, and 
 kept open until after the first psalm, and was then 
 closed until the end of matins, that there might 
 not be any going in or out during the service. The 
 other, or south door of the screen, de la Karole, was 
 generally closed, but the south transept door which led 
 into the cloister was kept open during matins, to give 
 access from the choir to the camera necessaria which 
 was there. 
 The close neighbourhood of the library and the Library and 
 
 capitulum. 
 
 chapter room at this time is shown by another clause 
 in the statutes of 1298, which orders that the com- 
 memoration of the dead forming part of the " missa 
 in capitulo " might be said, either in the library or in 
 the chapter room. 1 
 
 We are led to infer that the librarium and the capi- 
 tulum in 1298 were near the north door of the choir, and 
 in the north transept ; that the west aisle of the north 
 transept, (now enclosed by. a screen of later work, 
 within which are the vestries of the Vicars choral,) was 
 the site of the library, and that the north transept served 
 as the meeting place of the chapter, the capitulum, 
 until the great Chapter House, the domus capitularis, 
 was built. 
 
 The evidence is complete which determines the 
 position of the choir screen, of the choir door, of the 
 altars on each side of the entrance of the choir, and 
 of the screen across the aisles, each with their doors, 
 admitting into the transepts. The choir and the 
 
 1. "In festis autem novem lectlonum statuimus quod dicantur 
 Placebo et Dirige in capitulo, vel in librario, ab illis qui ad missam 
 capituli sunt ascripti." 
 
328 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [chap. 
 
 Choir. 
 Chorus 
 Cantorum. 
 
 " Ordinatio 
 clericorum 
 in choro." 
 
 Presbytery. 
 
 eastern part of the church were effectually separated 
 from the nave when the choir door and the side doors 
 were closed. 
 
 Within the screen under the central tower were the 
 stalls of the canons and the seats of the singers, and 
 the throne of the bishop at the eastern end. 
 
 The Dean and the Precentor occupied the two return 
 stalls at the entrance of the choir, the Dean on the south : 
 the two Archdeacons of Wells and Bath respectively held 
 the south and north stalls at the east, and the Chancellor 
 of the church and the Treasurer were next to them. 
 On the right of the Dean were the stalls of the Arch- 
 deacon of Taunton " if he be a canon," of the Abbot of 
 Bee, always a non-resident, and of the Subdean. On 
 the left of the Precentor were the Abbot of Muchelney, 
 the Succentor, and the Provost of Combe. 
 
 Between these stalls were ranged on north and south 
 sides the senior canons or their vicars, the master of the 
 schools, the priest-vicars, and by special distinction 
 some of the deacon-vicars. In the second form were 
 the junior canons, then the deacons and others in 
 minor orders. 
 
 On the lowest form were the boys — first the upper 
 boys who were on the foundation, pueri canonici, then 
 the others. 1 
 
 In the two bays east of the choir was the Presbytery. 
 A door on each side opened into the north and south 
 aisles, the ostia presbyterii. The tomb of bishop Jocelin 
 was in the middle space of the floor : the burial place of 
 bishop William the second of Bytton, who died 1274, 
 and his monument, lay between the second and third 
 
 1. Printed in Reynolds' Wells Cathedral, Ordinalc et Statuta, p. i. 
 
VII.] Church of the Thirteenth Century. 329 
 
 pillars on the south side, and in a line with the tomb 
 of bishop Jocelin. 1 
 
 On the stone bench on either side lay the effigies of 
 the bishops of the old Saxon church, Dudoc and Giso, 
 who had been buried on each side of the high altar, 
 and four others whose bones had been removed by 
 Robert or by Jocelin, and their effigies sculptured in 
 Jocelin's time, in honourable commemoration. 2 
 
 Within the third bay stood the high altar of St. High altar. 
 Andrew, with the Crucifix over it. Eight lights, to burn 
 in the framework of the Crucifix above the high altar, 
 were to be supplied perpetually by the churches of 
 Wellington and Chew. 3 Lands at Dulcot and Chilcot 
 had been granted by bishop Robert on the covenant 
 that three lights should burn for ever before the high 
 altar, 4 and according to bishop Reginald's ordinance, 
 one large wax light (mortarium) was to be supplied by 
 
 1. Vide p. 277. 
 
 2. When the presbytery of the thirteenth century church became 
 the choir of the fourteenth, in the time of bishop Ralph, the stalls 
 occupied part of the stone bench, and these monuments were moved 
 nearer the outer edge of the bench. 
 
 " Enclosed within the stonework, on which were the sculptup^ 
 effigies of the early bishops, were boxes containing bones, and leaden 
 tablets with the names of each bishop thereon inscribed. These 
 monuments were opened in 1848, and were moved from the stone 
 bench, where they then lay behind the thirteenth century stalls, to 
 their present positions. There was the obvious evidence that the 
 boxes were of later, probably much later date, than that of the original 
 interment." — Letter from J. R. Clayton, Esq., who was present on 
 the occasion. 
 
 3 . Two marcs were paid to the treasurer "per manus archidiaconi ' ' 
 to supply " octo cereos in scabellis crucifixi desuper altare sancti 
 Andreae." R. Hi, f. 5. 
 
 4. R. i, f. 46 ; R. iii, f. 292. 
 
 Uu 
 
330 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 the priory of Bruton from the churches of Banwell and 
 Westbury. 1 
 square or The question has been raised, and will always 
 
 apsidal end. ' . 
 
 be unsolved until the old foundations can be dis- 
 covered, whether the end of the church was apsidal or 
 square. 
 
 Professor Willis considered that the end in Jocelin's 
 time was square, with a chapel to the Blessed Virgin 
 behind the high altar. On the other hand those who 
 saw some of the foundations laid bare in 1848 give 
 their testimony that there had been an apse at one 
 time. 2 
 
 The apse would be the form bishop Robert would 
 be more likely to have followed from his Cluniac 
 associations : Jocelin may have changed the apse to a 
 square, and this change in the east end of the church 
 in itself would have involved the necessity of reconse- 
 Two chapels cration. 
 
 of the 
 
 Blessed The extension of the north and south aisles of the 
 
 Virgin. 
 
 early church beyond the line of the sanctuary gives 
 reason for supposing that there was an eastern Lady- 
 chapel behind the high altar. 
 
 We might assume, as a matter of course, that there 
 was this eastern Lady-chapel coeval with bishop 
 Jocelin's work ; but the evidence of the registers is not 
 decisive as to its existence before the latter part of 
 the thirteenth century. 
 
 1. R. iii, f. 288. 
 
 *. " On the removal of the pavement of the choir, in 1848, there 
 were certain excavations in various parts for the insertion of the 
 scaffold supports. The result of this was the revelation of deeply 
 laid stonework which I remember Mr. Salvin declaring to be the 
 foundation of the early apse." — Letter from J. R. Clayton, Esq. 
 
VII.] Church of the Thirteenth Century. 331 
 
 There is mention by bishop Robert in n 36 of the Lady-ohapei 
 chapel of St. Mary which had been endowed by Giso. ciaustmm. 
 Savaric and Jocelin endowed the daily mass at the 
 altar of the blessed Virgin ; but the position of the 
 altar or of the chapel is not once named throughout 
 Jocelin's time ; whereas in the middle of the thirteenth 
 century, from 1250 onwards, there is frequent mention 
 of the chapel of the blessed Mary, of which the site is 
 definitely described as " set in the south side of the 
 church near the cloister." That chapel is continually 
 mentioned as the scene of obituary services, and 
 especially of the Bytton family. 1 The first definite 
 mention of the eastern chapel " behind the high altar " Lady-chapel 
 
 r b behind the 
 
 occurs in 1279. In that year both chapels are named. 2 high altar. 
 In the ordinance for the execution of the will of bishop 
 William of Bytton the second, the priest is ordered to 
 celebrate at " the altar in St. Mary's chapel by the 
 cloister," and also two tapers are to burn "in St. 
 Mary's chapel behind the high altar." 
 
 Again in a charter of the year 1298 there occurs an 
 entry of offerings made at the image of St. Mary in 
 the chapel behind the high altar. 3 
 
 It is certain, therefore, that at the end of the 
 century there were two chapels of the Blessed Virgin, 
 one "behind the high altar," and also the chapel "on 
 the south side of the church, near the cloister." There 
 
 1. R. i, f. 175 ; R. iii, f. 175. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 4 ; R. i, f. 120 ; R. i, f. 128. 
 
 3. R. i, f. 128. From the will of one Lucia Laundrey, wife of 
 Nicolas le prest buried in St. Cuthbert's cemetery : 
 
 Item lego imagini beatae Mariae in capella retro magnum altare in 
 ecclesia beatae Andreae Wellensi, unum keverchef de serico, pretio 
 quinque solidos. 
 
332 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 is no evidence to determine how far the chapel be- 
 hind the high altar extended. The documents are 
 silent until in the year 1326 we have evidence of the 
 existence of the Lady-chapel then newly constructed 
 by dean Godley, at the extreme east end, and 
 detached from the church ; but the earlier chapel 
 on the south side, juxta claustrum, continued to exist 
 until it was pulled down by bishop Stillington and the 
 larger chapel, still called the Lady-chapel, was built 
 by him over its foundations in the latter part of the 
 fifteenth century. 
 Sacristy and One very important part in the church was the 
 
 Treasury. r r 
 
 vestry or sacristy where all the sacred things, the 
 trteor of the church, were kept. 
 
 In the north aisle of the choir a door leads 
 through the vestibule into the undercroft of the 
 present chapter house. This lower building belongs 
 to a date between 1263 and 1284. In the former of 
 these years the chapter, relieved from debt, began the 
 preparation for further building. In 1284 the chapter 
 ordered that the work long begun, "diu incepta," 
 should be carried forward. This was followed by the 
 gradual erection of the Chapter house. The " crypt," 
 or " undercroft," with its two divisions of vestibule and 
 interior chamber was the treasury, and also the 
 sacristy, of the church. The interior octagonal 
 chamber, secured by strong iron staunchions to its 
 narrow deeply-splayed windows, was the treasury, 
 the thesauraria ecclesia, in which the most valued 
 possessions of the church were deposited, both those 
 belonging to the bishop, his registers, vestments, mitres 
 and jewels, and also the money, sacred vessels, crosses, 
 
VII.] Church of the Thirteenth Century. 333 
 
 and vestments of the chapter. 1 It was guarded by 
 its double and heavily-barred doors, which had their 
 bolts and locks both inside and outside, and the 
 sacristan was bound by his office to sleep therein. The 
 outer vestibule with deep recesses was the ordinary 
 vestry of the clergy. 
 
 Upon this building, devoted from long time to these " Domus 
 
 . Capitularis." 
 
 two-fold uses, was raised by gradual advances, between 
 1284 and 1319, the " Domus Capitularis," the chapter- 
 house, the home and place of meeting of the capitulum, 
 for which they had long waited, without any settled 
 meeting place. Now, in this lofty and beautiful 
 building of two stories, they had their treasury and 
 sacristy below, their audience chamber above, and 
 there every morning, after the prayers of the third 
 hour and the morning mass, the chapter of the whole 
 body was held for the daily lection and commemo- 
 ration of brethren departed, for maintaining discipline, 
 hearing complaints, passing judgment, inflicting punish- 
 ment ; for ordering the services of the day and of the 
 week — for sitting in council and drawing up statutes. 
 
 When the chapter-house, the new " domus capitu- " ordinatio 
 
 clericorum 
 
 laris," was entered, in 13 19, the arrangements of the incapituio." 
 stalls in chapter was different from that ordered in 
 choir, inasmuch as the dean and chapter then formed 
 a council gathered round the bishop. This arrange- 
 ment bore witness to that original idea that the bishop 
 was head of the chapter as his council, always present 
 among them and presiding, which time and circum- 
 
 1. R. i, ff. 131, 181, P. 305. In 1306, R. i, f. 132, deeds and 
 money are ordered to be kept in an iron safe, "in fargurio viridi." 
 " Fargua=fabrica ferraria." Ducange iii, 414, 415, ed. 1884. 
 
334 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 stances had at Wells considerably modified. The 
 chapter-house was designed for a chapter of fifty 
 canons and the bishop. There were seven stalls in 
 each facet of the octagon under each of the seven 
 windows, forty-nine in all ; and one on either side of 
 the double doors of entrance under the eighth window, 
 making fifty-one stalls, including the stall of the 
 bishop. 
 
 The stall of the bishop was in the centre of the 
 eastern group of seven under the eastern window, and 
 opposite to the doors. Around him in council sat the 
 officers of the chapter and the officers of the bishop, 
 the hierarchy of the diocese, all, except the dean who 
 was the elected of the canons, appointed by the bishop. 
 
 On the right of the Bishop sat the Dean, the Arch- 
 deacon of Wells, the Chancellor, the Archdeacon of 
 Taunton, if he were a canon, " si fuerit canonicus," 1 the 
 Abbot of Bee, and the Subdean. 
 
 On the left of the Bishop were the Precentor, the 
 Treasurer, the Archdeacon of Bath, 2 " if he were a 
 canon," the Abbots of Muchelney and Athelney, and 
 the Succentor. 
 
 The other canons were in their respective stalls, and 
 the vicars in order as priests, deacons, and subdeacons, 
 on the lower bench. 
 
 The boys stood on the floor, on each side of the 
 pulpitum or desk, which stood east of the central 
 pillar. 
 
 i. Cf. "Choir Stalls at Lincoln," Archaological Journal, vol. 
 xxxviii, p. 52. 
 
 2. The archdeacons of Bath and Taunton, unless they held 
 prebends, seem to have been outside the cathedral body, as the arch- 
 deacon at Lincoln. 
 
VII.] Church of the Thirteenth Century. 335 
 
 This sketch of the interior order and arrangement 
 of the church of the thirteenth century may receive 
 some illustration if we follow the course of the pro- 
 cessions in the " Ordinate " of the church of Wells. 
 There is good reason for assuming that the ritual 
 therein prescribed belongs to dean Haselshaw's time, 
 after successive revisions during the thirteenth century. 1 
 
 " It is worthy of remark that the ordering of litanies The order 
 and processions as detailed in the printed and MS. sions. 
 manuals and processionals of the fifteenth and sixteenth 
 centuries, is verbally identical with that prescribed by 
 the consuetudinaries of Osmund, Wells, and Exeter 
 in the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth 
 century." 2 
 
 Processions of choir and clergy through the church 
 and precincts, the singing of litanies and hymns, 
 
 1. Neither "Ordinal" nor "Consuetudinary" now exist in the 
 registers of the dean and chapter except in two transcripts. One 
 is a manuscript book of 357 pages, small quarto, partly parch- 
 ment, chiefly paper, entitled " Dean Cosyn's MSS." It contains 
 very full transcripts, in various handwriting, of the statutes and 
 acts of the chapter. It bears on page 158 the writing " Liber Wilelmi 
 Cosyn Decani Wellen. Ecclesiae Cathedralis — scriptus et collatus 
 labore et sumptibus suis, anno domini iJJtf." [1506 is added in 
 margin by a later hand.] All the pages following are in the hand- 
 writing of that time and on parchment. The handwriting of the 
 former part is of earlier dates. 
 
 The other is a folio of 155 pages of parchment, bound in rough 
 calf, and lettered at the back " Statuta ecclesia Cathedralis Wellensis." 
 It is in one and the same handwriting, of the sixteenth century. 
 
 It is probable that from this later transcript the copy was made of 
 the " Ordinale et Statuta " now in the Lambeth Library (no. 729), 
 which was drawn up and sent to Lambeth, in obedience to archbishop 
 Laud's monition, by dean Warburton and the chapter, in 1634. It 
 is printed in Reynolds's Wells Cathedral. 
 
 2. J. D. Chambers' Divine Worship in England in XIII, XIV and 
 XIX Centuries, p. 182. 1877. 
 
336 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 with readings of scripture and prayer at fixed stations 
 in the circuit of the procession, were most effective 
 methods of instruction, and of impressing upon the 
 minds and feelings of the people the reality and 
 meaning of the sacred things appropriate to each 
 season and particular festival. 
 
 The clergy going out from presbytery and choir, 
 into the nave among the people, brought with them, in 
 ways which could be understood and felt by all, ex- 
 pressive signs and illustrations of the subjects for 
 thought and objects of reverence and devotion at each 
 particular season, and urged their people to join with 
 them in prayers and intercession, and in giving 
 thanks. 
 Procession Every Sunday before the great service of the day, 
 
 the procession went out of the choir by the north door 
 of the presbytery eastward, the priest sprinkling all 
 the altars, then down the south aisle of choir to the 
 south transept and into the cloister, where the priest 
 entering the cemetery of the canons said the prayers 
 for the dead, and rejoined the procession in the chapel 
 of St. Mary, where was the first station. 
 
 Thence they returned into the church and to the 
 great Cross in the nave over the choir screen, before 
 which was the second station. There followed the 
 " bidding prayer," which at Wells was always given out 
 from the pulpitum towards the people. Thence they 
 returned into the choir. The stations where the canons 
 were to stand, on each side of the nave to west door, 
 were marked on the pavement by processional stones. 1 
 
 This manner and order of this procession for the 
 
 i. These are shown in Carter's plan of 1798. 
 
VII.] Church of the Thirteenth Century. 337 
 
 first Sunday in Advent was observed on all ordinary 
 Sundays throughout the year. 1 
 
 Certain changes and additions were made on par- 
 ticular days and festivals. 
 
 On Palm Sunday, after the blessing of the branches ° n Palm 
 
 •" » Sunday. 
 
 and flowers, the line of procession was as before round 
 choir and cloister, and thence through the house of the 
 choristers on the west of the cloister, and out into the 
 cemetery of the laity, " per domum choristarum exeat in 
 cimiterio." 2 
 
 They went round the cemetery to its extremity 
 westward ; there was the first station, and there the 
 Gospel was read by the deacon. 
 
 The second station was before one of the western 
 side doprs of the church, where the precentor began the 
 antiphon, and the boys sang the festal hymn, " Glory, 
 laud, and honour to Thee, Redeemer, King." 
 
 1. De ordine processionis dominies prima in Adventu et in aliis 
 dominie is per annum. 
 
 . exeat processio per ostium presbyterii septentrionale et eat circa 
 presbyterium — sacerdos in eundo singula altaria asperget. Deinde 
 transeunte processione per ostium cimiterii sacerdos cum suis minis- 
 tris intret cimiterium canonicorum, aspergendo illud, et oret pro 
 defunctis, deinde redeat ad processionem in capella beatae Virginis 
 ubi fiat statio. Inde redeant ante crucem in navi ecclesise et ibi 
 secundam faciant stationem . deinde precibus consuetis dictis 
 chorum intrent et sacerdos ad gradum chori dicat versiculum et 
 orationem. 
 
 2. "In dominica Palmarum sunt quadam specialia annexa. 
 
 " . . in primis eant per ostium boreale chori circuens chorum et 
 claustrum, et exeant in cimiterio magno per domum choristarum, 
 circuens cimiterium usque ad locum primse stationis, et ibi legatur 
 Evangelium ab ipso diacono induto ad processionem. . . . deinde 
 eat processio ad locum secundae stationis, precentore incipiente anti- 
 phonam — fit autem secunda statio ante ostium ubi pueri cantant 
 ^Gloria, laus ' ; peracta autem statione eat processio ad ostium occi- 
 dentale, et ibi intret . et fiat statio ante crucem " 
 
 Xx 
 
338 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 On 
 
 Ascension 
 
 Day. 
 
 On 
 
 Rogation 
 Days. 
 
 On 
 
 Corpus 
 Christi. 
 
 The third station was before the other side door, 
 where the priest sang the " Verse " before the people. 
 Then through the central west door they re-entered 
 the church and made their fourth station before the 
 Cross, and thence passed into the choir singing the 
 antiphon. 1 
 
 On Ascension Day, a procession with banners, the 
 first that of Leo, " the lion of the tribe of Judah," that of 
 Draco the conquered serpent, the last, — passed through 
 choir down the nave to the west door, round the pre- 
 cincts of the church on its northern, eastern, and southern 
 sides, " circumeundo extrinsecus totam ecclesiam," into 
 the cloister by its south-eastern door, 2 and re-entered 
 the church by the west door. 
 
 On Rogation days, and on days of solemn inter- 
 cession, the procession, singing "the great litany," passed 
 through the town to the church, or a chapel where a 
 mass was sung, and then returned to the church through 
 the western door, finishing the litany in the choir. 
 
 " Eat processio ad ecclesiam in urbe vel in suburbio, 
 et ibi missa cantata, processionaliter redeat ad ecclesiam 
 per idem ostium quo egressi sunt." 
 
 On the festival of Corpus Christi 3 four priests, bear- 
 ing aloft a shrine, " feretrum in quo sit Corpus Domini- 
 cum," on four staves, under a silken canopy, passed down 
 choir and nave and through west door, and then made 
 
 i. "This procession was precisely the same at Sarum, Wells, 
 Exeter, Canterbury, and, as it would seem, at Rouen in the eleventh 
 and twelfth centuries." Chambers, p. 191. 
 
 2. Viz. : the door at right angles with the bishop's door at the 
 southern end of the cloister. 
 
 3. Chambers, p. 195, " not mentioned in the consuetudinaries, 
 except thdse of Wells and Exeter." 
 
VII.] Church of the Thirteenth Century. 339 
 
 the circuit of treasury, cloister and cemetery, " circuens 
 thesaurarium, claustrum, et cimiterium " ; and returned 
 by the same western door. 
 
 Through Lent, on Wednesdays and Fridays until i" Lent- 
 Maundy Thursday, before the commencement of mass, 
 a procession was wont to be made, without any cross, 
 through the north door of the presbytery to the chapel of 
 St. Mary behind the choir, " ad capellam beatae Mariae 
 retro chorum " ; the responsory having been sung, all 
 present kneel, se prosternunt, while the priest sings the 
 Kyrie eleison and the 51st Psalm, and standing, says 
 the collect, orationem ; after the litany has been sung 
 as far as to the intercession " sancta Maria ora pro 
 nobis," they pass round to the west door of choir, and 
 entering there finish the litany. 
 
 We pass now from the fabric of the church in the 
 thirteenth century to take note of the different com- 
 ponent members of the body then occupying choir and 
 chapter house. 
 
 There is a document belonging to the time of dean The prebends 
 
 '"' A.D. 1298. 
 
 Haselshaw, in which the number and titles of the 
 prebends then existing are formally drawn out. 
 
 The daily recitation of the whole psalter by the Recitationof 
 
 the Psalter 
 members of the chapter, each member taking his by prebend- 
 appointed number of psalms, probably formed part 
 of the "consuetudinary" introduced by the Norman 
 bishops, who moulded the constitution of the English 
 cathedral churches in the twelfth century. 
 
 The usage can be traced to very early times in the 
 ordinances of the churches of Wells, Lincoln, Salisbury, 
 and St. Paul's, London, though the actual division of 
 the Psalter among the several prebends is of later dates. 
 
 aries. 
 
340 
 
 Chapters in Wells Historp. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 The earliest draft of the statutes of the church of 
 Wells contains the order that "the whole psalter 
 shall be said daily for the brethren and benefactors of 
 the church of Wells, and two masses each week shall 
 be celebrated for living and dea'd." 
 
 " Prseterea singulis diebus dicetur totum psaltefium 
 
 pro fratribus et benefactoribus Wellensis ecclesiae, et 
 
 singulis hebdomadis celebrentur duo missae pro salute 
 
 vivorum et defunctorum." 1 
 
 p a aim° f There seems to be good reason for attributing to 
 
 divided dean Haselshaw's time the following distribution of 
 
 among the ° 
 
 prebends in the psalms among the prebends. 
 
 Though the usage dated from very early times, and 
 from the antiqua statuta, yet the actual division of the 
 psalter must have varied with the varying number of 
 prebends through the times bf bishops Reginald, 
 Savaric, and Jocelin. It was not until after the 
 impfebehdatiori of Dinder, the last-made prebend, in 
 1263, that this final division could have been drawn 
 up. Under dean Haselshaw there was a general re- 
 vision of the " consuetudinary " With a view to enforce 
 stricter discipline arid greater reverence. 2 The duty 
 of the canons to recite the psalms assigned to their 
 prebends is enjoined in the heading affixed to the 
 table bf prebends and psalms : " Singulis diebus 
 dicat dominus Episcopus hos psalmos cum confratri- 
 bus et prebendis totum psalterium quolibet die ut 
 patet inferius." 3 
 
 1. R. ii, f. 42. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 213 ; R. ii, ff. 19, 23. " Statuta edita tempore Waited 
 de Haselshawi" printed in "Wells Cathedral, H. E. Reynolds, 1881, 
 
 3. The table is found in the Cosyn MS. on page 68, and on page 
 81 in the other copy. — See on p. 335. 
 
VII.] Church of the Thirteenth Century. 
 
 341 
 
 The following is the 
 psalms : — 
 
 The Biskop 
 
 Ps. i 
 
 
 Ps. ii 
 
 
 Ps. iii 
 
 Wedmore 1 
 
 Ps. iv 
 
 
 Ps. V 
 
 
 Ps. vi 
 
 
 Ps. vii 
 
 Clyva 
 
 Ps. viii 
 
 
 Ps. ix 
 
 
 Ps. X 
 
 S. Decumanus 
 
 Ps. xi 
 
 
 Ps. xii 
 
 
 Ps. xiii 
 
 
 Ps. xiv 
 
 CUMBA I 
 
 Ps.> XV 
 
 
 Ps. xvi 
 
 
 Ps, xvii 
 
 GUMBA XIU 
 
 Ps. xviii 
 
 CUMTONA 
 
 Ps. xix 
 
 
 Ps. XX 
 
 
 Ps. xxi 
 
 Iattona 
 
 Ps. xxii 
 
 
 Ps. xxiii 
 
 
 Ps. xxiv 
 
 Haselberga 
 
 Ps. XXV 
 
 
 Ps. xxvi 
 
 
 Ps. xxvii 
 
 
 Ps. xxviii 
 
 Wandestre 
 
 Ps. xxix 
 
 
 Ps. xxx 
 
 
 Ps. xxxi 
 
 SCANDERFORDE 
 
 Ps xxxii 
 
 
 Ps. xxxiii 
 
 
 Ps. xxxiv 
 
 Wedmore ii. 
 
 Ps. XXXV 
 
 
 Ps. xxxvi 
 
 Cumba II 
 
 Ps. xxxvii 
 
 
 Ps. xxxviii 
 
 list of prebends and their 
 Cumba in. 
 
 Cumba IV 
 
 BOKLONDE 
 
 Mylverton I 
 
 Hengestrynge 
 
 Tymberscombe 
 Ayshulle 
 
 Cumba v 
 
 ESTONA 
 
 Iltona 
 Cumba xiii 
 
 DUNDEN 
 
 Cumba xiv 
 
 Ps. xxxix 
 Ps. xl 
 Ps. xli 
 Ps. xiii 
 Ps. xliii 
 Ps. xliv 
 Ps. xiv 
 Ps. xlvi 
 Ps. xlvii 
 Ps, xlviii 
 Ps. xlix 
 Ps. 1 
 Ps. Ii 
 Ps. Hi 
 Ps. liii 
 Ps. liv 
 Ps.lv 
 Ps, lvi 
 Ps. lvii 
 Ps. lviii 
 Ps. lix 
 Ps. Ix 
 Ps. lxi 
 Ps. lxii 
 Ps, lxiii 
 Ps, lxiv 
 Ps. lxv 
 Ps, lxvi 
 Ps. Ixvii 
 Ps. lxviii 
 Ps. lxix 
 Ps. lxx 
 Ps. lxxi 
 Ps. lxxii 
 Ps. lxxiii 
 Ps. lxxiv 
 Ps. lxxv 
 Ps. lxxvi 
 
342 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 CUMBA XIV 
 
 Ps. lxxvii 
 
 Berton 
 
 Ps. cxi 
 
 CUMBA VI 
 
 Ps. lxxviii 
 
 
 Ps. cxii 
 
 DULTICOTE 
 
 Ps. lxxix 
 
 
 Ps. cxiii 
 
 
 Ps. lxxx 
 
 
 Ps. cxiv 
 
 Taunton 
 
 Ps. lxxxi 
 
 
 Ps. cxv 
 
 
 Ps. lxxxii 
 
 CUMBA VIII 
 
 Ps. cxvi 
 
 Brent 
 
 Ps. lxxxiii 
 
 
 Ps. cxvii 
 
 
 Ps. Ixxxiv 
 
 
 Ps. cxviii 
 
 
 Ps. lxxxv 
 
 Wedmore iv 
 
 Ps. cxix 
 
 Wyvelescumba 
 
 Ps. lxxxvi 
 
 
 w. 1-64 
 
 
 Ps. lxxxvii 
 
 CUDDEWORTHE 
 
 Ps. cxix 
 
 
 Ps. lxxxviii 
 
 
 vv. 65-112 
 
 Ilmynistra 
 
 Ps. lxxxix 
 
 CUMBA IX 
 
 Ps. cxix 
 
 SUTTONA 
 
 Ps. xc 
 
 
 vv. 113-160 
 
 
 Ps. xci 
 
 CUMBA X 
 
 Ps. cxix 
 
 
 Ps. xcii 
 
 
 vv. 161-176 
 
 
 Ps. xciii 
 
 
 Ps. exx-exxiv 
 
 Holecumba 
 
 Ps. xciv 
 
 Wytchyrche 
 
 Ps. exxv 
 
 
 Ps. xcv 
 
 Ps. exxvi-exxxi 
 
 
 Ps. xcvi 
 
 Harpetre 
 
 Ps. exxxii 
 
 Wereminster 
 
 Ps. xcvii 
 
 Ps 
 
 exxxiii-exxxvi 
 
 
 Ps. xcviii 
 
 CUMBA XI 
 
 Ps. exxxvii 
 
 
 Ps. xcix 
 
 
 Ps. exxxviii 
 
 CUMBA VII 
 
 Ps. c 
 
 
 Ps. exxxix 
 
 
 Ps. ci 
 
 Wedmore v 
 
 Ps. cxl 
 
 
 Ps. cii 
 
 
 Ps. cxli 
 
 Cory 
 
 Ps. oiii 
 
 
 Ps. cxlii 
 
 WORMESTERR 
 
 Ps. civ 
 
 
 Ps. cxliii 
 
 WlTLAKYNGTON 
 
 Ps. cv 
 
 Dynre 
 
 Ps. cxliv 
 
 CUMBA XV 
 
 Ps. cvi 
 
 
 Ps. cxlv 
 
 MYLVERTON II 
 
 Ps. cvii 
 
 
 Ps. cxlvi 
 
 Wedmore III 
 
 Ps. cviii 
 
 LUTTON 
 
 Ps. cxlvii 
 
 
 Ps. cix 
 
 
 Ps. cxlviii 
 
 
 Ps. ex 
 
 
 
 The numbering of the Psalms is the same as in our Prayer Book. 
 The Psalms 149 and 150 are not assigned. 
 
VII.] Church of the Thirteenth Century. 343 
 
 We see that the number of the portions into which Number of 
 
 prebends. 
 
 the psalter was divided was fifty-four. There is 
 another prebend mentioned, that of Biddisham 
 (Bydsam), to which no psalms were assigned. 
 
 The assignment of the first portion of the psalter to 
 the bishop witnesses to the early and close connection 
 between the bishop as president and the chapter as his 
 council. With this exception, the psalms are assigned 
 to prebends, not to offices or dignities, except where 
 prebends were attached to offices. The number of 
 prebends at this time was fifty-four, but the dean held 
 the prebend of Wedmore annexed to his office, and 
 probably Biddisham : the prebend of Huish and Brent 
 was annexed to the archdeaconry of Wells, 1 and that 
 of Milverton to the archdeaconry of Taunton. 2 
 
 Accordingly the number of prebendal stalls in choir 
 
 and chapter house was fifty, and the bishop's stall in 
 
 chapter house made the fifty-first. 
 
 All the prebends were nominally in the appoint- Papal nomi- 
 nations to 
 ment of the bishop, but both pope and king took prebends. 
 
 frequent opportunities of filling up the stalls with their 
 
 own nominees and laymen. The registers about the 
 
 beginning of the fourteenth century contain such 
 
 instances. 
 
 In 1313 it was necessary to enforce the rule of 
 bishop Jocelin's time that the four principal personce 
 in the church should be priests, because the chancellor 
 at that time was not in full orders. 3 
 
 In 1 317 John de Orleton held his canonry "by 
 
 1. R. i, f. 41, by Savaric, before 1206. 
 
 2. R. Hi, f. 136, by Jocelin in 1241. 
 
 3. R. i, f. 119. Reg. Drokensford, f. 26. 
 
344 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP 
 
 favour of the apostolic see," which his uncle, Adam 
 bishop of Hereford, counsellor of queen Isabella, had 
 obtained at the time of his appointment to the see. 1 
 In that same year three more canons were papal 
 nominees. 
 
 In 1320 the chapter protest against the bishop's 
 order to collate one appointed by the pope, "juxta 
 formam gratiae per summum pontificem factae." In 
 the same year they refuse quotidians to another, John 
 de Ros, who was also domestic clerk to one of the 
 cardinals and absent at Rome, whom they had ap- 
 pointed at the mandate of Clement V. s 
 vicars The Vicars choral occupy a prominent place through- 
 
 out all these times. No organic part of the cathedral 
 body, they grew up from the very first as assistant 
 ministers to the canons when absent or becoming aged 
 or voiceless. They quickly became a numerous body — 
 appointed by individual canons, with the approval of 
 the dean and chapter, but dependent on the will of 
 their masters : at first for the most part ill-paid, home- 
 less, single, and without discipline, their condition 
 called for frequent correction and regulation ; but 
 bishop Jocelin recognised them as part of the cathe- 
 dral body, assigning them daily quotidians of one 
 penny from the common fund, and they were often 
 men of good position and associated with canons in 
 cathedral offices and duties. 
 
 By the statutes of 1273 they were required to have 
 a year of probation after nomination : a teacher, 
 auscultator, was assigned to each, by whose testimony 
 
 1. R. i, ff. 136, 138. Reg. Drokensford, 30, 33, 50. 
 
 2. R. i, f. 140. 
 
A.D. 1298. 
 
 VII.] Church of the Thirteenth Century. 345 
 
 the probationer's knowledge of psalter and antiphon- 
 ary and hymnary and of his skill and voice were to 
 be approved, 1 and if he had testimony of good conduct 
 from the other clergy of the church, he should be 
 "perpetuated," — "si bene morigeratus expertus fuerit, 
 perpetuetur." 
 
 The statutes of 1298 are more precise in require- 
 ments from the vicars. 
 
 These statutes give an insight into the internal work- statutes of 
 ing of the cathedral system at the close of the thirteenth Haseishaw, 
 century, and deserve some fuller notice. 
 
 The end of the century was a time for laying down 
 with greater care the duties attaching to offices in the 
 church, for tightening the bands of discipline, and for 
 raising the tone of the whole community to greater 
 reverence and sense of duty. A general convocation 
 of all the canons, " omnium et singulorum confratrum," 
 was summoned to meet on the morrow of St. Andrew, 
 1298, to discuss and ordain matters affecting the well- 
 being of the cathedral church, the chapter, and all who 
 ministered in the church. The bishop, William de 
 Marchia, was not present, nor is any reference made to 
 him as taking part in the proceedings. The statutes 
 which were the result of the three months' delibera- 
 tions, were publicly promulgated before canons and 
 vicars on the morrow of the day of St. Matthias, 
 February 25, 1298-9. 2 
 
 The preamble is a concio ad clerum in which is set 
 forth the claim of the Church to a high standard of 
 devotion and duty in all her members, that they may 
 
 1. R. ii, f. 3. 
 
 2. Haselshaw's statutes. R. i, f. 215, 219 ; R. ii, f. 219. 
 
 Y r 
 
346 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 Rules for 
 Vicars. 
 
 Attendance 
 at Services. 
 
 No Vicar to 
 lodge alone. 
 
 instruct the laity, alike by word and good example. 
 It is the work of the clergy to be fervent in prayer and 
 in reading of the scriptures — " in orationibus devotis, 
 et in sacrarum scripturarum lectione." As the church 
 is the house of prayer, habits of reverence, punctuality, 
 and attendance to duty are enjoined upon all her 
 members. 
 
 The vicars choral are more specially addressed as 
 holding a middle position, many of them priests and 
 deacons, others in minor orders and mixing with the 
 world ; the danger therefore is great lest (" quod absit ") 
 they become negligent of duty and fall away. Precise 
 rules are laid down for the attendance of all with rever- 
 ence, and punctuality and to the end of the service, at 
 Matins, Prime, high Mass, the Mass of the Blessed 
 Virgin, Vespers and Compline ; and six at least on each 
 side are to be present at the canonical hours of 9, 12, 
 and 3 ; also fines and punishments are prescribed for 
 absence, unless hindered by reasonable causes. Excuses 
 must be stated and allowed at the next day's meeting 
 in chapter before the whole body. 
 
 The practice of vicars and annellarii 1 coming to the 
 obituary services only when there is a distribution of 
 money is strongly reprobated. They are to be fined 
 at the week's end for as much as they have received. 
 
 The injunctions of previous statutes, especially in 
 1243 and lately in 1295, that no vicar shall lodge 
 alone, but either with his " master," or with another 
 vicar, which seem to have been disregarded, are now 
 enforced by immediate suspension from choir and with- 
 
 1. Annellarii and altaristce were those who served the altars at 
 obituary and anniversary services. 
 
VII.] , Church of the Thirteenth Century. 347 
 
 drawal of commons from some offenders, and the same 
 punishment is threatened on all who shall disobey. 
 The great difficulty of enforcing discipline upon vicars 
 who lodged in unlicensed lodgings was now pressing 
 upon the chapter the consideration of establishing a 
 college house where all might live together. Twenty 
 years after this, in 1 3 18, the scheme had so far advanced 
 that a house was marked out, and the matter was left 
 to dean Godley to draw up terms and to make arrange- 
 ments. 1 Nothing more was done at that time, but it is 
 to be noted that the dean and chapter were the first to 
 set on foot the scheme which was successfully carried 
 out by bishop Ralph, in the establishment of the 
 " College of Vicars Choral." 
 
 The earlier statutes for the admission and probation Removal of 
 
 Vicars by 
 
 of vicars are confirmed, with the additional statute dean and 
 
 chapter, 
 that a vicar showing defect of voice or skill shall be 
 
 removed from office by the dean and chapter, who shall 
 
 have the appointment for that turn, "absque omni 
 
 offensa et indignatione praesentatis." Canons are to 
 
 be punctual in their payments to their vicars, and 
 
 responsible for the good behaviour of those in their 
 
 household. As if in preparation for the entrance into 
 
 the new capitular house, the attendance of all vicars is 
 
 required at the daily chapter meeting after prime, which 
 
 is the occasion for the commemoration of the departed, 
 
 for the reading of the lectures by the reader appointed, 
 
 for hearing and correcting of faults, and on Saturdays 
 
 for the ordering of the weekly services by the precentor. 
 
 1. R. i, f. 143. "The last convocation determined that a house 
 should be provided for the vicars, the dean to arrange about 
 expenses." 
 
348 Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 In the meantime it is allowed that on certain occasions 
 the commemoration of the departed may be said 
 either in the ordinary place of meeting of the chapter, 
 or in the library, " in capitulo vel in librario." 1 
 
 The duty of the canons to recite the psalms belonging 
 to their prebends is now enforced by a distribution of 
 the psalter between the bishop and fifty -three prebends ; 
 and the same duty is required from the altaristce as an 
 act of intercession for the bishop, the chapter, and other 
 benefactors of the church, and the tabellarius is to mark 
 the observance of the duty. 
 Revision of a committee of discreet men is to be appointed, 
 
 the ordinal. r r 
 
 " deputentur aliqui discreti," to revise the Ordinal and 
 the Martyrology : another committee of vicars to cor- 
 rect the Antiphonary and Gradual, so that all confusion 
 in the services and material of discord may be removed. 
 Visitors are to be appointed to make a yearly inspec- 
 tion of the canonical houses, and to make valuation of 
 dilapidations ; and finally an estimate is drawn up of 
 the separate value of each prebend, according to which 
 the taxation of stall wages due to the vicars is to be 
 regulated, and the proportions due on vacancies, respec- 
 tively, to the estate of the deceased and to the communa 
 of the canons should hereafter be assessed. A tax- 
 ation of a tenth of all incomes of canons for five years, 
 " decima quinquennalis," is ordered. 
 Lights The duty is specially enforced on the treasurer of 
 
 before the , - , „ . , 
 
 Cross in providing two lights on each side of the Cross in the 
 nave on different festivals, at vespers, matins, and high 
 mass, of sufficient size to give light there, and of 
 
 i. See pp. 326-7. 
 
 nave. 
 
VII.] Church of the Thirteenth Century. 349 
 
 supplying Incense pure and good, sicut antiquitus solet, 
 for the altar purposes. 
 
 The mention in these ordinances of clerics, and of schools, 
 boys who had their place in the choir and chapter- 
 house, suggests that a certain amount of educational 
 work was going on in connection with the cathedral 
 church. There were the boys of the choir on the foun- 
 dation, " pueri canonici," for whom the " domus choris- 
 tarum " on the west of the cloister was provided. Be- 
 sides this choir school there were also " scholae gram- 
 maticales," for the younger vicars and youths, and for 
 the purpose of a higher or more varied education, 
 which were endowed with land, certain houses, and a 
 croft, and half an acre in the " Muntoria," which Roger 
 the chaplain of bishop Jocelin conveyed to the chan- 
 cellor of the church and to his successors, in 1235, to 
 be by them assigned to the master of the schools for 
 the time being, for the perpetual use of the schools and 
 scholars. 1 The "magister scholarum" had his place 
 in choir, as vicar of the prebend of Biddisham. 2 An 
 early charter contains a letter from pope Innocent 
 III, addressed to bishop Jocelin in 1213, directing 
 him to receive into favour a poor scholar who had as 
 a teacher laid violent hands on his schoolfellows and 
 clerks, and had been suspended but absolved, which 
 suggests the existence of schools in Jocelin's time, and 
 Wells as the scene where this had occurred. 3 
 
 1. R. i, f. 33. " Domus in usum scholarum magistri." R. i, ff. 
 34, 35. Cf. Charters 30, 36, anno 1235. 
 
 2. " Bydsam prebenda sancti Andreae cujus vicarius est magister 
 scholarum." 
 
 3. Charter 20. See p. 187. Another mention is made of these 
 schools in a fragment of a letter from a student at Oxford to his 
 brother, a vicar at Wells, in the fifteenth century. Charter 639. 
 
3 So Chapters in Wells History. [CHAP. 
 
 We have before us now the church of the thirteenth 
 century, as we are able to gather from notices in chapter 
 records the area of the building, and the chapelries and 
 altars within and around the church. 
 
 This was the scene where, in Carlyle's well-known 
 words, "painful living men worked out their life 
 wrestle, looked at by earth, by heaven, and hell. Bells 
 tolled to prayers, and men of many humours, various 
 thoughts, chanted vespers, matins, and round the little 
 islet of their life rolled for ever, as round ours still 
 rolls, though we are blind and deaf, the illimitable 
 ocean, tinging all things with its eternal hues and 
 reflexes, making strange prophetic music." 1 
 
 It is easy to criticise and condemn the modes of 
 religious worship of the times that are not our own. 
 It is easy to cite cases of offences and scandals in the 
 lives of men in different orders belonging to the 
 cathedral church, as it is always easy to show how 
 most men live below the ideal of the profession to 
 which they belong. 
 
 It is more profitable to mark, in conclusion, the high 
 ideal which representative men in the church of Wells 
 had before their own minds, and made it their duty to 
 enforce upon the community placed under their govern- 
 ment at the close of the thirteenth century. 
 
 We have seen what Robert and Jocelin planned and 
 fashioned as founders and builders and legislators. 
 The statutes of dean Haselshaw are a landmark 
 marking the highest tide in the ebb and flow of the 
 history during the succeeding century, and they 
 moulded the order and government of the church 
 
 i Carlyle's Past and Present. 
 
VII.] Church of the Thirteenth Century. 351 
 
 during the first years of the fourteenth century, while 
 the fabric was growing in form and beauty. 
 
 Here, at Wells, in times of the growth of civil insti- 
 tutions, and of national progress, one high purpose 
 through the ages ran of raising up a building of the 
 highest architectural beauty, as a centre of devotional 
 life, of education, and discipline ; a school of music and 
 of art. 
 
 It has been the aim in these chapters to draw out a 
 local chronicle from homely materials, and to show 
 how the zeal and efforts of the men of the soil, the 
 landowners, and the clergy of the cathedral church, 
 the clergy and laity in their parishes, the townsmen 
 and artisans, have had their part in working out this 
 purpose and in handing down to us in the church of 
 Wells " this glorious work of fine intelligence." 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 Register i, folio 31. 
 
 De ordinatione prebendarum et institutions commune. 
 
 Universis sancte matris ecclesie filiis Robertus Bath- 
 oniensis ecclesie minister humilis, salutem in domino. 
 
 Nostri nos admonet sollicitudo propositi de ecclesi- 
 arum nostrarum utilitate per omnia cogitare, ne si qua 
 in eis de neglectu jactura proveniat in supremo debe- 
 amus examine culpabiles inveniri. Proinde postquam 
 divine pietatismiserationos non nostris meritis.sed dono 
 sue gratie cathedram nos fecit episcopalem conscendere, 
 cure nobis fuit ab ecclesiis sollicitudini nostre commissis 
 propulsare malitiam, omnemque ab eis zeli vel conten- 
 tions fomitem radicitus exstirpare. 
 
 Quum ecclesiam Wellensem indebitis prepositure 
 oppressionibus supra modum afflictam invenimus et 
 gravatam, ejus compatientes insidiis et calamitatibus 
 condolentes, communicato consilio archiepiscoporum 
 episcoporum aliarumque religiosarum Anglie person- 
 arum, exigentibus quoque ejusdem ecclesie canonicis, 
 decanum illic ordinavimus, concessis sibi dignitatibus 
 libertatibus et consuetudinibus canonicis ecclesiarum 
 Anglie bene ordinatarum. 
 
 Et ne in eadem ecclesia pristina tribulatio locum 
 denuo vendicaret, possessiones et predia que ad earn 
 
Appendix A. 353 
 
 fidelium sunt donatione devoluta in prebendis taliter 
 distribuantur. 
 
 De Wedmorlanda sex prebendas et decanatum feci- 
 mus, ut una videlicet prebenda sit ecclesia de Wedmore 
 cum appenditiis suis, quam ad decanatum omni volumus 
 tempore pertinere. Secunda vero prebenda sit terra 
 de Bidesham, una duntaxat virgata excepta, quam 
 prebendam ad reparandam ecclesiam beati Andree et 
 ornamenta emenda specialiter assignavimus, ut ipsa 
 nihilominus prebenda vicarium debeat invenire. 
 
 Reliquam terram de Wedmor cum Mudesleye et 
 Marche et ceteris pertinentiis suis et virgatam terrae in 
 Bidesham superius exceptam.decanum perpetuo tenere 
 statuimus, redditurum exinde quatuor canonicis annu- 
 atim viginti libras, singulis centum solidos, et quicquid 
 superesse contigerit suis usibus, cum ecclesia de Woky 
 decanatus nomine noverit attributum. 
 
 Luthunam unam prebendam esse volumus decanatui 
 in perpetuum assignatam, Witechurche unam preben- 
 dam, Dultingchot et Chellecote unam, Wormestorre et 
 Wandestreu unam, in Wynesham quinque, ut una 
 sit ecclesia ejusdem fundi. Ipsa vero villa tres 
 prebende, quam teneat unus canonicorum redditurus 
 exinde annuatim duas prebendas singulas centum 
 solidorum, residuo sibi in prebendam retento. Quinta 
 autem prebenda sit Bromleya. Cumbam vero tan- 
 quam unam prebendam Reginaldo precentori tota 
 vita sua tenere concessimus, memores beneficiorum 
 que ab avunculo suo bone memorie Johanne episcopo 
 ecclesie nostre collata sunt. Post decessum enim 
 Reginald! tres prebendas et cantariam de villa ipsa 
 faciendas decrevimus ad arbitrium episcopi et decani et 
 totius capituli, ecclesia ejusdem ville quintam nihil- 
 
 z z 
 
354 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 ominus constituente prebendam. Praeterea pro remedio 
 anime nostre, necnon et decessorum vel successorum 
 nostrorum, dedimus beato Andree in Wellis ecclesiam 
 de Yatton in prebendam. 
 
 Hiwys quoque in Brentemarisce et ecclesiam de 
 Cumpton quas eidem sancto Andree integre et quiete 
 in perpetuum dedimus patrimonium possidendas, in 
 unam fecimus convenire prebendam. 
 
 Dimidiam etiam hydam in Wotton cum virgata 
 terre quam jocunde recordationis Gyso episcopus dedit 
 capelle Sancte Marie, necnon et dimidiam hydam quam 
 pie memorie Godfridus episcopus ecclesie sancti Cuth- 
 berti contulisse noscitur in sua dedicatione, decimam 
 quoque vini nostri memorate ecclesie sancti Andree 
 concedimus. Et hac nostre auctoritatis pagina con- 
 firmamus amplius, ut nocturne canonicorum vigilie 
 aliquod solatium sortiantur, de chyrsettis et decimis ad 
 sepedictam sancti ecclesiam Andree pertinentibus 
 panem fieri constituimus, canonicorum qui matutinis 
 interfuerint usibus profuturum. 
 
 Prescriptam ergo prebendarum distinctionem seu 
 etiam donationem ut rata in posterum et illibata per- 
 maneat, sigilli nostri impressione signatis ad posterorum 
 notitiam Uteris fecimus commendari, rogantes ut omnes 
 qui in episcopatu nobis successuri sunt, quod a nobis 
 pie prorsus et salubri provisione statutum est, ratum 
 habeant, et inconvulsum perpetuo studeant servare, 
 quatenus a bonorum omnium retributore uberes exinde 
 mercedes debeant expectare. 
 
 Acta sunt hec in presentia Henrici Winton epis- 
 copi, et postea subscriptis testibus connrmata, Willelmo 
 Cantuar. et Thurstano Eborac. Archiepiscopis, Rogero 
 Sarum. Willelmo Exon. Simone et aliis. 
 
Appendix B. 355 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 CONTEMPORARIES OF BISHOP REGINALD. 
 
 (a.) a.d. 1174-1191. 
 Kings : 
 
 Henry II 1154, 1189. 
 
 Henry III junior, 1170-1183. 
 
 Richard, 1189. 
 Popes : 
 
 Alexander III 1159-1181. 
 
 Lucius III to Nov. 25, 1185. 
 
 Urban III to 1187. 
 
 Gregory VIII Oct. 20 to Dec. 17, 1187. 
 
 Clement III 1187 to 1191. 
 
 Celestine III 1191 to 1198. 
 Archbishops of Canterbury : 
 
 Richard, 1174-1184. 
 
 Baldwin, 1190. 
 
 Reginald, Nov. 27 to Dec. 26, 1191. 
 Deans of Wells : 
 
 Richard of Spakeston. (Bishop Reginald, Charter ii). 
 
 Alexander. (R. i, f. 23, et passim ; f. 60 ; f. 61). 
 Precentors : 
 
 Reginald. (R. i, 36, 1164). 
 
 Albert, or Ilbert. (Bishop Reginald, Ch. ii). 
 
 William of S. Faith. (R. ii, f. 14). 
 Chancellors : 
 
 Robert. (R. i, f. 25). 
 
 Peter de Winton, 1185. 
 Treasurer : 
 
 William. (Bp. Reginald, Ch. ii). 
 Archdeacons : 
 
 Wells : Thomas. (R. i, f. 25 ; f. 36). 
 
 Robert de Geldeford, 1185. (R.i, f. 38 ; iii, f. 357). 
 Ralph de Lechlade. (Charter 9). 
 Richard. (R. i, f. 25, and i, f. 48). 
 Godfrid. (R. i, f. 24). 
 
 Bath: Richard of Poitiers. (R.i, f. 48). 
 Peter of Blois. (Ep.Cant.) 
 Subdeans : 
 
 Robert. (Bp. Reginald, Ch. i). 
 
 Alexander. (Charter 10). 
 
 Thomas. (Charter 13). 
 Succentors : 
 
 Galfrid. (R. i, f. 36, 1164). 
 
 Adam. (R. i, f. 61). 
 Priors of Bath : 
 
 Hugh. 
 
 Walter. (R. i, f. 27). 
 
 Gilbert. 
 
356 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 CONTEMPORARIES OF 
 
 BISHOP SAVARIC. 
 
 A.D. 1192-1205. 
 
 BISHOP JOCELIN OF WELLS. 
 
 A.D. I206-I242. 
 
 Kings : 
 Richard I ii8g-ngg. 
 John, 1199-1216. 
 
 Popes : 
 Clement III 1187-1191. 
 Celestine III 1191-1198. 
 Innocent III 1198-1216. 
 
 Archbishop . 
 
 Hubert, 1193-1205. 
 
 Dean : 
 Alexander. 
 
 (R. i, f. 23). 
 
 Precentor : 
 William. 
 
 (R. i, f. 23 ; f. 57). 
 
 Archdeacons : 
 
 Wells : Robert de Geldeford. 
 
 Hugh de Welles. 
 Bath : Robert de Geldeford. 
 
 Ralph de Lechlade. 
 Taunton : William de Wrot- 
 
 ham. (Pat. 6 John). 
 
 Subdeans : 
 William. (Le Neve). 
 Thomas. (R. i, f. 23, in d. 
 i- 57)- 
 
 Priors of Bath . 
 Walter. 
 Robert. (R. 1, f. 49). 
 
 Kings : 
 John, 1199-1216. 
 Henry III 1216-1272. 
 
 Popes : 
 
 Innocent III 1198-1216. 
 Honorius, 1216-1227. 
 Gregory, 1227-1241. 
 Innocent IV 1243-1254. 
 
 Archbishops : 
 
 Stephen, 1207-1228. 
 Edmund, 1234-1240. 
 
 Deans : 
 
 Alexander (R. i, f. 57), 1209. 
 Leonius, 1213. 
 
 Ralph de Lechlade(R.i,f.57),i2i6-i220. 
 Peter of Chichester (R. i, f. 27, in d. 
 
 1220, 59), 1236. 
 William de Merton (R. i, f. 43), 1236. 
 John Saracenus (R. i, f. 57), 1237-1250. 
 
 Precentors : 
 William de Hamme. (R. i, f. 61 ; f. 57). 
 Thomas deTornaco, 1213. (R.iii.f. 383). 
 
 Chancellors : 
 Richard deKenelword, 1235. (R.i,f.33). 
 Thomas of Retford. (R. i. f. 34 ; f. 46). 
 1213. (R. iii, f. 383). 
 
 Treasurers : 
 Peter. (R. i, f. 61). 
 Richard. 
 
 Archdeacons : 
 Hugh de Welles. 
 Ralph de Lechlade. 
 William de Wrotham, 1215. 
 Hugh de Wilton. 
 William de Bardeney, 1221. (R.i,f.44). 
 
 Subdeans : 
 Thomas. (R. i, f. 57). 
 Lambert. (R. i, f. 27, in d.). 
 
 Priors of Bath : 
 
 Robert. (R. i, f. 54). 
 Thomas. 
 
Appendix C. 357 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 Appointment by Louis VII king of the French, of 
 
 Reginald, archdeacon of Salisbury, to be abbot of St. 
 
 Exuperius, Corbeil. Dated Melun, 1164. 
 
 Charter 7. 
 
 In nomine sancte et individue Trinitatis, Amen. 
 
 Ego Ludovicus dei gratia Francorum rex. Nobis 
 honor est, et ecclesiis nostris commodum, quotiens 
 earum curam discretis et honestis committimus viris. 
 Notum itaque fecimus universis tam presentibus quam 
 futuris quod abbatiam sancti Exuperii 1 de Corbolio, 
 Reginaldo archidiacono Salesberiensi, pro honestate 
 sua, et pro amicorum suorum prece donavimus, haben- 
 dam et tenendam, sicut frater meus Philippus et ceteri 
 ante eum abbatiam tenuerunt et hoc fecimus salvo 
 jure nostro et canonicorum salva etiam ecclesie digni- 
 tate ; quod ut ratum sit in posterum scribi [nostra auc- 
 torit]ate communire precepimus. Actum Miledu[num 
 incarnjati M°. C° lxiiij. astantibus in palatio [quorum 
 infra scrijpta sunt nomina et signa. 
 
 S' comitis Theobaldi dapiferi nostri. 
 
 S' Mattei camerarii. 
 
 S' Guidonis buticlarii. 2 
 
 S' Constabulario nullo ; 
 Datum per manum Hugonis cancellarii. 
 
 1. St. Exuperius, " a military saint, one of the companions of St. 
 Maurice." 
 
 2. V. Ducange — Buticlarius. idem quod pincerna — 
 
 "buta = lagena, cupa ; butta = dolium, vas vinarium ; 
 buticula, dim.=bouteille — buticularius Franciae — unus e 
 quatuor majoribus palatii officialibus qui literas et diplomata 
 regia subscribebant. 
 The document is on a small piece of parchment much worn and torn. 
 The letters within brackets are wanting, and are supplied conjecturally. 
 
358 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 APPENDIX D. 
 
 Gifts of bishop Reginald to the church of Bath. 
 
 Vide Registrum Prioratus Bathon., p. 315. 
 
 [R]EGINALDUS episcopus hujus loci omnes terras nos- 
 tras a predecessoribus suis ad opus fabrice ecclesie 
 nostre diucius detentas devote restituit, et que a prede- 
 cessoribus suis nobis restitute erant affectuosius ab 
 ipso nobis, confirmate sunt. Ecclesiam de Aystona, 
 Ffulconis de Alneto, in usus proprios nobis confirmavit. 
 Ecclesias de Brugges et de Kary et de Radestoke 
 nichilominus in usus proprios nobis confirmavit. 
 Ecclesiam etiam de manerio nostro de Fforda in usus 
 proprios nobis confirmavit et proventus ad fabricam 
 ecclesie nostre assignavit. Oblacionem vero pentecos- 
 talem a predecessoribus suis nobis concessam, ecclesie 
 nostre veluti matrici ecclesie Somersetie devotissime 
 confirmavit. Hospitale sancti Johannis in Bathonia 
 ecclesie nostre contulit, et de ipso sicuti de propria 
 elemosinaria nostra nobis disponere concessit. Corpus 
 beate Eufemie virginis et martiris 1 ecclesie nostre 
 contulit, et plures reliquias sanctorum cum capsulis 
 eburneis. Albam quoque preciosam auro textam, amic- 
 tum quoque, et mitram sancti Petri Tarentasiensis 8 
 ecclesie nostre adquisivit. Cereum vero ardere ante 
 corpus dominicum et sanctorum reliquias constituit, et 
 quadraginta solidos ad ejus perpetuitatem de ecclesia 
 de Banewelle, per manus canonicorum de Briwtone 
 
 1. Cf. Stanley, Memorials of Canterbury, App. F. p. 280. 
 m.. Tarentasiensis is the reading which Mr. Hunt has supplied. 
 Peter, archbishop of Tarentaise, was Reginald's consecrator, p. 47. 
 
Appendix E. 359 
 
 assignavit. Bibliotecam eciam ecclesie nostre, pluri- 
 
 bus libris ditavit. Plura etiam ornamenta Ecclesie 
 
 nostre contulit, scilicet duas capas preciosas et v 
 
 meliora et majora pallia. Ecclesiam vero nostram 
 
 cartis regum de libertatibus, et privilegiis summorum 
 
 pontificum de dignitatibus sufficienter ditavit. Cujus 
 
 anniversaria dies in albis celebretur, et C pauperes 
 
 reficiantur, et mensa fratrum copiosius procuretur. 
 
 The register of Bath Priory is a manuscript in the library of the 
 Society of Lincoln's Inn, who kindly allowed this transcript to be made 
 in 1885. 
 
 APPENDIX E. 
 
 1 174 — 1 180. 
 
 I. Bishop Reginald's charter to the town of Wells, con- 
 firming bishop Roberts charter forbidding markets 
 in the church and its precincts, and giving free 
 markets to Wells. 
 
 MS. in the Town Hall of Wells. 
 
 Carta Domini Reginaldi Episcopi Bathoniensis. 
 
 TJNIVERSIS Christi fidelibus ad quos presens carta 
 pervenerit Rainaldus divina miseratione Bathon. 
 episcopus salutem ab auctore salutis. 
 
 Ad universitatis vestre notitiam volumus devenire 
 nos cartam Roberti bone memorie Bathon. episcopi 
 predecessoris nostri inspexisse, et earn in presenti 
 pagina de verbo ad verbum annotasse. 
 
 1 Robertus Dei gratia episcopus Bathoniensis uni- 
 
 1. Cf. R. Hi, ff. 245, 246. 
 
360 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 versis fidelibus tam clericis tarn la ids tam Francis 
 quatn Anglis, salutem et Dei benedictionem. 
 
 Postquam divina vocante dementia pontificatus 
 apicem dignitatis conscendimus summa ad hoc animi 
 intentione desudavimus, ut ecdesiae beati Andree in 
 Wellis regimini nostro eommissaevenerationem debitam 
 impenderemus, et ab aliis impendi faceremus ; et si que 
 in ea prave essent consuetudines eas a liminibus ejus 
 pulsaremus, et honorem ejus et utilitatem quantum in 
 nobis erat amplificaremus. 
 
 Nonnullorum autem constat experientie quod tumul- 
 tus nundinarum que in eadem ecclesia et in atrio ejus 
 hactenus esse consueverunt ad dedecus et incommodum 
 ejusdem ecclesie accidit, cum in ea ministrantibus 
 quam maxime sit importunus, quia et eorum devoti- 
 onem impedit et orationum quietem perturbat. Verum 
 ne contra vocem divinam domum orationis speluncam 
 patiamur esse negotiationis, statuimus et firmiter pre- 
 cipimus ut quicunque illic in tribus festivitatibus, vide- 
 licet in Inventione S. Crucis et in festivitate S. Calixti, 
 et in celebritate beati Andree, negotiaturi convenerint, 
 in plateis ville illius negotiationes suas securi et ab 
 omni prava consuetudine et in quietudine libere exer- 
 ceant, et nullatenus ecclesiam vel atrium ecclesie violare 
 presumant. 
 
 Concedimus etiam consilio clericorum nostrorum et 
 constituimus, ut omnes in predictis festivitatibus et 
 earum vigiliis quieti de teloneo in perpetuum perma- 
 neant. Quod quidem in posterum ratum esse volentes 
 presenti scripto commendamus et sigilli nostri impres- 
 sione roboramus. Testes : Ivo decanus Wellensis : 
 Reginaldus precentor: Robertus et Thomas archidi- 
 
Appendix E. 361 
 
 aconi : Edwardus : magister Eustachius : Willelmus 
 de sancta fide : Radulfus Martre : Willelmus de Ate- 
 bera : Petrus de Chiu : Walter Pistor : et alii multi 
 clerici et laici. 
 
 Nos igitur venerabilis predicti decessoris nostri vesti- 
 giis inherentes, ob reverentiam beati Andree Apostoli 
 et ad petitionem burgensium nostrorum Wellensium, 
 omnes consuetudines et libertates negotiatoribus illic 
 in tribus festivitatibus et earum vigiliis venientibus ab 
 eo concessas ratas habentes et in posterum illibatas 
 volumus permanere, adjicientes ut eisdem libertati- 
 bus et consuetudinibus in crastino etiam omnium pre- 
 dictarum gaudeant festivitatum, nobis quidem et 
 successoribus nostris de consensu predictorum burgen- 
 sium conductus omnium seldarum medietas in pre- 
 scriptis nundinis debet in perpetuum remanere. 
 
 Que omnia ut rata et intacta in posterum persever- 
 entur presentis scripti testimonio et sigilli nostri appo- 
 sitione duximus confirmandum. 
 
 Hiis testibus : magistro Willelmo thesaurario Well': 
 Roberto subdecano Well' : magistro Rad. de Lichel : 
 Jocelino capellano : Willelmo de Meleburn : Johanne 
 de Cumb. : Thoma de Dinant. : Gaufrido clerico : 
 magistro Rogero medico : Michaele clerico : Hugone 
 clerico : Henrico de Armentiis : Willelmo de Erleg : 
 Philippo de Wika : Ricardo de Ken : Walerando de 
 Wellesley : Willelmo de Maulerb' : Reginaldo de 
 Wodeford : Eadward de Wellis : Godefr. de Cnoll : 
 Jocelino de Welles : Willelmo de Sept : Henrico 
 bedello. Hugone fabro. Willelmo forestar. Rad. 
 Cade. Huberto filio coci. Alfredo mercatore. Raino. 
 
 A AA 
 
362 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 Ruffe. Gauff. Ruffo. Rad. Cusin. Wilielmo coco et 
 aliis multis. 
 
 Endorsed : Carta dni Regiii Ep' Bathofi 
 
 de tribus nundinis concessis . . . 
 
 The silk cord and a fragment of green wax on which 
 is the outline of a bishop's robe and a few letters are 
 attached to the earlier of the two charters. 
 
 The seal of the other was in fair preservation in 1886 ; 
 on it is the figure of a bishop in the act of blessing 
 with right hand — a pastoral staff in the left. The 
 legend on it 
 
 + RffGINALDVS DSI GRATIA BATHONIGCNSIS 
 ffPISCOPVS. 
 
 II. Bishbp Reginald's charter to the town of Wells. 
 
 MS. in the Town Hall, Wells. 
 
 Carta domini Regindldi episcopi Bathon. 1 
 
 UNIVERSIS Christi fidelibus ad quos presens carta 
 pervenerit Reginaldus Dei gratia Bathoniensis episco- 
 pus salutem in domino. 
 
 Patrum et predecessorum nostrorum inherentes 
 vestigiis et eorum auctenticis ducti et docti exemplis, 
 quod ipsi sua statuerunt industria nos roborandum 
 duximus auctoritate nobis a deo indulta. 
 
 Concedimus ergo juxta tenorem carte predecessoris 
 nostri pie memorie Roberti episcopi villam Wellie bur- 
 gum esse in perpetuum et eisdem finibus quibus in 
 eadem carta diffinitum est et prescriptum. 
 
 1. Copies made from the charters by kind permission of the Town 
 Clerk. 
 
Appendix E, 363 
 
 Volumus etiam et concedimus ut quilibet intra 
 easdem metas messagium aliquid in presentjam possi- 
 dens vel in posterum possessurus nomine burgagii 
 liberam habeat commorandi, reccdendi, et revertendi, 
 simulque domos suas impignerandi, vendendi, necnon 
 et donandi, nisi dpmibus religiosis, Ijcentiam, secundum 
 propriam sue dispositions voluntatem, redituum nos- 
 trorum integro jure retento, id est de. singulis massagiis 
 duodecim denariis annuis. 
 
 Volumus preterea si lis atfqua forte dampnosa intra 
 ambitum massagii alicui eorum [evenerit] liberam 
 habeant potestatem ut administratipnes Concordes 
 fiant, justicia nostra nullam ejjigente inde consuetudi- 
 nem vel emendationem donee burgenses in justitia 
 defecerint, nisi mortale vulnus vel dampnum corpori 
 perpetuum inflictum fuerit vel etiam nisi aliquis litigan- 
 tium justicie nostre querimoniam faciat, salva in 
 omnibus justicia regni $t dignitate, 
 
 Inhibemus etiam ne aliquis in eadem villa pelles 
 crudas vel coria cruda emere presqmat nisi fuerit in 
 luna et lagha burgensium Wellarum. 
 
 Huic nostre concessionis et confirmationis testes 
 sunt : 
 
 Ricardus Well, decanus. 
 
 Ilbert precentor Well. 
 
 Henricus Exon. et Ricardus Bath, archidiaconi. 
 
 Robertus subdecanus. 
 
 Johannes de Cumba. 
 
 magister Eustachius. 
 
 Godfridus de Hercredeb. 
 
 Willelmus et Jocelinus capellani. 
 
 Ernisius clericus filius Theobaldi. 
 
364 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 Petrus de Winton. 
 
 Thomas de Dinan Wellensis canonicus. 
 Willelmus canonicus de Haselburg. 
 Adam de Suttone. 
 Willelmus de Spinenall. 
 magister Radulphus de Lechelade. 
 Gaufridus de sancto Giorgio. 
 Robertus filius Hamo. 
 Galfridus Giffard. 
 Godfridus de Dinre. 
 Walerannus. 
 Walcelen de Well. 
 Gaufridus francus. 
 The seal and counterseal of the bishop are appended. 
 
 APPENDIX F. 
 
 Confirmation of the possessions of the church of Bath 
 to bishop Reginald, by pope Alexander III. IV Cal. 
 Mart. 1 179. 
 
 REG. iii, FOL. 266, in dorso. 
 inhacprivi- CONFIRMATIO Alexandri venerabili fratri Rainardo 
 
 legii confir- -.,... . ., 
 
 matione Bathomensis episcopo ejusque successonbus canonice 
 efcapreou ' substituendis in perpetuum ; si omnibus fratribus et 
 qiS P p°resen- coepiscopis nostris cogamur ex ministerio susceptse 
 crastino" amministrationis adesse et apostolicum ipsis patro- 
 GUston de cinium exhibere, tibi tanto fortius tenemur suffragium 
 apostolicae defensionis impendere et consideratione tue 
 commissam tibi ecclesiam in sua justitia confovere 
 
Appendix F. 365 
 
 quanto circa nos et Romanam ecclesiam puriorem 
 devotionem genere comprobaris, eamque nobis certior- 
 ibus indiciis visus es reddere manifestam. 
 
 Qua propter venerabilis in Christo frater episcope, 
 tuis justis postulationibus clementer annuimus et 
 Bathoniensem ecclesiam cui Deo auctore preesse din- 
 osceris sub beati Petri et nostra protectione suscepimus 
 et presentis scripti privilegio communimus, statuentes 
 ut quascunque possessiones quecunque bona eadem 
 ecclesia in presentiarum juste et canonice possidet 
 aut in futurum concessione pontificum, largitione 
 regum, vel principum oblatione fidelium seu aliis justis 
 modis prestante domino poterit adipisci firma tibi 
 tuisque successoribus et illibata permaneant. 
 
 In quibus haec propriis duximus exprimenda vocab- 
 ulis. 
 
 Totam civitatem Bathonie cum omnibus consue- 
 tudinibus extra et infra ut liberius habet rex et civitatem 
 aliquam in tota Anglia, cum moneta, cum teloneo, tarn 
 in campis quam in silvis, tam in foro quam in pratis et 
 aliis terris, insuper nundinas in festivitatibus S tL Petri 
 et hidagium quod exigebatur de viginti hidis ad eandem 
 civitatem pertinentibus, et omnia placita et leges et 
 justitias et omnes consuetudines omnino et adjutoria 
 et si qua sunt alia quae Rex Willelmus vel frater ejus 
 Rex Henricus in eadem civitate plenius et liberius 
 habuerunt, quae ipsi Johanni episcopo predecessori 
 tuo et successoribus ejus in perpetuum concesserunt 
 et cartis suis confirmaverunt, praeterea confirmamus, 
 quod manerium de Calveston [Kelston] sit in hundredo 
 Bathonie et in justicia tua, sicut prefatus Rex Henricus 
 concessit et confirmavit, parcum etiam et warennam, 
 
366 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 bertonam, Hantonam, Fordam, Clavertonam, Lincum- 
 ban, cum molendinis et aliis appendiciis earum in terris 
 aquis pratis pascuis in bosco et piano cum omnibus 
 consuetudinibus et libertatibus earum eidem civitati 
 adjacentibus et omnia alia ad eandem civitatem per- 
 tinentia. 
 
 Ecclesiam de Wellis cum universis prebendis suis, 
 et ipsum manerium cum Wochi et Westberiae cum 
 parco suo cum feodis militum et ffranchelanorum et 
 terris rusticorum ad idem manerium pertinentia cum 
 boscis et planis pratis et pascuis molendinis et vineis 
 aquis et omnibus aliis appendiciis suis. 
 
 Ecclesiam de Chyu et ipsum manerium cum omnibus 
 pertinentiis et libertatibus suis. 
 
 Villam de Yatton cum omnibus pertinentiis et liber- 
 tatibus suis. 
 
 Villam de Banewel et Villam de Cumton cum portu 
 de Radeclive et parte villae quam habes in Axebrugg 
 ad Banewel pertinente cum omnibus pertinentiis et 
 libertatibus suis, 
 
 Ecclesiam de Ceddre et duas hidas in eadem villae. 
 
 Ecclesiam de Evercrez et ipsum manerium cum 
 omnibus pertinentiis et libertatibus suis. 
 
 Terram de Merk que est in Wedmor, quam prefatus 
 Henricus rex predecessori tuo concessit et confirmavit. 
 
 Ecclesiam de Kingsbere et ipsum manerium cum 
 hundredo et omnibus pertinentiis et libertatibus suis. 
 
 Et ecclesiam de Cerde et ipsum manerium. 
 
 Et ecclesiam de Hiwis et ipsum manerium cum 
 omnibus pertinentiis et libertatibus suis in terris pratis 
 pascuis bosco et pasturis. 
 
 Ecclesiam de Walenton et ipsum manerium cum 
 Bokelande et ceteris pertinentiis et libertatibus suis. 
 
Appendix F. 367 
 
 Ecclesiam et villam de Lidiard cum hundredo et 
 ceteris pertinentiis et libertatibus. 
 
 Ecclesiam et villam de Wivelescumb cum hundredo 
 cum omnibus pertinentiis et libertatibus suis et Fifidam 
 similiter. 
 
 Ecclesiam de Dorkemefeld et ipsum manerium cum 
 socha sacha et tol et theam et infangenethrop cum 
 omnibus aliis pertinentiis et libertatibus suis in bosco 
 piano pratis et pascuis que memoratus Rex Henricus 
 predecessor tuo et ecclesie Bathoniensi reddidit con- 
 cessit et carta sua confirmavit ejus successor Henricus 
 rex secundus similiter eandem tibi concessit et reddidit 
 cum domibus Winthorne et carta propria confirmavit 
 sicut jus tuum et ecclesiae tux tenendum in libera et 
 perpetua elemosyna ; feodum etiam de Dinra quod 
 idem rex tibi reddidit et ecclesiae tuae et carta sua con- 
 firmavit, quod Henricus de Tille cum ecclesia de 
 Dorkemefeld et ipso manerio in curia memorati regis 
 tibi et ecclesie tue quiete clamavit. 
 
 Apud Gatinton terram de salinis et ipsas salinas 
 et omnes pertinentes in nova foresta et duas hidas in 
 Cherleton. Praeterea duos panes certae quantitatis et 
 duos barilos medonis certae mensure et duos capreolos 
 vel duos porcos que annuatim in secunda feria pasche 
 tibi redduntur et ecclesiae Wellensi a monasterio Glas- 
 toniensi a tempore beati Dunstani ex ipsius institu- 
 tion©. 
 
 Preterea de benignitate apostolica tibi duximus 
 indulgendam ut liceat tibi priorem ecclesiae tuae pro 
 manifesta causa depositione digna, cum consilio capituli 
 vel aliorum religiosorum virorum, a prioratu sine con- 
 tradietione qualibet amovere. 
 
368 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 Ad hec apostolica auctoritate statuiraus ut a 
 monasteriis monachorum vel monialium et in ecclesiis 
 regularibus que in tuo episcopatu consistunt, earn 
 decreti de cetera habeas potestatem quam prede- 
 cessores tui et tu ipse usque ad hoc tempora in eis 
 noscimini rationabiliter habuisse. Prohibemus insuper 
 ut infra episcopatum tuum sine assensu et auctoritate 
 tua vel successorum tuorum, salvis autenticis scriptis 
 apostolicae sedis, nullus de novo ecclesiam vel oratorium 
 construendi habeat facultatem. 
 
 Si quando vero abbates vel priores aut alii ad tuam 
 jurisdictionem spectantes qui religiosis locis tui epis- 
 copatus precesse noscuntur tibi in his rebelles et 
 inobedientes extiterunt in quibus obedientjam et 
 reverentiam exhibere tenentur, fas tibi sit in eos 
 canonice sententiam promulgare, advocatis autem 
 conventualibus seu parochialibus ecclesiis tue juris- 
 dictionis qui non habent in ipsis ecclesiis quicquid 
 aliud prseter jus patronatus easdem ecclesias ordinandi, 
 vel in eis quidquam temeritate propria statuendi sine 
 auctoritate et concurrentia tua omnem intercludimus 
 facultatem metropolitano quoque tuo, sine speciali 
 mandato Romani pontificis in eisdem ecclesiis te 
 inconsulto, nisi causam super his ad eum per appella- 
 tionem deferri contingeret aut apostolicae legationis 
 obtentu quicquam statuere liceat, vel rite sive manifesta 
 et rationabili causa sententiam promulgare — prsesenti 
 etiam scripto tibi duximus indulgendum ut si quando 
 abbates priores vel alias personae que ad tua synoda 
 venire tenentur et precipue que tibi professionem 
 fecerunt ad synoda vocati non venerunt, in eas de 
 auctoritate nostra nisi canonicam excusationem pro- 
 
Appendix F. 369 
 
 baverint, animadversionem tibi liceat canonicam 
 exercere. 
 
 Illas autem qui super justitiis tuis quas aliquando 
 tibi nolunt exsolvere vel pro alia causa a te duxerunt 
 appellandum appellatione remota liceat tibi compellere, 
 et infra, certum et convenientem terminum quem eis 
 praefixeris appellationem interpositam exequantur vel 
 ad mandatum tuum justa rigorem juris super his pro 
 quibus appellatum est, tibi satisfactionem exhibeant 
 competentem. 
 
 Religiosos vero vel alios ecclesiasticos viros ad tuam 
 ordinationem spectantes si qui te presente sive tua 
 vel te absente sive archidiaconi tui licencia, ordines ab 
 episcopis receperunt alienis infra episcopatum tuum, 
 in ordinibus taliter receptis sive tuo vel successorum 
 tuorum assensu ministrare penitus prohibemus. Si 
 qui autem monachi canonici aut alii religiosi viri 
 clerici vel laici in ecclesias tui episcopatus ad presenta- 
 tionem eorum spectantes earum personis decedentibus 
 intrudere seipsos vel alios sine tua auctoritate pre- 
 sumpserint, taliter intrusos dummodo excessus eorum 
 sit publicus et notorius ab eisdem ecclesiis fas tibi sit 
 removere et in ipsas si ad mandatum tuum cedere 
 forte noluerint ecclesiasticam sententiam promulgare, 
 praeterea benedictiones et professiones abbatum tui 
 episcopatus nee non etiam institutiones et ordinationes 
 ecclesiarum omnes quae in tuo episcopatu consistunt. 
 
 Another page follows with the usual warning and 
 saving clauses. 
 
 Then follow the signatures of pope Alexander and 
 the cardinals. 
 
 Eighteen cardinals sign. 
 
 B BB 
 
370 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 Datum Laterano, per manum Alberti sancte Ro- 
 mane ecclesie presbiteri cardinalis et cancellarii. 
 
 IV Cal. Martis Indictione XI, incarnationis domi- 
 nicae anno millesimo centesimo lxxviiij pontificatus 
 vero domini Alexandri pape tertii anno vicesimo. 
 (i 1 59-1 179). 
 
 APPENDIX G. 
 
 Carta Regis Ricardi de prebendis et terris de novo 
 adquisitis. 
 
 Reg. iii, FOL. 13. 
 
 Richard by the Grace of God king of England, etc. 
 
 Know that we have granted and by this present 
 charter have confirmed to God and the church of 
 Saint Andrew in Wells, and to Reinaud Bishop of 
 Bath and his successors for ever, all donations of 
 churches and other benefices made to him and the 
 aforesaid church as the charters of the givers do 
 testify, viz. : 
 
 1. By gift of Robert abbot of Glastonbury and the 
 convent there, the church of Pylton and the church of 
 South Brent. 
 
 By a composition between the two ecclesiastical 
 magnates, the bishop and the abbot, whose territories 
 and jurisdictions marched together, two prebends were 
 made by the gift of Pilton, of which the abbot held 
 one, and became a member of the bishop's chapter. 
 By the cession of South Brent, archidiaconal juris- 
 diction was given to the abbot over seven of the 
 
Appendix G. 371 
 
 churches of the Twelve Hides of Glastonbury, and 
 was exercised by a special officer, the abbot's arch- 
 deacon, exempt from the bishop's jurisdiction. 
 
 Pilton is no longer a prebend. The abbot after- 
 wards gave up the prebend. Pilton became a peculiar 
 in the jurisdiction of the precentor of Wells. 
 
 2. By gift of Richard de Camvilla, the church of 
 Hengestrigg, in perpetuam praebendam. 
 
 Henstridge, near Wincanton, on the Dorset border, 
 was the gift of Richard Camville, Henry's envoy to 
 Sicily to conduct Joanna his daughter to be the wife 
 of William king of Sicily, in 1 176. He was present at 
 Richard's coronation, 11 89, commanded the English 
 fleet which took Richard on the crusade, was justiciar 
 of Cyprus, and died at Acre 1191. Gerard, son of 
 Richard, was sheriff of Lincolnshire, and one of the 
 chief opponents of Longchamp the chancellor during 
 the regency in Richard's absence. He confirms the 
 grant of his father, and archbishop Richard (1174- 
 11 84) attests it. Charlton Camvill, now Charlton 
 Horethorne, in Somerset, granted to bishop Robert by 
 Richard de Camville (Ad. de Domerham, i, 298), and 
 Clifton Camville, in Staffordshire, bear witness to the 
 family estates in both counties. Henstridge is a 
 prebend at the present time. 
 
 3. By gift of Oliver de Dynham, the church of 
 Bokelande, in perpetuam praebendam. 
 
 Buckland Dinham, near Frome, and Corton Dinham, 
 near Sherborne, probably received names from Dinan, 
 in Brittany, the original seat of a family which had 
 
372 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 lands also in Devon and Cornwall. Hugh de Dinan 
 held under William de Tracy, also under William de 
 Braosa of the honour of Barnstaple (Berdestaple) in 
 Devon. Buckland Dinham is a prebend at the present 
 time. 
 
 4. By gift of William Fitzjohn of Harpetre, the 
 church of Estharpetre. 
 
 William of Harpetre, one of the family of Lovel of 
 Cary, had before this made restitution to the bishop of 
 his fee of Dynre (Dinder), which his father had taken 
 from bishop Robert. He now added this gift of the 
 church of East Harptre, in perpetuam praebendam. 
 East Harptre is a prebend at the present time. 
 
 5. By gift of William Fitzwilliam, the church of 
 Haselbergh, in perpetuam praebendam. 
 
 Haselbury, near Crewkerne, was the scene of hermit 
 Ulfric's life and miracles ; his cell there was visited 
 by bishop Robert in 1 1 54. 1 Haselbury is a prebend 
 at the present time. 
 
 6. By gift of Hamon of Blakeford, the church of 
 Scanderford, in perpetuam praebendam. 
 
 Blackford in Wedmore, or near Wincanton : Scan- 
 derford in Essex, now Shalford, is a prebend at the 
 present time. 
 
 All these gifts are confirmed by an earlier deed of 
 bishop Reginald, 2 and were given during dean Spakes- 
 ton's time, between 11 74- 11 80. 
 
 1. Matt. Paris, ii, 203. Som. Arch. Proc. vol. xix, part i, 28. 
 
 2. Bishop Reginald's Confirmatio, R. i, f. 24 ; R. iii, f. 10. 
 
Appendix G. 373 
 
 7. By gift of Gerberte de Perci and Matilda A rundel, 
 the church of Compton and the church of Bromfeld. 
 
 Gerbert or Gilbert de Perci gave the church of 
 Childcompton, on the Mendip, " quantum ad dominum 
 fundi pertinet," in perpetuam praebendam. Matilda de 
 Arundel, his wife, gave the church of Broomfield, on the 
 Quantock range, "in perpetuam eleemosinam." Child- 
 compton was alienated to Bradenstoke. No longer a 
 prebend. 
 
 8. By gift of Alan de Fornellis, the church of Cude- 
 worth with Cnoll chapel, in perpetuam praebendam. 
 
 Alan de Fornellis (Furneaux), one of Henry's 
 justiciars in 1179, lord of Kilveton, Somerset, held 
 lands in Devon at the time, under the bishop and 
 under Robert, the king's son. One of the same name 
 was sheriff of Cornwall in Richard's reign. Cudworth 
 is a prebend at the present time. 
 
 9. By gift of fames of Montsorel, the church of 
 Whytelakyngton, in praebendam. 
 
 The castle of Montsereau, in Anjou, besieged by 
 Henry of Normandy, afterwards Henry II, in 1 151, or 
 the great fortress in the earldom of Leicester (Mount 
 Sorel), we may suppose to have been the seat of the 
 family, who now owned Whitelackington, which was 
 Roger Arundel's demesne in 1084. Whitelackington 
 is a prebend at the present time. 
 
 Three gifts from Devonshire landowners follow. 
 
 10. By gift of Jocelin de Treminet, the church of 
 Aulescomb, in praebendam. 
 
 Awlescombe, on the south side of the Blackdown 
 
374 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 hills, near Honiton, "in agro Devoniensi et diocesi 
 Exon." No longer a prebend. 
 
 ii. By gift of Oliver de Trad, the church of Bovey, 
 in praebendam. 
 
 Oliver de Tracy from Traci, near Bayeux in Nor- 
 mandy — a large landholder in Devon, represented the 
 family of William de Tracy, one of the murderers of 
 St. Thomas. William de Tracy held the honour of 
 Tracy, in Devon, consisting of twenty knights' fees, 
 at the same time. 
 
 12. By gift of Radulf son of Bernard, the church 
 of Holcombe and Lameia, in praebendam. 
 
 Holcombe Rogus in Devon, probably. Lameia 
 does not appear elsewhere. There is a Holcombe in 
 Somerset. Holcombe gives name to a prebend at the 
 present time. 
 
 13 , the church of Ceddre. 
 
 The name of the giver of the church of Cheddar is 
 omitted here. About this time the prior and convent 
 of Bradenstoke, in Wiltshire, gave all their rights 
 in the church of Cheddar to Alexander, dean and 
 canon of Wells — witnessed by Walter, prior of Bath ; 
 and bishop Reginald gave to the convent of Braden- 
 stoke, with the assent of Alexander the dean, and the 
 canons, the church of Childcompton, the dean reserving 
 the jurisdiction over it as once a prebendal church 
 (Dugdale, Monasticon, ii, f. 209). R. i, f. 27. In 1240 
 bishop Jocelin confirmed Cheddar to the chapter. R. 
 i, f. 30. 
 
Appendix G. 375 
 
 14. By gift of the sisters Alicia, Christina, and Sara, 
 the church of Tymberscombe, in praebendam. 
 
 Another sister, Cecilia, is mentioned in the bishop's 
 confirmation act : the husbands are named as con- 
 senting parties. One, John de Columpstock, was a 
 Devonshire landowner. Timberscombe is a prebend 
 at the present time. 
 
 l S- By gift of Robert de Bolevill, the church of 
 Lideford, in praebendam. 
 
 One Richard de Bonneville (Bonneville on the 
 Toncques, in Normandy) was holding land at this 
 time in Devon. Robert de Boleville, or Bonneville, 
 made the grant in bishop Robert's time. A suit arose 
 with his brother John, which was arranged in 11 87 
 and impropriation made. West Lydford is no longer 
 a prebend. 
 
 16. By gift of Radulf Wac, the church of Doveliz, 
 
 Dowlishwake, in South Petherton hundred, is not 
 mentioned elsewhere in the register. 
 
 One Baldwin Wac (Wake) was present at Richard's 
 coronation, and afterwards one of Richard's hostages 
 in Germany. Dowlishwake, near Ilminster, is the 
 church which preserves the name of the family. 
 Howden, iii, 14, and 233. 
 
 1 7. By gift of Simon Bosun, the church of Karenton. 
 
 In the register of the priory of Bath, the prior 
 and convent grant the vicarage of Karenton to Walter 
 the clerk. Simon Buzun is witness. 
 
376 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 Simon Bozun, knight, one of a family of landowners 
 also in Devon, granted Karenton (Carhampton) : he 
 retained the appointment for his life to the prebend. 
 It then reverted to the bishop. Carhampton, near 
 Dunster, in West Somerset, or perhaps Carentan, in 
 the C6tentin, Normandy, was the original seat of the 
 family. The Bohun family came from near Carentan, 
 where is S. Andre" de Bohun and S. George de Bohun. 
 
 1 8. By gift of Stephen son of David, a moiety of the 
 church of Waleton. 
 
 19. By gift of Matilda de Chandos, the church of 
 Stoweia, in perpetuam eleemosinam. 
 
 Maude de Chandos was heiress of Robert de 
 Chandos, who died 1120, the founder of Goldclive, 
 with Isabella, his wife, daughter of Alured de Hispania, 
 Domesday lord of Nether Stowey. Maude married 
 Philip de Colombiers in 11 66, who held eleven knights' 
 fees in Devon and Somerset. 
 
 20. By gift of Alured de Punson, the church of 
 Berewe. 
 
 Alured de Ponsot, or Ponsard, or Punson, lord of 
 South Barrow. One of a group of grants made by 
 Robert of Cary, lord of Lovington, and Nicholas of 
 North Barrow — members of the family of Lovel of 
 Castle Cary. 
 
 21. By gift of Radulf Fitz- William, the church of 
 Werminstere, in praebendam. 
 
 Grant of Warminster, in Wilts, the church of St. 
 Dionysius, by Ralph, son of William (Malet ?). 
 
Appendix G. 377 
 
 22. By gift of Galfrid Talbot, half a virgate of 
 land at Norham, with all the meadow which he had 
 there, in perpetuam eleemosinam. 
 
 Norham, in North Curry hundred. 
 
 23. By our gift, the manor of North Cory with the 
 church and all its appurtenances. 
 
 The church or manor of North Curry, Wrantage, 
 and West Hatch, were grants of crown lands after 
 purchase by the bishop from king Richard, when he 
 was raising money for the needs of the Crusade by 
 sale of lands and offices (R. i, f. 9). They were 
 bought by the bishop from the crown, and made over 
 by him as a benefaction to augment the common funds 
 of the canons, and formed the largest manorial posses- 
 sion of the chapter. The manor of North Curry 
 included the hundred, and was a great lordship. 
 
 At the same time, on the same occasion, and doubt- 
 less on the same conditions of heavy payments, bishop 
 Reginald obtained from king Richard charters con- 
 firmatory of all the grants and privileges made to the 
 see by his predecessors from William II's time. 
 
 c cc 
 
378 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 APPENDIX H. 
 
 Monasticon of Somerset in the times of bishops Reginald 
 and Jocelin. 
 
 (I am indebted to the Right Rev. Bishop Hobhouse for this 
 table). 
 
 Name and Order. 
 
 Founder. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Benedictine. 
 
 
 
 Glastonbury. 
 
 Unknown. 
 
 
 Bath. 
 
 King Osric. 
 
 676. 
 
 Muchelney. 
 
 King Athelstan. 
 
 939- 
 
 Athelney. 
 
 King Alfred. 
 
 888. 
 
 Dunster. (Cell to 
 
 
 
 Bath) 
 
 William Mohun I. 
 
 1080. 
 
 Augustinian Canons. 
 
 
 
 Bruton. 
 
 William Mohun II. 
 
 "43- 
 
 Taunton. 
 
 W. Giffard and H. de Blois, temp. Stephen 
 
 
 bps. of Winchester. 
 
 and Hen. II. 
 
 Keynsham. 
 
 Earl of Gloucester. 
 
 1 167. 
 
 Stavordale. 
 
 The Barons Lovel of Cary, 
 
 iath cent. 
 
 Barlinch. 
 
 The Say family. 
 
 "75- 
 
 Woodspring. 
 
 The Courteney family. 
 
 1210. 
 
 Cistercian. 
 
 
 
 Cleeve. 
 
 De Romara, earl of Lincoln. 1188. 
 
 Carthusian. 
 
 
 
 With am. 
 
 King Henry II. 
 
 "74- 
 
 Hinton. 
 
 Ela Longesp6e, countess of 
 
 
 Salisbury. 
 
 1222. 
 
 Cluniac. 
 
 
 
 Montacute. 
 
 Earl of Mortaigne. 
 
 1068. 
 
 A lien. 
 
 
 
 Stoke Courcy. 
 
 De Courcy family. 
 
 temp. Hen. II. 
 
 A cell to the Benedictine abbey of Lonley, 
 
 
 Normandy 
 
 
 
 Nunneries. 
 
 
 
 Mynchin Barrow 
 
 , Gournay family. 
 
 before 1212. 
 
 Mynchin 
 
 
 
 Buckland. 
 
 W. de Erlegh. 
 
 1 166 and 1199, 
 
 Cannington. 
 
 De Courcy family. 
 
 c. 1 140. 
 
 White Hall, 
 
 
 
 Ilchester. 
 
 William Denys. 
 
 c. 1216. 
 
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 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
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 April. 
 
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 Decemb. 8. 
 
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 April 27. 
 
 Easter-tide. 
 
 APPENDIX K. 
 
 Sequence of events in Savarids life, and in tlie annex- 
 ation of the abbey of Glastonbury to the see of Bath. 
 
 Adam of Domerham, pp. 357-425. 
 
 Savaric at Rome, consecrated bishop September 20. 
 
 Savaric at Hagenau in Alsace obtains from king 
 Richard consent to the exchange of Bath city for 
 Glastonbury abbey, and union of the churches of Bath 
 and Glastonbury under him as bishop of Bath and 
 Glastonbury. 
 
 Obtains letters from Richard, archbishop Hubert, 
 and bishop William of Ely, to pope Celestine, petition- 
 ing for papal sanction. 
 
 Savaric with Richard at Worms in June is named as 
 one of the hostages for payment of his ransom. 
 
 Abbot Henry vacates Glastonbury ; is consecrated 
 bishop of Worcester at Canterbury. 
 
 Savaric at Bath sends for prior Harold, tells him 
 that he is their abbot. 
 
 Ralph de Lechlade in the name of Savaric takes 
 possession of the abbey by royal warrant. 
 
 The monks lodge a protest and notice of appeal to 
 the pope on the altar of St. Andrew, Wells. 
 
 Richard is released at Mainz. 
 
 Richard is crowned at Winchester. 
 
 Savaric is chancellor of Burgundy to the emperor 
 Henry VI. 
 
 Prior Harold appeals to the king at Winchester. 
 He is put off by bishop of Ely, who bids the monks 
 await the pope's decision. 
 
Appendix K. 381 
 
 The monks send another deputation to Richard in '^1 abbot" 
 Normandy : are favourably received. Richard revokes Henry's con- 
 
 ' ' secration." 
 
 his grant obtained when he was in durance, dispossesses Feast °f st. 
 
 r Bartholomew, 
 
 Savaric, and places the abbey in the hands of his pro- August 24. 
 thonotary, William of St. Marychurch. 
 
 " In quadragesima sequenti, secundo videlicet anno Lent > "95- 
 post promotionem Henrici in episcopum," Savaric at 
 Tours receives pope Celestine's sanction to the union 
 of Bath and Glastonbury and assumes title. 
 
 Savaric obtains from the pope (1) A second man- 1196. 
 date. (2) Letters of inhibition addressed to the con- 
 vent. (3) Mandate of execution to archbishop Hubert, 
 issued by pope Celestine, dated in three documents, 
 May, June, " pontificatus anno sexto, MCXCVI, anno 
 indictionis xiv " (pp. 364-6-7). 
 
 The papal letters are publicly read in the convent "97- 
 by Savaric's agents from the chapter of Wells. And 
 " completis jam tribus annis et parum amplius post 
 promotionem Henrici in Episcopum," Savaric is in- 
 ducted a second time. 
 
 " Die sequenti," the convent send a deputation to Feb - 5 °r 6- 
 the archbishop to protest. He rebukes them for their 
 supineness in not having followed up their appeal to 
 Rome. " Vos vultis somniando negotia vestra perficere, 
 sed Savaricus episcopus non dormit " — " he, by his 
 authority, had hitherto kept Savaric from possession." 
 
 Savaric is sent to England by the emperor Henry 
 to make restituti6n to Richard. The emperor dies 
 while Savaric is on the journey. 
 
 Savaric is with Richard at Rouen. October 16. 
 
 Archbishop Hubert, forced to act upon the papal Novemb. 18. 
 
 , r r- modicum 
 
 mandate, orders obedience to the proctors of bavanc, postoctavas 
 who with the dean of Wells and others of the chapter Nov. 18. 
 
382 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 1 198. 
 
 August 29, 
 in festo 
 
 decollationis 
 S. Johannis. 
 
 Sept. 8. 
 
 Sept. 29. 
 October. 
 
 November. 
 
 Circa 
 Octavas S. 
 Martini. 
 Nov. 25. 
 
 December 6, 
 
 of Wells take possession in Savaric's name, and the 
 king's officers withdraw. " Acta sunt haec anno quarto 
 post promotionem Henrici in Episcopum Wigornien- 
 sem " p. 370. 
 
 Pope Celestine dies January 8, 1198. Innocent III 
 succeeds. 
 
 Savaric in England during part of the year. 
 
 Monks sent to complain to Richard in Normandy 
 bring back royal letters to the king's justiciars ordering 
 them to take possession of the convent in the king's 
 name, which is so done. 
 
 Dean of Wells and prior of Bruton protest in 
 Savaric's name before the convent. 
 
 William Pica returning from Rome directs the 
 convent to send a deputation to meet him in Nor- 
 mandy, to approach the king. 
 
 Savaric is appointed one of Richard's envoys to 
 arrange matters with Geoffrey archbishop of York. 
 
 The monks bring back letters from Richard dated 
 Roche d'Andeli, October 29, giving licence to elect 
 their own abbot, and letters to the pope Innocent 
 III and to the cardinals urging dissolution of the 
 union. 
 
 The convent send a deputation to London with the 
 king's letters, and " in scaccario regis " elect William 
 Pica abbot, November 25. 
 
 Savaric from the manor of Mells excommunicates 
 William Pica and his supporters, and puts the convent 
 under interdict. He is sent to Rome on Richard's 
 affairs. 
 
 William Pica rules as abbot from December 6, 1 198, 
 to the Purification, February 2, 1 199. 
 
Appendix K. 383 
 
 Savaric's agents from Wells lay violent hands in the I^g— „ 
 church of Glastonbury upon the leaders of the oppo- ^s^Pau? 
 sition and carry them off to prison in Wells. 
 
 William Pica goes to Rome. 
 
 Savaric and the abbot plead against one another 
 before Innocent, at Rome. 
 
 The dean of Wells and prior of Bruton proclaim the Thursday 
 archbishop's interdict and excommunication of the Easter, 
 abbot and convent for disobedience to the pope's 
 letters of inhibition. 
 
 The convent submit and pray for absolution. Easter. 
 
 The abbots of Sherborne and Abbotsbury in the 1st Sunday 
 
 J after Easter. 
 
 archbishop's name absolve the convent. 
 
 The abbots of Malmesbury and Evesham receive 
 
 the confession and profession of the convent and 
 
 administer correction. 
 
 Richard's death. AD - "99- 
 
 Savaric returns to England. A P ril 6 - 
 
 Tohn's coronation at Westminster. Savaric assists. May 27. 
 J Ascension- 
 
 Savaric obtains the king's mandate for installation. Day. 
 Savaric is installed in person at Glastonbury by J"?? 8 - , 
 
 r Whitsunday 
 
 commissioners appointed by archbishop Hubert. He 
 takes possession of the abbey, and forces all the mem- 
 bers of the convent to act in obedience to him as 
 abbot. 
 
 Savaric is with John in Normandy. July, August, 
 
 Savaric probably at Rome in winter. winter. 
 
 Innocent is adjudicating on the Glastonbury quarrel j u ° e "°°- 
 — removes Savaric's sentence of excommunication of Aug. 22. 
 William Pica — inhibits Savaric from further acts of 
 violence — annuls William Pica's election— confirms the 
 union of th? see and abbey — appoints a commission to 
 
3»4 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 Sept. 3. 
 October 8. 
 
 November. 
 1, 23rd. 
 „ 25th. 
 
 April 21. 
 xii kal. Maii. 
 
 A.D. I202. 
 
 June 9. 
 August 29. 
 
 Septemb. 24. 
 viii kal. Oct. 
 
 A.D. 1203. 
 Octave of St. 
 Michael. 
 
 Aug. 8, 1203. 
 
 arbitrate and to make award between Savaric and the 
 convent. 
 
 William Pica dies at Rome. 
 
 John's marriage with Isabella of Angouleme — 
 second coronation at Westminster. 
 
 John is at Lincoln. 
 
 Savaric present with the court at Lincoln, at the 
 homage of William the Lion, and at the burial of St. 
 Hugh. 
 
 Innocent orders the convent to obey Savaric as their 
 bishop " et specialiter tanquam proprio pastore." 1 
 Savaric at Wells, grants charter to the city, which John 
 confirms and enlarges by royal charter. 
 
 Innocent sends a second mandate to the commission- 
 ers to hold their court. 
 
 Another letter from Innocent to the commissioners 
 reporting gravamina of convent against Savaric and 
 urging investigation of charges. 
 
 Report of the commissioners and award of the pope. 
 
 " Prima ordinatio ecclesiae Glastoniensis facta auc- 
 toritate domini Innocentii III." 
 
 Savaric at Wells — makes grants to the chapter — in 
 anticipation of his absence gives authority to the 
 chapter to excommunicate all invaders of the rights of 
 the chapter. 
 
 Dies at Senes la Vielle— either Siena, or Civita 
 Vecchia. 
 
 , as their diocesan and ordinary — also as their abbot. 
 
Appendix M. 385 
 
 APPENDIX L. 
 Gifts of bishop Savaric to the church of Bath. 
 
 Registrum Prioratus Bathon. (p. 315)* 
 
 Savaricus episcopus hujus loci, omnes terras nostras 
 a praedecessoribus suis nobis restitutas, omnes etiam 
 ecclesias nobis in usus proprios ad eisdem concessas, 
 affectuose confirmavit et etiam a summo pontifice con- 
 firmari procuravit. Praeterea ecclesiam de Chyw ad 
 jus patronatus sui spectantem nobis in usus proprios 
 contulit et confirmavit, ecclesiam etiam de Westofi 
 injuste a quibusdam alienatam nobis reddidit et in 
 usus proprios nobis confirmavit et a summo pontifice 
 utramque ecclesiam de Chyw videlicet et de Weston 
 in usus nobis proprios confirmari procuravit, ecclesiam 
 nihilominus de Comptona Fulconis de Alneto nobis in 
 usus proprios confirmavit — duas capas decenter ornatas 
 nobis contulit. Cum autem in redemptione regis 
 Ricardi omnes thesauri exhaurirentur ecclesiarum, de 
 ratione propria vestes, cruces, et calices nostros ne con- 
 flarentur acquietavit. Cujus anniversaria dies in albis 
 celebretur et C pauperes reficiantur et mensa fratrum 
 copiosius procuretur. 
 
 APPENDIX M. 
 
 Institution of the Mass of the Blessed Virgin. 
 
 Reg. i, FOL. 46 ; iii, fol. 136 in dors. 
 
 Savaricus Dei gratia Bathon. et Glaston. episcopus. 
 
 Omnibus fidelibus per episcopatum suum constitutis 
 salutem et benedictionem. Quum in multis offendimus 
 
 D DD 
 
386 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 omnes, et sine peccato praesens vita non agitur, neces- 
 saria habemus sanctorum suffragia ut quum nostris 
 excessibus incessanter afnigimur, eorum apud Deum 
 intercessipnibus sublevemur. 
 
 Inter omnes autem sanctos memoria dei genetricis 
 eo jocundius agitur quo pro fidelibus sedula creditur 
 interventrix existere, et apud Deum majorem noscitur 
 gratiam obtinere. 
 
 Desiderantes itaque inter hujus mundi tam varia 
 pericula ipsius patrociniis communiri, communicato 
 capituli Wellensis consilio provida deliberatione statu- 
 imus, ut in ecclesia ipsa continua ejusdem dei gene- 
 tricis virginis habeatur memoria, et in ejus veneratione 
 missa diebus singulis solemniter celebretur. 
 
 Alteram praeterea missam pro praedecessoribus 
 nostris episcopis, fratribus quoque et benefactoribus 
 ipsius ecclesiae, cunctisque fidelibus defunctis, in eadem 
 ecclesia providimus diebus omnibus specialiter cele- 
 brandam, ut sacramentis salutaribus expiati superis 
 sedibus celerius inserantur. 
 
 APPENDIX N. 
 
 Charter of bishop Savaric to the town of Wells (c. 1 201) 
 in the Town Hall of Wells. 
 
 Omnibus Christi fidelibus ad quos praesens carta 
 pervenerit. 
 
 Savaricus Dei gratia Bathoniae et Glastoniae 
 Episcopus salutem in domino. Quum in praeterito 
 cognovimus praedecessores nostros a multis retro tem- 
 poribus in augmentum honoris, dignitatis, et reddituum 
 
Appendix N. 387 
 
 suorum et omnium sibi succedentium, concessisse 
 burgensibus nostris de Wellis jure perpetuo libertates 
 et omnes liberas consuetudines burgensium et bur- 
 gorum plenariis libertatibus gaudentium, Nos eorum 
 vestigiis inhaerentes, considerantes etiam, et cum 
 diligentia attendentes honestam et plurimum lauda- 
 bilem eorum fuisse intentionem quod circa statum 
 burgi illius meliorandum et in libertatem majorem 
 provehendum habuisse dinoscuntur, libertates omnes 
 et liberas consuetudines burgensium et burgorum qui 
 plenarias habeant libertates burgo de Wellis et burgen- 
 sibus universis et singulis infra terminos subscriptos 
 mansionem habentibus plene et integre concessimus in 
 perpetuum, statuentes etiam et jure perpetuo con- 
 cedentes ut totum territorium subscriptum liberum sit 
 burgum et plenariis ut diximus gaudeat libertatibus — 
 a parte quidem australi, aqua decurrente a molendino 
 et ab angulo virgulti nostri per quoddam vetus fossatum 
 usque pratum de Hela— a prato illo per quendam 
 rivulum usque ad pontem de Kiward — a ponte illo 
 • sicut aqua de Wellis defiuit usque pontem qui in 
 ingressu villae prope capellam beati Thomae martyris 
 —a parte occidentali, cruce olim sita in via qua itur 
 ad Axebrugge — a parte septentrionali, cruce olim sita 
 qua itur Bristoldum — a parte oriental j, via quae 
 praetenditur a lapidicina usque ad montem versus 
 Tidesput 1 per pomerium nostrum. Volumus etiam et 
 praesenti decreto sancimus ut quilibet intra easdem 
 
 1. " Tidesput." Cf, Reg. Prioratus Bathon. f, 67, inspeximus of 
 charter of bishop Roger, 1245, of lands "in manerio nostro de 
 Wellis in Tithesput furlang qui jacet intra terram Roberti le Sedere 
 et terram Thorn, fil Sode super cheminanj versus gardinum nostrum 
 de Wellis ex parte orientali." 
 
388 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 metas messagium aliquid in presentiarum possidetis 
 vel in posterum possessurus liberam habeat licentiam 
 commorandi et cum catallis suis recedendi necnon et 
 revertendi. Liceat quoque cuilibet burgensium domos 
 suas impignorare vendere sive etiam donare secundum 
 perpetuam dispositionis suae voluntatem, plenamque 
 habeant facultatem eas in quemcunque eis placuit 
 transferendi praeterquam domibus religiosis, quod 
 facere non poterunt sine licentia nostra vel successorum 
 nostrorum, retento nobis annuo redditu duodecim 
 denariorum de singulis messagiis. 
 
 Concedimus itaque ut si lis aliqua forte damnosa 
 infra ambitum messagii alicujus eorum emerserit, 
 liberam habeant potestatem ut advicem Concordes 
 fiant in curia sua, justitia nostra in nulla exigente 
 consuetudinem vel emendationem donee burgenses in 
 justitia defecerint, nisi mortale vulnus vel damnum 
 perpetuum corpori inflictum fuerit ; salva in omnibus 
 justitia et dignitate domini regis et regni. 
 
 Inhibemus autem ne aliquis in eodem burgo pelles 
 crudas aut coria cruda emere presumat nisi fuerit in 
 luna et laga burgensium Wellensium. Statuimus 
 etiam et in perpetuum concedimus ut quicunque illic 
 in quatuor festivitatibus quacunque negotiationis causa 
 convenerint, scilicet in inventione Sanctae Crucis, in 
 festivitate Sancti Kalixti, in festivitate Sancti Andreae, 
 in die anniversario dedicationis capellae beati Thomae 
 Martyris, qui est dies crastina Sancti Joannis Baptistae, 
 in plateis burgi illius negotiationes suas fecerint, et ab 
 omni prava consuetudine et inquietudine et molestia et 
 exactione liberi exerceant, et nullatenus ecclesiam 
 Wellensem et atrium ecclesiae negotiaturi intrare vel 
 
Appendix N. 389 
 
 violare praesumat. Concedentes et in perpetuum 
 statuentes ut omnes ibi convenientes quieti sint in 
 perpetuo de teloneo in omnibus praedictis festivitatibus 
 et earum vigiliis et crastino earumdem, ut per triduum 
 ilia gaudeant libertate in singulis festivitatibus supra 
 nominatis. Et quod haec omnia rata et firma perse- 
 verent ea praesenti carta nostra et sigillo nostro et 
 ecclesiae nostrae Wellensis duximus confirmanda. 
 
 Hujus testibus : Alexandro decano Wellensi • 
 Gaufrido archidiacono Berkescire ■ Thoma subdecano 
 Wellensi ■ Magistro Radulpho de Lichel • Magistro 
 Rogero de Doveliz cancellario Wellensi. Johanne 
 Camel ' Roberto de Essio • Hugo de Wellis, clericis 
 nostris • Radulpho de Auio seneschallo nostro ■ 
 Willelmo filio Ricardi • Alan de S. Georgio ■ Radulpho 
 Teissun • Gileberto • Helia filio Ricardi ■ Hugone de 
 fontibus ■ Willelmo de Banwell ■ Et multis aliis clericis 
 quam laicis. 
 
 Seal : small oval in green wax. 
 
 Device : figure of bishop. 
 
 Legend: SAVA[RIdVS ffPISCCOPVS BATljJON. 
 [GCT 6LAS]TON. 
 
 Another seal in bag. 
 
 The boundaries in Savaric's charter are marked — 
 I. On the south (a) by the watercourse from the 
 bishop's mill, and from the angle of the 
 bishop's withy-bed, running down an old 
 cut 1 to Helesmead ; 
 
 (b) thence up the stream-course to Reward 
 bridge on the Glastonbury road ; 
 
 1. Vetus fossatum, an artificial channel. 
 
390 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 (c) up the Wells stream (i.e. the water 
 from St. Andrew's well) to the bridge 
 by the chapel of St. Thomas the 
 Martyr, at the entrance of the town. 
 
 II. On the west — by the cross on the road to 
 
 Axbridge, i.e. Little Elm, at the point of 
 divergence of the road to Wookey and 
 Axbridge. 
 
 III. On the north — by the cross on the road to 
 
 Bristol. 
 
 IV. On the east — by the road from a quarry 
 
 (under Stobery) to the hill towards Tidesput 
 through the bishop's ground (f a the Tor 
 hill). 
 
 APPENDIX O. 
 
 Charter of king John to the town of Wells. 1201. 
 Town Hall, Wells. 
 
 Johannes dei gratia &c. — Sciatis nos concessisse et 
 praesenti carta confirmasse quod Welles in Sumerset 
 sit liberum burgum, et quod homines ejusdem villae et 
 heredes eorum liberi sint burgenses et quod ibi liberum 
 sit mercatum singulis dominicis diebus sicut ibi est et 
 esse consuevit, et liberae feriae sicut annuatim ibi esse 
 solent, in festo beati Andreae, beati Calixti, in Invent- 
 ione Sanctae Crucis, in crastino beati Johannis Bap- 
 tistae, et praeterea una feria de dono nostro singulis 
 annis in translatione beati Andreae per octo dies dura- 
 tura, infra vicos ejusdem burgi in locis quibus praedicta 
 feria beati Andreae ibidem teneri consuevit, nisi sit ad 
 
Appendix P 391 
 
 nocumentum vicinarum feriarum. Quare volumus et 
 firmiter praecipimus quod praedicta villa de Welles 
 liberum burgum sit et omnes homines ejusdem villae 
 et heredes eorum liberi burgenses sint in perpetuum, 
 et quod habeant praedictum liberum mercatum et prae- 
 dictas ferias quae ibi esse solent, et de dono nostro 
 praedictatn feriam per octo dies duraturam, et quod 
 ipsi et heredes eorum habeant omnes libertates et 
 liberas consuetudines liberi burgi et liberorum burgen- 
 sium et ad hujusmodi mercatum et ferias pertinentes 
 bene et in pace, libere et quiete, integre et honorifice 
 in perpetuum. Volumus etiam quod ipsi et eorum 
 res et possessiones sint in manu, custodia, et protectione 
 nostra, prohibentes ne quis eos vel heredes eorum con- 
 tra hanc cartam nostram vexet vel disturbet super 
 forisfacturam 1 nostram. 
 
 Testibus : Willelmo Marescallo Comite de Pembroc • 
 Willelmo Comite Sarisburiensi ■ Willelmo de Rupibus 
 seneschallo Andegavensi • Stephano de Pertico • Gerard 
 de Fornivall • Warino filio Geroldi ■ Petro de Stok • 
 Fulco de Cantelupo ■ Roberto de Plesseto. 
 
 Datum per manum Simonis Wellensis archidiaconi 
 apud Chinonem septima die Septembris anno regni 
 nostri tertio. 
 
 Seal gone. Green tags remaining. 
 
 APPENDIX P. 
 
 A tradition at Wells has assigned to Savaric a 
 pastoral staff and a pontifical ring which were found 
 in a stone coffin dug up in the western burial ground 
 
 1. " The king's right of enforcing demands." 
 
392 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 of the cathedral church at the beginning of this cen- 
 tury, in the time of dean Lukin, 1799 — 1812. 
 
 " The staff is exactly twelve inches high, and consists 
 of three parts : (a) the crook ; (b) the knot ; (c) the 
 neck ; the whole being of copper-gilt and enamelled. 
 (See Frontispiece). The crook is formed of the body and 
 head of a serpent ; the scales are filled with dark-blue 
 enamel, and a serrated crest runs along the outside of 
 the curve. Inside the crook is a winged figure, prob- 
 ably St. Michael, striking a spear into the body of a 
 two-legged lizard or wingless dragon, whose tail runs 
 through the snake forming the crook and terminates in 
 foliage. The dragon's body is set on either side with 
 seven turquoises, and the eyes are, like those of all the 
 figures on the crozier-head, formed of some dark 
 stones, seemingly garnets. Both the serpent and the 
 dragon have the heads so formed as to show a face on 
 each side of the crook. The junction of the crook and 
 knot is masked by a bold indented cresting, once set 
 with turquoises. The knot is a flattened circular boss 
 of gilt copper with a casing of open-work formed of 
 six wingless dragons like that inside the crook, three 
 above and as many below, each biting the tail of the 
 one preceding, an ornate belt dividing the two groups. 
 
 The neck of the crozier-head is four inches long, 
 ornamented with beautiful scroll-work of conventional 
 foliage on a field of dark blue enamel. This is divided 
 lengthways and slightly spirally by the bodies of three 
 serpents, heads downwards and their tails curving out- 
 wards under the knob. The serpents are gilt, and 
 have each five turquoises on the back and garnets for 
 eyes. The whole of the work is of excellent character, 
 
Appendix Q. 393 
 
 and still in very good preservation. The crozier-head 
 was put together in 1834, under the advice and assist- 
 ance of Mr. Douce and Mr. Gage, then Director of the 
 Society, before which it was exhibited on February 6th 
 of that year. The wooden staff to which it is now 
 fixed, and the bronze ferrule, made after one in Mr. 
 Douce's possession, were added by Mr. Willement. 
 
 There is no historical ground for the tradition that 
 it belonged to Savaric. The workmanship and simi- 
 larity of pattern to many other croziers of bishops of 
 the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, probably gave 
 occasion for the assumption. 
 
 The peculiarities of the pontifical ring, a massive 
 gold ring with a pale uncut ruby, do not help to fix 
 the date." 1 
 
 APPENDIX Q. 
 Canons of Wells at the time of bishop Joceliris death. 
 A.D. 1242. Archer, Long Book, p. 35. 
 
 CANONICI Wellenses qui defuncto Jocelino contro- 
 versial inter Wellenses et Bathonienses de electione 
 Episcopi se immiscuerunt. 
 
 Johannes Saracenus, Decanus. R. i, f. 73. 
 
 Willelmus de Button, Archidiaconus Well. f. 73. 
 
 Walterus de St. Quintino, Archid. Taunton, f. 73. 
 
 Will, de Maydeneston, f. 73. 
 
 Phil, de Gildeford, f. 73. 
 
 1. A coloured plate is given in Archaologia, Vol. LI, part i, p. 106. 
 Savaric, etc., with this description written by Mr. W. H. St. John 
 Hope, Assistant Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries. 
 
 E EE 
 
394 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 Hugo Subdecanus, f. 74. 
 
 Lucas de Membury, f. 74. 
 
 Walterus de Sarum, dictus de Button, f. 74. 
 
 Johannes de Cerde, ib. 
 
 Will, de Brugwalter, ib. 
 
 Robertus de Mariscis, f. 74. 1259, f. 105. 
 
 Sylvester de Everdon, clericus domini Regis, f. 75. 
 
 Johannes de Uffinton, missus ad papam, f. 75. 
 
 W. de Eboraco, praepositus Beverlacensis, f. 76. 
 
 Walterus de Cussinton, f. 65. 1259, f. 103. 
 
 Ricardus de Dinham, ib. 
 
 Jocelinus Capellanus, ib. 
 
 Johannes Mansel, f. 78. 
 
 Johannes Odelin (f. 80), praeb. de Yatton, R. iii, 
 f. 404. 
 
 Johannes de Button (f. 80), praepositus, 1259, 
 f. 104. 
 
 Will, de Pilton (f. 80), 1259, f. 103. 
 
 Will, de Kaynesham (f. 80). 
 
 Wall. Bruno, ib. 
 
 Rad. de Chyw, ib. 
 
 Ric. de Langport, ib. 
 
 Milo, ib. 
 
 Rog. de Wynesham, ib. 
 
 Will, de Lechlade, ib. 
 
 Walt. Sarum, ib. 
 
 John de Kaynesham, ib. 
 
 Rog. de Westbury. 
 
 Luc. de Bristol. 
 
 Walt, de Cerda. 
 
 Thomas de Kent. 
 
 Robert de Welles. 
 
Appendix R. 395 
 
 APPENDIX R. 
 
 Master Workmen in bishop Jocelin's time. 
 
 Masons, goldsmiths, sculptors : Masons. 
 
 (a.) The family of Lock. — Adam Lock, father, 
 Thomas Lock the son, cementarii, are possessed of 
 houses in Wells, which they make over for the use of 
 schools in Wells. R. i, ff. 33, 34 ; anno 1229, 1234. 
 
 With them are connected as witnesses attesting their 
 grants the names of two other cementarii, Deodatus, 
 and Thomas Noreis, and of different officers of the 
 church, and of the bishop's household ; the subdean 
 and two canons of Wells ; three vicars ; Elyas de 
 Derham, seneschal and steward of bishop Jocelin ; 
 Walter the chamberlain ; Lawrence and Ivo Cade, 
 provosts of Wells. 
 
 (b.) The family of Noreis, Norais, Noreys, appears 
 about this time. Master Thomas Norreis, 1235, 
 1243, in Charter 43, and also in other documents 
 belonging to the old Almshouse in Wells. Richard 
 Noreis attests in Henry Ill's time a grant to John 
 Glaston, aurifaber (goldsmith) of a messuage in Wells. Goldsmith. 
 A. H. No. 5. (Cf. Charter 35, Godefrey aurifaber 
 attests grant of houses in Wells.) In Edward I's 
 time John le Noreys, son and heir of Robert le Noreys 
 of Wells, makes a grant of houses in Southover, Wells. 
 A. H. No. 6. Thomas (Norreys) the mason (cemen- 
 tarius) attests at Glastonbury (13 December, 1249) a 
 release from Ralph Page, son of Alwyn de Vinea, of 
 messuages and lands in Glastonbury to William son of 
 Roger Bunetone, together with Nicholas de Lostehulle, 
 then seneschal (steward) of Glastonbury, and others. 
 
396 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 A. H. No. 3, with seal of Ralph Page fil. Alwyn de 
 Vinea, a fleur de lys elegantly designed. 
 Sculptor. (c.) The Bunetone Family "dictus sculptor." — 
 
 William de Bunetone, called ''sculptor" in Edward 
 IPs time grants twelve houses "in vico qui vocatur 
 Boneton in villa Glaston." and lands to his son John 
 de Boneton, charged with payment of two shillings to 
 the abbot, and to heirs of William aurifaber (gold- 
 smith) a pair of gloves (A. H. Nos. n, 12). 
 
 (d.) Elyas de Derham, witness to the grants of the 
 Lock family (R. i, f. 34), is the name of one of the 
 executors of the early draft of the will of Hugh bishop 
 of Lincoln in 12 12, co-executor with bishop Jocelin, 
 then in exile in France. He bears the same name as 
 the canon of Salisbury, the " rector ecclesiae " of Salis- 
 bury, 1225-1229 (Osm. Reg., ii, cxxii, Rolls Series), 
 and the traditional builder of the church of Salisbury ; 
 the " incomparable architect " of St. Thomas' shrine at 
 Canterbury, 1220 (Matt. Paris, Hist. Angl., ii, 242) ; 
 the master of the works in the king's hall at Winchester, 
 1232 (Rot. Lit. Pat. 16 Hen. Ill, m. 5, 6 ; Rot. Claus. 20 
 Hen. Ill), whose death is mentioned by M. Paris in 
 124s. 1 [Chr. Maj., iv, 418.) Others of the family of 
 Derham (Dyrham in Gloucestershire) are named in 
 the Wells registers. 
 
 Walter de Derham, canon in 1234. R. i, f. 33. 
 
 John de Derham, canon 1243-7. K- i> ff- 64, 65, 78. 
 
 R. de Derham, canon 1247. P- i> f- 96. 
 
 i. Vide a paper on Elias de Derham, read at the meeting of the 
 Royal Archaeological Institute at Salisbury, 1887, by Rev. J. A. 
 Bennett, F.S.A. Archaological Journal, xliv, 365. Also an article 
 in R.I.B.A. Journal, 12 April, 1888, by Mr. Wyatt Papworth. 
 
 A. H. here stand for Almshouse Charters. 
 
Appendix S. 397 
 
 APPENDIX S. 
 
 Inspeximus. 1242. Original Documents, Nos. 39, 40, 41. 
 Penes Decanum et Capitulum. 
 
 UNIVERSIS Christi fidelibus ad quos presens scrip- 
 turn pervenerit J[ocelinus] Bathoniensis. W[illelmus 
 Brewer, 1224-44] Exoniensis. et Wfillelmus de Ralegh 
 1239-45] Norwicensis Dei gratia episcopi salutem in Recital. 
 Domino. Noveritis quod inspeximus quedam instru- 
 menta autentica, et etiam ipsa originalia que nobis ex 
 parte Decani et capituli Wellensis fuerunt exhibita, 
 quorum transcripta prout inferius continentur de verbo 
 ad verbum absque adjeccione et diminucione ad 
 ipsorum peticionem presenti carte inseri fecimus in 
 hec verba : 
 
 Alexander episcopus servus servorum Dei dilectis Ratification 
 
 r of Wells 
 
 filiis Decano Archidiaconis et Capitulo Wellensi election of 
 
 Reginald. 
 
 salutem, et apostolicam benediccionem. Intelleximus a-d. h 74 . 
 ex litteris vestris, et ex testimonio plurium magnarum 
 personarum ; nichilominus innotuit nobis quod vos 
 recepta libertate celebrandi eleccionem in ecclesia 
 vestra dilectum filium Rfeginaldum] Archidiaconum 
 Saresberiensem unanimiter et concorditer in pastorem 
 vobis et episcopum elegistis. Cum autem idem electus 
 pro sciencia et literatura sua, et pro fervore devocionis 
 quam circa nos et Romanam ecclesiam gerere compro- 
 batur, carus nobis sit plurimum et acceptus, et conver- 
 sacio sua se nobis commendabilem reddat, unanimi- 
 tatem vestram et concordiam super hoc commendamus ; 
 volentes vos in proposito vestro stabiles et firmos 
 existere, et in omnibus que spectant ad commodum 
 et profectum ecclesie vestre, et prefati electi vestri 
 
398 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 Ratification 
 of Wells 
 right of 
 election. 
 
 inveniri unanimes et Concordes. Unde quia predictum 
 electum sicut virum providum et discretum, literatum 
 et nobis valde devotum ferventer in Christo diligimus, 
 et libenter quantum secundum Deum possumus ad 
 ejus commodum intendimus et honorem, discrecioni 
 vestre per apostolica scripta precipiendo mandamus, 
 quatinus ei sicut electo vestro omni contradiccione et 
 appellacione remota debitam obedienciam et reveren- 
 ciam impendatis, et ejus monitis et mandatis humiliter 
 et devote parere curetis. Ita quod ipse in vobis 
 filialem subjeccionem inveniat, et nos obedienciam et 
 devocionem vestram in hac parte debeamus non im- 
 merito commendare. Datum Anagnie . xiiij kalend . 
 Maij. 
 
 Alexander episcopus servus servorum dei dilectis 
 filiis, Decano, Precentori, Archidiaconis, et capitulo 
 Wellensis ecclesie salutem . et apostolicam benedic- 
 cionem. Justis filiorum ecclesie peticionibus nos 
 convenit libenter annuere, et eas effectu prosequente 
 complere, ut cum a sede apostolica quod racionabiliter 
 postulant fuerint assecuti ei debeant omni tempore 
 firmiori devocione adherere, et ejus honori et exalt- 
 acioni fervenciori studio invigilare. Eapropter dilecti 
 in domino filii racionabilibus votis et desideriis vestrts 
 grato concurrentes assensu vobis et per vos ecclesie 
 vestre canonicas consuetudines, libertates quoque et 
 immunitates, et episcoporum vestrorum elecciones 
 sicut eas a ducentis retro annis usque ad tempora bone 
 memorie Johannis quondam episcopi vestri, qui sibi in 
 bathoniensi ecclesia sedem constituit habuisse nosci- 
 mini auctoritate apostolica confirmamus, et presentis 
 scripti patrocinio communimus. 
 
Appendix S. 399 
 
 Ita tamen ut idem episcopo a vobis eligendo Asr?« n f nt 
 
 r r ° for joint 
 
 tractari debuerit ne inter vestram et predictam action re- 
 
 r commended. 
 
 ecclesiam aliqua possit imposterum de eleccione con- 
 troversia suboriri, vos et monachi ipsius ecclesiae ad 
 electionem tractandam, et faciendam conveniatis, et 
 cum inde perfectam honestam et ydoneam con- 
 veneritis, tu, fili Decane, secundum antiquam ecclesie 
 tue consuetudinem ipsius eleccionis debeas sollempnem 
 pronunciacionem habere, ut persona electa Cantuariensi 
 archiepiscopo examinanda et promovenda sine contra- 
 diccione qualibet presentetur. Decernimus ergo ut 
 nulli omnino hominum licet hanc paginam nostre con- 
 firmacionis infringere, vel ei aliquatenus contraire. Si 
 quis autem hoc attemptare presumpserit, indignacionem 
 omnipotentisDeietbeatorum Petri et Pauli apostolorum 
 ejus se noverit incursurum. Datum Anagnie . vj idus. 
 January. 
 
 % Item pacem postmodum factum, inter ecclesiam Wellen- Agreement. 
 sem et ecclesiam Bathoniensem super eleccione 
 Episcopi sui inter eos communiter facienda. 
 
 In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti Amen. 
 Facta est hec pax subscripta inter ecclesiam Bathon- 
 iensem . et ecclesiam Wellensem . et conventum 
 Bathoniensem . et capitulum Wellense super eleccione 
 pontificis utrique ecclesie prefitiendi vacante episcopatu. 
 Videlicet quod cum secundum deum et consuetudinem 
 regni de eleccione tractari debuerit prior et monachi 
 Bathonienses, et decanus et canonici Wellenses, in 
 loco idoneo proper hoc convenient, et de eleccione 
 futuri Episcopi communiter tractabunt. Et cum com- 
 muniter in idoneam personam convenerint, prior 
 
400 Chapters in Wells. History. 
 
 Bathoniensis debet denuntiare ex parte utriusque 
 ecclesie, et postulare personam de communi assensu 
 electam. Si vero prior Bathoniensis vel monachi, vel 
 decanus Wellensis, vel canonici, in eleccionem episcopi 
 contra predictam formam in aliquo proruperint, dim- 
 nitum est et concessum ex utraque parte quod irritum 
 sit et inane quicquid fuerit ab eis contra hoc super 
 eleccione attemptatum. Si vero partes communiter 
 consenserint in personam prioris decanus Wellensis 
 ejus eleccionem debet denuntiare et postulare. Eodem 
 modo convenit inter partes, quod si ecclesia Bathon- 
 iensis caruerit priore tempore eleccionis, quod decanus 
 Wellensis eleccionem illius in quem partes consen- 
 serunt denuntiabit et postulabit. Decanus vero et 
 capitulum Wellense non impedient quo minus epis- 
 copus illorum prius in ecclesia Bathoniensi intronizetur 
 quam in Wellensi, nee procurabunt quod prius intro- 
 nizetur in Wellensi quam in Bathoniensi. Convenit 
 etiam inter predictas ecclesias quod nunquam contra 
 hanc formam pacis utentur aliquibus privilegiis impe- 
 tratis vel impetrandis. Hec autem omnia fideliter 
 observandas tam prior et conventus Bathoniensis quam 
 Alexander decanus et capitulum Wellense juraverunt. 
 et sigillo utriusque confirmaverunt. 
 
 Election of % Item, instrumenta utriusque ecclesie vacante tunc 
 Bath. ecclesia Cantuariensi directa summo pontifici 
 
 super eleccione domini yocelini episcopi sui com- 
 muniter inter dictas ecclesias facta, videlicet 
 instrumentum ecclesie Bathoniensis in htzc verba : 
 
 Sanctissimo patri et domino Innocentio Dei gratia 
 summo Pontifici, devotissimi sui Robertus Bathoniensis 
 
Appendix S. 401 
 
 ecclesie prior et totus ejusdem ecclesie conventus 
 salutem, et tarn promptum quam debitum in omnibus 
 famulatum. Cum pie recordacionis episcopus noster 
 Savaricus viam universe carnis fuisset ingressus, con- 
 venimus in unum nos et decanus et capitulum 
 Wellensis ecclesie ad quos una nobiscum episcopi 
 nostri noscitur electio pertinere, ut de prefitiendo nobis 
 episcopo communiter tractaremus. Tandem vero post 
 diutinam et diligentem deliberacionem communi 
 omnium hinc inde voto et desiderio in magistrum Joce- 
 linum clericum ecclesie nostre et canonicum Wellensis 
 ecclesie, virum industrium et literatum et honestum vota 
 nostra contulimus ipsum in pastorem, et episcopum 
 animarum nostrarum, invocata sancti Spiritus gratia 
 solempniter eligentes. Pedibus itaque vestre Paterni- 
 tatis provoluti quanta possumus devocione supplicamus 
 quatinus eleccionem nostram, concurrente tam cleri 
 quam populi voluntate celebratam, et principis assensu 
 subnixam, auctoritate apostolica confirmare dignemini, 
 ne si ecclesie nostre diutius pastoris provisione caruerint 
 irreparabilem quod Deus avertat tam in spiritualibus 
 quam in temporalibus jacturam incurrant. Ego 
 Robertus prior . s[ubscripsi] H: Ego Aluredus . s . + 
 Ego Vincentius . s . + Ego Hamo . s. + Ego Hugo . 
 s . + Ego Johannes supprior . s . + Ego Aurelianus . 
 s . + Ego Martinus camerarius . s . + Ego Adam . s . 
 + Ego Reginaldus . s . + Ego Ricardus . s . + Ego 
 Willelmus thesaurarius . s . Ego Ricardus subsacrista . 
 s . + Ego Willelmus . s . + Ego Anselmus succentor . 
 s . + Ego Walterus . s . + Ego Serlo subcellerarius . 
 s . + Ego Robertus granatarius . s . -*• Ego Walterus . 
 s . + Ego Walterus . s . + Ego Nicholaus . s . + Ego 
 
 F FF 
 
402 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 Amaldus . s . + Ego Urbanus cellerarius . s . + Ego 
 Radulfus infirmarius . s . + Ego Robertus . s . + Ego 
 Marchus . s . + Ego Willelmus sacrista . s . + Ego 
 Walterus refectorius . s . -f- Ego Johannes custos 
 operum . s . + Ego Johannes elemosinarius . s . + Ego 
 Robertus . s . + Ego Symon precentor . s . + Ego 
 Johannes tercius prior . s . + Ego Fulco . s . jH Ego 
 Willelmus . s . H: Ego Hugo . s . + Ego Johannes . 
 s . + Ego Walterus . s . + Ego Robertus . s . + Ego 
 Johannes . s . |* In hujus itaque rei testimonium 
 robur, et majorem firmitatem huic scripto sigillum 
 nostrum apposuimus. 
 
 Election at % Item instrumentum ecclesie Wellensis in hec verba : 
 
 Wells. 
 
 Sanctissimo patri et domino karissimo J. dei gratia 
 summo pontifici devotissimi sui Alexander Wellensis 
 ecclesie decanus et totum ejusdem ecclesie capitulum 
 salutem et tarn promptum quam debitum in omnibus 
 famulatum. Cum pie recordacionis episcopus noster 
 Savaricus viam universe carni fuisset ingressus con- 
 venimus in unum nos et prior et conventus Bathonien- 
 sis ecclesie ad quos una hobiscum episcopi nostri 
 noscitur eleccio pertinere ut de prefitiendo nobis epis- 
 copo communiter tractaremus. Tandem vero post 
 diutinam et diligentem deliberacionem communi om- 
 nium hinc inde voto et desiderio in magistrum Joce- 
 linum canonicum nostrum vifum industrium litteratum 
 et honestum vota nostra contulimus ipsum in pastorem 
 et episcopum animarum nostrarum invocata sancti 
 spiritus gratia solempniter eligentes. Pedibus itaque 
 vestre paternitatis provoluti quanta possumus devocione 
 supplicamus quatinus eleccionem nostram Concurrente 
 
Appendix S. 403 
 
 tatn cleri quam populi voluntate celebratam et principi 
 assensu subnixam auctoritate apostolica confirmare 
 dignemini ne si ecclesie nostre diutius pastoris pro- 
 yisione caruerint irreparabilem quod Deus avertat tarn 
 in spiritualibus quam in -temporalibus jacturam incur- 
 rant. Ego Alexander Wellensis Decanus . s . + Egp 
 WJllelmus [de Sancta Fide] 1185-1208 precentor Wel- 
 lensis . s . + Ego ^H . Wellensis archidiaconus . s . 
 -I- Ego , 2 R . cancellarius Wellensis . s . + Ego . T . 
 thesaurarius Wellensis . s . + Ego W . cancellarius 
 domini Regis . s . + Ego . 3 P . archidiaconus Bathoni- 
 ensis . s . + Ego . 4 W . archidiaconus Tantoniensis . 
 s . + Ego . 6 T . subdecanus Wellensis . s . + Ego . 
 6 A . Succentor Wellensis . s . + Ego Abbas Beccensis 
 canonicus Wellensis . s . + Ego abbas Muchelnensis 
 canonicus Wellensis . s . + Ego . R . archidiaconus 
 Wyntoniensis . s . + Ego Magister . R . de Lechel 
 [ade] . s . + Ego Stephanus Ridel . s . 4- Ego magister 
 Amandus . s . + Ego . P . Canutus . s . + Ego . J . 
 Chauvel . s . + Ego . T . de Londfon] . s . + Ego 
 Reginaldus Buzun . s . + Ego magister . W . de Tan- 
 tonia . s . + Ego . R . de Tresgoz . s . + Ego magis- 
 ter . T . de Heselle . s . + Ego . S . de Elmeham . s . 
 + Ego . T . de Tornaco . s . + Ego . H . de Welles . 
 s . + Ego . J . capellanus . s . + Ego . P . de Inglesii 
 . s . + Ego . A . Scottus . s . + Ego Hugo de Wyl? . 
 
 1. Hugh de Welles 1204-10. 
 
 2. ? Richard de Kenelworth, 1219. 
 
 3. ? Peter de Cicester, dean, 1227. 
 
 4. William de Wrotham 12 16. 
 
 5. Thomas de Dinan 1199. 
 
 6. Adam ? 
 
404 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 s . + Ego Arnisius de Constantiis . s . + Ego Mau- 
 ricius de Berkele . s . + Ego Johannes de Bohun . s . 
 + Ego Items de Wandesti . s . + Ego Philipus de 
 Lucy . s . + Ego . R. de Tymbresn . s . + Ego . R . 
 preciosus . s . + Ego . R . de Staweya . s . + Ego . 
 R . de Camera . s . + Ego . W . de Sarum . s . + 
 Ego . H . de Wyflescumba . s . + Ego . A . Lugdun- 
 ensis . s . + Ego . H . de Berkele . s . + Ego . T . de 
 Cycestria . s . + Ego . J . de Kainesham . s . + Ego 
 magister . R . de Wyltofi . s . + Ego . T . de Dunden 
 . s . + Ego . W . de Dinre . s . + Ego . J . de Calna . 
 s . + Ego . R . de Bathonia . s . + Ego . N . de 
 Welles . s . + Ego . H . de Traco . s . + Ego . R . de 
 Berch . s . + Ego . R . de Sanf . s . + Ego . S 3s 
 Torn[aco] . s . + Ego Willelmus de Cerda . s . — 
 In hujus itaque rei testimonium robur et mafzrsn 
 firmitatem huic scripto sigillum nostrum apposrnunK 
 
 1T Item litteras testimonials quorundum Episa>pim.m 
 Anglie super eleccione sic cotntnuniter facta satmemi 
 pontifici directos in hec verba : 
 
 Sanctissimo in Christo patri J . dei gratia summo 
 pontifici humiles et devoti filii sui W.de London 
 G . Roflfensis H . Exoniensis H . Saresberiensis E . 
 Elyensis G . Coventrensis M . Wygorniensis J . Nor- 
 wicensis W . Lincolniencis S . Cicestrensis et P . 
 Wyntoniensis episcopi salutem et cum omni devocione 
 ac reverentia debitam domino et patri obedientiam. 
 Noverit sancta paternitas vestra quod cum venerabilis 
 frater noster Savaricus bone raemorie Bathoniensis 
 episcopus concessisset in fata et tarn Bathoniensis 
 quam Wellensis ecclesia sua fuisset viduata pastore, 
 
Appendix S. 405 
 
 prior et conventus Bathoniensis et decanus et capi- 
 tulum Wellense ad quos jus eligendi episcopum perti- 
 nere dinoscitur in unum pariter convenerunt, . habi- 
 taque prout moris est super eleccione episcopi diligenti 
 tractatu, pari tandem voto et unanimi assensu in magis- 
 trum Jocelinum canonicum Wellensis ecclesie virum 
 providum, litteratum et honestum, consenserunt ipsum- 
 que invocata sancti Spiritus gratia, in pastorem et 
 episcogum suum canonice et solempniter elegerunt. 
 Cui nimirum eleccioni illustrix rex Anglie Johannes 
 suum adhibuit benignus assensum. Quia vero Cantuar- 
 iensis ecclesia suo noscitur orbata pastore supplicamus 
 sancte paternitati vestre quatinus nuntios dictarum 
 ecclesiarum benignius admittentes prenominato electo 
 munus confirmacionis conferre dignemini. 
 
 % Item similiter litteras testimonials eorundem epis- 
 coporum directas super hoc domino . J . Sancte 
 Marie in via lata diacono cardinali tunc venienti 
 legato in Angliam in hec verba: 
 
 Venerabili patri et domino karissimo J . dei gratia 
 Sancte Marie in via lata diacono cardinali, apostolice 
 sedis legato W . Londoniensis G . Roffensis H . Exon- 
 iensis H . Saresberiensis E . Eligensis G . Coventrensis 
 M . Wygornensis J . Norwicensis W . Lincolniensis 
 S . Cicestrensis et P . Wyntoniensis episcopi salutem 
 et sincere devocionis affectum. Noverit paternitas 
 vestra quod cum venerabilis frater noster Savaricus 
 bone memorie Bathoniensis episcopus concessisset in 
 fata et tam Bathoniensis quam Wellensis ecclesia suo 
 fuisset viduata pastore, prior et conventus Bathoniensis 
 et decanus et capitulum Wellense ad quos jus eligendi 
 
406- Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 episcopum pertinere dinoscitur in unum pariter conven- 
 erunt, habitaque prout moris est super eleccione epis- 
 copi diligenti tractatu . pari tandem voto et unanimi 
 assensu in magistrum Jocelinum canonicum Wellensis 
 ecclesie virum providum litteratutn et honestum con- 
 senserunt ipsumque invocata spiritus sancti gratia in 
 pastorem et episcopum suutn canonice ac sollempniter 
 elegerunt, cui nimirum eleccioni illustris rex Anglie 
 Johannes suum adhibuit benignus assensum. Quia 
 vero Cantuariensis ecclesia suo noscitur orbata pastore 
 supplicamus paternitati vestre quatinus nuntios dic- 
 tarum ecclesiarum benignius admittentes . prenominato 
 electo munus confirmacionis conferre dignemini. 
 
 IT Item litteras dotnini regis super assensu suo dicte 
 eleccioni prestito directas domino . J . Sancte 
 Marie in via lata diacono cardinali tunc 
 venienti legato in Angliam, qui omnibus pre- 
 dictis instrumentis receptis et visis, vacante 
 tunc ecclesia Cantuariensis, vice domini pape 
 dictam eleccionem sic communiter factam con- 
 firmavit. Tenor vero predictarum litterarum 
 domini regis talis est: 
 
 King's Venerabili patri in Christo J . dei gratia sancte 
 
 Marie in via lata diacono cardinali et apostolice sedis 
 legato J . eadem gratia Rex Anglie, dominus Hybernie 
 Normannorum et Aquitanorum, comes Andegavorum 
 salutem et debitam cum devocione reverentiam. 
 Mittimus ad vos dilectum et fidelem nostrum magis- 
 trum Jocelinum ecclesie Wellensis canonicum a decano 
 et capitulo Wellensi et priore et conventu Bathoniensi 
 ad regimen episcopatus Bathoniensis de assensu nostro 
 
 missive. 
 
Appendix T. 407 
 
 canonice et sollempniter electum paternitati vestre 
 supplicantes quatinus eleccionem suam confirmare 
 velitis. Teste Domino P . Wyntoniensi episcopo apud 
 Dokemerfelde, xx°iii° die Aprilis. 
 
 In omnium vero predictorum testimonium presenti c°mmis- 
 
 sioners 
 
 scripto sigilla nostra apponi fecimus. Datum mense warranty 
 
 . under seal. 
 
 Julu Anno incarnacionis dominice Millesimo ducen- 
 tesimo quadragesimo secundo. 
 
 On the flap : " W. seripsit." 
 
 APPENDIX T. 
 Pacification, A.D. 1246. Charters 45, 46, 47. 
 
 OMNIBUS ad quos presens scriptum pervenerit T. 
 prior et conventus Bathoniensis salutem in domino. 
 
 Litteras venerabilis patris domini Rogeri Bathonien- 
 sis et Wellensis episcopi nostri super reformacione 
 pacis inter nostram et Wellensem ecclesias inspeximus 
 in hec verba. 
 
 Omnibus Christi fidelibus ad quos presens scrip- 
 tum pervenerit. Rogerus miseracione divina 
 Bathoniensis et Wellensis episcopus salutem 
 in domino sempiternam. 
 Mediator Dei et hominum dominus Jhesus 
 Christus a patre procedens sibique coeternus 
 et consubstantialis existens, ut nos primorum 
 prevaricacione parentum dampnatos a potes- 
 tate seductoris eriperet, et summo patri genus 
 reconciliaret humanum in se inmortalis 
 existens et impassibilis, homo factus se 
 
408 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 passibilem exhibuit et mortalem, et demum 
 voluntariam resolutus in mortem professionis 
 diverse fidei christiane rectores instituit, ut 
 sicut ipse semper cum patre unus extitit non 
 divisus, nos in fidei et caritatis unione conser- 
 vent, hos quidem juditiali gladio reprimentes, 
 illos suavitate moderaminis demulcentes. 
 Both chap- jj os iprit ur licet inmeriti in partem hujus sollici- 
 
 ters consent ° r J 
 
 to award. tudinis evocati que jam premisimus sollicitius 
 
 attendentes, et pii magistri doctrinam pacificam 
 totis viribus amplectentes, questiones quasdam 
 et controversias pridem subortas earumque 
 materias inter ecclesias Bathoniensem et Well- 
 ensem quibus disponente domino presidemus 
 amputare penitus affectantes, de consensu et 
 voluntate dilectorum in Christo filiorum prioris 
 et conventus Bathoniensis et capituli Wellen- 
 sis qui ordinacionibus apostolicis super elec- 
 cionem pontificis prefitiendi ecclesiis memoratis 
 communiter inter ipsas ecclesias perpetuo 
 fatienda ipsamque eleccionem contingentibus 
 per decanum et capitulum Wellensem impe- 
 tratis ac promulgatis salvis et in suo robore 
 per omnia duraturis a quibus capitulum 
 Wellense sollempniter et publice tam viva 
 voce quam per litteras suas patentes se per 
 tractatum ordinacionem supposicionem dicto 
 vel facto seu etiam quocumque alio modo in 
 nullo velle recedere protestati sunt, consimili 
 a priore et conventu Bathoniensi super ordina- 
 cionibus supradictis protestacione premissa. 
 Quibus etiam protestacionibus salvis per omnia 
 
Appendix T. 409 
 
 super inferius annotatis se provision! et dis- 
 posicioni nostre subjecerunt. Quibus ordina- 
 cionibus apostolicis ab Innocentio papa quarto 
 per Johannem Sarracenum decanum et cap- Pa P al buUs 
 
 r on the case. 
 
 itulum Wellensem impetratis una videlicet sub 
 datum Laterani decimo kalendarum Aprilium, 
 pontificatus ejusdem anno primo, alia vero sub 
 datum Lugduni tercio nonarum Januarii pon- ' 
 tificatus ejusdem anno secundo, sicut nee 
 possumus obviare nolentes, sic inter dictas 
 ecclesias in nomine domini nostri Jhesu Christi Award - 
 providendum duximus et disponendum, vide- 
 licet quod utraque ecclesia denuntiet alteri 
 quando primo sciverit episcopatum vacare, 
 item major illius ecclesie presens in qua 
 occurrit eleccio ea vice fatienda denuntiabit 
 cum qua convenit et fieri poterit celeritate 
 capitulo illius ecclesie in qua non fuerit adtunc 
 eleccio fatienda diem quo debeant convenire 
 apud Fernton per procuratores suos litteratorie 
 constitutos ad ordinandum hinc inde procura- 
 tores suas ad curiam domini Regis sine more 
 dispendio destinandos pro petenda communiter 
 licentia eligendi, qui simul eant veniant ad 
 dominum Regem petant et redeant termino 
 competenti tunc ibidem ab eisdem communiter 
 statuendo quo dominum Regem possint adire 
 et utraque pars eat sumptibus ecclesie sue cum 
 litteris procuratoriis ecclesie sue, in quibus con- 
 tineatur quod procuratores suos propriis nom- 
 inibus eorum expressis destinant ad dominum 
 Regem una cum procuratoribus alterius ecclesie 
 
 G GG 
 
41 o Ckapters in Wells History. 
 
 similiter propriis nominibus eorum expressis 
 ad petendum communiter ab eodem licentiam 
 eligendi prout ad utramque ecclesiam similis 
 spectat eleccio, et hoc ipsum coram domino 
 Rege pariter protestentur litterasque suas simul 
 domino Regi presentent, hujus tamen peti- 
 cionis pronuntiacionem et priorem litterarum 
 suarum porrectionem habeat procurator illius 
 ecclesie in qua tunc fuerit eleccio fatienda. 
 Licentia vero eligendi optenta, major presens 
 illius ecclesie in qua ea vice non fiet eleccio 
 per litteras capituli sui denuntiabit capitulo 
 alterius ecclesie sine more dispendio diem 
 certum quo convenient procuratores utriusque 
 ecclesie loco superius assignato ad proyi- 
 dendum communiter certum terminum com- 
 petentem, ad quern et infra quern utraque 
 ecclesia omnes de capitulo suo in regno 
 existentes qui eleccioni interesse debent volunt, 
 et possunt, faciant et valeant commode con- 
 vocari. Cum autem partes die et loco sic sibi 
 ad eligendum prefixis convenerint, invocata 
 Spiritus sancti gratia secundum formam 
 canonicam quam eis Deus tunc inspiraverit, 
 communiter ad eleccionem procedant. Quod 
 si forte primo die eleccioni faciende prefixo 
 partes non poterunt concordare cum communi 
 accione trium vel quatuor dierum secundum 
 quod fuerit necesse procedant donee per 
 aliquam formam canonicam eleccio vel pos- 
 tulacio ibidem incipiat Te Deum laudamus, et 
 dicat collectam que fuerit dicenda super 
 
Appendix T. 411 
 
 electum. Idemque sollempniter denuntiet 
 clero et populo sicut negocii series se habet 
 fideliter nomine utriusque ecclesie eleccionem 
 factam, assistente sibi tunc ibidem majore 
 alterius ecclesie, leganturque ordinaciones 
 papales tunc ibidem et hec eadem scriptura. 
 Decretum autem eleccionis incontinenti com- 
 muniter et sollempniter unum fiat loco quo 
 tunc celebrata fuit eleccio, et ibidem mox post 
 publicationem consignetur sigillo ejusdem 
 ecclesie, et cum celeritate qua fieri poterit per 
 nuntios communes utriusque capituli fideles 
 transmittatur ad alteram ecclesiam in qua ea 
 vice non fit eleccio sigillo statim illius ecclesie 
 consignandum, et sub sigillis ipsorum pro- 
 curatorum inclusum fideliter conservetur, nisi 
 quotiens communiter necesse fuerit illud pre- 
 sentari vel exhiberi iterato sub sigillis procura- 
 torum recludendum et conservandum per 
 procuratores ecclesie in qua tunc non fit 
 eleccio usque ad necessariam ipsius exhibi- 
 cionen. Presentetur autem eleccio celebrata 
 domino Regi per procuratores et litteras pro- 
 curatorias utriusque ecclesie . et in utrisque 
 litteris fiat mencio de communi eleccione et 
 presentacione, cujus presentacionis pronuntia- 
 cionem et priorem litterarum suarum porrec- 
 cionem habeat procurator illius ecclesie in 
 qua tunc non fiebat eleccio, simul tamen eant 
 veniant ad dominum Rfigem et redeant, et 
 cetera fiant ut supra in peticione licentie 
 eligendi scriptum est, et super assensu regio 
 
412 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 optento super eleccione facta et de persona 
 electa nomine utriusque ecclesie impetrentur 
 littere regie dirigende domino Cantuariensi, 
 vel alii presidenti et confirmandi protestatem 
 habenti. Quod si eleccioni dominus rex suum 
 assensum adhibere distulerit vel denegaverit 
 nomine utriusque ecclesie et sumptibus et per 
 procuratores earundem prosecucio dicti fiat 
 negocii husjumodi sumptibus et aliis quibus- 
 cumque circa eleccionem vel ipsius eleccionis 
 negocium.qualitercumque contingentibus factis 
 et fatiendis ab electo confirmato vel consecrato, 
 et possessionem temporalium optinente.utrique 
 ecclesie reddendis. Item fiat presentacio elec- 
 tionis electi et decreti domino Cantuariensi 
 vel alii presidenti et confirmandi potestatem 
 habenti . et peticio confirmacionis eiusdem ab 
 eodem simul per procuratores utriusqe ecclesie. 
 Quam peticionem et decreti presentacionem 
 primo fatiat procurator illius ecclesie in qua 
 ea vice eleccio facta fuit. Examinenturque 
 super eleccoione et electi persona et meritis 
 ijdem procuratores et alii qui fuerint presentes 
 de utraque ecclesia. Et si fuerit eleccio con- 
 confirmata major illius ecclesie in qua non 
 fuerit eleccio celebrata qui presens fuerit et 
 potens incipiat Te Deum laudamus, et dicat 
 collectam que fuerit dicenda super electum. 
 Optenta itftque confirmacione fiat presentacio 
 eleccionis cpnfirmate et electi domino Regi 
 prout superius scriptum est in presentacione 
 eleccionis facte fatienda eidem, nonineque 
 
Appendix T. 413 
 
 utriusque ecclesie impetrentur littere domini 
 Regis super possessione temporalium opti- 
 nenda, et fidelitatem fatiat electus domino 
 Regi nomine utriusque ecclesie. Item neutra 
 partium procurabit quocumque modo aliquod 
 impedimentum quo minus altera partium 
 admittatur ad eleccionem et ad omnia alia 
 ipsam eleccionem contingentia prout ordina- 
 tum est per dominum papam et utrinque 
 concessum. Item omnia que dicta sunt circa 
 electionem observentur in omnibus et per 
 omnia circa postulacionem si per postnla- 
 cionem procedatur salvo jure canonico statuto 
 circa naturam postulacionis. Procuret autem 
 utraque dictarum eccleisarum cum apud earn 
 fuerit eleccio fatienda omnem securitatem et 
 tranquillitatem in villa sua personis alterius 
 capituli illuc ad eleccionem venientibus et 
 familie eorundem compescantque suos ab 
 omnibus probris injuriis et contumeliis inser- 
 endis eisdem. Item fiat postulacio consecra- 
 cionis a consecratore per procuratores utriusque 
 ecclesie et nomine utriusque. Pronuntiacionem 
 autem postulacionis predicte habeat major 
 presens illius ecclesie in qua ea vice non fiebat 
 eleccio, assistente sibi majore alterius ecclesie 
 qui presens fnerit leganturque tunc ibidem 
 ordinaciones papales et hec scriptura. Item 
 professionem suam fatiat electus nomine 
 utriusque ecclesie. Item in examinacione, in 
 consecracione sua et in aliis contingentibus 
 ipsam consecracionem stet a dextris electi 
 
414 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 major illius ecclesie qui presens fuerit in qua 
 ilia eleccio facta non fnit, et major alterius 
 ecclesiie presens a sinistris. Item offitia epis- 
 copalia vicissim et successive fiant in ipsis 
 ecclesiis, ut synodi, ordinum ordinacio, et 
 crismatis consecratio, quantum in capitulis 
 est ipsis contrarium non procurantibus. Item 
 in synodis et in aliis congregacionibus publicis 
 in dyocesi fatiendis, Prior Bathoniensis sedeat 
 a dextris Episcopi Wellensis et Decanus a 
 sinistris, Bathoniensis e converso, in aliis vero 
 locis cum convenerint pro disposicione Epis- 
 copi. Item quod cape abbatum benedicen- 
 dorum alternatim et successive cum pro- 
 fessionibus suis ipsis ecclesiis conferantur, et 
 professiones ipsorum semper fiant nomine 
 utriusque ecclesie. Item quod nee prebende 
 Wellenses antique, nee de novo imprebendate 
 seu ecclesie commune Wellensis, sed nee 
 ecclesie spectantes ad jurisdictionem Decani 
 et capituli vel alicujus canonici sequantur 
 processiones Pentecostes ad loca in quibus 
 monachi Bathonienses recipiunt oblaciones 
 Pentecostes, nisi ille tantum in quarum 
 possessione nunc sunt. 
 Hanc autem provisionis et disposicionis nostre 
 formam utraque pars sibi recitatam sollemp- 
 niter approbavit et ad ipsam per omnia 
 et in v omnibus fideliter et bona fide inter 
 se perpetuo observandam, seque nullo um- 
 quam tempore in aliquo contravenire pro 
 se et successoribus suis juramento in animas 
 
Appendix T. 415 
 
 omnium et singulorum utriusque ecclesie cor- 
 poraliter prestito per procuratores suos hinc 
 inde per litteras patentes Capitulorum ad hoc 
 ita jurandum, et ad banc provisionem et dis- 
 posicionem nostram admittendum et recipien- 
 dum spetialiter constitutos, se obligavit. In 
 cujus rei robur et testimonium Prior et con- 
 ventus Bathoniensis et capitulum Wellense 
 una cum sigillo nostro presenti scripto sigilla 
 sua apposuerunt. Actum apud Staweye in 
 parochia de Chyv, Idus Augusti anno incar- 
 nacionis dominice millesimo ducentesimo 
 quadragesimo sexto. 
 Nos igitur predicte provisionis et disposicionis for- 
 mam ratam habentes et gratam ei nostrum per omnia 
 adhibemus assensum . et hoc presenti scripto nostro 
 protestamur. In cujus rei robur et testimonium de 
 communi consensu eidem sigilla nostra apposuimus. 
 Datum Bathonie in capitulo nostro quartodecimo 
 kalendarum Semptembrium anno incarnacionis domi- 
 nice millesimo ducentesimo quadragesimo sexto. 
 
 Endorsed : — Confirmacio provisionis. (i^th cent.) 
 
 1246. Prior et Conventus Bathonie. 
 
 (i$tk cent.) 
 Formula electionis Episcopi per Rogerum 
 Episcopum. (Late.) 
 
416 
 
 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 APPENDIX U. 
 
 Preamble. 
 
 Prayer of 
 
 Wells 
 
 chapter for 
 
 cassation of 
 
 Roger's 
 
 election 
 
 rejected. 
 
 Letters of pope Innocent IV. 
 
 i. — Add. MSS. British Museum, 15355, f. 116. 
 
 Innocentius etc. Priori et Conventui Bathoniensi. 
 
 Ann. i. Epist. 567. 
 
 1. Prolixa litis dilatio, pacis emula, nutrix discordie, 
 comodi parca, larga dispendii, gladii judicialis ictum 
 non sine litigantium jactura multiplici et gravi justitie 
 lesione suspendit, exactrix quidem sumptuum, et 
 laborum extortrix, sic ei veritatem implicite confusione 
 processus involvit ut vix postmodum adhibita etiam 
 attentionis manu sollicite audeat explicari propter 
 quod sepius litigantes post expensas inutiles et labores 
 inanes dampnum sustinent sui juris. 
 
 Unde sedis Apostolice providentia illud circa causa- 
 rum strepitus quantum est in ipsa moderantie studium 
 adhibet, ut prorogationis detrimento vitato post debite 
 ventilationis examen vel juste mucrone sententie decid- 
 antur, aut amicabili sopiantur concordia, seu etiam 
 meta ipsis equa provisione figatur quatinus partium 
 parcatur sumptibus, quieti provideatur eorum et cuique 
 jus suum integre conservetur. 
 
 2. Sane bone memorie Episcopo viam universe 
 carnis ingresso vos dilectum filium nunc Electum 
 vestrum, tunc precentorem Saresberiensem in Epis- 
 copum elegistis vobis tandem electionem nobis hujus- 
 modi per Thomam et Gilibertum monachos vestros 
 nuntios presentantibus eamque petentibus confirmari, 
 dilectus filius J. Sarracenus capellanus noster Decanus 
 Wellensis Ecclesie pro eadem ecclesia ex adverso res- 
 pondit, quod cum contemptis eo et capitulo Wellensi 
 
Appendix U. 417 
 
 qui debebant de jure requiri, et erant in possessione vel 
 quasi una vobiscum Pontificem eligendi, predicta electio 
 celebrata fuisset, confirmanda non erat sed potius 
 irritanda. 
 
 3. Nobis itaque ne diu maneret grex dominicus Confirma- 
 
 tion of 
 absque cura, et episcopatus ex longa vacatione grave Roger's 
 ..... ... . election. 
 
 in spiritual lbus et temporahbus incurreret detnmentum, 
 
 prefatum Electum eidem episcopatui sine cujuslibet 
 
 prejudicio in episcopum preficientibus de plenitudine 
 
 potestatis utriusque partis nuntii humiliter petierunt 
 
 ut ne in posterum cum episcopatum eundem vacare 
 
 contingeret posset ex hoc super electione Pastoris liti- 
 
 gium exhoriri previdere in hac parte paterna sollicitu- 
 
 dine curaremus. 
 
 4. Nos igitur futuris volentes obviare periculis Provision 
 
 for future 
 
 omnemque litis materiam amputare, de fratrum nos- elections, 
 trorum consilio ex eadem potestatis plenitudine, sic 
 super his duximus providendum ut decetero cum epis- 
 copatus ipse vacaverit, vos et iidem Decanus et Capi- 
 tulum simul electioni celebrande de Presule intersitis 
 pares in hoc penitus existentes, ita quod utraque 
 partium licet forte plures sint ex una quam ex altera 
 parem et equalem in eligendo, postulando, et alias pro- 
 curando eidem episcopatui provideri habeat potesta- 
 tem. Et si earum aliqua uni vel duobus ex ipsa super 
 hoc commiserit vices suas illius vel eorum non minus 
 valeant quam omnes relique partis voces, statuentes ut 
 electionis processus aliter habitus sit omnino vacuus et 
 irritus ipso jure, utrique ipsarum in aliis jure salvo 
 videlicet vestri sit electio celebranda, in qua ecclesia 
 Sedes esse debeat Cathedralis, et fieri habeat Pontificis 
 installatio, et etiam cujus ecclesie sit Episcopus nomin- 
 
 H HH 
 
41 8 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 andus. Datum Laterani Kalendis Aprilis anno primo 
 {March 23, 1244.) 
 
 f. 153. 2. — Ann. ii. Epist. f. 185. {Jan. 3, 1245.) 
 
 Innocentius etc. Decano et Capitulo Wellensi. 
 
 After preamble reciting the former judgment of 
 March 23, 1244 : 
 
 Nos periculis futuris occurrere ac Bathoniensi, et 
 Wellensi ecclesiarum paci et tranquilitati plenius con- 
 sulere cupientes statuimus, 
 
 Ut cum episcopatus ipse vacaverit, prima vice in 
 
 Bathoniensi, alia vero in Wellensi ecclesiis, et sic 
 
 vicissim semper in ipsis Pontificis electio celebretur, et 
 
 utraque Cathedralis existat. Ubi autem celebrata 
 
 fuerit electio, ibi primo installetur Pontifex, et utriusque 
 
 ecclesie Episcopus nominetur, Bathoniensis videlicet et 
 
 Wellensis, et sic in sigillo contineatur ipsius 
 
 Lugduni. iii Nonas Januarii anno secundo. 
 
 / 
 f. 235- 3. — Ann. ii. Epist. 556. {May 14, 1245.) 
 
 Innocentius etc. Bathoniensi et Wellensi Episcopo. 
 
 Cum juxta ordinationem nostram Bathoniensis et 
 Wellensis Episcopus debeas nominari, idque in tuo 
 sigillo debeat contineri, tu hoc pro tue voluntatis arbi- 
 trio facere denegas, prout dilectorum filiorum decano 
 et capitulo Wellensis exhibita nobis patefecit. Volen- 
 tes igitur ut talia corrigas per teipsum fraternitati tue 
 per apostolica scripta firmiter precipiendo mandamus, 
 quatinus juxta prefate ordinationis tenorem Bathonien 
 et Welleri te nomines, et id apponi facias in sigillo. 
 Mandatum nostrum taliter impleturus, quod super hoc 
 aliter scribere non cogamur. Datum Lugduni, ii. Idus 
 Maii anno secundo. 
 
Appendix W. 419 
 
 APPENDIX W. 
 
 Notices of Chapels and Altars in the Church of Wells, 
 A.D. 1136-1333. 1 
 
 High altar dedicated to St. Andrew. R. i, f. 46, 
 A.D. 1 148; cf. R. iii, f. 5, A.D. 1246; R. i, f. 112, 
 A.D. 1 28 1. 
 Altar of St. Cross. Charter 5, R, iii, f. 245, A.D. 1 148- 
 1 166 : in north part of the church : east aisle of 
 north transept : at the entrance to the chapter 
 house. Cf. R. ii, f. 77, a.d. i 500. 
 Altar of St. Calixtus, jn east aisle of south transept. 
 Charter 5, R. iii, f. 245, A.D. 1148-11156. 
 
 Chantry of dean Peter. R. iii, ff. 5, 131 ; a.d. 
 
 1238. 
 Chantry of dean Hussey. R. i, f. 52, R. iii, 
 f. 27;, A.D. 1307. 
 Chapel of St. Martin juxta fontem, in east aisle of 
 south transept, A.D. 1206-1242; R. i, f. 124; cf. 
 Charter 759 ; Ledger D, f. 30. 
 Chapel of St. Mary. R. i, f. 31 ; a.d. 1088- 1 136. 
 Repaired. R. i, f. 41 ; A.D. 1196. 
 Daily mass instituted by Savaric. R. i, f. 46 ; 
 
 iii, f. 136. 
 Daily mass instituted by Jocelin. R. iii, f. 127 ; 
 
 i, f- 43- 
 . . . retro magnum altare. R. iii, f. 124 ; 
 A.D. 1277 ; i, f. 128 ; A.D. 1298. 
 
 1. See plan of church. 
 
420 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 Chapel of St. Mary in burial ground east of cloister. 1 
 R. i, f. 64; A.D. 1243. 
 
 . . . in australi parte ecclesia juxta claustrum. 
 Charter 83; R. iii, f. 291 ; A.D. 1250. 
 Charter 95 ; A.D. 1268. 
 R. iii, ff. 282, 293 ; A.D. 1269. R. i, ff. 22, 
 90; A.D. 1 269- 1 27 1. 
 Altar of St. Nicholas in Chapel of St Mary. 
 R. i, f. 22 ; iii, f. 124 ; A.D. 1276. 
 R. i, f. 62 ; iii, f. 175 ; A.D. 1277. 
 R. i, f. 127; A.D. 1 301. 
 R. i, f. 179 ; A.D. 1330. 
 Altar of St. Saviour. R. i, f. 2 ; iii, f. 180 ; A.D. 1254. 
 Altar of St. Mary Magdalene, in boreali parte. R. i, 
 
 ff. 63, 116 ; iii, f. 127 ; A.D. 1263. 
 Altar of St. Edmund, Confessor, in navi ecclesice. R. i, 
 
 f. 87 ; A.D. 1269. 
 Altar of St. Cross, at entrance into the church on the 
 north side under the belfry. R. iii, f. 284 ; A.D. 
 
 I305- 
 Altar of St. Catherine, St. Mary Magdalene, St. 
 
 Margaret. R. i, ff. 181, 184; A.D. 1329. 
 Altar of Corpus Chris ti. R. i, ff. 179, 180; A.D. 1330 
 
 '' adhuc dedicandum." 
 
 " Extract from a MS. note book formerly belonging 
 to the Rev. Mr.- Bowen, one of the Priest Vicars of the 
 Cathedral " (circa 1800 ?), found in Mr. Serel's notes to 
 Britton's Wells Cathedral. In Serel Collection in 
 Taunton Museum. 
 
 "In the south aisle in the back side of the Quire 
 
 1. See plan of chapel near the cloister. 
 
Appendix X. 421 
 
 are three ancient effigies of bishops of this church 
 before the present fabric was built ; the first is bishop 
 Burwold, died in 1088 ; the next above is bishop 
 Ethelwine, he died 1023 ; the next is bishop Brythwyn, 
 died 1074. 
 
 In the north aisle bishops Brighthelm, Kineward, 
 Alwyn, Giso, the last bishop before removal of the see 
 to Bath, four effigies put here after the re-edifying 
 present fabric, and the Founder placed those four 
 effigies in memory of those sixteen antient bishops 
 who governed the see from its first foundation before 
 the removal and died here bishops." 
 
 Then follows the account of bishop Drokensford's 
 • tomb, quoted in note to p. 313: "In a chappell 
 beyond the quire is a curious tomb for bishop John 
 Drokensford. It was neatly arched and painted and 
 gilded, and his effigy lying thereon, which arching was 
 taken down in 1758, when the high altar was being 
 decayed and seemed in danger of falling. So the 
 tomb for bishop William Bitton the second, 1 died 
 1274, was finely painted and arched over, and 
 pinnacled above upon the top and at the sides and 
 corners, but being decayed, was in 1758 taken down." 2 
 
 "The high altar 3 was full of niches with images 
 of apostles and saints therein finely painted, which, 
 after the Reformation, were all broken and the whole 
 plastered up as a plain wall ; and so it stood till about 
 the year 1758, when the whole was taken down and 
 removed entirely away, many of the broken images 
 
 1. A mistake for ist, who died 1264. 
 
 2. This monument was restored by dean Goodenough, 1840-1845. 
 
 3. Is Reredos here meant ? 
 
422 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 being found therein, particularly one almost entire of 
 
 the woman with child and the dragon ready to 
 devour." 
 
 appendix; x. 
 
 Plan of Chapel, " juxta claustrum," east of cloister. 
 
 Extensive excavations in the ground south of the 
 church and on the east side of the cloister have been 
 carried on by the dean and chapter during the spring 
 of 1894. 
 
 It had been generally known, from evidence con- 
 tained in the chapter documents, that buildings existed 
 on this ground from very early times until their des- 
 truction in 1552. But the exact sites and character of 
 these buildings were matters of conjecture. 
 
 The foundations of two buildings have now been 
 laid bare, on different levels, and with different lines 
 and dimensions. 
 
 One was a small rectangular building of somewhat 
 less than 50 feet from cloister wall to eastern end, 
 consisting of nave, and two aisles. A base of a 
 column with mouldings of the latter part of the 1 3th 
 century attached to the cloister wall remains to show 
 that there was an arcading between nave and south 
 aisle. Some floor tiling has been found in sitti, at the 
 lower level in the nave, and on the inside edge of the 
 southern wall. Numerous fragments of similar tiles 
 and of different designs have been found in most of 
 the trenches dug in this part. Two stone coffins were 
 
Appendix X. 423 
 
 seen lying below the level of the floor. The lids of 
 these coffins were broken across, but no attempt was 
 made to disturb the graves. 
 
 There is a remarkable peculiarity about these 
 foundations, that the lines of building tend in a direc- 
 tion rather north of east, and their orientation does not 
 exactly agree with that of the great church. 
 
 There can be no doubt that this rectangular building 
 was " the chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary which is set 
 in the south part of the great church near the cloister" 
 so described in many documents of the thirteenth cen- 
 tury. It was a chapel of great antiquity, and the 
 foundations may be of an earlier date than the church 
 of the thirteenth century. There is a continuous 
 history of a building on this site called " the Lady- 
 chapel by the cloister," from the middle of the 
 thirteenth century until 1552. But within this time 
 there were two chapels, one succeeding the other, on 
 the same ground. 
 
 This first chapel was richly endowed for the celebra- 
 tion of funeral services, or obits, of two bishops and 
 other members of the Bytton family in the thirteenth 
 century — of dean Godley and others in the fourteenth. 
 It was the court of the dean's official also in the four- 
 teenth and fifteenth centuries. Ordinations were 
 frequently held here. Entries in the register of bishop 
 Stillington (1 466-1 491) show that ordinations were 
 held here up to the year 1469. After that year no 
 ordinations in that chapel are recorded, until the first 
 year of bishop Fox's episcopate, 1492. 
 
 It is very probable that it was in that interval the 
 old chapel was pulled down and a new and larger 
 
424 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 chapel was built there by bishop Stillington. Of this 
 later chapel the foundations have now been traced of 
 north and south walls of a nave, starting from the 
 cloister wall and the present door in the east cloister 
 wall, and resting on the older foundations — of north 
 and south transepts ending in circular or octagonal 
 turrets, and of a chancel extending more than 120 feet 
 from the west end of the cloister. 
 
 These foundations ran in lines exactly parallel with 
 the orientation of the great church. 
 
 Some of the bosses of the vaulting of this later 
 building which were found in the ground, are of great 
 size and elaborate carving, and give evidence of the 
 sumptuous character of the internal architecture of this 
 building of the fiifteenth century, which was contempo- 
 rary with the chapel of St. George, at Windsor, where 
 Edward IV was buried in 1473, and a little earlier 
 than the chapel of Henry VII at Westminster begun 
 in 1503. 
 
 There is no doubt that we have here the foundations 
 of the chapel built by Bishop Stillington, which was 
 destroyed in 1552. 
 
 I am indebted to Mr. Edmund Buckle, the diocesan 
 architect, under whose superintendence the late excava- 
 tions have been made, for the accompanying plan of 
 the earlier Lady-chapel. 
 
oFAtcb -jtumC teD on Plan. 
 
 Mouldings or EJ: 
 
 Plar?. 
 
 View looking down tt>e "btepa 
 &Ktn al" ataoul" Xon Plan. 
 
 Building over old Watercourse in Burial Ground ;. 
 south of cathedral church, wells. 
 
Affltendix Y. 425 
 
 APPENDIX Y. 
 Plan of building ever watercourse in " Palm Churchyard''' 
 
 Late excavations have also brought to light the 
 foundations of a building over an old watercourse in 
 the Palm Churchyard, of which a plan is given, drawn 
 by Mr. F. J. Dollman, from " Carter's Ancient Archi- 
 tecture of England." 1 
 
 A watercourse, conducted in a channel of very strong 
 and carefully worked stone masonry, from the spring 
 head in St. Andrew's well and through the ground 
 south of the church, passes under the wall of the east 
 cloister into the " Palm " churchyard, and thence under 
 the houses on the north side of the market place, and 
 falls ultimately into the bed of the old mill stream. 
 
 The building over it, of which the plan is given, was 
 in existence in the memory of some now living at 
 Wells. The position in relation to the present cloister 
 buildings seems to indicate that it belongs to an earlier 
 arrangement of buildings on this ground. 
 
 Carter gives this account of the building as drawn 
 by him in 1794 : 
 
 " A.B. Plan, with elevation, in north view of a lava- 
 tory in the area of the cloisters of Wells cathedral. 
 The design is walled round, and a plain doorway gives 
 admittance therein. 
 
 " View in ditto, looking south. 
 
 1. Carter's Ancient Architecture of England, folio, plate xliii, p. 36 
 
 ( J 795)- 
 
 See also Carter's Architectural and Monumental Drawings, Vol. 
 VIII, ed. 1794. Add. MSS. 299-32 : British Museum. 
 
 In 
 
426 Chapters in Wells History. 
 
 " Having descended the introducing steps, we see on 
 our left an aumbury, or cupboard, for keeping of linen, 
 etc. Before us is an arched headway, directly over the 
 bathing place, and to the right and left are the arches 
 of the aqueduct : through that arch, on the left, the 
 water issues, and from thence runs into the town. 
 
 " C. D. Foot-stones over and on the sides of the 
 stream, with elevation of the arch through which the 
 water issues. At the side are the aumburies and a 
 niche at head of archway. 
 
 " E. F. Architrave to the arch in the lavatory." 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abbeys. — 
 Athelney, 119, 142, 203,218. Bath, 
 s«e"Bath." Bee, 21 («.), 36, 269. 
 Cluni, 27. Evesham, 101. Eyn- 
 sham, 98 (».). Lacock, 209. Lon- 
 ley, 203. Malmesbury, 27, 101, 
 192. St. Alban's, 97 (».). 
 
 Abbots of — 
 Athelney, ig, 334 ; cited for breach 
 of canonical oath, 269. Bee, 21 («.), 
 119 (and «.), 142, 169; stall for, 
 328,334. Clairvaux, 51. Evesham, 
 101, 383. Feversham, 72. Glaston- 
 bury, 7, 94, 99, 116, 199. Malmes- 
 bury, 101,383. Muchelney, 19, 114, 
 142, 169, 186, 187; stall for, 328, 
 334. Reading, 72, 197. St. Alban's, 
 173. St. Augustine's, 41. St. Ed- 
 mund's, 107. St. Exuperius, 40, 
 41,73. St. Michael, Martock, 202. 
 " St. Michael de periculo mortis," 
 in Normandy, 210. Sherborne, 
 100, 383. 
 
 Abbotsbury, 100, 114, 217, 383. 
 
 a Becket, see " Becket." 
 
 Acton Burnell, (Salop), 288. 
 
 Acton, Roger de, 317 (».). 
 
 Adam de Ammeville, 261 . 
 
 Adam de Budeford, 216. 
 
 Adam de Domerham, 8 (n.), 56, 57, 
 
 (»■)• 
 107 (».), no, III 
 
 58, 95. 96, 99. 103 («.), 105 In.), 
 106 In.), 107 (».), no, in (».), 
 114 (».), 117, 176, 191, 192, 196, 
 197, 219, 221, 230. 
 
 Adam de Litton, priest, 177. 
 
 Adam de Sutton, 364. 
 
 Adrian IV, pope, 22, 50, 97 («.). 
 
 Advowsons. — ■ 
 Axbridge, 190. Bertun (Barton) 
 St. David's, 179. Chew, 190. 
 Congresbury, 143. Dinder, 207. 
 Dogmersfield, 191. Hinton St. 
 George, 203. Ilton, 203. Lideard, 
 143. Mudford, 143. Norton, 209. 
 
 Nunny, a moiety of, 179. Stoke 
 Giffard, 190. Sutton, 203. Wells, 
 St. Cuthbert's, 143. Weston in 
 Gordano, 2oJ. Whitchurch, 208. 
 Winscombe, 143. 
 
 Agnellus, Thomas, archdeacon of 
 Wells, 62 ; preaches funeral ser- 
 mon on young king Henry, ib. 
 
 Ailtredehull, 205 (and ».). 
 
 Alan de Fornellis, justiciar, 373. 
 
 " Alba Aula," see " Whitehall." 
 
 Albigenses, condemned by the Lateran 
 council, 51. 
 
 Albiniato, Philip de, seneschal, 224. 
 
 Aldford, Michael of, 82. 
 
 Aldhelm, 1. 
 
 Alexander, canon of Wells, 148. 
 
 Alexander, dean of Wells, 62, 82, 
 89 («.), 100, 104, 128 («.), 131, 167, 
 169, 185. 
 
 Alexander III, pope, 22, 42, 51, 64; 
 canonizes Thomas a Becket, 43. 
 
 Alexander, subdean, 81, 128 (».). 
 
 Alfonso of Castile, 133. 
 
 Alicia, mother of Robert de Vallibus, 
 186. 
 
 Alitheford (Alford), Thomas of, 227. 
 
 Alneto, Fulco de, 358. 
 
 Altars of — 
 The Holy Cross, 32. St. Andrew, 
 286, 324, 329. St. Calixtus, 228. 
 St. Cuthbert, 313 («.). St. John 
 Baptist, ib. St. Mary, 286, 324, 
 325, 331 ; site of in thirteenth 
 century, 331. St. Nicholas, 280 
 (and «.). 
 
 Altars and Chapels, a.d. 1136-1333. 
 419. 
 
 Altarista, 346 («.), 348. 
 
 Altaville, Reginald de, 179. 
 
 Altaville, Thomas de, 203. 
 
 Alured de Ponson, lord of South 
 Barrow, 81 ; grandson of, 227. 
 
 Amandus, Magister, 169. 
 
428 
 
 Index. 
 
 Ambresbury, 46. 
 
 Andrew, St., church of, at Wells, 1, 
 2, and passim. 
 
 Anjou, Henry, duke of, 33, 34. 
 
 Annellarii, 346 (and ».). 
 
 Anselm, 36, 39, 216. 
 
 " Antiqua Institutio " of Lincoln, 20. 
 
 " Antiqua Statuta " of Wells, 15, 20, 
 340. 
 
 Apulia, Simon of, bishop of Exeter, 
 176. 
 
 Arbitration by Jocelin between Elias 
 and the archdeacon of Wells, 217 ; 
 about patronage of South Barrow, 
 227 ; _ about prebend and advow- 
 son of Warminster, 224. 
 
 Arbitrators, persons suggested for, at 
 home and abroad, 250. 
 
 Archbishops.— 
 
 Of Aragon, 104. -Baldwin, 5a, 
 62, 69, 71-, 72, 9L, 97, 104 (».). 
 Becket, Thomas 4, 33, 83. 
 Boniface, of Canterbury, 233. 
 Of Bourges, 51. Of Canterbury, 
 1-13, etc Of 'Dublin, 69, 113. 
 'Geoffrey, of York, 103. Hubert 
 Walter, 95, 97, 104, no. Lan- 
 franc, 5. Langton (Ste.), 134, 174, 
 209. Of Nar-bonne, 51. Rich, 
 Edmund, of Canterbury., 219. Of 
 Ragusa, 113. Richard (prior of 
 Dover), 42, 44, 51, 90. Roger de 
 Pont I'feveque, ,33, 42, 83. Of 
 Rouen, 69, 74. Tarentaise, Peter 
 of, 47 (and «.). Thurstan de 
 BayeuK >(of York), -is, 354. Of 
 Treves, 69. Walter de Gray (of 
 York), 169 (».), 243, 261. Walter 
 of Rouen, 74, 92, 93. William de 
 Corbeil, 12. York, 33, 42, 83, 
 103. 
 
 Arohdeaoons.- — 
 Benthelius, 5. Of Canterbury, 104. 
 -Hugh, of Wells, 166, 169, 171, 
 181, 210. John, son of -Hildebert, 
 '6. . Peter of Blois, 62, -169. 
 Richard, of Bath, 61. Robert de 
 Geldeford, 81. -Robert, of Wells, 
 19, 29, 30, 31, 61. Savaric, of 
 Canterbury, 90. Thomas, of Bath, 
 19, 29 (»,), 30, 31, &i. Thomas, 'of 
 Glastonbury, 194. Thomas, 'of 
 Wells (Agnellus), 6a, 78, 81, 128 (».). 
 William of Bardeney, of Wells, 
 193. William de "Wrotham, of 
 
 Taunton, 166, 169, 171. William, 
 of Winchester, ib. 
 
 Archer, 23 («.), 25, 37, 144, 145 (n.), 
 190 («.), 196, 202, 224, 237, 299 (».), 
 312 («.) ; discredits a group of 
 charters, 188 (».) 
 
 Arches, court of, bishop William 
 Bytton cited to by the chapter, 
 266. 
 
 Archives of Siguenza, 133. 
 
 Area Canonicorum, 140. 
 
 Arthur, king, invention of his bones, 
 57; legend of, ib. 
 
 Arundel, Matilda, Wife of Gerbert de 
 Perci, 373. 
 
 AsceTin, bishop of Rochester, 27. 
 
 Ashill, advowson of, 188. 
 
 Assessment on prebends, 268. 
 
 Athelney, 19, 119, 203. 
 
 Audit, one per annum, 233, 2,74. 
 
 Audits, four required, 274, 300. 
 
 Aulescombe, 373. 
 
 Avenant, Thomas de, 203. 
 
 Avenel, Oliver, chaplain to the Lady 
 Matilda, 292. 
 
 Avranches, Henry tl's purgation and 
 penance at, 43. 
 
 Axbridge, advowson of, 190 ; John de, 
 subdean, 274, 279 ; the viB of, sold, 
 181 ; bought up by Jocelin, 210 ; 
 granted by Hugh, 212. 
 
 Aystona (Easton), 358. 
 
 Baldock, Robert, chancellor, 293 («). 
 
 Baldwin, archbishop of Canterbury, 
 see " Archbishops." 
 
 Banwell, 4, 18, 359 ; dues to the hun- 
 dred of, reserved, 230. 
 
 Barbarossa, theemperor Frederick's 
 
 Barewe, Nicolas de, 81. 
 
 Barlynch Priory, 67, 183. 
 
 Barn, the canons', 78 («.) 
 
 Barons unite to compel king John to 
 confirm the liberties of Henry I, 
 188. 
 
 Barrow, religious house at, 183. 
 
 " Barton ".given to the " communa," 
 179. 
 
 Bath Abbey granted to see of Wells, 
 6; for 150 years the burial-place 
 of the bishqps of the see, 241 ; 
 chapter of, acquiesce in the elec- 
 tion of William of Bytton, 264 ; 
 -attempt to secure the election of 
 their own nominee, 241 ; their 
 mode of proceeding, 241, 242 ; 
 
Index. 
 
 429 
 
 ratify the Walls election of Reg- 
 inald, 397; church at, begun by 
 John of Tours, 24, 26 ; city seieed 
 in the name of the king, 97 ; 
 "civitas Bathoniemsis," 145 ; com- 
 plains against Savaric, 114 ; hos- 
 pital of St. John Baptist at, 358 ; 
 lepers' house at, 183 ; precedence 
 of prior over dean of Wells, 200 ; 
 prerogative of, Over Wells, 146; 
 prior and convent surrender cer- 
 tain advowsons, 190, 191 ; protests 
 against Savaric, 96, 97 ,; refuses 
 conference with Wells» 244 ; Reg- 
 inald's buildings at, 86 ; Robert, 
 prior, elected abbot of Glaston- 
 bury, 207 ; the "• sedes praesulea," 
 5« ; transfer of see from Wells to 
 Bath decreed, and carried out, 5, 
 6; "Bath and Wells," not the 
 original joint title, 23 ; earliest 
 assumption of, 144 ; ordered by 
 Innocent IV to be the bishop's 
 style, 146 ; Thomas, prior of, 228, 
 232, 233. 
 
 Battle of Evesham, 276 ; of Has- 
 tings, 32 ; of Lewes, 276 ; of Lin- 
 coln, 33. 
 
 Bayeux 13 (and n.) 
 
 Bee, 21 /(/«.), 36 ; abbot of, defaulter, 
 269 ; abbot of, excommunicated, ib. 
 
 Bechamstede, William de, canon, 
 222. 
 
 Becket, Thomas a, archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, 33 ; canonized, 43 ; dis- 
 pleased with Henry III, 83 ; excom- 
 municates Reginald and Ffolliot, 
 41 ; Henry II counselled against 
 him, 38 and (n.) ; Henry's proceed- 
 ings, 42; murdered, 42'; reaction 
 in favour of his cause, 42, 48; 
 record of his murder, 133, 134 ; 
 seat on an embassy to Paris, 40 ; 
 withdraws from England, 41.. 
 
 Bedford, Henry Ill's siege of, 208. 
 
 Benedict, abbot of Athelney, 203, 
 207. 
 
 Beaastt, Rev. J. A., 298 (n). 
 
 BentheKus, archdeacon, 5 
 
 Berihal (Beryl), land at, 139, 264, and 
 (»). 
 
 Bernard, Mshop of St. David's, 33. 
 
 Bernard, T. D., chancellor of Wells, 
 V3 («.), r23 («.) 
 31. 
 
 Beverley, William of York, provost 
 of, 246. 
 
 Bidding Prayer, 336. 
 
 Biddisham, manor of, 16, 18, 20 ; 
 prebend of, 20, 343. 
 
 Bishops. — 
 Aldhelm of Sherborne, 1. Ascelin 
 of Rochester, 27. Baldwin of 
 Worcester, 52. Bangor, Robert de 
 Shrewsbury, bishop of, 172. Ber- 
 nard of St. David's,33. Burnell of 
 Bath and Wells, 285, 324. Bytton, 
 William I, of Bath and Wells, 80 
 (n). Bytton, William II, 328. 
 Chester, 11. Coutances, 38, 48. 
 Drokensford, 80 (n.) Dudoc, 26. 
 Durham, Hugh Pudsey, 68, 70. 
 Eustace of Ely, 107. Fighting 
 Bishops, 11. Giso, 3, 4, 5, 16, 17, 
 
 26, 31, 32, 84, 85. Godfrey, 6, 7, 17. 
 Godwin (of Llandaff and Hereford), 
 6 («.), 23 In.), 25 (and ».), 37, etc. 
 Gundolf of Rochester, 27. Henry 
 of Sully, bishop of Worcester, 99 
 («). Henry of Winchester, see 
 " Henry of Blois." Hugh of Dur- 
 ham, 68, 70. Hugh of Lincoln, 
 98 (and «.), 129, 209. Hugh Non- 
 ant of Coventry, 70, 97. Jocelin 
 of Bath and Wells, 79 (».), 87, 
 115, etc. Jocelin of Sarum, 25, 41. 
 John of Tours, 6, 11, 16, 85, 144. 
 Llandaff, Henry of Abergavenny, 
 172. London, William of Ste. Mere 
 1'Eglise, bishop of, 99 (b), 172. 
 Osmund of Sarum, 7. Peter of Win- 
 chester, see " Peter des Roches," 
 195. Poictiers, 51. Poore, Herbert, 
 and Richard, bishops of Sarum, 
 136. Rainard, 128 («.) Ralph 
 of Shrewsbury, 321. Reginald, 
 see under " Reginald of Wells." 
 Reiner of St. Asaph, 172. Remi- 
 gius of Lincoln, 7. Richard de 
 Bohmn, bishop of Coutances, see 
 " Coutances." Richard [Poore] 
 of Salisbury, 208. Robert of Bath, 
 
 27, 155. Robert de Bethune, 
 bishop of Hereford, 25. Robert 
 de Bingham, bishop of Salisbury, 
 217. Robert Burnell, see " Bur- 
 nell." Robert de Chesney, bishop 
 of Lincoln, 14. Robert Grossetete 
 of Lincoln, 219. Roger of Bath 
 and Wells, 24 («.), 29, 80 («.), 
 
430 
 
 Index. 
 
 144 (».) Roger of Sarura, 12, 27, 28, 
 T 47> 354- Savaric of Bath, 38. 
 Seffred of Chichester, 72. Simon 
 of Apulia, bishop of Exeter, 
 176. Simon of Worcester, 12, 25, 
 354. St. David's, Geoffrey de 
 Henlaw, bishop of, 172. Stephen, 
 bishop of Waterford, 229. Sutton, 
 Oliver, bishop of Lincoln, 290. 
 Walkelin of Winchester, 27. 
 Walter Haselshaw, 324. William 
 Brewer of Exeter, 209, 210. 
 William Longchamp, bishop of 
 Ely, 69, 93. William de Marchia, 
 288. William Warelwast of Exeter, 
 
 iz. 354- 
 
 Blackford in Wedmore, 372. 
 
 Blois, Henry of, 7, 8, 12, 27, 35, 53, 
 56. Peter of, 19, 41. 
 
 Bohun family, 38, 89, 376. Engelger 
 de, his evil counsel to Henry II, 38 
 (k.) Franco de, 38, 89. Jocelin 
 de, bishop of Sarum, 38, 39. John 
 de, canon of Wells, 89. Reginald 
 Fitz-Jocelin de, 38, 39. Richard 
 de, bishop of Coutances, ib. Roger 
 de, 89 (».) St. Andre and St. 
 George, villages, 38. 
 
 Bolonia, Thomas de, 207. 
 
 Boniface of Savoy elected archbishop 
 of Canterbury, 233 ; letter of pope 
 Innocent IV to, 251. 
 
 Bonneville, Robert de, 375. 
 
 Bonneville, William de, 203. 
 
 Books given to library at Bath by 
 bishop Reginald, 53. 
 
 Borough of Wells receives its first 
 charter from bishop Robert, 7, 29 ; 
 freed from tolls, 30. 
 
 Bovey Tracy, 67, 179, 374. 
 
 Bovey, South, 199. 
 
 Boys, see " Pueri canonici." 
 
 Bozun, Simon, 375. 
 
 Bradenstoke, 171, 192, 230. 
 
 Bradshaw, Henry, 13 (n.), 15 («.), 
 20 («.), 23, 24, 272, 275 (».). 
 
 Braose, Wm. de, 372. 
 
 Breaute, Fulk de, 208. 
 
 Brent, South, church ceded to arch- 
 deacon of Wells, 56. 
 
 Bretanche, William, senior, erects a 
 chapel at Trubbewell, 237. 
 
 Brewer, William, counsellor of kings 
 John and Henry, 210. 
 
 Brewer, William, bishop of Exeter, 
 210, 239. 
 
 Bristol, convent of St. Augustine at, 
 234. 
 
 Brito, Simon, 67. 
 
 Britton, John de, adverse to canoni- 
 zation of William de Marchia, 
 293 (».). 
 
 Britton, John, F.S.A., 87, 156, 313 
 
 (»•)■ 
 Bromley (al. Bromfield), 16, 353. 
 Brotherhood of St. Chad, 300; of 
 
 St. Gatien, ib. 
 Bruce, Egidius de, bishop of Here-i 
 
 ford, 172. 
 Brugge, church of, 358. 
 Bruton, John de, canon, 314. 
 Buche (Buck), Alicia, 214. 
 Buche (Buck), William, ib. 
 Buckland, nunnery at, 180, 183, 234 ; 
 
 vicarage, 206. 
 Building operations, evidences of, 
 
 148. 
 Buckerel, Andrew, mayor of London, 
 
 227. 
 Bull for the canonization of Thomas 
 
 a Becket, 43 («.). 
 Bunton family, 162, 396. 
 Burgeys, Roger, 11, 213. 
 Burgo, Hubert de, justiciar, earl of 
 
 Kent, 132, 206, 216, 224. 
 Burnham, right of presentation to, 
 
 recovered, 206. 
 Bury, Richard de, dean, 317. 
 Burying grounds, arrangements of, 
 
 152. 
 Burnell, Robert, bishop of Bath and 
 
 Wells, 285 ; chantry to him en- 
 dowed by dean and chapter, 
 
 286 (».) ; grant to the fabric funds, 
 
 286 ; regent, 276. 
 Burnell, William, canon, 214. 
 Buticlarius, 357 (».). 
 Byham, Gilbert de, precentor, 274. 
 Bytton, Sir Adam de, 281 ; family, 
 
 279. 33i- 
 
 Bytton, John de, 279. 
 
 Bytton, manor of, 261. 
 
 Bytton, Richard, vicar, 243. 
 
 Bytton, Thomas, dean, afterwards 
 bishop of Exon, 272, 277 (».), 
 280 (».), 281. 
 
 Bytton, William, I, archdeacon of 
 Wells, 217, 238, 242, 261 ; bishop 
 of Bath and Wells, 257, 275 ; con- 
 secrated at Rome, 257 ; claims 
 fruits of vacant prebends, 265 ; is 
 resisted by the chapter, ib. ; makes 
 
Index. 
 
 43i 
 
 over the sequestrations, 269 ; sub- 
 dean, 225. 
 
 Bytton, William, II, elected by both 
 chapters, 276 ; his seal described, 
 277, 278 (n.) ; his tomb, 277 (».), 328. 
 
 Cadbuey, barony of, 83 (».). 
 
 Cade, Ivo, 222. 
 
 Cade, Laurence, 222. 
 
 Cade, Richard, son of Ivo, 213. 
 
 Caerleon, the bishop of, 243. 
 
 Caerleon, Walter of, 224. 
 
 Calixtus, see " St. Calixtus." 
 
 Campo florido, Henry de, 203. 
 
 Campo florido, John de, 216. 
 
 Campomoldo, Speronus de, 122. 
 
 Camville, Gerard de, 70, 71. 
 
 Camville, Joanna de, 371. 
 
 Camville, Richard de, ib. 
 
 Cannington, religious house at, 183. 
 
 Canon of Wells, the, 16, 23, 25, 37, 
 76, 85, 87, 144, 154, 155, 280 (».). 
 
 Canonical houses, grants of, 141, 177, 
 199; to be annually visited and 
 dilapidations valued, 348. 
 
 "Canonicorum magna porta," 140, 
 
 154. 177- 
 
 Canonization of Thomas a Becket, 
 43; bull for, ib. (».). 
 
 Canons' barn, 78 («.). 
 
 Canons of Hackington, near Canter- 
 bury, 71. 
 
 Canons of Wells, 2, 4 ; assessment 
 made on them for the fabric, 148 
 complain of Savaric's policy, 114 
 in the time of bishop Tocelin, 393 
 lose position by transfer of the see 
 to Bath, 6, 22 ; pay tithes to ad- 
 jacent parish churches, 19 ; pre- 
 cariousness of their tenure, 5 ; 
 required to live in the town, 6; 
 rivalry of Bath and Glastonbury 
 against, 240 ; specific grant for 
 their daily sustenance, 17 ; treated 
 as stipendiaries of the provost, 12 ; 
 at the time of Jocelin's death, 393. 
 
 Canons of Salisbury, their pledge in 
 behalf of the fabric, 196. 
 
 Canterbury cathedral, 85 ; the choir 
 destroyed by fire, 49 ; dispute with 
 the prior and monks of, 71, 72; 
 double election to the see, 174. 
 
 Canutus, P., subscribes to Jocelin's 
 election, 169. 
 
 Canutus, William, son of P., 222. 
 
 Capitular constitution, first draft of. 
 
 n, 13, 21 ; gradual growth of, 18, 
 20 ; become a separate corporate 
 body, 21 ; relations of Wells with 
 Bath readjusted, 22. 
 
 Cardinal, honorarium of, 249. John 
 de Colonna, 249. Octavian, 279. 
 Otho, 209, 227, 231, 249. Richard, 
 267. 
 
 Carenton (Carhampton), 22, go, 119. 
 
 Carlyle, Thomas, 350. 
 
 Carthusian house, the first in Eng- 
 land, 46 ; cell at Cheddar, 54 ; 
 house at Hinton, 208. 
 
 Cary (al. Kari), Robert de, 80. 
 
 Castle Cary blockaded, 10 ; church 
 of, 80. 
 
 Castle of Harpetre, 10. 
 
 Castles, numbers of, 11. 
 
 Cathari, see " Albigenses." 
 
 " Cathedralicum," 226, 300. 
 
 Ceddre, church of, 374. 
 
 Celestine, see under "Popes." 
 
 Cenis, Mont, passes of, 45 (and ».). 
 
 Chambers, J. D., 335. 
 
 Chana, wife of Ralph, lord of Beau- 
 mont, 38. 
 
 Chancellor, duty of, 14 ; T. D. 
 Bernard, 78 («.); John Forte, 274; 
 Peter of Winchester, 61 ; Ralph 
 Fitz-Stephen, 57 ; Richard, 169 ; 
 Thomas of Retford, 307 ; the lord 
 high, 169 (and ».). 
 
 Chantries, endowment of, 312. 
 
 Chapels and altars, a.d. 1136-1333,419 
 
 Chapels of the B.V.M., 17, 82, 84, 
 331, 419, 422. 
 
 Chapel of St. Catherine, 312 (and ».) ; 
 St. Martin, 287; St. Thomas the 
 Martyr, 125. 
 
 Chaplains. — 
 Baldwin, 83. Elia, 183, 187, 213. 
 Jocelin, 61, 82. Roger, 183. 
 William, ib. 
 
 Chapter House, first notice of, 283 ; 
 ascent to, 287 ; date of, according 
 to tradition, 289; diagrams of 
 plan still traceable, 295 ; finished, 
 300 ; first summons of chapter to 
 meet there, 301 ; gradual erection 
 of, 332 ; stalls in, differently 
 ordered from those in the choir, 
 333 ; style of, 283 ; the " domus 
 capitularis," 327, 333. 
 
 Chapter of Wells, first officers of 
 its new constitution, 61 ; second 
 
432 
 
 Index. 
 
 generation of ditto, ib. ; daily reci- 
 tation of the psalter by, 20 ; rela- 
 tions with Bath readjusted, 22 ; 
 ordinances made upon Jocelin's 
 return, 185 ; ruridecanal, 81, 82 ; 
 exempted from fines " de murdris," 
 212 ; appeal to king and pope, 
 243 ; assert right to sequester 
 vacant benefices, 263 ; expenses of 
 litigation, etc., 266, 267 ; indepen- 
 dent conduct of, 261 ; jealous of 
 Roman interference, 268 ; join 
 that of Lincoln against bishop 
 Grossetete, 262 ; mortgage their 
 receipts to pay off debt, 268 ; 
 progressive alteration in their 
 governing power, 258, 259 ; protest 
 against proceedings of Bath 
 chapter, 242 ; protest against 
 separate action of Bath, 244 ; 
 relieved from debt, 269 ; summoned 
 for first time in new chapter house, 
 301 ; alarm of, not due to subsi- 
 dence of building, 307. 
 
 Cerde (Chard), church and manor of, 
 366. 
 
 Chandbs, Matilda de, 376. 
 
 Chard, vicarage, 220 ; exemption of, 
 229 ; patronage of, ib. 
 
 Charlton Mackerel, institution to, 
 
 195. 
 
 Charlton, Walter de, 295. 
 
 Charmouth, chapel of, 192. 
 
 Charters, 138, 240, 290, 303, 312, 
 316, 317, etc, ; of Adrian IV, 22 ; 
 of Alexander III, 22, 64, 65 ; of 
 Clement III, 65; confirmatory of 
 rights, etc., 3, 64 ; of Editha, 3 ; 
 of king Edward, 3 ; of free 
 warren, 33 ; the Great Charter of 
 1215, 99, 189 (n,) ; of Henry II, 
 32, 64; of Innocent III, 187, 349, 
 of Jocelin, 149, 204, 212, 230, 235, 
 241 ; relative to Jocelin's family, 
 128 («.) ; of king John, 125, 138, 
 173, 390 ; of queen Matilda, 4 : for 
 the "New Work" at Wells, 82 ; 
 121 ; of pope Nicholas II, 3 ; Nos. 
 9, 10, and 13, 128 («.) ; Nos. 20 and 
 639, 349 («.) ; preserved at Wells, 
 3 (and ») ; of bishop Reginald, 61, 
 359 ; of Richard I, 63, 66, 370 ; 
 of bishop Robert, 29, 84 ; of 
 Robert's time, n, 29; of Robert, 
 prior of Bath, 129 ; of Savaric, 
 
 119 (and ».), i2i, 123. 124, 125 (and 
 ».) ; of king Stephen, 8 ; supple- 
 mentary to institution of prebends, 
 ig ; undated, 202 ; of William 1, 3, 4. 
 
 Chartreuse, the Great, 40. 
 
 Chaseporc, Peter, 243, 244, 
 
 Cheddar, Carthusian cell at, 54 ; 
 forest of, 139 ; the hundred of, 190 ; 
 the manor of, ib. ; grant of, con- 
 firmed, 212; liberties of, confirmed, 
 217. 
 
 Chesney, Robert de, 14. 
 
 Chester, bishop of, n. 
 
 Chew, advowson of, 190 ; church of, 
 
 118, 193 ; grant of, 3 ; grant of 
 land confirmed, 216. 
 
 Chewton Church appropriated to the 
 
 abbey of Jumieges, 234. 
 Chichester, Henry of, 176 ; Peter of, 
 
 181, 183 ; Thomas of, 205. 
 Chilcot, manor of, 16, 29 ; lands at, 
 
 granted for altar lights. 329 ; tithes 
 
 of, 229. 
 Choir of Cathedral, extension of, 
 
 309- 
 " Choristarum domus," 142, 349. 
 Chronicon Wellense, 37, 
 Chudderleigh, Johannes de, 317 (».) 
 Chudderleigh, Ricardus de, ib. 
 
 C*. n 1 1 fp.fa rr 
 
 Aldford, 82. Andrew's, St., Wells, 
 1, 2, 82. Banwell, 359. Brugges, 
 358. Carenton [Carhampton] , 90, 
 
 119. Chew, 118, 193, 329. Combe, 
 220. Compton Dando, 118. Con- 
 gresbury, 226, 266. Cuthbert's, 
 St., Wells, 2, 17 ; dedication of, 
 17 ; made over to the canons of 
 Wells, 17. Decuman's, St., 67. 
 Doulting, 1. Easton-in-Gordano, 
 179, Evercreeeh, 218. Hache, 
 243. Ham, 207. Haselbury, 34. 
 Holecumbe, Devon, 176, Huish, 
 56, Lideard, 119, Lovinton, 80. 
 Malmesbury, 28. Margam, 127. 
 Martock, 302, 210. Milverton, 
 209. Pancras, St., Lewes, 7, 27, 
 Piltoa, 35, 119, 134. Placentia, 
 122. Sarum, Old, 27. South 
 Barrow, 81. South Brent ceded to 
 the archdeacon of Wells, 56. St. 
 Lo, St. Thomas, 48 (and ».) ; dese- 
 crated, ib. (».) Sutton, j 19. Wal- 
 tham, 31. WeUnton, 193, 329. 
 Weston, 118, Yarlwgton, 8a. 
 
Index. 
 
 433 
 
 Cirencester, Thomas de, sheriff of 
 
 Somerset and Dorset, 203. 
 Clarembald, abbot of St.Augustine, 41 
 Clarendon, council of, 41. 
 Clayton, J. R., 330 (».) 
 Cleeve Abbey, 21 («.), 67, 119. 
 Clement III, pope, 65. 
 Clement V, pope, 344. 
 Clevedon, Matthew de, 179. 
 Clifford, Roger de, 206. 
 Cluni, abbey of, 27. 
 Cluniac house of St. Pancras, 7, 27. 
 Cnole, Edward de la, dean, 214. 
 
 See under " Deans." 
 College of Priests at Wells, 2 ; of 
 
 chantry priests established by 
 
 bishop Erghum, 141. 
 Colonna, John de, cardinal, 249. 
 Combe, John de, 363. 
 Combe St. Nicholas, manor of, 16, 
 
 221 ; praepositus of, 219, 220 ; 
 
 prebend of, 195. 
 Combe, Simon de (Cumba), 181. 
 Commemoration of the departed, 347, 
 
 348- 
 
 Communa, the first draft of, 11 ; 
 Alured de Ponson's gifts to, 81 ; 
 augmentation of, 231 ; Hugh's 
 gifts to, 137, 183 ; Jocelin's, 193, 
 194 ; contribution from Nunney, 
 179 ; Reginald's, 78 ; in bishop 
 Robert's time, 14, 17, 21 ; lands of 
 Hatche and Wrentich confirmed 
 to, 166 ; manor of North Curry 
 confirmed to, ib. 
 
 Communarius, 223. 
 
 Commune of Milan, 109 («.) 
 
 Composition between dean and 
 chapter and John of Aire, 218. 
 
 Compton Episcopi consecrated and 
 endowed, 225. 
 
 Compton Martin, 34. 
 
 Comyn, Eustace, 105. 
 
 Conclave at Reading, 185. 
 
 Concordat between Savaric and 
 Glastonbury, 107 ; to be final, 108 ; 
 provisions of, 108, 109 ; for election 
 of bishop between the chapters of 
 Bath and Wells, 166. 
 
 " Concordia finalis," about canoni- 
 cal lands, 219. 
 
 Cong6 d' elire to Glastonbury re- 
 tained by Jocelin, 116, 133. 
 
 Consuetudinaries of Exeter, Salis- 
 bury and Wells, 335. 
 
 Cormailles, Robert, 312 («.). 
 
 Cotentin, the, 38, 48, 99 («.). 
 
 Councils. — 
 
 Canterbury, 50 (».). Clarendon, 
 41. Lateran, 50 (».), 51, 65, 68. 
 London, 5,9, 50 (n.), 51. National, 
 50 («.). In Normandy, 50 («.). 
 Oxford, 93, 206. Pipewell Abbey, 
 50 («.), 69. Toulouse, 50 (».), 51. 
 Westminster, 44, 50 (».), 51. 
 Woodstock, 50 (».). 
 
 Courtenay, Robert de, 179. 
 
 Coutances, bishop of, 38, 48, 86. 
 
 Coutances, Richard, archdeacon of, 
 128 (».). 
 
 Craucumb, Godfrey de, 224. 
 
 Cross, invention of the, 31, 32. 
 
 " Cruce signati," 137 (and «.), 201. 
 
 Crypt, 283, 284, 332. 
 
 Curia, the Roman, selfish policy of, 
 98. 
 
 Curry, see under " North Curry." 
 
 Cuthbert, St. see "Churches." 
 
 Dacds, William, founds " Alba 
 Aula," 211. 
 
 Daily mass in honour of B. V. M. 
 instituted, 123, 137, 331. ' 
 
 Daily recitation of the Psalter (see 
 also Psalter), 20. 
 
 Daily requiem, 124. 
 
 " Dalmatius, Seneschallus Lugdun- 
 ensis," 90. 
 
 Deafforestation of Congresbury 
 manor, 215 ; of North Curry, ib. 
 
 Dean and chapter a corporate body, 
 21 ; borrow money for building, 
 300 ; enforce discipline, 270 ; juris- 
 diction over town and suburbs, 226. 
 petition the bishop to remove his 
 official principal, 304. 
 
 Deans. — 
 Alexander, 62, 82, 89 (».), 90, 100, 
 104, 128 («.), 167, 169. Burnell, 
 Walter, 288. Bury, Richard de, 
 317. Bytton, Thomas, 272, 277 (».) 
 Fordham, John, 194. Giles of 
 Bridport, 271. Godelee (Godley), 
 John, 295, 298, 299, 312, 321, 347. 
 Haselshaw, Walter, 272, 288, 295, 
 345. Husee, Henry, 295. Ivo, 
 19, 29 («.), 30, 33, 61, 360. John 
 Saracenus, 151, 194, 232, 246, 260, 
 262, 270, 271. Knoll (CnolT), 
 Edward de la, 214, 271, 273 (».), 
 274, 275, 279, 284. Leonius h 79 
 
 K KK 
 
434 
 
 Index. 
 
 («.), 185, 187, 188. Littleton, 
 Wybert de, 318. Merton, William 
 de 225. Peter of Chichester, 183, 
 184, igg, 208, 213, 228, 229. Ralph 
 of Lechlade, 96 (».), 148, 193, 194. 
 Richard de Spakeston (Spaxton), 
 33, 61, 62, 78. Stephen de Pempell, 
 194. Walter de London, 318. 
 
 Deanship instituted, 13 ; election to, 
 14 and («.), 21 ; endowment of, 13, 
 15 ; duty assigned to, 14 ; church of 
 Wedmore made over to, 140 ; pro- 
 cess for appointment to, set forth, 
 260 (».) 
 
 De Burgh, see " de Burgo." 
 
 Decuman, St., 67. 
 
 Dedication of the cathedral, 24, 25, 
 2g ; of St. Cuthbert's church, 17 ; 
 of the monastery of St. Pancras, 
 Lewes, 27 ; of the new church at 
 Glastonbury, 57. 
 
 Derham family, 162. 
 
 Derham, Elias de, 181, 187, 200 ; one 
 of the executors of St. Hugh's will, 
 182, 183. 
 
 Desecration, painful instance of, 48 
 
 (»•), 3- 
 
 "Dictum" of Kenilworth, 276. 
 
 Dinder, fee of, unjustly taken by 
 William Fitz-John, 10 ; prebend 
 of , 260 ; " imprebendation " of , 340 ; 
 
 Diocesan synod summoned to attest 
 a deed, 19. 
 
 Dogmersfield, 290, 312 ; prebend, 237. 
 
 Domerham, Adam de, see " Adam de 
 Domerham." 
 
 Domesday survey, 4. 
 
 Dominicans come to England, 199. 
 
 Domus Capitularis, 327, 333. 
 
 Domus Choristarum, 142, 349. 
 
 Doulting church, 1. 
 
 Dover, Richard, prior of, made arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, 44. 
 
 Downhead, Alfred de, 177. 
 
 Downhead, Ernisius of, 214. 
 
 Downhead, Walter de, 139, 177 (and 
 «.), 203, 213. 
 
 Drokensford, John de, bishop, 188 («), 
 293(».), 296; arms on seal, 313 (».) ; 
 conflict with dean and chapter as 
 to jurisdiction, 303, 304, 305 ; 
 obtains license of mortmain, 312 ; 
 his register, 278, 296, 308 (».), 
 310 («.), 311 («.) ; takes the queen's 
 side, 310 ; tomb described, 313 (n). 
 
 Drokensford, Philip de, 313 («.). 
 Dudeman, "vallet" and clerk to 
 
 treasurer, 247. 
 Dudoc, bishop of Wells, 26, 329. 
 Dultingcote, (Dulcot), 16, 29, 138. 
 Dunstan, St., 2, 367. 
 Dunster, 10. 
 
 Durandus, prior of Montacute, 180. 
 Durham, Hugh, bishop of, 68. 
 Durham, Philip of Poictiers, bishop 
 
 of, 104. 
 Diirrenstein on the Danube, 92. 
 Dynham, Oliver de, 371. 
 Dynham, Richard of, rector of Mark, 
 
 237- 
 Dyrham, John of, canon, 246. 
 Earthquake, 278. 
 Easton (Aystona), 358. 
 Editha, queen, 3. 
 Edmund, Richard, archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, 232. 
 Edmund, king of East Anglia, 2 (n.). 
 Edward the Confessor, 3, 26, 31, 38. 
 Edward the elder, 2. 
 Edward de Welles, father of Jocelin, 
 
 127, 128 («.). 
 Edward, I, II, and III, see under 
 
 " Kings." 
 Edyngton, Wm. of, bishop's official 
 
 principal, 304 («.). 
 Ela, countess of Salisbury, 187, 208, 
 
 215. 
 Eleanor, daughter of Henry II, 133. 
 Eleventh century, growth of the see 
 
 in, 3- 
 Elias, chaplain, etc., 183, 187, 213, 
 
 222, 225, 321 ; founds an obit, 214 ; 
 
 prebendary of Compton, 217. 
 Ely, see of given to William Long- 
 champs, 69. 
 Emoluments of cathedral staff in- 
 creased, 235. 
 Emperors. — 
 
 Frederic Barbarossa, 45 («.). 
 
 Henry VI, 73, 88, 89, 91, 93, 102, 
 
 121 ; his compunction and death, 
 
 102. 
 Empnett, chapel of, in parish of 
 
 Compton, 237. 
 Empress Matilda, 33. 
 Engelger de Bohun, 38 (n.) 
 Erghum, bishop, establishes a college 
 
 of chantry priests, 141 . 
 Ernisius of Downhead, 214, 223, 
 
 303- 
 
Index. 
 
 435 
 
 Ernulf, nephew of Iterius, prebend, 
 
 187. 
 " Eruditi Sancti Thomae," 36 ; among 
 
 a Becket's followers, 40 («.) 
 Escheator's accounts in the chapter 
 
 archives, 32. 
 " Espeltamentis canum, de" charges, 
 
 234- 
 Estrangia, wife of Geldewin Fitz- 
 
 Savaric, 38. 
 Ethelwold, 2. 
 Euphemia, St., her body given to the 
 
 convent of Bath, 53, 358. 
 Eustachius, Magister, 361, 363. 
 Evercreech Rectory, 140. 
 Everdon, Sylvester de, 243, 261. 
 Eves and Feasts on which markets 
 
 were to be held, 30 ; why chosen, 
 
 31 ; additions made by Reginald, 
 
 59- 
 
 Excommunication, power of, left by 
 Savaric to the chapter during his 
 absence, 120, 121 ; pronounced by 
 Thomas a Becket against Reginald 
 and Ffoliott, 41 ; solemn, by Wells 
 chapter, 262. 
 
 Exchange, deed of, between Walter 
 of Downhead, William of Wyke, 
 and Jocelin, 204. 
 
 Executors of bishop William de 
 Marchia, 289 (n.) 
 
 Exuperius, St., Reginald made abbot 
 oft 40, 41. 
 
 Fabric of the cathedral, Wells, n, 
 16, 24. 
 
 Fabric, architectural features of, 25, 
 86 ; benefactions to, from vacant 
 benefices, 78 ; contemporary grants 
 to, 80, etc. ; grant by Alexander, 
 canon of Henstridge, 196; by 
 Henry III, 208 ; particulars of, 
 from contemporary charters, 80, 
 81, 82 ; Reginald's work upon, 76, 
 85 ; suspended during the litigation 
 with Glastonbury, 122 ; for some 
 years no account of work on it, 
 278 ; causes of anxiety about it, 
 
 319- 
 Ferdinand, king of Castile, 264. 
 Ferentinus, John, legate, 172. 
 Ferenton (Farrington Gurney), 247, 
 
 276. 
 Festivals and fairs fixed by charter, 
 
 31, 59, 361. 
 Fighting bishops, 11. 
 
 Fines " de murdris," 212. 
 
 Fitz-Arthur, Richard, 179. 
 
 Fitz-Arthur, William, 203. 
 
 Fitz-Edward, Richard, 227. 
 
 Fitz-Godfrey, Hamo, 175. 
 
 Fitz-Hamo, Robert, 364. 
 
 Fitz-John, William of Harpetre, 10, 
 216, 372. 
 
 Fitz-Richard, Hugh, 216. 
 
 Fitz-Stephen, Ralph, chancellor, his 
 munificence, 57. 
 
 Fitz-Urse, Robert, 67. 
 
 Flandre, William, de Dinre, 207. 
 
 Flaxman on the sculptures of the 
 west front of the cathedral, 163. 
 
 Ffoliott, bishop of London, excom- 
 municated by a Becket, 41. 
 
 Florence, proposed loan by mer- 
 chants of, 267. 
 
 Font, ancient Norman, 124. 
 
 Fordham, John, dean of Wells, 194. 
 
 Forest laws of Henry I, 66. 
 
 Forests, Royal, 139, 148. 
 
 Fornellis (Furneaux), Alan de, 373. 
 
 Freedom from tolls granted to bur- 
 gesses of Wells, 7 ; to tenants 
 of bishop, dean, and chapter, 215. 
 
 Freeman, Prof. E. A., 21 («.), 26, 
 28 (and «.), 60, 76, 157, 278, 322. 
 
 Fulco de Alneto, 358. 
 
 Garstone, land at, 219. 
 
 Gaufridus de Noiers, St. Hugh's 
 architect, 161 («.) 
 
 Geldeford, Philip, canon, 243, 261. 
 
 Geldeford, Robert de, 128 (n.) 
 
 Geoffrey, archbishop of York, 107. 
 
 Geoffrey de Henlaw, bishop of St. 
 David's, 172. 
 
 Gerard de Camville, 70, 71. 
 
 Gerbert, Sir, 220. 
 
 " Ghersuma," 178 (and «.), 206. 
 
 Giffard, Robert, canon, 270. 
 
 Gilbert de Sarum, 216. 
 
 Gilbert de Schipton, ib. 
 
 Giles of Bridport, dean, 270 
 
 Giso, bishop of Wells, 3, 4, 5, 16, 17, 
 26, 31, 32, 84, 85, 329, 331, 354 ; 
 Harold's treatment of, 4 («.). ; 
 introduces stricter discipline, 5. 
 
 Glastonbury, abbot of, holds a pre- 
 bend in Wells cathedral, 55 ; a 
 barony of the crown, 108 ; building 
 work of Henry of Blois, 56 ; conflict 
 with Wells, 58, 97; controversy 
 with Martin de Summa, 218 ; 
 
436 
 
 Index. 
 
 destroyed by fire, 56; exempt 
 jurisdiction conceded to, 56 (m.) ; 
 expenses of litigation with Savaric, 
 in ; foundation of the " major 
 ecclesia," 57; held by the king, 
 56 ; Henry II makes himself and 
 his heirs responsible for its fitting 
 restoration, 57 ; historical notices 
 of, 1, 2, 4, 55; income, nett divi- 
 sible, 108 ; mead contributed to 
 church of Wells, 367 ; monks of, 
 dissent from Jocelin's election, 131, 
 132 ; monks, number of, in the 
 abbey, 108 ; new church dedi- 
 cated, 57 ; particulars of Savaric's 
 concordat with, 108 seq. ; protest 
 against the king's possession of the 
 abbey, 96, 97; put into commis- 
 sion, 56 ; respective proceedings 
 of Reginald, Savaric, and Jocelin 
 towards, 117 ; revenues of con- 
 sumed by litigation, 58 ; Robert, 
 prior of Bath, elected abbot, 207 ; 
 Rome appealed to for a dissolution 
 of the union between the see of 
 Wells and the abbey of, 176 ; 
 Savaric's invasion of the abbey's 
 independence and exemption, 117 ; 
 his violent possession of the 
 abbey, 104, 105, 240 ; sequel of the 
 conflict after Savaric's death, 113 ; 
 three stages in the history of 
 the struggle, 99 ; transfer of the 
 patronatus, 118; union between 
 Glastonbury and the see of Wells 
 dissolved, 134 ; war again renewed, 
 116. 
 Godelee, Hamelin de, canon, 314, 
 
 317 («•) 
 
 Godelee, John, dean, 295, 312 ; ex- 
 ecutors of, 317 ; monument of, 316 
 (and ».) ; obits for, 314 ; work 
 going on under him, 298, 299. 
 
 Godfrey, bishop of Wells, 6, 17, 354. 
 
 Godfrey de Craucumb, 224. 
 
 Godfrey de Dinre, 364. 
 
 Godfrey de Hercredeb, 363. 
 
 Godfrey de Mandeville, 208, 228. 
 
 Godfrey de Sto. Georgio, 364. 
 
 Godfrid the Frenchman, 128 («.), 364. 
 
 Godwin, bishop of Hereford, 6 (».)., 
 23 (»■)■. 25 (and ».)., 37, 76, 85, 87, 
 123, 127, 144, 154, 155, 277 (».)., 
 280 («.)., 285, 288, 289, 294, 324 («.). 
 
 Golclive convent, 187. 
 
 Grammar School, The Cathedral, 
 78 (».). 
 
 Grandison, John de, 293 («.). ; pro- 
 moted to the see of Exeter, 311. 
 
 Gratian and Vivian, legates, 42. 
 
 Gray, Walter de, see under " Walter " 
 and " Archbishops." 
 
 Great Chartreuse, The, 46. 
 
 Gregory IX, pope, 115, 122, 260. 
 
 Grenne, Adam, 205. 
 
 Gresham college, 206. 
 
 Gresteign, convent of, 234. 
 
 Grossetete, bishop of Lincoln, 219, 
 274. 
 
 Gualo, papal legate, 134, 195. 
 
 Guertrie, Robert, "vallet" of sub- 
 dean, 247. 
 
 Gundulf, bishop of Rochester, 27. 
 
 Gurnay, Robert de, 215, 216. 
 
 Gyan, Simon, lands and tenements 
 given by, 232. 
 
 Gyford, Robert, chaplain of St. 
 Cuthbert's, Wells, 229. 
 
 Gyffard [Giffard], Walter, sub- 
 deacon and canon, chosen bishop, 
 276. 
 
 Hache (Hatch), church of, 243 ; land 
 at, 166. 
 
 Hackington, college and church of 
 secular canons at, 71 ; peremptory 
 order of Celesthie III for the 
 destruction of the new buildings, 
 72. 
 
 Ham (Hamme), church of, 207. 
 
 Ham, William de, precentor, 179, 
 184, 187. 
 
 Hameldun, patronage given to 
 bishop of Lincoln, 217. 
 
 Hamo Fitz-Godfrey, 175. 
 
 Harold, earl, 31, 32 ; his treatment 
 of Giso, 3, 4 (».) ; prior of Bath, 
 96. 
 
 Harpetre castle, 10 ; charter of king 
 John dated from, 138 ; William 
 Fitzjohn of, 10 ; grant of West 
 Harpetre, 211. 
 
 Haselbury church, 34, 372. 
 
 Haselbury, William, canon of, 61, 
 
 3°4- 
 Haselshaw, Walter de, dean and 
 bishop, 324 ; his gravestone, ib. ; 
 ritual in his time, 335 ; statutes 
 
 of. 345- 
 Hawking, bishop Reginald's love of, 
 40. 
 
Index. 
 
 437 
 
 Henry of Anjou, 33, 34. 
 
 Henry of Bath, 245. 
 
 Henry of Blois, 7, 8, 12, 27, 33, 35, 
 55. 56. 95. r 47. 354; builds at 
 Glastonbury, 56. 
 
 Henry de Campo Florido, 203. 
 
 Henry of Chichester, 176. 
 
 Henry I, king, 34, 38 ; his forest 
 laws, 66. 
 
 Henry II, king, his charters, see 
 "Charters"; his coronation, 42; 
 counselled against Thomas a 
 Becket, 38 ; foreign policy of, 39 ; 
 founds first Carthusian house in 
 England, 45 ; grant of a charter to 
 Witham, 54 ; interdict against 
 him suspended, 43 ; protests 
 against nomination of English 
 bishops by the pope, 44 ; purga- 
 tion and penance, 43, 49 ; sends 
 embassy to Rome, 42 ; undertakes 
 to found three religious houses, 46 ; 
 his death, 68. 
 
 Henry III, king, confirms Magna 
 Charta, 208 ; his grant to the 
 fabric, ib. ; letters patent acknow- 
 ledging grant from the prelates, 
 ib. ; grants congg d'elire to church 
 of Bath, 244. 
 
 Henry VI, emperor, 73, 88, 89, 91. 
 
 Henry of London, canon of Wells, 
 225. 
 
 Henry of Sully, abbot of Glaston- 
 bury, 94 ; consecrated bishop of 
 Worcester, 96, 99 (».) 
 
 Henstridge, 148. 
 
 Herbert of Bosham, 39. 
 
 Hida, William de, 216. 
 
 Hildebert, precentor, 61 ; provost, 6. 
 
 Hinton Monachorum, Carthusian 
 house at, 208 ; refounded, 187 ; 
 confirmed by royal charter, 231. 
 
 Hithe or wharf, 66, 67. 
 
 Hobhouse, bishop, notes by, 79, 137, 
 204, 296 (n.) 
 
 Holcombe Rogus, 374. 
 
 Homer quoted, 256 («.) 
 
 Honorarium of a cardinal, 249. 
 
 Honorius, pope, 116, 193, 194; dis- 
 solves union between Bath and 
 Glastonbury, 197. 
 
 Hope, W. H. St. John, 27 (».), 323, 
 392, 393 (and ».) 
 
 Horrington, land at, 139, 204 (».). 
 
 Hospital of St. John Baptist, 137; 
 
 ordinance about, 201 ; grant of 
 Evercreech church to, 218 ; of St. 
 Bartholomew, London, release by 
 society, 227; at Whitehall, 211. 
 
 Hounds and hunting, rights of, 66. 
 
 Houses for canons, 140, igg. 
 
 Howden, Roger de, 102 (n.). 
 
 Hubert, archbishop, 95, 97 ; supports 
 Savaric, 100. 
 
 Hubert de Burgh, 132, 206, 216, 224. 
 
 Hugh, archdeacon of Wells, and 
 chancellor of the kingdom, 181 ; 
 appointed to the see of Lincoln, 
 182 ; consecrated at Melun, ib. ; 
 death of, 219 ; early draft of his 
 will, 137, 201 («.). ; exiled with his 
 brother Jocelin, 182 ; grants to 
 see of Wells, 189 seq. ; later will, 
 184 ; legacies to Bath, Lincoln, 
 Wells, etc., 183. 
 
 Hugh of Avalon, bishop of Lincoln, 
 St. Hugh, 20, 28, 46, 47, 53, 54, 
 86, 98 (».), 112, 129; bull for his 
 canonization, 199 ; canonized, 155, 
 199 ; his conduct contrasted with 
 that of Savaric, 98 (».) ; work at 
 Witham, 53, 86 ; death and burial, 
 112, 113. 
 
 Hugh de Dinan, 372. 
 
 Hugh of Grenford, 201. 
 
 Hugh Pudsey, bishop of Durham, 
 68, 70. 
 
 Hugh de Romenal, treasurer, 247, 
 274, 279. 
 
 Hugh de Vivone, 244 
 
 " Hugh of Wells," 128. 
 
 Huish annexed to archdeaconry, 56 ; 
 grant of, to canons, 18, 19 ; 
 attached to prebend of Compton, 
 213 ; arbitration connected with, 
 217. 
 
 Husee, Henry, dean, 295 ; his obit, 
 ib. 
 
 Ideal conceived and enforced during 
 the thirteenth century, 350. 
 
 Ilbert, precentor, 363. 
 
 Ilchester, lepers' house at, 183. 
 
 Ilditius, vicar of Christian Malford, 
 200. 
 
 Ilminster church, 119. 
 
 Incense, 349. 
 
 Ine, king, 1 ; pretended charter of, 
 
 56 («■) 
 Innocent III, pope, 99, 106, 107, 113, 
 114, 115, 174; cancels the double 
 
438 
 
 Index. 
 
 election to Canterbury, 174 ; orders 
 the kingdom to be put under an 
 interdict, 180 ; his intimate know- 
 ledge of English diocesan affairs, 
 187, 349- 
 
 Innocent IV, pope, 54 (».), 146, 169 ; 
 arbitrates between Bath and 
 Wells, 251 ; further arbitration, 
 253 ; issues a peremptory order 
 for the full title of the see, 263. 
 
 Insecurity of the canons' tenure 5 ; 
 of the rights of property, 64. 
 
 Instauramentum, disposal of, 221. 
 
 Interdict on Henry II, 43 ; suspended, 
 ib. ; ordered by Innocent, 180 ; 
 relaxed by the papal legate, 189 ; 
 taken off, 185. 
 
 Invention of a relic of the Cross, 31. 
 
 Invention, festival of, 30, 31. 
 
 Irvine, Mr., 157, 296 (n.) 
 
 Italians (300), pope desires benefices 
 to be found for, in England, 260, 
 261. 
 
 Iterius, prebendary of Wanstrow, 
 187. 
 
 Ivo, first dean of Wells, 19, 29 («.), 
 30, 33, 61, 360. 
 
 Ivo Cade, 222. 
 
 James of Mountsorel, 373. 
 
 Jesse window, 311. 
 
 Jocelin de Bohun, bishop of Sarum, 
 25, 38, 41, 89, 128 (n.) ; excom- 
 municated by a Becket, 41. 
 
 Jocelin de Treminet, 373. 
 
 Jocelin Troteman, accepts the suzer- 
 ainty of the pope, 133 ; appointed 
 one of the judges on circuit, 195 ; 
 again appointed, 199 ; arbitrates 
 between Goldclive and the dean 
 and chapter of Wells, 187 ; arbi- 
 trates between Elias and the arch- 
 deacon of Wells, 217 : chaplain, 
 61, 82, 128 (b.) ; character described 
 by the chapter of Bath, 168 ; 
 and by the chapter of Wells, ib. ; 
 charters of 149, 212, 230, 241 ; 
 chronicon of, 165 ; consecrated, 
 131, 173; early life, 127; elected 
 bishop, 167 ; estimate of Savaric, 
 124; in exile from 1208-1213, 
 182 ; family traced in contempo- 
 raneous documents, 128 (».) ; one 
 of his first acts as bishop, 124 ; 
 founds hospital of St. John, 137, 
 201 ; gives up the abbacy and the 
 
 title of bishop of Bath and 
 Glastonbury, 134 ; Glastonbury 
 dissents from his election, 131 ; 
 goes abroad, 133 ; grants to the 
 communa, 143 ; king Richard's 
 grant to keep dogs for the chase 
 confirmed by king Henry III, 211 ; 
 incloses a park and begins the 
 palace, 138 ; institutes a daily 
 mass to B.V.M., 137; joins 
 Savaric against the monks of 
 Glastonbury, 106; last and greatest 
 of the master builders of Wells, 161 ; 
 obtains two charters from king 
 John, 138 ; lead and iron from 
 Mendip, 139 ; license to stock his 
 park with deer, 139 ; from papal 
 legate public sanction of his title 
 of "bishop of Bath and Glaston- 
 bury," 188 ; papal legate's letter, 
 189; proclaims Innocent Ill's 
 interdict and flies the kingdom, 
 180 ; remains in exile, 134 ; retains 
 his hold on Glastonbury, 116; 
 revises the constitution of the 
 cathedral, 181 ; his seal of dignity 
 and counterseal, 146 («.) ; his 
 work on southern doors, 154; 
 state of the fabric in his 
 time, 146; statutes defining resi- 
 dence, 233, 273 ; style of the 
 bishop in his day, 143 ; in magna 
 charta, 189 («.) ; subscribers to 
 the instrument of his election, 169- 
 171 ; succeeds to the see of Wells, 
 115 ; 'summary of his work on the 
 fabric and the constitution of 
 Wells, 163, 321 ; tradition that he 
 was the builder of the whole church 
 accounted for, 159, 160 ; unani- 
 mously elected by the two chapters 
 of Bath and Wells, 130 ; with- 
 drawal from Glastonbury, 133 ; 
 retains four manors ceded by 
 the latter, 240 ; death of, 238 ; 
 bequeaths his body to Wells, 240 ; 
 his tomb, 328. 
 
 John of Abbetestun (Abson), 216. 
 
 John de Axbridge, subdean, 274. 
 
 John, cardinal of St. Praxidius, 200. 
 
 John of Cossington, 103. 
 
 John de Campo Florido, 216. 
 
 John of Chard, vicar, 243. 
 
 John of Glastonbury, 117 (».). 
 
 John of Ileford, 187. 
 
Index. 
 
 439 
 
 John, king, 60, 85, 93, gg, 103, 113, 
 
 39°- 
 
 John of Oxford, dean of Sarum, 41 ; 
 excommunicated by a Becket, ib. 
 
 John of Palton, 214. 
 
 John de Ros, 344. 
 
 John of Salisbury, 36. 
 
 John of Tours, 6, 11, 16, 24, 26. 
 
 John of York, 183. 
 
 Jordan la Ware (Warr), 216. 
 
 Joy, William, dean Godelee's master 
 mason, 2g6, 302, 321. 
 
 Jus patronatus claimed by St. Hugh, 
 98 (».). ; and by Savaric, 117 ; 
 obtained by Jocelin, 118, 132. 
 
 Justiciar, the king's, 74, 91, 92, 93, 
 129, 206, 216, 371, 373. 
 
 Kaerleon, see " Caerleon." 
 
 Kardonville family, 178, 213 ; lands, 
 214. 
 
 Kardonville, John of, 213. 
 
 Kardonville, Lucia, ib. 
 
 Kardonville, Mirabel, ib. 
 
 Karenton vicarage, 375, 376. 
 
 Kari, Robert de,see " Cary." 
 
 Karole, de la, 325, 326 («.), 327. 
 
 Karscumbe [Croscombe] , 82. 
 
 Karswell, 204 (».), 205. 
 
 Kenilworth, the " dictum " of, 276. 
 
 Kentiswood, Richard, chancellor, 
 225. 
 
 Kilwardly, Robert of, 277. 
 
 Kings. — 
 Arthur, 57. Cnut, 31 (and ».). 
 Edmund of East Anglia, 2 (».). 
 Edward the Confessor, 3, 26, 31, 
 38. Edward the Elder, 2. Edward 
 I seizes treasury of the Temple for 
 Welsh war, 293 («.). Edward II 
 murdered, 311. Edward III and 
 his Queen keep court at Wells, 315. 
 Ferdinand of Castile, 264. Henry 
 I, 34. Henry II, 32 ; his penance 
 at a Becket 's tomb, 49 ; death of, 
 68 ; Henry, Prince of Wales, joint 
 king with his father, 44 ; his coro- 
 nation, 83, 135. Henry III crown- 
 ed, 195, 200 ; his grant to the 
 fabric, 208. Ine, 1, 56 («.). John, 
 60, 85, 93, gg, 103, 112, 113, 
 125 (».), 131 ; his anger at Inno- 
 cent's interference in the election 
 to Canterbury, 175 ; confirms the 
 union between Bath and Glaston- 
 bury, 191 ; his donations to hospital 
 
 at Bristol, 180 ; grants immunity 
 from market tolls to chapter of 
 Bath and Wells, etc., 176; grants 
 Jocelin license to inclose park, 
 175 ; grants the patronatus of Glas- 
 tonbury, 191 ; his quarrel with 
 pope Innocent, 184 ; secret com- 
 munication with the pope against 
 the barons, 193 ; supports Jocelin 
 against Glastonbury, 132 ; sur- 
 renders the crown, 187, 188 ; his 
 death, 195. Louis VII of France, 
 40, 51, 73 ; his deed of appoint- 
 ment to the abbey of St. Exuperius, 
 357. Philip II (Auguste) of France, 
 71, 91 (and «.), g2, g3. Richard 
 I, 58, 85, 88, 90, 91, 92, gg, no; 
 his conflict with Celestine, 99 ; 
 and with Innocent, 100, 101 ; 
 forbids the execution of papal 
 mandates, 101 ; goes to the Holy 
 Land, 91 ; is made prisoner, 92; 
 delivered up to Emperor Henry 
 VI, 93 ; ransomed, 94, 118 ; repudi- 
 ates his concession of Glastonbury 
 to Savaric, gg ; returns to England, 
 and is crowned a second time, g4 ; 
 Savaric extorts from him the ex- 
 change of Bath city for the abbey 
 of Glastonbury, g4 ; stations and 
 dates of his imprisonment, g4 («.). 
 William I, 3, 32. William II, 
 Rufus, 6. William the Lion of 
 Scotland, 112. 
 
 Kingsbury vicarage, 186. 
 
 " Kirnellare," licence to, 285, 286 («.). 
 
 Knight's fee, 190 (n.) ; half fee, ib. 
 
 Knights who murdered Thomas a 
 Becket, 42 (k.), 67. 
 
 Knole, Edward de la, dean, 271 ; 
 manor of, in Wookey, ib. 
 
 Lady-chapel, constructed by dean 
 Godelee, 332 ; earlier building, 
 juxta claustrum, endowed by Giso, 
 331 ; daily mass endowed by 
 Savaric and Jocelin, ib. ; scene of 
 obituary services, ib. ; pulled 
 down by bishop Stillington, 332; 
 eastern, behind the high altar, 
 3ii-> 33 2 ; finished, 310; gifts to, 
 331 (».) ; first definite mention of 
 (1279), 331 ; offerings made at the 
 image of St. Mary (1298), ib. 
 
 Lambert, sub-dean, 213, 222. 
 
 Lamelegh-by-Stoke, land in, 219. 
 
440 
 
 Index. 
 
 Lancherley, I2g. 
 
 Lands of dean and canons, 15 ; 
 
 divided into prebends, ib. 
 Lanferley, land at, 128 (».) 
 Lanfranc, 5, 36. 
 Langport, Richard, vicar, 222. 
 Langton, Stephen, elected to the 
 
 primacy, 174 ; consecrated at 
 
 Viterbo, 175 ; death of, 212. 
 Lateran, council of, 51, 65, 68. 
 Lechlade, Ralph of, 61, 82. 
 Legates, papal, 42, 51, 134, 145 («), 
 
 172, 184, 185, 188, 195. 
 Legend, Arthurian, 57. 
 Lentenay, Gilbert de, 247. 
 Leodgaresburgh (Montacute), 31, 32. 
 Leonius, dean, 79 («.), 185, 187, 188, 
 
 192, 193. 
 Lepers' houses, 183. 
 Levy for seven years on all canons 
 
 and prebendaries, 234. 
 Lewes, church of St. Pancras at, 7, 
 
 27 ; Cluniac monastery at, 7. 
 Lexinton, 171 ; Robert de, 207. 
 Liber Albus, 297, 298 («.) 
 Liber Niger, 298 (m.) 
 Liberty, the, formed, 140, 141 (».) ; 
 
 growth of, 141. 
 Library and capitulum, 326, 327. 
 Lideard (Lydiard), 203, 367 ; advow- 
 
 son of, 143 ; confirmation of 
 
 Savaric's grant of, to the chapter, 
 
 186 ; confirmed to the canons by 
 
 Jocelin, 229. 
 Lideford, church at, 375. 
 Lights for the high altar, 24 (».), 29, 
 
 219, 329 ; lands at Chilcot granted 
 
 for, 329 ; before the cross in the 
 
 nave, 348. 
 Lincoln, architecture at, 28 ; battle 
 
 of, 33 ; Gerard de Camville, 
 
 sheriff of, 70 ; recitation of the 
 
 Psalter at, 20 ; William de Ro- 
 
 mara, earl of, 67. 
 Litigation between Glastonbury and 
 
 Wells, 58, 97, in, etc. 
 Littleton, Wybert de, 318. 
 Litton, 4, l6, 353 ; Adam de, priest, 
 
 177, 178. 
 Loans, 267. 
 Lock family, 141, 161, 162, 222, 321, 
 
 395- 
 " Locus Dei," 209. 
 " Locus beats Mariae," ib. 
 Lombards, 39 (».) 
 
 London, synod of, 5, 9; Walter de, 
 
 dean, 318. 
 Longchamps, Wm., bishop of Ely, 
 
 obtains the chancellorship by 
 
 bribery, 69, 70. 
 Lonley abbey, 203. 
 Longsword, William, earl of Salis- 
 bury, 208. 
 Loretta, countess of Leicester, 180. 
 Louis VII, see under " Kings." 
 Lovel family, 10, 80, 372, 376. 
 Lovesert,, Henry de, endows Wynes- 
 
 comb church, 225. 
 Lovington, church of, 80. 
 Lovington, Robert de Kari, lord of, ib. 
 Lucia Laundrey, wife of Nicolas le 
 
 prest, 331. 
 Luc de Membury, proctor, 243. 
 " Luna et Lagha," 363. 
 Magister Scholarum, 349. 
 Magna Charta, 189 (».) ; granted, 
 
 192, 193 ; confirmed by Henry 
 
 III, 208. 
 Magna porta canonicorum, 140, 154, 
 
 177. 
 Malet, Jordan, 192. 
 Malet, W., 176. 
 Malford, Christian, 198, 200. 
 Malger, Walter, priest-vicar, 177, 178, 
 
 179, 213, 214. 
 Malherbe, Robert of, 202. 
 " Malleus canonicorum," etc. (Hugh 
 
 of Lincoln), 219. 
 "Malleus monachorum" (Savaric), 
 
 121. 
 
 Malmesbury abbey, 27, 28, 101. 
 
 " Mammon of unrighteousness," 251. 
 
 Mandates, papal, illegal, 101 ; then- 
 execution forbidden by king 
 Richard I, ib. 
 
 Mandeville, Godfrey de, 208, 228. 
 
 Mandeville, Robert de, 181, 192,217. 
 
 Manors. — 
 Ashbury, 109 (».), 198. Axbridge, 
 66. Badbury, 109 (n.), 198. Ban- 
 well, 18. Berges (Berrow), iog 
 hi.), no. Biddisham, 16, 18, 20. 
 Blackford, 109 («.), 198. Bromley 
 al. Bromfield, 16. Buckland, 109 
 (n.), 198. Calveston (Kelston), 
 365. Cheddar, 143, igo. Chilcot, 
 16. Christian Malford, no, 198. 
 Combe St. Nicholas, 16, 119, 142, 
 221. Compton Episeopi, 66. 
 Congresbury, 148. Cranmore, 
 
Index. 
 
 441 
 
 109 (».), 198. Downhead, 139. 
 Dulcot, 16. East Brent 109 (».). 
 Hinton, 209. Huish, 18, 19. 
 Keinton, ig8. Kingston, no. Lit- 
 ton, 16. Lyme, 109 (».), no. 
 Meare, 198, Mells, 100. North 
 Curry, 70, 119, 143, 215. Norton, 
 209. Poulet, 215. Pucklechurch, 
 109 («.), 198. Wanstrow, 16. 
 Wedmore, 15, 33. Winsham, 16. 
 Wiveliscombe, 119. Wormistor, 
 16. Wynescombe, 109 (».), 143, 
 I4g, 150, 198, 230, 263. 
 
 Manseljohn, canon, 248, 261, 264, 265 
 
 Manuscripts unpublished, in the 
 chapter library, 239. 
 
 Maperton, 83 (n.) 
 
 Marchia, William de, bishop of Bath 
 and Wells, 288, 289, 339, 345 ; his 
 character, 293 ; desire to canonize 
 him, 293 («.), 306 ; money raised 
 for his canonization, 311 (and n.) ; 
 release to Godelee's executors for 
 sums so raised, 317 ; his registers, 
 289 («.) ; accused of sacrilege, 294. 
 
 Marci, Peter de, administrator of 
 Glastonbury, 56. 
 
 Margam, church of, 127. 
 
 Margaret, daughter of Louis VII, 40. 
 
 Marisco, Robert de, canon, 243, 261. 
 
 Mark, 3, 13, 18, 237. 
 
 Market held in the church, 29; 
 removal of, 30, 359 ; times for, 
 fixed by charter, 30, 31 ; offerings 
 at, 32 ; tolls, immunity from, 
 granted, 176. 
 
 Marmion, Robert, armiger of arch- 
 deacon of Wells, 247. 
 
 Marshall, earl of Pembroke, 132. 
 
 Martin of Karscumbe, 82. 
 
 Martin, legate, 252. 
 
 Martin IV, pope, 288, 290. 
 
 Martin de Summa, 105 (and «.), 109 
 (».), in. 
 
 Martin's, St., chapel, 124 (».) 
 
 Martire, Ralph, 29, 30. 
 
 Martock, church at, 202 ; rectory of, 
 140 ; William of, 82. 
 
 " Martyn's masse," 124. 
 
 Mary, St., chapel of, 84 ; service in 
 honour of, augmented, 230. 
 
 Mass at the altar of St. Calixtus, 228. 
 
 Mass of B. V. M., 193, 220. 
 
 Mass, daily, instituted by Savaric, 
 "3. 385 ; by Jocelin, 173. 
 
 Mass for the departed, 123. 
 
 Masses ordered in the "antiqua 
 
 statuta," 20; two weekly required 
 
 by, 340. 
 " Mater ecclesia," 145. 
 Matilda, the empress, 33 ; the lady 
 
 (widow of Otho of Wanstrow), 202 ; 
 
 Queen, 4. 
 Matthew of Westminster, 294. 
 Matthias de Winton, 128 («.) 
 Mauduit, Thomas, 224. 
 Maulesbury(Melbury),Williamof,228 
 Maurice of Gaunt, 181, 210 ; his 
 
 foundations at Bristol, 215. 
 Maurienne, St. Jean de, 45. 
 Maydestone [Maidstone] , William 
 
 de, canon, 225, 238, 242. 
 Mead, contribution of, from Glaston- 
 bury, 367. 
 Meare, vineyard at, 18. 
 Meauleberger, Richard de, 205. 
 Meisy, Robert de, 179, 195. 
 Melbury (see also Maulesbury ) , 1 28 («. ) 
 Membury, Lucas, 214. 
 Merchants of Florence, 267. 
 Merchants of Siena, 268. 
 Merton, William de, elected dean, 225. 
 Michael of Aldford, 82. 
 Michael of Easton, 310 (and «.). 
 Michael, St., "in periculo mortis," 
 
 the abbot of, 202, 210. 
 Midhurst, Sussex, 89. 
 Mill-dues granted to the Communa, 78. 
 Mills, 220, 221, 229, 366. 
 Mills at Fordyngton, 229 ; Hornys- 
 
 bowe, 229 ; Radewik, 215 ; South 
 
 Chard, 229 ; Weare, ib. 
 Milo, 214. 
 Milverton, 3 ; made a prebend, 210 ; 
 
 annexed to the archdeaconry of 
 
 Taunton, 232. 
 Mining rights of the see of Wells, 66. 
 " Missa pro defunctis," 220. 
 " Missa in capitulo," 327. 
 Mission-priests, early settlement of, 
 
 at Wells, 1. 
 Mitres, 305 (and «.). 
 Mohun, William de, of Dunster, 10. 
 Molinarius, Rufinus, 122. 
 Monasticon of Somerset, 378. 
 Montacute, cross found at, 31 ; con- 
 vent at, 180. 
 Morevill, William de, 179. 
 Mortarium, Reginald's ordinance 
 
 respecting, 329. 
 
 L LL 
 
442 
 
 Index. 
 
 Mortimer, Roger, regent, 276. 
 
 Muchelney, 19, 114, 119, 186, 187. 
 
 Muddesley, 202, 353. 
 
 Muddesley, Alexander de, ib. 
 
 Muddesley, Henry of, ib. 
 
 Mudgeley, 15, 18. 
 
 Mudford church resigned to bishop, 
 231 ; granted to the Communa, ib. 
 
 Muntoria, " Muntorey," la Mounter- 
 eye (Mont-Roy), 141, 142, 177, 179, 
 
 213, 214, 349. 
 
 Muntoria, grant of, by Elias the 
 chaplain, 213. 
 
 New Buildings, preparations for,279 
 
 Newmarch, Henry, 83 (».). 
 
 Nicholas de Barewe (Barrow), 81, 82. 
 
 Nicholas II, pope, 3. 
 
 Nicolas, the clerk, 247. 
 
 Nicolas, bishop of Tusculum, papal 
 legate, 185, 188, 191 ; his letter, 
 189 ; relaxes the interdict, ib. 
 
 Noiers, Gaufridus de, 161 (».) 
 
 Nonant, Hugh, bishop of Coventry, 
 
 7°. 97- 
 
 " Norma eligendi," formally estab- 
 lished between the chapters of 
 Bath and Wells, 255. 
 
 Norman architecture, 28. 
 
 Norreys family, 161, 321, 395. 
 
 Norreys, Deodatus and Thomas, 222, 
 
 395- 
 
 North Curry, 16, 70, 119, 202, 207, 
 215, 221, 229, 274, 324, 377. 
 
 North Curry confirmed to the Com- 
 muna, 166, 211. 
 
 North Wootton, chapel of B. V. M. 
 
 at. 17. 354- 
 
 Norwich, church of, 114. 
 
 " Nova constitutio," of Salisbury, 273. 
 
 " Nundinae," markets, 29 («.); offer- 
 ings made at, 32. 
 
 Nunniz (Nunney), church at, 179. 
 
 Obits, memorial, 123, 124, 142, 213, 
 
 214, 223, 280 (».), 281, 287 (».), 
 294, 324, 331, 346. 
 
 Octavian, cardinal, 279. 
 
 Odo, 178. 
 
 Offices of dean, precentor, etc., early 
 
 existence of, 13, 14, 15, 61 ; second 
 
 generation of, 61. 
 Offington, see " Uffington." 
 Okehampton, lands at, 312. 
 Oratory at Stathe, 202. 
 Ordinate, importance of, 275 («.) ; 
 
 revised, 233. 
 
 Ordinance of Innocent III, 107. 
 Orlton, Adam, bishop of Hereford, 
 
 310. 344- 
 
 Orlton, John de, canon, 343. 
 
 Osmund, bishop of Sarum, 7. 
 
 Otho, cardinal legate, 209, 227,231,249 
 
 Otho of Wandestre (Wanstrow), 202. 
 
 Oxford, provincial synod at, 206. 
 
 Pacification of Winchester, 70 ; be- 
 tween the chapters of Bath and 
 Wells, 240 ; bishop Roger's scheme 
 of, 254, 263. 
 
 Palace at Wells begun, 138, 139 ; 
 chapel of, 285 ; hall, ib. 
 
 Pamborough, vineyard at, 18. 
 
 Pandulf, papal legate, 145 (».), 184, 
 185, 197. 
 
 Papal interference, growth of, 98 ; 
 exemplified. 
 
 Paris, Matthew, his character of 
 bishop Jocelin, 219, 238 ; account 
 of cardinal Colonna, 249 ; account 
 of a violent storm in November, 
 1242, 242 ; of an earthquake, 278 ; 
 testimony respecting bishop Roger, 
 252. 
 
 Park, the bishop's, inclosed, 138, 176. 
 
 " Passion of St. Andrew," 218. 
 
 Patronatus of Glastonbury, 197, 265. 
 
 Paulet vicarage, 234. 
 
 Paulton, John de, 203, 223, 225. 
 
 Pedigree of bishops Reginald and 
 Savaric, 379. 
 
 Pempel, Stephen de, dean, 194. 
 *Pepper, annual payment of, 227. 
 
 Perci, Gerbert (al. Gilbert) de, 373. 
 
 Perreton (Petherton), 16 (and «.). 
 
 Peter, archbishop of Tarentaise, 47 
 (and «.), 358 ; papal legate, 51. 
 
 Peter, archdeacon of Bath, 169. 
 
 Peter, prior of Bath, 19. 
 
 Peter of Blois, 19, 40, 41, 62, 71 (».) ; 
 archdeacon of Bath, 62, 63 ; arch- 
 deacon of London, ib. ; illustra- 
 tions of his character, 41 (n.), 62 ; 
 his letter to Savaric, no ; his 
 opinion of Savaric' s proceedings, 
 »o. ; his sarcasm on Reginald's 
 death, 75. 
 
 Peter of Chichester, dean, 228, 229. 
 
 Peter de Marci, administrator of 
 Glastonbury, 56. 
 
 Peter des Roches, bishop of Win- 
 chester, 61, 128 («.), 132, 195, 206, 
 209, 364. 
 
 * Sec Bailey's History of Notts, i, 234. 
 
Index. 
 
 443 
 
 Philip, king of France, 73. 
 
 Pica, William, abbot of Glastonbury, 
 100, 105, 107, 382 ;. excommuni- 
 cated by Savaric, ib. ; dies at 
 Rome, 384. 
 
 Pighele, Cristina, 205. 
 
 Pighele, Thudricus, ib. 
 
 Pilton, church of, 119, 124, 217, 370 ; 
 vineyard at, 18. 
 
 Pipewell abbey, council of, 69. 
 
 Pitney, grant of land at, 218. 
 
 "Placebo" and " dirige," where to 
 be sung, 327 («.). 
 
 Placentia, " major ecclesia," of, 122. 
 
 Pointed arch, 26, 27, 28. 
 
 Polydore Virgil, 294. 
 
 Ponson, Alured de, 81, 376. 
 
 Pontigny , a Becket withdraws to, 41 . 
 
 Pontoise, John de, bishop of Winton, 
 290 (and «.). 
 
 Poore, Herbert and Richard, bishops 
 of Exeter, 136. 
 
 Popes. — 
 Adrian IV, 22, 50, 97 (».). Alex- 
 ander III, 22, 42, 51, 64, 65, 250, 
 364. Celestine III, 72, 92, 96 (and 
 
 *•)■ 97i 99i IOO > io 3- IIO > z 33- 
 Clement III, 65. Clement V, 
 344. Gregory IX, 115, 122, 194, 
 211, 233. Honorius III, 97, 116 
 (and ».), 117, 133, 134, 145 (and ».), 
 193, 194, 197, 198, 211. Innocent 
 
 III, 97, 99, 100, 103, 106, 107, no, 
 in, 113, 114, 115, 116, 134, 169, 
 174, 180, 184, 193, 233. Innocent 
 
 IV, 54 (».), 416. Martin IV, 288, 
 2go. Nicholas II, 3, 199. Nicholas, 
 IV, 290. Urban III, 72, 90. 
 
 Porta Canonicorum, 140, 154, 277. 
 
 Postulatio, 167 (».). 
 
 Poulesham, 128 (».). 
 
 Prayers for the departed, 336, 337 
 note 1. 
 
 Preaching friars come to England, 174 
 
 Prebendaries, daily recitation of the 
 psalter by, 339. 
 
 Prebends, lands divided into, 15 ; 
 made in Robert's time, 17; in 
 Reginald's episcopate, 66 ; in- 
 creased by Savaric, 119 ; increased 
 by Jocelin, 142 ; ordinance for five 
 new ones, 220 ; their number and 
 titles in I2g8, 339; papal nomi- 
 nation to, 343, 344. 
 
 Precentor, duty of, 14, 18. 
 
 Precentors. — 
 
 Gilbert de Byham, 274. Ilbert, 
 363. Ralph, 181., Reginald, 6, 16, 
 29 (»•), 30, 61. Thomas de Tornaco 
 (Tournay), 185, 195. William de 
 Ham, 179. William of St. Faith, 
 71 (».), 78. William of Wells, 101, 
 167, 169. 
 
 Precinctum, royal licence to inclose, 
 283. 
 
 Preciosus Radulphus, 170, 213. 
 
 Presbytery in the cathedral, 328. 
 
 Priddy vicarage, 229. 
 
 Priests, college of, 2. 
 
 Priory, Barlynch, 67. 
 
 Priors. — 
 Bath, 19, 29 (n.), 52, 96, 167, 213, 
 228, 232, 233. Bradenstoke, 192. 
 Bruton, 19. Canterbury, 71, 107. 
 Glastonbury, 19, 100, 105, 107. 
 Montacute, 19, 180. St. Swithin, 
 7, 8 («.) . Taunton, 19. Winches- 
 ter, 55. Witham, 53. 
 
 Processional stones, 336. 
 
 Processions, 335, 336; on Sundays, 
 336 ; on Palm Sunday, 337. 
 
 Protests of Wells chapter against 
 that of Bath, 242, 244. 
 
 Provincial synod at Oxford, 206. 
 
 Provost, 5, 6, 12, 195, 196, 219, 220, 
 279. 
 
 Psalter, daily recitation of, 20 ; at 
 Lincoln and Sarum, ib. ; distribu- 
 tion of, amongst the prebendaries 
 of Wells, 340-342 ; early statute 
 that the whole should be said 
 daily, 340. 
 
 Pucklechurch, 216. 
 
 Pudsey, Hugh, bishop of Durham, 
 68, 70. 
 
 " Pueri canonici," 328, 349. 
 
 Pumeraye, Hugo de la, 179. 
 
 Purgatory, etc., 280. 
 
 Purley, Walter de, canon of Wells, 
 203, 270 
 
 " QUASIMODO," 281. 
 
 " Quatuor articuli " referred to the 
 pope's decision, 230. 
 
 " Quatuor persona?," 273. 
 
 Queens. — 
 Editha, 3. Eleanor, 248 (and n.). 
 Isabella, 306, 310. Matilda, wife 
 of William I, 4. Matilda, wife of 
 Henry 1, 34. Philippa of Hainault, 
 315- 
 
444 
 
 Index. 
 
 " Quotidians," 142 ; money substi- 
 tuted for, 143, 235 ; increased by 
 Jocelin, 150, 151, 235 ; scale of, 
 according to Jocelin's statute, 236 ; 
 refused to a papal nominee, 344. 
 
 Radclive, power to create a borough 
 at, granted, 66. 
 
 Radulf, bishop of Chichester, 224. 
 
 Radulf Fitz- William, 376. 
 
 Radulfus de Waravill, canon of 
 Lincoln, 212. 
 
 Ragusa, archbishop of, 113. 
 
 Rainaud, bishop, 128 («.), 364. 
 
 Ralegh, William de, canon of Wans- 
 trow, 203. 
 
 Ralegh, William de, bishop of Nor- 
 wich, 239, 253. 
 
 Ralph, lord of Beaumont and St. 
 Suzanne, 38. 
 
 Ralph, bishop of Chichester, 27. 
 
 Ralph of Chichester, chancellor, 215. 
 
 Ralph de Diceto, 36, 40 (».), 43, 47, 
 49, 63 («.), 90, 102 (».). 
 
 Ralph Fitz-Stephen, chancellor, 57. 
 
 Ralph of Lechlade, canon, arch- 
 deacon of Bath, and dean, 61, 128 
 (».), 364. 
 
 Ralph Martire, 29, 30, 361. 
 
 Ralph Preciosus, 170, 213. 
 
 Ralph of Shrewsbury (" de Salopia,") 
 elected bishop, 305 («.), 313, 314, 
 347 ; his testimony as to dean 
 Godelee's work, 315. 
 
 Ralph de Wilton, 128 («.). 
 
 Ralph of Yarlington, 82. 
 
 Re-adjustment of relations of chap- 
 ters of Bath and Wells, 22. 
 
 Reginald, ("Master"), of Chester, 
 183. 
 
 Reginald de Wudeforde (Woodford), 
 205. 
 
 Regents during king Edward I's 
 absence, 276. 
 
 Reginald Fitz-Jocelin, abbot of St. 
 Exuperius, 40, 41, 73, 357 ; arch- 
 deacon of Sarum, 40, 43, 45 ; 
 assists at the coronation of king 
 Richard I, 68 ; attends the council 
 of Lateran, 51 ; of London, ib. ; 
 of Westminster, ib. ; benefactions 
 to the church, 77, 78 ; character of, 
 75. 76; characterized by Herbert 
 of Bosham, 39, 40 (n.) ; by Peter 
 of Blois, 40 ; by Richard of 
 Devizes, 75 ; his charter to the 
 
 borough, 362 ; commissioner in the 
 affairs of a secular college at 
 Hackington, 72 ; comparatively 
 overlooked, 37 ; confirms and in- 
 creases the privileges of the town 
 of Wells, 58 ; consecrated bishop 
 of Bath, 45 ; at S. Jean de 
 Maurienne, 47 (and ».) ; conse- 
 cration, why objected to, 39 ; con- 
 temporaries of, 355 ; . dedicates 
 new church of Glastonbury, 57 ; 
 drawn into political and court 
 intrigues, 68 ; elected to the 
 primacy, 74, 91 ; engaged in con- 
 test with Glastonbury, 97, 113 ; 
 enthroned as bishop of Bath, 49 ; 
 epitaph on, 75 ; founds hospital of 
 St. John Baptist, at Bath, 52, 86 ; 
 gifts and endowments to cathedral 
 of Wells in his time, 52, 66 ; gifts 
 to the convent of Bath, 53, 358 ; 
 gives " Barton," and tenth of mill- 
 dues to the communa, 78 ; growth 
 of the see during his episcopate, 
 64; "Italian," why so called, 36, 
 39 ; keeps up his connection with 
 Coutances 128 («.) ; " Lombard," 
 why so named, 39; nominated to 
 see of Bath, 44 ; precentor of 
 Wells, 6, 16, 18, 29 («.), 30, 61 ; 
 proceedings at Wells, 58, 86 ; 
 public life, 50, 75 ; purges himself 
 of complicity in a Becket's murder, 
 47 ; puts an end to the controversy 
 between Wells and Glastonbury, 
 55 ; related to Savaric, 38 ; his 
 seal and legend, 362 ; supports the 
 king against a Becket, 41 ; sur- 
 renders his hereditary tenure of 
 estates received through his uncle, 
 16, 18 ; surrender contested, 18 ; 
 the claim compromised, ib. ; 
 suspected of bidding for the 
 chancellorship and the primacy, 
 68, 69, 73 iand n.) ; visits the 
 Grande Chartreuse, 47 ; visits 
 Rome, 41, 42 ; withdraws from 
 a Becket's party, 41 ; work in his 
 diocese, 52, 86 ; work on the fabric 
 at Wells, 76, 85, 147; his death, 
 
 74. 9i- 
 Reginald Fitz-Reginald, sheriff of 
 
 Kent, 206. 
 Reginald de Sarum, 216. 
 Register, mutilation of, 224. 
 
Index. 
 
 445 
 
 Registers of the chapter show the 
 activity of dean and chapter, 265 ; 
 particulars of, ib. 
 
 "Reinaud, bishop of Bath," 370, 
 see " Reginald." 
 
 Relics of the holy cross, 31 . 
 
 Religious houses, attempt to restrain 
 their excessive powers, 97 ; the 
 bishop's Jurisdiction over, 65, 66. 
 
 Remigius, bishop of Lincoln, 7. 
 
 Renger, Richard, 227. 
 
 Renningmede [Runnymead] , 192. 
 
 Requiems, 123. 
 
 Residence, obligatory, denned, 233 ; 
 scale of payment regulated by, 
 235 ; stricter rule ordered, 274, 275. 
 
 Rich, Edmund, archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, 219. 
 
 Richard, archbishop of Canterbury, 
 42. 44- 
 
 Richard, archdeacon of Coutances, 
 128 (».). 
 
 Richard of Bytton, vicar, 243. 
 
 Richard of Devizes, 53 («.), 69, 70, 
 
 75. 83 («■). 91. 92- 
 
 Richard, bishop of Durham, 224. 
 
 Richard I (king), charters of, 65, 66 ; 
 grants additional privileges to the 
 see of Wells, 66 ; refuses the 
 abbey of Glastonbury to Savaric, 
 99 ; sells rights and privileges, 69. 
 
 Richard de Marisco, chancellor of 
 the king, 191. 
 
 Richard Richeman of Wells, 300 («.). 
 
 Richard of Spakeston, dean, 33, 78. 
 
 Richard de Wells, canon, 222, 224. 
 
 Richard de Wrotham, 234. 
 
 Ridel, Stephen, 169. 
 
 Robert de Berkeley, canon of Wells, 
 216. 
 
 Robert de Bethune, bishop of Here- 
 ford, 25. 
 
 Robert de Bingham, bishop of Sarum, 
 217. 
 
 Robert de Chesney , bishop of Lincoln, 
 14. 
 
 Robert Fitz Pane, sheriff of Somer- 
 set, 128 (».). 
 
 Robert of Guildford, 82, 128 (».). 
 
 Robert de Gurnay, 215, 216. 
 
 Robert of Lewes, bishop of Bath, 7, 
 8, 27 ; builds church at Bath, and 
 designs that at Wells, 7, 24; his 
 character, 9, 35 ; charters of his 
 time, n, 84 ; confirmed in the 
 
 temporalities of the see by king 
 Stephen, 8 ; constitutes chapter, 
 7, 13 ; grants new charter of free- 
 dom to the burghers of Wells, 7 ; 
 institutes the deanship, 13 ; his 
 part in public affairs, 33 ; visits St. 
 Ulfric in his cell, 34 ; works out 
 the new constitution, and the new 
 fabric of the church at Wells, 11, 
 29, 35 ; his death, 35. 
 
 Robert de Mandeville, 181, 192. 
 
 Robert de Marisco, 246. 
 
 Robert, prior of Bath, 167. 
 
 Robert of St. Lo, 128 («.) 
 
 Robert, bishop of Sarum, 217. 
 
 Robert, subdean, 29 («.), 61. 
 
 Robert, prior of St. Swithun's 53 
 (and «.) 
 
 Robert de Vallibus, 186. 
 
 Roche Andely, castle of, 102. 
 
 Roches, Peter des, bishop of Winton, 
 206. 
 
 Rochester, bishop of, with bishop 
 Bytton, secret agents, 264. 
 
 Roger, abbot of Athelney, 218. 
 
 Roger, bishop of Bath and Wells, 
 24 (».), 29, 80 (n.) 
 
 Roger Burgeys, 213. 
 
 Roger, chaplain, his obit, 142, 349, 
 
 Roger of Chewton, canon and chap- 
 lain, 222 ; grants houses for canons, 
 223 ; for schools of Wells, ib. 
 
 Roger le due, 227. 
 
 Roger de Pont l'Eveque, 33, 42, 83. 
 
 Roger, bishop of Sarum, 6, 7, 9, 12, 
 27, 28, 147, 354. 
 
 Roger of Sarum, first bishop of the 
 united dioceses of Bath and Wells, 
 with full title, 239, 256 ; nominated 
 by monks of Bath, 245 ; chosen, 
 and consecrated, 252 ; his charter 
 of pacification accepted, 255. 
 
 Roges, lady Alicia de, 67. 
 
 Romanesque architecture, 26, 28. 
 
 Romanus, St., uncertainty as to day 
 of, 150 (».), 230. 
 
 Romafa, William de, earl of Lincoln, 
 67. 
 
 Romenal, Hugh de, subdean, treas- 
 urer, proctor, 243, 274. 
 
 Ros, John de, 344. 
 
 Rouen, archbishop of, 74, 92, 93 ; 
 church of, 13. 
 
 Rufinus Molinarius, 122. 
 
 Russell, Ralph, 216. 
 
446 
 
 Index. 
 
 St. Andrew, fraternity of, 299. 
 
 St. Anselm, 70. 
 
 St. Calixtus, altar of, 228 ; festival 
 
 of, 30, 31, 32. 
 St. Cuthbert, church of, at Wells, 2, 
 
 17 ; made over to the Communa, 17. 
 St. Decuman's, 67 ; the prebend of, 
 
 a defaulter, 26g. 
 St. Euphemia, V. and M., 53. 
 St. Exuperius, Reginald, abbot of, 
 
 4°. 41. 73. 357- 
 St. Faith, William of, 71 («.), 78, 167, 
 
 361. 
 
 St. Hugh of Lincoln, 28, 47, 54, 70, 
 71, 219. 
 
 St. Jean de Maurienne, 45, 46. 
 
 St. Lo, 48 (and ».). 
 
 Ste. Mere l'Eglise, 99 (and «.). 
 
 St. Pancras, Cluniac house of, 7. 
 
 St. Praxidius, John, cardinal of, 200. 
 
 St. Quintin, Robert de, clerk, 247. 
 
 St. Quintin, Walter de, archdeacon 
 of Taunton, 238, 242, 267. 
 
 St. Swithun, priors of, 7, 8 (».), 53 
 (and n.). 
 
 St. Ulfric, 34, 35 (and n), 
 
 Sacristan bound to sleep in the 
 Thesauraria, 333. 
 
 Sacristy, 285, 332. 
 
 Salisbury, architecture of, 28 ; church 
 of, 114; "nova constitutio" of, 
 136 ; recitation of the psalter at, 
 20 ; register of, 135. 
 
 Samford Bret, 67. 
 
 Sandford, Roger de, 171. 
 
 Saracenus, John, dean, 151, 194, 232, 
 246, 260, 262, 270, 271. 
 
 Saracenus, Peter, civis Romanus, 232. 
 
 Sarum, see " Salisbury." 
 
 Savaric, bishop of Bath and Glaston- 
 bury, 88 ; absence from his diocese, 
 121 ; from England, 101 ; from his 
 see lamented by the chapter of 
 Wells, 168 ; adds three prebends, 
 119 ; aims at the primacy, 95 ; 
 annexes the abbacy of Glastonbury 
 to see of Bath, 89 ; archdeacon of 
 Canterbury, 90; of Northampton, 
 ib. ; his archdeaconry sequestrated, 
 ib. ; asserts himself at Glastonbury, 
 104 ; at king John's coronation, 
 104 ; at St. Hugh's burial, 112, 
 113; at Worms, 93; attends king 
 Richard to the Holy Land, 91 ; 
 ditto, to Normandy, 105, 111 ; 
 
 attests William the Lion's homage 
 to king John, 112 ; betakes himself 
 to Rome to work out schemes of 
 ambition, 91 ; chancellor of Bur- 
 gundy, 102, 121 ; character of his 
 career, 88 ; charters granted by 
 him, ng, 120, 121, 123, 125, 386 ; 
 commissioner on Geoffrey of 
 York's appeal to Rome, 103 ; con- 
 secration to Bath, g2 ; cultus of 
 the B. V. M., 123 ; death, 121 ; 
 debts owing by him, m, 166; 
 disappointing character of his 
 policy, 114, 122 ; epigram on his 
 wandering life, 123 ; exempts preb- 
 ends from the jurisdiction of the 
 archdeacon, 120 ; extorts from king 
 Richard exchange of Bath city for 
 the abbey of Glastonbury, 94; 
 favoured by king Richard, 90, 91, 
 95 ; fined in earlier life, 89, 90 (».) ; 
 gifts to convent of Bath, 118, 385 ; 
 goes to Rome 1 , 103 ; government, 
 his, condemned, 122 ; institutes 
 daily mass in honour of B. V. M., 
 123 ; ditto, for his predecessors, ib ; 
 interests himself to advance Reg- 
 inald to the primacy, 73, 91 ; 
 invades the rights of Wells 
 chapter, 120 ; last appearance 
 at Wells, 120; leaves power of 
 excommunication to the chapter 
 during his absence, 120, 121 ; 
 " malleus monachorum," 121 ; 
 negociates with the emperor in be- 
 half of king Richard, 93 ; nomi- 
 nated to the see of Bath, 92 ; obit, 
 directions for his, 124 ; one of 
 king John's court at Lincoln, 112 ; 
 ordered to Rome, a commissioner, 
 103; pastoral staff and ring assigned 
 to, 391 ; pedigree of, 89, and App. I ; 
 his policy characterized, 98 ; dis- 
 appointing nature of, 114, 122 ; 
 public life, his first appearance in, 
 89 ; refuses to receive the pope's 
 letters, in ; relations with the 
 diocese, 118 ; requiem mass for, 
 appointed by bishop Jocelin, 124 ; 
 still paid for in 1535, ib. ; satire on 
 his debts, 122 (».) ; on his life, ib. ; 
 savage treatment of Glastonbury 
 monks, 106, 383 ; secures the abbacy 
 of Glastonbury, 96; king John's 
 order for his institution to Glaston- 
 
Index. 
 
 447 
 
 bury, 104 ; sequence of events in 
 his life, 380 ; title of bishop of Bath 
 and Glastonbury, 97 ; treasurer of 
 Sarum, 90 ; violent measures at 
 his instalment to Glastonbury, 
 104, 105 ; with king Richard at 
 Rouen, 102. 
 
 Savaric Fitz-Chana, 38. 
 
 Saxon priests, early settlement of at 
 Wells, 1. 
 
 Schipton (Sifton), Gilbert de, 216. 
 
 " Scholae grammaticales," 142, 349. 
 
 Scholars of Wells schools to sing an 
 antiphon to B.V.M., 224. 
 
 School of St. Thomas, 36. 
 
 Schools of Italy, 39. 
 
 Schools in Jocelin's time, 14, 142, 349. 
 
 Seal and counterseal of Jocelin, 146 
 
 "Sedes praesulea," 50, 145 (and ».), 
 240 ; changed, 6. 
 
 See of Wells, 2 ; growth of, 3 ; local 
 endowments, ib. ; royal endow- 
 ments, ib. 
 
 Seffred, bishop of Chichester, 72. 
 
 Selwood, forest of, 139 ; lepers' house 
 at, 183. 
 
 Seneschal of the bishop, 203. 
 
 Sequestration of benefices, 304. 
 
 Shalford, grant of, by Hamo Fitz- 
 Godfrey, 175, App. K. 
 
 Sherborne, original seat of western 
 bishops, 1. 
 
 " Signati cruce," 137 (and «.), 201. 
 
 Siguenza, archives of the cathedral 
 
 of. 133 
 Simon of Apulia, bishop of Exeter, 176 
 Simon the physician, 245. 
 Simon, bp. of Worcester, 22, 25, 354. 
 Sinibaldi, cardinal, elected pope, 248. 
 Skenefrith, 232. 
 Sonnets, by Rev. G. Thring, on 
 
 Wells cathedral, v ; on west front, 
 
 164. 
 Spakeston (Spaxton), Richard de, 
 
 dean, 33, 78. 
 Spaxton on Quantocks, 33. 
 Speronus de Campomoldo, 122. 
 Spineall, William de, 364. 
 Springs at Wells, 1, 2. 
 Staford, Elga de, 216. 
 Stalls, new, 308, 309, 328 ; in the 
 
 chapter-house, 333, 334. 
 Stanford, St. Peter's, 217. 
 Stathe, oratory at, 202. 
 
 " Stations," 336, 337, 338. 
 
 " Statuta antiqua," 15, 21. 
 
 Statutes defining residence, 233. 
 
 Statutes of Westminster, 285 ; of 
 Winchester, ib. 
 
 Staweia (Stowey), 187, 254. 
 
 Stephen, king, 7, 8, 33 ; first appoint- 
 ment, 8 ; grants a short charter, 
 9 ; grants the temporalities of 
 Wells to Robert bishop of Bath, 
 8 ; lawlessness in his reign, 10, 35 ; 
 promises to respect the canonical 
 election of bishops, etc., 9. 
 
 Stephen de Pempel, dean, 194. 
 
 Stephen de Segrave, 216. 
 
 Stephen de la Strande, 227. 
 
 Stephen of Tor, canon of Wells, 128 
 
 (»■)■ 
 
 Stephen de Tornaco, parson of Wel- 
 inton, 193, 206. 
 
 Stephen O'Brogan, bishop of Water- 
 ford, 229. 
 
 Stobery, land at, 139, 204 («.), 205 ; 
 conveyed to Roger of Chewton, 
 canon and chaplain, 222, 223. 
 •Stoke Courcy, 203. 
 
 Stoke Giffard, advowson of, 190. 
 
 Stubbs, bishop, 71 (re.), 88, 89 (».). 
 
 Stuble, Geo. de la, 179. 
 
 Stuble, William de la, ib. 
 
 Sub-dean, 15, 29 (re.), 61, 81, 128, 167, 
 169, 213, 267, 274 ; his prebend 
 transferred to Wookey, 140. 
 
 Submission of Scottish chiefs to king 
 Edward I, copy of in the archives 
 of Wells, 289. 
 
 Succentor, 140, 169, 274. 
 
 Sully (de Soliaco), Henry, 94, 96, 
 
 99 («■)• 
 Summa, Martin de, 105, 109, in. 
 Sutton, church of, made a prebend, 
 
 119. 
 Sutton, Oliver, bishopof Lincoln, 290. 
 Sylvester de Everdon, canon, keeper 
 
 of exchequer, 243, 261. 
 Synod, diocesan summoned to attest 
 
 a deed, 19 ; of diocese of Bath, 
 
 135 ; at London, 5, 9 ; provincial, 
 
 at Oxford, 206. 
 Tabellarius, 348. 
 Talbot, Galfrid, 377. 
 Tarentaise, Peter, archbishop of, 47 
 
 (and re.). 
 Taxation of one tenth of all income 
 
 for five years ordered, 348. 
 
448 
 
 Index. 
 
 Tenth century, revival of discipline 
 and learning in, 2. 
 
 Tenths confirmed to the church of 
 St. Cuthbert, 231. 
 
 Tenths from the clergy for the 
 crusade, 288. 
 
 " Terra Gisonis Episcopi," 4. 
 
 Tervic, Clericus, 216. 
 
 Tervic de Colonia, 227. 
 
 Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, 
 18, 27, 35. 
 
 Thesauraria, 285 (and ».), 332. . 
 
 Thetford, Robert of, 245. 
 
 Thirteenth century, interior arrange- 
 ment of the church in, 322. 
 
 Tholus, 278. 
 
 Thomas a Becket, account of his 
 murder in the archives of Siguenza 
 (see also under "a Becket,") 133, 
 
 134- 
 Thomas, archdeacon of Bath.ig, 29 («) 
 Thomas, prior of Bath, see " Bath," 
 
 3°. 3 1 . °i- 
 Thomas, prior of Glastonbury, 194. 
 Thomas, prior of Wells, 62, 78, 81, 
 
 128 (».). 
 Thomas Mauduit, 224. 
 Thomas of Retford, chancellor, 307. 
 Thomas, St., the school of, 36. 
 Thomas, St., of Canterbury, festival 
 
 of, appointed, 43, 200 ; translation 
 
 of, 135- 
 Thomas, sub-dean, 128 («.), 167. 
 Thomas de Tornaco, precentor, 185. 
 Thorn, Thomas de, 181. 
 Thring, Rev. G., poetical tribute to 
 
 bishop Jocelin, 164; on Wells 
 
 cathedral, v. 
 Tithes paid by the canons, 19. 
 Tithes, greater, divided between 
 
 Wells and Salisbury, 232. 
 Title, full, of the see, appears in 
 
 charters and grants, Jan., 1245-6, 
 
 254 ; ordered by pope Innocent, ib. 
 Tolls, freedom from, granted to 
 
 citizens of Wells, 59; at the fair 
 
 resisted, 319. 
 Toulouse, court of inquiry at, 51. 
 Tracy, Bovey, 67, 179. 
 Tracy, Henry de, 179, 199. 
 Tracy, Oliver de, 179, 374. 
 Translation of St. Thomas of Canter- 
 bury, 135, 153 ; festival of, 43, 200. 
 Treasurer's office, Jocelin's special 
 
 ordinance concerning, 140. 
 
 Tregoz, Richard de, serves church 
 of Hache, 221. 
 
 Treminet, Jocelin de, 373. 
 
 Treves, archbishop of, 69. 
 
 Troteman, surname, 127. 
 
 Tusculum, Nicolas, bishop of, papal 
 legate, 185. 
 
 Twelfth century, change in the archi- 
 tecture of, 26 ; growth of liberality 
 towards the church, 63. 
 
 UFFiNGTON.Johnde, prebend,224, 249 
 
 Ulfric, St., 34, 35 (and ».), 372. 
 
 Ulward, Godfrey de, 244. 
 
 Umbert, count of Maurienne, 45. 
 
 Undated Charters, 202. 
 
 Urry, Robert, 292. 
 
 Vacant benefices, fruits of, granted 
 to the fabric fund, 78, 79. 
 
 " Vallet," 247. 
 
 Vallibus, Robert de, 186. 
 
 Variety in titles of the bishop, 246. 
 
 Veir, Henry de, 216. 
 
 " Venator," Thomas, of bishop Joce- 
 lin, 247. 
 
 Vezelay, a Becket issues excommuni- 
 cation from, 41. 
 
 Vicarages, perpetual, enforced, 142 ; 
 formation and endowment of, 220. 
 
 Vicars choral, 16, 20, 139, 142, 275, 
 346 ; appointment of, during va- 
 cancy of prebend, 186 ; no one to 
 lodge alone, 346. 
 
 Vicars, priest 21 (and n.) ; with cure 
 of souls, 186. 
 
 Vicars, leave of absence " for blood- 
 letting," 233. 
 
 Vigeroys, " vallet " of the archdeacon 
 of Taunton, 247. 
 
 Vincent, vicar, 222. 
 
 Vineyards, 17, 18, 229, 366. 
 
 Violent acts of Savaric at Glaston- 
 bury, 240. 
 
 Violent storm of Nov., 1242, 242. 
 
 Virgil, Polydore, 294. 
 
 Vivian, papal legate, 42. 
 
 Vivone, Hugh de, 244. 
 
 WAc(Wake),Baldwin,375. Radulf.tft. 
 
 Waar, Laurence de la, the king's 
 ambassador, 293 (».) 
 
 Walkelin, bishop of Winton, 27, 364. 
 
 Walter de Bridport, vicar, 222. 
 
 Walter, the chamberlain, 222. 
 
 Walter of Colchester. 200. 
 
 Walter of Cossington, 234. 
 
 Walter de Derham, 224. 
 
Index. 
 
 449 
 
 Walter de Downhead, 139, 177 (and 
 n,), 203. 
 
 Walter de Gray, lord chancellor and 
 archbishop of York, 169 (and n,), 
 243, 261. 
 
 Waiter Herbert, bishop of Sarum, 
 advanced to the primacy, 95. 
 
 Walter de London, dean, 318. 
 
 Walter de Muntoria, 177. 
 
 Walter, precentor of Sarum, 128 
 (and n.) 
 
 Walter, prior of Bath, 52, 53, 54. 
 
 Walter de Purley, canon of Wells, 
 203, 270. 
 
 Walter Rofend, 203. 
 
 Walter, archbishop of Rouen, 92, 93. 
 
 Walter of Wyke, 203. 
 
 Waltham, cross at, 31 ; Henry of, 
 223; Katherine, widow of Henry 
 de, 224 ; Reginald de, 223 ; religious 
 house at, 46. 
 
 Wamberg, R. de, collector, 308. 
 
 Wanstrow, 4, 16, 18, 353. 
 
 Warelast, William, bishop of Exeter, 
 12, 354- 
 
 Warenne, William de, earl of Surrey, 7 
 
 Warminster, Wilts, 376. 
 
 Wax, annual tribute of, from Weston- 
 by-Worle, 218. 
 
 Wayford, Baldwin de, 203. 
 
 Weaver, Rev. F. W., 316 (».). 
 
 Wedmore, 3, 4, 16 («.), 352 ; prebend 
 of, reconstituted, 237 ; when vacant 
 by cession, 186. 
 
 Wedmoreland, 15, 352. 
 
 Weleslia (Wellesley), 128 (».). 
 
 Welinton (Wellington), 193, 219. 
 
 Welinton, William of, 294. 
 
 Wells cathedral and see. — Architec- 
 tural features of cathedral, 86, 
 156 ; bishop's jurisdiction over 
 religious houses, 65, 66 ; building, 
 progress of, 84 ; causes which 
 checked it, 147 ; canons of, see 
 under " Canons of Wells ; " cen- 
 tral lantern of, 322 ; choir screen, 
 323, 327 ; complaints made to 
 Innocent IV of the state of the 
 church, 130 ; consecrated, 230 ; 
 constitution of chapter, first draft 
 of, 11 ; "convent" of, 19, 114 ; cus- 
 todians of the see, 166 ; dilapida- 
 tion accounted for, 152; doors de 
 la Karole, statute for opening and 
 closing, 325 ; early stages in its 
 
 architectural history obscure, 161 ; 
 employes, a few names of, trace- 
 able, ib. ; end of church apsidal 
 or square, 330 ; enrichment of see 
 by cession of Glastonbury manors, 
 149 ; Professor Willis' opinion, ib. ; 
 era of computation, a new one in 
 the registers, 135 ; gifts and en- 
 dowments in Reginald's episcopate, 
 52, 76, 82 ; gradual growth of the 
 capitular constitution, 11, 18,35, 258, 
 etc., history of Reginald's acts in 
 unprinted manuscripts at Wells, 58 ; 
 interior arrangement of the church 
 in the XHIth century, 322 ; local 
 endowments, 3 ; loses its pre-emi- 
 nence by transfer of see to Bath, 
 5, 6, 22; nave, resort and traffic 
 in, 324 ; statute, forbidding games 
 in, ib. ; not entitled " Bath and 
 Wells" before bishop Roger's epis- 
 copate, 23 ; plan of choir and 
 presbytery in 13th century, App. X ; 
 possessions of the see in Giso's 
 time, 3, 4 ; privileges granted by 
 crown to the bishop in Reginald's 
 episcopate, 66 ; pulpitum, 323 ; 
 reconsecration of the church, 149 ; 
 why necessary, 152 ; rood-loft, 
 323 ; variation in the date of recon- 
 secration, 150 (n.) ; war with Glas- 
 tonbury, 97 ; west front of cathedral 
 discussed, 157, 158 ; work at, con- 
 tinuous, 311 ; new do., money col- 
 lected by dean and chapter for, 
 306, 308, 309, 310. 
 
 Wells city, constituted a borough, 7 ; 
 burghers revolt against the privi- 
 leges and claims of the bishop, 
 319 ; city charter annulled, 319 
 (».) ; fair-days appointed, 59, 125 ; 
 first royal charter given to the 
 borough, 123,390; franchises of the 
 borough held as grants from the 
 bishop, 59 ; appeal to the bishop 
 reserved, 60 ; freedom from tolls 
 granted, 29 ; interesting municipal 
 history of, 59 ; landowners and 
 townsfolk sign first deed of incor- 
 poration, 61 ; privileges of the 
 citizens confirmed, 125 ; riot at, 
 319 ; Savaric's charter to the 
 town, 386 ; springs at, 1, 2. 
 
 Westminster, council of, 44 ; statutes 
 of, 285. 
 
45o 
 
 Index. 
 
 Weston-by-Worle, annual tribute 
 
 from the parson of, 218. 
 Wharton, Henry, n {«.), 23 (».), 25, 
 
 37. 76. 144. *45 («•)• 
 
 Whitchurch, Dorset, advowson of 
 given to jocelin, 208 ; Hugh of 
 Greneford admitted to, 201 ; insti- 
 tuted and endowed, 232 ; Richard, 
 parson of, 192 ; William de Wellia 
 admitted to, 192. 
 
 Whitehall hospital, ("Alba Aula,") 
 211. 
 
 Whitelackington, prebend of, 373. 
 
 White Monks, 22g. 
 
 White Stanton, 220. 
 
 Wilelminus, clerk, 247. 
 
 Will, royal licence for making, 217. 
 
 William de Bechamstede, canon of 
 Wells, 222. 
 
 William de Bratton, 228. 
 
 William of Brugge [Bridgwater], 
 vicar, 243. 
 
 William, abbot of Glastonbury, 116. 
 
 William, canon of Haselbury, 61. 
 
 William de Chiue (Chew), 153. 
 
 William Coquus, 205. 
 
 William of Dinr (Dinder), 128 (».). 
 
 William the Englishman, 147. 
 
 William, bishop of Exeter, 12. 
 
 William Fitz-John, of Harpetre, 10. 
 
 William Forestarius, 205. 
 
 William I, king, 3. 
 
 William II, king, 6. 
 
 William Longsword, earl of Salis- 
 bury, 228. 
 
 William de Marcbia, bishop of Bath 
 and Wells, 289. 
 
 William Marshall, earl of Pembroke, 
 206. 
 
 William of Martock, 82. 
 
 William of Melbury, 128 (».). 
 
 William of Mohun, lord of Dunster, 10 
 
 William Pica, abbot of Glastonbury, 
 105, 107. 
 
 William, prior of Bruton, 29 («.). 
 
 William, provost of Combe, 226. 
 
 William de Romara, earl of Lincoln, 
 67. 
 
 William of St. Faith, precentor, 63, 
 104, 167, 169, 361. 
 
 William Ste. Mere l'Eglise, 99 and 
 in.); interdicted by Savaric, 100; 
 appeals to the king and the pope, 
 
 William of Sens, 147. 
 William de Spineall, 364. 
 William, treasurer of Wells, 29 («.), 61 . 
 William de Trumpington, 173 (».). 
 William of Weleslia (Wellesley), 
 
 128 (».)• 
 William de Wellia, 187, 192. 
 William de Wilton, parson of Chew, 
 
 193. 
 William de Wrotham, archdeacon of 
 
 Taunton, 166. 
 Willis, Professor, 76, 77, 137, 159, 
 
 330. 
 Williton, 67. 
 Wimarc, wife of Edward de Welles, 
 
 218 {«.). 
 Winchester, coronations at, 83, 84; 
 
 pacification of, 70 ; statutes of, 285. 
 Windlesore, 171. 
 
 Winscombe [Wynescomb] , advow- 
 son of, 143 ; church and manor of, 
 
 149, see also Wynescumb. 
 Winsham, 4, 16, 18, 219. 
 Winterstoke, the hundred of, 190. 
 Winton, Mathias de, 128 (».). 
 Winton, Peter de, ib. 
 Witham, Carthusian house at, 46, 
 
 113 ; prior Hugh's work at, 53, 86 ; 
 
 obtains acharterfrom Henry II, 54. 
 Wiveliscombe, manor of, 119 ; made a 
 
 prebend, 186. 
 Wodeton chapel, tithes of, 208. 
 Wokiole, 128 (n.). 
 Wookey [Owkey], 16, 155. 
 Wootton, see "North Wootton." 
 Worcester, church of, 114. 
 Workmen, master, in bishop Jocelin's 
 
 time, 395. 
 Wormestor, Worminster, 16. 
 Wrentich, land at, 166, 219. 
 Wrotham, Richard de, 234. 
 Wudeford, Reginald de, 205. 
 Wybert de Littleton, 318. 
 Wyneford church, 
 Wynescombe church, dedicated, 225 ; 
 
 endowed, ib. ; appropriated to 
 
 dean and chapter, 233 ; manor of, 
 
 230, 263, see also Winscombe. 
 Wynesham, prapositura of, 221. 
 Wytenal, 229. 
 Yarlington, Ralph of, 82. 
 Yatton rectory, leased to abbot and 
 
 convent of St. Augustine's, Bristol, 
 
 226. 
 
 Printed by Barnicott &■ Pearce, at the Athenaum Press, Taunton. 
 
CORRIGENDA. 
 
 Page 132, 1 
 Page 206, 1 
 Page 179, 1 
 Page 203, 1 
 Page 22s, 1 
 Page 247, 1 
 Page 256, 
 
 22, for " Peter de Roches," read " Peter des Roches." 
 
 25 .. >• 
 
 18, for " George de Stuble," read " George dela Stuble." 
 
 4, for " Walter de Purl," read "Walter de Purley." 
 
 !3<for " Bitton," read " Bytton." 
 
 22, for " Henry," read " Hugh." 
 
 last line of Greek text, in last word but one, read 
 
 "tfoWos." 
 Page 263, 1. 20, for " two last years," read " last two years." 
 Page 266, margin of last paragraph, supply b, to correspond with 
 
 marginal note in p. 265. 
 Page 268, last paragraph but one, for " Two years later," read 
 
 "Three years later," and dele " or."