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The clock being in all probability a bell, but the orloge being certainly a clock, and that too one that struck the hours. Richard of Wallingford

I shall mention one other instance. was the son of a smith, who from his learning became Abbot of S. Alban's in the reign of Richard II. When his fortune had now become considerable, he was desirous of displaying in some work, the greatness not only of his genius, but also of his learning and of his marvellous skill. And to this end he constructed, with great labour, at greater cost, but with art far surpassing both, a clock, the like of which is not to be found in all Europe, for the exactness with which it points out the course of the sun and of the moon, the rising of the fixed stars, and the ebb and flow of the sea. And lest this marvellous piece of machinery should be spoiled by the clumsiness of monks, or by their ignorance of its construction, Richard himself wrote a treatise upon it. This clock continued to go in Leland's time, who was born towards the close of the reign of Henry VII., and who gives the above account of it and of its artificer.

This notice of bells and clocks is not disproportioned to the influence which their introduction has had on ecclesiastical architecture. It is to the use of church-bells that we are indebted for the most prominent feature of almost every ecclesiastical fabric, and that which serves most to harmonize all the parts of a whole, sometimes so vast and almost always so various as a Gothic church. From the low central tower of a Norman abbey, but just rising above the roof, at the intersection of the cross, to the lofty towers or spires of Boston, Gloucester, Salisbury, Coventry, Louth, or Whittlesea, in whatever part of the church it may be placed, the steeple still gives an inexpressible grace and dignity to the whole outline, correcting immoderate length, reducing all minor parts to proportion, giving variety to sameness, and harmony to the most licentious irregularity. The judicious use of the tower or spire is a great part of the secret of the characteristic boldness in minor details of the medieval architects. The little excrescences of such a building as York Minster, which are now lost in the grand whole, would at once become deformities, if the towers were removed. The Cathedral of Milan is in some respects one of the most splendid buildings in the world; but for want of a steeple of proportionate elevation

it is but a gigantic grove of pinnacles, in which statues seem to have lost their way, and to be wandering without aim and without end. If, as is most probable, the central tower of Fountains had perished before the present northern tower was erected, what a heavy mass of irregularities must that splendid pile have seemed. The tower reduces all to proportion, and makes it once again a whole. Bolton Abbey had also suffered the loss of its tower, and that at the west end was never raised above the level of the nave, and though it is far smaller and less irregular than Fountains, what a long unrelieved length it presents to the eye. What is it which gives such vastness and importance to the cathedral, such grace and beauty to the parish-church, at a distance, but the tower or spire? Nay, what is it but the bellgable which in mere outline often distinguishes the retired chapel from some neighbouring barn? And for all this we are indebted to the introduction of bells; or if not for the existence of these or the like additions to the beauty of outline in our churches, yet at least for what is a part of their beauty,—their having a use, and being exactly adapted to their use.

The last circumstance indirectly affecting the sacred structure to the close of the Gothic period that I shall mention, is the introduction of the custom of burying the more illustrious dead within the church. This custom was introduced by S. Cuthbert, in 740. Eadmer tells us how Cuthbert, when he went to Rome to receive the pall, being endowed with great wisdom, obtained from Pope Gregory that all future Archbishops might be buried within their church of Canterbury: for heretofore they had been buried in the churchyard of the church of SS. Peter and Paul, without the city; for the Romans, who were first sent into England, had said that the city was for the living and not for the dead. But S. Cuthbert was grieved to think, that after death he must be separated from his church and his children, that were in life the delight of his affection; at his request therefore, and with the consent of King Eadbrith, it was ordained by the Pope that the Archbishops of Canterbury should be buried in their own church, that they might have their restingplace where they had ruled in honour. Cuthbert himself en

See Willis's Canterbury, pp. 2 and 45.

joyed this privilege, and so did almost all his successors.

And

so great was the importance assigned to this privilege, that it altered in various ways the plan and fabric of our great churches, and of Canterbury perhaps more than any other. For a great number of the Archbishops of that See were canonized after their death, and then these places of sepulture became chapels with their separate altars, and all the furniture requisite to their greater honour. And so far had the reverence for their relics and other memorials extended in the time of Anselm, that although Lanfranc, his immediate predecessor, had wholly rebuilt his cathedral, the Abbots Ernulf and Conrad, with Anselm's counsel and assistance, rebuilt the choir on a very much larger scale; and additional chapels and shrines were still perpetually added; and these, with the tombs of the Archbishops, were held of so great importance, that Gervase, in his description of the church as it was before the fire, apologizes for his minute account, not by the splendour or importance of the choir which had perished, but by the necessity of stating the resting-places of the several saints whose bones were preserved within it. We shall see by-and-bye how great a change in the same church was exacted at the rebuilding, by the fact that Becket was there buried: nor can we at all proceed with our history, without mentioning many records of the places of sepulture of great and holy men, whose burial affected the fabric within which it was solemnized. At last it became the custom for Bishops and other persons of importance to erect sepulchral chapels for themselves, during their lives, and these proved gorgeous appendages to the church, though too often at a great cost of general effect: for they interposed their screen-work in all directions; filled up the spaces between columns; cut off the ends of aisles; and left the church without a single uninterrupted vista to any distant part. Thus what at first exacted enormous splendour in the general design, at last obscured the beauty of the whole, and left it doubtful whether ecclesiastical architecture was on the whole indebted to S. Cuthbert for introducing the custom of burials in churches.

90

CHAPTER VI.

THE NORMAN PERIOD.

INTRODUCTION OF THE NORMAN STYLE.- EDWARD THE CONFESSOR AND
WESTMINSTER ABBEY.-HAROLD AND WALTHAM ABBEY.-WILLIAM
THE CONQUEROR AND BATTLE ABBEY, GUNDULF, BISHOP OF RO-
CHESTER.- WULSTAN, BISHOP OF WORCESTER. - THREE DUADS OF
ECCLESIASTICAL BUILDERS.- ROBERT AND HUBERT LOSING :-WAL-
KELYN AND HIS BROTHER SIMEON: ROGER AND
ALEXANDER.-THE FREEMASONS.

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HIS NEPHEW

THE style now called Norman was fully established on the Continent long before the twelfth century, and there is every reason to suppose that the English did not wait to receive it as a part of the yoke imposed on them by their conquerors. There had already been sufficient intercourse with the Continent1 to make it almost certain that any improved style of ecclesiastical architecture which arose beyond the seas, would be adopted here. EDWARD THE CONFESSOR was educated in Normandy, and displayed his partiality to foreigners, and to foreign ways and institutions to such excess, as to excite popular tumults among his subjects. It is certain that he enriched foreign abbeys at the expense of his native land, for he was the originator of the pernicious system of alien priories ;2 and we may fairly allow him the credit of having in some degree atoned for the mischief, by introducing a better style of church building,3 which doubtless

1 And with Normandy in particular, though this is of little comparative importance, for the Norman type of Romanesque was not confined to that duchy.

2 Pernicious, not only directly, in depriving England of a portion of its ecclesiastical revenues, but indirectly,

in affording continual opportunities of robbing the Church, and the first excuse for that wholesale sacrilege which was afterwards extended to all ecclesiastical property.

3 Bosham Church and Westminster Abbey are represented in the Bayeux Tapestry rather as Norman than Saxon

appeared to the greatest advantage in his favourite and magnificent foundation of Westminster Abbey.

The greatness of Edward's reputation was fatal to the fabric on which he had bestowed his last regards. Revered as he was as a tutelar saint of England, he seemed to deserve a better shrine and a better monument than the Norman pile which he had piously dedicated; and this was removed by Henry III. to make way for the glorious abbey which now occupies its site. The foundation of HAROLD at Waltham remains, however, in some of its features, to prove that the Norman style was introduced before the Conquest. Harold, too, had been a traveller in Normandy; and though he was a most unwilling guest at Eu, this would not prevent him from imitating the more gorgeous style of ecclesiastical architecture which was there fully established.

There was already a church at Waltham, with an endowment for two priests, founded by Tovy, standard bearer to King Canute; and Edward the Confessor gave to Harold certain lands on condition of his building a monastery on the spot, and furnishing it with the requisite relics, vestments, and ornaments, in memory of the Confessor and Edith his queen. This grant was made in the memorable year 1066, and Harold at once fulfilled the terms of the grant, rebuilding the original church, which was then consecrated to the Holy Cross, and endowing it as a convent for a dean and eleven secular black canons. Among the ornaments which he gave to the new foundation were seven little caskets (scrinia) with the relics, three of gold, and four of silver gilt, enriched with gems; four great thuribles of gold and silver; six great candlesticks, two of gold and four of silver; three large vessels of Greek workmanship, silver, and richly gilded; four crosses of gold and silver, studded with gems; another cross of silver, weighing fifty marks; five suits of vestments ornamented with gold and precious stones; five other vestments enriched in like manner, one of extreme weight and cost; two copes, covered with gold and gems; five chalices, two of gold and three of silver; four altars, with relics, one of gold,

buildings; but too much stress should not be laid on this, for these designs cannot be taken as views, and the

Norman needle would certainly follow the style most in vogue at the court of the good Duchess.

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