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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 January 2012
The history of the church of Wells under its bishops from 1174 to 1247, from manuscript documents in possession of the Dean and Chapter, has formed the subject of papers in former volumes of Archaeologia. I propose to draw from the same sources some notes on the history of the “chapter,” and of the rise of the buildings of the church, in the latter part of the thirteenth and early years of the fourteenth century. The history of the church of Wells has been marked hitherto by the names of individual bishops. In this next period the growth of the chapter as the governing body in the church is the distinguishing feature.
page 2 note a “Reginald, bishop of Bath,” Archaeologia, 1. 295–361; “Savaric, bishop of Bath and Glastonbury,” li. 73–106; “Jocelin, bishop of Bath,” li. 281–346; and “Roger, bishop of Bath and Wells,” lli. 89–112.
page 2 note a During the tenth century three bishops succeeded to the See of Wells who had been abbots of Glastonbury.
page 2 note b Eyton's, Domesday Studies, i. 142Google Scholar; ii. 23.
page 2 note c Historiola, 22, 23.
page 2 note d Lincoln Cathedral Statutes, ed. Bradshaw and Wordsworth, 31–36. “It is at Bayeux that we find the precise pattern followed by St. Osmund in his ordering of the offices of decanus, cantor, cancellarius, thesaurarius, four archdeacons, subdecamis, and succentor which he established at Salisbury.”
page 3 note a R. i. f. 31, printed in Dugdale's, Monasticon, Oxford edition, 1819,. ii. 293Google Scholar. Historiola, 24 (Camden Society), says he acted also, “consilio et auxilio Regis Stephani et venerabilis Episcopi Henrici.”
page 4 note a Freeman, Cathedral Church of Wells, p. 63.
page 4 note b H. Bradshaw, in Lincoln Cathedral Statutes.
page 5 note a Royal letters, Henry III., in 1217, 1236, 1252.
page 5 note b Archaeologia, lii. 92.
page 5 note c Pipe Rolls, 1158.
page 6 note a R. i. f. 97, de potentia Sarraceni decani.
page 6 note b Archaeologia, 1. 326, note.
page 6 note c R, i. f. 64; ii. f. 15; iii. f. 11.
page 6 note d R. i. f. 96,
page 6 note e Orig. Doc. 45—47.
page 6 note f R. iii. f. 4, 5.
page 6 note g Archœologia, lli.
page 8 note a R. i. f. 8; ii. f. 15; iii. f. 11.
page 8 note b R. i. f. 100, 101; R. iii. 207.
page 9 note a R. i. f. 69, 70.
page 9 note b R. i. f. 65 and 98.
page 9 note c R. i. f. 33, 34.
page 9 note d R. i. f. 70, 71. R. i. f. 65.
page 10 note a R. v. f. 97.
page 10 note b R. i. f. 101, 102.
page 10 note c Presente et in capitulo presidente yiro provido et sagace domino Edwardo decano Wellense habita deliberatione qua decuit cum capitulo … voluntate et assensu venerabilis patris domini Will. Bathon. et Wellen. Bpiscopi.
page 11 note a R. i. f. 51; ii. f. 17.
page 11 note b Grossteste Letters, pp. 74–127, R. S.
page 11 note c R. i. f. 105 iii. f. 17.
page 12 note a R. ii. f. 15; iii. f. 11.
page 13 note a In 1251 Godfrey de Bridport endowed masses for the Lady Agatha de Meisey at the altar of Our Lady in the chapel on the south side of the church. (Orig. Doc. 83. R. i. f. 84; Cf in 1268; R. iii. f. 291–2.
In 1251 the altar of St. Saviour, lately constructed by Henry de Tesson, precentor, was endowed with forty shillings for masses for his friend Walter St. Quintin, archdeacon of Taunton. (R. iii. f. 186.)
In 1249–1263 the altar of St. Mary Magdalen was endowed with thirty shillings per annum rent charge on Stavordale Priory by the subdean John of Axbridge. (R. i. f. 116. Orig. Doc. 54. R. iii. f. 127.)
In 1268 a chantry was endowed by Hugh de Romenal subdean at the altar of St. John Baptist. (R. i. f. 26, 92. Orig. Doc. 96.) And here the hospital of St. John Baptist in Wells founded an obit for bishop William of Bytton and Richard of Bytton precentor. (R. ii. f. 6.)
In 1269 the altar of St. Edmund of Canterbury, Confessor, in the south side of the nave was largely endowed by canon Richard Bamfield as his place of burial. (R. iii. f. 288.)
In 1276 the altar of St. Nicholas in the chapel of the Blessed Virgin near the cloister, was constructed by the legacies of the wealthy provost John of Bytton, and endowed for mortuary services for himself and his brother bishop William (R. i. f. 22, R. iii. f. 124.), and still further increased by endowments 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 chapel as the mortuary chapel of the family, the chapel where the body of the bishop first rested. But bishop Drokensford's Register, f. 123–8, contains the collations to the annale endowed “in memory of bishop William the first at the altar of the Lady Chapel behind the high altar,” in 1319, 1328, 1339, and later notices, 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.
Thomas of Bytton, second son of Sir Adam de Bytton, was successively precentor, archdeacon, dean of Wells, and bishop of Exeter. He was a builder of the choir and vaulted roof at Exeter, died September 21, 1307, and was buried before the high altar. His monument at Exeter was an incised stone like that of his nncle bishop William the second at Wells. The chapel of St. Catherine in the church of Bytton was built by him, containing an endowed chantry in commenoration of his father and mother.
Godwin says of the tomb of bishop William the second: “Monumentum ejus situm est inter duas columnas ab australi parte chori nbi niarmor videmus pontiflcis imaginem habens insculptam.”
The seal of bishop William the second is thus described in Drokensford's Register a: “Describitur sigillum magnum authenticum Will. Bitton in cnjus medio erat imago cujusdam. pontificis baculum pastoralem tenentis et manum dextram sublevantis in modum benedicentis: a lateribus vero imagines dnæ ecclesise erant sculptæ cum campanilibus et crucibus suppositis; in circumferentia vero ejusdem literæ continebantur infra scriptæ, Will, dei gratia Bathon. et Wellen. Epûs. In suprema vero parte sigilli minoris indorsati, erant duæ imagines sculptæ, viz. beatorum apostolorum Petri et Andreæ cruces in manibus tenentium, sub quibus imaginibus erat imago cujusdam episcopi genua flectentis et manus sublevantis ad modum orantis. In superscriptione dicti sigilli minoris haæ literæ legebantur: “Crux germanorum, Willelmo sit via morum.”
The brother's Cross! oh! may it be, William the rule of life to thee!
One of the “campanilia ” in the seal has a spire.
page 14 note a Drok. Reg. f. 152a. Ordinatio Vicariæ de Wyveliscumbe. Banwell 1262, connrmata, 1317.
page 15 note a The process for the appointment of a dean is fully set forth in the Wells Registers, and illustrated by examples in the cases of several succeeding deans until 1547. R. i. f. 5V contains the charter of bishop Jocelin, concerning the appointment, 1216. Cf. R. i. 113 in dors., duplicate copy.
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.
Quæ quidem electio si concessa sit convocatis fratribus ad diem dictum invocata Spiritus sancti gratia, talem sibi in decanum eligant personam, qualem ecclesiæ suæ magis viderit fore necessariam et quæ sibi quoad vitam et aliis possit proficere ad exemplum.
Electam personam nobis præsentantes, confirmationem electionis postulantes ut quod nobis est officii circa personam illius sicut decuit, auctore domino exequamur.
R. i. f. 57, a.d. 1241, Pope Gregory IX. confirms the election of John Sarracenus as dean, his own nominee, and the right of the chapter to elect a dean from among the canons, according to the ” antiqua et approbata consuctudo, decanatu vacante, unum de ipsis canonicis sine contradictione in decanum eligere.”
page 15 note b Matt. Paris, Historia Anglorum, iii. 42 (R.S.).
page 16 note a Freeman, Cathedral Church of Wells, 76, 77.
page 16 note b Cf. R. i. f. 198 and R. i. f. 200 in 1337.
page 17 note a Somerset Archæological Society's Proceedings, xii. 20Google Scholar.
page 17 note b On one occasion, August 29, 1244, they met in capella beatæ Mariœ, the southern Lady Chapel probably, to take action against the summons of the papal delegates to meet them in the greater church “in Majore Ecclesia.” (R. i. f. 97 in dors.)
page 17 note c Archæological Institute, Memoirs illustrative of the history and antiquities of Bristol, &c, xxviii.
page 18 note a 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, &c, were delivered to Edward the dean to lie 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.
page 18 note b Stubbs, , Constitutional History, ii. 122Google Scholar.
page 18 note c R. ii. f. 18.
page 19 note a Pat. 14 Ed. III., pt. 1, m. 13.
page 19 note b R. i. f. 164. Chantries of bishops Burnell and Haselshaw founded. Confirmation Kal. Feb. 1306, by chapter of Bath of the deed of foundation, by dean Godley and chapter of Wells, 5 Kal. Jan., 1306.
Notanda:
£10 allocated by Wells chapter, “de bonis nostris,” for support of two chaplains.
Two altars “ad hoc constructa ” ad ingressum chori.
The king Edward the first and Royal family included in the intercessions.
page 20 note a De Præsulibus, 426, ed. 1743.
page 20 note b Fœdera, ii. 274, ed. 1727. This deed was sent to Wells to be enrolled in the chapter archives, July 9, 1291. E. iii. f. 22.
page 21 note a His registers could not be recovered by his successor, Reg. Drokensford, f. 34. Monition was issued to Antony Bradney, executor of bishop William, to render them up. Pucklechurch, Feb. 8, 1310.
page 21 note b Fœdera ii. 274, 499, 517, ed. 1727.
page 21 note c Orig. Doc. No. 138. The original document (No. 138) 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 videntibiis hanc scripturam Willelmus permissione divina Bathoniensis et Wellensis Episcopus salutem in domino sempiternam. Noveritis quod cum nos, episcopus supradictus, Thomas Prior et conventus Bathoniensis W. Decanus et capitulum Wellense recognoverimus per nostrum scriptum obligatorium nostro et cujuslibet 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 J[ohanne de Pontissera] eadem gratia Wintoniensi Episcopo legitime impedito, super decimis domino E[dwardo] dei gratia Regi Angiie illustri in subsidium terræ sanctæ concessis in regno Anglie a sede apostolica deputato, mille libras bonorum et legalium sterlingorum in pecunia numerata de pecunia decimæ antedictæ restituendum predictum depositum prefato domino Lincolniensi Episcopo vel collegse suo aut alteri eomndem succedenti vel succedentibus in officio execucionis predicto infra unum mensem postquam nos ant aliquis nostrum conjnnctim sen divisim per dictnm patrem ant collegam suum vel aliquem alium sen alios qnem vel qnos tangit officium execucionis predictnm, fuerimus requisiti pront in scripto hujusmodi obligatorio plenins continetur. Quia tamen depositum mille librarnm 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 predictorum ac capitulorum ipsorum providere volentes, dictum depositum predicto patri Lincolnie Episcopo vel collegæ suo predicto aut sibi succedentibus, ut premittitur, vel succedenti reddere seu restituere, quando oportuerit, promittimus bona fide et ipsos indempnes 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 xiiijS kalend. Februarii anno domini millesimo ducentesimo nonagesimo quarto.”
page 22 note a R. i f 119, 132. Receipt by the dean and chapter, Sept. 17, 1311.
Reg. Drokensford. The bishop has borrowed it, 1311.
R. i. f. 376. Order (in French) from Thomas de Berkele, one of the executors, that the money be sent to London “al hostal de deen de Seynt Poul,” 1311.
R. i. f. 208. Order from official of papal nuncio that the money is to be pāid to the brother, 1313.
R. i. f. 159. The king, Edward II., wishes to borrow it. They will lend it for two years, and pray that the king will hold them “indempnes versus domimim papam,” 1326.
R. i. f. 202. The king sends to demand it. Edward III., i. f. 205, 208. The papal nuncio
orders it to be paid to the nephew, according- to former injunction, 1340.
R. i. f. 209. They plead that the time for reversion has not come, 1340.
page 23 note a 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 précis of letters to influential persons. Bishop Drokensford writes to Rome.
1325, Dec 4. R. i. f. 174. The king, queen, archbishop Walter, and eight bishops petition the king for his canonisation.
1326, Dec. 26. R. i. f. 163. Dean and chapter acknowledge tenths from all benefices in the deanery of Axebridge for the new buildings of the church and for the translation and honourable entombment of the body of bishop William.
page 24 note a Godwin's de Præsulibus, p. 375, Ed. 1743. In 1282 Edward had seized the treasure accumulated at the Temple, for the Welsh war. (Stubbs' Constitutional History, ii. 119.) An attempt to obtain canonisation for archbishop Winchelsey was going on about the same time, 1319–1326. Literæ Cantuarienses, 397, 401 (R.S.).
page 24 note b R. iii. f. 284. “Ad altare sanctæ crucis juxta ingressum ecclesiæ subtus campanile in boreali parte.” The chapel in the north-west tower, now the chancellor's consistory court, was the chapel of Holy Cross.
page 24 note c R. iii. f. 289.
page 25 note a R. iii. f. 103–109
page 25 note b R. i. f. 140.
page 25 note c 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.”
page 26 note a Somerset Record Society, vol. i. Drokensford's Register, 1887.
page 26 note b Preface to the Register by bishop Hobhouse, p. xviii.
page 26 note c R. ii. f. 24. “The early part of this Register I., or Liber Albus, 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 the order of dean Grodley. Mr. J. A. Bennett says in his preface to the “Calendar of Wells Manuscripts,” (Appendix 3 to volume 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.”
page 27 note a Reg. Drokensford, f. 81. “Commissio ad levandam pecuniam concessam fabricæ campanilis Wells.” Banwell, July, 1315.
page 27 note b R. i. f. 143. Archer sums up the purpose of this chapter meeting, “ad constructionem novi campanilis finiendam.”
page 28 note a 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 cathedral church were built by the “Brotherhood of St. Gatien,” in the fifteenth century.
page 28 note b 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 fabricæ ecclesiæ Wellensis ad usum ejusdem ecclesiæ.” 20 kal. Sept., 1321.
page 28 note c R. i. f. 157. Dec. 23, 1321.
page 30 note a R. i. f. 179.
page 30 note b R. i f. 181.
page 30 note c R. i. f. 157. William of Edyngton, clerk, was tlie obnoxious official. He was appointed 2 kal. Oct., 1318, Reg. Drok. f. 196.
page 31 note a R. i. f. 154, 155.
page 31 note b Reg. Drokensford, f. 175c. “Memorandum: the bishop yields to the dean and chapter on points at issue:
1. Their claim to fruits of vacant benefices.
2. Their wonted jurisdiction over city and prebendal parishes.
3. 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 G. p. 133, transcribed from R. ii. f. 31, where it fills eight folios; see also R. i. f. 151, 156. It is curious that the mistake “Johannes Bathon. et Glaston. Episcopus ” instead of “Jocelinus ” runs through the transcript in the registers.
page 31 note c R. i. f. 164. The two mitres are valued at 23l. 6s. 8d., one 10l. the other 13l. 6s. 8d.; the “baculum pastorale ” at 6l. 13s. 4d.; the gloves “cum nodis aureis ” and the sandals valued at 2l. 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 predecessor 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 mares.; 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 security with oath on the Gospels from the bishop's factor for return on Oct. 23O Bishop Ralph also gives receipt and bond for return. Dogmerfield 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.
page 32 note a Reg. Drokensford, f. 161–166.
page 32 note b R. i. f. 171, f. 172.
page 32 note c R. i. f. 174, see Stubbs, C. ii. p. 370, writing of 1323–6. “The weakness of Edward and the policy of the pojoes, who sometimes 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.
page 32 note d R. i. f. 169. Datum in domo capitulari Wellen. 13 kal. Feb., 1324–5.
page 33 note a R. i. f. 178.
page 33 note b Reg. Drokensford f. 242a. Indulgentia pro novo opere Cathedralis Ecclesiæ Wellensis, Chew. 2 kal. Feb. 1325, 26.
page 34 note a R. i. f. 175.
page 34 note b Reg. Drokensford, f. 252b. “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.”
page 35 note a Reg. Drok. f. 251a, May, 1326. E. i. f. 165, Dec. 26, 1326. The clergy of the Axbridge deanery, and Reg. Drok. f. 267, Sept. 2, 1327, the clergy of the diocese, “omnes et singuli,” give one tenth from their benefices for the canonisation of William de Marchia and the novum opus of the cathedral.
page 35 note b The preface to the Drokensford Register by bishop Hobhouse supplies most instructive material for the life and character and times of the bishop.
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 the place “ubi sepelitur,” 1333.
Reg. Drokensford f. 306. “Ordinatio Cantariæ.” 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 celebration there for the soul of the bishop and dean Grodley. 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
page 36 note a Original documents, Wells Cathedral, 227. See Jewers's Heraldry of Wells Cathedral, 1892, p. 86, where the arms on the seal are described as four sivans' heads, couped and addorsed, in chief a label of three points (i.e. the eldest son's difference).
page 37 note a R. i. f. 179. Details of the services to be held at each altar on different days follow.—Wells, Feb. 21, 1330–1.
page 37 note b R. i. f. 191.
page 37 note c Excerpta a Registro Radulphi anno 1332, Harleian MS. 6964, p. 62.
page 38 note a “Chronicles of Edward,” i. 356, R. S.
page 38 note b R. i f. 192. At the same time bishop Ralph sent £40 “in maritagio Alienorse sororis regis, et excusat se non plus posse dare ob qnam plurima sua debita et ass alienum.” Excerpta a Reg. Radulphi, f. 64, Harleian MS. 6964, p. 62.
page 39 note a Original documents, 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. Radalphi f. 84. The chapter document is endorsed: “Duplicata et ideo ista remanebit in scrinio thesaurariæ,” and in a later hand, “Release to dean Godelee's executors. Canonisatio dni Wifti de Marchia.”
page 40 note a R. i. f. 200. 1337, March 31.