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be brought, and offered it, with great devotion, on the altar. They then all repaired to the bishop's house, where they were honourably entertained.

"On Saturday next after the Epiphany, the fourth of the ides of January, William Longspee, earl of Sarum, after encountering many dangers by sea and land, returned from Gascoigne, where he had resided almost a year, with Richard, the king's brother, for the defence of the city of Bourdeaux. The said earl came that day, after nine o'clock, to Sarum, where he was received with great joy, and with a procession from the new fabric. On the morrow he went to the king, who was sick at Marlborough. Eight weeks after that day on which he had been received in procession, on Saturday the nones of March, this noble earl died in the castle of Sarum, and was brought to New Sarum, with many tears and great lamentation. The same hour of the day on which he had been received with great joy, being the eighth of the ides of March, he was honourably interred in the new church of the blessed Virgin. At his funeral were present, the bishops of Sarum, Winchester, and some bishops of Ireland; earl William Marshall, and earl William de Mandeville; and these barons, Robert de Vieuxpont, Hugh de Gurnay, and Ralph de Toani, with a great multitude of their military attendants.

"In the year 1226, on the feast of Trinity, which then was the 18th of the calends of July, the bodies of three bishops were translated from the castle of Sarum to the new fabric, namely, the body of the blessed Osmund, the body of bishop Roger, and the body of bishop Joceline.” *

* From the original MS. of William de Wanda, in the Bishop's Records.

CATHEDRAL OF SALISBURY.

CHAPTER II.

Remarks on Saxon and Norman Architecture.-Peculiarities of the pointed style, and description of the new Cathedral.—Charter of Henry the Third to the city of Salisbury.—Allotment of the ground, and rights conferred by the bishop on the citizens.-Contributions to the fabric.Its completion and consecration.-Alterations in the establishment.— Distinction between canons and prebendaries-Vicars and choristers. -Removal of the establishment from Old Sarum.—Indulgences granted for visiting the church.-Ceremonies on the enthronement of the bishop, and installment of the dean and canons.-Entertainment, or Feast of Entry.-Bishop of the choristers.-Charter of Edward the First. 1225-1285.

As the erection of this cathedral may be deemed a new epoch in the history of our national architecture, it will be proper to lay before the reader a few remarks on the characteristics of our early ecclesiastical buildings, and to trace the rise of that peculiar style, of which this structure forms the most regular and perfect, if not the most beautiful specimen.

After the departure of the romans, foreign invasion and domestic feuds left the britons little leisure to erect buildings of magnitude; at least no traces now remain to shew the characteristics of their architecture. But

the establishment of the saxon domination and their conversion to christianity, were soon followed by the construction of edifices for the offices of religion. Sometimes recourse was had to foreign architects, and sometimes natives were found sufficiently skilful to plan and superintend such works. But their models were the Roman buildings, of which many had doubtless escaped the ravages of war, and the silent destruction of time. The productions of these architects were, however, only humble imitations of structures, far inferior to the master pieces which graced the capital, and the cities near the seat of empire.

The obvious peculiarities of the Roman architecture were copied, and the design of imitation is proved by the name of "Roman manner," which is given by the early writers to this style of building. The columns were single, often placed on a square plinth; cylindric, hexagonal, or octagonal ; and massive in proportion to their height. They were ornamented with capitals, generally indented with fissures of divers lengths and forms, which were at first a rude imitation of corresponding parts in the roman models, but afterwards were gradually changed into a peculiar species of decoration. Both pillars and capitals, instead of being uniform, were studiously varied. The arches were semicircular, at first probably plain, and progressively enriched with various mouldings. Among these were the lozenge or nail head; the embattled and triangular frettes; the billet, resembling small cylinders, placed in rows; the nebule, or wavy; the hatched; and finally the zig zag, or indented, which was a favourite ornament of the saxons, and is displayed in every possible variety. Similar decorations were used, as horizontal mouldings.

The smaller churches of the saxons were in the shape of a parallelogram; the nave separated from the chancel by an ornamented arch, and the

east end turned in a semicircle. The larger, and perhaps later, were divided into a nave and side aisles; the nave generally consisting of two rows of arches, with corresponding stories or tiers of windows above. But the church built by Wilfrid, prior of Hexham, in the seventh century, is described as rising in three stories or tiers, with winding staircases, and numerous passages above and below.*

Within the saxon period, or towards the close of the tenth century, antiquaries have placed the introduction of transepts. Coeval with these were low square towers, which were built on the intersection of the transept with the nave, to give solidity to the edifice. + Afterwards towers were raised, to flank the west or principal front. The saxon vaultings were of stone, and generally plain; the walls massive, without external buttresses.

From an imitation of similar models, the norman architecture exhibits the same general features as the later saxon. Indeed, although the early saxon may perhaps be distinguished by its simplicity of design and rudeness of execution, the two styles were afterwards completely blended, Numerous cathedral and conventual churches were, however, built at no distant period from the conquest; and in them we observe grander proportions, with more richness and variety of ornament, than in those attributed to the The columns are sometimes like those of the saxons; sometimes compounded of square piers, with projections like columns attached; and frequently decorated with hatchings and spiral bands. Heavy plinths, adapted to the figures of the columns, generally form the bases; and the capitals are enriched with sculptured heads, with a species of volute, and

saxons.

* Eddii Vita Wilfridi, cap. 22, p. 62.

+ The use of large bells was probably coeval with the introduction of towers.

The arches are

with other ornaments, too numerous to be described. semicircular, like those of the Saxons, but exhibit a greater variety of mouldings and sculptures. On the principal entrances, in particular, the norman architects lavished their decorations. These generally consisted of a large door, flanked by two smaller, and formed of several receding arches, enriched with mouldings, foliage, and sculptured figures, in low relief. The jambs and heads of the doors were also often ornamented with a species of mosaic, of diamonds, lozenges, and zig-zag, intermingled with beads.

Among the ornaments, which have been regarded as peculiar to the norman style, are bands of intersecting semicircular arches, and the corbel table, a series of small arches, rising from sculptured heads. These were sometimes introduced as a relief to blank spaces, and sometimes to mark the divisions of the building.

Of the norman churches the smaller cannot be distinguished from those of the saxons. The larger consisted of a nave, side aisles, and transepts, with a tower at the principal intersection. The nave rose in three tiers or stories: the lower formed by semicircular arches, resting on massive columns; the second, which answered to the space within the roofing of the aisles, consisted of large arches, subdivided into two smaller; the upper, or clere-story, of windows with three lights, of which the middle was higher than the other two. The walls were massive, but strengthened with external buttresses, of little projection, and without ornament. Such was the style of the cathedral at Old Sarum.

Towards the middle of the twelfth century the pointed arch appeared in the buildings of western Europe. Some suppose that it was suggested by the elegant effect of the intersecting semicircular arches, before mentioned; others, that the design was brought by the crusaders from the

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