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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of
+Saint Albans, by Thomas Perkins
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Saint Albans
+       With an Account of the Fabric & a Short History of the Abbey
+
+
+Author: Thomas Perkins
+
+
+
+Release Date: October 8, 2006  [eBook #19494]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BELL'S CATHEDRALS: THE CATHEDRAL
+CHURCH OF SAINT ALBANS***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Gary Houston, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed  Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 19494-h.htm or 19494-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/4/9/19494/19494-h/19494-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/4/9/19494/19494-h.zip)
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Words and phrases which were italicized in the original
+      have been surrounded by underscores('_') in this version.
+      Words or phrases which were in bold face have been
+      surrounded by pound signs('#').
+
+
+
+
+
+THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF SAINT ALBANS
+
+With an Account of the Fabric & a Short History of the Abbey
+
+by the
+
+REV. THOMAS PERKINS, M.A.
+Rector of Turnworth, Dorset
+
+Author of "Rouen," "Amiens," "Wimborne and Christchurch," Etc., Etc.
+
+With Fifty Illustrations
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: ST. ALBANS CATHEDRAL FROM THE SOUTH.]
+
+
+[Illustration: ARMS OF THE SEE]
+
+
+
+London: George Bell and Sons. 1903
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+The Rev. W.D. Sweeting, who had originally undertaken to write this
+monograph on St. Albans, having been obliged, on account of ill-health,
+to abandon the work, the Publishers asked me to write it in his stead.
+My task was rendered much easier by Mr. Sweeting kindly sending me much
+material that he had collected, and many valuable notes that he had
+made, especially on the history of the Abbey.
+
+My best thanks are due to the Dean for kindly allowing me permission to
+examine every part of the Cathedral church, and to take the photographs
+with which this book is illustrated. A few illustrations only are from
+other sources, among them those on pages 9 and 11, for permission to use
+which I have to thank Mr. John Murray. I have also to acknowledge the
+courtesy of the vergers, Mr. Newell and Miss Davis from both of whom I
+obtained much information; Miss Davis's long connection with the church,
+and the interest she takes in every detail connected with it, rendered
+her help most valuable. I have consulted many books on the Abbey, among
+them Lord Grimthorpe's and Mr. Page's Guides, Mr. James Neale's
+"Architectural Notes on St. Albans Abbey," and papers read before the
+St. Albans Archaeological Society by the Rev. Henry Fowler.
+
+                                                        THOMAS PERKINS.
+TURNWORTH.
+_July, 1903._
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER                                   PAGE
+
+     I. HISTORY OF THE BUILDING                            3
+
+    II. THE EXTERIOR                                      23
+
+   III. THE INTERIOR                                      35
+
+    IV. HISTORY OF THE MONASTERY AND SEE                  81
+
+     V. THE NEIGHBOURHOOD                                106
+
+INDEX                                                    113
+
+DIMENSIONS OF THE CATHEDRAL                              115
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+                                                        PAGE
+ST. ALBANS CATHEDRAL FROM THE SOUTH            _frontispiece_
+ARMS OF THE SEE                                  _title-page_
+VIEW FROM THE NORTH-EAST BEFORE RESTORATION                2
+ST. ALBANS ABBEY BEFORE 1874                               3
+PLAN OF THE NORMAN CHURCH                                  9
+THE SOUTH-WEST PORTAL BEFORE THE REBUILDING OF
+    THE WEST FRONT                                        11
+EXTERIOR OF THE LADY CHAPEL BEFORE 1874                   15
+INTERIOR OF THE LADY CHAPEL BEFORE 1874                   16
+THE ARCADE IN THE SLYPE BEFORE ITS REMOVAL                20
+FLOOR TILE                                                21
+THE ANGLE BETWEEN NAVE AND TRANSEPT                       22
+THE NEW WEST FRONT                                        23
+THE SOUTH TRANSEPT AS REBUILT                             27
+THE LADY CHAPEL CHOIR AND TRANSEPT FROM THE SOUTH-EAST    28
+VIEW FROM THE NORTH-EAST                                  30
+THREE OLD FLOOR TILES                                     32
+THE NAVE FROM THE WEST END                                34
+BASE OF INCOMPLETE PIER                                   37
+PLAN OF PIER                                              37
+ARCADE ON NORTH SIDE OF NAVE                              38
+EASTERN PART OF THE NORTH SIDE OF NAVE                    39
+NORTH NAVE ARCADE, WESTERN END                            41
+SOUTH NAVE ARCADE                                         43
+SOUTH AISLE OF NAVE                                       45
+HOLY WATER STOUP                                          46
+NORTH AISLE OF NAVE                                       47
+SAXON BALUSTER SHAFTS IN SOUTH TRANSEPT                   50
+DOORWAY IN SOUTH TRANSEPT                                 51
+THE CROSSING LOOKING WESTWARD                             54
+THE CHOIR                                                 55
+THE WALLINGFORD SCREEN                                    58
+KEY TO THE SCULPTURE                                      59
+THE RAMRYGE CHANTRY                                       60
+SOUTH AISLE OF PRESBYTERY                                 62
+WOODEN FIGURE OF MENDICANT                                63
+RETRO-CHOIR                                               64
+BASE OF THE SHRINE OF ST. AMPHIBALUS                      65
+BACK OF THE WATCHING LOFT                                 66
+RAMRYGE'S CHANTRY FROM THE AISLE                          67
+ONE OF THE OLD WESTERN DOORS                              68
+LADY CHAPEL                                               69
+PEDESTAL OF ST. ALBANS SHRINE                             73
+WATCHING LOFT                                             75
+MONUMENT OF HUMPHREY, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER                  77
+SOUTH CHOIR AISLE                                         80
+JOHN OF WHEATHAMPSTEAD'S CHANTRY                         100
+OLD FLOOR TILE                                           105
+THE GREAT GATE                                           106
+MONUMENT OF LORD BACON                                   109
+THE OLD ROUND HOUSE                                      111
+PLAN OF THE CATHEDRAL                                    116
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Illustration: VIEW FROM THE NORTH-EAST BEFORE RESTORATION.]
+
+[Illustration: ST. ALBANS ABBEY, BEFORE 1874.]
+
+
+
+
+ST. ALBANS CATHEDRAL
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+HISTORY OF THE BUILDING.
+
+
+Long before any church stood on the site of the present cathedral, long
+before the time of Albanus, who is universally allowed to have been the
+first Christian martyr whose blood was shed in this island, events that
+have found a place in the early history of Britain occurred in the
+immediate neighbourhood of the city we call St. Albans. Here in all
+probability stood the _oppidum_ or stockaded stronghold of
+Cassivellaunus, who was chosen to lead the tribes of South-Eastern
+Britain when Julius Caesar in the year 54 B.C. made his second descent
+on the island. We all know the story, how the Britons gave Caesar so
+much trouble that, when at last Roman discipline had secured the
+victory, he, demanding tribute and receiving hostages as guarantees for
+its payment, left Britain and never cared to venture upon any fresh
+invasion. We know that the Trinobantes were the first to sue for peace,
+and, abandoning Cassivellaunus, left him to bear the brunt of Caesar's
+attack upon his stronghold, how this was destroyed by Caesar, and how
+Cassivellaunus also was obliged to make submission to the Romans.
+
+Nearly a century passed before any Roman legionary again set foot on the
+British shores; but when at last, in the days of Claudius, A.D. 42, the
+Romans invaded the island, they came to conquer and occupy all except
+the northern part of Britain. In the early days of their occupation a
+walled town, which was soon raised to the rank of a _municipium_, was
+built on the south-western side of the Ver, and from the name of the
+river was called Verulamium or Verlamium. It soon became a populous
+place, for when in A.D. 61 Boadicea, the Queen of the Iceni, stung by
+the insults and injuries she and her daughters had received at the hands
+of the Romans, raised her own and the neighbouring tribes to take
+vengeance on their oppressors and
+
+    Ran the land with Roman slaughter, multitudinous agonies;
+    Perish'd many a maid and matron, many a valorous legionary;
+    Fell the colony, city, and citadel, London, Verulam, Camulodune.
+
+It is recorded that no less than seventy thousand fell in these three
+places and the villages around them.
+
+But her vengeance, sharp and sudden, was not allowed to pass unpunished
+by the Romans, and Suetonius Paulinus, hurrying from North Wales, though
+too late to save the three towns, utterly routed the forces of Boadicea
+somewhere between London and Colchester.
+
+After this Verulamium became once more a prosperous town, inhabited
+partly by Romans, partly by Britons, who under Roman influence embraced
+the civilization and adopted the customs of their conquerors. By whom
+Christianity was first introduced into Britain we do not know; probably
+it was brought from Gaul. In the reign of Diocletian a great persecution
+of the Christians arose throughout the Roman empire. The edict enjoining
+this persecution was promulgated in February, 303 A.D., and the
+persecution lasted until the Emperor abdicated in May, 305 A.D. It was
+carried out in Britain by Maximianus Herculius and Asclepiodotus, and it
+was during this persecution that St. Alban won the martyr's crown.
+Though the story is embellished with certain miraculous incidents which
+most of us will reject as accretions of later ages, yet there seems no
+reason to doubt the main facts.
+
+Albanus, or Alban, as we generally call him, was a young soldier and a
+heathen, but being a man of a pitiful heart, he gave shelter to a
+certain deacon named Amphibalus, who was in danger of death. Amphibalus
+returned his kindness by teaching him the outlines of the Christian
+religion, which Alban accepted. When at last the persecutors had
+discovered the hiding-place of Amphibalus, Alban, in order to aid his
+escape, changed garments with the deacon, and allowed himself to be
+taken in his stead, while Amphibalus made his way into Wales, where,
+however, he was ultimately captured and was brought back by the
+persecutors, who possibly intended to put him to death at Verulamium,
+but for some reason which we do not understand he was executed about
+four miles from the city at a spot where the village of Redbourn now
+stands, the parish church of which is dedicated to him. Meanwhile Alban
+was charged with aiding and abetting the escape of a blasphemer of the
+Roman gods, and then and there declared that he too was a Christian. He
+was ordered to offer incense on the altar of one of the Roman gods, but
+refused, and as a consequence was condemned to be beheaded. The place
+chosen for his execution was a grassy hill on the further side of the
+river Ver. Great was the excitement among the inhabitants of Verulamium,
+for as yet they had seen no Christian put to death, and Alban was,
+moreover, a man of some mark in the place. So great was the crowd that
+it blocked the only bridge across the stream; but Alban did not desire
+to delay his death, so walked down to the river-bank. At once the waters
+opened before him, and he, the executioner, and the guards passed
+dry-shod to the opposite bank. This wonder so struck the executioner,
+that he, throwing down his sword, declared he would not behead Alban and
+also professed himself a Christian. When the band reached the hill Alban
+craved water to quench his thirst, for it was a hot summer day, June
+22,[1] and at once a spring burst forth at his feet. One of the soldiers
+struck off the martyr's head, but his own eyes fell on the ground
+together with it; the executioner who had refused to do his duty was
+beheaded at the same time. These miracles are said to have so much
+impressed the judge that he ordered the persecution to cease. The
+traditional site of the martyrdom is covered by the north arm of the
+transept of the present church, and this site is in accordance with
+Beda's account, which states that St. Alban was martyred about five
+hundred paces from the summit of the hill. When persecution had entirely
+ceased, a few years after Alban's death, a church was built over the
+spot hallowed by his blood. Beda, writing at the beginning of the eighth
+century, speaks of the original church as existing, and describes it as
+being a church of wonderful workmanship and worthy of the martrydom it
+commemorated. But in all probability the church standing in Beda's time
+was not the original one; this no doubt had been swept away during the
+time of the English invasion of Britain, when, as Matthew Paris tells
+us, the body of Alban was moved for safety from within the church to
+some other spot, whence it was afterwards brought back and replaced in
+the original grave.
+
+    [1] It must be remembered that June 22 in the year 303 A.D.
+        would be, as now, close to the longest day, as the alteration of
+        the calendar known as the new style simply made the equinox
+        occur on the same day of the month as in 325 A.D.
+
+That the spot was held in some reverence as early as the fifth century
+is proved by the conduct of Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre. A synod was
+held at Verulamium in the year 429 A.D. to condemn the "Pelagian heresy"
+which had budded forth anew in the island, having had its origin in the
+teaching of the British monk Pelagius towards the end of the fourth
+century. Germanus and Lupus, Bishop of Troyes, attended this Council and
+refuted the followers of Pelagius. It is said that Germanus opened the
+coffin of the martyr and deposited in it some precious relics, receiving
+in return for them some relics from the coffin, and a piece of turf cut
+from the site of the martyrdom.
+
+From this time we hear nothing for several centuries of the church or
+the neighbouring town of Verulamium, save that after the Teutonic
+conquest the town was known by the name of Werlamceaster,
+Watlingceaster, or Waetlingaceaster, the two latter names being derived
+from that of the Roman road, the Watling Street that runs through it.
+The site of the martyrdom also received a new name--Holmehurst or
+Derswold.
+
+The next event recorded in connection with our subject is the founding
+of a Benedictine monastery by Offa II., King of the Mercians, about the
+year 793 A.D. He searched for and found the coffin that contained the
+martyr's bones. This, as already stated, had been removed from the
+original church dedicated to his memory, in order to save it from
+destruction at the hands of the Teutonic invaders, and had remained
+concealed, its very position forgotten, until it was miraculously
+revealed. The coffin was then opened; the martyr's body and the relics
+given by Germanus were found therein, and thus the identity of the
+remains with those of Alban was established beyond doubt. Round the
+martyr's head Offa placed a golden circlet whereon were written the
+words: "Hoc est caput Sancti Albani." A reliquary richly decorated with
+precious stones was made to receive the body, and this was then
+deposited in the then existing church, which Offa repaired so that it
+might serve as a temporary resting-place until a grander church could be
+built. Offa had made a journey to Rome to get the Pope's consent to the
+foundation and endowment of the monastery.[2] At this time also Alban
+was canonized, so that henceforth he may be rightly spoken of as Saint
+Alban.
+
+    [2] A payment known as Peter's Pence had first been levied by
+        the King of the West Saxons in 727, and was a tax of one penny
+        on each family that owned lands producing thirty pence per
+        annum; its object was the support of a Saxon College at Rome.
+        Offa now induced the Pope to allow the pence so collected from
+        his kingdom to be paid to the Abbey of St. Alban instead of the
+        Saxon College at Rome. The payment was called Peter's Pence
+        because it was paid on August 1st (the day dedicated to _St.
+        Peter ad Vincula_), the day on which the relics of St. Alban had
+        been discovered.
+
+All that Offa seems to have been able to do besides repairing the church
+was to erect domestic buildings for his monks, who in course of time
+numbered a hundred. We have no record of any partial rebuilding, or
+enlargement even, of the church of Offa's day. From the fact that
+certain remains of it were incorporated in the present building, and
+that these were of the character generally called "Saxon," there is
+little doubt that the church of the monastery was not the little church
+erected in the fourth century over the martyr's grave, but one of later
+date, probably the one described by Beda as standing in his day, built
+in the latter part of the sixth or in the seventh century. We have no
+further record of this church, but we know that the ninth Abbot, Eadmer,
+began to collect materials for rebuilding the church; but the work was
+not begun until the time of the fourteenth Abbot, Paul of Caen, who was
+appointed by William I. So enthusiastically did he work, that in the
+short space of eleven years (1077-88) the church was rebuilt. The
+rapidity of the building was no doubt chiefly due to the fact that there
+was no need of hewing and squaring stone, for the Roman bricks from the
+ruins of the old city of Verulam were ready at hand, and the timber
+collected by Paul's five predecessors was well seasoned. It is said that
+the new church was not dedicated until the year 1115, but it is hard to
+believe that so long a space of time as twenty-seven years would be
+allowed to elapse between the completion of the building and the
+dedication. It is possible there may be some error in this date.
+
+We can form a good idea of this Norman church. It was like several of
+the other cathedral and abbey churches built at the same time, of vast
+size, far grander than their prototype in Normandy, St. Stephen's at
+Caen. The following table gives approximately the dimensions of some of
+these churches:
+
+                        Length of    Number of Bays.         Total
+                         Nave.     Nave. Presbytery. Apse.   Length.
+St. Stephen's, Caen      193         9       2        ...     290
+Canterbury               185         9      10         5      290
+Winchester               318        14       3         5      ...
+St. Albans               275        13       4        ...     460
+Bury St. Edmund's        300        15       4         3      490
+
+The church consisted of a nave with aisles; the arches of the main
+arcade were semicircular, the piers massive and rectangular; there were
+no mouldings, the orders of the arches, like the piers, having
+rectangular corners. There were possibly two western towers, which
+stood, like those of Rouen and Wells, outside the aisles on the north
+and south respectively, not at the western ends of the aisles (a far
+more common position), thus giving a much greater width and imposing
+appearance to the west front.
+
+The existence of western towers of Norman date has been doubted by some
+antiquaries; some indeed imagine that John de Cella's thirteenth-century
+west front was built several bays further to the west than the Norman
+façade, and that the foundations of the unfinished towers were laid of
+old material by him. It is impossible to be absolutely certain on this
+point, but the argument sometimes brought forward that the nave was
+inordinately long for one of Norman date may be answered by mention of
+the fact that the Norman naves at Bury and Winchester were even longer,
+and that generally the Norman builders delighted in long structural
+naves, the eastern bays of which, however, were, together with the space
+beneath the towers, used for the choir or seats for the monks, the
+eastern part of the church beyond the crossing being generally occupied
+by the presbytery and the sanctuary where the high altar stood. In after
+times, however, considerable eastward extensions were made, as at
+Canterbury, and the monks' seats were then in many cases moved eastward
+into the part of the church beyond the tower, the rood-screen being
+stretched across the church between the eastern piers that supported the
+tower.[3]
+
+    [3] The chief argument against the belief that western towers
+        existed at St. Albans is that no documentary record of them is
+        found. On the other hand it may be said that, whether the towers
+        were built or not at the same time as the rest of the church, it
+        is far more likely that John de Cella and William of Trumpington
+        would have lengthened the church eastward than westward, when we
+        find so many instances of eastward extensions during the
+        thirteenth century, and of some before the twelfth century
+        closed. The plan given in the text, assuming the existence of
+        Norman towers, is that adopted by Sir Gilbert Scott, who had the
+        opportunity of examining the foundations when restoring the
+        church; his opinion was that the foundations were of Norman
+        date. Of one thing we may be certain, that if finished western
+        towers ever existed, they were of Norman date. For none were
+        carried to completion by William of Trumpington.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF THE NORMAN CHURCH.
+From Sir Gilbert Scott's Lectures. (By permission of Mr. John Murray.)]
+
+The transept had no aisles either on its eastern or western side; the
+eastern termination differed much from anything in existence now.
+
+Mr. Prior in his "History of Gothic Art in England" tells us that two
+types of east end were to be found in the Anglo-Norman churches, both
+brought from the Continent, one the chevet prevalent in Northern France,
+the other derived originally from fourth and fifth century churches of
+the East, passing to Lombardy in the ninth century, and then along the
+Rhine and even reaching Normandy. Such was the original eastern
+termination of St. Stephen's, Caen; such may still be seen in St.
+Nicholas', Caen. This east end consisted of a number of parallel aisles,
+each with its own apse at its eastern end. "Norman use had squared the
+aisle endings of the choir two bays beyond the cross, the apse
+projecting its half circle beyond this, as at St. Etienne's, Caen, and
+in this form Lanfranc's Canterbury had been built."[4]
+
+    [4] Prior's "History of Gothic Art in England," p. 63.
+
+In St. Albans this plan was further developed; from each arm of the
+transept two apses projected eastward, the outer ones consisting only of
+a semicircular projection from the transept, the inner ones of a
+rectangular bay from which the semicircular part ran eastward. The choir
+aisles, as we should now call them, consisted of four bays, beyond which
+they ended in a projection semicircular within, but rectangular when
+seen from the outside, the walls being thickened at the corners. These
+aisles were divided from the presbytery not by open arcading but by
+solid walls. The presbytery itself terminated in a semicircle projecting
+beyond the ends of the aisles. This extended as far as the centre of the
+present retro-choir.
+
+Above the crossing rose the central tower, much as we see it to-day,
+save that it was probably crowned with a pyramidal cap rising from its
+outside walls. Probably also the tower as well as the rest of the church
+was covered with whitewashed plaster, thus hiding the material of which
+it was built--the Roman bricks of which mention has been already made.
+These bricks surpass in hardness and durability those of modern days,
+and are of different size and shape from those we are acquainted with.
+Those used in St. Albans are of two sizes, 17 × 8 × 2 and 11 × 5½ × 2.
+The joints are wide, the mortar between the courses being almost as
+thick as the bricks. The window jambs and the piers were built or faced
+with brick; even the staircases were of brick. What stone was used is
+clunch, from Tottenhoe in Bedfordshire, which, according to Lord
+Grimthorpe, is admirably suited for interior work, but absolutely
+worthless for exterior, as it decays very soon, and if it gets damp is
+shivered into powder by frost.
+
+[Illustration: THE SOUTH-WESTERN PORTAL, BEFORE THE REBUILDING OF THE WEST
+FRONT. From a drawing by W.S. Weatherley, in Sir G. Scott's "Lectures on
+Mediaeval Architecture." (By permission of Mr. John Murray.)]
+
+The Norman church, finished as we have seen in 1088, stood without
+change for rather more than a century. Then changes began. Abbot John de
+Cella (1195-1214) pulled down the west front and began to build a new
+one in its place. He laid the foundation of the whole front, but then
+went on with the north side first. The north porch was nearly finished
+in his time; the central porch was carried up as far as the spring of
+the arch; the southern porch was carried hardly any way up from the
+foundations.[5] The porches are described by those who saw them before
+Lord Grimthorpe swept away the whole west front as some of the choicest
+specimens of thirteenth-century work in England. The mouldings were of
+great delicacy, and were enriched with dog-tooth ornament. It is said
+that Abbot John was not a good man of business, and that he was sorely
+robbed and cheated by his builders, and so had not money enough to
+finish the work that he had planned. To his successor, William of
+Trumpington, it therefore fell to carry on the work. He was a man of a
+more practical character, though not equal to his predecessor in matters
+of taste. He finished the main part of the western front. Oddly enough
+no dog-tooth ornament was used in the central and southern porches, and
+the character of the carved foliage differs also from that of the north
+porch. In Abbot John's undoubted work the curling leaves overlap, and
+have strongly defined stems resembling the foliage of Lincoln choir,
+while that of Abbot William's time had the ordinary character of the
+Early English style. There is evidence to show that he intended to vault
+the church with a stone roof; this may be seen from the marble vaulting
+shafts on the north side of the nave between the arches of the main
+arcade, which, however, are not carried higher than the string-course
+below the triforium. The idea of a stone vault was, however, abandoned
+before the two eastern Early English bays on the south side were built,
+for no preparation for vaulting shafts exists there.
+
+    [5] Sir Gilbert Scott was of the opinion that the south porch
+        was also John de Cella's work.
+
+Abbot John de Cella had begun to build afresh the western towers, or,
+according to some authorities, to build the first western towers that
+the church ever had; we have no record of their completion, and it is
+said that Abbot William abandoned the idea. We have only the foundations
+by which we can determine their size. William of Trumpington transformed
+the windows of the aisles into Early English ones. He also added a
+wooden lantern to the tower, somewhat in the style of the wooden octagon
+on the central tower of Ely.
+
+At some time, but we do not know exactly when, the Church or Chapel of
+St. Andrew adjoining the north nave aisle of the monks' church,
+extending as far east as the sixth bay, was built for the use of the
+parishioners, who had no right to enter the monastic church. This Church
+of St. Andrew opened into the north aisle of the Abbey Church, being
+separated from it by an arcade of four arches. It had a nave with aisle
+and chancel. Its total length was about 140 feet, its width about 61
+feet. It is conjectured that the north-western tower was converted into
+a kind of antechapel or entrance porch for the Church of St. Andrew.
+There was a door leading from the aisle of the Abbey Church into the
+chancel of St. Andrew's; this door, walled up, may still be seen in the
+fifth bay from the west end. In order to avoid the necessity of
+returning again to the history of this church, it may here be stated
+that it was rebuilt by John Wheathampstead after he had been re-elected
+to the office of Abbot in 1451; and that it was destroyed after the
+dissolution of the monastery, when there was no longer any need for it,
+as the parishioners bought the Abbey Church for parochial use. The place
+of the old arcading was then taken by a blank wall without any windows;
+this was pulled down and the present wall built by Lord Grimthorpe.
+
+In the latter half of the thirteenth century the reconstruction of the
+eastern end was begun by Abbot John of Hertford. Here, as in many other
+churches, the Norman choir was too short for thirteenth-century
+requirements. The walls of the presbytery were raised and its
+high-pitched roof converted into a flat one. The church was gradually
+extended eastward by Abbots Roger of Norton and John of Berkhampstead;
+first the Saint's Chapel was built, then the retro-choir, and finally
+the Lady Chapel, which was finished by Abbot Hugh of Eversden in 1326.
+
+Another change was necessitated by an event which took place on St.
+Paulinus' Day, October 10th, of the year 1323. For on that day a
+calamity such as had never before happened befell the church. The
+celebration of Mass at an altar of the Blessed Virgin was just over, a
+great multitude of people, men and women, still being in the church,
+when two of the Norman piers of the main arcade on the south side fell
+outwards one after the other with a great crash, and about the space of
+an hour afterwards the wooden roof of the nave which had been supported
+by these columns also fell; the piers themselves had crushed the south
+wall of the aisle and the cloisters, so that a complete wreck was made
+of the south-eastern part of the church westward of the tower. But this
+disaster was accompanied by a great marvel, for though many persons were
+standing close by, not one was injured; and a still more wonderful thing
+is recorded: the monk whose duty it was to guard the shrine of St.
+Amphibalus, which at that time stood in the nave, had been celebrating
+at the altar--he had finished even to the washing of the sacred
+vessels--when he saw the columns fall; he withdrew a little from the
+altar and received no harm. Some of the wreckage fell on the shrine of
+St. Amphibalus, and though the marble pillars supporting the canopy were
+broken, yet the chest which contained his relics suffered no harm. This
+wonderful preservation of life and limb and shrine was naturally
+attributed to the intervention of the blessed martyr St. Amphibalus.
+
+Abbot Hugh of Eversden began to rebuild this ruined part of the church,
+and this accounts for the five bays of the nave arcading westward of the
+rood-screen being in fourteenth-century style. He did not live to finish
+all this work, but it was carried on by his successor, Richard of
+Wallingford (1326-1335), and finished by the next Abbot, Michael of
+Mentmore, about 1345. The present rood-screen, which probably took the
+place of a previously existing one of Norman date, was built in 1360 by
+Thomas de la Mare. No further change of importance was made until the
+time of John of Wheathampstead, who was Abbot from 1420 to 1440, and
+again from 1451 to 1464. He left his marks in various parts of the
+Abbey, and for the most part his work was bad: he did almost as much to
+injure the Abbey as the nineteenth-century restorers who swept away much
+of his work have done. He rebuilt all the upper part of the west front,
+and inserted Perpendicular windows at each end of the transept; he
+turned the high-pitched roofs of nave and transepts into flat ones, and
+lowered the slope of the roofs of the aisles. His object in doing this
+was to be able to use the old beams again whose ends were decayed, and
+which were shortened by cutting off the unsound parts. The result of
+this was that the Norman triforium arches on the north side were thrown
+open to the sky; these he filled with Perpendicular tracery, converting
+them into windows. The tracery still remains, although the new roof has
+the same slope as the original one, and the triforium is now again
+inclosed beneath it. He also pulled down the wooden octagon on the
+central tower. His chantry on the south side of the high altar was
+probably erected soon after his death.
+
+Abbot William of Wallingford (1476-1484) built the high altar screen,
+carrying out a plan which John of Wheathampstead had not been able to
+accomplish. The only addition made after this to the Abbey is the
+chantry of Thomas Ramryge, who became Abbot in 1492. The exact date of
+its construction is not known, all records of the Abbey during Ramryge's
+rule having perished; but from its style it is generally supposed to
+have been built about the year 1520. During the reign of Henry VIII. all
+the monasteries were dissolved; first the smaller, then the more
+important ones, among them that of St. Albans. The fortieth and last
+Abbot of St. Albans, Richard Boreman of Stevenage, surrendered the Abbey
+on December 5th, 1539, he and the monks receiving pensions as
+compensation.
+
+[Illustration: EXTERIOR OF LADY CHAPEL WHEN USED AS THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL
+BEFORE 1874. (From the Official Guide to the Great Northern Railway.)]
+
+In February of the following year the King granted to Sir Richard Lee
+all the monastic buildings, but not the Abbey Church or the adjoining
+Chapel of St. Andrew, with all the land lying round the Abbey Church.
+Lee promptly proceeded to destroy all the domestic buildings. The church
+remained in the possession of the Crown till 1553, when the town
+obtained a charter from Edward VI. This, among other provisions,
+empowered it to erect a grammar school within the church or in some
+other convenient place. The town authorities thereupon converted the
+Lady Chapel and the retro-choir into the grammar school. A passage was
+cut through the retro-choir, bounded by brick walls on either side; this
+was used as a public pathway until 1874, when it was closed, and again
+became part of the church. The part to the east of the passage served as
+the grammar school until 1870. The mayor and burgesses by the same
+charter received the Abbey Church, in return for £400, to be used as
+their parish church; and in May, 1553, the first rector, George
+Wetherall, took charge of the building.
+
+[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE LADY CHAPEL BEFORE 1874.
+(From the Official Guide to the Great Northern Railway.)]
+
+The parishioners thus found themselves in possession of an enormous
+building which they had not sufficient money to keep in proper repair.
+In 1612, and again in 1681, briefs or letters patent were issued by
+royal authority, ordering collections to be made in all churches in
+England for the repair of St. Albans Church. In 1689 a grant was made by
+William and Mary. These sums were spent on various repairs, such as
+altering the belfry windows, "filling up" with earth "the hollow in the
+wing," that is, raising the level of the floor of the south arm of the
+transept. In 1695 similar work was done in the north aisle; in 1704 a
+new window, a wooden one, was inserted in the south end of the transept,
+in place of Wheathampstead's, which had been blown in by a gale during
+the previous year. There are records of £100 being spent in recasting
+some of the bells between 1705 and 1707.
+
+Money was again collected in 1721 by letters patent, and this was spent
+on repairing the ceilings. About the same time a legacy was spent in
+repaving the nave, and the west ends of the aisles were blocked by brick
+walls. Some slight repairs were done about 1764, when a fresh collection
+was made.
+
+More extensive repairs were made in 1832: the roof was releaded, such of
+the clerestory windows as had been closed were reglazed, and the south
+window of the transept was rebuilt in stone. The choir, after the
+repairs, was opened for service in 1833. The nave to the west of the
+rood-screen was more or less in a dilapidated condition, protected by
+the releaded roof, but not used. The presbytery had been fitted up in
+Georgian style as a chancel, the organ stood in the north arm of the
+transept, and high pews filled the choir westward as far as the
+rood-screen. This was the condition of the part of the church which was
+used up to 1870.
+
+In 1856 a scheme was started for getting the Abbey Church raised to
+cathedral rank, and also for restoring the fabric. Mr. (afterwards Sir)
+Gilbert Scott was appointed architect, and was empowered to do what he
+thought most pressing as far as funds would allow; the flat roof of the
+north aisle was renewed, drainage attended to, and foundations
+strengthened; the floor at the south end of the transept was lowered--it
+will be remembered that it had been raised in 1692--the vaults were
+filled with concrete, and the floor repaved. The presbytery was repaved
+with tiles copied from some old ones. The Georgian fittings were removed
+to the nave; fragments of the tabernacles, which we now see over the
+doors leading from the aisles into the presbytery, having been
+discovered, the tabernacles were reconstructed of the old with some new
+material. But more important work had to be undertaken in 1870. On
+Sunday, July 31st, the sound of cracking was heard in the tower, and Mr.
+J. Chapple, the clerk of the works, went up the next day to London to
+see Scott and asked him to come down at once to examine the tower;
+plaster was put over the crack to see if it was increasing or not. There
+were soon signs that the mischief was getting worse, and Scott ordered
+the tower to be shored up with timber, and temporary brick walls to be
+built below it. It seemed that the rubble of the eastern piers had been
+made of mortar which had turned into dust, and that a big hole had been
+cut in the south-eastern pier. This, according to Lord Grimthorpe, had
+apparently been done with the intention of demolishing the tower,
+probably soon after the time of the dissolution of the monastery, for
+the hole contained timber shores which were sufficient to support the
+tower while the workmen were enlarging the hole, but which were probably
+intended to be set on fire and burnt away, thus allowing the workmen to
+escape before the tower fell. This wood was found partially decayed, and
+probably to its state the settlement of the tower was partially due. The
+hole was, by Scott's direction, filled with bricks laid in cement, and
+cement was poured in to fill up all the interstices; some of the decayed
+rubble was cut out of the piers and brickwork put in to take its place:
+the walls were tied with Yorkshire flagstone and iron rods, and were
+grouted with liquid cement wherever possible. It was an anxious time for
+those in charge of the work; it was only after many days and nights of
+incessant labour, that they felt sure that the sinking of the tower was
+arrested and that the new work was holding up the weight.
+
+In 1875 it was discovered that the south-west clerestory was beginning
+to crumble away. Lord Grimthorpe had this shored up at his own expense.
+A new committee was soon after this appointed, and in March, 1877, a
+faculty was granted to this committee "to repair the church and fit it
+for cathedral and parochial services." The first Bishop, Dr. Claughton,
+who up to this time had been Bishop of Rochester, choosing the northern
+of the two parts into which his diocese was divided, was enthroned as
+Bishop of St. Albans on June 12th, 1877, and on the following day the
+restoration of the nave was begun. The church was in a very bad state:
+the weight of the roof and injudicious repairs had thrust the clerestory
+walls about forty inches out of the vertical plane. There was much
+controversy at the time as to what should be done, and in the middle of
+it Sir Gilbert Scott died, in March, 1878. In May, however, the roof
+having been lifted, the leaning walls were forced up into a vertical
+position by hydraulic pressure. Some of the restorers were in favour of
+retaining a flat roof; others advocated putting on a high-pitched one
+again, raising its ridge to the height of the original Norman roof, as
+indicated by the weather marks on the tower. Fortunately the latter
+course was adopted; fortunately because the church, seen from the
+outside, lacks height in proportion to its length, and the ridge of the
+roof now visible above the parapets has given it some of the extra
+height it so much needed. The subsequent raising of the transept and
+presbytery roofs on the other three sides of the tower was necessitated
+by the raising of the roof of the nave.
+
+Lord Grimthorpe drew up a list of "symptoms of ruin," twenty-two in
+number, which it would take too much space to reproduce here; but unless
+his account is exaggerated, it would seem that scarcely any part of the
+building save the tower could be looked on as secure. He applied for a
+new faculty which would give him unlimited power to "restore, repair,
+and refit the church." This faculty was granted, and he exercised his
+powers to the full; and as a result, though the church has been made
+sound and secure, probably for many centuries to come, yet many of its
+most interesting features have been destroyed, the most terrible damage
+having been done in the transept.
+
+The west front which he rebuilt, though not altogether satisfactory, yet
+is greatly superior in design to his subsequent work at the south and
+north ends of the transept. These originally had corner turrets,
+octagonal in plan; these turrets were pulled down and square ones,
+finished by pyramidal caps, put in their place. The entire south front
+of the transept was pulled down and rebuilt, and a new window consisting
+of five lancets occupying its whole width inserted. The central light
+rises high into the gable and above the level of the inner ceiling. The
+lancets on either side are intermediate in height between the central
+and side ones when they are seen from without, but when seen from within
+the tops of all are of the same height, as they could not be raised
+above the level of the ceiling. The parts of the three middle lancets
+seen from without above this level are backed up with black felt across
+the ceiling, and their upper parts light the space between the ceiling
+and the high roof. This window is a feeble imitation of the "Five
+Sisters" of York, and is utterly out of place in the narrow transept at
+St. Albans; but bad as this south window is, the one at the north end of
+the transept is worse. Here Lord Grimthorpe inserted a circular window,
+the design being such as a child might make who was given a sheet of
+cardboard with a large circle drawn on it, which he was requested to
+cover symmetrically with a number of half-crowns, shillings, and
+sixpences. Another piece of unnecessary alteration was the destruction
+of the slype at the south end and the re-erection of its disjointed
+members as curiosities in the new work, its western doorway, with an
+added order, having been let into the centre of the south wall of the
+transept, and the arcading placed in two different positions.
+
+[Illustration: THE ARCADE IN THE SLYPE BEFORE ITS REMOVAL.]
+
+More satisfactory is the work in the Lady Chapel and the space sometimes
+called the antechapel; here the old carving had been terribly mutilated
+by many generations of schoolboys, and the new work which has been put
+in is good of its kind, and distinctive in its treatment. Lord
+Grimthorpe vaulted the Lady Chapel in stone. Much other work was done by
+him in various parts of the building. He rebuilt the clerestory windows
+of the presbytery and some of those in the nave; introduced windows into
+the blank walls at the western part of the nave, both on the north and
+south, for which he deserves commendation, as the original reason for no
+windows having existed here was only that the monastic buildings, now
+destroyed, abutted against the south aisle of the nave, and the Church
+of St. Andrew stood on the north side; when this church was pulled down
+a plain wall was built, and the thrust of the roof had forced this and
+the original wall on the south side outwards, after the buildings which
+had acted as buttresses had been removed.
+
+One piece of modern restoration was not done by Lord Grimthorpe, namely
+that of the Wallingford screen behind the high altar. The statues on
+this having been destroyed and the screen itself damaged, Mr. H.H.
+Gibbs, now Lord Aldenham, offered to restore it, working under Lord
+Grimthorpe's faculty. After a time a dispute arose between them, chiefly
+over the introduction of a statue of Christ on the Cross in the centre
+of the screen, and the erection of an altar with a stone top below it.
+This led to a lawsuit, the final result of which was that Mr. Gibbs was
+allowed to finish the screen in his own way, but not to do anything to
+any other part of the church, a thing he wished to do. The altar is not
+yet in position; when this is placed where it is intended to stand, the
+work of restoration will be complete, and nave, choir and presbytery,
+and Lady Chapel will then alike be capable of being used for service,
+forming in reality three distinct and fully fitted churches under one
+roof, the retro-choir being intended for use as a chapter-house whenever
+a chapter shall be created.
+
+[Illustration: FLOOR TILE WITH ARMS OF BEAUCHAMP.]
+
+[Illustration: ANGLE BETWEEN NAVE AND TRANSEPT.]
+
+[Illustration: THE NEW WEST FRONT.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE EXTERIOR.
+
+
+The visitor who wishes to obtain, at first sight, the most impressive
+view of the Cathedral Church of St. Alban, should alight at the London
+and North-Western Station, at which all the trains from Euston and many
+of those from King's Cross arrive. This station is about half a mile
+south of the city, and from it a road runs up Holywell Hill, which,
+passing eastwards of the church, leads to the centre of the city. But a
+road running off to the left before reaching the top of the hill leads
+past the south side to the entrance at the west front of the Cathedral.
+Seen from the south the church, though it does not actually stand quite
+on the summit, seems to crown with its enormous length the ridge of hill
+to the north. Most of those who visit St. Albans for the first time feel
+a sense of disappointment. The church has no far-projecting buttresses
+to give light and shade, no flying buttresses or pinnacles like those
+that lend such a charm to most French and many English churches. All is
+severely plain, partly on account of the very early time at which the
+greater part of the existing church was built, partly on account of the
+material used for its walls. Abbot Paul of Caen, who designed it,
+trusted entirely to mass and proportion for the effect he wished to
+produce. But we do not see it as he designed it, and possibly built it.
+When we remember that he came from Caen, and seems to have used St.
+Stephen's Church, at that time recently built by Duke William, as a
+model, though he planned his own church on a grander scale, he must have
+contemplated two western towers even if he did not erect them--though,
+as previously stated, there is a division of opinion on the part of
+authorities on this subject. These western towers, if they were built,
+as well as the central one, would be crowned by pyramidal caps; and such
+towers, finely proportioned, would give the church the height which it
+so much needs, and the lack of which we feel so acutely to-day. The
+raising of the roofs at the time of the restoration to their original
+pitch was an undoubted gain, for without it the building looked lower
+and longer even than it does now. The church as we see it has been sadly
+injured by Lord Grimthorpe's work at both ends of the transepts, and
+whatever may be said about the western front in itself, yet no one can
+deny that, had the church been flanked by two towers standing, as at
+Wells and Rouen, outside the line of the aisles, even though the front
+itself were as plain as that of St. Stephen's at Caen, it would have
+been far more impressive.
+
+There is another point in which the church as it exists differs from the
+church as it might have been seen soon after Abbot Paul had built it.
+Then its walls were covered without as well as within with plaster,
+within richly decorated with colour, and without whitewashed. How
+different it must have looked with its vast mass seen from a distance
+rising above the wooded slopes, white as a solid block of Carara marble
+gleaming in the sun, and the lead-covered roofs of nave, transept,
+choir, and towers shining with a silvery lustre. Many modern restoring
+architects strongly object to plaster, and many a rough wall both
+external and internal, which the builder never intended to be seen, has
+been scraped and pointed under the idea that plaster is a sham, which it
+is not, unless indented lines are drawn on it to make it appear like
+blocks of ashlar. The rich red of the Roman brick in St. Albans walls
+and towers is so delightful, that perhaps we may think Scott did well in
+abandoning his idea of replastering them; yet nothing could have so
+entirely altered the general appearance of the building as this scraping
+away of the plaster. Besides the general view from Holywell Hill, there
+are two other distant points of view which should not be missed: one
+from Verulam woods, to the south-west; and one from the fields in which
+the ruins of Sopwell Nunnery stand. From this latter point it looks best
+after sunset on a cloudless evening, when the tower stands up in
+majestic grandeur against the saffron sky, and looking at it one can
+well imagine how much grander it must have looked when the tower bore
+some fitting termination, either the Norman pyramid or the later
+octagon, or even possibly the wooden spire of the Hertfordshire spike
+order which succeeded it.
+
+#The West Front.# We will begin our examination of the existing exterior
+with the west front, and then proceed in order round the building along
+the south side, east end and north side, although in reality iron
+railings will prevent us from making a complete circuit, and necessitate
+our retracing our steps and making a fresh start at the west of the
+railings. Still there is no part of the exterior to which we cannot gain
+easy access.
+
+Lord Grimthorpe's west front is built of stone; the illustration, p. 23,
+will enable the reader to form a good idea of its appearance. It took
+the place of one of patchwork character: the porches and lower parts
+were of thirteenth-century date; the upper part above the central porch
+contained Abbot John of Wheathampstead's large Perpendicular window,
+repaired and patched at various times; and brick walls closed the west
+end of the aisles. Lord Grimthorpe's idea was to design a front in the
+style prevalent in the second half of the thirteenth century. The design
+has been much criticized, but its general appearance will not be
+distasteful to the ordinary visitor, and is as good as is most
+nineteenth-century work. In certain respects it is more pleasing than
+the rival design of Mr. John Scott, with its mixture of Perpendicular
+features with those of earlier styles, its battlemented octagonal
+turrets, two of which were to be surmounted by spikes. There are two
+features of the existing front, one not shown, the other easily
+overlooked in the photograph, which should be noted. First, the arched
+cill of the central window, and second, the manner in which the back of
+the gable over the central door has been chamfered off so that it should
+not come up close to the glass and make a dark triangle against the
+lower part of the window when seen from the inside. The doors are all
+new; the side doors had vanished, and the central ones were too short
+for the restored doorways. The western porches, which Sir Gilbert Scott
+spoke of as some of the most exquisite thirteenth-century work in
+existence, were almost entirely rebuilt by Lord Grimthorpe. Fortunately
+some drawings were made for Sir Gilbert Scott, one of which, by the
+courtesy of Mr. Murray, we have been able to reproduce, p. 11.
+
+#The South Side.# The south clerestory has no less than twenty-three
+windows. The ten westernmost, partially restored by Scott, are connected
+by an arcading; the next ten, as well as the wall that contains them,
+are new--built by Lord Grimthorpe; the parapet, fortunately quite plain,
+was rebuilt at the time when the roof was raised; the three easternmost
+windows of the clerestory are formed of Roman brick in brick walls much
+restored, and are separated by brick buttresses.
+
+The south aisle roof is partly lead (Scott) and partly, at the eastern
+end, of red tiles (Lord Grimthorpe). Lord Grimthorpe cut four windows in
+the western bays of the aisle, in which no windows had originally
+existed, as domestic buildings abutted against the church here. The
+three eastern windows of Abbot William of Trumpington's time were
+rebuilt in the old style; the five bays to the west of these were
+refaced with brick and flint, as the original clunch stone had perished,
+owing to exposure to the weather. The arcading of the north walk of the
+cloister may still be seen. It will be noticed that this arcading did
+not follow the division into bays of the aisle walls above. The cloister
+walk acted as a kind of continuous buttress to the south aisle wall, and
+owing to its removal this part of the wall was gradually pushed outward.
+To strengthen it Lord Grimthorpe built buttresses, naturally following
+the division of the upper part of the walls, but thereby cutting across
+the arcading of the cloister walk in a most ugly fashion. By building
+flying buttresses instead, he might have preserved the whole of the
+arcading of the cloister walk unbroken, but he considered that this plan
+would have been ugly, and that the buttresses he did build were
+constructively better; possibly they may be, but most of us will be of
+the opinion that, as far as appearance goes, the plan adopted was the
+less satisfactory. The porch over the Abbot's door in the corner is
+entirely new. It probably is useful as a support for the wall, but that
+is all that can be said in its favour. Lord Grimthorpe thought that this
+would be used as an entrance to the church on this side, but it has not
+been so used. It is worthy of notice that this church is destitute of
+porches, either on the southern or northern side; probably because they
+were not needed in a purely monastic church.
+
+[Illustration: THE SOUTH TRANSEPT AS REBUILT.]
+
+#The South Transept.# The south arm of the transept was most ruthlessly
+dealt with by Lord Grimthorpe; no doubt it was in an unsafe condition,
+but his alterations here have been criticized severely, though not more
+severely than they deserve. The south front with the five enormous
+lancet windows--the lower parts of them lighting the church, the upper
+parts of the three central ones the space between the ceiling and the
+outer roof--was entirely rebuilt, together with the corner turrets. The
+slype or passage between the transept and the chapter-house, leading
+from the cloister to the cemetery of the monks, has been practically
+destroyed, some of the arcading having been removed and rebuilt into the
+interior face of the new south wall, some rebuilt into the south wall of
+the slype; the stones of the west doorway of the slype with modern
+additions were used up in making a doorway in the centre of the south
+transept wall into the slype, and a new doorway was built at the east
+end of the slype, thus forming a way into the transept which seems now
+chiefly used as a passage for carrying in coke for the stoves in the
+transept.
+
+[Illustration: THE LADY CHAPEL, CHOIR AND TRANSEPT FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.]
+
+The architectural choir, containing the presbytery and the Saint's
+Chapel, consists of five bays. The clerestory windows are Decorated ones
+of three lights each, the tracery being different in the different
+windows. They are set in a brick wall which, in the latter part of the
+thirteenth century, had been raised so as to allow of higher windows
+being set in it. The tracery is all new, Lord Grimthorpe keeping only
+the old outlines and leading lines of the mullions. The ridge of the
+roof of this part of the church was raised by Lord Grimthorpe to its
+original height, the same as that of the other three roofs that abut
+against the tower. As the side walls from which this roof springs are
+higher than those of the nave and transept the pitch is lower, and the
+window in the gable designed by Lord Grimthorpe is triangular; below
+this, in the east wall, is a geometrical window with a small, one-light
+window on either side of it; all of these are rebuilt. The south aisle
+of the presbytery contains two small, round-headed windows, and further
+to the east two three-light, and then one two-light window; beneath two
+of these are doors. All this part of the church has been extensively
+restored, as has also been the retro-choir or antechapel, as it is
+sometimes called. Through this, after the dissolution, a public footway
+was cut, which was closed in 1870, and a great deal of reconstruction
+was needful. This part of the church has two bays, each bay with a
+window on each side, and one facing east on each side of the Lady
+Chapel.
+
+#The Lady Chapel# has three bays; the tracery seen on the outside is
+new, though it is old inside, for Scott cut the mullions down the middle
+so as to retain the statuettes that they bore on the inside. There is a
+low vestry built against the south-eastern bay of the Lady Chapel; the
+window above this is triangular; the windows of the vestry itself are
+shown in the illustration, p. 28, as also is the five-light window in
+the east wall of the Lady Chapel. The north side of the Lady Chapel
+resembles the southern.
+
+#The North Transept.# The character of the north presbytery aisle and
+the north arm of the transept may be seen by examination of the
+illustration, p. 30. It will be observed that the north front of this
+contains a large circular window measuring twenty-nine feet across the
+glass, filled by a number of circular apertures. This is Lord
+Grimthorpe's design, upon which much not undeserved ridicule has been
+showered. He informs us that this arm of the transept was in a somewhat
+better condition than the southern one, but that all the upper part and
+the turrets needed rebuilding. In the rebuilt walls of the transept he
+used the original material as far as it would go, supplementing it by
+some modern bricks made in imitation of the Roman ones.
+
+[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTH-EAST.]
+
+The illustration, p. 30, shows the iron railings which, unless a door in
+them be unlocked, prevent further progress westward, and necessitate a
+retracing of our steps right round the church till we again reach the
+north arm of the transept. In the north front of this may be seen a
+Norman door near the north-west corner, through which pilgrims passed
+who wished to visit the shrine of the martyr; they entered the precincts
+by the Waxhouse gate, buying their candles there, and went down the path
+which is now called "the Cloisters," from which the photograph on p. 30
+was taken. In the west wall there is an upper row of three round-headed
+brick windows once recessed, and a lower one of two twice recessed.
+
+#The North Side.# The north clerestory of the nave has eight
+round-headed brick windows at the eastern part, followed by lancets
+similar to those on the south side. Flat buttresses of brick are built
+against the clerestory wall between the round-headed windows. The aisle
+windows, most of them rebuilt, are in Decorated style. A length of
+eighty feet of the wall towards the western end of the aisle, which had
+been built about 1553, when the Chapel of St. Andrew had been destroyed,
+was rebuilt and buttresses built against it to counteract the thrust of
+the clerestory, which leans outward. In this wall, as on the opposite
+side of the church, Lord Grimthorpe inserted windows; and placed a new
+sloping roof over the north aisle, covering the triforium arches which
+had been glazed as windows in the fifteenth century; this roof is
+covered with dark-coloured tiles. We may notice in the north aisle wall
+a brick door in the fourth bay from the east; this was cut by Lord
+Grimthorpe and leads into the vestry; also a walled-up door in the sixth
+bay, which led from the church into the graveyard, and another in the
+sixth bay, which formerly led from the north aisle into the chancel of
+St. Andrew's Church; this Lord Grimthorpe converted into a cupboard in
+the thickness of the wall. The only other thing noteworthy at this part
+of the exterior is a small piece of the north aisle wall of St. Andrew's
+Church near the footpath.
+
+#The Tower.# There yet remains the magnificent tower. It is 144 feet
+high and is not quite square in plan, measuring 47 feet from east to
+west, and two feet less from north to south. The walls are about seven
+feet thick; in the thickness, however, passages are cut. It has three
+stages above the ridges of the roof. The lower stage has plain windows
+in each face, lighting the church below; the next stage, or ringing
+room, has two pairs of double windows; and the upper or belfry stage,
+two double windows of large size, furnished with louvre boards. The
+parapet is battlemented, and of course of later work than the tower
+itself. The tower is flanked by pilaster buttresses, which merge into
+cylindrical turrets in the upper story. For simple dignity the tower
+stands unrivalled in this country. It must have been splendidly built to
+have stood as it has done so many centuries without accident. Winchester
+tower fell not long after its building, Peterborough tower has been
+rebuilt in modern days; but Paul of Caen did not scamp his work as the
+monks of Peterborough did, and no evil-living king was buried below the
+tower, as was the case at Winchester, thus, according to the beliefs of
+the time, leading to its downfall. Tewkesbury tower alone can vie with
+that of St. Albans, and the seventeenth-century pinnacles on that tower
+spoil the general effect, so that the foremost place among central
+Norman towers as we see them to-day may safely be claimed for that at
+St. Albans. Few more beautiful architectural objects can be seen than
+this tower of Roman brick, especially when the warmth of its colour is
+accentuated by the ruddy flush thrown over it by the rays of a setting
+sun.
+
+The view from the tower when the air is clear is magnificent, but
+unfortunately the privilege of ascending the tower once accorded to
+visitors has, on account of unseemly behaviour, been necessarily
+withdrawn, and only by a special relaxation of this rule, through the
+kindness of the Dean, was the writer enabled to inspect the upper parts
+of the church.
+
+[Illustration: THREE OLD PAVEMENT TILES.]
+
+[Illustration: THE NAVE FROM THE WEST END.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE INTERIOR.
+
+
+#The floor levels.#--The Church of St. Alban is built so that its axis
+points considerably to the south of east, a thing that would hardly have
+been expected, seeing that the sun rises as far to the north of east as
+it ever does on St. Alban's Day, June 22nd. The orientation of the
+church may have been due to the fact that no great attention was paid to
+it by the builders, or it may have been due to the natural slope of the
+ground, which would have made the building of the church difficult had
+the east end been swung round further to the north where the ground is
+higher, and the west end to the south-west where it is lower; even as
+the church was built the slope of the ground has had its effect on the
+floor levels. These have been modified from time to time; to describe
+all the changes would take too much space, but it may be interesting to
+state the differences of level that exist at the present day.
+
+On entering by the west door a peculiarity will at once be noticed.
+About fifteen feet from the inner side of the west wall there is a rise
+of five steps which stretch right across the church from north to south.
+The floor to the east of these steps slopes imperceptibly upwards for
+eight bays, when a rise of three more steps is met with. On this higher
+level stands the altar, which is backed up by the rood screen. There is
+another step to be ascended to the level of the choir, and another to
+reach the space below the tower. Five steps lead from this into the
+presbytery; there is another step at the high altar rails, and four more
+lead up to the platform on which the high altar will stand. From the
+space below the tower one step leads up into the north aisle and two
+more into the north arm of the transept. From the level of the south
+choir aisle and south transept two steps lead up into the south aisle of
+the presbytery; from this aisle there is a rise of four steps into the
+aisle south of the Saint's Chapel, and from this into the chapel itself
+a rise of four more. So that the floor of this chapel is, with the
+exception of the high altar platform, which is one step higher, the
+highest in the whole church, or nineteen steps above the floor just
+inside the west door. From the aisle of the Saint's Chapel one step
+leads into the retro-choir, and two more into the Lady Chapel; hence the
+floor of the Lady Chapel is one step lower than that of the Saint's
+Chapel. If we take seven inches as the average height of a step, it
+would appear that the floor of the Lady Chapel is about ten feet higher
+than the floor at the west end of the nave.
+
+As we stand just inside the west door of the church we are struck by the
+length of ritual nave, about 200 feet, the flatness of the roofs, and
+the massiveness of the arcading dividing the nave from the aisles; for,
+though the four western bays on the north side and five on the south are
+Early English in date, there is none of that lightness and grace that we
+are accustomed to associate with work of this period, no detached shafts
+of Purbeck marble such as we see at Salisbury, no exquisitely carved
+capitals such as we meet with at Wells. William of Trumpington seems to
+have aimed at making his work harmonize with the Norman work that he
+left untouched; and when the rest of the main arcade on the south side
+was rebuilt in the next century, it was made to differ but little in
+general appearance and dimensions from Abbot William's.
+
+The vertical proportions of the nave elevation are very fine. If the
+whole be divided into nine equal parts, four of these are occupied by
+the main arcade, two by the triforium, and three by the clerestory. The
+view eastward is often closed by a dark red curtain that hangs behind
+the organ, which stands in a gallery behind the rood screen. The screen
+divides the congregational nave from the three eastern bays of the
+architectural nave, which form the western part of the ritual choir.
+When the curtain is drawn aside we get a view of the tower arches and
+more of the length of the church is seen. It is to be hoped that no
+attempt to move the organ will now be made, as some, no doubt, would
+suggest, in order to get a more open vista; for the organ stands just
+where it can be used equally well for a service either in the nave or
+choir, and its sound can be heard with more effect than if it were
+stowed away on either side of the church. The longest view of the church
+which can be obtained is to be seen by standing at the extreme west end
+of the south aisle, from which, when a draught-excluding curtain that
+hangs across the aisle just to the east of the transept is drawn aside,
+the view extends as far as the east window of the retro-choir, distant
+about 440 feet from the western wall, that is, about one-twelfth of a
+mile. A better idea of the enormous length of the whole building is
+given by saying that it is about a tenth of a mile long, rather than by
+giving its length in feet.
+
+[Illustration: BASE OF INCOMPLETE PIER.]
+
+At the extreme west of the nave, on the north side, will be seen the
+base of what was intended for an Early English pillar, probably John de
+Cella's work, for provision is made for the slender detached columns of
+Purbeck marble, the intended use of which his successor abandoned. An
+inscription beneath the west window records the fact that when
+pestilence prevailed in London in the reign of Henry VIII., and again in
+that of Elizabeth, the courts of justice were held in the nave. This
+took place in the years 1543, 1589, and 1593.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF PIER.]
+
+On the second pier on the north side is an inscription to the memory of
+Sir John Mandeville, who was born at St. Albans early in the fourteenth
+century, and educated at the monastery school. He studied medicine and
+set out in 1322 for his famous travels, professing, in the account which
+he published in French in 1357 in Paris, to have visited not only every
+part of the south of Europe, but many parts of Asia, even China. It is
+not known where he was buried, whether in England or abroad, and the
+statement of the Latin inscription on this pillar that he was buried in
+this church cannot be regarded as more trustworthy than most of the
+statements in the book of travels.
+
+[Illustration: ARCADE ON NORTH SIDE OF NAVE.]
+
+[Illustration: EASTERN PART OF NORTH SIDE OF NAVE.]
+
+The first four bays on this side are thirteenth-century work. The
+junction of this with the earlier Norman work is of the most curious
+character: the Norman pier was cut off level, a short distance below the
+impost, and on the top of this three courses of the Early English pier
+were laid. Why the Early English pier was not carried down to the
+ground, in a way similar to that, in which the easternmost Early English
+pier on the south side is carried, we cannot tell. It has been
+conjectured that some special sanctity attached to the statue which
+stood on the bracket, which may still be seen on the western face of
+this pier. It will be noticed how plain is the plan of the Norman piers
+(see illustration, p. 37). They have no capital, only a projecting
+course of brickwork from which the arch springs. The two easternmost
+piers, however, were altered at some time (see illustration, p. 39), and
+a rough kind of capital formed by cutting away the pier below. The
+Norman piers were first covered with plaster, and then painted both on
+their western and southern faces, and when the white-wash with which
+they had been covered in post-Reformation days was removed in 1862, the
+frescoes were discovered in a more or less perfect condition. All those
+on the western faces with one exception, represent the same subject, the
+Crucifixion, with a second subject below. No doubt against these piers
+altars used to stand, and these frescoes served, as we should say, as
+painted reredoses or altarpieces.
+
+The subjects are as follows, beginning at the west of the Norman arcade:
+
+  First pier, west face. Christ on the Cross, crowned; the Virgin on
+  the north side, St. John on the south, holding a book. Beneath,
+  Virgin (crowned and holding a sceptre) and Child; on each side an
+  angel censing. Late twelfth or early thirteenth century.
+
+  South face. St. Christopher. Fourteenth century.
+
+  Second pier, west face. Christ on the Cross; the Virgin with
+  clasped hands on south side, St. John on north. Beneath, Virgin
+  and Child under a canopy. Early thirteenth century.
+
+  South face. Archbishop Becket. Fourteenth century.
+
+  Third pier, west face. Christ on the Cross; the Virgin on the
+  south side, St. John on north, resting his head on his hand.
+  Beneath, under a pointed arch, the Annunciation. This is in
+  outline only. Fourteenth century.
+
+  South face. A woman in a blue gown holding a rosary in her left
+  hand, possibly St. Citha (Osyth). Fourteenth century.
+
+  Fourth pier, west face. Christ on the Cross. Beneath, the
+  Annunciation. A rude painting of the thirteenth or fourteenth
+  century.
+
+  South face. A pilgrim and slight traces of another figure. The
+  subject is supposed to be either Edward the Confessor relieving
+  St. John disguised as a pilgrim, or St. John giving a ring to a
+  pilgrim. Fourteenth century.
+
+  Fifth pier, west face. Christ on the Cross, much draped; the
+  Virgin and St. John with red background. Beneath, the Coronation
+  of the Virgin. Fourteenth century.
+
+  South face. This was once painted, but not enough remains to allow
+  the subject to be made out.
+
+  Sixth pier, west face. Christ in his Glory; very slight traces
+  only.
+
+[Illustration: NORTH NAVE ARCADE: WESTERN END.]
+
+Besides these figure subjects painted on the piers, the soffits of the
+arches were decorated with colour, some of which still remains.
+
+Although in the four western bays of the main arcade the Early English
+work is very plain, yet the triforium is ornate. The arcading consists
+of two pointed arches in each bay, each comprising two sub-arches; the
+supporting columns are slender and enriched with dog-tooth mouldings,
+with which also the string-course below the triforium is decorated. The
+shafts, which probably were intended to support a stone vault over the
+nave, should be noticed.
+
+This illustration also shows the character of the clerestory. The
+triforium over the Norman main arcade consists of large, wide-splayed,
+round-headed openings, in which the tracery and glazing introduced in
+the fifteenth century, when the aisle roof was lowered in pitch so as to
+expose the north side of the triforium to the sky, still remains. One of
+the triforium arches, namely, the third from the tower, was simply
+walled up at this time, and so retains its original form. The clerestory
+in this part of the church consists of plain, round-headed openings.
+Between each bay the outer southern face of each Norman pier is
+continued in the form of a flat pilaster buttress up to the roof.
+
+[Illustration: SOUTH NAVE ARCADE, SHOWING THE JUNCTION OF THIRTEENTH AND
+FOURTEENTH-CENTURY WORK.]
+
+The rood screen behind the altar, which is sometimes erroneously called
+St. Cuthbert's screen, is of fourteenth-century work, but much restored,
+and is pierced by two[6] doorways, which were used when processions
+passed from the nave into the choir. The doors themselves are
+fourteenth-century work. Against this screen once stood three altars.
+The northern one was dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury and St.
+Oswyn, King of Northumbria; the central one to the Holy Apostles, the
+confessors, and St. Benedict; and that on the south to St. Mary. These
+once stood against the western faces of the Norman piers of the south
+arcade of the nave, which fell in the fourteenth century. These piers
+doubtless corresponded with those we still see on the north side, and
+were probably similarly decorated with frescoes. The south arcade at its
+eastern end differs entirely from that on the north. This part of the
+church was rebuilt after the fall of part of the Norman arcade. The five
+Early English bays to the west are divided from the Decorated ones to
+the east by a massive pier, generally supposed to be Norman, but
+probably rebuilt. The northern face of this runs up as a pilaster
+buttress to the roof; the string round it in continuation of that below
+the triforium is carved with tooth ornament. West of this we have tooth
+ornament, to the east the characteristic ball flower. The junction of
+the two styles is shown in the illustration below, from which it will be
+noticed that, though there is a general resemblance in the bays on
+either side of the dividing pilaster, yet the details are different. To
+the east we see shields below the triforium string, and heads at the
+termination of the hood moulding. The head shown in this photograph is
+possibly that of Master Geoffrey, master mason to Abbot Hugh of
+Eversden; the others passing on to the east are probably those of Edward
+II., Queen Isabella, and Abbot Hugh. The shields, also counting from the
+west, are those of England, France, Mercia, England, Edward the
+Confessor, and England. The hood mouldings of the triforium and
+clerestory also terminate in heads, some of them grotesque. The
+Decorated piers were found by Lord Grimthorpe in a very unsound
+condition, not on account of any defect in the foundation, but on
+account of the bad mortar in which their rubble cores had been set. This
+had become dust, and tended to burst out the ashlar casing: this shell
+was indeed doing all the work of supporting the weight resting on the
+piers. Lord Grimthorpe shored up the arches, and in large measure
+rebuilt the piers of larger stones. He says: "It took no small trouble
+and scolding to get these worked as roughly as the old ones, so as to
+make the work homogeneous and bewilder antiquaries." This sentence shows
+the false principles on which Lord Grimthorpe sometimes worked;
+necessary repairs should never be executed with a view to make the work
+appear as old as that the place of which it takes.
+
+[6] This was the original Benedictine arrangement, which is said to
+remain in this church and Westminster Abbey only.
+
+The pulpit against the fourth pier on the north side, counting from the
+rood screen, is new, decorated with pentagonal diaper work--pentagons
+being apparently particularly attractive to Lord Grimthorpe.
+
+#The Organ.#--The present organ when first built in 1862 was placed in
+the north arm of the transept, where the previously used organ had
+stood; in 1877 it was moved to the north-east corner of the nave; and
+was again moved in 1882, being then placed where it now is. In 1885 it
+was enlarged by Lord Grimthorpe, and the key-board was placed at the
+south end, so that the organist might command a view of the choristers,
+whether they were singing in the nave or in the choir. It is considered
+a fine and powerful instrument, and no better position in the church
+could be found for it.
+
+[Illustration: SOUTH AISLE OF NAVE FROM EAST.]
+
+#The South Aisle.#--At the western end of the south wall of this aisle
+may be seen the remains of an arch which was intended to lead into the
+south-west tower. Above it, high up, is a single-light window. The next
+three windows, of two lights each, with Decorated tracery, were inserted
+by Lord Grimthorpe in the blank wall; the next window probably dates
+from the seventeenth century. The windows in the next five bays come
+down on the inside to a much lower level than those to the west (see
+illustration, p. 43), but the bottom of the glass was kept high so as to
+be above the roof of the north walk of the cloister, which rested
+against the wall of these bays. Two of these windows contain modern
+glass, one being inserted to the memory of the present Dean's father.
+There was once a door in the second bay from the west, which probably
+was used for processions, and in the seventh bay was a small door
+opening into the cloister, from which a passage in the thickness of the
+wall led up by a flight of steps into the Abbot's chapel. This opening
+has been converted into a muniment room, and is closed by an iron door
+leading from the aisle. The vaulting of the western part is of stone,
+and was erected by Sir Gilbert Scott in 1878. The vaulting of the
+eastern part is fourteenth-century work erected at the time of the
+reconstruction of this part of the church in Decorated style, and is
+only plaster.
+
+Against the south face of the large pier, at the junction of the Early
+English and Decorated bays, once stood an altar dedicated to our Lady of
+the Pillar, with a painting of the Adoration of the Magi above it. Iron
+railings inclosing the space between this pier and the next to the west
+formed a chapel set apart for the use of the Guild of St Alban. This
+guild was founded in the reign of Edward III., but dissolved at the time
+of Wat Tyler's rebellion. It was the duty of the brethren of this guild
+to follow the shrine containing the relics of St. Alban whenever it was
+carried outside the church.
+
+[Illustration: HOLY WATER STOUP.]
+
+#North Aisle.#--At the west end of this aisle the beautiful though much
+restored holy water stoup should be noticed. A semicircular arch crosses
+this aisle, springing from the pier where the Early English and Norman
+work join (see illustration, p. 47). The roof is of timber with only a
+slight slope, built in 1860. The first four windows from the west are
+new, inserted by Lord Grimthorpe in the new wall which he built here.
+The other windows have new tracery, but the internal parts remain as
+William of Trumpington left them. Some old glass (fifteenth century) is
+to be seen in the eighth, ninth, and tenth windows of the aisle. The
+font, a modern one, stands at the east end of this aisle. It took the
+place in 1853 of a marble one, now in the workhouse chapel. There was
+once a brazen one brought as spoil from Dunkeld in Scotland, together
+with the lectern now in St. Stephen's Church; but this font disappeared
+during the civil wars. The continuation of the screen across the north
+aisle is due to Lord Grimthorpe. His object was to form a vestry out of
+that part of the north aisle that lies along the north side of the choir
+as far as the transept. On the south side he merely erected a glazed
+wooden screen with a door, through which visitors pass to enter the
+eastern part of the church.
+
+[Illustration: NORTH AISLE OF NAVE.]
+
+It may be asked, of what use could the vast nave be to a monastery like
+that at St. Albans, which does not seem to have contemplated the
+admission of the laity to its services? The monks' services were
+chaunted in the choir: the people had the parish church of St. Andrew
+for their use, in which, however, the priests of the Abbey officiated.
+But we must remember that in mediaeval times, on Sundays and on other
+great festivals, grand processions formed part of the ritual. The monks,
+leaving the choir, perambulated the church. The general order of the
+procession was probably as follows: the north arm of the transept, the
+north aisle of the presbytery into the Saint's Chapel, thence back into
+the aisle round the ambulatory or retro-choir, through the south
+presbytery aisle into the south arm of the transept, through the Abbot's
+door into the cloister, along the east, south, and west alleys back into
+the church by the blocked-up door in the south wall, up the nave, and
+through the two doors of the rood screen into the choir.
+
+On special occasions it was customary for the shrines or feretories
+containing the relics of the saints--in this Abbey those of St. Alban
+and St. Amphibalus--to be removed from the pedestals on which they
+stood, and carried in solemn procession round the church and sometimes
+even outside it. For such ceremonials the naves were needed. It was also
+to allow for these processions passing round the church that the
+ambulatory was built leading round the back of the high altar. The idea
+of holding _ordinary_ services for the laity in the nave is an entirely
+new idea, and however desirable they may be, yet they have led in modern
+days to the introduction into the building in some places of benches or
+seats like those of parish churches, and in others to the introduction
+of chairs, either of which additions considerably detracts from the
+architectural effect of the building. But though in early times the
+laity had not in all churches regular access to the building, yet it
+appears that they were some times admitted even in those churches that
+as a rule excluded them. For we find it recorded that a great number
+both of men and women were in the nave of St. Albans for the purpose of
+hearing Mass and praying at the time when the Norman piers on the south
+side of the nave fell in 1323.
+
+#South Choir Aisle.#--Passing through the door mentioned above, we enter
+the aisle which, since it runs alongside of the ritual choir west of the
+crossing, is known as the south choir aisle. In this part of the church
+the Norman work of Abbot Paul remains. The aisle, however, was vaulted
+in stone by Lord Grimthorpe. In the south wall is a recessed tomb, where
+two celebrated hermits, Roger and Sigar, were buried, and which was at
+one time a popular place of pilgrimage. In the recess now stands a stone
+coffin, but who originally occupied it there is nothing to show. Many of
+these would be found if the monks' cemetery were excavated, as after the
+twentieth Abbot, Warin (1183-1195), had issued his new orders regulating
+burial, all the monks were buried in coffins of stone. Roger the Hermit
+was a monk of St. Albans, a deacon; but though as monk he rendered
+obedience to the Abbot, he did not live within the precincts, for on one
+occasion as he was returning from Jerusalem three holy angels met him,
+and led him to a spot between St. Albans and Dunstable, called Markyate,
+when it was intimated to him that he should live the life of a hermit.
+Many were the trials and temptations he endured, many the combats he
+fought with the arch enemy of mankind. Once the prince of darkness even
+set the hermit's hood on fire, but the holy man was not disturbed, nor
+did he cease his prayers. In course of time a holy virgin of Huntingdon,
+Christina, came and occupied a cell in the immediate neighbourhood, and
+received religious instruction from Roger; here she endured many
+privations and mortified her body, bearing patiently the diseases
+brought on by her austerities. In time Roger, at the summons of God,
+quitted the world and went the way of all flesh, and his body was buried
+in the arched recess made for its reception. Christina still lived on.
+One day the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to her in the form of an infant,
+and abode with her for the space of a whole day; from that time forward
+no more temptations assailed her, and she was filled with the spirit of
+prophecy and wrought many notable miracles. She took the Abbot Geoffrey
+under her special care, advising him in matters of difficulty and
+reproving him when he did amiss. She was the first Prioress of the
+Benedictine Cell of Markyate, 1145.
+
+Sigar lived about the same time in the wood of Northaw, south of
+Hatfield. He also was famous for mortifying his flesh and for his
+victories over evil spirits. It was his habit at times to come to matins
+at St. Albans, and then to return to his hermit's cell and pass the time
+in prayer and self-scourgings. Strange to say, though the devils could
+not disturb the holy man at his prayers, the nightingales of Northaw
+woods did distract him, and he therefore prayed that God would keep
+these little birds away, lest he should take too much delight in their
+sweet songs; whereupon no more nightingales sang in those woods, and it
+is recorded that long after his time no nightingale dared venture within
+a mile of the spot where the hermit had dwelt. All which things are
+written in the chronicles of the Abbey, of which the reader may believe
+as little or as much as he will. Sigar was buried by the side of Roger.
+The arch above their grave may be seen in the illustration (p. 80),
+which also shows the Abbot's door which led into the cloister. It was
+built by Abbot de la Mare in the latter half of the fourteenth century.
+
+[Illustration: SAXON BALUSTER SHAFTS IN SOUTH TRANSEPT.]
+
+#The Transept.#--From this aisle we pass into the transept. Its southern
+arm, notwithstanding the havoc wrought by Lord Grimthorpe, still retains
+many points of interest. On its eastern side the triforium, consisting
+of three bays, contains some baluster shafts of Saxon date; it is
+supposed that they were taken from the church which Abbot Paul
+demolished. It will be seen from the illustration that they are marked
+with rings, and close examination has shown that they were turned in a
+lathe, but not being quite long enough for their new position, extra
+bases and capitals were added; these were cut with an axe, as were also
+the cylindrical shafts of Norman date, which are set alternately with
+the older ones. From the excellent state of preservation of the Saxon
+balusters, it is evident that they did not come from the exterior of the
+early church. Similar shafts may be noticed in the east wall of the
+northern arm of the transept There are two arches in the eastern wall
+which once led into chapels, the southern dedicated to St. Stephen, the
+northern first to our Lady, afterwards to St. John; they were pulled
+down in the fourteenth century to make room for a treasury. One of the
+arches is now used as a cupboard, the other as a kind of museum of
+fragments of carved stonework. The south wall is entirely new. Lord
+Grimthorpe pulled down the front containing a Perpendicular window,
+originally fifteenth-century work, but rebuilt in 1832. Thus inserted
+his five tall lancets, beneath which built into the wall are ten of the
+arches with restored shafts of the arcade taken from the slype at the
+time of its destruction; the other six are to be seen in the south wall
+of the rebuilt slype, if slype it can now be called. Under this arcading
+in the transept is a doorway, built by Lord Grimthorpe, partly from
+fragments of the west doorway of the old slype, and partly from his own
+design. The rebuilt slype is no longer a passage as it formerly was,
+leading between the south end of the transept and the north wall of the
+rectangular chapter-house, but is closed at the west end by a wall with
+a window in it, and at the east end has a door. Fortunately, a
+photograph taken before the destruction was available for reproduction,
+so that the reader may see the original condition of the south wall of
+the slype (see p. 20). The west wall of the transept has entirely
+different shafts in its triforium from those on the opposite side. A
+little double-light window or grating may be seen in the west wall near
+the aisle; it once opened into a small watching chamber, which was
+walled up at the time of the restoration for the sake of giving
+additional strength to the walls at the angle. It will be noticed that
+the pilasters projecting from the west wall do not come down to the
+ground. Lord Grimthorpe considers that these were not cut away, as might
+be imagined but were originally built as we see them to give strength to
+the walls where they were thinner on account of the passages in their
+thickness. There is a recess in this wall which was once a doorway into
+the cloister; it now contains some old oak chests, in which are placed
+every week the loaves provided for the poor by Robert Skelton's charity,
+1628. The wooden ceiling is due to Lord Grimthorpe.
+
+[Illustration: DOORWAY IN SOUTH TRANSEPT.]
+
+#The North Arm of the Transept.#--The upper part of the north wall, with
+its high circular window, was rebuilt by Lord Grimthorpe. Above the
+triforium on the east and west walls are three Norman windows and below
+these on the west side again two other Norman ones. The Norman doorway
+by which pilgrims to St. Albans shrine entered the church, and two
+Norman windows, with glass representing the four Latin doctors, inserted
+to the memory of Archdeacon Grant, who died 1883, may be seen below the
+wheel window; in the east wall are two pairs of lancets due to Lord
+Grimthorpe. Here, as in the corresponding wall on the south side, there
+are two arches which once led into two chapels. After their destruction,
+altars dedicated to the Holy Trinity (north) and to St. Osyth (south)
+were placed in the recesses. Here may be seen two modern monuments: one
+the cenotaph of Dr. Claughton, first Bishop of St. Albans, 1877-1892;[7]
+this stands at equal distances from the east and west walls: the other,
+an altar tomb, was erected in memory of Alfred Blomfield, Suffragan
+Bishop of Colchester, who died 1884. The ceiling is by Lord Grimthorpe.
+A panel from the old ceiling, representing the death of St. Alban, may
+be seen in the south aisle of the presbytery.
+
+    [7] Designed by Mr. J.O. Scott; carved by Mr. Forsyth, of Hampstead.
+
+If we stand under the central tower we get, looking westward, a view
+into the choir with its modern fittings, the stalls given by various
+donors, and the Bishop's throne which was brought hither from Rochester.
+From the way in which the piers are cut away on their faces looking into
+the choir, it is concluded that the backs of the original stalls reached
+to a considerable height. The piers, like those in the nave, were at one
+time painted, and on the west face of the second pier from the east of
+the north arcade are remains of a painting of the Holy Trinity. In 1875
+Mr. Chappie discovered wall-paintings between the clerestory windows,
+three on the north and one on the south; the soffits of the arches are
+also coloured.
+
+The painted ceiling of the choir was accidentally discovered during the
+restoration. A workman was cleaning one of the panels, which was
+coarsely painted, and happened to rub off the surface paint, disclosing
+other work below. The upper paint was then cleared away from all the
+other panels. Two, in the centre, bore a Scripture subject. The others
+bore, alternately, coats of arms and the monogram IHS, with wreaths of
+vine-leaves. The arms belong almost entirely to those who were by blood
+or marriage connected with Edward III.
+
+The ceiling of the lantern, 102 feet from the pavement, is painted with
+the red and white roses of the houses of Lancaster and York, together
+with various coats of arms. The lofty arches beneath the tower (55 feet
+high) are of great grandeur, as will be seen from the illustration. The
+four inside faces of the lantern are alike, each containing windows
+above the three arches of the arcade, each of which comprises two
+subarches springing from a quadrilateral shaft.
+
+[Illustration: THE CROSSING, LOOKING WESTWARD.]
+
+[Illustration: THE CHOIR.]
+
+To the east is the #presbytery#, closed by the Wallingford or high altar
+#screen.# This screen was sorely dilapidated, and all its niches were
+stripped of their statues, no record remaining of whose statues
+originally filled them. Mr. H. Hucks Gibbs (now Lord Aldenham) undertook
+to restore this screen, making good the canopies and filling them again
+with statues. The screen is of clunch, a hard stone from the lower chalk
+formation quarried at Tottenhoe near Dunstable, a stone much used for
+interior work in the church, though it will not stand exposure to
+weather in exterior walls. The new statues are by Mr. Harry Hems of
+Exeter; the larger ones of magnesian limestone from Mansfield Woodhouse,
+Nottinghamshire, and the smaller of alabaster. They are excellent
+examples of modern carved work. The general idea was to represent "the
+Passion of our Lord and of the testimony of the faith in that Passion
+given in the lives and deeds of men"[8] of English race. A careful
+comparison of the screen (see illustration, p. 58), with the key given
+(p. 59) will enable the reader to identify the persons represented.
+
+    [8] Lord Aldenham's words in describing his scheme.
+
+The coloured altarpiece in high relief is by Mr. Alfred Gilbert, R.A.,
+and is a work quite unique in character. It represents the resurrection.
+In the centre is the upper half of our Lord's figure; on one side is an
+angel holding a cross, emblem of faith; on the other, one holding a
+crystal globe, emblem of dominion; the wings of these angels are formed
+of mother-of-pearl, and before them are grills of brass scrollwork,
+intended to give an air of mystery to their appearance. The work does
+not appear to be fully finished, the grills being only roughly attached
+to the wall. The space before the altar is paved with slabs of marble.
+
+[Illustration: THE WALLINGFORD SCREEN.]
+
+[Illustration: KEY TO THE SCULPTURE ON THE WALLINGFORD SCREEN]
+
+In an arch south of the altar is Abbot John of Wheathampstead's chantry,
+containing a splendid brass of Flemish workmanship, which once covered
+the grave before the high altar in which Abbot Thomas de la Mare was
+buried. He is represented in full vestments carrying a pastoral staff
+and wearing a mitre, according to the Pope's grant, although he was not
+a bishop but only a mitred abbot, and therefore could not perform the
+rite of ordination, which could be administered only by the Bishop of
+Lincoln; the Abbey Church, though independent of him in all other
+matters, was for this purpose in his diocese. The rebus of Abbot John
+was three ears of wheat, and his motto "Valles habundabunt," an allusion
+to the fertile lowland of Wheathampstead, whence he came. This rebus may
+be found in various places where the work was due to him. Opposite to
+this chantry is the far more magnificent one of Abbot Thomas Ramryge.
+His rebus is a ram wearing a collar with the letters R.Y.G.E. inscribed
+on it. This chantry was at one time, after the dissolution, appropriated
+as a burial-place for the Ffaringdons, a Lancashire family, but the
+original slab with Abbot Thomas's figure and inscription has been
+restored to its place. Within the altar rails are four memorial stone
+tablets covering the graves of four fourteenth-century Abbots--Thomas de
+la Mare, Hugh of Eversden, Richard of Wallingford, and Michael of
+Mentmore. Four other Abbots are known to have been buried beneath the
+presbytery floor outside the altar rails--John de Marinis, John of
+Berkhampstead, Roger of Norton, and John Stokes--as well as other monks
+and laymen. It will be noticed that the presbytery is divided from the
+aisles by solid walls, pierced only for the two chantries above
+described, and for two doorways, one on each side, further west. Over
+each of these doorways is a tabernacle; that on the south was put
+together of fragments by Sir Gilbert Scott, and that on the north made
+to match it. The clerestory windows are Lord Grimthorpe's; the painted
+wooden vaulting which extends beyond the screen and over the Saints'
+Chapel is John of Wheathampstead's. It will be noticed that this springs
+from vaulting shafts, and it is by some considered that a stone roof was
+contemplated. The triforium here is an arcade without any passage. The
+pulpit, which stands close by the north pier of the eastern tower arch,
+was designed by Mr. J.O. Scott and given by the Freemasons of England,
+who regard St. Alban as their patron saint.
+
+[Illustration: RAMRYGE CHANTRY.]
+
+We will now turn to the south and pass eastward under the curtain which
+hangs beneath the western arch of the south aisle of the presbytery. On
+the south side we see, as we enter, a fourteenth-century holy water
+stoup, and further on, under a window, a wide round-headed archway which
+formerly led into a chapel now demolished, which once was dedicated to
+our Lady, before the larger chapel at the east end was built. In the
+next bay is a blocked Norman window from which the plaster has been
+scraped to show the character of the wall, built of Roman tiles; the
+quadripartite vaulting is of plaster with lines painted red to make it
+appear like stone. Opposite is a large oak money-chest, and above it on
+the wall is the figure of a mendicant (see p. 63), carved in wood by a
+verger in the eighteenth century, hat in hand, as if asking the
+passer-by to put a coin in the poor-box below. In the south wall is a
+doorway which led into the treasury. The next bay is largely rebuilt; on
+the south side is a door and opposite is the back of John of
+Wheathampstead's chantry. From this we pass into the south aisle of the
+Saint's Chapel.
+
+[Illustration: SOUTH AISLE OF PRESBYTERY.]
+
+First we see the doorway on the north side, under which are steps
+leading up into the chapel, and further on we come to a trellis-work of
+iron through which we can look across the space once occupied by the
+monument of "Good" Duke Humphrey of Gloucester into the Saint's Chapel.
+This grill is older (about 1275) than the rich canopy over the duke's
+grave, and was doubtless erected to allow of a view being obtained from
+this aisle of the martyr's shrine. There are a number of figures of
+kings in the canopied niches over the grave, but it is not possible to
+identify them. Opposite are some remains of a stone screen of the
+Perpendicular period; it probably divided the aisle from some external
+chapel. After the chapel perished the wall was built up; but during the
+restoration this arcading was discovered. Through an oak screen, Lord
+Grimthorpe's work, we pass into the #retro-choir.# This, as we have
+before seen, was sadly mutilated after the Reformation, when the public
+path was made through this part of the building and the Lady Chapel
+turned into a grammar school; hence we shall find more modern work here
+than in any other equal area of the church. The part east of the passage
+was for long used as a covered playground for the boys and suffered much
+in consequence. It was originally built at the end of the thirteenth
+century. The arcading round these walls is new, much of it carved under
+the direction of Lord Grimthorpe by Mr. John Baker. The carving is of a
+naturalistic character, the vegetable forms being copied direct from the
+plants and trees of the neighbourhood. The oak ceiling of the south side
+and the flat ceiling of the centre are by Lord Grimthorpe; that on the
+north side by Sir Gilbert Scott. The shrine of St. Amphibalus once stood
+in the centre, but the reconstructed shrine, or rather pedestal of the
+shrine, was removed to the north aisle of the Saint's Chapel by Lord
+Grimthorpe, so as to be out of the way; for his idea was to fit this
+part of the church for use as a chapter-house, should a chapter ever be
+created, and as a consistory court. He built the low wall between it and
+the Saint's Chapel with seats under the arcading to be occupied by
+members of the chapter, and paved the floor with polished marble (see
+illustration, p. 64).
+
+[Illustration: WOODEN FIGURE OF A MENDICANT.]
+
+[Illustration: RETRO-CHOIR]
+
+There were once several altars in this retro-choir; under the east
+window on the south side one to our Lady of the Four Tapers, with an
+aumbry and triple-arched piscina in the south wall. This has been
+restored; the upper part is entirely new. On the north side in a
+corresponding position was an altar dedicated to St. Michael; while
+altars dedicated to St. Edmund, King and Martyr, and to St. Peter stood
+to the west of the two pillars, respectively on the north and south
+sides; and another altar to St. Amphibalus stood to the west of his
+shrine in the centre. It may here be noted that the east wall of the
+original Norman apse extended as far as the centre of the retro-choir.
+
+[Illustration: BASE OF THE SHRINE OF ST. AMPHIBALUS.]
+
+[Illustration: BACK OF THE WATCHING LOFT.]
+
+[Illustration: RAMRYGE'S CHANTRY FROM THE AISLE.]
+
+The north aisle of the Saint's Chapel is divided from the retro-choir by
+a glazed oak screen with a door in it, frequently kept locked. Just to
+the west of this is the pedestal of the shrine of St. Amphibalus. This,
+like that of St. Alban's shrine, was broken up into many fragments after
+the dissolution of the monastery. The fragments were built into sundry
+walls, but many of them were discovered when the walls blocking up the
+arches at the east end of the Saint's Chapel were removed; they were put
+together as far as possible, but as the east and north sides are
+missing, the position the pedestal now occupies is not an unfitting one,
+as these sides are hidden (see illustration, p. 65). The letters R.W.
+may be seen on it. These are the initials of Ralph Whitechurch, sacrist,
+at whose cost the pedestal was built in the second half of the
+fourteenth century. Opposite this we see the back of the watching loft
+(see illustration, p. 66) erected for the monk who kept watch and ward
+over the martyr's shrine; further to the west is a doorway into the
+Saint's Chapel, and still further west the back of Ramryge's chantry.
+Beyond this is the north entrance into the presbytery, over which is a
+painting of the Lord's Supper, generally attributed to Sir James
+Thornhill and given to the church about two centuries ago; at one time
+it hung over the high altar. There is also a painting of Offa, probably
+fifteenth-century work, to be seen in this aisle. The two doors removed
+by Lord Grimthorpe from the central doorway of the west front have been
+set up against the west end of the walls of this aisle (see
+illustration).
+
+[Illustration: ONE OF THE OLD WESTERN DOORS.]
+
+#The Lady Chapel.#--This chapel in its original condition must have been
+exceedingly beautiful; and although we have had occasion to find much
+fault with the work of restoration or rather destruction and needless
+alteration, in other parts of the church, yet here little but praise can
+be bestowed. Some may regret that the old wooden vaulting was not
+retained and repaired, but the new stone vaulting is beautiful in itself
+and more durable. A better material than cast iron might, however, have
+been found for the altar rails. The new carving is excellent in quality
+and right in principle. It has been done, not as most modern work is, by
+imitating the carved work of some particular period of architecture as
+set out for the carver in the architect's drawings, but by returning to
+the old system of going to nature and carving from life models, so to
+say. It has been done in the same spirit as actuated the early work of
+the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. It is said that the carvers had sprays
+of leaves and clusters of fruit and flowers before them as they carved,
+and imitated them as closely as the material on which they worked
+allowed them to do. Work done in this manner, provided the carver has
+skill and taste, is sure to show character and life, and to differ
+entirely from the mechanical conventionalisms we generally see in modern
+stone-carving.
+
+[Illustration: LADY CHAPEL.]
+
+The chapel dates from the latter part of the thirteenth and early part
+of the fourteenth centuries. The work was probably begun in the time of
+Abbot Roger Norton, whose body was buried before the high altar in the
+presbytery, but whose heart was laid in a small box, which was
+discovered during the restoration, before the altar of St. Mary of the
+Four Tapers. Possibly his successor, John of Berkhampstead, carried on
+the work; but at Abbot Hugh's accession in 1308 the walls of the Lady
+Chapel had only been carried up as high as the string-course below the
+windows. The work of building was not continuous, as change in style
+shows; moreover we read in the Chronicles that Abbot Hugh of Eversden
+"brought to a praiseworthy completion the Chapel of the Virgin in the
+eastern part of the church which had been begun many-years before." He
+is also recorded to have roofed the space to the west, that is, the
+retro-choir. It seems, then, that at the time when the alterations in
+the eastern part of the Norman church were begun, not only was the
+presbytery with its aisles laid out, but also the retro-choir as a group
+of chapels, and possibly the Lady Chapel as well; and that when Hugh was
+chosen Abbot he found the presbytery and Saint's Chapel finished, the
+walls of the retro-choir raised to their full height, and those of the
+Lady Chapel partly built. These he proceeded to finish. The side windows
+of the Lady Chapel are beautiful examples of the fully developed
+Decorated style; the jambs and mullions are ornamented with statuettes
+which, strange to say, escaped destruction. "The eastern window of five
+lights is a singular combination of tracery with tabernacle work, while
+the easternmost bay on the south side, which is partly obscured by the
+vestry, has an exquisite window above, consisting of a richly traceried
+arch placed within a curvilinear triangle, beneath which is a splendid
+range of niches, and, beneath them again, a gorgeous range of sedilia
+and piscinae."[9] The original wall arcading had cinque-foiled heads on
+the south side, and trefoiled heads on the north; but all these had been
+cut away before the restoration began, probably at the time when the
+walls were covered with panels to make the chapel more suitable for a
+schoolroom.
+
+    [9] Sir Gilbert Scott's Report on the Lady Chapel, 1875.
+
+In this chapel, after its dedication, mass was sung daily, and an organ
+was provided to accompany the musical part of the service. The western
+end of the Lady Chapel was separated from the retro-choir by a screen,
+which of course perished after the dissolution. No modern screen has
+been put in its place, though one would be a great improvement.
+Projecting from the easternmost bay of the south side stands the Chapel
+of the Transfiguration, which was dedicated in 1430. This, rebuilt, is
+now used as a vestry. Beneath the floor of the Lady Chapel was buried
+the hated Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, grand-son of John of Gaunt;
+Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, son of the famous Hotspur; and
+Thomas, Lord Clifford: whose bodies were found lying dead in the streets
+of St. Albans, after the first battle in 1455, in which they fell
+fighting for the Red Rose party. They were buried by Abbot John of
+Wheathampstead, who at this time was an adherent of that party, though
+he became a Yorkist after Queen Margaret had allowed her troops to
+plunder the Abbey when, in the second battle of St. Albans, she was
+victorious over the Earl of Warwick.
+
+A considerable amount of work was necessary to refit this chapel for
+use. The restoration was begun by Scott and finished by Lord Grimthorpe.
+
+Scott cut the mullions of the windows down the middle, retaining all the
+part inside the glass so as to preserve the statues, but renewing the
+part outside for the sake of strength. All the painted glass is modern,
+the gift of various donors. Lord Grimthorpe, in place of the wooden
+vaulting which was, he says, in a very unsound state, threw a stone
+vault over the chapel, raising its ridge three feet higher than that of
+the previous roof. All the arches of the arcade had been cut away, with
+the exception of two at the east end, one on each side of the altar,
+differing from each other as already mentioned. Lord Grimthorpe took as
+a model the one with the cinque-foiled head, considering that the better
+of the two, and constructed the existing arcading all round the chapel.
+He rebuilt the Chapel of the Transfiguration, making its walls lower
+than before, so as not to obstruct the view of the window over it. The
+carving, chiefly the work of Mr. Baker, as already mentioned, represents
+various vegetable forms in a naturalistic manner, the plants chosen
+being for the most part such as grow in the neighbourhood--convolvulus,
+primrose, buttercup, poppy, gooseberry, blackberry, rose, maple, ivy,
+sycamore, pansy, polypody, and others.
+
+Lord Grimthorpe also repaved the floor with marble slabs of three
+colours--black, red, and white. During the time the chapel was used for
+a schoolroom the floor had been a common wooden one. Practically, then,
+it will be seen that this Lady Chapel, with the exception of its walls
+and the windows with the statuettes on them, is a modern church,
+surpassing, indeed, most nineteenth-century work in beauty, and much the
+same may be said of the retro-choir or chapter-house.
+
+#The Saint's Chapel.#--We must now return westward, through the south
+aisle of the ambulatory, past the back of Duke Humphrey's grave, and
+enter the Chapel of the Martyr by the door which opens into it from the
+aisle. The centre of the chapel is occupied by the reconstructed
+pedestal of the martyr's shrine. The ugly wooden railing that surrounds
+it is a great blot on the appearance of the chapel; no doubt it is
+necessary that the pedestal should be protected by some kind of barrier,
+but a light and elegant railing of brass would answer every purpose
+without marring the general effect, as the present cumbersome erection
+shown in all the accompanying illustrations of objects in this chapel
+does. It is to be hoped that either out of the general fabric fund, or
+by the generosity of some individual donor, this one blot on this fine
+chapel may be removed.
+
+[Illustration: PEDESTAL OF ST. ALBAN'S SHRINE.]
+
+The bones of St. Alban were of course counted as the chief treasure of
+the Abbey, in some respects the most valuable relics in the kingdom,
+since they were the bones of the first Christian martyr in the island.
+It was meet and fitting, then, that the most splendid resting-place
+should be chosen for them. The bones themselves were inclosed in an
+outer and an inner case; the inner was the work of the sixteenth Abbot,
+Geoffrey of Gorham (1119-1149), and the outer of the nineteenth Abbot,
+Symeon (1167-1183). These coffers were of special metal encrusted with
+rich gems. It is recorded that the reliquary was so heavy that it
+required four men to carry it, which they probably did by two poles,
+each passing through two rings on either side of the coffer. It is said
+to have been placed in a lofty position by Abbot Symeon; but the
+pedestal of which we see the reconstruction to-day was erected during
+the early part of the fourteenth century, in the time of the
+twenty-sixth Abbot, John de Marinis (1302-1308). This was built of
+Purbeck marble and consists of a basement 2 ft. 6 in. high, 8 ft. 6 in.
+long, and 3 ft. 2 in. wide, above which were four canopied niches at
+each side and one at each end; these were richly painted and probably
+contained other relics; in the spandrels were carved figures, at the
+corners angels censing. At the west end was a representation of St.
+Alban's martyrdom; on the south side in the centre was, and still is, a
+figure of King Offa holding the model of a church; in the next spandrel
+to the east the figure of another king; on the east side a
+representation of the scourging of St. Alban, and on the north other
+figures, of which the only one remaining is that of a bishop or mitred
+abbot. In the pediments or gables were carvings of foliage, and round
+the top of the pedestal ran a richly carved cornice; round the base
+stood fourteen detached shafts, on which perhaps the movable canopy
+rested, and outside three other shafts of twisted pattern on each side,
+which carried six huge candles, probably kept burning day and night,
+certainly during the night, to light the chamber holding the shrine. On
+this lofty pedestal, 8 ft. 3 in. high, the glorious shrine rested. It
+was rendered still more ornate than it was in Abbot Symeon's time by the
+addition of a silver-gilt turret, on the lower part of which was a
+representation of the Resurrection with two angels and four knights
+(suggested by the guard of Roman soldiers) keeping the tomb. A
+silver-gilt eagle of cunning craftsmanship stood on the shrine. All
+these additions were given by Abbot Thomas de la Mare (1349-1396). A
+certain monk also gave two representations of the sun in solid gold,
+surrounded by rays of silver tipped with precious stones. Over all was a
+canopy which, like many modern font-covers, was probably suspended by a
+rope running over a pulley in the roof, by which it might be raised.
+There is a mark in the roof remaining, possibly caused by the fastening
+of the pulley. An altar, dedicated to St. Alban, stood at the west end
+of the pedestal.
+
+There are two quarry-shaped openings to be noticed on the north side of
+the pedestal near the floor level, one of which extends right through to
+the south side. Into these diseased arms or legs might be thrust for
+cure by virtue of the saint. At the time of the dissolution the shrine
+disappeared, and the marble pedestal was broken up into small fragments.
+In 1847 the rector, Dr. Nicholson, found a few of these, when opening
+the two northern of the blocked-up arches to the east of the chapel; and
+in 1872, when the wall that closed the end of the south aisle was
+removed and excavations were made to find the level of the aisle floor,
+many more fragments, numbering in all about two thousand, were found.
+These were carefully put together by Mr. Chapple, clerk of the works,
+some plain stone being used to take the part of missing portions, with
+the result that we see to-day, from which we can form some idea of the
+appearance of the shrine in the days of its glory, even to the colour
+decoration, for some of the fragments bear the original paint and gold.
+
+[Illustration: WATCHING LOFT.]
+
+Such a precious thing as this jewelled shrine and the still more
+precious bones within it could not be left for a moment unguarded and
+unwatched, for stealing relics, when a favourable opportunity arose, was
+a temptation too great to be resisted by any monks, however holy. So on
+the south side of the shrine was erected a watching loft; the one that
+remains was constructed probably during the reign of Richard II., as his
+badge appears on it, but, no doubt, from the first there was some such
+place provided for the purpose of keeping guard. A similar loft may be
+seen in the cathedral church of St. Frideswide at Oxford, and a watching
+loft of a different construction in the south triforium at Malmesbury.
+The chamber had two stories; the lower contained cupboards, in which
+vestments and relics were kept, these are now filled with various
+antiquarian curiosities, Roman pottery from Verulamium, architectural
+fragments, etc. An oaken staircase leads up into the chamber where the
+"custos feretri" sat watching the shrine day and night, guard of course
+being changed at intervals. It must have been trying work watching there
+during the night-time in frosty weather, but monks were accustomed to
+bear cold. The watching chamber (see illustrations, pp. 66, 72) was
+built of oak and was richly carved. On the south side of the cornice are
+angels, the hart--badge of Richard II., the martyrdom of St. Alban, Time
+the reaper, and the seasons; on the north the months of the year are
+represented.
+
+The west side of this chapel is closed by the back of Wallingford's
+screen, on which may be seen five statues representing St. Peter, St.
+John, St. Mary, St. Stephen, and St. Michael. The eastern side is closed
+by a low wall, erected by Lord Grimthorpe in place of the wall by which
+these arches were completely blocked up after the dissolution. It was
+here that some of the fragments of the pedestal were found. Into his new
+wall Lord Grimthorpe has built some old fragments of carved work found
+in different places of the church.
+
+The south side of this chapel is formed of the monument over the grave
+of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, surnamed "good" by an admiring people,
+though some modern historians hold that he had little real claim to this
+title. He was the son of Henry IV., and therefore brother of Henry V.,
+and was uncle of Henry VI. and guardian to the young King in the early
+part of his reign. He who likes may read in any history of the part he
+played in the affairs of the country: how he incurred the hatred of the
+unscrupulous and vindictive Queen of Henry VI., Margaret of Anjou,
+"she-wolf of France"; how he was murdered by Suffolk, with, it is said,
+the connivance of the Queen and Cardinal Beaufort. It was at one time
+supposed that he was buried in London, but there is little doubt that he
+found a resting-place in a grave prepared for him in St. Alban's Abbey,
+on March 4, 1447. This would be during the time that John Stokes was
+Abbot, between the two abbacies of John of Wheathampstead. The body was
+discovered in its leaden coffin during the reign of Queen Anne, when
+another grave was being dug. The coffin was opened, and the duke's body
+was discovered to be in a good state of preservation in the coffin,
+which is described as being "full of pickle." It is said that at one
+time the vergers would, for a due consideration, allow visitors to carry
+away the smaller bones when, owing to the body having been removed from
+the preserving fluid, nothing but a skeleton was left.
+
+[Illustration: MONUMENT OF HUMPHREY, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER.]
+
+The monument is a handsome one. It was probably erected by
+Wheathampstead, who had been on terms of intimacy with the duke, when he
+for the second time became Abbot. The canopy over the grave is richly
+carved; the antelopes we see on it were the badge of the duke. His
+epitaph speaks of him, among other things, as
+
+                     Fraudis ineptae
+    Detector, dum ficta notat miracula caeci.
+
+This refers to the story told of him by Sir Thomas More, how he
+convicted an impostor who claimed to have been born blind, but to have
+received sight at St. Alban's shrine, by asking him the colour of the
+garments that the duke himself and others were wearing; all these
+questions were correctly answered by the beggar, who forgot for the
+moment that one born blind who had only just received his sight, would
+not have known the _names_ of the various colours, though he might
+distinguish one colour from another. The beggar was punished for his
+imposture by being set in the stocks.
+
+This story is introduced into the first scene of the second act; of the
+second part of "Henry VI.," a reproduction of a St. Albans legend in
+which some students of the play will find an argument for attributing
+the play to Francis Bacon, who lived close by and would be likely to
+know the stories current in the town.
+
+#The Tower and Bells.#--The ringing loft is reached by a staircase
+starting from the door near the north-west corner of the north arm of
+the transept. The steps were originally built of Roman bricks, but at
+the time of the restoration had fresh treads of stone laid on them, so
+that the ascent is an easy one; from this staircase one passes along the
+triforium gallery of the western side of the transept, and then up a
+staircase in the turret at the north-west angle of the tower to a room
+whose floor is above the flat ceiling of the lantern visible from the
+floor of the church. The bells are in the next story, and at no great
+height above the floor of the ringing loft. In the ringing loft may be
+seen boards on which are inscribed records of several memorable sets of
+changes that have been rung, with the dates, the number of changes, the
+time occupied, which was generally between three and four hours, and the
+names of the ringers and the number of the bell that each one pulled.
+The peal consists of eight bells; the tenor is in the key of E flat, and
+measures 4 ft. 6 in. in diameter, and is calculated to weigh about 28
+cwt. The whole peal was originally cast in London by Philip Wightman in
+the year 1699; but the second, fifth, and sixth bells were recast in the
+middle of the eighteenth century, and the treble in 1845. On the tenor
+may be read the following legend: "Vivos ad coelum, moritu[r]os ad solum
+pulsata voco." The clock was in great measure reconstructed under Lord
+Grimthorpe's direction and fitted with his gravity escapement; it
+strikes the quarter chimes on the second, third, fourth, and seventh
+bells, and the hours on the tenor. The mechanism of the chimes, which
+play at three, six, nine, and twelve o'clock, was remade by Mr. Godman,
+of St. Stephen's parish; this mechanism may be described as a kind of
+gigantic musical box. A huge cylinder revolves, on which are projecting
+pegs of brass, which as the cylinder goes round catch against wooden
+levers which raise clappers that in their fall strike the bells. The
+same tune is played all through each day, but a different tune is played
+each day of the week; at the end of the week the barrel is automatically
+set so as to begin the series of tunes again. There is, moreover,
+another tune--the Trinity hymn--which can be set by hand, and this is
+used on the greater festivals.
+
+Besides the peal of eight the sacring bell which once hung near the high
+altar is now hung in the tower.
+
+It may be well to finish the description of the church with a few notes
+about the material used and the method of building, abbreviated from a
+paper by Mr. James Neale. He says that during the restoration many
+examples were found of lead dowels in the joints of detached shafts.
+Sinkings were cut in the upper surface of the lower stone and in the
+lower surface of the upper, so that when in place these sinkings would
+be opposite to each other; a small hole one-eighth inch in diameter was
+then bored in the upper stone, through which lead was poured into the
+sinkings. The mortar used between the outer stones of the
+fourteenth-century bays of the nave was mixed with oyster-shells,
+contained a large amount of lime, and was very hard. There is much
+clunch stone used in the interior and this is in a good state of
+preservation, but any that has been used externally has decayed. The
+abaci of the Early English capitals in the main arcade are of Barnack
+stone, which is harder than clunch and so more suitable for bearing a
+weight. The Norman stonework was cut with an axe, the Transition with a
+chisel. The Early English is bolster-tooled; the Decorated ashlar
+(including the bays on the south side of the nave) is claw-tooled, the
+mouldings being scraped; the Perpendicular is finely scraped.
+
+[Illustration: SOUTH CHOIR AISLE.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE HISTORY OF THE MONASTERY AND SEE.
+
+
+Although, as stated in Chapter I., Albanus suffered martyrdom in 303
+A.D., and a small church was soon afterwards built over his grave, and
+another of larger size subsequently erected, it was not until the eighth
+century that the monastery was founded.
+
+The foundation was an act of atonement on the part of Offa II., King of
+the Mercians, in the year 793. In the previous year he had been at the
+court of Ethelbert, King of East Anglia, and was a suitor for the hand
+of his daughter. But he treacherously murdered his host and took
+possession of his kingdom. Either as a politic effort to remove the evil
+reputation of such deeds, or as a conscientious offering to regain the
+favour of Heaven by means of a great work for the Church, Offa resolved
+to found a monastery, in honour of the protomartyr of Britain, upon the
+site of the martyrdom. The first thing to do was to discover the actual
+remains of St. Alban. The story of the discovery would not be complete
+without a vision and a miracle. Accordingly a vision is said to have
+appeared to the King at Bath, and a miraculous light to have guided him
+to the spot where the coffin was found. This had been purposely removed
+from its first resting-place within the walls of the church, for fear of
+its being desecrated by the Saxons, who certainly did reduce the
+building almost to a ruin. The coffin was found to contain the body of
+the martyr, as well as the precious relics which had been placed within
+it by the Bishop of Auxerre. Their presence establishes the identity of
+the remains. The church was then repaired so as to be able to preserve
+safely the reliquary which contained the precious relics "until a more
+worthy edifice should be built." Permission to build and endow the
+monastery was obtained from Pope Adrian I., the King making a special
+journey to Rome in order to procure it. The martyr was canonized at the
+same time. At some later time a valuable concession was granted to the
+new monastery: the tribute known as Peter's Pence being assigned to it,
+while the lands belonging to the Abbey were exempted from the payment.
+This grant applied to the whole of Offa's kingdom. The payment of
+Peter's Pence had only been instituted sixty-six years previously, the
+object being to maintain a Saxon college at Rome. Offa lived to see the
+monastery established and partially endowed. He himself gave one of the
+royal manors to the endowment, but he did not live long enough even to
+make a beginning of the grand church he appears to have had in
+contemplation, for he died not long after his return from Rome, some
+authorities giving the year 794 as the date of his death, others 796.
+
+The monastery was of the Benedictine order. Though it became important,
+and at last the chief of the Benedictine houses in England, it was not
+one of the earliest. The Benedictine order had been introduced into
+England in 596, and forty-five monasteries had been founded before that
+of St. Alban's. Many of these were little more than cells, and many were
+afterwards absorbed into the larger establishments. Yet several very
+famous abbeys were founded at least a century before Offa founded St.
+Alban's.
+
+Many of the early Abbots of St. Albans were men of mark and of influence
+in the national councils, and some of them were closely related to the
+royal family. The Chronicles, however, tell us but little of them,
+except when the Abbey itself is concerned. Some notes on the Abbots will
+now be given.
+
+1. #Willegod# (793-796). His rule, we are told, was short but prudent.
+His death is attributed to vexation at not being able to obtain the body
+of Offa for burial in the Abbey. He died two months after the King. The
+chronicler charitably hopes that Offa's name is written in the book of
+life, although his mortal remains are not honourably preserved. Offa's
+son and successor, Ecgfrid, confirmed his father's charter and gave
+another manor to the Abbey.
+
+2. #Eadric.# He was elected in 796, according to the express wishes of
+the founder, from among the inmates of the monastery. He was of royal
+blood and had the King's support in some critical difficulties, and
+ruled with discretion.
+
+3. #Wulsig.# This Abbot, like his predecessor, a monk and akin to the
+King, scandalized the house by hunting in lay attire; and by
+entertaining noble ladies within the precincts. He wasted the substance
+of the Abbey by bestowing it upon his relations. Most of the property
+that he had alienated was recovered after his death, and those whom he
+had fattened died miserably in poverty. It is said that he was much
+hated by the monks and died of poison.
+
+4. #Wulnoth.# He began well, but after a few years gave himself up to
+sport habited as a layman. He is said to have ruled eleven years, and to
+have repented when affected by paralysis, and to have made a happy end.
+The chronicler adds with sly humour that his change to holiness was
+brought about "_faciendo de necessitate virtutem._" In his time the
+Danes plundered the Abbey of its treasures, vestments and sacred
+vessels, and carried off the bones of St. Alban to Owense (probably
+Odense in Funen). The sacrist Egwin was much distressed at the loss of
+this his greatest treasure, and prayed that he might see the body
+brought back. St. Alban appeared to him in a vision, and bade him go to
+Owense and there await instructions. After a year's stay at the
+monastery he was admitted into the brotherhood and became sacrist, never
+revealing the fact that he had come from St. Albans. Long did he wait
+for an opportunity of carrying away the sacred bones, until one winter's
+night he found means of removing them from the shrine wherein they were
+kept, and packing them in a chest, which he gave to an English merchant
+whom he knew, bidding him take it to St. Albans. He said that it
+contained books which the Abbot had lent him, and which he was now
+returning; he added that he would shortly bring the key himself, or, if
+he could not come himself, would send it by a messenger. Together with
+the chest, which in due course was delivered, a letter was sent
+detailing the circumstances of his pious fraud; this was read by the
+Abbot in chapter, to the great joy of the brethren. Egwin shortly after
+this obtained leave to make a journey to England, and when safely in the
+Abbey he wrote to the monks at Owense, telling them what he had done.
+Some of them denounced him as guilty of sacrilege, others justified his
+action. When he opened the chest in the chapter-house at St. Albans
+miraculous cures were wrought on many who were infirm, both in the Abbey
+and in the town.
+
+5. #Eadfrith.# This Abbot was handsome in person, but despicable in his
+deeds. He never attended the services in the choir. During his time
+Wulfa, the prior, built an oratory in honour of Germanus on the spot
+where the rude dwelling he had occupied when visiting St. Albans lay in
+ruins. After Wulfa's death Eadfrith saw the error of his ways, resigned
+his office, became a hermit, and died a holy man.
+
+No new Abbot was appointed for a year, as the monks were divided into
+two parties in favour of rival candidates.
+
+6. #Wulsin.# The bishop after a time intervened and put an end to the
+dissension, and the monks unanimously elected Wulsin, or Ulsinus. He
+helped the inhabitants of the town to build the three churches of St.
+Michael, St. Stephen, and St. Peter (see Appendix). He died holy and
+full of days.
+
+7. #Ĉlfric.# This Abbot purchased of King Eadgar a large fishpond which
+was too near the Abbey to be pleasant; he drained it, leaving only a
+small pool of water and a bed of reeds, converting the rest of it into
+gardens. He translated into Saxon some of the historical books of the
+Old Testament. His doctrine on the Lord's Supper, as expounded in a
+letter to Wulfstan, Bishop of Sherborne, which is preserved at Exeter,
+was identical with that of the twenty-eighth Article of Religion. He
+died "full of days, eminent for sanctity, after having achieved many
+praiseworthy actions."
+
+8. #Ealdred.# He ruled but for a short time, but was a benefactor to the
+town. He cleared away much of the ruins of Verulamium, especially those
+caverns which had become the abode of robbers and outlaws. He also
+collected materials (chiefly from the Roman ruins)--tiles, stone, and
+timber--with a view to the rebuilding of the abbey church.
+
+9. #Eadmer.# He was pious, courteous, learned, but he left the monastery
+much in debt, so that some possessions had to be sold and some timber to
+be cut down.
+
+10. #Ĉlfric# is described as of singular and conspicuous merit. He wrote
+a history of St. Alban, and arranged it for musical recitation. Being
+afraid of a Danish invasion, and thinking that the relics of the
+protomartyr, which had already been once carried away to Denmark, would
+not be safe in the shrine as it stood, he hid them under the altar of
+St. Nicholas, and at the same time pretended to send them to Ely for
+safe custody, giving the authorities at Ely to understand that the true
+relics were being committed to their charge; this, it is said, he did
+being a prudent and circumspect man, and fearing that the men at Ely
+would be blinded by covetousness, and refuse to return the true relics
+if they once got them into their possession. The Danish invasion was
+soon over, the King being drowned, and then Ĉlfric demanded from the
+monks of Ely the relics he had intrusted to their care. The caution he
+had exercised was justified by the conduct of the Ely monks; for they,
+thinking that the bones they had were really those of St. Alban, at
+first refused to return them, but at last consented to do so. The bones,
+however, that they sent back were not those they had received. It is
+plain that these old monks were not always to be trusted to behave in an
+honourable manner when precious relics were concerned. The chronicler,
+however, who tells the story, considers the conduct of the monks of St.
+Albans in sending spurious relics was "pious," while the behaviour of
+the monks of Ely was "detestable and disgraceful"--but then the
+chronicler was a monk of St. Albans. Ĉlfric bought the royal palace of
+Kingsbury and its land near the Abbey, demolishing the whole of the
+palace except one tower. Ĉlfric in 995 was promoted to the office of
+Archbishop of Canterbury.
+
+11. #Leofric.#[10] This Abbot was half brother to Ĉlfric. During a great
+famine he spent large sums in the relief of the poor, devoting to this
+purpose even some of the treasures that had been got together for the
+rebuilding of the church, and many gold and silver vessels assigned to
+his own use in the Abbey. The monks, however, objected to this
+conversion of the property of the Abbey to uses for which it was not
+originally intended.
+
+    [10] The "Gesta Abbatum" reverses the order of the two Abbots,
+         Ĉlfric and Leofric, but this is probably wrong. It is recorded
+         that Leofric had the offer of the archbishopric, but declined,
+         saying that his brother Ĉlfric was far more fit for the post
+         than he, and it is supposed that when Ĉlfric became Archbishop
+         in 995, Leofric succeeded him as Abbot.
+
+12. #Leofstan.# This Abbot was confessor to King Edward (the Confessor)
+and his Queen Edith. He acquired much land for the Abbey, and cleared
+away the woods between London and St. Albans, to make the roads safer
+for travellers. To secure the good services of a knight as protector of
+the Abbey he assigned him a certain manor; the service was faithfully
+performed. The Normans, when they came, dispossessed the holder, and
+conferred the manor upon Roger, a Norman knight, who, strange to say,
+fulfilled the conditions on which his predecessor had held the land. At
+Leofstan's death the Abbey was in a state of the greatest prosperity.
+
+13. #Frithric.# This Abbot was chosen in the reign of Harold as leader
+of the southerners against the Normans, just as Aldred, Archbishop of
+York, was chosen as the leader of the northcountrymen. William
+accordingly ravaged the possessions of the monastery. After the
+Conquest, when William was accepted as King, Frithric administered to
+him the oath that he would keep inviolate all the laws of the realm,
+which former kings, especially Edward, had established. Needless to say,
+William soon began to disregard this oath, and despoiled the Abbey of
+St. Alban's more and more, till Frithric in despair resigned his office
+as Abbot and retired to Ely, where he soon died. The monks of Ely
+pretended that he took with him to their monastery the precious relics
+of St. Alban the Martyr.
+
+14. #Paul of Caen# (1077-1093). A great change now comes over the
+history of the monastery. The new Abbot was a Norman and a kinsman of
+Lanfranc, the first Norman Archbishop of Canterbury. Like Lanfranc, who
+had been Abbot of Caen, he resolved to rebuild his church, and, like
+Lanfranc, adopted in England the style he had been accustomed to at
+Caen; but his ideas on the matter of size were far grander than that of
+his former Abbot, for St. Alban's Abbey Church far surpassed in its
+dimensions the cathedral church which the new archbishop built at
+Canterbury. As we have already seen (Chap. I.), he used the Roman bricks
+from the ruined city of Verulamium as building material. Important as
+this work was, the account of it occupies but a few lines in the
+Chronicles. In these it is mentioned that Lanfranc contributed 1,000
+marks towards the cost. Paul was an energetic man, as may be seen by the
+short time occupied in building this large church; but it was not only
+in providing a new church that he was active, for it is recorded that he
+reformed the lives and manners of the monks, secured the restoration of
+land that had been alienated, founded cells as occasion demanded, and
+persuaded lay donors to give largely to the Abbey--tithes, bells, plate,
+and books. Robert Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, gave the Priory of
+Tynemouth, which he had founded, to the Abbey of St. Albans. Abbot Paul
+died on his way home from a visit to this new priory, and was buried
+magnificently in his own Abbey.
+
+The "Gesta Abbatum" begins at this point to sum up the good and evil
+deeds of the abbots. Among Paul's shortcomings the following are
+mentioned: he lost property through negligence; he destroyed the tombs
+of his English predecessors in the Abbey; he did not secure as he should
+have done the bones of Offa for his new church; he alienated the woods
+of Northame; he bestowed some of the property of the Abbey upon his
+illiterate kinsfolk. Yet, on the whole, his good deeds outweighed his
+evil ones. William II., after Paul's death, kept the Abbey in his own
+hands for four years, using, as was his wont, the revenues for his own
+advantage. His death in the New Forest was considered by the monks of
+the Abbey as a special punishment for the extortion he had practised on
+them.
+
+15. #Richard d'Aubeny# or #d'Albini# (1097-1119). This Abbot, a Norman,
+was a man of much influence, and during his rule the Abbey was very
+prosperous. He presented many and valuable ornaments to the church: a
+shrine wrought in gold for the relics of the apostles, which Germanus
+had placed in St. Alban's coffin in the fifth century; another shrine of
+ivory and gilt, for the relics of martyrs and saints; a great number of
+vestments and many valuable books. During his time, 1104, the relics of
+St. Cuthbert were translated from the temporary shrine which Bishop
+Carileph had erected over them to the new Cathedral Church at Durham,
+and Abbot Richard, as head of Tynemouth Priory, was present on that
+occasion, and a miracle was worked upon him, for his withered arm was
+cured by being brought into contact with St. Cuthbert's body. In
+gratitude for this benefit, he built a chapel in honour of St. Cuthbert
+in his own Abbey. For some reason the Abbey, though no doubt used, had
+not hitherto been consecrated. This omission was made good on the
+festival of the Holy Innocents, 1115, by Geoffrey, Archbishop of Rouen,
+the Bishops of Lincoln, London, Durham and Salisbury assisting. Henry
+III., his Queen Matilda, the chief nobles and prelates of the kingdom,
+were present and stayed at the Abbey from December 27th until the Feast
+of the Epiphany (January 6th). Wymondham Priory in Norfolk was founded
+by William, Count of Arundel, and conferred on St. Albans during Abbot
+Richard's rule. Like his predecessor, he enriched his relations at the
+expense of the Abbey, and is further blamed by the chronicler for having
+promised that the Abbey should be subject for the future not to the
+Archbishop but to the Bishop of Lincoln.[11] This change seems to have
+led to a stricter rule and so was displeasing to the monks, though it is
+admitted that the Archbishop had not treated the Abbey well.
+
+    [11] The church remained in this diocese until 1845, when it was
+         handed over to Rochester, although, as will be seen afterwards,
+         the Abbey was made independent of the Bishop of Lincoln's
+         jurisdiction.
+
+16. #Geoffrey of Gorham# (1119-1146). This Abbot came from Maine, where
+he had been born. He had been invited to take charge of the monastery
+school, but did not arrive in time, so he opened a school at Dunstable.
+On one occasion, when a miracle play was being performed by his
+scholars, he borrowed some vestments of the Abbey; these were
+unfortunately destroyed in a fire; unable to pay for them, he offered
+himself as a sacrifice and became a monk. He was unanimously elected
+Abbot on the death of his predecessor, but at first was reluctant to
+accept the office, though finally his reluctance was overcome. He made a
+most energetic ruler. He increased the allowances to the kitchen,
+cellars, and almonry. He ordered that the revenues of certain rectories
+should be used for providing ornaments, for a fabric fund, and for the
+infirmary. He founded and endowed the leper hospital of St. Julian on
+the London Road, and established the nunnery of Sopwell (see Appendix)
+for thirteen sisters. He built the guest hall, the infirmary, and its
+chapel. He also began to construct a new shrine for the relics of the
+saint, but after spending £60 on it discontinued the work to give
+himself breathing time, and never went on with it again. He felt himself
+constrained to sell some of the materials he had collected for this
+purpose, to obtain money for the relief of the poor during a famine. A
+long description is preserved of the decoration of the shrine. Among
+other precious things worked into it was an eagle with outstretched
+wings, the gift of King Ethelred. Although it was not quite finished, it
+was sufficiently so as to be ready to receive the bones of the martyr.
+The remains were examined in the presence of Alexander, Bishop of
+Lincoln, and sundry Abbots in 1129. The genuineness of the relics, so it
+is said, was established by appearances of the saint to divers persons
+as well as by miracles. One shoulder blade was missing; but this, as it
+afterwards appeared, had been given by a former Abbot, at the request of
+King Canute, to the reigning duke of some foreign land, who had founded
+a cathedral church on purpose to receive so precious a relic. A long
+list is given of the valuable gifts this Abbot made to the monastery and
+church. During his time lived the hermits Roger and Sigur, and the
+recluse Christina, whose story has been told in Chapter III.
+
+At this time also Henry I. granted to the Abbots the Liberty of St.
+Albans, which gave them the power of trying minor offences, which had
+hitherto been tried in the civil courts of the hundred and the shire.
+
+There are only two faults that are recorded of this Abbot: first, he
+gave some of the Abbey tithe to the support of the church that he had
+rebuilt; and, secondly, he was too easy in business dealings and allowed
+himself to be imposed upon.
+
+17. #Randulf of Gobion# (1146-1151). This Abbot had previously been
+chaplain and treasurer to the Bishop of Lincoln. He erected the Abbot's
+chamber and other useful buildings, and freed the Abbey from debt. He
+deposed the Prior because he suspected that a seal he found not yet
+engraved had been prepared for a new Abbot, and that this indicated a
+desire on the part of the Prior and monks to depose him. He is said to
+have burnt a rich chasuble in order to obtain the gold with which it was
+embroidered, and to have removed the gold plates from the shrine to
+procure money to make a purchase of land--the rent of which, however,
+went to the Abbey, not himself--while keeping the gold plate used at his
+own table. He was allowed to nominate a successor, and then resigned,
+dying shortly afterwards.
+
+18. #Robert of Gorham# (1151-1166). He was a nephew of Geoffrey of
+Gorham, sixteenth Abbot. He had been a monk abroad, but coming on a
+visit to his uncle he obtained permission to "migrate" to St. Albans. In
+time he became Prior. As Abbot he managed the affairs of the Abbey with
+prudence. He repaired and releaded the church, whitened it within and
+without, that is to say, renewed the plaster with which from the first
+it had probably been covered. Matthew Paris tells us that one Nicholas
+Breakspear, a clerk from Langley, applied to him for admission to the
+Abbey, but was refused, as he failed to pass his entrance examination.
+"Wait, my son," said the Abbot, "and go on with your schooling so as to
+become more fit." Nicholas is spoken of as a youth, but he must have
+been about fifty years of age when Robert became Abbot, and was
+certainly Bishop of Albano within a year or two of that date, and became
+Pope, under the name of Adrian IV., in 1154, the only Englishman that
+has ever sat in St. Peter's chair. If there is any truth in the story of
+his rejection at St. Albans, it must have happened earlier than the
+abbacy of Robert. King Stephen visited the Abbey, and Robert obtained
+his authority to level the remains of the camp, that is, the tower that
+Ĉlfric, the tenth Abbot, had allowed to remain standing at Kingsbury,
+which had become a den of robbers.
+
+Soon after Breakspear had become Pope, Robert and three bishops from the
+foreign dominions of Henry II. went as envoys to him from the King; the
+Abbot hoped that the Pope's connection with St. Albans, for his father
+had become late in life a monk there, would induce him to enlarge its
+privileges. Knowing that the dignitaries at Rome and the members of the
+Pope's household were wellnigh insatiable, he distributed valuable gifts
+among them to secure their good offices with the Pope. Robert complained
+of the intolerable oppression of the Bishop of Lincoln, and the
+insolence of his agents, and obtained from Adrian complete exemption
+from episcopal supervision. The Abbey henceforth was to be subject to
+Rome alone. When the Pope's letter granting this exemption was exhibited
+at a council in London, the greatest indignation was expressed. An
+agreement was, however, at last signed between the Bishop of Lincoln and
+the Abbot, three bishops intervening in the interest of peace. Abbot
+Robert then sent two of his nephews, monks, to Rome with still more
+presents, and as a result of their mission further privileges and
+liberties were granted to the Abbot; he was, among other things, allowed
+to wear pontifical robes. The Bishop of Lincoln was exasperated, but did
+not dare to defy the Pope's authority. Adrian IV. was poisoned in 1158,
+and the next Pope granted a new and important privilege to St. Albans;
+what it was is not stated. The Bishop of Lincoln now thought it was time
+to assert himself. He declared his intention of visiting the Abbey as
+its Bishop, and ordered that suitable preparations should be made for
+his reception. The Abbot refused to receive him. He was, on a complaint
+made by the Bishop, cited before the King's Court and called on to
+justify his action. After a protracted investigation lasting for three
+or four years, the King assented to the Abbot's wearing a mitre, and
+recommended him to buy off further opposition on the part of the Bishop
+by a grant of certain lands, which were worth £10 a year. At Easter,
+1163, Abbot Robert celebrated Mass wearing for the first time mitre,
+ring, gloves, and sandals. He also at the Council of Tours in the same
+year took the first seat among the English Abbots, the Abbot of St.
+Edmondsbury vainly attempting to take it from him. He gave costly gifts
+to the church, built the chapter-house and the Locutorium, the Chapel of
+St. Nicholas, part of the cloister, the long stable, granary, larder,
+and two solars. He was buried in the new chapter-house, leaving the
+monastery in debt, caused no doubt by his lavish expenditure in bribery
+at Rome. On his death in October, 1166, the King kept the abbacy vacant
+for several months, for at this time the great conflict between the King
+and the Archbishop, Becket, was raging, and the King wished visibly to
+assert his authority.
+
+19. #Symeon# (1167-1183). Symeon had been Prior, and therefore had been
+acting head of the monastery since Robert's death. He was a literary man
+and an encourager of learning. Being an intimate friend of Thomas
+Becket, he went to Prince Henry, the King's son, to intercede for the
+Archbishop and bring about a reconciliation, if possible, with the King;
+but he was driven from the court with contumely. Symeon finished the
+shrine. The feretory made by Abbot Geoffrey still contained the bones of
+the martyr; this was now covered by the work of Abbot Symeon, which was
+made of large size so as to contain the other. The relics of Amphibalus
+were discovered about this time at Redbourn, where he had been put to
+death. The Bishop of Durham dedicated the Chapel of St. Cuthbert which
+had been built by Richard (fifteenth Abbot). Like several of the other
+Abbots, Symeon enriched his relations and left the Abbey in debt.
+
+20. #Warren#, or #Warin, of Cambridge# (1183-1195). This Abbot was of
+low birth, but had risen to the position of Prior. The sacrist alone
+opposed his election on account of his birth and also because he
+squinted, and predicted all manner of evils to the monastery if he were
+elected Abbot. Henry II., soon after the new Abbot had been appointed,
+and the Bishop of Lincoln happening to be at St. Albans at the same
+time, the Bishop brought up the old grievance about the Abbey having
+been made independent of him, but the King silenced him with angry
+words. Warren founded a leper hospital for women as Geoffrey had founded
+one for men. This hospital was dissolved by Wolsey in 1526, its revenues
+going towards the endowment of Christ Church, Oxford. The bones of
+Amphibalus were removed from the locker in which they were kept, and
+placed in a new shrine adorned with gold and silver. This Abbot made
+numerous regulations concerning the domestic affairs of the monastery;
+one dealt with the dress, another made better provision for sick monks,
+another shortened the services, another allowed meat in the infirmary,
+yet another ordered that all dead monks should be buried in stone
+coffins, not merely laid in earth graves. This Abbot, in lieu of
+delivering up the chalice which Richard I. had demanded from all English
+abbeys wherewith to pay his ransom, sent 200 marks of silver. Shortly
+before his death he set aside 100 marks to be given to his successor for
+renewing the west front of the church. Among his faults it is noted that
+he was self-willed, that he banished to distant cells any of the
+brethren that offended him, and that he felled timber belonging to the
+Abbey and sent the proceeds as presents to the King and Queen.
+
+21. #John de Cella# (1195-1214). This Abbot derived his name from the
+Cell of Wallingford, of which he had been Prior. He was learned, pious,
+and a good disciplinarian. He left the secular affairs of the Abbey to
+be managed by the Prior and Cellarer, and devoted himself to his
+religious duties, and to the fabric. He pulled down the Norman west
+front with the intention of rebuilding it; he dug foundations, but after
+he had spent Warren's legacy of 100 marks his walls had not risen above
+the ground level. His master of the works led him into needless expense,
+and as progress was so slow the Abbot became dispirited. He, however,
+got another master of the works and started afresh, assigning to the
+building fund one sheaf of wheat from every acre. This arrangement
+lasted during the whole of his rule and for many years afterwards, but
+progress was still slow. Gifts of gold and silver, considerable sums of
+money collected by a wandering preacher, who pretended to be Amphibalus,
+restored to life, were all consumed. At last in weariness of heart the
+Abbot gave himself to other work; he began to build a new refectory and
+dormitory, persuading the monks to give up wine for fifteen years, and
+contribute the money so saved to the cost of the new building. He had a
+great reputation for sanctity. At times, when he was saying mass,
+responses were sung, so it is said, by voices not of this world. He
+limited the number of monks to a hundred. King John ordered him to say
+mass during the interdict, but he refused, whereupon John seized the
+monastery and ejected the monks, and only on payment of 600 marks, and
+afterwards of 500 more, would he restore the Abbey to its rightful
+owners.
+
+22. #William of Trumpington# (1214-1235). This Abbot was an entirely
+different style of man from his predecessor. He was much addicted to
+social enjoyment, was a good man of business, and looked into matters
+thoroughly for himself; he visited all the cells belonging to the Abbey,
+and carried on the work of building in an energetic manner. The
+dormitory was finished, the aisles were roofed with oak, an octagon
+built on the tower, and, chief of all, the long-delayed work at the west
+end was resumed and finished. The sacrist, Walter of Colchester, was an
+excellent carver and carved a handsome pulpit with a great cross
+thereon, and statues of St. John and the Virgin. The shrine of St.
+Amphibalus, which had stood to the south of that of St. Alban, was moved
+to the middle of the nave and inclosed within iron screenwork; much
+other carving was done in the church and many new altars dedicated. A
+fine bell was given for services in honour of our Lady; the Chapel of
+St. Cuthbert with a dormitory over it for seven monks was rebuilt; most
+of the walls were replastered; cloister walks were built, fitted with
+oak beams, ceiled and covered with oak shingles. This Abbot acquired
+much property for the Abbey, but during the civil wars large sums were
+extorted by either party. In 1235 the church was struck by lightning and
+set on fire, but fortunately a tank of rainwater was close at hand, and
+the fire was soon extinguished. As the Abbot died eight days afterwards,
+the accident was looked upon as a presage of his coming death.
+
+23. #John of Hertford# (1235-1260). He had been sacristan and afterwards
+prior of the cell at Hertford. The Pope's bull confirming his election
+required him to present himself at Rome every three years. The church
+was again struck by lightning, notwithstanding the fact that the
+impression of the Pope's seal, bearing an image of the Lamb of God, had
+been duly placed on the top of the tower as a protection against
+lightning. Abbot John built the guest-house, and devoted the revenues of
+three rectories to the improvement of the quality of the ale, and for
+the providing of better entertainment for guests. He repaired many of
+the buildings belonging to the Abbey, the granary, water mills, houses
+in London, etc. At the coronation of Henry III. the Abbot of St. Albans
+took precedence of all the mitred abbots; and though afterwards the
+Abbot of Westminster obtained precedence, yet in 1536 the signature of
+Abbot Catton of St. Albans stands first, that of Abbot Benson of
+Westminster following, in the list of names attached to the "Articles of
+Faith" drawn up by Convocation. So it would appear that the Abbots of
+St. Albans had by this time recovered their rights of precedence. When
+the see of Lincoln was vacant, the Archbishop proposed to hold an
+ordination in St. Albans Abbey, but was refused permission. During this
+Abbot's rule the Pope demanded more than once large sums of money; the
+Abbot refused to pay, and in consequence of his refusal the church was
+put under an interdict. At this time lived the celebrated monk Matthew
+of Paris, to whom we owe much of the knowledge we possess of the history
+of the Abbey up to his own days. The Chronicles carry us nearly up to
+the end of Abbot John's rule, Matthew himself dying only a year before
+the Abbot. For the subsequent history, up to the abbacy of Thomas de la
+Mare, thirtieth Abbot, we are indebted to Thomas of Walsingham. Matthew
+was born about 1200, and though of English descent derived his surname
+from the French capital, either because it was his birthplace, or
+because he was a student at its university. He became a monk of St.
+Albans on January 21st, 1217. He went with Abbot John of Hertford to
+London to be present at the marriage of Henry III. to Eleanor of
+Provence, 1236; and again he went to Westminster Abbey for the
+celebration of the feast of the founder, on which occasion he was asked
+by the King to write an account of the proceedings. He was sent on a
+mission to the Benedictine monastery at Trondhjem in 1248, attended the
+royal court at Winchester in 1251, and was present at the marriage of
+Henry's daughter to the Scottish King, Alexander II. When Henry III.
+spent a week at St. Albans in 1257, he admitted Matthew to his table and
+treated him with great confidence, communicating many facts and details
+of his life to him. Matthew afterwards exerted his influence with the
+King in behalf of the University of Oxford, when its privileges were in
+danger from the encroachments of the Bishop of Lincoln. His great work
+was the "Historia Major." This professes to give the outlines of human
+history from the Creation up to 1259. The work up to 1189 seems to have
+been compiled by John de Cella, from 1189 to 1235 by Roger of Wendover.
+Matthew of Paris transcribed and edited the work of his two
+predecessors, and continued the history from 1235 to 1259. He shows
+himself in it a warm advocate of English rights and liberties, and an
+opponent of papal and regal tyranny. It is the best early history we
+have of our own country up to the beginning of the Barons' War, and is
+also an authority on Continental affairs. He wrote too an abridgement of
+this work, leaving out the parts dealing with foreign history; this he
+called "Historia Anglorum." He also wrote "The Lives of the two Offas"
+and the "Lives of Twenty-three Abbots of St. Albans," whence most of the
+details of the history of the Abbey given here have been derived. Thomas
+of Walsingham, who continued the history, lived in the reigns of Henry
+IV. and Henry V.
+
+Against Abbot John it is alleged that he had his commons sent to his
+private room, instead of taking his meals with the brethren in the
+refectory. When he died he was buried with great honour, "as became so
+great a father."
+
+24. #Roger of Norton# (1260-1290). The new Abbot had been one of the
+monks; his appointment was confirmed by Pope Urban in 1263. During his
+rule the monastery flourished, notwithstanding the disturbed state of
+the country in the early years of it. He acquired many new possessions;
+the infirmary was rebuilt; the Abbot's lodgings were repaired; many
+ornaments, vestments, books, a silver thurible, and three new bells were
+procured. He made regulations for the preservation of the Abbey
+property, the management of the servants and tenants, and for the
+careful custody of the Abbey swans. Much litigation took place during
+his abbacy. Queen Eleanor claimed one of the manors, but was not able to
+make good her claim. A controversy about the appointment of the Prior of
+the cell at Wymondham arose between the Abbot and the Countess of
+Arundel, which was finally settled by an agreement that the Countess
+should nominate three persons, of whom the Abbot was to select one.
+Another dispute arose between the Abbot and the townspeople, about
+grinding corn and fulling cloth. The people claimed the right of having
+handmills in their houses, the Abbot insisted on his mills being used;
+the matter was referred to the law courts and decided in the Abbot's
+favour. Although through negligence some property was lost, yet this
+Abbot's character was highly commended:
+
+    Hic quem dedit Dominus nobis in rectorem
+    Prudenter sustinuit onus et honorem.
+
+He was strict in government, of good life and conversation, eminently
+religious, distinguished for his learning. He was paralyzed for three
+years before his death, and when he died his body was buried before the
+high altar, but his heart was placed in a small box of Eastern
+workmanship before one of the altars in the retro-choir.
+
+25. #John of Berkhamstead# (1290-1301). This Abbot was installed on St.
+Alban's Day, 1291. The King, Edward I., visited the Abbey during the
+vacancy, and again after the appointment of the new Abbot. The conduct
+of the King's agent before the election had been very extortionate. The
+claim of the Warden of Hertford Castle to certain tolls within the
+Abbot's liberty was the subject of a long investigation; in the end the
+claim was disallowed. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert of
+Winchelsea, sent a message that he wished for hospitality in the Abbey,
+but the Abbot refused to entertain him unless he would sign a paper
+undertaking that his visit should not in any way prejudice the
+privileges granted by the Pope, the Abbey being stated to belong "ad
+Romanam Ecclesiam, nullo medio." The Archbishop declined to sign this
+document, and so had to put up with lodgings outside the Abbey
+precincts. When he arrived the bells of St. Stephen's Church were not
+rung in his honour, whereupon the Archbishop put the church under an
+interdict; but the clergy paid no attention to this, and conducted the
+services as usual. During his rule the body of Queen Eleanor rested at
+St. Albans, and one of the Eleanor crosses was erected and remained here
+until 1702, when it was destroyed. A drinking fountain now occupies its
+site. In 1302 the Abbot obtained from Edward I. a confirmation of all
+the grants that had been made to the Abbey by former kings. This Abbot
+does not receive a very good character from the chronicler: he cut down
+and sold too much timber, granted too many pensions, and deprived
+several of the priors of the cells without sufficient cause.
+
+26. #John de Marinis# (1302-1308). This Abbot had been Cellarer, and
+afterwards Prior, for fourteen years, before his election as Abbot. The
+full list of the fees and expenses connected with his confirmation at
+Rome is given. The sum was enormous: 2,500 marks and 400 shillings.
+
+He offended Edward II. by refusing to supply some carriages and horses
+which the King had demanded, and so when Edward came to St. Albans he
+refused to see the Abbot. The latter tried to appease the King by a
+present made through the notorious favourite Piers Gaveston, and also by
+a grant of the manor of Westwood, which was beyond his power to give,
+but all to no purpose. Most of the records of his rule relate to rights
+of property and regulations respecting the monks. As his end approached
+he made a statement of his liabilities. He owed £1,300 and had never
+paid the 1,000 marks due to the King at the last vacancy. We are told
+that he was constant, not given to much talk, honest in his life,
+religious, and circumspect.
+
+27. #Hugh of Eversden# (1308-1326). This Abbot, who had been Cellarer
+for five years, is described as being tall and handsome, able to speak
+French and English well, but with little knowledge of Latin. On this
+account he wished to avoid going to Rome, and sent his proctors instead
+to obtain the Pope's confirmation of his election--but they, having
+incurred much expense, returned to say that the Pope insisted on the new
+Abbot appearing at Rome in person. By liberal presents he made a
+favourable impression at Rome, but the journey, beyond the payments of
+first-fruits, cost him more than £1,000. With the help of a legacy from
+Reginald of St. Albans he finished the Lady Chapel and the retro-choir,
+in which he placed the shrine of St. Amphibalus. King Edward II. paid a
+second visit to the Abbey, and on being told by the Abbot of the
+benefactions of Edward I. gave 100 marks and much timber towards the
+work then in progress. The Abbot was twice besieged in his Abbey by the
+townspeople; they desired to be answerable to the King and not the
+Abbot. They gained their point, though they were compelled to surrender
+to the next Abbot the privileges they had obtained of Abbot Hugh. It was
+during the rule of this Abbot that the piers in the main arcade of the
+nave gave way while mass was being said on St. Paulinus' Day, 1323, and
+he had to begin repairing this part of the church.
+
+28. #Richard of Wallingford# (1326-1334). He was of humble birth; his
+father was a blacksmith. After taking his degree at Oxford he became a
+monk, and resided at St. Albans for three years, when he again went to
+Oxford and studied philosophy and theology there for nine years. He was
+on a visit to St. Albans at the time of the death of Abbot Hugh. He was
+elected Abbot, but the election was found to be informal, so he resigned
+his claim to the Pope, who thereupon appointed him Abbot. He wrote a
+Register of things done in his time, compiled a book of Decretals and
+Constitutions of Provincial Chapters, and sundry works on geometry and
+astronomy. He constructed a clock showing the courses of the sun and
+moon, the ebb and flow of the tides, etc., which Leland, Librarian to
+Henry VIII., speaks of as still going in his day. He also made an
+astronomical instrument to which he gave the name "Albion," and wrote a
+book describing the manner of using it. Edward III., visiting the Abbey
+and seeing the clock being constructed, while the damage done by the
+fall of the nave piers in his predecessor's time had not been fully
+repaired, remonstrated with the Abbot, who replied that anyone could
+repair the church, but few could construct a clock such as he was
+making.
+
+It is said that he suffered from leprosy and that his death was hastened
+by the shock caused by a terrible thunderstorm on St. Andrew's Eve,
+1334, which set some of the domestic buildings on fire. The fire was put
+out before much damage was done, but the Abbot died.
+
+29. #Michael of Mentmore# (1335-1349). He was a graduate of Oxford, a
+monk of St. Albans, and had been appointed Master of the Schools. He
+finished the repairs to the south arcading and south aisle begun by
+Abbot Hugh, built three altars, and vaulted the aisle. He baptized in
+1341 Edmund of Langley, fifth son of Edward III., from whom the House of
+York was descended. Philippa, the Queen, went to the Abbey to be
+churched and gave the Abbey a cloth of gold. The Abbot, the Prior, the
+sub-prior and forty-seven monks fell victims to the terrible plague
+known as the Black Death, which was ravaging the country in 1349. He is
+described as being pious, patient, and meek like Moses.
+
+30. #Thomas de la Mare# (1349-1396). He was a man of high birth, and was
+connected with many people of importance, among them probably Sir Peter
+de la Mare, the first Speaker of the House of Commons. He became a monk
+at St. Albans, and was sent to Wymondham, recalled to St. Albans, and
+afterwards became kitchener, cellarer, and then Prior at Tynemouth in
+Northumberland. When Abbot Michael died the Prior of Wymondham was
+elected, but declined the abbacy, whereupon Thomas de la Mare was
+elected. One of the proctors who started with him to Rome died on the
+way of the Black Death. The new Abbot himself, after his appointment had
+been confirmed, was taken seriously ill at Rome, but recovered with
+great suddenness. He was a great favourite with Edward III., and it is
+said that King John of France, who was taken prisoner at Poictiers in
+1356, was for a time committed to his charge; he treated John with great
+moderation and respect, and King John afterwards showed his appreciation
+of his treatment by releasing some St. Albans men who were prisoners of
+war in France, bidding them tell the Abbot that they owed their release
+to him. The Abbot was strict in correcting faults, curbing excesses,
+cutting away abuses, and putting things right; he was revered by all,
+feared by many. He was appointed by the King as visitor to numerous
+monasteries, and in 1351 was President of a general chapter of
+Benedictines. Moreover his knowledge of painting was such that Edward
+III. appointed him master of the painters assigned for the works to be
+executed at the chapel of the Palace of Westminster, and the ornamental
+painting and glazing of St. Stephen's Chapel was carried on for several
+years under his supervision. After having been Abbot for some years he
+wished to resign, but Edward III. would not hear of it. In the time of
+Richard II. an attack was made by the followers of Wat Tyler on the
+Abbey. They succeeded in extorting certain charters from the Abbot, but
+after the collapse of the rebellion the King himself came to the Abbey
+and stayed there for eight days, summoning all the commons of the county
+to make oath to do suit and service to the Abbot and the convent in the
+customary manner. He rebuilt the Great Gate of the Abbey (see Appendix).
+He died on September 15th, 1396, having been Abbot for forty-seven
+years, a longer period than any of his predecessors or successors. He
+was buried before the high altar and a brass to his memory may now be
+seen in the Wheathampstead chantry.
+
+31. #John de la Moots# (1396-1401). He had held several offices in the
+Abbey before his election as Abbot, and when Cellarer had been put in
+the pillory in Luton Market, "in hatred to the Abbot and utter contempt
+of religion." The conspiracy to dethrone Richard II. was first formed at
+the dinner table of this Abbot, when the Duke of Gloucester and the
+Prior of Westminster were dining with him. In 1399 the body of John of
+Gaunt rested in the Abbey on its way to London, his son, Henry Beaufort,
+Bishop of Lincoln, being allowed to conduct a service in the Abbey; and
+in the same year Richard II. and Henry, Duke of Lancaster, lodged at St.
+Albans. On arrival in London Richard II. was dethroned, and the Bishop
+of Carlisle, who took his side, was seized by order of the Duke of
+Lancaster, soon to be known as Henry IV., and carried as a prisoner to
+St. Albans; he was, however, afterwards pardoned by Henry. A dispute for
+precedence between this Abbot and the Abbot of Westminster occurred.
+John died in 1401.
+
+32. #William Heyworth# (1401-1420). This Abbot was promoted to the see
+of Lichfield in 1420, died in 1446 or 1447, and was buried in St.
+Alban's Abbey.
+
+[Illustration: JOHN OF WHEATHAMPSTEAD'S CHANTRY.]
+
+33. #John of Wheathampstead# (1420-1440 and 1451-1464). The Abbot's
+surname was Bostock, and it is supposed, as on his mother's grave in
+Wheathampstead Church a shield bearing the Heyworth arms is found, that
+John was a kinsman of his predecessor. To increase the revenue he
+admitted many gentlemen and ladies of high rank to the confraternity;
+this admission was a mere honour, conferring indeed the right to vote in
+the chapter, but not imposing any duties or monastic restrictions on
+those thus admitted. Among the names of those admitted in 1423 we find
+those of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and Jaqueline his wife, whom he
+subsequently divorced; in 1431 his new wife, Eleanor, was admitted. John
+procured by royal grant lands in various quarters, and also, in order
+that he might secure himself against any charges which might be made
+against him, a pardon for diverse offences, of none of which was he in
+all probability guilty--treason, murder, rape, rebellion, conspiracy,
+etc. A strange light is thrown by this upon monkish morals of the day;
+one would have thought no abbot would ever have been supposed possible
+of committing such offences. These were disturbed times, for the King,
+Henry VI., was imbecile and various nobles were intriguing against each
+other for power. The star of Humphrey of Gloucester, the Abbot's friend,
+was setting, and other troubles threatened the nation, so Abbot John
+resigned in 1440.
+
+34. #John Stokes# (1440-1451). This Abbot ruled for eleven years, and
+then either died or resigned. During his rule Eleanor, Duchess of
+Gloucester, was tried for witchcraft, was imprisoned in the Tower, and
+did penance in the streets of London. Her husband died, or more probably
+was murdered, in 1447, and was buried in the Abbey on the south side of
+St. Alban's shrine.
+
+33. In 1451 Abbot John of Wheathampstead, though over eighty years of
+age, was re-elected. Soon after his election he gave his church a "pair
+of organs," surpassing all others in England in size, tone, and
+workmanship.
+
+In 1455 the Wars of the Roses began with the first battle of St. Albans
+(May 23rd), fought to the east of the town. In this the White Rose party
+were victorious; the King was taken prisoner and lodged for the night in
+the Abbey. The victorious army plundered the town, but the Abbot by
+sending out plenty of wine and food saved his monastery.
+
+In 1459 King Henry was again at the Abbey and spent Easter there,
+ordering his best robe to be given to the Prior when he left.
+
+Another battle was fought, this time to the north of the town, on
+February 17th, 1461. Henry was at this time in the hands of the Yorkists
+and at St. Albans. The Queen, having defeated and slain the Duke of York
+at Wakefield, marched southward at the head of an undisciplined horde of
+18,000 men--Scotch, Irish, Welsh, and English--to rescue her husband.
+The Earl of Warwick at first drove the Queen's troops out of St. Peter's
+Street to Barnard's Heath with great slaughter, but, owing to treachery
+on the part of one of the Yorkist leaders, the fortunes of the day
+changed, and Margaret drove Warwick before her towards the town. He,
+however, rallied his forces and retreated in good order to London,
+though he had to leave Henry behind him. The royal party went to the
+Abbey, where they were enthusiastically received by the monks, who
+chanted thanksgivings for the victory; they were led to the high altar
+and to the shrine of St. Alban. But the victorious troops, being little
+better than barbarians, flushed with unexpected victory, committed
+fearful excesses in the town, and even plundered the Abbey. Hitherto
+Abbot John had been a strong partisan of the Lancastrians, but the
+treatment he received turned him into a staunch Yorkist. Edward IV. when
+he came to the throne granted the Abbot the right to hear and try all
+causes, even treason, with full power of sentencing to death. The Abbots
+continued to exercise these powers till 1533. In 1462 the Abbot
+presented a petition to the King, setting forth the impoverished state
+of the Abbey; this led to further powers being granted to the Abbot.
+Wheathampstead had been ordained in 1382 and, according to canon law,
+must have been twenty-five years of age, so he must have been over a
+hundred and five when he died in 1463. He, as we have seen (Chap. I.),
+made many changes for the worse in the fabric of the church; the
+character of the work was partly due to the time in which he lived, for
+the age of great architecture was over, and partly to lack of funds.
+
+35. #William Alban# (1464-1476).
+
+36. #William of Wallingford# (1476-1484). This Abbot's name will be
+remembered because the high altar screen was his work, and is generally
+called Wallingford's screen. It is said that his management of the
+revenues of the Abbey was prudent, and that he was energetic in
+defending his rights; but it would seem that he was not equally
+energetic in repressing irregularities within its walls. During the
+interregnum that followed his tenure of office things went on from bad
+to worse, so that the Archbishop sent a monition to the Abbey reciting a
+bull which had been sent to him as legate. This bull directed the
+Archbishop to visit all the larger monasteries in which he had reason to
+suspect that evil practices prevailed, and the Archbishop threatens to
+visit St. Albans because he has heard of cases of simony, usury, lavish
+expenditure, and immorality. He says unless within sixty days things are
+reduced to order, not only in the monastery but also in the nunneries of
+Pré and Sopwell and other cells, he will visit personally or by
+commission to inquire into matters and set things in order. The Abbot
+died in 1484, but his successor was not appointed until 1492.
+
+37. #Thomas Ramryge# (1492- ). No details of events during the rule of
+this Abbot exist, nor is the date of his death known.
+
+38. #Thomas Wolsey# (1521-1529). This great cardinal was invested with
+the temporalities on December 7th, 1521, and held the Abbey "in
+commendam." There is no record of his ever having resided in the Abbey,
+but he probably put a stop to the printing which had been carried on in
+the Abbey from 1480 onwards. He also made a gift of plate to the Abbey.
+He held the office of Abbot until his disgrace in 1529.
+
+39. #Robert Catton# (1530-1538). This Abbot was really appointed by
+Henry VIII., but was nominally elected by the chapter. He had been Prior
+of Norwich. The Abbey printing press was again in use in his time. He
+seems to have been deprived during his lifetime, for what reason we
+cannot say.
+
+40. #Robert Boreman of Stevenage# (1538-1539). This Abbot was a nominee
+of the King, and was chosen by him because Henry knew that he would be
+willing to surrender the Abbey. This he did on December 5th, 1539. It
+was part of the policy of Henry VIII. to make it appear that the
+monasteries were _voluntarily_ surrendered by the abbot and chapter, and
+it was generally made worth their while to do so by a liberal pension.
+In some cases the abbots refused, among them the last Abbot of
+Glastonbury, who paid dearly for his refusal, as he was hanged on a hill
+commanding a view of the possessions of the Abbey, which not being his
+to part with he had refused to surrender, though, of course, the nominal
+charge against him was not the real one. Abbot Boreman, however, made no
+objection, and received a yearly pension of £266 13s. 4d., so was a rich
+man for the rest of his days. Pensions of varying amounts were given to
+his monks. Boreman and twenty of the monks were in receipt of them when
+Mary came to the throne. Mary wished to revive the Abbey and put Boreman
+over it, but did not live to carry out her intended plan. The monastic
+buildings very rapidly disappeared; the church became parochial, and has
+been served by the following sixteen rectors:
+
+    George Wetherhall, appointed             1553.
+    Archdeacon William East.
+    Archdeacon James Dugdale,                1556.
+    Edward Edgeworth,                        1578.
+    Roger Williams,                          1582.
+    John Brown.
+    Archdeacon Edward Carter,                1662.
+    Archdeacon John Cole,                    1687.
+    Archdeacon John Cole (II.),              1713.
+    Benjamin Preedy,                         1754.
+    Joseph Spooner,                          1779.
+    John Payler Nicholson,                   1796.
+    Henry Small,                             1817.
+    Henry J.B. Nicholson,                    1835.
+    Sir John C. Hawkins, Bart.,              1866.
+    Archdeacon Walter John Lawrance,[12]     1868.
+
+    [12] Dean since July, 1900.
+
+The Church of St. Albans was in the diocese of Lincoln until 1845, when
+it was handed over to Rochester. In 1877 Parliament passed a bill for
+the division of the populous diocese of Rochester into two parts; the
+northern to be called the see of St. Albans, the southern to retain the
+name of Rochester. The Right Rev. Dr. Claughton, then Bishop of
+Rochester, elected to take the northern division of his old diocese and
+became Bishop of St. Albans. He was succeeded in 1890 by John Wogan
+Festing, D.D., who died in 1903.
+
+Both of these bishops are buried in the churchyard on the north side of
+the nave. On Dr. Festing's death the Right Rev. Edgar Jacob, D.D., was
+translated to St. Albans from the diocese of Newcastle, and was
+enthroned in May, 1903.
+
+The Church of St. Albans, although legally a cathedral church, yet
+differs in certain particulars from most of the other churches of this
+rank in England. It is also used as a parish church, of which the Dean
+is rector. He has the same powers, responsibilities, and duties as the
+rector of any other parish. It is sometimes said that the nave is the
+parish, and the part eastward of the rood screen the cathedral church,
+but it is not so. The Dean as rector has power over the whole, and
+parishioners have right of access to every part of the building, just as
+in any other parish church; and the Dean as their rector can be called
+upon to baptize, marry, visit, and bury the people under his charge.
+Churchwardens are also appointed and have their statutory rights. There
+are some honorary canons, but as yet no "canons residentiary," nor are
+there "priests vicars" (or "minor canons"), lay vicars, or choristers on
+the foundation. The choir is a voluntary one, the clergy under the Dean
+are curates.
+
+The two parts of the church that are ordinarily in use are the Lady
+Chapel, where morning and evening prayer is said daily on week-days, and
+the nave, which is used for the Sunday services. There is at present no
+high altar in place under the great screen, but one will probably be
+placed there as soon as the final touches are put by Mr. Gilbert to the
+carved work of the reredos. The choir proper is not, however, capable of
+holding a large congregation. It was, of course, originally intended to
+hold the monks only. The part eastward of the stalls might on special
+occasions, such as the enthronement of a bishop, the installation of a
+dean, be temporarily fitted with chairs, but it is not likely that any
+permanent seats will be placed here, since as a matter of fact the nave
+and Lady Chapel answer all ordinary requirements.
+
+[Illustration: OLD FLOOR TILE.]
+
+[Illustration: THE GREAT GATE.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE NEIGHBOURHOOD.
+
+
+#The Great Gatehouse.#--In the days of its prosperity the Abbey was
+surrounded by a wall within which, as was usually the case, were placed
+all the buildings that were necessary for monastic life: cloister,
+dormitory, refectory, kitchen, chapter-house, infirmary, guest-house,
+stables, dovecote, granary, garden, orchard, vineyard, lodgings for the
+abbot, prior, cellarer, cook, and servants, fish-house, fish-ponds, as
+well as cemeteries for dead brethren. A number of gatehouses gave access
+to this inclosure: the Great Gate, which alone remains standing; the
+Waxhouse Gate, where the tapers used for burning before the shrines were
+made; the Water-gate, St. Germain's gate, and others. The chief of these
+was the Great Gate to the west of the Abbey Church. It was built in the
+time of Thomas de la Mare about 1365, on the site of a previously
+existing gatehouse which had been destroyed by a violent gale a few
+years earlier. It was not only a gateway, but a prison wherein offending
+monks, and also laymen of the town, over which the Abbot had civic
+jurisdiction, were imprisoned. The Gatehouse was stormed by rioters in
+the time of Wat Tyler's rebellion, the monks in their terror giving wine
+and beer to their assailants, but news arriving of Wat Tyler's death,
+the rioters dispersed; the ringleaders were tried and condemned to
+death, among them John Ball, who, with his seventeen condemned
+companions, passed the time between their trial and execution in the
+dungeons beneath the Gatehouse. In 1480 a printing press was set up in
+this gatehouse; after the dissolution it was used as the borough gaol.
+During the Napoleonic wars some French prisoners were confined within
+the walls. In 1868 the Gatehouse was found too small for use as a gaol,
+and a new prison was built near the Midland Station. The Gatehouse was
+bought by the governors of the grammar school, and in 1870 the school
+was removed from the Lady Chapel to the Gatehouse. There are dungeons
+beneath the level of the roadway; over the archway is the large room
+where the sessions used to be held, with other rooms on either side. In
+this building some old chimney-pieces may still be seen. Although the
+present foundation dates from the reign of Edward VI., yet a school had
+existed in St. Albans from very early time. Some think it was founded by
+Ulsinus. Be this as it may, it is certain that Geoffrey de Gorham, who
+was afterwards Abbot (1119-1146), first came to England during the time
+of Richard of Albini (the fifteenth Abbot), with a view of being master
+of the school. In 1195 we read that the school had more scholars than
+any other in England. The school in these early days stood to the north
+of the Great Gate on the other side of the street that runs down the
+hill on the north side of the triangular graveyard known as Romelands,
+where a Protestant martyr, one George Tankerfield, a cook, born in York,
+but living in London, was burnt on August 26th, 1555, during the reign
+of Mary I.
+
+#Sopwell Nunnery.#--There are a few remains of Sopwell Nunnery in a
+field near the river Ver, to the south-east of the city. They may be
+reached by taking the first turning to the right hand after crossing the
+bridge on the way from the city down Holywell Hill. This nunnery was
+founded by Geoffrey of Gorham, sixteenth Abbot, about the middle of the
+twelfth century. Two women, pious and ascetic, had taken up their abode
+on this spot in a hut which they built for themselves, and Geoffrey
+determined to build them a more permanent dwelling, and make them the
+nucleus of a religious house. They accepted the Benedictine Rule, and
+gradually the nunnery increased in size, and many ladies of high birth
+took the veil here. One of the abbesses wrote the "Boke of St. Albans,"
+not, as might be imagined, an account of the saint or of the religious
+house, but a treatise on hawking, hunting, and fishing. It was printed
+in 1483 at the St. Albans printing press. When the nunnery was
+dissolved, Sir Richard Lee, to whom the Abbey lands were granted, turned
+it into a dwelling-house for himself. The ruins consist of ivy-clad
+walls of brick and flint, pierced by square-headed windows, but
+containing few interesting features.
+
+The name is said to have been derived from the fact that the two women
+mentioned above soaked or sopped their dry bread in water drawn from the
+Holy Well or some well in the immediate neighbourhood of their hut.
+
+#St. Peter's Church.#--This church, standing at no great distance from
+the cathedral, may be reached by taking the footway called the
+Cloisters, crossing High Street, passing between the Clock Tower and the
+picturesque and ancient inn, the Fleur de Lys, and through the quaint
+street of gabled houses known as French Row, into St. Peter's Street.
+
+The church was originally built about 948 A.D., by Ulsinus, the sixth
+Abbot of St. Albans, but none of his work remains. It seems to have been
+almost entirely rebuilt at the end of the fifteenth century, and most of
+it is Perpendicular in character. It has a central tower rebuilt about a
+hundred years ago, and until that time had a transept. There is a
+clerestory on either side of the nave. The chancel and the west end with
+its circular window show signs of Lord Grimthorpe's style of
+restoration. The tower contains a fine peal of ten bells. In the windows
+of the south aisle is some richly coloured modern Belgian glass by
+Capronnier; in the windows of the north aisle are some fragments of
+fourteenth or fifteenth century glass, including the arms of Edmund, the
+fifth son of Edward III., from whom in the male line Edward IV. was
+descended, though he also traced his descent and his claim to the throne
+from Lionel, the third son, through his daughter Philippa.
+
+In the churchyard, which is of considerable extent, many of those who
+fell in the two battles of St. Albans were buried.
+
+#St. Michael's Church.#--St. Michael's Church is further from the
+cathedral than St. Peter's. To reach it one must go westward from the
+Clock Tower, along High Street and its continuations, down the hill past
+Romelands, where, as we have seen, George Tankerfield, condemned by
+Bishop Bonner as a Protestant heretic, was burnt at the stake. At last a
+bridge over the Ver is reached, and, turning round to the left after
+crossing it, we see St. Michael's Church before us. It has within the
+last ten years lost its Saxon tower, a new one with no pretention to
+beauty, pierced by two pentagonal windows in the third stage, having
+been built on a slightly different foundation. It stands within the area
+once inclosed by the walls of Verulamium, and Sir Gilbert Scott
+conjectured that it was originally the Basilica of the Roman city
+altered for Christian worship; but probably, though it may stand on the
+same site, it is of more recent date, though still of great age. Like
+the cathedral, its walls are built of Roman brick and flint. The plan is
+irregular: there is a nave and chancel, a large south aisle, or rather
+chantry, the eastern gable of which is of half-timber construction,
+below which are two tall round-headed windows far apart, with a small
+circular opening between them; the western gable has an opening with
+louvre boards. The tower projects from the north aisle, its western wall
+being flush with the west end of the nave; on the outside in the south
+wall of the chancel is a canopied niche over a flat slab a few inches
+above the level of the ground. The south door, within a porch, has a
+pointed top beneath a wide, round-headed arch springing from imposts.
+The arcading of the nave was formed by cutting arches through what
+probably were at one time the outside walls of the church; two of these
+on the south side open into the chapel. The carved oak pulpit of early
+seventeenth-century work, with its sounding-board and iron frame for the
+hour-glass, demands attention; but the chief attraction of the church
+for many is the alabaster statue of Francis Bacon, which is placed in a
+niche in the north wall of the chancel. He wished to be buried in this
+church, as his mother was already buried there, and moreover it was the
+parish church of his house at Gorhambury, and the only Christian church
+within the walls of ancient Verulam, from which he took one of his
+titles.
+
+[Illustration: MONUMENT OF LORD BACON. "_Sic sedebat._"]
+
+#St. Stephen's Church.#--There are two ways of getting to this church:
+either by following the road that runs south from St. Michael's, and
+after reaching the top of the hill turning sharply to the left; or by
+going from the centre of the city down Holywell Hill and straight on,
+past the London and North-Western Railway Station, up St. Stephen's
+Hill. The church spire is a conspicuous landmark. The churchyard is
+exceedingly pretty, and the church most interesting. It was originally
+built in the tenth century by Abbot Ulsinus, rebuilt in the time of
+Henry I., restored in the fifteenth, and again by Sir Gilbert Scott in
+the nineteenth century. The south porch is of timber; under it is a
+square-headed doorway; to the east of it is a chapel once called "the
+Leper's Chapel," but probably a chantry, now used as a vestry. There is
+a small aisle on the south side. The spire is a broach and stands at the
+west end. On the north side of the nave is a wide, blocked-up,
+round-headed arch; through the blocking wall a pointed doorway was cut,
+but this is also now blocked up. There is a door of Perpendicular style,
+with a square-headed label terminated by heads much weathered, in the
+west wall of the tower. The walls of this church are of the usual
+materials, flint and Roman brick.
+
+The lectern is of brass, and bears round its foot the inscription
+"Georgius Creichtoun Episcopus Dunkeldensis." There were two Scotch
+bishops of this name; both lived in the sixteenth century. How the
+lectern reached St. Albans no one knows for certain, but it may possibly
+have been part of the plunder carried off by Sir Richard Lee from
+Scotland. It was hidden for safety in a grave at the time of the civil
+wars, but was found again in 1748 when the vault was opened.
+
+[Illustration: THE OLD ROUND HOUSE, "THE FIGHTING COCKS."]
+
+#The Clock Tower.#--This is a most conspicuous object in the city,
+standing near the market-place, almost due north of the Lady Chapel. It
+was built at the beginning of the fifteenth century in order that the
+curfew bell might be hung in it. This had been cast some seventy years
+before the building of the tower, and had hung in the central tower of
+the Abbey Church; it weighs about a ton. It bears the inscription:
+"Missi de coelis, habeo nomen Gabrielis." The tower was restored under
+the direction of Sir Gilbert Scott in 1865, and in the process has lost
+most of the interest it possessed.
+
+#The Old Round House.#--This curious old house, also known as "The
+Fighting Cocks," stands near the river at the bottom of the roadway that
+leads down from the town through the Great Gate, and probably occupies
+the position of the Abbey gate that was known as St. Germain's Gate.
+There is little doubt that the foundations of this house date back to
+the time of the monastery, and may have been the foundations of the
+gateway. The cellars, it is said, appear to have an opening into some
+subterranean way. The name of "Fighting Cocks" no doubt indicates that
+after the dissolution of the monastery a cockpit existed here. It is
+said that it was at St. Germain's Gatehouse that the monks kept their
+fishing tackle, rods and nets. A claim is made for this building, that
+it is the oldest inhabited house in England, a claim that many other
+buildings may well dispute.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+Abbots, chronological account of, 82-103.
+Ĉlfric, Abbot, 84.
+Ĉlfric II., Abbot, 4.
+Aisles of nave, interior, south, 44,
+    north, 46;
+  exterior, south, 26,
+    north, 31;
+  of choir (south), 48.
+Alban, St., 4;
+  site of his martyrdom, 5, 6.
+Altarpiece, 57,
+  (old) 68.
+Amphibalus, St., 5;
+  shrine of, 13, 14, 63.
+Andrew's, St., Church, 12, 31, 48.
+
+Bacon, Lord, his monument, 110.
+Baluster shafts, Saxon, 50.
+Battles of St. Albans, 71, 101.
+Bells, 78.
+Berkhampstead, John of, Abbot, 96.
+Bishops of St. Albans, 104.
+Bishop's Throne, 53.
+Boreman, Robert, last Abbot, 15, 103.
+Bricks, Roman, 10, 24.
+
+Catton, Robert, Abbot, 103.
+Ceiling of choir and lantern, 53.
+Chapels (apsidal) of transept (now destroyed), 51, 53.
+Choir (exterior), 28;
+  ritual, 53.
+Christina, Prioress of Markyate, 49.
+Church bought by the town, 16.
+Claughton, Bishop, 18.
+Clerestory, nave, 42.
+Clock Tower of the town, 111.
+Cloister, site of, 26.
+"Cloisters, The," 31.
+
+D'Aubeny, Richard, Abbot, 87.
+Dedication of church, 7.
+De la Mare, Thomas, Abbot, 98.
+De la Moote, John, Abbot, 99.
+De Marinis, John, Abbot, 96.
+Dimensions of the Cathedral, 115.
+Door, Abbot's, 26.
+Doors, from the western entrance, 68.
+
+Eadfrith, Abbot, 83.
+Eadmer, Abbot, 7, 84.
+Eadric, Abbot, 82.
+Ealdred, Abbot, 84.
+Eversden, Hugh of, Abbot, 97 (_v._ Hugh).
+
+Fall of piers in 1323, 13.
+Floor of the church, 35, 36.
+Font, 46.
+Frescoes in the nave, 40;
+  in the choir, 53.
+Frithric, Abbot, 85.
+
+Gatehouse, The Great, 106.
+Geoffrey of Gorham, Abbot, 88,107.
+Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, 6.
+Gloucester, Humphrey, Duke of, 62, 76;
+  his monument, 76.
+Gorham, Abbots, Geoffrey of, 88;
+  Robert of, 89.
+Grammar School, 16, 107.
+
+Henry VI., King, 101.
+Hertford, John of, Abbot, 93.
+Heyworth, William, Abbot, 100.
+Hugh of Eversden, Abbot, 13, 14, 44, 70, 97.
+
+John de Cella, Abbot, 10, 12, 92.
+John de Marinis, Abbot, 96.
+John of Hertford, Abbot, 13, 43.
+John of Wheathampstead, Abbot, 14, 101.
+
+Lady Chapel, the, 20, 29, 68-72.
+Length of the building, 36, 37.
+Leofric, Abbot, 85.
+Leofstan, Abbot, 85.
+
+Mandeville, Sir John, 37.
+Markyate, Benedictine cell, 49.
+Mentmore, Michael of, Abbot, 14, 98.
+Monastery (Benedictine), founded, 6;
+  history of, 81.
+
+Nave, interior, 36-48.
+Norton, John of, Abbot, 70, 95.
+Nunnery, Sopwell, 107.
+
+Organ, the, 44.
+
+Paul of Caen, Abbot, 7, 24, 32, 86.
+Plan of Norman church, 9.
+Porches (thirteenth century), of west front, 10-12.
+Presbytery, 54, 61.
+Pulpit in nave, 44;
+  in choir, 61.
+
+Ramryge, Thomas, Abbot, 58-60, 103;
+  his chantry, 14, 15, 60, 70.
+Randulf, Abbot, 89.
+Rectors of St. Albans, 104.
+Retro-choir, 63, 67.
+Richard of Wallingford, Abbot, 14, 97.
+Robert of Gorham, Abbot, 89.
+Roger the Hermit, 49.
+Rood-screen, 42.
+Roof restored, 18.
+Round House, 112.
+
+Saint's Chapel, the, 72.
+St. Andrew's Church, 12, 31, 48.
+St. Michael's Church, 108.
+St. Peter's Church, 108.
+St. Stephen's Church, 110.
+
+Shrine of St. Alban, 72-75.
+Sigar, hermit, 49, 50.
+Slype, the, 20, 52.
+Sopwell Nunnery, 107.
+Stokes, John, Abbot, 101.
+Stoup (north aisle of nave), 46;
+  in south choir aisle, 61.
+Symeon, Abbot, 91.
+
+Transept (exterior), 27, 29;
+  (interior), 50, 52.
+Triforium, nave, 41, 42.
+Tower, central, 10, 14, 17, 31, 79;
+  interior, 53.
+Towers, western, 8, 9.
+Trumpington, William of, Abbot, 93.
+
+Verulamium, 4, 7;
+  Synod held at, 6.
+
+Wallingford, Richard of, Abbot, 61, 97.
+Wallingford screen, 21, 57-59, 76.
+Wallingford, William of, Abbot, 102.
+Waring, Abbot, 49, 91.
+Watching Loft, 66, 68, 75.
+Wax-house, 29.
+Weatherall, G., first rector, 16.
+West front, 10, 19, 23.
+Wheathampstead, John of, Abbot, 71, 100, 101;
+  his chantry, 57.
+William of Trumpington, Abbot, 12, 93.
+William of Wallingford, Abbot, 14, 102.
+Willigod, Abbot, 82.
+Windows in transept, 19.
+Wolsey, Thomas, Abbot, 103.
+Wulnoth, Abbot, 83.
+Wulsig, Abbot, 82.
+Wulsin, Abbot, 84.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+DIMENSIONS OF THE CATHEDRAL.[13]
+
+
+Total length, external                       550 ft.
+  "      "    internal                       520 ft.
+Length of high roofs                         425 ft.
+  "    of nave from west door to screen      205 ft.
+  "    of choir and presbytery               169 ft.
+  "    of Lady Chapel                         57 ft.
+  "    of transept, interior                 177 ft.
+Width of nave with aisles                     75 ft. 4 in.
+  "       "   without aisles, between piers   29 ft. 6 in. to 31 ft. 6 in.
+  "   of presbytery                           75 ft. to 78 ft.
+  "   of west front, exterior                105 ft.
+  "   of transept, interior                   32 ft. to 33 ft. 6 in.
+  "         "      exterior                   54 ft. 4 in.
+  "   of Lady Chapel, interior                24 ft.
+Diameter of tower piers, east and west        16 ft.
+Distance between tower piers each way         24 ft.
+Height of tower piers                         43 ft.
+  "         "   arches                        55 ft.
+  "    of tower                              144 ft.
+Width of tower, east and west, exterior       47 ft.
+  "        "    north and south, exterior     45 ft.
+Height of nave ceiling (from floor)           66 ft. 4 in.
+  "    of ridge of high roofs                 96 ft.
+  "    of Lady Chapel vault                   33 ft.
+Total internal area (about)                   39,240 sq. ft.
+Height of floor above mean sea-level         340 ft.
+
+    [13] These are the dimensions given by Lord Grimthorpe; the
+         altitudes, except when otherwise stated, are measured from the
+         level of the floor at the west doorways.
+
+
+[Illustration: GROUND-PLAN OF ST. ALBANS CATHEDRAL.]
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BELL'S CATHEDRALS: THE CATHEDRAL
+CHURCH OF SAINT ALBANS***
+
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of
+Saint Albans, by Thomas Perkins</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Saint Albans</p>
+<p>       With an Account of the Fabric &amp; a Short History of the Abbey</p>
+<p>Author: Thomas Perkins</p>
+<p>Release Date: October 8, 2006  [eBook #19494]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BELL'S CATHEDRALS: THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF SAINT ALBANS***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Gary Houston,<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed  Proofreading Team<br />
+    (http://www.pgdp.net/)</h4>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="illus_1"></a>
+<a href="./images/image01.jpg"><img src="./images/image01_th.jpg" alt="ST. ALBANS CATHEDRAL FROM THE SOUTH." />
+</a><span class="caption">ST. ALBANS CATHEDRAL FROM THE SOUTH.</span></div>
+
+<h1>THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF<br />
+<big>SAINT ALBANS</big></h1>
+
+<h2>WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE FABRIC<br />
+&amp; A SHORT HISTORY OF THE ABBEY</h2>
+
+<h4>BY THE</h4>
+
+<h3>REV. THOMAS PERKINS, M.A.</h3>
+
+<h4>RECTOR OF TURNWORTH, DORSET<br />
+AUTHOR OF "ROUEN," "AMIENS," "WIMBORNE AND<br />
+CHRISTCHURCH," ETC., ETC.</h4>
+
+<h3>WITH FIFTY ILLUSTRATIONS</h3>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;">
+<a name="illus_2" id="illus_2"></a><img src="images/image02.png" alt="ARMS OF THE SEE." />
+</div>
+
+<h3>LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS. 1903</h3>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2>PREFACE</h2>
+
+
+<p>The Rev. W.D. Sweeting, who had originally undertaken to write this
+monograph on St. Albans, having been obliged, on account of ill-health, to
+abandon the work, the Publishers asked me to write it in his stead. My
+task was rendered much easier by Mr. Sweeting kindly sending me much
+material that he had collected, and many valuable notes that he had made,
+especially on the history of the Abbey.</p>
+
+<p>My best thanks are due to the Dean for kindly allowing me permission to
+examine every part of the Cathedral church, and to take the photographs
+with which this book is illustrated. A few illustrations only are from
+other sources, among them those on pages 9 and 11, for permission to use
+which I have to thank Mr. John Murray. I have also to acknowledge the
+courtesy of the vergers, Mr. Newell and Miss Davis from both of whom I
+obtained much information; Miss Davis's long connection with the church,
+and the interest she takes in every detail connected with it, rendered her
+help most valuable. I have consulted many books on the Abbey, among them
+Lord Grimthorpe's and Mr. Page's Guides, Mr. James Neale's "Architectural
+Notes on St. Albans Abbey," and papers read before the St. Albans
+Archaeological Society by the Rev. Henry Fowler.</p>
+<p class="right">THOMAS PERKINS.</p>
+<p>TURNWORTH.<br />
+<i>July, 1903.</i></p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2>LIST OF CONTENTS<a name="TOC" id="TOC"></a></h2>
+
+<table summary="TOC" width="75%">
+<tr><td align="left" colspan="2">CHAPTER</td><td align="right">PAGE</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocpn">I.</td><td class="tocch"><a href="#chapter_1">HISTORY OF THE BUILDING</a></td><td class="tocpn">3</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocpn">II.</td><td class="tocch"><a href="#chapter_2">THE EXTERIOR</a></td><td class="tocpn">23</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocpn">III.</td><td class="tocch"><a href="#chapter_3">THE INTERIOR</a></td><td class="tocpn">35</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocpn">IV.</td><td class="tocch"><a href="#chapter_4">HISTORY OF THE MONASTERY AND SEE</a></td><td class="tocpn">81</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocpn">V.</td><td class="tocch"><a href="#chapter_5">THE NEIGHBOURHOOD</a></td><td class="tocpn">106</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch" colspan="2"><a href="#index">INDEX</a></td><td class="tocpn">113</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch" colspan="2"><a href="#dimensions">DIMENSIONS OF THE CATHEDRAL</a></td><td class="tocpn">115</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+
+<table summary="TOC" width="75%">
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right">PAGE</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_1">ST. ALBANS CATHEDRAL FROM THE SOUTH</a></td><td class="tocpn"><i>frontispiece</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_2">ARMS OF THE SEE</a></td><td class="tocpn"><i>title-page</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_3">VIEW FROM THE NORTH-EAST BEFORE RESTORATION</a></td><td class="tocpn">2</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_4">ST. ALBANS ABBEY BEFORE 1874</a></td><td class="tocpn">3</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_5">PLAN OF THE NORMAN CHURCH</a></td><td class="tocpn">9</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_6">THE SOUTH-WEST PORTAL BEFORE THE REBUILDING OF THE WEST FRONT</a></td><td class="tocpn">11</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_7">EXTERIOR OF THE LADY CHAPEL BEFORE 1874</a></td><td class="tocpn">15</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_8">INTERIOR OF THE LADY CHAPEL BEFORE 1874</a></td><td class="tocpn">16</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_9">THE ARCADE IN THE SLYPE BEFORE ITS REMOVAL</a></td><td class="tocpn">20</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_10">FLOOR TILE</a></td><td class="tocpn">21</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_11">THE ANGLE BETWEEN NAVE AND TRANSEPT</a></td><td class="tocpn">22</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_12">THE NEW WEST FRONT</a></td><td class="tocpn">23</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_13">THE SOUTH TRANSEPT AS REBUILT</a></td><td class="tocpn">27</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_14">THE LADY CHAPEL CHOIR AND TRANSEPT FROM THE SOUTH-EAST</a></td><td class="tocpn">28</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_15">VIEW FROM THE NORTH-EAST</a></td><td class="tocpn">30</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_17">THREE OLD FLOOR TILES</a></td><td class="tocpn">32</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_17">THE NAVE FROM THE WEST END</a></td><td class="tocpn">34</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_18">BASE OF INCOMPLETE PIER</a></td><td class="tocpn">37</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_19">PLAN OF PIER</a></td><td class="tocpn">37</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_20">ARCADE ON NORTH SIDE OF NAVE</a></td><td class="tocpn">38</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_21">EASTERN PART OF THE NORTH SIDE OF NAVE</a></td><td class="tocpn">39</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_22">NORTH NAVE ARCADE, WESTERN END</a></td><td class="tocpn">41</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_23">SOUTH NAVE ARCADE</a></td><td class="tocpn">43</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_24">SOUTH AISLE OF NAVE</a></td><td class="tocpn">45</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_25">HOLY WATER STOUP</a></td><td class="tocpn">46</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_26">NORTH AISLE OF NAVE</a></td><td class="tocpn">47</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_27">SAXON BALUSTER SHAFTS IN SOUTH TRANSEPT</a></td><td class="tocpn">50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_28">DOORWAY IN SOUTH TRANSEPT</a></td><td class="tocpn">51</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_29">THE CROSSING LOOKING WESTWARD</a></td><td class="tocpn">54</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_30">THE CHOIR</a></td><td class="tocpn">55</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_31">THE WALLINGFORD SCREEN</a></td><td class="tocpn">58</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_32">KEY TO THE SCULPTURE</a></td><td class="tocpn">59</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_33">THE RAMRYGE CHANTRY</a></td><td class="tocpn">60</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_34">SOUTH AISLE OF PRESBYTERY</a></td><td class="tocpn">62</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_35">WOODEN FIGURE OF MENDICANT</a></td><td class="tocpn">63</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_36">RETRO-CHOIR</a></td><td class="tocpn">64</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_37">BASE OF THE SHRINE OF ST. AMPHIBALUS</a></td><td class="tocpn">65</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_38">BACK OF THE WATCHING LOFT</a></td><td class="tocpn">66</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_39">RAMRYGE'S CHANTRY FROM THE AISLE</a></td><td class="tocpn">67</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_40">ONE OF THE OLD WESTERN DOORS</a></td><td class="tocpn">68</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_41">LADY CHAPEL</a></td><td class="tocpn">69</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_42">PEDESTAL OF ST. ALBANS SHRINE</a></td><td class="tocpn">73</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_43">WATCHING LOFT</a></td><td class="tocpn">75</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_44">MONUMENT OF HUMPHREY, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER</a></td><td class="tocpn">77</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_45">SOUTH CHOIR AISLE</a></td><td class="tocpn">80</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_46">JOHN OF WHEATHAMPSTEAD'S CHANTRY</a></td><td class="tocpn">100</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_47">OLD FLOOR TILE</a></td><td class="tocpn">105</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_48">THE GREAT GATE</a></td><td class="tocpn">106</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_49">MONUMENT OF LORD BACON</a></td><td class="tocpn">109</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_50">THE OLD ROUND HOUSE</a></td><td class="tocpn">111</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"><a href="#illus_51">PLAN OF THE CATHEDRAL</a></td><td class="tocpn">116</td></tr>
+</table>
+<hr />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="illus_3" id="illus_3"></a>
+<a href="./images/image03.jpg">
+<img src="images/image03_th.jpg" alt="VIEW FROM THE NORTH-EAST BEFORE RESTORATION." /></a>
+<span class="caption">VIEW FROM THE NORTH-EAST BEFORE RESTORATION.</span>
+
+<hr />
+
+<a name="illus_4" id="illus_4"></a>
+<a href="./images/image04.jpg"><img src="images/image04_th.jpg" alt="ST. ALBANS ABBEY, BEFORE 1874." /></a>
+<span class="caption">ST. ALBANS ABBEY, BEFORE 1874.</span>
+</div>
+
+<h1><a name="chapter_1" id="chapter_1"></a>ST. ALBANS CATHEDRAL</h1>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER I.<br />
+<span class="subtitle">HISTORY OF THE BUILDING.</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>Long before any church stood on the site of the present cathedral, long
+before the time of Albanus, who is universally allowed to have been the
+first Christian martyr whose blood was shed in this island, events that
+have found a place in the early history of Britain occurred in the
+immediate neighbourhood of the city we call St. Albans. Here in all
+probability stood the <i>oppidum</i> or stockaded stronghold of
+Cassivellaunus, who was chosen to lead the tribes of South-Eastern Britain
+when Julius Caesar in the year 54 B.C. made his second descent on the
+island. We all know the story, how the Britons gave Caesar so much
+trouble that, when at last Roman discipline had secured the victory, he,
+demanding tribute and receiving hostages as guarantees for its payment,
+left Britain and never cared to venture upon any fresh invasion. We know
+that the Trinobantes were the first to sue for peace, and, abandoning
+Cassivellaunus, left him to bear the brunt of Caesar's attack upon his
+stronghold, how this was destroyed by Caesar, and how Cassivellaunus also
+was obliged to make submission to the Romans.</p>
+<p>
+<a name="page_4" id="page_4"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 4]</span><span class="pagenum">[Pg 4]</span>Nearly a century passed before any Roman legionary again set
+foot on the British shores; but when at last, in the days of Claudius,
+A.D. 42, the Romans invaded the island, they came to conquer and occupy
+all except the northern part of Britain. In the early days of their
+occupation a walled town, which was soon raised to the rank of a
+<i>municipium</i>, was built on the south-western side of the Ver, and
+from the name of the river was called Verulamium or Verlamium. It soon
+became a populous place, for when in A.D. 61 Boadicea, the Queen of the
+Iceni, stung by the insults and injuries she and her daughters had
+received at the hands of the Romans, raised her own and the neighbouring
+tribes to take vengeance on their oppressors and</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">Ran the land with Roman slaughter, multitudinous agonies;</span>
+<span class="i0">Perish'd many a maid and matron, many a valorous legionary;</span>
+<span class="i0">Fell the colony, city, and citadel, London, Verulam, Camulodune.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>It is recorded that no less than seventy thousand fell in these three
+places and the villages around them.</p>
+
+<p>But her vengeance, sharp and sudden, was not allowed to pass unpunished by
+the Romans, and Suetonius Paulinus, hurrying from North Wales, though too
+late to save the three towns, utterly routed the forces of Boadicea
+somewhere between London and Colchester.</p>
+
+<p>After this Verulamium became once more a prosperous town, inhabited partly
+by Romans, partly by Britons, who under Roman influence embraced the
+civilization and adopted the customs of their conquerors. By whom
+Christianity was first introduced into Britain we do not know; probably it
+was brought from Gaul. In the reign of Diocletian a great persecution of
+the Christians arose throughout the Roman empire. The edict enjoining this
+persecution was promulgated in February, 303 A.D., and the persecution
+lasted until the Emperor abdicated in May, 305 A.D. It was carried out in
+Britain by Maximianus Herculius and Asclepiodotus, and it was during this
+persecution that St. Alban won the martyr's crown. Though the story is
+embellished with certain miraculous incidents which most of us will reject
+as accretions of later ages, yet there seems no reason to doubt the main
+facts.</p>
+
+<p>Albanus, or Alban, as we generally call him, was a young soldier and a
+heathen, but being a man of a pitiful heart, he gave <a name="page_5" id="page_5"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 5]</span>shelter
+to a certain deacon named Amphibalus, who was in danger of
+death. Amphibalus returned his kindness by teaching him the outlines of
+the Christian religion, which Alban accepted. When at last the
+persecutors had discovered the hiding-place of Amphibalus, Alban, in order
+to aid his escape, changed garments with the deacon, and allowed himself
+to be taken in his stead, while Amphibalus made his way into Wales, where,
+however, he was ultimately captured and was brought back by the
+persecutors, who possibly intended to put him to death at Verulamium, but
+for some reason which we do not understand he was executed about four
+miles from the city at a spot where the village of Redbourn now stands,
+the parish church of which is dedicated to him. Meanwhile Alban was
+charged with aiding and abetting the escape of a blasphemer of the Roman
+gods, and then and there declared that he too was a Christian. He was
+ordered to offer incense on the altar of one of the Roman gods, but
+refused, and as a consequence was condemned to be beheaded. The place
+chosen for his execution was a grassy hill on the further side of the
+river Ver. Great was the excitement among the inhabitants of Verulamium,
+for as yet they had seen no Christian put to death, and Alban was,
+moreover, a man of some mark in the place. So great was the crowd that it
+blocked the only bridge across the stream; but Alban did not desire to
+delay his death, so walked down to the river-bank. At once the waters
+opened before him, and he, the executioner, and the guards passed dry-shod
+to the opposite bank. This wonder so struck the executioner, that he,
+throwing down his sword, declared he would not behead Alban and also
+professed himself a Christian. When the band reached the hill Alban craved
+water to quench his thirst, for it was a hot summer day, June 22,<a name="footref_1" id="footref_1" href="#footnote_1"><span class="fnanchor">1</span></a> and
+at once a spring burst forth at his feet. One of the soldiers struck off
+the martyr's head, but his own eyes fell on the ground together with it;
+the executioner who had refused to do his duty was beheaded at the same
+time. These miracles are said to have so much impressed the judge that he
+ordered the persecution to cease. The traditional site of the martyrdom is
+covered by the north arm of the transept of the present church, and this
+site is <a name="page_6" id="page_6"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 6]</span>in accordance with Beda's account, which states that
+St. Alban was martyred about five hundred paces from the summit of the
+hill. When persecution had entirely ceased, a few years after Alban's
+death, a church was built over the spot hallowed by his blood. Beda,
+writing at the beginning of the eighth century, speaks of the original
+church as existing, and describes it as being a church of wonderful
+workmanship and worthy of the martrydom it commemorated. But in all
+probability the church standing in Beda's time was not the original one;
+this no doubt had been swept away during the time of the English invasion
+of Britain, when, as Matthew Paris tells us, the body of Alban was moved
+for safety from within the church to some other spot, whence it was
+afterwards brought back and replaced in the original grave.</p>
+
+<p>That the spot was held in some reverence as early as the fifth century is
+proved by the conduct of Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre. A synod was held at
+Verulamium in the year 429 A.D. to condemn the "Pelagian heresy" which
+had budded forth anew in the island, having had its origin in the teaching
+of the British monk Pelagius towards the end of the fourth century.
+Germanus and Lupus, Bishop of Troyes, attended this Council and refuted
+the followers of Pelagius. It is said that Germanus opened the coffin of
+the martyr and deposited in it some precious relics, receiving in return
+for them some relics from the coffin, and a piece of turf cut from the
+site of the martyrdom.</p>
+
+<p>From this time we hear nothing for several centuries of the church or the
+neighbouring town of Verulamium, save that after the Teutonic conquest the
+town was known by the name of Werlamceaster, Watlingceaster, or
+Waetlingaceaster, the two latter names being derived from that of the
+Roman road, the Watling Street that runs through it. The site of the
+martyrdom also received a new name&mdash;Holmehurst or Derswold.</p>
+
+<p>The next event recorded in connection with our subject is the founding of
+a Benedictine monastery by Offa II., King of the Mercians, about the year
+793 A.D. He searched for and found the coffin that contained the martyr's
+bones. This, as already stated, had been removed from the original church
+dedicated to his memory, in order to save it from destruction at the hands
+of the Teutonic invaders, and had remained concealed, its very position
+forgotten, until it was miraculously revealed. The coffin was then opened;
+the martyr's body and the relics given by Germanus were found therein, and
+thus the identity of the remains <a name="page_7" id="page_7"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 7]</span>with those of Alban was
+established beyond doubt. Round the martyr's head Offa placed a golden
+circlet whereon were written the words: "Hoc est caput Sancti Albani." A
+reliquary richly decorated with precious stones was made to receive the
+body, and this was then deposited in the then existing church, which Offa
+repaired so that it might serve as a temporary resting-place until a
+grander church could be built. Offa had made a journey to Rome to get the
+Pope's consent to the foundation and endowment of the monastery.<a name="footref_2" id="footref_2" href="#footnote_2"><span class="fnanchor">2</span></a> At
+this time also Alban was canonized, so that henceforth he may be rightly
+spoken of as Saint Alban.</p>
+
+<p>All that Offa seems to have been able to do besides repairing the church
+was to erect domestic buildings for his monks, who in course of time
+numbered a hundred. We have no record of any partial rebuilding, or
+enlargement even, of the church of Offa's day. From the fact that certain
+remains of it were incorporated in the present building, and that these
+were of the character generally called "Saxon," there is little doubt that
+the church of the monastery was not the little church erected in the
+fourth century over the martyr's grave, but one of later date, probably
+the one described by Beda as standing in his day, built in the latter part
+of the sixth or in the seventh century. We have no further record of this
+church, but we know that the ninth Abbot, Eadmer, began to collect
+materials for rebuilding the church; but the work was not begun until the
+time of the fourteenth Abbot, Paul of Caen, who was appointed by William
+I. So enthusiastically did he work, that in the short space of eleven
+years (1077-88) the church was rebuilt. The rapidity of the building was
+no doubt chiefly due to the fact that there was no need of hewing and
+squaring stone, for the Roman bricks from the ruins of the old city of
+Verulam were ready at hand, and the timber collected by Paul's five
+predecessors was well seasoned. It is said that the new church was not
+dedicated until the year 1115, but it is hard to believe that so long a
+space of time as <a name="page_8" id="page_8"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 8]</span>twenty-seven years would be allowed to
+elapse between the completion of the building and the dedication. It is
+possible there may be some error in this date.</p>
+
+<p>We can form a good idea of this Norman church. It was like several of the
+other cathedral and abbey churches built at the same time, of vast size,
+far grander than their prototype in Normandy, St. Stephen's at Caen. The
+following table gives approximately the dimensions of some of these
+churches:</p>
+
+<table summary="Comparison of the lengths of the naves of five Norman
+churches in England." cellspacing="3">
+<tr><th rowspan="2">&nbsp;</th><th rowspan="2">Length<br />of Nave.</th><th colspan="3">Number of Bays.</th><th>Total Length.</th></tr>
+<tr><th>Nave.</th><th>Presbytery.</th><th>Apse.</th></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">St. Stephen's, Caen</td><td align="right">193</td><td align="right">9</td><td align="right">2</td><td align="right">&hellip;</td><td align="right">290</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Canterbury</td><td align="right">185</td><td align="right">9</td><td align="right">10</td><td align="right">5</td><td align="right">290</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Winchester</td><td align="right">318</td><td align="right">14</td><td align="right">3</td><td align="right">5</td><td align="right">&hellip;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">St. Albans</td><td align="right">275</td><td align="right">13</td><td align="right">4</td><td align="right">&hellip;</td><td align="right">460</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Bury St. Edmund's</td><td align="right">300</td><td align="right">15</td><td align="right">4</td><td align="right">3</td><td align="right">490</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<p>The church consisted of a nave with aisles; the arches of the main arcade
+were semicircular, the piers massive and rectangular; there were no
+mouldings, the orders of the arches, like the piers, having rectangular
+corners. There were possibly two western towers, which stood, like those
+of Rouen and Wells, outside the aisles on the north and south
+respectively, not at the western ends of the aisles (a far more common
+position), thus giving a much greater width and imposing appearance to the
+west front.</p>
+
+<p>The existence of western towers of Norman date has been doubted by some
+antiquaries; some indeed imagine that John de Cella's thirteenth-century
+west front was built several bays further to the west than the Norman
+façade, and that the foundations of the unfinished towers were laid of old
+material by him. It is impossible to be absolutely certain on this point,
+but the argument sometimes brought forward that the nave was inordinately
+long for one of Norman date may be answered by mention of the fact that
+the Norman naves at Bury and Winchester were even longer, and that
+generally the Norman builders delighted in long structural naves, the
+eastern bays of which, however, were, together with the space beneath the
+towers, used for the choir or seats for the monks, the eastern part of the
+church beyond the crossing being generally occupied by the presbytery and
+the sanctuary where the high altar stood. In after times, however,
+considerable eastward extensions were made, as at Canterbury, and the
+monks' seats were then in many cases <a name="page_9" id="page_9"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 9]</span>moved eastward into the
+part of the church beyond the tower, the rood-screen being stretched
+across the church between the eastern piers that supported the tower.<a name="footref_3" id="footref_3" href="#footnote_3"><span class="fnanchor">3</span></a></p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 207px;">
+<a name="illus_5" id="illus_5"></a>
+<a href="./images/image05.png"><img src="images/image05_th.png" alt="PLAN OF THE NORMAN CHURCH." /></a>
+<span class="caption">PLAN OF THE NORMAN CHURCH. From Sir Gilbert Scott's Lectures. (By permission of Mr. John Murray.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>The transept had no aisles either on its eastern or western side; the
+eastern termination differed much from anything in existence now.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Prior in his "History of Gothic Art in England" tells us that two
+types of east end were to be found in the Anglo-Norman churches, both
+brought from the Continent, one the chevet prevalent in Northern France,
+the other derived originally from fourth and fifth century churches of the
+East, passing to Lombardy in the ninth century, and then along the Rhine
+and even reaching Normandy. Such was the original eastern termination of
+St. Stephen's, Caen; such may still be seen in St. Nicholas', Caen. This
+east end consisted of a number of parallel aisles, each with its own apse
+at its eastern end. "Norman use had squared the aisle endings of the choir
+two bays beyond the cross, the apse projecting its half circle beyond
+this, as at St. Etienne's, Caen, and in this form Lanfranc's Canterbury
+had been built."<a name="footref_4" id="footref_4" href="#footnote_4"><span class="fnanchor">4</span></a></p>
+<p>
+<a name="page_10" id="page_10"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 10]</span>In St. Albans this plan was further developed; from each arm
+of the transept two apses projected eastward, the outer ones consisting
+only of a semicircular projection from the transept, the inner ones of a
+rectangular bay from which the semicircular part ran eastward. The choir
+aisles, as we should now call them, consisted of four bays, beyond which
+they ended in a projection semicircular within, but rectangular when seen
+from the outside, the walls being thickened at the corners. These aisles
+were divided from the presbytery not by open arcading but by solid
+walls. The presbytery itself terminated in a semicircle projecting beyond
+the ends of the aisles. This extended as far as the centre of the present
+retro-choir.</p>
+
+<p>Above the crossing rose the central tower, much as we see it to-day, save
+that it was probably crowned with a pyramidal cap rising from its outside
+walls. Probably also the tower as well as the rest of the church was
+covered with whitewashed plaster, thus hiding the material of which it was
+built&mdash;the Roman bricks of which mention has been already made. These
+bricks surpass in hardness and durability those of modern days, and are of
+different size and shape from those we are acquainted with. Those used in
+St. Albans are of two sizes, 17 × 8 × 2 and 11 × 5½ × 2. The joints are
+wide, the mortar between the courses being almost as thick as the
+bricks. The window jambs and the piers were built or faced with brick;
+even the staircases were of brick. What stone was used is clunch, from
+Tottenhoe in Bedfordshire, which, according to Lord Grimthorpe, is
+admirably suited for interior work, but absolutely worthless for exterior,
+as it decays very soon, and if it gets damp is shivered into powder by
+frost.</p>
+
+<p><a name="page_11" id="page_11"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 11]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="illus_6" id="illus_6"></a>
+<a href="./images/image06.png">
+<img src="images/image06_th.png" alt="THE SOUTH-WESTERN PORTAL, BEFORE THE REBUILDING OF THE WEST FRONT" /></a><br />
+<span class="caption">THE SOUTH-WESTERN PORTAL, BEFORE THE REBUILDING OF THE WEST
+FRONT.<br />From a drawing by W.S. Weatherley, in Sir G. Scott's &quot;Lectures
+on Mediaeval Architecture.&quot;  (By permission of Mr. John Murray.)</span></div>
+
+<p>The Norman church, finished as we have seen in 1088, stood without change
+for rather more than a century. Then changes began. Abbot John de Cella
+(1195-1214) pulled down the west front and began to build a new one in its
+place. He laid the foundation of the whole front, but then went on with
+the north side first. The north porch was nearly finished in his time; the
+central porch was carried up as far as the spring of the arch; the
+southern porch was carried hardly any way up from the foundations.<a name="footref_5" id="footref_5" href="#footnote_5"><span class="fnanchor">5</span></a> The
+porches are described by those who saw them<a name="page_12" id="page_12"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 12]</span>
+before Lord Grimthorpe swept away the whole west front as
+some of the choicest specimens of thirteenth-century work in England. The
+mouldings were of great delicacy, and were enriched with dog-tooth
+ornament. It is said that Abbot John was not a good man of business, and
+that he was sorely robbed and cheated by his builders, and so had not
+money enough to finish the work that he had planned. To his successor,
+William of Trumpington, it therefore fell to carry on the work. He was a
+man of a more practical character, though not equal to his predecessor in
+matters of taste. He finished the main part of the western front. Oddly
+enough no dog-tooth ornament was used in the central and southern porches,
+and the character of the carved foliage differs also from that of the
+north porch. In Abbot John's undoubted work the curling leaves overlap,
+and have strongly defined stems resembling the foliage of Lincoln choir,
+while that of Abbot William's time had the ordinary character of the Early
+English style. There is evidence to show that he intended to vault the
+church with a stone roof; this may be seen from the marble vaulting shafts
+on the north side of the nave between the arches of the main arcade,
+which, however, are not carried higher than the string-course below the
+triforium. The idea of a stone vault was, however, abandoned before the
+two eastern Early English bays on the south side were built, for no
+preparation for vaulting shafts exists there.</p>
+
+<p>Abbot John de Cella had begun to build afresh the western towers, or,
+according to some authorities, to build the first western towers that the
+church ever had; we have no record of their completion, and it is said
+that Abbot William abandoned the idea. We have only the foundations by
+which we can determine their size. William of Trumpington transformed the
+windows of the aisles into Early English ones. He also added a wooden
+lantern to the tower, somewhat in the style of the wooden octagon on the
+central tower of Ely.</p>
+
+<p>At some time, but we do not know exactly when, the Church or Chapel of
+St. Andrew adjoining the north nave aisle of the monks' church, extending
+as far east as the sixth bay, was built for the use of the parishioners,
+who had no right to enter the monastic church. This Church of St. Andrew
+opened into the north aisle of the Abbey Church, being separated from it
+by an arcade of four arches. It had a nave with aisle and chancel. Its
+total length was about 140 feet, its width about 61 feet. It<a name="page_13" id="page_13"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 13]</span>
+is conjectured that the north-western tower was converted into a kind
+of antechapel or entrance porch for the Church of St. Andrew. There was a
+door leading from the aisle of the Abbey Church into the chancel of
+St. Andrew's; this door, walled up, may still be seen in the fifth bay
+from the west end. In order to avoid the necessity of returning again to
+the history of this church, it may here be stated that it was rebuilt by
+John Wheathampstead after he had been re-elected to the office of Abbot in
+1451; and that it was destroyed after the dissolution of the monastery,
+when there was no longer any need for it, as the parishioners bought the
+Abbey Church for parochial use. The place of the old arcading was then
+taken by a blank wall without any windows; this was pulled down and the
+present wall built by Lord Grimthorpe.</p>
+
+<p>In the latter half of the thirteenth century the reconstruction of the
+eastern end was begun by Abbot John of Hertford. Here, as in many other
+churches, the Norman choir was too short for thirteenth-century
+requirements. The walls of the presbytery were raised and its high-pitched
+roof converted into a flat one. The church was gradually extended eastward
+by Abbots Roger of Norton and John of Berkhampstead; first the Saint's
+Chapel was built, then the retro-choir, and finally the Lady Chapel, which
+was finished by Abbot Hugh of Eversden in 1326.</p>
+
+<p>Another change was necessitated by an event which took place on
+St. Paulinus' Day, October 10th, of the year 1323. For on that day a
+calamity such as had never before happened befell the church. The
+celebration of Mass at an altar of the Blessed Virgin was just over, a
+great multitude of people, men and women, still being in the church, when
+two of the Norman piers of the main arcade on the south side fell outwards
+one after the other with a great crash, and about the space of an hour
+afterwards the wooden roof of the nave which had been supported by these
+columns also fell; the piers themselves had crushed the south wall of the
+aisle and the cloisters, so that a complete wreck was made of the
+south-eastern part of the church westward of the tower. But this disaster
+was accompanied by a great marvel, for though many persons were standing
+close by, not one was injured; and a still more wonderful thing is
+recorded: the monk whose duty it was to guard the shrine of
+St. Amphibalus, which at that time stood in the nave, had been celebrating
+<a name="page_14" id="page_14"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 14]</span>at the altar&mdash;he had finished even to the washing of the
+sacred vessels&mdash;when he saw the columns fall; he withdrew a little from
+the altar and received no harm. Some of the wreckage fell on the shrine of
+St. Amphibalus, and though the marble pillars supporting the canopy were
+broken, yet the chest which contained his relics suffered no harm. This
+wonderful preservation of life and limb and shrine was naturally
+attributed to the intervention of the blessed martyr St. Amphibalus.</p>
+
+<p>Abbot Hugh of Eversden began to rebuild this ruined part of the church,
+and this accounts for the five bays of the nave arcading westward of the
+rood-screen being in fourteenth-century style. He did not live to finish
+all this work, but it was carried on by his successor, Richard of
+Wallingford (1326-1335), and finished by the next Abbot, Michael of
+Mentmore, about 1345. The present rood-screen, which probably took the
+place of a previously existing one of Norman date, was built in 1360 by
+Thomas de la Mare. No further change of importance was made until the time
+of John of Wheathampstead, who was Abbot from 1420 to 1440, and again from
+1451 to 1464. He left his marks in various parts of the Abbey, and for the
+most part his work was bad: he did almost as much to injure the Abbey as
+the nineteenth-century restorers who swept away much of his work have
+done. He rebuilt all the upper part of the west front, and inserted
+Perpendicular windows at each end of the transept; he turned the
+high-pitched roofs of nave and transepts into flat ones, and lowered the
+slope of the roofs of the aisles. His object in doing this was to be able
+to use the old beams again whose ends were decayed, and which were
+shortened by cutting off the unsound parts. The result of this was that
+the Norman triforium arches on the north side were thrown open to the sky;
+these he filled with Perpendicular tracery, converting them into windows.
+The tracery still remains, although the new roof has the same slope as the
+original one, and the triforium is now again inclosed beneath it. He also
+pulled down the wooden octagon on the central tower. His chantry on the
+south side of the high altar was probably erected soon after his death.</p>
+
+<p>Abbot William of Wallingford (1476-1484) built the high altar screen,
+carrying out a plan which John of Wheathampstead had not been able to
+accomplish. The only addition made after this to the Abbey is the chantry
+of Thomas Ramryge, who became Abbot in 1492. The exact date of its
+construction is not known, <a name="page_15" id="page_15"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 15]</span>all records of the Abbey during
+Ramryge's rule having perished; but from its style it is generally
+supposed to have been built about the year 1520. During the reign of Henry
+VIII. all the monasteries were dissolved; first the smaller, then the more
+important ones, among them that of St. Albans. The fortieth and last Abbot
+of St. Albans, Richard Boreman of Stevenage, surrendered the Abbey on
+December 5th, 1539, he and the monks receiving pensions as compensation.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a name="illus_7" id="illus_7"></a>
+<a href="./images/image07.jpg">
+<img src="images/image07_th.jpg" alt="EXTERIOR OF LADY CHAPEL WHEN USED AS THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL
+BEFORE 1874." /></a>
+<span class="caption">EXTERIOR OF LADY CHAPEL WHEN USED AS THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL
+BEFORE 1874.</span></div>
+
+
+<p>In February of the following year the King granted to Sir Richard Lee all
+the monastic buildings, but not the Abbey Church or the adjoining Chapel
+of St. Andrew, with all the land lying round the Abbey Church. Lee
+promptly proceeded to destroy all the domestic buildings. The church
+remained in the possession of the Crown till 1553, when the town obtained
+a charter from Edward VI. This, among other provisions, empowered<a name="page_16" id="page_16"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 16]</span>
+it to erect a grammar school within the church or in some other
+convenient place. The town authorities thereupon converted the Lady Chapel
+and the retro-choir into the grammar school. A passage was cut through the
+retro-choir, bounded by brick walls on either side; this was used as a
+public pathway until 1874, when it was closed, and again became part of
+the church. The part to the east of the passage served as the grammar
+school until 1870. The mayor and burgesses by the same charter received
+the Abbey Church, in return for £400, to be used as their parish church;
+and in May, 1553, the first rector, George Wetherall, took charge of the
+building.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 290px;">
+<a name="illus_8" id="illus_8"></a>
+<a href="./images/image08.jpg">
+<img src="images/image08_th.jpg" alt="INTERIOR OF THE LADY CHAPEL BEFORE 1874." /></a>
+<span class="caption">INTERIOR OF THE LADY CHAPEL BEFORE 1874.<br />
+(From the Official Guide to the Great Northern Railway.)</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>The parishioners thus found themselves in possession of an enormous
+building which they had not sufficient money to keep in proper repair. In
+1612, and again in 1681, briefs or letters patent were issued by royal
+authority, ordering collections to be made in all churches in England for
+the repair of St. Albans Church. In 1689 a grant was made by William and
+Mary. These sums were spent on various repairs, such as altering the
+belfry windows, "filling up" with earth "the hollow in the wing," that is,
+raising the level of the floor of the south arm of the transept. In 1695
+similar work was done in the north aisle; in 1704 a new window, a wooden
+one, was inserted in the south end of the transept, in place of
+Wheathampstead's, which had <a name="page_17" id="page_17"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 17]</span>been blown in by a gale during
+the previous year. There are records of £100 being spent in recasting some
+of the bells between 1705 and 1707.</p>
+
+<p>Money was again collected in 1721 by letters patent, and this was spent on
+repairing the ceilings. About the same time a legacy was spent in repaving
+the nave, and the west ends of the aisles were blocked by brick
+walls. Some slight repairs were done about 1764, when a fresh collection
+was made.</p>
+
+<p>More extensive repairs were made in 1832: the roof was releaded, such of
+the clerestory windows as had been closed were reglazed, and the south
+window of the transept was rebuilt in stone. The choir, after the repairs,
+was opened for service in 1833. The nave to the west of the rood-screen
+was more or less in a dilapidated condition, protected by the releaded
+roof, but not used. The presbytery had been fitted up in Georgian style as
+a chancel, the organ stood in the north arm of the transept, and high pews
+filled the choir westward as far as the rood-screen. This was the
+condition of the part of the church which was used up to 1870.</p>
+
+<p>In 1856 a scheme was started for getting the Abbey Church raised to
+cathedral rank, and also for restoring the fabric. Mr. (afterwards Sir)
+Gilbert Scott was appointed architect, and was empowered to do what he
+thought most pressing as far as funds would allow; the flat roof of the
+north aisle was renewed, drainage attended to, and foundations
+strengthened; the floor at the south end of the transept was lowered&mdash;it
+will be remembered that it had been raised in 1692&mdash;the vaults were filled
+with concrete, and the floor repaved. The presbytery was repaved with
+tiles copied from some old ones. The Georgian fittings were removed to the
+nave; fragments of the tabernacles, which we now see over the doors
+leading from the aisles into the presbytery, having been discovered, the
+tabernacles were reconstructed of the old with some new material. But more
+important work had to be undertaken in 1870. On Sunday, July 31st, the
+sound of cracking was heard in the tower, and Mr. J. Chapple, the clerk of
+the works, went up the next day to London to see Scott and asked him to
+come down at once to examine the tower; plaster was put over the crack to
+see if it was increasing or not. There were soon signs that the mischief
+was getting worse, and Scott ordered the tower to be shored up with
+timber, and temporary brick walls to be built below it. It seemed that the
+<a name="page_18" id="page_18"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 18]</span>rubble of the eastern piers had been made of mortar which
+had turned into dust, and that a big hole had been cut in the
+south-eastern pier. This, according to Lord Grimthorpe, had apparently
+been done with the intention of demolishing the tower, probably soon after
+the time of the dissolution of the monastery, for the hole contained
+timber shores which were sufficient to support the tower while the workmen
+were enlarging the hole, but which were probably intended to be set on
+fire and burnt away, thus allowing the workmen to escape before the tower
+fell. This wood was found partially decayed, and probably to its state
+the settlement of the tower was partially due. The hole was, by Scott's
+direction, filled with bricks laid in cement, and cement was poured in to
+fill up all the interstices; some of the decayed rubble was cut out of the
+piers and brickwork put in to take its place: the walls were tied with
+Yorkshire flagstone and iron rods, and were grouted with liquid cement
+wherever possible. It was an anxious time for those in charge of the work;
+it was only after many days and nights of incessant labour, that they felt
+sure that the sinking of the tower was arrested and that the new work was
+holding up the weight.</p>
+
+<p>In 1875 it was discovered that the south-west clerestory was beginning to
+crumble away. Lord Grimthorpe had this shored up at his own expense. A new
+committee was soon after this appointed, and in March, 1877, a faculty was
+granted to this committee "to repair the church and fit it for cathedral
+and parochial services." The first Bishop, Dr. Claughton, who up to this
+time had been Bishop of Rochester, choosing the northern of the two parts
+into which his diocese was divided, was enthroned as Bishop of St. Albans
+on June 12th, 1877, and on the following day the restoration of the nave
+was begun. The church was in a very bad state: the weight of the roof and
+injudicious repairs had thrust the clerestory walls about forty inches out
+of the vertical plane. There was much controversy at the time as to what
+should be done, and in the middle of it Sir Gilbert Scott died, in March,
+1878. In May, however, the roof having been lifted, the leaning walls were
+forced up into a vertical position by hydraulic pressure. Some of the
+restorers were in favour of retaining a flat roof; others advocated
+putting on a high-pitched one again, raising its ridge to the height of
+the original Norman roof, as indicated by the weather marks on the tower.
+Fortunately the latter course was adopted; fortunately because<a name="page_19" id="page_19"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 19]</span>
+the church, seen from the outside, lacks height in proportion to its
+length, and the ridge of the roof now visible above the parapets has given
+it some of the extra height it so much needed. The subsequent raising of
+the transept and presbytery roofs on the other three sides of the tower
+was necessitated by the raising of the roof of the nave.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Grimthorpe drew up a list of "symptoms of ruin," twenty-two in
+number, which it would take too much space to reproduce here; but unless
+his account is exaggerated, it would seem that scarcely any part of the
+building save the tower could be looked on as secure. He applied for a new
+faculty which would give him unlimited power to "restore, repair, and
+refit the church." This faculty was granted, and he exercised his powers
+to the full; and as a result, though the church has been made sound and
+secure, probably for many centuries to come, yet many of its most
+interesting features have been destroyed, the most terrible damage having
+been done in the transept.</p>
+
+<p>The west front which he rebuilt, though not altogether satisfactory, yet
+is greatly superior in design to his subsequent work at the south and
+north ends of the transept. These originally had corner turrets, octagonal
+in plan; these turrets were pulled down and square ones, finished by
+pyramidal caps, put in their place. The entire south front of the
+transept was pulled down and rebuilt, and a new window consisting of five
+lancets occupying its whole width inserted. The central light rises high
+into the gable and above the level of the inner ceiling. The lancets on
+either side are intermediate in height between the central and side ones
+when they are seen from without, but when seen from within the tops of all
+are of the same height, as they could not be raised above the level of the
+ceiling. The parts of the three middle lancets seen from without above
+this level are backed up with black felt across the ceiling, and their
+upper parts light the space between the ceiling and the high roof. This
+window is a feeble imitation of the "Five Sisters" of York, and is utterly
+out of place in the narrow transept at St. Albans; but bad as this south
+window is, the one at the north end of the transept is worse. Here Lord
+Grimthorpe inserted a circular window, the design being such as a child
+might make who was given a sheet of cardboard with a large circle drawn on
+it, which he was requested to cover symmetrically with a number of
+half-crowns, shillings, and sixpences. Another piece of unnecessary
+alteration <a name="page_20" id="page_20"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 20]</span>was the destruction of the slype at the south end
+and the re-erection of its disjointed members as curiosities in the new
+work, its western doorway, with an added order, having been let into the
+centre of the south wall of the transept, and the arcading placed in two
+different positions.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 295px;">
+<a name="illus_9" id="illus_9"></a>
+<a href="./images/image09.jpg">
+<img src="images/image09_th.jpg" alt="THE ARCADE IN THE SLYPE BEFORE ITS REMOVAL." /></a>
+<span class="caption">THE ARCADE IN THE SLYPE BEFORE ITS REMOVAL.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>More satisfactory is the work in the Lady Chapel and the space sometimes
+called the antechapel; here the old carving had been terribly mutilated by
+many generations of schoolboys, and the new work which has been put in is
+good of its kind, and distinctive in its treatment. Lord Grimthorpe
+vaulted the Lady Chapel in stone. Much other work was done by him in
+various parts of the building. He rebuilt the clerestory windows of the
+<a name="page_21" id="page_21"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 21]</span>presbytery and some of those in the nave; introduced windows
+into the blank walls at the western part of the nave, both on the north
+and south, for which he deserves commendation, as the original reason for
+no windows having existed here was only that the monastic buildings, now
+destroyed, abutted against the south aisle of the nave, and the Church of
+St. Andrew stood on the north side; when this church was pulled down a
+plain wall was built, and the thrust of the roof had forced this and the
+original wall on the south side outwards, after the buildings which had
+acted as buttresses had been removed.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 200px;">
+<a name="illus_10" id="illus_10"></a>
+<img src="images/image10.png" alt="FLOOR TILE WITH ARMS OF BEAUCHAMP." />
+</div>
+
+<p>One piece of modern restoration was not done by Lord Grimthorpe, namely
+that of the Wallingford screen behind the high altar. The statues on this
+having been destroyed and the screen itself damaged, Mr. H.H. Gibbs, now
+Lord Aldenham, offered to restore it, working under Lord Grimthorpe's
+faculty. After a time a dispute arose between them, chiefly over the
+introduction of a statue of Christ on the Cross in the centre of the
+screen, and the erection of an altar with a stone top below it. This led
+to a lawsuit, the final result of which was that Mr. Gibbs was allowed to
+finish the screen in his own way, but not to do anything to any other part
+of the church, a thing he wished to do. The altar is not yet in position;
+when this is placed where it is intended to stand, the work of restoration
+will be complete, and nave, choir and presbytery, and Lady Chapel will
+then alike be capable of being used for service, forming in reality three
+distinct and fully fitted churches under one roof, the retro-choir being
+intended for use as a chapter-house whenever a chapter shall be created.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><a name="page_22" id="page_22"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 22]</span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 319px;">
+<a name="illus_11" id="illus_11"></a>
+<a href="./images/image11.jpg"><img src="images/image11_th.jpg" alt="ANGLE BETWEEN NAVE AND TRANSEPT." /></a>
+<span class="caption">ANGLE BETWEEN NAVE AND TRANSEPT.</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><a name="page_23" id="page_23"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 23]</span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="illus_12" id="illus_12"></a>
+<a href="./images/image12.jpg">
+<img src="images/image12_th.jpg" alt="THE NEW WEST FRONT." /></a>
+<span class="caption">THE NEW WEST FRONT.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapter_2" id="chapter_2"></a>CHAPTER II.<br />
+<span class="subtitle">THE EXTERIOR.</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>The visitor who wishes to obtain, at first sight, the most impressive view
+of the Cathedral Church of St. Alban, should alight at the London and
+North-Western Station, at which all the trains from Euston and many of
+those from King's Cross arrive. This station is about half a mile south of
+the city, and from it a road runs up Holywell Hill, which, passing
+eastwards of the church, leads to the centre of the city. But a road
+running off to the left before reaching the top of the hill leads past the
+south side to the entrance at the west front of the Cathedral. Seen from
+the south the church, though it does not actually stand quite on the
+summit, seems to crown with its enormous length the ridge of hill to the
+north. Most of those who visit St. Albans for the first time feel a sense
+of disappointment. The church has no far-projecting buttresses to give
+light and shade, no flying buttresses or pinnacles like those that lend
+such a charm to most French and many English churches. All is severely
+plain, partly on <a name="page_24" id="page_24"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 24]</span>account of the very early time at which the
+greater part of the existing church was built, partly on account of the
+material used for its walls. Abbot Paul of Caen, who designed it, trusted
+entirely to mass and proportion for the effect he wished to produce. But
+we do not see it as he designed it, and possibly built it. When we
+remember that he came from Caen, and seems to have used St. Stephen's
+Church, at that time recently built by Duke William, as a model, though he
+planned his own church on a grander scale, he must have contemplated two
+western towers even if he did not erect them&mdash;though, as previously
+stated, there is a division of opinion on the part of authorities on this
+subject. These western towers, if they were built, as well as the central
+one, would be crowned by pyramidal caps; and such towers, finely
+proportioned, would give the church the height which it so much needs, and
+the lack of which we feel so acutely to-day. The raising of the roofs at
+the time of the restoration to their original pitch was an undoubted gain,
+for without it the building looked lower and longer even than it does
+now. The church as we see it has been sadly injured by Lord Grimthorpe's
+work at both ends of the transepts, and whatever may be said about the
+western front in itself, yet no one can deny that, had the church been
+flanked by two towers standing, as at Wells and Rouen, outside the line of
+the aisles, even though the front itself were as plain as that of
+St. Stephen's at Caen, it would have been far more impressive.</p>
+
+<p>There is another point in which the church as it exists differs from the
+church as it might have been seen soon after Abbot Paul had built it. Then
+its walls were covered without as well as within with plaster, within
+richly decorated with colour, and without whitewashed. How different it
+must have looked with its vast mass seen from a distance rising above the
+wooded slopes, white as a solid block of Carara marble gleaming in the
+sun, and the lead-covered roofs of nave, transept, choir, and towers
+shining with a silvery lustre. Many modern restoring architects strongly
+object to plaster, and many a rough wall both external and internal, which
+the builder never intended to be seen, has been scraped and pointed under
+the idea that plaster is a sham, which it is not, unless indented lines
+are drawn on it to make it appear like blocks of ashlar. The rich red of
+the Roman brick in St. Albans walls and towers is so delightful, that
+perhaps we may think Scott did well in abandoning his idea of replastering
+them; yet nothing could have so entirely altered the general<a name="page_25" id="page_25"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 25]</span>
+appearance of the building as this scraping away of the plaster.
+Besides the general view from Holywell Hill, there are two other distant
+points of view which should not be missed: one from Verulam woods, to the
+south-west; and one from the fields in which the ruins of Sopwell Nunnery
+stand. From this latter point it looks best after sunset on a cloudless
+evening, when the tower stands up in majestic grandeur against the saffron
+sky, and looking at it one can well imagine how much grander it must have
+looked when the tower bore some fitting termination, either the Norman
+pyramid or the later octagon, or even possibly the wooden spire of the
+Hertfordshire spike order which succeeded it.</p>
+
+<p><b>The West Front</b>. We will begin our examination of the existing
+exterior with the west front, and then proceed in order round the building
+along the south side, east end and north side, although in reality iron
+railings will prevent us from making a complete circuit, and necessitate
+our retracing our steps and making a fresh start at the west of the
+railings. Still there is no part of the exterior to which we cannot gain
+easy access.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Grimthorpe's west front is built of stone; the illustration, p. <a href="#illus_12">23</a>,
+will enable the reader to form a good idea of its appearance. It took the
+place of one of patchwork character: the porches and lower parts were of
+thirteenth-century date; the upper part above the central porch contained
+Abbot John of Wheathampstead's large Perpendicular window, repaired and
+patched at various times; and brick walls closed the west end of the
+aisles. Lord Grimthorpe's idea was to design a front in the style
+prevalent in the second half of the thirteenth century. The design has
+been much criticized, but its general appearance will not be distasteful
+to the ordinary visitor, and is as good as is most nineteenth-century
+work. In certain respects it is more pleasing than the rival design of
+Mr. John Scott, with its mixture of Perpendicular features with those of
+earlier styles, its battlemented octagonal turrets, two of which were to
+be surmounted by spikes. There are two features of the existing front, one
+not shown, the other easily overlooked in the photograph, which should be
+noted. First, the arched cill of the central window, and second, the
+manner in which the back of the gable over the central door has been
+chamfered off so that it should not come up close to the glass and make a
+dark triangle against the lower part of the window when seen from the
+inside. The <a name="page_26" id="page_26"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 26]</span>doors are all new; the side doors had vanished,
+and the central ones were too short for the restored doorways. The western
+porches, which Sir Gilbert Scott spoke of as some of the most exquisite
+thirteenth-century work in existence, were almost entirely rebuilt by Lord
+Grimthorpe. Fortunately some drawings were made for Sir Gilbert Scott, one
+of which, by the courtesy of Mr. Murray, we have been able to reproduce,
+p. <a href="#illus_6">11</a>.</p>
+
+<p><b>The South Side</b>. The south clerestory has no less than twenty-three
+windows. The ten westernmost, partially restored by Scott, are connected
+by an arcading; the next ten, as well as the wall that contains them, are
+new&mdash;built by Lord Grimthorpe; the parapet, fortunately quite plain, was
+rebuilt at the time when the roof was raised; the three easternmost
+windows of the clerestory are formed of Roman brick in brick walls much
+restored, and are separated by brick buttresses.</p>
+
+<p>The south aisle roof is partly lead (Scott) and partly, at the eastern
+end, of red tiles (Lord Grimthorpe). Lord Grimthorpe cut four windows in
+the western bays of the aisle, in which no windows had originally existed,
+as domestic buildings abutted against the church here. The three eastern
+windows of Abbot William of Trumpington's time were rebuilt in the old
+style; the five bays to the west of these were refaced with brick and
+flint, as the original clunch stone had perished, owing to exposure to the
+weather. The arcading of the north walk of the cloister may still be
+seen. It will be noticed that this arcading did not follow the division
+into bays of the aisle walls above. The cloister walk acted as a kind of
+continuous buttress to the south aisle wall, and owing to its removal this
+part of the wall was gradually pushed outward. To strengthen it Lord
+Grimthorpe built buttresses, naturally following the division of the upper
+part of the walls, but thereby cutting across the arcading of the cloister
+walk in a most ugly fashion. By building flying buttresses instead, he
+might have preserved the whole of the arcading of the cloister walk
+unbroken, but he considered that this plan would have been ugly, and that
+the buttresses he did build were constructively better; possibly they may
+be, but most of us will be of the opinion that, as far as appearance goes,
+the plan adopted was the less satisfactory. The porch over the Abbot's
+door in the corner is entirely new. It probably is useful as a support for
+the wall, but that is all that can be said in its favour. Lord Grimthorpe
+thought that this would be used as <a name="page_27" id="page_27"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 27]</span>an entrance to the church
+on this side, but it has not been so used. It is worthy of notice that
+this church is destitute of porches, either on the southern or northern
+side; probably because they were not needed in a purely monastic church.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="illus_13" id="illus_13"></a>
+<a href="./images/image13.jpg">
+<img src="images/image13_th.jpg" alt="THE SOUTH TRANSEPT AS REBUILT." /></a>
+<span class="caption">THE SOUTH TRANSEPT AS REBUILT.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><b>The South Transept</b>. The south arm of the transept was most
+ruthlessly dealt with by Lord Grimthorpe; no doubt it was in an unsafe
+condition, but his alterations here have been criticized severely, though
+not more severely than they deserve. The south front with the five
+enormous lancet windows&mdash;the lower parts of them lighting the church, the
+upper parts of the three central ones the space between the ceiling and
+the outer roof&mdash;was entirely rebuilt, together with the corner
+turrets. The slype or passage between the transept and the chapter-house,
+leading from the cloister to the cemetery of the monks, has been
+practically destroyed, some of the arcading having been removed and
+rebuilt into the interior face of the new south wall, some rebuilt into
+the south wall of the slype; the stones of the west doorway of the slype
+with modern additions were used up in <a name="page_28" id="page_28"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 28]</span>making a doorway in
+the centre of the south transept wall into the slype, and a new doorway
+was built at the east end of the slype, thus forming a way into the
+transept which seems now chiefly used as a passage for carrying in coke
+for the stoves in the transept.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="illus_14" id="illus_14"></a>
+<a href="./images/image14.jpg">
+<img src="images/image14_th.jpg" alt="THE LADY CHAPEL, CHOIR AND TRANSEPT FROM THE SOUTH-EAST." /></a>
+<span class="caption">THE LADY CHAPEL, CHOIR AND TRANSEPT FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>The architectural choir, containing the presbytery and the Saint's Chapel,
+consists of five bays. The clerestory windows are Decorated ones of three
+lights each, the tracery being different in the different windows. They
+are set in a brick wall which, in the latter part of the thirteenth
+century, had been raised so as to allow of higher windows being set in
+it. The tracery is all new, Lord Grimthorpe keeping only the old outlines
+and leading lines of the mullions. The ridge of the roof of this part of
+the church was raised by Lord Grimthorpe to its original height, the same
+as that of the other three roofs that abut against the tower. As the side
+walls from which this roof springs are higher than those of the nave and
+transept the pitch is lower, and the window in the gable designed by Lord
+Grimthorpe is triangular; below this, <a name="page_29" id="page_29"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 29]</span>in the east wall, is a
+geometrical window with a small, one-light window on either side of it;
+all of these are rebuilt. The south aisle of the presbytery contains two
+small, round-headed windows, and further to the east two three-light, and
+then one two-light window; beneath two of these are doors. All this part
+of the church has been extensively restored, as has also been the
+retro-choir or antechapel, as it is sometimes called. Through this, after
+the dissolution, a public footway was cut, which was closed in 1870, and a
+great deal of reconstruction was needful. This part of the church has two
+bays, each bay with a window on each side, and one facing east on each
+side of the Lady Chapel.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Lady Chapel</b> has three bays; the tracery seen on the outside is
+new, though it is old inside, for Scott cut the mullions down the middle
+so as to retain the statuettes that they bore on the inside. There is a
+low vestry built against the south-eastern bay of the Lady Chapel; the
+window above this is triangular; the windows of the vestry itself are
+shown in the illustration, p. <a href="#illus_14">28</a>, as also is the five-light window in the
+east wall of the Lady Chapel. The north side of the Lady Chapel resembles
+the southern.</p>
+
+<p><b>The North Transept</b>. The character of the north presbytery aisle and
+the north arm of the transept may be seen by examination of the
+illustration, p. <a href="#illus_15">30</a>. It will be observed that the north front of this
+contains a large circular window measuring twenty-nine feet across the
+glass, filled by a number of circular apertures. This is Lord Grimthorpe's
+design, upon which much not undeserved ridicule has been showered. He
+informs us that this arm of the transept was in a somewhat better
+condition than the southern one, but that all the upper part and the
+turrets needed rebuilding. In the rebuilt walls of the transept he used
+the original material as far as it would go, supplementing it by some
+modern bricks made in imitation of the Roman ones.</p>
+
+<p>The illustration, p. <a href="#illus_15">30</a>, shows the iron railings which, unless a door in
+them be unlocked, prevent further progress westward, and necessitate a
+retracing of our steps right round the church till we again reach the
+north arm of the transept. In the north front of this may be seen a Norman
+door near the north-west corner, through which pilgrims passed who wished
+to visit the shrine of the martyr; they entered the precincts by the
+Waxhouse gate, buying their candles there, and went down the path which is
+now called "the Cloisters," from which the photograph on p. <a href="#illus_15">30</a>
+was taken. In the west wall there is an upper row of three round-headed
+brick windows once recessed, and a lower one of two twice recessed.</p>
+
+<p><a name="page_30" id="page_30"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 30]</span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="illus_15" id="illus_15"></a>
+<a href="./images/image15.jpg">
+<img src="images/image15_th.jpg" alt="THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTH-EAST." /></a>
+<span class="caption">THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTH-EAST.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_31" id="page_31"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 31]</span><b>The North Side</b>. The north clerestory of the nave has eight
+round-headed brick windows at the eastern part, followed by lancets
+similar to those on the south side. Flat buttresses of brick are built
+against the clerestory wall between the round-headed windows. The aisle
+windows, most of them rebuilt, are in Decorated style. A length of eighty
+feet of the wall towards the western end of the aisle, which had been
+built about 1553, when the Chapel of St. Andrew had been destroyed, was
+rebuilt and buttresses built against it to counteract the thrust of the
+clerestory, which leans outward. In this wall, as on the opposite side of
+the church, Lord Grimthorpe inserted windows; and placed a new sloping
+roof over the north aisle, covering the triforium arches which had been
+glazed as windows in the fifteenth century; this roof is covered with
+dark-coloured tiles. We may notice in the north aisle wall a brick door in
+the fourth bay from the east; this was cut by Lord Grimthorpe and leads
+into the vestry; also a walled-up door in the sixth bay, which led from
+the church into the graveyard, and another in the sixth bay, which
+formerly led from the north aisle into the chancel of St. Andrew's Church;
+this Lord Grimthorpe converted into a cupboard in the thickness of the
+wall. The only other thing noteworthy at this part of the exterior is a
+small piece of the north aisle wall of St. Andrew's Church near the
+footpath.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Tower</b>. There yet remains the magnificent tower. It is 144 feet
+high and is not quite square in plan, measuring 47 feet from east to west,
+and two feet less from north to south. The walls are about seven feet
+thick; in the thickness, however, passages are cut. It has three stages
+above the ridges of the roof. The lower stage has plain windows in each
+face, lighting the church below; the next stage, or ringing room, has two
+pairs of double windows; and the upper or belfry stage, two double windows
+of large size, furnished with louvre boards. The parapet is battlemented,
+and of course of later work than the tower itself. The tower is flanked
+by pilaster buttresses, which merge into cylindrical turrets in the upper
+story. For simple dignity the tower stands unrivalled in this country. It
+must have been splendidly built to have stood as it has done so many
+centuries <a name="page_32" id="page_32"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 32]</span>without accident. Winchester tower fell not long
+after its building, Peterborough tower has been rebuilt in modern days;
+but Paul of Caen did not scamp his work as the monks of Peterborough did,
+and no evil-living king was buried below the tower, as was the case at
+Winchester, thus, according to the beliefs of the time, leading to its
+downfall. Tewkesbury tower alone can vie with that of St. Albans, and the
+seventeenth-century pinnacles on that tower spoil the general effect, so
+that the foremost place among central Norman towers as we see them to-day
+may safely be claimed for that at St. Albans. Few more beautiful
+architectural objects can be seen than this tower of Roman brick,
+especially when the warmth of its colour is accentuated by the ruddy flush
+thrown over it by the rays of a setting sun.</p>
+
+<p>The view from the tower when the air is clear is magnificent, but
+unfortunately the privilege of ascending the tower once accorded to
+visitors has, on account of unseemly behaviour, been necessarily
+withdrawn, and only by a special relaxation of this rule, through the
+kindness of the Dean, was the writer enabled to inspect the upper parts of
+the church.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 273px;">
+<a name="illus_16" id="illus_16">
+<img src="images/image16.png" alt="THREE OLD PAVEMENT TILES." /></a>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><a name="page_34" id="page_34"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 34]</span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 333px;">
+<a name="illus_17" id="illus_17"></a>
+<a href="./images/image17.jpg">
+<img src="images/image17_th.jpg" alt="THE NAVE FROM THE WEST END." /></a>
+<span class="caption">THE NAVE FROM THE WEST END.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_35" id="page_35"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 35]</span></p>
+<h2><a name="chapter_3" id="chapter_3"></a>CHAPTER III.<br />
+<span class="subtitle">THE INTERIOR.</span></h2>
+
+
+<p><b>The floor levels</b>.&mdash;The Church of St. Alban is built so that its
+axis points considerably to the south of east, a thing that would hardly
+have been expected, seeing that the sun rises as far to the north of east
+as it ever does on St. Alban's Day, June 22nd. The orientation of the
+church may have been due to the fact that no great attention was paid to
+it by the builders, or it may have been due to the natural slope of the
+ground, which would have made the building of the church difficult had the
+east end been swung round further to the north where the ground is higher,
+and the west end to the south-west where it is lower; even as the church
+was built the slope of the ground has had its effect on the floor
+levels. These have been modified from time to time; to describe all the
+changes would take too much space, but it may be interesting to state the
+differences of level that exist at the present day.</p>
+
+<p>On entering by the west door a peculiarity will at once be noticed. About
+fifteen feet from the inner side of the west wall there is a rise of five
+steps which stretch right across the church from north to south. The floor
+to the east of these steps slopes imperceptibly upwards for eight bays,
+when a rise of three more steps is met with. On this higher level stands
+the altar, which is backed up by the rood screen. There is another step to
+be ascended to the level of the choir, and another to reach the space
+below the tower. Five steps lead from this into the presbytery; there is
+another step at the high altar rails, and four more lead up to the
+platform on which the high altar will stand. From the space below the
+tower one step leads up into the north aisle and two more into the north
+arm of the transept. From the level of the south choir aisle and south
+transept two steps lead up into the south aisle of the presbytery; from
+this aisle there is a rise <a name="page_36" id="page_36"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 36]</span>of four steps into the aisle
+south of the Saint's Chapel, and from this into the chapel itself a rise
+of four more. So that the floor of this chapel is, with the exception of
+the high altar platform, which is one step higher, the highest in the
+whole church, or nineteen steps above the floor just inside the west
+door. From the aisle of the Saint's Chapel one step leads into the
+retro-choir, and two more into the Lady Chapel; hence the floor of the
+Lady Chapel is one step lower than that of the Saint's Chapel. If we take
+seven inches as the average height of a step, it would appear that the
+floor of the Lady Chapel is about ten feet higher than the floor at the
+west end of the nave.</p>
+
+<p>As we stand just inside the west door of the church we are struck by the
+length of ritual nave, about 200 feet, the flatness of the roofs, and the
+massiveness of the arcading dividing the nave from the aisles; for, though
+the four western bays on the north side and five on the south are Early
+English in date, there is none of that lightness and grace that we are
+accustomed to associate with work of this period, no detached shafts of
+Purbeck marble such as we see at Salisbury, no exquisitely carved capitals
+such as we meet with at Wells. William of Trumpington seems to have aimed
+at making his work harmonize with the Norman work that he left untouched;
+and when the rest of the main arcade on the south side was rebuilt in the
+next century, it was made to differ but little in general appearance and
+dimensions from Abbot William's.</p>
+
+<p>The vertical proportions of the nave elevation are very fine. If the
+whole be divided into nine equal parts, four of these are occupied by the
+main arcade, two by the triforium, and three by the clerestory. The view
+eastward is often closed by a dark red curtain that hangs behind the
+organ, which stands in a gallery behind the rood screen. The screen
+divides the congregational nave from the three eastern bays of the
+architectural nave, which form the western part of the ritual choir. When
+the curtain is drawn aside we get a view of the tower arches and more of
+the length of the church is seen. It is to be hoped that no attempt to
+move the organ will now be made, as some, no doubt, would suggest, in
+order to get a more open vista; for the organ stands just where it can be
+used equally well for a service either in the nave or choir, and its sound
+can be heard with more effect than if it were stowed away on either side
+of the church. The longest view of the church which can be obtained is to
+be seen by <a name="page_37" id="page_37"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 37]</span>standing at the extreme west end of the south
+aisle, from which, when a draught-excluding curtain that hangs across the
+aisle just to the east of the transept is drawn aside, the view extends as
+far as the east window of the retro-choir, distant about 440 feet from the
+western wall, that is, about one-twelfth of a mile. A better idea of the
+enormous length of the whole building is given by saying that it is about
+a tenth of a mile long, rather than by giving its length in feet.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;">
+<a name="illus_18" id="illus_18"></a>
+<img src="images/image18.jpg" alt="BASE OF INCOMPLETE PIER." />
+</div>
+
+<p>At the extreme west of the nave, on the north side, will be seen the base
+of what was intended for an Early English pillar, probably John de Cella's
+work, for provision is made for the slender detached columns of Purbeck
+marble, the intended use of which his successor abandoned. An inscription
+beneath the west window records the fact that when pestilence prevailed in
+London in the reign of Henry VIII., and again in that of Elizabeth, the
+courts of justice were held in the nave. This took place in the years
+1543, 1589, and 1593.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 158px;">
+<a name="illus_19" id="illus_19"></a>
+<img src="images/image19.png" alt="PLAN OF PIER." />
+</div>
+
+<p>On the second pier on the north side is an inscription to the memory of
+Sir John Mandeville, who was born at St. Albans early in the fourteenth
+century, and educated at the monastery school. He studied medicine and set
+out in 1322 for his famous travels, professing, in the account which he
+published in French in 1357 in Paris, to have visited not only every part
+of the south of Europe, but many parts of Asia, even China. It is not
+known where he was buried, whether in England or abroad, and the statement
+of the Latin inscription on this pillar that he was buried in this church
+cannot be regarded as more trustworthy than most of the statements in the
+book of travels.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 330px;">
+<a name="illus_20" id="illus_20"></a>
+<a href="./images/image20.jpg">
+<img src="images/image20_th.jpg" alt="ARCADE ON NORTH SIDE OF NAVE." /></a>
+<span class="caption">ARCADE ON NORTH SIDE OF NAVE.</span>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 355px;">
+<a name="illus_21" id="illus_21"></a>
+<a href="./images/image21.jpg">
+<img src="images/image21_th.jpg" alt="EASTERN PART OF NORTH SIDE OF NAVE." /></a>
+<span class="caption">EASTERN PART OF NORTH SIDE OF NAVE.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The first four bays on this side are thirteenth-century work.
+The junction of this with the earlier Norman work is of the most
+curious character: the Norman pier was cut off level, a short distance
+below the impost, and on the top of this three courses of the Early
+English pier were laid. Why the Early English pier was not carried down to
+the ground, in a way similar to that, in which the easternmost Early
+English pier on the south side is carried, we cannot tell. It has been
+conjectured that some special sanctity attached to the
+statue which stood on the bracket, which may still be seen on the western
+face of this pier. It will be noticed how plain is the plan of the Norman
+piers (see illustration, p. <a href="#illus_19">37</a>). They have no capital, only a projecting
+course of brickwork from <a name="page_40" id="page_40"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 40]</span>which the arch springs. The two
+easternmost piers, however, were altered at some time (see illustration,
+p. <a href="#illus_21">39</a>), and a rough kind of capital formed by cutting away the pier
+below. The Norman piers were first covered with plaster, and then painted
+both on their western and southern faces, and when the white-wash with
+which they had been covered in post-Reformation days was removed in 1862,
+the frescoes were discovered in a more or less perfect condition. All
+those on the western faces with one exception, represent the same subject,
+the Crucifixion, with a second subject below. No doubt against these piers
+altars used to stand, and these frescoes served, as we should say, as
+painted reredoses or altarpieces.</p>
+
+<p>The subjects are as follows, beginning at the west of the Norman arcade:</p>
+
+<p class="pier">First pier, west face. Christ on the Cross, crowned; the Virgin
+on the north side, St. John on the south, holding a book.
+Beneath, Virgin (crowned and holding a sceptre) and Child;
+on each side an angel censing. Late twelfth or early thirteenth
+century.</p>
+<p class="pierind">South face. St. Christopher. Fourteenth century.</p>
+<p class="pier">Second pier, west face. Christ on the Cross; the Virgin with
+clasped hands on south side, St. John on north. Beneath,
+Virgin and Child under a canopy. Early thirteenth century.</p>
+<p class="pierind">South face. Archbishop Becket. Fourteenth century.</p>
+<p class="pier">Third pier, west face. Christ on the Cross; the Virgin on the
+south side, St. John on north, resting his head on his hand.
+Beneath, under a pointed arch, the Annunciation. This is in outline only. Fourteenth century.</p>
+<p class="pierind">South face. A woman in a blue gown holding a rosary
+in her left hand, possibly St. Citha (Osyth). Fourteenth
+century.</p>
+<p class="pier">Fourth pier, west face. Christ on the Cross. Beneath, the Annunciation.
+A rude painting of the thirteenth or fourteenth
+century.</p>
+<p class="pierind">South face. A pilgrim and slight traces of another figure.
+The subject is supposed to be either Edward the Confessor
+relieving St. John disguised as a pilgrim, or St. John giving
+a ring to a pilgrim. Fourteenth century.</p>
+<p class="pier">Fifth pier, west face. Christ on the Cross, much draped; the
+Virgin and St. John with red background. Beneath, the
+Coronation of the Virgin. Fourteenth century.</p>
+<p class="pierind">South face. This was once painted, but not enough remains
+to allow the subject to be made out.</p>
+<p class="pier">Sixth pier, west face. Christ in his Glory; very slight traces
+only.</p>
+<p><a name="page_41" id="page_41"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 41]</span></p>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 335px;">
+<a name="illus_22" id="illus_22"></a>
+<a href="./images/image22.jpg">
+<img src="images/image22_th.jpg" alt="NORTH NAVE ARCADE: WESTERN END." /></a>
+<span class="caption">NORTH NAVE ARCADE: WESTERN END.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Besides these figure subjects painted on the piers, the soffits of the
+arches were decorated with colour, some of which still remains.</p>
+
+<p>Although in the four western bays of the main arcade the Early English
+work is very plain, yet the triforium is ornate. The<a name="page_42" id="page_42"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 42]</span>
+arcading consists of two pointed arches in each bay, each comprising
+two sub-arches; the supporting columns are slender and enriched with
+dog-tooth mouldings, with which also the string-course below the triforium
+is decorated. The shafts, which probably were intended to support a stone
+vault over the nave, should be noticed.</p>
+
+<p>This illustration also shows the character of the clerestory. The
+triforium over the Norman main arcade consists of large, wide-splayed,
+round-headed openings, in which the tracery and glazing introduced in the
+fifteenth century, when the aisle roof was lowered in pitch so as to
+expose the north side of the triforium to the sky, still remains. One of
+the triforium arches, namely, the third from the tower, was simply walled
+up at this time, and so retains its original form. The clerestory in this
+part of the church consists of plain, round-headed openings. Between each
+bay the outer southern face of each Norman pier is continued in the form
+of a flat pilaster buttress up to the roof.</p>
+
+<p><a name="page_43" id="page_43"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 43]</span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 331px;">
+<a name="illus_23" id="illus_23"></a>
+<a href="./images/image23.jpg">
+<img src="images/image23_th.jpg" alt="SOUTH NAVE ARCADE, SHOWING THE JUNCTION OF THIRTEENTH AND
+FOURTEENTH-CENTURY WORK." /></a>
+<span class="caption">SOUTH NAVE ARCADE, SHOWING THE JUNCTION OF THIRTEENTH AND
+FOURTEENTH-CENTURY WORK.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The rood screen behind the altar, which is sometimes erroneously called
+St. Cuthbert's screen, is of fourteenth-century work, but much restored,
+and is pierced by two<a name="footref_6" id="footref_6" href="#footnote_6"><span class="fnanchor">6</span></a> doorways, which were used when processions passed
+from the nave into the choir. The doors themselves are fourteenth-century
+work. Against this screen once stood three altars. The northern one was
+dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury and St. Oswyn, King of Northumbria;
+the central one to the Holy Apostles, the confessors, and St. Benedict;
+and that on the south to St. Mary. These once stood against the western
+faces of the Norman piers of the south arcade of the nave, which fell in
+the fourteenth century. These piers doubtless corresponded with those we
+still see on the north side, and were probably similarly decorated with
+frescoes. The south arcade at its eastern end differs entirely from that
+on the north. This part of the church was rebuilt after the fall of part
+of the Norman arcade. The five Early English bays to the west are divided
+from the Decorated ones to the east by a massive pier, generally supposed
+to be Norman, but probably rebuilt. The northern face of this runs up as
+a pilaster buttress to the roof; the string round it in continuation of
+that below the triforium is carved with tooth ornament. West of this we
+have tooth ornament, to the east the characteristic ball flower. The
+junction of the two styles is shown in the illustration
+below, from which it will be noticed that, though there is a general
+resemblance in the bays on either side of the dividing pilaster, yet the
+details are different. To the east we see shields below the triforium
+string, and heads at the termination of the hood<a name="page_44" id="page_44"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 44]</span>
+moulding. The head shown in this photograph is possibly that of
+Master Geoffrey, master mason to Abbot Hugh of Eversden; the others
+passing on to the east are probably those of Edward II., Queen Isabella,
+and Abbot Hugh. The shields, also counting from the west, are those of
+England, France, Mercia, England, Edward the Confessor, and England. The
+hood mouldings of the triforium and clerestory also terminate in heads,
+some of them grotesque. The Decorated piers were found by Lord Grimthorpe
+in a very unsound condition, not on account of any defect in the
+foundation, but on account of the bad mortar in which their rubble cores
+had been set. This had become dust, and tended to burst out the ashlar
+casing: this shell was indeed doing all the work of supporting the weight
+resting on the piers. Lord Grimthorpe shored up the arches, and in large
+measure rebuilt the piers of larger stones. He says: "It took no small
+trouble and scolding to get these worked as roughly as the old ones, so as
+to make the work homogeneous and bewilder antiquaries." This sentence
+shows the false principles on which Lord Grimthorpe sometimes worked;
+necessary repairs should never be executed with a view to make the work
+appear as old as that the place of which it takes.</p>
+
+<p>The pulpit against the fourth pier on the north side, counting from the
+rood screen, is new, decorated with pentagonal diaper work&mdash;pentagons
+being apparently particularly attractive to Lord Grimthorpe.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Organ</b>.&mdash;The present organ when first built in 1862 was placed
+in the north arm of the transept, where the previously used organ had
+stood; in 1877 it was moved to the north-east corner of the nave; and was
+again moved in 1882, being then placed where it now is. In 1885 it was
+enlarged by Lord Grimthorpe, and the key-board was placed at the south
+end, so that the organist might command a view of the choristers, whether
+they were singing in the nave or in the choir. It is considered a fine and
+powerful instrument, and no better position in the church could be found
+for it.<a name="page_45" id="page_45"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 45]</span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 341px;">
+<a name="illus_24" id="illus_24"></a>
+<a href="./images/image24.jpg">
+<img src="images/image24_th.jpg" alt="SOUTH AISLE OF NAVE FROM EAST." /></a>
+<span class="caption">SOUTH AISLE OF NAVE FROM EAST.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p><b>The South Aisle</b>.&mdash;At the western end of the south wall of this
+aisle may be seen the remains of an arch which was intended to lead into
+the south-west tower. Above it, high up, is a single-light window. The
+next three windows, of two lights each, with Decorated tracery, were
+inserted by Lord Grimthorpe in the blank wall; the next window probably
+dates from the seventeenth century. The windows in the next
+five bays come down on the inside to a much lower level than those to the
+west (see illustration, p. <a href="#illus_23">43</a>), but the bottom of the glass was kept high
+so as to be above the roof of the north walk of the cloister, which rested
+against the wall of these bays. Two of these windows contain modern glass,
+one being inserted to the memory of the present Dean's father. There was
+once a door in the second bay from the west, which probably was used for
+processions, and in the seventh bay was a small door opening into the
+cloister, from which a passage in the thickness of the wall<a name="page_46" id="page_46"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 46]</span>
+led up by a flight of steps into the Abbot's chapel. This opening has
+been converted into a muniment room, and is closed by an iron door leading
+from the aisle. The vaulting of the western part is of stone, and was
+erected by Sir Gilbert Scott in 1878. The vaulting of the eastern part is
+fourteenth-century work erected at the time of the reconstruction of this
+part of the church in Decorated style, and is only plaster.</p>
+
+<p>Against the south face of the large pier, at the junction of the Early
+English and Decorated bays, once stood an altar dedicated to our Lady of
+the Pillar, with a painting of the Adoration of the Magi above it. Iron
+railings inclosing the space between this pier and the next to the west
+formed a chapel set apart for the use of the Guild of St Alban. This
+guild was founded in the reign of Edward III., but dissolved at the time
+of Wat Tyler's rebellion. It was the duty of the brethren of this guild to
+follow the shrine containing the relics of St. Alban whenever it was
+carried outside the church.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;">
+<a name="illus_25" id="illus_25"></a>
+<img src="images/image25.jpg" alt="HOLY WATER STOUP." />
+</div>
+
+<p><b>North Aisle</b>.&mdash;At the west end of this aisle the beautiful though
+much restored holy water stoup should be noticed. A semicircular arch
+crosses this aisle, springing from the pier where the Early English and
+Norman work join (see illustration, p. <a href="#illus_26">47</a>). The roof is of timber with
+only a slight slope, built in 1860. The first four windows from the west
+are new, inserted by Lord Grimthorpe in the new wall which he built
+here. The other windows have new tracery, but the internal parts remain as
+William of Trumpington left them. Some old glass (fifteenth century) is to
+be seen in the eighth, ninth, and tenth windows of the aisle. The font, a
+modern one, stands at the east end of this aisle. It took the place in
+1853 of a marble one, now in the workhouse chapel. There was once a brazen
+one brought as spoil from Dunkeld in Scotland, together with the lectern
+now in St. Stephen's Church; but this font disappeared during the civil
+wars. The continuation of the screen across the north aisle is due to Lord
+Grimthorpe. His object <a name="page_47" id="page_47"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 47]</span>was to form a vestry out of that part
+of the north aisle that lies along the north side of the choir as far as
+the transept. On the south side he merely erected a glazed wooden screen
+with a door, through which visitors pass to enter the eastern part of the
+church.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 327px;">
+<a name="illus_26" id="illus_26"></a>
+<a href="./images/image26.jpg">
+<img src="images/image26_th.jpg" alt="NORTH AISLE OF NAVE." /></a>
+<span class="caption">NORTH AISLE OF NAVE.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>It may be asked, of what use could the vast nave be to a monastery like
+that at St. Albans, which does not seem to have contemplated the admission
+of the laity to its services? The <a name="page_48" id="page_48"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 48]</span>monks' services were
+chaunted in the choir: the people had the parish church of St. Andrew for
+their use, in which, however, the priests of the Abbey officiated. But we
+must remember that in mediaeval times, on Sundays and on other great
+festivals, grand processions formed part of the ritual. The monks, leaving
+the choir, perambulated the church. The general order of the procession
+was probably as follows: the north arm of the transept, the north aisle of
+the presbytery into the Saint's Chapel, thence back into the aisle round
+the ambulatory or retro-choir, through the south presbytery aisle into the
+south arm of the transept, through the Abbot's door into the cloister,
+along the east, south, and west alleys back into the church by the
+blocked-up door in the south wall, up the nave, and through the two doors
+of the rood screen into the choir.</p>
+
+<p>On special occasions it was customary for the shrines or feretories
+containing the relics of the saints&mdash;in this Abbey those of St. Alban and
+St. Amphibalus&mdash;to be removed from the pedestals on which they stood, and
+carried in solemn procession round the church and sometimes even outside
+it. For such ceremonials the naves were needed. It was also to allow for
+these processions passing round the church that the ambulatory was built
+leading round the back of the high altar. The idea of holding
+<i>ordinary</i> services for the laity in the nave is an entirely new
+idea, and however desirable they may be, yet they have led in modern days
+to the introduction into the building in some places of benches or seats
+like those of parish churches, and in others to the introduction of
+chairs, either of which additions considerably detracts from the
+architectural effect of the building. But though in early times the laity
+had not in all churches regular access to the building, yet it appears
+that they were some times admitted even in those churches that as a rule
+excluded them. For we find it recorded that a great number both of men and
+women were in the nave of St. Albans for the purpose of hearing Mass and
+praying at the time when the Norman piers on the south side of the nave
+fell in 1323.</p>
+
+<p><b>South Choir Aisle</b>&mdash;Passing through the door mentioned above, we
+enter the aisle which, since it runs alongside of the ritual choir west of
+the crossing, is known as the south choir aisle. In this part of the
+church the Norman work of Abbot Paul remains. The aisle, however, was
+vaulted in stone by Lord Grimthorpe. In the south wall is a recessed tomb,
+where two <a name="page_49" id="page_49"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 49]</span>celebrated hermits, Roger and Sigar, were buried,
+and which was at one time a popular place of pilgrimage. In the recess now
+stands a stone coffin, but who originally occupied it there is nothing to
+show. Many of these would be found if the monks' cemetery were excavated,
+as after the twentieth Abbot, Warin (1183-1195), had issued his new orders
+regulating burial, all the monks were buried in coffins of stone. Roger
+the Hermit was a monk of St. Albans, a deacon; but though as monk he
+rendered obedience to the Abbot, he did not live within the precincts, for
+on one occasion as he was returning from Jerusalem three holy angels met
+him, and led him to a spot between St. Albans and Dunstable, called
+Markyate, when it was intimated to him that he should live the life of a
+hermit. Many were the trials and temptations he endured, many the combats
+he fought with the arch enemy of mankind. Once the prince of darkness even
+set the hermit's hood on fire, but the holy man was not disturbed, nor did
+he cease his prayers. In course of time a holy virgin of Huntingdon,
+Christina, came and occupied a cell in the immediate neighbourhood, and
+received religious instruction from Roger; here she endured many
+privations and mortified her body, bearing patiently the diseases brought
+on by her austerities. In time Roger, at the summons of God, quitted the
+world and went the way of all flesh, and his body was buried in the arched
+recess made for its reception. Christina still lived on. One day the Lord
+Jesus Christ appeared to her in the form of an infant, and abode with her
+for the space of a whole day; from that time forward no more temptations
+assailed her, and she was filled with the spirit of prophecy and wrought
+many notable miracles. She took the Abbot Geoffrey under her special care,
+advising him in matters of difficulty and reproving him when he did
+amiss. She was the first Prioress of the Benedictine Cell of Markyate,
+1145.<a name="page_50" id="page_50"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 50]</span></p>
+
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 246px;">
+<a name="illus_27" id="illus_27"></a>
+<a href="./images/image27.jpg">
+<img src="images/image27_th.jpg" alt="SAXON BALUSTER SHAFTS IN SOUTH TRANSEPT." /></a>
+<span class="caption">SAXON BALUSTER SHAFTS IN SOUTH TRANSEPT.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Sigar lived about the same time in the wood of Northaw, south of
+Hatfield. He also was famous for mortifying his flesh and for his
+victories over evil spirits. It was his habit at times to come to matins
+at St. Albans, and then to return to his hermit's cell and pass the time
+in prayer and self-scourgings. Strange to say, though the devils could
+not disturb the holy man at his prayers, the nightingales of Northaw woods
+did distract him, and he therefore prayed that God would keep these little
+birds away, lest he should take too much delight in their
+sweet songs; whereupon no more nightingales sang in those woods, and it is
+recorded that long after his time no nightingale dared venture within a
+mile of the spot where the hermit had dwelt. All which things are written
+in the chronicles of the Abbey, of which the reader may believe as little
+or as much as he will. Sigar was buried by the side of Roger. The arch
+above their grave may be seen in the illustration (p. <a href="#illus_45">80</a>), which also
+shows the Abbot's door which led into the cloister. It was built by Abbot
+de la Mare in the latter half of the fourteenth century. <a name="page_51" id="page_51"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 51]</span></p>
+
+
+<p><b>The Transept</b>.&mdash;From this aisle we pass into the transept. Its
+southern arm, notwithstanding the havoc wrought by Lord Grimthorpe, still
+retains many points of interest. On its eastern side the triforium,
+consisting of three bays, contains some baluster shafts of Saxon date; it
+is supposed that they were taken from the church which Abbot Paul
+demolished. It will be seen from the illustration that they are marked
+with rings, and close examination has shown that they were turned in a
+lathe, but not being quite long enough for their new position, extra bases
+and capitals were added; these were cut with an axe, as were also the
+cylindrical shafts of Norman date, which are set alternately
+with the older ones. From the excellent state of preservation of the Saxon
+balusters, it is evident that they did not come from the exterior of the
+early church. Similar shafts may be noticed in the east wall of the
+northern arm of the transept There are two arches in the eastern wall
+which once led into chapels, the southern dedicated to St. Stephen, the
+northern first to our Lady, afterwards to St. John; they were pulled down
+in the fourteenth century to make room for a <a name="page_52" id="page_52"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 52]</span>treasury. One
+of the arches is now used as a cupboard, the other as a kind of museum of
+fragments of carved stonework. The south wall is entirely new. Lord
+Grimthorpe pulled down the front containing a Perpendicular window,
+originally fifteenth-century work, but rebuilt in 1832. Thus inserted his
+five tall lancets, beneath which built into the wall are ten of the arches
+with restored shafts of the arcade taken from the slype at the time of its
+destruction; the other six are to be seen in the south wall of the rebuilt
+slype, if slype it can now be called. Under this arcading in the transept
+is a doorway, built by Lord Grimthorpe, partly from fragments of the west
+doorway of the old slype, and partly from his own design. The rebuilt
+slype is no longer a passage as it formerly was, leading between the south
+end of the transept and the north wall of the rectangular chapter-house,
+but is closed at the west end by a wall with a window in it, and at the
+east end has a door. Fortunately, a photograph taken before the
+destruction was available for reproduction, so that the reader may see the
+original condition of the south wall of the slype (see p. <a href="#illus_9">20</a>). The west
+wall of the transept has entirely different shafts in its triforium from
+those on the opposite side. A little double-light window or grating may
+be seen in the west wall near the aisle; it once opened into a small
+watching chamber, which was walled up at the time of the restoration for
+the sake of giving additional strength to the walls at the angle. It will
+be noticed that the pilasters projecting from the west wall do not come
+down to the ground. Lord Grimthorpe considers that these were not cut
+away, as might be imagined but were originally built as we see them to
+give strength to the walls where they were thinner on account of the
+passages in their thickness. There is a recess in this wall which was once
+a doorway into the cloister; it now contains some old oak chests, in which
+are placed every week the loaves provided for the poor by Robert Skelton's
+charity, 1628. The wooden ceiling is due to Lord Grimthorpe.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 329px;">
+<a name="illus_28" id="illus_28"></a>
+<a href="./images/image28.jpg">
+<img src="images/image28_th.jpg" alt="DOORWAY IN SOUTH TRANSEPT." /></a>
+<span class="caption">DOORWAY IN SOUTH TRANSEPT.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><b>The North Arm of the Transept</b>.&mdash;The upper part of the north wall,
+with its high circular window, was rebuilt by Lord Grimthorpe. Above the
+triforium on the east and west walls are three Norman windows and below
+these on the west side again two other Norman ones. The Norman doorway by
+which pilgrims to St. Albans shrine entered the church, and two Norman
+windows, with glass representing the four Latin doctors, inserted to the
+memory of Archdeacon Grant, who died <a name="page_53" id="page_53"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 53]</span>1883, may be seen below
+the wheel window; in the east wall are two pairs of lancets due to Lord
+Grimthorpe. Here, as in the corresponding wall on the south side, there
+are two arches which once led into two chapels. After their destruction,
+altars dedicated to the Holy Trinity (north) and to St. Osyth (south) were
+placed in the recesses. Here may be seen two modern monuments: one the
+cenotaph of Dr. Claughton, first Bishop of St. Albans, 1877-1892;<a name="footref_7" id="footref_7" href="#footnote_7"><span class="fnanchor">7</span></a> this
+stands at equal distances from the east and west walls: the other, an
+altar tomb, was erected in memory of Alfred Blomfield, Suffragan Bishop of
+Colchester, who died 1884. The ceiling is by Lord Grimthorpe. A panel from
+the old ceiling, representing the death of St. Alban, may be seen in the
+south aisle of the presbytery.</p>
+
+<p>If we stand under the central tower we get, looking westward, a view into
+the choir with its modern fittings, the stalls given by various donors,
+and the Bishop's throne which was brought hither from Rochester. From the
+way in which the piers are cut away on their faces looking into the choir,
+it is concluded that the backs of the original stalls reached to a
+considerable height. The piers, like those in the nave, were at one time
+painted, and on the west face of the second pier from the east of the
+north arcade are remains of a painting of the Holy Trinity. In 1875
+Mr. Chappie discovered wall-paintings between the clerestory windows,
+three on the north and one on the south; the soffits of the arches are
+also coloured.</p>
+
+<p>The painted ceiling of the choir was accidentally discovered during the
+restoration. A workman was cleaning one of the panels, which was coarsely
+painted, and happened to rub off the surface paint, disclosing other work
+below. The upper paint was then cleared away from all the other
+panels. Two, in the centre, bore a Scripture subject. The others bore,
+alternately, coats of arms and the monogram IHS, with wreaths of
+vine-leaves. The arms belong almost entirely to those who were by blood or
+marriage connected with Edward III.</p>
+
+<p>The ceiling of the lantern, 102 feet from the pavement, is painted with
+the red and white roses of the houses of Lancaster and York, together with
+various coats of arms. The lofty arches beneath the tower (55 feet high)
+are of great grandeur, as will be seen from the illustration The four
+inside faces of the lantern <a name="page_54" id="page_54"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 54]</span>are alike, each containing
+windows above the three arches of the arcade, each of which comprises two
+subarches springing from a quadrilateral shaft.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 346px;">
+<a name="illus_29" id="illus_29"></a>
+<a href="./images/image29.jpg">
+<img src="images/image29_th.jpg" alt="THE CROSSING, LOOKING WESTWARD" /></a>
+<span class="caption">THE CROSSING, LOOKING WESTWARD</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_55" id="page_55"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 55]</span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 287px;">
+<a name="illus_30" id="illus_30"></a>
+<a href="./images/image30.jpg">
+<img src="images/image30_th.jpg" alt="THE CHOIR." /></a>
+<span class="caption">THE CHOIR.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>To the east is the <b>presbytery</b>, closed by the Wallingford or
+<a name="page_56" id="page_56"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 56]</span><a name="page_57" id="page_57"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 57]</span>high
+altar <b>screen</b>. This screen was sorely dilapidated, and all its
+niches were stripped of their statues, no record remaining of whose
+statues originally filled them. Mr. H. Hucks Gibbs (now Lord Aldenham)
+undertook to restore this screen, making good the canopies and filling
+them again with statues. The screen is of clunch, a hard stone from the
+lower chalk formation quarried at Tottenhoe near Dunstable, a stone much
+used for interior work in the church, though it will not stand exposure to
+weather in exterior walls. The new statues are by Mr. Harry Hems of
+Exeter; the larger ones of magnesian limestone from Mansfield Woodhouse,
+Nottinghamshire, and the smaller of alabaster. They are excellent
+examples of modern carved work. The general idea was to represent "the
+Passion of our Lord and of the testimony of the faith in that Passion
+given in the lives and deeds of men"<a name="footref_8" id="footref_8" href="#footnote_8"><span class="fnanchor">8</span></a> of English race. A careful
+comparison of the screen (see illustration, p. <a href="#illus_31">58</a>), with the key given
+(p. <a href="#illus_32">59</a>) will enable the reader to identify the persons represented.</p>
+
+<p>The coloured altarpiece in high relief is by Mr. Alfred Gilbert, R.A., and
+is a work quite unique in character. It represents the resurrection. In
+the centre is the upper half of our Lord's figure; on one side is an angel
+holding a cross, emblem of faith; on the other, one holding a crystal
+globe, emblem of dominion; the wings of these angels are formed of
+mother-of-pearl, and before them are grills of brass scrollwork, intended
+to give an air of mystery to their appearance. The work does not appear to
+be fully finished, the grills being only roughly attached to the wall. The
+space before the altar is paved with slabs of marble.<a name="page_58" id="page_58"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 58]</span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 347px;">
+<a name="illus_31" id="illus_31"></a>
+<a href="./images/image31.jpg">
+<img src="images/image31_th.jpg" alt="THE WALLINGFORD SCREEN." /></a>
+<span class="caption">THE WALLINGFORD SCREEN.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_59" id="page_59"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 59]</span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="illus_32" id="illus_32"></a>
+<a href="./images/image32.png">
+<img src="images/image32_th.png" alt="KEY TO THE SCULPTURE ON THE WALLINGFORD SCREEN" /></a>
+<span class="caption">KEY TO THE SCULPTURE ON THE WALLINGFORD SCREEN</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>In an arch south of the altar is Abbot John of Wheathampstead's chantry,
+containing a splendid brass of Flemish workmanship, which once covered the
+grave before the high altar in which Abbot Thomas de la Mare was
+buried. He is represented in full vestments carrying a pastoral staff and
+wearing a mitre, according to the Pope's grant, although he was not a
+bishop but only a mitred abbot, and therefore could not perform the rite
+of ordination, which could be administered only by the Bishop of Lincoln;
+the Abbey Church, though independent of him in all other matters, was for
+this purpose in his diocese. The rebus of Abbot John was three ears of
+wheat, and his motto "Valles habundabunt," an allusion to
+the fertile lowland of Wheathampstead, whence he came. This rebus may be
+found in various places where the work was due to him. Opposite to this
+chantry is the far more magnificent one of Abbot Thomas
+<a name="page_60" id="page_60"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 60]</span>
+Ramryge. His rebus is a ram wearing a collar with the
+letters R.Y.G.E. inscribed on it. This chantry was at one time, after the
+dissolution, appropriated as a burial-place for the Ffaringdons, a
+Lancashire family, but the original slab with Abbot Thomas's figure and
+inscription has been restored to its place. Within the
+altar rails are four memorial stone tablets covering the graves of four
+fourteenth-century Abbots&mdash;Thomas de la Mare, Hugh of Eversden, Richard of
+Wallingford, and Michael of Mentmore. Four other Abbots are known to have
+been buried beneath the presbytery floor outside the altar rails&mdash;John de
+Marinis, John of Berkhampstead, Roger of Norton, and John Stokes&mdash;as well
+as other monks and laymen. It will be noticed that the presbytery is
+divided from the aisles by solid walls, pierced only for the two chantries
+above described, and for two doorways, one on each side, further
+west. Over each of these doorways is a tabernacle; that on the south was
+put together of fragments by Sir Gilbert Scott, and that on the north made
+to match it. The clerestory windows are Lord Grimthorpe's; the painted
+wooden vaulting which extends beyond the screen and over the Saints'
+Chapel is John of Wheathampstead's. It will be noticed that this springs
+from vaulting shafts, and it is by some considered that a stone roof was
+contemplated. The triforium here is an arcade without any passage. The
+pulpit, which stands close by the north pier of the eastern tower arch,
+was designed by Mr. J.O. Scott and given by the Freemasons of England, who
+regard St. Alban as their patron saint.<a name="page_61" id="page_61"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 61]</span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 311px;">
+<a name="illus_33" id="illus_33"></a>
+<a href="./images/image33.jpg">
+<img src="images/image33_th.jpg" alt="RAMRYGE CHANTRY." /></a>
+<span class="caption">RAMRYGE CHANTRY.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>We will now turn to the south and pass eastward under the curtain which
+hangs beneath the western arch of the south aisle of the presbytery. On
+the south side we see, as we enter, a fourteenth-century holy water stoup,
+and further on, under a window, a wide round-headed archway which formerly
+led into a chapel now demolished, which once was dedicated to our Lady,
+before the larger chapel at the east end was built. In the next bay is a
+blocked Norman window from which the plaster has been scraped to show the
+character of the wall, built of Roman tiles; the quadripartite vaulting is
+of plaster with lines painted red to make it appear like stone. Opposite
+is a large oak money-chest, and above it on the wall is the figure of a
+mendicant (see p. <a href="#illus_35">63</a>), carved in wood by a verger in the eighteenth
+century, hat in hand, as if asking the passer-by to put a coin in the
+poor-box below. In the south wall is a doorway which led into the
+treasury. The next bay is largely rebuilt; on the south side is a door
+and opposite is the back of John of Wheathampstead's chantry. From this we
+pass into the south aisle of the Saint's Chapel.<a name="page_62" id="page_62"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 62]</span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 316px;">
+<a name="illus_34" id="illus_34"></a>
+<a href="./images/image34.jpg">
+<img src="images/image34_th.jpg" alt="SOUTH AISLE OF PRESBYTERY." /></a>
+<span class="caption">SOUTH AISLE OF PRESBYTERY.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 219px;">
+<a name="illus_35" id="illus_35"></a>
+<img src="images/image35.jpg" alt="WOODEN FIGURE OF A MENDICANT." />
+</div>
+
+<p>First we see the doorway on the north side, under which are steps leading
+up into the chapel, and further on we come to a trellis-work
+of iron through which we can look across the space once occupied by the
+monument of "Good" Duke Humphrey of Gloucester into the Saint's
+Chapel. This grill is older (about 1275) than the rich canopy over the
+duke's grave, and was doubtless erected to allow of a view being obtained
+from <a name="page_63" id="page_63"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 63]</span>this aisle of the martyr's shrine. There are a number
+of figures of kings in the canopied niches over the grave, but it is not
+possible to identify them. Opposite are some remains of a stone screen of
+the Perpendicular period; it probably divided the aisle from some external
+chapel. After the chapel perished the wall was built up; but during the
+restoration this arcading was discovered. Through an oak screen, Lord
+Grimthorpe's work, we pass into the <b>retro-choir.</b> This, as we have
+before seen, was sadly mutilated after the Reformation, when the public
+path was made through this part of the building and the Lady Chapel turned
+into a grammar school; hence we shall find more modern work here than in
+any other equal area of the church. The part east of the passage was for
+long used as a covered playground for the boys and suffered much in
+consequence. It was originally built at the end of the thirteenth
+century. The arcading round these walls is new, much of it carved under
+the direction of Lord Grimthorpe by Mr. John Baker. The carving is of a
+naturalistic character, the vegetable forms being copied direct from the
+plants and trees of the neighbourhood. The oak ceiling of the south side
+and the flat ceiling of the centre are by Lord Grimthorpe; that on the
+north side by Sir Gilbert Scott. The shrine of St. Amphibalus once stood
+in the centre, but the reconstructed shrine, or rather pedestal of the
+shrine, was removed to the north aisle of the Saint's Chapel by Lord
+Grimthorpe, so as to be out of the way; for his idea was to fit this part
+of the church for use as a chapter-house, should a chapter ever be
+created, and as a consistory court. He built the low wall between it and
+the Saint's Chapel with seats under the arcading to be occupied by members
+of the chapter, and paved the floor with polished marble (see
+illustration, p. <a href="#illus_36">64</a>).</p>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 394px;">
+<a name="illus_36" id="illus_36"></a>
+<a href="./images/image36.jpg">
+<img src="images/image36_th.jpg" alt="RETRO-CHOIR" /></a>
+<span class="caption">RETRO-CHOIR</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>There were once several altars in this retro-choir; under the<a name="page_64" id="page_64"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 64]</span>
+east window on the south side one to our Lady of the Four Tapers,
+with an aumbry and triple-arched piscina in the south wall. This has been
+restored; the upper part is entirely new. On the north side in a
+corresponding position was an altar dedicated to St. Michael; while altars
+dedicated to St. Edmund, King and Martyr, and to St. Peter stood to the
+west of the two pillars, respectively on the north and south sides; and
+another altar to St. Amphibalus stood to the west of his shrine in the
+<a name="page_65" id="page_65"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 65]</span>centre. It may here be noted that the east
+wall of the original Norman apse extended as far as the centre of the
+retro-choir.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="illus_37" id="illus_37"></a>
+<a href="./images/image37.jpg">
+<img src="images/image37_th.jpg" alt="BASE OF THE SHRINE OF ST. AMPHIBALUS." /></a><br />
+<span class="caption">BASE OF THE SHRINE OF ST. AMPHIBALUS.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_66" id="page_66"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 66]</span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 371px;">
+<a name="illus_38" id="illus_38"></a>
+<a href="./images/image38.jpg">
+<img src="images/image38_th.jpg" alt="BACK OF THE WATCHING LOFT." /></a>
+<span class="caption">BACK OF THE WATCHING LOFT.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_67" id="page_67"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 67]</span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 303px;">
+<a name="illus_39" id="illus_39"></a>
+<a href="./images/image39.jpg">
+<img src="images/image39_th.jpg" alt="RAMRYGE'S CHANTRY FROM THE AISLE." /></a>
+<span class="caption">RAMRYGE'S CHANTRY FROM THE AISLE.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>The north aisle of the Saint's Chapel is divided from the retro-choir by a
+glazed oak screen with a door in it, frequently kept locked. Just to the
+west of this is the pedestal of the shrine of
+St. Amphibalus. This, like that of St. Alban's shrine, was broken up
+into many fragments after the dissolution of the monastery. The fragments
+were built into sundry walls, but many of them were discovered when the
+walls blocking up the arches at <a name="page_68" id="page_68"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 68]</span>the east end of the Saint's
+Chapel were removed; they were put together as far as possible, but as the
+east and north sides are missing, the position the pedestal now occupies
+is not an unfitting one, as these sides are hidden (see illustration,
+p. <a href="#illus_37">65</a>). The letters R.W. may be seen on it. These are the initials of
+Ralph Whitechurch, sacrist, at whose cost the pedestal was built in the
+second half of the fourteenth century. Opposite this we see the back of
+the watching loft (see illustration, p. <a href="#illus_38">66</a>) erected for the monk who kept
+watch and ward over the martyr's shrine; further to the west is a doorway
+into the Saint's Chapel, and still further west the back of Ramryge's
+chantry. Beyond this is the north entrance into the presbytery, over which
+is a painting of the Lord's Supper, generally attributed to Sir James
+Thornhill and given to the church about two centuries ago; at one time it
+hung over the high altar. There is also a painting of Offa, probably
+fifteenth-century work, to be seen in this aisle. The two doors removed by
+Lord Grimthorpe from the central doorway of the west front have been set
+up against the west end of the walls of this aisle (see illustration).</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 203px;">
+<a name="illus_40" id="illus_40"></a>
+<a href="./images/image40.jpg">
+<img src="images/image40_th.jpg" alt="ONE OF THE OLD WESTERN DOORS." /></a>
+<span class="caption">ONE OF THE OLD WESTERN DOORS.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p><b>The Lady Chapel</b>.&mdash;This chapel in its original condition must have
+been exceedingly beautiful; and although we have had occasion to find much
+fault with the work of restoration <a name="page_69" id="page_69"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 69]</span>or rather destruction and
+needless alteration, in other parts of the church, yet here little but
+praise can be bestowed. Some may regret that the old wooden vaulting was
+not retained and repaired, but the new stone vaulting is beautiful in
+itself and more durable. A better material than cast iron might, however,
+have been found for the altar rails. The new carving is excellent in
+quality and right in principle. It has been done, not as most modern work
+is, by imitating the carved work of some particular period of architecture
+as set out for the carver in the architect's drawings, but by returning to
+the old system of <a name="page_70" id="page_70"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 70]</span>going to nature and carving from life
+models, so to say. It has been done in the same spirit as actuated the
+early work of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. It is said that the carvers
+had sprays of leaves and clusters of fruit and flowers before them as they
+carved, and imitated them as closely as the material on which they worked
+allowed them to do. Work done in this manner, provided the carver has
+skill and taste, is sure to show character and life, and to differ
+entirely from the mechanical conventionalisms we generally see in modern
+stone-carving.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 412px;">
+<a name="illus_41" id="illus_41"></a>
+<a href="./images/image41.jpg">
+<img src="images/image41_th.jpg" alt="LADY CHAPEL." /></a>
+<span class="caption">LADY CHAPEL.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>The chapel dates from the latter part of the thirteenth and early part of
+the fourteenth centuries. The work was probably begun in the time of Abbot
+Roger Norton, whose body was buried before the high altar in the
+presbytery, but whose heart was laid in a small box, which was discovered
+during the restoration, before the altar of St. Mary of the Four
+Tapers. Possibly his successor, John of Berkhampstead, carried on the
+work; but at Abbot Hugh's accession in 1308 the walls of the Lady Chapel
+had only been carried up as high as the string-course below the
+windows. The work of building was not continuous, as change in style
+shows; moreover we read in the Chronicles that Abbot Hugh of Eversden
+"brought to a praiseworthy completion the Chapel of the Virgin in the
+eastern part of the church which had been begun many-years before." He is
+also recorded to have roofed the space to the west, that is, the
+retro-choir. It seems, then, that at the time when the alterations in the
+eastern part of the Norman church were begun, not only was the presbytery
+with its aisles laid out, but also the retro-choir as a group of chapels,
+and possibly the Lady Chapel as well; and that when Hugh was chosen Abbot
+he found the presbytery and Saint's Chapel finished, the walls of the
+retro-choir raised to their full height, and those of the Lady Chapel
+partly built. These he proceeded to finish. The side windows of the Lady
+Chapel are beautiful examples of the fully developed Decorated style; the
+jambs and mullions are ornamented with statuettes which, strange to say,
+escaped destruction. "The eastern window of five lights is a singular
+combination of tracery with tabernacle work, while the easternmost bay on
+the south side, which is partly obscured by the vestry, has an exquisite
+window above, consisting of a richly traceried arch placed within a
+curvilinear triangle, beneath which is a splendid range of niches, and,
+beneath <a name="page_71" id="page_71"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 71]</span>them again, a gorgeous range of sedilia and
+piscinae."<a name="footref_9" id="footref_9" href="#footnote_9"><span class="fnanchor">9</span></a> The original wall arcading had cinque-foiled heads on the
+south side, and trefoiled heads on the north; but all these had been cut
+away before the restoration began, probably at the time when the walls
+were covered with panels to make the chapel more suitable for a
+schoolroom.</p>
+
+<p>In this chapel, after its dedication, mass was sung daily, and an organ
+was provided to accompany the musical part of the service. The western end
+of the Lady Chapel was separated from the retro-choir by a screen, which
+of course perished after the dissolution. No modern screen has been put in
+its place, though one would be a great improvement. Projecting from the
+easternmost bay of the south side stands the Chapel of the
+Transfiguration, which was dedicated in 1430. This, rebuilt, is now used
+as a vestry. Beneath the floor of the Lady Chapel was buried the hated
+Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, grand-son of John of Gaunt; Henry
+Percy, Earl of Northumberland, son of the famous Hotspur; and Thomas, Lord
+Clifford: whose bodies were found lying dead in the streets of St. Albans,
+after the first battle in 1455, in which they fell fighting for the Red
+Rose party. They were buried by Abbot John of Wheathampstead, who at this
+time was an adherent of that party, though he became a Yorkist after Queen
+Margaret had allowed her troops to plunder the Abbey when, in the second
+battle of St. Albans, she was victorious over the Earl of Warwick.</p>
+
+<p>A considerable amount of work was necessary to refit this chapel for
+use. The restoration was begun by Scott and finished by Lord Grimthorpe.</p>
+
+<p>Scott cut the mullions of the windows down the middle, retaining all the
+part inside the glass so as to preserve the statues, but renewing the part
+outside for the sake of strength. All the painted glass is modern, the
+gift of various donors. Lord Grimthorpe, in place of the wooden vaulting
+which was, he says, in a very unsound state, threw a stone vault over the
+chapel, raising its ridge three feet higher than that of the previous
+roof. All the arches of the arcade had been cut away, with the exception
+of two at the east end, one on each side of the altar, differing from each
+other as already mentioned. Lord Grimthorpe took as a model the one with
+the cinque-foiled head, <a name="page_72" id="page_72"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 72]</span>considering that the better of the
+two, and constructed the existing arcading all round the chapel. He
+rebuilt the Chapel of the Transfiguration, making its walls lower than
+before, so as not to obstruct the view of the window over it. The carving,
+chiefly the work of Mr. Baker, as already mentioned, represents various
+vegetable forms in a naturalistic manner, the plants chosen being for the
+most part such as grow in the neighbourhood&mdash;convolvulus, primrose,
+buttercup, poppy, gooseberry, blackberry, rose, maple, ivy, sycamore,
+pansy, polypody, and others.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Grimthorpe also repaved the floor with marble slabs of three
+colours&mdash;black, red, and white. During the time the chapel was used for a
+schoolroom the floor had been a common wooden one. Practically, then, it
+will be seen that this Lady Chapel, with the exception of its walls and
+the windows with the statuettes on them, is a modern church, surpassing,
+indeed, most nineteenth-century work in beauty, and much the same may be
+said of the retro-choir or chapter-house.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Saint's Chapel</b>.&mdash;We must now return westward, through the south
+aisle of the ambulatory, past the back of Duke Humphrey's grave, and enter
+the Chapel of the Martyr by the door which opens into it from the
+aisle. The centre of the chapel is occupied by the reconstructed pedestal
+of the martyr's shrine. The ugly wooden railing that surrounds it is a
+great blot on the appearance of the chapel; no doubt it is necessary that
+the pedestal should be protected by some kind of barrier, but a light and
+elegant railing of brass would answer every purpose without marring the
+general effect, as the present cumbersome erection shown in all the
+accompanying illustrations of objects in this chapel does. It is to be
+hoped that either out of the general fabric fund, or by the generosity of
+some individual donor, this one blot on this fine chapel may be removed.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="illus_42" id="illus_42"></a>
+<a href="./images/image42.jpg">
+<img src="images/image42_th.jpg" alt="PEDESTAL OF ST. ALBAN'S SHRINE." /></a>
+<span class="caption">PEDESTAL OF ST. ALBAN'S SHRINE.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>The bones of St. Alban were of course counted as the chief treasure of the
+Abbey, in some respects the most valuable relics in the kingdom, since
+they were the bones of the first Christian martyr in the island. It was
+meet and fitting, then, that the most splendid resting-place should be
+chosen for them. The bones themselves were inclosed in an outer and an
+inner case; the inner was the work of the sixteenth Abbot, Geoffrey of
+Gorham (1119-1149), and the outer of the nineteenth Abbot, Symeon
+(1167-1183). These coffers were of special metal encrusted with<a name="page_73" id="page_73"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 73]</span>
+rich gems. It is recorded that the reliquary was so heavy that it
+required four men to carry it, which they probably did by two poles, each
+passing through two rings on either side of the coffer. It is said to
+have been placed in a lofty position by Abbot Symeon; but the pedestal of
+which we see the reconstruction today was erected during the early part of
+the fourteenth century, in the time of the twenty-sixth Abbot, John de
+Marinis (1302-1308). This was built of Purbeck marble and consists of a
+basement 2 ft. 6 in. high, 8 ft. 6 in. long, and 3 ft. 2 in. wide, above
+which were four canopied niches at each side and one at each end; these
+were richly painted and probably contained other relics; in the spandrels
+were carved figures, at the corners angels censing. At the west end was a
+representation of St. Alban's martyrdom; on the south side in the centre
+was, and still is, a figure of King Offa holding the model of a church; in
+the next spandrel to the east the figure of another king; on the east side
+a representation of the scourging of St. Alban, and on the north other
+figures, of which the only one remaining is that of a bishop or mitred
+abbot. In the pediments or gables were carvings of foliage, and round the
+top of the pedestal ran a richly <a name="page_74" id="page_74"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 74]</span>carved cornice; round the
+base stood fourteen detached shafts, on which perhaps the movable canopy
+rested, and outside three other shafts of twisted pattern on each side,
+which carried six huge candles, probably kept burning day and night,
+certainly during the night, to light the chamber holding the shrine. On
+this lofty pedestal, 8 ft. 3 in. high, the glorious shrine rested. It was
+rendered still more ornate than it was in Abbot Symeon's time by the
+addition of a silver-gilt turret, on the lower part of which was a
+representation of the Resurrection with two angels and four knights
+(suggested by the guard of Roman soldiers) keeping the tomb. A silver-gilt
+eagle of cunning craftsmanship stood on the shrine. All these additions
+were given by Abbot Thomas de la Mare (1349-1396). A certain monk also
+gave two representations of the sun in solid gold, surrounded by rays of
+silver tipped with precious stones. Over all was a canopy which, like many
+modern font-covers, was probably suspended by a rope running over a pulley
+in the roof, by which it might be raised. There is a mark in the roof
+remaining, possibly caused by the fastening of the pulley. An altar,
+dedicated to St. Alban, stood at the west end of the pedestal.</p>
+
+<p>There are two quarry-shaped openings to be noticed on the north side of
+the pedestal near the floor level, one of which extends right through to
+the south side. Into these diseased arms or legs might be thrust for cure
+by virtue of the saint. At the time of the dissolution the shrine
+disappeared, and the marble pedestal was broken up into small
+fragments. In 1847 the rector, Dr. Nicholson, found a few of these, when
+opening the two northern of the blocked-up arches to the east of the
+chapel; and in 1872, when the wall that closed the end of the south aisle
+was removed and excavations were made to find the level of the aisle
+floor, many more fragments, numbering in all about two thousand, were
+found. These were carefully put together by Mr. Chapple, clerk of the
+works, some plain stone being used to take the part of missing portions,
+with the result that we see to-day, from which we can form some idea of
+the appearance of the shrine in the days of its glory, even to the colour
+decoration, for some of the fragments bear the original paint and gold.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 404px;">
+<a name="illus_43" id="illus_43"></a>
+<a href="./images/image43.jpg">
+<img src="images/image43_th.jpg" alt="WATCHING LOFT." /></a>
+<span class="caption">WATCHING LOFT.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Such a precious thing as this jewelled shrine and the still more precious
+bones within it could not be left for a moment unguarded and unwatched,
+for stealing relics, when a favourable <a name="page_75" id="page_75"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 75]</span>opportunity arose, was
+a temptation too great to be resisted by any monks, however holy. So on
+the south side of the shrine was erected a watching loft; the one that
+remains was constructed probably during the reign of Richard II., as his
+badge appears on it, but, no doubt, from the first there was some such
+place provided for the purpose of keeping guard. A similar loft may be
+seen in the cathedral church of St. Frideswide at Oxford, and a watching
+loft of a different construction in the south triforium at Malmesbury. The
+chamber had two stories; the lower <a name="page_76" id="page_76"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 76]</span>contained cupboards, in
+which vestments and relics were kept, these are now filled with various
+antiquarian curiosities, Roman pottery from Verulamium, architectural
+fragments, etc. An oaken staircase leads up into the chamber where the
+"custos feretri" sat watching the shrine day and night, guard of course
+being changed at intervals. It must have been trying work watching there
+during the night-time in frosty weather, but monks were accustomed to bear
+cold. The watching chamber (see illustrations, pp. <a href="#illus_38">66</a>, <a href="#illus_43">75</a>) was built of
+oak and was richly carved. On the south side of the cornice are angels,
+the hart&mdash;badge of Richard II., the martyrdom of St. Alban, Time the
+reaper, and the seasons; on the north the months of the year are
+represented.</p>
+
+<p>The west side of this chapel is closed by the back of Wallingford's
+screen, on which may be seen five statues representing St. Peter,
+St. John, St. Mary, St. Stephen, and St. Michael. The eastern side is
+closed by a low wall, erected by Lord Grimthorpe in place of the wall by
+which these arches were completely blocked up after the dissolution. It
+was here that some of the fragments of the pedestal were found. Into his
+new wall Lord Grimthorpe has built some old fragments of carved work found
+in different places of the church.</p>
+
+<p>The south side of this chapel is formed of the monument over the grave of
+Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, surnamed "good" by an admiring people,
+though some modern historians hold that he had little real claim to this
+title. He was the son of Henry IV., and therefore brother of Henry V., and
+was uncle of Henry VI. and guardian to the young King in the early part of
+his reign. He who likes may read in any history of the part he played in
+the affairs of the country: how he incurred the hatred of the unscrupulous
+and vindictive Queen of Henry VI., Margaret of Anjou, "she-wolf of
+France"; how he was murdered by Suffolk, with, it is said, the connivance
+of the Queen and Cardinal Beaufort. It was at one time supposed that he
+was buried in London, but there is little doubt that he found a
+resting-place in a grave prepared for him in St. Alban's Abbey, on March
+4, 1447. This would be during the time that John Stokes was Abbot, between
+the two abbacies of John of Wheathampstead. The body was discovered in
+its leaden coffin during the reign of Queen Anne, when another grave was
+being dug. The coffin was opened, and the duke's body was discovered to be
+in a good state of preservation in the coffin, which is described as being
+<a name="page_77" id="page_77"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 77]</span>"full of pickle." It is said that at one time the vergers
+would, for a due consideration, allow visitors to carry away the smaller
+bones when, owing to the body having been removed from the preserving
+fluid, nothing but a skeleton was left.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 356px;">
+<a name="illus_44" id="illus_44"></a>
+<a href="./images/image44.jpg">
+<img src="images/image44_th.jpg" alt="MONUMENT OF HUMPHREY, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER." /></a>
+<span class="caption">MONUMENT OF HUMPHREY, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>The monument is a handsome one. It was probably erected <a name="page_78" id="page_78"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 78]</span>by
+Wheathampstead, who had been on terms of intimacy with the duke, when he
+for the second time became Abbot. The canopy over the grave is richly
+carved; the antelopes we see on it were the badge of the duke. His epitaph
+speaks of him, among other things, as</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<span class="i8">Fraudis ineptae</span>
+<span class="i0">Detector, dum ficta notat miracula caeci.</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>This refers to the story told of him by Sir Thomas More, how he convicted
+an impostor who claimed to have been born blind, but to have received
+sight at St. Alban's shrine, by asking him the colour of the garments that
+the duke himself and others were wearing; all these questions were
+correctly answered by the beggar, who forgot for the moment that one born
+blind who had only just received his sight, would not have known the
+<i>names</i> of the various colours, though he might distinguish one
+colour from another. The beggar was punished for his imposture by being
+set in the stocks.</p>
+
+<p>This story is introduced into the first scene of the second act; of the
+second part of "Henry VI.," a reproduction of a St. Albans legend in which
+some students of the play will find an argument for attributing the play
+to Francis Bacon, who lived close by and would be likely to know the
+stories current in the town.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Tower and Bells.</b>&mdash;The ringing loft is reached by a staircase
+starting from the door near the north-west corner of the north arm of the
+transept. The steps were originally built of Roman bricks, but at the time
+of the restoration had fresh treads of stone laid on them, so that the
+ascent is an easy one; from this staircase one passes along the triforium
+gallery of the western side of the transept, and then up a staircase in
+the turret at the north-west angle of the tower to a room whose floor is
+above the flat ceiling of the lantern visible from the floor of the
+church. The bells are in the next story, and at no great height above the
+floor of the ringing loft. In the ringing loft may be seen boards on which
+are inscribed records of several memorable sets of changes that have been
+rung, with the dates, the number of changes, the time occupied, which was
+generally between three and four hours, and the names of the ringers and
+the number of the bell that each one pulled. The peal consists of eight
+bells; the tenor is in the key of E flat, and measures 4 ft. 6 in. in
+diameter, and is calculated to weigh about 28 cwt. The whole peal was
+originally cast in London by Philip Wightman in the <a name="page_79" id="page_79"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 79]</span>year
+1699; but the second, fifth, and sixth bells were recast in the middle of
+the eighteenth century, and the treble in 1845. On the tenor may be read
+the following legend: "Vivos ad coelum, moritu[r]os ad solum pulsata
+voco." The clock was in great measure reconstructed under Lord
+Grimthorpe's direction and fitted with his gravity escapement; it strikes
+the quarter chimes on the second, third, fourth, and seventh bells, and
+the hours on the tenor. The mechanism of the chimes, which play at three,
+six, nine, and twelve o'clock, was remade by Mr. Godman, of St. Stephen's
+parish; this mechanism may be described as a kind of gigantic musical
+box. A huge cylinder revolves, on which are projecting pegs of brass,
+which as the cylinder goes round catch against wooden levers which raise
+clappers that in their fall strike the bells. The same tune is played all
+through each day, but a different tune is played each day of the week; at
+the end of the week the barrel is automatically set so as to begin the
+series of tunes again. There is, moreover, another tune&mdash;the Trinity
+hymn&mdash;which can be set by hand, and this is used on the greater festivals.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the peal of eight the sacring bell which once hung near the high
+altar is now hung in the tower.</p>
+
+<p>It may be well to finish the description of the church with a few notes
+about the material used and the method of building, abbreviated from a
+paper by Mr. James Neale. He says that during the restoration many
+examples were found of lead dowels in the joints of detached
+shafts. Sinkings were cut in the upper surface of the lower stone and in
+the lower surface of the upper, so that when in place these sinkings would
+be opposite to each other; a small hole one-eighth inch in diameter was
+then bored in the upper stone, through which lead was poured into the
+sinkings. The mortar used between the outer stones of the
+fourteenth-century bays of the nave was mixed with oyster-shells,
+contained a large amount of lime, and was very hard. There is much clunch
+stone used in the interior and this is in a good state of preservation,
+but any that has been used externally has decayed. The abaci of the Early
+English capitals in the main arcade are of Barnack stone, which is harder
+than clunch and so more suitable for bearing a weight. The Norman
+stonework was cut with an axe, the Transition with a chisel. The Early
+English is bolster-tooled; the Decorated ashlar (including the bays on the
+south side of the nave) is claw-tooled, the mouldings being scraped; the
+Perpendicular is finely scraped. <a name="page_80" id="page_80"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 80]</span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 336px;">
+<a name="illus_45" id="illus_45"></a>
+<a href="./images/image45.jpg">
+<img src="images/image45_th.jpg" alt="SOUTH CHOIR AISLE." /></a>
+<span class="caption">SOUTH CHOIR AISLE.</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><a name="page_81" id="page_81"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 81]</span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="chapter_4" id="chapter_4"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br />
+<span class="subtitle">THE HISTORY OF THE MONASTERY AND SEE.</span></h2>
+<p>
+
+Although, as stated in Chapter I., Albanus suffered martyrdom in 303 A.D.,
+and a small church was soon afterwards built over his grave, and another
+of larger size subsequently erected, it was not until the eighth century
+that the monastery was founded.</p>
+
+<p>The foundation was an act of atonement on the part of Offa II., King of
+the Mercians, in the year 793. In the previous year he had been at the
+court of Ethelbert, King of East Anglia, and was a suitor for the hand of
+his daughter. But he treacherously murdered his host and took possession
+of his kingdom. Either as a politic effort to remove the evil reputation
+of such deeds, or as a conscientious offering to regain the favour of
+Heaven by means of a great work for the Church, Offa resolved to found a
+monastery, in honour of the protomartyr of Britain, upon the site of the
+martyrdom. The first thing to do was to discover the actual remains of
+St. Alban. The story of the discovery would not be complete without a
+vision and a miracle. Accordingly a vision is said to have appeared to the
+King at Bath, and a miraculous light to have guided him to the spot where
+the coffin was found. This had been purposely removed from its first
+resting-place within the walls of the church, for fear of its being
+desecrated by the Saxons, who certainly did reduce the building almost to
+a ruin. The coffin was found to contain the body of the martyr, as well as
+the precious relics which had been placed within it by the Bishop of
+Auxerre. Their presence establishes the identity of the remains. The
+church was then repaired so as to be able to preserve safely the reliquary
+which contained the precious relics "until a more worthy edifice should be
+built." Permission to build and endow the monastery was obtained from
+Pope Adrian I., the King making a special journey to Rome in order to
+procure it. The martyr was canonized at the same time. At some later time
+a valuable concession was granted to <a name="page_82" id="page_82"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 82]</span>the new monastery: the
+tribute known as Peter's Pence being assigned to it, while the lands
+belonging to the Abbey were exempted from the payment. This grant applied
+to the whole of Offa's kingdom. The payment of Peter's Pence had only been
+instituted sixty-six years previously, the object being to maintain a
+Saxon college at Rome. Offa lived to see the monastery established and
+partially endowed. He himself gave one of the royal manors to the
+endowment, but he did not live long enough even to make a beginning of the
+grand church he appears to have had in contemplation, for he died not long
+after his return from Rome, some authorities giving the year 794 as the
+date of his death, others 796.</p>
+
+<p>The monastery was of the Benedictine order. Though it became important,
+and at last the chief of the Benedictine houses in England, it was not one
+of the earliest. The Benedictine order had been introduced into England in
+596, and forty-five monasteries had been founded before that of
+St. Alban's. Many of these were little more than cells, and many were
+afterwards absorbed into the larger establishments. Yet several very
+famous abbeys were founded at least a century before Offa founded
+St. Alban's.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the early Abbots of St. Albans were men of mark and of influence
+in the national councils, and some of them were closely related to the
+royal family. The Chronicles, however, tell us but little of them, except
+when the Abbey itself is concerned. Some notes on the Abbots will now be
+given.</p>
+<p>
+1. <b>Willegod</b> (793-796). His rule, we are told, was short but
+prudent. His death is attributed to vexation at not being able to obtain
+the body of Offa for burial in the Abbey. He died two months after the
+King. The chronicler charitably hopes that Offa's name is written in the
+book of life, although his mortal remains are not honourably
+preserved. Offa's son and successor, Ecgfrid, confirmed his father's
+charter and gave another manor to the Abbey.</p>
+<p>
+2. <b>Eadric.</b> He was elected in 796, according to the express wishes
+of the founder, from among the inmates of the monastery. He was of royal
+blood and had the King's support in some critical difficulties, and ruled
+with discretion.</p>
+<p>
+3. <b>Wulsig.</b> This Abbot, like his predecessor, a monk and akin to the
+King, scandalized the house by hunting in lay attire; and by entertaining
+noble ladies within the precincts. He wasted <a name="page_83" id="page_83"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 83]</span>the substance
+of the Abbey by bestowing it upon his relations. Most of the property
+that he had alienated was recovered after his death, and those whom he had
+fattened died miserably in poverty. It is said that he was much hated by
+the monks and died of poison.</p>
+<p>
+4. <b>Wulnoth.</b> He began well, but after a few years gave himself up to
+sport habited as a layman. He is said to have ruled eleven years, and to
+have repented when affected by paralysis, and to have made a happy
+end. The chronicler adds with sly humour that his change to holiness was
+brought about "<i>faciendo de necessitate virtutem.</i>" In his time the
+Danes plundered the Abbey of its treasures, vestments and sacred vessels,
+and carried off the bones of St. Alban to Owense (probably Odense in
+Funen). The sacrist Egwin was much distressed at the loss of this his
+greatest treasure, and prayed that he might see the body brought
+back. St. Alban appeared to him in a vision, and bade him go to Owense and
+there await instructions. After a year's stay at the monastery he was
+admitted into the brotherhood and became sacrist, never revealing the fact
+that he had come from St. Albans. Long did he wait for an opportunity of
+carrying away the sacred bones, until one winter's night he found means of
+removing them from the shrine wherein they were kept, and packing them in
+a chest, which he gave to an English merchant whom he knew, bidding him
+take it to St. Albans. He said that it contained books which the Abbot
+had lent him, and which he was now returning; he added that he would
+shortly bring the key himself, or, if he could not come himself, would
+send it by a messenger. Together with the chest, which in due course was
+delivered, a letter was sent detailing the circumstances of his pious
+fraud; this was read by the Abbot in chapter, to the great joy of the
+brethren. Egwin shortly after this obtained leave to make a journey to
+England, and when safely in the Abbey he wrote to the monks at Owense,
+telling them what he had done. Some of them denounced him as guilty of
+sacrilege, others justified his action. When he opened the chest in the
+chapter-house at St. Albans miraculous cures were wrought on many who were
+infirm, both in the Abbey and in the town.</p>
+<p>
+5. <b>Eadfrith.</b> This Abbot was handsome in person, but despicable in
+his deeds. He never attended the services in the choir. During his time
+Wulfa, the prior, built an oratory in honour of Germanus on the spot where
+the rude dwelling he had occupied <a name="page_84" id="page_84"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 84]</span>when visiting St. Albans
+lay in ruins. After Wulfa's death Eadfrith saw the error of his ways,
+resigned his office, became a hermit, and died a holy man.</p>
+
+<p>No new Abbot was appointed for a year, as the monks were divided into two
+parties in favour of rival candidates.</p>
+<p>
+6. <b>Wulsin.</b> The bishop after a time intervened and put an end to the
+dissension, and the monks unanimously elected Wulsin, or Ulsinus. He
+helped the inhabitants of the town to build the three churches of
+St. Michael, St. Stephen, and St. Peter (see Appendix). He died holy and
+full of days.</p>
+<p>
+7. <b>Ĉlfric.</b> This Abbot purchased of King Eadgar a large fishpond
+which was too near the Abbey to be pleasant; he drained it, leaving only a
+small pool of water and a bed of reeds, converting the rest of it into
+gardens. He translated into Saxon some of the historical books of the Old
+Testament. His doctrine on the Lord's Supper, as expounded in a letter to
+Wulfstan, Bishop of Sherborne, which is preserved at Exeter, was identical
+with that of the twenty-eighth Article of Religion. He died "full of days,
+eminent for sanctity, after having achieved many praiseworthy actions."</p>
+<p>
+8. <b>Ealdred.</b> He ruled but for a short time, but was a benefactor to
+the town. He cleared away much of the ruins of Verulamium, especially
+those caverns which had become the abode of robbers and outlaws. He also
+collected materials (chiefly from the Roman ruins)&mdash;tiles, stone, and
+timber&mdash;with a view to the rebuilding of the abbey church.</p>
+<p>
+9. <b>Eadmer.</b> He was pious, courteous, learned, but he left the
+monastery much in debt, so that some possessions had to be sold and some
+timber to be cut down.</p>
+<p>
+10. <b>Ĉlfric</b> is described as of singular and conspicuous merit. He
+wrote a history of St. Alban, and arranged it for musical
+recitation. Being afraid of a Danish invasion, and thinking that the
+relics of the protomartyr, which had already been once carried away to
+Denmark, would not be safe in the shrine as it stood, he hid them under
+the altar of St. Nicholas, and at the same time pretended to send them to
+Ely for safe custody, giving the authorities at Ely to understand that the
+true relics were being committed to their charge; this, it is said, he did
+being a prudent and circumspect man, and fearing that the men at Ely would
+be blinded by covetousness, and refuse to return the true relics if they
+once got them into their possession. The Danish <a name="page_85" id="page_85"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 85]</span>invasion was
+soon over, the King being drowned, and then Ĉlfric demanded from the monks
+of Ely the relics he had intrusted to their care. The caution he had
+exercised was justified by the conduct of the Ely monks; for they,
+thinking that the bones they had were really those of St. Alban, at first
+refused to return them, but at last consented to do so. The bones,
+however, that they sent back were not those they had received. It is plain
+that these old monks were not always to be trusted to behave in an
+honourable manner when precious relics were concerned. The chronicler,
+however, who tells the story, considers the conduct of the monks of
+St. Albans in sending spurious relics was "pious," while the behaviour of
+the monks of Ely was "detestable and disgraceful"&mdash;but then the chronicler
+was a monk of St. Albans. Ĉlfric bought the royal palace of Kingsbury and
+its land near the Abbey, demolishing the whole of the palace except one
+tower. Ĉlfric in 995 was promoted to the office of Archbishop of
+Canterbury.</p>
+<p>
+11. <b>Leofric.</b><a name="footref_10" id="footref_10" href="#footnote_10"><span class="fnanchor">10</span></a> This Abbot was half brother to Ĉlfric. During a
+great famine he spent large sums in the relief of the poor, devoting to
+this purpose even some of the treasures that had been got together for the
+rebuilding of the church, and many gold and silver vessels assigned to his
+own use in the Abbey. The monks, however, objected to this conversion of
+the property of the Abbey to uses for which it was not originally
+intended.</p>
+<p>
+12. <b>Leofstan.</b> This Abbot was confessor to King Edward (the
+Confessor) and his Queen Edith. He acquired much land for the Abbey, and
+cleared away the woods between London and St. Albans, to make the roads
+safer for travellers. To secure the good services of a knight as protector
+of the Abbey he assigned him a certain manor; the service was faithfully
+performed. The Normans, when they came, dispossessed the holder, and
+conferred the manor upon Roger, a Norman knight, who, strange to say,
+fulfilled the conditions on which his predecessor had held the land. At
+Leofstan's death the Abbey was in a state of the greatest prosperity.</p>
+<p>
+13. <b>Frithric.</b> This Abbot was chosen in the reign of Harold<a name="page_86" id="page_86"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 86]</span>
+as leader of the southerners against the Normans, just as Aldred,
+Archbishop of York, was chosen as the leader of the northcountrymen.
+William accordingly ravaged the possessions of the monastery. After the
+Conquest, when William was accepted as King, Frithric administered to him
+the oath that he would keep inviolate all the laws of the realm, which
+former kings, especially Edward, had established. Needless to say, William
+soon began to disregard this oath, and despoiled the Abbey of St. Alban's
+more and more, till Frithric in despair resigned his office as Abbot and
+retired to Ely, where he soon died. The monks of Ely pretended that he
+took with him to their monastery the precious relics of St. Alban the
+Martyr.</p>
+<p>
+14. <b>Paul of Caen</b> (1077-1093). A great change now comes over the
+history of the monastery. The new Abbot was a Norman and a kinsman of
+Lanfranc, the first Norman Archbishop of Canterbury. Like Lanfranc, who
+had been Abbot of Caen, he resolved to rebuild his church, and, like
+Lanfranc, adopted in England the style he had been accustomed to at Caen;
+but his ideas on the matter of size were far grander than that of his
+former Abbot, for St. Alban's Abbey Church far surpassed in its dimensions
+the cathedral church which the new archbishop built at Canterbury. As we
+have already seen (Chap. I.), he used the Roman bricks from the ruined
+city of Verulamium as building material. Important as this work was, the
+account of it occupies but a few lines in the Chronicles. In these it is
+mentioned that Lanfranc contributed 1,000 marks towards the cost. Paul
+was an energetic man, as may be seen by the short time occupied in
+building this large church; but it was not only in providing a new church
+that he was active, for it is recorded that he reformed the lives and
+manners of the monks, secured the restoration of land that had been
+alienated, founded cells as occasion demanded, and persuaded lay donors to
+give largely to the Abbey&mdash;tithes, bells, plate, and books. Robert
+Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, gave the Priory of Tynemouth, which he
+had founded, to the Abbey of St. Albans. Abbot Paul died on his way home
+from a visit to this new priory, and was buried magnificently in his own
+Abbey.</p>
+
+<p>The "Gesta Abbatum" begins at this point to sum up the good and evil deeds
+of the abbots. Among Paul's shortcomings the following are mentioned: he
+lost property through negligence; he destroyed the tombs of his English
+predecessors in the Abbey; <a name="page_87" id="page_87"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 87]</span>he did not secure as he should
+have done the bones of Offa for his new church; he alienated the woods of
+Northame; he bestowed some of the property of the Abbey upon his
+illiterate kinsfolk. Yet, on the whole, his good deeds outweighed his evil
+ones. William II., after Paul's death, kept the Abbey in his own hands for
+four years, using, as was his wont, the revenues for his own
+advantage. His death in the New Forest was considered by the monks of the
+Abbey as a special punishment for the extortion he had practised on them.</p>
+<p>
+15. <b>Richard d'Aubeny</b> or <b>d'Albini</b> (1097-1119). This Abbot, a
+Norman, was a man of much influence, and during his rule the Abbey was
+very prosperous. He presented many and valuable ornaments to the church: a
+shrine wrought in gold for the relics of the apostles, which Germanus had
+placed in St. Alban's coffin in the fifth century; another shrine of
+ivory and gilt, for the relics of martyrs and saints; a great number of
+vestments and many valuable books. During his time, 1104, the relics of
+St. Cuthbert were translated from the temporary shrine which Bishop
+Carileph had erected over them to the new Cathedral Church at Durham, and
+Abbot Richard, as head of Tynemouth Priory, was present on that occasion,
+and a miracle was worked upon him, for his withered arm was cured by being
+brought into contact with St. Cuthbert's body. In gratitude for this
+benefit, he built a chapel in honour of St. Cuthbert in his own Abbey.
+For some reason the Abbey, though no doubt used, had not hitherto been
+consecrated. This omission was made good on the festival of the Holy
+Innocents, 1115, by Geoffrey, Archbishop of Rouen, the Bishops of Lincoln,
+London, Durham and Salisbury assisting. Henry III., his Queen Matilda, the
+chief nobles and prelates of the kingdom, were present and stayed at the
+Abbey from December 27th until the Feast of the Epiphany (January
+6th). Wymondham Priory in Norfolk was founded by William, Count of
+Arundel, and conferred on St. Albans during Abbot Richard's rule. Like his
+predecessor, he enriched his relations at the expense of the Abbey, and is
+further blamed by the chronicler for having promised that the Abbey should
+be subject for the future not to the Archbishop but to the Bishop of
+Lincoln.<a name="footref_11" id="footref_11" href="#footnote_11"><span class="fnanchor">11</span></a> This change seems to have led to a stricter rule<a name="page_88" id="page_88"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 88]</span>
+and so was displeasing to the monks, though it is admitted that the
+Archbishop had not treated the Abbey well.</p>
+<p>
+16. <b>Geoffrey of Gorham</b> (1119-1146). This Abbot came from Maine,
+where he had been born. He had been invited to take charge of the
+monastery school, but did not arrive in time, so he opened a school at
+Dunstable. On one occasion, when a miracle play was being performed by his
+scholars, he borrowed some vestments of the Abbey; these were
+unfortunately destroyed in a fire; unable to pay for them, he offered
+himself as a sacrifice and became a monk. He was unanimously elected Abbot
+on the death of his predecessor, but at first was reluctant to accept the
+office, though finally his reluctance was overcome. He made a most
+energetic ruler. He increased the allowances to the kitchen, cellars, and
+almonry. He ordered that the revenues of certain rectories should be used
+for providing ornaments, for a fabric fund, and for the infirmary. He
+founded and endowed the leper hospital of St. Julian on the London Road,
+and established the nunnery of Sopwell (see Appendix) for thirteen
+sisters. He built the guest hall, the infirmary, and its chapel. He also
+began to construct a new shrine for the relics of the saint, but after
+spending £60 on it discontinued the work to give himself breathing time,
+and never went on with it again. He felt himself constrained to sell some
+of the materials he had collected for this purpose, to obtain money for
+the relief of the poor during a famine. A long description is preserved of
+the decoration of the shrine. Among other precious things worked into it
+was an eagle with outstretched wings, the gift of King Ethelred. Although
+it was not quite finished, it was sufficiently so as to be ready to
+receive the bones of the martyr. The remains were examined in the presence
+of Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, and sundry Abbots in 1129. The
+genuineness of the relics, so it is said, was established by appearances
+of the saint to divers persons as well as by miracles. One shoulder blade
+was missing; but this, as it afterwards appeared, had been given by a
+former Abbot, at the request of King Canute, to the reigning duke of some
+foreign land, who had founded a cathedral church on purpose to receive so
+precious a relic. A long list is given of the valuable gifts this Abbot
+made to the monastery and church. During his time lived the hermits Roger
+and Sigur, and the recluse Christina, whose story has been told in Chapter
+III.</p>
+<p>
+<a name="page_89" id="page_89"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 89]</span>At this time also Henry I. granted to the Abbots the Liberty
+of St. Albans, which gave them the power of trying minor offences, which
+had hitherto been tried in the civil courts of the hundred and the shire.</p>
+
+<p>There are only two faults that are recorded of this Abbot: first, he gave
+some of the Abbey tithe to the support of the church that he had rebuilt;
+and, secondly, he was too easy in business dealings and allowed himself to
+be imposed upon.</p>
+<p>
+17. <b>Randulf of Gobion</b> (1146-1151). This Abbot had previously been
+chaplain and treasurer to the Bishop of Lincoln. He erected the Abbot's
+chamber and other useful buildings, and freed the Abbey from debt. He
+deposed the Prior because he suspected that a seal he found not yet
+engraved had been prepared for a new Abbot, and that this indicated a
+desire on the part of the Prior and monks to depose him. He is said to
+have burnt a rich chasuble in order to obtain the gold with which it was
+embroidered, and to have removed the gold plates from the shrine to
+procure money to make a purchase of land&mdash;the rent of which, however, went
+to the Abbey, not himself&mdash;while keeping the gold plate used at his own
+table. He was allowed to nominate a successor, and then resigned, dying
+shortly afterwards.</p>
+<p>
+18. <b>Robert of Gorham</b> (1151-1166). He was a nephew of Geoffrey of
+Gorham, sixteenth Abbot. He had been a monk abroad, but coming on a visit
+to his uncle he obtained permission to "migrate" to St. Albans. In time he
+became Prior. As Abbot he managed the affairs of the Abbey with
+prudence. He repaired and releaded the church, whitened it within and
+without, that is to say, renewed the plaster with which from the first it
+had probably been covered. Matthew Paris tells us that one Nicholas
+Breakspear, a clerk from Langley, applied to him for admission to the
+Abbey, but was refused, as he failed to pass his entrance
+examination. "Wait, my son," said the Abbot, "and go on with your
+schooling so as to become more fit." Nicholas is spoken of as a youth,
+but he must have been about fifty years of age when Robert became Abbot,
+and was certainly Bishop of Albano within a year or two of that date, and
+became Pope, under the name of Adrian IV., in 1154, the only Englishman
+that has ever sat in St. Peter's chair. If there is any truth in the story
+of his rejection at St. Albans, it must have happened earlier than the
+abbacy of Robert. King <a name="page_90" id="page_90"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 90]</span>Stephen visited the Abbey, and Robert
+obtained his authority to level the remains of the camp, that is, the
+tower that Ĉlfric, the tenth Abbot, had allowed to remain standing at
+Kingsbury, which had become a den of robbers.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after Breakspear had become Pope, Robert and three bishops from the
+foreign dominions of Henry II. went as envoys to him from the King; the
+Abbot hoped that the Pope's connection with St. Albans, for his father had
+become late in life a monk there, would induce him to enlarge its
+privileges. Knowing that the dignitaries at Rome and the members of the
+Pope's household were wellnigh insatiable, he distributed valuable gifts
+among them to secure their good offices with the Pope. Robert complained
+of the intolerable oppression of the Bishop of Lincoln, and the insolence
+of his agents, and obtained from Adrian complete exemption from episcopal
+supervision. The Abbey henceforth was to be subject to Rome alone. When
+the Pope's letter granting this exemption was exhibited at a council in
+London, the greatest indignation was expressed. An agreement was,
+however, at last signed between the Bishop of Lincoln and the Abbot, three
+bishops intervening in the interest of peace. Abbot Robert then sent two
+of his nephews, monks, to Rome with still more presents, and as a result
+of their mission further privileges and liberties were granted to the
+Abbot; he was, among other things, allowed to wear pontifical robes. The
+Bishop of Lincoln was exasperated, but did not dare to defy the Pope's
+authority. Adrian IV. was poisoned in 1158, and the next Pope granted a
+new and important privilege to St. Albans; what it was is not stated. The
+Bishop of Lincoln now thought it was time to assert himself. He declared
+his intention of visiting the Abbey as its Bishop, and ordered that
+suitable preparations should be made for his reception. The Abbot refused
+to receive him. He was, on a complaint made by the Bishop, cited before
+the King's Court and called on to justify his action. After a protracted
+investigation lasting for three or four years, the King assented to the
+Abbot's wearing a mitre, and recommended him to buy off further opposition
+on the part of the Bishop by a grant of certain lands, which were worth
+£10 a year. At Easter, 1163, Abbot Robert celebrated Mass wearing for the
+first time mitre, ring, gloves, and sandals. He also at the Council of
+Tours in the same year took the first seat among the English Abbots, the
+Abbot of <a name="page_91" id="page_91"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 91]</span>St. Edmondsbury vainly attempting to take it from
+him. He gave costly gifts to the church, built the chapter-house and the
+Locutorium, the Chapel of St. Nicholas, part of the cloister, the long
+stable, granary, larder, and two solars. He was buried in the new
+chapter-house, leaving the monastery in debt, caused no doubt by his
+lavish expenditure in bribery at Rome. On his death in October, 1166, the
+King kept the abbacy vacant for several months, for at this time the great
+conflict between the King and the Archbishop, Becket, was raging, and the
+King wished visibly to assert his authority.</p>
+<p>
+19. <b>Symeon</b> (1167-1183). Symeon had been Prior, and therefore had
+been acting head of the monastery since Robert's death. He was a literary
+man and an encourager of learning. Being an intimate friend of Thomas
+Becket, he went to Prince Henry, the King's son, to intercede for the
+Archbishop and bring about a reconciliation, if possible, with the King;
+but he was driven from the court with contumely. Symeon finished the
+shrine. The feretory made by Abbot Geoffrey still contained the bones of
+the martyr; this was now covered by the work of Abbot Symeon, which was
+made of large size so as to contain the other. The relics of Amphibalus
+were discovered about this time at Redbourn, where he had been put to
+death. The Bishop of Durham dedicated the Chapel of St. Cuthbert which had
+been built by Richard (fifteenth Abbot). Like several of the other Abbots,
+Symeon enriched his relations and left the Abbey in debt.</p>
+<p>
+20. <b>Warren</b>, or <b>Warin, of Cambridge</b> (1183-1195). This Abbot
+was of low birth, but had risen to the position of Prior. The sacrist
+alone opposed his election on account of his birth and also because he
+squinted, and predicted all manner of evils to the monastery if he were
+elected Abbot. Henry II., soon after the new Abbot had been appointed, and
+the Bishop of Lincoln happening to be at St. Albans at the same time, the
+Bishop brought up the old grievance about the Abbey having been made
+independent of him, but the King silenced him with angry words. Warren
+founded a leper hospital for women as Geoffrey had founded one for
+men. This hospital was dissolved by Wolsey in 1526, its revenues going
+towards the endowment of Christ Church, Oxford. The bones of Amphibalus
+were removed from the locker in which they were kept, and placed in a new
+shrine adorned with gold and silver. This Abbot made numerous regulations
+concerning the domestic affairs of the monastery; one <a name="page_92" id="page_92"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 92]</span>dealt
+with the dress, another made better provision for sick monks, another
+shortened the services, another allowed meat in the infirmary, yet another
+ordered that all dead monks should be buried in stone coffins, not merely
+laid in earth graves. This Abbot, in lieu of delivering up the chalice
+which Richard I. had demanded from all English abbeys wherewith to pay his
+ransom, sent 200 marks of silver. Shortly before his death he set aside
+100 marks to be given to his successor for renewing the west front of the
+church. Among his faults it is noted that he was self-willed, that he
+banished to distant cells any of the brethren that offended him, and that
+he felled timber belonging to the Abbey and sent the proceeds as presents
+to the King and Queen.</p>
+<p>
+21. <b>John de Cella</b> (1195-1214). This Abbot derived his name from the
+Cell of Wallingford, of which he had been Prior. He was learned, pious,
+and a good disciplinarian. He left the secular affairs of the Abbey to be
+managed by the Prior and Cellarer, and devoted himself to his religious
+duties, and to the fabric. He pulled down the Norman west front with the
+intention of rebuilding it; he dug foundations, but after he had spent
+Warren's legacy of 100 marks his walls had not risen above the ground
+level. His master of the works led him into needless expense, and as
+progress was so slow the Abbot became dispirited. He, however, got another
+master of the works and started afresh, assigning to the building fund one
+sheaf of wheat from every acre. This arrangement lasted during the whole
+of his rule and for many years afterwards, but progress was still
+slow. Gifts of gold and silver, considerable sums of money collected by a
+wandering preacher, who pretended to be Amphibalus, restored to life, were
+all consumed. At last in weariness of heart the Abbot gave himself to
+other work; he began to build a new refectory and dormitory, persuading
+the monks to give up wine for fifteen years, and contribute the money so
+saved to the cost of the new building. He had a great reputation for
+sanctity. At times, when he was saying mass, responses were sung, so it is
+said, by voices not of this world. He limited the number of monks to a
+hundred. King John ordered him to say mass during the interdict, but he
+refused, whereupon John seized the monastery and ejected the monks, and
+only on payment of 600 marks, and afterwards of 500 more, would he restore
+the Abbey to its rightful owners.</p>
+<p>
+<a name="page_93" id="page_93"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 93]</span>22. <b>William of Trumpington</b> (1214-1235). This Abbot
+was an entirely different style of man from his predecessor. He was much
+addicted to social enjoyment, was a good man of business, and looked into
+matters thoroughly for himself; he visited all the cells belonging to the
+Abbey, and carried on the work of building in an energetic manner. The
+dormitory was finished, the aisles were roofed with oak, an octagon built
+on the tower, and, chief of all, the long-delayed work at the west end was
+resumed and finished. The sacrist, Walter of Colchester, was an excellent
+carver and carved a handsome pulpit with a great cross thereon, and
+statues of St. John and the Virgin. The shrine of St. Amphibalus, which
+had stood to the south of that of St. Alban, was moved to the middle of
+the nave and inclosed within iron screenwork; much other carving was done
+in the church and many new altars dedicated. A fine bell was given for
+services in honour of our Lady; the Chapel of St. Cuthbert with a
+dormitory over it for seven monks was rebuilt; most of the walls were
+replastered; cloister walks were built, fitted with oak beams, ceiled and
+covered with oak shingles. This Abbot acquired much property for the
+Abbey, but during the civil wars large sums were extorted by either
+party. In 1235 the church was struck by lightning and set on fire, but
+fortunately a tank of rainwater was close at hand, and the fire was soon
+extinguished. As the Abbot died eight days afterwards, the accident was
+looked upon as a presage of his coming death.</p>
+<p>
+23. <b>John of Hertford</b> (1235-1260). He had been sacristan and
+afterwards prior of the cell at Hertford. The Pope's bull confirming his
+election required him to present himself at Rome every three years. The
+church was again struck by lightning, notwithstanding the fact that the
+impression of the Pope's seal, bearing an image of the Lamb of God, had
+been duly placed on the top of the tower as a protection against
+lightning. Abbot John built the guest-house, and devoted the revenues of
+three rectories to the improvement of the quality of the ale, and for the
+providing of better entertainment for guests. He repaired many of the
+buildings belonging to the Abbey, the granary, water mills, houses in
+London, etc. At the coronation of Henry III. the Abbot of St. Albans took
+precedence of all the mitred abbots; and though afterwards the Abbot of
+Westminster obtained precedence, yet in 1536 the signature of Abbot Catton
+of St. Albans stands first, that of Abbot Benson of Westminster<a name="page_94" id="page_94"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 94]</span>
+following, in the list of names attached to the "Articles of Faith"
+drawn up by Convocation. So it would appear that the Abbots of St. Albans
+had by this time recovered their rights of precedence. When the see of
+Lincoln was vacant, the Archbishop proposed to hold an ordination in
+St. Albans Abbey, but was refused permission. During this Abbot's rule the
+Pope demanded more than once large sums of money; the Abbot refused to
+pay, and in consequence of his refusal the church was put under an
+interdict. At this time lived the celebrated monk Matthew of Paris, to
+whom we owe much of the knowledge we possess of the history of the Abbey
+up to his own days. The Chronicles carry us nearly up to the end of Abbot
+John's rule, Matthew himself dying only a year before the Abbot. For the
+subsequent history, up to the abbacy of Thomas de la Mare, thirtieth
+Abbot, we are indebted to Thomas of Walsingham. Matthew was born about
+1200, and though of English descent derived his surname from the French
+capital, either because it was his birthplace, or because he was a student
+at its university. He became a monk of St. Albans on January 21st,
+1217. He went with Abbot John of Hertford to London to be present at the
+marriage of Henry III. to Eleanor of Provence, 1236; and again he went to
+Westminster Abbey for the celebration of the feast of the founder, on
+which occasion he was asked by the King to write an account of the
+proceedings. He was sent on a mission to the Benedictine monastery at
+Trondhjem in 1248, attended the royal court at Winchester in 1251, and was
+present at the marriage of Henry's daughter to the Scottish King,
+Alexander II. When Henry III. spent a week at St. Albans in 1257, he
+admitted Matthew to his table and treated him with great confidence,
+communicating many facts and details of his life to him. Matthew
+afterwards exerted his influence with the King in behalf of the University
+of Oxford, when its privileges were in danger from the encroachments of
+the Bishop of Lincoln. His great work was the "Historia Major." This
+professes to give the outlines of human history from the Creation up to
+1259. The work up to 1189 seems to have been compiled by John de Cella,
+from 1189 to 1235 by Roger of Wendover. Matthew of Paris transcribed and
+edited the work of his two predecessors, and continued the history from
+1235 to 1259. He shows himself in it a warm advocate of English rights and
+liberties, and an opponent of papal and regal tyranny. It is the<a name="page_95" id="page_95"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 95]</span>
+best early history we have of our own country up to the beginning of
+the Barons' War, and is also an authority on Continental affairs. He wrote
+too an abridgement of this work, leaving out the parts dealing with
+foreign history; this he called "Historia Anglorum." He also wrote "The
+Lives of the two Offas" and the "Lives of Twenty-three Abbots of
+St. Albans," whence most of the details of the history of the Abbey given
+here have been derived. Thomas of Walsingham, who continued the history,
+lived in the reigns of Henry IV. and Henry V.</p>
+
+<p>Against Abbot John it is alleged that he had his commons sent to his
+private room, instead of taking his meals with the brethren in the
+refectory. When he died he was buried with great honour, "as became so
+great a father."</p>
+<p>
+24. <b>Roger of Norton</b> (1260-1290). The new Abbot had been one of the
+monks; his appointment was confirmed by Pope Urban in 1263. During his
+rule the monastery flourished, notwithstanding the disturbed state of the
+country in the early years of it. He acquired many new possessions; the
+infirmary was rebuilt; the Abbot's lodgings were repaired; many ornaments,
+vestments, books, a silver thurible, and three new bells were procured.
+He made regulations for the preservation of the Abbey property, the
+management of the servants and tenants, and for the careful custody of the
+Abbey swans. Much litigation took place during his abbacy. Queen Eleanor
+claimed one of the manors, but was not able to make good her claim. A
+controversy about the appointment of the Prior of the cell at Wymondham
+arose between the Abbot and the Countess of Arundel, which was finally
+settled by an agreement that the Countess should nominate three persons,
+of whom the Abbot was to select one. Another dispute arose between the
+Abbot and the townspeople, about grinding corn and fulling cloth. The
+people claimed the right of having handmills in their houses, the Abbot
+insisted on his mills being used; the matter was referred to the law
+courts and decided in the Abbot's favour. Although through negligence some
+property was lost, yet this Abbot's character was highly commended:</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">Hic quem dedit Dominus nobis in rectorem</span>
+<span class="i0">Prudenter sustinuit onus et honorem.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>He was strict in government, of good life and conversation, eminently
+religious, distinguished for his learning. He was paralyzed for three
+years before his death, and when he died his <a name="page_96" id="page_96"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 96]</span>body was buried
+before the high altar, but his heart was placed in a small box of Eastern
+workmanship before one of the altars in the retro-choir.</p>
+<p>
+25. <b>John of Berkhamstead</b> (1290-1301). This Abbot was installed on
+St. Alban's Day, 1291. The King, Edward I., visited the Abbey during the
+vacancy, and again after the appointment of the new Abbot. The conduct of
+the King's agent before the election had been very extortionate. The claim
+of the Warden of Hertford Castle to certain tolls within the Abbot's
+liberty was the subject of a long investigation; in the end the claim was
+disallowed. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert of Winchelsea, sent a
+message that he wished for hospitality in the Abbey, but the Abbot refused
+to entertain him unless he would sign a paper undertaking that his visit
+should not in any way prejudice the privileges granted by the Pope, the
+Abbey being stated to belong "ad Romanam Ecclesiam, nullo medio." The
+Archbishop declined to sign this document, and so had to put up with
+lodgings outside the Abbey precincts. When he arrived the bells of
+St. Stephen's Church were not rung in his honour, whereupon the Archbishop
+put the church under an interdict; but the clergy paid no attention to
+this, and conducted the services as usual. During his rule the body of
+Queen Eleanor rested at St. Albans, and one of the Eleanor crosses was
+erected and remained here until 1702, when it was destroyed. A drinking
+fountain now occupies its site. In 1302 the Abbot obtained from Edward
+I. a confirmation of all the grants that had been made to the Abbey by
+former kings. This Abbot does not receive a very good character from the
+chronicler: he cut down and sold too much timber, granted too many
+pensions, and deprived several of the priors of the cells without
+sufficient cause.</p>
+<p>
+26. <b>John de Marinis</b> (1302-1308). This Abbot had been Cellarer, and
+afterwards Prior, for fourteen years, before his election as Abbot. The
+full list of the fees and expenses connected with his confirmation at Rome
+is given. The sum was enormous: 2,500 marks and 400 shillings.</p>
+
+<p>He offended Edward II. by refusing to supply some carriages and horses
+which the King had demanded, and so when Edward came to St. Albans he
+refused to see the Abbot. The latter tried to appease the King by a
+present made through the notorious favourite Piers Gaveston, and also by a
+grant of the manor of Westwood, which was beyond his power to give, but
+all to no <a name="page_97" id="page_97"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 97]</span>purpose. Most of the records of his rule relate to
+rights of property and regulations respecting the monks. As his end
+approached he made a statement of his liabilities. He owed £1,300 and had
+never paid the 1,000 marks due to the King at the last vacancy. We are
+told that he was constant, not given to much talk, honest in his life,
+religious, and circumspect.</p>
+<p>
+27. <b>Hugh of Eversden</b> (1308-1326). This Abbot, who had been Cellarer
+for five years, is described as being tall and handsome, able to speak
+French and English well, but with little knowledge of Latin. On this
+account he wished to avoid going to Rome, and sent his proctors instead to
+obtain the Pope's confirmation of his election&mdash;but they, having incurred
+much expense, returned to say that the Pope insisted on the new Abbot
+appearing at Rome in person. By liberal presents he made a favourable
+impression at Rome, but the journey, beyond the payments of first-fruits,
+cost him more than £1,000. With the help of a legacy from Reginald of
+St. Albans he finished the Lady Chapel and the retro-choir, in which he
+placed the shrine of St. Amphibalus. King Edward II. paid a second visit
+to the Abbey, and on being told by the Abbot of the benefactions of Edward
+I. gave 100 marks and much timber towards the work then in progress. The
+Abbot was twice besieged in his Abbey by the townspeople; they desired to
+be answerable to the King and not the Abbot. They gained their point,
+though they were compelled to surrender to the next Abbot the privileges
+they had obtained of Abbot Hugh. It was during the rule of this Abbot that
+the piers in the main arcade of the nave gave way while mass was being
+said on St. Paulinus' Day, 1323, and he had to begin repairing this part
+of the church.</p>
+<p>
+28. <b>Richard of Wallingford</b> (1326-1334). He was of humble birth; his
+father was a blacksmith. After taking his degree at Oxford he became a
+monk, and resided at St. Albans for three years, when he again went to
+Oxford and studied philosophy and theology there for nine years. He was on
+a visit to St. Albans at the time of the death of Abbot Hugh. He was
+elected Abbot, but the election was found to be informal, so he resigned
+his claim to the Pope, who thereupon appointed him Abbot. He wrote a
+Register of things done in his time, compiled a book of Decretals and
+Constitutions of Provincial Chapters, and sundry works on geometry and
+<a name="page_98" id="page_98"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 98]</span>astronomy. He constructed a clock showing the courses of the
+sun and moon, the ebb and flow of the tides, etc., which Leland, Librarian
+to Henry VIII., speaks of as still going in his day. He also made an
+astronomical instrument to which he gave the name "Albion," and wrote a
+book describing the manner of using it. Edward III., visiting the Abbey
+and seeing the clock being constructed, while the damage done by the fall
+of the nave piers in his predecessor's time had not been fully repaired,
+remonstrated with the Abbot, who replied that anyone could repair the
+church, but few could construct a clock such as he was making.</p>
+
+<p>It is said that he suffered from leprosy and that his death was hastened
+by the shock caused by a terrible thunderstorm on St. Andrew's Eve, 1334,
+which set some of the domestic buildings on fire. The fire was put out
+before much damage was done, but the Abbot died.</p>
+<p>
+29. <b>Michael of Mentmore</b> (1335-1349). He was a graduate of Oxford, a
+monk of St. Albans, and had been appointed Master of the Schools. He
+finished the repairs to the south arcading and south aisle begun by Abbot
+Hugh, built three altars, and vaulted the aisle. He baptized in 1341
+Edmund of Langley, fifth son of Edward III., from whom the House of York
+was descended. Philippa, the Queen, went to the Abbey to be churched and
+gave the Abbey a cloth of gold. The Abbot, the Prior, the sub-prior and
+forty-seven monks fell victims to the terrible plague known as the Black
+Death, which was ravaging the country in 1349. He is described as being
+pious, patient, and meek like Moses.</p>
+<p>
+30. <b>Thomas de la Mare</b> (1349-1396). He was a man of high birth, and
+was connected with many people of importance, among them probably Sir
+Peter de la Mare, the first Speaker of the House of Commons. He became a
+monk at St. Albans, and was sent to Wymondham, recalled to St. Albans, and
+afterwards became kitchener, cellarer, and then Prior at Tynemouth in
+Northumberland. When Abbot Michael died the Prior of Wymondham was
+elected, but declined the abbacy, whereupon Thomas de la Mare was
+elected. One of the proctors who started with him to Rome died on the way
+of the Black Death. The new Abbot himself, after his appointment had been
+confirmed, was taken seriously ill at Rome, but recovered with great
+suddenness. He was a great favourite with Edward III., and<a name="page_99" id="page_99"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 99]</span>
+it is said that King John of France, who was taken prisoner at
+Poictiers in 1356, was for a time committed to his charge; he treated John
+with great moderation and respect, and King John afterwards showed his
+appreciation of his treatment by releasing some St. Albans men who were
+prisoners of war in France, bidding them tell the Abbot that they owed
+their release to him. The Abbot was strict in correcting faults, curbing
+excesses, cutting away abuses, and putting things right; he was revered by
+all, feared by many. He was appointed by the King as visitor to numerous
+monasteries, and in 1351 was President of a general chapter of
+Benedictines. Moreover his knowledge of painting was such that Edward
+III. appointed him master of the painters assigned for the works to be
+executed at the chapel of the Palace of Westminster, and the ornamental
+painting and glazing of St. Stephen's Chapel was carried on for several
+years under his supervision. After having been Abbot for some years he
+wished to resign, but Edward III. would not hear of it. In the time of
+Richard II. an attack was made by the followers of Wat Tyler on the
+Abbey. They succeeded in extorting certain charters from the Abbot, but
+after the collapse of the rebellion the King himself came to the Abbey and
+stayed there for eight days, summoning all the commons of the county to
+make oath to do suit and service to the Abbot and the convent in the
+customary manner. He rebuilt the Great Gate of the Abbey (see
+Appendix). He died on September 15th, 1396, having been Abbot for
+forty-seven years, a longer period than any of his predecessors or
+successors. He was buried before the high altar and a brass to his memory
+may now be seen in the Wheathampstead chantry.</p>
+<p>
+31. <b>John de la Moots</b> (1396-1401). He had held several offices in
+the Abbey before his election as Abbot, and when Cellarer had been put in
+the pillory in Luton Market, "in hatred to the Abbot and utter contempt of
+religion." The conspiracy to dethrone Richard II. was first formed at the
+dinner table of this Abbot, when the Duke of Gloucester and the Prior of
+Westminster were dining with him. In 1399 the body of John of Gaunt rested
+in the Abbey on its way to London, his son, Henry Beaufort, Bishop of
+Lincoln, being allowed to conduct a service in the Abbey; and in the same
+year Richard II. and Henry, Duke of Lancaster, lodged at St. Albans. On
+arrival in London Richard II. was dethroned, and the Bishop of Carlisle,
+who <a name="page_100" id="page_100"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 100]</span>took his side, was seized by order of the Duke of
+Lancaster, soon to be known as Henry IV., and carried as a prisoner to
+St. Albans; he was, however, afterwards pardoned by Henry. A dispute for
+precedence between this Abbot and the Abbot of Westminster occurred. John
+died in 1401.</p>
+<p>
+32. <b>William Heyworth</b> (1401-1420). This Abbot was promoted to the
+see of Lichfield in 1420, died in 1446 or 1447, and was buried in
+St. Alban's Abbey.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a name="illus_46" id="illus_46"></a>
+<a href="./images/image46.jpg">
+<img src="images/image46_th.jpg" alt="JOHN OF WHEATHAMPSTEAD'S CHANTRY." /></a>
+<span class="caption">JOHN OF WHEATHAMPSTEAD'S CHANTRY.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+33. <b>John of Wheathampstead</b> (1420-1440 and 1451-1464). The Abbot's
+surname was Bostock, and it is supposed, as on his mother's grave in
+Wheathampstead Church a shield bearing the Heyworth arms is found, that
+John was a kinsman of his predecessor. To increase the revenue he admitted
+many gentlemen and ladies of high rank to the confraternity; this
+admission was a mere honour, conferring indeed the right to vote in the
+chapter, but not imposing any duties or monastic restrictions<a name="page_101" id="page_101"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 101]</span>
+on those thus admitted. Among the names of those admitted in 1423 we
+find those of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and Jaqueline his wife, whom
+he subsequently divorced; in 1431 his new wife, Eleanor, was
+admitted. John procured by royal grant lands in various quarters, and
+also, in order that he might secure himself against any charges which
+might be made against him, a pardon for diverse offences, of none of which
+was he in all probability guilty&mdash;treason, murder, rape, rebellion,
+conspiracy, etc. A strange light is thrown by this upon monkish morals of
+the day; one would have thought no abbot would ever have been supposed
+possible of committing such offences. These were disturbed times, for the
+King, Henry VI., was imbecile and various nobles were intriguing against
+each other for power. The star of Humphrey of Gloucester, the Abbot's
+friend, was setting, and other troubles threatened the nation, so Abbot
+John resigned in 1440.</p>
+<p>
+34. <b>John Stokes</b> (1440-1451). This Abbot ruled for eleven years, and
+then either died or resigned. During his rule Eleanor, Duchess of
+Gloucester, was tried for witchcraft, was imprisoned in the Tower, and did
+penance in the streets of London. Her husband died, or more probably was
+murdered, in 1447, and was buried in the Abbey on the south side of St.
+Alban's shrine.</p>
+<p>
+33. In 1451 Abbot John of Wheathampstead, though over eighty years of age,
+was re-elected. Soon after his election he gave his church a "pair of
+organs," surpassing all others in England in size, tone, and workmanship.</p>
+
+<p>In 1455 the Wars of the Roses began with the first battle of St. Albans
+(May 23rd), fought to the east of the town. In this the White Rose party
+were victorious; the King was taken prisoner and lodged for the night in
+the Abbey. The victorious army plundered the town, but the Abbot by
+sending out plenty of wine and food saved his monastery.</p>
+
+<p>In 1459 King Henry was again at the Abbey and spent Easter there, ordering
+his best robe to be given to the Prior when he left.</p>
+
+<p>Another battle was fought, this time to the north of the town, on February
+17th, 1461. Henry was at this time in the hands of the Yorkists and at
+St. Albans. The Queen, having defeated and slain the Duke of York at
+Wakefield, marched southward at the head of an undisciplined horde of
+18,000 men&mdash;Scotch, <a name="page_102" id="page_102"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 102]</span>Irish, Welsh, and English&mdash;to rescue
+her husband. The Earl of Warwick at first drove the Queen's troops out of
+St. Peter's Street to Barnard's Heath with great slaughter, but, owing to
+treachery on the part of one of the Yorkist leaders, the fortunes of the
+day changed, and Margaret drove Warwick before her towards the town. He,
+however, rallied his forces and retreated in good order to London, though
+he had to leave Henry behind him. The royal party went to the Abbey,
+where they were enthusiastically received by the monks, who chanted
+thanksgivings for the victory; they were led to the high altar and to the
+shrine of St. Alban. But the victorious troops, being little better than
+barbarians, flushed with unexpected victory, committed fearful excesses in
+the town, and even plundered the Abbey. Hitherto Abbot John had been a
+strong partisan of the Lancastrians, but the treatment he received turned
+him into a staunch Yorkist. Edward IV. when he came to the throne granted
+the Abbot the right to hear and try all causes, even treason, with full
+power of sentencing to death. The Abbots continued to exercise these
+powers till 1533. In 1462 the Abbot presented a petition to the King,
+setting forth the impoverished state of the Abbey; this led to further
+powers being granted to the Abbot. Wheathampstead had been ordained in
+1382 and, according to canon law, must have been twenty-five years of age,
+so he must have been over a hundred and five when he died in 1463. He, as
+we have seen (Chap. I.), made many changes for the worse in the fabric of
+the church; the character of the work was partly due to the time in which
+he lived, for the age of great architecture was over, and partly to lack
+of funds.</p>
+<p>
+35. <b>William Alban</b> (1464-1476).</p>
+<p>
+36. <b>William of Wallingford</b> (1476-1484). This Abbot's name will be
+remembered because the high altar screen was his work, and is generally
+called Wallingford's screen. It is said that his management of the
+revenues of the Abbey was prudent, and that he was energetic in defending
+his rights; but it would seem that he was not equally energetic in
+repressing irregularities within its walls. During the interregnum that
+followed his tenure of office things went on from bad to worse, so that
+the Archbishop sent a monition to the Abbey reciting a bull which had been
+sent to him as legate. This bull directed the Archbishop to visit all the
+larger monasteries in which he had reason to suspect that evil practices
+prevailed, and the Archbishop threatens <a name="page_103" id="page_103"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 103]</span>to visit St. Albans
+because he has heard of cases of simony, usury, lavish expenditure, and
+immorality. He says unless within sixty days things are reduced to order,
+not only in the monastery but also in the nunneries of Pré and Sopwell and
+other cells, he will visit personally or by commission to inquire into
+matters and set things in order. The Abbot died in 1484, but his successor
+was not appointed until 1492.</p>
+<p>
+37. <b>Thomas Ramryge</b> (1492- ). No details of events during the rule
+of this Abbot exist, nor is the date of his death known.</p>
+<p>
+38. <b>Thomas Wolsey</b> (1521-1529). This great cardinal was invested
+with the temporalities on December 7th, 1521, and held the Abbey "in
+commendam." There is no record of his ever having resided in the Abbey,
+but he probably put a stop to the printing which had been carried on in
+the Abbey from 1480 onwards. He also made a gift of plate to the Abbey. He
+held the office of Abbot until his disgrace in 1529.</p>
+<p>
+39. <b>Robert Catton</b> (1530-1538). This Abbot was really appointed by
+Henry VIII., but was nominally elected by the chapter. He had been Prior
+of Norwich. The Abbey printing press was again in use in his time. He
+seems to have been deprived during his lifetime, for what reason we cannot
+say.</p>
+<p>
+40. <b>Robert Boreman of Stevenage</b> (1538-1539). This Abbot was a
+nominee of the King, and was chosen by him because Henry knew that he
+would be willing to surrender the Abbey. This he did on December 5th,
+1539. It was part of the policy of Henry VIII. to make it appear that the
+monasteries were <i>voluntarily</i> surrendered by the abbot and chapter,
+and it was generally made worth their while to do so by a liberal
+pension. In some cases the abbots refused, among them the last Abbot of
+Glastonbury, who paid dearly for his refusal, as he was hanged on a hill
+commanding a view of the possessions of the Abbey, which not being his to
+part with he had refused to surrender, though, of course, the nominal
+charge against him was not the real one. Abbot Boreman, however, made no
+objection, and received a yearly pension of £266 13s. 4d., so was a rich
+man for the rest of his days. Pensions of varying amounts were given to
+his monks. Boreman and twenty of the monks were in receipt of them when
+Mary came to the throne. Mary wished to revive the Abbey and put Boreman
+over it, but did not live to carry out her intended plan.<a name="page_104" id="page_104"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 104]</span>
+The monastic buildings very rapidly disappeared; the church became
+parochial, and has been served by the following sixteen
+rectors:</p>
+
+<table summary="Chronological list of rectors of the church">
+<tr><td align="left">George Wetherhall, appointed </td><td align="right">1553.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Archdeacon William East.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Archdeacon James Dugdale, </td><td align="right">1556.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Edward Edgeworth, </td><td align="right">1578.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Roger Williams, </td><td align="right">1582.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">John Brown.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Archdeacon Edward Carter, </td><td align="right">1662.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Archdeacon John Cole, </td><td align="right">1687.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Archdeacon John Cole (II), </td><td align="right">1713.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Benjamin Preedy, </td><td align="right">1754.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Joseph Spooner, </td><td align="right">1779.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">John Payler Nicholson, </td><td align="right">1796.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Henry Small, </td><td align="right">1817.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Henry J.B. Nicholson, </td><td align="right">1835.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Sir John C. Hawkins, Bart.,</td><td align="right">1866.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Archdeacon Walter John Lawrance,<a name="footref_12" id="footref_12" href="#footnote_12"><span class="fnanchor">12</span></a></td><td align="right">1868.</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>The Church of St. Albans was in the diocese of Lincoln until 1845, when it
+was handed over to Rochester. In 1877 Parliament passed a bill for the
+division of the populous diocese of Rochester into two parts; the northern
+to be called the see of St. Albans, the southern to retain the name of
+Rochester. The Right Rev. Dr. Claughton, then Bishop of Rochester, elected
+to take the northern division of his old diocese and became Bishop of
+St. Albans. He was succeeded in 1890 by John Wogan Festing, D.D., who died
+in 1903.</p>
+
+<p>Both of these bishops are buried in the churchyard on the north side of
+the nave. On Dr. Festing's death the Right Rev. Edgar Jacob, D.D., was
+translated to St. Albans from the diocese of Newcastle, and was enthroned
+in May, 1903.</p>
+
+<p>The Church of St. Albans, although legally a cathedral church, yet differs
+in certain particulars from most of the other churches of this rank in
+England. It is also used as a parish church, of which the Dean is
+rector. He has the same powers, responsibilities, and duties as the rector
+of any other parish. It is sometimes said that the nave is the parish, and
+the part eastward of <a name="page_105" id="page_105"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 105]</span>the rood screen the cathedral church,
+but it is not so. The Dean as rector has power over the whole, and
+parishioners have right of access to every part of the building, just as
+in any other parish church; and the Dean as their rector can be called
+upon to baptize, marry, visit, and bury the people under his charge.
+Churchwardens are also appointed and have their statutory rights. There
+are some honorary canons, but as yet no "canons residentiary," nor are
+there "priests vicars" (or "minor canons"), lay vicars, or choristers on
+the foundation. The choir is a voluntary one, the clergy under the Dean
+are curates.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 200px;">
+<a name="illus_47" id="illus_47"></a>
+<img src="images/image47.png" alt="OLD FLOOR TILE." />
+</div>
+
+<p>The two parts of the church that are ordinarily in use are the Lady
+Chapel, where morning and evening prayer is said daily on week-days, and
+the nave, which is used for the Sunday services. There is at present no
+high altar in place under the great screen, but one will probably be
+placed there as soon as the final touches are put by Mr. Gilbert to the
+carved work of the reredos. The choir proper is not, however, capable of
+holding a large congregation. It was, of course, originally intended to
+hold the monks only. The part eastward of the stalls might on special
+occasions, such as the enthronement of a bishop, the installation of a
+dean, be temporarily fitted with chairs, but it is not likely that any
+permanent seats will be placed here, since as a matter of fact the nave
+and Lady Chapel answer all ordinary requirements.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><a name="page_106" id="page_106"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 106]</span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="illus_48" id="illus_48"></a>
+<a href="./images/image48.jpg">
+<img src="images/image48_th.jpg" alt="THE GREAT GATE." /></a>
+<span class="caption">THE GREAT GATE.</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2><a name="chapter_5" id="chapter_5"></a>CHAPTER V.<br />
+<span class="subtitle">THE NEIGHBOURHOOD.</span></h2>
+
+<p><b>The Great Gatehouse</b>.&mdash;In the days of its prosperity the Abbey was
+surrounded by a wall within which, as was usually the case, were placed
+all the buildings that were necessary for monastic life: cloister,
+dormitory, refectory, kitchen, chapter-house, infirmary, guest-house,
+stables, dovecote, granary, garden, orchard, vineyard, lodgings for the
+abbot, prior, cellarer, cook, and servants, fish-house, fish-ponds, as
+well as cemeteries for dead brethren. A number of gatehouses gave access
+to this inclosure: the Great Gate, which alone remains standing; the
+Waxhouse Gate, where the tapers used for burning before the shrines were
+made; the Water-gate, St. Germain's gate, and others. The chief of these
+was the Great Gate to the west of the Abbey Church. It was built in the
+time of Thomas de la Mare about 1365, on the site of a previously existing
+gatehouse which had been destroyed by a violent gale a few years
+earlier. It was not only a gateway, but a prison wherein offending monks,
+and also <a name="page_107" id="page_107"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 107]</span>laymen of the town, over which the Abbot had civic
+jurisdiction, were imprisoned. The Gatehouse was stormed by rioters in the
+time of Wat Tyler's rebellion, the monks in their terror giving wine and
+beer to their assailants, but news arriving of Wat Tyler's death, the
+rioters dispersed; the ringleaders were tried and condemned to death,
+among them John Ball, who, with his seventeen condemned companions, passed
+the time between their trial and execution in the dungeons beneath the
+Gatehouse. In 1480 a printing press was set up in this gatehouse; after
+the dissolution it was used as the borough gaol. During the Napoleonic
+wars some French prisoners were confined within the walls. In 1868 the
+Gatehouse was found too small for use as a gaol, and a new prison was
+built near the Midland Station. The Gatehouse was bought by the governors
+of the grammar school, and in 1870 the school was removed from the Lady
+Chapel to the Gatehouse. There are dungeons beneath the level of the
+roadway; over the archway is the large room where the sessions used to be
+held, with other rooms on either side. In this building some old
+chimney-pieces may still be seen. Although the present foundation dates
+from the reign of Edward VI., yet a school had existed in St. Albans from
+very early time. Some think it was founded by Ulsinus. Be this as it may,
+it is certain that Geoffrey de Gorham, who was afterwards Abbot
+(1119-1146), first came to England during the time of Richard of Albini
+(the fifteenth Abbot), with a view of being master of the school. In 1195
+we read that the school had more scholars than any other in England. The
+school in these early days stood to the north of the Great Gate on the
+other side of the street that runs down the hill on the north side of the
+triangular graveyard known as Romelands, where a Protestant martyr, one
+George Tankerfield, a cook, born in York, but living in London, was burnt
+on August 26th, 1555, during the reign of Mary I.</p>
+
+<p><b>Sopwell Nunnery.</b>&mdash;There are a few remains of Sopwell Nunnery in a
+field near the river Ver, to the south-east of the city. They may be
+reached by taking the first turning to the right hand after crossing the
+bridge on the way from the city down Holywell Hill. This nunnery was
+founded by Geoffrey of Gorham, sixteenth Abbot, about the middle of the
+twelfth century. Two women, pious and ascetic, had taken up their abode
+on this spot in a hut which they built for themselves, and Geoffrey
+determined to build them a more permanent dwelling, and make<a name="page_108" id="page_108"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 108]</span>
+them the nucleus of a religious house. They accepted the Benedictine
+Rule, and gradually the nunnery increased in size, and many ladies of high
+birth took the veil here. One of the abbesses wrote the "Boke of
+St. Albans," not, as might be imagined, an account of the saint or of the
+religious house, but a treatise on hawking, hunting, and fishing. It was
+printed in 1483 at the St. Albans printing press. When the nunnery was
+dissolved, Sir Richard Lee, to whom the Abbey lands were granted, turned
+it into a dwelling-house for himself. The ruins consist of ivy-clad walls
+of brick and flint, pierced by square-headed windows, but containing few
+interesting features.</p>
+
+<p>The name is said to have been derived from the fact that the two women
+mentioned above soaked or sopped their dry bread in water drawn from the
+Holy Well or some well in the immediate neighbourhood of their hut.</p>
+
+<p><b>St. Peter's Church</b>.&mdash;This church, standing at no great distance
+from the cathedral, may be reached by taking the footway called the
+Cloisters, crossing High Street, passing between the Clock Tower and the
+picturesque and ancient inn, the Fleur de Lys, and through the quaint
+street of gabled houses known as French Row, into St. Peter's Street.</p>
+
+<p>The church was originally built about 948 A.D., by Ulsinus, the sixth
+Abbot of St. Albans, but none of his work remains. It seems to have been
+almost entirely rebuilt at the end of the fifteenth century, and most of
+it is Perpendicular in character. It has a central tower rebuilt about a
+hundred years ago, and until that time had a transept. There is a
+clerestory on either side of the nave. The chancel and the west end with
+its circular window show signs of Lord Grimthorpe's style of restoration.
+The tower contains a fine peal of ten bells. In the windows of the south
+aisle is some richly coloured modern Belgian glass by Capronnier; in the
+windows of the north aisle are some fragments of fourteenth or fifteenth
+century glass, including the arms of Edmund, the fifth son of Edward III.,
+from whom in the male line Edward IV. was descended, though he also traced
+his descent and his claim to the throne from Lionel, the third son,
+through his daughter Philippa.</p>
+
+<p>In the churchyard, which is of considerable extent, many of those who fell
+in the two battles of St. Albans were buried.</p>
+
+<p><b>St. Michael's Church</b>.&mdash;St. Michael's Church is further from the
+cathedral than St. Peter's. To reach it one must go<a name="page_109" id="page_109"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 109]</span>
+westward from the Clock Tower, along High Street and its
+continuations, down the hill past Romelands, where, as we have seen,
+George Tankerfield, condemned by Bishop Bonner as a Protestant heretic,
+was burnt at the stake. At last a bridge over the Ver is reached, and,
+turning round to the left after crossing it, we see St. Michael's Church
+before us. It has within the last ten years lost its Saxon tower, a new
+one with no pretention to beauty, pierced by two pentagonal windows in the
+third stage, having been built on a slightly different foundation. It
+stands within the area once inclosed by the walls of Verulamium, and Sir
+Gilbert Scott conjectured that it was originally the Basilica of the Roman
+city altered for Christian worship; but probably, though it may stand on
+the same site, it is of more recent date, though still of great age. Like
+the cathedral, its walls are built of Roman brick and flint. The plan is
+irregular: there is a nave and chancel, a large south aisle, or rather
+chantry, the eastern gable of which is of half-timber construction, below
+which are two tall round-headed windows far apart, with a small circular
+opening between them; the western gable has an opening with louvre
+boards. The tower projects from the north aisle, its western wall being
+flush with the west end of the nave; on the outside in the south wall of
+<a name="page_110" id="page_110"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 110]</span>the chancel is a canopied niche over a flat slab a few
+inches above the level of the ground. The south door, within a porch, has
+a pointed top beneath a wide, round-headed arch springing from
+imposts. The arcading of the nave was formed by cutting arches through
+what probably were at one time the outside walls of the church; two of
+these on the south side open into the chapel. The carved oak pulpit of
+early seventeenth-century work, with its sounding-board and iron frame for
+the hour-glass, demands attention; but the chief attraction of the church
+for many is the alabaster statue of Francis Bacon, which is placed in a
+niche in the north wall of the chancel. He wished to be buried in this
+church, as his mother was already buried there, and moreover it was the
+parish church of his house at Gorhambury, and the only Christian church
+within the walls of ancient Verulam, from which he took one of his titles.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 265px;">
+<a name="illus_49" id="illus_49"></a>
+<a href="./images/image49.jpg">
+<img src="images/image49_th.jpg" alt='MONUMENT OF LORD BACON. "Sic sedebat."' /></a>
+<span class="caption">MONUMENT OF LORD BACON. "Sic sedebat."</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p><b>St. Stephen's Church.</b>&mdash;There are two ways of getting to this
+church: either by following the road that runs south from St. Michael's,
+and after reaching the top of the hill turning sharply to the left; or by
+going from the centre of the city down Holywell Hill and straight on, past
+the London and North-Western Railway Station, up St. Stephen's Hill. The
+church spire is a conspicuous landmark. The churchyard is exceedingly
+pretty, and the church most interesting. It was originally built in the
+tenth century by Abbot Ulsinus, rebuilt in the time of Henry I., restored
+in the fifteenth, and again by Sir Gilbert Scott in the nineteenth
+century. The south porch is of timber; under it is a square-headed
+doorway; to the east of it is a chapel once called "the Leper's Chapel,"
+but probably a chantry, now used as a vestry. There is a small aisle on
+the south side. The spire is a broach and stands at the west end. On the
+north side of the nave is a wide, blocked-up, round-headed arch; through
+the blocking wall a pointed doorway was cut, but this is also now blocked
+up. There is a door of Perpendicular style, with a square-headed label
+terminated by heads much weathered, in the west wall of the tower. The
+walls of this church are of the usual materials, flint and Roman brick.</p>
+
+<p>The lectern is of brass, and bears round its foot the inscription
+"Georgius Creichtoun Episcopus Dunkeldensis." There were two Scotch
+bishops of this name; both lived in the sixteenth century. How the lectern
+reached St. Albans no one knows for certain, but it may possibly have been
+part of the plunder <a name="page_111" id="page_111"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 111]</span>carried off by Sir Richard Lee from
+Scotland. It was hidden for safety in a grave at the time of the civil
+wars, but was found again in 1748 when the vault was opened.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 384px;">
+<a name="illus_50" id="illus_50"></a>
+<a href="./images/image50.jpg">
+<img src="images/image50_th.jpg" alt='THE OLD ROUND HOUSE, "THE FIGHTING COCKS."' /></a>
+<span class="caption">THE OLD ROUND HOUSE, "THE FIGHTING COCKS."</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><b>The Clock Tower.</b>&mdash;This is a most conspicuous object in the city,
+standing near the market-place, almost due north of the Lady Chapel. It
+was built at the beginning of the fifteenth <a name="page_112" id="page_112"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 112]</span>century in
+order that the curfew bell might be hung in it. This had been cast some
+seventy years before the building of the tower, and had hung in the
+central tower of the Abbey Church; it weighs about a ton. It bears the
+inscription: "Missi de coelis, habeo nomen Gabrielis." The tower was
+restored under the direction of Sir Gilbert Scott in 1865, and in the
+process has lost most of the interest it possessed.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Old Round House.</b>&mdash;This curious old house, also known as "The
+Fighting Cocks," stands near the river at the bottom of the roadway that
+leads down from the town through the Great Gate, and probably occupies the
+position of the Abbey gate that was known as St. Germain's Gate. There is
+little doubt that the foundations of this house date back to the time of
+the monastery, and may have been the foundations of the gateway. The
+cellars, it is said, appear to have an opening into some subterranean
+way. The name of "Fighting Cocks" no doubt indicates that after the
+dissolution of the monastery a cockpit existed here. It is said that it
+was at St. Germain's Gatehouse that the monks kept their fishing tackle,
+rods and nets. A claim is made for this building, that it is the oldest
+inhabited house in England, a claim that many other buildings may well
+dispute.</p>
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><a name="page_113" id="page_113"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 113]</span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="index" id="index"></a>INDEX</h2>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Abbots, chronological account of, <a href="#page_82">82</a>-<a href="#page_103">103</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Ĉlfric, Abbot, <a href="#page_84">84</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Ĉlfric II., Abbot, <a href="#page_84">84</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Aisles of nave, interior, south, <a href="#page_44">44</a>,</span>
+<span class="i4">north, <a href="#page_46">46</a>;</span>
+<span class="i2">exterior, south, <a href="#page_26">26</a>,</span>
+<span class="i4">north, <a href="#page_31">31</a>;</span>
+<span class="i2">of choir (south), <a href="#page_48">48</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Alban, St., <a href="#page_4">4</a>;</span>
+<span class="i2">site of his martyrdom, <a href="#page_5">5</a>, <a href="#page_6">6</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Altarpiece, <a href="#page_57">57</a>,</span>
+<span class="i2">(old) <a href="#page_68">68</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Amphibalus, St., <a href="#page_5">5</a>;</span>
+<span class="i2">shrine of, <a href="#page_13">13</a>, <a href="#page_14">14</a>, <a href="#page_63">63</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Andrew's, St., Church, <a href="#page_12">12</a>, <a href="#page_31">31</a>, <a href="#page_48">48</a>.</span>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Bacon, Lord, his monument, <a href="#page_110">110</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Baluster shafts, Saxon, <a href="#page_50">50</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Battles of St. Albans, <a href="#page_71">71</a>, <a href="#page_101">101</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Bells, <a href="#page_78">78</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Berkhampstead, John of, Abbot, <a href="#page_96">96</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Bishops of St. Albans, <a href="#page_104">104</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Bishop's Throne, <a href="#page_53">53</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Boreman, Robert, last Abbot, <a href="#page_15">15</a>, <a href="#page_103">103</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Bricks, Roman, <a href="#page_10">10</a>, <a href="#page_24">24</a>.</span>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Catton, Robert, Abbot, <a href="#page_103">103</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Ceiling of choir and lantern, <a href="#page_53">53</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Chapels (apsidal) of transept (now destroyed), <a href="#page_51">51</a>, <a href="#page_53">53</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Choir (exterior), <a href="#page_28">28</a>;</span>
+<span class="i2">ritual, <a href="#page_53">53</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Christina, Prioress of Markyate, <a href="#page_49">49</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Church bought by the town, <a href="#page_16">16</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Claughton, Bishop, <a href="#page_18">18</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Clerestory, nave, <a href="#page_42">42</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Clock Tower of the town, <a href="#page_111">111</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Cloister, site of, <a href="#page_26">26</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">"Cloisters, The," <a href="#page_31">31</a>.</span>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">D'Aubeny, Richard, Abbot, <a href="#page_87">87</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Dedication of church, <a href="#page_7">7</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">De la Mare, Thomas, Abbot, <a href="#page_98">98</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">De la Moote, John, Abbot, <a href="#page_99">99</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">De Marinis, John, Abbot, <a href="#page_96">96</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Dimensions of the Cathedral, <a href="#page_115">115</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Door, Abbot's, <a href="#page_26">26</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Doors, from the western entrance, <a href="#page_68">68</a>.</span>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Eadfrith, Abbot, <a href="#page_83">83</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Eadmer, Abbot, <a href="#page_7">7</a>, <a href="#page_84">84</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Eadric, Abbot, <a href="#page_82">82</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Ealdred, Abbot, <a href="#page_84">84</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Eversden, Hugh of, Abbot, <a href="#page_97">97</a>(<i>v.</i> Hugh).</span>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Fall of piers in 1323, <a href="#page_13">13</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Floor of the church, <a href="#page_35">35</a>, <a href="#page_36">36</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Font, <a href="#page_46">46</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Frescoes  in  the  nave, <a href="#page_40">40</a>;</span>
+<span class="i2">in the choir, <a href="#page_53">53</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Frithric, Abbot, <a href="#page_85">85</a>.</span>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Gatehouse, The Great, <a href="#page_106">106</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Geoffrey of Gorham, Abbot, <a href="#page_88">88</a>,<a href="#page_107">107</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, <a href="#page_6">6</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Gloucester, Humphrey, Duke of, <a href="#page_62">62</a>, <a href="#page_76">76</a>;</span>
+<span class="i2">his monument, <a href="#page_76">76</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Gorham, Abbots, Geoffrey of, <a href="#page_88">88</a>;</span>
+<span class="i2">Robert of, <a href="#page_89">89</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Grammar School, <a href="#page_16">16</a>, <a href="#page_107">107</a>.</span>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Henry VI., King, <a href="#page_101">101</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Hertford, John of, Abbot, <a href="#page_93">93</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Heyworth, William, Abbot, <a href="#page_100">100</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Hugh of Eversden, Abbot, <a href="#page_13">13</a>, <a href="#page_14">14</a>, <a href="#page_44">44</a>, <a href="#page_70">70</a>, <a href="#page_97">97</a>.</span>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">John de Cella, Abbot, <a href="#page_10">10</a>, <a href="#page_12">12</a>, <a href="#page_92">92</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">John de Marinis, Abbot, <a href="#page_96">96</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">John of Hertford, Abbot, <a href="#page_13">13</a>, <a href="#page_43">43</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">John of Wheathampstead, Abbot, <a href="#page_14">14</a>, <a href="#page_101">101</a>.</span>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Lady Chapel, the, <a href="#page_20">20</a>, <a href="#page_29">29</a>, <a href="#page_68">68</a>-<a href="#page_72">72</a>.</span>
+<a name="page_114" id="page_114"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 114]</span>
+<span class="i0">Length of the building, <a href="#page_36">36</a>, <a href="#page_37">37</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Leofric, Abbot, <a href="#page_85">85</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Leofstan, Abbot, <a href="#page_85">85</a>.</span>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Mandeville, Sir John, <a href="#page_37">37</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Markyate, Benedictine cell, <a href="#page_49">49</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Mentmore, Michael of, Abbot, <a href="#page_14">14</a>, <a href="#page_98">98</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Monastery (Benedictine), founded, <a href="#page_6">6</a>;</span>
+<span class="i2">history of, <a href="#page_81">81</a>.</span>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Nave, interior, <a href="#page_36">36</a>-<a href="#page_48">48</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Norton, John of, Abbot, <a href="#page_70">70</a>, <a href="#page_95">95</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Nunnery, Sopwell, <a href="#page_107">107</a>.</span>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Organ, the, <a href="#page_44">44</a>.</span>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Paul of Caen, Abbot, <a href="#page_7">7</a>, <a href="#page_24">24</a>, <a href="#page_32">32</a>, <a href="#page_86">86</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Plan of Norman church, <a href="#page_9">9</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Porches (thirteenth century), of west front, <a href="#page_10">10</a>-<a href="#page_12">12</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Presbytery, <a href="#page_54">54</a>, <a href="#page_61">61</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Pulpit in nave, <a href="#page_44">44</a>;</span>
+<span class="i2">in choir, <a href="#page_61">61</a>.</span>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Ramryge, Thomas, Abbot, <a href="#page_58">58</a>-<a href="#page_60">60</a>, <a href="#page_103">103</a>;</span>
+<span class="i2">his chantry, <a href="#page_14">14</a>, <a href="#page_15">15</a>, <a href="#page_60">60</a>, <a href="#page_70">70</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Randulf, Abbot, <a href="#page_89">89</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Rectors of St. Albans, <a href="#page_104">104</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Retro-choir, <a href="#page_63">63</a>, <a href="#page_67">67</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Richard of Wallingford, Abbot, <a href="#page_14">14</a>, <a href="#page_97">97</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Robert of Gorham, Abbot, <a href="#page_89">89</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Roger the Hermit, <a href="#page_49">49</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Rood-screen, <a href="#page_42">42</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Roof restored, <a href="#page_18">18</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Round House, <a href="#page_112">112</a>.</span>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Saint's Chapel, the, <a href="#page_72">72</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">St. Andrew's Church, <a href="#page_12">12</a>, <a href="#page_31">31</a>, <a href="#page_48">48</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">St. Michael's Church, <a href="#page_108">108</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">St. Peter's Church, <a href="#page_108">108</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">St. Stephen's Church, <a href="#page_110">110</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Shrine of St. Alban, <a href="#page_72">72</a>-<a href="#page_75">75</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Sigar, hermit, <a href="#page_49">49</a>, <a href="#page_50">50</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Slype, the, <a href="#page_20">20</a>, <a href="#page_52">52</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Sopwell Nunnery, <a href="#page_107">107</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Stokes, John, Abbot, <a href="#page_101">101</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Stoup (north aisle of nave), <a href="#page_46">46</a>;</span>
+<span class="i2">in south choir aisle, <a href="#page_61">61</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Symeon, Abbot, <a href="#page_91">91</a>.</span>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Transept (exterior), <a href="#page_27">27</a>, <a href="#page_29">29</a>;</span>
+<span class="i2">(interior), <a href="#page_50">50</a>, <a href="#page_52">52</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Triforium, nave, <a href="#page_41">41</a>, <a href="#page_42">42</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Tower, central, <a href="#page_10">10</a>, <a href="#page_14">14</a>, <a href="#page_17">17</a>, <a href="#page_31">31</a>, <a href="#page_79">79</a>;</span>
+<span class="i2">interior, <a href="#page_53">53</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Towers, western, <a href="#page_8">8</a>, <a href="#page_9">9</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Trumpington, William of, Abbot, <a href="#page_93">93</a>.</span>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Verulamium, <a href="#page_4">4</a>, <a href="#page_7">7</a>;</span>
+<span class="i2">Synod held at, <a href="#page_6">6</a>.</span>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Wallingford, Richard of, Abbot, <a href="#page_61">61</a>, <a href="#page_97">97</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Wallingford screen, <a href="#page_21">21</a>, <a href="#page_57">57</a>-<a href="#page_59">59</a>, <a href="#page_76">76</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Wallingford, William of, Abbot, <a href="#page_102">102</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Waring, Abbot, <a href="#page_49">49</a>, <a href="#page_91">91</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Watching Loft, <a href="#page_66">66</a>, <a href="#page_68">68</a>, <a href="#page_75">75</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Wax-house, <a href="#page_29">29</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Weatherall, G., first rector, <a href="#page_16">16</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">West front, <a href="#page_10">10</a>, <a href="#page_19">19</a>, <a href="#page_23">23</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Wheathampstead, John of, Abbot, <a href="#page_71">71</a>, <a href="#page_100">100</a>, <a href="#page_101">101</a>;</span>
+<span class="i2"> his chantry, <a href="#page_57">57</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">William of Trumpington, Abbot, <a href="#page_12">12</a>, <a href="#page_93">93</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">William of Wallingford, Abbot, <a href="#page_14">14</a>, <a href="#page_102">102</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Willigod, Abbot, <a href="#page_82">82</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Windows in transept, <a href="#page_19">19</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Wolsey, Thomas, Abbot, <a href="#page_103">103</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Wulnoth, Abbot, <a href="#page_83">83</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Wulsig, Abbot, <a href="#page_82">82</a>.</span>
+<span class="i0">Wulsin, Abbot, <a href="#page_84">84</a>.</span>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_115" id="page_115"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 115]</span></p>
+<h2><a name="dimensions" id="dimensions"></a>DIMENSIONS OF THE CATHEDRAL.<a name="footref_13" id="footref_13" href="#footnote_13"><span class="fnanchor">13</span></a></h2>
+
+<table summary="Dimensions" width="75%">
+<tr><td align="left">Total</td><td align="left">length,</td><td align="left">external</td><td align="left">550 ft.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">&quot;</td><td align="center">&quot;</td><td align="left">internal</td><td align="left">520 ft.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Length</td><td align="left" colspan="2">of high roofs</td><td align="left">425 ft.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">&quot;</td><td align="left" colspan="2">of nave from west door to screen</td><td align="left">205 ft.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">&quot;</td><td align="left" colspan="2">of choir and presbytery</td><td align="left">169 ft.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">&quot;</td><td align="left" colspan="2">of Lady Chapel</td><td align="left">57 ft.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">&quot;</td><td align="left" colspan="2">of transept, interior</td><td align="left">177 ft.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Width</td><td align="left">of nave</td><td align="left">with aisles</td><td align="left">75 ft. 4 in.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">&quot;</td><td align="center">&quot;</td><td align="left">without aisles, between piers</td><td align="left">29 ft. 6 in. to 31 ft. 6 in.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">&quot;</td><td align="left" colspan="2">of presbytery</td><td align="left">75 ft. to 78 ft.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">&quot;</td><td align="left" colspan="2">of west front, exterior</td><td align="left">105 ft.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">&quot;</td><td align="left" colspan="2">of transept, interior</td><td align="left">32 ft. to 33 ft. 6 in.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">&quot;</td><td align="center">&quot;</td><td align="left">exterior</td><td align="left">54 ft. 4 in.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">&quot;</td><td align="left" colspan="2">of Lady Chapel, interior</td><td align="left">24 ft.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left" colspan="3">Diameter of tower piers, east and west</td><td align="left">16 ft.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left" colspan="3">Distance between tower piers each way</td><td align="left">24 ft.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Height</td><td align="left">of tower</td><td align="left">piers</td><td align="left">43 ft.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">&quot;</td><td align="center">&quot;</td><td align="left">arches</td><td align="left">55 ft.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">&quot;</td><td align="left">of tower</td><td align="left">144 ft.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Width</td><td align="left">of tower,</td><td align="left">east and west, exterior</td><td align="left">47 ft.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">&quot;</td><td align="center">&quot;</td><td align="left">north and south, exterior</td><td align="left">45 ft.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Height</td><td align="left" colspan="2">of nave ceiling (from floor)</td><td align="left">66 ft. 4 in.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">&quot;</td><td align="left" colspan="2">of ridge of high roofs</td><td align="left">96 ft.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">&quot;</td><td align="left" colspan="2">of Lady Chapel vault</td><td align="left">33 ft.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left" colspan="3">Total internal area (about)</td><td align="left">39,240 sq. ft.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left" colspan="3">Height of floor above mean sea-level</td><td align="left">340 ft.</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><a name="page_116" id="page_116"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 116]</span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="illus_51" id="illus_51"></a>
+<a href="./images/image51.png">
+<img src="images/image51_th.png" alt="GROUND-PLAN OF ST. ALBANS CATHEDRAL." /></a>
+<span class="caption">GROUND-PLAN OF ST. ALBANS CATHEDRAL.</span>
+</div>
+<hr />
+
+<h2>FOOTNOTES</h2>
+
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="footnote_1" id="footnote_1"></a><a href="#footref_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> It must be remembered that June 22 in the year 303 A.D. would
+be, as now, close to the longest day, as the alteration of the calendar
+known as the new style simply made the equinox occur on the same day of
+the month as in 325 A.D.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#footref_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a><a name="footnote_2" id="footnote_2"></a>A payment known as Peter's Pence had first been levied by the
+King of the West Saxons in 727, and was a tax of one penny on each family
+that owned lands producing thirty pence per annum; its object was the
+support of a Saxon College at Rome. Offa now induced the Pope to allow the
+pence so collected from his kingdom to be paid to the Abbey of St. Alban
+instead of the Saxon College at Rome. The payment was called Peter's Pence
+because it was paid on August 1st (the day dedicated to <i>St. Peter ad
+Vincula</i>), the day on which the relics of St. Alban had been
+discovered.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#footref_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a><a name="footnote_3" id="footnote_3"></a>The chief argument against the belief that western towers
+existed at St. Albans is that no documentary record of them is found. On
+the other hand it may be said that, whether the towers were built or not
+at the same time as the rest of the church, it is far more likely that
+John de Cella and William of Trumpington would have lengthened the church
+eastward than westward, when we find so many instances of eastward
+extensions during the thirteenth century, and of some before the twelfth
+century closed. The plan given in the text, assuming the existence of
+Norman towers, is that adopted by Sir Gilbert Scott, who had the
+opportunity of examining the foundations when restoring the church; his
+opinion was that the foundations were of Norman date. Of one thing we may
+be certain, that if finished western towers ever existed, they were of
+Norman date. For none were carried to completion by William of
+Trumpington.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#footref_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a><a name="footnote_4" id="footnote_4"></a>Prior's "History of Gothic Art in England," p. 63.
+</p>
+
+<p><a href="#footref_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a><a name="footnote_5" id="footnote_5"></a>Sir Gilbert Scott was of the opinion that the south porch was
+also John de Cella's work. </p>
+
+<p><a href="#footref_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a><a name="footnote_6" id="footnote_6"></a>This was the original Benedictine arrangement, which is said
+to remain in this church and Westminster Abbey only. </p>
+
+<p><a href="#footref_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a><a name="footnote_7" id="footnote_7"></a>Designed by Mr. J.O. Scott; carved by Mr. Forsyth, of
+Hampstead. </p>
+
+<p><a href="#footref_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a><a name="footnote_8" id="footnote_8"></a>Lord Aldenham's words in describing his scheme.
+</p>
+
+<p><a href="#footref_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a><a name="footnote_9" id="footnote_9"></a>Sir Gilbert Scott's Report on the Lady Chapel, 1875.
+</p>
+
+<p><a href="#footref_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a><a name="footnote_10" id="footnote_10"></a>The "Gesta Abbatum" reverses the order of the two Abbots,
+Ĉlfric and Leofric, but this is probably wrong. It is recorded that
+Leofric had the offer of the archbishopric, but declined, saying that his
+brother Ĉlfric was far more fit for the post than he, and it is supposed
+that when Ĉlfric became Archbishop in 995, Leofric succeeded him as
+Abbot.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#footref_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a><a name="footnote_11" id="footnote_11"></a>The church remained in this diocese until 1845, when it was
+handed over to Rochester, although, as will be seen afterwards, the Abbey
+was made independent of the Bishop of Lincoln's jurisdiction.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#footref_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a><a name="footnote_12" id="footnote_12"></a>Dean since July, 1900.
+</p>
+
+<p><a href="#footref_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a><a name="footnote_13" id="footnote_13"></a>These are the dimensions given by Lord Grimthorpe; the
+altitudes, except when otherwise stated, are measured from the level of
+the floor at the west doorways. </p>
+</div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BELL'S CATHEDRALS: THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF SAINT ALBANS***</p>
+<p>******* This file should be named 19494-h.txt or 19494-h.zip *******</p>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of
+Saint Albans, by Thomas Perkins
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Saint Albans
+       With an Account of the Fabric & a Short History of the Abbey
+
+
+Author: Thomas Perkins
+
+
+
+Release Date: October 8, 2006  [eBook #19494]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BELL'S CATHEDRALS: THE CATHEDRAL
+CHURCH OF SAINT ALBANS***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Gary Houston, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed  Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 19494-h.htm or 19494-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/4/9/19494/19494-h/19494-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/4/9/19494/19494-h.zip)
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Words and phrases which were italicized in the original
+      have been surrounded by underscores('_') in this version.
+      Words or phrases which were in bold face have been
+      surrounded by pound signs('#').
+
+
+
+
+
+THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF SAINT ALBANS
+
+With an Account of the Fabric & a Short History of the Abbey
+
+by the
+
+REV. THOMAS PERKINS, M.A.
+Rector of Turnworth, Dorset
+
+Author of "Rouen," "Amiens," "Wimborne and Christchurch," Etc., Etc.
+
+With Fifty Illustrations
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: ST. ALBANS CATHEDRAL FROM THE SOUTH.]
+
+
+[Illustration: ARMS OF THE SEE]
+
+
+
+London: George Bell and Sons. 1903
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+The Rev. W.D. Sweeting, who had originally undertaken to write this
+monograph on St. Albans, having been obliged, on account of ill-health,
+to abandon the work, the Publishers asked me to write it in his stead.
+My task was rendered much easier by Mr. Sweeting kindly sending me much
+material that he had collected, and many valuable notes that he had
+made, especially on the history of the Abbey.
+
+My best thanks are due to the Dean for kindly allowing me permission to
+examine every part of the Cathedral church, and to take the photographs
+with which this book is illustrated. A few illustrations only are from
+other sources, among them those on pages 9 and 11, for permission to use
+which I have to thank Mr. John Murray. I have also to acknowledge the
+courtesy of the vergers, Mr. Newell and Miss Davis from both of whom I
+obtained much information; Miss Davis's long connection with the church,
+and the interest she takes in every detail connected with it, rendered
+her help most valuable. I have consulted many books on the Abbey, among
+them Lord Grimthorpe's and Mr. Page's Guides, Mr. James Neale's
+"Architectural Notes on St. Albans Abbey," and papers read before the
+St. Albans Archaeological Society by the Rev. Henry Fowler.
+
+                                                        THOMAS PERKINS.
+TURNWORTH.
+_July, 1903._
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER                                   PAGE
+
+     I. HISTORY OF THE BUILDING                            3
+
+    II. THE EXTERIOR                                      23
+
+   III. THE INTERIOR                                      35
+
+    IV. HISTORY OF THE MONASTERY AND SEE                  81
+
+     V. THE NEIGHBOURHOOD                                106
+
+INDEX                                                    113
+
+DIMENSIONS OF THE CATHEDRAL                              115
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+                                                        PAGE
+ST. ALBANS CATHEDRAL FROM THE SOUTH            _frontispiece_
+ARMS OF THE SEE                                  _title-page_
+VIEW FROM THE NORTH-EAST BEFORE RESTORATION                2
+ST. ALBANS ABBEY BEFORE 1874                               3
+PLAN OF THE NORMAN CHURCH                                  9
+THE SOUTH-WEST PORTAL BEFORE THE REBUILDING OF
+    THE WEST FRONT                                        11
+EXTERIOR OF THE LADY CHAPEL BEFORE 1874                   15
+INTERIOR OF THE LADY CHAPEL BEFORE 1874                   16
+THE ARCADE IN THE SLYPE BEFORE ITS REMOVAL                20
+FLOOR TILE                                                21
+THE ANGLE BETWEEN NAVE AND TRANSEPT                       22
+THE NEW WEST FRONT                                        23
+THE SOUTH TRANSEPT AS REBUILT                             27
+THE LADY CHAPEL CHOIR AND TRANSEPT FROM THE SOUTH-EAST    28
+VIEW FROM THE NORTH-EAST                                  30
+THREE OLD FLOOR TILES                                     32
+THE NAVE FROM THE WEST END                                34
+BASE OF INCOMPLETE PIER                                   37
+PLAN OF PIER                                              37
+ARCADE ON NORTH SIDE OF NAVE                              38
+EASTERN PART OF THE NORTH SIDE OF NAVE                    39
+NORTH NAVE ARCADE, WESTERN END                            41
+SOUTH NAVE ARCADE                                         43
+SOUTH AISLE OF NAVE                                       45
+HOLY WATER STOUP                                          46
+NORTH AISLE OF NAVE                                       47
+SAXON BALUSTER SHAFTS IN SOUTH TRANSEPT                   50
+DOORWAY IN SOUTH TRANSEPT                                 51
+THE CROSSING LOOKING WESTWARD                             54
+THE CHOIR                                                 55
+THE WALLINGFORD SCREEN                                    58
+KEY TO THE SCULPTURE                                      59
+THE RAMRYGE CHANTRY                                       60
+SOUTH AISLE OF PRESBYTERY                                 62
+WOODEN FIGURE OF MENDICANT                                63
+RETRO-CHOIR                                               64
+BASE OF THE SHRINE OF ST. AMPHIBALUS                      65
+BACK OF THE WATCHING LOFT                                 66
+RAMRYGE'S CHANTRY FROM THE AISLE                          67
+ONE OF THE OLD WESTERN DOORS                              68
+LADY CHAPEL                                               69
+PEDESTAL OF ST. ALBANS SHRINE                             73
+WATCHING LOFT                                             75
+MONUMENT OF HUMPHREY, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER                  77
+SOUTH CHOIR AISLE                                         80
+JOHN OF WHEATHAMPSTEAD'S CHANTRY                         100
+OLD FLOOR TILE                                           105
+THE GREAT GATE                                           106
+MONUMENT OF LORD BACON                                   109
+THE OLD ROUND HOUSE                                      111
+PLAN OF THE CATHEDRAL                                    116
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Illustration: VIEW FROM THE NORTH-EAST BEFORE RESTORATION.]
+
+[Illustration: ST. ALBANS ABBEY, BEFORE 1874.]
+
+
+
+
+ST. ALBANS CATHEDRAL
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+HISTORY OF THE BUILDING.
+
+
+Long before any church stood on the site of the present cathedral, long
+before the time of Albanus, who is universally allowed to have been the
+first Christian martyr whose blood was shed in this island, events that
+have found a place in the early history of Britain occurred in the
+immediate neighbourhood of the city we call St. Albans. Here in all
+probability stood the _oppidum_ or stockaded stronghold of
+Cassivellaunus, who was chosen to lead the tribes of South-Eastern
+Britain when Julius Caesar in the year 54 B.C. made his second descent
+on the island. We all know the story, how the Britons gave Caesar so
+much trouble that, when at last Roman discipline had secured the
+victory, he, demanding tribute and receiving hostages as guarantees for
+its payment, left Britain and never cared to venture upon any fresh
+invasion. We know that the Trinobantes were the first to sue for peace,
+and, abandoning Cassivellaunus, left him to bear the brunt of Caesar's
+attack upon his stronghold, how this was destroyed by Caesar, and how
+Cassivellaunus also was obliged to make submission to the Romans.
+
+Nearly a century passed before any Roman legionary again set foot on the
+British shores; but when at last, in the days of Claudius, A.D. 42, the
+Romans invaded the island, they came to conquer and occupy all except
+the northern part of Britain. In the early days of their occupation a
+walled town, which was soon raised to the rank of a _municipium_, was
+built on the south-western side of the Ver, and from the name of the
+river was called Verulamium or Verlamium. It soon became a populous
+place, for when in A.D. 61 Boadicea, the Queen of the Iceni, stung by
+the insults and injuries she and her daughters had received at the hands
+of the Romans, raised her own and the neighbouring tribes to take
+vengeance on their oppressors and
+
+    Ran the land with Roman slaughter, multitudinous agonies;
+    Perish'd many a maid and matron, many a valorous legionary;
+    Fell the colony, city, and citadel, London, Verulam, Camulodune.
+
+It is recorded that no less than seventy thousand fell in these three
+places and the villages around them.
+
+But her vengeance, sharp and sudden, was not allowed to pass unpunished
+by the Romans, and Suetonius Paulinus, hurrying from North Wales, though
+too late to save the three towns, utterly routed the forces of Boadicea
+somewhere between London and Colchester.
+
+After this Verulamium became once more a prosperous town, inhabited
+partly by Romans, partly by Britons, who under Roman influence embraced
+the civilization and adopted the customs of their conquerors. By whom
+Christianity was first introduced into Britain we do not know; probably
+it was brought from Gaul. In the reign of Diocletian a great persecution
+of the Christians arose throughout the Roman empire. The edict enjoining
+this persecution was promulgated in February, 303 A.D., and the
+persecution lasted until the Emperor abdicated in May, 305 A.D. It was
+carried out in Britain by Maximianus Herculius and Asclepiodotus, and it
+was during this persecution that St. Alban won the martyr's crown.
+Though the story is embellished with certain miraculous incidents which
+most of us will reject as accretions of later ages, yet there seems no
+reason to doubt the main facts.
+
+Albanus, or Alban, as we generally call him, was a young soldier and a
+heathen, but being a man of a pitiful heart, he gave shelter to a
+certain deacon named Amphibalus, who was in danger of death. Amphibalus
+returned his kindness by teaching him the outlines of the Christian
+religion, which Alban accepted. When at last the persecutors had
+discovered the hiding-place of Amphibalus, Alban, in order to aid his
+escape, changed garments with the deacon, and allowed himself to be
+taken in his stead, while Amphibalus made his way into Wales, where,
+however, he was ultimately captured and was brought back by the
+persecutors, who possibly intended to put him to death at Verulamium,
+but for some reason which we do not understand he was executed about
+four miles from the city at a spot where the village of Redbourn now
+stands, the parish church of which is dedicated to him. Meanwhile Alban
+was charged with aiding and abetting the escape of a blasphemer of the
+Roman gods, and then and there declared that he too was a Christian. He
+was ordered to offer incense on the altar of one of the Roman gods, but
+refused, and as a consequence was condemned to be beheaded. The place
+chosen for his execution was a grassy hill on the further side of the
+river Ver. Great was the excitement among the inhabitants of Verulamium,
+for as yet they had seen no Christian put to death, and Alban was,
+moreover, a man of some mark in the place. So great was the crowd that
+it blocked the only bridge across the stream; but Alban did not desire
+to delay his death, so walked down to the river-bank. At once the waters
+opened before him, and he, the executioner, and the guards passed
+dry-shod to the opposite bank. This wonder so struck the executioner,
+that he, throwing down his sword, declared he would not behead Alban and
+also professed himself a Christian. When the band reached the hill Alban
+craved water to quench his thirst, for it was a hot summer day, June
+22,[1] and at once a spring burst forth at his feet. One of the soldiers
+struck off the martyr's head, but his own eyes fell on the ground
+together with it; the executioner who had refused to do his duty was
+beheaded at the same time. These miracles are said to have so much
+impressed the judge that he ordered the persecution to cease. The
+traditional site of the martyrdom is covered by the north arm of the
+transept of the present church, and this site is in accordance with
+Beda's account, which states that St. Alban was martyred about five
+hundred paces from the summit of the hill. When persecution had entirely
+ceased, a few years after Alban's death, a church was built over the
+spot hallowed by his blood. Beda, writing at the beginning of the eighth
+century, speaks of the original church as existing, and describes it as
+being a church of wonderful workmanship and worthy of the martrydom it
+commemorated. But in all probability the church standing in Beda's time
+was not the original one; this no doubt had been swept away during the
+time of the English invasion of Britain, when, as Matthew Paris tells
+us, the body of Alban was moved for safety from within the church to
+some other spot, whence it was afterwards brought back and replaced in
+the original grave.
+
+    [1] It must be remembered that June 22 in the year 303 A.D.
+        would be, as now, close to the longest day, as the alteration of
+        the calendar known as the new style simply made the equinox
+        occur on the same day of the month as in 325 A.D.
+
+That the spot was held in some reverence as early as the fifth century
+is proved by the conduct of Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre. A synod was
+held at Verulamium in the year 429 A.D. to condemn the "Pelagian heresy"
+which had budded forth anew in the island, having had its origin in the
+teaching of the British monk Pelagius towards the end of the fourth
+century. Germanus and Lupus, Bishop of Troyes, attended this Council and
+refuted the followers of Pelagius. It is said that Germanus opened the
+coffin of the martyr and deposited in it some precious relics, receiving
+in return for them some relics from the coffin, and a piece of turf cut
+from the site of the martyrdom.
+
+From this time we hear nothing for several centuries of the church or
+the neighbouring town of Verulamium, save that after the Teutonic
+conquest the town was known by the name of Werlamceaster,
+Watlingceaster, or Waetlingaceaster, the two latter names being derived
+from that of the Roman road, the Watling Street that runs through it.
+The site of the martyrdom also received a new name--Holmehurst or
+Derswold.
+
+The next event recorded in connection with our subject is the founding
+of a Benedictine monastery by Offa II., King of the Mercians, about the
+year 793 A.D. He searched for and found the coffin that contained the
+martyr's bones. This, as already stated, had been removed from the
+original church dedicated to his memory, in order to save it from
+destruction at the hands of the Teutonic invaders, and had remained
+concealed, its very position forgotten, until it was miraculously
+revealed. The coffin was then opened; the martyr's body and the relics
+given by Germanus were found therein, and thus the identity of the
+remains with those of Alban was established beyond doubt. Round the
+martyr's head Offa placed a golden circlet whereon were written the
+words: "Hoc est caput Sancti Albani." A reliquary richly decorated with
+precious stones was made to receive the body, and this was then
+deposited in the then existing church, which Offa repaired so that it
+might serve as a temporary resting-place until a grander church could be
+built. Offa had made a journey to Rome to get the Pope's consent to the
+foundation and endowment of the monastery.[2] At this time also Alban
+was canonized, so that henceforth he may be rightly spoken of as Saint
+Alban.
+
+    [2] A payment known as Peter's Pence had first been levied by
+        the King of the West Saxons in 727, and was a tax of one penny
+        on each family that owned lands producing thirty pence per
+        annum; its object was the support of a Saxon College at Rome.
+        Offa now induced the Pope to allow the pence so collected from
+        his kingdom to be paid to the Abbey of St. Alban instead of the
+        Saxon College at Rome. The payment was called Peter's Pence
+        because it was paid on August 1st (the day dedicated to _St.
+        Peter ad Vincula_), the day on which the relics of St. Alban had
+        been discovered.
+
+All that Offa seems to have been able to do besides repairing the church
+was to erect domestic buildings for his monks, who in course of time
+numbered a hundred. We have no record of any partial rebuilding, or
+enlargement even, of the church of Offa's day. From the fact that
+certain remains of it were incorporated in the present building, and
+that these were of the character generally called "Saxon," there is
+little doubt that the church of the monastery was not the little church
+erected in the fourth century over the martyr's grave, but one of later
+date, probably the one described by Beda as standing in his day, built
+in the latter part of the sixth or in the seventh century. We have no
+further record of this church, but we know that the ninth Abbot, Eadmer,
+began to collect materials for rebuilding the church; but the work was
+not begun until the time of the fourteenth Abbot, Paul of Caen, who was
+appointed by William I. So enthusiastically did he work, that in the
+short space of eleven years (1077-88) the church was rebuilt. The
+rapidity of the building was no doubt chiefly due to the fact that there
+was no need of hewing and squaring stone, for the Roman bricks from the
+ruins of the old city of Verulam were ready at hand, and the timber
+collected by Paul's five predecessors was well seasoned. It is said that
+the new church was not dedicated until the year 1115, but it is hard to
+believe that so long a space of time as twenty-seven years would be
+allowed to elapse between the completion of the building and the
+dedication. It is possible there may be some error in this date.
+
+We can form a good idea of this Norman church. It was like several of
+the other cathedral and abbey churches built at the same time, of vast
+size, far grander than their prototype in Normandy, St. Stephen's at
+Caen. The following table gives approximately the dimensions of some of
+these churches:
+
+                        Length of    Number of Bays.         Total
+                         Nave.     Nave. Presbytery. Apse.   Length.
+St. Stephen's, Caen      193         9       2        ...     290
+Canterbury               185         9      10         5      290
+Winchester               318        14       3         5      ...
+St. Albans               275        13       4        ...     460
+Bury St. Edmund's        300        15       4         3      490
+
+The church consisted of a nave with aisles; the arches of the main
+arcade were semicircular, the piers massive and rectangular; there were
+no mouldings, the orders of the arches, like the piers, having
+rectangular corners. There were possibly two western towers, which
+stood, like those of Rouen and Wells, outside the aisles on the north
+and south respectively, not at the western ends of the aisles (a far
+more common position), thus giving a much greater width and imposing
+appearance to the west front.
+
+The existence of western towers of Norman date has been doubted by some
+antiquaries; some indeed imagine that John de Cella's thirteenth-century
+west front was built several bays further to the west than the Norman
+facade, and that the foundations of the unfinished towers were laid of
+old material by him. It is impossible to be absolutely certain on this
+point, but the argument sometimes brought forward that the nave was
+inordinately long for one of Norman date may be answered by mention of
+the fact that the Norman naves at Bury and Winchester were even longer,
+and that generally the Norman builders delighted in long structural
+naves, the eastern bays of which, however, were, together with the space
+beneath the towers, used for the choir or seats for the monks, the
+eastern part of the church beyond the crossing being generally occupied
+by the presbytery and the sanctuary where the high altar stood. In after
+times, however, considerable eastward extensions were made, as at
+Canterbury, and the monks' seats were then in many cases moved eastward
+into the part of the church beyond the tower, the rood-screen being
+stretched across the church between the eastern piers that supported the
+tower.[3]
+
+    [3] The chief argument against the belief that western towers
+        existed at St. Albans is that no documentary record of them is
+        found. On the other hand it may be said that, whether the towers
+        were built or not at the same time as the rest of the church, it
+        is far more likely that John de Cella and William of Trumpington
+        would have lengthened the church eastward than westward, when we
+        find so many instances of eastward extensions during the
+        thirteenth century, and of some before the twelfth century
+        closed. The plan given in the text, assuming the existence of
+        Norman towers, is that adopted by Sir Gilbert Scott, who had the
+        opportunity of examining the foundations when restoring the
+        church; his opinion was that the foundations were of Norman
+        date. Of one thing we may be certain, that if finished western
+        towers ever existed, they were of Norman date. For none were
+        carried to completion by William of Trumpington.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF THE NORMAN CHURCH.
+From Sir Gilbert Scott's Lectures. (By permission of Mr. John Murray.)]
+
+The transept had no aisles either on its eastern or western side; the
+eastern termination differed much from anything in existence now.
+
+Mr. Prior in his "History of Gothic Art in England" tells us that two
+types of east end were to be found in the Anglo-Norman churches, both
+brought from the Continent, one the chevet prevalent in Northern France,
+the other derived originally from fourth and fifth century churches of
+the East, passing to Lombardy in the ninth century, and then along the
+Rhine and even reaching Normandy. Such was the original eastern
+termination of St. Stephen's, Caen; such may still be seen in St.
+Nicholas', Caen. This east end consisted of a number of parallel aisles,
+each with its own apse at its eastern end. "Norman use had squared the
+aisle endings of the choir two bays beyond the cross, the apse
+projecting its half circle beyond this, as at St. Etienne's, Caen, and
+in this form Lanfranc's Canterbury had been built."[4]
+
+    [4] Prior's "History of Gothic Art in England," p. 63.
+
+In St. Albans this plan was further developed; from each arm of the
+transept two apses projected eastward, the outer ones consisting only of
+a semicircular projection from the transept, the inner ones of a
+rectangular bay from which the semicircular part ran eastward. The choir
+aisles, as we should now call them, consisted of four bays, beyond which
+they ended in a projection semicircular within, but rectangular when
+seen from the outside, the walls being thickened at the corners. These
+aisles were divided from the presbytery not by open arcading but by
+solid walls. The presbytery itself terminated in a semicircle projecting
+beyond the ends of the aisles. This extended as far as the centre of the
+present retro-choir.
+
+Above the crossing rose the central tower, much as we see it to-day,
+save that it was probably crowned with a pyramidal cap rising from its
+outside walls. Probably also the tower as well as the rest of the church
+was covered with whitewashed plaster, thus hiding the material of which
+it was built--the Roman bricks of which mention has been already made.
+These bricks surpass in hardness and durability those of modern days,
+and are of different size and shape from those we are acquainted with.
+Those used in St. Albans are of two sizes, 17 x 8 x 2 and 11 x 51/2 x 2.
+The joints are wide, the mortar between the courses being almost as
+thick as the bricks. The window jambs and the piers were built or faced
+with brick; even the staircases were of brick. What stone was used is
+clunch, from Tottenhoe in Bedfordshire, which, according to Lord
+Grimthorpe, is admirably suited for interior work, but absolutely
+worthless for exterior, as it decays very soon, and if it gets damp is
+shivered into powder by frost.
+
+[Illustration: THE SOUTH-WESTERN PORTAL, BEFORE THE REBUILDING OF THE WEST
+FRONT. From a drawing by W.S. Weatherley, in Sir G. Scott's "Lectures on
+Mediaeval Architecture." (By permission of Mr. John Murray.)]
+
+The Norman church, finished as we have seen in 1088, stood without
+change for rather more than a century. Then changes began. Abbot John de
+Cella (1195-1214) pulled down the west front and began to build a new
+one in its place. He laid the foundation of the whole front, but then
+went on with the north side first. The north porch was nearly finished
+in his time; the central porch was carried up as far as the spring of
+the arch; the southern porch was carried hardly any way up from the
+foundations.[5] The porches are described by those who saw them before
+Lord Grimthorpe swept away the whole west front as some of the choicest
+specimens of thirteenth-century work in England. The mouldings were of
+great delicacy, and were enriched with dog-tooth ornament. It is said
+that Abbot John was not a good man of business, and that he was sorely
+robbed and cheated by his builders, and so had not money enough to
+finish the work that he had planned. To his successor, William of
+Trumpington, it therefore fell to carry on the work. He was a man of a
+more practical character, though not equal to his predecessor in matters
+of taste. He finished the main part of the western front. Oddly enough
+no dog-tooth ornament was used in the central and southern porches, and
+the character of the carved foliage differs also from that of the north
+porch. In Abbot John's undoubted work the curling leaves overlap, and
+have strongly defined stems resembling the foliage of Lincoln choir,
+while that of Abbot William's time had the ordinary character of the
+Early English style. There is evidence to show that he intended to vault
+the church with a stone roof; this may be seen from the marble vaulting
+shafts on the north side of the nave between the arches of the main
+arcade, which, however, are not carried higher than the string-course
+below the triforium. The idea of a stone vault was, however, abandoned
+before the two eastern Early English bays on the south side were built,
+for no preparation for vaulting shafts exists there.
+
+    [5] Sir Gilbert Scott was of the opinion that the south porch
+        was also John de Cella's work.
+
+Abbot John de Cella had begun to build afresh the western towers, or,
+according to some authorities, to build the first western towers that
+the church ever had; we have no record of their completion, and it is
+said that Abbot William abandoned the idea. We have only the foundations
+by which we can determine their size. William of Trumpington transformed
+the windows of the aisles into Early English ones. He also added a
+wooden lantern to the tower, somewhat in the style of the wooden octagon
+on the central tower of Ely.
+
+At some time, but we do not know exactly when, the Church or Chapel of
+St. Andrew adjoining the north nave aisle of the monks' church,
+extending as far east as the sixth bay, was built for the use of the
+parishioners, who had no right to enter the monastic church. This Church
+of St. Andrew opened into the north aisle of the Abbey Church, being
+separated from it by an arcade of four arches. It had a nave with aisle
+and chancel. Its total length was about 140 feet, its width about 61
+feet. It is conjectured that the north-western tower was converted into
+a kind of antechapel or entrance porch for the Church of St. Andrew.
+There was a door leading from the aisle of the Abbey Church into the
+chancel of St. Andrew's; this door, walled up, may still be seen in the
+fifth bay from the west end. In order to avoid the necessity of
+returning again to the history of this church, it may here be stated
+that it was rebuilt by John Wheathampstead after he had been re-elected
+to the office of Abbot in 1451; and that it was destroyed after the
+dissolution of the monastery, when there was no longer any need for it,
+as the parishioners bought the Abbey Church for parochial use. The place
+of the old arcading was then taken by a blank wall without any windows;
+this was pulled down and the present wall built by Lord Grimthorpe.
+
+In the latter half of the thirteenth century the reconstruction of the
+eastern end was begun by Abbot John of Hertford. Here, as in many other
+churches, the Norman choir was too short for thirteenth-century
+requirements. The walls of the presbytery were raised and its
+high-pitched roof converted into a flat one. The church was gradually
+extended eastward by Abbots Roger of Norton and John of Berkhampstead;
+first the Saint's Chapel was built, then the retro-choir, and finally
+the Lady Chapel, which was finished by Abbot Hugh of Eversden in 1326.
+
+Another change was necessitated by an event which took place on St.
+Paulinus' Day, October 10th, of the year 1323. For on that day a
+calamity such as had never before happened befell the church. The
+celebration of Mass at an altar of the Blessed Virgin was just over, a
+great multitude of people, men and women, still being in the church,
+when two of the Norman piers of the main arcade on the south side fell
+outwards one after the other with a great crash, and about the space of
+an hour afterwards the wooden roof of the nave which had been supported
+by these columns also fell; the piers themselves had crushed the south
+wall of the aisle and the cloisters, so that a complete wreck was made
+of the south-eastern part of the church westward of the tower. But this
+disaster was accompanied by a great marvel, for though many persons were
+standing close by, not one was injured; and a still more wonderful thing
+is recorded: the monk whose duty it was to guard the shrine of St.
+Amphibalus, which at that time stood in the nave, had been celebrating
+at the altar--he had finished even to the washing of the sacred
+vessels--when he saw the columns fall; he withdrew a little from the
+altar and received no harm. Some of the wreckage fell on the shrine of
+St. Amphibalus, and though the marble pillars supporting the canopy were
+broken, yet the chest which contained his relics suffered no harm. This
+wonderful preservation of life and limb and shrine was naturally
+attributed to the intervention of the blessed martyr St. Amphibalus.
+
+Abbot Hugh of Eversden began to rebuild this ruined part of the church,
+and this accounts for the five bays of the nave arcading westward of the
+rood-screen being in fourteenth-century style. He did not live to finish
+all this work, but it was carried on by his successor, Richard of
+Wallingford (1326-1335), and finished by the next Abbot, Michael of
+Mentmore, about 1345. The present rood-screen, which probably took the
+place of a previously existing one of Norman date, was built in 1360 by
+Thomas de la Mare. No further change of importance was made until the
+time of John of Wheathampstead, who was Abbot from 1420 to 1440, and
+again from 1451 to 1464. He left his marks in various parts of the
+Abbey, and for the most part his work was bad: he did almost as much to
+injure the Abbey as the nineteenth-century restorers who swept away much
+of his work have done. He rebuilt all the upper part of the west front,
+and inserted Perpendicular windows at each end of the transept; he
+turned the high-pitched roofs of nave and transepts into flat ones, and
+lowered the slope of the roofs of the aisles. His object in doing this
+was to be able to use the old beams again whose ends were decayed, and
+which were shortened by cutting off the unsound parts. The result of
+this was that the Norman triforium arches on the north side were thrown
+open to the sky; these he filled with Perpendicular tracery, converting
+them into windows. The tracery still remains, although the new roof has
+the same slope as the original one, and the triforium is now again
+inclosed beneath it. He also pulled down the wooden octagon on the
+central tower. His chantry on the south side of the high altar was
+probably erected soon after his death.
+
+Abbot William of Wallingford (1476-1484) built the high altar screen,
+carrying out a plan which John of Wheathampstead had not been able to
+accomplish. The only addition made after this to the Abbey is the
+chantry of Thomas Ramryge, who became Abbot in 1492. The exact date of
+its construction is not known, all records of the Abbey during Ramryge's
+rule having perished; but from its style it is generally supposed to
+have been built about the year 1520. During the reign of Henry VIII. all
+the monasteries were dissolved; first the smaller, then the more
+important ones, among them that of St. Albans. The fortieth and last
+Abbot of St. Albans, Richard Boreman of Stevenage, surrendered the Abbey
+on December 5th, 1539, he and the monks receiving pensions as
+compensation.
+
+[Illustration: EXTERIOR OF LADY CHAPEL WHEN USED AS THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL
+BEFORE 1874. (From the Official Guide to the Great Northern Railway.)]
+
+In February of the following year the King granted to Sir Richard Lee
+all the monastic buildings, but not the Abbey Church or the adjoining
+Chapel of St. Andrew, with all the land lying round the Abbey Church.
+Lee promptly proceeded to destroy all the domestic buildings. The church
+remained in the possession of the Crown till 1553, when the town
+obtained a charter from Edward VI. This, among other provisions,
+empowered it to erect a grammar school within the church or in some
+other convenient place. The town authorities thereupon converted the
+Lady Chapel and the retro-choir into the grammar school. A passage was
+cut through the retro-choir, bounded by brick walls on either side; this
+was used as a public pathway until 1874, when it was closed, and again
+became part of the church. The part to the east of the passage served as
+the grammar school until 1870. The mayor and burgesses by the same
+charter received the Abbey Church, in return for L400, to be used as
+their parish church; and in May, 1553, the first rector, George
+Wetherall, took charge of the building.
+
+[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE LADY CHAPEL BEFORE 1874.
+(From the Official Guide to the Great Northern Railway.)]
+
+The parishioners thus found themselves in possession of an enormous
+building which they had not sufficient money to keep in proper repair.
+In 1612, and again in 1681, briefs or letters patent were issued by
+royal authority, ordering collections to be made in all churches in
+England for the repair of St. Albans Church. In 1689 a grant was made by
+William and Mary. These sums were spent on various repairs, such as
+altering the belfry windows, "filling up" with earth "the hollow in the
+wing," that is, raising the level of the floor of the south arm of the
+transept. In 1695 similar work was done in the north aisle; in 1704 a
+new window, a wooden one, was inserted in the south end of the transept,
+in place of Wheathampstead's, which had been blown in by a gale during
+the previous year. There are records of L100 being spent in recasting
+some of the bells between 1705 and 1707.
+
+Money was again collected in 1721 by letters patent, and this was spent
+on repairing the ceilings. About the same time a legacy was spent in
+repaving the nave, and the west ends of the aisles were blocked by brick
+walls. Some slight repairs were done about 1764, when a fresh collection
+was made.
+
+More extensive repairs were made in 1832: the roof was releaded, such of
+the clerestory windows as had been closed were reglazed, and the south
+window of the transept was rebuilt in stone. The choir, after the
+repairs, was opened for service in 1833. The nave to the west of the
+rood-screen was more or less in a dilapidated condition, protected by
+the releaded roof, but not used. The presbytery had been fitted up in
+Georgian style as a chancel, the organ stood in the north arm of the
+transept, and high pews filled the choir westward as far as the
+rood-screen. This was the condition of the part of the church which was
+used up to 1870.
+
+In 1856 a scheme was started for getting the Abbey Church raised to
+cathedral rank, and also for restoring the fabric. Mr. (afterwards Sir)
+Gilbert Scott was appointed architect, and was empowered to do what he
+thought most pressing as far as funds would allow; the flat roof of the
+north aisle was renewed, drainage attended to, and foundations
+strengthened; the floor at the south end of the transept was lowered--it
+will be remembered that it had been raised in 1692--the vaults were
+filled with concrete, and the floor repaved. The presbytery was repaved
+with tiles copied from some old ones. The Georgian fittings were removed
+to the nave; fragments of the tabernacles, which we now see over the
+doors leading from the aisles into the presbytery, having been
+discovered, the tabernacles were reconstructed of the old with some new
+material. But more important work had to be undertaken in 1870. On
+Sunday, July 31st, the sound of cracking was heard in the tower, and Mr.
+J. Chapple, the clerk of the works, went up the next day to London to
+see Scott and asked him to come down at once to examine the tower;
+plaster was put over the crack to see if it was increasing or not. There
+were soon signs that the mischief was getting worse, and Scott ordered
+the tower to be shored up with timber, and temporary brick walls to be
+built below it. It seemed that the rubble of the eastern piers had been
+made of mortar which had turned into dust, and that a big hole had been
+cut in the south-eastern pier. This, according to Lord Grimthorpe, had
+apparently been done with the intention of demolishing the tower,
+probably soon after the time of the dissolution of the monastery, for
+the hole contained timber shores which were sufficient to support the
+tower while the workmen were enlarging the hole, but which were probably
+intended to be set on fire and burnt away, thus allowing the workmen to
+escape before the tower fell. This wood was found partially decayed, and
+probably to its state the settlement of the tower was partially due. The
+hole was, by Scott's direction, filled with bricks laid in cement, and
+cement was poured in to fill up all the interstices; some of the decayed
+rubble was cut out of the piers and brickwork put in to take its place:
+the walls were tied with Yorkshire flagstone and iron rods, and were
+grouted with liquid cement wherever possible. It was an anxious time for
+those in charge of the work; it was only after many days and nights of
+incessant labour, that they felt sure that the sinking of the tower was
+arrested and that the new work was holding up the weight.
+
+In 1875 it was discovered that the south-west clerestory was beginning
+to crumble away. Lord Grimthorpe had this shored up at his own expense.
+A new committee was soon after this appointed, and in March, 1877, a
+faculty was granted to this committee "to repair the church and fit it
+for cathedral and parochial services." The first Bishop, Dr. Claughton,
+who up to this time had been Bishop of Rochester, choosing the northern
+of the two parts into which his diocese was divided, was enthroned as
+Bishop of St. Albans on June 12th, 1877, and on the following day the
+restoration of the nave was begun. The church was in a very bad state:
+the weight of the roof and injudicious repairs had thrust the clerestory
+walls about forty inches out of the vertical plane. There was much
+controversy at the time as to what should be done, and in the middle of
+it Sir Gilbert Scott died, in March, 1878. In May, however, the roof
+having been lifted, the leaning walls were forced up into a vertical
+position by hydraulic pressure. Some of the restorers were in favour of
+retaining a flat roof; others advocated putting on a high-pitched one
+again, raising its ridge to the height of the original Norman roof, as
+indicated by the weather marks on the tower. Fortunately the latter
+course was adopted; fortunately because the church, seen from the
+outside, lacks height in proportion to its length, and the ridge of the
+roof now visible above the parapets has given it some of the extra
+height it so much needed. The subsequent raising of the transept and
+presbytery roofs on the other three sides of the tower was necessitated
+by the raising of the roof of the nave.
+
+Lord Grimthorpe drew up a list of "symptoms of ruin," twenty-two in
+number, which it would take too much space to reproduce here; but unless
+his account is exaggerated, it would seem that scarcely any part of the
+building save the tower could be looked on as secure. He applied for a
+new faculty which would give him unlimited power to "restore, repair,
+and refit the church." This faculty was granted, and he exercised his
+powers to the full; and as a result, though the church has been made
+sound and secure, probably for many centuries to come, yet many of its
+most interesting features have been destroyed, the most terrible damage
+having been done in the transept.
+
+The west front which he rebuilt, though not altogether satisfactory, yet
+is greatly superior in design to his subsequent work at the south and
+north ends of the transept. These originally had corner turrets,
+octagonal in plan; these turrets were pulled down and square ones,
+finished by pyramidal caps, put in their place. The entire south front
+of the transept was pulled down and rebuilt, and a new window consisting
+of five lancets occupying its whole width inserted. The central light
+rises high into the gable and above the level of the inner ceiling. The
+lancets on either side are intermediate in height between the central
+and side ones when they are seen from without, but when seen from within
+the tops of all are of the same height, as they could not be raised
+above the level of the ceiling. The parts of the three middle lancets
+seen from without above this level are backed up with black felt across
+the ceiling, and their upper parts light the space between the ceiling
+and the high roof. This window is a feeble imitation of the "Five
+Sisters" of York, and is utterly out of place in the narrow transept at
+St. Albans; but bad as this south window is, the one at the north end of
+the transept is worse. Here Lord Grimthorpe inserted a circular window,
+the design being such as a child might make who was given a sheet of
+cardboard with a large circle drawn on it, which he was requested to
+cover symmetrically with a number of half-crowns, shillings, and
+sixpences. Another piece of unnecessary alteration was the destruction
+of the slype at the south end and the re-erection of its disjointed
+members as curiosities in the new work, its western doorway, with an
+added order, having been let into the centre of the south wall of the
+transept, and the arcading placed in two different positions.
+
+[Illustration: THE ARCADE IN THE SLYPE BEFORE ITS REMOVAL.]
+
+More satisfactory is the work in the Lady Chapel and the space sometimes
+called the antechapel; here the old carving had been terribly mutilated
+by many generations of schoolboys, and the new work which has been put
+in is good of its kind, and distinctive in its treatment. Lord
+Grimthorpe vaulted the Lady Chapel in stone. Much other work was done by
+him in various parts of the building. He rebuilt the clerestory windows
+of the presbytery and some of those in the nave; introduced windows into
+the blank walls at the western part of the nave, both on the north and
+south, for which he deserves commendation, as the original reason for no
+windows having existed here was only that the monastic buildings, now
+destroyed, abutted against the south aisle of the nave, and the Church
+of St. Andrew stood on the north side; when this church was pulled down
+a plain wall was built, and the thrust of the roof had forced this and
+the original wall on the south side outwards, after the buildings which
+had acted as buttresses had been removed.
+
+One piece of modern restoration was not done by Lord Grimthorpe, namely
+that of the Wallingford screen behind the high altar. The statues on
+this having been destroyed and the screen itself damaged, Mr. H.H.
+Gibbs, now Lord Aldenham, offered to restore it, working under Lord
+Grimthorpe's faculty. After a time a dispute arose between them, chiefly
+over the introduction of a statue of Christ on the Cross in the centre
+of the screen, and the erection of an altar with a stone top below it.
+This led to a lawsuit, the final result of which was that Mr. Gibbs was
+allowed to finish the screen in his own way, but not to do anything to
+any other part of the church, a thing he wished to do. The altar is not
+yet in position; when this is placed where it is intended to stand, the
+work of restoration will be complete, and nave, choir and presbytery,
+and Lady Chapel will then alike be capable of being used for service,
+forming in reality three distinct and fully fitted churches under one
+roof, the retro-choir being intended for use as a chapter-house whenever
+a chapter shall be created.
+
+[Illustration: FLOOR TILE WITH ARMS OF BEAUCHAMP.]
+
+[Illustration: ANGLE BETWEEN NAVE AND TRANSEPT.]
+
+[Illustration: THE NEW WEST FRONT.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE EXTERIOR.
+
+
+The visitor who wishes to obtain, at first sight, the most impressive
+view of the Cathedral Church of St. Alban, should alight at the London
+and North-Western Station, at which all the trains from Euston and many
+of those from King's Cross arrive. This station is about half a mile
+south of the city, and from it a road runs up Holywell Hill, which,
+passing eastwards of the church, leads to the centre of the city. But a
+road running off to the left before reaching the top of the hill leads
+past the south side to the entrance at the west front of the Cathedral.
+Seen from the south the church, though it does not actually stand quite
+on the summit, seems to crown with its enormous length the ridge of hill
+to the north. Most of those who visit St. Albans for the first time feel
+a sense of disappointment. The church has no far-projecting buttresses
+to give light and shade, no flying buttresses or pinnacles like those
+that lend such a charm to most French and many English churches. All is
+severely plain, partly on account of the very early time at which the
+greater part of the existing church was built, partly on account of the
+material used for its walls. Abbot Paul of Caen, who designed it,
+trusted entirely to mass and proportion for the effect he wished to
+produce. But we do not see it as he designed it, and possibly built it.
+When we remember that he came from Caen, and seems to have used St.
+Stephen's Church, at that time recently built by Duke William, as a
+model, though he planned his own church on a grander scale, he must have
+contemplated two western towers even if he did not erect them--though,
+as previously stated, there is a division of opinion on the part of
+authorities on this subject. These western towers, if they were built,
+as well as the central one, would be crowned by pyramidal caps; and such
+towers, finely proportioned, would give the church the height which it
+so much needs, and the lack of which we feel so acutely to-day. The
+raising of the roofs at the time of the restoration to their original
+pitch was an undoubted gain, for without it the building looked lower
+and longer even than it does now. The church as we see it has been sadly
+injured by Lord Grimthorpe's work at both ends of the transepts, and
+whatever may be said about the western front in itself, yet no one can
+deny that, had the church been flanked by two towers standing, as at
+Wells and Rouen, outside the line of the aisles, even though the front
+itself were as plain as that of St. Stephen's at Caen, it would have
+been far more impressive.
+
+There is another point in which the church as it exists differs from the
+church as it might have been seen soon after Abbot Paul had built it.
+Then its walls were covered without as well as within with plaster,
+within richly decorated with colour, and without whitewashed. How
+different it must have looked with its vast mass seen from a distance
+rising above the wooded slopes, white as a solid block of Carara marble
+gleaming in the sun, and the lead-covered roofs of nave, transept,
+choir, and towers shining with a silvery lustre. Many modern restoring
+architects strongly object to plaster, and many a rough wall both
+external and internal, which the builder never intended to be seen, has
+been scraped and pointed under the idea that plaster is a sham, which it
+is not, unless indented lines are drawn on it to make it appear like
+blocks of ashlar. The rich red of the Roman brick in St. Albans walls
+and towers is so delightful, that perhaps we may think Scott did well in
+abandoning his idea of replastering them; yet nothing could have so
+entirely altered the general appearance of the building as this scraping
+away of the plaster. Besides the general view from Holywell Hill, there
+are two other distant points of view which should not be missed: one
+from Verulam woods, to the south-west; and one from the fields in which
+the ruins of Sopwell Nunnery stand. From this latter point it looks best
+after sunset on a cloudless evening, when the tower stands up in
+majestic grandeur against the saffron sky, and looking at it one can
+well imagine how much grander it must have looked when the tower bore
+some fitting termination, either the Norman pyramid or the later
+octagon, or even possibly the wooden spire of the Hertfordshire spike
+order which succeeded it.
+
+#The West Front.# We will begin our examination of the existing exterior
+with the west front, and then proceed in order round the building along
+the south side, east end and north side, although in reality iron
+railings will prevent us from making a complete circuit, and necessitate
+our retracing our steps and making a fresh start at the west of the
+railings. Still there is no part of the exterior to which we cannot gain
+easy access.
+
+Lord Grimthorpe's west front is built of stone; the illustration, p. 23,
+will enable the reader to form a good idea of its appearance. It took
+the place of one of patchwork character: the porches and lower parts
+were of thirteenth-century date; the upper part above the central porch
+contained Abbot John of Wheathampstead's large Perpendicular window,
+repaired and patched at various times; and brick walls closed the west
+end of the aisles. Lord Grimthorpe's idea was to design a front in the
+style prevalent in the second half of the thirteenth century. The design
+has been much criticized, but its general appearance will not be
+distasteful to the ordinary visitor, and is as good as is most
+nineteenth-century work. In certain respects it is more pleasing than
+the rival design of Mr. John Scott, with its mixture of Perpendicular
+features with those of earlier styles, its battlemented octagonal
+turrets, two of which were to be surmounted by spikes. There are two
+features of the existing front, one not shown, the other easily
+overlooked in the photograph, which should be noted. First, the arched
+cill of the central window, and second, the manner in which the back of
+the gable over the central door has been chamfered off so that it should
+not come up close to the glass and make a dark triangle against the
+lower part of the window when seen from the inside. The doors are all
+new; the side doors had vanished, and the central ones were too short
+for the restored doorways. The western porches, which Sir Gilbert Scott
+spoke of as some of the most exquisite thirteenth-century work in
+existence, were almost entirely rebuilt by Lord Grimthorpe. Fortunately
+some drawings were made for Sir Gilbert Scott, one of which, by the
+courtesy of Mr. Murray, we have been able to reproduce, p. 11.
+
+#The South Side.# The south clerestory has no less than twenty-three
+windows. The ten westernmost, partially restored by Scott, are connected
+by an arcading; the next ten, as well as the wall that contains them,
+are new--built by Lord Grimthorpe; the parapet, fortunately quite plain,
+was rebuilt at the time when the roof was raised; the three easternmost
+windows of the clerestory are formed of Roman brick in brick walls much
+restored, and are separated by brick buttresses.
+
+The south aisle roof is partly lead (Scott) and partly, at the eastern
+end, of red tiles (Lord Grimthorpe). Lord Grimthorpe cut four windows in
+the western bays of the aisle, in which no windows had originally
+existed, as domestic buildings abutted against the church here. The
+three eastern windows of Abbot William of Trumpington's time were
+rebuilt in the old style; the five bays to the west of these were
+refaced with brick and flint, as the original clunch stone had perished,
+owing to exposure to the weather. The arcading of the north walk of the
+cloister may still be seen. It will be noticed that this arcading did
+not follow the division into bays of the aisle walls above. The cloister
+walk acted as a kind of continuous buttress to the south aisle wall, and
+owing to its removal this part of the wall was gradually pushed outward.
+To strengthen it Lord Grimthorpe built buttresses, naturally following
+the division of the upper part of the walls, but thereby cutting across
+the arcading of the cloister walk in a most ugly fashion. By building
+flying buttresses instead, he might have preserved the whole of the
+arcading of the cloister walk unbroken, but he considered that this plan
+would have been ugly, and that the buttresses he did build were
+constructively better; possibly they may be, but most of us will be of
+the opinion that, as far as appearance goes, the plan adopted was the
+less satisfactory. The porch over the Abbot's door in the corner is
+entirely new. It probably is useful as a support for the wall, but that
+is all that can be said in its favour. Lord Grimthorpe thought that this
+would be used as an entrance to the church on this side, but it has not
+been so used. It is worthy of notice that this church is destitute of
+porches, either on the southern or northern side; probably because they
+were not needed in a purely monastic church.
+
+[Illustration: THE SOUTH TRANSEPT AS REBUILT.]
+
+#The South Transept.# The south arm of the transept was most ruthlessly
+dealt with by Lord Grimthorpe; no doubt it was in an unsafe condition,
+but his alterations here have been criticized severely, though not more
+severely than they deserve. The south front with the five enormous
+lancet windows--the lower parts of them lighting the church, the upper
+parts of the three central ones the space between the ceiling and the
+outer roof--was entirely rebuilt, together with the corner turrets. The
+slype or passage between the transept and the chapter-house, leading
+from the cloister to the cemetery of the monks, has been practically
+destroyed, some of the arcading having been removed and rebuilt into the
+interior face of the new south wall, some rebuilt into the south wall of
+the slype; the stones of the west doorway of the slype with modern
+additions were used up in making a doorway in the centre of the south
+transept wall into the slype, and a new doorway was built at the east
+end of the slype, thus forming a way into the transept which seems now
+chiefly used as a passage for carrying in coke for the stoves in the
+transept.
+
+[Illustration: THE LADY CHAPEL, CHOIR AND TRANSEPT FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.]
+
+The architectural choir, containing the presbytery and the Saint's
+Chapel, consists of five bays. The clerestory windows are Decorated ones
+of three lights each, the tracery being different in the different
+windows. They are set in a brick wall which, in the latter part of the
+thirteenth century, had been raised so as to allow of higher windows
+being set in it. The tracery is all new, Lord Grimthorpe keeping only
+the old outlines and leading lines of the mullions. The ridge of the
+roof of this part of the church was raised by Lord Grimthorpe to its
+original height, the same as that of the other three roofs that abut
+against the tower. As the side walls from which this roof springs are
+higher than those of the nave and transept the pitch is lower, and the
+window in the gable designed by Lord Grimthorpe is triangular; below
+this, in the east wall, is a geometrical window with a small, one-light
+window on either side of it; all of these are rebuilt. The south aisle
+of the presbytery contains two small, round-headed windows, and further
+to the east two three-light, and then one two-light window; beneath two
+of these are doors. All this part of the church has been extensively
+restored, as has also been the retro-choir or antechapel, as it is
+sometimes called. Through this, after the dissolution, a public footway
+was cut, which was closed in 1870, and a great deal of reconstruction
+was needful. This part of the church has two bays, each bay with a
+window on each side, and one facing east on each side of the Lady
+Chapel.
+
+#The Lady Chapel# has three bays; the tracery seen on the outside is
+new, though it is old inside, for Scott cut the mullions down the middle
+so as to retain the statuettes that they bore on the inside. There is a
+low vestry built against the south-eastern bay of the Lady Chapel; the
+window above this is triangular; the windows of the vestry itself are
+shown in the illustration, p. 28, as also is the five-light window in
+the east wall of the Lady Chapel. The north side of the Lady Chapel
+resembles the southern.
+
+#The North Transept.# The character of the north presbytery aisle and
+the north arm of the transept may be seen by examination of the
+illustration, p. 30. It will be observed that the north front of this
+contains a large circular window measuring twenty-nine feet across the
+glass, filled by a number of circular apertures. This is Lord
+Grimthorpe's design, upon which much not undeserved ridicule has been
+showered. He informs us that this arm of the transept was in a somewhat
+better condition than the southern one, but that all the upper part and
+the turrets needed rebuilding. In the rebuilt walls of the transept he
+used the original material as far as it would go, supplementing it by
+some modern bricks made in imitation of the Roman ones.
+
+[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTH-EAST.]
+
+The illustration, p. 30, shows the iron railings which, unless a door in
+them be unlocked, prevent further progress westward, and necessitate a
+retracing of our steps right round the church till we again reach the
+north arm of the transept. In the north front of this may be seen a
+Norman door near the north-west corner, through which pilgrims passed
+who wished to visit the shrine of the martyr; they entered the precincts
+by the Waxhouse gate, buying their candles there, and went down the path
+which is now called "the Cloisters," from which the photograph on p. 30
+was taken. In the west wall there is an upper row of three round-headed
+brick windows once recessed, and a lower one of two twice recessed.
+
+#The North Side.# The north clerestory of the nave has eight
+round-headed brick windows at the eastern part, followed by lancets
+similar to those on the south side. Flat buttresses of brick are built
+against the clerestory wall between the round-headed windows. The aisle
+windows, most of them rebuilt, are in Decorated style. A length of
+eighty feet of the wall towards the western end of the aisle, which had
+been built about 1553, when the Chapel of St. Andrew had been destroyed,
+was rebuilt and buttresses built against it to counteract the thrust of
+the clerestory, which leans outward. In this wall, as on the opposite
+side of the church, Lord Grimthorpe inserted windows; and placed a new
+sloping roof over the north aisle, covering the triforium arches which
+had been glazed as windows in the fifteenth century; this roof is
+covered with dark-coloured tiles. We may notice in the north aisle wall
+a brick door in the fourth bay from the east; this was cut by Lord
+Grimthorpe and leads into the vestry; also a walled-up door in the sixth
+bay, which led from the church into the graveyard, and another in the
+sixth bay, which formerly led from the north aisle into the chancel of
+St. Andrew's Church; this Lord Grimthorpe converted into a cupboard in
+the thickness of the wall. The only other thing noteworthy at this part
+of the exterior is a small piece of the north aisle wall of St. Andrew's
+Church near the footpath.
+
+#The Tower.# There yet remains the magnificent tower. It is 144 feet
+high and is not quite square in plan, measuring 47 feet from east to
+west, and two feet less from north to south. The walls are about seven
+feet thick; in the thickness, however, passages are cut. It has three
+stages above the ridges of the roof. The lower stage has plain windows
+in each face, lighting the church below; the next stage, or ringing
+room, has two pairs of double windows; and the upper or belfry stage,
+two double windows of large size, furnished with louvre boards. The
+parapet is battlemented, and of course of later work than the tower
+itself. The tower is flanked by pilaster buttresses, which merge into
+cylindrical turrets in the upper story. For simple dignity the tower
+stands unrivalled in this country. It must have been splendidly built to
+have stood as it has done so many centuries without accident. Winchester
+tower fell not long after its building, Peterborough tower has been
+rebuilt in modern days; but Paul of Caen did not scamp his work as the
+monks of Peterborough did, and no evil-living king was buried below the
+tower, as was the case at Winchester, thus, according to the beliefs of
+the time, leading to its downfall. Tewkesbury tower alone can vie with
+that of St. Albans, and the seventeenth-century pinnacles on that tower
+spoil the general effect, so that the foremost place among central
+Norman towers as we see them to-day may safely be claimed for that at
+St. Albans. Few more beautiful architectural objects can be seen than
+this tower of Roman brick, especially when the warmth of its colour is
+accentuated by the ruddy flush thrown over it by the rays of a setting
+sun.
+
+The view from the tower when the air is clear is magnificent, but
+unfortunately the privilege of ascending the tower once accorded to
+visitors has, on account of unseemly behaviour, been necessarily
+withdrawn, and only by a special relaxation of this rule, through the
+kindness of the Dean, was the writer enabled to inspect the upper parts
+of the church.
+
+[Illustration: THREE OLD PAVEMENT TILES.]
+
+[Illustration: THE NAVE FROM THE WEST END.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE INTERIOR.
+
+
+#The floor levels.#--The Church of St. Alban is built so that its axis
+points considerably to the south of east, a thing that would hardly have
+been expected, seeing that the sun rises as far to the north of east as
+it ever does on St. Alban's Day, June 22nd. The orientation of the
+church may have been due to the fact that no great attention was paid to
+it by the builders, or it may have been due to the natural slope of the
+ground, which would have made the building of the church difficult had
+the east end been swung round further to the north where the ground is
+higher, and the west end to the south-west where it is lower; even as
+the church was built the slope of the ground has had its effect on the
+floor levels. These have been modified from time to time; to describe
+all the changes would take too much space, but it may be interesting to
+state the differences of level that exist at the present day.
+
+On entering by the west door a peculiarity will at once be noticed.
+About fifteen feet from the inner side of the west wall there is a rise
+of five steps which stretch right across the church from north to south.
+The floor to the east of these steps slopes imperceptibly upwards for
+eight bays, when a rise of three more steps is met with. On this higher
+level stands the altar, which is backed up by the rood screen. There is
+another step to be ascended to the level of the choir, and another to
+reach the space below the tower. Five steps lead from this into the
+presbytery; there is another step at the high altar rails, and four more
+lead up to the platform on which the high altar will stand. From the
+space below the tower one step leads up into the north aisle and two
+more into the north arm of the transept. From the level of the south
+choir aisle and south transept two steps lead up into the south aisle of
+the presbytery; from this aisle there is a rise of four steps into the
+aisle south of the Saint's Chapel, and from this into the chapel itself
+a rise of four more. So that the floor of this chapel is, with the
+exception of the high altar platform, which is one step higher, the
+highest in the whole church, or nineteen steps above the floor just
+inside the west door. From the aisle of the Saint's Chapel one step
+leads into the retro-choir, and two more into the Lady Chapel; hence the
+floor of the Lady Chapel is one step lower than that of the Saint's
+Chapel. If we take seven inches as the average height of a step, it
+would appear that the floor of the Lady Chapel is about ten feet higher
+than the floor at the west end of the nave.
+
+As we stand just inside the west door of the church we are struck by the
+length of ritual nave, about 200 feet, the flatness of the roofs, and
+the massiveness of the arcading dividing the nave from the aisles; for,
+though the four western bays on the north side and five on the south are
+Early English in date, there is none of that lightness and grace that we
+are accustomed to associate with work of this period, no detached shafts
+of Purbeck marble such as we see at Salisbury, no exquisitely carved
+capitals such as we meet with at Wells. William of Trumpington seems to
+have aimed at making his work harmonize with the Norman work that he
+left untouched; and when the rest of the main arcade on the south side
+was rebuilt in the next century, it was made to differ but little in
+general appearance and dimensions from Abbot William's.
+
+The vertical proportions of the nave elevation are very fine. If the
+whole be divided into nine equal parts, four of these are occupied by
+the main arcade, two by the triforium, and three by the clerestory. The
+view eastward is often closed by a dark red curtain that hangs behind
+the organ, which stands in a gallery behind the rood screen. The screen
+divides the congregational nave from the three eastern bays of the
+architectural nave, which form the western part of the ritual choir.
+When the curtain is drawn aside we get a view of the tower arches and
+more of the length of the church is seen. It is to be hoped that no
+attempt to move the organ will now be made, as some, no doubt, would
+suggest, in order to get a more open vista; for the organ stands just
+where it can be used equally well for a service either in the nave or
+choir, and its sound can be heard with more effect than if it were
+stowed away on either side of the church. The longest view of the church
+which can be obtained is to be seen by standing at the extreme west end
+of the south aisle, from which, when a draught-excluding curtain that
+hangs across the aisle just to the east of the transept is drawn aside,
+the view extends as far as the east window of the retro-choir, distant
+about 440 feet from the western wall, that is, about one-twelfth of a
+mile. A better idea of the enormous length of the whole building is
+given by saying that it is about a tenth of a mile long, rather than by
+giving its length in feet.
+
+[Illustration: BASE OF INCOMPLETE PIER.]
+
+At the extreme west of the nave, on the north side, will be seen the
+base of what was intended for an Early English pillar, probably John de
+Cella's work, for provision is made for the slender detached columns of
+Purbeck marble, the intended use of which his successor abandoned. An
+inscription beneath the west window records the fact that when
+pestilence prevailed in London in the reign of Henry VIII., and again in
+that of Elizabeth, the courts of justice were held in the nave. This
+took place in the years 1543, 1589, and 1593.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF PIER.]
+
+On the second pier on the north side is an inscription to the memory of
+Sir John Mandeville, who was born at St. Albans early in the fourteenth
+century, and educated at the monastery school. He studied medicine and
+set out in 1322 for his famous travels, professing, in the account which
+he published in French in 1357 in Paris, to have visited not only every
+part of the south of Europe, but many parts of Asia, even China. It is
+not known where he was buried, whether in England or abroad, and the
+statement of the Latin inscription on this pillar that he was buried in
+this church cannot be regarded as more trustworthy than most of the
+statements in the book of travels.
+
+[Illustration: ARCADE ON NORTH SIDE OF NAVE.]
+
+[Illustration: EASTERN PART OF NORTH SIDE OF NAVE.]
+
+The first four bays on this side are thirteenth-century work. The
+junction of this with the earlier Norman work is of the most curious
+character: the Norman pier was cut off level, a short distance below the
+impost, and on the top of this three courses of the Early English pier
+were laid. Why the Early English pier was not carried down to the
+ground, in a way similar to that, in which the easternmost Early English
+pier on the south side is carried, we cannot tell. It has been
+conjectured that some special sanctity attached to the statue which
+stood on the bracket, which may still be seen on the western face of
+this pier. It will be noticed how plain is the plan of the Norman piers
+(see illustration, p. 37). They have no capital, only a projecting
+course of brickwork from which the arch springs. The two easternmost
+piers, however, were altered at some time (see illustration, p. 39), and
+a rough kind of capital formed by cutting away the pier below. The
+Norman piers were first covered with plaster, and then painted both on
+their western and southern faces, and when the white-wash with which
+they had been covered in post-Reformation days was removed in 1862, the
+frescoes were discovered in a more or less perfect condition. All those
+on the western faces with one exception, represent the same subject, the
+Crucifixion, with a second subject below. No doubt against these piers
+altars used to stand, and these frescoes served, as we should say, as
+painted reredoses or altarpieces.
+
+The subjects are as follows, beginning at the west of the Norman arcade:
+
+  First pier, west face. Christ on the Cross, crowned; the Virgin on
+  the north side, St. John on the south, holding a book. Beneath,
+  Virgin (crowned and holding a sceptre) and Child; on each side an
+  angel censing. Late twelfth or early thirteenth century.
+
+  South face. St. Christopher. Fourteenth century.
+
+  Second pier, west face. Christ on the Cross; the Virgin with
+  clasped hands on south side, St. John on north. Beneath, Virgin
+  and Child under a canopy. Early thirteenth century.
+
+  South face. Archbishop Becket. Fourteenth century.
+
+  Third pier, west face. Christ on the Cross; the Virgin on the
+  south side, St. John on north, resting his head on his hand.
+  Beneath, under a pointed arch, the Annunciation. This is in
+  outline only. Fourteenth century.
+
+  South face. A woman in a blue gown holding a rosary in her left
+  hand, possibly St. Citha (Osyth). Fourteenth century.
+
+  Fourth pier, west face. Christ on the Cross. Beneath, the
+  Annunciation. A rude painting of the thirteenth or fourteenth
+  century.
+
+  South face. A pilgrim and slight traces of another figure. The
+  subject is supposed to be either Edward the Confessor relieving
+  St. John disguised as a pilgrim, or St. John giving a ring to a
+  pilgrim. Fourteenth century.
+
+  Fifth pier, west face. Christ on the Cross, much draped; the
+  Virgin and St. John with red background. Beneath, the Coronation
+  of the Virgin. Fourteenth century.
+
+  South face. This was once painted, but not enough remains to allow
+  the subject to be made out.
+
+  Sixth pier, west face. Christ in his Glory; very slight traces
+  only.
+
+[Illustration: NORTH NAVE ARCADE: WESTERN END.]
+
+Besides these figure subjects painted on the piers, the soffits of the
+arches were decorated with colour, some of which still remains.
+
+Although in the four western bays of the main arcade the Early English
+work is very plain, yet the triforium is ornate. The arcading consists
+of two pointed arches in each bay, each comprising two sub-arches; the
+supporting columns are slender and enriched with dog-tooth mouldings,
+with which also the string-course below the triforium is decorated. The
+shafts, which probably were intended to support a stone vault over the
+nave, should be noticed.
+
+This illustration also shows the character of the clerestory. The
+triforium over the Norman main arcade consists of large, wide-splayed,
+round-headed openings, in which the tracery and glazing introduced in
+the fifteenth century, when the aisle roof was lowered in pitch so as to
+expose the north side of the triforium to the sky, still remains. One of
+the triforium arches, namely, the third from the tower, was simply
+walled up at this time, and so retains its original form. The clerestory
+in this part of the church consists of plain, round-headed openings.
+Between each bay the outer southern face of each Norman pier is
+continued in the form of a flat pilaster buttress up to the roof.
+
+[Illustration: SOUTH NAVE ARCADE, SHOWING THE JUNCTION OF THIRTEENTH AND
+FOURTEENTH-CENTURY WORK.]
+
+The rood screen behind the altar, which is sometimes erroneously called
+St. Cuthbert's screen, is of fourteenth-century work, but much restored,
+and is pierced by two[6] doorways, which were used when processions
+passed from the nave into the choir. The doors themselves are
+fourteenth-century work. Against this screen once stood three altars.
+The northern one was dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury and St.
+Oswyn, King of Northumbria; the central one to the Holy Apostles, the
+confessors, and St. Benedict; and that on the south to St. Mary. These
+once stood against the western faces of the Norman piers of the south
+arcade of the nave, which fell in the fourteenth century. These piers
+doubtless corresponded with those we still see on the north side, and
+were probably similarly decorated with frescoes. The south arcade at its
+eastern end differs entirely from that on the north. This part of the
+church was rebuilt after the fall of part of the Norman arcade. The five
+Early English bays to the west are divided from the Decorated ones to
+the east by a massive pier, generally supposed to be Norman, but
+probably rebuilt. The northern face of this runs up as a pilaster
+buttress to the roof; the string round it in continuation of that below
+the triforium is carved with tooth ornament. West of this we have tooth
+ornament, to the east the characteristic ball flower. The junction of
+the two styles is shown in the illustration below, from which it will be
+noticed that, though there is a general resemblance in the bays on
+either side of the dividing pilaster, yet the details are different. To
+the east we see shields below the triforium string, and heads at the
+termination of the hood moulding. The head shown in this photograph is
+possibly that of Master Geoffrey, master mason to Abbot Hugh of
+Eversden; the others passing on to the east are probably those of Edward
+II., Queen Isabella, and Abbot Hugh. The shields, also counting from the
+west, are those of England, France, Mercia, England, Edward the
+Confessor, and England. The hood mouldings of the triforium and
+clerestory also terminate in heads, some of them grotesque. The
+Decorated piers were found by Lord Grimthorpe in a very unsound
+condition, not on account of any defect in the foundation, but on
+account of the bad mortar in which their rubble cores had been set. This
+had become dust, and tended to burst out the ashlar casing: this shell
+was indeed doing all the work of supporting the weight resting on the
+piers. Lord Grimthorpe shored up the arches, and in large measure
+rebuilt the piers of larger stones. He says: "It took no small trouble
+and scolding to get these worked as roughly as the old ones, so as to
+make the work homogeneous and bewilder antiquaries." This sentence shows
+the false principles on which Lord Grimthorpe sometimes worked;
+necessary repairs should never be executed with a view to make the work
+appear as old as that the place of which it takes.
+
+[6] This was the original Benedictine arrangement, which is said to
+remain in this church and Westminster Abbey only.
+
+The pulpit against the fourth pier on the north side, counting from the
+rood screen, is new, decorated with pentagonal diaper work--pentagons
+being apparently particularly attractive to Lord Grimthorpe.
+
+#The Organ.#--The present organ when first built in 1862 was placed in
+the north arm of the transept, where the previously used organ had
+stood; in 1877 it was moved to the north-east corner of the nave; and
+was again moved in 1882, being then placed where it now is. In 1885 it
+was enlarged by Lord Grimthorpe, and the key-board was placed at the
+south end, so that the organist might command a view of the choristers,
+whether they were singing in the nave or in the choir. It is considered
+a fine and powerful instrument, and no better position in the church
+could be found for it.
+
+[Illustration: SOUTH AISLE OF NAVE FROM EAST.]
+
+#The South Aisle.#--At the western end of the south wall of this aisle
+may be seen the remains of an arch which was intended to lead into the
+south-west tower. Above it, high up, is a single-light window. The next
+three windows, of two lights each, with Decorated tracery, were inserted
+by Lord Grimthorpe in the blank wall; the next window probably dates
+from the seventeenth century. The windows in the next five bays come
+down on the inside to a much lower level than those to the west (see
+illustration, p. 43), but the bottom of the glass was kept high so as to
+be above the roof of the north walk of the cloister, which rested
+against the wall of these bays. Two of these windows contain modern
+glass, one being inserted to the memory of the present Dean's father.
+There was once a door in the second bay from the west, which probably
+was used for processions, and in the seventh bay was a small door
+opening into the cloister, from which a passage in the thickness of the
+wall led up by a flight of steps into the Abbot's chapel. This opening
+has been converted into a muniment room, and is closed by an iron door
+leading from the aisle. The vaulting of the western part is of stone,
+and was erected by Sir Gilbert Scott in 1878. The vaulting of the
+eastern part is fourteenth-century work erected at the time of the
+reconstruction of this part of the church in Decorated style, and is
+only plaster.
+
+Against the south face of the large pier, at the junction of the Early
+English and Decorated bays, once stood an altar dedicated to our Lady of
+the Pillar, with a painting of the Adoration of the Magi above it. Iron
+railings inclosing the space between this pier and the next to the west
+formed a chapel set apart for the use of the Guild of St Alban. This
+guild was founded in the reign of Edward III., but dissolved at the time
+of Wat Tyler's rebellion. It was the duty of the brethren of this guild
+to follow the shrine containing the relics of St. Alban whenever it was
+carried outside the church.
+
+[Illustration: HOLY WATER STOUP.]
+
+#North Aisle.#--At the west end of this aisle the beautiful though much
+restored holy water stoup should be noticed. A semicircular arch crosses
+this aisle, springing from the pier where the Early English and Norman
+work join (see illustration, p. 47). The roof is of timber with only a
+slight slope, built in 1860. The first four windows from the west are
+new, inserted by Lord Grimthorpe in the new wall which he built here.
+The other windows have new tracery, but the internal parts remain as
+William of Trumpington left them. Some old glass (fifteenth century) is
+to be seen in the eighth, ninth, and tenth windows of the aisle. The
+font, a modern one, stands at the east end of this aisle. It took the
+place in 1853 of a marble one, now in the workhouse chapel. There was
+once a brazen one brought as spoil from Dunkeld in Scotland, together
+with the lectern now in St. Stephen's Church; but this font disappeared
+during the civil wars. The continuation of the screen across the north
+aisle is due to Lord Grimthorpe. His object was to form a vestry out of
+that part of the north aisle that lies along the north side of the choir
+as far as the transept. On the south side he merely erected a glazed
+wooden screen with a door, through which visitors pass to enter the
+eastern part of the church.
+
+[Illustration: NORTH AISLE OF NAVE.]
+
+It may be asked, of what use could the vast nave be to a monastery like
+that at St. Albans, which does not seem to have contemplated the
+admission of the laity to its services? The monks' services were
+chaunted in the choir: the people had the parish church of St. Andrew
+for their use, in which, however, the priests of the Abbey officiated.
+But we must remember that in mediaeval times, on Sundays and on other
+great festivals, grand processions formed part of the ritual. The monks,
+leaving the choir, perambulated the church. The general order of the
+procession was probably as follows: the north arm of the transept, the
+north aisle of the presbytery into the Saint's Chapel, thence back into
+the aisle round the ambulatory or retro-choir, through the south
+presbytery aisle into the south arm of the transept, through the Abbot's
+door into the cloister, along the east, south, and west alleys back into
+the church by the blocked-up door in the south wall, up the nave, and
+through the two doors of the rood screen into the choir.
+
+On special occasions it was customary for the shrines or feretories
+containing the relics of the saints--in this Abbey those of St. Alban
+and St. Amphibalus--to be removed from the pedestals on which they
+stood, and carried in solemn procession round the church and sometimes
+even outside it. For such ceremonials the naves were needed. It was also
+to allow for these processions passing round the church that the
+ambulatory was built leading round the back of the high altar. The idea
+of holding _ordinary_ services for the laity in the nave is an entirely
+new idea, and however desirable they may be, yet they have led in modern
+days to the introduction into the building in some places of benches or
+seats like those of parish churches, and in others to the introduction
+of chairs, either of which additions considerably detracts from the
+architectural effect of the building. But though in early times the
+laity had not in all churches regular access to the building, yet it
+appears that they were some times admitted even in those churches that
+as a rule excluded them. For we find it recorded that a great number
+both of men and women were in the nave of St. Albans for the purpose of
+hearing Mass and praying at the time when the Norman piers on the south
+side of the nave fell in 1323.
+
+#South Choir Aisle.#--Passing through the door mentioned above, we enter
+the aisle which, since it runs alongside of the ritual choir west of the
+crossing, is known as the south choir aisle. In this part of the church
+the Norman work of Abbot Paul remains. The aisle, however, was vaulted
+in stone by Lord Grimthorpe. In the south wall is a recessed tomb, where
+two celebrated hermits, Roger and Sigar, were buried, and which was at
+one time a popular place of pilgrimage. In the recess now stands a stone
+coffin, but who originally occupied it there is nothing to show. Many of
+these would be found if the monks' cemetery were excavated, as after the
+twentieth Abbot, Warin (1183-1195), had issued his new orders regulating
+burial, all the monks were buried in coffins of stone. Roger the Hermit
+was a monk of St. Albans, a deacon; but though as monk he rendered
+obedience to the Abbot, he did not live within the precincts, for on one
+occasion as he was returning from Jerusalem three holy angels met him,
+and led him to a spot between St. Albans and Dunstable, called Markyate,
+when it was intimated to him that he should live the life of a hermit.
+Many were the trials and temptations he endured, many the combats he
+fought with the arch enemy of mankind. Once the prince of darkness even
+set the hermit's hood on fire, but the holy man was not disturbed, nor
+did he cease his prayers. In course of time a holy virgin of Huntingdon,
+Christina, came and occupied a cell in the immediate neighbourhood, and
+received religious instruction from Roger; here she endured many
+privations and mortified her body, bearing patiently the diseases
+brought on by her austerities. In time Roger, at the summons of God,
+quitted the world and went the way of all flesh, and his body was buried
+in the arched recess made for its reception. Christina still lived on.
+One day the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to her in the form of an infant,
+and abode with her for the space of a whole day; from that time forward
+no more temptations assailed her, and she was filled with the spirit of
+prophecy and wrought many notable miracles. She took the Abbot Geoffrey
+under her special care, advising him in matters of difficulty and
+reproving him when he did amiss. She was the first Prioress of the
+Benedictine Cell of Markyate, 1145.
+
+Sigar lived about the same time in the wood of Northaw, south of
+Hatfield. He also was famous for mortifying his flesh and for his
+victories over evil spirits. It was his habit at times to come to matins
+at St. Albans, and then to return to his hermit's cell and pass the time
+in prayer and self-scourgings. Strange to say, though the devils could
+not disturb the holy man at his prayers, the nightingales of Northaw
+woods did distract him, and he therefore prayed that God would keep
+these little birds away, lest he should take too much delight in their
+sweet songs; whereupon no more nightingales sang in those woods, and it
+is recorded that long after his time no nightingale dared venture within
+a mile of the spot where the hermit had dwelt. All which things are
+written in the chronicles of the Abbey, of which the reader may believe
+as little or as much as he will. Sigar was buried by the side of Roger.
+The arch above their grave may be seen in the illustration (p. 80),
+which also shows the Abbot's door which led into the cloister. It was
+built by Abbot de la Mare in the latter half of the fourteenth century.
+
+[Illustration: SAXON BALUSTER SHAFTS IN SOUTH TRANSEPT.]
+
+#The Transept.#--From this aisle we pass into the transept. Its southern
+arm, notwithstanding the havoc wrought by Lord Grimthorpe, still retains
+many points of interest. On its eastern side the triforium, consisting
+of three bays, contains some baluster shafts of Saxon date; it is
+supposed that they were taken from the church which Abbot Paul
+demolished. It will be seen from the illustration that they are marked
+with rings, and close examination has shown that they were turned in a
+lathe, but not being quite long enough for their new position, extra
+bases and capitals were added; these were cut with an axe, as were also
+the cylindrical shafts of Norman date, which are set alternately with
+the older ones. From the excellent state of preservation of the Saxon
+balusters, it is evident that they did not come from the exterior of the
+early church. Similar shafts may be noticed in the east wall of the
+northern arm of the transept There are two arches in the eastern wall
+which once led into chapels, the southern dedicated to St. Stephen, the
+northern first to our Lady, afterwards to St. John; they were pulled
+down in the fourteenth century to make room for a treasury. One of the
+arches is now used as a cupboard, the other as a kind of museum of
+fragments of carved stonework. The south wall is entirely new. Lord
+Grimthorpe pulled down the front containing a Perpendicular window,
+originally fifteenth-century work, but rebuilt in 1832. Thus inserted
+his five tall lancets, beneath which built into the wall are ten of the
+arches with restored shafts of the arcade taken from the slype at the
+time of its destruction; the other six are to be seen in the south wall
+of the rebuilt slype, if slype it can now be called. Under this arcading
+in the transept is a doorway, built by Lord Grimthorpe, partly from
+fragments of the west doorway of the old slype, and partly from his own
+design. The rebuilt slype is no longer a passage as it formerly was,
+leading between the south end of the transept and the north wall of the
+rectangular chapter-house, but is closed at the west end by a wall with
+a window in it, and at the east end has a door. Fortunately, a
+photograph taken before the destruction was available for reproduction,
+so that the reader may see the original condition of the south wall of
+the slype (see p. 20). The west wall of the transept has entirely
+different shafts in its triforium from those on the opposite side. A
+little double-light window or grating may be seen in the west wall near
+the aisle; it once opened into a small watching chamber, which was
+walled up at the time of the restoration for the sake of giving
+additional strength to the walls at the angle. It will be noticed that
+the pilasters projecting from the west wall do not come down to the
+ground. Lord Grimthorpe considers that these were not cut away, as might
+be imagined but were originally built as we see them to give strength to
+the walls where they were thinner on account of the passages in their
+thickness. There is a recess in this wall which was once a doorway into
+the cloister; it now contains some old oak chests, in which are placed
+every week the loaves provided for the poor by Robert Skelton's charity,
+1628. The wooden ceiling is due to Lord Grimthorpe.
+
+[Illustration: DOORWAY IN SOUTH TRANSEPT.]
+
+#The North Arm of the Transept.#--The upper part of the north wall, with
+its high circular window, was rebuilt by Lord Grimthorpe. Above the
+triforium on the east and west walls are three Norman windows and below
+these on the west side again two other Norman ones. The Norman doorway
+by which pilgrims to St. Albans shrine entered the church, and two
+Norman windows, with glass representing the four Latin doctors, inserted
+to the memory of Archdeacon Grant, who died 1883, may be seen below the
+wheel window; in the east wall are two pairs of lancets due to Lord
+Grimthorpe. Here, as in the corresponding wall on the south side, there
+are two arches which once led into two chapels. After their destruction,
+altars dedicated to the Holy Trinity (north) and to St. Osyth (south)
+were placed in the recesses. Here may be seen two modern monuments: one
+the cenotaph of Dr. Claughton, first Bishop of St. Albans, 1877-1892;[7]
+this stands at equal distances from the east and west walls: the other,
+an altar tomb, was erected in memory of Alfred Blomfield, Suffragan
+Bishop of Colchester, who died 1884. The ceiling is by Lord Grimthorpe.
+A panel from the old ceiling, representing the death of St. Alban, may
+be seen in the south aisle of the presbytery.
+
+    [7] Designed by Mr. J.O. Scott; carved by Mr. Forsyth, of Hampstead.
+
+If we stand under the central tower we get, looking westward, a view
+into the choir with its modern fittings, the stalls given by various
+donors, and the Bishop's throne which was brought hither from Rochester.
+From the way in which the piers are cut away on their faces looking into
+the choir, it is concluded that the backs of the original stalls reached
+to a considerable height. The piers, like those in the nave, were at one
+time painted, and on the west face of the second pier from the east of
+the north arcade are remains of a painting of the Holy Trinity. In 1875
+Mr. Chappie discovered wall-paintings between the clerestory windows,
+three on the north and one on the south; the soffits of the arches are
+also coloured.
+
+The painted ceiling of the choir was accidentally discovered during the
+restoration. A workman was cleaning one of the panels, which was
+coarsely painted, and happened to rub off the surface paint, disclosing
+other work below. The upper paint was then cleared away from all the
+other panels. Two, in the centre, bore a Scripture subject. The others
+bore, alternately, coats of arms and the monogram IHS, with wreaths of
+vine-leaves. The arms belong almost entirely to those who were by blood
+or marriage connected with Edward III.
+
+The ceiling of the lantern, 102 feet from the pavement, is painted with
+the red and white roses of the houses of Lancaster and York, together
+with various coats of arms. The lofty arches beneath the tower (55 feet
+high) are of great grandeur, as will be seen from the illustration. The
+four inside faces of the lantern are alike, each containing windows
+above the three arches of the arcade, each of which comprises two
+subarches springing from a quadrilateral shaft.
+
+[Illustration: THE CROSSING, LOOKING WESTWARD.]
+
+[Illustration: THE CHOIR.]
+
+To the east is the #presbytery#, closed by the Wallingford or high altar
+#screen.# This screen was sorely dilapidated, and all its niches were
+stripped of their statues, no record remaining of whose statues
+originally filled them. Mr. H. Hucks Gibbs (now Lord Aldenham) undertook
+to restore this screen, making good the canopies and filling them again
+with statues. The screen is of clunch, a hard stone from the lower chalk
+formation quarried at Tottenhoe near Dunstable, a stone much used for
+interior work in the church, though it will not stand exposure to
+weather in exterior walls. The new statues are by Mr. Harry Hems of
+Exeter; the larger ones of magnesian limestone from Mansfield Woodhouse,
+Nottinghamshire, and the smaller of alabaster. They are excellent
+examples of modern carved work. The general idea was to represent "the
+Passion of our Lord and of the testimony of the faith in that Passion
+given in the lives and deeds of men"[8] of English race. A careful
+comparison of the screen (see illustration, p. 58), with the key given
+(p. 59) will enable the reader to identify the persons represented.
+
+    [8] Lord Aldenham's words in describing his scheme.
+
+The coloured altarpiece in high relief is by Mr. Alfred Gilbert, R.A.,
+and is a work quite unique in character. It represents the resurrection.
+In the centre is the upper half of our Lord's figure; on one side is an
+angel holding a cross, emblem of faith; on the other, one holding a
+crystal globe, emblem of dominion; the wings of these angels are formed
+of mother-of-pearl, and before them are grills of brass scrollwork,
+intended to give an air of mystery to their appearance. The work does
+not appear to be fully finished, the grills being only roughly attached
+to the wall. The space before the altar is paved with slabs of marble.
+
+[Illustration: THE WALLINGFORD SCREEN.]
+
+[Illustration: KEY TO THE SCULPTURE ON THE WALLINGFORD SCREEN]
+
+In an arch south of the altar is Abbot John of Wheathampstead's chantry,
+containing a splendid brass of Flemish workmanship, which once covered
+the grave before the high altar in which Abbot Thomas de la Mare was
+buried. He is represented in full vestments carrying a pastoral staff
+and wearing a mitre, according to the Pope's grant, although he was not
+a bishop but only a mitred abbot, and therefore could not perform the
+rite of ordination, which could be administered only by the Bishop of
+Lincoln; the Abbey Church, though independent of him in all other
+matters, was for this purpose in his diocese. The rebus of Abbot John
+was three ears of wheat, and his motto "Valles habundabunt," an allusion
+to the fertile lowland of Wheathampstead, whence he came. This rebus may
+be found in various places where the work was due to him. Opposite to
+this chantry is the far more magnificent one of Abbot Thomas Ramryge.
+His rebus is a ram wearing a collar with the letters R.Y.G.E. inscribed
+on it. This chantry was at one time, after the dissolution, appropriated
+as a burial-place for the Ffaringdons, a Lancashire family, but the
+original slab with Abbot Thomas's figure and inscription has been
+restored to its place. Within the altar rails are four memorial stone
+tablets covering the graves of four fourteenth-century Abbots--Thomas de
+la Mare, Hugh of Eversden, Richard of Wallingford, and Michael of
+Mentmore. Four other Abbots are known to have been buried beneath the
+presbytery floor outside the altar rails--John de Marinis, John of
+Berkhampstead, Roger of Norton, and John Stokes--as well as other monks
+and laymen. It will be noticed that the presbytery is divided from the
+aisles by solid walls, pierced only for the two chantries above
+described, and for two doorways, one on each side, further west. Over
+each of these doorways is a tabernacle; that on the south was put
+together of fragments by Sir Gilbert Scott, and that on the north made
+to match it. The clerestory windows are Lord Grimthorpe's; the painted
+wooden vaulting which extends beyond the screen and over the Saints'
+Chapel is John of Wheathampstead's. It will be noticed that this springs
+from vaulting shafts, and it is by some considered that a stone roof was
+contemplated. The triforium here is an arcade without any passage. The
+pulpit, which stands close by the north pier of the eastern tower arch,
+was designed by Mr. J.O. Scott and given by the Freemasons of England,
+who regard St. Alban as their patron saint.
+
+[Illustration: RAMRYGE CHANTRY.]
+
+We will now turn to the south and pass eastward under the curtain which
+hangs beneath the western arch of the south aisle of the presbytery. On
+the south side we see, as we enter, a fourteenth-century holy water
+stoup, and further on, under a window, a wide round-headed archway which
+formerly led into a chapel now demolished, which once was dedicated to
+our Lady, before the larger chapel at the east end was built. In the
+next bay is a blocked Norman window from which the plaster has been
+scraped to show the character of the wall, built of Roman tiles; the
+quadripartite vaulting is of plaster with lines painted red to make it
+appear like stone. Opposite is a large oak money-chest, and above it on
+the wall is the figure of a mendicant (see p. 63), carved in wood by a
+verger in the eighteenth century, hat in hand, as if asking the
+passer-by to put a coin in the poor-box below. In the south wall is a
+doorway which led into the treasury. The next bay is largely rebuilt; on
+the south side is a door and opposite is the back of John of
+Wheathampstead's chantry. From this we pass into the south aisle of the
+Saint's Chapel.
+
+[Illustration: SOUTH AISLE OF PRESBYTERY.]
+
+First we see the doorway on the north side, under which are steps
+leading up into the chapel, and further on we come to a trellis-work of
+iron through which we can look across the space once occupied by the
+monument of "Good" Duke Humphrey of Gloucester into the Saint's Chapel.
+This grill is older (about 1275) than the rich canopy over the duke's
+grave, and was doubtless erected to allow of a view being obtained from
+this aisle of the martyr's shrine. There are a number of figures of
+kings in the canopied niches over the grave, but it is not possible to
+identify them. Opposite are some remains of a stone screen of the
+Perpendicular period; it probably divided the aisle from some external
+chapel. After the chapel perished the wall was built up; but during the
+restoration this arcading was discovered. Through an oak screen, Lord
+Grimthorpe's work, we pass into the #retro-choir.# This, as we have
+before seen, was sadly mutilated after the Reformation, when the public
+path was made through this part of the building and the Lady Chapel
+turned into a grammar school; hence we shall find more modern work here
+than in any other equal area of the church. The part east of the passage
+was for long used as a covered playground for the boys and suffered much
+in consequence. It was originally built at the end of the thirteenth
+century. The arcading round these walls is new, much of it carved under
+the direction of Lord Grimthorpe by Mr. John Baker. The carving is of a
+naturalistic character, the vegetable forms being copied direct from the
+plants and trees of the neighbourhood. The oak ceiling of the south side
+and the flat ceiling of the centre are by Lord Grimthorpe; that on the
+north side by Sir Gilbert Scott. The shrine of St. Amphibalus once stood
+in the centre, but the reconstructed shrine, or rather pedestal of the
+shrine, was removed to the north aisle of the Saint's Chapel by Lord
+Grimthorpe, so as to be out of the way; for his idea was to fit this
+part of the church for use as a chapter-house, should a chapter ever be
+created, and as a consistory court. He built the low wall between it and
+the Saint's Chapel with seats under the arcading to be occupied by
+members of the chapter, and paved the floor with polished marble (see
+illustration, p. 64).
+
+[Illustration: WOODEN FIGURE OF A MENDICANT.]
+
+[Illustration: RETRO-CHOIR]
+
+There were once several altars in this retro-choir; under the east
+window on the south side one to our Lady of the Four Tapers, with an
+aumbry and triple-arched piscina in the south wall. This has been
+restored; the upper part is entirely new. On the north side in a
+corresponding position was an altar dedicated to St. Michael; while
+altars dedicated to St. Edmund, King and Martyr, and to St. Peter stood
+to the west of the two pillars, respectively on the north and south
+sides; and another altar to St. Amphibalus stood to the west of his
+shrine in the centre. It may here be noted that the east wall of the
+original Norman apse extended as far as the centre of the retro-choir.
+
+[Illustration: BASE OF THE SHRINE OF ST. AMPHIBALUS.]
+
+[Illustration: BACK OF THE WATCHING LOFT.]
+
+[Illustration: RAMRYGE'S CHANTRY FROM THE AISLE.]
+
+The north aisle of the Saint's Chapel is divided from the retro-choir by
+a glazed oak screen with a door in it, frequently kept locked. Just to
+the west of this is the pedestal of the shrine of St. Amphibalus. This,
+like that of St. Alban's shrine, was broken up into many fragments after
+the dissolution of the monastery. The fragments were built into sundry
+walls, but many of them were discovered when the walls blocking up the
+arches at the east end of the Saint's Chapel were removed; they were put
+together as far as possible, but as the east and north sides are
+missing, the position the pedestal now occupies is not an unfitting one,
+as these sides are hidden (see illustration, p. 65). The letters R.W.
+may be seen on it. These are the initials of Ralph Whitechurch, sacrist,
+at whose cost the pedestal was built in the second half of the
+fourteenth century. Opposite this we see the back of the watching loft
+(see illustration, p. 66) erected for the monk who kept watch and ward
+over the martyr's shrine; further to the west is a doorway into the
+Saint's Chapel, and still further west the back of Ramryge's chantry.
+Beyond this is the north entrance into the presbytery, over which is a
+painting of the Lord's Supper, generally attributed to Sir James
+Thornhill and given to the church about two centuries ago; at one time
+it hung over the high altar. There is also a painting of Offa, probably
+fifteenth-century work, to be seen in this aisle. The two doors removed
+by Lord Grimthorpe from the central doorway of the west front have been
+set up against the west end of the walls of this aisle (see
+illustration).
+
+[Illustration: ONE OF THE OLD WESTERN DOORS.]
+
+#The Lady Chapel.#--This chapel in its original condition must have been
+exceedingly beautiful; and although we have had occasion to find much
+fault with the work of restoration or rather destruction and needless
+alteration, in other parts of the church, yet here little but praise can
+be bestowed. Some may regret that the old wooden vaulting was not
+retained and repaired, but the new stone vaulting is beautiful in itself
+and more durable. A better material than cast iron might, however, have
+been found for the altar rails. The new carving is excellent in quality
+and right in principle. It has been done, not as most modern work is, by
+imitating the carved work of some particular period of architecture as
+set out for the carver in the architect's drawings, but by returning to
+the old system of going to nature and carving from life models, so to
+say. It has been done in the same spirit as actuated the early work of
+the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. It is said that the carvers had sprays
+of leaves and clusters of fruit and flowers before them as they carved,
+and imitated them as closely as the material on which they worked
+allowed them to do. Work done in this manner, provided the carver has
+skill and taste, is sure to show character and life, and to differ
+entirely from the mechanical conventionalisms we generally see in modern
+stone-carving.
+
+[Illustration: LADY CHAPEL.]
+
+The chapel dates from the latter part of the thirteenth and early part
+of the fourteenth centuries. The work was probably begun in the time of
+Abbot Roger Norton, whose body was buried before the high altar in the
+presbytery, but whose heart was laid in a small box, which was
+discovered during the restoration, before the altar of St. Mary of the
+Four Tapers. Possibly his successor, John of Berkhampstead, carried on
+the work; but at Abbot Hugh's accession in 1308 the walls of the Lady
+Chapel had only been carried up as high as the string-course below the
+windows. The work of building was not continuous, as change in style
+shows; moreover we read in the Chronicles that Abbot Hugh of Eversden
+"brought to a praiseworthy completion the Chapel of the Virgin in the
+eastern part of the church which had been begun many-years before." He
+is also recorded to have roofed the space to the west, that is, the
+retro-choir. It seems, then, that at the time when the alterations in
+the eastern part of the Norman church were begun, not only was the
+presbytery with its aisles laid out, but also the retro-choir as a group
+of chapels, and possibly the Lady Chapel as well; and that when Hugh was
+chosen Abbot he found the presbytery and Saint's Chapel finished, the
+walls of the retro-choir raised to their full height, and those of the
+Lady Chapel partly built. These he proceeded to finish. The side windows
+of the Lady Chapel are beautiful examples of the fully developed
+Decorated style; the jambs and mullions are ornamented with statuettes
+which, strange to say, escaped destruction. "The eastern window of five
+lights is a singular combination of tracery with tabernacle work, while
+the easternmost bay on the south side, which is partly obscured by the
+vestry, has an exquisite window above, consisting of a richly traceried
+arch placed within a curvilinear triangle, beneath which is a splendid
+range of niches, and, beneath them again, a gorgeous range of sedilia
+and piscinae."[9] The original wall arcading had cinque-foiled heads on
+the south side, and trefoiled heads on the north; but all these had been
+cut away before the restoration began, probably at the time when the
+walls were covered with panels to make the chapel more suitable for a
+schoolroom.
+
+    [9] Sir Gilbert Scott's Report on the Lady Chapel, 1875.
+
+In this chapel, after its dedication, mass was sung daily, and an organ
+was provided to accompany the musical part of the service. The western
+end of the Lady Chapel was separated from the retro-choir by a screen,
+which of course perished after the dissolution. No modern screen has
+been put in its place, though one would be a great improvement.
+Projecting from the easternmost bay of the south side stands the Chapel
+of the Transfiguration, which was dedicated in 1430. This, rebuilt, is
+now used as a vestry. Beneath the floor of the Lady Chapel was buried
+the hated Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, grand-son of John of Gaunt;
+Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, son of the famous Hotspur; and
+Thomas, Lord Clifford: whose bodies were found lying dead in the streets
+of St. Albans, after the first battle in 1455, in which they fell
+fighting for the Red Rose party. They were buried by Abbot John of
+Wheathampstead, who at this time was an adherent of that party, though
+he became a Yorkist after Queen Margaret had allowed her troops to
+plunder the Abbey when, in the second battle of St. Albans, she was
+victorious over the Earl of Warwick.
+
+A considerable amount of work was necessary to refit this chapel for
+use. The restoration was begun by Scott and finished by Lord Grimthorpe.
+
+Scott cut the mullions of the windows down the middle, retaining all the
+part inside the glass so as to preserve the statues, but renewing the
+part outside for the sake of strength. All the painted glass is modern,
+the gift of various donors. Lord Grimthorpe, in place of the wooden
+vaulting which was, he says, in a very unsound state, threw a stone
+vault over the chapel, raising its ridge three feet higher than that of
+the previous roof. All the arches of the arcade had been cut away, with
+the exception of two at the east end, one on each side of the altar,
+differing from each other as already mentioned. Lord Grimthorpe took as
+a model the one with the cinque-foiled head, considering that the better
+of the two, and constructed the existing arcading all round the chapel.
+He rebuilt the Chapel of the Transfiguration, making its walls lower
+than before, so as not to obstruct the view of the window over it. The
+carving, chiefly the work of Mr. Baker, as already mentioned, represents
+various vegetable forms in a naturalistic manner, the plants chosen
+being for the most part such as grow in the neighbourhood--convolvulus,
+primrose, buttercup, poppy, gooseberry, blackberry, rose, maple, ivy,
+sycamore, pansy, polypody, and others.
+
+Lord Grimthorpe also repaved the floor with marble slabs of three
+colours--black, red, and white. During the time the chapel was used for
+a schoolroom the floor had been a common wooden one. Practically, then,
+it will be seen that this Lady Chapel, with the exception of its walls
+and the windows with the statuettes on them, is a modern church,
+surpassing, indeed, most nineteenth-century work in beauty, and much the
+same may be said of the retro-choir or chapter-house.
+
+#The Saint's Chapel.#--We must now return westward, through the south
+aisle of the ambulatory, past the back of Duke Humphrey's grave, and
+enter the Chapel of the Martyr by the door which opens into it from the
+aisle. The centre of the chapel is occupied by the reconstructed
+pedestal of the martyr's shrine. The ugly wooden railing that surrounds
+it is a great blot on the appearance of the chapel; no doubt it is
+necessary that the pedestal should be protected by some kind of barrier,
+but a light and elegant railing of brass would answer every purpose
+without marring the general effect, as the present cumbersome erection
+shown in all the accompanying illustrations of objects in this chapel
+does. It is to be hoped that either out of the general fabric fund, or
+by the generosity of some individual donor, this one blot on this fine
+chapel may be removed.
+
+[Illustration: PEDESTAL OF ST. ALBAN'S SHRINE.]
+
+The bones of St. Alban were of course counted as the chief treasure of
+the Abbey, in some respects the most valuable relics in the kingdom,
+since they were the bones of the first Christian martyr in the island.
+It was meet and fitting, then, that the most splendid resting-place
+should be chosen for them. The bones themselves were inclosed in an
+outer and an inner case; the inner was the work of the sixteenth Abbot,
+Geoffrey of Gorham (1119-1149), and the outer of the nineteenth Abbot,
+Symeon (1167-1183). These coffers were of special metal encrusted with
+rich gems. It is recorded that the reliquary was so heavy that it
+required four men to carry it, which they probably did by two poles,
+each passing through two rings on either side of the coffer. It is said
+to have been placed in a lofty position by Abbot Symeon; but the
+pedestal of which we see the reconstruction to-day was erected during
+the early part of the fourteenth century, in the time of the
+twenty-sixth Abbot, John de Marinis (1302-1308). This was built of
+Purbeck marble and consists of a basement 2 ft. 6 in. high, 8 ft. 6 in.
+long, and 3 ft. 2 in. wide, above which were four canopied niches at
+each side and one at each end; these were richly painted and probably
+contained other relics; in the spandrels were carved figures, at the
+corners angels censing. At the west end was a representation of St.
+Alban's martyrdom; on the south side in the centre was, and still is, a
+figure of King Offa holding the model of a church; in the next spandrel
+to the east the figure of another king; on the east side a
+representation of the scourging of St. Alban, and on the north other
+figures, of which the only one remaining is that of a bishop or mitred
+abbot. In the pediments or gables were carvings of foliage, and round
+the top of the pedestal ran a richly carved cornice; round the base
+stood fourteen detached shafts, on which perhaps the movable canopy
+rested, and outside three other shafts of twisted pattern on each side,
+which carried six huge candles, probably kept burning day and night,
+certainly during the night, to light the chamber holding the shrine. On
+this lofty pedestal, 8 ft. 3 in. high, the glorious shrine rested. It
+was rendered still more ornate than it was in Abbot Symeon's time by the
+addition of a silver-gilt turret, on the lower part of which was a
+representation of the Resurrection with two angels and four knights
+(suggested by the guard of Roman soldiers) keeping the tomb. A
+silver-gilt eagle of cunning craftsmanship stood on the shrine. All
+these additions were given by Abbot Thomas de la Mare (1349-1396). A
+certain monk also gave two representations of the sun in solid gold,
+surrounded by rays of silver tipped with precious stones. Over all was a
+canopy which, like many modern font-covers, was probably suspended by a
+rope running over a pulley in the roof, by which it might be raised.
+There is a mark in the roof remaining, possibly caused by the fastening
+of the pulley. An altar, dedicated to St. Alban, stood at the west end
+of the pedestal.
+
+There are two quarry-shaped openings to be noticed on the north side of
+the pedestal near the floor level, one of which extends right through to
+the south side. Into these diseased arms or legs might be thrust for
+cure by virtue of the saint. At the time of the dissolution the shrine
+disappeared, and the marble pedestal was broken up into small fragments.
+In 1847 the rector, Dr. Nicholson, found a few of these, when opening
+the two northern of the blocked-up arches to the east of the chapel; and
+in 1872, when the wall that closed the end of the south aisle was
+removed and excavations were made to find the level of the aisle floor,
+many more fragments, numbering in all about two thousand, were found.
+These were carefully put together by Mr. Chapple, clerk of the works,
+some plain stone being used to take the part of missing portions, with
+the result that we see to-day, from which we can form some idea of the
+appearance of the shrine in the days of its glory, even to the colour
+decoration, for some of the fragments bear the original paint and gold.
+
+[Illustration: WATCHING LOFT.]
+
+Such a precious thing as this jewelled shrine and the still more
+precious bones within it could not be left for a moment unguarded and
+unwatched, for stealing relics, when a favourable opportunity arose, was
+a temptation too great to be resisted by any monks, however holy. So on
+the south side of the shrine was erected a watching loft; the one that
+remains was constructed probably during the reign of Richard II., as his
+badge appears on it, but, no doubt, from the first there was some such
+place provided for the purpose of keeping guard. A similar loft may be
+seen in the cathedral church of St. Frideswide at Oxford, and a watching
+loft of a different construction in the south triforium at Malmesbury.
+The chamber had two stories; the lower contained cupboards, in which
+vestments and relics were kept, these are now filled with various
+antiquarian curiosities, Roman pottery from Verulamium, architectural
+fragments, etc. An oaken staircase leads up into the chamber where the
+"custos feretri" sat watching the shrine day and night, guard of course
+being changed at intervals. It must have been trying work watching there
+during the night-time in frosty weather, but monks were accustomed to
+bear cold. The watching chamber (see illustrations, pp. 66, 72) was
+built of oak and was richly carved. On the south side of the cornice are
+angels, the hart--badge of Richard II., the martyrdom of St. Alban, Time
+the reaper, and the seasons; on the north the months of the year are
+represented.
+
+The west side of this chapel is closed by the back of Wallingford's
+screen, on which may be seen five statues representing St. Peter, St.
+John, St. Mary, St. Stephen, and St. Michael. The eastern side is closed
+by a low wall, erected by Lord Grimthorpe in place of the wall by which
+these arches were completely blocked up after the dissolution. It was
+here that some of the fragments of the pedestal were found. Into his new
+wall Lord Grimthorpe has built some old fragments of carved work found
+in different places of the church.
+
+The south side of this chapel is formed of the monument over the grave
+of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, surnamed "good" by an admiring people,
+though some modern historians hold that he had little real claim to this
+title. He was the son of Henry IV., and therefore brother of Henry V.,
+and was uncle of Henry VI. and guardian to the young King in the early
+part of his reign. He who likes may read in any history of the part he
+played in the affairs of the country: how he incurred the hatred of the
+unscrupulous and vindictive Queen of Henry VI., Margaret of Anjou,
+"she-wolf of France"; how he was murdered by Suffolk, with, it is said,
+the connivance of the Queen and Cardinal Beaufort. It was at one time
+supposed that he was buried in London, but there is little doubt that he
+found a resting-place in a grave prepared for him in St. Alban's Abbey,
+on March 4, 1447. This would be during the time that John Stokes was
+Abbot, between the two abbacies of John of Wheathampstead. The body was
+discovered in its leaden coffin during the reign of Queen Anne, when
+another grave was being dug. The coffin was opened, and the duke's body
+was discovered to be in a good state of preservation in the coffin,
+which is described as being "full of pickle." It is said that at one
+time the vergers would, for a due consideration, allow visitors to carry
+away the smaller bones when, owing to the body having been removed from
+the preserving fluid, nothing but a skeleton was left.
+
+[Illustration: MONUMENT OF HUMPHREY, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER.]
+
+The monument is a handsome one. It was probably erected by
+Wheathampstead, who had been on terms of intimacy with the duke, when he
+for the second time became Abbot. The canopy over the grave is richly
+carved; the antelopes we see on it were the badge of the duke. His
+epitaph speaks of him, among other things, as
+
+                     Fraudis ineptae
+    Detector, dum ficta notat miracula caeci.
+
+This refers to the story told of him by Sir Thomas More, how he
+convicted an impostor who claimed to have been born blind, but to have
+received sight at St. Alban's shrine, by asking him the colour of the
+garments that the duke himself and others were wearing; all these
+questions were correctly answered by the beggar, who forgot for the
+moment that one born blind who had only just received his sight, would
+not have known the _names_ of the various colours, though he might
+distinguish one colour from another. The beggar was punished for his
+imposture by being set in the stocks.
+
+This story is introduced into the first scene of the second act; of the
+second part of "Henry VI.," a reproduction of a St. Albans legend in
+which some students of the play will find an argument for attributing
+the play to Francis Bacon, who lived close by and would be likely to
+know the stories current in the town.
+
+#The Tower and Bells.#--The ringing loft is reached by a staircase
+starting from the door near the north-west corner of the north arm of
+the transept. The steps were originally built of Roman bricks, but at
+the time of the restoration had fresh treads of stone laid on them, so
+that the ascent is an easy one; from this staircase one passes along the
+triforium gallery of the western side of the transept, and then up a
+staircase in the turret at the north-west angle of the tower to a room
+whose floor is above the flat ceiling of the lantern visible from the
+floor of the church. The bells are in the next story, and at no great
+height above the floor of the ringing loft. In the ringing loft may be
+seen boards on which are inscribed records of several memorable sets of
+changes that have been rung, with the dates, the number of changes, the
+time occupied, which was generally between three and four hours, and the
+names of the ringers and the number of the bell that each one pulled.
+The peal consists of eight bells; the tenor is in the key of E flat, and
+measures 4 ft. 6 in. in diameter, and is calculated to weigh about 28
+cwt. The whole peal was originally cast in London by Philip Wightman in
+the year 1699; but the second, fifth, and sixth bells were recast in the
+middle of the eighteenth century, and the treble in 1845. On the tenor
+may be read the following legend: "Vivos ad coelum, moritu[r]os ad solum
+pulsata voco." The clock was in great measure reconstructed under Lord
+Grimthorpe's direction and fitted with his gravity escapement; it
+strikes the quarter chimes on the second, third, fourth, and seventh
+bells, and the hours on the tenor. The mechanism of the chimes, which
+play at three, six, nine, and twelve o'clock, was remade by Mr. Godman,
+of St. Stephen's parish; this mechanism may be described as a kind of
+gigantic musical box. A huge cylinder revolves, on which are projecting
+pegs of brass, which as the cylinder goes round catch against wooden
+levers which raise clappers that in their fall strike the bells. The
+same tune is played all through each day, but a different tune is played
+each day of the week; at the end of the week the barrel is automatically
+set so as to begin the series of tunes again. There is, moreover,
+another tune--the Trinity hymn--which can be set by hand, and this is
+used on the greater festivals.
+
+Besides the peal of eight the sacring bell which once hung near the high
+altar is now hung in the tower.
+
+It may be well to finish the description of the church with a few notes
+about the material used and the method of building, abbreviated from a
+paper by Mr. James Neale. He says that during the restoration many
+examples were found of lead dowels in the joints of detached shafts.
+Sinkings were cut in the upper surface of the lower stone and in the
+lower surface of the upper, so that when in place these sinkings would
+be opposite to each other; a small hole one-eighth inch in diameter was
+then bored in the upper stone, through which lead was poured into the
+sinkings. The mortar used between the outer stones of the
+fourteenth-century bays of the nave was mixed with oyster-shells,
+contained a large amount of lime, and was very hard. There is much
+clunch stone used in the interior and this is in a good state of
+preservation, but any that has been used externally has decayed. The
+abaci of the Early English capitals in the main arcade are of Barnack
+stone, which is harder than clunch and so more suitable for bearing a
+weight. The Norman stonework was cut with an axe, the Transition with a
+chisel. The Early English is bolster-tooled; the Decorated ashlar
+(including the bays on the south side of the nave) is claw-tooled, the
+mouldings being scraped; the Perpendicular is finely scraped.
+
+[Illustration: SOUTH CHOIR AISLE.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE HISTORY OF THE MONASTERY AND SEE.
+
+
+Although, as stated in Chapter I., Albanus suffered martyrdom in 303
+A.D., and a small church was soon afterwards built over his grave, and
+another of larger size subsequently erected, it was not until the eighth
+century that the monastery was founded.
+
+The foundation was an act of atonement on the part of Offa II., King of
+the Mercians, in the year 793. In the previous year he had been at the
+court of Ethelbert, King of East Anglia, and was a suitor for the hand
+of his daughter. But he treacherously murdered his host and took
+possession of his kingdom. Either as a politic effort to remove the evil
+reputation of such deeds, or as a conscientious offering to regain the
+favour of Heaven by means of a great work for the Church, Offa resolved
+to found a monastery, in honour of the protomartyr of Britain, upon the
+site of the martyrdom. The first thing to do was to discover the actual
+remains of St. Alban. The story of the discovery would not be complete
+without a vision and a miracle. Accordingly a vision is said to have
+appeared to the King at Bath, and a miraculous light to have guided him
+to the spot where the coffin was found. This had been purposely removed
+from its first resting-place within the walls of the church, for fear of
+its being desecrated by the Saxons, who certainly did reduce the
+building almost to a ruin. The coffin was found to contain the body of
+the martyr, as well as the precious relics which had been placed within
+it by the Bishop of Auxerre. Their presence establishes the identity of
+the remains. The church was then repaired so as to be able to preserve
+safely the reliquary which contained the precious relics "until a more
+worthy edifice should be built." Permission to build and endow the
+monastery was obtained from Pope Adrian I., the King making a special
+journey to Rome in order to procure it. The martyr was canonized at the
+same time. At some later time a valuable concession was granted to the
+new monastery: the tribute known as Peter's Pence being assigned to it,
+while the lands belonging to the Abbey were exempted from the payment.
+This grant applied to the whole of Offa's kingdom. The payment of
+Peter's Pence had only been instituted sixty-six years previously, the
+object being to maintain a Saxon college at Rome. Offa lived to see the
+monastery established and partially endowed. He himself gave one of the
+royal manors to the endowment, but he did not live long enough even to
+make a beginning of the grand church he appears to have had in
+contemplation, for he died not long after his return from Rome, some
+authorities giving the year 794 as the date of his death, others 796.
+
+The monastery was of the Benedictine order. Though it became important,
+and at last the chief of the Benedictine houses in England, it was not
+one of the earliest. The Benedictine order had been introduced into
+England in 596, and forty-five monasteries had been founded before that
+of St. Alban's. Many of these were little more than cells, and many were
+afterwards absorbed into the larger establishments. Yet several very
+famous abbeys were founded at least a century before Offa founded St.
+Alban's.
+
+Many of the early Abbots of St. Albans were men of mark and of influence
+in the national councils, and some of them were closely related to the
+royal family. The Chronicles, however, tell us but little of them,
+except when the Abbey itself is concerned. Some notes on the Abbots will
+now be given.
+
+1. #Willegod# (793-796). His rule, we are told, was short but prudent.
+His death is attributed to vexation at not being able to obtain the body
+of Offa for burial in the Abbey. He died two months after the King. The
+chronicler charitably hopes that Offa's name is written in the book of
+life, although his mortal remains are not honourably preserved. Offa's
+son and successor, Ecgfrid, confirmed his father's charter and gave
+another manor to the Abbey.
+
+2. #Eadric.# He was elected in 796, according to the express wishes of
+the founder, from among the inmates of the monastery. He was of royal
+blood and had the King's support in some critical difficulties, and
+ruled with discretion.
+
+3. #Wulsig.# This Abbot, like his predecessor, a monk and akin to the
+King, scandalized the house by hunting in lay attire; and by
+entertaining noble ladies within the precincts. He wasted the substance
+of the Abbey by bestowing it upon his relations. Most of the property
+that he had alienated was recovered after his death, and those whom he
+had fattened died miserably in poverty. It is said that he was much
+hated by the monks and died of poison.
+
+4. #Wulnoth.# He began well, but after a few years gave himself up to
+sport habited as a layman. He is said to have ruled eleven years, and to
+have repented when affected by paralysis, and to have made a happy end.
+The chronicler adds with sly humour that his change to holiness was
+brought about "_faciendo de necessitate virtutem._" In his time the
+Danes plundered the Abbey of its treasures, vestments and sacred
+vessels, and carried off the bones of St. Alban to Owense (probably
+Odense in Funen). The sacrist Egwin was much distressed at the loss of
+this his greatest treasure, and prayed that he might see the body
+brought back. St. Alban appeared to him in a vision, and bade him go to
+Owense and there await instructions. After a year's stay at the
+monastery he was admitted into the brotherhood and became sacrist, never
+revealing the fact that he had come from St. Albans. Long did he wait
+for an opportunity of carrying away the sacred bones, until one winter's
+night he found means of removing them from the shrine wherein they were
+kept, and packing them in a chest, which he gave to an English merchant
+whom he knew, bidding him take it to St. Albans. He said that it
+contained books which the Abbot had lent him, and which he was now
+returning; he added that he would shortly bring the key himself, or, if
+he could not come himself, would send it by a messenger. Together with
+the chest, which in due course was delivered, a letter was sent
+detailing the circumstances of his pious fraud; this was read by the
+Abbot in chapter, to the great joy of the brethren. Egwin shortly after
+this obtained leave to make a journey to England, and when safely in the
+Abbey he wrote to the monks at Owense, telling them what he had done.
+Some of them denounced him as guilty of sacrilege, others justified his
+action. When he opened the chest in the chapter-house at St. Albans
+miraculous cures were wrought on many who were infirm, both in the Abbey
+and in the town.
+
+5. #Eadfrith.# This Abbot was handsome in person, but despicable in his
+deeds. He never attended the services in the choir. During his time
+Wulfa, the prior, built an oratory in honour of Germanus on the spot
+where the rude dwelling he had occupied when visiting St. Albans lay in
+ruins. After Wulfa's death Eadfrith saw the error of his ways, resigned
+his office, became a hermit, and died a holy man.
+
+No new Abbot was appointed for a year, as the monks were divided into
+two parties in favour of rival candidates.
+
+6. #Wulsin.# The bishop after a time intervened and put an end to the
+dissension, and the monks unanimously elected Wulsin, or Ulsinus. He
+helped the inhabitants of the town to build the three churches of St.
+Michael, St. Stephen, and St. Peter (see Appendix). He died holy and
+full of days.
+
+7. #AElfric.# This Abbot purchased of King Eadgar a large fishpond which
+was too near the Abbey to be pleasant; he drained it, leaving only a
+small pool of water and a bed of reeds, converting the rest of it into
+gardens. He translated into Saxon some of the historical books of the
+Old Testament. His doctrine on the Lord's Supper, as expounded in a
+letter to Wulfstan, Bishop of Sherborne, which is preserved at Exeter,
+was identical with that of the twenty-eighth Article of Religion. He
+died "full of days, eminent for sanctity, after having achieved many
+praiseworthy actions."
+
+8. #Ealdred.# He ruled but for a short time, but was a benefactor to the
+town. He cleared away much of the ruins of Verulamium, especially those
+caverns which had become the abode of robbers and outlaws. He also
+collected materials (chiefly from the Roman ruins)--tiles, stone, and
+timber--with a view to the rebuilding of the abbey church.
+
+9. #Eadmer.# He was pious, courteous, learned, but he left the monastery
+much in debt, so that some possessions had to be sold and some timber to
+be cut down.
+
+10. #AElfric# is described as of singular and conspicuous merit. He wrote
+a history of St. Alban, and arranged it for musical recitation. Being
+afraid of a Danish invasion, and thinking that the relics of the
+protomartyr, which had already been once carried away to Denmark, would
+not be safe in the shrine as it stood, he hid them under the altar of
+St. Nicholas, and at the same time pretended to send them to Ely for
+safe custody, giving the authorities at Ely to understand that the true
+relics were being committed to their charge; this, it is said, he did
+being a prudent and circumspect man, and fearing that the men at Ely
+would be blinded by covetousness, and refuse to return the true relics
+if they once got them into their possession. The Danish invasion was
+soon over, the King being drowned, and then AElfric demanded from the
+monks of Ely the relics he had intrusted to their care. The caution he
+had exercised was justified by the conduct of the Ely monks; for they,
+thinking that the bones they had were really those of St. Alban, at
+first refused to return them, but at last consented to do so. The bones,
+however, that they sent back were not those they had received. It is
+plain that these old monks were not always to be trusted to behave in an
+honourable manner when precious relics were concerned. The chronicler,
+however, who tells the story, considers the conduct of the monks of St.
+Albans in sending spurious relics was "pious," while the behaviour of
+the monks of Ely was "detestable and disgraceful"--but then the
+chronicler was a monk of St. Albans. AElfric bought the royal palace of
+Kingsbury and its land near the Abbey, demolishing the whole of the
+palace except one tower. AElfric in 995 was promoted to the office of
+Archbishop of Canterbury.
+
+11. #Leofric.#[10] This Abbot was half brother to AElfric. During a great
+famine he spent large sums in the relief of the poor, devoting to this
+purpose even some of the treasures that had been got together for the
+rebuilding of the church, and many gold and silver vessels assigned to
+his own use in the Abbey. The monks, however, objected to this
+conversion of the property of the Abbey to uses for which it was not
+originally intended.
+
+    [10] The "Gesta Abbatum" reverses the order of the two Abbots,
+         AElfric and Leofric, but this is probably wrong. It is recorded
+         that Leofric had the offer of the archbishopric, but declined,
+         saying that his brother AElfric was far more fit for the post
+         than he, and it is supposed that when AElfric became Archbishop
+         in 995, Leofric succeeded him as Abbot.
+
+12. #Leofstan.# This Abbot was confessor to King Edward (the Confessor)
+and his Queen Edith. He acquired much land for the Abbey, and cleared
+away the woods between London and St. Albans, to make the roads safer
+for travellers. To secure the good services of a knight as protector of
+the Abbey he assigned him a certain manor; the service was faithfully
+performed. The Normans, when they came, dispossessed the holder, and
+conferred the manor upon Roger, a Norman knight, who, strange to say,
+fulfilled the conditions on which his predecessor had held the land. At
+Leofstan's death the Abbey was in a state of the greatest prosperity.
+
+13. #Frithric.# This Abbot was chosen in the reign of Harold as leader
+of the southerners against the Normans, just as Aldred, Archbishop of
+York, was chosen as the leader of the northcountrymen. William
+accordingly ravaged the possessions of the monastery. After the
+Conquest, when William was accepted as King, Frithric administered to
+him the oath that he would keep inviolate all the laws of the realm,
+which former kings, especially Edward, had established. Needless to say,
+William soon began to disregard this oath, and despoiled the Abbey of
+St. Alban's more and more, till Frithric in despair resigned his office
+as Abbot and retired to Ely, where he soon died. The monks of Ely
+pretended that he took with him to their monastery the precious relics
+of St. Alban the Martyr.
+
+14. #Paul of Caen# (1077-1093). A great change now comes over the
+history of the monastery. The new Abbot was a Norman and a kinsman of
+Lanfranc, the first Norman Archbishop of Canterbury. Like Lanfranc, who
+had been Abbot of Caen, he resolved to rebuild his church, and, like
+Lanfranc, adopted in England the style he had been accustomed to at
+Caen; but his ideas on the matter of size were far grander than that of
+his former Abbot, for St. Alban's Abbey Church far surpassed in its
+dimensions the cathedral church which the new archbishop built at
+Canterbury. As we have already seen (Chap. I.), he used the Roman bricks
+from the ruined city of Verulamium as building material. Important as
+this work was, the account of it occupies but a few lines in the
+Chronicles. In these it is mentioned that Lanfranc contributed 1,000
+marks towards the cost. Paul was an energetic man, as may be seen by the
+short time occupied in building this large church; but it was not only
+in providing a new church that he was active, for it is recorded that he
+reformed the lives and manners of the monks, secured the restoration of
+land that had been alienated, founded cells as occasion demanded, and
+persuaded lay donors to give largely to the Abbey--tithes, bells, plate,
+and books. Robert Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, gave the Priory of
+Tynemouth, which he had founded, to the Abbey of St. Albans. Abbot Paul
+died on his way home from a visit to this new priory, and was buried
+magnificently in his own Abbey.
+
+The "Gesta Abbatum" begins at this point to sum up the good and evil
+deeds of the abbots. Among Paul's shortcomings the following are
+mentioned: he lost property through negligence; he destroyed the tombs
+of his English predecessors in the Abbey; he did not secure as he should
+have done the bones of Offa for his new church; he alienated the woods
+of Northame; he bestowed some of the property of the Abbey upon his
+illiterate kinsfolk. Yet, on the whole, his good deeds outweighed his
+evil ones. William II., after Paul's death, kept the Abbey in his own
+hands for four years, using, as was his wont, the revenues for his own
+advantage. His death in the New Forest was considered by the monks of
+the Abbey as a special punishment for the extortion he had practised on
+them.
+
+15. #Richard d'Aubeny# or #d'Albini# (1097-1119). This Abbot, a Norman,
+was a man of much influence, and during his rule the Abbey was very
+prosperous. He presented many and valuable ornaments to the church: a
+shrine wrought in gold for the relics of the apostles, which Germanus
+had placed in St. Alban's coffin in the fifth century; another shrine of
+ivory and gilt, for the relics of martyrs and saints; a great number of
+vestments and many valuable books. During his time, 1104, the relics of
+St. Cuthbert were translated from the temporary shrine which Bishop
+Carileph had erected over them to the new Cathedral Church at Durham,
+and Abbot Richard, as head of Tynemouth Priory, was present on that
+occasion, and a miracle was worked upon him, for his withered arm was
+cured by being brought into contact with St. Cuthbert's body. In
+gratitude for this benefit, he built a chapel in honour of St. Cuthbert
+in his own Abbey. For some reason the Abbey, though no doubt used, had
+not hitherto been consecrated. This omission was made good on the
+festival of the Holy Innocents, 1115, by Geoffrey, Archbishop of Rouen,
+the Bishops of Lincoln, London, Durham and Salisbury assisting. Henry
+III., his Queen Matilda, the chief nobles and prelates of the kingdom,
+were present and stayed at the Abbey from December 27th until the Feast
+of the Epiphany (January 6th). Wymondham Priory in Norfolk was founded
+by William, Count of Arundel, and conferred on St. Albans during Abbot
+Richard's rule. Like his predecessor, he enriched his relations at the
+expense of the Abbey, and is further blamed by the chronicler for having
+promised that the Abbey should be subject for the future not to the
+Archbishop but to the Bishop of Lincoln.[11] This change seems to have
+led to a stricter rule and so was displeasing to the monks, though it is
+admitted that the Archbishop had not treated the Abbey well.
+
+    [11] The church remained in this diocese until 1845, when it was
+         handed over to Rochester, although, as will be seen afterwards,
+         the Abbey was made independent of the Bishop of Lincoln's
+         jurisdiction.
+
+16. #Geoffrey of Gorham# (1119-1146). This Abbot came from Maine, where
+he had been born. He had been invited to take charge of the monastery
+school, but did not arrive in time, so he opened a school at Dunstable.
+On one occasion, when a miracle play was being performed by his
+scholars, he borrowed some vestments of the Abbey; these were
+unfortunately destroyed in a fire; unable to pay for them, he offered
+himself as a sacrifice and became a monk. He was unanimously elected
+Abbot on the death of his predecessor, but at first was reluctant to
+accept the office, though finally his reluctance was overcome. He made a
+most energetic ruler. He increased the allowances to the kitchen,
+cellars, and almonry. He ordered that the revenues of certain rectories
+should be used for providing ornaments, for a fabric fund, and for the
+infirmary. He founded and endowed the leper hospital of St. Julian on
+the London Road, and established the nunnery of Sopwell (see Appendix)
+for thirteen sisters. He built the guest hall, the infirmary, and its
+chapel. He also began to construct a new shrine for the relics of the
+saint, but after spending L60 on it discontinued the work to give
+himself breathing time, and never went on with it again. He felt himself
+constrained to sell some of the materials he had collected for this
+purpose, to obtain money for the relief of the poor during a famine. A
+long description is preserved of the decoration of the shrine. Among
+other precious things worked into it was an eagle with outstretched
+wings, the gift of King Ethelred. Although it was not quite finished, it
+was sufficiently so as to be ready to receive the bones of the martyr.
+The remains were examined in the presence of Alexander, Bishop of
+Lincoln, and sundry Abbots in 1129. The genuineness of the relics, so it
+is said, was established by appearances of the saint to divers persons
+as well as by miracles. One shoulder blade was missing; but this, as it
+afterwards appeared, had been given by a former Abbot, at the request of
+King Canute, to the reigning duke of some foreign land, who had founded
+a cathedral church on purpose to receive so precious a relic. A long
+list is given of the valuable gifts this Abbot made to the monastery and
+church. During his time lived the hermits Roger and Sigur, and the
+recluse Christina, whose story has been told in Chapter III.
+
+At this time also Henry I. granted to the Abbots the Liberty of St.
+Albans, which gave them the power of trying minor offences, which had
+hitherto been tried in the civil courts of the hundred and the shire.
+
+There are only two faults that are recorded of this Abbot: first, he
+gave some of the Abbey tithe to the support of the church that he had
+rebuilt; and, secondly, he was too easy in business dealings and allowed
+himself to be imposed upon.
+
+17. #Randulf of Gobion# (1146-1151). This Abbot had previously been
+chaplain and treasurer to the Bishop of Lincoln. He erected the Abbot's
+chamber and other useful buildings, and freed the Abbey from debt. He
+deposed the Prior because he suspected that a seal he found not yet
+engraved had been prepared for a new Abbot, and that this indicated a
+desire on the part of the Prior and monks to depose him. He is said to
+have burnt a rich chasuble in order to obtain the gold with which it was
+embroidered, and to have removed the gold plates from the shrine to
+procure money to make a purchase of land--the rent of which, however,
+went to the Abbey, not himself--while keeping the gold plate used at his
+own table. He was allowed to nominate a successor, and then resigned,
+dying shortly afterwards.
+
+18. #Robert of Gorham# (1151-1166). He was a nephew of Geoffrey of
+Gorham, sixteenth Abbot. He had been a monk abroad, but coming on a
+visit to his uncle he obtained permission to "migrate" to St. Albans. In
+time he became Prior. As Abbot he managed the affairs of the Abbey with
+prudence. He repaired and releaded the church, whitened it within and
+without, that is to say, renewed the plaster with which from the first
+it had probably been covered. Matthew Paris tells us that one Nicholas
+Breakspear, a clerk from Langley, applied to him for admission to the
+Abbey, but was refused, as he failed to pass his entrance examination.
+"Wait, my son," said the Abbot, "and go on with your schooling so as to
+become more fit." Nicholas is spoken of as a youth, but he must have
+been about fifty years of age when Robert became Abbot, and was
+certainly Bishop of Albano within a year or two of that date, and became
+Pope, under the name of Adrian IV., in 1154, the only Englishman that
+has ever sat in St. Peter's chair. If there is any truth in the story of
+his rejection at St. Albans, it must have happened earlier than the
+abbacy of Robert. King Stephen visited the Abbey, and Robert obtained
+his authority to level the remains of the camp, that is, the tower that
+AElfric, the tenth Abbot, had allowed to remain standing at Kingsbury,
+which had become a den of robbers.
+
+Soon after Breakspear had become Pope, Robert and three bishops from the
+foreign dominions of Henry II. went as envoys to him from the King; the
+Abbot hoped that the Pope's connection with St. Albans, for his father
+had become late in life a monk there, would induce him to enlarge its
+privileges. Knowing that the dignitaries at Rome and the members of the
+Pope's household were wellnigh insatiable, he distributed valuable gifts
+among them to secure their good offices with the Pope. Robert complained
+of the intolerable oppression of the Bishop of Lincoln, and the
+insolence of his agents, and obtained from Adrian complete exemption
+from episcopal supervision. The Abbey henceforth was to be subject to
+Rome alone. When the Pope's letter granting this exemption was exhibited
+at a council in London, the greatest indignation was expressed. An
+agreement was, however, at last signed between the Bishop of Lincoln and
+the Abbot, three bishops intervening in the interest of peace. Abbot
+Robert then sent two of his nephews, monks, to Rome with still more
+presents, and as a result of their mission further privileges and
+liberties were granted to the Abbot; he was, among other things, allowed
+to wear pontifical robes. The Bishop of Lincoln was exasperated, but did
+not dare to defy the Pope's authority. Adrian IV. was poisoned in 1158,
+and the next Pope granted a new and important privilege to St. Albans;
+what it was is not stated. The Bishop of Lincoln now thought it was time
+to assert himself. He declared his intention of visiting the Abbey as
+its Bishop, and ordered that suitable preparations should be made for
+his reception. The Abbot refused to receive him. He was, on a complaint
+made by the Bishop, cited before the King's Court and called on to
+justify his action. After a protracted investigation lasting for three
+or four years, the King assented to the Abbot's wearing a mitre, and
+recommended him to buy off further opposition on the part of the Bishop
+by a grant of certain lands, which were worth L10 a year. At Easter,
+1163, Abbot Robert celebrated Mass wearing for the first time mitre,
+ring, gloves, and sandals. He also at the Council of Tours in the same
+year took the first seat among the English Abbots, the Abbot of St.
+Edmondsbury vainly attempting to take it from him. He gave costly gifts
+to the church, built the chapter-house and the Locutorium, the Chapel of
+St. Nicholas, part of the cloister, the long stable, granary, larder,
+and two solars. He was buried in the new chapter-house, leaving the
+monastery in debt, caused no doubt by his lavish expenditure in bribery
+at Rome. On his death in October, 1166, the King kept the abbacy vacant
+for several months, for at this time the great conflict between the King
+and the Archbishop, Becket, was raging, and the King wished visibly to
+assert his authority.
+
+19. #Symeon# (1167-1183). Symeon had been Prior, and therefore had been
+acting head of the monastery since Robert's death. He was a literary man
+and an encourager of learning. Being an intimate friend of Thomas
+Becket, he went to Prince Henry, the King's son, to intercede for the
+Archbishop and bring about a reconciliation, if possible, with the King;
+but he was driven from the court with contumely. Symeon finished the
+shrine. The feretory made by Abbot Geoffrey still contained the bones of
+the martyr; this was now covered by the work of Abbot Symeon, which was
+made of large size so as to contain the other. The relics of Amphibalus
+were discovered about this time at Redbourn, where he had been put to
+death. The Bishop of Durham dedicated the Chapel of St. Cuthbert which
+had been built by Richard (fifteenth Abbot). Like several of the other
+Abbots, Symeon enriched his relations and left the Abbey in debt.
+
+20. #Warren#, or #Warin, of Cambridge# (1183-1195). This Abbot was of
+low birth, but had risen to the position of Prior. The sacrist alone
+opposed his election on account of his birth and also because he
+squinted, and predicted all manner of evils to the monastery if he were
+elected Abbot. Henry II., soon after the new Abbot had been appointed,
+and the Bishop of Lincoln happening to be at St. Albans at the same
+time, the Bishop brought up the old grievance about the Abbey having
+been made independent of him, but the King silenced him with angry
+words. Warren founded a leper hospital for women as Geoffrey had founded
+one for men. This hospital was dissolved by Wolsey in 1526, its revenues
+going towards the endowment of Christ Church, Oxford. The bones of
+Amphibalus were removed from the locker in which they were kept, and
+placed in a new shrine adorned with gold and silver. This Abbot made
+numerous regulations concerning the domestic affairs of the monastery;
+one dealt with the dress, another made better provision for sick monks,
+another shortened the services, another allowed meat in the infirmary,
+yet another ordered that all dead monks should be buried in stone
+coffins, not merely laid in earth graves. This Abbot, in lieu of
+delivering up the chalice which Richard I. had demanded from all English
+abbeys wherewith to pay his ransom, sent 200 marks of silver. Shortly
+before his death he set aside 100 marks to be given to his successor for
+renewing the west front of the church. Among his faults it is noted that
+he was self-willed, that he banished to distant cells any of the
+brethren that offended him, and that he felled timber belonging to the
+Abbey and sent the proceeds as presents to the King and Queen.
+
+21. #John de Cella# (1195-1214). This Abbot derived his name from the
+Cell of Wallingford, of which he had been Prior. He was learned, pious,
+and a good disciplinarian. He left the secular affairs of the Abbey to
+be managed by the Prior and Cellarer, and devoted himself to his
+religious duties, and to the fabric. He pulled down the Norman west
+front with the intention of rebuilding it; he dug foundations, but after
+he had spent Warren's legacy of 100 marks his walls had not risen above
+the ground level. His master of the works led him into needless expense,
+and as progress was so slow the Abbot became dispirited. He, however,
+got another master of the works and started afresh, assigning to the
+building fund one sheaf of wheat from every acre. This arrangement
+lasted during the whole of his rule and for many years afterwards, but
+progress was still slow. Gifts of gold and silver, considerable sums of
+money collected by a wandering preacher, who pretended to be Amphibalus,
+restored to life, were all consumed. At last in weariness of heart the
+Abbot gave himself to other work; he began to build a new refectory and
+dormitory, persuading the monks to give up wine for fifteen years, and
+contribute the money so saved to the cost of the new building. He had a
+great reputation for sanctity. At times, when he was saying mass,
+responses were sung, so it is said, by voices not of this world. He
+limited the number of monks to a hundred. King John ordered him to say
+mass during the interdict, but he refused, whereupon John seized the
+monastery and ejected the monks, and only on payment of 600 marks, and
+afterwards of 500 more, would he restore the Abbey to its rightful
+owners.
+
+22. #William of Trumpington# (1214-1235). This Abbot was an entirely
+different style of man from his predecessor. He was much addicted to
+social enjoyment, was a good man of business, and looked into matters
+thoroughly for himself; he visited all the cells belonging to the Abbey,
+and carried on the work of building in an energetic manner. The
+dormitory was finished, the aisles were roofed with oak, an octagon
+built on the tower, and, chief of all, the long-delayed work at the west
+end was resumed and finished. The sacrist, Walter of Colchester, was an
+excellent carver and carved a handsome pulpit with a great cross
+thereon, and statues of St. John and the Virgin. The shrine of St.
+Amphibalus, which had stood to the south of that of St. Alban, was moved
+to the middle of the nave and inclosed within iron screenwork; much
+other carving was done in the church and many new altars dedicated. A
+fine bell was given for services in honour of our Lady; the Chapel of
+St. Cuthbert with a dormitory over it for seven monks was rebuilt; most
+of the walls were replastered; cloister walks were built, fitted with
+oak beams, ceiled and covered with oak shingles. This Abbot acquired
+much property for the Abbey, but during the civil wars large sums were
+extorted by either party. In 1235 the church was struck by lightning and
+set on fire, but fortunately a tank of rainwater was close at hand, and
+the fire was soon extinguished. As the Abbot died eight days afterwards,
+the accident was looked upon as a presage of his coming death.
+
+23. #John of Hertford# (1235-1260). He had been sacristan and afterwards
+prior of the cell at Hertford. The Pope's bull confirming his election
+required him to present himself at Rome every three years. The church
+was again struck by lightning, notwithstanding the fact that the
+impression of the Pope's seal, bearing an image of the Lamb of God, had
+been duly placed on the top of the tower as a protection against
+lightning. Abbot John built the guest-house, and devoted the revenues of
+three rectories to the improvement of the quality of the ale, and for
+the providing of better entertainment for guests. He repaired many of
+the buildings belonging to the Abbey, the granary, water mills, houses
+in London, etc. At the coronation of Henry III. the Abbot of St. Albans
+took precedence of all the mitred abbots; and though afterwards the
+Abbot of Westminster obtained precedence, yet in 1536 the signature of
+Abbot Catton of St. Albans stands first, that of Abbot Benson of
+Westminster following, in the list of names attached to the "Articles of
+Faith" drawn up by Convocation. So it would appear that the Abbots of
+St. Albans had by this time recovered their rights of precedence. When
+the see of Lincoln was vacant, the Archbishop proposed to hold an
+ordination in St. Albans Abbey, but was refused permission. During this
+Abbot's rule the Pope demanded more than once large sums of money; the
+Abbot refused to pay, and in consequence of his refusal the church was
+put under an interdict. At this time lived the celebrated monk Matthew
+of Paris, to whom we owe much of the knowledge we possess of the history
+of the Abbey up to his own days. The Chronicles carry us nearly up to
+the end of Abbot John's rule, Matthew himself dying only a year before
+the Abbot. For the subsequent history, up to the abbacy of Thomas de la
+Mare, thirtieth Abbot, we are indebted to Thomas of Walsingham. Matthew
+was born about 1200, and though of English descent derived his surname
+from the French capital, either because it was his birthplace, or
+because he was a student at its university. He became a monk of St.
+Albans on January 21st, 1217. He went with Abbot John of Hertford to
+London to be present at the marriage of Henry III. to Eleanor of
+Provence, 1236; and again he went to Westminster Abbey for the
+celebration of the feast of the founder, on which occasion he was asked
+by the King to write an account of the proceedings. He was sent on a
+mission to the Benedictine monastery at Trondhjem in 1248, attended the
+royal court at Winchester in 1251, and was present at the marriage of
+Henry's daughter to the Scottish King, Alexander II. When Henry III.
+spent a week at St. Albans in 1257, he admitted Matthew to his table and
+treated him with great confidence, communicating many facts and details
+of his life to him. Matthew afterwards exerted his influence with the
+King in behalf of the University of Oxford, when its privileges were in
+danger from the encroachments of the Bishop of Lincoln. His great work
+was the "Historia Major." This professes to give the outlines of human
+history from the Creation up to 1259. The work up to 1189 seems to have
+been compiled by John de Cella, from 1189 to 1235 by Roger of Wendover.
+Matthew of Paris transcribed and edited the work of his two
+predecessors, and continued the history from 1235 to 1259. He shows
+himself in it a warm advocate of English rights and liberties, and an
+opponent of papal and regal tyranny. It is the best early history we
+have of our own country up to the beginning of the Barons' War, and is
+also an authority on Continental affairs. He wrote too an abridgement of
+this work, leaving out the parts dealing with foreign history; this he
+called "Historia Anglorum." He also wrote "The Lives of the two Offas"
+and the "Lives of Twenty-three Abbots of St. Albans," whence most of the
+details of the history of the Abbey given here have been derived. Thomas
+of Walsingham, who continued the history, lived in the reigns of Henry
+IV. and Henry V.
+
+Against Abbot John it is alleged that he had his commons sent to his
+private room, instead of taking his meals with the brethren in the
+refectory. When he died he was buried with great honour, "as became so
+great a father."
+
+24. #Roger of Norton# (1260-1290). The new Abbot had been one of the
+monks; his appointment was confirmed by Pope Urban in 1263. During his
+rule the monastery flourished, notwithstanding the disturbed state of
+the country in the early years of it. He acquired many new possessions;
+the infirmary was rebuilt; the Abbot's lodgings were repaired; many
+ornaments, vestments, books, a silver thurible, and three new bells were
+procured. He made regulations for the preservation of the Abbey
+property, the management of the servants and tenants, and for the
+careful custody of the Abbey swans. Much litigation took place during
+his abbacy. Queen Eleanor claimed one of the manors, but was not able to
+make good her claim. A controversy about the appointment of the Prior of
+the cell at Wymondham arose between the Abbot and the Countess of
+Arundel, which was finally settled by an agreement that the Countess
+should nominate three persons, of whom the Abbot was to select one.
+Another dispute arose between the Abbot and the townspeople, about
+grinding corn and fulling cloth. The people claimed the right of having
+handmills in their houses, the Abbot insisted on his mills being used;
+the matter was referred to the law courts and decided in the Abbot's
+favour. Although through negligence some property was lost, yet this
+Abbot's character was highly commended:
+
+    Hic quem dedit Dominus nobis in rectorem
+    Prudenter sustinuit onus et honorem.
+
+He was strict in government, of good life and conversation, eminently
+religious, distinguished for his learning. He was paralyzed for three
+years before his death, and when he died his body was buried before the
+high altar, but his heart was placed in a small box of Eastern
+workmanship before one of the altars in the retro-choir.
+
+25. #John of Berkhamstead# (1290-1301). This Abbot was installed on St.
+Alban's Day, 1291. The King, Edward I., visited the Abbey during the
+vacancy, and again after the appointment of the new Abbot. The conduct
+of the King's agent before the election had been very extortionate. The
+claim of the Warden of Hertford Castle to certain tolls within the
+Abbot's liberty was the subject of a long investigation; in the end the
+claim was disallowed. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert of
+Winchelsea, sent a message that he wished for hospitality in the Abbey,
+but the Abbot refused to entertain him unless he would sign a paper
+undertaking that his visit should not in any way prejudice the
+privileges granted by the Pope, the Abbey being stated to belong "ad
+Romanam Ecclesiam, nullo medio." The Archbishop declined to sign this
+document, and so had to put up with lodgings outside the Abbey
+precincts. When he arrived the bells of St. Stephen's Church were not
+rung in his honour, whereupon the Archbishop put the church under an
+interdict; but the clergy paid no attention to this, and conducted the
+services as usual. During his rule the body of Queen Eleanor rested at
+St. Albans, and one of the Eleanor crosses was erected and remained here
+until 1702, when it was destroyed. A drinking fountain now occupies its
+site. In 1302 the Abbot obtained from Edward I. a confirmation of all
+the grants that had been made to the Abbey by former kings. This Abbot
+does not receive a very good character from the chronicler: he cut down
+and sold too much timber, granted too many pensions, and deprived
+several of the priors of the cells without sufficient cause.
+
+26. #John de Marinis# (1302-1308). This Abbot had been Cellarer, and
+afterwards Prior, for fourteen years, before his election as Abbot. The
+full list of the fees and expenses connected with his confirmation at
+Rome is given. The sum was enormous: 2,500 marks and 400 shillings.
+
+He offended Edward II. by refusing to supply some carriages and horses
+which the King had demanded, and so when Edward came to St. Albans he
+refused to see the Abbot. The latter tried to appease the King by a
+present made through the notorious favourite Piers Gaveston, and also by
+a grant of the manor of Westwood, which was beyond his power to give,
+but all to no purpose. Most of the records of his rule relate to rights
+of property and regulations respecting the monks. As his end approached
+he made a statement of his liabilities. He owed L1,300 and had never
+paid the 1,000 marks due to the King at the last vacancy. We are told
+that he was constant, not given to much talk, honest in his life,
+religious, and circumspect.
+
+27. #Hugh of Eversden# (1308-1326). This Abbot, who had been Cellarer
+for five years, is described as being tall and handsome, able to speak
+French and English well, but with little knowledge of Latin. On this
+account he wished to avoid going to Rome, and sent his proctors instead
+to obtain the Pope's confirmation of his election--but they, having
+incurred much expense, returned to say that the Pope insisted on the new
+Abbot appearing at Rome in person. By liberal presents he made a
+favourable impression at Rome, but the journey, beyond the payments of
+first-fruits, cost him more than L1,000. With the help of a legacy from
+Reginald of St. Albans he finished the Lady Chapel and the retro-choir,
+in which he placed the shrine of St. Amphibalus. King Edward II. paid a
+second visit to the Abbey, and on being told by the Abbot of the
+benefactions of Edward I. gave 100 marks and much timber towards the
+work then in progress. The Abbot was twice besieged in his Abbey by the
+townspeople; they desired to be answerable to the King and not the
+Abbot. They gained their point, though they were compelled to surrender
+to the next Abbot the privileges they had obtained of Abbot Hugh. It was
+during the rule of this Abbot that the piers in the main arcade of the
+nave gave way while mass was being said on St. Paulinus' Day, 1323, and
+he had to begin repairing this part of the church.
+
+28. #Richard of Wallingford# (1326-1334). He was of humble birth; his
+father was a blacksmith. After taking his degree at Oxford he became a
+monk, and resided at St. Albans for three years, when he again went to
+Oxford and studied philosophy and theology there for nine years. He was
+on a visit to St. Albans at the time of the death of Abbot Hugh. He was
+elected Abbot, but the election was found to be informal, so he resigned
+his claim to the Pope, who thereupon appointed him Abbot. He wrote a
+Register of things done in his time, compiled a book of Decretals and
+Constitutions of Provincial Chapters, and sundry works on geometry and
+astronomy. He constructed a clock showing the courses of the sun and
+moon, the ebb and flow of the tides, etc., which Leland, Librarian to
+Henry VIII., speaks of as still going in his day. He also made an
+astronomical instrument to which he gave the name "Albion," and wrote a
+book describing the manner of using it. Edward III., visiting the Abbey
+and seeing the clock being constructed, while the damage done by the
+fall of the nave piers in his predecessor's time had not been fully
+repaired, remonstrated with the Abbot, who replied that anyone could
+repair the church, but few could construct a clock such as he was
+making.
+
+It is said that he suffered from leprosy and that his death was hastened
+by the shock caused by a terrible thunderstorm on St. Andrew's Eve,
+1334, which set some of the domestic buildings on fire. The fire was put
+out before much damage was done, but the Abbot died.
+
+29. #Michael of Mentmore# (1335-1349). He was a graduate of Oxford, a
+monk of St. Albans, and had been appointed Master of the Schools. He
+finished the repairs to the south arcading and south aisle begun by
+Abbot Hugh, built three altars, and vaulted the aisle. He baptized in
+1341 Edmund of Langley, fifth son of Edward III., from whom the House of
+York was descended. Philippa, the Queen, went to the Abbey to be
+churched and gave the Abbey a cloth of gold. The Abbot, the Prior, the
+sub-prior and forty-seven monks fell victims to the terrible plague
+known as the Black Death, which was ravaging the country in 1349. He is
+described as being pious, patient, and meek like Moses.
+
+30. #Thomas de la Mare# (1349-1396). He was a man of high birth, and was
+connected with many people of importance, among them probably Sir Peter
+de la Mare, the first Speaker of the House of Commons. He became a monk
+at St. Albans, and was sent to Wymondham, recalled to St. Albans, and
+afterwards became kitchener, cellarer, and then Prior at Tynemouth in
+Northumberland. When Abbot Michael died the Prior of Wymondham was
+elected, but declined the abbacy, whereupon Thomas de la Mare was
+elected. One of the proctors who started with him to Rome died on the
+way of the Black Death. The new Abbot himself, after his appointment had
+been confirmed, was taken seriously ill at Rome, but recovered with
+great suddenness. He was a great favourite with Edward III., and it is
+said that King John of France, who was taken prisoner at Poictiers in
+1356, was for a time committed to his charge; he treated John with great
+moderation and respect, and King John afterwards showed his appreciation
+of his treatment by releasing some St. Albans men who were prisoners of
+war in France, bidding them tell the Abbot that they owed their release
+to him. The Abbot was strict in correcting faults, curbing excesses,
+cutting away abuses, and putting things right; he was revered by all,
+feared by many. He was appointed by the King as visitor to numerous
+monasteries, and in 1351 was President of a general chapter of
+Benedictines. Moreover his knowledge of painting was such that Edward
+III. appointed him master of the painters assigned for the works to be
+executed at the chapel of the Palace of Westminster, and the ornamental
+painting and glazing of St. Stephen's Chapel was carried on for several
+years under his supervision. After having been Abbot for some years he
+wished to resign, but Edward III. would not hear of it. In the time of
+Richard II. an attack was made by the followers of Wat Tyler on the
+Abbey. They succeeded in extorting certain charters from the Abbot, but
+after the collapse of the rebellion the King himself came to the Abbey
+and stayed there for eight days, summoning all the commons of the county
+to make oath to do suit and service to the Abbot and the convent in the
+customary manner. He rebuilt the Great Gate of the Abbey (see Appendix).
+He died on September 15th, 1396, having been Abbot for forty-seven
+years, a longer period than any of his predecessors or successors. He
+was buried before the high altar and a brass to his memory may now be
+seen in the Wheathampstead chantry.
+
+31. #John de la Moots# (1396-1401). He had held several offices in the
+Abbey before his election as Abbot, and when Cellarer had been put in
+the pillory in Luton Market, "in hatred to the Abbot and utter contempt
+of religion." The conspiracy to dethrone Richard II. was first formed at
+the dinner table of this Abbot, when the Duke of Gloucester and the
+Prior of Westminster were dining with him. In 1399 the body of John of
+Gaunt rested in the Abbey on its way to London, his son, Henry Beaufort,
+Bishop of Lincoln, being allowed to conduct a service in the Abbey; and
+in the same year Richard II. and Henry, Duke of Lancaster, lodged at St.
+Albans. On arrival in London Richard II. was dethroned, and the Bishop
+of Carlisle, who took his side, was seized by order of the Duke of
+Lancaster, soon to be known as Henry IV., and carried as a prisoner to
+St. Albans; he was, however, afterwards pardoned by Henry. A dispute for
+precedence between this Abbot and the Abbot of Westminster occurred.
+John died in 1401.
+
+32. #William Heyworth# (1401-1420). This Abbot was promoted to the see
+of Lichfield in 1420, died in 1446 or 1447, and was buried in St.
+Alban's Abbey.
+
+[Illustration: JOHN OF WHEATHAMPSTEAD'S CHANTRY.]
+
+33. #John of Wheathampstead# (1420-1440 and 1451-1464). The Abbot's
+surname was Bostock, and it is supposed, as on his mother's grave in
+Wheathampstead Church a shield bearing the Heyworth arms is found, that
+John was a kinsman of his predecessor. To increase the revenue he
+admitted many gentlemen and ladies of high rank to the confraternity;
+this admission was a mere honour, conferring indeed the right to vote in
+the chapter, but not imposing any duties or monastic restrictions on
+those thus admitted. Among the names of those admitted in 1423 we find
+those of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and Jaqueline his wife, whom he
+subsequently divorced; in 1431 his new wife, Eleanor, was admitted. John
+procured by royal grant lands in various quarters, and also, in order
+that he might secure himself against any charges which might be made
+against him, a pardon for diverse offences, of none of which was he in
+all probability guilty--treason, murder, rape, rebellion, conspiracy,
+etc. A strange light is thrown by this upon monkish morals of the day;
+one would have thought no abbot would ever have been supposed possible
+of committing such offences. These were disturbed times, for the King,
+Henry VI., was imbecile and various nobles were intriguing against each
+other for power. The star of Humphrey of Gloucester, the Abbot's friend,
+was setting, and other troubles threatened the nation, so Abbot John
+resigned in 1440.
+
+34. #John Stokes# (1440-1451). This Abbot ruled for eleven years, and
+then either died or resigned. During his rule Eleanor, Duchess of
+Gloucester, was tried for witchcraft, was imprisoned in the Tower, and
+did penance in the streets of London. Her husband died, or more probably
+was murdered, in 1447, and was buried in the Abbey on the south side of
+St. Alban's shrine.
+
+33. In 1451 Abbot John of Wheathampstead, though over eighty years of
+age, was re-elected. Soon after his election he gave his church a "pair
+of organs," surpassing all others in England in size, tone, and
+workmanship.
+
+In 1455 the Wars of the Roses began with the first battle of St. Albans
+(May 23rd), fought to the east of the town. In this the White Rose party
+were victorious; the King was taken prisoner and lodged for the night in
+the Abbey. The victorious army plundered the town, but the Abbot by
+sending out plenty of wine and food saved his monastery.
+
+In 1459 King Henry was again at the Abbey and spent Easter there,
+ordering his best robe to be given to the Prior when he left.
+
+Another battle was fought, this time to the north of the town, on
+February 17th, 1461. Henry was at this time in the hands of the Yorkists
+and at St. Albans. The Queen, having defeated and slain the Duke of York
+at Wakefield, marched southward at the head of an undisciplined horde of
+18,000 men--Scotch, Irish, Welsh, and English--to rescue her husband.
+The Earl of Warwick at first drove the Queen's troops out of St. Peter's
+Street to Barnard's Heath with great slaughter, but, owing to treachery
+on the part of one of the Yorkist leaders, the fortunes of the day
+changed, and Margaret drove Warwick before her towards the town. He,
+however, rallied his forces and retreated in good order to London,
+though he had to leave Henry behind him. The royal party went to the
+Abbey, where they were enthusiastically received by the monks, who
+chanted thanksgivings for the victory; they were led to the high altar
+and to the shrine of St. Alban. But the victorious troops, being little
+better than barbarians, flushed with unexpected victory, committed
+fearful excesses in the town, and even plundered the Abbey. Hitherto
+Abbot John had been a strong partisan of the Lancastrians, but the
+treatment he received turned him into a staunch Yorkist. Edward IV. when
+he came to the throne granted the Abbot the right to hear and try all
+causes, even treason, with full power of sentencing to death. The Abbots
+continued to exercise these powers till 1533. In 1462 the Abbot
+presented a petition to the King, setting forth the impoverished state
+of the Abbey; this led to further powers being granted to the Abbot.
+Wheathampstead had been ordained in 1382 and, according to canon law,
+must have been twenty-five years of age, so he must have been over a
+hundred and five when he died in 1463. He, as we have seen (Chap. I.),
+made many changes for the worse in the fabric of the church; the
+character of the work was partly due to the time in which he lived, for
+the age of great architecture was over, and partly to lack of funds.
+
+35. #William Alban# (1464-1476).
+
+36. #William of Wallingford# (1476-1484). This Abbot's name will be
+remembered because the high altar screen was his work, and is generally
+called Wallingford's screen. It is said that his management of the
+revenues of the Abbey was prudent, and that he was energetic in
+defending his rights; but it would seem that he was not equally
+energetic in repressing irregularities within its walls. During the
+interregnum that followed his tenure of office things went on from bad
+to worse, so that the Archbishop sent a monition to the Abbey reciting a
+bull which had been sent to him as legate. This bull directed the
+Archbishop to visit all the larger monasteries in which he had reason to
+suspect that evil practices prevailed, and the Archbishop threatens to
+visit St. Albans because he has heard of cases of simony, usury, lavish
+expenditure, and immorality. He says unless within sixty days things are
+reduced to order, not only in the monastery but also in the nunneries of
+Pre and Sopwell and other cells, he will visit personally or by
+commission to inquire into matters and set things in order. The Abbot
+died in 1484, but his successor was not appointed until 1492.
+
+37. #Thomas Ramryge# (1492- ). No details of events during the rule of
+this Abbot exist, nor is the date of his death known.
+
+38. #Thomas Wolsey# (1521-1529). This great cardinal was invested with
+the temporalities on December 7th, 1521, and held the Abbey "in
+commendam." There is no record of his ever having resided in the Abbey,
+but he probably put a stop to the printing which had been carried on in
+the Abbey from 1480 onwards. He also made a gift of plate to the Abbey.
+He held the office of Abbot until his disgrace in 1529.
+
+39. #Robert Catton# (1530-1538). This Abbot was really appointed by
+Henry VIII., but was nominally elected by the chapter. He had been Prior
+of Norwich. The Abbey printing press was again in use in his time. He
+seems to have been deprived during his lifetime, for what reason we
+cannot say.
+
+40. #Robert Boreman of Stevenage# (1538-1539). This Abbot was a nominee
+of the King, and was chosen by him because Henry knew that he would be
+willing to surrender the Abbey. This he did on December 5th, 1539. It
+was part of the policy of Henry VIII. to make it appear that the
+monasteries were _voluntarily_ surrendered by the abbot and chapter, and
+it was generally made worth their while to do so by a liberal pension.
+In some cases the abbots refused, among them the last Abbot of
+Glastonbury, who paid dearly for his refusal, as he was hanged on a hill
+commanding a view of the possessions of the Abbey, which not being his
+to part with he had refused to surrender, though, of course, the nominal
+charge against him was not the real one. Abbot Boreman, however, made no
+objection, and received a yearly pension of L266 13s. 4d., so was a rich
+man for the rest of his days. Pensions of varying amounts were given to
+his monks. Boreman and twenty of the monks were in receipt of them when
+Mary came to the throne. Mary wished to revive the Abbey and put Boreman
+over it, but did not live to carry out her intended plan. The monastic
+buildings very rapidly disappeared; the church became parochial, and has
+been served by the following sixteen rectors:
+
+    George Wetherhall, appointed             1553.
+    Archdeacon William East.
+    Archdeacon James Dugdale,                1556.
+    Edward Edgeworth,                        1578.
+    Roger Williams,                          1582.
+    John Brown.
+    Archdeacon Edward Carter,                1662.
+    Archdeacon John Cole,                    1687.
+    Archdeacon John Cole (II.),              1713.
+    Benjamin Preedy,                         1754.
+    Joseph Spooner,                          1779.
+    John Payler Nicholson,                   1796.
+    Henry Small,                             1817.
+    Henry J.B. Nicholson,                    1835.
+    Sir John C. Hawkins, Bart.,              1866.
+    Archdeacon Walter John Lawrance,[12]     1868.
+
+    [12] Dean since July, 1900.
+
+The Church of St. Albans was in the diocese of Lincoln until 1845, when
+it was handed over to Rochester. In 1877 Parliament passed a bill for
+the division of the populous diocese of Rochester into two parts; the
+northern to be called the see of St. Albans, the southern to retain the
+name of Rochester. The Right Rev. Dr. Claughton, then Bishop of
+Rochester, elected to take the northern division of his old diocese and
+became Bishop of St. Albans. He was succeeded in 1890 by John Wogan
+Festing, D.D., who died in 1903.
+
+Both of these bishops are buried in the churchyard on the north side of
+the nave. On Dr. Festing's death the Right Rev. Edgar Jacob, D.D., was
+translated to St. Albans from the diocese of Newcastle, and was
+enthroned in May, 1903.
+
+The Church of St. Albans, although legally a cathedral church, yet
+differs in certain particulars from most of the other churches of this
+rank in England. It is also used as a parish church, of which the Dean
+is rector. He has the same powers, responsibilities, and duties as the
+rector of any other parish. It is sometimes said that the nave is the
+parish, and the part eastward of the rood screen the cathedral church,
+but it is not so. The Dean as rector has power over the whole, and
+parishioners have right of access to every part of the building, just as
+in any other parish church; and the Dean as their rector can be called
+upon to baptize, marry, visit, and bury the people under his charge.
+Churchwardens are also appointed and have their statutory rights. There
+are some honorary canons, but as yet no "canons residentiary," nor are
+there "priests vicars" (or "minor canons"), lay vicars, or choristers on
+the foundation. The choir is a voluntary one, the clergy under the Dean
+are curates.
+
+The two parts of the church that are ordinarily in use are the Lady
+Chapel, where morning and evening prayer is said daily on week-days, and
+the nave, which is used for the Sunday services. There is at present no
+high altar in place under the great screen, but one will probably be
+placed there as soon as the final touches are put by Mr. Gilbert to the
+carved work of the reredos. The choir proper is not, however, capable of
+holding a large congregation. It was, of course, originally intended to
+hold the monks only. The part eastward of the stalls might on special
+occasions, such as the enthronement of a bishop, the installation of a
+dean, be temporarily fitted with chairs, but it is not likely that any
+permanent seats will be placed here, since as a matter of fact the nave
+and Lady Chapel answer all ordinary requirements.
+
+[Illustration: OLD FLOOR TILE.]
+
+[Illustration: THE GREAT GATE.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE NEIGHBOURHOOD.
+
+
+#The Great Gatehouse.#--In the days of its prosperity the Abbey was
+surrounded by a wall within which, as was usually the case, were placed
+all the buildings that were necessary for monastic life: cloister,
+dormitory, refectory, kitchen, chapter-house, infirmary, guest-house,
+stables, dovecote, granary, garden, orchard, vineyard, lodgings for the
+abbot, prior, cellarer, cook, and servants, fish-house, fish-ponds, as
+well as cemeteries for dead brethren. A number of gatehouses gave access
+to this inclosure: the Great Gate, which alone remains standing; the
+Waxhouse Gate, where the tapers used for burning before the shrines were
+made; the Water-gate, St. Germain's gate, and others. The chief of these
+was the Great Gate to the west of the Abbey Church. It was built in the
+time of Thomas de la Mare about 1365, on the site of a previously
+existing gatehouse which had been destroyed by a violent gale a few
+years earlier. It was not only a gateway, but a prison wherein offending
+monks, and also laymen of the town, over which the Abbot had civic
+jurisdiction, were imprisoned. The Gatehouse was stormed by rioters in
+the time of Wat Tyler's rebellion, the monks in their terror giving wine
+and beer to their assailants, but news arriving of Wat Tyler's death,
+the rioters dispersed; the ringleaders were tried and condemned to
+death, among them John Ball, who, with his seventeen condemned
+companions, passed the time between their trial and execution in the
+dungeons beneath the Gatehouse. In 1480 a printing press was set up in
+this gatehouse; after the dissolution it was used as the borough gaol.
+During the Napoleonic wars some French prisoners were confined within
+the walls. In 1868 the Gatehouse was found too small for use as a gaol,
+and a new prison was built near the Midland Station. The Gatehouse was
+bought by the governors of the grammar school, and in 1870 the school
+was removed from the Lady Chapel to the Gatehouse. There are dungeons
+beneath the level of the roadway; over the archway is the large room
+where the sessions used to be held, with other rooms on either side. In
+this building some old chimney-pieces may still be seen. Although the
+present foundation dates from the reign of Edward VI., yet a school had
+existed in St. Albans from very early time. Some think it was founded by
+Ulsinus. Be this as it may, it is certain that Geoffrey de Gorham, who
+was afterwards Abbot (1119-1146), first came to England during the time
+of Richard of Albini (the fifteenth Abbot), with a view of being master
+of the school. In 1195 we read that the school had more scholars than
+any other in England. The school in these early days stood to the north
+of the Great Gate on the other side of the street that runs down the
+hill on the north side of the triangular graveyard known as Romelands,
+where a Protestant martyr, one George Tankerfield, a cook, born in York,
+but living in London, was burnt on August 26th, 1555, during the reign
+of Mary I.
+
+#Sopwell Nunnery.#--There are a few remains of Sopwell Nunnery in a
+field near the river Ver, to the south-east of the city. They may be
+reached by taking the first turning to the right hand after crossing the
+bridge on the way from the city down Holywell Hill. This nunnery was
+founded by Geoffrey of Gorham, sixteenth Abbot, about the middle of the
+twelfth century. Two women, pious and ascetic, had taken up their abode
+on this spot in a hut which they built for themselves, and Geoffrey
+determined to build them a more permanent dwelling, and make them the
+nucleus of a religious house. They accepted the Benedictine Rule, and
+gradually the nunnery increased in size, and many ladies of high birth
+took the veil here. One of the abbesses wrote the "Boke of St. Albans,"
+not, as might be imagined, an account of the saint or of the religious
+house, but a treatise on hawking, hunting, and fishing. It was printed
+in 1483 at the St. Albans printing press. When the nunnery was
+dissolved, Sir Richard Lee, to whom the Abbey lands were granted, turned
+it into a dwelling-house for himself. The ruins consist of ivy-clad
+walls of brick and flint, pierced by square-headed windows, but
+containing few interesting features.
+
+The name is said to have been derived from the fact that the two women
+mentioned above soaked or sopped their dry bread in water drawn from the
+Holy Well or some well in the immediate neighbourhood of their hut.
+
+#St. Peter's Church.#--This church, standing at no great distance from
+the cathedral, may be reached by taking the footway called the
+Cloisters, crossing High Street, passing between the Clock Tower and the
+picturesque and ancient inn, the Fleur de Lys, and through the quaint
+street of gabled houses known as French Row, into St. Peter's Street.
+
+The church was originally built about 948 A.D., by Ulsinus, the sixth
+Abbot of St. Albans, but none of his work remains. It seems to have been
+almost entirely rebuilt at the end of the fifteenth century, and most of
+it is Perpendicular in character. It has a central tower rebuilt about a
+hundred years ago, and until that time had a transept. There is a
+clerestory on either side of the nave. The chancel and the west end with
+its circular window show signs of Lord Grimthorpe's style of
+restoration. The tower contains a fine peal of ten bells. In the windows
+of the south aisle is some richly coloured modern Belgian glass by
+Capronnier; in the windows of the north aisle are some fragments of
+fourteenth or fifteenth century glass, including the arms of Edmund, the
+fifth son of Edward III., from whom in the male line Edward IV. was
+descended, though he also traced his descent and his claim to the throne
+from Lionel, the third son, through his daughter Philippa.
+
+In the churchyard, which is of considerable extent, many of those who
+fell in the two battles of St. Albans were buried.
+
+#St. Michael's Church.#--St. Michael's Church is further from the
+cathedral than St. Peter's. To reach it one must go westward from the
+Clock Tower, along High Street and its continuations, down the hill past
+Romelands, where, as we have seen, George Tankerfield, condemned by
+Bishop Bonner as a Protestant heretic, was burnt at the stake. At last a
+bridge over the Ver is reached, and, turning round to the left after
+crossing it, we see St. Michael's Church before us. It has within the
+last ten years lost its Saxon tower, a new one with no pretention to
+beauty, pierced by two pentagonal windows in the third stage, having
+been built on a slightly different foundation. It stands within the area
+once inclosed by the walls of Verulamium, and Sir Gilbert Scott
+conjectured that it was originally the Basilica of the Roman city
+altered for Christian worship; but probably, though it may stand on the
+same site, it is of more recent date, though still of great age. Like
+the cathedral, its walls are built of Roman brick and flint. The plan is
+irregular: there is a nave and chancel, a large south aisle, or rather
+chantry, the eastern gable of which is of half-timber construction,
+below which are two tall round-headed windows far apart, with a small
+circular opening between them; the western gable has an opening with
+louvre boards. The tower projects from the north aisle, its western wall
+being flush with the west end of the nave; on the outside in the south
+wall of the chancel is a canopied niche over a flat slab a few inches
+above the level of the ground. The south door, within a porch, has a
+pointed top beneath a wide, round-headed arch springing from imposts.
+The arcading of the nave was formed by cutting arches through what
+probably were at one time the outside walls of the church; two of these
+on the south side open into the chapel. The carved oak pulpit of early
+seventeenth-century work, with its sounding-board and iron frame for the
+hour-glass, demands attention; but the chief attraction of the church
+for many is the alabaster statue of Francis Bacon, which is placed in a
+niche in the north wall of the chancel. He wished to be buried in this
+church, as his mother was already buried there, and moreover it was the
+parish church of his house at Gorhambury, and the only Christian church
+within the walls of ancient Verulam, from which he took one of his
+titles.
+
+[Illustration: MONUMENT OF LORD BACON. "_Sic sedebat._"]
+
+#St. Stephen's Church.#--There are two ways of getting to this church:
+either by following the road that runs south from St. Michael's, and
+after reaching the top of the hill turning sharply to the left; or by
+going from the centre of the city down Holywell Hill and straight on,
+past the London and North-Western Railway Station, up St. Stephen's
+Hill. The church spire is a conspicuous landmark. The churchyard is
+exceedingly pretty, and the church most interesting. It was originally
+built in the tenth century by Abbot Ulsinus, rebuilt in the time of
+Henry I., restored in the fifteenth, and again by Sir Gilbert Scott in
+the nineteenth century. The south porch is of timber; under it is a
+square-headed doorway; to the east of it is a chapel once called "the
+Leper's Chapel," but probably a chantry, now used as a vestry. There is
+a small aisle on the south side. The spire is a broach and stands at the
+west end. On the north side of the nave is a wide, blocked-up,
+round-headed arch; through the blocking wall a pointed doorway was cut,
+but this is also now blocked up. There is a door of Perpendicular style,
+with a square-headed label terminated by heads much weathered, in the
+west wall of the tower. The walls of this church are of the usual
+materials, flint and Roman brick.
+
+The lectern is of brass, and bears round its foot the inscription
+"Georgius Creichtoun Episcopus Dunkeldensis." There were two Scotch
+bishops of this name; both lived in the sixteenth century. How the
+lectern reached St. Albans no one knows for certain, but it may possibly
+have been part of the plunder carried off by Sir Richard Lee from
+Scotland. It was hidden for safety in a grave at the time of the civil
+wars, but was found again in 1748 when the vault was opened.
+
+[Illustration: THE OLD ROUND HOUSE, "THE FIGHTING COCKS."]
+
+#The Clock Tower.#--This is a most conspicuous object in the city,
+standing near the market-place, almost due north of the Lady Chapel. It
+was built at the beginning of the fifteenth century in order that the
+curfew bell might be hung in it. This had been cast some seventy years
+before the building of the tower, and had hung in the central tower of
+the Abbey Church; it weighs about a ton. It bears the inscription:
+"Missi de coelis, habeo nomen Gabrielis." The tower was restored under
+the direction of Sir Gilbert Scott in 1865, and in the process has lost
+most of the interest it possessed.
+
+#The Old Round House.#--This curious old house, also known as "The
+Fighting Cocks," stands near the river at the bottom of the roadway that
+leads down from the town through the Great Gate, and probably occupies
+the position of the Abbey gate that was known as St. Germain's Gate.
+There is little doubt that the foundations of this house date back to
+the time of the monastery, and may have been the foundations of the
+gateway. The cellars, it is said, appear to have an opening into some
+subterranean way. The name of "Fighting Cocks" no doubt indicates that
+after the dissolution of the monastery a cockpit existed here. It is
+said that it was at St. Germain's Gatehouse that the monks kept their
+fishing tackle, rods and nets. A claim is made for this building, that
+it is the oldest inhabited house in England, a claim that many other
+buildings may well dispute.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+Abbots, chronological account of, 82-103.
+AElfric, Abbot, 84.
+AElfric II., Abbot, 4.
+Aisles of nave, interior, south, 44,
+    north, 46;
+  exterior, south, 26,
+    north, 31;
+  of choir (south), 48.
+Alban, St., 4;
+  site of his martyrdom, 5, 6.
+Altarpiece, 57,
+  (old) 68.
+Amphibalus, St., 5;
+  shrine of, 13, 14, 63.
+Andrew's, St., Church, 12, 31, 48.
+
+Bacon, Lord, his monument, 110.
+Baluster shafts, Saxon, 50.
+Battles of St. Albans, 71, 101.
+Bells, 78.
+Berkhampstead, John of, Abbot, 96.
+Bishops of St. Albans, 104.
+Bishop's Throne, 53.
+Boreman, Robert, last Abbot, 15, 103.
+Bricks, Roman, 10, 24.
+
+Catton, Robert, Abbot, 103.
+Ceiling of choir and lantern, 53.
+Chapels (apsidal) of transept (now destroyed), 51, 53.
+Choir (exterior), 28;
+  ritual, 53.
+Christina, Prioress of Markyate, 49.
+Church bought by the town, 16.
+Claughton, Bishop, 18.
+Clerestory, nave, 42.
+Clock Tower of the town, 111.
+Cloister, site of, 26.
+"Cloisters, The," 31.
+
+D'Aubeny, Richard, Abbot, 87.
+Dedication of church, 7.
+De la Mare, Thomas, Abbot, 98.
+De la Moote, John, Abbot, 99.
+De Marinis, John, Abbot, 96.
+Dimensions of the Cathedral, 115.
+Door, Abbot's, 26.
+Doors, from the western entrance, 68.
+
+Eadfrith, Abbot, 83.
+Eadmer, Abbot, 7, 84.
+Eadric, Abbot, 82.
+Ealdred, Abbot, 84.
+Eversden, Hugh of, Abbot, 97 (_v._ Hugh).
+
+Fall of piers in 1323, 13.
+Floor of the church, 35, 36.
+Font, 46.
+Frescoes in the nave, 40;
+  in the choir, 53.
+Frithric, Abbot, 85.
+
+Gatehouse, The Great, 106.
+Geoffrey of Gorham, Abbot, 88,107.
+Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, 6.
+Gloucester, Humphrey, Duke of, 62, 76;
+  his monument, 76.
+Gorham, Abbots, Geoffrey of, 88;
+  Robert of, 89.
+Grammar School, 16, 107.
+
+Henry VI., King, 101.
+Hertford, John of, Abbot, 93.
+Heyworth, William, Abbot, 100.
+Hugh of Eversden, Abbot, 13, 14, 44, 70, 97.
+
+John de Cella, Abbot, 10, 12, 92.
+John de Marinis, Abbot, 96.
+John of Hertford, Abbot, 13, 43.
+John of Wheathampstead, Abbot, 14, 101.
+
+Lady Chapel, the, 20, 29, 68-72.
+Length of the building, 36, 37.
+Leofric, Abbot, 85.
+Leofstan, Abbot, 85.
+
+Mandeville, Sir John, 37.
+Markyate, Benedictine cell, 49.
+Mentmore, Michael of, Abbot, 14, 98.
+Monastery (Benedictine), founded, 6;
+  history of, 81.
+
+Nave, interior, 36-48.
+Norton, John of, Abbot, 70, 95.
+Nunnery, Sopwell, 107.
+
+Organ, the, 44.
+
+Paul of Caen, Abbot, 7, 24, 32, 86.
+Plan of Norman church, 9.
+Porches (thirteenth century), of west front, 10-12.
+Presbytery, 54, 61.
+Pulpit in nave, 44;
+  in choir, 61.
+
+Ramryge, Thomas, Abbot, 58-60, 103;
+  his chantry, 14, 15, 60, 70.
+Randulf, Abbot, 89.
+Rectors of St. Albans, 104.
+Retro-choir, 63, 67.
+Richard of Wallingford, Abbot, 14, 97.
+Robert of Gorham, Abbot, 89.
+Roger the Hermit, 49.
+Rood-screen, 42.
+Roof restored, 18.
+Round House, 112.
+
+Saint's Chapel, the, 72.
+St. Andrew's Church, 12, 31, 48.
+St. Michael's Church, 108.
+St. Peter's Church, 108.
+St. Stephen's Church, 110.
+
+Shrine of St. Alban, 72-75.
+Sigar, hermit, 49, 50.
+Slype, the, 20, 52.
+Sopwell Nunnery, 107.
+Stokes, John, Abbot, 101.
+Stoup (north aisle of nave), 46;
+  in south choir aisle, 61.
+Symeon, Abbot, 91.
+
+Transept (exterior), 27, 29;
+  (interior), 50, 52.
+Triforium, nave, 41, 42.
+Tower, central, 10, 14, 17, 31, 79;
+  interior, 53.
+Towers, western, 8, 9.
+Trumpington, William of, Abbot, 93.
+
+Verulamium, 4, 7;
+  Synod held at, 6.
+
+Wallingford, Richard of, Abbot, 61, 97.
+Wallingford screen, 21, 57-59, 76.
+Wallingford, William of, Abbot, 102.
+Waring, Abbot, 49, 91.
+Watching Loft, 66, 68, 75.
+Wax-house, 29.
+Weatherall, G., first rector, 16.
+West front, 10, 19, 23.
+Wheathampstead, John of, Abbot, 71, 100, 101;
+  his chantry, 57.
+William of Trumpington, Abbot, 12, 93.
+William of Wallingford, Abbot, 14, 102.
+Willigod, Abbot, 82.
+Windows in transept, 19.
+Wolsey, Thomas, Abbot, 103.
+Wulnoth, Abbot, 83.
+Wulsig, Abbot, 82.
+Wulsin, Abbot, 84.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+DIMENSIONS OF THE CATHEDRAL.[13]
+
+
+Total length, external                       550 ft.
+  "      "    internal                       520 ft.
+Length of high roofs                         425 ft.
+  "    of nave from west door to screen      205 ft.
+  "    of choir and presbytery               169 ft.
+  "    of Lady Chapel                         57 ft.
+  "    of transept, interior                 177 ft.
+Width of nave with aisles                     75 ft. 4 in.
+  "       "   without aisles, between piers   29 ft. 6 in. to 31 ft. 6 in.
+  "   of presbytery                           75 ft. to 78 ft.
+  "   of west front, exterior                105 ft.
+  "   of transept, interior                   32 ft. to 33 ft. 6 in.
+  "         "      exterior                   54 ft. 4 in.
+  "   of Lady Chapel, interior                24 ft.
+Diameter of tower piers, east and west        16 ft.
+Distance between tower piers each way         24 ft.
+Height of tower piers                         43 ft.
+  "         "   arches                        55 ft.
+  "    of tower                              144 ft.
+Width of tower, east and west, exterior       47 ft.
+  "        "    north and south, exterior     45 ft.
+Height of nave ceiling (from floor)           66 ft. 4 in.
+  "    of ridge of high roofs                 96 ft.
+  "    of Lady Chapel vault                   33 ft.
+Total internal area (about)                   39,240 sq. ft.
+Height of floor above mean sea-level         340 ft.
+
+    [13] These are the dimensions given by Lord Grimthorpe; the
+         altitudes, except when otherwise stated, are measured from the
+         level of the floor at the west doorways.
+
+
+[Illustration: GROUND-PLAN OF ST. ALBANS CATHEDRAL.]
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BELL'S CATHEDRALS: THE CATHEDRAL
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