Bishop of Ely

“ He was uncle of the distinguished architect of St. Paul's at London, Sir Christopher Wren, and he held the following offices at different periods: Master of St. Peter's College, Cambridge; Dean of Windsor; and Bishop of Hereford, and also of Norwich. He was a great sufferer during the Usurpation and the Rebellion, but outlived both, and before his death saw peace and tranquility restored. In looking over the list of Ely's bishops, one is astonished to observe how eminent they must have been, if we may judge from their having previously been bishops in other cathedrals. ”

“ From the death of Bishop Barnet in 1373 to the suppression of the monasteries no Bishop of Ely is credited with having done anything towards the fabric of the cathedral except Bishop Gray (1454-1478) . Some of them were at variance with the prior and convent, and would be little inclined to spend money on the church. Those that had a taste for architecture displayed it in beautifying their palaces or manor-houses, or upon buildings connected with the universities or other places in which they had private interest. ”

“ There is little known of his life at this time beyond the story of his promotions, and what we hear of his conduct as bishop is from a very adverse critic, the historian of the monastery of Ely, who says that he was severe and exacting towards the tenants, and that he would never celebrate mass in his own cathedral except on the day of his installation, which he put off till two years after his appointment. ”

“ That he was also a man of culture is evident by his being chosen to be one of the translators of the Bible.
In Matthew Wren, who was Bishop of Ely for twenty-nine years, from 1638-1667, we meet with another prisoner for his faith. Bishop Wren was anti-puritan in his aims; throughout his diocese his influence was exercised in favour of the re-introduction of reverent ceremonial in public worship; and for this he was sent to the Tower, where he remained for eighteen years, till the Restoration set him free and brought him back once more to his well-loved Cathedral. ”

“ So far the tombs we have noticed have stood in a line under three arches of the Presbytery, as the eastern part of the Choir is called: we now turn to the south aisle to look at that of Peter Gunning, Bishop of Ely under Charles the Second, who wrote (as we mentioned before) the prayer to which we owe the phrase "All sorts and conditions of men." The mitred bishop rests his head on one hand, in an attitude somewhat ungainly, and his monument is of little artistic merit. ”

“ At a great council held at Pipewell abbey near Geddington on September 15, vacant bishoprics were filled with men whose names were to be conspicuous in the period now beginning. Richard's chancellor, William Longchamp, was made Bishop of Ely; Richard Fitz Nigel, of the family of Roger of Salisbury, son of Nigel, Bishop of Ely, and like his ancestors long employed in the exchequer and to be continued in that service, was made Bishop of London; Hubert Walter, a connexion of Ranulf Glanvill, and trained by him for more important office than was now intrusted to him, became Bishop of Salisbury ”

“ DGAR "the peaceful," by his charter, as mentioned in the Introduction, restored the powers and privileges enjoyed by the Superiors of the monastery previous to its destruction by the Danes, to the newly-appointed Abbot on its re-foundation by Bishop Ethelwold, a.d. 970, and the Abbots of Ely successively exercised powers nearly similar to a County Palatine, and after the change from an abbacy to a bishopric, the bishops continued to exercise similar authority until the reign of Henry VIII., when they were greatly abridged by an Act of Parliament. ”

“ Harvey, the first Bishop of Ely; Bishop Northwold, who erected the Presbytery; and Alan de Walsingham, the skilful architect of the Octagon. The tracery [Pg 53] contains medallions in which are pictured the shrine of St. Etheldreda; Abbot Simeon laying the foundation stone of the Cathedral; Alan de Walsingham and monks weeping over the ruins of the central tower; the arms of the University of Cambridge, of the See of Ely, of Bishop Sparke, with other devices. ”

“ The Bishop does not care to stay long in this place, not being good for his health; he is Lord of all the island, has the command and ye jurisdiction.... There is a good palace for the Bishop built, but it was unfurnished. There are two Churches. Ely Minster is a curious pile of building all of stone, the outside full of Carvings and great arches, and fine pillars in the front, and the inside has the greatest variety and neatness in the works. ”

“ The Ely monks cannot but have been mindful of the unfairness with which, in the earlier part of the century, Hervey, the first bishop of the see, had carried out the royal mandate for a division of the lands of the monastery of Ely between the convent itself and the newly created see ”

“ Edmund's. This, too, is made in the form of a beast of prey (somewhat distantly resembling a wolf) , holding between its paws a human head. The Abbey of Bury St. Edmund's, it may be mentioned, was, in some sort, a daughter House of Ely. When King Edgar, "the Peacemaker," founded that monastery in honour of the Royal Martyr he populated it, in the first instance, by drafting forty monks from Etheldreda's earlier royal foundation.
We will next look at the impressive monument of William of Kilkenny, Bishop of Ely for three years under Henry the Third. ”

“ Very possibly the designation of the Ely scholars as 'scholars of the bishops of Ely' may imply an acknowledgment of the anticipation by Bishop Northwold of Bishop Hugh de Balsham's intention to provide for secular students. ”

“ He was then presented to the rectory of Leverington in the Isle of Ely, and became chaplain to Edmund Keene [q. v.] , bishop of Ely, who collated him to the rectory of Teversham in Cambridgeshire. He was appointed the seventh prebend of Ely on 23 Jan. 1768, and the same day, on his resigning Teversham, he was appointed to the rectory of Snailwell in Cambridgeshire. ”

“ Then, as now, the Catholic Church might have been well called "Cette éternelle recommenceuse," able to rise from her ashes with life renewed. From the havoc wrought by the Danes, the Abbey of Ely, as a Benedictine House, arose once more, rebuilt, refounded, and re-endowed by King Edgar, who restored to it by Royal Charter all that Etheldreda had originally bestowed; adding thereto several demesnes and sundry privileges. The re-constitution of the Abbey was carried out under the guidance of Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester. ”

“ This dedication took place in 1252. "Two years later the good bishop died at his manor at Downham, and his body was carried with much reverence to Ely, where it was buried in a magnificent Presbytery which he had founded and built." Such is the witness of Matthew Paris, a contemporary chronicler. We may mention that the income of the See of Ely was at this time equivalent to £30,000 a year. ”

“ Those who approach Ely from the south must notice two prominent buildings standing quite apart from the cathedral. One is the Theological College, a structure of red brick well placed on rising ground, where twenty students can reside while preparing to take Holy Orders in the Church of England; it was founded by Bishop Woodford, who filled the See for twelve years from 1873. The College has its own private chapel for daily use, but by its constitution the students are (p. 383) bound to attend many services in the cathedral ”

“ But Soham itself, in its turn, was utterly destroyed by the Danes, and the remains of the bishop became neglected. In 1020 the Abbot of Ramsey obtained permission to move them to his abbey; and while he was doing this, the monks of Ely set out with the intention of intercepting the convoy and securing the body for their own church. A dense fog prevented the Ely men from reaching the monks of Ramsey. ”

“ He was no novice as an architect when he came to Ely; for while Dean of Windsor he had completed the vaulting of St. George's Chapel. This chantry abounds in work characteristic of the Renaissance, extremely rare in England. Again and again, always with arabesque ornament that recalls the designs of Raphael in the Loggie of the Vatican, is reproduced the bishop's favourite motto, Gratia Dei sum quod sum ("By the grace of God I am what I am") , alluding, it may be, to his own humble parentage ”

“ The four low arches in them are under canopies resting on good carved heads, which remain perfect. Those on the north-east are said to be intended for Edward III. and his queen Phillippa, in whose time the building was erected; on the south-eastern arch are represented the heads of a bishop and a priest, perhaps meant for Bishop Hotham and Prior Crauden, superiors at the period [Pg 51] of erection. On the north-west arch are the heads of another priest, apparently younger, and of some secular person with long hair ”

“ He, too, has eight Saints on his cope, and eight more in his canopy. [163] Twelve Latin verses (p. 218) give a dialogue between himself and Death, whose words are incised, while his are in relief. The chancel has twelve fine stalls on either side, and a grand rood screen, all from the generosity of Rector Sleford. Yet another, and earlier, worthy connected with this place, is Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely and Founder of the earliest Cambridge College, Peterhouse. ”

“ The disgusted monks sought the protection of the Roman curia; but in 1278 the mediation of the abbots of Reading and Glastonbury patched up a peace between Ely and his chapter. The bishop ‘put away all rancour’ and gave the kiss of peace to all the monks, except those still negotiating in the papal court against him. A little later troubles were renewed, and the king thought it worth while to take the priory in his own hands; though at Christmas, when he held his court at Winchester, he resigned its custody to the bishop. ”

“ Times have changed; and the Bishop of Ely is now free from the burdensome luxury of an official residence in London.
(p. 324) CHAPTER XV Bishop Northwold.—Presbytery Dedicated.—Barons at Ely.—Fall of Tower, Alan of Walsingham, Octagon.—Queen Philippa.—Lady Chapel, John of Wisbech, Bishop Goodrich.—Bishop Alcock.—Bishop West.—Styles of Architecture.—Monastic Industries.—Mediæval Account Books.—Clothing and Food of Monks.—Benedictine Rule.—Dissolution of Abbey.—Bishop Thirlby.—Bishop Wren.—Bishop Gunning.—Bishop Turner. ”

“ It is difficult to find a single bishop in the whole period who was respected for his piety or virtue. The best of them were capable statesmen, the worst were mean time-servers. Few of the higher clergy were such patrons of learning as many prelates of earlier ages. William Grey of Ely and James Goldwell of Norwich did something for scholars, and there was one bishop in the period who came to sad grief through an intellectual activity which was rare among his contemporaries. ”

“ He had been fellow of Pembroke, Cambridge, and after the Restoration he built a chapel for his old college, in which he was buried upon his death in 1667.
Benjamin Laney (1667-1675) had been Bishop of Peterborough and then of Lincoln. He spent a great deal of money in repairing the palace at Ely, which was much dilapidated. He died in 1675. He is described on his monument as being "facundia amabilis, acumine terribilis, eruditione auctissimus." ”

“ Brithnoth (970-981) was the first abbot. He had been Prior of Winchester. He devoted his energies to the consolidation of the new house, securing many fresh endowments, settling the boundaries of the Isle of Ely, and laying out the grounds of the abbey in beautiful order. The church possessed only the bodies of three of the four saints connected with the original foundation. There being no hope of recovering the fourth, Bishop Ethelwold and the abbot resolved to find a substitute in the body of S. Withburga, the youngest sister of S. Etheldreda. ”

“ Above most of the niches are shields with heraldic bearings, twelve in all. Among these are the coats of Edward the Confessor, the See of Ely, Bishops Hotham, Montacute, Fordham, and perhaps Barnet.11 One shield has a cross, and one a lion between three helmets. The arms of the monastery—three keys (said to have been adopted from Bishop Ethelwold of Winchester) —occur four times, in three cases with initials beneath. These initials are: A. W., which may certainly be assigned to Alan de Walsingham ”

“ With Bishop West's Chapel, the story of growth (p. 334) and development closes. Then came the Reformation under Henry the Eighth, and we come face to face with the work of iconoclasts rather than of builders.
Of all English cathedrals Ely perhaps possesses the most complete series of every style of Gothic architecture; and as the Minster records and registers relating to the whole period of her construction have been fortunately preserved, we can date approximately every arch and window, knowing when it was built, and, in many cases, who was the builder. ”

“ South Aisle of the Choir.
The eastern portion of this aisle is occupied by the elegant mortuary Chapel of Bishop West, (1515-1534) , filling the space of one bay in a similar way to that of Bishop Alcock in the north aisle. It is a rich specimen of that gorgeous style by some called the "Florid English," by others the "Perpendicular," but when that style was verging into "Renaissance." The niches and canopies are very numerous, and almost endless in variety of size, shape, and decoration. There are places for upwards of two hundred statues, large and small ”

“ A few years later the great western Tower with the wings, forming a second Transept, were begun, but whether by Bishop Harvey or by the monks themselves during the episcopate of Bishop Nigel (1133-1169) , we cannot say; they were carried on during the episcopate of Bishop Ridel (1174-1189) , and completed as high as the first battlements during that of his successor, Longchamp (1189-1197) , producing a fine example of what is called the Transitional style. ”