Bell\'s Cathedrals: The Churches of Coventry by Frederic W. Woodhouse
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Frederic W. Woodhouse >> Bell\'s Cathedrals: The Churches of Coventry
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[Illustration: COVENTRY, THE THREE SPIRES.]
THE CHURCHES OF COVENTRY
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE
CITY & ITS MEDIEVAL
REMAINS
BY
FREDERIC W. WOODHOUSE
WITH XL ILLUSTRATIONS
[Illustration: ARMS OF COVENTRY]
LONDON GEORGE BELL & SONS 1909
CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
TOOK COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.
PREFACE
The principal authorities for the history of Coventry and its churches
have been Dugdale's "Antiquities of Warwickshire" and the "Illustrated
Papers and the History and Antiquities of the City of Coventry," by
Thomas Sharp, edited by W.G. Fretton (1871). Besides these the many
papers by Mr. Fretton in the Transactions of the Birmingham and
Midland Institute and other Societies, and the "History and
Antiquities of Coventry" by Benjamin Poole (1870) have been the main
sources of historical information. The Author is, however, responsible
for the architectural opinions and descriptions, which are mainly the
outcome of a lifelong acquaintance with the city and its buildings,
fortified by several weeks of study and investigation recently
undertaken.
He desires to acknowledge his deep obligations to the Vicars of the
several churches for leave to examine, measure and photograph the
buildings in their charge; to Mr. J. Oldrid Scott for the loan of
drawings of St. Michael's; to Mr. A. Brown, Librarian of the Coventry
Public Library for advice and help in making use of the store of
topographical material under his care; to Mr. Owen, Verger of St.
Michael's and Mr. Chapman, Verger of Holy Trinity, for help in various
directions, and to Mr. Wilfred Sims for his energy and care in taking
most of the photographs required for illustration.
The other illustrations are reproduced from drawings made by the
author.
CONTENTS
MONASTERY AND CITY 3
THE RUINS OF THE PRIORY AND CATHEDRAL CHURCH 16
ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH:
CHAPTER I. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 21
II. THE EXTERIOR 29
III. THE INTERIOR 41
HOLY TRINITY CHURCH:
CHAPTER I. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 61
II. THE EXTERIOR 65
III. THE INTERIOR 69
ST. JOHN BAPTIST'S CHURCH 79
THE GREY FRIARS' CONVENT (CHRIST CHURCH) 91
THE WHITE FRIARS 94
ST. MARY HALL 96
THE CARTHUSIAN MONASTERY 99
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
COVENTRY, THE THREE SPIRES _Frontispiece_
ARMS OF THE TOWN _Title-page_
VIEW FROM THE TOP OF BISHOP STREET 2
COOK STREET GATE 7
SEAL OF THE PRIORY 15
WEST END OF THE PRIORY CHURCH 16
REMAINS OF THE NORTH-WEST TOWER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 17
ST. MICHAEL'S FROM THE NORTH 20
ST. MICHAEL'S FROM THE NORTH-WEST 28
INTERIOR OF THE TOWER FROM BELOW 31
THE WEST PORCH 33
SOUTH PORCH FROM ST. MARY HALL 34
SOUTH-WEST DOORWAY 35
INTERIOR OF ST. MICHAEL'S FROM THE WEST 40
TOWER ARCH 42
BAY OF NAVE, NORTH SIDE 43
INTERIOR FROM THE SOUTH DOOR 45
THE CHOIR FROM ST. LAWRENCE'S CHAPEL 46
POPPY HEAD, LADY CHAPEL 48
MISERERE, LADY CHAPEL 48
CHEST IN NORTH AISLE 50
THE NETHERMYL TOMB 51
THE SWILLINGTON TOMB 54
ALMS-BOX 56
HOLY TRINITY FROM THE NORTH (ABOUT 1850) 60
PLAN OF TRINITY CHURCH 66
INTERIOR OF HOLY TRINITY, FROM THE WEST 68
NORTH SIDE OF NAVE--EASTERN BAYS 71
PULPIT 73
ARCHWAY BETWEEN THE NORTH PORCH AND ST. THOMAS'S CHAPEL 74
ALMS-BOX 77
CHURCH OF ST. JOHN BAPTIST 80
PLAN 85
INTERIOR 87
CLEARSTORY WINDOWS 88
THE SPIRE OF CHRIST CHURCH 92
GREY FRIARS' CHURCH (PLAN OF CROSSING) 93
ST. MARY HALL 96
PLAN 98
PLAN OF ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH _At End_
[Illustration: VIEW FROM THE TOP OF BISHOP STREET.]
CHURCHES OF COVENTRY
MONASTERY AND CITY
The opening words of Sir William Dugdale's account of Coventry assert
that it is a city "remarkable for antiquity, charters, rights and
privileges, and favours shown by monarchs." Though this handbook is
primarily concerned with a feature of the city he does not here
mention--its magnificent buildings--the history of these is bound up
with that of the city. The connection of its great parish churches
with the everyday life of the people, though commonly on a narrower
stage, is more intimate than is that of a cathedral or an abbey
church, but it is to be remembered that without its Monastery Coventry
might never have been more than a village or small market town.
We cannot expect the records of a parish church to be as full and
complete as those of a cathedral, always in touch through its bishops
with the political life of the country and enjoying the services of
numerous officials; or as those of a monastery, with its leisured
chroniclers ever patiently recording the annals of their house, the
doings of its abbots, the dealings of their house with mother church
and the outside world, and all its internal life and affairs. In the
case of Coventry, the unusual fulness of its city archives, the
accounts and records of its guilds and companies, and the close
connection of these with the church supplies us with a larger body of
information than is often at the disposal of the historian of a parish
church. As therefore, in narrating the story of a cathedral some
account of the Diocese and its Bishops has been given, so, before
describing the churches of Coventry, we shall give in outline the
history of the city which for 700 years gave its name to a bishop and
of the great monastery whose church was for 400 years his seat.
Though Dugdale says that it is remarkable for antiquity, Coventry as
a city has no early history comparable with that of such places as
York, Canterbury, Exeter, or Colchester, while its modern history is
mainly a record of fluctuating trade and the rise and decline of new
industries. But through all its Mediaeval period, from the eleventh
century down to the Reformation, with an expiring flicker of energy in
the seventeenth, there is no lack of life and colour, and its story
touches every side of the national life, political, religious, and
domestic. The only evidence of extreme antiquity produced by Dugdale
is the suffix of its name, for "_tre_ is British, and signifieth the
same that _villa_ in Latin doth;" while the first part may be derived
from the convent or from a supposed ancient name, Cune, for the
Sherborne brook.
The first date we have is 1016, when Canute invaded Mercia, burning
and laying waste its towns and settlements, including a house of nuns
at Coventry founded by the Virgin St. Osburg in 670, and ruled over by
her.[1]
But there is no sure starting-point until the foundation of the
monastery by Earl Leofric and the Countess Godiva, the church being
dedicated by Edsi, Archbishop of Canterbury, in honour of God, the
Virgin Mary, St. Peter, St. Osburg, and All Saints on 4th October,
1043. Leofwin, who was first abbot with twenty-four monks under his
rule, ten years after became Bishop of Lichfield. The original
endowment by Leofric, consisted of a half of Coventry[2] with fifteen
lordships in Warwickshire and nine in other counties, making it (says
Roger de Hoveden) the wealthiest monastery of the period. Besides this
the pious Godiva gave all the gold and silver which she had to make
crosses, images, and other adornments for the church and its services.
The well-known legend of her ride through Coventry first appears in
the pages of Matthew of Westminster in the early fourteenth century.
The Charter of Exemption from Tolls is not in existence, and the story
of Peeping Tom is the embroidery of the prurient age (1678), in which
the pageant was instituted. In a window of Trinity Church figures of
Leofric and Godiva were set up about the time of Richard II, the Earl
holding in his right hand a Charter with these words written thereon:
I Luriche for the Love of thee
Doe make Coventre Toll-free.
Abbot Leofwin was succeeded in 1053 by Leofric, nephew of the great
earl; and he by a second Leofwin, who died in 1095. The first Norman
bishop of Lichfield had, in compliance with the decision of a Synod
(1075) in London fixing bishops' seats in large towns, removed his to
St. John's, Chester. But his successor, Robert de Lymesey--whose greed
appears to have been notable in a greedy age--having the king's
permission to farm the monastic revenues until the appointment of a
new abbot, held it for seven years, and then, in 1102, removed his
stool to Coventry. Five of his successors were bishops of Coventry
only, then the style changed to Coventry and Lichfield, and so
remained till 1661, when (in consequence of the disloyalty of Coventry
and the sufferings of Lichfield in the royal cause) the order was
reversed!
In 1836 the archdeaconry of Coventry was annexed to Worcester and its
name disappeared from the title, and now it is probable that Coventry
will soon again give her name to a See without dividing the honour.
For the joint episcopal history the reader must be referred to the
handbook in this series on Lichfield Cathedral. In this place will
only be given that of the Monastery as such, and specially in
connection with its "appropriated" parish churches and the City in
which it stood. That history is not essentially different from that of
other monasteries. Though its connection with the See and the rival
claims and antagonisms of the respective Chapters produced a plentiful
crop of serious quarrels, its relations with the townsfolk were free
from such violent episodes as occurred at Bury St. Edmunds or St.
Albans. The Chapter of Lichfield consisted of secular priests (Lymesey
and his next successor were married men), while the Monastery, though
freed by pope and king from any episcopal or justiciary power and with
the right of electing its own abbot, was, like all monastic bodies,
always jealous of the encroachments of bishops, and regarded secular
priests as inferior in every respect. The opinion of the laity who saw
both sides may be gathered from Chaucer's picture of a "poore Persoun
of a toun." He knew well enough how the revenue, which should have
gone to the parish, its parson and its poor, went to fill the coffers
of rich abbeys, to build enormous churches and furnish them
sumptuously, to provide retinues of lazy knights for the train of
abbot or bishop, and to prosecute lawsuits in the papal courts.
But when bishop and abbot were one and the same, the monks still
claimed the right of election, and so for generations the history of
the diocese is a tale of strife and bickering, and how it was that
pope, king or archbishop did not perceive that it was a case of
hopeless incompatibility of temper, or, perceiving it, did not
dissolve the union or get it dissolved is difficult to see. Probably
the injury done to religion weighed but lightly against vested
interests and the power of the purse. The Monastery was, however, as
Dugdale says, "the chief occasion of all the succeeding wealth and
honour that accrued to Coventry"; for though the original Nunnery may
have been planted in an existing settlement, or have attracted one
about it, the greater wealth of the Abbey, its right to hold markets,
and all its own varied requirements would quickly increase and bring
prosperity to such a township, as it did at Bury St. Edmunds,
Burton-on-Trent and many another.
In the thirteenth century the priory was in financial straits, through
being fined by Henry III for disobedience. Later, however, he granted
further privileges to the monks, among them that of embodying the
merchants in a Gild. In 1340 Edward III granted this privilege to the
City. From an early period the manufacture of cloth and caps and
bonnets was the principal trade of Coventry, and though Leland says,
"the town rose by making of cloth and caps, which now decaying, the
glory of the City also decayeth," it was only destroyed by the French
wars of the seventeenth century. But in 1377, when only eighteen towns
in the kingdom had more than 3,000 inhabitants, and York, the second
city, had only 11,000, Coventry was fourth with 7,000. Just one
hundred years later 3,000 died here of the plague, one of many
visitations of that terrible scourge. At the Suppression it had risen
to 15,000, and soon after fell to 3,000, through loss of trade for
"want of such concourse of people that numerously resorted thither
before that fatal Dissolution."
But if the town grew apace so did the Monastery. Thus, when in 1244
Earl Hugh died childless his sisters divided his estates and Coventry
fell to Cecily, wife of Roger de Montalt. Six years later the
Monastery lent him a large sum to take him to the Holy Land, and
received from him the lordship of Coventry (excepting the Manor House
and Park of Cheylesmore) and the advowson of St. Michael's and its
dependent chapels, thus becoming the landlords of nearly the whole of
Coventry.
[Illustration: COOK STREET GATE.]
Civic powers grew with the growth of trade. Before 1218 a fair of
eight days had been granted to the Priory, and later another of six
days, to be held in the earl's half of the town about the Feast of
Holy Trinity. In 1285 a patent from the king is addressed to the
burgesses and true men to levy tolls for paving the town; one in 1328
for tolls for inclosing the city with walls and gates, while in 1344
the city was given a corporation, with mayor, bailiffs, a common seal,
and a prison. As the municipal importance and the dignity of the city
increased, the desire for their visible signs strengthened, and so, in
1355, work was begun on the walls, Newgate (on the London Road) being
the first gate to be built. Such undertakings proceeded slowly, and
nine years later the royal permission was obtained to levy a tax for
their construction, "the lands and goods of all ecclesiastical persons
excepted."
Twice afterwards we hear of licence being granted by Richard II to dig
stone in Cheylesmore Park, first for Grey Friars Gate, and later for
Spon Gate, "near his Chapel of Babelake." The walls so built were of
imposing extent and dimensions, being three yards in breadth, two and
a quarter miles in circumference, and having thirty-two towers and
twelve gates.[3] Nehemiah Wharton, a Parliamentary officer in 1642,
reports of the city that it is:
Environed with a wall co-equal, if not exceedinge, that of
London, for breadth and height; and with gates and battlements,
magnificent churches and stately streets and abundant fountains
of water; altogether a place very sweetly situate and where there
is no stint of venison.
To return to the monastic history. We have seen how, in the
mid-thirteenth century the Monastery had become the landlord of the
city; shortly before this it had been so impoverished with ceaseless
quarrels with the King and the Lichfield Chapter, involving costly
appeals to Rome, that the Prior was reduced to asking the hospitality
of the monks of Derley for some of the brethren. A period of
prosperity followed and many benefactions flowed in, including the
gift of various churches by the king. It was after twenty-six years of
quarrelling that the Pope, in 1224, had appointed to the bishopric
Walter de Stavenby, an able and learned man. During his episcopacy the
friars made their appearance in England, and by him the Franciscans
were introduced at Lichfield, while at Coventry Ranulph, Earl of
Chester, gave them land in Cheylesmore on which to build their oratory
and house.
They were not generally welcomed by the monks. A Benedictine laments
their first appearance thus "Oh shame! oh worse than shame! oh
barbarous pestilence! the Minor Brethren are come into England!" and
at Bury they were obliged to build outside a mile radius from the
Abbey. The parish priests also soon found out that they were undersold
in the exercise of their spiritual offices and although no doubt many
badly needed awakening they were not, on that account, the more likely
to welcome the intruders.
Another innovation, affecting the fortunes of the parish priest, had
its beginning under the rule of Bishop Stavenby though its greatest
development occurred in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This
was the foundation of Chantries designed primarily for the maintenance
of a priest or priests to say mass daily or otherwise for the soul's
health of the founder, his family and forbears. The earliest we hear
of are one at Lincoln, and one at Hatherton in Coventry Archdeaconry
while the Bishop himself endowed one in Lichfield Cathedral. Many were
perpetual endowments (L5 per annum being the average stipend), others
were temporary, according to the means of those who paid for the
masses--for a term of years or for a fixed number of masses. Although
chantry priests were often required to give regular help in the church
services or taught such scholars as came to them or served outlying
chapelries, the system permitted a great number to live on occasional
engagements and was doubtless productive of abuses. Chaucer tells us
that his poor parson was not such an one as
... left his sheep encumbered in the mire,
And ran unto London, unto Saint Poul's,
To seeke him a chantery for souls.
The number of chantries in the different cathedrals varied very
greatly, Lichfield had eighty-seven, St. Paul's thirty-seven, York
only three. Monks' churches had few or none while in town churches
they were numerous, London having one hundred and eighty, York
forty-two, Coventry at least fifteen besides the twelve gild priests
of the chapel of Babelake. Most were founded in connection with an
existing altar, some had a special altar, at Winchester, Tewkesbury
and elsewhere they were enclosed in screens between the pillars of the
nave, or a special chapel was added to the church.
It was in the thirteenth century also (1267) that the monastery
obtained the grant of a Merchants' Gild; with all the privileges
thereto belonging, the earliest of those which contributed so much to
the renown of Coventry. These were Benefit Societies, insuring help to
the "Brethren and sistren" in old age, sickness or poverty, securing
to them the services of the church after death and in all cases
established on a strictly religious basis and placed under the
protection of a Saint, or of the Holy Trinity. The regulation and
protection of trade interests, generally aiming at monopoly and the
exclusion of outsiders, were later developments. But without doubt
they were public-spirited bodies according to their lights,
maintaining schools (as at Stratford-on-Avon) hospitals and
almshouses, and giving freely on all occasions of public importance.
By pageants too, they contributed to the happiness and amusement of
the people as well as by the presentation of Mysteries and Moralities,
to their instruction and edification. But in the eyes of the
Reformers, or of grasping courtiers, all this went for nothing when
weighed against the heinous offence of supporting chaplains to pray
for deceased members and so (6 Edward VI) they were suppressed along
with the chantries, and their property confiscated, "the very meanest
and most inexcusable of the plunderings which threw discredit on the
Reformation."
Here, the city bought back everything which had belonged to the
Trinity and Corpus Christi Gilds, with various almshouses and the
possessions of the majority of the Chantries; while previously at the
Dissolution it had bought the abbey-orchard, and mill, and the house
and church of the Grey Friars.
In 1340 Edward III granted Licence to the Coventry men to form a
Merchants' Gild with leave "to make chantries, bestow alms, do other
works of piety and constitute ordinances touching the same." This was
St. Mary's Gild. Two years later that of St. John Baptist was formed
and a year later that of St. Katherine, the three being united into
the Trinity Gild before 1359. Of the chapel (now St. John's church)
begun in 1344 by the St. John's Gild and the "fair and stately
structure for their feasts and meetings called St Mary Hall" built in
1394 by the united Gilds more will be said later (p. 81 and p. 97).
The end of the fourteenth century and the fifteenth brought to
Coventry a full share in the events and movements of the time. In 1396
the duel between Hereford and Norfolk was to have taken place on
Gosford Green (adjoining the city) and Richard II made the fatal
mistake of banishing both combatants. At the Priory in 1404 Henry IV
held his Parliament known, from the fact that no lawyers were summoned
to it, as the "Parliamentum Indoctorum." Setting itself in opposition
to ecclesiastics, it proposed to supply the King's needs by taxing
church-property. As in the matter of the city walls, the church
contrived to avoid bearing its share of the public burdens and the
chronicler ends thus: "Much ado there was; but to conclude, the worthy
Archbishop (viz. Tho. Arundell) standing stoutly for the good of the
Church, preserved it at that time from the storm impending." One
branch of his argument is noteworthy, that as the confiscation of the
alien priories had not enriched the King by half a mark (courtiers
having extorted or begged them out of his hands), so it would be were
he to confiscate the temporalities of the monasteries. Henry VIII had
reason to acknowledge the fulfilment of the prophecy.
Soon after this, in 1423, Coventry showed its sympathy for Lollardry
when John Grace an anchorite friar came out of his cell and preached
for five days in the "lyttell parke." He was opposed by the prior of
St. Mary's and by a Grey Friar who however were attacked and nearly
killed by the mob.
The royal visits which earned for Coventry the title which it still
bears as its motto 'Camera principis' were frequent in this century.
In 1436 we hear of Henry VI being there, and in 1450 he was the guest
of the monastery and after hearing mass at St. Michael's Church
presented to it for an altar-hanging the robe of gold tissue he was
wearing. The record in the Corporation Leet book is interesting enough
to quote:
The King, then abydeng stille in the seide Priory, upon Mich'as
even sent the clerke of his closet to the Churche of Sent Michel
to make redy ther hys clossette, seying that the Kynge on Mich'as
day wolde go on p'cession and also her ther hygh masse. The Meyre
and his counsell, remembreng him in this mater, specially avysed
hem to pray the Byshoppe of Wynchester to say hygh masse afore
the Kynge. The Byshoppe so to do agreed withe alle hys herte;
and, agayne the Kynges comeng to Sent Michel Churche, the Meyre
and his Peres, cladde in skarlet gowns, wenton unto the Kynges
Chambar durre, ther abydeng the Kynges comeng. The Meyre then and
his peres, doeng to the Kyng due obeysaunse ... toke his mase and
bere it afore the Kynge all his said bredurn goeng afore the
Meyre til he com to Sent Michels and brought the Kynge to his
closette. Then the seyde Byshoppe, in his pontificals arayde,
with all the prestes and clerkes of the seyde Churche and of
Bablake, withe copes apareld, wenton in p'cession abowte the
churchyarde; the Kynge devowtely, with many odur lordes, followed
the seyd p'cession bare-hedded, cladde in a gowne of gold tissu,
furred with a furre of marturn sabull; the Meyre bereng the mase
afore the Kynge as he didde afore, tille he com agayne to his
closette. Att the whyche masse when the Kyng had offered and his
lordes also, he sende the lorde Bemond, his chamburlen, to the
Meyre, seying to him, "hit is the Kynges wille that ye and your
bredurn com and offer;" and so they didde; and when masse was
don, the Meyre and his peres brought on the Kynge to his chambur
in lyke wyse as they fet hym, save only that the Meyre with his
mase went afore the Kynge till he com withe in his chambur, his
seyd bredurn abydeng atte the chambur durre till the Meyre cam
ageyne. And at evensong tyme the same day, the Kyng, ... sende
the seyde gowne and furre that he were when he went in p'cession,
and gaf hit frely to God and to Sent Michell, insomuch that non
of the that broughte the gowne wolde take no reward in no wyse.
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