Desiderius Erasmus - Pilgrimages to Saint Mary of Walsingham and Saint Thomas of Canterbury, 1849 by gnosisclassics

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THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES

A.N

ENGLISH PILGRIM,

FROM AN KFFKiV AT ASIIHY DE LA ZOUCHE.

cPILGRIMACtES TO

SAINT MARY OF WALSINGHAM AND

SAINT THOMAS OF CANTERBURY. BY DESIDERIUS, ERASMUS.

NEWLY TRANSLATED, WITH THE COLLOQUY ON RASH VOWS, BY THE SAME AUTHOR, AND HIS CHARACTERS OF ARCHBISHOP WARHAM AND DEAN COLET,

AND ILLUSTRATED WITH NOTES,

BY JOHN GOUGH NICHOLS,

F.S.A.

" And thanne we putt us all in the mercy of God, beyng in great peyne and woo both day and ny^ht, vowyng sum of us pylgrymages to our lady of Loretto in Ytalya, and sum to our lady of VValsyngham, and sum to seynt Thomas of Caunterbury, we thatwer Englysshmen." Torkyngton'' s Pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

WESTMINSTER. JOHN BOWYER NICHOI.S AND SON. 1849.

rr\

CONTENTS.

Introduction

...... ...... ......

Erasmus's defence of

his

Colloquy on

gion's Sake" The Colloquy on " Rash Vows

Places"

;

or, Pilgrimages to

Note on the Mortality among Pilgrims Indulgences buried in Graves

The Author's defence

xviii

xix

xxii

Papal Indulgences or Bulls

The Colloquy on " Pilgrimage for Religion's Sake," describing the Pilgrimages of Walsingham and Canterbury

NOTES.

xiii

xvii

Sacred

of the preceding Colloquy

remarks on Rash Vows

Pilgrimage for Reli-

ib.

CONTENTS. Paul carries

......

sword

Saint William Saint

The

Anthony bath

situation of

his sacred fire

Walsingham

Mariazell compared with

The revenues

AValsingham Oil from the tombs of the saints

The

wells at

Walsingham

bear's skin fixed to the rafters

Relies of the Blood of Christ

Hailes,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

.82 ib.

85,

242

85,

242

.....88

of the Virgin

Legend of sir Ralph Boutetourt The shed brought from a great distance

The two

.81

....

Walsingham

The Assumption

.86

ib.

.89 .90

Glastonbury, Westminster,

......96 ..... ......

and Ashridge

ib.

Relics of the true Cross

Some

pilgrims neither pure nor chaste

Robert

.Vldricli the

Indulgences

companion of Erasmus

Walsingham

98,

Saint Bernard

.\ngels attendant on the Virgin

ib.

101

....

The beam on which the Virgin had rested The gigantic saint Christopher at Paris

103

104

ib.

attributed to the figure of saint Christopher

The crepaudine Gold and silver

or toad-stone statues at shrines

Assumed dedication

Thomas The names

107, 244

.... .

ib.

107, 243

..... .....

108

of Canterbury cathedral church to saint

of Canterburj'

of the assassins of Hecket

Mooks fixed

The goHpel

243

100

Profane use of Scripture phraseology Votive Inscription left by Erasmus at Walsingham . E.vempt jurisdiction of mitred abbeys

Charm

to tiie pillars of

of Nicodenius

churches

110

.111

ib.

113

CONTENTS.

....

The ancient Altar terbury

The

of the Virgin

and the Martyrdom

Can 113 115

point of the sword

Our Lady

116

of tlie undercroft

118

Saint Thomas's head

The leaden

120

thomas acrensis

inscription

The

hair shirts, &c. of the martyr

121

The

relics at

124

Canterbury

The character of Dh. John Colet, drawn An especial honour to be London-born The foundation Anecdote

of a

126

by Erasmus

130 135

of Saint Paul's School

Cambridge

137

Scotist

Colet 's estimation of married

138

men

143

His contempt of the Scotists

The

sacristy at

Canterbury

155

ih.

Treasures of the church of Canterbury

The

pastoral staff of saint

The cross-headed

staff of

156

Thomas

ih.

archbishops

....

The character of Archbishop Warham, drawn by Erasmus

The

Thomas

portrait of saint

Canterbury

Spoliation of churches

Thomas Goldwell, prior of Canterbury The Shrine of Saint Thomas The Shrines

of Saint

157 160, 245 .

160

164

119, 165,211

Edward, Saint Edmund, Saint Alban,

and Saint Cuthbert

170

Rapacity of the English custom-house officers

173

Herbaldown

175

hospital

176

Saint Patrick's cave

The Roman

178

stations

The sumptuousness

of churches

179

CONTENTS. Al'PExNDIX. Virgin and the Saints

180, 245

Woi-ship of

tlie

The abuses

of Pilgrimage censured by the poet Longland

and the

lollard

Thorpe

Modern pilgrimage on the continent Historical notices of AValsingham and The

architecture of

its

pilgrimage

Walsingham

Articles of Inquiry for the monastery of

Walsingham

.183 .

190

195

200

202

Letter of Richard Southwell to lord privy seal Cromwell, after the visitation of

Walsingham

1536

Lament

for

Walsingham Canterbury and

Historical notices of

its

pilgrimage

....

The martyrdom of saint Thomas of Canterbury The four murderers of Becket Honours paid to saint Thomas of Canterbury Relies of saint Tliomas of Canterbury

205 207 208 211

213

221

224

....... ......

Proceedings of terbury

.....

Fate of the abbey on the dissolution

219

Henry VIII. against saint Thomas of Can-

Additional Notes (including)

231

—

CTlaucoi)lutus

The Pilgrimage to Wilsdon Scarlet gowns and blue gowns The Pilgrims'' Tombs at Llanfihangel aber Co win .

241

.242

244

246

CORRIGENDA. " Read, This motto is derived from Romans, xiii. 4. " Read, Saint Pcrjictuus, bishop of Maestricht, at Dinant Belgium," ».«njinan in Britany.

P. 81. P. in

8.'>.

P. K7. line ('),for foiled reod fooled. P. 92, line 5 from foot, /or vesalle read beralle. P. 93, line 2, for Kelsey read Hilsey.

LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS.

English Pilgrim, from an

The bearded and

effigy at Asliby

tight-laced

Zouehe

Frontispiece.

Knight*

....

Pilgrim on his way, from Erasmus's Praise of Folly.

Gatehouse of Walsingham Priory

.....

Seal of Eton College, representing the Assumption of the

Blessed

Mary

103

....

Plan of part of Canterbury Cathedral

114

Head

118

Saint Thomas's

Seal of Archbishop Becket

156

Shrine of Saint Thomas of Canterbury

166

Seal of the

Nunnery

Pilgrim's sign or token of

The

Saint Thomas's

Pilgrims' Graves at Llanfihangel aber

From

182

of Ivychurch, Wiltshire

the sepulchral brass of

sir

Head"

Cowin

240 247

William de Tendring

see p. 88.

THE SOUL'S PILGRIMAGE. (xive

me my

scallop-shell of quiet,

staff of faith to

walk upon,

My scrip of joy, immortal diet, My bottle of salvation, My gown of glory (hope's true gage,) And then I'll take my pilgrimage. Blood

body's only balmer,

other balm will here be given,

Whilst

soul, like quiet palmer,

Travelleth towards the land of heaven.

Over the

silver

Where spring There

mountains. the nectar fountains,

will I kiss the

bowl of

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

bliss

Sir Walin- Raleigh^s Remains.

INTRODUCTION.

This

little

volume was undertaken on finding

that the interestmg account preserved

by the pen

of Erasmus of the two principal English pilgrimages was not so well be,

whether as

known*

deserved to

illustrating a chapter

of religious

history, or as supplying features of local descrip-

tion not elsewhere to

be fomid.

In the latter respect, indeed,

regarded by those writers

has been more

who have

described the

cathedral church of Canterbury, than * The Editor

not aware that there

by such

even any translation of

the Colloquies of Erasmus more recent than that of Mr. Nich.

Bailey the lexicographer, dated early in the style

now

that of Sir

last

century,

and

nearly as obsolete, though somewhat less coarse, than

Roger L' Estrange, made

sixty years before.

IXTRODUCTION.

have had occasion

notice the

ruined fane of

Walsiniiliani.

Camden was Colloquies of

when

what the

of course acquainted with

Erasmus afforded on both

describino; each of

them

places,

and

" Britannia" in his

he has quoted the " Percgi'inatio Religionis ergo,"

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Canterbury adopting some of

but the

i)lan

of his

work enjoined

its

very words

;

Somner,

brevity.

the early historian of Canterbury cathedral,

has

didy taken Erasmus with him round the church,

and

accordingly have the subsequent Kentish

but Blomefield, the Norfolk histo-

topographers; rian,

seems as

tlu'ouffh the

knew him only

medium

at second-hand,

of Camden.

Fosbroke, the historian of British Monacliism, has not only neglected to avail himself of the characteristic features which

Erasmus

many

presents,

but has even thrown a degree of discredit upon his

had been imaginary, or put togeHis words are, " Acther from various quarters. narrative, as if

cording to Erasmus, the Walsingham pilgrimages

were mere imitations of those

to Loretto

;

but there

INTRODUCTION. is

an apparent mixture of

this

V in

fiction

account of

liis

our famous provincial pilgrimage which pre-

cludes quotation."

The

present writer, on the contrary, has had the

satisfaction

Erasmus's

finding

Walsingliam confirmed details, that

description

many

induced to regard

description of the place, w^ithout

In the

first

place,

chapel of the

Work"

wells,

recollection.

Priory correct:

priory church

and

" the

Virgin, around which

just as

Erasmus

which he mentions,

describes still

wooden cottage or shed whose was supported by a

The two

it.

;

relic of the

borne

them by the

Virgm's

and the old

credit for

]\f ilk,

antiquity

The

much-

have testimony

Visitors' queries

be found in the Appendix.

New

was never

bear-skin, as well as the

esteemed to

exist

there

wooden

the

of stone had been erected, but

finished,

any one

find his description of the

churches of Walsingham

were two, the

an exact

any further devia-

tion fi'om perfect accuracy than such as

might make who wrote from

minor

its

which

will

miracle of the

INTRODUCTION.

Knight's escape throug'h the wicket of the gateway

not only mentioned in these queries, but also in

another record, which has been preserved

the

historian Blomefield.

That Erasmus personally

we have

letter to

when

his

Cambridge, on the

first visit

8tli

the Church.

dated from

May, 1511; and

says, after alluding to the

have undertaken a vow

took place from a

Andreas Ammonius, which

which he

Walsingham

evidence from his other writings.

fiu'ther

learn

visited

wars in

Italy,

for the good-success of

intend to visit the Virgin of

Wal-

singham, and to liang up some Greek verses there. If ever

you go

there, look for

Ammonio Erasmus

Andreaj

Epistola cxiv.

certi

rumoris apud

nopere velim audire,

vos, qua?so

num

them."*

nobis

It is there-

s. d.

inpartias.

vere Julium agat Julius, et

tu8

antiquam obtineat morem, ut quos maxime suos

eo8

maxime

;

scio

atque

felici

videri velit,

rerum ecclesiasticarum suceessu

rcligioiieni

illic

prol)as.

Visam Virginem

*****

Gra;cum carmen suspendam.

te illic contuleris require.

Canlahii'y. 8 Maij, It is

pro

Jam

susfCfii.

Walsagamicam quando

Nam raagnum Chris-

adversae fortuna? procellis exerceat.

Ego, mi Andrea,

votum

Si quid est

anno 1511.

remarkable that

in the next letter of

Ammonius

Erasmus

INTRODUCTION. evident that at

fore

written, or in

may

second

had already

lie

in the Colloquy,

have not searched

foHos of his

date

composed, the Inscription to

part

which he alludes

tliis

Vll

in vain

among

and for which tlie

volmninous

Works.*

not be equally capable of proof that the

Walsingham described

visit to

in the Col-

loquy was actually paid by Erasmus. possible that this

that

was invented

visit

imagining the

difficulties

had occasioned

supposititious,

his love

which

his

of satire in

Greek

inscrip-

to the unlearned canons

indeed

we may

would

of satisfy the curiosity

tion

was

very

a vehicle for telling his

and that he indulged

story,

tion

second

It is

conclude that one a

visit to

man

;

and

the place

of his penetra-

and just appreciation of the superstitions which

then flourished at this famous shrine.

of his descriptions and of the incidents he

ticity

mention Loretto

The authen-

made of a pilgrimage made by pope Julius himself to " Julius Maximus ad templum Deiparaj in Laureto se

is :

contulit,

Erasmo.

salutem

suam

27 Oct. 1511.

* See p. 102.

divw gratulaturus."

And. Ammonius

INTRODUCTION.

VIU

relates

fiilly

vindicated

observations which he

loll; mid

tlicn that the

panion,

may

made

also be

them

referring

at his visit in the

supposed that

young Etonian Aldrich was

who became

to the

year

was

his

com-

afterwards bishop of Carlisle.*

To Canterbury Erasmus was accompanied by man of still higher character, though he did not

attain so exalted a tity of

iden-

Gratianus PuUus with Dr. John Colet

shewn from a passage f our author

grimage points

The

rank in the Church.

;

in another production of

and the various particiJars of the Canterbury are confirmed

by evidence

either

still

existing or

Pil-

many

remem-

bered on good authority, that no one has ever expressed a doubt but that

Erasmus wrote

his de-

Canterbury from personal observation.

scription of

Though no

clue has been foimd to determine

the year in which Colet and he were there together, yet

must have been before the year 1519,

which was that of

Colet's death.

performed more than one journey *

Seep. 07.

They probably in

company,

t Seep. 127.

for

INTRODUCTION. to refer with delight to several

Erasmus seems

when he

pilgrimages

"Me

says,

Peregrinationis comitem

such et

nomiunquam

nihil erat eo

ascivit:

festivius."

The

" Peregricolloquy here translated, entitled

was apparently not written

natio Religionis ergo," mitil

some years had elapsed from the author's

it,

both places.

grimages

appended

The

to the Letter

pil-

date which occurs

supposed to have been

written by the Virgin of the Stone near

Basle,

namely 1524, was probably the actual date of composition

for

was

in that year that

completed an enlarged edition of

liis

its

Erasmus

Colloquies,

being then resident at Basle, and they had been first

printed* two years before, w'ithout the "PereReligionis ergo."

grinatio

In the earlier edition of

1522 a much more brief but very

had been published, with

much freedom

* That

say, first

been one edition a script copy.

the reputed merit of Pilgri-

with the author's consent.

little earlier,

There "

not contain the

lively colloquy

which the author had treated

There had

taken surreptitiously from a manu-

even an edition

Basili.-p

Pcrcgrinatio Religionis ergo."

1524 which does

INTRODUCTION.

mages, as well as the reputed value of Pardons and In this composition, which, from

Indidgences.

place in the volume, (immediately after the

fonnidaries of conversation,*)

one of the

first

mere

be regarded as

Erasmus wrote, he had given much

offence to those interested in stitions of the

may

its

age

;

and

maintainmg the super-

in his defence of the

whole

work, which was appended to the edition of 1524, liis

apology for the sentiments thus promulgated

nearly as long as the colloquy

Colloquy on Rash foimd attached to

Vows and

tliese

Both the

itself.

its

Apology

will

remarks.

In the same review of his labours Erasmus gave the following explanation of his intention in the

Pil(n'imao;e for Religion's

" In the those

Pereirrmatio Relisionis ergo

who have

churches

Sake :"

violently ejected

and then such

run

all

censure

images from

mad upon

pil-

for grimages undertaken under pretext of religion, â&#x20AC;˘

Indeed,

greitu. $u*cepliÂť.

The

succeeds them with merely this

title,

printer gave the pages this heading,

KrasmuH afterwards referred

viiendo locu sacra.

Alia in con-

votis iemere

the colloquy as

INTRODUCTION.

Those

which now even associations are formed.

who have been they

call

Jerusalem are called knights, and

one another brothers, and on Palm-Smi-

day seriously act a ridiculous

farce,

dragging along

much

an ass with a rope, themselves being not ferent from the

wooden beast they draw.

who have been

dif-

Those

Compostella imitate the same

Such performances may be allowed mdeed

thing.

as an indulgence of men's fancies

;

but

not to

be borne that they should claim any pious merit In

them.

who

this

exliibit

colloquy those also are stigmatised

doubtful

relics

for

real,

who

attri-

bute to them greater value than they are worth, or sordidly manufactm*e

The book to

avow

present

them

for gain."

Editor does

any polemical

spirit

put forth

not :

though he

his admiration of the constancy

this

ready

and perse-

verance with which, in spite of every kind of dis-

com'agement, Erasmus obeyed the

command

of his

Lord and Master, Let your light shine be-

fore MEN.

The

Erasmus among

best answer to the enemies of

his contemporaries,

and

to his de-

INTROUrCTION.

tractors of subsequent generations,

progress in

the constant

the elements and cliaracteristics of

all

observable in those countries into which

civilisation

the Reformation

made

its

most successful advances

;

and of that Reformation, though he did not person-

Works

the

ally join

it,

gai'ded as

among the most

Erasmus nmst be

effectual pioneers

in Catholic Spain the besotted multitude

the

wooden

ass of Compostella,

Ireland they are

still

and

alas

re-

w^hilst

still

drag

in Catholic

contented to grovel in the

narrow Piu'gatory of Saint Patrick.

The Editor would others to

draw

been merely the

their inferences.

of information, his authorities,

His object has

illustration of a feature of

rehgious history, in the

manner, that

leave to

wish, however, to

most approved

our early historical

to say, fi'om contem})orary som'ces

and accompanied by the

citation of

lie leaves the facts thus collected

to speak for themselves,

and desires that they

may

receive that critical examination from his readers to

which place

his

own

them on

efforts llic

have been directed,

order to

firm basis of historic truth.

RASH VOWS; OR,

PILGRIMAGES TO SACRED PLACES.

Speakers,

Am. you

Arnold, Cornelius.

Thrice welcome, Cornelius

;

we have missed

and were beginning to despair of your Where have you been travelling so long ?

for this age,

return.

Corn.

In hell

Am.

Well, you have come back so ragged, so thin, and so haggard, that one might suppose you were not far

from the Corn.

truth.

Nay,

returned from Jerusalem, not from

the shades below.

Am. What Corn.

fate, or

what wind, took you thither

The same motive

that takes others beyond

number.

Am. Corn.

Their

Am. What Corn.

folly, as I think.

this

reproach does not attach to

did you purchase there ?

Nothing but misery.

alone.

RASH VOWS;

XIV

Am.

You might have done

that at home.

But did

you find anything that you considered worth seeing Corn. To own the truth candidly,

scarcely anything. of antiquity, every one of

They show some monuments which seemed

deceptive, and invented to allure

the simple and credulous.

know

In fact

scarcely think they

what spot Jerusalem formerly stood. What then have you seen ?

for certain on

Ai^n.

Corn.

Great barbarism everywhere.

Am. Do Corn.

you return nothing holier

Nay, many

Am. More Corn.

degrees worse.

in cash,

then

No, poorer than Job.

Am.

Don't you repent having undertaken so long a pilgrimage to no purpose ?

Corn.

companions of it

would be

Am.

neither blush, because I have so

folly

;

nor do

many now

repent, because

useless.

you then bring back no advantages from so

laborious a pilgrimage ?

Corn.

Am. Corn.

Am.

Much. Well, then, what

Why,

I shall

is it ?

henceforth live more pleasantly.

I suppose, ber troubles that are past ?

Corn. that

not

Am.

Because,

There

delightful to

indeed something in that

;

remem-

but

still

all.

You

look, then, for

some further recompence

OK, PILGRIMAGES TO SACRED PLACES. Corn.

In truth,

1 do.

Am. What is

it ?

Corn.

be able, at

I shall

tell rac. all

times, to

afford great

entertainment, both to myself and others, by ray marvel-

when recounting

lous stories,

travels at gossipings

or feasts.

Am.

Forsooth, you are not far from the mark.

Then

Corn.

men

hear other

I shall not derive less pleasure

telling lies

when

about things which they have

never either heard or seen, a thing they do with such confidence, that

than the Sicilian

when they make

assertions

more absurd

yet they persuade even themselves

tales,

that they are telling the truth.

You will not enamazing satisfaction oil and as your your labour, they say. Corn. Nay, I make my calculations more advisedly

Aryi.

tirely lose

than those

who

are tempted by a

little

money

to enter

upon a military campaign, that school of every wickedness.

Am.

But

it is

illiberal

pleasure to

make

a pastime

of lying.

Corn. either

But

still

somewhat more

Corn.

than

give or receive delight in slander, or to lose

both your time and your substance at

Am.

liberal

far I

must admit you are

But there

is still

dice.

right-

another good result.

Am. What

Com.

have any friend especially dear to me,

that

RASH

XVI

inclined to

this

who

those

after

shall counsel

madness,

home, as sailors

V()\V8;

him

to stay at

admonish

shipwreck are wont

are about to sail of the dangers they ought to

avoid.

Am. time

wish you had been

monitor at the proper

What ? have you been

Corn.

disease ? has the contagion reached

Arn.

have visited

Good

Corn. find

Rome and

gracious

you a companion in

seized with the

Compostella.

what a comfort

same

you too ?

What

folly.

it is

wiseacre put

that in your head ?

Arn.

wiseacre, but sheer stupidity; seeing that 1

at home a wife as yet young, a few children, and a household which was dependent upon me, and main-

had Âť

tained

by Corn.

daily exertions.

must needs have been some powerful motive that could draw you away from your dearest ties. Say what

was,

Arn.

Corn.

beseech you.

am ashamed

to mention

it.

Surely not to me, who, as you know,

from the same disorder.

sufferer

Arn.

When

Some

of us neighbours were drinking together.

the wine had a

little

warmed

us, there

who announced that he was determined James, and another that he

would

was one

to salute

salute

Saint

Saint Peter.

Upon that, one or another engaged to join company. At length, it was proposed that all should go together.

OR, PILORIMAGES TO

SACRED PLACES.

XVll

1 should appear a very shabby messpromised that I would go too. Presently it to be which should we wend Rome or debated, to, began

So, for fear

mate,

Compostella.

Corn. in

wine than

Am.

was

last,

we should

willing, the next day

sage resolve

determined

God

that,

out for both.

set

more worthy

to be written

in brass.

But presently

which each drank

mazar walked

great

his turn,

in,

and the vow was made

inviolable.

Corn.

new kind of

religion

But

say,

were

all

blest with a safe return ?

Am. All but three of whom one dying on the way commissioned us to salute Peter and James in his name. :

Another we

lost at

greet his wife

and

Rome, and he childx-en for

we should

desired that

The

him.

third

left

behind at Florence, his recovery entirely despaired of.* I imagine he is now in heaven, * That

this statement of the mortality

exaggerated

among

thie

pilgrims

not

shown by the following passage from the Diary

Richard Torkington, rector of Mulbarton in Norfolk, who made his pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the year 1517 sir

" The XXV. day of August, that was seynt Bertilmews day, the morue after seynt Bertilmew decessyd Robert Crosse of London pewterer, and was buryed in the chirche yard of Salyus [in the island of Cyprus]

And

xxvij

day of August decessyd

sir

Thomas

Toppe, a prest of the West countre, and was cast over the borde as

was many moo, whos soules God the sliippe

remayned

Magazine,

vol.

iiij.

LXXXII.

ii.

assoyle

And thanne

Englyssh prestis moo." 318.

ther

Gentleman's

KASH VOWS

XVIU

Corn.

Was

he, then, so pious ?

^rn.

Nay, the greatest trifler imaginable.

Corn.

Whence, then, do you draw that conclusion ? Because he had his satchel stuffed full of the

Am.

most ample indulgences.* Corn. I understand but ;

nor a very safe one, as

waymen which

Am.

That

infest the

true

;

a long road to heaven, on account of the high-

it is

I hear,

middle region of the firmament. but he was sufficiently provided

with passports.

Corn.

Written in what language

Am.

The Roman.

Corn.

He is He is

Am.

;

the hands of a it

will

unless

ill-luck

he should

fall

into

Latin spirit that does not understand

then be necessary for him to return to Rome, and

obtain a

Corn.

new

Corn.

certificate.

Are

Am. Oh make

then safe

bulls sold there even to the dead ?

most

especially.

But meanwhile

any inconsiderate

must give you a

remarks, for

hint, not to

now every

place

abounds with tale-bearers.

Am. * "

do not at

Some redeemed

for

money

all

depreciate indulgences

great plenty of

;

indulgences from

Rome, and he that had the greatest plenty of them to be cast with him into his grave when he was buried (which I myself have seen done) was counted the best prepared for death." bishop Grindal, in 1564.

Sermon

Arch-

OR, PILGKIMAGES TO SACRED PLACES.

XIX

in only smile at the folly of my pot-fellow, who, being other respects the merest trifler, yet rested the stem and stern, as

they say, of his salvation upon parchments, amendment of the heart. But when shall

rather than in

we enjoy Corn. little

that luxury

the

compotation

then we

will try

no doubt we

;

we were

first

just

now

opportunity

will invite

which can

tell

talking of ?

will

some of our

arrange a

fellows,

and

the greatest marvels, and

shall be vastly delighted with our

mutual

performances.

Am.

Agreed.

The

author's defence of the preceding Colloquy,

in his

at Basle, in

"De

paper

May

Utilitate Colloquioruin," dated

1526,

The Colloquy on

as follows:

visiting

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Sacred Places checks the

and extravagant fancy of certain people superstitious who imagine it the height of piety to have seen Jerusalem whither, over such wide distances of sea and :

land, run old bishops, leaving their flock, which ought to be

tended

families

and

;

thither

go men of rank, deserting their thither go husbands, whose

their estates

;

children and wives require some guardian of their edu-

Al'OLUGY FOK THE COLLOQUY

XX and

cation

their

modesty

;

thither

young men and women,

not without great danger to their morals and chastity-

Some even go

again and again, and indeed do nothing

else all their lives

;

and

all

along the name of religion

given to superstition, love of change, folly, and rashness

and a man who, contrary his

own,

will carry off the credit of sanctity,

himself that he has

;

to the doctrine of Paul, deserts

fulfilled all

and

flatter

the requirements of devo-

Paul, in the 1st Timothy, v. 11, plainly declares,

tion.

If any one careth not for his own,

and especially those of and is worse than

his household, he has denied the faith,

And

an unbeliever.

who

here Paul seems to speak of widows

neglected their children and grandchildren under the

pretext of religion, and in order to attend to the services

of the church.

What would he

then have said of husbands

who, leaving tender children and a young wife, and that undertake a journey to Jerusalem? many examples I will mention but one, neither

in poverty,

From

so recent in date that I need fear to give offence, nor yet so old but that the generation

from the greatness of the

A man little

living which cannot,

loss, forget the occurrence.

of high rank had, with a pious intention, but

wisdom, determined to

death.

is still

Having

committed

protection of

therefore

visit

made

Jerusalem before his his

arrangements, he

an archbishop, as to a parent, the care and all his

child, of his towns,

was brought that

affairs,

and

this

of his wife, then great with

his castles.

man

liad

When

the news

died in his pilgrimage.

ON PILGRIMAGES TO SACKED PLACES. the

deceased castle,

occupied

last of all

into

instead

archbishop,

robber's part.

XXl

parent's,

all

the possessions of the

performed a

he reduced by force the strongest

which the

pregnant

woman had

fled

for

refuge, and, that no avenger might survive of so atrocious

a deed, the lady, together with her promised offspring, was murdered on the spot. Would it not have been a pious

work

have dissuaded a man so circumstanced

from undertaking

his

dangerous and unnecessary jour-

ney? "

How many

other examples of this kind might be

found, I leave to others to ascertain

say nothing

meanwhile of the expenses, which, while we may allow them not to be entirely lost, yet no prudent man will deny that they might be bestowed on far better purposes. " But as for the religion of the matter. Saint Jerome

commended tine,

Hilarion, because, though a native of Pales-

and resident

that country, yet he

had

visited

Jerusalem but once, induced so to do by its vicinity, and that he might not seem to despise sacred places.

was deservedly commended, that he stayed away from Jerusalem, near as he was, lest he should appear to confine the Deity within a narrow locality, and If Hilarion

went there only once, being near the place, that he might not give any offence, what

to be said of those

who

out

of England and Scotland, with such expenses, and through so

many

leave at

hazards,

home

wend

Jerusalem especially when they ^

those dearest to them, to

whom, according

UASii vows.

XX ii

owe a constant care

to the doctrine of the apostle, they

Jerome exclaims,

Saint at

Jerusalem

And

yet

no great thing

It is

but to have lived well

;

in the

age of Jerome

it is

have been

the great thing.

much

probable that

ancient monuments existed than are plainer remains of now to be found.

On Vows

leave the discussion to others

yet this

no one ought to unColloquy merely goes to show, that This

dertake such vows rashly. '

Especially since

had

home

proved by

words,

a wife, as yet young,

and a household that depended upon me, and was supported by my daily labour ;" and other passages which follow. On vows already taken, then, I will say

children,

nothing further, except that

was the Pope

I should

not be obdurate in releasing those that are engaged by

As for

them.

that

sible

vantage,

undertaking them, whilst

some may go I

still

confess

Jerusalem

it is

pos-

with pious ad-

should not hesitate to counsel many, from

regard to circumstances, to devote those expenses, time,

and labour upon other things which more surely conduce These sentiments I believe to be right: and to true piety. therefore, considering the levity, or the ignorance, or the

superstition of the

multitude,

warn youth on this matter

;

seemed proper

nor do

I see

whom

this ad-

monition ought to offend, except perhaps some of those to

whom " but

gain

Nor do I

dearer than godliness.

I there

condemn Papal Indulgences or Bulls

censure that greatest of

triflers,

;

who, thinking

FArAL INDULGKNCES. amendment

XXlll

presumes to place his whole human pardons. Whoever will here bo persuaded to consider, what a shipwreck of religion there nothing-

life,

trust in

among mankind, who vend the

partly

from the vicious conduct of

I'apal

Indulgences,* partly through

those

the fault of such

they ought

to do,

as accept it

admonish youth on

will

them

differently than

far

be allowed to be worth while to

this matter.

But

not very agreable to the proctors

this, I

good

told, is

fellow, if

they are honest men, they will rejoice that the simple folk should be

admonished

by them than godliness,

;

I take

but

* See Chaucer's character of the Pardoner, a

doned morals

;

and

so also a less

Then preched a Pardoner,

known

poet

Lewed men

man

loved

of most aban-

seles,

myghte assoilen hem fastyngo, of avowes y-broken.

Comen up knelynge

" !

he a prest were,

seide that hymself

falshod, of

more sought

them

Broughte forth a bulle with many bishopes

And

gain

leave of

alle,

wel, and liked hise wordes, to kissen hise bulles.

He bouched him with his brevet and blered hire uighen, And raughte with his rageman rynges and broches. Thus

thei

gyven hire gold, glotons to kepe, &c. Vision of Piers Ploughman.

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

Tlie scene

of the Colloquy

Antwerp,

the

Speakers

Menedemus and Ogygius.

How

Me.

comes this?

bour Ogygius,

months?

whom

He was

very man, miless I

go and speak

not that

reported to be dead.

to Imn.

How

are you,

Menedemus ?

Me.

What

us?

There was a sad rumour

Me. in the

I will ?

country has restored you in safety

you had gone the way of Nay, thank God

so well, that I

six

It is the

are you, Ogygius

How

Og.

neigh-

completely deceived.

Og.

that

no one has seen for these

all flesh.

have meanwhile been

was scarcely ever

May you always refute same maimer

in circulation

better.

such foolish reports

But what means

this ?

are covered with scallop shells, (1) stuck

all

You over

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

with leaden and

tin figures, (2)

adorned with straw

necklaces, (3) and a bracelet of serpents' eggs. (4) I

Og.

have

stella(5); and,

visited

Saint

retm'n, the sea-side Virgin

famous with the English

visited her, for I

From

Og.

Nay,

Me.

This religion,

vow,

curiosity, I

tlu'ee

years before.

suppose?

I suppose,

has been taught

literature? (6)

My wife's

that, if

or rather I have re-

fi'om motives of religion.

you by Greek Og.

;

had seen her

Me.

James of Compo-

mother had bound herself by a

her daughter had a son born

alive, I

should in person salute Saint James, and offer our thanks.

Have you

Me.

name

saluted the saint only in the

of yourself and your mother-in-law ?

Og.

Nay, with

the

devotions

the

whole

family.

Me.

fancy not a whit less prosperity would

have befallen the family saluted.

But,

thanksgivcr?

pray,

you had

left

James un-

what did he reply

the

COMPOSTELLA. Notliing

Og.

but wlien

;

made

offering he

appeared to smile, and slightly bend his head, and at the

same time he bestowed

Why

Me.

tliis

scallop shell.

shoidd he give that rather than any

thing else ?

Because the neighbouring sea brings him

Og.

plenty of them.

Me.

and

ladies, tliis

benignant saint! so serviceable to the so generous to his guests

new kind

But

not

of vow, that a person should do

others nothing himself, and impose the work upon If

you were

bind yourself by a vow, that

well tlmig you were about went on

any

should fast

twice a week, do you think I should perform your

vow

for

Og.

made

you ?

the

do not think you would, even

vow

your own person

favourite sport with

But

was

you

;

mock

mother-m-law's

custom must be observed. fancies

;

and, moreover,

you

seems a

at the

saints.

doing.

The

You know women's

concerned

fare.

for

my own

wel-

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

4 Me.

you had not kept the vow, what danger

would there have been ?

The

Og.

law, I admit

vows

have prosecuted

saint could not

but he might have been deaf to

;

he might

for the future, or

some calamity on

silently

have sent

You know

family. (7)

the

with the great.

way

Me.

Tell me,

how

goes on that most worthy

man James ? Og.

Much

colder than formerly.

Me.

What

Og.

You old.

grow

the reason

trifler!

But

this

you know the

new

doctrine,

so widely through the world,

quently visited than of yore

him only

salute

;

Old age ?

;

do not

saints

which

makes hmi

spread

less fre-

and those who come,

they give nothing, or as httle as

possible, saying that the

money may be

better spent

upon the poor. Me.

Impious opinion

Og.

And

thus so great an apostle,

to glitter all jewels

block

;

who was wont

and gold, now stands a bare

with scarcely a tallow candle to light liim

BASLE.

Me.

tliis

be true, there

some danger

lest

the same should befall the other saints. Og.

Yes

Virgm Mary Me.

herself has written

WliichMary? is named a

Og.

Me.

Og.

The same.

Me.

So you

Og.

Me. Og.

placed is

Basle, (8)

tell

if I

tliis

matter.

Lapide.

not mistaken ?

of a stone saint.

But

has she written ?

The

letter itself gives the

By whom was No doubt by

for

You must

not

can show you the

epistle.

Can you then

the angel

who wrote and

from which the preacher

addressed to holds forth.

autograph

name.

the angel

in the pulpit

sent

suspect any deception,

Me.

which the

epistle is carried about,

She who

whom

;

who

recognise the handwriting of

serves the Virgin as secretary

Og.

Wliynot?

Me.

How then ?

Og.

have read the epitaph of Beda, wliich

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE. was engraved by the angel: (9) the characters

And

agi'ee tlu'oughout.

sent to

Are

Samt

have read the

Giles: (10) the resemblance

scroll

exact.

not these sufficient proofs ?

Me.

May

Og.

You may,

Me.

Oh, you might

Og.

But now

one look at it? if

will

you

swear to secrecy.

as safely speak to a stone.

there are even stones that have the

bad character of concealing nothing. (11)

Me.

Speak then

dumb man,

you can

scarcely trust a stone. I will

Og. listen

with both

Me.

coplutus.

this condition, that

you

ears.

I will.

" Og.

read

Mary the Mother Be it known to

advanced greatly

of Jesus greets Glau-

you, that

you have

favour, inasmuch as, fol-

lowing Luther, you earnestly argue that

work of supererogation

invoke the

saints.

For

before this I have been plagued to death with the

impertinent suppHcations

were demanded of

of mortals.

alone, as

All things

my Son

were

BASLE. always an

because he

infant,

painted so in

arms, and

mother's breast; and as

deny any

represented and

still

hanging on his

he did not venture to

petition, for fear I

my nourislunent

should

turn refuse

And sometimes

to him.

even make such requests

they would

to a vu'gin, as

no youth

of any modesty would venture to put to a bawd,

and

wliicli

am ashamed

conunit to writmg.

Meantime the merchant, preparing conunends

Spain for

liis

trade,

vu-tue of

liis

mistress.

the

moment

preparation for

that flight,

And

the

The godless

cries out to

ter,

rich booty

professed

conunits to

soldier,

when

about to throw

led to the slaugh-

me. Blessed Virgin, grant

The gamester

exclaims.

little,

the dice favour

them but

Favour me,

And

be yours. they tear

wuth then' reproaches, and foully curse that I

was not the

who

nun,

the care of

shall

into

charge the

oh goddess, and part of the gain if

sail

she casts aside her veil in

her reputation, which she herself

away.

abettor of their wickedness.

projectuig

One

some base speculation exclaims,

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

Graiit a hu'ge profit postulate, saying,

Mercy

are

If I at all refuse, tliey ex-

Then you cannot be

Mother

Others' vows are not so iinpious as they

The maid

foolish.

Mary, give me a

cries,

handsome and rich husband

the

The

wife cries. Give

The lady with child cries. Grant me a happy time The old woman cries. Grant I fine childi'en

silly

long without cough and

live

may

man

old

Make me young

cries,

philosopher cries, Grant that I

The

soluble i^'oblems!

best benefice

church

The

bishop

before I die

The

courtier cries.

If I

refer

Keep our

cries.

deny anything

them

thou wilt

Thus

Son, I

flocks

am I

prosperous

Grant

clean

The countryman

The country-

and herds

in safety

immediately cruel.

If I

wills

whatever

woman and

a virgin,

hear.

alone, a

ain to give hel|) to sailors

The

Shew me thy Son

cries.

Send seasonable showers

woman

again

Take care of

Grant

confession at the hour of death cries,

The

may weave indiscries. Give me the

cries,

sailor cries,

The abbat

voyages!

priest

tliirst!

and

soldiers, traders

and

BASLE.

gamesters, maids and mothers, courtiers, kings, and

But what

I suffer.

Now

liusbancbnen.

what

least of

less troubled

count this

have already told indeed I

with these matters

the

am much

and on that ac-

;

should render you the greatest thimks,

convenience did not bring a greater mconve-

nience with

honour and as the

now

There

it.

less profit.

Queen

now more

Formerly

of Heaven, the

scarcely hear from

Mai'ia.'

Formerly abounded

gold, I

gauds and gems

Lady

now

wretched attendant

And

or taper.

was not

even

tlu'eatened.

World

of the

Ave

was clothed with jewels and

barely to

lio-lit

this

offerings

by the mice.

sufficient

keep

a tallow candle

might be borne,

You go

were of

scarcely covered with

half a petticoat, and that eaten

yearly revenue

less

was addressed

a few a single

in presents, :

but

ease,

worse

so far, they say, as to

drive out of the chui'ches whatever belongs to the saints.

There

Again and again take care what you do is

not one of the other saints

revenge himself.

Peter,

if tiu'ned

who cannot

out of the chui'ch.

P1LGKI31AGE FOK KELIGION's SAKE.

can

turn lock the doors of lieaven against you.

ill

Paul caiTies a sword. (12)

Bartholomew

with a knife.

William under

entirely armed,

and not without a heavy

And how

liis

anned

monk's gown

spear. (13)

can you encounter George the knight on

horseback, formidable both with his spear and his

sword

Nor

sacred

fire.

Anthony

And

(14)

defenceless

he has his

the rest have either their

weapons, or their calamities, which they can

whom

they

you cannot cast out

I will

you

tm'ii

cast forth, miless at the

whom

bear in

same time you arms.

not allow myself to be torn

away

Son,

From ;

either

him out together with me, or you must

retain both, unless

out

But me, although unarmed,

him

will.

inflict

you would have the church with-

Clirist.

" So

much

wished you

must consider what answer matter

very much at

understand

;

make me;

heart.

and you for the

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; From my stone

house, on the kalends of August, in the year of

Son's passion 1524, I the Virgin have signed this

with

my sUme

hand."

WALSINGIIAM.

Me.

very threatening and formidable I

Glaucoplutus, Og.

If he

Me.

Why

must take

think,

ejiistlc

care.

wise.

has not that excellent James written

on the same subject? I

Og. off,

and

know

not

;

imless

that he

further

in these times all letters are intercepted.

But what

Me.

fate carried

you back

into

Eng-

land?

A wonderfully favourable wind

Og.

and

thither,

was almost pledged

invited

to the sea-side

Virgin, that I would revisit her after two years.

Me.

What

Og.

Nothing new:

the health of

to seek of

her ?

only those usual petitions,

family, the increase of

a long and happy

life

tliis

world, and

estate,

eternal

happiness in the next.

Me.

Could not our own Virgui Mother bestow

the same ficent

Og.

She has

Antwerp a

far

more magni-

chm'ch than that at Walsingham. I

do not deny she might; but

in various

places she grants various things, whether because

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

she so thinks proper, or, as she tliis

kind, because in

she acconunodates herself to our desires.

Me.

have often heard about Jaines; but,

pr'y-thee, describe to

the domain of this sea-side

samt. Og.

I will gratify

you

as briefly as I can.

the most celebrated place tlu'oughout

all

nor could you easily find in that island the

It is

England,

man who

ventures to reckon on prosperity, imless he yearly salute her with

some small offermg accorcUng

to his

ability.

Me.

Where dweUs she?

Og.

the extreme coast of England on the

north-west, (15) at about tlu*ee miles' distance from

a town mauitained

the sea.

It is

tliing else

but the number of

scarcely any-

its visitors.

(16)

It is

a coUege of canons, but of those which the Church of

Rome

terms regular, a middle kuid between the

monks and Me.

those termed secular canons.

You

describe amphibious animals, such as

the beaver. Og.

Yes, and the crocodile.

But, without fur-

WALSINGHAM.

you some notion of them

ther cavil, I will give

In tilings disallowed they are canons,

three words.

m tilings allowed they are monks. Me.

You

Og.

But you

thunderbolts agamst

pontiff

but, if

;

to take wives, then

Oh what new

Me.

would take

mme

But

Og.

in riddles.

were

to lamicli his

monks, then they would be

all

canons, and not monlvs

monks

have a mathematical demon-

shall

Roman

If the

stration.

speak to

still

he were

to allow all

they would be monks.

privileges

wish they

to proceed.

This college has scarcely

any other resources than from the bounty of the For, though the larger offerings are

Virgin. (17)

preserved, falls

all

to the

head,

whom

that

money, or of

sustenance of the flock, and of their

they

call

the Prior.

Me.

Are they

of good reputation

Og.

They are

highly spoken of

than in revenue. elegant

cedes

;

it,

inferior value,

The

chvu'ch

;

richer in piety

and

graceful

but the Virgin does not occupy out of deference, to her Son.

;

she

She has

IMLGimiAOE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

may be on

her u\Mi cliurch, that she

her Son's right

hand.

Me.

looks her

liis

west, he has his

he turns

wliich

pomt then

Son?

Well thought

Og.

hand ?

right

When

of.

Mother on

she does not even occupy this

and

;

on the

to the

When

his right hand.

to the sun-rising, she

unfinished,

he looks

Yet

left.

for the building

a place exposed on

all

sides,

with open doors and open wmdows, and near at liand

the ocean, the father of the winds.

Me. dwell

liard.

Where

then does the Virgin

Within the clnu'ch which

Og. finished

a small chapel,

made

The

little

any but

most grateful fragrance

nostrils.

Me.

All these

Og.

Nay, when you look

would say

by a narrow

light is small, indeed scarcely

from the wax-lights. meets the

have called mi-

of wainscot, and ad-

mitting the devotees on each side door.

tilings

accord with religion. in,

Menedemus, you

was the mansion of the

saints, so

much

WALSINGHAM. does

glitter

sides with jewels, gold,

all

and

silver.

Me.

You make me

Og.

You would

Me.

Is there

Og.

You

lono; to

no sacred !

oil

there

That

except from the tombs of the

Me.

there.

not repent your jouniev.

sunpleton

Katharine. (18)

oil

does not exude

saints, as

Mary was not

Ancb-ew and

buried. (19)

But

I forgot myself, I admit.

finish

your

story.

The wider rehgion extends itself,

Og.

the greater

the variety of tilings shown in various places.

And

Me. richer

;

perhaps that the return

according to the proverb

When many The

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

may

be the

bands are on the plain

booty's quickly sought

Og.

And showmen

Me.

Were

Og.

and

ta'en.

are always at hand.

they some of the canons

no means

they are not required,

lest

by occasion of rehgion they should be aUenated from religion; and, while they minister to the Virgin,

should too

little

regard their

own

virginity.

Onlv,

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

inner chapel, which

tliL'

hiivc described as the

shruie of the lioly Virgin, one canon attends the altar.

Me.

For what purpose ?

Og.

That he may receive and take

what

Must

Og.

Not

those give

at all

;

who

are not inclined

would not ing by, though they at

or,

present;

largely than they

You

one wliich Og.

but a kind of pious shame brmgs

to the point, that they give if

Me.

of"

given.

Me.

some

chai'ge

least,

any one

stand-

no observer was

they give somewhat more

would otherwise have done.

describe a very natural feeling, and

have often noticed.

Nay, but there are those so devoted

the most holy Virgin, that, whilst they feign that

they are themselves going to place an offering on

her

altar,

with wondei'ful dexterity they

what some one Me.

filch

away

else has placed there.

Suppose no one was on the watch,

would not the Virgin immediately launch vengeance u[)on such

still

forth her

WALSINGHAM. Of/.

Why

sliould the Virgin

than the Heavenly Father

any more

whom some

hiinselt"?

not afraid to despoil of his

that,

are

ornaments, and even

break through the chm'ch wall for the purpose. 3fe.

camiot satisfy myself, whether one should

be most astonished

at their impious audacity, or at

the forbearance of the Deity. Og.

On the

north side there

the church, I must

Me.

enter

noblemen, so that any one

obhged

and then must

you, but of the exterior

has a very small wicket, such as

to enter is

to attack,

first to

subject his limbs

also stoop his head.

would not be very

safe for

You

are right.

Our reverend guide related

that once a knight, seated on his

was

an enemy to

by such a wacket.

Og.

tlie

seen ui the gates of

wanting

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; not

whole precmct of the church

wall with wliich inclosed.

tell

a gate,

this

horse, escaped

door from the hands of his enemy,

at the time closely pressuig

wretched man, thuikmg himself aspiration

commended

upon him.

who The

lost,

by a sudden

his safety to the

Virgm, who

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

was

SO near

altar, if the

tor

determined to

liacl

gate had been open.

heard-of occiuTence!

And

a sudden the

horse were together witliin

fly to !

her

the un-

man and

the precincts

of the

church, imd the pursuer fruitlessly storming without.

Me.

And

did he

make you swallow such a won-

derful stoiy?

Og.

Unquestionably.

Me.

That could not be very easy with such a

philosopher as you. Og.

pointed out a brass plate nailed to the

the knight gate, representing in the fashion then usual in

now

see in old pictures

;

who was

saved, attired

England, and which

according to which, the

barbers of that age must have starved, and also the

weavers and dyers. (20)

Me.

Why

Og.

Because he had a beard as long as a

and

all

it fitted,

was

his dress

that

had not a wrinkle

seemed

also anotlier plate,

of the opening.

;

goat's,

so tightly

to contract his body.

was

There

showing the figure and

size

Page 18

V^/i

ncft^

(Sec note in p. 86.)

WALSINGHAM. would be wrong

Me.

Og.

Under

the wicket

doubt any longer.

was an

lowing only a foot-man to pass

;

iron grating, al-

Avould not be

proper that any horse should again tread the spot,

which the former horseman had consecrated

to the

Virgm.

Me.

Right enough.

Og.

ders.

the east of this

Thither

I go.

There we worshipped

rehcs were

for a short time.

I kiss it

apostle? I ask.

;

these?

full of

won-

Another guide receives me.

the joint of a man's finger largest of three

a chajjcl

exliibited to us, the

and then says,

St.

Yes.

said.

Presently

Whose

I ask.

The

Peter's.

Then, observing

the size of the joint, which might have been that of

a giant,

remarked, Peter must have been a

very large

size.

burst mto a laugh

At ;

this

one of

man

companions

wliich I certauily took

ill,

for if

he had been quiet the attendant would have shown us

all

the relics.

fering a few pence.

However, we

pacified

hun by

of-

Before the chapel was a shed,

which they say was suddenly,

in the

winter season,

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

when

everytliiiig

tliithor fi'om

was covered with snow, brought

are two wells, full to the brink

spring

Under

a great distance. (21) ;

shed

(22) they say the

The water

sacred to the holy Virgin.

this

wonderfully cold, and efficacious in curing the pains of the head and stomach.

Me.

If cold water can cure the

and stomach, very soon

You

Og. for

oil will

extinguish

are told a miracle,

what miracle woiild there be

satisfied thirst?

They

story.

cold water merely

only one part of the

at the

command

of the most holy

how many

years

might be since

house was brought thither " But the I centuries.

little

Some

good fellow

Whilst looking around carefully at every-

thuig, I asked

that

this is

fire.

affinn that the spiing suddenly burst

from the earth Virgin.

And

pams of the head

walls,"

he answered.

remarked,

" do

not bear any signs of age." He did not dispute the " " Nor even the wooden matter. he allowed posts :

had been recently put up, and indeed they " " the roof Then," I said, spoke for themselves. that they

and thatch

up[)car to be new."

" agreed.

And

WALSINGHAM. even

not

rafters,

these

seem

said,

" nor the

have been erected for many years." " as now no I of

assented.

cross-beams,"

But,"

said,

the old building remains,

part

how do you prove

that this

was the cottage which was brought from a great distance?"

Pray how did your conductor

Me.

from

liimself

tliis

Why, he

Og.

extricate

difficulty ?

immediately showed us a very old

bear's skin fixed to the rafters

;

(23) and almost ridi-

culed om' duhiess in not havino; observed so mani-

Thus convinced, and asking pardon

a proof.

fest

for our slowness of apprehension,

we turned towards

the heavenly Milk of the blessed Virgin.

Me. has

us so

left

she so

mother most imitative of her Son

much

Og.

it is

to a single

They make

mmiy

which

the

;

(24)

scarcely credible should

woman

with one child,

the infant had taken none of

cross, (25)

of his Blood upon earth

Milk, as

have belonged even

much

same remarks of our Lord's

shown privately and publicly

places, that, if the

fragments were brought

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

together, they

ship

;

would

freight a merchant-

suffice to

and yet our Lord bore the whole of his

Does not

Me.

seem inexplicable

this

cross.

also ?

you

may perhaps be called wonderful, but not inexplicable; since our Lord, who increases these It

Og.

things at his will,

You

Me. that

self to

omnipotent.

accomit for

many such

very piously

but

I fear

tilings are fabricated for lucre.

I caraiot

Og.

think that

God woidd

suffer

him-

be mocked in that maimer.

Not

Me.

whilst the Mother, and the Son, and

the Father, and the

Holy Ghost are

alike

robbed by

the sacrilegious, and do not even disturb themselves so

much

as to drive

nod or a mmnnur ?

away

the wretches even

So great

the forbearance of

the Deity.

Og.

it is

but hear the

kept on the high at his

Christ;

Mother

;

for the

altar,

rest.

That Milk

of which

in the centre

right hand, for honour's sake, his

Milk

personifies the Mother.

Me.

can be easily seen then

0<i.

Inclosed in crystal.

WALSINGUAM. Me.

It is

Og.

How

was effused

then liquid

can you talk

fifteen centuries

you would say

ago

licpiid,

It is

when

dried

;

was ground chalk, mixed with

white of egg. then do they not show

uncovered ?

Me.

Why

Og.

Lest the virgin Milk should be contami-

nated by men's kisses.

Me.

who

You

say well

bring to

for there are those, I fancy,

a mouth neither piu'e nor chaste. (26)

Og.

rose,

put on his surphce, added the

soon as the canon in attendance saw us, stole to

liis

neck, prostrated himself with due ceremony, and worsliipped

Milk

anon he stretched forth the

be kissed by

us.

this

lowest step of the altar, rehgiously and, the

havmg

first

who

upon

Christ,

also,

fell

on the

prostrate

;

addressed

prayer like this, which I had " O the purpose Virgin Parent

Virgm with a

prepared for

called

thi*ice-holy

little

with thy maiden breast hast deigned to give

milk to thy Son Jesus, the Lord of heaven and earth,

beseech thee, that, being purified by his blood.

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

also

Hkc

may

attain to that

happy

chiklliood of dove-

simplicity, which, guUtless of malice, fraud,

deceit, earnestly desu'es the true

until

milk of the Gospel,

grows mto the perfect man,

the fullness of Clu'ist, Avhose

and

to the statiu'e of

happy communion thou

enjoy est for ever, with the Father and Holy Ghost.

Amen." Me.

very pious prayer.

What

reply did she

uiake ? 0().

P^ach appeared to assent,

little,

eyes were

For the holy Milk seemed

not deceived.

to leap

and the Eucharist shone somewhat brighter.

Meanwhile the ministering canon approached saying nothing, but holding out a {Q'e

little

us,

box, such as

presented by the tull-collectors on the bridges

Germany. Me.

ging-boxes, (

hj.

Virgin.

have often enough cursed those beg-

when

travelling through

Germany.

gave a few pence, wliich he offered to the Presently,

by means of an

skilled in that language,

tesy of address,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

his

interpreter well

and a youth of much cour-

name,

mistake not, was

WALSINGHAM. Robert AltWch, (27)

by what

could,

jiroofs

25 as civilly as I

inquired,

he was assured that

the Milk of the Virgin.

Tliis I

wished to

this

leai'n

was with

a really pious desire to be able to stop the mouths of those

who

are accustomed to ridicule everything of

this kind.

and was

silent

the canon turned

first

so that, if he

ther herself

more dehcacy than

before,

had addressed with such words the Mo-

when

not have taken sessed

his face,

the interpreter to repeat

I directed

the question, but with even

away

recently brought to bed, she could amiss.

But

the canon, as

pos-

a fury, looking aghast upon us, and appa-

rently horrified at the blasphemous inquiry, replied,

What need

the

And

to turn us out as heretics, if

not smoothed

down

Me.

What

Og.

We ?

did

lightning,

he seemed

a few pence had

the man's ferocity.

you then ?

Wliat should you think

we had been

for

such questions, when you have

authenticated inscription?"

ready

to ask

Just as

beaten with cudgels, or struck with

slmik away,

our audacity

for so

hmnbly begging pardon

it is

proper to do in holy

PILGRIMAGE

F'OR KELIGION's SAKE.

Thence we went

matters.

hostel of the heavenly

one of the

inferior

Virgm.

members of

and watched us as

liimself,

little

our

and aftenvards a

way tliither,

the convent showed

on another came,

httle further

house, the

also looking at us

;

third.

Me.

Perhaps they wanted to take your

Og.

But

Me.

What

Og.

That some

with suspicion;

portrait.

unaguied a far different thing. then? sacrilegious thief

had

pilfered

something from the ornaments of the holy Virgin,

and that suspicion had ing the chapel, little

prayer

Virgin, noAv

" :

fallen

upon me.

salute the Virgui

O, only of

all

So, enter-

Mother with

women Mother and

most happy Mother, most pure Virgin

we impure

visit

thee pure,

salute thee,

worship thee with our poor offerings: that thy

this

Son may grant

most holy manners, we

beseech

to us, that, imitating thy also

may, by the grace of

the

Holy Ghost, be enabled

spiritually to conceive

the

Lord Jesus

and when

the

mmost bowels

once conceived

never

of the soul, lose

him.

WALSINGHAM.

And

Amen." laid

Me.

How The

altar, 1

pence, and departed.

did the Virgin take this

make no nod to Og.

same time kissing the

at the

down some

Did she

your prayer was heard ?

signify that

was doubtful, and she

light, as I said,

stood in the dark at the right side of the altar.

Moreover, the speech of the

come me, Me.

So the

result of

Og.

Nay,

Me.

You

fallen to

was most

restore

Og.

Me.

Did you

Og.

was

inscription

eyes.

pilgrimage was not

tliis

old

Homer

for

so high that

My eyes

heart

says. (28)

;

suspected of sacrilege

but

had no suspicion

conscious of rectitude

was attracted by a desire

returned to the church.

when

so perhaps

The mind

liighly so.

to life again

dare,

knows

to see

the

which the canon had referred

us.

After a long search

it.

feet, as

After diiuier

fear.

happy ?

of myself

canon had so over-

that I did not dare to raise

particularly

had

last

we found

was not every

at last

;

but fixed

sight that could read

are such that I can neither be pro-

riLGRIMAGE FOR KELIGION's SAKE.

porly called lynx-eyed, nor altogetlier purblind. whilst Aldrich read

him

followed

it I

not entirely trustmg liim

as he went,

a matter of such im-

portance.

Me.

Was

Og.

so plainly

all

mcredulity shaken off?

was ashamed that

had

was the whole thing

the place, the

mode

notliing omitted.

at all hesitated

stated,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;the name,

of the transaction: in short,

A man

named Wilham, bom

Paris, not only pious in other respects, but especially zealous in collecting the relics of the saints

throughout the world, having travelled over countries, and everywhere

and churches,

There

this

many

visited the monasteries

at length arrived at Constantinople.

William's

brother was

when he was preparing

and,

bishop;

for his return, this bishop

infonned him of a certain virgin devoted to God,

who

possessed the Milk of the Virgin

serving either

how abundantly

;

fortunate he would be

entreaty, or purchase, or

he could obtain any portion of relics,

Mother

which he had hitherto

;

obif,

by contrivance,

for all the other

collected,

were nothing

WALSINGHAM. to that holy Milk.

Hereupon William did not

rest

With

this

he had begged half of that Milk.

until

treasure he fancied himself richer than Croesus.

Me.

I slioidd

Og.

think so

and beyond

home

hastens straight

all his

hopes.

on the journey

attacked by a fatal disease.

There

Me.

human

nothuio- in

life

either last-

ing or entirely prosperous.

Og.

liis

perceivmg

sununons a Frenchman,

danger,

liis

panion upon his pilgrimage

;

he privately

most ultimate comand,

havmg solemnly

stipulated secrecy, he commits to him the Milk,

with

this condition, that, if

he returned home

he should deposit that treasure on the holy Virgin,

who

worshipped at Paris

nificent chm'ch, looking

Seine,

To on

be ;

a mag-

itself

seems as a mark of

to give place to the divuiity of the Virgin.

brief,

William was

bui'ied.

but was in turn seized by a

when he

on either side on the passing

and where the river

honour

safe,

altar of the

The

other hastens

fatal ilhiess,

and

despaired of recovery, he deHvered the Milk

an English comrade, very

strictly

binding him

ÂŤ PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

that he should do

The

have done.

what the Frenchman was himself latter dies;

the Milk, and deposits the presence

of"

the former takes

on the a})pointed

the canons of

tliat

place,

then as yet termed regular, as they

From them

Genevieve.

Milk he

Tliis story is certainly

Og.

Nay,

England, Spirit,

very consistent.

any incredulity should remain,

lest

names of suffragan

there are appended the

imparting

this to

Walsingham.

Me.

some

are at St.

imder the guidance of the Holy

at last,

carried

who were

he obtained half of the

and when he had brought

;

still

altar, in

to those

who

slight off'eriiig, as

visit

it,

much

bishops,

and do not omit

indulgence as they

are empowered to bestow. (29)

Me.

How much

Og.

Forty days.

Me.

Are there days even

Og.

Of course

Me.

When

this

that?

there

purgatory?

time.

they have bestowed the whole of

allowance once,

hausted

all

they have to bestow ex-

WALSINGHAM. no means.

Og.

up again; and

for that,

;

though constantly

yet always empty; but

ever from

Me.

For what they give bubbles

happens directly contrary to the

cask of the DanaidÂŽ filling,

this,

there

If the forty

is still

you draw

less in

the cask.

days were accorded

dred thousand men, would each have so Og.

Just so many.

Me.

And dinner

before

agam ask

would they be ready Og.

Yes, were

Me.

If I

for

to a

many ?

received

forty

hun-

after

forty

supper,

dehvery ?

ten times in the same hour.

more than

little

bank

tliree

home,

pence at a time,

they rmi out as freely.

You might

Og.

of gold, I

for

had but such a

would not ask if

who have

those

for

return to

this

as well wish

you were

my story. From

proof was added

which

shown

of high respect

than the

have

rest,

in ;

many

but

the

all

you were made your

desires.

kmd of pious

But

scruple

Milk of the Vu'gin,

other places,

this is

all

because, whilst that

deserving

be reverenced

was scraped from

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

.32

stones,

this flowed

from the very breasts of the

V^ii'gin.

Me.

How

Og.

did that appear?

must have been related by the

virgin of Constantinople,

And

Me.

who

presented the Milk.

she perhaps was informed by Saint

Bernard

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Of).

Me.

Whose good

I think.

fortune

was

to taste

the

Milk from the same breast which was sucked by Jesus. (30)

child

the

surprised that he

and not the that the

by the up

styled

lactifluous.

for that reason I

mellifluous

t]i(3

Bernard

But how can they

call

Milk of the Virgin which did not flow

from her breasts 0(j.

And

flowed like the other

;

but, being received

stone on which she happened to

and then, by the

will of

God,

sit, it

dried

was thus mul-

tiplied.

Me.

Just so

(hj.

Well, then,

proceed.

and were preparing

we had completed our to depart,

inquiries,

walking about in the

WALSINGHAM. mean

time,

wlietlier there

and looking

thing more, worthy of observation,

was any-

when again some

of the inferior brethren were at hand,

who

looked at

us askance, pomted Avith their fingers, ran forwards, retired,

ran forwards again, nodded, and appeared in-

chned

to adcb.*ess

Me.

Did not

Og.

Nay,

me,

they had but corn-age enough.

that alai-m

you ?

tm-ned

face

smiHng, and lookmg as

if I

Moidd

speak.

name

towards invite

them,

them

length one approached, and asked

give

it.

who

the same person

then inquires whether I was three years before had fixed

up a votive mscription

Hebrew

characters

confessed I was the man. (3 1 )

Me.

Did you then write

Og.

l)ut

m Hebrew ?

they call

Hebrew whatever

Presently there came up,

they do not understand.

summoned by them

as I suppose, the Protos-Hyste-

ros of that convent.

Me.

Have Og.

What

sort of

dignity do

they not an abbat ?

No.

you

call

that?

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

Me.

Why SO?

Og.

Because they do not understand Hebrew.

Me.

Nor a bishop ?

0(/.

dear, no

Me.

Why?

Og.

Because the Virgin, even now,

buy

the expensive mitre and

Me.

Not even a provost ?

0(j.

Not even

Me.

What

Og.

Because Provost

name

too poor

(32)

that.

prevents it?

And

of sanctity.

staff'.

name

of dignity, not

so colleges of canons reject the

of Abbat, and willingly adopt that of Provost.

But

Me.

never before heard of

tliis

protos-

hysteros. Orf.

Then

you

are

shockingly unskilled

grammar. Me.

have heard of the hysteroproton

in rhe-

toric.

0<j.

You have

the Prior,

Me.

it.

This man,

the Posterior-Prior.

You mean

the Sub-Prioi-.

who

next to

WALSlNGHAiM.

0<j.

me how verses

how

saluted ine very courteously.

laboriously

many had

in vain:

some old doctor of theology or of law

often

had come, and been conducted

Some had

said

Arabic

were

they

to the inscription.

some that they had no meaning: foimd who read the

characters,

at last

one was

That was written

title.

verses were Greek, written in

When in

seemed

sight

Greek

capitals,

The

Latin words and characters, but in capitals.

at first

tells

strived to read those

how many spectacles had been wiped

which

look like Latin capitals.

requested, I gave the

meaning of the verses

Latm, rendering them word

for word.

had

then repeatedly to decline a reward offered for this nothing was so

little task,

but

cult that I

would not most eagerly imdertake

I declared that

service of the most holy Virgin, even

send

Me.

with

What

letter-carrier,

at her

Og.

letters to

diffi-

in the

she were to

Jerusalem.

need could she have for you as a

when

many

angels attend her both

hands and feet? (33)

then di'ew out of a bag a portion of

pilgri:maoe for religion's sake.

wood cut from liacl

heen seen to

once proved

part,

beam on

rest.

(34)

be a

the Virgin

AA'hich

Mother

A Avonderfol fragrance at

tiling

For

extremely sacred.

having received so distmgiiished a present,

prostrate and with uncovered head, I kissed

three

or four times with the highest -seneration, and placed it

my purse. May one

Me.

Og.

come

far as I

Init I

;

be allowed to see

you are not

it ?

concerned you

would not persuade you

fasting, or

Show

Og.

There then.

Me.

Oh, how fortunate you are

be wel-

to look at

it if

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Ale.

shall

;

there

no danger.

such a pre-

sent! All, be assured, I

Og.

fragment,

Tagus

small

I will

inclose

shine through crystal.

when he

sees

deeming

not

would not exchange the

gold of the

is,

for all

gold, but so that

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Then

this

may

the Hystero-Protus,

so reverently handling that gift,

unworthy

greater things, inquires whether

be trusted with liad

ever seen the

WALSINGHAM. That term not a

secret pai'ts of the Virgin.

disconcerted

yet

;

did not dare to inquire

little

what

he might call the secret parts of the Virgin. Forsooth even a

in matters so sacred free

from dtmger.

but that led on

are lighted

excellmg in material nor

most

so.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Now

produced, neither

w orkmanship, but

m vu'tue

efficacious.

The

Me.

size is

not of

performance of miracles.

who

at Paris, (35)

not

Several wax-candles

and a small image

;

an ecstacy.

had not seen them,

said that I

was very desirous

as if in

of the tongue

slip

a colossus,

yet he

but

much consequence I

in the

have seen Christopher

not merely a waggon's load, just

equal

a momitain;

not celebrated for any mu'acles that ever

I heard.

Og.

the feet of the Virgin

which no name has yet been given

Greek

;

because

the French have it

named

a jewel, to in Latui or

a toad-stone, (36)

so imitates the figure of a toad, as

could do the

And what makes

like.

greater, the stone

very small

;

no art

the miracle

the figure

t>f

the

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

toad does not project, but slimes as

inclosed in the

itself.

jewel

Me.

Perhaps they iniaguie the likeness of a

toad, as

on cutting the root of fern we

eagle.

And

clouds

what do they not

see hi the

draijons breathino!; flames, momitains burn-

ing with

armies rushing to

fire,

No, you

Og.

shews

as bojs,

iniao-ine

may

itself

battle.

be assured that no hving toad

})lainly

than

was expressed

there.

Me.

have borne with

far 1

now you must find some one 1

0(j.

not surjjrised,

;

Menedemus,

that

seem

it,

whole college of divmes had asserted

examined

Me. asses

you

persuaded me,

unless Avith these eyes, these very eyes I say, I

seen

but

swallow the toad.

No one would have

are so disposed.

even

else to

\o\xv tales

Why

it,

and proved

be very miskilled so ?

Because

it.

But

still

it,

had

you

in natural history.

do not believe that

fly ?

Og. sjtorts in

Are you not aware how

the hand of Nature

the representation of the colours and shapes

WAL SINGH AM. of

all

not only in her other works, but par-

tilings,

Then what wonder-

ticularly in precious stones ? ful

powers has she bestowed upon those

terly incredible, unless experience

given us faith steel

Tell me,

had

stones, ut-

practically

wotdd you believe that

untouched would be attracted by the magnet,

and again be repelled by the same, imless you had seen

with yoiu* eyes ?

No mdeed,

Me. sworn

although ten

Aristotles

it.

You must

Og.

not, then,

pronounce

e^'erytlling

fabulous that you have not abeady ascertained

your own experience.

In ceraunia

resemblance of lightning in chatazia

even

had

;

see

by the

pyropus living flames

;

both the appearance and the cold of hail, cast

you

into the midst of the fire; in

the emerald the deep and pellucid waves of the sea

;

the carcinias imitates the form of a sea-crab, the the scarites of a fish, the cepites that of a serpent, hieracites

of a

hawk

;

the

geranites

shows the

mimic head of a crane; the segophthalmus shows a goat's eye

;

there

one which has a

pig's eye.

I'lLGKIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

another

tlu-ee

lumian eyes together

the lyco})hthal-

;

nius has a wolfs eye pauited in four coloiu's, reel anil

witli

sanguine, and

white :

in the

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

fiery-

midst black bordered

in the

you open a black cyamea you

middle a bean

find

the dryites imitates the trmik

;

of a tree, and also bmnis like wood; cissites and narcissites represent ivy;

casts rays

astrapias

lightning from a white or aziu-e centre

shows a

fire within,

anthracites

;

phlegonites

which cannot come forth see

you may

;

some sparks shoot out;

crocias gives the colour of the crocus, rhodites of

the rose, chalcites of brass; eagle with a fiery

tail

;

taos has the figm-e of a pea-

chelidonia of an

cock;

asp;

myrmecites has the

figm-e of a creei^ing ant within bits

eJitire

;

cantharias exhi-

beetle; scorpites wonderfully repre-

sents a scorpion. things,

resembles an

aetites

But wliy should

which are injuunerable,

wliilst

pursue these there

part of natm-e, either in the elements, or in animals,

or in

])lants,

Avhich she, as if in wantonness, has not

imitated in stones?

Do you

toad

gem ?

figured in this

wonder, then, that a

WAL8INGHA.M. Me.

wonder

that Nature should find sufficient

leisure so to sport in the imitation of everything.

She wished

Og.

hiunan

intellect,

And

idleness.

to exercise the ingenuity of the

and even thus

yet,

as if there

to (h'ive us

from

was nothing with

which we could beguile the tedium of time, we go

mad upon

buffoons,

upon

dice,

or upon fortune-

tellincj.

Me.

Your sentmients

Og.

It is

are perfectly just.

added by some who are not of light

authority, that if

you apply vmegar

stones, the figures are seen to if

to this

move

kind of

then' limbs as

swimmuig about do they attach a toad to the Virgm ?

Me.

Why

Og.

Because

rice,

all

filthiness,

and whatever belongs

malice, pride, ava-

hmnan

been by her subdued, trodden mider

passions, has foot,

and ex-

tinguished.

Me. breasts

Og.

Alas for us

who

bear such a toad in our

the Vh'gin.

shall

piu'e, if

diligently worsliip

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE. Me.

How

Og.

You would pay

worship

you were

You have

Me. that

does she delight to be worshi|)j)ed

her the most acceptable

to imitate her.

s})oken most judiciously.

But

difficult.

very

Og.

assm-edly

is,

but at the same time most

excellent.

Me.

Come,

Og.

statues. is silver

and

tlic

finish

your

story.

then exhibited the golden and silver

" This " one," says he, "

gilt

;

name

entirely gold; this

he added the weight of each, of the donor. (.37)

ing at everything I saw, I

its

value,

When, wonder-

was congratulating the

Virgin on her fortunate opulence, the reverend showman says to me, " Since I see you are a pious spectator, I

should not think

anything from you;

you

most secret treasures;" and

drew

forth

from the

shall

right

see the

at the

altar itself

to conceal

same time he

a world of admirable

things, the individual articles of which, if I

proceed to describe, this the relation.

Virgin's

day would not

were

suflSce for

that pilgi'image terminated

most

WALSINGIIAM.

with sights

me.

for

fortimately

and

;

was

aljiuidautly

bring away

gi*atified

mestimable

this

gift,

a token bestowed by the Vii'gm herself.

Have you made no your wood ? Me.

Og.

have

days, I fomid a

trial

an imi, before the end of

man

afflicted in

under

fell

mto a

liis

sleep equally deep

Perhaps

and prolonged

;

mmd.

was not madness, but drunken-

That malady

ness only.

whom

miknowai to liimself

pillow,

the morning he arose of whole

Me.

mind, for

tlu'ee

Tliis piece of wood

chains were then in preparation. Avas placed

of the powers of

wont

to be

cured by

sleep.

Og.

When you feel incluied

take care to the samts

to jest,

choose some other subject neither pious nor

;

Menedemus, to jest

Nay, the

safe.

himself related, that he had seen in his sleep a

upon

man

woman

of admirable beauty, Avho presented to luin a cup.

was

Me.

Og.

What

hellebore, I it

certain, that the

was

imagme.

micertain

man's reason

;

but

this is

restored.

most

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

Have vou

Me.

passed in neglect Tii03iAS

Canterbury, the Archbishop? The very

Og.

mage

is in

Me.

should neglect.

last I

pilgri-

higher estimation.

desirous to hear about

it,

if it is

not

troublesome.

Nay,

Og.

I shall

be gTatified by your listening.

That part of England which and Flanders terbuiy.

called Kent.

this

opposite to

Its chief

city there are

city

France is

Can-

monasteries

tvvo

nearly contiguous, each following the rule of Sauit Benedict.

That which

gustine seems the older called

dedicated to

;

Samt Au-

the other, which

now

Saint Thomas's, (38) appears to have been

the see of the archbishop, ^vhere with a few chosen

monks he passed

his

life,

prelates

have

still

houses near to the chm-ch, but separate from the houses of the other canons. bishops and canons were

For formerly almost

alike

monks.

That

all

evi-

denced by clear remains of But the antiquity. church dedicated to Saint Thomas erects itself to heaven with such majesty that even from a

dis-

CANTERBURY. tance

strikes

So now with

its

relig-ious

place which

dazzles the eyes of

its

casts into the shade a

were

was anciently most

two vast towers, that seem afar,

aAve into the beholders.

spleiKk)m*

neighhom-, and as

There

sacred.

to salute the visitor

and make the surrounding comitry

ai*e

from

and

far

wide resomid with the wonderfid booming of their brazen

bells.

In the porch of the chui'ch, wdiich

towards the south, are stone statues of the

tlu'ee

who with impious hands murdered the most holy man their family names are inscribed knights

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Tuscus, Fuscus, and Bei-rus. (39)

Why

Me.

much honour bestowed on

the

impious ?

The same

Og.

upon them which

degi*ee of is

honour

bestowed

bestowed on Judas,

Pilate,

Caiphas, and the band of wicked soldiers, which

you

see

laboriously scul})tured on

golden

altars.

Their names are added, that the guilt of their crime should ever attach to them.

ward

into sight, that

lay his hands

They

ai'c

thrust for-

no courtier shoidd hereafter

upon bishops, or

ujion the proj^erty of

FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

I'lLGllIMAGE

For those

the church.

courtiers, after

tliree

perpetration of their crime, were seized with

were they restored

ness, iior

tercession of

mad-

to reason until the in-

most holy Thomas had

tlie

the

Ijeen

im-

plored.

Me.

the unfailing clemency of the martyrs

Og.

your entrance, the

plays

itself in all its

any one

that part

Og.

Nothuig,

the

be seen there? the

except

and some books is

monument

admitted.

Is nothincf to

among which

once dis-

spaciousness and majesty.

Me.

structure,

edifice at

magnitude of the

fixed to the pillars, (40)

the Gospel of Nicodemus, (41) and

of I

know

Me.

What comes

0(/.

The

not who.

next?

iron screens stop further progress, Ijut

yet admit a view of the whole space from the choir to the

end of the

by many to

steps,

the north.

altar,

churcli.

under wliich

dedicated to

rr'mnrka})l(!

I?i

any

that spot tlie

lioly

res])ect,

the choir

you mount

a ])assage leading

shown a wooden

Virgin, but mean, nor

unless as a

momunent

CANTERBURY. antiquity, putting

these times.

breathed his

to slianie

the

47 extravagance of

There the pious man last farewell to the

death was at hand. (42)

said to liave

Virgm, when

the altar

his

the point of

the sword (43) with wliich the head of the most

was

excellent prelate

that he might be the

The

cleft,

and

his brahi stirred,

instantly despatched.

sacred rust of this iron, through love of the

martyr, w-e religiously kissed.

descended to the crypt. (44)

There was martyr

;

first

Leavmg this spot, we It has its own priests.

exhibited the perforated skull of the

(45) the forehead

is left

bare to be kissed,

whilst the other parts are covered with silver.

the same time liis

shown a

slip

of lead, engraved

At w ith

name, thomas aceensis. (46) There also hang

in the

dark the hair

shirts,

(47) the gu'dles, and

bandages, with which that prelate subdued his flesh

;

strikmg horror with their very appearance, and reproaching us for our mdulgence and our luxm'ies.

Me.

And

Og.

That

deny

;

perhaps reproachmg even the I

nor indeed

moiilvs.

neither able to assert nor to

is it

any business of mine.

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

48 Me.

You

Og.

From hence

say very true.

returned into the chou'.

Ave

the north side the armaries were unlocked:

wonderful

what a cpantity

tell

there brouolit out, fingers, entire

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

sculls,

arms;

was

of bones

jaw-bones, teeth, hands, all

which we devoutly

bestowed our kisses; and the

likely to last for ever, if

it is

seemed

exliibition

somewhat mimanage-

able companion in that })i]grimage had not inter-

rupted the zeal of the showman. (48)

Me.

Who

0(j.

An Englishman, named Gratian Black,

a learned and

towards

was he ?

jjious

this part of religion as I

Me.

Some

V(j.

do not

Me.

Did he

Og.

When

back

still

could wish.

Wicklifhte, I suppose.

WicklifFe's books

had

tliinlv

;

so; although he

wliere he got

them

had read

cannot say.

offend the priest?

an arm was brought forward which

the bloody flesh adhering to

from

(49)

man, but not so well affected

kissing

signs of weariness.

it,

he drew

and even betrayed some

The

priest

])resently shut

CANTERBUKV.

his treasures. altar

are

and

ornaments, and then the articles which

its

you wovdd say gars, if

the altar,

luider

kept

next viewed the table of the

most sumptuous;

that ]\Iidas and Croesus

saw" that vast

you

all

were beg-

assemblage of gold and

silver.

Me.

Was

there no kissmg here ?

Og.

but another kind of sentiment came

across

Me.

;

mind.

What was

sighed that I had no such relics at home.

Og.

Me.

What an

Og.

I confess

for

pardon before

After

that ?

this,

Good God

impious thought it,

and

devoutly prayed the samt

moved a

we were

led

step

into

from the church.

the

sacristy. (50)

what a display was there of

silken vest-

ments, what an array of golden candlesticks! (51)

There we saw the pastoral It it

appeared

was of very

staff

of Saint Thomas.

be a cane covered with silver plate little

nor stood higher than to the waist (52)

Me.

Was

;

weight, and no workmanship,

there no cross? (53)

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

wholly of

thoiiiili

saw none.

Ocj.

silk, w^as

was shown,

pall

of a coarse texture, and

There was

unadorned with gold or jewels.

These monuments of the simplicity

stains of blood.

of ancient times

we willmgly

Are not they shown

Me. Og.

By no

Me.

Whence

you

also a

and retaining manifest

dirty fi'om wear,

sudary,

wliicli,

means,

kissed. to

anybody ?

good

friend.

then was such confidence reposed

that no secret thiiig Avas reserved ? I

Og.

had some acquaintance with the reverend

father William

Warham,

the archbishop

;

(54) he

had given me a note of mtroduction. Me.

hear fi'om

dowed with

itself, if

that he

man

courtesy

rather say that he

you knew him.

has such learning,

such simplicity of manners, such piety of

you would

find

fect prelate.

him

deficient in

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; From

y<ju

ascend

again,

floor, for

life,

that

no quality of a per-

this place, then,

ducted back to the upper altar

en-

singular courtesy.

You would

Og.

many

into

we were

con-

behind the high a

new church.

CANTERBUKY. There, in a

little

chapel,

of the excellent man,

shown the whole

and adorned with many

gilt,

all oui*

pleasure.

Me.

Wliat misfortmie have you now

Og.

vanced

m favour

;

a short prayer he asked the " " Here," says he, good father, is after

Thomas while

true what I hear, that

exceedingly kind to the poor ?"

;

and he began

to relate

many

marked, liis

priest assented.

whilst he aid of

liis

acts of be-

re-

perhaps increased." The " said again Since, then, that

unless

man was was

money

think, that

" Most true," said

do not imagine that such disposition of

changed,

most holy

was

alive

Then Gratian

neficence towards the destitute.

to relate?

companion Gratian by no means ad-

attendimt priest it

figure

Here an unforeseen accident nearly

jewels. (55)

destroyed

still

so liberal

toAvards

the poor

poor himself, and required the

for his bodily necessities,

now, when he

anythmg, he would take

do you not

so wealthy, nor lacks

very contentedly,

any

poor woman, havuig starving chikh'en at home, or

daughters in danger of prostitution from want of

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

dowry, or a husband

laid

witli disease,

titute of all assistance, should first

and then take from these

pray for pardon,

so great riches

portion for the relief of her family, as

some small

When

no answer

or a

the attendant on the holy head

made

to this, Gratian, being of

per, added, hoi}-

protrude his

most

clearly convinced that the

he should relieve by

Then

an ardent tem-

rather rejoice that even

man would

poor."

receiving gift

from a consenting person, either as a loan ?"

and des-

his riches

when dead

the wants of the

the priest began to knit his brows, to lips,

and

gonian eyes: nor do

to look I

upon us with Gor-

doubt but that he would

have cast us out of the church with disgrace and reproaches,

he had not known that we were re-

commended by fied the

the archbishop.

However,

I paci-

man's anger with some apologies, declaring

that Gratian had said nothing seriously, but

merely indulged at the

same time

Me.

I really

But

still

his usual habit I laid

very

down a few

of banter

;

had and

pence.

much commend your

piety.

sometimes seriously occurs to me, whe-

CANTERBURr.

.53

ther those can be regartled as blameless

sume

much

who

con-

wealth in building, adorning, and

enriching chm-ches, that they altogether exceed

moderation. (63)

and

I confess that hi sacred

have

its

and

majesty.

But

holy-water vessels, so

vestments

Church a dignity

due

would wish the structure

in the vessels of the

divme worship

all

to Avhat

many

purpose are so

many

candlesticks, so

many

golden statues? to what purpose the immense cost of what they call organs

Nor, meanwhile, are

content w^th single organs only. is

that

To what purpose

musical dhi, provided at great expense,

whilst at the

same time

oiu'

brethren and

the living temples of Clu^ist, perish with

sisters,

tliirst

and

hunger ? Og,

In these matters, indeed, no pious and wise

man would

not prefer moderation

fault arises

from a species of extravagant

claims indulgence, especially

various disorders of those their wealth.

It is

but, since

when we

who

tliis

piety,

recollect the

despoil chiu'ches of

generally given

and monarchs, and destined

;

away by

to perish

princes

more lament-

riLGKIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

And

ably in gaming or in war.

from

aii}-thing

this som.*ce, at first

if it

you

alienate

regarded as

sacrilege; next, those

who have been accustomed

to give witlicfraw their

hands

led on to rapme. (56)

are

finally

;

Therefore the ecclesiastics

more the guardians than would

Fmally,

things.

tlie

masters of these

rather

see

in sacred fm-nitm'e, than, as

abounding bare, dirty,

a church

some

are,

than churches.

like stables

But we read

Me.

they are even

that formerly those bishops

were apjilauded who sold the sacred

vessels,

and

with the produce relieved the poor.

And

Og.

only

;

there

they are applauded

still,

but applauded

neither liberty nor inclination to imi-

tate them, I imagine.

Me.

interrupt your narrative

;

now

wait to

hear the end of the story. Og.

You

few words.

shall

have

tliis

moment

will conclude

the head priest

in a

came

fonvard. Mt'.

Whft was he? the abbat of the place?

fhf.

lias

mitre,

and he enjoys the reve-

CANTERBURY. nue of an abbat

he only wants the name, and

;

called Prior, because the archbishop

place of an abbat

for of old

there in the

whoever was the arch-

bishop of that district was also a monk.

Me.

Forsooth

camel,

could bear even to be called a

my revenue was suitable to an abbat He appeared to me to be a man equally

Og.

pious and judicious, nor unskilled in the Scotian theology. (57)

what

left

He opened

of the

to us the shrine, in wliich

body of the holy man

said to

rest.

Me.

Did vou

Og.

That

sible

see the bones

not permitted

nor indeed

is it

pos-

without the aid of a ladder: but a wooden

canopy covers the golden Shrme

drawn up with opened

ropes,

;

and when that

inestimable

treasiu'es

are

to A-iew. (58)

Me.

You amaze me.

Og.

The

least valuable portion

was gold

;

every

part glistened, shone, and sparkled with rare and

very large

jcAvels,

of a goose's egg.

some of them exceeding the

size

There some monks stood around

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

56 with

much

all

veneration

the covering being raised,

The

worsliippcd.

Prior with a wliite rod

pointed out each jewel, telling value, and

its

principal of

tlie

name

them were

its its

name

donor;

offerings sent

French, for

the

by sovereign

princes.

He must

Me.

needs be blessed with an extraor-

dinary memory.

You

Og. cise, for roll.

guess right

but

it is

helped by exer-

he fi-equently goes through his muster-

From

hence

returned to the crypt, where

the Virgin Mother has her abode, but a somewhat

dark one, being hedged

by more

tlian

one iron

screen.

Me.

What was

Og.

Nothing,

she afraid of? imagine, except thieves.

have never seen anything

For

more burdened with

riches.

Me.

You

Og.

When

are telling

Does

of untold wealth.

lamps were brought, we beheld a

more than royal Me.

spectacle. sury)ass

Walsingham

riches?

CANTERBURY. In outward show

Og.

(i1

far surpasses her

;

This

her hidden riches are she only knows herself. is

men

not shoAvn except to

friends.

Lastly,

sacristy

there

we were conducted back

was

immediately

;

Me.

What was

Og.

Some

all

laid

upon the

dirt.

man used

With

these, as they

from

not

free.

There

his

from which the

my fi'iend

again ran into not the best favour. at

and most of

wipe the perspiration

nose, or such other superfluities,

was

;

face or his neck, the riuuiings

human frame

and

table

knelt and worshipped.

torn fragments of linen

told us, the holy his

to the

it ?

them retaming marks of

from

of high rank, or great

was brought out a box covered with

black leather;

opened

what

Gratian

him, Avho

once an Englishman, a person well known,

and of no small consequence, the Prior graciously offered to present one of the pieces of linen, imagin-

ing that he was making a present that would be

most highly acceptable. ciently grateful,

drew

But Gratian, not

suffi-

together with his fingers,

not without some intimation of disgust, and disdain-

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

fully replaced

a whistle, for

lie

pouting out his

;

had that

lips as if

trick, if

imitating

anything offended

him, wliich at the same time he deemed beneath

his regard.

shame and

fear.

heart was at once agitated with

But

When we

us.

Me.

What

you were not 0(j.

coast,

That which

beries than

business had

you

far distant

true

;

but

l)oat

more infamous

witnessed at

to the

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

there,

when now

for cheats

and robI will

for shipwrecks.

my last passage.

larger ship.

A good

the shore at Calais

Among

these there

was a yomig Frenchman, poor and ragged. this

man

after

purposely avoided that

many were being conveyed from a

and

from your own coast ?

any Greek rock

you what

London

had returned

usual

wine he courteously dismissed

offering us a cu}) of

liis

sense, pretended not to notice it;

good

tell

the Prior, with

they demanded a halfpenny

for so

From much

they extort from every one for the shortest freight.

pleaded his poverty: they for a jest searched

him, and, having taken off his shoes, they formd within the folds of the soles ten or twelve pence:

CANTERBURY.

these they openly seized, laughing and jeering at

the wretched Frenchman.

Me.

How

Og.

What

Me.

Did they

Og.

Only upon the same by which they rob the

did the

young man take

it ?

could he do ? he wept. act thus

upon any authority ?

trmiks of travellers, and take their purses, whenever they find an opportmiity. (59)

Me.

that they should ventiu-e

It is surprising

on such

injustice,

when

many

witnesses were

present.

Og.

They

are

accustomed to

thuik they have a right to do it

fi"om the large vessel

Enghsh merchants, who

The men

it.

Many

in the boat

;

in vain

that they

observed

were some

murmured

it.

gloried as if they did a clever thing, in

thus over-reachinf>; the roo;ue of a Frenchman.

Me.

should thuik

those maritime Og.

But

very good sport

abounds with such.

either coast alike

So you may guess What may

brmg

tliieves to the gallows.

not tyrants dare,

when

thieves

do thus

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

this

account

circnit to tliat short passage.

fernal reoions the descent

very

Besides, as to the ineasy, but

tlic

Antwerp were

skippers of

them

London

Avaiting at

determined to trust myself to the

that city such virtuous sailors

Og.

monkey is always a monkey,

a sailor

the sailors of to live

always a

sailor

Antwerp with

by robbery, they are

Me.

must remember

but,

from which

Know,

0(j.

themselves narroAN',

you

angels. it,

ever bitten

But return

those

who journey

leavmg Canterbury,

abri^jt, that

[)Ossibly

find

left

side are so

you cannot escape; nor can

make your journey the

road at once very hollow and

and besides the banks on either

and

rection.

after

learnt

have led you astray.

tliat

then,

London, not long

so I con-

you compare

with a fancy of visiting that island. to the path

who have

those

with

;

sea.

Has a

Some

difficult.

Me.

steep

return

difhcvdt, so along this shore the entrance is not

very easy, and the departure most

fess

some

shall for the ftitui'e prefer

hand of

this

any other

road

di-

a hosjjital

I1EUB.U.DOWN. of a few old men, (60) one of

whom

rmis out as

soon as tliey perceive any horseman aj)proachmg;

he sprinkles the upper in

which

pai't

bound with a brazen rim,

of a shoe,

kiss

give some small coin.

In the same road

3fe.

a jewel.

a piece of glass resembling

Those that

holy water, and presently offers

his

would rather meet

an hospital of old men than a band of

mth

valiant

robbers.

Gratian rode on

Og. hospital

endured

;

When

that.

hand, next to the

the shoe

however, he

;

was stretched

wanted.

was the shoe of Saint Thomas.

friend Avas

left

he was covered with water

he asked the it

What, do

man what he

irritated,

and

turnino;

these brutes imagine that

every good man's shoe

Why, by

they would offer his

spittle to

bodily excrements."

the

iiift

Me.

said, that

that

out,

we must

my said,

kiss

the same ride,

be kissed, or other

pitied the old

man, and by

of a small coin I comforted his trouble.

o])inion,

entirely without reason.

Gratian was not irritated If the shoes

and

slippers

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

were preserved as a proof of simplicity of Avould not blame

them

own

so of his

think

piety,

Og.

be done

Though

accustomed

pleased myself with

tliis

kills

its life,

its

stink

its

dung it is

;

a good

man

a noxious animal. bite

poison

;

no longer, the sheep,

milk, clothes with

when

dead,

altogether

fit

fur-

for food.

men, and those who are devoted

this WT)rld, wliilst

when

and

whatever

Meanwliile I have

reflection, that

nourishes with

wool, em-iches w^ith

violent

to gather

dead can indeed

nishes a usefid hide, and

Thus

them.

bad man

like a sheep, a

A viper after

its

feeling of

any strong

but fi'om such matters as cannot be at

during

every

a person chose to do

might be jiardonable.

good can be found

must ovn\ that these things had better not

once corrected

but

and sandals

accord, from

appears shameless to

to obtrude slippers, shoes,

one to be kissed.

but

life, I

they

live,

are disagi-eeable to all;

dead, with the din of their knells and their

ostentatious funerals they are

still

troublesome to

the survivors, and sometimes also from the inaugu-

SAINT PATRICK'S CAVE. rations of their successors, that tions

but the good in every

;

of great benefit to

was

alive,

liis

example,

dead, he

themselves

this saint, whilst

learning, his admoni-

reUeved the destitute

tions, invited to piety,

when

liis

from new exac-

way make

Thus

all.

is,

of almost greater

;

and,

utility.

has

raised this most magnificent church, he has concili-

ated the highest deference to the order of priests Finally, this fragment of his

tlu-oughout England.

shoe supports

Me.

wonder

tliis little

That

community of poor men.

mdeed a

pious meditation

you are of

that you, as

this

but

mind, have

never visited the cave of Saint Patrick, (61) of wliich they

tell

some

protligious

tales,

nor,

seems to me, very probable ones. Og.

Nay, no relation of that can possibly be so

prodigious but what

must be surpassed by the

then

made your pilgrimage even

reality.

Me.

Have you

so far as that

Og. I

have crossed those truly Stygian

have descended mto the jaws of Avernus

straits, I

have

PILGRIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

witnessed

below

that

all

going on among the people

Me.

should

accomit of them,

Well

Og.

much

you do not

mmd

very

then, this

the trouble.

must be only the commence-

ment of our conversation, for a begimiini>".

enough

my supper to be got ready

already,

for I

;

Og.

Not

Me.

Do you

Og.

No, but the covetous cooks

diimer ? out of religion

at all

but out of

spite

not: and thus If I have

with a

your own belly ? :

Rut,

stingy

am wont

do not

still

what they ought

be revenged on them.

little

stomach goes without

luck brings

Do you ?

guests

or at a tavern a

about supper-time

Me.

tlieir

who, whilst

any hope of a pretty good supper,

ti'iend

conducted,

spite.

they do not provide what they ought, cliai-ge

to order

have had no dinner.

Why no

t(j

think, long

am gomg home,

Me.

hesitate

hear some

either

liberally

its

such a dinner as

diimer. I like,

my stomach begins to c;rave again. not blush to appear sj>aring and

CONCLUSION. wliu

those

Menedenius,

Og.

make a

blushes in such things, beheve me, I

expenditure.

have learned

their

expend

mine

to save

prodigal for other

occasions.

Now

Me.

so expect

will tell

you

as a guest at

lunteer to be

you twice

;

but

over, if

But

family.

Why

this

favour shall be returned to

you

will

sup at home to-day.

be occupied in the

aifairs

have a plan more convenient

at youi*

house

;

then

you have had enough of them it,

will not

stories

;

little

and,

you

Only take care

will not fail to

would prefer the

But come, a

even leave you at supper.

do you scratch your head ?

to prepare for us

Me.

very kind that you vo-

extended even to supper-time, until you

may be

desire

there

To-moiTOw do you prepare dumer

me and my wife

confess

;

ease.

your

my time must now

for both of us.

for

your supper-table

;

my guest, whilst many though earnestly

pressed refuse

Forsooth, I take

Og.

For

long to hear the rest of your story

stories

come. unpurchased.

dinner shall be given you;

IMLOKIMAGE FOR RELIGION'S SAKE.

G6 will

however be

with good

you season

stories.

But

Og.

insipid one, unless

aii

hold, do not

you

feel

inkling to

little

go upon these pilgrimages?

Me.

when you have finished them: as I am now inclmed, I

your accomit of

satisfied

shall

Possibly

Roman

round of the

going the

stations.

The Roman? when you have never

Og.

seen

Rome. Me.

home,

will tell

in this

you.

manner

care that the modesty of

attack.

wdiat the

circuit

daughters offices,

noticing

safe

from

and watch

the maids are about; thence into

the kitchen, observing whether there

of reproof;

enter the parlour, and take

proceed to the

men and

made

any need

thence to another and another place,

what

children are doing,

what

my wife,

being careful that everything should go on in due order.

Og.

These are

my Roman

stations.

(62)

But Saint James would take care of these

things for you.

CONCLUSION. Me. the

That

ought to take care of them myself,

Holy Scriptures mstruct me

read the coimnancbnent, that to the

samts

;

but

have never

should entrust them

Est qui Hierosolymam, Roaiam, aut

Jacobum relictis

adeat, ubi nihil est

cum uxore

illi

Divum

negotii,

domi

liberis.

Des. Erasmi Morce Encomium.

F 2

NOTES.

(1) Covered with scallop-shells.

No symbol scallop-shell

of pilgrimage

better

no modern

that

;

known than the

artist

costumier

would think of representing a pilgrim without

Thus

this ap-

in a

masquerade before queen Elizabeth a pilgrim was "clad in a coat of russet velvet'

purtenance.

fashioned to his

call,

The

prototype of such

designs seems to have been the image of Saint himself,

who was

though

Spain

generally represented

this

he appears as an armed

Fuller, indeed, in his

with

his hat being of the same,

scallop-shells of cloth of silver."

Holy War,

James attire,

cavalier.

asserts that the

es-

were assumed because used for cups and dishes by the pilgrims in Palestine and he derives the

callop-shells

armorial bearings of ViUiers, callops,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;from

the

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;a

Crusades.

;

cross charged with es-

But, from what

by our own author, and by other older

said

authorities,

would seem that the escallop-shell was peculiar

Com-

NOTES.

postella.

Plowman

Piers

What

of Galice."

is still

especially

names the "

decisive,

Gregory IX. and Clement V. by

their bulls

the archbishops of Compostella a faculty to cate all persons

anywhere

who should

shelles

Alexander III granted to

excommuni-

these shells to pilgrims

sell

except in that city.

(2) Stuck all over vnth tin and leaden images.

Not only

the hat, but all parts of the dress, of the

returning pilgrim, had these memorials fixed upon them. The pilgrim in Piers Plowman wore

An On

hundred of ampuUes* his hat seten,

Signes of Synay,

And shelles of Galice, And many a crouche on *

The " anipuUes" were

his cloak,

proliably brought from Rheims,

where

the kings of France were usually crowned, and anointed from the sainte

ampouUt

there preserved.

Philip de Commines, speaking of

the death-hed of Louis XI. says that the

Holy Vial of Rheims, which had never been removed before, was brought to his chamber at Plessis, and stood when he died upon the head of his cupboard, for

he intended to be anointed with

coronation.

"Some were

intended to have anointed himself for the vial

again, as he

all

over

was but small, and no great

myself at the time

had been

at his

of opinion," adds

speak of."

;

Commines, "that he but that was not likely,

store of oil in

it.

saw

NOTES. Ami And

keycs of Rome, the vernycle bi-fore,

For men should know

And

se bi hise signes

Whom he

sought hadde.

Chaucer's pardoner, to show he had come from Rome,

A vernicle hadde he sowed

upon

his cappe;

being a memorial of the Saviour's portrait impressed on

an handkerchief, exhibited at

The

described

Piers

minutely

the continuator of Chaucer, and the inten-

tion specified in terms

St. Peter's.

course of proceeding at Canterbury

Plowman.

remarkably similar to those alleged After all their devotions had been

duly performed at the shrine, Then, as manere and custom

is,

signes there they bought,

For men of contre should know whome they had sought, Eche man set his silver in such thing as they liked.

And

in the

His bosom

meen while

the miller had y-piked

ful of signys of

Caunterbury brochis,

Though the pardoner and he pryvely in her pouches They put them afterwards that noon of them it wist. Afterwards, on going to dinner, They

set their signys

upon

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

their hedes,

and some oppon

their

capp,

And

sith to the

dyner-ward they gan for to stapp.

The custom had (commenced even in the time of who in his early life was a contem-

Giraldus Cambrensis,

porary of the martyred archbishop.

Describing an

in-

NOTES.

terview which he had, on arriving in London, with the

bishop of Winchester, he says, that

was perceived that

lately come from Canterbury, of Saint Thomas were hanging from

he and his fellows were because the signs their necks.*

XL on his interview with

Louis

Henry king of Castile in wear a very old hat, with a leaden and in such (as says Philip de Commines)

1462 was observed in

guise he There

image

Durward.

familiar to the readers of Quentin

an essay on these Pilgrims' Signs, by Mr. C. in the first volume of the Journal of the

Roach Smith,

Archaeological Association

British

there engraved,

and others

Album, 1845, and

some specimens are

Wright's Archaeological " Monnaies incon-

Rigollot's

nues des Eveques des Innocens, des Fous," dc.

Paris,

1837.

The

trinkets of

The

estimation.

Compostella are still in the highest silversmiths of Santiago " assert that a

Santiago on horseback

silver

against ague and robbers

and

infallible

certainly,

santito only costs a few shillings, the insurance

unsafe speculation, as

badge.

and

We appended

â&#x20AC;˘

"Cum

Sacra,

ii.

signaculia

181.

;

not an

Zamarra,

of leagues over every part of

Spain, without sickness, sorrow, or even

except by innkeepers

such

a waterman's protection

such a medallion to our

travelled hundreds

security

all

being robbed,

which was attributed by an

Thomae a

collo

suspensis."

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Anglia

NOTES.

excellent canon of Seville to the special intervention of

the Captain-General of the Spains (Saint James litary patron, like the

tain

English Saint George)

;

a mi-

and

cer-

that very few Gallician soldiers ever omit to

stow away in their petos, or linen gorget waddings, a Santiagito and rosary, which ought to turn aside bullets

and bayonets."

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Murray's

(3) This allusion

Hung I

Hand-book of Spain,

671.

with straw necklaces.

unable to explain, as I do not find

such emblems elsewhere mentioned.

(4)

With

bracelets

Erasmus here means the carried

of serpents' eggs. rosary, which

was usually

upon the arm, and which was strung as the eggs

of serpents were supposed to be connected.

Mr. Ford,

Murray's Hand-book of Spain, has given

the following note

upon the rosary, when describing the

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

cathedral of Compostella : " The fourth and last side opens to the north, on the

Azabachei'ia or Plaza de

term tities

San Martin.

The former

derived from azabache,

jet, of which vast quanof rosaries used to be made and sold on this spot to

the pilgrims as they entered, just as

done at Jerusalem,

NOTES.

and

The whole thing is thus azzahach, the Persian

Great Court of Mecca.

in the

borrowed from the

oriental

schabah, signifies

" small black beads."

The making

these chaplets constitutes a lucrative trade in cities,

whether

the East or in the

all

pilgrim

The

Peninsula.

mendicant monks manufacture their cuentas, counters,

from a brown

sort of mais berry,

which were the precise the berries, hab

Moslem

sibhd, counters,

divisions

were marked by cuttings of vines, sarmientos.

and made of

;

They presented these holy beads as a great favour to those who put money into their purses, and the counting them

affords

Spaniards twer.

an occupation to the indolence of devout

Moors

so the pious

;

are always telling their

The modern Egyptian Mahomedan's

seb'hhah, sooVhhah,

chaplet, the

consists of ninety -nine small beads,

with marks of divisions between them. (Lane,

Moslem

each of these beads the praise of (iod,

whose name

the last and largest.

God,

92.)

reserved as a climax for

In the jealous worship of one

Mahomedan

the

repeats an epithet in

contrasts

with

the

Marian

Spaniard, who, having borrowed the rosario from him,

has adapted it to his female worship. Few Spanish females ever go to church without this oriental append-

age

;

and

their devotion is. '

To number Ave Marias on

The Dominicans were

preachers of

its

virtues

their beads/

the managers and great and miraculous properties, the

NOTES. Virgin having given her

own

chaplet of beads to Saint

Dominic, which was called a rosary from the sweet per-

fume which

It is carried in the

emitted.

hand, or tied

round the neck, while the excellent rope of Saint Francis The hands of many is only worn round the waist. Spanish monks have been observed after death to be

perfumed with attar, from their constantly holding the as the rosary, and never washing off its fragrance, just cigar

has

illiterate,

the

same

effect

on profaner fingers.

The

both Moors, Chinese, and Spaniards, find these

beads to be a convenient help in the

difficult arithmetical

operations of counting the "long prayers" and frequent

which Christianity especially condemns, and the Pope and Mahomet especially require, since such mere repetitions have in both creeds an actual saving repetitions

virtue of themselves,

where forms have been substituted

The rosario ought to contain which only one Pater noster, one Lord's but one allowed for every ten Ave Marias,

for spiritual essentials.

150 beads, prayer,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

ha'penny-worth of bread to this intolerable deal of sack

But these those

made

jet

chaplets are gloomy

in the bright South.

when compared

Few however

of the

rosarios of the golden age of Spain have escaped the sacrilegious melting-pot.

Those of Cordovese and Mex-

ican manufacture are exquisitely wrought in pure gold but the precious stones filigree, and studded with ;

virtues of the rosary selves."

would form a hand-book of them-

NOTES.

76 (5) Saint

James of Compostella.

was at the town of Santiago, in the kingdom of Gallicia, and is constantly mentioned

This

shrine

ancient

by the English pilgrims of the middle ages by the same

name James

The

name

latter

because a star

Stella-,

was concealed.

the pilgrimage of " Saint

means the pilgrimage to Comis derived from campus denoted where the body of the

mentioned,

postella.

saint

Whenever

translated. "

The

great celebrity of this shrine

attributed to the circumstance of the Spaniards being

kept back, by papal prohibition, from joining in the crusades, or in pilgrimages to Jerusalem, because they

the infidel in their

the Spanish

territory.

Moors had

It is

had

remarkable that

anticipated their Christian neigh-

in this species of substitution

bours in

own

for, as

Mecca was

the hands of the khalif of the East, his rival in the

West sanctioned a local Ceca

in that city,

shrine at Cordova, and a visit to the

where some of the bones of Mahomet

were pretended to be preserved, was declared to be in In every respect equivalent to a pilgrimage to Mecca. like

manner the

imitating Spaniards,

who

Jerusalem, set up their local substitute

mountain buried alike

capital,

where they too said

;

could not go to

they chose their

their prophet

was

thus the sepulchre at Compostella represented

those

Jerusalem

corn

tax,

was formerly collected the shrine of Compostella, and

estimated at 200,000/. a

throughout Spain for

and Mecca. year,

NOTES. was not abolished

The duty

1835.

until

of visiting

Compostella, which, like that of a pilgrimage to Mecca,

was absolutely necessary

many

cases to take

up an

heritance, led to the construction of roads, bridges, hospitals,

robbers

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

armed

and maintained order

bnite force was tempered."

Hand-book of Spain,

thus the

stella

put

down

violence

Ford, in

(INIr.

Murray's

which the reader may refer for

further illustrations of the place and

which

associations,

in-

and

its

superstitions.)

instance of pilgrimage from England

CompoHenry H. in the

occurs as early as the reign of

case of Maurice de Barsham, (of East Barsham, not far

from Walsingham,) who made on tion

Parkin's Norfolk, celebrated

fol.

commander

iii.

his departure a dona-

(Blomefield and

Acre.

the priory of Castle

759.)

10 Edward H. the

James Audley had been cap-

Sir

tured at sea on his passage to Saint James. logia, xxvi.

345.)

Mr. Ford

(Archaeo-

supplies, in addition, the

following important particulars relative to the intercourse

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

between England and Compostella " At the marriage of our Edward :

Leonora,

sister

of Alonzo

lish pilgrims

was stipulated

numbers as

to alarm the

Enrique

II.

1254, with

Sabio, a protection to for

Eng-

but they came in such

French, insomuch that when

was enabled by the

Pedro, he was compelled by his

latter to allies

dethrone

Don

prevent any

English from entering Spain without the French king's The capture of Santiago by John of Ghent permission.

NOTES.

increased the

Spain

also.

of English licences

difficulties,

But

by rousing the suspicions of century the number

the fifteenth

pilgrims was great:

Rymer mentions 916 1434. The

1428, and 2460 in

granted in

decay of the pilgrimage mentioned by Erasmus is confirmed by Molina, who says that " the damnable doctrines of the accursed

Luther diminished the numbers of

Germans and wealthy English." There

an amusing old English ballad, describing the on shipboard on a voyage to Saint James, written about the reign of Henry VI., in the Reliquiae is

distresses

Antiquae, 1841, 8vo.

(6) Greek literature.

It is

perhaps scarcely necessary to observe that this

one of the quiet ironies so continually thrown out by our author. Erasmus had devoted himself to the extension of Greek learning, which he had publicly taught at the

He university of Cambridge, as well as in other places. had been accustomed to hear all kinds of absurd objections to

it,

and whatever ignorant or prejudiced people dislike was ascribed to its influence. He

were inclined to

chose to place pilgrimage

in the

same predicament.

NOTES. (7)

Thus the if

Some

calamity on

my family.

parishioners of Glastonbury were told that

they did not duly observe Saint Dunstan's day, nothing

prosperous would happen to them during that year, or

they would sustain some heavy losses in their cattle or estates. Anglia Sacra, ii. 231.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

(8)

Maria a Lapide.

have translated apud Rauracos " at Basle," but have been unable to ascertain whether the church reI

ferred to was in

that city

itself,

somewhere

the

neighbouring country.

(9) The epitaph of Beda. This alludes to a story which seems to have been

in-

vented to account for the unusual epithet venerubilis being attributed to Beda, instead of the more usual one

of sanctus.

It is as follows

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; When,

after the death of

the learned Anglo-Saxon, one of his scholars was endea-

vouring to compose an epitaph upon him in a single leonine verse, he began, Hac sunt in fossa, and would have

concluded with could not

JBedce sancti or presbyteri ossa, but

manage

the metre, no other

word occurring

80 liim

NOTES. that

;

behold

he went weary to

last

by the hands of an angel Hac sunt

The

inscription

which was in

Bedaj Venerabilis ossa. visible in the time of

Erasmus

the abbey church of

Durham,

known

historically

tomb

have been inscribed of the

twelfth

Pudsey

the

beginning

commenced

manner, and consisted of

by Bishop century,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

in fossa

on the shrine of Beda

and which

And

bed.

the morning he found engraved on the

these four lines

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Continet hsec theca Bedse Venerabilis ossa.

Sensum

factori Christus dedit, sesque datori

Petrus opus

fecit, praesul

Sic in utroque

suum

dedit hoc

Saint Giles.

Saint Giles was abbat of Aries in

time of the emperor Charlemagne

him

mighty for the pardon of forming

this office,

;

veneratus utrumque patronum.

(10) The scroll brought

Orleans, and requested

Hugo donum

;

Provence, in the

who

invited

him

intercede with the

his sins.

The

saint

was per-

when an angel appeared, and

upon the altar a scroll thus inscribed, Egidii merito Caroli peccata remitto.

Al-

laid

NOTES.

(11) Stones which conceal nothing.

The Dutch

annotators of Erasmus say that he here

alludes to the Lapis Lydius, or touchstone used for testing-

metals

but an Englishman

will

think of his

own

proverb, Stone walls have ears.

(12) Paul carries a sword.

The

conceit of

Erasmus

in this passage, that the saints

might turn their instruments of martyrdom into weapons of defence, was anticipated, so far as Saint Paul is concerned, in

the motto of a very elegant monastic

seal,

which represents a kneeling monk, holding the banner of the

Church of London, charged with a

figure of Saint

Paul,bearinghis sword drawn. This motto

derived from

NON SINE CAUSA GLADIUM PORTAT.

(13) Saint William.

We had in England a saint of this name at York, who was one of the early archbishops and another at Nor;

wich, a boy said to have been martyred by the Jews

but the saint to

whom Erasmus

alludes

;

was a count of

Aquitaine, one of the most distinguished commanders

NOTES.

under Charlemagne, who 806, retired into a

in his latter days, in the year

monastery which he had founded near in his costume of the

Hence the combination

Lyons.

warrior and the monk.

(14) Saint Anthony hath his sacred fire. This alludes to the disease now known as erysipelas. Mr. Pettigrew, in his interesting work on Medical Super" Bollandus stitions, 8vo. 1844, remarks that, gives an account of

many

miracles wrought by the intercession

of Saint Anthony, particularly in the distemper called

sacred firet which since his time has been called Saint having miraculously ceased through his patronage when raging violently in many parts of

Anthony's

Europe

fire

;

in the eleventh century."

(15) Situation of Walsingham.

The words

of the original are, "

Ad extremum

finem, inter Occidentem et Septemtrionem,

Anglise

baud procul

a mari, passuum fere tribus millibus :" a description which certainly is far from accurate, and which would be enough to puzzle any commentator, if it was not ascertained from so

intended.

many

There

is,

other proofs that

indeed, a note in the

Walsingham is Dutch editions

NOTES.

of the Colloquies, the writer of which was so far misled the Parathalassia was " Saint

as to

suppose

Virgo

Maries," near Falmouth, in Cornwall (an evident confusion with Saint Mawe's). Even as respects the distance of

Walsingham from the

sea,

preserved an accurate recollection.

Erasmus had not about seven

It is

miles from the town of Wells, the nearest port, and eight from the sea

but most of the pilgrims coming

;

sea would probably land at

Lynn,

distance of

twenty-seven miles.

(16) It

a town maintained by scarcely anything hut the

There

number of

else

its visitors.

a remarkable similarity between this passage

of Erasmus and the description given by Mr. Russel of Mariazell, in Styria, the

grimage.

The town,"

and mean-looking inns and alehouses,

;

modern focus of Austrian says

consists,

when snow has rendered once to submit.

size

traveller, fact,

all

pil-

small

principally of

accommodate the perpetual

of visitors, which never ceases

immense

that

influx

the year round, except

the mountains impassable.

The

of the beds in these hostelries shows at

how many inconveniences the pious are willing to The pilgrims, however, who can pretend to the

luxury of a bed are few

number.

Above

all,

during

the time that the annual procession from Vienna

NOTES.

the spot,

not possible that the greater part of the

crowd can be able

to find

lodgings

and, though there

;

were accommodation, no small portion of them are too it. These, from necessity, and many

poor to pay for

others from less justifiable motives, spend the night in

the neighbouring woods, both sexes intermingled

;

and

morning dawns they continue drinking and singing songs, which are anything but hymns of devotion. Fight-

till

ing used to be the order of the night, so long as the procession

from Gratz (which

one) performed

from Vienna.

its

likewise

always a numerous

pilgrimage at the

same time with that

was found necessary

this public scandal,

to put a

stop to

by ordering the pilgrimages to take

place at different times."

About 80

different processions

of pilgrims proceed annually to Mariazell from different places in the Austrian dominions.

The Vienna

proces-

on the 2nd of July that from Gratz on the 12th of August; and the total number of pilgrims who

sion arrives

visit

;

the spot in one year

Dibdin's Bibliographical representations,

Tour

about

100,000.

In Dr.

there are some graphic

by Mr. F. C. Lewis, of the bivouacs of

these pilgrims on their journey.

(17)

This college has scarcely any other resources than from the bounty of the Virgin.

Here Erasmus was not

fully informed.

The

priory

NOTES.

had considerable landed property, the annual income of which amounted to 391/. 11*. Td. in the 26th Hen. VIII. whilst the offerings were as follows

the blessed

Virgin Mary, 250/.

of the blessed Virgin, 2/. 2*.

Lawrence,

8/. 9*.

(18)

The tomb

\s.

3</.

cv.)

the

in the

of Saint

Andrew was

sanat."

Chapel of Saint

Mount :

at Constantinople

Sinai

quod cunctorum debi-

Dinan

and are assigned by Matthew Paris the founder of the

lib.

x. ca.

were attributed to

virtues

tomb of Saint Perpetuus,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; " ex cujus tu-

(Petrus de Natalibus,

The same miraculous

borough. In his

the Chapel of

the sacred Milk

Andrew and Katharine.

mulo oleum indesinenter emanat

membra

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; In

\\d.

that of Saint Katharine at

lium

;

Britany

to that of

house of Gilbertines

treatise called " Ecclesiastes," or the

;

Robert

Knares-

Preacher,

Erasmus thus enumerates the posthumous merits of the " Ad saints insequens tempus pertinent, prodigia mor:

tem consequentia, martyris caput

et fons salubris aquse illic exiliens ubi

amputatum terram

contigit, aut

oleum

medicantis efficax sponte resudans e monumento, aut ad

martyrum monumenta

profligati

testimoniis habcri debent."

demones, quae pro divinis

NOTES. (19)

It is

Mary was

unknown how long of our

not buried.

the Virgin survived the cruci-

Epiphanius saying it was for twenty-four years, other writers for twelve whilst in the fixion

Saviour

;

vision of Saint it

was for

little

Elizabeth of Sconangia

more than a

year.

related that

This version seems to

have been adopted to accommodate the circumstance of all

the apostles being brought together to her death-bed.

The same

vision relates that

on the

fortieth

day after her

death her soul was re-united to her body, and she was carried

But those who believed

to heaven.

poreal assumption â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which was Saint Jerome thinking

was only of her

soul

this cor-

not universally the case,

safer to suppose the assumption

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;were not content without making

take place on the third day after death, after the protoThe Assumption was a type of our Lord's resurrection.

solemn

festival

of the Church, observed on the 15th of

August.

(20) The knight ?vho was saved from his pursuer.

An field's

English version of this story is cited in BlomeHistory of Norfolk, from an old MS. which de-

scribed the wicker gate as " not past an elne hye, and three quarters in bredth. And a certain Norfolk knight. Sir Raaf Boutetourt, armed cap a pee, and on horseback,

NOTES.

days of old, 1314, pursued by a cruel enemy, the utmost danger of being taken, made full speed

being

and

for this gate, and, invoking this lady for his deliverance,

he immediately found himself and his horse within the close and sanctuary of the priory, in a safe asylum, and so foiled his enemy."

Though

" old print the state

where

must be regretted that Blome field did not MS." here quoted more at full, or at least was preserved, yet

show that Erasmus

proofs to

combines with other

closely described

what he

Walsingham, without (as some might suspect) drawing upon his invention, or borrowing (as Fosbroke imagined) incidents from Loretto or elsewhere.

had actually seen

the costume in which

Erasmus describes the

knight to have been represented, we must not be surprised

we do not

find

coincide with the date assigned

was very possible that the plate was engraved at a period considerably later, and it is well known that it was the practice with the medieval artists to the occurrence

;

for

the costume of their own day. Supposing the have been engraved in the reign of Henry the Fourth, the knight would very likely appear with a very

to adopt

plate

slender waist

;

and even

earlier,

from the time when Ed-

ward the Third wore the very long beard which appears on

his effigy in

Westminster Abbey, many of his knights

may have

followed their

bifid beai'd

worn

abundant examples.

sovereign's

the reign I

fashion.

the

of Richard II. there are

have been favoured by the Rev.

NOTK.S.

M.A.

the author of the beautifully em" " Monumental Brasses and Slabs bellished volume on

Charles Boutell,

recently published, with the use of the engraving which faces p.

who

It is the brass of Sir

William de Tendring,

died in 1408, in the church of Stoke by

Nay land,

Suffolk.

The gateway in the story may be presumed to have been that of which a view is here presented to the reader, and which, when Mr. Cotman drew

it,

appears to have

had an old pair of gates, with the very wicket which was the supposed scene of the miracle. This is now altered

but the gatehouse remains, standing in the town

street, and opposite to it was formerly a range of cooks' shops and houses of entertainment for the pilgrims, one

of which, retained

when Mr. Gough

its

The head

visited

the town in 1763,

old sign, of a drinking-pot, carved in stone.

a quatrefoil in the front of the gateway, and

two smaller ones original design,

in the

side walls, are portions of the

and intended

to represent the porter

and

warders on the look-out.

(21) The shed brought from a great distance. This part of the mysteries of Walsingham was directly parodied from the famous shrine of Loretto, which, next to

Rome

itself,

was the great focus of

The santissima casa

of Loretto

Italian pilgrimage,

supposed to have been

i"l'.-r^ l^\

GATEHOUSE OF WALSINGHAM PRIOKV.

NOTES.

the scene of the Annunciation at Nazareth,

by angels to

Loretto.

first

Tersato in Dalmatia, and thence, It

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;"

1695,

1294,

marble, but at the dis-

incased with

tance of half a yard, " of Perth in

conveyed

the house itself," writes the Earl

you

see within, plain

our blessed Lady's condition,"

and pure,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;and around them both a

It was in imitation of this spacious church was erected. that " the new work" was erected around the wooden

chapel at Walsingham

;

and

his recollections of the place,

Erasmus

failed at all in

we might suppose

that he

did so in attributing to the building which stood over the

Wells the legend which (following the Loretto prototype)

more properly belonged to the wooden chapel His account, however, is

within the Virgin's church.

confirmed by the document noticed

(22)

These near them

wells is

Two still

Note 23.

wells, full to the brink.

exist, lined

what appears

with ashlar stone, and

have been a bath, but whe-

ther formed in the days of the canons, or since, clear.

The

wells are

now

called "

and the popular topographical books on " that the devotees to the

Lady

not

The Wishing Wells," Noi-folk say

of Walsingham were

taught to believe that whosoever was permitted to drink of these waters might obtain what they then wished for."

But

this

seems rather to be a modern superstition, or

well legends. fancy, borrowed from other

NOTES.

" The holy wells are (now) quite plain, round, and uncovered, and on one side of them is a square bath on ;

the other side, a small early-English doorway."

Parker's Architectural

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Mr.

Notes, prepared for the

Ar-

chaeological Institute of Great Britain, 1847.

(23) The bears In

the

Queries

sliin fixed to the rafters.

prepared for the visitors

sent

Henry VIII. to make inquisition at Walsingham, a very curious document, which will be found in the Appendix, " What of the house where the it is asked, beere-skynne

and of the knyght ?" And they conclude with in" And whether the house over the welles were quiring, is ?

not made within tyme of rcmembraunce, or at the leastwise renewed ?"

Indeed

may be

surmised that

many of

these queries were suggested by a perusal of Erasmus's

account.

(24) So much of his Blond upon earth.

There were two legends respecting relics of the Blood it was caught by the blessed Virgin and Saint John, as it flowed from his side upon the cross

of Christ, one that

;

was collected by Nicodemus and Joseph when they took down the body and placed it in the tomb.

the other, that

NOTES.

As may be supposed from the expression many churcties claimed to possess portions

of Erasmus, of

among

it,

which some of the best known were that of Santa Croce in Rome, the cathedral of Bruges in Belgium, and the abbey of Fescamp in Normandy. In England it was the boast of Glastonbury, of Westminster, of Hailes in Gloucestershire,

the

first

and of Ashridge in Buckinghamshire. it formed an accessory to the reli-

of these,

gious romance of Joseph of Arimathea, the fabulous founder of Glastonbury, who was said to have brought into Britain two silver vessels filled with the Saviour's blood, which,

The blood

his

buried in his tomb.

order, were

Westminster was sent to king Henry the Second by the Master of the Temple at Jerusalem, atat

by the

tested

seal of the Patriarch

;

and Matthew Paris

1249 the king summoned

relates that in

Peter's

church,

Christi nuper

pro

veneratione

adepti.

The

relics

his nobles

Edward

prelates to celebrate the feast of Saint

sancti at

and

in Saint

Sanguinis and at

Hailes

Ashridge were originally one, obtained from Germany by

Edmund his

earl of Cornwall,

who when a boy

father

(Richard king younger son of king John) noticed

king

perial

treasures,

the it

with the

Romans, the

among

the im-

having been originally brought by It was a portion only however

Charlemagne from Greece. of the this

German

relic that

was acquired by the

he brought to England

he offered

earl

in a vessel of gold,

;

and

which

person at the altar of the monastery which

NOTES. founded at Hailes, near Winchcombe.

had

his father

Afterwards founding on his own part the college of Bon-

hommes in

at Ashridge, near his

manor of Berkhampstead,

Hertfordshire, they acquired of his gift another por-

tion of the

same

relic.

Indeed they claimed to have two-

thirds of the quantity which

the earl had brought from

whilst only one-third was left at Hailes

Germany,

yet

the latter place was the most famous in England for this particular object of superstitious veneration, in his

othes"

Pardoner's Tale mentions as

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

By Goddes

And

The

among

and Chaucer "

outrageous

precious herte, and by his nailes,

by the blood of Crist that

in Hailes.

ecclesiastical historians of the party of the Refor-

mation have generally recounted a story of the Blood of Hailes that it was discovered to be duck's blood, which

was renewed every Saturday. This is derived from a statement written by William Thomas, Clerk of the Council to Edward VI.

;

but a different account

fur-

nished by the commissioners sent purposely to examine the supposed relic scribe

relic

louryd," which

tening red like like

amber

the 30th Hen,

having been

vesalle, garnyssid

and the

" inclosed

VHI.

They

de-

within a rownde

and bownd on every syde with sylver," " to be an unctuowse gumme co-

itself

when

appeared to be a glisblood, but when removed was yellow, in the glass

or base gold,

"and doth

cleve-to, as

gumme

NOTES.

" Upon the faith of this report, the byrdlyme." Rochester of bishop (John Kelsey) preached at Paules Nov. 24, 1538, and there showed the bloud of crosse, or

Hailes, and affirmed the clarified,

same

and coloured with

be no bloud, but honie

saffron, as

had beene

proved before the king and his council."

The

commissioners' certificate

printed by Ilearne at

the end of his edition of Benedictus

1735,

evidentlie

(Holinshed.)

Abbas Petrob. 8vo.

751, with fac-similes of the seals and signatures

of the commissioners,

of Worcester, the

(who were Hugh Latimer, bishop of

prior

Worcester, the abbot of

Hayles, and Richard Tracy, esq.) and accompanied by an historical dissertation by the Rev. George Coningesby.

See also further on this subject in Todd's History of the

College

of Ashridge,

folio,

1823, and Wright's

Letters on the Suppression of the Monasteries, p. 237.

(25)

Our Lord's

cross.

Scarcely any inventory of relics is preserved which does not include portions of the True Cross : and few

churches of importance, or pious persons of wealth, would

be deficient

The

majority of

this its

very favourite object of devotion. possessors were probably unconscious

of the circumstance that their good fortune was shared

many

others

;

but

forced upon their notice,

such an objection was ever

was answered

in the

manner

NOTES. wood

hinted at by Erasmus, that the

widow's cruise,

miraculous

possessed

itself,

powers

At Bury were " peces make a hole crosse of."t

multiplication.*

crosse able to

the

of self-

of the

holie

very voluminous legend was fabricated as the Hisof the Holy Cross, which will be found in the Letory

genda Aurea of Jos. de Voraginc, and books.

Among

others, there

Dutch

with 64 woodcuts, the text of which din's

Bibliotheca Spenceriana, vol,

a poetical translation by Mr. R. ligious

in several distinct

edition of 1483,

reprinted in Dib-

iii.

pp. 348-377, with

W. Wade.

In this re-

romance the existence and adventures of the True

Cross were not only traced downwards from the Crucibut upwards as a beam and a tree to the creation

fixion,

of the world.

Seth, the son of

Adam,

related to

have

direction of his father, to the gate of Para-

by where the guardian angel, having allowed him a hasty glance at the wonders of the garden, placed in his hand three seeds from the Tree of Life, and directed repaired,

dise

him *

;

to deposit

them

What Erasmus

in the

nostrils of

favourite

American writer of our

times, in describing the fabricated relics of a shrine of

idolatry, says,

berry-tree,

"There was an ample supply

which seems

muitii)lication

as the

Adam,

has said of the True Cross has passed almost

into a proverbial expression.

own

mouth and

wood

••nougli extant to Ijuild

modern

also of Shakspere's

mul-

have as extraordinary powers of

self-

of the

True Cross, of which there

a ship of the line."

Visit to Stratford-upon-Avon.

t Wright's

— Washington Irving's

Letters on Suppression of the Monasteries, p. 85.

when

laid in his grave.

NOTES.

From

these seeds arose a tree,

which was cut down for the construction of the Temple of Jerusalem it

;

" corner-stone " of but, like the Scripture,

was eventually rejected by the

builders.

The

story

then proceeds, that the Queen of Sheba took notice of this timber, and prophetically announced that it would be the

wood whereon He should hang through whose death

the kingdom of the Jews would be brought to an end. The discovery of the Cross by the empress Helena is re-

have taken place shortly after the signal victory which her son Constantine obtained, under its tutelar lated to

influence, over his rival Mexentius.

The

Mount

feast of the

was dug up from

Invention (or dis-

Calvary. covery) of the Holy Cross was observed throughout Christendom on the 3rd of May and on the 14th of ;

September there was another, called the Exaltation of the

Holy Cross, which commemorated in it

its being brought back triumph to Jerusalem by the Emperor Heraclius, after

had been for some time

Persians.

the possession of the

curious series of fresco paintings, repre-

senting the history of the Cross, was discovered in

1804

on the walls of a chapel at Stratford-upon-Avon, which

had belonged to the town guild, named of the Holy Cross and they were engraved by the late Thomas ;

Fisher, F.S.A. in a

with

letter-

volume completed

folio,

1838,

press by the present writer.

King Henry the Seventh bequeathed by his will to the altar which was to be made within the grate of his tomb

NOTES.

" our grete pece of the holie Ci'osse, which by the high deprovision of our Lord God was conveied, brought, and livered to us

from the

Isle of

Cyo

in Grece, set in gold,

and garnished with perles and precious stones and also the preciouse relique of oon of' the leggs of Saint George, set in silver parcell gilte, which came to the hands of our ;

broder and cousyn Lewys of Fraunce the tyme that he woiin and recovered the citie of Millein, and given and sent to us

by our cousyne the cardenel of Amboys, legate the which pece of the holie Crosse, and leg ;

of Fraunce

of Saincte George,

we wol bee

for the garnisshing of the

lempne

festes,

and

set upon the saide aulter, same upon al principal and so-

other festes, after the discrecion of

our chauntery preists singing for us at the same aulter."

(26)

The

Some pilgrims

neither

justice of this stigma

pure nor

chaste.

upon pilgrimages

con-

firmed by numberless authorities, ancient and modern. The following passage is quite coincident with the censures of

Erasmus

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;"

Friar Donald preached at Paules

Crosse that our Ladie was a virgin, and yet at her

grimages there was made

many

a foule meeting

;

pil-

and loud

Ye men of London, gang on yourselves with to Wilsdon,* in the divel's name, or else wives your cried out.

* Wilsdtm, on the road to Edgeware, a short suburban pilgri-

mage.

NOTES.

keepe them at home with you, with a sorrow." den's

Remaines,

(Cam-

There are some graphic

2bl.)

sketches of these characteristic evils of pilgrimages in the discussion between archbishop Arundell and Thorpe

the Lollard in the Introduction to the present volume.

(27) Robert Aldrich.

The companion and interpreter of Erasmus singham was subsequently Bishop of Carlisle.

Burnham

Aldrich, a native of

Buckinghamshire, was

a scholar of Eton, and elected to King's college,

bridge, in 1507.

was one of the

appointed by the university in 1523

of Eton School. ter in

Wal-

Robert

Cam-

itinerant preachers

and was a master

;

was made archdeacon of Colches-

1531, a canon of Windsor and registrar of the

Garter in 1534, provost of Eton 1536, and bishop of Carlisle in

1537.

March

1555-6.

of his letters to Erasmus, and others of are extant.

His epistolary

skill

was

Magistro Aldryg, pro tribus

dominum regem, of Epigrams

highly

;

10*."

also

to him,

employed by " Anno

King

litteris

missis ad

was the author of a volume

and of some theological

eulogized in the

Several

Erasmus

the university of Cambridge, to address the

1527.

manor of

died at his episcopal

Horncastle, in Lincolnshire,

treatises.

Encomia of Leland.

NOTES.

(28)

The

As your Home}'

line in the Iliad is this,

says.

(O. 280)

Tramv he. Trap'a rrofrl Kainreae Sujuos* Tapl3r](Tay, Their hearts with fear seemed falling to their feet.

(29) Indulgences.

The documents

against which

Erasmus

directs

the

shafts of his satire in these passages, were the usual certificates procured by the custodians of local shrines, in order to recoiumend their advantages to the community.

relic king Henry the Second had offered his at Westof Peter Saint of the True Blood to the church

When

minster, he

have procured from several bishops

said to

indulgences to those

who might

visit

it,

amounting to

six

of pardon. years and 116 days In 1307, Gilbert bishop of Orkney (a suffragan of the

Norwich) granted an indulgence of

see of

pardon to

all

persons of the diocese

Edmund's image pilgrimage to Saint

Hoxne pairing others.

Suffolk, or

it,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

who

made any

Blomefield,

ii.

left

any

offerings

seen in

the chapel at

legacies

there

towards re-

by themselves or

438.

Fac-simile engravings of eight

folio,

forty days of

who should come

indulgences are to be

Fisher's Paintings, &c. at Stratford-upon-Avon,

1838. They were

all

granted

favour of the Guild

NOTES.

and Chapel of the Holy Cross in that town, but for various specific objects, and for various terms of indul-

gence.

brief enumeration of

them

will help to eluci-

date the views with which such documents were framed. are

They in

Godfrey Giffard, bishop of Worcester,

1270, for forty days, to benefactors to the hospital

same bishop, 1276, forty days,

2. the

prayers in the chapel for certain parties there interred 3.

Rowland

archbishop of Armagh,

Jorse,

forty days, to benefactors of the chapel

;

to those offering

;

1312, for

Walter Moy-

denstone, bishop of Worcester, 1314, for twenty days,

with the like object

;

.5.

Thomas Cobham, bishop of

Worcester, 1323, for thirty days, to contributors to the 6. Robert de Stratford, bishop of Chichesbell-tower ;

ter,

1354, for forty

daj'S,

who should devoutly

to those

say the Lord's Prayer and the Angels' Salutation (Ave Maria) for the soul of master Ralph Hatton of Stratford, late bishop of London (believed to have been the uncle of the bishop granting this) sey, bishop of Worcester,

;

William Whittle-

1367, for forty days

;

and 8

Henry

Wakefield, bishop of Worcester 1381, for forty

days.

These

last

two are especially remarkable as deand of a

of the Virgin pictive of the superstitious worship local pilgrimage.

The former

grants to those

the sake of pilgrimage (^peregrinationis causa)

who

for

oblation,

or devotion, should visit the image of the glorious Virgin

Mary

the parish church of Stratford-upon-Avon, or so

often as before that image they should five times devoutly TI

NOTES.

100

repeat the angelic Salutation,

namely,

Ave Maria,

five chief joys of the same glorious Virgin, with kneeling or devout inclination of the body or head,

honour of the

The latter was issued, in who should contribute

forty days of pardon.

the same terms, to those

ornaments of the Virgin's altar, or to

its lights,

nearly to the

or should

repeat her Salutation five times.

An in

indulgence for the church of Allhallows Barking, is printed at length in Newcourt's Reperand a long catalogue of indulgences granted to

London,

torium

;

contributors to the fabric of the church of

an Appendix (pp.

129 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 138)

Durham forms

1o the Rites, &c. of

ham, published by the Surtees Society

Dur-

1842.

(30) Saint Bernard. Saint Bernard (born in the year 1090) rendered his

name famous

as the founder of the Cistercian order,

as the author of

Erasmus,

in his

many

homilies, discourses,

and

epistles.

Ratio Verse Theologiae, censures Saint

Bernard for too freely borrowing the phraseology of Scripture writers,

;

fault

who adapted

place topics or even â&#x20AC;˘ " Sunt qui contoniltus

common

the

or rather perverted

early it

to jocose allusions.*

monastic

common-

was the

ludunt verbis Scripturaj divinao, ac veluti

ixx'taruni,

fit

ad alienuin sonsum ceu per jooum abutun-

NOTES.

101

son of a knight in Burgundy, and of a mother distin-

guished for her piety,

who

related to have

dreamed

before his birth that she was pregnant of a beautifully

white barking whelp, which was interpreted to the effect

become an

that he would

Editor

discovered by the last

and best

der, of

life

The

excellent preacher.

which Erasmus alludes

digy to

in the text

pro-

has not been

though he has consulted the by Dr. Nean-

of Saint Bernard, written

which there

an English translation by Miss

Wrench.

(31)

The

troduction,) benius, in

occurs

fol.

literas,

by Erasmus

festivi

his

Walsingham

plified in the

collected

the

1109, as follows.

enim imbiberat

occursarent.

Nam

In-

Fro-

Bernardus, venuste magis

Sic

in let-

vir ille

quam sacras

quod hodie quidam,

student videri, verba mystica depravant ad jocos

quando non solum indoetum dignum."

Works,

facit divus

judicio.

nusquam non

scurriles,

plicio

then mentioned by him in a

Basil. 1.540, tom. v. p.

Quod aliquoties meo quidem

graviter,

(as

Amraonius, which has been noticed

ter to

tur.

left

inscription

the year 1511,

Votive inscription.

est,

verum etiam inipium,

et sup-

This style of writing will be found strongly exem-

Chronicle of Jocelin of Brakelond, and in the Latin

poetry attributed to Walter Mapes, two of the publications of the

Camden

Society.

NOTES.

102

The

original

Latin

title is

wanting

;

but the appearance

of the inscription itself in capital letters

here restored.

Des. Erasmi Roterodami carmen lambicum, ex voto dicatian Virgini Walsingamicce

XAIP'

apud Britannos.

IH20Y MHTEP EYAOrHMENH,

MONH ITNAIKQN eEOTOKOS KAI nAPGENOS, AAAOI MEN AAAA2 201 AIA0A2I AI2PEA2, *0 MEN TE XPY20N, 'O AE HAAIN TON APPYPON, AE TIMI0Y2 <I>EPi2N XAPIZETAI AieOY2. ANe" 'i2N AnAIT0Y2' '01 MEN YFIAINEIN AEMA2, AAAOI AE HAOYTEIN, KAI TINA2 PYNAIKIOY KYQNT02 EPATON OYNOM' EAOIZEIN nATP02, nYAIOY TINE2 rEP0NT02 AmNA2 AAXEIN. AYT02 A' A0IA02 EYMENH2, DENHS P' '0Mfl2 2TIX0Y2 ENErKA2, OY PAP ESE2T' AAAOTI, A02Ef22 AMOIBHN EYTEAE2TATH2, PEPAS

MEri2T0N AITQ, eE02EBH THN KAPAIAN, HA2I2N e' AOAS 'AMAPTIQN EAEYGEPAN. EYXH TOY EPA2M0Y. Which may be Hail

thus translated,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Jesu's Mother, blessed evermore,

Alone of

women God-bearing and

Virgin,

Others

may offer to thee various gifts, This man his gold, that man again his

silver,

third adorn thy shrine with precious stones

For which some ask a guerdon of good-health,

Some

riches

;

others hope that by thy aid

SEAL OF ETON COLLEGE.

103

NOTES. They soon may bear a

father's honour'd

But the poor

poet, for his well-meant song,

Bringing these verses only,

name,

gain the years of Pylus' reverend sage.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

he has,

all

reward for his most humble

Asks

That

greatest blessing, piety of heart,

And

free remission of his

many

gift

sins.

THE vow OF ERASMUS.

(32) The earpensive mitre and

staff.

This alludes to the cost which was attendant upon the process of procuring, from the papal see, exempt jurisdictions for the great abbeys,

and by which

their superiors

were elevated to the dignity of mitred prelates.

(33) So

many

angels attend her at her hands

was usual

to exhibit the Virgin

surrounded with

angels, particularly in representations of her

of which an example College,

made

and feet.

Assumption,

given in the annexed seal of Eton

in the reign of

Edward

the Fourth, whose

arms thereon are placed between his usual supporters, two lions. In the Coronation of the Virgin she was also represented surrounded with angels, two of which bring

down

104

NOTES.

a crown for her head.

Others hold censers, and others

lighted candles.

(34)

The

The beam on which

the Virgin

particular legend here referred to

the present Editor

;

had not

rested.

known

but several similar stories are cur-

rent.

In Spain the Virgin came down to Zaragoza to

visit

Saint lago, and that city claimed on that ground

the supremacy of Arragon.

So Toledo owes

its

eleva-

tion in Castile to the like

fonso

;

compliment paid to Saint Ildeand the slab on which she there alighted is en-

cased in red marble, and railed *'

Adorabimus

the

Handbook of

loco ubi

off,

with this inscription,

steterunt pedes ejus."

(See

Spain, p. 485.)

(35) Saint Christopher at Paris.

There were few images more frequent

churches

than those of Saint Christopher, if we may judge from the number of paintings of this subject which are still discovered from lime to time in our

own churches, among

which has been one

Crown

Becket's

at the eastern

termination of Canterbury Cathedral.

The

figure of Christopher, carrying the infant Saviour

across the stream of a river,

supposed to have been

105

NOTES.

besides symbolical of the whole Christian profession which, the personification was accounted the patron of :

and country

hunting-,

fishing,

made him

which of course

sports,

a very popular saint.

Erasmus has again introduced the

gigantic Christo-

church of Notre Dame at Paris in his pher " The Shipwreck," when describing the colloquy called of the

religious

vows made by the passengers

in their distress

Did no one think of Christopher

Anthony.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

heard one, and could not help smiling, Adolphus. who with a shout, lest he should not be heard, promised I

to Christopher

and

dwells in the great church at Paris,

who

a mountain rather than a statue, a wax image as

He had

great as himself.

more than once,

repeated this

he could, when the man who haphim, and knew him, touched him with

bellowing as loud as

pened to be next to and hinted, "

his finger,

you

set all

your goods

You

could not pay that, even

Then

to auction."

the other, in

now low enough, that Christopher might not hear him, whispered, " Be still, you fool Do you fancy

a voice

speaking in earnest ?

shall not give

him a

Anthony. some Dutchman. Adolphus.

If I once touch the shore I

tallow candle."

the blockhead

suppose he

was

but he was a Zealander.

This colossal figure stood near the western entrance Dame, against the second pillar,

of the church of Notre

and opposite

it,

against another pillar, was the effigy

NOTES.

106

of a knight on his knees, on a platform which bore this inscription

" C'est

la representation

de noble homrae messire An-

toine des Essars chevalier, jadis sieur de Thieure et de

Glatigny au Val de Galie, conseiller

roy nostre sire Charles sixiesme de ce

nom

chambellan du :

lequel che-

remem-

ce grand image en I'honneur et

valier fist faire

brance de monsieur sainct Christophle en I'an Priez dieu pour son anie."

This extraordinary monument

said to

1413.

have been

erected in remembrance of the deliverance of Antoine des

Essars, who, having been arrested with his brother the

Surintendant des Finances, who was beheaded, dreamed that the giant saint

came

him

the bars, and carried

his prison

oflf

his

window, broke

arms.

was

declared innocent a few days after.

In a Latin poem entitled Lutecia, written by maistre Raoul Hoteray, Avocat au Grand Conseil, the statue is thus described

;

Ecce sub ingressu, primisque in faucibus Moles gigantea sese ingredientibus offert Portitor Illi

immanis

Christi, frons torva, trucesque

oculi, et vasto

Atque humeri

grandes in corpore

seta;,

ingentes, adinirandique lacerti,

Instar montis enim est Christum

Quam

jEclis,

ilia ferentis

imago,

stupet aapectu prime novus advena in urbem.

Pert manus annosum nodoso cortice quercum,

Qua

saliat

undas, qua rapidos secat arduus amnes,

Prjcrupta; rupis dorso connixus inhajret.

This wooden giant was removed

1785.

NOTES.

107

image of Saint Christopher was deemed a charm Erasmus, when discoursing on against sudden death. "

this

subject,

subito.

vana

Horrendum

says,

Atque

hie superstitiosus

fingit remedia, simulaci'uni

est

male mori, non

mortahum timor

sibi

cartas

Christojihori,

preculas ad Virginem matrem, voces ac notulas

magicis non dissirailes."

Epist. 671, ad Jod.

quasdem Gaverum.

In his Praise of Folly, Erasmus again alludes to this superstition

;

a person, he says, paid his devotion to

Saint Christopher early in the morning,

was believed

he would be safe from death during that day and in his Colloquy on a Soldier's Life, he mentions that ;

soldiers used to

coal

draw

a figure of Christopher with char-

upon the cloth of

idea of

its

their tents,

no doubt with the

(36) The French have named

The word used in

alluded to

several senses

was formerly supposed is

a toad-stone.

crepaudine, which has been

is :

that which

nearest to the present passage

and which

protective influence.

to be

seems to

answer

"A kind of stone which

found

in the

head of a

toad,

the tooth or palate of a fish petrified."

Dictionnaire de I'Academie Fran^aise, 1835. this does not with the "

correspond

described by Erasmus.

pellucid

But "

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

still

stone

108

NOTES. (37) The gold and

catalogue of these treasures

existence

;

will,

known

to be

now

but we have testamentary record of two of the

most remarkable. by his

silver statues.

made

Bartholomew lord Burghersh, K.G., in 1369, ordered a statue of himself

horseback to be made

and oifered to our Lady of Walsingham and King Henry VII. in his liietime had given a kneeling figure of himself, which is thus in silver,

;

alluded to in his will

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Also, if it be not perfourmed by our self in our life, we wol that our executours cause an ymage of silver and gilt, of like facion and weight as is the ymage that we

have caused

Lady

be made to be offred and

Walsingham,

^ancte ^{joma,

to be

iritercetie

perpetuall memorie

made, with

this

made

offred,

and

our

scripture,

The same ymage

pro me.

to bee

sctte before

for a

sette before

Saincte Thomas of Canterbury, in the metropolitan churche of Canterbury, in suche place as by us in our life, or by our executours after oure deceasse, shall be

thought mooste convenient and honourable, and as nighe to the

Thomas

Shrine of Saint

as wel

may bee

And

that upon booth the sides of the table whereupon our said

ymage

shall

knele be

made

a brode border, and in the

same graven and written with large letters, blake enaRex Henkicus Septimus."

meled, theis words,

The

" fashion" of this

cular description

kneehng

of which

effigy, the

parti-

dispensed with by the re-

NOTES.

109

forence to that at Walsingham,

is probably supplied by a preceding bequest made in the same will to the Shrine of

Saint

Edward

Westminster

Also we wol, that our executours, yf it be not doon our selfe in our life, cause to be made an ymage of a by king, representing our owen persone, the same ymage to *'

be of tyraber, covered and wrought accordingly with plate of fyne gold, in maner of an armed man, and upon the same armour a coote-armour of our armes of

Eng-

land and of France enameled, with a sword and spurres

and the same ymage to knele upon a table and gilte, and holding betwixt his hands the

accordingly of silver

;

crowne which

pleased

of our ennemye at our

God

geve us with the victorie

felde

first

ymage and

the which

crowne [apparently the identical crown placed on Henry's head at Bosworth field,] we geve and bequethe to Al-

mighty God, our blessed Lady Saint Mary, and Saint Edward King and Confessour and the same ymage and ;

crowne, in the fourme afore-rehersed,

and

in the

Edward

mydds

we wol be

of the creste of the

king, in suche a place as

set

upon

Shryne of Saint

by us

our

life,

our executours after our deceasse, shall be thought moost convenient and honorable

ymage be above

And we

wol that our said

the kne of the hight of thre fote, soo that

the hede and half the breste of our said clierly

ymage may

appere above and over the said crowne

;

and that

upon booth sides of the said table be a convenient brode border, and in the

same be graven and written with large

110

NOTES.

letters,

blake-enaraeled,

theis

words,

Rex Henricus

Septimus."

Now

(38) This was

Erasmus

among

called Saint Thomas's.

misapprehension on the part of

slight

but some other authors have adopted it, and them archbishop Parker, in the Lives of his pre;

decessors

The

Becket).

(fl)'^

Thomas

shrine of Saint

was, indeed, by far the principal object of devotion at " There * and Professor Willis remarks, Canterbury ;

some ground

for supposing that the chapel

erected on the

of that of the Holy

site

dedicated to Saint Thomas, for

which was

Trinity was

was always

called the

Chapel of St. Thomas. Gervase so designates it, and it even so described in Hollar's plan. Now, however, has resumed

its

ancient

title

of the Trinity

But the dedication of the cathedral and by that name periods of

its

Camden, tion of

was

Chapel." to Christ,

has been constantly designated at

all

history.

in his Britannia, while following the descrip-

Erasmus,

* For this oblations

at large

silently corrected this error.

we have

made

tlie

autli(jrity of

yearly to the

Cardinal Morton,

says

tliat

the

shrine of Saint Thonias amounted on

an average to 800/. or lOOd/. those to our Lady to 200/. those to Clirist sometimes to five marks, sometimes to twelve marks, hue ;

anno

nihil.

Appeal, &c.

;

NOTES. of the

maxime

Sacrarum vero aedium magnifica structura

city,

et frequentia celeberrimas

duae

Inter has

quasque superavit.

enituerunt, Christi scilicet et S. Augustini,

utrumque Benedictinis monachis oppletum. Christi temphim, in medio quasi urbis sinu, tanta majestate se in ut proctcl etiam intuentlbus religionem

cceluni erigit,

The

latter passages are copied, word word, from the " Peregrinatio Religionis Ergo,"

incutiat."

for

(39) Tuscus, Fuscus, and Berrus.

These are not much assassins of Becket,

like the real

who were

names of the reputed

four in number,

Richard Brito

;

and of

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; William

de Morville, and

de Tracy, Reginald FitzUrse,

Hugh whom some notice

will

be found,

combined with the account of the Murder given in the Hasted supposes that the statues mentioned Appendix.

by Erasmus stood

in the four niches still

remaining over

the doorway of the South Porch of the cathedral. tory of Kent,

fol.

1799,

iv.

519.)

This

(His-

porch

was

erected towards the close of the fourteenth century.

(40) Bookst

flared to the pillars.

This was a practice customary both before and since the invention of printing.

remarkable inscription

still

NOTES.

112

remains in Saint George's chapel, Windsor, opposite the

monument

who *'

of Richard Beauchamp, bishop of Salisbury,

died in 1482, recording such a benefaction

Who

Booke here

lyde this

The Reverend Fader

God Richard Beauchamp, Bischop of this Dlocess And wherefore ? To this intent, that Sarysbury.

Preestes and Ministers of Goddis Chirch

may

here have

the occupacion thereof, seyyng therein theyr divyne ser-

sey thereby ther

vyse, and for all othir that lystyn to

Askyth he any

devocyon.

moche intent

as oure

Lord

spiritual

lyst to

reward

mede

hym

for his

goode

praying every man, whose dute or devocyon

;

eased by thys booke, they woll say for

mune

Yee, as-

oryson,

Domine Jesu

Christe,

hym

thys com-

knelyng in the

presence of this holy crosse, for the wyche the Reverend Fadir in God aboveseyd hathe grauntid of the tresure of the Chirche to every It is

well

known

fix

books

churches

ject than

article

Magazine

xl.

dayys of pai'don." it

was

the printed Bible, the Homilies, and other

usual to in

man

that, after the Reformation,

but further information on this sub-

had previously been collected will be found in by Mr. Dawson Turner in the Gentleman's for Feb. 1846,

the closet and desk

made

accompanying an engraving of for Fox's

Lessingham church, Norfolk.

Book of Martyrs

NOTES.

113

(41) The Gospel of Nicodemus.

The

spurious Gospel of Nicodemus, which

Erasmus

suggests was preferred at Canterbury to those of the Evangelists,

had been printed

Worde

1509,

Antiquities,

with

by Dibdin,

London by Wynkyn de

woodcuts (see vol.

ii.

144).

Typographical For the dates

of other editions, see Watt's Bibliotheca and Lowndes's Bibliographer's Manual.

(42) Altar of the Virgin. " There the pious

man

said to have breathed his

Virgin when his death was at hand," to Erasmus and, from the usual pic-

last farewell to the

was the story told

;

tures of the saint's martyrdom,

was no doubt supposed But

that his death took place at the foot of an altar. in truth the altar

clearly stated

was erected

after the catastrophe, as is

by the historian Gervase,

who

describes the

spot where the holy Thomas fell as being in front of the solid wall, which is shaded in the accompanying Plan, at

the entrance to the north transept (afterwards called The Martyrdom). Gervase adds, " The pillar which stood in

the midst of this cross, (or entrance to the

transept,) as well

taken

down

as the vault

which rested on

it,

were

process of time, out of respect for the

martyr, that the altar, elevated on the place of the martyrdom, might be seen from a greater distance." I

NOTES.

114 "

stone (remarks Professor Willis) is still pointed out on the pavement, which tradition assigns as the exact a small piece has been cut spot on which Becket fell :

out of

it,

which

said to be

still

preserved at

Rome.

some of the monastic representations of Becket's is

slain at the

very foot of an

altar,

but this

fall

only intro-

duced to heighten the sacrilege. The altar [described by Erasmus, and shown in the Plan,] was erected afterwards, and the nearest altar was that of Saint Benedict [in the centre of the ancient apse*].

representations of this

murder on the

Thus, comparing seals of the arch-

bishops, that of Boniface, 1259, has no altar;

Becket has his back to

;

on the

background, and on the seal of John Peckham,

seal of Robert, 1273, the altar

in the

1278, the altar again disappears; but in the seal of John Stratford the victim kneels at the altar with his back to his assailants,

and

this position is retained in the seals

At the moment when Islip, Langton, and Arundel." Becket was encountered by the king's knights, he had just crossed the north transept

from the

from the door leading

and was mounting the steps towards monks were then performing

cloisters,

the choir, in which the their vespers.

and

after

chronicler,

â&#x20AC;˘

The

turned round to confront his enemies,

an altercation, which

was struck and

apse,

anil in its plaro

which

fell

fully described

on the

spot.

shaded in the Plan, was removed

was erected the Lady Chapel, wliioh

by the

The

still

scene

1449,

remains.

PLAN

01-

PART OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL.

115

NOTES.

of this great event in the annals of Canterbury was after-

wards walled

in the

off,

manner shewn

The Martyrdom,

called

and

in the Plan,

the following verses being

inscribed on the door of entrance

" Est sacer intra locus venerabilis atque beatus Presul

iibi

sanctus

Thomas

This partition was removed its

est

martyrizatus."

1734, in consequence of

way from interments. Edward the First with Mar-

foundations having given

The

espousals of king

Robert garet of France were solemnized by archbishop

on the 9th Sept. 1299,

at the cloister-door near the door

of the Martyrdom.

(43) TTie point of the sword.

The sword supposed

of Richard Brito, one of the murderers,

have been that which

inflicted the fatal blow,

was fractured on the spot by striking against the pave-

ment

;

broken profit.

and the monks consequently preserved the piece off, as an object of veneration, and a source of In the account of the cofferer of Queen Philippa,

25 Edw. Thomas's ensis.

III. after

shrine,

Prince

ad punctum

an offering of 40*. made to Saint

an entry of

Edmund

ensis,

and

12c?. at

mas and the couutess of Ulster ;

ad punctum

ensis.

5*. offered

ad punctum

offered 12c?. at the shrine, 12c?.

5*. at the shrine,

(Pegge's Beauchief Abbey, I

Tho-

the head of Saint

and

2c?.

p. 6.)

116

NOTES, mentioned

It is also

in the will of the

Black Prince,

dated 1376, in which he directs certain tapestry which he left to the church of Canterbury to be distributed

between the high

Thomas

lies,

altar,

the altar where Monsieur Saint

the altar where the head

where the point of the sword

;

and,

is,

and the

there

was

altar

still

This tapestry was spare, the rest about his own tomb. a " hall," or entire suit, that is to say, a dossier, eight

and two bench-pieces, worked with white on a black ground, and having red borders, ornamented with swans having lady's heads. side pieces,

ostrich-feathers

In the horrid circumstance of the martyr's brain being " stirred " by one of the assassins, Erasmus has followed the historical narratives of the murder.

(44) Tlie Crypt, or Undercroft.

The

crypt,

says

Erasmus,

" had

own

its

priests."

There were several chantry chapels in it one of which was founded by the Black Prince in 1363, in the south ;

transept,

beth,

(endowed with the manor of Vauxhall at Lambelonging to the church of Canterbury,) and

still

which became

the reign of Elizabeth the church of

the French Protestant refugees.

But the

principal feature

of the crypt was the chapel of the Virgin in

immediately beneath

the

high

altar

its

the

centre,

church.

NOTES.

Though now

great decay,

1 1

has vestiges of

an-

its

cient magnificence, particularly the stone screen-work.

The Black Prince

in his will desired to

be buried " en

I'eglise cathedrale de la Trinite de Canterbire,

du veray martir monsire de

la chapelle

devant pees

I'autier,

soit

directions

de Notre

Dame

loinz

corps

Undercrofte, droitement

tombe devers "

oil le

repose, en mylieu

siqe le bout de notre

dix peez

the

Thomas

seint

I'autier

les

but from these

executors afterwards thought proper to

deviate, erecting the prince's

tomb on the upper

floor of

the church in the chapel of Saint Thomas, immediately to the south of his shrine.

Lady Mohun

In 1395

Dun star founded

a perpetual

chantry in the Undercroft, and her monument forms part of the screen of the

monument

Subsequently, archbishop Morton, desired

his will

beatissimae

There

Lady Chapel.

another

of Isabel, countess of Athol.

Virginis

buried

who "

died in 1500,

coram

imagine

Maria? vulgariter nuncupata

Our

Lady of Undercroft" and a chantry of two priests was established at his tomb. He had a magnificent brass on the pavement, the outlines of which are shown in Dart's view of the

which

still

Chapel

;

and a monumental

effigy,

remains.

The body

of Becket was buried

the day after

his

death in the undercroft of the Trinity Chapel, which was

then the easternmost portion of the cathedral (see the spotdenoted by fig. 24 in the Plan at p. 39 of Professor

NOTES.

113

Architectural History).

Willis's

remained there for

which time, the church having been considerably lengthened, it was translated to the shrine in the upper church on the 7th July 1220. In that shrine at fifty years,

reposed only a few feet further towards the east than

had done

in the crypt.

(45) The perforated skull of the martyr.

This was usually known as Saint Thomas's head ;

which formed a separate exhibition

in the reign

Ed-

ward the Third (see Note 43) and so continued until the last. It seems to have been exhibited on a square table,

together with bones, as

engraving, which

shown

the annexed

copied from the same page of a

Cottonian manuscript as the shrine described hereafter.

There was an explanation adjoining the sketch, which is now nearly burnt away, (the volume having been injured in the

fire

of the Cottonian

collection,)

but from the

Latin translation given on Dugdale's engraving of this subject

an iron

seems to have been to the

table,

efl^ect

that this

was

on which the bones of the martyr were

his scull, showing the spot displayed, together with

where

death was inflicted.

The in

following account of a visit paid to Canterbury

the year 1538, by a

Frenchwoman,

" the lady of

Mon-

SAINT THOMAS'S HEAD.

treill,"

may "

NOTES.

119

when on her return from

the court of Scotland,*

be here introduced

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

ten of the cloc, she, her gentilwomen, and the said

ambassadour [of France,] whent to the church, where I showed her Saincte Thomas shryne, and all such other thinges worthy of sight

;

at the

which she was not

marveilled of the greate riches therof, saing

merable, and that

she had not seen

it,

all

litle

be innu-

the

men

made her to belyve it. Thus, over looking and vewing more then an owre, aswell the the wourlde could never a

shryne as Saint Thomas bed, being at both to knyle,

saing to

offered her to kysse

kysse

sett cousshins

and the Pryour openyng Sainct Thomas bed, her 3 tymes, * This is Saint Thomas Hed,' and

it,

but

;

but she nother knyled, nor would

vewing the riches

still

So she

therof.

departed, and whent to her lodging to dinner. "f

Before closing this Note

may

be well to notice a

which many writers have fallen, popular error, from a confusion between Becket's head, the arising into

crown of which had been cut the

name given

to the vaulted

off,

and Becket's crown,

dome, which formed the

termination of the church, towards the east.

Batteley, " was Gostling, and Ducarel, imagined the head pro-

bably in

that

of the

part

* See State Papers, 1830, Letters, First Series,

ii.

f William Penison Papers, 1830,

vol.

cathedral

581

;

called

and

Becket's

Ellis's

Original

107. to

the Lord Privy Seal (Cromwell), State

p. 583.

120

NOTES.

Crown," and the misconception was as old as archbishop Parker.* Erasmus says plainly that it was shown him Undercroft.

in tlie

(4G)

THOMAS

Becket's mother

ACRENSIS.

said to have been a Saracen

His birth

father a citizen of London.

;

his

generally stated

have taken place in London but, from his being called Acrensis, it would seem to have been at Acre, in the Holy to

;

The

Land.

chapel in Cheapside, London, founded by

the Archbishop's

sister,

and now the Mercers' Chapel,

was generally known by the name of

St.

Thomas

Acre.f

The

inscribed

evidently such as

order

identify

slip it

coffins,

should be dis-

was o])enod

in the

year 1632,

" in quo caput ejus seorsim a cadavere situm Thomao

* M.-irtjris

Corona appcllabatur,"

Kniglit, in

liis

J^if'e

named because he was born

London

;

p. 37.

Lives of the Archlhhojis, p. 209.

of Erasmus, p. 245, says

mus,

Erasmus was

of archbishop Richard, the imme-

diate successor of Becket,

seen

to deposit in

the corpse in case

The grave

turbed.

of lead

was usual

in the parisli of St.

a statement which IJut there

tliat

Bcckct was

Thomas de Acres

copied by Jortin, Life of Eras-

never was any parish so called, and the

chapel in ClK'ai)si<lc was dedicated to Saint 'J'honias of Canterbury,

otherwise called Saint 'I'homas of Acre.

121

NOTES. and

was found, together with

and

his pastoral staff

a chalice, a leaden inscription.

So,

when

saint

Dunstan's tomb was opened in 1508,

there was found between the two leaden coffins a small

leaden plate lying on the breast of the body, inscribed

with these words. Uteris Rovianis,

HIC REQVIESCIT SANCTVS DVNSTANVS

ARCHIEPISCOPVS, In 1830 a grave was opened in Peterborough minster,

which was

of abbat

identified as that

who

Alexander,

by a piece of lead four inches long, scribed ABBAS ALEXAn'.

died in 1226,

in-

(47) The hair

shirts, 8^c.

Gervase, in narrating the original interment archbishop, thus describes his dress truly relate

what

saw with

my hands, he wore next to his

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

of the

And, that

may

eyes and handled with

skin a hair shirt fciliciumj,

then a linen one ( staminium ) , over these the black cowl, then the alb in which he was consecrated, the tunic also,

and dalmatic, the chasuble,

pall,

and mitre.

had

hair drawers ffemoralia ciliciaj, with linen ones over,

woollen hose, and sandals." In the inventory of relics (described

find that all these

in the

next note)

vestments were carefully preserved

122

NOTES.

until the

Reformation, and of course were those which

were exhibited to Erasmus

—

" In a great round ivory coffer, oblong at its head, and rimmed tvith copper, are contained " The white mitre, with orfreys (or gold fringes), of Saint Thomas the Martyr, in which he was buried.

—

" Item.

Another white mitre of the same, which he

used on ordinary feasts. " Item. His

gloves, adorned with three orfreys.

" Item.

His sandals, of

Inde (purple silk), embroidered with roses, besants, and crescents of gold, with strings of black samict, embroidered.

" Item.

His hair

" Item.

Part of his couch and girdle.

Also, in the

shirt.

same

coffer,

diaper cloth, are contained " Some of the dust of the the Martyr. " Item.

" Item. " Item. " Item.

" Item.

" Item. " Item. " It«m.

—

rolled

a white

body of the blessed Thomas

Of his hood and other vestments. Of his coverlid (? co-opertura). Of his cowl. Of the band of his hair shirt. Of his flesh and blood, resolutis. Of his girdle. Of his hair. Of his pillow.

NOTES. "

Also, in the savne coffer, in another cloth, of silk,

are folded up portions "

123

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

the chasuble (casula) of Saint

" Item.

Thomas.

Of his dalmatic. Of his tunic. Of his stamen (or linen shirt). Of his hood against rain. Of cloth stained with his blood. Of his cowl. Of the kerchief of his head.

" Item. " Item.

\_De pallio

capitis ejusdem.'\"

" Item.

His whip made of cords."

Again, in another receptacle, a standing tabula, was another portion,

cilicio,

of the hair shirt.

There are also several other

relics

the course of the long inventory.

was supposed

to rest in his shrine,

altar assigned to

it,

of the martyr in

Although his body and his head at the

" flesh and portions of his dust or

blood resolved," were in various other receptacles, as well as in

many

in the

other distant collections, for which see a note

Appendix.

In a silver

gilt phylactery, or

jewels and an oblong round

chasuble and sandals. pall.

In the

blood, and

Martyr."

fifth

many

In a

casket,

cx'ystal, little

adorned with

were portions of his cup was his

silver gilt

" of the flesh, ivory coffer were portions

other relics of the blessed

Thomas the

]

NOTES. (48) The

Erasmus

says, the exhibition of the relics at Canter-

" seemed

bury

relics.

likely

for ever,"

last

and we must

acknowledge there was good ground for his apprehen-

when we look

sions

which

is still

at the Inventory of these treasures,

in existence.

has been preserved in one

of the cartularies of Christ Church, Canterbury,

Cottonian

MS. Galba

iv.,

and

now

the

printed as an

Appendix to Dart's History of Canterbury Cathedral, where it occupies more than eight folio pages, and comprises It

upwards of four hundred items. commences with a list of twelve bodies of

saints,

placed in different parts of the church and then proceeds to the contents of " the great armary near the high altar," ;

which first

that

Erasmus

particularly mentions.

Here are

described three heads, those of Saint Blasius, Saint

Fursseus, and Saint Austroberta, each inclosed in a head

silver,

gilt,

Next follow

and the two

likewise enamelled.

latter

the catalogue eleven

arms of

saints,

namely, Symeon the Old, Blase, Bartholomew, George, Wlstan, Richard bishop of Chichester, Romanus the bishop, Gregory the

pope,

bishop of Lincoln,

Hugh

but all these were virgin, and Edburga manner incased in arms of silver and gilt, so

Mildred the

that scarcely any of

;

them could have disgusted Erasmus

the way he describes. Possibly, some of the other mortal remains, such as " part of the

or his companion

125

NOTES.

arm

of Saint Jerome," or " part of the

Paulinas the bishop,"

arm

of Saint

may have been more exposed to

view. It

would not be easy,

in a short space, to give an ac-

extraordinary assemblage of holy

curate idea

curiosities.

Besides the bones, the dust, the hair, the

this

and other corporeal

teeth,

of the saints,

relics

occur continually portions of their

attire,

there

and of other

domestic history, such as

articles connected with their

the bed of Saint Mary, the wool which she wove, and the

There were

gai'ment which she made.

also several other

fragments from localities in the Holy Land, such as the rock on which the cross of Christ stood, his sepulchre,

manger, the table where he supped with his disciples when he washed their feet, the column to which he was

his

bound when he was

by the cursed Jews, and when he ascended into

flagellated

the stone whereon he had stood

Heaven. of the

Nor were

New

Aaron's rod tion

these wonders confined to the story

Testament. ;

and

In the great armary was also

copper coffer was a por-

in the fourth

Abraham mounted

of the oak on which

that he

might see the Lord, and even a specimen of the clay of which God moulded Adam !

The

reliquaries of Canterbury were

wholly unrivalled elsewhere. Gentleman's Magazine

for

not,

however,

have described

the

Nov. 1842, the Inventory of

the abbey church of Saint Bertin at St. Omer's, the year 1465, a roll measuring

1 1

feet

8 inches

made

in length.

NOTES.

126 and 12 inches

in width

;

be found to be parallel

and the extracts there given will character, and in several in-

stances identical, with those above cited.

Inventories of the relics at Exeter, Reading, York,

Lincoln, and Windsor, will be found in the Monasticon,

and a

list

of those at

Warwick

Dugdale's Warwick-

shire.

The

the church of Wittenburg, a collection

relics in

which had been much increased by Frederic of Saxony, before Luther had opened that sovereign's eyes to their worthlessness, amounted to the

cording to in the year

number of 19,374,

1523.

if possible, is

still

more extraordinary account,

that given by Seckendorf of the relics and

indulgences preserved in the church of Hall. tarius historicus p.

ac-

an inventory of them drawn up by Spalatinus

Commen-

apologeticus de Lutherismo,

lib. iii.

372.

(49) Gratian Black.

(jOHN COLET.) The Latin name That the person

in the original is

so designated

Gratianus Pullus.

was Dr. John Colet, Dean

of Saint Paul's, and the founder of Saint Paul's School,* * Dr. Knight was not aware of the real

when

noticing the

visit to

Canterbury

name

of the Englishman,

in his Life of

Erasmus, p. 116;

NOTES. is

127

proved beyond doubt by a passage in the Modus Deum of Erasmus, in which he alludes to the

Orandi

slipper of Saint

Thomas

shown

linen rags

kept at Herbaldown, and to the

in the cathedral, stating that

seen them exhibited in

The passage

behaviour he describes as in the Colloquy. is

as follows

he had

company with John Colet, whose

" In England they offer the slipper of Saint Thomas,

perhaps

may

what I

slipper ?

be kissed, which

the slipper of some varlet

be,

of Canterbury,

Bishop

formerly

more absurd than

and, however that

;

to worship a

man's

have myself, when they exhibited the torn which he is said to have wiped his nose,

linen rags, with

seen the Abbat and the rest

worship when knees, and

raise their

To John

adoration.

who

stood by, ready to

the reliquary was opened,

hands with Colet,

things appeared offensive

;

fall

upon

their

all

the gesticulation of

who was

then with me, these

seemed better to bear

with them until an opportunity might arise to correct them without commotion."

We further

learn the circumstance which suggested the

name Pullus

picture he has

left

there calling it

until

leged in

Erasmus, from a passage of this amiable

him Gratian PuUen

;

man

" :

in the

Non

nisi

minute Pullis

nor was Dr. Jortin apprised of

was pointed out by an anonymous correspondent (acknowhis

translation,

Addenda,

made

the

706).

Sir Roger L'Estrange, in his

name " Gratian Pull."

128

NOTES.

cum

vestibus utcbatiir,

illic

vulgo saccrdotes

et theologi

he wore only black gowns, the ranks of the in England were though higher clei'gy vestiuntur purpura

that

is,

usually attired in the scarlet robes of doctors of divinity.

But the whole of the character of Colet,*

by Erasmus, cannot

fail

was written

so highly

interesting

to be pleased with in

as depicted

that the reader

it.

1520, soon after the death of

subject, at the request of

its

Jodocus Jonas of Erdfurt; and

conjunction with the character of Jchan Vitrier, a

Franciscan Friar at St. Omer's,

who had

equally atti'acted

the esteem of Erasmus, and in some respects resembled

our amiable Londoner.f

* In tho portraits of Colet he appears, not in this his ordinary

but in the proper dress of a doctor. The picture engraved Vertue for Knight's Life of Colet was one which had been in by the hands of Bishop Stillingfleet, and then belonged to Mr. John attire,

AVorthington.

when he

Another, which Dr. Knight mentions as belonging,

wrote, to

bought by the Rev.

Thomas

Sclater Bacon, esq. was afterwards Cole " at an auction of the goods of Robert

King, esq. heir to Mr. Bacon, at Catlcp, near Lynton, July 21, 1749. He is in a scarlet cap and gown, with his neck quite naked,

and

like that in Holland's Heroologia

Protestant Divines.

AV. Colk."

Knight's Life of Colet.)

There

and Lupton's Lives

of the

(M.S. note ia Cole's copy of a second portrait of Colet in Dr.

Knight's book, from a limning in a MS. at Cambridge it represents him in a surplice and the hood of a canon, kneeling before ;

Saint Matthew.

Vitrier, at the

recommendation of Erasmus, had paid Colet a

129

NOTES. ÂŤ Since you so earnestly request me,

I will

you are seeking lence, by which

my worthy friend,

of John Colet, you do so with the greater pleasure, because I imagine a

to sketch for

little

for

picture of the

life

some distinguished example of excel-

to regulate

your own conduct.

Truly,

dearest Jonas, whilst I must allow that I have asso-

ciated with

mired,

yet I

many whose

not appear to piety,

characters I have highly ad-

have never yet seen one whose conduct did

when

deficient in

some quality of Christian

brought him into comparison with the

purity of these two persons, with one of

acquainted at a

town of Artois

called St.

whom

became

Omer, when the

plague (so far happy for me) drove me from Paris to with the other in England, whither my regard that town ;

for

then

pupil

first

Lord Mountjoy had

(Erasmus

draws the character of Vitrier, after which he

proceeds as follows :) " And perhaps Colet

led me.

the more admirable character

this account, because neither the indulgence of fortune,

nor the impulses of nature, attracting him in a far ferent direction, could divorce

dif-

him from the pursuit of a

For he was born of parents of rank and in London,* where his father had twice and that opulence,

religious

visit

life.

England;

and Colet afterwards

told

Erasmus

that

Minorite had been with him, with whose judicious and pious conversation he

had been wonderfully delighted.

This

mentioned

by Erasmus in the same letter to Jodocus Jonas. â&#x20AC;˘ Erasmus had taken up the idea, whether well founded or

not,

130

NOTES.

filled

the office of chief magistrate, there called Mayor.*

His mother, who

surviving, a

still

woman

of distin-

had brought her husband eleven sons and as many daughters, of all which Colet was the eldest, and therefore the sole heir accoi'ding to the Engguished excellence,t

that the English

In a est

deemed

an especial honour to be London-bom.

Johannes Faber he says of Sir Thomas More

letter to

Londini, in qua civitate, multo

omnium

celeberrima,

" natus

natum

a time when the civic

were uniformly

offices

and those

the greatest opulence,

edueatuni esse apud Anglos nonnuUa pars nobilitatis habetur."

by merchants of

filled

offices usually led to

the grade of

knighthood, (then really a grade in society, and not a mere personal decoration,)

may

readily be imagined that such

might be the

case.

* Sir

Henry Colet was Lord Mayor

London

1486-7 and

1495-6, and, dying in 1510, was buried at Stepney.

+ In Lady

Colet

some degree

after their

Erasmus repeatedly speaks recurs to her

name

with one of the

are presented

stances in which the mothers of great

own

men seem

many

in-

to have fashioned

virtues the excellence of their sons.

of lier with the highest

one of his

encomium, and

letters written at so late

a date as

1532, as an example of having, from piety towards God, borne her family afflictions with such fortitude that, even in extreme old age,

when approaching her 00th cheerful in spirit, that

year, she

was

so hale in aspect,

and so

might have been supposed she had never

shed a tear nor borne a child.

The

society of

Erasmus had made

an equally favourable impression upon her. One of the letters of " Erasmo suo," is dated from her house at Stepney Colet, addressed thus: " Vale, ex rure Stepneiano, apud genetricem vivit, et

belle senescit, et

mentionem."

te sa;f)ius

qua;

adhuc

hilarcm ct jueundam

faeit

131

NOTES. even

lish law,

they had Hved, but of them

was surviving when

I first

began

all

know him.

he alone In addi-

he possessed a person Whilst still a youth in his

tion to these advantages of fortune,

handsome and well-grown. had diligently perused the whole of the scholastic philosophy, and had attained the degree of Master of the Seven Liberal Arts, and there was not one of native country, he

them

which he was not a sound and elegant

proficient,

had not only most eagerly devoured the books of Cicero, but had steadily digested the works of Plato and

for he

Plotinus,

things,

no department of mathematics unAfterwards, as a merchant seeking after good

and

touched.

left

he visited France, and then

Italy.

There he

But entirely devoted himself to the study of divinity. travelled with great eagerness having already through every branch of literature, he chiefly delighted in those ancient fathers, Dionysius, Origen, Cyprian, Ambrose,

and,

among

Augustine

the rest, none did he attack oftener than

nor yet did he entirely neglect Scotus and

Thomas (Aquinas), and

the rest of that kidney, if the

matter anywhere required * " Nulli erat iniquior original,

it.

In the books both of the

quam Augustino,"

are the words of the

by whicli Erasmus clearly meant to imply that Colet read

Augustine more than the other Fathers; but Dr. Knight, who in wanders considerably from the sense of the

several other places

original, here runs directly

thus,

"but he had

counter to

the least relish of

Colet, p. 12.

K 2

it,

all

giving his translation

to S, Austin."

Life of

132

NOTES.

canon

and

civil

law he was not indifferently versed.

Lastly, there was no book containing the history or the laws of our forefathers which he had not perused. The

English nation has those their

countrymen that

Italians

;

who have done

the same for

Dante and Petrarch have

for the

and, by perusing their compositions, he polished

his language,

and even thus armed himself for

his efforts

in the pulpit.

When

he was now returned from

Italy, quitting his

parental roof, he preferred to reside at Oxford.

There

he publicly and gratuitously lectured on all the epistles of Saint Paul. It was here I began to know him, for at

some good fortune had brought me also there he was then about thirty years old, my junior by two or three months. He had as yet taken no degree in

that period

divinity,

;

nor attempted so to do

;

yet there was in

Ox-

ford no doctor cither of divinity or of law, no abbat

nor any other dignitary, but what came to hear him, even bringing their note-books with them whether this is to ;

be recorded as a proof of the estimation of Colet, or of their

own

who though old men were confrom a young man, and being doctors from

love of study,

tent to learn

one who was not a doctor

;

notwithstanding, he after-

wards willingly took the title of doctor, which he received more that he might adhere to the usual custom, than that

he was ambitious of "

From

it.

these pious labours, by the favour of

Henry the Seventh, he was

recalled to

King

London, and made

NOTES.

Dean of

133

Saint Paul's, that he might preside over the to the author of those epistles

community dedicated

which

he so deeply loved. And that dignity is the foremost of its kind in England, although there are others of greater

Here

revenue.

the excellent

man,

considerino- himself

called to labour, not to dignity merely,

amended the

de-

cayed discipline of his chapter, and, which was then a

new

he began to preach on every feast in his church, besides the extraordinary sermons which he gave thing,

sometimes at court, and sometimes in various other places. Moreover, in his own church he did not take his text

from the Gospel, or from the

indifferently epistles,

followed up in various discourses to

Gospel of Matthew, the

And

Apostolic

but he proposed some one argument, which he

Creed,

its

;

as the

or the Lord's Prayer.

he had a numerous congregation, amongst which

were many of the principal men of the city, and of the The dean's table, which had previously King's court.*

under the name of hospitality administered reduced to frugality

for, having for

to excess,

some years before

wholly abstained from suppers, he saved evening enterMoreover, since he dined somewhat late, tainments.-f *

Among

whose

letters,

his greatest admirers

addressed to Colet,

that time from

was Sir Thomas More, one of extant, lamenting his absence at

London, because the writer thus

delightful society, his

this point

at once lost his

most

most prudent advice, his example, and his

most impressive sermons

f To

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; cujus gravissimis concionibus excitari.

Erasmus again alludes

in a letter written shortly

l'^4

NOTES.

even on that account he had not so

many

guests,

and

fewer because the preparation was frugal though the becoming, and the sitting but short; and, still

finally,

discourse was only such as would please the learned and the good. As soon as grace was said, some boy, with a clear voice, distinctly read a chapter from the Epistles of Paul or the Proverbs of Solomon : after which, the dean

himself would usually refer to some chosen passage, and it the subject of discourse, inquiring from the

make

learned,

and even from

remark upon that, whilst

intelligent laics,

he would so temper the discussion was at once pious and earnest, it excited yet

neither weariness nor distaste.

of the repast,

Again, towards the close

when now the company were

and that to the extent of

satisfied,

what each had

And

it.

pretty well

sufficiency

rather

than indulgence, he started some other discussion, and so he dismissed his guests refreshed alike in mind as in body, to go away bettor

men

than they came, not over-

burdened with the viands they had eaten. " He took the

greatest delight in conversation with his

and often prolonged it far into the night but all his discourse was either literature or upon upon religion. If he found any lack of agreeable talk (for it was not

friends,

;

after Colet's death to

Thomas Lupset,

tention expressed by that person, of

but," he adds,

wiiolly

tliat

you follow

his

from suppers, of that indeed

approve of

him."

which he approves the his moch^

maldng Colet

in:

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

in debarring yourself

example I do not approve, nor did

NOTES.

135

every one that pleased him,) one of his servants used to read from the Holy Scriptures. " He so^rETIMEs made me

was

;

the companion of his

one could be more joyous than he then but he had always some little book with him, and

TRAVELS.

all his

discourse was seasoned with religion.

impatient of everything

filthy,

was so

that he could not even

In every thing of domestic furniture, in preparation for meals, in apparel, bear indecent or ambiguous words.

in books,

he was anxious

to be neat, but did not

aim at

He wore only black gowns, whilst in that country the priests and doctors of divinity are dressed in magnificence.

His upper garment was always of woollen, and

scarlet.

plain

;

the cold required

it,

he further protected him-

self with linings of fur.

" Whatever income he derived from his

office,

left

that to be expended by his steward for domestic pur-

poses

(and uses.

;

that which he had of his paternal inheritance

was very great) he distributed himself in pious For having, upon his father's death, inherited a

large accession of fortune, for fear he should contract

any harm from keeping tion of a

new School

it,

he devoted

to the construc-

in the

cemetery of Saint Paul's, which he dedicated to the Boy Jesus, a handsome fabric,

which he added houses as handsome, for the residence

of the schoolmasters,

whom

he endowed with an ample

should teach gratuitously yet salary, in order that they providing that the school should not receive beyond a ;

136

NOTES.

number.

fixed

the

divided

mitted that

not already able to read and write.

second receives those

who

master

whom

the third those

;

into four apartments.

boys enter as catechumens, but no one

first

are taught

Into ad-

The

by the Under-

the Upper-master instructs.

These two parts are separated from each other by a curtain, which is drawn, or withdrawn, at pleasure. Above the master's chair the

manship,

whom

a seated figure of beautiful work-

Jesus, in the attitude of teaching,

Boy

the whole

Ipsum audite

the Father, saying, inscribed at

ment

my suggestion.*

for these

The whole

formed. it

may

be per-

school has no corners or closets,

room

gives no

words he

In the fourth or last apart-

the chapel, in which divine service

so that

on entering and leaving the hymn ;( and above is the face of

flock,

school, salutes with a

for eating or sleeping.

Every

boy has his own seat on benches, gradually rising, and at fixed intervals. Every class has sixteen, and the boy

who heads his class has a seat a little raised above the Nor is any applicant admitted indiscriminately, This but a choice is made of dispositions and capacities. rest.

most sagacious man perceived that the chief hope of the * Erasmus composed several poetical iDScriptions, which were in

placed

various

parts

distich

of the

school

they will be found in

Underthe image of the Child Jesus was

Knight's Life, p. 140. :

" Discite

me primum,

Moribus

;

pueri, atrjue effingite puris

iiide pias

addite literulas."

this

NOTES. State consisted

137 education of j^outh.*

the judicious

immense expen-

the undertaking incurred an

Though

* The dean employed Erasmus, then at Cambridge, new seliool and Erasmus, in a

there for masters for the

Colet, related the following anecdote of

so engaged

what occurred

seek

letter to

;

him when

am reminded

of an incident which will make you smile. was making some overtures respecting an Under-master, among the masters of arts, one of them (not the lowest in repute) I

Whilst

said with a sneer,

where

Who

a parcel of boys,

among

else ?

could bear to pass his

when he could

I quietly replied, that

life in

that school

possibly get his living any

the office of instructing youth

good manners and literature appeared to me a particularly honourable one, and that Christ had not despised that period of life, in

which was the best qualified most promising of a plot

and nursery

for the reception of good,

fruitful return, since

of the State.

was

added, that

all

and the

were the seed-

men

of true piety

were agreed that no service was more acceptable to the Almighty than that of bringing children to Christ.

his nose,

and

derisively said,

But upon

this

he turned

any one wants to be altogether

the servant of Christ, he should enter a monastery and follow rule.'

charity

;

and

that charity consists in benefiting our neighbours to

the utmost of our power.

He '

rejected this sentiment as not or-

thodox.

and must

therefore be in a state of perfection.'

Well,'

he added,

can be said to have

many by humble.

Take

its

answered, that Paul places true religion in the duties of

left all,

you

see

scholars have left

No man,

all,

I replied,

who, when he has the power to benefit because he deems it too

his exertions, declines the office

And

this as a

so, to

avoid further dispute, I took

leave of him.

sample of the wisdom of a Scotist, and a

charming conversation."

taste of his

NOTES.

diture,

yet ho allowed no

one to share

him.

with

Somebody had bequeathed towards the building a hundred pounds of English money when Colet perceived that on this ground the laity would claim I know not what ;

right of

appropriated

bishop,

with

interference, he,

that

the permission of his

money

sacred vestments for the Church.

of the estates and

the purchase

the

management

the whole trust he appointed, not

not the bishop, nor the chapter, as

priests,

called,

not great men, but certain married citizens,* of approved character.

* Cives

Company

When

covjuffutos.

he was asked the reason, he said The

trustees

were,

well

of Mercers, of which the founder's father Sir

that,

known, the Henry Colet

had been a member, and conjugati might perhaps be translated " associated." Colet 's high opinion of the married men is, however, noticed in another passage

and such

;

the usual import of the

Latin word here employed.

In his dialogue difficulties

Urtus.

De Pronunciatione Erasmus

experienced in this matter

Thus John

Colet, a

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

again describes the

man worthy of perpetual remembrance,

when he had added

a school for boys to the church of Saint Paul's,

found his greatest

difficulty

determining to

consign the government of the institution.

The schoolmen fancy

a matter unworthy of their care. is

whom

he should

The bishops deem such their calling

rather to collect fees than take charge of schools, and think they

have

filled their office fairly if

they do not tithe the schoolmaster.

In colleges of canons the worse part almost always bears sway.

The

magistrates eitlier want jurlgment, or favour private interests.

Leo. Urtui.

What

jdan did he at

last

set over his school

adopt

a married man, and wlm was rich

NOTES.

139

though nothing was entirely certain in human affairs, still he found less corruption in men of that class,

And

whilst every body approved this work, at the

same time many wondered why he had

built such a maghouse * within the precinct of the monastery of Carthusians, which is not far from the royal palace called

nificent

Richmond.

said that

seat for his old age, when,

he was preparing unequal

as a

to his labours, or

broken by disease, he might be compelled to retire from the company of men. There it was his intention to philosophise with

two or three chosen

he was accustomed to number

For

friends, ;

among whom

but death interposed.

he had been attacked a few years before with the pestilent sweat, a disease which peculiarly troubles after

Britain,

seized

him a second and a

third time

;

and,

although he recovered, yet from the relics of the disease he contracted a disorder of the bowels, which proved fatal

One

to him.

physician thought

him

be dropsical.

Dissection gave no additional information, except that his liver

" his

was found

partially diseased.

was buried

own church,

at the

in a

south side of the choir in

humble tomb, which he had some

the inscripyears before destined for that purpose, adding tion,

JOAN. COL.

in children. zens, of

whose

entrusted

its

superintendence to certain lay

citi-

integrity he thought so highly that he had good

hope it would descend to their next heirs. * See the passage of ColetV will in Additional Notes.

140

NOTES.

I shall

opinions,

Jonas, by recounting a few par-

own

disposition, then of the peculiar

conclude,

ticulars, first of his

and

lastly of the

trials,

which discovered the

simple piety of the man, the least part of which he owed to his natural constitution. In truth, he was possessed of a remarkably high was most impatient of injury, spirit,

wonderfully inclined to love, and indulgence, and sleep, and immoderately addicted to these jests and drollery :

things he himself confessed to free

from the

nor was he entirely

failing of avarice.

Against these frailties he so contended

sophic and sacred

studies,

his philo-

life

from the defilements of

this

him

in familiar conversation, I

in private life

and

his vigils, his fastings,

prayers, that he passed the whole course of his

world

;

much

for3

as I

pure

saw of never

could find but that he preserved the flower of chastity even to his death. He dispersed his wealth in charitable

purposes

;

his

good

sense, he

into subjection,* so that he

actors,

interesting

and

wliicli

brought his lofty spirit would even allow himself to

anecdote, in

which Colet and

Warham

are

illustrates this point of the dean's character, is

Erasmus in a letter to Jod. Gaverus " He was on the worst terms with his uncle, a man very old and of perverse temper. The strife was not about goat's wool, or (as related by

they say) of an ass's shadow, but about a great sum of money, to create a war between father and son.

enough

Colet, being with the reverend father William archbishop of Canterbury, had taken nie as his companion in the boat. On the

invited

to dine

NOTES. be admonished by a child.

141

His propensities

sexual

and excess he put to flight by continual abstinence from suppers, by uniform abstemiousness, unlove, to sleep,

wearied application to study, and pious conversation ; and yet if an occasion ever offered itself, either when jesting with facetious persons, or or

when

when conversing with women,

joining in great entertainments, you might notice

way he was reading from my Enchiridion the remedy of anger; nor why he chose to read it. At the dinner table it

did he yet show tliat

happened

Colet sat opposite his uncle, gloomy in face, neither

But the archbishop has that happy

speaking nor eating.

provide that none of his guests should

fail

his discourse in turn to the tastes of all.

modating

art,

in cheerfulness, by

accom-

therefore

directed the conversation to a comparison of ages, which gave rise to

some

talk

wont

of old

among

the silent ones, and at last the uncle, after the

men, began

to boast that,

he retained so much vigour. nication between

them

boat with me, he said,

apart.

I see,

towards his uncle, so all

through the

ties

Soon

call

the most unsuccessful of

bitter animosity

men

he had entertained

so that he felt almost inclined to

of kindred, to enter into open

commu-

Colet had returned to the

break

the restraints of Christian moderation, and, disregarding

account he had taken peruse

much

When

Erasmus, that you are a successful man.

was wondering why he should successful, when he related what I

though so advanced in years,

After dinner there was some

war with him

;

and on that

Enchiridion into his hands, that he might

the remedy of anger,' and

after the conference,

whatever

it it

had answered the purpose. was, which had followed the

dinner, the bitterness of either party had been modified, so that presently after, at the interposition of the archbishop, affair

was

easily adjusted

" between them.'

the whole

142

NOTES.

some

vestiges of his natural disposition

;

and on that ac-

count he generally abstained from the company of laymen, but especially ft-om feasts and if he was sometimes ;

compelled to attend them, he took with him either myself or some one like me, in order that by discourse in Latin

he might be able to avoid

same time he would only, with one or

idle conversation.

And

eat moderately of one kind of

two draughts of

ale,

at the

meat

abstaining from

wine which he still enjoyed when good, but took with the utmost temperance. Thus, as if always holding himself in suspicion, he was cautious of every thing in which he ;

could possibly give the least oiTence, for he was not unaware that the eyes of all were directed upon him. I have never known a more happy wit, and on that account he especially delighted in those who had the like talent ;

but in these discussions he preferred those subjects which might be preparative for the immortality of a future life. Even if he sometimes relaxed into lighter conversation, there was losophise.

still

nothing in which he was not wont to phi-

delighted in the purity and natural sim-

plicity of children, remembering

how

his disciples to be like unto

them

upon

pare them "

Now,

Christ had called ;

and used

com-

to the angels.

that I

posal, he differed

may perform the other part of my promuch in his sentiments from the vulgar,

but with admirable prudence he in this matter accommodated himself to others, that he might not offend any, or lest he should attract any disrepute in public fame, being

143

NOTES. not unconscious

how harsh

prone to believe evil reports,

are men's judgments,

and how much

how

easier it is

any one's reputation with slanderous tongues, it with commendations. Among his friends

to blast

than to repair

and the learned he most

freely proclaimed his real senti-

ments. "

whom of all men the vulgar attribute he used to say appeared to him slow and peculiar acumen, and but clever for to argue about the dull, anything expressions and words of others, to object first to this and The

Scotists, to

;

then to that, and to divide everything into a thousand niceties, was the part only of barren and poor talents.*

Yet to Thomas (Aquinas), opposed than to Scotus

;

I know not why, he was more and indeed when I spoke in

praise of him, as an author not to be despised

studied the

from what

pay no

fathers, (as I judged Catena Aurea,) but also to have his writings, he repeatedly affected

called the in

But when

attention.

* The following passage of a

letter

again, in another

from Colet

that you sometimes fight

crush

and

flies ?

swallows

inglorious, for

" Since you write

battles with those warriors of

Scotus, I rejoice that I have such a champion. contest,

con-

Erasmus, written

in 1513, exemplifies his contempt of the Scotists to

the

Holy Scriptures and the is

some earnestness to

among

writers, because he seemed not only to have

more recent

But

what praise have you

it is

an unequal

you drive

off

and

what favour do you confer upon me if you bring down The skirmishing may be unavoidable, but is neither

sublime nor invigorating

you bear me."

;

however,

proves the regard and love

144

NOTES.

versation, I

he watched

more strongly advanced the same arguments, as if to discover whether I was speaking

or ironically

seriously

;

and when he found

earnest, he exclaimed, with much excitement,

was

Why

you preach up that fellow ? who, if he had not great arrogance, would not have defined everything with so much rashness and so

much dogmatism, and

some worldly

sessed

spirit,

he had not pos-

would not have so contaminated

the whole doctrine of Christ with his

own profane

philoso-

was struck by

phy?' my friend's ardour, and began to examine the writings of Thomas more What strictly. more need I say ? I lost whatever estimation I had conI

ceived for him.

"Whilstnoone more yet

sincerely cherished Christian piety,

to monasteries (which, for

falsely so called,)

he was

the most part, are

gave them either nothing or very anything at

his

Not

death.

now

no degree well-inclined, and

little,

nor even

left

them

that he entertained any

hatred of the religious orders, but because their members

do not act up to their vows for he had himself intended have withdrawn entirely from the world, if he could ;

have anywhere found a society truly bound together in a rule formed on the law of the Gospel, and he confided that intention to

me when

remarking that he had

monks

truly

was about

into Italy,

the Italians some

and pious.

But he could not

intelligent

esteem that to be religion which since

known among is

vulgarly taken for

very often a mere want of sense.

it,

used,

NOTES.

145

however, sometimes to praise the Germans, as retaining-

some

vestiges of pristine Christianity.

remark that he had never found morals

was wont to

less corrupted

than among-st married people, because the natural tions, the care of children,

and household

affairs,

affec-

act as

were as barriers to restrain them from lapsing into every kind of vice.

Although he

lived in perfect purity himself, yet, in

censuring the faults of others, he was less severe towards

such transgressors only

who being

point of chastity,

priests, or

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;not

even monks, sin

that he otherwise than

abhorred the vice of lechery, but because he found reason to esteem such persons comparatively much less criminal

when he observed

others

who were

proud, envious, railers

and slanderers, hypocrites, vain-glorious, unlearned, wholly given up to rovetousness and ambition, and yet seeming to set a high value

on themselves

infirmity of the former rendered

;

whilst the admitted

them more humble and

and pride were more odious in a priest than if he kept a hundred concubines. Let it not be imagined that he thought incontinency a

unassuming.

said that avarice

venial fault in a priest or in a

deemed the other

To no human

piety.

monk, but merely that he from true

class to be further astray

beings was he more hostile than to

such bishops as act the part of wolves instead of shepnor did he execrate any more than those who,

herds

;

whilst they

recommend themselves

to the people

fre-

quent masses, ceremonies, benedictions, and indulgences,

NOTES.

146 with yet are enslaved to say, to honours

He had

all their

hearts to the world, that

and emoluments.

derived some things from Dionysius and the

other early theologians, upon which he absolutely rely, as to induce

him ever

did not so

still

to contend against

the decrees of the Church, but yet so far that he was less as do

opposed to such

not approve

the all-pervading

churches, whether as paintings, or in image-worship wood, stone, brass, gold, or silver and also to such as in

;

doubt whether a priest notoriously and openly reprobate should perform any sacramental function, by no means but favouring the erroneous judgment of such thinkers, indignant at those who, by a

life

openly and unbecomingly

doubt. corrupted, afford occasion for this kind of

The

colleges,

which with

great

and magnificent

he used to expense are established amongst the English, obstacle to efficient study, nor were anything an were say more than the lounging-places of idle fellows nor did he ;

allow

much

greater merit to the public schools,* because

the ambition of preferment and gain, pervading every

had corrupted the simplicity of all learning. Whilst he strongly approved of secret (or auricular) con-

thing,

fession, asserting that

other source so

* call

The

schools at

much

tlie

he had never derived from any spiritual consolation and support,

universities are meant,

not what

we now

public schools, of which Colet himself set an example at St.

Paul's.

NOTES. he equally strongly condemned

its

anxious and too fre-

customary with the England to perform mass almost every day,

quent repetition. priests in

And

147

although

yet he was content to do feasts, or at least

it is

only upon the Sundays and

on very few days besides those

;

whether

because he was engaged in his sacred studies, by which he prepared himself for preaching, or in the business of his church, or

whether he had found that he worshipped

with greater devotion

if it

was with some intermission.

Yet he by no means blamed the practice of those who Whilst chose to approach the Lord's table every day. himself exceedingly well-read, yet he did not praise that anxious and laborious learning, which is acquired from

an application to all studies, and a perusal of all authors, as it were a mixture from every cask being used to

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

and simplicity of a man's thus was worn his mind rendered less and genius away, and less accordant with innocence and Christian healthy and He valued the simple charity. pure epistles of the say that the natural strength

apostles very highly, but so far did he prefer the wonderful

majesty of the teaching of Christ, that he thought the

writings of the apostles grew dim before

it.

All the

sayings of Christ he had with great ability arranged under

and had proposed greatly wondered that

subjects,

to write a priests,

book upon them.

when engaged

business, should be obliged to repeat daily such length-

ened prayers, even at their own houses or on a journey was a great advocate for the solemn performance

;

for he

148

NOTES. There are numberless

of divine service. fully maintained

very far dissented times to debate

;

among

though with others he whilst on one hand he

his friends, that,

no alteration, unless for the worse, he might

might

effect

also,

on the other,

loss

suffer

There was no book so ;

now most

of these he was accustomed some-

was more reserved, from fear

tively read

thing's

the public schools, from which he

influence

heretical that he

himself.

had not atten-

saying that he occasionally derived more profit

from such than from those authors who so mystify everything, as often to cajole their followers, and sometimes even themselves. "

was not

used to maintain that a flow of correct language to be sought

from the precepts of the grammarians, which he asserted were an hindrance to good expression, and that

could not be attained except by perusing the best authors : but of this opinion he paid it

the penalty, for whilst he was both

by nature and instrucand had a wonderful supply of language when speaking, yet in writing he occasionally fell into

tion eloquent,

those lapses which the critics find pleasure in pointing out.

And

stained

this account, if I

from writing books

;

and

not mistaken, he ab-

wish he had not so

done, for the thoughts of such a man, however expressed,

would have been valuable. "

And

now, that nothing

may be wanting

for a

com-

plete Christian character of Colet, you must hear the

storms which he had to encounter.

had never been

NOTES.

149

on good terms with his bishop,* of whose character it is enough to say that he was a superstitious and unbending

and on that score deemed himself a demigod of may declare that, whilst I have known some

Scotist,

;

which

tribe I

whom

should be unwilling to

never yet seen one

who

many of

his

have

my opinion, be called a Nor was he a great favourite

true and sincere Christian.

with

call reprobates, yet I

could, in

chapter, because he

tenacious of regular discipline

;

was somewhat

and therefore they com-

plained that they were treated as monks, although this

chapter formerly was of that class, and

documents the East Minster.

called in old

But when now the malice

of the old bishop, for he had arrived at eighty years of age,

was

so bitter that

having called to his

could no longer be repressed,

councils two other bishops of like

opinions, nor less spiteful, he began to attack Colet with

the weapons which such

men

are accustomed to employ

when they are attempting any man's destruction. He was brought before the archbishop of Canterbury, upon certain articles, gathered from his sermons. One of these was, that he had taught that images were not to be

worshipped. Saint

Paul's

Another, that he had taken away from its credit for hospitality,-]- inasmuch as,

* Richard FitzJames, a fellow of Merton college, Oxford, consecrated bishop of Rochester 1497, translated to Chichester 1503, to

London 1505 " "t*

quod

;

he died

sustulisset

1521.

a Paulo laudatam hospitalitateni."

This

charge was, no doubt, directed not only against the dean's preaching,

NOTES.

when expounding feed

that passage of the gospel, Feed, feed,

sheep, after having, in the two former places,

agreed with other interpreters, Feed by examples of

life,

Feed by exhortation of doctrine, in the third place he dissented, denying that it was likely that the apostles,

who were

then poor, should be

commanded

to feed their

sheep with temporal aid, and therefore in this place he

had substituted something else. that when in his sermons he had

third charge was,

said that

some preached

from book* (the lifeless practice followed by many in England), he had obliquely reflected upon the bishop, who, on account of his age, was accustomed to do

The

archbishop,f to

fectly

whom

known, undertook the

becoming

that Colet himself disdained

man

defence of the innocent,

his patron instead of judge, at the

and others

still

did not rest

;

so.

the merits of Colet were per-

foolish.

same time

to reply to these charges, Still

the spite of the old

he attempted to excite the king's court

against Colet, and particularly the king himself, having

now taken up

new charge,

that he had publicly de-

clared in a sermon, that an unjust peace

I)ut his

was preferable

practice also, as described in another passage.

sible not to notice

how

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; " That he preach'd against â&#x20AC;&#x201D; of 89.

sense of these words, sessions of bishops."

It is

impos-

widely Dr. Knight has misinterpreted the

Life

tlic

temporal pos-

Colet, p.

* Fox, who has followed Erasmus in describing this prosecution, terms this " preaching from bosome-sermons."

t Warham.

NOTES. to the justest

war

;

mitre

the other

war was

for at that time

tion against the French.

by two Minorites

151

This

tale

was

in prepara-

promoted

chiefly

one of those firebrands obtained a

was wont

his

sermons

harangue

with good jaws against poets, for so he designated Colet, whilst he was far from versed in poetry, although not

Here the

unskilled in music.

common

king, a

young man of un-

talent, gave an evident instance of his judgment,

most deserving of a throne,

for he privately encouraged

Colet to persevere in amending by his sound doctrine the

very connipt manners of that age, and not to withdraw he told him he was his light in those most lowering times :

well aware of what instigated those bishops against him,

and he was

had

profited

also informed

his

how much

the English nation

example and his teaching.

He added,

that he would himself so restrain their attempts, that

should be evident that others would not be able to attack Colet with impunity.

Upon

thanked the king what he pro-

this Colet

for his favourable intention, but deprecated

should posed, declaring his unwillingness that any one suffer

on his account, and that he would rather resign the

preferment he held. " But some time after another occasion was given, by *

One

Order also p.

was Henry Standish, provincial of the Franciscan England, and in 1518 made bishop of St. Asaph. He

of these

made some

220;

ii.

mentioned.

similar attacks on

154, 262.

Erasmus

The other porson was

see Jortin's Life,

friar Bricot,

afterwards

NOTES.

1^^2

which they hoped they should at last ruin Colet. An army for France was to be got ready by Easter. On Good Friday Colet preached before the king- and the court in an admirable

exhorting

all

manner on the

victory of Christ,

Christians, that under the standard of their

king they should both fight and conquer

who from

;

but as for those

hatred, or ambition, foully engaged in mutual

war and slaughter, they served not under the banners of Christ but of the devil ; and at the same time he showed

them how

how few

how

a thing

to die a Christian death

;

enter into war uninfluenced by hatred or avai-ice

;

difficult

barely possible was

for the

same man

Christian charity, witho\it which no

and

to thrust his

man

many pose

have that

shall see

sword into the bowels of

God,

his brother.

own

prince

rather than the Cajsars and Alexanders.

And

added, that they ought to imitate their

Christ,

other things he then delivered to the same pur-

;

so that the king

was somewhat alarmed

lest this

sermon should take away the resolution of the soldiers whom he had mustered. Upon this all Colet's ill-wishers flew at king's king's

him

as they

would

at a toad, hoping that

now

the

mind might be embittered against him. By the command Colet was summoned to his presence.

He had dined in the little monastery of Franciscans, As soon as the which adjoins the palace of Greenwich. down into the went he garden of the moking saw him, dismissed all his nastery,* and on Colet's approach * Tliere

a Hiniilar anecdote to this in

tlic iiistoi'y

of Sir

Thomas

NOTES.

153

When they were alone he commanded the be covered, that they might enter into famiUar

attendants.

dean

conversation, and thus the most gracious prince began '

Be under no

called for

needless alarm, master dean

but

have not

your most pious labours, which would disburden my conscience

to disturb

you

I entirely approve,

;

of some scruples, and by the aid of your advice more rightly

fulfil

ray duty.'

But

need not repeat the whole

conversation, which was prolonged for nearly an hour and

a half.

In the

mean time Bricot was was

exulting in the court,

danger whereas the him in all points, with was agreed except that he king wished that what Colet had spoken with perfect truth he supposing that Colet

had

said in a

said,

no war

;

somewhat more explanatory way, on account

of the rude soldiers,

he had

at last in

who might

interpret

namely, to the eifect that

just.

otherwise than

among

Christians

Colet by his prudence, and by his re-

markable moderation of sentiment, not only satisfied the increased his previous favour. king's mind, but even

When

the king, before they had returned into the palace his health, and having emto drank Colet, dismissing

braced him most graciously, and promised every thing that can be expected from the most loving sovereign, he

More, which

How and

will

the king

came unexpectedly

after dinner

holding his

be more familiar to most readers than the present.

walked

arm about

his

his neck.

to Chelsea,

garden

and dined with him,

for the space of

an hour,

NOTES.

154 dismissed

Now

him.

the

of courtiers

tribe

standing

round was awaiting the end of that conference, and the king, in the hearing of all, said, Every one may have his *

own

and each may favour his own this is the So the wolves departed hungry, as they

doctor,

;

doctor for me.' say,

and

especially Bricot

;

nor from that day did any one

venture to impeach Colet."

Such

the interesting character of

his friend

refers

Erasmus

already quoted,

when enumerating the various

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

had lost by death " After these was John Colet,

this person

what need

sufficiently

depicted him

many five

had boasted of

in about

excellent qualities of

there to rehearse ? since I have in

that to the letter (^ex vero)

was

drawn

friends he

who departed

The

the fortieth year of his age.

Colet,

evident pleasure in the letter to Go\.3rus

with

mately for

Dean

a composition to which the writer

(published) Epistolae, and for I

knew the man

inti-

years."

years before Colet's death that Erasmus his friendship to Servatius ;*

and so

re-

ciprocal was the honour conferred by this friendship, that we may most appropriately close this long note with the

observation of Granger, that * " There

man who

at Lonflon

John

â&#x20AC;˘'

higher testimony need

Colet, the dean of Saint Paul's, a

unites the deepest learning with admirable piety,

of great authority with

know, that he

likes

all

people.

loves

no one's company better than mine."

to Servatius in 1.514.)

and

so well, as

all

(Letter

NOTES.

155

to be given to the merit of Colet than his great intimacy

There was a

with Erasmus.

and of sentiments

studies,

trious

men, who ventured

similarity of manners, of

in religion, betwixt these illus-

to take off the veil

from igno-

rance and superstition, and to expose them to the eyes of the world, and to prepare men's minds for the reformation of religion,

and restoration of learning."

(50) The " This

which

in Hollar's plan is

(Willis.)

given

was probably

It is

in this

sac7'istij.

the chapel of Saint Andrew,

marked

as the vestiarium."

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

accordingly marked Sacristy in the Plan

volume.

(51) Treasures of the church.

The amazing

treasures of the church of Canterbuiy

can only be properly appreciated by perusing the Inventory,

which

made two

centuries before the visit of Erasmus, in

printed

the Church, pp. iv

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

the Appendix to Dart's History of xviii.

the " copes of profession,"

presented by suffragan bishops and abbats, there were sixty-five, besides

crosses, chalices,

many more

of equal splendour.

and other church furniture,

fill

The

several

156

NOTES.

The jewels immediately belonging to the shrine be quoted in a subsequent Note.

pages. will

(52) The pastoral staff of Saint Thomas.

Thus

described in the Inventory just mentioned:

" Item.

Baculus Sancti Thomaj de pyro, cum capite

de nigro cornu." It

was made of pear-wood, with a crook of black horn. in the days of Becket was the episcopal crosier,

So simple which

in later times

was highly enriched with goldsmith's

woi'k and jewellery, (like the crosier of William of

ham,

still

tration

preserved at

New

Wyke-

College chapel.)

illus-

of this point, and of the archbishop's general

attire, the Seal

of Archbishop Becket

here (for the

first

time) engraved.

(5f3)

The cross-headed

Was staff,

there no cross ?

in distinction

to the

became the peculiar ensign of an archbishop. archbishops are always represented with generally placed in

the

monuments and

seals.

who

bears

archbishop

consecrated 1272.

it,

crosier,

Sainted

and

hands of archbishops on their In the Canterbury series the first on his seal

Robert Kilwarby,

SEAL OF ARCHBISHOP BECKET.

NOTES.

Archbishop Warham.

(54)

to lord

Erasmus on the

157

Mountjoy, who had been the pupil of continent, Warham was the earliest

When the latter first came English patron of Erasmus. England in 1309, the archbishop contributed five

pounds towards his travelling expenses

;

and the next

year Erasmus declared that the archbishop alone deIn 1511 Erasmus thus wrote tained him in this country. of

Warham

" W^hilst

very

many

others

kindness, so chiefly does that

archbishop of Canterbury, the patron of

all

lowest place,

citous,

what

how

skill

the

any

copious,

how

all.

among whom Almighty God

ready,

take the

how

the genius of that

his learning

feli-

man

so that, in a

manner

But then what unheard-

of courtesy towards evei'y one !

only, but

conducting the most important business

how extraordinary address

with marked

Maecenas the

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;or rather not mine

learned, at

especial

treat

what pleasantness

truly royal, he dismisses

no one from him depressed. Moreover, how great and what ready liberality Lastly, in such an eminence of !

fortune and dignity, what an absence of pride

so that

he alone appears to be unaware of his greatness. In protecting his friends no one is more faithful or more constant.

fine,

a true primate, not only in rank,

but in every kind of merit."

(Epist. 135.)

158

NOTES.

These were the terms

Warham

his obligations to

which Erasmus acknowledged at the time

he was receiving

his favours.

After the archbishop's death he drew his

character

and

it deserves to be length, placed the side of that of Colet, which the reader has already

still

perused.

" Here of

all

am reminded

of a man worthy of the memory William Warham, archbishop of Canterposterity, I

bury, primate of in

all

England

reality a theologian.

not only by that title, but was a doctor of both laws ; ;

he had distinguished himself in some embassies successfully accomplished

;

and he had acquired the favour and

esteem of Henry the Seventh, a prince of the highest judgment. By these steps he was raised to the eminence of the church of Canterbury, which ranks foremost in dignity in that island.

densome

in itself,

was obliged

only

this charge, still

exceeding bur-

so.

to undertake the office of chancellor,

indeed with the English is

was added another

truly royal

;

and

which

to this officer

the honour paid, of having the royal crown, with

the sceptre placed upon

it, borne before him, whenever he goes forth in public. For he is as it were the eye, the mouth, and the right hand of the king, and the supreme This office he judge of the whole British dominion.

with such

skill for many years, that you would have was born for that very business, and held no other charge. But at the same time he was so vigilant filled

said he

and attentive

matters relating to religion and his eccle-

159

NOTES. siastical functions, that

no external concerns.

you would say he was engaged

He found time sufficient to discharge

religiously the solemn duty of prayer, to perform

mass

almost daily, to be present besides at two or three services, to

hear causes, to receive embassies, to advise the

any thing of importance had arisen in court to his churches, wherever his presence was required ; if

king visit

;

amounting to two hundred was given to reading. For occuvarious he found one life sufficient, no part of

to receive his guests, often

and

;

his leisure lastly,

pations so

which he bestowed on hunting, none on empty tales, none on luxury or pleasures. of

dice,

none on

In the place

these amusements he had either some agreeable

all

reading, or conversation with a learned

man.

Although

he sometimes had bishops, dukes, and earls as his guests, of one yet dinner was always finished within the space In the midst of a sumptuous table, as his dignity

hour.

demands,

it is

delicacies.

incredible to say

how he

abstained from

rarely tasted wine, but generally,

when

already a septuagenarian, used to drink very weak

which they there

call beer,

all

ale,

and even that very sparingly.

Moreover, when he had taken the smallest quantity of food, yet with the kindness of his looks, and the cheerfulness of his discourse, he enlivened the whole table.

You

perceived the same gravity either before or after

dinner.

abstained entirely from suppers, or

of his intimate friends, of which

some

number we were, hap-

pened to be with him, he sat down, but scarcely touched

160

NOTES.

the viands

;

but

no such company were there, he spent

And

the time of supper either in prayer or in reading. as he abounded himself in far

very happy pleasantries, but

removed from bitterness or indecorum,

so he

pleased with the more free jests of his friends

shrunk as much from

was

yet he

scurrility or detraction as any

would do from a serpent.

Thus

this excellent

man made

those days abundantly long, of the shortness of which so

many

complain."

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Ecclesiastes.

(55) The whole figure of the excellent man.

The Latin here lators

" tota

facies," which former transhave rendered " the whole face," but it was more

probably

a whole-length than a head, whether a pic-

and so professor Willis seems to think, ; " the image of St. Thomas." He also supposes

ture or statue calling

the chapel in which

stood was the Corona.

(Archi-

tectural History of Canterbury Cathedral, p. 113.)

(56) Spoliation

ofi churches.

This passage of the Colloquy

so exactly descriptive

of the scenes which were enacted a few years after in

England, that

who

might be deemed the production of one

witnessed them.

interesting paper, written

NOTES.

I til

an actual witness, has been published by Sir Henry Ellis in his last (the Third) Series of Original Letters, and gives a striking picture of the flood of avarice, spoliation,

and oppression, which was suddenly let loose at the dissolution of monasteries when, as Erasmus foresaw, those :

who had

hitherto been accustomed to

ings to the houses of

make

religion were led on

their offer-

in the

general

scramble to peculation and robbery.

The

writer,

who

lived in Yorkshire,

have made a heart of

" says,

would

have melted and wept to have seen the breaking-up of the house, and their sorrowful departing and the sudden spoil that fell the same flint

;

their

day of

from

departure

the house.

And

every

had every thing good-cheap, except the poor monks, friars, and nuns, that had no money to bestow of

person

it appeared by the suppression of an abbey, hard by me, called the Roche abbey a house of white monks, a very fair-builded house, all of freestone, and

anything, as

;

every house vaulted with freestone, and covered with lead (as the abbeys was in England, as well as the churches

be).

the breaking-up whereof an uncle of mine was

present, being well acquainted with certain of the monks

there

;

and when they were put forth of the house, one

of the monks, his friend, told him that every one of the

had given to him his cell wherein he lied wherein was not any thing of price, but his bed and ap-

convent

parel,

monk

;

which was but simple and of small price willed

uncle

;

which

buy something of him, wlio

NOTES.

162

said, '

see

nothing that

said he,

give

never made with

v^*'

me '

ij'^'*

worth money to my use.' for my cell door, which was

No,' said

uncle,

know not

man unmarried, (for he was a young and then neither stood in need of houses nor doors). But what

do with

such persons as afterwards bought their corn and hay, or such

like,

found

all

the doors either open, or the locks

and shackles plucked away, or the door went in and took what they found, and "

Some took

taken away,

itself

filched

away.

the service-books that lied in the church,

them upon their waine-coppes to peice the same some took windows of the hayleith and hid them in their and

laid

hay and likewise they did of many other things for some pulled forth the iron hooks out of the walls that ;

;

bought none, when the yeomen and gentlemen of the For the of the church. country had bought the timber church was the then

the

cloister,

first

thing that was put to the spoil

;

abbot's lodging, dorter and frater, with

and

abbey-walls

;

all

the buildings

for nothing

and swinecotes,

thereabout

and the

within the

was spared but the ox-houses

and such other houses of

stood without the walls, which had

office that

more favour showed

them than the very church itself; which was done by the advice of Cromwell, as Fox reporteth in his book of Acts and Monuments. It would have pitied any heart to see what tearing up of the lead there was, and plucking up and when of boards, and throwing down of the spars ;

the lead was torn

ofiF

and cast down into the church, and

NOTES.

163

the tombs in the churcli

all broken (for in most abbeys were divers noble men and women, yea, in some abbeys kings, whose tombs were regarded no more than the

tombs of

all other inferior persons ; for to what end should they stand, when the church over them was not

spared for their cause spoiled, carped

The

all

?),

and

all

things of price either

away, or defaced to the uttermost.

persons that cast the lead into fodders plucked

the seats in the choir, wherein the

monks

sat

when

they said service, which were like to the seats in minsters,

and burned them, and melted the lead therewithall, although there was wood plenty within a flight-shot of them, for the abbey stood among the woods and the rocks of stone, in which rocks was pewter vessels found that was conveyed

away and there hid

;

so that

seemeth

person lent himself to filch and spoil what he could, yea, even such persons were content to spoil that every

them that seemed not two days before to allow their religion, and do great worship and reverence at their mattins, masses,

doings, which

and other

service,

and

all

other their

a strange thing to say, that they could to be the house of God, and the next

day think it day the house of the devil or else they would not have been so ready to have spoiled it. " For the better' of this I this

;

proof

saying,

demanded

father, thirty years after the Suppression,

had bought part of the timber of the church, and

which all

the

timber in the steeple, with the bell-frame, with others hi?

164

NOTES.

partners therein (in the which steeple

hung viij. yea ix. whereof the least but one could not be bought at this day for xx". which bells I did see hang there myself

bells

;

more than a year

Suppression), whether he

after the

and of the religion

thought well of the religious persons then used

no cause it

And he

told

to the contrary.

to pass

thing that said he.

yea

;

for, said he, I did see

Well, said

how came

then

you was so ready to destroy and

you

Might

I not, as

profit of the spoil of the

away, and therefore " Thus

you may

What

of?

thought well

well

abbey

the

spoil

should I do

some

as others, have

would

for I did see all

did as others did.

see, that as well

they that thought

well of the religion then used, as they which thought

otherwise, could agree well enough, and too well, to spoil

Such a

them.

such

devil

covetousness and

the providence of

God

mammon

and

punish sinners, in

making themselves instruments to punish themselves, and all their posterity from generation to generation. For no doubt there hath been millions of millions that have repented the thing since

;

but

too late.

all

much upon my own knowledge touching said

Roche Abbey."

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; MS.

(57)

Thomas ceeded

Goldwell, the

Cole, vol.

And

thus

the

fall

of the

xii. Ellis,

III.

iii.

35.

ThePrllor, last

1517, and continued

Prior of Canterbury, sucuntil the Dissolution,

when

165

NOTES.

on the 4th April 1539, a yearly pension of 80/. was as" with the office of one of the signed him, together prebendaries there."

It is obvious, therefoi'C, that

he con-

formed to the Reformation. " " A was a man well read in the learngood Scotist ing of the great schoolman Duns Scotus, who lived in

The

the latter part of the 13th century.

opinion which

Colet entertained of the Scotists, and in which his friend

Erasmus must have nearly

has

coincided,

been

seen

in p. 149.

(58) The Shrine.

The Shrine

of Saint

Thomas was

placed in the centre

of the chapel, as shown in the Plan, and had in front of it

a curious mosaic pavement, which

cuted in the manner termed the

still

remains, exe-

Opus Alexandrinum,

pavements of most of

the

Roman

which

basilicas

are

wrought, and of which there are also specimens at Westminster Abbey, in the pavements of the presbytery, of the chapel of Edward the Confessor, and also about his

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

and the tomb of Henry III. (Willis.) Stowe has preserved in his Chronicle the following

shrine,

description of the Shrine at Canterbury

was builded about a man's height,

upward

of timber, plaine

;

all,

with the

of stone

;

then

within the which was a chest

of yron, conteyning the bones of

and

all

" This Shrine

Thomas

Becket, scull

wounde of his death, and the peece cut

NOTES.

Ififi

out of his scull layde in the same wound.

These bones

(by commandement of the lord Cromwell) were then and The timber-work of this shrine on the

there brent.

outside was covered with plates of gold,

damasked with

gold wier, which ground of gold was againe covered with jewels of golde, as ringes 10 or 12 cramped together with

gold wyer into the said ground of golde,

many

of those

rings having stones in them, brooches, images, angels,

pretious stones,

which shrine,

and great pearls, &c. The golde and precious stones,

spoile of

two

filled

great chests, such as sixe or seaven strong men could doe no more then convey one of them at once out of the

church." I

suspect, however, that this description

derived from the Cottonian it

MS.

has been partially misunderstood.

MS.

there

was

chiefly

Tib. E. viil. and that

269 of that

a pen-and-ink sketch of the Shrine,* with

some written description partially burnt

(in

English) by

away by the Cottonian

fire,

its

side,

now

but of which

a Latin translation will be found on the engraving of this

subject in Dugdale's Monasticon

;

and below the Shrine

drawn the square iron table on which the Skull stood, of which an engraving has been before given at p. 118. is

Stowe supposed the latter was a chest of iron within but it seems more probable that the sketch

the Shrine

* This drawing seems to liavo been copied from Bome former original

wliifh,

accurately finished,

could be recovered, might prove to be more

and therefore

afford additional information.

THE SHRINE OF SAINT THOMAS.

NOTES. was intended

167

represent the place of exhibition of the

Skull, in the Undercroft of the church.

The far as

description of the Shrine in the Cottonian it

can

now be

ascertained,

was

" All above the stone worke was

to this effect

first

of gold set with stone

of wood, Jewells

wrought uppon

Then agayn with

with gold wier.

MS.

Jewells of gold, as

broch[es, images of angels, and rings] 10 or 12 together,

cramped with gold into the ground of gold. The s[poils of which filled two] chests, such as 6 or 8 men could but

At [one side was a stone, convay out of the church. with] an angell of gold poyntyng therunto, offred there by a kinge of France [which king Henry put] into a :

ring,

and woar

There are finials gilt,

on his thorab."

also

memoranda

written against the three

on the crest of the Shrine, that they were of

silver

the central one weighing eighty ounces, and the two

others each sixty ounces.

In the Inventory of 1315, already mentioned, we have following catalogue of the Jewels of the Shrine,

the

under the three classes of rings, stones stones set in silver

set in gold,

and

JOCALIA SanCTI ThOMJE. Anulus

pontificalis

magnus cum rubino rotundo

medio. Item. catur lup.

Anulus magnus cum saphiro nigro qui vo-

NOTES.

168

Anulus minor cum saphiro nigro qui vocatur

Item. lap.

Item.

Anulus cum parvo saphiro nigro qui vocatur lup.

Item.

Anulus cum saphiro quadrato aquoso. Anulus cum lapide oblongo qui vocatur Tur-

Item. koyse.

Item.

Anulus

Item

Anulus

Item.

Anulus

cum

viridi cornelin sculpto

rotundo.

parvus cum smaragdine triangulato. cum chalcedonio oblongo.

Lapides ejusdem in auro situati, unus Saphirus oblongus qui vocatur loup. Item. Onichinus unus oblongus. Item.

Item.

Crapodinus unus

Item.

Comelinus unus sculptus et oblongus in auro. Crux aurea, cum tribus garnettis, quatuor pe-

Item. rulis, et

Item. vis

duobus granis Firmacula

gemmis

et j.

saphiri.

iij.

cum

in auro.

parva Vetera, unde

ij.

cum

nigro saphiro.

Lapides ejusdem cum argento, forma piri.

Item. Lapis Item.

Jaspis unus rotundus.

Item.

Unus

Item.

Una prama

rotunda

Crapodinus

in argento. j.

Item. Item.

Camau cum

Lapis j.

peridot oblongus.

argento deaurato.

medietate hominis.

nigor quadratus.

Anulus argenteus cum

garnettis.

par-

169

NOTES.

Os album rotundum

Item.

in argento.

Lapis R. de Weynchepe oblongus cum cornelino rubeo et capite horainis. Item.

There are probably further treasures belonging

to the

Shrine mentioned under the other heads of the Inventory. Thus among the chasubles is that of sir John Plukenet, knight, of purple cloth with golden pine-apples, and a

large orfrey before and behind, bequeathed to the Shrine

of Saint Thomas. is

Among

six chalices

of solid gold, one

described as,

cum

Calix aureus ad feretrum,

viridi

amalio in nodo

pedis.

Among

the murrhine cups, was one called the

Cup

gilt, and having a chased golden chalices was that

Saint Thomas, lined with silver

Another

foot.

of the

six

by Philip king of France and among the Cuppae ad Corpus Domini, was one of gold offered by Louis king of France. Among the morses or clasps of copes,

offered

were

;

six also called " of the

king of France,"

silver, gilt

and enamelled, three with imagery undescribed, and the other three having the crucifix on the right side, and the annunciation

on the

left.

Thus frequent

Thomas

and

of Canterbury

Erasmus remarks were the

gift of

Amongst

appears that

French monarchs made

offerings

will

the

Saint

be observed that

that several of the jewels of the Shrine

sovereign princes.

other Shrines of English saints, the most

celebrated were those of

Edward

the Confessor at

West-

NOTES.

minster,

named

Edmund

after him,

at Bury in Suffolk, Alban and Cuthbert at Durham.

The Confessor was cate of Alexander

at the

town

not canonized until the pontifi-

III.

Thereupon king Henry the Third prepared a precious shrine, to which the body of the saint was translated at midnight on the 15th Oct. 1 1 63. Afterwards, on king Henry the Third rebuilding the church, the original shrine was either inclosed or suc-

ceeded by the remarkable erection of Italian mosaic which has been suffered to remain to our own days. It said to have been surmounted by another of fine gold and precious stones, so curiously wrought, that the workis

manship even exceeded the material.

Among the treasures

of this shrine was an image of the blessed Virgin in ivory, offered

by archbishop Becket, who had promoted

the Confessor's canonization.

The two

shrine of

Saint Edmund

parts, or stages,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

arrangement

the

lower of

Edmund,

young devotee, king kneeling before this shrine, in 1433.

new

also of

illumination of

the

represents the

the

Bury was

and the upper

stone,

wood, incased with gold plate. gate's Life of St.

which seems to have been the usual

edition of the Monasticon,

MS.

and

Eyd-

Harl. 2278, the

Henry It is

Sixth,

engraved

in the

man's Magazine for September 1822. The shrine of Saint Alban was renewed

Gentle-

costly

goldsmith's work by abbat Simon towards the close of the twelfth century.

the two sides were

figures in

NOTES.

relief representing the life of the blessed

head, towards the

and

east, the crucifix, with

martyr at the Mary and John ;

;

the front, towards the west, an image of the

blessed

Virgin,

sitting

divine Infant in her lap.

order of the saint's

on a throne, and holding her On both sides of the roof the

martyrdom was

represented.

the

four corners were open turrets, with marvellous bosses of

Within

crystal.

this

sumptuous external covering, the

older shrine was contained.

shrine of saint Alban

said that the (inner)

It is

now preserved

in the church of

Sanit Mauritius, belonging to the Theresian convent at

Cologne.

(See Matthew Paris

St. Alban's, pp.

63 and 75

;

Newcome's History of

and Messrs. Bucklers' Archi-

tectural History of the Church, 1847, pp. 47, 168.)

The Shrine

Saint Cuthbert

Durham

fully

described in the curious account of that church written

by one who remembered tion.

fine

in its state before the

Reforma-

It "

was exalted with most curious workmanship of and costly green marble, all limned and gilt with

gold, having four seats or places convenient under the

shrine for the pilgrims or lame to lean

and

sitting

rest on, at the time of their

and fervent prayers his

men

God and

devout offerings

holy Saint Cuthbert for

miraculous relief and succour

wanting, made the

on their knees

;

which being never

shrine to be so richly invested that

most sumptuous monuments in England, so great were the offerings and jewels bestowed upon it, and no less the miracles that were

was estimated

to be one of the

]

NOTES.

done by

it."

There was a wainscot covering, let up and pulley and rope, which at the same

down by means of a

time set six silver bells in motion,

order to attract the

The

attention of persons in distant parts of the church.

cover was

on the north and south sides were painted " four on the east end our Saviour sitting images," lively on a rainbow, to give judgment, and on the west end the gilt

;

Virgin and our Saviour on his knee.

The cover had

carved crest of dragons and other beasts

;

its

inside

was

varnished of a fine sanguine colour, to be more perspicuous to the beholders, and when closed down it was locked at

every corner.

Within the Feretory or Chapel of the Shrine, both on and south, were Alraeryes for the Relics

the north

made of images

wainscot, finely

painted

and

gilt

with

little

and at the same time that the shrine was un-

covered, these almeryes were also opened for exhibition.

(See more minute particulars in the Rites and Monuments of the Monasticall Church of Durham, Surtees Society's edition, 1842, pp.

The

vice-prior

Feretory.

or worship were disposed to

Shrine,

way

also

keeper of the

" His ofiice was that,

and to Saint Cuthbert, or if

et seq.)

Durham was

when any man of honour make their prayers to God

to oifer anything to his sacred

they requested to

have

drawn, then

strait-

the Clerk of the Feretory did give intelligence to his

master, and then the said master did bring the keys, giving thom to the clerk to open the locks of the Shrine.

173

NOTES.

was to stand by and see it drawn, commanding Also it was ever drawn in the the said clerk to draw it. His

office

matins time, when

Deum

was

singing, or in the

high-mass time, or at evensong time, when the MagAnd when they had made their nificat was sung. prayers, and did offer anything to gold, silver, or jewels,

And

it,

straitway

if it

were either

was hung on the

were any other thing, as unicorn horn, elephant tooth, or such like thing, then it was hung shrine.

within the

if it

Feretory, at the end of the Shrine.

when they had made

their prayers, the clerk did let

the cover thereof, and did lock

the keys to the vice-prior again."

(59) Rapacity of the

And down

at every corner, giving

(Ibid. p. 79.)

officers

of the English

custom-house.

This was an old personal grievance of Erasmus. leaving England after his

first visit, in

1499, a regulation

was put in force against him, which prohibited any person from carrying out of the country coin exceeding in amount six angels. The king's officers at Dover took from him

money he had above that sum, nearly twenty pounds, thus in fact depriving him of the fruits of all

the

his learned labours in

62, 80, 94.)

England.

(See his Epistolae, Nos.

174

NOTES.

Again, when he passed over the straits in the year 1514, he suffei-ed from what he deemed a wanton error,

which he thus described to his friend Ammonius passage was most fortunate, but

still

anxious to me.

The The

sea perfectly calm, the wind favourable, the weather de-

my if

they find any

full

suitable

but

writings, into

opportunity, they

if not,

may

steal

some money, and when I supposed

they extort

away something sell you your own property. And so, I had lost the work of so many years, I mind that

a thing they do on purpose, in order that,

sailed

But those maritime thieves carried

portmanteau, which was

another ship

For we

time most convenient.

lightful, the

about seven o'clock.

felt so

troubled

think no parent could feel more on the

death of his children.

And

indeed in

tbey treat travellers in such sort, that to fall into the hands of

Turks than

all it

other matters

might be better I have often

theirs.

wondered with myself that these dregs of men are

tole-

rated

by the princes of England, to the great molestation of their visitors, and not without the highest disgrace of the whole island, considering every one

home form

relates

how inhumanly he was

their opinion of the nation

robbers."

on returning

received,

and others

from the acts of these

(Epist. 159.)

This second grievance, however, had evidently been surmounted before Erasmus wrote this letter, which is dated from the English castle of Ilammes, near Calais,

where he was then

visiting

Lord Mountjov.

NOTES.

175

(60) Herhaldown hospital. It

not a

little

remarkable, that while the

loi-dly

monasteries of Canterbury, with their incalculable riches,

were swept away shortly after the visit of Erasmus, the hospital which he mentions with something like

humble

contempt, has remained to our It is situated at

West Gate

own

time.

Herbaldown, about one mile from the

of the city

;

and was one of three

lazar-

houses founded by archbishop Lanfranc, about the year 1084. Such hospitals were erected away from the town

The two

population, in order to avoid infection.

other

hospitals of St. James and St. Lawrence were suppressed after the Reformation, respectively in

1551 and

557

;

but Herbaldown escaped, continuing to receive a yearly pension of 80/. from the archbishop, and other revenues,

amounting in all to nearly 250/. in 1784. Its history, compiled by the Rev. Nicholas Battely and the Rev.

John Duncombe, was published

in 4to.

1785,

of the Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica.

No. xxx.

ancient

church dedicated to Saint Nicholas was attached hospital,

and

the corporate seal represents

episcopal saint, with this inscription, SigilV hospitalis Sc'i Nicholai

to the

a figure of that

de Herbaldoune.

infirmorum

Saint

Nicholas' day the brethren and sisters (for there were both,) had an annual feast

;

and a curious maple bowl

176

NOTES. preserved which was used on these occasions.

Still

has a silver rim, and a silver medallion at the bottom,

workmanship early

in the 14th

a scene from the romance of

its

century, and representing

Guy

of Warwick.

GY DE WARWIC AD A NOVN YCCI OCCIS LE

DRAGOVN.

" Of Warwick he hight Guyon.

Here he

slays the

dragon."

(61) Saint Patrick's Cave.

his

Adagia

Patrick's Cave.

Ei-asmus has again alluded to Saint After explaining the proverb. In Tro-

antra vaticinatus est, as originating with a vision of Tartarus, related by Plutarch in the " Dream of " This Socrates," he remarks, story seems to me so like

plioyiii

that which

related of the cave of Patrick, in Ireland,

that one might be thought taken from the other.

even now there are very many who descend having lest

first

Yet

but after

half killed themselves with a three days' fast,

they should enter with a sound head.

have descended relate that they have

Those who

lost their inclina-

tion for laughing for the rest of their lives."

In the Colloquy before us, Erasmus seems to introduce the Cave of Saint Patrick last, as if he deemed it the crowning absurdity of Pilgrimage, and as allusion to

were

sufficient

yet,

strong

if is

a mere the in-

NOTES.

177

veteracy of superstition, that this imposture has flourished

down

present time, and that even in the united

to the

kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Barrow's Tour round

historical dissertation

St.

Hell,

Purgatory,

and

St. Patrick's

esq.

during the

M.A., F.S.A."

on an island of

situated

the mountains of the county of

There are various records of

Donegal.

ages,

current

Paradise,

Purgatory

Lough Derg, among

topics, entitled,

an Essay on the Legends of

By Thomas Wright,

Middle Ages. 1844. 12mo.

visited

;

and a very interesting

and cognate

this

Patrick's Purgatory

Traits and

Carleton's

Ireland,

Stories of the Irish Peasantry,

See Sir John

its

having been

by pilgrims of the higher ranks in the middle some of

Europe.

whom came

even from the continent of

amusing account of

occurs in the Chroni-

cle of Froissart, arising in a conversation

together in

between the

William Lysle, as they were travelling Kent. " Than on Friday in the mornynge sir

author and

sir

William Lysle and I rode together, and on the waye I deraaunded of him, if he had bene with the kynge in the voyage into Ireland.

He answered me,

maunded of him the maner of

the hole that

called Saynte Patrykes purgatorye, if

was sayde of

or not.

suche a hole there

vv^as,

Than he

Than

yes.

I de-

in Ii-eland,

were trewe that

sayde, that of a suretye

and that he him

selfe

and another

knight of Englande hadde ben there while the kinge laye at

Duvelyn, and sayde, howe they entred into the hole

NOTES.

178

in at the sonne goynge downe, and abode and the nexte moniyng issued out agayne night, Than I demaunded if he had any at the son rising. suche strange sightes or visions as was spoken of. Than

and were closed there

all

he said howe that whan he and his felow were entred and past the gate that was called the purgatory of Saynt Patrike,

and that they were descended and gone downe,

thre or foure partes discendynge

downe

as into a cellar, a

certayne hoote vapure rose agayne them and strake so into their heedes, that they

were fayne to syt downe on And after they had sytte

the stares, which are of stone.

there a season, they had great desyre to slepe, and so fell aslepe,

and

slept there all nyght.

Than

demaunded

that in theyr slepe

they knewe where they were, or what

vysyons they had

he answered me, that

ymaginacyons and dremes, otherwise than they were wonte entred into

great

in slepyng in

they

marveylous have in their

chambres; and

in the mornynge they issued out, and, shorte a season, clone forgate their dremes and wythin wherfore he sayde, he thought all that mater was visyons,

but a fantasy."

(62) The In his

Roman

stations.

Modus orandi Deiim Erasmus

has frequent re-

" It were in churches. " that nothing should be seen in to be wished," he says,

marks on the images and pictures

NOTES, Christian churches but what

see there so

many

fables

and

179

Now

worthy of Christ. follies

depicted, as the

seven falls of our lord Jesus, the seven swords of the Virgin, or her three vows, and other idle inventions of that kind

;

and then the

saints not represented in a guise

becoming them."

The

general

character

of art

Roman

Catholic

churches has certainly not improved during the three centuries that have elapsed since

Erasmus wrote.

They

crowded with images and pictures, which degrade the persons and subjects they are intended to honour. are

still

The

Stationes are maintained

the

several

generally

halting-places

in large

churches, denoting

processions

are

they

numbered, and further marked by a very

ordinary series of paintings, or perhaps of engravings, of " the seven falls of our lord Jesus," and other real or

apocryphal scenes in the history of the Passion.

(63) The sumptuousness of churches.

The same arguments which Erasmus

here advances as

the joint sentiments of Colet and himself on the subject

of church architecture and ornaments, he repeats in nearly the same terms in another Colloquy, special reference to

" It appears to

mortal

sin,

what he had seen

who proceed

that those to

and again with Canterbury

immoderate expenses

are almost guilty of in the

180

NOTES.

building or adorning of monasteries or churches, whilst in the

mean time

many

living temples of Christ are

danger of starvation, are perishing from nakedness, or are distressed from the want of necessaries. When I

was

England,

with jewels,

saw the tomb of Saint Thomas, loaded

countless in number, and of the highest

value, beside other miracles of riches.

would rather

that such superfluities were spent in aid of the poor than

who will some day carry away all would adorn the tomb with boughs and

to be kept for princes,

at once

;

and

garlands, which I think would be

more acceptable

to that

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

most holy man." The Religious Feast. He proceeds in the same place to censure the extravagant cost of the marble cathedral at Milan.

Worship of the Virgin and

Though

alive to the abuses to

Saints gave rise, it

altogether.

the Saints.

which the worship of

Erasmus was not prepared

condemn

In his apology for his Colloquies, from

which other extracts are given volume, he states, " It is false that in the equally

in the

Preface to this

Colloquies the suffrages

of the Blessed Virgin and of the other Saints are ridiculed, but I ridicule those

who

ask from the Saints things

which they would not dare to ask from a good man or pray to certain Saints under the supposition that one or ;

the other will or can

readily bestow this or that,

181

NOTES.

Nay, in the ColI have thus the on Youthful speaks, boy Piety loquy saluted some.' Whom ? Christ and some Saints,'

than any other, or than Christ himself.

And

and

all

little

after,

Again

in three

words

and those

whom

esteem as

Jesus

I salute

the Saints, but especially the Virgin patrons.'

Mother,

And

after-

wards he mentions by name those he salutes daily." Erasmus himself wrote an address to the Virgin, entitled,

" Observatio ad Virginem

rebus adversis benii, Basil.

Matrem Mariam

printed in his

1340, tom.

1030.

Works, There

edit.

et filium genueris exorabilem, praeterea sic tui sic

the fol-

lowing passage, nearly similar to that in the text

Fro-

*' :

Cum

amantem,

observantem, quippe piissimum, ut nihil omnino neget

postulanti."

This seems, in

fact, to

be the great

reli-

ance of the Virgin-worshipper.

Those who wish consult the Rev.

to pursue this subject will

Mr.

" Tyler's

do well to

Mariolatry," 8vo. 1844

;

more recent volume on Image Worship, 1847. The following particulars from the latter seem appropriate

and

his

" the as an illustration of Virgin of

showing how

grievously the

Walsingham," and as

corrupt

Christian Church have imbibed the

practices

of the

spirit of the craftsmen

of Ephesus.

In the 17th century was published a work by William

Gumppenberg of

all

called

Mary's Atlas, being a description

her miraculous images worshipped in every part of

the world.

182

NOTES.

In 1839 a priest of Verona began to re-publish it, " the latest images which having added wrought wonders, to the end of the This work has eighteenth century."

now reached

six

volumes (the

last, in

the British

Mu-

seum, being published in 1842,) and already contains an account of 193 miraculous images yet these six volumes have reviewed only a part of and have not touched ;

Italy,

upon any other country. In 1707 waspublished at Lisbon "Santuario Mariano," containing an account of the miraculous images of the

Virgin venerated in Portugal and fills

less

its

than ten octavo volumes.

SEAL OF THE NU.NNERV OF IVYCHURCH, WILTS.

dependencies.

APPENDIX.

English Pilgrimages in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries.

The abuses of Pilgrimages were perceived and censured by the pious Lollard and the caustic satirist long The opinion entertained before the time of Erasmus. on the subject by the poet Chaucer

known

well

;

but

an earlier poet, John Longland, is not less severe in his In his Vision of Piers Ploughman, which was picture. written about the year 13G2, he thus describes the lying, idleness,

and mendicancy to which encouragement was

given by this vagrant kind of

life

Pilgrymes and palmeres plighten

For

hem

to gidere,

seken seint James, and seintes at Rome,

They wenten forth on hu-e wey with many wise And hadden leve to lyen al hire lif after. I seigh

somme

that seiden thei

hadde y-sought

tales,

seintes,

ech a tale that thei tolde hire tonge was tempred to

Moore than

to seye sooth,

semed

bi hire speche.

Heremytes on an heep with hoked staves to Walsyngham, and hire wenches

Wenten

after,

Grete lobies and longe, that lothe were to swynke.

lye,

APPENDIX.

184

hem in copes, to ben knowen from othere, And shopen hem heremytes hire ese to have. Clothed

Vision ok Pikiis Ploughman, written about 1362.

But the most interesting particulars

have met with

connexion with Pilgrimage in England are afforded by the narrative of William Thorpe, a Lollard, which dein

scribes his examination taken before archbishop

at Saltwood

castle, in the

1407.

year

Arundel

One

of the

against this person was, that in a

sermon

which ensued

at his

charges brought " that men preached at Shrewsbury he had maintained should not goe on pilgrimages ;" and on this question issue

in the

joined

ing with

all

teristic

represented as behav-

the overbearing violence likely to animate

the powerful

towards

discussion

The archbishop

examination.

when

irritated

;

but a certain

harshness

accused persons was an unbecoming characof the rude justice of those times. all

And

then he said to me,

third point that

What

saiest

thou to the

certified against thee,

preaching openly Shrewsburie that pilgrimage is not lefull and, over this, thou saidest that those men and women that go on in

;

pilgrimages to

Canterburie, to

Beverley, to Karlington,

Walsingam, and to any such other places, are accursed and made foolish, spending their goods in waste. And

said, Sir,

this certification I

accused to you that

should teach, that no pilgrimage is lefull but 1 saide never thus. For I know that there be true pilgrimages and lefull, and full pleasant to (iod and therefore, sir, I

;

APPENDIX. howsoever mine enemies have at

185 you of me,

certified

I told

Shrewsburie of two maner of pilgrimages. "

And

the archbishop saide to me,

Whome

callest

thou

call

true pilgrims ?

And

heaven which, calleth

them

in the

to,

state, degree,

and

the

all

seaven deadlie

sins,

them, ruling them vertuouslie (as al their wits

;

God

or order that

ghostlie, to

to kepe faithfullie, the biddings of

ing

protestation,

towarde the blisse of

travelling

doe busie them faith fullie for to occupie

their wits, bodelie

all

with

Sir,

said.

them true pilgrimes

doing discreetlie,

knowe

truely,

and

God, hating and fleeand everie branch of is

said before) with

wilfullie,

and gladly

all

the works of mercie, bodely and ghostly, after their cun-

ning and power; abling them to the Ghost, disposing them to and to hold therein the

receive

right

gifts of the

them

blessiuges

Holie

their soules,

of Christ

;

busieng them to knowe and to keepe the seaven principall vertues

and so then they

;

shall obteine heere,

grace, for to use thankfuUie to charitie

;

Spirit of

God

all

through

the conditions of

and then they shall be moved by the good God for to examine oft and diligentlie their

conscience, that neither wilfullie nor wittinglie they erre in

any

article of beleefe

will suffer) all

offence of

;

having continuallie (as

their businesse to dread

God, and

to love over all,

doe, his pleasant will.

and to

frailtie

flee

the

and to seeke ever to

these pilgrimes I said, what-

soever good thought that they any time thinke, what

APPENDIX.

186 vertiioiis

worde that they speake, and what

fruitfull

worke

and worke

that they worke, everie such thought, worde,

a step, niirabred of God, towarde him into heaven.

These foresaide pilgrims of God delight sore when they heare of saintes or of vertuous men and women how they forsooke wilfuUie the prosperitie of this

life,

they withstoode the suggestion of the fiende, restrained their fleshly lustes, in their

penance doing,

howe

how they

discreet they were

patient they were in all

howe prudent they were in counselling of men and women, mooving them to hate all sinnes and their adversities,

flie

them, and to shame ever greatlic thereof, and love

all vertues,

and

drawe

them, imagining howe Christ,

by example of him, suffered scornes and sclaunder, and howe patientlie they abode and tooke his followers,

the wrongful manasing of tyrantes

;

howe homelie they

were and servisable to poore men, to relieve and comfort them bodelie and ghostlie, after their power and cunning ;

and howe devout they were in praiers, howe fervent they were in heavenlie desires, and howe they absented them from spectacles of vaine sayings and hearings and howe stable they were to let and destroie all vices, and howe ;

laborious and joyful! they were to sowe and to plante vertues.

These heavenlie conditions and such other

have pilgrimes, or endevour-them for

to have,

grimage God accopteth. " And againe, I saide, as their workes parte of men and women that goe now

whose

pil-

show, the most

on pilgrimages

APPENDIX.

187

have not these foresaide conditions, nor loveth to busie

them I

For, as I well know, since

faithfullie for to have.

have

examine, whosoever

full oft assaid,

these pilg rimes, and he

women

know

that

shall not

surely a

find

will,

three

commandment

can they say their Pater Noster and

twenty of

men

of God, nor

Ave Maria, nor

Creed readily in any manner of language. And, as I have learned, and also know somewhat by experience, of these same pilgrimes, telling the cause whie that their

many men and women go hither and grimage

It is

of their soules

;

thither

now on

pil-

for the health of their bodies then

for to have riches

and prosperitie

of this worlde then for to be enriched with vertues in therr soules

;

have here worldlie and

fleshlie friend-

God and of his saints thing man or woman doth,

ship then for to have friendship of in heaven.

For, whatsoever

the friendship of God, nor of any other saint, cannot be

had without keeping of God's commandments. with

protestation, I sale

now

as I said in

Further,

Shrewsbury,

though they that have fleshly wils travell far their bodies and spend mickle mony to seeke and to visite the bones or images (as they sale they do) of this saint or of that,

such pilgrimage-going to

neither praisable nor thankfuU

God, nor to any saint of God, since, in

pilgrimes despise

God and

all

his

effect, all

such

commandements and

For the commandements of God they will nother know nor kcepe, nor conforme them to live vertuously by example of Christ and of his saintes. Wherefore, saints.

APPENDIX.

188

have preached and taught openlie, and so I purmy lifetime to doe with God's helpe, saying that pose such fond people waste blamefullie God's goods in their

sir, 1

all

vaine pilgrimages, spending their goods upon vitious hostelars,

which are

oft

uncleane

women

of their bodies

;

and

goods with the which they should doe workes of mercie, after God's bidding, to poore needie

at the least those

men and women.

These poore men's goods and

livelode these runners-about offer to rich priests,

their

which

have mickle more livelode then they neede and thus those goods they waste wilfuUie, and spend them un;

justlie,

against

God's

their poore needie this

follie,

upon

bidding,

\fhich they should helpe

and

relieve,

neighbours at

oft times divers

God's

wil,

home. Yea, and over

men and women

runners thus madlie hither and

with

strangers, after

of these

thither into pilgrimage

borrow hereto other men's goods yea and sometimes and they paie them they steale men's goodes hereto, ;

never againe.

men and women

Also, will

sir, I

knowe

well that

goe thus after their

when

own

divers

willes

and

ordaine with them finding out on pilgrimage, they will before to have with them both men and women that can well sing wanton songes,

and some other pilgrimes will so that everie towne that

have with them bagge-pipes

;

of their singing, they come through, what with the noise the jangling with and and with the sound of their piping,

of their Canturburie-bels, and with the barking out of

dogges after them, that they make more noice then

APPENDIX. the

King came

many

189

there away, with

And

other minstrels.

a moneth out in their pilgrimage, "

And

men and women be

tale-tellers,

Leud

the archbishop said to me,

seest not far

inough

of them shall be

many

an halfe yeare after great janglers,

in this matter, for

not the great travaile

and

clarions

his

all

these

pilgrimes

and

losell

liers.

thou

thou considerest thou

therefore

;

blamest that thing that is praisable. I say to thee, that it is right wel done that pilgrims have with them both singers

and also pipers

;

when one of them

that

goeth barefoot striketh his toe upon a stone, and hui'teth

him

sore,

and maketh him bleede,

it is

well done that he

or his fellow begin then a song, or else take out of his

bosom a bagpipe,

for to drive awaie with such mirth the

hurt of his fellow

;

for with such solace the travaile

wearinesse of pilgrimes

" And

I said,

Sir,

St.

lightly

and

and merrily borne out.*

men

Paule teacheth

weepe

with them that weepe. " And the archbishop saide. What, janglest thou against * The archbishop 's argument

" our exactly that adopted by

host of the Tabarde."

Ye goon The

Caunterbury

blisful martir

;

God you

speede,

quyte you youre meede

And wel I woot, as ye gon by the weye, Ye schapcn you to talken and to pleye, For trewely comfort ne merthe

To ryde by

And

the weye

therefore wol I

noon,

domb as a stoon make you disport.

Pkologuk to the Canterbury Tales.

190

appendix:.

men's devotion I saie

that

Whatsoever thou or such other

saie,

now

them

that the pilfrrimage that

used

a praiseable and a good meane to come the

rather to grace."

Modern Pilgrimage on the Continent. " One of the things which English traveller

making pilgrimages

strike

with surprise the

the extent to which the practice of is,

even at the present day, carried southern and eastern Europe.

in the Catholic countries of

Thousands, nay, hundreds of thousands, of pilgrims Bavarian dominions, as

throughout the Austrian and

well as in France, Spain, and Switzerland, make annually a journey to the shrine of some favourite saint, to kiss

some precious

relic,

or to worship before some miracle-

working picture or statue of the Virgin.

Many

of these

pictures are of great antiquity, mostly in that rude style

of art called Byzantine, executed by

artists of the

Greek

empire and not a few represent the Virgin and Child with a negro complexion. There is always some tradi;

tion or story of the origin of each attached to the shrine

;

and the string of miracles, which continue to the present day and which apparently are not likely to cease, are

APPENDIX.

carefully

recorded,

and generally

the

printed

of these miracu-

further preserved by gifts deposited

of the

treasury

detailed

The memory

books sold on the spot. lous interpositions

191

consisting of

church, usually

models in

silver, or even gold, of the parts of the body

relieved of

some ailment by the supposed intercession of

the image, or

paintings, or votive tablets containing

representations, rudely painted, of escapes from a ship-

wreck, a house on

fire,

a carriage which the horses have

run away with, a broken bridge, the descent of an avalanche, and such perils and dangers

flood

and

field

which the actual interposition of the supposed to have averted and she is, in conse-

flesh is heir to,

Virgin

;

quence, always drawn enthroned on the clouds, in the same manner as Jupiter is introduced in the old prints of T^sop's Fables.

The palladium

hideous black figure carved

of the shrine, whether a

wood, or a

picture covered over with embroidered

or velvet, with two holes cut in

the Virgin and Child to be seen,

stiff,

and

ungainly

tinseled

silk

to allow the heads of is

usually resplendent

with gold, diamonds, and other precious gems, the gifts of wealthy pilgrims. are stored

with

rich

The

treasuries of these churches

dresses,

brocades,

trinkets,

and

and with costly which in some instances

jewels, for the decoration of the image,

plate for the service of the altar,

has accumulated to an enormous extent.

Princes, popes,

emperors, and kings, even down to modern times, have The pilvisited in person, and have contributed largely.

APPENDIX.

grimage church is usually approached by a little avenue of chapels somewhat like sentry-boxes, dotting the wayside.

These are ornamented with paintings representing Lord on the way to Calvary, and

the sufferings of our

are called Stations or Via Crucls.

" In France the most celebrated shrines are at Puy, in the Valais, and that of Notre Dame de la Garde, at

whose fame extends over the whole Mediter-

Marseilles,

ranean, so that even the poorest captain of a Maltese or

Neapolitan trabacolo hangs up her picture in his cabin,

and

propitiates her

by a burning lamp.

James of Compostella Einsiedeln in Austria, is

;

Bavaria, the Black

Maria Taferl

German

;

In Spain, Saint Switzerland, our Lady of

Loretto

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

Lady of

in Styria,

Maria

Altotting Zell,

;

which

Bohemia, Saint John of Nepo-

muc's shrine at Prague, are the chief focuses of pilgrimIt would be tedious to enumerate the number of age. shrines of minor repute in the

have their votaries.

Some

Austrian states which

pilgrimage

churches

have

there sprung up even within the present century.

Every

to all the

year, at a stated season, printed bills are affixed

church doors of Vienna, stating the time fixed

Maria

and the indulgences to be obtained by it. Pilgrims assemble from every parish on the day appointed, and, headed by priests and banners,

for the pilgrimage to

Zell,

they pour forth, in a long procession, men and women, from the gate. (See the extract before givÂŁn in Note 16.) " The Church of Rome, in her worldly wisdom, never

APPENDIX.

193

omits to take advantage of any circumstance which

make

the observance of her rites attractive.

may

Thus,

her masses and services are long, their tediousness is forgotten amidst ravishing strains of music and perfumed gales of incense

and the attention

;

by draperies and vestments, by gold,

riveted and

glitter,

amused

and paintings.

If the pilgrimages she enjoins are wearisome, the spirits

of the tired pilgrim are elevated and his strength refreshed by the balmy air of the mountain tops, and by

all

the charms of beautiful scenery and extensive prospects. " There seems to be in the worship on high

something particularly engaging the pilgrimage church

places

;

almost always situated high up on the mountains, and it seems as though so slight a physical approach to heaven

had the

effect of raising the

" There are few sounds

mind above earthly

ti'uly

things.

impressive than the

chant of a band of pilgrims on their march, as

comes

upon the ear amidst the lonely solitudes of the high alps, amidst

cliffs

and

The simple peasants no mean choristers, and

precipices.

Austria and Bavaria are

of the

deep melody of their voices, the solemness of the scene, and the earnestness of the manner of those who thus raise the

hymn

the grandest temple of the

Nature, serve to increase the effect which the mind.

engage

in these exercises of piety."

Hand-book " In

It is difficult not to believe

them

God

produces on sincere

who

(Introd. to Murray's

for Travellers in Southern

Spain, as in the

Germany.)

East, the duty of performing

194

APPENDIX.

was formerly one of the absolute of faith. Spain abounds in sacred spots and precepts " Monserrat was their Ararat, Zaragoza high places."

certain pilgrimages

and Santiago grand

sites

their

Medina and Mecca.

which

was necessary

process of time the

monks provided

some consecrated

spot,

which

These were the to "

go up."

also for every village

a substitute for

offered

these distant and expensive expeditions

they will perish with the dissolution of monasteries, which derived the :

greatest benefit from their observance.

Few

pilgrims

ever visited the sacred spot without contributing their mite towards the keeping up the chapel, and the support of the holy man or brotherhood to whose especial care it

was consigned. " No penny no paternoster ;" and masses must be paid for, as diamonds, pearls, and other matters, and the greatest sinners are the best customers.

Al-

though lighter in purse, the pilgrim on his return took rank in his village, and, as in the East, was honoured as a Hadji ; the Spanish term derived

from

Romero, which some have Roma, one who had been to Rome, a is

roamer; others from the branch of rosemary, romero, which they wore in their caps, which is a Scandinavian

charm against witches and this elfin plant, Northmen ellegrem, is still termed alecrim ;

Thus our

by the

Portugal.

pilgrims were called Palmers, from bearing the

palm-branch, and

Saunterers, because returning from

Holy Land, La Sainte Terror Murray's Hand-book for Spain.)

the

called in

(Introduction to

WALSINGHAM.

The

priory of

Walsingham was founded during the who sat in

episcopate of William bishop of Norwich,

1146

that see from the year

to 1174.

originated with

Geoflrey de Favarches, who, on the day he departed on

God and Saint Mary,

pilgrimage for Jerusalem, granted to

and

Edwy

Richeldis

had

his

clerk, the chapel

built at

church of All Saints

which

his

mother

Walsingham, together with the the same town, and certain por-

tions of land, with the intention that

therewith an order of

religion.

Edwy

should found

This foundation was

confirmed by Robert de Brucurtand Roger earl of Clare, the superior lords, in charters addressed to the bishop of Norwich already mentioned.* *

"This

the correct account of the foundation," to adopt the

words of the editors of the

New

Monasticon,

vi.

;

and yet they

proceed to say that "it should be told that a chapel was first built here dedicated to the Annunciation of our Lady, in 1061, by the

mother of Geoffry, the widow of Richoldis de Faverches, which was afterwards in the reign of William the Connueror converted into or

made

a part of the priory."

been told except as

tlie

This

latter,

however, should not have

incorrect account.

the account of

Parkin in the History of Norfolk, not derived from the

o 2

cartularj'

APPENDIX.

196

The Pilgrimage

to Walsingham commenced in or beHenry the Third, who was there in the Edward the First was at Walsingham in

fore the reign of

year 1241.

1280 and 1296, and Edward the Second In 1361 king treasury the

sum

Edward of 9/.

1315.*

Third granted out of his as a gift to John duke of Britany the

for his expenses in going in pilgrimage to

and afterwards,

same

in the

year, to his

Walsingham ;t nephew the duke

Anjou (one of the hostages of France) licence to be absent for a month from London, for his health and dis-

"towards Saint Thomas of Canterbury and our Lady of Walsingham ;"j: and on the 20th Feb. 13G3-4

port,

he sent

letters to

of Walsingham, which tion of the date

the wardens of the marches towards is

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which

cited in his margin, but, with the excepwill

be perceived

a century too early

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

from the Icenia of Spelman, whose Latin phrase "conditum a Richolde vidua nobili,

villae

domina" (which she does not appear "

the widow lady of Rihave been), is translated by Parkin into coldie de Faverches." Subsequent writers, including Mr. Taylor the

author of the Index Monasticus of the Diocese of Norwich,

and the

editors of the

the widow's

name

New

for that

Monasticon, have continued to mistake of her

into another misapprehension,

and Mr. Taylor falls ; " Sir Geoffrey de Favestyling husband

raches, her son, afterwards earl of the Marches." his original was, that Geoffrey

Clares, earls of the

The meaning

marches of Wales, were the principal early bene-

factors of the foundation.

* These dates are from Taylor's Index Monasticus,

f Rymcr,

vi.

i Ibid. 324.

de Favarches, and afterwards the

815.

WALSINGHAM. Scotland, directing

them

197

to give safe-conduct to his bro-

ther David de Bruys (king of Scotland), to be accom-

panied by twenty knights, then intending pilgrimage to

Walsingham.*

King Henry the Seventh, having kept his Christmas of 1486-7 at Norwich, " from thence went in manner of pilgrimage to Walsingham, where he visited our Ladies

church, famous for miracles, and made his prayers and

vows

for help

And

and deliverance."

in the following

summer,

after the battle of Stoke,

" he sent his banner to be offered to our

singham, where before he made

King Henry the Eighth churching, rode here

were paid

as appears by a

in his

Lady of Wal-

vows."f second year, shortly

between Twelfth-day and the queen's and in the said year. May 14,

after Christmas,

6*. 8d.

his

;

Mr. Garneys

MS.

for the king's offering,

of payments by the keeper of the

privy seal, signed by the king's hand.

The

and w^ell-known

letter

written

by queen Katharine of Arragon to king Henry, announcing the victory of Flodden, concludes with telling him that interesting

* Similar

bearing the same date, were issued in favour of

letters,

Margaret wife of David Bruce, then intending pilgrimage to Saint

Thomas

of Canterl)Ui-y

;

and one week

granted in favour of the Earl of Marr,

grimage

to the

tomb

of Saint

Life of

who was

Thomas, and was

by twelve knights and their servants.

t Lord Bacon's

earlier like letters

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Kynier,

Henry VIL

had been

also intending pilto be

vi.

accompanied

434, 435.

198

APPENDIX.

she was then on her

goo

to our

Lady

way

Walsingham, that

Walsyngham,

— " and

now

promised soo

long agoo to see."* Several pilgrimages to

mentioned

in the

Walsingham

are incidentally

Paston Letters.

when John Paston lay ill at the Inner Temmother " behested" («, e. vowed) another image addition to a former offering or behest,) of wax, of

In 1443, ple, his

(in

our Lady of Walsingham, sending at the

his weight, to

same time four nobles

Norwich

to pray for

him

the four orders of friars of

to ;

and

his wife behested to

go on

pilgrimage both to Walsingham and to St. Leonard's prioiyt on the same account.

one occasion

lord of Norfolk to

go to

John Fastolfe mentions that "

removed from Framlingham on foot Walsingham," and that he was afterwards ex-

him

pecting

sir

come

was intending

to Caister; in

1469 king Edward

and the queen also, if God again, John Paston writes from Nor-

this pilgrimage,

sent her health

;

wich that the duchess of Norfolk would be there " to-

morrow "

night towards Walsingham;" and in

ray lord of Norfolk and

1471 " on were together lady"

pilgrimage at our Lady, on foot, and so they went to In 1478 it was expected that the duke of Caister." • Ellis's Orig. Letters,

St.

mentions to

89.

Leonard's priory without Norwich. this

and

thirty other j)laces in the

which pilgi-images used

to he

made.

Mr. Taylor

(p.

66)

county of Norfolk alone

WALSINGHAM.

199

Buckingham should come on pilgrimage and so

Bokenham

Walsingham,

castle to his sister lady Knevett.

other fond imaginations of the people,

Among

was

way was placed in the heavens to guide the pilgrims by night on their road to Walsingham, and it was therefore sometimes even believed that the galaxy or milky

the

called

Walsingham Way.

road by which they travelled

The

principal

Mr. Taylor's excellent Index Monasticus. Newmarket, Brandon, and Fakenham and ;

as the Palmers' It

may

Way, and

the

passed by

is still

known

Walsingham Green-way.

be traced, along the principal part of diocese of Norwich.

for sixty miles in the

earthly

drawn upon the maps

its

course,

Those

pil-

grims who came from the north crossed the Wash near Long Sutton, and went through Lynn, most probably taking the

Rudham

way which passed by the priories of Flitcham, Roodham, and Cokesford. Another great

road led from the east through the city of Norwich and Attleborough, by Bee hospital, where gratuitous accom-

modation for thirteen pilgrims was provided every night.

At Hilburgh, Southacre, Westacre, Lynn, Stanhoe, Caston, and

many

Prior's Thorns,

other places, were chapels at

which the devotees, on their passage, offered up their The most remarkable of these is our Lady's

orisons.

at Lynn, which contains a beautifully groined and derived much wealth from the oblations of the

chapel roof,

pilgrims.* *

Taylor, p. xx.

200

APPENDIX.

The Architecture

informed of the

are

churches

of Walsingham.

Walsingham

dimensions of the several

the

measurements

William of Worcestre. *

New Work

says, the length of the

was sixteen yards,

interior

its

Walsingham

The

width ten yards.

length of the chapel of the blessed Virgin (that is, the wooden chapel) was seven yards, thirty inches its width ;

The

four yards, ten inches.

length of the whole church

of Walsingham from the end of the chancel was 136 of

Worcestre's paces, its breadth 36 paces the length of the nave from the west door to the tower in the middle ;

of the church 70 paces paces

The

paces.

length of the quire was

The

Antiquities" cliarges Parkin

confounded the

This he right.

paces,

and the

cloister

* The writer of the description

liaving

square of the tower 16

the

was square, 54 paces in each the length of the chapter- house 20 paces, its

breadth 17.

walk

;

the breadth of the nave without the two ailes 16

;

ha.s

New

(tlie

AV^ork

not exactly done: and,

Mr. Britten's " Architectural

continuator of Blomefield) with

and the Chapel of the Virgin. he had, he would have been

Parkin incorrectly conjectured that the

probably at the east

rate building as

end of the choir," instead of

Erasmus

himself gone wider astray

tells ;

for

us.

But Mr.

New Work was its

being a sepa-

Britton's author has

he has confused the church of the

Franciscan Friars of Walsingham with that of the Canons this

;

and

although Worcestre had inserted the dimensions of the church

of Scottow between the two.

WALSINGHAM.

201

breadth 10 paces, but the length of the entrance of the chapter-house from the cloister was 10 paces, so in all it

was 30 paces. " The remains of

once celebrated place (remarks

this

Mr. Parker *) are now very small. Of the chapel of our Lady we have only part of a fine Perpendicular east two

front, consisting of

ling of

flint

and

buttresses connected

window gable

;

stair-turrets covered with panel-

stone, with

rich

niches, &c.

and

fine

the arch and gable over the east

but the window

itself is

destroyed.

In the

a small round window, with flowing tracery, set

This striking feamiddle of a very thick wall." ture of the VValsingham ruins will be found represented

in the

most of the engraved views of the place, of which the two best are that by Coney in the New Monasticon, and Mr. Parthat in Britton's Architectural Antiquities. in

ker has followed former writers in calling this a part of the chapel of our

Lady

;

but

must surely have be-

longed to the larger Priory church.

The

ruins were

more considerable when described by

Parkin in Blomefield's Norfolk, and when a view of them

was published

in the Vetusta

Mouumenta

720

;

but

they have given way to trees, and walks, a trim lawn, and all

the

agremens of modern pleasure grounds. Some modern mansion are a portion

ruins close adjoining to the

* Architectural Notes prepared 1847.

for tlie Archajological Institute,

APPENDIX.

202 of the refectory

they consist of a range of four early

De-

corated windows, with the staircase to a pulpit in the wall.

There

apartment.

also

a doorway and vault of another

In the contrary

direction

(west

the

Wells, lined with plain ashlar

church) are the Holy stone ; on one side of them

a square hath (perhaps

altered since the days of the canons)

;

on the other, a

small early-English doorway.

The

family of

Lee-Warner have owned

this beautiful

estate from the time of Dr. Warner, Bishop of Rochester, by whom it was purchased in 1766.

Articles of Inquiry for the Monastery of

Walsingham. (MS. Hail. 791,

p. 27.)

Walsingham. In primis, whether there be inventarie allweys permanent in the house betwene the priour and the brethern 1.

of this house, aswelle of alle the juelles, reliques, and or-

naments of the churche and chapel, as of alle the plate and other moveable goodes of this house. Et si sic exhiheatur. yf there be no such inventarie, whether there made therof, and of the guyfte of the bokes any bene geven to our Ladye. Et si sic have that juelles 2. Item,

produvalur.

203

WALSINGIIAM. 3.

Item, whether any of the said juelles, ornamentes,

goodes hath bene alienated, solde, or pledged at

plate, or

And

any tyme heretofore. were, to

whome

yf there were, what they

how moche, whan,

they were solde, for

and for what cause. 4. Item,

what reliques be

in this

house that be or hath

bene moste in th'estimacion of the people, and what vertue was estemed of the people to be in theym. Item, what probacion or argument have they to shewe that the same are trewe reliques. 5.

6. Item, in

howe mtmy

said reliques shewed,

places of this house were the

and whiche were

whiche

and

whether the kepers of the same did not bring about tables to men for their offering, as thought they would exacte

money of theym or make theym ashamed except they

did

offer.* 7.

Item, for what cause were the said reliques shewed

in divers

sundrye places more than alltogether in one

place. 8. Item,

what bathe

th'offring

to the said reliques bene

moste 9.

made

to our

worth a yere whan

Ladye and hathe bene

what commonly ? and what the laste yere ? Item, yf the said reliques be nowe layde aside, howe ?

long ago, and for what cause they were so ? 10. Item, what is the gretest miracle and moste un* This

last

clause

interlineil in the

MS.

gested by the perusal of Erasmus's Colloquy

;is if

had been sug-

see p. 16.

204

APPENDIX.

doubted whicho

said to have bene

here, or by any of the said reliques

doon by oui* Ladye ? and what prouffe

they have of the facte or of the narracion therof. 11. Item, whether than (yf the facte be welle proved)

the case might not happen by some naturalle meane not contrarie to reason or possibilitie of nature. 12. Item, yf that be proved also, whether the

same

might not procede of the immediate helpe of God ? and why the successe of that case shulde be imputed to our

Lady, and yet that to the image of our Ladye house more than another. whether the miracles were wonte

13. Item,

clared in

were soe

in this

be de-

pulpite heretofore, and for what cause they a Whitesonne Monday the faire

tyme they were wonte to be opened. 14. Item, what is the sayng of the buylding of our Lady chappelle, and of the firste invencion of the image of our

Ladye there what of the house where the here skynne and what of the other wonders is, and of the knyght ;

;

that be here, and what proves be therof ? 15. Item, whether they knowe not that men shulde not be lighte of credite to miracles, unlesse they be manifestly

and

invinciblie proved.

16. Item, whether our

miracles

nowe of

was more 1

offring

late as

Lady hathe doone so many was said she did when there

made unto

her.

Item, what prouffe were they wonte to take of the

miracles that the pilgrcmes did reporte shulde be

made by

AVALSINGHAM.

205

our Lady ? and whether they bileved the parties owne reporte therin, or toke witnes, and posicions of the same

howe they toke the

18. Item, whether our Lady's milke be liquid or

and yf it

de-

be, interrogatur ut infra.

who was Sextene upon

a x. yeres agoo or be examined whether he hym exactely hath not renewed that they calle our Lady's milke whan 19. Item,

therabout, and lett

was

like to

be dried up; and whether ever he hymself

invented any relique for the augmentacion of his prouffit

;

and whether the house over the welles were not made within tyme of remembrance, or at the lest-wise renewed.

Letter of Richard Southwell to Lord Cromwell, AFTER THE VISITATION OF WalSINGHAM IN 1536. (MS.

that

Cotton. Cleop. E. iv.

fol.

231.)

maye please your good lordshipe to be advertised sir Thomas Lestrange and Mr. Hoges, accordinge

unto the sequestratyon delegate unto them, have bene at

Walsingham, and ther sequestred all suche monney, plate, juelles, and stuff, as ther wasse inventyd and founde.

Emoung

other thinges the same

sir

and Mr. Hoges dyd there fynd a

Thomas Lestrange

secrete

privye place

APPENDIX.

206

within the howse, where no channon nor annye other of

the howse d3'd ever come, as they saye, in wiche there

were

instrewmentes,

pottes,

belowes,

flyes

suche

none of us had seene, with

strange colers as the lick

poyses, and other thinges to sorte, and denyd gould and sylver,* nothing there wantinge that should belonge to the all wiche they desyred me by frome the Satreand alsoo that you, the Sondaye next folowinge was offred

arrte of multyplyeng.

Off

lettres to advertyse

daye at night at their

tyll

now bcinge

xxxiij^.

iiij''.

over and besyd waxe.

Of this moultiplyeng it mave please you to cawse hem to be examyned, and so to advertyse unto them your further Thus I praye God send your good lordshipe pleasure. hartye helthe.

Frome my pore howse,

this xxv. of Julij,

a" xxviij".

humblye yours

Ric.

commande,

Southwell.

the right honoraVtle

and

my syngular good my lord privye

lord,

seale.

* denied gold and coins.

silver, i.

probably foreign and prohibited

WALSINGHAM.

207

Fate of the Abbey on the Dissolution. (From

Sir

John Spelman's History of

Sacrilege.)

One [Thomas] Sydney, governor of the spital there, was commonly reported when I was a scholar at Walsinghara, was by the townsmen employed to have bought

the

of the abbey to the use of the town, but obtained

site

and kept

to himself.

had

issue

Thomas, and a

daughter, mother to Robin Angust,* the footpost, of Wal-

singham.

Thomas, by the advancement of sir Francis Walsingham, brother to his wife, grew to great wealth, was customer of Lynn, and about a miscarriage of that place was long harrowed in law by Mr. Farmer of Barsham, and died leaving two sons.

Thomas, the and died without Sir

eldest,

having the abbey, &c. married,

issue male-

Henry succeeded

the abbey, &c. married, and

died without issue.

His

lady, a virtuous

woman, now hath

for life

;

the

remainder being given for name-sake by sir Henry to Robert Sydney, the second son of the earl of Leicester.

* Robert Anguish, to whom a singular monumental tablet, of is an etching by Cotman, still remains in Walsingham

which there church.

208

APPENDIX.

Lament for Walsingham. (^Fiom the Gentleman's Magazine for

May

1839.)

In the wrackes of Walsingam

Whom

should I chuse,

But the Queene of Walsingam,

To be guide

my muse H

Then, thou Prince of Walsingam,

Graunt me

frame

rewe thy wronge, name.

Bitter plaintes to Bitter Bitter

The

was

for thy

it,

oli,

to see

sely sheepe

Murdred by the raveninge wolves While the sheepharde did sleep. Bitter

was

it,

The sacred

oh, to viewe

vyne.

Whiles the gardiners plaied

all close,

Rooted up by the swine. Bitter, bitter, oh, to

The

Where So

grasse to

the walles of

stately did

behoulde

growe

Walsingam

shewe.

â&#x20AC;˘Such were the worth of

While she

(lid

Such are the wrackes

Of that

Walsingam

stand. as

now do shewe

[so] holy lande.*

* As ye came from the holy lande

blessed

Walsingham.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Percy's

Relics.

209

WALSINGHAM. Levell, levell, witii tho

The towres doe

Which

ground

lye,

with their golden, glittring tops

Pearsed oute

Where weare

the skeye.

gates noe gates are nowe,

The waies unknowen

Where

the presse of freares did passe,

While her fame

far

was blowen

;

Oules doe scrike where the sweetest himnes Lately wear songe,

Toades and serpents hold ther dennes

Where

the palmers did throng.

Weepe, weepe,

Whose

Walsingani,

dayes are nightes,

Blessings turned to blasphemies.

Holy deedes Sinne

to dispites;

where our Lady

Heaven turned Sathan

sitte

sate,

to helle,

where our Lord did swaye,

Walsingani, oh, farewell

This ballad ,

in the Bodleian, in a small 4to,

the principal part of which tential

the

poem by

Duke

Philip

of Norfolk,

volume,

occupied with a long peni-

Earl of Arundel, eldest son of

who

suffered in Elizabeth's time.

CANTERBURY.

And

specially,

from every

schire's

ende

Of Engelond, to Canturbere they wende. The holy blisful martir for to seke, That them hath holpen whan that they were

seeke.

Chaucer. or

Chaucer's poem

series

called

poems

The

not completed way he " It appears," remarks his editor evidently proposed. " that the of Chaucer was not barely design Tyrwhitt, the told tales the recite to pilgrims, but also to deby

Canterbury

Tales

the

scribe their journey, or viage,

And

the remenaunt of our pilgrimage,

including, probably,

their

adventures at Canterbury as

But v.hen they have passed well as upon the road." " the the first halt after waterynge of seint Thomas," leaving

Soulhwark,

these

interesting

particulars

are

the Poet ; and we unfortunately not transmitted to us by the preparatory of an account than more little have

CANTERBURY.

211

gathering in Southwark, and a description characters

who composed

of"

the various

the motley train.

At night was come into that hostelrie Wei nyne and twenty in a companye,

Of sondry

folk,

by aventure

i-falle

In felaschipe, and pilgryms were thei

alle,

That to-ward Canturbury wolden ryde.

They

are

all,

however, individually immortalised by

the graphic pen of the poet and by the graceful pencil of Stothard, and

must be even now before the

Another poet,

whose name

reader's eye.

unknown, undertook the

continuation of Chaucer's work, and has furnished particulars of the conduct of the pilgrims

terbury, already quoted

in the note at

when

some Can-

page 71.

A very large house still existing in that city, at the corner of Mercery Lane in the High Street, (but now divided into several shops and tenements,)

said to have

been the veritable Checquers inn, the principal hostelry in the

times of Pilgrimage.

About the year 1500 the Shrine * was

visited by a to after the of Saint Shrine who, Venetian, alluding Edward at Westminster, which he says surpassed that of Saint Martin of Tours, then generally esteemed the

richest in Christendom, proceeds to describe

what he had seen

at full

at Canterbury.

* This contemporary account of the Shrine (taken from Relation of the Island of England, pul)lished by the p.

30)

Camden

Society, 1847,

additional to those already given in Notes 45

and

58.

APPENDIX.

212 "

The tomb

Canterbury, great size,

Thomas

of St.

exceeds

Notwithstanding its with covered plates of pure gold ; wholly

it is

yet the gold

the martyr, archbishop of

belief.

all

scarcely seen because

covered with

various precious stones, as sapphires, balasses, diamonds, rubies,

and emeralds

thing more

and wherever the eye turns some-

;

beautiful than the rest

observed.

addition to these natural beauties,

the

Nor,

of art

skill

wanting, for in the midst of the gold are the most beautiful

sculptured

such as are

and cameos

afraid to

gems both small and

in ;

relief,

agates,

and some cameos are of such

name

;

but everything

well

size

The church

that I

far surpassed

a ruby, not larger than a thumb-nail, which

the right of the altar.

large,

onyxes, cornelians,

fixed at

somewhat dark,

and particularly in the spot where the shrine is placed, and when we went to see it the sun was near setting, nevertheless and the weather was cloudy if I had it in my hand. as They say ruby ;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

saw that

was given

by a king of France." Though here called a ruby, seems to have been a diamond see hereafter, p. 224. :

213

CANTEllBURY.

The Martyrdom

of Saint

Thomas of

Canterbury. I

have undertaken

Notes 42, 43, perhaps superfatal occurrence

append some account of the

fluously, to

which the church of Canterbury chiefly owed its The same object might celebrity and its attractions. to

answered by a reference either to older biographies of Becket, or to those by Dr. Giles, * by Dr. Hook in his Ecclesiastical Biography, or the still have been

sufficiently

more recent Lives of the Chancellors, by Lord CampIt was bell,! and those of the Judges, by Mr. Foss. before adverting to any of these later writers, that the

proposal in p. 114 was made.

event which so deeply interested a large religious

community, and which so frightfully disturbed the placid current of their ordinary monotonous existence, was recorded by some of them, as

minutest circumstances of subsequent times

;

may be

little

real

this

its

occasion to exercise their

wonted processes of amplification Still

imagined, in

leaving to the legendary writers

and embellishment.

copious supply of information was more cal-

culated to encourage than to deter the inventive faculties

of the martyrologists, and such was certainly the result.

The *

ancient biographies of Saint

The

Life

and Letters

Thomas

of Canterbury

Thomas a Becket, 1846. Two

f Lord Campbell has followed Lingard's

History.

vols. Svo.

214

APPENDIX. more voluminous than those of any other However, with respect to murder, it is by no means difficult to distinguish

are probably

Englishman of early times. his

those

minute facts which are not

likely to

have been

and must consequently have been observed by rather of things eye-witnesses, from those additions fabricated,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

dicta than acta, the report of expressions and not incidents,

which were worked into the narrative

order to

enhance the glory of the martyr, whether by exaggerating the malice of his assailants, or by misrepresenting what

was evidently a fortuitous, though very gross outrage, murder, and anticipated martyrdom.

into a premeditated

Referring, therefore, to the biographies already

men-

tioned for the fuller accounts, I shall content myself with detailing

met

the actual circumstances under which Becket

his death.

It is clear

that the intention of the king's knights was

to arrest, not to murder, the archbishop of Canterbury.

This

shown by the precautions taken along the coast

against his escape, and the assistance claimed from the citizens of Canterbury,

of Saint Augustine.

and the abbat of the monastery hostility would

These overt acts of

not have been adopted by those the

more summary

decision of the sword, neither

such a parade of force, or so

means chosen

many

that, as

some

would

agents, have been the

to perpetrate a premeditated

highly improbable tiers of

who were contemplating

murder.

It is

stories assert, four cour-

high rank each distinctly volunteered to gratify

215

CANTERBURY'. the king's vengeance, and then accidentally after landing in England,

and united

in the custody of

Randulph

their secret plans.

castle of Saltwood, then

was from the archbishop's

met soon

whom

del Broc, to

had

been committed by the king, with the other estates of the archiepiscopal see, that the knights came to Canter-

bury on the first

fatal

morning of the 29th Dec.

170.

They

repaired to the monastery of Saint Augustine, which

was generally in some degree opposed to that of Christ Church, and there consulted with Clarembald, the abbat elect,

Soon

what steps they should take to effect their purpose. had dined, he was surprised by

after the archbishop

sudden entrance into his inner chamber, where they held a long parley with him, the dialogue of which is

their

fully

Having

Gervase

the

Canterbury

historian.

received a determined repulse from the resolute

churchman, they went out, and make prepai'ations for

in order to

his

arm themselves

forcible

arrest.

The

servants of the archbishop took this opportunity to fasten

the gates

the see,

;

but Randulph del Broc, the king's custos of

who was

well acquainted with

all

the approaches

of the palace, led the knights again towards the archbishop's ants,

chamber by way of the orchard. hitherto in vain urged him

who had

His attendto flight, then

hurried him through the cloisters into the church, where vespers were about to be sung

hoping that the knights might thus be deterred from their immediate purpose, and that other means might be devised for the archbishop's ;

216

APPENDIX.

eventual escape or concealment.

The king's messengers, however, would not permit their object to be thus frustrated. They rushed into the church and overtook the he had just

archbishop

passed

the north

across

transept and was ascending the steps which led to the choir. On the approach of the armed men, Becket was deserted by

all his terrified

attendants, excepting Robert the canon of Merton, William FitzStephen the historian,

and Edward Grim, another

clerk,

who afterwards wrote

a narrative of the transaction.

Reginald FitzUrse was the foremost of the assailants,

and he seized the archbishop by drag him back across the church.

his pall, intending to

struggle ensued the archbishop clung to a column and refused to move,

though struck by one of the knights with the his

sword.

exclaimed,

this

" Touch

moment Becket

flat side

said

have

Reginald FitzUrse Why should you treat me thus? I have granted you many favours. You are my man, and owe me fealty and obedience, not,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;both

you and your fellows." (For FitzUrse, Tracy, and Morville had all pledged their allegiance to Becket, kneeling before him whilst he was chancellor.)

Urse I

" replied,

owe

owe you no

lord the king."

Fitz-

fealty inconsistent with that

These words were scarcely

spoken when a blow was aimed with the sword either of FitzUrse or Tracy, which wounded the archbishop on the head, though

of the

its

faithful

weight was chiefly received by the arm master Edward Grim. When clerk,

CANTERBURY. Becket

fell,

Brito,

who

217

another blow was aimed at him by Richard cried,

Take

William's sake

for

that,

by William count of Poictou, the king's brother, against the archbishop of Canterbury, for having opposed, on the ground of con-

alluding to the animosity entertained

his

sanguinity,

projected

countess Warren.

marriage with

the

dowager

Brito's sword, having cleft the scull

of his victim, struck against the pavement, and the point

was broken

This was the punctum ends, afterwards

off.

preserved as a relic of the

(See Note 43

martyrdom.

antea.)

The blow

of Brito proved fatal

ble part of the outrage

of a subdeacon,

was the

Hugh

;

but the most horri-

act, if

we may

believe

it,

name

of Horsea, whose real

disguised by most of the chroniclers under the fictitious one of Mauclerc. It is thus described " The martyr :

But the deep wound on the head had still breathed. exposed the brain to view, and the white medulla was stained with blood.

put his foot on the

To complete the murder, Mauclerc neck of the martyr, and bespattering

the pavement with his blood and brain exclaimed,

us be

ofi".

The body

will rise

no more

of the archbishop was for some time

the spot where he had fallen

had

fled in fear

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Let

" !

for the clerks

and consternation.

last

left at

and monks Osbert, his

chamberlain, ventured from his hiding-place, and having

own gown, gathered together and disposed in somewhat decent order the mangled head, and covered it

torn up his

APPENDIX.

218 The monks

up.

agony of grief.

passed the greater part of the night in an

the morning dawned, they bound up

the head with a linen bandage, and bore the body through the choir to the high altar.

who had been

ton,

and

panion,

ordained,

his

Becket's chaplain and inseparable com-

confessor from

made an and

his piety

Robert the canon of Mer-

day he was

the

oration over the body.

sincerity,

and showed

to all the

first

dwelt on

monks

that

of which they had previously been ignorant, the haircloth shirt which he wore next his skin. (See Note 47.)

The

first

shock passed away, and the monks exulted in

the martyr, whilst they sorrowed for the man. a

monk

Arnald,

of the church, a worker in gold, and some others

of the brotherhood, i*eturned to the scene of murder.

They

carefully collected his blood

scattered

pavement, into a basin, and placed

over the

benches over the spot, that

The

and brains, which were

greater part of the

might not be trod upon.

monks passed

the night in de-

votion and silence, repeating to themselves the prayers f(jr

the soul of the dead.

With

the next day

came a rumour

that the servants of

Randulph del Broc were preparing to drag the body from the church. The community determined, therefore, to

bury

the prior of

with

all

speed.

The abbat

of Bexley and

Dover attended the obsequies.

was not washed.

was clothed

The body

the hair-shirt and

drawers which he ordinarily wore, and his monk's habit

and further attired

in the

very same garment

;

which he

CANTERBURY. had been ordained,

219

his alb or surplice, a plain super-

humerale, his mitre, his tunic, dalmatic, and gloves, ring,

pall, his

staff, and other insignia of thus the body was borne to the

and pastoral

an archbishop. tomb.

And

The Four Murderers of Becket. The

biographers of Becket do their best to pursue his

murderers with

strict

It is

poetic justice.

stated

that

they rode the same night forty miles to a manor of the archbishop (very probably Mayfield in Sussex), and that having been men of great possessions, active soldiers,

and

in the strength of their age, yet

men

beside themselves,

stupid,

now they became amazed, and

dis-

tracted, repenting entirely of what they had done, and

for penance took their

way

to the

Holy Land.

But Sir

William Tracy being come to the city of Cosenza in fell into a horrible disease, so Sicily, and lingering there,

body rotted off by putrefaction whilst he still and all the four were dead within three years after

that his lived

;

the perpetration of their crime.* * Sir Henry Spelinan has preserved the memory of some further marvels which more than centuries after were regard to the posterity of

Touching

Tracy and Fitz-Urse

still

current with

their issue, I find that Fitz-Urse fled

into Ireland,

220

APPENDIX.

Such are the picturesque horrors which the mit as the

fit

conclusion to this irritating passage of their

But the records of the

histories.

ecclesias-

were well inclined to receive and trans-

tical chroniclers

in a less questionable form,

much

have preserved,

state

that

opposed to their

credibility.

All the four knights are allowed by Gervase to have been " distinguished for nobility of birth, illustrious in war, and very familiar companions of the king."

Hugh

de Morville

described as " the most noble

he was lord of Burgh-on-thc Sands is

commemorated

He was

dale.

Oswald.

Cumberland, and

as a baron in the great

still

when he had a

work of Dug-

the reign of king John,

living in

charter for a market and fair at Kirk

(Lysons's Cumberland,

127.)

that place

the sword which he used in the murder was long preserved, as stated

by Camden

in his Britannia.

It is now-

attached to a statue erected at Brayton castle * to his

and

heard there that the

hunde, of

in the north parts,

them

is,

tinueth the

wilil Irish is

and

rehellious family of

of that lineage.

The family

at this day, prosecuted with a fahle (if

memory

M'Ma-

of another

he so) that con-

of this impiety; for in Gloucestershire

it is

reported that wheresoever any of them travelleth, the wind

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

yet

com-

in tlicir faces." History of Sacrilege, edit. 1846, p. 96, * Thomas Carlisle, a celehrated organ-h>iilder, horn at Carlisle

monly

in 1734,

was also a sculptor. " His chief i)erformance was finished

in his sixty-seventh

Hugh de

year.

This was a statue as large as

Morville, which he

made

life

for the late Sir Wilfrid

of Sir

Lawson,

221

CANTERBUltY. honour. faith

and

So various are men's judgments politics

in matters of

William de Traci, who was the son of Gervase de Courtenai,* was afterwards high in authority in Nor-

mandy, holding the

office

sometimes justiciary. 1174, when William Henry's liege office

man

;

sometimes called seneschal and

He king

and

was present of

Falaise in

Scotland became

1176 was succeeded

king in

his

by the bishop of Winchester.

Honours paid to Saint Thomas of Canterbury. Upon

the death of the archbishop,

all

divine offices

ceased in the church of Canterbury for one year, wanting nine days

;

at the

end of which, by order of the

Bart, of Brayton House, in Cumberland.

and holds in

the very

clothed in armour,

sword with which that celebrated knight assisted

delivering the country from

primate of Canterbury."

Thomas a Becket,

the

insolent

History of the Family of Carlisle, by

Nich. Carlisle, esq. Sec. S.A. 4to. 1822, p. 45. * Dugdale's Baronage, i. 622. He gave to the church of Canterbury the lordship of Daccombe, in the parish of Moreton stead in Devonshire, probably in expiation of his offence.

Hamp-

---

APPENDIX.

pope,

was re-consecrated.

Two

years after, Becket

was canonised by virtue of Pope Alexander's bull dated March 13, 1 173. The same year the following collect was appointed to be used of

Canterbury,

murder "

in all

churches of the province

expiation of the guilt of the saint's

Adesto, Domine, supplicationibus nostris, ut qui ex

iniquitate nostra reos nos esse cognoscimus, beati Thoraae

martyris

tui

atque

pontificis

intercessione

liberemur. " Amen."

the return of the king to England at the beginning of July 1 1 74, he went with a penitent heart in pilgrimage

On his arrival there, on Saturday the Canterbury. 10th July, clothed in woollen, and with naked feet, he

walked from the church of St. Dunstan without the city, and prostrating himself before the tomb of the martyr (then in the crypt), he voluntarily desired to be scourged

by all the bishops, abbats, and every monk of Christ Church there present. He remained in prayer by the all that and holy martyr day night, taking no food, nor going forth

the call of nature,

nor allowing any

carpet, or any thing of the sort, to be placed under him.

After the morning lauds he went round to the altars of the upper church and the bodies of the saints there lying, and again returned to the tomb of Saint Thomas in the crypt.

When

the sabbath

dawned he heard mass. Lastly,

having drank of the water rendered holy by the martyr, and being adorned with a cruet (to carry some away :

223

CANTERBURY.

see this explained hereafter, p. 226), he departed rejoicing

from Canterbury.*

On Holy

Thursday in 1177 he came again, and on the tomb of Saint Thomas a charter of new

offered

privileges to the church, cles of

which

recorded in the chroni-

The same day

Gervase.

also

Philip count of

Flanders and William de Mandeville took leave of the blessed

Thomas

hoping

to begin their journey to Jerusalem, do some great thing against the pagans but

they effected In saint.

;

little

or nothing.

1179 king Louis the Seventh came to visit the King Henry met him at Dover, and on the 23rd

of August both kings were received with due honour and

by the venerable Richard archbishop of Canand the bishops of England, and by the convent terbury of the church of Canterbury, and an innumerable mulineffable joy

of the nobility of the kingdom, and so were conducted to the tomb of the martyr, where the king of France, having made a prayer, offered his golden cup,

titude

and a rent of a hundred measures of wine yearly.f He passed the night at the tomb of the martyr, and on the

morrow asked and

received fraternity in the chapter-house,

having received his charter whereof he joicing,

and re-embarked

* Gervasius,

suli

departed

re-

Dover. j:

anno.

f gift was reckoned as thirty-three dolia or tuns, in 22 Edw. IV. when the custom due on their importation was reThis yearly

mitted to the prior and convent. % Gervasius.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Rymer, Foedera,

xii. 16(5.

224

APPENDIX.

Among

the offerings of king Louis on this occasion,

though not specified by Gervase,

is supposed to have been the great glory of the shrine, (already mentioned in pp. 167, 212) "that renowned precious stone that

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

was called the Regall of France, which Henry VIII. put which he wore on his thumb." (Stowe,

into a ring,*

Chronicle,

p. 155.) In 1220 Becket's body was taken up,

in the

presence

of king

Henry the Third and a great concourse of the

nobility,

and deposited

in the shrine erected in the

upper

chapel, at the expense of cardinal Langton, then arch-

bishop.

From

that time forward the feast of his Trans-

was yearly kept on the 7th of July. there was a jubilee, which took place years lation

Every

fifty

in the years

1270, 1.320, 1370, 1420, 1470, and 1520.

The Relics of Saint Thomas of Canterbury. No sooner had the archbishop suffered than there was a crowd ready to struggle and scramble for his relics. * From the ring

this stone,

ap[;ears,

waÂŤ transferred

a collar;

among jewels delivered to queen Mary, the 10th March, 15.53-4, was "a coller of golde, set with sixtene faire diamountes, wherof

as,

the Regall of Fraunce

one,

everie knotte foure perles."

and fourtene knottes of

(MS.

Ilarl.

611,

22.)

perles, in

CANTERBURY.

225

the Canterbury historian relates, "

As Gervase

scarcely expired, and

had

almost every one began to

speak of him as Saint Thomas.

You would

scarcely

any one in the thronging multitude who was not desirous to be marked by his blood for, putting their

find

;

and invoking his name, they made the sign of the cross on their foreheads or on their eyes. Then that thrice holy blood was collected with the brains fingers into his blood,

and fragments of bone, and carefully laid up, short time to be exposed to the whole world I" Thus, from the

His body, placed

after a

the mortal relics of the saint

first,

be said to have been divided into three portions 1.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

may

in the shrine.

His head, or rather that portion of the skull which had been cut off". 2.

His blood.

All of these were subjected to occasional abstraction or pilfering unless we take the alternative of supposing ;

that the relics of saint

of other

treasures

Thomas which were among the besides his own were

churches

entirely fictitious fabrications.

At an

of Saint early period the rival monastery

gustine at

Canterbury began

Au-

to boast of an acquisition,

not very honourably obtained.

Thorne, the biographer

of the abbats of that house, relates that Roger, the successor

of Clarembald,

the

contempoi'ary

having been previously warden of the in the cathedral church, carried with

Becket,

altar of saint

him on

his

Mary

removal

APPENDIX.

226

a great part of the blood of saint

of his skull that was cut

Thomas, and a

piece

This led to a feud between

ofiF.

the two monasteries, which was not set at rest until the

some houses community of Saint Augustine had conveyed in return for the

sacred spoil.

of Christ Church, however, took care not

The monks

to relinquish the credit of being the chief depositaries of

As Gervase

the Blood of the martyr.

of Christ of Canterbury two volumes of

in the church

which

his miracles, this

" There are

says,

compendium.

it is

unnecessary for

But

not beside

to insert in

purpose to

which the blood of the new martyr, way with mixed water, is given to drink, and to be carried relate the

away

to the pious

who

desire

it.

certain priest

William, a Londoner by birth, was struck

dumb on

the

Stephen the protomartyr and it was told a dream, that he must visit the new martyr of

feast of saint

him

named

recover. Canterbury and drink his blood, that he might He went, came to Canterbury, asked and obtained the

and got well. As soon as this was divulged to the people many came when the holy blood was bestowed to ask for the same blood, tasted

it,

;

it npon the sick, mixed with pure water, in order that last the longer, and not be given too freely to the

might

unworthy.* *

this

account, water sanctified by the

may be doubted whether

Gervase,

really

quoting the words of

do not here add the actual expressions which

in sober

227

CANTERBURY. blood of the holy martyr

into the

carried forth

whole

into some world, and when given to the sick, and poured to the health restored has both that have been dead,

former and

life to

many

of the latter, through the merits

of saint Thomas."

Notwithstanding

monks were mained who,

this great

and constant demand, the

so provident that a

still

cruise

little

to excite the suspicions of archbishop

still

re-

Cranmer,

a letter to lord Cromwell dated the 18th August,

1538, thus expresses himself regarding

Farther, by cause that I have in great suspect that saint Thomas of Canterbury his blood in Christ's church at Canterbury

red

ochre,

but a feigned thing, and made of some

of such

lordship that Dr.

matter,

Lee and Dr. Barber

have the king's commission

to try

beseech

your

chaplains

may

and examine that and

other like things there."

all

saint Thomas of Canterbury respect to relics of at other churches, a course of research, which the matter

With

does not deserve, would probably considerably amplify the present Note

but the reader will accept the

fol-

as a lowing items, which have incidentally occurred, on this collected be subject. specimen of what might At the church of Saint Berlin at St. Oraer, in the

were several different relics of our saint year 1465, there

as, gravity he employs

ne videlicet sacer sanguis

vel indignis daretur uberius.

eitius effuridereter,

APPENDIX.

228

" In uno feretro ligneo deaurato sancti

Thome

martiris

" Item de sancto sanguine ejus

Thoma

cum ymaginihus

Audomari.

et sancti

archiepiscopo, scilicet,

Decerebro De

cilicio

vestiraentis ejus

Et de sudario ejusdem." " In Again, quodam vase ad

modum crucis cum Thome martiris et in dorso est unus De sanguine beati Thome martiris, flos de argento. De capillis beati Thome martiris et de staminea ejusdem." decoUatione beati

In a great egg also was part of the cloth stained with the brain and blood of the blessed

Thomas.

At Windsor was a portion of the blood of Saint of Canterbury, and also a shirt (^camisia) at

Thomas

;

Warwick was a

cilicium or hair-shirt

;

and at St. Alban's

were portions of various of his garments "

ejus cilicio,

Thoma

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

archiepiscopo martyre et de de cuculla, de casula, de dalmatica, et de

sancto

ejusdem." " In the nunnery of St.

pallio

Mary

were possessed of a piece of pregnant women

held

St.

great

pendium Compertorum, 1789,

the sisters

Derby

Thomas's

shirt,

veneration." 80, a

MS.

which

(Com-

at Chats-

worth, quoted in Pegge's History of Beauchief Abbey, pp. 3, 6.)

was â&#x20AC;˘

at St.

The same

authority

* states that his Girdle

Mary's Chester.

In addition, a Grace-cup will be found mentioned as formerly now at Corby castle. This cup was once

preserved at Alnwick, and in tlie

Arundelian collection, and was given by the Duke of Norfolk

CANTERBURY. At Bury the rehques

St.

the visitors say, "

Edmund's

we founde muche

vanitie

and

Edmundes

bury pennekm/Jf, and

*S'.

naylles,

his bootes,

Amongst

superstition,

Lawrence was tosted

as the coles that saint

paring of S.

229

withall, the

Thomas of Canterand divers skulles for

the hedache, peces of the holie crosse able to

make a

hole

crosse, of other reliques for rayne, and certain other

superstitious usages, for avoyding of wedes

corne, with

suche other."

(Wright's

growing

Letters on

Dissolution of the Monasteries, printed for the Society, p.

To relics

the

Camden

85.)

return, however, to the

The

of Becket.

and Reformers

main deposit of the mortal

statements both of Romanists

differ as to the fate

of his bones.

of pope Paul 111. declares that they were burnt,*

bull

and so

do the great majority of authors, following an assertion But this was of the chronicler Stowe, to that effect.f " contradicted by the " Declaration of Faith put forth by royal authority in 1539, t

to the late its

Henry Howard,

bearing the

initials

and

esq.

also

was attributed

T. B, under a mitre

archaeological chronology has reduced it is

by Polydore Vergil and

;

in the

Becket from

to a very different

really of the early part of the sixteenth century.

in the

but modern

It is

skill in vera.,

for

engraved

"Antiquarian Repertory," and in "Antiquarian Gleanings North of England," recently published by W, B. Scott of

Newcastle.

* See hereafter, p.

23-3.

f See

p. 166.

1 See p. 235.

230

APPENDIX. Thomas

the secretary of Edward VI. in his Pelerino Inglese." * The fact probably was, that the " holy head " (surmised not to have to Becket, inasmuch V\ illiam

work

entitled "

really belonged

was nearly complete in the shrine,) was as a mere " relique," but that the bones of the burnt,

his

saint

skull

taken from the shrine were buried near the spot shrine had stood, as was done with the

where the

remains of saint Swithin

Winchester, saint

Hugh

Lincoln, and in other cases. In the next

Arms

however, the

century,

Thomas were shown

of saint

Portugal, a circumstance upon which Fuller makes these quaint but pertinent remarks "The English nuns at Lisbon do pretend (Anatomy of the Nuns of Lisbon) that they have both the arms of in

Thomas Becket archbishop Paul III.

of Canterbury

public bull

Schismate Anglicano,

lib.

plain of the cruelty of king

;

and yet pope

down by Sanders (De 171) doth pitifully com-

set p.

Henry VIII.

for causing the bones of Becket to be burned, and the ashes scattered in

the wind

/ire,

Neither

And how

the martyr's is

recorded

our

arms should escape that boneChurch History, book vi.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

incredible."

Skull even yet

entirely at rest.

true that the bones arespred amongcst the bones

many dead men,

not be foundeagajne." xvtii.

his

* " Butt this of 80

whereof

the solemnity

chronicles.

that, without

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

some greate miracle tliey wyll MS. Cotton. Vesp. D.

Pelerino Inglese,

CANTERBURY.

231

In a recent number of the Tablet (the London newspaper it has been stated by Mr. Talbot

of the Romanists)

that he has brought from Verona a piece of the skull,

given him by the bishop of that city, and he proposes to offer it to the new church of Saint George, in St.

George's Fields, provided he receives subscriptions suffihave a reliquary made " worthy to receive so

cient to

valuable a relic as part of the skull of Saint

Thomas

Canterbury, one of the patrons of England, and her most glorious martyr."

Proceedings of Henry VIII. against Saint

Thomas of Canterbury. The

author of the recent biography of the Lord Chancellors, who (as before remai-ked) has almostliterally

has

noble

followed Dr. Lingard in his notices of Becket,

stated

Thomas

that

Henry VIII.

the

of Canterbury, proceeded as

case

Saint

against a living

party, instructing his attorney-general to file a quo warranto information against him for usurping the office of a saint, and formally citing him to appear in court to

answer the charge.

The

legal

biographer adds, that

"judgment of onster would have happened against him

APPENDIX.

232

by default, had not the king, to show his impartiality and great regard for the due administration of justice, assigned him counsel at the public expense

cause being called, and the

when, the

;

and the

attorney- general

advocate for the accused being fully heard, with such proofs as were oflFered on both sides, sentence was pro-

nounced that Thomas sometime archbishop of Canterbury had been guilty of contumacy, treason, and rebellion :

that his bones should be publicly burnt, to living of their duty

that the oflferings to the

Now appears

all

this,

to be

by the punishment of the dead

made by

Crown.

;

and

the shrine should be forfeited

proclamation followed," &c.

until

we come

the

proclamation,

an historical romance, put together, ac-

cording to the opinion of Archdeacon of Cranmer,

admonish the

Todd

by Chrysostom Henriquez

in his Life

in his

Phoenix

Reviviscens, 1626, from the fictions of Sanders and Pollini

notwithstanding that Sanders has assigned a date (24 another (11 June, 1538) April, 1536) for the citation ;

for the trial

;

and

Pollini adds that the order for the de-

was made on the 11th August, and carried into execution on the 19th of the 1538,

struction of the shrine

same month.

The

privy-council books of the period are not extant,

and there

no certainty how far Pollini

obtained some information not

Todd remarks Ib'iH,

not have

may

now apparent

;

but Dr.*

that the bull of pope Paul III. issued in

would suggest to Sanders

sufficient hints for the

CANTERBURY. which

story, to

his

own

That

circumstances.

with regard to king

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;etiam

nuraerum venerata

est,

imag'ination supplied the fictitious

bull contains the following passage

Henry

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

mortuos, et eos

relatos

233

quidem quos

universalis

ecclesia

pluribus

feritatem exercere non expavit

Thomae Cantuar.

sanctorum

seculis

divi

enim

archiepiscopi, cujus ossa quae in dicto

regno Anglige potissimum ob innumera ab omnipotenti Deo illic perpetrata miracula summa cum veneratione in area aurea in civitate Cantuarien. servabantur, postquam

ipsum divum Thomam, ad majorem tum, in judicium vocari

nari

comburi

religionis

proditorem declarari fecerat, exhumari et ventum spargi jussit omne plane

et cineres in

;

cunctarum gentium crudelitatem

superans,

bello

quidem hostes victores saevire in

vera

soliti

etiam

sunt

;

Anglorum

naria,

ipsi

areas

701

;

But

hsec,

cum ne

omnia ex diversorum regum liberalitate

do-

appensa, quae multa et maximi pretii ;

&c.

(Bullae, Romae, 1673, vol.

Wilkins, Concilia, iii. 841.) the " Declaration of Faith," issued

authority

mortuorum cada-

aliorum principum

erant, sibi usurpavit f.

contemp-

tanquam contumacem dam-

1539, contains a contradictory

by royal statement

and does not

at all con-

as to the burning of the bones,

firm the supposed proceedings by quo warranto. The whole passage, written in justification of the destruction of shrines and reliquaries, is here given :

for shrines, capses,

and

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

reliquaries of saints so

APPENDIX.

234

although the most were nothing less,* for as

called,

much

as his highness hath found other f idollatry or superstition used thereabouts,

detestable

and perceived

that they were for the most part feigned things

Blood of Christ, so

called, in

as the

;

some place was but a piece

of red sylke, inclosed in a piece of thyck glass of chrystalline, in an other place, oyle colloured of sanguinis

drachonis

;

instead of the

chalk or of ceruse

merable

illusions,

Mylk

of our Lady, a piece of

our Lady's Girdle, and other innu-

;

superstitions,

and apparent deceipts

;

and more of the Holy Crosse than three waines may His majestye, therefore, hath caused the same carry. and the abusyve pieces thereof

to be taken away,

to be

burnt, the doubtful! to be sett and hidden honestly away, for fear of idollatry.

Thomas

for the shryne of

archbishop

Canterbury,

which

Thomas, by approbations

common

and that

legend

false

;

Beckett, sometime called

they

Saint

appeareth clearly that his at

time of his

the

death, and long afore, he was reconciled to king Henry IL king of this realme, duke of Normandy and Guyene,

and had no quarrell directly with him, but only against the archbishop of York, which arose from proud pre-

heminences between procured call

martyrdome 1. ÂŤ.

them

frowardly his ;

;

own

and by the

strife

thereof

death, which they untruly

and happened upon the arrest of a

anything but saints.

either.

CANTERBURY.

235

servant of his, whereupon the gentlemen that arrested

him caused

the whole city to rise in armes, and for that

he gave opprobrious words to the gentlemen, which then counsailed him to leave his stubborness, and avoyde out

way and he not only called the one of them but also took another by the bossome, and viobaud, lently shook and plucked in such manner that he had of the

;

almost overthrown him to the pavement of the church

;

upon this fray, the same, moved and chaffed, strake him, and so in the throng Beckett was slayne and that he never did acte in his life sufficient to prove so that

;

any holiness, but came to be the king's chancellour by money, was a great warriour, a brenner of townes, a croacher of benefices, a hunter and hawker, proud and seditious

;

by corruption and unlawful means obtained

the archbishopricke of Canterbury, as he himselfe confessed openly to pope Alexander, and as by writeings and chronicks of good record, by his chapleins and brethren the bishopps of England made and sundry of ;

them above

forty

yeares printed in Paris,

and never

reproved (although mercy of God might be extended unto him) yet nevertheless it was arrested, that the

;

shryne and bones should be taken away and bestowed in such place as the same should cause no his

* superstition afterwards. * This passage to find

And, forasmuch

manifestly imperfect, but

any other copy of

Ecclesiastical History.

this

document but

as his

head

have not been able

that printed in Collier's

APPENDIX.

236

almost hole was found with the rest of the bones, closed within the shryne

;

and that there was

great scull of another head, but

church a

in that

much

greater

by the

three-quarter parts than that part which was lacking in in the head closed within the shryne, whereby it appeared that the same was but a feigned fiction. If this hede

was brent, was therefore Saint Thomas brent suredly

As-

concludeth not."

the whole

would seem that king Henry pro-

Thomas of Canterbury in a much and judicious way than that represented by

ceeded against saint

sensible

Sanders, and so easily credited by lord Campbell.

The

first

step

made towards

discrediting saint

of Canterbury, together with other inferior

was taken

saints,

authority in

this

the

injunctions

issued

Thomas

and

local

bv royal

1536, for abrogating superfluous holidays.

measure

all

holidays which

fell in

term-time, or

were no longer to be observed by the comAs monalty, but they were to work thereon as usual. the season of harvest was reckoned from the 1st of July to the 29th of September, the feast of the Translation of in harvest,

saint

under

Thomas, kept annually on the 7th of July, fell this interdict, and, though the mere ritual within

the churches was observed as before, the multitude was

no longer attracted to Canterbury by the ceremonial, or allowed to assemble to their wonted recreations.

Among

other injunctions of the vicegerent Cromwell,

issued shortly after, and addressed to ministers having

CANTERBURY. cure of souls,

was directed that the

the discharging

cerning should be

read

237

the

certain

people,

late order con-

superstitious

holidays with exhortations to

govern themselves accordingly and then it was added, " they shall not set forthe or extoU any images, reliques, ;

or myracles for

any superstition or

lucre,

nor allure the

people by any inticementes to the pilgrimage of any saynt, otherwise than ys permitte in the articles lately

put forth by th' auctoritye of the kinges majestye, and

condescended upon by the prelates and clergye of this convocation, as though it were proper or

his realme in

peculiar to that saynt to gyve this

seeinge

all

commoditye or that, and goodnesse, helth, grace ought to be both

asked and loked for only of God, as of the very author of the same, and of none other, for without hym that cannot be gyven

;

but they shall exhorte as well their

do rather applye themselves to the kepyng of Goddes commaundements

parishners as other pilgrimes that they

and

workes of cheritye, perswading them

fulfilling of his

that they shall please

God more by

the true exercising

of their bodilie labour, travaile, or occupation, and providing for their familyes, than yf they went about to the said pilgrimages

;

and that yt shall prcfitt more their do bestow that on the poore and

soules helth yf they

nedy which they wold have bestowed uppon the said images or reliques." In 1588 the commemoration of the festival days of saint Thomas was ordered to be entirely laid aside, and

-38

APPENDIX.

the ordinary service for the day of the week to be used instead

;

and archbishop Cranmer himself

the ex-

set

ample of disregarding the great festival of the Translation, by not fasting, as had been the custom, on the eve of it, but supping on flesh with his household. It was in September of the same year that the was destroyed and on the 16th Nov. 1338, in clamation on church matters, the king took the tunity to give the final blow to the character ;

martyr "

Shrine

a proopporof the

the following plain-spoken terms :*

Item, Forasmuch as

Thomas

appeareth clearly that

Becket, sometime archbishop of Canterbury, stubbornely to withstand the hoi some lawes established against the enormities of the clergy, by the king's highnes most noble progenitor, king Henry the Second, for the com-

mon

and

welth, rest,

forward mind

tranquillity of this realme, of his

fled the

realme into France, and to the bishop of Rome, maintenour of those enormities, to pro-

* Proclamation printed at the time by Berthelet, extant in a transcript in

repeated

month iii.

MS.

Cotton. Titus, B.

in letters

under the

to justices of the peace

Records, No. 63

and

somewhat more

claration of Faith already quoted. to find the authority for it

The same

representation in the

folJowing

a document printed in Burnet, vol.

also,

signet, addressed

some of

its

the De-

difficult,

perhaps,

briefly,

would be

statements; but, on the whole,

certainly presents the catastrophe,

aggerated terms, more truly told than embellished narratives of the

though in the

martyrologists.

coarse

and ex-

elaborate and highly

CANTERBURY.

239

cure the abrogation of the said lawes, whereby arose

much

And

trouble in this said realm.

that his death,

which they untruly called martirdome, happened upon a reskewe by him made and that, as it is written, he gave :

opprobrious wordes to the gentlemen which then counsailed him to leave his stubbornes, and to avoide the

commotion of the people,

risen up for that reskewe. he not only called the one of them bawde, but also toke Tracy by the bosorae, and violently shoke and

And

plucked him in such a manner as he had almost overthrow him to the pavement of the church. So that

uppon

this

fray,

one of their company perceiving the

same, struck him, and so in the throng Becket was slain. " And further, that his canonization was made up

Rome, because he had been

only by the bishop of

champion to mainteine

his

usurped authority,

and a

bearer of the iniquitie of the clergie. " For these, and for other great and urgent causes

long to

recite, the

king's majestie,

counsell, hath thought subjects,

notwithstanding the

that,

there appeareth nothing in his tion

by the advice of

his

expedient to declai*e to his loving

whereby he should be

life

said

canonization,

and exteriour conversa-

called

saint,

but

rather

esteemed to have been a rebel and traitor to his prince. Therefor his grace straightly chargeth and commandeth, that

from henceforth the

said

Thomas Becket

shall not

be esteemed, named, reputed, nor called a saint but and that his images and pictures. bishop Becket ;

APPENDIX.

240

through the hole realme, shall be put down and avoided And out of all churches, chappelles, and other places. that from henceforth the days used to be festival! in his

name

shall not be observed

;

nor the service,

tiphones, coUettes, and praiers in his

rased and put out of festival!

all

the bookes.

shall

dales

solemnised,

name

And be

office,

an -

redde, but

that in

all

other

no wise

already abrogate but his grace's ordenance and injunctions

to the intent his grace's loving thereupon observed subjects shall be no longer blindly led, and abused, to ;

as they have done in times passed his of majesties indignacion, and imprisoneupon paine

committ

mente

idolatrie,

;

at his grace's pleasure."

Sixteen months after this proclamation the humiliated

monks of Canterbury surrendered king's hands on the 20th

their priory into the

March, 1539-40.

PILGRIM S

SIGiN.

(See p. 70.)

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

P. 6.

Glaucoplutus.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Erasmus introduces

character in his Colloquy

this

same

named Ichthyophagia, where

described as a very learned man, and one of chief

who got into a with the from difficulty magistracy having entertained one Eros (by whom Erasmus is supposed to mean Eleuhimself) with a fowl for breakfast during Lent. influence in the city of Eleutheropolis.,

but theropolis is probably Fribourg, covered the real name of Glaucoplutus. ;

P. 77. ton's in

English Pilgrims

have not

Compostella.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; In

Cax-

" Epilogue to

1480, he notes

The Book named Cordyale," printed how Anthony earl Rivers, " since the

time of the great tribulation and adversity of lord,

dis-

hath been

full

said

virtuously occupied, as in going of

pilgrimages to Saint James in Galice, to

Rome,

to Saint

Bartholomew, to Saint Andrew, to Saint Matthew in the realm of Naples, and to Saint Nicholas de Bar in Puyle,

and divers other holy places." And in lord Rivers' own preface to the Dictes and Sayings of Philosophers, " the printed in 1477, he himself relates that he went to jubilee

and pardon

at the holy apostle

St.

James

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

242

cccc. Spain, which was the year of Grace a thousand at Southampton in the in and shipped consequence Ixxiij.

month of July the said year, The riches of Walslngham. P. 85. cham, when remark,

Cologne,

visiting

The

— Roger

As-

1550, makes

this

Three Kings be not so rich,

was the Lady of Walsingham."

Tombs running with

Ibid.

(History,

oil.

beheve, as

— Matthew

Paris

anno 1239) reports that the tomb of Robert,

founder of the Robertines at Knaresborough, abundantly which possibly, remarks Fulcast forth a medicinal oil ;

ler,

his

used about might be the dissolving of some gums and other natural causes may be assigned

body

thereof.

;

For mine own eyes have beheld,

the fair

church of llminster in Somersetshire, the beautiful tomb of Nicholas

Wadham,

esq.

and Dorothy

Wadham

his wife (founders

Oxford), out of which, in summer, sweats forth an unctuous moisture

of the uniform college of

with a fragrant smell,

might make sovereign

(which possibly an active fancy

for

some

uses,) being nothing else

than some bituminous matter (as by the colour and scent doth appear) used by the marbler in joining the chinks of the stones, issuing out chiefly thereabouts."

Church History, Book P. 96.

vi. sect.

The pilgrimage

who was questioned

—

Fuller's

Wilsdon.

— Dr. Crome,

before the bishops for heretical opi-

"I nions in the year 1.530, spoke thus of pilgrimages never I well be doon, thynke that pilgrimages maye :

ADDITIONAL NOTES. sayde otherwisse wyll

saye

devocion.

God

hath

;

ageyne,

but

have sayde oftyn, and now I dewtye, and then your

Doo your

doe those thynges the whyche doon the whyche are the

First, I saye,

commaundyd

dedys of pytye

;

243

to be

;

for those shalbe requyred of thy

hande

When

thou comyst at the daye of judgement. agayne. He wyll not saye unto thee, WTi^/ uentst thou not to Wylsdon a pylgrymage ? but he wyl saye unto thee,

was an hungrede, and thou gavyst me no meat, I was nakyd, and thou gavyst me no clothys, and soche lyke. '

They

that wyll leve the

comawndements of God undon,

and wyll followe and doe voluntarye dedys, whyche were

God

nether comawnded by

nor yett by the churche, are

greatlye to be blamyd, and are worthy to be punyshed."

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Strype, Memorials,

P. 98.

iii.

Indulgences.

Appx.

One of

these

episcopal

in-

dulgences granted Walsingham came before the " John notice of Blomefield, who thus describes it to

granted 40 days who, before the altar of sir

Alcock, bishop of Ely, [1486-1500,]

pardon or indulgence, to

John Cheney

knight, in

all

the priory church, should hear

mass, or the Lord's prayer, with the angelic salutation, for the souls of sir John and the lady Agnes his wife."

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

P. 107. The Crepaudine. In Note 36, I might have referred to Nares's Glossary, v. Toad-stone, and to

Mr. Way's note

the Promptorium

Parvulorum,

In the latter work the word

Crepawnde.

smaragdus

and Mr. W^ay remarks, "

Latinized

On some

of these

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

244

stones, according to Albertus

animal was imprinted

Magnus, the

figure of the

these were of a green colour, and

;

termed crapaudina, being possibly the kind here called smaragdus, a name which properly implies the emerald." Such was probably the stone at Walsingham, and two so called

crapodinus (see

Canterbury. P. 107.

of Saint

Pictures

Christopher, before

Chtnstopher.

— "St.

martyrdom, requested of

his

that

wherever

from

pestilence, mischiefs,

his

168) were on the shrine at

body was, the place should

God

be free

and infection and therefore his ;

picture or portrait was usually placed in public wayes,

and

at the entrance of towns

the received distich

—

and churches, according

Christophorum videas, postea tutus eris." Browne's Vulgar Errors, b.

Chaucer's

A P.

135.

archbishop

v. c.

16.

Yeman had Christofre on his brest of silver schene.

Scarlet saide

gown of Doctors. me Thou judgest ;

And

the

everie priest

proud that will not go araied as thou doest. By God, I deme him to be more meeke that goeth every day in a scarlet

gown, than thou

— Examination of Thorpe

thy threed-bare blewe gowne." the Lollard, before archbishop

Arundel. P. 139. " I

Coleis lodging at Sheen charterhouse.

Item, as touchyng wyll that

all

—

my logyng at the Charter-house, bordwork made of waynskott, as tables,

245

ADDITIONAL NOTES. trestils,

greate coffers, cupboards, and all painted images

upon the

walls,

other stuff

all

to that

lodgyng in perpetuum there besydes afore rehersed I wyl be

remayne

dispoased by the discrecion of

And

a previous

John Banburghe a J^ohn Colett,

'•

myne

executours."

" I bequeathe

item,

silver pott

bed at Charterhouse that

myself, with mattresse and

to raaister

having on the ere wryten I

ley

upon bed

to the said

blanketts

belonginge," &c.

The golden head, or portrait of Becket. connection with the remarks made in Note 35,

P. 160.

must correct an inadvertence *'

translation (p. 52),

The words

the attendant on the holy head." are " assessor

in the

comparing which

capitis aurei,"

original

—

with the former description of the " tota facies optimi viri

inaurata

multisque gemmis

most probable that in brilliant colours

this

was a

seems

portrait of Becket, painted

upon a gold ground,

practice of the early painters.

insignita,

was the usual

—

Worship of the Saints. In his Colloquy of the Rich-Poormen (the Franciscan friars) Erasmus P. 180.

speaks

still

plainly on saint-worship is

Innkeeper. To-day Conrad. To what saint

Innk. To Anthony. Con. He was indeed a good man keep a holiday to him ? Innk.

will

tell

you.

a holiday with us.

;

This place

but

why do you

full

of swine-

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

246

herds, because of the neighbouring oak-forest tlieir

and

it is

Anthony has especially the charge of and so they worship him lest he should

belief that

that animal

make them Con.

;

sufier for their neglect.

wish they would worship him

Innk. In what way ? Con. He worships the

saints best,

in truth

who

most suc-

cessful in following their examples.

The

Pilgrims' Tombs at Llanfihangel aber

CowiN,

CO.

Carmarthen.

In the churchyard of Llanfihangel aber

Cowm,

in the

county of Carmarthen, are three contiguous gravestones, tradition, by the name The annexed engravings re-

which are known, from popular of the Pilgrims' Tombs.

present the super-incumbent slabs, together with their

head and foot stones. with the cross

;

human

Two of them

are rudely sculptured

figure, each signed on the breast with a

the third, which

ridged en dos d'ane, and or-

namented with cable mouldings, has a cross inclosed in like mouldings on its headstone. These crosses seem to

247

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

imply that the persons were cruce signati, or such as had undertaken a vow of pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The Welsh, who were always superstitious, were greatly

attached

shrine of saint

enterprises

The

pilgrimage.

David was a favourite object of

their

devotion.

In the

summer

1838 the central grave was opened

by some gentlemen resident depth of four feet they came

St.

Clear's.

to a coffin, the

the

sides of

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

248 wliich were

formed of

being placed

below

six

detached stones, one large slab

and another above

this

they

found several small bones, which had apparently been those of a young person, and half a dozen shells, answering by description ments of pilgrims.

to those

worn on the hats and gar-

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; (Gentleman's Magazine, New Series,

vol. VIII, p. .576, vol. XI, p.

114,)

Here down my wearied limbs I'll lay buttoned staff, my weed of gray,

My My My

palmer's hat, cross,

cord,

scallop shell,

and

all

farewell

Epitaph, by Robert He.ynrk.

v/^

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