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The Foundation of Norwich Cathedral

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Extract

In medieval chronicles the establishment of a cathedral at Norwich is related to the simony of Bishop Herbert of Thetford and his subsequent repentance. For this sin he sought absolution in Rome and, on his return to England, moved the see to Norwich. There (and later writers have assumed that it was an act of penance) Herbert built and endowed a magnificent cathedral in which he installed monks in the place of secular priests. It is the purpose of the present paper to examine this story and to add to it what is known of the building of the cathedral and the endowment of its priory.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1957

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References

page 1 note 1 D.B. ii, fo. 379; ‘in hoc manerio est ecclesia sedes episcopatus de Sudfolc’.

page 2 note 1 They were at Hindolveston, and Swanton, . Anglo-Saxon Charters, ed. Robertson, A. J. (Cambridge, 1939), p. 184Google Scholar.

page 2 note 2 The manors are Gunton, Beighton, Hemsby and Blofield. D.B. ii, fos. 194–5.

page 2 note 3 They are Sedgeford and Fring, Blickling and Marsham. D.B. ii, fos. 193v, 196–v.

page 2 note 4 Chronica minor sancti Benedicti de Hulmo, printed as an appendix to Chronica Jokannis de Oxnedes (Rolls Series), p. 431.

page 2 note 5 Paleographical Society, iii, plate 170.

page 3 note 1 Memorials of St. Edmund's Abbey ed. Arnold, T. (R.S.), i. 60–7Google Scholar, 345, 347. See also Knowles, D., The Monastic Order in England (Cambridge, 1949), PP. 581–2Google Scholar.

page 3 note 2 D.B. ii, fo. 117. The grant may have been made early in Herfast's episcopate, for he is reported to have attested the decrees of the council of 1075 as bishop of Norwich. Wilkins, , Concilia magnae Britanniae et Hiberniae (1737), i. 364Google Scholar.

page 3 note 3 There is a story that after Herfast's death William repeatedly endeavoured to make Baldwin, abbot of Bury, bishop and to fix his seat at Bury. Galbraith, V. H., ‘The East Anglian See and the Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds’, Eng. Hist. Rev., xl (1925), 227CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

page 3 note 4 Norwich, Registrum Primum, fo. 15: The First Register of Norwich Cathedral Priory, ed. Saunders, H. W. (Norfolk Record Soc., 1939), p. 22Google Scholar. (Norwich Registers hereafter referred to as Reg. I, III, IV or V.)

page 3 note 5 Gesta Pontificum Anglorum (R.S.), p. 151.

page 3 note 6 The Life, Letters and Sermons of Bishop Herbert de Losinga, ed. Goulburn, E. M. and Symonds, H., i. 7Google Scholar.

page 4 note 1 The letters have been edited by Anstruther, R., Epistohe Herberti de Losinga, primi Episcopi Norwicensis (Brussels and London, 1846)Google Scholar, and with the sermons in translation by Goulburn, E. M. and Symonds, H., The Life, Letters and Sermons of Bishop Herbert de Losinga (Oxford and London, 1878)Google Scholar.

page 4 note 2 He accompanied the missions of 1101–2 and 1116–17.

page 4 note 3 Ramsey Cartulary, ed. Hart, W. H. (R.S.), iii. 174Google Scholar. This gives 1087 as the year of appointment and states that he was four years at Ramsey. The Norwich records give his tenure of office as three years. A charter issued by Herbert as abbot of Ramsey is dated June 1088, ibid., i. 120–1.

page 4 note 4 Stubbs, Thomas, Chronica Pontificum Ecclesiae Eboraci, 1707Google Scholar.

page 4 note 5 The Registrum Antiquissimum of the Cathedral Church of Lincoln, ed. Foster, C. W. (Line. Record Soc., 1931), i. 10Google Scholar, note by Sir Frank Stenton.

page 4 note 6 Davis, H. W. C., Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum (Oxford, 1913), iGoogle Scholar. no. 315.

page 4 note 7 Florence, of Worcester, , Chronicon ex Chronkis, ed. Thorpe, B. (1848), iiGoogle Scholar. 34 note.

page 4 note 8 William, of Malmesbury, , Gesta Regum Anglorum (R.S.), ii. 385–6Google Scholar.

page 5 note 1 Two of the Saxon Chronicles parallel, ed. Plummer, C. (Oxford, 1892), i. 229Google Scholar.

page 5 note 2 Loc. cit. The passage is from the Lambeth MS. It does not occur in the Corpus MS. where, however, an entry has been erased and rewritten. I have to thank Professor Darlington for this information.

page 5 note 3 Gesta Pontificum Anglorum (R.S.), p. 151.

page 5 note 4 For example, Freeman, , The Reign of William Rufus (Oxford, 1882), i. 355–6Google Scholar, 448.

page 5 note 5 Eadmer says that all the bishops, except two whose names are given, were present: Historia Novorum in Anglia (R.S.), p. 42.

page 5 note 6 Davis, op. cit., no. 338.

page 6 note 1 Norwich, Reg. I, fo. 51: ‘W. rex Anglie Humfredo camerario et omnibus fidelibus suis Francigenis et Anglicis de Norfolc' et Suthf' salutem. Sciatis me reddidisse Herberto episcopo de Theford' terras illas que super eum calumpniate sunt et ad meum opus inbreuiate sum. et eum et suos homines quietos esse de omnibus placitis de quibus Ranulphus capellanus meus eos inplacitauerat. Teste ipso Ranulpho capellano.’ The Norwich Registers contain five writs of William II of which two concerning land in Norwich are given in the chronicle printed by Saunders. Of the others one gives the bishop free warren in certain demesne manors and the other sake and soke and all the customs enjoyed by his predecessors. Ibid.

page 6 note 2 Memorials of St. Edmund's Abbey, i. 87.

page 6 note 3 Flores Historiarum, ed. Luard, (R.S.), ii. 26Google Scholar.

page 6 note 4 Historia Anglicana (R.S.), p. 54.

page 6 note 5 Poole, R. L. has estimated that in the twelfth century the usual time for a journey to Rome was seven weeks. Studies in Chronology and History (Oxford, 1934), p. 264Google Scholar.

page 7 note 1 Norwich, Reg. I, fo. 15; Saunders, p. 22.

page 7 note 2 D.B. ii, fo. 118v.

page 7 note 3 Monasticon, v. 152.

page 7 note 4 Johnson, C. and Cronne, H. A., Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum (Oxford, 1956), iiGoogle Scholar. nos. 524, 544.

page 7 note 5 S. Anselmi Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi Opera Omnia, ed. Schmitt, F. S. (Seccovii, 19381951), iv, no. 254Google Scholar.

page 7 note 6 Herbert is said to have gone to Rome to obtain confirmation from Pope Paschal for the move to Norwich. He did this in 1101–2 when he was sent to Rome. The bishop of Coventry who also went on this mission obtained a bull authorizing his transfer to Coventry in April 1102.

page 8 note 1 The church had been held by 12 burgesses in 1066 and had been given to the bishop by William I. The bishop also held the church of St. Simon and St. Jude and, in 1086, that of St. Michael: D.B. ii, fo. 116v. The church of St. Michael later passed into the hands of Roger Bigot.

page 8 note 2 Norwich, Reg. I, fos. 15V–6; Saunders, pp. 24–8.

page 8 note 3 Norwich, Reg. IV, pp. 1–4. This is also printed in Mon., iv. 13–15 from a copy in the Binham Cartulary, Brit. Mus., MS. Cotton, Claud. D. xiii.

page 8 note 4 Norwich, Reg. I, fo. 15V; Saunders, op. cit., p. 24. The writ can probably be dated January 1096.

page 8 note 5 Norwich, Reg. Ill, fo. 1; Reg. IV, p. 2.

page 8 note 6 In the rebuilding of the eastern chapel the foundations of an apse, part of the pre-Norman church, were discovered in 1930. Cranage, D. H. S., ‘Eastern Chapels in the Cathedral Church of Norwich’, The Antiquaries Journal, xii (1932), 117–26CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

page 8 note 7 Norwich, Reg. I, fo. 22; Saunders, op. cit., p. 50. A slightly different version is given in Reg. IV, p. 2.

page 9 note 1 Norwich, Reg. I, fo. 18; Saunders, op. cit., p. 34.

page 9 note 2 An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk (1739–75), ii. 486.

page 9 note 3 Anstruther, op. cit., letter xiv; Goulburn, op. cit., i. 132–3.

page 10 note 1 Herbert is said to have built as far as the altar of the Holy Cross. Norwich, Reg. I, fos. 22, 23V; Saunders, op. cit., pp. 50, 56.

page 10 note 2 Norwich, Reg. I, fo. 28v; Saunders, op. cit., p. 76.

page 10 note 3 Norwich, Reg. I, fo. 22; Saunders, op. cit., p. 50.

page 10 note 4 Anstruther, op. cit., letter xxix; Goulburn, op. cit., i. 101.

page 10 note 5 Norwich, Reg. 1, fo. 17; Saunders, op. cit., p. 30. St. Leonards was built by 1101.

page 10 note 6 Norwich, Reg. I, fo. 30; Saunders, op. cit., p. 82.

page 10 note 7 Norwich, Reg. I, fo. 15V; Saunders, op. cit., p. 24; Reg. iv, p. 1.

page 11 note 1 Anstruther, op. cit., letter xxvi; Goulburn, op. cit., i. 230.

page 11 note 2 Herbert writes to the monks telling them to collect money, Anstruther, op. cit., letter xiv; Goulburn, op. cit., i. 133.

page 11 note 3 Norwich, Reg. I, fo. 28v; Saunders, op. cit., p. 76.

page 11 note 4 Memorials of St. Edmund's Abbey, i. 362.

page 11 note 5 Norwich, Reg. I, fo. 30; Saunders, op. cit., p. 82.

page 11 note 6 Norwich, Reg. IV, p. 24.

page 11 note 7 Norwich, Reg. I, fo. 30–v; Saunders, op. cit., pp. 82–4.

page 11 note 8 Norwich, Reg. I, fos. 15V–16V; Saunders, op. cit., pp. 24–8.

page 12 note 1 Norwich, Reg. I, fos. 15v, 16v; Saunders, op. cit., pp. 24, 28.

page 12 note 2 Knowles, D., The Monastic Order in England, p. 474Google Scholar, n. 2.

page 12 note 3 William Turbe, a Norman, who became prior and later bishop of Norwich entered the monastery during Herbert's episcopate.

page 12 note 4 Norwich, Reg. I, fo. 55. Her name has, in error, been copied as ‘de Bosco’.

page 12 note 5 Stannard took Herbert's letters to the abbot of Fècamp and to the queen: Anstruther, op. cit., letters xxv and xxxiv; Goulburn, op. cit., i. 64, 302. He may be the monk of that name who witnessed Herbert's agreement with Peter de Valonges. Brit. Mus., MS. Cotton, Claud. D. xiii, fo. 20.

page 12 note 6 Anstruther, op. cit., letter xxxiv; Goulburn, op. cit., i. 65.

page 12 note 7 The Customary of the Cathedral Priory Church of Norwich, ed. Tolhurst, J. B. L. (Henry Bradshaw Soc., 1948), pp. xiv–viGoogle Scholar.

page 13 note 1 Gesta Regum Anglorum (R.S.), ii. 386.

page 13 note 2 Norwich, Reg. I, fos. 17V–18V; Saunders, op. cit., pp. 32–6. The four manors were Hindolveston, Hemsby, Hindringham and Martham. The bishop did not give the whole of the episcopal holding in the last two places for there were military tenants here in 1302.

page 13 note 3 Norwich, Reg. I, fos. 16V–7; Saunders, op. cit., pp. 28–30. The berewicks which are not named in the king's charter, are Arminghall, Lakenham and Catton.

page 13 note 4 Most of Herbert's charters are in the chronicle printed by Saunders, op. cit., pp. 48–52. They are entered into Reg. IV, pp. 15–19.

page 13 note 5 Ibid., p. 28.

page 14 note 1 D.B. ii, fo. 138.

page 14 note 2 Norwich, Reg. I, fos. 20V–1, 52: Saunders, op. cit., p. 44. Newton had been held for the king by Godric dapifer. Eaton was given to Alan fitz Flaald by Henry I.

page 14 note 3 Norwich, Reg. I, fos. 55–6. Stephen gave two churches in Norwich, Henry II the church of Wighton.

page 14 note 4 Ibid., fo. 20v; Saunders, op. cit., p.44.

page 14 note 5 Norwich, Reg. I, fo. 54V–55.

page 14 note 6 Ibid., fo. 22; Saunders, op. cit., p. 50.

page 14 note 7 Norwich, Reg. V, fo. 47. He gave some tithes as well; ibid., fos. 47–v.

page 14 note 8 Ibid., fos. 52, 53.

page 15 note 1 Norwich, Reg. I, fo. 194v.

page 15 note 2 The exchange is brought out by Herbert's charter to Thetford printed in Martin, , History of the town of Thetford (1779), appendix, pp. 35–7Google Scholar.

page 15 note 3 Norwich, Reg. V, fo. 23V. The original is in a show case in the cathedral.

page 15 note 4 Eye founded by Malet circa 1080, Castle Acre by Warenne 1089, Binham by Valonges before 1093, Thetford by Bigot 1103 and Wymondham by Albigni before 1107.

page 15 note 5 Documents illustrative of the social and economic History of the Danelaw (British Academy Records of Social and Economic History v, 1920), pp. liiGoogle Scholar, lv–vi, xcvii.

page 16 note 1 Norwich, Reg. V, fo. 54.

page 16 note 2 Ibid., fo. 46V; Reg. I, fo. 57.

page 16 note 3 Prior Elias bought land in Posfwick, and prior Richard land in Dilham. Norwich, Reg. I, fo. 8IV.

page 16 note 4 William the constable of Bishop Alexander gave the church of Thurlby, Walter of Amundeville steward to Bishop Robert tithes and a rent from a mill. Registrum Antiquissimum, ed. Foster, C. W. and Major, Kathleen (Lincoln Rec. Soc.), iiGoogle Scholar, nos. 552, 576, iv, no. 1292.

page 16 note 5 He was a tenant of Ramsey abbey where he was succeeded by his son Gilbert, , Ramsey Cartulary, i. 132Google Scholar, 246. For the Amundeville family see Clay, C. T., ‘The Family of Amundeville’, Line. Archit. and Arch. Report, iii (1948), 109–36Google Scholar.

page 16 note 6 The Red Book of the Exchequer (R.S.), i. 391–2.

page 16 note 7 Ibid., i. 374–6, 392–4.

page 16 note 8 There is, however, mention of an agreement made between John, steward of Bishop Eborard, and his son concerning land held by Walter Haltein in Gnatingdon: Norwich, Reg. IV, p. 25.

page 16 note 9 Ibid., p. 29.

page 17 note 1 Norwich, Reg. III, fos. 228–v, 235–v. William of Bacton's mother was Muriel daughter of Peter de Valonges.

page 17 note 2 Ibid., fo. 234. ‘Facta fuit hec conueniencia et donacio in presencia domini mei Herberti episcopi sub testimonio parium meorum baronum eius.’

page 17 note 3 In 1535 the net income of Norwich was £874 and that of Coventry £808. Coventry was founded for 24 monks and the number was never materially increased. Knowles, D. and Hadcock, R. Neville, Medieval Religious Houses, England and Wales (London, 1953), pp. 63Google Scholar, 72.

page 18 note 1 Stewart, B. J., ‘Notes on Norwich Cathedral, the Cloisters’, Arch. Journal, xxxii (1875), 155–87Google Scholar.