Bells Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Exeter | Page 6

money.
Canon Freeman thus describes it: "Above, as it should seem (for the
entries are very obscure), was a canopy of considerable extent, wrought
with bosses internally. The whole seems to have been surmounted by a
figure of our Lord." With Stapledon building seems to have been a
favourite recreation; for though he gave most largely both of time and
money to the cathedral work, he found opportunity to build and endow
Harts Hall, Stapledon Inn--now Exeter College--Oxford, and the "very
fair" Essex House in London. In 1320 he was created Lord High
Treasurer by Edward II., and later in the same year received from his
sovereign the power of holding pleas of "hue and cry" in the lands,
tenements, and fees of the bishopric in the county of Cornwall. The
neglected condition of many of the parish churches in his diocese
distressed him, and almost his last public appearance in the west of
England was at Lawhitton, where he spoke severely on this matter to
his Dean and Chapter, and bade them see to it that in future there
should be no good cause of complaint. In the autumn of 1324 he set out
for France, accompanying the young Prince Edward, who was about to
do homage to the French king for the duchies of Aquitaine and Poitou.
But his "irreproachable integrity" made him unpopular, and his life was
threatened. On his return to England he saw that a crisis was at hand,
and almost immediately after his arrival Queen Eleanor landed on the
coast of Suffolk. Edward II., in a brief moment of wisdom, assigned to
the faithful bishop the government of London and retreated to Bristol.
But it was too late to effect a reconciliation or prevent a catastrophe.
With a firm hand Stapledon endeavoured to restore order and quiet, and
promulgated a decree by which all rebels were excommunicated. But

the citizens, wisely perhaps, sided with the conquerors, and the bishop
died a martyr to duty. The story is well told in the French chronicles
quoted by Dr. Oliver. "The Bishop of Exeter, riding towards his inn or
hotel, in Eldeanes-lane for dinner, encountered the mob, and, hearing
them shout Traitor, he rode rapidly to St. Paul's for sanctuary, but was
unhorsed, taken to Cheapside, stripped and beheaded. About the hour
of vespers, the same day, October 15th, the choir of St. Paul's took up
the headless body of the prelate and conveyed it to St. Paul's, but, on
being informed that he died under sentence, the body was brought to St.
Clement's beyond the Temple, but was ejected; so that the naked corpse,
with a rag given by the charity of a woman, was laid on the spot called
'Le Lawles Cherche,' and without any grave, lay there with those of his
two esquires, without office of priest or clerk. His house was attacked,
the gates burned, quantities of jewels and plate plundered."
In another account of his death it is stated that his head was "fixed on a
long pole by way of trophy, that it might be to all beholders a lasting
memorial of his attempted crime." There was a personal reason why the
bishop was unpopular among the citizens, for "he procured that the
justices in eyre should sit in London; on which occasion, because the
citizens had committed various offences, they were heavily punished
by the loss of their liberties, by pecuniary mulcts, and by bodily
chastisment, as they deserved." But the queen caused his body to be
rescued from the "hepe of rubische," and it was removed to Exeter,
where it lies on the north side of the choir. He left behind him large
sums of money and plate, a valuable library and, unique item,
ninety-one rings. He was certainly one of the greatest prelates in
English history, and though he may have been, as his detractors
asserted, "fumische and without pite," he was revered in his diocese,
and left an example of courage and honesty to succeeding generations.
His executors, animated by a wish to do what he would have desired,
distributed £210 8s. 8d. in charities, and gave considerable sums to
other worthy objects. And the Abbot of Hartland caused the 15th of
October to be solemnly observed, out of gratitude for the late bishop's
bounty, and decreed that on that day "for all future times 'XIII.
pauperes in aulâ abbatis, pro ipsius anima, pascantur.'"

To follow so redoubtable a prelate as Stapledon must have been an
extremely difficult task. But Grandisson, who was appointed after
Berkeley's short episcopate ended, has sometimes been called the most
magnificent prelate who ever filled the see. He was nominated directly
by the pope, and consecrated by his holiness at Avignon. His chief
glory is that he allowed the splendour of the see in