Bells Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Norwich | Page 2

9 West Front of the Cathedral in 1816 15 The Cathedral from the South-West Angle of Cloisters 22 The Erpingham Gate 24 St. Ethelbert's Gate 25 The Gate-House of the Bishop's Palace 25 West Front of the Cathedral 28 The Clerestory and Triforium of Choir (South Side) 32 The Tower in 1816 37 Exterior of the Chapel of St. Luke from the East 40 A Norman Capital 46 The Nave, looking East 47 The Choir Screen and Organ from the Nave 51 The North Aisle of Nave, looking West 56 The East Walk of the Cloisters 58 The Cloisters from the Garth 59 The Prior's Door 63 The Choir and Presbytery 65 A Stall in the Choir 67 The Choir and Presbytery in 1816 69 The Choir Stalls at the beginning of the Nineteenth Century 70 The Choir, looking West 72 Detail of the Presbytery Clerestory and Vaulting 74 The Choir Apse 77 Detail of the Clerestory, North Transept 80 The South Aisle of Presbytery, looking East 81 Norman Work in the Lantern of Tower 83 The Ante-Reliquary Bridge Chapel 84 Doorway and Screen between South Transept and Aisle of Presbytery 88 View across the Apse from the Chapel of St. Luke 89 The Resurrection: from the Painted Retable formerly in the Jesus Chapel 93 Norwich Castle 99 The Guildhall 103 Monument of Bishop Goldwell 107 The Pelican Lectern in the Choir 110 Pull's Ferry 112 PLAN OF THE CATHEDRAL 113
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[Illustration: The Cathedral from the South-West.]
CHAPTER I
HISTORY OF THE FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY OF NORWICH
Norwich Cathedral stands on the site of no earlier church: it is to-day, in its plan and the general bulk of its detail, as characteristically Norman as when left finished by the hand of Eborard, the second bishop of Norwich.
The church was founded by Herbert de Losinga, the first bishop, as the cathedral priory of the Benedictine monastery in Norwich (a sketch of its constitution at this period will be found in the Notes on the Diocese); the foundation-stone was laid in 1096 on a piece of land called Cowholme,--meaning a pasture surrounded by water,--and the church was dedicated to the Holy Trinity.
It may be of interest to the tourist and student to review briefly what sort and manner of man Herbert the founder was; what had been his environment prior to his appointment as the first bishop of Norwich; and what the causes were which had as their effect the building of the cathedral.
The characteristics of the cathedral are--its long nave, which is typical of the Norman church; its glorious apsidal termination, encircled by a procession path, which recalls the plan of a French cathedral; and the form of this, with the remains of its old bishops' chair centrally placed, and with the westward position, of the throne at Torcello and other Italian churches, of the basilican type of plan.
Herbert, surnamed de Losinga, transferred the see from Thetford to Norwich in 1094, and it is from this period that the history of the cathedral may be said to commence.
Herbert was a prelate of a type that in the early days helped to build up the Church and give her stability. His nature must have been curiously complex; on the one hand, a man of action and with great capability of administration, often justifying his means by the end he had in view, and not being debarred from realising his schemes by any delicate scruples, he yet, on the other hand, presents in his letters a chastened spirituality that is not compatible with the methods he pursued when thinking only of the temporal advantages which might accrue on any certain line of action. But it may be said that his letters appear to date from the later period of his life, and after he had founded the cathedral as an expiation of that sin of simony he appears to have so deeply repented.
Yet in the earlier period, which we shall note, he was emphatically the man of action, the typical administrator, who, mixing freely in the political life of the times, was strengthening the position of the Church, and gradually leading her up to that position, which she ultimately gained, of Arbitress of Kings and Empires.
He had also a morbid belief in the power of money--he probably would have agreed that "every man has his price," and his simoniacal dealings with William Rufus, which procured his preferment to Norwich, afford evidence of this weak trait in his character.
Herbert's birthplace is disputed, and, as Dean Goulburn remarked, this is but natural: a man so justly celebrated would not, or, rather, historians will not be content with one; so that though he cannot rival Homer in that seven cities desired to be accredited each as his birthplace, yet Herbert