Devon, Its Moorlands, Streams and Coasts | Page 4

hands of the Norman here rose the Castle of
Rougemont, of which a tower, a gateway, and part of the walls, stand to
this day. In proportion to the size and strength of that castle, however,
the remains are inconsiderable, but it fell into decay very long ago, and
as early as 1681 Izacke writes of 'the Fragments of the ancient
Buildings ruinated, whereon time ... hath too much Tyrannized.'
In the year after King Stephen began to reign, Baldwin de Redvers,
Earl of Devon and keeper of the Castle, declared for the Empress Maud,
and held the Castle for three months against the citizens, headed by two
hundred knights who had been sent by the King. At the end of this time
the wells ran dry, so that the besieged were driven to use wine for their
cookery, and even to throw over their 'engines,' set on fire by the
enemy.
Henry II granted to the citizens of Exeter the first of their many charters
of privileges, and in the reigns of King John and Henry III the
municipal system was very much developed, and the city first had a
Mayor. Under Edward I a beginning was made towards the almost
entire reconstruction of the Cathedral. Bishop Warelwast, the nephew
of William I, had raised the transeptal towers--a feature that no other
English cathedral possesses--and since his time the Lady Chapel had
been added, but the design of the Cathedral as a whole was evolved by
Bishop Quivil. He planned what was practically a new church, and his
intentions were faithfully carried out. Before his day the towers were
merely 'external castles,' but Bishop Quivil broke down their inner
walls, and filled the space with lofty arches, and the towers became
transepts. Bishop Stapledon spent huge sums in collecting materials,
but before much progress with the work had been made he was
murdered by a London mob, in the troubled reign of Edward II; and the
actual existence of much of the building is due to Bishop Grandisson,
who, sparing himself in no matter, lavished treasure and devotion on
his Cathedral. Writing to Pope John XXII, the Bishop said 'that if the
church should be worthily completed, it would be admired for its
beauty above every other of its kind within the realms of England or
France.'

One of the most beautiful features of the Cathedral is the unbroken
length of roof at the same height through nave and choir, the effect
intensified by the exquisite richness and grace of the vaulting. And the
spreading fans gain an added grace, springing as they do from that
'distinctive group of shafts' which, says Canon Edmonds, 'makes the
Exeter pillar the very type of the union of beauty and strength.' In the
central bay of the nave, on the north side, is the Minstrels' Gallery, one
of the few to be found in England. It is delicately and elaborately
sculptured, and each of the twelve angels in the niches holds a musical
instrument--a flageolet, a trumpet and two wind instruments, a tambour,
a violin, an organ, a harp, bagpipes, the cymbals, and guitars.
The choir is unusually long, and from the north and south aisles open
chapels and chantries, in some of which the carving is very rich and
fine. The Bishop's throne is elaborately carved, and more than sixty feet
high, and yet there is not one nail in it. During the Commonwealth a
brick wall was built across the west end of the choir, completely
dividing the Cathedral. This was done to satisfy the Presbyterians and
Independents, each of whom wished to hold their services here, and the
two churches formed by this division were called Peter the East and
Peter the West. The screen in the west front was added after the
Cathedral was finished; it is covered with statues in niches, figures of
'kings, warriors, saints, and apostles, guardians as it were of the
entrance to the sanctuary.' High above them, in the gable niche, is the
statue of St Peter, to whom the Cathedral is dedicated.
King Edward and Queen Eleanor kept Christmas at Exeter in 1285, and
here the King held the Parliament which passed the Statute of Coroners
that is still law. During this visit the King gave leave to the Bishop and
Chapter to
surround the close with a wall and gates, for at this time it was used to
heap rubbish upon, and 'the rendezvous of all the bad characters of the
place.' Edward III granted his eldest son the Duchy of Cornwall--a
grant that carried with it the Castle of Exeter, and to the King's eldest
son it has always since belonged.

Henry VI in 1482 visited the city in peace and splendour. Margaret, his
Queen, came about eighteen years later, while Warwick's