Secular canons: Cathedral of St. Paul

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

HOUSE OF SECULAR CANONS

1. THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. PAUL

The history of the church of St. Paul has tended from its foundation to make it rather the church of a city than a national or even a diocesan church. London was the metropolis of the East Saxons, (fn. 1) and the hill on which the cathedral now stands was, in some sort, the central point of London. In Anglo-Saxon times it was the meeting-place of the folkmoot, and the bell which called the people together hung in the place of the churchyard. (fn. 2) Such tradition affected later custom: in 1252 the citizens swore fealty to Edward, the king's son, in St. Paul's Churchyard. (fn. 3) In 604, when Augustine had ordained Mellitus bishop of London, King Ethelbert made the church of St. Paul; (fn. 4) and his choice of a site shows that he meant it to be the metropolitan church of the kingdom. (fn. 5) The course of history tended to confine its sphere of influence to London; yet in Anglo-Saxon times it was at least twice the burial-place of royal persons: of Ethelred in 1016 (fn. 6) and of Edward Atheling in 1057. (fn. 7) The position is illustrated by an incident which occurred in the eleventh century. When Archbishop Ælfheah was murdered by the Danes, in 1012, his body was brought to London. The bishops and the townsfolk received it with all veneration and buried it in St. Paul's monastery; and 'there God made manifest the holy martyr's miracle.' With the permission of Cnut the body was removed, however, to Canterbury, in 1023. (fn. 8)

How completely Ethelbert 'made' the church is not known. Earconwald, who was consecrated bishop of London in 675, (fn. 9) is said to have bestowed great cost on the fabric, (fn. 10) and in later times he almost occupied the place of traditionary, founder: the veneration paid to him is second only to that which was rendered to St. Paul. (fn. 11) Much of the Anglo-Saxon history of the cathedral is involved in a like ambiguity; for the early charters have for the most part been condemned as forgeries. Many Saxon kings are, however, traditionary benefactors to St. Paul's. 'I have renewed and restored,' said Athelstan, in one of the rejected charters, liberty to the monastery of St. Paul in London, where holy Earconwald held his bishopric for long; and all privileges which my ancestors for their souls and for their desires of heavenly kingdom constituted, and which are contained in the writings of the monastery. (fn. 12)

The date and the terms of this charter lead further to the supposition that the church had suffered during the Danish occupation of London in the beginning of the tenth century, and the disorder consequent on war with the Danes. In 962 it was attacked by its most persistent enemy: 'in that year Paul's monastery was burnt and was again founded.' (fn. 13) But the life of the church appears to have been little interrupted: a grant of land was received from Queen Egelfleda (fn. 14) and a confirmation of lands and possessions from Ethelred. (fn. 15) In 1012 and 1013, and from 1017 to 1040 the Danes were again in London; and, unlike their ancestors, they worshipped in St. Paul's. A stone has been found in the churchyard which bears the Runic inscription; 'Kina caused this stone to be laid over Tuki.' (fn. 16) Cnut confirmed all the lands of the church, and intimated to his bishops, earls, peers and ministers that the priests of St. Paul's monastery were under his protection and their lands free from burdens. (fn. 17) Nevertheless their liberties must have been violated during the confusion which followed on his death; for Edward the Confessor not only granted a charter which confirmed them in their lands and possessions, (fn. 18) but also 'restored' certain property to them. (fn. 19)

It is probable that the influx of foreign ecclesiastics into England particularly affected the cathedral, for Robert of Jumieges, consecrated bishop of London in 1040, (fn. 20) and his successor William were both Normans; and it can hardly be doubted that the bishop appointed the clergy of the church at this date as in later times. The Norman names Ralph and Walter are indeed those of two of the four canons of St. Paul's, who are mentioned in the Domesday Survey. (fn. 21) Bishop William, according to his epitaph in the cathedral, was 'familiar with St. Edward, king and confessor, and admitted to the councils of Prince William, king of England.' (fn. 22) He obtained great and large privileges for London, and was for many centuries revered by the citizens. (fn. 23) It is to be concluded that he took under his protection the cathedral church, with which, of all the institutions of the city, he was particularly connected. Thus circumstances must have combined to prevent the Conquest from occasioning any break in the history of St. Paul's. Several grants of land and two charters were conferred by William I: (fn. 24) an instruction for the restoration of ancient possessions, which occurs in one charter, (fn. 25) indicates some losses in the times of disorder, or neglect of the like provision of Edward the Confessor. William desired that the church might be as free as he would wish his soul to be on the Day of Judgement. Confirmations of liberties and property were received from both his sons. (fn. 26)

In 1087 the Saxon church of St. Paul's was burnt, (fn. 27) and Bishop Maurice began the building of that cathedral which was beautified and enlarged by many generations, and stood in 1666. (fn. 28) Richard de Belmeis bestowed for some years all the revenues of his office on the work of construction, and yet 'it seemed that nothing had been done.' (fn. 29) Richard made St. Paul's churchyard, and enlarged the streets and lanes about the cathedral at his own cost. (fn. 30) He obtained from Henry I a grant of as much of the ditch of Baynard's Castle as was needed to make a wall about the church and a way without the wall; (fn. 31) and in 1106 Eustace earl of Boulogne renounced all his claim to lands thus surrounded. (fn. 32) Henry I helped the builders in another way; he commanded that ships which entered the River Fleet to bring stone for the church should be free from toll and custom. (fn. 33) In 1135 the building was injured by a fire which arose at London Bridge and spread to St. Clement Danes. (fn. 34)

In the story of a disputed election the attitude of the chapter during the disorderly times of Stephen is discovered. Gilbert Universalis, bishop of London, died in 1134; (fn. 35) for two years the see remained vacant; then a meeting of the chapter was held simultaneously with that of a council summoned by the king to Westminster. There were two parties among the canons, that which favoured and that which opposed the election to the episcopacy of Anselm, abbot of Bury St. Edmunds. (fn. 36) This was a nephew of the late Archbishop Anselm, who had been abbot of St. Sabas in Rome, and had visited England as legate in 1115. In 1116 he had arrived in Normandy bearing letters which conferred on him the administration of the apostolic see in England, and Henry I had been persuaded by the queen, Archbishop Ralph and certain nobles to send him back to Rome. (fn. 37) Some of his supporters in this election were deprived of their goods, and Ralph de Diceto says of them that they were wise not in God but in things of the world, and that their action seemed iniquitous to all the council at Westminster. (fn. 38) It is evident that they represented the anti-national party in the politics of the church, and the party opposed to Stephen in state politics. Their opponents, who were led by Dean William, underwent a temporary defeat. The treasurer was an adherent of Anselm, and with Anselm, others of the canons and much gold, journeyed to Rome, where, by help of the confusion due to the schism of Leo, an appeal was gained. Anselm was accordingly received in the cathedral by a solemn procession, (fn. 39) and was enthroned in 1137. (fn. 40) The time was favourable for highhanded administrations; the new bishop's rule was autocratic, and he probably weakened his party in the chapter and the country. In the following year Richard de Belmeis and Ralph of Langford, resident canons, rendered a second appeal to Rome, which was supported by a letter from Archbishop Thurstan of York, and, according to Ralph de Diceto, by the evidence of all the suffragans of Canterbury. (fn. 41) As a result Anselm's tenure of the bishopric was declared to be invalid because his appointment had lacked the dean's consent. (fn. 42) The succession of Ralph of Langford to Dean William in this year (fn. 43) further indicates a change in the disposition of power in the chapter. The cathedral received a charter from Stephen which confirmed its lands and possessions. (fn. 44)

In the quarrel between the king and Archbishop Thomas, in the next reign, St. Paul's sided with Gilbert Foliot. When this bishop had summoned a meeting of London clergy in the cathedral, and had publicly appealed to Rome against his excommunication, (fn. 45) the dean and chapter wrote to the pope in his support. (fn. 46) They received from the archbishop an intimation of the sentence of their bishop, who, both in this year, and, presumably, when he was again under a ban from 1170 to 1171, did not enter the cathedral. (fn. 47) In later times an altar and a chapel were dedicated to St. Thomas the Martyr in St. Paul's Church. (fn. 48)

In this reign, as in that of Henry I, much care was bestowed on the restoring, and the building and adorning of the cathedral. The bishop of Winchester ordered the inhabitants of his diocese in 1175–6 to afford assistance to those sent to collect money for the building of the church of St. Paul. (fn. 49) A system of wandering collectors for the building fund, instituted by the bishop or the chapter or both of them, seems to be indicated.

The dean and chapter gave two palfreys to King John in the year 1200, that he might protect their enjoyment of the liberties contained in their charter, (fn. 50) and they received from him an additional charter which confirmed their rights and possessions. (fn. 51) Their attitude in the struggle between the king and his barons is definite. At the end of the list of excommunicated rebels, in the bull of 1215, a paragraph is devoted to the sentence of 'Master Gervase de Hobrugge, chancellor of London, who is the most manifest persecutor of the king and the king's friends,' (fn. 52) and it is this Gervase who was elected dean in 1216. (fn. 53) He and Simon Langton, canon of St. Paul's, and brother of the archbishop, appealed, in the year of the election, against the excommunication of Louis and his followers. (fn. 54) Both Gervase and Simon, with Robert de St. Germain, (fn. 55) were deprived of their benefices by the legate Gualo, (fn. 56) who, in the next year, signified to the bishop and the dean and chapter that he had appointed Henry of Cornhill to the office of chancellor, vacated by the deposition of Gervase of Hobrugge for contumacy and contempt. (fn. 57) In detestation of the masses of the excommunicated the altars in London on which they had celebrated were destroyed. (fn. 58)

In the reign of Henry III the clergy of St. Paul's took part in that movement of the church towards independence which identified itself with the struggle for political liberty. Ranulf le Breton, canon and treasurer of St. Paul's, had been a familiar friend of the king. He incurred the royal displeasure; a messenger was sent to accuse him of treason, and an obedient mayor placed him in the Tower. The chapter would not brook such infringement of the rights of one of its members. In the absence of the bishop, Dean Geoffrey de Lucy 'incontinently' pronounced sentence of excommunication on all who had been concerned in the imprisonment, and placed the cathedral under an interdict. When, in spite of admonitions, the king remained obdurate, the bishop was about to extend the interdict to the whole city, and was supported by the legate, the archbishop, and many other prelates. Such extreme measures were not necessary. Henry commanded Ranulf to be set free, but stipulated that he should be kept in readiness to come forward whenever an accusation should be made against him. The canons refused for him such conditional liberty, and demanded his absolute restoration to the church as its child; and the king gave way. (fn. 59) Two years later the chapter elected Fulk Bassett, dean of York, to the see of London, in spite of the king's efforts to procure the choice of Peter d' Aigueblanche, bishop of Hereford. For three years Fulk awaited his consecration; in 1244 he was installed and the chapter had secured another victory. (fn. 60) The politics of St. Paul's were not only local. The dean and chapter addressed to Clement II, in 1307, a eulogy of Bishop Grosteste, and a request that his name might be enrolled in the hagiology of the church. (fn. 61) In 1269 Henry III granted to them a charter, confirming divers liberties and quittances of which their enjoyment had lately been hindered by the war and tumult in the realm. (fn. 62)

In the matter of the election it is likely that the canons sought to resist the power and greed of foreigners as much as to maintain rightful liberties. The cathedral took a prominent part in the resistance to Archbishop Boniface. It claimed immunity from metropolitical visitations. When, therefore, the archbishop would have visited the chapter in 1250, the canons refused to admit him into their church and appealed to the pope; and Boniface excommunicated the dean, Henry of Cornhill, with certain other dignitaries. Afterwards, when he was about to go to Rome, he procured that the dean and canons should be cited to appear at the papal court, and he was supported by a letter of the king to Innocent IV. (fn. 63) The chapter asked for the help of all the bishops of England, and sent to Rome, as proctors, the dean and the canons Robert of Barton and William of Lichfield. (fn. 64) In 1251 Innocent revoked the sentence of excommunication; (fn. 65) but, in the next year, a papal decree obliged the cathedral to submit to an archiepiscopal visitation. (fn. 66) It took place in 1253; and Matthew Paris tells that the canons 'kindly' admitted Boniface, and that he bore himself cautiously and moderately. (fn. 67)

There were few papal provisions to offices in St. Paul's in this reign. A prebend and canonry were conferred by the pope on Alexander de Ferentino, papal sub-deacon and chaplain, but they were granted in effect to William of Kilkenny, and the dean and chapter contended, in justification, that the papal appointment could not take effect, since the prebends were limited in number, and the collation to all of them belonged to the bishop. A papal chaplain was thereupon ordered to hear the proctors of both parties, and, on his report, a mandate of 1254 granted the disputed prebend to Alexander, and provided William to the next which should fall vacant. (fn. 68) In 1256 Alexander is called canon of London. (fn. 69) On the death of Richard Talbot, in 1262, Innocent IV attempted to provide John de Ebulo, papal subdeacon and chaplain to the deanery. But the canons were resolute in their resistance; the settlement of the question was delegated by the pope to the cardinal of Sts. Cosmo and Damiano, who arranged a compromise. By virtue of this Ebulo resigned his claim to the deanery and received certain pensions from the goods of the dean and chapter, and the promise of the next prebend that should fall vacant. Yet in the two following years his claim was twice disregarded; canonries were granted to Thomas of Cantilupe, and to Amatric son of Simon de Montfort, respectively; and in 1264 Urban IV wrote to urge that the agreement be fulfilled. (fn. 70) The canons sometimes reinforced themselves by the pope's authority when they wished to enjoy a plurality of benefices, (fn. 71) and in this way papal power had significance.

Independence was generally maintained until the end of the reign of Edward I. The deans were English. (fn. 72) In 1294 Dean William de Montfort fell dead at the king's feet as he was about to plead against excessive taxation. (fn. 73)

Much was done to the fabric of the cathedral in the thirteenth century. On St. Remigius' day, in 1241, it was dedicated afresh by Bishop Roger Niger, in the presence of the king and many prelates and magnates. (fn. 74) A grant had been received, in 1205, of a market place, to the east of the church; (fn. 75) and this was the site of the New Work, begun in 1251. (fn. 76) The enterprise was, to some extent, that of the Catholic church. From 1228 to 1255, and again from 1260 to 1276, numerous hortatory letters of the English and Welsh bishops granted indulgences to penitents in their dioceses who should help in the work of St. Paul's church. Eight Irish bishops issued similar indulgences between the years 1237 and 1270. In Scotland only Albinus, bishop of Brechin, attempted thus to direct the liberality of his people, and the benefits he conferred were extended to those who should pray at St. Paul's for the soul of Isabella of Bruce. But in 1252 Henry, archbishop of Cologne, when in England, sent out a hortatory letter to encourage contributions; and Innocent III granted a pardon of forty days' penance for the same purpose. (fn. 77) When the Emperor Frederick raised the siege of Parma, in 1248, the inhabitants, in their thankfulness, vowed that they would send to St. Roger, bishop of London, a like sum to that of which they had despoiled him on his way to Rome, for the building of the church in London or for other alms which touched his honour. (fn. 78) Through out these years many individuals made donations and bequests to forward the New Work. (fn. 79) After 1283 hortatory letters of bishops for the same end were few: 'the main brunt of the work was over.' (fn. 80) The dean and chapter became involved in a quarrel with the mayor and commonalty on the question of the boundaries of their precincts. The determination of the way without their churchyard wall, which Henry I had suffered them to make, appears to have been ambiguous, while the completion of the wall was delayed. Further, the chapter had, apparently, an unrestricted power of closing the gates of the churchyard, naturally productive of inconvenience to the citizens. In 1281 an agreement was made by which the mayor and citizens conceded that the southern gates should not be open from curfew to morning. (fn. 81) In 1284–5 Edward I granted that the churchyard might be inclosed and have fitting gates and posterns. (fn. 82) The bishop, the dean and the chapter pleaded before the king at the Guildhall, in this year, that the proximity of houses to their wall had prevented them from building residences for the ministers of their church, and judgement was given in their favour. (fn. 83)

The attitude of St. Paul's in connexion with national politics under Edward II is proved by the honour that was paid to Thomas earl of Lancaster, after his death. The earl had put up a tablet in the cathedral to commemorate the granting of the ordinances, and its neighbourhood acquired a reputation for the working of miracles. (fn. 84) An image of Lancaster was erected there, before which, with the sanction of the church of Rome and the bishop, the people prayed and made offerings. The king by letters to the bishop and to the dean and chapter ordered such practice to be discontinued; (fn. 85) the tablet, and presumably the statue, were removed by royal writ; but the people still made oblations on the spot which had become sanctified. (fn. 86) A form of prayer in honour of Thomas of Lancaster, which was used in St. Paul's, is extant, and it betrays curious popular sympathies on the part of the cathedral clergy. In a hymn the earl is addressed as 'he who, when he saw the common people shipwrecked and in travail, did not spurn to die for the right.' (fn. 87) Under the stronger governments of Edward III and Richard II St. Paul's lost individuality and independence. To the first the chapter granted loans and free gifts. (fn. 88) In 1379 Richard II exercised with regard to St. Paul's the privilege conceded to him by Urban VI, of nominating two canons in all cathedrals and collegiate churches in England. (fn. 89) He presented a minor canon in 1381, a treasurer in 1387, and a prebendary in 1391. (fn. 90) In 1393 he again conferred the office of treasurer; the matter was brought before the Court of Chancery, and, in accordance with the decision, Richard revoked his grant. (fn. 91)

From the accession of Edward II resistance to papal aggression was likewise harder and less effectual; its successes were due to the fact that Roman greed of gold was stronger than greed of power. After Ralph Baldock had been promoted to the bishopric, the deanery was held successively by two Roman cardinals, Raymond de la Goth and Arnald de Cantilupe. (fn. 92) It is probable that these deans took little part in the doings of the chapter: thus, in 1309, the year in which he died, Arnald was authorised to appoint attorneys while he was absent for three years at the court of Rome. (fn. 93) It was in 1307 that the chapter wrote to the pope on the subject of Grosteste. (fn. 94) John Sendale was 'rightly elected dean by the canons' in 1311; (fn. 95) yet in 1314 Edward II sent a letter to the pope asking him to grant to John that confirmation without which his tenure was incomplete. (fn. 96) The occasion of such a request becomes clear when it appears that, probably in this year or the next, John XXII granted the deanery of London with a canonry to Vitalis de Testa, nephew of William, cardinal of St. Curiac; (fn. 97) and addressed him as dean and canon of London until the year 1322. (fn. 98) The papal mandate states that the offices are void by the death of Arnald de Cantilupe, and ignores John Sendale. Yet in a list of deans in the archives of the cathedral it is stated that John was dean from 1311 to 1316, Richard Newport from 1314 to 1317, and Vitalis in 1323. (fn. 99) In 1316 the pope granted to Vitalis leave to enjoy the fruits of his benefices while he pursued his studies at a university. (fn. 100) This, coupled with the fact that he seems to have been chiefly distinguished as the nephew of his uncle, makes it probable that he was very young, and must have rendered necessary the existence of a substitute who can only have lacked the title of his office. Hence must have arisen the confusion which appears in the cathedral list. Vitalis was not protected by the king, who granted his canonry and prebend to Roger of Northburgh. (fn. 101) Finally the pope authorised his exchange of benefices with John of Everdon, who became dean in 1322 or 1323. (fn. 102) There was another instance of successful resistance to papal aggression in 1317. The pope provided Vitalis, cardinal of St. Martin's in the Mountains, to a prebend in St. Paul's. (fn. 103) The dean and chapter obtained from the king a prohibition to publish the grant, and thus incurred excommunication. (fn. 104) In the following year they bought from the proctor of Vitalis, with five hundred Florentine florins, a concession that they should not be molested in the matter of the disputed prebend. (fn. 105) Again in 1321 the archdeaconry of London, to which Elias Talleyrandi, brother of the count of Pêrigord, had been provided, was held by Richard of Haston. (fn. 106) A papal mandate ordered restitution and was obeyed. (fn. 107) At least ten other dignities and prebends were conferred by the pope in the reign of Edward II. (fn. 108)

Under Edward III there were certainly eighteen provisions before 1346. (fn. 109) In 1328 both the bishop and the pope presented to the prebend of Brondesbury; the nominees collided, and there ensued a brawl which brought the church under an interdict for five days. (fn. 110) Many provisions were made at the king's request. In the lifetime of Dean Gilbert Bruere, who is said to have served four cardinals of the Roman church for thirty-four years, (fn. 111) the pope reserved to himself the presentation to the deanery, and he appointed Richard of Kilmington to it in 1353. (fn. 112) John of Appleby, who became dean in 1364, also owed his office to a papal grant. (fn. 113) Under Richard II Thomas of Evrere was provided to the deanery in 1389. (fn. 114)

The history of the building of St. Paul's in this century is chiefly concerned with the diocese of London. The pope granted in 1306 a release of certain periods of penance to all who visited the cathedral on the feast of St. Paul and the following days; (fn. 115) Bishop John Salmon of Norwich, in 1303, and Bishop Thomas Hatfield of Durham, in 1345, (fn. 116) urged contribution to the New Work in letters hortatory; like appeals were issued by Roger Mortival, bishop of Salisbury, in 1316, for the repair of the Old Work; and by Simon, cardinal, in 1371, for repairs in general. (fn. 117) But in the diocese of London there was greater activity. It was ordained in 1300 that all offerings in the cathedral should be assigned to the completion of the New Work. (fn. 118) Ralph Baldock, while he was bishop of London from 1306 to 1313, gave two marks every year to this object; (fn. 119) he promised an indulgence to all who contributed to the repairs of the Old Work. (fn. 120) His successor, Gilbert Segrave, and all the clergy of London urged on the people the necessity of providing for the restoration of the bell tower. (fn. 121) For this purpose exclusively, under Bishop Richard Newport, in 1320, collections were ordered to be made in all churches within the jurisdiction of the see, and on every Sunday. (fn. 122) The whole church was elaborately measured in 1313; and Gilbert Segrave dedicated altars in the New Work to the Virgin, St. Thomas the Martyr, and St. Dunstan. (fn. 123) In 1327 the choir was moved to the New Work, and mass was first celebrated at the great altar on All Saints' Day. (fn. 124) The high altar and two collateral altars were consecrated by Bishop Richard Bintworth to the glory of the saints Paul, Ethelbert, and Mellitus. This bishop loved the church and the City, and was present in the cathedral on all saints' days; in consequence he received great honour. (fn. 125) Peter, bishop of Corbavia, consecrated a bell in 1331. (fn. 126) In 1332 the mayor and aldermen granted to the master of the New Work exemption from liability to be put on assizes and juries. (fn. 127) Towards the end of the fourteenth century the people appear to have grown less careful of their church. The commission issued by Edward III, in 1370, reproaches the bishop with neglect of its buildings. (fn. 128) In 1385 Bishop Robert Braybrook complains of the unseemly behaviour of the people. By buying and selling they had made of the cathedral a public market. They threw stones at the rooks and pigeons in the church, and they played at ball and other games, to the detriment of the windows and images. On pain of excommunication the delinquents were ordered to mend their ways within ten days. (fn. 129) The same bishop, by letters addressed to the clergy of the City and diocese, conferred an indulgence on all who contributed to the Old Work. (fn. 130)

The boundaries of the precincts were still questionable. In 1316–17 Edward II granted that the churchyard wall might be completed. (fn. 131) The chapter appears to have taken advantage of his permission, and thus to have become involved in another dispute. In 1321–2 the mayor pleaded before the justices that the dean and chapter had surrounded with a mud wall the ancient meeting-place of the folkmoot, the property of the commonalty; that they had inclosed St. Augustine's Gate and thus obstructed the king's highway through it and the western gate of St. Paul's to Ludgate; and that they had prevented passage through Southgate and 'Dycer's Lane.' In reply the canons produced their various charters. (fn. 132)

It is difficult to discover the political attitude of the chapter in the fifteenth century. The privileges of the cathedral had been confirmed by Richard II, and a like benefit was granted by Henry IV and Henry V. (fn. 133) In 1464 Dean William Saye, who had been chosen proctor by the clergy of the synod of London, was adhibited by Edward IV to secret councils. (fn. 134) Another possible indication of policy occurs in 1455, when the commons petitioned that Thomas Lisieux, dean of St. Paul's, might be an administrator of the property of Humphrey, late duke of Gloucester. (fn. 135) At all events the cathedral does not appear to have suffered otherwise than accidentally from the changes of dynasty. Charters were confirmed to St. Paul's by Edward IV (fn. 136) and Henry VII (fn. 137) in the first year of the reign of each; in 1464 the cathedral was exempted from the effects of the Act of Resumption. (fn. 138) William Worseley, dean, was implicated in the conspiracy of Perkin Warbeck, (fn. 139) but received a royal pardon and was suffered to retain his office. (fn. 140)

Twelve prebends in St. Paul's were certainly provided by the pope between 1396 and 1404, (fn. 141) and three from 1404 to 1415; (fn. 142) but the great period of papal aggression was over.

From the sixteenth century the history of St. Paul's loses much of its interest: when the chapter can be said to have a policy, it is one of consistent servility to kingly government. The cathedral was brought into prominence by the deanery of Colet. (fn. 143) After his death, in 1519, it suffered for many years from virtual lack of a dean. Richard Pace, Colet's successor, was prevented, first by his foreign avocations and later by illness, from taking part in the affairs of St. Paul's. (fn. 144) Richard Sampson was twice appointed his coadjutor in 1526 and 1536. The latter year is probably that of Pace's death, and in July Cranmer licensed Sampson, then bishop of Chichester, to hold the deanery in commendam. In 1534 the clergy of St. Paul's formally denied the pope's supremacy, in a declaration so explicit that it became a model for such renunciations. (fn. 145) Yet Bishop Stokesley asserted that he had supported its adoption by the chapter, almost singly. In this period the cathedral received Cromwell's visitors, (fn. 146) Thomas Legh and John Ap Rhys, who are said to have comported themselves with insolence towards the clergy. During a short time of triumph for Cromwell in 1540, Sampson, (fn. 147) who was a conspicuous member of Gardiner's party, lost the deanery of St. Paul's and was sent to the Tower. (fn. 148) Cranmer was appointed preacher and reader in the cathedral; (fn. 149) and John Incent, a leader of factions in the chapter, became dean. (fn. 150)

The iconoclasts began their work in St. Paul's under Henry VIII; (fn. 151) but it was under Edward VI, in 1552, that all the chapels and altars and much 'goodly stonework' were demolished. (fn. 152) The motives for such destruction were often mixed: thus Somerset used the stone of the chapel and cloister in Pardonchurchhaugh (fn. 153) for his new palace; (fn. 154) in 1553 all the plate and coin and the vestments and copes of the cathedral were commanded to be given for the king's grace. (fn. 155) In like manner the prebend of Kentish Town was appropriated, in 1551, to the furnishing of the royal stables. (fn. 156)

In August, 1553, the dean and chapter were cited to appear before Queen Mary's commissioners. (fn. 157) All the great dignitaries of the cathedral, with the exception of the archdeacon of Essex, and the chancellor, resigned, or were deprived; and Bonner collated others to their places. The office of Dean William May, a leading Puritan, was given to John Feckenham. (fn. 158) In September Bonner sang mass in the church, (fn. 159) and in the next year a 'young flourishing rood' was set up to welcome King Philip. (fn. 160) The accession of Elizabeth wrought another complete change in the holders of offices and in the services. (fn. 161) May was restored to the deanery, (fn. 162) and, on his death in 1530, he was succeeded by Francis Nowell, who had been an exile in the time of Mary. (fn. 163)

On 4 June, 1561, St. Paul's steeple was struck by lightning; and a fire ensued which burnt all the tower, the roof, and the timber work. (fn. 164) The queen deputed a commission to order the restoration, and directed that it should confer with the lord mayor. (fn. 165) On her recommendation a collection for the repairs was made among all the clergy of the province of Canterbury. (fn. 166) In or about the year 1590 the ancient dispute between the cathedral and the City was revived. The mayor and commonalty claimed a right of making arrests within the precincts. In reply the dean and chapter stated that the inhabitants of the churchyard were freemen of the City; but that, although they dwelt within a ward, they were not of it, but belonged to a place of exempt jurisdiction. The action of Incent, who had prevented the City's alleged right of way through the churchyard, was defended. Eventually the parties submitted to the arbitration of the lords chief justices. The point of exempt jurisdiction was apparently conceded, and the ancient limits of the churchyard were defined. (fn. 167)

The early Stuart kings were careful of the cathedral. In 1620 its ruinous state was urged by the bishop of London, in a sermon preached before the king at St. Paul's Cross. (fn. 168) As a result a royal commission was formed for the restoration and maintenance of the church, and the remedy of encroachments on the precincts. (fn. 169) For these objects the king laid aside the yearly sum of £2,000, and Prince Charles that of £500; (fn. 170) and there were many other subscriptions. When Laud became bishop of London he took a very active interest in the work. He obtained a new commission from Charles I, (fn. 171) and himself contributed £100 every year. (fn. 172) Inigo Jones was made surveyor-general, and was able to exempt those he employed from liability to impressment. (fn. 173) The commissioners instituted collections in the City and in every county. In 1636 the king assigned to the repair of St. Paul's all profits of ecclesiastical causes and all moneys compounded for in the exchequer during the next ten years; and forbade that any crimes of ecclesiastical cognizance should be pardoned without the assent of the archbishop of Canterbury. (fn. 174) Buildings which were considered to straiten the churchyard or to impair the beauty of the cathedral were demolished, and their owners compensated. (fn. 175) Thus St. Gregory's Church was pulled down. (fn. 176) Such actions did not tend to make popular a work to which the sympathies of the Puritan party were already opposed (fn. 177) because it was earnestly forwarded by Laud and the king, and because its aim seemed to be rather outward show than the care of men's souls. (fn. 178) Moreover, Puritan censure was more than once directed against the services and ritual authorized by the chapter. (fn. 179) At his trial Laud was charged with having controlled the orders of the king and council board, in the matter of pulling down houses about St. Paul's, against right and equity, (fn. 180) and with appropriating to the restoration money intended for other objects. (fn. 181) It was declared that the devotion of the profits of ecclesiastical courts to the repair of the cathedral had been instrumental in increasing abuses and augmenting the archbishop's jurisdiction. As the Civil War drew nearer Royalists also were hindered from contributing to the restoration, because they must use all their resources to hinder 'more near approaching mischief.' (fn. 182)

Other efforts of the king and archbishop were directed to ensuring more decorous behaviour in the cathedral. Literature and contemporary records prove that men continued to transact business in St. Paul's after the issue of Braybrook's admonition. (fn. 183) In 1561 Pilkington described the condition of the cathedral before the Reformation, and his account appears to have been only slightly exaggerated:

the south alley for usury and popery, the north for sorcery, and the horse fair in the midst for all kinds of bargains, meetings, brawlings, murders, conspiracies, and the font for ordinary payments of money, are so well known to all men as the beggar knows his dish. (fn. 184)

The Reformation brought little or no improvement. In Queen Mary's reign an act of the Common Council ordered that carriers, and such as led horses, mules, and other beasts, should not make a passage through St. Paul's. (fn. 185) A royal proclamation, in the year of Pilkington's description, strictly prohibited in the cathedral brawling and fighting, walking, and driving of bargains in time of lectures or services, business appointments, and the thoroughfare of porters. (fn. 186) Still in 1600 it was the meeting-place of the gossips of the town. (fn. 187) In 1632 a notice was posted in St. Paul's which by royal order forbade that men should walk about the church in time of service, that children should use it as a playground, and that any should carry burdens through it. (fn. 188)

Charles I supported the chapter against the City. The claim to exempt jurisdiction can be traced in a summons of Sir Nicholas Rainton, lord mayor, before the council, because he had carried his sword in St. Paul's; an incident which became the subject of an accusation made against Laud at his trial. (fn. 189) In 1638 the dean and chapter petitioned that nothing prejudicial to their liberties and privileges might be inserted in a renewal of charters about to be conceded to the City; and the king returned a favourable answer. (fn. 190)

In the period of the Civil War and the Commonwealth there is a complete break in the history of St. Paul's. In October, 1642, the cathedral was closed by order of Parliament. (fn. 191) The lord mayor and aldermen were appointed sequestrators of the goods of the dean and chapter; (fn. 192) the clergy were deprived, and some or them suffered when they were thrown suddenly on their own resources. (fn. 193) In 1643 Dr. Cornelius Burges, a member of the committee for sequestration, was appointed lecturer in St. Paul's; (fn. 194) and an allowance of £400 a year from the revenues of the cathedral was bestowed on him. To this the dean's house was added next year. (fn. 195) By the building of a partition wall, part of the choir was arranged for a preaching place in 1649. (fn. 196) In 1655–6 an order of council directed that the allowance of the lecturer at St. Paul's should, for the future, be decided by the trustees for the maintenance of ministers. (fn. 197) This body, in 1657, conferred the lectureship, with a yearly salary of £120, on Dr. Samuel Annesley. (fn. 198) The changing fortunes of parties were reflected in the cathedral: in 1647–8 it was the meeting-place of the provincial Presbytery; (fn. 199) later it gave shelter to sectaries. A congregation led by Captain Chillendon obtained leave to meet in the Stone Chapel (fn. 200) in 1652–3. (fn. 201) Three years later it was dissolved; a riot between soldiers and apprentices had been caused by a sermon against the deity of Christ. (fn. 202) In 1657–8 some waste ground at the west end of St. Paul's was allowed as the site of a meeting-house for 'John Simpson's congregation.' (fn. 203) The fabric of the church was at best neglected during these years. The cathedral was used as a barrack in 1647–8, and frequently after that time: (fn. 204) in 1657–8 800 horse were constantly quartered in it. (fn. 205) An order of the council of state, in 1654, devoted the scaffolding which had been set up for the repairs to Cromwell's necessities. (fn. 206) Sawpits were dug within the church, many of them over graves; and the choir stalls and part of the pavement were demolished. (fn. 207)

The council of state directed, in 1650, that the statues of King James and King Charles should be taken down and broken. (fn. 208) In Dugdale's words, St. Paul's presented 'a woeful spectacle of ruin.' (fn. 209)

In the year of the Restoration such of the clergy of St. Paul's as were still living returned to their places; and successors to the others were appointed. (fn. 210) Dr. Annesley was at first suffered to continue his ministrations; but within a year or two he was removed, and the duty of providing lecturers returned to the dean and chapter. (fn. 211) In 1663 Charles II confirmed the charter of the cathedral. (fn. 212) The building, which had needed so grave repairs before the Civil War, was now in want of very extensive restoration. A commission for this end was issued in 1663, and the revenues arising from unappropriated church possessions which remained with government officials after the Act of Indemnity, together with all moneys still in the hands of the trustees appointed in 1649, were devoted to it. (fn. 213) In 1666 the great fire of London ended the history of the fabric of Old St. Paul's. (fn. 214)

It had been built by the initiative of the bishops of London, and by the efforts of the Church; by enterprise that was, to some extent, more than national. After the fire of 1666 the dean and chapter laid aside a portion of their revenue for the building of New St. Paul's; (fn. 215) the bishop exhorted to liberality in an address, (fn. 216) and individuals responded by gifts and bequests. (fn. 217) But the work was begun and mainly carried through by the secular government. Money was raised by a collection made on letters patent of Charles II, and by a grant of commutations of penances and of fines and forfeitures on the Green Wax. (fn. 218) Otherwise, of £427,847 which had been received in 1700, £368,144 was the outcome of the duties on coals. (fn. 219) On Midsummer Day, 1675, the first stone was laid. Morning Prayer Chapel was opened in 1690; and the choir on the day of thanksgiving for the Peace of Ryswick, when a special prayer for the New Work was added to the service by the king's order. (fn. 220) In 1710 the exterior of the cathedral was completed; (fn. 221) Sir Christopher Wren deputed his son to lay the highest stone of the lantern. (fn. 222) Within, the work continued: a commission for the finishing of the cathedral was issued in 1715. (fn. 223)

The internal history of the house begins with a statement by Bede in his 'Ecclesiastical History' that in the church of St. Paul Bishop Mellitus and his successors 'had their place.' (fn. 224) Arguments from analogy make it hardly doubtful that the clergy of St. Paul's were in the first instance the servants of the bishop, who ministered in the bishop's church. But before the Norman Conquest they had left such a condition so far behind them that they held the property of the cathedral apart from the bishop; and they had reached that considerably advanced stage in corporate existence which admits of common ownership.

The spurious Anglo-Saxon charters of the cathedral show the probable modification of their position to be traditional. That of King Ethelbert grants land to Mellitus 'to have and to hold that it may remain to the monastery of St. Paul for ever'; (fn. 225) and Cnut's charter (fn. 226) reverts to this old form and confirms to Bishop Aelfwin the lands of St. Paul's. But the charters of Athelstan, (fn. 227) Edgar, (fn. 228) and Edward (fn. 229) the Confessor are addressed to the 'monastery.' Of the accredited charters that of Cnut (fn. 230) alludes to the possessions of the priests of the 'monastery'; and that of Edward (fn. 231) the Confessor bestows free tenure of their property on 'his priests in the church of Saint Paul.' Finally the Domesday Survey discovers that 'in the time of King Edward' the canons were tenants in chief of the king in seven places, while in thirteen they held of the bishop the lands of the cathedral. (fn. 232)

It is certain that in the end of the tenth century the church of St. Paul was served by a body of clergy who were able to hold property in common, and who derived their food from a common source. For there exists a grant of Queen Egelfleda to the 'monastery,' 'for the living of the brothers who there serve God.' (fn. 233) There is no evidence that the cathedral clergy ever lived in one building; from 1101 there occur mention of the separate houses of canons. (fn. 234) Ralph de Diceto qualifies the canons who procured the election of Anselm in 1136 as 'the domestic clergy of the dean,' 'whom he had with him at meals every day'; (fn. 235) and hence there arises the supposition that at least some of the canons had once such common meals as continued among the lesser clergy of the cathedral. It is possible that Ralph has ascribed to the year 1136 an earlier custom; his own constitutions cannot be understood to contemplate any such practice.

A charter of Edward the Confessor forbade the monastery of St. Paul to receive more priests than it could maintain. (fn. 236) This may have caused the limitation of the number of canons.

In the twelfth century the possessions of the cathedral consisted of the patrimony of St. Paul and the prebends. The manors which belonged to the first of these divisions were farmed by the chapter, and rendered yearly rents, in money and in kind, to the chamber, and the brewery and bakehouse, respectively. The produce provided for daily distributions of money, bread and ale to all the ministers of the church. (fn. 237) There are traces of a like two-fold division of property before the Norman invasion. The explicit grant of Queen Egelfleda makes it probable that some possessions of the church existed for other than common uses. It is stated in Domesday that, in the time of King Edward, the canons held land in three places 'for their living,' (fn. 238) while five canons are named who held of St. Paul's individually in 1086. (fn. 239) The prebendal system appears to have been established in the reign of William II. (fn. 240) Both he and Henry I granted free disposition of their prebends to the canons. (fn. 241)

In the most ancient portion of the cathedral archives there is a canonical rule which is almost entirely taken from the 'Regula' of St. Chrodogang. (fn. 242) It enjoins virtue, dignity of bearing, and due discharge of services in the cathedral and obedience to prelates in the chapter. Whenever it was adopted, perhaps by a continental bishop of the eleventh century, it shows the constitution of the clergy to have been fairly complete, and to have approximated to the mediaeval institute of secular canons. It accords, however, a real pre-eminence in the cathedral to the bishop; while the lack of any allusion to the dean, in this as in other early authorities, in connexion with the chapter and otherwise, goes to prove that his office, if it existed before the Conquest, can only have been that of a subordinate. The traditional history of St. Paul's describes its governing body as consisting originally of the bishop and thirty canons, and dates the foundation of the deanery two hundred years later than that of the cathedral. (fn. 243) Hence there have been attempts to argue that the co-operation of the dean was not essential to the chapter's capacity for action. (fn. 244)

Under the Norman kings there must have been much definition of the customs of the church and the classes of its clergy, of its offices and the functions of its chapter. Maurice, bishop of London, was a signatory of the 'Institutio' of Osmund, (fn. 245) and therefore it is probable that the model of Salisbury directly influenced the growth of St. Paul's. Two fresh developments must be ascribed to this period: the dean acquired the first place in the church; the practice of non-residence, to which there is no allusion in Osmund's 'Institutio,' came into existence.

Detailed information as to the state of the cathedral is first obtained from the story of the disputed election in 1136–8, together with the compilations of statutes which were made by the deans Ralph de Diceto, Henry of Cornhill, and Ralph Baldock. In this picture of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries there are traces of the original position of St. Paul's, that of the church of the bishop and the central church of the diocese; (fn. 246) but it shows it to be actually the church of an exclusive body of clergy who owe to the bishop more respect than obedience.

St. Paul's claimed immunity from metropolitical visitations. Therefore Archbishop Boniface was not suffered to enter the cathedral until after a protracted struggle, and the arrival of a papal mandate. The memory of such real or fictitious privilege continued in the seventeenth century. (fn. 247) But the jurisdiction of the bishop over the cathedral, as a church within his diocese, was apparently not questioned. As bishop of London he visited St. Paul's and addressed admonitory letters to the chapter; (fn. 248) in this capacity he intervened both in the government of the church and in the management of her property. (fn. 249) In 1289, however, all prebends were declared free from episcopal as from archidiaconal jurisdiction. (fn. 250) The bishop's ancient and intimate relation to the cathedral resulted in the chapter's function of electing him. And probably because he thus derived his power from the clergy of St. Paul's they appear to have been regarded as its ultimate holders, as able to exercise it when his office was void. During a vacancy of the see of London Ralph de Diceto officiated in the place of the bishop at the coronation of Richard I. (fn. 251) Serious disputes were settled in 1262 by an agreement between Archbishop Boniface and the dean and chapter, that whenever there was no bishop of London the dean and chapter should choose two or three major canons, or one minor and one or two major, and that the archbishop should depute one of these to exercise episcopal jurisdiction during the vacancy. The deputy must take an oath of office before the archbishop, and another in the presence of the dean and chapter. (fn. 252) In 1273 the first arrangement was somewhat modified by Archbishop Robert Kilwardby, who determined the proportion of the profits and costs of the vacant see which fell to the dean and chapter. (fn. 253) Thus the canons received assured possession of a right which they still exercised in 1723. (fn. 254) It was confirmed to them in 1594 as the result of an investigation ordered by the lord treasurer. (fn. 255)

The bishop was still in some degree an official of the cathedral. He nominated prebendaries and canons, (fn. 256) but he sent all whom he beneficed in St. Paul's, except the chaplain of his own chapel, to the dean and chapter for institution. He appointed the keeper of the Old Work, (fn. 257) but it was declared, when Ralph de Diceto was dean, that the supervision of both the old and the new parts of the building belonged to the dean and residents since they must chiefly bear the burden of repairs. (fn. 258) The bishop's right to sit in the chapter, mentioned as a matter of course in the early rule, appears to have been the subject of a dispute which ended in his defeat. Pope Alexander IV granted to him that, as a canon, he should enjoy the rights of canons, a concession which included participation in the chapter's property. It was revoked by a bull of Urban IV in 1262. (fn. 259)

The bishop held the most honourable place in the services and ritual of the church and chapter; as often as was possible he ministered at the high altar on great feasts. (fn. 260)

The province of the dean, who was next to the bishop in dignity, (fn. 261) was confined to the cathedral and its property. From William, in the beginning of the twelfth century, the deans were customarily canons. (fn. 262) Such qualification does not appear to have been essential, but Ralph de Diceto ruled that no dean should receive any portion of the offerings at obits, of the 'communia,' or of any pittances, except in so far as he was a prebendary or other dignitary of the cathedral. (fn. 263) A later declaration of the 'approved custom of the church,' by Simon Sudbury in 1368, asserts that a dean who was not a canon and prebendary could take no part in the business of the chapter beyond his duty of summoning and dismissing it. (fn. 264) It may be concluded that a non-resident dean was not a member of the ordinary chapter: and, therefore, that the existence of a dean who was not also a resident canon was a thing exceptional. A vacancy in the deanery was announced by the chapter to the bishop; but the canons, without episcopal licence, chose a candidate for the office, whom the bishop was obliged to confirm in the absence of canonical impediment. (fn. 265) The new dean swore that he would give canonical obedience to the bishop, and, further, took an oath of office which bound him to sit in his place according to approved customs of the church, to guard the rights and liberties of the cathedral, to keep its possessions, and recover such of them as had been alienated. He received oaths of canonical obedience from major and minor canons in his own name and that of the chapter. In the presence of the resident brothers he installed the canons. (fn. 266) He nominated all who were to be ordained to benefices and dignities of the church, in the name of St. Paul he summoned the chancellor to his place. (fn. 267) He ruled over the souls of the ministers and beneficed clergy of the church; he alone could expel vicars from the choir, and might temporarily suspend the attendance of minor canons. (fn. 268) He presided over the chapter. (fn. 269) On lesser feasts he or his deputy said the office. (fn. 270)

There were thirty major canons in St. Paul's. (fn. 271) On their admission they swore to be faithful to the church, to render obedience to the dean and chapter, and, in so far as was legal, to guard the secrets of the chapter. (fn. 272) To each five psalms were allotted, which he must say every day in the church, and thus the whole psalter was daily recited. Every canon in succession served at the altar for one week, and then held the office of ebdomarius. (fn. 273) A prebend belonged to each, and, in addition, he received a daily allowance of bread and ale from the bakehouse and brewery of the cathedral, a pittance from the chamber, (fn. 274) and a proportion of the offerings at services. The thirty canons with the dean at their head formed the chapter. (fn. 275)

Such was evidently their theoretical position. But there came early into existence a regular body of non-resident canons who received the fruits of prebends almost as sinecurists. The practice was facilitated by the circumstance that each major canon had originally a vicar, who, in his absence, sat in his stall and took his part in the services of the church. (fn. 276) The cathedral endeavoured to enforce the performance of their duties on canons who were professedly resident, and to confine to them all participation in the offerings in the church. It became necessary to distinguish between resident and non-resident canons, and therefore to define the conditions of residence.

In the constitutions of Ralph de Diceto it is enacted that a canon who wishes to reside must profess such willingness before the dean and resident brothers in the quinzaine of certain feasts. With two clerks who are in holy orders, or about to enter them, and who have no other benefice, he must then take his place in the choir, and he must be present at canonical hours by day and by night. He may be absent for six days in the first quarter of the year, and, if he obtain the dean's leave, for three weeks and six days in the remaining three quarters. Longer absence disqualifies him for residence. (fn. 277) When William de St. Mere l'Eglise was bishop, it was further ordained that offerings made at processions should be distributed among brothers actually present at them, (fn. 278) and certain benefactors to the canons made a share in their favours conditional on personal attendance at services. (fn. 279)

An extensive and costly hospitality was incumbent on a canon in his first year of residence. He was obliged to entertain daily a number of the ministers and servants of the church; to make two great banquets to which he must invite the bishop, the major canons, the mayor, sheriffs, aldermen, and justices, and the great men of the court; and on the morrow of these to feast all the lesser clergy of the church. (fn. 280) Such hospitality was intended not only as a means of adding to the sustenance of the poorer servants of St. Paul's, and of preserving good feeling among the cathedral clergy, and between the cathedral, the City, and the court, but also for purposes of inspection. (fn. 281) The expense it involved came to be so disproportionate to the income of a major canon that its effect was to discourage residence.

A dwelling near the cathedral in which he was compelled to live was assigned to each resident canon. (fn. 282) Questions among them were decided by elected arbitrators. (fn. 283) There were statutes to regulate their conduct, their manners, their habit, and their tonsure. (fn. 284)

That the abuse of giving prebends to secular persons and children existed, is shown by an ordinance in the compilation of Baldock, that none shall for long be a canon, or have a voice in the elections, who is not in holy orders; (fn. 285) and by an appeal of Richard de Belmeis in 1136. (fn. 286) A canon did not invariably hold a prebend, for a regulation enjoins the dean or his deputy to assign to him a stall when he lacked such provision. In the further rule that such canon has no part in the secret business of the chapter or in elections, (fn. 287) the ancient connexion between land ownership and political rights may probably be traced.

The other orders of clergy in St. Paul's were those of the minor canons, the vicars, and the chantry priests. The traditionary origin of the minor canons is prior to the Conquest. (fn. 288) They must be the subject of a reference, in 1162, to the 'prebendary clerks of the choir,' as distinct from the major canons. (fn. 289) In the time of Ralph de Diceto they were evidently an established institution. (fn. 290) The prebends of each consisted in a weekly allowance of 5d. from the chamberlain, with an additional 1d. on feast days, and certain other payments, notably from the manor of Sunbury; and in portions of bread and ale, called 'trencherbread' and 'welkyn.' (fn. 291) No record shows that the minor canons ever lived otherwise than in the separate lodgings near the cathedral, assigned to them by the dean and chapter. They were compelled to be in the church at canonical hours, by day and by night. (fn. 292) Every week two of them were deputed to help the ebdomarius. (fn. 293) They only could fill the offices of the cardinals. (fn. 294) Chantries, and such lesser dignities as those of the keeper of the Old or New Work, were frequently in their tenure. (fn. 295)

In the most ancient portion of the cathedral archives there is evidence of the existence of vicars. Each of them was appointed by the canon, who was his lord and to whose jurisdiction he was subject. (fn. 296) Yet they had some independence of status: they swore an oath of obedience and fealty to the dean and chapter; (fn. 297) in 1260 it was ruled that a vicar might not be removed from his place without cause, even at the death of his lord. (fn. 298)

The first chantry of St. Paul's was established by Dean Alard in the reign of Henry II; (fn. 299) the last by Robert Brokett in 1532. (fn. 300) In the intervening years constant foundations by gifts and bequests created a large body of clergy who formed an important class of the ministers of the cathedral. In a document among the cathedral archives it is stated that the rank of the chantry priests is more honourable than that of the vicars, and that, while they were not of the number which must chiefly be supported from the patrimony of St. Paul's, yet the church had in part taken them into her care, and therefore they must render help to her higher ministers. (fn. 301) Their duties, as determined by the terms on which their respective chantries had been founded, often included attendance at some rites of the cathedral; suit of the choir, or presence at certain hours. (fn. 302) They were in many cases explicitly subjected to the jurisdiction of the dean and chapter. (fn. 303) The property and advowsons of chantries were variously bestowed by the founders, frequently on the dean and chapter, and conditionally, in all cases, on the payment of chaplains or a chaplain, (fn. 304) who might have the custody of the endowment. (fn. 305) From one to four priests were as a rule assigned to a chantry. (fn. 306)

The chapter tended to be an exclusive body. The constitutions of Ralph de Diceto enact that a new resident may take no part in its business without a special summons from the dean; (fn. 307) both he and Henry de Cornhill state that the non-residents intervene only in arduous business. (fn. 308) Besides its functions of electing the bishop and the dean, the chapter represented the cathedral in all its external relations, and therefore held and administered property. (fn. 309) By approved custom and prerogative the dean and canons could not meet before the bishop except as the chapter, unless they had been summoned with such an intention. (fn. 310) Ordinances and declarations of practice were issued by the dean and chapter. They had the general supervision of the finance of the cathedral; and they examined and judged major canons before the dean could punish them. (fn. 311) All the ministers of the church attended the chapter held every (fn. 312) Saturday for the correction of offenders.

The great officers of St. Paul's were the archdeacon, the treasurer, the precentor, and the chancellor; and were chosen from among the major canons. (fn. 313) Of these the most dignified were the four archdeacons of London, Essex, Middlesex, and Colchester, whose connexion with the cathedral can be traced from the beginning of the twelfth century, (fn. 314) and is probably more ancient. Their position shows the relation of St. Paul's to the see of London. Except as the most dignified of the canons after the dean, (fn. 315) they were officers not of the cathedral, but of the diocese.

The agent of the chapter, where money transactions with outside persons and communities were concerned, was the treasurer. (fn. 316) But the treasurer's financial function was not more important than his duty as the keeper of treasures, ornaments, service books, and vestments of the cathedral. (fn. 317) In this respect he had a deputy in the sacrist. (fn. 318) According to Dugdale and Le Neve the dignity of treasurer was founded in 1160 by Bishop Richard de Beames, who annexed to it the churches of Sudminster, Aldbury, Pelham Furneaux, and Pelham Sarners. (fn. 319) The cathedral had a sacrist in 1162. (fn. 320) Both officers were bound to the dean and chapter by oaths of faithful service. (fn. 321) The vergers, whose number appears to have varied from three to four, were paid by the treasurer, and presented to the dean and chapter by the sacrist, to whom they were subject. (fn. 322) In 1282 it was ordained that they should deliver their virges, their emblems of office, to the dean on every Michaelmas Day, and receive them back or not according to their deserts. (fn. 323)

In the department of internal finance, the chief officers were the chamberlain, the keepers of the bakehouse and the brewery, the keepers of the Old and New Work, and the almoner. Ralph de Diceto ordained that every month the chamber, the bakehouse, and the fabric of the cathedral should be inspected, and their accounts entered in the roll of the treasury, together with the rents from obits. (fn. 324)

The chamberlain received money payments from the farms and other sources; and paid stipends and pittances to the ministers of the church. He was responsible for the lights of the cathedral. Quarterly accounts and immediate reports of any deficit in due payments were rendered by him to the dean and chapter. A resident canon was specially deputed for his supervision. (fn. 325)

The bakehouse and brewery were superintended by their keeper or keepers, who saw to it that rightful payments in kind were made by the farms, and who distributed portions of bread and ale to the ministers. (fn. 326) In disposing of surplus produce a preference was given to ecclesiastical over lay persons. (fn. 327)

The care of the building of St. Paul's belonged to the keepers of the Old and New Work who received and spent contributions to this end. The keeper of the New Work was bound to the dean and chapter by an oath of faithful service. (fn. 328)

The duties of the cathedral almoner fall into two divisions. He must distribute alms in the manner prescribed by those who conferred bequests and donations on the almonry, and bury poor men and beggars who died within the churchyard. Secondly, he superintended the education, general and specially connected with the ministry, of a number of boys, eventually eight, who were called the almoner's boys, and helped in the services of the choir and attended to the lights of the church. (fn. 329)

The office of almoner is first mentioned in the beginning of the twelfth century. Then Henry of Northampton granted to it the tithes of St. Pancras, which belonged to his prebend, and his house in Paternoster Row for a hospital for the poor. (fn. 330) The second function of the almoner probably originated in the will of Bishop Richard Newport, who left certain property to the almoner that he might, according to the judgement of the chapter, provide for the sustenance of one or two boys. (fn. 331) He was under an oath of obedience to the dean and chapter. (fn. 332)

The office of the precentor was next to that of the treasurer in dignity. (fn. 333) It existed in 1104, and probably in yet earlier times. But it was not endowed until the year 1204, when King John granted to it the church of Shoreditch. The precentor presided over the choir. From at least the thirteenth century he had a deputy in the succentor. (fn. 334) In Baldock's time another officer, the master of the school of song, was also subject to him. (fn. 335) The choir was further supervised by the junior and the senior cardinals whose offices are said to have originated at a remote date, and who received the profits of private funerals and anniversaries, and a portion of ale and bread double that which was allotted to other minor canons. (fn. 336)

The sphere of the chancellor, unlike those of the dean, the treasurer and the precentor, was not confined to the cathedral. In so far as his most ancient function was concerned, he was an officer of the City. At least in the reign of Henry I the master of the schools was a dignitary of St. Paul's; (fn. 337) between the years 1184 and 1214 he came to be called chancellor. (fn. 338) In the beginning of the fourteenth century the chancellor presided over all the teachers of grammar in London, and over all City scholars except those of St. Mary le Bow and St. Martin le Grand. He also presented the master of the cathedral school to the dean and chapter, and had charge of the school books and buildings. (fn. 339) He examined in the schools clerks of inferior degree who were candidates for ordination; and at his discretion presented them to the bishop. Within the cathedral he held a position in relation to the non-musical part of the service analogous to that of the precentor in the choir. (fn. 340) The lesser cathedral clergy were in his jurisdiction, and he could inflict on them punishments short of expulsion. (fn. 341) He was the chief secretary of the cathedral and the keeper of the chapter's seal. (fn. 342)

In the time of Ralph de Diceto there was a binder of books, (fn. 343) and in 1283 a writer of books (fn. 344) among the ministers of St. Paul's. By the beginning of the next century the two offices were combined in one person, (fn. 345) and thus they survived until the days of Colet. (fn. 346) A reference which seems to belong to the deanery of Baldock is to twelve scribes who were bound by an oath to be faithful to the cathedral, the dean, and the chapter, and to write without fraud or malice. (fn. 347)

In a list of salaries which dates from the fourteenth century, there is an entry of the payment of twelve pence for the making of a chronicle; and the 'keeper of the clock' is mentioned as a servant of the church. (fn. 348)

The rites of the cathedral (fn. 349) and of churches dependent on it anciently followed a peculiar form known as the 'Usus Sancti Pauli.' (fn. 350) Services analogous to those held in chantries, and frequently instituted for the eternal welfare of the same persons, were the obits. There is a record of a bequest by Canon Ralph for the endowment of such a service in 1162; (fn. 351) in the reign of Richard II 116 obits were celebrated every year. The founders dictated the proportions of their bequests which should be spent on payments to a greater or less number of the clergy and servants of the cathedral; and, sometimes, on contribution to the lights of the church and its fabric. (fn. 352) Other services were maintained by gilds connected with St. Paul's. In 1197 Ralph de Diceto founded a Brotherhood of the Benefices of the Church of St. Paul. It included clerks not in priests' orders, and it met yearly to pray with all solemnity for dead brothers. (fn. 353) In that it afforded to the clergy connected with the cathedral a means of union and exclusiveness, it must have had importance. The gild of St. Anne, in the person of its twelve wardens, obtained from the dean and chapter, in 1271, free use and disposition of the chapel of St. Anne in the crypt. (fn. 354)

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the church of St. Paul was frequently censured for the immorality, the avarice, and the negligence of ministers. In part this is due to the critical spirit of the age; in part, also, to the frequent papal provision of benefices, to the very prevalent custom of plurality, and to the abuse of nonresidence. Complaints of the lack of discipline, of the irreverence, and of the frequent absence from the choir of the greater and lesser clergy, provoked an exhortation from Bishop Gravesend. In a commission to Bishop Sudbury, Edward III declared St. Paul's to be destitute of all good rule. (fn. 355) The period of codification naturally preceded a period of needed reforms, which began in the end of the thirteenth century and lasted for several hundreds of years. An attempt to improve the intellectual state of the clergy is indicated by an appointment, made by the dean and chapter in 1281, of a certain 'proved theologian and gracious preacher' to rule over their school in theology for a year, and to preach at opportune times. (fn. 356) Bishop Gravesend made a more permanent provision; he ordained that the chancellor must sustain the charge of the lecture of theology, and must be a master or bachelor of this faculty before his first year of office had elapsed. At the same time the church of Ealing was appropriated to the chancellorship. In 1308 this ordinance was confirmed by Ralph Baldock. (fn. 357) The office of sub-dean was instituted by Ralph in 1295: it was tenable by a minor canon appointed by the dean, who was invested with the dean's authority in relation to the inferior clergy of the cathedral. (fn. 358) Between the years 1300 and 1450 three classes of measures deal with the question of residence: those which aimed at enforcing the performance of their duties on resident canons, those which were designed to increase the number of residents, and those which endeavoured to safeguard the participation of non-residents in the church property. The regulations of Diceto in this matter were more stringent than those of Baldock. The latter exacted a 'moderate assiduity of attendance in the church,' saving in the case of illness or urgent business. Further,

if any be so wise that he is fitted for the great affairs of the church, let him hold himself in readiness, and he will be understood to serve the church, although he be not assiduous at hours. (fn. 359)

Such a privilege was liable to wide interpretation. In 1311 and 1312 the king intimated to the dean that certain canons who were absent beyond seas on business which touched the king, the kingdom and the church, should be considered as 'resident.' (fn. 360) The injunctions of Bishop Robert Braybrook, issued with the consent of Dean Thomas Evrere, repeated the regulations (fn. 361) of Ralph de Diceto. They resulted in a controversy between the dean and the residents; both parties submitted to the king's arbitration, and he commanded that, under penalty of £4,000, residence should be according to the form of the church of Salisbury. (fn. 362) But no settlement was reached, for in 1433 Bishop Robert Fitz Hugh, desiring 'to still all divisions and discords,' ordered that a resident canon should be present in the church at one canonical hour every day except during his legitimate period of absence, and on all great feasts. (fn. 363) Bishop Robert Gilbert, in 1442, defined such period as that between the feast of the Relics and the feast of the translation of St. Edward, king and confessor. He forbade resident canons to let their official houses to any lay persons without leave from the bishop, the dean and the chapter. (fn. 364)

A bull of Boniface IX in 1392 stated that hardly five canons resided in the church of St. Paul, and ascribed the circumstance to the extravagant hospitality incumbent on a canon in his first year of residence, which commonly cost from 700 to 1,000 marks sterling. The pope therefore ruled that a canon's oath to observe the customs of the church did not apply to his duties as a host, and that instead of discharging them he should pay 300 marks for the use of the church. (fn. 365) But the ancient practice continued, for it is a subject of complaint in a letter from the king to Robert Braybrook in 1399, in which it is asserted that the incomes of only two or three prebends sufficed for its observance. (fn. 366) The bishop thereupon ordered that the expenses of a canon's first year of residence should not exceed 300 marks. (fn. 367) In a bull of Martin V, in 1417, it is declared that this sum cannot be provided from the revenue of any prebend for ten or twelve years; the limit is reduced therefore to 100 marks; and the pope concedes, at the instance of the minor canons, that the money be shared, in part, by the lesser cathedral clergy, and in part spent on the fabric, the ornaments, and the books of the church. (fn. 368)

The non-resident canons were frequently the king's nominees. Edward III says of them that many are his 'familiar friends.' (fn. 369) Hence kings endeavoured to protect their interests. In the commission of 1370 Edward III complains that the resident canons have diverted the treasures of the cathedral to their private uses, and that they absorb the daily allowance of the non-resident canons and of the lesser ministers. (fn. 370) In like manner Richard II wrote to Bishop Braybrook that, in contradiction to the pious intentions of founders, a few residents received all the emoluments of prebendaries, and the bread and ale intended for non-residents. (fn. 371) The case was tried at the bishop's court in the deanery of Reginald Kentwood, and judgement was given for the non residents on the score that they, as much as other canons, swore observance of the statutes of the cathedral. (fn. 372)

In the latter half of the fourteenth century the efforts for reform had a significant expression in the formation of various corporations in connexion with St. Paul's. The movement appears to have been due consciously to a literal faith in the virtue which emanated from a gathering of 'two or three.' (fn. 373) In 1352 a gild of St. Katherine was formed to keep one wax light burning in St. Katherine's Chapel. In 1362 the brothers and sisters agreed to maintain a chantry priest who should celebrate in the chapel for all faithful departed. This gild had, in 1389, two wardens who were citizens of London. (fn. 374) The brotherhood of All Souls was founded, in 1379, for the maintenance of the chapel over the charnel-house, (fn. 375) in which it had its centre, and the care of which had lately been urged in a sermon by the archbishop of Canterbury. It existed in 1389, but does not appear to have been careful of the charnel-house. (fn. 376)

But more important than these were the more or less developed corporations which were formed among the inferior clergy of the cathedral, and whose origin must in great part be ascribed to the influence of Robert Braybrook.

In 1353 Robert of Kingston, a minor canon, bequeathed his hall in Pardonchurchhaugh, with the adjoining houses, to his brothers, that they might have a common hall in which to take food together. (fn. 377) The minor canons seem to have been aroused at once to much activity of corporate existence. They obtained a charter from Dean Richard of Kilmington in 1356, which stated that they excelled all other chaplains in name and honour, and that they were able to officiate in the place of major canons at the great altar and the choir. (fn. 378) It was confirmed by Bishop Simon Sudbury, and in 1373 by a bull of Urban VI. (fn. 379) Finally they acquired a charter of incorporation from Richard II in 1395–6, and in the same year they 'gathered together in the common hall of their college' and defined the rules and customs which bound them. By the king's charter they received the title of the College of the Twelve Minor Canons in the Church of St. Paul in London. It was ordained that one of them should be set over the others as warden, and that he, with the college, should constitute a legal person. (fn. 380) Bishop Braybrook ruled that henceforth the minor canons must take food in their new hall at due hours in common, 'for the increase of the fervour of their devotion and charity;' and imposed on them a penalty of £300 if they should fail to fulfil their promise of keeping the statutes and ordinances of their college. The bishop of London was constituted their visitor. (fn. 381)

Several colleges took form almost contemporaneously among the chantry priests. A dwelling for the chaplain or chaplains was often part of the endowment of a charity. (fn. 382) Before 1318 a piece of land in the churchyard was assigned to the chantry priests, (fn. 383) and lodgings situated on it and called 'chambers' might thenceforth be granted to the holders of chantries, by donors or legators, or by the dean and chapter. (fn. 384) Thus a number of chantry priests came to live in the building variously known as the 'Presteshouses' and St. Peter's College. (fn. 385) These chaplains were compelled personally to inhabit the separate chambers allotted to each; and always, or usually, to keep such in repair at their own cost. (fn. 386) In 1391 Bishop Robert Braybrook ordered that all chantry priests, who belonged to no other college of the cathedral and who were bound to give suit to the choir, should take their food in the hall of the 'Presteshous' and that the dean and chapter should allot chambers to as many of them as possible. (fn. 387) By this measure the corporate life of the chaplains must have been stimulated and defined. Their technical position, however, remained that of a congregation of individuals; in 1424 they had no common seal. (fn. 388) Their property was probably regarded as being vested for their use in the dean and chapter. Yet individual priests paid rents to the body of the chaplains; (fn. 389) their college had statutes which they were bound to observe. (fn. 390) In a compilation by Colet it is stated that the chantry priests of the College of St. Peter's must obey their proctor. If this official was, as his name implies, representative, a considerable development of corporate life is indicated.

Of the 'other colleges,' to which Braybrook alludes, Holmes' College was the most considerable. Adam of Bury, once mayor of London, built a chapel of the Holy Ghost near the north door of St. Paul's, and by the terms of his will a chantry was founded there for three priests. (fn. 391) As a site for their residence the dean and chapter assigned land, in 1386, to Roger Holmes, an executor of Adam and a canon of the cathedral. (fn. 392) He had contributed to the cost of erecting the chapel, and by his testamentary dispositions the number of priests who celebrated in it was increased to seven. (fn. 393) These formed Holmes' College, the object of frequent bequests. Certain statutes, made by Roger with the consent of the bishop, the dean and the chapter, enacted that every member of the college must swear to be faithful to the community and to keep the secrets of its hall; that the seven priests should choose yearly one of their number to preside over the others; and that each should subscribe a fixed sum for the maintenance of their common meals. (fn. 394) Holmes' College does not appear ever to have received a charter of incorporation.

The triumph of the house of Lancaster was celebrated by the building of a chapel, by John of Gaunt's executors, at his tomb, and that of the Duchess Blanche in St. Paul's. In 1403 a chantry of priests was founded in the new chapel; (fn. 395) and Bishop Braybrook granted a piece of land which had belonged to his old palace for the provision of a dwelling for the chaplains. The dean and chapter were empowered to compel them to lodge and to partake of common meals in the house which came to be known as 'Lancaster College.' (fn. 396)

Within the cloister in Pardonchurchhaugh Gilbert Becket erected a chapel in which he was buried. (fn. 397) It was rebuilt by Thomas More, clerk, who received a licence to found in it a chantry of three priests. (fn. 398) More's intentions were, however, fulfilled only by his executors. They obtained both a similiar licence in 1424, and a grant that 'the chaplains of the chantry of St. Anne and St. Thomas the Martyr' should form a corporation and have a common seal. These chaplains were made capable of acquiring property, but only on condition that they rendered it to the dean and chapter, who must hold it on their behalf and pay a yearly rent to each. (fn. 399) The dean and chapter and the thirty-two chantry priests of the 'Presteshouses' assigned to the three chaplains a dwelling in the 'Presteshouses.' (fn. 400) In the year 1427 a bequest increased their number to four. (fn. 401)

The chantry priests of St. Paul's seem to have been remarkable, even in the most secular period of the church's history, for neglect of their obligations. (fn. 402) An early attempt to introduce discipline among them must have taken form in an effort to enforce their attendance on the choir; for, in 1325, Sir Henry of Bray formally protested that such suit on his part had been not the fulfilment of a duty but an act of grace. (fn. 403) The chantries of the cathedral provided an outlet for priests who sought to escape the duties of other benefices. Thus Chaucer says of his good parson, that

He sette not his benefice to hire

And lefte his shepe accombred in the mire,

And ran to London, unto Seint Poules,

To seken him a chaunterie for soules. (fn. 404)

But the fault lay in some degree with the slight, often diminished, endowments of many chantries, insufficient to provide a living for a man, while the duties attached to them were in many cases enough to occupy all a man's care. (fn. 405) In 1391, therefore, Bishop Braybrook united such a number of chantries as to reduce their whole number by thirty-two; and ordained that henceforth no beneficed clergy might hold chantries in St. Paul's. (fn. 406) He exhorted all chaplains to fulfil the ordinances by which their places had been founded, and framed new regulations for the priests of united chantries. In virtue of these they were, before the admission, examined as to their fitness for the choir, to which an oath bound them to give suit. (fn. 407) In 1408 Bishop Clifford united four chantries into one. (fn. 408)

The number of vicars tended to diminish; lay and unfit persons were admitted among them. A regulation of the year 1290, (fn. 409) and others which occur in the compilations of Baldock and Lisieux, (fn. 410) order that they consist of deacons and sub-deacons in equal proportion, that their number be increased, that they be persons of moral life able to sing in the choir. In 1332 an injunction exhorted them to seemliness of conduct and habit. (fn. 411) They gained some additional independence in this period. In 1313 they were declared to be themselves responsible for their absences from the cathedral. (fn. 412) Dean Geoffrey de Lucy granted that each vicar should, while he was duly present at hours, receive from the church a penny a day; (fn. 413) and the sum was increased by Dean Henry Borham. (fn. 414) With the consent of the chapter Bishop Braybrook appropriated to them the church of Bunstead, and five marks from the revenues of the church of Finchingfield. (fn. 415) The vicars never formed a technical corporation: in later times they used the seal of the dean and chapter, or severally signed with their individual seals. (fn. 416) They had a common hall in which they were compelled to take their food, unless they were invited elsewhere. (fn. 417)

The tendency to uniformity brought a disposition to follow the Sarum Use in the churches of St. Paul's, an innovation which was jealously resisted by the dean and chapter. In 1375 the dean did his utmost that the ancient rite of his cathedral might be preserved in the church of St. Giles Cripplegate. (fn. 418) Yet by the beginning of the fifteenth century the more universal form was generally used in the chantries of St. Paul. (fn. 419) In 1414 Bishop Clifford ordered that the Use of Sarum should be followed in the choir. (fn. 420)

The movement towards reform from within continued in the fifteenth century. The practice of diverting the property of the cathedral to the private uses of the resident canons was well established, and hence there were remedial ordinances of Bishops Savage, (fn. 421) Warham, (fn. 422) and Fitz James. (fn. 423) Warham's statute, which Fitz James confirmed, annulled all allocations of land, rents, and profits, and instituted a new officer in the general receiver. Bishop Warham also ruled that four major canons must be present in the chapter (fn. 424) when arduous business was in treaty; that the bishop and any two major canons could settle disputes between the dean and the canons; that the dean must be a prebendary or dignitary of the cathedral, (fn. 425) who should begin his residence within a year of his appointment; that all resident and non-resident canons must be present in the cathedral on feast days. (fn. 426)

But the greatest reformer of St. Paul's was John Colet. After he had made an epitome (fn. 427) of the statutes of the cathedral, (fn. 428) he showed to Wolsey, in 1518, a series of regulations which were chiefly enlargements of Warham's statutes. These, in a further amplified form, were eventually enacted by Wolsey, as papal legate. (fn. 429) Such unusual procedure was due to the enmity which existed between Colet and Bishop Fitz James. (fn. 430) At the same time the dean was at contention with the residents, who had no sympathy with his frugal mode of life, and who accused him of a desire to treat them like monks. (fn. 431) His statutes seem to have arisen from his single initiative enforced by legatine authority, and it appears that neither they nor those of Warham were ever obeyed. (fn. 432)

In his lifetime, however, Colet must have wrought much improvement, for he was consistently supported by the king and by Archbishop Warham. A confirmation, obtained from Leo X, of the neglected bull, by which Martin V had limited the compulsory expenses of residence, may have secured a reform. (fn. 433) Colet made separate compilations of the statutes which bound the chantry priests; and possibly included new enactments among them. An oath of faithful service to the church, the dean, and the chapter, and of obedience to the ordinances by which their chantries had been founded, was henceforth compulsory for all chaplains, and they were forbidden to leave the City without leave from the dean and chapter. (fn. 434) In one respect the measures of Colet are particularly consonant with the spirit of his age. He made a practice of preaching in the cathedral on every feast day, and his sermons were not dialectical exercises, but expositions of Scripture. His congregations were large, and included most leading men of the court and City. (fn. 435) The chancellor had for long neglected his duty of lecturing in theology; and here only Colet seems to have secured the cooperation of the bishop. An ordinance of Fitz James provides that, except during certain definite seasons, the chancellor shall read a lecture in the cathedral twice or three times a week, according to the amount of leisure allowed by feast days. (fn. 436)

A preacher of the reformed religion has alluded to the sloth and the irreligion by which Colet was met.

In Paul's abbeys at their midnight prayers were none commonly but a few brawling priests, young quiristers and novices, who understand not what they said; the elder sort kept their bed or were worse occupied. . . . For their continual massing afore noon . . . these shorn shaveling priests would neither receive together one of them with another, nor yet the people have any part with them. (fn. 437)

Of the Protestant measures (fn. 438) of general application the dissolution of gilds (fn. 439) and chantries largely affected St. Paul's. Not only did it work a great change in the persons of the ministers and in the service, but further, the revenue of chantries had been, in spite of the poverty of chantry priests, a considerable source of wealth to the cathedral. In the fourteenth century the gross annual income of sixty-four chantries was £297 13s. 8d.; and the annual stipends of priests varied from 6s. to £6 13s. 4d. (fn. 440) In 1547 the annual value was £646 6s., of which £244 18s. 8d. was paid to the chaplains, each of whom received from twenty to eighty-five per cent. of the income of his chantry. (fn. 441) Another loss was suffered by the cessation of the practice of celebrating obits, which, however, had become less frequent than in the middle ages. Dean Colet recommended that these services should be held often, in order that the dead might be succoured by a multitude of suffrages; he ordered the chapter to examine what obits ought to be observed. (fn. 442) Yet in 1547 the number of those regularly kept had sunk to fifty-four. At the same time the annual income for the maintenance of obits had been reduced from £183 18s. 3½d. in the fourteenth century to £104 1s. 2d. (fn. 443)

During a period of some three hundred years from the middle of the sixteenth century, the only important innovations in the internal history of St. Paul's concerned the organization and endowment of preaching. The significance of a visitation by Grindal, in 1561, consists in a calendar which he made to indicate the order in which resident and non-resident canons were compelled to preach on feast days. (fn. 444) Alexander Ratcliff bequeathed £400 to the dean and chapter in 1615, half of which he destined for 'gentleman scholars' of Oxford and Cambridge who should preach at St. Paul's cross. This duty fell to prebendaries after the cross had been removed. (fn. 445) In 1623 Dr. Thomas White left an annual sum of £40 for the maintenance of three weekly lectures on divinity; and directed that a pulpit should be erected in the cathedral, to be used when the weather prevented resort to the churchyard. (fn. 446)

There occurred also some significant interpretations and illustrations of the constitution of the cathedral. Thus, before Cromwell's visitation of religious houses in the province of Canterbury, Cranmer suspended, temporarily, episcopal and all minor ecclesiastical jurisdictions; and in his mandate to the bishop of London he used the title 'legate of the apostolic see.' (fn. 447) which he had abandoned in the convocation of 1533. (fn. 448) In consequence the bishop and chapter, at the visitation in St. Paul's, made a formal protest, which the archbishop's registrar refused to enter. It was sent to the king as an appeal, and appears to have received no notice. (fn. 449) The chapter was probably deterred from pleading in this instance the privilege of exemption from metropolitical visitation, because lately, by Act of Parliament, the king had been empowered to override such liberties, (fn. 450) and the visitation was by royal commission. A different course was taken when, in 1636, a visitation was proposed by Laud, as archbishop of Canterbury. The dean and chapter, in a petition to Charles I, then brought forward their ancient claim to exemption. In reply the king, after challenging them to prove not only that the coming visitation was without precedent, but further, that precedents existed against it, ordered them to submit. (fn. 451)

Bishop Bancroft made a visitation in 1598, (fn. 452) and a very disorderly state of affairs was disclosed among the minor canons, the only collegiate clergy left in the cathedral; who still 'kept commons together in their hall, dinners but not suppers, for their allowance would not maintain both.' It had been ordained by Act of Parliament that the college should bear the charge of all children born within its precincts; and to rule a number of households with means framed for the control of celibate priests was a difficult task. Between some families feuds existed so bitter and violent that the authority of the dean and chapter was openly flouted. Minor canons admitted strangers into the college as lodgers; all but three of them had let their official houses. Secularity seems, on the whole, to have increased among them with the Reformation, while their ancient vices, the consequences of ignorance, sloth, and self-indulgence, were at least as prevalent as ever. (fn. 453)

During his visitation Laud attempted to deal with some of the disputes which had arisen as to the property of the cathedral, (fn. 454) and which were not settled until 1724, when Bishop Gibson visited St. Paul's, and acknowledged that dignitaries could let the estates attached to their places, but ordered the registration of all such leases. (fn. 455)

The nineteenth century was for cathedrals a period of legislation. The property of the deanery became vested in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1840, (fn. 456) that of the treasurer in 1858, (fn. 457) that of the precentor in 1867, (fn. 458) that of the dean and chapter in 1872. (fn. 459) The commissioners were compelled to pay a yearly sum of £18,000 to the dean and chapter until these were in possession of such real estate as would secure to them a like income. From this income annual payments were to be made of £2,000 to the dean, and of £1,000 to each of the four resident canons: the rest was devoted to the maintenance of services, the discharge of expenses and liabilities incurred on the corporal revenue of the dean and chapter, and to repairs and improvements of the cathedral and the buildings attached to it. The profits accruing from the hall, manor, or parsonage of Tillingham were further set apart for repairs. All rights of patronage, the cathedral itself, the precincts, the chapter-house, the surveyor's office, the deanery house, and the canonical houses, were excepted from the scope of the several arrangements. It was provided, in 1841, that a dean need not hold a canonry nor a prebend of the church; and that no prebends were attached to the canonries in royal patronage. (fn. 460) In 1840 the patronage of the three existing canonries had been given to the crown, and a fourth canonry had been created, to which the bishop presented an archdeacon of the diocese or another. (fn. 461)

In 1855 an order in council provided that the dean and chapter should present a dean or canon of the cathedral to any of their benefices which fell vacant; but it reserved seventeen named benefices, (fn. 462) all of which were in the City, for the optional tenure of minor canons who had no other cure, (fn. 463) and, failing them, for that of persons who held a dignity or prebend in the cathedral, a benefice or cure in the diocese, or a position in the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham. (fn. 464) The constitution of the college of minor canons was entirely recast. By the St. Paul's Cathedral Minor Canonries Act of 1875, (fn. 465) the number of minor canons was reduced to six, saving the rights of such as then were living; it was enacted that as each minor prebend fell vacant the property (fn. 466) attached to it should lapse to the commissioners, who should, when the statutory number of minor prebendaries had been reached, provide each with a yearly income of £400 and with a residence ultimately held and allotted by the dean and chapter. In future no benefice was tenable with a minor canonry. An order in council ratified in 1876 (fn. 467) a scheme of the dean and chapter which regulated the duties and position of minor canons. It provided that they must live in the houses assigned to them except during a vacation of at least ten weeks, and must retire at the age of fifty-five on a pension whose amount varied from £40 to £250, according to the length of their residence, or whenever the dean and chapter desired their resignation. After their retirement they might receive honorary minor canonries from the dean and chapter, and with these the right to a stall in the cathedral, but no emolument or place in the college. Already, in 1872, in obedience to an order in council the dean and chapter had transferred the property they held for the pittanciary and the vicars choral to the commissioners; in its stead and with a like destination they received £900 every year. (fn. 468) An ordinance of the dean and chapter regulated the duties of the vicars in 1874. (fn. 469) The choir was further organized when, in 1878, it was ordained that there should be twelve assistant vicars choral and forty choristers. (fn. 470) In this year all statutes which regarded the vergers were repealed; they were entirely and solely subordinated to the dean and chapter; the dean appointed his verger, the superior of the other three, who received their places from the dean and chapter. (fn. 471)

Thus the Ecclesiastical Commissioners not only arranged the disposition of the cathedral property in accordance with modern values, but they further made the holding and apportioning of it to rest on entirely new principles. They extended the powers of the dean and chapter to the detriment of those of other classes of clergy and of officers in the cathedral; and they brought them into direct relation with the central government. In this way the commissioners reproduced in St. Paul's some of that simplicity, that absence of conflicting authorities, which their own authority had brought partly into the Church of the country. But by the introduction of a new authority not susceptible to local influence, the cathedral lost much of the individuality which has so great an historical value, and which alone renders possible any independent history.

Deans of St. Paul's

Ulstan or Ulman, (fn. 472) occurs 1085–1107
William
Ralph of Langford, occurs 1142
Taurinus of Stamford, occurs c. 1152–62
Hugh de Marney, occurs 1160–18
Ralph de Diceto, occurs c. 1181–1204
Alard de Burhham, occurs c. 1204
Gervase de Hobrugge, (fn. 473) 1216
William de Basinges (fn. 474)
Robert of Watford, occurs 1213–27
Martin de Pateshull, occurs 1228
Richard Weathershead, (fn. 475) occurs before 1229
Geoffrey de St. Lucy, occurs 1231
William de St. Marie, occurs 1241
Henry of Cornhill, occurs 1243
Walter of London or de Salerne, 1254
Robert de Barthone, 1256
Peter of Newport
Richard Talbot, occurs before 1262
Geoffrey de Feringes, occurs 1263
John de Chishull, occurs 1268
Hervey de Borham, 1273
Thomas de Ingaldesthorp, 1276–7
Roger de la Leye, 1283
William de Mountfort, 1285
Ralph Baldock, 1294
Raymond de la Goth, 1307
Arnald de Cantilupe, 1307
John Sendale (fn. 476)
Richard Newport
Vitalis de Testa
John of Everdon, 1322 or 1323
Gilbert Bruere, 1336
Walter de Aldebury, (fn. 477) 1362
Thomas Trillek, 1363
John of Appelby, 1368
Robert Brewer, (fn. 478) 1376
Thomas of Evrere, 1389
Thomas Stow, 1400
Thomas Moor, 1406–7
Reginald Kentwood, 1421–2
Thomas Lisieux, 1441
Laurence Bothe, 1456
William Say, 1457
Roger Radclyff, 1463
Thomas Wynterbourne, 1471
William Worsley, 1478–9
Robert Sherbourn, 1499
John Colet, 1505
Richard Pace, 1519
Richard Sampson, (fn. 479) 1537
John Incent, 1540
William May, 1545–6
John Feckenham, 1553–4
Henry Cole, 1556
Alexander Nowell, 1560
John Overall, 1602
Valentine Grey, 1614
John Donne, 1621
Thomas Winniffe, 1631
Matthew Nicholas, 1660
John Barwick, 1661
William Sancroft, 1664
Edward Stillingfleet, 1677–8
John Tillotson, 1689
William Sherlock, 1691
Henry Godolphin, 1707
Francis Hare, 1726
Joseph Butler, 1740
Thomas Lecky, 1750
John Hume, 1758
Frederic Cornwallis, 1766
Thomas Newton, 1768
Thomas Thurlow, 1782
George Pretyman (Tomlins), 1787
William van Mildert, 1820
Charles Richard Summer, 1826
Edward Copleston, 1827
Henry Hart Milman, 1849
Henry Longueville Mansel, 1863
Richard William Church, 1871
Robert Gregory, (fn. 480) 1891

The first seal of the chapter, (fn. 481) which is round, 2⅜ in. in diameter, has a figure of St. Paul standing on the roof of the church. He is blessing six canons who kneel three on either side of him, and holds a book in his left hand. The legend is :—

✠ SIGILLVM. CAPITVLI SANCTI PAVLI LVNDONIE

This seal belongs to the twelfth century.

The second seal, (fn. 482) which also is round, but considerably larger (3¼ in.), is work of the next century. The obverse gives a conventional view of the cathedral, which emphasizes the lofty tower, with the legend :—

SIGILLVM ECCLESIE SANCTI PAULI LONDONIARUM

The reverse shows St. Paul with his emblems of sword and book seated on a throne. The curious legend is thought to refer to the emblems :—

MVCRO FVROR SAULI LIBER EST CONUERSIO PAVLI

A seal belonging to the end of the fourteenth century, (fn. 483) having a counterseal from the matrix of Dean Thomas Plumstoke, seems to have been used as the seal of the Chapter till the middle at least of the following century. It is circular, 2¼ in. in diameter, and has the figure of St. Paul with his usual attributes.

The seal de negociis (fn. 484) had a full-faced bust of St. Paul between his emblems with the legend:—

SIGILL' DE NEGOCIIS SBI PAVLI

There are six seals of deans in the museum collection. The earliest (fn. 485) is believed to be that of Ralph of Langford (c. 1142), a circular seal 1⅛ in. in diameter. It shows a half-length figure of the dean in cap and cloak holding a shrine.

Richard Talbot's (fn. 486) seal (c. 1260–1) is a little vesica 1¼ in. by ¾ in., having the head of St. Paul in a quatrefoil with the inscription s' PAV below it. Below under an arch is a half-length figure of the dean in prayer. The legend is :—

S' RIC * TALEBOT

The larger vesica (2 in. by 1¾ in.) of John de Chishull (fn. 487) shows St. Paul seated with his emblems between a sun and a crescent inclosing a star. Below is the dean, half-length, praying. The legend is :—

S' IOH'IS DE CHISHULL DECANI LONDONIENS'

The seal of Dean Roger de la Leye (fn. 488) (1283–5), is a vesica 2½ in. by 1½ in. with full-length figures of St. Peter and St. Paul with their symbols standing in canopied niches. Under an arch in the base is a half-length of the dean in prayer. The legend runs :—

S' ROGERI DE LA LEYE DECANI SBI PAVLI LOND'

William de Mountfort's seal (c. 1293), (fn. 489) a vesica 2 in. by 1¼ in., shows St. Paul sitting on a throne with an elaborate canopy, which has on each of its pillars a shield of the arms of the dean which were Bendy of ten argent and azure. Below was the usual figure of the dean. Of the legend only a few letters remain.

The seal of John of Everdon (fn. 490) (1323–37) is of similar type. It had the legend :—

S' IOH'IS DE EVERDON DECANI SBI PAVLI LONDON'

APPENDIX

The manors which belonged to the patrimony of St. Paul's were, in 1181, Caddington, Kensworth, Ardleigh, Sandon, Belchamp St. Paul, Wickham St. Paul, Heybridge, Tillingham, Barling, Runwell, Navestock, Chingford, Barnes, Drayton, Sutton, Luffenhall, 'Edulvesnesa,' Norton, and Abberton in Essex. Of these all but the last four are identical in name with the places in which the canons held churches, and which include also Walton-on-the-Naze, Kirby-le-Soken, Thorpe-le-Soken, Willesden, and Twyford. (fn. 491) The manors of Uplee in Willesden and of Chelmsford and Leigh or West Leigh in Essex, were held in 1283. (fn. 492) The church of St. Pancras was held in 1345. (fn. 493) Ralph de Diceto gave the church of Barnes to the hospital of the almonry. (fn. 494) That of Chingford was alienated before 1363 (fn. 495) Bishop Richard de Beames granted the churches of Aldbury, Brent Pelham, and Furneaux Pelham, all in Hertfordshire. (fn. 496)

The rectory manor of Sunbury was acquired in 1230; (fn. 497) the church of Brightlingsea in 1237 (fn. 498); the church of Chiswick, probably as a result of the ancient rights over Sutton, and that of Leigh, were held in 1252; (fn. 499) in 1320 the dean and chapter impropriated the rectory of Hutton in Essex. (fn. 500) A rent was received from the church of Rickling in Essex in 1422. (fn. 501) London churches in the patronage of St. Paul's were, at a date between 1138 and 1250, (fn. 502) those of St. Thomas the Apostle, St. Benet Paul's Walk, St. Peter Paul's Wharf, St. Augustine Watling Street, St. Thomas Knightrider Street, St. John Walbrook, St. Giles without Cripplegate, St. Mary Aldermanbury, St. Helen Bishopsgate, St. Michael Queenhithe, St. Benet Gracechurch Street, St. Botolph Billingsgate, St. Martin Orgar St. Martin's Lane, St. Mary Magdalen Milk Street, St. John Zachary Maiden Lane, St. Mary Magdalen Old Fish Street, St. Antholin Watling Street, St. Olave Old Jewry, St. Stephen Coleman Street, St. Michael le Querne. (fn. 503) The last two of these did not continue in the possession of St. Paul's. (fn. 504) The church of St. Nicholas Olave was granted to the dean and chapter by Gilbert Foliot; that of St. Michael Bassishaw came into their possession shortly before 1373; (fn. 505) they held the churches of St. Faith in the Crypt, (fn. 506) and of St. Gregory by St. Paul's which was appropriated to the minor canons between 1445–8. (fn. 507)

The 'manor of Norton' appears to have evolved into that of Folliot Hall, in High Ongar and Norton Mandeville, which was held in 1535. (fn. 508) At this date no rights in Willesden not assigned to prebends were called temporal, and there is no mention of the chapter's possession of a manor in Luffenhall apart from that of Ardeley. Additional manors which now belonged to the chapter were those of Paulhouse and Bowhouse and of Harringay or Hornsey, in London and Middlesex; and those of Beldame or Kentish Town, which may have been attached to the church of St. Pancras, and of Barnes, next Hadleigh in Essex. (fn. 509)

The rectories outside London impropriated by the cathedral in 1535 were those of Sunbury, Willesden, Kentish Town, Rickling in Essex, Belchamp St. Paul, Walton, Kirby, Brightlingsea and Tillingham; and the vicarages of Kensworth, Caddington, Ardleigh, Sandon, St. Pancras, Drayton, and Chiswick. The churches of Thorpe-le-Soken, Navestock and Twyford appear to have been alienated. (fn. 510) The dean and chapter presented to Wickham St. Paul's in the seventeenth and to Heybridge and Barling in the eighteenth century. (fn. 510)