A history of the three cathedrals dedicated to St. Paul in London : with reference chiefly to their structure and architecture, and the sources whence the necessary funds were derived

Front matter

■w

A HISTORY

OF

Preface

fTlHE present History of St. Paul’s Cathedral had its origin in the increased interest which I took in that building, in whose immediate neighbourhood I had spent a considerable portion of my life, when I became a member of the Committee for its I * * 4 Completion.’ That interest was enhanced by the selection of St. Paul’s, according to ancient custom, as the fit and proper place for a National Thanksgiving in the early spring of last year. When I began my labours, however, I had little intention of entering so deeply into architectural details, but the subject expanded as I went on with my work.

I could not have accomplished my task without the help of

friends, and to Dean Milman’s valuable 4 Annals of St. Paul’s ’

I am greatly indebted. It was that work which, in addition to its own rich store of knowledge, furnished the key to other

sources of information. It is hardly necessary to say that I have no idea of attempting any rivalry with that important volume. My aim is different. It has been my wish to furnish a more particular account of the cost and of the building of Old and New St. Paul’s than fell in with the scope of Dean Milman’s work, and more minute details as to their architecture grew naturally out of the object I had thus set before me.

VI

PREFACE.

In thanking the various friends who have assisted me, I must assign the first place to Mr. Edmund B. Ferrey, whose restorations of Old St. Paul’s give, as I believe, a value to my book, to which it could not otherwise pretend. I have also to thank Mr. Penrose, Mr. Cockerell, and Mr. Wyatt Papworth for much help, and for many valuable suggestions.

For many of the illustrations of Old and Modern St. Paul’s I am indebted to Mr. Gardner, of Park House, St. John’s Wood, whose remarkable collection of prints and drawings of London has been most liberally placed at my disposal.

For the interesting composition of the interior of Wren’s second design for St. Paul’s — that of the 6 Kensington model ’ — I am indebted to Mr. J. E. GrOODCHiLD. Lastly, I must thank Mr. Pearson for the kind zeal he has shown in superintending the engravings on wood, and Mr. Adlard for his careful reproductions of Mr. Ferrey’s restorations of Old St. Paul’s.

In conclusion, I wish to state that, although I have the honour of being Chairman of the Finance Committee for the Completion of St. Paul’s, my work has no official character, and I alone am responsible for the facts and opinions expressed in these pages.

London : May 1873.

I have to thank the Warden and Fetlows of All Souls College , Oxford , for their kind permission to publish the Copies of Sir Christopher Wren s Original Drazvings which are included in this book.

W. L.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGK

I. THE BUILDING OF THE FIRST AND SECOND CATHEDRALS,

AND THE MODE OF RAISING FUNDS FOR THEIR COST . 1

Chapter I The Building Of And The Mode

THE FIRST AND SECOND CATHEDRALS, OF RAISING FUNDS FOR THEIR COST.

B

South-West View of Old St. Paul's (Supposed to be taken from present Doctors' Commons).

(Compiled by F. Watkins, from drawings by E. B. Ferrey, Architect.)

CHAPTER I.

The Cathedral Church of St. Paul, in the City of London,, is, from its associations and the uses to which it has been put, more emphatically the National Cathedral of Great Britain than any other in this island, and a history of its fabric may therefore lay claim to national interest.

Although, before the building of the present church, two Cathedrals, dedicated to St. Paul, each rising, Phoenix-like,1 from the ashes of its predecessor, have successively stood on its site, it is impossible not to feel that there is a unity in the three, and in relating their history it seems quite natural to consider them as one Cathedral. Viewed in this light, the history of St. Paul’s Cathedral is not a little remarkable. A singular fatality seems to have awaited it. Destruction, or at least injury to such an extent that destruction seemed inevitable, has befallen it no less than five times. This fatality is the more striking when it appears that fire — and on two occasions fire from heaven — was always the enemy from whose attacks it suffered.

A temple, built by the Romans, and dedicated to Diana, once existed on the spot where a Christian Cathedral has now stood for twelve centuries. At the beginning of the seventh century, the Pagan temple, all traces of which had, without doubt, long disappeared, was replaced by a Christian Church, attached

1 1 Out of whose Ashes this Phoenix (new^t. Paul’s) is risen.’ — Evelyn's translation of De Chambray's Parallel of the Antient Architecture with the Modern, fol. 1707, 2nd edit. See Wren’s Parentalia, p. 276

CHAP.

I

St. Paul’s the National Cathedral.

Three Cathedrals.

Singular fatality attending them.

First Cathedral.

THE THREE CATHEDRALS DEDICATED TO ST. PAUL.

CHAP.

I.

Founded about a.d. 597.

Destroyed by fire a.d. 1087 or 1088.

to a monastery founded by Ethelbert, King of Kent, during the time that Melitus, the companion of St. Augustine, was Bishop of London. He dedicated the monastery to St. Paul,1 and endowed it with the manor of Tillingham in Essex,2 which — the only piece of land once belonging to St. Paul’s Cathedral which has not been swallowed up in the mass of property placed under the administration of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners — still furnishes part of the fund for the repairs of the fabric of the present Cathedral. Of this Church no record whatever remains. It lasted for nearly five centuries, and was then destroyed by a fire which devastated London 4 in the time of the Conqueror’s reign.’ 3

The next Church, or Cathedral, of St. Paul remained

1 Dugdale, p. 3. The edition of 1720 is always referred to unless Ellis’ is specially mentioned.

3 Dugdale, p. 6. Dean Milman (pp. 21, 22) says that the fire happened in 1087, and in a note adds, ‘ according to another authority, 1088.’ But Dugdale (p. 6) says ‘he (Bishop Maurice) in 1083 began the foundation of a most magnificent pile,’ to replace that which was burnt; and Matthew of Westminster (Flores Historiarum, Franeofurti, 1601, p. 229) says, ‘Anno Gratiae 1083. Eodem anno Mauricius Episcopus London, templum maximum quod necdum (circa 1307 P) perfectum est incepit.’ On the other hand, Roger of Wendover (Edition of English Historical Society, 1841, vol. ii. p. 27) says ‘Anno Domini 1087 rex Anglorum Willelmus (if this is a correct statement, it is William Rufus of whom Roger is speaking) in natali Domini curiam suam apud Gloverniam tenens, tribus capellanis suis, Mauritio scilicet Londoniensem . . . dedit praesulatum.’ But the editor adds in a note, ‘According to the Saxon Chronicle, these bishops received their appointments in 1085.’ Wilkins, i. p. 368. There can be but little doubt that it was Bishop Maurice who laid the foundation stone, but this can hardly have taken place before 1085, as that is the earliest date named for his appointment as Bishop of London. As to the date of the fire, I take Dean Milman (p. 21) as my authority, but he gives no reference to the authority on which his statement is founded.

OLD ST. PAUL’S.

standing until destroyed by the fire of 1666. It was begun by Maurice, Bishop of London, in 1087, the last year of the reign of William the Conqueror, who contributed towards its structure c the ruins of that strong castle then called the Palatine Tower, which stood on the west part of the city, towards that little river of Fleet,’ then a navigable stream. This castle was built 4 in the place where Robert Kilwarby, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, erected that House of Dominicans, which is still very well known by the name of Black Friers,’1 and probably for the defence of the Fleet. Part of the stone of which the Cathedral was built was, however, ‘fetched from Caen in Normandy.’2 William of Malmesbury,3 who, as Dean Milman says, must have seen the splendid buildings erected in Normandy by the Conqueror, describes it as a magnificent structure, and Hollar’s engravings of it, as it existed just before the Great Fire, justify his description, although in Hollar’s time the Cathedral was not exactly in the state in which William of Malmesbury saw it. Hollar’s plates clearly, however, did not represent the Cathedral even as it existed in his time with perfect accuracy, and the representations of Old St. Paul’s which accompany this history are attempts to bring that building before the eye with more exactness, and in the state in which it probably appeared about the middle of the sixteenth century before it was partially Italianised. They are by Mr. Edmund B. Ferrey 4

1 Dugdale, p. 6. 2 Stow’s London , yol. i. p. 638.

Malmesbury. Gesta Pontificum, lib. ii. p. 145. (Edition published by authority of the Master of the Rolls.)

4 See note to contents of Chap. III.

CHAP.

I*

Second Cathedral, founded

TIIE THREE CATHEDRALS DEDICATED TO ST. PAUL.

CHAP.

L

Progress of building very slow.

Nearly destroyed by fire a.d. 1136.

Its plan altered.

Quire rebuilt in a.d. 1240.

The progress of building must have been very slow, for, as Dean Milman says,1 4 The episcopate of Bishop Maurice, though it lasted twenty years, saw hardly more than the foundations and the commencement of the great edifice ; neither does it seem to have been completed during the episcopacy of his successor, Bishop Belmeis, who also ruled for twenty years.’ Seven years after his death the Cathedral was nearly destroyed by the usual fatality of fire. 4 It had great hurt by a dreadful fire, in the very first year of King Stephen’s reign (a.d. 1136), which began at London Bridge and raged as far as the Church of the Danes.’2 According to Matthew Paris and Matthew of Westminster,3 the Cathedral was totally destroyed ; but, although this is in all probability a great exaggeration, there can be no doubt that serious injury was inflicted on it, and, even supposing that total reconstruction was not required, its progress must have been materially delayed.

Nearly two hundred years, from the time of its foundation, elapsed before the structure was completely finished, and the plan on which it was originally built came in time to be considered unsatisfactory. 4 The Quire was not thought beautiful enough, though in uniformity of building it suited with the Church, so that, resolving to make a better, they began with the steeple, which was finished in a.d. 1221, and then going on with the Quire, according to the like

3 Matthew of Westminster. Flores Historiarum , p. 242. ‘Anno Gratise 1135. Eodem anno, Ecclesia Sancti Pauli combusta eat igne,.qui accensus fuit ad pontem London, et perrexit ad Ecclesiam Danorum.7 ‘ Ecclesia quoque Sancti Pauli Londiniensis eodem anno (1136) ab igne^ qui accensus est ad pontem, est combusta qui debaccliando perrexit usque ad ecclesiam Danorum.’ Matt. Paris, Hist. Ang., edited by Sir F. Madden. London, 1866, vol. i. p. 253.

OLD ST. PAUL’S.

form of architecture, perfected it in a.d. 1240.’ 1 Although to the eyes of the superficial observer the architecture of the Choir 2 appears to be all of the same

CLUSTERED PIDLARS (No. 1) AND TRIFORIUM ARCADE (No. 2).

date, yet a closer scrutiny at once makes evident marked differences in the details ; for example, in the variations in

2 These observations apply to Hollar’s plates, from which the details in the annexed woodcuts are copied.

THE THREE CATHEDRALS DEDICATED TO ST. PAUL.

ohap. the clustered pillars ; in their capitals, and still more - — r — ' evidently in the tracery of the Triforium Arcade. The wide bay 1 probably marks the junction between the first portion (the ‘Choir’ proper2), commenced in 1222, and the compartments added eastward of it in 12 55. 3

The necessary repairs of the rest of the building must have made but little progress, being hindered seemingly by tempests, for in 1255, one hundred and twenty years after the fire, the Bishop of London issued ‘letters hortatory, to stir up the people to liberal contributions, because that the Church of St. Paul was in time past so shattered by tempests, that the whole roof thereof seemed very ruinous.’4 In consequence of this appeal, either the roof of the old structure was made new, or substantially repaired about this time, and the Cathedral Cathedral, as Dugdale says, was then lengthened eastward ‘ by the whole extent of that which now bears the name of St. Faith’s Church,’ 5 which was, consequently, at that time pulled down.

Sir Christopher Wren found traces of this alteration when he was making preparations for the new Cathedral. As his grandson says, ‘ Upon demolishing the ruins, after the last fire, and searching the foundations of this oid street Quire, the surveyor (Wren) discovered nine wells in a fished for tow, which no doubt had anciently belonged to a street pose pUr" h°uses that lay aslope from the High Street (then Watling Street) to the Boman Causeway (now Cheapside), and this street, which was taken away to make room for the new Quire, came so near to the old Presbyterium that the Church could not extend farther that way at first.’6 It was probably also about this

1 See plate of ground plan.

2 B in preceding illustration.

3 A in preceding illustration.

6 Parentnlia, p. 272.

Interior op the Nave op Old St. Paul’s.

(From a print in the ‘ Gardner Collection,’ after Hollar )

Description on original print.

OLD ST. PAUL’S.

time that the old Norman walls and piers received the chap. casing which Wren, in his report to the Commissioners > — i — < after the Great Fire, so strongly reprobated.1 The following curious extract from Pepys probably alludes to this : — 4 It is pretty here to see how the late Church was but a case wrought over the old Church. You may see the very old pillars standing whole within the walls of this.’

At length, about the year 1283, the Cathedral must Completed have been nearly completed, for, as Dugdale says,2 1233. A’D' 4 about this time it seems that the main brunt was over.’ The pavement of what was called 4 The New Work,’3 viz., East from the Steeple, ‘made of good and firm marble which cost bd. the foot,’4 was laid down in 1312, and 4 within three years afterwards a great part of the Spire of timber, covered with lead, being weak and in danger of falling, was taken down, and a new Cross, with a pommel, large enough to con- Descriptain ten bushels of corn, well gilt, set on the top thereof magidfi-he by Gilbert de Segrave, then Bishop of London, with ^iSdpire great and solemn procession, and relics of saints were st. Pauls, placed within it.’5 This lofty and most magnificent spire rose from the centre of a great stone tower. According to Wren’s measurements before the Great Fire, the tower was 260 feet in height, the basis of the spire 40 feet, and he adds, 4 therefore, according to the usual proportions of spires in Go thick fabricks,

1 The Nave of Winchester is a similar piece of incasing. In Gloucester this work was begun in the Nave and carried through two bays at the west end : in the Choir the restorers contented themselves with leaving the fabric, and covering it over with a net- work of perpendicular tracery.

4 About 1 Qd. of our money. See Lectures on Hist. Eng., by W.

Longman, vol. i. p. 418.

5 Dugdale, pp. 16 and 17.

THE THREE CATHEDRALS DEDICATED TO ST. PAUL.

CHAP.

L

The way in which the funds were raised.

which was four diameters, or five at most, it could rise no higher than 200 feet, and make the whole altitude not to exceed 460 feet to the Ball of copper gilt and Cross, upon which after the first fire by lighting was added a Weathercock representing an Eagle, of copper gilt likewise. The Ball was in circumference 9 feet 1 inch ; the heigh th of the Cross from the Ball 15 feet 6 inches, and its traverse 5 feet 10 inches. § The Eagle from the bill to the tail 4 | feet, the breadth over the wings 3 feet | and a half.’ 1 Wren’s measurement ^ makes the steeple considerably less in

I _] J height than that given by Stow and

Dugdale,2 but probably it is more correct, and even according to Wren’s reduced estimate, the height exceeded that of the spire of Salisbury Cathedral by nearly fifty feet.

Notwithstanding that the £ good people ’ contributed 4 most willingly,’ there seems to have been greater difficulty in raising funds for the building than has been felt in connexion with the recent efforts to provide means for £ the completion of St. Paul’s,’ although Scotland and Ireland as well as England were then laid under contri-

o bution. £ I shall now,’ says Dugdale, £ demonstrate how most of the charge in carrying on so great a work became supported, which, in brief, was by the bounty of good people, throughout both the realms of England and Ireland, whose fervent devotion to the advancement of God’s service incited them most willingly to further all works of this nature.’3 The ‘bounty of the good

2 Ellis’ edition of Dugdale, p. 11.

3 Dugdale, pp. 12, 13.

OLD ST. PAUL S.

people 5 was stirred up by letters of indulgence, 4 and chap. that this was the way by which they herein proceeded to * — 'r — raise monies, the sundry letters of the several Bishops By indul-

J m L gences.

of both nations to the Clergy under their charge, for recommendation of the business to their particular congregations, is most evident ; a multitude whereof I have seen and read : 1 by which letters there are indulgences extending to a certain number of days for such penance as they had injunction to perform, granted to all those as, being truly sorry for their sins, and confessed, should afford their helps towards this pious work.’ No stone was left unturned to induce people to contribute, and even those who, without contributing themselves, persuaded others to do so were granted indulgences. 4 Nay, not only the contributors to this glorious structure were thus favoured, but the solicitors for contributions and the very mechanicks themselves who laboured therein.’ 2 No accounts remain of the amount of money thus raised, nor of the cost of the Cathedral.

1 A whole boxful of these is still preserved in the library of St. Paul’s, of which I may say with Dugdale ‘ a multitude I have seen ’ — but not read.

Chapter II The Surroundings And General Description Of Old

m

ST. PAUL’S— WREN’S REMARKS ON ITS ARCHITECTURE

AND CONSTRUCTION.

Bird's-eye View of Old St. Paul’s, Showing the surrounding Wall, Gates, and Neighbouring (Compiled by F, Watkins, from drawings by E. B. Ferrey, Architect )

CHAPTER II.

Old St. Paul’s was anciently encompassed by a wall — originally built in the. ditch of the Palatine Tower by permission of Henry the First,1 — which extended from the North-eastern corner of Ave Maria Lane, eastward along Paternoster Row to the end of Old Change in Cheapside, whence it ran southward to Carter Lane, and thence to Creed Lane and Ludgate Street on the West. In the Cathedral wall were six gate-houses : the principal one stood in Ludgate Street, near the end of Creed Lane, opening on the Western front of the Cathedral ; the second was in Paternoster Row at Paul’s Alley ; the third at Canon Alley ; the fourth, called the Little gate, was an entrance from Cheapside ; the fifth, or St. Augustine’s gate, led from Watling Street into the Cathedral precinct by a street called High Street, which was considered to be the King’s Highway ; and the sixth gate-house fronted the Southern porch of the Church, near what is now called Paul’s Chain, from the ponderous chain which once hung across this passage to the entrance. The Bishop’s Palace stood at the North-western corner of the Churchyard,2 and the Chapter House— built in 1332 — which was of very small dimensions, being only 32 feet 6 inches in internal diameter, was 6 on the South side of the body of the Church,’ in the very centre of the cloister- 4 garth,’ on the site of the garden belonging to the

CHAP.

n.

The wall round Old St. Paul’s.

The gates in the wall.

Bishop’s

Palace.

Chapter

House.

2 Winkle’s Cathedrals , vol. i. p. 66.

1(5

THE THREE CATHEDRALS DEDICATED TO ST. PAUL.

CHAP.

II. Charnel

House.

The citizens

claimed a right to use parts of the Churchyard.

Wall completed in a.d. 1285.

Pardon

Church-

yard.

Dean and Chapter.1 On the North side of the Churchyard was a Charnel House, over which a Chapel was built.2 4 The Citizens claimed the East part of the Church Yard to be the place of Assembly to their Eolk motes, and that the great steeple there situate was to that use their Common Bell, which being there rung, all the inhabitants of the City might hear and come together. They also claimed the West side, that they might there assemble themselves together, with the Lord of Baynard’s Castle, for the view of their armour in defence of the City.’ 3

The Wall seems not to have been completed till the year 1285, for, as stated by Dugdale,4 4 upon information made to King Edward the First, that, by the lurking of thieves, and other bad people, in the night time, within the precinct of the Church Yard, divers robberies, homicides, and fornications had been committed therein ; for the preventing of the like, for the future, the said King, by his patent bearing date at Westminster 10 June in the 13th year of his reign, to the honour of God and Holy Church, and of those saints whose bodies were buried therein, as also for the better security of the Canons and officers belonging thereto, granted unto the said Dean and Canons licence to include the said Church Yard with a wall on every side, with fitting Gates and Postern therein, to be opened every morning and closed at night.’

There were numerous beautiful chapels in and about the Cathedral, among which one in Pardon Churchyard, founded by Gilbert Becket, 4 Portgrave, and principal magistrate of this City in the reign of King Stephen,’ the churchyard of which was enclosed by a

3 Stew’s Survey of London , vol. i. p. 639. 4 P. 18.

OLD ST. PAUL’S.

cloister with painted walls, deserves particular mention. It is thus described by Dugdale : — 4 There was also one great cloister on the north side of the Church, environing a plot of ground of old time called Pardon Church Yard. About this cloister was artificially and richly painted the Dance of Machabray, or Dance of Death, commonly called the Dance of St. Paul’s.’ It was destroyed in 1549 and turned into a garden by order of the avaricious Protector who coveted the materials. 4 In the year 1549, on the 10th of April, the said Chapel, by commandment of the Duke of Somerset, was begun to be pulled down with the whole cloister, the Dance of Death, the Tombs, and Monuments ; so that nothing thereof was left but the bare plot of ground, which is since converted into a garden for the petty canons.’ There was also a chapel at the north door, 4 founded by Walter Sherrington, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, in the reign of Henry YI. ; ’ 1 4 There was furthermore a fair chapel of the Holy Ghost in St. Paul’s Church on the north side, founded in the year 1400 by Eoger Holmes, Chancellor and Prebendary of St. Paul’s 4 then, under the choir of St. Paul’s is a large chapel, first dedicated to the name of Jesu, in a place called the Shrowds of the Cathedral, founded, or rather confirmed, the 27th of Henry YI.’1 2

The most remarkable appendage to the Cathedral was the extremely beautiful Parish Church of St. Faith,3

1 1 The chapel and library attached to it were pulled down in 1549, and the materials carried into the Strand towards the building of that stately fabric called il Somerset House,” built by Edward, Duke of

Somerset, on his appointment as Lord Protector to King Edward VI.’ — Dugdale, p. 134.

3 This parish is now united to that of St. Austin’s, in Watling Street.

C

CHAP.

II.

The painted cloister.

The Dance of Death destroyed in 1549.

Sherrington’s Chapel.

Chapel of the Holy Ghost.

Jesu

Chapel.

The

Church of St. Faith.

THE THREE CATHEDRALS DEDICATED TO ST. PAUL.

CHAP.

II.

TheChurch of St.Paith transferred to undercroft in a.d. 1256.

Church of St.

Gregory.

built under the choir. 4 At the west end of this Jesu’s Chapel, under the choir of St. Paul’s, also was, and is, a Parish Church of St. Faith, commonly called St. Faith’s under St. Paul’s, which served for the stationers and others dwelling in St. Paul’s Church Yard, Paternoster Eow, and the places near adjoining.’ The Chnrcli of St. Faith the Virgin was originally above ground, and Jesus Chapel was attached to it. The four great bells belonging to this chapel were hung in a belltower on the eastern side of the churchyard. 4 The bells and the image of St. Paul on the top of the spire were all standing till Sir Miles Partridge, Knight, temp. Henry VIII., having won them from the King at one cast of the dice, pulled them down.’1 The Church of St. Faith was, as already related,2 demolished about the year 1256, to enlarge the Cathedral,3 and a portion of the undercroft was then granted to the parishioners as a place of worship, and converted into the New Church of St. Faith.4 Jesus Chapel was still attached to it, although architecturally severed, and so continued until 1551, when it 4 was laid open to the Church, for the better enlargement thereof.’ 5 Fuller wittily describes Old St. Paul’s as being 4 truly the mother church, having one babe in her body — St. Faith’s, and another in her arms — St. Gregory’s.’ 6 The Church of St. Gregory, which was a parish church, was built up against the walls of the Cathedral at the South-west corner. The building shown in Hollar’s plate is of a debased style of architecture, and clearly was not the original church, which was probably Norman, but there can be very little doubt

4 Winkle’s Cathedrals , vol. i. p. 67. 5 Dugdale, p. 120.

6 Timbs’ Curiosities of London, p. 85.

OLD ST. PAUL’S.

that it occupied the same position. To us it seems. cjeiap. strange that a church should be actually built up — — Aagainst the walls of a Cathedral. But it was not uncommon for parish churches to be built in close proximity to a Cathedral ; St. Margaret’s, for instance, is placed close to Westminster Abbey: there does not, however, appear to be any instance, at least in England, of a church being built against the very walls of a Cathedral. At length the position of St. Gregory’s Church was considered to be a mistake, and before 1645, notwithstanding a petition from the parishioners against its demolition,1 the Church was 4 pulled down in regard it was thought to be a blemish to the stately Cathedral whereunto it adjoined.’2

In an account of Old St. Paul’s, the celebrated ‘Paul’s Paul’s Cross ’ must not be forgotten. 4 About the midst of this ^ SS* church yard,’ says Stow, 4 was a pulpit-cross of timber, mounted upon steps of stone and covered with lead, in stow s which were sermons preached by learned divines every ofTt™ Sunday in the forenoon. The very antiquity thereof is to me unknown. But I read that, in the year 1259,

King Henry III. commanded a general assembly to be made at the cross, where he, in person, commanded the mayor, that on the next day following he should cause to be sworn before the Aldermen every stripling of .twelve years of age or upwards, to be true to the King and his heirs Kings of England.’ 4 Also, in the year 1262, the same King caused to be read at St. Paul’s Cross a Bull, obtained from Pope Urban IV. as an absolution for him, and for all that were sworn to maintain the articles made in Parliament at Oxford,

1 Calendar of State Papers , Domestic, pp. 218, 408. 1637, June 15,

THE THREE CATHEDRALS DEDICATED TO ST. PAUL.

CHAP.

H.

Also, in the year 1299, the Dean of St. Paul’s cursed, at St. Paul’s Cross, all those which had searched in the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields for an hoard of st. Paul’s cross.

“ As it appeared on Sunday, 26th of March, 1620, at which time it was visited by King James I. and his Court, the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen being in attendance ; when a sermon was preached by Dr. John King, Bishop of London, recommending the speedy reparation of the venerable Cathedral of St. Paul’s, which with its unsteepled Tower, &c., appears in the back or side grounds.” From an original picture in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries, London, which is engraved in Wilkinson’s Londina illuslrata, 1811.

gold. This pulpit cross was, by tempest of lightning and thunder, much defaced ; Thomas Kemjie, then (1450-89) Bishop of London, new built this pulpit and cross. In foul and rainy weather these solemn sermons