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Page 3
The defeat of the Danish giant is said to have been achieved in a
meadow to the north of the city, named from that occurrence "Danemark
Mead"; and we are told also that the Dane's sword was to be seen in the
Cathedral treasury down to the reign of James I. Be this as it may, we
do know that in the eighth year of Edward I a writ of right was brought
by the King against the Abbot of Hyde, to recover land usurped in the
north suburb of the city, called "Denemarche", and judgment was given
for the crown.
The appearance of the city in Saxon days has been described thus by Dean
Kitchin: "The three Minsters, which filled up the south-eastern corner
of the city, were for long the finest group of churches and dwellings in
all England. Wolvesey Palace, at once the school, the court of justice,
and the royal dwelling place, formed the bulwark against the dreaded
invasions of the Dane; inwards from Wolvesey precincts came the strong
enclosure of St. Swithun's Convent, a second fortress, which protected
the church, and behind both, sheltered by their strong walls and by the
river and the marshlands to the north, were the growing buildings of the
Nuns' Minster, and the new Minster. And up the rising towards the west,
on either side of the ancient Roman road from the eastward gate of the
city, the houses of the citizens began to cluster into a street, with
here and there a stone-built dwelling, and the rest made of that 'wattle
and dab' construction, of which from time to time examples are still
laid bare in the city."
Although many historical persons flit across the scene throughout the
centuries, the personal associations of Winchester are dominated by the
outstanding figures of Alfred, St. Swithun, and the great clerical
craftsman, William of Wykeham, the builder of much of the cathedral, and
the founder of St. Mary's College, Winchester, and New College,
Oxford--the former of which, although of later foundation, was intended
as a stepping-stone for the latter.
With the Norman Conquest, and the rapid rise of Westminster, the days of
Winchester as the seat of government were numbered, although it was much
favoured by the early Norman kings, possibly owing to its proximity to
such hunting grounds as the New Forest Cranborne Chase (where King
John's hunting lodge still stands), and the Royal Warren of Purbeck.
William I had his great palace near the cathedral, and it was to
Winchester that the body of William Rufus was brought on a cart, after
his ill-fated death in the New Forest.
Then the Domesday Book--if not compiled at Winchester--was kept there
for many years, when it was called "The Book of Winton". In the seventh
year of Henry II a charge appears in the Pipe Roll for conveying the
"arca", in which the book was kept, from Winchester to London.
There is naturally much in the life-history of St. Swithun that is
incapable of proof. He was possibly born in the neighbourhood of
Winchester about the year 800. He became a monk of the old abbey, and
rose to be head of the community, when he gained the favour of King
Egbert, who entrusted him with the education of his son Ethelwolf. There
is an authentic charter granted by Egbert in 838, and bearing the
signatures of Elmstan, _episcopus_, and Swithunus, _diaconus_. On the
death of Elmstan, in 852, Swithun was appointed his successor in the
see, when, in addition to erecting several churches, and building a
stone bridge over the Itchen, he appears to have enlarged and beautified
the Saxon cathedral built by Kynewalch when Winchester became the seat
of a bishopric in 679. The site of this Saxon church is considered to
have been a little to the north of the present cathedral, which is a
Norman building commenced by Walkelin a few years after the Conquest.
St. Swithun is best known to-day in his capacity of weather prophet. In
his humility he is said to have desired to be buried outside the church,
so that the foot of the passer-by, and the rainwater from the eaves,
could fall upon his grave; and here his body lay for more than a
century. When his remains were eventually translated, a chapel was
erected over the site of his grave at the north-east corner of the
church, and faint traces of this building may still be seen. King Edgar
provided the richly jewelled shrine into which the relics of the saint
were translated by St. Ethelwold, on July 15, 980, when the relics of
Birinus were enshrined at the same time, although these had already been
translated from Dorchester to Winchester by Bishop Hedda as early as the
seventh century. The shrine attracted an immense number of pilgrims
until that of Becket at Canterbury rose into prominence. The skull of
St. Swithun is said to have been taken to Canterbury by St. Elphege in
the eleventh century, and an arm of this patron saint of Winchester was
one of the most treasured possessions of Peterborough. What remained of
these much-disturbed relics were re-translated by Bishop Walkelin from
the old to the new cathedral, but in 1241 the shrine was broken by the
vane of the tower falling through the roof.
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