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Page 8
The present edifice is thought to stand approximately on the site of the
earlier Saxon church restored by Ethelwold in 980, in which Queen Emma
underwent the "fiery ordeal" by walking blindfold and barefooted over
nine red-hot plough-shares, thus proving her innocence of the charges
brought against her, and furnishing her accusers with an example of what
female chastity is able to accomplish. The main portion of the structure
as seen to-day was begun by Bishop Walkelin about 1079, and completed
some fourteen years later. It is the longest of English churches,
measuring externally 566 feet, and internally 562-1/2 feet, being a few
feet longer than St. Alban's, which has the same plan; although we must
remember that when the nave of Winchester terminated at the west in two
large towers the whole mass was 40 feet longer than at present.
The vista of the whole block of masonry, with its stumpy tower and
heavily buttressed walls, conveys the idea of immense strength rather
than of gracefulness; while its situation at the bottom of a hill, and
near the bank of the river, is one of great charm.
It is when the nave is entered that the full beauty and vast proportions
of the Norman church are revealed, for this is in essence a Norman
building encased with Perpendicular details and additions. As Wykeham's
alterations were merely added to the original piers, the stateliness of
the whole remains. Full credit, of course, must be given to Wykeham for
the wonderful skill he showed in this work of transformation, and in
removing the heavy triforium, although the grandeur of the nave as a
whole is due to the combined work of Walkelin and Wykeham. This
alteration of styles in the nave was begun by Edington, continued by
Wykeham, and completed by his successors in the see--Cardinal Beaufort
and Bishop Waynflete--who built the stone vaulting of the roof. The
tower at the intersection of the transepts is the second of its kind,
the first, built by Walkelin, having fallen in 1107, owing, says
tradition, to the wicked Red King having been buried beneath it. Of its
rebuilding there are no records.
So many detailed architectural histories of the building have appeared
that its principal features must be familiar to every lover of our
national architecture. There are, however, one or two features about
this cathedral that should be noted. Apart from its great length, which
is greater than any church in the world, with the exception of St.
Peter's at Rome, it is remarkable for its parclose screens, with the
mortuary chests upon them; and for the beauty and number of its
chantries, in which it is richer than any other English cathedral. They
are said to have been saved from destruction during the Civil War by the
Parliamentary colonel, Fiennes, an old Wykehamist; and certain
historians describe the dramatic incident of the colonel standing with
drawn sword to protect the chantry of the founder of his Alma Mater from
the iconoclastic tendencies of his troopers. The chantries number seven,
and were built as chapels by bishops for their last resting-places.
Within these chantries are the tombs of Edington, Wykeham, Waynflete,
Beaufort, Gardiner, Langton, and Fox, all of whom were bishops of the
diocese. Fox's chantry was carefully restored by Corpus Christi College,
Oxford; and that of Waynflete by Magdalen College, as a mark of
reverence and esteem for the memory of their respective founders.
The first to be seen on entering the nave from the west is that of
Wykeham, whose faith in the solidity of Norman building was so great
that he did not hesitate to cut away more than a third of the two nave
pillars between which it is placed. Within the chapel, said to have been
built on the site of an altar to the Virgin, is the effigy of the
bishop-builder, with flesh and robes coloured "proper", as the heralds
say; and at his feet are the figures of his three favourite monks, to
whom he left an endowment for the celebration of three masses daily in
his chantry, while each was to receive one penny a day from the prior.
The effigy lies on an altar tomb, in episcopal attire, the head-pillow
supported by two angels. Five bays farther on is Edington's chantry, but
without effigy, as also are those of Fox and Langton. Of the seven
chantries those of Fox and Beaufort are usually considered the most
beautiful.
The proud Cardinal Beaufort, founder of the "Almshouse of Noble Poverty"
at St. Cross, is represented by Shakespeare as dying in despair:
"Lord Cardinal, if thou think'st on Heaven's bliss
Hold up thy hand: make signal of thy hope.
He dies, and makes no sign!"
Dean Kitchin writes: "One cannot look at his effigy, as it lies in his
stately chantry, without noting the powerful and selfish characteristics
of his face, and especially the nose, large, curved, and money-loving.
The sums Beaufort had at his disposal were so large that he was the
Rothschild of his day. More than once he lent his royal masters enough
money to carry them through their expeditions."
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