The Cathedral Church of York Part 11

#Geoffry# (1191-1207), the illegitimate, and only faithful son of Henry II., was appointed only after ten years' interval, during which time the king took the revenues. He was early in life made Archdeacon, and then Bishop of Lincoln. He afterwards became Chancellor of England. He was only ordained priest when he obtained the archbishopric. He had sworn not to go to England while Richard was away on his crusade, but he returned immediately after his consecration at Rheims, and was clapped into prison at Dover. He was, however, soon released, and went at once to York. There he proved a better bishop than was expected, according to Stubbs, though Drake shrewdly remarks that "that author has made saints of every prelate he writes on." It is certain that he quarrelled always with John and Richard, or with the canons of York. At length he was suspended by the Pope, appealed, and was reinstated. Richard, on his return, seized all his goods, spiritual and temporal, but Geoffry obtained their return by payment of a sum of money. John also seized his goods, and Geoffry excommunicated all concerned in the seizure. He was from time to time reconciled with the king, but after a final rupture fled to Norway, where he died in 1212.

#Walter De Grey# (1216-1255) was only appointed after the see had been vacant for nine years, during which time John of course kept the revenues. The dean and chapter elected Simon Langton, brother of Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury; but John would have none of him, and was supported by the Pope. Walter de Grey was therefore chosen at the desire of the king. He died just before the outbreak of the Barons' war.

He conferred many benefits on his diocese, and built the south transept of the minster, where is his beautiful tomb. He is said to have built the west front of Ripon Minster.

#Sewal De Bovill# (1256-1258) had been Dean of York. After the death of De Grey the see remained vacant for some time, the king saying that he had never held the archbishopric in his hands before, and was therefore in no hurry to let it slip out of them. He refused his consent to Sewal's election for some time, who, however, obtained a dispensation from Rome. He afterwards quarrelled with the Pope about the election to the deanery, and was excommunicated. This sentence lay heavy on the archbishop, and is said to have brought him to his grave. According to Stubbs, he began to "squeak" at last, and called for absolution on his death-bed. His tomb is in the south transept.

#Geoffry Of Ludham# (1258-1265) had been that Dean of York over whom Sewal fell out with the Pope. When elected, he was still under the Pope's ban. He went to Rome, however, and by bribery and much trouble obtained his pall. Little is known of him except that in 1260 he laid the city of York under an interdict.

#Walter Giffard# (1266-1279) had been Bishop of Bath and Wells, and Lord Chancellor of England. He was with others entrusted with the regency of the kingdom during the absence of Edward I. in 1275.

#William Of Wickwaine# (1279-1286) had been Chancellor of York. He died at Pontigny, and was buried there.

#John Le Romeyn# or #Romanes# (1286-1296) was the son of that treasurer of York, an Italian, who had built the north transept and central tower of the minster. He had been precentor at Lincoln. He began the nave of the cathedral as it now stands. He died suddenly, near Burton.

#Henry Of Newark# (1298-1299) had been Dean of York. Owing to the wars in Europe, he did not go to Rome, and was consecrated in his own church.

#Thomas Of Corbridge# (1300-1304) had been Chancellor of York. He was consecrated at Rome. He was said to be a great and learned divine. He was buried at Southwell.

#William Greenfield# (1306-1315) was related to Giffard a past archbishop, and had been Dean of Chichester, Chancellor of Durham, and Chancellor of England. He died at Cawood. His beautiful tomb is in the north transept of the minster.

#William De Melton# (1317-1340) was of lowly origin. He was elected in 1315, but not consecrated until two years after, owing to the interested delays of the Pope. He took a large part in civil affairs, especially in the war with the Scots, by whom he was defeated at Myton-on-Swale. His army was filled with clergy, and the battle was derisively known as the Chapter of Myton. In 1325 he became Lord Treasurer of England, and supported Edward in his troubles. He even intrigued against Edward III., it is said, in 1330, and was arrested for treason, but soon acquitted of the charge.

He completed the nave of the minster, and glazed the great west window.

He died at Cawood. His grave in the north aisle of the nave was opened when the present pavement was laid down in 1736, and a chalice and paten taken from it.

#William La Zouche# (1342-1352) had been Dean of York. When Edward III.

set out for the French wars he left Zouche warden of the northern parts of the kingdom, and as such he defeated the Scots at Neville's Cross, near Durham, 1364. He built, or began, a chantry on the south wall of the choir, which was destroyed by Th.o.r.esby. He died at Cawood, and was buried in the nave of the minster.

#John Of Th.o.r.esby# (1352-1373) had been the King's Proctor at Rome, Master of the Rolls, Bishop of St. David's and Worcester, and Lord Chancellor of England. He drew up a famous catechism in Latin translated into English. In his time the controversy between York and Canterbury finally came to an end. The Archbishop of Canterbury was to be styled Primate of All England, the Archbishop of York, Primate of England. Each also was to be allowed to carry his cross erect in the province of the other.

In 1361 he began the present choir of the minster, contributing 200 a year to it during his life. He died at Bishopthorpe. It has been said that Urban VI. made him a cardinal, but this is probably not true. He was buried in his own Lady Chapel. #Alexander Neville# (1374-1388) was a Canon of York, and high in the favour of Richard II. Consequently, on Richard's overthrow he was imprisoned in Rochester Castle, whence he escaped, and was translated to St. Andrews in 1386, but the Scots would have none of him, not acknowledging Urban as Pope. Thereupon, it is said, he fell to teaching a school at Louvain, where he died in 1392.

#Thomas Fitzalan# of Arundel (1388-1396), son of the Earl of Arundel, was translated to York from Ely, and had been Lord Chancellor. He was a great benefactor to the church and manors of the see, and gave much plate for the service of the minster. He was in 1390 translated to Canterbury, the first Archbishop of York to be so advanced.

#Robert Waldby# (1397-1398) had been an Augustinian friar and professor of theology at Toulouse. He was created Archbishop of Dublin and Bishop of Chichester before his translation to York. He died and was buried at Westminster.

#Richard Scrope# (1398-1405) was the son of Lord Chancellor Scrope, and was himself Lord Chancellor of England and Bishop of Lichfield. He received his preferment from Richard II., of whom he was a firm supporter, though for a short time he submitted to Henry IV. The history of his famous rebellion with the Percys, and the trick by which he was captured, is well known. He was taken to his own palace at Bishopthorpe, and there Gascoign, the famous Chief Justice, greatly to the king's wrath, refused to try him. He was condemned to death by a creature of the king, not even a judge, and beheaded near to York. He was buried in the minster, and was long lamented and almost wors.h.i.+pped by the people.

#Henry Bowet# (1407-1423). After Scrope's execution the see remained vacant for over two years. In the meantime, Thomas Longley, Dean of York, and Robert Halom or Hallam were nominated to the see, but, for different reasons, were not confirmed in the appointment. Bowet had been Bishop of Bath and Wells. He built a great hall to his castle at Cawood, where he died, and was buried in the east end of the cathedral, near the altar of All Saints, which he had built. His beautiful tomb may still be seen.

#John Kemp# (1426-1452) had been Bishop of Rochester, Chichester, and London. He was the nominee of the king and the dean and chapter, as opposed to the Pope, who proposed Fleming, Bishop of London. The Pope, whose power was fast decaying in England, at length submitted. Kemp, who was, it is said, of humble birth, rose to be Cardinal, first of St.

Balbria, and afterwards of St. Rupria. He was translated finally to Canterbury.

In 1432 he went as amba.s.sador to the Council of Bale. He built a gatehouse to the palace at Cawood. He died soon after his translation to Canterbury.

#William Booth# or #Bothe# (1452-1464) had been a lawyer, and Bishop of Lichfield. He repaired the palaces at Southwell and York, and died at Southwell, where he was buried.

#George Neville# (1464-1476), by the interest of his brother Warwick, the king-maker, became Bishop of Exeter at the age of twenty-three. He was not thirty when made archbishop. His installation was the most splendid ceremony of the kind hitherto seen, but his tenure of the see was marked by many troubles. When Edward IV. was captured by Warwick at Oundle he was given into the custody of the archbishop, who treated him with great courtesy and freedom, so that he soon escaped to London. Soon after Edward captured the archbishop and imprisoned him; but soon released him and restored him to his see. Again he was arrested for high treason and sent to Calais, the king having plundered all his plate and jewels. He was imprisoned for four years, and died soon after his release. His tomb was unknown, but Drake speaks of a grave found under the Dean's vestry about 1735, which, from its contents, must have been that of an archbishop, and perhaps of Neville.

#Laurence Booth# or #Bothe# (1476-1480) had been Bishop of Durham and Lord High Chancellor; he died at Southwell, and was buried there.

#Thomas Scott# or #De Rotheram# (1480-1500) had been Bishop of Rochester and Lincoln, and Lord High Chancellor. He was imprisoned in the Tower by Richard III., for delivering up the Great Seal to the Queen on the death of Edward IV., but was soon released. He completed Lincoln College, Oxford, and gave a "wonderful rich mitre" to the minster. He was buried in the Lady Chapel, where his tomb still remains.

#Thomas Savage# (1501-1507) had been Bishop of Rochester and London. He was nominated by the king, confirmed by the Pope, and installed by deputy. He was buried on the north-west side of the choir, where his tomb remains.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Effigy of Archbishop Savage.]

#Christopher Baynbridge# (1508-1514) had been Dean of York, Dean of Windsor, Master of the Rolls, and Bishop of Durham. In 1511 he became Cardinal of St. Praxede. He was sent by Henry VIII. to the court of the Pope as King's Proctor. There he died, poisoned by a servant. He was buried at Rome, in the church of St. Thomas the Martyr.

#Thomas Wolsey# (1514-1530). The facts of the life of this famous man are too well known to need repet.i.tion. He was at once Bishop of Durham and Archbishop of York, and afterwards Bishop of Winchester and Archbishop of York. In 1515 he was created Cardinal of St. Cecilia, and papal legate. It is said that Wolsey never was at York, though he was arrested at Cawood after his disgrace.

#Edward Lee# (1531-1544). The king delayed a year before he appointed Edward Lee, his almoner, to the vacant see. In 1536, when the Pilgrimage of Grace broke out, he was seized by the rebels and carried to Pontefract Castle, where he was compelled to take an oath that he would support the rebel party. His tomb is in the choir.

#Robert Holgate# (1545-1554) was translated from Landaff. He supported Henry in the Reformation. He was even married. When Mary came to the throne his wife and his riches were taken from him, and himself cast into the Tower. After a year and a half's imprisonment he was released, and died soon after at Hemsworth.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Tomb of Archbishop Savage.]

#Nicholas Heath# (1555-1559) had been Bishop of Landaff, Rochester, and Worcester, and, under Mary, Lord President of Wales and Lord Chancellor.

The Bull of Pope Paul IV. appointing him to York is the last acknowledged in England. He obtained much of the property from the Queen which Henry VIII. had alienated from the see. On the accession of Elizabeth, Heath was deprived, though he had proclaimed her Queen. He retired to Cobham in Surrey. The queen appears to have punished him only for his opinions, since he remained a firm Papist. Elizabeth even visited him at Cobham. He died in 1579.

#Thomas Young# (1561-1568) had been Bishop of St. David's, and was president of the Council of the North. It is said he provided for his family by settling the best estates of the prebends upon them. Late in life he married, and, it is said, pulled down the great hall in the palace at York that he might give the lead to his son. He died at Sheffield Manor.

#Edward Grindal# (1570-1576) had been Bishop of London. He was a Puritan, and afterwards was translated to Canterbury.

#Edwin Sandys# (1577-1588), when vice-chancellor of Cambridge University, supported the cause of Lady Jane Grey. For this he was thrown into prison, and afterwards fled to Germany. He returned on the accession of Elizabeth, and was made Bishop of Worcester, and afterwards of London. He died at Southwell, where he was buried.

#John Piers# (1588-1594) had been Dean of Christchurch, Oxford, Bishop of Rochester, and Bishop of Salisbury.

#Matthew Hutton# (1595-1606) was translated from Durham. His monument is in the south aisle of the choir.

#Tobias Matthew# (1606-1628) was also translated from Durham. His monument is in the south aisle of the choir.

#George Monteign# (1628) had been Bishop of Lincoln, London, and Durham.

He died within a month of his enthronement.

#Samuel Harsnett# (1628-1631) was translated from Norwich. He had been master of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, where he was ejected for scandalous practices. He died unmarried, and on his tomb described himself as _Indignus Episcopus Cicestriensis, indignior Norvicencis, indignissimus Archiepiscopus Eboracensis_.

#Richard Neile# (1632-1640) was Dean of Westminster in 1605. Lord Burghley was his patron, and he became Bishop of Rochester, Lichfield, Lincoln, Durham, and Winchester; more sees than any other English bishop has ruled over. He was a supporter of Laud, and a courtier. He died in 1640.

#John Williams# (1641-1650) had been Dean of Westminster, Bishop of Lincoln, and Lord Chancellor. In the first year of Charles's reign he had the seals taken from him, and was sent to the Tower. When Episcopacy was abolished, he returned to Wales, his native country, where it is said he joined the Roundheads, and changed his lawn for buff. He was buried at Llandegai Church.

#Accepted Frewen# (1660-1664) had been Bishop of Lichfield nominally since 1644. As his name shows, he was of Puritan family, but became chaplain to the king. His monument is in the choir.

#Richard Sterne# (1664-1683) had been Bishop of Carlisle. He was expelled from the masters.h.i.+p of Jesus College, and imprisoned by the Puritans. He had been chaplain to Laud, and was present at his death.

His monument, unusually hideous, is at the east end of the cathedral.

#John Dolben# (1683-1686) was translated from Rochester. He died of the small-pox at Bishopthorpe. His tomb, also very ugly, is in the north side of the choir.