I am much indebted to James Harris' Epitaphs (far left) and the Salisbury Cathedral section of the Church Monuments Gazetteer website.
Tomb Talk
Tombs and Tablets mainly in Salisbury Cathedral
Bishop Wyvil
In the Morning Chapel is a floor brass with the following inscription translated by James Harris: Here lies Robert Wyvil, who collected and preserved his flock as a vigilant Pastor. Among many other benefits to his Church, he recovered the Castle of Sarum from the violent and unjust occupation of the military (after it had been in their hands several years), like an undaunted champion, and procured the restitution of the Forest of Bere [north of Fareham] to his Church.
He, died on the 4th day of September, 1375, and year of his consecration 45, as it pleased God, paid the debt of nature in the said castle.—(The rest is imperfect). The brass depicts a castle (supposedly Old Sarum) with the figure of a bishop in an arch over the portal and a warrior standing at it armed with a shield and battle-axe. There are rabbits around.
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Wyvil (or Wyvill or Wyville) was Lord Privy Seal and consecrated as Bishop in April 1330. He was the first Bishop to use Sarum on his seal and offered to use ‘trial by combat’ to get control of Sherborne Castle.
As a corollary, John Coldwell, originally a doctor of medicine, who became Bishop of Salisbury in 1591, lost Sherborne Castle to Sir Walter Raleigh. As a result of this and similar misfortunes, including a running battle with the local citizens over taxes, he died deeply in debt in 1596. His friends were glad to bury him ‘suddenly and secretly’ in Bishop Wyvil’s grave. He was the first of our bishops to be married.
Bishop Moberly
He was born in St Petersburg, Russia in 1803, the seventh son of Edward Moberly, merchant, and his wife, Sarah Cayley, and educated at Winchester College. He matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford, matriculating in 1822, and graduating BA 1825, and MA 1828. He was a Fellow of Balliol from 1826 to 1834. He was ordained deacon in 1826, and priest in 1828. Moberly married Mary Anne Crokat on 22 December 1834 at Oxford. After his academic career he became headmaster of Winchester in 1835.
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This post Moberly resigned in 1866, and retired to the Rectory of St. Mary's Church, Brighstone, Isle of Wight, he was also a Canon of Chester Cathedral. Gladstone, however, in 1869 called him to be Bishop of Salisbury, in which see he kept up the traditions of his predecessors, Bishops Hamilton and Denison, his chief addition being the summoning of a diocesan synod.
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Though Moberly left Oxford at the beginning of the Oxford Movement, he fell under its influence: the more so that at Winchester he formed a most intimate friendship with Keble, spending several weeks every year at Otterbourne, the next parish to Hursley.
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Moberly (left, dated 1870, courtesy of Wikipedia), however, retained his independence of thought, and in 1872 he astonished his High Church friends by joining in the movement for the disuse of the damnatory clauses in the Athanasian Creed. His chief contribution to theology is his Bampton Lectures of 1868, on The Administration of the Holy Spirit in the Body of Christ. He died on 6 July 1885 leaving 15 children!
Earl Castlehaven
Jame Harris (1825) translates the epitaph (opposite Audley Chapel) as follows.
Here was buried the Right Hon. James Tuchet, Earl of Castlehaven, and Baron Audley, who illustrates the noble birth and titles of his ancestors with his own virtues. He was a faithful friend, a cheerful companion, and readily attached everyone to him. He was a constant, true, and strenuous defender of his country; and opposed with all his power what happened in the evil times in which he lived. Thus happily taught, he lived sincerely loved, and died universally lamented on the 8th of May, 1790, aged 46. Ed: This may be an error as Wikipedia gives his dates as 1700 to 1740.
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John, Earl of Castlehaven, erected this monument to the memory of his sincerely lamented brother. The brother John above-mentioned and his lady, have been since buried by the side of him, without any sepulchral remembrance. The ancient and honorable title of Audley has been coeval with the Conquest. Their family mansion for many years was the house in Crane Street, Salisbury, now used as a work-house, in which there are many traces remaining of its ancient noble possessors. On the contrary, Mervin Lord Audley, Earl of Castlehaven, lived there; who was beheaded in the reign of Charles I. 14 May, 1652, for the most horrid crimes.
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James Tuchet, 7th Baron Audley (c. 1463 – 28 June 1497) was the only lord to fully join the Cornish Rebellion of 1497 opposing the rule of Henry VII of England. He was a leader in the rebel army's march to the edge of London, and in its defeat at the Battle of Deptford Bridge. Captured on the battlefield, he was sentenced for treason and beheaded. His peerage was forfeited, but restored to his son in 1512. They were obviously a funny lot as the 2nd earl (pictured) was executed for sodomy under the 1533 Buggery Act (don’t you just love the English language). In fact the trial was a cause célèbre with the wife being a very dubious witness, probably as debauched as her husband. With the death of the 8th Earl in 1777 the Earldom and the Baronies of Audley of Hely and Audley of Orier became extinct. However the separate Barony of Audley created by writ in 1312 passed to his nephew George Thicknesse who became the 19th Baron.
Edward Wyndham Tennant
Edward Wyndham Tennant’s memorial plaque, I am sure you will know well. It is placed on the North wall of the Nave with his portrait very similar to the 1920 drawing by John Singer Sergeant (below, public domain). He was born in July 1897 at Stockton House which his father (Lord Glenconner) had leased from Major-General Yeatman-Biggs, and was killed at the battle of the Somme in September 1916.
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Tennant was educated at Winchester College but left at 17 to join the grenadier Guards. His nickname was Bim and he was rumoured to have been engaged to Nancy Cunard but no evidence was found to confirm this story. He is buried at the Guillemont Road Cemetery near his friend Raymond Asquith who was killed the week before. The upper inscription on his Cathedral tablet reads When things were at their worst he would go up and down the trenches cheering the men, when danger was greatest his smile was loveliest.
Sue has just been reading the current Lady Glenconner’s autobiography. She was daughter of Thomas Coke, Earl of Leicester, Lady-in-Waiting to Princess Margaret and is a great friend of the Queen. She appears in The Crown, played by Nancy Carroll.
Sue is now reading A Curious Friendship by Anna Thomasson about the young Rex Whistler and the middle-aged Edith Olivier. Edith was a great character (related to Laurence Olivier), went to Oxford and was a socialite linked to the Pembrokes and the Tennants plus her friendship with Henry Newbolt, Henry Lamb, Augustus John, John Betjeman, Lady Diana Cooper, Siegfried Sassoon, Edith Sitwell, William Walton and Cecil Beaton etc. She helped form the Women’s Land Army. Her father was a Canon and lived at No.20 The Close.
James Harris 1st Earl of Malmesbury
James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury The greatest English diplomat of the eighteenth century and MP for Christchurch is commemorated by an elaborate tomb in the north transept.
Another James Harris in his 1825 Epitaphs of Salisbury Cathedral writes: ‘The monument now following was erected by [Sir Francis] Chantrey, and is one of the best specimens of his skill. It is to the memory of James, first Earl of Malmesbury, a nobleman of extraordinary abilities in the diplomatique capacity, and distinguished for every other quality that could adorn and dignify human nature. It has the following inscription.
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Sacred to the memory of James, first Earl of Malmesbury, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honorable Order of the Bath, one of his Majesty's Most Honorable Privy Council, and Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum [principal JP,] of the County of Southampton, born April 9th O. S. 1746 [Old Style ie before 1752], died November 21st, 1820, aged 74 years. Educated under the care and guidance of a father eminently qualified to instruct by precept, and stimulate by example, he devoted himself at an early period of his life to the service of his country. In the year 1768 he was employed as Charge d'Affaires at the Court of Madrid, and at the very commencement of his career displayed, in an important and delicate negociation respecting the Falkland Islands, those characteristic talents, by which he has been so eminently distinguished. He was afterwards successively appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Courts of Berlin and St. Petersburgh, and having been nominated to the same situation in Holland, he contributed in 1786, by the firmness and energy of his conduct, to preserve the established Government under the Stadtholder, from the overthrow with which it was threatened by a revolutionary faction. In1787 he was accredited Ambassador at the Hague; and in September following he was created Baron of Malmesbury, of Malmesbury in Wiltshire. He was selected in 1796, and 1797, to conduct two separate and arduous negociations with the Government of France for the restoration of peace.
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In 1800 he was raised to the dignity of an Earl, The acts of his public life were marked by penetration, judgment, temper, and decision; and the honours which he has transmitted to his posterity are the gratifying records of his sovereign's approbation. His many private virtues will long live in the recollection of his family and friends; and in testimony of the regard and veneration with which his memory is cherished, this Monument is erected in his native city by his most affectionate Sister, the Honourable Katherine Gertrude Robinson.’
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The historian Paul Langford has claimed that Harris proved brilliantly effective as a focus for Orangist and anti-French feeling, and as the agent of Anglo-Prussian cooperation. Harris himself is quoted as saying frustratedly it is a truth inculcated into John Bull with his mother’s milk that France is our natural enemy.
Bishop John Blythe
Gordon Verity brought to my attention the defaced (literally) tomb of Bishop John Blythe in the North Transept. John Blythe was born in Norton Lees in Derbyshire about 1460. John got his Bachelors degree at Cambridge in 1476/77. Between 1479 and 1480 he gained a doctorate. He already had a number of Prebendary posts by then including Archdeacon of Stow in 1477, and Archdeacon of Huntingdon 1478. In 1484 he gained a prebendary at Masham, and in 1485 he became Archdeacon of Richmond, so he was rising rapidly in the academic and legal world.
On the 24th April, 1488, he became Warden of Kings College. A position he kept for 10 years. Between the years 1493 and 1495 he was chancellor of the university of Cambridge, and in that capacity he delivered an oration before Henry VII, his mother, the Countess of Pembroke, and Prince Arthur, at Cambridge . It is said that his oration so impressed Henry VII that he appointed John as his personal chaplain. 1493 was a busy year for John as he not only became chancellor of Cambridge and Chaplain to Henry, Chancellor of the Order of the Garter, he was also put up for the position of Bishop of Salisbury. On the 18th of November he was granted payment of £1,021 7s 11d. for the custody of the temporarilities of Salisbury, and on February 23rd 1494 he was consecrated as Bishop at Lambeth.
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John Blythe was part of a new order in Church and Government. He came from a family with very little status, wealth or connections. The War of the Roses had decimated the Aristocracy, in that out of 64 peers, there remained only 38. Possibly from fears of the aristocracy rising up against him to challenge his tenuous claim to the throne, Henry Tudor chose to put in knights and gentlemen in positions previously held by aristocrats. John however was not born a gentleman. Nor does he seem to have any great connections. The Blythe family however had a long history of being in service to the Crown, and to the House of Lancaster. The Tudor rose is an emblem that can be seen on the tomb canopy. It is said however that this tomb was originally to be Bishop Beauchamp’s. However other sources only suggest the tomb’s position not the actual edifice was originally for Beauchamp.
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In 1499 John Blythe died and was buried in Salisbury Cathedral in the ambulatory of the Lady Chapel, behind the high altar with a great canopied monument with his effigy. The monument was later moved to the wall of the great transept where it still stands. Photo showing removed face above courtesy of Church Monuments Gazeteer. During Blyth's episcopate in 1496, the islands of Jersey and Guernsey were taken from the see of Coutances, and added to that of Salisbury, until in 1499 they were finally included in the bishopric of Winchester. Does anyone know what happened to the face? Protestant extremists perhaps?
John Clarke
On an elegant white marble monument, now placed against the wall of the choir [Ed: South-east transept west wall], just by the entrance door, with a globe and mathematical instruments carved on it, is this Latin inscription:
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Sacred to the memory of John Clarke, D.D. Dean of this Cathedral for the space of 29 years, who was united in friendship with Newton, and his relation Samuel Clarke (men of his own age), to whom he was very dear, as well on account of the integrity of his morals, as for the similitude of his studies in the mathematical science and theology. He died 4th Feb. 1757.
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His daughters and co-heiresses erected this monument as a feeble expression of their sorrow for the loss of so good a father.
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Dr. Samuel Clarke (pictured) was born in 1675, at Norwich, of which city his father was Alderman, and Member of Parliament. He received his education at the grammar school of Norwich, from whence he went to Caius College, Cambridge. The limits of this work will not admit of saying more of this great man than that he was a voluminous, learned, and elegant writer. He was seized with a pain in his side Sunday May 14, 1729, as he was going to preach before the Judges at Serjeants' Inn, was carried home, and died on the Sunday following.
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Sir Isaac Newton was born at Woolstrope, in Lincolnshire, on Christmas Day, 1642 ; died of the stone 20th March, 1726, and was interred in Westminster Abbey, where a stately monument is erected to his memory at the entrance into the choir.
Capt. John Cooke
Although included in James Harris’ book on Salisbury Cathedral epitaphs, this one comes from Donhead St.Andrew (his portrait, left, painted by Lemuel Francis Abbott courtesy of the National maritime Museum):
Sacred to the memory of John Cooke [1763 - 1805], Esq, late Captain of his Majesty's ship Bellerophon, who, in the Battle of Trafalgar, on the 21st Oct. 1805, having evinced the most consummate skill and bravery in the conflict of that eventful day, fell!
Glorious indeed to his country, but marked by the individual tear of all who knew him. His disconsolate Widow placed this tablet to record his virtues and his fate, near the spot which he had chosen for his favorite retirement, and to which (having left it at the call of his Country) he returned no more.
Capt. John Cooke, was son of Capt. James Cooke, the highly distinguished circumnavigator, who was killed by the natives of Owhyhee, one of the Sandwich Islands, Feb. 14, 1779, His other son, Capt, James, was drowned by accident in Poole Harbour, many years previous to the Battle of Trafalgar.
This is particularly interesting as John was decidedly not the son of Captain James Cook (no ‘e’) whose children all died without issue. John also has a memorial adjacent to Nelson in St.Paul’s crypt (left in pic below, courtesy of Nelson Chamber Creative Commons). Although killed in action at Trafalgar, repelling borders from Aigle, his ship Bellerophon (known below decks as Billy Ruffian) gained even more fame when Napoleon surrendered on board her after Waterloo in 1815.
Mary Sidney Herbert
In the Herbert family vault under the altar steps lies Mary Sidney Herbert who died, aged 59, in 1621. She was an acclaimed poet, sister of the poet Sir Philip Sidney, and Countess of Pembroke married to the second earl. Correspondence with her uncle, Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester, survives. Nicholas Hilliard’s portrait is shown left, courtesy of National Portrait Gallery Public Domain. She received an unusually good education that included Literature, Latin, French and Italian as well as lute-playing, singing and needlework. Her sons William and Philip became the 3rd and 4th earls of Pembroke and it is to these Incomparable Pair of Brethren that Shakespeare’s First Folio was dedicated.
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Mary, from her London home at Baynards Castle, encouraged a stream of elegies for her brother including from Edmund Spenser. She then began her own writing being careful to stick to religious themes, translation and dedication that were acceptable for a woman. Perhaps her most famous work is the metric translation of the Psalms 44-150 started by her brother and in which she used 128 different verse forms. She also wrote in praise of Queen Elizabeth, probably for her visit to Wilton in 1599.
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The Earl of Pembroke died in 1601 leaving Mary vulnerable to the Court of Wards. Her son William did not help by refusing to marry one of the Queen’s Maids of Honour whom he had made pregnant. As a result he was sent to the Fleet Prison but was released when his health failed. The sons eventually ‘made good’, William marrying the daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury and Philip the daughter of Lord Burghley. Mary retired to her home, Houghton House, in Bedfordshire and died of smallpox in London.
Sir Robert Hyde
Below, on the west-wall of the Southern Transept, courtesy of Wikipedia. James Harris’ The Epitaphs in Salisbury Cathedral states that there stands a handsome monument of black and white marble, and in an oval is the busto of a person in a Judge's habit, wearing his cap and collar of SS, and on a white marble table is a Latin inscription:
A man of primitive manners, a protector of destitute widows, most observant of the laws, and an avenger of them when broken : he was not dismayed at the disorder of the state ; in public calms and storms the same. At length justice revisiting the land, emulous of his paternal uncle (1), and his exalted paternal cousin (2), he rose by due steps to the highest state of his profession. Chief Justice of England. Perhaps you may enquire whether captivity in the Tower was more honorable to him, than the tribunal purple ; where being intimately acquainted with the common and statute law, he was a faithful guardian to both, an asylum to the people, and protector of the clergy.
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On a black tablet beneath.
Here lies interred, in the same rank as his Father (3) and brother (4) Sir Robert Hyde, Knt. second Son of Sir Laurence Hyde of the Close, at a time to be reckoned among the Preservers of the Cathedral and Spire from the destructive Malice of the Sacrilegious Roundheads ; consulting especially the Advantage of his Native City, although a Resident of the Metropolis ; having fulfilled his earthly Duty - ripe for heaven - struck by sudden death - he was removed thither on the Calends of May, in the year of our redemption 1665, aged 70. His disconsolate Widow erected this Monument in Testimony of her very severe loss.
Note: 1. Sir Nicholas Hyde. 2. Lord Chancellor Hyde, Earl of Clarendon. 3. Sir Lawrence Hyde. 4. Sir Henry Hyde. Sir Robert Hyde was Recorder of Salisbury till 1664, the year before his death, when he resigned in favour of his relation, Councillor Richard Coleman.—The plague raged in England in 1665, and carried of 68,000 persons, and very likely Lord Chief Justice Hyde among them.
Hyde was born at Heale House in the Woodford Valley. He was called to the bar in 1617 and became serjeant-at-law in 1640 (during the time of Lord Coke of Magna Carta fame). As Recorder of Salisbury he had complaints made against him for his remissness in collecting ship-money. This was a Medieval tax that the king could impose without the approval of Parliament and was one of the causes of the civil war. Samuel Pepys’ cousin Roger was bound over at Cambridge Assizes in 1664 for speaking insultingly of Hyde.
He represented Salisbury in the Short and Long Parliaments. Having joined the King at Oxford he was voted a malignant by parliament. He was committed to the Tower for 10 months and deprived of his recordership. He also sheltered Charles ll at Heale House for six nights when he was on his way to Shoreham. With no children of his own he made his brother Alexander, Bishop of Salisbury, his heir.
In the Choir North Aisle is a relief portrait in bronze of St.Clair Donaldson, Bishop of Salisbury from 1921 to 1935. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge he narrowly missed representing Cambridge as stroke in the 1883 boat race due to illness. He obtained a first class degree in classics and also one in theology.
At 41 he was enthroned as the Bishop of Brisbane and found that there was £30,000 towards building St.John’s Cathedral. He set to work to raise the rest of the money and the cathedral was consecrated 6 years later. In 1905 he became Archbishop. In this role he offered to mediate in the 1912 Brisbane general strike and spoke up strongly for aboriginal rights. During his episcopate the number of clergy increased from 55 to well over 100. In his will he left £4,000 to Brisbane endowment funds.
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He chaired the difficult committee for the Archbishop of Canterbury on ‘The Church and Marriage’ for which the King appointed him Prelate of the Order of St.Michael and St.George. He was appointed Bishop of Salisbury on his return to England in 1921 when Arthur Benson (Master of Magdalen and writer of the words to Land of Hope and Glory) described him as a very fine, simple-minded, robust, sensible prelate.
St Clair Donaldson
Bishop Edmund Gheast
According to James Harris’ The Epitaphs in Salisbury Cathedral of 1825, in the Morning Chapel is a brass: Edmund Gheast, Professor of Sacred Theology at Cambridge, Bishop of Rochester, High Almoner to the Queen for the space of 20 years, and afterwards by her most serene Majesty Queen Elizabeth translated to the see of Sarum, over which he presided more than five years, to the honor and glory of God, the benefit of his Church, and edification of his people; and to his great honor, to his great gain, but to the greater distress and sorrow of his friends, he exchanged his excellent life for a better death. Of the goods of this life (in which he did not abound) he bequeathed a great part to his relations, a greater to the poor, but most to his domestic servants. He left as many valuable books as the library could contain, for the perpetual use of the students of the Cathedral. Therefore, to this most honorable Elder and Prelate, having finished his pious life on the last day of February 1587, in the 63d year of his age, Giles Estcourt, one of his executors, erected this monument, in remembrance of so great and so good a man, and to testify his respect and attention towards him. Left, engraved by Augustus Fox 1840 Public domain.
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Bishop Edmund Gheast was born at Afferton, in Yorkshire, and formerly fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge : he was the immediate successor of Jewel, and every way worthy of his predecessor: he was buried in the choir between Wyvil and Jewel. Giles Estcourt lived at the College of St. Edmund's when he was executor to Bishop Gheast's will, it remained in his family 84 years. In 1660 it came to the family of Sir Wadham Wyndham, with whom it still remains, and long may it so.
Edward Poore
On the south wall of the South Transept is a canopied table tomb by J Carline of Shrewsbury to a design of Revd Hugh Owen. It contains the following inscriptions:
Rachel, wife of Edward Poore, who was sole daughter and heiress of Geo. Mullens, of the Close, M. D. and Rachel, daughter of Strode Bingham, of Melcomb Bingham, in the county of Dorset, who derived their descent from the brother of Robert Bingham, the immediate successor of Bishop Poore, and also a very active promoter of the building of this Cathedral.
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In the Nave of this Church are deposited the remains of Edward Poore and Rachel his Wife : He died May 19, 1780, aged 76. She died June 16, 1771, aged 63. They had two sons, on whose death without issue, the male representation of this ancient family devolved on the Poores of Rushall, (descended from his grandfather Edward Poore, of Figheldeane,) and four daughters, the survivors of whom, Eleanor and Charlotte, caused this memorial of respect and veneration to their lamented parents to be erected A D. 1817. [Edward, 3rd Baronet died on the way to Australia where those on board thought he was a miner after squandering his inheritance]. Left, canopied table tomb in south transept courtesy of Church Monuments Gazetteer.
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Edward Poore, Barrister at Law, one of the King's Justices of the Great
Sessions of Wales, and some time Representative in Parliament for this City, and the Borough of Downton, derived his descent in a direct line from Philip Poore, of Amesbury, brother of Richard, Bishop of this Diocese, and founder A D 1220, of this Cathedral. [MP for Salisbury and then Downton].
Giles of Bridport
Giles of Bridport*, bishop of Salisbury, was a native of the town from which he took his name and he may have been the brother of Simon de Bridport, who was treasurer of the diocese of Salisbury. As Dean of Wells, an office to which he was elected in 1253, he arbitrated in a dispute between the abbot and monks of Abingdon. In 1255 he was archdeacon of Berkshire. He was elected bishop of Salisbury in 1256, and was, as bishop-elect, sent that year on an embassy by Henry III to Alexander IV with reference to the money claimed by the pope for the gift of the Sicilian crown. The object of this embassy is described as 'against the clergy and people of England,' who were taxed to satisfy the pope's demands. Bridport escaped, though not without danger, from the snares of the French, and on his return to England he was employed to make an agreement with the clergy as to the payment of the tenth required of them.
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He was consecrated 11 March 1257, and was allowed by the pope to retain his former ecclesiastical revenues, along with his bishopric. When he entered on his see the cathedral was nearly finished, and he covered the roof with lead. The church was consecrated on 30 Sept. 1258 by Archbishop Boniface, in the presence of the king and many bishops, who were gathered by Bridport's exertions (Matt. Paris, v. 719). On 24 Aug. 1258 he was appointed one of the twenty-four commissioners of the aid chosen in accordance with the arrangements of the parliament of Oxford, and on 21 Nov. 1261 was nominated by the king as one of the arbitrators between himself and the barons. In 1260 he founded the college of Vaux or De Valle Scholarum at Salisbury. This interesting foundation is a strong proof of the bishop's munificence and love of learning. In 1262 he attempted to exercise visitatorial rights over his chapter, but withdrew his claim. He died 13 Dec. 1262, and was buried on the south side of the choir of his church.
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The tomb of Bishop Giles de Bridport (left, courtesy of Ealdgyth Creative Commons) in Salisbury Cathedral illuminates a transitional period of 13th-century English sepulchral art. The tomb is sculpted from white Chilmark stone with Purbeck marble details, and takes the form of a small canopied structure, the sides of which comprise highly ornamented traceried arcades and sculpted reliefs in the spandrels above. The carvers of the tomb experimented with newly fashionable naturalistic foliage while still practicing traditional “stiff-leaf” forms; for drapery style they chose not the early 13th-century narrow folds but more up-to-date broad folds; they borrowed ornamental details for tracery and leaves from new work at Westminster Abbey, yet built a monument that may have been a local Salisbury design. Eight narrative reliefs that apparently illustrate the life of Bishop Bridport were added to the tomb. He is commemorated by a statue in niche 169 on the west front of Salisbury Cathedral.
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*In the Domesday Book the Burh of Brid (aka Brydian) had port added to it which shows that it had become a market town (not a port).
William Long
William Long FRS, FSA (16 June 1747 – 24 March 1818) was an English surgeon.
Born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, he was the youngest of ten children of Walter Long of Preshaw, Hampshire (1690–1769) and Philippa Blackall. He was eminent in his profession, and for thirty-three years, from 1784 to 1807, was surgeon at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London. He was appointed Master of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1800 and was among those who gave a donation to help fund their new surgical library. He was also on the College's list of first Governors, first Examiners of Surgeons and the first Court of Assistants. He wrote several papers, including one (unpublished) entitled "The Effects of Cancer".
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He lived in London's Chancery Lane, and later at Lincoln's Inn Fields, and developed close friendships with the painter George Romney, sculptor John Flaxman, and writers William Hayley, Isaac Reed and William Blake, who, like Long, were members of the Unincreasable Club, at nearby Queens Head, Holborn, London. Long sat for Romney as his first subject for a portrait which was done for his friend Hayley. Subsequently Long acquired many of Romney's paintings, which were eventually sold by Christie's on behalf of the family, in 1890.
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William Long purchased Marwell Hall (right, courtesy of Wikipedia) near Winchester, Hampshire about 1798, and between 1812-1816 made considerable alterations, resulting in what is now the house as it stands today. He was a man of compassion and generosity, and when resident at his country seat away from London, he always gave his advice and medicine gratuitously to the poor of the surrounding neighbourhood. He and his wife Alice (daughter of Edmund Dawson of Wharton, Lancaster) had no children, and in his will Long made generous bequests to his nephews and nieces. After his death on 24 March 1818 his collections of preserved medical specimens and surgical instruments were donated by his executors to the Royal College of Surgeons Museum in London. Alice continued to live at Marwell Hall* (above, built 1320 and now in the centre of the zoo), and during the Owslebury riots of 1830 a mob of rioters, accompanied by John Boyes, a local farmer, arrived at the house. The mob demanded money from Alice and John Boyce demanded a reduction in the rents of her farm tenants, so they could pay their agricultural labourers higher wages. (Afterwards 245 men were arrested and brought to trial at Winchester. Two of the prisoners were hanged and Boyes was transported to Tasmania for seven years but was pardoned and returned home in 1835). A folk song called "The Owslebury Lads", collected in the early 20th century, recalls these events. It can be heard sung by Steve Jordan on the CD "Folk Songs of Hampshire". It was collected at Winchester in 1906 by George B. Gardiner:
On the thirteeth of November, eighteen hundred and thirty
Our Owslebury lads they did prepare all for the machinery,
And when they did get there, my eye! how they let fly;
The machinery fell to pieces in the twinkling of an eye.
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There is a large monument with flanking marble figures of Learning and Charity in a Gothic framework by John Flaxman, situated in the north transept between the chapels of St. Edmund and St. Thomas. Harris’ translation (1825) of his Latin epitaph is as follows:
Here lies buried, William Long, of Marwell Hall, in the county of Hants, Esq. S.S.R. and A.S. surgeon of St. Bartholomew's Hospital for the space of thirty-three years ; formerly Master of the Royal College of Surgeons, London, and was most eminent in his profession : He improved the natural powers of his mind, by various extensive learning. To the poor in sickness, his advice, his skill, and his purse, were ever open, and he administered to their wants with a most liberal hand. He added a suavity of manners, to a firmness of expression, which was at once perspicuous and convincing : steady in his friendship, and of inflexible integrity, he was warmly and firmly attached to his relations, no less by the bond of love and affection, than by the natural impulse of his heart and feelings. He died 23rd March1818, in the70th year of his age. Alicia, his surviving widow, erected this monument to perpetuate the memory of a much esteemed husband.
Lord John Cheyney
Lord John Cheney (d1499) was originally a supporter of the House of York, and was made a Knight of the Bath by Edward IV at the coronation of Elizabeth Woodville. By 1483 he had become a Lancastrian supporter who supported the Duke of Buckingham's rebellion against Richard III, and was a leader of the Salisbury Rising when he was known as the great Rebel of Wiltshire. He was attainted in Richard lll’s Parliament, January 1484. When the rebellion failed he joined Henry Tudor in Brittany and returned with him from France in 1485. He was one of Henry Tudor's bodyguards at the the Battle of Bosworth where he recovered Henry's standard after its bearer was killed, and was wounded by Richard III before Richard himself was killed and Henry Tudor proclaimed king.
He was given the title Lord Cheney in 1487, and later made Master of Horse, a Garter Knight, and Privy Councillor. His effigy in the Cathedral shows him wearing a chain of office known as the Collar of Esses, that was first given by John of Gaunt as an unofficial honour to his supporters. He has been estimated to have had a height of 6’ 8”.
William de la Corner
William de la Corner (d1291) was bishop of Salisbury from 1289 until his death whilst on his second mission abroad as an ambassador for Edward I. This tomb is just 1.1 metres in length and is sometimes described as the tomb of a boy bishop. However, small tombs like this were often built when just the heart of the deceased was buried, in this case it was the bones that were returned to Salisbury.
By 1269 William de Corner was one of the clerks to Henry III and sent on diplomatic missions to the French Court in 1272-1273. From 1278-1280 he was clerk to the archbishop of Canterbury John Pecham. When the Bishop of Salisbury Henry of Braunstone died Walter de Corner was one of three candidates to replace him. The vote of the canons went to Laurence of Hagbourne. However, he died shortly after the election before being consecrated, and in the subsequent election Walter was elected as bishop and took up the post in 1289.
In 1290 he was sent to Perpignan in France on a diplomatic mission by Edward I where he became ill, and complained of 'recent various illnesses and exhaustion'. In June 1291 he was sent abroad again where he died in about early October.
Thomas Bennet
In the North Quire Aisle lies the tomb of Thomas Bennet; the inscription states that he died in 1554. He was Precentor and Chancellor from 1542 to 1558, and he was Secretary to Cardinal Wolsey as well as acting as deputy to the Bishop, Cardinal Campeggio (1525 to 1535). Also, he was (according to James Harris) supposed to have tried to fast for forty days in imitation of Our Saviour, but of course died long before the time was expired. Harris also states he is represented as a skeleton, as is one Fox, who is reported to have been as great a fool as his neighbour. He lies in skeletal form recumbent on his shroud on a rolled and coarsely woven mat. I believe that originally, the panel behind was illustrated with scenes from his life.
This style of tomb was a Memento Mori designed to remind the viewer of the transience and vanity of mortal life. There are also effigies showing a rotting cadaver known as a transi and others which show the figure in both life and death - see the FitzAlan (14th Earl of Arundel) tomb below, courtesy of Lampman GNU Creative Commons. I don’t know about you but as a guide wanting to entertain visitors I much prefer Harris’ explanation.
Edward Seymour and Lady Catherine Grey
Edward Lord Beauchamp
From 1547, when his father was created Duke of Somerset, his son Edward Seymour was styled by the duke's subsidiary title of Earl of Hertford. He was educated with the young Prince Edward, later Edward VI, and was knighted on the occasion of Edward's coronation. On 7 April 1550 he was sent to France as a hostage, returning three weeks later. Following his father's disgrace and execution, his son was barred from inheriting his titles and most of his wealth. Some of his father's lands and property were restored to him by Edward VI, but he still seemed to have been forced to rely on Sir John Thynne [Longleat] for some financial support. Under Queen Mary he was "restored in blood", but was not given back his title; Queen Elizabeth I created him Earl of Hertford, in the earldom's second creation, in 1559.
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His first wife, Lady Catherine Grey, was a potential claimant to Elizabeth's throne, and law established that it was a penal offence for her to marry without notifying the Sovereign. They were married by an anonymous clergyman at Hertford House in Cannon Row, Westminster, before 25 December 1560. The marriage was kept secret until August nearly a year later when Catherine became visibly pregnant and she confided the reason to Lord Robert Dudley. Each was ordered to confinement in the Tower; Catherine was confined immediately, and Seymour imprisoned upon his return from a tour of the continent with Sir Thomas Cecil. While in custody, they were questioned about every aspect of their marriage, but they both claimed to have forgotten the date.
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A commission was begun, headed by Archbishop Parker in February 1562. Under this pressure, Lady Catherine finally declared that they had waited for Elizabeth to quit the capital for Eltham Palace. Servants were questioned, and none of them could remember the exact date either. John Fortescue said it was 'in November'. The priest could not be located, but by consulting the accounts of the Cofferer of the Household the marriage date was decided to be 27 November.
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His son Edward was declared illegitimate and the father was fined 15,000 pounds in Star Chamber for "seducing a virgin of the blood royal.” Despite all this, the Earl apparently found a way to continue marital relations with his wife in the Tower. In February 1563, Thomas Seymour was born. Lady Catherine died in 1568, and Seymour was finally allowed out of the Tower and allowed to re-appear at court. Officially his sons remained bastards. In 1576 he carried the sword of state at Elizabeth's procession of the knights of the garter.
In 1553, as King Edward VI was dying, the King and his Chief Minister, John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, planned to exclude Edward's sister Mary Tudor from the succession in favour of Katherine's elder sister, Lady Jane Grey. According to the Letters Patent of 21 June 1553, Lady Katherine was to be second in the line of succession behind her sister and heirs-male. Lady Jane had been married to Northumberland's son, Lord Guildford Dudley, on 25 May 1553. On the same occasion, Lady Katherine (below) was married to Henry, Lord Herbert heir apparent to [our] William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke at Durham House. After the wedding, Katherine (now Lady Herbert) went to live with her husband at Baynard's Castle beside the Thames; Katherine Grey had been betrothed to Lord Herbert sometime before August 1552.
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When Lady Jane's accession to the throne failed due to lack of popular support, Henry's father sought to distance himself from the Grey family by separating his son from Lady Katherine and seeking the annulment of the marriage; Lord Pembroke achieved this in 1554 when Archbishop Cranmer declared the marital union as having never been consummated. Meanwhile, her sister Lady Jane Grey and her father the Duke of Suffolk had been executed in February 1554 after the suppression of Wyatt's Rebellion. Katherine, Lady Hertford (right), concealed the marriage from everyone for months, even after she became pregnant; in her eighth month of pregnancy and on progress with the royal court to Ipswich, she decided to ask someone to plead for her with the Queen.
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She first confided in Bess of Hardwick, who refused to listen to Katherine and berated her for implicating her. Katherine then went to her brother-in-law, Robert Dudley. Visiting his bedroom in the middle of the night, she explained her dilemma. As Dudley's room adjoined the Queen's chambers, he was afraid they might be overheard or that he might be caught with a visibly pregnant woman at his bedside, and tried to get rid of Katherine as soon as he could. The next day he told Elizabeth everything he knew regarding Katherine and her pregnancy.
Queen Elizabeth was infuriated that her cousin had married without her knowledge or consent. The marriage also upset Anglo-Scottish diplomacy, as the possibility of a union between Lady Katherine and the Earl of Arran, a young and unstable nobleman with a strong claim to the Scottish throne, had thereby been removed as an option. The Queen also disapproved of her choice of husband and, still unmarried, also feared that Katherine's ability to bear male offspring could possibly facilitate a rebellion in support of Katherine as Queen. To Katherine's misfortune, her claim to the throne was at the time argued by a book written by John Hales.
Queen Elizabeth imprisoned Lady Katherine in the Tower of London, where Edward Seymour (Lord Hertford) was sent to join her on his return to England. Bess of Hardwick was also imprisoned, as Elizabeth had become convinced (not without reason) that the marriage was part of a wider conspiracy against the Crown. Sir Edward Warner, Lieutenant of The Tower, permitted secret visits between Katherine and Edward. Warner reported that the furnishings of Katherine's room, which were provided from the Royal Wardrobe in the Tower, had been damaged by her pet monkey and dogs. While imprisoned in the Tower, Katherine gave birth to two sons.
Her eldest son Edward Lord Beauchamp [Bel Canto], on the right of the monument (left) is the ancestor of our present Queen via the Cavendish-Bentinck family (Dukes of Portland) and the Bowes-Lyon family (Queen Mother).
Again, looking into the epitaphs: At the eastern end of the Church, opposite Lord Gorges' Monument, is a noble monument of white alabaster ; viz. A. Man and Woman at length, he in armour, and she in her robes, both praying ; at their head and feet a person in armour under four Corinthian marble pillars kneeling, on the top are several figures and pyramids. This chapel is the dormitory of the Dukes of Somerset.
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On the top
Locum tenens; General of the Treasury, and Earl Marshall of England, Governor of the Island of Guernsey and Jersey: by Anne his wife descended from an ancient and noble family. And of Catherine his dearly beloved wife, daughter and heiress of Henry Gray, Duke of Suffolk, by his Dutchess Frances, daughter of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk and Mary his wife, sister to King Henry VIII, and Queen of France, so that she was endowed as the great niece of Henry VIII, and great grand-daughter of Henry VII. Equal to her birth was her conduct as a wife; they often experienced the changes of fortune, here at length they rest together in the same harmony in which they lived.
She was a woman of extraordinary beauty and constancy, of exemplary goodness and piety, and not only of her own, but any age, the best and most amiable: she piously and peaceably expired 22 January, 1563.
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He was a man of the highest integrity, a pattern for the nobility, a preserver of morals and primitive manners. He excelled in eloquence and learning ; in prudence and all other virtues, for which he was as much distinguished as for the splendour of his noble birth. He was educated with Prince Edward, son of King Henry VIII. A very strenuous defender of religion, a zealous assertor of justice and equity in governing the provinces entrusted to his care. Being appointed a Chief of Legation to Arch. D. D. for his Britannic Majesty King James I he was distinguished for his munificence abroad as well as at home though abounding in riches, he was still richer in the noble and generous endowments of the mind, nor did he ever use his power to oppress his dependants.—Replete with honors and with years he yielded to nature April 6, 1621, in the 83d year of his age. He had 2 sons by the heroic Lady Catherine.
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Under the first, Richard the first born. Viscount Beauchamp, a man in every respect equal to his birth and titles, who dying before his father left 3 sons by his Viscountess Honora of the ancient and noble family of Rogers :
1. Edward, Viscount Beauchamp, deceased.
2. William, now Earl of Hertford.3. Francis, Knt. married the daughter of a Baron.Thomas the youngest son married Isabella daughter of John Olnius, Esq. and died before his father without issue.
1552 On the 2'2d January, Edward Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector, uncle to the King, was beheaded by the intrigues of a faction as infamous as ever disgraced the pages of history, at the head of which was his own brother (who, though married to the Queen Dowager, was nevertheless the favoured lover of the Princess Elizabeth, afterwards the virgin Queen), and his second was that bully and dastard, Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. The undeserved punishment of this great man was atoned for by the decapitation of every one of his enemies, his brother before him, and the rest soon after, neither of whom evinced the intrepid courage which he did on the same awful occasion ; nor is the conduct of his nephew, Edward VI, to be excused, in suffering his uncle, who had served him faithfully, to fall a prey to such a faction; for even his youth and ill health cannot excuse him from the charge of the most unnatural ingratitude.
The Duke's widow lived till the year 1580, and died at the age of 90 years. By the suffering of his son, Edward, Earl of Hertford, and his much injured lady, there is sufficient to prove that the aforesaid Virgin Queen, could act with as much cruelty as her sister Mary did, and against as unoffending an object of her suspicions, and indeed more so, for death would have been mercy to the suffering of the LadyCatherine. James, her minion loving successor ,from the same impulse, drove the innocent and lovely Arabella Stuart to despair and death, her lover. Sir William Seymour, not giving very strong proofs either of his courage or affection on the occasion. But what could be expected of such a man as James, who, to please a declared enemy of his country, could destroy a Raleigh, was fool and rogue enough to write a book in favour of magic, and wicked enough to be suspected of the murder of his own son.
Lady Catherine Seymour, Countess of Hertford, died in the Tower, at the time mentioned in the monument, in the prime of life; a victim to an inexorable and unfeeling tyrant; her right to the throne being the only charge she could have against her. Her sister. Lady Jane, with her husband, had perished eight years before, by the axe of the wretched Mary; both of them under twenty years of age.
The Earl and Countess were married in the church of Great Bedwin, in North Wiltshire. Lord Beauchamp, a son of this unfortunate pair, lies buried in the church-yard there. There is nothing said on the monument about a daughter, so that probably it was by her first husband. Lord Herbert, whom the same infamous power forced to forsake her. The Earl of Hertford had a horse killed under him at the Battle of Pinkey, gained by his illustrious father, Sept. 10th, 1547. The Castle at Marlborough, now an inn, was the family mansion, where he resided many years, and died there at the great age mentioned on his monument. Sir William Seymour, the husband of Arabella Stuart, was grandson to the Earl of Hertford, (being the second son of his eldest son, as mentioned on the monument.) He offended James I. by the same means that the Earl did Elizabeth. Sir William was subsequently Duke of Somerset, and often mentioned in the reign of the unfortunate Charles I. He died in 1660.
Thomas Gorges
Helena Snakenborg
In the 16th century Thomas Gorges (1536–1610), a son of Sir Edward Gorges of Wraxall, Somerset, by either Mary Newton or Mary Poyntz, a kinsman and courtier of Queen Elizabeth I, acquired the manor of Langford, now Longford, in Wiltshire in 1573 and built there Longford Castle. His wife was a Swedish noblewoman, Helena Snakenborg (pictured), marchioness (through her first marriage) of Northampton. Due to her influence, Swedish-style architecture was adopted in the construction of Longford Castle. Helena's mother was a descendant of Agnes of Borgarsyssel, a natural daughter of Haakon V of Norway.
Gorges was governor of Hurst Castle when, during the Spanish Armada, one of the Spanish ships was driven aground there. Lady Gorges asked the Queen if she could have the wreck, and the request was granted - the ship was one of the Spanish treasure ships laden with silver. In the reign of James I, Sir Thomas Gorges and the dowager Lady Northampton, his wife, were granted the office of Keeper of the palace of West Sheen or Richmond, keeper of the wardrobe, vessels and provisions there, and keeper of the gardens and of Richmond Park; and Letters of Privy Seal granting her an allowance of £245. 5s. p.a.
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In 1635 Sir Thomas was buried in Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire, where he and his wife Helena have a remarkable monument decorated with carved polyhedra. Each side of the elaborate canopy above the tomb displays two cuboctahedra and an icosahedron. The monument as a whole is crowned by a celestial globe with a dodecahedron on top. I could not get a handle on the symbolism of the polyhedra but remembered there was one in Albrecht Durer’s (1471 - 1528) print Melencolia. John (our own Architectural Historian), on holiday in Scotland, suggested Empedocles’ elements of earth, air, fire and water. The ‘Platonic solids’ are prominent in the philosophy of Plato who wrote about them in the dialogue Timaeus c.360 B.C. in which he associated each of the four classical elements with a regular solid. Earth was associated with the cube, air with the octahedron, water with the icosahedron, and fire with the tetrahedron. There was intuitive justification for these associations: the heat of fire feels sharp and stabbing (like little tetrahedra). Air is made of the octahedron; its minuscule components are so smooth that one can barely feel it. Water, the icosahedron, flows out of one's hand when picked up, as if it is made of tiny little balls. This theory was linked to the four Humours expounded by Hippocrates: blood, bile, phlegm and ‘black bile’. These in turn were linked by Galen and others to the four Temperaments: phlegmatic, choleric, sanguine and melancholic. This last links up with Durer’s Melencolia which has a watery background.
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John also forwarded the following information regarding the twisted columns (which remind me of the baldacchino over the papal altar in St.Peters, Rome). ‘I used to edit Ecclesiology Today at the time that we published the article by Richard Durman (who has since died) and did speak to him at some length about the contents. My view then, and still is, that while he explored the architectural heritage of the design in some depth, he did not devote enough space to exploring the possible symbolic meaning. However, it was a significant contribution to knowledge.
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As Richard so wonderfully explains there are numerous examples of precedent for the use of twisted columns, and as he also suggests it was sometimes seen as a declaration of adherence to the “old religion”. For those who like a conspiracy theory this latter suggestion has a lot to offer. It was a way of declaring your secret adherence to the old pre-Reformation Catholicism, but with a built-in excuse that could be given, in that it was simply some twisted columns that had a long-standing architectural heritage. Likewise Longford Castle, which was the home of the Gorges before it became the seat of the Radnor’s, was built to a triangular style, which was also often held to suggest an adherence to the old religion, the three towers representing the persons of the trinity. The survival of the tomb in the cathedral most probably rests on the fact that the iconoclasts simply did not know the supposed tradition of secret manifestations of Catholicism.
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The Gorges could well have remained Catholics - many people did, the Radnors certainly were not, having fled from France to escape Hugenot persecution. To see the monument in its historical background one also needs to explore the history of Longford Castle. There is a recent publication, Longford Castle: The Treasures and the Collectors by Amelia Smith, which does have something in it on the pre-Radnor house.’
Now, one of my favourite sources is James Harris’ The Epitaphs in Salisbury Cathedral of 1825: At the upper end of the north side isle, is a fair tomb of Purbeck stone, over which is an arch, supported by four twisted Corinthian pillars, and four pilasters; on the top of which are four pyramids, bearing; balls on their top ; on the top of all is a globe, whereon is a cube. At the four corners are the four Cardinal Virtues, and Fame, with a laurel and palm in her hands ; underneath are the figures of a Man and Woman at full length, he in armour, his head supported by a cushion on a head-piece, and his feet by a horse: she in a widow's dress, and her feet on a greyhound; both holding up their hands in a posture of devotion.
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On the north side : Within this monument lies the body of Sir Thomas Gorges, of Longford, in this county, Knt. fifth son of Edward Gorges, of Wraxall, in the county of Somerset, Knt. who having passed the greatest part of his life in the service of Queen Elizabeth, and King James, of blessed memory, (principally in the Cabinet,) with the utmost fidelity, resigned his soul into the hands of his Redeemer, 3 March, 1610, aged 74.
At the west end: Edward Lord Gorges, Baron Dundalk, their very affectionate son, erected this dormitory to receive the bodies of his beloved parents, in the year of our Lord 1035.
On the south side: Here are deposited the bones of Hellen Snachenburg, of Sweden, who attending the Lady Cicelia (daughter of Eric, King of Sweden), into this kingdom, the beauty of her person, and the modesty of her demeanour, attracting the particular notice of Queen Elizabeth, she was by her admitted as one of her Maids of Honor and Ladies of the Bedchamber, and bestowed in marriage on William Lord Par de Kendall, Marquis of Northampton, who, dying without issue, she married Sir Thomas whom she bore four sons and three daughters, after whose death she lived a widow's life for 25 years, which having passed religiously, she departed this life on the 1st day of April 1635, aged 86.
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At the south side, near the top The world's the sea, and life's the ship. We all should steer from sin Death's the port, the country heaven, The righteous enter in. Under the coat of arms, on a black marble tablet Cunning and swift, the prey will gain Firm and faithful, reward obtain. At the west end, at the top: Attend, stranger, and remark the change; our flesh, because mortal, is soon reduced to ashes. This monument will last for ages, but will decay, while she will revive again to eternity, at the coming of the Lord of Glory.
William Par de Kendal, Marquis of Northampton, was brother to Catherine Par, widow of Henry VIII ; she afterwards married Thomas Seymour, the admiral, brother to the Protector, of whom more hereafter.—William Par was Earl of Essex before he was advanced to the title of Marquis of Northampton. He was condemned to die by Queen Mary (of fire and faggot memory) in 1553, pardoned in 1554, and restored to his title of Marquis in 1559 ; soon after which he married Helen Snachenburg. Sir Thomas Gorges and the Marchioness Dowager his wife, built Longford Castle, or rebuilt it, and both died there. There is an ancient print of the Castle, at the time of their residence there, in the possession of a person in Salisbury. Longford Castle is in Wiltshire, near Salisbury, and the seat of the Right Hon. Jacob Bouverie, Earl of Radnor.
John Montacute, 3rd Earl of Salisbury
Sandstone tomb chest with effigy in armour. Tomb chest has shields bearing arms. North side panel probably from canopy in Hungerford chapel. No remains survive.
The jupon (a short close-fitting sleeveless padded garment, used in the late 14th and early 15th centuries with armour) was formerly painted with arms. Effigy has traces of paint and gilding. Formerly against wall on stylobate between Trinity Chapel and Chapel of St. Peter and Apostles.
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Sir John (married Baroness (in her own right) Margaret Monthermer (1329 - 1394) so three of these armorials show the Monthermer eagle (Or, an erne displayed vert) ‘displayed’ refers to an eagle with the body affronte, head usually to the dexter (shield’s right) and wings and legs spread out on each side. The husband and wife armorials are shown impaled and quartered. The Montagu or Montacute shield of arms was Argent (silver), three lozenges (strictly fusils as they are elongated) cojoined in fess gules (red). Right is from the doors of Bath Abbey.
The quartered shield has the Montacute arms within an invected bordure (edged with convex curves) where the others have a straight bordure. I don’t think that there is any heraldic significance in this.
The left-hand image (facing west) appears to be quartered with the Isle of Man (Gules, three legs armed proper cojoined in the fess point at the upper part of the thighs, flexed in a triangle, garnished and spurred or).
Younger brother of second Earl of Salisbury.
Participated in the siege of Calais with Edward lll in 1349, at battle of Crecy in 1346 and Poitiers in 1356.
Married Baroness Margaret de Monthermer and had eight children.
Son Thomas became Dean of Salisbury (1365 - 1404).
Sister Sybil became Prioress of Amesbury (1329 - 1389).
Born 1328 Died 1389, name sometimes read as Montagu
The Isle of Man connection: William, the first Earl was made custodian of the Isle of Man by Edward ll in 1333. The title was sold by the second Earl in 1392/3.
Architect Wyatt: Wyatt was not solely to blame for moving monuments. Montacute was probably moved originally in the 14th century to allow a door into the Hungerford Chantry.
Bishop Gilbert Burnett
The painting (left) by Pieter Borsseler (1633 - 1687) belongs to the National Trust for Scotland (Crathes Castle) on Wikipedia.
Bishop Gilbert Burnett (1643 - 1715) whose burial tablet is on the wall of the Nave south aisle. He was born in Scotland and well educated, becoming fluent in Dutch, French, Latin and Greek. He went into exile during James II’s reign and managed to upset Charles II by commenting on his lifestyle. But as William III’s Chaplain he became the king’s confidant. He wrote a history of the Reformation and a history of his own times. and he was the owner of the Articles of the Barons, the precursor to Magna Carta that is now in the British Library.
Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800 - 1859), the writer of ‘Horatius at the Bridge’, wrote of Burnett: his jurisdiction extended over Wiltshire and Berkshire. These counties he divided into districts which he sedulously visited. About two months of every summer he passed in preaching, catechizing, and confirming daily from church to church. When he died there was no corner of his diocese in which the people had not had seven or eight opportunities of receiving his instructions and of asking his advice. The worst weather, the worst roads, did not prevent him from discharging these duties. On one occasion, when the floods were out, he exposed his life to imminent risk rather than disappoint a rural congregation which was in expectation of a discourse from the Bishop.
The poverty of the inferior clergy was a constant cause of uneasiness to his kind and generous heart. He was indefatigable and at length successful in his attempts to obtain for them from the Crown that grant which is known by the name of Queen Anne's Bounty (established in 1704 to augment the incomes of the poorer clergy). He was especially careful, when he travelled through his diocese, to lay no burden on them. Instead of requiring them to entertain him, he entertained them. He always fixed his headquarters at a market town, kept a table there, and by his decent hospitality and munificent charities, tried to conciliate those who were prejudiced against his doctrines. When he bestowed a poor benefice, and he had many such to bestow, his practice was to add out of his own purse twenty pounds a year to the income. Ten promising young men, to each of whom he allowed thirty pounds a year, studied divinity under his own eye in the close of Salisbury.
When the doctor took liberties, which was not seldom the case, his patron (William lll) became more than usually cold and sullen, and sometimes uttered a short dry sarcasm which would have struck dumb any person of ordinary assurance. In spite of such occurrences, however, the amity between this singular pair continued, with some temporary interruptions, till it was dissolved by death. Indeed it was not easy to wound Burnet's feelings. His self-complacency, his animal spirits, and his want of tact, were such that, though he frequently gave offence, he never took it. He sounds a bit of a Boris Johnson figure - if he were quieter and more thoughtful he could have gone much further in his career.
Bishop John Davenant
The tablet below can be found in the South Quire Aisle. Translated by James Harris (1825), it reads:
Of all monuments, attend a little time to what is said of John Davenant, he was born in London, 20th May, 1572. On the 4th July, 1587 he was admitted Pensioner of Queen's College, Cambridge in 1609 he was elected Margaret Professor before he had reached the 36th year of his age; in 1614 he was admitted Master of his College, and was one of the eminent Divines that James the 1st sent to the Synod of Dort in 1618; on his return, in 1621, he was raised to the See of Salisbury : he well fulfilled the duties of a primitive Pastor. He also published many pieces of Polemic Divinity, and died 20th April, 1641, in good old age, after he had presided over the See 20 years, and just before he saw the ruin of the Church and State.
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The synod of Dort (colloquial for Dordrecht in Holland) was held to settle a divisive controversy initiated by the rise of Arminianism (Remonstrants). Précising a complex subject: Jesus died for all men and not just the (Calvinist) elect. There was a political element to this argument too, as the followers of Jacob Arminius (professor at Leyden university) were prepared to reach an accommodation with the Spanish which the Dutch Calvinists were not even willing to consider.
Although banished and persecuted, their liberal approach had a considerable effect on modern Protestant theology. John Wesley was believed to be influenced by English Armenianism. Soteriology is the doctrine of salvation. In Calvin’s Doctrines of Grace his views are summarised by the acronym TULIP.
T = Total depravity
U = Unconditional election
L = Limited atonement
I = Irresistible Grace
P = Perseverance of the saints
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Bishop John’s portrait, oil on panel, is courtesy of the Queen’s College collection and is in the public domain. His master, James l was opposed to Arminianism but Charles l favoured it