Gloucestershire Exhibition at Emmanuel Church, Cheltenham by Brian Torode (Copyright Rests with Richard Barton)
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Gloucestershire Exhibition at Emmanuel Church, Cheltenham by Brian Torode (copyright rests with Richard Barton) An exhibition of ecclesiastical and related history to mark the millennium of the County of Gloucester in 2007 These texts for the displays were produced by Brian Torode and together they offer a picture of the story of Christianity in the county during the last thousand years. In many ways these simple and succinct texts offer an overview of many of Brian’s historical interests – Cheltenham history, the Oxford Movement, holy wells, pilgrimage, religious communities, church architecture and liturgy. The BEGINNING OF THE SECOND MILLENNIUM By the beginning of the 800s there were monasteries – mission settlements – at Beckford, Berkeley, Cheltenham, Bishops Cleeve, Deerhurst, Twyning, Westbury, Winchcombe, Withington and Yate. 1 Some of these communities owned large amounts of land. Little churches were built near to the centre of population and the clergy from the monasteries served them. It was at about this time that the Diocese of Worcester was formed, and included that part of present day Gloucestershire east of the Rivers Severn and Leadon. West of those rivers was part of the Diocese of Hereford. From 1062-1095 the saintly Bishop Wulfstan was Bishop of Worcester and therefore Bishop too of most of Gloucestershire. During the 1150s and beyond, many churches and chapels were built on monastic lands to serve the hamlets and villages. The gentry too built their own chapels on their lands and expected their servants and tenants to attend it. In return for serving these churches and chapels the monasteries were granted tithes, left property in the wills of the gentry, or given land and property in gratitude for services rendered or as a way of seeking a favour from the Church. In 1239, the Bishop of Worcester dedicated Tewkesbury Abbey, St James Priory, Bristol, Winchcombe Abbey and St Peter’s, Gloucester. Hailes was dedicated in 1251. During the period 1237-1266 Friars made their appearance in the county, the Franciscans in 1231, and in 1239 the Dominicans. The Carmelites arrived in 1267. This was at a time when there was strong anti-Jewish prejudice in the Church and just thirty years later they were expelled from England by King Edward 1st – 1290. The 1300s was a period of much church building and we know there were churches in the village communities of Cam, Badgeworth, Fretherne, Elmore, Tetbury and of course Cheltenham, by 1315 at the latest. In 1349, Gloucestershire was terribly affected by the Black Death, the Plague and as many as 80 parishes lost their incumbent. In the following year, the Bishop held 8 large Ordinations to fill the vacant benefices. Bishop Hugh Latimer was Bishop with oversight for Gloucestershire from 1534-1539 and it was under him, St Oswald’s Gloucester, Llanthony and Tewkesbury were suppressed. In 1541, Henry VIII allowed Gloucester Abbey to be spared destruction and he divided the Diocese of Worcester and made Gloucester a Diocese in its own right with the former Abbey becoming the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity. He fixed the boundary of the county as the boundary of the new Diocese, to include the Forest, taken from Hereford, and the town of Bristol. However the following year, the Diocese of Bristol was created, to include the town itself. 1552 saw the union of Gloucester and Worcester into one Diocese when Bishop Hooper was transferred to Worcester, but they were separated again when Hooper was deprived of his Bishopric. 2 Records show that between 1715 and 1725 there were 34 places in Gloucestershire where there were nonconformist sympathisers comprising over 8,000 persons. In 1836, the Diocese of Gloucester was amalgamated with the Diocese of Bristol – one Diocese now with two Cathedrals – taking in the county of Gloucestershire and North Wiltshire. They were again separated into two Dioceses 1897. DEERHURST PRIORY CHURCH Once part of a rich Benedictine monastery, and endowed with 30,000 acres, it is the only surviving Anglo Saxon Church in England. It has seventeen doorways, a Saxon tub font and a lovely brass bearing the inscribed dog’s name on it ‘Terri’. It is reputed to be the building in which King Canute and Edmund Ironside met in 1016 to discuss Canute’s becoming King of England. ODDA’S CHAPEL Near to Deerhurst Church is a Saxon chapel built by a relative of Edward the Confessor, Odda. It was dedicated in 1056. BISHOPS, ABBOTS, MONKS. Medieval Bishops and Abbots were powerful landowners and were equal in status and rank to the barons and attended the councils of the Monarch, and served in his Government. This was true right up to Tudor times and in a way is still pertinent to today’s system of Government where a certain number of Bishops still have seats in the House of Lords. Many of the Bishops and Abbots were very wealthy and had private, sometimes very luxurious, apartments in the monastery which they used when entertaining Royalty and other influential guests. During the Middle Ages, over a third of all the land in the country belonged to the church. The biggest estates in Gloucestershire were owned by the Abbeys of Tewkesbury, Cirencester, Gloucester, Winchcombe, Bristol and Hailes King William the Conqueror held a Council at Gloucester in 1085 where he was guest of the Abbot and brethren. It was here that he ordered the compiling of what we know as the Domesday Survey. This was in a building attached to the monastery, and just two years before the present building was started. On October 28th 1216, the young son of the deceased King John was crowned in what is now the Cathedral and became King Henry III. It is said that he was crowned with his mother’s gold bracelet as King John’s crown had been lost with other royal treasures, in The Wash. King Edward II is buried in what is today, the Cathedral, because other monasteries and abbeys were too frightened to receive it in their own establishments for fear of reprisals from the dead king’s enemies. Abbot Thokey received the body for burial at Gloucester and displayed great courage in so doing. 3 It was probably because of Edward’s burial in the monastery that King Henry VIII spared the building from destruction at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries-he would not want to destroy the shrine of one of his ancestors. Parliament was held at Gloucester Abbey in 1378. It is believed that it was on this occasion, when the commoners and the lords disagreed and decided to move into separate rooms to private discussion, that the Government divided for the first time into separate Houses (rooms) – Lords in one, and Commons in the other. The last Parliament to be held in Gloucester was in 1407. The half timbered building opposite the present Dean’s House is believed to have been the meeting place of Parliament when it met in Gloucester. CLERGY in the Middle Ages were either very learned secular priests – ie, not attached to a monastery or abbey but living amongst the people to whom they ministered – or else they were members of a religious community and often not very well educated but extremely devout. If there was no priest in the town or village, the ordained monks took the services in churches which they had built for the people. In some cases, wealthy landowners wanted a church on their estate, and so had one built and in exchange for land and protection, the monks provided priests to take the services. Clergy were entitled to tithes – one tenth of the produce or income of their parishioners – and this provided their keep. The earliest record we have of a church being built and put under the charge of a Parish Priest is at Woodchester. It must be remembered that until the time of King Edward VI, the services were in Latin, the Roman Catholic form of service was followed and the Roman Catholic faith was taught. The parish church was part of the everyday life of the ordinary people and the centre of their social and religious activity, whereas the abbeys and monasteries seemed isolated and detached from everyday society. CHURCHWARDENS The office of Churchwarden came into being about 1300 and their special role was to administer the funds raised by rents from Church owned lands. Churchwardens could be men or women and were elected by the parishioners for one year only. They had to keep accounts of the money they collected, and to provide funds for the repair of the nave of the Church as well as ornaments, books, and everything else needed to maintain the services in the church. THE PARISH CLERK The post of parish clerk is one of the most ancient of the lay parish positions, the London Guild of parish clerks was incorporated in 1232. He would assist in the service and lead the singing 4 and responses. The clerks often wrote up the parish registers although this was illegal. The position would very often be passed down from father to son through many generations. In 1571 Archbishop Grindal of York stated: ‘That no parish clerk be appointed against the good-will, or without the consent of the parson, vicar, or curate in any parish, and that he be obedient to the parson, vicar and curate, specially in the time of celebration of divine service or of sacraments, or in any preparation thereunto; and that he be able also to read the first lesson, the Epistle, and the psalms, with answers to the suffrages, as is used; .