LIVING STONES: THE PRACTICE OF REMEMBRANCE AT LINCOLN CATHEDRAL, (1092-1235) William Kay A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2013 Full metadata for this item is available in Research@StAndrews:FullText at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/4463 This item is protected by original copyright LIVING STONES THE PRACTICE OF REMEMBRANCE AT LINCOLN CATHEDRAL (1092-1235) William Kay This thesis is submitted for the degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 1 August 2013 I, William Kay, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 80,000 words in length, has been written by me, that it is the record of work carried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. I was admitted as a research student and as a candidate for the degree of Ph.D. in September, 2005; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between 2005 and 2013. Date ………. signature of candidate ……………… I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of Ph.D. in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. Date ………. signature of supervisor ……………… In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews I understand that I am giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. I also understand that the title and the abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that my thesis will be electronically accessible for personal or research use unless exempt by award of an embargo as requested below, and that the library has the right to migrate my thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. I have obtained any third-party copyright permissions that may be required in order to allow such access and migration, or have requested the appropriate embargo below. The following is an agreed request by candidate and supervisor regarding the electronic publication of this thesis: access to printed copy and electronic publication of thesis through the University of St Andrews. Date……….. signature of candidate ……………. signature of supervisor ……… LIVING STONES THE PRACTICE OF REMEMBRANCE AT LINCOLN CATHEDRAL (1092-1235) William Kay 1 2 FOR JOY, MY MOTHER, IN MEMORY OF MY FATHER, DENNIS 3 This thesis analyses four different aspects of devotional life at one of England’s largest and wealthiest medieval cathedrals between the years 1092 and 1235. Each of these is associated with the remembrance of the dead. It is an area of religious practice that was subject to momentous change over the course of the period. These changes would have a profound effect on the organization of Christian worship for centuries to come. The thesis assesses how contrasting approaches to the practice of remembrance were able to enhance and shape the composition of the church, and explores what they reveal about the distinctive fellowship of a secular cathedral. 4 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 6 Abbreviations 7 Introduction 9 Chapter One – FOUNDATIONS: HENRY OF HUNTINGDON INTRODUCTION 17 AN ARCHDEACON’S RECOLLECTIONS 21 EPITAPHS 36 ‘THE CUSTOM OF MOSES’ 45 Chapter Two – PETITIONING FOR SOULS INTRODUCTION 59 EARLY ANNIVERSARIES 66 THE EPISODE AT BUCKDEN 82 Chapter Three – BIERS, BELL-TOWERS, AND BURIAL INTRODUCTION 99 THE ADVENT OF ST HUGH 104 THE CATHEDRAL AS GRAVESITE 111 EXHUMATION 117 Chapter Four – THE SAINT’S KEEPERS INTRODUCTION 127 ST HUGH’S HAGIOGRAPHERS 134 LIVING RELICS 148 Conclusion 159 Bibliography 163 5 Acknowledgements Prof Richard Sharpe and Prof John Hudson commented on an earlier version of this work and I am deeply indebted to them for their criticisms, insights, and recommendations. Parts of the thesis were presented to the Postgraduate Mediaeval History Seminar Series at the University of St Andrews. Valuable comments were received there and also at a Symposium on Medieval Lincolnshire organized by the University of Nottingham in 2011. I am grateful to Dr Nicholas Bennett, vice-chancellor and librarian of Lincoln Cathedral, for accommodating research visits. A special acknowledgement must be reserved for Prof Robert Bartlett who supervised the research. I have drawn heavily on his inspiring example, good-humoured encouragement, and sound advice. 6 Abbreviations A. Mag. Vit. Adam of Eynsham, Magna Vita Sancti Hugonis: The Life of St Hugh of Lincoln, ed. D.L. Douie & D.H. Farmer (Oxford, 1985) Can. St Hugh D.H. Farmer, ‘The Canonization of St Hugh of Lincoln’, Lincolnshire Architectural and Archaeological Reports and Papers, vol. 6 (1956) Edwards Kathleen Edwards, The English Secular Cathedrals in the Middle Ages (2nd Edition; Manchester, 1967) EHR English Historical Review Eng. Epis. English Episcopal Acta, vols. 1 & 4, ed. D.M. Smith (Oxford, 1980 & 1986) Eyns. Cart. Eynsham Cartulary, ed. H.E. Salter (Oxford Historical Society, vols. 49 & 51; 1906-8) Fasti John Le Neve, Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-1300, vol. 3, ed. Diana Greenway (Institute of Historical Research, 1977) G. Op. Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis) Opera, ed. J.S. Brewer, James F. Dimock & G.F. Warner, 8 vols. (RS, 1861-91) G. Sp. Duo. Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis), Speculum Duorum, ed. Yves Lefèvre, R.B.C. Huygens, Michael Richter (Cardiff, 1974) H. Hist. Ang. Henry, Archdeacon of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum: The History of the English People, ed. Diana Greenway (OMT, 1996) Hill Sir Francis Hill, Medieval Lincoln (Cambridge, 1965) LRS Lincoln Record Society M. Chron. Mai. Matthew Paris, Chronica majora, ed. Henry R. Luard, 7 vols. (RS, 1872- 1884) Metr. Hugh The Metrical Life of St Hugh of Lincoln, ed. Charles Garton (Lincoln, 1986) ODNB Oxford Dictionary of National Biography OMT Oxford Medieval Texts PL Patrologia Latina, ed. J.-P. Migne, 221 vols. (Paris, 1841-1864) Reg. Ang.-Nor. Regesta regum anglo-normannorum, ed. H.W.C. Davis et al., 4 vols. (Oxford, 1913-1969) 7 Reg. Ant. The Registrum Antiquissimum of the Cathedral Church of Lincoln, ed. C.W. Foster and K. Major (LRS, 10 vols., 1931-1973) R. Chron. Roger of Howden, Chronica, ed. W. Stubbs, 4 vols. (RS, 1868-1871) R. Gesta Roger of Howden, Gesta Regis Henrici secundi Benedicti abbatis, ed. W. Stubbs, 2 vols. (RS, 1867) RS Rolls Series Statutes Statutes of Lincoln Cathedral, arranged H. Bradshaw, ed. C. Wordsworth, 2 parts, in 3 vols. (Cambridge, 1892-7) W. De Nug. Walter Map, De nugis curialium, ed. M.R. James, rev. C.N.L. Brooke and R.A.B. Mynors (OMT, 1983) 8 Introduction The subject of this inquiry is a ‘church’ (ecclesia), conceived not simply as a place of public worship, but as an assembly of the faithful. It is an examination of a body of people and the process of their coming together.1 The inquiry focuses on one part of this process which was central to the formation, growth, and designation of the particular fellowship with which we are concerned: the practice of sustaining, and calling to mind, the memory of the dead. For those living around the twelfth century an understanding of the composition of a church could incorporate the deceased. To appreciate the church in all its dimensions, therefore, it is vital to consider the leading role which the practice of remembrance played. The assembly in question was based at the cathedral church of Lincoln, and was, by any standard, as substantial, intricate, and singular as the outstanding work of architecture in which it was housed. The timeframe of this inquiry covers the most important period in the creation of the social fabric of the church and also of the structure itself. It begins in the late-eleventh century, around the time when the first building was brought to a stage of completion. While parts of the imposing façade date back to this period, today the cathedral is, for the most part, the product of a major building campaign that began in the last decade of the twelfth century and carried on through to the death of Bishop Hugh of Wells, in 1235. This is where the inquiry draws to a close. Over the duration of this especially industrious era, the complex fellowship of the church was envisaged and described in different ways. It was not determined rigidly or dogmatically. Partly this is because the exercise touched upon a fundamental mystery of faith, a perpetual truth relating to the conception of the church as a whole, which is a body whose nature is revealed in compound images and personifications. As Bede describes it, the mysteries of the church and of Christ ‘are brought to mind in many ways and by many figures, but when they are repeated they always bring forth something new, which either enables one to grasp the content of these mysteries or, through its very newness, brings delight to the souls of those who 1 Although the English word church can refer to both the building and its people, it will be used here to translate the Latin ecclesia, derived from Greek ekklesia (‘assembly’), which has a broader semantic scope. Significantly it may refer both to the assembled community and to the process of assembling. In the nineteenth century a distinction was sometimes made between a church and a cathedral, but this definition has mainly fallen out of use.