The Great West Front,
Wells Cathedral.
Photo: 30 April 2014.
Source: Own work.
Attribution:
Photo by DAVID ILIFF.
Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
Author: Diliff
(Wikimedia Commons)
Text from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.
While Wells survived the The Dissolution Of The Monasteries better than the Cathedrals of Monastic Foundation, the abolition of Chantries in 1547 resulted in a reduction in its income.
Queen Elizabeth I gave the Chapter and the Vicars Choral a new Charter in 1591, creating a new governing body, consisting of a Dean and eight Residentiary Canons with control over the Church estates and authority over its affairs, but no longer entitled to elect the Dean (that entitlement thenceforward belonged ultimately to The Crown).[50]
The stability brought by the new Charter ended with the onset of the Civil War and the execution of King Charles I.
Local fighting damaged the Cathedral’s stonework, furniture and windows. The Dean, Walter Raleigh, a nephew of the explorer Walter Raleigh, was placed under house arrest after the fall of Bridgwater to the Parliamentarians in 1645, first in the Rectory at Chedzoy and then in the Deanery at Wells.[51]
His Jailer, the Shoe Maker and City Constable, David Barrett, caught him writing a Letter to his wife. When he refused to surrender it, Barrett ran him through with a sword and he died six weeks later, on 10 October 1646.[52] He was buried in an unmarked grave in the Choir before the Dean’s Stall.[53]
During the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell, no Dean was appointed and the Cathedral fell into disrepair. The Bishop went into retirement and some of the Clerics were reduced to performing menial tasks.[54]
In 1661, after Charles II was restored to the throne, Robert Creighton, the King’s Chaplain-in-Exile, was appointed Dean and was Bishop for two years before his death in 1672.[55]
Queen Elizabeth I gave the Chapter and the Vicars Choral a new Charter in 1591, creating a new governing body, consisting of a Dean and eight Residentiary Canons with control over the Church estates and authority over its affairs, but no longer entitled to elect the Dean (that entitlement thenceforward belonged ultimately to The Crown).[50]
The stability brought by the new Charter ended with the onset of the Civil War and the execution of King Charles I.
The Cloisters, Wells Cathedral.
Photo: 9 July 2014.
Source: Own work.
Attribution:
Photo by DAVID ILIFF.
Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
Author: Diliff
(Wikimedia Commons)
His Jailer, the Shoe Maker and City Constable, David Barrett, caught him writing a Letter to his wife. When he refused to surrender it, Barrett ran him through with a sword and he died six weeks later, on 10 October 1646.[52] He was buried in an unmarked grave in the Choir before the Dean’s Stall.[53]
During the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell, no Dean was appointed and the Cathedral fell into disrepair. The Bishop went into retirement and some of the Clerics were reduced to performing menial tasks.[54]
In 1661, after Charles II was restored to the throne, Robert Creighton, the King’s Chaplain-in-Exile, was appointed Dean and was Bishop for two years before his death in 1672.[55]
The Nave, Wells Cathedral.
Photo: 23 July 2018.
Source: Own work.
Author: Michael D Beckwith
(Wikimedia Commons)
PART SEVEN FOLLOWS.
The serenity of these views of today’s Wells Cathedral and it’s grounds in this series by Zephyrinus belie its bloody history during the English Civil Wars (1642-1651), particularly (as described here by Zephyrinus), the incident of the murder of Walter Raleigh, Dean of the Cathedral, by his shoemaker jailer, a member of the Parliamentarians. What a sad and pathetic event so typical of human history. -Comment by Dante P.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Dante P, for your thoughtful and correct analysis of beautiful Wells Cathedral and its history.
DeleteIndeed, man is so clever, so full of himself, who majors long and hard, and spends billions and billions on developing better and better ways to kill other human beings (World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, Ukraine, Yemen, Iran, Abortion, “Assisted Dying (Assisted Killing), etc, etc), that one would think there must be a preferable way of carrying on, other than, of course, slaughtering one another !!!
The one consistent theme is “killing”. It started with Cain and Abel, and continues today in Ukraine.
Old Nick must be laughing all the way to the bank.
Our Blessed Mother Mary, Queen of Angels, Pray for us (Ora pro nobis).