MORTUARY CHAPlil.S, LICHFIELD. 119 



for the original authority on which these statements are based, 

 the Chromam Lichfddmu (Cott. MSS. Vesp. E. 16) compiled 

 in the days of Langton's successor — we do not find that this 

 statement is precisely substantiated. It records that Langton 

 surrounded the close with a stone wall ; that he prepared a 

 most costly shrine for S. Chad ; that he rebuilt the castle of 

 Eccleshall and the manor house of Heywood ; that he presented 

 to the high altar a chalice and two cruets of purest gold, a 

 gold cross set with precious stones and worth ^200, and 

 many vestments of inestimable value ; that he constructed a 

 great bridge over the Minster Pool ; that he gave the vicars a 

 resilience in the close, presented them with a large silver cup, 

 and endowed them with a pension of 20s. out of the rectory 

 of the church of Tibshelf in Derbyshire ; and that he founded 

 {ftmdavit) the Lady Chapel, and left by his will sufficient 

 money for its complete construction. The expression "founded," 

 when compared witli numerous instances of the foundations of 

 chantries, does not necessarily imply more than that the royal 

 license was obtained for the alienation of certain properties, and 

 pledges given for the finding of certain sums of money ; so 

 that a chantry, for instance, has often been said to have been 

 founded several years before the building was commenced. 

 The style of architecture of the beautiful Lady Chapel, which 

 has been justly described by Britton as " one of the finest and 

 most elegant examples of ecclesiastical architecture in England," 

 and which a later historian, Rev. Mackenzie Walcott, speaks 

 of " as the gem of the cathedral " — certainly approximates more 

 to 1350 than to 1300 (the date assigned to it in Parker's 

 Glossary, etc., etc.), and the notion that even the material 

 foundations had scarcely been laid in Langton's time is 

 remarkably corroborated by the register of the Chapter. 



The registers now in the possession of the Chapter do not 

 begin till 1380, but there is an earlier volume of chapter 

 records in the Bodleian Library (Ashm. MSS. 794) that covers 

 the period of which we are treating. This volume was pro- 

 bably removed from the muniment room by that not too 

 scrupulous antiquary, Elias Ashmole. It is there recorded that 



