214 The Churchd* of Devizes. 



This prelate, whose parentage seems to have been obscure, first 

 occurs to notice as the priest of a small church near Caen, in Nor- 

 mandy, into which Prince Henry (brother to William Rufus, and 

 afterwards King Henry I.) happening to enter, whilst on a military 

 expedition, was so much pleased at the celerity with which Mass 

 was performed, that his soldiers persuaded him to allow the rapid 

 officiator to attend the camp as a proper chaplain for the army. 



Being endowed with great natural talents, Roger so far ingratiated 

 himself with his patron that he was intrusted with the sole manage- 

 ment of his household, and upon Henry's ascending the throne 

 (a.d. 1100), was immediately appointed chancellor, loaded with 

 lands, churches, prebends, and abbeys, nominated in 1102 to the 

 vacant See of Sarum, and finally raised to the high office of Justi- 

 ciary of England. 1 



He appears to have been the best architect of his day, and is 

 distinguished by some of our chroniclers as "the great builder of 

 Churches and Castles." In addition to the Castle of Sarum which 

 he repaired and strengthened, he also erected others at Devizes 

 and Sherborne, and commenced one at Malmesbury. 



His principal work, however, would seem to have been the 

 Castle of Devizes, which is described as " one of the most sump- 

 tuous and stately edifices in England." 



From the contiguity and probable connection of the Church 



1 An account of the life of this prelate will be found in Dodsworth's History 

 of Salisbury Cathedral, p. 20. It will here be sufficient to remark that as his 

 early life was an example of singular prosperity, so was the remainder marked 

 by a series of reverses. Stripped of his castles, and of the treasures which he had 

 during a series of years accumulated in them, by the succeeding monarch (King 

 Stephen, of whose claim to the crown Roger had been a powerful opponent), he 

 at last sunk under his disappointment, and dying A.D. 1139, was interred in his 

 Cathedral of Old Sarum ; but his body was removed to that of New Sarum, shortly 

 alter its erection, A.D. 1226. 



Underneath an arch, on the north side of the nave, are two ancient monu- 

 mental slabs, each bearing the effigy of a bishop. These have been ascribed to 

 this prelate, and his successor Joceline, whose body was at the same time trans- 

 ferred to the Cathedral of New Sarum. 



