3045 



EXETER BOOK 



Exeter. 



West front of the cathedral and the 14th-15th century screen 

 ornamented with sculptured figures of Biblical characters 



S. Nicholas Priory, the remains of 

 Rougemont Castle, and Royal 

 Albert Memorial Museum, Library 

 and Art Gallery. 



The chief educational establish- 

 ments in the city are the Royal 

 Albert Memorial College and 

 Exeter School. The former, which 

 is affiliated to the universities of 

 Oxford and Cambridge, was foun- 

 ded in 1865 as a technical college, 

 and was given the rank of a univer- 

 sity college in 1901. Exeter School, 

 one of the most important public 

 schools in the west of England, 

 was founded in 1629. In 1876 it 

 was reorganized and new buildings 

 were erected for it ; they include 

 a chapel, gymnasium, laboratory, 

 swimming baths, etc. The old 

 buildings in the High Street were 

 then abandoned, and the school 

 is now outside the city proper. 

 There are also training colleges 

 for teachers. 



An important rly. centre, Exeter 

 has a floating basin and is con- 

 nected with the sea by a ship canal 

 (begun in 1564), which extends five 

 miles and opens into the estuary 

 near Topsham. Formerly the seat 

 of an active woollen industry, it 

 is now an important agricultural 

 centre, while brewing, iron-found- 

 ing, and Honiton lace and paper 

 manufactures are carried on. Mar- 

 ket day, Friday. One member is re- 

 turned to Parliament. Pop. 59,608. 

 The British Caer Isc, the Roman 

 IscaDamnoniorum, and the Anglo- 

 Saxon Exancestre, Exeter, as the 

 principal fortified town of the W., 

 was frequently besieged by the 

 Danes and other invaders ; it capi- 

 tulated on terms to the Conqueror 



in 1068, was surrendered in 1136, 

 successfully withstood attacks in 

 1467, 1497, and 1549. It sur- 

 rendered to the royalists in 1643, 



Exeter. University College, part of 

 the Albert Memorial 



but the parliamentarians were re- 

 admitted three years later. It is 

 the Chatteris of Thackeray's Pen- 

 dennis. Its motto is Semper 

 Fidelis. 



Exeter , MARQUESS AND DUKE OF. 

 English titles borne by several dis- 

 tinguished families. The first duke 

 was John Holand, a half-brother of 

 Richard II and a descendant of Ed- 

 ward I. The son of Thomas Holand, 

 earl of Kent, and Joan, afterwards 

 the wife of the 

 Black Prince, 

 he was made a 

 duke in 1397. 

 He had al- 

 ready married 

 a daughter of 

 John of Gaunt, 

 and had been 

 made earl of 

 Huntingdon. 

 One of Rich- 

 ard's chief 



assistants, he was condemned 

 and executed in Jan., 1400, for 

 conspiring against Henry IV, 

 his titles and estates being for- 

 feited. After Thomas Beaufort, 

 earl of Dorset, had been duke of 

 Exeter from 1416 to 1426, the title 

 returned to the Holands ; in 1443 

 John Holand, a son of the executed 

 John, was made duke of Exeter. 

 His son, Henry, lost his title during 

 the Wars of the Roses. 



The title of marquess of Exeter 

 began with the Courtenays. In 

 1525 it was given to Henry Courte- 

 nay, earl of Devon. He was execu- 

 ted in Dec., 1538, his heirs being 

 deprived of his titles. In 1605 

 Thomas Cecil, Lord Burghley, 

 (q-v.), a son of the great Lord 

 Burghley, was made earl of Exeter, 

 His descendants continued to hold 

 the title, and in 1801 Henry, the 

 10th earl, was made a marquess. 

 In 1898 William Thomas (b. 1876) 

 became the 5th marquess. The 

 seat is Burghley House (q.v. ), and 

 the eldest son is known as Lord 

 Burghley. 



Exeter Book, THE. MS. collec- 

 tion of Anglo-Saxon poems in the 

 library of Exeter cathedral, to 

 which it was presented in the llth 



1st Earl of Exeter, 

 English statesman 



Exeter. The pillared facade of the 



Guildhall, added to the original 



building in 1593 



century by Bishop Leofric. It is 

 clearly written on vellum by one 

 scribe, and forms the most impor- 

 tant body of Anglo-Saxon litera- 

 ture that has come down to us. It 

 includes Cynewulf's Christ, The 

 Legend of S. Juliana, a metrical 

 life of Guthlac, Widsith, and The 

 Wonders of Creation. It was first 

 printed as Codex Exoniensis in 

 1842, with translations by Benja- 

 min Thorpe. See English Writers, 

 H. Morley, vol. ii, 1888. 



