ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



its revenues. At last in May, 1 173, he gave leave to the monks of St. 

 Swithun's to proceed to an election, and their choice fell upon Richard 

 of Ilchester, a native of Winchester, and at that time Archdeacon of 

 Poictiers ; but his consecration was not effected until 6 October, 1 1 74, 

 at Canterbury, when the sees of Ely, Hereford, and Chichester were also 

 filled. Bishop Richard had formerly been a headstrong opponent of the 

 archbishop, but after the canonization of St. Thomas he showed his 

 penitence by causing the newly erected churches of his diocese to be 

 dedicated in honour of St. Thomas of Canterbury. 1 It has also been 

 supposed that he founded the hospital of St. Mary Magdalene for the 

 sick and infirm at Winchester in further expiation of this offence. 

 These were bad days for the successful working of the diocese, even 

 if much was done by proxy. To a soldier-bishop had succeeded a 

 lawyer-bishop, and the inner working of the Church's life must have 

 suffered grievously. Bishop Richard was appointed justiciar of Nor- 

 mandy in 1 1 76, justice itinerant for Hampshire and other counties in 

 1179, and eventually justiciar of England. The bishop died in 1189, 

 the same year as his master, Henry II. 



To the lawyer-bishop succeeded Godfrey de Lucy (11891205), 

 himself the son of a chief justice. The most memorable event of this 

 episcopacy was the establishing, in 1202, of a gild or fraternity for the 

 renovation of the cathedral church, which was to exist for only five 

 years for the purpose of collecting alms. To this gild is probably due 

 much of the present beautiful east portion of St. Swithun's. To the 

 same period belongs the Cistercian abbey of Beaulieu, founded and 

 enriched by King John in 1 204 during an abnormal fit of penitence for 

 his iniquities. 



In 1 207, two years after Bishop Godfrey's death, John paid his first 

 visit to Winchester, where he tarried for a twelvemonth, and there was 

 born the son who succeeded him. When the contest between John and 

 the Church was at last settled and the exiled bishops returned to 

 England they went straightway to Winchester. The miserable king 

 met the archbishop and his suffragans outside the walls, and falling on 

 his knees before them shed an abundance of tears. To the minor strains 

 of the Psalm of royal penitence the procession passed into the chapter 

 house, where John received absolution and swore to revive the laws of 

 the Confessor. Then Stephen Langton led the king into the great 

 church and sang mass, and John presented a mark of gold. The more 

 solemn the vows, the more did the faithless king delight to break them, 

 and no sooner was the ceremony over than John renewed his schemes 

 against both Church and barons. In their despair at this renewed 

 treachery, the barons invited the young Prince Louis of France to come 

 to their aid. John retreated to Winchester, but the city thrust him out and 

 welcomed Louis, who soon established himself in the castle of Wolvesey. 



1 Several of the churches in this diocese usually assigned (as in the Diocesan Calendar) to St. Thomas 

 the Apostle are really dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury. This is the case with at least two of the 

 Hampshire churches, Bedhampton and Portsmouth. 



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