LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. 37 



called sometimes John de Villula, and sometimes 

 Joannes Turonensis, from Tours, the place of his 

 birth. This person came to England in the train of 

 the Conqueror, and seated himself at Bath for the 

 purpose of practising the healing art. William of 

 Malmesbury, who has written his life, speaks of him 

 as being Medicus probatus usu non Uteris. But he 

 also speaks of him as an encourager of literature, as 

 possessed of great medical skill, and as outrunning 

 all the physicians of his age in profit and honour. 

 He purchased the ancient royal ferm of the city, and, 

 such was his influence, that he prevailed with the 

 King that the seat of the bishopric of Somersetshire 

 should be removed from Wells to Bath, and that he 

 himself should be made the bishop. The church of 

 the monastery then became the cathedral of the 

 diocese. He presided over the see with great dignity 

 for four-and-thirty years. At his death, in 1122, he 

 was buried in the church of the monastery, where 

 his tomb was still to be seen in the time of Leland. 

 It was then going fast to decay. Weeds were spring- 

 ing about it, and the church was unroofed. It was 

 the old church built by himself, superseded by the 

 present structure. 



The reigns of Rufiis and Henry I. form a brilliant 

 era in the history of Bath. Malmsbury expressly 

 informs us that Villula collected about him a society 



