A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



related that a certain chaplain called Walter, a Norman who came 

 to England with the Conqueror, had obtained possession of the church 

 of Carlisle and the church of Stanwix with their chapels and the vills 

 around Carlisle. Walter being a wealthy man began to build within 

 the walls of the city a noble church in honour of Blessed Mary the 

 Virgin, but while the work was still in progress both Walter the chap- 

 lain and William the king had died. On the accession of Henry, that 

 king constituted Regular Canons in the great church, which Walter 

 had founded, and gave them the churches and lands which belonged to 

 the deceased chaplain as well as six churches in Northumberland with 

 their chapels, namely, the churches of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Newburn, 

 Warkworth, Rothbury, Whittingham and Corbridge. This having been 

 done, Henry appointed Adelulf prior of the new institution and en- 

 riched it with many dignities. After several years Archbishop Thurstin 

 came to visit the district, and understanding that the Archdeacon of 

 Richmond had no right in these parts he prevailed on the king to 

 create a bishopric in Carlisle, the archbishop having given compensation 

 to the archdeacon for the loss of jurisdiction over Cumberland, West- 

 morland and Allerdale. By decree of Pope Innocent and licence of 

 King Henry, the canons elected Adelulf their prior as first bishop of the 

 new see, and Archbishop Thurstin consecrated him at York 1 in 1133. 

 Before we go further it would be well to notice the earliest date at 

 which the foundation of the priory can be fixed. A few years are not 

 of great consequence in an undertaking of this kind, which must have 

 taken a long period to complete. The accepted date, supported by a 

 long series of local historians, has been fixed by one of the Scottish 

 chroniclers, Abbot Bower of Inchcolm, the continuator of the chronicle 

 of Fordun," who tells us that Henry, by the persuasion and counsel of 

 his Queen, constituted regular canons in Carlisle in the year 1102. If 

 the district was in the king's hand at that date, it is very clear proof that 

 Ranulf Meschin had not yet arrived as its political ruler. In that case, 

 as we might reasonably expect, no grant had been made either by Rufus 

 or his successor till some definite steps had been taken for the ecclesias- 

 tical settlement of the new province. That an effort had been made in 

 the early years of Henry's reign to found the priory of Carlisle there 

 can be no question. By the judgment of a jury delivered at Carlisle in 



Lansdowne MS. 721, ff. 54-5 sb. This document is headed, 'Ex Registerio patris Willelmi 

 Strickland episcopi Carliolensis,' and appears to be in the handwriting of the early years of the seven- 

 teenth century. From this source probably arose the tradition which we identify with the names of 

 Tonge (Visitation of the Northern Counties in 1530 [Surtees Soc.], 102), Leland (Collectanea [ed. Hearne], 

 i. 120-1), and Godwin (De Presul. Anglic [ed. Richardson], 761-2). 



> Scotichronicon, ed. Goodall, i. 289. It should be pointed out that Abbot Bower has jumbled up 

 two distinct events in this passage, viz., the foundation of the priory in 1102 and the introduction of 

 canons regular in 1133. The canons regular were brought to Carlisle long after the foundation. The 

 Annals of Waverley say it was ' Adulf ' who ' put canons regular in the church of his See ' (Annales 

 Monastici [Rolls Series], ii. 223). Matthew Paris tells the same story, that ' Athelulph, having been 

 created a bishop, placed canons regular in the church of his see and endowed it with many honours ' 

 (Historia Anglorum [Rolls Series], i. 245-6; Chronica Majora [Rolls Series], ii. 158). Other chroniclers, 

 like Bartholomew de Cotton (Hist. Anglicana [Rolls Series], pp. 62, 417), and Thomas Rudborne (Anglia 

 Sacra, i. 282) follow in the same line. 



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