A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



St. Richard ' are as numerous as those to his 

 shrine, while his mitre, chalice, and original tomb 

 were also reverenced. 57 The shrine itself became 

 an object of more than local fame and was one 

 of the great pilgrimage centres in the south of 

 England, the pilgrims being so numerous and 

 eager on the day of the saint's anniversary, 

 3 April, that unseemly quarrels frequently arose, 

 and in 1478 Bishop Story ordered that the 

 pilgrims should carry crosses and banners instead 

 of the painted staves which were too easily con- 

 verted into weapons of offence, and further laid 

 down the order of precedence to be observed by 

 the several parishes. 68 So great was the fame of 

 the shrine that the cathedral was sometimes 

 called the church of St. Richard. 69 Its sanctity, 

 however, could not protect the shrine from 

 sacrilegious hands, and in 1280 a thief stole 

 some of the jewels affixed to it, but being unable to 

 smuggle them out of the church hid them under 

 a chest, where they were discovered 60 by a 

 chance which the pious king considered almost 

 miraculous. 61 Gifts of jewels 62 and of money 

 continued to flow in for 250 years, and when at 

 last in 1538 Sir William Goring and William 

 Ernely, by the king's orders, 63 destroyed this 

 famous shrine, the plunder, if not to be compared 

 with that from Canterbury, St. Albans, or 

 Walsingham, was well worthy of the king's 

 acceptance. 64 



For details of the inner life of the cathedral 

 establishment we are dependent upon such 

 visitations as have survived to us, and these 

 while revealing few offences of any gravity show 

 a general air of laxity pervading the whole. 

 Thus in 1403 chapters were held irregularly ; 

 the dean neglected to enforce the statutes ; the 

 chancellor was negligent in teaching the 

 choristers and in his care of the cathedral 

 books, and the vicars behaved irreverently during 

 service. 66 In 1441 many of the vicars were 

 given to not rising for mattins and being absent 

 from other services, or if present not singing ; 

 the canons neglected to provide for their vicars, 

 who had to get meals where they best could ; the 

 cloisters and graveyard were used for public 

 traffic and a children's playground. 66 When 

 Bishop Story visited the cathedral in 1478 he 

 found that the dean was lax and neglectful ; the 

 revenues were insufficient for the support of 

 the vicars, who consequently failed to attend the 

 services, wandering about the city instead ; even 



"Suss. Arch. Coll. \\, 151. 



68 Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, fol. 43*. 



"Close, 14 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 51 d. 



"Assize R. 924, m. 26. "Pat. 8 Edw. I, m. 23. 



"e.g. Suss. Arch. Coll. ii, 139 ; xxviii, 55. 



63 L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiii (2), 1049. 



64 A list of objects obtained is preserved, but no 

 valuation is given. Ibid. 1103. 



"Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 28 

 M Ibid. Praty, fol. 73. 



the sacristans omitted to ring the bells and lock 

 the doors. 67 This state of laxity was unfortu- 

 nately not one of the abuses done away with 

 at the Reformation, or it would hardly have been 

 necessary for Bishop Harsnett in 1 6 1 1 to give 

 such orders as that no vicar or clerk should 

 indulge in unseemly talking or gestures or leave 

 the choir during service time, and that any vicar 

 being a drunkard, gamester, or brawler should be 

 deprived after three monitions. 68 After a visita- 

 tion in 1616 the chapter issued prders for the 

 better care of their church ; the purging of the 

 churchyard of hogs, dogs, and other trespassers ; 

 the verger was to clean the cloisters and to 

 ' scourge out the ungracious boys with their 

 tops,' and the principal of the vicars was to keep 

 his subordinates in order. 69 



When Laud's commissioner visited Chichester 

 in June, 1635, he did not find much to correct 

 in the cathedral staff; the choir was well 

 furnished, and though there were no copes they 

 were willing to buy some, only pleading poverty. 

 The fabric was somewhat out of repair, and the 

 churchyard not as well kept as it might be, but 

 the chief failing was in the behaviour of the 

 congregation, and orders were issued against 

 walking and talking during divine service, and 

 against the wearing of hats within the church, 

 for which offence one of the aldermen had to be 

 publicly rebuked. 70 



The story of the wrecking of the cathedral by 

 Waller's troops has already been related ; not 

 only was the fabric mutilated, the plate stolen, 

 and the revenues of the bishop and prebendaries 

 confiscated, but even the humbler officials the 

 vicars, lay and choral lost their stipends and 

 were driven to petition Parliament in 1643 f r 

 means of livelihood. 71 With the Restoration the 

 old state of affairs seems to have been resumed, 

 and the visitations of the eighteenth century 

 reveal the continuance of a slackness and dis- 

 regard of decency and dignity, in outward 

 matters at least, which was hardly reformed 

 within the memory of many still living. 



DEANS OF CHICHESTER n 



Odo, 1115 



Richard, 1115 



Matthew, 1125 



Richard, 1144 



John de Greneford, 1150 



Jordan de Meleburn, 1176 



Seffrid, 1178 



Matthew de Chichester, 1 1 80 



Nicholas de Aquila, 1190 



7 Ibid. Story, fol. 68. * Stephens, Mem. 343. 



69 Ibid. 344. Cal. S. P. Dom. 1635, p. xliii. 



"Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, 119. 



71 From Hennessy, Chich. Dioc. Clergy Lists ; prior 

 to 1 342 the dates are those of earliest occurrence, 

 after that year the date of election is given. 



