44 General History of Bath. 



The union of Glastonbury with the Bishopric was of short 

 duration, and was dissolved in 1218 by Bull of Pope 

 Honorius III. Then Jocelyn took for a time the title of 

 ■" Bishop of Bath," but, towards the end of his Episcopate, 

 assumed that of " Bath and Wells." 



This title was a real one down to the Reformation. The 

 Bishop had his throne in each of his Cathedral churches, 

 and on some elections (notably those of Roger and AVilliam, 

 the two immediate successors of Jocelyn) the Monks and 

 ■Canons both took an active and mutually aggressive part. 

 But the episcopal dominion was necessarily more complete 

 ■over the Canons of Wells, than over the Regulars of Bath, 

 and the Bishop had more sympathy with his secular clergy ; 

 and hence, although Bath took precedence of its sister city 

 in the title of the Bishopric of Somerset, Wells became the 

 actual seat of the Bishop. 



The Municipal With regard to municipal affairs in this century 

 System. quj- knowledge is comparatively slight. The 

 Saxon Chronicle records the death in 907 of " Alfred Grieve 

 of Bath," as if he was a personage of some importance, and 

 from the size and population of the city, as recorded in 

 Domesday, we may be sure that there existed before the 

 •Conquest as complete a municipal system, as accorded with 

 the spirit of the age. The development of this system was, 

 of course, checked by the Norman invasion, but the extent 

 to which it was actually overthrown, is matter for conjecture. 

 A deed now extant amongst the Archives of the Corporation 

 records that it was signed at the Hundred Court in 12 18, 

 and a period of the year named for payment of rent is 

 " Hokeday." As this was a day of rejoicing held on the 

 Tuesday fortnight after Easter, to commemorate the defeat 

 •of the Danes in 1002, it would only have appeared as a 



