WINCHESTER. 



under the Romans, became Vinta, with the addition of 

 Belgarum, from its fituation in the country occupied by tlie 

 Belga, by which it was diftinguiflied 'from Fenta Silurum, 

 now Caerwent, in Monmouthlhire, and Venta Icenorum, 

 now Caftor, near Norwich, in Norfolk. From Giuent or 

 yenta we have the firft part of the name, and chejler, the 

 laft part, is a corruption of cajlra, tlie Roman term for en- 

 campments of different kinds ; a frequent name, or appen- 

 dage of a name, of various places in England, and perhaps 

 invariably an indication that fuch places owe both their 

 origin and their primitive form to the military ftations of the 

 earlieft conquerors of Britain. 



Hijloric Events. — The origin of Winchefter, remote as it 

 unqueifionably is, has been carried back to an epoch far 

 beyond belief, even a century and half anterior to the 

 foundation of Rome. Without referring to fuch remote 

 and uncertain time, we may fafely infer that this fpot was 

 occupied by the Belgse, a Germanic tribe, who pafling 

 from Gaul, took pofleffion of the country bordering the 

 fouthern coall of England. (Casfar's Bel. Gal. ii. 4.) 

 Previous to their occupancy, it is conjeftured that Win- 

 chefter was the Caer-Gwent, or white city, of the aboriginal 

 Britons. After the Romans had fubdued the Belgae and 

 the Britons, they took poireffion of this town, and fortified 

 it with ramparts and walls. Thefe were difpofed on the 

 floping fide of a hill, and in the ufual form of a parallelo- 

 gram. Within this inclofure the town was conftrufled and 

 arranged ; and from the importance of this flation, and its 

 conneftion with other ftations by military roads, there can 

 be little doubt that Venta Belgarum, the Roman name, was 

 a place of confiderable importance. Among the antique 

 relics of the Romans, which have been difcovered at Win- 

 chefter, are feveral coins, urns, &c. ; alfo fome fine coins of 

 Caraftacus, called the firft Britifh emperor. After the 

 Romans left the ifland in 446, Gortheryn, or Vortigern, 

 was eleAed chief of the weftern diftrift, and he fixed his 

 feat of government at Winchefter. This town, as well as 

 the whole ifland, was foon deftined to experience a total 

 change of pohty, cuftoms, and manners, by the introduc- 

 tion and domination of the Saxons in 519. On this occa- 

 fion, the name of the city was changed from the Britifti 

 Caer-Gwent and the Roman Venta to another of equal im- 

 port, Wintan-ceajler, from which the modern name, Win- 

 cTiefter, has gradually been formed. In 635 an important 

 event occurred in Winchefter, the arrival there of Birinus, 

 deputed by pope Honorius to preach the gofpel in thofe 

 parts of the country ftill involved in paganifm. Favoured 

 by king Kinegils, Birinus's apoftolic labours were eminently 

 fuccefsful ; for the king founded a new cathedral on the 

 fcite of that deftroyed under Diocletian, which was confe- 

 crated under his fon and fucceffor, Kenewalch, in 648. 

 Egbert, king of the Weft-Saxons, fucceeding in the fub- 

 jeftion of all the other Saxon princes, was in 827 crowned 

 king of all England in the cathedral of Winchefter, thus 

 created or confidered to be the metropolis of the whole 

 kingdom J and there, about 854, Egbert's fucceflbr, Ethel- 

 wolf, granted his famous charter, eftablifhing a general 

 fyftem of tythes. About this period the commerce of the 

 city is recorded to have greatly increafed, and the principal 

 inhabitants are ftated to have conftituted a guild, under the 

 royal protedlion ; the earlieft affociation of the kind, by a 

 century, recorded in hiftory. During the greater part of 

 this and the fucceeding reign, the fee of Winchefter was 

 filled by the celebrated St. Swithun, by whofe advice king 

 Ethelbald raifed fortifications for the defence of the cathe- 

 dral againft the Danes. Landing at Southampton, they 

 advanced to Wiocbefter, where they committed horrible 



excefles ; but the cathedral efcapcd their fury. About 871, 

 however, that greatly fufFered by them, and all the clergy 

 belonging to it were maftacred. On the ultimate fuccefs of 

 the great Alfred, Winchefter refumed a portion of its 

 former fplendour ; it became again the feat of government ; 

 tlierc the public records of the kingdom were depofited, in 

 particular the general furvey, called, from this circumftance, 

 Codex Wintonknjis, afterwards imitated by William the Con- 

 queror in 1086, in the famous Roll of Winchefter, or 

 Domef day -booh. ( Sec Domesday. ) The fucceffion of 

 Edgar the Peaceable increafed the importance of Win-' 

 chefter. Among tiic judicious laws which he eftablilhed 

 was one to prevent frauds arifing from the diverfity of mea- 

 fures ufed in the country, by providing a ftandard legal mea- 

 fure for the whole of his dominions. This was the origin of 

 the eftablifhed W'tnchcjler meafures ; the ftandard veftels for 

 meafurement made by Edgar's orders being depofited in that 

 city, where the original buftiel is ftill preferved. In the 

 reign of this prince, in 980, the cathedral, having been 

 partly rebuilt, was folemnly re-con fccrated. About the 

 fame time the married canons of the cathedral were, at the 

 fuggeftion of St. Dunftan, removed, to make room for 

 Benedi(Sine monks. In Winchefter, in 1002, and in the 

 reign of Ethelred, furnamed the Unready, commenced the 

 general maffacre of the Danes, in mercilefs vengeance for 

 the atrocities they had committed on the inhabitants of the 

 country. Thence 3.To{e \.\\e noteA hock-tlde /ports, of which 

 fome traces may ftill be obferved in remote corners of Eng- 

 land. But this vengeance remained not long unrequited by 

 Swayne the Dane, who obtained pofleflion of Winchefter 

 eleven years afterwards. St. Elphage II., then biftiop, is 

 faid to have firft introduced organs into the cathedral. 

 Canute, obtaining the fovereignty of England by the death 

 of Edmund Ironfide in 1016, chofe Winchefter for his 

 capital, and, with other rich gifts, beftowed on the cathe- 

 dral his crown, which was placed over the crucifix on the 

 high altar : for Canute had vowed never more to wear that 

 enfign of royalty, from the day when, by commanding in 

 vain the flowing tide not to approach his feet, he proved to 

 his flatterers the emptinefs of their adulation, in hailing him 

 lord of the ocean. Winchefter cathedral is defcribed to have 

 been the fcene of a legendary tale relating to queen Emma, 

 mother of Edward the Confeffor, who is faid, but very im- 

 probably, there to have eftablifhed the purity of her ch> 

 rafter, by walking unhurt over nine burning plough-fhares. 

 In the reign of the fame Edward, the broad feal of the 

 chancellor of England was firft made and kept in Win- 

 chefter. 



The Norman invafion produced many changes in the ftate 

 of the city : there king William I. founded a caftle, as he did 

 in many other parts of the kingdom, with the view of over- 

 awing, under the pretence of protefting, the inhabitants. 

 It continued, however, to be a principal royal refidence, 

 although London then began to aflume the pre-eminence. 

 The politic monarch knew the influence of the clergy over 

 the people ; he confequently afligned all or moft of the chief 

 offices in England to his relatives, dependants, and oftenfible 

 friends. Councils were held in Winchefter, in which the 

 new clergy, with the primate Lanfranc at their head, drew 

 up canons or laws levelled at the Saxons, and framed to 

 proteft or juftify themfelves. Winchefter, the refidence of 

 the court, was of courfe filled with the priefts, the officers, 

 and the followers of the king. The curfew [counire-feu], 

 or eight-o'-clock-bell, was firft rung in Winchefter. The 

 year 1079 is memorable in the hiftory of Winchefter, for 

 then was commenced the prefent fpacious and magnificent 

 catbedral church. In the reign of Henry I. a Angular 

 3O 2 tranfadion 



