LINCOLN. 



t!ie two Saxon chiefs, Colgem and CerJic, and compelling 

 them to relinquilh the fiege of Lincoln. In thofe ftrugjrics 

 the old town was nearly dellroyed, and, as Leland fiippofes, 

 '" new Lincoln was made out of a piece of old Lincoln.'' 

 The Saxons, for their better fecurity, fortitied the fouthern 

 part of the hill with ditches and ramparts, walled the town, 

 and erecled gates. At the time of the Norman conqueft, 

 Lincoln appears to have been one of the richeft and moll 

 populous cities in England : and of great importance as an 

 emporium of trade and commerce. The Domefday Survey 

 mentions 1070 manfions, 900 burgeffes, and 12 lagemen, 

 having fac and foke. On the acceffion ot the Conqueror to 

 the throne, he ordered four ftrong callles to be built ; of 

 which one was to be at Lincoln. In confeqoence of this, a 

 large and flrong calUe was erected on the ridge of the hill, 

 on which this city was fitiiated. The building was 644 yards 

 in circumference, and occupied the fpace on which it is af- 

 ferted that 166 houfcs had flood ; 74 more were at the fame 

 timedemolifhed without the limits, that the whole might be 

 iufiilated. In the reign of Henry I. a navigable canal was 

 made, or enlarged, from the river Witham at Lincoln to the 

 Trent nearTorkfey ; and was ])robably the firll canal of the 

 fort ever made in England. This was about feven miles in 

 length, and is at prefeiit called the Fofs dyke. By this a 

 communica'ion was formed with the Trent, and down that 

 by the Humber to the fea. Being thus acceilible for foreign 

 TciFels, and having alfo the advantage of an inland naviga- 

 tion, the city became populous and wealthy ; and, accord- 

 ing to Alexander Necham, a poet of that age, " Lincoln 

 was now ftored with good things, and became the fiipport of 

 the neighbouring country." At this period, it appear"; to 

 have polfeffed a large (hire of the import and export trade 

 of the kingdom. When, in the year 1140, the emprefs 

 Maud came to England to affert her title to the crown, (lie 

 took up her refidence at Lincoln, as a place of fafety, and 

 conveniently fituated for communication with her friends. 

 Stephen hearing of it marched quickly thither, clofcly hr,- 

 fieged the city, and took it : but the emprefs had efcaped. 

 Tke king, having poflefTed himfclf of the city, appeafed the 

 tumults of the neighbourhood, and tinding the country 

 quiet, left a garrifon, and proceeded to his armv, afting in 

 other parts of the kingdom. During the conteft between 

 the emprefs and Stephen, Lincoln acquired great notoriety ; 

 and thence obtained a degreeof confcquence in the ellimation 

 of future monarchs. After Henry II. had been crowned in 

 London, he was afterwards, according to Speed, crowned 

 at Lincoln in the year il)5. We find this city and its 

 caftle materially concerned in the contentions between king 

 .Tohn and the affociated barons. The caftle and bail of Lin- 

 coln appear to have continued in the occupation of the crown 

 till the time of Edward I., when Henry de Lacy died 

 feifed of them, and they paffed, with other parts of his in- 

 heritance, to the earl of Lincoln, and fo became annexed 

 to the duchy of Lancaller. John of Gaunt, duke of that 

 palatinate, greatly improved the caftle, and made it his fum- 

 mer reiidence ; having, according to a local tradition, built 

 himfelf a winter palace below the hill, in the (otithern 

 fubmbs. Several parliaments were held at Lincoln in the 

 reigns of Edward I. II. and III. In the year 1348, the 

 contrafted fpirit of monopoly fo far prevailed here, againft 

 the acta of parliament paffed in the years l,?^^ and i ^37, and 

 the king's refolutions to folier the woollen manufaftures, 

 that the weavers of Lincoln obtained a grant from Ed- 

 ward III., of what they confidered and called their A'^^rtoj. 

 By this charter they were iuvefted with the power of de- 

 priviHg any weaver not of their guild, of the privilege of 

 ■working at his trade within twelve leagues of the city. This 



and other fimilar monopolies were abolidied in ijyi, by an 

 adt called the Statute nf Ch/ths. In the following year, the 

 ftaple of wool was removed from Flanders to England ; and 

 Lincoln was one of the ftaple towns appointed on that occa- 

 fion. It was alfo made a ftaple for leather, lead, and various 

 other articles. This proved highly beneficial to the place, 

 for it thereby recovered from the lolTes it had fuftaindd by 

 military ravages, and was foon reftored to a flourifhing con- 

 dition. At the commencement of hoftilities between 

 Charles I. and his parliament, the king came to Lincoln, 

 and convened the nobility and freeholders ef the county. , 



The diocefe of Lincoln, after the fee was removed from 

 Sidnacefter, foon acquired a vaft accumulation of territorial 

 jurifdiftion and wealth. It included fo many counties, that 

 it was defcribed as ready to fink under the incumbent weight 

 of its own greatncfs ; and though Henry II. took out of it 

 the diocefe of Ely, and Henry VIII. thofe of Petei borough 

 and Oxford, it is Kill confidered the largeil in England, 

 As the jurifdiftian was great, fo, prior to the reformation, 

 the revenues were proportionably abundant. Except the 

 two archbifhoprics, and thofe termed the principality 

 bifhoprics, Wincheller, Durham, and Ely, no fee was fo 

 well endowed, which was the reafon that there is no record, 

 prior to the time of Elizabeth, of any bifliop of this fee 

 having been tranfiated to another, except Wincheller ; 

 though fince that time, Willis obferves, " no lefs than ten 

 out of feventeen have left this for more valuable ones." 

 Nor was it lefs remarkable for the number of epifcopal pa- 

 laces within the diocefe. Previous to the year 1547, it had 

 eight. In this county, Lincoln, Sleaford, and Nettleham ; 

 in Rutlandfliire, Ledington ; in Huntingdonfhire, Buckden, 

 the ufual refidence of the bilhops ; in Buckinghamfhire, 

 Woburii and Finghuril ; in Oxfordftiiro, Banbury Cattle : 

 there were alfo two others at Newark in Nottinghamlhire ; 

 and Lincoln Place, Chancery Lane, London. All thefe, 

 except that at Lincoln, with about thirty manors, were 

 given up, in the firll year of Edward VI., by Holbech, the 

 firft married biihop ; who, in order to gratify the wifhes of 

 fonie co'jrtiers, and to raife his own family, exchanged al- 

 moil every fpecies of landed property annexed to the lee for 

 impropriations ; fo that now only four manors remain of the 

 anciei.t demefnes. The prefent revenues, therefore, prin- 

 cipiliy arife from reftorial property or tythes. 



The cathedral is not only the ir.oft prominent objeft of 

 this city, but is the moft interefting as a fubjeft of hifiory, 

 ar.tiquity, and art. This magnificent ftruClure, trom its 

 fituation on the fummit of a lull, and from the fiat ftate of 

 the country to the fouth-eall and fouth-welt, may be feea 

 at the'diftance of twenty miles. Railed at a vail expence, 

 by the munificence of feveral prelates, it difcovejrs, in many 

 parts, fingular ficill and beauty, particularly in its weftern 

 front, which muft attracl the attention of every traveller. 

 The fee being tranflated from Dorchefter to Lincoln in 

 1088, St. Remigius de Fefcamp, the firft bilhop, founded 

 a cathedral church, which was fo far advanced in the courfe 

 of four years as to be ready for confccratiou. All the 

 bifhops of England were fumraoned to attend on that occa- 

 fion. Remigius died two days before the intended folem- 

 nity. His fuccelTor, Robert Bloet, finilhed the cathedral, 

 dedicated it to the Virgin Mary, and greatly enriched it. 

 In his time, the biftiopric of Ely was taken out, and made 

 independent of that of Lincoln. The cathedral, having 

 been doftroyed by fire in 1 1 44, was rebuilt by Alexander 

 de Blois, then bifhop, ^\h() arched the new fabric with Hone, 

 to prevent a recurrence of a fimilar accident ; and gr-ratly in- 

 creafed the fize and au^jmented the ornaments of it, lo as to 

 render it the moll magnificent facred edilice in his time. 

 I.. 2 Biftiop 



