Richard Poore, 1217—1229. 



227 



welcome that he received, when he came back from Chichester to 

 be wedded to his new bride (nova nupta sure) — already no stranger 

 to him — the Church of Sarum, 



Richard Poore's thoughts at once reverted to his original design 

 of removing his cathedral from Old Sarum to a more convenient 

 site. The choice of such a spot for the seat of the bishopric in the 

 days of the Conqueror shows that it must have been already a place 

 of importance, according ,to the standard of the time. Yet its 

 importance must always have been mainly that of a military post ; 

 one can hardly conceive Old Sarum being at any time a place of 

 trade, or the home of any considerable population. Moreover the 

 relations that existed between the authorities of the Church and 

 those of the State whilst the Cathedral was within the precincts of 

 the King's castle, for such was the actual state of the case, were 

 anything but amicable. As Dean Pierce tersely expresses it, " The 

 Bishop held the castle but as a keeper, or as a Maistre d J Hostel, or 

 as a tenant to the king — only in trust and during pleasure — often 

 put in and out, as the King saw good/' 1 Indeed Pope Honorius 

 III., in his " bull 93 authorising the removal of the cathedral, names 

 as a distinct reason for the step, that free access to the Church was 

 not to be obtained without leave of the " Castellan/' or governor of 

 the castle. 2 



There is among the muniments at Salisbury a document, a copy 

 of which, as we learn from Dean Pierce, 3 was contained in the 

 Register of Dean Davyson, which purports to give us an account 

 of the circumstances which at last forced the Bishop to seek a new 

 site for his Cathedral. It is entitled " Be prima fundacione Saris- 

 beriensis Ecclesitf." A translation of this document is as follows : — 



" It is narrated in the annals of the Bishops of Sarum, among 



1 Vindication of the King's Sovereign Rights, p. 42. 

 2 " Quod non patet aditus ad ecclesiam sine licentia Castellani. Sicque contingit 

 quod in capite jejunii, caena Domini, synodis et ordinibus celebrandis ac aliis 

 diebus solennibus, fidelibus volentibus ipsam ecclesiam visitare, denegatur in- 

 gressus, proponentibus custodibus castri per hoc munitioni periculum imminere." 

 Reg. Osmund. See translation of the bull of Pope Honorius in Ledwych's 

 " Antiquitates Sarisburienses," p. 70. 



3 Vindication of the King's Sovereign Rights, p. 40. 



