By Mr. Edward Kite. 215 



of St. John with this fortress, as well as from the similarity of 

 their architectural style, the original parts of the church are 

 conjectured 1 to have been also the work of Bishop Poore ; 2 and it is 

 not unlikely that in its original state, it may have been intended 

 as a free chapel for the use of the garrison in the castle. 



Erected thus probably by one Justiciary of England, 3 St. John's 

 Church in the succeeding century afforded sanctuary to a second 

 in the person of Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent, who having been 

 for some time confined in the castle, escaped from it with the assist- 

 ance of his knights, who conveyed him for safety to the church, 

 and deposited him, loaded with irons, on the steps of the High 

 Altar. As soon as the event was made known to the governor, a 

 force was dispatched in pursuit of him, and he was dragged from 

 his place of refuge and conveyed back to the castle. This breach 

 of the privilege of sanctuary was warmly resented by the clergy, 

 who, on the refusal of the governor to acknowledge the authority 

 of the Church by restoring the earl, carried their cause before the 

 king, and, compelling him to yield to their request, Hubert was a 

 second time transferred to his place of refuge, strict orders being 

 given to the Sheriff of Wilts to guard the church and cemetery with 

 a body of armed men, by day and night, in order to prevent the 

 possibility of his escape from it by any means. The step thus 

 taken, however, proved ineffectual. His friends in the meanwhile 

 mustered a troop of horse, and on the following day suddenly made 



1 See Britton's " Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain." 



2 "William of Malmesbury, Bishop Roger's biographer, informs us that the 

 structures erected by this prelate were ' ' so skilfully built as to resemble an 

 entire rock." This description seems certainly applicable to the original walls 

 of St. John's Church. Constructed of small squared stones, well jointed, and 

 laid in even courses, they appear, after a lapse of seven centuries, as firm and 

 upright as at the period of their erection. 



3 It was an ancient custom of the kings of England to administer justice in 

 person. In process of time, however, this office was confided to a deputy, who, 

 under the Norman sovereigns bore the title of Justiciary of England. The 

 justiciaries continued till the erection of the courts of King's Bench and Common 

 Pleas. The last who held the office was Philip de Basset, in 1261. Dodsworth's 

 Salisbury Cathedral, p. 22. Note. 



2 f 2 



